The Author's POV
Author: Entrail_JI
Date: 2023-06-17T17:40:19.501000+00:00

Chapter 1: Prologue

'Efforts never betray you'

A quote that has been widely respected and repeatedly preached across the world.

Some people widely regard this quote as a personal mantra to follow throughout their life, while others simply scoff over the quote as if it were a mere joke.

I mean why put effort when you have a super-rich dad that provides you with all that you need?

Big house?

'Hello, daddy can you buy me a house?'

New car?

'Daddy~ There's this new car that I really love and was wondering if...'

There's also those that live in luxury because they are simply lucky, like the ones that win a lottery

I mean how much effort does it take for someone to win a lottery?

'Congratulations you have won 200 million'

How does 'efforts never betray you' apply here?

Of course, setting those examples aside, there were many cases in which the quote proved to be correct.

For example, have you seen the movie....hmmm what was it called.

Ah! right the 'Pursuit of happyness'

It was your perfect example of 'Efforts never betray'.

It was a touching story about a homeless dad living in the street with his son, and later because of his pure love and dedication for his son, he managed to succeed and became a millionaire. Very touching.

But what about me? What have I got to say about 'Efforts never betray'?

It was utter bullshit. Period.

'Efforts never betray?' I could only simply scoff at such a ridiculous notion. I mean sure if you put in some effort you would definitely achieve better results than your regular mob out there, but was that really all to it? Was this the key to success?

No. It simply wasn't

The key ingredient to success was 'Talent'

No matter how much effort you put into something, you would never be able to surpass the unsurmountable mountain known as talent.

I mean look at football for example. Many people trained just as hard as Messi or Ronaldo, but in the end, they don't even come close to their level. No matter how much they trained, no matter how much blood sweat, and tears they put in, they would never be able to even touch their ankles.

What kind of Bullshit was that?

Getting back on topic. Why did I have such a grudge against the quote 'Efforts never betray'?

Simple. It was because I was one of those idiots that wholeheartedly believed in the quote.

You see, my parents died when I was 14. Some bastard got drunk and ran them over. I couldn't remember how many times I had cried myself to sleep because of the accident.

My parents didn't have siblings, and both my grandparents, maternal and paternal, had already left the world, making me an orphan.

Luckily, they had enough money in their bank account to last me until school finished, and thus I studied as my if life depended on it. I mean it literally was.

I would study hours and hours on end, just so that I could enroll at the prestigious University A and later find myself a suitable job for myself.

But hold on. How could I possibly afford to go to university? I mean university usually costs a hell of a lot of money.

A bank loan? Would they loan to someone that had no parents and no assets? Well, I tried but in the end, I got rejected by the government.

But there was a way. A scholarship.

If I managed to secure myself a scholarship I could attend university without paying a single cent.

Luckily University A, the only university near me, offered a scholarship program that was perfect for me. One of my teachers heard that they only offer one scholarship a year for people in the school I attended. But that was enough for me. If I studied hard enough and achieved a high enough score, there was definitely a chance.

And so I studied, studied so hard that all the friends I had made over the years became estranged. But I was fine with it. As long as I could attend university I could make all the friends that I wanted...was what I thought at that time. But looking back at it now, I could only laugh at how naive I was back then.

Thanks to all the effort I put in I managed to get on the top 1% percentile in the national exams, but in the end, the scholarship I so wanted never came.

Funnily enough, I only found out later that the one who got the scholarship was actually lower ranked than me. Apparently, his father was a highly influential person and helped him secure the scholarship for him.

That scholarship should've been mine! All the sleepless nights and lonely days that I had spent became worthless!

What's even more frustrating was the fact that the father could totally afford to send his son to university without a scholarship.

Since you could afford it, why not give it to someone who actually needed it?

I wanted to apply to other universities for scholarships, but they were all outside of my city, and I couldn't afford to move.

At that point, having exhausted all my family's savings, I was dirt poor.

I could barely feed myself through part-time jobs. How could I possibly study in another city where the rent was levels beyond what I could afford.

And thus left with no choice, I dropped all my studies and continued attending part-time jobs.

I slowly sank into depression and found an escape route in food, manga, and web novels

As I gained weight and found myself putting on more pounds with each passing day, it became increasingly harder for me to continue going to part-time jobs as I would always run out of breath after standing for over 10 minutes.

Fortunately, I found myself a new hobby. Writing web novels. At first, I took it as a hobby to pass time, but later as more and more people started reading my novel, a fire that had long been extinguished ignited inside of me, prompting me to continue writing.

And I succeeded

My first novel was a hit, and money started coming in.

.....

[Descent of the Hero]

Description : Sypher an orphan boy from a poor village hopes of one day becoming a hero and embarks on a tough journey to fight against all odds and become a hero.

Rating : 4.7 (513 reviews)

Views : 5.5M Words : 1.3M

.....

Sure it was your typical story of Hero vs Demon king, but what could I say? As long as I liked it, and it made money it'll do, right?

At least that's what I thought at first, but as time progressed and as my second and third novels came out, I found myself slowly and slowly losing interest.

It was not because I hated writing, no, it was simply because of what I was made to write. Because I was catering to my readers, I slowly started straying away from what I liked writing.

I started writing things that I did not like. For example, people loved fan service, but it was really uncomfortable from a writer's point of view. Especially for a virgin like myself. Fortunately, I had the internet to help me, but it was stuff like this that made my passion for writing decrease. I mean who would want to write about putting some cucumber in their mouth? Certainly not me.

And though I did exactly as my readers asked, apart from the first novel I never found my novels making it in the ranks.

And here I was today staring blankly at my laptop
click click click click click

The monotonous sound of my keyboard typing echoed inside of my room.

The same boring pattern repeated like any other day.

Wake up

Type

Eat

Type

Repeat

Finishing my last sentence, I pressed the save button at the top right of my screen and clicked [Send]

Sigh

Letting out a long sigh, I dazedly look at my ceiling. How long will I have to continue to do this?

Bitterly shaking my head, I look at my novels comment section

.....

Goodguy85 : Ugh Author-san I feel like your writing is becoming worse and worse.....

--> Weeboo : Replying to Goodguy85, I totally agree with you. This novel had so much potential but I feel like lately the story started derailing.

--> TruckDriver : I totally agree with you man. There are too many plot holes and Deux Machina. It's getting ridiculous.

Boywonder : ~Thanks for the new chapter!

TwilightStar : Dropped

BoobMonster : hey hey hey, where the ecchi scenes?

Roosterboy65 : Dude is married to mary sue.

.....

BAM!

"Fuck! What do you mean my writing is getting worse!"

Slamming the table with my fist, I raged at my computer.

"I'm tired of this shit!"

Closing the laptop down, I forcefully tried to calm myself. Getting angry was not good for my blood pressure.

It was your typical weak to strong story, but unlike my previous novels, this one was set in a modern futuristic setting.

The story's background starts in 1980 where the 'Great Cataclysm' occurred. A three-stage disaster that hit the earth causing the world to drastically change

The first phase of the 'Great Cataclysm' - Shift in tectonic plates all over Earth, moving countries from where they were previously, resulting in tsunamis and earthquakes, killing millions in the process. The sudden shift in tectonic plates caused the world map to permanently change, with there only being one landmass surrounded by water.

The second phase of the 'Great Cataclysm' - Huge portals started appearing where unknown species which were later identified as demons and other races, started emerging. At first, they were docile, but as soon as they deemed humanity weak they started rampaging all over the place.

But with great disasters come opportunities. As portals appeared, humanity managed to gain access to mana. A special force that lingered throughout the atmosphere and originated from other worlds. It would allow humans to do things they could've only dreamt of doing in the past like summoning fireballs or cutting through metal.

Lastly, the third phase of the 'Great Cataclysm' - This happens near the ending of the novel, and it was when the Demon world forces started a full-scale invasion of earth.

Ten years after the Second cataclysm, three factions ruled the world. The demon faction, the Human faction, and the Fantasia faction which was compromised of Orcs, elves, and Dwarves.

The Fantasia faction was sort of an alliance between the elves, dwarves, and the orcs. And that was because they were practically forced into one.

Demons were the manifestation of 'greed'. They were created with the sole goal of devouring planets. They would first start by entering a planet, then as time progresses they would reproduce like crazy, and slowly once they gained enough strength they would devour the planet.

The Elves, orcs, and dwarves were all refugees and survivors from the demons, who had already conquered their home planet.

At first, when the elves, orcs, and dwarves arrived on earth, they chose to observe. They wanted to see if the humans were worthy enough to join their alliance to fight against the demons. At first, they were very excited with the prospect of gaining a potential ally, but as time passed their excitement turned into disappointment, which later became into disgust.

For the prideful elves, the selfish acts and schemes which they witnessed during humanity's dark moments made all thoughts of collaboration vanish, only to be replaced with utter disdain.

For the orcs, humanity's weak and frail body left them utterly disappointed and thus deemed them unnecessary.

And for the Dwarves, humanity's primitive technology made them seem like brainless monkeys who roamed around flaunting their power and intelligence with no substantial backing.

In the end, the demon faction and the Fantasia faction each claimed 3/8 of the earth, while humans only claimed 2/8 of the earth, making them a minority group.

Initially, the story starts with the protagonist enrolling in the 'Lock', a specialized school that was established by the effort of all humanity, to raise warriors to defend the borders against the attacks from both factions.

He was your typical MC with a tragic past

- Parents died due to war at the hands of demons

- Vengeance against Demons

...and so on

It was what you would expect from an MC.

It was my masterpiece. At least that's what I thought, but looking through the comment section I couldn't help but rage.

I mean how would you feel if what you feel is your masterpiece gets insulted?

Terrible right?

Letting out a long breath, I try to once again calm myself.

Lately, I've been having anger issues. The simplest thing could get me mad, which just goes to show how bad my anger issues were.

But it couldn't be helped. With how shitty my life was, I was bound to develop a twisted personality.

"Guh..Aaah!"

Just when I was about to close my laptop, a sudden pain struck me in my chest, more precisely my heart.

Clenching my chest, I kneeled on the floor. With heavy pants, I forced my way to my desk.

"I need my medicine..."

Because of my poor living conditions, I took a lot of medicine. There was one for my blood pressure, one for my asthma, and another for my depression.

and right now I was looking for my blood pressure medicine.

Because of my sudden outburst, my blood pressure must have increased, causing this reaction.

So as long as I could take my medicine...

"Gaahh!"

Falling to my knees my vision become blurry

It was starting to get increasingly harder to breathe.

"Ahhh, is this how my shitty life ends..."

Those were the last words that escaped from my mouth before I found the whole world become black

.....

Chirp chirp chirp

Awaking me from my slumber was the peaceful sound of birds chirping

I could faintly feel the warm gentle sunshine envelop my whole body, causing my lethargic self to feel more energetic.

Opening my eyes, I found myself inside a one-bedroom apartment.

Rubbing my eyes to make sure I was still not sleeping I blinked a couple of times and once more looked at my strange surroundings.

'Aren't I supposed to be...dead?'

...was what I thought at first, but seeing that I was still breathing and seeing just fine, I thought that perhaps someone had rescued me moments before I died, and right now I was in a hospital.

But with each passing second, I realized that this was not the case.

Why?

Simple...it was because a large screen appeared right in front of me startling the living daylights out of me.

===Status===

Name : Ren Dover

Rank : G

Strength : G

Agility : G

Stamina : G-

Intelligence : G

Mana capacity : G

Luck : E

Charm : G-

--> Profession : [Swordsmanship lvl.1]

Chapter 2: I've reincarnated inside of my novel [1]

A multitude of questions emerged in my mind as I blankly stared at the floating screen in front of me.

Ren Dover?

Who was that?

As far as I remember my name was...hmm?

What was my name?

Sitting up on the bed, a blank look appeared on my face as I dazedly looked towards the window on my left.

Jet black hair

Pale white skin

Blue ocean-like eyes

What was reflected on the surface of the window was not my face, rather it was a completely unknown face.

It had rather attractive features, but it wasn't a face that would make people scream 'He's so handsome!'

Eyes aside, it was a pretty average face. One that you would forget after not seeing for a couple of days.

Moving onto the body, this new body was rather skinny, it had some definition but it could definitely do with a bit more muscle.

But this was definitely not my body...I was supposed to be fat. Yet, looking at the reflection in the mirror I coudln't deny that it was me who was controlling the body as each time I touched my face, the reflection on the window also showed the youth reflected in the mirror touching his face.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I looked at my now skinny legs which I had not seen since my high school days, and stood up.

"guh..."

Stumbling a couple of steps, I felt a wave of pain wash over my head as I started experiencing a massive migraine followed by a severe case of vertigo.

Pain..pain..excruciating pain that I had never felt before engulfed my entire being as I leaned my hand on the wall as a means to support my body.

"Huff..huff.."

For what may have seemed to be hours, passed by in seconds, and the pain slowly subsided leaving me huffing and panting on the ground heavily gulping for air.

It was only after 10 minutes that I finally managed to stand back up.

Glancing around the room, a simply decorated room laid before me. The room was furnished with the basic necessities that comprised of a clean white bed, an old wooden spacious desk, a tall wardrobe, and a small bathroom.

As I looked around, on top of the desk, I saw a strange tablet-looking object.

Being desperate for answers, I immediately walked over to the desk where the table-like object was, in hopes of figuring out what was going on.

As I was walking, a strange sensation tickled my brain, as I felt a sense of discontinuity between my movements.

At first, I thought it may have perhaps been due to me suddenly becoming skinny, but actually, more than me not being used to moving due to my body transformation, it was more like I was not used to this body at all.

It almost felt as if there was a lag in my movements. But as I gradually moved more, the time lag slowly disappeared.

I don't know what it was, but maybe it was because my soul still didn't get used to this new body?

Well setting that aside, there was one important thing that I had to confirm. I had a hunch about what had happened, but I needed to confirm it, and what better way than through the tablet on the desk.

Arriving before the tablet I carefully tapped the screen, and then...

-Wham!

Holographic information one after another starts appearing before me, startling me.

Calming myself down I looked at the information that was projected before me.

User ID : Ren Dover

Age : 16

Picture : (Holographic image of myself)

Program : Hero program Year 1

School Rank : 1750/2055

Potential : D rank

Profession : Swordsman

"I see"

Looking at the information in a daze, I let out a bitter laugh

"It seems that I reincarnated into my own novel, and as a random character that had nothing to do with the story to boot"

Not the protagonist, but a completely unknown mob.

I, the author should obviously know every character in the novel, but who in the world was Ren Dover?

I never created such a character.

But looking at how things were, I should probably not consider this world a novel anymore, as I was literally breathing and moving inside of what seemed to be the plot of my novel.

If you were wondering as to why I am remaining so calm in this situation, it's simple really.

I hated my previous life

During my last breath, I had realized that I really did not care if I died.

During my last moments, the only thing I thought was 'It's a pity I died like this'

I don't know when, but at some point, I already had given up on life. But oddly enough, it seemed that I got myself a second chance in life and as a character of my own unfinished novel to boot. Though it's a real bummer I wasn't reincarnated as the protagonist.

Actually, that was a total lie

Who in the world wants to be the protagonist?

Me?

ha? Are you crazy?

Why in the world would I want to be some justice-driven fool who attracts danger wherever he goes? I just got a new life, why in the world would I throw it away like that. I ain't stupid.

Although I am jealous of his would-be harem. I mean I did make them beauties, but who cares! I stayed a virgin for my whole 32 years of life, so it's not gonna hurt if I remained a virgin for a little bit longer.

Setting my virginity aside, this world has magic and skills!

There's no way I was going to spend my time flirting with girls when I could spend the time practicing magic! I could already visualize myself casting huge fireballs. Just the thought makes me grin.

I mean how could I not be excited? I came from a world where magic doesn't exist, and now that I have access to it, I will definitely learn it!

"But wait....."

Considering how they put my potential as D rank, it would mean they evaluated my talent to be low or medium at best.

There's no way I was going to survive the third cataclysm with this low level of talent

Placing my hand on my chin I immediately started to plan my future

"Although my talent is low compared to the others inside of the lock, if we take into account that a D rank talent is extremely sought after in other academies, I could probably live comfortably once I graduate from the lock..."

"But, if I were to take the [seed of limit] I could permanently remove my limit...but that would affect the protagonist..."

"Actually considering the fact that his talent has already been graded as SSS, it shouldn't really be a problem if I take it right?"

Hmmm, I just realized it now, but didn't I create a total cheat character?

Setting the [Seed of limit] aside, I gave him the highest possible talent and also gave him the best equipment. Isn't this a little bit too unfair?

Now that I was in the novel, I could kind of see what the readers were saying about the protagonist being a bit too overpowered.

"Hmmm, yup I need to rebalance the protagonist"

Definitely not an excuse that I made up so that I could get some of the equipment for myself.....

Putting my shoes on and taking the keys to my room, which were left at the entrance of the apartment, I left the room

"Even if the protagonist doesn't take the [seed of limit] he would be able to exceed his limit thanks to other cheat items I've given him, so I guess it's fine if I take it"

From the very first moment I was reincarnated, I had decided, I will live how I want to.

Screw 'Efforts never betray'

Only a cheat like me who knows future events and where the cheat items were, could become successful.

...

Setting my foot outside of the lock, I felt a nice gentle breeze pass by me.

"Fuuu...how refreshing!"

Stretching my arms, I headed towards the train station.

The academy should be starting in a week so I have to find any means possible to increase my stats during that one week. I believe at this point the MC was already rank E borderline D, which was leagues above a rank G like me. So I've got to use this week well in hopes of catching up with the protagonist a little bit.

Right now, my first priority was getting the [Seed of limit]. By removing my limiter not only will I be able to reach greater heights, but I'll also be able to train faster. That was because the closer one gets to their limit the slower their training becomes. Hence why the higher your potential was, the greater your training speed was.

In order for me to find the [Seed of limit], I must head towards the Clayton Ridge in the outskirt of Ashton city, the city that I was currently in, which was also known as the capital of humanity.

After the first cataclysm, the world map completely changed. Before earth was a huge body of water with separate continents spread across it, Africa, North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Oceania. But after the cataclysm, all continents merged into one creating one large continent.

Then the second cataclysm occurred, and the territory which humanity occupied became smaller and smaller until the power balance finally stabilized at a ratio of 3/8 demons, 3/8 fantasia, and 2/8 humanity.

Currently, humanity occupied the east side of the newfound continent, right where Asia used to be. New infrastructures and cities were built, and among all the cities that were built, five cities stood out from the rest. Conviction city, Dromeda city, Lewington city, Park city, and lastly Ashton city, the current human capital.

Now, why were these cities so important? It's because they were humanity's last safeguard.

Each city safeguards the borders of the human territory from potential invasions and threats coming from demons and other races.

Conviction city stood at the very north of the human border, and safeguards humanity against the potential threat coming from the orcs, who were a war-driven species. Brutus the current leader of the orcs was especially fearsome, as he was regarded as the 'one-man general' in the battled field. His fearsome display of strength may come as a shock to many people as they each become flabbergasted at his cruel and fearsome strength.

Dromeda city safeguards the western area which was right at the edge of the demon territory and the elven territory. fortunately, the elves, unlike the orcs, were not a war-oriented race, hence the only source of worry were the demons. But even if the elves don't participate in the war, the demon's fearsome strength was leaving Dromeda on their wit's end.

Lewington city safeguarded the southern area of the human territory and protects against demons coming from the south. Like Dromeda, they were constantly harassed by demons, but unlike there, it was in a far more dire situation compared to Dromeda.

Dromeda borders with the elven territory, and as a result, the demons were forced to split their forces to protect themselves from potential ambushes from the elves, easing the burden they face when fighting against the demons.

In Lewington however, the situation was much much worse. There were no elves, no orcs, and no dwarfs. There was no other faction nearby that would cause the demons to split their forces. Therefore when demons invade, Lewington city faces the full grunt of the demons, causing large amounts of resources to be wasted every year.

Park City on the other hand was located on the east side and compared to the previous cities it had one noticeable difference, and that was the fact that it directly faced the sea. That was...it had to fend off against sea creatures.

After the second cataclysm due to the sudden burst in mana coming from the otherworlds, animals started going into a frenzy. At first, it seemed like they had completely lost their minds, but later after a few days, changes started happing. The most noticeable difference would be their insane growth in height and extreme bloodthirst. What could've been your cute little puppy an hour ago, turned into a demonic beast that would eat you whole in just a couple of minutes. Luckily, it seemed that they did not gain any intelligence, hence they were not necessarily a threat as long as they were left alone.

Lastly, there was Ashton city, the center of humanity. The last barrier that protects humanity against any outside threats. The most secure location available and the area where the Lock resided. The ultimate training academy that was known to mankind, created for the sole purpose of creating ultimate heroes who will lead the charge to reclaim Earth.

The lock was a huge facility that spammed over kilometers and boasted top-end training facilities. It had over 20,000 dorm rooms, 800 training facilities, 1,000 classrooms, and 2,000 highly trained professionals and teachers to tend to the students catering.

There were many privileges in being a student from the Lock, and one of them was the fact that you could gain access to all public transportations for free like how I was doing right now.

"Here's my card"

Passing my student card to the lady in the ticket office, I checked the map of the station

"Oh? you are a student from the lock?"

Glancing at my card in surprise, the ticket lady sat upright and carefully looked at me.

"Yes"

"Where to?"

"Station 24 near the Clayton ridge please"

Glancing up and down, the ticket lady suddenly smiled at me and handed me my student card as well as a ticket.

"I see, have a safe trip!"

"Thank you"

Like that, I boarded the air train to the Clayton ridge

Chapter 3: I've reincarnated inside of my novel [2]

What made air trains so special was the fact that they levitated in the air, and produced almost no sound throughout the whole journey making them a convenient means of transportation.

Thanks to its smooth aerodynamic design, air trains produced low drag, which in turn allowed them to conserve energy and reach speeds of up to 600km/h.

As I looked at the interior of the train, I couldn't help but be impressed.

Maybe it was because I got special treatment, but the area I was designated to had a private desk and a snack bar for me to freely use.

Lazily stretching my back, I comfortably sat down in my designated seat and looked outside the window.

Perhaps it was because it was still summer but, even though it was almost 9.p.m the sunlight still brightly lit the surroundings.

The station which was moderately packed was a scene that you would've only been able to see if you were inside of a movie.

Rows of platforms stood next to each other, and every couple of minutes you could see air trains departing, and new ones taking over the empty spaces left by them. The air trains, which were levitating from the ground were connected to long metal wires that stretched all the way to the horizon and with their constantly producing magnetic field, allowed air trains to swiftly move unobstructed.

- We will be departing soon, please be seated

-Clank!

A beautiful voice entered my ears, and the doors automatically shut. Suddenly underneath me, I felt a strange pushing sensation, similar to when a plane was taking off, and gradually the air train floated in the air.

A couple of seconds after levitating in the air, the train gradually picked up its speed and left the station.

- Next stop, Station 15 Colington park

Staring at the constantly changing scenery before me, I sank into deep thought.

Right now I was on my way towards the Clayton ridge to collect the [Seed of limit], but if I want to remotely come close to the protagonist's level, then I must also get my hands on a sword art.

A sword art, or more specifically a martial manual, were manuals that were developed since the beginning of the second cataclysm and consisted of martial techniques that had existed since ancient times. With the addition of mana, ancient martial techniques which were long forgotten were restructured and remodeled to take into account the mana that lingered in the atmosphere, and shockingly enough the techniques that were once deemed as useless transformed into some of the most powerful moves that could be performed by a human.

Since the discovery of the adaptability that martial techniques had regarding the control and use of mana, martial manuals suddenly became extremely coveted and as a result, they slowly started disappearing from the public view due to government and powerful individuals intervention.

The government primarily did it to prevent the manuals from landing in the wrong hands, but with regards to the powerful individuals, it was more of a power move to monopolize the manuals to themselves.

Martial manuals were separated into five grades, 1 star, 2 stars, 3 stars, 4 stars, and finally 5 stars, with 1 star being the lowest grade and 5 stars being the highest grade possible.

Each grade was determined by how powerful the art became upon mastery, and the difference between each grade was fairly substantial, just like the difference between a person's rank.

When choosing a manual, the most important thing was not the grade but whether the manual was compatible with you.

If you had a talent for swordsmanship but practiced a spear-related manual, chances were that regardless of how high the grade of the manual was, you would never be able to fully unleash the full potential of the manual.

Looking at my status, I couldn't help but turn my attention towards my profession section [Swordsmanship lvl.1]

===Status===

Name : Ren Dover

Rank : G

Strength : G

Agility : G

Stamina : G-

Intelligence : G

Mana Capacity : G

Luck : E

Charm : G-

--> Profession : [Swordsmanship lvl.1]

I don't know whether this was a coincidence or not, but the protagonist also has a talent for swordsmanship. Which in hindsight was advantageous for me as I know every cheat skill he gets for his swordsmanship profession.

In particular, a certain sword art catches my interest.

The [Keiki style] swords art.

When I was coming up with different sword arts to give to the protagonist, I came up with three different styles. The [Keiki style], the [Levisha style], and the [Gravar style], which were all 5-star manuals.

The [Keiki style], the one that interests me the most, was a sword's art that required an inhuman level of speed when drawing a sword.

In the setting I created, it was a sword art that Grandmaster Toshimoto Keiki created. He was a Japanese sword practitioner who later became famous for his unrivaled strength. He was also one of the first humans to awaken mana during the second phase of the cataclysm.

As Grandmaster Keiki was already a respected swordsman even before the second cataclysm, when mana made its way into the world, once he awakened, his human restraint was severed, resulting in the creation of the [Keiki style]. An incredibly powerful sword art where the user would draw the sword from the scabbard so quick that by the time the opponent feels danger he/she was already dead. It was a one-draw one kill type of style.

Because it was a one-draw one kill type of style, its flaw was fairly obvious. That was...you no longer hold the advantage over the opponent once they successfully defended the first attack.

The second style was the [Levisha style]. Grandmaster Levisha who also awakened at the same time as Grandmaster Keiki created his own unique sword art.

Unlike the [Keiki style], the [Levisha style] operated differently. That was...it was a much more beautiful sword art. When writing the novel I remembered describing it as a sword's art that would mesmerize anyone who caught sight of the art. Though it was an extremely beautiful sword art, you should by no means underestimate it, as it was just as deadly as it was beautiful.

Probably the most balanced swords art out of the three, but in terms of offense it was not as good as both the [Keiki style] and the [Gravar style] who specialized in offense

Lastly the [Gravar style]. The most infamous swords art of the two. To call it a sword art was, by all means, a compliment. No fancy swing, no fancy move, It relied just purely on raw physical strength that overwhelmed every opponent that came across it. It was a series of random swings with no foundation behind them, but at the same time because of the user's enormous strength, it allowed them to easily overwhelm the opponent.

Why was it infamous? simple, because anyone who practiced the swords art would find themselves suffering unbearable pain. In order for one to train the [Gravar style], the requirement was to reforge the human body by restructuring the flesh and bones within the human body to better suit the art style. It was a gruesome and painful procedure that could mentally break down anyone who tried practicing it.

Although there was a high chance of a mental breakdown, if you managed to practice the [Gravar style] successfully, you were basically guaranteed inhuman strength that would make anyone fear you.

Going back as to why I was interested in the [Keiki style] with respect to the other two arts. There were actually two main reasons.

One was that personally, my favorite art out of the three was the [Keiki style]. I mean why wouldn't it be? Imagine facing hundreds of opponents, when suddenly all their heads fall off with you looking like you hadn't done anything. Wasn't that totally badass?

Secondly, I couldn't possibly take the [Levisha style] as it belonged to the protagonist. I couldn't be changing the scenario too much, or else my dream of a peaceful life would go to waste. Also, the [Gravar style] was far too brutal for me to even bother learning it. I am by no means a masochist.

At first, when writing the novel I wanted the protagonist to practice the [Keiki style], but the more I wrote the more I figured it did not match his character, and thus I discarded the [Keiki style]

Fortunately, by some sort of twist of fate, I am now inside my own novel and could now wash away my regrets and practice the [Keiki style]. Moreover, I don't have to worry about the repercussions of learning the sword's art, as me learning it won't affect the plotline of the novel.

I decided to learn the [Keiki style] right after I collecting the [Seed of limit]. Thankfully, the location of where the sword art was located was not that far off from the Clayton ridge, and so by the end of the week, I should be able to have both the [seed of limit] and the [Keiki style].

- Next stop, Station 24 Clayton ridge

Waking me up from my deep thoughts, was a beautiful voice coming from the train speaker.

Taking a glimpse outside the window, I could see huge mountains in the distance.

As the tectonic plates shifted, it caused continents to clash against each other resulting in huge mountains and ridges suddenly appear across the world.

The current Clayton ridge was the result and aftermath of Japan hitting the east side of china causing the ground to be elevated and creating a chain of mountains.

Standing below the huge majestic mountains and admiring the sight, I couldn't help but sigh

"This really isn't a novel anymore....."

It all still feels unreal to me. As the creator of the novel, I always have this feeling of incredulity. It all feels fake. The buildings, the people, the map, everything was just as I had written in the novel. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Sometimes I wonder if this was all fruit of my imagination, and I was in a coma somewhere dreaming of this. But.....

Breathing the fresh air, and smelling the sharp, sweet, and refreshing smell coming from the pine trees before me, I could almost be certain that everything before me was real.

With renewed vigor, I start my climb up the mountain.

...

"Huff...Huff..."

The terrain was rougher than I expected, making it hard for me to collect my breath as I move up the mountain. I have to stop a couple of times to check my bearing, as there was no path for me to directly follow.

Three hours had already passed since my journey up the mountains, and although my breathing was a bit rough, I wasn't that tired. Well...considering the fact that I had ready condensed mana inside of my body, It really shouldn't come as a surprise that I managed to last this long.

Keep in mind that if a normal human with no mana concentration in their body were to climb this mountain, they would by no means reach the same point as me. Then again, I really shouldn't compare myself with normal humans, since anyone in the academy would last much longer than me.

Right now I was making my way towards the third highest peak, where a small cave containing the [Seed of limit] resided.

Because I only spent a couple of sentences describing where to find the [seed of limit], I don't know the exact location of the cave. I only know that it's on the third highest peak of the Clayton ridge.

Knowing that looking for the cave was almost like looking for a needle in a haystack, I've already mentally prepared myself for a long arduous search. Hopefully, I won't waste too much time, else I might be spending days here, which I simply couldn't afford to do.

Just as I had arrived below the third highest peak I squinted my eyes. I could already see the sun trying to hide itself behind the mountains reducing my visibility considerably.

Clenching my fist I decided to do one last struggle and climb my way towards the third peak.

This was a really reckless decision on my part as I would be directly climbing the mountain, unlike before where I just hiked.

Moreover, because the sun was setting and my range of visibility was decreasing by the minute it made it even harder for me to climb up the mountain as a slight slip could cost me my life.

Climbing the mountain at this time was totally reckless, but it's not like the protagonist was waiting for me to catch up to him, and thus I steeled my mind and slowly climbed up the mountain.

Feeling the cold rock in between my hand, I increased the grip of my hands and carefully moved up the mountain. If I don't manage to find the cave soon, I would probably be forced to camp somewhere on top of the mountain, which wasn't exactly ideal.

Halfway up the mountain, and 2 hours into my climb, I could already feel my hands becoming numb from the constant climbing. The sun, which had set long ago only left endless darkness making it impossible for me to see more than a couple of meters ahead of me.

As the nights progressed the cold kicked in, further adding to the difficulty of the climb. It was already hard to climb before, but now things got even harder. Not to mention that my whole body started aching like crazy.

Gritting my teeth I endured the stinging pain coming from my arms and continued my way up.

Inserting my feet into a narrow gap, I pause and looked up.

Although it was dark I could still see a couple of meters ahead of me. Squinting my eyes, I saw a small protruding rock coming from the top left of my view. Remembering a similar description from my novel, my eyes lit up and I forced my body to climb up near the rock.

Placing my hand on top of the rock and applying some pressure, I was able to confirm that this was the right place as a small gap appeared behind the rock.

Applying a little bit more pressure, I move the rock further to the side allowing me to see what's right behind the rock.

"Bingo!"

Smiling widely, I used all my strength and pushed the rock outwards causing it to fall down, opening a small gap for which a single person could enter.

-Bang!

After 10 seconds of free fall, a large sound could be heard from below the mountain sending shivers down my spine.

"Had that been me, I would've likely turned into an omelet if anything else..."

Turning my attention back to the cave, I slowly pushed my body inside the small gap. As I entered the small hole, I crawled my way forward for a couple of meters until a wide opening appeared before me.

Increasing my pace, I enter the cave.

As soon as I entered the cave I felt all the energy drain out of my body, causing me to weakly slump on the ground. I was exhausted, both physically and mentally. From the moment I entered the Clayton ridge to the moment I reached the cave, all I did was non-stop physical work.

I hiked non-stop for 3-4 hours and then climbed three quarters up the third peak. If it wasn't for the fact that I had already awakened by the time I reincarnated into the novel, I would've already been exhausted halfway through the hike.

Let me be clear. I was also extremely lucky throughout the journey. That was, I did not encounter a single animal. Since most animals who were exposed to mana turned berserk, I expected some kind of encounter against one of such animals in the mountain, but fortunately for me, I had come prepared as I brought a low-grade beast repellant that warded away any beast below G-rank.

Thus thanks to the repellant I encountered zero beasts which in turn helped me preserve some of my energy, allowing me to find this place faster.

Leaning against the wall of the cave, I slowly regained some of my energy. Glancing around, all I could see was a huge cave that I couldn't see the end of.

Smiling to myself I got up and moved towards the depth of the cave

"It's about time I upgrade myself......"

Chapter 4: I've reincarnated inside of my novel [3]

"Haaah...."

Letting out a long breath I dazedly stared at the scenery presented before me.

"I expected something out of the norm, but this...."

'Overwhelmed' would be the perfect word to describe the sensation I was feeling at the moment.

A huge towering tree stood in front of me. Its large roots deeply penetrated the hard rock, almost as if it was made of clay, and its lush green leaves made one wonder if there really was no sunlight here.

Right on the top of the tree was a pale red fruit that looked extremely succulent. It resembled a peach, but contrarily to a regular peach, it had a yellow glow enveloping it making it clear that it wasn't just your regular peach that you could get from the supermarket.

Taking a deep breath I looked directly at the fruit that contained the [Seed of limit] with burning desire.

'This is it...once I get my hands on the fruit, my future will change entirely.'

I thought as my eyes couldn't detach themselves from the pale red fruit that sat on top of the tree.

I will no longer be some good-for-nothing author who lazes around his house, raging at his own readers.

No

Instead of writing other's stories, I will be writing my own, and.....

Glancing at the fruit above me, I raise my hand and slowly clench it

"It all starts from that fruit"

...

Getting the fruit wasn't actually that hard.

In the first place, it was supposed to be an accidental find by the protagonist for when he explored the Clayton ridge during his elective. Moreover, if I don't remember incorrectly, I don't think the protagonist even got his hands on the fruit, as by the time he came the only thing he found was the [Seed of limit].

I kind of feel guilty for saying this, but.....

When I was writing this part of the novel, I totally forgot to add a trial.

You know...like the obstacle the protagonist needed to overcome in order to boost his own power.

If this was a typical novel, there should've been a guardian protecting the fruit, or at least some sort of defensive mechanism that made it hard for the protagonist to easily claim the fruit, but...I just couldn't bring myself to write one, as this would've been considered in a certain sense a small upgrade for the protagonist.

The main purpose was to speed up the protagonist's training by removing his limiter, thus I didn't really add any trial. This lazy me did it so that I could finish the novel faster, as at that point I was already bored of the novel.

But now that I am holding the fruit in my hands, I realized how complacent and stupid I was.

I mean, this was a total cheat item!

No wonder the readers started getting mad at me.....

I was totally over-gearing the protagonist. Moreover, the [Seed of limit] was essentially a guaranteed ticket to stardom, as it severed the restraint a human would have on their capabilities.

Actually...that may not necessarily be true.

Although the [Seed of limit] could be considered a cheat item, it wasn't necessarily that overpowered.

Although it removed one's limit, it did not mean that it improved one's talent.

In actuality, a person's talent remains the same, and apart from the fact that one would have no limit and their training speed increased, the [Seed of limit] did not help in regards to actual talent.

For example, if a person who has no talent in regards to fighting suddenly takes the seed of limit, they will not suddenly turn into some sort of god of war. No, if such an item were to actually exist, I might as well just drop the novel and be done with my day.

I mean, who would bother reading a novel where the protagonist doesn't overcome any hurdles and just bulldozes his way to the top?

Fortunately, I wasn't dumb enough to create such an item.

With the [Seed of limit] one could only remove their rank cap, but other than just faster-training speed the [Seed of limit] didn't do much. Moreover, even if a talentless person took the [Seed of limit] they could at most train their stats to be absurdly strong, but if they were to face someone just as strong as they were then they would instantly be defeated.

Still, imagine if the seed landed in the hands of a talented individual that wasn't the main protagonist...Just the thought sends me shivers.

Forcefully pushing down my feelings of guilt, I carefully observed the fruit.

Its pale red color added with its holy-like glow that was enveloping it, made it seem like I was holding a fruit straight out from heaven.

Swallowing the saliva that was stuck inside of my throat, I gently open my mouth and took a small bite out of the fruit.

Instantly an overwhelming sweetness enveloped my taste buds, making them dance with joy. The juices coming from the fruit overflowed inside of my mouth, and the succulent taste coming from the fruit made me momentarily forget everything around me.

Shortly after gulping the first bite of the fruit, I could feel my body changing. My eyes became sharper, my head became clearer and my muscles became more explosive.

I could feel myself slowly becoming stronger

Glancing at my status, I noticed my stats changing with every passing second and as I felt and saw myself change, a wave of euphoria washed over me, prompting me to greedily eat the fruit before me.

The more I ate the more I felt every fiber of my body becoming sturdier and stronger.

===Status===

Name : Ren Dover

Rank : G +

Strength : G +

Agility : G +

Stamina : G +

Intelligence : G +

Mana capacity : G +

Luck : E

Charm : G-

--> Profession : [Swordsmanship lvl.1]

"Haa...."

Using my shirt to wipe away the juices that lingered around my mouth, I took a good look at my status window.

As I looked at my status window I couldn't help but look at my charm stats...

Why wasn't my charm increasing?

I know that I wasn't particularly handsome but, I mean all stats except for Luck which was already quite high increased a notch or two. Why couldn't you just spare a couple of points on my charm?

Was I destined to be a virgin?

-Slap!

Slapping my cheeks to forcefully clear my dark thoughts away, I stared at my hands

A small brown seed nestled in between my hands.

"Is this the [Seed of limit]?"

Now that I paid close attention to it, I really couldn't determine the difference between this seed and any other seed that could've been both from a supermarket.

It was neither too big nor too small, just about the size of a coin and if it weren't for the fact that it came from the holy like fruit, I would've in no way have been able to tell this was the [Seed of limit].

I mean it looked so normal that I wouldn't be surprised if someone would just laugh at me if I were to tell them this was a cheat item.

But of course, since I am the author, I know that this normal-looking seed is in fact the key to my future.

I did mention this before, but the protagonist never actually ate the fruit. Why? Because he never had a chance in the first place...

In the original plot, the protagonist and his classmates would go on an elective in the Clayton ridge.

During the excursion, the first to find this place wasn't the protagonist, but the protagonist's rival. Once the rival found the tree containing the fruit, he immediately ate the fruit and discarded the normal-looking seed, which was later found by the protagonist who by sheer luck managed to discover its effect and ate it.

Yes, I know. I was currently fully reflecting on myself. The more time I spend in this world the more I realize how depressing my writing was...

Now that I think about it, since I ate the fruit I kind of prevented the rival from upgrading himself.

...this wasn't good.

The rival was vital to the plot. He was one of the reasons why the protagonist managed to become so strong. Me indirectly affecting his growth is also indirectly affecting the protagonist's growth

Mhmm...I guess I'll make it up to them later

Since I've already done the deed, I couldn't really turn back time and undo what I did. Instead of worrying about it now, I'll just do what I was best at...and that was leaving problems for later.

I mean I'll just owe them one later.

Taking a deep breath, I carefully scrutinized the seed in my hand and slowly placed the seed at the top of my tongue.

-Gulp!

Swallowing the seed, I sat down on the ground and waited for the [Seed of limit] to kick in. Then.....

1 minute passed

2 minute passed

5 minutes passed

10 minutes passed, and still, nothing happened.

Just when I was about to think that something was wrong, an overflowing amount of energy came crashing down my body.

It felt as if a dam had burst, making my veins and body withstand the grunt of the water coming escaping out of the dam.

'Excruciating' would have been the best word to describe how I was feeling, as I felt an indescribable pain wash over my body. The pain was so intense that no words nor screams escaped from my mouth. It felt as if all my bones and veins shattered at once.

The last thing I saw before I passed out was the humongous tree inside of the cave slowly withering away.

"Haa...I really am reckless"

...

I don't know how much time had passed since I passed out, but that didn't really matter at the moment.

My body ached all over making it hard for me to stand. Collecting myself, I slowly reached out for my bag's front pocket from which I took out a small rectangular tablet.

Tapping on the screen a 3D holographic image of myself popped up.

I was still not used to the holographic thing and all, hence whenever the holographic data pops up in front of me, I flinch every time.

Swiping right, I unlocked the tablet and checked the date.

Time : 06 : 47 Date : 07/09/2055

Mail(5) Calls (0) Messages(0) Browser

Closing the tablet I sighed in relief. Only three hours had passed since I passed out. Fortunately for me I did not pass out for days.

If on the unfortunate occasion that I did not manage to wake up prior to the opening of the academy, I would've been in big trouble.

Normally I wouldn't have cared about skipping classes as I don't want to repeat what I've been through back in high school, but since I designed the lock I already know how strict the instructors were. Especially to those who were not highly ranked, like me. They were merely treated us like dispensable people who will later die on the frontlines. Hence if you get on the bad side of some professors, it'd be best if you pack up, as you will probably never be able to graduate from there.

This was the last thing I wanted, as there were so many things I needed to accomplish in the 'Lock' before I could safely go outside of the human territory.

Firstly I needed to participate in a couple of events that will happen inside of the lock.

But wouldn't participation affect the plotline? Of course, it would, but because I don't know whether my reincarnation has had any effect on the plot of the story, I will need to personally check myself and see if the storyline was still the same as what I wrote.

So far everything seemed to be the same, but if by chance my reincarnation has had a butterfly effect on the story it could create disastrous consequences. So... taking this into consideration I decided to step in and help in the case that something deviates from the plotline.

Secondly, as the lock was the foremost academy in developing heroes in the entire humanity, it would be a total loss for me to miss it. I mean If I want to become strong enough to survive the third cataclysm, I should definitely not miss the chance that was presented to me. With their state-of-the-art facilities, it would take no time for me to become strong enough to live comfortably on my own.

But before I do that, I must first get my hands on the sword art so that I don't get kicked out on my first year due to my lack of talent.

Just like any regular academy if you don't pass the year you get held back a year. Thus if I don't get my hands on the [Keiki style], even with my limits broken thanks to the [Seed of limit], I would by no means be guaranteed to pass the first year. It's not like I could become super strong immediately. Without effort and time, I couldn't catch up to the protagonist and his companions.

Checking my status I noticed that after having consumed the [Seed of limit] my stats did not increase. Well, I'd be surprised if it did, as the [Seed of limit] was an item primarily focused on breaking the level cap of a user, unlike the fruit that focused on increasing the stats.

But the fact that I am no longer bound by the laws of this world, I could freely train as much as I want to without worrying about reaching a bottleneck.

...

It actually took me longer than expected to get out of the cave. Precisely 2 hours after I woke up I managed to safely get out of the cave. It wasn't because I couldn't find the exit, no that part was actually easy, but it was the fact that my body refused to listen to me. I could somehow move my arms but it was extremely stiff.

For a solid hour, I had to slowly tense my muscles starting from my fingers down to my toes. This was because all my muscles refused to listen to me. It felt as if the body which I had just gotten used to became foreign again, almost like when I just reincarnated in this body.

"Haa...finally some fresh air"

Taking a deep breath outside I felt my body slowly relax, helping me regain some of my energy.

The air outside was incomparably different compared to the air inside of the cave, which was extremely stuffy.

Staring towards the east with my improved vision, I could catch a glimpse of the huge megacity on the horizon. The tall skyscrapers and the ever-moving sky trains that operated non-stop made the city look extremely lively.

"Beautiful..."

Was the only word that I could mutter as I stared at Ashton city.

It's truly fascinating how despite humanity's situation they managed to unite and build such a beautiful city. And now this beautiful city that I was staring at was my new home.

"Alright!"

With renowned vigor, I immediately head down the mountains.

It's about time I collected the [Keiki style]

Chapter 5: Sword art [1]

If nothing had changed then the sword art should be located a couple of kilometers behind the Clayton ridge.

It took me 5 hours to hike all the way down the mountain, and a further 10 hours to reach the approximate area of where the sword art was located.

A large forest that spammed over several kilometers appeared before my view, and as I reached the entrance of the forest, without even thinking twice I chose to enter.

Although I was exhausted from constantly moving all day, I decided to grit my teeth and continue my journey.

Some might say I was too impatient with regards to how I was neglecting my body in search of cheat items, but I beg to differ. Not only was I reincarnated inside a world where the weak were prey to the strong, but in the near future, if one was not strong enough, only death awaited them.

If I want to be strong enough in hopes to overcome the certain death flags that awaited me, my only option was to increase my strength as much as possible.

Every minute that I saved was a minute I could use to train myself.

Despite being dark outside my vision was fairly unaffected, partly due to my improved body condition which was all due to the miraculous fruit I had previously eaten. The only problem was the fact that I was in the middle of a forest. So even if my visibility was clear it was still hard to make out what was in front of me.

"If I don't remember wrong there should be a river nearby"

My current goal as of now was to look out for a river that directly flowed from the highest peak of the Clayton ridge.

'For thy that seek the way of the sword follow the road flowing through the highest peak'

When the protagonist was clearing a dungeon he stumbled across three ancient scrolls that were neatly laid next to each other, and the content of one of the scrolls had those precise words inscribed on them.

At first, the protagonist didn't understand the meaning of the words in the scroll, but eventually with the aid of one of his companions he managed to figure out the meaning of those words. Sadly by the time he had figured out what the contents of the scroll were about, it was already too late as the protagonist had already learned the [Levisha style] sword art.

But this was perfectly fine with me as I really liked the [Keiki style]

In simple terms, the scroll was telling the protagonist to follow the river coming from the highest peak of the Clayton ridge. The word 'road' accompanied by 'flowed' referred to a river and 'highest peak' referred to the highest mountain within the human territory which was in the Clayton ridge.

And right now I was looking for that exact river.

It didn't take long for me to find the river, but by the time I found it I was really exhausted. I think I've been at it for more than 18 hours at this point. No matter how much I wanted to continue, my body would just refuse to listen to me, and thus l was left with no choice but to camp near the river.

These past two days could probably add up to the total amount of exercise I've done in the last decade of my life. Never before had I done this much physical activity, even if I had condensed mana and my body could keep up, I don't think the same could be said for my mental state...as I felt my thought process diminish with every passing second I continued moving.

The first thing I did once I arrived at the river was to immediately refill my water bottle. I have been drinking moderately to save water, but it was a needless worry.

Title : Compressed water bottle

Rank : (G+)

Description : Water bottle with the ability to store up to 50 liters of water without affecting the weight

I mean, this water bottle could store up to 50 liters of water.

Wasn't that totally awesome?

Before leaving for the Clayton ridge, I picked up this little baby at the train station, and I couldn't say I was dissatisfied with it.

Not only could it hold up to 50 liters of water, but thanks to its advanced technology it could also reduce the weight of the contents by a factor of 10, meaning that a filled water bottle would only weigh 5kg.

Well, that last feature was a must as...I mean what was the point of carrying a bottle that could hold up to 50 liters of water when you couldn't even hold it?

The thing that most shocked me about the water bottle wasn't its amazing technology, no it was actually its price.

It only cost me 20 U.

The U was the currency that was used in this world and it stood for Union, which was the current association overlooking humanity, besides the central government that was an alliance between the biggest nations from before the second cataclysm began.

The union was currently the foremost organization in the human domain, which only the central government could control.

Even the biggest guilds operating do not dare challenge the authority of the union as it would spell permanent doom if they clashed against them. The union has the highest number of S-ranked heroes at its disposal making it a behemoth that stood at the peak of humanity.

What makes the Union especially fearsome was not the fact that they had the most amount of S-ranked Heroes at their disposal.

No

It was their leaders.

The 'seven heads of the Union'

Each with the power that far surpasses S rank, breaking through to the legendary SS rank.

Currently, there only exist 15 SS rank Heroes in the human domain, and out of all of them, 7 are part of the Union, making the Union the main powerhouse in the human domain.

Each head was a single-digit ranker in the Hero ranking, which depicts the strongest members of humanity.

The Hero system was a system created by the central government and ranks an individual based on their achievements and strength.

This was a system that was created with the purpose of motivating individuals to become stronger, as not only does this bring glory to their name, but appropriate monetary compensation was given every year to top-ranking Heroes.

Since the second cataclysm, humanity has been split into two factions Heroes, and villains.

Where the villains were individuals that were categorized based on the crimes they had committed.

The central government has placed a bounty on the head of each villain, and the reward increases as the rank of the villain increases.

But to truly be characterized as a villain, an individual must sign a pact with a demon. That was a pledge to devote their lives to the demons, in which the demon in return grants them part of their power.

As demons were currently in a standoff against multiple races, in order to weaken their opponents they resorted to methods that created internal strife, and by giving power to individuals who were willing to follow their command for the sake of power, they successfully managed to continuously weaken their enemies.

This formula which has worked for eons allowed demons to propel themselves into becoming a dominant race across the universe.

Facing the constant pressure from the demons both externally and internally, only an organization such as the Union could barely keep the power balance among humanity in check.

Currently, I had 250 U with me, but if I needed more money I could just ask my parents.

Forgot to say this but when I was reincarnated in this world I found out that I had a mother a father and a little sister who was only two years old. More importantly, apparently, my father was the guild master of a medium-small sized guild called 'Galxicus'.

Because I have no recollection of ever including this guild in my novel, it could only mean two things. It was either too insignificant to the plotline, or that my reincarnation has had a butterfly effect on the story and thus created Galxicus. I honestly prefer the first option as the second option would mean that some events will deviate from the story which brings an element of uncertainty to the story that I know.

Letting out a sigh I take out a small cube from my bag. I then proceeded to press a small button on top of the cube and threw it on the ground.

-Sham!

Immediately the cube enlarged into a large blue tent that was around the size of one room.

Watching the cube automatically unfold before my eyes I couldn't help but let out a gasp of amazement.

Title : Compressed tent

Rank : (G+)

Description : Using the skin of a Blood curling bat, a 2 meters squared tent can be erected with a single press of a button.

It's so cool.

If I had this stuff back in the world I lived in I would totally go camping. I mean I could literally set up the tent in seconds without going through the trouble of actually setting the tent.

Looking inside the tent I couldn't help but nod in satisfaction. It was empty but it was really spacious. It could totally fit in more than five people, and more if we were to really push it. Moreover, since it was made from the skin of a blood-curling bat a G-ranked beast, it was far more durable than normal plastic and some could say it was comparable to some metals in terms of durability, making it an extremely good tent.

Taking out my sleeping equipment, I comfortably lay inside the tent and closed my eyes. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep within a couple of seconds of me laying down.

The next day after packing up my stuff and eating breakfast in the form of an energy bar, I continued my journey towards the 5-star martial manual by walking alongside the river.

The good news was that I knew what I was looking for as I proceeded forwards. The bad news, on the other hand, was that I had no idea how long I needed to walk before finding what I was looking for.

I could only lament at myself for being lazy. When I was writing the traveling scenes I completely left out the important information such as how long the protagonist walked or sometimes I even skipped that all together and just made the protagonist arrive at the destination by omitting his journey.

Thus even if there was a cheat item I really want to get, I wouldn't even know where to look as my lazy self did not write where the place was. I only wrote the general area. But that was also useless because some areas were so big that it would take me years to explore. Moreover, I also excluded the dangers lurking around the area, making the chances of finding the cheat item even slimmer.

You couldn't really blame me though. I mean who'd expects themselves to suddenly be thrown inside of their own novel? Plus, I skipped the traveling scenes because they were simply too boring.

Stopping myself I stared at a strange rock before me. The rock was oddly shaped and its outline resembled that of a samurai that held a sword on top of its head. I say resembled, but it was currently covered under moss and vines, making so that if one did not look carefully they would've never been able to spot this.

Of course, I knew why it looked that way, as it wasn't actually a rock but a statue in memory of grandmaster Keiki.

As time passed the statue slowly deteriorated making it look like an oddly shaped rock to anyone who would pass by.

Sitting down I lay a small cloth and sat on it.

"And now we just wait"

What I was waiting for was for the sun to set, as only when the sun sets would I know exactly where to go. The statue was made by Grandmaster Keiki back when he was still alive and was designed so that every sunset would point where his tomb remained.

From this point on I was strictly following what I wrote about how to find the tomb of grandmaster Keiki.

In the first place the protagonist never actually bothered coming here, as he didn't choose the [Keiki style] but the [Levisha style], making this the first time anyone actually came here.

It didn't take long for the sun to finally start to set, and precisely when the sun moved right above the statue that a golden line emerged from the tip of the sword. Looking at where the line went, I could approximately determine that it was pointing northwest towards what seemed to be a large but inconspicuous tree far off in the distance.

"Bingo!"

Smiling widely I immediately took a mental note of the tree and made a run for it.

It takes approximately 150 to 200 seconds for the sun to set. That means that I only had that little amount of time to run from the statue to the tree or at least close to the tree which was at least a kilometer away from where I was.

If I didn't make it close to the tree by the time the sun sets, I would easily lose sight of the tree as apart from being slightly larger than any other tree, it looked exactly the same as any other tree in the area.

If not for the statue directly pointing at the three, I would've never been able to know where to go.

"Huff, Huff, Huff"

Arriving with heavy breathes I slumped down in front of the tree.

I was totally exhausted. I sprinted at full speed in a rough terrain until I made it in front of the tree.

By the time I had arrived the sun had already set, but I didn't care as I had already reached my objective

"Now what should I do?"

Even though I was the author I was totally clueless in regards to what I should do next as I had never written a scene where the protagonist went to grandmaster Keiki's tomb. I didn't even know if there were any traps or trials inside of the tomb.

The only thing I knew was that the tomb was somewhere near this tree in front of me.

Carefully looking around the tree, I notice a root that stuck out from the ground. Placing my hands on it I noticed that it was fairly loose compared to the other roots that were firmly etched on the ground.

Without a second thought, I immediately pulled the root with all my power

-Snap!

With a loud sound, the root directly ripped off from the ground, revealing a small hole that could fit a single person.

Throwing the root to the side, I immediately made my way inside of the small hole.

The first thing I noticed when I entered the hole was the everything above the tree was hollow, and a single rope dangled from the top of the tree.

-Gulp

Following my line of sight, I involuntarily gulped as I noticed the rope that was dangling from the top of the tree going all the way down inside of a pitch-black bottomless hole in the middle of the ground.

Looking down the hole I couldn't help but feel cold sweat drip from my back, as it truly did look like there was no end to the hole.

Gathering up my courage I held tightly onto the rope and slowly made my descent down the hole.

1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, 5 hours, by the time my hands were numb, I had lost count of how long I had been going down the rope.

My arms and my core at this point were starting to burn from the pain of continuously going down the rope, and before I knew it, my mental state was also degrading.

Still, regardless of how much I was suffering I endured the pain and continued making my way down the hole.

Chapter 6: Sword art [2]

"Gasp...Gasp...Gasp"

With bloodshot eyes, I continued going down the rope.

I don't know how long I had been down here, but I presume at least two days had passed since I started going down.

My hands which were riddled with blisters started bleeding all over the rope leaving behind a red trail during my descent. My muscles spasmed every minute making me almost lose grip of the rope on a couple of occasions.

It felt as if I had gone back to the past where I would monotonously be typing on the keyboard with no sense of purpose.

I just kept going and going and going, until my sense of time and reason left my body. Even the pain slowly subsided making it seem as if I was a robot.

Sadly like any other powered object, robots tend to run out of batteries. And that's precisely what happened to me.

My vision grew blurry and my hands slowly lost grip of the rope.

...

It seems like I have died again huh?

Oddly enough it didn't feel the same as my first death, where I only felt endless coldness and loneliness.

This time a warm sensation enveloped my body making me feel extremely comfortable. It felt as if I was back in my mother's womb under the constant nourishment and protection of my mother. It didn't feel bad.....

-Dong! -Dong! -Dong!

Suddenly I heard the loud sound of a bell tolling, causing my mind to spin and my eyes to shoot wide open.

"What just happened!"

Abruptly sitting up straight, I found my body drenched in sweat. Touching my body in a daze I noticed I was on top of a small bed with the bedsheets damp from my sweat. Looking at my hands I couldn't see any trace of the previous gruesome scene from when I was climbing down the rope.

Glancing around, I finally took notice of my surroundings. I was inside a small room with what seemed to be a Japanese tatami-style floor. The room was rather empty, and aside from a small tea table and a large ancient clock that constantly tolled in the corner of the room, there was no other furniture.

"You up kid?"

"Huh?"

Snapping my head to the right, where the voice was coming from, a middle-aged man sat next to the tea table preparing some tea. His carefree movements and his calm demeanor when preparing the tea, blended with the tranquil surroundings.

The aroma coming from the tea filled the entire room prompting me to momentarily relax. But not for long as I immediately jumped out of the bed and warily look at the stranger before me.

Jet black hair, deep black eyes, and a stern but yet kind-looking face.

"Relax kid, I'm not gonna do anything to you"

"Who are you?"

I warily asked without letting my guard down.

If not for the fact that I was sure that he was not there when I was previously checking the room, I wouldn't have been as wary as I was now.

A master

He was definitely a master beyond my level.

Only someone who was leagues above my level could suddenly appear out of thin air without me noticing.

Smacking his fist in his hand, as if he was reminded of something the stern-looking middle-aged man looked at me and spoke "Ah! that's right! I haven't introduced myself yet have I?" Lightly smiling, he extended his right hand towards my direction "A pleasure to meet you kid my name is Toshimoto Keiki"

Instantly my pupils dilated, and my mouth went slack.

"Bu-t but b-ut how? Aren't you already dead!"

My speech stuttered and my body trembled as I looked at the man before me in shock.

"Hey, kid don't be like that."

Laughing bitterly at my reaction, Grandmaster Keiki calmly put down the teapot and blew on the teacup in his hand.

"fuuu...Yes technically I could be considered to be dead but...someone intruded my home waking up the remnant soul I left behind when I passed away"

"R-remnant soul!"

Once an expert reached a certain rank, they could learn an ancient Chinese technique known as [Soul division]. Its main purpose was to split a soul and attach it to an object, allowing a person to for a short moment of time interact with the initiator of the technique. To better summarize the technique, it was basically a live recording that you could interact with.

It had no attack power, and apart from inheriting the memories of the initiator, had no other feature.

Knowing this, I managed to put the two and two together and managed to recompose myself.

"Cough...Sorry about that"

Amused by my odd behavior Grandmaster Keiki laughed out loud and said "Hahahaha no worries no worries, I had expected this kind of reaction to happen once someone found my resting place."

"Ren"

"Scuse me?"

Confused. Grandmaster Keiki raised his eyebrow and looked at me who was reaching for his hand.

"My name is Ren. Ren Dover"

"Ah! that's right! How rude of me, I still had not asked for your name...a pleasure to meet you, Ren!"

Gripping my hand, we both looked at each other and shook our hands.

"Please sit down"

Gesturing for me to sit down next to the tea table, Grandmaster Keiki took the porcelain teapot and dumped the contents that were in it.

"Green or black?"

"ehmm...let's go with green"

Smiling lightly, Grandmaster Keiki added the tea leaves to the brewing vessel and slowly poured hot water inside of the vessel to let the leaves soak and steep in the pot.

As he was watching the water slowly darkening, Grandmaster Keiki let out a sad sigh and a nostalgic looked appeared on his face.

"You know I was once young and foolish like you...back in my time, I lived in a country known as Japan. It was one of the most beautiful places in the world. It had tall and beautiful mountains, pink-dyed springs which were due to the sakura blossoming, wonderful food, and mesmerizing star-filled skies...some even went as far as calling it paradise on earth"

Seeing Grandmaster Keiki reminisce about his past, I immediately sat up straight and paid close attention to what he was saying.

More than me wanting to know more about his past, which I already knew, I paid my full-hearted attention to him because of my respect for him.

Though he may have been a fictional character that I had created, that was then and this was now.

He was no longer a fictional character, and this world was no longer a novel. This was real...and the man before me was Grandmaster Keiki, a legendary warrior that sacrificed his life for the safety of millions.

Looking up at the room's ceiling as he was reminiscing his past, Grandmaster Keiki let out a sad and tragic smile.

"Prior to the disaster, I had a beautiful wife and daughter. Back then I worked as a Kendo instructor and although I did not earn much, I was happy. It was a simple but yet fulfilling life"

"But...then it hit us out of nowhere. Massive earthquakes engulfed Japan creating tsunamis everywhere. It was total chaos as people were killed and homes were lost. The world that we once knew started to crumble. Fortunately at the time when this was happening my wife and daughter were traveling on a plane with me outside of Japan, and thus we were relatively unaffected by the catastrophe, but..."

Suddenly Grandmaster Keiki clenched the teacup he was holding tightly, as his face burned with pure rage.

"Then the second calamity happened!"

Taking a huge breath he tried to calm himself down before continuing his speech.

"Huge black creatures with bat-like wings and sharp horns emerged from the mysterious gates that appeared all over the world. At first, they didn't do anything, they just stood in the air and calmly observed us like some kind of mice inside of a lab. To this day I still remember their arrogant eyes and creepy smiles that took pleasure in our despair"

With his hands trembling, Grandmaster Keiki looked directly at me.

Though he was supposed to be a remnant consciousness I could still vividly see the sadness and anguish hidden deep within his eyes, as crystalline tears flowed down his wrinkly face.

"As soon as they deemed us weak"

His teacup which was already shaking shook ever more fiercely and his expression which was previously still stoic completely crumbled as more tears started streaming down his face.

"Th-ey t-hey t-ook my wife and daughter from me....."

With his body trembling, Grandmaster Keiki, no, Toshimoto Keiki both a father and husband let the tears stream down his face as he mourned for the death of his loved ones.

Watching the frail-looking man break down in front of me, I chose to remain silent and patiently waited for him to calm down. A slight tinge of pain hit my chest, as a part of me felt responsible for this man's tragedy.

Wiping his eyes, Grandmaster Keiki stood up and calmly walked towards me.

"Sorry you had to see that"

"No, I understand"

I shook my head and got up as well

Staring at each other eye to eye for a couple of seconds, grandmaster Keiki suddenly smiled and patted my shoulder

"Good, it seems that my luck isn't too bad."

Walking past me, he slid the shoji (Japanese style door) and walked outside the room as he gestured me to follow along

"Follow me."

As soon as I left the room I was left flabbergasted. An inexplicably beautiful garden stood before me. I felt a sudden loss of breath as I stood there blankly, mesmerized by the scene.

-Tak! -Tak! -Tak!

Lush green plants vibrantly covered the surroundings of the garden and in the middle of it appeared a large transparent pond where koi fish of multiple different sizes freely swam in it. Birds freely roamed and chirped around the cloudless blue sky, and occasionally you would hear the repetitive yet relaxing sound of the bamboo fountain planted in the garden.

The more I walked around the garden the more I was left mesmerized by the surroundings.

Approaching the pond, I could see different colored koi fish which ranged from red and white slightly peeking the surface of the water almost as if they were aware of our presence.

In the middle of the pond stood a small island connected by a small wooden bridge.

Walking across the bridge, once again my breath was taken away.

A miniature stylized landscaped through which rocks, water features, and moss was neatly composed and surrounded by gravel which was raked to resemble ripples in water, appeared in my line of sight.

"A zen garden."

"It's nice isn't it?"

Sitting comfortably near the zen garden, grandmaster Keiki waved his hand urging me to sit down next to him.

"It truly is..." I replied as I sat down on the ground beside him.

Silence enveloped us as we both calmly stared at the zen garden before us. It was strange but yet relaxing at the same time.

"You know I was really surprised when I first saw you..."

The first to disrupt the silence was grandmaster Keiki, who with a smile plastered on his face continued to look at the garden before him.

"Ever since my death, no one had ever been to this place, and rightfully so, as I made sure to hide this place from the prying eyes of those greedy bastards..."

"Of course, even if they did find this place out of pure luck, I made sure they wouldn't be able to enter. I'm sure you know that the rope was a test right?"

With a smile on his face Grandmaster Keiki glanced at me, which made me recall the traumatizing experience I had gone through before.

'Of course, I know! I'm still being haunted by the rope to this day!' I cursed inwardly as I smiled and nodded.

"Yes I remember"

"Kukuku, you're so easy to read kid."

Laughing out loud, grandmaster Keiki continued "You see I put that rope there as a test to determine if someone was worthy of waking up my soul. If you had climbed down but quit after an hour you would've never been able to find this place. Even if you spent a day going down the rope you would've never been able to come here. Once you are able to firmly go down the rope for two days without falling only then will you have the right to have an audience with me"

Looking at Grandmaster Keiki I could faintly see a trace of admiration in his eyes as he looked at me.

"4 days 3 hours 22 minutes, and 41 seconds. That's how long you've been going down the rope. Even as a remnant soul I was shocked by your sheer determination"

I kept smiling, but my eyelid couldn't help but twitch at his statement 'Of course I kept going down, it's not like I wanted to die after just being reincarnated!'

"Even if you kept going because you wanted to live on, that still counts as determination. Moreover, you were never gonna die in the first place as it was just an illusion"

Seemingly having read my thoughts again Grandmaster Keiki lightly chuckled, causing me to smile in embarrassment

"Getting back on the topic, the reason why I created the rope test was to determine if someone is worthy enough to inherit my sword art. Someone with no determination can never hope of inheriting my [Keiki style]."

"The [Keiku style] is a sword art that focuses on monotonous but perfect slashes. If someone cannot practice the same monotonous motion like swinging the sword in the same direction for more than half a day straight, they are not worthy!"

Standing up Grandmaster Keiki walked across the bridge and stopped before a tree.

Placing his hand on the sheath of his katana he took a deep breath.

Soon after, his figure slowly blended with the surrounding scenery making it seem as if he was one with nature.

-Rustle

Out of nowhere a small gust of wind passed by causing a couple of leaves to fall from the tree.

The leaves which were blown away by the wind slowly descended near where Grandmaster Keiki was.

-Click!

All I heard was a clicking sound before all the leaves around Grandmaster Keiki split into eight identical pieces causing my jaw to drop into an 'O' shape.

-Click!

With another click, the katana that seemed to have never left the scabbard returned to its original position.

"The [Keiki style] is the art of perfection. When you manage to repeat the same motion every time with no margin of error, that is when you will have finally mastered the [Keiki style]"

Closing my eyes I tried to keep my composure.

My heart was beating like crazy, and my blood boiled. 'That was insane! Holy shit! How in the world did he even manage to cut those leaves so perfectly without even moving! I want to do that too!"

Looking at Ren's sparkling eyes, Grandmaster Keiki let out a chuckle.

"Do you wish to learn?"

Disrupting me from my thoughts was Grandmaster Keiki's stern voice.

"Yes!"

Without a second thought, I nodded my head enthusiastically.

I was waiting for this moment!

"Very well"

Seemingly having made his decision, Grandmaster Keiki peacefully smiled.

Slowly he walked up to me and tapped my forehead

Immediately I felt my mind turn blank as a flood of information rushed into my mind.

Watching me getting overwhelmed by the information Grandmaster Keiki smiled as his body slowly became more and more transparent.

By the time I managed to sort out all of the information inside of my brain Grandmaster Keiki was already almost fully transparent.

Startled I immediately got on my knees and paid my respects

"Thank you! Thank you! I will make sure to carry on your art and spread your name across the world!"

Grandmaster Keiki let out another smile, as he mumbled something inaudible before he disappeared and scattered into light fragments.

Nodding resolutely I stood up. Though his last words may have been inaudible I could already tell what he wanted to say.

"Keep low until you're strong enough..."

Letting out a deep breath, I took one last look at the surroundings and engraved the scenery inside of my head.

Paying one last respect, I quickly walked towards where the exit was.

"I know"

Chapter 7: Lock [1]

Staring at the door to the classroom, I sighed

[A25]

The letter "A" stood for the floor level which went from A to E, and the number "25" referred to the classroom number

There was a reason for my sigh.

I knew this class

Of course, I knew this classroom. This was the classroom where the protagonist and the other main characters stayed for half of the novel. Many schemes and plots from jealous rivals and competitors happened in this class.

Regardless of how much I didn't want to be involved with the main cast, now that I found myself in this class I would most likely be swept regardless of my will.

"Yo, you going in or not?"

Waking me up from my thoughts was a rough feminine voice

Slowly turning my head I momentarily fell into a daze.

Beautiful would have been an understatement in this case. Standing right before me, was a young girl with short brown hair. She had crystal blue eyes, a small but not too small nose, and a well-proportioned face. Her white skin that did not have any gaps accompanied by her beautiful doll-like appearance made anyone who looked at her lose themselves in her beauty. She had a well-developed body, where everything that should've developed, was developed and her elegant yet slightly arrogant demeanor added more to her charm.

Currently, her cherry red lips were parted in an annoyed pout as she stared at me in annoyance

"Move it!"

Seeing that I was dumbly staring at her, she shoved me to the side in annoyance and entered the classroom.

Letting out a bitter smile, I shook my head.

"That's Emma for you"

One of the main heroines of the novel. Emma Roshfield, daughter of Ashton city's mayor who was also the Vice-director of the union, and S rank warrior. One of the most powerful people in the human domain right now.

When I was designing her character, I made her into a 'tomboyish' style character. She was sometimes rude and impatient, but oftentimes she was kind, making her one of my reader's favorite characters.

For real though, I did expect her to be beautiful but the moment I laid eyes on her I was stunned by her otherworldly beauty. Not even in my previous world did I ever see someone so beautiful

Watching her figure enter the classroom, I couldn't help but express my admiration for her. Even famous actresses that I saw on TV would feel ashamed if they stood next to each other.

It took me a couple of seconds to collect myself before bitterly smiling.

What was wrong with me?

A 32-year-old man getting mesmerized by a 16-year-old kid?

I'm starting to sympathize with all the isekai protagonists out there who experience the same thing.

Since I was reincarnated into a younger body, which was still in its teens, I couldn't help but feel something when looking at the extremely beautiful Emma.

I think the biggest misconception that readers have regarding isekai protagonists was how they assumed that just because they were mentally old that they should no longer have any desires.

You have to take note that older people are not some sages who have no sexual desires, in fact, the only reason their sexual desires decreased overtime was because of their aging bodies. It had nothing to do with their mentality.

So put yourself in my shoes who was reincarnated into a body raging with hormones.

My reaction was totally understandable.

Still, this doesn't mean I was actually in love with Emma. I was just stunned by how beautiful she was.

I mean for one she's 16 so that in itself was a no-go for me, and secondly, she's one of the main protagonists who later falls in love with the protagonist, why would she be attracted to someone like me who has no redeeming quality?

"huuu"

After collecting my breath, I slowly opened the door and entered the classroom.

Looking at the classroom I couldn't help but notice how spotless it was as it almost looked like it was sparkling.

The classroom was split into two descending rows, and each row had a retractable seat that one could sit on.

"Where should I sit?"

As I looked around the classroom for a place to sit, my attention was instantly drawn towards two individuals.

Haughtily sitting on the last row on the right was a blonde youth with clear green eyes and a dignified face. His slightly long hair gently rested on top of his broad shoulders, and his perfectly masculine jawline seemed as if it was chiseled by a sculptor.

From time to time you could see girls secretly taking peeks at his handsome face as they shyly blushed and turned their heads away whenever their eyes met.

Jin Horton

The protagonist's rival.

Descendant of the Horton family that currently owned a majority stake of the second-largest guild in the human domain 'Starlight guild'.

'You could definitely tell he was one of those typical arrogant young master type characters'

I thought as I looked at him from the corner of my eye. His condescending attitude that made people feel like they were below him could be vividly seen by the way he looked down on almost everyone in the class.

Born with a silver spoon, and provided with whatever he desired, it was almost inevitable for his character to become like that.

But don't get me wrong, although he had the vibe of a villain, he was actually part of the 'goods guys'.

It was only after I made some adjustments to his character that he started becoming a fan favorite.

He may be a villain now but later as the story progresses and his character goes through a series of hurdles, he starts to mature and slowly becomes more bearable to stay with.

Just as he attracted most of the girl's attention, seated in front of him was a slender beauty that matched Emma's looks and attracted the majority of the boy's gazes. Her sleek black hair, which was randomly restricted by a small hairpin, gathered at her waist. her exquisite small face that was devoid of any makeup, displayed an image of natural beauty and innocence that made anyone that was near her have an urge to protect her.

Ignoring everyone that was trying to talk to her, the young girl focused on her book. She had a cold and aloof air around her that made her extremely hard to approach.

Amanda Stern

Daughter of Edward Stern. Guildmaster of 'Demon hunter' guild, the current number 1 guild in the human domain.

Like Jin, she was also born with a silver spoon, but unlike him, she did not become haughty. In fact, she was quite the opposite of Jin, well-mannered, intelligent, and oftentimes kind. Whenever the protagonist would get in trouble she would always find ways to help him.

If I had to point out a flaw about her though, it would be the fact that she was cold. Very cold.

Born in such a prestigious family she had no choice but to learn and suffer all the schemes that were directed at her family. Oftentimes she would be targeted by other guilds or organizations so that they could use her as leverage.

As she was constantly exposed to such schemes and ploys, she was left with no choice but to mature earlier than normal people, thus giving rise to her cold character.

Seeing how aloof she was, I shook my head and looked for a seat.

Glancing around a couple of seconds, I decided to sit down on the second row on the left. As far as way from the main characters as possible.

There was no way I was going to interact with them.

I'm just gonna sit here like a proper mob and pretend to be air.

Why?

Simple. The main characters were literal calamity magnets!

Whatever could go wrong will go wrong if you were with them. Like hell am I going to bother getting close to them! I'm here to live not to die.

Well, even if I did try to interact with them in the most likely scenario I would most likely be ignored.

Currently, it was 7:30 A.M and class began at 8:00

Seeing that I had 30 minutes to spare before class started, I rested my head on my arms and closed my eyes.

I had actually arrived at the academy an hour ago.

By the time I had come back from the Clayton ridge, it was already 6:45 A.M. and as I couldn't skip class I took a quick shower, put on my new uniform, and hurriedly made my way towards class.

I was honestly exhausted.

I did not sleep for almost 24 hours, and to be honest, I don't even know if I could even manage to keep my eyes open during class.

Fortunately, today was orientation day so they shouldn't be talking much, which sits well with me.

"Attention!"

As I was soundly sleeping on the desk, a loud voice echoed across the classroom waking me up.

When I opened my eyes, the instructor stood behind the podium as she looked at the class.

"Today is your first day, so there won't be anything special planned, but I sure hope you haven't slacked off during the short interval where you were accepted here. How do you expect to graduate from this place if you can't be diligent?"

-Bam!

Slapping her hand on the table a small shockwave spread across the classroom. Apart from Emma, Jin, Amanda, and a couple of other students, everyone in the classroom was pushed back, I included.

"There will be no slacking off in my classroom!"

Scanning the whole classroom, her eyes briefly paused on Emma, Jin, and Amanda, and the few others that managed to withstand her shockwave. If one looked closely you could see traces of satisfaction on her face as she looked at them.

Placing both hands on the podium she looked at the classroom

"Now, let's start with the self-introductions. I'm Donna Longbern, your personal instructor for this year and possibly future years."

That name, I knew it.

Of course, I knew it. She was one of the characters which I spent the most time designing. She looked exactly how I imagined.

'The calamity witch, Donna Longbern'

I muttered as I tried to suppress my raging heartbeat.

Her black hair gently cascaded along her shoulders stopping right above her raised butt that reminded one of a fully ripe peach. Her tempting figure that could cause any man to go insane, drew the ire of every boy in the class causing their hearts to boil.

But what truly stood out the most about her, was not her figure, but her beautiful violet eyes that made one lose themselves if they looked at them for too long.

Ever since young, she practiced an extremely rare enchantress art, which caused her to become extremely seductive to the opposite gender, as well as demons.

What made her especially fearsome was that she could completely tip the scale of a battlefield by turning allies against each other.

Currently, she was only 28 which was quite young considering that now the people lived for up to 200 years of age, more than double than before, prior to the Cataclysm.

Every one of her movements was extremely alluring, and if she wanted to she could turn any man in the classroom a puppet of her will. Even now as she stood in front of the podium her every movement attracted the gaze of every male in the classroom. Even Jin wasn't an exception as his face became red.

What about me?

I popped a boner.

Fortunately for me, I hid it well and no one could see it, or else I would've died of humiliation.

Couldn't help it. She was literally the incarnation of my sexual desires.

Of course, I wouldn't be as stupid as to hit on her. Not only was she strong, but she was actually an S rank member of the union, and ranked 156th on the Hero ranking.

Moreover, she had her fair share of suitors. Hitting on her was like asking to be killed.

"I'm sure I don't have to say more as most of you may already know about me"

Donna calmly spoke as she looked around the classroom.

She seemed to have gotten used to the boy's reactions, as she feigned ignorance to their reddening faces.

"As it is your first day I won't take too much of your time. I can already see some people who look exhausted in the classroom. Perhaps they did not sleep enough because they were too excited or they trained all night, so I'll make this first session short."

An angel

She was an angel sent by the heaves.

I had sinned. How could I have possibly had such devious thoughts about such an angel?

She could even tell how exhausted I was and was trying to be considerate of me and the others.

Amitabha

I am one with the sky

"Alright first things first, let's take attendance"

Taking out a small tablet, she quickly called out names

"Rank 1750, Ren Dover"

Hearing my name I enthusiastically raised my hand and said

"Present!"

Nodding she continued

"Rank 1232, Troy Morrison"

"Present!"

"Rank 845, Julius Halfwing"

"Present!"

"..."

"..."

She was totally reading in Ascending order, wasn't she....

As she read the names on the list, I couldn't help but notice the rank getting smaller each time a new name was called. And it just so happens that I was the first person she called, suggesting that I was the weakest person in the class.

I should've realized before. Letting out a sigh, I slumped on the table and quietly waited for her to finish reading out the names.

"Rank 15, Emma Roshfield"

"Present"

"Rank 12, Timmothy Bartman"

"Present"

"Rank 8, Amanda Stern"

"Present"

"Rank 5, Han yufei"

"Present"

"Rank 3, Jin Horton"

"Present"

"Rank 2, Melissa Hall"

"Present"

"Rank 1, Kevin Voss"

"..."

"Rank 1, Kevin Voss"

Raising her brow, Donna looked around the classroom and asked once again

"Is Rank 1 Kevin Voss in the classroom?"

Absolute silence. Not even a pin could be heard.

Everyone looked around, but they all shook their head.

Looking at her tablet, Donna frowned. Just as she was about to cross Kevin's name off the list, the door to the classroom slowly opened.

Soon a figure walked out, and instantly the whole room's attention was on him.

Short black hair, deep red eyes, muscular jawline, and well-built body. His entire presence and aura were like that of a newly forged sword straight from the furnace, with keen and sharp edges that threatened to cut anything that obstructed its path. His looks, which rivaled that of Jin Horton, who could've been regarded as one of the most handsome individuals in the whole academy, instantly drew the attention of most of the girls in the class.

"Pardon for my tardiness. I had a slight accident before coming here, hence I was not able to make it in time"

Taking a small bow, his eyes never drifted away from Donna's eyes.

Taking a quick look at Kevin, Donna couldn't help but be stunned at his indifferent attitude towards her, who practiced an extremely potent 4-star seductive art.

"Interesting"

Letting out a small grin, she nodded

"Very well find a spot and sit down"

"Thank you"

Nodding his head, Kevin made his way towards the first row on the right side of the classroom and sat down.

"Huuu"

Letting out a long sigh, I bitterly shook my head

That's the protagonist for you

Whatever he does, no one would find fault against him as he was both handsome and capable.

The world just wasn't fair.

If I had been the one who had arrived late, I would've probably been burned alive by now.

As a mob, you just don't get the same privileges the protagonist gets.

Chapter 8: Lock [2]

Arriving in front of a large room, Donna who stood in front of everyone turned on the lights and said "There's a wide selection of weapons here, so feel free to choose what you deem to be the best fit for you"

A large room appeared before everyone, and the diversity of weapons present here left me speechless. From nunchucks to broadswords. All sorts of weapons that were neatly laid out according to their size were being displayed before us.

I was honestly impressed.

There were so many of them that I couldn't even tell what some of the weapons were.

"I'd be very careful if I were you. If you damage any weapon present, you better be ready to pay up to 500,000 U."

Staring at the excited expression of the students in the class, Donna immediately poured cold water on them as she pointed out the price of each weapon. Some students couldn't help but flinch as they started looking at the weapons like they were some sort of divine artifact.

"I advise using a weapon that is suitable for you so that you don't risk damaging the weapon. Experimenting is good, but that is only if you can afford it"

Looking at the 200 or so students before her, Donna cheerfully smiled and continued "Before taking a weapon, swipe your student card so that you can register your name on the database. After that take your weapon and meet me in the main practice area"

Having finished what she wanted to say, Donna turned around and left.

As soon as her figure wasn't visible anymore, everyone started talking excitedly. Especially the boys.

"Wow, that was the 'Calamity witch'?"

"She's so hot!"

"Oh my god I think I've fallen in love"

"Pfff. You wish, someone like her would never like a loser like you!"

"Wanna fight!"

Scenes like these happened everywhere as the students had already formed their own clique.

I as the lowest-ranked member am obviously excluded from them.

And to be honest, it was exactly what I wished for, as I don't want to spend my time licking someone's ass.

In the lock, the hierarchical system ruled the academy.

Just like the relationship of a peasant and a noble. Only those who were ranked higher had the right to be treated as nobles. Low-rankers like me were merely people who would later become cannon fodder when fighting on the frontlines.

Such was my life now, as the lowest rank in the class.

Contrary to me who was all alone. The main characters were surrounded by a crowd of people.

Kevin, Jin, Amanda, Emma, and Mellissa all had people swarming around them.

Apart from Kevin, the rest were already used to such situations and thus were able to remain indifferent towards the waves of flattery coming from every person's mouth.

But for Kevin, who was not used to such a situation, found himself completely helpless. His previous demeanor, which caused one to respect him completely crumbled as he struggled to get away from the mob.

He wore a stiff smile the whole time, and he tried his best to not come off overly rude as he politely tried to talk to everyone.

"Right now he's probably thinking of a way to get his weapon and escape as fast as possible"

I laughed as I shook my head.

Such was the life of those who wish to stand out.

Ignoring the helpless Kevin, I turned my attention towards the sword section in the armory.

As I already know what I want, I quickly swiped my card and took a slim and elegant Katana.

The leather grip comfortably sat on my hands and the cold metal blade directly reflected the lights from the room.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

"Perfect"

Lightly swinging the katana a couple of times I nodded in satisfaction.

Its weight was neither too heavy nor too light, and added with its durable blade which was made of an extremely tough alloy made the katana a perfect fit for my sword art.

Taking the sword with me, I quickly walked out of the room.

Since I got everything I wanted, I made my way towards the training ground.

...

A large expansive ground appeared before me as I arrived in the training area.

The whole training facility was around the size of two football fields.

On the top right of the training ground was a shooting range that was split into five different distances which ranged from 100m all the way to 500m.

On the bottom right of the training ground, there were more than a dozen practice dummies that were perfect for close combat practice.

The training dummies were made of Forlum, an extremely tough metal that could even withstand the impact of an A-rank demon.

With its extremely durable body made of Forlum, students could train against the dummies without worrying about breaking them.

The middle area of the training facility was free for all, meaning that it did not have anything.

This was just mainly used to practice moves or footsteps.

Basically, it was an area that everyone could use to practice whatever technique they wanted to practice.

At the top left, there was a large gym fully equipped with top-of-the-line equipment, moreover, and most importantly, they had a gravity room that went all the way up to 10g.

With the gravity room, one could train and tamper their body with the aid of the room that could increase the gravitational force bearing down on a person.

Lastly, at the bottom left of the training ground a large swimming pool that was fifty meters long appeared before my sight.

The swimming pool was one of the most frequented places as it was extremely useful for condition training, as it helped muscles recover faster from fatigue due to the special medical ingredients that were added in the water.

"Alright, as I told you before since it's your first day you don't need to force yourself. I'll be here to supervise you all."

Gathering's everyone attention Donna happily smiled as she looked at the training ground.

"Now go and train! Time waits for no one"

Instantly everyone moved.

Some directly went to the dummies, while others towards the shooting range.

I curiously looked around and found Kevin, Jin, and Melissa heading for the training dummies, while Emma directly went towards the gravity room.

On the other hand, Amanda made her way towards the shooting range.

As I mentioned before Kevin's specialty was the sword.

Although he still did not practice the [Levisha style], his talent for the sword was still unrivaled. If I were to estimate his strength at the moment, I would say even if fifty versions of the current me were to attack him now he would be able to walk unscathed.

Jin on the other hand did not use a sword but instead used daggers.

He was what you called an assassin-type. He was extremely fast and agile and with his unrivaled speed could cut a person twenty times in a matter of seconds.

Melissa the second-ranked in the class used a spear.

She was also incredibly beautiful. Enough to rival both Emma and Amanda, but she was also a lot smarter than them.

She had an elegant and beautiful porcelain face that perfectly accompanied her creamy brown hair that gently fell behind her back. Most eye-catching were her exquisite cheeks and rosy moist lips that could tempt any man who saw them. A pair of pure glassy eyes hid underneath thin-framed glasses that put further emphasis on her eyes, enhancing her beauty. Her swan-like slender neck, under which her delicate sexy clavicle and full front that was lightly exposed, only further added to her charm as her delicate waist and creamy white legs added the finishing touches to her peerless appearance

At the tender age of 12, she was awarded the Humanity treaty award, the most notable award for those who achieve outstanding breakthroughs that propel humanity to the next level. Similar to the noble prize back in my world.

The reason why she won the award was because she was able to prove the molecular decomposition theorem that stumped a lot of famous scientists all over the world.

Her discovery was a major scientific achievement that shook the whole scientific community.

With the molecular decomposition theorem, diseases such as cancer that plagued the world were no longer an issue as this theorem directly tackled the crux of the problem!

The only reason she ranked second and not first in the academy ranking was simply because she was not very strong. Having spent most of her time researching, she did not have much time to improve her skills, and thus why during the admission test her physical score was only slightly above average.

But don't get me wrong, that in itself was an achievement, as my score was on the lower side of average.

Emma on the other hand uses a shortsword, and her fighting style was extremely fierce and aggressive.

Her fighting style reminded one of a berserker as she would leave no breathing room for the opponent when she attacked.

Honestly...she was probably the one I would least want to fight out of the lot as it would be extremely troublesome for my [keiki style].

Lastly Amanda. She was an archer, a really good one at that.

Out of the whole classroom, she was probably the only one who could accurately hit a target positioned 500-meter in the distance.

A prodigy that could only be seen every couple of hundred years, was what every professor said about her as they looked at her archery.

Those were the main characters

As for me?

Well, I'm just gonna practice in the middle area.

Since the [Keiki style] was a lost art, even if I practice it, no one would probably notice it.

Moreover, the way to practice the [Keiki style] would make one think they were crazy.

Closing my eyes I maximized my concentration.

Shing! Shing!

In one smooth movement, I took the katana from the scabbard hacked forward and placed the katana back into the scabbard.

"5 seconds"

Shaking my head, I repeated the same motion again.

The first movement of the [Keiki style] : Quick flash

A one-dimensional slash that could only hit forward with an overwhelming speed that could not be seen by the naked eye.

The [Keiki style] only had 5 movements, but each movement was crucial.

Each movement was like a piece of a 5 piece puzzle that would later combine and create the true [Keiki style]

For example, right now the first movement was only a single one-dimensional slash forward, while on the other hand, the second movement was a horizontal slash.

If the two movements were to be combined together, the range of movement when attacking an enemy would drastically increase.

Each movement was designed to add synergy to the other.

Once one mastered the [Keiki style], they would be able to attack wherever they wanted at an unrivaled speed.

You could say that the reason why the [Keiki style] was split into five forms was because one needed to learn the foundation before practicing the true art.

That was the true method of learning the [Keiki style]

-Shing! -Shing!

Without taking a break I continued repeating the same movement over and over again.

"According to the memories Master gave me, I can achieve the minor realm of mastery after doing the same movement over 100,000 times"

When learning a sword art there were ways to determine the level of mastery.

There was the minor realm of mastery, the great realm of mastery, the essence realm of mastery, and lastly the perfected realm of mastery.

Each realm signified a percentage of understanding of the whole sword art.

The minor realm of mastery required a 25% understanding of the sword art.

The great realm of mastery required a 50% understanding, the essence realm required a 75% understanding, and lastly the perfected realm.

The pinnacle of art mastery, with a 100% understanding of the sword art.

Currently, my aim was to get all five movements up to the minor realms, before later improving them.

...

A relatively handsome man stood at the edge of the training ground. He had dirt blond hair and carried a noble air around him that reminded people of a high-ranking aristocrat.

Turning his head, he looked at the beautiful woman standing next him and asked.

"What do you think of this batch?"

Staring at the distance, the beautiful woman who was in fact Donna Longbern, looked around and pointed towards a few individuals.

"There are a lot of promising youths, especially in this batch, but the ones that stand out the most to me are Kevin, Jin, Amanda, Emma, Melissa, and Han yufei."

Looking at where Donna pointed, the handsome man thoughtfully nodded.

"Well it isn't surprising considering their lineage"

Glancing at the man beside her, Donna scoffed

"I agree, their lineage is indeed impressive, but that's not what makes them great. The blood sweat and tears they put into their training are what make them this good. Just because they were born with successful parents doesn't mean they will also be successful. Unless you put in the work, no matter how talented you are, you won't ever be strong"

Slightly smiling the man responded.

"Well, I wonder about that. Speaking of which, is there anyone you have your eye on?"

Without hesitation, Donna responded

"Kevin Voss"

Slightly surprised by her quick response, the handsome man seemed to have recollected something and a trace of coldness appeared in his eyes before it quickly disappeared as if nothing happened.

"You mean the kid who set an unprecedented record and firmly took first place in the entrance exam? I'm rather curious about him too. Someone with seemingly no powerful backer managed to come this far. That's rather odd isn't it?"

He dropped subtle hints as he spoke, which made Donna secretly sneer at his attitude.

"I was one of the supervisors during the test and was quite impressed by his swordplay. It was elegant and yet had no wasteful movements. I can confidently say that soon enough there will be another S class in our ranks."

Looking at Donna who didn't even bother hiding her displeasure, the man just smiled and he casually said.

"Oh? for the calamity witch herself to speak so highly of him, it must mean that he really is a talent to look out for"

Glaring at the man beside her, she threadedly spoke.

"Gilbert. Call me that one more time and I'll kill you. Just because your father is powerful doesn't mean I won't do anything to you."

"Hey, hey, I was just joking. You don't have to take it so seriously"

Raising his hands in resignation, Gilbert slightly smiled.

"Hmph"

Turning her head away, Donna continued watching the training ground.

Standing beside her, Gilbert's smile quickly disappeared as he stared at Kevin in the distance. Thereafter his attention quickly shifted towards the middle of the training ground where he saw a lone youth practicing with a katana.

"Pffff, who the hell is he?"

Without even bothering to hide his ridicule, Gilbert laughed as he pointed at the student who was practicing with the katana.

Staring in the direction where Gilber pointed, Donna quickly frowned as she stared at the boy.

Taking out her tablet, she quickly scrolled down until a picture resembling the features of the youth appeared.

"Rank 1750, Ren Dover. Age 16, son of the guild master of Galxicus, a mid-ranged guild operating in Ashton city. Talent assessment D"

Seemingly having understood, he shook his head and gloatingly looked at Donna

"What did I tell you? Only those with a proper bloodline can hope to achieve something. People like him who are born with mediocre parents can never hope to stand at the top with elites like us"

Even though Donna wanted to refute, she couldn't. Looking at Ren who was constantly unsheathing and sheathing the sword, she shook her head in disappointment.

What kind of training was that?

At least swing your sword instead of just Unsheathing and sheathing the sword.

Chapter 9: Lock [3]

I kind of expected this but...

I'm currently being ridiculed by half of the class.

As I was practicing the first movement of the [Keiki style], I couldn't help but notice that some of my classmates were openly pointing their fingers in my direction as they ridiculed me.

Hello? I'm fine with you talking smack about me, but at least do it behind my back where I can't hear nor see you.

As I tried my best to concentrate, ignoring the ridiculing looks, I couldn't help but notice a tall man with dirt blond hair standing beside Donna.

Instantly cold sweat appeared on my back.

'Gilbert von Dexteroi'

One of the first antagonists that the protagonist encounters.

His father, 'Thundergod, Maximus von Dexteroi, was one of the only SS rank warriors in the human domain and was currently ranked third in the Hero ranking', moreover he was also one of the seven heads of the union!

With such a background, Gilbert could basically do whatever he wanted.

This was already shown by how he managed to become an assistant tutor in the academy at the tender age of 22.

What especially stood out about Gilbert, was not his father's background. No, although his background was indeed terrifying, it wasn't what people paid attention to when interacting with him. What stood out about him was the fact that he was a bloodline supremacist.

He believed that only those who had special bloodlines were allowed to stand at the peak.

To him, Kevin was an eyesore.

Kevin's parents were just regular people with at most a D rank talent.

Once they were killed by a demon, he was sent to an orphanage from which he lived there for 5 years.

He then later disappeared and reappeared as a prodigy that would make any guild drool at his talent.

How could he let Kevin who had a dirty bloodline take the spotlight?

He was a firm believer that only those who inherited a strong bloodline were destined to reach the peak.

He viewed the world like an aristocrat.

He firmly believed that commoners had no place in this world, and only nobles could rule the world.

So as soon as he heard about Kevin, his first reaction was to remove such cancer that was hiding within the academy.

Actually, Gilbert wasn't like this in the past.

But whenever Gilbert looked at Kevin, deeply hidden feelings that he tried to forget resurfaced in his mind, making him despise Kevin with all his might.

In actuality, his hatred stemmed from a trauma that occurred to him in the past.

Back when he first arrived in the lock, he was confident, kind, and well-mannered.

However one day a transfer student came into class.

Unlike Gilbert who was the son of the Thundergod Maximus, he was just a regular student with no notable background.

At first, Gilbert didn't think too much about him, but slowly the transfer student climbed up the ranks.

Startled Gilbert started to pay more and more attention to the transfer student.

Seeing his stunning growth he was extremely excited.

'Finally, someone who is worthy to compete with me'

He thought, as he trained and studied more than before.

Slowly the two started competing in almost every subject, and a friendship slowly blossomed between them.

At first, Gilbert always came out on top, but as time passed the gap gradually became smaller and smaller, until the transfer student started winning all their competitions.

Shocked by his progress, Gilbert studied and trained even harder.

But...

The results were the same.

The gap kept growing bigger and bigger, and a seed of inferiority started to plant inside of his heart.

'How can I the son of the thunder god lose to him who had nothing since birth?'

Every day he would ask himself the same thing, as he tried his best to bridge the gap between them.

At first, it went from wanting to get higher scores than him, to later wanting to be not too far from his score.

Gilbert's expectation of himself slowly started becoming lower and lower.

All along he kept his feelings hidden inside of him as he continued being friends with the transfer student.

Then one day during an excursion a high-ranked demon attacked.

Everyone ran for their lives, Gilbert included.

During the chaos, no one noticed one person staying behind.

The transfer student.

Without a second thought, he chose to fight the demon and buy as much time as possible for his classmates to escape.

As Gilbert ran, he quickly noticed his friend's absence.

When he turned around all he saw was his friend desperately fending off the demon.

Without a second thought, he tried to help, but he was held back by a teacher and forced to abandon his best friend and rival.

When the reinforcements arrived it was already too late.

His best friend and rival had died protecting everyone.

As soon as he heard the news the first thing he felt was a sense of relief.

But soon after, as soon as he realized how he felt at his friend's death, deep regret and anguish overcame him.

How could he feel relief when his best friend died while saving him and everyone in the class?

Although he felt inferior to him, he was like a brother to him. He looked up to him. He cherished him deeply. He was the first true friend he had ever made.

He locked himself inside of his room for a month.

He started eating less and less, and would always refuse to come out.

The situation got so bad that his father was forced to rush back to his son.

'Everything is up to fate, no matter how talented one is, only the chosen ones get to live on'

Those were the words his father coldly told to him as he lectured his son.

As his father's words echoed in his ears, Gilbert slowly looked back at his past.

His friend was way more talented than him.

But in the end, the one that survived was him.

In the end, the winner was the one who lived in the end.

Slowly weird and twisted ideas started sprouting inside of his mind, almost like a germinating seed.

'No matter how talented one is, if they are not destined for greatness, they will never reach the top.'

'That's right. So what if he was talented. I am the one who lived in the end'

'You cannot help but blame your poor birth for your death. You who was not born by a chosen one cannot hope to strive to reach the peak'

Soon his thoughts twisted more and more until he became a bloodline supremacist.

Although it may have seemed like he was trying to delude himself and find a way to escape reality, in actuality this was all planned by the demons beforehand.

His so-called 'best friend' was actually a mole planted by the demons beforehand.

Everything till now was a careful scheme done by the demons who were trying to turn Gilbert into their pawn.

They first infiltrated his emotions through the use of his 'best friend'.

Once his 'best friend' died in a tragic accident, and Gilbert's emotions were unstable, the demons planned to make him digest a demon seed which essentially corroded a person's mind and turned them into a puppet.

Such was their plan, but unfortunately for them, their scheme ended up being exposed by Gilbert's father who ended all their years of planning.

But...the damage was already done as since then Gilbert became a bloodline supremacist.

Looking at him from the distance I couldn't help but pity him.

But that doesn't mean I want to talk to him.

Hell no!

He's probably the person I fear the most in the lock.

The reason why I fear him is not because he's some secret boss that is super strong.

No.

At most he's a medium-level boss, as he is not even that strong.

The truly frightening thing about him is the fact that he is a chain villain!

What is a chain villain?

Chain villains are probably the scariest villains you could possibly create.

They are those villains that only bring more trouble as you defeat them.

Let me make an example.

Let's take a Chinese cultivation novel.

Imagine this guy tries to rob you, and you kill him.

That's it, right?

No!

Turns out he is a low-level disciple from a prestigious sect.

His senior brother enraged by his death hunts you down.

What do you do?

You defeat him.

What's next?

The senior brother's senior brother will hunt you next!

This will go on until the situation gets so bad that an elder comes looking for you.

Soon you have a fight against the elder and left with no other option, you defeat him.

This will go on until, in the end, you kill the sect leader and remove the whole sect.

In the end, because you killed some random person who tried to harm you, you ended up fighting a whole sect!

That's what a chain villain was!

The most fearsome of all villains in novels.

And that's exactly what Gilbert was.

And what's especially fearsome about him, is that the prestigious sect we are talking about is the union.

The goddam union!

You want to fight against them? The strongest organization in the human domain?

Be my guest, but I'm out.

I'm not suicidal.

In the novel, Gilbert first uses lackeys to torment the MC. When things don't work out, he tries different methods. Such as employing assassins, or using poison.

Slowly Kevin finds himself fighting against Gilbert, and as soon as he defeats him, he finds himself in a whole world of trouble as Gilbert's relatives who work in the union also start targeting him.

Slowly Kevin finds himself fighting higher and more executive members in the union until he has to go toe to toe against Thunder god Maximus.

At one point things got so bad that he had to leave the human domain so that he could build up strength and take his revenge.

Shaking my head, I slowly walk further away from Gilbert.

In the end, I spent 2 hours practicing the same movement over and over again.

"Attention, please! I have observed each and every one of you today. I am pleased by most of you, of course, not everyone pleased me, as some of you wasted your precious time playing around or were just randomly swinging without aim. I expect better next time"

Donna spoke as she briefly glanced at me.

And thus, the first training session ended.

...

"Hey, why don't you teach me your moves?"

"I don't understand. Why do you keep repeating the same thing over and over again? Are you seeking attention or something?"

On the way to the dorm, I was harassed by a group of boys who struck up a conversation.

I kept ignoring them, but it seemed that it only piqued their interest more.

It was only after I ignored them for five minutes straight, that they left me alone. Actually, the main reason why they stopped was because the main characters just passed by.

Kevin, Jin, Amanda, Emma, and Melissa.

If it weren't for the fact that Jin was glaring holes at the back of Kevin's head, this could've been a scene straight out of a painting.

two incredibly handsome boys walking alongside three earthshaking beauties while smiling and chatting amongst each other.

Even I didn't expect them to be so handsome and beautiful.

As they passed, everyone's sight would turn on them, and people would make way for them.

Since I didn't want to stand out I copied everyone else and moved to the side.

As soon as they left, the corridor regained its usual liveliness and I arrived in front of my room.

Click!

Swiping my card, the door automatically opened for me.

Taking off my shoes, I took a quick shower and then went to bed.

I had not slept for the past 24 hours and thus was completely exhausted.

As soon as my body touched the bed, I passed out.

...

"Hey, hey guys did you notice how everyone made way for us? It was like a big shot was walking"

Cheerfully said Emma, as she looked at the people in front of her.

Smiling Kevin nodded

"Yes, I saw. I really didn't expect people to do that"

Sneering, Jin looked at Kevin.

"Hmph, of course, you didn't expect that. The only reason they made way for us is because I was present"

Hearing Jin's reply, Melissa shook her head and moved two steps away from Jin.

She hated interacting with stupid people.

Amanda on the other hand was used to Jin's behavior hence she didn't react. As both of them came from the first and second-ranked guild respectively, they both had interacted with each other on multiple occasions, hence why she was used to his behavior.

Actually more than didn't react, it was more like she didn't care.

As for Emma?

She found his response funny, as she tried to hold back her laugh.

Smiling wryly Kevin tried to change the topic.

"Right guys, did you notice the guy in the middle who was practicing the katana?"

"....Katana? Oh, that weird guy who was unsheathing and sheathing the katana repeatedly?"

Instantly Emma went beside Kevin as she excitedly started talking.

Just like Amanda, Emma did not become an arrogant young master like Jin. She was rather bossy, but most of the time she was cheerful, and always liked to compete.

Hence whenever she saw Kevin her competitive spirit would burn, promoting her to interact with him more.

"Uh, yeah, him..."

Taken aback by Emma's excitement, Kevin awkwardly nodded.

"What was his name?"

Tilting her head, Emma looked around.

Amanda was reading her book, so she didn't respond, while Melissa didn't seem to care.

Kevin also didn't know his name, so he helplessly shrugged his shoulders

"Forget about that loser, and let's head to the cafeteria. I'm starving."

Said Jin, as he picked up the pace.

"Hey wait up!"

Shouted Emma, as she ran to catch up to Jin.

Shaking his head helplessly, Kevin also increased his pace as he made his way towards the cafeteria.

The only reason why he asked about the Katana boy, was because his instincts told him he was not as simple as he looked.

"Forget it, I'm probably imaging things."

Like that, Ren managed to avoid a troublesome situation where he would get noticed by the protagonist.

Chapter 10: Book [1]

-Ding -Dong!

"Coming!"

Hurriedly putting on my pants, I made my way towards the door.

Opening the door, a man with a blue jacket held onto a large package.

"Rank 1750, Ren Dover, package delivery."

Handing over the large package, the man held out his tablet and I swiftly signed it.

-Clack!

Closing the door, I curiously pulled the tape off the box.

The first thing I saw was a white letter that was neatly nested on top of the other items.

Opening the letter I quickly went through the contents

===

Hi Ren!

How is school? Have you made any friends yet? When are you coming back home?

Come visit us often, your little sister is waiting for you.

By the way, I sent some things that you might need.

Kiss, Kiss your one and only beautiful mother.

P.S

Daddy also misses you, so work hard! [heart emoji][Heart emoji][Heart emoji]

===

Ah.

Yes, I in fact did reincarnate to overly protective parents.

During the time I was in Clayton ridge, I would occasionally receive texts from them, and whenever I texted back, the response would always come within seconds.

Most of the time they would just randomly text me the weirdest thing or nag about how I should train more so that I would one day take over the guild.

I can't say I hated this feeling though.

As my family left me early in my previous life, I had long lost familial warmth. Now that I have it back, I don't want to part ways with it.

Opening the box, I quickly separated things into two piles.

Useless and Useful.

Although I have only known my family for a week, I can already tell from what I've seen so far that they've definitely sent junk.

And I was exactly right.

The first thing I pulled was a large shirt that said 'Mama's boy' on it.

Like hell, I'm wearing this!

Throwing the shirt at the useless pile, I quickly checked the rest of the content.

There were many things packed inside, from bags to clothes and other useful things that could be of use to me later on.

Slowly I separated the useful and useless stuff, that my mom sent.

"Phew... That should be it"

Wiping off the sweat that had accumulated on my forehead, I stood up and lazily stretched my arms.

"Huh"

Just as I was about to leave, I caught a glimpse of something inside the box from the corner of my eye.

"A book?"

Looking at the last thing inside of the box, I couldn't help but be confused. It was a red book with no cover or illustration on the front.

From what I've observed so far, whomever Ren Dover was before I took over, was definitely not a book lover.

In fact, it seemed that he hated reading, as my new mother seemed to have been really surprised when I asked her for some books.

She wanted to send me a congratulatory gift for managing to enroll in the lock, and as I don't necessarily know them that well I only asked them for a couple of books as a gift.

Flipping through the book, I was left speechless as there was nothing written in the book. It was completely blank.

"Perhaps it's a diary"

I thought as I threw the book into the useless pile.

Makes more sense now.

Glancing around the room, I checked the time. It was around six in the afternoon.

-Gurgle.

"I guess I'll head to the canteen first, and then I'll go to the gym after that"

Seeing how my stomach was growling in hunger, I decided to go to the canteen to eat some food before heading to the gym.

Packing up my bag, I took the keys and swiftly left the room.

-Click.

With a click, the door closed, and I left for the canteen.

As I left, inside of the room, engravings started to appear on an inconspicuous red book that sat on top of a pile of junk in the corner of the room.

'The luminescent swordsman'

...

I gotta say, the food in the canteen was amazing.

I only spent 15 U and I got a meal that would've made it into the Michelin list back in my world.

It was that good.

After indulging myself a bit more, I quickly made my way towards the training ground.

As I arrived at the training grounds, I couldn't help but once again be impressed by the facility. Even though I had already been here today, because I was too tired, I didn't really have a good look at the facility.

"Just how much did they spend on this?"

I couldn't even fathom how much money was poured into creating this facility. The amount of money needed to create such an environment would be well over a couple of billion U.

The gravity room itself cost around 50 million U, and here they have a whopping 5 of them.

In hindsight, it is sort of understandable as to why they would invest so much in this facility. Although they were teenagers, they were all future pillars that would help protect humanity from the demon invasion. Why wouldn't humanity invest in them?

If they wanted to maximize their speed of progress, such a facility was needed.

It was around 19:00 and the facility was mostly empty.

But just because the facility was empty, it didn't mean that it was always going to be like this.

In the future, there will be lots more people using the training facility. It was just because today was the first day that barely anyone was present in the facility. Most of them were hanging out with their new buddies they made today or were just too tired to train.

Because of my relatively low ranking, not a lot of people wanted to associate with me, hence why I have nothing better to do than just train.

Well, I couldn't complain, as I liked being by myself.

-Clang! -Clang! -Clang!

As I was stretching, In the corner of the room I could hear the sound of metal clashing against metal.

Without even needing to look I knew who it was

"Kevin"

Like all protagonists, he was a training fanatic and trained more than 8 hours a day.

Just seeing his work ethic, made me speechless. How in the world am I gonna catch up to him when he's constantly training every day.

Letting out a sigh I took out my katana and started practicing.

Swish! Swish!

...

Walking along the corridor Donna checked the time on her tablet.

She just got off a meeting and was quite tired. Thinking back at the meeting that she had just attended, Donna couldn't help but slightly curse at those old foxes for continuously wasting her time with those pointless meetings.

Most of the meeting time was wasted in discussions regarding the budget allocation and which subject should have their budget increased and which one should have it lowered.

After one hour of pointless arguing, Donna couldn't take it anymore and excused herself.

As she was walking, she briefly glanced at the window which directly faced the training ground.

The first thing that caught her sight was the figure of a handsome boy gracefully sparring against one of the training dolls.

It was truly a mesmerizing sight.

Even Donna got lost in the sight for a couple of seconds before snapping out of it.

"How interesting"

She couldn't explain why, but whenever she saw that boy's swordplay she would occasionally get mesmerized.

Since the first time she laid eyes on him, she started paying close attention to him. She could tell from a glance that he was going to make it big in the future.

Swiping the card that led to the training facility, she entered.

It was only after she entered the training facility that she noticed another student practicing his swings.

At first, she was delighted.

As a teacher who doesn't like it when their student works hard?

But as she saw his weird movements, she was reminded of the boy she saw at the training session today.

"He's still wasting time doing that nonsense?"

Shaking her head, she moved to where Kevin was.

"I have to say, whenever I see your swordsmanship I can't help but get mesmerized by it"

Startled, Kevin stopped what he was doing and looked at the enchanting figure that was gracefully walking towards his direction.

"Miss Donna? Why are you here?"

"Why can't I be here?"

Tilting her head sideways, she teasingly looked at Kevin who was sweating all over.

"You know, it's good that you're practicing against the dolls, but you should stop that for now."

"Sorry?"

Looking at Donna in confusion, Kevin lowered his sword.

"From what I observed your body can't keep up with your brain."

Taking out her tablet, she quickly swiped up and a holographic image of the dummy appeared before her.

"When you were sparring, I observed, that your body has a hard time following where your eyes look. Here have a look at this."

Using her tablet she quickly tapped on the practice dummy before her, instantly several red spots appeared on the holographic image, with numbers hovering above them.

"These dummies not only are extremely durable but they also have state-of-the-art technology installed in them. They can measure the amount of strength you exert, how fast your blows are, and how accurate they are. Truly an amazing piece of engineering!"

Pointing directly at the numbers above the red dots, Donna looked at Kevin.

"You see this? This number tells you how accurate your blows are. Right now your highest number is 85%. Although the 15% you missed may be as small as a millimeter, it could dictate whether you kill your enemy or not."

Swiping to the right, a small detailed table appeared in front of Kevin. Several numbers were displayed before him revealing how much power he used when he attacked the dummy, and how consistent he was every time.

"Using state-of-the-art eye-tracking software, we can directly predict where you will hit. Not only does it take your line of sight into consideration, but it also reads your body language such as which direction your body is facing, the angle at which you are swinging and many other considerable factors that can accurately determine where you will hit. The numbers that are currently displayed measure the level of accuracy your hits have when taking into account all those factors previously mentioned"

Staring at the table for a while, Kevin let out a long breath and looked at Donna.

"Than what should I do?"

"What should you do? It's actually not that difficult of a problem"

Pointing at the Gravity room on the other side of the training facility she said

"I recommend you tamper your body inside of the gravity room so that your body can keep up with your brain."

"Understood!"

Wiping off the sweat that had accumulated on his body, he thanked Donna for her advice and quickly made his way towards the gravity room.

Seeing how determined Kevin was, Donna couldn't help but let out a satisfied smile.

"Now it's the problem child's turn"

Turning her head, her sight quickly drifted towards the boy who was mindlessly sheathing and unsheathing his katana.

"Hey, you!"

Seeing how he was mindlessly doing the same thing, Donna couldn't take it anymore and made her way towards him.

"?"

Tilting his head sideways, the young boy looked in the direction of where the voice came.

Immediately his whole body froze, as beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

Looking at him, Donna actually found the scene rather funny.

Glancing at the boy up and down, Donna scrutinized the boy before her. Jet black hair, crystal blue eyes, and well-defined features. His body was on the skinnier side, but he was definitely not ugly.

Well, as she looked at him, she couldn't help but recall Jin and Kevin which made her bitterly smile.

There was simply no comparison.

"Tell me what you're doing?"

"Miss Donna, I am practicing"

"You call that practicing?"

Sighing, she looked at the boy and said in an annoyed tone

"Look, mindlessly sheathing and unsheathing the sword like that is utterly stupid. What can you hope to achieve by doing that?"

Scratching his head embarrassedly, the boy's eyes shifted to the side as he spoke in a barely audible voice.

"You see, whenever I try to pull out my katana it would always get stuck inside my scabbard, and it happens quite often so..."

As Donna was a superhuman blessed with mana, it wasn't hard for her to make out what the boy was saying. But when she heard what he said, she wished she hadn't.

Sword stuck inside of the scabbard?

How can you make such a stupid mistake?

No. In the first place, how can someone who can't even pull out a katana from the scabbard be able to enroll in the lock?

Millions of questions emerged in her mind as she speechlessly looked at the boy before her.

"Haaa. Just get a better scabbard or change sword. Stop wasting your time like this okay?"

"Okay"

Feeling like she would get a massive headache if she stayed any longer, she turned around and left.

Just as she was about to leave the facility, she took a quick peek behind her.

She was left speechless once again.

"Is he deaf or something?"

The same boy she just talked to was doing the same thing again! It was like her advice never entered his ears!

"Fine suit yourself, if that's how you want to play I'm fine with it"

It's not like it was her duty to personally supervise him. He was already 16 years old, his life was his responsibility. She had already taken her time off work to give him advice, but he decided to ignore it. Her job was to guide students, and if those students ignored her guidance it was up to them not her.

As she left, she directly put Ren on her blacklist.

Chapter 11: Book [2]

Staring at Donna's departing figure, I bitterly smiled.

"I probably got blacklisted"

As the author of the novel, I knew Donna's personality the best. Her likes and dislikes, I knew them all.

For example, although she tries to hide it, she loves sweets. Especially ice cream, with hazelnut being her favorite flavor.

She also hates a lot of things, such as annoying men, typically the ones that look at her with lustful eyes, and lazy or stubborn people.

I had already noticed Donna by the time she was talking to Kevin, but in order not to gather any attention on myself, I feigned ignorance and pretended to be surprised by her sudden appearance.

"She probably thinks I'm a stubborn student who doesn't listen to advice"

I pretended to be flustered and made her impression of me as low as possible. The excuse I used about my sword being stuck in the scabbard was a lie, but it was the best way to make her think I was incompetent.

Although she's not the type of person that would snitch, if someone were to find out that I was practicing the 5-star module [Keiki style], I would definitely attract a lot of unnecessary attention.

Simply put, I don't want that.

The more attention I get, the more the likelihood of me and the main characters interacting.

Moreover, if people were to find out I was practicing a 5-star module my safety would be in jeopardy as a 5-star module was something that was highly coveted.

Thinking thus far I decided that since I was reborn as a mob I may as well use the only privilege given to a mob and live a nice and peaceful life. I'll become strong enough to defend my family from the third cataclysm, and patiently wait for the protagonist to solve everything. Then I will find myself a stable job and get myself a wife.

Such was my plan.

Don't get me wrong, I also thought about using my advantage as an author to help myself reach the peak.

But I can't afford to do that. If I were to somehow or accidentally change the course of the story, then the ending of the story might change too.

Wait...

Hold on.

It seemed like I forgot something extremely crucial

I just remembered...I didn't write an ending to the story

I died before I could even finish the novel

"Oh no no no..."

Pacing around the training ground, I frantically started thinking of solutions.

This is a big problem.

I stopped writing right before the MC would clash against the Demon king. The plan was, MC fights boss, MC wins by hair breath, MC becomes a hero.

Simple right?

Well, now we have a problem and a huge one at that. Because I was too caught up with the [Seed of limit] and the [Keiki style] I completely forgot about the inconclusive ending!

Glancing at Kevin who was now training in the gravity room, I let out a long sigh.

"I guess I have no choice then"

It seems that I will have to discard my previous plan.

It seems that I will have to become as strong as the MC, or at least close to his level. Of course if possible I will try not to interact with him and the main characters, at least not until the story is near the end. But if in case the MC does not defeat the last boss, only then will I step in and help him.

'This is really troublesome.'

Thinking thus far, using a towel I wiped the sweat accumulated on my forehead.

Thinking about all of this has made me lose my motivation to train.

"I guess I'll just take a shower and go think of solutions"

This was truly annoying.

Arriving in my room, I quickly hopped on the shower.

Class starts at 8:00 am, so after I finished washing I hopped on the bed and started thinking about my future course of action.

First things first, I obviously needed to get stronger.

But how was I supposed to do that?

I can't be too greedy and steal too much from the protagonist, as that would directly change the flow of the story. Moreover, I already feel guilty about taking the [Seed of limit], I can't be taking more than I should be taking.

Since I can't take any cheat items, I must go a different path.

"But what would that path be..."

Stroking my chin, many ideas came into my mind.

"Perhaps I could go hunting for beasts in the outskirts of Ashton city."

Shaking my head, I quickly discard the thought. It was simply too dangerous as I have never battled before, it would be a suicidal idea to go fight against beasts.

"A way to help me increase my training speed without exposing myself to dangerous situations"

"Ah!"

How come I didn't think about it before.

I was so engrossed in acquiring cheat items that I completely forgot the fact that there was a much simpler solution.

Stocks.

Since I am the author of the novel, all the future events that would take place in the near future were already in my head.

If I could utilize my advantage carefully I could quickly rack in some cash, which would help supplement my training.

There were a lot of steroid-like potions available on the market. If I managed to earn enough money for myself through stocks, I could supplement my training by consuming those potions. For example, if I were to consume a [Stamina recovery potion] coupled with a [Muscle recovery potion] I could train double the normal amount without the risk of being injured. That would definitely help me catch up with the rest.

[Strength enhancement potion], [Mana enhancement potion], [Agility enhancement potion], [Stamina recovery potion], [Muscle recovery potion] all sorts of incredible potions were available in the market.

How could I have not thought about it before?

Not even a second-generation young master could afford to do this kind of training, as the price of each potion was simply too expensive. A low-quality [Strength enhancement potion] went for 20,000U on the market which goes to show how expensive this type of training was. But if I were to utilize my knowledge correctly, making a couple of millions shouldn't pose a problem. Heck if it weren't for the fact that I didn't want to risk a market crash, I could've easily made billions.

In any case, I don't really need to make that much as I secretly know of a way to purchase high-quality potions below the market value. Moreover, the source was quite close too. If not for the fact that I didn't want to interact with that person I would've already purchased a couple of potions.

Ahhh it feels so good to be omniscient.

Alright since I know what to do, I quickly went to grab a pen.

I need to write down all the events that will happen in the future before I forget.

"Where did I leave the diary?"

Looking left and right, I looked around the room for the diary that my mom left behind.

"Should be in the useless pile over here"

Looking through a big pile of items in the corner of the room, I quickly found the red book and picked it up.

"!"

-Thud

My mind momentarily blanked as the book slipped from my hand.

Regaining myself, I hurriedly picked up the book and looked at the cover where three words were deeply engraved on the leather front of the book.

'The luminescent swordman'

With trembling hands, I slowly opened the diary.

Restlessly flipping page after page of the book, I look through the contents of the book in a state of bewilderment.

"H-how is this p-possible..."

Only 10 pages were filled while the subsequent pages were all empty.

But...

===

"Huuu...That was tough"

Exiting the gravity room Kevin took a deep breath. He was fairly exhausted as he had just used the gravity room at 2g of gravity. Because it was his first time trying the gravity room he only decided to go set the gravity room at 2g.

Thanks to the advice he had gotten from Donna today, it felt as if a new road had opened up to him.

Although it was only his first time training in the gravity room, he already felt some results. When swinging the sword he could feel his swings becoming faster and more precise as he practiced against the dummies.

"Good"

Satisfied, Kevin looked at his watch. It was about 9:00 pm, which meant that the canteen would close soon. Thus he quickly changed...

===

From the 10th page onwards words started appearing inside of the book filling the remaining pages. What's even weirder was the fact that the words inside of the book looked handwritten, as they had a unique cursive style to them.

Although the words were shocking...what really troubled me was not how words were magically appearing inside of the book but the title of the cover.

'The luminescent swordman'

That was the title of the novel that I created and now reincarnated in.

As I held the diary in my hands, I couldn't help but shiver. From pages, one to ten everything was exactly as I had written in the novel. It starts with Kevin taking the entrance exams and shocking everyone with his talent to where he is now training in the gravity room.

As I stared at the diary in my hands, a sudden thought struck me.

"Can I change it?"

Instantly I took out a pencil and tried erasing the last few words 'Thus he quickly changed and made his way towa...'

"!"

It worked!

I could actually erase the contents of the book!

"Huh?"

5 seconds after I had erased the words, the words which I had erased magically reappeared again.

Seeing the words reappearing in front of me, I tried erasing another section of the book.

The result was the same. Exactly five seconds after the words were erased from the book they would reappear as if nothing happened.

After trying the same thing a couple of times, frowning, I fell into deep thought. It seems like I could erase the words inside of the book but exactly five seconds after erasing those words they would magically reappear again making it seem as if nothing had happened. Then a thought suddenly struck me.

If I could erase them...then could I perhaps change them too?

"Hmmm, let's try something simple first"

Using the end of the pencil I quickly rub out '2g' and replaced it with '4g'.

"Let's see if anything happens."

1 second

2 seconds

3 seconds

4 seconds

Exactly 5 seconds after I changed the words, the book magically glowed.

Suddenly like a vacuum, I felt most of the energy within my body get drained by the book.

"Ugh! What's going on?"

Caught off-guard my legs slacked and I fell on one knee. As I breathed roughly I glanced at the book in my hands.

===

"Hu, Hu, Hu, Damm it!"

Exiting the gravity room Kevin slumped on the floor. He was extremely exhausted as he just used the gravity room at 4g of gravity. He had severely overestimated his own capabilities and directly put the gravity room setting to 4g thinking that he was good enough for it.

Exactly 30 minutes after he entered the gravity room he called it quits and left the room. It was too much for him at the moment.

As he laid on the floor exhausted, he smiled.

Thanks to the advice he had gotten from Donna today, it felt as if a new road had opened up to him.

Although he was completely worn out, he could feel his body slowly changing. He could already feel the benefits of tampering with his body inside of the gravity room.

"Good"

Satisfied, Kevin looked at his watch. It was about 9:00 pm, which meant that the canteen would close soon. Thus he quickly changed and made his way towards the cafeteria. He had previously heard that the cafeteria closed at...

===

"Oh my god!"

The book changed!

I could actually change what was written inside of the book!

This was a heaven-defying opportunity for me. With this, I could know exactly what the MC was doing and secretly help him when he's in trouble without the need of me showing up.

Although this book was indeed a cheat item, I couldn't help but frown the more I looked at it.

First off, there were definitely limitations on how I could use the book. This could be seen by how almost all of my mana was depleted by changing '2g' into '4g' which means that as of right now the changes I can make are severely limited.

Second off, this whole book is sketchy. Although the book was inside of the box that my parents in this world sent me, I was sure that they weren't the ones who put the book there.

This raises some questions. Who put the book in there and what's their purpose? Was it perhaps the person that reincarnated me? Or was it someone else?

"Mhmm, this is really vexing"

Whoever it was that reincarnated me definitely had a motive in doing so. I don't know what they want from me, but I sure hope it's not something that would require me to fight a god or anything like that.

Right?

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

Let's not do that okay?

Please...

Well since I can't think of a reason as to why I was summoned here, I might as well play with the book a bit more.

Chapter 12: Book [3]

Over the course of the next few days, I managed to get a good grasp of the book.

After experimenting with the book on every occasion I could get, I managed to decipher the main uses of the book.

First off, whenever I wanted to change something inside of the book, mana would be consumed.

Depending on what I changed, a different amount of mana was consumed to supplement the change I made.

For example, let's take the gravity room example.

I changed the gravity room setting from 2g to 4g. At that time approximately three-quarters of my mana was consumed by the book.

On the same day, after taking a cheap 50 U potion to replenish my mana, I tried again, but this time I changed the gravity setting from 4g to 3g.

The result was that half of my mana was consumed.

Thanks to this I was able to figure out that the change made in the book is proportional to mana consumption. Meaning that the bigger the change I made in the book the more mana I consumed.

To verify this I tried putting '6g', which I regret doing now, as I nearly passed out from having all the mana within my body get sucked out.

When I managed to regain some strength I found that my mana was completely drained. When I glanced at the book to see what changes it brought, I couldn't help but break out into cold sweat. Apparently, the MC broke one of his legs as a result of my meddling.

Quickly replenishing my mana using another cheap potion, I immediately reverted it back to 2g which I found to be the most optimal gravity setting for the MC.

The next thing I tried was 15g. I wanted to see what would happen if the change was well beyond my capabilities.

The result was that, exactly 5 seconds after I made a change, my change quickly reverted back to '2g' almost as if it never happened.

The next thing I found out about the book was that it was 10 minutes ahead of my current timeline. Meaning that it tells me the happenings of 10 minutes in the future.

Moreover, I found out that when the events that were in the book coincided with my timeline, I could no longer add any more changes to the book.

For example, 'Kevin exits the training room'.

When those words appear in the book, it actually means that Kevin will exit the training room 10 minutes from now.

So when Kevin actually exits the training room in real-time, I could no longer make any changes in the book. From this, I could infer that the book cannot change the past, but only change a possible future.

I was actually quite lucky that I had used potions to replenish my mana as I would've been in deep shit if the MC had injured himself on the first day.

The last thing I found out was that the book only gives me Kevin's perspective. This means that the book is actually kind of useless to me as I am not Kevin.

I wasn't particularly saddened by this fact as I could use this book to determine whether I could help Kevin without needing to expose myself.

...

Today marked the fourth day of me starting classes, and today is my first non-practical lesson since I had arrived here.

Since people usually come to the lock to develop their abilities, most of the lessons were based on real combat and body training, therefore making theoretical lessons quite rare.

'Molecular Anatomy'

This was the name of the theoretical lecture. An incredibly complex class that looks through the body of monsters and beasts.

Professor Theodore Rombhouse, a renowned researcher with lots of awards to his name, was the professor in charge of this class. He and his team were responsible for singlehandedly finding out the mystery as to why beasts went beserk after mana invaded the atmosphere.

Professor Rombhouse was a plump middle-aged man with curly white hair and a calm disposition. If it weren't for the fact that his eyes were currently transfixed on the huge creature laying on the table in front of the class, people would've easily mistaken him for your nice neighborhood uncle.

"As we can see, the wingspan of the berzerk pigeonette is around 1.8 meters, drastically different from their predecessor the pigeon which tended to be at around 70 cm in length. That is almost a 2.6 times increase in length!"

Excitedly yelled the professor as he caressed the gigantic creature on the table. You could hear from his voice that he was incredibly engrossed by the creature in front of him.

"After long conclusive research, we have managed to source out the reason for the pigeon's drastic growth. As all of you know, my team was responsible for finding out as to why beasts go berserk at the presence of mana."

Finally taking his eyes off the huge creature, Professor Rombhouse took a good look at the class and asked.

"Now can anyone tell me why humans manage to retain their sanity while animals can't?"

As this was common knowledge a lot of hands were raised. Since I wanted to blend in I also raised my hand without thinking much.

"You on the left"

"..."

He's looking at me, isn't he? Just to make sure I looked behind me to see if anyone had their hands up. Don't want to end up in one of those awkward situations where someone waves at you but it turns out they were actually waving at the person behind you.

"No don't look behind you, I'm talking to you dimwit!"

"Me?"

"Jesus Christ! Yes, you!"

This bastard! Is that how you talk to your own creator!

Ambithaba this poor monk shall be benevolent for once.

Pretending to fall into deep thought, I looked at the professor before I started speaking. Of course, I pretend to be nervous at first so that I didn't stand out. If I acted confidently it would make the professor automatically assume I knew my stuff, which would result in him asking me more questions in the future which I didn't want.

"Ah, uhm. Compared to us humans..uhm...animals don't have a cortex as developed as ours. As mana stimulates our neurological system, it inadvertently needs us to ...uhm...to process the mana in our body to redirect it to the correct areas in the body so that it doesn't accumulate in a specific area of the body. Because we are wired differently from beasts we have the capability to think and react to situations, which beasts are incapable of. Therefore when presented with an invading force a.k.a mana, because of their low intellect beasts are incapable of reacting to the situation causing the mana inside of their body to slowly accumulate inside of them, specifically their brain, slowly turning them berserk. This process is known as mana poisoning"

"Impressive answ..."

Impressed by my answer Professor Rombhouse was about to applaud when he noticed that I still didn't finish talking.

"There are two solutions to solving this problem. One is to wait for nature to take its course and let the beasts slowly evolve allowing them to process mana, or second to directly use external aid to stimulate the mana within beasts. Simply put, since they can't use their own brain to stimulate their mana why not use others?"

"For example, if we used a normal circulation technique like the [Three-star constellation] technique and directly stimulate where the mana is concentrated in a way that it stimulated the nervous system of the bea..."

"STOP RIGHT THERE!"

"Huh?"

As I was talking I heard a loud shout and felt two large hands holding me down.

"REPEAT WHAT YOU JUST SAID!"

"Hu-h w-what's going on?"

I flusteredly replied as I found Professor Rombhouses's face sticking in front of me. We were so close that his nose was inches away from my face.

Glancing around I noticed everyone staring at me in shock, even Melissa the smarted student in class glanced at me for a few seconds.

What happened?

I'm sure I only recited normal information. Everyone should know this stuff...

"REPEAT WHAT YOU JUST SAID!"

Shouted Professor Rombhouse at the top of his lungs. I could even feel some of his spit splashing on my face.

Just as I was about to protest I noticed his frenzied eyes staring down on me, and decided against doing so.

"Compared to us huma..."

"NO! NOT THAT PART!"

flinching and taking a step back, I confusedly stare at the professor.

You want me to repeat myself and yet when I do you still shout at me, are you mentally okay?

Noticing my expression, and seeing everyone staring at him. Professor Rombhouse calmed down and took two steps back.

"Cough cough sorry for that."

"No, no, no problem"

I said as I waved my hands.

"Dear student could you repeat the last part of what you said, about the two processes that can cure beasts of mana poisoning."

Frowning I looked at the Professor skeptically. Did I miss something?

"There are two solutions in curing mana poisoning. One is to let nature take its course through evolution, and the other is through external aid."

"What do you mean by external aid?"

Interrupting me once again, Professor Rombhouse looked at me with sparkling eyes.

Taking two steps back I warily look at the professor.

"Sir I'm into females"

"Huh?"

"...!"

After a couple of seconds, you could hear Professor Rombhouse enraged roar resounding in the classroom as he understood what I said.

"I'm in no mood for your silly jokes, repeat what you had just said before!!"

-Ding! -Dong! -Ding! -Dong!

"It seems that it's the end of the lesson, thank you for your time professor, and goodbye"

Without letting him react on time, as soon as I heard the bell I got my bag and left in a flash.

That dude was seriously too creepy.

First, he kept asking me elementary knowledge stuff, and secondly, he kept shouting for no reason at all.

Just what did I do wrong?

...

Click!

As I closed the door of my room I immediately grabbed the mysterious book and opened it.

I needed to find out why the professor caused an outburst like that on his first day of class.

===

As Kevin left Professor Rombhouse's class he was left into deep thought

If what that weird student said was true, then a groundbreaking discovery had just been made. If his solution could really resolve mana poisoning, then it could drastically reduce the stress humanity was facing. Take Park city for example. Every year they are constantly attacked by sea creatures who have gone berserk.

What if they could resolve the mana poisoning inside of the beasts?

Wouldn't that help increase humanity's manpower in fighting against the demons?

Because of his hatred towards demons, Kevin couldn't help but be excited by the prospect of humanity taking one step forward in the war against the demons.

As Kevin was walking towards his dorm he could faintly hear Professor Rombhouse's hysterical shouts asking for the name of that mysterious student.

Oddly enough most of the students didn't even know who he was. If it weren't for the fact that the second-lowest in the class pointed out his name, none of the people in the class would've known about him.

"Ren Dover"

===

"..."

What have I done!

How did I make such a stupid mistake!

Because I wanted to perfectly play the role of a mob, I completely neglected the fact that some of the information I knew may not have not yet been discovered.

I was truly careless.

I was actually pretty sure that what I had said was already known by most of the people present. In the novel, although I don't remember it word for word, I remember them knowing this sort of information at the begging of the novel.

Yes, I was indeed careless. My theory behind the slip-up was that because I had never mentioned when and who discovered the mana poison treatment in the novel, I may have prematurely exposed this solution.

Essentially I forwarded the theory a tiny bit before the original creator of the theory could present it.

In short, I garnered attention towards myself and possibly pissed someone off.

Without a second thought, I took my pencil out and erased "if it weren't for the fact that the second-lowest in the class pointed out his name" in the book, and replaced it with "None of the people in the class knew his name"

-Voom!

Instantly all my mana was sucked out of my body causing me to go limp on my bed.

Taking a look at the changes I let out a satisfied smile.

===

As Kevin was walking towards his dorm he could faintly hear Professor Rombhouse's hysterical shouts asking for the name of that mysterious student.

Oddly enough most of the students don't even know who he is. None of the people in the class knew his name, making him really mysterious.

Whoever he was, he was either lucky or he was hiding quite deeply.

===

Though what I did was not gonna change anything since professor Rombhouse could just look at the register to figure out who I was, I still did it since it could buy me a day of peace.

...This should serve as a good lesson for me.

Just because I wrote the novel didn't mean I knew everything regarding this world.

You only realized once you found yourself inside of a novel how many things the novel missed when compared to reality.

For example, back when I was looking for the [Keiki style], if not for the fact that I had a general idea of where to find it, I wouldn't have ever found the place. What I had written in the novel did not even come close to how it was in reality.

It's all the little details that were beyond my control...

Letting out a sigh of relief, I looked at the new passage of the book.

In all fairness, I didn't really have to do this because people saw my face, but at least I wouldn't find Professor Rombhouse annoying me anytime soon.

Fortunately, I only mentioned two solutions and excluded the third, which was the sure way to eliminate mana poisoning.

The second method could have been considered groundbreaking as of right now, but it really wasn't that efficient as it was way faster to kill than to cure.

Yes, it was possible to cure them and then train them to fight back, but that would be a long-term solution as it would simply take too much time.

All in all, even if I do explain how to do the second option, it wouldn't really attract too much attention to me.

Strenght rules over the brain in this era after all.

With my low potential, the higher-ups would only lightly glimpse at me and then go back to what they were doing.

Though I do think I may have pissed someone off...primarily the person who first came up with the hypothesis.

I'm sure whoever it was that put forward the theory was already at their late stage of experimentation.

I just hope this doesn't come back and bite me...

Closing the book down, I looked at the white ceiling and let out a long exhausted sigh.

"How troublesome..."

Chapter 13: Virtual reality [1]

The next day, although I tried to be as low-key as possible, people would occasionally steal glances in my direction.

Right now we were in the middle of engineering class and I was actually trying to focus. The constant occasional glances were starting to get on my nerves. It was felt as if I was the main attraction inside of a zoo exhibit.

Although this class was not particularly popular I found it rather fascinating. The concepts they were talking about were far more advanced than back in my previous world.

But it was specifically because of this that I was so interested; Hence why I was especially annoyed by the constant stares from the people in my class.

I can't focus if you people keep staring at me!

"Using an angled mirror we split the two laser beams into two separate beams. This then forms an object beam and a reflected beam. Heading in different directions, both are reflected off of other angled mirrors, and using an F48 board and a g450 processor we can process the beams so that the software can detect human movements and as these two beams merge together a holographic image is created."

Well, it definitely was an interesting course but that didn't mean I could understand it. In fact, I only managed to grasp 1% of the contents of the course.

Like what the hell was an F48 board or a g450 processor?

I'll just stay and pretend that I understood everything that the professor said. It was a non-compulsory course anyways, therefore, I didn't really need to come here.

Still, even though I did not understand anything, just the fact that they were exploring holographic technology aroused my interest. Such technology did not exist back in my world, as the best they could come up with were touch screen phones.

The technology back in my world was not advanced enough to come up with pure holographic devices.

-Ding! -Dong!

"Oh my, it seems like the class has ended. I'll see you next time"

Packing up her stuff, the engineering professor smiled and left the class.

Not much was known about the engineering professor apart from the fact that she was apparently quite strong.

Although she was no longer in her younger days, she had a complexion as fair as an unpolished jade with beauty, elegance, and grace that could only be achieved over years of maturity. Her silky brown hair that was tied in a braided ponytail calmly rested on her right shoulder. Her expression which always seemed to be smiling carried a hidden charm within that caused everyone to feel a motherly warmth from her.

Even though I was the author of the book, many characters that I have met during my stay here were people that had never shown up in my story such as this professor.

Having stayed here for about a week, I found this professor the most pleasing out of all the ones I've encountered so far. She was kind and didn't show preferential treatment towards certain students, unlike other professors who blatantly showed favoritism towards ones that were talented or had a huge backing.

Most professors were 'geniuses' that have once studied here or had several achievements under their belts. They all had their own pride and thus only actually paid attention to the top students whilst ignoring the mediocre ones.

Although they didn't say it straight to our faces, the teacher's expression could tell it all. 'Why should I bother teaching you? Are you worthy?'

Even if we were not considered as outstanding as Kevin and the others, just the fact that we managed to enroll into the lock meant that they were capable individuals.

Take the previous owner of this body as an example. Although he was one of the lowest-ranked in the class if he were to go into any other academy he could've been considered as a medium-high talent since D-rank talents were still hard to come by these days due to the constantly decreasing population.

The world was just not fair.

Leaving the engineering class I calmly went back to my room to get changed. The next class was 'tactical cooperation' a new course that utilizes virtual technology to train students. I was actually quite pumped for this class since virtual reality was something you could've only been able to find in movies and novels.

Taking off my celestial blue uniform that indicated that I was in my first year, I took out a dark blue skin-tight suit and put it on.

Uniforms were separated into three different colors, celestial blue, dark green, and blood red. the celestial blue was only worn by first years, the dark green by second years, and the blood-red uniform by third years. It was arranged as such so that this way guilds who came to observe/scout students would be able to differentiate between first and third years. With third years being their primary target as they were only a year away from graduating.

As I struggled to put on the skin-tight suit I could only curse at the people who designed this suit.

Comfortable was the last possible word that came into my mind as I tried putting on the skin-tight suit. Let's not mention the fact that it took me around 5 minutes to put on the suit, but as the name suggests the suit was 'skin-tight' meaning that I could feel all my muscles getting tightly compressed by the suit.

Wearing the suit made my movements become extremely stiff. Because it was so stiff it looked like I was walking like a robot, moreover, Looking at my appearance in the mirror I wished I could find a place to bury myself.

So embarrassing.

Thankfully, the distance between my dorm and the 'tactical cooperation' class was close, saving me from the embarrassment of being seen in the suit.

The campus which covered an area of five kilometers squared was divided into 8 sections, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H.

The lecture zone was located in the A section, and that area was where the lecture halls were located. It was located on the top left side of the campus and comprised of three oval-shaped buildings that were each the same size. The reason why there were three buildings was that the first year, second year, and third years were separated.

The B section was a no-student area and it's where the professor's offices were located. If you needed to ask questions or meet the professor after class you would have to go towards the B section. It was located right next to the A section and consisted of one large compound with a tall glass-pyramid like building in the middle of the compound.

The C section was where the labs and researching facilities were located. In order for someone to access the lab, they needed to be supervised by a professor in case something went wrong. Because of the dangers, the facility posed, the C section was located far away from the other sections and was enclosed in military-grade defenses.

The D section was where I was currently headed and it was where the virtual reality room was located. It was a room filled with capsules that each student could use to enter the virtual world. It was located underground and was a few kilometers away from the dorms, which were located in the E section.

In the E section, dorms were separated into five different buildings with each building bigger than the other. The furthest building and also the shabbiest looking one was the 'golden rat' building. It was the cheapest dorm on the campus and was where people that couldn't afford to pay for facilities stayed.

Right next to the 'golden rat' building was the 'horned sheep' building and it was where I was currently staying. The conditions were a bit better than the 'golden rat' building, but it was still nothing compared to the next three buildings, 'Manticore', 'Hydra' and 'Leviathan' buildings.

Starting from the 'Manticore' building, each person had their own personal training facility installed inside of their room followed by a personal designated butler that catered to all their needs.

The 'Hydra' building, like the 'Manticore' building, provided personal training facilities as well as a butler. However the training facilities were much more advanced, and they also provided students with personalized meals and diet plans. The meals were all cooked by professional chefs, and the ingredients provided by them were all made from rare herbs and monsters.

Lastly, there was the 'Leviathan' building. The only building that could be accessed with money. This was where the 'elites' resided. No matter how rich you were, unless you proved that you were a one-of-a-kind talent you would never be able to step in here. This building was created in the hopes of nurturing future talents that could fight and fend off against the demons who are rampaging all over the world. Heavy emphasis was put on the creation of this building, as it was where the future pillars of humanity would be nurtured. Whatever you wanted, it was there. Training facilities, high-end food, butlers, swimming pool, VR rooms, highly secured research facilities, if you felt like something was missing all you needed to do was just ask and it would be built the next day.

The G section is where the training facility was located and it was inside of a large squared architectural building. It was approximately 2 minutes away from section A, and 5 minutes away from the E section. Because it was a public training facility one needed to book a spot in advance in order to use the facility.

Lastly the H section, the area that contained the library as well as the 'cube'. The 'cube' was a forbidden area where only the highest-ranked individuals could enter. The reason why it was considered a forbidden area was that it was where all the secret training manuals were stored, as well as godly medicine and herbs. Manuals that were comparable to the [Keiki style] were also stored inside of the facility further clarifying how important that area was.

Arriving inside of the VR room, I noticed almost everyone walking in a robot-like manner causing me to lightly chuckle.

Obviously, not everyone was like this, as some were leisurely walking in their tight-skin suit indicating that this was probably not their first time using VR.

Because we were wearing tight-skin suits, the boys and girls were separated into different rooms, which is a bit of a letdown as I wouldn't have minded seeing Amanda and the others in that outfit.

Actually on second thought scratch that. Since I was the author of the novel, I knew the personalities of the main characters the best, and thus I knew that if I were to catch a glimpse of them with that suit on, my days would be numbered.

"Alright, everyone please look over here"

Similarly wearing a tight-skinned outfit the professor came into the room, gathering the attention of everyone present.

Standing tall, with tidy black hair and a sharp look was the professor responsible for this class. He currently had a gentle smile on his face as he took out a small tablet and took the register.

Looking at his calm gentle demeanor that made it look like he was the nicest person on earth, I secretly sneered.

'I know who you truly are...'

The professor who was in charge of the VR class was called Alfonse Thibaut and was actually a major character for the first arc of the story.

In short, he could be what was regarded as a mini-boss.

Although he was not a ranked villain, he could be considered a difficult opponent for the current protagonist.

The demon he signed a pact with was from the shadow tribe, which was a sub-branch of the greed clan which was one of the seven main clans of the demon clans.

The demons were split into seven clans, each according to the 7 heavenly sins known to mankind, pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth.

Each clan was commanded by a demon duke which was as powerful if not more powerful than the top executives in the human domain, or equivalently SS ranks.

Above them was the Demon King, who at the moment could eradicate the whole of humanity with the swipe of his hand. However, due to his enormous power, he was currently being restricted by various powers preventing him from entering the human domain.

That was of course until the third calamity hits, which was when the true war between humanity and the demons would start.

I was actually quite thankful for the fact that I was the lowest-ranked in the class since it meant that minimal attention was placed on me. Apart from the occasional bullying, I was living quite a comfortable life, unlike Kevin who was constantly under the watch of both the jealous classmates and villains who are wary of his overwhelming talent.

"Since everyone is present, I will start the capsules and you can enter when I say so"

Seeing that everyone was present, Professor Thibaut smiled and went towards his desk where a large monitor was present.

Typing a few commands on the screen, he called out the names of each student separately.

"Ren Dover, please make way to capsule 55"

Hearing my name being called, I contained my excitement and made my way towards my designated capsule.

Ignoring the snickering coming from certain classmates, which whispered words such as 'bumpkin' or other rude remarks, I excitedly approached my capsule.

I could finally enter the virtual world which I could only see in novels and movies.

Entering the capsule and adjusting the helmet on my head, I patiently waited for the professor's instructions.

"Student Dover is everything okay?"

"Yes"

"Okay, the virtual simulation will start in 3..2...1..."

-Tak

The last thing I heard was the sound of a key being pressed before everything went dark.

Chapter 14: Virtual reality [2]

-Shua!

[Processing student information....]

[Retina scan...check]

[Fingerprint scan...check]

[Genetic data test...check]

[Loading time...57%....87%...94%...]

[User information loaded]

[Rank 1750, Ren Dover, confirm access Y/N]

The helmet's display gradually illuminated, revealing rows upon rows of information. Taking a minute to adjust my mind to the sudden changes, I looked through the information and pressed Y. After confirming, abruptly, a lively jingle that felt oddly familiar began playing, echoing through my ears.

The fact that there were a lot of procedures placed when entering the virtual cabin wasn't strange. With current technology, pretending to be someone else was as easy as turning on your phone. With just some custom-made masks someone could easily make themselves look like someone else.

Fortunately, it wasn't that difficult to distinguish a villain as villains undergo several genetic modifications when making a pact with a demon. This phenomenon occurred due to the fact that the human body cannot fully adapt to the power given to them by the demons.

Imagine an empty balloon.

Now imagine yourself filling it with air. Gradually as time passes the balloon will turn round and float.

That's how the human body usually worked when their mana increased.

Now imagine the same empty balloon, but this time instead of filling it with air we fill it with water.

In contrast to the air balloon, the water balloon instead of becoming perfectly round will droop down due to the density of the water, causing its shape to change.

Now take this example into consideration and apply it to humans, where water was the energy that came from the demons.

Because of how dense the energy coming from the demons was, the weaker villain's bodies tended to undergo drastic changes in order to withstand the newly found power that entered their body.

Due to these drastic changes, a simple retina, fingerprint, and gene test could verify if one was a villain or not.

Of course, this only worked for relatively weaker villains. For stronger villains, this sort of test was useless as their bodies could contain the power given to them by the devils they made a pact with, like professor Thibaut. Fortunately, this wasn't necessarily a problem as the stronger villains didn't bother disguising themselves.

However, even though strong villains tended to avoid disguising themselves, these sorts of tests were still a necessary precaution against villains. The consequences of not checking whether someone was an imposter could potentially be disastrous. Imagine what would happen if a villain was to make its way inside of the VR capsule. He/She could potentially put all the students at risk of brain trauma if not even death.

If a villain were to suddenly gain access to the virtual equipment main control system, he/she could suddenly discharge all of the electrical power inside of the capsules, essentially turning everyone inside of the capsule brain dead.

This sort of accident occurred several times in the past, resulting in strict checks and procedures getting installed by the company creating the capsule as a result of the backlash they received from the public.

Well, what about professor Thibaut? Technically he could override the system and kill everyone present, right? Actually, he couldn't, especially since his job was extremely important.

The reason why I was not necessarily worried about him was because his primary role in the lock was to turn potential heroes into villains. He was what was called a 'manager' or an 'agent'. His main responsibility was to turn students into villains by exploiting the emotions and resentment they had towards certain individuals or the academy.

Moreover, it wasn't that easy to override the system and discharge high amounts of electricity towards the capsules. Especially if this was happening inside of the lock, where several highly ranked heroes resided. They could easily sense the abnormal accumulation of electricity making it almost impossible for this plan to work.

Plus, Professor Thibaut simply couldn't afford to perform such a high-risk maneuver to kill an individual as turning students into villains was his main priority.

If not for the fact that professor Thibaut got direct orders from the demon he made a pact with to get rid of Kevin, he would've never tried fighting him, as it wasn't his responsibility.

Just as it was not my responsibility to get rid of him. If I suddenly got rid of the mini-boss, Kevin would never go through any hardship, creating a liability for when he faced the Demon King.

Gradually the world around me started to change, and a blinding light caused me to cover my eyes.

Blinking for a couple of seconds, and recovering my bearing I found myself inside of a white room.

Looking around the room, I could see a couple of students from my class similarly checking their surroundings.

After approximately five minutes, and seeing that no one else showed up, I made my way towards the other classmates.

There were a total of five people excluding myself in the waiting room.

Seeing that I was making my way towards them, some students went to greet me directly.

"Rank 834 William K. Johnson, a pleasure to meet you"

The first person to greet me was a rather short-statured browned hair teen, with a somewhat lively disposition.

"Rank 623 Rosaline Tluve"

"Rank 739 Edward Smith, greetings."

"Rank 956 Park Jinho, nice to meet you"

Following William, a red-haired pretty girl who stood proudly like a regal peacock greeted me. She had an indifferent air around her that made it seem like nothing interested her. Her tone was cold, giving the impression that she detested everything around her. She like me was an extra and thus I knew nothing about her, making me assume that her cold attitude came from some sort of past trauma. Most probably faced a similar to Amanda, who like her was cold.

After Rosaline, a black-haired youth with square-shaped glasses and neatly combed hair greeted me in a serious tone. Judging from his disposition and the way he talked, I made a mental note to myself to not interact with him in the near future. Not very fond of such straight-laced individuals.

Lastly, Park Jinho, who seemed to be of Asian descent, most probably Korean, greeted me with a modest attitude. He seemed somewhat wary of me, not sure why...

Turning my head to the last person, who ignored my presence since the beginning, I tried to greet him but I was promptly ignored.

With a fairly tall stature and a muscular upper body that did not lose out to any professional bodybuilder back in my world, was Arnold Kane. he carried an intimidating aura around him that reminded people of a wild gorilla that would attack anyone at the smallest sign of provocation. His hair was cut in a buzzcut and his eyes were tightly knit together in a frown.

Shaking my head, I presented myself to the rest.

There was no need for me to actually greet him as I already knew who he was, but as to not come off as too disrespectful I made sure to at least greet him. Had I skipped over him, I might've been the target of his bullying, which I really did not want to have any part of.

'Rank 75, Arnold Kane'

One of Jin's three main lackeys. who will later be known as 'Iron Mountain Arnold' due to his iron-like defense that could ward off several attacks from several individuals at a time.

He was what you called a 'Strong to the weak, and weak to the strong' type of person. A typical bully. His arrogance probably originated from the fact that he was Jin's lackey. To which I can only secretly express my disgust. You are actually proud of being someone else's dog?

"Pleasure to meet you, everyone, I'm Rank 1750 Ren Dover"

"..."

It took a couple of seconds for the rest to process what I had said before losing all interest in me.

Shrugging at their reaction, I could only sympathize with them as I understood where they were coming from. I mean, 800 ranks lower than the second-lowest in the group was quite the difference.

This was a society where power ruled over everything else. If you were not that powerful you were looked down on by everyone. Well, this mainly applied to the lock where individuals were still young and prideful. Once they entered the real world and actually fought against demons, only then will they realize how immature they were.

"Trash"

The first to speak up was, of course, Arnold, who looked at me with disgust.

Secretly shaking my head, I couldn't help but lament to myself for making this world full of arrogant characters.

Couldn't be helped, it was what the readers wanted...

Fuck you, readers.

Your pleasure was my suffering.

Well whatever, I'll just stay quiet for now and wait for the professor's instruction.

Fortunately, after I told them about my rank, no one approached me, helping me avoid unnecessary conversations.

[Ehm..ehm...Group 7 can you guys hear me?]

Disrupting the awkward atmosphere that developed due to my rank reveal, professor Thibuat voice resounded across the room.

[If you can hear me say 'Check']

"Check"

"Check"

"Check"

"Check"

"Check"

"Check"

[1..2..3..4..5..6, great look's like everyone is present. Okay, listen carefully as I will now explain the rules. Pay close attention because I will only say them once.]

[Since this is most likely the first time some of you have entered the virtual world, today's class will be on the lighter side]

[The people around you right now will be the group that you will work with for today's class.]

[Before you say anything, your group is balanced according to the computer and for the most part, each group will be evenly matched. Although there are some exceptions, which I really can't do anything about]

'Don't look at me like that! he was referring to Kevin and the others!'

Noticing the glares coming in my direction, I couldn't help but silently grumble to myself.

The professor was obviously talking about the top-ranked individuals who could most likely take on a team by themselves.

There wasn't actually that much of a difference in power between me and Park Jinho, the second-lowest in the group. Well, that was if you were comparing me from before I took over because right now my fighting strength was leagues above what it was a week ago.

The only reason they glared at me like that was probably because they wanted an outlet to unleash their grievances against

'Immature bastards'

[You will each be dropped into a remote terrain which will be randomly generated by the computer.]

[Your goal for today is to survive 1 hour]

[There are extra points awarded for those who manage to complete certain hidden tasks]

[This will count as a pass as long as you manage to survive for 1 hour, extra points will be awarded for each teammate that survives alongside you]

[I will give you 2 minutes to let you discuss your plans with your group.]

[Best of luck!]

[Oh~ Before I leave I forgot to mention. The last group will automatically fail this class]

-Click!

Somehow the glares towards my direction became stronger.

How the professors haven't realized that professor Thibaut was a villain was beyond me. He was obviously trying to sow discord among the groups to create grudges with each other, with the lower-ranked individuals being his primary targets.

The 'fail this class' thing is a total lie, as he had no power in regards to deciding who to pass or who to fail on the first day.

This was just an excuse he made to create a situation where a grudge could be created by making the stronger guys target the weaker individuals.

This was one of his typical strategies that made certain individuals suffer so that he could weaken their state of mind, and later on, take advantage of their weakness to turn them into villains.

If not for the fact that there were a lot of heroes present in the lock, professor Thibaut would've used more extreme measures to turn someone into a villain.

"You"

Pointing towards my direction, Arnold's deep voice resounded across the white room.

"Yes?"

"Make sure you survive, else..."

Placing his hand on my shoulder, Arnold exerted an incredible amount of pressure making me almost kneel on the floor.

-Thud!

"Ugh..."

After confirming his strength, I kneeled down as he intended and let out a fake groan.

"Understand?"

Seeing me kneeling in front of him, Arnold let out a satisfied smile and turned towards the rest who immediately nodded at him.

"Good"

While pretending to struggle to get up, I fell into deep thought.

From the exchange I just had with Arnold, I could approximately gauge my strength.

I could pretty much confirm I was still weaker than Arnold, but not by a large margin. If I had to make a rough estimate about my ranking, it should be around the three hundred's.

Fortunately, because this was a virtual world, I didn't really suffer much from the exchange I had with Arnold. But don't get me wrong. Just because I didn't suffer much didn't mean I wasn't angry.

In fact, I was furious. How dare you gorilla-like bastard use me to exert dominance over the rest?

If not for the fact that I didn't want to start shit with you and your gang, I wouldn't have kneeled down and humiliated myself like that.

I'm not like those braindead protagonists who scream 'I will only kneel to god and my parents, no one else shall make me kneel!'

I will kneel when I need to. But be ready to face the consequences of making me kneel.

Staring at his proud and arrogant face which acted as if everything was beneath him, I secretly swore to myself to make him pay ten times for what he had done to me.

'I take my grudges very deeply'

[Alright! the simulation is ready]

[I will start the simulation in 3...2...1]

-Shua!

Chapter 15: Virtual reality [3]

Soon after the professor initiated the simulation, my surroundings started to change.

Thick lush trees started appearing from beneath my feet followed by soft and crumbly soil that caused my feet to slowly sink.

My visibility slowly started getting blocked by the towering trees that started sprouting from the ground at an incredible speed.

Extending my hand forward to touch a tree, I was immensely surprised by the realistic sensation that spread through my fingers. Running my hand along the tree trunk it felt like I was touching the lines and wrinkles of an old man's face. It had an uneven surface where I could feel the flaky nature of the dark exterior, that crumbled and peeled, with a crackling sound at the slightest pressure exerted by my fingers.

It almost felt like I was touching the real thing.

It didn't feel like I was touching a bunch of codes, but an actual tree.

"How intriguing..."

[Rank 1750 Ren Dover - Team points: 6]

As I was busy being mesmerized by how realistic the trees were, a notification popped up in front of me.

Seeing the notification, I quickly swiped left to discard it and fell into deep thought.

The game was simple.

Each student had one point, and every time a teammate died the team would lose a team point.

The teams that reached 0 points would then be automatically eliminated and hence lose the game.

The only way to gain points was through completing the hidden tasks available on the map.

At the end of the test, there will be a ranking list that ranks the teams in accordance with their performance.

Taking a good look at my surroundings, my teammates were nowhere in sight.

In fact, although the professor never mentioned this to us when briefing us on the rules, I already knew that everyone was going to be separated from each other.

Well, I was the one who created the scenario in the first place.

The main goal of this test was to survive for 1 hour.

Although it sounded easy, it was in fact not. If it were that easy what sort of test would this be?

The lack of information provided by the professor was intentional because this essentially meant that there was only 1 rule.

And that was to 'survive'

Each person was directly given a weapon, which was automatically given to them depending on the weapon that they had registered on the first day of the academy.

In my case, a sleek black katana rested on the side of my hips.

-Shua! -Shua!

Swinging it a couple of times to adjust myself to the weight of the sword, I nodded in satisfaction.

It feels identical to the katana provided to us by the academy.

Sheathing the katana back into the scabbard, I warily glanced towards my surroundings.

When telling us the rules, the professor never mentioned anything apart from the fact that you must survive, and the more teammates survive with you at the end of the test, the more points your team had.

He purposely left out the details in regards to killing, and because of this, the students automatically assumed that killing was allowed.

Which was his true purpose.

As I said before, Professor Thibaut's goal was to further divide the line between the 'competent' and 'incompetent' students. This was so that he could exploit the feeble mentality of those who were being oppressed.

In doing so he could easily lure students into making a pact with a demon, turning them into villains.

His goal was to turn this test into a hunting party for the strong.

If lucky, professor Thibaut could fabricate a couple of scenarios where some talented individuals built a grudge against each other.

One such example was building a grudge against an incredibly talented student, like Kevin

If someone ranked in the hundred's challenged Kevin and lost miserably, their pride would cause them to build a grudge against Kevin, not because he was strong, but because of his background.

Of course, some would choose to give up right away, but certain prideful and arrogant individuals would of course not accept their defeat and seek revenge at every possible opportunity they could get.

As time slowly passes and they slowly realize the gap between themselves and Kevin's overwhelming talent, they fall into depravity and despair at their inability to take revenge against Kevin.

Once they reached this point, professor Thibaut would finally make his move by offering them power.

Enticed by the offer a make a pact would be made, and a new villain was born.

In short, this test was full of ulterior motives.

Walking forwards, I was trying to get a grasp of my current location.

Although a map wasn't provided to us, because I was technically a cheat, and thus knew the general features of the surroundings, I could roughly gauge my current location.

"Since I am surrounded by trees...I should be on the east side of the map"

"Hmm, if I'm not wrong Kevin and Jin spawned on the north side on top of the mountains, while Emma is on the south side where the desert is located...Melissa and Amanda should both be on the west side near the ocean, thus meaning that no important figure is in my area"

Trying to get a good grasp of the main character's locations, I started to formulate a plan regarding my next course of action.

The reason why I was trying to get a grasp of the main characters was not because I was obsessed with them, no, rather it's because all the events that will happen will be centered on them.

I could only predict what happened to them, but not what will happen to me, as I have never written anything outside of the scope of the main characters.

If I managed to get a good grasp on what the protagonists were up to, I could make a rough estimate on the timing of the events, and how to avoid them.

"My goal is to survive for 1 hour, while it does sound easy, excluding the high-ranking students, strong simulations of beasts will be roaming the map preventing me from staying in a single place for too long..."

This was another thing that the professor didn't mention.

Although most people could roughly guess that some sort of creature would be hunting them in the test, they would've never expected that the creature that was hunting them could perceive their location through their acute sense of smell, resulting in many students dying without knowing what had hit them.

This was made so that students wouldn't only focus on hiding, but actually try to develop survival skills for situations where they were being hunted by an unknown entity.

"The protagonist will spend the first 20 minutes trying to get a good grasp of his surroundings before making his way towards the middle of the map, where he eventually reunites with the others."

"He'll have a slight conflict with Jin, but they then decide to work together when they encounter a beast."

"The best way to survive is thus to make my way towards the center where a large group will be gathering, but..."

Shaking my head I quickly discard the thought.

Although people were definitely going to gather at the center, that's where the strong gathered.

If someone of my rank were to go there, the only options I had were to either directly get killed by one of them or get used as cannon fodder.

This only left me with two options.

Somehow reuniting with my group, or complete a hidden task so that even if I die I will have one point.

I'll discard the first option. Just the thought of interacting with Arnold pisses me off. Moreover just because I know what will happen, doesn't mean I know where the others were.

Arnold will most likely make his way towards the center, and if I follow him there, he won't kill me, but he'll definitely find ways to make things hard for me.

As for the rest?

I don't even have the slightest idea of where they could be.

Thus this leaves me with only one choice.

Complete the hidden task.

In general, there were five hidden tasks placed on the map. One in the north, south, east, west, and center of the map.

Each task differed from the other, in the sense that the goal of each task was different, moreover, the difficulty of the task should be something that a rank 1750 like me couldn't hope to be able to accomplish.

Well, that is if I was really rank 1750.

Knowing that I wasn't just your regular rank 1750, I decided to head to where the hidden task was.

Well, where I thought it was.

In fact, I actually don't have a clue as to where the hidden task was located..

Since none of the main characters have ever stepped foot on the east side, where I currently was, I knew nothing about this place. Apart from the fact that this was a forest-type terrain and that there was a hidden task hidden somewhere around this area, I really had no clue with regards to anything else.

I could only harden myself and aimlessly walk to where I thought the hidden task was located.

Fortunately, I had a general idea of where the hidden tasks could be located, allowing me to have some sort of goal.

[Teammate William K. Johnson has died - Team points: 5]

As I was making my way towards where I estimated the hidden task was located, I saw a notification once again emerge on the corner of my view, prompting me to bitterly shake my head.

And here you were ignoring me because of my rank...

If things go this way, I don't really see our team having more than 2-3 points which would put us in the middle ranks.

Which by all means is not a bad score, but for someone like Arnold, this could be considered a humiliating score, which will result in more troublesome situations where I would have to interact with him.

And to be honest, I really don't want to involve myself with him anymore.

The only reason why I didn't lash out against him last time was because of the annoying things that could come as a consequence of my actions. Moreover, if he really wanted to, he could use some of his influence to directly affect my parent's guild.

But if that were to happen...

Let's just say I knew many ways to get rid of some stray dogs that didn't know their place. Though, at the expense of some dire consequence that I don't want to go through.

Let's just hope he's not stupid enough to push me there...

Unless I decide to expose myself and show an overwhelming talent that rivals that of the main characters, I will have to stay low regardless of what hatred or grudge I built up.

[Teammate Park Jinho has died - Team points: 4]

Well, at least it seems that for now I no longer was going to be his main target.

I better get going before someone else reached the hidden task before I did.

-Rustle! -Rustle!

Suddenly, as I was jogging towards where I thought the hidden task was, the bushes near me rustled before suddenly a large shadow emerged from behind them, heading towards my direction.

Touching the handle of my blade, I readied my stance.

Slowly the features of the shadow became clearer, prompting me to become even tenser.

A tall individual whose body was on the muscular side walked up to me. He had short black hair, and he had a disposition similar to that of a knight.

Spotting me, he walked up to me and scanned me up and down.

"Rank 636 Patrick W. Fullham"

As soon as he introduced himself, a small window appeared in front of me with holographic information regarding the individual in front of me.

Extending my left hand, while keeping my right hand on the sheat of my katana, I smiled and introduced myself.

"Rank 1750 Ren Dover"

Similar to me, a small window appeared in front of him. Seeing the content of the window, Patrick raised his brow before suddenly sneering.

"You came at a perfect time!"

"What do you mean?"

Pointing towards the depth of the forest, Patrick tried to hide his sneer as he looked at me.

"As I was wandering around the forest, I stumbled across the hidden task, and you came at just the right time"

"Wow! You actually found the hidden task?!"

Taken aback by my excited expression, Patrick took a couple of seconds to recollect himself before his sneer finally returned to his face

He turned around and walked towards the direction he previously pointed at, ignoring me who had a visibly excited face.

"Where are we going?"

"Where else?"

"Wait, you're actually doing the hidden task with me?"

"Count yourself lucky, I needed an extra helper to complete this task, and since I couldn't find anybody else apart from you, I will generously share the reward with you"

"Oh my god! Thank you so much!"

As I followed Patrick in the direction he pointed at, I couldn't help but secretly laugh at his ignorance.

He actually left his back wide open for me to attack at any time. He was either really dumb or overconfident in his abilities.

Since my rank was so low, he probably thought I posed no threat to him whatsoever, thus making him lower his guard against me. But little did he know, that although I was rank 1750, I could end him in one move.

'He probably wants to use me as cannon fodder to help him solve the hidden task'

As I laughed at his ignorance, slowly the trees around me started to disperse, until, the view of a small lake came into my sight.

Stopping right before the lake, Patrik smiled and took a deep breath.

"Here we are"

Chapter 16: Virtual reality [4]

Although this was all simulated through a computer, I couldn't help but be mesmerized by the scene before me.

Crystalline clear water that neatly reflected the incoming rays of light coming from the sun, and vibrant green vegetation, surrounded the calm lake. Animals could be seen peacefully sharing their surroundings with the other animals as they each slowly drank the crystal clear water from the lake.

"Oh! you're here Patrick!"

Snapping me out of my revere was a high pitch male voice coming from the right.

"Oh Lucas, you're here. I got the perfect man for the job"

Waving towards the direction from where the voice was coming from, a boy that looked to be about 14 years of age showed up. His curly hair was a mixture of brown and blonde color and accompanied by his green emerald-like eyes, made him resemble an elf.

He looked rather lively and seemed to get along with Patrick quite well.

"Oh! is that him?"

Noticing my presence, the young boy scanned my body up and down and cheerfully smiled.

Extending his hand, he smiled.

"Rank 429, Lucas Thyme"

Soon a screen appeared before me.

Extending my hand to shake his hand, I smiled and presented myself.

"Pleasure to meet you, rank 1750, Ren Dover"

-Clap! -Clap! -Clap!

"Ohhh, I have never seen someone as lowly ranked as you!"

After shaking my hand, Lucas excitedly clapped his hands and looked at Patrick.

"Patrick you're absolutely right! He is indeed the perfect man for the job!"

"Hahaha, I was quite fortunate"

Tilting my head, I looked at Lucas and Patrick who were both happily conversing with one another.

"Excuse me? But you guys keep saying that I'm the perfect man for the job...but what exactly am I supposed to do?"

"Oh? Patrick didn't tell you?"

Tilting his head, Lucas alternatively looked at me and Patrick for a couple of seconds, before seemingly having realized something. Soon a wide smile appeared on his face.

"Oh, I see, okay then I will explain it to you"

Pointing towards the center of the lake, Lucas looked at me.

"You see over there?"

Looking in the direction where he pointed, I squinted my eyes so that I could get a clear look at what he was pointing at.

After a couple of seconds, I could make out what seemed to be a small lilypad with a red flower neatly nested on top of it.

Because it was so small, if it weren't for the fact that Lucas pointed it out for me, I probably would've never been able to notice it.

"Yes I see it"

"Okay, so in short we need the flower on top of that lilypad in order to get the extra points"

I already kind of get the gist of the situation.

If this was how I suspected things were, at the center of the lake there was a large monster guarding the flower. Because Patrick and Lucas's strength was not too different, they decided to get someone who was weaker than them and force them to become bait, while reaping the rewards for themselves.

On the off-chance that I survived the ordeal, they'd later kill me to keep the reward for themselves.

"You see there's a large monster inside of the lake, and so we needed someone who could help us be bait so that we can freely get the flower."

So predictable.

So very predictable. Was this why third-rate villains always died first?

Smiling Lucas looked up towards my face, while Patrick went behind me. Noticing the situation, I lightly sighed and said.

"...Can I say no?"

"Why would you say no?"

Tilting his head in confusion, Lucas looked at me once again.

"Shouldn't dogs eat whatever their owners are feeding them?"

There it is!

His true personality finally showed up.

There was no way Lucas was some random brat that acted like a child.

He was definitely a two-faced scheming bastard that would resort to any trick to get what he wanted.

I'm fairly certain Patrick was being fooled by him as well.

In the first place, you can only get 1 point from completing a hidden task.

How could you share 1 point?

Thus, the mastermind behind this whole thing was fairly obvious. If I'm not wrong, once Lucas gets rid of me, his next target would be Patrick.

By backstabbing him when he least expects it, he could earn the extra point without needing to lift a finger throughout the whole ordeal.

Truly a scheming bastard.

At least I know who to target first.

"Okay...not like I can fight you guys anyways"

"Hmph, good choice"

-Clap! -Clap! -Clap!

"Yay! Now we can get the extra points!"

Bitterly smiling I nodded my head, to which Patrick sneered and Lucas smiled and clapped.

"Okay let's go!"

Excitedly rushing forward towards the lake, Lucas prepared to directly jump into the lake.

"Stop! before we start I need a few things, even though I am bait, I want to increase the chance of me surviving even if it's a little bit"

Stopping himself from jumping in the lake after hearing my shout, Lucas contemplated for a few seconds before nodding his head.

"Hmm, I guess a good owner needs to reward their pet for their obedience, okay tell me what is it that you need"

"Ah nothing much.."

-Clack!

"huh?"

-Clink!

Thud!

Thud!

"GAaaaaaaaahhhH!"

"guuuuuuUUUU!!"

Two dreadful screams resounded across the forest, scaring the nearby animals away.

"3 seconds huh"

Staring at the katana in my hand which was dripping with blood, I shook my head in disappointment.

Although I was only about halfway towards reaching the minor realm of mastery, in the week I stayed in the academy I diligently trained my sword for 4-5 hours a day.

I managed to reduce the time taken for me to sheath and unsheath the sword from the scabbard, but, It seems like I was still very far from reaching the point where the sword become invisible.

Looking beneath me, the bodies of Lucas and Patrick who were both still alive squirmed on the floor. Both their legs had gone missing.

Although the pain reduction in the VR world was reduced to 50%, the pain of losing both limbs was still something that no one would find pleasant.

The reason why they were like this was simple, they let their guard down.

Although yes, I technically was indeed stronger than both of them, that was only on an individual level. If I was to face them both at the same time, the chances of me winning was only at around 40%.

I took advantage of their arrogance and chose the most appropriate moment to strike, which happened to be when they turned their backs on me and felt like they had me in the palm of their hand.

Why cut off their legs and not kill them?

Well, that was simple really.

I myself was in need of some good bait.

Since you want to take advantage of me, I'll make sure you pay the appropriate price.

Like I said before.

I take my grudges deeply.

"Well, look who decided to do me a favor?"

Looking down at both Patrick and Lucas whose faces were grimacing in pain due to the loss of their limbs, I smiled.

"Kuhk..I'll kill you!"

"How dare...kuha..dog...do this to me?"

"It's not my fault you guys were stupid enough to actually leave your back exposed to me. This happens every time, whenever someone hears my rank they automatically think I'm garbage. "

The rank given to students was determined through measuring potential, stats, and academic achievement, in this case, through the entrance exam.

Students tend to forget, but in the beginning, ranks were pretty much useless. Initially, for most of the students who enrolled in the academy, although they had different ranks, the gap in strength between the bottom-ranked students and the middle-ranked students was about the same.

Well, that was at least for anything above 300. For ranks between one and three hundred, the strength gap between each rank was quite significant.

In the story, it was only after the first half of the year had passed that ranks become a more accurate estimation of someone's strength.

In this case, Lucas and Patrick misjudged my strength because of my rank, and thus were both easily taken down by me.

"Cow..kh..ard"

"Oh? Sorry did you say something?"

Leaning my ear next to Lucas's mouth, I imitated Lucas's childish accent.

"Bastard!!!!!"

Provoked by my taunt, Lucas tried to bite my ear, but I swiftly leaned my body back and avoided his teeth.

Shaking my head as I looked at them, I stared at the lake before me.

"You know, from the moment I saw Patrick I knew he was an idiot"

"Khuuuuak!!...I'll fucking kill you"

"I mean, did you seriously think you could share the hidden task?"

"!"

Looking at Patrick's surprised face, I raised my eyebrow.

"You actually didn't know you couldn't share the reward? Tsk, tsk, tsk, no wonder you're an idiot"

"What are you..cough!..talking about? Lucas sai..d that you could!"

Smiling widely, I looked at Lucas.

"Is that so?"

"Don't listen to him Patrick! He's merel..kuk!.. trying to get to your mind"

"Pffff...Are you even listening to yourself? Why would I need to get to his mind when he's already disabled? Moreover, why would you even trust someone who is not even in your group?"

Looking at Lucas who had gone pale, Patrick clenched his teeth and stared at Lucas with hatred.

"Is what he said true!"

"N-nnno"

"DID YOU LIE TO ME!!??? ANSWER ME!!!"

Clenching his teeth, Lucas's previous cheerful demeanor vanished completely, as he stared at Patrick like he was looking at a bug.

"So what if I lied to you? A do..kh..g only needs to f..follow orders and not a..khu..questions!"

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

Using his hands to drag his big body forwards, Patrick tried to force himself onto Lucas.

-Clap!

"Alright show's over, I haven't got too much time to deal with you guys, so please just be good"

Clapping my hands once, I grab the back of both Lucas's and Patrick's shirts, before dragging their legless body towards the lake.

"kaahkk...Reale..ase me!"

"Let go of...kh..me!

Ignoring their protests, I stopped right before the lake and looked at them.

"Make sure you create as much of a scene as possible"

"Wai....t.....guuuuuuaaaaaaa"

"Noooooooo"

-Splash!

-Splash!

"I'll k...sphh...ill you!"

"Bas...sphh..ard"

Since they both had missing limbs, the only thing they could do to stay afloat was to use their arms by constantly hitting the water.

There was a reason why I only decided to cut their legs.

A good bait needs to create enough commotion to attract the prey.

And sure enough, a minute after I threw both Lucas and Patrick into the lake, a large shadow appeared beneath them.

"Well that's my cue"

-Splash!

Diving into the water, I swam towards the flower which rested in the middle of the lake.

As long as they both act as good baits, retrieving the flower shouldn't be a problem.

And it was indeed just like I had predicted.

While the lake guardian was busy enjoying its 'delicious food', I safely swam towards where the flower was located and easily brought it back to shore.

"It's kind of nice that things went just like I predicted"

Looking at the red flower on the palm of my hand, I secretly rejoiced once again at the fact that I wasn't reincarnated as the protagonist.

If Kevin were to have been the one who went to retrieve the flower, nine times out of ten the lake guardian would've spotted him and made things harder for him.

Fortunately, such a thing won't happen to an extra like me.

"Let's get the extra point before anyone else has a chance to steal it from me"

Squeezing the flower in my hand, the flower instantly turned into light particles that floated above my head.

[Rank 1750 Rend Dover +1 point (Lake trial): Team points: 5]

Alright!

Now even if I were to die, Arnold wouldn't give me crap for dragging the team down.

[Teammate Arnold Kane has died - Team points: 4]

"..."

"pffff"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

Talk about a punchline.

Just when I managed to get an extra point, that bastard goes and gets himself killed.

Where was that high and mighty attitude from before?

"Make sure you survive, else..."

What a clown.

He got what he deserved.

...I hope he doesn't start stuff with me for taking over his spotlight.

Checking my watch to see how much time has passed, I nodded in satisfaction.

"Alright, I have completed my task, so all I need to do now is survive for 23 more minutes before I can go back to my dorm and relax."

Chapter 17: Virtual reality [5]

[Teammate Park Jinho has died - Team points: 4]

"Trash"

"khhhkk...plea..se"

-Crack!

Swiping away the notification, Arnold clenched his hand and the sound of a neck-breaking spread across the surroundings.

-Thud!

"Useless garbage"

Throwing away the lifeless body, which soon turned into light particles, Arnold's mood couldn't be any gloomier.

"What happened?"

Sitting comfortably on top of a large rock a pale black-haired youth with yellow pupils spoke to Arnold with an amused smile.

"None of your business!"

Irritated by the youth's presence, Arnold grumbled and walked away.

"Hey don't be so mean! Just because we are on top of a mountain and Jin isn't here doesn't mean you can ignore me like that!"

Jumping off the rock, the black-haired youth happily followed Arnold, further irritating him.

If Ren was here he would've immediately been able to recognize the identity of the man following Arnold. There was only one man in the whole academy who had yellow pupils.

Rank 18 Troy Derekz

A borderline psychopathic student who in the middle stages of the novel becomes an infamous villain.

He like Arnold was one of the three lackeys that followed Jin, but unlike Arnold who voluntarily chose to be his lackey, he had no choice but to become one.

In reality, his father was a direct subordinate of Jin's father. Knowing that his son was approximately the same age as his boss's son, Troy's father—William Derekz, forced Troy to get along with Jin even though he absolutely despised the man.

Born with a golden spoon without needing to be forced to prostrate towards someone just because of their father's influence, or having a happy family that isn't on the verge of a breakdown because of an abusive father who only thinks about work. Jin had everything.

He had what Troy didn't. Money, influence, power, and most of all a loving family.

Consumed by his jealousy and hatred towards Jin, Troy got approached by Professor Thibaut and was tempted into forming a contract with a demon.

The Demon clans were split into 7 clans, each according to the 7 heavenly sins.

This may seem like some cliche story writing, but for Ren, who at the time was thinking of different ways to approach the concept of demons and villains, the 7 heavenly sins sounded like the most well-matched concept he could come up with. It was the perfect scenario that helped him portray the relationship between villains and demons.

A villain was someone who made a pact with a demon when their desire overcome their rationality.

For example, if you found yourself in despair towards a person who was far more talented than you, an emotion called 'Jelousy' would begin sprouting inside of you. Or when you see a really beautiful girl you want to make yours, what you experience is both 'greed and lust'.

Once you experience such emotion, it either subsides over a period of time or becomes stronger as the distance between you and the said 'target' increases.

And in this case, as your desire/negative emotion increases, the demon clan that is most compatible with you makes their appearance in the form of an agent and tempts you into making a deal with you in exchange for power.

Jealousy(Envy), hatred(Wrath), possessiveness(Greed), obsession(Lust), all negative emotions fall into the 7 heavenly sins.

Once a person experiences such emotions and lets it takes over their rationality, only then will the demon tribe with the respective compatibility step in and present you with a deal.

In Troy's case, who was in his own right incredibly talented, falls into an immense state of jealousy clouding all his judgments, resulting in the demon clan of 'envy' to personally make a move.

Because of Troy's immense talent, the 'envy' clan directly approached him instead of contacting him through a clan sub-branch.

A sub-branch, also known as a collection of minor tribes, was a collective of demons whose bloodline was more diluted compared to the main clans.

A demon's rank was determined by their bloodline purity—ranked from, King, Prince/Princess, Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, and lastly Baron.

The higher the title, the stronger they were. with the Demon King being the strongest.

The consequence of having a more diluted bloodline resulted in the contractee being given a lower amount of power as compared to a cantractee who had made a pact with a pure-blooded demon.

Hence why Troy who signed a pact with a pure-blooded demon of the clan of 'envy' becomes an extremely tricky opponent to face in the middle of the story.

The reason why sub-branches existed was because a demon could only make one pact per human. Unless the human died or became stronger than the demon they made a pact with, the contract will never break.

Because of the limited number of pure-blooded demons, only a select amount of humans could make a pact with them. Only the best, and most talented humans could make a contract with them.

If the human was not very talented, then the sub-branch would step in and offer them a contract.

It has to be noted that a demon could never break a contract once it was made, as their soul was directly linked to the contract.

If they forcefully tried to break the contract, they may be at risk of having their soul pulverized.

In the end, only someone of Troy's level of talent could tempt one of the main clans to make a move.

"Stop following me"

"Oh come on! Why do you want to get rid of me so badly?"

"You know why!"

"I told you many times already, it's not my fault she likes me better!"

-Crack!

Suddenly, Arnold stopped and the ground beneath his feet started cracking. Below his feet, countless minute crevices started extending from where he stood.

With blue veins bulging out from the top of his head, Arnold turned around and glared in Troy's direction, who was leisurely walking behind him and coldly said

"Just because you are ranked higher than me, doesn't mean I won't hesitate to attack you here!"

"Oh, chill out man! I was only stating the truth!"

Raising his hands in a sign of surrender, Troy took a couple of steps back.

"Hmph!"

Clenching his teeth, Arnold turned around and ignored Troy.

"It's not my fault I was born this handsome"

"I'll Ki—khhh"

-Roar!

Suddenly just as Arnold was about to lash out against Troy due to his stupid remarks, a large shadow emerged from behind a couple of rocks and pounced him.

Raising his shield, which was his main weapon, Arnold barely managed to take the full grunt of the attack not before being pushed back five steps.

"Guukhh!"

A split second after he managed to stabilize his body, Arnold stared at the ferocious creature whose features started becoming discernable.

Orange fur, muscular upper body, fangs that extended from its mouth to the upper end of its arms, and blood-red eyes. A beast that resembled the long-extinct 'saber-tooth tiger'

"fuuuuu, didn't expect the famous D-ranked 'Metal-fanged Smilodon' to make its presence here today...this test sure is harder than I expected"

Reading his stance, Arnold raised his shield and roared.

"Huuuu!!!"

Provoked by Arnold's spirit, the metal-fanged Smilodon similarly roared and dashed towards him.

-Roar!

-Klang!

The sound of a collision could be heard from the distance, as a flock of birds escaped from the nearby trees.

As soon as the dust settled three large claw marks appeared on Arnold's shield. However, if one looked carefully, Arnold remained rooted in the same spot he was before the clash.

"Gaaaah!"

-Bam!

As the Metal-fanged Smilodon tried to assault Arnold once again, Arnold dipped his body and shoulder tackled the incoming beast.

"Graah!"

Being tackled by Arnold, the Metal-fanged Smilodon lost its previous momentum and felt its body being raised a couple of centimeters in the air.

-Boom!

Taking advantage of the opening, Arnold swung his shield, in a punching motion, towards the beast's stomach sending it flying towards a nearby tree.

-Thud!

Back first, the Metal-fanged Smilodon wailed in pain as its back crashed against a nearby tree.

"huu..huu.huuu"

With heavy breaths, Arnold stared in the direction where he sent the beast flying.

-Roar!

Before Arnold had the chance to rest, he saw the Metal-fanged smilodon appear from the side of his view.

-Klang!

Skilfully switching the shield to his left hand, Arnold felt a tremendous momentum being transmitted to his body sending him staggering backward a couple of meters.

-Klang!

"Grruuu!"

Before Arnold could have a chance to catch his breath, the beast relentlessly attacked him from every direction.

"Basta..khh..rd help me d.ammit!"

Turning his head towards where Troy was leisurely standing, Arnold cursed as he kept on withstanding the continuous onslaught of attacks coming from the beast.

"Oh? So you can't hold it any longer?"

-Klang!

-Klang!

-Klang!

"Qui..khh... I might ac..khaa..tually huff...huff.. die!"

"Say please?"

"QUICK!"

"Ah fine jeezzz"

Extending his right hand forwards, a bow suddenly appeared in Troy's hand.

Pulling the string back, a translucent blue arrow suddenly materialized on the bow.

"Let's make this quick"

Licking his lips, Troy closed his left eye and aimed at the Tiger's head.

Just as he was about to release the bowstring, suddenly a notification appeared in Arnold's view, completely stunning him.

[Your teammate Rank 1750 Rank Dover succeeded in completing the hidden task (Lake trial), awarded +1 point. Team points: 5]

That one split moment of time where Arnold was stunned was enough for the beast to seize the opportunity and break through his defense.

"Wha..khuu!"

"AAAGHHH!"

[You have died]

[Rank 75 Arnold Kane has died, team points: 4]

Those were the last words Arnold saw before his view suddenly became dark.

-Swooosh!

-Splat!

-Roooar!

Soon after Arnold died and his body turned into light particles, a blue arrow dug its way into the tired beast's eye.

-Swoosh!

-Swoosh!

-Thump!

Before the beast could recover, two more arrows quickly dug their way towards where the first arrow hit, killing the beast completely.

"Fuuu.."

Seeing the beast turn into light particles, Troy bitterly laughed.

"Oops!"

...

"How are you guys holding up?"

Standing on top of a large boulder, Kevin looked behind him where a small group of people had gathered.

"Could've been better"

-Thud!

Grumbling, Emma jumped off from the top of a tree.

"We should be safe for now so let's get moving"

Walking ahead of Kevin, Emma turned her attention to Amanda who was a few meters ahead, quietly observing the area.

"What are you doing?"

"...Observing"

"Observing what?"

"Everything"

Letting out a sigh, Emma walked up to Amanda whose face was expressionless, and hooked her arm around her fair slender neck

"What am I gonna do with you?"

Startled by Emma's sudden action, Amanda looked at Emma in confusion.

Finally, after noticing Emma's cheeky grin, Amanda realized she was messing with her and tried to free herself from Emma's arm.

"Let go"

"hehe, let's see how strong the almighty Amanda is"

Gripping even harder, Emma laughed as she enjoyed seeing Amanda's expressionless face slowly turn red due to what seemed to be either oxygen deprivation or anger.

While Emma was busy annoying Amanda, some of the male students around them couldn't help but fix their sight on them.

"Seen enough?"

Leaning against a tree, Jin glared at the students who were mesmerized by the two girls playing around. He seemed to be in an especially bad mood today.

Flinching, the students who were busy admiring the girls, looked at Jin in fear. Overwhelmed by his glare they hurriedly backed off.

Kevin, who saw this scene from afar, couldn't help but lightly grin as he walked up to Jin.

"Still salty about your loss?"

"Tch...you were just lucky"

Clicking his tongue, Jin clenched his fists and looked away.

Previously, Kevin and Jin were fighting to get the extra point from the hidden task.

Their hidden task consisted of finding a certain flower that was located in the mountain region they had spawned.

Because the task relied on pure luck, once he lost, Jin couldn't help but feel his mood plummet to the ground.

If Kevin had managed to win based on his skills then Jin wouldn't have made a big deal out of it, but since this win purely came from luck, Jin felt as if he was robbed.

Unfortunately, rules were rules, and no matter how salty he was, he could do nothing about it.

"Ehm...excuse me"

A slightly timid voice disrupted their conversation, prompting Kevin to turn around.

Following his line of sight, a small timid young girl with adorably large eyes looked at both Kevin and Jin with a red face.

Holding the edge of her shirt, her eyes drifted left and right as she struggled to find the right words to say.

Looking at the adorable girl in front of him, Kevin couldn't help but chuckle.

"Yes?"

"Ehm..ehm..."

"Quick say what you need to say!"

"Eeek!"

Jin, who wasn't as patient as Kevin, immediately raised his voice causing the young girl to lightly flinch.

"Ohi, what was that for?"

"Hmph"

Slightly glaring towards Jin's direction, Kevin looked back at the young girl and spoke in a kind tone.

"How can I help you?"

In a voice that was almost inaudible, the young girl looked at Kevin and said.

"Ehm...I am in your team"

"...Eh?"

Freezing for a split second, Kevin's smile momentarily faltered as he tried his best to remember the faces of his team members.

Previously when Kevin spawned in the waiting room, everyone kept their distance from him. Several factors may have caused his team members to avoid him. Most likely, due to their inflated ego, they couldn't help but become jealous of him who displayed an astonishing level of talent despite coming from a poor background. Of course, this may not be the only reason as to why they ignored him, but Kevin wasn't too keen to find out.

He was simply used to being alone.

Chapter 18: Virtual reality [6]

"pfff, you can't even remember the faces of your own teammates?"

Smirking, Jin mockingly looked at Kevin.

"Oh? so you're telling me that you remember the face of all your teammates?"

Raising his brow, Kevin turned around and skeptically looked at Jin.

"..."

Turning around, Jin pretended to have not heard Kevin and walked away.

Dumbfounded, Kevin helplessly looked in Emma and Amanda's direction, only to be left even more speechless.

Swiftly moving around the trees, Emma was currently being chased by Amanda whose face remained expressionless.

-Swish!

-Swish!

-Swish

Taking out her bow. At an inhuman speed, Amanda's fingers danced between the bow and the quiver. Soon, three arrows flew in Emma's direction at a speed that couldn't be seen by the naked eye.

-Thud! -Thud! -Thud!

"Stop! Stop! Stop! I give up!"

Taking cover behind a tree, Emma raised her hands in defeat as she fearfully looked at the arrows that were imbued on the tree she was hiding. Each arrow perfectly penetrated the hard outer shell of the tree. Looking closely, the tip of each arrow was only a few centimeters from Emma's face, sending cold shivers down her spine. If it weren't for the fact that Amanda restrained herself, Emma might've actually died.

Shaking his head, Kevin turned his attention back to the young girl, not before letting out a long sigh. He was starting to doubt whether grouping with them was the right thing to do.

'Maybe if Melissa was here things wouldn't have been as bad...'

Thought Kevin for a moment before shaking his head.

Knowing Melissa's personality, things might've actually turned out for the worse.

Sighing once again, and ignoring the commotion that Amanda and Emma were causing, Kevin squinted his eyes and took a good look at the girl before him.

She was a beautiful, light-skinned young girl with a petite yet curvaceous frame and below-average height. She had long, slightly curly black hair that reached all the way to her back. Her large crystal eyes were slightly covered by short square bangs. She had plump rosy cheeks which accompanied by her short figure made one want to tightly squeeze them.

"Did you come to me to ask me to protect you?"

"N-no!"

Quickly shaking her head, the young girl timidly pointed towards another group of people in the distance.

"They sa-id that they know where the hidden task was..."

"...oh?"

Taking one good look at the members in the distance, Kevin was reminded of the people he had previously seen in the waiting room.

Although he did not remember the young girl, he did remember two out of the four individuals gathered.

They were the most arrogant and prideful of the bunch, so of course, he knew about them.

If he didn't remember wrong, they should've been ranked around the hundreds and were extremely prideful of their ranking. They were so proud and arrogant that they thought that they could fight Kevin on equal terms.

Like they all say...

Powerful people often grew confident, and confident people were often conceited.

Power gets in the head of everyone. Kevin was no better, but because he had a clear goal, he managed to suppress his inner desires.

Shaking his head, he walked towards them

Although he had no interest in interacting with them, since they knew where the location of the hidden task was, it was only natural that his interest was piqued.

"...Oh, by the way what's your name?"

"Ehm.."

Timidly looking down, the young girl avoided Kevin's eyes and swiped her hand right.

Soon a screen appeared in front of Kevin.

User ID : Ava leafz

Age : 16

Picture : (Holographic image)

Program : Hero program Year 1

School Rank : 1078/2055

Potential : Unranked

Profession : Monster tamer

"..Ava? Monster tamer?"

Touching his chin, Kevin looked at the information that was presented in front of him.

Looking at the shy young girl once again, Kevin couldn't help but be slightly moved.

If one asked Kevin which profession he thought was the strongest in the world, Kevin would without a doubt say the monster tamer class.

Usually, most people would regard things such as swordsmanship, or fancy professions that were flashy and pleasing to the eye as the strongest professions.

However, Kevin begged to differ.

In his opinion, the most fearsome out of all the professions was the monster tamer profession.

Each person was born with a certain level of talent.

This level was a set limit that could never be changed no matter what someone did.

...well that was unless you were Ren or Kevin who were both cheats.

If your talent was ranked D, then the best you could achieve throughout your whole life was becoming a D-rank hero.

Once you reached your talent limit, no matter how much extra time you spent training, you would never be able to improve.

Kevin was all too familiar with the despair that stemmed from knowing their talent was too low.

Originally, Kevin's talent was terrible. It was so bad that throughout his whole childhood he was bullied for it. While everyone around him showed incredible talent that made them stand above their peers, Kevin was born with a mediocre E-rank talent. The worst possible talent that anyone could get.

At the time, his parents who also had low talents blamed themselves for his poor aptitude.

Fortunately, Kevin's mentality was strong and he was never saddened by his low level of talent.

Well, that was until that fateful 'day' arrived...

It was the day that demons managed to infiltrate his hometown, and killed everyone without remorse.

Because his hometown was far away from any major city, no rescue came until dawn, five hours after the massacre began.

His parents had sacrificed their lives in order to hide him from the demons...

'Even though we couldn't give you a good talent, sacrificing ourselves to let you live should be enough to atone for letting you be born with a low talent that made you suffer throughout your whole childhood'

With the most beautiful smile on their faces, those were the last words his parents had said to him before closing the trapdoor that led to the basement and disappearing from his life forever...

To this day, he had still not gotten over that day as it still haunts him in his dreams, like a plague that never ceases to attack the immune system. It was almost like a seed had been implanted inside of him, slowly eroding his state of mind. Kevin couldn't remember how many times he had woken up because of the nightmares, only to find his bedsheets soaked in his sweat.

If not for a strange system suddenly appearing before him when he was in his most dire state, he would've never been able to survive, grow strong enough to rank first in the school ranking, and let alone enroll in the lock.

He owed everything to the system.

Thanks to the system he managed to completely change himself, his body, his talent, his mentality.

Everything about him changed.

He went from an E-ranked talent to an SSS-rank talent over the course of a few months due to some strange elixir the system provided him.

But, what determined talent?

Talent was a measure of natural aptitude.

In this case, talent was assed in regards to the profession one had.

A profession, like talent caps, was something that could not be chosen nor changed.

Around the time of the second cataclysm and humans were able to access mana, strange status windows similar to the ones that appear in games appeared in front of everyone.

From then, the age of the 'awakened' happened. Slowly people started familiarizing themselves with mana through which they gained access to supernatural powers. Powers that enabled them to do things that they could've never have hoped to achieve in the past.

If someone paid closely to their status window they would notice that, right below their status, there was a small section called profession.

That was your natural talent.

If your status window showed 'Spearmanship' then it meant that your aptitude towards spearmanship was amplified naturally by the status window.

Meaning that if a person talented in spear arts trained in sword arts, their comprehension would be nowhere near as fast as their spear arts comprehension which was amplified by the status window.

Of course, everyone had different levels of talent in regards to their natural talent. Meaning that even if someone was talented in spear arts, their talent cap was still there. So if your talent cap was D-rank, then in your lifetime you could only be a D-rank Hero who specialized in spear arts.

In the case of Ava, the reason why Kevin believed her talent was the best, was because she did not have a talent cap.

Monster tamers don't have a level cap because they don't need to have one.

What mattered was the monsters, not the tamer themselves.

Yes, a certain amount of control was required by the tamer to control the beasts, but even then, what mattered most was the monsters.

A monster tamer could tame an unlimited number of beasts regardless of their potential. Making monster tamers some of the scariest opponents to face.

Unfortunately, in modern society monster tamers weren't highly regarded. This was simply due to how difficult it was for them to tame a monster, as a lot of complicated steps were required. Moreover, the financial burden one would incur just to raise a monster could even cause some of the wealthiest people in the world to feel the sting.

Especially if an S-rank pet was raised. They fed on monster cores.

By the time they were fully grown, their daily food consumption alone could sustain a whole city for years.

It was just inefficient.

But to Kevin, this didn't matter because...

He had the system!

With the system, gaining monster cores or manuals wasn't hard. All he had to do was complete a quest and he could easily earn some low-ranked cores.

If his talent had been monster tamer instead of swordsmanship, he could've raised an army of S-ranked monsters with which he could have used to fight against the demon king.

"We're here..."

Stopping in front of four people from his group, Kevin ignored their looks of disdain and lightly smiled at them.

"So where's the hidden task?"

...

"four more minutes"

Checking the time that was left, I quickly dashed away from the place I was hiding.

Right now my plan was, find a safe spot, rest for 3 minutes, and continue to the next spot.

This was the strategy that Kevin had used when he was doing this trial, and it worked.

By continuously changing my location, it made it harder for the 'hunter' to find my exact location.

Although the 'hunter' tracked through scent, it didn't mean that it will only focus its attention on me.

No, It will obviously go for the easiest prey.

With around 90 students inside the map, accompanied by the limited number of 'hunters' present in the map, the hunters who were programmed through the computer system will only go for what the computer deems to be the easiest target to hunt.

If it was presented with two choices, prey A and prey B, the hunter will go towards the easiest target to hunt by default. If prey A who was constantly changing location was harder to hunt compared to prey B, who was hiding in the same spot without moving, then it will undoubtedly go for prey B.

Therefore. for the past 19 minutes or so, I have been constantly changing my location.

The 'hunters' were not something I could take on.

Each 'hunter' was a precise replica of famous beasts that could be found after the second cataclysm.

Each beast present ranged from Rank G to Rank D, which only a handful of students could fight or escape from.

A G+ rank student like me cannot possibly hope to defeat a D ranked beast with my current strength. Although the sword art I practiced was extremely strong, at the end of the day my rank was only G+. Moreover, considering the fact that I had only been practicing the art for about a week, asking me to fight the beast was like asking me to kill myself.

There was no way I could last longer than a couple of seconds against a D rank beast.

The only option I had from the start was this one.

Roaming confidently without being scared of encountering dangerous beasts was only a thing the protagonists could do.

I was not on that level yet.

Though I had always said that I didn't want to interact with the protagonists, it didn't mean that I didn't aspire to be like them.

I do long for a peaceful life, but could you really achieve that without power? In a world where power reigns above all else?

I wonder when I changed?

I wasn't like this before.

I used to think everything was troublesome and had no goal to strive for.

I remember everything being bleak. Everything apart from my computer and the comments I got from my readers were things that I found boring and troublesome.

Maybe I really was just waiting to die and rid myself of that boring life.

...And once I thought my life reached the end, I found myself inside my own novel.

Since then my world had suddenly gone bright.

I had a family, access to magic which was only something I saw in movies, and a goal to strive for.

And who would've ever imagined being inside of a real virtual machine?

Right...I had already decided once I discovered that I still hadn't finished the novel that I will try my best to be as strong as the protagonist or at least close to his level.

Smiling to myself, I looked at the azure clear sky and the softly rustling trees.

"Life is good...."

Chapter 19: Making money [1]

-Ding!

A sweet melodious jingle ranged through my ears as I was about to move to my next location. Suddenly my body froze and blue text appeared in my vision.

[Time left 00:00:00 - Congratulations on finishing the test. you will soon each be logged out from the capsule]

"Ah..time's finally up"

Although I technically did not do any physical training, the mental exhaustion stemming from constantly being alert and taking note of every little detail surrounding me, was a first for me who had never been through such an experience in my life.

It really drained a lot out of me.

It felt as if I had trained intensively for five hours straight without any pause.

Slowly the trees, the sky, the animals, everything around me started to disintegrate turning the whole world white.

Squinting my eyes, I could see the remaining students who had survived, far away in the white world.

Surprisingly there were only about eight students near my area. Meaning that this could either mean either one of these three things:

- a. Most of the students in my zone died

- b. Most of the students in my zone went to other areas

- c. Not a lot of students spawned in my area

I believe the correct answer was in between the first and second options since most of the students probably didn't know a lot about the scenario.

Actually, now that I take a good look at the whole white world, including my area, there were not many students left.

Although the map was huge, and I couldn't clearly see how many people remained alive, with no obstacles obstructing my vision I could make a general deduction of how difficult the test was, basing on how many students had survived till the end.

I estimated that a good 60% of the 90 students who were originally in the simulation had perished.

With most of the students being at the center of the map, excluding some outliers who remained in their original area, I could more or less make an approximate deduction on how many students survived

The number of students that remained, although small, didn't surprise me as this number was within my estimation. It was approximately the same amount as I had written in the novel.

[Ehm..ehm..can you guys hear me?]

Suddenly, professor Thibaut's voice rang in my ears, prompting me to listen carefully.

[Alright, I want to say a few things first before I let you out of the capsules]

[First, congratulation to you all for surviving this test. This test was specifically designed to test your adaptability in foreign environments, and how well you can survive in the wild.]

...It's true.

Although this bastard was using this test as a means to create disorder between some of the students, the test was still very good.

Although he did change some things here and there so that he could create some conflict between the students, the test was indeed a good way to help students adapt to foreign environments. Actually in my opinion this test was better as he made this test a bit more useful for real life, as you might someday be hunted by humans too.

No, it would be more accurate to say that being hunted by fellow humans, such as villains, would be the most likely scenario.

By 'indirectly' allowing students to kill each other, it raised the difficulty to another level. Because not only did you have to watch out for beasts, but you also had to look out against fellow classmates.

This little 'detail', made the training for me much more efficient.

well, that didn't mean the professor was a good guy.

I was just taking advantage of his schemes to further improve myself.

[Though a lot of you have either survived by pure luck or through some sort of scheme, at the end of the day what really matters is not how you won, but if you won. So for those of you who made it till the end, I congratule you. Considering how difficult this test was, having survived in this simulation is accomplishment to be proud about. Puff up your chest and exit the capsule with your head held high]

[Enough with that, next up...once you exit the capsule on the top of the classroom you can find a large monitor where the group rankings will be displayed]

[Though no extra merits will be awarded this time as it's still your first week, you can still brag to your friends about getting first in your class]

...I feel like a lot of students would actually brag about this.

Considering how in this world most of the people were proud and arrogant, for the next week or so I would expect the top 5 group member's egos to shoot through the roof.

[Okay, I think I've said enough. I will dismiss you from your cabin one by one so don't panic if your view suddenly gets dark]

[Once again, congratulations to those of you that survived]

Soon professor Thibuat's voice disappeared and gradually students started turning into streaks of light particles that disappeared from the virtual world.

As I was watching the whole process in which students slowly disappeared from the virtual world, I could finally relax my mind

Next up, I started to ponder on what to do after I exited the class.

Hmm...but what should I do after this?

I don't think I have it in me to train any further.

Maybe I could go to the swimming pool and do some resistance training?

Yeah, I think that's the best course of action.

[Logout Y/N]

As I was pondering about what my next course of action would be, a logout bottom appeared before me.

Without needing to think any further, I pressed it.

-Swaa!

My vision suddenly turned dark, and my consciousness slipped.

-Phhhhhhh

Slowly the lid of the capsule I was in opened up releasing white steam in the process.

Using the edge of the capsule as support, I slowly got out of the capsule.

"Man that was seriously tiring...Hm?"

As soon as I emerged from my capsule I felt a couple of stares coming from my left and right side.

Turning my head left, I could see two individuals glaring in my direction with pure hatred.

...Can't really blame them.

I did cut off their legs and used them as bait to get extra points.

Waving at them, which further increased the intensity of their glares, I turned my head towards the other direction where a mixture of emotions could be seen from certain individuals.

Park Jinho, William, Rose, and Edward all had weird expressions plastered on their face.

It was a mixture of 'shock', 'joy', 'pity' and 'thankfulness'

..wait pity?

Why were they pitying me?

Then I felt it.

Arnold, who was a few capsules away from where I was, glared evem more fiercely than Lucas and Patrick did towards me.

Turning my head left and right to make sure he was actually glaring at me, I was left dumbfounded.

...Eh? Why is he glaring in my direction?

Is he angry that I stole his spotlight?

That can't be right...right?

He can't be that petty, right?

-Clap!

"Cough...cough...May I have your attention please!"

Fortunately, at the perfect timing, professor Thibaut showed up gathering everyone's attention towards himself, including Arnold's.

Can't believe I was saying this, but I owed him one.

"Alright, once again congratulations for those who have passed the test"

"I'll make it short since we are short on time, If you look up above, you can see your team's respective rank."

Pointing towards a large monitor placed at the center of the classroom, a large table was displayed on the screen showing us the team's respective rankings.

===Team Rank===

Group 15

Points: 8

Result: No casualties + 2 Hidden task

Group 9

Points: 7

Result: No casualties + 1 Hidden task

Group 4

Points: 7

Result: No casualties + 1 Hidden task

Group 5

Points: 6

Result: No casualties

Group 1

Points: 5

Result: 1 casualty

Group 7

Points: 4

Result: 3 casualties + 1 hidden task

Group 10

Points: 3

Result: 3 casualties

Group 13

Points: 3

Result: 3 casualties

Group 11

Points: 2

Result: 4 casualties

Group 8

Points: 1

Result: 5 casualties

Group 2

Points: 1

Result: 5 casualties

Group 14

Points: 0

Result: Party wipe

Group 3

Points: 0

Result: Party wipe

Group 6

Points: 0

Result: Party wipe

Group 12

Points: 0

Result: Party wipe

"6th overall huh?"

That's a rank or two higher than I had expected.

But as I expected, the main characters had all gotten the top spots.

Group 15 who ranked first, was Kevin's group.

His teammates not only managed to survive, but they also managed to complete two hidden tasks.

Emma's team placed second, with her completing one of the hidden tasks. On the other hand Amanda placed third, and surprisingly Melissa who teamed up with Jin ended up fourth.

The reason for their low ranking was simple. Because of Kevin, Jin couldn't get the extra point and Melissa who wasn't as strong as she was smart was left helpless when trying to get the extra task.

In the end, all their teammates managed to survive, but no extra points were awarded to their team.

The fifth place, group 1, was Troy's group which although had not completed any hidden tasks, had 2 fewer casualties compared to our team.

"Out of the 15 groups here, four were wiped out. This result is much better than last year where in contrast only had four groups surviving"

"I know some of you are shaking thinking you will be expelled from the course, but I was lying about that. I wanted to put some pressure on you so that you would've taken the test seriously. So you're all safe"

Hearing this part of the speech, the students who had their team wiped let out a visible sigh of relief.

'Must've been stressful thinking that they had already failed a course on their first week.'

I thought as I sympathetically looked at them.

"Alright, it seems that we are out of time so you may all leave"

Checking his watch, Professor Thibaut smiled and dismissed us.

Immediately I dashed towards my dorm,

I didn't want to stay here any longer. Especially knowing that three individuals were looking for ways to make things harder for me.

I do have to say though.

Moving with this tight-skinned suit was extremely challenging.

If not for the fact that Arnold was distracted talking to Jin, and Lucas and Patrick were still glaring at each other, I wouldn't have been able to leave as easily as I had.

-Click!

Entering my room, I slumped onto the clean mattress and enjoyed the momentary moment of peace.

What a troublesome day.

Not only was I exhausted, but I also created three enemies.

"It seems like I need to get stronger faster."

At the end of the day, it all comes down to strength.

Although with an increase in strength I was more likely to be exposed to danger and thus increase the chances where I'm placed in situations where I have to interact with the main characters. I can't just sit by and passively wait for my strength to increase.

Not only that, but if I was to one day support my parent's guild or possibly help the protagonist fight against the demon king, I needed to immediately think of ways to increase my strength.

Fortunately, I had already come up with a rough plan.

That is, with the knowledge I have, as the author of the novel. I can take advantage of future events to make some money through stocks.

Since my parents from this world weren't filthy rich, the only way I could make money was through the use of stocks.

Unlike Jin, Amanda, or Melissa whose parents can provide them with the best training facilities and potions. I, a mob that wasn't supposed to appear in the story have the only option of using my knowledge to make money to increase my strength.

In a sense, this was my cheat ability.

With money, I could essentially catapult my strength to reach new heights.

In order to increase my stats, I could resort to cosuming potions, and if I wanted to increase my strength even further I could even go as far as purchasing artifacts.

Artifacts were objects that could be found inside of dungeons or could be created by master blacksmiths and were essentially weapons that had special effects imbued into them.

They ranged from the simplest objects such as a coffee mug to weapons and cars.

Like most things the better the grade the more expensive they were.

Fortunately for me, I knew a place where I could get good artifacts for a cheap price.

Thinking of all the money I would need to use to purchase potions and artifacts, I could feel my head throbbing.

Letting out a sigh and taking out a small book from my bottom drawer. I quickly went through the contents.

The book I was holding had details on all the future events that would happen in the future.

Starting from when Kevin entered the academy to when he was about to face the demon king.

Since I was the author of the novel, I could confidently say that I did not miss anything when writing the future events.

From minor to major events, this book should have everything. Unless something deviated from the story which I had written, I should be able to use this book as a reference for things that will happen in the future.

"Now what should I use...."

Flipping through the pages, I quickly stopped at a certain event.

C.B.. Pharmaceuticals crash.

Chapter 20: Making money [2]

C.B pharmaceuticals stock crash.

Matching the timing and potential payoff that I could make from exploiting this information, I decisively started making preparations.

First things first, opening my watch I checked my bank account.

Student: Ren Dover

Age: 16

Balance: 9.897 U

Withdraw Deposit

"Hmm...a little bit under 10,000 U"

Should be about enough, but...

Pondering for a little bit, I sighed and organized my thoughts.

A month after the academy had officially started, Thobias Church, head researcher of C.B pharmaceuticals was found dead in his high-security apartment complex.

All the news agencies and big guilds were shocked by the news and immediately reported it to the media and their respective guild members.

The news spread fast, reaching all major figures' ears in the span of minutes.

It was the first high-profile assassination that had occurred in decades, with many starting to fear for their lives as a result of this accident.

[Thobias Church, a forefront name in the potion-making industry is found dead in his home with one slit on the throat.]

[Forensic evidence indicated that he was assassinated by rank 37, Silent creeper, of the villain list.]

[This can be inferred from the clean slit on Mr. Church's throat, which is a signature assassination method adopted by rank 37, Silent creeper]

[Later when investigators were investigating the scene, another stunning revelation was discovered.]

[The recipe for the [Body enhancing potion] was found missing.]

This revelation shocked the pharmaceutical industry.

Potion recipes were an alchemist's biggest secret.

Each potion, such as the [Body enhancing potion] had various variations to them.

The variations occurred depending on the alchemist who was making the potion.

Some, being far more effective than the ones available on the market, while others performing far worse than the ones available on the market.

The better-performing ones would be sold to distinguished buyers, while the worse performing ones will be either discarded or illegally traded in the black market.

In the case of Thobias Church, because he was a highly acclaimed alchemist, his [Body enhancement potion] which only he knew the recipe of, was considered to be the best in the market.

As C.B pharmaceuticals head researcher, he had every right to decide who to sell and who not to sell the potion to.

In this case, his [Body enhancement potion] were each sold to the high-ranking guilds who needed it for when they needed to perform a raid.

With him gone, suddenly a gap in the [Body enhancement potion] market appeared.

The result of Thobias Church's death had a bigger impact than what people had predicted.

Especially on C.B pharmaceuticals the number one pharmaceutical company in the human domain.

two hours after Thobias Church's death was announced, C.B pharmaceuticals stock plummeted by 17%, falling from 123.71 U to 102.68 U

Later that evening, 5 hours after the first plummet, C.B stock further plummeted by a further 43% reaching 58.53 U.

Due to investors dumping the stock to try to mitigate their losses, the stock further fell until it stabilized at 21.65 U.

A staggering 82% stock decline.

The result of such decline almost caused C.B pharmaceuticals to file for bankruptcy. If not for the fact that they had a lot of liquid assets available to them due to the nature of their business, they would've most likely have crumbled.

In the wake of C.B historical downfall, W.V pharmaceuticals the second-best pharmaceutical company behind C.B finds its stock increasing dramatically.

For a solid week, it found its stock constantly increasing, rising from 58.93 U at the beginning of the week, to 111.45 U by the end of the week.

A dramatic 89.12% rise.

In short, I could use this incident which will happen in about three weeks' time to make it rich.

I will both short C.B, and buy W.V stock. Meaning that I will bet on both C.B stock falling, and bet on W.V stock increasing.

Thanks to the information I have, as a cheat, I should be able to make a good amount of cash.

Actually, with my limited funding of approximately 10 000 U, although I would be able to make quite a bit of money, it would still not be enough to pay for the things I needed.

In short, what I needed was a quick way to make some quick cash so that I could invest as much money as possible in this event.

The more money I get before the event happens, the better.

Pondering for a while, I came up with three options to solve my short-term money problem.

- a. Sign up for a mercenary job

- b. Get a job

- c. Go to a dungeon

The first two options were a no-go.

First, being a mercenary.

With my current strength and rank, I would at best be a miscellaneous mercenary.

To put it bluntly, a mercenary who took care of the tasks that most mercenaries wouldn't want to take. Like looking for a missing pet, or taking care of some small beasts that had infiltrated the city.

The income was quite poor, and the effort in proportion to the income paid was not worth it.

The second option, 'get a job' was also undesirable, as I was still a student and thus couldn't work full time.

Moreover, I was only looking for a short-term job which makes finding a job that pays a substantial amount impossible to find.

At least not with my current set of skills.

That leaves me with one last option.

Entering a dungeon.

A dungeon was essentially a pocket dimension that led to a small section of the demon world.

As the demons invaded the world, cracks appeared all over the world as a result of the instability created by the sudden influx of mana.

This resulted in mini pocket dimensions that led to the demon world being created.

Because of the instability of the crack, depending on the rank of the dungeon only those below a certain level can enter.

for example, a B rank dungeon can only be accessible for those who are B or lower rank. If an A rank were to enter the dungeon it would immediately break and injure the person who had entered.

The same went for the monsters that could be found inside.

Therefore, dungeons were excellent places to train.

Moreover, since the demon world was riddled with wars, artifacts from ancient wars could be found if someone was lucky enough.

However, the most attractive resource that could be found inside of a dungeon were not artifacts but monster cores.

A 'core' was a condensed source of energy, which revolutionized the world of today.

By implementing cores and replacing them as a source of energy, humanity was able to get rid of unclean energy.

Not only were cores much more efficient than any other sources of energy, but they also didn't produce any greenhouse gases.

This shocking discovery sent the world into a frenzy, as not only did they not produce pollution, but later it was shown that just a single G-rank core could power a whole city for 10 minutes.

We are talking about a city with a population of millions inside!

The amount of energy a single core contained was staggering.

Cores aside, the bodies of the demons and monsters inside of the dungeon could also be sold for a substantial price, which meant that dungeons were essentially gold mines for those who were looking to make some quick cash.

Using monster corpses, humanity's study on biology improved by leaps and bounds.

Incurable diseases became something of the past, and slowly biology divided into a new branch called 'alchemy', where they specialized in the creation of potions.

Dungeons certainly presented people with many opportunities to change their life, but that comes along with a great price. Death.

The mortality rate of dungeons was extremely high, as no one could predict what could happen once you entered inside.

Therefore, the central government put a strict restriction on dungeons and only allowed those who had a registered license to enter.

But of course, that didn't impede some unscrupulous dealers to take advantage of the government restricting dungeons to create an illegal dungeon business.

Which was exactly where I was planning to go.

If you're wondering why I was not using my knowledge to find a dungeon that has not been discovered yet, it's because it actually doesn't exist.

Well, at least not for any dungeon below D-rank.

In my novel, Kevin only entered dungeons in the later half of his first year. And his stats were around C to D+ rank which meant that D-rank dungeons weren't that useful for him.

Me on the other hand, who was only G+ could only enter at best an F ranked dungeon.

Checking out my stats, I was more or less pleased with my week's progress.

===Status===

Name : Ren Dover

Rank : G +

Strength : F -

Agility : F -

Stamina : F -

Intelligence : G +

Mana capacity : G +

Luck : E

Charm : G

--> Profession : [Swordsmanship lvl.1]

Although it may not seem like much, suddenly raising half of my stats to F- was a considerable achievement.

Raising stats could be considered the most gruesome task possible.

There were only three methods to raise your stats

1. Consume potions

2. Train diligently

3. Consume some natural treasure (e.g. fruit that had the seed of limit inside)...

In short, for someone like me who could only train diligently, raising my stats without external help could be considered a huge accomplishment.

Looking more confident than ever, I made a rough note of tomorrow's plan and headed to the swimming pool.

"It's time to train"

Heading towards the training center, I packed my swimming suit and left my dorm.

As I was heading towards the swimming pool, I started to think about the main storyline.

The novel essentially began with Kevin preparing himself to enroll in the lock.

Kevin's rise to fame was essentially your typical banal protagonist story, where his parents died in the past and he goes on this long harsh journey to avenge them.

Through a series of events, he was granted a cheat item and through that he became peerless.

...I was starting to get a better understanding of why my readers started hating my novel.

Apart from the main concepts, such as the general layout of the world, and the key ideas behind how the demons and villains operate. You could say everything else was rather cliche, as almost all other novels out there share a similar plotline to my story.

The story so far goes like this...

One day as Kevin was exploring an undisclosed dungeon, he was suddenly met with an accident and almost dies.

Trapped in the dungeon for weeks, with his body full of injuries, he barely stays alive by rationing the remaining food he brought with him before entering the dungeon.

Just as he was about to die, a miraculous encounter that changed his life appeared.

He was granted a 'system'

A more advanced interface than the current status window that everyone had available.

A status window, which every human in the world had, be it young or old, was a sort of game interface that showed a user's stats. It first appeared as soon as the demons invaded the world, and the source of origin was still unknown to this day, but what was known about the status window was that it allowed the user to see their own stats as well as that of artifacts.

The system, on the other hand, was a more advanced version of a status window.

Not only did it grant the user the ability to check their status, but it also granted quests and tasks which upon completion will award the user with status points and other fantastic rewards.

With this system, Kevin found himself shedding of his old timid self and truly started rising like a phoenix.

A year after he was granted the system he enrolls into the lock and proceeds to stun the examiners with his overwhelming talent and charisma, leading him into becoming the top student of the year officially starting the academy arc.

The academy arc starts with Kevin getting to know the other protagonists, Jin, Melissa, Amanda, and Emma, slowly building a rival-friend relationship.

Then the first minor event of the academy arc, the VR segments starts, and it was where Kevin managed to successfully complete two hidden tasks, once again shocking everyone including his teachers.

After the VR segment, the first major event of the academy arc officially begins.

During his elective, Kevin gets in conflict with a senior student, which starts a long series of conflicts with the senior years.

You could already imagine how the conflict began.

"You first year don't get cocky because your year performed better than our year in the VR test. We can still wipe the floor with scrubs like you"

Seriously, how bad of a writer was I?

It was only after experiencing my story from a first-person perspective that I began to realize how bad of a writer I was.

Not only did I overuse generic cliche-like scenarios, but even future events become easily predictable.

Well, in short, this event gets so blown out of proportion that it soon becomes a full-blown conflict between juniors and seniors where even if you weren't a part of the conflict you would somehow be dragged into it.

What's sad about this event was that I would most probably be dragged into it too.

Therefore I already needed to come up with countermeasures to this event, so that I didn't expose myself.

The life of a mob was truly hard...

Author's note :

Dumping : Selling of large amounts of stock at market price at the time of selling

Liquid : It's a measure taken by businesses to determine a firm's ability to turn assets into cash (Meet short-term obligations).

Chapter 21: Black market [1]

Late night, Friday.

"hmm...I never would've predicted finding myself in such a place only a week after reincarnating into this world"

The black market.

The place that resembled the demon world the most in the human domain.

A world separate from where laws and morals exist, and the only place where Villains and Heroes could co-exist.

That was where I was currently at.

Taking the air train all the way to the outer edge of Ashon city, I quickly dropped off on the second last stop and headed towards an obscure location.

Making sure the mask I was wearing was tightly secured, I found myself in front of a large metal door.

When entering the black market, wearing a mask was compulsory so that each guest could keep their identity hidden.

On the off-chance that government agents managed to infiltrate the black market, they wouldn't be able to track you down.

-Bam! -Bam! -Bam!

Knocking on the door three times, I patiently waited.

-Klang!

Shortly after, two burly individuals wearing neat suits emerged from behind the door and scanned my body a couple of times. Feeling their gaze on me, my back started to drench in a cold sweat.

'Their individual rank is definitely C or higher'

I thought as I felt the immense pressure oozing out from their body.

Turning his head towards the individual to the left, the burly individual on the right nodded and spoke with a deep voice.

"What might you be here for?"

"I heard from a passing bird that you were looking for volunteers"

"We are indeed looking for a volunteer, which job are you looking to volunteer for?"

"I heard that you guys needed someone to paint your walls"

"We only have four paints, blue, black, pink and white. Which one do you think would be the most adequate for our walls?"

"Although I may have not seen what you needed to paint, I believe blue would look best in anything."

Turning their faces to face each other, the two burly individuals nodded to each other and signaled for me to enter.

Letting out a sigh of relief, I followed the two of them along a dark and narrow passage.

There were two ways for an individual to enter the black market.

One was through a recommendation letter given by a higher-up in the black market, or two by knowing the secret code.

The secret code was split into three different segments. Where each new segment was a continuation of the previous one.

In my case, the first segment was "What might you be here for?" for which the word "volunteer" was used to gain access to the next segment. This pattern repeats three times until the guards could confirm the authenticity of the guest who was trying to come in.

In this way, the chances of inspectors infiltrating into the black market diminished by a large margin.

Actually, this wasn't really necessary as inspectors were not actually against the idea of a black market.

Just as things have their disadvantages they also had their advantages.

Being the central hub for both Heroes and Villains, vital information could be gathered from information brokers which could, in turn, help government agents pry into some of the villain's plans.

Information brokers were essentially individuals or an organization which specialized in sharing information for a price.

Depending on the type of information, the higher the price for the information.

Fortunately in my case, as I was the author, I basically knew most of the things the information brokers knew.

If I wanted to, I could disclose some important information and make some serious cash, but that would probably be a stupid idea as it could lead to me getting attention and also potentially changing the plotline of the story.

...and with the information that I knew, I was easily able to gain access to the black market, since I was the one who created the password.

But I do have to say.

This experience was extremely nerve-wracking.

If this had not been the only method I could have used to gain access to dungeons, I would've never have come here.

Actually, finding a dungeon wasn't the only reason why I headed to the black market.

There was another reason.

I was in urgent need of a broker.

Do you think I would stupidly short C.B. and buy a bunch of W.V. stock without hiding my identity?

Once Thobias dies a month from now, the prime suspect would be the one guy who days before his death bets on C.B's crash and W.V's rise.

Tell me if that's not suspicious?

Although Silent creeper was officially identified as the killer, the main culprit could be someone else, as at the end of the day silent creeper could've just been hired to do the job.

The man behind the attack was the true mastermind behind this, not Silent creeper, and the police already knew this.

Stupidly investing in C.B and W.V. could result in my own demise.

Hence why I needed a broker.

A broker was an intermediary who would anonymously deal with my investments without asking any questions regarding who I was and why I was doing this.

Since the black market was filled with both villains and heroes, the brokers were used to situations like mine.

Which was exactly what I wanted since I didn't want to gather unnecessary attention towards myself.

Fortunately for me, as I once again boast about the fact that I was the author of the novel, know the right person for the job.

"We're here"

-Klang!

Opening a similarly large metal door to the one at the entrance, the two burly men stepped aside and allowed me to get a clear view of what was behind the door.

How should I describe this?

It was a completely different scene than what someone would've expected when hearing the word 'black market'

When you imaged how a black market would be, you would instantly think of words like 'filthy', 'dangerous', 'dirty', or anything that was synonymous with 'unpleasant'.

However, expectations and reality often do mix up, and this black market looked exactly like a night market.

Vendors who were selling their goods in their respective stalls were neatly lined up in rows that I could see no end of.

If not for the fact that all the customers were wearing masks to hide their identities, someone could've easily mistaken this as your regular night market.

A huge opening appeared on the ceiling allowing the moonlight to penetrate the market, enveloping the market with a sense of tranquility.

The lights from the lamps brightly illuminated to roads, allowing for a clearer view of the goods in the market.

It was probably the best-looking black market you could find out there.

Actually, I designed the black market to be like this since I wanted to spice things up a bit.

But even then, this was incredible.

"I guess words weren't enough to describe this place..."

Walking along the road and passing by the numerous stalls, I could see a wide variety of products being sold.

From potions to artifacts, all sorts of products that I urgently needed were being displayed right before me.

It took me a great deal of willpower to stop myself from purchasing any of them.

Right now I had a goal to accomplish.

Making my way towards a secluded spot in the black market, I quickly went towards a rather inconspicuous-looking wooden bench and sat down.

Sitting there with my head down, I patiently waited for five minutes.

Precisely after five minutes had passed, a black hooded individual sat next to me, to which I nodded my head without turning it.

"How may we the [Lost Reapers] be of service to you?"

"I need a broker"

"What type?"

"codename smallSnake"

"..."

There was a slight pause in our conversation after I directly mentioned the name of the broker that I wanted.

Although the hood covered the features of the individual who I was talking to, I could vaguely feel that underneath the hood his brows were tightly knit in a frown.

It wasn't because I requested a big individual, but rather, an almost unknown one.

Because there were so many employees working in [Lost Reapers] it was hard to keep track of who was who.

Smallsnake was what you called a 'hidden treasure'

Someone that was capable yet unknown.

Well, that was until now...

It was very understandable for the hooded figure to have trouble remembering who smallsnake was.

He was an unknown character until the later half of the novel.

In the novel, codename smallsnake interacts with Kevin a couple of times before forming some sort of business relationship with him.

From there, Kevin was able to quickly see how capable of an individual 'codename smallsnake' was.

Not only was he great at hiding his traces when carrying a transaction, but he also had many connections with certain suppliers that could provide smallsnake with quality ingredients such as luxotin, an incredibly rare flower that grows in the depth of the elven territory, for below market prices.

His connection later proved to be extremely useful to Kevin who was in dire need of certain rare ingredients.

"Are you sure about your request?"

"Certain"

Surprised by my firm response, the hooded figure let out a small sigh and stood up.

"codename smallsnake shall be here shortly. May we hope our services satisfy your need"

"Thank you"

And just like that, the hooded figure disappeared just as fast as he had appeared.

Twenty minutes after the hooded figure departed, I heard light footsteps approaching my location.

Sitting down next to me like the hooded figure had previously done, a lanky-looking youth that had his features hidden beneath a white mask sat next to me.

"codename smallsnake at your service, how may a help you"

Contrary to his appearance, smallsnake's voice was quite deep, which slightly surprised me, but not for long, as I managed to quickly regain my composure.

"I want you to be my broker"

"My commission is 5% on all profits, and my payment is 10% of the investment."

Without skipping a beat, smallsnake told me his terms.

"Also, depending on how much you wish to invest, the terms of the deal may change"

"Okay"

Taking out my hand I extended it to him gesturing to him that I had agreed with his terms.

My straightforwardness caused smallsnake to be slightly taken back.

He had originally expected the person before him to complain and grumble at the unreasonable demands.

But contrary to his expectations he agreed immediately. Moreover, he seemed rather confident in his abilities, like he was sure that he would be able to carry out his request.

Smallsnake was a capable individual.

In fact, he could've been considered a top-class broker.

However because his demands were so high, he had never had a customer before.

When he first joined the [Lost Reapers] he had expected requests to flood in nonstop and that he would constantly be busy with demands. But contrary to his expectations, two months after entering the [Lost Reapers] he still had not served a single customer.

Not only that, all the customers that he managed to talk to always grumbled about his insanely high rates or preferred to go towards more senior colleagues who were more reputable than himself.

This resulted in his talent being stagnant and hidden until Kevin finally found him.

Well, I guess I was the one who found him this time.

In order for me not to mess too much with the storyline, I'll build a solid relationship with smallsnake and make him interact with Kevin when the time was right.

Staring at the figure before him whose features were covered by a mask, smallsnake fell into deep thought.

This could potentially be his big break.

If he were to successfully complete this deal and show off his capabilities, he could finally attract more customers to him.

Although his rates were high, there was a specific reason for this.

His connections and skills were top-notch!

Not only was he capable of making it almost impossible for inspectors or individuals to trace his movements, but his connections were also some of the best in the world.

If not for the fact that he was currently being hunted by certain individuals, he would've never have come to work for [Lost Reapers].

In the end, after hesitating a little bit, smallsnake finally stretched his hand out and firmly shook mine.

Feeling the large hand which marked the first deal he had ever agreed on, smallsnake decided there and then that he will do his absolute best to accomplish whatever his first customer desired.

Chapter 22: Black market [2]

"Everything is starting to make sense now..."

Hearing Ren's investment plan, smallsnake's face couldn't help but scrunch up in frustration.

It was nothing short of idiotic.

He was also beginning to doubt the reason as to why he was chosen.

At first, he thought it may have been because he had somehow heard about his outstanding talent, but now he was starting to believe it was because no other broker wanted to work with him!

Shorting C.B pharmaceuticals, a behemoth in the pharmaceutical industry, and investing in W.V stock?

From a sane person's point of view, this was an investment that had no basis to back up its claim.

With C.B.'s current performance, the stock was expected to rise even further.

Moreover, with his connections, he could tell beforehand if something was going on within the company.

But there were no signs of abnormality within C.B., suggesting that this was an investment that had no foundation behind it.

What was even more confusing was the fact that he needed to employ the service of a black market broker for this kind of deal.

Black market brokers were hired when one wanted to hide their identity from the prying eyes of the world when making an investment.

This was usually done so that the client could avoid government agents' pursuit.

But that was only applicable to criminals.

'Is he perhaps going to kill someone important?'

Smallsnake thought as he stared at his employer up and down.

He firmly doubted it.

Judging from his demeanor and strength, he was in no way a rich second-generation kid, plus he roughly estimated that his contractor's strength was around G-F rank.

There was simply no way he could kill anyone important enough to warner a stock fluctuation. Not with his meager amount of strength.

'Was he perhaps trying to hide his identity because he's too embarrassed to publicly go through with his own deal?'

Smallsnake thought as he bitterly shook his head.

From what he could tell, this was probably the most plausible hypothesis he could come up with.

I mean, no matter how smallsnake looked at it, his client was neither some bigshot nor someone strong enough to assassinate an important figure.

What irked him the most about this deal was how confident his employer was. His demeanor was like that of someone who was sure to make money out of this nonsensical deal.

Was he delusional?

No matter how smallsnake looked at it, this deal was simply stupid.

Yet, deep within his heart, maybe just maybe, he hoped for his client to be right.

'Well, who knows, maybe he'll really be right...'

Smallsnake thought as he couldn't help but lightly chuckle at the almost impossible scenario.

Rather than just question, it was better to just perform as the client wished.

Sometimes you just might be in for a surprise.

Moreover, the main policies employed by all [Lost Reapers] employees were:

- Never ask questions about client identity

- Never ask questions about client action

Therefore, even if he wanted to convince his client against doing such investment, he couldn't as it was [Lost Reapers] policy to not question the client's decision.

Letting out a sigh underneath his mask, smallsnake quickly went through his terms and signed it.

At least he was getting paid for his work.

It was just a bummer to see his first client lose so much money.

Seeing smallsnake's subtle actions, I couldn't help but laugh.

Although he was wearing a mask, his expressions could be read like an open book.

Just the way he flinched when he heard about the deal, and how his shoulders dropped at the realization that he was dealing with a stupid client was so easy to read.

'I'll let him be for now, he'll eventually thank me later.'

I thought to myself as I enjoyed watching his crestfallen expression.

"So how much are you planning on investing?"

"hmm...for now I have about 10,000 U I can invest, but I'm planning on investing at least five times that. So around 50,000 U? Maybe less? Who knows, around that range though."

"..."

Smallsnake was already starting to shed tears beneath his mask.

What kind of small-time investment was this?

10,000 U? 50,000U?

With this, smallsnake could confirm that he wasn't some second-generation rich kid that loved throwing away money.

With such a meager amount, even if you somehow predicted correctly, the amount you would make would at most be in the triple digits.

What was the point of commissioning him if you were only planning on investing so little?

Reminding himself of the [Lost Reapers] rules, smallsnake resigned himself to the harsh reality.

"Ok-ay, so do you have the money with you now?"

"No, I only have about 10,000 U with me"

"Okay, so when will you invest?"

"Hmm...once I make enough I guess"

"Pardon?"

"Once I make more money"

"..."

From this point on, smallsnake was able to deduce one thing about the identity of his employer.

He was a villain.

A black-hearted villain that loved to make hard-working employees like him suffer.

Seeing smallsnake's drooping figure, I barely managed to hold back my laughter.

I may have gone a bit overboard, but I really enjoyed teasing him.

Weakly walking towards his chair, smallsnake sat down while holding his head in despair.

"H-ow a-re you plann-ing on mak-ing the mone-y?"

He weakly said as he tried his best to regain his composure.

"Oh, I'm gonna go to a dungeon and...huh?"

-Klang!

Falling down from his chair, smallsnake could vividly see his life flash before his eyes.

"What have I done to deserve this..."

Turning my body around, I could barely keep my laughter in check.

My whole body started shaking uncontrollably as a consequence of me trying to hold back my laughter.

This was probably the funniest reaction I had ever seen in my life!

It took a solid hour for smallsnake to regain his composure, but his current demeanor was a far cry from when I had just met him.

He resembled a black company employee who had resigned himself to his fate.

Staring at his lifeless expression, I slightly smiled.

Although smallsnake was very competent, the main reason that propelled me into contacting him was not his outstanding set of skills, but rather his devotion to the job.

He was the type of person that took every job seriously.

Therefore, no matter how absurd the request was, once accepted, he would always try to accomplish it the best way he possibly could.

Moreover, he was someone that could keep his mouth shut.

Even if he was tied down to a chair and endlessly tortured, his mouth would never waver.

That was how reliable of a person he was.

"Alright, let's not dwell on the specifics of the deal. You just have to trust me"

Staring at me for a couple of seconds, smallsnake sighed and finally came to terms with my absurd financial plan.

"Fine, I'm in no position to talk anyways..."

"Actually, I still need your help"

Warily glancing at me, smallsnake switched back into his business demeanor.

"What other service do you require from me."

"I need a monster corpse broker"

"Haaa...so I guess you weren't joking when you mentioned the word dungeon previously"

Nodding my head, I continued explaining my plan.

"Don't worry, I'll probably be safe. Moreover, I'm only going to go to an F rank dungeon which shouldn't be too difficult. What I need your help with is with handling the corpses which I will bring back from the dungeon"

Nodding his head smallsnake took out a piece of paper, and started scribbling on it.

"F-rank dungeon...hmm, the current market rate is around 1,000 U per normal monster corpse, and 5,000 U for boss monsters."

"If you consider the conditions at which the corpse is presented the payment can increase..."

"Moreover, if by some crazy chance you managed to acquire an F rank monster core, you can very easily sell that for 100,000 U depending on its size."

Turning his head towards where I was standing, smallsnake mind quickly raced as he slowly formulated a plan for me. "From what you've told me, you wanted to at least invest 50,000U."

"Considering that you have 10,000 of the 50,000 U you are planning to invest, you would approximately need 40,000 U"

"If you want to earn that much in an F rank dungeon then you must either kill 40 F-rank monsters, 8 bosses, or find an F rank core, which would leave plenty left to spare."

Furrowing his brows underneath his mask, smallsnake handed me the paper in which he had calculated the possible things I needed to do in order to raise 40,000U.

"This is a simple layout of the things you need to do to raise that much money."

"Moreover, that is if we are excluding dungeon entrance fees, commissions, and the cost of paying for your equipment"

Staring deeply at me, smallsnake asked

"Are you sure about this?"

Grinning, I sat in front of him and said

"If I wasn't sure about this I wouldn't have come here"

"..."

"..."

After staring at me for a solid minute, smallsnake nodded his head and stood up.

"I don't know where your confidence comes from, but since you're my first and only client I will help you the best that I possibly can"

"Couldn't ask for more."

Similarly standing up, I shook his hand.

"Alright, I guess we have a deal"

...

Soon after parting ways with smallsnake, I made my way towards the black market stalls.

Now that I had some time for myself, I could take a proper look at the things available for sale in the black market.

Taking out a small black card that smallsnake gave me after we finalized our deal, I quickly went towards the entrance of the black market where a large metal door stood. Quickly taking out 8000 U from my pocket, I headed in the direction of where the door was.

Besides the large metal door, stood a neat black stall that had a relatively long queue.

Arriving at the stall I patiently waited in line for approximately fifteen minutes before a sales employee quickly went to greet me at the register.

Taking the black card out, I handed the card plus 8,000 U to the employee.

The black card I was currently holding was an exclusive card that could only be used in the black market and was the main payment method used when purchasing things on the black market.

What the employee was doing was converting the cash I gave to him into a cryptocurrency specifically made only for the black market.

Although transactions through cash were generally safe, it was not very efficient when dealing with transactions that dealt with large figures.

By creating a cryptocurrency, the black market was able to swiftly deal with several problems at the same time.

One, since crypto was untraceable, it ensured safe transactions.

Two and most importantly, allowed the black market to act as an intermediary during the transactions.

People tended to forget this when entering the black market. But this place was flooded with villains.

Villains were essentially scums of society that held no regard for rules or morality.

If there was no one to keep them in check, they could've probably forced someone to make a deal or even worse given them fake money.

Therefore, with the black card system, it became much easier to trade and check if there was any fraud taking place in the transaction.

Because they were using the black market cryptocurrency, fake money could not be used as the black market currency was only available here.

This way, when doing transactions here, people didn't need to be wary of potential scams.

And if by any chance someone was indeed trying to commit a scam, the black market forces would swiftly deal with them.

"How much would you like to recharge?"

"8,000 U please"

"Alright, please wait a moment"

Placing my money inside of a black box, the sales employee pressed a button and patiently waited a couple of seconds.

-Ding!

After the black box ringed, signaling that it was done with whatever it was doing, the employee took my card and placed it on top of the box.

"Okay everything is ready, please enjoy yourself"

Handing me my card back, the sales employee smiled and started serving the next client.

Taking my card, I quickly went to look at the never-ending rows of stalls.

"It's time to go shopping!"

Chapter 23: Black market [3]

Seeing the numerous people going to and fro between each stall, I couldn't help but feel my heart race at the extensive number of goods that shone brightly under the street lights.

Each one looked more tempting than the other.

Going through each stall one by one, I made a mental note of the things that seemed interesting.

This way, once I went through the majority of the stalls, I could decide which thing I needed to buy and which thing I didn't.

Since I was planning on venturing inside of a dungeon, I require several things.

Arriving at a stall, I went forward and picked up a slim necklace that had a purple stone imbued in it.

Name : Necklace of tranquility

Type : Artifact

Rank : G

Use : Allows wearer to have better sleep.

Description : Artifact created by an unknown blacksmith.

With the aid of the status window, I could see the detail of each artifact I touched, making it easier for me to look for what I wanted.

Looking at the necklace in my hand, I thought

'This could indeed be useful, as sleeping inside of a dungeon can be challenging'

Dungeons were essentially portals that connected earth to the demon world.

Their harsh environment means that only monsters or strong individuals could survive inside of them.

With its harsh conditions, one needs, alongside good equipment, to be in their best possible shape.

If one lacked sleep, then it became much harder for them to continue venturing inside of the dungeon as a sleep-deprived person's reaction time becomes slower.

Thus, this necklace could definitely be of good use inside of dungeons.

"Excuse me"

"Yes, how may I help you?"

Calling out the stall owner, who wore a black hood to hide his features.

I pointed at the necklace in my hand and asked

"How much is this?"

Carefully inspecting the necklace in my hands, the stall owner paused for a second before saying

"That necklace? 3000 U"

Placing the necklace down, I went to the next stall.

Sleeping was for the weak.

Slower reaction time? Heh, I say to hell with that!

3000 U?

My word.

Talk about daylight robbery.

Although the effect was good, there's no way a G rank artifact was worth that much!

Trying my best to forget about this accident, I ventured deeper into the market.

As I was walking, I remembered the number of certain stalls that had some interesting items up for sale.

Because of my limited budget, I needed to be careful when buying stuff.

Right now, more than anything else, I needed a sword.

Because for obvious reasons I couldn't bring the school's katana with me. I had no choice but to look for a new sword.

Moreover, I also needed to buy some sort of dimensional storage that could help me store the corpses of the monsters that I killed.

If not, how was I supposed to bring back the corpses of all the monsters I killed?

Unlike the MC who has a system that comes with an enormous storage space, I didn't have such privilege.

Fortunately for me, the black market was filled with such items.

Plus, if I was lucky enough, I might get some good deals.

Well, not so much for dimensional storages as their price was fairly inflexible.

The bigger the storage provided the more expensive the artifact would become.

And since I was short on money, I probably couldn't afford to buy myself a high-end storage device.

In fact, even purchasing a low-end one was challenging for me with my current budget.

If I couldn't purchase one, I would have to literally walk back to the entrance of the dungeon and drop the monster bodies in front of the gate.

That would be total hell.

Plus, since I would most likely not be the only one entering the dungeon, I risked the possibility of getting my spoils stolen.

In short, dimensional storage was a must.

Arriving before a weapon stall that I had previously passed by, I quietly looked through their sword section.

Various swords were neatly displayed in the stall, allowing me to get a clearer view of how they looked like.

Each sword and weapon had a different brand imprinted on the sheath or body of the weapon. This was because different weapons were forged by different blacksmiths. The weapons created by famous blacksmiths could be considered the blacksmith's brand, and branded goods… were naturally expensive. The price was also not something normal people could afford, especially for someone as poor as me.

...But I still decided to test my luck. Maybe, just maybe I could find a sword that perfectly fit my style and didn't cost much.

"Excuse me"

Calling out the shop owner, I pointed at a slim sword that looked both robust and light at the same time.

Although it wasn't a katana, the [Keiki style] wasn't a sword art that could only explicitly be practiced by a katana.

All it required was a slim and firm sword that could move at incredible speeds without breaking.

"Sure"

Nodding his head, the stall owner went to the back and picked up the sword.

Handing it to me, I quietly admired the sword.

A slim straight blade with black aesthetic patterns deeply etched on the main body of the blade, quietly rested on the palm of my hands.

It had no guard, and unlike the katana which lightly curves, this sword was straight.

Carefully tracing my fingers along the edge of the blade, I could feel incredible sharpness coming from the sword that made it seem like it could cut anything.

-ku!

Twitching my brows for a second, I quietly looked down at my finger which was now bleeding.

'This is a fine sword'

I thought, as I grabbed a napkin and wiped my finger.

Even after healing my wound with some light ointment, I could still feel a stinging sensation coming from the finger that got cut.

This sword was incredibly good.

Well compared to the academy's katana this was not as good, but that was simply because better materials were used when forging the weapon.

However, although the academy's weapons were good, they were in fact not artifacts.

They were specifically made for training, and therefore the academy deemed it unnecessary for the training equipment to be artifacts.

With regular weapons, the school could more or less keep the students in check, but as artifacts contained certain powers, the risk of injury during a duel would drastically increase.

Therefore, aside from their exceptional firmness and low density, the academy weapons did not have any special effects.

Although they were indeed top-of-the-line swords, they would still lose out against a similarly durable artifact.

Also, since the academy's weapons weren't artifacts, their stats were unknown.

Name : Silver edge

Type : Artifact

Rank : F

Use : An extremely sharp sword that can easily cut through the toughest metal.

Description : Artifact that was found inside of the demon world, and is a sword that had previously been used to slain several demons.

Surprisingly, the sword was not made by a famous blacksmith but was actually found inside of a dungeon.

Looking at its clean body, I instantly knew that this was a refurbished sword.

"May I try it?"

Turning my head towards the shop owner, I saw him shake his head at my question.

Well fair enough.

I was careless as well.

I asked without thinking, if by accident someone recognized the sword art I was using, a massive headache would be coming my way.

"Does it have a scabbard"

Feeling the blade in my hand, even though I couldn't try it, I could feel the sword being really compatible with the [Keiki style]

Not only was it light, but it was also extremely durable.

"Yes"

Nodding, the shop owner went to the back and took a black rectangular scabbard.

Placing the sword inside of the scabbard I nodded satisfactorily.

Because the sword did not have a guard, the sword neatly fitted the scabbard making it look like I had a long black stick.

It sort of looked futuristic.

'Low-key, just the way I like it'

"How much is this?"

"5,999 U"

"..."

Looking at the sword that rested on the side of my hip, I hesitated for a second before handing him my black card.

"Thank you for your purchase"

"Yeah, yeah"

Leaving the store with a new sword and 6,000 U down, I couldn't help but grumble at the price.

I just used 75% of my budget on a sword.

This means that I only had 2,001 U left within my card.

Now I had to be especially careful about what I purchased next, as my budget has become even more constricted.

Stopping for a moment, I thought for a while and decided to go to a stall which I had previously passed.

The stall I was going to was a stall that only sold dimensional storage-type tools, which was essential for me alongside my sword.

The selling of Dimensional storage-type tools was actually illegal.

That was because, when dimensional storages were first introduced a lot of copycats tried to imitate their technology.

This resulted in disastrous events where out of nowhere the tool would break, due to their poor quality, and as a result of this, a lot of people got injured or even died.

It had to be noted that dimensional storages dealt with the laws of space and time, meaning that the consequences of them breaking was disastrous.

At a certain point, it became so bad that the central government illegalized the production of dimensional storages and only allowed certain licensed individuals to produce them.

Because of this, the prices for dimensional storage inflated and became much higher than their production cost.

But fortunately for me as I was in the black market, the prices were far lower than for what I could get them outside.

It didn't take long for me to arrive at my destination.

Looking at the stall that sold things like storage rings, storage bags, storage pouch, etc..., I first looked at the prices.

Since prices were based on the storage space dimension, with only 2,000 U remaining, I could only afford 25 cubic meters worth of space.

Storage dimensions started at 5 cubic meters for 300U and increased a further 300U for every additional 5 cubic meters added.

In my case, since I wanted to purchase a 25 cubic meter storage device, the total price was around 1,500U.

It came out at a total of 1,800U though, as I decided to purchase the storage device in the form of a bracelet.

Name : Storage bracelet (25 cubic meters)

Type : Artifact

Rank : G

Use : A device that stores items inside of dimensional space.

Description : Common artifact which was crafted by a low-rank blacksmith.

Since storage devices have many forms, such as bags, pouches, rings and etc... the smaller the medium was the more expensive the price was.

In my case, since I choose to go with a bracelet instead of a bag, I paid an extra 300U totaling the price at 1800U

Looking at the black leather bracelet that rested on my wrist, I nodded satisfactorily.

If one didn't look carefully they would think this was just a regular bracelet.

It was best to disguise dimensional storages as it could potentially be a target for thieves or people looking to make easy cash by robbing someone.

Since no one knew what went inside of dungeons, as there were no cameras, nobody could verify if someone had been robbed or killed inside of a dungeon.

Dungeons were basically 'lawless' zones, where be it human or monster, they could all be your enemy.

It was always best to keep a low profile.

Since I only had 200 U left on my card, I decided to spend the rest of my money on some potions such as the [stamina recovery potion] and [Mana recovery potion].

Then when I felt like I had enough potions I proceeded to spend the rest of my money on some ointments which I would need in case of flesh wounds.

Because they were relatively low-quality potions, I managed to buy everything I needed with my 200 U remaining.

Satisfied with what I got, I decided to head towards [Dungeon seekers].

The place where I could get access to dungeons. An organisation that was worth over a trillion U, and was one of the main forces operating in the black market.

It could be said that the main reason people entered the black market was not because of the illegal goods and services that were being sold, but because of [Dungeon seekers].

Because guilds tend to monopolize dungeons, not allowing external parties into them, people who seek to become stronger or strike it rich and were not part of a guild have no choice but to come here.

Since [Dungeon seekers] allowed access to anyone, whether they were heroes or villains, people from all over the world came here.

Moreover, the entrance fee and commission proposed by [Dungeon seekers] were not outrageous, which in turn made this place even more popular amongst the general population.

It could be said that without [Dungeon seekers] the black market wouldn't have been as popular as it was now.

Chapter 24: Black market [4]

Arriving in front of another metal door that seemed more secure and robust than the one that led to the black market, I knocked once.

-Bam!

On the right side of the door, a small compartment opened up to which I placed my black card.

-Voom!

As soon as I placed my card, green light emerged from the bottom of the compartment enveloping my card.

-Diiii

A couple of seconds after the green light disappeared, I heard the sound of a ring coming from the compartment indicating to me that the scan was complete.

Taking my card back, the metal door started rumbling before slowly opening up.

-Vam!

Entering the building, I was instantly stunned.

A luxuriously decorated hall, where at the front stood a stunning reception counter made of a mixture of wood and marble. Various receptionists tended the guest from behind the counter, and a faint citrusy smell lingered in the air.

Because Kevin had never been here in the novel, it was also my first time knowing how this place looked like.

Words couldn't even come close to describe how a place actually looked like in real life, as things such as the smell, the sounds, and the atmosphere always tended to be hard to conceptualize in words. You could get a general idea of how a place looked like, but it would never be the same as in real life. Every time I came to a new place, I became speechless on how different the place was compared to what I had written.

In this case, even though I had no idea how this place would look like, I was still momentarily overwhelmed by this place's grandeur.

It resembled a palace created for the king of an empire.

Clean white marble floor, silky red carpets, gold-coated lamps, neatly sculpted desks, this place had everything.

This was what true luxury looked like.

Arriving at the front desk of the reception, I went towards a clerk on the right side of the reception desk.

"Welcome to [Dungeon seekers] how may we help you?"

"I'm looking to enter a dungeon"

Smiling at my reply, the receptionist took a small tablet out and presented it to me.

"These are all the available dungeons that we have at the moment"

Scrolling through the tablet I could see a large list of dungeons.

Each dungeon had a red and green circle around them, indicating whether they were available or not.

Each dungeon had a limit on how many people could enter, and if the limit was not respected the dungeon would destabilize resulting in a potential desync.

A desync was essentially a phenomenon where a dungeon would lose its connection with the demon world.

Once a dungeon lost its connection to the demon world, it essentially became a void dungeon. Which was a dungeon that led to nowhere.

Since [Dungeon seekers] knew this, they made sure that the limit was never broken by always leaving one slot open.

"We currently have three operating G rank dungeons, 6 F-rank dungeons, 18 D-rank dungeons, 11 C-rank dungeons, 13 B-rank dungeons, and lastly 4 A-rank dungeons"

Seeing the endless amount of dungeons available, I was left speechless

The number of dungeons they were hiding was enough to make people wonder how the government still hasn't done anything.

Actually considering their wealth and influence, even if the central government wanted to do something I doubt they'd be able to hurt [Dunegone seekers]. That was unless they wanted to start a full-blown war, which no one desired.

Taking the tablet, I quickly went through the list for F-rank dungeons.

- F-rank : [Kurus barracks]

Description; Directly spawns contractor inside of demon army barracks.

Price; 15% of contractor loot + Entrance fee of 500 U

- F-rank : [Blood sea]

Description; Directly spawns contractor in an oceanic environment filled with bloodthirsty sea creatures.

Price; 15% of contractor loot + Entrance fee of 500 U

- F-rank : [Red Desolation]

Description; Directly spawns contractors in desert-like terrain that is scarce in water and food sources.

Price; 11% of contractor loot + Entrance fee of 500 U

- F-rank : [Miasma mountains]

Description; Directly spawns contractor on top of the high mountain range covered with highly toxic miasma.

Price; 8% of contractor loot + Entrance fee of 500 U

- F-rank : [Forest of greed]

Description; Directly spawns contractors inside a forest that tempts preys by creating illusions of their innermost desire.

Price; 17% of contractor loot + Entrance fee of 500 U

- F-rank : [Earth's wrath]

Description; Directly spawns contractor near a volcanic area, where temperatures can reach as high as 100 degrees celsius.

Price; 13% of contractor loot + Entrance fee of 500 U

Hmm...what should I choose

Seeing the list of F-ranked dungeons, I monetarily paused to think about which one to choose out of all of them.

[Blood sea] was out of the question as I didn't bring any waterproof equipment with me.

[Miasma mountains] was simply too dangerous, and I didn't have poison resistance potions with me.

[Forest of greed] had a 17% clause, where I would have to pay 17% of all profits gained from the dungeon. That was a tad bit too high for my standards.

So that was also out of the question.

This leaves me with [Earth's wrath], [Red desolation], and [Kurus Barracs]

Looking alternatively at the three options before me, after contemplating for a while I decided to go with [Red desolation].

It had the lowest contractor clause of 11% and the food and water shortage should pose no problem to me who has just bought a dimensional bracelet.

"I will go with [Red desolation]"

"Very well, here's a contract you will need to sign before we can finalize our deal"

Handing me a three-page long contract, I patiently looked through the contents.

In short.

Before entering a dungeon they will check the equipment that I will bring inside so that no misunderstandings can arise when I exit the dungeon and report my gains.

When exiting a dungeon the staff will do a strict check on the items and things I will bring out so that no false reports were made when paying the contractor clause.

A 500 U entrance fee was to be paid upfront, accompanied by a 1000 U deposit.

The maximum time a person could stay inside of a dungeon was 30 days.

If the person did not come out by the designated time, a specialized squad will directly enter the dungeon and forcefully drag you out.

Lastly, the contractor could, in case of emergencies, call for a support team that will come as soon as possible to aid them if they were in any danger.

The result of calling a support team resulted in the loss of the deposit.

Seeing the content, I nodded satisfactorily and signed it.

There was nothing that I was particularly against.

They were rules that tried to be as fair as possible.

"Thank you very much"

Smiling, the receptionist took the paper and we finalized the payment.

"Please follow me"

After I paid a total of 1500 U, deposit + entrance fee, I was escorted to a large waiting room.

[Guest 5077684 -- Gate 756]

Looking at the piece of paper that I had received once I completed the payment, I neatly folded it and placed it in my pocket.

This was my dungeon ticket, better not lose it.

Inside the room, there were several individuals, who just like me, were waiting to enter the dungeon.

Several waiters were walking and serving food and drinks to the people present inside of the waiting room.

Glancing around for a couple of seconds, I went towards a secluded area that had fewer people and sat down.

If I said I wasn't nervous, I'd be lying.

So far, my first week in this world has been smooth sailing.

Aside from a few ups and downs here and there in the academy, everything that I wanted to achieve I achieved.

The [Keiki style] the [Seed of limit], even the VR test was successful as I managed to complete the extra task.

Everything that I wanted to accomplish was completed flawlessly.

But that meant nothing.

'Don't let the achievements get to your head.'

I repeatedly told myself, as I was just about to enter the dungeon.

My small achievements shouldn't be something that I should take to heart.

I shouldn't become arrogant. Just because everything was going my way didn't mean that everything else was going to be smooth-sailing.

Facing the dungeon, which I had never been to before, I should never let my guard down.

No matter how well things were going for me, a slight mistake could cost me my life.

Arrogance was the best recipe for failure.

As I was self-reflecting, I tried adjusting my mindset.

When going inside of a dungeon, where there was a high mortality rate, one must not go in there thinking that everything would be alright and no danger would befall them.

That was not called confidence, it was called stupidity.

In the face of potential danger, one must humble themselves and make sure to give it their all so that one doesn't get caught off-guard.

"Guest 5077684 please step forward"

Hearing my number, I stood up and went towards the person who called for my name.

Wearing a nice black butler outfit, like most of the male employees working here, the man led me towards a large door.

-Di! Di! Di! Di! Di! Di!

-Shaaaa!

Just before we entered the door, the employee pressed 6 keycodes on the lock of the door and then proceeded to scan his eye.

-Klang!

After a brief pause, the door opened by itself allowing me to see what was behind it.

"!!"

I was instantly left speechless.

I was so overwhelmed by the scenery before me that no word escaped from my mouth.

An enormous hall, that extended so far that I couldn't even catch sight of the other side, was before me.

Keep in mind that my stats, compared to before were much better, which meant my vision drastically improved alongside my stat improvement, and yet I still couldn't see the ending of this place.

That was just how enormous this place was!

Moreover, that wasn't what left me flabbergasted.

It was the fact that in the hall there were warp gates everywhere!

A warp gate was a teleportation device that allowed a person to teleport to a given coordinate.

It was similar to a dungeon gate, but unlike dungeon gates, where the location was fixed, a warp gate coordinates could be changed.

Walking around, and seeing the towering warp gates that were as tall as a house, I felt like an ant.

Besides the gates, there were white-clothed individuals with masks that covered their whole faces. Their masks reminded me of the 'Black Panther' back in my previous world. But compared to his black mask theirs was white.

After walking for 10 minutes, I was finally able to see my designated gate.

<<Gate - 756>>

"Oh hey, Edward!"

Standing in front of the gate, a blonde middle-aged man who had a cigarette in his mouth waved towards the person escorting me.

His long hair which was tied in a ponytail, and his short untrimmed beard made him look like an unemployed adult who was in the middle of his mid-life crisis.

"Yes"

Giving a simple nod to the middle-aged man, the man who escorted me here, Edward, turned around and prepared to leave.

"As quiet as usual huh?"

Seeing Edward leave with no response, the middle-aged man gave up and looked at me.

"So you're the one who wants to enter the dungeon?"

"Yes"

"Sigh, just when I thought I had the day off"

-pchhhh

Throwing the cigarette on the ground, the middle-aged man stepped on it.

"Alright, follow me"

Walking with his hands in his pockets, the middle-aged man grumbled as he walked towards the gate.

"Timothy1, Timothy 2, I've got a guest here, so open the gate"

"..."

"..."

"Ah fine!"

Taking out a card from his pocket, the middle-aged man handed it to the two people in white clothes who were blocking the gate.

Taking out a small box, one of the white guards swiped the card, and when the box flashed green he stepped to the side.

"Bye Timothy1, Timorth2, don't miss me too much while I'm gone"

Waving at two white guards, the middle-aged man stepped into the gate and beckoned me to follow.

Stepping on the gate, the middle-aged man took a cigarette from his pocket and lit it up.

Looking at me who was confused, the middle-aged man spoke with a grin.

"Don't worry they're always like this. They're just shy"

"uh, sure"

'I'm pretty sure they were not shy. They just didn't want to talk to you.'

I retorted in my head without showing it on my face.

Soon, as the warp gate lit up, I felt my body slowly lift up from the ground. Then I saw my body turn into particles and shortly after I started losing all my senses.

It first started with my vision, then my hearing, and slowly all my remaining senses.

-Vam!

Chapter 25: Dungeon [1]

-Blaaargh!

As soon as I regained my senses, I felt my stomach churning and before I knew it I was on the ground barfing.

Fortunately, I didn't puke on my mask as I slightly tilted it upwards to allow the barf to escape from my mouth.

"First timer huh?"

Looking at me, who was on the ground barfing, the middle-aged man shook his head amusingly.

It took me a total of five minutes before I was finally able to stop my body from barfing.

I felt like crap.

After having vomited so much, I could barely stand up.

"Sit down for a bit"

Leaning against a nearby rock, the middle-aged man held a new cigarette between his fingers and exhaled smoke in the air.

It was only after I heard his voice that I managed to get a clear look at my surroundings.

A vast plain field filled with oak trees was before my sight and if one looked ahead, towering mountains that penetrated the clouds could be seen.

The air felt extremely fresh and it reminded me of the time when I was in Clayton ridge.

Looking around, I could see a massive warp gate behind me. Five white-clothed individuals patrolled around it.

I wonder how they managed to hide such a huge thing...

"You're probably wondering how we can hide the gate from the government's sight"

Taken aback, I looked at the middle-aged man.

How did he know?

Blankly staring at the sky where the clouds were slowly darkening, showing signs of rain, the middle-aged man spoke.

"There's a barrier that covers a 5km radius of everything here."

"The barrier prevents the energy coming out from the dungeon from being leaked, and it also blocks electromagnetic waves preventing any radio communications or detection devices from finding this place."

Listening to him, I silently nodded.

This was a smart choice.

If the government were to find about this dungeon, they would swiftly take it over.

No matter how strong the black market was, they wouldn't be able to fight against both the government and the union.

Since dungeons, monsters, and demons fell under the union's jurisdiction, if an unclaimed gate was discovered, the union would do anything within its power to claim it. And since the black market was not as strong as the union, they could only resort to hiding dungeons that they found.

But I was curious.

Couldn't the union just send spies and find the location of the dungeon?

"ku ku, your expression is so easy to read kid."

"It's not so easy for spies to find the location of the dungeons."

"In the first place, the reason why we use warp gates is so that they can't find where the dungeon is. Moreover, with the barrier, which prevents any communication to the external world, it's almost impossible for them to find this place"

That does make sense, but a barrier alone was not enough to prevent the union from discovering this place.

Actually, before that, was my expression that easy to read? It was fine if only Grandmaster Keiki could read my thoughts...but now another person, whom I just met, could easily read what I wanted to say―was my face that easy to read?

Moreover, I was currently wearing a mask. Apart from my eyes, everything else was covered. Does that mean he could read my expression solely based on me eyes?

I need to make a mental note to myself to start practicing my poker face...

Looking at my surroundings, I thought for a bit before saying out loud.

"If it were me, I would just look at the surrounding geology and narrow it down to possible locations"

With the technology of this world, it wouldn't be too hard to narrow places down according to the details of the surroundings.

"Huhu, you're a smart one eh?"

Laughing at my comment, the middle-aged man stood up.

"That's true. But, since we are strong, both the union and the government won't really spend that much effort in finding the dungeons we secured."

Suddenly the middle-aged man's eyes narrowed, as he spat the next words coldly.

"That is unless they want to start a war with us...."

Standing up, I followed the middle-aged man.

"By the way sir, how should I call you?"

As we were walking, I couldn't help ask him for his name.

Although he may look completely unrefined and crude, when he spat those last words, my heart shivered for a split second.

"Me?"

Puffing the cigarette in his mouth, the middle-aged man smirked.

"Just call me Thomas"

"Okay, Mr. Thomas"

"Do it without the honorifics, please. It makes it sound cheesy"

"uh, okay"

After walking alongside Thomas, and chatting with him for a bit, I suddenly felt a tremendous energy coming from the distance.

"You feel it?"

"Yeah"

"That's the accumulated energy of all the monsters inside of the dungeon..."

Staring ahead at the source of where the energy was coming from, I couldn't help but feel slightly nervous.

Looking at me, Thomas grinned as he said

"Nervous?"

"I'd be lying if I said no..."

"Don't worry too much, although it is indeed scary for a first-timer like you, you'll get used to it eventually. "

Slightly pausing, he looked at the gate which was becoming clearer by the minute, and lightly said.

"Moreover, wait till you see an S-ranked gate"

"An S-ranked gate huh..."

If the energy coming out from an F-rank gate was this much, I wonder how much energy would come out from an S-rank gate...

Just the thought sent shivers down my spine.

"Yo Timothy 8, Timothy 9"

Greeting two individuals clad in white masks and armor, Thomas handed them a card.

"..."

"..."

Ignoring Thomas, the two guards took the card and scanned it.

After making sure everything was alright, both guards stepped to the side and made way for him and me.

Taking a step forward, I could feel the tremendous energy bursting out from the gate.

"I guess this is where we part ways kid"

Momentarily startled by Thomas's voice, as I was too engrossed on the enormous gate before me, I could see Thomas standing beside the guards.

"Thank you for everything Thomas"

"Haha, Don't worry about it. Just doing my job. Take care of yourself kid"

Nodding my head I turned around and faced the dungeon.

"Huuu..."

Taking a deep breath, I took my first step into a dungeon.

...

As soon as I felt my eyes regain their usual clarity, I felt a blast of hot air engulf my body.

The dry environment instantly caused my lips to tight up, prompting me to repeatedly lick them to keep them moist.

The ground beneath me was full of cracks, and signs of skirmishes could be seen everywhere in the surroundings. Evidently showing that battles had occurred in this place.

At the very end of my sight, I could see sand dunes made up of red and black sand cover the landscape.

"Just like its description, there really is no source of water nor food here"

It was a completely desolate place.

The surrounding vegetation was all withered, and there were no signs of animal or living creatures on sight.

Aside from monsters, who don't need to eat or drink, the only other living beings were the small insects that hid beneath the cracked earth.

Staring at the light red skies that enveloped the surrounding area, I felt like it created a stronger sense of dread in this desolate world.

Taking a moment so that I could adjust to the harsh environment, I sat down and quickly checked on my equipment.

Carefully placing my hand on my hips where my newly acquired sword rested, I made a recount of the things that I brought.

"Let's see... the sword is here, food is inside my newly acquired bracelet and should last me for about a week"

"There also shouldn't be any problems regarding potions as some cheap [Stamina recovery] are carefully stored in my bracelet"

"What else....hmm, I think that's it"

Seeing that I didn't have anything missing, I stood up and decided to venture deeper into the dungeon.

"Alright, to my very first dungeon!"

...

-Keuka!

Stopping in front of a dead tree, I paused and stared at my opponent.

Just like any novel with dungeons in them, my very first opponent was a goblin.

Yes, a globin.

Do you even need me to describe its features?

I mean it was a fucking goblin.

-Khuek!

...and it sounded like a goblin too!

Tapping on the handle of my newly acquired sword, a white streak appeared before the goblin.

-Click!

-Khuuuuaak!

Before the goblin could even have enough time to react, a red dot appeared on top of its forehead which resulted in the goblin lifelessly slumping on the ground.

'How sharp'

I thought as I admired my new sword.

It felt exactly how someone would feel when cutting a block of butter. Smooth with little to no resistance.

Puu!

Arriving before the goblin, I quickly spat on its body.

Soon after spitting on its body, I kicked its body to the side, while also making sure I cursed at it.

"Fucking goblin"

In short, I was totally abusing the dead goblin.

But there was a good reason for my unreasonable actions.

I didn't have any grudges against goblins or anything like that per se, it was just that I had to do so that I could trigger a certain event.

...and

-Khuek!

-Khuek!

-Khuek!

Yup.

A horde of about 20 or more goblins were madly running with blood-red eyes towards my direction.

Although dungeons have been with human society for 10+ years, not a lot was known about the monsters residing in them.

For example, out of all the monsters known to mankind, the number of monsters for which we knew detailed information about could be counted with one hand.

Because monsters were not used to the earth's atmosphere, bringing live samples back to earth was an extremely difficult and arduous task that simply wasn't worth the cost.

Because of how hard it was to get access to live samples of monsters, it became very hard for researchers to find out more about dungeon monsters.

The research was extremely crucial in aiding humanity in getting a better understanding of the monsters which resided in the demon world.

Researchers have predicted that one day there might be the possibility of the demon world suddenly attacking earth.

If we didn't put a lot of effort into finding more about the monsters that resided in the demon world, it might be too late when the time that monsters can enter earth arrives.

Professor Theodore Rombhouse, the one who questioned me last time, was a leading figure in the research of monsters and beasts.

Not only was he a fanatic in analyzing a beast's behavior and weakness, but he also loved to analyze and dissect monsters so that he could find out more about them.

Monsters were weird creatures.

They not only behaved irrationally but sometimes when certain conditions were met they could trigger an unexpected event.

Such as what was currently happening right now with the goblins.

Because of my action of spitting and abusing the goblin, I managed to trigger a goblin horde.

Actually, this was a little joke I put in the novel, but on several occasions, similar unexpected actions could cause certain monsters to do something you would least expect.

In the case of goblins, because they always tended to be the first monsters the protagonists faced when entering a dungeon, I decided to add this feature so that I could bring justice to them.

In actuality, I added it because I needed to meet a certain word count, and I couldn't come up with anything.

That aside, goblins were basically the most useless monsters out there.

For those who wanted to become stronger, goblins were considered training dummies, and for villains and demons, they were considered cannon fodder.

They truly were the most abused species in all novels.

In the story, Kevin alongside another party enter the academy's dungeon.

At first, the other group wanted to make things difficult for Kevin's party, but because he was too strong they could only silently endure.

They later took out their grievances on a nearby goblin, which triggered their hidden feature where all goblins within a 100-meter radius turned berserk and attacked anything on site.

Since goblins were so weak and easily died when entering the earth's atmosphere, it was very hard to get proper information on them.

And on the off-chance that they managed to retrieve a live sample, this unique ability of theirs would've never been discovered as who would just spit kick and abuse a goblin for research purposes?

Moreover, even if some deranged scientist did the following if there were no other goblins around their special feature was essentially useless.

...right now though, I couldn't help but pat my back for adding such a feature.

-Khuek!

-Khuek!

-Khuek!

With this method not only did I not need to find the goblins who were spread across the terrain, but I could also save a lot of time and train efficiently.

Tapping the handle of my sword, I prepared myself for a long and challenging battle.

Chapter 26: Dungeon [2]

"Huff...Huff...Huff"

Kneeling on one leg, whilst supporting myself with my sword, which was stabbed on the ground, I gasped for breath.

-Click!

-Kueeeekk!

Before I could even have enough time to catch my breath, a goblin tried to sneak up from behind me, but fortunately, I was still alert and dealt with it in one swift movement.

'And here I was telling myself to keep my arrogance in check.."

Holding the left side of my stomach, I felt my whole body become dizzy. I overexerted myself.

Looking at my surroundings, the area around me was littered with corpses.

My previously clean clothes were now drenched in green blood.

For the past hour, I had been fighting against more than 20 goblins.

At first, I thought that dealing with 20 goblins wouldn't really pose a problem with my current abilities, but I had severely overestimated my capabilities and underestimated the goblin's abilities.

Just because goblins were supposed to be weak, didn't mean they were actually weak.

Yeah sure, maybe in a 1-on-1 they were easy, but not when more than 20 of them were coming at me at the same time.

It also had to be noted that my rank was still G+.

I was inside of an F ranked dungeon, meaning that every monster I was fighting had higher stats than me!

If it weren't for the fact that I practiced the [keiki style], I would've never been able to make it this far.

Although stats were important, they weren't everything.

It had to be said, stats were only a mild representation of one's ability.

If someone with high stats were to fight a highly skilled warrior that had lower stats, but far better battle awareness, then the highly skilled warrior could still win.

It was like in games when fighting a boss.

The boss always had better stats than the main character, but he/she could nevertheless still beat the boss.

As long as you adopt the right strategy, you could win regardless of your stats. Well...given that the disparity in stats was not that different. If the stats of the boss was a lot higher than your game character, then you might as well kiss your game goodbye.

On the off-chance that the boss was stronger, but the difference in stats between boss and character wasn't that big, then you could do several things to beat it.

Like for example, if you hit a monster on their weak spot.

By hitting their weak spot, the monsters will sustain far more damage as compared to a regular strike.

In goblin's cases, their weak spot was was located right on their forehead, just in between their brows.

Because my sword's art was extremely fast, I was able to swiftly deal with the goblins with one quick stab.

It may sound easy, but it really wasn't.

I had to fully concentrate each time, as a slight miss could cause me to lose my rhythm.

Moreover, because there were so many of them coming at me at the same time, I had to kite them for one hour before I could finally kill them all.

It was only after that I dealt with all the goblins, that I felt pathetic for telling myself how I shouldn't become arrogant and always humble myself in the face of danger.

Had there been one or two more goblins, I really might've died.

Mhhh...maybe not died, but I would've at least gotten severely injured.

Well if we look at this on a positive note, I was almost halfway towards reaching my goal of collecting 50,000 U.

Because the [Keiki style] primarily focused on dealing a singular swift movement at unimaginable speeds, the corpses around me were all in pristine conditions, meaning that I could sell them for more money.

Tapping on my bracelet once, I grabbed a goblin and placed it on top of my bracelet.

-Sham!

Right after placing the goblin on top of my bracelet, it disappeared.

"Great stuff"

Like this, for the next 10 minutes, I placed all the goblins that I killed inside of the bracelet.

"Phewww, 21 goblins huh"

If each goblin went for 1,000 U, right now I had accumulated a total of 21,000 U.

Well, that was if we exclude the 11% clause which would be around 2310 U.

Wiping off the sweat that had accumulated on my forehead, I tapped my bracelet twice and a water bottle suddenly appeared in front of me.

"Dimensional storages sure are handy heh...."

By tapping the bracelet once, I could put anything inside of the bracelet as long as it didn't exceed the storage capacity.

By tapping twice I could retrieve whatever I stored inside of the bracelet, as long as I thought of what I wanted.

Truly convenient.

Taking the water bottle, I took big gulps.

All that exercise had made me extremely thirsty.

After drinking the water, I took out a [Stamina recovery potion] and drank it.

Soon after finishing the [Stamina recovery potion], I felt a rush of energy enter my body, making my previous fatigued expression turn much better.

I used three [Stamina recovery potions] during my fight with the goblins, yet even with that, I was completely drained by the end of the fight.

Standing up, I decided to stop looking for goblins for a while.

Since I didn't think I was ready to face another goblin horde and hunting a single goblin at a time was just a waste of time, I decided to directly look for boss monsters.

If goblins and monsters of similar strength were considered weak opponents, boss monsters, which were a lot stronger than regular monsters in dungeons, were considered formidable opponents for those who were of the same rank.

Not only did they have much more health, but each of them also had the strength that almost neared the next rank.

If you were in a G rank dungeon, a boss monster's strength would be at around G+ almost nearing F- rank. Making them extremely tough opponents to face.

...Wait, why deal with a boss monster that were stronger than a horde of goblins?

It was simple really.

When fighting against the horde of goblins, I had to repeatedly aim for their weak spots while kiting, moreover, because I was being attacked by all sides, I barely had enough time to breathe.

It was like doing HIIT cardio for 1 hour straight.

With boss monsters, although they were stronger, I could have more room to breathe.

Depending on the boss monster I was going to face, chances were that fighting against them was going to be easier than fighting against a horde of goblins.

Boss monsters were all different.

Some were slow, some were extremely fast, some were tanky, some were super strong, there were many different types of boss monsters, and depending on which one I was going to face the difficulty was going to vary.

For example, if I were to face a really strong boss that had limited mobility, against my sword's art it wouldn't pose as much of a challenge as I could just overwhelm it with my speed. However, if I were to face a similarly fast boss monster then things would become troublesome.

The difficulty of a boss monster depended on how well I could counter its flaws.

Each F rank dungeon had around 25 bosses, and although I didn't know the exact location of each boss monster, with my knowledge as the author of this novel, I could more or less get a basic idea of where they were.

Although each dungeon was different, they followed a specific set of rules which I had set up.

Though looking back at it now, I think I may have overcomplicated them a bit...

A dungeon followed a law of conservation of energy.

Once a dungeon was created, its energy capacity was permanent. Meaning that if the balance within the dungeon were to be increased, the dungeon would break and destabilize.

so as long as the dungeon capacity remained greater or equal to the external energies inside of the dungeon (monsters + humans), then the dungeon will function without a problem.

Moreover, the monster's energy was always constant, so the only thing that could cause a dungeon to break was if the external energy increased to the point that the overall energy exceeded the dungeon energy capacity.

To make things easier to understand, let's assume a dungeon was a half-filled balloon, where the air inside of it represented the total number of monster energy inside of a dungeon.

Once a human entered a dungeon, the amount of air inside of the balloon increased proportionally to the human's strength. The stronger the human was the more air was filled inside of the balloon.

if suddenly too many humans entered the dungeon, or too much air was blown into the balloon, then the balloon will pop, and in the case of dungeons, they would break and desync.

That was the first and most basic rule of a dungeon.

The second rule was that, once a monster was slain, the dungeon will replenish its energy by 'spawning' another monster with equivalent strength.

Since a dungeon was located in the demon world, the monsters which were 'respawned' in the dungeon were just monsters that were found in the nearby region.

'Respawning' was the process in which a monster was replaced by another inside of a dungeon.

Dungeons were a source of nourishment for monsters, and once a monster inside of the dungeon was killed, a monster would automatically be drawn by the dungeon to fill its spot.

However, a dungeon could only draw a monster that fit the 'missing energy capacity'

If the monster was stronger than the monster killed, then the dungeon would automatically reject its existence and prevent it from entering.

A dungeon could only be considered cleared when the dungeon could no longer 'spawn' monsters, as all the ones in the vicinity had died.

Yeah sure, you could technically clear a dungeon by just exceeding its dungeon capacity and causing it to desync, but that would be stupid.

Not only will the hunters inside of the dungeon find themselves stuck in the demon world, due to the desync, but you would also lose a source of income as the monsters inside of a dungeon went for a lot of money due to their tough bodies.

Moreover, dungeons were only dangerous for those that entered, for the most part, they were harmless.

Why would anyone want to clear them?

Lastly, in the third rule, the number of boss monsters present inside of a dungeon differed depending on the rank of a dungeon.

Where the higher the dungeon rank the lower the number of boss monsters present in the dungeon.

Moreover, each boss covered a certain area inside of the dungeon and each split the dungeon evenly.

This meant that all I had to do right now was find a boss monster, and from there, using a map, I would be able to locate where the other bosses were.

...or at least get a general idea.

Walking forwards, I could see the towering sand dunes before me.

'There should be a boss monster in this area..'

Staring at the sand dunes, I was almost certain a boss monster was going to be there.

Not only was the terrain here different compared to the other areas of the dungeon, but as I looked around I could see goblins and other monsters staying away from this place.

Thus I took a brief moment to prepare myself before making my way towards the desert-like terrain.

As I walked up the dune I felt a sudden wave of heat wash over my face, prompting me to take out a towel and cover my face with it, leaving a slight opening for my eyes.

As I was walking forward, I could feel my feet slowly sinking into the stand, making it harder for me to move forward.

-Kuuuak!

Moreover, with the occasional monsters popping from beneath the sand, my journey towards the boss became extremely arduous.

-Click!

Swiftly taking out my sword, in one smooth movement, I stabbed towards the monster that was trying to attack me.

-Clank!

"Huh?"

Surprisingly for the first time today, I couldn't kill a monster with one strike.

-Screeech!

Letting out a large screech, presumingly due to the pain of being hit, the monster which resembled a worm tried to assault me.

Lowering my body, I twisted my body and elbowed the worm sending it flying in the air.

-Shlup!

Diving deep beneath the sand, silence returned to my surroundings.

Looking beneath, to my feet, I closed my eyes and felt the ground below me.

"huuuu...."

Letting out a long breath, I concentrated on feeling any vibration coming from beneath me.

"There you are.."

-Shaa!

Appearing from behind my back, I stabbed my sword behind me, right in between my armpit.

-Screeeeeeech!

Hearing the loud screech and feeling my sword become heavier, I turned around, and like a skewer, the worm hanged from my sword as it penetrated deep into its mouth.

-Thump!

Slashing my sword down, the worm fell on the sand.

Staring at the corpse of the creature I just killed, I thought

'It seems like its weakness is the mouth...'

***Author note***

Sorry, this chap is a bit of an info dump. ;(

Hopefully, it doesn't ruin the experience for you. I am learning as I continue writing and I will make sure not to do this again.

I will probably revise this chapter in the near future and I'll try to make it not as tedious to read.

Chapter 27: Dungeon [3]

Using my sword to turn over the body of the monster that I just killed, I speculated that it was some sort of sandworm variant.

Everything from the top and bottom resembled a worm, however, its mouth once opened resembled a four-petal flower. But unlike flowers, it was anything but pretty.

If one looked closely, once the worm-like monster opened its mouth, chainsaw-like teeth sharply protruding from the edges of its mouth would meet your sight.

Its exterior which was as hard as titanium had some sort of mucus-like substance excreted from its body.

-Tshh!

Using my finger to pick up some of the mucus, I felt a stinging sensation on my finger prompting my brows to involuntarily frown.

'Could this mucus be the reason why they can travel in the sand like a fish swims in the ocean?'

Examining the mucus up close, I took a look at the area where the worm was, and from there I could instantly understand how the worm was able to move freely in the sand.

The mucus that the sandworm-like creature excreted had some sort of acidic property which slowly eroded the sand around it, enabling it to move freely in the sand.

'Fascinating...'

Wiping the mucus on my finger with the sand, I placed the corpse into my bracelet.

Taking my phone out, I opened the monster encyclopedia and quickly scrolled down the list.

After scrolling for a bit, I finally found a monster that matched the description of the monster I killed.

Name : Sand sprout

Rank: F-D rank

Description : Monster that is typically found in desert regions, and is around the size of an adult arm. If caught off guard, with its razor-sharp teeth the sand sprout can easily tear off the limbs of its prey, rendering them immobile. Has extremely durable skin that is as tough as titanium, and excretes a strong acid measuring at around a ph of 1.

Weakness : Mouth, the only area that is not protected by its tough outer exterior.

Location : [Everlasting sunset], [Dunes of sorrow],[Lord's wrath],...

"ph 1?"

Raising my brow, I looked at my finger, which previously touched the mucus-like substance.

Fortunately, apart from my finger being slightly red, there seemed to be no abnormalities.

'It looks like consuming the [Seed of limit] helped my body become stronger...considering that an acid of ph1 is nothing to me anymore...'

Putting my phone back in my pocket, I continued venturing deeper into the dungeon in hopes of finding the boss of this area.

During the journey, for every monster that I killed and knew nothing about, I would look through the monster encyclopedia app on my phone in hopes of finding more about them.

-Screeech!

-Phfttttt

Without even looking at what attacked me, I stabbed my sword to the right and once I felt my sword become heavier, I tapped my bracelet.

"38..."

So far, the most dominant monster present in this desert-like place was the sand sprout, and since I have fought about a dozen of them, I could more or less predict their movement now.

First, if you paid close attention, right before they attacked, you could feel a slight vibration beneath your feet. With this slight vibration, I could approximately determine when they were going to attack.

Moreover from what I observed, they never attacked the front, which meant that they would only attack my right, left, or back.

Knowing this, whenever I feel a slight vibration coming from beneath the sand, I could reduce my scope of concentration and react faster.

Secondly and most importantly, for some odd reason whenever they attacked they would always let out a loud screech.

Because of this, judging the precise position of where they are going to attack was easy.

However, even though they were extremely fast, even if they did screech before they attacked, due to their tremendous speed not everyone could react in time, falling victim to their ambush.

But once you knew their pattern, they were essentially the easiest monster to deal with.

"huh, what's that?"

Squinting my eyes, a couple of kilometers from my location I could see a couple of silhouettes that looked like humans.

They seemed to be in some sort of mess, as they were all not moving.

"Party wipe?"

It wasn't that uncommon for parties to be wiped inside of a dungeon, as a lot of things can go wrong in one.

"Should I help..."

To be honest, I didn't have any obligation to help as everyone was on their own inside of a dungeon...but from the looks of it the party has at least 5 people, so what could cause them to be in this situation?

Let's calmly think this through...

Could they possibly be trying to arouse a passerby's pity, and then suddenly attack them when they let their guard down in hopes of stealing their loot?

Hmm...Probably not.

First off, considering where we were, chances of finding anyone nearby was extremely low so this sort of scheme wouldn't work here.

Even if it was like that, I didn't think they could beat me...

Slap!

Slapping myself hard on the cheek, I continued staring at the people in the distance.

I almost reverted back to my arrogant self.

There were five people in total, furthermore, since they were in an F rank dungeon, they were all most likely either F rank Heroes or Villains.

Although I was confident in my strength, I shouldn't be confident to the point where I could defeat five F-ranks without coming back unscathed.

The more I observed the more I was sure that they weren't trying to rob people, as they genuinely looked like they were in distress.

Now the real question was whether I should help them...

If I did help them then it would mean that some of my supplies would be cut short as I would have to share some of it with them, but that aside there's one thing that's been bugging me since the beginning...

Why haven't they called for help yet?

Although from a distance it looked like they were all dead, if one looked closely, they were all breathing.

Moreover, some of them were even moving, albeit lightly.

I was sure they would've had no problems sending a distress signal and wait for help.

But why weren't they?

This situation was very odd.

Part of me wanted to just leave and ignore them, but my instincts were telling me that if I were to leave right now, I may come to regret it later on...

"Ah...screw it!"

lightly sighing, I jumped down the sand dune I was on and slid my way towards where the party was.

"Screw it, even if it's a trap I'll just escape"

Although I had my suspicions, it was better to be safe than sorry...

More than me wanting to help them, it was more about figuring out what had happened.

There was simply no way a party of five F ranks could be reduced to this state in an F rank dungeon.

Even the boss monster would have a tough time against five F ranks.

As I edged closer to their location, there were evident signs that a battle had taken place. Typically the sand in the desert was shaped in little waves, however, here the sand was all over the place as craters could be seen everywhere.

Judging from the state of the surroundings, a big fight had taken place. However, oddly enough, there were no monster carcasses around the area.

Normally when fighting against a monster, you would see signs of blood everywhere or some sort of sign that a fight against a monster had taken place.

But as I observed closely, apart from some red blood, presumingly coming from the party members, there wasn't anything that suggested that they were fighting against a monster.

The more I thought about it, the odder the situation was...

Actually, now that I thought about it, why were they still alive?

Normally, once you fought against a monster, there were only two endings.

Either you die or they die.

Nothing else.

But here, although the party was injured, they were still alive.

Did this mean that they weren't fighting monsters but another group?

But even then, why leave them alive?

Something strange was definitely happening here, and if I wasn't careful enough I could get implicated in this as well...

Arriving before the group, I noticed all of them staring in my direction with blank eyes, but even though they seemed to be able to sense me, they didn't seem to be able to speak nor process what was happening.

No, rather than the fact that they didn't seem to be able to think, it was more like they were too dehydrated to think. This further added to the numerous questions that had piled up in my mind.

How long had they been like this?

To be dehydrated to the point of not being able to speak, how many days have passed since they had been attacked?

The more I looked at this situation, the more questions emerged in my mind.

Arriving before the party, I quickly headed to the individual that was nearest to me.

Wearing a massive armor that resembled a rhinoceros, I tried to flip his body which was facing sideways.

Gripping the massive plates of metal on his forearm, I tensed my quads and tried to flip his body over. Feeling the enormous weight of the armor, I silently cursed at the fact that I had chosen to help him first. Not only did it resemble a rhinoceros but it also weighted like one!

Judging from how much I was struggling, I presumed the armor was at least a hundred kilograms.

-Clank!

Finally, after struggling for a bit, I managed to flip his body upwards.

Kneeling down on one leg, I quickly lifted his helmet off his face to get a better look at him.

"Dry lips, void, and dilated eyes...the situation is much more dire than I originally thought."

Checking his conditions, everything pointed to the fact that he was extremely dehydrated.

Not only was his skin extremely dry, but his muscles constantly twitched, showing how serious the situation was.

Seeing that I didn't have much time, I quickly tapped my bracelet twice and a water bottle appeared before me.

Placing the water bottle in his mouth, I slowly watched as he struggled to open his mouth.

Although it seemed like he knew that a water bottle was placed in front of him, because he was too dehydrated, his brain had already started shutting down.

Seeing this, I tilted the water bottle and let the water fall into his mouth.

"Gulp..gulp...gulp..."

Initially, as the water fell into his mouth, he took slow gulps, but as time passed the light gulps slowly turned into big gulps, and slowly but surely, his eyes which had lost clarity returned to their normal state as he frantically drank the water.

Watching him greedily drink the water, I let out a wry smile and turned to the others.

Looking at them, they seemed to be in similar conditions to the guy who I had just helped.

Because I only had one water bottle, I could only wait for him to finish before helping the others.

Fortunately, because the water bottle could store up to 50 liters of water, I didn't have to worry about running out of water.

"Kh..th-a-nnngg"

"Shh..eat this while I'll help the others"

Regaining some of his strength, the guy who I had just helped tried to speak, but I immediately shushed him and gave him some jerky to eat.

Although I wanted to know exactly what had happened, he was still in a bad state.

Right now the main priority was helping the others, I could find time to talk to him once everyone else was fine.

Taking the water bottle from him, I went to the next person and a similar scene repeated before me.

Chapter 28: Dungeon [4]

"Thank you"

Sitting next to each other, the party members which were on the verge of death moments before, were now happily munching on some jerky.

I was honestly quite shocked by how fast they recovered. Considering the state they were in when I found them, their recovery speed could be described as 'godly'. I mean, it only took them a little bit over 10 minutes before they were able to sit up straight and comfortably eat and drink the food that I gave them.

Then I realized, I was no longer back on earth.

Though I have reincarnated in this place for about 3 weeks, I was still not accustomed to this world's common sense, and rightfully so.

I mean, how can I adjust to this world's common sense after only having been here for three weeks?

It's not like I can rewire my brain to accept the fact that people could heal immediately when back in my previous world, in which I lived for 32 years, serious cases of dehydration would leave a person hospitalized for weeks.

I was now genuinely curious whether all the people who got reincarnated felt the same way I did.

Well leaving that aside, it seems like I was running low on supplies.

In terms of water, I still had quite a lot as my water bottle could hold up to 50 liters of water, but I was running quite low in terms of food.

I had only bought a couple of kilograms of food supplies, thinking that it would last me about a week, and rightfully so, as who would've been able to predict such a situation?

Moreover, since I was planning on staying here for at most 3 days, I didn't feel the need to bring more than a week's worth of food.

What makes matters worse is the fact that the monsters present in this dungeon couldn't be eaten.

Generally, monsters could be eaten but that depended on which monsters.

Some of the monsters which were found in some dungeons could be eaten, and when eaten could boost up a person's stats, however, that was only for a small minority of monsters, as most of them are inedible due to their meat being poisonous.

...and unfortunately for me, all the monsters in this dungeon were inedible.

"Guess I have no choice..."

Taking out a small black box from my bracelet, a slid the cover up and a small red bottom presented itself before me.

Right above the button, there was a small screen that showed fluctuating wavelengths, indicating the signal strength.

This black box, also known as the 'Safe box', was a device that is given to every member before they entered a dungeon.

By pressing the button, the black box would send a distress signal to the nearest dungeon guardian.

Once the dungeon guardian received the distress signal, they would report it to the dungeon operators, which would then swiftly send a rescue team to come to their aid.

The consequence of pressing the button was of course a loss in the deposit, but seeing how mentally exhausted the party was, I could only sacrifice my deposit.

When I was saving them, I did look for their safe boxes, but they were either damaged or malfunctioning.

...Probably from the fight they just had.

In the end, I was left with no choice but to use mine. At most I could just ask them to refund me since I was not using it for myself...

Taking one last look at the members who although physically looked okay but were anything but fine mentally, I decisively pressed the button.

-Click

-Ding! -Ding! -Ding!

As soon as I pressed the button, the black box started emitting rhythmic sounds that spread across the surroundings.

"Huh? strange..."

Initially, after pressing the button, everything seemed normal as the black box kept constantly beeping.

But it was only after seeing the weird looks the party was giving me that I noticed something strange.

Frowning, I took a look at the black box in my hand, and to my surprise the small screen that showed the wavelengths was flat.

Taken aback, I tapped on the back of the black box multiple times, as I wondered whether it was malfunctioning.

"It's no use"

Shaking his head, the first member whom I saved, the one who wore the bulky rhino-like armor spoke up.

"It was also like this for us"

Turning my attention towards them, I couldn't help but frown.

"Then why didn't you tell me beforehand?"

So in the end, the real reason why their safe boxes didn't work wasn't because they were damaged?

Smiling bitterly, the bulky member couldn't help but scratch the back of his head as he said "We still had a bit of hope that maybe the batch of safe boxes we received were malfunctioning and that maybe yours would work...but it seems like this is not the case"

Looking at the other members, who seemed to have lost all hope, my frown deepened.

"I see...there's this one thing that has been bothering me for a while, but what exactly happened to you guys? --Huh?"

As I was asking them about what had happened, which was my goal since rescuing them, I noticed them flinch in horror as soon as I posed the question.

Soon after, their body went rigid, and their eyes became hollow.

Startled, I stood up and looked around me.

"Hey! Hey!"

After making sure there wasn't anyone around, I went in front of them and tried to wave my hand in front of their faces but it was to no avail. Their complexion turned deathly pale as their teeth soon started chattering.

Soon, as if they were in a trance, they each simultaneously looked at the sky and started speaking nonsense.

"Please...no...I don't wan-...."

"No..no..Ah..AHHHHHH"

"Death....demon..."

"Lucy...I will be late for di..nner...wait for..papa"

"Lord..savior"

Although they were all speaking nonsense, one word specifically caught my attention.

"Demon.."

Turning my attention towards the person that said those words, a brunette young girl with two pigtails and clothing that were proof of her mage status, started spasming on the ground.

Soon after she started spasming, all the other party members showed a similar reaction as bubbles started coming out of their mouths.

"Oy, what's going on here?"

Startled, I immediately moved towards them and tried slapping their faces a couple of times to get a reaction from them...but it proved ineffective, as their pupils quickly disappeared alongside their pulse.

"Dead...dead...dead...fuck!"

Swearing out loud, I dropped on the sand and dazedly stared at the red horizon.

It wasn't their death that shocked me the most, but it was how they died and the last words that the girl said before dying.

"Demon..."

There was only one type of curse that could cause someone to die just moments after they recovered...

'Mindbreaker'

An especially vicious curse planted by demons.

It now became apparent that this was the work of a demon, as they were the only species that were capable of implanting this type of curse inside of a human.

Moreover, I believe that the only reason they were still alive was not because the demon let them go...no, it was because the demon wanted to torture them by making them suffer from dehydration and starvation.

"Sick fucker! Ahhhh!"

-Pa!

Punching the sand with all my force, fine granules of sand started falling from the area I had punched leaving behind a small crater.

Glaring at my surroundings, I swore to make whoever was responsible for this pay dearly!

Although it may perhaps be due to the shock of me witnessing people dying in front of me for the first time in my life, my emotions were in a state of disarray.

I could hardly think clearly, as the images of the party dying kept repeating in my mind over and over again.

The little details that I had missed prior to their deaths started replaying in my mind, such as the expressions they had before they died, and the last words they were struggling to say prior to their death.

'And here I was hating protagonists in novels who sympathized with deaths...'

Bitterly laughing, I thought back to the time that I used to leave hate comments on novels where the protagonist sympathized with the deaths of unrelated people.

It was only after experiencing this for the first time that I realized how bang on the authors were when depicting the raw emotions one felt when death occurred before them.

It was only now that I started realizing how cruel and fragile life was.

Since reincarnation in this world, I had mentally prepared myself for these kinds of situations, but...it is only after having experienced this first hand that I realized how daunting it is to see someone die before you.

After collecting myself, I took their identifications and buried their bodies underneath the sand.

Taking one last look at the burial site, I turned around and left the area.

After seeing their death, my first instinct was to get the hell out of this dungeon. For someone to be able to get rid of a <F> ranked party like that, they must be strong...

However, in the end, I decided against doing so.

If someone was really targeting everyone in this dungeon, the entrance of the dungeon was probably the most dangerous place to be.

In the end, I wasn't really sure whether my decision was a good one or a bad one, but I just knew...I knew that turning back was a really bad idea.

...

-Clank!

-Screeeeech!

"Haaah!"

A loud screech followed by a loud shout resounded across the surroundings as the silhouette of a small human could be seen fighting against a gigantic creature that looked to be the size of a small building.

The loud shout and screech were soon drowned by the sound of metal clashing against a hard surface as the small figure slashed towards the enormous creature.

"Huff...huff...huff"

Wiping the sweat that had accumulated on my forehead, I stared at the enormous worm that was before me. Its features which looked like an enlarged version of a sand sprout became even more apparent as its figure emerged from the sand. The enormous razor-sharp teeth, which layered on the top of its four petal-shaped mouths bore down on me as its massive body dove towards my direction each time it attacked.

It's been precisely twenty minutes since encountering this creature, and because of its sneaky attacking method where it would continuously dive in the sand as soon as it attacked, and added with its enormous body, I was left totally helpless against it.

Previously, when I fought against sand sprouts, I would always target their mouth which was their weak point. However, because the boss monster was an enlarged version of the sand sprout, even though I wanted to attack its mouth the option was no longer feasible as my sword was like a small toothpick compared to the sheer size of the monster.

"Fuuuuu..."

Letting out a long breath, my right hand which was gripping on my sword that was sheathed in its scabbard suddenly clenched, and as I unsheathed it, a beautiful arc appeared in the air as I suddenly jumped backward.

-Schreech!

Without even bothering to hide its presence, the large worm arrogantly appeared from beneath me. Its large mouths which were riddled with sharp razor-like teeth opened widely as its enormous frame slowly appeared from beneath the sand.

-Clank!

-Crank!

Initially, the only sound that could be heard was the sound of my sword clashing against the hard surface of the worm causing me to lightly frown in annoyance, but my annoyance soon turned into delight as a small cracking noise could be heard from the hard surface of the worm as fine miniature threads that spread like cobwebs started appearing on the tough surface of the worm.

"Finally...my hard work has paid off!"

Delighted, I started attacking more fiercely.

10 minutes prior to now, I realized that if I were to continue to pointlessly attack the worm I would only find myself become food for the monster as I would eventually run out of stamina. Therefore, seeing that my current method was not working, I started devising a strategy.

Due to the sheer size of the monster, attacking its mouth was no longer an option. But, just as much of an advantage its size was, it also had a critical flaw.

Its speed...

It was incomparable to actual sand sprouts who shot like bullets from beneath the sand.

Not only were they faster, but they were also much harder to detect as their small size allowed them to reduce the number of vibrations they could create when moving underneath the sand.

Taking advantage of its reduced speed, I started attacking the same place continuously, in the hope of finally cracking its seemingly impenetrable exterior.

Finally, after 10 minutes of continuously attacking the same spot, a small crack appeared on the surface of the worm causing me to rejoice.

"Now it's time for the roles to reverse...."

Chapter 29: Dungeon [5]

Having already cracked the outer shell of the worm, the rest of the fight was fairly easy.

Since I still had a couple of [Stamina recovery] potions, I did not have to worry about running low on stamina as I fought against the boss monster. Thus, I vigorously hacked away at the weakened surface of the monster whenever it appeared from beneath the sand.

ten minutes after the first crack, the cracks that were only as small as thin spider threads started enlargening revealing the worm's soft inner layer.

twenty minutes after the cracks expanded, the tough outer shell finally couldn't withstand the attacks and broke, fully revealing the pulsating inner layer of the worm.

Finally, thirty minutes after the outer shell was broken, I rested on top of the carcass of the now-dead worm. Slowly catching my breath and looking at my clothes which were now riddled with holes, I bitterly smiled as I lamented at the fact that I had brought no spares.

My sword which was firmly imbued on the body of the worm was covered in green blood, and if it weren't for the fact that I was too exhausted to move, I would've already removed the sword as the blood was highly acidic.

Fortunately, being an artifact, the sword could withstand the acid, giving me enough time to recover before finally retrieving it.

-Shuaa!

Removing the sword from the corpse, green blood sprayed everywhere and some of it even got on my clothes further ruining them.

At this point, I couldn't even be bothered caring about my ruined clothes as I was facing a bigger issue.

"How do I store this...?"

Alternatively looking at the massive corpse and my bracelet, my brows knit.

If I was fortunate enough, then maybe I could store the corpse but...looking at the contents of my bracelet I couldn't help but cursed inwardly as half of my storage space was already filled with corpses.

It simply did not have enough space to fit this monster.

What bugged me off even more was the fact that this sort of issue could've easily been resolved if the safe box still worked.

Although I wouldn't need to pay a deposit, a small commission would've been needed to pay if I were to have called for help in regards to collecting the monster corpse.

But now that the signal was gone...

I swear I will kill this goddam demon!

There was no doubt that the corpse of this boss monster could've fetched me a hefty sum, but now that I didn't have enough space and I couldn't call for support, I was only left with two options.

One, dump some of the monsters inside of my bracelet to make space for this monster, or two, only take the most important parts of the monster and discard the body.

Typically, the skinning and material collection would be left to the dungeon management as untrained hands could result in the monster's corpse becoming damaged and thus reducing the overall monetary compensation given.

At the end of the raid, the corpse would directly be given to the dungeon management which would process it in front of you. During the corpse dismantling in the off-change that a monster core was found, the dungeon management would immediately propose an offer to you.

Typically, not all monsters had monster cores as only a small percentage of monsters had them, but on the rare occasion that a monster core was found, you had basically hit the jackpot as each monster core went for a really high price.

Looking back and forth between my bracelet and the gigantic body before me, I contemplated for a bit before sighing and making my way towards the monster.

-Sha!

Using my sword, I directly hacked the worm's massive body, resulting in more blood splattering all over me.

At this point, I doubt I'll be able to return with clothes on...

As I hacked the monster's massive body I slowly collected its teeth, organs, and other useful parts that could be traded for money.

I decided to just discard the monster and collect the most important parts of the worm. Though, I do feel pity for the fact that I didn't have enough space. Since the worm's outer shell could've easily have fetched me a good sum of money due to its durability.

In any case, If I were to place this monster inside of my bracelet I would no longer have any more space in my bracelet.

Though the monster was huge, it would at most be worth, in monetary terms, about the same as ten regular monsters which took less space, so I might as well just take the important parts.

Pity that I lost some money, but hey...like they all say 'You can't have it all'

After thirty minutes of constant hacking, I managed to collect all the important bits. I did look for the core but sadly the monster didn't have one.

As I didn't have my hopes up, I wasn't disappointed.

Who knows maybe one of the many monsters in my bracelet had a core, though I doubted this.

Satisfied with what I had, I turned around and continued my journey across the desert.

During the journey, I started noticing strange things happening in my surroundings.

Stopping, my feet slowly sank in the sand, using my hand in a similar fashion to a military salute, I squinted my eyes to get a better view of what was happening ahead.

"Woah, sandstorm..."

Before me was a massive wall-like front that was approximately five thousand feet in height. The wall-like front expanded all the way towards where my sight couldn't see and was quickly picking up its speed.

-Whizz!

The whistling sound of the glaring wind could be heard as the sand in my surroundings started to get swept by the massive wall-like front, entering the turbulent and suffocating cloud of sand.

Looking at the massive storm cloud that was quickly approaching me, I was left with no choice but two make two decisions, run away or keep going forward?

"Don't really have a choice do I?"

Bitterly smiling, I discarded the possibility of me running away as the sand storm was approaching at speeds that I couldn't keep up with.

Left with no other choice but to continue walking forwards, I tightly tied my make-shift hijab and headed towards the sand storm.

Soon the storm enveloped me, rending everything in front of me impossible to see.

Inside the sand storm, the further I walked the more I could feel the wind picking up its speed as granules of fine sand started hitting my eyes, obstructing my vision.

It started to get so bad that I couldn't keep my eyes open due to the constant stinging sensation in my eyes.

'I wished I had a pair of glasses'

I thought as I kept walking forwards with my eyes closed.

Honestly, I did not prepare enough.

Because I was in too much of a haste, I did not properly plan out my trip inside the dungeon, resulting in me making too many newbie mistakes that shouldn't have happened. Things such as forgetting to bring a spare set of clothes or bringing extra food rations in the rare chance I was stranded, were things that every person who went to the dungeon did.

I think that the fact that this was my first time entering a dungeon and the fact that I was still not accustomed to this world's common sense contributed to me making so many mistakes.

There was just too much of a difference between writing a novel and actually being in one.

In the novel, I could just make Kevin have everything with just a thought. Things such as a spare set of clothes and extra food were never a concern for him as I would always make it so that he was always prepared. Moreover, whenever the protagonist would prepare to enter a dungeon I would just simply write 'packed up his stuff' which was not specific enough.

That in itself was one of the reasons for my negligence as I tended to depend on the novel too much.

Things that should've been common sense like clothes and at least a month's worth of food completely flew over my head, resulting in me facing the current situation.

Ah...

It was fine to use the novel as a reference, but I shouldn't rely on it too much.

I needed to start thinking things thoroughly before going into dangerous situations.

-Whizzzz!

"Ughh..."

The further I walked into the storm the stronger the wind became.

My make-shift hijab was swept away by the strong gales, exposing my face to the sand which was traveling at extreme speeds, causing my face to become numb due to the pain.

Using my hands to protect my face, I slowly but steadily walked further into the storm.

My current goal was to reach the eye of the storm as it was the safest place to be inside of the storm. The reason why the eye was so calm was that the strong surface winds that converge towards the center never reach it due to a force called the Coriolis force.

-Whizzzz!

-Whizzzz!

-Whizzzz!

Two hours into the storm, although everything looked the same, my ears picked up the extreme sound of winds ruthlessly glaring in a certain location.

Hearing the ruthless sound of the wind, I knew that I was at the edge of the eye where the scariest, nastiest, gnarliest part of the storm was located. The eyewall. The area around the eye formed an unbroken wall that obstructed anything that tried to pass it.

Fortunately, I was prepared for this.

"Fuuuuu..."

Arriving at the edge of the eye, I let out a long breath and calmed my mind.

Slowly a white glow emanated from my body as I touched the handle of my sword.

Soon the glaring sound of the wind disappeared, my mind became as calm as a lake, and everything around me turned tranquil, making me fall in some sort of a trance.

The first movement of the [Keiki style] : Quick flash

-Shua!

At the speed that the naked eye couldn't see, a small gap appeared on the surface of the eye.

Without skipping a beat, I immediately jumped inside the small gap.

-Whizzzz!

-Whizzzz!

-Whizzzz!

"Huff...huff"

Lying face down on top of warm sand, I breathed heavily as I felt the area around me calm down. I was finally able to catch a breather.

Though I was in the eye of the storm, the strong sound of the wind never disappeared.

Dusting the sand that covered me, I took a good look at my surroundings.

The first thing that I noticed was a large circular wind wall that was dyed yellow due to the sand. It expanded all the way around me, inside of a circular region that had a radius of a couple of kilometers. Looking up I could see the cloudless blue sky that I had not seen since entering the storm.

"This is crazy..."

This was a sight I would've never been able to see back in my previous world.

Ever since reincarnating in this world, I have experienced something new each day.

Sitting on the sand I let out an exhausted yawn. Apart from the glaring sound coming from the eyewall, everything around was peaceful, allowing me to finally catch my breath

"...Hm?"

Just as I was about to take a quick nap, In the distance, at the center of the eye, I noticed a large black castle-like structure.

"What's this?"

I had never heard of such a thing appearing inside of the novel...

What was going on?

Slowly walking towards the black infrastructure, I warily glanced at my surroundings, but it was to no avail as everything around me was quiet.

Arriving in front of the large black castle, I warily placed my hand in front of its large wooden door that was at least five meters in height

-Creak!

Slowly the door opened.

Instantly, a thick scent of iron invaded my nostrils. Opening the door further, and revealing what was behind it, I froze in shock.

Thick black pillars that reached all the way to the ceilings appeared all over the massive hall, supporting the building. On the pillars, brightly lit torches were attached, illuminating the surroundings revealing a scene that never in my life would I ever had wanted to see...

A pool of blood covered the entire floor of the castle as limbs and corpses could be seen sprawled all over the floor. The corpses each had their eyes wide open, and their expression was that of pure terror.

A shudder ran down my spine as this gruesome scene slowly imprinted itself inside of my mind.

Slowly I lifted my head and then I saw it...

Haughtily sitting on top of a dark throne made of skulls, a dark-skinned humanoid creature with devilish horns protruding from the top of its forehead appeared in my sight causing my blood to turn cold. With one of its legs resting on the armchair of the throne and an arm supporting one of its cheeks, the creature had its eyes closed. It had a muscular human body with two bat-like wings attached to its back. From behind its tailbone, a long black tail wiggled around the air.

Sensing something, the humanoid creature slowly opened its eyes revealing two deep red eyes that exuded boundless bloodlust.

Staring at me who was frozen solid in place, the humanoid-like creature eerily smiled as it looked down on me.

"Ku Ku Ku, what have we got here?"

Chapter 30: Dungeon [6]

It felt as if time had frozen. My mind blanked. My blood froze. My breathing quickened. My pupils dilated.

...I thought I was prepared.

Since reincarnation inside of my novel, I knew that one day I would encounter a demon.

I was ready...I thought

But looking at the creature haughtily sitting on the throne, hallucinations of death repeatedly replayed in my mind.

'I have to run!'

...I repeated again and again in my mind.

I knew that...yet my legs refused to listen to me

Ba...dump! Ba...dump!

The hall was silent, and only the sound of my heartbeat repeatedly pulsing could be heard.

Sweat started dripping down from my body, soaking all my clothes. With a shivering hand, I tightly clenched on my clothes, right where my heart was.

What's this...?

...Am I scared?

'There's no way I can fight against that!'

...was what my mind repeatedly told itself as my eyes transfixed themselves onto the demonic creature that was amusingly looking down on me from the throne. With its blood-red eyes, the demon looked down at me as it smiled widely.

"It seems like a little mouse has sneaked inside my abode"

Licking its lips, the demon eyes carefully looked at me up and down, almost as if a delicious snack had presented itself before it.

-Crack! -Crack! -Crack!

Using its thumb, the demon slowly cracked every one of its fingers on its right hand.

"huuuuu...."

Letting out a long breath I forcefully tried to calm myself down.

'This is all an illusion!'

What I was experiencing was the innate fear a prey faced when meeting a predator.

If I thought about it rationally, although my opponent was strong, it wasn't to the point that I would have to despair.

Yes...

The demon's stats couldn't be above F rank, else the dungeon would've already desynced.

The fear I was experiencing was all in my mind.

I didn't have to fear what was before me.

...was what I repeatedly tried to tell myself, yet I still couldn't stop my body from trembling.

The feeling I was experiencing was similar to the moments before I took my final exams.

I knew I could do it, as I had prepared rigorously for it...but even if I was prepared, it didn't stop me from being scared.

"How cute..."

Amusingly looking down on me, the Demon leaned forward as its red eyes carefully looked at me.

Instantly, it felt as if all my secrets had been laid bare for the demon to look at. It felt as if nothing could be hidden from its two prying blood-red eyes.

"G rank..."

-tap! -tap! -tap!

Shaking its head disappointedly the Demon began tapping on the armrest of the throne as it started pondering.

Finally, after a couple of seconds, the Demon shook its head in disappointment.

"Too bad, too bad..."

Seemingly having come up with a decision, the demon's demeanor completely changed from its leisurely self from before.

Instantly, thick bloodlust exuded from its body, suffocating me.

"Let me introduce myself..."

-Fwap!

Standing up, the demon's large bat-like wings expanded from its back casting a large shadow over me.

Taking one step forward, smiling from ear to ear, the demon elegantly bowed.

"I am—baron of everblood!"

...

Inside of a large spacious luxurious corridor, a middle-aged man leisurely walked. His hair which was tied in a ponytail, accompanied by his unkempt beard and sunglasses made him look out of place.

Walking along the corridor, the people that were next to him stepped to the side to let him walk. Despite his looks, he was treated as if he was a VIP.

-Ding!

Suddenly, the middle-aged man felt a small vibration from his pocket followed by a light ring.

-Ding!

-Ding!

-Ding!

"...Hm?"

Just as he was about to ignore it thinking that it was nothing important, his pocket started vibrating again, repeatedly.

Finally, noticing that something wasn't right, the middle-aged man took out a small black box from his pocket.

Looking at the contents on the black box, the middle-aged man's brows knit together in a frown.

"This may be more troublesome than I thought"

Sighing, the middle-aged man disappeared from where he was standing and reappeared in front of a gate with the number <<756>> imprinted on the side.

"Stop right there"

As soon as he appeared, two white-clad individuals obstructed his path.

"Timothy 1, Timothy 2...I don't have time for this today"

Yes, the middle-aged man was in fact, Thomas. Taking out the small box from his pocket, Thomas showed it to the guards.

Seeing the box, the two guards immediately moved to the side and allowed Thomas to enter the portal.

Seeing the two guards move, Thomas disappeared once again and reappeared inside of the portal.

"Let's just hope it's nothing serious..."

Those were the last words the two guards heard before Thomas disappeared from their sight.

...

"B-baron o-f everblood!"

As soon as the demon introduced itself, like when you replaced a rusty gear, everything started to click into place.

Baron of everblood, an elder of the vanity tribe, sub-branch of the demon clan of pride, and a baron-ranked demon.

An existence that only appears right before the third cataclysm in the later half of the novel.

'W-hy was he here?'

A Baron-ranked demon was not something a G rank like me could face.

The demons were ranked from, King, Prince/Princess, Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, and lastly Baron.

A Demon prince and Demon princess had a power level equivalent to around SSS, in terms of human power level. Following Prince/Princess ranked demons, were Duke-ranked demons whose power level was around SS, the same as the strongest humans alive. After Duke-ranked demons were Marquis-ranked demons at a power level of around S followed by Earl-ranked demons at A, Viscount at B, and Baron at C.

Those were the approximate power levels of the demons.

Currently, humanity could only fend off at most against Duke-ranked demons. If a Prince/Princess ranked demon showed up, humanity would stand no chance as each rank increase was a substantial increase in power.

Fortunately, the Dwarves, Elves, and Orcs were keeping the Prince/Princess ranked demons in check.

If not for them, humanity would've long gone extinct.

Knowing the power levels of the demons, it came as a great shock to know that I was currently in front of a baron-ranked demon.

Keep in mind that a Baron-ranked demon was four ranks higher than me!

'No wonder I felt so much pressure...'

I thought as everything started to make sense.

But wait...

If it's a Baron-ranked demon, why didn't the dungeon desync?

Frowning, a sudden thought occurred to me, causing my pupils to dilate as I silently muttered

"Dungeon overload..."

"...Hm?"

Stopping, the demon looked at me in surprise

"How did you know that?"

Looking up, I could see the demon looking at me in both shock and surprise.

...as expected.

The demon was actually trying to cause a dungeon overload.

A dungeon overload was similar to a dungeon desync in that it involved a dungeon becoming oversaturated with energy. However, contrary to when dungeons desync, where the dungeon just loses connection to the demon world. In a dungeon overload, all the monsters inside of the dungeon get transported into the human world.

Imagine tens of thousands of monsters suddenly appearing out of nowhere. The consequences alone would be disastrous...Fortunately, this was not a problem for now

There was a reason why humanity had still not gone extinct. It was simply because the time wasn't ripe yet.

Because of how unstable Earth was, the Demon King was still unable to ascend into the world. Further added with the fact that the Demon King was currently being held back by various forces, the looming threat coming from the Demon King was still small.

The Demon King, one of the ultimate overlords of the universe, grew stronger the more planets it ate. Through its numerous exploits in which it conquered and ate planets, the Demon King grew into being one of the strongest creatures in the whole universe. It had gotten to the point that almost every race in the universe was forced to join hands in order to stop the Demon King.

At the moment, the Demon King was only one planet away from becoming the strongest being in the universe. Once it consumed one more planet, no being would be able to stop the Demon King. The world would be at the Demon King's mercy. Knowing this, many forces have joined together in a last-ditch attempt to stop him from conquering its next target. Planet Earth.

Apart from the Demon King's ascension, there was another factor that prevented the demons from fully engaging against humanity.

That was, apart from demons, the demon army was still unable to adapt to the human atmosphere.

Because of the low mana density in the atmosphere, due to earth only have been exposed to mana recently, monsters couldn't survive on earth.

This was why dungeon overloads weren't considered a threat.

However, before the third cataclysm, when the earth's mana density reached a certain point, the event that marked the beginning of the third cataclysm happened...Suddenly, as the people on Earth were going about their own day, dungeon overloads started occurring in almost every dungeon around the globe.

...but differently from normal dungeon overloads where the monsters inside of it would die immediately upon entering the human world, the monsters that came out from the dungeons were able to adapt to earth's atmosphere and survive. Soon the earth was overturned into an apocalyptic world where law and order ceased to exist and only your own survival was what mattered.

Who you thought were your friends suddenly backstabbed you just to ensure their own survival

...That was the beginning of the third cataclysm

-Fwap!

Flapping its enormous bat-like wings, the demon instantly appeared before me.

Because I was lost in thought, by the time I noticed the Demon moving it was already too late...

Placing its sharp finger on my neck, the Demons blood-red eyes looked at me intensely.

"I asked you a question"

-Gulp!

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, I stared at those two blood-red eyes.

-Click!

Soon a white glow emanated from my body, followed by a clicking sound.

-Tud!

Suddenly a black finger flew in the air before landing on the cold pavement of the castle.

As soon as the finger flew in the air, I immediately retreated a couple of steps as the Demon took a couple of seconds to realize what had happened.

"Khh...what?"

Bewildered, the Demon looked at its hand that was missing a finger. Soon after, the finger that was on the floor disintegrated into nothing and a new one appeared on the Demon.

...as expected

This wasn't the demon's real body

Had this been a real Baron-ranked demon, I would've already been dead by now.

The fact that I could cut off its finger, albeit because I caught the demon off guard, was a clear sign that this was not its main body.

Had it been its real body, instead of a finger landing on the cold hard floor, it would've been my head.

"You actually dared to hurt this baron?"

Absentmindedly looking at his now replaced finger, the demon directed an immense pressure on me.

"gh..."

Feeling the massive pressure, my knees bent a little.

"You actually dared to injure me?"

Walking slowly towards my direction, the pressure that was exerted over me kept increasing by the second. Slowly, my knees bent more and more. I couldn't move. I was stuck. I could only helplessly watch as the demon slowly walked in my direction. With every step it took, I felt death getting closer and closer to me.

Sweat started dripping from the side of my face, as my body further bent downwards.

Arriving before me, the Demon slowly lifted my chin up with its sharp finger.

"For what you've done...I will make sure that you pay dearly"

"Ahhhhhhh!"

Tracing his finger along my cheek, a large gash opened up as blood slowly dripped down on the cold floor.

...

Arriving in front of a large gate, Thomas spotted a group of people surrounding an individual donning a black butler outfit. He had neatly combed hair, wore black-framed glasses, and had a serious disposition.

"Edward, brief me on the situation"

Briefly glancing at Thomas, Edward took out a tablet and started briefing everyone on the situation.

"Reporting, ten individuals have gone past time limit."

"We tried contacting them through the safe-box but there was no response. Noticing that something was strange, we tried contacting other individuals whose time limit was still not due, and we also got no response from them"

Pausing slightly, Edward flipped through the reports on the tablet and showed them to everyone.

"...we sent two F ranked dungeon guardians to check what was going on, but they too went missing"

"Currently we are prepared to send in group [Alpha-79354] into the dungeon."

Frowning, Thomas looked at the gate. Noticing that nothing was out of the ordinary he decided to check its energy level.

"Let me check the gate"

Placing his hand on the gate, Thomas suddenly felt a strange fluctuation. Then...

-Vuam!

The gate slowly turned black and demonic energy spread across the surrounding, causing the greenery within a ten-meter radius of the gate to wither.

Taking off his sunglasses, Thomas's expression darkened.

"....Shit!"

Chapter 31: Dungeon [7]

"Quickly change this to code black!"

Hurriedly shouting orders, Thomas disappeared from where he was standing.

"...Ah, goddammit! this is more serious than I had expected"

Quickly teleporting back into the black market, Thomas quickly pressed the emergency button causing the whole facility to turn red as alarms started ringing

-Daaaang!

-Daaaang!

-Daaaang!

Taking out his phone he quickly dialed a number

-Ring! -Ring! -Ring!

"...Hello?"

From the other side of the phone, a cold emotionless voice entered Thomas's ears.

"Boss we have a situation"

"...Explain"

"Dungeon gate 756, Code black, possible dungeon desync"

Pausing slightly, the cold voice said

"...I understand, you will be granted full authority regarding this matter"

-Tak!

Right after saying that, the person on the other side of the phone hung up, leaving Thomas standing there speechlessly.

"Goddamit! Why do I always have to do the dirty work!"

Cursing out loud and stomping his feet in anger, Thomas quickly dialed another number.

-Ring! -Ring! -Ring!

"Yes?"

Shortly after dialing the number, a male voice entered Thomas's ears. Hearing the voice, Thomas quickly shouted orders.

"Call in all alpha units with a rank F or below"

"...sorry?"

"Do it now! it's an order!"

"Y-yes!"

Suddenly being ordered by Thomas the person on the other side of the phone was left momentarily confused, but as soon as he noticed the urgency in Thomas's voice he immediately did as he was instructed.

-Tak!

Hanging up the phone, Thomas looked around. The whole facility was in a state of lockdown, and the whole place was dyed red as alarms constantly rang through the surroundings.

Pinching the middle of his brows, Thomas sighed.

"...I seriously hope the situation is not as dire as I think it is"

...

"Ahhhhhhh!"

Deep gashes started appearing all over my body as the Demon traced his finger around my body. It felt as if I was being cut by a cold metal knife.

I wanted to move, but I couldn't. It felt as if a massive boulder was weighing down on me, preventing me from moving.

Although the Baron of Everblood was not using his main body, the presence exerted by him wasn't something I could handle.

Baron of Everblood had killed countless experts throughout his whole life. He rose from being e regular demon to against all odds becoming a Baron ranked demon.

Countless sacrifices were made in his journey to the top―He had shed lots of blood throughout his journey to the top. He had also backstabbed demons whom he had once called friends just to be able to reach the point that he was now...

Just now, all that the baron of Everblood needed to do was release the killing intent that he had acquired through countless killings, to completely paralyze me.

Knowing this, I needed to buy myself time to adapt to the killing intent―it's just that it was much easier being said than done...It felt like a looming threat that was similar to a longsword that hung in my heart, ready to pierce it and kill me at a moment's notice causing my body to paralyze in fear.

Very soon, as I felt death coming closer to me, an idea came into my mind as I started speaking

"Aren't you curious as to why I know what you're doing?"

Halting, Baron of Everblood stopped tracing his finger on my body and looked at me

"...Speak"

"huuu, the only reason you haven't killed me yet is because you want to know how I knew you were trying to create a dungeon overload right?..khk"

Tracing his sharp black finger on my neck, a red line appeared. Blood slowly dripped down from the cut, falling onto the cold ground.

"...Get to the point"

"kh...not only do I know that you're trying to create a dungeon overload, but I also know that this isn't the only dungeon you're planning to overload"

Altough I knew that spilling what I knew was stupid, I had no choice. It was either this or death.

I had to buy time...

At least enough to figure out how to get out of this situation.

Moreover, me revealing what I knew to Baron of Everblood wasn't actually that significant of a matter.

Hierarchy mattered to the demons.

With the fact that he was Baron ranked demon, I knew that he didn't actually hold that much authority.

Even if I escaped from this ordeal, chances were that even if he reported what I told him to the higher-ranked demons, unless he brought proof, his findings would most likely get dismissed.

...Thus it didn't matter if I spilled what I knew. There was a high chance that the case would not go anywhere.

Moreover, what mattered to me the most was my life...As long as I bought time, I could definitely figure something out.

"!"

-Thud!

Suddenly, as soon as I finished speaking, the pressure that enveloped me magnified. My legs, which couldn't withstand the pressure finally gave out, and I knelt on the cold hard ground.

Gripping me from the neck, Baron of Everblood lifted my body up. My face was only a few centimeters away from his face.

We were so close that I could feel his breath on my face. The demon's breath was like hot steam. It slowly burned the skin on my face―turning it red. Facing Baron of Everblood's hot breath, my face winced in pain. Turning my head to the side, I tried my best to avoid his mouth...It hurt.

"...Speak!"

Gripping on my neck even harder, Baron of Everblood fiercely stared at me.

"...I know that you're planning in advance for when the mana in the atmosphere becomes dense enough for the monsters to be able to withstand human's atmosphere..Khuu"

Feeling the grip on my neck become tighter, I took advantage of the small gap that was created by the Baron of Everblood as he was distracted by my statement to free myself from his grip.

Staring at his now empty hand, Baron of Everblood stared in my direction. His already blood red-eyes turned a shade darker as he spat out his next words in pure fury.

"...Oh? It seems like someone has not suffered enough"

"Huff...huff..."

Holding onto my neck, I heavily gulped for air and glared at Baron of Everblood.

-Click!

"...huh?"

A thick black arm flew into the air as Baron of Everblood stood there rooted in his spot stupefied.

He couldn't react in time...

Slowly standing up, I sheathed my sword back into my scabbard.

"...damm this!"

Just that move alone used most of my mana...I needed to think of something quick.

...

Dungeon seekers, mission control room

Inside of a large enclosed room, twenty large tables, all with several computer displays, were filled with people tirelessly working together as they exchanged data. A large screen was at the front of the room, displaying rows upon rows of data for the entire team inside of the room.

On the side, on the walls, there was a multitude of clocks – displaying everything from the current time to the time every entrant has been inside of a dungeon. This was so that they could monitor if someone stayed inside of the dungeon more than the designated time.

On one of the large tables, with his hands leaning on the table, an individual who had a headset and microphone on his head looked to his right as he reported.

"reporting Alpha units have entered dungeon 756 [Red desolation]"

Thomas, who had his arms crossed, looked at the monitor in front of him where multiple camera views could be seen.

"Ask for a status report"

"Roger!"

...

Inside of a desolate world where a deep red sky enveloped the environment. Only the sound of the wind rustling through twisted, shrubby trees, could be heard.

Suddenly, the silence was disrupted as white-clad individuals materialized in the desolate world.

-Voom! -Voom! -Voom!

-Alpha teams, do a status report

"Alpha unit 70154, Check"

"Alpha unit 62584, Check"

"Alpha unit 75894, Check"

"Alpha unit 48334, Check"

"..."

"..."

-All teams confirmed―Alpha mission operation captain turn on your camera and report what you are seeing.

-Click!

Turning on the camera that rested above his peck, a white-clad individual with a golden ring on his arm spoke "Camera activated, taking measurements―trying to gain contact with dungeon guardians who had entered previously"

-khhhhh

Hearing a continuous static sound coming from his receiver, the captain shook his head.

"Unresponsive"

-Okay, order all Alpha teams to proceed forward

"Alpha teams, move!"

Marching forward in an organized pattern all the white-clad individuals followed the captain deep into the dungeon.

...

-shua!

Pfffff

A white line materialized in front of the Baron of Everblood and black blood slowly fell on the floor. Gripping my sword tightly, I applied more pressure on the handle of my sword that stabbed his body. In the heart.

"...you think this can actually hurt me?"

Grabbing the sword that stabbed his body, Baron of Everblood cruelly smiled as he slowly pulled the sword out from his body.

'Tch...you immortal bastard'

Seeing his nonchalant behavior as if a sword stabbing his body was nothing, my heart sank.

-Pam!

Before I even had enough time to retrieve my sword back, I felt a massive force on my stomach forcing me to bend over in pain.

Baaarf!

The force was so strong that my taste buds were engulfed in a bitter and sour taste as green liquid splurted from my mouth.

"kaaahhh..."

-Clank!

"To think you actually thought you had a chance against me"

Throwing my sword to the side, I could hear the sound of metal hitting the ground. Each time I heard the sound of my sword clattering on the ground parts of my heart shattered along with it.

...Without the sword I was nothing. My only chance at fighting back was gone.

Looking at the Baron of Everblood who was slowly approaching me with a wide grin plastered on his face, seemingly relishing my expression of despair...finally fear overtook me.

"Let me teach you what happens when you piss off a demon"

...

"...What's this?"

-Alp―khhh st―s rep...t

Not bothered in the slightest by the fact that the radio signal was getting disrupted, all of the alpha teams members stood rooted where they were as their eyes transfixed themselves on the horizon.

In their view, a massive wall of sand slowly approached them. It felt as if an avalanche was approaching them in a form of formless mass.

Soon it enveloped them.

Inside the storm, extremely high winds lifted the sand particles into the air, unleashing a turbulent, suffocating cloud that reduced the visibility of everyone inside of it to almost nothing in a matter of seconds.

-khhhhhhh

Apart from the raging sound of the wind, only the static sound of the radio could be heard.

...

"Ahhhhhhh!"

Staring at my arm which was bent at a weird angle, I screamed in pain. It felt as if a wave of electricity has coursed through my body. Excruciating.

"Now, now, we are only just beginning, don't disappear on me already"

Grinning evilly, Baron of Everblood licked his lips as he looked down on my body which was sprawled on the ground.

Staring at his expression that seemed to take enormous pleasure at my suffering, I hatefully glared in his direction.

Previously, when I was attacking him, I wasn't just blindly attacking him. I knew since the beginning that his body was immortal. That was because his body was actually fake. It was merely a part of his real body that could endlessly regenerate. Had he not done that, then he would've never been able to enter an F rank dungeon.

When I was attacking him, I was looking for his weakness, the core.

Everything in the world had a weakness. Even the strongest being in the world had a weakness, the demon king wasn't an exception. This was just the law of the world. Unless you were a god, no perfect being existed.

Because this wasn't Baron of Everblood's main body, his main weakness was a core that was used to operate his body. I knew exactly what his weakness was, yet I faced a new problem, I didn't know where it was.

I tried stabbing his body in multiple places, but it was to no avail as it always regenerated within seconds.

...and now that my sword was out of my reach, I lost all hope in defeating Baron of Everblood.

"What shall we break next"

..Hm?

Suddenly, as I was in the midst of despair, like a shining ray of hope. I saw a small cut on the demon's arm.

Previously when I had cut the demon's arm off, I watched him regrow it in an instant, but looking at it now it seems like it had not fully healed as a small scar remained.

-Crack

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Before I could rejoice, I felt the bones in my leg getting crushed causing me to scream in pain.

Relishing my pained expression, Baron of Everblood laughed loudly.

"Hahahaha, scream more!"

-Crack!

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!"

Alone in an empty castle, a demon laughed, whilst a human screamed in pain as the demon broke his legs. But unbeknown to the Demon, with each scream the human slowly approaching a shiny metal sword that laid on the floor.

...

"Alpha team respond, Alpha team!"

-Khhhhhhh

Staring at the screen that had turned black, Thomas quickly picked up the radio and tried to communicate with the Alpha team members but it was to no avail as all he heard was the static sound of the radio.

-Bam!

"Shit!"

Slamming his fist on the table, Thomas's hands rested on the table as he frantically thought of solutions. Time was tight, he needed to quickly think of solutions. The more time passed, the bigger the likelihood of the alpha team being in danger increased.

If he could've he would've already dived into the dungeon himself, but because he was too strong he couldn't, less he wanted to risk killing everyone that was within the dungeon...

Pacing around the room as he frantically called different numbers, Thomas suddenly heard an excited shout next to him.

"Sir, we're getting a signal!"

Quickly arriving next to the individual who had shouted, Thomas quickly took the radio from his hands and spoke.

"Alpha team do you copy―Alpha team do you copy?"

-Alpha team responding, we've found a survivor preparing first aid.

...

Inside of a dark enclosed space, a demon sat crossed-legged as a frown appeared on his face.

"...mh? is this it?"

Through the vision of his clone, Baron of Everblood stared at the lifeless corpse on the floor. He shook his head in disappointment.

It seemed like his new toy no longer worked.

-Shing!

"...huh?"

Just as he was about to end it, Baron of Everblood suddenly lost control of his clone's body as it slowly started disintegrating on the ground.

Looking to his right, his clone's arm, he could see a sword stabbing straight into it, exactly where the core was located.

Blankly staring at the now disappearing arm, Baron of Everblood looked up and saw the bloodthirsty expression of the young human who he was about to kill.

"Wait for me..."

-Vuaa!

Those were the last words he heard before he felt his connection with the puppet disappear.

...

As black ambers filled the air, the demon's body disappeared from my view.

-Clank!

Dropping the sword in my hand, I felt all my remaining energy drain from my body. Soon my body started twitching on the ground, and blood started dropping in the ground.

"Ah...is this how I die?"

...Hm?

What's this?

Touching my cheeks I could feel drops of water falling down from the corner of my eyes. Slowly tears started staining my face

...Was I crying?

Why was I crying?

I had already died once, why was I crying over such an insignificant matter?

'I am such a pussy'

how could a grown man like me cry? Pathetic.

Looking around, I could only lay on the floor pathetically as the floor became dyed in red. Slowly as the pool of blood around me expanded, vague recollections of my past life started resurfacing.

At first, my life was great...I had a warm family that loved me soo much. I was happy then. Too bad you only realize how much you cherished something until you no longer had it...

Since then my life had never been the same. I worked hard. I truly did.

...But all I got in return was a pathetic life where I would lifelessly be typing at my keyboard away. Every day was a struggle. My weight, my health, my job, my mental health―I was suffering so much.

Then...I was suddenly transported into my own novel.

A new beginning. A new start. I thought that maybe, just maybe I could use this chance to re-do my life. I did everything I could so that I could at least be happy. Was asking for a bit of happiness too much?

...I don't want to die.

My vision slowly became darker and darker...

My body slowly turned cold, and I could feel my breath become thinner by the second.

Slowly as my vision started to disappear I could faintly hear the sound of rushed footsteps coming my way.

...was my mind playing tricks on me?

Well, it didn't matter as my brain slowly lost its ability to think.

"...We've found..survivor...prep...aid"

Those were the last words I heard before I was enveloped in darkness.

Chapter 32: Skills [1]

"Report everything that happened since we lost connection to you guys"

Neatly standing in a line, white-clad individuals stood with their backs straight and with their hands behind their back.

In front of them, Thomas stood there looking at them solemnly.

Stepping up, a white-clad individual with a golden ring on his arm spoke.

"Reporting to Vice-Director, during the sandstorm some sort of radio frequency disruptor was installed preventing us from communicating with the outside world."

"We also couldn't communicate with each other, and because of the low visibility I ordered them to stay within one meter radius of the closest person next to them"

Nodding his head, Thomas took out a pack of cigarettes and lit one of them. Placing the cigarette in his mouth, he exhaled a cloud of smoke as he listened to the report.

Puff!

"As demonic energy was detected before entering the gate, using the energy detector we managed to locate the source of the demonic energy"

Pausing slightly, the captain looked around at his team members and said "the eye of the storm..."

"...Hm? The eye? Are you sure?"

"Affirmative"

Frowning, Thomas pinched the middle of his brows and contemplated.

'If the source of the demonic energy was within the sandstorm, then it can be confirmed that this was an artificially created sandstorm...but why create a sandstorm?'

Suddenly, as he was contemplating, a thought struck him, causing him to quickly focus his attention back on the alpha team captain.

"Did you enter the eye storm?"

Shaking his head, the captain spoke "Negative, by the time we arrived at the edge of the storm everything had already started dying down"

"..huh?"

Surprised by this information, Thomas's frown deepened.

"When everything died down, we managed to catch a glimpse of a black castle not far from where we stood"

Interrupting once again, Thomas thought of something as he asked

"...A black castle? Describe me its features"

"Here sir"

Taking out a tablet, the captain handed it over to Thomas who scrolled through the photos. Soon his face revealed a trace of astonishment

"This is the work of a Baron or higher ranked demon!"

"Pardon?"

Confused, the captain tilted his head.

How could a Baron-ranked demon or higher be able to enter an F rank dungeon?

"Here take a look at this"

Pointing at the castle in the picture, Thomas pinched his fingers and zoomed in. Soon the features of the castle became clearer revealing what seemed to be a small beacon.

"This!"

Nodding his head, Thomas's face darkened, and gravely said "Yes, it's a mana compressor"

A mana compressor was a device used by the demons to compress all the mana inside of a dungeon. In doing so, they could create a small bomb with a power equivalent to five atomic bombs. The force released by the bomb was so strong that it would cause the pocket dimension to crumble, resulting in monsters suddenly appearing in the human world. A dungeon overload.

Fortunately, monsters couldn't adapt to Earth's thin atmosphere. Else the consequences would've been disastrous.

Moreover, a mana compressor could only be utilized by Baron-ranked demons or above. That was because only Baron-ranked demons or above could withstand the power of the mana compressor without going insane.

Once a demon reached a noble rank, not only did they become stronger, but their mental fortitude increased by many folds. A mana compressor concentrated all the mana that was directed to it into a ball of thick dense energy. But in order for it to do so, it needed someone to direct mana into it.

This required an absurd amount of mental strength as one needed to direct all the mana in the atmosphere into a specific point. That's where a Demon came in. The Demon would send a clone of their body in the dungeon and through the connection they had with their clone they would direct the mana towards the mana compressor which would slowly condense all the mana that was directed to it. Only Baron-ranked demons or above could do so.

"I can't believe they were scheming such a thing from underneath our noses"

Staring at the tablet for a bit, Thomas looked at the captain and asked

"...Fortunately it seems like the mana compressor has stopped working. Did you find anything else?"

Nodding his head, the captain responded

"Affirmative. We have found a survivor"

"...Ah yes how could I forget that!"

He vaguely remembered hearing something about a survivor, but at the time he was too focused on making sure everyone was alright that it slipped through his mind.

Scrolling down the tablet in his hands, his finger directly paused on a photo.

Though when he had previously met him a mask covered his face, Thomas was instantly able to identify the person in the picture.

"It's him?"

...

Slowly opening my eyes, I blankly stared at the unfamiliar ceiling for a moment, then slowly I turned my head to the side. As my head cleared, a strong pungent smell of alcohol invaded my nostrils. The room was silent and apart from my heavy breathing, only the beeping sound coming from the electrocardiogram in the corner of the room could be heard.

A throbbing pain hit my head as I looked at my body which was covered in bandages. Aside from the bandages, long metal wires that connected to the electrocardiogram were attached to my body.

I tried to get up. But once I tried to move my upper body, it was instantly engulfed in pain, refusing to listen to me. Slowly, my body sank onto the large white mattress.

Laughing bitterly I could only lay there pathetically, hoping for the pain to disappear. Staring at the ceiling, illuminated with white fluorescent light, a myriad of questions emerged in my head.

How long have I been here? Where am I? What happened? Shutting my eyes, I tried to remember what had transpired prior to waking up in this unfamiliar environment.

-Clank!

But before I could reminisce, the door of the room opened, and a doctor wearing a blue short-sleeved scrub top with a white coat and similar blue colored pants entered the room.

Behind the doctor, a rough blonde individual sat on a chair with his legs crossed and a newspaper in his hand.

"Mr Thomas?"

"...hm?"

-Rustle!

Noticing something, Thomas, who had previously accompanied me to the gate, put away the newspaper in his hands and entered the room.

He looked the same as when I first met him, but differently from last time he was currently wearing a brown suit which was full of wrinkles.

"How are you feeling?"

"…Alright, I guess?"

"That's a relief"

Sitting down next to my bed, Thomas loosened his necktie and took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.

"Do you mind?"

Shaking my head, I turned my head around and looked outside the window.

It was currently nighttime in Ashton city, and the city lights brightly lit the area around the hospital.

"Puff...Ah, just what I needed"

Puffing a cloud of smoke, Thomas leisurely leaned back and also looked at the brightly lit night.

"You did good kid"

"Hm?"

"Because of you, we managed to stop a possible dungeon desync, which would've resulted in a serious loss for us"

Pausing slightly, Thomas deeply looked at the star-filled night "...so after a brief discussion with the higher-ups a decision was made..."

Once again pausing, Thomas turned his attention towards me and couldn't help but let out a dry laugh as he spoke "Well...they decided to grant you a skill"

"A skill?"

Opening my eyes wide, I immediately shook my hands and refused.

"I haven-t nearly don-e enough to receive a skill!"

I was so shocked that I started stuttering as I couldn't help but be surprised by how generous they were.

My bewildered reaction was understandable as in this world if someone were to ask you what the most sought-after thing was, most wouldn't even think twice before answering 'skill'.

Even though monster parts, martial manuals, weapon manuals, cores were all things that held tremendous value, in the eyes of people their worth was far lower than skills.

Unlike martial arts, weapon arts, or anything that required some sort of mastery, skills could be learned instantly.

Typically a person would spend years learning a technique before they could proudly say that they had mastered it.

However, with skills all you needed to do was learn it and all the information would instantly be transferred in your brain. There was no need to train the skill, as once you learned it you were capable of instantly using it.

It was a total cheat.

In a matter of seconds, you could do things that would generally require someone years of training to master.

I mean who wouldn't want them?

Skills could be found inside of dungeons, and just like cores, you could get them from monsters.

However, the drop rate compared to cores, which was already quite low, was even slimmer, resulting in skills being extremely rare.

And thus once the first skill was discovered, similarly to cores, a huge uproar ensued as everyone started coveting them.

I mean who wouldn't want to become stronger without putting that much effort?

From that point on, whenever a skill was found, huge auctions would be established. A single skill could go up for at least a couple million U in the auctions.

"Hahaha, is helping us not lose a dungeon that earns us millions of U each day not something worth a skill? Plus we aren't really going to give you a high-ranking skill, just an F-ranked one."

"eh...I guess you do have a point, but an F-ranked skilled is still a skill..."

"Ah just don't fuss over such trivial thing"

'How can an F-ranked skill be considered a trivial thing?'

I thought to myself, as I once again realized how rich and powerful the black market was.

To call an F-rank skill a trivial thing just goes to show how powerful of an organization they were.

Although F-ranked skills were on the lower end of the spectrum, they were still worth a huge amount of money.

Seeing how they didn't think much about an F-ranked skill, I couldn't help but wonder how many skills they had with them...could they possibly be in possession of S-ranked skills?

If so, then I had really underestimated how influential the black market was...

Even as the author of the novel, I didn't know much regarding the black market as I never dwelled too deep on them in the story.

They were merely a convenient organization that the protagonist used to facilitate his growth.

I just knew the general layout of the organization, the identity of some of the higher-ups of the organization, but other than some other trivial information the black market was shrouded in a veil of mystery.

But it seems like they were a far bigger organization than I had made them out to be...especially if they were in possession of multiple S-ranked skills...which were far harder to find.

There were only 18 S rank dungeons known to mankind.

Which was a dramatic difference compared to F-rank dungeons which numbered over tens of thousands.

As the supply was lower, the number of skills that could be acquired was also lower. Moreover, S-rank dungeons were far harder than lower-ranked ones, making S-rank skills that much harder to acquire.

one S-ranked skill could pretty much allow someone to buy a small city. That's how expensive they were.

But it has to be said that, although S rank skills were indeed much stronger than lower-ranked skills, that didn't mean that low ranking skills were useless.

In fact, lower-ranked skills, depending on the person, could turn out to be far more useful than an S-ranked skill.

Take an assassin for example. If they were given the option to choose between D-rank skill [Shadow cloak], a skill that enables the user to hide under a shadow, or S-ranked skill [Tyrant's wrath] which was a mass AOE skill, they would obviously prefer the D-ranked skill which was better suited for their profession.

At the end of the day, it all came down to how compatible you were with the skill.

"Alright, you better rest now."

Standing up, and straightening his wrinkly suit, Thomas flicked the cigarette in his hand and lightly stomped on it with his foot.

"Once you recover, I'll guide you to where you can collect your skill"

Finished with what he wanted to say, Thomas turned around and left the room.

Chapter 33: Skills [2]

Fortunately, thanks to how advanced the technology of this world was, all my broken bones and cuts were healed overnight. What used to take months to heal back in my previous world, healed overnight. Truly miraculous.

It was Sunday morning, and Thomas came to pick me up.

...It was finally time for me to collect my reward. A skill.

I had originally planned on acquiring a skill when my strength reached a certain level, but it came as a pleasant surprise for me to be able to get my hands on one this early in the novel.

It has to be noted that within the academy, apart from the professors, only a small percentage of students had skills. This was including the third years.

Only the rich second-generation heirs could even have a chance at acquiring a skill, and even then, they could only gain access to at most a couple. They were just too expensive and rare for guilds to freely give them away...

Following Thomas inside of a remote location that was heavily guarded against all directions, arriving in front of a large building that seemed to look like regular storage space, Thomas nodded towards an empty space.

Soon a couple of shadows in the form of two white-clad guards materialized in front of us. I was slightly startled by their appearance, but I soon calmed down. The people guarding this place should obviously be strong, else what was the point of even storing such valuable things here?

After doing multiple checks on Thomas, the guards that were clad in white hid in the shadows completely masking their presence.

After seeing the guards disappearing, Thomas placed his palm on the wall.

-Clank!

A couple of seconds after placing his palm on the wall, a small section on the wall disappeared revealing a small compartment that contained a digital 6-digit lock.

-Beep! -Beep! -Beep!

Arriving in front of the box, Thomas quickly inserted the passcode.

Right after inserting the password, a green light blinked a couple of times, and soon after, in a similar fashion to before, a small circular compartment appeared on the wall.

Opening his right eye wide, Thomas leaned on the wall and placed his eyes on the hole.

-Clank!

-Voooooom!

Seconds after placing his eye on the wall, a loud rumbling resonated across the surroundings and the overhead door slid upwards.

"That's one hell of an annoying process!"

Stretching his back, Thomas grumbled as he waited for the door to completely slide upwards.

As soon as the door opened completely, I felt a blinding light enter my eyes, prompting me to cover my eyes with my arm.

After the light dyed down, a completely unknown world was presented before me.

A thick metallic scent instantly entered my nostrils as I passed the large metallic gate. Soon, the scent was replaced by an aromatic scent that pleasantly enveloped my nose.

Beyond the door, an open entryway with high ceilings painted with vivid imagery depicting an image of several humans fighting against a demon instantly caught my attention.

The marble floor polished to the point that the lights neatly reflected on the marble, reminded of a clear lake that gently reflected the sun rays coming from the sun. Arriving inside of a spacious room with patterned walls, heavy curtains, area rugs, high windows, and upholstered furniture made of heavy oak, Thomas told me to patiently sit down on a red sofa.

Feeling my body sink on the sofa, I nervously waited for Thomas. To say I wasn't nervous would be a lie. Although there was no one present in the room, it felt as if a million eyes were staring down at me, watching my every move.

Every moment that Thomas was away felt like hours.

Fortunately, the wait did not last for long and Thomas soon came back with a red card in his hand.

"Follow me"

Handing me the card, he urged me to follow him as he walked towards a certain area within the facility.

Nodding, I followed along as I admired the hallway that was filled with paintings, designer pieces, and other artistic décor that made this place feel like an establishment for the filthy rich.

Soon we arrived in front of a large safe door, in which two individuals patiently stood. However, what instantly caught my attention was the fact that although their uniform was similar to the regular guards in the black market, contrary to their white color, theirs was red. Indicating that they had a higher status than the white-clad ones.

...made sense since they were the last defensive line that led to the vault.

Nodding to the guards, Thomas's footsteps halted.

Looking at me solemnly, he said "Alright before I leave, let me warn you in advance"

"You are only allowed to choose one skill, let me repeat ONE skill."

As he spoke, Thomas repeatedly emphasized the fact that I could only take one skill. Looking at me to make sure I understood, he continued

"As you already know, skills are expensive...even for us".

"Though our organization may be powerful, giving away skills to non-members is still a bit of a burden for us. If not for the fact that you helped us solve a major crisis we would've never considered giving you a skill"

Listening attentively, I repeatedly nodded my head. Everything that he said I already knew. His seriousness was understandable as skills were indeed worth a lot.

Pausing slightly, Thomas had a gratified smile on his face as he looked at me who understood what he said. Taking the red card from my hand, he handed it to the guards.

"Another thing you need to remember is that the skill you can choose can only be between rank G and F. Higher ranked skills will be inaccessible to you"

"The vault you're about to enter has three floors, in which you will only be granted access to the first floor."

Lightly chuckling, Thomas teasingly looked at me

"If you managed to repeat what you did again, we might just grant you access to the higher floors"

"I'm good"

Instantly my mouth twitched as I wholeheartedly refused. No way would I want to go through that experience again.

"Alright, I'll wait outside. Once you're done with choosing your skill, you can directly learn it under the watch of one of the guards."

Finishing what he wanted to say, Thomas stepped to the side and allowed me to enter the vault.

"Stand there"

Stopping in front of the door of the vault, the red-clad guard pointed towards a certain point.

-Voom!

Following his order, I stood on the spot that the guard pointed. Soon my whole body was enveloped in red light.

-Ding! -Ding!

"Alright you're all set"

-Beep!

-Krrrrrr

Swiping the card on the vault, a green light appeared following which a loud rumbling could be heard as the door of the vault slowly opened.

"Alright, have fun kid"

Nonechantly waving his hand, Thomas leaned on the wall and took out a packet of cigarettes only to be glared at by the guards causing him to bitterly smile.

Amusingly shaking my head I headed towards the vault.

-Clank!

Stepping into the vault, the door behind me closed. Soon silence enveloped my surrounding.

Looking up, I could see, large, sturdy bookshelves lining the walls, marching across the floor in colorful rows, stretching all the way to the end of the first floor. A staircase leading to a second level could be seen at the end of the room.

"Wow..."

The endless amount of skills presented in front of me left me flabbergasted. In the F rank section alone, there were no less than a thousand books.

Skills, like in games, came in the form of a book. That's why this place looked no different from a regular library.

Each book had a different color and represented the different affinity of the skill book ranging from, fire, water, earth, and so on.

-You have one hour to select your skill

Just as I was in a daze, snapping me out of it was a cold voice that came from the speaker in the corner of the room.

Quickly recollecting myself, I looked through the G and F rank sections.

Because there were so many skills to choose from, I immediately decided to narrow down my scope of search. First things firsts, I immediately choose to exclude skills that required a high mana consumption.

Because I was not a mage, my mana capacity was fairly low. Choosing a skill that drained of all the mana in my body would be extremely detrimental for me as the [Keiki style] too used a bit of mana whenever I execute a skill. If I didn't use mana, there was no way I would've been able to move so fast.

Excluding that, my scope diminished dramatically. Secondly, I needed a skill that shared some synergy with the [keiki style]. When fighting against Baron of Everblood, I noticed that although the [Keiki style] was powerful, in the beginning, stages it was a fairly subpar sword art. Mainly because once my first move was blocked I could no longer do anything else as shown how Baron of Everblood negated me by allowing my sword to penetrate his body.

I needed something that could buy me time so that I could readjust my stance...or at least something that complemented my fighting style.

Having narrowed it down even further, I decided to look through the F and G sections.

Looking through, I couldn't help but drool at some of the skills. I found some especially amazing skills. One especially caught my attention.

[Fist of fury] : A punching skill that conglomerates all the mana within a certain radius releasing a devastating punch that can leave devastating damage if someone is caught off guard. Monetarily increases strength by a factor of two.

Reading the description of the first skill I picked up in the F rank section, my mouth dropped in an 'o' shape.

"Increases strength by a factor of two?"

...That's terrifying.

Especially if someone who was already super strong used the skill. Imagine one of the heads of the union using this skill. Their punch alone could probably shake a whole mountain.

This skill basically became scarier the higher someone's rank was.

...if this was the standard of F ranked skills, a shudder ran down my spine thinking about the higher ranked skills.

Though I knew some of the S ranked skills that Kevin would later acquire, it didn't stop my mind from imagining the devastating scene they would cause in real life.

Thank god, they were rare.

Looking through the bookshelves, I paused every now and then to get a better understanding of some of the skills.

This continued for thirty minutes until finally, I managed to narrow down my selection to three skills. Two of the skills were F rank, while one was G rank.

[[G] Monarch's indifference] : Skill that enables users to erase all emotions, and act as a supreme monarch that only calculates the best option regardless of emotions.

[[F] Flame sanctuary] : Skill that summons a ring of fire around the user. Apart from the user, scorching heat will envelop everyone that is within the flame sanctuary.

[[F] Winter's breath] : Skill that enables the user to exhale a breath full of frost, resulting in the surrounding temperature within a certain radius to drop below freezing temperature. Reduce enemy speed by a factor of two.

These three skills were the ones that were the most useful for me right now. Not because they were strong but because they fit my fighting style perfectly.

[[F] Flame sanctuary] attracted me because it was a skill that could buy me time. By invoking this skill I could momentarily catch my opponent off guard, and during the time my opponent was surprised I could regain my stance and attack them again.

[[F] Winter's breath] served a similar purpose to [Flame sanctuary], but contrary to that skill this one slowed down the opponent. Unlike [Flame sanctuary] that could be used to end a fight by catching them off guard, this skill was more for a prolonged fight. It could help me gain a huge advantage when fighting as the [Keiki style] shined when the enemy was slower. In terms of synergy, this one was the one that shared the most synergy compared to the other two skills.

Lastly [[G] Monarch's indifference], the only G rank skill in the list, and probably the one that tempted me the most.

One thing that I reflected on from my fight against Baron of Everblood was that, had I been calmer, I wouldn't have found myself in such a dire situation.

As soon as his arm reconstructed itself, I should've noticed the fact that only a part of it healed. I was too caught up by his presence that I did not notice such small detail. Had I done so, the fight would've ended quickly and I wouldn't have had to suffer so much.

Moreover, [Monarch's indifference] was especially beneficial to me who had yet to kill a human. Yes, I did technically kill Lucas and Patrick, but that was in the VR world where I felt no guilt in killing them. Being someone that came from earth where you were preached since birth that killing was bad, I still couldn't bring myself to actually kill a human. At least not yet.

Killing a human in this day and age was something most students within the academy would have to do at least once, as we would eventually be tasked to kill certain villains.

The mental hurdle I needed to push myself to kill a human was much higher than the people that were born in this world who were exposed to such things since birth.

With the aid of [Monarch's indifference] I wouldn't need to worry about that anymore. Moreover with this skill, when fighting against an opponent, emotions like nervousness, fear and anxiety would never cloud my judgment again allowing me to perform at my best during critical times reducing the likelihood of me dying.

Having thought it through, I decided to pick [Monarch's indifference].

Although it was the only G rank skill in the list, this skill, for me, was the most useful out of the three skills I picked.. I just had this feeling that regardless of how powerful I became in the future, this skill would accompany me to the end.

Chapter 34: Skills [3]

-klank!

Arriving at the entrance of the vault, a compartment opened up.

-Place the skill inside of the box

Soon, a cold voice rang in my ears, to which I followed as ordered and placed the book inside the compartment.

Looking at the book which was inside of the compartment, I couldn't help but look at it carefully. It had lumpy leather bindings, and its pages were of golden color. The cover of the leather book was empty, with no title nor pictures on it. Although it looked like a book, when I tried opening it, I couldn't. No matter how much force I exerted, the book wouldn't budge.

...Fascinating

-Krrrrrr

After placing the skill book inside of the compartment, the vault door rumbled, slowly opening up. Waiting for me on the other side of the door was Thomas accompanied by the two red-clad individuals.

"All good?"

Walking up to me, Thomas took a quick peek at the vault.

Seeing that everything was alright, he urged me to follow him, and we were soon back in the waiting room.

"Wait here while I'll go and check if everything is alright"

"hm"

Nodding my head, I watched Thomas leave. Ignoring the fact that I was once again alone in the room that felt like millions of eyes were watching, I excitedly thought of my soon-to-be skill.

Now that I thought about it, this skill was basically tailored-made for me.

As someone who was not exposed to a society where superpowers and no morals existed, a skill like this was what I needed to help me adapt against situations that would require me to do things I wouldn't have otherwise ever thought of doing back in my previous world.

Things such as killing or witnessing gore were not something I could get used to immediately. This was partly one of the main reasons I was so overwhelmed by Baron of Everblood's presence before. Had it been Kevin or any of the other protagonists, such a thing wouldn't have impacted them as hard as much it did me.

As I was deep in my thoughts, with a complicated expression, Thomas walked back into the room. Soon, with my skill book in his hands, Thomas arrived in front of me and asked

"Are you sure about this?"

"Positive"

Lightly smiling, I nodded and took the skill book from his hands.

"...alright, suit yourself"

Although it seemed like he wanted to say something, Thomas stopped himself midway and just waved his hand in resignation.

Not noticing his reaction as I was too engrossed looking at the skill book, I immediately placed my hand on top of the book and circulated my mana.

Soon a white glow enveloped me, and the book magically disappeared.

Closing my eyes, a flood of information instantly transmitted itself in my mind. It took me a total of five minutes to digest all the information. Opening my eyes, a satisfied smile appeared on my face.

Checking my status, I was pleasantly surprised by its changes.

===Status===

Name : Ren Dover

Rank : F -

Strength : F

Agility : F -

Stamina : F -

Intelligence : F -

Mana capacity : G +

Luck : E

Charm : G

--> Profession :

[Swordsmanship lvl.1]

--> Martial Manual :

[★★★★★ Keiki style]

Sword art created by Grandmaster Toshimoto Keiki. A five-star module that focused primarily on reaching the apex of swordsmanship and speed. Upon mastery, the sword art becomes so fast that before an opponent could even think about their next move, their heads would already be rolling on the ground.

--> Skills :

[[G] Monarch's indifference]

A skill that enables users to erase all emotions, and act as a supreme monarch that only calculates the best option regardless of circumstance.

Surprisingly, my rank increased from G + to F -

I did not notice it before because I was busy recovering, but it seems like my stats had shot up a notch. I had not suffered in vain.

I think that all the time I spent killing monsters and nearly dying against Baron of Everblood had helped me finally rank up.

Satisfied, my smile which wouldn't leave my face, deepened.

"...kid wipe that smile off your face, it's creepy"

"hehehe"

Ignoring Thomas who was looking at me with a disgusted face, I went through the information that had just entered my mind.

I really wanted to use the skill right here and right now, but I knew that it was inappropriate. Moreover, with my current mana capacity, I could only use the skill for approximately thirty minutes. Though it was not long, thirty minutes should be enough, as my stamina was about that much anyways.

Also, as long as I improved my mana capacity the time at which I could utilize the skill would also increase.

"Alright, let's go..."

Sighing, Thomas left the room we were in. Soon we were at the entrance of the storage space.

"Here"

"?"

Stopping Thomas looked back at me and handed me a small card. Taking the card, I looked at it in confusion. Soon I understood.

"Yup, this is your last reward. You've been promoted to VIP"

"R-really?"

"Yea, since you only chose a G rank skill I felt a bit compelled to give you this"

"...Thanks"

Looking at the shining black card with a golden VIP sign engraved on it, I couldn't help but feel my already good mood become even better.

The VIP card not only granted me access to the black market without the need to go through the hassle of remembering the password, but it also allowed me to get priority on all dungeons as well as the fact that I wouldn't need to pay a deposit in the case of emergencies.

This alone was enough for me to become happy...yet the VIP card had one other feature that made all the other perks seem like nothing.

It allowed me to have access to any dungeon available. Yes. Be it C rank, B rank, A rank, I could enter any dungeon I wanted.

...yes, although going to dungeons of D rank and above was almost like asking to be killed, they had their perks. They were a great way to help me train my mentality. Although I wouldn't do any killing inside of a D rank dungeon, just being there could help me adapt myself to the pressure exerted by D rank creatures. This was extremely advantageous as it would help me not panic once I encountered a stronger enemy.

From what I learned when fighting against Baron of Everblood, in a fight, 90% of it was the mentality and 10% was actual skills.

If your mentality crumbled even before the fight started, then you were as good as done. However, if even in the face of a stronger foe, you managed to retain your composure, the likelihood of you winning would increase drastically. That's why true experts tended to be colder than other people.

No skill nor potions could train your mentality. Only when you were in the face of true danger would you be able to train your mentality.

Fortunately, I had acquired a really good skill to help me with regard to mentality, but I couldn't be too reliant on it.

If I relied too much on a skill then when the time that my skill no longer worked came, either because I was out of mana or for some other reason, I would instantly crumble under the pressure.

"Alright, I've said enough."

Taking out a cigarette from his pocket, Thomas put his sunglasses back on and waved goodbye,

"I've left my number on the back of the card, contact me if you need help with anything"

"Sure, thanks!"

After parting ways with Thomas, I quickly collected all my loot that was very nicely dismantled by [Dungeon seekers] and went to Smallsnake. Although no core was found, I managed to make a whooping 100,000U. 50k U from my loot, and 50k U as a fee to keep everything that had happened a secret.

For obvious reasons, if news spread out about the incident, [Dungeon seekers] reputation would crumble. In this accident apart from me and a couple of people, a total of 39 people had died. Five of which were the ones that I had previously met.

Although I was a bit sad about the fact that no one would ever know how these people disappeared, I could only sign it as refusing wasn't really an option.

In this world where people would constantly disappear without someone ever knowing how...the death of these 39 people wouldn't have that much of an impact on society. I just felt bad for their family...Imagine never finding out how your loved one disappeared.

I could only lament at the fact that this world's morals had completely twisted since the appearance of the demons and superpowers.

Dialing smallsnake's number, I quickly made an appointment with him. Though I almost died, this experience was more frutious than I had expected. With the money I had to acquire I could double the amount I had originally planned to invest.

Now all I had to do was wait a month's time before money would rain into my pockets.

...

After parting ways with Ren, Thomas walked back to [Dungeon seekers]

Throughout his journey back, Thomas's thoughts couldn't help wonder back to Ren.

To say that Thomas wasn't confused would be a lie. Typically youngsters would always choose the flashiest and strongest skill they could find. Since Thomas had granted Ren access to all skills from F to G rank, he had expected him to choose one of the strongest F rank skills. But contrary to his expectations, he chose a G rank skill that focused on mentality rather than being flashy.

This came as a pleasant surprise and made him look at Ren in a better light. Had he chosen a flashy F ranked skill, Thomas would've just treated him as one of the many passersby of his life...but now...now things were different.

This kid seemed to be different from most hot-blooded youths who only thought about being strong without thinking about the process. He seemed rational, which was unusual for someone of his age.

Even though there was evidence that showed that Ren had fought against a Baron-ranked demon, Thomas didn't put too much thought into it.

Although the Demon was Baron ranked, at the end of the day it was just a clone. It was definitely surprising that Ren had managed to defeat it, but it wasn't something that would make him pay close attention to him.

But now, seeing how he did not let greed overtake his rationality, Thomas started thinking that perhaps, just maybe, he had found a hidden gem.

'I'll have to ask someone to check and send me his files..'

Being an accomplished A rank Hero, not many things interested Thomas. He had seen every prodigy that there was out there. Recently there had been rumors of a new prodigy popping up in the Lock.

He had originally intended to do some research, but now, someone else had caught his interest.

After getting someone to transfer all of the information about Ren, Thomas took a quick look at his data.

He was quite surprised by what was shown in the information.

"Talent assessment D? Rank 1750?"

At first, he found it ridiculous, but seeing his exam results he could tell the data was not wrong.

"...was I wrong?"

Thinking back at what had transpired in the dungeon, although he hadn't seen firsthand how Ren fought, Thomas knew that the exam results were wrong.

Having seen a lot of prodigies in his life, Thomas could instantly tell when one was talented. It wasn't so much about their data, it was more about their demeanor.

Ubeknowst to Ren, after he had come back from the dungeon, he was a completely different person. The air around him had changed.

Remembering back when he had first met Ren, although Thomas couldn't see his face, he could see that he was a bit unique.

He had the air of a...tourist?

The first impression that Thomas got regarding Ren was that he looked like a tourist. He looked at everything like it was something new and exciting. He didn't look like someone who was just about to enter a danger filled space. It felt as if he was going on a holiday.

Thomas didn't point this fact out to Ren in the beginning because he had seen lots of similar people throughout his life. It wasn't his responsibility to warn people about the dangers that were within a dungeon.

However, after the incident, Thomas noticed Ren change. If before he looked like a tourist, now he looked like an immigrant. He had something that he previously didn't have.

Resolve.

It now seemed that whatever he went through inside of the dungeon had caused him to grow and finally realize how dangerous the world was.

He had a similar demeanor to top-class heroes. One that looked at the bigger picture.

...though he still was not comparable to them, Ren was in the right direction, and Thomas felt that if given time Ren's name would spread across the globe.

Well...his prediction could be wrong, but there was no harm in believing in him.

Lightly smiling, Thomas slumped down on his comfy chair.

"Let's observe a bit more, I feel like he will soon give me a pleasant surprise"

Chapter 35: Elective [1]

It's been about two weeks since I had officially entered the academy, and I couldn't say I was particularly excited about classes.

Not only was it hard for me to train, due to the constant stares, but for the theoretical courses, I really couldn't understand a thing.

Although they were interesting, because of how advanced all the material was, I didn't even know how to solve the easiest questions.

What was the point of them being interesting when you knew nothing about them?

I didn't even have the basic foundational knowledge.

It was like presenting an integral calculation to a kid who had just learned how to perform additions.

It was totally ridiculous!

I just realized, at this rate, I might actually not make it past my first year!

Although the lock mainly focused on nurturing heroes. In order to pass the first year, you still needed to pass all your courses.

If I couldn't pass a course, my chances of graduating, let alone pass the first year were extremely slim.

This was a huge problem!

That was because the second year was the main year of the academy arc!

It was the year where, after the protagonists who have all settled down and adapted to school life, suddenly came face to face against villains!

It was the most impactful part of the academy arc which helped the protagonist and his friends grow in both strength and character.

Missing such an event would be detrimental to my growth, as not only did I lose access to the top-end facilities provided by the academy, but I would also lose my chance to gain experience fighting against villains.

"Alright guys that marks the end of the lesson, I hope you enjoy yourselves at the elective fair"

disrupting my thoughts was Donna's enchanting voice.

'So today is the day, huh...'

Today was the day the elective fair was held.

The elective fair was an academy-wide event where the third and second years tried to recruit new members to their elective.

Once an elective was chosen, you couldn't change it until the start of the new year.

There was a wide selection of electives available for each student to choose from.

There was a 'Specialised combat' course, a 'programming' course, a 'dungeon exploration' course, and many more activities to choose from.

This was also the time when first years would come to contact with the senior years.

Because the first, second, and third years were separated they didn't have many chances to interact with one other.

Electives were a great chance for the seniors to interact with their juniors.

Moreover, the more first years they manage to recruit to their elective course, the more budget they were granted by the academy.

So every year, the first years found themselves getting assaulted by all types of seniors looking to recruit new members.

Furthermore, there was another thing one needed to be careful of when taking into consideration what elective to join.

That was...they had to watch out for the 'hidden politics' in certain electives.

Factions existed inside of the academy.

A good example was the 'Blood supremacist' faction that Gilbert used to be a part of back when he was still a student.

Many electives were secretly a recruitment process for certain individuals to their factions.

Therefore, one should be careful when choosing an elective as choosing one faction means being an enemy to all other factions.

Fortunately for me, I was keeping a low profile.

Since I was fairly unnoticeable, I was almost certain that I wouldn't be dragged into this senseless conflict.

However, although I may not encounter any problems during the elective fair, that didn't mean others would have it as easy as me.

Take Kevin as an example.

Because he stood out too much, he would not only have to face the endless number of people requesting for him to join their elective, but he would also have to fend off against factions who were eager to have a talented person like him in their group.

I could already imagine how miserable his life would be for the next few days.

Actually, I didn't need to imagine, I already knew.

Moreover, since I already knew what would happen in the next few days, I also knew that this was the period where one of the main scenarios for the first-year academy arc began.

Seniors vs. Juniors.

The first major event that Kevin encounters since joining the lock.

An event which even if I didn't want to participate will be forced to join.

'Ah...why did I even...'

Just imagining myself encountering more arrogant characters was upsetting my stomach.

At least I still had Donna with me...

Watching her leave, I couldn't help but admire her beauty which was more mature compared to the main heroines who were still young.

"..."

As I was busy admiring her, she turned her head around and met my line of sight.

I couldn't remember much after that, as I felt my body suddenly become lethargic.

I couldn't even lift my finger.

-Bang!

It was only after I heard the sound of the door closing that I managed to recover from the abnormal state.

Breaking into a cold sweat, I tried my best to regain my composure but...

"Look at this donkey getting caught looking at professor Longbern"

"hahaha, how pathetic"

"I know she's beautiful but how is a bottom ranker like you worthy of her?"

Three individuals surrounded the area where I was sitting, causing me to frown.

"What's going on?"

Why were they suddenly picking on me?

Usually, they would just say some sarcastic remarks and leave, but now it felt like they were coming at me more aggressively than ever before. It was like they were purposely targeting me.

ah...

Right.

How could I forget?

Slightly turning my head to the left side of the classroom, I could see Arnold sitting with his arms crossed looking at the front of the classroom indifferently.

"What's going on? Cat got your tongue?"

Pushing my left shoulder, a rather lanky individual that seemed to be the leader of the group asked

"Why are you looking at professor Longbern with such disgusting eyes?"

I know the best way to deal with these kinds of people.

"..."

"Hey, you deaf or something? say something"

Since you couldn't fight in schools, I could just ignore him and get along with my day.

If you're caught fighting in school, depending on how serious the violation was, you could potentially be expelled from the academy.

Moreover, since my ranking was so low, I doubt they would bother keeping a troublemaking student like me.

"Oy! I'm talking to you moron!"

"..."

"Bro I don't think he's ignoring you, I think he's just too terrified to even speak"

"Yeah, what a moron"

"..."

Think whatever you want, just don't bother me!

Grumbling to myself, I stood up and packed my stuff up.

"You leaving?"

"..."

Putting my bag on my back, I stepped to the side and tried to walk away, but...

"Not so fast, who told you I'll let your run like that"

Looking at him with cold eyes, I coldly spoke

"Move"

Ubeknowst to me, after nearly dying inside of the dungeon, my demeanor had become slightly colder.

Slightly surprised by my response, the leader of the group laughed "Hehehe, who do you think you are to make me move?"

Sigh

Letting out a sigh, I tried to push my way through the trio but it was to no avail.

"You think you can pass without my permission?"

Seeing that the situation was becoming unfavorable for me, I dropped my bag back on my desk and sat down.

I really wished fighting was allowed, but since I couldn't afford to be expelled, I could only silently endure their harassment.

Taking out my phone, I loaded a game and started playing it.

Seeing me sit down, the trio initially smirked with a sense of superiority, but as soon as I started playing my game their smiles faded away, and their complexion turned grim.

"Y-ou"

Trembling, the leader pointed his finger at me, trying his best to suppress his rage.

Looking up at him, I tilted my head and asked

"Need something from me?"

"HOW DARE YOU MAKE FUN OF ME???"

Seemingly having lost all sense of reason, the leader of the group tried to assault me, but just as he was about to hit me, his two friends held him back.

"Stop Richard! you might get expelled for this!"

"Don't do this Richard!"

So his name was Richard...

Mhhh...

Never heard of him.

After being restrained by his friends, Richard managed to calm down before staring at me with hatred.

"You will pay for making fun of me!"

"Hold on a second"

Pinching the middle of my brows, I let out another exhausted sigh.

"Let me get this straight. You're mad at me because I ignored you?"

Taken aback for a second, Richard processed what I said before looking down at me with disgust

"You lowly ranker, you think you're worthy of my anger?"

"No, you clearly were angry. Even a stupid person could realize that"

"I'll kill you!"

"No Richard stop!"

"Ghhhhu, stop Richard"

Dumbfounded, I stared at Richard being restrained again.

Was this some sort of comedy skit?

Were all minor characters supposed to be dumb or something?

"Huff...Huff...I'll remember this!"

Glaring at me, Richard, who was seemingly out of breath, threatened me with a third-rate villain quote.

"Please don't"

"I'll kill you!"

"Richard don't!"

"Richard! please stop, I can't take it anymore!"

pffff

"Hahahahahah"

Before I knew it, I found myself laughing hysterically at their antics.

I was laughing so hard, that tears started gathering in the corner of my eyes.

I haven't laughed this hard since coming to this world.

It was somehow refreshing.

Suddenly being thrown into my own novel, although I tried my best not to show it, I had built up a lot of stress.

From the very beginning since arriving here, I had been constantly working towards my goal.

From getting the [Seed of limit], [Keiki style], entering the black market, and almost losing my life against a Baron ranked demon.

I had been constantly risking my life.

My sudden burst of laughter was not just laughter that stemmed from Richard's group stupidity, but it was also a laugh that swept some of my worries away.

Although my journey towards the top was going to become tougher from now on, I should enjoy every free moment that I could get.

Although this world was tough, it was still much better than my old world where I was silently waiting for death to come with every passing day.

There were times when one just needed to let go of their worries and just relax.

Looking at Richard who was being restrained by his two friends, the corners of my mouth involuntarily pulled upwards.

Seeing me laugh, as if a switch had been flipped, all three of them stopped at the same time.

"Is he laughing at us?"

"Is this lowly ranker looking down on us?"

"Is he treating us like some sort of clowns?"

"..."

Somehow I feel like I did something I shouldn't have.

It seems like my laughter had wounded their pride.

Feeling their intense glare, I pretty much knew that they were going to assault me.

It was fine before because Richard was being restrained, but now that all three of them wished to beat me up, a fight was inevitable.

"You think this is funny?"

"Do we look like a joke to you?"

Approaching me with intense hatred in their eyes, I could see from their eyes that they no longer cared about the repercussions.

All that was reflected in their eyes, was me.

But just as they were about to attack me, a stern voice interrupted them.

"Let's leave it at that shall we?"

Stopping right before me, the trio halted their movement and turned towards the voice that told them to stop.

"Who are you to medd-- ah, K-kevin"

Turning around and figuring out whose voice it was, the trio froze on the spot.

Being in a society where rank meant everything, they were overcome with fear and couldn't stop trembling as soon as they saw who was speaking to them.

Kevin Voss, the first-year number one ranked student.

"W-ee we-re must lettin-t him know h-is place"

As his voice trembled, Richard spoke to Kevin.

"And what did he do exactly?"

"Ehm..ehm.."

Overwhelmed by Kevin's charisma, Richard started fumbling on his words.

Placing his hand on Richard's shoulder, Kevin patted him a couple of times.

"Let's leave it here okay?"

Repeatedly nodding his head, Richard and his group immediately fled the scene.

Seeing this happening before me, I couldn't help but slightly admire Kevin who with just a few words made the trio run.

I have to say, there were definitely perks in standing out.

Like being able to swiftly deal with low-level characters with just a few words.

But in hindsight, facing low-level charters was much better than dealing with annoying high-level ones.

So I was still going to try my best to remain as hidden as possible.

"Thank you for your help"

Standing up, I put my bag on my back and expressed my gratitude to Kevin who simply nodded his head in acknowledgment.

Finally free, I quickly left the classroom and headed towards my dorm.

Chapter 36: Elective [2]

"Thank you for your help"

After expressing his gratitude, Ren directly left the classroom.

Staring at the departing figure of the student who he had just helped for a brief moment, Kevin turned around and returned to his seat.

Taking out his bag, Kevin packed up his stuff.

Just as he was about to finish packing up, a handsome individual whose looks rivaled that of a top celebrity calmly looked down on him.

"What did you do that for?"

"What do you mean?"

Tilting his head, Kevin questioningly looked at Jin.

"Why are you helping a pathetic loser like him?"

Frowning at Jin's choice of words, Kevin secretly shook his head and responded.

"Picking on someone weaker than you is more pathetic in my opinion"

"Hmph, you should already how the world works by now."

Snorting at Kevin's comment in disdain, Jin turned around and went towards Arnold who was sitting two rows ahead of Kevin.

"Don't waste your time on helping losers like him. It's beneath you"

"Just ignore him"

Just as Kevin was about to rebuke him, a beautiful voice entered his ears, prompting him to turn his head around.

With her short brown hair accompanied by her porcelain white skin, Emma stood there looking up at Kevin who was half a head taller than her.

"He's an idiot so ignore him"

"But..."

"Just leave it at that, he's just gonna ignore whatever you say anyway so there's no point in arguing with him..."

Turning around, Emma left towards the exit of the classroom.

"You coming?"

"Ah...yes"

Sighing, Kevin took his bag and followed Emma out of the classroom.

Since he was still not used to this place, Kevin had asked Emma to guide him during the elective fair.

Catching up to her, Kevin walked side by side with Emma.

Normally, a person would've been extremely happy to walk next to such a beautiful girl, but it was extremely uncomfortable to Kevin, who was not used to this much attention.

Since his parent's death, Kevin preferred staying out of people's sight, hence why he was not used to the stares.

But unbeknownst to him, they weren't just looking at Emma, but at him too.

His looks, which rivaled Jin's, perfectly matched Emma's breathtaking beauty making everyone who saw them walking together sigh in admiration.

"You'll get used to it"

"Huh?—excuse me?"

"I mean you'll get used to stares soon enough"

"Oh? ok...but why do I need to get used to the stares? Aren't they just staring at you?"

Shaking her head as if she was looking at an idiot, Emma picked up her pace.

"Sigh, whatever...do you have an elective you want to join in mind?"

"Not really, I was thinking of joining some sort of combat-related elective since from what I've seen there isn't anything in particular that attracts my attention"

Cocking her head to the side to better hear what Kevin was saying, Emma's auburn hair which was moderately short, lightly rested on top of her shoulders, muting the azure blue uniform.

Hearing Kevin's response, Emma couldn't help but roll her eyes as she pinched the middle of her brows.

"Is all you do training?"

"Not really, I just thought that any other elective would've been a waste of time"

"Well...I don't think it's my place to say what you should choose and what you shouldn't, but I do urge you to think about it more thoroughly."

"Will do."

Stopping, Emma's eyes narrowed. Turning around she looked back at Kevin with a serious expression and spoke

"No, I don't think you do..."

Noticing Emma's behavior and expression, Kevin's back unconsciously straightened as he listened attentively.

"Electives have a much deeper meaning than you think, especially for someone as talented as you"

"If you just randomly choose an elective and it happens to be under a faction, even if you don't plan on entering the faction, they will still consider you as a part of them. Especially since it's you...moreover, once you join a faction, you will officially be an enemy of all other factions that are against the faction which you are a part of"

"Keep in mind that once you entered a faction, even if you didn't mean to, if you wish to exit, you must prepare yourself to make an enemy of that faction"

Hearing's Emma explanation, Kevin became dumbfounded as cold sweat dripped from his back

"All of this just for joining an elective?"

Poking Kevin's chest with her finger, Emma looked at Kevin seriously.

"Yes, so don't just carelessly join an elective"

Repeatedly nodding his head, Kevin promised Emma to be careful when selecting an elective.

Seeing her turn around, although Kevin didn't show it, he was extremely thankful to Emma who chose to help him out of her own volition.

Kevin already knew that Emma had already chosen her elective, and was just doing him a favor.

Although they had only known each other for about three weeks, Kevin already considered Emma a good friend.

They first met when entering their boarding apartments.

It was also at the same time he met, Jin, Amanda, and Melissa.

Since they were in the same building, they had no choice but to interact with each other, and from there they had gotten along with each other well.

Well, there were a couple of ups and downs in the beginning as Jin displayed obvious hostility against Kevin.

Looking back at the previous events, Kevin had a hunch it had something to do with Melissa, as Jin's hostility would shoot up a notch whenever he interacted with her, but he didn't want to pry too deeply.

Thus as such, because of Jin, the atmosphere in the dorm was quite tense. But fortunately thanks to Emma who got along with everyone, the awkward atmosphere dissipated and everyone managed to get along with each other.

It could be said that Emma was the key that linked everyone in the dorm.

If it weren't for her, who knows if Kevin would've even bothered talking to Jin.

"Hey, Hey, you listening?"

Snapping him out of his thoughts was the figure of Emma who had stopped walking and was looking at him with an annoyed pout.

'Cute'

Kevin thought as he resisted the urge to smile at her expression.

"I feel like you're thinking of something that would make me extremely annoyed.."

"!"

Opening his eyes wide, Kevin turned his head to the side and pretended to have not heard anything.

"Ah! So you were!"

"Don't know what you're talking about"

Kevin's outward expression was calm and expressionless, but on the inside, Kevin felt a storm of thoughts and emotions

'How in the world is she able to read my mind? Is this what they call a women's intuition? Terrifying...'

Narrowing her eyes and scrutinizing Kevin who tried his best to maintain his poker face, Emma shook her head and opened a huge door that led to the outside.

"I'll let this one go...now follow me"

Led by Emma, Kevin exited the building and strolled around the academy campus.

"Wow, this is a lot busier than I expected"

An ocean of students was swarming the campus as they each made their way towards the elective fair.

Some were leisurely strolling around the campus with their friends, some were sitting in the patches of green around the campus, and others were frantically rushing towards the stalls in the elective fair.

If it weren't for the fact that for some odd reason some of the students were going out of their way to step away from their path, reaching the location where the elective fair was being held was not going to be as unobstructed as it was now.

"Where exactly are we going?"

"Section B"

Pausing slightly, Kevin's eyes widened a little bit.

"Section B? Isn't that the professor area?"

"It's precisely because it's the professor area that the elective fair is taking place there"

Dumbfounded by her response, Kevin looked at Emma in confusion.

"How does that make sense?"

Rolling her eyes, Emma continued walking forward ignoring Kevin who was dumbly staring at her.

Finally, after seeing that Kevin still had not understood, Emma sighed and spoke

"Didn't I mention before about the deeper meaning behind electives?"

Nodding his head, Kevin replied, "Right, but how does that relate to the fact that the fair is in section B?"

"Because professors are also part of a faction..."

Halting his steps, Kevin took a moment to process what Emma had said.

If what Emma had said was true, then choosing an elective was a far more serious matter than he had originally thought.

If even the professors were trying to influence the elective fair, then it meant that the 'hidden politics' in the academy were rooted deeper than he had previously thought.

"Although professors are technically no longer part of a faction, that still did not mean that they couldn't indirectly help the faction that they used to be a part of."

"Though they may no longer be a part of a faction, their loyalty is still there..."

"If they wanted to, they could force students to join their faction by abusing their authority and make their lives harder"

Seeing how Kevin's complexion was becoming grimmer by the second, Emma realized her mistake and tried to encourage him.

"Ah..but you don't need to worry about that."

"Although you're extremely sought after, they won't carelessly try to force you to join a faction as you are protected by the school."

"Moreover you have me, Amanda, Melissa, and that guy protecting you."

"No professor would dare to mess with you with our backing..."

Seeing how she was frantically coming up with excuses to make him feel better, Kevin felt warm in his heart.

Having spent most of his life in solitude, having friends that supported him and helped him in times of trouble was a new feeling for him.

He couldn't say he disliked it...

"Thank you..."

"For what?"

Taken aback by Kevin's strange attitude, Emma took a step back.

"You're not falling for me, right? I'm sorry but I don't plan on dating right now"

"..."

There goes all the goodwill he had for her...

"Hey what's with that disgusted face? I was just joking! but still, the fact you are looking at a beauty like me with that kind of face irritates me"

"Narcissistic aren't we?"

"No, I'm just acknowledging the truth"

Dumbfounded by her fast response, Kevin was momentarily left speechless as he did not know how to respond to her.

Ignoring Kevin who was too speechless to talk, Emma continued

"My beauty aside, you still have to be careful when interacting with the professors as although they can't touch you, they can still indirectly try to make your life harder if they hold a grudge against you"

"ghhh...why does everything have to be so annoying?"

"Actually, now that I think about it, a few professors already hold a grudge against you"

"What? how? What did I do?"

"What didn't you do? I mean you suddenly showed up out of nowhere and bulldozed your way to the first rank"

"You pretty much humiliated those that believed that bloodlines or backing was the most important factor in being the best"

"Your existence alone is an eyesore for them, of course, they built a grudge against you"

Letting out a pained groan, Kevin couldn't help but curse at his own stupidity.

The only reason why he tried his best for the test was that he had still not figured out that he was strong.

Having been living isolated from society since the death of his parents, he didn't know that with the skills that he had developed thanks to the cheat-like system, he could've been considered as one of the bests of his generation.

He had thought that since some of the rich second-generation kids had access to top-end facilities, they would've surely been stronger than him.

But he had severely underestimated how much of a cheat the system was.

Not only did it provide Kevin with the best training regime, but it also rewarded him with top-end skills, stats increase, and artifacts at the completion of each mission.

By the time that admissions for the lock were open, he had already grown to be a prodigy.

Had he known this fact, he wouldn't have tried as hard as he did during the examination.

I mean since coming to the lock, Kevin had been through many annoying situations where his rank 1 status had drawn too much unwanted attention.

If only he had known...

Seeing how distressed Kevin was, Emma who took pity on him, decided to change the topic to relieve his mind from the troublesome problems.

"The sky is nice and blue right?"

"...excuse me?"

"The clouds sure are fluffy..."

"Are you okay?"

"Never been better, how bout you?"

"What about me? I'm more worried about you who is being weird"

"Back to your normal self?"

Finally realizing Emma's intention, Kevin blushed in embarrassment as he thanked her.

"Ah...Thank you"

"No probs, just don't think about all that annoying stuff. At worst you'll just have some minor troubles, you may have not realized it yet, but that number 1 rank is as much of a burden as it is a shield"

"With it, you don't have to worry about people openly doing something to you, and in fact even if you haven't noticed it yet, you are constantly under the protection of the academy"

"The number 1 rank is not just a title, it's a representation of hope...a light that shines down this god-forsaken world, and guide us to true freedom..."

Looking at Kevin straight in his eyes, Emma lightly punched his shoulder as she flashed a stunning smile.

"So instead of worrying, be proud of what you've accomplished and destroy anything that dares obstruct your path to success"

Chapter 37: Elective [3]

"Wow...there's a lot more people than I had originally thought"

"I'd have to agree with you on that one"

As Kevin and Emma arrived outside of section B, a crowd of students was swarming the entrance making it hard to see what was ahead.

Each student was sporting a different colored uniform which ranged from, azure blue, dark green, and blood-red, representing the year they were in.

A three-meter tall wall surrounded the whole of section B and on top of the wall, an invisible high voltage electrical line was installed preventing anyone from trying to sneak into the compound.

In order to enter the compound, four gates which were respectively allocated according to the cardinal points, North, South, East, West, were tightly guarded by the staff hired by the academy.

Because the academy was mainly a medium to nurture talented individuals which would later be the future pillars of humanity, the information regarding the students was tightly secured by the academy.

If the information were to be passed to the wrong hands, potentially talented heroes that have shown good promise during their academic stay might become the target of demons and villains, which could result in them prematurely dying before their talent could leave an impact on society.

...This was exactly what the academy didn't want, and hence why they invested heavily in security for section B. Excluding the professors who were all respectively strong heroes, the security alone comprised of B and C ranked Heroes.

Section B was practically one of the safest areas within the academy.

After 10 minutes, Emma and Kevin were finally able to arrive at the entrance of the compound.

The lines were split into three, and at the end of each line, a student with a red blazer was handing leaflets to every person who entered the compound.

"Welcome to the elective fair"

Approaching Kevin and Emma, a blonde individual elegantly handed them a leaflet with a gentle yet confident smile on his face.

"Thank you"

"Thank you"

Without thinking much, Emma and Kevin took the leaflet and left, resulting in the blonde individual's smile to momentarily falter.

"Ehm..ehm..excuse me, freshman"

Quickly regaining his composure, the blonde individual hastily moved in front of Kevin and Emma, obstructing their path. Suddenly being blocked out of nowhere, both Kevin and Emma couldn't help but frown as they scrutinized the person before them.

Although he wasn't as handsome as Kevin, he could've been regarded as a fairly handsome individual with his relatively well-proportioned features, blue eyes, and confident demeanor.

"What do you need?"

Annoyed, Emma didn't try to hide her displeasure as she lightly glared in his direction.

Smiling amiably, taking no notice of Emma's attitude, the blonde individual couldn't help but take a couple of glances at Emma evidently stunned by her beauty.

Without even acknowledging nor glancing in Kevin's direction, the blonde individual focused his whole attention on Emma almost as if he was enchanted by her beauty.

"Let me introduce myself, my name is Fabian Parker third year ranked 14, may I have the honor of knowing this beautiful girl's name?"

As he introduced himself, the undisguised pride in his tone couldn't be concealed as his smile deepened and his back straightened.

His eyes which now fully focused on Emma, couldn't hide the desire masked within them as he took one step closer to her.

"That's enough"

Placing his hand in front of Emma blocking Fabian from approaching her, Kevin glared at him.

"Can't you see you're bothering her?"

"Who are you?"

Finally noticing Kevin's presence, Fabian couldn't hide his displeasure, as his head snapped in his direction.

"How dare you block this one's path?"

"You're being annoying"

"Quickly move out of my way or don't blame me for being impolite"

Frowning, just as Kevin was about to get angry, a mocking voice disrupted their confrontation as Emma walked in front of Kevin.

"If you don't fuck off from my sight, don't blame ME for being rude"

Imitating Fabian's tone, Emma arrived right in front of Fabian and lightly smiled.

Startled by Emma's outburst, Fabian couldn't find any words to say resulting in his face crumping up.

"Got nothing to say?"

Raising her brow, Emma looked at Fabian provocatively.

"You..dare!"

Trembling, Fabian pointed his finger in Emma's direction as he struggled to contain his anger.

Since coming to the academy, no, more precisely, his whole life, Fabian had never been this humiliated.

Being born from the prestigious Parker family which held a tremendous amount of wealth and influence, every girl who he had ever approached threw themselves at him.

Never in his 19 years of life did someone disrespect him so much.

Especially from a couple of first years.

Apart from those who were higher ranked than him, and had a similar amount of influence as his family, no one had the right to look down on him.

He, Fabian Parker, heir of the Parker conglomerate with a net worth of over a trillion U was actually being humiliated in front of everybody like this?

'Does this slut think that just because she's pretty she can mess with me?'

"It seems like you don't hold your seniors in regard, good...good"

Clapping his hands a couple of times, Fabian's face darkened and his previous gentlemanly demeanor completely vanished.

"Ah!"

Covering her mouth, Emma exaggeratedly looked at Fabian and exclaimed "I am sorry! I didn't realize you were a senior! I mean..." Looking at Fabian up and down, Emma shook her head "The way you talked made me think you were a spoiled brat, so I instantly assumed you were the same year as me"

"She's definitely enjoying this..."

Watching Emma who acted like she was wronged, Kevin couldn't help but bitterly smile

"What a drama queen.."

She could've just ignored him and told him who she was, as her background was enough of a deterrence for 99% of the people attending the academy, but she chose not to, meaning that she was trying to humiliate him publicly.

Looking around, Kevin noticed a small crowd that had already started gathering around them due to Emma's loud voice.

Sighing, Kevin started doubting whether asking Emma to help him was the right decision.

Noticing the crowd that had started gathering around them, Fabian who was on the verge of exploding forcefully suppressed his anger and alternatively looked at Emma and Kevin.

"It seems like the new first years are in need of disciplining huh?"

-Vam!

As soon as he finished his sentence, massive pressure engulfed the surroundings while blue light started emanating from Fabian's body.

"ghh..."

"Ughh.."

"Ahhh...what's going on?"

The crowd which had gathered due to the commotion suddenly felt an immense pressure bearing down on them, and because they were caught off guard due to the suddenness of the attack, most of the people found themselves sprawled on the floor struggling to move.

Kevin and Emma, who were the ones that were bearing the full grunt of the force, took a knee to the ground as their legs gave out due to the immense pressure they were facing.

Although both Kevin and Emma were extremely talented, they were in no way a match to a third-year student who had been vigorously training for three years under the care of the academy.

Even Kevin, who could've been regarded as one of the best even amongst the second years felt an unimaginable pressure bearing down on him.

[Detecting hostile force]

[Would you like to activate skill [Overdrive]? Y/N]

"N-no"

Dismissing the system message that appeared anytime a hostile force was detected, Kevin looked up at Fabian who was slowly walking towards Emma.

"Not so proud now huh?"

"pfftt, you don't know who you're messing with!"

"Oh? and how so?"

Raising his brow, Fabian knelt down at Emma's eye level and lightly held her chin up with his fingers.

Feeling Fabian's finger touching her chin, Emma monetarily froze before opening her eyes wide in disbelief.

"I give you three seconds to let go of me before things get really serious"

"Oh?"

Tilting his head, Fabian couldn't help but lightly chuckle as his hand gripped Emma's cheeks.

"Do tell me what you're going to do to me..."

"How dare you!"

Feeling Fabian's hand gripping onto her face, Emma's final restraint disappeared and just when she was about to call her guards, a powerful voice reverberated across the surroundings.

"STOP!"

Right after the shout, the pressure that was bearing down on everyone disappeared, and a tall individual whose skin was on the darker side appeared before the crowd.

He had braids that extended all the way to his shoulders, and his bulging muscles that were the size of a football made one wonder if he was a human.

"Stop this farce at once!"

Arriving in front of Fabian, the individual who seemed to be the instructor overlooking this area appeared before Fabian and loudly screamed at his face.

"Wh-at!?"

Feeling the spit that was being spewed on his face by the instructor as he shouted, Fabian who couldn't believe his eyes struggled to speak for a couple of seconds.

Actually, he knew this individual.

Hero Rank 459 Jerome Wilson a.k.a 'Diamond Destroyer', a rather well-known hero famed for his tremendous strength. His name 'Diamond Destroyer' stemmed from how he was able to crush diamonds with his bare hands. If not for his low agility, Jerome could've been ranked in the top 300.

Noticing that he was being scolded by instructor Jerome, Fabian was so shocked that he couldn't utter a single word. The reason he was shocked was not because he was being scolded, but rather by whom he was being scolded...

Diamond destroyer, who he had known since young, was actually supposed to be an individual planted by his family to secretly support him during his stay in the academy

Yet here he was berating him in front of everyone.

"Come to my office right now!"

Without leaving any time for Fabian to collect himself, Jerome grabbed him by the neck and immediately left without even looking at Kevin and Emma.

Looking at the instructor who hastily brought Fabian away, Kevin stood up. Had he been a split second slower Kevin would've been forced to take action.

"Are you alright?"

Extending his hand towards Emma to help her stand up, Kevin had a troubled look on his face as he looked at the people around him groaning in pain on the floor.

Without responding to Kevin, Emma emotionlessly walked towards the entrance.

Reading the mood, Kevin shut up and followed her.

It seems like a storm was brewing

...

"Release me at once!"

After finding a relatively secluded area, Jerome who was still holding onto Fabian who was flaying in his arms, finally let go of him.

"kuuhh...How dare you do this me!"

Holding onto his neck, Fabian glared at Jerome who had a tired look on his face.

"How dare you lay your filthy hands on me! Wait till I tell d--"

"YOUNG MASTER!"

Shouted Jerome as veins could be seen visibly bulging from his head.

Stopping abruptly, Fabian looked at Jerome in disbelief as never in his whole life did he see him ever lose his cool like this.

"Sigh..sorry"

Realizing what he had just done, Jerome let out a long sigh and apologized to Fabian.

Covering his face, Jerome took out his phone and quickly dialed a number.

"Young Master, you have seriously screwed up this time"

"W-hat?"

Noticing that things weren't right, Fabian's voice became slightly rushed as he looked at Jerome who was pacing back and forth in front of him.

—Hello

Finally, after a couple of seconds, a cold voice full of authority entered Jerome's ears.

"Master there's been an emergency!"

—...What happened?

"Sigh...it's regarding young master"

—What did he do?

"A conflict between him and the Roshfield child occurred during the elective fair...and judging from how they operate things might become difficult very soon"

—bring that child home, I'll handle the rest

Pausing for a moment, the voice behind the phone became slightly colder before giving one last command and hanging up.

-Click!

"R-R-Roshfield!"

Staring at Jerome in disbelief, Fabian looked as if he had lost his soul.

Never in a million years did he imagine that the child he was eyeing was actually the princess of the Roshfield clan, and whose father was the vice director of the Union.

No wonder she was so arrogant...

No wonder she didn't even flinch at the mention of his family's name...

Although her family was about the same strength as his family, because her father worked in the union, if he wanted to, he could immediately make things harder for the Parker family resulting in seven to eight digits losses.

Realizing what he had done, Fabian powerlessly slumped on the ground as he dazedly looked at the sky

"I fucked up big time...."

Chapter 38: Elective [4]

"Are you sure you're alright?"

Passing by stalls without even glancing at them, Kevin worriedly looked at Emma who remained silent throughout the whole time they were walking. After that accident, Emma had a gloomy air around her. It felt as if she had erected a tall barrier that prevented anyone from approaching her.

"Hey! Hey!"

Suddenly Emma stopped walking. Raising her hand slightly, she wiped away the corner of her mouth.

Looking down, her azure blue uniform now had a small red stain on it.

Noticing it, Emma quickly pulled her hand back to hide the small stain. But although Emma tried to be subtle with her actions, it couldn't escape Kevin's eyes which immediately widened in shock.

"Shit!"

Grabbing her hand, Kevin immediately dragged her out of the elective fair.

It seemed like the earlier confrontation had resulted in Emma sustaining some internal injuries. The fact that she refused to kneel even under all of that pressure goes to show how much willpower and determination she had.

Fabian's rank was most likely around the C range which was around two ranks higher than Emma whose rank was still E- borderline E rank.

Subjected to such pressure, Emma was bound to suffer internal injuries. If not for the fact that Kevin's rank was E+ borderline D rank, he too would've suffered serious internal injuries.

-Smack!

"Don't touch me"

Raising her voice, Emma smacked Kevin's hand away. A split second after realizing what she had done, Emma froze and lowered her head in shame.

"I-I'm sorry"

"It's alright"

Not taking it to heart, Kevin stopped and looked at Emma.

Her complexion had become a lot paler than before, and looking at her carefully now, Kevin could see Emma slightly shivering. Almost as if she was suffering from extreme cold.

'shit, how come I didn't notice this before!'

Cursing at himself, Kevin thought for a bit before gritting his teeth.

"Here"

Taking out a light green potion from his inventory, Kevin handed it to Emma. This potion was one of the rewards that he had gotten after completing a quest that the system had given him.

He had saved it in case he got severely hurt, but seeing Emma suffering, Kevin couldn't control his impulse and decide to give it to her...

In the first place, the only reason she got hurt was because of him. If he had not asked her to bring him around for the elective fair, none of this would've happened.

"...I appreciate your concern"

Looking at the potion Kevin had given her, Emma was slightly touched, but she still rejected it.

"I insist"

Noticing Emma's stubbornness, Kevin tried to forcefully put the potion in her hand, only to be rejected by her once again.

Seeing that he could do nothing to make her take the potion, Kevin gave up.

Her hand, which was slightly trembling, reached out for her pocket. Taking out her phone, she quickly dialed a number.

After a couple of rings, a pleasant and gentle voice could be heard from the other side of the phone.

—Young miss how may I help you?

"I need someone to pick me up"

—Is something wrong miss?

"Everything is fine...please come and pick me up"

—...as you wish young miss, I will immediately dispatch someone to pick you up.

Sensing something, the lady on the other side of the phone immediately called for someone to go to Emma's location.

-Tak!

Soon after hanging up her phone, a butler calmly walked in their direction. He donned a neat black blazer with a slight opening where his white unwrinkled shirt could be seen. A black bowtie hugged his neck and accompanied by his well-polished shoes that shined under the campus light, further added to his elegance. He had a full set of white hair which was a result of his age. At the edge of his eyes, which were obsidian black, wrinkles that extended all the way to his upper cheeks could be seen. Lastly, what stood out the most about him was his nicely trimmed mustache that rested below his nose.

"Young miss"

Elegantly bowing in front of Emma, the butler greeted Emma.

"Uncl-e Norman please bring me home"

"..hm?"

Noticing that something wasn't right, Norman looked up and saw Emma's pale face.

"M-miss!"

Rushing in to support her, Norman grabbed her shoulders in a panic.

"I'm fi-khhh"

Seeing the panic in Norman's eyes, Emma tried to brush it off, but as soon as she started speaking a red trail of blood fell from her nose. Soon she passed out in Norman's arms.

"Miss!"

Lightly shaking Emma's body, Norman looked around in panic. Taking out his phone he quickly called for backup.

After he finished calling for backup, he gently laid Emma on a bench. After making sure that Emma was okay, Norman's demeanor completely changed as he coldly looked at Kevin and asked.

"Tell me what happened"

Helplessly nodding his head, Kevin quickly recounted what had happened moments before.

As he listened attentively to Kevin recounting about the incident with Fabian, Norman's face became gloomier by the second.

"...the Parkers, good, good"

Standing up, an extremely strong bloodlust permeated the surrounding, suffocating Kevin. Fortunately, Norman was controlling his bloodlust as it could only be felt within a certain radius.

If one of those weaker students were to suddenly be exposed to this bloodlust, they would've suffered mental trauma.

Soon, two black cars arrived at the front of section B where a bunch of individuals with black suits came out. Forming a line, they pushed away all students that were trying to take a look at what happened.

Carrying Emma in his arms, Norman looked back at Kevin and said

"Tell the dorm supervisor that Emma will be absent for at least a couple of days"

Nodding his head helplessly, Kevin agreed

-Clank!

Closing the door to the car, the cars soon sped into the distance.

Staring at the departing cars, Kevin fell into deep thought before going back into the dorm.

...it seems like he'll have to visit the elective fair another time.

...

Parker tower, Ashton city

It was currently nighttime in Ashton city, and the lights coming from the cars drifting in the distance formed beautiful yellow and red stripes that stretched all the way to the horizon.

Inside of a large office, on the top floor of a tall glass building, the silhouette of a man looking down the busy streets of Ashton city could be seen.

"...that is all"

Standing a few steps behind the man, a butler kneeled on the floor as he read the report in his hand.

After the butler read the report, a deathly silence permeated the room.

Soon the silence was disrupted by the cold voice of the silhouette standing by the window side of the office.

"...Push the plan forward"

"Sir!"

Abruptly standing up, the butler immediately tried to voice his objection.

"k-hhukk"

...but before he could do that, the butler found himself facing the ground as an unimaginable pressure bore down on him. No matter how much he struggled he could not move. This was especially shocking since the butler himself was a B-rank Hero.

The fact that he could not move despite his high rank goes to show how powerful the individual he was serving was.

"...Do as you're told"

Without looking back, the silhouette once again spoke. This time, the butler didn't even dare to talk back as he could only nod his head on the floor.

Soon the pressure died down and the butler was able to regain his mobility.

"Call him to my room"

As the butler was ready to leave the room, his master spoke once again.

"Yes master"

-Clank!

Elegantly bowing his body forward, the butler left the office. Soon, the office became enveloped in silence as only the sound of the man's breathing could be heard.

-Knock! -Knock!

"F-father?"

The tranquil atmosphere was soon broken by the sound of a knock. The door slowly opened and a face could be seen peeking from the other side of the door.

Fabian, who was on the other side of the door, trembled all over as he waited for his father's permission to enter the room. His previous arrogance could no longer be seen as he resembled a scared rabbit trapped in a cage.

"...enter"

-Clank!

Obediently listening to his father, Fabian carefully entered the room and closed the door behind him.

Soon an awkward silence enveloped the room.

Sweat could be seen falling from Fabian's face as he stood with his back straight not daring to sit down.

Unable to stand the tense atmosphere anymore, Fabian was the first to break the silence.

"F-father?"

Turning around, the features of the silhouette were revealed under the room's lights. His facial features were similar to that of Fabian, however, despite his age, which was in the late fifties, there were no wrinkles on his face. If someone did not know about his age they could've easily mistaken him for a twenty-year-old college student.

What separated him from a regular student was his distinct sense of authority that could be felt from his demeanor. It felt as if he was a judge that dictated who was guilty and who was innocent.

-Gulp!

Swallowing a large mouthful of saliva, Fabian waited for his father to respond.

"...How do you plan to fix your mistake?"

"Y-yes"

hearing his dad's cold voice, Fabian stood up straight and fumbled on his words. He was too nervous to speak.

Frankly, Fabian since young had rarely ever spoken with his father.

He was the third in line of the Parker family, and wasn't doted on as much as his brothers. However...he still had everything.

His family, which was passed on for generations could be considered as one of the strongest in the current human domain. They managed to rise from the bottom to where they were now thanks to their business-orientated mentality.

The Parker conglomerate was responsible for selling and trading cores, monster parts, and skills. They had so much money that could last each member for generations.

Being neglected, Fabian spent lavishly to substitute the missing paternal love that he never received from his parents.

On the off-chance that he did meet his father, he would always be intimidated by his presence which exuded authority.

To him, his father never felt like a real father...he felt more like his boss.

"I want you to finish what you started"

Seeing that his son was still too timid to hold a conversation with him, Micheal Parker, the current CEO of the Parker conglomerate spoke up.

"eh?"

Not expecting what his father was telling him, Fabian looked at his father in confusion.

"You heard me clear...I want you to finish what you started."

"B-but woul-dn't that start conflict with the Roshfield family"

Smirking coldly, Micheal Parker looked at his son in contempt

"The deed has already been done, you think they'll do nothing after what you've done?"

Hearing his father's words, Fabian lowered his head. He was right, now that everything had already started it was too late to regret it.

"I've been planning this for a while, you've only pushed forward the inevitable"

"...so now I want you to go through with it to the end, I want you to thoroughly crush Emma Roshfield"

Staring at his son, Micheal Parker slowly walked next to him and patted his shoulder

"Prove your worth."

Feeling his father's large hands, Fabian felt something inside of him rise. It was something that he had never felt before...reliance?

As if a fire had suddenly ignited inside of his heart, Fabian Looked at his father in the eyes and asked

"But if I target her, wouldn't that make me the prime target of the Roshfield"

Smiling slightly, Micheal turned back to look at the busy streets of Ashton city.

"You have to mask your actions...hire some people to create conflict within the academy so that you can veil your true target. Emma Roshfield"

"Once everyone is too distracted with the conflicts, you will strike and deal a fatal blow to the Roshfield family's only successor"

Staring at the busy streets of Ashton city, Micheal Parker grinned coldly. Looking at the Roshfield tower not so far in the distance, Micheal Parker raised his hand and slowly clenched it.

"It's about time that the Parker family got rid of the Roshfield family"

Chapter 39: Elective [5]

Inside of a large room decorated in pink, with a large king-sized bed in the middle, laid a stunning young girl with short brown hair that scattered all over her pillow. She was currently lying down beneath a set of thin blankets that could not hide the outlines of her body.

Sitting next to her, a tall man with similar colored hair, nervously looked at the young girl who was resting on the bed. Her skin which was flawless was currently pale, and if not for the fact that her breathing was stable someone could've easily mistaken her for a dying patient.

"…Mmm."

At that moment, Emma opened her eyes. Oliver Roshfield, Emma's father and the man that was in the room, noticing Emma's eyes opening immediately shot up and called for a doctor.

"You're up. How are you holding up?"

"…Fine."

Emma sat up on the bed and bitterly smiled at her father's worried expression. Soon a doctor came running in to check her pulse, but Emma pushed him away with a smile.

"It's fine, Dad. Nothing serious happened..."

"Really?"

"Of course. Do I look like someone who would get injured so easily? Plus didn't the doctor already confirm I was fine?"

"I, I did."

Hearing Emma mention him, the Doctor lightly shuddered and hurriedly nodded. Oliver Roshfield was a powerful figure who had many titles to his name. 'Flame overlord Oliver Roshfield' 89th in the hero ranking, Ashton city mayor and Vice-director of the union. Each title more fearsome than the other. The doctor knew that being on this man's bad side would only make his life more difficult.

Looking at his daughter up and down a couple of more times, Oliver eventually relented and gestured for the doctor to leave.

"…She seems fine, so you can go now."

"Yes, sir."

The doctor, without skipping a beat hurriedly ran out of the room. Looking at the closing door, Emma spoke briefly

"…Dad."

"Hm?"

Oliver Roshfield replied with a gentle tone.

"About the Parkers..."

Before Emma could finish speaking, the room's temperature increased dramatically.

"..Dad?"

Noticing the changes happening around her, Emma quickly tried to stop her father.

"Dad, stop!"

Placing her hands on her father's cheeks, Emma tried her best to calm her father down.

Despite being one of the strongest people in the human domain, Oliver Roshfield had one fatal weakness. His daughter.

Ever since his wife's death eight years ago, the only memento he had of his late wife was his daughter, Emma. Even though he was busy with his job he always made sure to find enough time to spend it with his daughter. He doted on her a lot.

Seeing her in this state, rage clouded Oliver's mind as he couldn't help but feel a stinging sensation hit his heart.

It was only after he felt his daughter's warm soft hands that his rage slowly started showing signs of subsiding.

"...Dad please stop"

"huuuu..."

Letting out a long breath, the room temperature returned to normal and Oliver bitterly smiled at his daughter.

Only she could stop him from going on a rampage

Finally calming her dad down, Emma smiled in relief and slumped back into her bed.

"Sweetie, are you sure you're okay?"

"...I'm okay, I just need some rest"

"Okay, please don't push yourself"

Tucking Emma in, Oliver stood up and prepared to leave. But just as he was about to leave he felt a slight tug at the edge of his pants.

"Dad, you still didn't answer my previous question"

"Sigh...Emma this matter is more serious than you think"

Gently sitting on the bed next to Emma, Oliver slowly caressed her head.

"What do you mean?"

"The Parkers have been eyeing our properties and resources for a long time now."

"If before they were reluctant to act because of my position, now that they know I will retaliate because of what happened, they will no longer have any restraints when dealing with us"

Pausing slightly, Oliver held his daughter's soft hand tightly and said

"...so sweetie, rest well and return to the academy once you're fully healed. The academy is the safest place for you to be at the moment"

Frowning for a bit, Emma looked at her father. His eyes which held boundless love for her were seeded with worry. Seeing this warmth filled her heart as she felt how much he worried about her.

Tightening her grip of her father's large hand, Emma's frown lessened and she nodded.

"I understand"

Smiling gently, Oliver gently kissed Emma on the cheek and left the room.

As soon as Oliver left the room, his gentle demeanor completely vanished, and what replaced it was a cold and indifferent one.

"...Norman"

"Yes master"

Turning his head towards Norman who was patiently standing outside of Emma's room, Oliver instantly issued orders.

"Start liquidating all our unnecessary assets—I want one billion gathered by the end of the week."

"As you wish"

Bowing down, Norman lightly smiled and left leaving Oliver standing outside of Emma's door.

Having known his master for a while, Norman knew exactly what he was planning. Normally, he would've been against it as the consequences of a war against powerhouses was unimaginable...but thinking back at what had happened to Emma, his eyes narrowed and his pace increased.

'She was the Roshfield reverse scale'

Seeing that Norman left, Oliver sighed and looked at his daughter's room.

Gently caressing the door to Emma's room, Oliver turned around and silently spoke

"...If I don't deal substantial damage to the Parkers by the end of this, then I shall not be called Oliver Roshfield!"

Though his voice was quiet, it held boundless rage within it.

===

Closing the book down, I lightly sighed.

...It seemed like things were going to get difficult from here on out.

A lot has happened since my near-death experience. In about a week's time, Thobias Church will be assassinated.

Since my life and death moment in the dungeon, I increased my training time from five hours a day to nine hours a day. Whenever I had free time on my hands, I would train. It was only after I almost died that I realized that life was as fickle as it could be. Just a single moment and I could die. Only if I was stronger would I be able to live.

Unbeknownst to me, my outlook on life had slowly started to change. I used to think that all I had to do was train and slowly follow along with the storyline.

I had this babysitter type of mindset.

Just follow the protagonist and cover for them if anything that was beyond the plotline happened. Those were my ambitions. Nothing else.

...but the further I stayed in this world, the more I realized that there was more to this world than just a story.

The people, the beautiful sceneries, the professors, my classmates...everything around me was real. This was no longer a novel, and there were no second chances.

If I learned something since reincarnating inside of my own novel was that I needed power...

In the first place. If I had power, I wouldn't need to babysit the plotline.

...no if I was stronger, then nothing could stop me from achieving what I wanted.

Be it the protagonists, the union, the demon king...if I was stronger then no one could stop me from living the life that I desired.

Though I still didn't plan on interfering with the main storyline, my previous ambition of just babysitting the protagonists was no longer there. I need to think more about myself than them.

Did I want to go through another near-death experience again?

No, I didn't. The feeling of having your life toyed with wasn't something I would want to go through again.

...no longer did I want to be chained by someone else.

I wanted something for myself...and only through power could I achieve that.

I may choose to remain low-key for now so that I could build power without getting into any unnecessary conflicts, but the day that I decided to expose my power to the world will be the day that the demons will shake at the mere mention of my name...Ren Dover!

...and in order to achieve this, I decided to remove every distraction around me. Soon I started training like crazy. Every day I would wake up early, go to the gym, take classes, eat, go to the gym and repeat.

A thing that has become bothersome though was that the gym had started becoming fuller as the days went by. Moreover, the atmosphere in the gym was not right...

About two weeks had passed since the events of the elective fair.

and a tense atmosphere enveloped the whole academy, as the first, second, and third years started eyeing each other. This was mainly organized by Fabian who hired people to start conflicts with the first years.

In the first week, things weren't that bad as only small conflicts happened. However, past the first week, entering the second week, the conflicts started escalating to a whole new level.

It first started when a second-year beat up a first-year for bumping into him. Soon, some of the enraged first years took it upon themselves to teach a lesson to the person responsible for the incident.

A day after the first year was hospitalized, three-second years were sent to the hospital heavily injured, including the one that hurt the first year who was the one that had the heaviest injuries.

Following that the conflicts started escalating more and more.

It had gotten so bad that the teachers could no longer turn a blind eye on the situation and firmly stated that whoever was caught fighting within the academy would be expelled. With no exception. Regardless of rank or family background.

Thanks to this announcement, the conflicts within the academy died down.

...keyword. within.

This meant that once you stepped outside the academy boundary it was free for all.

fortunately for me, I didn't really have anything to do outside of the academy so I was fairly unaffected by this whole conflict. Moreover, since my rank was low, I was treated like crap regardless of whether they were juniors or seniors.

No discrimination there...

Another major thing that had happened was that the Parkers and the Roshfield had finally started acting against each other.

The stock prices of each company fluctuated every day as businesses owned by both parties started going bankrupt left and right.

It was total chaos.

The conflicts were starting to escalate and soon will reach all the way to the academy...

ahhh

I wasn't sure how to feel about this. The atmosphere around the academy was so tense that it started affecting my training. Fortunately, because of my low profile nature, I was still in the clear...for now

-Click!

Closing the door to my dorm, I walked towards my elective {Food exploration}

Yup, just like the name suggested, the elective I chose was an elective that focused on food.

But don't get me wrong, this wasn't my first choice, in fact, it was probably one of my last choices.

...but because of all the conflicts within the academy where seniors would reject first years added with the multiple rejections I got due to my rank, I was left with no choice but to apply for this elective. An elective that mainly focused on food...well it wasn't that simple but it was along that line.

What made things worse was that this elective was the elective that Amanda took.

By some sort of weird twist of fate, I ended up in the same elective as one of the main protagonists that I wanted to avoid.

...At this point, I was starting to doubt whether my plan to remain low-key would even be achieved as I was constantly being put through situations where I would either interact with the main cast or fight against mid-novel bosses.

Like seriously, what was wrong with this world?

I was literally going through more hardship than the protagonist himself.

Chapter 40: Changes happening in the academy [1]

The elective was in room B17

When I entered, the rows of the classroom were already filled with students, most of which were wearing a familiar azure blue blazer. There were about 40 first years of which 32 of them were girls. The reason for such disparity in gender probably had to do with the class president's bewitching appearance.

After glancing at the room for a couple of seconds, I turned towards Amanda's direction and sat a few seats behind her. All the front row seats had been taken by the girls.

Sitting down, I could smell a nice rose-like scent coming from her direction promoting my nose to greedily take in the smell. After being exposed to this scent for five minutes…

An elegant young man, with nicely combed hair, entered the classroom. He had a gentle smile on his face, and his looks could've been considered to be on the higher end of the spectrum.

...The club president finally showed up.

Arriving in front of the podium, the young man calmly placed his stuff down and looked at all the students that had come. Smiling he said

"Nice to meet you. I'm Elijah Turner. I am very pleased by your participation in our elective, food exploration."

Elijah Turner, the current president of the elective and a third-year.

As he smiled, apart from Amanda, all the girl's faces flushed red in excitement

Rolling my eyes, I rested my head on my right arm and carefully looked at Elijah. Though the class may be ignorant about his true nature, I wasn't

Elijah Turner was a Villain and professor Thibaut's second in command. Soon, several incidents would happen in the academy, including an incident involving Amanda. Elijah would be the mastermind behind it.

Of course, I had no reason to make trouble for myself by shouting, 'This guy is a Villain alongside Professor Thibaut—!'

They'd probably glare at me and kick me out of the club.

Wasn't worth the effort.

In any case, Elijah had made a pact with a demon that was part of the charm clan, a sub-branch of the demon clan of Lust. In exchange for selling his soul to the demon, he obtained his current appearance and an ability called 'Bewitchment' which was very similar to Donna's enchantment art. The only difference was that it only worked on females, whilst Donna's worked for anyone regardless of gender or race.

Currently, his main goal should be Amanda. Being such a talented individual, alongside her impressive background, the demons highly coveted her.

That was part of the reason why his contractor was a high-ranking demon within the Charm clan despite his talent being on the lower side.

"Since today is the first day, I'll do a brief introduction about myself and what the club consists of"

His charming voice drifted across the classroom pleasantly entering everyone's ears like it was a beautiful note from a fine-tuned instrument. Instantly the eyes of the female students started shining even brighter.

"In food exploration, we research and discuss monster and plant composition. We will look at which monsters and plants are edible, and how they benefit our bodies. The topics that we will cover in this course are, monster identification, methods of cooking, poison extraction, what combinations were most optimal, and plant identification."

"It may sound boring and all, but don't worry as that's just the boring part..."

Smiling brightly, Elijah looked at everyone in the class. As he was looking his eyes slightly paused on Amanda, who was quietly listening to the lecture.

Rolling my eyes, I scoffed at him. 'You think no one noticed you staring at Amanda?'

"...for the fun part, with the permission from the academy, we will be going to different places and taste amazing food!"

A wave of cheers instantly enveloped the class as the male students celebrated the fact that they were able to leave the academy, while the female students cheered for a different reason.

'Food exploration' as odd as it may sound, was one of the most sought-after courses for lower-end academies as not only did it pay well, but it also didn't have as high of a risk compared to dungeon hunting. This was especially tempting for those who didn't have any combat talent. As despite lacking talent in combat, they could still be widely recognized and regarded by most people. The more famous chefs even had celebrity status that rivaled that of most S ranked heroes.

Walking towards the table that was neatly set up in front of the classroom, Elijah pulled his sleeve upwards.

"I'll show you guys a quick demonstration. Let's take a look at this steak. As I'm sure most of you know, this is the meat of a D rank creature 'Man-o-War horse'."

Tapping his ring twice, a large steak appeared on the table. The steak which was the size of a wheel had fine white threats of fat extending like a spiderweb all over the steak reminding me a wagyu steak. Just one look and it was enough for me to start salivating.

Tapping on a button, a holographic image of a large horse popped up for everyone in the class to see. Just like its name suggested, the 'Man-o-War horse' was an evolved version of a horse. Having an enormous body that was as tall as three people, the 'Man-o-War horse' was an extremely strong D rank monster. What made them troublesome was their ferocious and fearsome personalities that would cause them to attack anything at minimal provocation.

"As most of you probably know, the Man-o-War horse is an extremely hard creature to kill let alone capture. If not for the fact that after careful research and analysis we found its weakness, this steak's value would already be in the five digits."

As Elijah talked, a sudden wave of tiredness swept over me. It mostly had to do with the fact that I was overworking myself these days, but it also had to do with the fact that I already knew the contents of the lecture.

"Huaaaaaam…"

A yawn soon escaped from my mouth and the corners of my eyes teared up.

The yawn, which was fairly loud caused Elijah's eyebrows to slightly twitch. Soon every female in the class turned their heads in my direction and hatefully glared at me. It was like they were telling me 'How dare you interrupt our prince when he's speaking?'

Honestly, I wouldn't even be surprised if they attacked me for real if I yawned one more time. The girls had fallen deep.

Only Amanda kept her eyes on the hologram and ignored what was happening around her.

"Cough..."

Elijah let out a dry cough before continuing his explanation.

"Because of the food it consumes, which mainly consists of highly fatty food, the Man-o-War horse's meat as seen here is highly marbelized..."

...

-Ding! -Dong!

50 minutes have passed since then, and finally, the loud sound of the bells signaling the end of the lectures rang. Standing up, I packed up my stuff and prepared to leave. This time I held my impulse to yawn as I didn't want to get attacked by Elijah's crazy fangirls.

You never know how scary fangirls were...

I was on my way to the door when I saw Elijah approaching Amanda. My feet soon stopped.

"Junior Amanda."

"...hm?"

"Here, this is a small gift for entering the elective."

Taking out a small black object from his pocket, Elijah handed it to Amanda.

As I focused a lot on Kevin in the novel, I didn't really know what happened in between the events that led to the incident between Elijah and Amanda...so what he was doing now and what the black box was I had no clue. But I knew he was scheming something. Rather than that being just a gift for joining the elective, Elijah probably handed her something valuable just to strike a good impression with her.

"Ah, yes, thank you."

Amanda took the box and indifferently left the class. That seemed to be the end of their first encounter.

...well that was more anti-climatic than I expected.

Was expecting something more entertaining to be honest, but I guess Elijah was much more patient than I gave him credit for as he just smiled as if nothing happened.

Shaking my head, I walked out of the classroom.

'Well, not like I care anyways.'

All I cared about at the moment was getting stronger. As long as the plotline of the story didn't deviate too much from the main story, I couldn't care less about the minor details.

Walking out of the classroom, I thought for a bit before deciding to go back to my dorm.

I think I deserved a bit of rest. It wouldn't do me any good if I overworked myself.

...

-Click!

Arriving in my dorm, I opened the door and entered.

-Pomf!

Placing my keys on the wall hanger, I lazily slumped on the bed.

-Ding!

"..hm?"

Hearing the sound of a notification coming from my phone, I took my phone out and unlocked the screen.

[Class A25, A24, A23 announcement]

—Dear students we will be going on an excursion two weeks from today. We will be going to Hollberg, and we will visit their famous monster processing plant. The trip will be approximately a week long and thus will require you to come prepared. Read more....

"...ooof"

Lazily throwing my phone on the bed, I couldn't help but feel a massive headache coming my way.

Two weeks from now our entire class will be going to Hollberg, a city two hours away from Ashton city.

The goal of this trip was to let students see how monsters were processed and how they were used to create weapons and artifacts.

It was a very useful class as it helped students understand some of the topics in class better—it was always easier to learn visually rather than theoretically.

...too bad the trip was not as fun as it may seem on the surface.

"Just...ahh"

Thinking about the future that awaits me, a long tired sigh escaped from my mouth as I used my arm to cover my eyes.

"Let's just hope that I won't have to expose myself"

Though I said that, my hopes were low. The trip was definitely one that I would have to participate in even if I didn't want to.

Normally, in my previous world, in order to skip school, I could've faked a sickness or something. But here...the technology was so advanced that pretending to be sick wouldn't work.

With a simple check, the doctor could immediately tell if someone was lying or not.

"Let's hope for the best..."

Chapter 41: Changes happening in the academy [2]

-Clank! -Clank!

The sound of metal clashing together reverberated across the surroundings as individuals could be seen sparring against each other or against the puppets in the training ground.

Not so far from them, in the middle area of the training ground, a lone boy was currently sheathing and unsheathing the katana in his hands.

As this had been a common sight for the past three weeks, no one paid attention to it any longer. They just brushed it off as the guy being crazy.

"I can feel myself reaching the threshold to the minor realm of mastery"

After spending most of my time training and attending classes, a week had passed.

Before I knew it, my level of mastery of the [Keiki style] had improved drastically.

If before I could only execute the first movement once or twice, now I could do it five times before running out of mana.

Gripping the handle of my katana tighter, I emptied my mind and focused on training.

'I must constantly unsheathe the sword in my heart.'

'Draw, slash, draw, slash, and accumulate the mana in my body that was constantly growing stronger as I trained.'

'If I could do this 10,000 times flawlessly without any loss in movement, only then would I achieve the minimum standard required to seamlessly execute the [keiki style]'

Soon everything around me disappeared. The scornful glances from the people around me, the loud sound of people practicing...only me and my mind

Draw the katana, slash out.

Draw the katana, slash out.

Draw the katana, slash out.

As if I was in a trance, I didn't stop until my mana and stamina were completely spent.

Taking a look at my surroundings, it was currently already dark outside. Around me, I could only see the silhouettes of a few individuals training.

-Ding!

Wiping off the sweat that had accumulated on my forehead, I glanced at my phone which was constantly ringing since a while ago.

Turning on my phone the first thing I saw was a large notification in red.

"...It finally happened"

[Breaking news]

—Thobias Church of C.B. pharmaceuticals has been assassinated last night in his high-security apartment. Reports and investigations point the killer to be rank 37 Silent creeper.

Lightly smiling, I turned off my phone and went back to training.

...talk about perfect timing. Was starting to get impatient from my slow progress.

By the end of today, I could finally kiss goodbye to my poor life...well to be honest, as I will spend most of my money on potions the luxurious life that I was dreaming of was still a long stretch away.

Actually, now that I thought about it, wasn't it a bit fucked up that I was celebrating someone's death?

Though I indeed made a lot of money, it was at the expense of someone's life...

Thinking thus far, I slapped my cheeks. He was destined to die anyway, nothing I could do about it. I only took advantage of the inevitable...could I have stopped it? Yes, I could've. But having been in this world for a while now, I realized that compassion was unneeded. It was every man to himself in this world, there was no need for such thing like compassion. If I wanted to be strong, I needed to become apathetic to this sort of stuff as this probably won't be the last time a similar situation happens.

-Ring! -Ring! -Ring!

"...Hm? who could be calling me at this hour?"

Noticing that someone was calling my phone, I went and picked it up. Soon a large smirk appeared on my face.

Picking up the phone, I cheerfully answered.

"~oh my, who could this be?"

[...you—how?]

After a short pause, the person on the other side of the phone spoke. His voice which was usually deep raised a few pitches.

"What are you talking about?"

Cheekily smiling, I teased smallsnake who was on the other side of the phone.

[...sigh, well it doesn't matter. You were right—how do you wish to proceed]

"Hmm, hold it until tomorrow and sell it in the morning as soon the stock exchange opens at 9:30 a.m."

[...but wouldn't it be better if we hold it for a bit longer?]

"Well from a normal person's point of view yes...but well, let's just say that its better if we don't become too greedy and play it safe"

[...Alright, I'll trust you this once]

"Next time you see me I bet you'll get on your feet to kiss my shoes"

[sure, sure, I'll call you later once I've settled everything]

"Aight"

-Tak!

With a grin still plastered on my face, I hung up the phone. I wasn't sure why, but I really enjoyed teasing smallsnake.

"ah, it's about time I headed back"

Collecting my stuff, I deposited my sword back and left for my dorm.

I was in a pretty good mood as I felt that I was only a few days away from reaching the minor real of mastery of my [Keiki style] which would considerably boost my strength.

...

Morning, Saturday.

-Ring! -Ring! -Ring!

Waking me up from my sleep was the constant ringing of my phone.

Lazily stretching my arm, I tapped all over my bed until I finally felt a small rectangular object on my hand.

Unlocking the phone, I answer the call

"...Hello? who's this?"

Hearing my groggy voice, the other person on the phone paused slightly and asked

[It's me...Did you just wake up?]

"Yea.."

[Ah sorry about that but I came to tell you some good news]

"What good news?"

[After removing all the fees your total profit stands at 14,673 million U]

"...that's a lot of money"

[Is that seriously how a normal person reacts to having just made this much money?]

"ah, well I'm still quite sleepy so it still hasn't hit me yet...but is that all you called me for?"

[No, there's a bigger issue at hand]

"What?"

Sitting up on my bed, I held the phone closer to my ear.

[Sorry but its not safe if I tell you on the phone as someone might tap on our conversation]

"...is it that serious?"

[...yes]

Hearing Smallsnake's solemn voice I let out a long breath and said

"Okay, when do you plan to meet up?"

[How about tomorrow at Epsilon cafe in Refton road, 10 a.m?]

"...yeah, okay, I'll see you then"

-Tak!

Hanging up the phone I pinched the middle of my brows for a couple of seconds before finally letting out a long sigh.

...this was going to be a long week.

...

Washing up, I headed outside my dorm.

Looking at my bank account that was now 14 million U heavier, a smirk appeared on my face. Was this how it felt to be rich?

Not bad...

"Where are you headed to?"

"Section C please"

"Okay"

Sitting inside a minibus, I patiently waited for the driver to start the engine.

Right now I was headed to the C section of the campus which was quite far from where I was staying.

...now that I had enough money, it was about time that I finally get in contact with the person that could provide me with below-market priced potions.

I sort of dreaded this moment.

Let's just say that the person I was going to interact with was very...hm, quirky?

"Section C? Which area?"

"Northside please"

"Alright, we'll arrive in fifteen minutes"

Starting the engine, the van soon sped off into the distance.

Sighing, I looked outside of the window.

These days I was sighing quite a lot. With everything that was going on, I couldn't get one moment of peace.

Staring at the constantly changing scenery, my stomach slightly churned due to nervousness.

What I was about to do next would either make or break me.

...let's just hope everything goes well.

"We're here"

Right on cue, the van stopped in front of a large facility.

"Thank you"

Thanking the driver I walked towards the facility.

Large metal fences covered the facility, where enormous buildings could be seen behind them. The sheer size of the buildings caused me to gape in awe.

"Stop"

Arriving at the entrance of the facility, two guards appeared before me. They were wearing black uniforms with the school insignia imprinted on their chests. They had black military hats and exuded strong pressure.

I'd estimate them to be at around rank D or less, as although the pressure they exuded was strong, it wasn't to the point that made me feel overwhelmed.

Handing one of the guards my student ID card, they scanned it briefly and after everything checked out, they granted me entry.

-Shlup!

Arriving in front of the main building of section C, two transparent retractable doors opened up.

A wave of cold refreshing air coming from the AC instantly hit me.

The interior of the building was very modern and slick. The most dominant color was white, and everything was decorated with a simplistic design.

Arriving in front of the reception of the building, a beautiful young lady smiled at me.

"How may I help you?"

"...er, I would like to meet Melissa Hall please"

The smile of the young clerk lady instantly disappeared. What replaced it was a look of slight disgust as she coldly said

"I'm sorry but this is a research facility, not a place where you can come as you please to court Melissa. Frankly, you're not the first one that has tried this and you probably won't be the last one...and let me be honest with you. You're not qualified"

Being berated by the young clerk lady, my eye twitched a couple of times.

'How did it turn out like this?'

"..err, I am not here to court her"

Hearing what I said, the young lady smirked and proceeded to cross her arms

"Oh? so what are you here for? "

She didn't believe me at all...

"I'm actually her classmate and I have a business proposition for her"

"...oh wow. This is the third person that has used this excuse"

Hearing her sarcastic voice, veins started bulging from my forehead. Taking a deep breath to calm myself down I said

"fuuu...can you just relay it to her, if she denies me I'll just leave"

"he he, fine"

Laughing lightly, the young clerk lady picked up the phone on the counter and dialed a number.

"What's your name?"

"...Ren Dover"

"Alright"

[...Hello?]

Answering the call, a crisp and pleasant voice entered the young girl's ear.

"Hey Melissa, it's me, Rosie"

[Rosie from reception...?]

"Yes."

[How can I help you?]

"I got someone here that insists on meeting you"

[...why did you call me for this? You know that I don't care about this sort of stuff. Just send him out]

Covering the speaker of the phone, Rosie leaned forwards and smiled triumphantly at me.

"You heard her"

Rolling my eyes, I said

"Just tell her I have something important to tell her"

"He says he's got something important to say"

[Don't care, if that's all I'll hang up...by the way, what is the name of the student that is trying to meet me?]

"Err...if I don't remember wrong it's something along the lines of...Bend over?"

[...]

"..."

Multiples veins popped on my forehead as I tried my best not to assault her.

Seeing my reaction, Rosie stuck her tongue out and said

"...ops, I made I mistake I meant Ren Dover"

[...let him in]

"See she doesn't want to...eh? Did I hear wrongly?"

[No, let him in]

-Tak!

Before Rosie could finish speaking, Melissa hung up the phone leaving her there dumbfoundedly staring at her phone.

'What's going on? Doesn't Melissa usually detest interacting with people?'

A million questions entered her mind as she stood rooted on her spot.

"Well, well, well, look at how the roles have reversed miss Rosie"

Smirking, I looked at Rosie who seemed to be lost in her own world.

"You-what did you do?"

Pointing at me, Rosie looked at me as if I performed some sort of witchcraft

"Nothing really...hey, why are you backing away from me?"

As I was speaking I noticed Rosie backing away from me. Almost as if she was scared of me. Wait don't tell me she really believes I did something to Melissa?

"...cough, nothing really, just getting your pass"

Awkwardly coughing, Rosie quickly handed me a card and shooed me away.

Looking back at the reception strangely, I shook my head and made my way towards Melissa's lab. I couldn't be bothered to fix this misunderstanding.

Fortunately, there was a mini GPS map on the card that Rosie gave me, preventing me from getting lost.

Soon I was in front of a large metal door.

-Knock!

Knocking once, I nervously waited for the door to open.

To be honest, I wasn't expecting to be let through this easily. I was prepared to spill some of my secrets and hook her into meeting me, but before I could even take out one of my trump cards Melissa allowed me to meet her.

...Something was fishy.

Chapter 42: Changes happening in the academy [3]

Sitting down on a large white table, I nervously drank the cup of water in front of me.

...If I said I wasn't nervous at the moment that would be a lie. In fact, my back was drenched in sweat.

That was because sitting in front of me was—Melissa Hall, one of the main protagonists

Wearing the azure blue uniform provided by the academy, Melissa sat down in front of me.

She was currently elegantly drinking the hot tea that was provided by a servant standing behind her.

...which by the way was glaring in my direction.

Taking a quick look at her one word came into my mind.

'Beautiful'

She had smooth and milky skin that did not have any flaws. Most notably, her most dazzling feature was her pair of large enchanting light blue eyes that were further emphasized by her thinly framed glasses. As she sat in front of me, a cold and arrogant aura expanded from her graceful body making it seem as if anything was beneath her.

"What are you staring so absent-mindedly at?"

"..eh?"

Waking me up from my stupor was Melissa's annoyed voice as she put her teacup down.

"Had I known you were mentally challenged, I wouldn't have bothered meeting you"

"..."

Feeling a slight tap on her shoulder, Melissa's eyes slightly twitched "Oh my, it seems like my tongue has slipped. Please find it within your heart to forgive this pitiful lady"

"..."

"tch"

Clicking her tongue, Melissa slightly glared at her servant behind her. Seeing that he remained unfazed, crossing her arms and legs, she then proceeded to look at me

"When most guys lay their eyes upon me, they shower me with praises and tell me how my beauty is unmatched throughout the whole academy"

"At least it seems you're not one of those corny guys..."

"Don't worry, if you just state your purpose and leave right after, I might make a slight effort in remembering your name"

...yup, this prickly personality. It was definitely her alright.

This was exactly why I tried my best to avoid her.

If not for the fact that she was the only one that could provide me with cheap high-quality potions, I would've never for the love of God even have bothered talking to her.

"Ah but, If you're here looking for a chance to date me then you might as well pack up your stuff and leave. I don't talk to the delusional"

"No, thank you"

Stopping her right before she could continue speaking any further abuse, I went straight to the point.

"I'm here to make a deal"

"...oh? A deal? Is this your roundabout way of asking me for a date?"

"It's a business proposition"

Though she was skeptical, Melissa paused and allow me to speak

"...go on"

"I would like Melissa Hal-khuk"

Before I could finish my sentence a strong pressure started emanating from Melissa as her sharp eyes looked down on me. Because of how sudden this was, I was caught off guard. Raising my hand up, I said

"...let me finish"

"Watch your words carefully"

"I would like for you, Melissa Hall to sell me the potions that you've made"

"...oh?"

Carefully scrutinizing me up and down, she shook her head in disappointment.

"The only reason I came here was because you slightly interested me. I mean you were the guy that came up with the mana poisoning theory"

"...ah thank you"

"Funnily enough, I was also doing similar research—too bad I was only missing the experimentation phase"

...shit

So that's who came up with the mana poisoning solution...no wonder her servant was glaring at me. Honestly, since then professor Rombhouse has always pestered me non-stop regarding the theory. It was only after I thoroughly explained the theory behind it that he finally relented and let me be.

"I thought that you wanted to talk to me about something important...but it seems like I got the wrong idea about you. Let me be clear, I am not your potion salve"

Standing up, Melissa prepared to leave.

"It was nice knowing you..err, whatever you are called"

"Wait"

Seeing her leave, I immediately tried to call for her only to be ignored. Just as she was about to open the door, I finally decided to release the bait that I had planned to use from the beginning.

"...oh well it's really too bad...and here I was thinking of helping you solve Slovaki's monster energy transfer theory..tut, tut, tut, what a pity"

Halting her steps, Melissa looked back at me.

"You...you, what did you say?"

Gritting her teeth and clenching her hands, Melissa glared in my direction only to be left speechless as I laid my feet on the table and nonchalantly picked my ear.

Looking up, and seeing Melissa I said

"Ehh? I thought you were leaving? Shoo, shoo, if you're leaving then just leave. You don't need to take pity on me"

Seeing that I got a reaction from her, I continued with my act. With a person like her, if you didn't take the initiative then you would stand to lose more than you could gain.

Waving my hand to shoo her away, I took out my phone and started a game.

-Bam!

Smacking her hand on the table, Melissa smilingly looked at me.

...well her mouth was smiling but her eyes weren't.

"Oh? I thought you were leaving?"

"...I had a change of heart"

"Well isn't that great!"

Putting my phone back in my pocket, I returned to my serious self. If I really pushed her too much, then I wouldn't even know how I died.

"kheum..kheumm, so do we have a deal?"

"...How do I know you're not lying?"

Squinting her eyes, Melissa once again exuded her pressure over me.

...to be fair, it wasn't actually that much. She was probably around the same level of strength as me at the moment...maybe I was stronger? But well...it wasn't something that I should be proud of since combat wasn't her expertise.

"How about this, I'll give you half of the theory beforehand and the other half once the deal is done"

"hmmm...but what if the second half doesn't work?"

Rolling my eyes, I said

"Do you really think I have the balls to give you some nonfunctioningtheory?"

"...Good point"

Gesturing her servant behind her, Melissa took out her tablet and started writing a contract. We soon spent the next fifteen minutes agreeing on the terms of the contract.

"This okay?"

"yup, everything seems good"

Looking at the contents of the contract, I nodded in satisfaction.

Basically in exchange for my research Melissa would provide me with intermediate potions, provided that I would pay for the cost of the raw materials. The potions that she would make included [Stamina recovery potion] [Muscle recovery potion] [Strenght enhancement potion] and so on...

Potions were graded from Low, mid, intermediate, high, advanced, and premium, with each grade being a major improvement on the last.

Before, the potions I always used were low leveled ones, hence why they were cheap. But now thanks to Melissa's fine skills, I could use Intermediate potions at prices far below the current market price.

"Then sign it"

Seeing the smirk that had appeared on my face, Melissa's mouth twitched as she urged me to sign the contract. She could hope for nothing more but to wipe the smile off my face.

Tapping on the tablet, a holographic paper appeared before me. Using my finger I swiftly signed the virtual paper.

"...alright hold your end of the deal"

"Okay"

Taking out a small USB from my bag I handed it to Melissa. Inside of the USB was the first half of the Slovaki monster energy transfer theory.

To summarize what it was, it was basically a theory that proved that monster cores were created by monsters accumulating energy inside of their bodies.

Though what I handed Melissa was not perfect it had all the correct concepts and data to prove the theory...a lot of scientific terms and data were missing, but with the aid of the web I made the research somewhat presentable. Plus a genius like Melissa could easily understand what was inferred from the paper.

This theory was extremely important to Melissa and the world because if she could somehow, with the aid of theory, produce an artificial core it would create a major scientific breakthrough.

Cores would no longer be something that could only be found if someone was lucky...just the levels at which humanity would develop would drastically increase the chances of the world surviving.

...well, to be honest, even though she was one step closer to her dream of creating an artificial core, she was still missing the crucial piece...but I wasn't going to help her with regards to that.

If she pushed through the full theory regarding the creation of artificially created cores, then she would undoubtedly die. When she pushed this theory forward in the novel, it was already the late stages of the novel and she was strong enough to defend herself against S ranked villains.

Because of how world-shaking artificial cores were, demons did everything they possibly could to try to kill whoever was responsible for creating them. They used every means possible to eliminate any traces of this theory from existing...It was that much of a threat.

...if Melissa were to be subjected to this at this point in the novel then god knows what the consequences would be.

I had already taken a huge risk by giving her the Slovaki's monster energy transfer theory. Though this would have little to no impact on the story, it was better to reduce any possible liabilities.

...yup. I scammed her.

"Tch, what did you say your name was?"

"Ren Dover"

"...Ren Dover"

Repeating the name a few times, Melissa looked at me dead in the eyes and said

"Do you know what's the scary part about women?"

Feeling the atmosphere become tense I took a step back

"...what if I don't want to know?"

"It's the fact that we never forget our grudges..."

"Personally, I always pay my debt back...with interest"

-Gulp!

Hearing her words, I involuntarily swallowed a mouthful of saliva. As I was the author, I knew she wasn't lying. If she set her mind to something she will try to achieve it regardless of what stood in her way.

"Hehe, I had heard the famed name of Melissa hall, the most beautiful, charming, and generous woman in the whole academy."

"Oh my, would you look at that, it seems like time is tight and must go to my appointment. Let's get along with each other and not hold grudges haha"

Pretending to look at my watch, I came up with an excuse and immediately left. Staying any longer would only spell bad news for me.

...

Watching Ren leave, Melissa's face darkened.

Arriving next to Melissa and noticing her expression, her servant asked

"Miss, do you want me to deal with him?"

Thinking for a moment, she shook her head

"...forget about it, I still need my second part of the theory and it's not like I didn't benefit from this deal"

Though she said that, Melissa was fuming.

To actually dare take advantage of her like that...

Melissa suppressed the fury rising from her heart and engraved the man's name in her head.

Ren Dover, Ren Dover.

Congratulations, you have succeeded in making me remember your name.

Chapter 43: Conflicts within the academy [1]

-Pak! -Pak! -Pak!

Inside of a large spacious room, a lone figure bounced around a punching bag. His figure seemed to melt with the shadows around the room, appearing and disappearing constantly.

Each time his figure emerged from the shadows his fist would instantly connect with the punching bag resulting in a small indentation appearing on the bag.

The force of each punch was so strong that small shockwaves were released every time he hit the punching bag.

If not for the fact that the material used for making the punching bag was unique, it would've already been broken a dozen times over.

"Huff, huff, huff"

Stopping, the figure's body which seemed to be sculpted to perfection, heavily gulped for air.

Droplets of sweat dripped all over his shirtless figure, giving him a wild and manly aura.

Taking a water bottle from the ground, the handsome figure took big gulps of water. Soon he exhaled in satisfaction. After drinking his fill, the figure dropped to the ground exhausted and leaned on the wall.

-Knock! -Knock!

Hearing the sound of someone knocking, the figure indifferently spoke

"...Come in"

Soon the door opened, revealing the features of a burly individual whose hair was cut in a buzzcut. His towering figure that looked to be nearing 2 meters made him look intimidating.

"Young master Jin, I heard you called me"

Apatethically nodding his head, Jin slowly stood up and grabbed a towel from a nearby table.

Drying his wet hair, he slowly approached Arnold who stood with his back straight and breathing lightly, not daring to even make a sound.

-Bam!

Arriving beside Arnold, Jin punched his stomach with all his might, causing Arnold's body to bend over as his eyes shot wide open.

"Guuuaah...ghhh..khhh"

"To actually be unable to deal with a mere bug"

Disdainfully looking at Arnold, Jin threw the towel that was drenched in his sweat at his face.

"Stand up"

"khh"

Holding his stomach, Arnold slowly stood up as Jin ordered.

"...To think you would resort to such stupid tricks to harass someone that isn't even worth my notice"

"B-but!"

"Shut up"

Jin's mood was terrible.

Recalling the lone figure sitting on the right side of the classroom, Jin's teeth clenched.

Ren. Ren Dover.

That was the name of the student that fouled his mood.

Previously, he didn't really put Ren in his sight. He only knew that Arnold had a slight grudge against him...But just recently he received a certain piece of news that irked him.

It told him that Melissa had granted Ren a meeting with her, and moreover, it seemed that they talked for over ten minutes.

Not even he could talk to Melissa for that long despite the fact that they were living in the same dorm.

With a dark face, Jin said

"I'll ask Troy to deal with him...at least he can finish the job"

Hearing Troy's name being mention, Arnold immediately protested

"Please let me!"

"...oh?"

Seeing Arnold's determination, Jin couldn't help but glance at him.

"What makes you think you can do it after failing already?"

"Because Kevin was the one that prevented me from finishing the mission"

"...hm I guess you're right"

Patting Arnold in the shoulder, Jin gloomily said

"Make sure you make his life is miserable..."

"Yes"

Nodding solemnly, Arnold left the training room.

-Baaam!

-Tsshhhhh

Soon after Arnold left the room, Jin walked back to the punching machine and punched it with all his might. A large shockwave swept the room and fine granules of sand started falling from the sack as a tear appeared on it.

"...How dare you approach Melissa!"

...

"Whew, I thought I was lost."

After switching buses four times, I finally arrived at the appointed location. A large fancy board with the words <<Epsilon cafe>> imprinted on it immediately caught my attention.

Entering the cafe, instantly the heavy scent of coffee hit my nostrils. Wooden chairs and tables spread all over the cafe. A relaxed and tranquil atmosphere enveloped the place promoting me to relax along with the atmosphere.

Looking around I soon found smallsnake

Wearing a black baseball cap and a mask, smallsnake sat in the corner of the café. I was easily able to find him because he was wearing exactly what he used to wear whenever he would meet Kevin.

Taking note of that, I went and ordered an iced latté

After paying and receiving my latté I headed to where smallsnake was.

We had agreed beforehand that we both must order a latté beforehand in order to make sure we got the right person. Since our faces were covered, we had no idea how we looked like so this was the easiest method.

"Yooo"

Comfortably sitting on the green sofa in front of smallsnake I placed my latté down and hung my arm on the side of the sofa.

Seeing me sit down, smallsnake placed his drink down and looked at me strangely

"...are you wearing a face mask?"

"Nope"

Hearing my straightforward response, smallsnake sighed and shook his head.

"Aren't you afraid I will rat you out and keep all the money you made?"

"Nope, I have a good eye for people and my instincts are telling me that you're not a person that would rat me out for small gains"

Well, I wasn't lying when I said I had a good eye for people. Knowing my novel very well I knew exactly what kind of person he was...it's just that he didn't need to know this part.

"I wouldn't really call those small gains though...you're weird"

Laughing lightly, smallsnake shook his head and slowly took off his hat and mask.

"If you're willing to trust me that much, I might as well reciprocate"

Soon his face was revealed. He had short black hair, deep green eyes, and a childish-looking face. However, despite his childish features, his demeanor was nothing but childish. He felt like someone who had gone through many ups and downs in his life. Someone that had survived many years in the most unimaginable places on earth...

"I'm glad I've gained your trust...so what did you call me here for?"

Taking a sip of my latté I went straight to the point.

Looking around, smallsnake leaned forward and whispered

"...A third party is looking for my traces"

"The authorities?"

"No, I've been very careful and though the authorities are indeed trying to trace me they are not doing it as aggressively as the other party"

"hmmm"

Leaning back on my sofa, I contemplated for a bit before saying

"It should be W.V. Pharmaceuticals"

"I also thought the same but I don't have concrete proof"

"No, it's them"

"...what makes you so sure about that?"

"Well, it's because they were the ones that ordered for Thobias Church's death"

"What!?"

Abruptly standing up, smallsnake raised his voice and looked at me in disbelief

"oy, calm down"

Seeing everyone staring in our direction, I lightly sighed and urged him to sit down.

"...you, how do you know?"

"Relax, I am not part of them if that's what your thinking"

Taking a sip of my latté I stared at smallsnake who was sitting up straight and eagerly waiting for me to continue speaking.

"If you wanna know how I got the information I'm sorry but that's confidential"

Even if I wanted to tell him who told me, I couldn't. It's not like I could explain to him that he was merely a side character of a world that I had created.

Lightly disappointed, smallsnake said

"No I get it, but is what you said real?"

"100%"

Since I was the one who wrote about the event I obviously knew who did it. W.V the second largest company hired silent creeper to kill Thobias Church. The reason why he was able to kill him without any trace was because they had planted a mole inside of C.B and made use of the mole to help silent creeper kill Thobias church.

The reason why they got rid of him was obvious...they wanted to be the number one. Having been overshadowed ever since opening, the higherups had decided they had enough. Since they couldn't defeat them legally, they resorted to killing their best researcher.

"...what are you planning on doing with this information?"

"Nothing"

"eh?"

Raising his voice, smallsnake looked at me as if he was looking at an idiot.

I mean who wouldn't want to capitalize on this piece of news to make even more money? If I could prove that W.V was behind Thobias Church's death then the stock of W.V would plummet. Moreover, with my newly acquired funds, the amount of money I would make would be frightening.

"...first off and more importantly, I don't have any proof. Even if I know that W.V is behind it, I can't do anything about it since I can't prove my claim"

"That's true"

"Secondly, if we do release the news about what had happened then the pharmaceutical market will completely crash resulting in prices for potions to increase drastically"

Nodding, smallsnake thought for a bit and agreed with what I had said.

Even if we did manage to release the news and prove that W.V pharmaceuticals were guilty it would cause total chaos in the industry resulting in prices for potions inflating drastically. Simply put, no one wanted that. I would gain nothing from it, and quite possibly, the thought of interacting with Melissa once again to renegotiate the prices of potions sent shivers down my spine.

"...okay, then I better leave now. Since I know who the party is I no longer need to worry about being discovered"

"Alright"

Standing up, I took my half-empty latté and left the café with smallsnake. Soon we split up.

Checking my watch and seeing that I still had quite a bit of free time I decided to roam around and see if there was anything that could catch my interest.

Though the streets weren't busy, I could see people going in and out of shops everywhere. There was a single road where cars passed and on the right and left side of the road shops filled the streets.

Large billboards with beautiful ladies and handsome men could be seen everywhere as they each advertised different products. Perfume, toys, clothing, you name it, they had it all.

"...hm?"

Stopping, I looked at a large fluorescent sign.

<<Antique shop>>

"Antique shop? I wonder if they have anything interesting here."

-Dling! -Dling!

Opening the door, the bells on the door lightly tolled. Instantly a heavy scent of wood hit my nostrils reminding me of my grandparent's house back in my previous world. It smelled funky.

"Welcome"

Greeting me was an old man with a large grey beard and a set of white hair. Nodding in his direction I looked around.

Instantly my interest was piqued. Everything in here were things that I used to use back on earth.

Since this was the year 2055, everything was far more advanced to the things I was used to back on earth, meaning that what I used to use was considered ancient in this day and age. In the corner of the room, I could see magazines and newspapers, consoles, and other things that I used to use.

Seeing all of these things around the room caused me to feel a bit of nostalgia.

"Oh!"

As I was looking around a certain item instantly caught my attention. Picking it up a wide smile appeared on my face

"Great choice! one of my personal favorites"

Appearing behind me the shopowner stroked his beard a couple of times as he looked at the item in my hand.

"How much is this?"

"Mhh...considering that the company that makes that device is no longer around I would say 500U"

"500U?"

Looking at the Mp3 in my hand, a conflicted look appeared on my face. I mean paying 500U for an Mp3 in this day and age wasn't something that any sane person would do...but I couldn't help but be tempted.

This was especially so when I noticed that it came with its own wired earphones.

You heard me right. wired earphones.

Before I reincarnated, my world was already starting to transition from wired earphones to wireless earbuds. To be honest I tried wireless earbuds before but they weren't my thing.

As I loved listening to music to pass time, I bought myself some wireless earbuds in this world but it just wasn't the same...

"Alright, I'll buy it"

"Great choice"

Smiling from ear to ear, the shopkeeper immediately went to the register and swiped my card.

Soon after the transaction ended, I left the shop. Opening my new mp3, I was surprised with the fact that it already had its own playlist on it.

Scrolling through the numerous songs, I stopped on one and put on my earbuds.

=====================

Seven nation army

The white stripes

0:00 ▶----------------------- 3:52

+ Volume -

=====================

Ignoring the weird stares coming in my direction, I happily went back to the academy listening to my new mp3.

Chapter 44: Conflicts within the academy [2]

Inside a dark and damp room, a young individual kneeled on one leg on the floor.

"Matriarch the preparations are complete, the bait has been thrown"

Lifting his head up, a red throne met his sight. Besides the red throne, two large ferocious dog-like creatures sat on the ground. Their eyes were of a deep shade of red, and their teeth were extremely sharp causing his blood to freeze.

Sitting neatly on the red thorny throne, was a gorgeous woman. She was wearing a gorgeous long red dress, whose hem was beautified with marvelous drawings and patterns. Her dress was a deep shade of red and showed off her exquisite body. Her black hair gently fell all the way from her shoulders to her waist. Her red, succulent lips had a cold smile as she tapped the armchair of her throne.

"...good"

Her enchanting voice that sounded crisp and pleasant traveled to the young individuals ears causing him to fall into a slight daze.

Looking at her, the young individual couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva as he tried his best to calm his raging heart.

His eyesight slightly lingered on her gorgeous gown that emphasized her perfect figure. Her sexy figure was extremely charming that it could make any men's heart pound harder. her bare feet seemingly made of porcelain and flawless further increased her sexiness. However if not for the two black horns on her head he would've mistaken her for a human.

Realizing that he had been staring for too long, the young individual forcefully looked down on the ground as cold sweat dripped from his back. Though he couldn't deny that the figure before him was extremely enchanting, if by chance he got on the wrong side of her...death would be the best outcome.

"If it weren't for that idiot Everblood we wouldn't have needed to push our plans this far ahead"

Pouting slightly, the demoness calmly petted the two dogs before her. Soon silence enveloped the surroundings.

"Matriarch when should we initiate the plan?"

Breaking the silence the young youth spoke.

Thinking for a bit, the 'Matriarch' looked at the boy before her before saying

"...mhhh, let's take it slowly. Though Everblood failed we still have some time. You should first try to capture our target"

"As you wish Matriarch"

Nodding his head, the young boy placed his left hand on his right peck and bowed.

"Good boy"

Smiling slightly, the Matriarch looked at the young handsome boy before her.

'Elijah Turner'

That was the name of the young boy before her.

Though she was forced to make a pact with him due to certain circumstances, after having contracted with him for over a year she had taken a liking to him. Though he was not very talented, he was very obedient...and she liked that a lot

Pausing slightly, the Matriarch looked at the young boy as an overbearing pressure bore down on him causing his legs to slightly falter.

"...ah, but I do hope you won't fail me. We can't have another setback interfering with our big plan"

"U-nderstood"

Struggling to move or speak, it took the boy all his willpower to agree with the Matriarch

"ku ku ku, what a cute little boy"

Laughing lightly, the pressure soon disappeared and the young boy was finally able to move freely.

"Here"

Throwing a purple fruit at the boy who was panting heavily, the Matriarch amusingly looked at him who was desperately reaching for the fruit.

"T-thank you!"

Excitedly grabbing the fruit, the boy instantly devoured it.

"Ahhhhhhh!"

Soon black veins emerged all over his body, as he squirmed on the ground. His muscles spasmed intensely and his nails grew longer and then returned to normal.

Demon fruit

That was the name of the fruit that Elijah had just consumed.

Because he was not very talented. In order for him to not expose his identity, he had to consume the demon fruit.

The demon fruit, previously known as the world fruit, was a fruit harvested from the world tree which used to belong to the elves. After having conquered the elves' home planet, the demons successfully managed to corrupt the world tree turning it into the demon tree which bore fruit to the demon fruits.

Upon consumption, the demon fruit allowed lower-ranked demons' bloodlines to become purer. That alone went to show how important the fruit was for the demons.

With it, the demon clans managed to drastically increase their strength.

Another function that the demon fruit had was that it allowed contracted humans, villains, to have a boost in talent. Moreover, it also strengthened the bond between the parties. If someone like Elijah whose talent was on the lower end of the spectrum consumed the fruit, then his appearance not only improved but also didn't change like it was supposed to after having made the contract.

Because of the high demand and limited supply, the demon fruit was extremely sought after by the demons. The fact that they were giving it to Elijah went to show how important his mission was.

"Alright you may go"

"Thank you"

Bowing once again, the young boy left the room. Soon after he left, a shadow materialized beside the Matriarch. Because it was dark, its features were hidden preventing anyone but the Matriarch from seeing how it looked like.

"Are you sure it's okay to let him do the mission alone?"

Smiling lightly, the Matriarch looked at where the young boy was and said

"Well if he isn't capable of this much...He's better off dead, though it would be a problem if he died after having invested so much in him"

...

-Riiiiip

Opening the large box that had arrived early in the morning, I excitedly looked through the contents.

"As expected of Melissa"

The box was filled with potions.

Only three days had passed since I requested Melissa to make me the potions, and yet in that short amount of time, she managed to fulfill my request and sent me all of the potions I commissioned her to make for me.

...honestly, I was impressed.

Though what was less impressive was the fact that I had to fork out a total of 6 million U just for the raw materials alone.

But looking at the high-quality potions in the box, the pain I felt from spending so much money instantly disappeared. Soon, I started taking out all of the potions from the box.

"sixteen [Mana recovery potions], eight [Strenght enhancement potions], eight [stamina recovery potions], nine...."

Counting all the potions to make sure nothing was missing, I organized the potions in different batches, each on the type of potions they were.

Because they were all transparent and only had labels with Melissa's writing if I didn't sort them out I could potentially consume the wrong one.

...well, yes I did in fact expect potions to have all different types of colors, but I was wrong. Reality was harsh and all potions looked like water, moreover, they came inside of test tubes and not some fancy flask like in games.

...scam I say!

After sorting out the potions and making sure nothing was missing, I stood up and prepared to attend classes.

Though I couldn't wait to try a potion right now, I could only hold my impulse back and go to class. When taking a potion, if one wasn't focusing enough, then they might hurt themselves. That's why it was better for me to consume them once I had time to spare.

"hm...what am I missing?"

Looking around the room, I noticed my mp3 on my desk and immediately took it with me.

These past few days I had cemented my position as the weirdo in the class.

Not only did the way I trained looked ridiculous to everyone in the class, including teachers, but I also had no friends. A month in, and everyone in the class had pretty much formed their own clique or had at least one friend, yet I didn't even have a person to talk to let alone call an acquaintance. I was a total anti-social loner in the eyes of everyone in my class.

To make matters worse, now that I was using an ancient-looking device accompanied by wired earphones, which had gone extinct since three decades ago, my position as the class weirdo became as stable as Mount Tai.

...Honestly, I wasn't too sure how to feel about this. To me, I looked absolutely normal, but well...I couldn't just go to them and tell them I reincarnated into a novel and back in my previous world this was normal, could I?

Sighing at my miserable life, I took the keys and made my way to the door.

-Click!

Closing the door to my room, I put my earphones on and hurried my steps.

...couldn't afford to be late, else I could kiss graduating goodbye.

...

Today's class lecture had ended later than usual, and after being subjected to Donna's cold treatment I was finally able to free myself from class.

Though I could barely feel my legs, I still had to drag my body to my elective class. After the elective was over, I had to do my daily workout. Just thinking about that made me depressed. If I knew this would happen, I would've asked Melissa to make more [Stamina enhancement] potions. My shoes had already started wearing out from how much I was overworking myself

…In any case, I was currently heading to the elective clubroom. Perhaps because I tended to have bad luck when meeting the main characters, but...Amanda was walking a few meters ahead of me.

Being behind her I could instantly catch a whiff of her rose-like scent. It was a bit of an awkward walk as we were heading in the same direction without speaking to each other. From another person's point of view, it would've looked like I was stalking her. I mean she was stunning.

Fortunately, we soon arrived inside the classroom and sat in the same seats as we did in the previous class.

By the time we arrived, Elijah Turner, the club president, was already standing on the podium going through some papers. Carefully flipping the pages, he seemed to be organizing today's lecture notes.

Not long after, the room was filled to the brim as the rest of the students entered the class. However contrary to the previous class where everyone sat wherever they wanted, today's class was separated into three different groups, first, second and third years.

'...It seems like the relationship between juniors and seniors was starting to get progressively sour with each passing day.'

I thought as I looked at how the first years were being avoided by the senior years.

At eight on the dot, Elijah began his lecture.

"Good afternoon, everyone. It seems like a lot of you ha…"

As he talked, most of the stuff coming from his mouth went into one ear and left from the other. I couldn't be bothered to pay attention to his idle chatter.

Fortunately, I had learned my lesson and held my yawn back. Though the fact that tears started streaming from my cheeks after ten minutes didn't help me hide the fact that I wanted to yawn.

"Today we will talk about the plant kingdom. As most of you know, once mana entered our planet not only did we and beasts evolved but plants did too. Essentially all living beings on this planet started to evolve...Though most plants have no sentience don't look down on plants as some of them evolved into terrifying things that even SS ranked heroes would want to avoid at all costs. For example, if we look at some of the most powerful plants out there, the tree ents, they had evolved from regular trees to A rank monsters that when in groups could cause trouble to some of the most experienced heroes out there. This goes to..."

Though I knew most of the stuff I still paid attention to it as it wasn't as detailed as the information that Elijah was teaching.

"...have you guys understood?"

Looking around the class, Elijah repeatedly asked questions to every student to make sure they were paying attention. Looking around and seeing that everyone nodded, Elijah smiled in satisfaction and said

"Alright then, I guess it's time we call it quits for today"

The lecture had lasted a total of one hour. Unexpectedly, there was a lot to learn like the weakness of some plants, which areas to avoid, and the difference between physical plants and nonphysical plants, e.g. ones that attacked directly and the ones that used poison. I learned in detail about things I had neglected to explain in my novel, all the while I watched cute female students throwing flirtatious glances at Elijah.

Rejoicing at the fact that I no longer had to listen to him, I prepared to leave the class but before I could leave I heard his voice addressing the whole class.

"If anyone is interested since today is our first lecture I will be hosting an after-party. It'll be great if you can come!"

"...eh?"

This wasn't in the novel

There was no such thing as an afterparty in the novel at this point in time.

"....hm? Amanda is not rejecting it?"

Amanda who was usually indifferent to everything nodded at Elijah and verbally confirmed her participation.

What's going on?

Wasn't she supposed to be indifferent to everything? What happened?

As I was looking at Amanda with a stupefied look, I didn't notice that two eyes were sharply looking in my direction. By the time I noticed I found Elijah standing two meters away from me smiling.

"Student are you interested in joining us?"

"...err, sure?"

"Great, we will be leaving in an hour so make sure you go back to your dorm and get ready"

Smiling, Elijah turned around and talked to the other students.

To be honest I agreed to join them on an impulse as I was starting to get worried for Amanda. A scenario that had never happened in the novel was starting right now.

I have a feeling that as of today my peaceful low-key life was going to take a turn for the worst...

Chapter 45: A not so joyous after-party [1]

After finishing her last class, food exploration, Amanda went back to her room. Along the way, people would try to strike a conversation with her, but she promptly ignored them.

Arriving in her room, the first thing she did was sit on her sofa and pick up a book. Since she had about an hour to pass, in order to pass time, she decided to do the only thing she could think of. Read a book.

...only when reading a book did she feel a sense of belonging.

Amanda's family circumstances were a bit special

Her father, Edward Stern, Guild master of the 'Demon Hunter' guild and Hero rank 25 'Frost of remorse', was rarely home.

Her real mother left when she was two. She couldn't handle all the pressure that came from being the wife of such an important figure.

The only memory Amanda had of her was her lonely silhouette walking down a long road as heavy rain poured from the sky. That was the day she left their home.

Amanda wanted to reach out for her…but not once did the figure ever turn back to look at her. That memory was forever etched deep inside of the young Amanda.

Because of that, ever since she was two, she was raised by her father and her nanny

That being said, due to the nature of her father's work, he would rarely be able to come back on time to spend time with her.

Whenever he did have time, Amanda remembered him rubbing her head with his large warm hand.

Too bad those moments only lasted a couple of seconds…

In the end, the person that raised her was her nanny.

She would often tell her stories and fairy tales of princesses getting kidnapped to later get saved by a charming white prince.

She too wanted to be a princess…

Back then, Amanda didn't really understand what princesses went through when they get kidnapped.

But later on in her life, she did.

The first time she was kidnapped she was seven years old.

At the time she only remembered hearing voices. Her vision was obstructed. Tight roped tangled both her arms and legs. She was scared. A large gag was placed in her mouth preventing her from screaming.

…fortunately, her father came and saved her.

Then it happened again.

…and again

…and again

Slowly, Amanda found herself losing her emotions. Her natural childish smile disappeared the more she got kidnapped. She was slowly maturing.

However, she was still able to smile when her nanny narrated fairy tales to her. Those were the only times she felt safe and at peace. Sucked in another world. Almost as if escaping reality.

…That was until she was eleven. That was the age at which her nanny passed away, ridding of the last warmth in her heart.

Since then, Amanda has never been able to smile.

Even when kidnapped, she felt nothing.

Everything around her became black and white. Slowly the expectations she had of the people around her vanished.

'I won't get angry, I won't be sad, I won't expect anything from anyone…'

...was what she repeatedly told herself as she shut herself in a box. It was from that point on that she decided not to form any relationships that weren't necessary. Even if they had the best interest for her, even if they treated her well…her heart was unmovable…

Closing down the book she was reading, Amanda stood up and looked at the reflection in the mirror.

Her long black hair that was no longer held by a pin, gently fell on her shoulders reaching all the way to her waist. Her deep phoenix-like eyes had a cold indifference to them that made people feel like she was a holy existence that was unreachable for regular people. Her appearance was so exquisite that it could move anyone's hearth regardless of their gender, but it also gave people a gloomy feeling.

Placing her fingers on the edge of her lips, she lightly pulled the edges of her mouth in the form of a smile. Letting go, the edges of her mouth quickly reverted to their regular aloof position.

She repeated this a couple more times, but...no matter how much she tried, she couldn't smile.

Walking towards her closet, Amanda took a beautiful black dress with finely decorated silver patterns.

Although she usually disliked attending parties, Amanda chose to attend this one. That was because back in the first lecture she received a mysterious box from the club president, Elijah Turner.

At first, she thought nothing of it as she was used to these kinds of things, but...once she opened the box she was shocked.

Inside the box was a picture of her mom. She looked almost identical to her, and if not for the wrinkles at the edge of her eyes, people could've easily mistaken her for her sister.

Though she barely had any memories of her mother, Amanda couldn't stop herself from wanting to know more about the whereabouts of her mother.

...she wanted to know why she had abandoned her and never visited in all the years since she had left.

Since Elijah was the one that had provided her with the picture, Amanda had no choice but to look for him, and thus decided to attend the party.

Wearing the beautiful dress and looking at herself in the mirror for a couple of seconds, Amanda took a small black purse and headed out.

-Click!

Closing the door behind her, Amanda went towards the appointed location with a mind full of questions.

...

"hmmm, should I wear a suit or normal clothes?"

Right now I was torn on what to wear to the after-party. As I never attended these kinds of events before, I wasn't too sure about what to wear.

A suit or casual clothes?

...urgh!

Honestly, if it wasn't because this situation caught me off-guard I wouldn't have chosen to attend this kind of event.

After a while, I decided to do a bit of both. I wore a white ironed T-shirt accompanied by blue jeans. Looking at myself in the mirror, I couldn't help but nod in satisfaction.

After having transmigrated to this world for over a month, my originally skinny body had started to bulk up. Though my body wasn't sculpted like a god, I had a fairly good body. My short black hair which was nicely styled, accompanied by the deep blue eyes made me nod in satisfaction. I looked fairly handsome.

After looking at myself a couple of more times, I looked at the time and found that I only had ten minutes left before the meeting time.

As I was rushing to the door, my footsteps halted and my eyesight landed in the corner of my room where a black sword rested against the wall.

After pondering for a bit, I Took the black sword and placed it in my dimensional bracelet.

"I hope the situation doesn't get to the point where I have to use my sword..."

...though I said this, I already started preparing myself for the worse. The situation was already starting to get out of my control, and right now, for the first time, I was going into a situation without any knowledge of what was to come.

-Click!

Taking my room keys and turning off the lights, I left my room.

...

"Cheers!"

Inside of a spacious luxurious room, a flock of students could be seen drinking and laughing.

The interior of the room was very well decorated with fancy paintings scattered all over the room. Large white sofas with fine golden patterns on the sides sat in the middle of the room. Large wooden tables that were filled with food and beverages stood in the corner of the room.

The location we were currently at was a rather well-known restaurant called [le farat]. It was a fairly luxurious restaurant with celebrities often showing up here. Due to its popularity, it was fairly obvious that this place was expensive and somehow Elijah had managed to book a whole room just for the gathering. This pretty much impressed everyone that came as their eyes were shining stars, especially the girls.

Twirling the cup of wine in my hand, I lightly smelled the wine. It had a fruity yet overbearing smell that made my nose twitch a couple of times.

"Just how I like it"

Though it may seem like this wine was one that I took from the table, in fact, it wasn't.

The wine I was currently tasting was one that I brought with me. It's not that I disliked the wine here, but there was a high chance all the foods and drinks in the part were drugged beforehand.

Though I was being somewhat paranoid, it was better to be safe than sorry.

The reason why I was drinking it was so that I could blend with the crowd. If I didn't drink it, in the event that there was an ambush, there was a high chance I would be among the first who were targeted.

Taking a small sip of the wine, I smacked my lips a couple of times before looking at my surroundings.

Though the atmosphere was calm and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, I couldn't help but feel tense. There was this ominous vibe shrouding the whole venue.

...something was definitely going to happen today, and it wasn't going to be something good.

In the middle of the hall, Elijah, who wore an elegant white suit, was currently being flooded by multiple girls at a time. They were pushing and shoving each other aside to get a chance to talk to him. Elijah who was being surrounded and harassed by the girls kept a gentle smile on his face throughout the whole time.

Besides him, a couple of boys were looking at him with envious and jealous eyes. But that was in the minority, as most of the boys were busy admiring a different scene.

Standing on the balcony, Amanda, who looked like a goddess that had just descended on the world, was currently looking at the moon with a glass of wine in her hand. The gentle moonlight enveloped her perfect figure, creating this sort of picture-like scene.

A couple of boys tried approaching her, but once they noticed that they were being ignored they could only helplessly go back to the party in defeat.

Seeing this scene, my lips slightly curled and I helplessly shook my head. Boys will be boys.

Walking to the balcony, where Amanda was standing, I could hear faint whispers coming in my direction.

"Here goes the fifth one..."

"How long will you give it?"

"I say 5 seconds"

"No, I say 10"

Since my stats had improved, so did my hearing. Listening to their whispers, my eyes couldn't help but roll. Just how much time did they have on their hands?

Opening the door to the balcony, I slowly walked to the edge of the balcony and stood next to Amanda. Lifting my head up I looked at the moon.

...though I did not want to interact with her nor any of the main characters, I couldn't help but do so this time. If something were to happen to her, then chances were that the storyline was going to change and all the advantages I had would simply crumble overnight. Simply put I couldn't afford that.

Thus I decided to expose myself and warn her about the upcoming danger.

Taking a sip of my wine, without glancing at Amanda, I lightly said

"You should be careful tonight..."

"..."

As if she didn't hear me, Amanda kept staring at the moonlight.

Seeing her react like that I didn't panic nor express my displeasure as I already knew her character. Though she was pretending to be indifferent, she definitely heard me loud and clear. It's just that she didn't show it on her face.

Slightly smiling I said one last thing before walking back to the party

"Something might happen tonight, and you might be the target—no, you're most likely the target"

Finally turning her head to the side, Amanda saw my figure leaving the balcony. Seeing my figure leave, her brows knit for a split second before relaxing.

Soon after, almost as if nothing happened, she started looking at the moon again.

Turning my head and seeing that, I lightly smiled before heading back to my previous spot.

Though it seemed like she didn't take my warning seriously, I in fact knew that she had upped her guard.

Having been in these types of situations since a very young age, she knew that even if this was just a small prank, there was a chance that the warning was real.

For her, even if it was a prank, it was better to be prepared than unprepared. In the off-chance that what I had said turned out to be true, she could avoid being kidnapped again.

Chapter 46: A not so joyous after-party [2]

-Clink! -Clink! -Clink!

"May I have everyone's attention please"

Tapping on the wine glass in his hands, Elijah gathered everyone's attention.

Standing elegantly in the middle of the hall, Elijah made sure that everyone was looking at him before continuing.

"First of all, I would like to thank all of you that decided to attend the gathering. Although our elective could be considered on the smaller side compared to other electives, we here are like a family."

Making eye contact with everyone in the room, Elijah mood turned a little bit serious as he spoke

"I have recently been made aware of the conflicts happening between the juniors and us seniors, and it honestly pains me to see this. I may not be able to change this, but I sincerely hope that in our elective this prejudice and conflict does not appear."

Pausing slightly, and looking at everyone in the room, Elijah raised his glass and said

"This is more than just an elective. This is a family!"

At first, everyone was quiet. Turning to look at each other a myriad of expressions could be seen from certain individuals' faces. they wanted to rebuke but...they dared not to. With Elijah's current influence, his words were law. Refusing him was like signing a death warrant.

-Clap!

Breaking the awkward and tense silence was the sound of a clap.

-Clap! -Clap! -Clap!

Soon someone else started clapping, and like a chain reaction, everyone followed along and started clapping.

"I understand, I will follow the president's order!"

"We love you, president!"

"I love you, president!"

Cheers resounded across the hall as both the male and female students cheered for Elijah.

Smiling, Elijah took a big gulp of the wine and once again lifted the cup in the air

"It is with great honor and pride that I welcome you to our elective, food exploration!"

"Thank you!"

"Food exploration!"

"Best elective!"

Though everyone cheered, two individuals didn't. One retained an indifferent face throughout the whole ordeal while the other cringed repeatedly.

Of course, this didn't escape Elijah's eyes, as his eyes narrowed for a split second before returning back to normal as if nothing happened.

Unbothered by the fact that Elijah probably noticed my behavior, I nonchalantly sat on a sofa and enjoyed my wine. The fact that he managed to say those words without cringing was worthy of my admiration.

For all I knew, Elijah cared nothing for the conflicts within the academy. In fact, he was probably rejoicing at the fact that there were conflicts within the academy. Most notably at the fact that some of the attention was diverted away from him, allowing him to act as he pleased.

Looking at the glass of wine in my hand I frowned.

Though I usually disliked alcohol, due to previous trauma, it wasn't a problem anymore. Excluding the fact that the wine wasn't that strong, with my new physique only alcohol higher than 70% could affect me. Anything lower than that didn't bother me.

Sort of ruined the pleasure of alcohol, but oh well, it's not like I needed alcohol in my life again.

After nearly finishing half of the wine that I had brought with me which I so conveniently hid inside of my bracelet, I felt my bladder bloating.

Walking up to a waiter I asked

"Excuse me where's the bathroom?"

Pointing towards the entrance of the room, the waiter said

"Turn right over there and after you walk a couple of meters you should see a bathroom sign"

"Thank you"

Thanking the waiter and following his instruction, I headed to the bathroom

"A man's gotta do what a man gotta do"

...

Sitting on the sofa, Amanda was lost in her own thoughts. Occasionally she would glance to her right where a male student sat. He looked completely out of place with his clothes that did not suit the atmosphere. He had short black hair and blue ocean-like eyes. His features that were devoid of any pimples or freckles looked clean and pleasant. Though he could've been considered handsome, he was only average if compared to the likes of Jin and Kevin.

Looking at him, Amanda couldn't help but look at him in confusion. He was currently sitting on a sofa sipping on some wine looking extremely bored. No one approached him, nor did he approach anyone and he seemed to enjoy the solitude as he would occasionally mumble to himself.

...was what he said true?

The reason why Amanda was paying so much attention to him was because that very same student had approached her earlier. It was when she was on the balcony looking at the moon lost in her own thoughts.

...It was odd.

She had a vague recollection of him, as he was one of the more famous students in her class. Not in a good way though...

The 'weirdo' was what they called him.

She wasn't sure about the details, but he was regarded by most of the students as a weirdo that they should avoid at all costs.

Thinking about her interactions with him, Amanda couldn't agree more.

...he was a weirdo.

Usually, the male students would come towards her and try all ways to get her attention.

yet, he only told her two things before leaving. What was even more confusing were the things that he said to her.

'You should be careful tonight...' and 'Something might happen tonight, and you might be the target—no, you're most likely the target'

If this was a new trick to try to get her attention, he had succeeded.

She didn't really put his warning to heart, but she definitely started paying more attention to her surroundings.

Having been in these sorts of situations since young, her temperament became cautious. If anything remotely suspicious happened she would immediately raise her guard to the maximum.

Scanning the hall everything seemed normal, and apart from a few people already getting drunk, there was nothing odd about the...hm?

Drunk?

Weren't wines the only thing that were served here?

How could people get drunk off of wine?

Instantly Amanda knew that something was wrong.

Hiding her hand behind her back, she prepared to summon her bow in case something dangerous happened.

-Thud! -Thud! -Thud!

One after another students started falling on the ground.

Amanda instinctively tried to summon her bow but a wave of vertigo caused her to lose her bearing.

Stumbling around, she tried her best to support herself against a pillar.

Looking around, every student fell on the ground unconscious.

"Damm it!"

Gnashing her teeth, Amanda tried her best to combat the drug effects.

Although the drug was strong, she still did not lose consciousness. It partly had to do with the fact that she was one of the strongest people in the room and her strong mentality.

...but she didn't know how long she could remain conscious for. Time was ticking and she could only try her best to not fall for whatever plot someone was brewing.

Looking around she tried to look for the boy that had warned her beforehand...but it was to no avail as he was missing.

'Is he the mastermind behind this...?'

Thought Amanda as she looked for any traces of him. It wasn't wrong of her to suspect him as he just suddenly disappeared as soon as everyone started falling on the ground. To call this not suspicious would be a lie...

'Maybe he was the type of person that loved to tease his prey?'

But she quickly denied the possibility. Although he was weird, she could tell he wasn't the culprit. Although Amanda didn't like to talk much and always seemed to be absorbed in her books, she was always observing. It was something she developed over the years to get a better read on who had malicious intentions against her. Their posture, their expressions, their temperament, she could pretty much determine if someone had any ill will or was wearing a mask to hide their true selves by observing those things.

Although he was weird, she could tell at first glance he meant no harm.

"Cough!...cough! kh-Amanda!"

Coughing and stumbling on the ground, Elijah walked towards Amanda.

Looking at Elijah who seemed to be in distress Amanda took a few steps back.

"Huff..huff..huff"

Dropping on one knee, Elijah panted heavily.

"Kh-what's happening?"

Amanda who although was also suffering, tried her best to restrain herself from helping Elijah.

Her instincts told her not to...yet she couldn't help but take a step towards his direction. He was the only key she had to find her mother...she needed closure.

Although she was struggling, Amanda was slowly getting used to the effects of the drug. Soon her mind regained some clarity.

Arriving a few meters before Elijah, Amanda extended her hand in his direction

"than-kh you"

Reaching with his right hand, Elijah tried to grab Amanda's hand...but before he could fully touch her, she smacked his hand away.

-Smack!

"Yo-u"

Shocked Elijah looked at Amanda who was glaring at him.

"Drop the act"

"Wh-at are you talk-ing about?"

"You think you can fool me when the entire time you had a smirk on your face?"

Taken aback, Elijah touched his face.

"ku ku ku"

Trembling, Elijah smiled deepened as he started laughing.

"how careless of me...I just couldn't contain my excitement"

Standing up, Elijah exaggeratively facepalmed

"Ah... I'm sorry, I just couldn't hold myself after imagining myself sharing some alone time with you, one of the three great beauties of the first years "

-Voom!

Summoning her bow, Amanda instantly drew it.

"oh my, aren't we a little too hasty?"

Raising his hands in surrender, Elijah smirked as he walked in Amanda's direction.

-Woosh! -Woosh! -Woosh!

As soon as Elijah took a step in her direction, without batting an eye, Amanda released three arrows in successions.

Suddenly three white streaks of light appeared before Elijah as the arrows whistled through the air.

-Thump! -Thump! -Thump!

"Oh wow that's some great archery"

Looking behind him, Elijah whistled in admiration as he looked at the three arrows that pierced the wall deeply.

"...too bad you missed"

Looking at Amanda who was on the floor panting heavily, Elijah had a delighted smile on his face. A couple of minutes wasn't enough to combat the drug that he had carefully prepared beforehand.

Walking slowly, Elijah savored Amanda's struggling expression.

"Yes...this is what I wanted! Finally, the oh so indifferent Amanda has finally shown me a different expression!"

"Wh-at have you done to me!"

Gritting her teeth, Amanda glared at Elijah who was only a few steps away from her.

"Oh dear, don't show me such face..."

Kneeling on one leg and holding Amanda by her chin, Elijah expression twisted savagely

"Now, now, we wouldn't want our dear Amanda showing such a face now would we?"

Grabbing onto her face, Elijah looked at her features in admiration

"If not the strict orders I received from mother Matriarch I would've already devoured you..."

"Mother Matriarch?"

"Ooops, it seems like I spoke too much"

Lightly knocking on his head, Elijah had a silly expression on his face.

"Let's just say that you're going to be thanking me soon"

-Pu!

Spitting on Elijah's face, Amanda defiantly looked at him.

"Fuck off!"

"Y-ou y-ou"

Trembling, Elijah touched his cheek where Amanda spat. Looking at his finger which was covered in saliva, Elijah faced twisted menacingly as his hand grabbed her neck

"How, how dare you spit on my face!"

His strong voice reverberated across the hall as he tightened the grip around Amanda's neck

"Unlike you, I wasn't born as beautiful as the rest. I was insulted, jeered at, and bullied for my appearance."

"This world's hierarchy is dictated by two things, beauty, and talent."

"Unlike you who had both, I had none! I was bullied and harassed throughout my whole childhood. Even my parents forsake me for my younger siblings who had better appearances than me!"

Gripping on Amanda's neck tighter, Elijah pulled her face closer to his.

"Just when I was about to end my life...mother matriarch came and saved me"

"She gave me talent, power, and my current appearance"

Glaring with all his might, Elijah's voice kept rising.

"If not for her I would be NOTHING!"

"khh"

Lessening the grip on Amanda's neck, Elijah looked at her and said

"Thus, no matter how much you struggle I will stop at nothing to complete her task!"

Sigh

Startling both Amanda and Elijah, a loud sigh resounded across the hall. Soon a pale youth with deep blue eyes walked into the hall. His eyes slightly paused on Elijah before looking at Amanda who was struggling with all her might

With an annoyed look, he scratched his head and said.

"I warned you didn't I?"

Chapter 47: A not so joyous after-party [3]

"I warned you didn't I?"

Honestly, though I expected something to happen I didn't expect it to happen right after I returned from my toilet trip.

It felt as if I missed out on all of the fun.

"it's you?"

Releasing Amanda, Elijah stood up and looked at me who had just come back from the bathroom.

"kuhh...huff...huff!"

Looking at Amanda who was gripping her neck heavily gulping for air I pretty much got the gist of what was happening.

The event had already started.

"Rank 1750 Ren Dover"

"...hm? Yes?"

Turning my attention back to Elijah who had just called me, I instantly noticed his relaxed attitude.

The way he was looking at me irked me, but I didn't say anything. Judging from the pressure he was releasing he was at least <D-> rank if not <D> rank.

But fortunately for me, thanks to all the training I did, the pressure wasn't weighing down on me much. The fact that he was primarily focused on Amanda also helped me.

Judging from how relaxed he seemed, it looked like he didn't see me as a threat.

'Perfect'

Smirking to myself, I started to devise a plan.

well...since he was looking down on me, I may as well capitalize on his carelessness.

You see...one of the greatest things about keeping a low profile was that no one knew what you were truly capable of.

This especially worked in my favor as the [Keiki style] was primarily a one hit one kill sword art.

All I needed was one clean hit and he was done for.

The fact that I kept a low profile and chose not to expose my strength helped me buy an opening.

In fact, even though I said all of this, I wasn't really confident even if I caught him by surprise.

Although there was a chance I could kill him if I was really lucky, those chances were slim.

It just wasn't easy to bridge the gap between F and D ranks. Though I practiced a peerless five-star manual technique, I would at most be able to graze him if I confronted him directly. He was just that much better than me...

Each rank was fundamentally different from the other. Each rank increase was like an increase in strength by a factor greater than 2.

Bridging one rank was already hard for me, two? Almost impossible.

If not for his arrogance, those chances would've never been higher than zero.

Knowing this, I had prepared beforehand.

Having learned my lesson since the dungeon incident, I devised a little safe plan for me in case the situation turned serious.

Before coming to the party, I messaged Thomas and asked him for a favor.

Since I more or less knew something was going to happen at the party, I predicted that Elijah was going to install some sort of dimensional space which prevented any outside interference.

A dimensional space was a pocket dimension separate from the outside world. Everything that happened inside of the dimension was separate from the real world preventing anyone from noticing that something was wrong. It created an illusion to people making it seem that everything was normal, when in fact something else was going on inside. No sound or transmissions could be leaked preventing people from calling for backup. It was the perfect device to hide a crime.

Knowing this, when I messaged Thomas, I specifically told him that if by chance in the next four hours my phone suddenly lost signal, he was to send an encrypted message to Alexander Stern, Amanda's father as well as the authorities.

In the message, I directly wrote that a villain was attacking this specific location and many students were in danger, I also emphasized that Amanda was one of the said students.

Though the plan was not foolproof, because I had asked Thomas, who was a high ranking member of the black market to send the message. Chances were that Alexander Stern and the authorities would receive it.

...now all I had to do was stall for time.

Looking around and seeing that everyone was on the floor passed out, I knew that I didn't have much time. Though this may have been a sleeping drug, it could've also been an extremely strong poison.

Though I didn't know what was in their system, I knew it wasn't good for them.

Seeing that the situation was unfavorable, I knew I had to do something.

Looking at my skill bar, I instantly used my new and only skill.

[Monarch's indifference]

Soon, everything around me started to change. The hall, the people, the furniture, everything in my eyes slowly changed. Everything no longer looked like what it was before. Slowly, everything around me started resembling chess pieces. The hall turned into a three-dimensional space with pawns all over the floor.

My heartbeat which was beating unevenly calmed down. Following my heartbeat, my breathing became even and I felt all my emotions leaving my body.

I no longer cared for Amanda. I no longer cared for everyone in the hall. I no longer cared about Elijah. I only had one goal.

Move the chess pieces accordingly.

...

"w-what's happening?"

Wobbling around the hall, Ren's legs staggered. Leaning against the wall, Ren heavily panted for air.

"hee...and here I was wondering why you weren't affected by the drug"

Smirking, Elijah amusingly looked at Ren who was staggering all over the place like a drunk person.

"It seems like you're somewhat immune to the drug...pity that in the end because you are so weak the drug still affected you"

Looking at Elijah with wide eyes, Ren dumbly said

"D-drug?"

"Ahh, sorry but I don't have much time to talk with someone as insignificant as you."

Walking towards Ren's direction, Elijah's eyes were full of malice.

"You see...I have bone to pick with you"

"khh"

Grabbing Ren by the hair, Elijah coldly looked at him

"Multiple times in my class you repeatedly yawned and acted bored...was it fun?"

-Slap!

Slapping Ren in the face until a red mark appeared on his face, Elijah raised his hand again

-Slap!

"Someone who is ranked 1750 should sit quietly and listen to the lecture obediently..."

-Slap!

"Yet...you actually dared to provoke me!"

-Slap!

"Even now...just as I was about to have my fun with Amanda you came in and ruined the mood"

-Slap!

"Blame your lack of tact for the fact that you will die after being tortured..."

Slapping Ren's face continuously, his pale face slowly turned purple as his lips started to become swollen.

Staring at the scene in the distance, Amanda barely managed to sit up straight.

...was he all talk?

Though she knew he was ranked 1750, ever since he had warned her, Amanda thought that maybe he was hiding his strength. Moreover, the way he showed up looking all fine told her that he was hiding his strength, but it seems like it was all her misconception.

Just as she was about to gather all her remaining energy to shoot Elijah, she felt two cold emotionless eyes staring at her.

Looking up, she could see Ren's eyes emotionlessly looking at her. Though he was being slapped continuously by Elijah, his eyes never wavered. They were the eyes of a predator that was looking for the right time to strike.

Stopping whatever she was doing, Amanda looked back at him.

...how could he still be so calm?

Though he was being tortured by Elijah, and his expression twisted in pain, his eyes which were devoid of any emotion were staring at her almost as if telling her 'not yet'

Staring into his eyes, Amanda clenched her teeth and quietly gathered all the mana in the surroundings.

...though she didn't know what he was planning, she had this inexplicable feeling that only if she listened to him would she be able to get out of this predicament.

Seeing that Amanda was slowly accumulating the mana into her bow, Ren smirked at Elijah who was smacking him

"Oh? you're being slapped senseless and yet you still have the guts to smile?"

-Slap!

As soon as the slap landed on Ren's face, his head twisted to the side due to the enormous force of the slap.

-Slap!

Slapping the other side, Ren's face twisted to the other side doing a complete 180.

"Since you asked for it, I will gladly pick up the pace!"

-Slap! -Slap! -Slap!

For the next five minutes, the loud sounds of slaps reverberated across the hall. Soon, Elijah stopped as he looked down. Beneath him, Ren's battered face could be seen bleeding all over the floor. His face was so swollen that his eyes were barely visible.

"Let's end this"

Seeing that Ren was no longer responsive, Elijah prepared to go for the kill. Though he was sure that no one was going to interfere for the next two hours, he still needed to finish the mission. Toying with the prey should come later.

Raising his hand, his nails increased in length becoming extremely sharp at the tips.

"Goodbye"

-Wooosh!

Just as he was about pierce Ren in the neck, he heard a whistling sound coming from behind him.

Turning his head abruptly, he saw a large silver light quickly heading in his direction. It was so fast that the air around it split apart.

Staring at the incoming arrow, Elijah's pupils dilated and he gathered all of the mana he had in the form of a shield.

This all happened in a matter of seconds

-BOOOM!

Soon, a large explosion reverberated across the hall as dust and debris swept the place. The windows around the hall completely shattered and cracks could vividly be seen around the walls of the hall.

As soon as the dust cleared, the tattered figure of Elijah could be seen. His elegant figure from before was no longer seen, as his hair and clothes were a mess.

Black veins slowly started appearing on his face as they wiggled constantly. His muscled spasmed continuously and his body enlarged into a hideous looking creature.

"Khuaa!"

Hastily touching his face, Elijah screamed. His eyes which were now a deep shade of red stared at Amanda who was helplessly lying down on the floor.

"H-how ddare you!!!!!"

Screaming at the top of his lungs, Elijah moved towards Amanda. He was in a state of pure rage.

Completely forgetting about his mission he headed towards Amanda preparing to kill her.

However, before he could do that, his body stopped moving. No, it refused to move.

-Shuuaaa!

-Spurt!

Spitting a large amount of blood, Elijah looked below him where a black sword pierced his heart.

It all happened so fast that he had no time to react.

Turning around, he could see two emotionless eyes staring at him. He who sould've been battered to the point of being unable to move was looking at him with eyes that seemed to look straight into his soul.

"Y-kh-ou? H-ow?"

"Checkmate"

-Thud!

Those were the last words Elijah heard before his body slumped on the ground lifeless.

-Gulp!

Taking out a potion, Ren instantly drank it. Soon at a speed visible to the naked eye, all the bruises on his face disappeared.

Stabbing Elijah's corpse a couple of times, Ren slowly walked in Amanda's direction.

Right now she was looking at Ren in shock. Though she didn't see clearly, she managed to see the moment when he pierced Elijah in the hearth. Fast...too fast. All she saw was Elijah's eyes staring at the sword stabbed in his body in disbelief.

Looking at Ren who was walking in her direction, Amanda instinctively moved back, but as soon as she tried to lift her body she fell to the ground. She had no more energy left.

Soon he was in front of her.

His emotionless eyes looked down on her. She looked back, and the hall soon enveloped in silence.

"...forget what you saw"

Those were the last words she heard before she felt a tap on the back of her neck. Soon darkness enveloped her mind as she passed out on the ground.

After making sure Amanda was knocked unconscious, Ren took four arrows from her quiver and walked back to where Elijah's corpse was.

-spurt! -spurt! -spurt! -spurt!

Stabbing each arrow in his body, Ren made sure they each stabbed exactly where his sword stabbed Elijah.

After making sure there were no traces of what he had done left, Ren walked a bit further away from where Elijah's corpse was, fixed his clothes and hair, and forcefully knocked himself unconscious.

-Thud!

As his eyes slowly lost consciousness and the effects of [Monarch's indifference] wore off, a small smile appeared on his face.

'Not bad...'

Chapter 48: A not so joyous after-party [4]

-Spurt!

"M-matriarch!"

Splurting black blood on the ground, inside of a dim light room, an enchanting figure clenched her heart.

A black silhouette appeared next to the Matriarch who had just splurted black blood on the ground and hastily helped her sit on her throne.

Though her breath was weak, her presence remained majestic as the servant did not dare utter a single word.

Gripping the armrest of her throne, the matriarch whose figure was now incomparably pale said

"He failed..."

-Crack! -Crack!

Tightening her grip on the armrest, cracks started appearing on the throne as a red glow started emanating from the Matriarch's figure.

"...Fortunately because he was much weaker than me, his death has only cost me a small internal injury"

Hearing what the Matriach had said, the servant worriedly asked

"How long do you need to recuperate?"

"I should be healed in about a year's time..."

Turning her head to the servant that was next to her, she coldly ordered

"Get someone to send me all of the information regarding the incident that Elijah was responsible for"

"Yes mother Matriarch"

Nodding his head, the servant disappeared into the darkness

As soon as he disappeared the red hue around the matriarch increased many folds enveloping the whole room.

"Once I find out who was responsible for killing my pawn..."

-BOOM!

The throne behind the Matriarch suddenly pulverized as she stood up. With a distorted face and eyes that were dyed red in rage, she slowly spat

"...I will personally make sure they suffer a pain worse than death!"

...

Amanda's consciousness was awakened by a dazzling light coming through her eyelids, stimulating her pupils

Waking up in a large spacious room, Amanda blankly stared at the familiar ceiling she had been seeing for the past month. Lightly lifting her head, Amanda stared at her room.

The room was large, and besides her, there was a massive bookshelf filled to the brim with books. A large desk stood in the right corner of the room. On it, a white desk lamp sat on the right corner of the desk with books neatly piled around it.

The room had a nice woody, tranquil feeling around it that could calm anyone who was in it. The sunlight directly entered the room from the large windows around the room, brightening the surroundings. Before entering the academy, because of her outstanding results, she was asked by the academy how she wanted to design the room and this was the outcome.

The tranquility and silence in the room calmed her mind.

"...ugh!"

Touching her head, she felt a strong headache whenever she tried remembering what had happened the night prior. It felt as if her head was being split into two.

The last thing she remembered was seeing two emotionless eyes staring at her.

Recalling the young man that was responsible for killing Elijah, Amanda's head was filled with questions.

Although she had never paid much attention to him, she still did observe him from time to time like all of her classmates. In fact, because he tended to do weird things, she more or less had an impression of him.

In both elective and class, he looked like someone who was sloppy. He cared for no one around him and always seemed to be bored in class. Especially in the elective where he would forcefully try to pay attention to the lecture, though it always ended with him making strange faces.

...However, after the happenings of the party, her previous impression of him had completely shattered. Recalling his two eyes devoid of emotions that perfectly calculated the exact time to strike, Amanda felt a cold chill run down her spine.

Even though she was indifferent to most things, she couldn't help but want to find out more about him. In one moment he was a sloppy good for nothing weirdo and in another a calculating cold-blooded killer.

...what was his true personality?

-Bam!

Snapping Amanda out of her thoughts was the sound of the door opening as two stunning girls accompanied by two extremely handsome boys entered the room.

Rushing next to Amanda, Emma worriedly looked at her as she patted her body all over to make sure she was okay.

"Amanda, I saw on the news about what had happened...are you okay?"

"...hm"

Nodding her head slightly, she looked at the four individuals that had entered her room. Jin, Kevin, Melissa, and Emma. Though she didn't show it on her face, seeing that they had come to visit her, Amanda felt a little warmth in her heart.

Interrupting Emma who was all over Amanda, Kevin spoke

"I was extremely surprised when I received the news of what had happened, how did you manage to defeat a D rank villain?"

"...eh?"

"Don't tell me you forgot?—Here take a look"

Seeing the confused look on Amanda's face, Emma took her phone out from her pocket. She then proceeded to turn on the holographic function and swiped towards Amanda. Soon a virtual newspaper article appeared before her.

[At 10:22 p.m. in Ashton city, D rank villain who had infiltrated top human academy 'lock' attempted to kill more than 50 students. An anonymous tip had alerted the authorities beforehand about the sudden attack, and upon arrival, the corpse of D rank villain was found. The corpse of the villain had multiple arrow wounds all over its body. Upon investigation, all drinks and foods present in the venue had been drugged beforehand by a potent drug containing a strong sleeping agent. Currently, the venue owners of [le farat] are under arrest on the suspicion of collusion with villains. Fortunately, thanks to the courageous efforts of one individual, this disaster was prevented. If not for the heroic feats of top student, Amanda stern, this day would've turned into a tragic massacre. The motive behind the attack is still unkn..]

Looking through the article, Amanda slowly and carefully read the article from top to bottom. Not skipping a single detail.

'Was it his doing?'

She knew for a fact that she wasn't the person responsible for Elijah's death. Yet, from what she was reading in the article it seemed like she was the one who had killed him.

The fact that she was passed out with her bow in her hand, coupled with the multiple arrows that belonged to her which were found on Elijah's body, made everyone assume that she was the one responsible for killing him.

...only she knew the truth.

She had only shot one arrow that night, and all it did was leave superficial wounds. It didn't injure him at all. The real killer was not her...it was 'him'

Though at that moment her head was dizzy, she remembered the moment when Elijah was killed. It was one swift sword movement so fast that Elijah, a D rank villain had no time to react.

What was even more impressive was the fact that he had done this, exactly when Elijah's guard was at its lowest. Almost as if he knew this was going to happen. Had he failed, only death would've been his outcome.

Cold, precise, cunning, many words came into her mind as she tried to describe 'him' the best way she could...

"Hey, hey, Amanda!"

Snapping Amanda out of her thoughts, was Emma's concerned voice.

"...Sorry"

Lowering her head, Amanda apologized. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she had ignored everyone that had come into the room.

"It's fine, you must still be in shock."

Shaking her head, Emma patted Amanda on her shoulder as she gestured for the other guys in the room to leave.

"We'll let you have some rest, call us if you need anything"

Winking at Amanda, Emma quickly brought everyone out of the room

-Clank!

Closing the room's door, silence permeated the room once again leaving a stunning young girl alone in her thoughts.

...

"You think she's okay?"

Standing outside Amanda's room, Emma looked at the four people beside her.

Thinking for a bit Kevin said

"...hmm, honestly I can't tell. Her face is always indifferent so I'm not too sure"

"True"

Nodding her head, Emma couldn't help but agree with Kevin's evaluation. Despite the fact that Amanda had just gone through a traumatic experience, her expression never changed. She remained indifferent. Even for her who was extremely outgoing, talking to Amanda was difficult. She never knew what she was thinking.

Did she even think of them as friends?

Seeing everyone's somber expression, Kevin tried lightening up the mood by changing the topic.

"But hey, I didn't expect her to be strong enough to defeat a D rank villain by herself"

"Yeah you're right, who would've thought she was that strong. What do you think Melissa?"

Realizing what Kevin was trying to do, Emma redirected the conversation to Melissa.

"...hm?"

Melissa who was unamusingly scrolling through some research papers noticed that Emma was talking to her and unenthusiastically said

"I guess it's pretty impressive"

Noticing how uninterested Melissa was, Emma pouted and said

"...geez, can you at least look a little bit more interested"

"No chance"

Despite having known Amanda and the rest for a month and a half, to call them close would be a lie.

Because she spent most of her time in the lab doing research, she barely had enough time to get to know them better. Not that she was interested in knowing them...

To Melissa, anything that wasn't related to her research didn't really mean anything to her.

Though to outsiders, it looked like they all got along well with each other, the only reason why they talked to each other in the first place was because they were living under the same roof and would make good connections for the future.

Since they were all going to be future pillars of humanity, it wasn't a bad idea to make a connection with them.

Moreover, for some reason, people always tended to avoid them. Jealousy? fear? worship? No one knew why they avoided them, but that only made their social circle smaller.

Seeing how uninterested Melissa was, Emma sighed and looked at Jin.

Behind Melissa, Jin stood there dumbly. His expression was that of pure indifference. He looked to be deep into his own world ignoring everyone around him.

"...well I'm gonna head back now"

Seeing that this conversation was going nowhere, Emma gave up and decided to leave. Following her, Kevin and Melissa left leaving Jin standing there by himself.

A couple of minutes after everyone left, clenching his fist extremely hard, veins appeared on Jin's forehead. Though he tried extremely hard to suppress his rage, Jin's face became incomparably dark.

Right now his mind was torn.

Not only Kevin was stronger than him...but Amanda too?

No matter how many times he tried to visualize it in his mind, killing a <D> ranked villain was impossible for the current him.

Though people assumed that he was ranked third because of his status and talent, no one knew how much he worked for his rank.

He had come to the lock thinking that he was going to be the highest-ranking first year...yet when the results came out he was ranked third. Moreover, the gap between him and the first place, Kevin, was absurdly high.

His failure to come first was also emphasized by his family who had high hopes for him.

He was in total shock.

He understood Melissa, her academic achievement was so absurdly high that it managed to propel her to second place, he was fine with that...but Kevin? Someone that no one knew about prior to entering the lock?

It was a heavy blow to his immense pride. The pride of having grown up thinking that he was the best among the younger generation.

Despite his failure, Jin did not let rage cloud his mind. Though he disliked Kevin, he looked at him more like an obstacle to surpass rather than an enemy.

To try and bridge the gap between himself and Kevin, Jin trained two, no, three times harder than he had done previously...and just when he had thought he managed to bridge the gap between them...Amanda killed a <D> ranked villain.

This news came as a shock for him, and even now that a day had passed he still couldn't stop thinking about it.

Because Amanda's father was the guild master of the first ranking guild in the world 'Demon hunter', and his father was the greatest shareholder of the second-ranked guild 'Starlight guild', he had known Amanda since young.

Since birth, because of the rivalry between the two guilds, he had been continuously compared to her. He took great pride in the fact that he had gotten a higher rank than her when he enrolled in the lock.

His father also took great pride in that as he praised him endlessly, further feeding his ego. He had managed to suppress the 'Demon hunter' guild rising momentum.

...yet this sense of accomplishment all seemed to be a lie.

The more he stayed here, the more he realized how normal he was.

He had been showered with praises since young. He became arrogant, but he managed to back his arrogance. He was the best.

...was he?

"What am I?"

Staring at the long dark corridor, Jin was lost in his own thoughts.

A seed of inferiority slowly started implanting itself inside of his mind.

Chapter 49: Aftermath [1]

A couple of days had passed since the party, but news of what had transpired during the party spread throughout the whole academy like wildfire.

It was to the point that pretty much everyone knew what had happened.

Currently, I was laying on my bed staring at the white ceiling of my room. Lost in my own thoughts.

I thought that since I didn't directly participate in the main plotline of the story that the future wouldn't change.

I thought I had full control of my memories, so I decided to take advantage of them and help myself to some of the benefits whilst also trying to not affect the plotline.

But I was wrong...no matter how small the change was, once it began...there was no stopping it.

It suddenly hit me.

One little change could cause massive changes to the whole story. It was like a domino chain.

Regardless of how small the force was, once the first domino fell, like a chain reaction all the dominos fell apart.

I was naive, no! I was arrogant.

Because of my arrogance, the plotline started changing. In a way that I was losing control of the advantage that I had as the author.

The event between Elijah and Amanda should've never happened this early in the novel. Somehow my actions had affected the novel. Despite me repeating to myself that everything was going to be fine, I was simply lying to myself.

I couldn't deny something that happened right before my eyes. I couldn't deny that my existence itself had changed the plotline.

...I fundamentally needed to change the way I was thinking.

But how?

'Do I actively interact with the protagonists or keep myself in the shadows as I did before?'

I was lost...

-Ring!

Snapping me from my thoughts was the sound of my cellphone ringing. Turning it on I looked at the notification that showed up.

[Amanda Stern, singlehandedly defeats <D> rank villain that had infiltrated the academy and posed as Elijah Turner. She had been awa...]

'It seems like the news was already starting to spread outside of the academy...'

During these past few days, Amanda managed to cement herself as one of the foremost geniuses in our generation. 'Ice queen', 'Bow Godess', 'villain killer' all sort of nicknames started circulating around the academy as everyone started paying attention to her.

The reason for such attention was because...she singlehandedly defeated a <D> rank villain despite only being in the early stages of <E> rank. A genius amongst geniuses. After the incident, she was now being compared to the likes of Kevin in terms of raw talent.

Turning off my phone, I gave myself a pat on the back. It seems like I managed to cover my traces quite well as nothing was mentioned regarding me.

It also seems that Thomas covered for me, preventing anyone from finding out that I was responsible for tipping them about the incident.

Looks like I owe him one...

Fortunately, apart from the small loophole, with the facts pointing towards Amanda, my daily life returned to what it was before.

well, that was how it was supposed to be like, but...

After changing and heading to my classroom, I noticed two eyes deeply staring at me from the left side of the classroom.

Awkwardly smiling, I lightly waved in Amanda's direction. I was hoping she would take then hint and leave me alone, but it seemed that my action only further increased the intensity of her stare.

'...does she perhaps have a grudge against me for putting her in the spotlight?'

I thought as I tried my best to look at the front, ignoring her piercing stare.

It was plausible. Because of my action, the whole world was now paying attention to her.

If something like this happened to me, I too would've held a grudge against myself. Sometimes fame was more of a curse than a blessing.

...or did she perhaps misunderstand something regarding my strength?

Now that I thought about it. She probably thought that I was someone who was hiding his strength.

She was not wrong about that, but looking back at the event, she probably has a misconception about the true extent of my abilities.

Though I did in fact kill a <D> rank villain, many factors had come to play in me defeating him.

If she had not distracted him with her last-ditch attack, and if Elijah didn't underestimate me added with me having [Monarch's indifferece]...I would've never been able to kill Elijah.

Me killing Elijah was something that many factors combined together helped me achieve. It wasn't something I could ever hope to achieve again.

But...there were no what if's in this world and thus I was now stuck with Amanda thinking I was some sort of genius that was comparable to the likes of Kevin.

...this was honestly problematic.

"...hm?"

As I was lamenting at how Amanda probably misunderstood me, Melissa who was sitting three rows behind Amanda noticed her weird behavior and looked in the direction she was looking at.

Soon her eyes paused on me.

Raising her brow, Melissa rubbed her eyes a couple of times before making sure that Amanda was indeed looking at me.

At first, she clicked her tongue, then suddenly a smirk appeared on her face.

I instantly felt an ominous premonition. Just now, she did her signature smile. The smile signaled that she was onto something.

Can I start crying already?

...this was why I didn't want to interact with her. Not only was she a sadistic girl who took pleasure in other's suffering, but she was the type to repay grudges many times fold.

On the bright side, no one noticed the interaction that had just occurred. Emma and Kevin were currently busy talking with Miss Donna, and Jin was at the front of the classroom unusually quiet.

If the fact that the class loner suddenly interacted with the two most beautiful girls in the academy was to spread, I could already start planning my funeral.

The sheer amount of admirers those two have could probably fill twenty five football fields. It was that ridiculous.

"Okay class is starting, please be seated everyone"

Looking at the clock and seeing that it was time for class to start, Donna dismissed everyone that was in the front of the class and headed for the podium.

"Quiet please"

Gesturing for the class to quiet down, Donna lightly raised her palm. Soon everyone stopped talking.

Seeing how everyone shut up as soon as Donna spoke, I couldn't help but admire her even more. The degree of control she had over the class was quite impressive. With just a few words and gestures she managed to shut the whole class up.

It may have something to do with the art she practices, but her natural charisma was not to be dismissed either. She just had this charm around her that made any man or woman follow whatever she said.

"Today we will select the groups you will be split into during our trip to Hollberg"

... oh crap, forgot this was happening.

Was too caught up with the Amanda thing that I had completely forgotten we had a class trip in about a week's time.

I honestly didn't want to go.

"Please come to the front of the class and collect your ticket"

Not caring about my predicament, Donna took a large box and put it in front of the podium.

"I'll call your name one by one in ascending order."

Taking ut her register, Donna continued

"You are to take one ticket and that will be your group for the week that you will be in Hollberg, now let's start...Rank 1, Kevin Voss"

Hearing his name being called, Kevin stood up and headed to where Donna was.

"Here?"

"Yes, take a ticket and go back to your seat"

Listening to Donna, Kevin reached his hand into the box and took a ticket.

Instantly everyone's attention was drawn towards him.

They were all curious about his group number. Being the number 1 ranked in the whole year, if anyone was paired up with him they were guaranteed results. This was shown multiple times in things such as in the virtual class and other group activities as he got the first rank in every one of those activities.

Seeing everyone's reaction, I scoffed at them.

Do you think that by freeloading on Kevin you will get a good grade? Hate to break it to you but this time you'll come back disappointed as an incident will prevent him from completing whatever he was supposed to do in Hollberg.

Looking at his number, Kevin remained silent for a second before going back to his seat.

To everyone's disappointment, he didn't show what group number he got.

well, that rule didn't apply to me who knew exactly what he got. His group was [Group 7], and if I'm not wrong Melissa would end up being in the same group as him.

"Next, Melissa Hall"

Standing up, Melissa walked to the podium and took a ticket.

Briefly glancing at the ticket, Melissa walked back to her seat. The stares were just as intense as when Kevin had come up. This time it wasn't because of her ability, but more because of how beautiful she was.

"Next, Jin Horton"

.

.

.

"Next, Ren Dover"

Finally. After who knows how long, my turn had finally come.

Since everyone had gotten their ticket, most people ignored me. No one really cared about me so I didn't feel any eyes on me.

...is what I wanted to say but, I found two sets of eyes focusing on me.

Trying my best to ignore them, my mouth and brows twitched a couple of times.

Without even glancing at me, Donna coldly said

"Take your ticket and leave"

Trying to hide my bitterness at Donna's overly harsh tone, I reached out into the box and took a ticket.

As soon as my hand was inside of the box I secretly channeled some of my mana into it. Though Melissa tried to hide it well, the small spell she cast inside of the box didn't escape my eyes.

Taking out a ticket, I headed back to my seat.

As I was walking up, I noticed Melissa's face crumbling. It looked as if she had eaten crap.

...it felt great.

Secretly winking at her, I sat back in my seat and proceeded to ignore her.

'he he he, you think I wouldn't know what you were up to?'

Please, I am your creator. Do you think I wouldn't know about your petty tricks?

As soon as I saw her smirk I knew she was up to something. Thinking back to my novel, I pretty much deduced what she was trying to do and broke the spell she placed inside of the box. She was probably trying to manipulate the tickets so that I would end up in a crappy group.

Most probably, she was trying to group me with Amanda.

Since she noticed how odd Amanda was behaving she must've thought she had a grudge against me or something...which wasn't wrong.

Too bad for her, I already knew what she was trying to do and stopped whatever spell she placed inside of the box.

-Clap!

Clapping once to gather everyone's attention, Donna said

"Alright, now that everyone has found a group you may leave the class"

Just as everyone was about to stand up to leave the class, Donna smacked her palm with her fist

"...ah! one more thing"

Taking a ticket out of the box she flipped the ticket backward and said

"Behind the ticket, you will find that there is a room number and a list of things you will need to bring and do during your trip. Please go to the room after you leave the class and discuss with your groups which task you will do"

Listening to her and flipping over my ticket, I looked through the contents

[Group 9]

Group room : A(b) 15

Task :

- In-depth report on how monster parts are processed in a factory. The report must detail how monsters are skinned, processed, and turned into raw materials to be used in artifact creation.

- In-depth report on the different properties of monster parts. From density to breaking point, elasticity etc..

- Interview with the vice-director of the factory and report their economic strategy and what sets them apart from other monster processing plants.

This was part of the reason why I didn't want to go.

The sheer amount of boring tasks we needed to do made me depressed. It just wasn't something I was looking forward to.

"Alright, class dismissed"

Finished with what she wanted to say, Donna packed her stuff and left the classroom.

Sighing, I stood up and went to the room I was supposed to go to meet my group.

'I hope I get a decent group...'

Though it was only a pipe dream, a man could still hope right....?

Chapter 50: Aftermath [2]

Inside a small classroom that was about the size of a bedroom, two individuals sat facing each other.

Of the two individuals, one was a female while the other was a male.

The male had his head held down and was fearfully looking at the female who was looking at him with her legs and arms crossed. Her face was incomparably dark.

It looked as if they were in a murder trial with the male student being the one under trial.

Breaking the silence was the female whose voice sounded extremely dark.

"Ren. Dover."

"...I-It's been a while Melissa"

Yes, the boy who was currently being persecuted was in fact me.

Sitting down in front of Melissa, I tried my best to avoid her eyes. Right now her face was smiling but her eyes weren't. I had a feeling that she wanted nothing more but to eat me alive.

Why was she in a bad mood?

Looking at my number and Melissa's number, a few tears streamed down my cheeks.

[Group 9]

...my plan backfired badly.

"....w-would you believe me if I told you it was an accident?"

"Accident? Prey do tell me what might you be referring to. I do recall seeing an insect winking at me during our class...or did I see wrong?"

"...err"

Please someone save me!

Nervously looking around the room, my eyes paused on a black concoction in the middle of the table. Out of desperation, I tried to change the topic.

"This is?"

Expecting my question, Melissa dazzlingly smiled and said

"New potion I've been experimenting with. Just for you, free of charge."

Squinting my eyes, I moved my chair back and warily asked

"What does it do?"

Covering her mouth with her hand, Melissa lightly laughed and said

"Nothing much apart from making you throw up dozens of times over and making you feel like you had just been through hell. What makes this potion even more special is that if you are lucky enough there's a chance you can throw up your own intestine killing you instantly"

"...can I pass?"

It honestly scared me how she managed to say all of this with a straight face.

-Bam!

Just as I was despairing at my situation, opening the door, three young prideful individuals entered the room.

Looking around the room, they soon noticed Melissa who was sitting in front of me. Instantly their arrogance deflated a notch.

"Hello there, Melissa Hall"

Walking in front of Melissa, what seemed to be the leader of the trio elegantly bowed in front of her.

His facial features which were devoid of any imperfections accompanied by his sharp eyes and brows made him look suave and elegant. He had short black hair and green eyes that resembled finely polished jades. Though he was not extremely handsome, his looks were enough to make any girl swoon.

"It is an honor to meet Melissa Hall, one of the most beautiful women in our academy and pioneer in the scientific field"

Pausing, and fixing his uniform he said

"My name is Donald Berson"

...who?

Another extra who thought they were the shit.

Honestly, if the guy could read Melissa's mind at the moment he would've probably have made a run for it.

Smiling, Melissa glanced at the young individual before her and said

"You must be Rank 167 Donald Berson whose father is an A rank Hero of the Starlight guild"

As soon as Melissa finished speaking, Donald straightened his back with pride. Looking at me he smirked
hm?...what did I do?

Do I even know you?

Is he that proud that Melissa knew who he was?

Ignoring Doland's subtle action against me, Melissa smiled and politely said

"How can I help you?"

To me it just looked like she was saying 'Be quick and fuck off, I don't have time to deal with you scrubs' but maybe I was just too biased.

"Ah, let me introduce the rest of the people before I continue"

Stepping to the side, Donald presented one of the other group members.

"This is Rank 298, Evan Smoke"

Standing behind Donald, a rather chubby individual with ginger hair and freckles all over his face appeared. With his hands behind his back, Evan haughtily looked around the room.

...his demeanor reminded me of one of those villainous nobles you would find in novels.

Smiling amiably, Evan lightly bowed in front of Melissa.

"Nice to meet you, Melissa Hall, I have heard of your outstanding achievements since I was very young. I had been eagerly awaiting the day where we would meet and upon seeing you I can say with confidence that there is no other woman out there that can confidently claim to be more beautiful than you"

...talk about excessive flattery.

Unlike Donald, I actually knew who he was.

He was no one important per se, he was another extra. But this time, I actually knew him cus I actually remembered writing about him. He appeared on the trip and arrogantly confronted Kevin only to be instantly shut down.

True extra.

After Evan finished his introductions, Donald turned to the remaining student.

"...and this is Rank 475, Cassandra lee"

Standing next to Evan, a rather skinny young female with a buzzcut presented herself. With her hands in her blazer pockets and whilst chewing gum she looked at Melissa with interest. She had two piercings on her right lip and nose and her lips which were black, accompanied by her eyes which were filled with eye shadow reminded me of someone who was in their emo phase. She had black metal bracelets on her arm and her uniform was unkempt.

Smiling lightly she looked at Melissa and said

"Pleasure to meet you"

Greeting everyone, Melissa turned her attention back to Donald.

"Nice to meet you, so what do you want?"

"Nothing much, we are in the same group so I wanted to introduce myself and my companions to you who is going to be part of our team"

"Since we still have about a week before going on the trip I thought it would be a great idea to form a good bond while we are at it, hahaha"

Laughing lightly, Donald, Evan, and Cassandra eagerly looked at Melissa.

...sigh.

How more obvious can you be?

If you wanted to hang out with Melissa you could have just said so from the beginning. Why go through all of this nonsense.

Noticing my reaction, Donald stopped laughing and gloomily said

"What's so funny?"

Rolling my eyes at his immature display I said

"There's a week left before the trip and you're planning on making friends rather than just allocating our tasks"

Annoyed by my rebuttal, Donald finally acknowledged my presence as he asked

"Who are you?"

"Rank 1750 Ren Dover"

Instantly the whole room was filled with laughter and ridicule.

"Hahaha, Rank 1750 and you dare talk to me like that?"

"hohoho, to think that someone who is ranked so low exists"

"I bet in terms of spouting crap his rank is around the top three in the whole year, no, the academy"

Rolling my eyes at them I said

"To think there was not only one delusional person here, but three? How disappointing"

"..."

Instantly the room became quiet. Donald and the other two's faces instantly crumbled. After a brief pause, and processing what I had just said, Donald shouted

"What!?"

Summoning his spear from his dimensional space, Donald grabbed it and pointed its sharp tip at me. A blue glow appeared around his body.

"Shut that flimsy mouth of yours before I cut your tongue off with my superior skills and talent that a nobody like you can ever hope to have"

Seeing him taking out his spear, summoning my sword from my bracelet, I grabbed it and a white glow started appearing around my body as I spat back

"No, you shut your mouth! How more obvious can you be that you're a third-rate villain with your third-rate quotes!"

Hatefully glaring at me and gritting his teeth, Donald pretended to hit me with his spear but I didn't even flinch.

"Grrr"

Seeing that his faint was seen through, Donald clenched his teeth even harder.

Seeing his reaction, I triumphantly smirked at him and raised my middle finger

"Wanna bet that I don't even need to lift my finger before I can decapitate that useless head of yours!"

"Youuuu bastard!"

Finally snapping after hearing my comment, Donald prepared to stab me for real. But before he could do that, he heard an annoyed sigh coming from behind him.

Sigh

"Is it fun to waste time like this?"

Sitting on the table, Melissa covered her face with her hands.

"Melissa?"

Stopping, Donald and the rest looked at Melissa who seemed to be in an extremely bad mood.

"Why are you all acting like children?"

"B-but he started it?"

Snapping at him, Melissa looked at Donald in utter disgust

"What? Are you some kind of child? He started this he started that? Do you know how many fucks I give about that?"

Raising her hand, she did an 'o' sign with her fingers and said

"Absolutely zero"

Being berated by Melissa, the rest lowered their heads in shame. If it was anyone else they would've probably have fought back, but since it was Melissa they could only suck it up.

Every time someone tried to talk they would immediately be glared at by Melissa shutting them up instantly

Clicking her tongue, Melissa continued

"Stop flapping those useless mouths of yours and do the work. We were asked to talk about our work. I had come with the expectations that the people in my group would be regular humans but it seems like I was paired up with a bunch of useless chickens and buffoons that can only dance around wildly yapping their mouths non-stop"

"Frankly, shut up! Your mere existence is annoying me"

"b-b.."

Raising her hand to stop them from talking, Melissa glared at them and said

"Don't wanna hear it. If you want to do me a favor just stop breathing. You'll be plenty useful then"

he he

Seeing the trio's deflated looks I couldn't help but laugh lightly. Karma got them good.

"And you why are you smiling?"

"...hm?"

"Yes you...you are the most useless of the lot and yet you dare enjoy this like it's some sort of show?"

"Bu-t.."

"Shut up, and follow their example and stop breathing!"

Shutting up, I dared not to utter a single word.

I was pretty sure she realized I was making fun of them from the beginning and thus why she was glaring at me the hardest.

Turning my head right, the first thing that caught my sight was the trio smirking in my direction. Seemingly enjoying my predicament.

Squinting my eyes at them I made a mental note to myself

'...it seems like three more names will be added to my long list of people who I should beat up. Just you wait. I will definitely turn those smiles upside down.'

"sigh, alright let's get this over with"

Seeing that everyone had started to become more obedient, Melissa sat back on her seat, crossed her legs, and looked through the tasks which we were supposed to do.

It had to be noted that she was the only one sitting as the rest of us were still standing with our back straight not daring to utter a single word.

"You and you will be responsible for the first task"

Pointing at Cassandra and Evan, Melissa apathetically spoke as she allocated their task not caring for their opinion.

"You and you will be responsible for the second task, whist I will do the third task alone"

Looking to my left, my eyes met Donald's. Our eyes both screamed 'Hell no!' but we just pretended to smile at each other in a friendly manner.

The groups were Cassandra and Evan for task 1, Me and Donald for task 2, and Melissa for task 3.

I wanted to rebuke so badly, but I didn't dare to.

I'm sure Donald shared the same sentiment as me, but we were both too scared of Melissa to dare speak out our thoughts.

"Alright, I've wasted enough time babysitting the lot of you. I am heading back now, I have better things to do"

Throwing the group ticket away, Melissa stood up and left the room. Right after her, everyone else left the room, me included.

Staring at the now darkening sky, I let out an exhausted sigh.

This was going to be a long trip....

Chapter 51: Eve before the trip [1]

Prior to the first cataclysm, science dictated the natural laws of the world.

Phenomenons such as the creation of the universe, the extinction of dinosaurs, the life cycle of planets, everything was explained through the usage of science.

...yet, as soon as mana came into the world, things that science dictated to be impossible became possible.

Summoning fireballs, splitting mountains, turning invisible, running at speeds that the naked eye couldn't see. Despite how much scientists tried to rack their brains around it, they couldn't explain such phenomenons.

The world's standards changed.

What we previously thought we knew had to be reviewed.

That was because of the existence of a new index. Mana.

In 2015, Dimitri Morlov, a scientist of Russian descent proposed a new scientific branch called Magic.

Magic used to be a word to describe petty tricks that fooled the human eyes, yet now Dimitri Morlov proposed for it to become a new scientific branch that stood with the likes of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology.

At first, all major political authorities disagreed. How could they suddenly change the system that they had been using for centuries? They thought that as time passed they would be able to incorporate the existence of mana into the current scientific standards.

..but as time passed and people learned more about mana, their ideology changed, and finally in 2032 Magic was approved as a new scientific branch.

[Magical research]

This was the name of the class I was currently headed to. It was also the class that assistant professor Gilbert von Dexteroi taught.

The 'secret' head of the [Blood supremacist] group that dominated the academy alongside the two other major groups, [Noblesse], and [Empire's sword].

Despite there being many factions inside of the academy, [Blood supremacist], [Noblesse], and [Empire's sword] were the ones that had the most influence and members.

The [Noblesse] faction had a similar concept to [Blood supremacist] in the fact that they only accepted people with certain statuses. However, in contrast to them, they weren't as radical. They didn't despise people just because of their lineage and wealth. Most of the members in [Noblesse] didn't even get to choose to join the faction as it was decided beforehand by their parents. Emma and Melissa too were forced to join because of their parent's influence. If everything went according to the plotline, during the last month of their second year, they would both be elected as the heads of the faction.

Lastly, there was [Empire's sword]. Unlike the other major faction, [Empire's sword] didn't select members based on their lineage or status. It only focused on individual strength. In order to enter, you must prove that you were worthy of holding their name. As such, the requirement to joining the faction was to defeat a senior member. Only upon proving your strength could you enter the faction.

Ranks within the faction were also determined by strength, with the head of the faction being the current rank 1 of the third year.

Those were the three major factions, and fortunately for me, I managed to avoid getting on their radar, allowing me to have a fairly carefree life. Despite the fact that being in a faction had many perks, it also came with many disadvantages. Most notably the fact that you had less time for yourself.

Because I was quite behind the rest of the protagonists when I had reincarnated in this world, I needed all the time I could spare to train myself so that I could catch up to them.

Because of how talented they were, catching up to them was not going to be an easy task. A month and a half had passed since reincarnating in this world and I wasn't even close to surpassing Emma whose rank was currently <E->, let alone Kevin the main protagonist whose rank was <E+> borderline <D->.

Simply put, I did not have time to waste on hidden politics.

Fortunately, as if God had heeded my prayer, now that Elijah was found to be a villain, my elective was suspended indefinitely granting me more time to train. With the potions that Melissa has made for me, my training speed has seen a massive boost.

If things kept going at this speed, it wouldn't take too long for me to reach the <F> rank.

Whistling happily, I headed to my class in a good mood.

However, my good mood only lasted for a split second because as soon as I stepped outside of my dorm I caught sight of something that I didn't want to see.

Not so far from where I was standing, I could see first and second years glaring at each other. Some were even close to resorting to physical violence. If not for their friends holding them back, a fight would've already broken out.

...The conflicts within the academy were slowly getting out of control. It had gotten to the point that even innocent bystanders were starting to get swept into the conflict.

I could no longer walk without worrying about my safety.

With the backing of his father, Fabian managed to hide his involvement regarding the conflicts, preventing the professors from finding out what was truly happening.

Fabian's goal with these conflicts was simple. Create as much chaos as possible. Make the professors focus on the conflicts within the academy rather than Emma.

It was all proceeding as he planned.

The only upside about this situation was that everything was proceeding as I predicted. There were no changes to this scenario, allowing me to take a load off my back. As long as the plotline didn't change I could still exploit the fact that I knew the future.

As long as the plotline more or less remained the same I could have some peace of mind.

...

I arrived in my class and sat in my usual seat and waited for 'assistant professor' Gilbert to start the lecture. Since he wasn't a professor yet, he could only be referred to as 'assistant professor'

The class was unusually chatty today, with some male and female students excited about the upcoming class. The primary reason for their excitement was because of the person who was teaching them today.

Eagerly looking at the front of the class, everyone's eyes paused on a young individual with dirt blond hair. He had a noble air around him that made him look like an aristocrat from ancient times and his features that were relatively handsome made some of the girls in class blush.

Gilbert von Dexteroi. Not only was he extremely talented and managed to become an assistant professor at the tender age of 22, but he was also the son of the third-ranked Hero, 'Thunder god' Maximus von Dexteroi, one of the seven heads of the Union.

Standing in front of the podium, Gilbert sorted some of the papers in his hands. He looked very serious and though some students wanted to approach him, he quickly shooed them away.

At five on the dot, he looked up and began speaking

"Welcome to magical research. Our course will primarily be focused on mana and what it consists of. We will also look at how the mana from the atmosphere circulates around our body as we speak. What enables us to wield supernatural powers and how it has affected us in our daily lives..."

As he started speaking, everyone in the class started paying close attention to his words.

It wasn't because of his influence, but rather because of how important this class was.

For future heroes, this class was extremely important. Not only did it teach the basics of how mana worked, but it also helped students better understand their powers.

"Mana is nothing but a bundle of elements, fire, water, earth, wind, light, darkness, and so on...Mana is essentially a package that contained all of the elements, and those said elements are what we now refer to as psyons."

Looking around the class to make sure everyone understood, Gilbert continued

"It's fairly simple. When we use 'mana' all we are doing is actually using the psyons within the package (mana) to fit our needs. Take summoning a fireball as an example."

Extending his hand forward, a wave of heat spread across the classroom as a large fireball that resembled a sun appeared on Gilbert's palm.

"To do this all I did was channel the mana inside of my body and visualized a fireball. But how does simply channeling mana create a fireball?"

Looking at the large fireball in Gilbert's hand, every student eagerly awaited his next words. They too were curious. Since young, most of the students were taught how to channel mana without actually knowing the reason behind their actions.

It was like learning how to breathe but not actually knowing why they were breathing. Everyone wanted to know.

Smiling at everyone's enthusiasm, Gilbert continued.

"In reality, what you are doing is merely stimulating the fire psyon within the bundle of mana so that you can materialize fire like I just did"

"Mana follows the wave-particle theory, meaning that it behaves similarly to both particles and waves. When we use mana..."

As he was continuing his demonstration, just like the others, I couldn't help but be entranced by his explanations.

Though he was an absolute scum of a person, I had to say...he was a really good teacher.

His voice was crisp and pleasant, and he didn't leave any detail out when explaining the class contents. Even for someone like me who had only been in this world for a month and a half, the lecture was easy to understand.

Although I was not a mage, this lecture was still very useful for me.

Though it may not seem like it, I used mana when I practiced the [Keiki style]. Just like the professor had explained, mana was just a bundle of psyons that represented different elements, and for my swordsmanship, the main psyon that I used was the wind psyon.

I was able to achieve such a high degree of speed because the [Keiki style] used wind psyons to synergize with my sword movement, enabling it to achieve speeds that the naked eye couldn't see.

Grandmaster Keiki had stipulated that at the pinnacle of the [Keiki style], the wind psyon was no longer the main psyon that was used but it was in fact the light psyon. He believed that only upon the usage of light psyons did someone reach the realm of perfection of the [Keiki style].

I was still a far cry from that level, but at least I got a better idea of what to do when training.

...

As Gilbert was continuing his lecture, out of nowhere someone raised their hand up.

"...Yes?"

Pausing and looking up, Gilbert's eyes wandered towards the student who had just raised his hand.

Seeing that he had gotten the professor's attention, standing up, an extremely handsome individual with red eyes and black hair spoke

"Professor, if what you said is true then why can't we separate the psyons individually so that we can use spells more efficiently?"

"..."

Instantly the class became silent.

Soon Kevin found everyone staring at him. Some were frowning, some were laughing, and some were ridiculing him.

Even Gilbert couldn't help but let out a small chuckle.

"Now, calm down everyone. It is only normal that he doesn't know this considering that he had only just entered the academy"

Without hiding his disdain, Gilbert continued

"Though I am surprised you don't know this Kevin, let me explain it for you."

"The reason why psyons are bundled together and are not separate is because of the law of conservation of energy. A single psyon by itself would simply disintegrate in the air because it is unstable. Only when it is with the other psyons can it remain stable..."

As Gilbert was lecturing Kevin, I had already stopped focusing.

I was deep into my own thoughts.

For the past two weeks, I had been stuck in the threshold of the minor real of mastery of the [keiki style]. No matter how much I trained I couldn't quite make that leap to the next level in my sword training.

...but after hearing Gilbert's lecture. It finally dawned on me. The key to why I couldn't break through to the next realm of sword mastery.

Psyons.

Chapter 52: Eve before the trip [2]

"Fuuuuuuu...."

Inside of a dimly lit bedroom, a young boy let out a long breath as he sat crossed-legged. A white glow pulsated around his body. Increasing and decreasing constantly.

Focusing my mind, I tried to feel the mana around me.

After having listened to Gilbert's lecture I managed to grasp the missing key to my roadblock.

Mana control.

I needed to have better control of my mana. More precisely, I needed to have better control of wind psyons.

Since the [Keiki style] required me to harness wind psyons, in a way that it coated around my sword so that it could propel it forward, I needed to have a better understanding and control of them.

By having better control of wind psyons, not only would I become more efficient, but I would also be able to increase the speed of my sword movement.

Evening my breathing, I focused entirely on my surroundings.

I slowly felt the mana circulating around me. The more I focused the more I felt like I was underneath the sea, surrounded by water. It felt boundless.

"fuuuuuu...."

Sucking in my breath, I channeled the mana around me into my body.

Slowly the white glow around me increased, extending out from my body.

Closing my eyes, I focused on grasping the concepts of wind.

What was wind?

Wind referred to the movement of gases from high pressure to low-pressure areas.

High pressure

Low pressure

Slowly the white glow around me brightened.

-Shuam!

After a couple of minutes, abruptly opening my eyes, I reached for the sword that sat next to me.

Standing up, I positioned myself into my sword stance and focused entirely on what was ahead of me.

The world around me disappeared and all that was left was an empty white world with me in the middle.

The second movement of the [Keiki style] : Horizon splitting slash

-Shuuuua!

Like a lightning bolt, a bright white light enveloped the room. It left as fast as it came. Instantaneous.

Opening my eyes, a satisfied smiled appeared on my face...though it didn't last long as a long horizontal scar appeared on the wall.

"...crap!"

Hurrying over to the wall that I had just slashed with my sword, I traced my finger along the long horizontal scar that I left on the wall. Feeling how deep it was I couldn't help but curse out loud.

There went a couple of thousand U.

Damm it.

Originally, I was supposed to go to the training grounds to practice, but because I needed to hide the fact that I practice a five star module, I was left with the only option of practicing in my room.

The commotion of my breakthrough would've just been too big.

Moreover with all the cameras installed, hiding what I was doing was impossible.

In the end, I could only lament the fact that I didn't have my own personal training ground.

Shaking my head, I slumped back on the ground as fine droplets of sweat dripped from my forehead.

Laughing bitterly, I looked at my status.

===Status===

Name : Ren Dover

Rank : F

Strength : F

Agility : F

Stamina : F

Intelligence : F -

Mana capacity : F

Luck : E

Charm : G

--> Profession :

[Swordsmanship lvl.2]

The degree of understanding of the sword has evolved to the next level. User will find it easier to understand concepts that were previously harder to understand.

--> Martial Manual :

[★★★★★ Keiki style] - Minor realm of mastery

Sword art created by Grandmaster Toshimoto Keiki. A five-star module that focused primarily on reaching the apex of swordsmanship and speed. Upon mastery, the sword art becomes so fast that before an opponent could even think about their next move, their heads would already be rolling on the ground.

--> Skills :

[[G] Monarch's indifference]

A skill that enables users to erase all emotions, and act as a supreme monarch that only calculates the best option regardless of circumstance.

Looking at my stats, my brows involuntarily twitched due to one of the attribute's refusal to increase.

On the bright side, I had finally managed to reach <F> rank.

I had originally thought that I still needed a couple of weeks to a month before getting promoted to <F> rank, but it seems like my breakthrough had also helped me increase my stats.

Another factor that contributed to my sudden rise in rank was probably Melissa's potions.

Since they were made by her, the quality was probably on the higher end of the spectrum compared to what was sold on the market. This probably contributed to my sudden increase in rank.

I could now proudly say that I was at least within the top 150 if not top 100 in our year.

Though I was still not in the top ranks, I was slowly catching up to the others.

It didn't matter how long it took, all I needed to know was that I was slowly achieving it.

One day, I would slowly but surely become strong enough to overcome any challenges I faced. I didn't want to be helpless again like the time I was in the dungeon...

Looking back at my status window, I couldn't help but notice that my swordsmanship had leveled up to 2.

As my understanding of the sword increased, so did my profession.

The higher the profession level, the higher the understanding you had of the profession. Moreover, the more your profession level increased, the easier it was to understand previously daunting problems. It was like my comprehension had been increased.

With my newfound knowledge, I was instantly able to find the flaws of my current fighting style.

Despite how good the [Keiki style] was, I was currently too weak to wield it.

Looking back at my previous fights, I remembered always finding myself in a pickle after not being able to finish my opponent on my first hit.

...I only knew how to attack but not defend.

Once I attacked I wasted too much time trying to regain my stance.

Because I was still a newbie with the [Keiki style], I wasted too much time transitioning from one stance to the other...this in turn allowed the enemy to regain their bearing, completely removing the element of surprise.

Moreover, from my experience, I found that in between the time that I was switching stanced I was basically helpless.

I needed something that created synergy with the [Keiki style]. Something that bought me time so that I could regain my stance.

My first thought was obviously getting another skill, but considering how expensive and rare they were I could only discard such thought.

My next thought was whether I should buy an artifact.

If I bought an artifact that created a shield around me after every attack, it could easily solve my problem...but in the end, similarly to skills, I couldn't afford it.

Despite the fact that I had 6 million U with me, it was not nearly enough to purchase an artifact that met my precise requirement.

In the end, I was left with one option.

Learn another sword art.

This was probably the easiest method and most appropriate method. There was more than one reason as to why this was the most appropriate choice, but the biggest of them all was that I was in urgent need of a sword art that I could use in the absence of the [Keiki style]

For obvious reasons, if news were to spread that I was in possession of a five star manual, I could kiss my daily life goodbye as I would be hounded by greedy bastards left and right.

It was fine if they were just targeting me, but since I had parents, my every action had to also consider them in the picture.

I was no longer alone.

Thinking thus far, I knew that I had to mask my real sword art...and what better way to hide that fact than by practicing another one.

This way, I could hide my strength from everyone's sight even better. The fewer the loopholes, the better.

Plus, if I chose a defense-orientated sword art and if I could use it alongside the [Keiki style], my strength would see another boost.

It was simply a win-win.

...now all I had to do was find the appropriate sword art.

A couple of ones came into my head, but they were either too hard to get or were too expensive. The academy also provided them, but you had to have a certain amount of merits in order to use them.

I currently had zero.

After a long time of me trying to rack my brain over this issue, I decided to leave it for later. It'll eventually hit me. There was no point in trying to think of the solution to a problem in my current circumstances.

I was already exhausted from breaking through. There was no point in thinking when my brain capacity was currently at its limit.

It'll eventually hit me.

Laying down on my bed, I picked up the mysterious red book that I had gotten from the package my mom had sent me.

Things have been quiet on Kevin's side. Nothing particularly exciting happened apart from the slight conflict he had with Gilbert at the end of the lesson.

I was too immersed in my own enlightenment to witness the conflict. But what essentially happened was that Kevin and Gilbert had a verbal dispute with each other at the end of the lecture. It was a tit for tat.

It didn't escalate to a full-blown fight, but it certainly increased the enmity between the two. Especially Gilbert who already hated Kevin with a passion.

Looking through the book and seeing that there was nothing particularly exciting, I closed the book in my hands and prepared to sleep.

Regarding the book, one more thing I found out about it was that it couldn't be stored inside of a dimensional space. This was a bummer because it meant that I would essentially have to carry it with me everywhere from now on.

Though I didn't use the book much, if the situation called for it, I was always ready to make use of its future alternating properties.

...but as of now I only used the book to see how Kevin and the story were progressing. There just wasn't a need for me to use it as of now.

I mean, although there were some hiccups here and there, the plotline was proceeding as it should be, and because Kevin still didn't have any major conflicts I didn't really feel the need to use it.

-Ding! -Dong!

Just as I was about to close my eyes and sleep, the sound of my doorbell ringing could be heard.

'...Hm? Who could it be?'

Sitting up on my bed, I looked in the direction of the door in confusion.

I don't recall ordering anything...

Frowning, I tried to remember if I had a prior engagement, but I soon shook my head. I wasn't expecting any packages nor expecting someone.

Maybe my parents ordered something for me?

...But I don't recall them ever mentioning anything about this.

A myriad of questions entered my mind as I headed for the door. In the end, because I was too tired, I thought nothing of it and opened the door. I wasn't popular enough to have someone actively looking for me.

"How can I hel..."

Halfway through my sentence, I froze.

"..."

Standing in front of me stood a stunningly beautiful young girl with glossy black hair that gently fell down all the way to her waist. Her black crystal clear eyes looked directly at me and though she wasn't as tall as me, we could see each other at eye level.

After a moment of pause, she said

"May I come in?"

"..."

No words came from my mouth.

I was so shocked at the moment that I just stood there dumbly.

I was totally caught off guard.

"...?"

Tilting her head to the side, and seeing the state I was in, the young girl without waiting for me to respond entered my room.

It was evident that such a situation was within her expectations.

-Clank!

Snapping me out of my daze was the sound of the door closing as the young girl entered my room.

Turning around, a complicated look appeared on my face.

'Why would Amanda suddenly show up in my room? '

Chapter 53: Eve before the trip [3]

The air around the room was tense. It felt suffocating. Almost as if I was stuck inside of a cramped room with no room to breathe.

The reason for such atmosphere?

Quietly sitting on my chair, a stunningly beautiful young girl with glossy black hair and porcelain white skin devoid of any imperfections, was curiously looking around my room.

Amanda stern.

Someone who I had never thought of interacting with privately.

Seeing her sit on my seat as if it was the most natural thing to do, my eyebrows twitched.

Just what did I do to deserve this?

...no, I knew why, I just wanted to deny reality.

Sighing, I spoke up to try to break the awkward atmosphere.

"Would you like green tea or water?"

Hearing my voice, Amanda's eyes paused on my face for a couple of seconds and after a short pause she said

"...green tea"

"Alright"

Heading to where my teapot was stashed, I took it out and poured steaming hot water into the pot.

After a couple of seconds, I took a bag filled with tea leaves and gently threw them into the pot.

While waiting for the tea to be ready, I turned around and noticed Amanda's obsidian black eyes staring at me.

Taken aback by her odd behavior, I asked

"...Need something?"

Hearing my voice and seeing that I had caught her red-handed, Amanda looked to the side and acted as if nothing happened as she lightly murmured.

"...Nothing"

Smiling, I looked back at the teapot.

What do you mean nothing? You were obviously staring at me!

Even a blind person could tell you were looking at me.

Pinching my brows, I decided to think about this in a positive way.

From the looks of things, it at least seemed that she had no hard feelings against me. Since I knew her personality well, I knew that if she were to have had a grudge against me, she would've avoided me at all costs.

Treating me as if I was nonexistent.

Seeing how she had actively come looking for me, I knew that she didn't hold what happened against me.

...so what did she come here for?

There was definitely a reason for her visit. I sort of had a hunch on what it was, but I wasn't too sure.

Most likely, she came to express her gratitude for saving her.

If so, I better get this over with fast. If someone found out 'the Amanda Stern' who was the talk of the academy was having a private meeting with a boy in his own room, I wouldn't even know how I died.

The fact that she was in my room meant that my life was in danger.

Sigh.

Just when I thought things weren't going to become more troublesome suddenly a new troublesome situation arose.

Looking at the water in the teapot that had started turning murky brown, I carefully removed the teapot from the heater and poured the tea into two porcelain teacups.

Walking back to where Amanda was seated, I handed the steaming hot teacup to her and sat in front of her.

"Thank you"

Taking the teacup with both hands, Amanda gently blew on the cup and took a sip.

Closing her eyes and savoring the taste of the tea, Amanda nodded slightly said

"...it's good"

"Thank you"

Sitting in front of her, I also took a sip of the tea. It had a slightly bitter aftertaste that even after a couple of seconds lingered at the tip of my tongue. It was quite good.

"...so, what did you want to talk about?"

Seeing that we couldn't just spend all the time drinking tea, I decided to get straight to the point.

Placing the teacup down, Amanda's indifferent face stared at me. After a while, she finally spoke

"...Thank you"

Frowning slightly, I said

"For what?"

"For saving me"

Shaking my head, I leaned back on my chair and said

"I don't ever recall helping you"

"Yo-.."

Just as she was about to answer, I cut her off

"It seems like you forgot what I had told you before"

'..forget what you saw'

Listening to my last sentence and remembering what I had said, Amanda remained quiet for a little bit. Her brows continuously knit and relaxed, and after a while, she shook her head and apologetically said

"I can't do that..."

Rolling my eyes, I placed my teacup down. Her response was within my expectations.

Staring at her crystal black eyes that were looking back at me, I thought for a moment before saying

"Sigh, alright if you're really sorry then give me some money"

Hearing my reply, Amanda sighed in relief.

She was visibly relieved by my request.

"Okay"

Taking out her phone, she quickly went to her bank account.

Seeing her like this, I couldn't help but bitterly shake my head.

Amanda's personality was just like this.

She disliked owing anyone anything.

She didn't want to feel indebted to anyone other than herself. No, it was more like she only trusted herself and herself alone.

She made sure to pay back every single favor she owed so that she wouldn't build any unrealistic expectations of others.

"Is 5 million U fine?"

"5 million U? I guess tha..."

Sipping on my tea, I initially nodded apathetically, but as soon as I processed what she had said, I almost spat all my tea on her face

"haaa? what did you just say?"

Innocently looking at me who had just stood up and was looking at her with wide eyes, Amanda said

"is 5 million, not enough?"

"What do you mean that's not enough, that's plenty!"

Waving my hand, I immediately shut her down.

Damm rich second generation kids treating money as if it was nothing.

"...so 5 million okay?"

"Sigh, hold on"

Slumping back on my chair, I started thinking.

5 million U would definitely help me. With that much money, I could pretty much solve the problem of finding a sword manual..ah!

Looking at Amanda, an idea suddenly came into mind

"Can I ask for something else instead of money?"

Frowning lightly, the room temperature dropped and Amanda's demeanor became increasingly colder.

Understanding that she was probably misunderstanding something, I quickly followed up by saying

"No, I am not asking for any dates or anything that is remotely close to that"

Hearing my next part, Amanda's brows relaxed. Nodding her head she said

"...Okay"

Sighing in relief, I said

"Can you get me a sword manual?"

"A sword art?"

Taken aback by my request, Amanda looked at me strangely.

At first, I was confused by her reaction, but remembering what had happened a few nights ago I realized why.

"...I am looking for something to disguise my main sword art"

"oh"

As if she understood something, Amanda nodded

Seeing her react like that, I knew she still had a misconception about my strength. In the end, I said nothing. I was honestly too tired to solve the misunderstanding.

Plus no matter how much I'll try to solve the misunderstanding, chances were that she wouldn't believe me.

In the end, It didn't really matter if she misunderstood or not. At the end of the day, she wasn't the type of person to treat people differently regardless of her strength.

Moreover, she wasn't a blabbermouth. Meaning that my secret was pretty safe.

"What type of sword art would you like?"

Thinking for a bit, I said

"Let's see, I would like a sword art that primarily focused on defense"

Touching her chin for a second, Amanda pondered for a moment before saying

"How many stars?"

"Hmmm, since you were previously offering me around 5 million U, I guess something that went along that price"

Thinking for a bit, Amanda scrolled through her phone for a couple of seconds before nodding.

"Okay, let me have a look"

Turning on the holographic function on the phone, a long list of sword manuals appeared before me.

"This is what I got from the criteria that you had given me"

Seeing the long list of manuals, my mouth twitched. If I said I wasn't jealous right now, that would be a lie.

...As expected of the daughter of the guild master of the number one guild in the human domain 'Demon hunter'

She had access to an immeasurable amount of resources and manuals that would cause anyone to turn green from envy.

For the next few minutes, we went through the long catalog of sword manuals that Amanda had access to. After a while, and a lot of contemplation I finally decided on the sword art I wanted.

[★★★ Ring of vindication] : Highly advanced sword art that creates a perfect ring of defense around the user. Upon mastery, the ring can create a three-dimensional sphere that protects the user from all sides. Because of the lack of offensive capabilities, the manual was graded three-stars.

Talk about a perfect sword manual.

Though it was a three-star manual, it was in fact a four-star manual if the only thing that was taken into consideration was its defensive properties.

This went along perfectly with my wishes as this was exactly what I needed. [Ring of vindication] for defense and the [Keiki style] for offense.

...this was exactly what I wanted

After selecting [Ring of vindication], Amanda nodded and messaged someone.

Soon the room was enveloped in an awkward silence.

"..."

"..."

After a couple of minutes of silence, Amanda stood up and said

"...thank you for meeting me, I'll take my leave"

"No problem"

Smiling, I escorted her out of my apartment. I could finally be free!

Arriving at the door, Amanda indifferently waved her hand

"Goodbye"

Smiling, I waved back and said

"See you"

...

Leaving Ren's room, Amanda was satisfied with the outcome of their meeting.

She more or less got a better understanding of the student that had helped her.

His personality was a far cry from what it was when they met at the party. Despite no longer hiding the fact that he was hiding his strength, his demeanor did not return to what it was back in at the party.

Cold and emotionless.

He was a far cry from that. He wasn't cold nor emotionless.

He was calm and collected, and despite the fact that she was standing in the same room as him, it didn't seem like he was entranced by her beauty which was a first.

His demeanor was completely different from what a regular sixteen year old kid should have. He was neither overbearing nor arrogant, and aside from the fact that his expression was really easy to read, he was quite easy to talk to.

It felt like she was talking to an adult.

It honestly felt weird.

Walking along the corridor of the dorm, she suddenly noticed many eyes staring in her direction.

"What is Amanda doing in the horned sheep dorm?"

"Was she meeting with someone?"

"Nah, she was probably coming to check on something. There's no way Amanda would talk to those peasants living in the horned sheep dorm"

Along the way, Amanda heard people whispering amongst each other as she walked back to her dorm.

Being used to such attention, she promptly ignored what they were saying and exited the building.

Taking out her phone she quickly dialed a number.

-Ring! Ring! -Ring!

After a couple of seconds, an aged voice entered Amanda's ears.

—Hello? how may I help you, young miss?

Because Amanda disliked making small talk, she immediately got straight to the point

"Send the three star manual [ring of vindication] at the location I messaged you a while ago".

After a short pause, the person on the other side of the phone spoke

—...very well.

"Thank you"

-Tak!

Hanging up the phone, Amanda felt a weight lift off her chest.

Turning back towards the horned sheep building, she lightly murmured

"Now I don't owe you anything...."

Chapter 54: Eve before the trip [4]

Six days had passed since the meeting with Amanda, and just like she had promised, my new sword manual arrived the next day.

When I first opened the package and saw the manual, I was once again reminded of how much influence Amanda had in the Demon hunter guild.

The manual looked like it had just been freshly copied, with no creases or stains on it.

It had to be noted that it was not that easy to make a copy of a manual.

Because for obvious reasons guilds were trying to minimize the circulation of manuals, a lot of procedures had to be taken before being allowed to make a copy of a manual.

It had to be approved by a vast majority of the board members and the guild master, and this was especially hard since a lot of the members were conservative people that hated sharing things with outsiders.

Simply put, the fact that Amanda was able to give me a copy the next day meant that she had just as much influence as her father. The guild master.

That aside, during these past six days, since I had nothing to do, as soon as the manual arrived I decided to train it.

Surprisingly, because my swordsmanship had improved to level 2, I was able to grasp the contents of my new manual fairly quickly.

Though I was nowhere near reaching the minor realm of mastery, the time it would take me to reach that level would be a lot faster compared to what it took me to reach that level with my main sword art.

Though I said that, it would still take me quite a while before I could reach that level of mastery.

Unlike the [Keiki style] which had five stances, [Ring of vindication] had three levels which were, Ring of Aegis, Gravitational ring, and Elemental alternation.

The first level, Ring of Aegis, created a ring in the air that acted as a shield. How strong its defense was depended on the degree of mastery of the sword art.

The second level was a more advanced version of the first level, Ring of Aegis, and added a gravitational pull on the ring that redirected all the attacks towards the ring. This was extremely useful, as only one ring needed to be created to defend rather than multiple rings to deflect multiple attacks coming from different directions. This way, I didn't have to split my focus on defending different areas.

Lastly, the third level, elemental alternation. This level consisted of manipulating psyons in a way that the ring attained elemental attributes. This was extremely useful in countering elemental attacks, as fire attacks could be countered with a water attributed ring.

However, in order for one to be able to pull this move, they had to have a high degree of mana control. They had to be able to harness the precise psyon they wanted to use and create a ring with it.

That alone was incredibly hard to do, and if someone did not reach a certain level of mastery towards mana control it would impossible.

These were the three levels of [Ring of vindication], and the first time I learned about their effect I couldn't close my jaw for a whole hour.

After the shock died down, what replaced it was pure excitement as I couldn't wait to start practicing it.

...and here I was now, six days later standing in the middle of the training ground practicing the first level, Ring of Aegis.

"Fuuuu..."

Sucking in a deep breath, I closed my eyes and slowly drew a ring in front of me with my sword. In the process of doing so, I focused entirely on channeling my mana to the tip of my sword.

Slowly as I drew the circle in the air, if one looked closely, a dimly lit line followed the tip of my sword. After one full circulation, it formed a yellow ring in the air.

However, exactly two seconds after I drew the circle, it broke down and scattered in the air.

Opening my eyes and looking at the scattering circle, I let out a satisfied smile.

"Two seconds..."

Though it didn't seem like much, in the first three days I could barely even draw a full circle. That's how much I progressed these past few days.

However, I was still far cry from reaching the point where I could actively use this sword art.

Although I could create a ring that lasted for two seconds, it could barely be used to defend. It still had no substance to it, meaning that right now it was nothing but a beautiful decoration.

One thing I noticed these past few days, as I was practicing the sword art, was how flawed the grading system for manuals was.

Despite the fact that [Ring of vindication] had no offensive properties, if one practiced this art to the fullest, I would doubt anyone could penetrate its defenses.

It may have not been a five-star manual, but it could definitely have been a four-star manual with its defense alone.

This was especially so if one considers the fact that the greater the mastery of the sword art one had, the stronger it would become.

If one day I were to reach the perfected realm of mastery, no, even the essence realm of mastery, I would without a doubt not have to worry about my defense.

That said, I shouldn't get ahead of myself. I was still very far from reaching that level.

Let's not delude ourselves.

-Click!

Placing my sword back into the scabbard, I looked at my watch

It was precisely 8:00 p.m., and because tomorrow was the day of the trip I decided to head back and rest.

If things were going to progress just like I thought they would, I needed all the rest I could get...

Looking at the darkening sky, I murmured

"This is going to be one hell of a trip..."

...

Parker Tower, Ashton city.

-Knock

Sitting at his desk looking through some papers, Micheal Parker, the current head of the Parker family, heard a knock coming from the other side of the door.

"Come in"

Putting the papers down, Micheal looked in the direction of the door.

Opening the door, an elegant elderly individual with a butler outfit entered the room. He had long white hair accompanied by a finely trimmed mustache that rested below his nose. Despite his age, his face barely had any wrinkles and aside from the pigmentation of his mustache and hair, someone could've easily mistaken him for a forty year old man.

"Greetings master"

Elegantly bowing in front of Micheal Parker, the butler looked at his master and waited for him to speak.

"Are the preparations ready?"

Looking at the butler before him, Micheal's authoritative voice rang across the room.

"Yes master, everything has been prepared"

Hearing the butler's response, Micheal nodded slightly. Pausing for a moment and looking at Ashton city from the window he said

"...has the Trivot squad been dispatched?"

Hearing the word 'Trivot' being mention, the butler's demeanor faltered for a split second before recovering.

"Yes...everything is as you have ordered."

"Good"

Letting out a satisfied smile, Micheal slumped on his chair and lightly murmured

"With the Trivot squad in charge of this case, I don't have to worry about anything"

Looking at Micheal Parker with a complicated look, the old butler couldn't hold it anymore and said

"...Sir, though it may be rude of me, are you sure you want to send the Trivot squad for this mission?"

As soon as those words escaped the butler's mouth, the temperature of the room dropped to freezing points.

A strong oppressive force started emanating from Micheal, as he looked at his butler.

"Richard, it seems that I had been too lenient with you...despite having served me for over fifteen years, you still doubt my decisions?"

Subjected to such immense pressure, cold sweat dripped from Richard's back as he immediately lowered his head.

"n-no, I jus-t thought that after raising them for so long, it would be a waste to let them go just like this"

Smirking, Micheal shook his head

"Naive, this is the best time for the Trivot squad to come into play. This mission requires the assassination of several high-profiled individuals whose backing is just as strong as our family if not even more...a single failure could cause everything that my father and grandfather had built to go down the drain"

Looking back at the butler, Micheal coldly said

"If anyone catches wind of what we are planning, the fate of the Parker family would be on the line. A single mistake and we could very well be wiped out from the face of this planet. Only if we utilize the Trivot squad will we be able to complete our plan without worrying about it implicating us."

Squinting his eyes, the pressure around Micheal intensified many folds.

"ukhh"

"...do you understand why I am employing the Trivot squad?"

"Understood"

Struggling to adjust himself to the pressure, Richard forced himself to nod.

The pressure was too much for him.

"Good"

Letting out a satisfied smile, the pressure around the room dissipated.

Feeling the massive pressure lift from him, Richard finally managed to catch his breath.

After a while, a complicated look appeared on his face.

There was only one reason for his sense of discomfort.

The Trivot squad.

An elite squad that was secretly raised by the Parker family and created for the sole purpose of killing high-profile targets.

Each member, who were raised from a very young age, had no other purpose to their life aside from serving the Parkers.

They were essentially discardable elite soldiers. Once used, they would be killed. They were a one-time use squad.

Regardless of whether they succeeded or not, they were fated to die after completing the mission.

The reason for such a procedure was because the Parkers didn't want to leave behind any loopholes in case any of their missions failed. Even if they succeeded or failed, no other person apart from a few trusted individuals could know what they had done.

The fewer people that knew the better.

"...you may go"

After seeing that his butler had somewhat understood his intentions, Micheal waved his hand and dismissed him

"As you wish"

Standing up, the butler bowed once again before leaving and closing the door on the way out.

Soon, Micheal was left alone in his office. Looking at the papers in his hands, Micheal's eyes paused on a few profiles.

'Kevin Voss'

'Emma Roshfield'

'Amanda stern'

'Jin Horton'

'Han yu fei'

'Melissa hall'

Those were just a few of the names of the people he was planning to have assassinated during the academy start of year trip.

He was planning on killing them all.

He planned to kill all of the individuals who were either too talented or were direct competitors of the Parker family.

Twenty years.

That's how long he had been training the Trivot squad. It was all for this moment.

He wanted to deal a fatal blow to all of his competitors. One that would cause them to lose what was most precious to them.

He wanted them to dispair.

He wanted them to suffer a pain that was worse than death. Just like what he had been through all those years ago...

Reaching for the corner of his desk, Micheal flipped over an old wooden picture frame.

Staring at the photo behind the picture frame, Micheal's indifferent face slightly softened as he lightly caressed the glass on the frame.

After a couple of seconds, his fingers started trembling and his voice shook.

"Soon my dear...I'll see you soon"

-Tak!

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Micheal flipped the picture frame down. It took a couple of seconds before he was able to revert back to his previous indifferent demeanor.

Standing up, Micheal walked to the edge of his office, where thick reinforced glass replaced the walls, allowing him to overlook the whole of Ashton city.

Interlocking his hands behind his back, he coldly murmured

"Hollberg will be the first step to my revenge"

Chapter 55: Hollberg [1]

"Alright, everyone please enter the bus"

Wearing a loosely fit white T-shirt that was neatly tucked in her jeans, Donna did a quick roll call.

As she was doing the roll call, her every movement attracted the attention of every boy present. Her violet eyes shone slightly causing everyone to fall into a daze.

I too was entranced by her.

After making sure that everyone in class A-25 was present, Donna, taking no notice of the boys' flushed faces, boarded a huge white bus and urged us to follow along.

Right after her figure disappeared inside of the bus, the boys snapped out of their daze and regained their senses.

Seeing the confused look on everyone's faces I couldn't help but lightly shake my head

This scene was too familiar. This was not the first time it happened and it probably wasn't going to be the last time it happened.

Donna, whenever she was in a bad mood, tended to unconsciously release some of her powers causing all the boys in class to suddenly feel extremely infatuated with her.

Sometimes it would get so bad that some of the guys would directly faint.

Only the likes of Kevin and Jin were somewhat able to remain unaffected by her sudden seductive outburst.

Regaining my composure, and looking at the others who were boarding the bus, I couldn't help but stare at the bus which Donna had just entered.

I was in complete awe.

The bus's outer body was painted in white, and its smooth design was slick and modern.

The bus, which was enormous, measuring up to 15 meters in length, could house up to 200 people.

The reason why the bus was able to hold that many people was because it had a second floor which surprisingly had a mini snack bar.

Around the bus, all the windows were tinted in black making it impossible to see through, preventing people from prying inside.

The bus's frame was made from highly durable metal alloys that could withstand the full power of several <B> ranked villains.

It was highly secured and was specifically made for protecting students from sudden ambushes from either villains or beasts.

Looking behind the bus, fifteen more buses lined up in the distance. Next to them, a crowd of students similar to us were all waiting to enter their respective buses.

Because the number of people in the first years was well over 2,000, the students were each divided into different classes.

My class was class A-25.

Each class had its own instructor, and the selection was random. That was if we exclude Jin, Emma, Amanda, Kevin, and Melissa who each could select which class they could be in.

The privilege of the talented...

Entering the bus, I looked left and right, and after spotting my group I made my way towards them.

Along the way, I couldn't help but marvel at the interior of the bus.

The seatings which reminded me of first-class seats on planes were made of fine leather. The seats were separated into two rows with two seats on each side. In front of each seat, there was a nice oak table that had several snacks on top.

Arriving where my group was, a complicated look appeared on my face.

According to what Donna had briefed us beforehand, we had to sit with our group during the whole bus ride which would take approximately five hours. This was so that we could get to know each other better.

...however, looking at my group, I started to doubt whether this was a good idea.

On my right side, Evan and Cassandra were sitting together munching down some chips. Behind them, Melissa was quietly sitting on her seat with her eyes closed. Her whole aura screamed 'Don't disturb me'

On the right side, Donald was sitting next to the window. He was currently busy staring at the scenery outside the window and thus seemed to have not realized that I had just arrived.

Looking around, apart from the seats next to Melissa and Donald, everywhere else was full.

As my eyes alternated between Melissa and Donald for a couple of seconds, I decided to sit next to Donald. Though I disliked the guy, I at least didn't risk the possibility of dying.

"Hmm? What are you doing you bastard?"

Just as I was about to sit next to Donald, he turned around and glared at me.

"...errr I am sitting"

Pausing for a moment, I looked at Donald for a bit before ignoring him and seating on the seat.

As soon as I sat on the seat, a moan almost escaped from my mouth.

It felt as if I was inside of a cloud made of cotton. My back instantly sank into the chair, and the leather coating around the chair which preserved some of the cold from the previous night instantly cooled my body.

...Too comfortable.

Just as I was enjoying my experience, I heard a loud voice on the right side of my ear. Turning my head to the side, I was met with the sight of Donald shouting at me

"You rude bastard! Who gave you permission to sit next to me?"

Frowning, I was about to retort to him, but after thinking for a bit I refrained myself from doing so and decided to ignore him.

I wasn't going to gain anything from arguing with him.

"Are you even listening to me, you rude bastard? How dare the likes of you ign..."

At first, I was able to ignore him without any problems, however, after a couple of minutes of continuous verbal abuse, I couldn't take it anymore and snapped

"Who you calling a bastard you bastard? My name is Ren. Ren Dover, not 'rude bastard'."

Flipping the middle finger at his face I raised my voice

"Leave me alone dammit, I am trying to enjoy this seat, so stop shouting like a parrot and let me have my peace!"

"You son of a..."

Opening his eyes wide, Donald was just about to retort back but before he could do that he heard a cold voice coming from the left side of the bus.

"Stop"

Opening her eyes, Melissa took her glasses off and glared at both me and Donald

"Cease your immature display at once"

Pointing behind her, where the other students were seated, she said

"Are you planning on killing me from embarrassment? Was this something you had planned beforehand in order to kill me? If so you succeeded. I would rather drown myself in a bowl of water than being subjected to any more of this"

Looking at where Melissa pointed, I soon noticed almost everyone on the bus staring in our direction.

"kheumm...kheumm, sorry everyone."

Awkwardly coughing a couple of times, I apologized to everyone.

It seems like Donald and I were a bit too loud...

Without needing to be told by Melissa, we sat on our seats and stopped talking. Closing my eyes I decided to take a quick nap.

Turning on my mp3, I immediately plugged in my earphones and played a random song.

Seeing both me and Donald sitting quietly like obedient children, Melissa's brows finally relaxed. Soon after, she closed her eyelids and prepared to sleep. However right after she closed her eyes, she said

"You better be quiet while I'm sleeping, because..."

"Ok.."

"...if you as much as speak another word, I'll make sure you drink my newly created potion that can send you straight to heaven"

"..."

"..."

Looking at each other, both me and Donald felt a cold chill.

We immediately shut up and decided to never utter a single word throughout the whole bus ride.

-Vroom!

Soon the bus engine roared loudly and slowly the bus picked up its speed.

Staring at the constantly changing scenery from outside the window, I took a deep breath and prepared myself for the upcoming trip.

...

After the first cataclysm, the world map completely changed.

The whole world became one mass of land and the map that we previously were accustomed to completely changed.

Then, the second cataclysm happened and humanity lost 6/8 of their land.

Countries that somehow managed to survive the first cataclysm ceased to exist, and what replaced them was a new centralized government called the central government.

Despite the fact that countries no longer existed, people couldn't forget their roots.

Hollberg.

A city founded in 2015, by then S ranked Hero Ludwig Hollberg, a German citizen prior to the first cataclysm.

The intent behind the creation of Hollberg was to recreate 'Germany'. Ludwig Hollberg firmly believed that one should never forget one's roots, and thus from then on, Hollberg was considered the new Germany.

Many people of German descent migrated to Hollberg and settled there in hopes of developing the city further. The culture, the language, the people, everything was exactly how it was back in Germany prior to the first cataclysm.

Following the example set by Hollberg, many countries did the same and established cities that were based on their country of origin.

The central government did not stop them nor did it try to stop them. They had too many problems to take care of to care about such insignificant matters.

"Alright guys, we will be arriving in Hollberg in about ten minutes so get prepared."

Waking me up, was Donna's crisp and pleasant voice which traveled through the bus speaker.

"huaaam..."

Yawning loudly, I stretched my body.

Looking around, I could see Donald and the rest waking up. Behind them, several students were already awake playing on their phones or talking to each other.

Rubbing my eyes a couple of times, I rested my head on the headrest of the seat.

To be honest, though I was comfortable throughout the whole trip, I would've preferred if we traveled through dimensional gates.

Sitting for five hours without being active wasn't something I was used to now that I pretty much spent most of my time training.

If it were before I reincarnated, I would've had no qualms with it.

However, now that I have completely changed my routine, I couldn't stand not doing any physical activity for more than five hours unless it was for sleeping.

Sadly, because the academy deemed gates too dangerous we couldn't use them.

Because dimensional gates were still a new technology not much was known regarding their safety. Though tests have shown that it was safe to use dimensional gates, there have been a couple of incidents regarding them causing the whole government to still block them from being commercially available.

Trains were also a no-go since they couldn't carry certain equipment that the instructors had prepared beforehand, and thus in the end the only option we had was to go by bus.

"Stand up"

"...hm?"

Snapping me out of my thoughts was Donald who stood up and was waiting for me to leave my seat.

Standing up, I followed the line of students heading towards the exit of the bus.

As soon as I exited the bus, the light coming from the sun momentarily blinded my eyes. A wave of fresh air swept all over me instantly refreshing my whole body.

Covering my face with my arm I looked around.

"...How nice"

Before me was a large expansive green field. Several houses built using timber framing and stone appeared on the green field, along with several cows that roamed around the field.

In the far distance, an enormous building with thick metal walls covering its perimeter could be seen. Beyond the walls, were several large buildings that released smoke in the air, polluting the clean environment.

After making sure that no one was missing, Donna who seemed to be in a better mood than before spoke

"Alright, everyone. Though we are in Hollberg, we are only in the outskirts. That is because before going into the city we will be making a trip towards the monster processing factory"

"We will first do a tour of the place, and then shortly after you will go with your group and complete your assigned task."

Pausing and making sure that everyone understood what she meant, Donna turned around and made her way toward the large industrial building.

"Alright follow me...."

Chapter 56: Hollberg [2]

"Thank you for coming"

At the reception of the monster processing plant, greeting us was a blond young girl with deep blue eyes. Her hair was tied in a bun, and she wore a grey suit that fitted around her body nicely.

"Thank you for having us"

Shaking her hand, Donna greeted the young lady with a smile. After sharing a couple of pleasantries with Donna, the young lady turned around and urged everyone to follow her.

"Please follow me..."

Heeding her words, we formed a long single line and followed her. Fortunately, because the other classes went to different facilities, it was not too crowded.

"A lot of procedures are taken into consideration when dismantling and processing monster and beast corpses. This plant right here is called Grüne Wiese and we are responsible for dismantling <G> to <C> ranked monster/beast corpses. As most of you know, the stronger the monster or beast, the harder it is to process. This is simply because their skins and bones become that much harder to remove and cut. Not only is their skin tougher, but they also tended to have poisonous properties that could instantly kill everyone present in the room. Therefore, we currently only have a license to process monsters and beasts between <G> and <C> rank. For higher ranked beasts and monsters, a special facility with top-notch equipment would be required."

Along the way, the young lady started describing the features of the plant and what they did. She did briefly talk about the history of the plant, but all that information went from one ear to the other.

I honestly did not care about the history of this place.

Stopping right before the door that led to the main processing plant, the young lady turned around and said.

"Before we enter, I would like for all of you to get changed into adequate clothing"

Following that, she signaled for a couple of individuals to enter.

Arriving before us students were five individuals all wearing white lab coats, glasses, and masks. As they came, they pushed a trolley hanger that was filled with lab coats.

Walking next to the hanger, the young lady looked at us and said

"As I briefly mentioned before, in here we handle highly toxic and poisonous materials. For your safety and the general public safety, we need you all to be wearing lab coats. If we don't take this precaution, we could potentially endanger people or even habitats, as some of the stuff here can be extremely lethal..."

As she continued rambling on how important it was to wear adequate safety equipment, I looked around the place.

Though we were not yet at the main processing facility, surrounding us were a lot of monster 'dolls' that had been stuffed with preserving materials allowing them to keep their original appearance. Because they were so well preserved, it looked like the real thing was here making it that much more intriguing to look at.

They had a wide display of monsters and beast dolls, and they each had a tag at the bottom briefly describing what type of monster they were. It was sort of like a mini museum.

"Alright, now get changed and come back here within ten minutes"

Finished with what she wanted to say, the young lady signaled for the five guys to distribute the coat.

Lining up and taking the suit, I immediately went to the changing room to get dressed.

After completely changing and wearing my mask and glasses I headed back to the meeting place.

Along the way, I noticed a lot of students looking around at the monster dolls around the place.

I too was curious, and thus decided to look at the one closest to the meeting place.

Pausing in front of a beast that resembled an inconspicuous looking crow, I looked at its description

<C> Black-feathered crow : Black-feathered crow, also known as 'Night reapers', are extremely dangerous beasts that are an evolved version of a crow. They are extremely cunning and can be extremely deceiving from their outer appearance, which looks like any regular crow, making them extremely hard to fight against. Due to their unparalleled speed, they are unmatched in the air and almost unstoppable if they decide to dive down to hunt their prey. Their beaks which are as hard as titanium yet less dense than it, are extremely sought after and...

"Tssss..."

Now, this was a beast I didn't want to encounter...

"Alright, since everyone is ready let's go"

Exactly ten minutes after the young lady dismissed us, wearing a lab coat and glasses she appeared before everyone and led us to the main door that led to the processing facility.

-Clank!

Opening the large metal door that led to the processing plant, I instantly felt a pungent smell invade my nostrils. My glasses clogged up, and the hot and humid environment made me want to leave the place immediately.

Next to me, several people showed similar reactions to me as they all frowned and made weird faces.

-Clank! -Clank! -Clank!

Taking a look at the facility, the first thing I saw was robotic arms that roamed around the facility freely. They were either cutting down monster and beast carcasses that were laying down on large metallic tables or were carrying them to different places.

Operating the machines were several individuals all wearing lab coats and glasses. They each alternated using the machines, and if one looked carefully, they could see a glow emanating from their body indicating that they were using mana to use the machinery.

This was a familiar scene everywhere, as not so far from them, several individuals were operating similar machines on a different monster or beast.

"As you can see, this is how we process monsters"

Smiling at everyone, the young lady led us to one of the areas in which a monster was being processed.

Stopping, she looked at everyone and pointed towards one of the processing tables

"This beast right here is a Steel-plated rhino, and just like its name may suggest...it has a very tough outer layer"

Looking in the direction where the young lady was pointing at, a large beast that was five meters in length lifelessly laid down on a large metallic table. The beast's body was humongous and looked to be extremely muscular judging from the size of its legs.

It had a huge horn on the top of its nose, and despite it being closely related to a rhino, the steel-plated rhino looked much more fearsome.

They were incomparable.

Around the body of the steel-plated rhino, metallic arms that shot thin laser beams continuously worked on dismantling the outer layer of the beast.

Takin notice the student's interest in the lasers, the young lady quickly explained to them

"What we are using is a highly powerful laser that shoots a single beam of 12 petawatts of energy that lasts five seconds per shot. Thanks to how advanced technology has become, we are now able to use laser technology to directly cut extremely tough and durable materials such as monster parts and even diamonds. Because of how tough the outer layer of a steel-plated rhino is, we can only resort to using lasers to remove its skin"

Pointing at the laser machine she continued

"The cylinder that is used to shoot the laser is made of titanium-doped sapphire that can perfectly withstand the power coming from the laser. If not for the fact that anything beyond it would be clas..."

Whilst she was speaking, I made sure to note down everything she said. This information was extremely useful for my tasks.

Looking around, it seems like I wasn't the only one with this idea as almost everyone was taking notes of what the young lady was saying.

"Over here is where we sort and store the different types of materials that we remove from the beast's body. Once we managed to remove their skin, we will leave it out to dry and rest for at least 24 hours before bleaching it with a relatively strong acid."

Arriving in front of a large warehouse, lots of monster skin and bones were neatly sorted into different piles with labels on them.

Next to them were large circular white buckets containing a transparent liquid. Every minute, a worker wearing rubber gloves would soak the monster's skin for a good minute before hanging it and letting it dry in the air.

Seeing the confusion on everyone's faces, the young lady smiled and explained

"The bleaching process is extremely important as guilds love to use these materials for their suits and hence like to customize them."

Pausing slightly, she winked at everyone and said

"There's a reason why there are different designs for armors and equipment"

Hearing her joking remark, everyone lightly chuckled.

What she said was true. People loved to wear specially designed suits when entering dungeons. Part of it was due to having an extra layer of protection, but the main reason was its design. It was sort of like wearing clothes.

When I roamed Ashton city in my free time, I noticed many shops with different suit designs. Most notably, I remember seeing a suit in full pink which pretty much screamed 'I am here'. It was so over the top that I wouldn't be surprised if all the monsters decided to attack the person wearing the suit. They were like a walking target.

...well, who was I to judge right?

Just like that, we followed her around the facility as she explained different things. Sometimes some students would ask questions and she would promptly respond to them, but most of the time she was recounting useless information.

From time to time, however, she would talk about the things that I needed for my assignment. If she did do so, I would immediately take note of it.

However, two hours into the tour, I started to get extremely bored. She started rambling on which monsters were selected, who was in charge of making decisions, and other useless nonsense that I honestly couldn't care less about.

Moreover, the hot and humid environment caused me to be extremely uncomfortable. It was to the point that I was starting to feel extremely lethargic...

Finally, after who knew how long, the young lady stopped and said

"Alright, I think I've said enough for today. Thank you very much for coming"

I wasn't the only one who was rejoining about the fact that the tour had ended as pretty much everyone around me looked reenergized.

"Thank you very much for this experience"

Thanking the young lady, Donna looked at her watch and said

"Alright, we will take a ten-minute break before going back to the hotel to rest for the day"

Taking off her mask and glasses, Donna threw them in a nearby bin and proceeded to say

"Meet me where the bus previously dropped us in ten minutes' time. If you need to go to the bathroom or stretch, make sure you take care of it now as the ride to the hotel will take approximately 20 minutes. That is if there is no traffic which I honestly doubt"

After saying her piece, Donna left in the direction of where the bus was.

"Hey bastard, did you take note of everything?"

Just as I was about to follow Donna back, I heard an annoying voice coming from behind me.

Turning around, I could see Donald making his way towards me.

"How many times did I tell you that my name is Ren and not bastard?"

"I don't care, did you take notes or not?"

Rolling me eyes at him I responded

"Yes, I did"

"Good, after you settle in your room meet me later so that we can get this thing over with"

As soon as he finished what he wanted to say, Donald left. As he was leaving, a weird look appeared on my face as I couldn't help but say

"Oh? Surprisingly you're the serious type"

Without turning around, Donald irritably responded

"Shut it scrub. Unlike you, I'd like to keep my ranking"

"Yes, yes"

Shaking my head I followed him back to the bus. Somehow, people cared too much about their ranking.

...well it was understandable as it dictated which guild they could join in the future, but it somehow seems to be like some kind of obsession here.

Looking at the blue sky that was turning dark, I lightly murmured

"Well, it's not like I don't care either"

I too wanted to climb up the ranking, but even if I wanted to, I'd have to do it slowly and unnoticeably, else people would think I was hiding some sort of secret.

Sigh

Letting out a sigh, I entered the bus and sat next to Donald like I had done previously.

Maybe I'll increase my ranking in my midterms, who knows....

Chapter 57: Hollberg [3]

The sun had already started to set, leaving behind an orange veil of light that enveloped the sky.

Hollberg's city lights brightly lit the surroundings, and despite it being a relatively large city, skyscrapers appeared to be scarce.

Most houses consisted of five stories apartments or villas, and only occasionally would there be a skyscraper in the distance.

Stopping in front of a large mansion that looked to be the size of a football stadium, we quickly left the bus and headed toward the place.

As I left the bus, the first thing I did was stretch my back and legs.

I was honestly exhausted. Despite the fact that I hadn't trained at all today, my mind could barely function properly as everything around me became sort of hazy.

I guess using my brain was just as tiring as using my body.

...well that wasn't the only reason I was tired.

Recently I had only been getting on average 6 hours of sleep a day, which wasn't too bad if it was for a couple of days...but this had been a recurring thing for the past week or so.

Seeing how sleepy I was getting, I knew that the accumulated fatigue I had built up this past week had started crashing on me.

Shaking my head quickly, I looked around to find ways to take my mind off of sleeping.

...I only needed to wait for a further 5 to 10 minutes before being able to get some good shut eye.

As I was trying to keep myself awake, my eyes landed on the other side of the parking area where our bus parked.

Not so far from us, there were already five similar-looking buses parked near the mansion indicating that some of the other classes had already arrived.

Seeing that we weren't the last ones here, I felt my mind clear a bit.

'...it seems like we finished at just the right time.'

Since there were more groups coming, it meant that I had more time to rest.

This was good as I really needed to take a power nap.

"Alright, let's get going"

After talking to the driver of the bus for a bit, Donna waved goodbye to him and led us to the mansion.

Entering the mansion, a nice fragrance invaded my nostrils causing me to uncontrollably salivate.

Looking around, it seemed like I was not the only one who felt that way as most people were staring in the direction of where the nice aroma was coming from.

Turning around, Donna who seemed to have read what was on the mind of most people started speaking

"Alright everyone, I know you guys are hungry, but things need to be done in order."

Taking out a card from her pocket, she pointed towards the reception and said

"First things first, I will call you each by your name and you will then proceed to go to reception and collect your card. After that, you will come back here and wait for the others to finish before heading to your own designated room"

Seeing everyone's deflated looks, Donna lightly smiled and raised her brow

"Don't be so down, don't tell me you guys are planning on eating when you had just sweated for a whole day?"

Checking her watch quickly, she added

"At eight on the dot, as you guys can already tell by the smell, there will be a buffet where everyone can eat and drink as much as they want...so hurry up and get changed!"

Holding my stomach that had started rumbling ever since I had caught a whiff of the nice fragrance, I quickly collected my room key and made my way towards my room.

Along the way, I couldn't help but admire the luxurious place. The insides of the building were decorated with exquisite paintings and statues. Covering the floor was a nice red carpet that felt extremely soft to the touch.

Next to the windows were red curtains that had a lighter pigmentation compared to the carpet, giving it a sharp and pleasing contrast. At the hem of the curtains, there were finely decorated golden patterns that depicted flying dragons.

The best part of the mansion was the outside, as I could see a massive garden where its splendor was further emphasized by the lanterns outside that shone down on it.

Next to the garden, I could see a tennis court and a football field that were both enclosed by green fences.

Shaking my head, I couldn't help but wonder how much this place had cost.

Considering how well it was decorated and how big this place was, I'd say it cost well over a 100 million U.

-Click!

After navigating the long corridors, I arrived at my apartment and opened the door.

Prior to coming to the room, when I was collecting my keys, I had been made aware by the receptionist that I would be given a regular room that consisted of one living room, one bathroom, and one bedroom.

...yeah, she said regular

Though the decorations weren't as luxurious as the ones outside, it was still within the scope of 'luxurious', as paintings and other expensive decorations were placed in the room.

Because I placed most of my stuff inside of my bracelet, I didn't need to drop off anything. Therefore, I decided to take a quick shower to remove all of the sweat that had accumulated on my body.

-Pomf!

After taking a quick shower, I slumped on the large bed in my room and closed my eyes. I needed to sort my thoughts which had been a mess since the start of the trip.

'Five days...'

That's how long I had before the big event was going to happen.

Looking at the white ceiling where a gold plated chandelier brightly lit the room, I covered my eyes with my arm and murmured

"Should I interfere or not..."

A big massacre was going to happen in five days' time, as about 1/4 of all first-years would be murdered.

'The tragedy of Hollberg'

....was what this event was called.

Closing my eyes, and taking a deep breath I was deeply conflicted.

Despite the fact that I knew that I shouldn't interfere, a small part of me wanted to change the outcome of what was to happen.

One of the reasons why I never liked to interact with people wasn't just because I was an introvert...no it's because, by the middle stages of the novels, chances were that all the friends I had made would end up dying.

If there was a thing I had learned since dying and transmigration into this world was that life was fickle. Every second, there was a chance you could die. No one was safe from death, especially for extras whose sole role was to either die or be forgotten in the later stages of the novel.

The less I got attached to this academy, the more I could firm my will and stop myself from doing anything stupid.

...but still.

The fact that I could prevent the death of a lot of students weighed heavily on me.

"...those lost lives are on me"

Looking at my hands, I slightly clenched them into fists. Images of my hands becoming dyed in blood replayed in my mind as my eyes shook slightly.

They too had dreams and aspirations to have a family and become heroes that protect humanity.

"Heroes...huh"

Repeating that word in my mind, I scoffed.

How laughable...

Despite the fact that society labeled individuals that wielded power as heroes, they were nothing of the sort.

In this world, 'Hero' was merely a label that the government had stuck on individuals that wielded power to give hope to society.

A symbol was what they were called.

They were beings meant to be idolized and worshiped, as they were responsible for protecting humanity from the likes of demons and villains.

...Sadly, reality proved to be different as in this corrupt world most heroes were a bunch of hypocrites that were no better than villains.

They valued human life as nothing more than a fleeting thing that could be crushed by their own will and power.

Take a look at Micheal Parker.

An esteemed <S> ranked hero and 47th on the Hero ranking. He who was deemed to be a 'Hero' was now planning on massacring a bunch of 16 year olds.

...in the end who were the real villains?

Don't get me wrong, there were some great heroes out there that actually cared about saving the world, but those were in the minority, as most heroes tended to somehow crave more power as soon as they got a taste of fame and money.

In the end, only people like Kevin who had a hero complex and loved helping people out could be properly defined by the word 'hero'

...me?

Shaking my head, I couldn't help but laugh

Despite the fact that I knew very soon most people around me will die, I wasn't doing anything to prevent that.

If I were a 'hero' I would've immediately helped everyone and saved as many lives as possible.

...sadly I wasn't that type of person.

I wasn't selfless enough to help anyone I could see at the expense of myself. Though, the fact that my decision would lead to a lot of deaths has weighed down on me heavily this past week.

Sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night soaked in sweat. In my dreams, the corpses of the countless students who I could've saved continuously appeared blaming me for their death.

Since coming here, I knew this would've happened...I had braced myself for this.

I had braced myself for the mental conflicts that my mind would continuously have the longer I stayed in this world.

Many deaths will be on me, and I acknowledged this.

'selfish'

That's how I would describe myself.

...I only cared for what was within my reach and not for what was a little bit further away.

It almost felt as I had erected a tall wall around me that prevented people from approaching me.

I joke around a lot here and there...I try to keep the mood around me lighthearted, but that was all a mask.

...deep inside me, continuous conflicts were constantly brewing. Should I do this, should I do that, what was right and what was wrong? Should I act this way or should I act that way...

Every day these thoughts would constantly haunt me.

I knew that if things kept going like this that maybe one day I would make a decision that would completely change who I was, I knew it yet...

Closing my eyes, I looked away from the blinding light coming from the chandelier.

Looking outside the window, at the star filled sky, I thought

'...maybe transmigrating here was just as much of a blessing as it was a curse.'

...

Not so far from Ren, similarly staring at the beautiful star-filled sky, a stunningly beautiful young girl with short auburn hair was lost in her own thoughts.

Today had been a hectic day, and if not for the fact that there was a large buffet awaiting her, Emma would've loved for nothing more but to slump on her bed and sleep.

The bed was tempting...but she knew.

She knew that once she laid on that bed, there was no coming back.

Feeling the cool breeze of the night, Emma's mind wandered to a troubling piece of news she had received from one of her dad's subordinates.

The message stated 'Parker's have ceased their hostile takeovers over Roshfield owned businesses, and seemed to have gone radio silent'

Normally, she should've rejoiced at the news that the Parker's had stopped going after her family assets, but Emma felt uneasy about their actions.

The overbearing Parker conglomerate suddenly yielded in a financial battle?

Please, there was no way Emma would believe that.

Emma had this gut feeling that the Parker's were planning something. Something big. Something that would cause them to have an edge over her family.

Their sudden action of ceasing whatever they were doing was almost like they were foreshadowing that this was merely the calm before the storm.

Staring at the crescent moon in the sky, Emma sighed and headed back to her room.

"I hope I'm wrong...."

Chapter 58: Hollberg [4]

"Are you guys headed down as well?"

Exiting her room, Emma caught sight of two girls quietly walking down the corridor.

Because the lighting was good, the features of the two girls became more apparent. Both of them had flawless white skin that was devoid of any imperfections. Their hair, which were black and brown respectively, gently cascaded on their back, stopping right before their waist.

On the left, Amanda wore tight black pants along with a white turtle neck sweater that covered part of her neck. Melissa on the other hand wore a simple brown cardigan, a plain white shirt, and some jeans.

As they walked, Amanda's cold demeanor contrasted perfectly with Melissa's arrogant and overbearing one creating this picture-like scene. It was like seeing a pair of phoenixes.

Jogging to catch up to them, Emma brushed her hair to the side and stopped right when she was about an arm's length away from them.

Pouting slightly, Emma sourly looked at Amanda and Melissa before saying

"Hey come on, why didn't you guys stop and waited for me?"

Looking at Emma from the corner of her eyes, Melissa responded

"Would it have made a difference?"

Turning her head towards Melissa, Emma looked at her sharply before saying

"What...no, but it's still common courtesy to wait for your friend"

"...sure, whatever makes you feel better"

"Ugh, seriously what am I gonna do with you."

Shaking her head at Melissa's lackluster response, Emma looked at Amanda who remained quiet the whole time.

"..."

Avoiding Emma's eyes, Amanda looked around the corridor. It was apparent that she didn't want to talk.

Rolling her eyes, Emma facepalmed.

"What am I gonna do with you guys..."

Though they had known each other for about two months, the distance between them didn't shrink at all during the time they had spent together.

No matter how much she tried to socialize and interact with them, they would always keep her at arm's length away.

This was especially so for Amanda, who was always curt and polite, treating everyone as if they were a stranger.

In the end, Emma was left totally helpless when interacting with these two.

Letting out a sigh, Emma thought for a bit before saying

"...say, don't you guys find Jin a bit weird these days?"

As soon as the word 'Jin' escaped from Emma's mouth, Melissa's face darkened

"Don't even mention the name of that guy..."

Halfway through her sentence, Melissa held her stomach and continued

"...crap, I'm already starting to lose my appetite thinking about him"

"No, seriously. He feels a bit off these days..."

Though Emma knew that Melissa was constantly tormented by Jin on a daily basis, she also knew that if there was someone who would notice his strange behavior it was her.

That was simply because he would always try to talk to her whenever he had free time.

It had gotten to the point that Melissa purposely decided to return back to the dorm at a later hour than usual.

This was so that she could avoid him...

Before Melissa could answer, Amanda who had been quiet the whole time responded

"He has become a lot quieter than he was before"

Turning her head to Amanda, Emma nodded and said

"You also think so as well.."

Hearing the conversation between Emma and Amanda, Melissa thought for a bit before saying.

"Maybe you're right, I did notice him pestering me less than before...but whatever happened to him, I am all in for it"

Despite Jin being obvious with his advances, Melissa had more than once shut him down completely.

She simply did not care about having any romantic interactions, as the only thing on her mind was her research.

She was very close to breaking through into a particular theorem that had plagued her for a couple of years. It had almost become an obsession for her...

Therefore...for Melissa, who was in this critical juncture of proving her theorem, Jin's constant pestering had caused her nothing but headaches.

If someone were to ask her who was the most annoying person in the academy, for her, Jin was undoubtedly number 1.

"He's pestering you less? Hmm...someth-"

Halfway through her sentence, Emma was stopped by Melissa who couldn't help but say

"Let's not talk about him anymore. It's spoiling my appetite"

Without waiting for Emma to respond, Melissa picked up her pace and headed towards the first floor where the banquet was held.

Turning her head to the side and seeing Amanda also being uninterested in the topic, Emma lightly sighed and said

"...okay"

...

After calming down a bit, I decided to head downstairs where the banquet was held.

In the end, hunger got the best of me.

As I was heading downstairs, I soon noticed the figure of a student walking ahead of me. Squinting my eyes to get a better look at who it was, I was surprised by my discovery.

Rank 5 'Han yu fei'

Also known as Frank Han, and the leader of class A-23.

From the back, I could see his short black hair that was permed in a way that looked like he had a mop on his head. His body was on the relatively skinnier side, and he wore round glasses.

Though he didn't look particularly strong, his presence alone screamed 'danger' to me. It felt as if I was staring at a crouching tiger waiting to lunge at me at any moment.

...I guess he wasn't ranked fifth for no reason. Apart from knowing that he was ranked fifth, I actually didn't know that much else about him.

I didn't develop his character much, but from what I remember, he was an easy-going guy with no ulterior motives.

Most surprisingly was the fact that he didn't care about other people's ranking, as most of the people he hung out with were lower ranked than him. Some even by a margin that was as large as mine.

He was of Chinese descent, and his martial arts were on another level. He was probably the only person in the academy that did not use any weapons when fighting.

He only fought with his body.

He was what was known as a 'full body martial artist', someone who fought with every part of his body.

He comes from the Han clan, one of the three main ancient Chinese clans that resided in Ashton city. The three ancient Chinese clans were Wang, Shan, and Han clan respectively.

The martial manual he practices was actually a five-star martial manual, and it was passed to him by the patriarch of the clan.

Despite his strength, in my novel he didn't get that much character development. He only showed up on rare occasions, and those times were when he was either in the academy or when Kevin needed his help.

Looking back at it now, such a strong character should've definitely had more time in the story.

...well, no use in regretting what was already done.

Following Frank, I quickly headed towards where the banquet was being held.

Soon I could hear the sound of a lot of people laughing and chatting. The closer I got, the louder the sounds became.

Turning left, I soon found myself inside an enormous hall.

Looking up, three enormous chandeliers brightly lit the hall. Massive pillars made out of marble supported the structure of the room, and next to them, tables filled with food could be seen all over the place.

Waiters dressed in black outfits wandered around the place as they served different drinks.

Despite it not being eight o'clock, the hall was already filled to the brim with students.

Looking around, I soon spotted the area where my class was.

Making my way there, I took a drink from the waiter and slowly savored it.

"...ah dammit, I forgot that alcohol doesn't affect me anymore"

After tasting the drink and realizing that it had no effect on me, I slightly cursed and downed the whole thing in one go.

What was the point of alcohol if you couldn't get drunk from it?

Shaking my head, I soon arrived at the area where my group was designated to.

Looking left and right, I quickly spotted Donald and my other group members and headed to where they were.

"Eyoo"

Lightly waving, I stood next to them.

Looking at me who had just come, Donald gave me a side glance and then proceeded to ignore me.

Rolling my eyes at him, stared at the front

"It seems like everyone has arrived"

Five minutes after my arrival, Donna showed up.

Immediately, all of the boy's attention was drawn towards her. Wearing a one-piece black dress with fine silver patterns, Donna looked stunning. Her dress, which was moderately tight, further emphasized her well-developed outline. Moreover, her violet necklace that perfectly matched the color of her eyes, made Donna look ever more mesmerizing.

Next to me, I could hear the hurried breathing of some of the male students as they looked at her with heart in their eyes.

Closing my eyes, I calmed my heart down.

Usually, I would've been like any of the other male students here, but today...today, I had too much on my mind. I just couldn't bring myself to admire her beauty.

Not bothered by everyone's stares, Donna's violet eyes paused on everyone. Looking around and seeing that everyone was here she continued

"There are two reasons as to why I've gathered all of you here. One is to obviously eat some food and satiate our hunger and regain some of the energy that we have burnt during our visit"

Looking to her right, Donna pointed in the direction of where the food was

"Sadly, since we are the last class, we can only wait for the others to eat first...but before that"

Pausing slightly, Donna's mood became a bit more serious as she deeply looked at a few individuals.

"The second reason...it's because we will soon give you all an individual assignment"

Instantly murmurs could be heard from everyone as they wondered what task they would be given.

Judging from how she said the word 'individual' it seems like this task could only be completed without anyone else's aid

"I will soon give you the task which you have been assigned. Each of you has been given three days time to complete the task...and failing to complete the task means automatic credit deduction from your end of year report"

As she was speaking, Donna could see some of the students shaking in nervousness. Shaking her head lightly she added

"Don't worry, the difficulty of your tasks has been assigned according to your abilities. After a lot of consideration, we managed to assign you guys tasks that are well within the reported data of your strength...Therefore, you guys should be relatively safe"

-Clap!

Clapping her hand to get the attention of some of the students that had stopped listening and were trying to find out what their task was, Donna smiled and said

"Alright, I think I've said enough. I will soon send you your tasks on your phone. Please enjoy the food and make sure you don't fail the missions."

-Ding!

Right on cue, a message appeared on my phone. Just as I was about to open it and see what my task was, Donna spoke once again

"Ah..I forgot to add. We won't aid you in your task, so if you guys die, you die. We won't be helping you"

Instantly, the room became tense. Some students started shaking in nervousness as they carefully looked at their phones to see what their task was.

"Well, sorry to have dampened the mood for you all, but I felt that I needed to warn you beforehand so that you don't get complacent thinking that we will save your asses even if you were to fail the mission"

Finished with what she wanted to say, Donna quickly left and joined the other instructors who had similarly shared the news with the other students.

Turning on my phone, I looked at the notification that had popped up on my screen

[Student rank 1750, Ren Dover - Mission target, Karl zar. Head of a minor drug organization that had infiltrated Hollberg for the past decade. Target location at xxxxxx road. Target behavioral pattern....]

Taking a deep breath, I looked at the ceiling of the hall.

....I guess I'll have to prepare myself.

Chapter 59: I am Kevin Voss [1]

Inside a large dark room, the figure of an extremely handsome individual could be seen sitting crossed leg in the middle of the bed.

Tsssssss...

Sitting shirtless on the bed, steam slowly rose from the figure's body.

As steam poured out from his body, the figure suddenly tensed and relaxed his muscles repeatedly. He continued doing so for every five seconds time intervals.

As he tensed his muscles, the outline of his veins that traced all over his body became more apparent making him look extremely scary.

"Fuuuuuu....."

After a couple of minutes of continuous tensing and relaxing, the figure suddenly released a long breath and finally opened his eyes, revealing two scarlet red eyes.

Standing up and taking a towel from a nearby table, Kevin dried his wet body.

Turning around, he looked at his reflection in the mirror.

His body, which was chiseled to perfection had multiple scar wounds on both his abdomen and chest areas. His back was even worse, as it was riddled with scars that ranged from different sizes and shapes. Most notably, there was one that stretched halfway through his back.

Tracing one of the scars that appeared on his chest, Kevin was reminded of the time where he was forced to fight against multiple <G> ranked villains when he had just entered <F> rank.

It was a mission that the system had given him in exchange for a relatively powerful skill.

In the end, if not for the fact that he had multiple trump cards on him, he would've long have died that day.

All the scars on his body were reminders of the hardship he had gone through to get to where he was.

Throwing the towel on the bed, Kevin opened his phone and checked his most recent notification.

[Student rank 1, Kevin Voss - Mission target, Victor Hugh, Hollberg minister of finances. Charged with corruption and embezzlement. Target location at xxxxxx road. Target behavioral pattern....]

"...Corrupt officer huh"

Looking through the data file sent to him, Kevin quickly skimmed through the contents.

Stopping on a certain section, Kevin frowned

"Embezzlement, Money laundering, Soliciting and acting as an intermediary for drug trades, false imprisonment of government officials, sexual harassment..."

The more he looked through the series of crimes his target was accused of, the deeper Kevin's frown became.

"...such trash"

Turning his phone off, Kevin placed it in his pocket.

-Click!

Dressing up in a simple white T-shirt and black pants, Kevin took his black Kashmiri jacket and headed out of the room.

-Ding!

[Host has received a new mission, would you like to view it?]

Not surprised by the sudden notification, Kevin nodded

"Yes, open quest interface"

===System quest===

Difficulty rank : E+

Mission : Eliminate Victor Hugh, a corrupt minister that has been embezzling funds from Hollberg. Guarded by several <F> ranked individuals and one <E> ranked guard.

Mission reward : Rank upgrade [E+ ▶ D-]

Looking at the quest window that popped in front of him, Kevin frowned as soon as he saw the difficulty of the mission. However, that frown soon relaxed.

Opening his status window, he looked through his stats

===Status===

Name : Kevin Voss

Rank : E +

Strength : D

Agility : E +

Stamina : E -

Intelligence : E +

Mana capacity : E -

Luck : E

Charm : D +

--> Profession :

[Swordsmanship lvl.4]

--> Martial Manual :

[★★★★ Everlasting sunset] - Greater realm of mastery

Sword art primarily focused on creating faints and hiding true sword intent. By creating multiple illusions of sword art, the enemy will find it harder to defend as the true attack will always be masked under multiple faints.

[★★★ Sky steps] - Minor realm of mastery

Movement art that considerably increases user agility. Upon reaching a certain level of mastery, stepping on the air is possible.

--> Skills :

[[E] Overdrive]

A skill that enables user to push bodily functions to the extreme. For one minute, the user can exhibit power that is double of original user strength. User will also find their other stats increasing considerably. After usage of skill, user will experience extreme fatigue making it hard for them to focus and carry out ordinary tasks for the next few hours.

[[F] Mind cleansing]

Increases user computational and analytical ability for a short period of time. Can't be used for a prolonged period of time due to the risk of possible brain trauma.

[[F] Mana coating]

A skill that enables user to replenish mana more quickly by expanding the pores on the human body.

Finally, after more than four months of being stuck at E+ rank, he finally had a chance to increase his rank.

If not for the fact that he had enrolled in the lock, Kevin estimated that he would've already have reached <D-> rank.

He had wasted a lot of time at the academy. The environment wasn't like before where he would constantly be on the edge, almost dying multiple times a week.

Sometimes, the missions were so dangerous that even the slightest mistake could cost him his life.

The environment in the lock was much more relaxed than his previous environment, which in a way was good as it allowed him to learn other things aside from fighting...but it had also stagnated his fighting ability.

Only through constantly being on the edge of your life would you truly become strong. The more peaceful their environment was, the fewer chances for growth

That's what Kevin firmly believed.

...

Stopping in front of the reception desk, Kevin walked up to a young female receptionist and asked

"Hello, may I know if I can rent a bike?"

Looking up and seeing Kevin, the receptionist was momentarily stunned by his appearance. However, that didn't ask long as she quickly collected herself

"...a bike?"

"Yes, preferably a black one that goes at incredibly high speeds"

"Hmm, let me speak with the manager."

Knitting her brows, the receptionist picked up her phone and dialed a number. This was the first time that she had ever been asked to rent a bike, so she didn't know what do to.

Hence why she opted to call for her manager.

—Hello?

Picking up the phone, a middle-aged voice could be heard from the other side of the phone

"Sir, a student is requesting to borrow a bike"

—A bike? Why would he want to borrow a bike?

"I don't know as well, that's why I am asking for confirmation with you"

Pausing slightly, the person on the other side of the phone said

—...Can you ask for the student's name?

Covering the speaker of the phone, the young clerk lady looked at Kevin and asked

"Can you please tell me your name?"

Nodding his head, Kevin replied

"Kevin Voss"

"Alright thank you...sir his name is Kevin Voss I believe"

—Kevin Voss...Kevin...ah!

Repeating the name a couple of times, the person on the other side of the phone seemed to have had a sudden realization as his voice increased a few pitches.

"Boss?"

Realizing what he had done, the person on the other side of the phone awkwardly coughed and said

—Kheumm, it was nothing. Hand him the keys to the Larvey9027

Pausing for a second, the receptionist opened her eyes wide and said

"Y-you mean, the Larvey9027?"

Her shocked reaction was understandable.

It had to be noted that the Larvey9027 was the most advanced bike they had in their mansion. A single one of those bikes costs upwards of a couple dozen million U.

She also remembers clearly that her boss highly favored that bike...yet right now he wanted nothing more but to give it to a teenager?

—Yes, do it quick. You have my permission

Hearing the urgency of her boss's voice, the receptionist didn't dare refute and agreed

"Okay"

—If that student asks for anything else, make sure you try to please him as much as you can.

Overwhelmed by the huge favor the young boy before her was getting, the receptionist could only dumbly agree to her boss's orders.

A big shot.

The young boy before her was a big shot.

"...Okay"

—Alright, call me if anything happens regarding that student

-Tak!

Hanging up, the receptionist looked at Kevin with a complicated look.

"...Please follow me"

Opening a small safe box, the receptionist took a pair of black keys and urged Kevin to follow her. Soon they entered an elevator that brought them to the bottom floor

-Ding!

As soon as the elevator doors opened, Kevin was stunned by what he saw.

Rows upon rows of supercars appeared on the large floor. The large collection of cars were sorted by brand and age at which they were manufactured, with some of the cars dating as far back as 2015.

"Please follow me"

Without waiting for Kevin to admire the place, the receptionists moved towards where the bikes were parked and urged him to keep up.

-Di! -Di!

Stopping in front of a bike, the receptionist took out the keys and unlocked the bike.

"...Here's the bike"

Handing the keys to Kevin, the receptionist smiled at his reaction. It was that of awe.

Looking at the bike in front of him, Kevin couldn't help but be amazed.

As soon as the bike turned on, the body of the bike lifted upwards levitating right on top of its two thick wheels. The frame of the bike was matt black, and its long frame could accommodate two people comfortably.

"Thank you"

Satisfied, Kevin smiled and mounted the bike.

"Here"

Handing Kevin a nice black helmet that covered the whole face, the receptionist stepped back.

Putting on the helmet, Kevin lightly nodded at the receptionist. Tightened the grip of the bike throttle, the bike silently sped into the distance.

Watching Kevin leave, the receptionist smiled and said

"Have a safe trip"

Chapter 60: I am Kevin Voss [2]

As night shrouded Hollberg, a silhouette sped into the busy streets of the city.

Swiftly moving between cars, the figure of an individual could be seen riding on top of a slick motorbike that emitted no sound. If not for the two lights coming from the front of the bike, someone could've easily overlooked the bike that was swiftly moving in between the streets.

After ten more minutes of riding, silently stopping in front of a large villa, Kevin took off his helmet revealing his two scarlet red eyes that shone under the moonlight.

-shua!

"System open inventory"

Extending his hand to the right and retrieving it back, a drone appeared in his hand.

Turning on the drone, Kevin turned on the cloaking function as well as the noise dampening function installed on the drone.

-Bzzzz!

Throwing the drone in the air, it silently disappeared and melted into the darkness of the night, completely blending with everything around it.

Staring at where the drone used to be, Kevin blankly looked at the villa before him

This wasn't the first time Kevin assassinated someone. Multiple times the system had given him similar missions where he would have to kill highly ranked individuals.

Therefore, as soon as he got assigned his mission, he already had all the necessary things needed to carry out the mission.

Turning on his phone, Kevin spectated the drone's view of the mansion.

Frowning slightly, Keving turned on the holographic function of his phone. Soon a three-dimensional perspective of the villa became visible.

Pinching his fingers, he carefully scrutinized the layout of the area.

The villa was relatively large, and it consisted of one main building surrounded by large cement walls. Around the villa, there was a large garden, filled with all sorts of flowers and plants, and next to it was a large maze.

In the middle of the maze, there was a nice wooden pavilion surrounded by red and pink roses.

Controlling the drone, Kevin moved it around the perimeter of the gate where several men dressed in black could be seen patrolling the area.

Counting all of the people he could spot patrolling the mansion, Kevin turned on the thermal imaging camera to make sure he didn't miss anyone due to the darkness of the night.

"Fifteen...sixteen...seventeen"

As he counted, he couldn't help but frown.

...This many people just outside?

Something told Kevin that something wasn't right

-Click!

Thinking for a bit, Kevin decided to deploy his mini scouting devices. Pressing on a button on his screen, several small devices dropped from the drone, landing softly on the garden's grass.

Swiping left, Kevin switched the view from the drone's point of view to the mini scouting devices view.

As he navigated the mini scouting devices with his phone, Kevin kept the drone in the air to monitor the surroundings. Just in case something happened.

Quietly entering the villa, carefully controlling one of the small scouting devices, Kevin quietly looked through each room.

After a couple of minutes of continuous scouting, Kevin stopped at what seemed to be his target's study room. Infiltrating the room through the small gap of the door, Kevin was able to see the inside of the room.

In the middle of the room stood a large wooden desk with two white leather sofas positioned right in front of it. Behind the desk, there was a large window that overlooked the whole garden.

A large carpet that seemed to have been made from real animal skin covered the whole floor, and around the room, multiple different paintings were displayed for people to see.

Just as Kevin was about to check through the files on his target's desk, the scouting device picked up a few tremors coming from the ground.

Frowning slightly, Kevin quickly hid the device from human view and turned on the cloaking function.

-Creak!

"Have all the preparations been made?"

Entering the room, a fat middle-aged man dressed in a red robe that had fine golden patterns looked behind him as he spoke. Accompanying him were several black-clothed individuals who were all warily looking in the same direction the fat middle-aged man was looking.

Kevin who was watching from the scouting device instantly identified the fat middle-aged man.

Victor Hugh, his assassination target.

Matching the description of his target with the image displayed on his screen, Kevin confirmed that he was in fact, Victor.

A few seconds after Victor entered the room, a towering man whose muscles were the size of a head entered the room. As he entered the room, his presence and demenour completely overwhelmed everyone that was in the room.

Only Victor remained relatively unfazed by the man's aura.

-Pamf!

Slumping on his chair, Victor gestured for the towering man to sit on one of the sofas opposite to him.

Sitting down, the tall man spoke

"Mister Oliver has already entered the premise and is currently in talks with secretary Chun with regards to securing a new supply route. Within an hour we should be able to finalize a deal with them"

Hearing the name Oliver being mentioned, Victor's face became dark

"Oliver? The guy that monopolized most trading routes in Hollberg?"

Nodding his head, the tall man confirmed.

"...yes"

Frowning slightly, Victor tapped his finger on the table and asked

"Has the security around here been tightened?"

Nodding his head, the tall man said

"Yes, we have hired a couple of extra guards. Though only two are decent, ranking at F rank."

Holding his almost non-existent chin with one of his fingers, Victor remained silent for a bit before saying what had been bugging his mind for the past two days

"...say, were there any unusual activities coming from the students that came from the lock?"

Lightly chuckling, the tall muscular man who seemed to have seen through Victor's worries spoke

"Even if they did move, I would doubt a bunch greenies like them would be able to get past me"

Forcing a smile, Victor shook his head

"It's not that simple, what if it's one of the professors who targets me? Even you, an <E> ranked individual would stand no chance against one of the professors there"

Leaning back against the sofa, the tall man crossed his arms and frowned

"What you say does indeed make sense...but have you ever wondered. Would the lock, the world's leading academy stoop so low and target you? Someone who couldn't even be put on the radar by weaker forces?"

Looking back at Victor, he continued

"I'd understand it if you were some bigshot crime boss, but you're merely a finance minister of a still-developing city. There's no way they would send a professor for the likes of you.

"Worst case scenario they will just send a student, which in all said and done are not worth mentioning in front of me"

Hearing what the tall man sitting before him was saying, Victor felt a bit more reassured...but he still couldn't completely hide his worry

"...yea but they are from the lock"

Smirking, a black glow started emanating from the tall man's body. Soon an overbearing pressure bore down on everyone in the room.

"He, you think a bunch of students that have no real combat experience, let alone have ever killed someone are a match for me?"

Feeling the massive pressure bearing down on him, Victor quickly apologized

"N-no, I'm sorry I am just nervous"

Noticing that he had taken things a bit too far, the tall man removed the pressure and said

"Hmph, when the time comes and if they really do show up...I'll show you the difference between me and them"

Standing up, the tall man looked at Victor and said

"...You felt it just now didn't you? My power."

Victor who was still recovering from the pressure the tall man had exerted before, nodded his head and said

"I did"

"...so there's nothing to be particularly worried about"

Seein how confident the tall man before him was, Victor bitterly smiled and said

"Sigh, alright. There's a reason why I pay you so much Eldor"

"Well, for someone like me the amount you're paying could be considered a barg...hmm?"

Stopping mid-sentence, Eldor looked at the right side of the room. Squinting his eyes, he moved closer towards the edge of the wall of the room.

"What's this?"

Picking up a small device that was the size of a coin, the small device's color soon distorted from being the same color as the wall to slowly changing to the same skin tone as Eldor's fingers.

-Criiick!

Pinching the small device, Eldor looked at Victor and darkly said

"Victor...start evacuating"

Taken aback by Eldor's sudden change in demenour, Victor's voice trembled as he looked at Eldor

"W-what happened?"

Looking at the powder in his hands, which used to be the small device he picked up, Eldor slowly said

"We have been breached"

...

-Bzzzttt

Staring at his screen that had gone completely static, Kevin slowly removed his Kashmire jacket and carefully placed it on top of the bike.

Extending his hand to the right, a slick slender sword suddenly appeared in his hand.

Unsheathing the sword, Kevin slowly traced his finger along the cold metal body of the blade.

"It's nice to see you again..."

Sheathing the sword back into the scabbard and placing it right below his waist, Kevin looked at the villa before him.

Taking a deep breath, Kevin activated his F ranked skill [[F] Mind cleansing].

As soon as he activated the skill, Kevin felt his head become clearer. Everything that he had previously seen on the drone became a bunch of variables that his mind slowly accounted for.

Slowly, a plan started formulating inside of his mind. A plan that dictated the fastest route and way he could use to get to where Victor was, and swiftly get rid of him.

"Fuuuu..."

Releasing a long breath, a couple of seconds after activating the skill, Kevin deactivated it.

As soon as he deactivated his skill, veins started popping on his forehead as they pulsated constantly. Frowning, Kevin stopped himself from displaying any reaction and endured the pain that came along with using the skill.

After a couple of seconds, everything returned back to normal, and the pain disappeared. Despite having only used the skill for a couple of seconds, it still did a number on him...however it wasn't for nothing.

Now, he knew what the fastest and safest way to kill Victor was...

Closing his eyes, slowly, his figure melted into the darkness

"....let the hunt begin"

Chapter 61: I am Kevin Voss [3]

-Spurt!

Appearing behind one of the guards patrolling the area, Kevin swiftly and silently slit his throat.

Dragging the guard's corpse behind a bush, Kevin came back out wearing a black uniform and a hat. On his right peck, a white nametag rested on the uniform.

After scouting all of the guards from the drone, Kevin had a general idea of the guard's movement pattern.

Turning right, Kevin passed by another guard that was patrolling not so far away from where he was.

Nodding his head to greet Kevin, the guard moved past Kevin.

-Spurt!

Swiftly appearing behind the guard and silently slitting his throat, Kevin dragged his body away.

Coming back out, Kevin replaced his previous name tag with the one of the guard he had just killed.

The reason for his action was because certain guards were only allowed to patrol certain areas. If they found out that the guard that was supposed to be patrolling the outside perimeter was outside their designated area, they would no doubt become suspicious.

Though he knew his plan wasn't going to last long, he would at least like to reach a certain point before bulldozing his way towards his target.

Realistically, remaining hidden was not an option...but it's not like Kevin cared. He was that confident in his skill.

Entering the villa, Kevin lowered the hat he was wearing. Masking his face.

Right now Kevin had to operate fast.

His target already knew that he was on his tail.

Previously, he had sent several scouting devices inside of the villa, and thus he knew exactly where Victor was hiding.

However, despite the fact that their cloaking function was fairly good, they had all already been seen through by someone.

Kevin estimated that whoever found the devices, was at least <E> rank, if not even <E+> rank. Only someone of that calibre could detect his scouting devices so quickly.

Though he knew there was going to be someone of that level as the system had already warned him beforehand, he had to confirm for himself.

...and now he knew.

Increasing his pace, Kevin walked in the direction of where he last detected Victor. He knew he couldn't waste any time.

If he let the target escape, the next time he tried to assassinate him, chances were that he would be more prepared. Even worse, he would hide until Kevin had no choice but to return to the academy, preventing him from completing the mission.

He had to kill him now at all costs. If not, there was not going to be a second chance.

Turning left of the hall, Kevin passed by two guards who seemed to be in a rush.

"Hey!"

Hearing someone shouting in his direction, halting his steps, Kevin kept looking at the front.

"Morrison, what are you doing here?"

Jogging to where Kevin was, one of the guards looked at Kevin suspiciously.

"You shouldn't be here. We just got an emergency message regarding someone infiltrating the premis--kh"

Just as the guard was about to finish speaking, Kevin subtly looked at his nametag 'Leo' and swiftly stabbed his heart.

Supporting Leo's lifeless body with one arm so that he remained standing, Kevin pretended to converse with him. Halfway through his conversation, Kevin slightly loosened the grip of Leo's body, and it slowly sank in his direction.

"I know, someone ordered me to...hey? Leo are you okay?"

"What's going on?"

Noticing something strange, the other guard that was accompanying Leo, whom Kevin had just killed, jogged in Kevin's direction.

Using his shoulder to mask the blood that was slowly seeping from Leo's body, Kevin flusteredly spoke.

"I-I don't know. I was just talking to him when he suddenly just passed out in front of me"

"Hey, Leo!"

Arriving next to Leo, the guard gave him a gentle tap

"...Hm?"

Noticing a small red stain on the ground, the guard instantly felt that something wasn't right, but before he could react, a silver streak of light appeared before his heart.

-Spurt!

-Thud!

-Thud!

Knowing that his cover would be blown any second, Kevin sprinted towards where Victor was hiding.

"Hey!"

"Hey!"

As he was running, he met a couple of guards that tried to block his way. However, it was all futile.

Stepping on the side of the wall, Kevin stabbed his sword in their direction.

Noticing Kevin's action, the two guards immediately tried to block Kevin's attack...

...but suddenly out of nowhere, the sword that they assumed was coming from the front suddenly appeared on the side, completely catching them off guard.

-Spurt!

-Thud!

Killing one of the guards, using the momentum he had from having propelled himself off the wall, Kevin somersaulted in the air and slashed towards the other guard.

Flustered, the guard tried to block Kevin's attack, but similarly to the first guard, just as the sword was about an inch away from him, it suddenly appeared in a completely different direction, completely catching him off guard.

-Spurt!

-Thud!

Without looking back, Kevin continued running and killing guards left and right as he bulldozed his way towards where Victor was.

"Stop right there!"

Just as Kevin was about to reach the room Victor was hiding in, a large towering man appeared before him, obstructing his path.

A large pressure emanated from his body.

Stopping, Kevin looked at him and said

"...so you must be the one who found my Scouters"

Without answering Kevin, the towering man looked at him up and down. Frowning, a trace of astonishment appeared on his face.

"E rank? H-how's this possible?"

"You should be worried about something else instead of my rank!"

Appearing before Eldor, Kevin drew his sword and slashed in his direction.

"You dare!"

-Clang!

Before Kevin's sword could hack at Eldor, a giant axe appeared in his hand, perfectly blocking his attack.

-Kach!

Taking a couple of steps back, Eldor hacked his axe on the ground to stop himself from moving further backwards.

Regaining his bearing Eldor solemnly looked at Kevin.

"To be able to push me this far back...You're not half bad"

-Shua!

Without answering Eldor, Kevin appeared on his left side and stabbed towards his head.

Just as Eldor was about to block Kevin's sword attack, midway through his motion he stopped and redirected his axe to the left side of his body.

-Criiick!

"khhh..."

Barely managing to block Kevin's attack, Eldor's axe grazed Kevin's sword.

Though he managed to stop Kevin from stabbing him in the liver, a large gash appeared on his body.

"What kind of sword art is that?"

Dumbly looking at his wound, Eldor looked at Kevin who was a few steps away from him.

Ignoring Eldor, Kevin once again attacked.

-Shua!

-Criick!

Staring at the sword coming in his direction intently, Eldor once again managed to barely deflect his attack.

"Khhh...dammit"

Holding on the side of his body, Eldor took a quick potion from his pocket and downed it. Slowly, his injuries started healing.

-Shua!

Appearing on Eldor's right side, Kevin's sword hacked towards his head, and a whistle arose as the sword split the air.

-Clank!

Firmly blocking Kevin's true attack that was heading towards his heart, a smirk appeared on Eldor's face.

"You think I wouldn't be able to block it after the second time?"

Using his enormous frame, Eldor pushed Kevin back.

"Hhuuuuaaa"

Raising his axe in the air, Eldor firmly hacked it towards Kevin's direction.

Sidestepping, Kevin tried to avoid the attack, however, midway through the air, Eldor's axe twisted to the side in a J motion.

-Clank!

Blocking the attack, Kevin felt all the bones in his body vibrate from the clash.

"Again!"

Raising his axe again, Eldor once again hacked.

-Shuuua!

Frowning, with his right hand holding the grip of the sword and his left hand holding the body of the sword, Kevin followed the axe's movement and redirected it to the ground.

-Baaam!

Breaking the marble floor into millions of pieces, a large cloud of dust swept the area.

Noticing the slight opening, Kevin decided to act

Swiftly turning the tip of his sword, a whistle arose! Kevin's momentum suddenly changed. His gentle attacks from before were long gone, and what replaced them were fiercer and heavier strikes that overwhelmed Eldor.

Following the heavier strikes, Kevin's sword became even harder to trace as every single one of his attacks would look like the real deal. He would occasionally pretend to do a feint when in fact there was none. This was so that he could destroy Eldor's mentality, increasing the chances of him making a mistake.

Eldor, who was under the barrage of attacks, could barely hold on as he used his giant axe as a shield.

The fact that he couldn't rely on his sight made things that much harder for him. He had to pay extra close attention to the sound the sword made in the air, else he wouldn't know where the sword was coming from.

"Khhh, dammit"

As he was being pushed back, Eldor grit his teeth. Looking at Kevin whose momentum was increasing by the second, Eldor who knew that this couldn't keep going anymore decided to use his strongest move and end things.

"You leave me no choice!"

Suddenly, a black glow emanated from Eldor's body as his muscles started bulging from his body.

Kevin who noticed these changes immediately attacked him more fiercely, but it was to no avail as Eldor who was struggling before was starting to defend his attacks more accurately.

'He's using something similar to overdrive'

Stopping his frontal attacks, as he knew it was useless, Kevin decided to rely on his agility and swiftly moved behind Eldor's thick body

Noticing Kevin moving behind him, Eldor turned around at an astonishing speed. The giant axe in his hands was covered in a thick black glow before Kevin knew it, and along with it, a supremely fierce and immense pressure bore down on Kevin who was caught off-guard.

-Whaaam!

As soon as the ax slashed horizontally, Kevin felt the air and the surroundings vibrate intensively.

It was so fast that it was impossible to dodge!

Seeing that he couldn't dodge, Kevin met the axe head-on.

-CLANG!

A large shockwave swept the surroundings. Taking ten steps backs, Kevin felt an iron-like taste in his mouth.

-Spurt!

After a couple of seconds, Kevin couldn't hold it anymore and spat a mouthful of blood.

"Huaaaa!"

Before Kevin had enough time to catch his breath, Eldor's giant axe came swinging from above.

-Kacha!

Narrowly dodging the attack by a hair's breadth, Kevin saw the giant axe split the marble floor into dozens of pieces.

"..In the end I have to use it, huh"

Looking at Eldor, who was preparing himself for another swing, Kevin closed his eyes and let out a long breath

[[E] Overdrive]

As if all of his muscles had been rejuvenated, Kevin felt an unprecedented power rise from deep within him.

Tensing his calves, Kevin appeared behind Eldor.

-Thud!

Slashing upwards, a head flew in the air and a massive body fell flat on the ground sending debris all over the place.

"Khhhhhh...."

Deactivating [Overdrive], Kevin's muscles spasmed continuously. The pain was so strong, that he barely managed to stop himself from passing out.

...in the end, he had to use [Overdrive]

The side effects of using [Overdrive] were currently too much for him. If not for the fact that he had no choice but to use it, he would've never used it.

In the end, despite being stronger than Eldor, his experience was still far lower than his.

He wanted to win without needing to use [Overdrive], but in the end, without it, he wouldn't have been able to win.

-Gulp! -Gulp! -Gulp!

Gulping down a couple of potions, Kevin felt a little bit better...Well enough to stand up.

Looking around, Kevin walked towards Eldor's headless body.

-Shaa!

Slashing towards Eldor's hand, Kevin took it and headed towards a large wooden door.

-Beep!

Placing his finger on the lock in front of the door, Kevin waited for the door to open before entering.

Waiting on the other side of the door, Victor stood up and let out a sigh of relief.

'Only Eldor can unlock the door, this means he succeeded right...?'

-Click!

As the door fully extended, Victor's smile froze as he saw two scarlet red eyes staring in his direction.

"Hiiiiii, w-ho are you?"

Slumping backwards, Victor trembled as he crawled backwards...As far away from Kevin as possible.

"Who am I?"

Looking at Victor's sorry figure, Kevin smirked. Extending his hand upward, he slowly hacked in his direction.

-Slash!

-Thud!

Watching Victor's fat head rolling on the floor, Kevin slowly said

"I am Kevin Voss"

Chapter 62: Resolve [1]

They say humans were adaptable creatures.

Presented with an external scenario that changed their behavioral pattern or ways of life, humans were creatures that were able to adapt to the new changes presented to them.

Compared to the other races, humans didn't have anything in particular that stood out for them.

Dwarves were smart, Elves had a high affinity with mana, and orcs had strong constitutions.

...humans had none of that.

They didn't have the dwarves' intelligence, the elves' strong affinity with mana, nor did they have physiques as strong as the orcs.

They were merely a bunch of evolved primates in the eyes of the three races.

...yet, after around 70 years, to the surprise of the three races, humanity had almost caught up with them.

Though they weren't particularly outstanding in a single area, after adapting to the new changes around them, they were able to swiftly become a powerhouse that could comfortably defend their territory from the likes of demons and the other races.

It all came down to how they were able to adapt to the changes presented before them.

They didn't need to be the smartest. They didn't need to have a high affinity to mana, nor did they need to have strong constitutions like the orcs.

Though they wouldn't come close to the level of orcs, elves, and dwarves, humans were able to control mana, have strong physiques, and come up with new technology and theories that further increased their knowledge.

...adaptability.

Though it sounded dull, it was probably what made humans so scary...

Sitting in front of a cafè, sipping on some iced lattè whilst listening to my mp3, I looked outside the window.

Two days have passed since I had been assigned the mission by the academy.

Surprise, surprise, Kevin completed it on the same night as he got his mission assigned.

Show off...

Jokes aside, past the first day, most people had already completed their missions.

A couple of students got injured and some even nearly died, but due to some sheer luck, no one died.

Though I could've been like them and done the task on the first day, I decided against doing so.

There was a reason for my action.

For one, completing the task so fast would definitely arouse suspicion from the professors, and two...I just needed some time to sort my state of mind.

It's been about two months since I had reincarnated into my late novel, and despite having seen all sorts of terrible things, I still couldn't quite grasp the concept of death.

I've sort of forced myself to not think about it, even after I killed Elijah back in the after-party, I wasn't affected much due to the effects of [Monarch's indifference].

But that was merely a way for me to cope.

In order to cope, I lied to myself into making myself think that the person who killed Elijah wasn't me, but another version of me that was under the effect of [Monarch's indifference].

I knew this wasn't good for me, but if I didn't do so, my mentality would've long crumbled.

Biting the top of my latte' cup, I looked at the foremost notification on my phone.

[Time left until mission expires : 01D : 02H : 17M : 24S]

...Now, I was once again presented with a scenario where I had to kill someone.

My first thought when I got the mission was...let's use [Monarch's indifference].

If I used that skill, I wouldn't have to worry about having nightmares for a week.

However, after a bit of thinking, I decided against doing so.

...I needed to get used to death.

I needed to acknowledge the fact that I was no longer on earth...but inside of my novel where the morals were completely different from the world I used to live in.

It was hard.

It was very hard.

Though I've tried multiple times already, the morals that had been engraved in me for 32 years of my life couldn't just be thrown away in the drain as I wished.

It just wasn't possible...but that didn't mean this couldn't change in the future.

Though I may not be able to get used to killing immediately, there will eventually come a time where I would finally be indifferent towards killing.

Though it was going to be hard, it wasn't impossible. All I needed to do was...

Adapt.

-Plap!

Placing my now empty latte' down, I stood up and left the cafe'

Resolutely looking at the counting timer on my phone, I headed back towards the mansion so that I could get all preparations done

Today I would try to consciously kill without the aid of [Monarch's indifference]

Though I knew this day would eventually come, it didn't stop me from feeling a hint of anxiety creep into my heart.

Killing without the aid of anything.

That was my resolve.

...

10 P.M

Outside a venue filled with people, I stood on top of the opposite building quietly scouting the perimeter of the venue.

Inside of the venue I was looking at, a masquerade party was being held.

People wearing masks dancing and chatting could be seen everywhere. This was quite inconvenient for me as I had a hard time finding my target because of this.

The masquerade party was a celebratory party in commemoration of the building's opening.

The host of the party was...my current target, Karl zar.

According to the files I had been sent, my target was the head of a minor drug organization that sold and traded potent drugs into Hollberg.

Despite the fact that the organization he controlled was small, he earned a hefty amount of money.

Enough to afford a whole building...

The building he just bought was merely a building he had bought so that he could show off his wealth to the others, and it was one of the many other properties he owned.

After looking carefully, I was finally able to spot my target

Despite the fact that everyone was wearing a mask, my target was surprisingly easy to spot

Wearing a gold mask that only covered his eyes, Karl had a group of people following him.

...they were probably his bodyguards.

Frowning slightly, I thought something was strange.

...he was being too obvious.

Despite this being a masquerade party, he didn't try to hide who he was.

If he wasn't as obvious, I would've probably have had a harder time spotting him.

'Maybe he caught wind of what was happening these past few days?'

I thought as I looked at it from a different perspective.

If so, it made sense.

I mean who wouldn't become more cautious after seeing a lot of big shots disappear in a matter of days.

He was currently living his days not knowing whether he would be one of those people that disappeared overnight.

I too would've become paranoid.

Looking at Karl's figure walking around to the venue accompanied by the many bodyguards, I measured the distance between us.

In terms of distance, I was probably about a couple hundred meters away.

Though it wasn't far, it was also not close.

I needed to kill him before he left for good.

If he managed to leave before I could kill him, I may not be able to find another good time to kill him.

In any case, my job today was simple. I just had to wait for my target to leave before killing him.

11 P.M.

The sun had already long set and what replaced it was the gentle moonlight that lit the surrounding streets.

The street lanterns brightly lit the streets of Hollberg as occasionally a few cars would drive by in the distance.

The masquerade was nearing its ending stages. Luxurious cars arrived at the venue one by one, and people adorned in fancy dresses and masks filled with strange patterns exited the building and entered the cars that soon drove into the distance.

As they left, the roaring sound of the car's engine could be heard not so far from where I was standing.

11:30 P.M.

A black limousine arrived in front of the party venue.

Soon, two people exited the building and made their way towards the limousine.

Seeing the two people leave the premises, I instantly became alert and prepared for what was to come.

My target Karl zar had finally left the venue.

Though I could've killed him while he was still at the venue, there was a high chance things were going to get troublesome if I were to kill him in front of everyone.

In the end, I could only wait for him to exit the building and attack then.

"…Hm."

Just as I was about to make my move I halted and looked at Karl.

Taking off his mask 'Karl's' figure suddenly morphed to the figure of a young man in his thirties.

Opening my eyes wide, abruptly turning my head left, I could see a black car speeding off in the distance

"Shit...I've been had!"

This guy was much more cations than I had anticipated.

After a lot of big-shots disappeared over the last two days, noticing that something was strange, Karl took no chances and heavily invested in security as well as methods to avoid being assassinated.

The guy who was pretending to be him was most likely wearing a top skin mask that lasted for a couple of hours, meaning that after the time was up the mask would no longer function.

Staring at the black car that was speeding off into the distance, a smirk appeared on my face.

His plan was honestly quite good...too bad he was currently being targeted by me.

Prior to coming here, I did a thorough investigation of the nearby areas.

I had memorized every single street in the nearby radius.

...and I knew exactly which road he was going to take.

Jumping off the building I was on, I softly landed on the ground and sped towards the distance. Turning left and right of a couple of buildings, I increased my pace even further...

It was a race against time.

Because his main house was in the opposite direction, I knew exactly which road he was going to take to get back home.

Though it may look like they shook me off, I already knew that our paths were bound to cross very soon.

"Let's see if you can really escape from my grasp...."

Chapter 63: Resolve [2]

Swiftly moving around the alleys of Hollberg, taking out my phone, I quickly checked the map of the surroundings.

Despite not knowing the current position of the car, I could estimate how long it would take for it to reach the main road that was a few blocks away from my current position.

If things were going as I predicted in approximately fifteen minutes they would reach the main road...

Staring at the red dot on the map that marked my position, I lightly frowned and increased my speed.

"Fuck, I should definitely get a movement art after this..."

As I ran, I couldn't help but curse at my speed.

Though my rank increased and my speed along with it, it felt as if I still lacked in the speed department.

Fortunately, because I was directly cutting through the buildings to reach my destination, the distance that I covered was much less compared to the car which needed to go through a couple of adjacent roads that connected to the main road.

"Huff...huff...this must be the right road"

Panting heavily, after having run at full speed for ten minutes straight, I supported myself with my knees and looked ahead.

In front of me stood a deserted road that was dimly lit by the streets lamps that stood on the side of the road.

The sidewalks were empty, and all the houses next to the road had their lights turned off.

Checking my phone and confirming that I was at the right destination, I took out my mp3 and scrolled down my playlist.

I needed something to take my mind off of what was to happen next.

...and what better way than through music

"...let's go with this"

Moonlight Sonata

Beethoven

0:00 ▶----------------------- 15:00

+ Volume -

Feeling the breeze of the night, I stood in front of the deserted road.

-Vroom!

"...about time"

As soon as I pressed the play button of my mp3, on the opposite side of the road, a black car sped in my direction.

Glancing at the oncoming car, I closed my eyes and savored the music that was playing in my ears.

"Fuuuu...."

-Beep! -Beep!

Ignoring the beeping coming from the incoming car, letting out a long breath, I channeled my mana at the tip of my sword and drew a circle in the air.

Slowly a yellow translucent circle appeared in front of me.

Following the first circle, I drew a second and a third one.

"Go..."

Stacking them up together, I pushed them towards the incoming vehicle.

-Vuam!

-Skreeech

Noticing the circles heading their way, the car screeched and swerved to the side as the driver tried to avoid the rings.

...However, it was too late.

Despite the driver's attempt to dodge the circles, they still hit the car on its backside causing it to spin a couple of times before slamming against a street light.

-BAAAAM!

"Not bad"

Staring at my now scattering rings I couldn't help but nod in satisfaction.

Prior to coming to Hollberg, my circles could only last for two seconds and had no substance to them.

After having come to Hollberg, I didn't stop training once.

Although the amount of time I trained was cut considerably, it didn't stop me from improving my second sword art [Ring of vindication]

...and thanks to that, though I didn't manage to increase the time the rings could remain in the air, I managed to add substance to them.

Meaning that right now, hitting a ring was the same as hitting real matter.

...and because I managed to hit the car on its backside, I disrupted its momentum causing it to spin and crash against the pole.

This technique was essentially a similar tactic to the PIT maneuver that police used, but without the need for me to use another car.

-Plack!

"Ah, shit!"

Opening the door of the car, a rather handsome individual with short brown hair and green eyes came out.

Looking around and noticing me standing in the middle of the road, the handsome individual's eyes narrowed

"...So you must be one of those rats sent from the lock"

Behind him, four more individuals exited the vehicle. They all were nice black suits and apart from a few shards of glass on their clothes, they seemed to be relatively unharmed.

Glancing behind him, the young individual felt a surge of confidence rise from within him as he started speaking with more confidence.

"I've long known that I was a possible target. I hoped that it wouldn't have come to this, but it seems that in the end, you pests from the lock are planning of cleansing the whole of Hollberg..."

Nudging at the guards behind him to come forward, the handsome individual smiled and said

"I'll give you a chance, leave now before things get serious..."

Removing one of my earpieces, I shook my head and looked at the handsome individual who hid behind his four bodyguards.

"I'm afraid I'd have to disappoint you there Mr. Zar. You see if I don't kill you, there's a high chance I might fail my year..."

It was true.

Because my theoretical grades were absolute garbage, if I didn't complete this mission, there was a high chance I would fail this course.

Simply put, I had no other option but to complete this mission.

Frowning, Karl Zar's face crumpled as he darkly said

"I gave you a chance but you blew it..."

Signaling with his fingers to three of the four guards before him, instantly three <G> ranked auras erupted enveloping the street and me.

"Since you leave me no choice, I guess you must die!"

Feeling the three auras directed in my direction, I remained indifferent. Putting my earpiece back into my ear, I channeled the mana inside of my body and accustomed myself to the pressure coming from the three guards.

Ignoring the three <G> ranked individuals, my eyes never once drifted away from the fourth member that kept standing next to Karl.

Similar to the other three guards, he was wearing a black suit. He had long black hair the fell right onto his shoulders and his angular face looked extremely vicious.

Though he was hiding it, he was <F> ranked.

His entire presence was drastically different compared to the other three. It felt as if a vicious python was staring at me ready to strangle me at any moment.

He was on another level...

"...hm?"

Noticing my indifferent expression, Karl frowned and looked at the guard that was standing next to him.

Glancing at Karl, the guard nodded his head and stepped forward.

-Vuam!

Instantly a pressure that was on a different level compared to the three guards engulfed the entire street.

Taking out a dagger from his pocket, the guard smiled as he slowly licked the blade of the dagger

"...It's been a while since I've had some fun"

Seeing his strongest guard move, Karl felt a wave of confidence wash over him as he commanded the other guards

"Kill him!"

Hearing Karl's command, the three <G> ranked guards instantly moved and ran in my direction.

Staring at the guards coming in my direction, my eyes slightly darted towards the <F> ranked guard who was behind them.

Though it looked like he was not going to attack...I knew...I knew that he was most probably going to attack me when I least expect it.

He was probably going to attack as soon as he saw an opening.

Therefore...

"Fuuuuu....."

Releasing a long breath, my <F> ranked aura instantly enveloped the entire street as white light started emanating from my body.

Tapping on my sword, a bright white light instantly engulfed the whole street

The second movement of the [Keiki style] : Horizon splitting slash

-Click!

-Thud!

-Thud!

-Thud!

As soon as the light died down, three heads could be seen rolling on the floor.

Biting my lips and not looking back, I stared at Karl and the other guard.

...I just consciously killed three people.

Despite trying my best to not show it, my mind was currently in a state of turmoil. Guilt, shame, anger, resentment, many emotions constantly came and went inside of my mind as I desperately struggled to keep my mind intact.

I couldn't crumble yet.

...at least not until I finished my mission.

"w-w-hat j-just happened?"

Staggering a few steps backward, Karl almost fell over as he looked at the heads of the three guards on the floor. Staring at his remaining guard, Karl weakly said

"E-dmund, y-ou can kill him rig-ht?"

Hearing Karl's voice and recovering from his surprise, the <F> ranked guard, Edmund, licked his lips and nodded

"This might be more entertaining than I thought"

Dashing in my direction, Edmund stabbed his dagger in the direction of my throat.

Looking at Edmund coming my way, I instantly dashed a few steps back and drew a circle in the air with my sword.

Like a snake, the dagger coursed through the air at incredible speeds as it made its way towards my direction.

-Clank!

Hacking at the circle, it soon broke into millions of pieces, and the dagger soon appeared before my eyes.

Looking at the dagger that was only a few inches away from my face, my face remained indifferent.

Though the circle didn't manage to block the attack, it didn't matter because all I wanted was to buy myself enough time to regain my stance.

-Click!

-Clank!

Quickly repelling the dagger with my sword, I shoulder tackled Edmund and took a few steps back.

"khhh..."

Pushed back, Edmund smiled savagely as he said

"..Not bad"

Flicking the dagger in the air, Edmund switched it to his left hand and once again dashed in my direction.

Noticing him heading my way, I quickly drew three circles in the air. Stacking them together I pushed them in the direction of where the dagger was coming from.

...I needed to buy myself more time.

I needed five seconds.

Five seconds to be able to accumulate enough wind psyons to coat my sword and use the first movement of the Keiki style, quick flash.

...Only through that move could I kill him.

'1'

"Futile trick!"

Seeing the three circles heading in his direction, A green glow covered Edmund's body as he flicked his dagger in the air and grabbed it with both his hands before stabbing at the circles.

-Crash!

'2'

As if the tree circles were made of paper, they instantly broke into a million particles.

"...Shit!"

Staring at the dagger headed in my direction, I bit my lips until blood fell on my chin and only moved slightly to the side

'3'

-Spurt!

"khhh...ahhhhh!"

Piercing my shoulder until the tip of the dagger could be seen appearing on the other side of my back, I stared at Edmund who looked at me with an expression of shock

'4'

"You crazy bastard!"

Smiling slightly I said

"...yeah, I think so too"

'5'

The first movement of the [Keiki style] : Quick flash

-Thud!

"Khhh...huff...huff"

Grabbing my shoulder which was bleeding heavily, I panted heavily as my vision blurred slightly.

"hiiiii, don't come near me!"

Forcefully trying to regain my composure I quickly headed towards my target, Karl Zar.

"y-ou want money? women? fame? I can give you anything, please don't kill me. I don't want to die!"

Picking up one of the earpieces that fell off of one of my ears I put it back on and ignored Karl's pleas.

Arriving before Karl, I let out a long breath and raised my sword.

Looking at his sorry state I started hesitating a bit...but after thinking about all the horrible things he did from reading his report, I firmed my will and slashed down.

-Spurt!

-Thud!

Wiping Karl's blood off of my face, I let out a long breath and stared at the moon that was surrounded by the stars.

"I guess I truly am a part of this world now...."

Chapter 64: What will happen will happen [1]

"Is that him?"

"Did he really get injured over such a simple mission?"

"He really does look weak"

Aimlessly walking around the mansion, I ignored the whispers and stares coming from some of the students that I passed along the way.

Yesterday night, after completing the mission, I returned to the mansion all battered up. My whole arm was bleeding profusely and my clothes were all torn.

Though I didn't pass out, to the people who saw me return, it looked as if I had been through hell.

Because I had some notoriety, news of my battered state spread across all of the students...and soon I became the hot topic of the first years.

Because the missions that we got were not a secret from the other students, after a bit of digging, people immediately found out who my target was and news of me getting beat up by a <G> ranked individual spread across the academy.

...in the end, this resulted in me becoming the butt of the jokes of the first years.

'Weakling'

'Loser'

'Trash'

Walking along the corridor, I was called all sorts of defamatory names by everyone that saw me.

On a normal day, I would've grumbled and cursed at the people talking crap about me, but today...

Staring at my hands, I recalled the moment when my sword reaped through the lives of multiple people at once.

'...I killed'

I didn't sleep throughout the whole night.

Right now to the people around me I probably looked like a lifeless corpse that was aimlessly wandering around the mansion.

My mind kept replaying the moments where I reaped through the lives of the four bodyguards.

...I could vividly recall Karl's pleading face as he begged for me to spare him.

"Fuuuuu..."

Letting out a long breath and staring at the ceiling of the corridor, I tried to calm my mind.

What had happened already happened.

...There was no going back.

I had killed and I needed to move on...

This wasn't going to be the only time, and it sure as heck wasn't going to be the last time.

This was the path that I had chosen for myself and thus had to take responsibility for my decisions.

Moreover, there was something more important I needed to worry about.

'The massacre of Hollberg'

The second big event in the first arc of the novel.

Tomorrow at 9:45 P.M, the last day of the trip, when everyone was sleeping, an organized attack will happen.

Though their primary targets were Kevin and the others, the other weaker students weren't spared from their pursuit.

...Meaning that I was also not safe.

Though I decided not to interfere, I needed to prepare myself for what was to come.

Placing my hand on my chin, I fell into deep thought.

First things first...I needed to memorize the whole building blueprint.

I needed to find a good spot where I could get a good view of what was happening as well as attract the least amount of attention. The reason why I needed a good view of what was happening was so that I could overlook anything that deviated from the plotline.

...I didn't want another incident like the one with Amanda to happen.

Fortunately, I had the mysterious book with me. With it, I could more or less tell if something outside of the norm was going to happen.

If anything that deviated from the plotline happened, it was my job to prevent it at any cost.

Secondly, I needed to quickly recover from the wounds that I had sustained yesterday.

Despite the fact that I had healing potions, they couldn't heal all my injuries that quickly. Especially since my whole shoulder had been pierced and my shoulder muscles had been torn.

...I still needed a full day to completely heal my shoulder.

Right now, the whole of my right hand hurt like hell. Just the slightest movement and I would get an electrifying pain coursing through my body. Though I could tough it out, I'd still prefer if I was in top condition for tomorrow.

Lastly, I needed to sort out my mentality.

As of right now, I wasn't in the right state of mind to be put through another scenario that required me to reap through lives.

...I just couldn't.

Just the thought of me killing again was causing my hands to tremble uncontrollably. I was not ready mentally to go through such an experience again...

In the end, I had already decided that for tomorrow I would use [Monarch's indifference] throughout the whole event.

Only after killing for the first time yesterday did I realize how many flaws I had, both combat and mentality-wise.

I was too emotional.

Despite me trying my best to get over the fact that I had killed someone, the thought of what future lay ahead of me and how many more lives I would take made me question my humanity.

Was I right? Was everything that I was doing really okay? Was killing the correct answer?

Conflicting thoughts continuously brewed inside of my mind as I tried to find the correct answer.

...In the end, I still had a long way to go before being able to confidently stand up against demons and villains.

Sighing and ridding of all my distracting thoughts, I quickly headed to my room and started preparing for tomorrow.

"....These are probably going to be the longest two days of my life"

...

-Bang! -Bang! -Bang!

"Huff...huff..huff"

Standing shirtless inside of an empty room filled with training dummies, an extremely handsome individual stood in the middle of the room heavily panting for air.

His perfectly honed body was drenched in sweat, and his eyes were bloodshot.

-Gulp!

Downing a potion and recovering some of his stamina, the young individual quickly dashed before one of the training dummies and punched it with all his might.

"Die! Die! Die!"

-Bang! -Bang! -Bang!

Cursing and continuously punching the dummy until he ran out of air, small shockwaves spread throughout the room as the sound of the collision between his fists and the dummies reverberated around the place.

Exactly thirty minutes after continuously hitting the dummies, the young individual laid on the floor heavily gasping for air.

Staring at the ceiling, he clenched his jaw hard and he covered his eyes with his arm.

"...Just what am I lacking?"

Recalling Kevin's achievements on the first night the mission was assigned, Jin couldn't help but feel a massive wall standing before him.

It felt as if a wall that he couldn't climb was standing before him.

No matter how much work he put in, he couldn't find any way to bridge the gap between himself and Kevin.

Was Kevin that much more talented than him?

Should he just accept the fact that Kevin was better than him?

"Damm it..."

-Bang!

Clenching his fist hard, Jin punched the floor hard.

"I can't accept this! Even if my talent is not as good as his, I have access to the best resources and facilities! This should be enough for me to be able to become better than him!"

Kevin who was an orphan and had nothing managed to surpass him who was born with a golden spoon?

He couldn't accept it.

There was no way he could accept it.

-Gulp!

Recovering some of his energy, Jin immediately downed another potion and stood up.

"I will surpass you no matter what!"

-Bang!

Dashing towards one of the training dummies he once again started training until he couldn't stand anymore.

This process repeated continuously until his fists were both bloodied and bruised.

...In the end, only after passing out from overworking himself did he stop training.

...

Inside a small cozy cafe' decorated with beautiful plants and old wooden tables and boards, two stunningly beautiful young girls sat facing each other.

Sipping on some hot mocha, one of the two stunning girls that had short creamy brown hair looked at the girl in front of her and said.

"...Say, Amanda, did you notice something strange happening these past few days?"

Glancing at Emma, Amanda frowned for a second before shaking her head

"No"

"Really?"

Frowning for a bit, Emma's brow relaxed.

"Maybe it's just me..."

For the past few days, Emma had this sense of discomfort. She constantly felt as if someone was keeping an eye on her.

It was sort of unsettling...but in the end, she could only think of it as her being paranoid.

With all the things that were happening with the Parker family, she couldn't help but become more sensitive to her surroundings.

Since she couldn't prove her deductions, she could only pray that it was just her misconception...

Shaking her head and switching topics, Emma looked at Amanda and said

"By the way, did you hear about the latest rumor?"

Tilting her head to the side, Amanda shook her head.

"...ah yeah you're not the type to care about that sort of stuff."

Realizing that Amanda didn't care about gossip or any of that stuff, Emma leaned back on her chair and softly mumbled.

"Well, it's not like it's anything particularly exciting...just about the weird guy that sits on the left side of the class..."

Hearing the word 'weird' and 'left side of the class' Amanda's eyebrow jumped slightly as she said

"...Hm? who?"

Taken aback by Amanda's sudden interest, Emma looked at her strangely

"I'm not sure about his name, but he's the weird guy that sits on the left side of the class and always sheats and unsheathes his sword in the middle of the training ground..."

Frowning her brows, Amanda said

"...what about him?"

Noticing something odd about Amanda's behavior, Emma squinted her eyes and said

"Why are you suddenly so interested? You usually don't care about this stuff"

Realizing that she was being a bit too pushy, Amanda brushed it off and said

"Ah, it's nothing much. He was in my elective food exploration so I was just curious..."

Not believing her, Emma's eyes narrowed as she scrutinized Amanda. In the end, after seeing Amanda's indifferent face, she gave up and said

"It's nothing interesting, it's just that he is now nicknamed 'The weakest first year' and other stupid nicknames like that"

Taken aback, Amanda couldn't help but raise her eyebrow as she repeated

"...the weakest first year?"

Nodding her head and seeing Amanda's confusion, Emma followed up

"Apparently this stemmed from the fact that some students saw him return all battered up last night and after checking what mission he had they found out that he only had to deal with a <G> ranked nobody"

Listening to Emma's talk, Amanda couldn't help but slightly frown.

Just what was he thinking?

The more she knew about him the more mysterious he became.

Coming back battered after going against a single <G> ranked individual? Like hell, she would believe that.

There was no way the same guy that killed Elijah, a <D> ranked villain, could possibly get hurt from a <G> ranked individual.

He must've either faked his injury or something else must've happened...

"Hey, hey Amanda"

Snapping Amanda out of her thoughts was Emma who pouted at her.

"You were the one who asked me to tell you about the rumors revolving around that student and yet you're not even paying attention!"

"Ah sorry"

Shaking her head, Emma sighed and looked at her watch.

"...Well whatever, it's about time we go back anyways."

Standing up and putting on her jacket, she looked at Amanda and said

"Let's go"

Nodding her head, Amanda stood up and left with Emma.

Along the way, Amanda couldn't help but once again think of Ren who had saved her during the after-party.

'Just what was his true goal...'

Chapter 65: What will happen will happen [2]

"...hmmmm"

Looking at the blueprints of the building through the holographic function of my tablet, I fell into deep thought.

It was already the next day, and today was the day that 'The massacre of Hollberg' event would start.

After running around the mansion all night yesterday, I finally managed to secure myself the blueprints of the building...and looking at them now, I couldn't help but think one thing.

Big.

The mansion was big.

...and when I mean big, I mean very big.

If we exclude all of the outside facilities, the mansion was about the size of a football stadium.

It had five levels, with the bottom level being a parking lot filled with multiple cars and the ground level being the place where the reception and dining hall were located.

The first and second floors were where the guest rooms were located, with the professors staying on the second floor and the students on the first floor.

The last floor had an outdoor swimming pool with training facilities that the students could use at any time of the day.

Though they weren't as advanced as the ones in the lock, they were still equipped with state-of-the-art equipment such as gravity rooms and training dummies.

Supporting my body with my arms on the table, I took a careful look at the blueprints of the building.

...I needed to carefully analyze all of the exits and entrance points of the building. Where the closest and furthest exits from my location were located as well as which areas were the most secure.

Pinching the hologram to zoom, I carefully looked at the layout of floors one to three.

The goal of the assassins was to will infiltrate the top three floors as well as the bottom floor.

...If I don't remember wrongly, at around 8:00 P.M. the assassins will infiltrate the mansion when the trip end dinner banquet was being held

Their plan was to attack each student as soon as they returned back from the dinner banquet. Meaning that by the time the banquet ended, the assassin's preparations were done.

The stronger assassins will attack the professors so that they could hold them back and prevent them from helping the students.

According to what I wrote in the novel, reinforcement will come exactly one hour after the attack, and it will be Donna who with her strength alongside another professor managed to singlehandedly kill most of the assassins on the second floor.

...so for one hour, the student's goal was to survive.

After one hour, most of the assassins would've been mostly killed by Donna who will then help Kevin and the rest.

Though I said the goal was to survive for one hour...It was easier said than done.

The assassins that attacked the students were ranked from <G> to <D> and were highly skilled and experienced.

This meant that even if the students fought against an assassin of the equivalent rank, there was a high chance they would still lose due to their lack of experience.

Fortunately for me, because no one knew about my strength, I could more or less quickly get rid of the people that were after me and surveil the situation carefully.

Now the real question was...

How do I proceed from then?

Do I silently get rid of some of the assassins or do I hide?

"Hmmmm...."

I guess the first option wouldn't really be plausible since I need to take into consideration what my meddling would do.

There was a chance I could screw up the plotline if I killed some of the assassins who were supposed to carry out an important role in this scenario.

...in the end, after thinking for I bit, I decided that the best option for me right now was to stay put, and only interfere was when I needed to defend myself.

Excessive meddling on my part could cause future anomalies in the plotline which could create unwanted scenarios like back in the afterparty.

"Alright, I guess that's that"

Checking my watch and seeing that it was already 6:30 P.M. I closed my tablet and headed for the shower.

In thirty minutes' time, I needed to get dressed and head towards where the end-of-trip dinner was being held.

Sighing, I could already imagine myself going through an hour of long boring speeches that seemed to go on forever.

The funny thing was that during those boring speeches, assassins were infiltrating the building.

Even if I wanted to warn them about the impending danger, chances were that they would scoff and laugh at me.

I'd love nothing more but ignore all those long and boring speeches, but it's not like I could just say 'We are currently being surrounded by multiple assassins and a lot of us are going to die so hurry up and finish your speeches and get ready to defend yourselves~"

Moreover, with my current reputation, there was a high chance no one would listen to me. In fact, I'd probably get ridiculed.

...bastards.

In the end, after taking a quick shower and changing into a set of new clothes, I headed towards the dining hall with heavy thoughts.

...

Dining hall, 8:15 P.M.

"...after infiltrating the facility and taking out the person responsible for communications I..."

It's been about an hour since I entered the dining hall, and the world around me had turned black and white.

I was having trouble keeping my mind focused.

One hour.

I went through one hour of roundabout speeches from different professors and representatives going on about how proud they were proud of us and what they learned throughout the trip.

From how monsters were processed and from what they learned during their mission.

I want to die...

Who thought that giving such long speeches was a good idea?

Quite honestly, I'd rather be attacked by multiple assassins at once rather than listening to any more of this gibberish.

Sighing and looking left and right, I could see some students in similar situations, as they too seemed to be on the verge of passing out from boredom.

"...after this long trip, I have seen the growth of a lot of you and I can say with confidence that you are slowly shaping yourselves into becoming strong and capable heroes that will soon shoulder the heavy burden of protecting humanity from the demons."

Raising his glass of wine, the current professor that was speaking looked at everyone and said

"It is with great pride and honor that I would like to end my speech saluting the future heroes of our world!"

-Clap! -Clap! -Clap!

After finishing his speech, a wave of applause engulfed the entire dining hall drowning all other sounds.

I too clapped.

...but for an entirely different reason.

"Alright guys calm down, calm down"

Standing up, the professor of Class A-17 gestured for everyone to calm down.

Connor Norvak

That was the name of the professor in charge of class A-17, and despite not being a ranked hero, he was still a formidable S ranked hero that even contributed in the defeat of a Marquis ranked demon.

...and from the way he carried himself, I could see how he defeated a Marquis ranked demon.

He along with Donna slaughtered most of the assassins that stopped them from helping the students and would be instrumental in the future for a couple of events that involved Kevin.

Looking at him, his presence completely engulfed the entire hall, making most of the students stop whatever they were doing.

I too felt overwhelmed.

It felt as if a massive bear was looking down on me ready to rip my head off at any moment.

His appearance reminded me of a Viking which I used to see in movies.

He was about two meters tall and had massive broad shoulders. Below his nose was a long blonde beard that stopped halfway through his neck, and his sea-blue eyes and long blonde hair that cascaded all the way to his back made him look quite handsome.

His muscles which were three times the size of mine were extremely impressive, and his white T-shirt which was too tight for his body perfectly emphasized his bulky outline.

Standing up and looking at everyone in the room and making sure that everyone was quiet, Connor's deep voice resounded across the hall.

"I know that most of you are bored senseless from all those boring speeches, if I had to be honest I too am on the verge of dying due to how boring they were..."

Stopping halfway Connor paused and smiled as a wave of chuckles could be heard from multiple students and professors.

"I will keep it short and make a short announcement."

After waiting for the hall to become silent, Connor continued

"Your assignment work can be handed in right after you return from the trip and that today apart from relaxing and enjoying yourself, you don't have to do anything else. I don't want to go into too much detail regarding what you need to do as you can just ask your professor regarding the details of the work. All I want you guys to know is that the deadline for your assignments is two days after the trip and your group will be graded based on what you present..."

Looking around and seeing that everyone understood what he said, Connor smiled and said

"So in conclusion, please enjoy yourselves for the rest of the day. You deserve it"

-Clap! -Clap! -Clap!

Finished speaking, Connor sat down and took a big gulp of his drink amidst the wave of applause coming from the students and professors.

Soon after, all of the students dispersed and went to the buffet area filling their plates with all sorts of delicious food.

...alright.

Looking at the students heading towards the food area, I checked my watch and let out a long breath.

It was currently 8:30 P.M and in a little bit more than an hour, the event was going to start.

If I said I wasn't nervous that would be a lie.

It felt as if a million butterflies were fluttering inside of my stomach making me lose my appetite.

Looking around and seeing all the students and professors joyfully laughing and chatting with each other, a small part of me felt guilty.

A lot of them will die.

...and despite me knowing that, I didn't do anything to stop it.

I guess this was the price I had to pay as the author of this novel.

-Gulp!

Taking a cup of wine from one of the waiters, I gulped it all in one go.

"haaaa... "

Staring at the empty glass in my hands, I thought.

'I really need some proper alcohol...'

...

9:30 P.M.

"...Fifteen minutes to go"

The way back to my room seemed to be much longer than ever before.

Each step I took seemed heavier than the other, almost as if led was stuck on them.

Looking behind me, at the students who were returning at the same time as me, I bit my lip and continued making my way towards my room.

...it was finally time huh.

The moment I dreaded since coming on this trip.

'The massacre of Hollberg'

An event that resulted in a quarter of the first years to die, and one of the biggest events that contributed to the growth of the main protagonists.

An event that will shock the whole human domain, and result in the lock becoming heavily scrutinized by the media.

...In the end, what will happen will happen.

Arriving in front of my room and placing my hand on the doorknob, I let out a long breath.

"Fuuuuu...."

This was it, I thought.

Once I opened this door the event was going to start...

A couple of assassins would ambush me as soon as I opened the door, and from there the rest of the students would too be faced with a similar situation.

Closing my eyes and activating [Monarch's indifference], I slowly opened the door.

-Click!

Chapter 66: The massacre of Hollberg [1]

-Click!

Closing the door behind him, Ren stood in front of the door.

The room was dark, and apart from his breathing, no other sound could be heard.

Standing in front of the door, Ren looked at the narrow corridor that led to the living room of the small apartment.

-Click!

Turning on the lights whilst keeping an eye on the living room, Ren slowly took off his shoes.

Though he couldn't see the whole living room due to the corridor narrowing his line of sight, Ren knew that hiding inside of the living room were assassins waiting for him to enter.

Looking left and right, Ren summoned his sword and channeled his mana towards the tip of his sword.

"Oof, I am so stuffed. I can barely move, guess I'll quickly head to bed"

Making small talk at the entrance of the room, a translucent ring slowy formed in front of him.

-Voom!

As soon as the ring fully formed, Ren pushed it forwards.

Slowly, the ring moved towards the living room.

-Shua! -Shua!

As soon as the ring crossed the corridor and entered the living room, two black-clad silhouettes appeared out of nowhere and attacked the ring.

-Crack!

Breaking into a million particles, the ring scattered in the air.

Staring at the particles scattering in the air for a split second and noticing something wrong, the two silhouettes immediately turned towards the entrance of the room.

-Tap -Tap -Tap

Appearing from the other side of the living room, Ren's indifferent figure walked out.

Expressionesly looking at the two black-clad individuals, Ren took a stance as a white glow emanated from his body.

Nodding towards the two silhouettes, Ren placed his hand on the grip of his sword

-Click!

The second movement of the [Keiki style] : Horizon splitting slash

-Vuam!

As if a bolt of lightning had descended, a bright light illuminated the room and a horizontal white streak of light appeared on the necks of the two silhouettes.

Before the silhouettes could make out what was happening, they felt their world turn upside down as they slowly saw their headless bodies standing upright before them.

-thud! -thud!

-Click!

Removing his hand from the sword, Ren apathetically walked towards his room, ignoring the two heads rolling on the floor.

Along the way, his shoulder twitched a couple of times, but he ignored it.

Though his injury still wasn't fully healed, with the effects of [Monarch's indifference], he could ignore the pain that was coursing through his shoulder.

Heading towards the nightstand next to the bed, Ren opened the drawer and took out a red leather book.

Deactivating [Monarch's indifference] to save mana, Ren felt his emotions return to him.

"khhhh..."

As his emotions returned, Ren's face repeatedly changed as he felt his shoulder twitch uncontrollably.

Taking a minute to suppress the pain, Ren opened the red book and read through its contents.

-Clank! -Clank! -Clank!

Surrounded by three black-clothed individuals, Kevin swiftly moved around his apartment hacking at them with his sword whenever he saw an opening.

-Clank!

"khhh..."

Parrying Kevin's sword, one of the black-clad individuals signaled to the other two people to attack at the same time.

Noticing their sign, Kevin forcefully twisted his body and defended against two attacks coming from his left and right side.

-Clank! -Clank!

"khhh..."

Barely blocking the attacks, Kevin took a few steps back as beads of sweat dripped from his forehead.

Looking at the three black-clad individuals before him, Kevin couldn't help but curse.

"Damm it"

Whoever the trio was, they knew about his attack pattern and the sword art he used.

From the way he attacked and his habits, they knew them all. It seemed that whoever they were, they had done their research on him and had come prepared.

Frowning, Kevin continued to pressure the trio but it was to no avail as whenever he attacked, his faints would easily get read by them. Blocking whatever he threw at them.

Moreover, what made things worse for Kevin, was that whenever they counterattack they managed to precisely and cleanly direct their attacks where he was most vulnerable, almost as if they knew where he was going to attack.

The more Kevin fought, the more he realized how adapt to his fighting style they were. It was almost as if they had been trained precisely to counter him.

It was to the point that they were coordinating perfectly with each other, defending exactly where his true sword intent showed up and attacking exactly when he was most vulnerable.

Taking few steps back and looking at the trio, Kevin let out a long breath. Though he was in a bind, he remained calm.

Normally, considering how difficult the situation was, Kevin would've already used [Overdrive] by now. However, that was only if it was about a week ago.

...Now, now things were different.

-Vuam!

Releasing his <D-> ranked pressure, Kevin's attacks became sharper and stronger whilst the trio's attacks started to become more sluggish and predictable.

Dodging one of the attacks coming from the right, Kevin jumped in the air and stepped on the sword that came towards his left side, propelling his body in the air.

Twisting his body in the air, Kevin channeled wind psyons at the bottom of his feet and stepped on the air.

Redirecting his body to the other side of one of the black-clad individuals, Kevin hacked his sword towards his head.

Caught off guard, the black-clad individual tried to defend himself, but it was to no avail as Kevin's figure disappeared and reappeared right behind him, piercing him straight into the heart.

-Spurt!

"One"

Removing the sword from the black-clad individual's back, Kevin stared at the other remaining two individuals in the room.

Tensing his calves, Kevin's body shot in their direction.

Stabbing towards the black-clad individual on the left, a red glow slowly started emanating from Kevin's body.

Seeing Kevin's sword coming in their direction, the black-clad individual on the left took a defensive stance whilst the other black-clad individual hacked in Kevin's direction.

Just as the black-clad individual on the left was about to block Kevin's attack, Kevin forcefully twisted his foot and redirected his attack towards the guy on the right, catching them both off guard.

-Criiii

Grazing the black-clad individual on the right's sword, Kevin tossed his sword to his other hand and stabbed it towards the guy on the left whilst simultaneously using his fist to punch the guy on the right in the stomach.

-Baam!

Curling his body due to the heavy punch from Kevin, the black-clad individual on the right dropped his sword and held his stomach in pain.

Redirecting his attention towards the remaining black-clad individual, Kevin stabbed his sword in his direction

-Clank!

Parrying Kevin's sword, Kevin thrust his sword again towards his head.

Expecting the sword to be redirected to his heart, the black-clad individual did not notice the slight glint in Kevin's eyes as his sword continued making its way towards his head, piercing him straight through his brain.

-Spurt!

"Two"

-Clank!

Turning around, Kevin easily parried the attack coming from the other guy and kicked him in the stomach.

Stepping back to avoid Kevin's foot, Kevin reappeared on the remaining black-clad individual's left flank and pierced him in the liver.

-Spurt!

"Three"

-Thud!

Removing his sword from the body of the last black-clad individual, Kevin frowned and immediately headed towards the exit of his room.

Though he wanted to check the bodies of the people that assaulted him, he could hear a commotion outside of his apartment.

Despite being unsure of what was happening, he knew that something serious was currently happening outside of his room.

-Click!

"What's going on?"

Opening the door and exiting his room, Kevin couldn't believe the sight that laid ahead of him.

Blood curdling screams resounded across the whole first floor as the corpses of students and black-clad individuals could be seen sprawled everywhere.

-Clank! -Clank! -Clank!

The sound of metal clashing reverberated throughout the corridors of the first floor as students could be seen fighting for their lives everywhere.

Multiple black-clad individuals appeared everywhere, attacking students from all sides as absolute mayhem shrouded the whole first floor.

"Kevin!"

Snapping Kevin out of his daze was Emma's distraught voice as she fought against multiple black-clad individuals with her short swords.

Her perfect figure danced around them as her swords constantly clashed against their attacks.

However, despite managing to hold her own against the black-clad individuals, Emma was on the verge of losing due to their numerical advantage. This was shown by how her movements were becoming more sluggish by the second.

-Spurt!

Quickly dashing in Emma's direction, Kevin hacked towards the nearest black-clad individual, killing him instantly as his sword disappeared and reappeared on his neck.

-Spurt! -Spurt! -Spurt!

Like a shura from hell, Kevin hacked and stabbed everyone in his way. Along the way, he would help a couple of students who were on the verge of getting killed by the black-clad individuals.

...

-Spurt!

"Huff..huff...you okay?"

After killing multiple black-clad individuals, Kevin appeared before Emma as he heavily panted for air.

"Huff..yes, thanks"

Similarly gasping for breath and nodding her head, Emma's eyes darted all over the place as she looked at all of the battles happening around her.

"What's going on? where are the professors?"

"I don't know"

Shaking his head, Kevin looked just as confused as Emma...

Logically speaking with everything that was happening around them, the professors would've already have come down to help them as they wouldn't stand there and just watch their students die.

It had to be noted that a lot of the students here were sons and daughters of very influential figures. Their deaths would put a heavy burden on the lock, therefore, there was no way they wouldn't be here right now defending them.

Yet with everything going on around them, they still weren't here. That only meant one thing...

Thinking that far, Kevin clenched his fists and looked at Emma who seemed to have had the same thought as him.

They were on their own...

-Woosh! -Woosh! -Woosh!

Snapping Emma and Kevin out of their thoughts, three streaks of lights appeared before them as three black-clad individuals not so far from where they were standing fell on the ground.

Quickly turning her head and looking in the direction of where the arrows came from, Emma exclaimed

"Amanda!

Just as Emma was about to head in Amanda's direction, the sound of the air being sliced increased in frequency as more arrows continuously shot out from Amanda's direction.

-Woosh! -Woosh! -Woosh!

As the arrows repeatedly shot from Amanda's quiver, they reminded Kevin and Emma of a swarm of locusts that devastated ecosystems.

-Spurt! -Spurt! -Spurt!

With each arrow that left Amanda's bow, a black-clad individual fell on the ground.

Some of the black-clad individuals managed to parry Amanda's arrows whilst others couldn't. In the end, as soon as Amanda ran out of arrows, the hall was quiet as most of the black-clad individuals were either dead or seriously injured.

Running towards Amanda, Emma said

"Hey Amanda, have you seen Jin and Melissa?"

Putting her bow down, Amanda walked in Emma's direction and nodded

"I met Melissa on the other side of the first floor, she's currently with Han Yufei"

"Than what about Jin?"

A new quiver filled with arrows appeared on Amanda's hand as she shook her head

"I saw Troy and Arnold together but Jin wasn't with them so I don't know"

Frowning, Kevin thought for a moment before saying

"Considering how the assassins targeting me knew how I fought, there's a chance he's still fighting against them"

Remembering how difficult his fight with the black-clad individuals was, Kevin looked towards Emma and Amanda and said

"Let's go help him"

"Yes"

Nodding her head, Emma looked in Amanda's direction and said

"...you coming?"

"Yes"

Nodding her head, Amanda followed Kevin and Emma towards Jin's room which was only a few blocks away from where they were.

Along the way, as they traveled through the first floor, Kevin alongside Emma sweeped through all of the black-clad individuals they met on their way.

From behind them, Amanda continuously shot arrows to support them whenever the chance called for it.

With her help, Emma and Kevin didn't need to worry about watching out for sneak attacks, making their lives much easier.

After a couple of minutes, Kevin and the rest managed to arrive in front of a door with the number [575] engraved on the side

"Is this the place?"

Nodding her head and looking at the number of the room, Emma confirmed

"Yes, that's his room number"

-Click!

Opening the door, Kevin entered the room and looked for Jin

However, as soon as he entered the room all he smelt was the heavy scent of iron.

Frowning, Kevin walked inside of the room and entered the living room.

...and there he saw it.

In the middle of the room was Jin's lifeless body laying down on the floor next to four black hooded individuals whose limbs were all torn into a million pieces.

Opening his eyes wide in disbelief, Kevin stopped dead in his track.

"Hey, why did you st--"

Appearing behind Kevin, Emma entered the living room, and just when she was about to speak, she stopped halfway through her sentence and gasped in shock.

Following Emma, Amanda entered the room, and similarly to Emma, she gasped in shock.

"Jin!"

Snapping out of his stupor, running towards Jin, Kevin placed his finger on his neck and checked his pulse.

"There's no way Jin's dead. There's just no way!"

Looking at Kevin hastily checking Jin's pulse, Emma couldn't help but repeat her words as she stood rooted on her spot in disbelief.

"..."

After a couple of seconds, Kevin looked towards Emma and Amanda.

He tried to say something, but no words came out of his mouth.

It felt as if a massive lump was stuck in his throat, preventing any sound from coming out of his mouth.

His mouth opened and closed multiple times, like a fish gasping for air

...in the end, after a couple of seconds of trying, no word came out from his mouth.

However...despite Kevin's inability to speak, everyone in the room understood what he was trying to convey.

....Jin was dead.

Chapter 67: The massacre of Hollberg [2]

-Bang!

"What!"

Breaking the nightstand with my fist, I hastily looked through the contents of the book.

Flipping through the pages of the book, I quickly looked for anything that could give me a clue about what had happened to Jin...but it was to no avail as the book stopped right after Jin's death.

What was happening?

...Jin one of the main protagonists died?

Impossible!

Hastily taking out a pen, I tried everything I could to change the outcome of what was written in the book, but it was all futile as every five seconds the changes I made disappeared.

"Damn it!"

Clenching my jaw and fists hard, I closed the book and let out a long breath.

I needed to stay calm.

I couldn't panic.

Jin's death would be devastating to the plotline. He was instrumental in helping Kevin grow both as a person and as a Hero.

His death would have a huge effect on the plotline...I couldn't let him die.

Closing my eyes, I made my mind up and headed towards the exit of my room.

...whatever caused Jin's death, I had to stop it at all costs!

If I allowed Jin to die, what was the point of letting all of this massacre happen?

Didn't I turn a blind eye to this so that the plotline could continue? What was the point of me not interfering if things didn't go as the plotline dictated?

-Gulp! -Gulp!

Downing a couple of potions to recover my stamina and mana, I put the book in the insides of my blazer and left the room.

...I didn't have much time.

Considering the effects of the book, I had less than ten minutes to alter the future in which Jin was destined to die.

...realistically, I had five minutes, since ten minutes was the time that Kevin and the others found Jin's dead body.

Reactivating [Monarch's indifference], I opened the door and made my way towards Jin's room.

I had one goal, and one goal only.

Preventing Jin's death.

...

Surrounded by multiple black-clad individuals, Jin's figure deftly and skillfully moved around them.

It was almost as if he was a ghost...his figure would melt with the shadows and reappear behind any one of the black-clad individuals catching them by surprise.

-Swish!

Appearing behind one of the black-clad individuals, Jin swung his dagger towards the back of his head.

As he swung, the image of the dagger blurred as it coursed through the air in a lightning-fast manner.

It was so fast, that the afterimage of the dagger lingered in the air for a split second.

-Clank! -Clank!

"kkhhh...damn it!"

As if predicting Jin's attack, quickly turning around and parrying Jin's surprise attack, two black-clad individuals appeared next to Jin and attacked him from both his right and left flank.

Ducking down and dodging the two attacks, Jin dashed forward and slid between the two black-clad individuals.

-Slash

-Slit

As he slid, two deep cuts appeared on the two black-clad individual's calves as Jin made sure to cut their legs in order to hinder their movements.

Stumbling a couple of steps due to the cuts on their legs, the other black-clad individual, who Jin tried to ambush, stabbed his sword downwards.

-Roll

Rolling to the side to avoid the sword, Jin tensed his core and with the aid of his back jumped up in the air.

-Clank! -Clank!

Whilst in the air, Jin forcefully twisted his body and spun like a wheel as he parried all the attacks that came from all sides.

-Thud!

"Huff...huff...huff..."

Landing on the ground, Jin heavily panted for air as he wiped the sweat that had started accumulating on his forehead.

Looking at the five individuals before him, Jin's face became grim.

Despite being stronger than them, it somehow felt as if he was fighting against an insatiable beast.

No matter how much Jin tried, the black-clad individuals he was fighting would quickly respond to his attacks and counter them with an even more fearsome combo.

It was to the point that his breathing started to become heavier and heavier by the second.

From the way he saw things, the most he could last would be five more minutes.

Any longer than that and he would be too exhausted to move.

-Gulp!

Frowning, Jin took out a couple of potions from his storage dimension and quickly downed them.

Though he could replenish his stamina and mana with potions, because he didn't expect such a situation to arise, he only had a couple of stamina and mana recovering potions with him.

Therefore, despite the fact that he had potions, they could at most only help him fight for a bit longer.

They really weren't a solution for his current predicament.

-Clank! -Clank!

Parrying the attacks coming from the black-clad individuals, Jin's mind raced as he looked for a solution.

Looking at his room which had now become a mess, Jin frantically looked for anything that could aid his escape.

Looking around and seeing nothing, Jin clenched his teeth and looked at his skill section on his status window

===Status===

Name : Jin Horton

Rank : E

Strength : E-

Agility : E +

Stamina : E

Intelligence : E

Mana capacity : E -

Luck : E

Charm : D +

--> Profession :

[Assassin lvl.3]

--> Martial Manual :

[★★★★ Shadow harvester] - Greater realm of mastery

Dagger art primarily focused on lightning-fast attacks that slice through the air at astonishing speeds. The greater the mastery, the faster each swing becomes making each attack harder to defend against.

[★★★★ Void link] - Minor realm of mastery

Movement art that enables user to momentarily move between shadows. The greater the mastery, the longer the user can travel between shadows. Speed of user inside of shadow is tripled, and when exiting the shadow, user speed will be considerably boosted for a couple of seconds.

--> Skills :

[[E] Mana conglomoration]

A skill that enables user to gather all of their mana into a singular point and letting it explode in one swift attack that multiplies the attack power of the attack by a factor of ten.

[[F] Light eye]

A skill that stimulates the neurons located in the eyes, enabling the user to enhance their vision. From being able to see further away, to being able to see at night and being able to slow down the world around him. Light eye enables user to enhance ocular functions.

Damn it.

If only he had more skills...

Despite the fact that he had access to a lot of skills thanks to his family, he was only allowed to choose two.

Any more than that and the elders within the family would start complaining as skills were limited and the demand was high.

The reason he chose those two skills was because it best suited his profession, Assassin.

...and precisely because his profession was Assassin that he was currently in a bind. His profession specialized in stealthily killing his enemies from behind, not fighting against them head on.

That was not something he specialized in...

Currently, he was using [Light eye], and despite the fact that everything around him was slower, he could barely hold on.

This was especially so because his mana consumption was at an all-time high.

If not for the few potions he had on him, he would've already long lost by now.

Looking at [Mana conglomoration], Jin hesitated.

This skill, although devastating, would force him to consume all of his remaining mana. Meaning that if he didn't kill them, he was done for.

What made things worse for Jin was that he no longer had any [Mana recovering potions] on him, meaning that this option was only for when he was on the verge of death.

-Clank!

-Swoosh!

Parrying one of the black-clad individuals' attacks, Jin ducked and avoided another attack coming from behind him

Jumping backward, Jin continued ducking and defending against the black-clad individuals.

"Khhh..."

The more he fought, the more tired Jin became. Looking towards the entrance of his apartment, Jin slowly moved in that direction.

He needed to escape.

He couldn't defeat them. He had to survive.

He was the future of the Horton family. He couldn't die. Not when a lot of people had expectations on him.

Making his way towards the door, Jin continued to struggle against the continuous attacks from the black-clad individuals.

He had to live.

He wanted to li...

Halfway through his way towards the exit of the room, Jin paused.

...wasn't he just running away?

He, Jin Horton, who had been trained since young with the best facilities and potions, was actually thinking of escaping?

...Did his talent only amount to this much?

Thinking about Kevin and Amanda, the strength of Jin's grip on his dagger increased.

Ever since coming to the lock, Jin has only been facing setbacks after setbacks.

He lost his first place to both Melissa and Kevin, which was a huge blow to his pride. Though he was angry about it, this setback fueled his desire to grow and become stronger to claim back the spot of number one.

He desired, no he craved to be at the top...

...then just as he felt he was becoming closer to his goal, news of Amanda killing a <D> ranked villain spread across the academy.

A seemingly impossible task, that no matter how many preparations Jin made, he couldn't accomplish, happened.

This setback hurt him even more, as now there was another person who was above him. Moreover, it was from someone that he had been compared to ever since young.

Amanda Stern, daughter of his rivaling guild 'Demon Hunter'

From that point, Jin felt as if the world was laughing at him.

'Wasn't he supposed to be the once in a lifetime prodigy from the Horton family?'

'How could he lose to an orphan and a couple of girls?'

'Was it all just hype?'

"Ahhhh!!"

Screaming at the top of his lungs, Jin's bloodshot eyes directly stared at the black-clad individuals before him.

"There's no way I am weaker to the likes of Amanda and Kevin!"

Lunging forward, Jin's attacks became more intense and brutal. He discarded all forms of defense and just wildly swung his daggers.

He swung and swung and swung his daggers, almost as if he went mad.

-Clank! -Clank! -Clank!

No matter how many cuts appeared on his body, Jin ignored the pain and continued attacking.

"I am better than them!!"

Turning his attention towards one of the black-clad individuals, Jin threw one of his daggers in his direction.

-Swoosh!

As Jin threw the dagger, a whistle arose! Splitting the air, the dagger instantly appeared before the black-clad individual.

-Clank

Barely managing to block Jin's dagger, the black-clad individual took a couple of steps back.

-Spurt!

Appearing behind the black-clad individual, Jin stabbed his straight into the throat killing him instantly.

Without looking back, Jin picked up his dagger and once again threw it at the nearest black-clad individual.

-Swoosh!

-Spurt!

This time, the dagger hit the black-clad individual in the head killing him instantly. It was evident that he was inferior to the black-clad individual he just killed.

Turning his attention back towards the remaining three black-clad individuals. Jin took advantage of the fact that their formation was a mess to once again dash in the direction.

Melting into the shadows, Jin disappeared from the view of the black-clad individuals.

Huddling up together, with their back against each other, the three black-clad individuals waited for Jin to appear.

-Swoosh!

Hearing a swooshing sound next to them, the trio simultaneously turned in the direction of where the sound came from and stabbed in that direction.

-Clank!

Clashing against a hard object, pieces of wood scattered everywhere as a broken lamp appeared in their view.

"Gotcha!"

Appearing behind one of the black-clad individuals, Jin's dagger split the air as it pierced through his neck.

-Spurt!

-Thud

Moving backward to distance himself from the remaining black-clad individuals, Jin looked up and said

"Huff...huff...Two more to go"

Just as he was about to once again attack, stumbling a couple of steps, Jin lost control of one of his legs and took a knee to the ground.

"Akhhh...damn it, not yet!"

Screaming, Jin cursed as he felt all the muscles in his body spasm uncontrollably.

An electrifying pain coursed through his body, threatening to ruin his sanity.

It was so painful that he could barely scream in pain.

His body was riddled with cuts, and his clothes were dyed red in blood.

...but that wasn't the only reason why he was suffering so much. The muscles within his body were in even worse shape as they continuously spasmed and shook.

"N-o!"

Clenching his teeth and suppressing the pain coursing through his body, Jin couldn't help but be reminded of his most recent days where he trained every day.

Because of how much he wanted to catch up to Kevin and Amanda, Jin increased the intensity of his workout.

....in the end, all of his excessive training resulted in his body becoming more fatigued and sluggish compared to when he was at his prime.

Despite the fact that he consumed potions continuously, potions couldn't fully heal the micro-tears in his muscles that came from overworking himself.

The only cure for that was rest.

But because Jin was blinded by power, he neglected that and as such resulted in his current conditions.

His every movement hurt like hell, and despite trying his best to not think about it and ignore it, the pain was slowly becoming sharper and more acute with each passing second.

Staring at the two black-clad individuals who seemed to have noticed his predicament, Jin clenched his teeth.

"I can't l-ose"

Gathering all of the remaining mana in his body, Jin looked at the two remaining black-clad individuals and prepared to use his skill [Mana conglomoration].

He knew that even if he used the skill, he was destined to die.

...but at least he wanted them to die with him.

Snorting, Jin thought back at his childhood.

'You are going to be the best'

'Now no one can beat you!'

'I am so proud of you'

'You are the pride of the Horton family'

Memories of how everyone around him had been praising his talent and excellence replayed in his mind. He had grown up thinking that maybe they were right.

...Maybe he really was the chosen one.

Maybe he was a cut above the rest and was the one that would lead humanity in the fight against demons.

He remembered envisioning people erecting statues of him and worshipping him.

That was what his future was destined to be...

Thinking thus far, Jin couldn't help but snort.

What chosen one? what prodigy?

He was merely a talented individual that had all the resources available to him. In the end, the only reason why he was a step above the others was because of the top-end facilities and resources he had been provided with since young.

Thinking back at it now, it probably was true.

...but the realization came too late. He was about to die, so what did it matter if he realized he wasn't actually as talented as he thought he was?

looking back at the two black-clad individuals, Jin stood up and took a stance.

Talented or not talented. What did it matter when he was about to die.

If he died, he had to at least kill the people that were after him.

Crazily looking at the two black-clad individuals, Jin screamed

"Come at me, you bastards!"

-Swoosh! -Swoosh!

Heeding Jin's words, stabbing in Jin's direction, the two black-clad individuals simultaneously aimed at his head and heart.

Closing his eyes, Jin gathered all of his remaining mana and prepared to unleash his skill.

-Click!

However, before Jin could do anything, the world around him became dyed in white as the sound of two heavy objects falling could be heard.

-Thud! -Thud!

"What?!"

Slowly opening his eyes, Jin froze in shock at the sight before him.

-Step -Step

Walking in front of Jin, the figure of a youth with jet black hair and deep blue eyes could be seen holding onto his sword.

Turning around and staring at Jin with emotionless eyes, the youth coldly spoke

"How pathetic...."

Chapter 68: The massacre of Hollberg [3]

"How pathetic..."

Looking back at those two emotionless eyes, Jin's mouth opened and closed a couple of times.

...Though he tried, no words came out from his mouth.

-Thud!

Kneeling on the ground, Jin lowered his head and stared at his blood-soaked clothes.

Those words hit him straight into the heart.

No matter how much he wanted to refute...he couldn't.

He couldn't even defeat a bunch of nobodies, and yet he dreamt of people erecting statues of him?

'How pathetic'

...No other words better matched how Jin felt at the moment.

Expresionesly staring at Jin's sorry figure, Ren spoke

"Is this all your pride amounts to?"

"..."

Staring at the ground, Ren's words went from one ear to the other...the world around Jin became dyed black and white, and all sound around him became faint.

Seeing Jin's state, walking next to him, Ren looked down on him

"So this is the real Jin Horton huh?"

An insecure brat with an overly inflated ego.

That's who Jin Horton was...

Only in his darkest moment did his true personality become evident.

People around him thought of him as a genius and a prodigy.

They lauded his talents and efforts continuously...but in the end, all that did was fuel his ego and insecurities.

Just like a castle made out of cards, all it took was a simple push, and everything came crashing down.

-Bam!

Staring at Jin's sorry figure for a couple more seconds, Ren raised his foot and kicked him in the stomach.

"kaahhh.."

Feeling a strong force on his abdomen, Jin curled on the ground as he gagged multiple times.

"To think your pride only amounted to this much...all it took was a couple of setbacks and this is the result...pathetic"

Walking over to Jin, Ren grabbed him by the hair and dragged his face towards his.

"You disappoint me"

-Pa!

Slapping Jin on the face once, Ren released his hair and flung him to the side as if he was a piece of garbage.

"I honestly couldn't care less if you died, but..."

Looking at Jin's pathetic figure for a couple of more seconds, Ren turned around and headed towards the exit of the room.

As he left, in an almost inaudible voice, he mumbled

"...I didn't want to discard such an important chess piece"

Watching Ren's figure leaving, leaning against the wall, Jin looked up and weakly said

"Y-ou y-our that guy called Ren Dover right?"

"..."

As if he didn't hear Jin's voice, Ren kept walking towards the exit of the room.

Taking Ren's silence as confirmation, bitterly smiling, Jin looked down and softly mumbled

"It's you isn't it?"

haha.

Who would've thought another person stronger than he had shown up...

Though he didn't know the full extent of his power, he knew he killed those two black-clad individuals in a matter of seconds.

It was so fast that even he, someone who specialized in speed, couldn't react...

If even he couldn't react to it, didn't that mean he was stronger than him?

Looking up at the ceiling of the room, Jin covered his eyes with his arm

"Why is this happening to me? What did I deserve for this to happen?"

...Yet again his pride took another dent.

Just when he thought he was closer to his goal, another obstacle showed up to screw up his plan.

-Bang!

Fiercely punching the ground, Jin screamed

"Tell me why!! Why is this happening to me??"

Hearing Jin's hysterical screams, Ren's footsteps halted. Looking back at him, he said

"Why shouldn't this be happening to you?"

Fiercely staring at Ren, Jin glared at him and said

"kh...what do you know! you wouldn't understand!"

Indifferently looking at Jin, Ren opened his mouth and coldly said

"Why wouldn't I understand?...What did you actually do to make yourself stronger? Train? Spar? or suck onto your family's wealth and fame?"

"What ar--"

Before Jin could open his mouth to refute, cutting Jin off, Ren continued

"Did you ever fight with your life on the line? Did you actually ever think about what the others had to sacrifice in order to get to where they were now? You keep comparing yourself to Kevin, but do you even know what he went through to get to where he is now? You're not worthy of comparing yourself to him"

Every main character had their own setbacks.

Kevin from a very young age fought with his life on the line, Amanda was alone for the most part of her life...Emma and Melissa too had their very own setbacks that shaped who they were now.

Yet, despite all of those setbacks, they fought through it and got to where they were now.

Jin?

What setbacks did he ever face?

With his family shielding him, Jin comfortably lived his life as a rich second-generation young master that was continuously fed the best resources.

He always had an easy life with no setbacks or reality checks that helped him mature. He was merely an overgrown child with childish ambitions...

What right did he have to be prideful and claim to be the best?

Hearing's Ren's words, Jin fiercely glared at him and shouted

"Are you telling me all my effort wasn't worth crap?"

All the blood sweat and tears he shed when he trained? All the days where he would sacrifice his sleep to train and become stronger...Was that all useless?

Without looking at Jin, Ren looked at the room. Pointing towards the black-clad individuals he coldly said

"What does it matter if it was useful or not? In the end, you're the one that almost got killed by a bunch of nobodies..."

Taking a couple of seconds to look at the room which was now a mess, Jin looked at the corpses of the black-clad individuals in the room and clenched his fist.

"Ggggg bullshit! you've blabbering nonsense since coming here, what do you know!"

Holding his stomach, with the aid of the wall, Jin weakly stood up

"You know nothing about me nor what I've been through! What I did to get to where I am. How much effort I put to get to where I was...khh"

Moving one step at a time, jin walked in Ren's direction

"How dare you come to me and talk to me as if you know anything about me? What do you know about me!?"

The closer he got to Ren, the more powerful his voice became.

"Who are you to criticize me when you hide your power like a sewer rat? Tell me!"

Remaining silent, and ignoring Jin's words as he slowly moved closer in his direction, Ren's face remained expressionless.

There was not a once of anxiety nor fear on his face...just pure indifference.

"Acting as if you know me..."

One step at a time, Jin slowly made his way towards Ren.

-Halt

Stopping in front of Ren, Jin looked at him straight into the eyes and shouted

"You have no right to talk to me like that when you know nothing abou-kkhhh!"

Staring at Jin who was only a few inches away from him, Ren extended his hand forward and grabbed his neck.

"uh?--kghhh"

Raising his body in the air, Ren coldly said

"For someone who acts all mighty all the time, you don't seem that impressive to me..."

"Khhhh...let go!"

Suddenly being lifted in the air by Ren, Jin struggled to speak as he swung his legs in the air.

"It's useless..."

Firming his grip on Jin's neck, Ren looked at him in the eyes and spoke

"When you sleep, when you eat, or when you're doing whatever you are doing...I want you to remember this moment...I want you to remember my hand at your throat as you heavily gasp for air and powerlessly lay in my grip..."

Pausing, whilst retaining his hold of Jin's neck, Ren emotionlessly looked at Jin who kept trying to free himself from his grip

"Khhh...damn it! Let go!"

...in the end, no matter what Jin tried to do, he couldn't free himself from Ren's grip. All he could was scream and curse helplessly.

"khhh"

Increasing the strength of his grip to shut Jin up, Ren continued

"...Engrave this moment inside of your mind...Realise that no one cares about that stupid pride of yours...whilst everyone around you is getting stronger, you're the only getting weaker."

"For your whole life...I want you to remember this moment...this humiliation...remember the moment where your pathetic self almost lost to a bunch of henchmen...remember me, Ren Dover beating you!"

The more he listened to Ren's powerful voice, the less Jin struggled.

Eventually, he stopped struggling altogether

Never before had he ever felt so weak...

Feeling the strong grip on his neck, Jin realized at this moment how truly weak he was

The more Ren spoke, the more Jin wanted to deny what he was saying. He wanted with all his being to release himself from his grip and beat him to a pulp

'How dare you?'

'I'll kill you'

'Just wait for the moment we return back to the academy, I'll ruin your life!'

All sorts of vengeful thoughts crossed his mind as he thought of the moment when he would free himself from his grip.

As long as he got free, he would definitely...

Pausing his thoughts for a second, Jin had a sudden thought.

He would be able to get free, right?

There was no way Ren was going to kill him...It's not like he would kill a fellow student, right?

...Staring back at those two emotionless eyes that seemed to be able to read through his soul, Jin shuddered.

'What's this?"

Feeling his hands shake, Jin felt an unfamiliar emotion wash over him.

An emotion that not even when almost dying did he feel....fear.

Looking back at those emotionless eyes, Jin felt naked. Almost as if every secret and thing about himself were laid bare before Ren's eyes to see.

Trembling, Jin put his hands on Ren's forearms and pleaded

"Khhh...s-top!"

Ignoring Jin's pleas, Ren's grip on Jin's throat increased even more

"...discard that pathetic pride of yours if you ever want to get revenge for today"

"Khh--ahh"

Trying one last futile attempt to get oxygen in his system, Jin's face became blue and eventually, he passed out.

Seeing Jin passing out, Ren loosened the grip of his throat.

...Although his actions might come back and bite him in the future, he did what needed to be done.

Under the influence of [Monarch's indifference], Ren cared nothing for his own feelings.

It didn't matter what sort of actions this moment would cause to him in the future.

In his eyes, at the moment, such small setbacks weren't something he cared for.

Under the effects of [Monarch's indifference] Ren viewed everything pragmatically...his every action was for his goal and his goal only.

...and to him, a broken chess piece was just as useless as a dead chess piece.

As he spoke to Jin, Ren's every word and action was carefully thought of.

Even under the effect of [Monarch's indifference], Ren's memories as an author didn't disappear.

Meaning that he knew Jin's character well...

He knew about his insecurities and everything about him, from his pride to his circumstances...

For someone as prideful as Jin, the more you insulted him, the more fuel you added to the fire.

Entering Jin's room, Ren saw a broken Jin.

It was as if he was looking at a dying flame...a flame that had no more fuel to burn upon.

...Everything Ren did at the moment was trying to reignite that flame.

Only by truly humiliating him and breaking his pride into pieces could he make Jin return to normal.

From the way Ren saw things, if things continued as they were, Jin's future would've been bleak.

Though his actions may result in Jin hating him, Ren didn't care.

What mattered to him was for Jin to return back to normal and for the story to continue as it should...

He tried everything he could to fix Jin...and now, only time would tell if his efforts paid off.

-Click!

Just as Ren was about to release his grip on Jin's throat, he heard a clicking sound from behind him.

Turning his head around, towards the direction of where the sound came from, Ren saw the door slowly opening...and appearing from the other side of the door was Kevin's figure.

Entering the room, Kevin froze.

Looking at Jin who was being held by the neck, Kevin slowly looked at the person who was holding him.

...then, his eyes met Ren's

Chapter 69: The massacre of Hollberg [4]

"Hey, why did you st--"

Appearing behind Kevin, Emma entered the living room, and just when she was about to speak, she stopped halfway through her sentence and gasped in shock.

Following Emma, Amanda entered the room, and similarly to Emma, she gasped in shock.

Three sets of eyes all focused on one individual.

Standing in the middle of the room, holding Jin by the throat, Ren's figure could be seen.

"Jin!"

Screaming, Emma took out her short swords and circulated her mana, following which a strong yellow hue started emanating from her body.

"Get away from J--"

Just when Emma was about to lunge at Ren, Amanda put her hand on her shoulder and stopped her

"Don't..."

"W-hat!?"

Angrily turning around, pointing towards Ren, Emma glared at Amanda and shouted

"You're just gonna stand here and let him do that to Jin! what is wrong with you!"

Shaking her head, Amanda looked at Ren with a complicated expression.

...Those eyes.

Those were the same eyes that he had when he killed Elijah.

Though she may come across as heartless in Emma's eyes, in reality, this was all for her sake.

She could still vividly remember those eyes...the same eyes that killed Elijah back in the after-party.

...If Emma fought against him, she stood no chance.

Glancing at Kevin from the side, Amanda thought

'Who is stronger...?'

-Thud!

Dropping Jin's body on the ground, Ren raised his hands and said

"...He's still alive"

Looking at Jin's passed out figure on the ground, warily glancing in Ren's direction, Kevin spoke

"What did you do to him?"

Looking back at Kevin, with his hands still in the air, Ren coldly said

"I merely did what needed to be done"

Frowning at Ren's words, Kevin looked at Ren in the eyes and said

"...and by that do you mean almost killing him?"

Shaking his head, Ren looked down at Jin.

"If I really wanted him dead, he'd already be dead"

Following Ren's cold words, the room became quiet. Not even a pin drop could be heard as Kevin and Ren stared at each other.

"Emma..."

Breaking the silence was Kevin's voice as he glanced at Emma who was behind him.

"Okay"

Understanding his motive, Emma put her shortswords back into her dimensional space and quickly moved to where Jin's body was.

Seeing Emma move, Kevin took out his sword and pointed it in Ren's direction. Without taking his eyes off of him, he said

"If you try anything funny...I won't hesitate to kill you"

"..."

Indifferently glancing at Kevin, Ren didn't respond and just looked at Emma who was slowly moving closer.

Arriving before Jin's body, Emma warily glanced in Ren's direction.

Looking back at Kevin, and after making sure Ren wasn't going to make any moves, she placed her finger on Jin's neck and measured his pulse.

After a couple of seconds, turning around, Emma sighed in relief and said

"He's still alive..."

Nodding his head, Kevin asked

"How's his condition?"

Glancing back at Jin, Emma carefully looked at his body before saying

"...Not so good, he's heavily injured and has exhausted all of his mana"

Frowning, Kevin looked at Jin's body before looking back at Ren

"Now, tell us why y-"

Booom—!

Cutting Kevin midsentence, just as the tension in the room was about to reach an all-time high, a loud explosion resounded across the room.

The whole place shook.

"Wh-at?"

Staggering a couple of steps, Kevin, Emma, and Amanda all turned their heads in the direction of where the sound came from.

-Step -Step -Step

Appearing from the other side of the door, holding a huge axe that was about the size of two people, a black-clad individual entered the room.

Behind him, a huge hole appeared on the wall as dust and debris flew everywhere.

"Another one?!"

Staring at the black-clad individual, Kevin, Emma and Amanda immediately got into battle positions as they warily glanced at him.

From his demenour and aura, they instantly knew that he was different from the other people they fought before.

If the others were like soldiers fighting a war, this man felt like a general that stood above his soldiers.

He was definitely on a league of his own...

'...so the boss has finally come'

Looking at the black-clad individual who had entered the room, Ren instantly recognized who he was.

He was the 'boss' that Kevin and his party were supposed to fight to end the Hollber arc.

He was a <D+> borderline <C> ranked individual, and only after bitterly fighting with their life on the line did Kevin and the rest defeat him.

"Things couldn't have become more troublesome..."

Staring the black-clad individual before him, Kevin couldn't help but complain.

From the people that attacked him in his room to Jin and now this. Things were starting to becoming more troublesome with each passing moment.

Looking at Emma and Amanda, Kevin nodded

Nodding back, Emma took out her shortswords and Amanda took out her bow.

Suddenly, a red hue shrouded Kevin's sword. Slowly, the more Kevin held onto the sword, the more intense the hue around the sword became.

Sneaking a glance at Kevin's imposing figure, Emma spoke

"Can you tone it down a notch?"

Looking at Emma, Kevin smirked and said

"Not a chance."

Watching Kevin, Emma, and Amanda getting into fighting positions, Ren slowly backed off into the corner of the room and just stared at the black-clad individual that had entered the room.

Fixing his grip on the sword, Kevin spoke.

"Support me."

"Support? Please, that's Amanda's job..."

Rebutting playfully, Emma winked at Amanda and dashed towards the black-clad individual.

"My job is to beat him..."

Vuuaam—!

However, as soon as Emma moved, a strong bloodlust suddenly expanded from the black-clad individual. Following the bloodlust, a humongous pressure came crashing down on everyone. A jet-black hue expanded from the black-clad individual's body and hurled towards them like a tsunami.

Crossing her arms, Emma shielded herself from the pressure.

Taking a few steps back, Emma looked back at Kevin and Amanda.

Both their faces became extremely grim.

"This is much more serious than I thought..."

Stepping forward, Kevin fully released his <D-> ranked pressure.

"Let me"

Feeling Kevin's pressure, Emma couldn't help but look at Kevin in shock. Amanda too was shocked as her brows couldn't help but jump.

"y-ou broke through?"

"...yes, not so long ago"

-Baaam!

Tensing his calves, the ground below Kevin cracked and his body shot like a cannon towards the black-clad individual.

"Khhh..."

Appearing in front of the black-clad individual, Kevin cut down diagonally with his sword.

-Clank!

But right before his sword could connect with the black-clad individual, as though standing under a cascading waterfall, Kevin felt a tremendous force hitting his sword as his body was swept away.

He didn't even have the chance to scream before finding himself flung in the air.

-Bam!

Flying across the room Kevin struck a wall

"Kuuuaahhh...!"

Spitting saliva, for a split second, Kevin lost consciousness due to the tremendous force of the impact.

"Kevin!"

Looking at Kevin, Emma and Amanda worriedly shouted

Fortunately, after a couple of seconds, Kevin managed to get up...but he didn't seem to be in a good state as blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Wiping off the blood in the corner of his mouth, Kevin nodded his head

"I'm fine… Kuhh."

Staring at the black-clad individual before him, Kevin's grip on the sword increased.

"...He's strong"

Solemnly looking at the black-clad individual that did not move an inch from his position since flinging Kevin away, Emma asked

"How strong?"

"At least D+ or C- rank...I'm not sure"

"That strong?"

Nodding his head, Kevin held his sword with one hand as he painfully held the side of his chest.

'I probably fractured a couple of ribs, damn it'

Gritting his teeth, Kevin looked at Amanda.

Nodding her head, Amanda extended the string of her bow.

-Woosh! -Woosh! -Woosh!

Releasing the bow, three arrows shot in the direction of the black-clad individual. As each arrow shot, the air split apart creating a whistling sound.

At the tip of each arrow, mana was carefully concentrated to increase its destructive power.

As the three streaks of light made their way towards the black-clad individual, Kevin looked at Emma who looked back at him.

As if they read each other's minds, they dashed towards the black-clad individual from both the left and right flank.

-Clank!

Raising his axe, the black-clad individual blocked Amanda's arrows and hacked it towards the ground.

Booom—!

As soon as the axe met the ground, the whole place shook. The ground split apart and debris fell everywhere.

Jumping up, Kevin swung his sword towards the black-clad individual's head, whilst Emma went for his feet.

"Block this!"

-Baam!

Stomping his foot on the ground, the ground below the black-clad individual's feet cracked.

"khhaaaa..."

Halting her movements, Emma crossed her arms and blocked the debris that was shooting towards her.

-Clank!

"huaaaaa!"

Blocking Kevin's sword from above, the black-clad individual screamed and flung Kevin away.

-crrrrrr

"Huff...hufff...damn it!"

Sliding across the ground, Kevin heavily panted for air. Due to his previous fights, signs of exhaustion were already starting to show on his face.

Looking beside him, Kevin saw Emma in a similar situation to his.

Despite the fact that the fight had only just started, they were both already too exhausted to continue...

The situation was starting to become dire.

Gritting her teeth and turning her attention towards the corner of the room where Ren's indifferent figure stood, Emma couldn't help but glare at him and shout

"hey you! Why aren't you doing anything!?"

"..."

Ignoring Emma, Ren's eyes remained fixed on the black-clad individual.

Seeing Ren ignore her, just as Emma was about to curse at him, Kevin's voice stopped her

"Leave him be"

"But..."

"There's a much more pressing matter than worrying about him, moreover..."

Looking back at Ren, Kevin said

"...the fact that he's not interfering is much better than him attacking us from behind"

Gritting her teeth, Emma nodded her head.

-Woosh! -Woosh!- Woosh!

Once again, from behind, Amanda shot arrows, signalling for Emma and Kevin to continue

"Let's go"

Dashing once again towards the black-clad individual, Emma and Kevin once again tried to split their attacks.

This time, Kevin aimed for his heart whilst Emma aimed for his sides.

"Huuuuuuuua!"

-Clank! -Clank! -Clank!

Holding onto his giant axe with both hands, the black-clad individual spun around blocking Amanda's arrows.

As if a cyclone had entered the room, the black-clad individual spun madly. As he spun, everything near the black-clad individual, like a magnet, started getting sucked in his direction.

"khhhh..."

"aahhhhhh! he's using a skill!"

Halting their steps, Emma and Kevin tried to stop their attacks, but it was to no avail as they found their body getting sucked towards the black-clad individual.

"Kevin I can't hold on!"

Looking at Emma struggling figure. Kevin turned back and looked back at Amanda who kept shooting arrows like there was no tomorrow.

Both of their faces were incomparably pale.

It was evident that they were too fatigued. Any longer and they would no longer be able to hold one...

"Do I have no other choice?"

Gritting his teeth, Kevin hesitated for a second before activating [Overdrive]

Activating [Overdrive], Kevin felt every fiber of his body exploding with energy. His muscles bulged, and his veins became more apparent.

Power coursed through his body.

"Khhh..."

Gritting his teeth and enduring the pain, Kevin glared at the black-clad individual and propelled his body forward.

"haaaaa!"

Noticing the change in Kevin, the black-clad individual stopped spinning and confronted Kevin head on

-Clank! -Clank! -Clank!

Sword and axe matched!

As they clashed, after a few seconds, Kevin and the black-clad individual had already exchanged no fewer than three hundred strikes

Kevin's strikes were fluent and fast, whilst the black-clad individuals were slow and heavy.

As they fought, neither budged an inch. They were currently in a complete stalemate.

Cuts and bruises appeared on both bodies as they continued to clash.

Blood spilt everywhere.

Neither had the edge, but it was only a matter of time...

Looking at Kevin, Ren knew that he wouldn't last long.

The more Kevin fought, the more his veins became more prominent. His muscles twitched and spasmed with each passing second that they fought.

It was evident that Kevin was suppressing tremendous pain to retain his current state.

As Ren continued watching the fight like a spectator, his eyes slightly paused on Jin's body.

In the novel, Jin was supposed to be fighting with Kevin, Emma, and Amanda. With his help, they managed to defeat the boss and become heroes of the academy.

...However, Jin was no longer here.

Jin's absence was showing. Kevin, Amanda and Emma weren't enough to fight the black-clad individual.

From the way things were going, Kevin and the rest would soon die.

...Ren knew he had to step in.

However, currently, he needed to look for an opening.

He knew that with his current strength, the only thing he could do was find an opening.

That's why he waited.

Like a predator. Ren was waiting for the right moment to strike...and that moment had finally come.

...

Feeling the effects of [Overdrive] wearing out, Kevin's body suddenly gave out and was helplessly flung all the way towards the other side of the room.

-Baaam!

Crashing against a wall, Kevin fell to the floor.

"Khhh..."

-Step -Step

Laying on the ground, Kevin looked up towards the black-clad individual who was heading in his direction

Arriving before Kevin, the black-clad individual raised his axe casting a large shadow over him.

Staring at the giant axe above him, Kevin couldn't help but think

"Is this how I die?"

-Wooooooosh!

However, just as the black-clad individual's axe was about to hit Kevin, a tremendous whistling sound could be heard from behind him as a silver streak of light quickly headed in his direction.

"Kevin!"

Following Amanda's last-ditch attack, Emma appeared from behind the black-clad individual as both her daggers were dyed in a tremendous yellow hue.

"Die!"

"Huuuuuuu!"

Noticing the tremendous power coming from the arrow and Emma's shortswords, the black-clad individual screamed and a black sphere surrounded his body.

-BOOOM!

An enormous explosion shook the whole room, and debris flew everywhere.

After a couple of seconds, once the debris and dust cleared up, Kevin, Amanda's and Emma's figures could be seen passed out on the ground.

Next to them, the black-clad individual, with the aid of the axe, stood with one knee on the ground.

His clothes were all torn, and his figure was soaked in blood. No longer did he look as imposing as before...

Though he was alive, he sustained heavy injuries.

"Huuuuuaa"

With the aid of his axe, the black-clad individual tried to stand up.

-Click!

The first movement of the [Keiki style] : Quick flash

However, before he could do so, hearing a clicking sound coming from behind him, his vision first became dyed in white before darkness overtook it.

-Thud!

With a large thud, the black-clad individual's figure fell face-first on the ground. Appearing from behind him, holding onto his sword, Ren's indifferent figure appeared.

Turning towards Kevin, Emma and Amanda who were still alive but passed out on the ground, Ren said

"Thanks"

Chapter 70: The weak [1]

Hollberg's sky was dyed in an orange hue. The sun was coming up from the horizon, but the scene reflected by the rising sun could only be described as tragic.

Agents surrounded a certain mansion, and desperate cries and echoes resounded across the space.

-Weeeeeooo! -Weeeeeoooo! -Weeeeeoooo!

The sound of ambulances traveling back and forth between the mansion and the hospital continuously resounded throughout the city of Hollberg. Inside of them, either corpses or wounded people were being carried.

Although the situation had been taken care of by the professors who killed all of the black-clad individuals before the agents could arrive, the aftermath of the chaos still remained.

"Students Kevin Voss, Amanda Stern, and Emma Roshfield. We heard the story."

Outside the mansion, a formal agent wearing a black suit scribbled on a piece of paper as he talked to Kevin, Amanda, and Emma.

"We will ask for details later, so go back and rest for now. Our agents will take care of the rest."

After asking Kevin, Emma, and Amanda a couple of questions, the agent dismissed them. It was evident that with everything that was going on, he was very busy.

Agents were different than Heroes. Agents were people specifically selected by the central government to take care of important incidents and assess the situation.

They were compromised of non-combatants. Most of them had professions that were very useful for supporting roles or administrative-type jobs.

Their job was to assess the situation and scene to later communicate it back to the central government who will later dictate under which jurisdiction the incident will be fall under. Either the Union or the central government, with the union being responsible for incidents that involved demons and villains.

"Um, sir. Jin is…"

Hesitating, Emma looked up at the agent and asked, to which the agent replied with a short and curt reply.

"He's fine. Although his injuries aren't light, he should make a full recovery by the end of the week."

"Yes, understood."

Satisfied, Emma didn't ask any more questions.

"Go back. We will shortly escort you to the hospital to get you guys checked"

"Thank you"

Thanking the agent, Kevin and the rest followed another agent.

As they walked, looking around, Kevin glanced at the other students.

Many of them were crying and grieving. The people with whom they were happily chatting and joking the night prior had either died or were on the verge of dying.

It was a truly saddening and horrific night...

As he looked around, Kevin also found certain students helping out with the unexpected emergency. They were helping the agents and professors carry the corpses of their fellow classmates towards the ambulances.

As they carried the corpses of their fellow classmates, the faces of the students could tell it all...

Closing his eyes and turning his head away from the students, Kevin knew that this incident will forever be marked in the hearts of everyone present.

No one will forget this day...

"Here"

Arriving in front of a large tent where many students and professors were residing, Kevin couldn't help but notice how everyone looked exhausted.

This was especially so for Donna who had dark circles underneath her beautiful eyes.

'She must've overworked herself...'

Kevin thought as he along with Emma and Amanda found a place to sit.

Despite having fought for the whole night, Donna along with professor Novak were still trying their best to help the students. They cooperated with agents and students to try to get as many people safely out of the mansion.

...not once, since the incident started, did Donna rest. This just went to show how much she cared about the students.

"..hm?"

Turning his attention away from Donna, Kevin's eyes couldn't help but drift towards a certain individual who was talking to an agent like many other students.

He had jet-black hair and deep blue eyes, and despite having been through the same situation as the others, differently from the others, he was in a better state than most people.

Although his clothes were in a bit of a mess, he looked to be relatively unharmed. He didn't look like someone who had been through the same incident as the others.

'It's him...'

Glancing beside him, Kevin noticed that he wasn't the only one that was looking at him, as he noticed both Emma and Amanda looking at him from afar.

Though their expressions were different, Kevin could tell that both of them knew that they weren't the ones that killed the black-clad individuals at the end.

Although to the agents, evidence showed that he, Amanda, and Emma, were responsible for killing the last black-clad guy...The three of them knew it wasn't actually them who killed him.

This was especially so for Amanda and Emma who attacked last...

They were definitely supposed to die.

They all knew that.

Yet, when they woke up, they found themselves alive...and next to them was the corpse of the black-clad individual laying face flat on the floor without any signs of life.

At first, they were confused.

Did they kill him?

Did that last-ditch attack manage to kill the black-clad individual?

But they soon dismissed the idea.

It was impossible.

In spite of the fact that by the time they attacked he was already quite injured due to his fight with Kevin, Emma and Amanda knew their limits.

Unless they were extremely lucky, there was no chance they could kill him.

...their assumptions were later proven correct when they received the autopsy report regarding the black-clad individual from the agents.

Though he was heavily injured, what killed him wasn't their last-ditch attack, but a clean sword cut straight into the heart.

As soon as they found out this piece of news, they instantly realized that something didn't add up.

The agents assumed that Kevin was the person responsible for killing the black-clad individual, but Kevin knew...he knew it wasn't him.

Looking at Ren talking to the agent in the distance, two questions emerged in Kevin's mind.

Who was he, and why was he hiding his strength?

...

"...Hmmm"

Waking up to the pungent smell of alcohol, covered in bandages, Jin's eyelids slowly opened.

"Khh..."

Looking up at the white ceiling illuminated by a white fluorescent light, Jin felt a throbbing sensation on his right temple causing his face to crump up.

After a couple of seconds, and after the pain passed away, trying to sit up straight, Jin suddenly felt a sharp pain coursing through his body almost resulting in him screaming.

-Pomf!

In the end, he could only helplessly lay down on the white hospital mattress. Once again staring at the white ceiling above him, Jin truly felt helpless.

Everything felt like a blur to him. Fragmented memories of what had happened prior to waking up here appeared in his mind.

The images of him almost dying and being held by the throat constantly replayed in his mind.

...it was only after a couple of seconds that Jin fully understood what had happened.

At firsts, he couldn't quite place his finger onto the emotion he was feeling, but as time passed in the white hospital room, he finally could taste it.

The bitter taste of defeat...

'Ah...'

-Pita -Pita

"huh, what's this?"

Touching his cheeks, Jin noticed a few droplets of water falling down from his eyes.

"....ahh, shit"

Covering his eyes with his arm, Jin clenched his teeth.

'How pathetic'

Pride

It first started when he defeated a <G> ranked warrior when he was eight years old.

The looks on every adult's face in the room at that time were something that he still remembered to this day.

Fear, pride, awe, shock...all types of emotions were displayed on the adult's faces as he brutally beat down an up and coming <G> ranked Hero raised by their guild.

He didn't know what was going on back then, but that day something within him changed.

The looks on the adult's faces. He couldn't get enough of it.

Therefore, from that day, Jin trained and trained and trained like there was no tomorrow.

He was strong.

He wanted people to idolize him more. He wanted them to know just how strong he was.

As the days passed and he grew older, the looks on the adult's faces changed. If before they had any slight contempt, it soon disappeared. What replaced it was either fear or worship. There was no other emotion.

He was getting stronger at speeds that were thought to be impossible for someone his age.

Soon, he started beating <F> ranked heroes that had been training for years without much effort.

'Ahh, this feels good'

Every time he beat someone, his heart would flutter.

'Worship me more!'

'Fear me more!'

'Revere me more!'

And along with the pleasure Jin felt whenever he would beat a strong opponent came a powerful realization

How strong he was and how weak they were.

From that point on, everything suddenly started to click for him.

That's right.

He was special.

He was the chosen one. He had something that others didn't.

Talent and a good background.

It was from that point on that he developed a pride that no one else had. The pride of being the best...

...At least that's what he thought.

Laying down pathetically in the hospital bed with his body covered in bandages, Jin realized that his pride had turned into conceit.

...He had been deluding himself for a long time.

First, it was Kevin, then it was Amanda, and just a night ago he almost died from a bunch of nobodies that were doing someone else's dirty work.

His body was battered beyond belief and he couldn't even lift a finger.

'How pathetic...'

'...this humiliation...remember the moment where your pathetic self almost lost to a bunch of henchmen...remember me, Ren Dover beating you!'

Recalling those words Jin's jaw clenched.

However, it soon relaxed. As he recalled those emotionless eyes staring at him as if he was nothing, Jin felt an emotion he hadn't felt in a long time well from deep within him.

"I see...this sense of loneliness, fear, and helplessness is a first for me"

They say men don't shed tears.

...yet at the age of 16, Jin for the first time in a long time, cried like there was no tomorrow.

He was strong yet so weak.

Chapter 71: The weak [2]

[Yesterday, at around 9:45 P.M. Hollberg, a group of unidentified individuals attacked multiple students from the lock killing 389 and crippling 107...]

Sitting on a comfy chair inside of a private hospital, I looked at the large TV screen on the wall.

Currently, a male news anchor was reporting the happenings of the Hollber accident. Next to him, a pretty female anchor added a few comments here and there.

[…According to the investigation, no valuable information was gathered regarding the aggressors as they all killed themselves or died from unknown causes. According to reports, thanks to the support of Hero rank 156 Donna Longbern and S ranked hero Connor Novak the number of casualties didn't reach the four-digit figures...]

[This type of massacre on students had never happened before in the history of the lock nor humanity. What happened yesterday will forever be remembered as 'The massacre of Hollberg' and we can only extend our support and prayers towards the victims of this accident]

Stacking the papers on the table, looking towards the camera, the news anchor's voice deepened

[Now this gives rise to a new question. Is the lock really that safe of a place? Is the lock really the safe haven advertised by the central government and the union? Who should be held accountable for the death of those 389 people? I'm not sure about you, but...]

-Clack!

-Bam!

As I was listening, suddenly the TV shut off. Following which the sound of something hard smashing against the cold hard floor echoed across the hospital.

Turning my line of sight towards where the sound came from, angrily standing up, a professor glared at what remained of the controller.

Looking back at the TV, he shouted

"What sort of nonsense are you talking about!? Do they expect us to protect all of the students when we too were fighting for our lives? Do they not understand what we went through that night!! Haa? Tell me!"

"Professor Rim please calm down."

"Professor Rim!"

Noticing the outburst, a couple of students and professors immediately headed towards the professor trying their best to calm him down.

Despite their struggle, the professor didn't calm down. It was only after more professors and students came that he finally stopped going on a rampage and calmed down.

Tensions were at an all-time high.

Not just the students, but the professors were heavily affected by the incident. Despite the fact that the professors had gone through a lot of similar situations, that didn't mean they too didn't feel terrible for what had happened.

Be it, students or professors.

They all thought one thing.

...What if I was stronger?

Could an extra life had been saved?

Looking at the commotion, I shook my head.

There were no what-ifs in the world. What had happened had already happened. You either looked ahead or remained stuck in the past.

Glancing at the students that sat next to me, their eyes were hollow. It was evident that they were traumatized by the incident.

I sort of understood what they were going through.

Having lost my parents at the peak of my dependence, I knew the feeling of losing loved ones.

Some lost their best friends, some lost their romantic partners, or some even lost their siblings.

Almost everyone lost something yesterday.

As I stared at the students next to me, an indescribable sense of guilt welled up from within me.

...I had already mentally prepared myself for this outcome, but every moment I stayed in the hospital felt agonizing.

The desperate cries of the parents of the deceased students rang throughout the whole hospital tearing a piece of my heart along with it.

It felt suffocating. Almost as if I was crammed inside of a small room with barely any oxygen to breathe.

Only after turning the volume of my mp3 to the max did I manage to calm myself down.

"Fuuuu..."

Taking a long breath, I stood up and decided to head out to get some fresh air.

The longer I stayed in this place, the worse I felt.

I needed to get my mind off of things.

'Perhaps the best place is the rooftop'

A quiet place with no one to disturb me. The rooftop was the perfect place to clear my mind...

...

In a secluded space inside of the hospital, Donna was going through the records of the recent incident.

Because of her reputation as a ranked hero, she managed to gain access to all of the footage of the cameras installed on the first floor.

The video she was currently watching was filmed by a camera that recorded the hall for rooms 500-599. Naturally, it contained the battle between the students and the black-clad individuals.

Though she was a bit hesitant, knowing she could get in trouble if found out, having gone through most of the reports handed in by the students a certain report peeked at her curiosity.

—The last hit wasn't mine

That's what Kevin wrote on his report...

The autopsy report from the agents on the <D+> ranked black-clad whom was found next to Kevin and the rest showed that the individual was killed by a sword strike straight to the heart. Donna knew that apart from Kevin, there was no one else in that room that could use a sword.

Emma used shortswords. Amanda used a bow, and Jin used daggers.

If the last hit wasn't his, then whose was it?

After doing a bit more digging, Donna managed to get a hold of the autopsy report of the other black-clad individuals found inside of the room where Kevin and the rest were found.

In total there were six black-clad individuals found in that room. Apart from the <D+> ranked one, the remaining five were all <E> ranked. A stark contrast to the other one.

However, what caught her attention wasn't their ranks. No. It was the conditions of the bodies.

Two of the three black-clad individuals were found without their heads. Moreover, once again, they died due to a clean sword cut. This was a drastic difference compared to the other three which were without a doubt killed by a dagger due to the depth of the cut as well as the size of each stab.

Matching the timing with the footage, Donna knew that inside of the room at that time Kevin and the rest had still not gone to aid Jin. Meaning that there was an external factor in play...

"This student…"

Indeed, after looking at more footage, there was a student who caught her attention. From head to toe, he was ordinary in every way. Inside the video, the man in question was not doing anything out of the ordinary. When the black-clad individuals appeared, he was nowhere to be seen. It was as though he had disappeared.

If not for the fact that she had been actively looking for him, she would've assumed he had died along with the many other students that night.

What happened next was even more mysterious.

Suddenly at 9:58 P.M., turning around the corner to the 500-599 corridor, he appeared.

Whenever he walked, black-clad individuals would mysteriously fall. Because of the chaos, if someone didn't look carefully, they wouldn't have noticed this small detail. It was so subtle that no one around him realized what had happened.

Even after zooming the camera and slowing the video down, Donna couldn't find out what was happening.

The more Donna looked, the more she was confused.

Something didn't add up...

As she zoomed the camera towards his face, his demenour in general didn't add up. It wasn't something a student should have. That emotionless and indifferent attitude was only something top heroes that had gone through many similar ordeals had...

What happened next was even more confusing.

He entered room 575. The exact room where Jin was staying as well as where Kevin and the rest entered afterward.

Fast forwarding the clip, Donna saw Kevin, Emma, and Amanda sweeping through the rest of the black-clad individuals in the hall. Following which they soon too entered room 575.

The same room the man in question had entered...

A couple of minutes after they entered, Donna saw the last black-clad individual making his way towards the same room they entered.

Using his power, he broke through room 575 creating a massive hole in the wall.

After that, though she couldn't see what was going on, she could hear the sound of metal clashing against each other followed by loud screams.

Ten minutes after the black-clad individual entered the room, a large explosion shook the room where subsequently, a minute after the explosion, a brilliant white light dyed the surroundings. Because of the light, the camera froze up for a solid minute. By the time the screen came back to normal, everything was quiet and no one came out from that room.

"…Hmm."

After thinking for a bit. Donna figured that during that minute where the camera froze, the student in question left the scene.

Taking out her tablet and after matching his face with her database, she immediately found the identity of the student in question.

Ren Dover.

She did have a small recollection of him.

It was during the first day of training.

He had left an impression on her that day. Not a good one.

She had placed him on her blacklist that day thinking that he wasn't worth having expectations for.

Of course, although she placed him on her blacklist that didn't mean she gave up on teaching him. She only gave up on having expectations of him.

...but after watching the footage, maybe she needed to reevaluate her previous opinion of him.

-Ring! -Ring! -Ring!

Just as Donna's curiosity was increasing, her phone suddenly rang.

Frowning she took it out and answered the call.

Listening to the call, her posture instantly straightened. Nodding her head multiple times she politely said

"Yes, yes, yes...I will be there immediately"

-Tak!

Hanging up the phone, Donna quickly got her stuff and rushed towards the entrance of the hospital.

"Why out of all times did they have to come now..."

Officials from the union had arrived...

-Clank

Closing the door behind her, only the video Donna was watching was left to play in the emptied room.

...

Standing on the rooftop of the hospital I took a long breath and looked at Hollberg.

The sky was blue and the sun brightly lit the city. No signs of what had happened the night prior were evident, and part from the occasional ambulances moving to and fro in the city, it seems like the chaos had died down.

Everyone was just going about their day almost as if nothing had happened yesterday.

Maybe it was better this way...

As I was looking at Hollberg from the rooftop, I couldn't help but look back at the incident. Especially what had happened while I was under the effects of [Monarch's indifference]

I thought about this before, but...

[Monarch's indifference] was an extremely scary skill.

I didn't think too much about it before, but, under the influence of [Monarch's indifference], it felt as if my body was being controlled by someone other than me...It felt as if I was under the depths of the sea and my body was moving on its own.

Despite the fact that I knew what I was doing, the process and how I was doing things was beyond my control.

It was like anything aside from my goal didn't matter. Regardless of what I did to achieve the goal, it didn't matter. Be it sacrificing lives or killing. As long as it helped me achieve the goal, it was enough.

...That's how it felt.

Scary.

Very scary.

Especially since my actions may have resulted in Jin and the others forming a negative opinion of me.

Either way, regardless of how I wanted things to have played out, it was too late for me to regret it.

'You can't change the choice you made, all you can do is not let it ruin you'

This quote perfectly described how I felt at the moment.

I could only move forward and go along with the changes around me.

-Clank!

Suddenly, as I was in deep thought, the sound of the rooftop door opening echoed across the rooftop.

Turning around, my eyes soon paused on a black-hair red-eyed youth.

'ah...seriously?'

Chapter 72: The weak [3]

An awkward silence enveloped the rooftop. Apart from the occasional chirps from the birds flying in the sky, no other sound resounded across the space.

-Step -Step -Step

Arriving on the edge of the rooftop, standing next to me, Kevin placed his hands on the handrails and looked at Hollberg in the distance.

Aside from the occasional ambulance squeals coming from below, the city of Hollberg looked calm and peaceful.

As Kevin and I watched the city in silence, a strange yet relaxing atmosphere enveloped us. It was as if all of our worries were gone for a split second.

For a short period of time, neither of us spoke. We just calmly watched the city below us.

"It's peaceful isn't it?"

After a short pause, breaking the silence, whilst looking at the city below him, Kevin opened his mouth.

"It sure is..."

Nodding my head whilst keeping my eyes on the city below, I responded.

From where I stood I could see children and adults playing in the park across the hospital. People walking along the roads to get to work, and cars honking at each other.

It really was peaceful...

"Thanks"

Once again breaking the silence, Kevin thanked me.

"..."

Closing my eyes, I didn't respond immediately.

...I didn't know how to respond.

If I answered wasn't I just basically confirming to Kevin that I was indeed the one that had killed the black-clad individual?

but...

"...Sure"

In the end, those were the words that came out of my mouth.

Glancing at Kevin from the side, I had come to the realization that denying was pointless.

Having created Kevin myself, I knew that he wasn't a brain-dead protagonist. No matter how much I tried to deny it, he had already figured out what had happened.

What was the point of denying something that was already obvious...?

Hearing my reply, whilst still looking at the city in the distance, Kevin smiled.

"You know, you seem like a completely different person compared to yesterday..."

Pausing, Kevin briefly glanced at me before leaning back on the handrail and once again looking back at the city.

"...you look more human"

"..."

Taken aback for a second, recalling what had happened the night prior, bitterly smiling, I responded

"Well, the circumstances forced me to be that way..."

"Circumstances, huh..."

Repeating the word a few times, Kevin's brows knit for a few seconds before relaxing.

Glancing at me from the side he said

"...were they the same circumstances that caused you to attack Jin?"

Bitterly shaking my head whilst gazing at the clouds in the sky, I smiled

"Would you believe me if I told you it was for his own benefit?"

Tilting his head, Kevin thought for a moment before nodding.

"More or less"

Surprised, I turned my head in Kevin's direction

"What made you agree with what I said?"

"I wouldn't have believed you if it was before, but having just come back from visiting Jin, I along with the others managed to notice a change in him..."

"I don't know what you did, but Jin has become a lot easier to talk to. Though he still is somewhat arrogant, it isn't as bad as it was before. Moreover, the way he looked at me was different..."

Placing his finger on his chin, Kevin thought for a bit before saying

"...hmm, if before there was a hint of hostility, right now it's completely gone. It's as if he is a new person."

"At least that's how I feel when I look at him now."

Listening to Kevin speak I was honestly quite surprised.

It seems like what I did under the effects of [Monarch indifference] paid off. It was a gamble. A risky one at that, but I'm glad Jin managed to somewhat pick himself back up.

Though I don't know whether he still hated me for what I did, as long as he was back to normal, that was all that mattered to me.

Similar to Kevin, with me being the author, I knew Jin's personality the best.

I knew that even after what I had done to him, he wouldn't target my family.

With the pride he had, he would never attack someone else's family. For someone like him, if he resorted to such a method, he had already lost.

Perhaps, this was why I went extra harsh on him once I was under the effects of [Monarch indifference]

...but I wasn't sure.

If I repeated what I did to someone else that wasn't Jin, I could only imagine the consequences of my action.

Just imaging it sent shivers down my spine.

Once again, my apprehension towards [Monarch indifference] grew.

...I quickly needed to adjust my mentality.

Seeing me fall into deep thought, Kevin hesitated for a bit before saying something that had been bugging his mind since yesterday.

"...Why are you hiding your skills?"

Hearing Kevin's voice, I snapped out of my thoughts. Processing his question for a couple of seconds, I shook my head and looked at him with a trace of pity in my eyes.

"...you should know the answer better than anyone else"

Leaning backward on the handrail, Kevin thought for a moment before breaking into a light chuckle

"I guess you're right, it was stupid of me to ask"

Smiling, I took a better look at Kevin. One thing I noticed as I looked at Kevin was that under his eyes were thick dark circles. Thinking for a bit, since he used [Overdrive], I figured he was probably exhausted.

Though the skill was very strong, its side-effects were just as strong as the skill was. From the way Kevin looked, it seems like he still needed a couple of days of rest before being able to recover fully...

"Well that's my cue"

After looking at the city below for a couple of more minutes, I closed my eyes and decided to leave. Although it wasn't long, my talk with Kevin managed to somehow calm me down.

"hmm"

Without saying anything, Kevin nodded. Basking under the sunlight, he was already lost in his own world.

I couldn't blame him though. With what had happened, I'm sure he was blaming himself a lot.

...that's just who he was

Letting out a long sigh, just as I was about to leave, thinking for a bit, I looked at Kevin and solemnly said

"Before I leave let me tell you something important"

"What"

Seeing how solemn my voice was, Kevin snapped out of his thoughts and his ears perked up

Glancing left and right to make sure no one was looking, I looked at Kevin straight in the eye and said

"Makeup remover serves as a great women repeller"

"..."

"Bye"

-Clank!

Closing the door behind me, I leisurely walked down the stairs. After a short pause, Kevin's laughter echoed throughout the rooftop. It was so loud that I could even hear it all the way down to where I was.

Shaking my head I too smiled.

Although he was trying his best not to show it, I knew that he was currently under immense pressure.

Differently from me, however, his guilt stemmed from the fact of how weak and helpless he felt as he watching his fellow classmates die before his eyes.

In spite of him feeling a different kind of guilt compared to me, I sort of sympathized with how he was feeling.

...Hopefully, my little joke helped him take his mind off of things for a bit.

Shaking my head one more time, I headed downstairs back to the hospital lobby.

'It's tough being the main protagonist'

...

"Welcome"

Arriving at the entrance of the hospital, Donna brightly smiled.

Standing in front of the hospital entrance a muscular male with a clean-shaven head and sunglasses indifferently glanced at his surroundings. His demenour was cold and his expression didn't change even after Donna came.

"Hmm"

Slightly nodding his head towards Donna, the muscular man's face remained aloof.

Smiling slightly in response, Donna looked around to see if there was someone else. According to the call she received, there were two important figures coming today

"Eyoo Donna!"

..and just when she was about to look for the other person, it was at that moment that a charming voice and scent flowed towards Donna. Just by hearing the voice, Donna could instantly tell who it was.

"It's good to see you again Monica"

Peeking from behind the muscular man, a young girl with dark orange hair came out.

Surrounded by a bright aura, Monica happily smiled in Donna's direction. She had crystal clear blue eyes and measured up to 160 cm in height.

Contrary to Donna's seductive beauty, her beauty leaned more towards the innocent side.

"haha, how long has it been since we've seen each other?"

"I'd say half a year"

"Hmm, that's actually shorter than I thought"

"Well, with how busy you usually are, it'd be a surprise if half a year felt short."

Exagerately sighing, Monica looked at Donna with envy

"Ahhh, maybe I should've gone to teach at the lock with you"

Smiling, Donna shook her head

"Your fault for choosing money over happiness"

"I'm starting to really regret my decision now..."

Looking at the girl before her, Donna couldn't help but think back at her past.

She along with Monica graduated from the lock. However, differently from her, Monica chose to join the union instead of teaching at the lock.

At that time their powers were about the same, but five years later, thanks to all of the support she got from the union, she was now Ranked 27 in the Hero ranking.

She was nicknamed 'The Sunset Witch'

Her powers were so devastating that the union had placed heavy emphasis on her.

They had high hopes for her. Due to how outstanding she had been in recent years, they all thought that she was going to be the next SS ranked Hero.

That's how outstanding she was...

"Monica, stop chatting, and let's get our jobs over with"

Disrupting their conversation, the tall muscular man spoke

"Jeez, why are you always so uptight with everything, George?"

"..."

Ignoring Monica, the tall muscular man named George glanced at Donna. He was hinting at her to hurry up.

"How about you first come into the hospital instead of waiting at the entrance?"

Taking the hint, looking around her, Donna noticed that the atmosphere around them was tense.

Almost suffocating.

This was partly due to how enormous their presences were. Although they weren't consciously releasing it, it was still felt by everyone around them.

"This way"

Without skipping a beat, gesturing for them to follow her, Donna walked towards a more secluded space in the hospital.

"Alrighty"

Happily smiling, Monica and George followed Donna.

Only after they left that everything returned to its usual calm.

...

Arriving at a more luxurious space inside of the hospital, Donna brought them into a private room.

Gesturing for them to sit down anywhere, Donna took off her coat and sat on a sofa.

"So what do I owe you the pleasure of coming here for?"

Glancing at George for a second, Monica raised two fingers

"We have two objectives to achieve"

"One is to deliver a certain equipment to the agents, two, see a certain student..."

Hearing the first part of her sentence, Donna nodded. Naturally, in order to accurately measure if demons and villains were involved in the incident, special equipment was required. If not, it would be much harder to determine whether this was done by a villain or someone else.

However, after hearing the second half of Monica's sentence Donna frowned.

"Who is the student you got your interest in?"

"Kevin Voss"

"Kevin?"

"Yes"

Hearing Kevin's name being mentioned, Donna's frown deepened

"What do you need to see him for?"

Cutting Monica before she could answer, George spoke

"It's none of your business"

"Oh? I would like to disagree since he is my student"

Raising her brow, Donna looked at George and released her S ranked pressure.

"Hmph!"

Not wanting to be outdone, George too released his pressure.

Instantly the room shook.

"Hey, both of you calm down."

Noticing that the situation was quickly getting out of control, Monica stepped in.

-Wooosh!

Instantly both of their pressure disappeared as a more monstrous one enveloped the both of them.

"khh.."

"Khhh...Monica stop I get it"

Enveloped by such monstrous pressure, both Goerge and Donna felt as if a truck had rammed into them.

They could barely move their bodies.

Seeing that they had both calmed down, Monica's pressure disappeared.

"Pheewww, you know I don't like doing this sort of stuff"

Flicking her hair to the side, Monica leaned back on her chair. Looking back at Donna she said

"It's nothing worrisome, we just wanted to have a nice chat with him"

Helplessly sighing, Donna looked at Monica with a complicated expression before saying

"...you aren't thinking of recruiting him right? If so, discard that thought immediately. He still needs to graduate from the lock before he is allowed to step foot into the union"

"We know, we know, we aren't here to recruit him, but more like observe him"

Seeing the slight hostility in Donna's eyes, Monica reassured her. Lightly tapping on the armrest of the chair, Monica looked at the ceiling of the room before softly mumbling

"We also have a couple of other people in mind...but they might be harder to recruit since their parents might want them in their guild..."

Pretending to not have heard the latter half of her sentence, Donna nodded.

"hmm, if you promise me you won't be doing anything out of order I can allow you to meet him"

"Thank you, Donna, you're the best!"

Happily standing up, Monica jumped in Donna's direction

"Stooop, don't come near me—"

Chapter 73: The weak [4]

Hospital, 4th floor.

Emma's face was rather strange as she followed Kevin from behind. As they walked, she couldn't help but notice Kevin's shoulders occasionally tremble from time to time.

"Kevin, about Jin..."

Just when Emma was about to mention the matter regarding Jin's sudden change in attitude, she was suddenly disrupted by a small burst of laughter.

"Hahaha..."

Though Kevin tried his best, he finally couldn't hold back and laughed out loud.

'Makeup remover serves as a great women repeller'

Thinking back at what had happened on the rooftop, Kevin couldn't help but laugh out loud. Though the joke wasn't even that funny, it's just the way he said it.

His face was so serious...

"ah...I can't, hahaha"

"Uh..."

Looking at Kevin who had just lost his composure, Emma didn't know what to say.

She couldn't quite grasp what was happening before her. In the past, Kevin had always been very calm and mature. It felt as if nothing could shake him. But what was going on with him today?

Had all the stress got to him?

Kevin, noticing Emma's face, forcefully held his laughter back and immediately waved his hands as a form of apology

"Keep going. I'm all good now"

"So I was talking about Jin..."

"pfttt.."

Just when Emma was about to continue speaking again, she was once again disrupted by a loud chuckle.

This time, she couldn't help but get annoyed. Glaring at Kevin her tone raised a few pitches

"Hmph, if you wanna laugh just laugh, but don't waste my time"

"Hahaha…...I'm really sorry but...hahah, hey Emma, what do you think of makeup remover?"

Holding onto his stomach, Kevin's face was completely red.

Speechless by Kevin's random question, Emma shook her head before responding

"I wouldn't know since I don't use makeup"

"..."

As soon as Kevin heard Emma's response his smile froze. After a short pause, Kevin returned to his usually calm expression.

"...ah, that pretty much ruined the joke"

"What joke?"

"Doesn't matter anymore, continue with what you were saying"

As if nothing had happened, Kevin nodded at Emma urging her to continue what she was saying

"Sigh, I give up...Anyhow I was just about to talk ab--"

Shaking her head and sighing at Kevin's sudden change in attitude, Emma tried to continue what she was trying to say but soon stopped halfway through her sentence. Shortly after, an exclamation escaped from her mouth.

"...ah!"

"Emma?"

Noticing something odd about Emma's behavior, Kevin glanced at her.

Staring in the distance, Emma's eyes sparkled. Her face soon dyed red in excitement.

"What's going on?"

Confused, following Emma's line of sight, Kevin's eyes soon paused on a trio walking in their direction.

Instantly, Kevin recognized one of the three people. Donna Longbern, his class tutor.

Walking with her head down, she looked worn out. Her hair was a mess and her expression was that of utter defeat. It looked as though she had just come back from a tough battle.

Looking at her expression, although Kevin didn't know what had happened, he couldn't help but feel a trace of pity for her...

Next to her, a tall muscular man with a bald head and sunglasses indifferently glanced at his surroundings. There was this sort of regal feeling coming from him. Almost as if he was a massive lion that ruled over an expansive territory.

Although for the most part, his face was indifferent, from time to time, Kevin was able to notice him clicking his tongue in the direction of the last person.

Standing in front of them, a young girl with dark orange hair happily chirped throughout the halls of the hospital.

From appearances alone, she looked to be a few years younger than Emma. Her skin was crisp and pleasant, and she looked like a regular 14-year-old girl.

"Ah!"

Noticing something, the young girl's eyes excitedly looked in Kevin and Emma's direction.

"...hm?"

Pointing in their direction, the young girl urged Donna and the other guy to hurry up.

"Who is she?"

Noticing that something wasn't right, tilting his head in confusion, Kevin turned towards Emma. However, his question was met with air as Emma ignored him completely.

After a couple of seconds, Emma ran towards the young girl as she shouted at her

"Sister Monica!"

"Emma!"

Seeing Emma coming her way, extending her hands forward they soon embraced each other and laughed.

"Look at how much you've grown!"

Looking at Emma from head to toe, a trace of envy appeared on Monica's face.

"hehe, I'm now taller than you"

"That's not something you should be pointing out to someone who you call sister..."

"hehehe, you know I'm just messing with you"

Smiling evilly, Emma tried to pat Monica on the head.

-Smack!

"Stop it you brat!"

Smacking Emma's hand away, Monica's eyes landed on Kevin. Smiling she said

"You must be Kevin"

Confused, Kevin confirmed before asking

"...yes, you are?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the atmosphere around him froze.

Be it Emma, Donna, or the muscular guy. Everyone was staring at Kevin in utter shock. How did he not know the identity of the girl in front of him? Especially since she was one of the most popular Heroes on earth at the moment...Just how out of touch with the world did someone have to be to not even be able to recognize her?

Taken aback for a second, a trace of a smile soon appeared on Monica's face

"Wow, this is a first. Someone who actually doesn't know me...how interesting"

Confused, Kevin looked in Emma's direction. Faceplaming, Emma whispered

"Hero-rank 27, The sunset witch, Monica Jeffrey"

"oh..."

...

Inside of a private room in the hospital, sitting in front of Monica, Kevin asked.

"So what did you call me here for?"

Calmly drinking a cup of tea, Monica briefly glanced at Kevin before softly mumbling to herself

"...so handsome"

"Excuse me?"

Covering her mouth and realizing her mistake, Monica looked away from Kevin.

"Oops...keummm...keummm I meant it's hot in here"

Letting out a dry cough as though she was embarrassed, Monica took something out from her pocket and handed it to Kevin

Glancing at what was in Monica's hand, Kevin saw a black card decorated with fine silver patterns. Taking the card, Kevin looked at the fine print on the card.

[Union, Senior executive member, Monica Jeffrey]

Seeing Kevin accept the card, Monica smiled and said

"Let's keep it short, we want to recruit you into the union"

"Keeummm...keummm"

Observing from behind, Donna coughed a couple of times. Under Donna's glaring eyes, Monica stuck her tongue out.

"Fine...let me rephrase, would you be interested in joining the union after you graduate from the lock?"

"Ah, so this was what this was about..."

Playing with the business card in his hands for a couple of seconds, Kevin soon gave it back

"Eh? Student Kevin? I think you don't understand what's going on here. Me, ranked 27 on the hero ranking, Monica Jeffrey is interested in you"

"I'm thankful for your interest, but I'm sorry, I'm not planning on joining the union"

With that, Kevin stood up and made his way towards the door.

"Hey you, what do y-"

Just as George was about to stop Kevin, raising her hand to stop George, Monica smiled.

"I'm liking him more and more..."

...

-Ring! -Ring! -Ring!

Once again sitting on a chair in the lobby of the hospital, hearing the sound of my phone ringing I quickly swiped right and answered the call.

[Employer?]

"Yo, smallsnake"

[...I heard about what happened in Hollberg]

Ah right, I did reveal to smallsnake who I was. He must've already caught wind of what had happened in Hollberg.

"Ah well, as you can hear I'm fine."

[That's great...I saw your message, what do you need from me?]

Thinking for a bit, I suddenly recalled messaging smallsnake a couple of days ago. Prior to when the incident happened.

"Right, I need you for a job"

[You're not going to tell me to invest in another stock right?]

"Nah, maybe another time. I need information this time"

[Informantion?]

"Yup"

Pausing for a second, Smallsnake responded

[...Sure, as long as it's something within my capabilities I can do it]

Hearing what he had to say, a smirk appeared on my face.

Please, with your capabilities, even finding the information of some of the top guilds shouldn't really pose a problem for you.

But well, he didn't need to know that I knew about his true capabilities

"I want you to tell me all you can find about a guild called Galxicus"

[Galxicus?]

"Yeah...you can do it right?"

[...yes, but why are you specifically looking into that guild? Isn't that your parent's guild?]

"Oh? so you dug onto my past?"

[Yes]

Hearing his blunt reply, I was taken aback for a second before I burst out laughing

"hahaha, I didn't know you were that interested in me"

[Better safe than sorry...]

Shaking my head, I crossed my legs and said

"So? you think you're up for—"

However, halfway through my sentence, I paused.

[Employer?]

There was a good reason for my pause. That was because...

"What's your name?"

Standing in front of me a young girl with dark orange hair smiled as she looked at me.

"Sorry smallsnake I might have to call you later"

[What do yo—]

-Tak!

Hanging up the phone, I was utterly speechless. What was she doing here?

Why was 'The Sunset Witch' standing in front of me? Moreover, if I remembered correctly wasn't she supposed to be recruiting Kevin and the others?

Smiling, Monica placed her hand on her chin and scrutinized my body from top to bottom. After a bit, nodding her head she said

"I can sense that you're practicing a pretty strong art...you must be pretty high ranked in your school huh? What's your rank? What do you specialize in?"

Under the barrage of questions, my brows twitched.

Damm her and her special power.

The reason why Monica was called the sunset witch wasn't just because of the color of her hair, but also because of her high affinity with flame psyons.

Whenever she moved, flames would engulf the area around her, devastating everything that she willed.

That was scary, but if that wasn't enough, Monica had a skill that enabled her to detect what sort of art they were practicing.

I had completely overlooked this fact.

Damn...

"Monica!"

Appearing from behind Monica, Donna angrily stormed in her direction. Just as she was about to reach Monica, her eyes paused on me and her footsteps halted for a split second.

Turning towards Donna, Monica pointed at me and said

"Ah, Donna! You came at the right time, I want to know more about this student"

"Let's go"

Placing her hand on Monica's mouth, Donna forcefully dragged her out of the hospital.

"But I'm not fin-mhmmh"

"Stop harassing my students and leave already"

"N-oo--mhhhm"

While I sat speechless looking at the scene before me, Monica tried her best to free herself from Donna's grasps.

In the end, she failed and was soon dragged out of the hospital.

Fortunately, judging from how she let herself be carried away by Donna, she was only slightly interested in me. Not enough for her to actually stop Donna from dragging her away.

Wiping off the sweat that had accumulated on my forehead, I couldn't help but think

'I guess I just dodged a bullet'

Chapter 74: Homecoming [1]

[Lock, class A-25, Friday 4:45 P.M.]

Sitting in my usual seat, I listened attentively to the class lecture.

Or at least I tried...

Despite the fact that two weeks had passed since the Hollberg incident, the classroom's atmosphere wasn't as lively as it was back before the incident.

Glancing at the classroom, I could see why...

Almost a quarter of the students that used to sit around me were now gone.

Despite not knowing many people, I found out, a couple of days after the incident, that Evan and Cassandra were part of the people that had died during the incident.

...the same two people that were part of my group.

In spite of the fact that I didn't know them that well, the fact that two people I was acquainted with had died went to show how tragic those events were.

Literally, anyone could've died that night...

"Alright, that marks the end of the lecture"

Snapping me out my thought was the engineering professor's charming voice. Just like before, throughout the whole time I had stayed in the lock, she was the only professor that didn't pay special attention to lineage or rank.

Whenever I asked her questions regarding the lecture she would always patiently and calmly explain what I didn't understand.

Therefore, although I didn't necessarily understand what she was teaching, I didn't hate this class.

Right after the lecture ended and the professor left the classroom, everyone remained seated.

That was because we still had to have our end-of-week tutor time. This was a small session we had every Friday and it was where Donna, our tutor, would spend the last remaining fifteen minutes of the day to share any announcements that have been made by the school.

-Clank!

Right on cue, entering the classroom, Donna made her way towards the podium. Walking, as though the wind was blowing, each of her steps caused a thin purple undulation of magic power to spread across the classroom.

Instantly the whole room fell silent. The pressure that emanated from her body caused everyone to stop whatever they were doing.

It was evident that she wasn't in the best of moods, and everyone could feel it.

Arriving in front of the podium, Donna staked a few papers on the table before clicking her tongue and dismissing them.

Sighing, Donna looked at the classroom and spoke.

"Alright, as most of you can probably tell, I'm not in the best of moods"

Raising two fingers she said

"I have two announcements for you guys today..."

"One, there will be a rank readjustment, and that wi'"

Right after she finished the first half of her sentence before she could continue speaking, disrupting her speech were whispers that resounded throughout the whole classroom.

"...rank readjustments?"

"It isn't even the midterms..."

"What's going on?"

-Smack!

"Quiet!"

Smacking her hand on the podium, a small shockwave swept through the classroom. As if a strong gust of wind had appeared, everyone was pushed back onto their seats. I included.

As a result of her action, the hair I spent two minutes styling this morning was now a mess.

...great

A couple of seconds after smacking the podium, Donna continued.

"If some of you are confused as to why your ranks are being readjusted...the answer is simple. It's because there's now less of you"

"For better or for worse, we have to readjust your ranking according to academy protocols"

Placing both hands on the podium, Donna's eyes swept through the classroom before she said

"So please be quiet and wait for me to finish announcing the new rankings before announcing the second announcement"

-Nod

Under Donna's piercing stare, everyone could only helplessly nod their head in agreement.

Seeing everyone nod, a trace of a smile appeared on Donna's face.

"Alright, here are the new rankings..."

Tapping onto her tablet, Donna quickly read through a long list of names.

"Kevin Voss, still rank 1"

"Melissa Hall, still rank 2"

.

.

.

"Troy Dereks moves up a rank and is now rank 17"

.

.

.

"Edward smith moves up five ranks from 739 to 734"

.

.

.

Pausing slightly, a slight frown appeared on Donna's brows. It was so subtle that only by paying close attention would anyone have been able to notice it.

"Lastly, Ren Dover moves up a total of 200 ranks and is now rank 1550"

As soon as my name and rank were announced, I felt multiple eyes staring in my direction.

Feigning ignorance, I tried my best to keep a stoic face. With what had happened in Hollberg, I had already expected this to happen.

...There was no use denying the fact that I had now caught the interest of a few important individuals. Though I didn't like the attention, there was no use crying over spilled milk.

I also wanted to point out that the fact that my rank rising by 200 ranks may have contributed to adding a couple of extra stares.

...

With Donna finally announcing my name, the rank adjustment came to an end. Following that, she cleared her voice and once again spoke. Though her voice was sweet, her tone was cold.

"Keuumm...For the second announcement, due to recent unfortunate events, after long and arduous hours of talk, the higher-ups have finally have come to a unanimous decision to send the first years on a month-long break"

Just as she finished announcing, right before anyone could celebrate, Donna instantly poured cold water over them.

"But don't be too happy yet. After you return, there will be mid-term exams so more than a holiday this is a short break before mid-terms..."

Mourns and sighs resounded throughout the classroom as the students all became crestfallen at the announcement.

Well, out of all the people here I was probably the one that was the most depressed by the announcement.

With everything that went down these couple of months, I hadn't had time to focus on my school work.

The mid-terms consisted of two exams. The theoretical and the physical.

I wasn't worried about the physical exam since if I had to judge my strength, I was currently in the top 100. Maybe top 50 if I fought with my life on the line.

...but that didn't really matter. My goal was to one day reach the top 10. Being top 100 didn't really interest me in any way.

Rank aside, what I was most worried about was the theoretical department.

No matter how much I tried to study, I barely got any of the concepts they were talking about in classes.

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I was totally hopeless, it's just that for some of the stuff I had to learn, I had to go back and relearn things that were taught back when I was supposed to be in middle school.

With me training every day, I barely had enough time to study for the courses let alone study middle school courses.

After I agonized over the problem for a bit longer, I just threw it at the back of my mind.

As an experienced procrastinator, I was used to leaving problems till near the deadline.

"Alright, this is the end of the announcements. I hope to see you in a months time"

Seeing that she had already lost everyone's attention, Donna could only conclude tutor time ahead of schedule and dismiss everyone.

Packing up her stuff, she soon left the classroom.

-Clank!

Soon as Donna left, I too started packing up my stuff. Today was the last day I stayed in the lock for at least a month.

It was finally time to go home...

Although I had never met my parents in this world, I would always get messages from them. Be it for normal stuff or nagging. They would always make sure to text me once a day.

It was both annoying and heartwarming. Since my parent's death back in my previous world, never had I felt this much love from someone.

...I couldn't say I disliked this feeling.

"..hm?"

Feeling a shadow cast over where I was sitting, as I was getting ready to leave the classroom, passing the area where I was sitting, Kevin subtly nodded in my direction to which I responded in kind.

Not a lot changed between us.

Although I had talked to Kevin back on the rooftop, we weren't really friends.

We would occasionally greet each other whenever we met in the hallway, but that's just about how much our interactions amounted to.

'Casual acquaintances'

That's how I would describe our current relationship.

...and I liked it that way. No matter how much I liked him as a person, getting too close to him wouldn't do me any good. This was especially so since my interactions with him could lead to me getting swept into his conflicts and potentially changing the plotline.

Sometimes I wished I wasn't so stuck up on keeping the plotline consistent...

Sigh

Letting out a sigh, finished packing up, I went back to my dorm.

...

"This should be enough..."

Stretching my back, I clapped my hands in satisfaction.

Right now my bed was filled with things that I prepared for my month-long trip back home. From clothes to books, I decided to bring them all. Since the trip was going to be that long, I decided to just bring whatever I could bring.

With dimensional spaces being a thing, I didn't need to worry about carrying large bags with me.

-Vuam!

Tapping on my bracelet once, everything that was on my bed disappeared.

"I guess it's about time I hea'"

-Ring! -Ring! -Ring!

Just as I was about to head out, my phone rang.

Looking at the caller ID, I picked up the call.

[Employer?]

"Yo smallsnake, did you get what I had asked of you last week?"

Hearing smallsnake's voice on the other side of the phone, holding onto the phone, I doubled checked to see if I forgot to bring anything before heading towards the entrance of my room.

[Yes, I got all the information that you requested]

Checking the time on my watch, with the aid of my shoulder, I pressed my phone to my ear and put on my shoes.

"Alright perfect, send it to me"

[...ehm]

Pausing for a slight second, smallsnake hesitated.

"Smallsnake?"

Noticing something odd about his pause, I frowned and held my phone with my hand.

[Employer, it's not really my place to say this but...]

"...but?"

Taking a deep breath, Smallsnake said

[Your parent's guild isn't doing well. No, in fact, they are in a terrible situation....]

Chapter 75: Homecoming [2]

Friday, 9:00 P.M.

Sitting on a bench waiting for the air train to arrive, I absentmindedly stared at my phone.

Looking through the files smallsnake sent me, a strange feeling welled up inside of me. The more I read the files, the stronger the feeling became.

ãGalxicus - Informationã

Guild grade :

[Bronze] [â¼Silver] [Gold] [Platinum] [Diamond]

History :

Guild was established in 2045, with 10 years to its name. Currently graded as a silver ranked guild and is under command of current guild leader Ronald Dover <D+> ranked hero. Under his guidance, the guild was able to rise from a bronze-graded guild to a silver-graded one.

Current situation :

'Financial distress [Debt - 95,000,000 U]

'Risk of guild relegation [Silver â· Bronze]

'Internal power struggle [Current guild master under heavy scrutiny by board members]

More information :

...

...

Looking through the information and after pondering for a bit, I somehow got the gist of what was happening.

After going through my phone, I found out that the three-year lock enrolment fee was 30,000,000 U.

To some, it may be spare change, but to regular people, it was an absurdly astronomical sum.

Prior to when I reincarnated, Ren's parents must've taken a 30 million U loan under the guild's name to finance 'Ren's' tuition fee for the lock.

After a long and heated debate, Ren's parents must've been able to convince the board to loan them 30 million U as a form of investment.

However, after Ren took the test and was judged to be a <D> ranked talent by the lock, the guild executives must've started pressuring Ren's parents into paying back what they owed.

...As soon as they saw that Ren wasn't talented, they immediately ceased all formalities with their own guild master and took it as an opportunity to take over the guild.

The fact that they were withstanding such a heavy burden yet letting me attend the lock at the same time, went to show how much they loved me. Their 'son'

As I thought more about it, another question emerged in my mind.

What happened to the original Ren?

After thinking long and hard about it, my face became grim.

My current hypothesis was that after receiving his talent grading, he fell into a deep depression due to the guilt he felt towards his parents and chose to end his life, allowing me to take over.

...But this was just a hypothesis I came up with only the report as a reference.

Perhaps after going back home and assessing the situation more carefully, I could find more about the previous Ren.

Maybe, there was more to the story than the report told.

...

9:15 P.M.

After having gone through the report a couple of more times, every second that the train wasn't here felt oddly agonizing. It was as if a part of me really wanted it to arrive and quickly send me to my parent's house.

...but why did I want to meet people that I had never met before so badly? It's not like they were my real parents

Was I perhaps longing for a family that much?

I quickly discarded such thought.

Although yes I did want to once again feel the love I felt from my parents back in my previous world, it shouldn't be to the point where I would start longing for it from strangers that I've never met before.

Perhaps...

Right.

What if a part of me still contained the emotions of the previous Ren? What if this longing feeling I was feeling towards my new family was due to the old Ren's influence...

Just how much influence did the previous Ren have over me?

Clenching my heart, I couldn't help but feel the slow rhythmical palpitations that would increase whenever I dug more onto the previous Ren's family.

...it hurt.

It was the same feeling I felt whenever I thought of my parents back in my previous world.

Once I began to think along those lines, it just didn't seem to end.

I just started remembering the happy days I spent with my family back in my previous world. When everything wasn't as fucked up as it was now. Their home-cooked meals, their nagging, the fun holidays...

All of those memories came flooding down like a dam that had broken into pieces.

"Fuuu..."

Wiping the corner of my eyes that had slightly reddened, I closed my eyes and tried my best to hide the tears that were threatening to fall at any moment.

"ah...just what are you doing to me Ren? and why now?"

...

[Station, Lock square ' boarding]

A crisp and pleasant voice resounded across the train platforms.

Boarding the train, I took a quick glance at my surroundings before choosing a seat on the right side of the train.

Sitting on a seat next to the window, I took out my earbuds and played some music.

After calming down, my thoughts became more clear.

Although I don't know what went over me back then, I knew that the previous Ren had something to do with it.

Perhaps he had still not fully died and a small part of him remained inside of me.

...perhaps he wasn't and it was just my imagination, I wasn't sure, but...

whatever it was, I hoped it wouldn't influence my future course of action. If by chance I was forced to do something I didn't want to do due to the old Ren's influence, I wouldn't know what I'd do.

[Station, Lock square ' Departing]

As I was in deep thought, the voice coming from the train speaker echoed throughout the whole train and the doors slowly closed.

-Clank!

[Central District, Lock square â· Northen District, Veril square]

-Vuuuuam!

Lifting in the air, the air train slowly picked up speed and headed towards my destination, the northern district.

Ashton city had a cumulative population of 50 million people.

Being the safest and most centralized area in the human domain, it naturally attracted a lot of people.

It was massive.

Because of its size, Ashton city was divided into five different districts.

Northern District, Southern District, Eastern District, Western District, and the Central District.

The reason why they were split that way was simple.

Because apart from the Northern district, every other district was under the jurisdiction of one of the four Diamon graded guilds present in Ashton city.

Rank 1. Demon Hunter â· Southern district

Rank 2. Starlight Guild â· Central district

Rank 3. Black Hammer â· Western district

Rank 4. Eclipse of Dawn â· Eastern district

Although the union and the central government were the main powers that kept humanity in check, they still allowed the top four guilds to take control over certain areas.

This way the union could keep their power centralized and keep guilds satisfied at the same time.

...and unfortunately for me, the northern district, where I was headed, was under the jurisdiction of the union.

The annoying bunch...

If I remembered correctly, Emma also lived in the northern district.

With her father being the Vice-director of the union, as well as the mayor of Ashton city, her house was situated in the northern district.

Fortunately, because each district was humongous, the chances of us meeting weren't high.

After the incident in Hollberg, though I didn't talk to her, I would occasionally see her staring in my direction.

Back in the lock, she held back her interest because the others were with her, but if by chance met outside of the lock...

yea, better not think about it.

Considering her personality, I wouldn't be surprised if she suddenly started digging into me more.

...

[Northen District, Veril square ' Arrival]

Exiting the train station, I took out my phone and loaded the GPS app.

I had no clue where to go from this point on...

"This way"

Following the GPS, turning right of the station, I followed the red dot on the map and headed towards where my parent's house was located.

Night had already fallen and the crescent moon high in the sky was gradually being covered by dark, drifting clouds.

The lamps around the crosswalk I was walking brightly lit the areas, and despite it being late, people walking their dogs or having a jog were seen everywhere.

"Should be this?"

After walking a further ten minutes, I stopped in front of a residential compound. After being allowed in by the guards I headed towards villa [259].

"Fuuu...."

Taking a deep breath, I looked at the large villa in front of me. Painted in white all over, the villa had two balconies and a large garden. Large wooden fences covered the perimeter of the garden, and at the entrance of the villa stood a large wooden door.

Looking up at the windows, I could see that the lights were still on. Evidently showing that everyone was still awake.

It was clear that they were still awake waiting for me

"fuuu...alright"

Hesitantly, I reached for the doorbell of the house.

This was it.

It was finally time for me to meet my new parents.

-Ding! Dong!

As soon as I pressed the doorbell, on the other side of the door, the sound of rushed footsteps rushing for the door was instantly picked up by my ears.

-Clank!

Opening the door, brilliantly smiling, a beautiful woman with golden hair and blue eyes greeted me at the door.

"Welcome home Ren!"

Chapter 76: Homecoming [3]

"Look at how much you've grown!"

Squealing in delight from the moment her eyes landed on me, Samantha Dover, my now mother, lunged at me as soon as the door opened.

Without having enough time to avoid her, I fell into her embrace

"Ohkhh.."

After a couple of seconds of struggling, I gave up. Oddly enough, I didn't feel repulsed by her hugging. Feeling the warm embrace of my mother, I felt my body became weak and my mind relax.

It was an odd yet familiar feeling.

...it was nice.

"Let me get a better look at you"

After a solid minute, releasing me from her hug, squishing my cheeks with both hands my mother looked at me with a large smile on her face.

"Look at how much more handsome you've become! I'm sure every girl in the academy is swooning over your looks"

"..."

Nodding my head, my mouth twitched.

...if only that were true.

Out of all my stats, only charm refused to increase.

What more handsome?

Glancing around and feeling the nightly breeze, my mother quickly pulled me into the house.

"Oh dear, it's better if you come in. We don't want you getting a cold do we?"

"Yeah"

-Clank

Closing the door behind me, I entered the house.

Taking off my shoes and hanging my coat, I quickly followed her deeper into the house.

As I walked, I couldn't help but glance at all of the photos hanging on the wall. There were a wide variety of photos on the walls. Photos of the previous Ren, photos of my now parents, and some group photos of my now parent with people whom I presume were from their guild.

They looked especially happy in the photo...I didn't understand why they would want to screw them over like that.

Turning left of the corridor, I was soon inside of the living room.

As I stepped into the living room, my eyes immediately landed on a certain individual.

'So that's Ronald Dover, my father...'

Sitting on the sofa looking through some papers, Ronald Dover, my now father, glanced in my direction.

Nodding in my direction, he said

"Welcome back"

"...ah, yes"

Dumbly staring at Ronald, my father, those were the words that came out of my mouth.

Aside from my eyes, he was a spitting image of the current me. His facial features were identical to mine and coupled with his jet-black hair, he looked like an older version of me. However, if I had to point out the difference between us, it'd be the fact that his face lacked the childish immature nature that I had.

His demeanor was a stark contrast from mine as he looked extremely solemn and serious.

"Oh come one Ren, don't be shy. Sit next to me"

Sitting next to my father, my mother quickly urged me to sit next to her. After hesitating for a split second, under her pressuring stare, I could only obediently sit next to her.

After I sat down, tugging her husband's sleeves to make sure he was paying attention, she looked at me and said

"So, tell us how your first semester at your academy was?"

Pausing for a second to gather my thoughts, I stared at both of them and started speaking.

"Well, how do I start? Although I..."

...and so I started recounting what had happened to me during my academic stay in the lock. I intentionally left out things such as going to the black market and taking the seed of limit and stuff.

When the conversation shifted towards the Hollberg incident, well...

Let's just say things didn't end well as my mom cursed a lot.

I remember her texting me a lot during that time, fortunately, I reassured her that I was fine. If not, I wouldn't be surprised if she suddenly packed up her stuff and went to Hollberg.

As I talked, I was slightly uncomfortable at first, but the more I talked, the more at ease I felt.

...It felt as if this was one of the many talks I had with them over the years. It felt strangely nostalgic and familiar, which was a very odd feeling.

As I was talking, from what I observed, my now father, Ronald Dover, although he looked cold on the exterior, he was quite warm. He wasn't a man of many words like my mother, but from time to time he would occasionally join the conversation to add his input.

Although it didn't look like much, his little inputs would always keep the conversation going and the room was soon enveloped in a harmonious atmosphere.

...this atmosphere. This warmth.

-Pita! -Pita!

Feeling hot tears streaming down my cheeks, I froze for a second before quickly wiping them away from my face.

"Ah, sorry. I don't know what got over me"

Seeing me cry, my mom immediately lunged in my direction and took me in her embrace.

"aww, I know you've been through a lot...here, you can cry in your mama's arms"

Feeling myself in her warm arms, for a split second my mind blanked. Soon after, as if a dam had broke, tears burst down from my cheeks.

Sent into a different world where everything was different and having spent the last two months by myself, with no one to rely on but myself...her warm words and embrace caused hidden feelings that were within me to surge.

My father soon also joined the hug and I soon found myself buried beneath the both of them.

"Alright, stop I'm fine now"

After a couple of minutes, after I calmed down, I was able to free myself from their embrace. Fixing my clothes which were now I mess, I tried to switch the topic

"...so that's that's all for what happened. How's the guild doing?"

Brightly smiling, making eye contact with her husband for a second, my mother said

"Everything is perfect. Apart from the fact that we have to put in some extra hours here and there, everything is going well"

Looking at them for a second, I smiled and leaned back on the sofa.

"..is that so? I'm glad you're doing fine then"

Liars.

I already knew everything.

A part of me felt a little bitter at the fact that they still hid their troubles from me, but I sort of understood where they were coming from.

...They didn't want their problems to affect me, and rightfully so.

Why would they want their child who was studying at the best academy in the human domain to feel pressured? All they wanted was for their son to study happily while they support him from the back.

"hmmm"

Disrupting our conversation was the sound of small footsteps. Gingerly walking into the living room, a small girl wearing oversized pajamas and a large teddy bear on her right hand drowsily rubbed her little eyes.

She had smooth black hair that fell all the way to her tummy, and her eyes that were a similar shade of blue to my eyes hazily looked at her teddy in her arms.

Her rosy plump cheeks that had a small blush to them made anyone who was near her want to squeeze them tightly.

Even I, as I watched her enter the room, had an urge to squeeze those cheeks.

Looking up in my direction, tilting her little head, the young girl said

"...Big Bwudar?"

Freezing on the spot. my eyes stared at the young girl that had entered the room.

'So that's my sister Nola?'

Looking at the small girl that I had just entered the room, I instantly realized that she was supposed to be my two-year-old sister. Nola.

"Bwudar?"

Calling for me for a second time, Nola extended her arms in my direction.

"How cute"

Smiling at Nola, my mother looked at Nola before looking back in my direction.

"Nola tried her best to stay awake just to wait for you..."

Picking up Nola, my mother walked in my direction and handed her to me.

After hesitating for a second, supporting her from her little butt, I held Nola in my arms.

"hmm"

Hooking her little arms around my neck, Nola's face brightened up as she closed her eyes and immediately fell asleep.

Feeling her breathing even on my neck, I could only stand rooted on the spot. I didn't move because I was afraid of waking her up.

My eyes darted towards my parents asking for help, but I was only met with their smiling faces.

...errr, what was I supposed to do now?

I was a loner back in my previous world. I never interacted with kids nor did I have any. I had no idea what I was supposed to do.

...but strangely. I didn't dislike this feeling. As I held Nola in my arms, a strange protective feeling welled inside of me.

It felt as if nothing would stop me from protecting this child in my arms.

Taking a better look at Nola who was innocently sleeping in my arms, I realized that even without the old Ren's emotions affecting me...I would do anything to protect her.

...

After holding Nola for five more minutes, my mom stood up and took back Nola from my arms.

"Alright, give Nola back to me. You must be tired, go to sleep"

Soon she sent me to my room to which I happily agreed as I was indeed feeling tired.

Walking upstairs, I entered what seemed to be my room. It was a decently sized room that was similar in size to my room in the lock. However, compared to the lackluster decorations back in the lock, this room was filled with posters and magazines as well as other decorations.

Glancing around the room, I sat on the bed in the corner of the room and took a deep breath.

Although it was my first time here, it did not feel unfamiliar. It was a strange feeling. It was a different feeling from when I was back in the lock. I felt more at peace here.

...It seemed that this body remembered this place well.

Standing up and looking through the shelves of the room, I saw a picture of the previous Ren with his parents.

Taking the photo frame to get a better look at the image, I saw him holding a bouquet of flowers smiling alongside his parents in front of the academy.

-Peng!

...however, as soon as I held onto that picture, I felt my heart sting for a split second.

Flinching slightly, I almost dropped the frame on the ground. Frowning, I took a better look at the picture. And there I saw it. No. I could feel it.

Beneath Ren's smile in the photo hid deep sadness and anguish.

'Just what happened to you?'

...what caused you to be that way?

-Smack!

Get yourself together.

There was no point in investigating what had happened to the previous Ren now. I believe that by the end of the month I would be able to discover what had happened to Ren and resolve his regrets.

Perhaps this was the only way his emotions would leave my body and I would finally have this body to myself...

I wasn't really sure, but...he at least deserved that much.

For having given me a second chance as well as given me a happy and warm family, resolving his regrets was something I needed to do...

Staring at the white ceiling of the room, I bitterly smiled as I thought back of what I told myself moments before I entered the house.

During that time, I had repeatedly told myself not to get overly attached to my parents in this world.

I told myself that there was no point in getting attached to some random strangers that I had never met before...

...but who was I kidding.

Remembering Nola's tender cheek resting on my shoulder just moments before, as well as my parent's warm faces as they consoled me...I already knew it was already too late for me to not get attached.

-Pomf

Slumping on the white mattress, I thought to myself.

'This feeling....it isn't so bad'

Chapter 77: Homecoming [4]

After waking up, I headed downstairs to the kitchen.

The first thing I saw as soon as I entered the kitchen was a small note left on the table.

Picking it up, I read through the contents.

Ren, if you're reading this your mom and dad have already gone to work.

Once you wake up, bring Nola to the park outside and enjoy your weekend. I've already sent you some money to your account for when you go out.

At around 12:00 P.M. you should come down to the guild with Nola. After we are done sorting out some stuff we will bring you guys to lunch.

See you soon.

Love mom and dad

They're already at work huh...

I guess with everything that was going on in the guild, it wasn't strange for them to work on weekends too.

Neatly folding the small note, I headed towards the dining table where warm dishes covered in a thin plastic film were already prepared.

As I sat on the table, lifting the plastic film, the fragrance of the bacon and the eggs on the plate instantly invaded my nostrils.

Without skipping a beat, I devoured everything that was on the plate.

"Delicious"

After eating my fill, patting my now bloated belly, I checked the time on my watch.

6:45 A.M.

It was still very early in the morning, and looking outside the window I could see the sun slowly brightening up the surroundings. Since I had nothing to do, I decided to train for a couple of hours before waking Nola up and bringing her to the park.

-Clank!

Sliding the glass doors that led to the garden, the morning breeze instantly cooled my body.

Walking in the garden, feeling the lush green grass tingling at my naked feet, I took a deep breath and took out my sword from my dimensional space.

"Fuuuu..."

Releasing a long breath, a white glow slowly started emanating from my body. Following which, with my sword, I drew three circles in the air.

-Voom!

As I drew the circles, after each full circulation, a translucent ring wobbled in the air. After the first ring formed, closing my eyes I drew a second and a third.

-Voom!

Right after the third ring formed, I once again closed my eyes and concentrated my mind. As I did, the circles slowly started revolving around my body.

-Swooosh!

Pointing towards my right side, one of the rings flew in the direction of where I pointed. With my left hand, I pointed upwards and another ring flew upwards. In the direction of where I pointed.

Like that, for half an hour, I continuously moved the rings around me.

-Swooosh! -Swooosh! -Swooosh!

After two minutes, whenever a ring would dissipate in the air, I would quickly create a new one and continue with what I was doing.

After the Hollberg incident, I didn't stop training.

In fact, as a way to get my mind off of things, I trained even harder than before. And because of that, my second sword art [Ring of vindication] reached the minor realm of mastery.

With the sword art reaching the minor realm of mastery, I could now freely control the rings I created. If I wanted to, I could make them revolve around me for as long as the ring could last.

Even better, the rings could now withstand the full impact of <G> ranked individuals without breaking. Even <F> ranks would now have a hard time breaking the rings that I made, creating a perfect defense system.

As far as rings went, as of right now I could comfortably control three. I could do four, but that would strain my head too much due to my lack of control over my mana.

...in the future, the more I mastered this technique, the more rings I could control. Moreover, the more I mastered the technique, the better the rings would get with gravitational pull and elemental discharge being effects I could add to the rings.

This was a massive improvement in my strength as now I wouldn't have to worry about needing to waste time to use the [Keiki style]. With the rings protecting me, I could quickly control them to protect me whenever I was readying myself to execute a movement from my main sword art.

...

"huuuuam..."

9:00 A.M.

As white steam dissipated from my body, checking the time, I stretched my back and yawned.

"I guess it's about time to wake up Nola"

I had been training non-stop for about two hours. Looking at my watch and seeing the time, I knew it was about time to wake up Nola.

Heading back into the house, I first took a quick shower before entering Nola's room.

Wouldn't want to make Nola smell my sweat.

-Creak!

Opening the door of Nola's room, I tiptoed towards her cradle. Looking at her little body sleeping soundly with her teddy in her arms, I whispered lightly

"Hey Nola, it's time to wake up"

After whispering a couple of more times to try to wake her up, poking her cheeks a couple of times, Nola's eyelids slowly opened

"Hmm...brawder?"

"Yes, it's big brother Ren"

Smiling, I picked her up from her cradle and brought her out of her room.

Still groggy from having just woken up, Nola leaned on my shoulder and stared at the ground. Smiling, I brought her to the kitchen.

Since I had to bring her to the park, I gave her a cup of milk for breakfast before dressing her up.

After styling Nola's hair into two ponytails, I brought her towards the entrance of the house.

"I'm done!"

"that's great"

Putting on her shoes, wearing a one-piece dress decorated with flower patterns, Nola took my hand and followed me out of the house.

"Alright, let's go"

"um"

-Clank!

Closing the door behind me, we soon left for the park.

...

Arriving at the Park, Nola's eyes immediately started shining with excitement.

Looking at the Park, I couldn't help but be impressed by how beautiful it was.

As the sun brightly lit the park, In the middle of it was a large lake where swans and ducks happily swam on the surface of the water.

Near the lake, a bunch of children were happily playing in the playground with their friends and parents.

Whizzing through the air, the children happily screamed as their parents pushed them from behind.

Glancing at Nola whose eyes were glued on the playground, I bitterly shook my head and headed in that direction.

The playground had many different things that children could play with. It had multiple swings, a large slide, and a castle which seemed to be the most popular attraction in the playground.

Near the playground, spread out over the vibrant green grass, sitting on large covers, families could be seen basking under the sun and happily chatting with each other.

"Wow, is that you Ren?"

"...hm?"

As I was walking towards the playground with Nola, I suddenly heard someone call my name.

Turning my head in the direction of where the sound came from I soon spotted two individuals heading in my direction.

On the left, a guy with dark hair and green eyes smiled as he looked in my direction. On his ears were a couple of earrings, and coupled with his white designer T-shirt and tight black pants, I could immediately tell that whoever he was, he came from a relatively prominent family.

"haha, it is you! How long has it been!"

Seeing me turn around and confirming that I was indeed the person he was looking for, the youth's smile deepened.

Glancing next to him, the long-haired youth pointed towards me as he nudged his friend with his elbow.

"Get a hold of this Greg, it's Ren!"

Indifferently nodding, wearing long jeans, a red sweater, and a black cap, a relatively muscular and tall individual slowly walked in my direction.

"...who?"

Staring at the two individuals making their way towards my direction, tilting my head to the side I frowned.

Who were they?

Were they perhaps the old Ren's friends?

Judging from how friendly they being, I assumed they were...but why did my heart feel a slight sense of repulsion and disgust?

Just as I was pondering over the feeling I was having in my heart, hooking his arm around my neck, the longed hair youth happily said

"How are ya doing!"

"I'm doin--"

Right before I could finish my sentence, exerting the strength equivalent to a <G> ranked individual, the long-haired youth whispered in my ear

"Listen carefully little shit. Didn't I tell you before to never appear in this area again!"

Taken aback by his sudden change in attitude, I was left speechless for a second

"...What?"

"Don't tell me you forgot?"

Staring at my reaction and misunderstanding it for something else, the long-haired youth strengthened his grip on my neck before saying.

"...well, it looks like we might have to teach you a lesson"

Looking at Nola who was holding my hand, I let out a long breath before saying

"Fuuuu...wait, not here."

Raising his brow, the long-haired youth smirked and mockingly said

"What makes you think you can decide what we do?"

Glaring at him, I looked at Nola and reminded them that I wasn't alone.

"Can't you see I'm with my little sister?

Noticing my sister, clicking his tongue, the long-haired youth removed his hand from my neck before smirking

"I see...you don't want to look bad in front of your sister right? We sure hope nothing happens to her hahaha"

Ignoring his last words, bending down towards Nola, I looked at her in the eyes before saying

"Nola, can you do me a favor?"

Curiously looking at the two people that had come, Nola looked back at me and nodded her head

"Um"

Seeing her nod her little head, I smiled and took out my phone. Pointing towards a nearby bench I said

"Here, take my phone and go sit on that bench over there"

Looking at the phone, Nola shook her head

"Nana wants to be with big bwader"

"How about this, after I come back I will buy you whatever ice cream or candy you want!"

"Really?"

"Yes"

"um!"

Nodding her head enthusiastically, Nola ran to the bench I previously pointed at and sat down.

Seeing how enthusiastic and obedient she became as soon as I bribed her, I couldn't help but bitterly smile.

Kids were sure easy...

"Alright let's go..."

After making sure Nola was fine, I looked at my two 'friends' and smiled.

"hehehe, it's been a while since we haven't seen each other. Don't worry for the sake of your sister we will make this short"

Once again hooking his arm around my neck, the black-haired youth nudged his friend, Greg, to follow him.

Walking towards a more secluded area of the park, whilst still making sure that Nola was in my sights, the smile on my face slowly faded away.

...it's been a while since I had been this pissed.

To think I was now being picked on by a bunch of extras that didn't even appear in the story.

It was understandable if it was the lock, but this wasn't. I didn't need to hide my strength here. Especially if it was against some extras that never appeared in the story.

...in fact. I was tired of remaining passive.

If this was the lock, things may have been different...but now.

-Vuam!

"khh...what?"

"..how?"

Right after making sure no one was looking, releasing my <F> ranked pressure, both individuals felt a massive pressure envelop them.

-Bam! -Bam!

"kuuhh..."

"kukhaah!"

Heavily punching them both in the stomach, kneeling down, a green acidic substance escaped from both of their mouths as their faces became white as paper.

The only reason they even made it this far was because I let them. Judging from how they knew me, this was a good chance for me to find more about what the old Ren's life used to be like.

However, since they pissed me off, it was about time I let them know their place.

Cracking my neck, I bent down and looked at them in the eyes.

"Let's make this quick...."

Chapter 78: Galxicus [1]

"I'm done Nola, come here"

Smiling, I waved at Nola in the distance and urged her to come to me.

"Um"

Nodding her little head, putting the phone away, Nola ran in my direction.

"Up"

Lifting her into my arms, I smiled and pointed towards the playground in the distance.

"Let's go play"

"Yes!"

Walking towards the playground, although I was smiling, that was merely a facade I put on since Nola was with me.

My mind was in a current state of turmoil.

After 'politely' conversing with the two individuals, I found out a few things.

First off, the long-haired guy's name was Simon Perk and his father was a relatively influential person inside of a bronze-graded guild. The guy next to him was called Greg Topaz and he was his childhood friend as well as bodyguard.

...The reason why they knew me was because the old Ren and they, used to attend the same middle school.

Fermin middle school.

One of the top middle schools in the northern district.

However, from what I've uncovered from my 'talk', the previous Ren Dover was a social outcast.

It wasn't like this before, but after a series of events, he became an outcast. This probably happened right after he got accepted in the lock.

Although I wasn't able to get a clear picture of what had happened since they weren't part of Ren's class, I was able to deduce that an important event had happened in Fermin middle school.

Which was enough of a start for me...I at least had a direction to focus on now.

"Bwader?"

As I was busy pondering over the old Ren's matters, feeling a light tug on my pants, I saw Nola's droopy eyes staring at my shoes.

"Are you tired already?"

"um"

Nodding her head, Nola extended her hands in my direction.

11:20 A.M.

"...it should be time anyways"

Checking the time, I picked Nola from the ground and left the park. It was about time I headed to the guild.

I wonder what's it like being in a guild.

...

"It should be this one"

Arriving in front of a large skyscraper that was about 200 meters in height, and had about 80 floors, I brought Nola inside of the building with me.

From what I had been told by my parents, the whole building was used as the base for their guild Galxicus.

Although they didn't own the building, they managed to rent it out for a reasonable monthly price.

Arriving in front of the elevators at the entrance of the building, I pressed the button and called for one. As I waited for the elevator to arrive, I took a quick glance at my surroundings.

Surrounded by glass, the interior of the bottom floor was brightly lit by the sun in the sky. White marble floor covered the entire pavement, and people moving to and fro inside of the building was a constant sight.

It looked extremely busy.

-Ding!

Entering the elevator and pressing on the 25th-floor button, the elevator doors closed and a slight pushing sensation appeared beneath my feet.

-Ding!

In a matter of seconds, the elevator reached the 25th floor, and the doors slid sideways.

-Clank

"Wow..."

As soon as the elevator doors opened a whole different world appeared before my eyes.

The twenty-fifth floor looked like a luxurious office space

The floor was extremely large, with a space that could accumulate over hundreds of people at a time.

The area I was currently in was the main reception area of the guild. The higher floors were office spaces for administrative management, and the lower floors were for heroes as they provided training facilities and other things heroes required like a potion station and supply replenishment areas.

The ground was covered in a red carpet, and large TV screens were installed in the corner of the space with constant updates on the news and which dungeons were available for raids.

People wearing combat suits followed by people wearing formal ones appeared everywhere. Most likely, they were the members of the guild being followed by their managers.

Looking at the scenery before me, I couldn't help but be amazed.

'So this was my parent's guild, Galxicus...'

"Ren!"

Snapping out me out of my revere, was the cheerful sound of my mom's voice.

"Ren you're just in t-"

However, freezing mid-sentence, my mother's eyes landed on Nola who was standing next to me. The more she looked the grimmer her face became.

"Ren"

Glancing back at me, her eyes became cold, and her previous cheerful demenour disappeared.

Taken aback by her sudden shift in attitude, I didn't know what to do as cold sweat suddenly appeared on my back.

Eh? what happened? and why does it look as if a demon had suddenly appeared behind my mother?

Something wasn't right...

"What's wrong?"

"...are you telling me that you can't tell what you've done wrong?"

What I did wrong?

Frowning, I recalled everything that had happened today. Apart from taking Nola to the park and beating a couple of kids, I don't think there was anything to warrant her reaction.

Why was she so angry?

Sigh

Seeing how clueless I was, pointing towards Nola, her tone raised a few pitches

"Just look at the state Nola is in!"

"Nola?"

Glancing at Nola in confusion, I didn't see anything wrong with her. Apart from the fact that both her pockets were filled with candy and she was holding an ice cream cone in each hand, I didn't see anything strange.

"Oh my god. What kind of son did I raise?"

Helplessly shaking her head, my mom went to Nola and apart from one Ice cream, she immediately took everything from her.

Nola did try to protest, but under our mother's seriousness, she could only turn her head in my direction to which I could only avoid and pretend to feign ignorance.

...I'm sorry.

After putting away all of the candy, Samantha, my mother, took Nola by her hand and urged me to follow her.

"Alright, forget it. Follow me up to meet your dad"

"Ok"

Just as I was about to follow my mother up, the whole floor became quiet before suddenly everyone started panicking.

"H-He's here. Everyone get ready!"

Stopping whatever they were doing, crowding towards the elevator, a bunch of guild members bowed down.

-Clank!

As the elevator doors opened, exiting them was the Vice-guild leader of the Galxicus guild. Martin Lorewik.

His shoulder-length hair was curved up slightly, and he had a well-trimmed black beard that nicely fitted around his jaw. The solemnity given off by his extraordinary appearance was similar to that of my father as every step he would take caused all the guild members near him to shake in their boots.

"…Huu."

Looking around the room with his snake-like eyes, the Vice-guild master of the Galxicus guild, Martin Lorewik, murmured quietly.

"This guild is going to the shitters…"

His voice, which was deep, was loud enough for most people around him to hear. With a moderate arrogance and a lethargic attitude, Martin Lorewik pushed back the people flocking in his direction.

Staring at him in the distance, my eyes narrowed into slits as I closely scrutinized him.

...According to the reports that smallsnake sent me, he was the man leading the inner conflicts within the guild. He was a <D> ranked Hero, just slightly weaker than my father, and was selected by the guild investors to become the Vice-director of the guild. With the aid of the board of directors, he managed to convince them into overthrowing the current guild leader. My father.

"...hm?"

As I closely scrutinized Martin, another wave of murmurs engulfed the entire floor as a youth walked out from behind him.

The youth was wearing a white-colored, long-sleeved loosely fit T-shirt with a strange insignia sewn on the back of it. His black obsidian eyes which were brighter than ordinary people's had hints of wisdom hidden deep within them.

The youth's face was quite handsome and outstanding with his skin being smooth without any imperfections. His long black-colored hair dangled to his shoulders, and his demenour carried hints of arrogance and pride.

As he followed Martin from behind, with his back straight he would look down on everyone present in the room. Almost as if he owned the place.

As Martin and the youth were walking, Martin's eyes suddenly drifted towards the other end of the hall where three individuals stood. A smirk soon emerged on his face.

"Follow me Alex"

Plowing through the crowd of people, Martin and the youth named Alex soon stopped in front of me and my mother.

Looking at my mother, Martin politely smiled and said

"It's a pleasure seeing you here Samantha"

Frowning, a trace of disgust appeared on my mother's face before it quickly disappeared as fast as it came. Smiling politely she greeted him back.

"Hello, Martin"

"It's been a long time since we've spoken to each other like...."

Soon they started conversing with each other. However, if someone wasn't paying close attention to their conversation, one wouldn't be able to notice all the hidden meanings behind each other's words.

"ahahah, my husband indeed worked very hard to build the guild from the ground up..."

"But of course, that was largely due to how much I was helping him..."

As my mom was conversing with Martin, the youth behind him walked up to me. Seizing me up, a smirk soon appeared on his face.

"Are you the talentless waste who was able to attend to the lock due to how their father stole from his own guild to pay for his son's tuition?"

The moment I saw him, I just knew...

I knew things were going to be like this.

Smiling politely I said.

"If you're talking about the D ranked talent student attending the lock, that would indeed be me"

"I just don't understand how someone like you could even manage to en-"

Just as Alex was about to finish his sentence, audible murmurs resounded the floor as the people around us started separating. Soon, with a presence that was even more domineering to that of Martin, my father arrived.

"Guild master!"

"Guild master!"

"Morning guild master"

Furrowing his brows, Martin quickly put on a big smile as he looked at Ronald.

"Ah, guild master I was just catching up with Samatha."

Nodding his head towards Martin, Ronald ignored him and looked at my mother. Seeing that everything was alright, he glanced in my direction.

"This Ren?"

Noticing my dad looking at me, Martin's eyes shined for a split second before he immediately arrived beside me and patted me on the shoulder.

"Hahah, how long has it been since I saw you? By the way have you m-oh, it seems like they've already met. Let me introduce him to you..."

Pointing towards Alex that was standing in front of me, Martin's tone carried hints of pride as he spoke.

"This here is Alex Cloudburm. He is currently attending Noert academy, the best academy in the northern district and is a B ranked talent I picked up."

Whilst looking at my father, Martin's eyes paused slightly on me before emphasizing the B ranked talent part when he was introducing Alex.

Looking at Alex, who didn't shy away from my father's eyes, my dad nodded his head and said

"That's indeed very good talent you have picked up"

Smirking, Martin raised his hands in the air as the tone of his voice increased a few pitches

"Good. Just good? We are talking about a B ranked talent here Ronald"

Shaking his head in disappointment, Martin continued.

"I know your son enrolled in the lock, but with his talent...he's in a completely different world compared to Alex"

Without giving a chance for my father to speak, glancing around him, In a voice that was audible enough for everyone to hear, Martin looked at my father and said

"Since you seem to be more impressed by your son more than Alex, how about we let our two kids spar? you know, just to show our members how much the prospects we've chosen have improved"

Glancing around, I could instantly see the momentum of the conversation falling in Martin's direction.

By not giving a chance for my father to speak, Martin carried the conversation to the point where it suddenly became a duel between me and Alex.

...His goal was obvious.

If my father refused, his reputation would fall as it would make him seem like a coward. And if he accepted and I lost miserably, his reputation would also take a hit.

Moreover, knowing the previous Ren, Martin judged that his plan was foolproof hence why he acted fast.

...However, he miscalculated something.

"I don-"

After a long silence, just as my father was about to refuse Martin's provocation, tugging his clothes, I firmly looked at him in the eyes and said

"Dad accept"

"Ren do-"

Raising his hand to stop my mother from protesting, staring at me for a solid minute, my dad looked back at Martin for a couple of seconds before nodding.

"Okay, we accept"

"Hahahaha great, let's meet in the arena in half an hour time"

Laughing out loud, Martin took one last glance at us before waving and leaving with Alex.

Right after Martin left, the crowd around us dispersed leaving behind me and my family.

Turning his attention towards me, Ronald Dover, my father, solemnly asked

"Are you sure?"

Smiling, I nodded my head.

"Never been more sure...."

Chapter 79: Galxicus [2]

Descending down the elevator

I quickly headed towards where the changing rooms were located. Suddenly, just as I was about to enter the changing room, an official guild member wearing a black suit stopped me.

Frowning, pointing towards my name tag, I said in a somewhat disgruntled voice.

"I'm the one participating in the fight, can't you see?"

"Haha, it's not that. If you want to get changed you must head to another room"

Pointing to my right, the man pointed at a pathway next to the main entrance.

"Oh, thank you."

Thanking the man, I walked in the direction he pointed at and soon arrived at my assigned waiting room.

[Waiting Room 3]

Entering the changing room, I walked in and sat down on a random seat.

"Fuuu...."

Letting out a long breath, I prepared my mind for what was to come.

From what I've gathered, my opponent, Alex Cloudburm was a spear user whose rank was <F-> a rank lower than mine.

Meaning that I was stronger than him. At least stats-wise.

...Coming into this match. I decided that apart from using the [Keiki style] I would go all out. Meaning that I was about to expose my rank.

After thinking for a bit, I decided that pretending to be weak all the time wasn't something that would benefit me. At least not when I wasn't in the lock.

There was no longer a need for me to stop myself from exposing a part of my abilities. It was fine to expose some of it. Not all of it, but some of it.

...and that's exactly what I was planning.

Recalling Alex's arrogant face as he looked at me in disgust, I was sure I wasn't going to pull any punches in our fight today.

...I made up my mind to absolutely destroy and humiliate him in front of everyone present.

I needed to destroy Martin's rising momentum and give my father some breathing space. And the only way to achieve this was through thoroughly beating the crap out of Alex.

Beat him to the point where he would forever remember the humiliation.

Fortunately for him, before the match was decided, I had told my dad to block people from taking videos or photos of the match, saving him from future humiliations.

When I asked my dad for this request, he initially thought that it was because I was afraid of it spreading on the web, but my reason couldn't be any more different...I wanted to leave a bit of leeway for myself in case I would be forced to use the [Keiki style] to win.

If videos of our fight were to be exposed to the world to see, though unlikely, there was bound to be someone out there who would be able to recognize what sword art I practiced.

Chances were that once exposed, my family would definitely be put in danger.

Although I wasn't worried to the point I felt that I would need to use the [Keiki style] for my current spar, I just wanted to reduce any chances of this coming back to bite me in the future.

...

Galxicus, stadium

The guild's official arena was designed to be a more modern version of the Colosseum. The central arena was split into three squared platforms, while the stands started 10 meters above the platforms and could house more than 2000 people.

The design was extremely popular amongst the guild members as there would always be fights happening in the arena.

Large TV screens stood at the top of the stadium giving a clear picture of what was happening in the arenas for the spectators to see. Because the screens were controlled by the guild master, Ronald Dover, there was no need for him to worry about the footage being leaked.

Ten minutes before the start of a duel, the guest seats were packed full of people. Because of the earlier warning by the guild master, photos and videos were prohibited from being taken during the match.

Some assumed that it was because he didn't want videos of his son losing miserably to Alex to spread, whilst others thought it was because he didn't want people to find out about the internal struggles happening within the guild.

Either way, no one was really against the idea of not being able to take photos or videos since they weren't expecting a decent match to begin with.

"Can Ren do it?"

Watching the battle arena from above, inside of a glass cube, a few individuals sat on large red sofas.

Worriedly glancing towards the arena, Samantha Dover glanced at her husband and squeezed his hand tightly.

"I believe in him..."

Nodding his head, Ronald Dover too looked at the arena.

However, even though he didn't show outwardly, he too was extremely nervous. This fact was quickly picked up by his wife who felt the grip on her hand tighten.

Recalling his meeting with Alex thirty minutes ago, Ronald couldn't help but worry a bit.

'This is going to be a tough match for Ren...'

"Hmph"

Sitting a few rows behind Ronald, Martin arrogantly looked at the arena below him as he sipped on some wine.

Twirling the wine cup in his hands, Martin looked at Ronald before slowly saying.

"I hope your son can last long enough for this to actually be considered a match..."

"..."

Ignoring Martin's provocations, Ronald kept his eyes on the arena causing Martin to clench his teeth in anger.

'Just you wait you bastard...just you wait until Alex absolutely destroys your son in front of the whole guild. I want to see if you can ignore me then!'

"It's starting."

"…Tsk."

Seeing the lights around the stadium turn off, Martin crossed his arms and leaned against the back of the seat. From the way he was smiling, it was obvious that he was confident in Alex's chances of winning.

The informal duel between the Vice-guild master and guild master was starting...

Standing in the middle of the arena, a middle-aged man equipped with a headset and a microphone, stared at the audience with a big smile on his face.

—Ladies and gentlemen, this is going to be a duel between Vice-guild master representative, Alex Cloudburm, and the Guild-master representative as well as son, Ren Dover!

Pausing slightly, to keep the crowd in suspense, the host said

—How will Ren Dover, who was rated as a D ranked talent overcome Alex Cloudburm who was listed as a B ranked talent? Isn't the result already obvious?

Looking at the crowd, the host put on a confused expression as he said the last bit. However, his expression soon changed as he spoke with more enthusiasm

—However, don't lose me just yet crowd. Did you know that Ren Dover over here is also a student at the lock? Yes, the most prestigious academy that there is?

With all the information he had, the host tried his best to hype up the match as much as he could. And this was evidently achieved as the cheers around the stadium intensified.

Soon, a translucent blue barrier covered the whole arena. The blue film which was created out of mana was made to prevent the shockwaves from the fights to leak out. This way, if things got out of handy, the spectators wouldn't be affected.

"Oh, I see big brwader!"

Pointing towards the arena, Nola couldn't help but shout as soon as she saw Ren's figure slowly walking into the arena.

"Come Nola, cheer for your brother"

Nervously staring at Ren who walking out from the right passageway, Samantha Dover held Nola tightly in her arms and nervously bit her lips

'Please be safe...'

...

"Are you ready?"

"…Yes."

Led by the staff, I walked up to the main arena stage.

As soon as my foot stepped into the arena, the rumbustious cheers coming from the crowd instantly drowned out any other sound.

-Waaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Just as I was about to get adjusted to the cheers, an even more boisterous round of cheers engulfed the entire arena almost turning me deaf.

Entering the arena after me, Alex waved at the crowd as he posed with his spear in his hand. His every pose and action would arouse more cheers and claps from the crowd.

Ignoring him, I decided to look around me

First, I took a good look around the arena. A translucent mana barrier surrounded the arena with thousands of spectators looking down. On a small podium next to the arena, a referee looked at his watch as he waited for me and Alex to get into positions.

The more I took notice of my surroundings, the more I felt this indescribable pressure and excitement overwhelmed me.

It somehow filled me with energy...

While I was shaking from this strange sensation, Alex walked up from the other side. Arriving in front of his designated location, he looked at me and said

"You got lucky"

"...hm?"

"With a puny talent like yours you actually managed to enroll at the lock while I had to settle for the second-best option. How is it that someone of your caliber can enter the academy and I can't?"

...without saying a word, I looked at him straight into the eyes.

Although his words had some truth to them, right now he was merely trying to shake my mentality.

This was a common practice used when opponents faced each other in duels.

Regardless of who your opponent was, a key component in increasing your chances of winning was to get into your opponent's heads.

If you managed to enter their heads, the chances of you losing drastically reduced.

A person's mentality was one of the most important things fighters needed to take into consideration before fighting.

A person with a weak mentality would find it much harder to win compared to someone who remained rational throughout the whole fight.

—Counting down! Three!

Glancing between me and Alex a couple of times, the host started counting down.

Shing!— Shing!— Scraping his spear on the ground, Alex smirked in my direction.

—Two!

Igniting his mana, a red hue slowly started coating around Alex's body and his spear. In contrast, a white glow enveloped me.

—One!

Leaning forward, Alex's shifted his center of gravity towards his right foot that had dug deep into the ground.

Currently, the distance that separated me and Alex was about 10 meters. It was a distance Alex could close in just a few seconds.

This meant that as soon as the match started, I had three seconds to either defend or counterattack whatever he was planning on doing.

Gripping onto my sword, I trace of a smile appeared on my lips.

...fortunately, I had a plan.

I already knew what to do.

—Start!

Chapter 80: Galxicus [3]

—Start!

-Booom!

As soon as the referee announced the start of the match, like a missile, Alex shot in my direction. A shockwave resounded across the arena as his figure disappeared from where he was standing.

-Dash

Moments before Alex shot in my direction, tensing my calves I moved backward and quickly drew a circle in the air.

-Swoooosh

Just as the tip of Alex's spear was about to reach me, motioning with my fingers upwards, the ring I created moved right in front of the spear.

-Clank!

"Wh-at!?"

Caught off guard, Alex's arms which were still holding onto the spear tightly, flung in the air as the spear clashed against the ring disrupting its momentum.

His body became wide open.

Capitalizing on the opening, without skipping a beat, using the scabbard of the sword I hit him in the face and the sound of something breaking resounded across the arena.

-Kacha!

"Kuuuuaahhh!"

Taking ten steps back, Alex opened his eyes wide open as his hands held onto his nose.

-Drip! -Drip!

Soon red droplets fell onto the pavement of the arena. Taking a moment to process what had happened, Alex looked at the ground for a moment before screaming with bloodshot eyes.

"H-how dare you!"

-Vuam!

Soon, a thick pressure started emanating from his body, surrounding the whole arena.

Noticing the changes happening around me, I rubbed my chin and stared at Alex. The red hue surrounding his body had become thicker and stronger than before.

He was finally starting to take me seriously.

Licking my lips lightly, raising my hand I provocatively beckoned at him

"Come"

...

In the stands, watching the spectacle unfold before their eyes, Ronald and Samantha Dover were pleasantly surprised by their son's performance.

Although the match had only just started, from the way things were going, Ren seemed to be having the upper hand.

"Oh my god, since when did Ren become so strong?"

Covering her mouth to hide her shock, Samantha looked at her husband who although seemed to have had no significant change in expression was too shocked as his hands shook as soon as Ren hit Alex in the face.

"...He's definitely become stronger"

"Hmph, he just got lucky"

Martin, who was a few rows behind them, snorted.

However, although he said that, his face was grim. Sitting up on his chair, his eyes remained glued to the arena.

'Alex must've underestimated his opponent. There's no way such mistake would happen again'

He just couldn't believe that Alex, a talent that he had spent countless resources on to convince him to join him, was currently losing Ren. Someone evaluated as a <D> ranked talent couldn't possibly beat Alex who was evaluated at <B> rank.

It just wasn't possible!

...and true to his predictions, the fight began to lean in Alex's direction as soon as he released his full power.

From then on, Alex was on the attack, whilst Ren was on the defense.

Secretly sighing in relief, Martin leaned back on his chair and looked at Ronald.

"See...what did I tell you, he was just lucky"

...

-Clank! -Clank! -Clank!

Alex's spearmanship was truly domineering and vicious. With each swing, he would directly aim for my heart and head resulting in me having to switch focus so that I could constantly defend myself from his attacks. Using the spear's long reach, he constantly cut, smacked, and stabbed in my direction.

To the spectators, rather than a duel, this was more like Alex viciously attacking me with everything he got.

-Swooosh! -Swooosh!

Circling the rings around me, I would constantly move them towards where Alex was attacking, repeatedly blocking his every attack.

-Clank! -Clank!

Soon, the sounds of Alex's spear clashing against my rings repeatedly reverberated across the arena.

The crowd's booing followed suit.

"Do something!"

"Fight back!"

"This is so boring"

As if everything went from one ear to the other, I kept defending.

Although it looked like I was struggling, I really wasn't. Since I decided to hide my main sword art, I decided to use this time to get familiar with my second sword art. [Ring of vindication]

...and what better way than through real combat.

"Stop hiding like a rat and fight you pussy!!"

Annoyed, noticing that things were currently going nowhere, Alex screamed as he fiercely stabbed the spear in my direction.

"Just do something! Dammit!"

-Clank! -Clank!

As Alex hacked with more power and with greater speeds, I continuously matched his tempo and redirected the rings around me accordingly. Whenever I noticed that a ring was about to break, I would instantly create a new one. This endless cycle repeated a couple of times before Alex stopped attacking.

"Huu."

Taking a deep breath, Alex stopped whatever he was doing and clenched his teeth hard.

"What's wrong? Tired already?"

Seeing Alex distancing himself from me, I immediately taunted. However, this time, he ignored me.

Licking his dried lips, Alex's grip on his spear increased. He was trying his best to calm himself down and come up with an appropriate strategy.

'Calm down, calm down. Let's think things through. This bastard is like a turtle. No matter how much power I put into my attacks he always blocks them with his strange rings. Especially when he stacks them together. Once he does that, breaking his defenses becomes impossible! Dammit, what should I do?"

Glancing around the arena for anything that could help him, he soon took a look at the ground and finally noticed something.

Holes with the imprints of his soles appeared all over the floor of the arena.

'Are my attack patterns too predictable?'

Taking a better look at the surroundings, Alex noticed that whenever he attacked he would leave imprints of his foot on the ground.

...and the one thing he managed to notice as he looked at the arena was that he had only been attacking from the front. His footprints would only be left whenever he propelled his body forward in a straight line.

He had done so to maximize his speed, but he now realized that because of that his attacks had become predictable.

With him just charging from the front, his attack range became much more narrow, making it easier for the opponent to defend against.

This was a serious flaw.

What if he suddenly switched attack patterns and made them harder to predict?

As his thoughts reached that far, gripping onto his spear, Alex once again dashed in my direction.

This time, his movements were quite complex. Like a crab, he zigzagged as he steadily charged forward. His movements weren't as predictable, as it had no set pattern. A stark contrast to before when he would directly lunge in my direction.

It was obvious that he knew that just brute-forcing his way through wasn't going to give him the win.

Although I was surprised by his sudden actions, it was all futile on his end. It didn't matter if he made it hard for me to predict his movements.

...I didn't need to predict in the first place.

-Swooosh! -Swooosh! -Swoooosh!

Gesturing with my hands, the rings revolving around me moved and surrounded Alex, restricting his movements.

"Ah! Fuck!"

With the rings around him, Alex could only helplessly stop trying to move in a zig-zag pattern, and charge at me directly.

"Dammit fight me already!!"

'...It's time to release the bait'

Noticing Alex becoming increasingly frustrated by my fighting style, I knew it was time to end the match.

-Swooosh -Swooosh -Swooosh

In one swift and fast movement, jumbling up the rings together, with two rings at the bottom and one at the top, I formed a triangle.

With a movement of my hand, the triangle started rotating in front of me creating a large defensive shield.

However, if one looked closely, although the shield looked huge and impenetrable, the was a small gap in the middle of it. Small enough for a human to fit in.

That was on purpose.

The reason I rotated the ring wasn't so that it would create a visual image of a pure shield, no, it was done so that Alex would assume I was covering up the small flaw.

-Halt

...and just like I predicted, halting his steps, Alex stared at the large ring before him. Noticing something, his previous grim expression disappeared and a smirk appeared on his face.

"Hee, it looks like god has not given up on me!"

Tensing his calves, Alex propelled his body forward.

-Boooom!

Creating two small craters on the ground beneath his feet, the sound of an explosion resounded throughout the arena as Alex disappeared from where he was standing.

In an instant, he appeared before the shield. Whilst in the air, stabbing his spear forward, Alex leaned his body forward and smoothly dived into the ring, appearing right before me.

Smiling manically, he shouted

"Die!"

Watching the tip of the spears nearing my face, I grinned.

'So predictable'

Sidestepping, narrowingly avoiding the spear as it grazed my shoulder, I briefly made eye contact with Alex.

Smiling, coating my fist with mana, I threw an uppercut towards Alex who was still in the air.

-Baaaam!

"Kuuuuuaaaaah!!"

Although he tried to avoid my fist, in the end, because he was moving too fast, it still connected. As my fist hit his stomach, a large shockwave swept the arena and Alex's eyes became dyed in white for a split second.

-Thud!

Dropping on the ground hard, holding onto his stomach, green liquid escaped from Alex's mouth as he constantly gagged.

-Barf! -Barf!

"khhh"

Arriving in front of Alex, stepping on his face, I looked down on him and smirked. Slowly the white glow around me intensified.

-Vuam!

Soon my <F> ranked pressured enveloped the whole arena causing Alex who was on the ground to open his eyes wide.

"H-how!? y-ou!"

Smiling at him, I nodded my head

"Yea, I never considered you an opponent to begin with..."

-Kacha

Stomping onto his face once, Alex passed out on the ground.

"Fuuuu..."

Taking a deep breath, I looked towards my surroundings.

Silence

Everything around me was silent.

Be it the referee, the audience, Martin, or my parents. No one spoke.

Only silence prevailed in the arena.

Not paying my mind to it. I once again looked down on Alex.

"I guess you really were right about us being in completely different worlds..."

Chapter 81: Galxicus [4]

I am not outstanding

If we exclude the fact that I practiced a five-star manual, nothing about me was outstanding.

Not my stats

Not my physique

Not my skills

Compared to Kevin who had a system aiding him all the times, or the other main characters who had every resource they could ask for, I had nothing.

...I wasn't blessed by the 'plot armour' like the protagonists were

Everything I got was through shedding blood sweat and tears. I gained everything that I got by either putting my life on the line to get it or by sacrificing something important.

I had to make due with what I had.

When facing an opponent like Alex who had a lot more combat experience than I had, and moreover set a handicap to myself, I had to fight using everything that I had available at my disposal.

Thus I chose to fight a mental battle.

Since I knew that despite being weaker than me, Alex had more experience than me, I chose to beat him mentally.

Everything started with our first clash. Right when I broke his nose using the scabbard of my sword.

That's when the mental beatdown started...

By winning the very first clash, I had already started setting the tone of the battle.

The confidence he had since the beginning of the fight had now diminished, and what replaced it was both shock and anger.

It was always pride.

Having read many novels with arrogant young masters, I knew that for prideful individuals like him, just a small loss was enough to influence their actions.

...and I was right.

From that point on his attacks started becoming more predictable and his emotions started to influence his decisions.

I than preceded to block his every attack.

With every thrust or stab of his spear, one of my rings would continuously block his every attack.

The more he attacked the more he realised he couldn't do anything. He was helpless...

Once again, his confidence took another hit and self doubt started to set into his mind.

Frustration, annoyance, rage, impatience

As those emotions started to set into his mind, with every minute the fight continued, he became sloppier.

His weak mentality led to his loss.

The opening I created with my rings could've easily been spotted if he had thought about it carefully.

With him being someone who had fought many battles before, he should've easily spotted it.

However, because of how unstable his mental state was, he ignored that scenario and went for the win.

He fell for such an obvious trap and I capitalised on it.

Staring at Alex who was on the ground passed out, beneath my feet, a strange feeling surged from within me.

'So this is how it feels to win, huh?'

I wasn't outstanding

I didn't need to be outstanding.

I didn't need the plot armour to constantly follow me.

I didn't need to take all the cheat items for myself.

...All I needed to do was polish what I had, and make due with it.

-Uaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Engulfing the entire arena, boisterous cheers from the crowd resounded throughout the whole stadium.

"Fuuuuuu..."

Taking a deep breath, I basked in the moment.

'I don't dislike this feeling'

Entering the stage, the host looked at Alex who was passed out on the floor for a couple of seconds before looking at the crowd and announcing.

—...and the winner of the duel is Ren Dover!

-Uaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Once again, cheers resounded across the stadium as everyone started chanting my name

"Ren"

"Ren"

"Ren"

Under the barrage of cheers, I looked in the distance and saw my parents cheering with the crowd. Even my father, who was usually stoic, was cheering alongside everyone.

—Despite all odds, after having fought for 5:46 minutes, Ren Dover managed to defeat Alex Cloudburm. A renowned <B> ranked prospect brought by our very own Vice-guild master!

As the cameras pointed towards the stands and Martin's face was shown on the big screens of the arena, everyone saw Martin expresionesly staring at the arena. No one knew his thoughts.

He looked completely indifferent to everything. Almost as if what had happened had nothing to do with him.

Pointing the cameras back to me, the host continued

—Using some unknown technique, Ren created an impenetrable defence that created massive headaches for his opponent Alex. And through...

As the host continued speaking and replayed highlights of the match on the big screens, I left the arena and headed back towards the changing room.

Just as I set foot outside of the arena, my mother appeared on the pathway to the changing room

"Ren!"

Running in my direction, my mother lunged in my direction and hugged me tightly. Because she was running so fast, the moment she hugged me, it felt as if all the air had been knocked out of me and I took two steps back.

"okhhh..."

"Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"

Releasing me from her hug, my mother patted my body all over to check for any injuries.

To be honest, her hug hurt more than whatever Alex did throughout the whole fight.

"I'm fine"

Bitterly smiling, I flexed my arms and reassured her I was fine.

"That's good..."

Sighing in relief, my mother looked at me curiously before asking

"Ren, when did you get so strong?"

Listening to her question, my mouth twitched.

I couldn't just tell her that this world was based on a novel I created and that I took advantage of my knowledge as the author to take a couple of cheat items.

Fortunately, I had already come up with a good excuse beforehand.

"Mom did you forget what kind of place I attend?"

Frowning, my mother fell into deep through.

"I know that the Lock is the best academy in the human domain, but you suddenly went from G rank to F rank in less than 3 months! That's not something that can be achieved in such little time!"

What she said makes sense.

It usually took people half to a whole year to increase a rank. Me suddenly jumping a rank in as little as three months seems unnatural.

"Where's Nola?"

In the end, I could only pretend to be ignorant about her question and shift the topic towards a different topic.

"She's with you father in the stands"

Noticing the fact that I was avoiding the question, my mother played along with it. To which I was grateful.

Maybe one day I'll come clean and explain to her about what I went through to get as strong as I was now. But it still wasn't the time yet. Especially with everything that was going on with the guild.

I wouldn't want them to start worrying.

Maybe one day...

...

Ashton city, Northern district, 5:00 P.M.

Inside of a luxurious room, two individuals sat facing each other. Sitting on one of the sofas, Martin with his head held down, recounted the events of today.

"...and that's what happened"

After he finished speaking, Martin shut up. He didn't dare utter another word. This wasn't out of choice. it was out of the innate fear he had towards the man that was sitting before him.

"So Alex failed, huh"

Lightly smiling, an old man with light gray hair and light gray goat tee tapped on the arm rest of his chair.

-Tap! -Tap! -Tap!

With every tap of his fingers, Martin felt as if his heart was beating along with it. Cold sweat appeared on his back.

Knowing who the man before him was, he wouldn't be surprised if he was suddenly discarded and left for dead somewhere in Ashton city.

'No, I've already come this far, I can't fail here!'

Clenching his teeth, Martin lowered his head and tried to apologise.

However, before he could do that, glancing in Martin's direction, the old man's deep voice echoed across the room.

"Don't worry I'm not mad, it was something that even I didn't expect "

Sighing in relief, Martin raised his head and tried to thank the old man

"Thank you—khauuuu!"

—Spurt!

However, as soon as Martin raised his head a dagger pierced him in the right eye. Screaming in agony, Martin covered his eye with his hand as blood dripped on the ground.

"Kuuuaaah"

"Shut up"

Glaring in Martin's direction, an enormous pressure bore down on him causing him to shut up immediately.

"I've already forgiven you, if you continue screaming it won't just end at one eye..."

Wiping his hand with a white handkerchief, the old man spoke to which Martin nodded his head in understanding.

"Than-kh you for your generosity"

Satisfied, the old man sat back on his chair

"So, you're saying that the name of the kid who beat Alex was Ren?"

Hurriedly nodding his head, Martin answered

"Yes..."

"Ren Dover, Ren Dover..."

Repeating the name of the kid who beat Alex a couple of times, the old man thought for a while before turning his attention towards a middle-aged man standing at the entrance of the room.

"...Hmmm Tim, call Matthew here"

"As you wish master"

Politely nodding his head, the middle-aged man named Tim quietly left the room.

-Knock -Knock

Soon after, moments after Tim disappeared, someone knocked on the door.

"Father, did you call me?"

Slightly opening the door, a youth wearing a greyish-black suit entered the room. He appeared to be in his late teens or so. His face was handsome with a pair of unusually bright eyes that seemed to be able to see through one's heart.

The first impression that this youth gave was that he was a refined individual with a bright head on his shoulders. If this youth held a book in his hand, he would likely appear no different from a scholar.

Staring at the youth before him with keen interest, a hint of pride appeared in the old man's voice as he asked

"Yes, do you by chance know a kid around your age called Ren Dover?"

Taken aback by the question, the youth looked at the old man in confusion

"Ren Dover?"

"Yes, that's his name"

Smiling widely, Matthew nodded

"But of course, we were best friends in middle school."

Chapter 82: Caïssa [1]

Sunday, Galxicus guild 80th floor.

It was the day after the battle between me and Alex had taken place. I was currently in my father's office.

Sitting on a large grey sofa, I took a look at the office.

On the opposite side of me, my father, working on a large rosewood desk, was busy compiling a stack of paperwork.

As he compiled the paperwork on the table, his pen would drift in swift and fluent movements across the papers on his desk.

He looked incredibly efficient.

Staring at my father's desk, at eye level, a group of papers, a stack of waiter pads, a portable laptop, and multiple monitors neatly stood on top of the large desk.

On the floor, below the desk, lied a PC tower that hummed quietly. On small occasions, blue light would twinkle on top of the PC tower signaling that its power was on.

On the wall to the right, post-It notes appeared on top of a wooden board with several labels and photos marked on it.

Although the office wasn't the most organized, the number of papers on his desk just went to show how much work my father was investing every day to keep the guild afloat.

"Ren..."

As I was busy looking around, disrupting the silence, my father spoke

"Yes?"

Putting the pen in his hand down, my father's obsidian eyes stared at me.

"What do you think of our guild? Be honest"

Taken aback for a second, I leaned back on the sofa.

What did I think of the guild?

Honestly, it was bad.

From what I've seen yesterday and today, the guild wasn't united. It was split into different factions and there was an evident power struggle.

I didn't even know how they managed to keep what was happening within the guild a secret from outsiders.

I would bet Bronze or silver-graded guilds would love to capitalize on this piece of news. I mean, why wouldn't they? Although Galxicus was failing, if the guilds were looking to expand, absorbing Galxicus was the most optimal thing to do.

Especially since right now, Galxicus was only a 'guild' in name.

It was merely an empty title. It was like a shop that sold nothing. The only reason why it was still standing today was because of my parent's efforts. But that wasn't going to last long. Even they will crumble under all of that work...

As my thoughts reached thus far, I couldn't help but be reminded of the fact that my parents were still working on a Sunday. Not once did they rest.

...If things proceeded to continue like this, I wouldn't give the guild a year before it would be forced to dissolve.

Hesitating for a bit, I looked at my father's earnest expression and shared my thoughts.

"If I had to be honest...terrible"

"The guild members instead of being united are clearly split into factions and..."

As I recounted my honest thoughts, nodding his head, Ronald sighed.

"Judging from the way you are speaking, I can already guess you've already figured out how things are going within the guild."

Glancing at the piles of paper below him, a trace of sadness appeared in my father's eyes as he murmured

"...Sadly the guild is in a state of heavy decline"

Stacking the papers on his desk neatly, leaning on his chair, my father looked towards the ceiling

"My plan was to one day let you be the guild master of this guild."

"I wanted to pass this guild onto you so that in the future you would carry it to greater success...but it seems like it was all my wishful thinking"

Glancing towards the drawer of his desk, my father took out a silver key from his pocket and inserted it into the drawer.

-Clank!

Unlocking the drawer, my father slid it open.

Taking out a thick green book, my father glanced at it for a second. A hint of nostalgia appeared in his eyes.

"When I saw you fight yesterday, I observed that despite having a great defense, you lacked something important. At first, I thought it was an attacking art, but after I put more thought into it, I figured that this book would be more beneficial to you..."

Taking one last glance at the book, my father handed it to me.

"Here"

Shocked, I looked at my father. Tough he looked stoic and indifferent, his eyes carried warmth within them. Whatever he was giving me, it was definitely precious to him, and now he was giving it to me.

"...Thank you"

Nodding solemnly, I took the green book.

I will never forget his favor...

[★★★ Drifting steps]

Movement art that progresses with each step. With every step taken, user speed will increase. Unless user stops, speed will continuously increase until the user either runs out of mana or due to injury.

"Tssss..."

This was precisely what I needed. A movement art. Was this a coincidence?

Glancing at my father, he had an all-knowing look. As though knew from the very beginning that I needed this.

...I guess he wasn't a guild master for nothing.

After having only watched me fight once, he could already detect what I was missing. With this movement art, my strength would see another boost.

Especially since I was already near breaking through to F+ rank...I could feel that I was only a few days away.

As I was busy admiring the book, pointing at the book, my father said

"That movement art is one of the guild's top arts, and I'm technically not supposed to be giving it to you..."

"Reason being that it's against the rules as I would normally need to acquire the permission of the board before being allowed to even show you this, but..."

Pausing, turning around, my father looked at the window of the office. Towards the busy streets of Ashton city. In a firm voice, he said.

"...but looking at the state of the guild, I don't see the need for me to be reserved"

With his back still facing me, my father, Ronald Dover resolutely looked at the people coming in and out of the building.

After a short pause, he turned around and in a solemn voice he said

"I want to set up a different branch for our guild"

"A branch?"

Taken aback, I tilted my head in confusion.

If the guild was failing, why set up a branch? That just didn't make sense.

"...yes, and you're going to lead it"

"What!?"

Shocked, I looked at my father with wide eyes.

What kind of joke was this? I was still in my first year in the Lock. How could I possibly have enough time to run a branch?

Asking me to operate a branch would mean that I wouldn't even have time to attend my lectures, let alone classes.

Watching the streets below him, Ronald Dover smiled.

"...Ren, in this world, you're either a pawn or a king."

"You can either be someone who continuously follows other's will or be someone who dictates their own will. Although setting up a branch of a failing guild seems like a stupid idea, in reality, my goal isn't actually to set up a branch"

Noticing a subtle hint within his words, a sudden thought occurred to me as I looked at my father in shock

"...you don't mean"

"Yes...I want you to set up a mercenary group"

A mercenary group.

A group composed of talented unaffiliated individuals who do tasks for money. Be it killing certain monsters, villains, or corrupt individuals. They were the ones you would call.

Mercenary groups were just as popular as guilds, with some being just as influential as some of the top guilds in the human domain.

...and my father was asking me to set up a mercenary corp.

Placing my hand on my chin, I thought about it.

"If it's a mercenary group..."

It was possible.

Although hard, it was possible.

Setting a mercenary group wasn't easy.

There were two requirements to set up a mercenary corp.

—Have at least one individual with a Hero certification or

—Get a recommendation from a graded guild.

Though I couldn't get a Hero certification as I had not yet graduated from the academy, with the recommendation of my father, setting up a mercenary corp wasn't a pipe dream.

Creating my own organization...

The idea did sound tempting.

...Creating an organization filled with people that I could control.

The more I thought about it, the more I started realizing that this was what I actually needed.

After realizing that things did not always go according to plans, rather than remaining passive, why not set up my own organization?

An organization that operated in the shadows as my henchmen. If Kevin and the rests were the light, why not be the shadow?

Licking my dry lips, I crossed my legs and thought

'If I was going to do it, I may as well go big.'

With my knowledge of the future, I knew certain people who didn't have much time in the novel but were in fact extremely talented in their own right.

With my very own organization backing me, I wouldn't need to worry about problems that kept haunting me since the very first day I reincarnated.

...yes, why didn't I think about this before?

Firming my mind and looking at my father I said

"Alright I'll do it"

Nodding his head, and seeing my resolute eyes, a smile appeared on Ronald Dover's face.

"Good choice"

...

Leaving my father's office, I already started thinking of all the talented people whom I could poach into joining future mercenary corp.

I already had a couple of people in mind...

Just as I was about to make a list of the people I wanted to join my mercenary group, at that moment, my phone vibrated.

Turning on the phone, I checked who was calling me. Soon a smile appeared on my lips.

'Just the person I was looking for...'

[Smallsnake] appeared on the caller ID.

—Hello?

As soon as I picked up the phone, Smallsnake's face popped up on a hologram screen.

"Yo, it's been a while. What's up?"

—…Where are you? I can hear a lot of people around you.

"Me? I'm at my parent's guild."

I raised my phone and showed him the nearby scenery

"Been sorting out the family stuff at the guild"

—Really?

"Yup, anyways, I need to talk to you about something"

—Go ahead.

"Not on the phone, meet me near my guild in the northern district."

—...That's kind of far.

"Trust me, you won't regret what I am going to say to you"

Seeing me smile mysteriously, Smallsnake's expression turned skeptical. In the end, he nodded.

—...Alright.

"Perfect, alright, see you in a bit"

Smiling triumphantly, I hung up the phone.

—This better be w-

-Tak!

Turning off the phone, a trace of a smile appeared on my face. Putting on my coat, I went towards a nearby cafe' and sent Smallsnake my location.

I wonder how big my organization will become...

Chapter 83: Caïssa [2]

"Thank you for coming"

Taking a sip of my latte, I glanced towards Smallsnake who was sitting on the opposite seat to mine.

With his arms and legs crossed, Smallsnake looked at me in annoyance.

"...This better be worth it. It took me thirty minutes to get here. I am a busy man..."

Pttfff

Covering my mouth, I almost laughed out loud.

"Stop deluding yourself. Apart from me, there's no one else you currently manage"

"eh...ah"

Speechless, Smallsnake's demenour crumbled as he couldn't find any words to use to refute what I said.

It was true

In the latter half of the novel, when smallsnake meets Kevin, he was still unemployed. This meant that apart from me, there was no one else he managed.

Although he wasn't lying about taking thirty minutes to arrive here, he wasn't busy at all. He was merely pretending to look busy.

With a vein popping from his forehead, Smallsnake's extended his hand in my direction.

"...get to the point"

Nodding my head, I suddenly turned serious. Locking my fingers together I rested my chin on them.

Staring right into Smallsnake's green eyes, I solemnly said

"I want to create a mercenary group"

"...Congrats"

"Thanks, and you're going to be in it"

Nodding his head repeatedly, a smile appeared on Smallsnake's face. It was the smile of someone that had transcended humanity.

"...so let me get this straight. You made me come all the way here to join your mercenary group that still hasn't been founded nor has any members?"

Yeah.

As expected of someone as smart as smallsnake. He instantly understood what I said.

"Who said I'm the only member?"

"There are others?"

"No, not yet"

Smallsnake stared at me with a dumbstruck expression. I scratched the back of my head and took a sip of my latte and murmured

"...they will eventually join"

Haaa…. Speechless, Smallsnake's sigh lengthened as he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

It's always like this with him.

Always making proposals that didn't make sense and yet still looking so confident. Almost certain that whatever he was planning was going to succeed.

Smallsnake just didn't understand.

Where did that confidence come from?

"Sigh, I'm sorry but I'll have to refuse"

...In the end, even though he was slightly tempted, Smallsnake refused.

More than him not wanting to join. It was more like he couldn't join...

In the first place. If it wasn't for his current situation, he would've never worked in the black market in the first place.

I mean, why would someone as talented as him work as a low-leveled broker in the black market? it just didn't add up.

"Do you have anything else to say?"

Not bothered by Smallsnake's refusal, I exaggeratedly sighed and murmured in a tone that Smallsnake could hear.

"Sigh, and here I was doing this for your own good"

Shaking his head, finishing his drink, Smallsnake prepared to leave

"I guess you really just called me to waste time..."

Leaning on my seat, and staring at Smallsnake that was preparing to leave, in a voice that only we could hear, I said

"I know you're being hunted by the Monolith"

"What!"

-Plack!

Standing up abruptly, the chair behind smallsnake fell. Pointing at me, his voice shook

"H-how did you know!"

"Shhh..."

Putting my finger on my mouth, I motioned for Smallsnake to calm down and sit down.

"First, calm down. Look around you, everyone is looking"

Glancing towards his surroundings, Smallsnake noticed everyone staring at him.

"Ah, sorry"

Apologizing, Smallsnake took a deep breath to calm his mind down. He then proceeded to rub his forehead.

"Alright, I'm better..."

After a short pause, whilst still standing up, a small frown emerged on his brows. Looking at me, he said

"How did you know?"

Taking a look at the half-filled latte' in my hand, I twirled the cup.

"How did I know? Well, let's just say that you're not the only person that can dig into someone else's past."

Well, more or less.

As long as I wrote about them, I knew their backstory.

"...Anyhow, if you join me, I can help you with regards to the Monolith situation"

Frowning, after a short pause, Smallsnake couldn't help but once again ask to get confirmation.

"When you mentioned the Monolith, Y-you mean the same Monolith I'm thinking about?"

Smiling mysteriously, I nodded.

"Yup, that Monolith. The same Monolith that you're thinking of and the Union equivalent for villains..."

"tsssss..."

Sitting back down, Smallsnake's face became grim

His reaction was understandable.

The reason why Smallsnake was working in the black market was precisely because of the Monolith.

...A hidden organization that houses the strongest and most powerful villains in the human domain.

Also known as the Anti-Union.

After having been caught trying to infiltrate the ranks of the Monolith, a massive manhunt for Smallsneak's head began.

Because of how powerful the Monolith was, Smallsnake could only helplessly lay low inside of the black market. The only organization that could barely protect him.

If it weren't for the fact that Smallsnake had connections with some of the higher-ups of the black market, he would've long been caught by the Monolith.

With their aid, he managed to secure himself a job at a brokerage firm where he could lay low.

"...if you choose to trust me like before, I promise you won't regret it."

Hesitating for a bit, Smallsnake looked at me before saying

"H-how did you find out about my circumstances and the Monolith?"

Leaning back on my chair, I smiled

"oh, trust me. There's no one that knows more about the Monolith than I do"

...well I was the author of this world after all.

Because of how important they become in the second volume of the novel, I had an in-depth understanding of the Monolith.

Who their members compromised of, where their secret hideout was located, and what plans they were brewing.

I knew everything...

and of course, I also knew about Smallsnake's circumstances. He was after all an important character that appeared in the latter half of the novel...

Staying silent for a couple of seconds, Smallsnake deeply looked at me.

Though I couldn't read his thoughts, I knew that he was currently calculating his options.

He could either trust me or carry on with whatever he was doing in the black market.

...in the end, his decision came down to how much he trusted me.

"uuu..."

After a couple of more seconds. Taking a long and exhausted sigh, Smallsnake extended his hand in my direction.

"I don't even know why I'm doing this, but...alright, if you keep good on your promise I will join you"

"Haha, I knew you would make the right choice.

Extending my hand forward, we both shook hands. The first member of my mercenary group had officially joined...

After we shook hands, Smallsnake's mood brightened up a bit. Thinking for a bit, looking at me, he asked

"What will the name of the group be?"

Without hesitation I responded.

"Caïssa"

"Caïssa?"

"Yeah, named after the goddess of chess"

Frowning, Smallsnake placed his hand under his chin as he couldn't help but be confused.

"The goddess of chess? Why chess?"

Smiling, I turned on the holographic function of my phone. Soon a chessboard was projected before us.

Pointing towards the chessboard, I said

"The mercenary group will consist of eight main seats. Each according to the main chess pieces on this board"

Pausing to make sure Smallsnake was following, I continued.

"There will be one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, and two knights. Any other member will be a pawn. Depending on ability, I will assign them a seat acc-"

Nodding his head, Smallsnake cut me in the middle of my sentence

"Let me guess, you're the king, right? If so, who are the other members you're thinking of recruiting, and who's going to be the queen?"

Glancing at smallsnake for a brief moment, I seriously nodded my head.

"I understand. If you're that adamant about becoming the queen I don't mind"

Nodding his head, Smallsnake kept his cool. Sarcasm and teasing barely bothered him now, probably because he suffered way too much shame and humiliation. Letting go of his pride was hard at first but after realizing that there was no way for him to retaliate he could only ignore it.

Especially since he was now his boss.

"No, I'm good"

"Tsk, how boring"

Clicking my tongue, I continued

"You are my first member, and after a bit of thinking I decided that you will be a bishop"

Frowning slightly, he couldn't help but ask

"Why a bishop?"

Smiling, I didn't elaborate.

Didn't want him to realize what his role was going to be before it was too late.

"Because I said so..."

It wasn't really related to chess but typically bishops were people who were generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight.

...precisely the role that Smallsnake will play in our group.

Though he was not strong. He had connections and a bright head on his shoulders. With his talents, the mercenary group will be able to expand accordingly without any issues with regards to finding the right connections for supplies, potions, and other things that generally gave headaches to guilds and other mercenary groups.

If I had to put this bluntly. He was the group babysitter...

...

After explaining a few more things to Smallsnake, glancing at my watch, I checked the time.

-Plack!

Finishing my drink, I stood up

"Alright, I guess that's that for now"

I had a lot to do.

Setting a mercenary group wasn't easy. There were a lot of things I had to get done by the end of the day. Such as...

—Come up with a list of people who I wanted to recruit to my group

—Find an appropriate location for the group.

—Register the group name.

Only after I completed all of those tasks would I finally be able to actually start recruiting members.

Fortunately, I already had an idea of who to recruit, meaning that right now the main priority was finding an appropriate location and officially registering the name of the group so that we could finally be considered a proper mercenary group.

Standing up, I bid farewell to Smallsnake and headed towards the exit of the cafe. Just right before I separated from Smallsnake, I said

"Meet me tomorrow, and I'll give you a list of people I want to recruit"

"okay..."

Nodding his head, Smallsnake watched my figure leave the cafe. As he did, he couldn't help but think

'Hopefully, I made the right decision....'

Chapter 84: Caïssa [3]

===

Mercenary corp name : Caïssa

Grade : [▼I] [II] [III] [IV] [V]

Members : 1

Founder : Ren Dover

===

I stood under the blazing sun and the blue sky, enjoying the clear and warm Ashton city weather.

Exiting an enormous building, I glanced at an azure-colored card in my hand.

The card was made out of metal, and on its back was a large roman [I] engraved on it. This signified the rank of the mercenary group.

Since this world likes to rank everything, mercenary corps too were ranked. They went from one to five, with five being the best.

Anyhow, ranks aside, because Smallsnake had still not officially joined the guild yet, the members count on the card was one. Me.

When he joins the card will change accordingly.

One of the things that I was a bit hesitant about when creating the corp was whether I should use an alias or my name for the founder section of the card.

Ideally, my goal was to make this one of the strongest mercenary groups in the human domain.

I wasn't sure if making my name known would be ideal or not, but...

...In the end, I decided to use my name.

There was no reason for me to hide my identity. After all, I did create this as an affiliate with Galxicus. Even if I tried to hide it, people would easily be able to deduce who I was.

"Alright, now that I successfully established the mercenary corp, it is time for the next task"

Putting the card back into my pocket, I checked my watch.

6:45 P.M.

Seeing the time, I moved towards my next location.

I had made an appointment to meet with someone for a possible place that I could use for the headquarters for Caïssa

I had checked many places through my phone, but I thought that the one I was currently heading to, fit my ideal for the headquarters the best.

...

"Welcome"

Arriving inside of a large warehouse, a fat middle-aged man wearing a wrinkled black suit came to greet me. Taking out a white handkerchief from his pocket, he wiped the sweat that had accumulated on his forehead.

"...so?"

Staring at me with anticipation, the fat middle-aged man fiddled with his hands. It was evident from his demenour that he wanted to get rid of the place at all cost.

Glancing at the space, I nodded.

The warehouse, although empty, was extremely large. It was located quite a distance away from the main city, and apart from a couple of roads and greenery there really wasn't anything around it.

This was precisely why I liked it.

Plain and boring.

Perfect place to hide the location of the headquarters.

"Alright, I'll buy it"

Checking my account balance, and confirming that I had just about 6 million U in my bank. I decided to directly buy the warehouse with most of the money I had.

In total, the warehouse cost me 4,200,000 U

Though expensive, I didn't mind it. That's how much I liked the place.

I could've rented a different place, but after a bit of thinking, I opted to buy my own space so that I could do the appropriate modifications.

Money wasn't necessarily a problem for me.

I could easily make what I lost back with stocks again. With Smallsnake helping me, the repercussion of my actions wouldn't come back and bite me as no one would be able to trace me.

In fact, with my knowledge, I could easily make enough money to pay back my parent's guild debt. However, their debt was probably the least of their worries. With the internal strife going on inside of the guild, paying off the debt would do nothing.

Moreover, I also wanted to shroud my organization with a veil of mystery. With this place being hidden, it added an element of mystery to those that want to find out more about our organization.

I didn't want to create an organization that had a lot of members.

I wanted to keep to maximum of twenty elite members. Members that stood out from the rest.

Quality over quantity.

I wanted to reach a point in the future that whenever one of our members moved, organizations would tremble...

...

[Caïssa - Warehouse]

"So, how do you like the place?"

Glancing at Smallsnake beside me, I asked for his opinion as I showed him the warehouse I bought.

"hmm, well, why?"

Trying to find words to say, Smallsnake was speechless.

The location of the warehouse was in the middle of nowhere, and the place was empty. It was sad. Very sad.

Compared to every other organization Smallsnake had been to, even the worst one wasn't as bad as this.

Glancing at his employer beside him, Smallsnake really couldn't understand what was in his mind.

Once again, he couldn't help but start doubting his decision to join him.

"You don't really need to answer. Was just asking out of politeness. Already bought the place after all"

Looking at his reaction and shrugging my shoulders, I took a pile of papers from a folder I had on me and gave them to Smallsnake

"Here"

"What's this?"

Taking the papers, Smallsnake frowned. After flipping through them, he couldn't help but tilt his head in confusion.

"Why them?"

"Don't ask questions, find information about them and send them to me. You won't understand unless you see them in action"

"...Okay"

Nodding his head, Smallsnake sighed before taking a better look at the lists before him.

What I just handed Smallsnake was a brief description of a few individuals I wanted him to find information on.

The list I had given him contained a lot of names, but I needed to narrow it down.

I needed to take their characters into consideration, as well as the likelihood of being able to entice them to join Caïssa.

Arrogant or not arrogant? Brave or not brave? Money driven or not?

...everyone was different and that's why I needed information.

Because they were after all extras. Although I wrote about them, I didn't know too much about their backstory.

If I wanted to recruit them, I needed to be able to familiarize myself with them better so that I could entice them more convincingly...

"Ah, By the way Smallsnake"

"...hm?"

Remembering something, glancing towards Smallsnake, I said

"I highlighted three names in red, those are the top priority. Make sure you give me details about them. From their past and current situation. I want them all"

"Alright, let me see"

Flipping through the page, Smallsnake's eyes paused on the names of the three individuals I had highlighted.

His previous frown deepened.

'just what...'

Though his reaction was understandable, there was a reason why I prioritized them...

It wasn't because they were the best, no.

It was because they were the easiest to recruit considering what kind of circumstances I was in. Especially since recruiting people into a newly established guild was extremely hard.

Don't get me wrong though.

Just because they were easier to recruit wasn't the only reason I highlighted their name.

They were all extremely talented individuals that would no doubt add value to the members of the guild.

"huuu.."

Opening a copy of the files, I looked at the first highlighted profile...

=======

Name : Ava leafz

Age : 16

Picture : [Image]

Job : Student, Lock 976

Potential : Unranked

======

Ava in the novel was a monster tamer.

She does make a few appearances in the novel, but in the end, her roles always tended to be small. She'd just appear on one chapter and then just disappear for twenty more to once again appear for one chapter and disappear for another twenty.

A true extra.

I remember that in the last volume of the novel, during the third cataclysm, she was supposed to make another appearance.

I had planned for her to appear when the alliance between the four races was about to suffer major losses. She with an army of beasts would join the alliance and give them some breathing space and increase their momentum in the fight against demons.

She was finally going to show the world how strong her profession was. With an army of beasts, she would decimate and destroy multiple demons at once...

Unfortunately, that never happened.

Just when I was about to get to that part, I died.

One good thing about her was that because she wasn't heavily involved with the plotline, my interfering with her wouldn't cause any trouble to anyone.

Plus, with my knowledge as the author, I actually knew about the location of an item she was supposed to get at the end of the novel. It was sort of a cheat item. It essentially allowed for her to control multiple beasts at a time.

Since it was meant to be for hers, me getting it and giving it to her wouldn't affect the future events of the story.

She'll just be stronger faster than originally meant. Which was ideal.

Thinking thus far, I glanced at the next person on the list...

=======

Name : Leopold Ray

Age : 32

Picture : [Image]

Job : Mercenary at Moonlight corps

Potential : A [Current : D]

======

An experienced mercenary who appears in the third volume of the book.

Although he wasn't necessarily outstanding in combat, he was a very competent leader and commander.

The reason why I chose him was because we needed someone with experience to help us. Being new, I knew nothing about how to run a mercenary corp. With him aiding me, developing this organization wasn't a problem.

But that wasn't the only reason why I chose him.

He had another talent...

He was an extremely strong commander. During one of the arcs of the novel, Leopold would take charge of a few troops to fight against villains, and thanks to his heroic deeds he was able to survive and complete the mission flawlessly.

He meets Kevin on multiple occasions in the novel, and although Kevin had a good impression of him, he never managed to really enter Kevin's party, which in all honesty would've benefited a lot if they had someone as experienced as him helping them.

Sighing, I looked at the last name on the list.

=======

Name : Ryan Polive

Age : 12

Picture : [Image]

Job : None

Potential : S [Current : Unranked]

======

A child prodigy.

A child born with a supercomputer of a brain. He could calculate the probability of different factors in a matter of seconds. Whatever scenario was presented before him, he would be able to calculate everything in a matter of seconds detailing the best route and action to take.

He appeared in the fourth volume of the novel, and by the time Kevin found him, he was already dead.

He was part of a medium-sized guild that exploited his abilities.

They would continuously make him stay at night and work him to the bones. A 12-year-old child.

...Sadly, he was later killed by his own guild master due to Kevin foiling the plans he had come up with on multiple occasions.

In the end, Kevin caught the guild master and killed him on the spot.

"Must have them..."

Those were the three main people I had set my mind on recruiting...

Glancing at Smallsanke who was busy looking at the files I gave him, I smiled.

Though he may be doubting me now, as soon as he will see them, he will realize their true potential.

...I was sure.

Chapter 85: Past, Present, and Future [1]

7 A.M.

Staring at the clock stuck on the wall of my house, I headed to the kitchen and made myself some coffee.

The lights of the villa were shut and I was the only person in the house. My parents already went to the guild and Nola was at day care.

...So I had the whole place to myself.

Sliding the door that led to the garden, I felt the morning breeze cool down my body instantly.

For the past few days, I had been fairly busy.

After spending a lot of time remodeling the warehouse as well as studying for my exams, I barely had any time to focus on my training.

The only time I had available was usually early in the morning.

"fuuuuu..."

Taking a deep breath, I sat crossed-legged in the garden. It was about time I broke through my rank.

Taking out multiple potions from my dimensional space, I opened the thumb-sized bottle cap and gulped one of the potions down.

-Gulp!

At first, the potion was tasteless. But soon after, a bitter aftertaste invaded the tonsils of my tongue.

The aftertaste was similar to that of a shot of espresso. Very bitter.

-Pant!

Exhaling and taking a long deep breath, I focused my mind on spreading the effects of the potion throughout my body.

Instantly, the cells within my body jumped in excitement.

Streams of energy circulated around my body as white steam slowly escaped from my body creating a white mist around me.

-Gulp!

Without skipping a beat, after I felt the effects of the first potion wearing out, I instantly downed another one.

Like that, I repeated the process three more times until I suddenly felt my body bloat and the muscles of my body twitch.

-Pant! -Pant!

Panting heavily, I cleared my mind. Soon after, the twitching stopped and a wave of energy washed over my body revitalizing all of my muscles. My head became lucid, as well as my senses.

Suddenly, everything around me became clearer.

The water droplet dripping from the blade of grass in the distance became more perceptible. The sound of the birds chirping became more apparent, and the smells around me intensified.

It felt as if everything around me was within my grasp...

"fuuuuuu..."

Exhaling, and adjusting myself to the changes around me, I looked at my status window

===Status===

Name : Ren Dover

Rank : F +

Strength : F +

Agility : F +

Stamina : F

Intelligence : F

Mana capacity : F +

Luck : E

Charm : G

--> Profession :

[Swordsmanship lvl.2]

The degree of understanding of the sword has evolved to the next level. User will find it easier to understand concepts that were previously harder to understand.

--> Martial Manual :

[★★★★★ Keiki style] - Minor realm of mastery

Sword art created by Grandmaster Toshimoto Keiki. A five-star module that focused primarily on reaching the apex of swordsmanship and speed. Upon mastery, the sword art becomes so fast that before an opponent could even think about their next move, their heads would already be rolling on the ground.

[★★★ Ring of vindication] - Minor realm of mastery

Highly advanced sword art that creates a perfect ring of defense around the user. Upon mastery, the ring can create a three-dimensional sphere that protects the user from all sides. Because of the lack of offensive capabilities, the manual was graded three-stars.

[★★★ Drifting steps]

Movement art that progresses with each step. With every step taken, user speed will increase. Unless user stops, speed will continuously increase until the user either runs out of mana or due to injury.

--> Skills :

[{G} Monarch's indifference]

A skill that enables users to erase all emotions, and act as a supreme monarch that only calculates the best option regardless of circumstance.

==========

I did it.

I broke through to the next rank.

I was now a small rank away from reaching <E> rank.

Judging from the way I was progressing, if nothing strange happened, in either a month or two I could finally breakthrough again.

hehe, because I had consumed the seed of limit my training speed was even faster than the likes of Kevin.

...Still, he had a system, so it's not like it really made a difference for him.

"huuu..."

Standing up, I stretched my body. I could instantly feel the fibers of my muscles being more durable and flexible. Almost as if the power within them had doubled.

-Kacha!

Punching the air, a small shockwave swept the garden. The grass around the area I punched split apart and a gush of air swept the surroundings.

"Not bad..."

Nodding in satisfaction, and staring at my fist for a few seconds, I decided to head back into the house.

It was about time I practiced the new movement art my dad gave me. The garden was too small for me, therefore, I decided to go to the park.

Putting on my shoes, I quickly left the house

-Clank!

...

-Swooooosh!

Like a lightning bolt, my figure sped around the park at incredible speeds. Like a shadow, my silhouette ran around the park.

As I ran, the world around me became slower and slower, almost as if time had slowed down. However, that didn't last long as I soon ran out of mana.

"Huff, huff, huff"

Stopping and resting my hands on my knees, I felt the morning air rush past me.

I was tired.

With every step I took, my speed increased. It was almost like I was endlessly accelerating.

Drifting steps.

That was the name of the movement art I was practicing.

With each step I took, my speed increased. At first, I was running at a regular pace, but as time passed and the longer I ran, the faster I became. It got to the point where I was running so fast that I almost crashed against a couple of trees along the way.

This was mainly due to the fact that I couldn't control my body properly as I ran. Thus exposing me to danger.

...Had this not been an open space, I would've definitely gotten injured.

-Gulp!

Downing a [Stamina recovery potion] followed by a [Mana recovery potion] I prepared to once again do a lap of the park.

However, just as I was about to continue practicing, a warm pleasant voice called out for me.

"Ren, it's been such a long time"

"...hm?"

Frowning, I looked towards where the voice came from.

With his arms crossed and leaning against a tree, a youth wearing a greyish-black suit entered my sight. He appeared to be in his late teens or so. His face was fairly handsome and outstanding.

The black suit which was devoid of any wrinkles coupled with his demenour of his gave off a somewhat dashing aura.

His voice was warm, and the way he smiled caused the people around him to have a good feeling around him.

Who was he?

I don't remember ever knowing this person...

Was he another one of the old Ren's acquaintances?

Just as I was about to ask him who he was, my mouth abruptly opened.

"Hello, Matthew"

'Huh?'

Lightly smiling, the youth moved away from the tree and headed in my direction. Laughing he said

"Hahaha, you haven't changed since I last saw you. Shy as always..."

Ba...thump, Ba...thump, Ba...thump

My heart suddenly sped. Cold sweat appeared on my back, and my body trembled.

What was this feeling?

...Was this fear?

Why was I experiencing fear over someone I never met before...

"What's wrong?"

The closer he got, the more these feelings intensified.

Lowering my head, my mouth once again opened and in a trembling voice...

"Haha, it-s nothing M-atthew"

'What's going on?'

'Who's Matthew?'

...and why couldn't I speak

Millions of questions emerged in my mind as I tried my best to take control of my body.

However, it was to no avail.

Like a spectator, I could only watch everything unfold before my eyes. I felt powerless. Like a bird trapped inside of a cage with no gap to escape.

What is happening to me?

...

-Halt

Stopping right in front of Ren, Matthew took a good look at him. Noticing his shoulders trembling, the smile on Matthew's face deepened.

"I see, I'm glad to see you again Ren"

"Me too..."

In a light tone, almost as if he was addressing something insignificant Matthew spoke

"I've heard you defeated Alex...congrats. I didn't know you had that in you, my friend. You know. When I heard of the news of you defeating Alex, I was quite surprised. I mean, back in middle school no one would've expected for you to even go beyond G rank, let alone reach F rank. You wouldn't believe how surprised I was when I was told you had reached the F rank. Mind blown..."

As Ren listened to Matthew speaking, his body would shake from time to time.

Though he tried to not show any emotions on his face, on rare occasions his face would crumble as emotions such as sadness, rage, helplessness, and despair would appear on it.

"...I am so glad you reached this far after having not seen each other for months"

As Matthew finished speaking, scratching his head, Ren meekly said

"haha, I just got lucky"

"Lucky huh, I guess so..."

Nodding his head a couple of times, Matthew paused. Staring straight into Ren's eyes, his demenour completely changed. If before he was like a friendly elder brother, right now he looked like a vicious predator looking at his prey.

"Ren, as your best friend, I came to give you a piece of advice...don't do anything unnecessary" Patting him on the shoulder, leaning towards his ear, Matthew whispered, "...We wouldn't want a similar incident to last time happening now would we?"

Nodding his head, Ren's voice shook as he answered

"Y-yes"

Hearing Ren's confirmation, Matthew laughed out loud.

"ahahha, That's great, that's great. I'm glad that we're on the same page. I was worried that you might do something stu-"

-Ring! -Ring!

Stopping mid-sentence, the loud ringing coming from his pocket echoed across the surroundings.

Frowning, taking out his phone from his pocket and looking at the caller ID, Matthew answered it.

"Hello?...alright, I understand, I'll be there soon"

-Tak!

After a short call, Hanging up the phone, sighing, Matthew once again looked at Ren. Fixing his collar, he waved at him and turned around.

"Seems like I need to go...I guess that's it for our little reunion. Though short, I was extremely happy to have caught up with you. I'll see you next time!"

Waving towards Matthew, Ren smiled back

"Yes, see you soon"

Waving his hand till Matthew disappeared, Ren's face soon became indifferent. Arriving at a nearby bench, he sat down.

"Fuuuuuu..."

Taking a deep breath, his vision turned dark and he passed out.

-Thud!

Chapter 86: Past, Present, and Future [2]

"Ah!"

Abruptly opening my eyes, I sat up straight.

"I can control my body again!"

Touching my face and body I couldn't help but be elated. I could now feel my hands, face, and every other part of my body. The senses that I had previously lost had returned to me.

...I no longer felt like a trapped beast.

I could finally move.

"hu?"

Just as I was rejoicing at the fact that I could now control my body, I suddenly noticed my surroundings.

What's going on?

Wasn't I at the park moments before?

Looking around me, I found myself outside of what seemed to be a kindergarten.

Scanning around, I could see children playing tag in the playground of the kindergarten, followed by their parents coming in and out of the premises to pick them up.

Confused I stood up.

I tried to walk around, but three steps in, an invisible wall stopped me from moving any further.

"What?"

Taken aback by the invisible wall, I frowned. Placing my hand on the invisible wall, I exerted a little bit of strength...but it was to no avail as it didn't budge.

Frowning even harder, I placed both hands on the wall and pushed as hard as I could. Still, in the end, no matter how much strength I put in, the wall didn't budge.

Turning around, realizing that I could not move the wall, I tried to go in the opposite direction, but it was also to no avail as three steps in, another wall blocked me.

Taken aback, I tried to move in all directions, but it was futile. Every three steps I took, an invisible wall would stop me from moving.

No matter how hard I tried to push the walls, they wouldn't budge.

...I was trapped inside of an invisible cube

What's happening?

Where was I?

...and what is this place?

Millions of questions emerged in my mind, as I kept trying to find a way out of the cube.

...In the end, after ten minutes of constantly trying, helpless, I could only sit down and stare at the children in the kindergarten playground.

Maybe the key to getting free was outside of the cube...

"...hm?"

As I observed the kindergarten, I couldn't help but focus my attention on a certain area. More specifically a certain young boy who looked to be around five years old.

Disheveled, unkempt brown hair and dull eyes. As he swung on the swing of the garden of the kindergarten, the young boy kept staring in the distance. Seemingly waiting for someone to pick him up.

No matter how long he had to wait.

He waited.

...yet, despite thirty more minutes passing and most of the children leaving, no one picked him up.

As I watched the young boy in the distance, my heart hurt as I couldn't help by wonder...

"Who is he?"

"That's Matthew..."

Abruptly turning my head, a youth with blue eyes and jet-black hair appeared beside me. Staring in the distance, towards the young boy, a complicated expression appeared on his face.

"y-you"

Smiling in my direction, he introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Ren"

"Ah...eh"

My mind blanked. I tried to find words to say, but it was to no avail as I couldn't say anything. What was the old Ren doing here? Wasn't he supposed to be dead? Was he not dead?

My mind was in a current state of turmoil as I couldn't find any words to say.

Did he even know who I was?

Smiling at my reaction, Ren shook his head.

"There's no need for you to introduce yourself. I've been with you for the past three months...watching your every move"

"W-what?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Ren shook his head

"Don't ask me, I don't know what happened either...I just suddenly found my consciousness watching everything that you were doing whilst I couldn't control my body"

"Wait, so you were within me watching everything I did since taking over your body?"

Smiling, Ren nodded.

"Yeah"

My eyes opened wide. To think that someone was watching everything I was doing whilst I reincarnated here.

"But ho-"

"Shhhh!

Just as I was about to speak, putting his finger on his mouth, he motioned me to be quiet as he pointed towards the kid I was previously watching.

"...let's not talk about that now, It's about time you learned about my past"

"Matthew are you okay?"

As soon as the previous Ren stopped talking, out of nowhere, a young boy with jet-black hair and blue eyes approached Matthew.

"Yeah"

Smiling brightly and nodding his little head, Matthew kept his eyes towards the entrance of the kindergarten.

Tapping Matthew on the shoulder, the black-haired boy excitedly said

"Let's play Matthew!"

"...but my parents will come soon"

"Yea, then just play until they come!"

"But, they will get mad if they don't see me immediately"

Looking around, pointing at the swings, the black-haired boy said

"Then let's just play here on the swings!"

"Um!"

Watching the two children play on the swings, I couldn't help but turn my head towards Ren's direction and ask

"...is that you?"

Staring at the young boy with jet black hair and blue eyes playing with Matthew, Ren lightly nodded.

"Yea..."

Pointing towards the kid that the old Ren was playing with, I furrowed my brows.

"...and is that the same guy I met at the park?"

Smiling, a trace of sadness appeared in Ren's eyes as he looked at the young Matthew

"yea...and he was my best friend"

Taken aback, I couldn't help but look at Ren in shock. Remembering what had happened moments before appearing in this strange world, Matthew looked more like a bully rather than a best friend.

How was someone like that ever been his friend...?

"Best friend?"

Noticing the skepticism on my face, Ren smiled but didn't elaborate.

"Yea..."

-Vooom!

At that moment, as I was still in shock by the revelation, a black sedan entered the parking area of the kindergarten.

Staring at the incoming sedan, Matthew happily stood up. Soon the back doors opened and a man and a woman got off of the vehicle.

"Mom! Dad!"

-Pa!

Just as Matthew was a few feet away from them, raising his hand, the dad slapped him in the face.

"...I told you not to come running at us like that. You're an elite, you must keep your composure at all times"

Holding back his tears, with his hand on his cheek, Matthew smiled weakly and nodded his head. Despite being hit, he seemed rather happy that his parents had shown up.

"Here"

Taking something out of his pocket, Matthew excitedly handed it to his father. It was a drawing he had made in class that depicted a man and a woman holding hands with a child.

However, his father grabbed the picture, and...

-Crrrrr

...Crumbled it and tossed it away.

"Is this what you wasted your entire day doing? What a waste"

Turning around, and urging his wife to follow him, they both entered the car.

"Bye..."

Seeing his parents enter the car, Matthew secretly picked up the crumpled paper on the floor and entered the car. As he did, turning around, he cheerfully waved at Ren

"Bye Ren!"

The scene cut and the world turned dark.

-Swooosh!

Extending his hand forward, Ren swiped right and the world around me changed. Soon the world around me changed.

The kindergarten turned itself into a classroom filled with students.

Just as I was about to ask Ren about what was going on, a familiar voice disrupted me.

"Wha-t happened Matthew!"

Running towards Matthew, Ren's figure appeared.

As Ren took a better look at Matthew, he couldn't help but gasp.

Matthew's face was bruised and his eyes were black. It looked like he had just been through hell.

Moreover, Ren soon noticed Matthew's leg limping as he walked inside of the class. From the way it was swollen, it was evident that his leg was broken.

...He was not in a good state

Raising his hand up, Ren looked towards the teacher responsible for the class and said

"Teacher, Matthew needs to go to the infirmary immediately"

Glancing at Matthew's battered figure for a split second, the class teacher disinterestedly shook his head.

"He looks fine to me..."

Opening his eyes wide, Ren's voice couldn't help but raise a few pitches.

"How does this look fine to you in any way!"

Frowning, the teacher put the book he was holding down and in an aloof voice said

"Student Ren Dover will be given detention after school for talking back to teacher..."

"Wha-"

Grabbing Ren's forearm, coughing a couple of times, Matthew shook his head.

"Cough...cough...I'm fine"

"b-ut"

Smiling, Matthew weakly sat on his seat.

"It's okay, they are too scared to anger my father...cough"

-Swooosh!

Once again, the scene changed. This time, the classroom remained the same, however, everyone was older.

"Did you hear?"

"Apparently Matthew's mother died in an accident"

"His life was already miserable before, but look at him now...it's like he doesn't want to live anymore"

Staring at the seat in the corner of the class where Matthew sat, every student in class whispered and pointed in his direction.

"M-matthew, are you okay?"

Approaching Matthew, Ren sat next to him. However, despite trying everything to try to get his attention, Matthew's eyes remained hollow the entire time.

His lips were dry, his skin was dry and his hair was a mess.

It looked like he had thoroughly given up on life...

"Matthew?"

Calling Matthew one last time, Matthew's eyes regained a bit of clarity as he glanced at Ren.

"Ah...Ren"

"Are you okay?"

After a short pause, Matthew smiled weakly and said

"....Yeah I'm fine"

-Ding! -Dong!

As the bell that signaled for the end of the school rang, Matthew took his bag and directly left the class.

Following Matthew, Ren tried to make sure he wouldn't bump into anyone.

He was extremely worried as from the way he was walking, he looked like a zombie...

As they reached the entrance of the school, staring at Ren, Matthew waved goodbye to him and entered a black sedan.

As he waved goodbye to Ren, a small tear dropped down from his right cheek. Because it was so subtle, only if one paid close attention would they notice.

"...Bye Ren"

Inside of the invisible cube, watching Matthew entering the car, Ren's face beside me couldn't help but twist as he softly mumbled

"I wished I had stopped him that day...ever since that day, the Matthew I knew died"

Chapter 87: Past, Present, and Future [3]

-Swooosh!

Extending his hand forward and swiping right, the scene before me changed once again. This time, instead of a classroom, it was right outside Ren's house.

Standing outside of Ren's house, Ren and Matthew stood before each other.

Compared to before, Matthew's demenour was completely different. If before he was gloomy and lonely, he now looked like an outstanding and refined young man. His very presence screamed elegance.

His warm eyes and voice would instantly cause everyone who met him to have a good impression of him.

...A stark contrast to before.

Smiling, Matthew took out two transparent potions from his pocket and showed them to Ren.

"Hey Ren, my dad was extremely happy with my results recently and he gave me two advanced potions!"

"What! How did you even get a hold of such expensive potions?"

Opening his eyes wide, Ren couldn't help but look at the two potions with a hint of envy.

It had to be noted that a single advanced potion could go for tens of millions of U. That's how expensive they were. Moreover, compared to intermediate ones, they were much more efficient.

No wonder Ren was surprised...

Scratching the back of his head and chuckling, Matthew said

"Well, I really did please my father this time. After he gave them to me, he said that it was a good investment into my future"

"...damn, I'm getting jealous here. I haven't even tried an intermediate potion, let alone an advanced one"

Nodding his head multiple times, extending his hands, Matthew put both potions in Ren's hand.

"Yup I know, that's why I'm giving them to you...More precisely give them to your parents"

Stupefied, Ren's hands shook as he held onto those potions. With his eyes wide open, Ren's voice couldn't help but tremble

"W-what are you doing?"

"I'm giving them to you"

"D-dude, do you know how expensive these things are? what about you?"

Seeing Ren's state, Matthew couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Hahaha, no worries. I already had one, it's the least I can do to repay your parents for having taken care of me over the years. If I had to be honest, they're like my second parents..."

-Crack!

"...Bullshit!"

Turning my head, I saw Ren beside me clenching his fist hard as his hands cracked. His face became incomparably dark as he stared at Matthew with pure hatred. Biting his lips, he coldly spat

"If you truly cared about them like they were your second parents you wouldn't have...damnit!"

Confused, I wanted to ask what he meant by that, but I decided to just watch the scene before me unfold. I was bound to find the answer sooner or later...

Staring at the two potions in his hands, Ren hesitated before looking back at Matthew and once again asking in a trembling voice.

"A-are you sure?"

"Yeah, just take it"

Staring at Matthew, and noticing his earnest expression. Ren shook his head and sighed.

"Alright, if you're so adamant about me taking them, refusing you will just be rude on my end"

"hahaha, you've made the right choice. Thank your parents when you give them the potions. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't be the man I am today"

Shaking his head, Ren smiled

"Sure, I will"

Waving his hand, with a big smile on his face, Matthew turned around and left the compound.

As Matthew turned around, the smile on his face slowly faded.

"I'm sorry best friend..."

-Swooosh!

Without looking at me, swiping right, once again, the scenery around me changed. Glancing at Ren who was beside me, though he returned to his usual indifferent self, I could visibly see his body shaking with every passing scene.

Almost as if he was trying his best to not give in to his emotions...

"Y-ou ho-w could you!!"

Kneeling on the ground, outside of what seemed to be a rooftop, Ren's figure appeared kneeling on the ground as he glared upwards. His eyes contained an unimaginable amount of hatred.

"how could I? Kuku, I don't know. I guess I was just bored..."

Staring at Ren's kneeling figure, Matthew tried to hold his laughter back, but he soon burst out laughing.

"ku,ku,ku, I'm sorry Ren...I really had no choice, ku,ku hahahahah"

Opening his eyes wide, Ren stared at Matthew who was laughing maniacally before him.

"h-how could you betray me like this!?"

-Bam

"khh...I can't!"

Turning his head away and placing his palm on the invisible wall, the memory paused. Clenching his teeth hard, Ren slowly spat

"...This was the day"

Trembling all over, Ren's fist and jaw clenched tightly as he glared in Matthew's direction with pure hatred.

"This was the day my life was r-uined!"

-Vuam!

Soon a thick red bloodlust started exuding from Ren's body as his eyes became bloodshot.

Frowning, and seeing Ren's current state, I grabbed his shoulder and tried to snap him out of it

"Ohi calm down, explain to me what happened"

-Shua!

Feeling his clothes getting tugged, forcefully trying to calm himself down, the bloodlust around Ren disappeared. Glancing in my direction he said

"huuu...Do you remember the potions he had given me in my previous memory?"

"Yeah"

Nodding my head, I remembered. How could I forget?

Even I wanted to try advanced potions once. However, with the price each one went for, I could only admire them from the distance.

"...They were cursed with a Mindbreaker curse"

Abruptly turning my head, I couldn't help but stare at Ren in shock.

"What! The mind breaker curse?!"

The mind breaker curse...one of the strongest curses a demon could cast.

Once cast. No matter how far, with a simple flick of their fingers, whoever was under the curse would die as soon as the demon deemed that they were no longer useful.

It was an especially scary curse as it was undetectable. You wouldn't realize you were cursed before it was already too late...

...a demon.

"huh?"

as my thoughts paused there, opening my eyes widely, I couldn't help but stare at Matthew in shock.

Seeing that I understood, glancing back towards Matthew, Ren slowly nodded.

"Yeah...Matthew had made a contract with a demon"

"what..ah..e"

Staring at Ren for a couple of seconds, I tried to say something, but in the end, no words came out of my mouth.

"I don't know what happened, but...ever since that last memory, Matthew changed. He became a completely different person..."

"At first I thought he was trying his best to move on, but..."

Trembling, Ren covered his mouth

"I-n t-the end I only realized till it was too late. By the time I realized something strange in his behavior...he had already fallen into the depths of depression and became a villain...completely losing his sense of reasoning"

"T-he best friend I knew was gone..."

Watching Ren struggle to speak, I remained silent.

Who knew that he had such a deep backstory...

His childhood friend whom he regarded as a brother turned into a villain and in doing so cursed both his parents...

"Khhhh...damnit!"

Glaring at Matthew's image in the distance Veins pooped from Ren's forehead, as his eyes turned bloodshot.

"...From that day, I was forced to do everything he asked me to do...be it sneak inside of my parent's room to give him secret information regarding the guild operations or any other sensitive information that costed the guild quite dearly...I did his bidding for him at the expense of my parent's guild."

Turning around, and looking at me in the eyes, he shouted

"Because I trusted him so much...I was the reason why my parent's guild fell that hard!"

"The 95 million U debt? All because of me leaking the secret deals that the guild was responsible for"

"All the friends I had made as soon as they noticed that my parent's guild was going downhill abandoned me...I soon became the school outcast."

"I was alone."

"I couldn't even glance at my parents in the eyes due to the immense guilt I felt every day..."

"Every day was like hell to me..."

Pausing, Ren smiled. But it wasn't a smile of happiness. No...it was a smile full of sadness and sorrow.

"I did have some hope though...I somehow managed to get accepted into the Lock."

"Suddenly, amidst the darkness, I saw a ray of hope..."

"...but that hope too was soon destroyed."

"D rank"

"That's w-hat they gra-ded my talent to be...Although my parents didn't show it, I-I knew they were distraught with the news as they had just borrowed 30 million U from the guild with the excuse of making an investment towards my future"

Glancing at the ground, Ren's eyes became hollow. His figure looked lonely and tragic...

"...and you know what? Despite knowing I wasn't talented, they still loved me just as much as before. Moreover, they still decided to pay for the admission fee for the Lock"

"That destroyed me...especially after what I had done"

Placing his hand over where his heart was, Ren clenched it

"With each passing second I lived, it felt like pieces of my heart were being torn...I-I..." -

-Pita! -Pita!

Grabbing onto my clothes, Ren stared at me as tears streamed down his cheeks.

"T-ake my body, I don't care. Heck, I don't care if I cease to exist after this...but p-lease save them...please! I beg yo-u! I-I can't..."

"fuuuuu..."

Exhaling, I closed my eyes.

Feeling Ren tugging my collar as he desperately looked at me with hope in his eyes, I expected such a request.

From the moment he spoke about his past, I knew this moment was about to come.

...However, I didn't expect his story to be this tragic

The Mindbreaker curse.

One of the most notorious curses in the human domain. The one curse that has no cure...and the very same curse his parents have.

Once someone was under the effect of Mindbreaker, their lives were no longer under their control.

Only upon death would they be able to free themselves from the curse.

...or at least that was until the latter half of the novel where Kevin manages to find the cure to the curse.

I knew where to find the cure...but in the process, I would be completely destroying the plotline that I worked so hard to protect.

A part of me wanted to just remain indifferent...

...However, memories of these past few days started flooding my mind like a broken dam.

Specifically the warmth I felt these past few days.

Although they weren't my real parents, I couldn't forget the care that they had given me the past few days.

Maybe my emotions were still under the influence of the old Ren, but...

As the warm faces of my new family replayed in my mind, opening my eyes, I looked at Ren and smiled

"Alright..."

Chapter 88: When everything falls into place [1]

The crescent moon high in the sky was gradually covered by dark, drifting clouds.

Inside of a large park, the night lamps lit the surroundings, disconnecting the darkness that had spread throughout the environment.

"hu..."

Sitting on a bench, the faint rhythmical breathing of a youth disrupted the tranquil and silent surroundings.

"ah!"

Waking up, I found myself sitting on a bench in the middle of the park.

Squinting my eyes to familiarize myself with the lighting coming from the lamps, I rubbed my forehead.

Instantly, I recalled everything that had happened inside of my consciousness...

"Fuuuu..."

As I did, I took a deep breath.

To think Ren's story was so tragic...

To have his own best friend turn into a villain and in the process have him curse his very own parents as well as blackmailing him into doing his bidding...

'Tragic' was the perfect word to describe what he went through.

Remembering Ren's lonely figure as he went through his memories inside of my consciousness, I recalled focusing my attention towards his eyes.

...Those eyes filled with sorrow and loneliness as he shared his memories with me.

Thinking back, all of this wouldn't have happened if Matthew didn't sign a pact with a demon and became a villain...

As soon as he made a pact with a demon in exchange for power, Matthew lost control of his emotions...and by letting his emotions overtake his sanity, Matthew must've discarded all his previous feelings for Ren and the people he was close with for the sake of that power

...In doing so, he chose to destroy Ren's life.

The one person that never abandoned him...

-Ring! -Ring!

As I was staring at the moon in deep thought, my phone rang.

"..hm?"

Looking at the phone log, I instantly noticed a large notification appearing before me.

[Mom has called 5 times]

Seeing the notification, I instantly picked up the phone.

—Ren! where have you been!

As I answered the call, a loud voice escaped from the speakers of the phone. Without skipping a beat, I moved the phone away from my ear.

As I had seen the caller ID, I already knew this was going to happen.

After making sure my mother calmed down, putting the phone back on my ear I responded

"Ah...I'm actually at the park at the moment"

—At the park?

"Well, I was training and I somehow lost track of time "

In the end, that's the excuse I came up with.

Since I was caught off-guard by the call, that was the most plausible excuse I could use to avoid arousing any suspicion from her.

Fortunately, she didn't press any further and sighed.

—Sigh, what am I going to do with you? Alright, hurry up and come back home or else there won't be dinner for you.

"Alright, be there soon"

—Be quick!

"Understood"

-Tak

Hanging up the phone, I put it in my pocket and stood up. It was time to head back home.

The walk home wasn't long, about five minutes. It was short and relaxing. Especially with the autumn wind lightly blowing against my clothes, refreshing my mind.

Midway through my journey home, I couldn't help but look back at my decision.

...Was I really going to interfere with the plotline for the sake of a few individuals whom I just met for a few days?

Yeah, Ren's emotions that dwelled inside of me had somewhat affected my decision-making process.

Maybe I was impulsive when answering Ren...but a part of me feels that that wasn't the only reason that prompted me to make a move.

There was something else...but I just quite couldn't place my finger on it.

Only with due time will I be able to determine what I was feeling.

If it were the old me, I would've refused Ren's request without hesitation...and this mainly had to do with my personality.

There was a reason why I always wanted to keep the plotline intact...

Control.

That's what mattered to me.

...I was fine with the plotline changing as long as the major events didn't change, at least to the point where I still had a general idea of what was to come in the future.

I guess it mostly had to do with my personality...but I just wanted everything to be under my control.

I didn't like when things didn't go as I dictated.

I disliked being put into situations where I wasn't in control of the flow...

Especially if my meddling would result in the demon king appearing way earlier than he should've.

...If that happened, then all the preparation I had made in order to fight him would become useless.

Maybe if I was strong like Kevin I wouldn't have cared...but I wasn't.

For someone like me, every little detail mattered.

If I suddenly took a cheat item and my action resulted in Kevin's death in the process, what was I supposed to do?

Replace him?

...No. That was not something I was willing to do.

I wasn't someone who wanted to bear the responsibility of saving the world. That responsibility weighed heavier than anyone could possibly imagine.

I was no Hero, nor did I wish to become one...

I didn't have a grand goal or anything like that per se.

As long as the universe didn't get destroyed by the hands of the Demon King, I was content.

That's why I was so obsessed with keeping the plotline fixed.

...so that I could fight the Demon King with the most optimal preparations.

"Ha.."

Sighing, I could only lament the fact that that was no longer possible.

...Especially since I needed to find the cure for the Mindbreaker curse...an extremely terrifying curse that dictated someone's life and death.

In the future, towards the ending of the second volume, Kevin and his friend would be put in a position where they would have to find the cure for the curse at all cost.

In the process of finding the cure, they will go through many trials that will shape their character as well as improve their strength. Many schemes made by the demons would end up being destroyed in the process.

...though it wasn't the most important arc, it was still very important for their character development.

If I chose to go find the cure for the curse, my actions would definitely cause a butterfly effect but...I just wasn't sure how big.

Fortunately, time was on my side.

Because my parent's guild was already on the verge of collapse, Matthew had no use for me.

The only reason he used to blackmail the old Ren was so that he could weaken my parent's guild.

Although the old Ren didn't tell me, I could pretty much guess the motives behind Matthew's blackmailing.

He wanted to absorb Galxicus.

With the fact that his father owned a gold-graded guild...wanting to absorb smaller silver-graded guilds wasn't strange. In fact, it was quite common. However, the process usually took a very long time hence why they try to use all sorts of dirty tricks in the book to try to force them to sell the guild to them.

Knowing this fact, I knew that I wasn't pressed for time.

Before he would completely kill my parents, due to them no longer having any use, he would first need to completely absorb Glaxicus. Which by my estimation would take approximately one year.

...and this was ideal since I needed to make a lot of preparations.

Finding the cure for the curse wasn't going to be easy...no, I would say it would probably be one of the most dangerous trips I would ever make.

However, it wouldn't be all for nothing.

In fact, the trip wouldn't just consist of me finding a cure. Perhaps this was the other reason why I chose to accept Ren's request, but...there was an item I was extremely interested in. More specifically, one that was tailor-made for one of the future members of my mercenary group.

Named after Artemis, the goddess of animals...The ultimate beast tamer cheat item.

[The flute of Artemis]

An item that allowed beast tamers to control multiple beasts at a time.

The item that helped Ava's monster tamer class shine in the original novel. Prompting her into becoming one of the strongest humans in the novel.

Well, although I said all of that. There was just one teeny-tiny problem

The place I wanted to go get the cure wasn't actually on earth....

Chapter 89: When everything falls into place [2]

[Caïssa - Headquarters]

"Here are all the files of the people you requested for me to find"

"Alright, thanks"

Without glancing at Smallsnake on my left, I took the files from his hand and threw them on the desk I was currently working on.

A week had passed since I learned about Ren's past, and nothing changed.

The renovations for the warehouse were pretty much done. With my limited budget, I could only redecorate the place to make it look more presentable, but there really wasn't any high-tech equipment nor training rooms here yet.

I was too poor for that.

"...What are you doing?"

Seeing me discard the files he had just given me, rolling his eyes, Smallsnake couldn't help but ask

"I'm making preparations"

"Preparations for?"

"Well, let's just say that in four months I'll be going on a long trip with a couple of people..."

Frowning, Smallsnake couldn't help but tilt his head in confusion

"...if it's in four months why do you need to start making preparations now?"

"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you"

I will be going to find a cure for a curse that has been universally acknowledged as something that didn't have a cure.

...was what I wanted to say, but he wouldn't believe me even if I told him so.

Moreover, I also didn't tell him that I was not going to be on earth throughout that whole trip.

So may as well just dodge the question.

"..."

Speechless, Smallsnake could only pinch the middle of his brows as he continued.

"Anyhow, I did look at the profiles of the people you had previously recommended to join our mercenary group, and I still don't understand why you want them?"

Taking the file that I threw on the desk, Smallsnake opened it and took out three profiles.

"I sort of understand why you want to recruit Ryan Polive, but why a monster tamer and an old mercenary?"

Pointing towards Eva's and Leopold's files, Smallsnake frowned.

"Isn't the monster tamer class useless since they can only control one beast? Moreover from what I've been told, the beast they tame can't even increase in strength."

Without glancing at Smallsnake, I continued scribbling on a piece of paper.

What he said wasn't wrong.

Monster tamers weren't very sought after due to their limitations with regards to how many beasts they could tame. Normally one, on rare occasions two.

Moreover, the beasts that they could tame couldn't become stronger. Their strength was fixed. Meaning that if you tamed a <G> ranked beast that was it.

No matter how much food you fed to it or how much time you spent training it, the beast was forever going to stay at <G> rank.

Unless you got a new one, you couldn't raise its rank.

...and that's where the real problem laid.

The expenses needed to sustain a monster tamer were astronomical.

The costs of capturing and feeding a <S> ranked beast probably amounted to the same costs needed to raise multiple <S> ranked heroes.

It just wasn't worth it.

"Don't even get me started about the mercenary"

Seeing that I was still scribbling stuff, Smallsnake continued

"From what I've found in the files, he seems to be a regular member with seemingly no out-"

"Stop"

Sigh

Putting my pen down, I leaned on my chair and looked at Smallsnake, and sighed

"Smallsnake, just trust me. I know what I'm doing."

-Flick!

Flicking the pen that was rolling down on my paper, I continued

"You think I would just choose random people without having put much thought into it?"

Shaking his head, Smallsnake responded

"No"

"Then what's the point of asking? just wait and I will prove to you that my judgment wasn't wrong"

Frowning for a second, Smallsnake eventually nodded his head.

"...alright"

Seeing Smallsnake nod, I faint smile appeared on my lips.

Although Smallsnake was a very capable person, he tended to question my every decision.

...well, he wasn't wrong in doing so. I mean, apart from the C.B. pharmaceuticals incident, he hasn't really seen the full extent of my abilities.

Nor did he know I was the author of this novel.

It wasn't wrong of him to doubt me. Especially since he didn't know what I had in store for the members I was planning on recruiting.

In the end, with due time, Smallsnake will eventually understand what I was doing.

"Any other problems?"

"Yes actually"

Smiling, my brows twitched.

"You weren't supposed to answer that..."

Shaking his head and ignoring my rumbling, Smallsnake continued

"According to the information inside of the files, Ryan Polive, the 12 year old kid that you were keen on recruiting is currently being scouted by a gold graded guild"

"Gold graded?"

"...yeah"

Resting my face on my hand, I softly mumbled

"This is indeed a problem..."

A gold-graded guild.

I knew that Ryan was currently being scouted by a gold-graded guild, but that still didn't change the fact that this was a problem.

Guilds were divided into five different ranks, bronze, silver, gold, platinum, and diamond.

In order for a guild to be classified in the gold ranks, it meant that they had to at least have someone who was <B> ranked in their guild.

For platinum, they had to have at least one <A> ranked Hero and for diamond <S>.

'...B ranked huh'

So far the strongest opponent I faced was around <D> rank...and that was already with me exploiting openings that others had made for me.

Fighting against a B rank with my current strength was suicidal.

As my thoughts paused this far, a smile appeared on my face

...but who said anything about me fighting against them openly?

Turning my attention back to Smallsnake, I ordered

"Smallsnake, send me all of the information regarding the gold-graded guild that wants to recruit my future member..."

"from their enemies, details regarding their guild master, the top executives as well as their families, make sure you miss nothing. I want to know their habits, their friends, their enemies, everything!"

"What?"

Frowning, Smallsnake couldn't but be even more confused.

Just what would he need all that information for?

Was he planning on blackmailing them?

There's no way he thought the top executives of a gold-graded guild would think people wouldn't target their families.

The more Ren spoke, the more Smallsnake became confused.

Smiling at Smallsnake's confused face, I interlocked my fingers and rested my chin on them. Glancing at him I asked

"Smallsnake, what do you do when you find yourself against an opponent who is way stronger than you?"

"...you run?"

Shaking my head, I couldn't help but look at Smallsnake in disapproval

"Smallsnake, grow some balls"

"What are you-"

Raising my hand, I stopped him from speaking.

"Smallsnake, you don't have to be the strongest person in the world in order to beat a strong opponent...no"

Raising my finger, I pointed towards my head

"...regardless of how strong someone is, if they can't outsmart you, they can never win"

"Unless they had power that was overwhelming to the point no trickery nor scheme could win, there was always a solution...you just need to find that solution."

-Vuam!

Tapping on my watch, a huge chessboard appeared on top of my desk.

Yawning, I stretched my back and started a game. As I did, I started speaking.

"Unless you're a god, no being is perfect."

Tak!

Moving my pawn forward to start the game, I glanced at Smallsnake

"Everyone has a weakness, regardless of how much they try to hide it...Be it big or small, hidden or not hidden they all have a weakness...Take Achilles for example. Despite the fact that he was invulnerable to anything, as soon as an arrow pierced his weakness, the heel, he like everyone else on the battlefield died..."

-Tak! -Tak! -Tak!

As I talked, in real-time, the pieces on the chessboard automatically moved, matching my tempo.

"...Regardless of how strong your opponent was, once you found their weakness you could exploit it to your advantage..."

-Tak!

As I talked, focusing my mind on the game, I looked at the ever-changing pieces and made the appropriate moves. The more time passed, the lower the number of pieces on the board remained.

Staring at the game before him, Smallsnake looked at my calm face and couldn't help but ask

"But what if you don't know what their weakness is?"

Looking at Smallsnake, I smirked.

"Can't find it? Then...just make one."

Moving the rook all the way down the now empty board, it soon appeared below another rook, blocking the defenseless king.

"Be it through the use of deception, schemes, money, connections, information...if used well, an opening will definitely appear...and then"

-Tak

"Checkmate"

[Game over - You won]

As Smallsnake listened, watching the game unfold before his eyes, although he agreed somewhat, he couldn't help but frown

"Are you saying that you alone can go against a gold-graded guild?"

Smiling mysteriously, I didn't answer

"In two days you'll know..."

After a bit of silence, Smallsnake nodded his head.

"Alright, I'm very curious of what you'll do"

Smallsnake was indeed curious

...The reason why he joined the mercenary group was mainly out of his own curiosity.

If he thought about it, apart from the pharmaceuticals incident, he never really saw Ren doing anything grand.

Sure the fact that he knew his circumstances regarding the Monolith has also shocked him, but...that didn't mean he fully trusted Ren's abilities.

He talked a lot, but he never really proved to him that his decision was worthy of his trust.

...perhaps this could be a great opportunity to be able to determine if his decision in joining him was the right decision.

Thinking thus far, Smallsnake sighed and switched the topic.

"Anyhow, regarding the mercenary Leopold Ray, I think we should be able to recruit him if we just pay him enough money. He is a mercenary after all...but there's just one problem"

Frowning, my mouth twitched.

How come there was a problem for everything?

Why couldn't something just go smoothly for once?

Sighing and massaging my forehead, I asked

"What is it?"

Pausing, and looking at me in the eyes, Smallsnake hesitated for a moment before saying

"We don't have any money..."

"..."

Silence swept the warehouse.

"Keumm...Keumm...Don't worry about it. I'll solve it by the end of the week"

Disrupting the silence, coughing to hide my embarrassment, I leaned on my chair.

Money.

Fucking money.

Whenever I wanted to do something, money was always the first thing that troubled me.

With the cost for my training, warehouse renovations, taxes, and other useless expenses I facing, I was now poor.

There was just never enough money.

I did have a couple of short-term solutions that would allow me to make a lot of money, but in the end, if I wanted to sustain a whole mercenary group, I needed to think more broadly.

I need to create a steady source of income.

...and fortunately for me, a plan had already started formulating in my head.

Chapter 90: When everything falls into place [3]

...A steady source of income.

That's what I needed.

Although stocks could help me make a lot of money, in the end, it wasn't really a long-term solution.

That mainly had to do with the fact that the time frame for each event differed greatly. There wasn't really going to be another incident similar to that of C.B. pharmaceuticals where I could make quick cash in a span of a few days. At least not anytime soon.

Moreover, with the fact that the plotline was slowly changing, I wasn't even sure whether the events will continue to go as the story dictated.

It was no longer the most optimal option that I could take to make money.

...In the end, after a lot of thinking, I came up with a solution.

Creating my own company.

With me being the creator of this world, I obviously knew a lot of things.

Especially with regards to the world.

From stocks, fashion trends, and products that will sweep the market in the future. I knew everything.

With that being the case, a plan had already started formulating in my head.

I was going to create a business empire that on paper wasn't affiliated to my mercenary organization, but in reality, was secretly funding our every endeavor.

With this, as both my mercenary organization and my business grew...the stronger my influence inside of Ashton city would become.

I had realized that just focusing on keeping the plotline intact was useless. No one knew what would happen in the future. Especially since I tended to do things that in a way changed the plotline.

It was too passive of an approach.

I shouldn't just rely on the security that the plotline gave me in order to fight the Demon King. I needed to have reassurances.

I needed something to support me.

I needed to secretly grow an empire that would rival the likes of the union. One that was there yet not there. A secret organization that ruled the shadows.

...and when everything was set in place, everything would be within my grasp.

'Rather than be a chess piece, be the one that moves the chess piece'

By the time the Demon King descended, I would have made enough preparations to fight back

Yes. That's what I had to do...

However, although this sounded nice and all, I needed to approach this carefully.

One step a time.

Like they all say. Rome wasn't built in a day.

My first goal right now was to establish a functioning business.

I already had several products in mind that I could introduce in the market, however, that wasn't my first priority.

My first priority was finding a sponsor.

Honestly, with me having read a lot of novels in my time, I instantly knew what would happen as soon as the products I introduced hit the market.

It would instantly attract the attention of the bigshots.

They would instantly either try to remove the company from the market or outright threaten them.

This was just how the world worked.

...and honestly, I wasn't too keen on wasting my time dealing with these sorts of problems.

That's why a sponsor was necessary.

One that was big enough to deter the competitions from finding trouble.

...and I knew exactly the right person to ask.

...

As the sun brightly lit the surroundings, inside of a busy train station, an air train slowly descended towards one of the platforms of the station.

-Vuuuam!

Stepping off the air train, I inhaled the fresh autumn air that lingered in the atmosphere.

"This is the right station right?"

Checking my phone, I doubled checked with the information Smallsnake sent me and made sure I was in the right location.

[Northern district - Libonsa station]

Looking at the station sign, and confirming I was in the right location, I headed out of the station.

As I walked out, tapping on my phone, I once again checked Ryan's profile.

Name : Ryan Polive

Age : 12

Job : None

Potential : S [Current : Unranked]

Description : Lives with single mother inside of a warn-down one-bedroom apartment. Currently being eyed by gold graded guild Luxious. Has been approached multiple times with no success. However, it seems like they currently have had a breakthrough as the mother and son duo have scheduled to make an appointment with them in the next few days at their house. Target blood type is A, height is...

.

.

.

Looking at the information, I looked at the date on which the appointment was made.

'Today huh?'

Fortunately, I wasn't late and Ryan had still not been recruited by gold graded guild.

He was going to be an essential member of my mercenary group...I couldn't afford for him to tragically die like in the story.

Bishop.

That's the position I had planned on giving him.

With him and Smallsnake controlling the behind-the-scenes of the mercenary group, I didn't have to worry about our operations failing.

Just imaging myself doing missions in the fastest and most efficient way possible sent shivers down my spine.

With one being meticulous and organized whilst the other calculating and perceptive, all sorts of variables during the missions would instantly be analyzed by both of them.

Ah...What a frightening duo.

...

-Knock! -Knock!

Outside of a run-down apartment complex, two muscular men wearing a black suit and a black tie knocked on the door of one of the apartments.

"Who is it?"

A couple of seconds after the knock was heard, a crisp and pleasant voice echoed from the other side of the door.

"Maam, we are from the Luxious guild. We are here for your answer regarding the recruitment of your son Ryan Polive" said one of the men in black suit.

Hearing that the individuals were from the Luxious guild, after a short pause, the sound of rushed footsteps rumbled through the other side of the door.

"...ah, yes"

-Clank!

Opening the door, a middle-aged lady with glossy black hair and few wrinkles on the corner of her eyes appeared in front of the two individuals dressed in black suits.

Trembling, she politely bowed in front of them and said

"Thank you for coming"

Nodding his head, one of the two individuals indifferently glanced at the lady before getting straight to the point.

"Sure, have you considered our proposal?"

Freezing for a split second, the lady tried to hide her trembling hand and curtly bowed one more time

"I'm sorry. H-e is still 12 yea-rs old. I k-now that my son is very smart, but I want for him to have a normal childhood"

"I see..."

Nodding his head, the individual on the right looked at the individual on the left. Glancing back, they remained silent for a couple of seconds before nodding their heads.

"We understand ma'am"

"R-really?"

Looking up, and seeing the two men dressed in suits nod their heads, the middle-aged lady sighed in relief

"Thank you very much for und-kyyaaaah"

-Vuam!

Before the lady could finish speaking, an overbearing pressure bore down on her. Instantly she fell on the ground

"I guess we have to do this the hard way don't we?"

Staring at the lady on the ground, one of two individuals dressed in a suit, glanced at the entrance of the house

Peeking his head from behind the door, a young child with black hair looked towards the two individuals dressed in black standing in front of the door.

His eyes soon landed on his mom who was on the ground unable to move. Shocked, he couldn't help but scream

"Mom?!!"

"Is that him?"

Staring at the young kid peeking from behind the door of the house, the two individuals looked at each other. They soon smiled.

Noticing their expression, Ryan's mom couldn't help but look towards Ryan as she shouted

"Ryan close the door!"

"b-"

"Do it!"

-Bam!

Blocking the door with his foot, a large shadow cast over both Ryan and the middle-aged lady

"Maam, I think you need to put more thought into th-"

"Oh my, would you look at this"

Just as the lady was about to despair, disrupting their conversation, a cheerful voice entered everyone's ears.

As two arms hooked on the shoulders of the two individuals dressed in black suits, a youth with jet black hair and blue eyes leisurely looked at them with a warm yet leisurely smile

"My friends, how about you try to recruit me instead? I am very good with the sword...."

Chapter 91: When everything falls into place [4]

A day prior to my meeting with Ryan...

Sitting inside of a cafe', frowning, I looked through the files that Smallsnake had sent me.

Honestly, although I teased and abused Smallsnake quite a bit, I couldn't deny how capable of an individual he was.

Within a day I had every little detail regarding Luxious I could ever hope to have. From the top members to the lowest members. I had information on basically everyone.

If that wasn't all, Smallsnake also sent me a long list of information regarding the guilds that they were currently not on good terms with.

...and as I looked through their enemy guild, one of them caught my attention

[Sword of light]

Another gold-graded guild that was located not far off from Luxious.

However, compared to the other guilds that Luxious had conflicts with, their enmity against Luxious wasn't actually between the guild masters. In fact, they didn't really have any significant problems with each other...

However, one piece of info caught my attention

—Conflict between the sons of both guilds guild masters. Jacob Reid and Nolan Valdev.

This was a very interesting piece of news...

A very interesting one.

The conflict wasn't between the two guild masters but in fact between their sons...or more like the guild heirs...

Moreover, as I looked through the information regarding their conflicts, a smile appeared on my face.

A plan had already started formulating inside of my mind.

Without pause, I discarded every other file other than that of Luxious and Sword of light.

I had decided that they were now going to be my main focus...

Taking out a piece of paper, I drew two circles. One signaling Luxious and the other signaling Sword of light.

Like a mindmap, I drew little branches coming out from each circle. With each branch, I would write small notes.

Like that, for the next two hours, I continuously drew different branches coming out from each circle.

...Soon the paper was filled to the brim with branches, and a massive web of information was detailed on it.

"fuuuu..."

Putting my pen down, I took a deep breath.

I was done.

I had written everything important regarding both guilds and branched out the information in hopes to find as many links as possible between the two...and midway through, I found what I wanted.

The one link that would allow me to flawlessly execute my plan.

"hehe..."

Chuckling, I bit the tip of my pen.

If everything went as I predicted, Luxious will completely forget everything regarding Ryan and his potential, allowing me to recruit him peacefully.

Once again looking at the mind map, a smile appeared on my face.

Everything was starting to come together.

My goal wasn't to destroy a gold graded guild.

...no, that would bring too much unnecessary attention.

My goal right now was to change their current focus. Redirected it away from Ryan but towards somewhere else...

Putting the mind map away, I texted Smallsnake and asked him to purchase a few things. I then proceeded to send him four photos with instructions on them.

-Send

Sending the photos to Smallsnake, I took Ryan's profile out and checked his current situation. Soon, my eyes landed on an important piece of information

[Target has made an appointment to meet with Luxious at target house on November 25, 2055 early morning]

"November 25? Isn't that tomorrow?"

Checking the date, I realized that tomorrow Ryan would be meeting with Luxious.

"Hmmm, that works"

Pausing and checking my phone, I realized that tomorrow was the perfect time for me to start the plan that I had come up with.

Scrolling through my phone, I quickly booked an air train for tomorrow.

Cleaning up my desk, I stood up and left the cafe'

"I guess I won't be sleeping tonight..."

...

Back to the present...

"My friends, how about you try to recruit me instead? I am very good with the sword..."

Hooking my arms around the two individuals wearing black suits, I winked at them.

"Who are you-khh"

Flabbergasted, the two individuals' tried to turn their heads to get a better look at me, however...Smiling, I increased the grip on their necks.

Like hell was I gonna let them see my face filled with charm...

"khhh..."

Feeling the grip on their necks tighten, the two individuals struggled to breathe. Desperate, using both arms, they tried to pull my arm away from their necks.

As they pulled, veins appeared on top of their foreheads. Yet, despite how much they struggled, my arms wouldn't budge.

As time passed, the weaker their struggle became...just as they were about to give up, one of the two individuals caught sight of something hidden beneath one of the sleeves of my arms.

An emblem of a bull with a cross.

...and as soon as he saw the emblem, the air around him intensified and he fully released his <G> ranked pressure. Almost as if he had regained all of his energy...

"Futile effort."

Noticing the change, I shook my head.

Now that I was <F+> ranked, such low pressure didn't even tickle me.

Lowering my head, I looked at the two men in between my arms.

"Fellas, let me be honest with you...I'm dirt poor at the moment, please put in a good word to your boss. I really can't afford to be unemployed at the moment"

Struggling to speak, one of the two individuals looked at me and said

"kh-I kn-o w-ho sen- y-ou..."

"...hm? what?"

Lowering my head to better understand what they were saying, I innocently looked at the two individuals in between my arms. Their faces were now incomparably red.

"..st-khh"

As my frown deepened, I lowered my head even further.

"hmm?...hey say something, I can't hear you...ah"

Hearing nothing, glancing at them, I soon notice that their eyes had become white.

They passed out.

Releasing my grip on the two individuals, their bodies fell on the ground with a large thud.

-Thud!

-Thud!

Scratching my head, looking at the two individuals on the floor, I couldn't help but say

"I guess I held onto them a little bit too tightly..."

With me being a rank higher than them, they were totally helpless.

I guess ranks do make that much of a difference...I mean, they couldn't even put up a fight against my grip.

With that, a smile appeared on my face as I glanced at Ryan who was hiding behind his mom.

"Are you guys okay?"

Seeing me look at them, the mother and son due flinched slightly. Smiling apologetically I extended my hand to help them up

"I'm sorry you had to see that"

Warily glancing at my hand, the mother moved forward and hid Ryan behind her.

"Y-you, what do you want from us?"

Not minding their apprehension towards me, I looked at Ryan who was hiding behind his mother and awkwardly said

"Well...how should I say this..ehm, I'm also here to recruit Ryan"

"Y-ou! you're the same as them!"

Glaring and pointing at me, Ryan's mom desperately hugged Ryan. Trying to protect him.

"Ah, please don't misunderstand. Please hear my offer out first"

Noticing the situation turning out for the worst, I raised my hands and backed off. It was better if I didn't push it.

Whilst still holding Ryan in between her arms, the mother spoke

"W-e won't accept any offer. Please leave"

"...okay"

Seeing how hostile they were towards me, I made my way out of the house. I knew that negotiating with them at the moment would end up being fruitless.

"I'll leave this here. Check it out if you have time"

...but of course, just because I was leaving didn't mean I was giving up. Taking out a file from my dimensional space I placed it on the ground.

Glancing at Ryan and his mother, I pointed towards the file

"In case you're bored, I left the contract that I was planning on offering Ryan. If you choose to accept my offer, please call the number that I left inside of the papers. If you wish to refuse just ignore everything that happened...though I do have to say that working with me would be much better than working with Luxious"

Finished with what I wanted to say, grabbing the two individuals on the floor, I opened the door with my foot and headed out

"Alright, I've wasted enough of your time. Goodbye now."

-Clank!

Closing the door behind me, a faint smile appeared on my lips.

Glancing at the two individuals in my arms, I shook my head and brought them with me.

....I still had a use for them.

Chapter 92: When everything falls into place [5]

[Caïssa - Headquarters]

"pheew" "pheew" "pheew"

Sitting on my desk, I blew on the bangs of my hair. As I was doing so, from time to time, I would check my phone.

"...Nothing yet huh?"

After 10 minutes of continuously checking my phone, I sighed.

'...it looks like things are progressing more slowly than I predicted'

"What are you doing?"

"Hmm? Smallsnake?"

Glancing towards Smallsnake who had just arrived, I leaned back on my chair and continued to blow on the bangs of my hair.

Noticing my attitude, Smallsnake didn't even bother to ask what I was doing.

"Has everything with the Luxious guild been sorted?"

Checking my watch, without glancing at Smallsnake I said

"...not yet, should be soon though"

"How soon?"

Thinking for a bit, I said "I'd say in about an hour or so?"

Raising his brow, Smallsnake couldn't help but ask "An hour?... then is everything that is happening outside all because of you?"

With my eyes half open, I briefly glanced at Smallsnake

"I guess you could say that"

Frowning, Smallsnake paused before he said

"...just what the hell did you do?"

"It's a bit of a long story..."

-Vuam!

Tapping on my phone, a huge chessboard appeared before me and Smallsnake.

"Fancy a game of chess while I recount? To be honest, I'm on the verge of passing out from boredom"

Glancing at the chessboard, Smallsnake sighed and sat in front of me.

"Chess? Regular rules?"

"Yup"

"Alright"

Nodding his head, Smallsnake stared at the chessboard before him. He was currently using the black pieces, thus he would have to start after I moved my piece.

"So, tell me what you did?"

"What I did?"

Staring at the chessboard for a brief moment, I looked at Smallsnake and smiled.

"I just moved the pieces one at a time..."

Frowning, Smallsnake couldn't help but shake his head.

"...I don't know what you mean by that, but you seriously have a chess complex"

"I do?...hmm, I guess you aren't wrong?"

Taken aback for a moment, I couldn't find any words to refute his statement.

Now that I thought about it, I really did, didn't I?

From the guild name and structure to the way I talked...I made a lot of chess references.

I guess I really did have some sort of chess complex...

-Tak!

Sighing, moving my pawn forward, I smiled.

"Let's begin"

...

Standing in line, outside of a black sedan, parked below a tall skyscraper, five individuals wearing black suits and sunglasses stood upright.

Each individual vigilantly looked towards their surroundings as none dare to speak a word to each other.

It was evident that they were professionals.

-Clank!

Coming out from the skyscraper entrance, a youth wearing an ironed designer T-shirt and black pants headed straight for the black sedan. As he walked down the stairs towards the sedan, the bodyguards couldn't help but notice an elegant yet prideful bearing coming out from the youth's body.

Almost as if he was a lone untouchable phoenix.

Nodding his head towards the guards, the youth opened the door of the car and entered. Following his entrance, from all sides, the guards too entered the car.

Sitting at the front, wearing white gloves, the driver of the car turned around and politely smiled towards Nolan

"Young master, where would you like to go?"

Playing with his phone, Nolan disinterestedly said

"Not sure, do you have any suggestions?"

Smiling, the driver said

"Young master Nolan, according to some sources, it seems that Jacob from the Luxious guild is currently staying in the Olar bar in Paltor street not so far from here..."

Listening to the information, taking his eyes off of his phone, a smile appeared on Nolan's face

"Jacob is there, hmm...That is indeed interesting, alright, let's go there"

Nodding his head, a trace of amusement appeared in Nolan's eyes.

'I'll show that bastard why he shouldn't have messed with me...'

Smiling, the driver nodded his head and turned his focus back on the wheel.

-Voom

Soon the car silently sped into the distance.

...

-Tak!

Moving a pawn forward, Smallsnake glanced at me and asked

"So you disguised yourself as a driver? Is that the identity of one of the people you asked me to make a facemask of?"

-Tak!

Moving another one of my pawns, I nodded my head.

"Spot on"

-Tak!

Staring the chessboard, and pondering for a second, Smallsnake moved a pawn and nodded his head

"...I sort of get the gist of the situation now"

-Tak!

Without glancing at him, nor showing any sign of shock, I raised my brow and asked

"Oh? what did you figure out?"

-Tak!

Placing another pawn down, Smallsnake looked at me before saying

"Your plan is to instigate a conflict between the two guild by creating conflict between the two heirs. This way, both guilds will have an excuse to fight each other...But although the plan sounds solid, it's honestly full of holes"

-Tak!

Placing my pawn down, I smiled at Smallsnake

"Well, you aren't entirely wrong about the fact that I am indeed trying to create a conflict between the two of them, but that isn't my main goal..."

Pausing, Smallsnake glanced at me and frowned

"Really? Than what is it..."

Smiling, I didn't respond.

-Tak!

Taking the knight, I moved it upwards in an L shape.

"You'll see soon"

...

After a twenty-minute drive, arriving at the location, Nolan alongside his five guards exited the vehicle.

So did the driver.

-Vuam! -Vuam! -Vuam!

As they inched closer, the loud rumbling music coming from the nightclub reverberated throughout the whole surroundings, shaking the ground beneath them.

"Please excuse me"

Just as they were about to enter the nightclub, a bulky individual stopped them at the entrance.

"Please provide an ID"

"He-"

Just as one of the guards was about to protest, raising his hands, Nolan shook his head and took out an ID from his pocket.

"Here"

Handing it to the guard, Nolan smiled politely. A couple of seconds after, coming back from having checked the card, the guard flusteredly gave it back to Nolan.

"A-h, Mr. Nolan, I apologize for not recognizing you immediately."

"haha, It's okay no worries"

Laughing, Nolan took the card back and made his way towards the club.

Entering the nightclub, Nolan looked left and right until finally, after a couple of seconds, he managed to spot a youth sitting in the corner of the place.

Walking up to the youth, Nolan smirked as he looked down on him

"Fancy seeing you here Jacob"

Looking up, a fairly handsome youth with fair skin and sharp brows looked in Nolan's direction. Recognizing him, clenching his teeth he hatefully spat

"Nolan!"

"hehe, long time no see buddy!"

As the two stared at each other, sparks appeared between their eyes. Soon the air around the nightclub started becoming tense

Nolan and Jacob had only known each other for about a year.

However, during that year they met, they had continuously targeted each other. Always trying to look for trouble for one another.

Their conflicts didn't particularly start big. In fact, the reason why they fought in the first place wasn't anything particularly exciting.

The reason why they disliked each other was simply because at the time they met, they were each with a friend who had some enmity with the other's friend

Naturally, since they were their friend's enemies, they were their enemies too.

With that, standing up for their friends, the two stood on the opposite side of each other. And thus they became enemies.

...and ever since then, their conflicts have never ended.

Because they were both respectively heirs to a gold-graded guild, their pride was naturally inflated.

As such, until there was a clear winner between them, they were always destined to fight against each other.

Thus, since their first meeting, they had always been trying to look trouble for one another until the other gave up or admitted defeat.

Standing up, Jacob's figure which was more robust and taller than Nolan's, looked down on him.

"You came here to redeem yourself for your last loss"

Raising his brow, Nolan looked up at Jacob. Smirking he said

"What loss? I clearly remember beating the crap out of you. Remember how you broke your nose?"

As Jacob and Nolan stood face to face, their auras progressively intensified.

"Stop making stuff up"

"Oh? I remember taking photos of your pathetic self. If you want I can send them to you later"

"You dare!"

"You think I'm scared of you?"

-Vuam!

-Vuam!

Soon, two <F-> ranked auras swept the nightclub.

Instantly, the atmosphere around the bar became tense. Both sides were currently on a stand-off, but neither moved.

Everyone that was in the bar, sensing the atmosphere, either left or distanced themselves from Nolan and Jacob.

Around them, the guards stood firm.

Just as both sides were about to make a move, a subtle clicking sound resounded across the space. Following that, the whole room dyed white for a split second, almost as if a bolt of lightning had descended.

-Click!

Following the clicking sound, an arm flew in the air.

Soon after, the room froze.

No one spoke a word.

Everything happened so fast that no one caught sight of what happened and who did it. Too fast...

"Kuuuuuuuuaaaah!"

Soon a bloodcurdling scream broke the silence as Jacob held onto the area where his arm used to be

"Young master Jacob!"

Panicked, the guards around Jacob immediately ran in his direction. Taking out a couple of potions they immediately fed them to him in hopes of stopping the bleeding.

"You dare!"

With bloodshot eyes, holding onto his arm, Jacob glared intensely towards Nolan. His eyes were that of pure undisputed hatred.

Killing intent permeated the air.

"Wa-it tha-t wasn't us!"

Shocked, Nolan took a few steps back.

He really had no idea what had happened.

One moment Jacob was standing before him, the next his arm flew in the air.

"How dare you!"

Glancing towards his guards, Jacob, using his only hand pointed towards Nolan and shouted

"Attack them, it's an order! I don't care what you do, make sure he dies!"

"Yes"

Heeding Jacob's order, the guards instantly attacked

-Boom!

Soon an explosion reverberated across the club as dust and debris flew everywhere.

...

-Creak!

As explosions reverberated throughout the nightclub and the two parties fought, exiting from the back of the nightclub, wearing a black suit and white gloves, Nolan's driver exited the nightclub from the backdoor.

Smiling, he mumbled

"Mission accomplished"

Extending his hand over his head, a mask slowly peeled off of his face.

-Claaa

Underneath the moonlight, his real face was revealed.

Smirking, 'Nolan's driver' walked over to a secluded area of a parking lot and removed a big white sheet revealing a slick black bike.

Jumping on top of the bike, the individual sat on the bike and sped off in the distance.

-Vooom!

...However, as he took off into the distance with his bike, what he didn't notice was a small camera secretly hidden in the corner of the nightclub.

It recorded everything.. From the moment he exited the building, to the very moment he took off his mask and the face beneath it was revealed.

Chapter 93: When everything falls into place [6]

"...hm? Hold up"

Just as Smallsnake was about to place his piece down, he frowned.

"Did you just say that a camera caught you taking off your mask?"

Lazily supporting my chin with my arm, I nodded.

"Yup"

Confused, Smallsnake tilted his head and frowned.

"...isn't that bad? I mean-"

Seeing Smallsnake's confusion, before he could continue, I cut him off

"Well that is if what they saw was my real face"

Coming to an understanding, Smallsnake's brows relaxed

"Ah...so you didn't reveal your face?"

Nodding my head, I pointed at the board. Urging for him to continue.

"Don't you remember the photos I sent you? The ones you used to create multiple facemasks for me?"

-Tak!

Moving one of the pieces, Smallsnake nodded his head.

"Yeah"

He did.

Although he didn't know who the people in the photos were, Smallsnake remembered receiving a text a couple of days ago regarding the creation of a couple of skin masks.

With current technology, creating such high detailed masks didn't take much, so he had it promptly made the next day.

Seeing that he understood, I lethargically said

"...well I was wearing two at that time."

-Tak!

With one of my eyes closed, I moved my bishop diagonally across the board.

"I see...and who's mask does the other one belong to?"

Hearing his question, I didn't answer immediatly. Instead, I answered with another question.

"Smallsnake, who do you thinks stands to gain the most from the conflict between Sword of light and Luxious?"

Getting answered back with a question, Smallsnake thought for a moment before hesitantly saying

"...errr, the ones who wins between them"

Shaking my head, I lightly smiled.

"Tut, tut, tut, not necessarily true..."

-Tak!

Moving one of his pieces, Smallsnake frowned.

"...then who?"

Smiling, I glanced at him and said

"Have you ever heard of the term, 'the mantis stalks the cicada unaware of the oriole behind?'"

Nodding his head, pausing and thinking for a moment, Smallsnake's eyes widened

"...you don't mean"

-Tak!

"Yup"

...

Luxious Headquarters, 80th floor.

Overlooking the city from the tainted windows of the highrise building, a tall muscular man interlocked his fingers behind his back.

A cold and indifferent aura exuded from his body. Briefly glancing towards the bottom of the building, towards the busy streets of Ashton city, the tall man coldly spoke

"Victor, has there been any news regarding the two people we sent to recruit that kid that caught my eye?"

"No, we tried contacting them, but so far, we haven't heard from them yet"

Standing a few feet away from the muscular man, a man dressed in a simple grey suit curtly replied.

Hearing the reply, after a short pause, the tall man's brows furrowed

"...hmm, strange"

Noticing the guild master thinking, the grey suit individual asked

"Guild Master, what are your orders?"

-Bang!

Just as the guild master of Luxious, Patrick Reid, was about to speak, the sound of the door smashing reverberated across the space as an individual wearing a black suit hurriedly ran into the room with a report in his hand.

"Emergency report!"

"Young master has gotten into a conflict inside of a nightclub!"

Frowning, an invisible pressure instantly bore down on the individual that had just rushed into the room.

"khhh..."

-Thud!

Feeling the pressure bearing down on him, the subordinate that had just barged into the office felt his knees give out as he knelt on the ground of the office space.

Obviously angered by the sudden intrusion, Patrick coldly spat as he glanced at his subordinate.

"You better have a good reason for suddenly barging into my office like that...How is this piece of news deemed to be an emergency? Speak your next words carefully"

-Gulp!

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, trembling, the individual started speaking

"Y-young master got into a conflict and..."

-Gulp!

Hesitating, swallowing another gulp of saliva, the poor man continued

"lo-st an arm in the process"

-Vauuuam!

-Bam!

Instantly a tremendous pressure shrouded the whole office space as the furniture around the room was obliterated into dust. Papers flew everywhere, and the whole room shook.

Trembling, Patrick looked towards the kneeling subordinate and slowly said

"Repeat what you said...recount me everything carefully"

Feeling Patrick's gaze on him, without a second thought, the subordinate nodded his head

"Y-es...A-ccording to the report, Youn-g master Jacob got into co-nflict with Nolan Valdev...son of current guild master of Sword of Light"

Frowning, the aura around Patrick slightly dissipated as he said

"Sword of light? Nolan? Continue..."

Repeating the words inside of his mind, nodding his head slightly, Patrcik gestured for his subordinate to continue reading the report

Being told to continue, without a second thought, the subordinate instantly started speaking again.

"Y-es, according to the reports, as the two were in the middle of a conflict inside of the nightclub, out of nowhere, someone attacked Jacob...the result was his arm getting detached from his body--khh"

Once again, a massive overbearing pressure started emanating from Patrick's body.

"Oh? Since when was Sword of Light that impulsive..."

To think they actually dared to make a move against their son...

How daring of Sword of light.

It looks like, Sword of Light didn't regard Luxious as an opponent

Clenching his fists tightly, Patrick turned towards Victor who stood by the side and coldly said

"Immediatly summon all of our high ranking members...in a week's time, I want everything prepared...prepare the paperwork. We are going to declare a guild war against Sword of Light!"

Shocked by the news, Victor's eyes opened wide as he couldn't help but exclaim

"Guild master!"

With an expressionless face, Patrick once again stared at the city below him.

'It doesn't matter if the opponent is another gold grade guild, if you hurt my son, I'll make sure to return everything with interest!'

...

-Tak!

Placing my pawn down, I glanced at Smallsnake and smiled as I spoke

"...and so the guild master of Luxious will most likely prepare for a Guild war"

Taken aback, Smallsnake's hand, which was holding onto a pawn, paused. Looking at me, he couldn't help but ask

"A guild war?"

"Yes"

Nodding my head I confirmed.

If everything went according to my predictions, as soon as the guild master of Luxious found out what had happened to his son, he would without a doubt start preparing for a guild war.

This was inevitable.

He only had one son.

Now that he lost an arm, he, without a doubt, would instantly try to fight against the person responsible for crippling his son.

...and the only way he could do that was through a guild war.

A guild war was something that the central government established to legally resolve conflicts between guilds.

Because several conflicts between guilds in the past led to a lot of deaths, the central government had no choice but to establish guild wars as a mean to legally allow guilds to fight each other without suffering any casualties.

This set up was specifically made to avoid deaths, as at the moment humanity could not afford to lose any more talented warriors. With the pressure coming from all sides, the more Heroes they lost, the worse they would be.

...Therefore, after a lot of discussions, the central government set up a system called 'guild wars'

In guild wars like the name suggested, guilds would compete with each other.

...and this conflict would all be done inside of a virtual world.

After investing billions and billions of U, the central government managed to create a state-of-the-art virtual machine that could replicate 99.99% of reality. The closest to reality to date.

Through fighting in the virtual world, the guilds could compete against each other under fair rules without losing any member of their guild.

The winner of the guild war would gain something that was agreed upon prior to engaging in a guild war.

Moreover, with the central government acting as the intermediary, there was no need to fear for the other party not holding up on the agreed terms.

"...are you really sure he's going to declare a guild war so suddenly?"

Smallsnake, who was once again confused, looked at me and said

"I mean, if the Guild Master wasn't stupid, he would instantly notice a few irregularities in the events that had happened in the nightclub...I mean there are a lot of things that don't make sense if you think about it rationally"

Smiling, I lazily yawned

"Huaaaam, you're spot on...After a bit of thinking, the guild master of Luxious, Patrick Reid, will instantly realize that something was wrong with the events that led to his son losing an arm..."

Nodding his head, Smallsnake curiously glanced in my direction

"...if he realized that, wouldn't that mean your plan failed?"

-Tak!

Moving my queen a few squares diagonally, I smiled

"Fail? No, that's exactly what I'm hoping will happen..."

...

"Victor, pause everything that you've been doing"

Frowning, after a couple of hours of deep thought, Patrick realized that something didn't add up with the report he received from the incident.

He had let his emotions get the best of him.

Because of how much he loved his son, as soon as he heard of what had happened to him, he immediately mobilized the guild into partaking in a guild war.

He didn't even check the full details of the situation...

"Hmmm, something just doesn't add up to this story...the heir of Sword of Light shouldn't be this impulsive"

The more Patrick thought about it, the more the story didn't add up.

There was no way, the son of the current guild master of Sword of Light would be impulsive enough to suddenly resort to removing the limb off of a direct heir of another gold-graded guild.

No.

He was an elite trained since birth.

There was no way he would be irresponsible to the point he would actively seek to fight against the whole guild directly...

...yeah, this definitely didn't add up.

As they were both heirs of gold-graded guilds, they should obviously know when to attack and when to retreat.

Turning towards Victor who was wearing the same grey suit as before, Patrick ordered

"Victor, get someone to collect all of the reports regarding the incident. From eyewitnesses to cameras and anything that can be useful in getting a better idea of what happened"

He was going to get a real look at what had happened.

If he caught sight of anything remotely suspicious, he would immediately get to the bottom of it.

He was not going to let someone who hurt his son get away with it

...

"Guildmaster, everything regarding the incident is here"

Thirty minutes after issuing the order, Victor walked next to Patrick and handed him a tablet

"Thank you"

Taking the tablet, Patrick looked through the files and numerous footage. As he looked through the files, Patricks' expression would change from time to time.

-Click!

Soon, after reviewing the data for an hour or so, he turned off the table and solemnly said

"Most likely, someone is trying to instigate a conflict between us..."

"What?!"

Standing next to Patrick, Victor couldn't help but exclaim in surprise

"Are you serious?"

Solemnly nodding his head, Patrick placed the tablet down on his desk

"Yes"

"Then we need to report this to Sword of Light, maybe they know something regarding the situa-"

Freezing half-sentence, Victor's brows twitched as he recalled something.

"Err, actually, now that I recall...I remember hearing that young master Jacob, in his rage, used the artifact that you had given him and almost crippled Nolan...

"Right now according to the reports, he is bedridden with no signs of waking up"

Without saying a word, Patrick fell into deep thought.

It seems like both sides suffered losses.

His son lost an arm, whilst Nolan, the heir of Sword of Light also seemed to have been heavily injured...

...if Zack Valdev, the current guild leader of Sword of Light didn't lose his mind, he too would have reached the same conclusion as him. Someone had instigated the conflict...

Reaching this conclusion, Patrick's aura intensified

"Now, I really am curious as to who's daring enough to mess with two gold-graded guilds..."

Glancing at Victor, in a deep voice, Patrick ordered

"Take all of the video evidence of the conflict and analyze it frame per frame, Don't miss anything"

"As long as something looks suspicious immediately report it to me..."

"There definitely might be something we overlooked..."

Nodding his head, Victor took the tablet and left the office.

"As you wish"

Chapter 94: When everything falls into place [7]

-Knock!

Thirty minutes after Victor left, Patrick heard someone knocking on his door.

"Come in"

Entering the room, Victor bowed slightly and said

"Guild Master, as per your orders, we've looked through all of the camera footage from the night where the incident happened."

Pausing, looking at Patrick straight into the eyes, Victor solemnly said

"We found something..."

Nodding his head, Patrick spoke

"Show me"

Tapping on the holographic function of the tablet, a 3D video replayed in front of Patrick. The camera angle pointed towards a rather secluded parking lot area near the nightclub.

Pointing at the video, Victor said

"In one of the video cameras, we managed to spot a suspicious individual exiting the venue right after the fight started. The most interesting part regarding that individual is that he was wearing a skin mask"

Frowning, Patrick couldn't help but glance at Victor as he asked.

"A skin mask? That is indeed suspicious, did you managed to find out his identity"

Right now, he didn't really care about the details.

He just wanted to find the guy responsible for crippling his son...

Nodding his head, using the holographic function of the tablet, a profile appeared before Patrick.

"we've managed to identify the identity of the masked man that was responsible for taking the young master's arm."

"With reference from the database from the system, we managed to identify the man as Patrick Marr. He is currently working as a manager for a construction firm not so far from here, and other than that there were no notable discoveries...however, once we dug further we were able to find a crucial piece of information."

Pausing slightly, Victor looked at Patrick and slowly said

"The company he is currently working for is a subsidiary of Bull's wrath"

Nodding his head from time to time as he heard Victor talk, pausing for a moment as if something clicked inside of his mind, Patrick fell into deep thought.

"Bull's wrath, Bull's wrath...I see"

Repeating the name a couple of times, a trace of a smile appeared on his face

That indeed sounded suspicious.

Bull's wrath.

If Patrick thought about it, the guild that would benefit the most out of Luxious fighting against Sword of Light would definitely be them...

They too were a gold graded guild, and compared to the other gold graded guilds in the vicinity, they were the ones that were closest to both Sword of Light and Luxious.

Moreover, both Luxious and Sword of Light had conflicts with Bull's Wrath...

"I see..."

As his thoughts paused there, the frown on his brows deepened.

His instincts told him that Bull's Wrath were indeed the ones responsible for instigating the conflicts between Sword of Light and them, however...

He didn't have enough evidence.

Just because the culprit worked for a subsidiary that was under Bull's Wrath control didn't mean they were actually working for them...

They could very well be hired mercenaries in disguise.

This would mean that this was planned by someone else and that they were trying to insinuate that Bull's Wrath was behind it...

"Just who is it..."

The more Patrick thought about it, the more questions emerged in his mind.

Just who?

If only he had more evidence...

-Knock! -Knock!

Snapping Patrick out of his thoughts was the sound of someone knocking on the door. Regaining his usually cold bearing, Patrick coldly said

"Come in"

Opening the door, wearing a black suit, an individual came in

"Master, we have received another report..."

...

-Tak!

"What did you do with the two guys you brought here last time?"

Pausing for a moment, my hand froze for a split second.

It took me a couple of seconds to understand what Smallsnake was talking about.

That's right...Smallsnake was the one who helped me carry the bodies of the two individuals I met at Ryan's house

"Them?"

Nodding his head, Smallsnake asked once again

"Yeah, what did you do with them?"

"...ah about that, they sort of escaped"

"huh?"

"Yup.

They escaped.

When I returned from my trip to Ryan's house, I brought them to a relatively isolated storage space and tied them up with a rope. I wanted to interrogate them and all, but...

Well, I had to go to the bathroom.

By the time I returned they were already long gone.

Very negligent on my side..."

As I recounted what had happened, noticing Smallsnake's darkening face, I coughed in embarrassment

"kheummm...I obviously didn't let them go that easily...kheumm...I am confident with regards to my knot tying skills...and honestly, I tried really hard to look for them. Ten minutes in, I had to give up as I really couldn't find them"

-Bam!

Smashing my fist against the desk, I angrily spat

"...damn, how could I have been so negligent"

Sighing, Smallsnake shook his head as he said

"Sigh, your acting is really terrible"

Opening my eyes wide, a hurt look appeared on my face. Wiping the corner of my eye, I replied with an aggrieved tone

"Wha-at, what are you talking about? Why are you coming at me like that Smallsnake?...How could you belittle me like that?"

-Tak!

Shaking his head, moving a pawn, Smallsnake gestured for me to move

"your move"

Snorting, I replied

"Hmph, you changing the topic won't change the fact that I'm pissed"

...

"Victor contact the guild master of Sword of Light"

"As you wish"

With his hands interlocked behind his back, Patrick stared at the window of his office.

To think Bull's wrath was so audacious and ambitious enough to think that they could play the oriole without getting caught...

How audacious indeed

Smirking, Patrick couldn't help but think to himself

...Their plan might've actually succeeded if not for the fact that they had been negligent on their end.

Just moments prior, he received a report detailing the fact that two of his subordinates had just come back heavily injured.

After healing them, they instantly recounted everything that had happened.

From how they were trying to recruit Ryan, to suddenly finding themselves ambushed and how they miraculously escaped...

For the most part, Patrick didn't care...however, a certain section of the report intrigued him

'I saw that the aggressor had an insignia of a bull with a cross inside of his sleeves...'

Bull with a cross.

That was Bull's Wrath's insignia...

From then, Patrick read the report more seriously and got a better idea of what had happened.

Apparently, someone wearing Bull's Wrath insignia stopped them from recruiting the kid that they had a slight interest in...

Although it didn't prove that Bull's Wrath was responsible for the conflict, it was enough for Patrick

He didn't believe in coincidences

He had already sent the information to Sword of Light...now it was time to wait.

He will definitely make them pay for what they've done.

...

-Tak!

Moving one of the chess pieces on the board, Smallsnake couldn't help but ask

"So basically you redirected everything you did to Bull's Wrath?"

-Tak!

Nodding my head in confirmation I moved another one of my chess pieces. Glancing at the board, apart from a few pieces, almost everything was gone.

"Yeah, pretty much"

Frowning, Smallsnake asked

"Why Bull's wrath though?"

Out of all the guilds he chose to use as a scapegoat, why Bull's Wrath?

He was genuinely curious.

Smiling, whilst waiting for Smallsnake to make a move, I said

"There are multiple reasons why I chose Bull's wrath...geographically they are the closest guild next to Sword of Light and Luxious."

"They hold a grudge with both Luxious and Sword of Light"

"They are famous for being overbearing, and taking whatever they wanted..."

Pausing slightly, my eyes narrowed

"...but out of all the reasons, the most important out of all points that I have just listed...is that they too showed interest in Ryan..."

"...and you don't touch what I already set my eyes on"

"Ah..."

Nodding his head, Smallsnake somewhat understood.

Apart from the last point, everything he said was reasonable.

Be it geographically, reputation-wise, and relationship-wise, Bull's Wrath was the ideal guild to put the blame on.

That he didn't disagree with.

As his thoughts paused there, Smallsnake couldn't help but be impressed. The level of detail in the plan was something that even he, someone who has seen a lot, couldn't help but be impressed with.

-Tak!

Placing his piece down, Smallsnake asked

"Can I ask you one more question?"

"Go ahead"

"What happens after Sword of Light and Luxious beat Bull's Wrath? Won't they just focus their attention back on Ryan then?"

Hearing Smallsnake's questions, a smile appeared on my lips. Shaking my head, I laughed

"hahaha, you forgot something Smallsnake"

Pausing, I slowly said

"...human greed is boundless"

"Even if Sword of Light and Luxious win, you didn't forget that both of their heirs are currently heavily injured right?"

Shaking his head, Smallsnake said

"No"

Seeing that he was following, I continued

"The alliance is merely temporary, by the time both guilds swallow Bull's Wrath...they will soon both be at each other's throat fighting for what little remains of Bull's Wrath as an excuse to weaken each other"

"Though on the surface it was an alliance, it was merely one made out of convenience."

"As soon as Bull's Wrath was out of the picture, they will immediately fight against each other"

"...by then, no matter who wins, they would be so busy fighting each other that that years would've already have passed"

"And during the time they were fighting, Ryan would already have been long forgotten by them..."

"...In the end, what I did was something that would've inevitably have happened in the near future regardless of my interfere-"

-Ding!

Stopping me midsentence, my phone rang. As soon as it did, a smile appeared on my face

"Ahh, finally"

Checking my phone, and confirming that it was indeed the message I was looking for, my smile deepened.

[Sword of Light and Luxious have jointly declared war against Bull's Wrath]

-Tak!

Moving my queen diagonally to the black king, I said

"Checkmate"

[Game over - White won]

Staring at the chessboard that displayed the large 'You won' sign, I couldn't help but glance at Smallsnake and say

"...ahh, don't you just love it when everything falls into place?"

Chapter 95: Return [1]

[…Currently, talking about the Northern district, Sword of Light and Luxious, two major gold graded guilds, have officially declared a guild war against Bull's Wrath. Although the reason for the sudden war is unknown, sources say that it has to do with the heirs of both respective gu...]

-Click!

Turning off the TV, lazily sitting on my chair, I glanced at Smallsnake.

"Smallsnake, how's the stock market faring?"

With his eyes glued on two large monitors filled with numbers, Smallsnake apathetically replied

"...Just as you predicted, Bull's Wrath's stock has declined hard"

"Mhhh, alright."

Leaning back on my chair, I lazily nodded my head.

Prior to everything that had happened, using all the money I had left, I shorted Bull's Wrath's stock.

Knowing that their stock would plummet once Luxious and Sword of Light officially declared a guild war against them, I shorted their stock.

...and with that, I solved my money problem.

So not only did I resolve the issues with Ryan, but I now also resolved the money situation that had been annoying me for the past week or so. In just one move, I managed to resolve two of the problems that had been bothering me lately.

Like the saying goes, 'Two birds with one stone'

And honestly, couldn't be more content with the result...

...Although I do have to point out the fact that what I did was definitely illegal.

Yup.

Well, as long as I don't get caught.

You ain't guilty till proven guilty. I'll stick with that rationle for now.

"...now that you've sorted out Luxious, what about Ryan?"

"Him?"

"Yeah"

Thinking for a moment, I half-closed my eyes and lazily responded

"Nothing really...we just wait for them to call"

Taking his eyes off the monitors, Smallsnake frowned as he glanced in my direction

"...wait, you just went through all of this trouble to get rid of Luxious off of Ryan's back...and right after solving everything you suddenly start to become passive? What?"

Seriously looking at Smallsnake, I nodded my head.

"Pretty much"

I mean, it's not that I was being passive.

...it's just that I was that confident in what I proposed.

Anyone with a sane mind would without a doubt agree to the terms I proposed...I mean, the terms I proposed were just too good to be turned down.

Not only did I include a hefty sum of money as a salary for Ryan, I also included added benefits such as short working hours and free housing. What more could you ask for?

Actually...looking back on the terms I proposed, my heart couldn't help but start bleeding...For a 12-year-old kid, I really did go overboard. But I don't regret it. It was worth the investment.

Ah, wait, what if they thought it was a scam?

Oh, shit.

Recalling the fact that my mercenary group was only [I] ranked with no missions or accomplishments to its name I slowly started frowning

...yeah, now that I thought about it carefully...without a doubt they might assume this might be a scam.

Thinking thus far, my face couldn't help but darken.

I miscalculated...

"Sigh"

Staring at my continuously changing face, Smallsnake couldn't help but sigh.

"I'm not even going to ask about why you're face is currently looking like that...my instincts are telling me to ignore you completely..."

Pausing, glancing at his watch, Smallsnake couldn't help but say

"...Anyways, shouldn't you be heading back home?"

"Me? Why?"

Snapping me out of my thoughts, I frowned as I looked at Smallsnake in confusion.

Why would I go back home now? Did he want me to leave?

Rolling his eyes, and sighing once again, Smallsnake said

"Don't you have to return to the Lock today?"

"*****************"

-Bam!

Throwing as many curses as I could muster, I quickly packed up everything that I could find on my desk and made a run for it.

The fact that today was the day I was supposed to return to the Lock completely slipped my mind

I was careless...

"Right..."

Stopping right before the entrance of the building, as my feet were jogging in place, looking at Smallsnake I reminded him

"...before I leave, make sure to contact Leopold"

"Since we made enough money from this ordeal, hiring him shouldn't be a problem... In the meantime, since we're in the same school, I'll take care of recruiting Ava so just focus on recruiting him"

Turning his attention back on the monitors, Smallsnake nodded his head

"On it"

"Alright, I think I've said enough, gotta go...contact me if you need anything"

Without waiting for Smallsnake's reply, I dashed out of the building.

My family was probably already waiting at the train station. Couldn't afford to waste any more time.

...

"Ren, hurry up or you're going to miss the train!"

"Comiiing!"

Running towards the train platform, I heard my mother's shout coming from the other side of where I was, near the air train that I was supposed to board.

"Huff...huff...I made it!"

Quickly arriving in front of the doors of the train, with my arms on my knees, I heavily gulped for air.

Approaching me, with Nola in her arms, my mother asked

"Ren, why are you so late?"

"Huff...huff, nothing really, I was just busy with work and stuff"

"Work?"

"Ah, well with the subsidiary and stuff"

I wasn't lying.

Because I was so busy dealing with the mercenary stuff, I completely forgot about the fact that today I was returning to the Lock.

My one month holiday was finally over...Well to call it a holiday would be an overstatement as I was busy almost everyday with the mercenary group and stuff...Not once did I properly rest.

"Good job"

Nodding his head, my father smiled in appreciation. He was happy that me, his son, was taking what he had said seriously.

"Sigh, alright, but don't overdo it"

Somewhat getting the gist of what had happened, my mother helplessly sighed. Putting Nola down and extending her arms in my direction she said

"Give us a hug"

"Alright"

Smiling, I walked forwards and hugged everyone. This went on for a solid minute as they refused to release me from their clutches.

-Beep! -Beep! -Beep!

"Oh, it's time for me to go"

Hearing the beeps coming from the train, signaling that it was about to depart, I finally freed myself from their hugs.

Entering the train, I looked at my family once again.

Smiling as I stared at them happily waving at me, I couldn't help but feel my heart grow warm.

One month.

Altough short, I couldn't help but feel a bond as I stared at them. Most of the emotions probably came from the previous Ren, but I had a feeling that a part of it was also mine...

As I stared at them, the image of my previous family started overlapping with my theirs.

A faint smile appeared on my lips.

…thank you for everything.

"Bye Big Bwodar"

Glancing at Nola, who was waving at me with a sad face, I smiled. Squatting down to her height, I couldn't help but say

"Nola, try saying my name. Not big brother but Ren"

Now that I was about to go and was probably not going to see her for a while, I wanted for her to call me by my name at least once.

She always referred to me as Big brother, but never actually called me by my name.

"It's Big brother Ren, say it"

"Big Bwodar R-r-mhh"

Nodding her head, Nola tried to say it, but halfway through, her face couldn't help but scrunch up as she couldn't pronounce the R.

Seeing her struggle, calmly nodding my head, I slowly repeated my name

"Repeat with me R…E…N"

"B-en?"

"..."

Instantly my smile froze.

My body shook along with my smile. With the most gentle voice I could muster, I carefully said

"N-nola, it's Ren with an R, don't forget the R oka-huh?"

-Clank

Right before I could finish, the doors to the train started closing sending me into a panic.

"nonono, I can't be having this. Damnit doors, don't close now!"

-Bam! -Bam! -Bam!

In desperation, I started pounding at the door as I looked at Nola who was cheerfully smiling and waving at me. Through the gap of the closing doors, I shouted

"Nola! ITS REN WITH AN R, Don't forget the R! Actually anything other than Ben is okay too…"

Waving, Nola smiled and said

"Bye bwig brother Ben!"

-Clank

[Destination - Central district Lock]

-Bam! -Bam! -Bam!

Pounding at the door with all my might, I screamed as the train slowly picked up its speed.

"nonono, Nola NO! NO! Noooooo!!!!!"

"Hey can you keep it down? Can't you see that there are other people here?"

Just as I was in the midst of my despair, an annoyed voice resounded from the back of the train.

Standing up, a beautiful young girl with short auburn hair glared in my direction

"I was trying to sleep when your shouting suddenly dis..eh?"

"Shut it lady, I'm in a life and dea…eh?"

Just as we were both about to shout at each other, turning around and seeing each other's faces, we froze.

After a solid couple of seconds of silence, I couldn't help but break the silence

"ah...just why?"

…Just why in the world was Emma standing in front of me?

Chapter 96: Return [2]

"..."

Well, I somehow managed to recover from the mental damage I received earlier

...but as if the fact that my little sister couldn't pronounce my name was enough—I suddenly found myself on the same train as Emma.

Yeah.

Emma Roshfield, one of the main protagonists and daughter of the Mayor of Ashton city.

Sigh.

To make things worse, she was now sitting next to me with both of her eyes closed. Seemingly asleep.

It felt as if I was sitting on needles.

"...Huuuuuam"

"shut up"

An hour into the train ride, I couldn't help but yawn. But to Emma, who was sitting next to me, my seemingly quiet yawn instantly caused a reaction from her

The reason for her outburst was most likely due to the fact that she was looking for an excuse to pick a fight with me from the very beginning.

...and as soon as she saw the opportunity, she shot back at me.

I guess she still held a grudge against me for what I did to Jin...couldn't blame her though. I'd show a similar reaction if I found one of my friends suddenly being held by the throat. Not that I had any...mhhh maybe Smallsnake, but in all honesty I'd probably laugh first.

Briefly glancing at her, rolling my eyes I retorted.

"What?"

"That's your eighth yawn"

"You counted?"

Who in the world would count how many times someone yawned? That's not normal.

"I can tell what you're thinking. No. I don't have the habit of counting when someone yawns...but it's different when every time you yawn you stretch and nudge all the way over to my side"

Ah.

Make sense.

That indeed sounded like something I would do.

"Sorry"

"...you should be"

Since I was in the wrong, I rightfully apologized. But after hearing her response, I started regretting it.

In the end, I didn't say anything else and just leaned back on my chair. Wasn't worth the hassle...that was my original train of thought, however, as the train ride continued, I couldn't help but frown.

Noticing my change in attitude, Emma angrily asked

"...what?"

I had originally planned to ignore her and wait for the train to smoothly arrive at the Lock after noticing her grumpy mood, but a thought suddenly occurred to me. Glancing at her, I asked.

"Hey, why are you taking the train?"

"How's that any of your concern?"

Smiling, unbothered by her sharp response, I said

"You didn't forget, did you?"

"Forget what?"

As she spoke, each of her words was covered in thorns. Almost as if she was suppressing herself from lashing out at me. Pretending to be oblivious to it, I lazily said.

"That you owe me one"

"…"

Though she still looked angry, her mouth couldn't help but shut. She was at a loss for words. No matter how much she wanted to rebuke, no words came out of her mouth. She knew I was right.

"That's that and this is…"

"Ah, I guess your life is only worth that much...fair enough"

"Ghhh...fine!"

Backed into the corner, Emma could only angrily stomp her feet on the ground.

She like Amanda didn't like to owe others favors, and thus after I reminded her of the fact that I had saved her life, she could only lower her head in defeat. Sulking, she said

"What do you want to know?"

Smiling inwardly, once again, I asked

"Why are you taking the train?"

Though my question seemed random and intrusive, there was a very specific reason why I asked her this.

Emma was rich.

Let me rephrase. Emma Roshfield was filthy rich. So rich that she could probably buy my parent's guild a hundred times over with her allowance alone.

...this meant that she didn't have to take the train to get to the Lock.

No, in fact. Considering how doting her father was, there was no way that she would be allowed to take a train to the Lock. Moreover, as I looked around her, she didn't have any bodyguards around protecting her.

...this was something that her father would normally never allow.

...and if my hunch was correct, this meant one thing

"...in short, my father is currently not in Ashton city and my uncle told me to take the train back to the Lock."

."I see..."

As I suspected.

Though I ignored most of what she said, my ears picked up an important piece of information.

'Father not in Ashton city' and 'Uncle told me to take the train back to the Lock'

Though she didn't go into detail, I already knew who her uncle was.

Theodore Roshfield.

The second in command in the Roshfield household, and Emma's illegitimate uncle.

Also the main antagonist of the Emma route. The route which causes her to fall in love with Kevin.

...problem was, this event, according to my calculations, shouldn't have started till a further two months from now. A month after the mid-terms.

This meant that the timeline has changed...

Frowning, I couldn't help but once again realize that the plotline had been distorted.

The real question this time was...

Was it my fault or was something beyond my grasp manipulating the story from the dark?

...could it perhaps be the one who sent me to this world?

If so, what was their goal, and why me?

In the end, for the remainder of the train ride, I sat in my seat immersed in my own thoughts. Completely forgetting about the fact that Emma was sitting next to me.

...

"Ryan, why are you looking at those files?"

"Nothing, I was just curious"

inside a rundown apartment, a young boy was carefully looking through a stack of files. As he read through the files, his eyes couldn't help but wander towards the TV.

The news channel was on.

[…Currently, talking about the Northern district, Sword of Light and Luxious, two major gold-graded guilds, have officially declared a guild war against Bull's Wrath. Although the reason for the sudden war is unknown, sources say that it has to do with the heirs of both respective gu...]

"…so it was you"

despite his features looking like that of a twelve-year-old, his eyes and expression had no resemblance to that of a twelve-year-old child.

As his eyes alternated between the TV and the files in his hand, a faint smile appeared on his lips.

Recalling the events that had happened a couple of days prior, Ryan couldn't help but think back at the moment where the youth with blue eyes and black hair had come over and got rid of the two people sent from Luxious.

...He didn't think much back then because he was too preoccupied with his mother. But after news of Luxious suddenly declaring a guild war reached his ears, Ryan couldn't help but notice that something didn't add up.

The timing...

It was exactly a couple of days after he saw the black-haired youth taking those two guys from Luxious back with him.

Ryan's initial impression of the black-haired youth wasn't all that great.

That's because of what he saw on his sleeve.

...regardless of what was happening, Ryan was still paying attention to every little detail around him.

At first, Ryan did in fact, just like the two guys from Luxious, also think that the black-haired youth was from Bull's Wrath, primarily due to how he was able to see the insignia hidden beneath his sleeves

...but as he read through the papers regarding his mercenary group, Ryan instantly understood everything that had happened. Moreover, as he looked at the TV, Ryan could more or less determine that everything had been that youth's doing. Or at least he played a part in it.

'Interesting'

It didn't take long for him to get a clear picture of what he did. From how he instigated Luxious and Sword of Light to fight, to how he was able to pin all of the blame on Bull's Wrath.

Ryan too came up with a similar plan, in fact, he had many more complicated plans which took less time and were more efficient...but all of his plans carried a couple of critical flaws disabling him from carrying them out.

His inability to fight...and his mother.

With those two factors holding him back, he couldn't find any way to get rid of the troubles that had been coming his way.

No matter how much he wanted to put them into action, with his not even <G> ranked stats, his plans would never work. He was simply too weak.

Thus he could only give up and helplessly be put into situations that stressed his mother. He hated that.

he hated his own powerlessness

He would always wake up at night cursing at god for giving him a smart brain but no abilities to go along with his brain. Especially since this was a world where strength meant everything. His intelligence and brilliance was hence often overlooked.

—Flip! —Flip! —Flip!

Looking through the ridiculous offer that was presented before him, Ryan couldn't help but be tempted.

The deal was much better compared to the one offered to him by Luxious. In fact, it was leagues better.

Free housing, good salary, short working hours...it was the ideal job. Moreover, remembering how hard his mother was working every day to feed him, Ryan found himself on the verge of signing this paper.

...However, he stopped himself halfway through.

He was too impulsive.

He needed to observe more...He needed to understand more...and thus after a short while of thinking Ryan decided that he wouldn't sign the papers.

At least not until he determined whether they were trustworthy or not.

He couldn't take any chances...

"Ryan time for dinner!"

Hearing his mother calling for him, as if a switch had been flipped, a childish expression appeared on his face. Happily smiling he shouted

"I'm coming, mom"

Chapter 97: Midterms [1]

-Clink!

"Bastard! Bastard! Bastard!"

Entering her dorm, Emma furiously threw her stuff on her bed.

Her mood couldn't be any worse.

"How dare you ignore me like that!"

This was the first time she felt so disrespected.

Throughout her whole train ride to the Lock, she sat next to the one guy she was most curious about. The guy whom she suspected saved her life back in Hollberg.

...and she wasn't wrong.

He brazenly admitted this fact when he rubbed it all over her face. Just recalling the smirk he had on his face as he openly admitted that fact irked her to no end.

Although this annoyed her, it wasn't what truly irritated her.

No.

What irritated her was the fact that he had completely ignored her after she had answered his question.

No matter what she did, he wouldn't respond nor acknowledge her existence. Almost as if she was nothing but air.

Ghhhhh

Just thinking about it irritated her even further.

She would definitely not forget this...

Ren Dover, Ren Dover.

That was his name.

Clenching her jaw, Emma swore to herself.

"You better make sure that the next time I see you I'm not in a bad mood...else"

...

Achoo!

"Is someone thinking about me?"

Rubbing my nose, I couldn't help but feel like someone was talking behind my back...and I was pretty sure I wasn't overthinking things.

In the first place, with my current body, normal flues shouldn't be affecting me. After thinking for a bit, I just shrugged it off.

'...meh, who cares. I have other things to worry about.'

Like training.

With exams starting next week, the Training center was filled to the brim with students. It was to the point that in order for me to get a decent workout, I had to train late into the night.

Huuuu—! Yaaaaa—!

The heavy and tired shouts coming from the training dummies sparring areas echoed throughout the whole center. The residual magic power from the spars swept throughout the halls creating a thick and dense atmosphere.

In the gym area of the training center, students could be seen lifting 150kg dumbbells effortlessly. Almost as if they were just holding onto their phones.

I too tried lifting dumbells. However, what I could do was pitiful compared to other students...this was mainly due to the fact that the people next to me were muscleheads.

Like, each of their biceps was about the same size as my head. Ridiculous.

Wiiing—

"Uuk."

Using my phone's vibration as an excuse to stop training, I put down the bar I was lifting. Dizziness immediately came over me as I felt my chest become numb. It seemed 190kg bench press was still too much for my current self.

Sitting up straight, I wiped my sweat off with a towel hanging around my neck. I then proceeded to check my phone.

[The documents are ready…but are you really planning on going through with the terms you've offered to Leopold?]

It was a message from Smallsnake.

Ah, it looks like Smallsnake has already made contact with Leopold.

...that's good. I wasn't worried about him not accomplishing the mission as I fully knew the extend of his abilities. With how well connected and intelligent he was, recruiting Leopold shouldn't be a problem.

Now I only needed to wait for Ryan. I was sure he was already contemplating my offer. With just a little bit of time, he would definitely come along.

...With regards to Ava, now that I was back in the Lock, I could easily take care of her.

Everything needed time though.

I wasn't quite going to approach her yet.

I first needed to pass the mid-terms. This was a far more pressing issue as the results could determine my future.

You see, I set myself a goal for the upcoming mid-terms.

Top 100.

Yes.

I didn't misspeak. Top 100.

There were several reasons as to why I set my goal to be that high...but it primarily boiled down to two reasons.

—Facilitate recruitment of people whom I want to join my mercenary group.

—Buy time for my parents.

The first point was self-explanatory. Who would want to join someone's mercenary group when the current leader of the group was only ranked 1550 in the Lock. It just didn't make sense.

I mean, in all fairness.

If someone ranked 1550 approached me and tried to recruit me, I'd probably laugh at their face. Though I doubt Ava was the type of person to do that, she wasn't the only person I wanted to recruit.

If I reached the top 100, recruiting people that I wanted would definitely be much easier.

The second reason...well, if I reached the top 100, my family could use this to stop the advances coming from the opposition. Not fully stop them, but slow down.

With me reaching such a high rank, my parents could definitely use this as leverage when talking to the board members.

...but well, I knew that their talk wouldn't go anywhere as my talent was assessed as <D> after all.

To them, regardless of how outstanding I was, I was destined to never go beyond <D> rank.

Well, at least that was what was written on paper. In reality, I had no talent cap. Let alone <S> rank, I could easily go even beyond <SS> rank. Higher than the current top leaders of humanity.

Pausing my thoughts, I frowned.

'Matthew will definitely be not pleased about this development, but well, it shouldn't be a problem as of yet...'

I knew he wouldn't move until my parent's guild was fully taken, and with that, I probably bought myself another couple of months. Moreover, with me currently being in the Lock, he couldn't even vent his frustrations on me.

This was ideal as I really didn't want to go through another annoying situation where old Ren would take over.

...plus, the more time I had, the more I could prepare for my trip outside of earth.

By the time I returned, the curse taking over my parents would no longer be a threat, and old Ren's influence would no longer haunt me.

...actually with regards to the trip.

"I have to talk to Kevin don't I, huh?"

I mean, he was the only person that could go out of earth whenever he wanted.

All thanks to the system he had.

With his system, he could travel to any planet he wanted...but it didn't come cheap.

Depending on how far he wanted to travel, he had to use a monster core. This alone prevented him from going very far as they were all rare and expensive.

Plus considering the place that I wanted to go, I estimated that I needed to find at least a <D> ranked core.

...Dammit.

Buying it was definitely not an option. I mean, I'd have to have at least 100 million U, and that's with no one making a bid for it.

If only the planet the cure was located in wasn't that far off from earth...

In the end, that was only wishful thinking on my end. Just the fact that I didn't need a <C> rank or above core was enough for me to thank the heavens.

If it was really above <D> rank, I may as well just give up. I mean, regardless of how much money I saved up, there was no way I could afford to purchase such high leveled core in that short of a time frame.

It just wasn't something I could do even with stocks.

Either way, the planet I needed to go to was called...[Immorra]

A planet that used to be inhibited by the orcs...well, that was until the Demons came and took over.

Though it wasn't considered their main planet, it was still considered an extremely important planet for them as it was the planet with the most fertile soil...meaning that it was the planet where most of the orc's food was made.

The place was fraught with danger, and if by the time I went there I wasn't at least <E> ranked, I stood no chance at surviving.

That's how dangerous the place was.

Dangers aside, I had another problem.

How was I going to ask Kevin to bring me there?

It's not like I could go to him and say~

'Heeeeeyyyy Kevin, my good pal. I want to go to Immorra so bring me there—Hmm? How did I know you could travel to different planets? Ahhh what a silly question, I am your creator after all'

Yeah.

Not happening.

-Ding! -Ding!

Disrupting me from my thoughts was the loud sound of the alarm I set on my phone.

"Ah, I guess it's time for me to head back"

It was already 10 P.M. signaling that it was time for me to wrap up with what I was doing and go to sleep.

I determined that for me to be in optimal conditions each day, I had to sleep at least eight hours a day.

Especially since the mid-terms were now right in the corner.

In the morning I would study, and in the afternoon and night, I would train my body. That was my current lifestyle.

Couldn't say I liked it, but...well, I needed the good grades. Especially since I had a goal to accomplish.

Thus, I went back to the dorm.

...with regards to the Kevin situation, I'll figure it out after the exams.. I still had four months to prepare after all.

Chapter 98: Midterms [2]

Lock, Class A-25

The sound of scribbling pencils rang out in the classroom. Almost all of the students present were hard at work preparing for the upcoming written exams.

"Argh…why do we have to go through this when we don't actually use this stuff in real life"

Of course, there was bound to be at least one or two students who hated studying.

...but well, what he said did make sense. Most of the stuff we learned wasn't even useful for those of us who didn't plan on pursuing such a career path.

"Exams are next week. Study hard, or you're going to have regrets when the results come out."

Turning around, a student replied.

"yeah, yeah, it's not like you'd understand my struggles..."

Being reprimanded, the student that complained could only grumble to himself as he went back to studying.

In the end, it seems like he was just venting out his stress.

Lightly glancing at the duo, I shook my head.

Regardless of what world you were in, there would always be a guy who hated studying and a guy who loved studying.

I was neither.

I didn't dislike studying nor did I love it.

I just studied for the sake of it...well, that was what I initially thought.

However, looking at the question that was presented before me, I couldn't help but slowly start leaning towards the no-studying group.

[Suppose a <D> ranked monster, Metal Fanged Magelodon attacked you in the middle of the ocean. How much force do they exert each time they bite, and point out their weak points on the diagram below. Extra point : What is the primary psyon flow of the Metal Fanged Magelodon and what is the fastest speed it can reach underwater?]

I was stumped.

I had no clue where to start. Was this really going to be on the exam?

...I don't even remember writing about this monster inside of the novel.

I mean, there were so many monsters that I had to remember that I could barely even think straight at this point.

I understand that they want us to learn this in case we actually met this monster in combat so that we would be able to deal with them accordingly if the situation presented itself.

...but with current technology, finding the information about the monster shouldn't be hard at all.

Just a quick cross-reference with the monster encyclopedia in the app and all the information would be presented before me.

...well in all fairness, I guess it did help in situations where the phone couldn't be taken out or that there was no battery left on the phone.

Dammit, world.

If you're going to write questions regarding monsters, at least make it so that I knew something regarding them. Don't give me questions on relatively unknown monsters.

Ruins the whole point of me being the author and using that as an advantage.

Ding dong—

In the midst of my rant, at that moment, the bell rang signaling the end of the class.

The class was technically a review class, but in reality, it was just a self-study class as there was no professor supervising the students. In any case, as soon as the bell rang, almost all of the students got up from their seats and left the class. It was evident that the majority hated studying.

I, of course, planned to follow them back to the dorm. What was the point of studying in a classroom when you had no friends?

In the end, apart from Kevin and a couple of other people, everyone left the class.

...

And like that, it was the day of the exams.

Surprisingly I wasn't nervous.

Apart from the fact that an artificial lake appeared beneath my feet, I really showed no sign of nervousness.

"Hey, man did you cram all night?"

"Yeah, I didn't sleep the whole night"

"How'd you think you'll do?"

"Not sure, hopefully, I'll pass"

Listening to the people besides me conversing, the butterflies in my stomach intensified.

...I didn't cram.

Not because I didn't want to, but from past experiences, I always tended to perform badly when I crammed.

Just wasn't something that worked for me...

7:55 A.M.

Glancing at my watch, I knew that I had five minutes left before the exam.

A long line had already started forming by the entrance of the classroom.

In front of them, a professor holding onto a tablet patiently waited for the students before doing the register.

Fidgeting with my hands, I nervously looked around in hopes of finding something to distract myself from the wait. Five minutes felt like an eternity

'If only I had something that could help me determine what was going to be on the tes-'

Pausing my thoughts, my eyes shot wide open.

...hold up.

Why didn't I think of this before?

Quickly rummaging through my bag, I took out a thick red book.

-Flip! -Flip! -Flip!

Without skipping a beat, I flipped through the pages of the book

[State the theory of unbounded monster relativity. Write down the proof as well]

As Kevin looked through the papers, without pause, he quickly compiled the answers on the white answer sheet in front of him.

[What degree of control would someone need in order to determine the circulatory flow of their psyon link in their body? How much was the link...]

"kukuku..."

Looking through the red book, I couldn't help but find myself laughing histerically. Almost like an evil dictator that had successfully completed his plan.

Instantly all of my worries washed away.

Cross-referencing with my phone, I quickly memorized everything that I could memorize in that short time frame.

It seems like the world had finally taken pity on me!

I now had a proper shot at getting a good grade.

"Student ranked 1550 Ren Dover?"

Five minutes on the dot, the professor called for me. Helpless, I could only put the book and phone away and say

"Present"

With that, I entered the exam hall, and as I did. I couldn't help but be reminded of the hellish days when I had to enter the exam rooms back in my previous world.

...

"How did you think you did?"

"I think it was alright. I'm confident in my chances of passing"

"I got a question on Valdev's law, I seriously forgot about it"

"You go that? I got a question on Zlorav's law"

Staring at the students happily conversing as they left the class, a defeated smile appeared on my lips.

Every step I took felt as if a solid thick piece of lead was stuck on them.

I miscalculated once again...

Just when I thought the world was finally answering my prayers, it went and fucked me over like never before.

Turns out every student had different questions.

...yeah

The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

Fortunately, I somehow managed to answer all of the questions. However, because I was caught off-guard, I lost some valuable time.

Now I really had to pray for a passing grade.

If I didn't, I'd have to redo the test again later in the summer.

...and honestly.

Wasn't too keen on doing that. Especially since I had a lot of things I needed to accomplish.

Sigh

In the end, after letting out a long and exhausted sigh, I went back to my dorm. The midterms were far from over

I still had to prepare for the upcoming practical exams.

fortunately, unlike with the theoretical exams, I knew what the next exams were about
dungeons...

Yeah.

We had to do a solo run of the school dungeon. The test scores were based on the time it took for students to complete the run...

The faster the run, the higher the score.

Unsurprisingly, in the novel, Kevin and Jin took the top spot. With timing that went along the lines of one hour and a couple of minutes.

A far contrast to the average of the other runners that took approximately 2-4 hours.

True monsters....

Chapter 99: Midterms [3]

-Beep! -Beep!

In a remote area of the academy, standing in front of a large portal, a group of students nervously stared at the professor before them.

"Students please form a single line"

As the professor spoke, a thick wave of residual magical energy emanated from the blue portal that was a few meters behind him. Though it wasn't overbearing, it still caused every student present to feel some form of pressure.

[Cave of Everbloom]

That was the name of the dungeon in front of us.

It was a multilayered dungeon, meaning that it had different levels of difficulty, with the highest being <C> rank, and the lowest being <G> rank.

Because of how the dungeon had different levels—the Lock desperately fought for the ownership of the dungeon.

It was the perfect place to train students.

With the dungeon having the same layout regardless of the level of difficulty, it was a perfect dungeon to assess students' performance.

Moreover, it was also capable of fairly assessing students regardless of their rank. If you were <G> ranked, you would have to enter the dungeon in <G> difficulty, and so on with higher ranks...

This way, there was no element of unfairness as the monsters and layout were the same with each dungeon difficulty.

Thus, in reality, this test was used to assess a student's combat ability rather than talent.

"Alright, everyone please pay close attention to what I'm saying as safety always comes first."

Standing by the side of the portal, gathering everyone's attention back to himself, the professor spoke.

"Standing behind me is the dungeon that will be used for your practical exam for the midterms. The dungeon as most of you know is called Cave of Everbloom, and it's our academy's own dungeon..."

Pausing and staring at the students before him, the professor continued

"For your practical assessment, in order for you to pass, all you have to do is get to the other side of the dungeon. Simple as that...Just crossing over is considered a pass."

"However, for your grade, you will be assessed on two things."

Raising two of his fingers, the professor tone became stern

"Time taken for you to reach the end of the dungeon, and how many monsters you kill throughout the raid. For each extra monster you kill, you will be given an extra point and so on."

Pausing once again to make sure that everyone understood, after a couple of seconds, the professor continued.

"There will be third and second years hidden inside of the dungeon. This is so that in case you find yourself in trouble, they can quickly come to your aid. This is a safety precaution that the school has done to make sure none of you die."

Looking at the students before him, the professor's voice turned grave

"However, be warned..."

"If the second and third years are forced to make a move, you will either have points deducted from your overall score or you will automatically fail the exam...

"...So don't think that just because your life isn't in danger you shouldn't put the effort in the raid. If you're negligent, that's your score gone."

-Gulp!

Finished with what he wanted to say, the professor noticed a lot of students swallowing a mouthful of saliva. It was evident that most of them were nervous.

Not minding it, as he was used to such situations, taking out a transparent orb from his dimensional space, the professor presented it before everyone.

"This orb here will measure your current rank, so once I call your name please put your hand on the sphere. Soon after the sphere measures your rank you will be assigned to your respective dungeon difficulty.."

Standing a couple of meters away from the professor, my eyes were drawn towards the orb the professor was holding.

'The orb of identification'

A special artifact that measured someone's rank.

It was created through the usage of an old dried-up monster core and essentially measured someone's rank through the flow of mana.

I won't go too much into detail with regards to how it measures the stats of a person, but in short, depending on rank, the orb will shine different colors.

— G : Blue

— F : Yellow

— E : Green

— D : Red

— C : Pink

Those were the respective colors that represented a person's rank. Anything above <C> rank required a different measuring tool, as the orb of identification was merely a tool that measured an approximate rank of a person. It wasn't actually very accurate.

Holding onto a black tablet, the professor's stern voice resounded across the space.

"Student Rank 1, Kevin Voss, please step up"

Called up, Kevin slowly walked in the direction of the professor. Arriving before the orb, Kevin looked at the professor and asked

"Do I put my hand on the orb?"

"Yes"

Nodding his head, under every student's anticipated gaze, Kevin placed his hand on the orb.

-Vuuuuuam!

Unsurprisingly, as soon as Kevin placed his hand on the orb, a tremendous red hue enveloped the surroundings.

D rank.

That's what the red color symbolized.

A rank that no first year should ever come close to. At least not until the end of the first year.

Looking around, I could see every student present staring at Kevin's back in shock. Surprisingly, the calmest person was actually Jin, who didn't seem to care about the fact that Kevin was <D> ranked.

...I was honestly pleasantly surprised by this development.

Normally Jin would've already been clenching his jaw and glaring at Kevin like there was no tomorrow...but it seems like he really did change as Kevin told me back in Hollberg.

"Done"

Soon after Kevin removed his hand from the orb, silence prevailed in the surroundings. Everyone was looking at him in utter shock. The professor included.

After a couple of seconds, recovering from the shock, the professor spoke

"D-D rank...student Kevin Voss will go to the D rank section of the dungeon"

Not minding the attention he was getting, Kevin nodded towards the professor and headed back to where the students were.

Staring at Kevin's figure for a couple of seconds, snapping out of his daze, the professor looked at his tablet and continued

"Student Rank 2, Melissa Hall, please step up"

.

.

.

"Students Rank 3, Jin Horton, please step up"

.

.

.

...and so like that, everyone's rank was measured.

Apart from Melissa whose rank was F, Jin, Amanda, and Emma, were respectively assigned towards the <E> graded difficulty of the dungeon.

"Rank 1550, Ren Dover, please step up"

Finally, it was my turn.

Not minding the stares coming from certain individuals, I walked up to the professor who was holding onto the orb

"Please put your hand on the orb"

Nodding my head, I slowly placed my palm on the orb.

-Vuuuuam!

As soon as I placed my hand on the orb, I felt a weird suction force coming from the orb. Soon after, without me needing to do anything, the mana inside of my body circulated.

A couple of seconds after the mana inside of my body circulated, a green hue enveloped the surroundings.

However, a couple of seconds after the green hue appeared on the orb, it was replaced by a pale yellow hue.

Just moments before the hue turned yellow, as soon as the green hue enveloped the place, some of the people around me couldn't help but gasp in shock.

It had to be noted that green symbolized <E> rank. For me, a relatively unknown person, to suddenly show up with <E> rank stats, would definitely surprise everyone.

...however, the green hue soon turned yellow indicating that I was <F> ranked.

Because this wasn't the first time this event happened, everyone quickly recovered from the shock allowing me to sigh in relief.

...seems like the orb liked to play tricks on me.

Frowning slightly, the professor shook his head and said

"Student Ren Dover, please make your way towards the F area"

"Alright"

Nodding towards the professor, I headed back towards where the students were gathered.

Fortunately, because the device was not very accurate, it could only measure a relative approximation of my rank. Meaning that people only knew that I was <F> ranked, but not whether I was <F-> <F> or <F+>.

...and I liked for it to be that way.

Though me reaching <F-> was still sort of unreasonable, it was still not as unrealistic as me reaching <F+>. Especially since I was ranked <G-> a couple of months ago.

This was good...

Though I had gathered more attention towards myself, it was still not a bad idea for me to make people think that I was weaker than I actually was. This way I could still make people underestimate me.

...Unlike Kevin who brazenly showed everyone he had reached <D> rank.

Thinking back, I think it was from this point on that he truly started being targeted by the likes of Gilbert and other jealous students.

Tsk.

This was exactly why I didn't like to expose my strength.

Too much trouble....

Chapter 100: Midterms [4]

"1...2...3...8...15...23...47...53"

Counting the students present in the line designated for the <F> ranked students, the professor quickly scribbled something onto the tablet in his hand, and lightly mumbled to himself

"...that's a significant increase compared to last year's batch"

Nodding his head in satisfaction, putting the tablet away, in a stern tone, the professor spoke up.

"Alright, all of the 53 students in the <F> level difficulty, please listen up."

"As I have already explained the rules before, I won't go into too much detail with regards to what you need to do. However, I do have to remind you that you will all be sent to the same dungeon at the same time. Meaning that, yes, you can cooperate with one another..."

"We won't stop you from collaborating with someone since, in real dungeons, such situations often occur."

Pausing slightly, the professor squinted his eyes and his voice turned serious

"...and yes, with the fact that you can collaborate with the other students, it also means that you can also interfere with another persons' progress. After all, the person who reaches first also gets an additional bonus point."

"So, not only do you have to watch out for the monsters inside of the dungeon, but you also have to watch out for the people next to you."

Pausing and glancing at all of the students before him, smirking slightly, the professor said

"You better watch out...in dungeons, no rules exist. What may seem like your teammate moments before can quickly turn and backstab you when you least expect it...such situations aren't very rare occurrences inside of dungeons"

With dungeons being places that had no cameras, situations where your ally would betray you as soon as the chance presented itself wouldn't be all that surprising. Especially if something tempted them into doing so-

As the professor's words flowed through everyone's ears, all the students present took a step away from the person near them. Their eyes were full of vigilance.

Human greed was boundless...You never know what would happen if you weren't alert.

Glancing at the students who were now wary of each other, a satisfied smile appeared on the professor's face.

"Enough of that. I'm going to go brief the other students now. You have five minutes to prepare yourselves...if you're planning on choosing a teammate you better choose yours carefully...bye now"

Finished with what he wanted to say, turning off his tablet, the professor headed towards the next group.

Watching the professor leave, with his arms crossed, Arnold glanced at the students beside him.

Immediately disdain appeared on his face. None of them were worthy of teaming up with him.

...in fact, he didn't need to team up with anyone. Arnold was confident no one would be able to beat him.

That's how confident he was in his abilities.

To him. No one was a competitor.

As he was looking at the students, Arnold's eyes soon paused on a certain individual.

Snorting to himself, Arnold couldn't help but clench his fists.

"Hmph, to think that bug has also reached the F rank..."

Although Arnold was currently <F> rank, he found it unbelievable that the student he had previously disdained had reached a similar level to his in a mere two months.

...Especially since he had promised young master Jin before that he would've taken care of him.

Time was almost up...

Frowning, Arnold couldn't help but recall young master Jin's odd behavior. He was much nicer than he had ever been in the past...

He would no longer beat him to vent out his bad mood, nor was he spoken to as if he was someone beneath him.

...he almost treated him like an equal.

Thinking thus far, Arnold couldn't help but feel his heart thumping in excitement.

Acknowledged.

Thats' how the current Arnold felt.

He felt that the current Jin had finally acknowledged his hard work and dedication.

All of his hard work had finally paid off.

Jin now finally treated him like someone who was worthy of following him...

Staring at Ren in the distance, Arnold couldn't help but recall the conversation he had with Jin two months prior. Before Hollberg.

...at how Jin wanted him gone

Yes...

Since Jin had asked for it, now that he had been acknowledged, he must use anything within his power to satisfy Jin.

Be it kneeling down, washing his clothes, to cleaning up bugs. He was prepared to do it.

Arnold was prepared to do anything that was asked of him...

Staring at Ren in the distance, Arnold licked his lips.

'You must pay a price for offending someone you shouldn't have...'

...

"Hmmm?"

Picking my ear with my pinkie, I noticed a couple of stares coming in my direction.

Honestly. I couldn't be bothered to check who they were from.

My mind was already focused on what was to come.

According to what I remembered writing in the novel, this dungeon was located in a cave-like setting, meaning that there wasn't much room to maneuver the body freely.

Moreover, the visibility inside of the dungeon was also low.

I still vividly remember writing this part of the novel hence why I knew a lot of what was to come. With Kevin being <D> rank, the level of difficulty was on a much harder level. Though I didn't know the full layout of the dungeon as I never dwelled too deeply into it, I knew what monsters were present, their weak points, and where the traps were located.

...this was good.

Thinking thus far, I started thinking about what else I could do to optimize my score.

I think drifting steps would definitely give me an edge compared to the other students, however, there was a problem.

I needed to kill monsters.

With drifting steps, because the speed increased as time progressed. If each time I ran, I killed a monster, I would definitely lose all the momentum I had gathered. Especially since I couldn't kill whilst run at extreme speeds.

This meant that I would lose a lot of momentum every time I killed a monster... which was not good.

It also had to be noted that drifting steps was still not in the minor realm of mastery. Meaning that I wasn't very adept at using this skill.

...This further complicated things.

I also had to take into account the fact that I wasn't confident in my written score. With me having wasted a lot of time, I wasn't too sure on high of a score I could get.

...I definitely had to score high on this exam.

Thus not killing monsters wasn't an option.

What do I do?

"Alright, everyone please pay attention to me"

Snapping me out of my thoughts was the loud shout coming from the professor.

"I will now open the portal. Once you enter, you will automatically be transported towards your designated post. At the entrance of the dungeon, there will be another instructor that will give you some equipment and another short briefing on what to do and what not to do"

Pausing, glancing at every student present, the professor's tone became incomparably grave.

"Please make sure you listen to whatever they say as it may save your life...no human is perfect. We may not be able to save you on time, thus you must listen carefully to what they tell you as it might save your life."

Glancing at every student present to make sure they understood, the professor nodded

"Have a nice trip..."

Finished with what he wanted to say, glancing towards a staff member wearing a black Lock uniform on the right, the professor nodded in his direction.

Nodding back, the staff member pulled a lever.

-Vuuuuam!

Right after the lever was pulled, the glow around the portal intensified as the residual magical power being emitted from the portal quadrupled in magnitude. The air around us solidified due to how thick the mana in the air was.

Staring at the massive portal before him, the professor moved to the side and gestured towards a certain group not so far from where I was.

"G ranks first..."

-Vuuum! -Vuuum! -Vuuum!

On cue, after seeing the portals light up, the students standing in line for the G ranked section entered the portal one by one.

As I stared at the students entering the portal, I couldn't help but notice how their group was much bigger compared to the other groups.

It seems like there were a lot of <G> ranked students present...

Like that, for the next five minutes, students would enter the portal one by one in a single line.

"Looks like everyone entered... please change the dungeon level"

After making sure that every student had entered the portal, glancing towards the left, the professor gestured towards the staff member on his right to once again switch the dungeon grade.

Nodding his head, the staff member once again pulled the lever

-Vuuuuuuuuuuuam!

Soon after, the blue hue surrounding the portal intensified. The air around the portal further thickened, and solid threats of mana slowly sank their way into the portal. It was obvious that the portal difficulty increased.

Without glancing at the portal, the professor glanced towards his tablet and said

"F ranks, off you go..."

-Vuuum! -Vuuum! -Vuuum!

Right after his words entered the student's ears, one by one, the <F> ranked students entered the portal.

"Fuuuu...."

Glancing at the students who were entering the portal, taking a deep breath, and staring at the large portal before me, I too stepped into the portal.

-Vuuum!

'ah....let's get this over with'

Chapter 101: Midterms [5]

-Vuuuuam!

Taking a step into the dungeon, I felt the world around me twist.

It first started with my eyesight...everything became black.

Then it was my hearing, my sense of touch followed soon after....thereafter all my remaining senses disappeared.

I felt nothing.

It felt as if I was an insignificant speck of dust drifting in a lonely space.

I soon after lost my sense of time.

...What may have been seconds felt like an eternity.

-Vuuuuam!

"Fuuuuuu...."

Finally, after an unknown period of time, hearing the faint sound of my breathing, I knew that my senses were returning.

Because I had been through this situation before, back in the black market dungeon, I was somewhat able to adjust to the shift in sensations.

Unlike last time, I didn't puke this time.

Opening my eyelids, I found myself inside of a damp and dark environment.

Instantly, a heavy scent of granite invaded my nostrils. Soon after, a cold gush of air brushed against my skin.

Glancing around, I found many students grimacing and holding onto their stomachs—Trying their best to not puke.

-Blaaargh! -Blaaargh! -Blaaargh!

...well, there was always bound to be a few who people who couldn't hold out.

With dungeons being off-limit to people who didn't have Hero licenses, apart from a few, most of the students present had never been inside of a dungeon. Their reaction was understandable.

Arriving and standing before us, a second-year student with a green Lock uniform, warmly smiled towards us.

The student had short curly black hair that gently fell towards the side of his face, and his deep black eyes that seemed to carry a hit of warmth perfectly complemented his hair. He didn't look particularly outstanding, but he seemed to be an amiable person instantly giving people a good impression of him.

As he spoke, his deep yet pleasant voice traveled through each of the student's ears calming them down.

"Alright, fellow students, I'll give you five minutes to recover before I'll start the next briefing."

As soon as his words entered the student's ears, most of the students managed to regain their bearing.

Surprised by this development, staring at the students who seemed to have suddenly magically recovered from their nausea, I fell into deep thought. Glancing at the air around me, I soon came to a realization

'The thickness of the mana around us increased...I see, the second-year student must have embedded mana into his voice creating a calming effect...'

Interesting...

The second year before me successfully caught my attention.

...To be able to affect someone's mood with just a few words.

Scary.

This was especially so if they were against you.

With just a few words, they could influence your state of mind. Imagine being in a battle and you suddenly found yourself losing the ability to think properly because of how angry you were...

This can result in the opponent potentially making more mistakes...Just like what had happened with Alex back in Galxicus.

Glancing at him with interest, I couldn't help but think of recruiting him into my mercenary group.

Though he never appeared in the novel, I couldn't help but be fascinated by his power.

His power was definitely interesting...

A pawn or an important piece?

...I'll have to observe more.

"Okay, now that everyone is better, I will keep this short. My name is Benjamin Hor and as you can see from my uniform I'm a second-year student. I will briefly explain to you a couple of important things that you will need to know to ensure your safety as you start the examination, so please bear with me for a minute"

Pointing towards his left where a set of gray combat suits were laid on the floor, Benjamin said

"On my left over here, are a bunch of clothes that you will need to wear when crossing the dungeon."

"They are equipped with a tracking device as well as a defense mechanism that is able to withstand blows coming from E ranked monsters at least once. This way we can preserve your life in case a dangerous situation arises."

Pausing, and glancing at the students to make sure they understood what he had said, Benjamin smiled

"After I finish briefing you on a couple of more things, you will be given a couple of seconds in order to change into those combat clothes. Please make sure you wear them as they are crucial in keeping you safe..."

...and like that, Benjamin briefed us on a couple more things.

To be honest, after hearing the first part, I pretty much stopped listening. It was just the usual safety precaution rules that I was briefed back in the dungeon of the black market.

Nothing particularly important.

After talking for a couple more minutes, smiling, Benjamin glanced at all of the students and concluded.

"...Alright, that's pretty much everything for now. Please change into your combat suits and wait for me at the starting line of the dungeon"

Nodding my head, I took a gray suit and quickly changed into it.

Obviously, there were two piles, one for men and one for women. As I put on the suit, I couldn't help but be reminded of the suit I was made to wear back in the virtual reality class.

Though it wasn't as tight, it wasn't any better as I felt my body become stiff.

At the front of the suit, several black pads made out of special shock-absorbing materials were attached to the chest and abdomen areas of the suit, as well as the knees and elbows, and other important areas of the body.

They were specifically put in those areas to cover the more vulnerable parts of the body.

As I moved around with the suit on, though it was uncomfortable at first, I quickly got used to it.

Arriving at the starting line of the dungeon, I did a few stretches to warm my muscles up.

-Bump!

"Huh?"

As I was stretching, feeling someone bump into me, I turned around. Soon I saw Arnold's figure standing a few meters from where I was standing. Glancing at me with utter disdain, he slowly uttered

"You better watch out inside of the dungeon...since there are no cameras you never know what might happen..."

"...Okay"

Smiling politely, I nodded my head and moved a few meters back.

He still hasn't given up huh?

That's fine by me.

...I've already thought things through before.

Along with the many other stares, I had noticed his stare back at the ranking evaluation. Compared to the other stares, his was the only one that contained obvious malicious intentions in it.

...I think Jin hadn't had told him about what had happened back in Hollberg. Maybe because it slipped his mind or because he thought my rank was higher, Jin still hadn't told Arnold about me.

This was good.

Thinking back. I think the rest of the guys just like Jin, probably thought I was going to be ranked higher.

I guess in the end they still thought I was hiding my strength as faking a rank with the orb wasn't that hard.

There were certain artifacts in circulation that could limit someone's mana flow making it so their rank was lower, however, doing so would take a long time and it was extremely painful hence why most people refrained from doing so.

Honestly, I'm glad Jin didn't say anything.

I still had a grudge against Arnold for what he did to me back when I had just arrived. In the Virtual world.

Though his parent's background was greater than mine, now that Jin was out of the picture, I didn't have to worry about him targeting my family.

Even if he did...yeah.

...Now that I had gotten a better understanding of this world, I knew of many ways to destroy him. I didn't have to fight him head one. I could just manipulate what was around him in a way that his life would turn into hell...

Pausing my thoughts there, lightly glancing at him from the side, I smiled inwardly.

'You should be the one that should watch their backs...'

"Alright, it seems like everyone is here"

Standing by the side of the cave, Benjamin glanced at the students who were waiting behind the starting point of the cave.

The way the students were huddled up together reminded him of marathons.

At the front were the more confident students, and at the back were the less confident ones.

Pausing, and after seeing that everyone was ready, raising his hands, Benjamin slowly said

"On your marks get set...Go!"

-Beeep!

-Swooosh! -Swooosh! -Swooosh!

Like a chain reaction, all of the students started sprinting forwards.

Despite there being no light ahead of them, the students fearlessly ran through the cave-like environment. Completely forgetting that this wasn't a race and that this was a dungeon.

Watching the students run with all their might, I shook my head.

Naive.

Running ahead of the others in the beginning was probably the worst decision someone could make...especially since this was an unfamiliar environment with no knowledge of what laid ahead of them.

-Kehuuuk! -Kehuuuk! -Kehuuuk!

...and right on cue. A few meters ahead of me, where most of the students were, yellow eyes appeared everywhere.

Stopping, and glancing towards the mass of eyes in the distance, I couldn't help but mutter

"The midterm exams have finally begun."

Chapter 102: Midterms [6]

-Khuala! -Khuaka! -Khuaka!

Like a tsunami, green-like creatures of shorter-than-human stature with flat and long hooked noses, bat-like ears, and malevolent expressions with twisted smiles appeared from every corner of the cave.

"W-hat's that?"

"Are th-ose globins?"

"Hiiii"

Surprised by the unexpected development, the students at the front immediately stopped running and huddled up together.

With their backs against each other, they each raised their weapons and nervously looked towards their surroundings. Goblins appeared en masse everywhere they looked.

"W-what do we do?"

"I-i don't know"

Despite goblins being the most common monsters inside of dungeons, they were still dangerous creatures.

With their excellent sense of smell, hearing, and tendency to hunt in groups, many aspiring heroes fell because of them

...lest needed to be said about students who had no experience of being inside of dungeons.

"We-re sorroun-ded"

Staring at the numerous goblins blocking their paths, one of the students couldn't help but say as his voice shook.

"S-something is defi-netly wrong. H-how can there possibly be so many goblins inside of a <F> ranked dungeon. W-we're all going to die!"

He wasn't the only one who thought of it that way, as almost everyone at the front shook in fear.

I mean, although it was dark, the number of goblins before them counted to at least a thousand. How were they supposed to fight with that many goblins?

"Move aside you bunch of wimpy primates"

Indifferently walking ahead of the students, Melissa's figure appeared holding onto a long metal spear with flame engraving at the tip of the spear.

Without giving a chance for the students to figure out what was going on, leaning backward, Melissa adjusted her position and proceeded to throw the spear in her hand.

-Swoooosh!

Like a bolt of lightning, the spear traveled through the sea of goblins leaving behind a red trail of flames...

-Kacha!

-Booom!

Soon after, an explosion reverberated across the whole dungeon. The cave shook, and debris and dust flew everywhere.

As the debris cleared up, the students couldn't help but be stunned by what they saw.

"W-what?"

"Huh?"

The sea of goblins that was before them was no longer visible, and what replaced it was a single goblin wearing a mage mantle with an orb in its hand.

...well that's how it was supposed to look like.

Currently, its body was lifelessly sitting on the hard ground with a spear imbued on top of its head.

"I-s that a goblin mage?"

"W-hat?"

"So it was all an illusion?"

Regaining their bearing somewhat, everyone stared at the body of the goblin that was currently lifelessly laying on the ground.

They soon understood what had happened.

Everything was the works of a goblin mage. A more evolved and rarer version of a regular goblin.

The goblin mage had created an illusion to scare the students into thinking that they were currently facing a horde of goblins. It was a fairly common strategy they used to hunt down their prey.

It was also not that hard to spot if one paid close attention. All they had to do was look for the reflection that the orb the goblin mage made.

As soon as you spotted the orb, you could instantly find where the goblin mage was and thereafter kill it.

...We had learned this in class, but it was evident that most students had forgotten this beforehand.

Perhaps it was due to their excitement or their nervousness, but it seems like everything that the students had learned in class was completely forgotten.

Walking ahead of everyone, with the most gentle smile Melissa could muster, looking back at the students at the front she said

"Next time you're scared, don't block the paths for others. You're honestly a nuisance, so please either die or move out of the way. Thank you very much"

With that, without looking back, Melissa picked up her spear and dashed deeper into the cave.

Standing at the back, looking at Melissa's disappearing figure, I nodded my head repeatedly.

...ah, that's Melissa for you

Yup...yup...yup

Spitting venomous words with the most gentle face possible...only Melissa could pull it off.

Though I do have to say, despite the fact that Melissa was only F ranked, her power was no joke. Even I would have trouble defending against that throw.

I'd say two to three rings would do the trick.

"Let's go"

"Follow her"

Watching Mellissa leave, some of the students woke up from their daze and immediately followed from behind her.

"Huuuu..."

Glancing at some of the students that followed Mellisa's footsteps, taking a deep breath I too started moving.

Time waited for no one.

Since timing was one of the criteria used to assess the performance of the students, I couldn't waste any more time lazing about.

Channeling the mana inside of my body, I activated drifting steps.

Thereafter, as I moved forwards, with each step I took, the wind psyons beneath my feet would intensify.

Shortly after I activated drifting steps, I found myself freely running across the dungeon as my speed increased by small increments with each step I took.

-Wooosh!

"W-what was that?"

"Huh?"

Like a streak of light, I quickly and swiftly surpassed some of the students who were running ahead. Though I was still far from the first placed people, I was confident that I would soon catch up to them.

-Clank! -Clank! -Clank!

As I moved forward, the loud sound of students fighting against goblins appeared everywhere.

Moving my body slightly, I managed to somewhat dodge the battles...but I knew that avoiding fights wasn't an option.

...and I was right.

A couple of goblins soon appeared before me. Obstructing my path.

Because I was moving so fast, I didn't have enough time to stop. Hence, briefly glancing towards my surroundings to make sure no one was looking, I lightly tapped on the sheath of my katana.

-Click!

-Thud! -Thud!

Soon after, two green heads rolled on the ground. It all happened so fast that even if cameras were present, they wouldn't have been able to pick up what had happened.

Instantaneous.

Right after the heads of the goblins hit the ground, ten meters ahead of where the goblins were, I managed to finally stop my body from moving.

Jogging back towards where the goblins were, I quickly grabbed the heads of the goblins and tapped twice on the right area of my chest. Soon after, the heads disappeared from my hands.

...and as soon as the heads of the goblins disappeared from my hands, a large [2] appeared on the right side of my arm where a black band was located.

Checking my band, nodding slightly, rather than activating drifting steps, I jogged forwards.

The roads of the cave had become narrower, moreover, the ground wasn't flat making it hard for me to gather enough momentum without doing anything unnecessary.

...

Like that, for the next thirty minutes, I either passed students or hunted down goblins or the other monsters that tried to ambush me as I moved forwards.

'This is a good pace'

As I jogged, the right side of my arm had a large [55] engraved on it.

Though it was a lot, it was still far from the likes of Kevin and the rest. I mean, if I didn't remember incorrectly, Kevin came back with a score of 215 back in the novel.

...Therefore, 55 should still be within the cope of my abilities and thus prevent me from getting more attention.

But isn't, 55 already good? Not it wasn't.

79

That was my current goal.

I had estimated that this target would be the best in order to for me to achieve the top 100. That was with me taking into consideration that my written exam score would be below average.

Though hard, it wasn't impossible. Especially since I could freely use the [Keiki style] as no one was watching...well when I sure there was no one around. Pretty much the areas where the second and third years weren't present.

After a bit more hunting, I soon arrived at a fork road that separated into three different directions. Without even thinking about it hard, I quickly moved towards the right area

"Alright, let's go..."

Just as I was turning towards the right path, I heard a deep voice coming from the left side of my ears. Glancing towards where the voice came from, I soon noticed a tall individual with a buzzcut and thick glare.

...it was evident that he had purposely waited for me.

"There you are"

"...ah, how are you doing Arnold?"

Without responding to me, with his arms crossed, Arnold moved towards the middle of the cave. Obstructing my path.

"I've been waiting for you...."

Chapter 103: Midterms [7]

"I've been waiting for you..."

Slowly walking in my direction, Arnold smirked.

"...I should've taken care of you shortly after what had happened in the virtual world, but because of everything that had happened in Hollberg and the many other things going on with my life, I completely forgot about an insect like you"

"But worry not, now that I've remembered. I'm going to make sure you suffer..."

-Crack!

Cracking his neck, Arnold disdainfully looked at me

"Let's start by making you fail the exam"

Watching Arnold walking in my direction, raising my hands, I slowly backed off. Smiling wryly I said

"...ah, Arnold, let's talk things out. Let's not get physical shall we?"

"Yes. We will talk. But not with our mouths"

-Boom!

Finished with what he wanted to say, Arnold tensed his calves and propelled his body forwards. Like a bullet, he quickly appeared before me.

Noticing his actions, as I watched him appear before me, I couldn't help but curse out loud.

"Oh come on man! why must people always resort to violence!"

"Die!"

As Arnold arrived a few meters before me, I saw his huge fist heading towards my face.

Sigh

Sighing, moving my head to the side, the fist flew past my head.

"Huh?"

Soon after, before Arnold could make out how I had dodged it, clenching my fist and concentrating my mana there, I threw a punch towards his right upper area.

-Bam!

A shockwave swept the surroundings.

"Wh-khuuuaa!"

Before Arnold could even have time to react, my fist connected to his liver. Soon after, he found himself on the ground kneeling.

"kkhhhhhh"

As saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth, Arnold tried standing up.

But was a futile effort on his end. His legs refused to budge.

As he tried to move, it felt as though a jolt of electricity coursed through his body from his liver down to his right leg and up to his brain stem. Within about half a second of when my fist connected to his liver, Arnold found his body paralyzed on the ground. He was in complete agony, unable to breathe, stand, or think clearly.

No matter how much he tried to stand up, he couldn't

"It's pointless. I concentrated everything I had towards your liver area"

Staring at Arnold squirming on the ground, I slowly walked up to him and said.

"If you've paid attention in class...as the liver is one of the largest organs in the human body when faced with a stimulus, the liver releases both the body toxins it tries to filter and a very large amount of blood back into the body, resulting in your body completely shutting down as a means of self-preservation."

Squatting down, at Arnold's eye level, I grabbed him by the hair and slowly said

"...so regardless of how much you want to stand up, your body won't allow it."

Regaining some clarity, staring at me with wide eyes, Arnold couldn't help but mutter

"Y-ou, h-how?"

It had to be noted that despite the fact that he was caught off guard even though he never took his opponent seriously, Arnold shouldn't have been this hurt from a simple punch.

Especially since he specialized in defense. Unless his opponent had higher stats than him, it was impossible.

Recalling the fact that his target was only <G> ranked two months prior, he didn't believe he had higher stats than him.

It was impossible.

Moreover, the blow came too fast and too precisely.

...almost as if he had been waiting for that moment since the very beginning. Slowly he came to a realization.

"Y-ou, you've been waiting for this moment since the very beginning!"

Smiling, I didn't reply.

His analysis wasn't wrong.

I indeed had been expecting his attack from the very beginning.

With Arnold being a somewhat important character in the latter half of the novel, I thoroughly analyzed his fighting style.

...and when I did, I noticed that he had a habit of always starting a fight with a right hook. From there, it was fairly easy. With him thinking I was weak, I pretty much exploited the opening he created when he punched in my direction and hit him straight in the liver with the fastest and strongest attack I could muster.

What I did wasn't rocket science. It was just a simple analysis.

"Hmm? what are you trying to say?"

Pretending to have not have understood what Arnold was saying, I leaned my head forward.

"Let go of my he-ad!"

Glaring at me, Arnold with both hands on the ground tried to stand up.

...I said he tried, but it's not like I was going to let him stand up. Since I had the advantage, I wasn't just going to throw it away like that. Pulling him by the hair, I smashed his face on the ground.

-Bam!

"Khhhhhauuu!"

"Nope, stay down. You need to rest a little more"

"I'll kill you!"

With his nose dripping with blood, I soon found, to my surprise, Arnold's head lunging in my direction. Almost like he wanted to bite me.

"Wow!"

His action caught me off-guard.

Moving my head backward, raising my hand by reflex, a loud slap resounded across the empty space.

-Slap!

Staring at my hand that had turned red, I couldn't help but raise my voice at Arnold.

"My God, what is wrong with you Arnold? There's no need to resort to biting. What are you a monkey?"

"I-ll kill you!"

-Slap!

Slapping him once again, a red mark appeared on Arnold's face. Looking at Arnold, I apologetically said

"Arnold, I'm just trying to calm you down. Please don't take it to heart"

-Slap!

"As a rule-abiding student, it is my duty to help fellow students who are in trouble..."

-Slap!

Ignoring the fact that Arnold's cheeks were progressively getting bigger, I continuously slapped him in the face.

Like that, for the next minute, loud slapping sounds reverberated across the area I was in.

As I continuously slapped Arnold in the face, I soon saw tears streaming down from the side of his cheeks. They were probably due to the pain. But I didn't care.

He needed to be taught a lesson.

I was no longer the passive me from back then.

Although I still loved to not stand out, that didn't mean I would stand by and get abused like before. If my opponent was someone I absolutely couldn't pick a fight with I would endure, but if it wasn't...well, good luck.

-Slap!

After another round of slaps, lightly laughing I stopped. Arnold's cheeks were currently a dark shade of blue, and his eyes were completely hidden beneath his swollen cheeks.

Letting go of his hair, I stood up. Patting my body I jokingly said

"...Anyways, since you specialize in defense these slaps shouldn't hurt your right? Just take it as me caressing your cheeks gently"

"I-ll...kkk"

As Arnold was on the ground battered, although he tried to speak, because of how swollen his cheeks were, barely any sound came out from his mouth.

Ignoring him and glancing around, I sighed in relief.

Fortunately, no one witnessed what had happened. It most probably had to do with the fact that all the stronger students were already ahead, but currently, no one saw me 'educating' Arnold.

Of course, as I was 'educating' Arnold, I made sure to not overdue it. Altough the second and third years were here, they didn't actually know what was going on.

They were only here to either monitor some of the students or rescue them when they were in danger.

So, if Arnold showed any signs of being in danger, his suit would immediately light up, warning the second and third years of the fact that he was in danger. Only then would they move.

...Thus when I was 'educating' him like the good student I was, I had to be careful not to severely injure him.

"What's going on here?"

Just as I finished dealing with Arnold, a crisp and pleasant voice entered my ears prompting me to freeze on the spot.

"Huh?"

Soon, Melissa's figure emerged from the middle road of the forked paths. Glancing at me for a second, her eyesight soon paused on Arnold's sorry state

Coughing lightly, my mouth twitched.

"keuuumm...keummm...errr, would you believe me if I said he tripped?"

"No--hmmm"

Though Arnold couldn't see, his ears were working. As soon as he noticed someone coming, he immediately tried to speak. However, before he could do so, I immediately placed my foot on his face and stopped him from speaking.

"Shut up I'm talking over here"

"..."

Looking at the scene before her, Melissa was speechless.

I mean, it didn't take someone with a high IQ to understand what had happened.

Soon an awkward silence prevailed in the surroundings.

After a short pause, shaking her head Melissa proceeded to make her way towards the left side of the fork road.

"...Forget I even asked. I have no interest in your kinks. Move aside, I can't be bothered to watch your circus act any longer"

Pushing me away, Melissa slowly walked towards the left path of the forked roads.

Smiling, I waved at her

"Bye, have a safe trip"

"Tch"

Clicking her tongue in annoyance, Melissa quickly disappeared into the distance.

Watching her leave and enter the left road, I couldn't help but laugh inwardly.

'That road is a dead-end..'

"Aight..."

-Kacha!

After making sure Melissa had left, looking back at Arnold, I stomped my foot on his face. Knocking him out unconscious.

-Khueekh!

A couple of seconds after I knocked Arnold unconscious, my ears twitched and I soon heard the sound of goblins coming from the middle path of the forked roads.

Without a second thought, I quickly hid both me and Arnold in the corner, beneath a boulder. I then patiently waited for the goblins to come by.

-Khueekh! -Khueekh! -Khueekh!

"One...two...five...perfect"

Counting the goblins that passed by my direction, I managed to spot five goblins. A smile appeared on my face.

"huuuup!"

Without a second thought, jumping out from the boulder, I quickly appeared before the goblins.

-Khuaaak! -Khuaaak! -Khuaaak!

-Bam!

Catching the goblins off guard, using my fist, I precisely hit every goblin towards the middle of their brows. Their weak spots.

-khhhha! -khhhha!

Under my quick and fast punches, the goblins died instantly.

It wasn't even a fight...

"Done..."

Soon after the goblins died, without skipping a beat, I dragged their bodies towards where Arnold was and proceeded to stack them on top of him.

"Alright, this should be perfect"

Clapping my hands in satisfaction, I stared at Arnold who was currently buried beneath a pile of goblins.

When I killed the goblins, I made sure to not use my sword precisely so that it looked like it was Arnold who fought them.

"hmm...something isn't right"

Frowning, as I looked at Arnold beneath the pile of goblins, I fell into deep thought. It felt as if something was missing...

"Ah!"

Hitting my fist on my palm, I suddenly realized what was wrong.

-Kacha! -Kacha!

Arriving before the goblins, I started battering their body so that it didn't look like they died in one shot but that they had actually fought with Arnold.

...I almost neglected the obvious.

After a minute of battering, touching my chin, I nodded my head multiple times.

Flawless.

"yup, it definitely looks like he fought against multiple goblins at once and unfortunately lost after having fought with them with his life on the line..."

Since he wanted to fail me, I may as well reciprocate his intentions right?

-Bam!

-Kacha!

Glancing at Arnold one last time, I forcefully kicked him in the ribs. The sound of his ribs breaking soon resounded across the space.

-Beeeeep! -Beeeeep! -Beeeeep!

Soon after I broke Arnold's ribs, his suit turned red and beeping sounds started coming out from his suit.

"Bye now"

Satisfied, I immediately ran towards the right path.

00H : 27M : 67S

Checking my watch, I smiled.

'Still on track...'

Chapter 104: Midterms [8]

*Tsk*

"Another dead end..."

Clicking her tongue, Melissa glared at the cave wall that was blocking her way.

Turning around, she once again walked back towards the entrance of the fork roads, not minding the fact that the road was littered with goblin corpses.

"This way, I'm sure this is the correct path"

"Quick before the others catch up"

Along the way, Melissa would occasionally spot other students running down the path, but she didn't bother to even glance at them nor speak to them.

Since this was a competition, there was no need for her to tell them that this road was a dead end.

Moreover, with the fact that she was walking back, it was already painfully obvious that this was a dead end. Yet the students seemed to have completely brushed this fact off.

It was not her fault they were dumb.

Sighing, Melissa couldn't help but speed up her pace. After all, the faster the time the better the score.

As Melissa ran, she couldn't help but wish to get this over with.

In reality, she didn't particularly care about her exam.

Her specialty lied in the theoretical area, meaning that she had no interest in fighting. If not for the fact that her parents practically begged for her to enroll at the Lock, she would've never have come to this place.

"Damn this..."

If not for the fact that she choose the wrong path twice, Melissa estimated that she would've been first by a long shot.

She had wasted a lot of time...

Though she didn't particularly care about the exam, that didn't mean she wanted to botch it either.

Even if her specialty laid in the theoretical area, she still wanted to get a good score. After all, for a perfectionist like her, anything below Top 5 was a failure.

Fortunately, the dungeon was still long and thus she could still reach first place, but the fact that she wasted time irked her. Thus, without pause, she soon ran back to the entrance at full speed.

-Beeeeep! -Beeeeep! -Beeeeep!

As she reached the entrance of the cave, Melissa soon heard the loud and continuous beeping sounds coming from the other side of where she was.

Frowning slightly, slowing down her steps, she soon spotted three third years squatting down and treating a student.

...hm?

Getting a closer look at who the student in question was, Melissa was slightly taken aback.

...Wasn't that Arnold?

She recognized him instantly. I mean, he was Jin's lackey after all. Whenever Jin was present he too was present.

Though not anymore, with Jin always sticking around her whenever he had a chance, she had obviously seen Arnold several times in the past.

...He too annoyed her. Especially since all he did was lick Jin's ass

But why was he passed out on the ground?

According to what she remembered, Arnold, being Jin's lackey, was a fairly strong individual. Pretty much the same strength as her.

Before the trial started, she had estimated that apart from him, no one else would really pose a threat to her in terms of power.

So, how in the world was he in such a state...

'Wait...'

Recalling something, Mellisa couldn't but be slightly startled.

She had just remembered her encounter with Ren...prior to when she entered the left path.

Altough at that time she didn't know who Ren was beating up, due to how battered the victim's face was...she now had a feeling that it was in fact, Arnold.

That time, Melissa thought Ren was beating a relatively weaker student who had picked a fight with him.

She thought that the dispute was over an insignificant matter like the corpse of a goblin. Such disputed happened quite often, as every goblin head counted for an extra point for the exam.

Therefore she didn't stick around for too long and just went her way.

...but the last thing she expected was for 'that' student to be Arnold...After all, Ren didn't particularly strike her as a strong individual.

However, it seems like she was wrong...it turns out that he was capable of beating the likes of Arnold.

Arnold was a fairly muscular and tall male. Although she didn't get a clear look last time, as she looked at Arnold on the ground being helped by the third years, Melissa felt that this was the same body frame as the person Ren was beating up.

This sort of surprised her.

Though she was surprised to see Ren appear in the <F> rank section, she didn't put much thought into it.

After all, she did give him potions. With the aid of her potions, forcefully entering <F> rank wasn't an impossible feat...but seeing Arnold battered on the floor, it seemed like his combat strength wasn't to be underestimated.

To be able to one-sidedly beat Arnold...

Hard.

Very hard.

Even if you ambushed him, with how robust his body frame and defenses were, such an accomplishment was hard.

Watching the third-years applying ointment all over Arnold's face, Melissa frowned.

The more she got to know about Ren, the more she felt that he was strange. From the incident back in Professor Rombhouse class to the theory he had given her, and to the fact that he could easily bully Arnold.

Ren Dover had shown her many surprises.

Glancing at the third year carrying Arnold's body away, the frown in Melissa's face didn't lessen one bit.

Ren Dover.

He was definitely hiding something.

...

-Wooosh! -Wooosh! -Wooosh!

Inside of a damp cave-like environment, three streaks of light split the air apart, and a whistle arose.

-Spurt! -Spurt! -Spurt!

Soon after, green blood splashed everywhere as three goblins lifelessly fell down on the ground.

"Thanks!"

Putting her shortswords away, Emma, who was a few meters away from the goblins, glanced at Amanda who was a few meters behind her, and thanked her.

With both of them being <E> rank, they had naturally decided to team up. Moreover, with the fact that they were friends, they didn't need to worry about anyone backstabbing them.

Glancing towards the deeper end of the dungeon, Emma glanced at Amanda and asked

"Is Jin up ahead?"

"hm"

Nodding her head, Amanda responded

"He is with Troy"

Frowning, placing her hand on her chin, Emma couldn't help but ask

"Troy? If I remember correctly...he is the guy with yellow pupils and is always with Arnold right?"

"Yes"

Getting confirmation from Amanda, Emma's frown deepened.

"Honestly...that guy seriously creeps me out. Whenever I see him standing behind Jin, I always get this double-faced feeling coming from him."

Turning her head towards Amanda, Emma couldn't help but ask

"Is it just me who feels that way?"

Shaking her head, Amanda responded

"No"

She too felt a similar feeling whenever she saw Troy.

...He was dangerous.

Altough Jin seemed to be oblivious to it, Amanda, who always picks up on little things regarding people's behavior, noticed Troy always behaving weirdly.

Especially whenever he was with Jin.

He would always have a polite smile on his face whenever he was with him, but on rare occasions, his face would turn extremely serious.

Almost as if he had no emotions.

If someone didn't pay attention, chances were that they were going to miss this point, but Amanda managed to catch him doing it three times already.

Altough she knew that something was wrong, she didn't pry too deeply.

Considering how Jin always behaved, it wasn't strange for Troy to hate him...but now that Emma was also pointing it out, it seems like his shows of hatred had started to become more blatant.

...Amanda was starting to feel that something big was about to happen to Jin. But this was only her gut feeling. She couldn't confirm it.

"Ugh, enough talk about Troy, do you know what the others are up to?"

Snapping Amanda out of her thoughts was Emma who quickly cut the heads off of some of the goblins and put them into her dimensional space.

Handing some of the heads to Amanda, Emma continued.

"...I know Melissa is in the <F> leveled dungeon, so she should be fine. Kevin is also by himself in the D sec..."

Pausing her thoughts there, Emma couldn't help but frown as she muttered to herself

"...god just what kind of monster is he?"

She had known since Hollberg that Kevin had reached <D> rank, but recalling this fact once again, she couldn't help but once again be reminded by how ridiculous he was.

<D> rank at the age of 16?

Almost unheard of.

Even Jin who was extremely talented and full of resources was only <E> rank.

Just imagine how much of a monster Kevin was for reaching that level without being handed the same amount of resources as Jin.

After a bit of thinking, Emma couldn't help but say out loud

"...I'm sure that at the moment, no one in our first years can beat him"

Hearing what Emma said, Amanda nodded. However, a second after she nodded, she recalled something.

Hesitating for a second, looking at Emma, Amanda carefully said

"What about him?"

Tilting her head in confusion, Emma looked at Amanda and said

"hmmm? who are you referring to when you say him?"

"I mean Re-"

"Ah!"

But before Amanda finish speaking, Emma suddenly realized whom Amanda was speaking of and quickly raised her hand and blocked her mouth.

With her hands still on Amanda's mouth, Emma clenched her teeth and angrily said

"Don't ever mention that guy's name to me again..."

"?"

Taken aback by Emma's sudden outburst, Amanda found herself unable to speak due to her blocking her mouth. She didn't know what to do.

Moreover, just what did he do to piss Emma off so badly?

Stomping her feet in anger, not minding Amanda, Emma couldn't help but curse out loud

"ghhhh, just thinking about him pisses me off to no end, oh how I wish I could beat him to a pulp. Do you know what he did to me? He bas..."

Like that, for the next minute, Emma vented out her frustrations on Amanda.

In the end, Amanda could only helplessly stare at Emma as she ranted about her experience in the train ride.

"...and so that's what happened"

Finally venting everything out, taking her hands off Amanda, Emma quickly turned around and dived deeper into the dungeon.

"Let's go, I suddenly don't feel like talking anymore"

Glancing at Amanda behind her, Emma urged her to follow along.

Right now, any talks regarding Ren would immediately send her into a rage.

Recalling what had happened during her train ride back, Emma could feel her blood boiling. Just who did he think he was to ignore her like that?

The disrespect...

Ren Dover.

This was a name she wouldn't quite forget for a while.

Chapter 105: Midterms [9]

*Achoo!* *Achoo!* *Achoo!*

Yo, what's up with me today?

Is it really true that I'm immune to the flu?

I mean, I've been sneezing too many times lately. It's not even funny anymore.

In the end, I let it go as I had more pressing issues to take care of. Wiping my nose, I headed deeper into the dungeon.

As I headed deeper into the dungeon, I refrained from running.

Honestly, I was pretty much walking.

Currently, the armband on my arm had a large [79] displayed on it. After killing a few more goblins I pretty much hit my goal.

Since I've accomplished what I had set my mind to from the very beginning, the rest wasn't a priority. I didn't need to get a good time as I've already secured a high score for this examination.

Funnily enough, I think that even though I was walking, I was currently one of the fastest students.

I mean, on multiple occasions I've seen students pass me...but after a short bit, I would eventually surpass them as they would always be held back by goblins.

This happened so many times, that I estimated that I was pretty much one of the fastest people present.

Perhaps walking was the most efficient method...I mean, just let the students who were in a rush handle all of the goblins in your stead.

At this point, rather than this being an exam, it was just me having a leisurely stroll.

-Clank! -Clank!

"H-elp!"

As I was walking, I soon saw a student in distress. Squinting my eyes, I soon spotted him fighting multiple goblins at once.

'Two regular goblins and a goblin knight?'

Getting a better look at his situation, I soon spotted him being surrounded by two regular goblins and a goblin that was wearing a knight armor. A goblin knight

...yeah.

The further I went into the dungeon, the more variations of goblins I spotted. I saw a goblin mage on multiple occasions, a goblin knight, a goblin fighter...just why did there have to be so many types of goblins.

...okay, this was my fault on my end, as I was too lazy to come up with different monsters, but still...past me, couldn't you have been a little bit more original?

*Sigh*

In the end, I could only sigh at how unoriginal I was at times. To have considered this novel a masterpiece...I don't know what I was on at that time.

Either way, looking at the student who was desperately looking at me, I raised my hands and innocently said

"...Don't look at me, just having a leisurely stroll here."

I mean, his intentions were obvious.

Use me as cannon fodder for him to get rid of the goblins or transfer them to me. This way he could reap all of the benefits whilst I struggle to deal with the goblins.

...like the professor said, never trust someone inside of dungeons.

I've learned this lesson the hard way.

"Wh-at, help, I'm in danger here! H-ow can you let a fellow student fail? A-fter this we can work together"

Nodding my head seriously, I solemnly looked at the student before me and reassured him.

"You're going to be fine, the school won't let you die, so just hold on tight okay? You know what, I'll do you one better. Once I get out, I'll share your struggles with one of the professors, maybe he'll help you then okay?"

-Clank! -Clank!

"W-ait, no, help!"

Like that, I waved at the student and left. No matter how much he screamed, I just ignored him.

...honestly, his plan would've worked if I had a hero complex, but I didn't. Moreover, it really didn't take a genius to figure out his intentions.

Just the way he was positioning his body made his intentions obvious. If you were really in trouble, you wouldn't be facing the goblins at an angle, but you would be directly confronting them from the front. Moreover, the fact that his clothes were still without a single scratch made it obvious that this was a trap.

"Y-ou yo-u, I won't forget this"

Shaking my head, I couldn't help but say

"Yeah, yeah, that's what every third-rate villain says! Get an original quote for once!"

Soon after I said that the students' not so PG curses reverberated throughout the area I was in.

I didn't really care though, I was pretty much already near the exit of the dungeon.

...

-Spurt! -Spurt! -Spurt!

In a different dungeon, the figure of silhouette quickly moving through the narrow paths of the dungeon could be seen.

Occasionally, as the figure passed by the monsters present in the dungeon, without stopping, he would directly hack towards them and kill them precisely in one blow.

He was swift and decisive.

His every sword strike flowed like water, smoothly and seemingly with no lag in between each movement.

What was especially striking about the figure, were his two blood-red eyes that shone under the dark cave-like environment.

...he looked like the apex predator of the dungeon.

Ruthless. Whenever he passed, devastation would be left in his wake.

"Dammit, how is he so strong!"

A few meters away from Kevin, following behind him, three students wearing red-colored uniforms couldn't help but curse out loud as they saw the numerous monster carcasses by the side of the cave.

They ranged from goblins to kobolds and many other monsters that weren't present in the lower-end dungeons.

As they ran, trying their best to follow Kevin, one of the red-clothed youths couldn't help but say out loud

"Dammit! If we don't succeed in making him fail, we won't be able to get into the [Blood supremacy] faction. Let's pick up the pace!"

It was true.

The three youths that were following Kevin, were right now trying to accomplish a mission they had been assigned moments before entering the dungeon.

...Prior to entering the dungeon, they had been approached by several members of the [Blood supremacy] faction.

One of the top factions of the academy.

The reason they approached them was to offer them a chance to enter their faction. As long as they completed the task they had been assigned, they would be allowed into the faction.

Back then, after hearing what their tasks consisted of, they immediately agreed. To them, it wasn't something that was actually that hard.

'Stop Kevin from passing'

If they managed to succeed in making Kevin fail, they would be granted access to the [Blood supremacy] faction, which would bestow great honor upon their families.

Enticed by the offer, the three youth's tried their best to make things difficult for Kevin...however, they had severely underestimated how strong Kevin was.

As they ran, glancing towards the youth that just spoke, another youth couldn't help but shout back

"We're already doing our best here!"

"Then how in the world are we still slower than him despite the fact that he is fighting monsters too!"

"Dammit, I don't know!"

Listening to the two youths conversing, the last youth remained silent. After a while, he slowed down his pace and stopped.

"Let's stop..."

Noticing the youth's odd behavior, the two other youth's slowed down their pace and turned towards him.

"huh? What's going on Marcus?"

Glancing at the two youth's before him, after hesitating for a bit, the youth called Marcus spoke

"G-guys, let's just give up"

Opening their eyes wide, the two youths couldn't help but find their voices raise a few pitches.

"What! why!?"

Noticing the surprised expression of his two comrades, Marcus clenched his fist and said.

"I-if we can barely catch up, how are we supposed to prevent him from passing the exam?...he's a monster. I don't think joining [Blood supremacy] would outweigh the cost of offending someone like him..."

"like him?"

"Someone who is bound to reach S rank...no, SS rank"

"..."

"..."

Finished with what he was saying, silence prevailed in the surroundings.

The two youths couldn't find any words to rebuke Marcus with. They too felt that what he said had some merit.

Although they wanted to refute Marcus's statement with all their might, they couldn't. Especially not after witnessing firsthand how powerful Kevin was.

Kevin, with his talent, was bound to reach the S or SS rank.

It wasn't a matter of if, it was a matter of when...

"No!"

Clenching his fists, one of the youth's shouted

"We're already committed, we can't give up now"

Glancing towards Leo, the other youth, Karl, shook his head and stopped moving. Lowering his head in defeat, he said

"...no, Leo, Marcus is right. There's no point in going through this trouble to offend a potential SS ranked hero just to join a faction that might not even take us seriously...It's not worth it"

"What! Not you too Karl!"

Lowering his head, the other youth named Karl, apologetically said

"...Sorry"

Staring at both Karl and Marcus for a few seconds, Leo, the last youth, clicked his tongue and turned around

"Tsk, you both are a bunch of cowards"

Pointing at both Karl and Marcus, Leo said

"I'll report this back to the higher-ups...About the fact that you both pussied out at the last moment. Kiss your chances of joining [Blood supremacy] goodbye"

Without waiting for them to respond, Leo stormed off deeper into the dungeon.

...

"Fuuuuck!"

Cursing out loud, Leo clenched his jaws and fists hard.

How did he end up being paired up with two pussies.

What was so great about Kevin? Although yes, he agreed with them with the fact that he was bound to reach SS rank in the future...nothing was set in stone.

What if he died? Wouldn't they have just lost an opportunity to join a faction that would help them in the future? For what? a dead person?

Moreover, they were all <D> ranked. There shouldn't be that much of a difference between them.

"Bunch of cowards"

Moving forward, glancing downwards, he saw a pile of goblins carcasses on the ground.

-Kacha!

-Pu!

Kicking the goblin to the side, Leo couldn't help but spit at the goblin corpse and curse out loud.

"Fucking goblin"

-Khueeeka! -Khueeeka! -Khueeeka!

"Huh?"

Moments after he did that, multiple enraged sounds reverberated throughout the whole dungeon. The ground shook.

"W-what's going on?"

Moments after, in the distance, what met his sight almost caused him to have a heart attack. It was a sea of goblins with red eyes madly sprinting in his direction. Seemingly lost in rage.

"W-why ar-re there so m-many goblins!?"

Taking a step back, Leo opened his eyes wide. Soon after, he sprinted backward with all his might.

"Sh-it, help!"

Chapter 106: Midterms [10]

[Congratulations student rank 1550, Ren Dover —Time taken to complete dungeon 01H : 46M : 08S]

Exiting the dungeon, I soon heard the speaker on the side of the dungeon announce my result.

Glancing at the time, my mouth couldn't help but twitch.

To be honest, that was a lot faster than I had expected. Moreover, there was one teeny tiny problem regarding my score...

...and it was that I walked throughout the whole way out.

Yeah, I walked.

I never increased my pace once. My path was so unobstructed and unexciting that all I did was really just take a stroll.

I normally wouldn't have complained, but well...it just was so anticlimactic that I was at a loss for words.

...I guess not being Kevin really did make a difference. No unexpected events happened. I guess I was so used to things always happening to me that I had completely forgotten that I wasn't the protagonist.

Trouble wouldn't come knocking at my door unless I looked for it, unlike Kevin who was the opposite. he had trouble looking for him.

With regards to my timing, the only time I wasted was probably when I was 'educating' Arnold, but that barely took like 10 minutes.

As I got out of the dungeon, even though I probably scored amongst the highest of the first years, no one was paying attention to me.

Why?

"Quick get the healers!"

"Call for all <D> ranked members we can get, we've got a horde of goblins inside of the <D> ranked level!"

"We've received reports regarding multiple supervising students that are barely holding on"

...yeah.

Sort of forgot that was supposed to happen.

Somehow, I felt a bond akin to camaraderie towards the student that had triggered the goblin horde.

I too understood how it felt to be under the constant attacks of multiple enraged goblins at once...if I had to be honest, wasn't the greatest experience.

Glancing at the chaos that was ensuing, I shook my head and headed back to my dorm.

Since my score had been recorded by the school system, there was no need for me to stay behind. Moreover, I had a far more pressing issue at hand.

It was finally time I started planning for my future company...

...

A couple of hours after the goblin incident, Donna's office space.

"Haaaa..."

Having just come back from sorting out an incident that had just happened during the examination for the first years, Donna was exhausted.

"...who knew goblins had such a quirk"

Sitting on a large leather chair, in front of a large desk where multiple monitors were set up, Donna sighed.

*Sigh*

She had just come back from an hour-long meeting with the other faculty professors regarding a certain incident that happened in the <D> ranked difficulty dungeon.

A mass goblin horde of enraged goblins.

...In the end, after checking the body cams of the dungeon supervisors. They were able to find out two things.

One, what triggered the mass goblin horde, and two...the fact that the [Blood supremacy] faction had targeted Kevin.

In the end, although Donna wanted to do something with regards to the interference of the [Blood supremacy] faction, she couldn't do anything as there wasn't enough evidence.

At the end of the day, it was the student's word against theirs.

Unless they had concrete proof detailing their plan, the school board wouldn't move. Especially since the [Blood supremacy] group consisted of many powerful individuals.

Altough Kevin was important to them, as long as his life wasn't threatened, the academy wouldn't antagonize such a large faction.

"Dammit!"

...Just recalling the triumphant smirk Gilbert had on his face during the meeting, irked Donna to no end.

She was so close to sending I'm straight to the hospital.

But out of sheer willpower, she managed to hold back. More so because she remembered who his father was.

*Sigh*

Sighing once again, Donna turned on her laptop and replayed some of the camera footage she got from the supervising students inside of the dungeon.

Soon, a series of battles that were caught from the webcams of the second and third years in the dungeon trial was being played in front of the monitor before her.

The first footage she got was regarding Kevin.

Kevin's swordsmanship was just like what she had first seen back in the enrolment test.

Beautiful.

His every sword strike was light as a feather. However, beneath those gentle sword strikes laid a heavy destructive power that connected fluidly with his next move. Every time he hacked with his sword, the strike would appear and disappear constantly. Seemingly like a mirage.

Unless you were an expert in judging the mana flow in the air, his attack pattern would be completely unknown...making it especially hard to fight against.

Aside from that, whenever he fought without using his sword art, each of his movements was natural like flowing water. His swordsmanship was so well polished and sharpened that it seemed more suitable to call it a performance rather than swordsmanship.

It was evident that he had put blood sweat and tears in getting to where he was now.

...He wasn't ranked one for nothing. He was both talented and hardworking. The perfect student in Donna's book.

Next was jin. His attacks with the daggers were truly domineering and vicious. He stabbed directly at his opponent's heart and brutalized anyone who was constantly on the defensive. Using his speed to his advantage, he constantly cut, smacked, and stabbed every goblin that was before him.

Rather than a trial, it was more like a one-sided massacre.

After checking Jin, Donna then proceeded to check the logs of the more outstanding students. From Amanda, Emma, Melissa, Han Yufei, and many more.

...As she watched she scribbled down anything that she thought they could improve on. For example, Amanda tended to waste too much time replenishing her quiver whenever it ran out of arrows.

Donna thought that if she managed to reduce that time, she would become even more deadly for the opponents. Donna believed that the short time frame Amanda used to switch in between quivers could prove fatal for her...especially since it created an opening for the opponent to exploit.

She definitely needed to watch out for that.

Of course, Amanda wasn't the only one with flaws. Everyone had flaws. Kevin included.

...Therefore, for the next ten minutes or so, Donna wrote what she felt her students needed to work on.

However, as she was analysing the footage, she soon paused on a certain video.

"Him again?"

Appearing before the screen, was the image of a student leisurely walking down the dungeon.

He had jet black hair and deep blue eyes.

Though his looks weren't bad, he looked average in every way...but that wasn't the reason why Donna was paying close attention to him.

Aside from the suspicious things that she had caught him doing during the Hollberg incident, the reason why Donna was surprised by the video was because of the student's expression as he walked...

"He looks bored...?"

Bored?

Yeah...he truly did look bored. Just his posture alone made her think so, as it carried no hint of wariness of his sorroundings. His back was hunched, and his arms were drooping on the ground.

Exactly how a bored person would look like.

Scanning through the camera footage, the only thing Donna saw was just him walking around the dungeon unobstructed, completely bored out of his mind. Like that, for the next five minutes, that's all Donna saw.

"What is going on? is there any more footage?"

After the first clip ended, taking out another file belonging to another supervising student, Donna quickly replayed the file and checked the footage for any signs of the student of interest.

"Same thing...?"

In the end, after ten more minutes of scanning, she was once again presented with the same image of him just walking down the dungeon bored out of his mind.

"Just what's going on?"

Why were there only videos of him walking and not fighting?

Something didn't add up.

Checking more files, Donna was once again presented with the same scenario over and over again.

"...just what"

The problem with the videos that Donna was shown was that the student in question barely appeared in them. He only appeared for at most five minutes in each clip.

There really wasn't that much footage regarding him.

...and this was mostly due to the fact that he wasn't a student of interest according to some professors. Meaning that not many second and third years were monitoring him, unlike the higher ranked students.

Therefore, he only appeared sparingly. Only when the third years were already present in that location recording from their body cams that footage of him appeared.

Other than that, everything else he did during the dungeon raid was a mystery...

"you could do that?"

In the end, after hours of footage, Donna was able to understand what had happened.

...and when she did, she was completely speechless.

Turns out that the student in question, because of the fact that he was walking, managed to avoid all of the monsters in his way. Each time he was surpassed by a student, they would immediately fight against the monsters that were ahead in of him. They were pretty much clearing the path for him.

This way, throughout the whole time he was making his way out of the dungeon, he didn't have to fight a single monster.

"...but wait"

Stopping the footage midway, Donna soon noticed something.

-Tap! -Tap! -Tap!

Quickly typing at her keyboard, Donna furiously looked through the series of data that displayed the scores of some of the students. Soon her eyes paused on a student's profile.

===============

Student : Ren Dover

Dungeon clear time : 01H : 46M : 08S

Head count : 79

===============

"Head count 79?"

...Just when did he kill that many goblins?

Throughout all the footage she saw, she never saw him lift a finger once. How was it possible for him to have such a headcount.

Something wasn't right...

Quickly cross-referencing with the footage she got, she soon found out that from time 00H : 57M : 29S, student Ren Dover, had a headcount of 79. From that point onwards, it didn't move.

Lightly licking her lips, Donna's brows furrowed.

'79 goblins in less than one hour...that speed is comparable to the the scored of some her best students...'

-Click!

After looking at the videos for a bit longer, closing down the tabs, Donna leaned back on her leather chair. Crossing her legs, she couldn't help but mutter to herself.

"Student Ren Dover, it seems that there really is something special about you..."

Chapter 107: Deals and feels [1]

Unaware of the attention I was getting from a certain instructor, I walked back to my dorm.

My mind was currently preoccupied with something that I had been meaning to do since back in the northern district.

...start my own company.

I had long realized that financing myself through one-time cash endeavors wasn't going to cut it.

I needed a more long-term solution. Something that would last me for a long time...

Hence why I was currently in deep thought.

I already knew what I was going to sell. It was a product that was still not out yet. A revolutionary product as some might call it.

'Mana cards'

A concept that only appears in the latter half of the novel, and sweeps through the market like a storm. Something that both villains and heroes crave.

An item that enables people to manifest spells without the need to actually learn the spells...

According to the timeline of the novel, it was currently only in the developmental phases. No, rather, it was probably still not there yet. Perhaps only the idea was there, but no one actually decided to go through with it yet.

Though I didn't know how to fully create them, as I never went into too much detail in my novel, I knew a general concept.

What resources were needed to create the cards, and the general concept behind how it worked.

Moreover, I didn't actually need to know all the details with regards to how to make them.

That wasn't my job.

...That was someone else's job. I would provide them with the concept and they would develop it for me.

That was the first part of my plan.

Of course, having a product wasn't the only thing required in order to set up a company. Though crucial, there were other things I needed, such as an outlet to protect and add value to my product.

Something that would give my company both protection and publicity.

...fortunately, I had already thought of a solution to my problem. Get a backer.

A backer that could both protect my product from competitors as well as bring a good name to it, and I knew just the right person in mind that could help me.

Thus, in order for me to carry out my plan of creating a company, I needed to get in contact with two people.

Melissa and Amanda.

They were the two people that would play an instrumental role in creating the foundation of my company.

I needed to contact Melissa with regards to the creation and development of the cards as she was the only person I knew who was smart enough to develop the product

...and regarding Amanda, I needed to contact her with regards to possible cooperation with her guild.

Rank 1, Diamond ranked guild Demon hunter.

...I mean, what better backer was there?

Unless you were another diamond-ranked guild, no one would dare touch my company. Especially not when it was sponsored by the number one ranked guild. An almost untouchable existence.

Fortunately, contacting Amanda wouldn't really pose a problem for me as I knew her character well. As I've said before, Amanda always paid back her favors.

...and she owed me one. After all, I did save her back in Hollberg.

Moreover, even if it wasn't for the fact that she owed me one, I was sure that the deal would go through as it would also be beneficial for her guild as it would help them gain another source of income.

Who would reject such an easy source of income?

Regarding Melissa, I also thought that getting her approval wouldn't be too hard since she would also gain another source of income. After all, financing her research endeavors wasn't going to come cheaply.

In the end, after contemplating for a long time, I headed back to my dorm to sort out my thoughts.

I needed to do a lot of planning.

...

-Click!

"Huuu..."

Opening the door to my dorm, I quickly slumped down on the white mattress of my bed. The way back to my dorm was uneventful. Nothing really happened.

Laying down on my bed, staring at the white ceiling of my room, I couldn't help but mumble to myself as my thoughts drifted in a different direction.

"hmmm...if I rank in the top 100 I would be granted a better room right?"

Though I wouldn't be in the 'Leviathan' building as that was exclusively for the top 10 students, perhaps there was a chance I could be upgraded to the Manticore or Hydra buildings? Right?

After all, if I did rank highly, I would stand out even more. A top 100 student in the horned sheep building?

That was like having the best footballer in the world play for a second-rate team. Just didn't make sense.

Actually, regardless of my rank, I needed to change my room. Even if I had to pay for the new room.

I needed my own private training room.

...I couldn't stand the training grounds anymore. Especially since I had to hold back whenever I trained there as I had to be careful not to reveal the sword art I was practicing.

After all, a five-star art was extremely sought after. Probably on the same level as a <S> ranked skill.

Its value was that enormous.

"What else..."

Frowning, I started thinking of all the things I needed to sort out by the end of next month.

"Recruit Ava, develop the basic concept of a 'magic card', set up company, somehow contact Kevin with regards to going to Immorra, Reach E rank, Mercenary stuff..."

"Ughh...Shit"

Holding my head with both hands, I couldn't help but groan out loud.

Just thinking of the things I needed to get done by the end of the month gave me a massive headache. Very depressing.

"Huuuu..."

After ten minutes of self depression, letting out an exhausted breath, I sat up straight.

"Alright, let's just solve one problem at a time"

No point in me complaining about life. Might as well get everything over with fast so that I had fewer things to do later.

...and out of all the things I needed to do, I first chose to complete the basic outline of the 'Magic card'

After all, without it, I wouldn't be able to set up a company.

"Where is my stuff..."

Glancing around the room, I rummaged through some of my drawers and took out a pen and a paper.

Sitting down on my desk, I quickly drew the rectangular outline of a card.

The concept behind magic cards wasn't that hard.

Simply put, they were cards that had spells engraved on them. Moreover, what made them special was the fact that they weren't a one-time-use item. They could be used many times before needing to be replaced by a new one.

"Monster core powder...Tulif leaf extract...Orc bone marrow extract..."

Listing all of the items required to create the card, I turned on my phone and looked for the prices of the items I was listing.

I needed to make a basic calculation of the costs of the production for each card. This way I could get a better idea of how much I needed to invest for the creation of the first batch of cards which I would present to my 'investors'

"30,000 U..huh"

After more than thirty minutes of research, I managed to get an approximate calculation of the cost of creating a card. The spell on the card was the <G> ranked spell Ice glaze.

Honestly, It was pretty expensive for a regular person to buy, but it wasn't too absurd.

Well, for big guilds, this was basically a lump change.

"Alright, that's doable"

Leaning back on my chair, I nodded my head multiple times. I of course would sell the cards for a higher price, but overall, I could already see this being a hit.

I won't go into too much detail with regards to the card as I too didn't know too much about the specifics, but essentially, using the items I had just listed, a medium that could be used to store mana could be created.

Through that, the medium could be turned into a magic circle through which a spell could be used.

Higher ranked magic circles could also be engraved on the cards, but as obvious as it may seem, the price would shoot up dramatically. Why? Simply because higher-ranked spells required more mana.

Staring at the white ceiling of my room, I couldn't help but chuckle to myself.

"...I guess I will earn the ire of all magicians after this huh?"

Altough everyone could wield mana, the ones that have the most affinity with it were magicians.

Through the usage of magic spells, they could invoke fireballs and many other supernatural phenomena.

If magic cards were introduced, I would essentially enable people to become magicians...I could pretty much already envision a mass of low-ranked mages protesting outside of my company building.

After all, with the introduction of 'Magic cards' no one would want to partner up with them in dungeons. I mean, cards were cheaper than hiring mages.

Of course, the protests would quickly die down after a while. Magic cards couldn't totally replace magicians.

It may seem like that at first, but as time passes and people realize that 'Magic cards' weren't as they thought they would be...magicians would once again be sought after for dungeon raids.

Especially since proficient magicians didn't need too long to cast spells, unlike the cards that required a bit of time to activate.

Moreover, magic cards required a lot of mana to activate.

Reason being that a lot of mana was wasted in the process of activating the card. In terms of efficiency, mana cards were not on the same level as proficient magicians.

...But I didn't care.

With the protection of the 'Demon Hunter' guild, I was without a doubt going to be safe regardless of whether there was a backlash or not. Plus, no one would find out I was behind the creation of the cards as I'll just use a pseudonym.

"Alright, I've pretty much finished with the framework of the card, now all I have to do is contact Melissa and Amanda"

After spending two more hours researching the cards, standing up, I stretched my back.

"...I guess I need to make a trip to the Leviathan building huh"

Guess I did.

After all, it was better if I didn't leave things for later as I had a lot of things to do. Moreover, that was where Melissa and Amanda were currently at.

"Welp, here goes nothing"

Like that, after washing my face in the bathroom, I headed out of my room.

-Clank!

Chapter 108: Deals and feels [2]

"Halt!"

Arriving in front of a large gate, obstructing my path, with a stern expression, a muscular individual wearing a black uniform with a Lock insignia on his right chest pocket appeared before me.

Lightly glancing at me, he said

"State your purpose"

Briefly glancing at the guard before me, instantly cold sweat appeared on my back. Though I didn't show it on my face, I could feel an immeasurable pressure emanating from the guard before me.

...He wasn't someone I could mess with. By my estimates, he was at least <B> rank.

'To think the guards protecting the Leviathan building were ranked this tightly...'

This just went to show how much emphasis was placed on the students placed in the Leviathan building. Their whole building was guarded by <B> ranked individuals.

How crazy was that?

Smiling politely, I responded

"I have someone whom I wish to talk to"

Indifferently glancing at me, scrutinizing my body for a couple of seconds, the guard apathetically asked

"Appointment?"

Momentarily taken aback, I couldn't help but ask

"Errr...that's a thing?"

...Hold on.

Appointment?

Why would I need to make an appointment to enter a dorm room? It's not like I was going to meet a famous CEO, or the school directors.

Noticing my confused expression, shaking his head, the guard sternly said

"It seems like you don't. I apologize, but I can't allow you to enter. If you want to gain access to this building, you must make an appointment beforehand."

"Wait, but I really do have to meet someone"

"I apologize"

*Tsk*

Clicking my tongue, after seeing that the guard wouldn't budge, I could only helplessly turn back.

Now what?

There was no way I could sneak inside of the building considering how secured that place was.

Did I have to give up and just look for another time to approach them?

*Sigh*

...I guess that was the only viable option I had at the moment.

Sighing, as I walked back, I couldn't help but kick one of the rocks on the ground.

Ridiculous.

Why in the world would you need to make an appointment to enter a dorm? When Amanda came to my dorm, I didn't see her making an appointment.

Discrimination I say!

Moreover, I never mentioned the fact that appointments needed to be made when entering the Leviathan building in my novel.

...was it perhaps because in the novel Kevin only used to interact with certain individuals and not the lower-ranked ones? Hence why such situations never occurred?

I wasn't sure.

Shaking my head, I couldn't help but curse at whoever made it to be that way.

"Hmm? Are you Ren?"

As I was heading back, hearing my name being called, without much thought I turned around to check who was calling me. I soon froze on the spot.

Soon after, quickly recovering from my daze, a large smile appeared on my face.

"Perfect timing!"

Hooking my arm around Kevin's shoulder, much to his confusion, I dragged him all the way back towards the entrance of the building.

"Help me out will ya"

"Huh?"

Heading back towards where the guard had stopped me last time, I fearlessly moved forward. Now that Kevin was with me, there was no need for me to make an appointment.

"Move aside, moving through with my best friend!"

"W-hat?"

Confused, Kevin couldn't help but glance at me. Seemingly looking for an explanation. But before I could answer, obstructing my path once again, the guard's loud voice reverberated throughout a five-meter radius.

"Halt! I've already told you that unl--Kevin?"

As the guard spoke, halfway through his sentence, the guard soon noticed Kevin next to me. Stopping halfway, he couldn't help but glance at Kevin in confusion.

Smiling wryly, Kevin nodded his head towards the guard.

"Ah, hello Ron"

Smiling at Ron, with my arm still on Kevin's shoulder, I specifically tried to emphasize how close my relationship with Kevin was.

"Hello, Mr. Guard called Ron, as you can see, I do have an appointment and it's with my friend over here. Kevin Voss"

"Hmmm"

Seriously glancing between me and Kevin, the guard's frown deepened. Turning towards Kevin he said

"Is what he said true?"

"Ehh..."

Speechless, Kevin didn't know what to say at first.

...He was just coming back from his elective when suddenly, near the entrance of his dorm apartment, he noticed Ren.

He had called his name out as he was confused as to why he was all the way near his dorm...little did he expect to be dragged all the way towards the entrance of his dorm by him.

He was really confused. Just what was going on?

Just as he was about to confront Ren, turning his head to the side, he was soon subjected to his pleading expression. Though smiling, his eyes were saying

'Say yes, say yes, say yes...'

*Sigh*

Sighing, Kevin couldn't help but shake his head.

'I don't even know why I'm doing this...'

Glancing towards Ron, Kevin helplessly nodded his head and said

"Yes...exactly what he said"

Taking a good look at both me and Kevin for a couple of seconds, Ron stepped to the side and said

"Hmmm, though I don't believe that's the true story, I have faith in your character Kevin, so I will let this one slide..."

Smiling apologetically towards Ron, Kevin thanked him

"Thank you..."

"Thank you!"

Like that, with Kevin next to me, I finally gained access to the Leviathan building.

-Clank!

"Wow"

Entering the building, removing my hand from Kevin's shoulders, I couldn't help but be in awe. The word 'luxurious' was an understatement in this case.

It felt as if I had entered a new world.

The Leviathan building was shaped in a semi-circle-like shape, where, in the middle of the building was an enormous park with benches, flowers, fountains, and trees. By the side of the garden, bars and other facilities were present, and staff members continuously serving students that sat outside underneath the sun could be seen everywhere.

The whole building looked modern and slick, and although I had still not fully entered the building, I could now understand why Kevin chose to remain top ranked.

This was just too good.

"So?"

As I was admiring the scenery before me, disrupting me from my daze was Kevin's questioning voice. Glancing at him from the corner of my eyes, I tilted my head and said

"So...what?"

Staring at the park, Kevin asked what had been bugging him since the beginning.

"Why did you claim to be my friend so that you could gain access to the building?"

He didn't understand.

Normally, if a person wanted to enter the Leviathan building, they had to make an appointment beforehand.

This was done for a certain reason. It was because the academy wanted to avoid situations where too many students would flock to the Leviathan building. With its top-end facilities, students would no doubt use this place as a hang-out spot.

The school had set up this place on purpose to be off-limit from the regular students. It was set up like this so that it could also serve as a motivating factor for the students to work harder. This way. students would work harder to get a better ranking and maybe, just maybe be able to enter this building.

It was sort of a reward for their hard work...

"...Well, I needed to talk to a couple of people."

Raising his brow, Kevin glanced in my direction and asked

"Who?"

"Ah, actually, I might need your help once again"

"...huh?"

Seeing the confusion in Kevin's face, I clarified

"Could you perhaps do me a favor and ask for Melissa to meet me down at the park?"

"Melissa? That Melissa?"

"Yeah that Melissa...by the way the cafe over there"

Nodding my head, I pointed towards the cafe in the distance. I decided to meet her at a cafe as I wanted to avoid being alone in the same room as her.

...That girl was dangerous.

"eh...Alright"

Confused, Kevin's mouth open and closed a couple of times. In the end, after a couple of seconds, he nodded his head.

Though Kevin wanted to know why he wanted to talk to Melissa, he didn't ask.

...he wasn't close enough with Ren to ask him about his business. Moreover, he remembered how Ren had saved his life once, so I guess helping him was a way for him to thank him for what he did.

*Sigh*

Sighing, Kevin took out his phone and quickly sent Melissa a message.

Kevin : [Someone called Ren Dover wants to meet you. He said to meet you at the cafe' inside of our dorm]

"...ah, make sure you include my name. Ren Dover. Melissa for sure knows who I am"

As I was watching Kevin typing, I made sure to remind him to mention my name. After all, I did talk to her before. She was bound to know me.

"She does?"

"I think so...probably?"

Now that I thought about it, did Melissa really remember me?

Yeah, she should.

Considering the fact that I had a few interactions with her in the past, chances were that she knew who I was.

...But thinking back at her character, there was a chance she forgot all about me.

hmm, that would be problematic

"She said she'll be down in ten minutes"

"Oh sweet!"

I guess she did remember me after all, I was needlessly worrying.

"Anything else I can help you with?"

Staring at the beautiful garden before me for a couple of seconds, glancing at Kevin, I thought for a moment before saying

"hmm, actually, I do have something to discuss with you too"

Pointing towards himself, Kevin skeptically said

"Me?"

"...yeah, but let's leave that for another time as it'll take a while"

Taking out my phone, glancing at Kevin, I said

"Do you perhaps have a phone number?"

"I do"

Looking at my phone, Kevin nodded his head. Of course he had a phone. Who didn't have a phone in this day and age?

"Alright, exchange it with me. I'll text you when the time comes. Trust me, you won't regret what I will offer you"

Taking my phone, Kevin typed in his number. He didn't put what I had said to heart. After all, he had a system. Unless it was a five-star manual or an <A> + ranked skill, there wasn't really anything that could catch his interest these days.

"If you say so..."

After typing his phone number, checking at the time, Kevin waved goodbye

"Alright, I have to go. I guess it's goodbye for now"

Nodding my head, I waved back.

"Yup, alright, see you later"

Like that, Kevin disappeared into the distance.

"huuuu..."

Watching him leave, I let out a long breath and made my way towards the cafe'

As I walked there, sitting on a chair outside of the cafe', I couldn't help but think to myself.

'It's a good thing I got Kevin's number. This way, I can find a way to convince him to bring me out of this world...'

After all, I already had in mind the thing that could convince him to bring me to Immorra....

Chapter 109: Deals and feels [3]

"Alright"

Sitting down on one of the chairs of the cafè, I patiently waited for Melissa to come.

To be honest. One of the reasons why I chose to directly go to the Leviathan building rather than section C to meet Melissa was so that I wouldn't be noticed.

Last time, although not much, I believe people did find out that I had met with Melissa. I did get stares here and there, but with people not knowing for sure what had happened, it ended there.

...but that was more than enough for me to feel annoyed. I was already getting plenty of unnecessary attention to begin with, I really didn't want any more.

In all fairness, their reaction was understandable, I mean, she was a very popular young girl after all. With how beautiful and smart she was, she was bound to be the center of attention from all of the boys in the academy. Be it junior or senior.

Fortunately, this time, I had come prepared.

I specifically chose to meet her at the Leviathan building. The most prestigious and high-end building in the whole academy.

Reason being?

Because, at the moment, only thirty students were officially part of this enormous building.

Yes.

Only thirty.

The top 10 from all years. First to third.

Moreover, with them being relatively prominent figures, respectively leaders or high ranking members of their own factions, they would rarely frequent this area. Meaning that this was at the moment, the safest and most unnoticeable place throughout the whole academy.

Plus, this was pretty much my only option.

Considering Melissa's personality, it's not like I could ask her to meet me somewhere in private. She would definitely reject it even she had goodwill towards me...which she definitely didn't.

Either way, although there weren't many students, there were still some, so I chose a rather secluded space inside of the cafè.

After all, even if exclude Melissa's popularity, we were going to talk about an extremely sensitive topic.

...Couldn't afford to let others know what our conversation was about.

As I was waiting for Melissa to come, after five minutes, I saw her figure in the distance. Raising my hand to let her know where I was, I said

"Over here!"

Spotting me from the distance, wearing a white blouse and long jeans, Melissa headed in my direction. Wearing thin gold-rimmed glasses, Melissa's elegant figure slowly walked in my direction.

As the sun brightly lit the surroundings, as she walked in her casual clothes, Melissa looked absolutely stunning. If not for her personality, I estimated that she would be even more popular.

Arriving before the area I was sitting in, taking a chair, she soon sat down and crossed her legs. Frowning, Melissa said

"Refrain from looking at me for any longer than five seconds please. The very image of you repulses me"

"..."

Speechless, before I had time to respond, glancing around, Melissa added

"I see, so you chose this place because you were afraid I'd do something to you?"

Shaking my head, with a smile on my face, I said

"Of course not"

She was spot on.

Damned witch.

Interlocking her hands together, Melissa rested her chin on top of her fingers. Looking at me, she said

"Anyways, let's skip all the pleasantries and tell me why you've called me here"

Nodding my head, rummaging through my pocket, I handed her the things I had worked on before.

Of course, the paper I had handed to her didn't contain everything that I wrote. Just a small percentage. After all, if the deal didn't go through, I didn't want her to steal my ideas.

...I just gave her a small fraction of the data.

"Right, here"

"What's this?"

Glancing at the paper I placed on the table, Melissa frowned slightly and took it.

"Something I've been working on"

Raising her brow, she skeptically looked at me

"...and?"

Nudging for her to open the paper with my head, I smiled mysteriously

"Just look"

Noticing my expression, the frown on Melissa's face deepened. She was almost tempted to not open it, but in the end, curiosity got the best of her and she opened it.

"hmm...huh"

As she skimmed through the paper, at first Melissa looked unimpressed. However, a minute later, her eyes opened wide and she sat up straight. Seriously looking at the paper in front of her, Melissa hand's couldn't help but tremble from time to time.

'Got her'

Watching Melissa quickly looking through the draft for the magic cards, a triumphant smile appeared on my face. She had caught the bait

"Y-ou, how much?"

After a solid minute, putting the paper down, Melissa tried her best to calm her uneven breathing.

This idea was something that she had been researching in her past time...but it wasn't as detailed as this. Moreover, she could tell that this wasn't everything.

Smiling, whilst leaning on my chair, I said

"How much for what?"

I knew that I had caught her attention.

There was a reason why I specifically chose Melissa for the card development..and that's because she was the one who created them.

When I said she was the only person smart enough to create them...I meant that literally.

Along with the many other inventions she had made, Melissa created magic cards. If there was one person I could rely on for the creation and development of magic cards, it could only be her.

"Cut the crap, stop beating around the bush and tell me how much for the idea?"

Placing my hand on my chin, I thought for a moment before shaking my head

"hmmm, actually, I'm not looking to sell this idea"

Taken aback, Melissa's voice couldn't help but raise a few pitches as the aura around her intensified.

"What? Then did you just come here to gloat to me about your brilliant idea?...it better not be that"

Technically it was your idea...but she didn't need to know this fact.

Noticing her souring mood, putting my hand forward, I continued

"No, actually, I'm looking to cooperate with you"

Soon after my words reached her ears, Melissa paused. Frowning, she asked

"Cooperate?"

"Yeah"

Placing her hand on her chin, Melissa questioningly asked

"...and what will our cooperation consist of?"

Smiling, I said

"You finish the product, I take care of selling it. Very simple right?"

Leaning back on her chair, Melissa fell into deep thought. Altough Melissa had only caught a glimpse of the idea, she felt that if she had more data to work with, she could really develop the concept written on the paper.

Moreover, with the money she could make from selling the cards, she could finance her more expensive projects...this was a win-win situation.

After thinking things through the inside of her head, seemingly having come up with a decision, glancing at me, she said

"hmmm...60/40"

Tilting my head to the side, I asked

"Sixty me and forty you?"

Shaking her head, she corrected

"No, sixty me and forty you"

Smiling, I shook my head.

"Sorry but no deal"

There was no way I was going to agree to such unfavorable terms. After all, the idea was pretty much almost complete.

Frowning, Melissa thought for a bit longer before saying.

"50/50"

Shaking my head once again, I looked at her in the eyes and seriously said

"ninety for me ten for you"

"What!"

Abruptly standing up, Melissa's <F> ranked aura rose from her body. It soon enveloped a meter radius of where we were standing.

Not minding her aura one bit, still sitting down with a smile on my face, I slowly said

"You very well know that you're going to make a lot of money off of this, so don't ask too much"

Even if she was earning ten percent, if the cards sold...the amount of money she could make would without a doubt be more than multiple times her current budget.

With how smart she was, she definitely knew this. She was just trying to test the waters, and I saw through her intentions.

Realizing that her pressure was doing nothing, clenching her teeth, Melissa's pressure decreased. After a bit of thinking, she firmly shook her head.

"...No, ten is too little for me"

*Sigh*

Sighing, I shrugged my shoulders. Standing up from my chair, I prepared to leave.

"Alright"

Taken aback, Melissa couldn't help but ask

"You're leaving?"

Nodding my head, I confirmed.

"Yup"

Caught off-guard by my abrupt behavior, Melissa became slightly flustered

"W-hat? Aren't you going to keep negotiating?"

"Nope, ten is already too much for me at the moment"

"Ah..."

Smiling inwardly, I pretended to not notice Melissa's slightly flustered appearance and waved

"If that's all, I guess it's time for me to head back"

Biting her lips, after a couple of seconds, weighing her options, Melissa softly said

"...alright I'll do ten"

"Nine"

Opening her eyes wide, Melissa glared at me and shouted

"What! Do you want to die? Didn't you just say ten?"

Shaking my head, ignoring her outburst, I said

"Sorry, changed my mind once again. Eight"

For a short moment, no words escaped Melissa's mouth. Soon after, her whole body shook. She looked to be on the verge of exploding. In the end, after noticing that I wasn't paying attention to her, gritting her teeth until the sound of her teeth grinding against resounded, Melissa angrily spat

"...give me the paper now"

Smiling, I knew that I had won.

Though I could've pushed it to 7%, I would've had to be prepared for my life to be on the line.

...Not sure if an extra percent was worth risking my life.

Taking out a contract that I had prepared beforehand, I handed it to Melissa.

"Here"

Angrily snatching the contract from my hands, Melissa did a quick skim of the contract before taking out a pen and signing it.

"...you better pray I don't see you around for at least a week, or else"

Laughing, I sat back on my chair and leisurely drank my half-finished expresso.

"Haha, no need to be so harsh, we're business partners now. That's not a good way to talk to someone whom you're going to be working with for a long time. Right partner"

Terrifyingly glaring at me, Melissa said

"...Say one more word and I'll skin you right here and right now "

"Sheesh, no nee-"

"Did you say something?"

"...nope"

Shutting my mouth I complied. Tough I won today, I still had to be careful. If I really did get on her bad side, no matter how prepared I was, I was bound to suffer.

After making sure that everything was sorted, taking the complete set of files regarding the magic cards, Melissa stood up. Glancing at me one more time, she squinted her eyes and said

"It seems like you're hiding quite deeply no? From Arnold to the theories and now this? I won't pry because I don't care, but you better not do something to jeopardize this deal...or else I'll make sure you suffer"

Soon after Melissa said that she directly left. It seems like she was eager to look through the things I had given her.

"Sure"

Watching Melissa leave, I couldn't help look back at the first time I met her.

That time I was a nervous wreck. Thinking about what would've happened to me if I got on her bad side scared me to no end.

...but after all that had happened to me these past few months, I do have to say that I really had gained a lot more confidence.

I was no longer scared of interacting with people, much less the protagonists.

...I guess my past life influence had caused me to become this cowardly self cautious person that had become extremely introverted and passive. I sort of trapped myself inside of this self-preserving shell that stopped me from getting hurt.

I guess with everything that had happened to me in the previous world, more so than not wanting to interact with them, I was scared of getting hurt.

'What if this world was fake?'

'What if one day I would wake up finding myself back in my own world having just woken up from a coma?'

'Would all of that had happened to me be nothing but a long dream?'

Those sorts of thoughts haunted me every day.

Now. Not so much.

I just refrained myself from thinking such things/

I realized that whether this world was fake or real, all that mattered was my happiness. Even if it was all fruit of my imagination...why must I hold myself back? At the end of the day, I was the one going through this experience. What did other people's opinion of me matter?

Glancing at the blue sky, I took a deep breath of fresh air.

'My life my rules, I won't stop at nothing to achieve my own happiness...'

Chapter 110: Deals and feels [4]

Shortly after Melissa left, I decided to head back to my dorm.

Altough I wanted to meet Amanda as well, after a bit of thinking, I refrained from doing so.

It was better if I approached her once Melissa was done with the project. After all, I don't think Amanda was capable of understanding the concepts behind magic cards yet.

I wasn't saying she wasn't smart. No, that was far from the truth. It's just that Melissa was on another level.

Moreover, it was better if I had a tangible version of the magic card before meeting Amanda.

This way, Amanda would be able to smoothly convince her father and the Demon hunter guild board members.

"Bye, guard named Ron"

Leaving the Leviathan dorm, at the gates of the compound, I made sure to wave goodbye to the guard from before. It wasn't a bad idea for him to remember me. This way, it would save me the trouble of explaining why I wanted to go in.

"hmm"

Indifferently glancing at me, Ron lightly nodded his head and proceeded to ignore me.

Not minding it one bit, I proceeded to head back to my dorm.

"What's next..."

On the way back to my dorm, I could cross the magic card project from my to-do list. Though it would take a while, I was sure Melissa would get it done sometime soon.

Next on my list...

"Should I try recruiting Ava?"

In all honesty. This task was going to be hard.

Not because she had some crazy dealings with some other guilds or that she was currently being held back by something.

...No.

The reason was that I really did not know much about her. In the novel, she could've been considered a low-end side character.

One that rarely shows up. I obviously didn't give her enough character development as a result of her low appearance in the novel.

...In my defense, I was thinking of developing her character when the time she showed up to fight the demon army came...but, well, I died.

Didn't really get to that part...

Thus, I was now facing a dilemma. What was Ava's past like, and what could I use to entice her to join me? Money? Fame? Strength?

I needed to know more...fortunately, I knew someone who could help me.

Taking out my phone I quickly dialed a number.

-Ring! -Ring! -Ring!

—Hello? Ren?

"Yo, Smallsnake"

—What's going on?

"I need help with something"

—Actually, before you say anything, I'm currently in the process of recruiting Leopold, so I might not be able to help you right away.

That fast?

As expected of my right-hand man. He gets things done.

"Ah...alright. Do you think you could do a background search on someone for me?"

—A background search? Hmmm, it depends on who

"Ava leafz, the profile I had previously mentioned I wanted to recruit"

Pausing for a second, a loud sigh could be heard from the other side of the phone. Soon after, Smallsnake responded

—...Sigh, you're in luck

"Hm?"

Confused, I couldn't help but tilt my head. Did he already do it?

—I knew this was going to happen beforehand so I had taken the liberty to do a background check on every member of the list of people you had given me

Opening my eyes wide, a faint smile appeared on my lips.

"How thoughtful of you Smallsnake"

—It's not me that is thoughtful, it's just that a certain someone seems to love dumping their work on me...

Listening to Smallsnake, though he wasn't here, I couldn't help but avert my eyes to the right and switch topics.

"Ah right, before you hang up, look up the profile of someone called Benjamin Hor, I found him to be quite interesting"

—Y-ou, did you just not even hear what I had said

"Khhhh...khhhh...what's that Smallsnake? khhhh..khhh...can't hear you prope-khhh, it seems like the signal is fault--khhh"

—Stop pret-

-Tak!

"Dammed signal!"

Turning off my phone, I put my hands behind my back and whistled my way back to the dorm.

If only the signal was better...

Well, although Smallsnake was complaining, I was sure he was going to get what I asked done.

It wasn't a coincidence that Smallsnake was named the group babysitter.

...

Next week, Monday, Class A-25

Sitting in my usual seat, I nervously looked towards the front of the classroom. For the past few days, nothing much has happened. I mostly spent most of my time training and coming up with a general framework for my company.

Mostly regarding its scale and how the chain of command would be.

I thought of letting Smallsnake take control of the company too, but I refrained from doing so.

I had already decided before that this company would have no correlation with my mercenary group.

...Well, at least on the outside.

In reality, it would be the biggest sponsor for my mercenary group.

...so after a lot of thinking, I decided to hire someone to manage the company. With regards to whom, I wasn't sure yet. I couldn't think of anyone yet.

Anyhow, that aside, today was the day that the results would come back.

Though I was confident in my physical score, I wasn't too sure with regard to my theoretical score.

Hopefully, it wasn't too bad.

"Okay, everyone, please quiet down"

Standing at the podium of the classroom, wearing a nice black suit that perfectly emphasized the outline of her body, Donna raised her hand to get everyone to quiet down.

Her hair was currently tied in a ponytail, and as soon as she raised her hand, her violet eyes shown slightly, immediately causing everyone to shut up.

Seeing that everyone was finally quiet, Donna continued.

"Though there was an unfortunate event in the examination, it all went without a hitch."

Taking out her tablet, Donna scrolled through it. After a couple of seconds, pressing on her screen, she looked at us and said.

"I have just sent you the results of the practical and theoretical exams. Soon, If you take out your phones, you should be receiving a message with the details of your exam and your scores..."

Glancing at her tablet, frowning slightly, Donna continued speaking

"Because of past complaints, we will not announce your results out loud. We will, however, not hide your new overall rank, so if you guys are curious about your friends ranking, you can see it in the class register"

It was to be expected.

After all, rank meant a lot in this academy.

It sort of dictated your standing in the social hierarchy. Therefore, though you could hide your scores, you couldn't hide your overall rank.

"Another reminder, please don't shout when you get your results back. Please keep calm and quie—"

-Ding! -Ding! -Ding!

Just as Donna was about to finish speaking, right on cue, multiple phone notifications resounded across the class.

Without pause, like everyone else in the class, I took out my phone and quickly opened my exam scores.

...Hopefully, I didn't fail.

=====================

[Exam result]

Student : Ren Dover

Theoretical exam rank : 1103/1908

Physical exam rank : 81/1908

Overall rank adjustment : 197/1908

=====================

"..."

Well, I guess I didn't fail.

Theoretical rank 1103 and Physical 81.

That was a big difference.

It also had to be noted that I was currently in the top two hundred, not the top one hundred...it seems like my theoretical score dragged me down quite a lot.

"huuuu..."

Massaging my forehead, I couldn't help but take a deep breath.

I couldn't be blamed for my low theoretical score. After all, I only had like four months to learn all the theoretical stuff that the students were supposed to learn from an early age.

Actually, the fact that I wasn't last was already considered a miracle. After all, I did need to memorize the traits of over a hundred monsters as well as practice a lot of advanced math for the engineering part of the exam.

...Fortunately, because the physical exam weighed more, I was still ranked 197.

Honestly, if I looked at the results objectively, it wasn't a bad score.

It was actually a really good score. Especially since I was previously ranked 1550.

Though I do think that jumping from 1550 to 197 was absurd, it actually wasn't that rare. At least not for the first semester.

Why?

Because apart from a select few, everyone that enrolled in the Lock started with similar strength. Only towards the second part of the first year would the difference in talent set the students apart from each other. At least in terms of rank.

...So although I did jump quite a lot, what I did wasn't something that never happened before.

Still. Even if I stood out as a result of my rank jump, I wouldn't have minded.

The reason why I increased my rank, to begin with, was to increase my popularity. I made it that way so that it would be a lot easier for me to recruit people in my mercenary group.

...Well, although I did fail to reach the top 100 as I had said I would, in a way, I think this was better.

This way, people would still not be wary of me. In a way that they would still underestimate me if they came across me.

Moreover, though I failed at achieving my goal, I could use this setback as a learning experience.

...That not everything went according to plan.

I was bound to face setbacks here and there. There was no need for me to brood over this matter any longer.

...I'll just be content with what I get.

Next exams I'll do better.

"Alright, now that you have all seen your exam score, I would like to inform you guys about another important issue..."

Pausing slightly, looking towards every student in the class, Donna slowly said

"It's about the multi-academy exchange"

huh?

Hearing Donna's last words, my head couldn't help but snap in her direction.

It was already that time?

Chapter 111: Exchange application [1]

"It's about the multi-academy exchange"

Listening to Donna, I couldn't help but massage my forehead.

...damn, with everything that had been going on lately, I forgot all about this.

hmmm, well, more than me forgetting about this, it was more like it slipped my mind. After all, we still had a couple of more months before this event would happen.

"As most of you know, during the month of March, we will have exchange students staying at the Lock for a month in preparation for the Multi-Academy youth tournament"

"This time, the academy has decided that only students from the four great academies will participate in the exchange, as the district and regional academies have agreed to exchange with one another..."

Listening to Donna speak, I couldn't help but find my brows knitting slightly.

The four great academies.

The four other human academies that could almost rival the Lock in terms of their educational system. Though they weren't on the same level, they were the closest substitute out there.

"Lutwik academy, Theodora academy, Kuzk academy, Vellon academy..."

Those were the names of the four great academies.

The human domain had five great cities. Ashton city, Park city, Lewington city, Dromeda city, and Conviction city.

Altough each city wasn't far from each other, because of the threat coming from beasts and villains along the way, it took about five hours for a person to make it to one of those cities. With Ashton city being the reference point.

Thus, if a person from one of those cities wanted to send their child to the Lock, they would have to send them all the way to Ashton city.

As a result of this, they may not be able to see their children for a very long time...

Some people were willing to do that for the sake of their children's future, whilst some couldn't do it.

Be it for economical problems, or the fact that they couldn't part ways with their children, some just couldn't send them all the way to Ashton city to make them join the Lock.

...and that became an issue.

A lot of talents weren't being nurtured properly.

Very talented individuals that could rival some of the most talented people in the Lock were being provided with lower-end education.

This was a big problem that cost humanity a lot of talented people.

Noticing this situation, each city mayor, with the permission and sponsorship of the central government, decided to set up their own academy.

One that would be the pillar of their city.

Of course, each city mayor wasn't selfless enough to set up an academy for the greater good of humanity. The main reason why they built their academy was to retain their talents and keep them in their city so that in the future they would become high-ranked heroes that represented their city.

After all, each city was currently in a tough struggle against the demons.

...and that's how the four great academies came to be.

Four academies that although weren't at the level of the Lock, were the closest thing someone could get to the Lock.

Lutwik academy — Park city

Theodora academy — Lewington city

Kuzk academy — Dromeda city

Vellon academy — Conviction city

"Anyways, although most of you know that information already, that's not the reason why I brought the topic up."

Pausing, Donna took out a pile of papers and placed them on the podium before her.

"Right here, on the podium before me, there are application forms that you guys need to fill in order to apply for an academy exchange with one of the four great academies.

"Since this year it's the four great academies' turn to do an exchange to the Lock, next year, during your second year, it will obviously be your turn."

...Right.

So basically in the month of March, our class will be filled with exchange students coming from the four great academies.

I already knew who some of them were as they were either going to become Kevin's ally in the near future or become Kevin's enemy.

Couldn't be helped. There was bound to be an arrogant person here and there.

"The exchange will only last a month or two, and just like this year, it will start two months prior to the Multi-Academy tournament..."

Squinting my eyes as I listened to Donna, I glanced at the papers on the podium.

Another word that had caught my attention as she spoke was the Multi-Academy tournament.

As the name suggests, it was a tournament between all academies in the human domain, be it four great academies, the Lock, regional, and district academies, they would all be there.

It happens at the very end of each academic year, and it wasn't like the usual tournament arcs where it would be a 1v1 tournament to decide who was best.

...No.

It was a tournament with many unconventional games such as the Code breaker, Academy virtual guild wars, Abyss scavage, Tower defense, and many more games...

Heck, one of the games was a retouched version of football.

In essence, the tournament was extremely unique. More so than it being something to display the individual achievement of each student, it was more to display the academic might of each academy.

It wasn't like those boring tournament games that you would usually get in novels where it just consisted of plain fighting.

No, it was very different from that.

Another thing about the Multi-Academy Tournament was that it would be broadcasted throughout the whole human domain.

Its popularity was enormous. Rivaling the Olympics and World cup of back then.

...and precisely because of its popularity, that tensions were high whenever the Multi-Academy tournament was near.

"Regarding the tournament, we will select applicants based on your performances by the end of the year...and from there we will place you in the first year squad that will represent the tournament"

Glancing at everyone in the class, Donna brushed her ponytail to the side and continued

"When we select you, you have no right to refuse. Two months prior to the tournament, you will be exempted from all classes and will be directly put under strict training from the best professors in the academy...and during that time you are training, according to your performance, you will be placed in a squad participating in specific games..."

As Donna' spoke, I couldn't help but notice a lot of the student's beside me breathing heavily.

...Their reaction was understandable.

After all, if they stood out, they would without a doubt gain both honor and fame, and if lucky, they could catch the interest of some of the top guilds.

This tournament wasn't just a display of academic might, it was also a chance for students to shine.

"Anyhow, tournament aside, by filling the application form right here, you are agreeing to an exchange program with one of the four great academies"

"I personally believe that this is a great opportunity for you all, as you will get to explore a whole new city as well as a new educational system that can rival that of our very own, here in the Lock...."

"The selection will be random, so don't expect to have your friends be in the same exchange academy as yours as there's a high chance that you will be assigned to different places"

Nodding my head as she spoke, I couldn't help but once again realize how bad of an author I was.

'The selection will be random'

With a deadpan expression, I couldn't help but recall the fact that Kevin, Melissa, Emma, Jin, and Amanda all ended up in the same academy during the exchange.

...yup.

So much so for random.

-Clap!

Clapping her hands to get everyone's attention, Donna smiled

"Alright, I think that's that for the announcements. You are free to take one application if you wish to apply for the exchange program..."

As she spoke, Donna started packing up her stuff. Leaving the application forms on the table, Donna briefly glanced at us before saying

"Once you're done, come find me at my office in section B. I've already told the guards that I'm expecting some students so just show them your ID card and they will let you in...I hope to see you later"

Like that, finished with what she wanted to say, Donna directly left the classroom.

"Get me one!"

"Me too!"

Soon after, like a swarm of bees, multiple students immediately headed towards the podium and took an application form.

Shaking my head at the sight before me, I patiently waited for everyone to take a form before taking one for myself.

Not gonna lie, the idea of going to another academy for a couple of months was tempting. After all, once Kevin and the rest went to their exchange, the plot wasn't going to move forward.

Might as well just study in another academy...after all, apart from a few things, the four academies were just as good as the Lock.

It was also not a bad idea to go visit another city whilst at it.

I wanted to spread my mercenary group'sinfluence there too.. After all, Ashton city wasn't the only important place.

Chapter 112: Exchange application [2]

7:32 P.M. Section B, Lock

Walking along the corridors that lead towards the professors office area, inside of the main building of the B section, I couldn't help but feel lost.

The corridors of the building seemed to stretch endlessly, and the numerous office spaces made it hard for me to find the exact location of Donna's office.

...I didn't know if this was because she was too humble or that she couldn't be bothered, but Donna, one of the few ranked heroes in the academy, decided to have a regular office.

One that was mixed within the masses of offices in the building.

"Office number 948...949...950...951...and it should be this one"

Arriving in front of an office space with the number 952 displayed on the side, I made sure to double-check with the data on my phone before knocking.

-Knock! -Knock!

...Didn't want to end up knocking on the wrong door.

"Come in"

A couple of seconds after knocking, Donna's crisp and pleasant voice traveled from the other side of the door.

"Excuse me..."

Heeding her order, opening the door, I soon spotted Donna sitting on her desk going through a pile of files. Without glancing at me, wearing a pair of glasses, Donna's brows were knit in a tight frown.

-Clank!

Closing the door behind me, I patiently waited by the side. It would be better if I didn't disturb her as she looked busy with something...

As Donna was busy sorting out some papers, I couldn't but glance at the office. It was rather small. About the size of a bedroom.

Decorations were sparse as apart from a calendar on the side of the wall, everything looked rather plain and boring.

...Right, there was also a small plushie next to her gray sofa on the side of the office. The lighting was also not that great. Altough there was a large window on the other side of the office, it was currently nighttime, hence why it was dark outside.

On top of the office, a small lamp lit the office space, however, its power wasn't very strong as the corner of the rooms were dark.

It was kind of sad.

"huuu...done."

Five minutes after I came in, exhaling slightly, Donna finally finished what she was doing. Stretching her arms, Donna took off her glasses revealing her two amethyst-like eyes.

Noticing that she was done, I coughed a couple of times to get her attention.

"keumm...keuhmm...excuse me?"

Surprised by my voice, Donna's brows shot up. Soon after, her head snapped in my direction.

"huh?"

Spotting me waiting in the corner of the room, Donna couldn't help but freeze for a couple of seconds. Shortly after, lightly sighing as she massaged her forehead, she apologized.

"sigh...I'm sorry, I was so immersed with my work that I didn't know notice you"

Smiling understandably, I shook my head

"It's okay"

I too had those kinds of moments where I would forget everything that was around me and immerse myself in my work.

...It was understandable.

Altough she did respond to my knocking, it seems like, at that time, she had subconsciously responded without being aware of the situation.

Plus, it's not like I could really get angry at Donna. She was after all a <S> ranked hero in the Hero ranking.

With just a glance she could flatten me on the ground...yeah, let's not get on her bad side.

Glancing at me from her desk, with her brows still knit, Donna asked

"...So what have you come here for?"

"I'm here to submit my application for the exchange"

Taking out the sheet she had given to us this morning, I showed it to her. Everything from top to bottom was filled.

"Yes, there was that..."

Nodding her head, Donna pointed towards her desk.

"Okay, put it on my desk here on top of the other applications"

Smiling, I complied and placed the paper on her desk. On top of a pile of papers filled with sheets that were similar to mine.

"Alright."

After making sure my application was neatly stacked on top of the files, I nodded towards Donna and proceeded to head out.

"Thank you very much, have a good day Miss Longbern..."

As I was heading out, halfway through my way back to the door, I heard Donna call out for me

"Wait"

"hmm?"

Glancing at Donna in confusion, I couldn't tilt my head.

Did I perhaps miss something with my application? Glancing at my application on top of the piles of papers, I couldn't notice anything missing.

...maybe something else.

As my confusion grew, staring at me, Donna slightly lowered her head and said

"Student Ren Dover, I would like to formally apologize"

Opening my eyes wide, I froze on the spot as a small audible gasp escaped from my mouth.

"huh??"

Why was she apologizing to me?

I was genuinely beyond confused at the moment. What did Donna do to warrant an apology?

Glancing at me, Donna had a meaningful look on her face.

"Let me be more clear. I want to apologize for immaturely assuming that you were slacking off with your training"

Snapping me out of my confusion was Donna's charming voice. However, hearing what she had said, my mouth couldn't help but twitch.

...ah, did she perhaps find out?

How?

I don't think she found out during the mid-terms as I was sure I beat up Arnold when no one was present...

I was sure that apart from Kevin and the others no one else should've known about my abilities

Actually, aside from the midterms, there was no other way she could've found out about...ah

Crap.

...now that I thought about it, there was one way for her to find out.

Because I focused primarily on making sure no one saw me, I completely neglected the fact that Donna could tell the time it took me for me to kill the 79 goblins...

Moreover, with me suddenly entering <F> rank, it was no surprise that she had caught onto something.

...However, I didn't know the full extent of Donna's knowledge regarding my abilities.

Hopefully, it was only to that point...

Reading my current expression, seemingly having confirmed her suspicions, Donna smiled and said

"Anyways, enough with that. I would like to ask you a favor"

"A favor?"

"Yes, a favor"

Once again, I was confused.

What kind of favor would a <S> ranked Hero, ranked 156th in the Hero ranking possibly ask of me?

With her influence, without a doubt, she could get anything she wanted. Therefore, what could she possibly ask of me, a sixteen-year-old student?

In the end, though skeptical, I nodded my head.

"Sure..."

Smiling even more after hearing my confirmation, playing the pen in her hand, with a faint smile on her face, Donna said

"I would like for you to participate in the tryouts for the Multi-Academy tournament in a month's time"

Listening to Donna's request, everything started to click.

Right, I understand now.

Professors had incentives. Be it for students achieving rewards or getting the best overall scores in the whole academic year, teachers would receive a bonus as compensation for their accomplishments.

...and therefore, as obvious as it may seem, there was also an award for the professor that managed to get the most students into the official squad for the Multi-Academy tournament.

Moreover, if the students excel in the actual tournament, their bonus would multiply by several factors. Therefore, with Donna having a rough estimate of my strength, she wanted me to participate so that she could get an extra bonus.

...in the end, I was put into this situation just for a measly bonus.

Just why?

Putting on the most beautiful smile I could muster, I nodded my head repeatedly.

"A months time huh...I think I'm going to be sick that day"

"..."

As soon as I said those words, silence prevailed in the office space. Soon after, Donna's eyes shone slightly, and instantly a slightly overbearing yet gentle pressure bore down on me.

"khh..."

Surprised by the sudden pressure, I couldn't help but let out a strange sound.

Fortunately, although she exerted pressure over me, with the fact that I was still standing, it was evident that she had gone easy on me.

Bitterly smiling, I couldn't help but ask.

"...do I have no other option but to accept?"

Amused by my reaction, snorting lightly, Donna said

"Of course you don't."

Resting the side of her cheek on her hand, Donna said

"However don't worry, I'm not going to ask you to do this for free...If you somehow pass the tryouts, I will personally coach you in preparation for the upcoming tournament"

"...hmm"

Frowning slightly, I fell into deep thought.

Getting taught personally by Donna. That didn't sound too bad.

...let's exclude her beauty aside. One thing that I had noticed in the past four months I had been in this world was that I lacked guidance.

Everything that I had achieved up to this point was by myself. From reaching <F+> rank to reaching the minor realm of mastery for both of my sword arts...all by myself.

However, things would've been much easier if I had someone guiding me throughout the process. Often times I would find myself stuck in front of a wall that I would have to break by myself in order to reach a higher level.

I know that I didn't have to worry about my rank not increasing, but regarding my sword arts...without guidance, I really couldn't achieve a higher level by myself. At least not at the pace that I wanted...

...If only I had someone to guide me throughout the process. Perhaps I would've reached a higher level of sword mastery than now.

Looking at Donna from the side of my eyes, I couldn't help but realize that she was indeed the perfect person to coach me. With her extraordinary abilities, altough she may not use the sword, she could definitely guide me into reaching a higher level.

In terms of mana mastery, she was definitely on a league of her own. I could definitely utilize her knowledge to improve myself.

Moreover, regarding the tournament thing...

Altough I disliked standing out, as long as no one found out about my real strength, everything was going to be fine. Moreover, I could just participate in the non-combat-related events, this way I wouldn't draw too much attention towards myself.

...and if I looked at this in a positive way, it could serve as good publicity for my mercenary group

*Sigh*

Glancing at Donna and seeing her expectant eyes, I could only sigh to myself. Bitterly smiling, I said

"What other choice do I have?"

"None"

Bitterly shaking my head, I eventually nodded my head.

"Alright, I'll be there"

Smiling widely, Donna took a paper from her bottom drawer and wrote my name on it.

"Great, I'll see you in class tomorrow. When the time for the tryouts comes, I'll let you know"

"Yeah..."

Nodding my head in defeat, I glanced at Donna for a couple of more seconds before heading out of her office.

I definitely lost this time.

This was probably the karma I got as a result of me scamming Melissa.

Chapter 113: Undercurrents [1]

"Pheeew..."

Sighing in relief, I exited the section B compound.

Donna's request definitely caught me off-guard. I had come there expecting myself to just hand in the exchange form and leave, but it seemed like Donna had other plans for me.

I was so caught off-guard that I didn't have enough time to properly weigh the benefits and the costs of the deal.

*Sigh*

Just remembering what had happened moments before made me sigh. However, thinking more about the deal that I had made with Donna, my mood brightened a little bit.

All in all, the reason I accepted was because at that time, the deal seemed to work in my favor.

...and now that I had more time to think, I couldn't agree more.

After all, Donna was going to be personally coaching me for a while.

Yeah, we would also have coaches training us for the tournament, but they weren't going to train us based on skills, but rather train us for specific games. It just wasn't the same.

...and although Donna didn't practice a sword's art, that didn't matter.

Her mastery over mana and psyon control was on a league of her own.

Sword arts didn't only focus on swords. No. Psyon control was one of the most important factors when practicing any type of art.

Let's take the Keiki style for example. In order for my sword movement to reach such unparalleled speeds, I had to coat my sword with wind psyons.

If I had better psyon control, I would estimate that reaching the Greater realm of master wouldn't take long.

Moreover, because of the fact that we were training mana control, I didn't have to reveal the sword art I was practicing...and it would benefit all of my martial manuals since better psyon control would improve not only the Keiki style but my other arts too.

...taking this factor into consideration, refusing would've been stupid. The deal was just too good to refuse.

Plus, there was another reason as to why I didn't refuse her. Why would I want to antagonize a ranked hero just for a measly tournament? Wasn't worth it.

After all, she only asked for me to pass the tryout, she never said that I had to be a key player. If I managed to become a bench player, I would pretty much get all the benefits with barely any effort.

There was no point in refusing if it'd end up with me having a bad relationship with her, as, after all, she could help me in the future if needs be.

I needed to build connections for the future. If I wanted to make it till the end of the novel, I couldn't just leave bad impressions everywhere I went because of my mindset. I needed to think long-term.

There were times where I needed to take a loss...well as long as it wasn't too big of a loss.

Though I said that, smiling to myself, I couldn't help but realize how favorable the situation was for me.

Though it looked like I took a loss, I really didn't.

I mean, as I said before. I never really needed to be a key player. All that was required of me was to pass, nothing else.

Realizing this, I couldn't help but lightly chuckle to myself.

She may have won the battle, but I've won the war...well, we both profited, so I wasn't too sure about that.

Regardless, now that that was over, it was time for me to head back to my dorm.

It was already late, and I needed to rest.

Along the way back to the dorm, recalling something, I typed something on my phone and sent a quick message.

It was about time I tackled my biggest problem...

...

Smoke filled the surroundings, as the color red enveloped the sky. The sound of falling debris could be heard everywhere as torn buildings and infrastructures appeared everywhere.

Obvious signs of skirmishes appeared everywhere as craters and gashes appeared on the empty streets of the current undisclosed location...

"Khhhh..."

With some difficulty, an elegant beauty got to her feet. Her skin was white as jade, and her long black hair gently fell to the side of her face. She looked absolutely stunning...however, there was something different about her.

...She had two long black horns on the top of her head.

Standing up straight, the Matriarch's elegant red gown was now tattered, and the outlines of her curvaceous body were revealed.

She stood expressionlessly in the center of the wreckage and surveyed the surrounding destruction, as well as the massive crater around her.

Silence covered the area she was in. The atmosphere was so stifling that it made one unable to breathe. Lest needed to be said to the demons kneeling beside her.

After her contractee, Elijah got killed a few months prior, the Matriarch found herself in a state of weakness.

During the time she was injured, searching everywhere and using her clan resources, the Matriarch found out that the one that was responsible for killing Elijah was Amanda Stern...daughter of the guild master of the number one ranked guild in the human domain.

...This news caused her to become helpless as in no way was her tribe able to contend nor even provoke such a behemoth.

However, as she went through the reports, she realized that what was reported was fake.

As Elijah was her contractee, she managed to somehow glimpse at the scenes before his death...and from what she saw, the real killer wasn't Amanda...no. It was someone else.

Yet no matter what she did to find out, she had no idea who was responsible...and in the midst of her looking for the real killer, she was suddenly ambushed by her fellow-clansman in hopes of overtaking her position.

Thus after a long and arduous fight, she somehow managed to come out on top.

...After fighting with her life on the line, having lost a part of her strength, the Matriarch found herself drained for energy. However, despite her current predicament, she couldn't show it on her face.

Forcefully swollowing the iron-like taste that coated the back of her throat, the Matriarch spoke

"...What have you got to say for yourselves?"

"Angeli-khhh"

-Vuam!

As soon as the Matriarch spoke, one of the demons kneeling on the ground tried to speak up, however, as soon as the first words came out from his mouth, an overbearing pressure enveloped his body completely.

Suppressing the demon with some of the last remaining strength she had, the Matriarch slowly said

"Oh? It seems like your respect for me has fallen so low that you no longer refer to me by my title huh?"

The Matriarch's full name was was Angelica von Droix.

The current head of the charm tribe, a subsidiary of the lust clan.

The reason for her current outburst was because she was currently the Matriarch of her clan. Being referred by her name meant one thing...the demon no longer recognized her as the Matriarch.

"...as soon as you got wind of my injury you tried to seize your opportunity, how sly"

As she spoke, Angelica's gaze was directed towards the few demons kneeling beside her. The latter's usually imposing and arrogant faces were now listless and filled with powerlessness. It was obvious that they were currently being suppressed by the Matriarch.

"To think that you would be so brave...and naive to think that you could stand up to me thinking that you could beat me just because I was injured...very brave"

As Angelica's bare feet moved around the demons, an imposing pressure slowly formulated around her body. It made everyone present unable to look at her in the eyes.

"...how disappointing"

Though she tried to hide the news about her injury from her fellow tribesman, she couldn't hide it for long.

They eventually found out. Thus they schemed behind her back so that they could take this opportunity to rise in the ranks...

Unfortunately, they had miscalculated. Altough Angelica had been wakened by Elijah's death, she was still, after all, a Baron borderline Viscount ranked demon.

...They never stood a chance against her, to begin with.

As her slender jade-like legs moved around the demons, Angelica slowly glanced at each of the demons beneath her. Smiling slightly, she opened her mouth.

"Were you just here to fight for my rank...or were you here for something else like..."

As she spoke, her every word caused the demons around her to shudder uncontrollably.

"N-no…"

Pausing slightly, Angelica's eyes squinted as she looked towards her left where a black coffin buried within the earth appeared in the central point of a small crater.

On it, were several pale skeletons hands outstretched towards a red gemstone embedded in the middle of the coffin. As the skeleton hands reached for the gemstone, it looked as though they were desperately trying to grab it, forming a strange scene where it looked like the skeleton hands were gently hugging the black coffin.

Glancing at the coffin, Angelica slightly muttered

"...The coffin of the cursed night"

-Vuam!

As soon as those words escaped from her mouth, her very presence shone like a star as a red hue that seemed to envelop the world cascaded towards all of the demons presents.

-Spurt! -Spurt! -Spurt!

As the red hue expanded, the demon's bodies pulverized into dust. They died instantly.

"Huuuu..."

Taking a deep breath, Angelica closed her eyes. Seemingly trying her best to recover her energy. A minute after closing her eyes, as if sensing something, Angelica's eyes slightly opened as she looked towards the distance

"What brings you here....Everblood"

Chapter 114: Undercurrents [2]

-Fwap!

Appearing from the other side of a tall building, standing in the air, a two-meter tall demon with two large bat-like wings covered the sun. Staring at Angelica from above, Everblood slightly laughed

"Kukuku, it seems like nothing escapes your perception, Madam Matriarch, or would you prefer it if I called you Angelica Von Droix?"

-Vooom!

As soon as those words escaped from Everblood's mouth, as if he had triggered Angelica's reverse scale, an overwhelming pressure bore down on everything that was around her. Everything that was around her blew away as fine miniature crevices appeared beneath the ground of where she was standing.

Staring at Everblood with bloodshot eyes, she venomously spat

"It seems like you have a death wish, Everblood..."

Noticing Angelica's expression, Everblood covered his mouth. From time to time his body would tremble as he tried his best to hold his laughter...in the end, he failed.

"Kukuku...kukuku...kuku-hahahahahaah"

"What are you laughing at!"

After a couple of seconds of maniacal laughter, wiping the tears that had appeared on the corner of his eyes, Everblood couldn't help but say

"...there's no need for you to pretend anymore"

"What are you talking about?"

Leisurely standing in the air, Everblood glanced at Angelica with slight contempt in his eyes.

"...That as of right now you are not my match"

As if Everblood's words pierced her heart, Angelica couldn't help but grit her teeth in anger. Staring at Everblood in the air, with her jaw clenched, Angelica angrily spat

"...so it was you who planned all of this?"

Pausing for a moment, whilst still in the air, Everblood shook his hands as he innocently said

"No, no, no, believe me. I'm innocent with regards to this incident."

"...Than what are you here for?"

Pausing, a wide smile appeared on Everblood's face. Glancing at the black coffin in the corner of his eyes, he slowly said

"...I'm just here to borrow the coffin of the cursed night"

-Vuam!

Instantly, the world around Angelica became dyed in red, as a humongous pressure bore down on everything that was within her vicinity. Taking a step forward, Angelica glared at Everblood.

"How dare you!-pfff"

However, before Angelica could finish her sentence, abruptly putting her hand on her mouth, black blood dripped from the gaps of her hands.

Noticing Angelica's predicament, licking his lips, Everblood couldn't help but chuckle as he slowly descended from the air.

"Ah...it seems like you've run out of gas, what a pity...kukuku"

"Y-ou"

Kneeling with one leg on the ground, Angelica gazed at Everblood's figure slowly descending in the air. A hint of helplessness appeared in her eyes.

Glancing away from Everblood, Angelica couldn't help but stare at the black coffin a few meters away from where she was.

The coffin of cursed night.

An ancient demon artifact that she was granted due to her meritorious deeds.

It had the miraculous effect of granting fast recovery as well as increase training speed. It was an almost god-like item that every demon below Viscount-rank would drool over.

Its value was tremendous.

If not for her tremendous strength, she would've never been able to keep the coffin until now. However, as soon as news of her contractee dying spread, lower-ranked demons instantly tried to fight her for it.

...winner takes all.

That was how the demons operated. Even if you were of the same race, the demons didn't care. To them, primordial desires overtook their rationality, prompting them to greedily take whatever they desired.

Only through power could a demon rule over another demon...and now that Angelica was in a weakened state, it was her turn to face the music.

She was alone and powerless.

"Here"

Throwing a black round object towards Angelica, Everblood made his way towards the black coffin.

-Swoosh!

Taken aback, catching the object with her right hand, Angelica couldn't help but take a look at the object she caught.

"Huh? A demon fruit?"

"...Take it as a little compensation for me borrowing the coffin of the cursed night"

Staring at the demon fruit in her hand, Angelica wanted to throw it back at Everblood...but considering her current strength, she could only helplessly take the fruit.

Smiling at Angelica's resignation, Everblood arrived before the coffin.

"Ah...just the thing I needed"

Glancing at the coffin a couple of more times, Everblood nodded in satisfaction. This was indeed what he was looking for.

...because of an incident in the past, he had been severely injured and lost a major part of his strength. Now, with the aid of the coffin, he could finally recover from the injury and even climb towards a higher rank.

Taking the coffin with both hands, Everblood's smile deepened. Before leaving, glancing at Angelica who seemed to have lost all reason to live, Everblood amusingly said

'It's time...'

"Listen here Matriarch...I may have a clue with regards to who was responsible for your little puppy's death"

Snapping her head in Everblood's direction, Angelica's face became ferocious. Her body suddenly became revitalized as the ground around her shook.

-Rumble!

"Who? You better not be playing tricks on me..."

"kukuku, no need to be so aggressive...Here"

Smiling widely, Everblood shook his head. Taking out a picture from out of thin air, Everblood lightly threw it in Angelica's direction

-Swoosh!

"Huh? What's this?"

Catching the picture with her hands, Angelica glanced at it. On it, a picture of a youth with jet-black hair and deep blue eyes appeared. In the picture, he was seen wearing a casual set of clothes, walking in a busy shopping district.

Glancing at Everblood, Angelica questioningly asked

"Who is this?"

Smiling, Everblood didn't respond.

-Fwap!

Extending his enormous bat-like wings, he took the large black-coffin and slowly levitated in the air.

"Well, I guess that's it for me, I hope you resolve your little problem"

"Wai-t"

Ignoring Angelica's voice, levitating in the air with the coffin in his hands, Everblood flew in the air. Soon he disappeared into the distance.

Helplessly watching Everblood fly in the distance with her coffin, Angelica stared at the picture in her hand.

"So you are the one..."

-Fuuuua!

Burning the picture in her hand, Angelica slowly stood up. Stumbling a couple of steps, she deeply etched the image of the boy in the picture.

"I don-t care if you aren't the one who killed Elijah...but since you are my only lead, you will have to be the one to bear the consequences of my wrath!"

...

Not so far from where Angelica was, in the air, glancing below him, the smile on Everblood's face vanished.

"...oh, how I waited for this moment"

Because of what had happened three months ago in the dungeon, Everblood has lost a lot of supporters within the tribe he was in. Recalling the humiliation he faced at the hands of a young kid, Baron of Everblood's face couldn't help but savagely twist.

'...because of you little bastard destroying my clone, I lost part of my strength and everything that I had worked hard for...my position, my strength, my honor...EVERYTHING"

Fiercely glaring at the ground below, unbounded thick bloodlust enveloped the area he was in. His bloodlust was so thick that it slowly created a tangible wave of red.

-Fwuuuuaa!

However, the bloodlust left as fast as it came. Staring into the distance, Everblood's smile relaxed.

"...but that's fine."

Taking out a similar photo to the one he had given to the Matriarch, Everblood caressed it slightly as his face twisted savagely. Looking at the picture, Everblood spoke to it. Almost as if he was speaking to the person himself.

"Can you imagine my surprise when I saw your picture when I was investigating what had happened to Angelica?"

"At first the very sight of you caused me to be overwhelmed with rage...you wouldn't believe what I went through because of you..."

Levitating in the air as he casually talked to the picture in his hand, it looked as though Everblood was talking to one of his old lifetime friends

"I lost my elder position, I was scorned by those of whom used to be my subordinates...and what made things worse was that I couldn't fight back as my strength dropped below the Baron rank...I was no longer called Baron of Everblood...just Everblood"

Pausing, Everblood looked into the distance as he reminisced about the things he went through the past two months. After a couple of seconds, staring at the picture in his hands, Everblood continued

"...In the midst of my despair, the only thing that kept me sane was the very image of you."

"Ahhhh...just imaging myself torturing you in the worst possible ways caused my heart to shudder uncontrollably, I wanted to meet you so so many times. Just imagining myself skinning you alive enthralled me to no end...but I realized something"

Stopping there, Everblood's face became serious. Glancing at the picture he rhetorically said

"Wasn't that a little bit too anticlimactic?"

"...wouldn't killing and torturing you now be a bit too anticlimactic? I wanted you to despair...despair just as much as I did...no, on a level that was far beyond what I had experienced"

Pausing there, a smile returned on Everblood's face. Recalling something, Everblood's body trembled as he started chucking uncontrollably

"kukuku, at first I thought that targeting your family would've been enough...but guess what? To my surprise, when I saw them from the distance, they were both already under the Mindbreaker's curse...oh the laughs...on that day, I laughed like I had never done before. Just imaging your predicament as you found out about your parent's curse...ahhh, the chills I had on that day...kukukukuku...hahahah"

Covering his mouth to stop himself from laughing, Everblood continued

"And so, after realizing how much joy I took in from imaging your suffering, I decided to hold back..."

"...you just weren't fat enough for me yet."

"For me to reach an even bigger euphoria I needed for you to grow even more...stronger, more successful, happier...only when you fall at your highest that my revenge will finally be complete

-Crump

Crumpling the picture in his hands, Everblood slowly spat

"...only when you have a face of utter despair will I finally be able to wash away the shame that you had given me...and finally be complete"

-Fuuuu!

Burning the picture in his hands, Everblood stared at the embers flying in the distance.

"I hope that once I wake up from my little slumber, you will still be alive. After all, I have high expectations of you...Ren Dover"

Glancing at the Matriarch in the distance, Everblood's smile deepened.

"Though you may not have been the one who killed her contractee, I'm sure Angelica cares none for that...but, oh well, If you can't accomplish this much...what worth is there in me putting all of this effort to get back at you...kukukuku"

-Fwap!

Flapping his enormous bat-like wings, whilst carrying the enormous black coffin with both hands, Everblood disappeared in the distance.

Chapter 115: Humiliation [1]

Inside of a large skyscraper made out of glass, multiple large portals that emanated strong magical power shone brightly.

-Vuam! -Vuam!

Soon after, as the light died down, a group of people emerged from the portal. They each wore different styled combat suits ranging from thin clothes to large bulky metallic ones. Each of them carried different weapons, with some holding onto massive swords whilst others holding onto long magic staff.

"Goodbye squad captain"

"Thank you very much for today"

"Hope you guide us again squad captain"

Waving goodbye towards the last person that came out, all of the individuals inside the group smiled brightly.

...it looked like they were all in a good mood.

"Heee...don't mention it, just doing my job"

Waving goodbye to multiple people wearing different-colored combat suits, a middle-aged man with a lazy smile on his face and a large cigar in his mouth stood within the lobby of the building.

He had Black hair, an unkempt beard, and a wild yet commanding aura around him that made everyone near him look at him in respect.

Leopold Ray.

That was the name of the middle-aged man standing in the lobby.

He was a <D> ranked hero, and a squad captain working for the Moonlight mercenary group, a [IV] graded mercenary group.

His job was fairly easy.

All he had to do from day in and day out was train the new recruits that the mercenary group was seeking to recruit.

...In terms of ranking within the group, he was at the bottom of the mercenary corporation. However, despite being at the bottom of the hierarchy, he was a highly respected individual by all of the new recruits.

...and that's because he was extremely capable.

During dungeon raids, he was meticulous, efficient, and safe.

As long as he was in command, the raids would always be successful with the rookies barely sustaining any injury. Moreover, each recruit managed to learn a lot from Leopold as he would always calmly instruct them when the situation called for it.

...However, despite such accomplishments, the higher-ups of his mercenary group didn't bother to promote him nor give him a raise. To them, a <D> ranked hero in his late thirties was not worth their notice.

Waiting for Leopold at the reception of the establishment, a young girl with custard brown hair and a neat grey uniform greeted Leopold with a professional smile on her face. Taking a stack of bills from the register, with both hands, the young girl handed it to Leopold

"Welcome back Leopold, here's your payment"

"Ah, thank you, Natasha"

Thanking the receptionist named Natasha, Leopold took the stack of bills and slowly counted each and every one of them. Not missing a single bill

"100U...500U...2800U...5000U...this should do for now"

Nodding his head, Leopold put the stack of money in his pocket and waved goodbye towards Natasha.

"Aight, cya around Natasha"

"Have a safe day Leopold"

With her usually business-like smile, Natasha waved goodbye to Leopold.

Not so far from Leopold, arriving at the lobby of the building, wearing a neat black suit and sunglasses, a young man spotted Leopold in the distance and headed in his direction.

Arriving a few meters away from Leopold, the young man said

"Excuse me?"

Having just received his payment, hearing someone calling out from him, Leopold glanced at the young man before him and asked

"Yes?"

Smiling brightly, the young man extended his hand towards Leopold

"Hello, Mr. Leopold, let me introduce myself, I'm Smallsnake"

...

On the same day, not so far from where Smallsnake was, Epsilon cafe

Sitting in the corner of the establishment, in a more secluded area of the cafe', I merrily sipped on my latte'.

Now that I somewhat sorted out the stuff with regards to the company, it was time for me to finish my next task.

...I had considered recruiting Ava, but after looking through the files Smallsnake sent me, I realized that recruiting her wasn't actually going to be that hard.

Therefore, I decided to skip that directly and decided to jump straight into the hardest task first.

'Somehow convince Kevin into bringing me to Immorra.'

Fortunately, I already knew of a way to convince him.

...and hence why I was currently sitting inside of a cafe waiting for him.

"There you are, took me a while to find you"

Snapping me out of my thoughts, was Kevin's figure. Currently, he was wearing a black hoodie that hid his facial features.

Sitting down and taking off his hoodie, Kevin's deep-red eyes were revealed. Holding onto a cup of coffee, Kevin glanced at me and asked

"...so why did you call me here?"

"Hm? Didn't I tell you before I had a deal to make with you?"

"A deal?"

Glancing at me in confusion, after a while, Kevin nodded his head. Although he didn't know what the deal was, he was curious as to why he asked for him to meet him all the way over here. Far from the Lock.

"Yeah..."

"Alright let's hear it"

Smiling, I raised my hand in an open-palm position. Noticing my action, Kevin's confusion grew

"High five?"

Shaking my head, I smiled

"No, Five"

"...Five?"

Looking at Kevin straight in the eyes, I slowly said

"Five-star sword manual"

As those words came out of my mouth, the atmosphere around us froze.

Yeah.

I was offering him a five-star manual. To be more precise, I was giving him something that would've already belonged to him in the future.

Five-star manual [Levisha style]

One of the three five-star swords art that I had created for Kevin.

If I had to cross-reference back to the novel, in terms of the timeline he should've gotten the sword art, it should be in about two months' time.

...However, now that the opportunity presented itself, why not just use it as bait for enticing Kevin into bringing me to Immorra?

Though I wasn't sure that he would accept, I at least caught his interest.

"Huuuuuu..."

Taking a deep breath, Kevin tried his best to retain his composure.

A five-star manual... its value was immeasurable. Even with the system, he doubted he would ever get one in his life.

'How in the world could he possibly have a five-star manual?'

Glancing at Ren, Kevin couldn't help but find him more and more mysterious the more he got to know him.

...Still, he wasn't impulsive enough to accept the offer like that. He knew that he wouldn't have proposed such a deal unless he wanted something from him. Therefore, taking a couple of seconds to regain his composure, glancing at Ren, he asked

"The catch?"

Nodding my head, I didn't answer immediately.

"...you see, I have an ability that lets me foresee bits of the future"

"Huh?"

Confused, Kevin looked at me with a skeptical face. Foresee the future?

Altough it wasn't unheard of in this day and age for someone to have the ability to foresee the future, those people were a dime in a dozen. Moreover, they would immediately be scouted by the top guilds.

That's how sought-after they were.

Glancing at me with even more confusion, Kevin grew cautious.

'Why would he reveal to me such important information?'

Noticing Kevin's internal conflict, I smiled.

"You don't believe me?

Pausing slightly...I glanced at Kevin in the eyes and said

"Altough it wasn't clear, my ability allowed me to foresee something interesting"

Warily glancing at me, Kevin asked

"...what?"

"...That you have the ability to travel through different planets"

"..."

As soon as my words reached Kevin's ears, almost as if time had frozen, he stared at me with wide eyes.

Honestly, I couldn't help but be impressed by the level of bullshit that came out of my mouth.

...actually, I wasn't lying when I said I could foresee the future. After all, I did have a book that allowed me to see 10 minutes in the future.

But it wasn't in the way I was describing it to Kevin...but still, he didn't need to know that fact.

Trying his best to remain composed, Kevin lowered his head and in a low voice he said

"y-ou, how much do you know?"

Smiling, I shook my head.

"Not much, just about this far..."

I knew a lot more, but there was no need for him to become warier of me. I think this was enough for now.

After all, I needed his help. I didn't need for him to start becoming apprehensive towards me

"Fuuuuuu...give me some time to think about it"

Taking a deep breath, Kevin slumped back on the chair and fell into deep thought.

'...A five-star manual"

He had to admit, the offer was enticing.

Problem was...

Glancing at Ren who was leisurely drinking his coffee, Kevin couldn't help but think

'Should I trust him?'

Altough he had interacted with him in the past, they never actually talked for long. At most 10 minutes. To him, Ren was someone that he couldn't decipher no matter how much he tried.

The more he knew him, the thicker the veil of mystery around him became.

...It sort of felt like he was a being that wasn't supposed to belong to this world.

*Sigh*

Sighing, Kevin didn't know how to explain his current feelings. It was weird.

"Where do you want to go?"

"...so you really can travel through planets?"

Taken aback, Kevin glanced at me in confusion

"Huh?"

Smiling slightly, whilst twirling the cup of coffee in his hands, I meaningfully looked at Kevin

"Well, to be honest, although I can foresee the future, not every one of my visions turns out to be true...but now that you just asked where I wanted to go, it seems like you really do have the ability to different planets...interesting"

Opening his mouth, no words came out from Kevin's mouth.

'...Did I just get played?'

"Immorra"

"huh?"

"That's the planet I want to go"

"Immorra? Are you crazy!"

Opening his eyes wide, Kevin couldn't but stand up and look at me in shock.

It had to be noted that, although Kevin had never been to Immorra before, he had a detailed description of the planet from his system.

According to the system, if he went to Immorra with his current abilities, only death would await him.

...From what he read, he had to be at least <C+> to <B-> ranked in order to even think about stepping foot in that place...Yet, he was currently being asked to go there now.

The current Kevin right now was only <D-> ranked!

How can a <D-> rank like him step foot into such a dangerous place? Wasn't that just like asking him to kill himself?

"I'm sorry, but-"

Placing my hand forward to stop Kevin from speaking, I took one big gulp of my latte' before saying

"Don't be so hasty with your refusal"

"No, I'm not being hasty, I'm just not crazy!"

Putting my now empty cup on the table, I glanced at Kevin and said

"How about this, next weekend, Saturday, meet me outside of the train station. I will prove to you that there's no need to worry"

Shaking his head, Kevin stood up.

"...still no"

As I watched Kevin getting ready to leave, whilst still leisurely relaxing in my seat, I asked

"Are you really willing to sacrifice your chance to get a five-star sword art like that? I mean, all you have to do is follow me next week, and you decide whether you're up for it or not"

Halting his steps, biting his lips, Kevin couldn't help but feel tempted.

...A part of him really wanted to just leave and ignore this deal. However...if he really had a chance of getting his hands on a five-star martial manual, he couldn't just give up like that.

If he wanted to exterminate the demons responsible for killing his parents, he had to become stronger.

Although he was currently on the right track...Kevin couldn't but feel that his progress was still too slow.

He wanted to get stronger faster...

He wanted nothing more but to kill those that were responsible for his parent's death.

...Just imagining how much stronger he would get once he got his hands on a five-star manual, Kevin couldn't help but feel himself waver.

"huuuu..."

Taking a deep breath, glancing at Ren from behind, he said

"Give me some time, I still need to think things through..."

Smiling slightly, I nodded

"Take your time, you have until next week to give me an answer"

"Thank you"

Seriously nodding his head, Kevin left the cafe'

"Huh?"

A minute after Kevin left, right after Kevin's figure disappeared in the distance, I couldn't help but notice a white bill on the table. Taken aback, glancing at the entrance of the cafe', I couldn't help but shout

"Hey, you still haven't paid for your coffee!"

Chapter 116: Humiliation [2]

Staring at the busy streets of Ashton city, outside of Moonlight mercenary group headquarters, two individuals stood on the stairs that led all the way up to the building.

"Thank you for coming"

*Puff*

Puffing a mouthful of smoke, Leopold nonchalantly stared at the people below him. Glancing at Smallsnake from the corner of his eyes, he slowly said

"No problem, I had nothing to do anyways..."

-Tssss!

Tossing the cigarette in his mouth to the ground, Leopold stepped on it. Glancing at Smallsnake, he asked

"So what did you call me here for?"

Smiling, Smallsnake took out a contract from a small black briefcase in his hands and handed it to Leopold. Without skipping a beat, he went straight to the point

"I would like to hire you"

Raising his brow, Leopold took the contract from Smallsnake's hands.

"Oh? Hire me?"

Scanning the document in his hands, Leopold's brows couldn't help but jump up and down. Glancing back at Smallsnake, with a hint of doubt, he couldn't help but ask

"...is this offer real?...100,000U a month, I'm not reading this wrongly right?"

Smiling, Smallsnake nodded his head.

"Our leader has specifically asked for you, and that's the price he is willing to offer for your services"

"Me?"

"Yes"

"Why?"

"Don't ask me, I'm just following orders"

Though he said that, Smallsnake couldn't help but start to understand why Ren wanted to recruit him.

As Smallsnake stood next to Leopold, although at first glance Leopold may come across as a lazy middle-aged man, as he stood next to him, Smallsnake noticed the unwavering determination that decorated his face.

Moreover, the way he carried himself as well as how his deep black eyes added with his dignified aura made it seem like he was in command of everything. This proved to Smallsnake that Leopold was an experienced man. He could tell from first glance that he had been through a lot of setbacks throughout his life.

Even Smallsnake, who had met a lot of people in his past, couldn't help but feel that there was something different about this man. Though his presence wasn't overbearing like some of the people he met, he unknowingly felt respect for the man. Equivalent to that of a soldier to his own general...

'So that's why...'

-Plack!

As a slight smile appeared on Smallsnake's face, snapping him out of his thoughts, Leopold lightly smacked the contract on Smallsnake's chest.

"Sorry but I will have to refuse"

"Huh?"

Opening his eyes wide, Smallsnake couldn't help but look at Leopold in confusion.

...According to his estimate, he was currently earning 20,000U per month. His offer of 100,000U a month was five times what he was currently earning. Moreover, from what he read, he wasn't even treated well here. Why would he reject him?

"May I ask why you're rejecting my offer?"

Smiling slightly, glancing at the papers that were now back in Smallsnake's hands, Leopold couldn't help but ask back

"Have you seen the offer?"

"Yes"

"...and you think I would accept it just like that?"

"Ah..."

Opening his mouth, a bitter smile appeared on Smallsnake's face. Glancing at Leopold he said

"you think we're a fraudulent group don't you?"

Nodding his head, Leopold rummaged through his pocket and took out another cigarette from his pocket.

"Bingo!"

-Flick! -Flick!

*Puff*

Lighting up the cigarette, taking a big puff whilst staring in the distance, Leopold exhaled.

"Huuuuu...how can a [I] rank mercenary group offer me such a high salary out of nowhere? At first, I was indeed tempted, but you see, I'm not looking to quit my job to join another one that has an uncertain future...moreover, your group doesn't even have a mission to their name. I've got a family to feed you see..."

*Puff*

Pausing, taking another puff of the cigarette, Leopold exhaled and stared at the smoke floating in the air

"...how do you expect me to take this offer seriously?"

Pursing his lips, Smallsnake sighed.

Leopold had a point. He had thought of this point before...but he really couldn't do anything about it. After all, as of right now there were only two people in the group.

Still, Smallsnake wasn't a man to give up. He had already talked with Ren before, and in case the said situation arises, he would offer him one final offer. If he rejected this then it was better to look elsewhere.

"1 million U direct payment now, plus 100,000U per month salary. Everything written under a contract to prove legitimacy...one year 2,200,000U"

As Smallsnake proposed this offer, he couldn't help but feel a slight pain in his chest. We were talking about 2,200,000U, not some lump change.

Still, although they offered a lot of money, with what they had made from the Bull's wrath incident, they had somehow managed to make enough money to not bleed over this matter.

...Moreover, Ren told him that money wouldn't be an issue in the future and that this investment was worth the cost. Thus, trusting Ren, Smallsnake decided to go all out.

-Tssss

Dropping the cigarette on the ground, Leopold couldn't help but be stupefied by the offer

'2,200,000 U? That's like nine years of my salary...in just one year?'

Caressing his unkempt beard, glancing at Smallsnake, Leopold smiled

"You've got my interest"

...

Monday, Lock, Class A-25

Sitting in my usual seat, I propped up my chin with my hand. Compared to my usual lazy appearance, today I was particularly excited about the lecture.

...A good show was about to await me.

"Alright, please sit down, class is about to begin"

Walking in the class, holding onto his files with his right hand, Gilbert motioned for everyone in the class to sit down.

Arriving at the podium, placing his stuff down, Gilbert looked at everyone in the classroom. After everyone stopped talking, smiling slightly, Gilbert started speaking.

"In today's lecture we will be speaking about ranks and what they mean."

"...As most of you know, ranks are indexes that we use to measure the average strength of a person. Ranks range from G all the way to SSS, some say that there might even be a rank higher than that, but no one is sure about that as the current strongest humans alive have only reached as far as SS rank..."

As Gilbert spoke, I mostly ignored most of the stuff that he said. I honestly knew most of the stuff already, but that was beside the point as I was currently waiting for something else...and finally, thirty minutes into the lecture, the moment I've been waiting for finally happened.

"Does anyone have any questions with regards to what I just explained?"

Immediatly after Gilbert said that multiple hands shot up in the air. Pointing towards one of the girls sitting on the same side as me, Gilbert said

"You over there, what's your question"

Being picked, sitting up straight, the young girl looked at Gilbert with eyes of pure adoration. Clearing her throat, she said

"Sir, is it possible for an individual to fight against a higher-ranked individual?"

Smiling at the girl's question, Gilbert answered

"Good question, yes it is indeed possible, however, those cases are extremely rare and can only be achieved by those who have pure bloodlines as they are the only people capable of such feats..."

As soon as Gilbert started speaking about bloodlines, the faces of some of the students in the class couldn't help but turn ugly.

Trying my best to hide the smile on my face, I couldn't help shake my head. To think that Gilbert would try to spread his faction's ideologies in the middle of the lecture...

It was technically not allowed, but considering Gilbert's backing, he could do as he pleased. As long as he didn't cross the line, he was allowed to do whatever he wanted.

"...and so, in case you want to defeat a higher-ranked opponent, you must have a superior bloodline that would grant you great talent and skills"

Satisfied with his answer, Gilbert looked at the young lady who had asked the question and said

"Is that enough to answer your que-"

However, pausing mid-sentence and pointing towards a certain individual on the right side of the classroom, Gilbert raised his brow

"Oh? it seems like someone disagrees with my statement"

Being pointed at, Kevin glanced at Gilbert in confusion.

"Me?"

"Yes, you seemed to be dissatisfied with my statement"

Glancing at Gilbert, and noticing the provocative mocking look on his face, Kevin took a deep breath and spoke his mind.

"...Altough difficult, I believe that lower-ranked people can indeed put up a fight against someone whose rank is higher. Moreover, I don't believe bloodline or lineage has anything to do with that as there is no proof to back up such claims"

He was indeed dissatisfied with what Gilbert has said. Altough bloodlines could indeed help create children with higher talent, it meant nothing.

As long as one put in enough work, dedication, and luck, Kevin felt that even people with normal families could beat higher-ranked opponents.

Covering his mouth, Gilbert's body shook. Glancing at Kevin, Gilbert couldn't help but laugh out loud

"hahaha, that's one of the funniest things I've ever heard in my life...to think that despite you being ranked one in your year you were this ignorant."

Shrugging his shoulders, not minding Gilbert's attitude one bit, Kevin sat back down

"I still stand by my point"

Stopping himself from laughing, as if he had come up with a brilliant idea, mysteriously glancing at Kevin, he asked

"How about this, from what've heard, you're <D-> ranked right?"

Suddenly being asked about his rank, Kevin frowned.

What did that have to do with anything they were talking about?

In the end, noticing Gilbert's mocking look, Kevin nodded his head

"...yes"

Smiling widely, Gilbert took out a small black spherical object from his dimensional space and showed it to everyone.

"Altough I'm currently <B> ranked, this item that I'm currently holding right now is called the 'suppressor'. It is an item that my father specifically gave me and has the special ability to suppress my strength to a rank I want for thirty minutes. Though it won't allow me to jump to higher ranks, it helps me reach lower levels without batting an eye."

Clenching onto the sphere, Gilbert provocatively looked at Kevin

"...How about this, you and I fight, and I'll suppress my strength all the way down to <D-> rank exactly the same as yours. Although I indeed have more experience than you, weren't we just talking about a lower rank beating a higher rank? Since you're so adamant about saying that I'm wrong...prove it to me. Show me that bloodlines don't matter"

As soon as Gilbert finished speaking, a series of gasps immediately erupted in the classroom as numerous gazes concentrated between Gilbert and Kevin.

To think that Gilbert had openly challenged Kevin in the middle of the class. Such a thing caused everyone in the class to be stupefied.

...A professor challenging a student. Such a thing was unheard of before.

Frowning, Kevin seriously looked at Gilbert. After a couple of seconds, nodding his head, he agreed.

"Alright, I hope you won't regret your decision professor..."

Hearing Kevin's agreement, Gilbert laughed loudly, believing that Kevin was merely trying to save face. With a mocking smile on his face, he walked out of the hall as his laughter which was tinged with a hint of amusement and ridicule resounded across the halls of the building.

"Very well, everyone follow me to the training grounds. I really want to see how Kevin will be able to prove me wrong"

Chapter 117: Humiliation [3]

Lock, Section G, Arena grounds.

Many practice platforms stood in the practice grounds, while at the top, numerous youths excitedly shouted as they gazed at the youth's sparring against each other. The Arena grounds, which was in the same building as the training grounds, was one of the most famous places within the academy as youth's sparring against each other could be seen at any time of the day.

Usually, in the arena, numerous youth's fiercely punching and kicking each other as they tried their best to beat their opponents appeared to be a common sight, a rather imposing one at that.

There was no lack of pretty girls in the platforms above, resulting in the boys below fighting with even more enthusiasm hoping to catch some of the girl's interest as they basked in the limelight of the fight...however, that was not the case today.

At the moment, almost every gaze within the arena grounds was focused around two individuals standing on top of one of the platforms. No matter if they were boys or girls, their sights were transfixed on the two individuals at the center of the platforms.

On the right, a young man with dirty blond hair proudly stood as he looked down on his opponent. Wearing a black professor uniform, with a gentle scholarly air around him, Gilbert stood at the center of the ring.

On the opposite side of him, wearing an azure blue Lock uniform, an extremely handsome youth with black hair and red eyes solemnly stared at Gilbert opposite to him.

When both Kevin and Gilbert walked into the platforms, news of their bout had probably already spread everywhere...hence why with each passing minute the stands on the training grounds were filled with even more people.

"What? Professor Gilbert is going to fight against a first-year?"

"It's true! According to sources, it seems like the student he is fighting is Kevin Voss, the talented first year that managed to become <D-> rank at the age of 16"

"Yes, I've also heard that professor Gilbert will fight him whilst suppressing his strength all the way to <D-> rank, the same rank as him"

Leaning on one of the handrails of the arena, hearing the discussions of some of the students present, I couldn't help but laugh inwardly.

I of course knew this was going to happen.

...this was the event that truly created hatred between Gilbert and Kevin. It was the moment in which the two would finally cease all pretenses and officially became at odds against each other.

This event was the reason why I decided to delay all of my other tasks and directly talk to Kevin with regards to bringing me to Immorra.

...I believe that after this event, Kevin would without a doubt agree to meet me on Saturday.

Smiling slightly, glancing at Kevin's and Gilbert's figure below me, I relaxed and waited for the match to start. As I watched the both of them standing off against each other, I couldn't help but think to myself.

'I'm really curious as to how a fight I wrote looks like...'

...

Glancing at Kevin, with a proud smile on his face, Gilbert mockingly said

"Are you ready?"

Stretching his arms and legs, Kevin's face became solemn as he nodded his head.

"Yes"

"Alright, since I'm older than you, I'll grant you the first move...if you manage to land a punch on me, it'll be considered my defeat"

As he spoke to Kevin, atop the stage, Gilbert merely chuckled as he stared at the audience.

No matter what they said, after today, his vicious beating of Kevin would without a doubt spread throughout the whole Lock tomorrow. Such news would without a doubt deal a huge blow to Kevin's confidence as well as increase the popularity of his faction. Moreover, it also served as a warning towards those that were not a part of their faction.

'This is what happens if you mess with us'

Though he was a professor, using the power of his faction, Gilbert made it seem like Kevin was the one who had challenged him.

This way, once he won, he could humiliate Kevin even more.

Just imagining it put a smile on Gilbert's face. Beckoning Kevin with his right hand, Gilbert said

"Come"

"If you insist"

Powerfully stomping his right foot on the ground, unsheathing his sword, Kevin's body shot out like an arrow. A red hue covered the body of his sword.

Kevin's attack was filled with power as it split the air around it. If Kevin hit a boulder, he would reduce it into powder within a matter of seconds.

...Soon after, a couple of seconds after he propelled his body forward, Kevin hacked forward

-Clank!

Extending his right hand forward, Kevin's sword connected with Gilbert's hand as a muffled sound rang out and dust flew everywhere.

A couple of seconds after, As the dust died down, Gilbert's figure holding onto Kevin's sword with two fingers could be seen.

"What...how did he do that?"

Watching the scene from the stands, some of the students couldn't help but be stupefied. Although they knew Gilbert was capable, they didn't know he was that capable.

Even some of the more experienced students, couldn't help but have a solemn expression as they recalled Kevin's attack. Fast, powerful, and precise.

Something extremely hard to block...and yet, casually holding onto Kevin's sword with his fingers, Gilbert seemed to be utterly unfazed.

-Flick!

"Not bad...for someone like you"

Flicking Kevin's sword away, Kevin took a few steps back to distance himself. His face was incomparably solemn.

...Although some people in the stands might've not understood what had happened, Kevin understood perfectly.

As soon as he attacked, coating his fingers with mana, Gilbert managed to precisely pinpoint the center of gravity of his sword and with a subtle twist of his finger, he managed to make the sword lose all of its momentum.

Such skill required a high degree of control of mana as well as an understanding of swords...Staring at Gilbert leisurely standing in the distance, Kevin knew that he might've bit more than he could chew on

...yet, a smile still appeared on his face.

'What fun is there if I win easily'

Stomping on the ground, a small crater appeared beneath Kevin's feet as he propelled his body forwards. In Gilbert's direction.

"Futile"

Easily parrying Kevin's blows with one hand, Gilbert leisurely stood in the same position. No matter where Kevin's sword disappeared, he would always easily find the true sword intent and parry it. Glancing at Kevin with a smirk on his face, he couldn't but mock him

"Is that all your strength amounts to?"

Shaking his head, with his other hand, Gilbert covered his mouth as he yawned.

"...if so we should probably call it quits as I'm alra-huh?"

Just as Gilbert was about to end things, noticing something, Gilbert looked at Kevin with a little bit of shock.

Appearing from Gilbert's left side, Kevin stabbed his sword towards Gilbert's head. However, just as Gilbert was about to block, whilst still in the air as if the air was tangible, Kevin stepped in the air and forcefully redirected his body in another direction catching Gilbert off-guard.

"Futile tricks"

Quickly adjusting, Gilbert repositioned his right foot and precisely twisted his body in a way that he was now face to face with Kevin

"It seems like this is--huh?"

Just as Gilbert was about to finish Kevin with an upper hook to his stomach, noticing Kevin's smirk, a bad feeling arose in his heart.

...and his feelings were true.

[Overdrive]

Those were the last words he heard before Kevin's figure completely disappeared from his sight and a strong force appeared on his right cheek.

-Bam!

Taking two steps back, in disbelief, Gilbert couldn't help but touch his cheek which was now stinging. Breaking Gilbert out of his stupor was Kevin's cold voice.

"I've won"

As Gilbert glanced next to him, Kevin's fist was only a few centimeters away from his face. Moreover, to make things worse, on Kevin's other hand was his sword which he didn't use to attack.

Had he used his sword, Gilbert might've actually gotten injured. Realizing this fact, Gilbert could only blankly stand there at a loss.

"..."

The originally noisy surroundings of the arena turned deathly silent at the moment. Numerous people, be it students or professors all stared at Kevin in disbelief.

No one could've ever imagined Kevin to actually land a blow against Gilbert.

No one.

"Y-you bastard!"

-Vuam!

Recollecting himself, with an enraged roar, a yellow hue emerged from Gilbert's body. Grabbing onto Kevin's left fist that had connected to his face, thick veins protruded from the top of Gilbert'sforehead as he couldn't help but glare at Kevin.

Soon his aura swiftly rose as the dust under his feet swept outwards as mana poured into his body like crazy. His clothes started to flutter at the moment.

<D->▶ <D> ▶<D+>▶ <C->▶<C>▶ <C+> ▶<B->▶<B>

In his enraged state, Gilbert's rank rose dramatically. From <D-> all the way to <B> rank.

Even from the stands, everyone could feel Gilbert's rapidly soaring aura. The aura was so overbearing, that some of the weaker students couldn't help but sit down.

Staring at Kevin's figure next to him, Gilbert roared at Kevin

"You dare!"

As he shouted, the five fingers on his right hand were tightly clenched into a fist. Whilst still holding onto Kevin with his left hand, Gilbert's fist traveled towards Kevin's abdominal area, creating a whistling sound as the air around the fist split apart.

-Phheeeeeeeew

Noticing the fist headed in his direction, towards his stomach, Kevin could only helplessly watch it connect to his body. No matter how much he tried to break free, he couldn't break free from Gilbert's grip

"Stop!"

However, just as Kevin was about to despair, an enraged roar that shook the whole stadium resounded across the space. Soon after, tangible purple energy appeared in the area where Gilbert's fist was headed.

Sadly, because the caster was too far, it only served as a small shield that could only reduce the power of the fist.

-Pufff!

-Bang!

Soon Gilbert's fist fully connected with Kevin's body...and like a broken kite, Kevin's body flew all the way to the other side of the arena as his body crashed against the walls of the arena. The extent of his injuries was unknown.

"How dare you Gilbert!"

Floating in the air, an enormous purple hue covered Donna's body as it threatened to swallow the whole arena grounds. Staring at Kevin's passed-out figure in the distance, the hue around Donna intensified even more as the area around Gilbert froze.

"To think you would stoop low enough to actually seriously injure a student just because you couldn't accept your loss..."

Chapter 118: Humiliation [4]

"To think you would stoop low enough to actually seriously injure a student just because you couldn't accept your loss..."

"Hmph"

Under Donna's overbearing pressure, Gilbert firmly stood his ground. No matter what he did, he believed that as long as he didn't kill Kevin he would be fine...and he wasn't wrong. Glancing at the instructors in the stands, Gilbert knew that if had stepped over his bounds they would've all interfered.

Seeing their lack of action meant one thing...he was still in the clear. Smiling to himself, Gilbert couldn't help but think

'...They don't have the guts to do anything to me!'

Noticing the smirk on Gilbert's face, incensed, Donna shouted out loud

"Answer me!"

Glancing at Donna, with a smirk on his face whilst raising his voice he answered

"What is there to answer? I let the emotions get the best of me and I went overboard..."

Turning around towards the audience, Gilbert bowed down and apologized to everyone. As he spoke, his voice would occasionally tremble, making it seem like he was trying his best to hold his emotions back.

"I'm sorry you had to see m-e in such a sorry state. When I-I saw Kevin, I was reminded of a friend of mine in the past and lost control of my e-motions...I'm-m sorry"

As soon as Gilbert's words died down, after a couple of seconds of silence, a wave of support from the crowd came crashing down.

"We understand"

"...yeah, it was just a mistake"

"It's not like Kevin died or anything like that!"

Sitting down on the stands, I shook my head. Although it looked like the crowd was supporting Gilbert, in reality, they were either people from his faction or people looking to curry favor with them.

Some of the people in the crowd were also those that hated Kevin due to how outstanding he was...In the end, no one particularly cared about what happened to Kevin.

"Bullshit!

Standing in the air, Donna's enraged shout shook the whole place. Pointing at Gilbert, the purple hue around her intensified even more as the area around Gilbert froze

"khh..."

"How shameless can you be!"

Conglomrating mana into her eyes, Donna prepared to use one of her skills against Gilbert, however, right before she could use the skill, multiple instructors shot from the stand and stopped right before her

"Donna stop!"

"Instructor Donna please calm yourself down"

"Please don't do this instructor Donna"

Staring at the instructors before her in disgust, the purple hue around her didn't decrease one bit. In fact, it intensified.

As her clothes fluttered in the air, with her shining amethyst eyes, she stared at everyone before saying

"Good, good, good, is this how low our academy has fallen? Only interfering when Gilbert is in danger but not doing anything when he goes berserk like he had done with Kevin a couple of seconds ago?"

Under Donna's overbearing pressure, the instructors all tried their best to withstand the pressure as they tried to calm her down.

"Yes we saw, but instructor Donna, please look around you...please calm down and let's talk in a more private place"

Pointing towards the crowd, one of the instructors couldn't help but say

"What?"

Frowning, Donna looked around her...and that's where she saw it.

Everyone within the crowd staring at her with a mixture of different emotions displayed on their face...awe, fear, and surprise. All sorts of emotions appeared on the many students below her. In the stands, some of the students were sweating profoundly as they breathed heavily due to the residual magical power emanating from Donna.

"Huuuu..."

Taking a deep breath, Donna retrieved her power and glared at Gilbert.

"...just because I'm withdrawing doesn't mean I'm letting this go"

Feeling the pressure around them dissipate, some of the instructors couldn't help but sigh in relief as they thanked her

"Thank you, Donna"

"Thank you"

"Hmph"

Snorting, Donna took one last look at Gilbert before slowly descending from the air and making her way towards Kevin who was currently being treated by some of the nurses.

"I guess the show's over..."

Watching Donna making her way towards Kevin, I stood up and prepared to leave.

The fight went exactly as I had written.

It wasn't a bad match per se, but in the end, it wasn't really that entertaining.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to decipher the reason as to why Gilbert lost.

The reason why he lost was simply because he was too hell-bent on humiliating Kevin thus becoming careless.

With Kevin using overdrive in the precise moment where Gilbert was most vulnerable, Gilbert, caught off-guard couldn't defend himself and thus resulted in his loss. Typical scenario if I had to say.

"Oh well..."

Briefly glancing at Kevin who was currently in a stretcher, tended by multiple nurses, I followed the crowd outside of the arena.

'I hope to see you soon Kevin...'

...

A red ecliptical sun shone down upon a land engulfed in flames. Screams of terror resounded throughout the air, as buildings continuously crumbled.

-Rumble!

The surroundings were in absolute mayhem as the flames that burnt everything down seemed to endlessly burn.

What used to be a regular peaceful day in a small village not so far from Ashton city, transformed into a hellish scene.

Humongous creatures with enormous wings and devilish smiles stood in the air as they haughtily watched some humans burn down everything below them. The scene below them was the embodiment of desperation.

Running along the crumbling roads and hellish flames, a couple carrying with them a small child desperately looked left and right, in hopes of not catching anyone's attention.

"Huff...huff...Honey, quick, over here!"

Turning left of a building, carrying a five-year-old child in his arms, the male beckoned for his wife to follow him.

Soon after, spotting a small house in the distance, the couple quickly made their way there.

-Clank!

Using his foot, the male broke through a wooden door that led to the small house and promptly hid inside of the house.

Placing the child down, the male put his finger on his mouth and seriously looked at the kid

"Huff...huff...Make sure you don't make a sound"

"D-ad, what's going o-"

"Shhhh, please...just remain quiet here okay?"

Covering the mouth of the five-year-old child, with tears streaming down the side of her cheeks, the woman softly said

"Please don't make a sound"

Seeing how serious his parent's faces were, the kid nodded his little head and remained quiet as he laid in his mother's warm embrace. Like that, for the next five minutes, absolute silence prevailed the surroundings.

...However, the silence did not last for long.

-Booom!

Startling everyone, a loud explosion resounded near the house they were in. The windows of the house subsequently shattered due to the after-effects of the shock.

"Get down!"

Covering both the child and the woman with his body, the male ducked down.

"khhhh...ahhhh"

A couple of seconds after the explosion rang, a constant ringing sound rang inside of everyone's ears. Struggling, the back of the male was now dyed in red as blood and glass shards appeared on his back.

"H-oney"

Trembling, noticing the situation, the wife couldn't help but cover her mouth. Trying her best to not make a sound, she gently caressed her husband's cheeks as hot tears streamed down her cheeks.

"It's okay I-"

Just as the male was about to reassure his wife that he was okay, startling them, was the sound of incoming footsteps. Opening his eyes wide, bearing through the pain in his back, he quickly shoved his wife away as he shouted

"Quickly run! I'll hold him back!"

"No! Johnathan!"

With a look of grief on her face, the wife tried to protest, but she was promptly shoved by her husband away.

"Quick! Go!"

After hesitating for a second, without looking back, the wife with the child in her hands ran out of the house.

"kukuku, what have we got here?"

Soon after the woman and the child left, appearing from the other side of the door, a young man with long blonde hair appeared.

Glaring at the young man, with a thick red hue around his body, Johnathan screamed as he shouted

"Die you bastard!"

...

-Clank!

Entering another house, the woman looked around for anything to hide and soon spotted a small trapdoor.

"yes"

-Clank!

Opening the trap door, she was soon startled when she noticed that the space beneath the trap door could only fit one small child.

However, instead of despair, a look of relief appeared on the woman's face.

With a look of determination, she placed the child inside of the small compartment.

"Get in here.."

Though the child tried to protest as he didn't want to be separated from his mother's warm embrace, shaking her head and placing her finger on her mouth, she softly said

"Here, hide over here. No matter what you hear, don't make a sound...please. Even if you don't see us, please don't make a single sound...mom will go to daddy now okay?"

"But mo-"

Staring at his mother, the child tried to speak, however, placing her hand on her child's mouth she shook her head and pleaded

"Please"

With streams falling down his cheeks, the child eventually nodded his head. Although he didn't understand what was going on, he had remained quiet the whole time. He wanted to cry so many times...but as he watched the raw emotions in his parent's faces as they ran through the streets, he knew that he could only firmly hold his tears back

Smiling at the young boy, the woman gently caressed his cheek before saying one last heartful goodbye

"Thank you...and I love you"

-Clank!

Soon after, closing the trapdoor, the kid's vision turned dark. Thereafter, a couple of minutes after the trapdoor closed, muffled explosions rang out not so far from where he was.

This continued for a couple of minutes before stopping. Soon after, deathly silence prevailed in the surroundings.

Crouching down, the young kid covered both his ears with his hands as tears continuously streamed down his cheeks.

"Mom-da-d, please come back"

"ahhhhhh...hufff...huff...hufff"

Abruptly waking up, Kevin heavily gulped for air as he tightly clenched onto the white clothes on his body. Feeling a damp sensation below him, Kevin noticed that the bedsheets of the bed he was on were currently soaked in his sweat.

"Ah...shit"

Covering his eyes, Kevin recalled the faint memories of the time he had lost everything.

...the day where he lost his parents.

At that time he could only powerlessly watch as his parents sacrificed their lives for him...although he had a hunch that they would never come back to him...he still hoped. As a five-year-old back then, he waited inside of the dark place for hours to no end. He desperately waited for his parents to come back and pick him up...however, sadly, the ones that found him weren't his parents.

...That feeling.

The feeling he had thought he would never feel again resurfaced as he remembered watching Gilbert's fist heading in his direction. He was totally helpless at that time. If not for someone's timely intervention, he would've seriously been injured.

"I...need to be stronger!"

Clenching his fists tightly, Kevin wanted to get stronger. The powerlessness he faced against Gilbert and back then...he didn't want to feel that way ever again!

As Kevin tried his best to calm himself down, he couldn't help but recall a conversation he had a couple of days ago

'Didn't I tell you I wanted to make a deal with you?'

Recalling those words, Kevin took a deep breath.

"huuuu...."

After a while, clenching his teeth tightly, Kevin came up with an answer

"Never again do I want to experience this feeling again...never again!"

Chapter 119: Rank up [1]

"Hmmm...which one"

Inside my dorm room, leisurely laying down on my bed, I scrolled through a long list of products displayed on my tablet.

Two days have passed since Kevin's incident, and by now, Kevin should already be back in his own room with only minor injuries on his body.

...and exactly like in the story, the events that had transpired between Gilbert and Kevin spread throughout the whole academy like wildfire.

'Kevin challenged Gilbert and got into an accident during the fight'

That's the version of the story that was currently being spread across the academy. Although a lot of students were present during the fight, because of [Blood supremacy] status, no one dared to refute the real happenings of the events.

Moreover, all the videos that were posted online with regards to the events would quickly disappear as fast as they were uploaded.

...In the end, Kevin's reputation dropped whilst Gilbert's remained the same.

Either way, that was beside the point. As I already knew this was going to happen, I wasn't really shocked by the happenings.

A more pressing matter was currently awaiting me.

Scrolling through my tablet, I was currently on a website called [World Market]

...The biggest online marketing shop in the human domain. Sort of like Amazon or ebay back on earth in my previous world.

The products that they sold ranged from combat suits, potions, herbs, artifacts, and basically anything that you could think of.

If you wanted something, chances were that [World Market] had it.

"...where is it...mhhhh...ah, herbs and potions"

Scrolling through the different categories on their website, I soon clicked on the 'herbs and potions' section.

Soon after I pressed on that section, an endless row of products presented itself on the webpage. The list went on and on and on. It was practically endless.

Now, why was I looking through this section?

The answer was simple...I needed to increase my rank as soon as possible.

This was especially so considering that I was about to embark on a dangerous mission with Kevin. Immorra aside, the location of where the [Levisha style] was located was in fact inside of a D ranked dungeon.

Although I already had plans with regard to how I was going to approach the dungeon, I felt that I still needed to increase my strength. You could never be too careless in such dangerous environments.

If I had to say something about my current strength, it would be that it was inadequate.

Thus, knowing this fact, I had no other choice but to look towards the [World Market] in hopes of finding something to aid me in my quest of finding something that could boost my strength.

I refrained from using the website in the past because I was poor. After all each of the products listed on that site sold for millions of U.

Fortunately, as I had saved enough money, I could now take a proper look at the website and see if there was anything useful.

This time, I had a clear goal.

Find something that could increase my rank from <F+> to <E>

"...Let's skip potions and directly go to natural treasure/herbs...yup, let's go with the <E> and <F> range...and here"

As I looked through the long list of items, using advanced search, I narrowed down my findings to <F> and <E> rank and chose the natural treasure section.

The reason why I chose natural treasure/herbs rather than potions was simple...it was cheaper.

...and there was a good reason for that.

For one, depending on the potency of the herb, they couldn't be taken back to back as the medical properties would linger in the human system for quite a while. Usually, one year would be the most optimal time to take another herb, however, stronger ones may require even more time to fully digest.

Secondly, compared to potions which required a highly skilled person to carefully distill and mix the different types of herbs, consuming natural resources required none of that work. This also explained why upon ingestion, someone would feel unbearable pain course throughout their body.

They weren't made to be consumed by humans. Either way, pretty much only the richest people could afford to use potions instead of herbs hence why there was still a market for them.

...and lastly. They required an inhuman level of willpower. Because of how dense the mana contained within them was, if not careful, someone could find themselves losing their mind due to the sheer amount of pain that they experienced as they ingested the herb.

This was primarily why people tended to avoid herbs and chose potions whose effects were much milder.

...it just wasn't for the faint of heart.

*Sigh*

"What other choice do I have?"

Sighing out loud, I couldn't help but mumble to myself as I stared at the long list of herbs on my phone

Since I couldn't afford an advanced-level potion, I could only go for herbs. Like they all say, 'beggars can't be choosers'

"Actually, how much do I have?"

Frowning slightly, taking out my phone, I quickly opened my bank app and checked my bank account.

===========================

Student: Ren Dover

Age: 16

Balance: 38,634,070 U

Withdraw Deposit

===========================

"Around 38,000,000 U...huh?"

Taken aback, I couldn't help but be surprised by the amount of money I had in my bank account. Though I knew I had a lot, I didn't expect it to be that much...

Moreover, this was excluding the amount that I had put as a budget for the mercenary group. After short-selling Bull's wrath stock, I made a lot of money.

On the topic of Bull's wrath, surprisingly, they managed to pick themselves up and have allied themselves with another gold-ranked guild not far from where they were.

Right now it was Sword of Light and Luxious vs Bullswrath and the other gold-ranked guild. That's the current talk of the Northern District.

Fortunately, I had already completed the transaction before any of this happened else I would've lost a lot of possible profit.

"Maybe I can actually afford an advanced potion..."

With the amount of money I had I could definitely afford to buy an advanced potion, but after a bit of thought, I discarded such a notion.

Looking through the prices of the advanced potion section, the cheapest potion that could help me rank up totaled a whopping 35,000,000 U

...yeah, a bit too pricey. Thus, without hesitation, I closed the tab and quickly went back to look at the herbs section.

"Now...what should I buy"

===========================

Tituala flower

A flower that grows in high altitudes, and contains a high concentration of mana. Upon ingestion for a brief period of time, the pores of the user will open up granting maximum mana absorption rate. Warning, only use if you are at least <F> ranked, as death may be possible if a lower-ranked individual consumes such natural treasure.

Price : 12,000,000 U

Blood ginseng

Gingseng that is soaked in the blood of <E> ranked beast Red-eyed Chimera. Under the influence of its blood, the ginseng's gentle properties along with the chimera's chaotic properties created a perfect balance between the two polar opposite energies. Through the perfect balance of those properties, users may be able to increase rank if they can absorb the energy trapped within the ginseng. Warning, only use if you are at least <F> ranked, as death may be possible if a lower-ranked individual consumes such natural treasure.

Price : 15,800,000U

Black lotus

A lotus that grows...

===========================

"Tssss"

Hissing slightly, I couldn't help but scrunch up my face as I looked at the prices of some of the herbs listed.

Though I knew that the prices would've been high, they were still far more than I had expected. Shaking my head, I looked back at the list

"...now which one should I choose"

I had to choose carefully. There was another thing I forgot to mention when talking about ranking up through external aid.

...and that there was a chance of failure.

Though not big, it was still there. Therefore, I had to choose something that gave me the highest chance of success

"Tituala flower, and Blood ginseng..."

Those were the two natural treasures that had caught my interest. The Tituala flower, with its gentle and soothing properties, would definitely hurt a lot less compared to the blood ginseng...however, after a bit of thinking I choose the blood ginseng.

The reason was simple.

Lower chance of failure. Though the pain would be far worse than the Tituala flower, to me none of that mattered. I couldn't afford to throw 12,000,000 U for nothing. I may as well spend an extra 3,000,000U to get a higher chance of ranking up.

...after all, I couldn't afford to fail.

With each passing day, I realized that I was still too weak. No matter how much I tried to catch up to Kevin and the others...I was still not fast enough.

They were prodigies themselves. They weren't just going to wait for me to catch up.

I had to take matters into my own hand...and thus.

-Click!

Pressing onto the cart on the top right of my screen, I quickly purchased the blood ginseng. Taking a deep breath as I watched the transaction go through, I couldn't help but softly mumble

"huuuu...time to rank up"

Chapter 120: Rank up [2]

"Hats off to technology"

-Riiiiip!

A couple of hours after I placed my order in [World Market], my package already arrived in front of my dorm room.

I don't know how they managed to send me the package so fast, but who was I to complain.

"Whoa..."

Ripping the package open, nestled in between a couple of styrofoam beans was a red ginseng root that rhythmically pulsated a red hue.

Taking the ginseng out, I couldn't help but tilt my head in confusion.

"huuuu...how am I supposed to take this? Do I just eat it or do I put it in a medical bath?"

Carefully placing the ginseng on my table, I quickly looked for instructions on what to do with the ginseng.

After all, I wasn't just going to recklessly eat this when I had no idea whether that was the right thing to do.

Opening my tablet, I quickly looked through all of the information regarding the blood ginseng.

"...no need for a medical bath, and just eating it raw is okay? Moreover I shouldn't steam it as there's a chance it might lose some of its medical properties?"

Reading the instructions on the web, my face couldn't help but twist lightly. Though I had never eaten ginseng before, looking at it on my table, it reminded me of ginger.

...and I hated ginger.

"Ahhh, let's not bitch about this for any longer and just think of it as a small sacrifice for strength"

With the most twisted face I could muster, holding the ginseng by the tip of my fingers, I slowly placed it in my mouth.

Right after placing the ginseng in my mouth, taking my first bite, an earthy and bitter taste invaded the tonsils of my tongue.

"khhh...so bitter, at least it's not as bad a ginger"

Chewing onto the ginseng, I soon noticed that although it was bitter, if I concentrated hard enough, I could taste a slightly sweet after taste. Though it wasn't very sweet, it was still something.

"Ah...yep, it's starting"

Chewing on the ginseng for a couple of seconds, I soon swallowed it. Thereafter I felt a hot sensation in my stomach area.

"oooof..."

Soon after, as if all the pores of my body were stretched to the maximum, I felt the mana in my surroundings gather towards my body at an alarming rate. It soon entered my system and headed towards the energy that came from the ginseng.

The mana from the atmosphere added with the chaotic energy within my body due to the ginseng soon mixed and created a ball of pure energy that coursed through my body.

As if a dam had broken, the energy shot straight into every fiber of my body resulting in my skin turning red.

-Tssssss

Steam slowly rose from my body as green veins protruded from my skin as they constantly wiggled around.

"khhh..."

Frowning hard, I clenched my teeth and suppressed the pain that was coursing through my body. It felt as though a thousand pins were puncturing my veins. The pain was excruciating.

Like that, for the next fifteen minutes, I endured an almost unbearable amount of pain. it felt as though I was being skinned and burned alive.

"huuuu..."

Soon after, after fifteen minutes of pure hell, the pain finally died down. Shortly after the pain disappeared, a wave of euphoria washed over my body as I felt my body go through a metamorphosis.

My already toned muscles became firmer. All of my senses enhanced dramatically and the mana capacity in my body increase multiple folds.

If before I could only use the first and second movement of the Keiki style once or twice, now I could use it up to five times without a problem.

"huuu..."

Exhaling, turbid air escaped from my mouth.

I was very tempted to test my strength, but I refrained from doing so. Glancing at the corner of my room where a deep gash appeared on the wall, my mouth couldn't help but twitch.

"...Should definitely get that fixed"

Rubbing my nose, I quickly checked my status window. I was curious about something.

===Status===

Name : Ren Dover

Rank : E -

Strength : E -

Agility : F +

Stamina : E -

Intelligence : E -

Mana capacity : E

Luck : E +

Charm : G +

--> Profession :

[Swordsmanship lvl.2]

The degree of understanding of the sword has evolved to the next level. User will find it easier to understand concepts that were previously harder to understand.

--> Martial Manual :

[★★★★★ Keiki style] - Minor realm of mastery

Sword art created by Grandmaster Toshimoto Keiki. A five-star module that focused primarily on reaching the apex of swordsmanship and speed. Upon mastery, the sword art becomes so fast that before an opponent could even think about their next move, their heads would already be rolling on the ground.

[★★★ Ring of vindication] - Minor realm of mastery

Highly advanced sword art that creates a perfect ring of defense around the user. Upon mastery, the ring can create a three-dimensional sphere that protects the user from all sides. Because of the lack of offensive capabilities, the manual was graded three-stars.

[★★★ Drifting steps]

Movement art that progresses with each step. With every step taken, user speed will increase. Unless user stops, speed will continuously increase until the user either runs out of mana or due to injury.

--> Skills :

[{G} Monarch's indifference]

A skill that enables users to erase all emotions, and act as a supreme monarch that only calculates the best option regardless of circumstance.

==========

"..n-o way"

My charm which refused to budge no matter how much I tried to increase it finally increased from G to G+

Trembling whilst holding my mouth, I couldn't help but choke up. Quickly making my way towards the mirror, I couldn't help but touch my face as I muttered to myself...

"I really look more handsome..."

Everything looked pretty much the same, but somehow, today, I felt incomparably handsome. It looked as though I was shining.

"...Alright, let's get rid of these narcissistic thoughts of mine"

After admiring myself in the mirror for a couple of more minutes, I quickly switched back to my serious self.

I had a more pressing issue at hand.

"Now that I've reached E - rank, chances of something going wrong during the dungeon raid will definitely decrease...but if things went as I planned, nothing serious should happen. After all, I already knew of a way to avoid all dangers inside of the dungeon I was going with Kevin"

Glancing towards my right, my eyesight landed on the right drawer of my desk where a red book quietly rested. Frowning slightly, I couldn't help but think

'Since I'm with Kevin, this should work no?'

...

Inside of a spacious office room where a large oval table stood in the middle. Fourteen individuals sat around the table as they stared towards one individual at the front of the table.

-Bam!

"I say bullshit!"

Smacking her hand on the large oval table, Donna shouted out loud

"How is a two-week suspension enough to justify what he did to Kevin? Someone that the headmaster has personally chosen to nurture?"

Flinching slightly one of the professors sitting on the table helplessly raised his hands as he looked at Donna

"Donna, the headmaster is not here, and you know...considering Gilbert's background, our hands are tied"

Shaking her head, Donna retorted

"What does that have to do with anything? Although the headmaster isn't here, even Gilbert's father would have to give a face to him...after all the headmaster is another SS ranked hero!"

"Enough!"

Shouting out loud, a fierce pressure similar to that of Donna erupted from one of the people at the table.

"Try me!"

Turning her attention towards the person who released the pressure, Donna's sight met with an older woman with grey hair and wrinkles on her face.

"Is that how you speak to your elders Donna?"

Fiercely staring at Donna, in a way that it looked as though she was reproaching a child, the older woman firmly said

"The decision has already been set, stop protesting. Since this is the result of the collective votes of all the people present inside of the room, all you should be doing right now is shut up and endure it."

Clenching her fist, Donna pointed at the older woman as she spat

"Y-ou! We all know that Gilbert is your nephew. You out of all people shouldn't be talking, Chloe!"

Chloe Moretz

Though she wasn't related by blood with Gilbert, having married Gilbert's father's cousin, she was considered to be her aunt. Therefore, using some of her connections, she managed to get people on her side and lighten the punishment that Gilbert was going to face for what he did to Kevin.

Glancing at Donna, a slight smirk appeared on Chloe's face. Crossing her arms, she pointed towards nine other people in the room.

"What does that have to do with anything? Out of the fourteen of us here, excluding me, nine decided for this punishment."

Pausing slightly, and squinting her eyes, Chloe slowly said

"...or are you insinuating that Gilbert is related to all the nine other people that voted?"

"You!"

Opening her eyes wide, a purple hue erupted from Donna's body as it enveloped the whole room.

-Vuam!

Donna was so incensed that no words escaped from her mouth. She knew for a fact that Chloe had bribed those nine individuals present. Using Gilbert's father's name, she either threatened or gave them enough incentives for them to take Gilbert's side.

"Just what I wanted!"

-Vuam!

Standing up, matching Donna, a blue hue erupted from Chloe's body as it crashed towards Donna's hue. Thereafter, the whole room shook.

-Rumble!

"Please, both of you stop!"

Just as the confrontation between Donna and Chloe was about to reach a boiling point, shouting out loud, a muscular individual with a large beard and long blonde hair stood up as he got in between the two women.

Glancing at Donna, Connor Norvak couldn't help but look at her with pleading eyes

"Donna, please go outside and cool your head. I will try to talk things through with them. I understand where you're coming from, but in the end, the votes are already out, we can't change the rules because you're dissatisfied with the results"

Fuming, Donna glared at Connor for a couple of seconds. Thereafter, seeing that the situation was unfavorable for her, she snorted and turned around

"Hmph, fine!"

Before leaving, hatefully glaring at Chloe, Donna clenched her fist tightly. Soon after, turning around, Donna left the room.

As she left the room she didn't forget to smash the door on the way out as she said

"Prepare yourselves for when the headmaster comes back as I will tell him everything about what happened today..."

-Bang!

Chapter 121: Hidden dungeon [1]

"Huuuuamm..."

Yawning, a white mist escaped from my mouth. Although it was mid-winter, only now that I was awake early in the morning did I fully realize that winter was upon me.

Perhaps it was because I was less sensitive to the cold, it never truly hit me until now that it was already that time of the year.

6:30 A.M.

Checking my watch, I rubbed my hands together as I sat on a bench. Currently, I was at the train station, patiently waiting for the air train to arrive.

Moreover, apart from waiting for the air train, I was also waiting for someone to come...

Kevin.

I had already texted him beforehand that I was waiting for him today at the train station. Although the events with Gilbert had happened not so long ago, he should've already made a full recovery. Therefore he should be able to make it without a problem.

The only thing that I wanted to know was whether he received my message or not...

-tssss

"...It's snowing"

Snapping me out of my thoughts, extending my hand forward, I watched as an ice crystal gently landed on my jacket and melted straight after.

Glancing at the falling snow in the sky, I couldn't help but softly mumble to myself

"...five months huh?"

I've been in this world for five months...

Watching the ice crystals continuously fall from the sky and land on my jacket, I couldn't help but look back at what had happened these past few months.

"Time sure flies..."

Going from a reclused introvert to exploring dungeons, creating companies, finding comrades, meeting a new family...

"...Really, fate is truly strange in many ways."

Who could've ever guessed that my life would change so much in a matter of five months...I really couldn't explain how I felt at this moment.

Everything sort of felt like a blur...

-Voooooooom!

Snapping me out of my thoughts, the sound of an air train gently landing on the platform of the station resounded across the area I was in.

Frowning slightly, I glanced around me. However, noticing that I was the only person in the station, I couldn't help but be slightly disappointed.

"Mhhh...did I perhaps miscalculate?"

...I really thought that Kevin would've without a doubt shown up considering what had happened with Gilbert, but did I perhaps misjudge something?

Shaking my head, I discarded such a notion

'No...I created Kevin, how could I have judged wrongly?'

Perhaps he was still on his way and something was holding him up. Like for example, an old grandma had fallen down the stairs and he was helping her stand up.

6:34 A.M.

Glancing at my watch, and seeing that there was only a minute left before the air train left, my brows knit tightly.

"Just where in the wo-"

"Am I late?"

Just as I was about to give up and leave the train station and go back to the Lock, I heard a voice coming from behind me.

Without looking behind me to see who the voice belonged to, I smiled and said

"Just barely"

...

[Lock station - Departing]

-Clank!

As the doors of the air train closed, lifting up in the air, it soon smoothly picked up its speed and disappeared into the distance.

Sitting on the opposite ends to each other in the air train, Kevin and I quietly looked at the ever-changing scenery outside of the train.

Neither one of us spoke a word.

Currently, the world outside was now dyed in white as the snow coated the rooftops of every building and house in the distance.

...It looked truly beautiful.

Glancing away from the window, I couldn't help but notice how empty the train was as apart from me and Kevin, no one was present. Perhaps because it was early in the morning or because the destination was far, the train was completely empty.

After a while, breaking the silence, Kevin looked at me for a couple of seconds before saying

"So, where are we going?"

Looking back at Kevin, without answering him immediatly, I responded with a question of my own

"Before that, can I take your presence as you agreeing to my deal?"

Hearing my question, Kevin didn't reply immediately. Staring at his feet for a couple of seconds, clenching his fists tightly, he eventually nodded.

"...yes"

"Great"

Seeing Kevin nod his head, a big smile appeared on my face. Resting my cheek on my hand, I calmly said

"We're going to the Clayton Ridge"

Surprised, Kevin's brows couldn't help but shoot upwards.

"The Clayton Ridge?"

"Yeah..."

The same place where I got the [Seed of Limit] and the [Keiki style].

However contrary to last time, I was going on further upwards of the Clayton Ridge.

The Clayton ridge was huge...and when I mean huge, I mean huge. We're talking like thousands of kilometers long.

Compared to the place where I took the [Seed of Limit] and [Keiki style], I was actually headed a lot further than that.

About a three hours journey from the Lock, approximately 1800 km in terms of distance.

Glancing at me in confusion, Kevin couldn't help but frown as he asked

"...Is that where the sword art is?"

Smiling, I nodded my head in confirmation

"Yup..and we're going to the middle part so you better rest as much as you can as you're going to need to save up all your energy for when the real challenge comes"

Once again looking at me in confusion, Kevin asked

"Challenge?"

Shaking my head, as I leaned on the window and stared at the world outside that was dyed in white, a light chuckle escaped from my mouth

"What? you're telling me that you expected me to just give you a five-star sword art without putting in any effort?"

In the first place, I was only bringing him to the place where the five-star manual was located.

If I had the five-star manual with me, I wouldn't have asked for him to meet me this early in the morning to go the Clayton ridge.

Understanding this, opening his mouth, Kevin tried to find words to say, but after a while, he shook his head and said

"No..I get it"

Raising my brow and noticing Kevin's crestfallen expression, patting him on the shoulder I reassured him

"Don't worry...I've got it all planned out, so you will definitely get your sword art, after all, if you don't get it, I won't go to Immorra."

Looking up at me for a couple of seconds, Kevin nodded his head and softly said

"...Okay"

"Just relax for now and let me handle the rest"

Staring at Kevin in front of me, I couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

I could tell that what had happened with Gilbert had taken a toll on his mental state.

As we spoke, I couldn't help but notice the impatience in Kevin's voice. Although he was trying to hide it, his subtle gestures such as the way he clenched his fists or nervously looked outside the window from time to time were enough of an indication for me to understand his mental state at the moment.

He was definitely desperate to increase his strength so that never again would he feel so weak and desperate at the hands of someone else.

...I too shared the same sentiment as him as I understood how being powerless felt. It wasn't that great of a feeling if I had to be honest...

Fortunately for him, I wasn't lying when I said that I had everything planned out.

...If things will go according to my plans, perhaps this could be one of the easiest dungeon raids in history.

Touching the insides of my jacket, I felt a thick rectangular object resting in between my body and jacket. Clenching it tightly, I couldn't help but think to myself

'...This will be the key to completing the dungeon without any problems'

...

[Desitation - Clayton ridge, Rowa]

"Huaaaaam..."

Lazily stretching my body, I glanced at Kevin and with my hand nudged him to stand up.

"We're here"

"Alright"

Nodding his head, Kevin stood up and followed me out of the air train. After three hours of sitting on a train, Kevin finally calmed down and returned to his regular serious self.

"haaaa..."

Instantly, as soon as I stepped foot outside of the train, a wave of fresh air brushed against my body causing me to slightly relax. Compared to the polluted air of the city, the air here was much cleaner and fresher.

It truly felt great.

Disrupting my moment of peace, Kevin spoke

"So where are we going?"

Glancing at Kevin, I pointed towards the town below us and suggested

"Let's first grab something to eat in the town below before going to our destination...trust me, the walk is going to be very long"

Thinking for a bit, Kevin eventually nodded his head.

Although he wasn't sure about where they were currently going, if the road was as harsh as Ren made it out to be, then it wouldn't hurt to fill their stomachs before leaving.

"If you say so...."

Chapter 122: Hidden dungeon [2]

Inside of a densely packed forest, two individuals calmly walked through the heavy vegetation. Of the two individuals, one stood at the front looking at a large map made out of paper, whilst behind him, another individual followed him with a confused look on his face.

"Are you sure we're headed in the right direction?"

Scratching my chin, as I looked at the map before me. Tilting the map sideways, with a hint of doubt I responded.

"err...should be?"

Taken aback, Kevin couldn't help but say

"y-ou, don't tell me that we're lost"

"no, well, maybe. But most likely not"

-Smack!

Facepalming, an extended sigh escaped from Kevin's mouth. He was starting to regret his decision...

Not even halfway through the journey and they were already lost. Just what kind of guide was this?

Noticing Kevin's action, I shrugged my shoulders.

In my defense, I didn't have much to work with.

Although I had a general idea of where the dungeon was, well, let's just say that a lot of the important information on how Kevin found the dungeon was skipped in the novel. After all, back then when I was writing this part of the story, I basically directly skipped to the moment Kevin found the dungeon.

...Thus, because of how lazy I was back then, I was currently in a pickle.

Fortunately, I had a few reference points to work with

"A river...a large bent tree and a cave..."

Those were the things I was looking out for.

"Keumm...keumm...can I just ask why you're using a paper map instead of your phone?"

Coughing a couple of times, Kevin glanced at me and asked me something that had been on his mind ever since leaving the small town below.

Looking back at Kevin, brushing my hair to the side I lazily said

"What difference does it make? In the end, with this, I can just save my phone's battery"

Taking out my phone and pointing towards the top right corner, I said

"...Moreover, good luck finding a signal in the middle of nowhere"

Raising his hands in resignation, Kevin said

"Alright, do whatever makes you comfortable. I was just curious as I've never seen anyone use paper maps anymore"

Briefly glancing at Kevin, I shook my head and continued to observe the map.

Fair enough.

I would've used my phone if there was a GPS signal that would directly show me the path I had to go...sadly such a thing didn't exist. So, I just chose to use a map as that was what I used to use back on earth.

...I guess old habits never die.

"Let's see"

Crouching down on the ground and placing the map on a rock. I squinted my eyes and made sure I was still on the right track.

'If I'm not wrong, we are actually headed in the right direction, and all we needed to do is walk for a couple of more kilometers until we find a river...'

Turning the map slightly, I traced a blue line on the map stopping until a certain point.

'Thereafter, we are to walk along the river all the way until we find the largest tributary and from there go hike up until an oddly bent tree can be found. The cave of the dungeon should be right behind the tree...'

"Alright, I've got it, follow me"

Cross-referencing with the map a couple of more times, I nodded my head and urged Kevin to follow me.

"You've figured things out?"

"Yup, if nothing goes wrong, we should be able to arrive there in about half a day"

"Alright..."

...

"So this is the place?"

"Yep"

Standing in front of a large bent tree, Kevin and I sat down on the ground and recuperated some energy.

The sun had already started to set and night was quickly arriving.

Taking a couple of energy bars from my dimensional space I handed one to Kevin and opened another one for myself.

"Here"

"Thanks"

Taking the energy bar, Kevin quickly opened it and took big bites out of it. Looking at the cave hidden behind the tree, he couldn't help but ask

"So is this the place"

"Munch...munch...Yep"

Scarfing down the energy bar in my mouth, I quickly nodded my head. After walking for half a day and following the instructions that I had written in my novel, I was quickly able to find the right location. Moreover, now that Kevin was here, using my book as a reference point, I was able to correct any mistakes I made.

Regarding the book. I had to say, future me was really smart. Whenever I went in the wrong direction I would always just shout 'Wrong direction' and with me seeing this in the book, I was able to discard that path and quickly find the right path in no time.

Hats off to you future me.

"Alright, let's go"

After resting for ten minutes whilst recuperating some of the energy we spent hiking all the way here, standing up, I urged Kevin to follow me.

Patting his pants, Kevin nodded his head and stood up.

"Okay"

Thus, the two of us walked through the cave.

The formation was perfect. Kevin at the front and me at the back. With Kevin's overwhelming abilities, he should be able to take care of any monster that showed up before us, and I, with my sword art, could swiftly deal with the mob-like monsters present.

...Well, that was if I was planning on doing anything. In reality, there really shouldn't be much for me to do.

Patting the book in my hand, I couldn't help but smile.

'What's the point of wasting time-fighting monsters when you can just skip them?'

...

After walking for a while, we stopped at a fork road. There were eight paths to choose from and they each looked identical. Turning around, Kevin glanced at me as he asked

"Which path should we take?"

Without hesitation, I immediately pointed towards the fifth pathway.

"The fifth one"

This time I was confident with my answer as from the moment we entered the cave, I knew exactly where to go.

Moreover...

"Stop"

"huh?"

After walking for five minutes, placing my hand on Kevin's shoulder to stop him, ignoring the confusion in his face, I placed my finger in my mouth and quietly whispered

"As soon as you turn left, two-horned sheep will immediately attack you..."

Pausing slightly and glancing downwards, towards my red book, I continued

"There is one male and one female sheep, the female sheep will wait from behind whilst the male sheep will be the one that will attack you first...the safest and most efficient way to get rid of them would be for you to immediately duck down and stab towards the male stomach, and whilst the-"

Cutting me off midsentence, Kevin couldn't help but look at me weirdly.

"Wait, wait, what are you talking about?"

Raising my brow, I nonchalantly said

"Hm? I'm just telling you what will happen and what you should be doing to quickly resolve the upcoming danger?"

"Yeah I get that part, what I don't get is how you know all of this...moreover, what are you doing with your hands?"

Tilting my head, I glanced at Kevin in confusion

"I'm reading?"

"...how can you read when there's nothing in your hands?"

"huh?"

Glancing at Kevin in confusion, I waved the red book in his face.

Although for obvious reason I wasn't going to show him the contents of the book, I wasn't going to hide its existence...After all, I was going to use it quite often whenever he was around. I mean, it's not like I could hide a thick red book in plain sight?

I, of course, didn't need to use the book as Kevin could probably finish the dungeon alone, but, why would I not want to exploit this cheat if it saved time?

If you have cheat use it.

That was my motto.

Still, although one should use their cheat, they shouldn't do it carelessly as that could lead to bad consequences.

Especially if it was a book that allowed someone to see 10 minutes in the future...things could get quite messy.

mhhh, actually, considering that it only displayed Kevin's future, I guess it wasn't that tempting for others...

...Either way, as I dangled the book in front of Kevin's face and seeing the blank look on his face, I realized that something was wrong

"Hmm? Can't you see this?"

"See what?"

Squinting my eyes, I was taken aback for a moment.

'He can't see it?'

Surprised by this discovery, a faint smile appeared on my lips.

Interesting.

I didn't know that the book had this other function.

...I guess it made sense if you thought about it. After all, this was an item that wasn't supposed to belong to this world. It wasn't strange that Kevin couldn't see it.

Still, this made things much easier for me.

"...so?"

Snapping me out of my thoughts was Kevin's confused voice. Realizing that I was looking like a complete fool, smiling at Kevin, I brushed my behavior off as a joke.

"I'm kidding...was just messing around"

Frowning slightly, Kevin didn't bother asking anymore.

"Alright..."

"Though I wasn't joking about the horned sheep part..."

"huh?"

"Didn't I tell you I had a skill that enabled me to see in the future?"

Taken aback for a moment, and recalling the conversation I had with him a week prior, Kevin nodded his head slightly.

How could he forget?

One of his biggest secrets was exposed because of this.

"...yeah? so you're telling me that you just used your skill"

Nodding my head, I quickly pushed Kevin forward and urged him to follow my instruction

"bingo! so quickly do as I told you"

*Sigh*

Sighing out loud, taking out his sword, Kevin nodded his head.

"Okay..."

Chapter 123: Hidden dungeon [3]

"huuuu..."

Standing on top of two giant furry carcasses, Kevin exhaled as turbid air escaped from his mouth. By the side of his face, a droplet of sweat dripped down from his cheek.

"Good job!"

Looking upwards, I couldn't help but praise Kevin. It only took him two minutes to dispatch two <D-> ranked monsters.

Although he had my instructions, it was still a very impressive feat. Something that I, with my <E-> strength, could probably not be able to achieve.

...At least not without some preparations.

-Spurt!

Removing his sword from the carcass of one of the two-horned sheep, Kevin jumped down and moved next to me. Arriving before me, looking at me straight in the eyes, Kevin slowly said

"...so it's true"

Taken aback by his sudden action, I couldn't help but ask

"What's true?"

"The fact that you can see the future"

Stopping for a second, I nodded my head.

"Ah...yeah"

I guess you could put it that way.

...With the aid of the book I really could look into the future. Albeit only ten minutes, it was still a small glimpse into the future.

Glancing at Kevin who seemed to be more convinced about his decision, I smiled inwardly.

I guess this worked out in my favor. With the aid of the book, I managed to thoroughly convince Kevin about what I had previously told him. This could probably help me explain a few things in the future when I was planning on scam-keummm, making more deals with him in the future.

"Anyhow, that aside, let's see if there's anything good"

-Spurt!

Walking towards the two-horned sheep, I took out my sword and stabbed it straight towards where their heart was.

"Let's see..."

...I was currently looking for a core.

Because one of the requirements for going to Immorra was a <D> ranked core, I obviously needed to find one.

Therefore, what better way to get one than through monsters that the protagonist killed? With his luck, there was a high chance I could find one today.

Not so far from where I was, staring at me in confusion, Kevin couldn't help but ask

"What are you looking for?"

Snapping my head in his direction, pointing towards the area I was cutting, I rolled my eyes

"Isn't it obvious?"

Frowning slightly, after a bit of thought, Kevin carefully said

"A core?"

"Yeah"

-Spurt!

Nodding my head, I no longer paid any attention to Kevin and turned my attention back towards the sheep. Either way, even if I didn't find a core, I could still sell the sheep for a good amount of money.

Staring at me working hard at dissecting the horned sheep, Kevin wiped off the blood on his sword

"Oh okay. If you find one you can keep it. Take it as extra payment for helping me. No need to share it"

"Thanks"

Smiling at Kevin, I thanked him. However, that was merely a fake smile on my side as I couldn't help but curse at him inwardly.

'Overpowered cheat like bastard. Screw you and your system'

With the aid of the system, Kevin could literally purchase any type of monster core that he wanted. All he had to do was use the shop feature in the system.

Though it required points which he could earn from the quests the system granted him, he could still pretty much get whatever core he wanted without going through the hassle of saving money or going on a monster genocide.

Therefore, to him, although monster cores were valuable, it wasn't enough of a temptation. After all, he wasn't really in need of money as he had all the resources he could ask for from the system...

The more I thought about it, the more I couldn't help but curse at myself.

'Just what in the world was I thinking when I wrote the novel...'

Fortunately, prior to entering the dungeon, Kevin and I had an agreement with one another that I would keep all the spoils from the dungeon raid. To which he nodded without hesitation. After all, the value of a five-star sword manual was immeasurable.

-Slash! -Slash!

Hacking away at the horned sheep, for the next ten minutes or so I tried to look for any sign of a core. However, after pretty much dissecting the whole sheep, I could only bitterly smile as I lowered my sword in defeat

"Find anything"

"Nope..."

Patting me in the shoulder, Kevin encouraged me

"Better luck next time"

Shaking my head, I wanted to curse at him, but I eventually gave up.

Wasn't worth the energy.

"Let's go, we still have a lot of distance to cover"

Pointing further into the cave, I urged for him to follow me.

Sheathing his sword back in his scabbard, Kevin nodded his head.

"Alright..."

...

Walking deeper into the dungeon, placing my hand on Kevin's shoulder once again, I stopped him.

"Hm?"

"Stop for a second..."

Grabbing a small rock from the ground, closing my right eye as I measured the distance in front of me, I took a step back and tossed the rock.

-Tlack!

-Swoooosh! -Swoooosh! -Swoooosh!

At the same time the rock hit the ground, multiple sharp and unnatural objects flew to the other side of the wall and impaled themselves onto the hard bedrock at the opposite end.

"Alright, let's go..."

Glancing at the sharp arrows that dug deep into the bedrock for a second, I urged Kevin to follow along.

Those were poison-coated arrows that could kill even a <C> ranked user if not careful.

"..."

Unfazed by the current happenings, Kevin followed along.

This wasn't the first time this had happened. In fact, this was already the fourth time that Ren discovered the traps and quickly disabled them.

Oddly enough, the traps that were so well hidden didn't seem to bother Ren one bit as he just nonchalantly triggered them left and right.

...It was almost like he could see the traps.

'Just what in the world is he...'

The more Kevin was with Ren, the bigger the confusion grew. He really couldn't get a read on him no matter how much he tried.

In the end, Kevin gave up. His main focus right now was the five-star sword art. Everything else came afterward.

...As they kept moving forward, around two hours into the dungeon, Kevin couldn't help but finally realize by what I meant when I said that there wouldn't be any problems even if we went to Immorra.

If they could avoid the danger, there really wouldn't be any issues regardless of how strong the monsters present were...

Moreover, whenever there were monsters, I would quickly instruct him on what to do and thereafter following my instructions Kevin would make quick work of the monsters.

If I had to say so myself, we really worked well together.

I would also help Kevin on occasions during fights. That was whenever there were too many monsters, or when a monster ambushed him from a blind spot.

Glancing at Kevin who was quietly following along lost in his own world, I quietly muttered

"...we should be close to the main area of the dungeon, so follow closely okay?"

Slowing down his footsteps, Kevin tilted his head and asked

"Main area?"

Nodding my head, I responded

"Yeah..."

Currently, we were still on the outskirts of the dungeon. Actually, to even say we were in the dungeon would be a bit of a stretch.

It was more like the tutorial part of a game before the game actually started.

To really enter the dungeon we neeed to first complete the tutorial area...

"Shhhhh..."

Placing my finger in my mouth, halting my steps, I put my hand to the side and indicated to Kevin to stop moving.

"We're here..."

Currently, we were at the end of a tunnel, right before the entrance of where the first boss of the dungeon was located.

Leaning against the edge of the tunnel, stealthily peeking behind the edge of the wall, I soon noticed a furry creature resting at the center of the room.

Flashing its terrifying eyes and flickering its tongue was a monster known as the hodag. A monster that came from American folklore.

The hodag was a fearsome critter-type creature that resembled a large bull-horned carnivore with a row of thick curved spines that protruded down its back. A thick green fur coated the monster's body as its two large fangs dripped saliva on the ground.

According to legends, the hodag was said to be born from the ashes of cremated oxen, as the incarnation of the accumulation of abuse the animals had suffered at the hands of their masters.

At least that's what was written on the monster encyclopedia.

As I studied the monster from the area I was in, I also made sure to take note of anything important in the surroundings. Like if there were other monsters present, the rank of the monster, and what type of terrain the monster was resting on.

Glancing at the beast from the corner of the wall, by the size of its body, it seemed to be around <D> rank at best.

Kevin should be able to handle it, albeit with a little bit of difficulty.

The reason why defeating the Hodag was crucial was because once we defeated the Hodag, the scenery around us should change.

It might look like a cave at first, but once we kill the hodag, everything around us should change as we will be teleported towards a different area of the dungeon.

...The main area of the dungeon and where the Levisha style could be found.

"What's the plan?"

Touching my chin as I contemplated for a couple of seconds, I glanced at Kevin who was behind me. Moving back, I nudged him with my head and told him to look

"Take a look"

Nodding his head, peeking from the corner of the wall, Kevin's brows furrowed

"Is that a hodag?"

Nodding my head, I crossed my arms and softly said

"Yeah, and also the key to getting your five-star sword art"

Staring at me seriously, without asking any questions, Kevin nodded his head and asked

"Okay, so what do you want me to do?"

Hearing Kevin's question, as if I was stating the most obvious thing, I slowly said

"Kill it of course"

Chapter 124: Hidden dungeon [4]

Glancing at the hodeg peacefully resting in the middle of the cave, looking back at me, in a low voice Kevin asked

"So once we kill it we get to the main dungeon area?"

Nodding my head in affirmation, I responded

"Yeah, after we kill the real challenge begins"

"Alright, if it's only a hodeg, it shouldn't be that hard. Huup!"

Nodding his head in understanding, Kevin summoned his sword. Thereafter, tensing his leg muscles, he directly shot towards the Hodeg.

"Huuup!"

Arriving before the hodeg, without hesitation, Kevin swung his sword towards its tail. The most dangerous part of the monster.

—Clank!

"Kueek—!"

A loud metallic sound resounded across the dungeon, followed by a loud screeching sound. Soon after, like a whip, the hodeg's tail shot towards Kevin who swiftly moved backward and dodged it.

Unbothered by the commotion that was happening, standing not so far from where Kevin was, glancing at the book, I quickly gave Kevin instructions.

"Kevin, in a couple of seconds the hodeg's tail will come at you once again, take one step back and aim towards its left flank, near its leg. That's its weak spot"

"Roger that"

Nodding his head, Kevin gripped his sword more tightly.

—Swooosh!

...and just like I had stated, the hodeg's tail came swinging towards Kevin. It was so fast that only a blur could be seen. The way the tail curved in the air as well as the sound that it produced as it moved, reminded me of a whip.

—Kacha!

"Huaap!"

Listening to what I had said, taking a step back, Kevin narrowly avoided the tail. Thereafter, without skipping a beat, Kevin shot like a bullet and aimed towards the left side of the Hodge.

-Spurt!

Like a knife cutting through butter, Kevin's sword inserted itself into the hodeg's left leg area. Green blood spurted everywhere and a loud enraged roar shook the dungeon.

"Kueeeeeek—!"

-Swoooosh!

"Wheeee—Off you go!"

Creating a circle with my sword, a translucent ring appeared before me. With a flick of my fingers, I whistled at Kevin who nodded his head and jumped upwards.

"Thanks!"

Doing a backflip in the air, a couple of meters above the hodeg, Kevin skillfully dodged the beast's tail that was trashing the ground below in a berserk state. Without hesitation, twisting his body in the air, Kevin's foot perfectly landed on my ring, and subsequently after, he propelled his body downwards with his sword aimed towards the skull of the hodeg.

—Baaam!

Like a meteor, Kevin shot towards the hodeg.

Watching Kevin perform this from below, I couldn't help but be impressed by his agility and flexibility.

Without me needing to tell him what he had to do, he perfectly understood the intent behind me placing a ring in the air.

Talking about the ring, after I trained with it a bit more, I found out that it could also be used as a place to step in the air.

Though I haven't tried on it for myself, it worked multiple times with Kevin. I should definitely take note of this feature for the future.

"Kueeeeeek—!"

Crashing around the dungeon, the hodeg maniacally looked for anything to direct its anger towards. Soon after, spotting me in the distance, the hodeg's eyes turned scarlet red as it quickly headed in my direction.

"hm?"

Glancing at the hodeg that was heading in my direction, unbothered by it, I leaned back and lazily yawned. I then proceeded to coat my body with mana.

"Huuuuuamm..."

"Kueeeeeek—!"

—Baaam!

Just as the hodeg was about to reach me, like a meteor, Kevin crashed onto the top of the hodeg's head and green blood sprayed everywhere.

Tsssssss

As the green blood splashed against the coat of mana covering my body, steam slowly raised in the air. Yeah, the hodeg's blood was very acidic.

With his sword deeply imbued into the Hodeg's body, Kevin slowly closed his eyes and exhaled.

"Huuuu..."

Looking at the now dead Hodeg below Kevin, I lightly applauded.

"Well done"

Opening his eyes, Kevin looked at me and asked

"What next?"

"We just wai—"

—Rumble!

Right on cue, just as I was about to tell Kevin what was going to happen next, the whole dungeon shook. Thereafter, as if we had entered a portal, both Kevin and I lost our senses, and the world around us turned dark.

-Vuam!

...

"Khhh..."

Holding onto the side of my stomach, I grimaced in pain. Though it wasn't the first time I went through this, I was still not used to the sensation of being transported around. It felt as though my body was pulverized to then be reconstructed in a completely different place.

...Wasn't pleasant.

"Is this the middle area of the dungeon?"

Standing not so far from where I was, Kevin, who seemed to be completely unfazed, looked around the new environment we were in.

Brushing my hair to the side, I too looked around the dungeon.

Covering my eyes with my hand, a clear blue sky with a pale yellow sun met my sight. Tall towering trees stood next to us, and heavy vegetation filled with herbs and flowers appeared all over the place.

It was an oddly beautiful sight.

...the new environment was a stark different compared to the other dungeons I had been in.

It somehow looked normal.

Still, just because it looked normal didn't mean I should let my guard down. We were after all, in a pocket dimension that connected to the demon world.

This place was filled with monsters...

"So where are we going?"

Frowning, I looked around me. After a bit of thinking, I pointed towards the east and urged Kevin to follow along.

"This way..."

"Okay"

Nodding his head, Kevin followed without hesitation. After what had happened previously in the dungeon, Kevin was more than convinced by my abilities.

As long as it wasn't something that didn't seem unreasonable, he wasn't going to dispute my decisions anymore.

Noticing his attitude, I smiled to myself.

...Good.

Convincing him that I wasn't a scammer was one of the main goals I had set for myself when proposing this deal.

Moreover, with him being less apprehensive towards me, I could use this to my advantage in the future to avoid unnecessary problems.

"Ren stop!"

"Hm?"

Snapping me out of my thoughts, Kevin placed his hand on my shoulder as he pointed forward

"Don't get lost in your own thoughts, there are monsters over there"

Looking at the direction of where Kevin was pointing at, not so far from where Kevin and I were, a group of light blue translucent flame-like things levitated near the ground.

Frowning slightly, I couldn't help but tilt my head in confusion as I said

"Hm? Aren't those just <F> ranked will-o-wisps?"

If I didn't remember wrongly, wisps were probably some of the easiest monsters to get rid of inside f dungeons because of their inability to move fast.

Moreover, they were only <F> rank. Even I could take care of them without batting an eye.

Shaking his head, Kevin pointed towards the wisp-like creatures. this time, as he spoke, his voice contained a rare trace of solemnity.

"What do you mean just will-o-wisps? Look carefully, at their color. If you pay close attention you can tell that those are not wisps but in fact, <E>ranked night lizards. Wisps flames are dark blue whilst the one over there is light blue. Therefore, we can easily deduce that they are in fact the <E> ranked monsters night lizards, which are on a completely different level to wisps"

"Hmm? now that you pointing this out they really do seem to be night lizards..."

Touching my chin and taking a better look at the wisp-like objects, I finally realized that Kevin was in fact right.

<E> ranked monster, night lizard.

A monster that hunted in groups. Because of the blue flame around their body, they were often mistaken for wisps, and because of this fact, many heroes had died at their hands.

With their incredible speed, they were almost impossible to kill unless someone else had the equivalent or an even faster speed to them. Moreover, as they hunted in groups, they terrified even <C> ranked heroes who could barely keep up with their speeds.

...Kevin's apprehension towards them was understandable.

Seeing that I understood, Kevin stared at the night lizards from the distance and started speaking to me

"So we need to be careful when handling this as their incredibly fast speeds can even—huh?"

Just as Kevin was about to finish formulating his plan, a clicking sound resounded across the area he was in.

-Click!

The second movement of the [Keiki style] : Horizon splitting slash

Soon after, a bright light instantly dyed the surroundings in white. Thereupon, after the light died down, the clean dissected bodies of the lizard could be found sprawled all over the ground.

"Done, let's go"

With my hand still on the sheat of my blade, I smiled at Kevin and moved forward.

"..."

Standing there speechless for a while, Kevin couldn't help but alternate his head between the lizard's dissected bodies and me.

'When did he attack?'

Chapter 125: Hidden dungeon [5]

"You..."

Staring at Ren's back for a couple of seconds, Kevin couldn't find any words to say. Though he had a bit of a hunch regarding Ren's strength, when he saw it in person, he was at a loss for words

...fast.

So incredibly fast and efficient.

Although his attention wasn't directed towards Ren at the time he attacked, in the blink of an eye, all of the night lizards were killed.

...not one was spared.

Eleven night lizards were dissected in a blink of an eye. Something that would've taken him quite a while to accomplish.

Recalling the lightning-fast attack that came from behind him, Kevin couldn't help but think to himself

'Could I have stopped that?'

Closing his eyes, Kevin envisioned himself defending himself against that attack. In the end, after a couple of seconds, he shook his head.

...he didn't know. Perhaps when he was fully alert he could, but...if he wasn't paying attention.

Stopping his thoughts there, Kevin didn't want to think about it. Just the thought of him facing such lightning-fast attack made him shudder.

"huuu..."

Taking a deep breath and looking at Ren walking upfront, Kevin had so many questions in his mind, but he refrained from voicing them out. Everyone had their secret, and he knew this fact better than anyone else.

After all, he was hiding a pretty big secret himself...

Although he didn't know why Ren was trying to hide his strength, he knew better than anyone to just shut up and go move on.

"Come on, we still got a bit to cover"

Glancing at Kevin who was deep into his own thoughts, a faint smile appeared on my lips.

Knowing Kevin, he was most likely comparing himself to me. It was a habit of his. Be it friend or foe he would always compare his strength to others.

...It was just engraved into his system. The hot-blooded mindset of a youth seeking to compare himself to someone else and see who was better. That's what Kevin was experiencing...

Shaking my head, I couldn't help but bitterly smile.

'...I'm too old for that'

Though I also wanted to get stronger, I didn't have the same hot-blooded mindest a youth had. Maybe at times, but usually I preferred to stay calm.

Although when I first came into this world I was anything but calm, as I adjusted myself to this place, I somehow regained my confidence and became much calmer.

Moreover, well, he was misunderstanding the true extent of my strength. Although the night lizards were indeed creatures that were hard to kill for him, they were a breeze for someone like me who could just kill them with my incredible speed.

...either way, it doesn't really matter. I wanted to get over with this dungeon as fast as possible.

After all, I had many things to do in preparation for the many tasks I had to complete by the end of the month.

Thus, glancing at Kevin, I picked up my speed.

"Hurry up, we've still got half a day worth of distance to cover..."

Like that, for about the next five hours or so, Kevin and I swiftly moved around the dungeon and killed any monster that obstructed our paths.

Of course, whenever we killed a <D> ranked monster, I would quickly skin it alive and try to see if it had a core, however, somehow, lady luck wasn't on my side today.

Well, that was what I thought until...

"Kyuuuuuueee—!"

A loud desperate cry resounded across the forest as Kevin appeared on top of a large bat-like monster.

Glancing at the humongous bat that was lying dead on the ground, glancing at me, Kevin asked

"This should be the last one no?"

"Yup, now move aside"

Nodding my head, unsheathing my sword I merrily walked towards the bat and stabbed towards its chest area.

-Spurt!

Watching me skin the bat, Kevin shook his head.

Out of the hundreds of monsters they had killed, not one had a core. If there was one thing he learned from Gilbert's class was that finding a core was just as hard as winning the lottery. The chances were almost slim to none.

"Just give up, the probability of getting a core is really small so you better just b—"

—Vuum! —Vuum!

Just as Kevin was telling me to give up, pulling a purple orb-like object that continuously pulsated a purple hue, I raised my brow towards Kevin as a smirk inadvertently appeared on my face

"Sorry, I didn't quite get what you were trying to say?"

Staring at my smirking face, a vein bulged on Kevin's forehead. Trying his best to calm himself down, an awkward smile appeared on his face.

"Congratulations..."

"Mhhhm"

Nodding my head in satisfaction, I couldn't help but slowly caress the purple orb in my hand. Did my E+ rank luck finally work?

...or was this due to Kevin's luck?

Either way, placing the orb in my dimensional space, I merrily walked towards the forest.

"Let's go"

Walking for a further two hundred meters, Kevin couldn't help but ask

"How much longer do we have to walk? I think we've pretty much crossed half of the dungeon already"

Halting my steps in front of a large area filled with large thick green vines, squatting down and placing my hand on the floor, after a couple of seconds, looking up towards Kevin I slowly said

"Actually, we are pretty much already here?"

"Here?"

Looking around, Kevin couldn't help but be confused as all he saw were thick vines and trees everywhere. In fact, the vegetation was so thick here that he couldn't even see the sun.

"...I don't see anything"

Standing up, cracking my neck, I said

"That's because you can't see it yet"

-Slash! -Slash!

Unsheathing my sword, I then proceeded to hack towards the large vines.

Like that, for the next five minutes, I continuously cut down the large vines in front of me. Soon after, a large rumbling sound started becoming discernible by both me and Kevin as the ground below us shook slightly.

Looking up ahead, and seeing a small light appear from the gaps of the vines, a smile appeared on my face

"Alright"

-Slash!

Slashing one more time, the scenery before me and Kevin changed one more time as a large waterfall appeared before us.

-Rumble!

"Is that a waterfall?"

"Yup"

Simultaneously halting our footsteps, Kevin and I watched as an enormous waterfall appeared before us. Surrounded by vines, a pocket-like space that contained a large pond and a waterfall appeared before us. Looking up, we could finally once again see the sun shining down on the land.

-Splash! -Splash!

As the water fell and crashed against the hard rocks on the ground, a small rainbow appeared in the area. It was a truly mesmerizing sight.

Snapping out of his daze, Kevin looked around and asked

"What do we do now?"

Glancing at Kevin, taking off my shirt and pants, without hesitation, I jumped into the small pond below the waterfall

"...What else aside from swimming"

-Splash!

Soon after I said those words, diving deep into the water, I felt my skin sting due to the cold sensation of the water brushing against my skin.

Gritting my teeth and remaining underwater, I waited for Kevin to dive as well.

-Splash!

Not a minute after, Kevin's figure appeared next to me beneath the water. Using my hand to signal him to follow me, using breaststroke, I swam towards the deeper end of the water.

As I swam, appearing in my view was a small black tunnel. Glancing at Kevin behind me, and making sure he was following me, I pointed towards the tunnel and swam in it.

Looking at the tunnel, Kevin nodded his head and proceeded to follow me.

...

-Splash! -Splash!

Inside of a dark cave, the tranquil pond that did not ripple for years, suddenly rippled as shortly after two large heads appeared from beneath the water.

"Huuuuuua!"

"Huuuuuua!"

Appearing from beneath the water, I along with Kevin, heavily gulped for air as we floated in the water.

"l-let's get out, it's a bit too cold"

As my teeth chattered, using breaststroke, I moved towards the edge of the pond and quickly got out of the water.

...getting out of the water, I couldn't help but shiver due to the cold. Although I was somehow more resistant to the cold, it still didn't prevent me from getting cold.

Shortly after, taking out a towel from my dimensional space I dried my body and put on my clothes.

After making sure I had all my clothes on, turning towards Kevin, who was also dressed up, I nodded towards him and moved deeper into the cave.

"Alright follow me, we're close"

"Okay..."

Drying his hair with a towel, Kevin nodded his head and followed me into a dark path inside of the cave.

As we were walking deeper into the cave, five minutes in, a strong residual magical energy could be felt in the air. The closer we walked, the more stifling the atmosphere became.

—Vuam! —Vuam!

Opening his eyes wide, feeling the intense magical energy, Kevin looked at me to which I nodded back.

"Yes, we're here"

Thereafter, turning right of the passageway, a large purple gate appeared before us. However, contrary to a regular gate, this one had evident signs of human tampering as thick black pillars appeared on its sides along with some tall statues of what seemed to be gargoyles.

Stopping before the large gate, I rubbed my hand together and said

"Welp, this is as far as I can go"

Nodding his head slowly, without looking away from the gate, Kevin opened his mouth and quietly asked

"...is this where I can find the sword art?"

Nodding my head, I made sure to remind him of a few things that I had previously told him on our way here

"Yeah, make sure you follow the instructions that I told you on the way to the dungeon, only look for a golden book at the center of the palace and don't go anywhere else as I can't control..."

Staring at the gate in a daze, most of my words went from one ear to the other. Noticing this, I sighed and just stopped talking.

"I'm going"

Seeing that I was done talking, Kevin took a step towards the gate

"Bye"

Helplessly smiling, I waved at him

However, just as Kevin was about to enter, recalling something, Kevin turned around and looked at me straight into my eyes. Seriously nodding his head, he solemnly said

"Thank you, if I really get the sword art, I'll keep the end of my deal"

Smiling without responding, I watched as Kevin subsequently entered the portal.

—Vuam!

"Huaamm..."

Watching Kevin's figure disappear into the portal, I lazily yawned and leaned against one of the statues next to the portal.

'This might take a bit...'

Chapter 126: Hidden dungeon [6]

—Vuaam!

Kevin's entire body was enveloped in a golden luster. Soon after, Kevin appeared in a whole new place.

"Khh, where am I?"

Glancing around in confusion, Kevin, once again found himself in the middle of a forest. However this time, in front of him, stood a large majestic palace that towered in the middle of the forest. It reached all the way to the sky as green vines entangled themselves on the side of the walls.

At the front of the palace were two giant golden doors that sealed the entrance of the palace.

As Kevin looked at the palace from the distance, he was so shocked by the appearance of the palace that he thought he had actually gone back in time, back in the medieval times.

The palace still felt as majestic and grand as it would've back when it was just built.

"This must be the place Ren told me about..."

Noticing the palace, Kevin remembered everything that Ren told him before entering. From what he would see upon entering the dungeon to what things he needed to avoid and what areas were strictly forbidden.

Collecting himself, nodding his head, Kevin walked all the way until he reached the entrance of the palace.

According to what Ren had told him, behind the golden doors of the place, was where the five-star sword art that he was looking for was located.

Halting his steps for a split moment, the images of what happened between him and Gilbert replayed in Kevin's mind. As he recalled those images, Kevin couldn't help but clench his fists tightly.

'Never again...'

Never again did he want to be humiliated like that.

"Huuu..."

Arriving in front of the two golden doors, taking a deep breath and placing his hands on the door, Kevin proceeded to open the two enormous doors.

—Shiiiiin!

As he opened the door a dazzling glow nearly blinded him, making him unable to open his eyes. Covering his eyes to mitigate the impact of the light, with great difficulty, he forced his eyes open and saw vast sculptures sitting in the palace.

Each sculpture was different from the others; there was a golden armored knight, an enormous dragon, and all other sorts of fantastical creatures. Under the feet of these giant sculptures was a path that led ahead where the statues of two angels holding onto two harps could be seen.

Walking around in a daze, Kevin followed the path and reached a strange altar, where on top, all kinds of books and scrolls that were written with powerfully dense words appeared.

Squinting his eyes to get a better look, as Kevin observed the books and scrolls, he could feel the powerful intent in each and every word written inside of those scrolls.

Boundless.

Those were the words that perfectly described how he felt as he looked towards the books and scroll.

He could practically envision an old man sitting on a large spacious desk writing those scrolls with every last part of his remaining life.

"Hm?"

In the midst of admiring the scrolls and books, sensing something, Kevin noticed that at the very center of this altar was a golden book that shined a golden luster. It pulsated a dense and majestic golden light that almost made it feel as if was alive.

Moreover, compared to the other books, this one seemed to be far more complex...

Touching the book with his hand, Kevin's eyes soon became entranced by the two words engraved on it.

[Levisha style]

"...Levisha style, Grandmaster Levisha"

As if everything started to click, Kevin instantly realized what sword this was. Recalling the legends of Grandmaster Levisha, a smile inadvertently appeared on his face.

Elegant, precise, and concise...this was the perfect sword art that he was looking for.

—Vuuuam!

"huh...khhh"

Just as Kevin was about to open the book, strange golden energy spread throughout the mysterious book as Kevin's hand became stuck on top of the book. It soon enveloped Kevin completely.

Soon after, like a flood, strange images inserted themselves inside of Kevin's mind causing his eyes to turn white.

"Kyuuuuuuaaaa—!"

Shortly after that, Kevin's pained scream resounded across the empty space.

-Thud

Darkness enveloped Kevin's vision, as his body dropped to the ground. Everything turned silent and the book lost its golden luster.

...

"huuuuam..."

Yawning like there was no tomorrow, I checked my watch and stared at the dungeon behind me.

"six hours..."

That's how long Kevin was inside of the dungeon. If I wasn't wrong, currently, Kevin was going through Grandmaster Levisha's trial.

Though it was a tough trial, back in the novel, Kevin successfully managed to pass the trial without much difficulty.

Moreover, only upon succeeding would he finally be able to get his hands on the sword art. I doubt he would give up halfway just because the trial was hard.

Though he was weaker as compared to the time he actually got the sword art, I wasn't worried.

More so than him being the protagonist, I had faith that he could succeed. After all, Kevin's strength two months from now shouldn't be that much different.

I was sure of this as for the next few months, there were no major events circling him after all. This part of the novel was supposed to be a time skip that directly skipped all the way towards the Intra-Academy exchange.

By the time the arc started, he was still ranked <D->, halfway towards <D> rank.

-Knock! -Knock!

Standing up and walking around the place, recalling something, I knocked on one of the gargoyle statues next to the portal.

As I did, I couldn't help but admire the amount of fine detail that was put into them. From the way they were carved and shaped, they almost seemed to be lifelike. Moreover, what made them especially unique were the two ruby red eyes that were deeply imbued in the areas where their eyes were supposed to be.

...It made them look more alive.

—Shiiiiin!

Still, without caring too much, putting my hands on top of the heads of the two gargoyles statues in front of the portal, channeling my mana into them, they soon shrank and disappeared from where they were. Leaving behind nothing but the portal.

Clapping my hands together in satisfaction, I gratefully looked towards the portal and thanked Kevin

"Will be taking this, thank you very much, Kevin"

—Shiiiiin!

Extending my hand forward, a miniature version of the gargoyle statue appeared in my hand. It looked exactly like the sculpture from before. However, it was much smaller compared to before.

Taking a good look at it, I couldn't help but nod in satisfaction.

-Tssss

Biting the tip of my finger, I placed my finger on top of the statue and let the blood dripping from my finger drip on the statue.

—Shiiiiin!

Thereafter, as my blood touched the statue, the gargoyle statue's ruby red eyes shone brightly as white steam rose from its body.

As white steam released in the air, suddenly, a blinding light covered the whole area around me.

Unbothered by the blinding light, my eyes remained fixated on the statue as a blue text appeared on top of the statue.

[Twin gargoyle statue - E rank]

"There we go..."

An artifact that was originally supposed to belong to Kevin back in the novel.

However, although the statues were indeed taken by Kevin, he actually never used them as I practically forgot about them.

...mhhh, actually more than me forgetting about them, it's more like they were useless to Kevin.

After all, they didn't have any outstanding effect apart from the fact that upon setting them on the ground, they could target a specific person and stun them for a split second. Sounded pretty strong there...but there was a critical flaw that made me, as an author back then, unable to properly use them and hence discard them.

...Problem was that setting them up and activating them from the distance required a lot of effort.

It required the enemy to stand in a specific area where the gargoyle's eyes looked towards and had to be set up in advance. This required you to either predict where the enemy was going to stand, or lure them there.

Both were extremely hard things to accomplish.

Moreover, for someone like Kevin who liked to fight face-to-face, such an artifact really didn't suit him.

Wasn't really sure as to why I even created them in the first place. I guess back then I just really loved overgearing him with artifacts and useless stuff.

If I had to say, even for me, the statues weren't really that useful. Considering that I had to set them up beforehand, I doubt I had a good use for them.

However, it could still serve as a nice souvenir for my mercenary group office.

Moreover, just in case someone comes in, I could activate them and deal with the intruders. Though it was only a split second, for most people it wouldn't mean much, but for me who practiced the [Keiki style] that split second could turn out to be devastating.

"Hm?"

Putting the statue away and noticing a slight fluctuation in magical energy in the air, I turned around and glanced at the portal behind me.

The portal was currently fluctuating wildly as the magical energy in the surroundings intensified by the second.

—Vuuuam!

Soon after, the portal shone brightly as a dark silhouette weakly walked out of the portal. Recognizing the silhouette as Kevin, I stood up.

Walking towards him, I couldn't help but ask

"Did you get it?"

Stopping right in front of the gate, glancing at me, after a couple of seconds, Kevin smiled

"Yup-khh"

However, shortly after Kevin exited the portal, stumbling a couple of steps, face first, he fell towards the ground.

"Huuup!"

Grabbing onto Kevin's weak and haggard figure, I looked at his tired figure. Shaking my head, I patted him on the back and slowly said

"You did good..."

Smiling slightly, before passing out, Kevin softly mumbled

"Thanks...."

Chapter 127: New piece [1]

Inside of a white space was a tall man with a long grey beard. His shoulder-length white hair gently cascaded over his broad shoulders.

His towering back proudly stood like an immovable mountain, and his muscles, which despite his age, seemed to show no sign of aging as hidden within them was a boundless power.

Standing shirtless with only a set of long worn-out brown pants, in the white void, a broadsword appeared in the man's hands.

Gripping onto the broadsword with his two hands, the old man's muscles bulged. His green veins continuously wiggled as his back expanded casting a large shadow over the area in front of him.

"Huuuuu..."

Exhaling, turbid air escaped from the old man's mouth as his grip on the sword intensified.

-Slash!

Thereafter, the sound of his hand slowly slashing through the air resounded across the space.

His every movement left a faint trace whenever his hand moved. It almost felt as if another illusion of him was mimicking his movements at a slower pace.

-Slash! -Slash!

After the first slash came the second, then the third, then the fourth...and then after a while, came the sixty-fourth movement.

-Tssssssss

Raising his sword in the air, behind his back, the old man held onto the sword with both hands as his grip intensified. The veins on his hands and muscles became even more prominent as steam slowly rose from the man's body.

Shortly after, the man's body started shrinking as his hair became whiter, and his skin became even more wrinkly. A couple of seconds after, the muscles of the old man's body shrunk completely. Leaving behind an old husk of a man that was a far cry from what he was before.

-Tssssssss

Facing the changes happening to his body, the old man's face remained stoic. Retaining the grip of the broadsword in the air, the old man's weak yet steady figure fiercely stared at what was before him. His gaze which was full of determination, and insanity stared at the void before him.

"Gyaaaaa—!"

Screaming at the top of his lungs, the old man slashed...

-Kacha!

As soon as the old man slashed, everything froze.

Shortly after, the white space disappeared and the world started to crumble...

"Guuuuaah—!"

Opening his eyes wide, Kevin sat up straight as he screamed.

"My God, can you not scream like that!"

Covering my ears with my hand, I couldn't help glare at Kevin who seemed to have just woken up from a long nightmare.

"Huh?"

Hearing my voice, blinking a couple of times, Kevin massaged his forehead. After making sure that everything was within his mind, Kevin glanced at me asked

"How long was I out?"

Taking a look at my watch, I responded.

"About two hours? if we include the six hours you were in the dungeon, I've pretty much spent eight hours in this place"

As I spoke, the annoyance within my voice couldn't be hidden.

I mean, I literally waited for almost eight hours. If not for the gargoyle statues keeping me entertained, I would've long been bored to death.

In fact, at one point I did want to wake Kevin up but no matter what I tried to do to wake Kevin up, his body refused to budge. Be it kick, slap, or scream, nothing worked.

Having exhausted all means, I eventually just gave up and sat down in defeat.

Sitting up straight, Kevin asked

"Where are we?"

Seeing that Kevin was still disoriented from what he went through, I pointed towards the purple portal and said

"We are still at the entrance of the portal"

"Entrance?"

Looking around, Kevin soon noticed that he was indeed back inside of the cave that led to the portal.

Glancing at the purple portal that shone brightly, a complicated look appeared on Kevin's face. As he recalled the old man in his dreams, he couldn't help ask to himself

'Was that the true Levisha style?'

After going through numerous trails, Kevin passed out and found himself inside of a strange white world where an old man stood. Shortly after he appeared in the world, Kevin witnessed the old man perform every stance of the Levisha style.

Including the last stance...

The sixth fourth stance, and last stance of the Levisha style.

'I am boundless'

Recalling the sixty-fourth strike performed by Grandmaster Levisha as he used all of his life energy in order to perform it, Kevin couldn't help but shudder as he thought to himself

'Can I do it?'

Closing his eyes, Kevin imagined himself performing the sixty-four stances...

Closing his eyes, he tried recalling the sensation that Grandmaster Levisha felt as he performed the last stance. From his muscle movement, breathing pattern, his demenour...Kevin tried to recall everything that he saw within his dream.

Now that his mind was lucid, he tried his best to engrave every minute detail into his brain. Shortly after, Kevin envisioned himself performing the sixty-four stances.

...however, right after the eight stance, Kevin's brows knit tightly. As he continuously practiced the Levisha style in his mind, the only thing Kevin could envision, was his body exploding into millions of pieces as soon as he finished the eight stance.

The eight stance...that was his current level.

Frowning hard, Kevin shook his head.

...he still had a long way to go before being able to come close to performing the sixty-fourth stance. Moreover, unlike Grandmaster Levisha who had to sacrifice his life in order to perform such art, Kevin wanted to do it without sacrificing his life force...he wanted to perfect it.

"Oy, answer me"

Snapping Kevin out of his thoughts was my annoyed voice.

"Hm?"

Calling out for Kevin who was deep into his own world, I shook my head and said

"I don't know about you, but if I'm late for class, I might get myself in an annoying situation, so hurry up and get ready. We have one day to get back to the academy."

"Oh, sorry. Let's go"

Nodding his head, Kevin was reminded of the fact that the lectures indeed resumed tomorrow. Thus, without complaining, Kevin stood up and patted his body.

After making sure I didn't forget anything, looking at Kevin, I nudged my head and walked towards the tunnel that led to the pond.

"Let's hurry up, or we might miss the train"

"Coming..."

Nodding his head, Kevin followed me towards the path.

However, just as he was about to leave, Kevin recalled something. Halting his steps and turning around, he bowed towards the portal and softly said

"Thank you...I will make sure to carry out your legacy spectacularly"

Thereafter, he left and entered the dark tunnel. Silence and tranquility once again returned in the surroundings.

-Kacha!

However, a couple of hours after Kevin left, the purple hue around the portal started fluctuating madly as the portal everything started to tremble.

-Rumble!

The cave shook and everything started to slowly crumble as large rocks fell down onto the ground.

...

After almost half a day of walking, Kevin and I were finally in the clear as we exited the dungeon.

This time, because I wanted to get out as fast as possible, using the book, I avoided all possible dangers and choose the fastest possible route to the exit.

Moreover, as I knew the way back due to me remembering how we got here, I was able to save time as I didn't need to constantly look at the map.

Thus, not long after we left the dungeon, we were already back in the town of Rowa.

Rowa was a small town that inhibited fifty thousand people and was built on the Clayton ridge.

The town was fairly beautiful as greenery could be found everywhere. Moreover, the fresh air, and beautiful architectural structures of the town, made this place look extremely lovely.

The whitewashed houses that filled the town were especially beautiful, but that wasn't what made truly made this town stand out. No, it was that the structures were built directly into the rocky cliffs surrounding the Clayton ridge area. This resulted in a beautiful natural rock formation hanging over the streets, providing shade and stunning views of the mountains and scenery below.

Admiring the scenery and walking along the cobblestone streets of Rowa, Kevin glanced at me and asked.

"What time is the train?"

Checking my watch, I calmly responded

"...in about an hour"

Nodding his head, and placing his hand on his chin as he fell into deep contemplation, Kevin thought for a moment before suggesting

"Should we just wait at the train station then?"

Similarly placing my hand on my chin, I nodded my head

"Hmmm, let's do that then"

Though we could've gone to eat at a restaurant nearby, because the train was in an hour, it was better to just directly go to the train station.

Didn't want to lose the train ride because the food took too long to arrive. Plus, I wasn't even that hungry, to begin with.

As we were walking, glancing towards my surroundings, I couldn't help but notice that there were fewer and fewer people on the streets.

...Soon, a couple of minutes after I noticed this fact, no one was within our sights. Everything was deserted. Almost as if every person from the face of this world disappeared.

Frowning deeply, I couldn't help but say

"Why is everything so quiet around here?"

Glancing around, Kevin too noticed the changes as a deep frown also appeared on his face.

"...now that you mention it, it is indeed quite—huh?"

Not even halfway through his sentence, the world around Kevin and I distorted.

—Vuam!

Thereafter, a large invisible dome appeared covering the area where Kevin and I were. Seeing the dome, Kevin couldn't help but shout as he quickly summoned his sword and took a stance

"A dimensional space...crap it's an ambush!"

Opening my eyes wide, I couldn't help but freeze for a split second. Shortly after, looking at Kevin next to me who was ready in a battle position, I couldn't help but think to myself...

'...Why is this happening? This scene never appeared in the novel'

Chapter 128: New piece [2]

"Shit...what's going on?"

Recovering from my daze, I quickly drew my sword and calmly looked towards my surroundings.

I needed to remain calm. I couldn't let my emotions get the best of me like in the past.

"Huuu..."

Exhaling, I tried to analyze what was going on. Currently, Kevin and I were trapped inside of a dimensional space with no idea about who was targeting us. Moreover...

...This wasn't something that was supposed to happen in the novel.

Once again, reality and the plot were distorted.

What was even more unsettling was the fact that this happened despite the fact that no one knew that Kevin and I were going to the Clayton ridge.

...someone must've tailed us. But who?

The first name that came up in my mind was of course Gilbert, someone with who Kevin just recently got into conflict...but I quickly discarded such a notion.

Gilbert was currently under strict watch from certain professors. Therefore, any move he made was extremely risky. If someone found Kevin dead, the first person people would look towards would be Gilbert...and he knew that. Hence why it couldn't be him.

...if it wasn't him then who? Micheal Parker?

"Ghhh..."

The more I thought about it, the more I couldn't help but be confused as the frown on my face deepened.

'Just what in the world is going on?'

-Vuaaaam!

Glaring towards one of the houses in the distance, Kevin pointed his sword in that direction as a red hue enveloped the body of his sword. Thereafter, he shouted

"Get out, I know you're hiding there"

"kekeke, guess you found us out"

Chuckling, a black humanoid creature with two horns on his head and bat-like wings showed up from behind one of the houses.

"Demon!"

Noticing the identity of the creature that came out, Kevin's whole demenour changed. His body shook as veins appeared all over his face. The red hue around him intensified uncontrollably.

"I-ll kill you all!"

"Oy calm down!"

Noticing Kevin's unstable mind, I quickly headed in his direction in hopes of calming him down.

Kevin's state wasn't good.

His hatred towards demons was on another level, as his mind right now was clouded with nothing but rage. If he didn't get a hold of himself now, things could get quite messy.

However, just as I thought Kevin was about to explode, stopping me with his hand, Kevin took a deep breath and said

"Fuuuu...I'm okay"

Shortly after he said that the red hue around his body stabilized.

"Are you sure?"

Nodding his head, Kevin's demenour turned incomparably serious as he looked at the demon in the air.

"Yeah...moreover we have a bigger problem to deal with"

-Fwaaa -Fwaaa -Fwaaa

As soon as Kevin finished speaking as if on cue, appearing from nowhere, multiple black humanoid-like creatures with bat wings and horns on their head appeared in the surroundings.

A twisted malicious smile appeared on each of their faces as they looked down on the both of us like a ripe fruit ready for the taking.

"Who sent you?"

Standing his ground, unfazed by the demons that had just shown up, Kevin's cold and emotionless voice resounded across the area.

"Who sent us..?"

Glancing at each other, the demons in the air merely laughed at Kevin in ridicule

"kekeke, why must we tell you?"

"You're merely our prey, what right do you have to ask who we are"

"Just stand there quietly and let us feast on you"

Nodding his head, Kevin looked at the demons in the air. There were about fifteen of them, moreover, from what Kevin could tell from judging the fluctuations they released most of them seemed to be <E> ranked.

"Huuuu...very well"

Exhaling deeply, Kevin's grip on the sword strengthened as the red hue around his body shot up like a comet falling in the sky. Thereafter, he fully released his <D-> ranked pressure.

-Vuuuuam!

"I don't know why you're targeting me...but, you'll regret coming after me. Especially not after what I've just been through"

Feeling Kevin's pressure, the demons didn't even flinch. Chuckling, the foremost demon, the first to have shown up, and the one that seemed to be the leader of the group, slowly caressed his chin as he observed Kevin from above.

"kekeke, Kevin Voss...you're quite popular among us demons...but unfortunately for you, you're not our main target"

Frowning, Kevin was taken aback. Thereafter, he turned his head in my direction.

"Hm? Me?"

Opening my eyes wide, I couldn't help but point at myself.

Smiling widely, all of the demons turned their attention towards me.

"kekeke...you must be Ren Dover"

Stepping forward, the leader of the demons directly called my name and as if a thunderclap had descended, my mind instantly entered a state of turmoil.

What?

What's happening? How did he know who I was? Were they really after me?

A million questions emerged in my mind as I couldn't help but look at the demons above me in shock.

I don't ever recall provoking demons be—no way.

Stopping my thoughts there, my mind raced as multiple scenarios replayed in my mind.

The further I thought about it, the more I realized my arrogance and complacency.

...I in fact did interact with demons before.

Not once, but twice.

Once with Baron of Everblood back in the dungeon, and one more time with the Matriarch, when I killed Elijah, though indirectly.

Thinking thus far, everything started to click. If it was indeed like I thought it was, then it was either the Matriarch or Everblood who was targeting me.

...now the real question was. Who of the two was targeting me?

Licking his lips, the foremost demon, the one that seemed to be the leader of the pack cruelly smiled as he turned his attention towards Kevin.

"Well...although we were originally targeting the kid called Ren, now that we have seen you, Kevin Voss...you may as well stay and play with us no?"

"...Or are you perhaps interested in making a contract with us? If you say the word we can make one here and right now..."

Ignoring the leader of the demons, Kevin turned around and looked at me. Holding tightly onto his sword he said

"Ren, I attack from the front, you cover me from behind"

Taken aback for a moment, I proceed to nod my head.

"Alright..."

-Fwap!

"How dare you ignore me!"

Noticing the fact that Kevin had ignored him, the leader of the demons flapped his wings. Thereafter, like a bullet, his body shot towards us.

"Attack!"

-Fwap! -Fwap! -Fwap!

One after another, more and more demons shot down towards where Kevin and I were.

"Watch out!"

Watching the demons dive towards us, moving backward I proceeded to draw multiple circles in the air.

-Vooom! -Vooom! -Vooom! -Vooom! -Vooom!

Shortly after I drew the fifth circle in the air, revolving around me, five circles quickly encircled the area I was in.

"Ready!"

-Booom!

Shooting upwards, Kevin's body flew in the air as he met the demons mid-air.

"Huuup!"

Appearing before one of the demons, Kevin quickly attacked.

-Spurt!

Slashing his sword forward, as if he was cutting through butter, one of the demons in front of Kevin split in half.

"What!"

Opening their eyes wide, all of the demons around Kevin looked at him in shock. Ignoring their shock, Kevin looked towards me as he shouted.

"Ren!"

"On it!"

-Swooosh!

Moving two rings upwards, Kevin quickly stepped on one of them and proceeded to acrobatically move in the air. With every step he took, his blade would reap through a demon.

-Spurt! -Spurt!

Staring at the rings beneath Kevin's feet, one of the demons couldn't help but turn their attention towards me. Thereafter, extending his sharp claws towards me, the demon flapped his wings as his body shot toward me like a bullet.

"I'll kill you!"

Matching Kevin's tempo as I moved the rings beneath his feet, I soon noticed a demon quickly heading in my direction. Shaking my head, I proceeded to ignore him and kept moving the circles beneath Kevin's feet.

"You'll pay the price for ignoring me human!"

In a matter of seconds, the demon appeared right before me. As his sharp nails neared my face, the demon couldn't help but smile maniacally as he shouted

"Die!"

-Click!

...However, right before his nails were about to dig into my neck, a clicking sound resounded the area I was in and the demon froze in mid-air. Opening his eyes wide open, the demon looked at me in horror. He could no longer feel his body. Trembling he pointed at me as he weakly said

"I-impossible! weren't you supposed to be F ranked?"

-Thud

As soon as he finished those words, he dropped dead on the ground. A small hole appeared on the top of his forehead.

Glancing at the demon beneath my feet for a brief moment, I proceeded to turn my attention back towards Kevin as I softly said

"Sorry but, you're a week late..."

"What?"

"What happened?"

Looking at the scene below them in a daze, some of the demons in the air couldn't help but freeze for a split second.

Wasn't he supposed to be weak according to the reports?

According to the reports they received, the student named Ren Dover was supposed to be <F-> rank at best...yet, staring at the dead horror-stricken demon beneath his feet, the demons in the air couldn't help but lightly shudder.

The demons knew that information was flawed...

"Are you forgetting about me?"

-Spurt!

Without looking back, a faint smile appeared on Kevin's lips as another demon died by his blade. Although he didn't see what had happened, he didn't need to see what had happened.

He already knew what the end result was going to be. If even he didn't know how to deal with that attack, what could some measly lower-ranked demons do?

"Let me!"

Noticing that the situation was becoming unfavorable, the leader of the demons took a step forward, and immediately an enormous pressure started emanating from his body.

-Vuuuam!

It was almost on equal terms to Kevin's...

"Die!"

Extending his hand towards Kevin, his long sharp nails stabbed in his direction.

-Clank!

"khhhh..."

Blocking the attack with his sword, Kevin couldn't help but almost lose his footing. Fortunately, I pushed another ring forward, beneath the unstable foot, and helped Kevin regain his footing.

"Thanks"

Briefly glancing at me, Kevin nodded his head.

"What are you waiting for? I'll take on Kevin, you attack him!"

Noticing the ring, glaring at the other demons before him, the leader of the demons pointed towards me as he shouted.

"Quickly kill him! Don't just stand there...do something!"

-Fwap! -Fwap!

Thereafter, heeding his command, all of the demons apart from the leader dove down in my direction.

Seeing the numerous demons heading in my direction, a deep frown emerged on my face.

There were about seven of them...However, as I looked at them, something didn't add up.

From the way the demons were behaving something felt off...despite their comrades dying by our hands...they seemed way too calm. It was as though they weren't even scared of us to begin with.

Almost as if they weren't worried about losing against Kevin and I...

...As my thought paused there. I quickly glanced towards my surroundings in hopes of finding anything that could help me. Yet, to my disappointment, I found nothing.

'Just what were they planning...'

"huuuuu..."

Exhaling, I closed my eyes.

Too many factors that were well outside within my scope of reason just appeared. Although I was somehow remaining calm, it was not enough.

I needed to be calmer. More ruthless. More decisive. More indifferent...

Slowly the color within the world disappeared as everything around me rebuilt itself in this three-dimensional space. All sorts of distracting thoughts escaped from my mind as the world around me turned black and white.

The emotions on my face disappeared, and everything around me turned into chess pieces. Quietly looking up at the demons above me, I softly mumbled

"Monarch's indifference..."

Chapter 129: New piece [3]

Opening his eyes, Ren calmly stared at the demons coming at him from all directions. As he saw them coming his way, he felt nothing.

No fear, no excitement, no anger...absolutely nothing.

With an indifferent expression, Ren slightly moved his neck sideways as the hand of a demon brushed past his cheek.

-Shuuuua!

Thereafter, aiming towards the solar plexus, Ren turned his body 45 degrees as he elbowed the demon.

-Bam!

As soon as Ren's elbow connected with the demon, a shockwave swept the surroundings as the other demons that were similarly headed in Ren's direction halted for a split second.

"Khhhhaaa—!"

Falling to the ground, the demon hit by the elbow spit out blood as he hold onto his chest area. He was in complete agony.

Staring at the demon beneath his feet, Ren slowly said

"Let me end the pain for you..."

-Click!

-Thud

Without looking at the demon, Ren placed his hand onto the grip of his sword. Shortly after a subtle clicking sound resounded across the area as the demon's head flew in the air.

...All of this happened in a matter of seconds.

-Shaaa! -Shaaa!

A split second after Ren decapitated the demon, moving backward, Ren narrowingly avoided the hands of two demons as a strand of his hair flew in the air.

-Dash

Tensing his calves, Ren quickly shot backward and distanced himself from the other demons. As he moved back, a green hue enveloped the bottom of his feet as his movement increased with every step.

"Get him!"

"Die you vermin!"

Staring at the six demons that were quickly approaching him, Ren's face remained calm and indifferent. Rather than focusing on their attacks, his attention was drawn towards their face.

...and he soon noticed one thing. How completely unfazed they were by the fact that their fellow comrades died before them. There was no shred of fear or hesitation in their eyes. Almost as if they didn't care about dying.

Noticing this, Ren glanced in Kevin's direction. He was currently back on the ground fighting against the demon leader.

Currently, both Kevin and the demon were in a stalemate. However, upon closer look, Ren could see that Kevin held a bit of an advantage. Despite the fact that neither of them budged from where they stood, Ren could tell by looking at the fine detail of their fight that Kevin was holding back whilst the demon leader was going all out.

...Moreover, he was also starting to show signs of exhaustion.

Thus without hesitation, as Ren moved backward, unsheathing his sword, Ren drew two circles in the air.

-Swooosh!

Thereafter, whilst still keeping an eye on the demons diving in his direction, quickly pointing towards Kevin, one of the circles flew in his direction.

Right after doing that, stomping his foot on the ground, Ren forcefully changed direction as his body shot towards where Kevin was. His speed didn't decrease. No, rather, it increased.

"No, you don't!"

Noticing that he could no longer catch up with Ren who was speeding up by the second, a white glow enveloped one of the demon's hands. Glaring at Ren, he quickly slashed in his direction.

-Thuaam!

Subsequently, as the demon slashed, a blue translucent image of a claw quickly headed in Ren's direction.

-Swoooosh!

Briefly glancing at the translucent claw headed in his direction, without hesitation, Ren pointed towards them as his other ring directly moved forward and blocked the demon's attack.

-Bam!

-Crash!

As the claw clashed against the ring, for a couple of seconds neither refused to budge. However, shortly after, the glow around the ring diminished. Not even a couple of seconds after, the ring broke into millions of pieces as the translucent claw image moved forward.

However, that was enough. Ren didn't need the ring to completely block the demon's attack. All he wanted was to delay the attack.

...Enough for him to reach Kevin.

With his ever-increasing speed, Ren left after images of himself. As he moved, slowly, a white glow started emanating from his body. With each passing second, the white glow around his body intensified.

"huuu..."

A couple of meters away from the demon leader and Kevin, Ren exhaled as turbid air escaped from his mouth.

Thereafter, arriving before the demon leader, at a speed that both Kevin and the demon couldn't react, pulling out his sword from the sheat of his scabbard, a white glow enveloped the surroundings.

-Click!

The first movement of the [Keiki style] : Quick flash

...

-Clank! -Clank!

Fighting against the demon leader, Kevin skillfully and deftly dodged the sharp and pointy nails of the demon.

With his sword, Kevin would counterattack shortly after the demon attacked. Like this, for the next few minutes, Kevin and the demon leader found themselves in a stalemate.

One would attack and one would defend. This pattern continuously alternated between the two...however this did not last for long. Just as the demon leader was about to once again attack Kevin, appearing from out of nowhere, a translucent yellow ring appeared right when the demon was about to attack. Right at the moment the demon leader was about to lift his hand, and thus completely disrupting his momentum.

-Swoosh!

-Clank!

Though the ring broke as quickly as it came, it still slowed down the attack by a split second. But that was enough for Kevin...

Taking advantage of the opening that was given to him thanks to Ren's ring, Kevin strengthened the grip of his sword and a red hue enveloped his body. Thereafter, Kevin slashed at full force.

"huuuup!"

-Slash!

-Clank!

"Khhh..."

Taking a step back, to the demon leader's surprise, he now found himself on the losing end.

Noticing this, glancing away, he couldn't help but curse as he looked towards the six demons in the distance.

"What are you doing! Kill him!"

Enraged by the disruption, he couldn't help but shout at them.

"Turning your head away from me mid-fight? Foolish!"

Appearing before the demon leader, Kevin hacked towards his body.

-Clank! -Clank!

Thus, for the next minute or so, Kevin and the Demon leader fought, with Kevin holding the advantage this time.

With each passing second, Kevin's sword became heavier and faster. The demon leader was starting to struggle. Beads of sweat started dripping from the side of his face, as movements started becoming sloppier by the second.

-Clank!

On multiple occasions the demon leader tried to distance himself from Kevin, however, as if he was an octopus, Kevin continuously stuck onto him. Leavin him no space to breath.

"Huup!"

Once again, Kevin slashed.

"Khhhhaaa—ah!"

As Kevin's sword connected with the demon's sharp nails, to the demon leader's horror, one of his nails cracked.

Noticing this, Kevin once again increased the speed of his attacks.

-Slash! -Slash!

-Clank! -Clank!

Like this, Kevin's advantage became even more apparent. As Kevin attacked, he couldn't help but notice one thing.

Even though Kevin knew that he was currently suppressing the demon leader...he couldn't see this fight ending any time sooner. If things went on like this, Kevin felt that the fight would end in at least twenty more minutes...that was far too long for him.

During those twenty minutes, many things could happen. Although he had faith in Ren killing all those demons, from his experience, Kevin felt that he needed to end this quickly.

Thinking thus far, Kevin fell into deep thought as he couldn't help but think to himself.

'...should I end this with overdrive?'

If he used overdrive he could end this fight in an instant, but there was a major flaw with that skill...

Right after he activated that skill, depending on how long he used it for, Kevin would find himself unable to move for the next five minutes.

If he couldn't kill the demon leader during the time his overdrive was on, Kevin would be doomed. This was a really risky decision...

"Should I or should I not?"

Staring at the demon leader who was struggling under his barrage of attacks, Kevin grit his teeth and decided to go all in. He couldn't afford to fight for that long. The faster he killed his enemy, the better.

...Moreover, he was confident he could win this.

"Over—"

However, midway through activating overdrive, Kevin suddenly felt a gush of wind brush past his skin as subsequently after, the world around him turned white.

-Click!

As Kevin's vision was impaired due to the world turning white, his ears managed to pick up a subtle metallic clicking sound.

-Spurt!

"Huh?"

Thereafter, a second after Kevin heard the clicking sound, Kevin felt his sword stab something. The tip of his sword soon became heavier.

Not long after he felt that sensation, the world around him regained its normal color and what Kevin saw made him freeze on the spot.

The demon leader's body impaled on his sword...

However, that was not the reason he was shocked.

No.

Staring at the lifeless corpse of the demon leader impaled on his sword, Kevin's sight was directed towards the top of his forehead where a small yet deep hole appeared.

"W-what?"

Turning his head to the right, he once again froze on the spot.

Ten meters away from him, with his back turned on him and his hand on the grip of his sword, Ren's figured appeared.

"Huuu..."

Exhaling turbid air from his mouth, Ren slowly turned his head and indifferently glanced at Kevin.

"Take care of the other demons"

"What?"

Snapping out of his daze, turning his head around, Kevin soon spotted six demons frantically rushing in his direction.

-Thud

Quickly removing his sword from the demon leader's body, Kevin took a stance as a loud thud resounded beneath his feet.

Staring at Ren's indifferent figure, Kevin couldn't help but recall the time back in Hollberg.

...those eyes.

Those were the same eyes that he had back when he held Jin by the throat. The eyes of total indifference and disregard.

Staring at Ren, Kevin couldn't help but think.

'...was this the real him?'

However, snapping himself out of his thoughts, Kevin looked at Ren and shouted

"Ren, tell me what's going on...and what in the world happened?"

Ignoring Kevin, taking out a red book, Ren opened the book and slowly read the contents.

-Flip! -Flip!

As he read the book, his eyes moved left and right as he quickly flipped through the pages. As he read, no emotion appeared on his face. However, pausing on a certain page, a slight frown appeared on Ren's face.

-Plack!

Closing down the book, emotionlessly looking at Kevin who was about to engage against the six demons, Ren opened his mouth and said

"Stay here and deal with the rest, I have something to do"

Quickly turning his head towards Ren, Kevin couldn't help but look at him as he shouted

"What? Something to do? What-khhh"

Stopping mid-sentence, Kevin found the demons assaulting him from all sides. Seeing this, Ren slowly walked away.

"Hey, tell me!"

"I'll be back shortly"

Chapter 130: New piece [4]

-Slash!

-Spurt!

"huuff...hufff...hufff..."

Breathing heavily, with his sword imbued on one of the demons that was stacked on top of five other demons, Kevin glanced at his surroundings. Craters and deep marks appeared on the cobblestone streets of Rowa.

Everything was destroyed.

Though the demons Kevin was fighting were a lot weaker compared to the demon leader, because they were many, he had no choice but to move around a lot. Because he didn't have any skill that allowed him to fight multiple opponents at once, Kevin had no other choice but to kill them one at a time.

...Hence why he was currently tired.

Wiping the sweat that had accumulated on his forehead, Kevin looked up and searched for Ren's figure.

After directly leaving him behind to fend off against the remaining demons, Ren just disappeared from his view. He had no idea why...

Frowning as he looked for him in the distance, Kevin couldn't help but mumble out loud

"Just where did he g'hm?"

However just as he was about to directly look for him, snapping his head to the right, Kevin sensed something in the distance. In the opposite direction of where Ren left.

Squinting his eyes, Kevin managed to spot something approaching his location from the distance.

At a closer inspection, it was a grown woman in red. The woman's body was slender and fair and her gaze was calm and stoic. Slowly, she made her way towards Kevin.

When Kevin's gaze met her own, an indescribable feeling of numbness spread across his scalp. Thereafter he soon noticed two horns protruding from the top of her head, causing Kevin's heart to sink.

"...demon"

Although the former did not give off a terrifying aura, a pressuring feeling had emerged across the surroundings, causing the entire streets of Rowa to become deathly silent.

This time Kevin knew he was in trouble...

-Tap! -Tap!

Slowly, stopping a fair bit of distance from Kevin, the woman looked towards her surroundings. Her indifferent face briefly glanced at the demons on the floor. However, it was only for a brief moment as they soon paused on a particular demon in the distance.

Looking at a particular demon with a small hole on his forehead, the woman softly said with a trace of pity in her voice

"...so he died too"

Thereafter, frowning slightly, the Matriarch looked towards Kevin. Staring at him for what felt an eternity, the Matriarch slowly spoke

"...You must be Kevin Voss"

"..."

Increasing the grip of his sword, Kevin didn't respond. Right now his mind was racing as he thought of solutions to get out of this situation.

...The person before him was on another level compared to the demon leader he had just fought. He even felt that even if he used overdrive, he wouldn't be able to win.

Things were serious.

"huuuu..."

Kevin's heart palpitated as he couldn't help but take a deep breath to try to calm himself down.

"I see...you're a mute. How unfortunate"

Deeply staring at Kevin who refused to speak, the Matriarch looked around and asked

"Where is he?"

Frowning, Kevin slowly said

"Who?"

Raising her brow and glancing at Kevin, the Matriarch lightly smiled as she said

"...the boy named Ren"

Hearing Ren's name being mention, Kevin couldn't help but frown.

Him again.

It seems like everything that had happened today was somehow related to Ren. Just what did he do to earn the ire of the demons?

After this was over, Kevin was definitely going to get answers from him.

...staring at the matriarch before him, Kevin slowly asked as he tried to buy time.Â

"What do you want from him?"

Still looking around for any sign of Ren, the Matriarch slowly said

"I'm here to finish business..."

Smiling, Kevin helplessly said

"Sorry I can't help you there...you see, I'm also looking for him"

Soon after Kevin finished speaking, a tense and stifling atmosphere enveloped the area where Kevin and the Matriarch were.

"I see..."

-Fwuam!

Nodding her head, the Matriarch's figure disappeared and reappeared right before Kevin.

"...then die!"

-Bang!

Thereafter, opening the palm of her hand, she gently moved her palm in his direction. With barely enough time for Kevin to react, crossing his arms, Kevin felt a gentle yet overbearing force pushing his body away.

"khhha'!"

Taking ten steps back, Kevin felt his arms become numb as the air was knocked out of his lungs. Taking a couple of seconds to recover, staring at the Matriarch in shock, the frown on his face deepened.

"Not bad..."

Staring at Kevin, and noticing that he was still alright after her attack, Angelica started to understand why a lot of the higher-ups were paying close attention to him.

He was definitely a talent to drool over.

...However, right now she didn't care about that. She only had one goal at the moment...kill the one that ruined her life.

"Again"

Once again, the Matriarch's figure disappeared as she once again attacked Kevin.

As she attacked, although she was considerably weakened by the series of events that had happened to her, with a bit of effort, Angelica was able to overwhelm Kevin.

-Bang! -Bang!

In the span of a couple of minutes, Kevin was pushed back more than fifty meters as the Matriarch kept attacking him. Kevin barely had any breathing space as her attacks were fast and relentless.

"Damn it!"Â

Cursing out loud, Kevin tried his best to get out of the situation. However, no matter what he tried, she would reappear right before him and attack him once again.

Moreover, Kevil felt that the reason why she was able to overwhelm him was mostly due to the fact that he was tired. If he wasn't tired, Kevin knew that he would've been able to fight back.

However, that was only wishful thinking on Kevin's end. There were no what-ifs in the world, and thus he could only fight against her in his current condition.

In fact, the Matriarch was also not in optimal condition. If the Matriarch wasn't injured, Kevin would've long died by her first strike.

Right now, he should've been rejoicing at the fact that he was still alive.

"Khhh..."

Sliding backward, Kevin couldn't feel his arms anymore. It felt as if a truck had rammed onto them causing him to lose the sensation of both of his arms.

Quickly glancing around and seeing no one, Kevin couldn't help but curse inwardly

'Damn it Ren...where are you!'

He could barely hold on. If Ren didn't come in ten minutes, Kevin felt that he could very well be dying soon.

-Fwua!

Moving backward, Kevin managed to narrowly avoid the Matriarch's palm, thereafter, glancing at her, Kevin grit his teeth.

"Overdrive..."

He had no choice.

He couldn't afford to hold back. He had to go all out in the beginning.

He needed to buy enough time for Ren to come back...if there was one person who could help him it was him.

...as long as he was here.

Feeling every fiber of his muscles suddenly fill with tremendous energy, Kevin glared at the Matriarch as he retaliated.

-Bam!

"Haa-?"

Just as the Matriarch's plan was about to hit Kevin one more time, to her surprise, she suddenly felt a tremendous force hit her palm causing her to flinch slightly.

Thereafter, she took one step back. Looking upwards towards Kevin in shock, it took a couple of seconds for her to realize what had finally happened.

"You!"

Opening her eyes wide, the Matriarch glared at Kevin as her demenour turned serious.

"Die!"

Thereafter, a red hue enveloped her body as she subsequently pushed her palm towards Kevin. This time, she exerted all of her force into the palm. She was planning on ending this in one move.

"Huuup!"

Staring at the Matriarch's palm that was headed in his direction, a similar red hue enveloped Kevin's body. Thereafter, using his sword, Kevin hacked with every single bit of his energy.

He knew he couldn't hold back.

He could tell that the Matriarch before him was planning on ending things quickly by using her strongest move early.

Thus, without holding back, Kevin put everything he had in this one strike. His muscles bulged dramatically as the veins on his body became even more prominent.

"Guuuuah'!"

Screaming out loud, he slashed forward as an overbearing sword energy shot out from the tip of his sword.

-Baaam!

As the palm and sword connected, a huge shockwave swept the surroundings as the houses in the distance crumbled. The windows shattered and dust and debris flew everywhere.

Shortly after, as the dust and debris disappeared, two figures could be seen standing a couple of meters from each other. Silence swept the surroundings as a tense atmosphere enveloped the area.

-Thud

After a short silence, one of the figures knelt down on one knee.

"Khhh...damn it"

Glaring at the Matriarch that still stood a couple of meters away from him, Kevin cursed out loud.

Subsequently after, as if a jolt of electricity coursed through his body, blue veins wiggled all over his body as his muscled started spasming.

"Khhhhh..."

Gritting his teeth and trying his best to endure the pain, Kevin couldn't help curse at his own weakness.

...He was still too weak.

Even though he had just acquired a five-star sword manual, because he had only just learned it, he could barely exert any power from it.

...if only he could use it. Damn it!

Staring at the Matriarch who was still standing, Kevin couldn't help but try his best to stand up. He wasn't going to die today!

Not to a demon.

He will not die!

Staring at Kevin's rising figure, the Matriarch couldn't help but be shocked by his power and determination.

Although it looked as if she had come out on top, in reality, she still suffered a few internal injuries from the clash. But...they weren't as serious as Kevin's who seemed to be on his last leg. Thus, indifferently glancing at Kevin, the Matriarch prepared to attack one more time.

"...I appreciate your determination, but this is the end for-"

However, just as the Matriarch was about to finish speaking, the soft sound of footsteps echoed in the distance.

-Tap -Tap

Slowly walking forward, Ren's indifferent face appeared in the distance.

Snapping her head towards where the sound of the footsteps reverberated, the Matriarch's eyes shot wide open as she venomously spat.

"It's you!"

The image of the youth that was walking in her direction directly overlapped with the photo that was given to her...

Unbothered by the Matriarch, Ren stared at Kevin who was weakly standing in the distance. Nodding his head towards him, Ren slowly said

"Good enough..."

Staring at Ren who was indifferently walking forward, Kevin smiled slightly as he supported his body with his sword.

"Took you long enough..."

Looking away from Kevin, Ren directly looked at the matriarch before him as he leisurely walked in her direction.

As he did so, from the corner of his eyes, he slowly calculated each and every step he took.

'....the pieces have been set, it was time to end this'

Chapter 131: New piece [5]

-Tap!

Ren's footsteps halted as he stood ten meters away from the Matriarch. He indifferently gazed at her who coldly stared back at him. A stifling atmosphere prevailed in the sorroundings. Breaking the silence, the Matriarch spoke

"So you're him..."

...the youth from the picture.

Staring at Ren standing on the opposite side of her, the Matriarch frowned. According to the report she got, her target was only an <F> ranked kid.

Someone that was far beneath her notice.

...in fact, she didn't believe that it was him that killed Elijah. How could an <F> rank kill a <D> rank? that was impossible. But, even if he didn't kill Elijah, he at least must know something. After all, what would Everblood gain from giving her such information?

The only reason why she didn't attack Ren already was because of her wariness towards Kevin who was slowly recovering. Moreover, she wanted answers...

Staring at Ren, the Matriarch coldly said

"Tell me, are you responsible for killing Elijah"

"..."

Staring at the Matriarch before him, Ren didn't respond. He just stood there looking at her with no emotions.

"Answer me!"

Seeing Ren being unresponsive, the Matriarch screamed in anger as a red hue expanded out of her body creating a gust of wind that swept everything near her away.

...even so, Ren stood rooted where he was. Completely unfazed by the Matriarch's outburst.

Seeing that Ren remained unfazed despite her show of might, the Matriarch venomously spat

"...if you refuse to speak, then I'll make you speak!"

"Ren watch out!"

Noticing that the Matriarch was about to move, Kevin couldn't help shout as he tried to warn Ren about the incoming danger.

Having gone against her before, Kevin knew how fast and powerful she was...she was on another level compared to the people he had fought before.

Although he didn't believe Ren was any weaker than him, if caught off-guard, the situation could get serious. Moreover, even if she was injured, he didn't see any possibility of Ren being able to beat her.

"Answer me!"

Appearing right before Ren, the Matriarch extended her hand forward and reached for his neck.

"Ren!"

However, contrary to Kevin's expectations, Ren didn't show any apprehension towards the Matriarch and merely raised his left hand in the air. Thereafter, with his right hand on the grip of his sword, Ren snapped his fingers.

-Snap!

"khhh'!"

Just as the Matriarch's hand was about to reach for his neck, her hand suddenly froze. In fact, not just her hand froze, but her whole body.

The first movement of the [Keiki style] : Quick flash

Thereafter, the world around the Matriarch turned white as the last thing she heard what a subtle clicking sensation before she felt something pierce the scalp of her head.

-Click!

Soon silence prevailed in the surroundings.

"Wh-at happened"

Just as Kevin saw the Matriarch's hand reaching for his neck, opening his eyes wide, similarly to before when he was fighting the demon leader, the world around him turned white.

-Thud

Thereafter, as the world regained its color, what Kevin saw next made his blood freeze.

With a large gaping hole on her forehead, the Matriarch's body slowly fell onto the pavement as a large thud resounded across the place. The look on her face was that of utter shock...

Staring at Ren who remained indifferent, Kevin couldn't help but point towards him as his voice shook.

"Y-ou, how?"

Turning his head around and glancing at Kevin, Ren didn't answer. Pointing towards the distance, he slowly said

"Kevin, go and break the dimensional space"

Trying to say something, Kevin pointed towards the Matriarch.

"B-u"

Stopping Kevin midsentence, Ren's indifferent voice rang out again

"Take care of it, I'll deal with her"

After a couple of seconds, calming himself down, Kevin nodded his head. Since the fight against the demons started, Ren had become a completely different person. He seemed completely emotionless, almost as if anything in his eyes didn't matter.

A stark difference compared to the Ren he had gotten to know these past few days...just what happened during that short period of time since the fight started?

*Sigh*

In the end, an extended sigh escaped from Kevin's mouth.

...Although he had many things to ask, he knew that any type of conversation at the moment was useless.

Talking to him now would be equivalent to talking to a wall.

Pointless.

"...alright"

Thus, Kevin eventually nodded his head and prepared to look for the device responsible for creating the dimensional space.

Although he didn't know where it was located, it shouldn't be hidden too far from them. Thus, glancing at Ren one more time, Kevin's eyes soon paused on the Matriarch on the floor. Deeply staring at Ren for a couple of seconds, he eventually turned his head and went to look for the device.

"hm"

Watching Kevin's figure disappear in the distance, Ren subtly glanced towards the distance where a statue with two ruby-red eyes quietly sat on top of a building.

[E ranked artifact twin gargoyle]

Staring at the statue from below, Ren knew that the reason he managed to win was because of the artifact that he had picked up not long ago.

Currently, the statue's eyes were staring right where the Matriarch's body was laying down.

Having caught a glimpse of the future thanks to the book, Ren had set everything up beforehand.Â

The reason why he was absent when Kevin was fighting was because he was busy setting the pieces in motion...Because he knew that he couldn't beat the Matriarch one on one even if Kevin went all out or worked together with him, using the book, Ren managed to devise a plan in which he could beat the Matriarch.

By having Kevin exhaust the Matriarch beforehand, Ren took advantage of the time Kevin bought him to set everything up.

Cross-referencing with the book, Ren managed to pinpoint the exact location at which the Matriarch would move and carefully placed the artifact there.

Right after he was done setting up the artifacts, right after Kevin was on the verge of losing, calculating the distance, Ren slowly approached the Matriarch and stopped right before the gargoyle's statue operating area.

...the area where he stopped was also perfectly set up to lure the Matriarch to him. Like this, when the Matriarch attacked, all Ren did was snap his finger.

Although it only stopped the Matriarch for a split second, that was enough for Ren.

Having calculated the timing, right before the Matriarch froze due to the statues, Ren already activated the first movement of the Keiki style.

Subsequently, as the Matriarch was wide open due to her body freezing, Ren's sword directly pierced her in the head.

...Everything that happened was within Ren's calculation. Nothing escaped his perception.

"Stop pretending...wake up"

Staring at the Matriarch on the ground, Ren's indifferent voice rang out. Raising his sword in the air, he directly pierced her in the stomach.

-Spurt!

"Gyyyyaaaa'!"

Letting out a pained scream, the Matriarch's white eyes soon regained some clarity as she glared at Ren.

"Yo-u!"

Staring at the Matriarch, unfazed by the fact that she was still alive despite the hole in her forehead, Ren slowly said

"You think I forgot about the fact that you higher-ranked demons only die when your core is destroyed?"

"Ghh..."

Hearing Ren's words, the Matriarch glared at him as she tried to retaliate. However, her body refused to budge.

Although she wasn't dead, her injuries were serious.

Moreover, with her stomach currently pierced by Ren's sword, she could only helplessly lay down on the floor. Gritting her teeth she angrily spat

"Ghhh...what do you want from me?"

Staring at the Matriarch on the ground, with his sword imbued on her stomach, Ren slowly extended his hand towards her.

-Spurt!

Thereafter, reaching out with his hand, to the Matriarch's horror, his hand pierced her right where her heart was.

"Khhhhaaaa'!"

Screaming at the top of her lungs, the Matriarch's eyes turned scarlet red as she looked at Ren's indifferent figure with absolute hatred.

"Yo-u!!"

Unbothered by this, taking his hand out from the Matriarch's body, a red orb-like object appeared in Ren's hand.

Staring at the orb, the Matriarch's face turned crazed as she screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Don't you dare!"

Glancing at the Matriarch whose body was flaying manically, observing the orb in his hand, Ren slowly said

"...according to the books in the academy, they say that upon ingesting a demon core, a human can take control of a demon"

Pausing there, Ren played with the core on his hand.

"Once a demon reaches a noble rank they develop a core...from there, the only way they can die is through directly breaking the core into pieces..."

"khhh...aa!"

Squeezing the orb lightly, Ren's grip relaxed right after he saw the Matriarch's face became pale.

"Because a demon can only die when their core is destroyed...humans found a way to control demons..."

"By directly swallowing the core of a noble-ranked demon, we found out that by simply channeling the mana inside of our bodies, humans can directly break the core with a simple thought resulting in the immediate death of the demon..."

"...moreover the demons can't even think of committing suicide as they can't die since their core isn't with them"

Glancing at the Matriarch whose face was incomparably dark, Ren slowly said

"After years of fighting against the demons...this was what the humans came up with in order to fight against them...am I wrong?"

Listening to Ren speaking, the look of terror in the Matriarch's eyes became more and more apparent.

...being controlled by a human was considered taboo by the demons. Their worst possible nightmare.

How could the proud demons stand being controlled by an inferior race like them?

Impossible!

To make things worse, once they were under the control of a human, even if they managed to get their core back, they would no longer be eligible for any important positions nor would they be able to live like before as they would be scorned daily by their fellow tribesman.Â

It was the worst possible outcome for any demon.

Thus, staring at Ren, the Matriarch pleaded.

"Don't do it! I'll give you all my belongings! Treasures!"

Indifferently glancing at the Matriarch, Ren took the orb and slowly placed it in his mouth. Thereafter he swallowed it.

-Gulp!

"Noooooooo!"

Watching Ren swallowing her core, the Matriarch's bloodcurdling scream resounded across the area.

-Fuuuuuuuuaam!

Ingesting the orb, a gust of wind expanded from Ren's body as everything within the vicinity flew away. As this happened the Matriarch found herself looking at Ren with a look of despair plastered on her face.

Stopping all signs of protests, the Matriarch's eyes became hollow as she laid down on the ground and repeatedly mumbled

"it's over, my life is over..."

Unbothered by her expression, Ren extended his hand towards her and coldly said

"Be my piece...."

Chapter 132: New members [1]

Not so far from where Ren and the Matriarch were, sitting on top of one of the rooftops of the houses in the distance, was a black humanoid figure.

"Kukuku...kukuku...oh...how interesting."

With his legs dangling off of the roof of the building, the demon's body trembled uncontrollably as he tried his best to contain his laughter. However, this did not last for long as he eventually laughed out loud and exclaimed.

"kukukuku..hahahaahahahaha...how fantastic!"

Clapping his hands, the demon looked as though he had just watched the most entertaining movie in his whole life. He just couldn't stop clapping his hands as he continuously shouted praises in the air.

-Clap! -Clap! -Clap!

"kukuku...what a fantastic twist to the story! Who would've expected such a twist? hahaha, fantastic! Brilliant! Bravo!"

After a while, pausing and placing his hand on his mouth, Everblood's smile deepened. Glancing at the black coffin beside him, Everblood slowly caressed it with his long and skinny black fingers.Â

"kuku...although I was supposed to be inside of the coffin recovering...my curiosity got the best of me, and eventually followed the Matriarch here..."

"...I just really wanted to see him you know?...you understand me right?"

Glancing back towards Ren's figure in the distance, with his elbow on his knee, propping his head with his hand, Everblood's smile twisted.

"...kuuuu, when I saw you I almost couldn't hold back my impulse and almost appear before you...I really wanted to appear right before you. I have so many questions to ask..."

"...How have you been since the last time I saw you? Do you remember me? Just how much have you grown since the last time I saw you?...just how much more can you entertain me before I can throw you away...?"

"The number of questions I have for you are so many that I can't even know where to begin with..."

Pausing slightly, Everblood covered his face with his large black hand. Thereafter, his body shook slightly.

"kukuku, what I saw was a lot more than I could've ever bargained for...kukuku, ahhh, to think that in such a short period of time you've grown up so splendidly...it was far beyond what I had expected..."

Holding onto his face with his long fingers, a look of insanity appeared in Everblood's eyes as he couldn't stop himself from salivating.

"...in fact, you've even made me, a baron ranked demon...slightly fear you...but isn't that great? With this my thrive to crush you increased even more...ahhhh, yes just imagining your future growth is motivating me to reach further heights!

Hugging his body tightly, Everblood shivered uncontrollably.

"Just the thought is sending shivers down my spine...oh Ren, thank you so much!"

After a while, Everblood stopped and stared at the gargoyle statue not so far from where he was.

Glancing back at the Matriarch that was on the ground with a large gaping hole on her forehead, Everblood's smiled.

"Although you've used some trickery to deal with her...it was still very impressive. I am impressed, Very impressed!"

"...such level of thought to detail and planning...you did not disappoint the expectations I had set for you..."

Staring at Ren extending his hand towards the Matriarch, Everblood stopped for a second. Soon after, as he saw Ren pierce her heart and swallow her core, Everblood's body started shaking uncontrollably.

"oh my? What's this? You're planning on taking Angelica under your control...kukukuk...hahahahah...this...this...this is just amazing!"

"To think you would do something like that...kukuku, hahahahah"

Laughing maniacally for the better part of a minute, Everblood eventually stopped. Thereafter, his face became serious.

"Fortunately, I had taken into account such a possibility beforehand...we wouldn't want our first meeting to be spoilt by something as insignificant as this now do we? No one likes spoilers after all"

Raising his right hand, Everblood snapped his fingers.

-Snap!

With a snap of his fingers, the Matriarch that was on the ground beneath Ren's feet opened her eyes wide for a split second. Thereafter, her eyes became white before quickly regaining their clarity.

It was so subtle that no one noticed her behavior. Not even Ren who under Monarch's indifference.

Staring at the Matriarch from above, Everblood nodded his head as a smile returned to his face.

"...with this, she should've forgotten everything about me."

During the last meeting with the Matriarch, Everblood had given her a demon fruit that she had shortly after ingested in order to recover from her injuries.

Having thought of the possibility of Ren possibly swallowing her demon core or interrogating her once he defeated her, Everblood decided to place a little something inside of the fruit...

Although he didn't poison it as that could've been easily discovered by her, he did add a little bit of a surprise for her.

...a little curse that made her forget about the encounter she had with him.

Many factors may have contributed to her not managing to find the curse, her unstable mental state, how well hidden the curse was...but out of all the reasons, the main one was the fact that the curse held no danger towards her.Â

Because it wasn't a potent and dangerous curse, the Matriarch was unable to sense the curse and thus swallowed the demon fruit without any wariness or apprehension.

...big mistake.

Staring at the Matriarch who was tilting her head in confusion, Everblood looked at Ren and smiled even more deeply.

"We can't be having you knowing of my existence just yet...Ren"

"Such an important moment will be saved for when our little game will come to an end...so hold on tightly till then. I will eventually come for you...and when I do, ahhhh...the heavens will rejoice"

-Fwap!

Extending his large bat-like wings, Everblood took the coffin of the cursed night with him and silently slipped away in the distance. Glancing towards Ren one more time, he smiled and said

"...I'll be seeing you in a while and when I do...next time...I'll let our game be even grander and more entertaining than ever before! kukukuku...ahahahahah!"

...

Saturday, Caïssa headquarters.

Sitting on my desk with my hands interlocked together, I seriously looked at Smallsnake who had his arms crossed and was glaring at me from above.

"Ren...care to explain what's going on?"

Hearing Smallsnake's flabbergasted and angry voice from the side, my mouth twitched.

"...Explain what?"

Raising his brow, Smallsnake retorted.

"Do I even need to point out what is wrong with the situation?"

"err...guess not"

...A week has passed since the incident in Rowa, and it was already Saturday. Thus taking the weekend off, I decided to head back to the headquarters of my mercenary group to meet Leopold whom Smallsnake had just recruited.

During the week I spent at the academy, nothing much happened apart from me regularly attending classes.

The only notable change was Kevin who seemed to be training even harder than before. Perhaps because of his loss against the Matriarch, or because he got his hands on a five-star sword manual, Kevin seemed to be putting everything he had into training.

Well, normally I would've been happy with this development as Kevin getting stronger was a good thing...but for the past week, my mind has been preoccupied with something else...

*Puff*

Not so far from where Smallsnake and I were, with his legs on the desk and puffing out a mouthful of smoke, Leopold stared at the ceiling of the room and joined in the conversation.

"I saw a lot of crazy stuff during my days in the Moonlight mercenary group...but this tops them all...if not for the fact that I knew this place was sketchy from the very beginning I would've long refused to come here..."

Briefly glancing at Leopold from the corner of my eyes, I looked back towards Smallsnake and seriously said

"Smallsnake...there may have been a little bit of a cock-up"

Raising his brow, Smallsnake pointed towards his right where a beautiful woman coldly sat with her arms and legs crossed.

"Oh? Prey do tell me if that has anything to do with the demon that is in our office, who apparently has been staying here for the past week without me knowing!"

Coughing in embarrassment, I stood up and walked towards Angelica. Glancing at both Leopold and Smallsnake I introduced her to everyone.

"...keummm...keummm...let me introduce you to our gest. Angelica von Doix, previous Matriarch of the charm tribe clan and a new member of our mercenary group"

"..."

"..."

As I finished introducing her to everyone, the room instantly became quiet as both Smallsnake and Leopold were at a loss for words.

With the cigarette still in his mouth, Leopold looked at Angelica who was coldly looking back at them.

...It looked as though she wanted to skin everyone in the room alive.

*Puff*

Removing the cigarette from his mouth and exhaling smoke in the air, Leopold couldn't help but say

"Well that's one hell of a cock-up"

Chapter 133: New members [2]

*Sigh*

Sighing out loud, I couldn't help but glance at the Matriarch, no, Angelica from the side.

It's been a bit of a rough week for me.

...Under the influence of Monarch's indifference, it seems like I 'enslaved' her and forcefully brought her here.

Fortunately, I wasn't in any danger as any time she would try to attack me all I had to do was channel the mana inside of my body, towards where the demon core I swallowed was located, and she would be subjected to immeasurable pain stopping her from whatever she wanted to do.

Like this, Angelica was pretty much under my control.

...However, even if she was under my control that didn't mean she would do anything I asked of her.

After all, although I could dictate her life and death with a simple thought, that was of no use for me.

How could I use a pawn that refused to move?

Such pawn wasn't something that I needed nor wanted...

There was no point in me keeping her if she refused to listen to my orders...I didn't need such liability to stick with me...especially not when considering how dangerous of a person she was.

"Huuu..."

Leaning back on my chair as I exhaled, I started thinking of a way to fix this problem.

Although I hate to say it...taking her in was in fact the right decision. Considering her strength, she was probably the strongest person among us in the mercenary group...and by quite a large margin at that.

Moreover, she could still grow stronger...especially since I knew of a couple of things that could benefit her growth.

Glancing at the Matriach who was coldly sitting not so far from where I was, massaging my chin, my mind raced.

Since I already swallowed her core she was definitely somewhat under my control...the problem was how do I get her to willingly follow my orders without betraying me?

Although the demons seemed united, in reality, they weren't. If not for the demon king keeping them in check with his overwhelming power, all hell would've broken loose among their ranks...and I could use this fact to my advantage

...the fact that her loyalty towards their own race wasn't very strong.

Thinking thus far, I glanced towards Smallsnake and Leopold who were both looking at me. Thereafter, nodding slightly towards them, I said

"Smallsnake, Leopold, can you guys give us a minute?"

Staring at me for a couple of seconds, Smallsnake's head alternated between me and Angelica a couple of times before he eventually nodded his head.

"Alright..."

Standing up from his seat, and tossing the cigarette in his hand towards the trash can, Leopold lightly waved his hand as he followed Smallsnake out of the room.

"Take your time, boss"

-Clank

Shortly after they left, as the doors to the room closed, silence enveloped the room. Breaking the silence, I looked at the Matriarch and lightly said

"...so, still not speaking"

Crossing my legs, I stared at the Matriarch who was quietly sitting in her chair. Ever since I brought her here she didn't speak a single word. She neither complained nor lashed out.

...I guess that was her way of telling me that she won't do anything I ask of her.

Smiling inwardly, I lightly covered my mouth to hide the smirk that had appeared on my face. Staring at Angelica who was coldly looking back at me, seemingly wanting to devour me whole, I lightly spoke

"Do you want your freedom back?"

"..."

Frowning Angelica didn't respond.

...there was no way she would believe anything that came from my mouth. In her head, I was a vile worm that only won due to some trickery.

To her, every word that I spoke was merely a trap devised to trick her into doing something that she didn't want to do...fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

Coldly staring at me from her seat, Angelica tried her best to hold herself back from lunging at me in hopes of killing me...

Noticing her unresponsiveness, I once again spoke

"...let me rephrase, do you want your core back?"

"..."

Once again, Angelica refused to speak. Unbothered by this as I lazily leaned on my chair I continued speaking knowing that I had gotten her attention...

"...you see returning your core isn't actually that hard of a task for me...it's just that it really wouldn't be profitable on my end...you understand?"

Pausing and looking at Angelica straight in her eyes, I smiled and said

"If I were to return you the core, what can you offer me?"

Staring at me for a couple of seconds, after a short pause she said

"...what do you want"

Hearing her speak, I couldn't help but lightly chuckle as I spoke

"Ahh...so you can speak. Mh, doesn't this situation seem a bit ironic? I remember you calling me a mute befor-"

Cutting me off, Angelica's cold voice echoed across the room.

"Get to the point!"

Smiling slightly, I sat up straight. Staring at the Matriarch in the eyes I shook my finger.

"tut..tut..just listen to what I have to say...I will offer you a deal, and you will decide whether you agree or not."

Pausing there for a second, my demenour turned serious as I coldly looked at her as a white hue started emanating from my body.

"Don't think that just because I'm keeping you alive means that I won't kill you in the future...after all, what use does a chess piece that doesn't function have for me? Me offering you a deal is your last chance at keeping your life...if you choose to refuse, only death awaits you"

Seriously staring at Angelica for a couple of seconds, after a while, I smiled and my usual lazy and cheerful demenour came back. Clapping my hand I lightly said.

"Alright, now that the serious stuff has been said...tell me. What are you willing to offer me in exchange for your core"

Without hesitation, as soon as I finished speaking, Angelica said

"...Money, Information, Wome-"

Extending my hand forward, I stopped her as I shook my head.

"Sorry, I was lying when I said that. I already know what I want..."

Seriously looking at me, Angelica's ears perked as she leaned slightly forward to hear

"...what do you want?"

Smiling slightly, I pointed towards her and teased

"You"

Opening her eyes wide, Angelica stood up and glared at me.

"You filthy bastard!"

"Wow, calm down, I was just joking, relax"

Raising my hands up, I lightly laughed after seeing her reaction. If not for the fact that a white hue was revolving around my body she would've already assaulted me.

Fiercely glaring at me, Angelica snorted.

"...hmph, if you say one more joke like that, even if I die, I'll make sure to bring you down with me"

Raising my brow, I shook my head. Thereafter, raising my left hand, I opened my palm and calmly said

"Five"

Calming down, Angelica raised her brow as she tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"Five what?"

Briefly glancing at the palm of my hand, I looked towards Angelica in the eyes and said

"Five years. I want you to work for me for five years"

I've thought this through. For the past week, I spent a lot of time thinking about how to solve the issue revolving around Angelica.

Five years. That's how long I was planning on keeping her.

...for the next five years, she will work for me as a member of the mercenary group.

Of course, that wasn't the true end goal. The hope was that in those five years that she stayed with us she would become loyal towards us.

...If I showed her enough benefits, I was sure that such task was possible. Moreover, even if in those five years she eventually left, she wouldn't be able to go back to the demons.

With her core having been taken from her once, getting her old position back was no longer a feasible option.

If she were to come back, the highest position she would get would be that of an elder one...and for someone who had already tasted the power that came from being a leader, I knew very well that it wasn't something she was willing to accept.

Especially not if the leader was someone she used to boss around. Her pride wouldn't allow it.

Noticing Angelica fall into deep thought, I patiently sat back and waited for her to give me a response.

After a while, looking at me, Angelica softly said

"Mana contract"

"Hm?"

Leaning forward, I couldn't quite grasp what she said as her voice was too soft for me to hear. Noticing that I didn't understand, speaking louder, Angelica said

"I said I will only do this if we sign a mana contract"

Pausing slightly, glancing at Angelica in front of me for a second, a large smile appeared on my face as I said

"But of course"

It was originally something that I was planning on proposing to her. However, it seems like she beat me to it.

...a mana contract.

A contract that ties two people with the power of mana.

Upon setting the terms and signing it, the two people under the contract must fulfill the other end of their bargain. If one person fails to complete their end, death awaited them...and a very painful one at that.

The mana around their body would become erratic and their body would explode into pieces. It was probably one of the worst possible deaths someone could ever ask for.

...though mana contracts were quite expensive, they were worth the cost as this way I wouldn't need to worry about the other person not holding the other end of their deal.

This method was more efficient than just me threatening Angelica as now she would obediently follow my orders until the contract expired.

After all, now that she had a goal to work for, she would definitely comply with my orders as long as they weren't unreasonable.

Moreover, I didn't need to worry about her betraying me for as long as the contract run as this could be one of the terms I could insert in the contract.

...Everything was perfect.

Nodding my head in satisfaction, and seeing that Angelica too was satisfied with the outcome, I brushed my hair to the side and asked her something that had been on the back of my mind for a while.

"...Now, let's get to the main point."

"Since you're willing to make a contract with me, it's about time I ask you about some things that I have been meaning to ask from before, no?"

Blinking twice, Angelica looked at me in the eyes and slowly said

"...It depends on what you're asking."

Hearing her response, a faint smile appeared on my lips.

...so she still had some loyalty towards the demons huh.

It was understandable, they were her race after all. No matter how much she detested them, she would still have some loyalty towards them...but that's fine.

I really wanted to see if her opinion would still be the same by the time those five years end.

...I really was starting to get curious.

In five years' time, will you still be my pawn or will you be something that I will have to discard? Will you choose to follow me after everything I will show you...or will you go back to the demons?

Smiling to myself, I paused my thoughts there. Staring at Angelica in the eyes, I asked her the question that had been bothering me for a long time.

"What I wanted to ask is...why did you think it was me that killed Elijah when everything pointed towards Amanda being the killer? Moreover...why me?"

Chapter 134: New members [3]

"..."

As soon as I posed the question, the room became tense.

Staring at Angelica straight in the eyes, I asked her something that had been bothering me since last week.

...why did she target me and how did she find out that I was the one responsible for killing Elijah when every news outlet and evidence pointed towards Amanda being the one responsible for killing Elijah?

Moreover, this past week I looked through the list of guests that were present in the party and none of them were targeted by her...something just didn't add up.

Staring at me for what felt like an eternity, Angelica slowly said

"Because I could feel how Elijah died...and it wasn't with a bow"

Frowning slightly, I repeated in confusion

"Wasn't with a bow?"

How did she know?

I made sure to hide all of my traces when I killed Elijah...so how was it possible for her to find out something that even the union couldn't figure out.

Noticing the confusion in my face, Angelica explained.

"...when one of our contractees dies, apart from having our souls became damaged, we are also subjected to the pain they experience right before dying"

"Therefore, after Elijah died I was able to tell that what had killed him wasn't a bow...as the hit was far too clean for something that an arrow could do..."

Listening to Angelica explain, the frown on my face deepened.

"Hmm, interesting. I didn't know that..."

I really didn't know.

I don't ever recall writing about something like this in the novel...although I have come to realize that referencing to the novel too much was bad as things tended to become different...It still came as a shock to me to realize that I didn't even know such important information.

Especially since this piece of information was quite important.

Placing my hand on my chin as I fell into deep thought, I eventually looked at Angelica before asking

"...alright, I understand why you didn't target Amanda, but again, why me?"

Opening her mouth, midsentence Angelica frowned. Thereafter a blank look appeared on her face as she looked at me in confusion.

"Well, that's because..hm?"

Noticing the oddity in her behavior, I leaned forward

"Because...?"

After a while, shaking her head, Angelica said

"...I don't remember"

Taken aback, the frown on my face deepened.

"You don't remember?"

Placing her slender fingers towards the middle of her brows, after a couple of seconds, Angelica shook her head as a blank look appeared on her face.

"No, no matter how much I try to remember, I can't seem to recall why I was targeting you"

Sitting up straight, interlocking my hands on the desk and resting my chin on it, the frown on my face deepened even more.

"hm...strange"

Staring at Angelica for a couple of seconds, I leaned back on my seat and pondered.

...out of all the responses that I wanted to hear, this one was probably on the bottom of my list.

'I can't remember'

was what she said...

'was she lying?'

Staring at Angelica who seemed to be trying her best to recall, I lightly tapped on my desk.

-Tap! -Tap!

I wasn't sure...but I doubted it.

After all, she knew I could force the answer out when proposing for it to be in the mana contract...therefore, chances were that she really couldn't remember.

The real question was...how?

Did someone perhaps have a hand in this? Or was her memory that bad?

I doubt the latter was true...hence it could only mean one thing. Someone had a hand at this.

...As soon as my thoughts paused there, my face became solemn. Turning towards Angelica, I carefully asked

"What is the last thing you remember before forgetting your memories?"

Glancing at me for a brief moment, Angelica's brows tightly knit as she tried her best to recall anything that she could regarding what had happened prior to targeting me. As she spoke, from time to time she would pause as an occasional look of confusion appeared on her face.

"...mhh, I remember--I remember fighting against my previous subordinates before eventually winning and then--mhh, from there my memories start becoming a blur...however, I do remember someone handing me a picture of you"

Taken aback, seriously glancing at Angelica, I couldn't help but repeat

"A picture of me?"

Nodding her head, Angelica confirmed.

"...yes, but that's all I can remember, I don't remember who gave me the picture...but I remembered them saying something like the person in the picture was responsible for killing Elijah...from there everything is self-explanatory as I started..."

"huuuu..."

Listening to Angelica speak, I couldn't help but take a deep breath.

This news was shocking...

...Someone was targeting me.

Realistically speaking, the only person that came to my mind at the moment was Matthew. He was the only person I could think of that would target me...no wait.

-Tap! -Tap! -Tap!

Tapping frantically on my desk, I realized that Matthew wasn't the only one that could've been targeting me.

...there was someone else that could've done this.

If we were talking about demons...it would be Everblood.

He was another demon that I had come in contact with back in the dungeon...but at that time I was wearing a mask, so chances of him not finding out that--abruptly pausing my thoughts there, I couldn't help but ask myself.

'Wait...did I have a mask on?'

Did Everblood see my face back in the dungeon?

Massaging my forehead, I started looking back at the incident in the dungeon. At that time, I recall almost dying at the hands of Everblood's clone...I was too busy trying to preserve my life at that time that I wasn't sure about what had happened afterward.

...did my mask fall off and he found out my identity?

mmhhh...if so, it seems that Everblood may indeed be one of the people that could've been targeting me...but something still didn't add up.

Glancing at Angelica sitting on her seat, I couldn't help but think

...why use her and not come personally?

If it really was Everblood that was targeting me, why did he use her instead of going personally?

After thinking for a long time and coming up with nothing, I helplessly shook my head.

...I didn't have enough evidence to find out who the real culprit was...but that didn't matter. It only meant that I had to be alert at all times.

I needed to be more cautious and grow stronger even faster.

I now knew that things beyond the plotline would start targeting me now...I could no longer be as carefree as before.

I needed to be alert at all times...especially for when the time that another similar situation arose.

'From now on I have to be prepared for anything...'

*Sigh*

Sighing out loud, I stood up and lightly stretched my neck. Glancing at Angelica whose face was still cold, I faintly smiled before saying

"Alright, I guess that's enough talking for now...I will come back later with a mana contract"

"I will probably send it to you and after you read through the contents you can decide whether you want to sign or not. If you want to negotiate the terms that I posed, text me directly"

Tilting her head to the side, Angelica looked at me and asked with a hint of confusion in her voice

"Text?"

Seeing the confusion in Angelica's face, I couldn't help but lightly smack my face.

"Ah right, demons don't use phones"

With a slight frown on her face, Angelica tried to recall where she heard the word phone before and slowly said

"...phone? are those the primitive devices that you humans use to communicate with each other?"

Staring at Angelica for a couple of seconds, I nodded to myself.

"...hmmm, yeah, I'll leave that task to Smallsnake to handle"

Wasn't going to have any part of this.

Inwardly shaking my head as I imaged the predicament that Smallsnake would find himself in, I put on my jacket and said

"Alright, I have to go back to the academy now. If you have any questions, you can ask Smallsnake"

Tilting her head to the side, recalling the two individuals that were here before, Angelica bluntly said

"Smallsnake? which one is it? The primate or the stick?"

"..."

Pursing my lips, I tried my best to keep a straight face. After a couple of seconds, I slowly said

"...the stick"

Nodding her head, Angelica said

"Very well, I shall take not of such individual. As long as I get my core back, I shall not care for such insignificant matters"

"Good for you..."

10:00 P.M.

Smiling at Angelica, I glanced at my watch. It was about time I returned to the academy.

Although I had skipped going through the details about what Angelica was going to do once she worked for me in the mercenary group, that was a talk for a later time.

After all, we still had to sign the mana contract first.

Once she joined, I will then proceed to tell her more regarding the mercenary group. Plus, with her now joining my group that would mean that we had a total of four members in our group.

...Only one member short before being able to start doing missions together. Thereafter from there, we could slowly increase the mercenary group rank as we complete more and more missions. Moreover, with Angelica in the group, rising to rank [II] would be a breeze.

Thinking thus far, I was reminded of Ava.

Yes, from what I read from the reports Smallsnake had given me, she along with Ryan were the two people that only needed a little push to join the group.

If I wanted to start doing missions with my group, I first needed to sign the fifth member.

...and aside from Ryan, Ava was the one that was easiest to recruit.

"huuu..."

Exhaling out loud, I massaged my forehead before walking out of my office.

'....I really wonder how strong our group will be in the future'

Chapter 135: Moving out [1]

-Ziiiiiiiip!

"Haaa..."

Exhaling, I put my arms on my waist and nodded my head in satisfaction.

After returning from my little trip to the headquarters of my mercenary group, I quickly returned to the Lock.

There was a particular reason for that...and that was that today I was finally moving out of my dorm and finally moving to a better one.

The Manticore building

...a considerable upgrade compared to the horned sheep building which I was currently staying in. It didn't need to be pointed out as to why the Manticore building was better as after all, I was going to get my own training room as well as a personal butler. Just those two things alone showed just how much better the place was.

If I did have a complaint though, it would be about the price. Believe it or not, I was roughly paying 100,000 U in monthly rent...yeah.

Very pricy as that would mean that I was basically paying 1,200,000 million U in yearly rent.

Expensive...but worth it.

With me having my own private training room, I no longer had to hold back when training. I could finally go all out and train without needing to worry about others discovering any of my secrets.

...and yes, although I could've gone to the Hydra building, the one that was even better than the Manticore building, I firmly was against the idea.

Too expensive and was filled with annoying young masters. To hell with that.

Aside from that, the main reason as to why I moved towards the Manticore building rather than the Hydra building was because Ava was here.

With her being in the same building as me, there was more room for me to interact with her.

At the very least I wanted to interact with her in a more organic way rather than me creepily approaching her in class. It just would look very suspicious in my opinion.

...either way, this move wasn't solely for me as it was also going to be a big help for me in increasing the chances of recruiting Ava to my group.

All in all, today was going to be a good day.

"Alright"

-Vuuuam!

Tapping my bracelet once, all of the packages before me disappeared.

"Let's see, is there anything else I am missing?"

After making sure I took every package in front of me, stepping outside my dorm, I took one last glimpse at the insides of my room and checked to see if there was anything I was missing.

After a couple of minutes, making sure that nothing was missing, I couldn't help but look back at the time I spent in this place.

Although the four months I had been in this dorm were short, I couldn't say I disliked the place.

If not for the private training facility, I would've opted to stay here rather than move. After all, I would've rather have saved money. But the situation called for it, and I really needed my own private training room, therefore I had no choice but to switch.

"haaa.."

Exhaling out loud and glancing at the long scar on the wall to the right, my mouth couldn't help but twitch. Thereafter, turning off the lights I closed the door of the room and left.

-Clank!

The scar had nothing to do with me...

...

"Name and student card"

Arriving at the Manticore building reception, I was immediately greeted by a stern-looking middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man before me had a long face, a well-formed nose, and puffy lips. His light brown hair was carefully brushed to the side to give him a cleaner look, however, his droopy eyes that had black circles beneath them gave everything away as he looked to be on the verge of fainting any minute from now.

Staring at the receptionist before me, I couldn't help but feel a trace of pity for him. Especially since another notable feature of his was his straight brown hair that was showing signs of thinning.

...it looked like he was really having a bad time here.

"Here you go, my name is Ren"

Complying with his request, I handed him my student ID card and told him my name.

"Hmmm...thank you"

Without looking at me, the middle-aged man lazily took my card. A couple of minutes after taking my card, after checking the card's information and compiling a couple of paper works, the middle-aged man briefly glanced at me before a large yawn escaped from his mouth.

"Huuuuuammm...all the rules and stuff will shortly be sent to your phone, so if you have any questions look over there"

Thereafter, taking out a purple card from one of the drawers of his desk, he swiftly handed it to me before closing his eyes and crossing his arms.

Staring at the man, my mouth twitched as I shook my head at his behavior.

"...thank you I guess?"

Turning around, I looked at the card in my hand and saw an [906] engraved on it. Thereafter, I quickly headed towards the elevators.

As I walked along the corridor of the building, I was impressed by the internal design of the building. Especially the lighting as the corridor I was walking on was illuminated with a soft and welcoming light, as if it were a sunshine in gentle pastel hue.

The floor was made out of marble and a long red carpet covered most of the pavement as it directly led towards the elevator area.

Thus, following the red carpets and arriving in front of the elevators, I quickly pressed a button and patiently waited for the elevator to come down.

"huuu..."

Taking a deep breath, now that I sorted everything out, I looked back at the incident with Angelica.

...having pondered over the matter for a while, I realized that I was too arrogant and carefree. The actions that I took led to someone targeting me...pausing my thoughts there, a frown emerged on my face as I couldn't help but think about the fact that they could've also targeted my parents...

If the person targeting me went after my parents, I wouldn't know what I would've done at the time.

Would the old Ren have taken over my body and done something reckless as a consequence or would I be the one doing something reckless? I wasn't sure...but I wasn't eager to find out.

Fortunately, because the one that was targeting me seemed to be a demon, they didn't touch my parents as they soon noticed that they were under a curse from another demon...and killing someone that was already being targeted by a demon was essentially a very big no no for the demons as that would mean that they were basically stealing someone else's food and declaring war on them...and fortunately, because of this, my parents were currently still unharmed.

I guess the fact that they were cursed wasn't all too bad. I mean, it did save their lives.

...but still, what if my enemy wasn't a demon, but a human? What would've happened then?

I was too naive, and immature.

I needed to put further thought into every one of my actions from now on. Come up with countermeasures for everything...that's why setting up this mercenary group was a must for me.

Only when I had true power would I not need to worry about such things...I had to get even stronger than I was now.

-Ding!

Snapping me out of my thoughts, was the loud chime coming from the elevator. Entering the elevator, without skipping a beat, I quickly pressed the button that led to the ninth floor.

The Manticore building had fifteen floors, and the current floor I was headed towards was the 9th floor, where my room, 906, was located.

Recalling something, I quickly pulled out my phone and checked my notifications.

"There..."

Tapping on my phone, I quickly looked through my inbox before clicking on a certain email that had an attached file on it. Opening the file, I quickly started reading through the contents.

"Hmm, to summarize, the butler will only be assigned to me in a month after I choose him from a list that will later be given to me? What else...a personalized diet will also be made for me?"

As I read through the contents shown in the email attachment, I started to become more and more satisfied with my decision.

...I probably should've done this sooner. With all of the benefits and services I was being provided, it felt as if I was staying in a five-star hotel.

It was amazing.

-Ding!

Exiting the elevator I was greeted with a small corridor that split into two, left and right. Checking my phone, I turned right and after walking past a couple of doors, I was soon able to see a door with the number [906] displayed on the side.

Without hesitation, I swiped my card on the door. Shortly after, as the doorknob turned green, I opened the door to my room.

-Click!

Entering the room, I was immediately stunned by what a saw. The first thing I saw was a large window inside of the living room that illuminated the whole place. Thereafter, I noticed all of the decorations around the place. From clean white sofas to a personal kitchen furnished with all sorts of utensils.

Compared to my previous dorm, it felt as I was going from the slums to the main city.

...A huge difference.

Turning right of the living room, I soon spotted the bedroom that had a large white bed in the middle. There were a couple of other decorations in this place, however, that wasn't what attracted me...no, it was in fact a door that was by the side of the bedroom.

Without hesitation, I immediately headed for the door and opened it. This was the only thing that interested me at the moment.

-Click!

Opening the door, I instantly felt cool air brushed past my clothes. Thereafter, looking at the room, a look of amazement appeared on my face.

"Fuuu...this, now this is exactly why I moved here"

A large spacious room that was twice the size of the living room appeared before me. On the right side of the room, multiple different types of equipment ranging from dumbells, squat racks, and all sorts of other gym equipment appeared before me. Moreover, they all seemed to be made by state-of-the-art tech as the largest dumbells, which were the 500kg ones, were only about the size of a water bottle. Very small.

That aside, on the left side of the room, there was no equipment or anything of the sort. However, the pavement and the sides of the wall were made of a special material that was shock absorbent.

Essentially, that area was the area in which I could peacefully train my sword art without worrying about leaving a scar behind like what had happened to me before. As I looked at the gym, a satisfied grin appeared on my face as I couldn't help myself from exclaiming out loud.

"Ahhhh...the more I stay here, the more I realize how I should've done this before. Now that no one is disturbing me during my training, I don't have to hold back during training as I can just go all out"

-Ding! -Dong!

Just as I was happily admiring my new training room, I suddenly heard the sound of my doorbell ring. Taken aback for a brief moment, a slight frown appeared on my face.

"Hmm...who?"

....I don't recall knowing anyone that was here? So who could it possibly be?

Chapter 136: Moving out [2]

-Clank

Opening the door to my room, I was immediately greeted by two individuals standing in front of the door.

"Hello"

"Nice to meet you"

"Yes? How can I help you?"

Standing on the right side, with a friendly smile on his face, was a rather lanky individual with long curly blond hair, and green eyes. Extending his hand towards me, he introduced himself and his friend on the left who was a stark contrast from him in terms of appearance.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Leo Smith from room 905 and he's Ram Johnson from room 907"

With a bulging belly and greasy ginger-colored hair, the individual on the left, Ram, had a rather awkward but friendly smile on his face as he nodded his head.

"Good evening"

Alternating my gaze between the two of them, I raised my brow and looked to my left and right where rooms 905 and 907 were. Thereafter, smiling at them I said

"Oh? Do you guys live next door? Doesn't that mean we are neighbors?"

Nodding his head, smiling kindly, Leo said

"Yup. We just received notice that someone was moving in today, and we wanted to be the first ones to greet you"

Smiling back, I extended my hand towards them and introduced myself to them.

"That's very kind of you, hello, I'm a first year and my name is Ren Dover. Pleased to meet you"

Nodding their heads, Leo and Ram shook my hand

"Pleased to meet you"

"Nice to meet you too"

Shaking my hand, a couple of seconds after we let go, a rather awkward silence enveloped the corridor. Noticing this, glancing at my room, I suggested

"...Do you want to come in?"

Hearing my suggestion, looking at each other, Ram and Leo nodded their heads.

"That would be ideal"

"Thank you"

Seeing how friendly they were being, I decided to let them in. Although this place was filled with arrogant brats, that didn't mean everyone was like that.

Seeing at how they didn't arrogantly look down on me or tried to establish their dominance upon our first meeting, I knew that the two of them were rather nice individuals...It was a nice change of pace considering what I was constantly going through in class.

"Alright, please come in"

Smiling even more brightly, I stepped to the side and let them in. It was a good thing they came as I had a few things to ask them with regards to this building.

Smiling, Leo looked towards Ram and gestured for him to go in

"After you"

"Thanks"

Nodding his head, Ram entered the room followed by Leo shortly after. Thereafter, seeing that the both of them had entered the room, looking left and right to see if there was anyone else, I eventually closed the door.

-Clank!

Closing the door, I turned around a said

"Welcome, although I just moved in here, the place was already furnished before I came so just have a seat while I make some tea"

"Sure"

"Thank you"

Nodding their heads, Leo and Ram calmly walked towards the sofas and sat down. As they walked towards the sofas, from the side of my eyes, I managed to observe that they seemed to be rather familiar with the layout of the apartment.

...It seems like their rooms were similarly decorated.

"huu..."

Seeing that Leo and Ram were comfortably sitting on the sofa, heading towards the kitchen, I quickly heated a teapot and exhaled lightly.

This was the first time I met people that were either not arrogant brats or novel characters. I didn't want to leave a bad impression. After all, being a loner wasn't really something I loved.

A couple of seconds after Leo and Ram sat down, coming back with a steaming pot of tea, I sat on one of the sofas and poured tea for them.

"Thank you"

"Thanks"

Thanking me and taking the teacups in front of them, Leo and Ram carefully took a sip of it. Placing the teapot down and blowing on my teacup, I looked at them and asked

"You guys are also first years?"

Taking a sip of the tea and savoring the taste for a couple of seconds, placing the teacup down, Leo looked at me and nodded his head.

"Yeah, I'm from class A23 and he's from class A19, what about you?"

"Class A-25"

"..."

"..."

As soon as finished speaking, silence enveloped the room. Thereafter, I saw both Leo and Ram look at me with a trace of pity in their eyes.

"..I feel bad for you"

"Yeah"

Confused, I couldn't help but tilt my head to the side and ask.

"Why's that?"

"...aren't you in the same class filled to the brink with second-generation kids whose arrogance knows no bounds? Isn't it tense?"

Frowning slightly, I couldn't help but ask

"Is it not like that for you?"

Glancing at each other, Leo and Ram simultaneously shook their heads. Taking another sip of the tea, Leo softly said

"Nothing of the sorts, our class is pretty chill. Moreover, everyone is united and we don't form our own cliques like your class does."

Frowning and interlocking my hands together, I leaned forward and asked

"How come?"

"Well it's because there really isn't anyone important in our class...you get what I mean?"

Thinking for a moment, I shook my head

"hmm...no, not really"

Nodding his head, calmly placing the teacup down, Leo explained

"Basically, because there really isn't anyone important in our class, no one needs to suck up to someone else's ass. If I had to say, our class is pretty balanced. Ram's class as well as everyone just gets along with each other rather than having someone commanding others and stuff like that..."

Listening to Leo speak, from time to time Ram would add a few things and nod his head in agreement.

"mmhmm...although we do have some people that have a stronger background because the majority in our class is similar, we are rather united and thus no such thing happens."

Placing my hand on my chin as I listened to them speaking, I lightly nodded my head.

"mhh...I see"

...it made sense.

With how most of the arrogant second-generation kids ended up in my class, it wasn't strange that they had all formed their own cliques and segregated themselves from the other students.

Resulting in this imbalance forming within the class.

After a while, looking at both Leo and Ram, I couldn't help but jokingly say

"Let me join your classes"

After a short pause, staring at each other, we all lightly chuckled

"hahaha"

"hahaha"

Chuckling along with them, halfway through my chuckle, I stopped laughing and seriously said

"Hahaha...I wasn't joking"

I really wasn't

Maybe at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to move out. Their place sounded like paradise in my opinion.

Although now that I took care of Arnold and a few other annoying brats, the fact that I was still ignored and verbally abused from time to time didn't change.

...and just like they said. Almost everyone in my class was part of an influential family or whose parents were important figures in their own right.

If I wanted to deal with them, I had to be thorough. I couldn't just pick a fight with anyone I wanted.

Especially considering the fact that I had a family to look after now, as they could target them at any time without my knowledge.

This fact became even more apparent with the incident with the Matriarch.

...actions had consequences, and unless I thoroughly destroyed my enemy until I made sure they weren't going to take revenge on me, I couldn't move.

Hence why, their classes sounded like paradise to me. A place where I didn't have to think too much about my behavior.

Looking at me with a trace of pity in his eyes, Leo tried to console me

"I feel for you, but classes change every year so you might get lucky next year"

Leaning backward on the sofa, a bitter smile appeared on my face as I sarcastically said

"haha, if only I was that lucky..."

He wasn't wrong.

Every year we would be assigned to different classrooms, so perhaps next year I would get lucky. But considering my luck so far...I could only helplessly sigh.

-Ding! -Dong!

As I was having a good chat with Leo and Ram, suddenly, the doorbell rang once again. Turning towards the door, I looked at Leo and Ram for a brief moment before saying.

"Hmm? more neighbors?"

Seriously looking at each other, Ram and Leo's faces became tense. Thereafter, grabbing me by my sleeve, Leo carefully said

"Ren...be careful"

Raising my brow and looking at them carefully, I couldn't help but slowly ask

"What's wrong?"

Looking at each other, after a short pause, Leo quietly spoke

"...we were planning on telling you this later, but actually, this building is not as peaceful as it sounds"

Frowning, I suddenly had an ominous feeling

"Not as peaceful as it sounds?"

Nodding his head, Leo and Ram looked towards the door with a little bit of fear.

"...yeah"

Noticing Leo and Ram's odd behavior, the frown on my face deepened. If I said I was surprised by this development, that would be a lie.

From experience, I could pretty much guess what was happening.

Although I didn't know much about this place, it seems like there was a social hierarchy here that I did not know of.

Whoever was at the door, was definitely someone that I wasn't going to have the pleasure of knowing.

-Ding! -Dong!

"Coming!"

Staring at the door, I looked towards Ram and Leo before making my way towards the door.

'...I'll have to observe first before making a move'

Chapter 137: Moving out [3]

"Sorry for my tardiness"

-Swoooosh!

Opening the door and scratching the back of my head, on the other side of the door, I saw three people standing with their backs straight. As soon as I opened the door, a surge of powerful aura came crashing in, creating a powerful gush of air that reminded me of a typhoon.

Feeling the gush of air brush past me as my clothes fluttered lightly, I tried my best the keep my smile on my face as I looked at the people before me.

Taking a closer look, there were three people.

The three people looked to be in their twenties, however, considering that they were all wearing Lock uniforms, they were still not there in terms of age.

Their ranks looked to be at around the <F> rank region, with the weakest of them being <F->. They each wore green-colored uniforms indicating that they were in their second years and the one leading them, the strongest one of the lot, I could feel his rank being at around <F+>.

The reason I knew this was because they didn't shy away from releasing their oppressive aura.. Their intentions were obvious. Intimidate me.

...well, it was supposed to suppress me, but it really had no effect on me at the moment. Still, I pretended to grimace under their pressure.

"kkhh...who is this?"

'Observe before acting'

Seeing my reaction, keeping the pressure for a couple of seconds before removing it, the leading youth looked at me as he said in a solemn voice.

"You're the one that just moved in?"

Pretending to catch my breath, I slowly nodded my head and responded.

"huff..huff...Indeed."

As I responded to them, I tried my bests to hold back. Although the way they talked and behaved irked me, I had to hold it in until I found out who their backer was.

Chances were that they were someone I should probably not offend for the time being.

After making sure he had exerted his 'dominance' over me, the leading youth briefly glanced at his two lackeys behind him before looking back at me and saying

"My name is Noah Riley, a fellow student who resides in this building. Currently, I am gathering all of the people in this building for our usual end-of-the-week meeting. Seeing that you are here, you should also come and introduce yourself."

"Don't worry, he just wants to get to know you better and help you adapt to this place faster..." said Noah in a casual manner.

Although he claimed that he was requesting for a word, his tone didn't contain any trace of request.

It seems like something annoying was about to happen.

Overbearingly stepping into my room without asking for my permission, Noah and his lackeys glanced around the room before a smirk emerged on their faces as they saw the two people inside of the room.

Turning his attention towards them, crossing his arms, Noah snorted as he spoke

"hmph, it seems like Leo and Ram are also here, perfect, you guys must come with us too"

Silently clenching their fists beneath their clothes, Leo and Ram both smiled towards Noah and stood up.

"...Yes"

"Understood"

Nodding his head in satisfaction, Noah calmly watched as Leo and Ram left the room with their heads hung low. Thereafter, turning his attention towards me, he said

"Hurry up as we don't have much time to waste"

"...alright"

Watching from the side, I calmly observed everyone present in the room. From the way that the trio was looking down at Leo and Ram, and by how they both refused to retaliate.

Although I wanted to help them, as they were the first people I actually got along with in this academy...now was not the time.

...from the way I saw things, it seems like whoever was backing the trio was rather powerful. To give his lackeys that much confidence. From the way they spoke and talked, it looked as though they owned the place...this situation may indeed become troublesome.

After making sure Leo and Ram went out, looking at me, nudging me with his head, Noah coldly said

"Follow along"

Smiling amiably, I nodded my head.

"Sure"

"...good choice"

Seeing me nod, Noah turned around and left. Nodding his head towards his two lackeys, Noah directly turned right and walked through the long corridor that seemed to stretch to no end.

As I looked at Noah and the rest from behind, for a split second my eyes narrowed. Thereafter, an amiable smile appeared on my face as I closed the door behind me.

-Clank!

'I really am curious as to who the person they are following is...'

...

Taking the elevator and going all the way up to the fifteenth floor, we soon arrived in front of a large wooden door decorated with fine golden patterns.

Straightening their backs and clothes, Noah and his two lackeys carefully fixed their clothes and made themselves look presentable.

Turning my head to the side, I soon notice Leo and Ram shivering slightly as they had their heads held down. Observing everyone around me, I carefully imprinted everyone's behavior in my mind.

...this was so that I could get an idea of who I was about to meet.

"Alright"

After making sure that they looked presentable, fixing his hair, Noah carefully knocked on the large door.

-Knock! -Knock!

Thereafter, a couple of seconds after Noah knocked on the door, opening the door was a young man dressed in a butler outfit.

With his black hair neatly brushed to the side and wearing a nice butler outfit, a young man that looked to be in his mid-twenties came to greet us at the door. Extending his hand forward and smiling, the butler said

"Please come in"

"Thank you, Chris"

Nodding his head towards the butler who seemed to be named Chris, Noah entered the room followed by his two Lackeys. Shortly after, following Noah's lead, Leo, Ram and I, also entered the room.

As I stepped into the living room of the apartment, I was immediately left speechless by the grandeur of the place. With a mixture of endearingly vibrant colors matched with the nicely decorated room, the arrangements of the furniture and plants, made this modern and multi-functional living room come to life in an instant.

The cotton white walls and the dark wooden floors acted as a blank canvas that further emphasized the color introduced by the furniture and accessories such as the paintings on the wall and the green plants placed by the sides.

Best of all, a large window at the end of the room enabled the light from the sun to freely illuminate the room, creating this brilliant veil of light that warmed the colors of the room. There also seemed to be a second floor as by the side of the apartment a wooden staircase could be seen.

As I admired this room, I couldn't help think back to my new room. This penthouse apartment was by far a lot better than the room that I had just moved into, however, I wasn't jealous.

After all, thinking about the monthly rent price of this place made this place look less attractive in my eyes.

"Ah, Noah, are these the last batch?"

Just as I was finishing admiring the place, walking forward, a youth with a grey suit and white T-shirt came to greet us.

"Yes"

Pulling his grey blazer forward lightly, the youth raised his brow as he spotted me standing next to Leo and Ram.

"Oh? it seems like we have someone new here"

Nodding his head, Noah calmly introduced me to the youth.

"Yes, he is a new student that has just arrived today. His name is Ren"

As Noah was introducing me, I observed the youth next to him from head to toe.

Aside from the obvious penthouse apartment, another reason I could tell that he was from a prominent family was his clothes that seemed to be made by top-end designers.

His face was rather handsome as his skin seemed to be devoid of any pimples or imperfections. The most notable feature of the youth were his pair of eyebrows that were akin to a sword's edge as they made him look sharper and more commanding.

As I was observing him, the youth was similarly observing me too.

Shortly after, after observing me for a couple of seconds, smiling, the youth looked at Noah.

Thereafter, after seeing Noah nod, the youth smiled brightly

"So this is the new student? Great"

Extending his hand forward, with a friendly smile on his face, the youth looked at me and said

"Welcome to the Manticore building, my name is Gerrard Lim, and I am currently in my third year at the Lock"

Similarly smiling, extending my hand towards him, I shook his hand and introduced myself.

"...right, very nice to meet you. My name is Ren"

"Haha, great, great"

Shaking my hands for a couple of seconds, I soon noticed that something wasn't right as a cold glint flashed past Gerrard's eyes as the aura around him erupted.

"kh...."

Surprised, I immediately realized what he was doing and put on the greatest performance I could muster.

-Thud

With one knee on the ground, I 'fearfully' looked at Gerrard from the ground. My hand shook shortly after...

"Kh..what's going on?"

After a couple of seconds, seeing the shock and fear in my eyes, letting go of my hand, Gerrard laughed out loud as he helped me up.

"Hahah, I was just joking there is no need to look at me so seriously"

Patting me on the back, he along with the others laughed out loud

"hahah, what a nice prank"

"hahah, that was funny"

Standing up, nodding my head towards Gerrard, I thanked him for helping me up.

"T-thank you..."

...<E> rank

During that brief moment that he exerted his strength, I noticed that his strength was <E> rank. Just a tidbit stronger than me.

...but that didn't matter. All I needed was a couple of seconds and his head would be rolling on the floor.

"haha, sorry about that prank of mine. Here, why don't you join the others"

It was only after I got up that I managed to spot a crowd of students standing on the second floor of the apartment. It also seems that Leo and Ram who were with me moments before were both escorted upstairs moments prior.

"Y-es"

Nodding my head, I pretended to still be shaking from the incident and slowly walked upstairs. Slowly walking upstairs, from the corner of my eyes, I managed to see Gerrard nod to Noah and the others in satisfaction.

Spotting them from the distance, the corner of my mouth inadvertently pulled up.

'Just you wait...just you wait, I'll pull an even better prank on you later. One that you wouldn't forget for a lifetime"

Going up the stairs, I joined the rest of the students that were gathered in the room. I soon spotted Ram and Leo standing quietly in the corner. Without hesitation, I joined them.

Moving towards them, as soon as they noticed my presence, I found them both quietly moving towards me to check if I was alright.

"Hey...we saw what happened are you alright?"

"Are you hurt"

Smiling, I shook my head and reassured them

"haha, nothing to be worried about. I am fine."

I wasn't lying.

Although Gerrard's rank was indeed higher than mine, his pressure wasn't actually affecting me that much. As I thought back at Gerrard who was still downstairs talking to his lackeys, staring at Leo and Ram, I started probing.

"Right, this Gerrard Lim guy...why is everyone so fearful around him? Isn't he just <E> rank? Although that is indeed an impressive rank...for a third year that's rather, mhh, how should I say, lackin--"

Just as I was about to finish my sentence, to my surprise, I found both Leo and Ram putting their hands on my mouth as they tried to stop me from speaking any further. A look of panic appeared on their faces.

"Shhhh, do you want to die"

Taken aback, I couldn't help but look at them in confusion as I asked

"...what's wrong?"

Quietly glancing towards his left and right side to make sure no one was paying attention to them, lowering his voice, in an almost inaudible whisper, Leo slowly said

"Don't ever mention anything regarding his talent again, or you might find yourself in deep trouble."

"...deep trouble?"

Nodding his head, Leo solemnly looked at me as a trace of fear flashed past his eyes. In an even lower tone, he quietly said

"One time a student made a similar mistake to yours, as he made fun of Gerrard's rank...do you know what happened next?"

Shaking my head, I asked

"What happened?"

Slightly biting his lips as he moved his head closer, Leo quietly said

"...three weeks after the incident, the staff from the Lock found him dead in his own apartment with a suicide note neatly written on the corner of the desk"

Opening my eyes wide, I looked at Leo in shock.

"A suicide note?"

Nodding his head, unfazed by my shocked expression, Leo continued

"Yes, and the strange thing was that even though everyone knew it was Gerrard who was responsible for this, as the school and the authorities couldn't find any evidence of it being a homicide, the case was ruled as a typical suicide case...however, the reason why everyone knows that it was him who did it...is because shortly after, the student's family also died by the hands of a series of strange accidents ranging from car crashes and cardiac arrests...everyone. Dead"

"huuu..."

Listening to Leo recount what Gerrard had done, I couldn't help but exhale out loud.

...even his family was targeted.

Thank god I didn't act rashly, else things might've become serious.

Scratching the top of his nose, in a solemn voice, Leo said

"...trust me when I tell you this, but Gerrard is crazy...He is not right in the head, provoking him is like asking for yourself to be killed."

Listening to Leo speak, the frown on my face deepened as I couldn't help but softly mumble

"...psychopath"

To openly kill a student just because they made fun of his talent. Moreover, their parents too? This guy was beyond redemption.

Gerrard was not right in the head...and everyone in this room understood that fact. Perhaps this was why everyone was so scared of him.

Seeing that I understood, sighing in relief, Leo added

"Yes, so please refrain from ever mentioning what I just told you to not mention"

Nodding my head, I reassured him as I switched the topic

"...alright I'll be careful, but what's his background? What kind of background does he have? I mean, for him to be able to hide the evidence so cleanly...it must be quite a big background"

Hearing my question, both Leo and Ram looked at me strangely. Thereafter, Ram joined in the conversation as he asked me with a hint of doubt in his voice.

"You really don't know?"

Shaking my head, I denied.

"Nope"

I really didn't know.

This man was not someone that appeared in the novel, nor that I ever remembering writing about. Therefore, it was only normal that I had no idea about him.

"You really need to inform yourself better"

Looking at me strangely, lowering his voice, Ram started speaking

"...Gerrard Lim is the son, only son, of the number one pharmaceuticals company W.V. pharmaceuticals who is said to be worth over a 100 billion U in value...a giant amongst giants who recently have seen a major market share increase in the potion market..."

Raising my brow, as Ram was talking, my head quickly snapped in his direction as a certain word caught my interest.

"Did you just say W.V. pharmaceuticals?"

Nodding his head seriously, standing beside Ram, Leo once again spoke as he warned me about the consequences of provoking Gerrard.

"Yes, so be extra careful and try your best to not p..."

However, contrary to Leo's wishes, as he tried to lecture me, his words went from one ear to the other as the corners of my mouth threatened to pull themselves upwards at any given second.

Massaging my chin, I couldn't help but think back at an incident that had happened not so long ago...

'...I see'

'So Gerrard is the son of the chairman of W.V. pharmaceuticals. The very first company I bet on during my first two month's in this world...and the ones that were responsible for Tobias' church death'

...This was starting to get more and more interesting

The more I thought about it, the more the corner of my mouth inadvertently pulled upwards. In the end, even though I tried to hide it, a large smile appeared on my face.

'What an interesting piece of news.'

What a very interesting piece of news indeed...

'It seems like I was going to be pulling a big prank soon...'

Chapter 138: Moving out [4]

W.V. pharmaceuticals.

It's been a while since I heard of that name.

Because at that time I was in desperate need of cash, I practically sold most of my stocks. Should I have saved it? Yes, most likely. Do I regret it?

...not really.

After all, it's not like their value shot up by that much.. I would've probably have made a couple of million more U.

Either way, the fact that Gerrard was the son of the current chairman of W.V. pharmaceuticals was a pleasant surprise.

...and when I mean pleasant, I mean it in a very interesting way.

If I played my cards right, I could probably kill multiple birds with one stone.

"Thank you for gathering everyone"

Talk of the devil. Walking up the stairs followed by Noah and two other burly individuals, Gerrard calmly walked towards the middle of the room. There were approximately fifty people gathered here on the second floor, and all of them seemed to be first years as they all had an azure blue blazer.

Calmly observing everyone present, raising his hand, Gerrard tried to gather everyone's attention towards himself.

As soon as his hand raised in the air, the room instantly became quiet. With his three lackeys glaring at everyone present, everyone immediately shut up. Noticing this, smiling at everyone, Gerrard calmly started speaking

"Once again, thank you all for coming this weekend to the weekly meetings I have established. I hope that it doesn't bother any of you as..."

As Gerrard was speaking, every word that came out of his mouth went from one of my ears to the other. The reason why I wasn't paying attention wasn't because I wasn't interested in what he said...well, I wasn't interested but the main reason was because of a particular person in the room.

More precisely a young girl who quietly standing in the corner by herself.

She had a rather petite figure with semi-long hair and bangs that gently covered her eyes. She looked extremely shy as she avoided eye making contact with everyone.

'Ava Leafz...'

...It seems like my trip here wasn't in vain.

Although I was initially put off by Gerrard's forceful show of power, now that I found Ava, my anger subsided a little.

Calmly observing Ava from the side, I thought back at the files that Smallsnake sent me.

According to the files he sent me, Ava Lefaz came from a pretty well-off family. She was the sixth child of the family and the only one with the monster tamer profession. Although she wasn't neglected at home, because of her profession, she developed a sort of inferiority complex over her siblings who in their own rights, were quite talented.

...although the files had a bit more information, those were the key points I took notice of...and observing her from the side, I could tell that the information was accurate.

...from the way she avoided everyone and seemed very shy, it was apparent that she didn't have a lot of confidence in herself.

This was definitely something I could work with.

-Clap!

Clapping his hands once, snapping me out of my thoughts, Gerrard smiled brightly as he got to the main point of this meeting.

"Alright, I will keep it short. I'm sure you guys know why I called you here right?"

As soon as Gerrard posed the question, instantly silence enveloped the room.

Raising my brow and noticing the strange tension in the room, I soon spotted every student in the room helplessly looking at the ground.

...what's going on?

Staring at everyone before him, Gerrard once again spoke. This time his voice was colder and more authoritative.

"Did you guys hear what I said? Please hand me a timestamp. One per person please"

Hearing the word 'time stamp' I couldn't help but tilt my head in confusion as I glanced next to me where Leo and Ram were. Lowering my head a little, I quietly whispered.

"...what's going on?"

Glancing at me, understanding something, Leo pulled me closer to him and quietly whispered.

"...ah right, since you're new here you don't know much about what happens here...essentially, each week, same time today, we are gathered here by Gerrard and we are to give him one of the two time-stamps that we are given each week"

Frowning as I was listening, I glanced towards Leo and quietly asked

"What's a time stamp?"

As I asked, I couldn't help but curse at my own lack of preparations.

Honestly...I should've probably have done more research on this place and the people living here.

Although there were over a thousand people staying in this building, I should've taken note of all the important people beforehand so that I could've been more prepared.

For example, considering the fact that there were only fifty people gathered here, I figured that this wasn't the only group that coerced students into doing something that they didn't want.

There were probably many others with a similar group of students, blackmailing them into handing them something important...which in this case seemed to be the so-called 'time stamp'

Placing my hand on my chin, I made a mental note to myself

'Find everything about this place, from the leaders to the rules and anything that with regards to how this place operated...'

Only when I had enough information would I be able to quickly come up with countermeasures...or at least be prepared for what was to come.

Well...In my defense though, with everything going on with Angelica, things just passed my mind. Moreover, with how busy Smallsnake was these past few days, asking him to research all of the people here would be basically asking for him to die.

...this time, I had to do it without relying on Smallsnake.

"Here, this is a timestamp"

Taking out a green-colored card from his pocket, Leo showed it to me.

Taking the time stamp from Leo's hand, I calmly observed it. The card seemed to be the same size as a credit card and apart from a few patterns on it, it didn't look anything special. Just like a regular card.

As I was observing the card, from the corner of my eyes, I managed to spot students taking out a similar colored card and handing it to Gerrard and his Lackeys.

Staring at the students lining up in front of each Lackey, handing the card back to Leo, we quickly lined up. As I lined up with them, Leo quietly pointed towards the students who were handing in their cards

"Right now just observe what is happening. Since you're new, you don't have to hand them a timestamp, but from next week you must give them one of the two time-stamps you receive each week"

Pausing slightly, and seeing the confusion on my face, he calmly explained

"Regarding time stamps. to summarize what a time-stamp does, it basically is an access card that enables people to gain access to the time regressive machine"

Abruptly turning my head in Leo's direction, I repeated

"Time regressive machine?"

Frowning slightly, Leo asked

"You don't know what that is either?"

Shaking my head, I placed my hand on my chin as I fell into deep thought.

"No, I do know. I'm just surprised by the fact that this building has it..."

A time regressive machine

Of course, I knew what it was...a virtual machine that slowed time down.

It had a high degree of realism and through the neuron enhancing liquid provided in the capsule of the time regressive machine, humans were able to develop a machine that made time flow much slower compared to real life.

It was the perfect machine for students looking to increase their strength in a short time. However, there were obvious downsides to this machine.

One, they were expensive.

The neuron-enhancing liquid required rare ingredients to make and was difficult to mass-produce.

Two, low supply and high maintenance cost. Moreover, they couldn't be used for prolonged periods of time as that would put heavy strain on the brain.

I knew about the time regressive machine as there were a couple of them in the Leviathan building where Kevin was. However, what I didn't know, was that this building had one too.

...a machine that allowed someone to train inside of a virtual world where time was slower.

The benefits were immense.

Although it wasn't useful for helping students improve their rank, as only the brain was functioning faster whilst the body was flowing at a normal time...it was very useful for students who were looking to improve the mastery of their arts.

...it was understandable as to why Gerrard was willing to go this far just to collect the timestamps. I mean, for untalented students like him, this was like a lifeline for them.

"Alright we are done"

It didn't take long for Gerrard and the others to collect all of the timestamps from everybody present in the room. In fact, it only took a couple of minutes. With no one protesting as they just handed their cards to him and his lackeys, everything went smoothly.

...Moreover, from what I observed, this seemed to be happening everywhere as everyone present accepted this situation like it was normal.

"1...2...4...7...37...and 51, perfect!"

Counting the timestamps in his hands, a big smile appeared on Gerrard's face. Thereafter, looking at everyone in the room, he casually dismissed everyone present

"Thank you very much for giving me your time-stamps, I won't take any more of your time so you may go now"

...and just like that, everyone that was present in the room quietly descended the stairs and made their way out of the penthouse apartment.

"Let's go"

Tapping me on the shoulder, Ram and Leo quietly followed everyone out of the apartment. Looking back at Gerrard for a brief moment, turning my attention back to Leo and Ram, I couldn't help but ask.

"That's it?"

Glancing at me from the side of my eyes, Leo shot back

"What more do you want there to be?"

Opening my mouth, I tried to say something, but I eventually relented and followed them out of the building.

"...ah nevermind, I guess this gathering of his is only for the time passes"

"Pretty much"

As I got out of the apartment with Leo and Ram, my attention was once again drawn towards Ava who was not far from where I was. However, although she wasn't far from me, I refrained from talking to her.

...it wasn't the right time to approach Ava just yet.

With all of the information that I had gathered from this meeting, a plan had already started formulating inside of my head.

...one that, if executed properly, could solve a lot of the issues I was currently facing.

Although it wasn't a short-term plan, the wait was going to be worth it. After all, you can't topple a king in one move. Right?

Chapter 139: Tryouts [1]

-Clank!

Saying goodbye to Leo and Ram, I quietly went back to my dorm. Thereafter, I sent a quick message to Smallsnake with regards to W.V. pharmaceuticals and threw my phone on my bed.

*Sigh*

As a sigh escaped from my mouth, sitting on my chair in front of a large spacious wooden desk I took out my computer and booted it up.

So far, this was what I gathered from the small conversation I had with Ram and Leo on my way back.

The current Manticore building was ruled by the stronger more influential people, and taking advantage of the fact that there is a time regressive machine, they forced and coerced weaker students into giving them their time passes.

In a way, this was pretty much how gangs operated.

...It was sort of cliche, but with this world being filled with cliches, I wasn't really surprised.

Taking a small notepad from the drawer of my desk, I immediately summarized the information that I had gotten from them.

I first started writing about the social hierarchy of this place.

From what I remember that they told me, there were five people I had to watch out for in this building.

...and according to Leo and Ram, these five people, because of how influential and powerful they were...they were known by everyone here as the 'five tyrants'

Through their connections and parents' fame, these five people ruled the Manticore building with an iron fist.

Gerrard Lim - W.V. Pharmaceuticals chairman son

Romelu Connel - Both his parents are A-ranked heroes, and work under platinum rank guild.

Adrea Forsetti - Son of the elder of Gladiatori, platinum rank guild.

Jessica Pandev - Daughter of one of the school instructors.

Gabriella Lemass - Daughter of branch manager of Ashton-district bank, one of the largest banks in the city.

As I looked through the list of names, apparently, I was quite lucky to be under Gerrard's rule.

According to what I heard from Leo and Ram, he was the nicest of the lot. Although from what I've gathered they didn't kill as Gerrard did, what they did was even worse.

...torturing you to the point that you wished that you were dead. Be it through targeting your family or anyone that was around you...as long as they didn't like you, they would immediately subject you to intense bullying and include your family in their nonsensical acts.

They were all practically psychopaths. I wasn't really sure how these people even existed as there is a clear boundary between arrogant and insane...and this was on that level.

...to be called the 'five tyrants' because of what they did was understandable. From the way they behaved and pressed people, they were nothing short of tyrants.

Worse thing, because of the connections they each had, working together they managed to secure this iron-clad rule that basically prevented any of the students present from voicing out what was happening...meaning that they had free reigns of this place.

Unless your background was something they couldn't handle, if they deemed you to be their target, you were pretty much done for.

...taking note of this information, I knew that eventually I may be implicated in this nonsense.

I had to act before that happened.

Browsing through the internet with my laptop, I looked through each of their backgrounds in more detail.

Whenever I saw something interesting I would quickly write it down on a small notepad that was next to me.

....From time to time I would also stop and ponder for a couple of seconds as the gears of my brain started moving.

Many different plans started formulating in my mind as I briefly glanced through their profiles.

...I was not having any of this.

The reason why I moved in the first place was because I thought it was going to be a better place compared to the horned sheep building...but it seems like I was too naive.

I was initially only planning on dealing with Gerrard, but after hearing what Leo and Ram had said, I changed my mind.

They all needed to be removed.

Not only because they were going to be interfering with my training and daily life, but also because it was a necessary measure I had to take in order to make Ava join my group.

Thus, with my notepad open, I took a large piece of paper and started creating a mind map with five large squares by the sides, each representing one of the five 'tyrants'

Although I didn't have enough information yet, with all that I currently knew, I started creating connections and links between each member. Though I wasn't planning on acting anytime soon, preparing myself earlier was never a bad thing.

Thus, as different plans and connections started formulating inside of my mind, I quickly got to work as I tried my best to come up with a foolproof plan that would achieve my goals whilst maximizing my gains.

Playing with the pen in my hand, I softly mumbled to myself

"Tut...tut...tut...I hope you don't blame me for doing this. After all, I am just doing this for self-defense. Blame yourselves for threatening to ruin my daily life"

...

Class A-25, Lock.

"Huuuuamm..."

Yawning out loud as I stretched my arms in the air, I wiped the tears that had formed on the corner of my eyes.

If I said I wasn't tired that would be a lie. Having spent most of yesterday going through all of the information I could find regarding the 'five tyrants', I only got around four hours of sleep.

...I was understandably tired.

-Clank!

Entering the class like usual, Donna calmly walked towards the podium of the class. Thereafter, placing all of her stuff down she took out a tablet and did the register.

"Rank 1, Kevin Voss"

"Yes, Present"

"Rank 2, Melissa Hall"

"Present"

"Rank 3, Jin Horton"

"Present"

Propping my head with my hand, as I listened to Donna, I calmly observed the classroom. Kevin and the other were sitting in their usual seats on the right side of the classroom.

It was the usual sight.

Kevin was talking with Emma, Jin was with Troy and Arnold, Melissa was going through a bunch of papers in here and, and Amanda was staring at Donna with an emotionless look on her face.

...everything was pretty much the same as it was during the first time I had come here. Although if I did have to point out a notable change, it would be that I was pretty much on speaking terms with most of them.

I was no longer a nameless nobody in their eyes. Which I didn't really mind at this point.

With everything that was going on, their connections were indeed quite useful for my future plans.

"Rank 197, Ren Dover"

"Present"

Hearing my name being called, I quickly raised my hand and responded. Staring at me for a split second, Donna looked back at the tablet and checked my name off. Thereafter, she continued doing the register

"Rank 209, Ruben Nasri..."

like that, for the better part of the first five minutes of the class, Donna did the register. Thereafter, after finishing the register, placing the tablet down, and glancing at everyone in the class, Donna spoke up as she announced.

"I wanted to inform you guys that the tryouts for the intra-academy tournament have been pushed to tomorrow morning and that all of the individuals who were previously chosen by me to be prepared..."

"huu?"

Sitting up straight as I stared at Donna from above, an audible gasp escaped from my mouth as I looked towards Donna in confusion. Soon after, a wave of whispers resounded across the classroom.

"What? why did it suddenly move?"

"What's going on?"

"Wasn't it supposed to be in another couple of weeks?"

Looking around I could see that I wasn't the only one that was caught off guard by the news as almost everyone present felt the same way.

...and their reaction was understandable.

I clearly remembered Donna saying to me last week that there was still a month left before the tryouts, how did the time suddenly go from a month to a week?

Noticing the commotion that the announcement had caused, raising her hand, Donna's eyes shone for a split second as she spoke up

"Please be quiet and let me explain"

Thereafter, as her voice traveled through the ears of everyone present, every one of the students speaking found themselves unable to move as their minds went blank for a split second.

...Soon the room was once again enveloped in silence.

Brushing her hair to the side as silence returned to the classroom, Donna casually said as she continued.

"As most of you know, the tryouts were supposed to happen in a couple of more weeks, but due to some unforeseen circumstances, we have no choice but to push it to tomorrow. This was not something that was decided on a whim, but it was something that all of the heads of the departments have agreed on during the last meeting we had during the weekend."

Pausing for a second and glancing at certain people within the class, me included, Donna continued speaking.

"So for those of you that have been selected beforehand, please meet me at the arena grounds in Section G tomorrow morning at 8:00 A.M. where you will be joined by the rest of the candidates from the other classes. Any questions?"

Stopping there, Donna looked around the class and pointed towards a student.

"Yes?"

Raising her hand up, one of the female students stood up asked

"Miss Longbern, if we participate in the tryouts, what about the register for the classes?"

Hearing the question, Donna kindly smiled.

"You don't need to worry about your attendance as the professors have already been notified in advance..."

*Sigh*

As I was listening to Donna answer questions, a sigh inevitably escaped from my mouth as I buried my face in my arms.

'You know what. Whatever.'

As I had put a time skip in this part of the novel, I had no knowledge of any of the circumstances happening right now.

...and honestly, even if this deviated from the original plotline, I wouldn't even be surprised anymore.

With everything that had happened to me these past five months, I now knew better but to not be surprised by an unforeseeable change.

Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me...well, I did get fooled more than twice, but that was beside the point.

I no longer should just think something will always go my way.

There will always be something that will go against what I predicted. It was just how life worked.

...and knowing this, I decided to just go with the flow and adapt to any of the changes that were happening around me.

I guess you could say that this was my own way of maturing.

Chapter 140: Tryouts [2]

Looking towards the sky as I covered my eyes with my arm, I couldn't help but yawn.

The sun was exceptionally bright today, and even though it was early in the morning, 8:00 A.M., the sunlight was brightly illuminating the surroundings.

Arriving at section G, I was immediatly greeted by a large crowd of students. I'd estimate that there were a total of a hundred first years alone. They each stood on the upper areas of the arena as they all looked below where the platforms were located.

Usually, the platforms would've had many students sparring and fighting against each other, however, today there was no one present. It was a strangely odd sight.

After looking at the platforms of the arena below for a couple of seconds, turning around, I soon spotted Donna who was in front of the representative members of our class. Although I couldn't see clearly as I was still quite far, I spotted around twelve students sitting behind her..

Leisurely making my way there, I soon was able to see the identity of the members, and low and behold, apart from a few, they were the usual suspects. Kevin and his group.

"Hurry up you're the last one"

Spotting me from the distance, Donna quickly nudged for me to come over.

"Hm? I'm late?"

Checking her watch, Donna added

"Yes, by a full seven minutes"

"Alright"

Secretly clicking my tongue, I increased my pace.

Hurrying up, I soon arrived before our group and sat down on the ground. Thereafter, taking out my mp3, I put my earbuds on and played some music.

...it was too early for me to be socializing. Moreover, it seems like I wasn't the only one that felt that way as almost everyone was busy doing their own thing.

Ten minutes after I started playing music, appearing in the middle of the arena below, an imposing man wearing a black instructor uniform calmly looked at the audience before him. Thereafter, his booming voice reverberated through the whole area as he warmly smiled and introduced himself.

"Welcome everybody, my name is Sean O'lirey and today I will have the pleasure of hosting the tryouts for the intra-academy tournament!"

Stopping there as he waited for everyone to turn their attention towards him, instructor Sean clenched his fist and raised it in the air. Thereafter he started speaking, and with every word he said, his voice became louder and louder.

"Young aspiring heroes, this is the chance of your life!"

"If you are able to shine in this tournament, not only will you bring honor to the academy, you will also bring honor to yourselves and your relatives. This is the moment that all of you have been waiting for...the chance for you to spread your name far into the human domain. Let them know about you and your splendor!"

Pausing for a second and glancing at every student present, instructor Sean's already loud voice boomed even louder as it reverberated throughout the whole arena resulting in the handrails shaking.

"Instead of looking for guilds, make the guilds look for you...and what better way than by shining in this year's edition of the intra-academy tournament! So rise to the challenge and show them just what you're made of!"

Stopping there, raising both hands in the air his imposing figure basked underneath the sunlight.

After a short silence, staring at the instructor's imposing figure in the middle of the stage, the whole stadium erupted in cheers and applause.

"Waaa!"

"Yes!"

"We will definitely join!"

"We will do our best!"

With my mouth half open, I took off one of my earpieces as I looked towards my left and right where students could be seen cheering everywhere. My face couldn't help but scrunch up as my body involuntarily shook.

...seriously?

What was that just now?

Did no one notice the fact that he was purposely posing to make himself look cooler? Was I the only one?

...what in the world did I just witness?

Scanning the audience before him, and seeing everyone pumped up as a result of his speech, the corner of instructor Sean's mouth pulled upward.

Dramatically raising his hand in the air to stop everyone from talking, the instructor continued as his voice became more solemn.

"I will skip with the unnecessary information and get straight to the point. Because of some unforeseen changes as most of you know we have decided to push forward the tryouts. I know some of you may not be ready, but we simply had no choice...and for that, we apologize"

Pausing for a second, instructor Sean carefully glanced at everyone present. Thereafter, he subtly lowered his head in an apology. After a couple of seconds of silence, looking back up, he once again started speaking. This time, his voice was much brighter.

"However don't be demoralized. Take this setback as a lesson. Never take anything for granted. Situations might change when you least expect them to...therefore what you need to do is adapt and persevere through the setback. Only then will you truly be fit to be a hero!"

Scanning everyone in the room present to make sure they understood his message, instructor Sean looked towards his left where an old man stood.

-Clap!

Shortly after, seeing the old man nodding his head slightly, instructor Sean clapped his hand once and said

"Alright, enough with that, let's get back to the tryouts"

Rubbing his nose, taking out a piece of paper from his pocket, instructor Sean started reading it. As he read the paper, his tone started becoming more monotonous with every passing second.

...it was apparent that he was only good at improvising.

"We will shortly be separating each year, and from there, we will once again split you according to your classes"

"Each class will compete with another class from the respective year, and the matches will be displayed on the large monitors above."

Pausing and pointing upwards where four large monitors that were each the size of a large truck stood, instructor Seans' monotonous voice continued to ring across the arena.

"This examination will take part in the virtual world and thereafter, based on performances, the teams that perform the best will directly be chosen as members for the tournament..."

Pausing there to make sure that everyone understood, instructor Sean started flipping through a couple of pages before he resumed speaking.

"Today's trial is simple. It will be a six vs six code breaker competition. One of the main competitions in the tournament. The rules are simple all you have to do..."

Listening to the instructor speak, I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

How can someone's personality change so much? Going from being an overly dramatic individual to this monotonous and boring one.

...he must really hate boring stuff.

Anyhow, that didn't matter at the moment. Currently, he was explaining the rules of the codebreaker game and as I had made the game, I already knew the rules hence why I wasn't paying attention.

The rules were simple.

It was sort of like capture the flag, no it was basically like capture the flag with some twists to the game.

Each team, through the virtual world, would enter a map which was selected at random by the professors...and from there, each team, in order to defeat the other team, must insert a specific code on a metal pillar that they each had to protect. Sort of like the flag from capture the flag.

Once the code was put in, the team would win. Simple as that.

However, there was a catch.

In order for someone to break the code, they needed to first get the code that was given to a team member before the competition started.

The person holding the code was not selected at random as the team could choose who held the code before the game started.

Thus, the goal of the team was to first get the code before making their way towards the other team and breaking the code by inserting it in the metal pillar on the other side.

Therefore, the hardest part of the game was not inserting the code...but actually finding the code, as one of the six people present had it.

To make matters worse, there was also a time limit for the game...making this trial even harder as defeating a person one by one was put out of the equation.

"...Alright, that's enough from me for today, I will let your instructors take over. I hope to see you when the time the real tournament comes. I wish you all the best of luck!"

Finished with what he was saying, instructor Sean smiled once again at the audience before he turned around and left. A wave of applause followed suit.

-Clap! -Clap! -Clap!

After instructor Sean finished speaking, taking out her tablet, Donna calmly looked at her students.

There were a total of twelve students representing our class and apart from the usual people, there were a couple of new faces, me included.

Pursing her lips, Donna scrolled through her tablet before looking at everyone and saying

"There will be two A25 groups and before you say anything, the teams have already been decided beforehand therefore no, you can't choose."

Pausing and pointing towards certain individuals, Donna continued

"Now...the teams are. On my right, Melissa, Kevin, Troy, Emma, and Christopher. You will be the first team"

Staring at the people whose name she had just called and seeing them nod at each other, Donna looked away and continued

"On my left, Jin, Amanda, Ren, Arnold, Donald, and Zack.."

As the members of our group were being announced, my mouth couldn't help but twitch as I realized who was part of my team.

...I was fine with Amanda, but Jin and Arnold?

Oh, dear.

Unbothered by my distress, after making sure she got the names right, putting the tablet down, Donna calmly explained.

"You six will each be competing against a team from another class in a six versus six scenario and from there we will judge your performances."

"Considering that there will be a lot of matches today, you only have to fight once, however, even if you win, it won't mean that all of you will be chosen. So if you want to make sure you get selected, you must think of an adequate strategy first and make sure that you crush your opponent"

Pausing there, Donna solemnly looked at everyone present before saying.

"That's enough from me. Huddle up in your teams and come up with an adequate strategy. I have high expectations from you"

Finished with what she wanted to say, Donna briefly glanced at everyone present before leaving.

*Sigh*

As I watched Donna leave, an exhausted and tired sigh escaped from my mouth.

Brushing my hair to the side, I glanced towards my group in the distance. My eyes soon interlocked with theirs, and a bitter smile appeared on my face.

'...Now how am I going to deal with this?'

Chapter 141: Tryouts [3]

"haha, been a while"

With an awkward smile on my face, I headed towards where Jin, Amanda, and the rest were. Glancing at my group, I pretty much knew everyone apart from a certain individual.

...his name was Zack I believe.

Leisurely chatting with Donald, whom I was in a group with back in Hollberg, Zack was a rather skinny individual with black hair and black eyes. He was around my height and apart from his long nose, he didn't particularly stand out.

As I observed him from the distance, apart from the fact that he was in my class, I really knew nothing about him. He wasn't even in the tournament arc therefore it was safe to say that he had failed the tryouts in my novel.

Arriving before the group, I nodded my head towards Jin and Amanda who nodded back. Thereafter, as I nodded towards Arnold, I saw him snorting and looking away from me.

...looks like he still hated me.

Well, not that I cared. In my eyes, he was merely putting on a show in front of Jin.

Turning my attention back towards Donald who was talking to Zack, I casually smiled as I greeted him.

"Hey Donald, been a while since I've seen you"

Turning around and glancing at me, Donald's casual smile faded from his face as he nodded his head.

"Hm? Oh it's you"

Noticing Donald's attitude, which was a stark contrast to what it was back in Hollberg I couldn't help but tease him

"mmhmm, I see...Now that I'm ranked higher than you, you're starting to be more polite huh?"

Hearing my remark, glaring at me, Donald raised his voice

"Do you want to fight you bastard"

Raising my brow I couldn't help but shake my head as I said.

"You still won't stop calling me bastard? Hey, how many times did I tell you? My name is Ren. Do you want me to spell it for you? R-E-N"

"You think I care about your damn nam-"

"Please stop"

Not so far from where Donald and I were, noticing that things were about to get out of control, Amanda sighed and spoke up. Her tone was neither overbearing nor cold.

She was really speechless at the moment.

In a couple of minutes they would be participating in the tryouts for the academy tournament and yet two of their members were already fighting.

Were they not nervous at all?

Brushing her hair to the side, Amanda curtly said.

"Please, calm down, and let's start discussing our strategy"

Thereafter, as she finished speaking, Amanda expectantly looked at me. Shortly after, as if mimicking Amanda, everyone else looked in my direction.

"huh?"

Noticing everyone staring in my direction, my brow couldn't help but twitch.

What's going on?

"Hold up, why is everyone looking at me?"

Unbothered by my expression, Jin looked at me and said.

"Do you not have a plan?"

Glancing at Jin, after a short pause I nodded my head.

"...I do"

Yeah, I did in fact have a plan.

...but the script wasn't supposed to go like this. I originally predicted for Jin to boss everyone around and tell them what to do, but to my surprise, he directly asked for my opinion.

Damn, he really did mature a lot since the last time I saw him.

Although I knew that he had changed...he was completely different from what he was a few months back. What in the world happened since the time I didn't see him?

Hearing my response, Jin coldly said

"Then what is the problem?"

*Sigh*

"...no problem, no problem"

As an extended sigh escaped from my mouth, lowering my voice, I pondered for a few seconds before saying.

"Fine, the plan is relatively actually simple. Give the code to me and you guys do the rest"

After a finished speaking, everyone looked at me strangely. Evidently not understanding what I meant.

Frowning, the first to voice out their confusion was Donald as he irritably asked

"...what sort of plan is that? and why you?"

Glancing at Donald, I raised my brow as I mockingly said

"Isn't it obvious why?"

"Why?"

Instead of answering immediately, I answered back with another question as I looked at everyone.

"Normally if you had the code who would you give it to?"

Hearing the question, everyone started pondering. The first one to speak up was Amanda who carefully said

"The strongest person?"

Nodding towards Amanda, I answered

"That is an option, yes, but not the ideal one."

With his hand on his lips, Jin frowned as he seriously asked

"Than what is the ideal one?"

Staring at Jin and the others, a faint smile appeared on my lips as I explained.

"The ideal candidate would obviously be someone who could run fast or hide well."

"Since we will be inside of a random map, if we were to be put in a flat terrain, someone who can outrun the opponent so that the other team wouldn't catch up would be the most appropriate."

"...and if the map wasn't plain but let's say filled with obstacles someone that could hide from the enemy's prying eyes would be the most obvious candidate"

Pausing, I looked at everyone and said

"...You guys are following what I'm saying right?"

Staring at everyone, and seeing them nod in understanding, my eyes soon paused on a certain individual as I said

"...can you guys think of a certain individual in our group who best fits such criteria?"

Hearing my words, soon everyone's attention turned towards Jin. With his arms crossed, a slight frown appeared on Jin's brows as he said

"so you want me to be bait?"

Looking at Jin straight into the eyes, I nodded my head and bluntly said

"yes, and you will be operating alone"

I'm glad he caught on.

With him being the most likely candidate for holding the code, chances were that the other team would mainly focus their attention on him. Therefore, if everyone was focused on him, with me holding the code, chances were that even if they caught Jin, by the time they realized he didn't have the code, it would've already been too late.

Staring into my eyes for what felt like an eternity, Jin eventually looked away and nodded his head.

"...fine"

Smiling, I secretly nodded my head.

With Jin listening to what I was saying, the chances of us successfully passing the tryouts increased.

...not that I was worried as originally Jin, Arnold, and Amanda made it past the tryouts.

Well, although I now knew that things outside of the plot could happen, with the plot armour they had, chances were that they were very likely going to pass.

As I was rejoicing at Jin's newfound attitude, Donald, who was quietly pondering for a while, suddenly frowned as he asked

"But what if they don't target Jin?"

Hearing Donald's question, I secretly nodded my head. He wasn't as stupid as I thought he was.

"Good question, I've also thought about that"

Yes, when I was coming up with the plan, I had already thought of this.

With Jin being the obvious target, the other team could also think that it was a trap and decide to focus on us...which wouldn't be ideal.

Fortunately, I had thought of this problem beforehand. Staring at Amanda, Donald, and Arnold, I smiled at them and said.

"That's where you guys come into play?"

Coking her head to the side as he black hair gently fell to her shoulders, Amanda's brows lightly frowned as she looked at Arnold and Donald. With a hint of doubt in her voice, she asked

"us?"

Nodding my head as I looked at both Amanda and Donald, I explained.

"Yes, you both will always be within a fifty hundred meter distance from Arnold."

"No matter what happens. Always be fifty hundred meters away from him, and whenever he gets into trouble, secretly help him"

As Amanda listened, her brows couldn't help but knit in a deeper frown as she asked.

"...why is that?"

Glancing at Amanda for a brief moment, I explained.

"...So that it looks like Arnold is the person that holds the code."

It was simple really.

If the other team thought that Jin was not the one that carried the code, naturally it would be either one of us.

Since I was the one with the code, we needed to divert their attention away from me.

...and if we carefully made it seem like Amanda and Donald were 'secretly' protecting Arnold from the distance, then they would instantly assume that the one carrying the code was Arnold.

Therefore, with Arnold being their primary target, I would be left alone with the code. Allowing me to protect the code fairly undisturbed.

Finishing my explanation, I glanced at everyone and asked.

"Do you understand?"

Placing his hand on his chin as he pondered, Jin eventually nodded his head.

"Makes sense, I'm fine with this strategy"

Thereafter, hearing Jin's confirmation, everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

"Me too"

"Me too"

Smiling, I looked at them and asked.

"Any other questions?"

Thinking for a bit, Zack, who hadn't spoken since the very beginning, looked at me and said with a hint of doubt in his voice.

"What makes you so confident that they are not going to target you?"

Looking back at him, I shook my head and responded.

"...I don't"

"Then what happens if they decided to target you?"

"Target me?"

Smiling, I didn't respond.

The answer was obvious.

With Jin's arrogant character being famous throughout the whole academy, chances of me having the code ware almost null to zero. In fact, I didn't even need to come up with a plan B revolving around Arnold.

With Jin's character being famous, chances were that people would instantly assume he was the one holding onto the code.

...Still, even though I knew this, it was better to be prepared rather than being unprepared.

Moreover, as we didn't know who our opponents were, it was better to not let Jin do all the work. If there was one thing I learned since being in this world, it was to always expect for the worse.

As I was thinking to myself, staring at me, to Jin, Arnold, and Amanda, my unresponsiveness had a completely different meaning in their eyes.

As their thoughts stopped there, one frowned, one shivered, and one sighed in relief.

Not noticing the different emotions displayed on their faces as I was deep into my own thoughts, staring back at Zack I quickly added.

"Either way, Zack. You and I will be responsible for finding the code from the other members"

"Wait what make-"

-Beeep!

[All contestants please make your way towards the virtual arena, we will be beginning with the first years]

Just as I finished explaining my plan, stopping Zack midsentence, the loudspeaker coming from below the stadium resounded across the arena.

Thereafter, hearing the announcement made by the speaker, every student wearing an azure-colored uniform headed downstairs towards the arena.

Similarly following them down with my group, I started thinking about the upcoming tryouts.

'...with the plan set, we should be able to breeze through this'

Worst case scenario, I could just expose a small portion of my strength.

With three E ranks in our team, apart from Kevin's team, I doubted that we could lose.

...still, it was better to be safe rather than sorry.

Thus, as my thoughts paused there, I quickly made my way down the stairs with my group.

Chapter 142: Code breaker [1]

Going down the stairs, we soon found ourselves beneath the arena grounds. Inside of a large spacious room that looked to be the size of a football stadium.

Glancing around, I couldn't help but be amazed by what I saw.

The whole room was filled with capsules. Endless amounts of capsules. If I had to estimate, I'd say at least over a couple hundred of them.

...just imagining the costs made me shudder.

Observing the capsules from the distance, I took special notice of how the capsules were arranged..

The capsules were grouped together in groups of six as they each faced outwards and were positioned in a way that they formed a circle. Behind them, large monitors with numbers displayed on the screen could be seen.

Next to the capsules, people clad in white uniforms holding onto some tablets and doing regular check-ups on the capsules were a common sight.

Staring at the scene before me, I couldn't help but be amazed.

'...so this was the VR arena.'

It was a truly spectacular sight. The machines were far bigger and more advanced than the ones in the virtual class I took at the beginning of the year with professor Thibaut. Moreover, with them being more advanced than the ones in the VR class, we didn't need to wear those tight and uncomfortable suits.

"Everyone, please look at me for a moment"

Just as I was busy admiring the underground VR area, instructor Sean, who was announcing moments before, appeared in the middle of the room as he gathered everyone's attention towards himself.

"Great"

After seeing everyone turn their attention towards himself, with a satisfied smile on his face, instructor Sean continued speaking.

"I will make this short. As most of you already know, you will soon be facing each other in the virtual world and the game that you will be playing will be the codebreaker game."

Pausing and staring at all of the first years, instructor Sean continued.

"Since I've already explained the rules of the game beforehand, I will not explain them again. This time, I will tell you a few of the things that you should be careful of"

Raising one of his fingers, instructor Sean said

"First things first, everyone that participates in the game will have their strength suppressed to G rank by default.."

Pausing and noticing that a commotion was about to erupt, raising his hand and speaking louder, instructor Sean continued speaking.

"Before you say anything, this was a decision that the academy has made in the last intra-academy tournament, and there is a specific reason as to why we chose to do it that way."

"In short, it's so that we can see the student's actual skills instead of just watching them dominating the opponents through ranks. This is so that we can provide a fair..."

As I listening to instructor Sean speak, a frown involuntarily appeared on my face.

...this completely changed the playing field.

Right now, the chances of us winning diminished by a lot. Although Jin and Amanda were skilled, if the opponents played their cards well, we could very well lose this game if we were not careful enough.

Still, I believe it was still safe to continue with the plan that I had previously proposed as it didn't particularly focus on brute-forcing our way towards the opponent. Moreover, as soon as they would spot Jin, they would immediately realize who they were up against. After all, Jin was famous in the first years. From there, the plan should proceed as I had mentioned.

Thinking thus far, I couldn't help secretly sigh in relief.

...Good thing Jin changed.

Just imagining what would've happened if he selfishly did everything by himself almost caused me to have endless headaches.

"...Another thing that you must take notice of when in the game is that you won't know who your opponents are until the very last moment. This was decided by the academy beforehand to make this more realistic"

"Because when you are fighting against opponents in real life, chances are that you will know nothing about them as..."

Listening to instructor Sean speaking, I couldn't help but nod my head.

What he said was absolutely true.

Unless you were actively seeking the opponent, if someone attacked you, chances were that you knew nothing about them. Thus, this was a great idea by the academy as it made the test more realistic.

"...and that's why we decided to do it this way"

Pausing there and staring at some of the students who seemed to have grown more nervous due to the new developments, instructor Sean smiled kindly and said.

"Don't worry...take this as a good experience for the future. Even if you don't pass, you may use this as an experience for when you graduate from the academy. If you get nervous from just this, then how are you going to react when you enter the real world?"

Stopping there, instructor Sean smiled and pointed towards the capsules nearby,

"Alright, enough said, please make your way to your capsules. Your group and names should be on one of the monitors above the capsules. Best of luck"

Finished with what he wanted to say, instructor Sean glanced at the students for a brief moment before going back upstairs.

He still needed to host the tryouts.

Shortly after instructor Sean left, all of the first years dispersed and made their way towards their designated capsules.

Imitating them, I along with my group members, started looking around and checked to see where our group was designated.

As we walked around in hopes of finding our designated capsules, we had to be careful to not trip on the thick metal wires that extended from the VR machines. They appeared everywhere and extended from the capsules like spiderwebs.

"Here"

A couple of minutes into the search, waving his hand, Zack pointed towards a set of capsules next to him.

Shortly after, as we all arrived before the capsules, an instructor wearing a white uniform came up to us. Wearing thick-framed glasses, the instructor stared at the tablet in his hand for a couple of seconds before briefly glancing at us.

"You guys must be the group from class A-25 correct?"

Nodding his head, Donald responded for the rest of us.

"Yes that's correct"

Moving his head down and staring at us through the upper gap of his glasses, after a couple of seconds, the instructor turned his attention back onto his tablet and proceeded to say

"Okay, please enter the virtual machines"

-Vuam! -Shuuua!

Thereafter, pressing onto his tablet, steam slowly started rising from the VR capsules next to us as the lid slowly lifted upwards.

Seeing the capsules open, without hesitation, we quickly sat in the capsules. The capsule I was in was beside Donald and Amanda who quickly sat down to which I followed suit.

"huuu..."

After I comfortably positioned myself inside of my capsule, I took a deep breath. Thereafter, staring at my group members next to me for a brief moment, I carefully placed the helmet on my head.

...Soon my vision turned dark.

"Turning on the VR simulation. The tryouts will begin as soon as you spawn in the map."

As my vision was dark, I heard the instructor's voice ring next to my ears. Shortly after I heard the instructor's voice, I slowly lost consciousness.

"Simulation initiating, best of luck"

...

-Shua!

[Processing student information....]

[Retina scan...check]

[Fingerprint scan...check]

[Genetic data test...check]

[Loading time...57%....87%...94%...]

[User information loaded]

[Rank 197, Ren Dover, confirm access Y/N]

As I regained consciousness, opening my eyes the first thing I saw were rows upon rows of blue texts.

Thereafter, taking a minute to adjust my mind to the sudden changes, I looked through the information and pressed Y. As I had already experienced this once, I wasn't as overwhelmed as I was before, four months ago.

After confirming, abruptly, a lively jingle began playing as it echoing through my ears. Soon after, the world around me started changing as buildings and roads started constructing themselves around me.

Gradually, as time passed and the world around me started to become clearer, I could see the faint outline of a city appearing before me as the buildings that appeared from beneath the ground gradually started obstructing my vision.

As I was watching the world around me construct, a frown soon appeared on my face.

...this wasn't a regular city.

As the outline of the buildings next to me started to become more clear, I could see that they were all worn down and broken.

Rubbles and broken glass appeared all over the streets and moss and vines covered some of the buildings in the distance.

This looked just like a post-apocalyptic ghost city. Completely deserted and worn down. Almost like Chernobyl back on earth after the nuclear power plant incident.

Looking up at the sky, I could see that the sky was covered by thick grey clouds with a sparse amount of sunlight making its way down the abandoned city.

-Shua! -Shua!

Shortly after, as I was staring at the city before me, appearing next to me were Arnold, Amanda, and the rest.

Opening his eyes, Donald was the first to speak up as he looked around in confusion.

"What map is this?"

Glancing at Donald and then the city, with her hand on her chin, Amanda pondered for a little bit before curtly responding.

"Judging from the infrastructures of the buildings, it seems like we are back in the past. Right after the first cataclysm"

"It is indeed that"

Staring at Amanda, I nodded my head.

Having been born in the 1980's back on earth, I could tell that this map was set during that time as some of the infrastructures were similar to my memories of my childhood. Turning towards Jin, I nodded my head and flashed the watch on my wrist.

"Jin, you know what to do. Make sure you report everything that you see"

Without responding, Jin nodded his head and disappeared from where he was standing.

-Shua!

Staring at where Jin used to be, I turned to look at Amanda and the others.

"We proceed as planned. If possible, try taking out your opponent when you meet them, and always make sure you keep in touch in case something goes wrong"

Nodding their heads, Amanda and Donald looked at Arnold who snorted and left in the opposite direction as Jin.

...it was evident that he was dissatisfied with the fact that I was the one arranging the plans. Still, since Jin was complying, he could only hold back and do as I said.

Moments after I finished speaking, Donald and Amanda separated themselves from Arnold who moved around the city by himself. Just as I had previously mentioned, they stayed within a fifty-meter radius of him.

Staring at Amanda, Donald, and Arnold's figures disappearing in the distance for a couple of seconds, turning my attention back towards Zack, I softly said.

"Alright, we should get moving too."

Chapter 143: Code breaker [2]

"This place is fine"

Entering one of the abandoned buildings with Zack, I made sure to scan the perimeter to see if anybody was there before setting up camp.

After settling down, still standing, Zack looked at me in confusion as he asked.

"What do we do now?"

In all honesty, if not for everyone following his orders, Zack would've never have let someone like Ren order him around.

...he really was tempted to just leave and do as he wished, but since it would incur the wrath of the other team members, he decided against doing so.

Glancing at Zack from the corner of my eye and reading his thoughts, I briefly responded to him before turning my attention back towards the distance.

"Nothing yet, our turn has yet to come"

From the very beginning, I could tell he was dissatisfied with me. However, unfortunately for him, I really didn't care.

...in the first place, who told him that he had to do as I said?

Inwardly shaking my head and turning my attention back towards the city, I carefully observed the city from the building I was on. For now, everything was calm and quiet, however, I knew that things would soon change...

Placing my hand on my chin, squinting my eyes as I stared into the distance, I fell into deep thought.

According to my deduction, whoever was going to target Jin was not definitely not going to be the code holder.

With how skilled Jin was, sending their code holder to fight against him would be suicide and may prove to be fruitless.

Thus it was safe to assume that whoever was going to target Jin was definitely not going to be the code holder.

Preferably, I would hope that they send more than one person to pursue him as that would cut off a lot of possibilities, but even one was enough. Couldn't be too greedy.

...now, with that set, I needed to figure something out.

Was the code holder going to hide or was he/she going to blend with the rest just like what I had done with Arnold?

Thinking thus far, glancing at my watch, I immediately dialed a number.

Fortunately, we were allowed to communicate with each other during the game as both teams were given access to a communication device in the form of a watch. It couldn't do anything else apart from that, but it saved a lot of time.

"Jin can you hear me?"

...

-Swooosh!

Stealthily moving around the abandoned houses, Jin quietly scanned the perimeter. Thereafter, like a cat, Jin kept moving forward without making any sound. Fast and stealthily.

[Jin can you hear me?]

As Jin arrived on top of one of the buildings, suddenly his watch vibrated.

Briefly halting his steps and hearing Ren's voice, a slight frown appeared on Jin's face before it quickly disappeared.

Tapping on the screen of his smartwatch, Jin coldly answered.

-Yes

[Alright perfect, I need you to expose yourself so that the other group is aware of your existence]

Closing his eyes, Jin didn't respond immediately. Thereafter, understanding the intent behind Ren's words, Jin nodded his head.

-Understood

[Alright perf-]

-Click!

Turning off the watch, without giving a chance for Ren to respond, Jin quickly jumped higher until he was at the roof of the buildings. Thereafter, he jumped from one building to the other. As he moved, he made sure to be as overbearing and fearless as possible.

...since he knew about his personality, if he acted according to how others thought he would, chances that they would think he was the bait would reduce.

If not for the fact that he was following Ren's plan, Jin would've originally done the mission like this.

...after all, how could others match him in a fight? He was that confident in himself.

-Swoosh! -Swoosh!

As Jin moved from one building to the other, he suddenly felt an extremely repulsive feeling well inside of his body. His mind couldn't help but start drifting away from the trials as a result. Shortly after, recalling something, Jin's fist clenched tightly.

...to think he was following someone else's order.

He, Jin Horton, the proud son of the Horton family, was following someone else's order...

"How repulsive"

Those were the words that subconsciously came out of his mouth as he kept moving forward.

...never in his life had he ever had someone order him around. Never. If not for the fact that the person he was being ordered by had already beaten him, Jin was never going to follow his orders.

Suddenly, as his thoughts paused there, Ren's face appeared in Jin's mind. More specifically, the cold and emotionless eyes back in Hollberg.

...he never forgot that moment. Nor will he ever forget that day.

The day where he truly felt powerless for the first time in his life.

Although Jin hated Ren, that moment back in Hollberg had taught him a lesson.

...that was to never be too conceited as there was always someone better than you.

Still, just because he lost didn't mean he feared Ren. No, that innate pride that had been engraved deeply into his body since birth couldn't just vanish like that.

Scared over a single defeat?

Pathetic.

He wasn't as weak-willed as that.

"huuuu..."

Exhaling as turbid air escaped from his mouth, Jin accelerated as he quickly moved around the buildings.

...Ever since that fateful day in Hollberg, Jin had set his mind.

Be it Kevin, Amanda, Melissa...or Ren.

He no longer cared for them.

He had realized that he was too fixated on the idea of comparing himself to others rather than just focusing on himself.

Thinking of how was currently holding back and working with the others, something that he would've never done before, Jin couldn't help but mutter to himself.

"...How disgusting"

He wanted nothing more but to quickly get this over with. The feeling of working with other people rather than just himself repulsed him to the max. The only reason he was doing this was because he believed that he could learn something from Ren...however as he moved around the buildings, Jin couldn't help but feel like that was the wrong decision.

...How could being a bait help him in anyway shape or form?

"Damn it"

Gritting his teeth, Jin increased his pace even more as he overbearingly moved around the infrastructures around him. Staring at his surroundings as he moved, he coldly spat

"Since my job is to attract the attention of the others, that's just what I'll do!"

...

Standing on top of a building, a youth with long black hair and deep green eyes was currently staring at the city before him. With his watch close to his mouth, the youth softly muttered.

"Have you spotted the enemies yet?"

The youth's name was John Redgrave, and he was currently the leader of his team representing class A-04.

...Being the leader of his group, John took responsibility for his group and was the one responsible for coming up with the team strategy.

Currently, they were inside of what seemed to be a post-apocalyptic ghost town. Since he wasn't familiar with the enemy nor the environment, his first order was to split into three groups of two to scan the perimeter in hopes of finding the enemy team.

He had to get a better idea of who their enemy was and their precise location. Moreover, considering the fact that everyone's strength was the same, John felt more reassured.

But he still didn't let his guard down. Recalling something, he softly mumbled to himself as a hint of worry appeared in his voice.

"...I just hope we aren't against those monsters from class A-25"

If it was them, John wasn't too sure on how to proceed.

...especially against the first-year rank 1, Kevin Voss. If they were up against him, he really couldn't foresee any chance of victory.

[Captain, I've spotted someone...but it's not good news]

After ten minutes of silence, John's watch vibrated. Thereafter as he heard the message, Johns's heart couldn't help but sink.

...could it be that they were truly against Kevin? Was his luck really that bad?

Expecting the worst, John looked at the watch softly said

"What's the bad news?"

After a short five-second pause that seemed to last for an eternity, the voice on the other side of the watch responded.

[It's Jin Horton]

Hearing the name, John froze for a second. Thereafter, a frown emerged in his brows as he thought for a bit. After a couple of minutes, the frown on John's brows lessened as he thought to himself...

'...if it's Jin Horton, then things may actually be easier than I thought'

Shortly after, as the gear of John's mind moved, a smile appeared on his face as he quickly turned on his watch and sent a few commands.

"Alright, I want you to track him from far. Make sure you keep a close eye on him and don't for a single second lose sight of him, understood?"

[Roger]

-click!

Thereafter, turning off his watch, a smile appeared on John's face as he thought to himself.

'We might be able to win this'

Chapter 144: Code breaker [3]

Receiving words of Jin's sighting in the distance, John's first thought was to immediately send everyone and attack him. The reason was obvious...considering Jin's personality and strength, the most obvious candidate for being the code holder would obviously be him.

With his strength and agility, he could just outrun everyone. However, after a bit of thinking, John refrained from doing so. This could very well be a smokescreen.

Although that was the most obvious course of action, Jin wasn't stupid. He could very well be trying to act as bait.

Biting his nails out of habit, John thought to himself

'....Is Jin really the one holding onto the code?'

That was the most logical conclusion John could think of. After all, Jin was famous for being proud and arrogant. He being the code holder was a very real possibility.

...However, John still hesitated. Eventually, he shook his head. He needed more information before deciding on the right course of action.

-Beep!

Just as John was immersed in his own thoughts, his watch vibrated. Thereafter, John heard one of his teammate's voices coming from the speaker of the watch.

[Captain, spotted someone on the west side].

Hearing this piece of news, John's brows furrowed slightly as he carefully asked

"Dante, do you know the identity of the individual?"

[Unsure-wait, I'm getting a closer look]

"Yes, be careful and don't get spotted. Make sure you keep a safe distance from them"

Nodding his head, John warned Dante, his teammate, in advance.

If the other team found out that they had a visual of them, their advantage would immediately disappear. They had to be extra careful.

[Roger that]

Turning off his watch as he waited for Dante to respond, John's brows furrowed as he fell into deep thought.

Before the tryouts started, John had looked through the list of students that he had to watch out for. Therefore, as soon as he knew Jin was one of the people present, he already knew the general composition of the opposite team.

From what he recalled, the other team compromised of, Jin, Amanda, Arnold, Donald, Zack, and Ren.

...apart from Jin, Amanda, and Arnold, John wasn't very wary of the other three. To him, they were extras. Nothing worth taking note of.

Therefore, his current focus was now on finding out the whereabouts of Amanda and Arnold. Once he had a read on them, he could come up with an appropriate plan.

-Beep!

A couple of minutes since Dante last contacted him, John suddenly felt a vibration on his wrist. Quickly turning on the watch, John seriously asked.

"You've got something?"

[Captain, Dante here, I've got a visual. According to what I can see, Arnold is walking by himself]

"Arnold? wait are you sure?"

[Affirmitive]

Hearing Arnold's name being mentioned, rather than being happy, John's frown deepened.

...that was because he wasn't with Jin.

Since he had investigated the group in advance, he knew who Arnold was. Jin's lackey.

...The real question was, why was he by himself.

However before he could think any further, Dante's voice raised a few pitches resulting in John snapping out of his thoughts.

[-No wait, Captain, it seems like there is someone else a fair distance from him-no there are two people quietly moving next to him. If not for the fact that I am using my skill, I don't think I would've spotted them...]

"Can you get a visual?"

[I am not sure because I am too far, but I see the silhouette of a girl and a boy]

"A girl and a boy? Are you sure?"

[Affirmative]

"Huuuu...alright that's enough, keep a close watch and make sure you don't lose sight of them"

-Click!

Turning off his watch, John's mind raced.

Since there was only one girl in the group, John could already figure out the identity of one of the two individuals around Arnold. Amanda Stern.

...Someone that was on par with the likes of Jin. However, John wasn't too worried. Since everyone's strength was the same, it shouldn't be too difficult to defeat her if they ganged up on her. Moreover, she was an archer.

If they ambushed for from a close distance, she was probably the easiest member to defeat.

[Captain, it's me Roman, I've got a visual on the other two members]

Just as a plan started formulating in John's mind, he suddenly heard another one of his teammates contact him. Pausing his thoughts, he carefully asked.

"Where are they?"

[They are at the center making their way towards the pillar]

"Towards the pillar?"

Hearing the piece of news, placing his hand on his chin, John fell into deep thought. Thereafter, he smiled.

"Alright, I've got the gist of the situation"

Clenching his fist tightly, John quickly ordered.

"Send Sera and Bob on the east side where Jin is. Tell them that all they have to do is buy time. Don't let them fight against Jin at any cost....the rest go attack the trio in the distance"

[Understood...but what about the other two members of the opposite team?]

"Don't worry about them, they are merely cannon fodder. Even if they are aware that their teammates are being ambushed, they won't be able to make it in time to reinforce them"

*Hmph*

Those two were obviously ordered to go to the pillar and wait there for them to place the code once they defeated the other team.

How arrogant of them.

Their intention was obvious from the start. Thus John didn't even bother giving those two a spare thought as he chose to directly split into a group of two. One to hold back Jin the other to attack and snatch the code from Arnold.

Snorting, a smile appeared on John's face.

"Your arrogance is going to be your downfall"

To think that they were so confident in their win that they just directly sent two of their members towards his team pillar which was a fair distance from where Jin and Arnold currently were. By the time his group attacked Arnold's group and Jin, it would take too much time for them to assist them.

Furthermore, even if Arnold didn't have the code, with three members gone, victory was still well within his grasps.

The more John thought about it, the more his heart started beating due to the excitement.

...Victory never seemed so close in John's eyes.

[John, will we be alright?]

As John was starting to gain more and more confidence in his deduction, he suddenly heard Dante's worried voice coming from the speaker of the watch. Feeling the worry in Dante's voice, John smiled as he reassured him.

"Don't worry, although I have the code I will be careful when engaging against them. This is going to be a four vs three scenario, no matter how strong they are, with our strengths being relatively similar, we should be able to defeat them quickly. Moreover, we will be ambushing them. If we catch them off-guard, chances of us winning would be increasing exponentially"

[...I-understand]

-Click!

Turning off his watch, John stared into the east side as he thought to himself.

'oh Jin Jin Jin, although you are talented, it seems like you aren't very good at coming up with strategies...I guess you only amount to this much'

Pausing his thoughts there, John smiled as he quickly jumped off the building he was on and sped towards the west side where Arnold and his group were.

This was going to be his victory.

...

15M : 31S

"Fifteen minutes huh, should be about time"

Checking my watch as I moved forward, my footsteps halted. Thereafter, as I looked at Zack who was behind me for a brief moment, I tapped on my watch and contacted Jin.

...if my guess wasn't wrong, the other team should've already made their move.

"Jin what's the situation?"

[Two on me]

As I thought.

They really had made their move.

"Alright"

-Click!

Turning off my watch as I nodded my head, I quickly got in contact with Amanda to get a read on their situation.

"Amanda, what's the situation with you guys?"

After a short pause, Amanda's crisp and pleasant voice echoed from the speaker's of the watch. The loud sound of metal clashing could be heard in the background.

[Four people on us]

"Alright"

-Click!

Turning off my watch, I sighed in relief as a smile appeared on my face.

It seems like they've taken the bait.

Turning my attention back towards Zack, I pointed towards the large black metal pillar in the distance and ordered.

"Zack go to the pillar and wait for me to tell you the code"

Taken aback, Zack looked at me. His voice couldn't help but raise a few pitches as he asked.

"What why me? What about you?"

Deeply staring at Zack straight into his eyes, I answered him in a firm tone.

"Just do it, trust me. Regarding me, just go, you don't have to worry. I will take responsibility for everything"

Staring at me for a couple of seconds, only after Zack heard that I was going to take full responsibility that he finally relented and nodded his head. Shortly after, just like I had ordered him, he made his way towards the pillar in the distance.

"...alright, I'll do it"

A moment after Zack left, turning around, I quickly activated my movement art [Drifting steps] and took a step forward. Thereafter, my speed increased with each step I took.

Feeling the virtual wind brush past my skin a faint smile appeared on my lips as I quickly moved towards where Arnold and Amanda were.

If my deductions were correct, I was currently being underestimated. Just like I had predicted, they probably assumed Arnold was the code holder.

Moreover, if my guess wasn't wrong, the reason why they sent no one to obstruct Zack and I was because they thought nothing of us and that they were confident in defeating Arnold before we could arrive and reinforce them.

The more I thought about it, the funnier the situation became. Rather than being angry, I was actually quite relieved.

...this just meant that no one was paying attention to me. That was good, this was exactly what I wanted. Low-key.

Plus, if they actually thought I couldn't help Arnold and the rest on the time, they had grossly miscalculated.

I had already predicted this scenario beforehand. Since the very start...they were playing within the palm of my hand.

Chapter 145: Code breaker [4]

-Swooosh!

Quietly moving around the buildings, Amanda made sure to always be within a one hundred to a fifty-meter radius of Arnold. Just as Ren had told her.

Along the way, she, along with Donald, made sure to only subtly hide their presence. Just about enough so that the opposing team could spot them if they used a skill or looked carefully.

...This was one of the things Ren had specifically told her to do.

Honestly, this was much harder than Amanda thought it was because if she was too obvious the other team would notice that something was wrong, and if she hid too well, the other team wouldn't find her and thus be unable to deduce that Arnold was the code holder.

....what a troubling situation.

Still, since Amanda said she would do it, she tried her best.

Gripping tightly onto the handle of her bow, Amanda glanced at Arnold below her and quietly climbed higher up in the buildings.

However, just as she was about to reach the top of the building, sensing something, Amanda shifted her head to the right as the silver body of a blade flew past her.

-Swooosh!

Narrowly avoiding the blade by a hair breath, Amanda suddenly somersaulted backward as the tip of a spear penetrated the area she was previously in.

-Kacha!

Whilst still in the air, with a cold face, Amanda extended the string of her bow. Shortly after, as two blue translucent arrows materialized on her bow, she caught sight of two individuals, one with a spear and one with a blade. She soon released the string of the bow.

-Swoosh! -Swoosh!

Like a bullet, the two arrows split the air as they quickly made their way towards the two individuals.

-Clank! -Clank!

Staring at the incoming arrows, standing in front of the individual holding onto the blade, the spear user, using the body of the spear, quickly rotated the spear in his hand and a whistle arose.

Thereafter, the loud sound of metal clashing reverberated across the surroundings.

"khhh..."

Taking a couple of steps back, the spear user couldn't help but grunt as he felt the impact of the arrows clashing against his spear.

Staring at Amanda in the distance, the spear user, John Redgrave couldn't help but say.

"Damn, you're just as strong as the rumors say"

Softly landing on the ground, Amanda coldly glanced at the two individuals before her.

...skilled.

That's the first thought that came into Amanda's mind as she stared at the two of them.

Although the clash had only lasted for a brief moment, from the way they coordinated and how they managed to quickly react to her arrows, the duo was definitely not simple.

Unbothered by Amanda's unresponsiveness, staring at the youth next to him that wore small-framed glasses and had short blonde hair, John moved forward as he once again thrust his spear towards Amanda.

"Dante cover me"

Thereafter, synchronizing with John, the other youth called Dante leaped forward like a leopard and quickly arrived beside Amanda.

-Kacha!

With John's spear aimed at Amanda's face, Dante followed up by slashing towards her waist.

Like this, Amanda suddenly found herself in a disadvantageous situation as the flow of the battle was currently in the duo's hands.

Although she was avoiding most of the attacks coming from the duo thanks to her flexibility and agility, from time to time, she would use the frame of her bow to defend against some of the incoming attacks resulting in the loud sound of metal clashing.

-Clank! -Clank!

The loud sound of metal clashing resounded across the space where Amanda was in.

"Your pretty good...but for how long can you keep up?"

Staring at Amanda, John smiled as he increased the intensity of his attacks. Dante followed suit.

Thus, for the next minute or so, as Amanda fought with the duo, the longer they fought, the more she found herself at a disadvantage as her hand started to become number with every single clash.

Frowning, Amanda could only grit her teeth and try her best to dodge and counterattack whenever she had the opportunity.

-Swhooosh! -Swhooosh!

Although Amanda was strong, because she was currently fighting in close quarters, her real advantage was taken away from her.

...It seems like her opponents knew her weakness well.

-Swooosh!

As she once again narrowly avoided the spear and blade coming from her front and left side, Amanda quickly glanced towards Arnold and Donald in the distance. She wanted to see how their situation was.

...and what she saw made her heart sink. Both Arnold and Donald were currently in a similar situation to hers.

Although it seemed like Arnold wanted to help her, his opponent seemed to be constantly harassing him from the distance.

It had to be noted that the opponent Arnold was currently facing was a bow user just like Amanda.

Arnold's worst enemy and weakness.

Although the archer that was attacking Arnold was nowhere near as skilled as Amanda, because Arnold didn't have any long-ranged attacking methods, he was currently unable to do anything.

...thus, although Arnold wasn't hurt from any of the arrows coming in his way, because he was constantly being kited, he was unable to come to help her. Seeing this, glancing to her right in Donald's direction, Amanda saw him fighting against another person.

His situation seemed to be a little bit better than Arnold's, however, it still wasn't good as it seemed like he was evenly matched with the opponent.

The battle would definitely not be decided anytime soon.

-Kacha!

Thrusting his spear toward Amanda, John shouted.

"Where are you looking around for when your opponents are right in front of you?"

Narrowly avoiding the spear, Amanda turned right as a blade slashed in the direction of where she was previously standing.

-Clank! -Clank!

As John and Dante once again increased the intensity of their attacks, briefly glancing at Arnold and Donald below, a triumphant smirk appeared on John's lips as he looked at Amanda and said.

"Everything is going just as planned, your teammates won't be able to help you anytime soon. Moreover, with Jin and your reinforcements being too far from your location, the only option you have is to lose"

The more he fought, the greater the excitement John felt.

...he was finally going to do it.

He was finally going to beat the arrogant Jin Horton and the cold princess Amanda.

He was going to accomplish a feat that no one thought he could've ever achieved before. The more he thought about it, the more excited John became. After this, everyone will definitely remember who he was. John Redgrave.

Coldly staring at John, Amanda indifferently muttered

"you talk too much"

-Bam!

Seeing that the current situation couldn't go on, stomping her feet on the ground as fine miniature crevices appeared on the ground beneath her foot, Amanda distanced herself from the duo. Thereafter pulling the string of her bow towards her lips, a blue hue surrounded her body.

-Vuam!

Shortly after, in a matter of a couple of seconds, the glow around her body intensified at an alarming rate. She was prepared to end things quickly.

Staring at Amanda in the distance, opening his eyes wide, John cursed as he shouted.

"Shit, she's using a skill, stop her!"

Coldly looking at the duo, Amanda softly said

"Too late"

-Swoooosh!

Releasing the string of the bow, Amanda's arrow shot down like a comet hurtling towards the duo as the arrow's velocity reached its limits. Even though Amanda's rank was suppressed to G rank, that didn't change her proficiency in her arts nor her skills.

[[E] Apollo's descent]

A skill that enables the user to conglomerate the mana in the atmosphere towards the tip of her arrow releasing along an arrow that could devastate anything within ints vicinity upon contact. High mana consumption.

"Crap"

Staring at the arrow hurtling towards them like a fallen star, John couldn't help but curse out loud. Thereafter, seeing that he couldn't do anything about the situation, gritting his teeth he briefly looked at Dante before softly saying

"Dante you know what to do"

Staring at John, a faint smile appeared on Dante's lips before he quickly ran towards the arrow. As he moved closer towards the arrow, he couldn't help but laugh out loud as he looked at John before shouting.

"...once this is over, you better buy me dinner at the restaurant of my choice or you-khhhaaaa!"

Thereafter, as Dante moved towards the arrow, a massive yellow hue revolved around his body creating some form of shield around him. Shortly after, before he could finish speaking, John suddenly saw Dante's body colliding with the arrow.

-Boooom!

As the arrow came into contact with Dante's body, a huge explosion reverberated across the surroundings as the windows and the already worn-down buildings started crumbling down.

Standing on the ground, John found himself completely unharmed as the area he was in was completely unscathed...at least for a couple of seconds. Shortly after, John saw Dante's body slowly turned into light particles as he disappeared into the air.

[Your teammate Dante has died]

Gritting his teeth, ignoring the blue text that appeared in his vision, John tried his best to ignore the situation and activated his movement art. Thereafter, he appeared right next to Amanda and trusted his spear towards her.

-Kacha!

"huh?"

Caught off-guard, barely reacting on time, using her bow, Amanda managed to block the attack, however, due to the sheer amount of force and strength put into the attack, Amanda's body flew and crashed against a wall.

-Bam!

Feeling her back crash against the hard wall, Amanda couldn't help but groan out loud as she let go of her bow.

"khh..."

A couple of seconds after she hit the wall, letting out another pained groan, Amanda was left in a daze. As her eyes regained a bit of clarity, staring at her bow that was a few meters away from her, Amanda tried to move towards it...however, before she could get close to it, a foot stepped on it and kicked it towards the opposite direction of where she was causing her heart to sink.

"Not so fast..."

Arriving before Amanda, after he made sure to kick her bow as far away from her as possible, with the tip of his spear pointed toward her face, John ferociously glared at her.

"It's over"

Staring at the sharp tip of the spear, Amanda froze on the spot. Thereafter, understanding the situation, Amanda lowered her head in defeat.

...she had failed.

Although this wasn't the first time Amanda had failed in her life...the bitter aftertaste of her loss made her unable to say anything.

She was too arrogant.

Never had she expected her opponent to willingly sacrifice one of his teammates just to defeat her.

She was too complacent and arrogant. She had let her achievements get to her.

Had this been a real battle, she would've died for real...as her thoughts paused there, Amanda closed her eyes and waited for the opponent to finish her.

Ignoring Amanda, turning around and glancing below him, John soon caught sight of Arnold and Donald still being in the same situation as before.

"Hmph, it's over"

Turning his attention back towards Amanda who still had her eyes closed, John strengthened his grip on the spear. Thereafter he slowly started speaking. As he spoke, his voice became louder with each word he spoke.

"...You see, we may not be as talented as you guys are...but that doesn't mean we don't want to win. You probably think we're crazy, sacrificing one of our teammates just to win against you guys..."

"but that doesn't matter. This is the drive that we lower-ended people have. We will do anything in our power to win! You and Jin's arrogance is what caused your downfall. Blame yourselves for losing!"

As he spoke, staring at Amanda who had her eyes closed throughout the whole time, John realized that his opponent wasn't listening. Thus, raising his spear in the air John prepared to finish off Amanda.

"This is then end for-

-Bam!

However, just as John was about thrust his spear towards Amanda, in the distance, a loud explosion reverberated across the surroundings. Thereafter, appearing next to Donald, Ren's smiling figure could be seen holding onto a youth by the edge of his collar...he soon turned into light particles.

[Your teammate Nicholas has died]

Briefly staring at Arnold and Amanda, Ren couldn't help but say

"hmm...am I perhaps interrupting?"

Chapter 146: Code breaker [5]

"hmm...am I perhaps interrupting?"

As light yellow particles flew in the air, I stared at Arnold and Amanda in the distance. Soon my eyes interlocked with Amanda's.

Noticing her situation, my brows slightly furrowed. The situation was a lot worse than I had imagined...According to my prediction, considering her skills, she should've been evenly matched against her opponents...yet why was she on the ground on the verge of losing?

Waking up from his stupor, staring at me, John flusteredly said as his mind raced.

"Y-ou, who are you?"

What's going on?

...how did he make it all the way here from the center of the map?

According to his calculations, it would've taken ten minutes to make it from there to here from the center of the map with a decent movement art...yet, not even five minutes after they ambushed Arnold's group, and reinforcements had already come?

What was going on?

Ignoring John who was currently flustered, Amanda's eyes interlocked with mine. Thereafter, without me needing to say anything, Amanda capitalized on the moment when John was distracted due to my appearance and quickly moved her head away from the tip of his spear and quickly dashed towards where her bow was located.

"You, where do you think you're going!"

Noticing Amanda's action, recollecting himself and glaring at her, John quickly raised his spear and prepared to thrust it at her exposed back.

-Kacha!

Hearing the sound of the air being split due to the spear thrust, Amanda didn't stop moving. She knew that Ren had her back...and she wasn't wrong.

-Swooosh!

Just as the spear was about to stab her right in the back, pointing in her direction from the opposite building, a translucent yellow ring quickly headed in her direction and directly stopped right before the tip of the spear.

-Clank!

A shockwave swept the surroundings as the ring came in contact with the tip of the spear. Debris and dust flew everywhere as a consequence of the impact.

Not long after, as the ring and the spear were locked in a stalemate, the ring slowly lost its luster and the spear soon broke through it...however, it was already too late.

Picking up her bow, Amanda quickly turned around. With an arrow materializing in her hand, without hesitation, she quickly pulled the string of her bow until it touched her lips before releasing it.

-Swooooosh!

Like a shooting star, the arrow coursed through the air as it hurtled in John's direction at an unimaginable speed. It was so fast that a blue line could be seen tracing the path of where the arrow traveled.

"Shit!"

Opening his eyes wide, John tried his best to evade the arrow, however, it was already too late.

Brushing past the body of the spear, the arrow quickly pierced through John's right chest area.

Thereafter, John found himself helplessly thrown all the way to the other side of the building as his body crashed against one of the walls.

Baaam—!

"Khhhhaaaa..."

As his back crashed against the wall, John couldn't help but groan out loud as spit escaped from his mouth.

His mind blanked for a couple of seconds.

"khhh..."

A couple of seconds after John collided against the wall, as his mind regained some clarity, he heard the sound of soft footsteps headed towards his direction.

-Step! -Step!

Walking in John's direction as she coldly looked at him, Amanda's brows were tightly knit. She wasn't happy.

...although she had won. That didn't change the fact that she had still lost moments before. Staring at Ren standing on the opposite building to hers, Amanda didn't say anything.

Had he not come on time, she would've already lost. But that wasn't what made her bitter...no, what made her bitter was the fact that everything went according to Ren's plan and yet she still lost.

She had been warned beforehand of such a situation happening.

He had specifically told her that she would be attacked first and that at least two people were going to attack her...she knew, and yet her arrogance led to her downfall.

Ren had told her to just stall for time...yet she did the opposite. She thought that she could win, but it seems like she was wrong...she was still too naive.

Staring at John who was right before her, Amanda's feet paused.

...she still had a lot to learn.

"I-mpossible!"

Snapping Amanda out of her thoughts, was John's angry yet bitter voice.

With his arms down, John weakly looked up towards Amanda. Thereafter, shifting his head to the right, John found a tangible blue arrow puncturing his body, right where his heart was.

Shortly after, to his sadness and bitterness, John found his body slowly turn into yellow particles.

"Cough..."

As he watched his body turn into particles, coughing a couple of times, John couldn't help but softly mutter in a bitter tone.

"Cough...cough...I-mpossible! Ho-w could I have lost?...Everything went according to my plan, it should've been perfect, yet why am I losing? W-hat...happened?"

His plan should've been perfect.

...he was so close to beating Amanda and from there winning the whole game. He was going to be hailed as a hero right after this...he could've already imagined his whole class looking at him in reverence once he returned triumphantly.

Yet...just when his dream was about to come into fruition, appearing out of nowhere and foiling everything was the youth standing in the opposite building.

Turning his head to the right, with jet black hair and deep-blue eyes, the youth in the opposite building was currently aiding Arnold who with the help of his strange rings that stopped his spear attack previously, managed to close the distance with his team member. The bow user.

...Seeing this, John knew that they had lost.

With one last struggle, staring at the youth who had jet black hair and blue eyes, John raised his voice as he weakly shouted

"T-ell me, how did you make it here this quick?"

He had to know.

He wanted to know how he was defeated.

...his plan should've been perfect, yet at the very last moment, he lost. Just where did he miscalculate?

Hearing John's voice, turning my attention back towards him, I looked at him strangely.

"Haven't you ever heard of something called a movement art?"

...well, that was only part of the reason as to why I managed to aid Amanda and the rest quickly.

Although yes, my movement art was indeed the reason as to why I made it here this fast, it wasn't the most critical point.

Since I had predicted the opponent's decision beforehand, just when we spawned in this map, I had already told Amanda and the others the area in which they were to move.

Like this, I didn't need to go to the trouble of looking for them on this enormous map as I already had an idea of which area they were going to be in.

Moreover, as they were fighting, all I needed to do was head in the direction of where the sound of them fighting was coming from to get an accurate location of where they were. This allowed me to save a lot of time.

...Though I really do have to say, our opponents weren't half bad. Although they had moved according to my wishes, I didn't expect them to be this strong.

I was genuinely impressed.

"You-"

Unsatisfied with the answer, John was about to rebuke, but just as he was about to speak up, his body suddenly turned into light particles before a blue text appeared in front of his eyes.

[You have died]

Thereafter, as John's body disappeared what replaced it was a white card that emanated a golden hue.

-Swooosh!

Subsequently, bending over and picking up the card, after a brief glance, Amanda flicked her wrist and threw the card in my direction.

"Thanks"

Catching the card, I quickly looked through the contents of the card. Shortly after, turning on my watch, I called Zack who should've been waiting near the pillar.

"Hey Zack, are you there?"

After a short pause, Zack responded

[Yeah, I'm currently standing in front of the pillar, do you have the code?]

"Yup, it's 2041689"

[2041689?]

"Yup"

[Alright, I'm putting it in]

-Click!

After telling Zack the code, turning off the call, I quickly glanced at the time.

05M : 36S

"Five minutes to spare..."

Not bad.

Just in the nick of time. Had I come a little bit later, this would've ended in a draw.

Smiling, I quickly tapped on the screen of my watch and called Jin. Since I didn't get notified of his death, he should still be fine no?

...

On the opposite side of where Ren was located, in the easter area, feeling his watch vibrate, Jin heard Ren's voice coming out from the speaker of his watch.

[Jin how is the situation going for you?]

"Huuu..."

Exhaling, Jin stared at the ground beneath him where two bodies slowly turned into particles. Raising his wrist near his mouth, he coldly said.

"Done"

After a short pause, Ren's voice could be heard echoing from the speaker of his watch.

[Alright, good job. We are done on our side too]

"mh"

-Click!

Turning off his watch and staring at the post-apocalyptic world before him, after a couple of seconds, Jin slowly saw it crumble before his eyes. Thereafter a blue text appeared in front of him.

[Congratulations, your team has successfully inserted the code - You win]

Staring at the blue text for a couple of seconds, clenching his teeth a curse escaped from his mouth.

"Shit..."

Although he won, Jin wasn't happy.

In fact, he felt repulsed by the blue text before him.

...this just didn't feel right to him. Before, whenever he won he felt thrilled. Beating his opponents alone with his absolute strength felt thrilling to him.

'Alone...'

Yes, he had always done things alone before.

...he had always crushed his opponents through brute strength and by himself. Why did he suddenly change? Since when had he started working with others?

Why couldn't he just directly crush his opponents like before instead of resorting to some petty strategy or scheme?

Clenching onto his clothes tightly, Jin gnashed his teeth.

What was this feeling he was experiencing?

"...how disgusting"

Chapter 147: After the tryouts [1]

-Fuuuuaaa

As the top of the capsule opened and steam slowly rose in the air, I steadily stood up and stretched my neck. Frowning slightly, I couldn't help but think to myself.

'...Did I perhaps overdo it?'

Interlocking my fingers and raising my hands in the air as I stretched my body to increase the blood circulation, I looked back at the game that we had just played.

Although we won, I wasn't happy.

This game once again shed light on the things that I had to work on.

....Yes, everything went according to how I predicted it would go. At least on how the opposite team behaved...not so much on my side.

Turning my head around and briefly glancing at Amanda who had her head held down, I softly said to her.

"You did good"

Raising her head slightly and staring at me, Amanda weakly nodded her head and got out of the capsule. Subsequently, she walked towards the exit of the VR grounds.

Staring at Amanda's back, sighing inwardly, I didn't say anything else. It was evident that she held herself accountable for almost losing.

In reality, it was my fault.

It was me.

I had made a couple of miscalculations in my plans.

...although I didn't place much hope in Amanda beating two guys, I didn't expect her to downright almost lose. The plan was for her to hold them back...I thought that she could've accomplished such a task considering her strength...but I was wrong.

Perhaps I was too confident in her...or perhaps I was too inexperienced. In the end, the plan had almost failed.

Looking back at it now, there were a lot of things that I had not taken into consideration when coming up with the strategy. Things such as the opposing team strength, teammate mentality, the synergy between members, the synergy between opposite team members, opposing team composition, and so on...

I had neglected a lot of factors.

...in the end, there was still a lot of room for me to improve as a person before I could confidently be able to strategize or scheme without any loopholes in my thinking.

Still, I wasn't discouraged. This served as a good lesson for future plans and strategies. It was a good reference point for me in the future when I planned on coming up with similar strategies and plans.

The more mistakes I made, the more I learned. It was just who I was.

...I wasn't born perfect.

Just like most humans, I was prone to failure...it was normal. It was what made me human.

However, it was also from those failures that I learned to grow and improve.

Mistakes were fine.

...As long as the mistakes I made weren't the same mistakes that I had made before, it meant I was growing...and only when I no longer repeated any of my previous mistakes as well as made any new mistakes that I knew that I had finally matured.

"Huaaam..."

Yawning out loud, I took a step out of the capsule. As I did, I swore to myself.

'Next time, I won't make the same mistake again. Next time...I'll make sure to thoroughly crush my opponent with the lowest possible percentage of failure"

...

Inside a private room made out of glass that overlooked the arena grounds below, multiple screens displaying different battles could be seen inside of the room.

Standing behind the screens, a group of around ten adults were currently intently staring at the screens before them with different emotions displayed on their faces.

"How did he do that?"

"Did you see that?"

"Check him out, this isn't bad"

The instructors present were each selected beforehand by the academy to assess the students and determine who was qualified for participating in the tournament.

...obviously, in order to remove any bias, the instructors present in the room all came from different departments and didn't teach any of the first years.

If one looked closely, although there were multiple screens before them, everyone's attention was currently gathered towards one specific monitor. More specifically, towards a certain youth displayed on the monitor.

From time to time, with every second they spent watching the youth, some of the instructors couldn't help themselves as they excitedly whispered to the person next to them. Their voices carried a myriad of emotions, from disbelief to shock, surprise, envy, and much much more.

Everyone was stunned.

"...how is that even possible?"

"He is amazing!"

"To think that not only his rank is high, but his proficiency in his arts too..."

"When I was his age back then I wasn't even close to his level"

Every single one of the instructors present couldn't take their eyes off of the youth on the screen as he battled against three opponents at the same time. Each time the youth hacked or slashed his sword, an instructor would let out an involuntary gasp of amazement.

"Amazing..."

"Such high proficiency"

"What an unbelievable talent!"

In between each sword strike, the youth's sword would fluently link with his next move revealing no gap in his swordsmanship.

His every sword strike was both gentle and overbearing, and each time his sword clashed against one of his opponents they would stumble a couple of steps back with a look of disbelief on their faces.

To the instructors, more than this being a battle, it looked more like a performance to them.

...his swordsmanship was simply too good.

The youth on the monitor was Kevin Voss, and if there was one thing that every one of the instructors present in the room understood from watching him fight was that he had put an endless amount of blood sweat, and tears into polishing his swordsmanship up to this point.

Regardless of how talented someone was unless they practiced hard, they were never going to have such refined and polished swordsmanship. Moreover, from the way he was fighting it was evident that he was very experienced in combat.

"What a truly talented youth"

Standing at the forefront of the instructors present in the room, a rather old yet imposing man stood with his hands behind his back. His deep and hazy eyes would alternate between different screens at the same time until finally, his eyes focused on two particular screens.

One displaying Kevin fighting...and another one that was currently focused on a handsome youth with blonde hair wielding two daggers. One in each hand.

The blonde youth was currently fighting against two students, and similarly to Kevin, he was dominating his opponents.

However, unlike Kevin who was suppressing his opponents through his amazing sword technique, the blonde youth had a completely different fighting style. His figure would constantly melt within the shadows and reappear behind his opponents at lightning-fast speeds that made it hard for them to fight back. It was almost a one-sided beat down.

...his speed was something that most of the people present in the room took notice of. Just the way he moved in between opponents made some of the instructors present show similar reactions to Kevin.

He was brilliant.

"Hm?"

While watching the monitor displaying the blonde youth fighting against two opponents, the scenario suddenly changed and the old man's eyes were immediately attracted towards a certain youth displayed on the screen.

"Who is he?"

Turning around and pointing towards the second monitor, the old man, Charles Mandengrove, one of the main people in charge of assessing whether students had the qualifications to enter the tournament or not, looked towards his left where a young man with a grey suit stood.

Without beating around the bush, pointing towards the monitor, Charles once again asked.

"Tell me who that youth is"

Glancing at Charles, the assistant leaned closer and carefully asked.

"Who?"

"That youth on screen 9"

Without looking at the monitor and remembering which group was being displayed on monitor 9, the assistant instinctively responded.

"That is Jin Horton sir"

Shaking his head and pointing towards the monitor, Charles's deep voice faintly echoed into the assistant's ears.

"No, not that youth. The youth with black hair and blue eyes that is on the screen right now"

Taken aback and staring at monitor nine where a youth with black hair and blue eyes stood, the assistant made an awkward smile as he turned on his tablet. Thereafter, after a couple of seconds, he soon found a picture that matched that of the youth on the screen and slowly said.

"Student rank 197, Ren Dover"

Staring at Ren, Charle's attention was drawn towards the strange rings that he controlled. Out of curiosity, he asked.

"What art is he practicing?"

Tapping once again on the tablet in his hands, and scrolling through a large number of data, after a couple of minutes, the assistant spoke.

"Cross-referencing with the Lock database, the student seems to be using [Ring of vindication] and [Drifting steps]. Both three-star manuals."

"According to the data, ring of vindication although rated three stars in terms of defense can be argued to be a four-star. However, because of the lack of offensive abilities and by how hard it is to practice, it was rated to be three stars. Regarding drifting steps, it is a fairly decent movement art that isn't suited for combat but rather traveling at fast speeds."

Frowning slightly, stroking his short gray beard, Charles faintly nodded his head in understanding as he softly muttered to himself.

"Ring of vindication and drifting steps?Three star...mhh, I guess it makes sense now. What's the student talent assessment?"

Hearing this part of the question, with an awkward smile on his face, the assistant softly said.

"Talent assessment D rank"

Hearing the 'D rank' talent assessment, Charles deeply stared at the monitor for a couple of seconds before he stopped speaking.

Thereafter, a couple of seconds after receiving word of the youth's talent, one word escaped from his mouth as he stared at the youth on the screen.

"...pity"

Charles truly did feel like it was a pity.

Although the youth wasn't as outstanding as some of the other youths he had seen on the screen, his appearance alone shifted the balance of the situation...from the way he first took out one of the opponents by surprise to then distracting another one and covering for his teammate...it truly was a pity that he was only ever going to achieve D rank in his life.

He was without a doubt talented. Having seen many youths' in his stay at the Lock, Charles was sure about his judgment...however, in the end, such youth would forever be forgotten due to the insurmountable wall known as talent...a true pity.

Inwardly sighing to himself and staring at his assistant next to him, after pondering for a couple of seconds, Charles softly said.

"Still, place his name in the name of students who passed the tryouts. Though his talent is bad, that doesn't really matter in the first year. He should be decent enough for the rookie games"

"Understood"

Faintly nodding his head, without questioning Charles decision, the assistant tapped on the profile of the student and dragged it towards one of the folders that said 'eligible'

Chapter 148: After the tryouts [2]

Section B, Donna's office

Sitting on her desk, swiping her hand to the right, Donna looked through the battle videos of the inter academy tryouts that had happened today.

Although she had spectated the whole thing through the monitors displayed in the arena, because she was only able to see it once, she wasn't able to properly analyze her student's performance.

Overall, she was generally satisfied with the overall performance of both teams that came from her class. As both teams won, Donna was naturally happy.

...however, although she was happy, that didn't mean that she was totally satisfied with everyone's performance.

As she reviewed the videos, Donna was especially disappointed with the performance of two people.

Amanda and Emma.

...they both performed at standards far below what they were truly capable of.

Amanda made a series of irrational choices whilst Emma was being completely overshadowed by Kevin as she let him do everything.

There were times where she could've helped him and thus could've ended the battle faster, but she just dully stood by the side and allowed Kevin to do his thing.

"...disappointing"

Replaying the video over and over again, those were the words that came out of Donna's mouth as she stared at Kevin's team.

It was a truly disappointing sight

Aside from Kevin, the whole of his team was fairly disappointing. It was understandable for Melissa as she didn't particularly specialize in combat, but the others...they only performed satisfactorily at best. Nothing good, nothing bad.

Satisfactorily.

To Donna, it just seemed more of a one-man show rather than a team performance. Apart from Kevin, all the five other members had to do was take care of the remaining three guys in the opposite team...and yet, Kevin managed to beat his opponents faster than them.

...aside from satisfactorily, what other words could she have used to best describe how she felt as she watched the match?

*Sigh*

Sighing out loud, Donna replayed the other team's match video. As she watched, her mood brightened up a little.

The second team was a lot better with regards to team performance, however, they almost came close to losing at a certain point. Had Amanda died, the situation would've turned in the opposing team's favor.

Fortunately, things didn't turn out that way...and that was because of one student.

Staring at Ren's figure in the holographic video before her, Donna's lips curved slightly. With her hand supporting the side of her cheek, Donna softly muttered.

"It seems like I will soon be holding onto my end of the bargain..."

...

At around the same time Donna was reviewing the team performance in her office, Leviathan building, training grounds

Standing with her back straight and her bow drawn, Amanda's eyes remained fixed on the targets that were distanced five hundred meters away from her.

The targets standing on the opposite side of her, compromised of a large black box with 10 evenly spaced concentric rings that signified different points for the arrows to hit.

Squinting her eyes slightly and staring at the target before her, slowly, a blue arrow appeared on the tip of her fingers as a blue hue of magical energy slowly started pulsating out of her body.

"Huuuu...

Taking a deep breath and aiming at the target in the distance, Amanda slowly released the string of her bow. Subsequently, as if the arrow had never been there, it disappeared from her hand.

-Swoosh!

A whistling sound arose in the training grounds as the arrow coursed through the air at an unimaginable speed. Because of how fast the arrow was, a translucent blue line tracing the arrow's path could be seen in the air.

-Bam!

Seconds after the arrow left Amanda's bow, appearing right before the target, the arrow hit the target straight in the middle as its body directly dug itself into the target. Thereafter, as if the target was made out of cotton, like a piece of gum, the target stretched all the way back as the arrow continued driving itself into the target.

-Plack!

This phenomenon persisted for a couple of seconds before slowly the arrow lost its momentum and eventually dropped to the ground. Shortly after, the target returned to its original position almost as if it had never stretched.

-Ding!

Seconds after the arrow fell on the ground, feeling a small vibration on her wrist, turning her wrist, and glancing at her watch, Amanda looked at the data displayed on the screen.

[Shot power : 150 kg - Shot accuracy : 89% - Penetrative power : 15 cm - Points : 9]

After staring at her watch for a couple of seconds, closing her eyes, Amanda bit her lips.

...compared to last week, her values considerably dropped. Ever since the tryouts, Amanda felt her confidence in herself drop resulting in her performance dropping alongside her confidence.

It was only after what had happened in the tryouts that Amanda finally realized how complacent and arrogant she had become.

She was still too immature.

She knew very well that she could've handled the situation better.

Knowing beforehand that she was going to get ambushed, she could've come up with countermeasures so that she could quickly distance herself from her opponents and from there taken control of the situation...to make matters worse, she had clearly underestimated her opponents.

Just the way her two opponents were working together to take her down finally made her realize that this wasn't the top human academy in the human domain without a reason.

...just because they weren't famous or their rank was low didn't mean that they were weak. No, in fact, they were strong.

Compared to a large majority of the other teens in the world, they were the top of the top. People that stood out from the mass.

This critical flaw in her thoughts had almost caused her team the loss...had it not been for Ren saving her on time, Amanda could already envision her team losing.

Thinking thus far, pursing her lips tightly, walking back towards the archery section, Amanda once again prepared to train. However, just as she was about to once again resume her practice session, out of nowhere, a crisp and pleasant voice entered her ears.

"Amanda, you're training here today?"

Turning her head towards the direction of where the voice came from, Amanda soon spotted Emma walking in her direction. Wearing tight black sportswear with pink stripes on the side, with a hairband in her mouth and her hands on her hair, Emma slowly approached Amanda.

As she moved closer, successfully tying her hair in a ponytail, Emma curiously looked at Amanda as she said.

"Can't focus?

"mhm"

Nodding her head, Amanda pulled the string of her bow back. Thereafter, unconcerned by Emma's presence, Amanda released the string of the bow, and the arrow once again coursed through the air as it made its way towards the target in the distance.

-Swooosh!

Unbothered by Amanda's lack of response, taking out her two broadswords, Emma loosened her neck. Staring at Amand before her for a couple of seconds, after hesitating for a second, Emma sighed as she spoke her mind.

"I feel the same...ever since the tryouts I can't seem to focus anymore. It feels as if my confidence has dropped significantly. No matter what I do, I am always reminded of what happened in the tryouts..."

"Especially after recalling Kevin's figure fighting against three students by himself...for the first time in a while I truly realized the gap between me and him."

Pausing for a second, Emma bit her lips and stared at the ground beneath her. After a short pause, she continued speaking. The more she spoke, the more emotional Emma became.

"...I don't like it. I don't like the feeling of being helpless and a burden for my team..I really dislike that feeling of just watching someone else do all the work for me while I sit back and take care of the scrap-"

Abruptly stopping midsentence, Emma apologetically looked at Amanda as she said

"Ahh...sorry, I didn't mean to waste your time with my rumbling. I just wanted to let you know how I felt. Perhaps I really needed someone to vent my frustration on, but somehow I feel a lot better. Thank you"

Smiling more cheerfully, Emma brushed her ponytail to the side. Staring at Amanda who remained quiet throughout the whole time, Emma softly said

"I wonder if you went through a similar situation as mine..."

As Emma's words left her mouth silence befell the area yet again. Waiting for her reply, Emma faced Amanda with a determined face. After a brief moment of silence, noticing the determination in Emma's voice, Amanda eventually nodded her head.

"Yes"

Hearing Amanda's reply, a look of relief appeared in Emma's face as her lips curved slightly

"...I see, I'm not alone"

It seems like she wasn't the only one that felt that way.

...after the tryouts, Emma felt her confidence drop dramatically.

Recalling at how useless she felt as she just watched Kevin do all the work, Emma's grip on her shortswords increased.

She really hated that feeling. The feeling of being unable to do anything.

"huuu..."

Moving away from Amanda and taking a stance, Emma slowly exhaled. Thereafter she slowly swung her right arm. As she swung, the air split apart.

-Feeeeew

Subsequently, following the first swing, swinging her left hand, Emma moved around the training grounds almost as if she was dancing. With every step she took, the tip of her shortsword would constantly dance and cut through the air around her creating a truly spectacular yet deadly sight.

-Swoosh! -Swoosh!

Thus, for the next hour or so, the sound of her shortswords splitting the air resounded across the training ground. Next to her, similar sounds could be heard from Amanda's side as she continuously shot her arrows towards the targets in the distance.

In the end, apart from the sound of the air splitting, no other sound could be heard in the training grounds that were currently occupied by the two girls.

As they practiced, though the duo said nothing, sweat dripped down the two girls' faces as they trained without stop.

Though the girls said nothing, they both shared the same sentiment.

...they wanted to be stronger.

Chapter 149: Results and private lesson [1]

[Congratulations, Student Rank 197, Ren Dover, you have been selected as a candidate for the inter academy tournament]

[Read more...]

Turning on my phone and staring at the notification that had appeared on my screen since yesterday, a faint smile appeared on my lips.

'...I didn't fail'

I had successfully passed the tryouts like I had promised Donna.

"Attention!"

Snapping me out of my thoughts was a loud and hoarse voice.. Placing my phone back in my dimensional storage, I stared in front of me where a large field appeared in my sight.

With my back straight and standing next to a row of about thirty students wearing thin exercise clothing, under the cool morning breeze, a rather imposing man stood in front of me. Briefly staring at everyone before him, the man walked back and forth.

As he moved, as though the wind was blowing, each of his steps caused a thin undulation of magic power to sweep the area he was walking on. This was purposely done by him to look more intimidating to the students before him.

Walking back and forth a couple more times, after he made sure everyone's attention was gathered towards himself, the instructor finally started speaking.

"As most of you have been notified yesterday night, congratulations to you all for making it past the tryouts. You have successfully impressed us and thus are now eligible for participating in the inter-academy tournament."

Pausing and staring at a couple of students, the instructor continued speaking.

"For some, this may not be the only time you will be participating in the tournament as you may as well be able to enter to next year's edition...however, for some others, this may be a once in a lifetime opportunity."

"An opportunity to drastically change your life and actually accomplish something whilst you are here in the academy."

Halting his steps and imposingly looking at every single student before him, the instructor introduced himself.

"My name is August Bartolomeu and I will be the guest instructor in charge of you all."

"Is that really him"

"Waa..."

"Who would've thought that he was the one in charge"

As soon as the instructor finished introducing himself, some of the students besides me couldn't help themselves and started whispering. Thereafter, like a chain reaction, all of the other students followed suit and whispered amongst each other.

Standing with my back straight and staring at the large field before me, I kept my back straight and didn't utter a word.

In all honesty, the student's reaction was understandable.

August Barolomeu, an unranked <S> ranked hero who could very well enter the ranks if he tried. He had many accomplishments under his name and killed many demons back when he was fighting in the frontlines. He was one of the few unraked heroes whose name was known by most people in the human domain.

'The black ogre' was what they nicknamed him. Known for ripping his opponents in half with just his bare hands.

His relatively short hair spiked upwards, and he had a well-trimmed beard that extended all the way down to half of his neck. The feeling I got as I stared at him from the distance was that of a huge unmovable mountain. A monster if I would say.

Looking around the training grounds with his sharp eyes, the <S> ranked Hero August Barolomeu, murmured quietly.

"These bastards not paying me enough for this shit..."

It was so subtle that only a few people could hear it, even then, those who heard it didn't say a thing. That was due to instructor August being infamous for his short temper.

The reason as to why I kept my back straight and didn't say a thing was also because of this.

...fortunately, the professor seemed to be in a good mood today as no one was punished for interrupting him.

Ignoring the student's whispers, pointing towards the large field before us, instructor August started ordering us.

"Alright, your first task is to run around the field for five laps. Quickly get moving"

Staring at each other, the students didn't move immediately. They were confused. According to what they were told today was only an introductory class...

"...hm?"

After a couple of seconds, and seeing that no one was moving, raising his voice, instructor August stared at everyone before clapping multiple times. Each time he clapped a small shockwave swept everyone's faces startling them. Raising his voice he shouted.

"Hurry up, when I say do something you do it! You know what, I've changed my mind, you guys are running 6 laps now. Go! Go! Go!"

...I take whatever I said back.

It seems like he wasn't in a good mood.

Like a swarm of bees, most of the students present instantly sprinted towards the field and ran like there was no tomorrow.

Shaking my head as I watched the students run, I didn't mindlessly sprint like some of them. I kept at my own pace. Although this resulted in me being behind others, I wasn't concerned. These idiots probably forgot that this was only a warm-up.

"Hey R-"

As I was jogging, feeling a light tap on my shoulder I turned around and found Kevin jogging next to me

Raising my hand to stop Kevin from speaking, increasing my speed I distanced myself from him as I said.

"Nope, I do not know you, nor am I interested in knowing whoever you are"

Confused, Kevin increased his speed and once again caught up to me.

"What are you-"

Before Kevin could finish speaking, I quickly increased my pace once again.

"Nope"

Though my reaction seemed unreasonable, I was in fact purposely avoiding him.

...right now, Kevin's fame was at an all-time high. At the moment, he was so famous that there wasn't anyone in the academy that didn't know of his name. Especially since his exploits in the tryouts were seen by almost everyone.

With how widespread Kevin's name was right now, interacting with him publicly was definitely not going to do me any good. Especially considering the fact that [Blood supremacy] was after him.

Kevin was literally a walking contradiction of their beliefs. If they assumed I was his friend, high chance I could get swept in a ridiculous situation that I wasn't too keen on participating in.

Shaking his head, Kevin kept matching my pace as he spoke

"...It's regarding our trip to you know what"

"..."

Glancing behind me, slowing down my pace, I smiled brightly as I looked at Kevin

"Ah, is that you Kevin? where have you been? Been a while"

Scrap what I had just said.

Interacting with him a little bit shouldn't really be a problem no?

"..."

Speechless, Kevin didn't know what to say. However, used to Ren's erratic behavior, Kevin eventually relented and asked.

"I just wanted to know when we're going on our 'vacation' as I need to make preparations starting tomorrow"

Just in case someone overheard our conversation, as we spoke we kept it as vague as possible. We also made sure to use 'vacation' whenever we referred to Immorra.

Glancing towards my left and right to see if anyone was paying attention, after a bit of thought, I softly said

"In two months' time...we will be going on vacation in about two month's time"

There was a reason why I had said two months.

Currently, the situation in Glaxicus wasn't too bad. Although my intervention a month back had delayed the inevitable, according to my estimation the guild would be taken over in about seven months.

That's about how much time I had to look for the cure for the curse.

Honestly, the time was too short.

The reason why I delayed it for so long was because I simply wasn't ready.

Considering how dangerous the place was, I was far too weak to enter that place. Especially considering my current abilities. I was far from being strong enough to enter that place.

I needed these two extra months to increase my strength as much as possible. The stronger I was the higher the chance of success.

...and the first step towards that was my private training sessions with Donna which would start tomorrow.

If I said I wasn't nervous that would be a lie. I was actually quite excited at the prospect of having someone help me get a better understanding of how psyon worked as well as help me improve the mastery of my arts.

Since I could no longer increase my rank as fast, the only way I could get stronger was through increasing the mastery of my sword arts. Thus why I couldn't wait for tomorrow.

Placing his hand on his chin as he jogged, Kevin nodded his head.

"...two months, hmm, I understand"

"Kevin wait for me"

As Kevin and I were conversing, calling Kevin's name from behind was Emma. However just as she caught up with Kevin, as soon as she spotted me, I heard the sound of her tongue clicking as she softly mumbled.

"Tsk, it's this fucker"

Shaking my head as I glanced at her from the corner of my eyes, I briefly said

"I heard that..."

"Oh, you did? I'm sorry, wasn't on purpose"

"Is that so? Good for you"

Staring at Emma, I smiled and proceeded to ignore her. I wasn't sure why, but ever since the train ride back from the northern district, Emma had some sort of vendetta against me.

...well, I didn't really care if I had to be honest. As long as it didn't implicate me directly, she could hate me as much as she wanted for all I cared.

"Alright, Kevin tell me more later"

"mhh, alright"

Increasing my pace, I quickly distanced myself from Emma and Kevin.

Staring at my departing figure in the distance, jogging next to Kevin, Emma curiously looked at him as she asked.

"What were you guys talking about?"

After a short pause, Kevin glanced at Emma and responded.

"...nothing much, we were just planning on going on a trip in the near future"

Taken aback by the response, Emma suspiciously looked at Kevin as she asked

"A trip? Since when have you and that guy become so close?"

"It just happened"

"...you guys are suspicious"

"We just had matching interests"

As they were talking, trying to switch the topic, Kevin stared at Emma and asked

"Why do you hate him so much?"

He had been wondering this for a while now.

Whenever he saw Emma interact with Ren, he would always see her glaring at him. Though Ren didn't seem to care, Kevin was really curious as to what happened between the two of them. What caused her to hate him so much?

...was it perhaps because of what happened to Jin back in Hollberg?

Hearing the question, Emma froze for a split second. Thereafter her brows involuntarily knit as she murmured.

"Why?"

'Because he ignored me'

...was what Emma wanted to say, but as she looked at Kevin's red eyes that seemed to be able to see through her, Emma couldn't find any words to say.

Looking back at it now, Ren didn't really do anything to make her hate him. In fact, although he had only ignored her, she would've been a hypocrite to be angry just for that.

...thinking back at her past behavior, Emma realized that she had no right to complain. Having done a similar thing to many other people before, she would look like a total hypocrite if she said that.

As she thought that far, Emma realized how immature she still was.

I guess it all stemmed down to her pride being hurt. Thinking thus far, Emma stared at the blue sky in the distance.

"Just cause..."

In the end, those were the only words that came out of Emma's mouth.

Chapter 150: Results and private lesson [2]

"Huff...huff..."

The sound of heavy panting resounded across the training field as students could be seen sprawled on the ground with deadpan eyes. Apart from a few students, Kevin being one of them, almost everyone was on the ground on the verge of passing out.

...I too was one of those people.

Though I wasn't as tired as some of the students on the ground and I could've remained standing like Kevin, I didn't see the need of doing so.

I didn't need the ego boost.

Without saying a word and glancing at the watch on his wrist, instructor August glanced at the students before him. As he stared at the students before him, his eyes briefly paused on the few students that remained standing before clearing his throat and coldly saying.

"Alright, this is enough for today. You may go back"

Thereafter, turning around, he directly left the field without saying another word.

His reaction or lack of reaction was something I had expected beforehand as Instructor August was a pragmatic and busy man. He was the type of man that set a clear boundary between work and private life. Therefore, as soon as he finished instructing the students, he acted as if he didn't know anybody here.

-Plamp! -Plamp!

Staring at instructor August's departing figure, the students around me all sighed in relief as the ones that remained standing dropped on the ground as their chest rose up and down.

It was evident that they had remained standing with the sole purpose of impressing instructor August.

"I'm beat..."

"I want to go back and rest, I can't even feel my legs anymore"

"What is it with this spartan like training"

Hearing their complaints, I sort of sympathized with them. What we went through for the past two hours could only be described as hellish.

After running for five laps, we were made to do a cross-fit like workout where we would alternate between stations every given set amount of time. Let's set aside the fact that the weight that we used weighted over 100 kg, what was worse was the fact that we trained every single muscle in the body.

Nothing was missing. From the upper body to the lower body.

Every single muscle.

...Thinking thus far I could already envision the nightmare I would wake up to tomorrow. Just the thought made me shudder.

"Huaaam..."

After a couple of minutes, yawning out loud and regaining some of my energy, I weakly stood up and headed back towards my dorm room. Most of the students around me had already left a couple of minutes ago and thus I was one of the only people left on the field.

Nodding towards Kevin who was one of the people that were still on the field, I decided to head back to my dorm.

...it was probably best if I took a quick shower before heading to bed. Considering that I had to wake up early in the morning to train with Donna, the most sensible thing to do at the moment was to go to sleep early.

-Ring! -Ring!

As I was headed back towards my dorm, feeling my phone vibrating, taking out my phone I looked at the caller ID. Confirming that it was someone I knew, swiping right I quickly answered the call.

"Hello?"

Answering the phone was Smallsnake's distressed voice.

—Ren, we have a situation.

Frowning slightly, I cautiously asked.

"Smallsnake? What happened"

...what could've possibly have happened.

For Smallsnake to sound so distressed something big must've happened.

—It's about Angelica...

"Angelica...what did she do?"

Taken aback, I suddenly recalled the fact that she was staying in the headquarters with Smallsnake.

...was she perhaps threatening him?

Thinking back, this could be a possibility as Angelica only listened to me...

After a short pause, Smallsnake responded

—Nothing yet...but things are quickly getting out of control. She is constantly throwing a tantrum about want—hey, don'—hey!

Just as Smallsnake was speaking, I suddenly heard his voice cut off as the sound of a light scuffle echoed from the speaker of my phone. Frowning I called for Smallsnake.

"Smallsnake? Smallsnake you there? Smallsnake can you hear me?"

After a couple of seconds of fruitless calling, just as I was expecting for the worst, a pleasant and crisp voice resounded from the speaker of my phone.

—Human, I am bored. Bring me out, I don't want to stay in this cramped space anymore.

Recognizing the voice as Angelica's I quickly asked.

"Angelica? What's going on?"

—Did you not hear me human? this Matriarch wants to get out. Staying in this place for such a long time is stifling for someone like me. I demand you come back and bring me out of this place.

*Sigh*

Hearing Angelica's demands, an extended sigh escaped from my mouth. Thereafter, shaking my head I softly responded

"Alright, please hold out until this weekend comes and I will figure something out. Is that okay?"

After a short pause, Angelica softly said.

—...fine, this Matriarch shall wait.

'You're no longer a matriarch'

Was what I wanted to say as soon as she referred to herself as 'this Matriarch', however, I held my tongue and tried to appease her as much as possible. Arguing with her wasn't worth it at the moment.

"Angelica please pass me Smallsnake"

—Alright, stick like human this Matriarch is done take this thing back...Ren, hello, did you figure things out?

Ignoring the hilarious nickname Angelica used to call Smallsnake, I once again heard Smallsnake's voice on the other end of the phone. Trying my best to hold my laughter back, I calmly responded

"pff...Yeah, I'll make time this weekend so please wait until then. pff...fan you wait for me then?

—Can you not come faster? Also what are those sounds you are ma-

-Clank!

Before Smallsnake could finish speaking, I hung up the phone. There was no need for me to listen to what he wanted to say. Unfortunately, I couldn't come back sooner.

Especially since I had now private training with Donna.

Thinking thus far, staring at the darkening sky, I softly muttered

'Sorry Smallsnake, you're on your own till the weekend comes'

...

The next morning, Section B [06 : 00 A.M.]

"Here"

"You may enter"

Showing my ID card to one of the guards patrolling the area of section B, I quickly entered the building and took an elevator to the bottom floor.

It was already the next day and although my muscles were sore, I was still somehow relatively okay.

The reason probably being the fact that I was excited about the training session that I was about to have with Donna.

Beauty aside, she was a ranked Hero. One of the strongest people in the human domain. The fact that I was being privately tutored by her was enough to make anyone jealous. Be it student or even instructor. Everyone would drool at the chance of being taught by her.

-Ding!

As I arrived at the bottom floor of the main building of section B, I was greeted by a training ground that was almost entirely white and was the same size as a football field.

Entering the training ground, I fell into deep thought.

While I wasn't too sure of what arrangements Donna had in store for me with regards to training, I was certain that it would focus along the lines of combat and psyon control. This worked in favor of me as better psyon control was what I needed in order to improve my arts.

...as long as I could improve my strength further, I was going to be satisfied. Especially considering the fact that my rank wasn't going to increase any time soon.

"You're already here?"

With her hair tied in a ponytail and wearing a dark blue sports bra and tight black leggings, Donna nonchalantly entered the training grounds.

Staring at Donna for a brief moment, I lowered my head and greeted her.

"Good morning"

"Hmm"

Nodding her head faintly, Donna proceed to walk towards the center of the training ground. Thereafter, doing a couple of stretches, Donna glanced at me and started speaking.

"Studen Ren Dover, you will undergo daily combat and psyon control sessions from today onwards. Since on Wednesday's and Friday's your lectures start at 12:00 P.M, twice a week for four hours a day at this time I will train you"

Taking something out from thin air, Donna proceeded to throw an object resembling a suit in my direction.

"Put it on."

Heeding her order I quickly wore the suit on the clothes I had on.

As soon as I put the suit on, Donna disappeared from where she was standing. Subsequently, launching a vicious kick towards my Solar plexus Donna's figure reappeared before me.

Bang—!

"khh..."

Too fast!

Caught off guard and because of how fast the attack was, I was unable to react on time causing me to groan out loud as I felt a couple of my ribs crack a little. Staggering back and clutching onto my chest, I started coughing.

"Cough...cough...damn that hurts!"

As expected of a ranked hero. Just a simple kick and I was already on the verge of passing out from the pain. The power she exerted in that kick felt as if an elephant had run at me at full speed.

Heavy.

Moreover her speed...let's not talk about her speed.

Although she was obviously not going all out, she was still several times faster than Jin whom I thought was fast.

"30 seconds of rest"

Glancing at her watch, Donna blandly stated.

-Gulp! -Gulp!

Gritting my teeth and taking out a potion, I quickly downed it and felt my cracked ribs quickly heal. Thereafter, taking a stance I stared at Donna intently.

This time she wasn't going to catch me off guard like before...

"Naive"

However, before I could react, appearing next to my ears and lightly whispering, I suddenly felt my body fly towards the other side of the room.

Bang—!

"khhh..."

Feeling my back become numb due to my body impacting against the wall, it took me a couple of seconds to recover from my daze. Looking up, I soon found Donna's violet eyes deeply staring at me from above.

"It is clear that you lack battle experience."

"You're not using all of your senses. Don't just rely on what you see in front of you and actually use your other senses. You rely too much on your sight and thus why you fell for the illusion I had set..."

Listening to Donna's explanation, weakly standing up, I proceeded to nod my head.

"I see"

What she said made sense.

...as I relied too much on my eyesight, I created a fatal weakness for myself. Just a simple illusion and I was already a goner.

Had Donna not pointed this out to me today, I would've never learned of this.

-Gulp! -Gulp!

Taking out and flicking the lid of a potion open, I quickly downed it and proceeded to heal my injuries.

Taking a stance, I stared intently at where Donna was. This time, rather than just staring at her, I also made sure to keep my ears alert.

Combat training was tough but straightforward. After Donna explained what I needed to do, no words were exchanged between me and her. I instantly understood her intentions.

"Let's go again"

Faintly smiling, Donna nodded her head in approval.

"Good"

Bang—!

Thus for the next two hours or so Donna ruthlessly beat me up like a sandbag. At the end of the two hours we had set beforehand, I was completely exhausted and covered in bruises. My face was beaten black and blue and if not for the healing potions that Donna provided me every ten minutes or so, I would've long passed out.

Looking back at it now, Donna's training was several times harder than that of August. In comparison, his training sounded like paradise to me at the moment.

...Instructor August, I miss you.

Staring at Donna who had her arms crossed and stood in the middle of the training grounds without a single drop of sweat dripping from her face, I couldn't help but wonder as I weakly stood up.

'Does she perhaps have a grudge against me?'

As she beat me up, I couldn't help but notice the fact that Donna had a faint smile throughout the whole time.

...did she love beating me up that much?

Seemingly unbothered by my situation, glancing at her watch, Donna softly said.

"Alright take a five-minute breather and we will soon start psyon control training for the remaining hours we have left.

Discord link : /XkXXbahPHf

Chapter 151: Results and private lesson [3]

Sitting crossed-legged in the middle of the training grounds, Donna placed both of her hands on my back. Slowly, a purple hue pulsated from her body.

"huuu..."

Similarly closing my eyes, feeling her soft hands on my back, I exhaled as I tried my best to not get distracted by the soft feeling on my back. With her eyes closed, as she circulated her mana into my body, Donna softly said.

"Focus and feel how my mana is circulating inside of your body. Make sure you remember the feeling and try to envision it in your mind"

"Mhh"

Nodding my head, I did as Donna told me and focused on the mana that was entering my body through her hands.

Shortly after, I could vividly feel Donna's mana smoothly entering my body through the channels of my body. It flowed much smoother and faster than what I was used to. It was a weird feeling.

Shortly after, as I felt her mana circulate around my body, a frown appeared on my face.

Although Donna was channeling her mana in my body, right now she was keeping her mana regulated at <F> rank...yet, I somehow felt stronger than before. This came as a shock to me as I was already <E> rank.

It was a completely different feeling from usual, it felt as if I no longer needed to accumulate mana inside of my body before performing the first and second movements of the Keiki style as the mana inside of my body gathered at a much faster pace.

How was that possible?

Seeing that I noticed something, Donna softly said.

"...do you feel it?"

Nodding my head I curiously asked

"Yes, but what's going on?"

Knitting her brows, Donna didn't respond immediately. Thereafter, as she thought of something, she said

"The way you channel your mana is way too crude and unrefined. From what I've observed so far it doesn't even look like you know the proper channels to which you should be circulating your mana in as the paths you use aren't efficient at all. As of right now, the speed at which your mana is circulating is at 70% of what it should be...a big loss."

"As a result of this, it takes much longer for you to channel the mana inside of your body compared to other people"

Pausing there for a second, Donna tried to word her words carefully as she softly said

"...from what I'm observing, it seems like no one properly taught you how to control your mana, am I right about that?"

Hearing Donna's question, a bitter smile appeared on my face.

"Yes, you aren't wrong"

Seeing me nod in confirmation, the frown on Donna's face deepened as she softly mumbled.

"...Odd"

Odd indeed.

For someone to have been able to enter the Lock and yet still not know how to properly circulate their mana this was indeed odd...however that's how things were for me as of right now.

This was what happened if you suddenly found yourself inside of your own novel coming from a world without mana.

Perhaps the previous Ren knew how to circulate mana properly, but I never once learned how to properly control the mana inside of my body. Nor which channels I should be using.

With me entering the academy and everyone already knowing how to properly channel their mana since young, I wasn't taught any of this. Every single time we were taught something regarding mana, I had to learn through experimenting with my body...and let's just say it wasn't the most pleasant experience.

Although I tried searching the browser and watching videos online to get a better understanding of how to properly channel the mana inside of my body, it simply wasn't the same as Donna directly teaching me through her directly circulating her mana inside of my body.

"Don't lose focus and properly focus on my mana circulating in your body"

Once again feeling Donna's mana circulating around my body, I lowered my head and softly mumbled

"I see, I'm starting to understand now..."

After listening to Donna's explanation, everything was starting to make sense to me. The things that have been plaguing me since reincarnating here became much clearer to me.

...If I circulated the mana inside of my body just like Donna was showing me, I could already envision myself and my arts drastically improving.

I could finally see a light at the end of the dark tunnel that I was stuck in for the past two months.

Noticing the fluctuations in my emotions, Donna circulated the mana in her body even more as she softly said.

"Alright focus and try to memorize the exact paths my mana is flowing inside of your body. This is the fastest and most efficient path that we humans have discovered after a lot of trial and error."

"I won't ask you about what type of arts you're practicing as that is your business, but if you follow this path I am currently showing you...you will find that your mana will circulate faster and that you can gather mana at a much faster pace than before when you're trying to use a skill of something that requires you to accumulate mana...if you can get a grasp of what I'm teaching you, in the next month or so, your strength will see a considerable boost"

Listening to Donna explain things for me, nodding my head seriously, I fully focused on the mana that was circulating inside of my body.

"Understood"

Thus, for the next two hours, silence prevailed in the surroundings as Donna and I sat crossed-legged in the middle of the room with her hands on my back.

Slowly but surely, the mana inside of my body was starting to circulate at a much faster pace than before. I could vividly see myself improving at speeds that I could've only dreamt of in the past causing my heart to beat in excitement.

"Alright, that's enough for today."

At exactly 10:00 A.M. breaking the silence was Donna who took her hands off my back and stood up. Stretching her neck, Donna looked at me and said.

"Come back next week on Wednesday same time. We will resume your lessons then"

Feeling Donna's hand leaving my back, I felt a slight tinge of regret before I exhaled and nodded my head.

"...understood, thank you"

Faintly smiling, while walking to the other side of the room and taking a towel, Donna threw it at me and said.

"I'm just holding onto my end of the deal. Since you held your end of the deal, it wouldn't be right if I didn't it as well no?"

Taking the towel that Donna threw at me, an awkward smile appeared on my face as I looked down at where I was sitting.

My clothes were completely drenched in sweat at the moment, and a pool of sweat appeared in the area I was sitting. Because I was so focused on Donna's teachings, I didn't notice how much I was sweating.

Noticing my awkward face, Donna smiled as she shook her head.

"Alright, you better get going. Lessons will start in a couple of hours so take a shower and rest up until then, I'll see you in class"

"Understood"

Nodding my head, I quickly turned around and made my way out of the training grounds.

Though I was tired, I couldn't suppress my excitement. Even though this was the first lesson, I could already see myself progress even further. Especially in my understanding of how mana flowed.

From today onwards, I would definitely see major improvements in the understanding of my arts. Thinking along those lines, wiping the sweat that had accumulated around my body, I happily left the training ground.

...

After Ren left, Donna untied her ponytail as her hair gently scattered all the way down to her back.

...looking back at the training session she just had with Ren, her mouth couldn't help but arc upwards.

He was talented alright.

Although his talent was assessed at D rank, Donna didn't think any less of him. After all, being a Hero wasn't the only respected profession in the world. He could very well find himself becoming an agent in the future.

Moreover, recalling her sparring session with him, Donna couldn't help but become more interested in him.

The way he learned was simply very efficient.

Although he wasn't as exceptional as some of the other students that she had seen before like Kevin and some others. His thought process was what impressed her. Especially at how he would always try to not commit the same mistake again.

...she couldn't say he was a quick learner, but the way he tried to not commit the same mistake again and learn from his previous mistakes was what thoroughly impressed her.

Such a thought process was what enabled him to learn fast.

Moreover, from what she heard from the others, apparently, he was the one that came up with the strategy for the tryouts.

...although it wasn't the most perfect strategy, from the way he analyzed everyone's capabilities as well as the opponent's thought process, Donna believed that he could very well become someone of importance in the future.

Though he may not become a ranked hero, he could very well get a position as a leading agent which was just as prolific as being a <S> ranked hero.

Thinking thus far, Donna couldn't wait for what awaited her student in the future.

...would he shine in this forsaken world or would he be buried alongside the other unpolished gems out there?

Donna didn't know...but, she sure as heck was going to try her best to help him out.

After all, that was her duty as a teacher.

Chapter 152: A troubling situation [1]

-Fuuua!

White steam rose in the air as I stepped out of a capsule.

"khh..."

Groaning out loud, I frowned and massaged my forehead. Squinting my eyes I softly mumbled to myself.

"...no wonder there is a time limit for using the virtual time regressor"

The reason why I was massaging my forehead was because I was currently experiencing a mild migraine..

..and I believe that the migraine I was experiencing was probably due to the fact that I had just used the time regressor machine that was accessible by everyone in the dorm. With the machine injecting neuron-enhancing substances into my body, in order to slow down time, the neurons inside of my brain were being enhanced and stimulated in a way that everything would flow so fast inside of my brain that it would feel like time itself had slowed down.

...still, it wasn't a pleasant experience.

Honestly, the reason why I tested the time regressor machine today was because Leo and Ram were still in the middle of their lessons and I had nothing to do...and, wow.

Just wow.

Only after using the time regressor machine for myself that I finally understood why it was so coveted by Gerrard and the others...it was simply a cheat code.

I only spent an hour there but it felt as if I had stayed there for a whole day. Though it didn't sound like much, on that one day I spent in the machine, I constantly practiced all of my arts without any distractions.

One full day of training without getting tired nor losing focus...it was simply absurd. With it, not only did I improve my arts by a lot, but I also managed to consolidate most of the knowledge that I had learned this morning from Donna.

As of right now, my [Keiki style], [Ring of vindication], and [Drifting steps] were one step closer to breaking through the greater realm of mastery. A huge step for me.

Once I reached the greater realm of mastery for my sword arts, I would definitely see a massive boost in my strength.

With just a few more lessons from Donna accompanied by the time regressor machine to consolidate my knowledge...reaching the greater realm of mastery within two months wouldn't be a problem. Just in time for Immorra.

Thinking thus far, calming myself down. A frown appeared on my brows as I thought to myself.

'...if I have two time stamps rather than one the rate of my progress would definitely drastically increase...It's too bad that I have to give one of my time stamps to Gerrard each week. Hmm'

The more I was reminded of the fact that I had to give Gerrard a time stamp, the deeper my frown became.

After a bit more thinking, I shook my head.

"...this won't do"

Now that I had finally realized the importance of the time regressor machine...brushing my hair to the side as I calmly walked back to my dorms, I softly and coldly said

"I guess it's about time I set up my board..."

...

The next day, Northern district, Caïssa headquarters

-Click!

Opening the door to the warehouse main building, I was instantly greeted with a deathly silence. Frowning slightly, turning to the corner of the room leading to the main hall of the building, I raised my voice and said

"...anybody here?"

Soon after, as I entered the main hall where a large squared wooden desk sat, I found three people sitting on it quietly staring at each other. Noticing my presence, turning their attention towards me, the first one to greet me was Smallsnake.

"Ren you're finally here"

Thereafter, after Smallsnake greeted me, the next one was Leopold who had both of his legs on the table followed by Angelica's cold voice.

"Welcome back boss"

"Human, you're finally here"

Staring at them for a brief moment, I nodded my head and greeted them back.

"Mhh hello..."

Thereafter, sitting at the head of the large table, interlocking my hands and supporting my chin on them, I calmly looked at Smallsnake and asked

"So what seems to be the issue? Please explain to me in detail"

For the past few days, I've constantly been getting text messages from Smallsnake regarding Angelica.

Although I mostly ignored them as I wouldn't be able to do anything as I was in the Lock, now that I was back here, it was about time I tackled the issue.

...I just hope it wasn't something annoying.

Nodding his head, Smallsnake immediately started complaining

"It's Angelica. She's been trying to go out in the streets every day. It's gotten to the point where I have to rely on Leopold to restrain her. You understand what the consequences of her leaving this place are don't y-"

"Shut up stick-like human, this Matriarch signed the contract not to be caged like a bird."

Interrupting Smallsnake midsentence, Angelica crossed her arms and glared at him.

"If this Matriarch wants to go out, she will naturally go out"

Pointing at her, Smallsnake looked at me and exclaimed.

"You see what I'm talking about?

Nodding my head, I responded

"I see, you have a vali-"

However, before I could finish speaking, cutting me off, Smallsnake continued

"Also, because you have her core and she is too far away from you, her powers are significantly reduced. If not for that I wouldn't have minded letting her go as she's simply is too annoying at the moment."

"This is on you. With her powers significantly reduced because of the core problem, she can't go out as her concealment abilities are currently drastically weakened. Moreover, if she was spotted leaving our building...do you want me to go on?"

Shaking my head, I stopped Smallsnake from talking.

"...no, I understand"

What Smallsnake said made sense.

Because I had Angelica's core inside of my body, her strength was a far cry from what it was at her peak.

Unless she stayed next to me, Angelica's strength would be cut by more than half. The reason for this was because the further demons were from their core, the weaker they became. The reason for this was obvious.

If I made it so that demons could only die unless their core was destroyed, and if there were no repercussions in them not having their core, the demons could just hide their core and literally be invincible.

...however god was fair (me)

In order to rebalance the demons, he decided to make demons weaker the longer they stayed away from their core....

"Also tell her that I don't like being called stick-like human. I've got a name and it's Smallsnake"

Staring at Smallsnake weirdly as my brow inadvertently raised, I shot back

"You call Smallsnake a name?"

Hearing my reply, Smallsnake froze for a second before softly saying

"...it's a codename"

"Exactly...and to be honest, stick-like human sounds better than Smallsnake...it's got a nice tinge to it no? What do you think Leopold?"

*Puff*

With his legs on the table and puffing smoke in the air, Leopold nonchalantly looked at me before shaking his head.

"Don't look at me, I have no interest in joining this conversation"

He really didn't have any interest.

After having dealt with Angelica for the whole week, Leopold was tired.

...even though he still hadn't accomplished a single mission, he felt more tired now than back when he was tutoring in the Moonlight mercenary group. Still, though he complained, he wasn't dissatisfied with this place.

After all, they at least treated him well here unlike in the Moonlight mercenary group where they didn't even bother promoting him.

Noticing Leopold's attitude, I shook my head. Thereafter, as I inhaled some of the smoke coming from his cigarette, I couldn't help but add.

"You should probably stop smoking. It's not good for you"

*Puff*

Briefly glancing at me, patting onto his chest as he took another puff of his cigarette, Leopold reassured

"It's fine, I've got lungs of steel. Smoke ain't gonna kill someone like me"

"Tell that to all the people that die of canc...never mind, forgot that wasn't a thing anymore"

Right.

Cancer and all other diseases that plagued humanity back in my word were practically something that didn't exist in this world anymore.

...no wonder Leopold smoked like crazy.

Thinking of something and turning my attention back to Smallsnake, I asked.

"So regarding Ryan, did he contact you?"

Shaking his head, Smallsnake responded.

"...no, not directly

"What about indirectly"

Placing his hand on his chin, Smallsnake nodded his head

"Indirectly yes"

Surprised by this news, I raised my brow and eagerly asked

"Oh? How did he do that?"

Seeing my exited face, Smallsnake's face twitched for a second before he softly recounted what had happened these past few days.

"Yes...but it seems like he has tried to hack into our main computer system. If not for the fact that I was awake at the time he tried to hack us, he would've most likely have succeeded. I also want to add that he tried to hack a lot of things. From computers to the cameras and security systems added in the building..."

Hearing Smallsnake's recount of what had happened a few days ago, leaning on my chair a faint smile appeared on my lips.

"So he tried to hack this place?"

Nodding his head, looking at me, Smallsnake doubtfully asked

"...yes, that's why I want to ask...do you think he's trustworthy?"

Was Ryan trustworthy?

...no, not in the least bit. Especially since I knew nothing about his real character as he dies in the novel like an extra. As of right now, he was untrustworthy.

Still, that didn't matter. In a relationship where all that mattered was our self-interest, signing a mana contract with him would be the most ideal option.

The rest of the things like loyalty and companionship could be developed later...

Thus as my thoughts reached there, without answering Smallsnake's question, a small chuckle escaped from my mouth as I softly said

"hahaha, what a cute little boy...don't mind his little hacking game"

Opening his eyes wide, Smallsnake's voice grew louder

"What? He just hacked into our system and you're letting him go scot-free?"

Smiling at Smallsnake, I replied with a question of my own.

"...Smallsnake, do you really think he hacked us with the intent of not being noticed?"

Impossible.

With how smart Ryan was, there was no way he would make such an obvious and blatant attempt of hacking us...he was definitely just trying to test the waters.

"...what do you mean"

Smiling at Smallsnake's confusion, I started explaining.

"It's obvious that he hacked us fully knowing that he might get discovered...it was sort of a test from him to us. A test to determine whether or not we were not all talk..."

Glancing at me by the side, Smallsnake curiously asked

"Did we pass?"

Hearing Smallsnake's question, I shrugged my shoulders.

"Who knows?"

I really wasn't sure.

Maybe or maybe not. Who knows.

...only time will tell, but what I did know for sure was that we had caught his interest. Had he not have had any interest in us, he would've never have hacked us.

With a frown on his face, Smallsnake asked

"So what do we do now?"

Briefly glancing at Smallsnake, I leisurely said

"So we wait. It's obvious that right now he's observing us"

More than Ryan wanting to hack us because he wanted to find out about our operations, this was most likely an attempt from him to let us know that he was watching us.

...he was telling us that depending on our performance in the future, he would decide on whether or not to he would sign the contract.

How interesting.

Crossing my legs as I tapped on the table, the corner of my lips curved slightly as I amusingly said

"What a cautious and cute little boy. The more I get to know about him, the more I'm starting to like him...I especially like the confidence he has in himself. Though I don't know if this was forced on his end to look stronger for his mom, it doesn't matter...he'll for sure make for a great piece"

Discord link : /XkXXbahPHf

Chapter 153: A troubling situation [2]

"So..."

Staring at me for a couple of seconds, recalling something, Smallsnake asked

"Anything on your end?"

As I was still thinking about Ryan and his little tricks, hearing Smallsnake's voice, I turned around and questioningly looked at him.

"My end?"

What was he on about?

Seeing that I didn't understand, Smallsnake elaborated

"Didn't you say that you wanted to recruit that girl called Ava?"

Clapping my hand in understanding, I exclaimed

"Ah! That"

Right, I almost forgot about that..

...well, rather than me forgetting about it...it was more like there wasn't an opportunity for me to interact with her yet. Especially considering the situation in the dorm complex.

Staring at Smallsnake, I vaguely said

"Unfortunately, an unfortunate situation arose"

...it was truly an unfortunate situation.

Who would've expected five annoying kids to take control of the dorm complex?

It completely threw me off and it sort of made it harder for me to approach her. Moreover, I also couldn't think of a way to approach her naturally. After all, she's was an extremely introverted individual...and we didn't share any topics in common making any interaction with her difficult.

Still, that didn't mean I didn't have anything planned...it's just that I didn't have enough time to execute my plans as I was quite busy this past week.

Noticing my reaction, Smallsnake curiously asked

"An unfortunate situation? what happened?"

Shrugging my shoulders, I waved my hand as I brushed past the topic and looked at him seriously

"Nothing much, it should be handled soon. In fact, I might need your help with that"

"My help?"

Taken aback, hearing about the fact that I would soon require his help, Smallsnake felt an ominous premonition

...Recalling his past experiences with me, every time a situation happened where I would be requiring his help, Smallsnake remembered always finding himself swamped with work.

Smiling, I nodded my head

"Yup"

Cautiously looking at me, Smallsnake weakly said

"Do I have any say in this?"

"Nope, moreover this is for the benefit of the group"

I wasn't lying.

...since I was planning on removing those five little bastards from the dorm, I needed all the help I could get.

Yes, I could do it without his help...but I wanted to squeeze as much as I possibly could from them. If not, then it would truly be a pity. After all, there was a lot to gain from this operation.

Staring at me, Smallsnake didn't say anything.

"..."

*sigh*

Thereafter, after a couple of seconds of silence, an extended sigh escaped from Smallsnakes mouth. Eventually, he nodded his head.

"Fine..."

What other choice did he have?

Since he was now working for me, Smallsnake could only comply.

However, before he fully agreed, pointing towards Angelica who was coldly sitting on the seat opposite to him, he said.

"...then what about her. If you want my help at least do something about her"

Hearing Smallsnake's remark, Angelica coldly snorted at him.

"Hmph, shut up you little twig"

Staring at Angelica, a bitter smile appeared on my face as I looked at Smallsnake.

"Ah...haven't really thought about it. Why does she want to go out anyways?"

Shaking his head, Smallsnake helplessly said as he raised his voice

"How would I know, ask her. I too want to know."

Turning my head towards Angelica, I repeated

"Angelica, why do you want to go out so much? Wouldn't you be safer here?"

Considering the fact that I had her core, she was in no state to go out.

...if she really went out in her current state, she could easily be identified as a demon. Going out in her present state was just like asking for her to be killed.

Frowning, Angelica coldly said.

"Why? Why must I be stuck here in this place with them? This Matriarch can do whatever she wants and-"

Shaking his head, Smallsnake interjected

"Because you're a demon"

Frowning, Angelica glared at Smallsnake and said

"What's the problem with that? Had I had my core with me, I wouldn't have had a problem moving around unobstructed in your territory"

"Yes...but right now you don't have your core so going out is just like asking for yourself to be killed!"

"Hpmh, what does it matter to you what I do, you stick-like human?"

"How many times did I tell you that that's not my name..."

Listening to Angelica and Smallsnake bickering, a frown appeared on my face.

What Angelica said wasn't wrong. If she was at full strength, she wouldn't have had a problem roaming around the streets unobstructed.

...but now that she was weakened, this no longer applied to her.

The reason why demons were able to enter the human domain so easily was because of their great camouflage techniques.

Unless they were trying to break into the Union or the central government, demons could pretty much go anywhere they pleased.

Well, either way, the human domain was so big. Even without the techniques, sneaking in wasn't something that hard to do.

Unless they wanted to sneak in places that were highly secured, demons could pretty much roam everywhere they pleased.

The same went with humans in the demon domain. As long as they weren't trying to enter a highly secured place, sneaking in with special techniques wasn't hard at all.

"Mhhh..."

After a moment of silence, thinking of something, turning his head in my direction, Smallsnake thought of something and carefully suggested

"Ren, since she can camouflage herself and move unnoticed why don't you let her follow you back in the academy? Since you have the core, as long as she sticks close to you, she can camouflage herself without any problem"

"What? Are you craz-"

Hearing Smallsnake's suggestion, I immediately tried to reject it. Why would I want to bring her back to the Lock with me? If she was caught I could get into serious trouble.

However, abruptly stopping myself mid-sentence, I placed my finger on my chin as I pondered. Thereafter, as I thought about the issue more calmly, a faint smile appeared on my lips.

Actually, this wasn't a bad idea.

With Angelica staying next to me, I would essentially have a <C+> ranked bodyguard with me at all times. Although I was generally safe in the Lock, what about in situations where I went out of the Lock? Wouldn't her aid potentially save me?

Glancing at Angelica who was coldly looking back at me, I squinted my eyes and carefully asked

"Angelica, how well can you camouflage yourself?"

...I couldn't get too excited yet.

I first needed to know the full extent of her abilities.

Snorting disdainfully as she stared at me, Angelica coldly said

"Hmph, this Matriarch can turn into anything she wants. Moreover, my technique also enables me to fully hide my aura from anyone...as long as someone doesn't directly inspect this one's body, they would never be able to find out about my true identity"

Surprised by her answer, I couldn't help but ask again as I tried to make sure I didn't hear wrongly.

"Angelica, you can turn into anything you want?"

With her arms crossed Angelica nodded her head

"Yes"

Thinking of something, suppressing my excitement, I quickly rummaged through my pocket.

"Here, turn into this"

Thereafter, taking out a phone from my pocket, I quickly typed something on my phone and showed Angelica a photo of a black cat. A common household pet.

Frowning, Angelica questioningly said

"A cat?"

Nodding my head, I excitedly said

"Yes, turn into this"

Pets weren't forbidden in the Lock, therefore, if Angelica disguised herself as a cat there shouldn't be any issues with me bringing her back into my dorm.

Thinking along those lines, I couldn't help but be excited.

This was perfect.

Had I known that she could've done this beforehand I would've asked her to do this long ago.

Not only would I now have a bodyguard of <C+> rank, but I could also make good use of her. Especially considering that I could use her for sneaking in and doing things that I was incapable of before...

Yes, the more I thought about it, the larger the smile on my face became. To make things even better, I now had a common topic to talk about with Ava...how perfect was that?

...this was like three birds with one stone!

Staring at the cat in the picture, a trace of disgust appeared on Angelica's face as she flatly refused

"I refuse"

As if cold water was poured on my head, raising my brow I asked

"Didn't you say you wanted to go out?"

"I did, but why must I turn myself into a cat?"

She was a proud Matriarch.

The fact that her core was taken away was already humiliating enough...and now he was asking her to be his pet? No way could she stand that!

"...you really won't change into a cat?"

"Hmph, no way"

Frowning, I stared at Angelica's eyes for a couple of seconds. Shortly after, shaking my head disappointedly, I put my phone away and said

"Oh well, suit yourself. Since you asked me to bring you out, this was the only method I could think of. If not you can just remain here and hang out with stick-like human"

Hearing the word stick-like human coming out from my mouth, Smallsnake who had remained quiet for quite a while, glared at me.

"Hey..."

Ignoring Smallsnake, I deeply stared at Angelica.

"Are you sure about your decision?"

Frowning, Angelica didn't answer immediately. Thinking back at what she had done for the past two weeks here, Angelica couldn't help but recall how she felt like a caged bird unable to get out...

She really hated that feeling...she felt like a prisoner that couldn't escape no matter how hard she tried. To make things worse, her strength continuously decreased with each passing day...she hated the feeling with all of her heart.

...but going as low as becoming his pet? Frowning hard, Angelica was currently facing a dilemma.

On one end, be trapped like a prisoner with no hopes of going out unless she wanted to die or on the other end be able to get her freedom back but in the process becoming a pet...

Clenching her fist underneath the desk, Angelica looked at me and carefully said

"...you won't make me do weird things right?"

Tilting my head, I repeated

"Weird things?"

"Like feed me cat food and degrade me by treating me like a real cat?"

Hearing her words, I instantly understood what her problem was.

...her pride.

I see...her reaction now made sense.

Her pride wouldn't allow for her to be treated like a common household animal. It was just too humiliating for her...Understanding this, I nodded my head and reassured her.

"ah, I understand. Sure, just tell me whatever you don't want me to do and I'll comply. Well, as long as it isn't too unreasonable"

Hearing my response, after a couple of seconds, biting her lips, Angelica reluctantly nodded her head

"...fine"

She had no choice.

If she wanted to go out she could only do so on my terms. After thinking about the pros and cons, she could only reluctantly accept my conditions.

"Great!"

Smiling brightly, I quickly turned on my phone and once again showed her the photo of the black cat and excitedly said.

"perfect, alright, now turn into a cat"

"Give me"

Snatching my phone from my hand, Angelica deeply stared at the picture of the cat. Thereafter, she closed her eyes.

Staring at Angelica who was about to turn into a cat, I couldn't help but secretly sigh in relief.

Fortunately, I had chosen a cat instead of another animal. Had it been a dog, high chance she would've never agreed.

-Fuuuuaaa!

Frowning slightly, channeling the mana inside of her body, a red hue shrouded Angelica's body. Subsequently, at a speed visible to the naked eye, her body shrunk. Thereafter, as Angelica's body became smaller, black fur suddenly started appearing all over her body accompanied by her eyes and structure changing alongside it.

...shortly after standing with four legs on the ground, a black cat appeared before me.

Opening her eyes revealing two yellow eyes with thin oval pupils, Angelica, who was now a black cat, coldly said

"...is this good enough?"

Staring at Angelica who was now a cat, I couldn't help but gape in amazement.

"Oh my god. This is...perfect!"

She looked no different from a black cat. Moreover, I felt no energy fluctuation coming from her. No matter how I tried, I couldn't tell the difference between her and a real cat.

The more I looked at her, the larger the smile on my face became.

...now this was what you called a game-changer.

Chapter 154: Peculiar store [1]

Walking along the streets of Ashton city, in the area next to the Lock, with my hands inside of the pockets of my newly purchased black hoodie, I calmly looked at the stores around me.

As I observed the stores around me, glancing towards my right where a black cat was lazily resting on my shoulder, I helplessly shook my head.

...since I couldn't let her stay in the Lock by herself, I naturally could only bring her alongside with me on my little trip out.

Currently, there were quite a lot of people walking down the busy streets as shops with large signs and posters appeared everywhere. Moreover, large billboards with handsome and beautiful girls could be seen everywhere as every one hundred meters a new billboard could be seen.

"Waa, look at how cute that cat is?"

"Do you want to go pet it?"

"Look at its fur, it's so beautiful"

However, if there was one thing that was currently bothering me, it would be the continuous whispers coming from the people around me as everyone stared at the black cat who was quietly resting on my shoulder.

...the culprit for such commotion was obviously Angelica who was currently in disguise. Fortunately, the reason why they were looking at her wasn't because they had found out her true identity. No, rather, it was because she was too cute.

Despite currently being in the form of a cat, because of how naturally charming Angelica was, her charm was naturally preserved even in her cat form causing anyone that saw her to involuntarily want to pet her.

Fortunately, it looked like no one noticed that she was a demon else things could've gotten quite burdensome.

"Please don't touch her"

From time to time thought, I had to stop people from approaching her and touching her. This was for both my good and their good.

...considering the fact that Angelica was a bloodthirsty demon, there was a possibility of her suddenly killing anyone without notice. Moreover, if they suddenly injected mana inside of her body, there was a chance that her identity would be exposed. Thus, I stopped anyone that tried to approach her.

Lazily resting on my shoulder, gently licking one of her paws, Angelica asked

"Where are we going?"

Wearing my earbuds without playing any music, I calmly replied.

"Not sure, I'm just taking a casual look around"

...it's true.

Since I had nothing else to do, I decided to take a stroll in the city that was next to the Lock. Moreover, since I didn't trust Angelica being by herself in the Lock, I brought her with me.

...actually, I did have one goal in mind from this casual trip.

Buy a new sword.

Recalling my sword that was resting inside of my dorm, I couldn't help but sigh. Having spent a lot of time with me, I was naturally attached to it...however, now that I had gotten stronger, it was about time I switched weapons.

Hiding inside of my hoodie because of the constant pestering, Angelica softly said

"Casual look?"

"Yeah"

Honestly, this wasn't part of the original plan.

I had originally thought of visiting my family since my headquarters weren't too far from where they lived, but after a bit of thinking, I chose not to.

...I didn't want to alert Matthew of my appearance. If my appearance alerted him or altered his plans like before, there was a possibility of something unpleasant happening. Thus, after a bit of thinking, I decided to not interact with my family face-to-face until I returned from Immorra.

Of course, I would also make sure to voice call them from time to time, however, that wasn't really a problem as they would always make sure to call me at the end of each day. I guess this was the consequence of having a doting family...which was another reason as to why I had to get rid of the curse from their body.

...and on that note, I also needed to make preparations for the future after the curse that plagued my parents was dissolved.

Once I broke the curse, the first thing Matthew and his contracted demon would do would obviously be to try to attack my parents in hopes of taking revenge against me. This was obviously not ideal.

No, rather, this wasn't good at all.

Although my dad was a <D> ranked hero, the enemy he was facing at that time was unknown, I couldn't' afford to take any risk.

Therefore, I had to figure out what to do after I broke the curse. Feeling Angelica's small body hiding inside of the hood of my hoodie, I secretly thought to myself.

'Should I send her?'

If I sent her to protect them, perhaps Matthew wouldn't make a move...yeah, that idea sounded indeed quite plausible. Moreover, I was sure Nola was going to love Angelica in cat form.

Either way, that was something for another time.

Stopping in front of a pedestrian lane as I waited for the streetlight to turn green, looking ahead, I calmly spoke to the air.

"Angelica, are you sure they won't be able to spot you once we get in the Lock? You know that the Lock is filled with S ranked heroes right? I find it hard to believe that you can hide from their prying eyes"

This was the thing I was most worried about.

With the fact that the whole academy was filled with superhuman teachers who could crush buildings with just the flick of their fingers, my concerns were understandable.

After all, with how strong they were, they could probably discover her secret no?

With her body curled together and eyes closed, hearing my question Angelica lazily responded

"Do not worry human, as long as I retain my form and don't channel any of my energy, it is impossible for anyone to notice my presence unless they are touching me or are using an extremely special skill. I've already tested this before..."

Hearing this, I secretly sighed in relief.

...She was probably not lying, still, it was better to be safe rather than sorry. After I returned back to the Lock, it was better that I set some rules for Angelica.

Like for example never go out whenever I was not with her or other boring stuff like that. Though I sounded like a mom, this was in fact for my own benefit after all. Her actions directly reflected me, therefore, she had to be obedient.

As my thoughts paused there, I soon found myself in front of a large shop with the word [Remedy Bookstore] written on it.

"Might as well"

Staring at the sign for a couple of seconds, I decided to open the door and go in.

...I had suddenly recalled the fact that I needed to buy some books for some of the courses. The sword could wait for after this.

-Ding -Dong!

Entering the building, the bells at the front door lightly chimed indicating that a customer had come in. Thereafter, as soon as I stepped in, I instantly smelled the scent of books and paper enter the nostrils of my nose prompting me to savor the new smell.

"Welcome"

Greeting me at the front desk was an elegant young man that wore a brown apron. Pointing towards the different rows of bookshelves in the distance, he calmly explained.

"If you're looking for books, on your right you can find the fiction area, in the middle materials you can find the materials for academy studies. Lastly, on your left, there is the research materials section where different unproven hypotheses are posted. Everything that you desire you can find it here, so please take your time and enjoy reading the books till then"

"Thank you very much"

Nodding my head towards the clerk, I quickly headed towards the middle area. Taking out my phone I quickly scrolled down and checked which book I needed to buy and proceeded to pick them one by one.

"Principles of mana combustion, Law and integration of modern society, Decomposition of molecular..."

After a while, holding onto a stack of books whilst making sure I took everything that I needed, I directly headed back towards where the clerk was. However, abruptly stopping, my eyesight soon paused on a certain book that was being displayed in the open.

[48 laws of power]

Staring at the book for a couple of seconds, a frown appeared on my face as I softly mumbled

"48 laws of power? I think I've heard of this book back in my previous world..."

Out of curiosity, walking over to where the book was, putting the books in my hand down, I casually flipped through some of the pages of the book. However, after ten minutes, I soon found myself unable to stop reading. My mind was completely engrossed.

"Huuu..."

After a while, exhaling out loud, I couldn't help but look at the book in front of me with a bit of excitement.

...though it was a quick skim, my mind was currently blown away by the insights contained within the book. It was literally a walking cheat code for any transmigration protagonist...it was insane.

-Plack!

"I'm buying this"

Without hesitation, closing the book I quickly decide to buy this book. As I thought about all of the possibilities I could achieve after I read and referenced this book, a faint smile appeared on my lips.

"Ren?"

However, just as I was basking in my own delusions, snapping me out of my thoughts, was the sound of a soft and cold voice coming not so far from where I was.

Frowning and turning around, I soon found to my surprise, a beautiful young girl with glossy black hair staring in my direction.

"Who are you?"

Taking a better look at the young girl that had just called my name, at first I didn't recognize who it was as they were wearing a pair of sunglasses and a baseball hat, however, lowering her glasses, I was soon able to identify who it was resulting in my pupils constricting slightly.

"...Amanda?"

Chapter 155: Peculiar store [2]

"...Amanda?

Staring at me, Amanda nodded her head and politely greeted me.

"mhm, hello"

Glancing at her from the side as I was still holding onto a stack of books, I lightly said

"What a coincidence, what brings you here?"

As I spoke, frowning slightly, I took a good look around me and suddenly realized what the problem with my sentence was. Right, how could I forget? This was a bookstore moreover it was close to the Academy.

Taking into account Amanda's personality and the fact that she loved reading books, chances of meeting her here weren't that low.

Lifting her left hand, Amanda flashed a blue book in front of me and said

"I'm here to buy books"

Nodding my head in understanding, I softly mumbled

"Right, you do like books after all"

Tilting her head to the side allowing for her hair to gently brush past her shoulders, Amanda's brows furrowed slightly as she asked.

"How do you know?"

Hearing her question, I froze for a split second. Fortunately, this only lasted for a short moment as I was able to quickly recompose myself before calmly responding.

"...it's because whenever I see you in the morning, you're always reading a book"

"I see..."

Hearing my explanation, Amanda's frown lessened and thereafter she nodded in understanding. It was true, she was always reading books in the morning, I guess it wasn't strange for someone to know that she liked reading books.

"Yeah..."

Seeing that Amanda had bought my explanation, I secretly sighed in relief. Fortunately, I didn't panic due to my slip-up as I was somehow able to retain my composure.

Though I do have to say that my composure has been getting better and better with each passing day that I was in this world.

Now I didn't panic as much as I used to...and even when I panicked, my brain wouldn't suddenly turn blank like before.

Staring at the large pile of books in my hand and looking at some of the titles printed on the sides, Amanda softly said

"Are you buying school materials?"

Hearing her question, I calmly nodded my head.

"Yeah...Yes, I am. With the new semester starting, I naturally need to buy the corresponding books for the upcoming classes. As you probably know, I'm not very good at studying"

"I understand..."

Nodding her head in understanding, Amanda soon noticed a strange book on top of the piles of books in my hands and curiously asked

"What's that book"

Staring in the direction of where she was looking at, I soon saw that it was the book I was just looking at moments before, [48 laws of power].

"This one? Just a book I casually picked up after buying the school materials-"

"Meow"

As I was speaking, cutting me mid-sentence was a meowing sound that came from the back of my hoodie.

Hearing Angelica's meow, staring at Amanda, my mouth slightly twitched. Thereafter, peeking from my hoodie, Angelica appeared before Amanda.

Ignoring Amanda and licking her right paw, Angelica's voice entered my mind.

[Human, hurry up]

Suddenly hearing Angelica's voice inside of my mind, I couldn't help but be stunned as I involuntarily gasped out loud.

"Huh?"

Noticing my strange reaction, Amanda looked at me in confusion.

"Ren?"

Raising my hand, I reassured Amanda I was fine as I glared at Angelica who was on my shoulder.

"...ah it's nothing, my cat just scratched the back of my neck by accident"

"Ah, I see"

Seeing that Amanda had bought my excuse, I stared at Angelica and softly whispered.

"What the hell was that for? and how did you suddenly speak inside of my head"

Whilst still licking her paws, a trace of disdain appeared in Angelica's eyes as she said

[Idiot, I am communicating with you through your mind. This is a common technique that you humans should be able to do, and yet you don't know it. Just think and I will be able to communicate with you]

Frowning slightly, heeding Angelica's instructions, I quickly spoke inside of my mind.

'Can you hear me?'

[Yes, I can. Now hurry up, I am getting bored of this place]

Staring intently at Angelica who was communicating with me through my mind, Amanda pointed at her and curiously asked.

"Is that your cat?"

Hearing Amanda's voice, turning my head in her direction I nodded my head.

"Oh, yes she is"

"Is it a male or a female?"

"Female"

"Female, I see"

Staring at Angelica who was resting on my shoulder, hesitating for a couple of seconds, Amanda asked

"...what's her name?"

Hearing her question, I froze for a second.

"...name? Ehmm, Ang-"

Just as I was about to call her Angelica, noticing a piercing glare coming from my right, I quickly realized that naming her Angelica wasn't the best idea and thus out of the spur of the moment said the first thing that came into my mind.

"Pudding"

However, as soon as those words came out of my mouth, I instantly regretted it as I noticed Angelica's body stiffen on my shoulder.

Unaware of my current predicament, placing her hand on her chin, Amanda softly repeated.

"pudding?"

Weakly turning my head to the right and staring at Angelica who was still in shock, I gritted my teeth.

Fuck it.

Since I already said it, there was no going back.

"Yes, her name is pud-Ow!"

However, abruptly stopping me midsentence I soon found a sharp cat claw slap my face from the side. Thereafter I noticed Angelica's yellow eyes menacingly glaringly in my direction. Not long after I heard her angry voice echo inside of my ears

[Human, how dare you call me something as humiliating as pudding! I demand you correct yourself immediately or this Matriarch will let you taste the consequences]

Hearing Angelica's angry words, the first thing thought that came into my mind was...

'How do you know what a pudding is in the first place?'

Do demons eat pudding?

Speechless, for a moment Angelica forgot about her anger as she responded

[Your stupidity knows no bounds, how long do your think we've been in this world? We know everything about you humans as we have spied and studied your behavior for decades. Of course, I know what a pudding is]

That made sense

...same went for humans. We too have studied demons for a long time and thus know about most of the stuff they do to pass time.

'I see, I guess it does make sense now'

[Hmph, since you know you better...]

Unaware of the conversation between me and Angelica, Amanda nodded her head as she looked at Angelica who was resting on my shoulder.

"pudding I see...that's a very suitable name"

Hesitating for a moment and pursing her lips, Amanda lightly glanced at Angelica who was glaring daggers at me from my shoulder, and after mustering her courage, she carefully said

"Can I pet it?"

Taken aback, turning my attention back towards Amanda, I tried to make sure I heard correctly,

"Can you what?"

"Pet it...I mean, pet pudding?"

Staring at Amanda's serious gaze, the gears of my mind halted for a second before I finally realized what was going on and a faint smile appeared on my lips.

...ah I see

I guess it's true when they say girls love cute things. Even Amanda who seemed to have a heart made out of ice couldn't help but love cute things.

Staring at Angelica who was on my shoulder, I helplessly shook my head.

"Hmmm, I wouldn't mind but as you can see, Pudding's not really the friendliest cat in the world. You see, she's a bit of a feisty one-ow!"

Just as I was trying to come up with an excuse to refuse Amanda's request, stopping me mid-sentence was Angelica's paw slapping my left cheek.

"Hey watch it!"

[How dare you still call me that, you're seeking death!]

-Swoosh!

Cocking my head to the side, I dodged another one of her paws that was headed in my direction. Thereafter, I dodged another four attacks coming from her.

'Hey stop it!'

[How dare you humiliate me like this?]

-Swoosh!

Thus for the next few seconds, I dodged Angelica's feisty paws as she continuously aimed for my face. Only after holding both of her paws with my hands that I manage to stop her from going on a rampage.

"I see..."

Hearing my response, lowering her head, a trace of disappointment flashed across Amanda's eyes.

Seeing the disappointment in Amanda's eyes, I could only pretend to not have seen it.

Since Angelica's identity could be exposed if she touched her, I could only feign ignorance much to her disappointment. Thus in order to help her quickly forget about her disappointment, I quickly tried to change the topic.

"Right, Amanda do you know a place where I can buy weapon-Ow!"

However before I had the chance to finish speaking, taking advantage of the small window of opportunity of the moment I was distracted, Angelica once again assaulted me.

-Smack!

"Damn it Puddin-Ow!"

[How dare you call me such a humiliating name again!]

-Swoosh! -Swoosh!

Trying to grab both of her claws, I tried to stop her from attacking me as I quickly screamed inside of my mind.

'I'm sorry, I'll make it up to you later, stop attacking me!'

[Shut up you scum!]

Ignoring my pleas, Angelica continued to attack me with her paws. Helpless I could only try to catch both of her hands like before. Fortunately, because she was currently in cat mode, her strength was significantly reduced.

As I dodged her attacks, I couldn't help but curse to myself.

'Damn it, if not for the fact that channeling my mana towards her core could expose her identity, I wouldn't have been in this stupid situation!'

"pfff..."

As I was trying to stop Angelica from attacking me, I suddenly heard faint giggling sounds coming from my right distracting me for a second. Seeing me get distracted, taking advantage of the moment, Angelica tried to attack me, but before her paw could hit my face, I quickly grabbed them with both of my hands.

Seeing that both of her paws were currently restrained, Angelica angrily shouted.

[Let go human!]

Ignoring Agelica's angry screams, I turned my head towards where the giggling sound came from, and thereafter, as I turned around, I was stunned by what I saw.

Covering her mouth with her delicate hand, as if the glaciers had melted and spring had arrived, Amanda's blossoming smile appeared in my vision causing me to fall into a daze for a split second.

Fortunately, this only lasted for a split second as I was quickly able to recompose myself. However, although I was able to quickly recover, that didn't mean that I didn't take any damage.

Because of what happened, my heart had almost skipped a beat. That one short moment where Amanda smiled just now, had almost caused my heart which was usually indifferent to girls to skip a beat.

Looking up at me, whilst still covering her mouth with her delicate hand, Amanda tried to switch the topic as she recalled the words that I was trying to say before.

"you're looking for a weapon?"

...secretly, as she tried to change the topic, Amanda was embarrassed as this was the first time since young that she had lost her composure like that. She didn't know what had gotten into her.

"Yeah"

Taking a deep breath to calm myself down, I nodded my head.

Similarly, taking a deep breath and returning to her usual stoic expression, placing her hand on her chin and pondering for a couple of seconds, Amanda seriously looked at me. Thereafter, thinking for a couple of seconds and seemingly having come up with a decision, she suggested

"...I was also going to a weapon shop, so why don't you come with me? I know a place"

Surprised by her suggestion, I questioningly asked

"You know a place? Are you sure it's fine to bring me there?"

"Yeah, I can invite another person"

Pondering for a moment, I thought to myself.

Considering the fact that Amanda was part of the largest guild in the human domain where she could get anything she desired and yet was still going to a weapon shop...it suggested to me that whatever the place she was going to was anything but ordinary...and the fact that it needed an invitation made it even mysterious in my eyes.

Thus thinking along those lines and weighing my options, I nodded my head.

"Sure, but let me pay for the books first"

"Okay"

Smiling and nodding at Amanda, I quickly excused myself and headed to the cashier to check my books out.

As I walked towards the cashier, I couldn't help but thank my luck. Now that Amanda was with me, I could finally replace my sword with a new one. With this, my strength would once again increase a bit.

Thinking along those lines, my mood brightened up.

...

Meanwhile, as Ren was checking his books out, not so far from where he was and staring at his back from a few blocks away, Amanda couldn't help but be reminded of the scene where Angelica ruthlessly slapped him in the face continuously.

As she was reminded of the scene, Amanda's lips inadvertently pulled upwards. Shortly after a small giggle escaped from her mouth.

"hehehe"

Covering her mouth with her hand again, Amanda once again tried to hold her laugh back. As she laughed, as if a heavy block had been lifted from her, Amanda couldn't help but feel refreshed.

...for the first time in a while, Amanda had smiled and laughed from the bottom of her heart.

She didn't dislike the feeling.

Chapter 156: Peculiar store [3]

After leaving the bookstore, following Amanda into the busy streets of the area we were in, we soon took a couple of turns and entered a few alleyways. As we moved into the alleyways, with every step I took, I noticed that there were fewer and fewer people present.

Frowning, glancing at Amanda who was walking ahead of me, I asked

"Are you sure we're going in the right direction?"

Staring at my surroundings, I couldn't help but think that we were headed in the wrong direction as everything around me started becoming dirtier and more worn out. Graffiti appeared all over the walls of the buildings next to me, and more and more litter could be found on the ground.

This place seemed to resemble the slums rather than a high-end place that sold powerful artifacts.

"mhm"

Without glancing at me, moving around some of the alleys, Amanda nodded her head.

Observing her from behind, from the way that she was confidently moving around the alleyways, it became apparent to me that this wasn't her first time going here.

"alright"

Thus, seeing Amanda nod her head, I shrugged my shoulders and followed her. No point in regretting this now.

Fortunately, I didn't have to worry about our safety. Although I had no idea of what place we were going to, I was pretty sure that we were currently being followed by a couple of Amanda's bodyguards in the shadows.

Though I couldn't sense them nor see them, I was naturally aware of their presence due to Amanda's identity as the princess of the demon hunter guild.

Since she wasn't in the academy, she naturally had bodyguards following her at all times. This was especially so after what had happened to her a couple of months back with Elijah.

Back then, because she was at the Lock, she didn't have bodyguards tailing her. But now, after what had happened, bodyguards stuck to her like glue. Even if she was at the Lock.

Although her father wasn't there for her very often, that didn't mean that she wasn't precious to him.

In fact, he loved her quite a lot but with everything going on at the guild he rarely had time to spend with her which she naturally understood as his every move and decision could affect the lives of tens of thousands of people.

...being a guild master both had its perks and cons.

"We're here"

After a while, we arrived in front of a large metallic door. Moving in front of the large metallic door, Amanda raised her hand and knocked on the door two times.

-knock -knock

After knocking, silence prevailed in the surroundings. Shortly after, a couple of minutes after she knocked, a hoarse voice resounded from the other side of the door.

"what day is it today?"

Without batting an eye, Amanda indifferently said

"It's the day where the moonlight shines and the dust sweeps"

Tilting my head as I listened to their conversation, I thought to myself

'Was this some sort of password? It made no sense...'

This sort of reminded me of the black market where I would similarly have to tell them a password in order to enter. Well, that was before...now that I had the VIP card, I could naturally go in without needing to tell them the password.

-Clank!

After Amanda recited the password, after a short pause a small compartment appeared on the side and the hoarse voice resounded again.

"Identification card"

Nodding her head, Amanda placed a small purple card inside of the compartment. Thereafter, a couple of seconds after placing the card in the compartment, the compartment lit up and a red hue enveloped the card.

-Ding!

Moments after the red hue enveloped the card, a green one replaced it and a loud ringing resounded across the area.

-Clank!

Shortly after the light turned green, the metallic doors slowly opened revealing a long and dark corridor.

"Come in"

With his back hunched down, an elderly figure with fading hair, holding onto a wooden stick to support himself, casually greeted us at the entrance of the place. Thereafter, turning around he walked deeper into the tunnel.

Briefly glancing at me from the corner of her eyes, Amanda nodded at me and followed the old man in. Rubbing my nose, I followed her in.

...This honestly looked really sketchy. But well, I probably shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

After all, even if the building was ugly on the outside, that didn't mean the interior was ugly too, no?

Well, I was quickly proven wrong.

After walking down the long dark corridor we soon arrived inside of an old room that had a musty odor, evocative of grandparents' houses – the type that made you feel safe and cozy yet at the same time stuffy.

In the corner of the room stood an old lamp that dimly lit the room, and at the center of the room, there were two white sofas next to each other with a squared wooden table in the middle. The walls were draped in light green wallpaper and on the right-hand side of the room were wooden stairs that led towards the upper floor.

Seeing the state of the room before me, frowning, I couldn't help but stare at Amanda.

...was this really a weapon shop?

I had honestly expected this place to be extremely luxurious on the inside. However, it seems like this place was both ugly on the inside and the outside.

"Please sit down"

Gesturing for us to sit down, the elderly man glanced towards his right where the stairs were and shouted.

"Richard we have two customers, please bring down two catalogs"

"Coming, coming, give me a minute"

Following the old man's voice, a youthful one filled with vigor could be heard from the second floor of the apartment.

"Be quick"

As I sat down, glancing towards Amanda, with a hint of doubt in my voice I softly whispered.

"This is the weapon store?"

"Yes"

Nodding her head, Amanda's eyes drifted towards Angelica who had calmed down and was now resting on my shoulder. As she looked at her, a look of longing appeared in her eyes.

'...it seems like she really wanted to pet her.'

Seeing this, whilst still staring at the front, I thought inside of my mind.

'Hey Angelica, if she pets you will you be discovered?'

Raising her head and staring at the side of my head, Angelica's voice transmitted inside of my mind.

[Not unless they channel their mana inside of my body to inspect me, why do you ask?]

Hesitating, I briefly glanced at Amanda next to me and said

'Do you think you can let her pet you?'

[Human, do not test my limit]

'Not even once?'

Raising her paw in a threatening manner, Angelica angrily said

[Human, do you want to get clawed again]

Seeing Angelica raise her paw once again, I instantly shut up and waited for the catalogs to arrive as I inwardly cursed.

'...when I get back at the Lock I will definitely set things straight'

If not for the fact that me retaliating would lead to me being seen as an animal abuser, I would've already shown Angelica her place.

"Two catalogs coming right up"

After a couple of minutes, walking down the stairs was a young man with brown hair and brown eyes, his face was relatively handsome and if not for the lazy look on his face as well accompanied by his unkempt hair, he would've looked like a rich second-generation hair.

As he walked down the stairs, his eyes turned towards the sofa areas. Thereafter, spotting Amanda quietly resting on one of the sofa's, Richards's eyes lit up as he straightened his posture, and proceeded to fix his hair and clothes.

Walking towards Amanda with a bright smile, handing her a tablet, he politely greeted her.

"Why if it isn't Miss Stern, what do I owe the pleasure of having you come here?"

Glancing at the Richard for not even a second, Amanda took a tablet and indifferently said

"I'm here to buy a weapon"

Not minding her attitude, Richard smiled. However, his smile soon froze after he spotted me sitting next to her. Warily looking at me, he asked Amanda

"May I ask who this gentleman is?"

Still looking at her tablet, Amanda indifferently said

"He is a fellow classmate"

Hearing the word 'classmate', Richard secretly sighed in relief as he couldn't help but ask again

"Just classmate?"

Frowning and putting the tablet down, Amanda just stared at Richard.

Instantly the room froze.

Realizing his mistake, Richard lowered his head and apologized.

"Ah...I apologize for the slip of tongue"

Thereafter, taking out another tablet, Richard coldly looked at me as he handed it to me

"...Here, take the tablet and choose whatever weapon you want. After you're done choosing tell me and I will place your order down"

Taking the tablet and ignoring the obvious difference in treatment, I inwardly shook my head.

With how beautiful Amanda was, such scenario was bound to happen. Still, I didn't think much of it and looked through the catalog.

Soon I was presented with a long catalog of weapons that ranged from swords to axes and all other types of weapons. There were even some weapons that I had never thought of as practical such as a string-type weapon and boomerangs.

Staring at the long catalog of weapons, I soon realized why Amanda was adamant on coming here.

The weapons here weren't branded nor were mass produced. There was only a single one of each weapon thus making me realize something.

This wasn't a weapon store but rather a smithy...where the weapons were directly made.

Realizing this, scrolling through the table, using the filter function I narrowed down my search to swords and set a price cap.

Since the weapons weren't mass produced, they were bound to be much higher in quality than what could be bought in regular stores.

Thus, thinking along those lines, shortly after, three swords that matched my criteria appeared before me.

====

Artifact name : Roaming star

Rank : D

Price : 11,999,999 U

Description : A long, thin, and slightly curved blade, sharp-edged on both sides, with one end pointed and the other fixed in a hilt. The Roaming star is a sword that is extremely light and durable which is great for users that specialize in speed.

Effect :

[None]

====

Artifact name : Death kiss

Rank : D

Price : 16,999,999 U

Description : A sleek and thin blade. The basket handle is comprised of a mix of special metals that are specifically selected and molten together after a rough analysis of their properties. The sword is a magnificent masterpiece created with the intent of reaping the lives of those who are against it.

Effect :

[Ligh of dawn] - By utilizing light psyons, the sword can illuminate the surroundings for a split second blinding the opponent and thus, creating an opening.

====

Artifact name : Bleak star

Rank : D

Price : 19,999,999 U

Description : A slick black sword made out of an alloy between Tristar metal and Kolak metal in which upon molding together created a tough and light metal alloy that is tougher and sharper than titanium or any metal that was known to mankind prior to the second cataclysm. Crafted by a skillful blacksmith.

Effect :

[Psyon coating] - Allow for the sword to be coated with psyons and thus enable the sword to gain an elemental attribute enhancing the power of the sword.

===

Looking at the swords presented before me, I couldn't help but mumble to myself.

"Oh? some of the swords have effects too"

What set artifacts apart from each other was not only their rank, there were other criteria that could determine the worth of an artifact, and that was whether they had any effect or not.

Effects were like skills but only appeared in artifacts moreover they were permanent and couldn't be changed.

When forging a new artifact there was a small percentage of a weapon gaining an effect and once it did gain an effect...its value would drastically increase.

Naturally, in order for an effect to appear the blacksmith had to be skilled, and seeing that there were two swords with an effect, I could instantly understand that whoever the blacksmith of this place was, he/she was definitely incredibly skilled.

Roaming star, Death Kiss, and Bleak star.

...those were the names of the three swords that I was presented after setting my criteria.

Honestly, if I waited a bit more I could've definitely have gotten a better sword as I did have one sword in mind that I wanted to get at all costs...but unfortunately, the time to collect it wasn't ripe yet.

It was a sword that originally belonged to one of the villains in the novels who eventually loses to Kevin. During the fight, the sword gets destroyed as a result of the fight with Kevin and thus never truly got the recognition it deserved.

Thinking about 'that' sword, if I had to estimate the approximate rank of the sword it would be around <B> rank, however, although its rank wasn't the highest, swords could easily be upgraded by going to a good blacksmith.

Moreover, the real reason why I was interested in the sword wasn't because of the sword itself but rather its effect...one that would really help me in the future.

"Huuu..."

Taking a deep breath, I stopped thinking about that sword. I shouldn't get ahead of myself as that was something that would happen later on in the future.

Right now I needed to focus on the swords before me.

Looking at the price tag of the swords before me, I instantly felt a pang in my heart, but thinking about my trip to Immorra in two months' time, I could only helplessly firm myself and buy one of the swords.

"...I'll guess I'll choose this one"

In the end, after a bit of thought, I chose Bleak star.

Although it was the most expensive of the lot, it was also the most powerful of the three as its skill was quite good. Moreover, considering the fact that I needed to increase my strenght as much as possible, I could only firm myself and empty my wallet.

Thus, as I made up my mind, turning my attention back towards Richard, I pointed at the tablet and said

"I'll buy this one"

Chapter 157: Setting up the framework [1]

"Thank you for your purchase, your order will be delivered to you in a week's time"

Coldly looking at me, Richard handed me a receipt and proceeded to ignore me. Rolling my eyes at his obvious display of jealousy I headed back towards the sofas.

Honestly, though annoying, Richard's behavior was quite amusing. Although he acted like a typical arrogant young master, he wasn't looking down on me nor saying things like 'how dare you touch my Amanda! you're courting death!'

It was sort of refreshing...I guess he was just a very frank person.

Either way, once again sitting on the sofa as a light sigh escaped from my mouth, I looked at the receipt in my hand and fell into deep thought.

20,000,000 U

I spent a total of 20,000,000 U on a sword today...

That was just about all of the money I had saved up excluding the budget for the mercenary group which was pretty much off-limits.

...I was now once again poor.

Still, I didn't regret my decision.

If this decision proved instrumental in keeping myself safer in the future, then it was a worthy investment.

After all, my life was more important than money.

Plus, I could very well make the money back in the future. Especially so since I now had a clear direction with regards to earning money.

"Ah!"

Suddenly recalling something I smacked my fist on the palm of my hand.

'Right, I guess now that Amanda is with me I may as well bring the topic of the company project to her'

...I had originally planned on doing this a long time ago, but since I didn't have a concrete product at the time, I didn't do it. However, now that a bit of time had passed since I gave the outline of the project to Melissa, the initial phases of the product were now completed.

From what Melissa showed me, it was now presentable for investments.

Thinking along those lines, my eyes quickly drifted towards the sofa next to me where Amanda was sitting. However just as I was about to bring the topic up, I stopped myself as what I saw and heard made me speechless.

With his elbow on the handrail of the stairs, leaning backward, Richard stared at Amanda who was sitting on the sofa next to me and casually said

"...So, Amanda how long has it been since we've last seen each other?"

Ignoring Richard as she looked through the tablet, Amanda bluntly said

"I forgot"

Not minding Amanda's cold tone, Richard chuckled.

"hehe, but I didn't forget, it's been a total of one month and three days since I've last seen you. Not once did I forget the moment you walked through the door and stole my heart, ever since that day I've bee..."

Completely unfazed by Richard's long love confession, pointing towards the screen of the tablet, Amanda said

"I want to purchase this and this"

Seeing Amanda point towards the tablet, taking his elbow off of the handrail of the stairs, Richard enthusiastically moved to where she was and said

"Oh, you're buying this one? A very wise choice.."

Watching Richard continuously try to flirt with Amanda, I was left speechless.

What sort of failed attempt at flirting was this?

Wasn't Amanda making it obvious that she wasn't interested? Even I who was terrible at dealing with girls could see this.

Facepalming as I cringed at Richard from where I was sitting, I thought to myself.

'...this guy is a total simp'

In the end, much to Richard's disappointment Amanda only spoke a few words to him as she placed her orders down. Regardless of how much Richard tried to shift the conversation, Amanda would just coldly ignore him.

After purchasing everything that she wanted, much to Richard's distraught, Amanda stood up and looked at me.

"Let's go"

"Alright"

Nodding my head, supporting my body with my hands, I stood up and followed Amanda out of the worn-down apartment. According to what I've been told, our orders would be automatically delivered to our dorms in a couple of days thus after we placed the orders we were pretty much done.

Seeing Amanda leave, a trace of disappointment flashed Richard's eyes. Thereafter looking at me for a couple of seconds, he raised his voice and said

"Miss Stern thank you for your patronage, I hope to see you again in the future...preferably alone"

Hearing the last part of his sentence, shaking my head, I followed Amanda out.

How petty.

Waiting at the entrance of the building was the same old man with a hunch back from before. Opening the door, the old man said

"Ignore that the lad, thank you for the patronage, I hope to see you again"

Nodding her head towards the old man, Amanda left the building. Following Amanda's example, I too thanked the old man and left the building.

"mhm"

"Yes, thank you"

-Clank!

Shortly after, as the large metal door behind us closed, we soon found ourselves back outside the streets. Turning towards Amanda, I softly said

"Amanda there is something I want to talk to you about"

Glancing at me, Amanda tilted her head and said

"Something to talk about?"

"Yeah, do you have time?"

Pondering for a couple of seconds, Amanda eventually nodded her head.

"Yes, I do"

...since today was her day off she naturally had free time.

Moreover, glancing at the black cat resting on my shoulder, Amanda bit her lips as she swore to herself that she would one day pet her.

Though she tried to hide it from everyone, Amanda had a weak spot for animals...and after seeing Ren's cat, Amanda couldn't stop herself from wanting to pet it. Fortunately, having seen how aggressive pudding was, Amanda refrained from doing anything.

...she didn't want to get slapped like Ren.

Unaware of Amanda's inner thoughts, glancing towards my surroundings, I quickly said

"...let's go somewhere else. This isn't really the most ideal place."

Snapping out of her thoughts, Amanda nodded her head.

"Okay"

However, just as we were about to move, recalling something, I glanced at Amanda and asked

"Ah, also preferably do you know any place that is secluded? Like where there aren't many people?"

Tilting her head to the side, a confused look appeared on Amanda's face as she asked.

"why?"

Seeing the look of confusion on Amanda's face, I didn't respond immediately.

...why?

Was she not even aware of her looks?

*Sigh*

As a sigh escaped from my mouth, I made up a random excuse.

"Because I don't like crowds"

After a bit of thought, Amanda eventually nodded her head and turned right to one of the alleyways.

"Okay"

Usually, Amanda would've immediately refused such a proposition as she wasn't comfortable with going to secluded spaces alone with a boy...however, strangely, she didn't feel that way with Ren.

Oddly enough, she wasn't repulsed by the idea.

In fact, this was probably the first time in her life that she felt this way...was it perhaps because of pudding? or was it because Ren gave her an odd sense of security?

...Amanda didn't know.

Although she knew her feelings weren't that of love, at the moment, she didn't dislike Ren.

Unaware of Amanda's thoughts about me, I smiled brightly and said

"Great, lead the way"

Nodding her head, after thinking for a bit, Amanda decided to go towards a certain cafe' that she liked to frequent with Emma.

"Follow me"

Thus, following Amanda around, after walking out of the alleys and heading towards the main street, we walked for a couple of minutes before soon arriving at a rather secluded area that had little to no people around.

Noticing a small shop that looked quite modern and had a transparent retractable door at the entrance of the store, glancing at Amanda I asked

"Is that the place?"

Nodding her place, Amanda headed towards the cafe'

"Yes"

As we made our way through the transparent glass door of the cafe', a blanket of warm air brushed past my skin warming my body immediatly. Subsequently, the rich aroma of the coffee invaded my nostrils prompting me to directly stare at the blackboard on top of the cashier.

Displayed on it, were different types of coffees.

"Welcome"

Welcoming Amanda and I at the register was a moderately beautiful young girl. Greeting the young girl back, Amanda and I quickly placed our orders.

Shortly after, as Amanda ordered an Americano and I took an espresso, we soon found a table in the corner of the shop and decided to go there.

-Squek! -Squek!

As Amanda and I were walking towards the table in the corner of the shop, the aged wooden floor creaked beneath our feet creating a subtle squeaking sound. Ignoring this, arriving at the table, I made myself comfortable and sat on a bulky wooden chair that had a small cushion on top.

Sitting on the opposite side of me, Amanda calmly took a sip of her coffee and looked at me. After a short pause, she said

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

Putting my espresso down, taking out my phone, and turning on the holographic function of my phone, I quickly played a video to Amanda.

"Here, have a look at this"

In order to convince Amanda, I had asked Melissa beforehand to send me a video of the current progress of her research..and the video I was currently going to show Amanda was a prototype of a magic card.

Staring at the holographic image before her, Amanda curiously asked.

"What is this?"

"Just watch"

As the video loaded up, pressing the play button, the scenery changed to that of a white room. In the middle of the room stood a red card that was about the size of a Tarot card. Two metallic pincers held onto the card from the top and bottom.

Subsequently, a crisp voice echoed from the speaker of the phone as the pincers holding onto the card glowed a red hue.

"Initializing flame psyon injection"

Thereafter, as the voice faded, the pincers became brighter as they soon injected mana into the card.

-Buuam!

Shortly after the card was injected with mana, a scorching red flame erupted from the card burning everything that was before it. This lasted for a couple of seconds before the flame soon disappeared and the card returned to its regular appearance.

After a brief moment of silence, a crisp voice once again echoed through the speaker of the phone.

"Test subject 749, prototype seems to now be able to successfully cast simple tier I spell Fireball. Referencing back with data analysis, efficiency loss is 42%, Power loss..."

-Plack!

Ignoring the last bit and turning off the phone, a faint smile appeared on my lips as I looked at Amanda before me.

"So, what do you think?"

Staring at the phone in my hand, Amanda's eyes were wide open as a look of shock appeared on her delicate face.

Seeing Amanda's reaction, I smiled.

Honestly, when I first saw the video I had a similar reaction to her.

Because I wasn't as talented in the field of magic as I was in swordsmanship, I could only look at mages in envy. Although I could learn magic, because I wasn't talented for it, it would probably take me a long time to learn the most simple spell.

...simply put, a waste of time. Thus I could only give up on my initial dream of casting fireballs.

However, now that Melissa was developing the magic card, people would now be able to cast spells. The idea was groundbreaking.

It was only after a couple of seconds had passed that Amanda was able to finally recover from her shock. Shortly after, starting at me she asked

"What was that?"

Smiling at Amanda, I proudly said

"A new product that I'm developing alongside Melissa, the magic card"

Taken aback, Amanda tried to make sure she heard correctly.

"Magic card? Melissa? Which Melissa? Melissa Hall?"

Nodding my head, I confirmed

"Yes, our classmate Melissa"

Seeing me confirm that it was indeed Melissa that I was working with, Amanda softly mumbled

"Her? how can it be her..."

Amanda was currently extremely confused.

She had known Melissa for quite a bit and from what she observed, she had never seen Melissa get along with anyone nor even interact with them.

Just finding out that she was working with someone else on a project, shocked Amanda.

Melissa was definitely not the type of person that would work with just anyone. Especially if it was something as big as this.

Halting her thoughts there, Amanda looked at Ren before her. Currently, a faint smile appeared on his lips as an air of confidence exuded from his body.

'Right, Melissa would definitely not be working with someone else unless the idea wasn't hers...'

So this meant that the one that came up with the idea was Ren!

Thinking along those lines, everything started to make sense. If he was the one that came up with the idea and had asked Melissa to develop the product then it was understandable as to why she was working with him...moreover, thinking back at the incident that had happened at the very beginning of the year, with regards to the mana poisoning theory, Amanda found the possibility of him being the one that came up with the idea more and more probable.

"Huuu..."

In the end, as Amanda thought along those lines, calming down and taking a deep breath, Amanda deeply looked into my eyes as she seriously said.

"So, why did you show me the video?"

Smiling and interlocking my hands together as I leaned forward a bit, I slowly said.

"Simple really...it's because I want to make a deal with you"

Chapter 158: Setting up the framework [2]

Frowning slightly, Amanda thought she had heard wrongly as she said.

"A deal?"

What kind of deal did he want to make with her?

...did he perhaps want to purchase a skill? An artifact? A partnership?

Many questions emerged in Amanda's head she tried to understand the current situation. Seeing the confusion written on Amanda's face, I spoke up.

"Yeah, I'm trying to set up a company and I'm currently looking for a backer"

Hearing the latter part of my sentence, as if some of her doubts were cleared, Amanda's brows knit in a frown as she looked at me and asked

"So you want a backer, in what sort of way?"

Nodding my head, I elaborated.

"Yes, one that would deter others from trying to blackmail my company or try to use their influence to try to shut us down or force us into giving them the framework of the project"

Taking a sip of her coffee, Amanda nodded her head.

"I see..."

That indeed made sense.

...if he decided to start up a company, having a large corporation supporting them was a good idea. That way there would be fewer people that would dare touch them.

Unless they were targeted by a large power whose strength was equivalent or greater to the backers they chose, the company would be able to develop smoothly and unobstructed. It was a great idea for those who were planning on increasing their market share quickly.

Nodding her head in understanding, after a short pause, Amanda's eyes narrowed as she understood something. She then proceeded to look at me and say

"...and you want the demon hunter guild to back you?"

Seeing that she understood, I nodded my head as I smiled

"Pretty much..."

What better backer was there than the current number one guild in the human domain?

Diamond graded guild, Demon hunter.

With them backing my company, its development would be smooth and fast. Exactly what I wanted.

Seeing me nod my head in confirmation, Amanda fell into deep thought as the frown on her face deepened.

"hmmm...I see"

Seeing Amanda's frown deepen, afraid that she would misunderstand I tried to elaborate.

"Ah, don't worry, I'm not asking you this as a favor but rather a deal on fair terms. As you have seen from the video, the product that I've developed is called a magic card"

Raising her head, Amanda thought back at the video I had shown her. Remembering the red card that shot fire after mana was injected in it, Amanda's interest piqued.

"So that thing was a magic card? "

"Yes"

Nodding my head and turning on my phone, I turned on the holographic function and showed Amanda the image of a red card that had fine golden patterns on its side. I then proceeded to explain to her how the card functioned.

"To summarize what it does, it's basically a card that can cast spells. Sort of like an external medium or an artifact"

Pausing and pointing towards the golden patterns on the card, I continued

"By engraving a simple magic circle on the card and by using a specific mixture of materials to create the frame of the card, the magic card can be created. It's essentially an item that upon injecting mana into the card activates the magic circle engraved on it and thus from there allows for users to cast spells like mages. Moreover, it can be used more than once..."

Hearing my explanation, Amanda didn't respond immediately. Placing her hand on her chin as she fell into deep thought, after a couple of seconds, she looked at me and questioningly asked

"...are you sure?"

From what she listened to, the so called 'magic card' sounded too good to be true to her.

A multi-use card that allowed for non-mages to cast spells...that would without be an instant hit in the market if it appeared. It was that good.

...however knowing just how good this product was, Amanda didn't agree immediately.

Although she had seen the card in the video, that was only in a video. Unless she had concrete proof regarding the magic card item, she couldn't irrationally agree on a deal. After all, this decision was something that could affect the reputation of her guild.

If they agreed on supporting the idea and when the card actually came out for commercial use and it wasn't as good as it was made out to be, the one suffering from the backlash would be them not Ren.

Regardless of the goodwill she had for Ren, Amanda had to think rationally.

Nodding my head and turning off my phone, I looked at Amanda in the eyes and said

"I can reassure you that the prototype works. Didn't you see the video?

"As of right now, that's the current development of the card. Although it isn't finished, we will soon be able to provide you with a proper commercial usable one to present to investors. Moreover, you can just ask Melissa regarding the details...she's the one that is developing it"

As I spoke, I tried to emphasize the fact that Melissa was the one behind the development of the card.

...since Melissa was the one developing the card, it sounded more trustworthy. After all, she was a renowned scientist. She had a lot more credibility than an unknown like me.

Thinking about Melissa, now that I thought about it, although I was the one that presented the idea to Melissa...in actuality, I barely contributed.

After all, I only had a rough understanding of how magic cards worked.

All I did was remember the materials required to make the card and using the internet to understand a couple of small concepts, came up with the framework of the card.

My idea was only theoretical.

To actually put it to practice was much harder as a lot of factors needed to be taken into consideration.

Honestly, it was already beyond me how Melissa was able to take my crappy framework and actually do something with it. After all, what I told her was only the vague explanation of what I had put inside of the novel.

There were definitely parts that I had not included in my writing.

...Thus, as I thought along those lines, I couldn't help but inwardly praise Melissa's genius. She really was worthy of winning the equivalent of a Nobel prize at a very young age.

Placing her hand on the side of her hair as she brushed it backward, Amanda pursed her lips tightly before she softly said.

"...let me think about it"

After listening to what I had to say, Amanda was more or less convinced.

Especially since she remembered that Melissa was the one developing the card.

If Melissa was indeed the one that was developing the product then there was a high chance that this was really a thing. Moreover, it would also sound more convincing to the board members as Melissa's fame wasn't for nothing.

Seeing that I had almost convinced Amanda, smiling, I leisurely sat back on the wooden chair and downed my espresso.

"Sure take your time, once you've made up your mind you can go to Melissa and retrieve a prototype of the card to show to investors"

Hesitating, Amanda said

"if I do agree, what do you think the terms should be"

Rubbing my nose as I thought for a couple of seconds, I proposed

"15% on all profits, no shares"

Frowning, Amanda asked

"15% on all profits no shares?"

"Yes"

I think this was a fair evaluation

Although they wouldn't really help much apart from investing and using their name, giving them 15% was fair.

Unlike Melissa, I wasn't giving them shares, but just a 15% percentage on all of the profits made from the sales. Unless they planned on heavily investing in the company, I wouldn't sell them any of its shares as I wanted to keep relative control over the company.

Still, although 15% on all profits didn't sound like a lot, considering the possibilities of Magic cards, it was a very good deal. After all, I was only borrowing their name, aside from that all they had to do is sit back and watch as money entered their pockets.

Knowing this, Amanda didn't immediately respond. After a bit of thinking, pursing her lips she said

"20%"

Shaking my head, I firmly rejected.

"Too much, how about 15% and discount for all guild members that wish to purchase a card"

This was my current limit. Any more than this and it would not be worth it.

Seeing the firmness in my tone and noticing that this was the last offer, after a bit of thinking, Amanda nodded her head.

"...okay, I'll get back at you later. I won't make any promises but I'll consider the offer"

Hearing Amanda's response, I smiled and said

"perfect"

As long as she considered it, all was good.

I was confident that as long as the prototype of the card came out, Amanda would without a doubt present it to the board of members of the guild who would agree after a bit of thought.

...the offer was just that good.

[Human, let's go]

As we had come up with an agreement, feeling Angelica's claws scratch my trousers from below the chair, I sighed and stood up.

"Alright, I think I've said all I wanted to say."

"Mhm"

Remaining seated as she calmly drank her coffee, Amanda nodded her head.

Picking Angelica up and putting her on my shoulder, I waved goodbye at Amanda as I prepared to leave the store.

"Alright, I'll see you around. Call me if you have made up your mind"

"Ren"

"Yes?

Just as I was about to leave, Amanda called out for me and said

"What's your number?"

Realizing that I didn't have her number, I facepalmed and took out my phone.

"Ah right, I forgot that you didn't have my number, here"

Taking my phone, Amanda lightly tapped my phone against hers and gave it back to me.

"Thank you"

"No problem. Contact me when you've made up your mind. Alright, I've got to go, I'll see you at the academy"

Thus, after I took back my phone from Amanda, I waved goodbye and left the store with Angelica on my shoulder much to Amanda's disappointment. As I left the shop, my lips curled slightly as I thought.

'...finally, my company is starting to take shape'

...

Half an hour after parting ways with Ren, in a rather secluded area, Amanda halted her footsteps. Looking in front of her where there was no one, Amanda spoke up.

"Samantha, Rebecca"

Shortly after Amanda's words echoed across the area, two shadows materialized before her as they kneeled on one knee and simultaneously said.

"young miss"

"young miss"

Coldly looking at them, Amanda indifferently spoke

"Do not let my father know of what happened today. Make sure that the conversation I just had with that boy does not reach his ears"

Hearing Amanda's command, Samantha, one of the two bodyguards who had fiery red hair and yellow eyes, tried to speak up. However, before she could finish her sentence she was cut off by Amanda

"But young-"

"Do not investigate him, that's an order"

Seeing the firmness in Amanda's voice, lowering her head Samantha proceeded to nod her head.

"Understood"

Turning her attention towards the other bodyguard who had short brown hair and a small piercing on her nose, Amanda spoke

"Rebecca?"

Lowering her head, Rebecca too nodded her head and said

"...understood"

Seeing that the both of them had heeded her order, nodding her head Amanda dismissed them.

"Good, you may leave"

-Swoosh!

-Swoosh!

Thereafter, as soon as Amanda finished speaking the two bodyguards melted into the darkness and disappeared.

Staring at the area where her two bodyguards were moments before, Amanda lightly sighed as she thought of her father.

...the reason why she had done this was because she didn't want her father to investigate Ren.

Knowing her father's personality well, if he got word of what happened today, he would without a doubt do a thorough background check on Ren. Considering that Ren had his fair share of secrets, Amanda knew that if her father caught onto something, Ren would find himself in a troublesome situation.

...to make matters worse, from what Amanda managed to observe from Ren so far, it was that he was the type of person that seemed to dislike trouble and attention.

Thus, knowing this, Amanda knew that it was better if her father was not made aware of what happened today. Perhaps in the future, but now was still not the time.

...she didn't want Ren to get a bad impression of her guild as a result start hating it because of what her father had done.

Moreover, since Ren had saved her life twice, Amanda knew that he wasn't trying to harm her. This was enough for her to not ask any more about his background.

If she wanted to know about his background, she would've preferred to hear it from the said person rather than digging it up against their knowledge. Especially since they weren't enemies.

...some may say she was naive for this, but to Amanda, this was her moral line.

Thus, thinking thus far, turning around, Amanda walked back to the academy.

Chapter 159: Changes [1]

Laying down on the floor panting, I turned my head to the right where Donna's figure could be seen holding onto a large metal staff. Seeing this, I pleaded.

"Huff..huff...huff...Miss Longbern, please let me rest!"

Hearing my plea, Donna ignored me and proceeded to lightly sway the metal staff on her shoulder as she shook her head and said.

"Nope, we still have got one hour left before the session ends so hurry up and get up"

" Ghhh...damn it!"

Helpless, I could only lift my tired body up and once again prepared myself to be subjected to Donna's merciless beating.

-Clank!

"khh..."

As soon as I stood up, without giving me a chance to recover, Donna appeared before me and horizontally swung the staff in her hand. As she swung her staff, hurtling in my direction, it's metal body split the air apart.

"huup!"

Seeing the staff move, without hesitation, I ducked my body down and avoided it within a hairbreadth.

"Not bad but not good enough"

Seeing me dodge her attack, a faint smile appeared on Donna's lips as she suddenly halted her movement mid-swing and swung the staff downwards. Seeing this, I helplessly mumbled.

"...that's cheating"

-Bang!

The last thing I heard was the sound of the staff splitting the air before a tremendous force hit my back causing me to fall face-first on the ground.

-Dank!

"Gaaaahhh!"

Hitting the ground, a painful groan escaped from my mouth as I clenched my fists and tried my best to withhold the pain.

...it hurt like hell.

It felt as though someone had slapped my naked back with the palm of their hand at full force. The pain was something that couldn't be described in words...excruciating.

On the bright side, fortunately, she held back, otherwise, I would've found myself without a spine.

"Not bad you've improved quite a bit since your first lesson"

Leisurely putting the metal staff on her shoulder, Donna walked around me as she nodded her head in appreciation.

...ever since the first day that Donna had started training Ren, she realized that he was indeed talented.

With every lesson they had, she would see him improve quickly. When she asked him how he was able to learn so quickly, the response Donna got was...

'I just repeat what we've learned in the previous lesson until I memorize what I could've done better and where I went wrong, this way I don't make the same mistake again'

Hearing this response Donna was incredibly pleased. This was exactly what every teacher wanted to hear from her students.

It was fine for someone to be talented...but unless you put in the work and actively sought to improve yourself rather than remaining complacent...only then that you will set yourself apart from the average.

Only those that actively sought to be better regardless of their talent were people worthy of her admiration.

Thinking along those lines, Donna's impression of Ren increased.

"Very good, from the way you reacted and from the way that you were moving and positioning yourself, I can see that you've improved a lot. I'm very happy with your progress"

Weakly looking up at Donna who had just spoken, as a small groan escaped from my mouth, as I softly said.

"Khh...the reason I was able to improve so much is because of your amazing teaching ability Miss Longbern. Without you, I would've never gotten this far..."

...though true, half of it was just me being sarcastic.

Ever since my first lesson with Donna I've been continuously beaten black and blue by her. There was not a single day where I would come out unscathed.

The most annoying part of the training was that whenever I managed to somewhat adjust to Donna's rhythm, she would once again increase her intensity resulting in the same thing repeating all over again.

...this had persisted for one and a half months.

Yes, though short, a month and a half had passed since I started training with Donna, and my strength had seen a considerable boost since that time.

With my understanding of psyons improving day by day thanks to Donna's tutelage, I've finally managed to get a better understanding of wind psyons which resulted in my sword art seeing an improvement as a result.

As of right now, apart from [Ring of vindication] which was on the verge of breaking through, both the [Keiki style] and [Drifting steps] were now at the Greater realm of mastery which was resulted in a significant boost in my strength as I was now finally able to perform the third movement of the [Keiki style] : Void step.

An incredibly overpowered move that resembled the first movement of the [Keiki style], quick flash, however, unlike that move, what set this move apart was that it allowed me to teleport anywhere within a ten-meter radius of myself.

Still, although it was strong, it wasn't perfect as it required far more mana to use and took more time to charge up.

Either way, with me being able to perform the third movement, I was now significantly stronger than what I was back a month prior.

Moreover, my battle awareness and experience had also seen a significant improvement due to all of the beatings that I took from Donna. Simply put, if the current me fought against the me from a month prior, I would beat myself black and blue as Donna did to me every training lesson.

Staring at Ren's beaten figure and hearing his sarcastic remark, Donna shook her head as she faintly smiled.

"Oh? You've started to learn the art of flattery?"

Shaking my head, I firmed my tone and seriously looked at Donna.

"Me? No way, how is that possible? Every word that I just said came from the bottom of my hear-"

However, before I could finish speaking, with her purple eyes shining slightly, I suddenly lost control of my mouth.

"Alright, stop it with the sarcasm, I can see through you"

Lazily nodding my head, I once again sarcastically said

"yes, yes...I shall diligently and wholeheartedly follow the wise words of professor Longbern"

Raising her brow and lifting the metal staff in the air, Donna threatened.

"You want another beating?"

Seeing Donna raise the staff, smiling kindly, I shook my head and proceeded to say

"Ah, it seems like I have to go...goodbye Miss Longbern, see you on Friday during our next class"

Though it looked like I was running away, in fact, I wasn't. Even though I said all of that, I wasn't really worried about Donna hitting me.

After having spent a month and a half with Donna, we had gotten a little bit more comfortable with each other.

Although I still did not refer to her as Donna and just called her Miss Longbern, our relationship had gotten to the point where we would occasionally share a bit of banter with each other just like now.

She wasn't actually serious about beating me.

...I hope.

"Ah, right, I almost forgot"

Just as I was about to leave, Donna's crisp voice entered my ears.

"Ren, before you leave I have something I want to tell you"

Turning around, I raised my brow

"Yes? What do you need"

Putting the staff down, Donna took out her tablet from her dimensional space. Thereafter, scrolling through the tablet in her hand, Donna briefly said

"Exchange students will be coming in a couple of days so you better get ready..."

Suddenly an ominous feeling arose in my heart. Squinting my eyes I wearily asked.

"...Ready for what?"

With the palm of her hand on top of the staff, Donna twirled the staff on the ground and softly said

"Congratulations, you've been selected as one of the people that will orient the exchange students around the academy on the first day. Do not worry, you won't be alone as you will have another classmate aiding you in the process..."

"..."

Hearing this piece of news, after a short pause, I couldn't help but groan out loud.

"...you're kidding"

Scrolling through the tablet, Donna shook her head

"I'm not kidding at all, I personally recommended you for this job"

She wasn't lying about the recommending part.

Donna was indeed the one that had recommended Ren to be part of the students that will be in charge of helping the exchange students.

There was no spite in her action, in fact, she had done this for Ren.

Taking into consideration his low talent, Donna wanted to broaden his options. Since being an agent was an option, Donna decided to expose Ren to as many people as possible as agents thrived on connections.

Thus, as she heard Ren's unenthusiastic reply, Donna sighed as she said

"Oh shut it, you ungrateful kid. Take this as an opportunity to create connections with students from other schools. You'll need it for the future"

Nodding my head, with my back hunched, I gloomily left the training area.

"Your wish is my command..."

...great.

Just what I needed.

...I now was in charge of babysitting a bunch of exchange students whom I didn't know. Brushing, my damp and sweaty hair to the side, I couldn't help but think

'I just hope that nothing annoying was going to happen.'

Either way, since it had come to this, I could only accept and adapt to the situation.

The first thing I was to do as soon as I got back to the dorm would be to investigate every single exchange student that was coming.

...recalling the incident with the Manticore building, I realized how important it was to gather information beforehand. Therefore, before the students arrived, I'll study each and every profile of the students that were coming in a couple of days, and from there separate the profiles into two piles.

Who to avoid, and who to interact with.

...

Staring at Ren's depressed figure leaving the training hall, Donna couldn't help but smile as she shook her head.

'...what an amusing kid'

Normally, if it were any other student, they would've been jumping up and down with joy at the chance of hosting and helping the exchange students.

...that was because they were all elites that came from different cities. They were people that had connections and could aid their career in the future.

Yet it seemed as though it was the end of the world for him.

Lightly chuckling, Donna tidied up the training room and proceeded to sit down cross-legged in the middle of the room as a purple hue started emanating from her body.

-Shuuua!

As the purple hue around her body expanded covering the whole room, Donna's brows relaxed as she thought to herself.

'I wonder what surprises he will show me in the future...'

The more she trained with him, the higher the expectations of him became.

...she really wanted to know what future awaited him.

Chapter 160: Changes [2]

Carrying my tired body out of section B, feeling the nice spring breeze brush past my skin as I walked around the academy campus, I decided to enjoy the fresh air and the scenery as I slowed down my footsteps.

Staring at the students walking along the academy road, I fell into deep thought as I looked back at what happened the past month and a half.

Honestly nothing much happened.

...it was a fairly uneventful month and a half. This was considering the fact that ever since arriving in this world I've never had a proper day where nothing happened.

Be it demons or conflicts with the professors or arrogant young masters, nothing of the sort happened during this month and a half.

Shocking if I had to be honest..

Perhaps it was because at this point in time in the novel there was a time skip, or because of the inter academy exchange that was about to happen, no trouble came my way.

...and thanks to that, I was able to finally take a proper breather and focus on myself.

A lot of the stress that I had built up during the first five months that I had arrived here had significantly diminished as I was now feeling better. Both physically and mentally.

If I had to be honest, I really needed that. Perhaps because I was too focused on keeping myself alive and improving my strength, I never really bothered taking care of myself.

It was only after things slowed down that I realized how fatigued and tired I was. Had I not taken the rest and things had gone at the same pace as before, it wouldn't be long before I would've broken down mentally.

...fortunately, I realized this before it was too late.

Either way, if there was a notable change that happened during this past month and a half, it would be that my strength has seen a noticeable boost.

With me reaching the greater realm of mastery for almost every art I practiced, I had now almost caught up with most of the top first-year students.

...if I had to evaluate my strength now, it would definitely be within the top 10 of the first years.

Considering the fact that I had only been in this world for around seven months, that was nothing short of outstanding.

Still, although I was now within the top ten, that didn't mean I had caught up with Kevin.

...no, I was still quite far from him.

But it was understandable. It had to be noted that Kevin had a system with him.

There was no way I was going to catch up to him in that short period of time. Especially not when he had a system aiding him at all times.

Moreover, just because I was getting stronger didn't mean that the others weren't also getting stronger.

In fact, everyone apart from Melissa found themselves breaking through a rank.

Amanda, Emma had both reached <E> rank, whilst Jin <E+> rank.

Once news of their progress was made known, the academy was in a small uproar as such strength at this age was almost unheard of.

Regarding Kevin, he was still <D-> rank.

Though he had unparalleled talent and a system with him, he still needed a couple of more months before breaking through again.

Anyhow, strength aside, there was another development that took place this past month...and it was the fact that Melissa had almost finished the first prototype of the magic card.

According to what Melissa told me (via text, as she specifically told me that she didn't want to see my face) was that currently, although fully functioning, the efficiency loss of the card was still too high.

Meaning that it was still not commercially viable as a product. At the moment, It could only be used for investment purposes as the first proper card would still take her quite a bit of time to fully develop.

...but that was enough.

The prototype was enough for me. Once I got my hand on it, I would immediately give it to Amanda who would then present it to her father and the board members of the guild.

...after that, everything was up to fate.

If they chose to not agree to the terms that I had proposed, I would be left with no choice but contact someone else.

Although the demon hunter guild was the best guild in the human domain, there were still alternatives out there. If they chose to not accept the deal, I could very easily go knock on someone else's door.

Still, there was no need to be that pessimistic, from the way I saw things, the chances of that happening were low.

After all, I myself knew just how influential this product would be in the future. Thinking along those lines, my lips curled upwards as I felt my mood brighten

'Everything is progressing smoothly...'

...

"Pudding!"

After walking around the campus for ten minutes, snapping me out of my thoughts as I arrived at my dorm was a high-pitched voice coming from the distance.

Turning my head towards where the voice originated I soon spotted a rather young-looking girl staring at a tall tree before her. On top of the tree, a black cat quietly rested.

Holding onto a treat, the young girl once again called out.

"Pudding come here, I've got a special treat for you"

Hearing the young girl's voice from below, the black cat that was on top of the tree lazily opened its eyes for a brief moment before closing them again and going back to sleep.

...it looked like it wasn't interested in the treat.

Seeing that she had been ignored, the young girl's expression became crestfallen as she softly mumbled.

"Another failure..."

"No use trying, she's a shy one"

Just as the girl was about to leave in defeat, she heard a male voice coming from behind her. As a result of this, caught off guard, the young girl ended up screaming as she jumped up in fright.

"hiik-ah!"

"Oops, sorry"

Seeing that I had scared the girl, scratching the back of my head I apologized to her.

Placing her hand on her chest, the young girl, Ava Leafz, took a few breaths before glaring at me and saying

"Ren, you almost scared me to death!"

Seeing that she was mad, I once again apologized as my lips faintly curved upwards.

"Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to"

Seeing my lips curl upwards, Ava glared at me even more fiercely as she said

"You think it's funny?"

"Sort of-"

However, just as I was bout to finish my sentence, noticing her glare becoming more intense, I could only helplessly raise my hands up as I relented.

"Alright, I'll stop, I'll stop"

"Hmph, you better"

Snorting, Ava crossed her arms and looked away. Although she looked angry, in reality, she wasn't.

If not for the fact that her ears were slightly red from embarrassment, one could've easily thought that she was angry.

...it was a pretty amusing sight.

If I had to be honest I didn't mean to scare her like that.

Who would've thought that she would be that frightened from just hearing my voice?

Was my voice that scary? I knew it wasn't my face that scared her as my G+ charm could topple countries, so I guess it really might've been my voice.

Jokes aside, another thing that has changed this past month was that my relationship with Ava improved. Using Angelica's cat form as an excuse to interact with her, I was able to get closer to her.

With her being a monster tamer, she was naturally attracted to animals. Therefore, whenever she saw Angelica, she would immediately come over and try to interact with her.

Thanks to this, I now had more things to talk about with her.

Although we couldn't be considered close friends, we could be considered close acquaintances borderline friends as I would see her at least twice a week as she tried to interact with Angelica, albeit unsuccessfully.

During that time, I would make small talk with her and as time passed, we were now no longer uncomfortable with each other as we would occasionally joke around like now.

[Human you're back]

Noticing my arrival, swiftly jumping down the tree she was on, Angelica slowly walked in my direction before jumping onto my shoulder.

Staring at Angelica who made herself comfortable on my shoulder, I inwardly shook my head as I thanked her.

'Thanks'

Lazily licking her paw, Angelica snorted and said

[Hmph, I'm not doing this for you human, I'm merely doing this because of the deal we've made]

'yeah, yeah'

Hearing Angelica's voice, I helplessly nodded my head.

...it was true.

In order to get to know Ava, I had made a deal in advance with Angelica.

...and the deal was that if she interacted with Ava more, I would cut off a month from the five-year contract.

Although it didn't sound like much, considering the fact that she didn't have to do much, the deal was fair.

Angelica didn't need to be pet by her.

All she had to do was get her interest. After that, I would use that chance to strike up a conversation with her and get to know her better.

The plan was that simple.

...at first, Angelica refused the deal as she thought one month was too short, but after a bit of thinking, she realized that all she had to do was just get closer to her, nothing else.

Thus after she weighed in her options, Angelica could only do as I said as she occasionally played with Ava.

After Angelica got on my shoulder, I soon saw Ava staring at me with a tinge of envy on her face.

Noticing this, a faint smile appeared on my lips as I knew that the plan had worked.

Honestly, it was well worth the investment as now I could comfortably talk to Ava without any problems.

Thanks to Angelica, I was now one step closer to recruiting her to my mercenary group.

...and once she was in, I would then legally be able to perform missions with my team.

"Thanks for taking care of her Ava"

After making sure that Angelica was on my shoulder, I thanked Ava.

"You're leaving?"

"Yeah, I'm busy today so I have to leave early"

As I was tired from my lesson with Donna, I decided to go back to the dorm.

Seeing me leave, whilst still looking at Angelica who was on my shoulder, Ava waved her hand and said goodbye.

"mhm, goodbye Ren, goodbye Pudding!"

"Yup, goodbye"

Waving back to Ava, I slowly walked back into my dorm.

I was honestly in a bit of a rush.

Aside from the fact that I was tired, there was another reason as to why I wanted to quickly go back to the dorm...and that was because I needed to make preparations for next week.

After one month and a half of peace and quiet, the peace that I had enjoyed would soon once again be broken.

...and the reason for this was because a week from now, I was finally going to go to Immorra.

Although I had been preparing for this for the past two months, just thinking of what was two come in a week's time, I became slightly nervous...yet that wasn't the only thing I felt, as a part of me was also feeling very excited about the trip.

Although the main goal of my trip to Immorra was to find a cure for the mind breaker curse...that didn't mean that it was the only thing I was after.

No.

Just because that was the main goal didn't mean that it was the only thing that the planet had to offer...no, rather, that was just the tip of the iceberg.

If things played how I wanted them to play...I might get to see a very interesting show very soon.

...one that would make me reap a lot of benefits.

Chapter 161: Exchange students [1]

Turning off the shower valve, putting on some clothes, and drying my wet hair with a towel, I headed back to my room and jumped on my bed.

-Pamf!

"haaa..."

As I felt my body sink into the white mattress, I exhaled and relaxed my body.

I was honestly quite tired.

Training for four hours with Donna really took a toll on me...but if I had to be honest, I didn't dislike the feeling..

Even though after every session it felt as though all my bones had been broken, the feeling of continuously finding my strength improving overwrote all of the pain and suffering I felt.

...it was honestly addicting.

Staring at the white ceiling of my room for a couple of seconds, recalling something, and lifting my head up, I stared towards the corner of the room where a black cat quietly rested on the seat of a chair.

After hesitating for a second, I spoke up

"Hey Angelica, can you turn into something other than a cat?"

Turning her head in my direction, Angelica warily asked

"Why are you asking?"

"No, I'm just curious"

Squinting her eyes suspiciously, Angelica nodded her head

"Yes, but I won't be able to turn back for a week"

"A week? That long?"

"Yes, the skill has a cool-down period"

"I see.."

That made sense.

With how strong her skill was it was understandable that it had a cooldown period.

If she could change into whatever she wanted without a cooling period, I wouldn't be surprised if she told me that her skill was an <S> ranked one.

It would honestly be that strong.

Seeing my reaction, Angelica became even more suspicious as she asked

"...why are you asking me this?"

Turning my attention back to Angelica I casually replied

"Ohh, it's because I might need you to change into something else"

To put it bluntly, I wanted to bring Angelica to Immorra with me.

No, I needed her to come to Immorra with me.

With her being a demon, it was only natural that I brought her along with me. Although I wasn't sure about whether she had ever been to Immorra, I needed her for a specific task.

One that would involve her demonic powers...

In fact, if Angelica didn't come with me, the plans that I had been preparing for the past two months would go down the drain.

...that's how important her participation was. Therefore, I needed her to change into something else other than a cat as it wouldn't really be ideal for the environment we were going to be in.

Hearing my answer, Angelica shook her head and firmly denied

"No"

It was already humiliating enough for her to be a cat, now he wanted her to change into something else?

No.

Angelica wouldn't stand for this.

"No what?"

"No, I will not turn into something else. Don't push your luck human"

Frowning, I protested.

"But you didn't even hear what I wanted to say"

"Human, being a cat is already hum-"

Before Angelica could finish speaking, I cut her off and told her about my plans

"Next week I'm going to Immorra"

Opening her eyes wide, Angelica's voice rose a few pitches.

"You what?! Immorra? That Immorra that I am thinking of?"

"Yes, that Immorra"

Angelica's outburst was understandable.

With Angelica being a demon, she naturally knew where Immorra was.

...in fact, although she had never been there, she knew just how much of a strategic asset it was for the demons. Just the fact that the demon king had not devoured the planet yet went to show how important of a place it was...

Nodding my head, I repeated.

"You heard me right, next week I'm going to Immorra"

With her eyes wide open, Angelica looked at me as if I was crazy. As she spoke, her voice shook.

"H-how? Are you trying to kill yourself? Moreover, how can you even travel all the way there?"

"Don't ask how just know that you're coming with me and you being in a cat form isn't ideal"

Shaking her head, Angelica immediately refused

"Are you crazy? We demons can tell each other presences apart, if I go I will just be dead weight as well as a target"

Deeply staring at Angelica, after a short pause I said

"...Not if you transform"

What Angelica said was true.

If Angelica was in her normal form, demons would more or less be able to tell he presence as they shared the same source of power.

However, if she transformed, they wouldn't be able to as her power would be directly cut off...

Frowning, Angelica angrily said

"Are you stupid human? What is the point of me going if I can't even use my powers?"

Smiling, I reassured her.

"Don't worry about that, I've already thought things through"

...yes, I've already thought things through beforehand, or else I wouldn't have been asking.

Although I knew about the fact that demons could tell if a demon was in the vicinity due to them sharing the same source of power, I also knew that if Angelica was using her skill, she wouldn't be found out.

Still, it honestly didn't matter if she was going to be found out or not.

...that was because my plan in fact required for her to be found out. As long as everything worked out in the way that I wanted, the trip to Immorra was going to be a fruitful one.

After a short pause, Angelica still shook her head as she refused.

"...no"

Regardless, she still didn't want to go. Knowing how dangerous the place was, there was a high chance she could die...

He could die for all she cared, but she still didn't want to die.

Seeing Angelica once again refuse my offer, I firmly said

"I won't take no for an answer. Don't forget I still have your core in me, if I die you die, you've got no other choice"

Noticing that I had already set my mind to bringing her to Immorra, Angelica was left speechless.

She didn't know what to say.

...what he said was true.

Just now she was reminded of the fact that her life was no longer in her control...

Since her core was with him, Angelica really didn't have an option. If he died she would die alongside him...her fate was no longer in her hands.

Her life was now tied to the human before her...

As Angelica thought along those lines, a sense of helplessness washed over her body as she lowered her head in defeat.

'Is this what my fate is now? From the Matriarch of a clan to a demon that is forced to hide in the form of a cat and do the bidding of a human...?"

Was this how low she had fallen?

"..."

Seeing Angelica's crestfallen expression, I sighed and reassured her.

"Don't worry I won't be doing this for free, there's something in it for you too"

To be honest, I understood Angelica's feelings.

I mean who would want to be treated like a slave? I for sure wouldn't.

Knowing this, there was no way I was going to force Angelica to do something against her will without giving her an appropriate reward. Especially since I wanted her to be a part of my mercenary group. Not forcefully, but in a way that she wanted to be a part of it...

...that was not the type of relationship I was looking for. One of mutual trust rather than a forced one.

If I forced her to do my bidding without rewarding her, what made me think that she would stay after the five-year time period ended?

That would just be stupid and naive of me. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she decided to hunt me down for the rest of her life after she got her core back.

Lifting her head upwards, Angelica softly said

"...like what?"

Smiling at Angelica, after a short pause I said

"I can help you breakthrough to Viscount rank"

Abruptly opening her eyes, Angelica looked and me in shock as her voice increased a few pitches

"What?"

"Yeah..."

I wasn't lying.

As I mentioned before, Immorra was a land filled with treasures. Although I didn't know every single treasure that was there, I knew a couple of them.

...and one of them was specifically made for demons as it was something that could help her break to the next rank.

The viscount rank.

A rank that a lot of demons longed for...

Suppressing her shock, Angelica's sharp eyes landed on me as she warily said

"How should I trust you?"

Taking out the mana contract from my dimensional space, I smiled and flashed the contract before her eyes.

"Easy just add it in the mana contract"

If I wrote down that by the time she would come back to Immorra she was going to have something that would help her break through the Viscount rank, Angelica wouldn't have to be worried about me scamming her.

After all, if I didn't hold my end of the contract, I would die.

Seeing the contract, after a short pause, Angelica nodded her head.

...she didn't even need to think twice about agreeing.

It was either signing the contract and going to Immorra or not signing the contract and potentially dying because the human that had her core died in Immorra.

It wasn't a hard decision.

Moreover, Angelica longed to reach the Viscount rank ever since a long time ago...if he really did as he promised and helped her breakthrough to the Viscount rank, Angelica wouldn't mind risking her life for it.

Thus, staring at Ren for a couple of seconds, Angelica said

"fine, but you better keep your promise Human"

Seeing Angelica agree to the deal, a trace of a smile appeared on my face as I thought to myself.

'...as long as she comes with me, everything would be set'

With her joining me, everything should go as I had planned and envisioned.

At least that's what I hoped.

However, considering my previous track record, I wasn't too sure about whether or not I was going to succeed, but...I had to at least give it a shot.

For my sake, and the people that were relying on me.

I had to succeed no matter what.

...

The next day, class A-25, Lock

Sitting in my usual seat on the left-hand side of the classroom, today, an odd atmosphere enveloped the room.

Many different emotions were displayed on the face of some of the students present.

Some of the students were wary, some were excited, and some were nervous...however, if there was one thing that was noticeable it was that everyone was acting strange.

The most notable thing that could be observed from the students in the classroom was that almost everyone was staring at the entrance of the classroom with extra apprehension. Almost as if an enemy was about to come through that door and fight them.

Noticing their odd behavior, I didn't think too much of it...and that was because I understood where they were coming from.

Today was the day that the exchange students from the four great academies were going to arrive...

-Clank!

Entering the classroom, unbothered by the strange atmosphere shrouding the classroom, Donna lowered her hand as she tried to get everyone's attention.

"Alright, everyone please be seated and pay attention to me"

Seconds after her hand lowered, the classroom quieted down and Donna resumed speaking.

"As most of you already know, today we will be having exchange students coming into our classroom. So I would like for you all to be at your best behavior"

Pausing and looking at the students in the classroom, Donna's tone became firmer.

"For the next two months, before the inter academy tournament starts, students from the four great academies will come to our class and study alongside us. They will participate in many things such as electives, activities, and much much more."

"In short, what I'm trying to say is that you guys will be seeing them a lot"

Once again pausing, Donna's tone became incomparably serious as her pitch increased.

"...Therefore, you better be at your best behavior for the time period they are here as you are all representing the Lock. Your behavior will be the thing that will set an impression on the other academies"

Looking at the students in the classroom, Donna threatened as she finished her speech.

"If you do anything stupid that will affect the school's prestige, prepare yourself to face the consequences..."

As Donna's words drifted towards the ears of every student, a stifling silence enveloped the classroom.

After a while finished with what she wanted to say, taking out her tablet and scrolling through some files, Donna cleared her throat and spoke

"Alright, enough with that, I will now call the name of the pairs of students that will be in charge of bringing the new students around the campus and familiarizing them with the academy"

Pointing towards two individuals sitting on the right side of the classroom, Donna said

"Alright, the first pair will be Jin Horton and Troy Derekz. You two will be the first group. Following them, the next group will be comprised of Kevin and Emma, Amanda and Arnold, Donald and..."

As Donna was stating the name of the pairs of students that would orient some of the exchange students, my eyes couldn't help but shift towards where Jin and Troy were sitting. The first pair that Donna mentioned.

Sitting in his usual seat Jin was staring intently at the board with an indifferent expression. As his name was called out, his expression didn't change once. He just sat there indifferently completely unfazed by the fact that he would soon be meeting students from other schools.

Next to him, a relatively handsome boy with black hair and yellow pupils smiled amiably as he similarly stared at the front of the classroom.

Squinting my eyes, a frown involuntarily appeared on my face.

...if I didn't remember wrongly, this was the event that would cause the relationship between Jin and Troy to completely fall apart resulting in Troy becoming a villain.

At least that was what was supposed to happen in the novel. However, I was no longer sure about this outcome. With Jin's personality suddenly changing, I was aware that this might not happen.

Did their relationship get better or did it worsen? That was the question in my mind.

...I really didn't know. However, what I did know was that if after this Troy was still not approached by professor Thibaut, it meant that he would no longer turn into a villain...or at least not yet.

Squinting my eyes, I wasn't too sure how to feel about this.

I already acknowledged the fact that things were going to change and that the story was no longer going the way that it was before...but still, it felt somewhat odd.

However, perhaps this was for the best...

"...and last but not least, the last group will be that of Melissa and Ren"

Snapping me out of my thoughts, hearing the name of my group, I lowered my head and grabbed my hair as I couldn't help but curse.

'Are you kidding me...?'

Chapter 162: Exchange students [2]

The sun slowly rose from the horizon, and Ashton City, more specifically, the Lock, basked in the warmth of the sun.

Standing at the entrance of the academy, enjoying the warmth that came from the sun, I glanced towards my right where a beautiful young girl stood.

Currently, Melissa and I were waiting at the northern entrance of the academy. According to Donna's instructions, we would soon meet students coming from one of the four great academies.

Our job was to greet them and bring them around the campus to familiarize themselves with the place. Although I wasn't sure about which academy they were from or who they were, that didn't really matter.

During the past month, I didn't stand idle.

Having learned my lesson from the situation at the Manticore building, after being made aware of the student exchange, I immediately memorized every single profile of the students that were coming to the Lock.

Regardless of the academy, be it big or small characters, I memorized everyone's profiles. Took me a while, but I forced myself to do it.

...I wasn't going to let something similar to the Manticore building situation happen again. From that point on, I learned that I needed to be prepared for everything. Instead of being unaware of what was to come in the future, it was better to proactively seek information beforehand to avoid being caught off-guard and thus lose composure.

On the topic of the dorm situation, for the past month and a half, all I did was observe.

Having learned a lot of lessons with regards to scheming and planning, I knew that haste made waste.

Therefore, I chose to observe them carefully. From their routines, behavioral patterns...everything. I made sure to engrave and memorize every little detail of their lives without missing a beat.

With the aid of Angelica's cat form, I was able to acquire a lot of information..and thanks to her, I could now finally say that they could be eliminated anytime I wished.

With my plans now completed, all that I needed to do was execute them.

But now was still not the right time. After a bit of thought, I had decided to set the pieces in motion after I came back from Immorra.

Since I was going to go there in a week's time, there was no need to overburden myself right now to get rid of them.

...after all, they weren't going anywhere anytime soon. They were merely sitting ducks from my perspective. All I needed to do was pull the trigger and everything would come toppling down.

They were no longer a priority for me.

Either way, those problems aside, I was now presented with another more annoying problem.

Glancing at Melissa who was standing next to me, trying to break the awkward silence that was between us, I asked.

"...so, how's your day going Melissa?"

Hearing my question, without hesitation Melissa responded

"Shit"

"Why's that?"

Looking at me as if I was an idiot, Melissa rhetorically said

"Do you even need to ask why?"

Frowning, I placed my hand on my chin as I pretended to fall into deep thought.

"Mhh, is it perhaps because it's too sunny outside? Understandable, girls like you want to kee-"

"Shut up"

Being told to shut up, I pretended to be offended as I once again reminded her about the fact that I was now her business partner.

"Rude, don't forget that you're now talking to your business partner"

If before I was scared of Melissa because of her influence and sadistic personality, I no longer had a reason to be scared.

Why?

Because of the magic card business

...now that we were partners if anything happened to me all of the efforts we put in the project would go down the drain. After all, we were bound by a contract now.

Thinking along those lines, I inwardly chuckled.

There was no longer a need for me to fear Melissa. Thus, I could pretty much do and say all I wanted without caring about the repercussions...well, that was unless I pushed her too far. If that happened, well let's just say that things wouldn't go well for me.

*Tsk*

Glancing at my smirking face from the side of her eyes, Melissa clicked her tongue as she said

"Speak one more word and I'll skin your throat and feed it to the homeless people outside of the academy"

"I say, aren't you a little bit too graphic with your threats? Either way, there's no way you're going to hurt your business partner right?"

Hearing my taunts, with her chest moving up and down at a faster pace, Melissa slowly spat

"...it seems that you're really asking for it"

Ignoring Melissa's threats, I proudly flaunted the fact that I was her partner over and over again.

Given how much value this project was worth, Melissa knew full well that she couldn't do anything to me. Therefore, no matter what she said, it was all ignored by me.

This was revenge for all the previous abuse.

"Don't tell me you're salty you can't do anything to me anymore"

"huuu..."

Taking a deep breath, Melissa tried her best to suppress her rage. She was now starting to regret making a deal with Ren...the limits of her patience were being tested with each passing second. If not for her rationality still taking over her mind, she would've already done something about him.

"What? I didn't he-"

Just as I was about to tease Melissa again, I suddenly stopped and looked towards the distance. After noticing something, with a tinge of regret, I said

"...as much as I would love to continue our conversation, it seems like our guests have arrived"

Turning her head around, Melissa asked

"Where?"

"There"

Pointing towards the distance, a group of five students appeared on the other side of the street.

Squirting my eyes to get a better look at them from the distance, the first thing I noticed was their uniforms which were dyed in white with the lapel of their blazers striped in blue.

"...They must be from Lutwik academy from Park city"

Noticing the color of their uniform I was immediately able to guess the identity of the students that were coming in our direction.

Lutwik academy from Park city, the city that defended the east side of the human domain and that directly faced the sea. Because they directly faced the sea and hence sea beasts, they specialized in water warfare rather than land warfare.

With them constantly fighting against sea beasts rather than demons, they fully adapted themselves to the water, and from there they had made a name for themselves as the east guardians.

Still, just because they specialized in water warfare didn't mean that they were weak in land warfare. No, rather, they were just as terrifying on land as they were on the water.

As the figures of the students became clearer, my line of sight was immediately drawn towards two members of the group.

A male and a female.

The male had a large stature and short platinum-colored hair with curly sideburns. Both his eyes were bright, and his entire body was emitting a boundless power that reminded me of Jin's.

Next to him was a young girl who similarly to the boy, had platinum blonde hair that gently fell all the way to her back. She had big deep sea-blue eyes and clean white skin devoid of any imperfections. With a silver reaper hanging on her waist, the girl had a rather cold and unapproachable demenour.

...almost like Amanda. However, differently from Amanda who seemed as though she had walls preventing people from getting near her, the girl before me had an aura of repulsion. Almost like as if she was saying 'don't you dare come near me or I'll kill you'

Similar yet different.

"Hello, nice to meet you, my name is Nicholas Leinfall and I come from Lutwik academy from Park city"

Arriving before us, the male extended his hands towards Melissa and I as he introduced himself. As he spoke his voice was calm and composed, neither arrogant nor overbearing.

Pausing, Nicholas took a step to the side and started introducing the others

"These here are Joshua Claymore who here is also a first year...."

As Nicholas started introducing everyone present, I didn't pay close attention as I already knew the names of everyone present.

Nicholas Leinfall, Joshua Claymore, Ivan Dragovic, Lawrence Smith, and Aerin Leinfall, Nicholas's twin sister.

Although they were all each pretty strong individuals that could rank within the top 200 in our academy first years, the two that I had to pay close attention to were the Leinfall twins also known as the 'Silvermoon twins'

A formidable first-year duo that respectively took the first and second place in their first-year rankings. Although individually they were both strong, only when the duo worked together would they become extremely scary.

Aerin with her reaper and Nicholas with his twin short swords.

When the two worked togheter, even Kevin would find it extremely difficult to beat them. In fact, there was a chance he could lose too. That was because of their sword art.

They both each practiced a four-star sword art...however, what made that art special was that it was made specifically for twins...and most terrifying of all was that when the two worked together, their sword art's might could even rival that of a five-star sword art. Frightening.

"...and last but not least this is my twin sister Aerin Leinfall"

Snapping me out of my thoughts was Nichola's calm voice as he finished introducing everyone.

Overall, as I observed everyone before me, I had a good impression of them. Just like Nicholas, everyone was neither arrogant nor overbearing. Even though Aerin was cold, she didn't look down on everyone and it could be seen that her coldness was just her natural demenour.

...they were somewhat quiet, but honestly, compared to young masters, I would take them any time of the day.

"He-"

Clearing my throat and just when I was about to introduce myself, to my bewilderment, I found Melissa approaching them with an amiable and gentle smile on her face as she introduced herself.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Melissa Hall and he's Ren Dover. I just wanted to say that we are glad you guys came all the way here to this academy and hope that you will enjoy your stay here"

Smiling at Melissa, Nicholas shook her hand.

"Likewise"

"..."

Blinking a couple of times to make sure I was seeing correctly, I glanced at Melissa as the gears of my mind stopped working for a second.

...what was going on?

Was this the Melissa I knew?

Where did the Melissa that abused people with words go? Was she okay? Did I perhaps tease her a bit too much?

As millions of questions emerged in my mind, I suddenly felt everyone staring in my direction. Noticing this, with an awkward smile on my face, I waved at them.

"Y-yeah, nice to meet you"

Staring at me from the corner of my eyes, I soon noticed Melissa's lips curl upwards as she smirked.

Noticing this, my eyes shot wide open as the veins on my head bulged.

...this bitch did it on purpose.

She deliberately did this to confuse me and use this as an opportunity to make me look stupid.

I see...no wonder she acted so differently.

Crossing my arms as I secretly clenched my teeth, I secretly swore to myself to get back at her.

"Alright, please follow me, Ren, and I will introduce you to the campus so that you can familiarize yourselves with this place and thus not get lost in the future"

Taking pleasure in my expression, with a faint smile on her face, Melissa triumphantly turned around and led the way towards the entrance of the academy.

Smiling, Nicholas looked at his group and nodded his head at Melissa.

"That would be great"

...and thus, following Melissa, we took the tour of the campus.

As we walked, Melissa did most of the talking as she went through the rules and the layout of the academy. On small occasions, I would add a few things here and there just to get myself involved in the conversation...but most of the stuff I said went to deaf ears as it wasn't really important information.

We explained about the different sections in the academy and also told them in detail about the rules of the academy such as no fighting and stuff like that...not that people actually followed the rules, but that was what was written so we just mentioned it.

After a while, as we were walking and had pretty much toured most of the campus, recalling something, I proposed

"How about we got to the arena grounds in section G?"

Raising her brow, Melissa looked at me as she skeptically said

"Section G?"

Glancing at my watch, I proceeded to nod my head as I said

"Yeah, if I'm not wrong...a good show is about to happen"

Turning his attention to me, Nicholas curiously asked

"What good show?"

Still staring at my watch, and trying my best to recall something, my eyes soon lit up as I nodded my head repeatedly.

"...yup, yup, there's definitely a show that we shouldn't miss"

I wasn't lying when I saw a good show was awaiting us.

With the time skip ending around here, from what I remembered writing in the novel, at around this moment in time, Kevin should be at the arena ground fighting against one of the top students from Theodora academy.

The academy that was filled with arrogant young masters.

...I didn't need to explain what happened did I?

It was pretty obvious. With the people from Theodora academy being famous for their arrogance, it wasn't strange for Kevin to get into an altercation with one of them.

...and thus, a really good show where Kevin was going to pummel his opponent was going to happen. Glancing at my watch, I urged everyone to follow me.

"If we hurry up we can make it in time"

There was no way I was going to miss such a good show.

Chapter 163: Exchange students [3]

"Huaaaa!"

Entering the arena grounds of section G, loud cheering reverberated across the place as students could be seen leaning on the handrails of the arena grounds excitedly talking to one another as they all had their eyes glued towards a certain platform below them.

Glancing towards the direction of where most people were looking at, I soon sighed in relief when I saw Kevin's figure standing on one of the platforms.

"I guess we're not too late"

Would've truly been disappointed if I didn't get to see Kevin pummel some people.

Although from what I remembered the match lasted for less then a minute, it was still better than going around the academy with strangers and explaining them the layout of the academy as well as the rules.

Arriving a couple of seconds after me and hearing what I said, curiously looking around, Melissa asked.

"Too late for what?"

Pointing towards a certain platform below, I said

".....for the show"

Squinting her eyes to get a better look at where I was pointing at, Melissa soon spotted Kevin's figure on one of the platforms. Taken aback she asked

"Isn't that Kevin?"

Nodding my head, I replied.

"Yup"

"...how did he end up there?"

"He was challenged"

"Who challenged him?"

Before I could answer, glancing towards the youth that was standing opposite to Kevin, Nicholas spoke

"From what I know he should be Theodora academy's fifth rank, Robert Wilson"

Frowning, Melissa took a brief look at Nicholas who was standing next to his sister and his three other classmates. Currently all of them we're looking at Kevin with incomparably solemn faces. Having heard of Kevin's name, they naturally knew that he was the number one ranked student in the Lock.

Naturally, as competitors, Nicholas and his sister paid special close attention to him. Kevin was after all someone to watch out for.

Unaware of their thought, staring at the youth below, Melissa repeated.

"Robert Wilson?"

Nodding my head, I followed up.

"Yeah, 16 years of age, rank E-, main weapon hammer"

Hearing my response, Melissa was at first surprised. However, shortly after, looking at me weirdly, Melissa said.

"...the fact that you know this much creeps me out"

Rolling my eyes, I ignored Melissa.

She wouldn't understand. Having memorized the profiles of most of the exchange students, I of course memorized the profile of the student that Kevin was currently up against.

Wearing a pale green uniform, the youth was currently arrogantly looking down on Kevin as he insulted him from below the stage.

Although I wasn't sure of what he was saying, from the way he talked and behaved, I could already pretty much deduce the content of the conversation.

'Grovel beneath my feet blah blah blah you are nothing...'

Just the typical stuff.

However, I knew that the opponent's arrogance and behavior were merely a facade.

Turning my head right towards one of the private chambers of the spectating arena, I knew that this was merely an act that Theodora academy did in order to get a better read on Kevin's abilities. Since Kevin was ranked number one within the first years, it was only natural that Theodora academy would want to know about his abilities.

With the upcoming inter academy exchange, in order to win, the academies needed to have a better understanding of their opponents.

With Kevin's fame, he was obviously one of the main targets to spectate.

...and rightfully so as all of the spectator's eyes were focused on Kevin's figure. Excluding the fact that he was very handsome, everyone here had one thought.

'How strong is the number one youth in the world's best academy?'

Were the rumors about him exaggerated or was he really as talented and unparalleled as people made him out to be?

Snapping me out of my thoughts, I soon saw a referee calmly walk down towards the arena grounds. Seeing the referee that was in charge of the match arriving, I couldn't help but excitedly say.

"Oh, the match is starting!"

As soon as my words died down, the arena grounds quieted down as a referee came up on the stage. Staring at Kevin and the youth opposite to him, the referee warned.

"Let me be clear this is a friendly match"

Pausing to make sure that both Kevin and the other youth were paying attention, the referee solemnly said

"Both parties can use whatever means possible to defeat their opponent, be it skill, artifact, or anything that you have with you, is allowed. However, if one party admits defeat during the course of the fight, the other party cannot continue attacking. If I feel even the slightest killing intent by any one of you I will be stopping the match. Do you understand?"

"Understood." Kevin calmly took the initiative to respond.

The representative from the Theodora academy team, Robert Wilson, was a rather muscular youth who looked around twenty despite being the same age as Kevin. As he looked at Kevin before him, his expression remained stoic and unmoving. Following Kevin's example, Robert responded.

"Understood"

Seeing that both Kevin and Robert had understood the rules, the referee raised his hand and immediately lowered it as he shouted.

"Begin"

As soon as the referee's hand slashed down, without skipping a beat, taking a step forward, Robert ran towards Kevin's direction.

-Bam! -Bam!

With every step he took, the arena platform shook.

Staring at Robert headed his way with the enormous hammer in his hand, Kevin's face remained indifferent as his red eyes calmly looked at him from the distance.

Seconds after, Robert arrived before Kevin. Raising his hammer, Robert smirked as he shouted.

"Why aren't you moving? Are you that scared of me that you froze in shock?"

Without hesitation, he aimed for Kevin's head

However, just as the hammer was about to land on top of Kevin's hand. The spectators only saw a flash, and Kevin's body disappeared. The hammer fell on the ground and the arena shook.

-Bam!

"Huh?"

As his hammer hit the ground, feeling the cold tip of a blade next to his neck, Robert heard a cold voice from behind him.

"You lost"

As Kevin's cold words fell, the arena was enveloped in silence. Waking up from his stupor, raising his hand, the referee announced

"Kevin Voss wins!"

Subsequently, as the referee's words traveled through the ears of everyone present, the arena was in an uproar once again as everyone shouted or cheered.

"Waaaaa!"

"What was that?!"

"Did you see what he did?"

The match didn't even last a full minute before it was over. It was Kevin's total victory.

...

In the direction where Ren was previously looking at, inside of a private booth, two instructors wearing a similar pale green uniform to the youth on the stage sat at the head of a conference table within the private room that overlooked the arena grounds from below.

Currently, there were a total of fifteen students sitting by their sides and they were all solemnly looking at Kevin's figure displayed on the monitor before them.

The students seated on the left were evidently older, and the students seated on the right were slightly younger as their faces had signs of immaturity.

The people here were the other members of the Theodora academy.

The elder who sat on the left had a slightly crooked nose with eye bags beneath his eyes. His facial features were solemn and serious. As he sat there with his wide shoulders, he gave off an extremely sturdy feeling. He spoke in a low voice.

"According to our investigations, Kevin's abilities should be within the E to D range, however judging from how he managed to defeat Wilson so easily...I'm afraid his rank has already reached at least E+ rank"

Hearing the elder's evaluation of Kevin, the fifteen students were all somewhat doubtful as they started whispering amongst each other.

Continuing, the elder said

"Unfortunately because the battle ended too fast, we weren't able to get a better understanding of his sword art nor his skill as he seems to be concealing his true abilities"

"Instructor Thompson, don't be anxious. I don't think things are that complicated" Sitting in front of the instructor was a certain youth with long black hair; he was around sixteen years of age, and had a refined and elegant demenour with looks that matched his demenour.

He had big bright blue eyes and a tall and slender build. His hands, which were now placed on the table, were twirling a black fountain pen that had golden engravings on the side.

The youth's name was Aaron Rhinestone and he was the current rank 1 for the first years in Theodore academy.

Because of his talent, he was extremely well respected amongst his peers. Naturally, because of the environment, he was exposed to, Aaron developed an arrogant behavior that made him think that he was number one amongst the younger generation.

...that was until Kevin's name started to become more famous than him. It was from there that Aaron had started to learn of Kevin's talent and exploit.

The more Aaron read, the more excited he grew. Given his fame and talent, if he managed to defeat him, wouldn't he be hailed as the greatest of the younger generation?

...just the thought made Aaron smile as he thought to himself.

'He was someone worthy of being his stepping stone'

After a while, Aaron Rhinestone finally raised his head and smiled. This smile was just like that of a venomous viper in search of a prey. Staring at the monitors in the middle of the room for a couple of seconds, the youth smiled as he said "Instructor Thompson, leave that Kevin guy to me"

"Bu-"

Just as instructor Thompson was about to protest Aaron's decision, a cold and overbearing voice cut him off.

"Let him"

As his voice faded, everyone's attention turned towards the person that had just spoken.

The person who spoke was the instructor seated by the right. He had a curly grey beard and had a fairly large stature. His short white hair resembled steel needles, and the hairs on his temples, along with his curly beard made him seem impressively terrifying as he looked like a war general that had just come back from a long battle.

Chapter 164: Immorra [1]

Manticore building, Friday

-Fwaaa!

As black smoke rose in the air and enveloped my room, I stared at my right hand where a slick black ring rested on my index finger. Its design was rather dull as it looked like any regular ring that could be found on the market, however, if one looked closely, one would be able to see a red hue pulsating from it.

Staring at the ring on my finger, I softly mumbled

"Nice..."

[Human, you better keep your promise]

'Yes'

Nodding my head, I once again looked at the ring on my finger as I curiously asked.

"How does it feel being a ring?"

[hmph, if not for your deal, I would've never done this. How humiliating]

Yes, the ring on my finger was in fact, Angelica. Since I couldn't bring Angelica with me in her cat form, I decided to make her turn into a ring.

The reason I asked her to be a ring was because her cat form would be a burden to me.

If a situation arose where I had to run away, Angelica wouldn't be able to catch up to me and Kevin as she couldn't use her powers lest she wanted to let the demons around us know of her presence...and considering the fact that she had no core in her body, the situation would not be good for both her and me.

That aside, the primary reason why I didn't want her to be exposed was because it would ruin my plans as well as give away my location as demons had a way to tell if another demon was near them.

...until the part of my plan that required for her to expose herself played out, she had to hide as a ring.

Only with her would everything that I had planned for the past two months come to fruition. Therefore, I couldn't stress enough how important it was for her to remain as a ring. If even a little detail of my plan went wrong the chances of me surviving were slim to none.

To be honest, I still preferred her cat form, however, this would do for now.

Prior to now, I had thought about turning her into a ring before, but after a bit of thinking, I decided against this idea as that would mean I would have to carry her with me at all times, including class...which would just be annoying.

Especially considering the fact that she tended to nag all the time.

...please no.

'I know you hate it, but please bear with it for a bit. I promise I'll hold my end of the deal'

[You better, since we've signed the mana contract, you must naturally hold onto the end of your deal, lest you wanted to die...]

'I guess that's true'

As I conversed with Angelica for a couple of minutes, after I explained everything that I wanted to tell her, I then proceeded to touch my waist where a thin black sword quietly rested.

Bleak Star

The new sword that I had ordered a month and a half ago with Amanda.

Because it was freshly crafted it only arrived a week ago and so I didn't have much time to play with it. But as soon as I laid my hands on the sword, I knew that it was a cut above the other swords that I had used before.

Especially with how it felt on the grip of my hand.

The sword was neither too thin nor too thick and only weighed around two kilograms. To me, this was practically nothing as I could curl 100kg dumbbells without any problems now.

From the weight to its design the sword was perfect.

Moreover, I especially liked its effect [Psyon coating] that allowed me to coat the sword with elemental psyons.

As I've said before, I didn't have much time to experiment with the sword, but after learning about psyons from Donna for the past few months, I found a really interesting trick.

By mixing fire psyons with wind psyons I could create electricity and thus in doing so, I found out that by coating my sword with those two psyon, I could have lightning coating my sword.

This trick, coupled with the Keiki style, would prove devastating as lightning was both strong and fast, which was exactly what the Keiki style was about.

A fast and devastating attack that focused on killing the opponent in one single move.

-Clank!

As I was in the middle of admiring my sword, entering my room was Kevin's tired figure. Currently, his condition didn't look the best as he looked extremely tired and worn out. This was especially made apparent from the glaring black circles beneath his eyes.

Noticing his condition, I couldn't help but say

"You look a bit tired"

Staring at me, Kevin haggardly said

"I've constantly been challenged every day by the exchange students, of course, I'd be tired"

Shaking my head, I gloated at his misfortune.

"This is what happens when you show off too much"

"True but it had to be done"

I guess that was also true.

Since he was publicly challenged, Kevin had no other option but to accept their challenge or the people from the other academies would think he was a coward.

After he beat his opponent a couple of days ago, almost all of the academies have been trying to challenge him to try to gauge his true skills.

...it was an annoying cycle that Kevin had to go through as the protagonist.

To be honest, if it were me, I wouldn't have minded being called a coward if it saved me from the trouble of constantly getting challenged, but since Kevin had his own pride, he wouldn't stand for it and thus why was constantly accepted all challenges that came to him.

...also, it's not like he didn't benefit from this.

In fact, Kevin benefited a lot because he managed to get a lot of sparring partners during this time. The only problem was that most of them were weak as the truly strong people refused to challenge him.

In the end, the only thing I could offer Kevin was my pity and sympathy. Taking a seat on the couch of my room, I asked

"Did anyone see you when you came into the building?"

Shaking his head, Kevin flatly said

"No, I made sure that no one noticed me, cameras and instructors included"

"Good...so does that mean you're ready?"

Staring at me, Kevin sighed and nodded his head. Extending his hand in my direction, he said.

"Yeah...give it to me"

Squinting my eyes I pretended to be confused as I said

"Give what?"

Rolling his eyes, in an annoyed tone, Kevin said

"Don't pretend you don't know, I already told you beforehand, give me the D ranked core"

*Tsk*

Clicking my tongue I took out a spherical object that pulsated a purple hue from my dimensional bracelet.

"Must I really give you my c-"

"Give it"

As I took out the orb, staring at it for a couple of seconds, I tried to protest but after being cut off by Kevin's cold voice, I could only reluctantly give it to him.

...goodbye 50+ million U

"Thanks"

Grabbing the core with his hand, Kevin thanked me. Observing the core in his hand for a couple of seconds, as he made sure that everything was sorted, turning his attention back to me, Kevin solemnly asked.

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah..."

Standing up and staring at Kevin in the eyes I nodded my head. Nodding his head back, just as Kevin was about to open the portal, recalling something, he asked

"Right, before we leave, do you have at least a year's worth of supplies?"

"Yes, I do"

Hearing Kevin's question, I nodded my head and showed him my dimensional bracelet.

In fact, I had two years' worth of supplies with me. With food not getting spoiled inside of dimensional storages I could pretty much store all the food that I wanted without worrying about it rotting.

Ever since the first dungeon fiasco, I made sure to always keep with me at least a couple of months worth of food supplies inside of my storage space.

In order to store that much food, I had bought an extremely expensive dimensional bracelet that could hold 10x more than my previous bracelet. With my now expanded storage place, I pretty much filled it with anything I could possibly think of.

Drones, tents, food, water, books, clothes...basically anything that could prove to be useful.

Of course apart from those I made sure to bring the red book with me as it was the best cheat I could have when traveling with Kevin. Just the book alone could increase the chances of my success to increase by a large factor.

...it was that important that I brought it with me.

In the middle of my thoughts, remembering something, staring at Kevin I asked

"What's the conversion rate?"

"one-ten"

Frowning, I carefully asked

"So, for every ten days we spend there a day passes here?"

"Yes"

Placing my hand on my chin, the frown on my face deepened. After a bit of thinking, I nodded my head and said

"Alright, considering that today is a Friday, it means that we have about two days and a half to three days and a half to spend...moreover we can probably skip a day, buying us another ten days"

"I'm sure Miss Longbern wouldn't mind our absence too much, so that means we will have at most a month's time..."

...would that be enough time?

Honestly, I wasn't too sure. According to my calculations, yes, but you never knew what could go wrong.

Frowning as I brushed the bangs of my hair to the side, I mumbled

"Oh well, even if we spend more time, what's the worse Donna could do? Kill us?"

...well it didn't matter.

I had already typed out a message to Donna that would be sent to her in three days' time explaining our absence.

Unless I returned before then, the message would be directly sent to her, helping me avoid a troubling situation where a long search for Kevin and I would happen.

Pretending to not have heard my muttering, Kevin asked something that he had wanted to ask for a while.

"By the way, you still haven't told me why we're going to Immorra. Moreover, what are your plans once we arrive?"

He had wanted to ask this question before, but he never got the chance to ask.

...now that they were in this together and were about to go to Immorra, it was only appropriate that he knew what he was signing up for.

Hearing Kevin's question, I nodded my head and said

"Well, let's go there first and I'll explain to you my plans. It will take a while to explain so its better if we talk about it there rather than here where time flows faster"

"Alright, that makes sense"

Hearing my explanation, Kevin nodded his head. Since time flowed faster here, every minute they wasted here was like ten minutes there.

Might as well go there first before talking about the plans.

"huuuu..."

Thus, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Kevin extended his hand forward.

-Riiiiiip!

As Kevin's hand touched the air, as if grabbing matter and space itself, Kevin tore the air apart as a black void appeared before him.

Small ripples of residual magic slowly started appearing in the area Kevin was in as the mana inside of Kevin's body was quickly getting depleted. As more time passed, the ripples became more profound and noticeable, taking on a misty aura.

The mist gradually grew into an open vortex filled with darkness. As I was watching, I noticed that small translucent lights filled with different colors started to appear, filling the swirling darkness like a starry sky.

With the core in his left hand, Kevin suddenly clenched his left hand into a fist.

-Crack!

Subsequently, as if made of glass, the core shattered into a million pieces and a tremendous purple hue suddenly engulfed Kevin's body completely. Unbothered by this, as his body shined, Kevin looked at me as he shouted

"Quick, enter the portal! I can only hold on for ten seconds"

"Okay"

Solemnly nodding my head, I stared at the black portal that was opened by Kevin with unprecedented solemness.

Glancing at the black ring on my finger for a split second, I exhaled and took a decisive step into the tear.

"Huuuu..."

This was it I thought.

...this was the moment I would leave earth and enter a completely different planet, Immorra.

Chapter 165: Immorra [2]

"Ghhh..."

After an unknown period of time, feeling light pierce through the gap of my eyelids stimulating my pupils, I slowly opened my eyes.

As I opened my eyes, what met my sight was a blue sky devoid of any clouds. A rich scent of nature invaded my nostrils causing my groggy mind to slowly clear up.

As I lay down on the ground staring at the sky, the first thing that caught my sight was the sight of three bright yellow balls floating in the sky.

"...are those suns?"

As I stared at the three yellow balls in the sky, after a couple of seconds I had to look away due to the stinging sensation in my eyes.

...They were indeed three suns.

I was in Immorra...and the three suns were confirmation of it.

Turning my head left and right, I found myself laying down on an expansive field of grass. In the distance, I spotted large boulders protruding from the ground, and though sparse, trees also appeared in the distance.

So far, apart from the three suns in the sky, everything looked exactly like earth.

"Hm?"

As I tried to lift my hand, I soon noticed that I had to exert a lot more force than I was used to. It felt as though there was a massive weight hanging on my hand.

Frowning for a second, I instantly realized what was going on.

"...ah right, the gravity here is three times stronger than that of earth"

With this planet being a lot bigger than earth, both in terms of size and mass, the gravity of this place was also thicker.

...fortunately, the past few months I had been training in the gravity room provided by the academy expecting something like this.

Thanks to that, I wasn't overwhelmed by the gravity.

"You up?"

As I sat up, I suddenly heard Kevin's voice from my right side. Turning my head in his direction, I saw him leisurely sitting on top of a small rock cleaning the sheath of his blade with a white cloth.

Squinting my eyes to adjust my eyes to the bright light coming from the suns, I curiously asked.

"How long was I out?"

With his eyes fixed on his blade, Kevin responded.

"...not much, around ten minutes since I came here"

Massaging my forehead, I nodded my head and slowly stood up. Although I had trained under this gravity before, I still needed time to properly adjust to this planet's gravitational force.

"Alright, that's not too bad..."

If I was passed out for a day then things would've gotten complicated. Fortunately, it wasn't that long.

-Fwaaa!

Tapping onto my bracelet twice, I took out a black rectangular box and threw it at Kevin.

"Here, go set up a dimensional space"

Taking the box, Kevin looked at me in confusion as he looked around the empty grassland.

"Dimensional space? here?"

"Yeah, let's rest first...I mean look at the state you are in"

There was no way I was going to travel with Kevin in the state he was in. Especially not with the glaring black circles beneath his eyes.

Considering how dangerous this place was, for him to move around in his current state was like asking to get himself killed.

"Alright"

After a bit of thought, Kevin nodded his head. Ren's suggestion did indeed make sense

He was indeed tired.

After fighting every day with the students from other academies, Kevin wasn't in his optimal condition. Although his opponents weren't anything special, because he wanted to benefit from the sparring, he had set himself multiple handicaps...which resulted in his current situation.

Playing with the black box in his hand for a couple of seconds, Kevin looked at me and asked

"What's the radius on this thing?"

"Ten meters, anything other than that and I'd probably go bankrupt"

I wasn't lying about that.

A whopping five million U, that's how much that thing cost me.

In order to buy that thing, I had to slip my hands into the mercenary group's budget. If not for the fact that I swore to Smallsnake that I was going to pay the money back in a week's time, I would've never been able to buy that thing.

Still, it was a good investment in my opinion. This way I could at least rest without worrying too much about my safety.

"Alright, I'll get on it now"

Putting his sword down, Kevin scanned the surroundings and started setting up the dimensional space around us.

"Good"

Seeing Kevin move around the area we were in to set up a dimensional space, taking out a small black bead from my bracelet, I mumbled

"While you do that, I'll set up a tent"

...and thus for the next ten minutes or so, whilst I set up the tent, Kevin set up a dimensional space.

Although there didn't seem to be any beast or demon around the area we were in, it was never a bad idea to be cautious. With the dimensional space around us, we didn't have to worry about any demons spotting us.

Exactly ten minutes after he started setting up the dimensional space, Kevin walked back in my direction.

"Alright I'm done"

As he walked back, pressing onto a button, a large transparent dome appeared above our heads covering the area we were in.

-Fwwaaa!

"Nice..."

Staring at the dome that was forming above our heads, pointing towards the seat next to me, I urged Kevin to sit down.

"good, take a seat"

"Alright"

Nodding his head, Kevin took a seat and leaned back. Silence prevailed in the surroundings as neither one of us spoke.

Taking out an energy bar from my pocket I opened the wrapper and took a bite out of it as I looked into the distance.

...this place sure looked peaceful for a world conquered by the demons.

However, I knew that this was merely a facade.

This place was nothing but peaceful.

Danger lurked everywhere and one wrong move could cost our lives. Knowing this, we had to be especially cautious when moving around. We couldn't be careless.

As my thoughts paused there, frowning slightly, I looked at Kevin and broke the silence.

"Let's rest up for a couple of hours. After that, we will be moving"

"Where are we going?"

"Gud Khodror"

Taken aback, Kevin looked at me and asked

"Gud Khodror?"

Nodding my head, I slowly said.

"Yeah, the last remaining orc city..."

Gud Khodror

That was the name of the last and final orc stronghold in Immorra. A massive city that had over a million orcs guarding it.

Although this planet was currently conquered by the demons, they had only conquered around eighty percent of it.

The last twenty percent of the land was still under the orcs control.

Although the land that they currently controlled was mostly infertile, by occasionally plundering the demons, the orcs were able to somewhat keep a foothold on this planet.

Moreover, because the demons were currently focusing on conquering earth, they didn't have enough manpower to fully take control of this place.

...but still, although it wasn't fully conquered, it was only a matter of time before all of the orcs on this planet died.

With their limited food supply and lack of reinforcements, they were currently on the verge of being eliminated.

This was also part of the reason why this place was so dangerous...

With how desperate the orcs were, conflicts between the orcs and the demons were a common sight on this land. With both sides constantly fighting whenever they had a chance.

Knowing this, when moving around Kevin and I had to be extra careful to not get swept into the conflicts as we could very well die considering the fact that we were only <E> and <D> rank.

Something that was equivalent to cannon fodder in this world...

...and although I knew all of this, going to Gud Khodror was the first and most crucial step to my plan.

Everything would begin from there...

"I see..."

Frowning, Kevin remained silent for a couple of seconds.

...with the system helping him, Kevin had a general idea of the circumstances of this place.

What shocked him however was how Ren was able to know all of this information considering the fact that not even the people back on earth knew of this place's existence.

This made Ren's image in his mind become even more obscure. Still, Kevin didn't plan on asking him how he knew this information.

Everyone had their own secrets, Kevin included.

One of the reasons why Kevin liked Ren was because he never questioned his decision or things that seemed to be out of place. Even if he did something crazy in front of him, Ren would most probably not ask him how he did it.

He was someone that respected boundaries and Kevin liked that.

...and since Kevin knew this, he also decided to not probe too much. As he said before, everyone had their secrets, and unless they willingly told you their secret, it was better to not probe too much.

This was called respect.

As his thoughts paused there, Kevin opened up the map of Immorra through the system interface and had a good look at it.

A couple of minutes after opening the map, turning his head towards Ren, he asked

"But why are we going to the Gud Khodror first? Actually, that aside, you still haven't explained to me why we are here"

"...ah right, I still didn't tell you"

Hearing Kevin's question, I nodded my head. It was about time I explained to him my plans. Staring at him directly in the eyes I slowly said.

"...we are going to look for the cure for the mind breaker curse"

"...what?!"

Opening his eyes wide, whilst still seated, Kevin looked at me in disbelief.

Ther mind breaker curse?

The one curse that is infamous for being incurable?

How could Kevin not be shocked when he heard that they were looking for a cure for something that was famous for not having a cure?

Noticing Kevin's reaction, I nodded my head.

"Yeah, you heard correctly, the mind breaker curse."Â

"H-how? I thought that it was incurable?"

Staring at Kevin, I shook my head.

"Just because there isn't a cure on earth doesn't mean that there isn't one somewhere else"

The world was just, there was no curse that there was no cure of, and there was no disease that couldn't be cured.

...it's just that the cure for it wasn't discovered yet.

"Huuu...."

Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, Kevin tried to regain his composure.

...honestly, although shocking, Kevin knew that this trip wasn't going to be a simple vacation...and the fact that they had come here to find the cure for something that wasn't supposed to have a cure, made a lot more sense than just coming here to sightsee.

Although shocked, he was able to quickly calm himself down. Solemnly looking at me, Kevin asked

"If going to Gud Khodror is the first step of the plan, what comes after that?...and what are you hoping to achieve?"

Hearing Kevin's question, placing my hand on my chin, I thought for a moment.

"Ah...well, if we want to put it in simple terms...mhh"

Pausing for a second to find the right words to say, after a bit of thought I said

"...We're going to shake this place to its core"

Chapter 166: Immorra [3]

-Clank!

The ground shook, and a loud metallic sound reverberated across a green field filled with rocks and trees. Shortly after the metallic sound was heard, a deep yet powerful voice shook the surroundings.

"Rangum Lunk tar guuul!"

Holding onto a large metallic axe dyed in what seemed to be black blood, was a tall, white, and muscular humanoid figure that had a large scar covering half of his face.

His heavy green eyes that were buried beneath his eye sockets, looked up towards the sky where a black humanoid creature with black horns and large bat-like wings stood.

Similarly looking back at his opponent, the black humanoid creature's blood-red eyes menacingly stared at the orc beneath him.

Neither one of them spoke, however, heavy tension prevailed over the surrounding.

"Khhrrr....khhrrr..."

With each breath, the orc took, turbid air escaped from his mouth making him look terrifying.

Behind him, over a thousand or so similar humanoid creatures stood with their backs straight wearing a thick metal armour that covered most of their facial features apart from their eyes. Every single one of them glared towards the sky where a similar number of demons stood in the air.

"Karum! Karum! Karum!"

Stabbing their weapons onto the ground, the ground shook as the orcs repeatedly chanted their war cry.

With every cry, they would rhythmically thump their weapons on the ground resulting in an oppressive feeling to shroud the surroundings.

Looking at the orcs beneath him, with a twisted sadistic smile on his face, the leading demon opened his mouth and chuckled.

"kekeke, laring mavil tum. Kalem tatunem ruviltem voil!"

Pointing his thumb towards his neck, the demon sadistically smiled towards the orc legion before him. Thereafter, he slashed his thumb past his neck as he excitedly shouted

"Kantar!"

Staring at the demon from below, unbothered by his provocation, the pale white orc raised his axe in the air and pointed it towards the demons in the air. Shortly after, his powerful voice once again shook the surroundings as he shouted.

"Gandam buuu!"

As soon as the white orc's voice traveled across the ear of each member, the orcs behind him raised their voices as they stabbed their weapons on the ground even more fiercely.

"Karum! Karum! Karum!"

Not long after, simultaneously lifting their weapons in the air, arching their thick frames back, the orcs threw their weapons in the air.

-Swooosh! -Swooosh!

With unprecedented speed, the weapons that ranged from axes, hammers, broadswords to all kinds of other heavy weapons, hurtled towards the demons in the sky, splitting the air apart.

-Clank!

-Thump!

Screams echoed in the air, as the demons used their wings to protect themselves from the sudden attacks from the orcs.

"Kyeeeee—!

As the weapons collided with the wings of the demons, some of the demons were able to repel the weapons whilst others found their bodies completely crushed by the gigantic weapons headed in their direction.

Black blood spilt from the sky.

"Karum!"

With their hands in the air, as the weapons got repelled by the demons, a dark green hue shrouded the weapons that were still in the air. Suddenly the weapons that were falling on the ground sped back towards the orcs standing on the ground perfectly landing in the palm of their hands.

"Karum!"

Retrieving the weapons back, the orcs raised the weapons in the air as they chanted their war cry once again.

"Kyeeeee—!

Enraged by the orcs sudden attack, with their nails sharply protruding from their fingers, the demons dove down towards where the orcs were.

As they dove down on the ground, with each flap of their wings, their speed multiplied several folds leaving behind after images.

-Spurt!

-Rumble!

Not long after the demons attacked, blood started spilling from both sides as desperate roars and cries echoed across the expansive land.

"Holy fuck!"

Not so far from the confrontation, standing behind a massive boulder, putting my finger on my lips I quietly whispered to Kevin who had almost cursed out loud.

"Don't scream and try to hide your presence as much as possible..."

Covering his mouth, Kevin nodded his head.

"Yeah"

"Good..."

Turning my attention back towards the fight in the distance, a solemn look appeared on my face.

As Kevin and I were making our way towards Gud Khodror, we suddenly heard the loud war-cry coming from the orcs.

The logical thing for Kevin and I to do once we heard the noise was to obviously move as far away as possible, however, that was not what we did.

...That was because I suddenly had an idea.

Turning my head towards Kevin, I softly whispered.

"Can you decipher what they are saying?"

To me, what they said made no sense.

The language that they were currently using was a language known as Lartvia, and was the main language that orcs used.

...as I didn't learn it, I understood nothing. Fortunately, I had a walking translator next to me.

Kevin and his system.

Frowning, with his eyes fixed towards the fight in the distance, Kevin responded.

"Yes I can..."

"Alright, tell me what you managed to understand"

Nodding his head, Kevin started speaking.

"To summarize what I've gathered from their conversation...the orc at the front of the other orcs is called Silug and he is a legion commander. According to what he said, there are a total of three thousand five hundred orcs in his command..."

Turning his attention towards the leader of the demons that stood in the air, Kevin continued

"On the other hand, the leader for the demon side seems to be a count ranked demon, which is equivalent to an A rank Hero. Although he didn't state the number of demons he has with him, it should be about the same"

Pausing for a second to gather his thoughts, after a couple of seconds Kevin continued.

"...regarding why they are fighting, I don't know. By the time we got here, the conflict was already escalating and so I wasn't able to get much"

Hearing Kevin's evaluation and translation, I nodded my head.

"That's fine..."

I didn't need to necessarily know why they were fighting.

That wasn't my goal here.

Turning his head in my direction, Kevin asked.

"So what do we do now?"

With my eyes fixed on the battle ahead, I responded

"...we wait"

"Wait?"

"Yeah, the time for us to move is not ripe yet"

"Not yet? Then what's your plan?"

What could they possibly gain from this fight?

...and what was the plan that Ren was talking about?

Kevin wanted to know.

"Here, come closer"

Seeing Kevin unsatisfied with my vague answer, sighing and urging for him to come closer, I explained to him my plan.

...the plan was rather simple, once everyone was distracted fighting, sneak in and camouflage into an orc by wearing their equipment and pretend to be one of them.

That was it. There was no grand plan behind it or anything like that.

Although there were other ways to enter Gud Khodror, directly entering from the entrance was probably the easiest and safest way to do it...well, at least compared to the other options.

Moreover, since orcs weren't the brightest creatures, by hiding in the masses, Kevin and I could probably get away with this.

Though dangerous, it was the most appropriate plan at the moment.

As I slowly explained my plan to Kevin, not long after, he looked at me in disbelief as he said.

"You're crazy, if we do it that way, won't we be discovered? Moreover, what if one side loses?"

If the demons won and all of the orcs died, what was the point of sneaking in? Moreover, what if they got discovered by one of the orcs on the way back? Wouldn't that just spell instant death?

I mean, since they were surrounded they had no other option but to die.

...a single mistake and death awaited them, this plan was extremely risky.

"Don't worry..."

Pointing in the distance where the fight was happening, I looked at Kevin and said

"Take a look at the leaders of both sides, and tell me who looks calmer?"

"What do you mean..."

Though doubtful, peeking from the side of the boulder, Kevin observed the leader of both sides.

Currently, both sides were at a standstill with the orcs and demons fighting against each other.

Casualties started to pile up from both sides.

However, although there were casualties on both sides, in terms of numbers it seemed to be even as there were just about the same amount of orc corpses as demon corpses laying on the ground.

Taking his eyes off of the main battlefield, Kevin looked towards the respective leaders of both sides.

...and he soon noticed that neither one of them was moving.

Seeing their lack of action despite the fact that their subordinates were dying, caused Kevin to frown for a second...but he soon understood why they weren't moving.

With both sides being a lot stronger than their soldiers, if they moved then the aftershocks of their battle would affect their own troops. It would even be more devastating.

...simply put, the two of them couldn't fight just yet.

Recalling Ren's words, staring towards the faces of the two leaders, Kevin soon noticed a peculiar thing.

...and that was that compared to the orc leader, the count ranked demon had a frown on his face as he spectated the battle from below.

...Moreover, with each passing minute the battle dragged, the deeper the frown on his face became.

This definitely meant something...suddenly, a certain idea came into his mind as he exclaimed in a small voice.

"Ah!"

Observing Kevin's reaction from the side, with a faint smile on my face, I looked at him and asked

"Now why would the orc leader be calmer than the count ranked demon?"

Taking his eyes off of the battle and looking back at me, Kevin slowly said

"...Reinforcements"

Pausing for a second, Kevin repeated in a low voice.

"Reinforcements for the orcs are coming"

Seeing that Kevin understood, the smile on my face deepened.

"Bingo! That's exactly it!"

With reinforcements coming from the orcs side, it was only natural that the battle would shift toward the orc's favor soon.

Therefore, after observing this fact, I knew that the plan was feasible. As Kevin too understood this point, he proceeded to nod his head.

"Alright...if you put it that way it makes sense"

"That's righ—"

-Rumble!

Just as I was about to speak, cutting me off mid-sentence was a large rumbling sound coming from where the battlefield was as the ground beneath us shook fiercely. Abruptly turning my head towards the battlefield, I soon realized why.

"It seems like the count-ranked demon can't hold himself back anymore...I guess that's our queue"

Solemnly looking at me, Kevin nodded his head and said.

"Alright"

"Let's g-hold on"

Just as I was about to sneak into the battlefield, recalling something and taking out a couple of potions from my pocket I threw them at Kevin.

-Swoosh!

"Take this, you're going to need them. Make sure that once you're in the orc armor you chug all the potions I gave you down"

Grabbing onto the potions that I threw at him, a look of confusion appeared on Kevins' face.

"What are the-"

Just as he was about to ask about the potions, I had already disappeared from my spot leaving him standing alone behind the rock we were peeking from.

"Damn it, at least tell me what I need to use them for!"

Cursing out loud, Kevin glared at where I used to be and proceeded to head towards the battle as well.

"How careless..."

Hearing Kevin's shout from the distance, I couldn't help but shake my head.

Fortunately, the loud sound from the battles had drowned out his shouting, else they would've caught him already.

I felt a bit sorry for leaving without explaining what the potions did, but...

...It's just that I really wanted to join in on the fun.

Chapter 167: Immorra [4]

-Rumble! -Rumble!

As I quietly moved around the perimeter of the battlefield, I made sure to hide my presence as much as possible. By hiding behind rocks and trees, I slowly crept my way towards the battlefield.

-Baam!

Explosions rang everywhere and pained and enraged screams echoed around the battlefield.

Both sides continuously fought against each other with the orcs swinging their massive weapons down and the demons diving down from the sky-piercing through the gap of the orc's bulky armor.

Black and green blood sprayed everywhere as both sides relentlessly tried to kill one another.

Turning my head to the side, I stared towards the distance where the battle between the two leaders was happening. Standing with his back straight, Silug, the legion commander, Swung his axe downwards.

As his axe touched the ground, the air split apart and a humongous red light quickly approached the count-ranked demon in the air..

-Kacha!

Raising his hand and in a slapping motion, the count-ranked demon's hand made contact with the energy beam.

As soon as the count-ranked demon's hand touched the red beam, everything turned deathly quiet.

Everything stood at a standstill as be it orcs or demons all looked towards the distance.

...soon a bright red light enveloped the surroundings and a massive explosion rang out.

-Booom!

A massive shockwave swept the surroundings as both orcs and demons in the vicinity were flung away.

Not long after, as the light died down and the aftershocks of the explosion settled down, I soon saw the count-ranked demon diving towards Silug with unprecedented speed.

His blood-red eyes now were tinged in black as his left hand hung by a few threads. However if one looked closely, one could see the fiber of his muscles slowly regenerating reattaching his arm in place.

Stoically staring at the demon heading in his direction, Silug raised his axe in the air and screamed out loud.

"Graaaaaaa'!"

-Boooom!

Soon the demon and the orc once again came into collision and another massive shockwave swept the place.

"Shit..."

Observing the fight from the distance, I couldn't but silently curse to myself.

'How long will it take me to reach their level..?'

Staring at the two leaders fighting in the distance, caused my blood to boil.

...such power.

Such overwhelming might that caused the surroundings to shake with every single one of their moves...I too wanted to become that strong too. Strong enough to not worry about carefully thinking about every single one of my actions.

...I knew I was being greedy.

Yet, I couldn't stop myself from wanting that sort of power.

...and although I knew that the speed of my strength increases could be described as nothing short of a miracle. That didn't stop me from longing to be that powerful.

Still, I knew that some things couldn't be rushed.

Staring at the two leaders fighting in the distance, I knew.

I knew that...

It was only a matter of time before I surpassed them.

-Crash!

As I was deep into my own thoughts, suddenly out of nowhere, an enormous frame crashed against the trees that were next to me tearing everything apart creating a cloud of dirt.

Startled, I immediately crouched down and looked towards the direction of where the crash happened. Unfortunately, because of the dirt shrouding the area, I wasn't able to get a proper look at what it was.

Turning my head to look behind me to make sure no one else was coming, I slowly approached the area where the crash happened.

"Khrr...khrr..."

As the dust settled down, an orc appeared laying down on the area next to me. With each breath he took, white air escaped from his mouth.

...soon our eyes met.

"Luten garen moven human!"

As his eyes and my eyes interlocked, after a short pause, the orc lifted his head and shouted out loud.

Noticing this, placing my hand on the sheat of my sword, I quickly channeled the mana inside of my body and apologetically said.

"Sorry, I don't speak orchen language or whatever it's called"

-Click!

The first movement of the [Keiki style] : Quick flash

-Spurt!

Thereafter, before the orc could defend himself, a bright light illuminated the surroundings, and a streak of light pierced straight through the small gap of the armor the orc was wearing. Green blood sprayed everywhere.

-Thump!

"huuu..."

Exhaling, I removed my sword from the orc's body as its body lifelessly slumped on the ground.

Staring at the orc on the ground, I forcefully tried to calm my beating heart as I wiped the green blood that had splattered on my face.

...If I said I wasn't nervous right now that would've been a lie.

Although I wasn't sure about my opponent's true strength, I was at least able to infer that he was at least around my level.

Fortunately, he was injured, or else the situation might've turned troublesome.

Regardless, although nervous I was able to retain my composure which proved to me that I was growing.

Had this happened to me five months back, I would've blanked out and lost some valuable time.

...It was fine to be nervous, everyone feels nervous. However, if that nervousness affected your judgment, that's when you knew you had a problem...and right now, I no longer blanked out whenever I was nervous.

"Alright, enough time-wasting"

Walking towards the now dead orc, I immediately stripped him of all of his armor.

-Clank!

"...fucking hell, this crap weights a crap ton"

Throwing the armor to the side, I couldn't help but curse to myself as I felt the weight of the armor.

...It felt as though it was a car.

*Sigh*

'Beggars can't be choosers'

Sighing inwardly, looking at the corpse of the orc beside me. Taking out some oil from my dimensional space I threw it at the orc and snapped my fingers that were coated in flame psyons.

-Swaash!

Not long after, a raging fire appeared in the area I was in. As this was a common sight on the battlefield it attracted no attention.

Crouching down and carrying the armor away from the fire, I found a somewhat secluded area and put on the armor.Â

...to say it was easy, would've been a lie.

Let's ignore the fact that the armor was too big for me, just the weight alone made me feel sick. It was already hard enough for me to adjust to three times the gravity, now that I was wearing something that weighted like a truck on me, it felt as though my legs were made out of led.

I could barely stand straight.

...Fortunately, I had a solution to this.

Taking out three potions from my dimensional space, opening the lid with my thumb, I tried to down them in one go.

"Here goes no-"

-Rumble! -Rumble!

However, just as I was about to drink the potion, the ground shook even more fiercely than before causing me to lose my footing slightly.

Fortunately, I was able to regain my footing. If not I might've lost the potions.

-Rumble! -Rumble!

Staring towards the distance, I slowly muttered.

"Reinforcements are here..."

Seeing that I didn't have much time left, quickly chugging down the three potions in my hand, I soon found my body expanding rapidly.

In a matter of seconds, I was soon able to fill the armor completely. Moreover, the armor was no longer as heavy as it was before.

The reason why I was able to do this was because of the three potions that I had just consumed.

[Gigantification potion] : Potion that rapidly expands body. Effects last for 1 day.

[Strenght magnification potion] : Potions that increase the strength of the user by a factor of two. Effects last 1 day, and agility decreases as a result of consumption.

[Voice changing potion] : Potion that enables the user to change voice as he/she pleases.

...I didn't really need to explain why I needed the first two potions, however, the last potion although it sounded useless, was an extra precaution I took in order to better disguise myself as an orc as the orc's voices were loud and powerful.

Although I couldn't speak the language, in case they were chanting their war cry, I wouldn't be exposed.

"Now I guess it's time for me to go"

Taking out the red book for a brief moment, I read through some of the pages. Not long after, closing the book I slowly made my way out of the forest I was in.

-Thump! -Thump!

As I walked, with every step I took, the ground shook.

Unbothered by this, I soon made my way out of the thin forest...and what I saw next shook me to the core.

Karum! Karum! Karum!

On the expansive grassland before me, waves of orcs could be seen marching towards the distance chanting their war cry and thumping their weapons on the ground. Wherever they went the ground shook.

At the helm of the orcs, standing on top of a large boulder was Silug's figure who was menacingly staring towards the sky where the Count ranked demon stood. Next to him, another orc stood.

He had a similar presence to Silug, however, differently from him, his skin was red and his body was bulkier. He looked terrifying.

Staring at the count-ranked demon in the air, the red orc shouted.

"Kualem Toran pluzen Kaar!"

Staring at the red orc below him, still smiling, the count-ranked demon responded.

"veluem tenacie lem"

As the count-ranked demon and the orc leaders were conversing, I slowly walked towards the legion of orcs in the distance.

As I walked, I made sure to not hide my presence as I kept my back straight and fearlessly walked past the grassland towards where the other orcs were.

...the reason I was doing this was because I wasn't the only orc that got separated from their legion when fighting against the demons.

Therefore, in order to not look suspicious, I had to approach them head-on...and fortunately, not long after, I was soon standing next to hundreds of other orcs, staring towards the distance where the two orc leaders were.

"Tiralem Valken to mad Gud Khodror!"

Silently staring at the leaders in the distance, closing my eyes slightly I spoke inside of my mind.

'Hey, Angelica, are you there?'

Calling for Angelica inside of my mind, after a short pause, her voice entered my mind.

[...yes]

Once again opening my eyes and staring at the leaders of both sides, I asked Angelica inside of my mind.

'Angelica, can you understand what they're saying'

after another brief pause, Angelica responded.

[...Yes]

'Can you translate for me?'

[...Yes, but don't talk too much with me human. I feel a strong presence near here...if I'm slightly careless, I might get exposed. So I'll explain to you once you leave]

Finally understanding why Angelica was taking so long to respond, I nodded my head in understanding as I looked at the count ranked demon in the distance.

'...Alright, I'll wait once he leaves.'

Although Angelica was currently hidden, there was no guarantee that she wouldn't get caught.

Though the chances were extremely low, that didn't mean the chances were not zero...moreover, with the demon ahead being a count-ranked demon, it was never wrong to be extra cautious.

...Thankfully, it didn't take long for the count-ranked demon to leave.

"kekek, Kalatalm! Geviet!"

Ten minutes after Angelica stopped speaking to me, with a loud chuckle the count ranked demon flapped his wing in the air and disappeared into the distance as a sonic boom

Next to him, the remaining demons too disappeared in the distance with large smiles on their faces.

-Boom! Boom!

...although I wasn't able to make out what had happened, I knew that the demons had succeeded in whatever they were planning.

That was because not long after the demons left, an enraged roar swept the surroundings and vegetation.

"Gundem Buuul!"

The source of the shout was Silug whose chest was rising up and down fiercely. Turning his attention towards the red orc next to him and the legion behind him, Silug shouted.

"Karam!"

[Quick human, thump your weapon on the ground]

As soon as Sigul's voice faded and hearing Angelica's warning, using the axe I got from the previous orc, I rhythmically thumped it on the ground and shouted like the other orcs.

Karum! Karum! Karum!

Turning around, Sigul headed towards the distance and the troops followed along. His face was incomparably dark.

-Rumble! -Rumble!

...we were finally going to Gud Khodror

Discord : /mnSUMMdca3

Chapter 168: Gud Khodror [1]

As dark clouds enveloped the sky and blocked the sunlight from shining down upon the land, on a mountain range, rumbling sounds echoed across the surroundings.

-Rumble! -Rumble!

Marching through the large rocky terrain were over a thousand orcs wearing thick metallic armor that weighed over a couple of tons. With each step they took the ground beneath them shook.

"Randim gal"

Walking at the front of the army of orcs were two orcs that stood out from the rest.

A white orc and a red orc.

Presently, both of their faces were incomparably dark as their chests heaved up and down unevenly.

The legion commander, Silug, had an especially terrifying expression as the large scar on his face became even more glaring.

As we walked, a boundless bloodlust exuded from his body.

The bloodlust was so powerful that the orcs standing next to him were trembling uncontrollably.

...Almost as if they were staring at death itself.

Watching the scene from further back, with my head straight I softly said in a deep voice.

"How long do we have left?"

Walking next to me, wearing a large metallic armor that covered most of his body was Kevin who coldly said.

"Ten more kilometers..."

"Hm?"

Turning my head to the side, and noticing Kevin's attitude, I realized that he was still holding a grudge against me for the potions thing.

Rolling my eyes inside of the large metal mask I apologized.

"Alright, I'm sorry about the potions thing, you don't need to be so mad about it"

...I do understand that I was at fault here, but it's not like something would've happened.

Let's exclude his perks as the protagonist, I also had the book with me. With it I knew Kevin was going to be fine.

I wasn't dumb enough to make him do something that would end up killing him.

"Not mad? I was almost caught because you didn't tell me what they did"

"No you weren't, stop exaggerating"

He only startled a nearby orc, nothing much happened. Since the orc was too busy fighting a demon, there was no follow-up.

Turning his attention towards me, Kevin frowned inside of his mask and said

"...and how do you know that?"

From what Kevin remembered, Ren left on the opposite side of him...he shouldn't have seen him.

Without skipping a beat I responded.

"Since I got lucky and an orc died next to me, I was able to quickly change and thus saw you on the way"

Squinting his eyes, Kevin proceeded to nod his head.

"...I see"

Nope, I was actually quite far from him, but he didn't need to know that.

That aside, I finally found out why the orcs and the demons were fighting. After the count-ranked demon left, Angelica finally told me what had happened.

To summarize it

...in short, the demons ambushed the orcs.

Normally this wouldn't have been that much of a surprising event considering the fact the orcs and demons fought all of the time...however, this time, things weren't the same as usual.

In fact, a big problem happened.

...and the problem was that the food supply the orcs were carrying was directly targeted by the demons and as a result were destroyed.

This was a massive blow to the orcs.

With how scarce food was, any loss dealt towards their food supply meant that they were dealt a devastating blow. Especially since food was what kept their soldiers alive till now.

The less food the orcs had...the lower the chances of them surviving were.

Kevin also understood this, and so as we marched with the other orcs, we discussed what happened.

Although Kevin somewhat had gotten the gist of what had happened since he could understand their language, only after I relayed to him what Angelica told me that he fully understood what was going on.

He was a bit surprised about how I was able to know this information since I couldn't speak the language before...but fortunately, he didn't pry too much.

...in the end, as he found out what had happened, he couldn't help but sigh and say

"What a pity"

Glancing at Kevin for a brief moment, I softly said in a low voice

"What is?"

"The fact that orcs can't use dimensional storages, else this situation would've never happened"

Pausing for a second, I scratched the back of my head and nodded my head.

"Ah...I guess you're right"

What Kevin said wasn't wrong.

Orcs couldn't use dimensional storages like humans could, and that was because of one specific reason.

Orcs couldn't use mana.

...more specifically, because orcs couldn't use mana they weren't able to use dimensional storages as they required mana to activate them.

Had they been able to use dimensional storage, protecting the food supplies would've been a breeze as Silug alone could've done the job.

Unfortunately, this was not the case as orcs didn't use mana but instead used something called 'Aura'

...a completely different energy system compared to mana and was only unique to orcs like demonic energy for demons.

The reason orcs used aura instead of mana had to do with how they evolved and how they mainly focused on brute strength and their bodies.

Unlike mana which enabled users to channel elements, aura was a force that was hidden within the bodies of the orcs and allowed them to stimulate every single muscle and fiber of their bodies. In doing so it helped them grow stronger by regrowing their muscle fibers to be stronger and more durable.

...the end result was their massive bodies that contained boundless raw power hidden within. I didn't need to elaborate on how strong they were...as I had seen Silug's power first hand.

Terrifying.

Therefore, because of how they were biologically designed, orcs couldn't use mana. This also explained why the orcs wore crude and heavy armor. It was simply because artifacts were useless to them as they couldn't use mana.

Going back to Silug, the reason why he was especially furious was quite obvious.

...since he was the leader of the expedition, all responsibilities were going to fall on him for the failure.

-Thump! -Thump!

Suddenly, snapping me out of my thoughts, were the sounds of footsteps halting as every soldier stopped moving.

Standing on top of a rock, overlooking the orcs below him, Silug's powerful voice resounded across the area.

"Lewira laun Sawiiick! Comy tun lareon von-"

Listening to Silug's voice echoing across the surroundings, frowning, I called for Angelica inside of my mind.

'Hey Angelica, is there a way for you to make me understand?'

After a brief moment, Angelica's voice entered my head as she said.

[...Yes, I didn't use this before because my brethren was there but now that I no longer feel his presence, I can share a bit of my power]

Seeing that Angelica could help me understand, I grew excited.

'Alright, perfect'

Honestly, I found the fact that I couldn't understand a thing quite troublesome. Fortunately, I had Angelica with me who knew how to speak the language.

'...actually, Angelica, how many languages can you speak?'

I was genuinely curious, since she knew Lartvian, which was the orc's main language, she definitely knew other languages.

[All of them]

Taken aback by her response, I couldn't help but ask once again to make sure I didn't hear incorrectly.

'All of them?'

[Yes, we demons are born with the ability to know every language out there]

Listening to this fact, I was slightly taken aback.

...interesting.

I never knew this.

Especially since I was the creator of the novel.

I guess there were still some technical things I didn't know as the author of the novel...interesting indeed.

[Focus your mind]

Hearing Angelica's voice in my mind, snapping me out of my thoughts, I closed my eyes and concentrated as Angelica told me.

...though I was surprised with what Angelica told me, my mind was more preoccupied with other things like wanting to understand what Silug was saying.

[Alright, I'm about to share with you my skill so try to not lose focus]

Nodding my head, I solemnly said.

'Alright'

[Good...]

-Fuwa!

As soon as Angelica's voice faded from my mind, I suddenly felt a stabbing sensation hit my brain resulting in my face winching in pain.

"khh..."

A small groan escaped from my lips, but because it was faint no one heard it.

...Moreover, I had a mask covering my face which helped quite a bit.

After a couple of seconds, feeling the pain in my brain disappear, opening my eyes I looked towards Silgus in the distance.

'Hopefully, I could now understand...'

Fiercely staring at the sea of orcs beneath him, Silgus shouted as his powerful voice echoed across the surroundings.

"The flames of war are upon us..khrrr"

"By igniting the first sparks, the inevitable clash for the sovereignty of this planet has been pushed forward..."

Pausing for a second as he stared at the orcs beneath him, extending his hand forward and clenching it into a fist, Silgus shouted.

"...and I swear upon my name Silgus third legion commander of Gud Khodror, that I will personally end them in the war that they oh so seek..khrr"

"Only upon the smell of those vermin's blood blanketing this world will I finally be able to rest in peace"

-Thump! -Thump!

Karum! Karum! Karum!

Hearing Silgus's speech, a lot of the orcs standing felt their blood boil as they chanted their war cry as they thumbed their weapons onto the ground.

Satisfied with the reaction, with his face becoming incomparably serious, Silgus shouted.

"So...now that we are about to enter Gud Khodror, I want to know...who will stand by my side and who will leave me?"

Instantly the surroundings became quiet.

Listening to the speech thanks to Angelica's skill, I instantly realized what was going on.

...Silug, the orc leader, was trying to unite the troops by making them take his side so that when we arrived at Gud Khodror, he would face a lighter punishment due to his failure.

If he had substantial backing, his death or punishment would have an adverse effect on the orcs overall

...and so by taking full command of this legion, Silug was trying his best to make himself more important in the eyes of the higher-ups.

He wanted to exert dominance over everyone here, before going back to Gud Khodror. Moreover, judging from the fluctuations in the air, it seems as though he was using a skill that forcefully exposed people that were planning on betraying him.

Fortunately, Kevin and I were not affected by this as we didn't use aura...couldn't say this for the rest of the orcs.

...and I was right.

After a couple of seconds, seeing that no one had responded yet, Silgus shouted out loud once again as the fluctuations in the air intensified.

"Say it now!"

Suddenly, an orc stepped out of the line and shouted

"I would like to leave"

As soon as his words came out, silence prevailed in the surroundings as everyone stared at the orc that stepped out.

"Oh?"

Jumping off of the small cliff, walking towards the orc that had just shouted, Silgus asked.

"Why are you leaving me?"

Trembling all over, the orc responded

"I-I just feel like there isn't much to do...we were ambushed by the demons and yet we weren't able to even defend the food supply which we desperately needed to def-

Cutting the orc off mid-sentence, Silgus's deep voice once again resounded across the area.

"I don't want excuses"

Looking at Silug directly in the eyes, the orc pleaded as he said.

"I fought with my life on the line...I almost died multiple times during the fight...I've served you for over thirty years...please let me go, I've served you faithfully for so long, I don't want to do this anymore..."

Staring at the orc before him for a couple of seconds, Silug nodded his head.

"I understand, don't worry"

Patting the orc by his shoulder, Silug smiled. However, the smile soon disappeared and Silug grabbed the orc by his neck and lifted him in the air as a pained scream resounded across the area.

"Kyeeeek—!"

Staring at the orc in his hands, Silug apathetically clenched it, and the loud sound of bones breaking resounded across the surroundings.

-Crack!

-Thump!

"Anybody else?"

Flinging the lifeless body of the orc to the side, Silug looked towards the orcs before him. After seeing that no one was daring enough to leave, Silug smiled and said.

"Good, let's go"

Karum! Karum! Karum!

Subsequently, as he turned around, the orcs all once again chanted their war cry as they followed along. This time, everyone stood with their back straight without daring to be negligent.

...it was evident that his display of power had won them over.

Not long after, turning right of the mountain path, my footsteps halted for a moment as I stared at the enormous city in the distance.

After a while, as I regained from my stupor, I couldn't help but mutter.

"We're here...we're finally at Gud Khodror"

....the place where everything would begin.

Chapter 169: Gud Khodror [2]

Gud Khodror was located 3,000 meters above sea level, on top of a large desolate mountain on the southern hemisphere of Immorra.

After the demons invaded Immorra, the orcs had no other choice but to migrate to the south of Immorra where the land was drier and the soil was more infertile.

...the orcs weren't a united race as they would always tend to fight against one another due to their personalities.

However, with their race on the verge of extinction, they had no other choice but to unite.

As a result of this, after searching for a while, the orcs managed to find the perfect spot to set up a city and created Gud Khodror...the last remaining orc city in Immorra.

An impenetrable fortress that hid between a cluster of large mountains.

-Rumble! -Rumble!

Marching with the other orcs, lifting his head up and staring into the distance, Kevin's voice softened a little bit as he said.

"...so that's Gud Khodror?"

"Yeah..."

From the way he was speaking it was evident that he was overwhelmed by the sight before him, however, I couldn't blame him as I too was overwhelmed by what I saw.

On a different mountain than the one we were currently marching on, another enormous mountain appeared in the distance.

Its peak was majestic, and the mountain's topography seemed steep and perilous. From a distance, the mountain appeared to have three sides that stretched upward vertically, forming a semi-circular natural barrier that stretched all the way to the sky.

An ocean of clouds drifted above the mountain ridges making the place look even more majestic and mysterious.

Reaching one-fifth of the height of the mountain ridges, enclosing the natural semi-circular mountain barrier, was an enormous artificial wall that blocked anything from passing through.

By the side of the gates stood two enormous statues depicting two orcs looking down towards the ground beneath them holding onto two large axes that interlocked with one another.

The statues looked extremely intimidating creating an oppressive and menacing feeling.

In the middle of the wall stood a large wooden gate connected to a long and wide flat bridge that linked two mountains together. The one Gud Khodror was on and the one we were currently marching on to get there.

-Thump! -Thump!

As we marched across the stone bridge, looking below the bridge I couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva as I muttered.

"How deep is that?"

Utter darkness.

What was below the bridge was utter darkness that I could see no end of...

If I dropped a rock down the bridge, I'd estimate that I still wouldn't be able to hear the sound of the rock reaching the bottom a couple of minutes after dropping it...it looked bottomless.

"huuuu..."

As we neared the gates, taking a deep breath, I tried to calm my heart down. At the moment my heart was beating faster...and that was due to the two statues at the front of the gate.

Those two statues created a natural sense of fear towards anyone that looked at them for too long. It felt as though the real orc was standing and looking down on me.

...and when I mean orc I didn't mean a regular orc, but one that was at a league of his own.

"Open the gates"

Arriving before the large gates, walking out was Silug's figure. Glancing left and right and raising his large axe in the air, he shouted.

"I, Silug, third legion commander of Gud Khodror is waiting to report. Open the gates and let us in."

As he spoke, his powerful voice echoed across the mountain range.

-Klllllling! -Klllllling!

Not long after Silug's voice faded, the loud sound of chains falling resounded across the mountain range as the enormous doors slowly opened up revealing the insides of the city.

-Kamp!

As the gate reached the top, staring at the vast city before me, I couldn't help but mutter in a low voice.

"So this is the true Gud Khodror..."

...the last orc stronghold in Immorra.

As I looked at the city from behind the gates, I noticed that the city itself looked somewhat crude as the infrastructures weren't created with the finest craftsmanship.

With its black wooden rooftops, faded marble walls, and what seemed to be the bones of fallen comrades and demons, Gud Khodror had a frightening atmosphere.

...the atmosphere was especially stifling as bones could be seen everywhere around the city either out as decoration or as materials itself for the houses.

"...hey Ren, look over there"

As I was observing the buildings around us, feeling a slight bump next to me, and hearing Kevin's voice, I turned my head around and noticed Kevin staring towards the distance.

"What?"

"Check out that building"

Looking in the direction of where Kevin was looking at, I soon spotted an enormous infrastructure standing in the middle of the city.

...as I was too busy admiring the area around me, I only noticed the enormous building now.

Seven lean, circular towers made out of black stone surrounded the building that Kevin was pointing at. The infrastructure was twice as tall as the towers and was the tallest building that I could see...overlooking the whole city.

Similarly made out of black stone, the tall infrastructure resembled a pyramid as its peak reached all the way towards the clouds in the sky. However, contrary to a regular pyramid its infrastructure was circular rather than squared.

By the side of the circular pyramid-like structure, enormous blood-red flags fluttered in the air adding further grandeur to the infrastructure.

"Move along!"

Entering the city, Silug once again shouted towards his army. Next to him, two more orcs appeared leading him towards the distance...more specifically the tall building in the distance.

-Rumble! -Rumble!

As we marched forwards, standing next to me, Kevin frowned. Thinking of something, looking at me, he asked.

"...so how do we get out of this situation?"

Now that they were in the city, how were they going to get out of the army?

This was especially so considering the fact that they were basically stuck in between hundreds of orcs.

"Hm?"

Hearing Kevin's question, I didn't answer immediately as I hesitated. I soon took out my red book and opened it.

...well, I did in fact have a plan, but it would probably piss someone off.

Not hearing my response, repeating again, Kevin said.

"Hey, how are we supposed to separate ourselves from the other orcs?"

Still looking at the red book, I vaguely said.

"...ah, that, we just do it"

Seeing how vague I was being and looking at me incredulously, Kevin exclaimed.

"Don't tell me that you still haven't thought about it"

Shaking my head and closing the book, I immediatly responded.

"No, I do have a plan"

"...and?"

"Well, you're probably not gonna like it..."

Pausing for a second as he squinted his eyes beneath his mask, Kevin had an ominous premonition as he carefully asked.

"How am I not going to l-huh?"

"Sorry"

Smiling beneath my mask, putting both of my hands on Kevin's metal armor, I pushed him. As I pushed him, I made sure to apologize to him.

"You—!"

-Clank!

"Who dares?!"

Crashing against a nearby orc, carrying the momentum with him, Kevin crashed against multiple other orcs. Without looking at what was happening, turning around, with a couple of rocks on my finger, I flicked them towards a couple of more orcs standing before me.

-Plack! -Plack!

"Who?"

"Who dares?"

As the rocks hit the two orcs I aimed at on their helmet, turning around the orcs shouted out loud as they glared at their surroundings.

Shortly after, the two orcs that I hit looked at each other. Pointing towards each other, they shouted.

"Was it you? You disgusting bastard!"

"So it was you?"

"You want to have a go?"

"I'll fight you!"

Within a minute, both sides raised their weapons and slashed towards one another, and a small shockwave appeared as a result of their clash.

-Bam!

"How dare you!"

Pushed back by the collision of the two orcs, another orc shouted out loud as he raised his axe and slashed down.

-Bam!

"I'll kill you!"

...soon a massive brawl ensued as more and more orcs joined in on the fight creating massive mayhem.

Fortunately by the time the fight got serious I had already left, else I might've found myself in a pickle.

"ooof..."

If I had to be honest, this strategy wasn't something I had come up with on the spot. I remember seeing this in a movie so I just tried to imitate it.

Create chaos amongst the orcs and use the opportunity to slip out whilst everyone is distracted.

Since orcs weren't the brightest creatures and were easily provoked, this strategy proved to be rather effective. Had they been even a little bit smarter, this plan would've never worked.

Plus, I knew everything was going to be fine...

Staring at the book in my hands which no one else could see, I leisurely walked away from the orc army.

Fortunately, I had the book with me. With it, I could pretty much see if my plan would've failed or not. Of course, even though I saw that the plan I was planning on using worked, it didn't mean that the future depicted in the book was correct.

...had I missed my shot towards the two orcs everything wouldn't have gone as the book had depicted.

Therefore, even if the book showed me that everything was going to be fine, it didn't mean that it was going to guarantee success...there was always a chance of failure.

Had I messed up, none of what the book showed me would've happened.

'...Well, since everything is fine now, I shouldn't dwell too deeply into it'

Putting the book away and turning around, I soon saw Kevin sneaking out from the army of orcs.

Soon his eyes interlocked with mine.

'Well, someone doesn't look too pleased'

Staring at him for a couple of seconds, I lightly waved at him as I sneaked my way into the depths of the city.

...as I moved, recalling Kevin's angry face, a smile appeared on my face and I softly mumbled to myself.

"...ah, sometimes I can't help but marvel at how trashy I can be"

Though not often, it happens...and when it does, well, couldn't say I was the most pleasant person.

Melissa and Smallsnake probably knew best.

Chapter 170: Gud Khodror [3]

-Thump! -Thump!

Inside of a dark hall, a tall orc slowly walked forward. With each step he took, the ground beneath him would tremble slightly.

Halting his steps in front of the entrance of the hall, Silug knelt down on one knee and proceeded to look down on the ground as his powerful voice resounded across the hall.

"I, Silug, is here"

As Silug's voice echoed across the surroundings, he was only met with silence. However, Silug didn't mind it as he remained kneeling on the ground.

"Enter..."

Exactly five minutes after Silug made his presence known, a dark and raspy voice shook the whole building as a humongous pressure engulfed Silug's body completely.

"khrr...Yes"

Forcefully bearing the pressure and standing up, Silug sluggishly walked towards the hall before him.

As he entered the hall the first thing Silug saw were tremendous braziers hanging from ten ivory columns by the side of the hall lighting up every part of the hall, including the dark brown oaken floor that was covered by a black rug, compromised of the skin of some sort of beast.

The rug ran from the throne down at the center of the hall all the way towards the entrance where Silug was walking.

Rectangular banners with black and red sigils hung from the side of the walls and between each banner sat a small altar full of candles, illuminating the statuettes of powerful creatures depicting either orcs or other fantastical creatures such as dragons and gargoyles.

In the middle of the hall sat a magnificent throne made out of bones with two imposing statues depicting two large orcs holding onto their weapons. The throne was covered in sacred etchings and fixed on each of the front legs was a red ruby that pulsated a red hue continuously like a heart.

Sitting on top of the throne was a figure whose features were obscured by a large shadow cast by the two statues next to the throne.

However, despite the fact that his features couldn't be seen, his majestic presence enveloped the whole hall causing anyone that saw him to subconsciously feel inferior.

-Thud!

Arriving a couple of meters before the obscure figure, taking a knee, Silug once again spoke.

"Silug, is here to report"

Silence once again prevailed over the surroundings as the figure sitting on the throne observed Silug from his throne.

"Khhrr…khrrr"

With each breath the figure took, the hall would shake slightly. Turning his head to the side, the figure coldly spoke.

"Zornaraugh"

"Yes father"

Standing next to the throne was a rather young-looking orc.

He was only half as tall as Silug and his muscles weren't as pronounced. However, a regal and majestic presence exuded from his body that was only slightly inferior to the orc sitting on the throne.

Zornaraugh

That was the name of the young orc standing next to the orc chief sitting on the throne.

Birthed sixteen years ago by the current chief of Gud Kodror, Zornaraugh was exposed to the best resources and best education possible, making him the orc with the greatest potential.

'The young chief'

That was what everyone in the city called him as the elders and the chief unanimously decided on making him the next chief.

Aside from the current chief, no other figure was as important as Zornaraugh who was the next chief in line.

He was the last hope the orcs had at reclaiming the lost land of Immorra.

Presently, the reason why he was attending the meeting was because his father, the current chief, wanted for him to observe and understand what his job consisted of. He wanted him to learn from him...and Zornaraugh naturally understood this.

Pointing towards Silug kneeling down on the ground, the figure sitting on the throne, the current orc chief of Gud Khodror asked.

"What do you think?"

Turning his head towards his father who was imposingly sitting on the throne, Zornaraugh slowly said

"Father…Silug's sin is undeniable, he should be punished"

Breathing out loud, the orc chief nodded his head as he asked

"khhrr..yes, Zornaraugh, what do you think is the appropriate punishment for his failure?"

Without hesitation, Zornaraugh responded.

"Death!"

"Are you sure?"

Nodding his head resolutely, Zornaraug stared at Silug kneeling on the ground whose face was expressionless. With a trace of disgust on his face, Zornaraugh said.

"Yes, we orcs don't need failures like him, why must we keep him?"

Staring at Zornaraugh for a couple of seconds, turning his attention back towards Silug, the orc chief's powerful voice resounded across the hall as he asked.

"Silug, do you have anything to say against Zornaraugh's decision"

Hearing his name being called, lifting his head up, and staring deeply into Zornaraugh eyes, Silug nodded his head.

"Yes..."

Hearing Silug's response, feeling challenged, Zornaraugh raised his voice as he shouted at Silug.

"You dare!"

Raising his hand from the armrest of the trone, the orc chief glared at Zornaraugh.

"Shut up! Only talk when it is your turn to talk, do not interrupt otherwise"

As soon as his voice left his mouth, the whole room shook violently. Dreadful energy propagated outwards of the chief's body like a turbulent wave as it engulfed the entire hall.

-Rumble!

Realizing his mistake and lowering his head, Zornaraugh nodded his head.

"...yes, father"

"As the next chief in line, you need to think long-term instead of short-term. As a leader, you must always be composed and mustn't let our primal instinct cloud or decision making"

Enlightened, Zornaraugh nodded his head in understanding.

"Understood father"

"Good..."

Seeing that Zornaraugh had understood, turning his attention back to Silug, the orc chief's voice once again resounded across the hall.

"...So, Silug, since you are so dissatisfied with my son's decision. Tell me why we should keep you"

Respectfully looking at the orc chief before him, Silug raised his voice as he said.

"I, Silug, third legion commander of Gud Khodror have a lot to offer"

"Oh? Like what? You better sound convincing or I might just do what my son had proposed"

Punching his chest once, Silug said.

"My strength, my loyalty, my blood...and my troops"

Raising his brow, the orc chief snorted.

"Your troops? The ones that were just battling outside a moment ago?"

Hearing the orc's chief statement, Silug's voice remained stoic as he continued.

"Yes, they are faithfully loyal to me...killing me would have a detrimental effect on the morale of the troops which you cannot afford to do at the moment"

"Killing me would also negatively affect the overall power of us orcs as killing me would mean killing an important asset to the orcs..."

Pausing for a second, Silug loudly said

"Killing me would result in your position to shake"

Gripping onto the armrest of his throne, the orc chief squinted his eyes.

"Oh? Are you threatening me?"

...be it humans, elves, demons, or dwarfs, power struggles were normal.

It would've been strange if the current orc chief had no other people vying for his position.

Silug's point was quite a valid one as his death would mean that the current chief would have his power considerably weakened as not only will he lose a powerful commander, he would also a lot of the soldiers that are loyal to Silug.

...normally the current orc chief would have taken notice of the small threat as his position was solidified...However, glancing at Zornaraugh next to him, he had to make his decision carefully.

Though his position was solidified, Zornaraugh's position still wasn't. If he lost Silug's support, then his ascension as next chief would become much harder.

Simply put, this would do more harm than good for Zornaraugh as it would allow for rivals to gain valuable time to grow.

This could not happen, and Silug knew this.

Noticing the orc chief falling into deep contemplation, shaking his head, Silug raised his head and stared at the orc chief straight into his eyes as he coldly said.

"No, I am not threatening you...I just know my worth"

Silence soon prevailed over the surroundings.

Deeply staring at Silug's eyes for a couple of seconds, the orc chief tapped on the armrest of his throne for a couple of seconds before opening his mouth.

"Khhrrr...khrrr...very well"

Nodding his head, the orc chief looked at Zornaraugh as he mumbled.

"…you still have a long way to go Zornaraugh"

Turning his attention back towards Silug, the orc's chief powerful voice shook the whole hall as he spoke out loud.

"From henceforth, Silug, third legion commander of Gud Khodror will be dismissed from his duties and will guard the food storage for the next three years...until then, he will no longer have anything to do with the third legion and will only be responsible for safeguarding the main food supply"

Deeply staring at Silug as he released his pressure, the orc chief said.

"Do you have any problems?"

With an incomparably dark face, Silug stood up and shook his head.

"khhrrr...no, I will comply"

Turning around, Silug soon left the hall.

As he turned around, his face became especially terrifying. If looks could kill, then right now Silug could slaughter a whole army.

Although his punishment was on the lighter side, Silug knew that it was merely a mask.

By separating him and his troops for three years, the orc chief was trying to diminish the loyalty they had towards him so that in the future he would've been able to pull off the same stunt.

As his thoughts paused there, Silug clenched his teeth tightly as he walked out of the building.

'Don't think that I'll let your plan succeed that easily...'

...

Not so far from where Silug was, in a rather secluded spot in Gud Khodror, with Kevin still glaring daggers at me, I leisurely sat down on the ground and took off the bulky armor.

-Clank! -Clank!

"Haa...this was hella stuffy"

As I threw the armor to the side, I couldn't help but take a big breath of fresh air as I rejoiced at the fact that I no longer needed to wear the armor.

...it felt as though I was staying inside of a sauna.

"...Are you seriously not going to address the fact that you literally pushed me towards the orcs and abandoned me?"

Staring at me from above, Kevin's mouth twitched.

"That?"

"Yes..."

Turning my attention back to Kevin I dully said.

"Well, we did manage to get out, didn't we? Moreover, you're not hurt either right?"

"No bu-"

"Enough of that, we've got more important things to talk about"

Cutting Kevin off before he could finish speaking, I diverted the conversation. No use crying over spilled milk.

Helpless, Kevin nodded his head as he asked.

"...so, what are you planning on doing?"

"What am I planning on doing?"

Taking off the metal pads from my arms, a faint smile appeared on my lips. Channeling flame psyons towards the tip of my fingers, I proceeded to snap my fingers.

-Snap!

-Fwaaa!

As soon as I snapped my fingers, a small red flame appeared on my hand. Deeply staring at the flame in my hand, I said.

"We're going to ignite the flame that will rage upon Immorra and leave nothing but devastation in its wake..."

Pausing for a second as the smile on my face deepened, glancing towards Kevin for a couple of seconds, I clenched my fist and said.

"...we're going to start a war"

Chapter 171: Igniting the flames [1]

Opening his eyes wide, Kevin exclaimed in disbelief.

"You're planning on starting a war!?"

Putting my finger on my lips as I gestured for Kevin to quiet down, I shook my head.

"...no, don't misunderstand. The war was always going to happen regardless of past, present, and future"

"All I'm doing is just pushing up the date of when the war will happen"

Frowning, after a bit of thought, Kevin nodded his head.

"...I guess you're right"

Judging from what he saw the past few days, it did indeed seem like a war was inevitable.

From the way that the orcs desperately sought food every day in order to survive, to how they were forced to live in a completely desolate place.

...A war was indeed inevitable.

"Yeah..."

Staring at Kevin who seemed to have bought what I said, I secretly shook my head.

Naive.

Actually, what I said was total bullshit.

...The war that seemed to be fast approaching will never happen.

In the novel, a couple of years from now, by the time Kevin arrived in Immorra, the war that was supposed to happen never happened.

...in fact, when he arrived, the situation in Immorra was vastly different compared to now as the orcs conquered back forty percent of the land in Immorra.

The reason for how the orcs were able to reclaim the land was mostly due to the fact that the demons were forced to send some of their forces away due to a certain event happening in the near future...which could more or less be linked to Kevin being the source.

That aside, the war that seemed to be looming over this world was never going to happen.

...but Kevin didn't need to know this fact.

Had he known that we were going to start a war that was never going to happen, Kevin would've probably never have agreed to my plans.

I guess it was just against his morals as someone who had a hero complex...but I honestly didn't care.

To me, aside from the people close to me, nothing else mattered.

...If I had to start a war in order to achieve my goals then so be it.

I'll make it happen.

Especially since my goal was to infiltrate, Setin. The city that once used to be the capital of Immorra, and was now under the demon's rule.

Going to Setin was a must as everything that I wanted was there.

Be it mind breaker curse cure, the flute of Artemis, Angelica's item, and a few other things I wanted...everything was located there.

By starting a war I was essentially trying to divert the demon's attention away from that city so that I could sneak in and take everything that I wanted when the stronger demons were out fighting.

...and once I took everything, I didn't need to look for ways to escape as I would have Kevin directly create a portal back to earth in order to escape.

Knowing this, I knew that all I needed to do was sneak into the city.

With me not needing to think about an escape plan, it meant that I could now fully focus on igniting the flames of war.

Turning my attention back to Kevin, I started explaining to him the current plan.

"Listen up Kevin, as you probably already know, in order for me to achieve my goal I need to start a war"

"...and the thing you're about to do next is extremely important"

Nodding his head, Kevin's face turned serious as he perked up his ears.

"Okay..."

Pausing and staring at Kevin straight into his eyes, I softly said.

"Your goal is simple, destroy their food storage"

This point was self-explanatory.

With the orcs no longer having food storage, they will be forced to venture outside of the city to look for food...and the only way they could do so at the moment would be through plundering and attacking the demon cities in the northern hemisphere of the world.

...this would obviously enrage the demons and create more conflicts between them.

but hold on, would this really be enough to start an all-out war with the demons?

The answer was no.

Just destroying their food storage wasn't enough. Although this would definitely escalate the conflict between the two parties...this was not the trigger that would start the war.

Destroying the food supply was merely like moving a pawn.

It just moved the game forward...it didn't end the game.

...what would really start the war was up to me.

Fortunately, I had already thought of this before coming here, as all my preparations were ready.

Glancing at the black ring on my finger, a faint smile appeared on my lips.

'You're soon going to come into play'

"Where is their food storage?"

As I was looking at the black ring on my finger, snapping me out of my thoughts was Kevin's voice as he asked about the location of the food storage.

Listening to Kevin's question, my mind stopped working for a second as I responded.

"No idea"

Frowning, Kevin was taken aback as he asked.

"...then how are we supposed to do this?"

What was the point of destroying the food storage if they had no idea of where it was? Moreover, considering how important it was, it was definitely hidden somewhere within the city.

... it's not like they were going to make its location known as that would basically be revealing their weakness for everyone to see.

Although the orcs were stupid, they weren't that stupid.

Looking at the city and seeing how big it was, Kevin estimated it would take a long time for the both of them to even get a clue on where food storage was.

Moreover, since they only had one month here, wasting time looking for the food supply wasn't the most ideal thing.

Understanding Kevin's worries, I reassured him.

"Don't worry, although I may not know where the food storage is...I know someone who does"

Taken aback, Kevin asked.

"Who?"

Smiling mysteriously, I looked towards the large circular pyramid-like structure in the distance.

"You've already met him"

Thinking for a moment and finally realizing something, opening his eyes wide Kevin said.

"..wait, you don't mean"

Nodding my head, I confirmed Kevin's assumption.

"Yeah, our very own commander Silug"

Pausing for a second as I admired the black tower at the center of the city, I slowly continued.

"It's just my guess, but because of the fiasco with the food supply thing, he is probably going get demoted"

"...and considering how influential he is in the army as we had just seen a while back, the orc chief will most probably not allow him to enter the army again to try to decrease his influence in it. meaning that there is only one option left-"

Interrupting me, Kevin said.

"...Guarding the food supply"

Staring at Kevin and seeing that he had understood, I nodded my head.

"Yes, considering his strength and status if he's not going to be part of the army the most logical thing would be for him to guard the food supply...any other role and it would be a waste of his talent"

Pausing for a second, I looked at Kevin and continued.

"...So, if you follow him discretely, you will know the location of the food supply"

Placing his hand on his chin as he closed his eyes and thought for a moment, after a couple of seconds Kevin proceeded to nod his head.

"...that makes sense. Moreover, spying on him shouldn't be too hard considering the fact that the orcs here aren't well versed in detecting mana"

"Yeah"

Hearing Kevin's comment I nodded my head.

...fortunately, he was smart enough to understand my train of thought.

Because Kevin and I were human, it was much easier for us to sneak around in Gud khodror.

The reason was because orcs here had zero self-awareness towards humans...more specifically mana.

...that was because mana and humans weren't a thing that was supposed to exist in Immorra. A planet only inhabited by orcs and demons.

Naturally, because humans weren't supposed to exist here, it came as no surprise as to why the orcs couldn't detect mana fluctuations that come from humans.

They just simply weren't aware of it, and even if they were aware of it, they would've been wary of it as humans weren't supposed to exist on this planet.

In short, this made it a lot easier for Kevin and I to sneak around the city without getting caught.

...still, just because it was harder for them to detect us, it didn't mean that they couldn't.

If we came too close to them, we could easily be detected by the sound of our breathing and heartbeat. With orcs mainly focusing on their body, their senses were far more evolved than ours...it wouldn't be strange for them to detect us just through our sense of smell.

...but that was fine.

If we stood far enough, we would easily be able to spy on the orcs. Moreover, as I've said before. Kevin and I were human...our smell wasn't something that the orcs could understand...not unless they saw humans first hand which they shouldn't have.

So...although possible, the chances of them sensing us through smell wasn't very high. This was proven on our way towards the city with the orc army.

"Alright"

The more he thought about it, the more Kevin was convinced with the plan. He shared a similar thought process and instantly understood the crux of the plan.

...it could definitely work. Glancing at me he asked.

"I can do that, but what will you do?"

Pointing towards myself, I asked.

"me?"

"Yeah, are you coming with me?"

Shaking my head, I immediately refused.

"No, I won't"

"Then what will you be doing?"

"...well, you'll know soon enough"

If I told him now...it'll ruin the whole surprise

...My plan needed Angelica therefore I couldn't disclose too much or things might become complicated. After all, the two had already met.

Just thinking of the conversation we would have once he found out about Angelica gave me headaches.

Let's not have the two meet.

That aside, now that I explained everything to Kevin, it was about time to enact the plan.

Glancing at Kevin, I said

"Let's split up for now, come back to me in two days time once you find something out"

Staring at me in the eyes, Kevin proceeded to nod his head as he turned around and headed towards the center of Gud Khodror.

"Alright, I'll meet you once I find something"

-Swoosh!

Watching Kevin's figure leaving in the distance, my eyes drifted towards the large tower in the middle of the city. Soon the corner of my lips curled upwards as I softly mumbled.

"...I'm genuinely curious as to how an all-out war between orcs and demons looks like"

Shrugging my shoulder as I turned around, I knew that I wouldn't need to wait for long to get my answer.

Chapter 172: Igniting the flames [2]

"I think I've got it..."

Standing on top of a tall flat house, with binoculars in his hands, Kevin stared towards the distance. Towards a rather inconspicuous house that looked like any other one present in the city.

…As he looked at the house in the distance, Kevin tried his best to hide his presence. Although he was far from it, it was never wrong to be extra cautious.

The reason why he was being especially cautious was because he had finally found where the food supply was located.

Squinting his eyes as he looked through the binoculars in his hands, slightly lowering his head, Kevin whispered towards his watch.

"I've found the food storage..."

Just like Ren had told him two days ago, Silug was indeed demoted and made to guard the food storage supply.

...thus, following Silug from the distance, Kevin was quickly able to find the location of the food storage and from there, he spent the last few days observing.

From Silug's behavioral pattern to the time he spent guarding the storage space as well as how long his break took and who replaced him when taking breaks.

He knew everything.

As his thoughts paused there, thinking of Silug, Kevin he couldn't help but be impressed by Ren's analytical skills.

Just from a couple of clues, he was able to figure out Silug's demotion.

...and from there, basically, deduce the location of the hidden food supply that was supposed to be unknown by almost everyone.

It was honestly, really impressive...and Kevin knew that compared to Ren, he was far inferior to him in that aspect.

After a short pause, snapping Kevin out of his thoughts, Ren's voice echoed from the speaker of the watch.

[Oh? Where exactly is the food storage?]

"Southern area"

[Southern area? hm...I see]

Still staring at the house in the distance with the binoculars in between his hands, Kevin asked.

"When should I proceed?"

After a short pause, Ren's voice once again echoed from the speaker of the watch.

[You can do so now maybe? I'm pretty much done on my side as well, or do you need more time? We must act together or this might not work]

"Yes, my preparations are almost ready"

Pausing for a second, Kevin carefully asked to make sure he understood what he had to do.

"...You only need for me to destroy the food storage right? Not sneak in and take in something?"

[No, just destroy the food storage]

Nodding his head, Kevin responded.

"Alright, I'll start operating in two hours, I'll give you a heads up when I do"

Two hours.

Staring at the building in the distance, Kevin decided to act after two more hours passed.

The reason for this was because that was the time he estimated Silug would take a break.

Having seen Silug's strength first hand, Kevin knew it was best to operate once he was gone as he was simply too powerful.

Once Silug was out, Kevin had about fifteen to thirty minutes to operate.

...any more than that and he would risk having Silug discover him, which he couldn't afford to do.

Especially since Ren specifically told him that he couldn't be seen as that would pretty much ruin all of the plans.

Although Kevin didn't know what he meant by that, he knew that he had to complete this mission without leaving a trace of himself behind.

Taking note of when Kevin was going to take action, Ren's voice once again echoed through the speakers of the watch.

[Great, two hours sounds good...good luck]

"Alright, I'll message you soon"

-Tack!

Turning off his watch, Kevin slowly closed his eyes and took out a small black drone from his dimensional space. Thereafter, putting the binoculars down, Kevin activated his skill [{F} Mind cleansing] as he threw the drone in the air.

-Fwaau!

Shortly after the drone left his hand, it disappeared into the distance.

Staring at the area where the drone used to be, Kevin softly muttered.

"It's about time I moved..."

...

On the northern side of Gud Khodror, quietly resting on the rooftop of a building, I looked towards a certain building in the distance.

With black being the most prominent color, a rather unique-looking infrastructure appeared in my vision.

From the outside, the house looked grandiose and intimidating. Using dark oak wood to build the frame of the house, sharp bone tusks protruded from the side of the house as large red banners fluttered in the air further adding to the intimidating feeling.

"Huuu..."

Staring at the building before me, I took a deep breath.

The building I was currently looking at was the place where the young chief, Zornaraugh, lived.

...and probably the last place he'll live in.

That's right, the next part of my plan consisted in the assassination of Zornaraugh, the next orc chief.

Only by assassinating him will everything go as I envisioned.

After they realize that their young chief had died, the orcs would naturally not standstill.

Perhaps the orc chief may be able to still remain rational after his son's death as he couldn't wage war with the demons because of his personal feelings...however, that was only if his son's death was the only thing that happened.

...Unfortunately for them, Zornaraugh's death wasn't the only thing that will happen today.

Staring towards the southern side of Gud Khodror, a faint smile appeared on my lips as I softly muttered.

"I'll leave it up to you Kevin..."

With Kevin taking care of the supply storage and me assassinating Zornaraugh at the same time, all the pieces that I had set in motion would slowly come together for the one play that I was looking for...an all-out war between the orcs and the demons.

As my thoughts paused there, staring at the ring in my hand, I softly said

"Are you ready Angelica?"

[Yes...]

"You know what you have to do right?"

After a short pause, Angelica responded

[...Kill the young orc using my powers]

Nodding my head, I reminded.

"Yeah, make sure you expose yourself once you are going for the kill..."

Only once they know that it was a demon that killed Zornaraugh would everything start to make sense.

...and in order to do that, what better way than have a demon actually kill him?

After a brief second of silence, Angelica asked.

[...does killing him mean that I've held my end of the deal]

Shaking my head, I responded.

"Eighty percent there, I'll need you for one more thing after that"

...she still had one more role to play. After that, she would pretty much no longer be of use to me, but that was fine...after all, once she finished with her parts, Immorra would be engulfed by the raging flames of war.

...and for that to happen I needed for Zornaraugh to die.

Hearing my response, Angelica agreed.

[Alright]

...as long as she could reach viscount rank, Angelica didn't mind killing an orc or even demons.

What mattered to her the most at the moment was her strength...anything else was secondary.

"Good..."

Seeing Angelica agree, the smile on my face deepened.

Naturally, killing Zornaraugh was the main reason why I had brought Angelica with me.

With her killing Zornaraugh through her demonic power, everything would be traced towards the demons.

...and although orcs couldn't detect mana, if I were the person responsible for killing Zornaraugh, chances of them pinning the blame on the demons was low.

They may assume that it was another orc who did it out of spite or in order to become the next chief.

The reason why they wouldn't like it to the demons was because when demons killed, they often left a distinct residual demonic energy in the air. Almost like a signature making it easier to understand that they were indeed the ones who were responsible for the incident.

...if I were the one to kill Zornaraugh then the orcs might have trouble connecting this to the demons specifically because I couldn't leave any demonic energy.

"hm?"

As I was in the middle of my thoughts, I suddenly sensed something in the distance. Soon a smile appeared on my face as I said.

"Ohh, he's coming...get ready Angelica, we're about to move"

Walking towards the house that I was observing from the building I was on, I saw the figure of a young orc accompanied by another orc slowly making their way towards the house.

...Zornaraugh and his bodyguard.

After having observed Zornaraugh's behavioral pattern as well as routines for the past two days, I pretty much got the gist of the situation.

...and I had to say, I was rather disappointed.

This was mostly due to the fact that Zornaraugh only had one bodyguard with him at all times.

One.

Yeah, just one bodyguard.

The fact that Zornaraugh, the next orc chief, only had one bodyguard with him was rather shocking.

...was he that confident of the fact that no one would target him?

Although his strength ranged around <D> rank which was amazing for someone his age, in the grand spectrum of things, he was amongst the weakest individuals residing in the city.

Regarding his guard, from what I've observed, I'd estimate his strength to be around C+ to B rank.

Which was honestly really low. Not benefitting the status of the person he was protecting, the next chief.

To make matters worse, the bodyguard didn't actually even enter Zornaraugh's house as he waited outside.

It was as though Zornaraugh didn't care at all about people assassinating him

...was he that confident in his strength and background?

Thinking thus far, I shook my head.

He was still a newborn chick after all...

Prideful and arrogant.

...the two recipes for disaster.

Though it sounded like a rant on my side, I was genuinely quite happy with this development as it made my life easier.

I had originally made a lot of preparations for this, only to be left speechless by how uncautious they were.

"huuu..."

Looking at the ring on my finger for a couple of seconds, I exhaled.

"...I guess it's time for me to make a move"

-Ding!

Feeling a slight vibration on my wrist, staring at my watch, I knew that it was time for me to move.

"...seems like Kevin feels the same way"

This was the most crucial step to my plans.

I couldn't afford to mess up...

Zornaraugh's death was the first and most important piece of my plan...once he died, everything would start falling into place.

Closing my eyes, a white hue shrouded my body for a split second before it slowly disappeared as if nothing had ever happened.

Standing still for a couple of seconds, as I opened my eyes, the world around me gradually lost its color.

My heart rate decreased, and all the distracting thoughts inside of my mind disappeared as only one goal imprinted itself inside of my mind.

...Ensuring Zornaraugh's death.

Taking a step forward, I softly mumbled

"Monarch's indifference"

Chapter 173: Igniting the flames [3]

-Swooosh!

Two hours since last contacting Ren, putting away the binoculars in his hand, Kevin jumped off the building he was on.

...the time was right.

-Tap!

As his feet softly landed on the ground, Kevin quickly turned around and swiftly moved through the narrow streets of the Gud Khodror.

Fortunately for Kevin, as he was no longer the size of an orc and thus no longer wearing the heavy armor that weighed like a truck, he was now able to move around the city fast and stealthily.

"This should be the place"

Stopping in front of an inconspicuous-looking house, glancing at his watch, Kevin softly mumbled.

"Fifteen minutes..."

Fifteen minutes

That's how much time Kevin had at his disposal.

After he noticed that Silug was taking a break, Kevin immediately sprung into action as he quickly arrived before the place where he observed the food storage was located.

"Two orcs..."

Glancing left and right, Kevin spotted two orcs walking around the perimeter of the house.

Although they looked nothing special as they wore no armor nor did they seem strong...Kevin wasn't fooled.

...using his drone to scout the perimeter, Kevin had a general idea of the location of every guard in the vicinity, including Silug who had gone to a nearby tavern to eat.

Regarding Silug, from what he had collected these past few days, Silug's breaks were all around fifteen to twenty minutes long as he would quickly come back to his post.

Although he hated his job, he was a diligent orc.

Still, if there was one thing Kevin managed to observe was that whenever he had a break he had to inform the other guards of his absence.

Because of this rule, Kevin was quickly able to figure out who the other guards were.

...and thus why he knew that the two orcs before him were guards.

Although Kevin was most wary of Silug, the strength of the two orcs before him wasn't something to scoff at.

From what he observed, in terms of strength, they were all within the <C> to <B> rank range...which was something that the present Kevin couldn't handle.

Regardless of the fact that he had a system, there was no way he could fight the orcs with his current strength.

But that was fine, since his goal was to destroy the warehouse, Kevin didn't need to be close to them nor did he have to fight them.

Staring up towards the dark gray sky covered in clouds, Kevin softly mumbled.

"It's about time it rained..."

-Pita! -Pita!

Not long after the words escaped from his mouth, a droplet of water fell towards the ground.

Following the first droplet soon came another and from there more and more droplets of water came crashing towards the ground.

Extending his hand and feeling the rain falling down from the sky, from his dimensional space, Kevin took out a black cylindrical object that had a red button on the top.

-Ding!

Pressing the red button, Kevin glanced at his watch and remained still.

thirty seconds, one minute, two minutes, three minutes, four minutes, five minutes...

"...Alright"

-Fwuaa!

Exactly five minutes after he pressed the button, Kevin took out a black square-shaped device that looked like a small vehicle from his dimensional space and threw it on the ground.

-Plam!

Glancing at his watch, Kevin tapped on the screen and the vehicle-like device before him moved forward a couple of meters.

"...it's working, good"

Seeing that the device worked, Kevin nodded his head in satisfaction.

The device he was currently using was one of the newest ground drones available on the market back on earth.

Equipped with the most up-to-date cloaking function and sound dampening system, the product was something that could easily infiltrate secured locations without getting noticed.

Although it wouldn't work on the truly powerful people, it could more or less evade the perception of most people...unless they were actively seeking the device and that would be a different story.

If they were unaware of its presence, most people wouldn't be able to detect it.

Which was enough.

Thankfully, before coming to Immorra Kevin had brought the equipment with him.

Since he loved using these kinds of devices and gadgets as they made his life easier, Kevin naturally brought the devices with him.

Although he liked to fight with his sword if he was presented with another easier option that didn't involve him risking his life, Kevin would much rather take that option.

He was no battle junky after all.

Licking his lips and controlling the drone through his watch, the device quickly moved towards where the guards were standing.

-Pita! -Pita! -Pita!

As the drone moved, the rain became even more aggressive masking the already little sound the drone made.

As he watched the drone move forward, staring towards the sky, Kevin softly mumbled.

"I guess the effects of the Sleeping Ivy are starting to work"

Although the drone he was using had very good cloaking and dampening devices, it wasn't completely foolproof.

Had the guards been in the right state of mind, they would've instantly have noticed the small trail that the drone left behind as it moved across the puddles of water on the ground.

But that only applied if they were in their right state of mind.

However, they weren't.

...and that was because currently, another factor was at play.

Sleeping Ivy.

That was the name of the poison Kevin had put on the air drone that was levitating up in the air.

Using the rain as a way to camouflage the poison, Kevin released the poison in the air through his drone.

Originally he had planned on directly feeding the poison to the orcs through the food they ate at the tavern they frequented...however, after noticing the erratic climate, Kevin opted to directly spread the poison through the rain.

The poison was rather weak and a nonlethal one, however, it was because of how mild the poison was that Kevin chose it.

With the poison being extremely weak, once it entered their system, the orcs would have no idea they were poisoned.

Normally, orcs would've been able to tell whether a poison had entered their system thanks to their strong constitution...however, that only applied to strong poisons.

If they found themselves poisoned by a weak poison, their bodies wouldn't react to it and thus they were unable to know that they had been poisoned which was exactly what Kevin was aiming for as the poison he gave them was a poison that caused their senses to slightly decrease for a short period of time.

The reason he chose this poison was self-explanatory.

He wanted to increase the chances of his ground vehicle making it past them.

Kevin didn't want to make any mistakes.

As long as he could reduce the chances of his plan failing, he would take it. It was never wrong to be cautious.

...and the result paid off, not long after the poison fell on the orcs faces, they suddenly seemed to be more lethargic.

Although their backs were straight, their eyes weren't as clear and lucid as they were before making Kevin understand that they had been successfully poisoned.

Therefore, not long after the drone moved, Kevin slowly drove it past the orcs. Right towards the door that led to the warehouse.

Tensely staring at the camera view from his watch, Kevin tapped on the screen of his watch.

"Initiate drop"

As soon as Kevin tapped on the screen, the vehicle stopped moving. Shortly after, a small compartment of the drone opened up revealing multiple thumb-sized devices each about the size of a spider.

-Flick! -Flick! -Flick!

Not long after the doors of the compartment opened up, the spider-like devices lit up with a red dot in the middle.

Shortly after, the spider-like devices quickly got moved away from the large vehicle and entered the door leading to the food warehouse through the narrow gap at the bottom.

"Good..."

The plan was almost completed...

...staring at the spider-like devices entering the door from the distance, Kevin felt a slight peng in his heart as he recalled the fact that each of them was worth around ten thousand U.

The reason why he was looking at them like that was that they were all going to explode soon.

Yes, they were all loaded with explosives.

Although their power was weaker than that of a regular grenade, when piled up together, they would without a doubt be able to create a massive explosion.

Especially since there were over a hundred of them.

...knowing this, Kevin knew that once they exploded his money would also go along with the explosion, but in the end, he could only grit his teeth and endure it as the five-star sword manual was worth far more than that.

In fact, comparing the value of the two was like comparing a Ferrarri to a Fiat.

Huge difference.

"Alright...everything is set"

Shortly after all of the small drones entered the house through the narrow gap of the door, using his watch, Kevin quietly recalled the main drone back.

"three minutes..."

Staring at the time of his watch, Kevin knew he was running low on time. In three minutes he estimated that Silug would arrive.

Increasing the speed of the ground vehicle, as soon as it arrived before Kevin, he quickly picked it up and ran as far away as possible from the warehouse.

He couldn't allow himself to be too close to Silug as he might actually be able to detect something.

"Huuuu..."

After stealthily running away in the distance, making sure that he was far enough, Kevin sighed in relief.

"This should be far enough"

With a solemn look on his face, Kevin stared at the warehouse in the distance.

After a couple of seconds, bringing his watch next to his mouth, Kevin tapped on the screen and softly mumbled.

[10...9...8...7...6...5...]

...

On the opposite side of where Kevin was, coldly glancing at the orc that stood in front of the Zornaraugh's house, Ren hid himself a couple of blocks away from him.

...right now he just stood still and observed the house before him.

He was waiting for something.

-Ding!

[10...9...8]

Suddenly, Ren felt his watch vibrate and Kevin's voice entered his ears.

Hearing the countdown, placing his hand on the sheat of his new sword, bleak star, Ren channeled his wind and fire psyons simultaneously as blue streaks of light started appearing on guard of the sword.

-Kracka! -Kracka!

[7...6...5]

With each passing second, the electricity revolving around the sheat of the sword became more and more glaring as the low muffled sound of thunder rumbling became more and more discernible.

[4...3...]

Glancing at his watch indifferently, Ren remained still.

[2...1...0]

Then the countdown hit zero.

...once it did, silence prevailed over the surroundings.

However, the silence only lasted for a split second as an enormous explosion soon resounded in the distance.

-Boooom!

Gud Khodror shook.

Chapter 174: Igniting the flames [4]

-Boooom!

"What's going on!?"

Feeling the tremendous explosion in the distance, the orc guarding Zornaraugh house looked towards the direction where the explosion originated from.

Because of the heavy rain, it was hard to discern what had happened. Glancing left and right, the orc suddenly took a step forward to get a better look at what had happened.

"huh? Who are you!"

-Step! -Step!

However, before he could find out what had happened, an obscure figure appeared a couple of meters from where he was standing.

...in a slow and steady manner.

Repeating once again, the orc shouted.

"I said who are you!"

"..."

He was once again met with total silence.

Feeling that something was wrong, raising his weapon a large double-edged axe in the air, the orc once again shouted as his voice shook the nearby surroundings and a powerful pressure exuded from his body.

"I've warned you already, state your name!"

-Kracka! -Kracka!

Stopping ten meters away from the orc, the figure took a stance as blue streaks of light appeared on the tip of his sword.

"Huh? E rank?"

As he stared at the figure before him, the orc was taken aback. That was because he was able to sense the person's strength.

...and what he found out shocked him, but not in a negative way.

He found out that the figure before him was only <E-> rank.

Something that was almost on the level of cannon fodder in this world, especially for him since he was already <C+> borderline <B>.

To him <E> was like swatting a fly.

...how could someone as weak as him actually think he could harm him?

"You think you can harm me with that pitiful amount of strength?"

Lifting his double-edged axe and pointing it towards Ren, the orc glared at him who remained still throughout the whole time as he gathered energy towards his sword.

Annoyed by the fact that he was once again being ignored, the orc decided to make amove.

"Since you won't talk, I'll make you talk"

-Boom

Tensing his muscles, the ground beneath the orc cracked as his body propelled forwards towards Ren's direction. In a swinging motion, the orc swung the heavy axe towards where Ren was standing.

"Die!"

Apathetically staring at the orc that was approaching him at extreme speeds, raising his left hand, Ren suddenly snapped his finger.

-Snap!

"Khh..hu?"

As soon as Ren's finger snapped, the orc suddenly found his body abruptly halting for a split second. Following that the world around him became dyed in white and the figure he was looking at disappeared.

A subtle clicking sound followed his disappearance.

-Click!

The third movement of the [Keiki style] : Void step

Appearing on the opposite side of the orc, was Ren's cold figure. Behind him, a blue trail of light appeared as the muffled sound of thunderbolts continuously resounded across the area.

-Kracka! -Kracka!

-Spurt!

A couple of seconds after the exchange, an arm suddenly flew in the distance as blood spilled everywhere.

-Thud!

At the same time the arm flew in the air, taking a knee, the orc supported his body with his axe.

"khhh....h-how could someone as weak as you harm me?"

He a <C+> rank orc actually got injured from someone that had just entered <E> rank?

Humiliating.

...if the others found out what had happened, he would become the laughing stock of the city. Thinking along those lines, his deep voice resounded across the area as he shouted.

"Unacceptable!"

He couldn't allow such a situation to happen!

...He must kill the weakling that was before him in order to wash the shame away.

"huuu..."

Unaware of the orcs thoughts, exhaling as turbid air escaped from his mouth, feeling a slight stinging sensation on the left side of his body, Ren's cold eyes looked towards where the pain was coming from and he soon noticed his left hand missing.

No anger, pain, resentment, or any emotions were displayed on his face as he looked at the left side of his body which was bleeding profoundly.

Ignoring the missing arm and turning his attention back towards the orc in the distance, Ren softly mumbled.

"...pity"

This was the first time he couldn't one-shot his opponent.

Although the orc before him had a small hole on the right side of his body and was somewhat injured, he had still not killed his opponent in one shot.

In order to kill the orc, Ren had made ample preparations with the twin gargoyle artifact and his strongest move, the third movement of the Keiki.

This was supposed to be his strongest combo...and yet his opponent was still not dead.

He had failed.

...but this was within Ren's estimation.

His opponent was an orc and was around two ranks higher than him.

Their skin and defense were far stronger than that of a human.

Had his opponent been a human, they might've died in one move, however, sadly his opponent wasn't as they specialized in defense and raw power.

Fortunately, although he hadn't killed him in one shot, he had still injured him.

...this was enough for Ren.

"You!"

Clenching the right part of his chest, the orc glared towards Ren's direction as his deep voice echoed across the surroundings. Shortly after, as the features of his aggressor became more discernible, the orc was taken aback as his deep voice resounded across the space.

"Human? A human? What is a human doing here?"

As he looked at the feature of the individual that had attacked him, the orc was able to identify the fact that it was a human.

Although he had never seen a human before, he was aware of their existence. Therefore he was able to quickly identify the fact that his aggressor was human due to the fact that they weren't short and had no pointy ears.

Staring at Ren's figure in the distance whose arm was missing, the orc slowly stood up.

"I thought humans were smart, but it looks like you're stupid. I can tell that you're weak...how dare the likes of you try to kill me with that pitiful amount of strength?"

Pausing for a second, lifting his axe in the air, and putting it on his shoulder the orc continued.

"I don't understand why you would try to fight me, but soon reinforcement will come and if you're not dead by the time I am finished with you...you will die by the hands of the others"

Coldly staring at the orc before him, Ren slowly said.

"You talk too much, but your thoughts are unnecessary. The perimeter around us is sealed, no one saw nor heard anything"

Having set up the dimensional space around them beforehand, no one knew of what happened here.

Although dimensional spaces weren't hard to discover, now that everyone's attention was towards the explosion in the distance, Ren knew that he didn't have to worry about people discovering what had happened.

...at least not for a short period of time.

Glancing around and noticing a transparent membrane covering the area he was in, the orc glared at Ren as he shouted

"You think it matters? With your strength what does that pitiful trick of yours matter?"

Picking up his weapon, the double-edged axe, the orc was about to once again attack Ren.

-Spurt!

However before he was about to move, to his horror, he suddenly found himself unable to move his body.

"khhh..what?"

Weakly looking down on his body, the orc soon found a hand piercing through his chest as green blood splattered on the ground. Using the last remaining energy he could muster, turning his head to the side to see who was responsible for killing him, the orc soon saw two eyes coldly looking at him.

"...demon?"

Those were the last words that escaped from his mouth as he found himself slowly losing consciousness.

-Thud!

Staring at the orc that had just died, Angelica had a complicated expression on her face as she looked at Ren in the distance.

"...did you really have to sacrifice your arm to kill him?"

Staring at the pool of blood that was leaking from where his left hand was supposed to be, Ren watched as the rain carried his blood away removing all evidence of his presence. Glancing at Angelica, Ren indifferently said.

"Yes, this was the fastest and quietest scenario that I had envisioned. Any other plan would've taken too long."

Hearing Ren's response, Angelica only had one word in her mind.

Ruthless.

In Angelica's eyes, the current Ren was absolutely ruthless.

In order to have her appear behind the orc to sneak attack him, Ren had purposefully sacrificed his arm.

The one that had her in her ring form.

...Taking advantage of the moment when the orc was busy looking at Ren, Angelica turned into her original form and snuck up from behind him.

With him unaware of her existence, she stealthily killed him without causing too much of a commotion.

Fast and swiftly.

This was the first time Angelica had killed someone whose rank matched her so swiftly and quietly.

Ren's plan was indeed the fastest and most efficient plan, however, it came at a cost of an arm.

"What about your arm?"

Hearing Angelica's question, staring at his severed arm in the distance, Ren indifferently said.

"I can reattach it"

Frowning, Angelica nodded her head. She understood this part as there were methods out there that could help regrow limbs...but what really baffled her was the fact that Ren was showing no signs of pain despite the fact that his arm was missing.

"...okay"

-Plank!

Turning around, sensing something, Ren looked towards the door of the house opposite to him which shortly after abruptly opened revealing the features of a young orc.

"Ortus, what happened!?"

Opening the door of his house, Zornaraugh called out for his bodyguard.

However, he was soon left speechless by the sight before him.

First, a massive explosion resounded across the distance, shortly after he suddenly heard noises coming from outside the house. Not even a minute after he heard the noises, as he went out to check out what had happened he found his bodyguard dead coldly lying on the floor.

...Standing on top of its corpse was a slim pale figure with deep blue eyes whose arm was missing. Next to him, a beautiful woman with two horns on her head appeared.

"What's going on?!"

Coldly staring at Zornaraugh who was in a daze, Ren glanced at Angelica and indifferently said.

"Angelica it's your turn..."

"...yes"

-Fwauuaa!

Suddenly appearing before Zornaraugh, Angelica's enchanting figure coldly looked at him. A majestic red hue shrouded her body as Zornaraugh suddenly found himself unable to move.

Finally realizing that Angelica was a demon, Zornaraugh shouted incredulously.

"What?! A demon?"

Ignoring Zornaraugh, turning around and looking at Ren, Angelica asked.

"Him?"

Apathetically looking between Zornaraugh and Angelica, Ren nodded his head.

"Yes, kill him"

With Angelica having regained most of her powers back, Zornaraugh was as good as dead.

Especially since she was a rank higher than him.

...even if he was a genius, without preparations, bridging the gap in rank was something that couldn't be done. Not even Ren could do it.

Unless he had planned a lot beforehand, Ren couldn't defeat someone whose rank was higher than his.

...just wasn't possible.

Turning around as he walked towards the direction of where his hand was located, Ren coldly said.

"...kill him"

Pausing for a second, picking up his arm from the ground, Ren took out a green potion from his pocket.

Uncapping the lid of the potion, Ren placed the arm back towards where it was supposed to be and downed the potion. Once again staring at Angelica, Ren indifferently said.

"Kill him and let the world know of your existence and your presence. Kill him and let Immorra be engulfed in the flames of war"

"Yes"

Nodding her head, turning her attention back towards Zornaraugh who was paralyzed on the spot due to her skill, Angelica raised her hand and channeled her demonic powers.

-Shuaa!

Soon the surroundings shook as a reddish-black hue emanated from Angelica's body.

"Who are you! Khhh..."

Reaching her hand forward and grabbing Zornaraugh by the face, Angelica channeled her powers, and soon, to Zornaraugh;'s horror, he found his body rapidly shrinking as his energy was quickly getting sapped away from his body.

Struggling with all his might, Zornaraugh shouted.

"Noooo! Release me! Do you not know who I am? I am the next ch-"

"Shut up and die"

Increasing the intensity of her absorption, Zornaraugh soon found himself unable to speak as his resistance decreased with each passing second.

Soon his body shrunk completely as he started looking more and more like a mummy. Not long after, taking one last breath, Zornaraugh died.

"Khhh...."

Throughout the whole time, he couldn't even put up a fight.

-Thud!

Throwing Zornaraugh's body away, Angelica knew...

She knew that today marked the beginning of the end.

On this day, the flames of war shall envelop Immorra leaving nothing but devastation in its wake.

...and this was all due to one man.

Ren Dover.

Chapter 175: The vigil of the war of Immorra [1]

It's been about ten days since Kevin destroyed the food warehouse and I killed Zornaraugh.

...and a lot happened since then.

-Rumble! -Rumble! -Rumble!

Staring towards the distance, thousands upon thousands of orcs all equipped with heavy armor and weapons marched towards the gates of Gud Khodror.

An oppressive aura enveloped the whole of the city as bloodlust exuded from the bodies of each of the orcs in the distance.

Watching the spectacle from afar, a faint smile appeared on my lips.

...the plan was a success.

After I had Angelica kill Zornaraugh directly, everything went as I envisioned.

The orcs traced everything to the demons due to Angelica's residual demonic energy lingering on the corpses of Zornaraugh and the bodyguard.

Prior to killing Zornaraugh, I had specifically asked Angelica to do that so that the orcs wouldn't question who killed Zornaraugh.

Moreover, with the fact that Zornaraugh was killed at the same time that the food supplies were destroyed, the orcs came to the conclusion that the demons were responsible for the incident despite the fact that there was no evidence to support that conclusion.

Everything was perfect.

...well almost everything, if I had to be honest, these past few days have been quite scary.

Naturally, because of the incident, the orc chief was beyond enraged.

The aura he exuded the past few days was something beyond frightening as every time I glanced towards the tower in the middle of Gud Khodror it felt as though I was staring at death itself.

...and because of this, Kevin and I had no choice but to lay low for that period of time.

Every day felt as though there was barely any oxygen in the air.

Suffocating.

Staring at the army of orcs from afar, Kevin who standing next to me, glanced towards my arm which was currently bandaged, and asked.

"...Is your arm really okay?"

Ever since Ren had come back from his mission, Kevin noticed the state of his arm.

Although he wasn't particularly concerned as arms could be regrown with modern potions, Kevin was concerned that it might affect their future plans as he was now injured.

Glancing at Kevin, I shook my head.

"Honestly, it hurts like hell"

I wasn't lying.

The pain I experienced right after Monarch's indifference deactivated almost caused me to pass out.

...it was mortifying.

It was so painful that I couldn't even describe the feeling in words.

What made matters worse was that even after ten days had passed, I could still not move my arm properly

I think it may be due to something like the nerve endings of my arms not being fully connected, but I wasn't too sure. I wasn't an expert in this kind of stuff.

Frowning slightly, Kevin curiously asked.

"How long do you think it will take before you can use your arm like normal again?"

Staring at my left arm for a couple of seconds, I mused.

"Hmmm, maybe a couple of days?"

...no, that was unrealistic.

Unless I consumed an advanced potion I wouldn't be able to have the same degree of control as before.

Although my arm was in fact healing, every time I moved it, it felt as though electricity was coursing through it.

..the feeling was almost the same as when you accidentally hit your funny bone.

Not very pleasant.

Staring at my arm for a couple of more seconds, Kevin nodded his head. Turning his head around, Kevin proceeded to look towards the orcs in the distance.

"What do you think the chances of the orcs winning are?"

Without hesitation, I responded.

"Slim to none honestly"

Sharing a similar thought, Kevin nodded his head.

"...I think so too"

Although the orcs were strong and fierce, their chances of winning the fight weren't that high.

Especially since their numbers were far lower than that of the demons.

If they were going to have an all-out war against the demons, the chances of them winning were practically null.

They may be able to reclaim some land, but that was the most they could accomplish...and that would be at the sacrifice of countless orcs.

Thinking thus far, shaking his head and glancing at Ren next to him, Kevin asked.

"So what's next?"

Placing my hand on my chin as I fell into deep thought, I frowned.

"Well, now that we've pretty much accomplished the hardest part of the plan, all that we have to do next is reap our rewards..."

Well, still not quite there, but almost there.

...although this was indeed the hardest part of the mission, infiltrating Setin was going to pose quite a challenge.

Even though most of the demon forces would be sent out to face the orcs, they would still leave behind some of the stronger demons.

The reason I was saying it was easier than what I had just done was because there was a high chance that the strongest demons residing in Setin were not going to be there.

With the orc chief Omogulg leading the battle, the leader of the demons in charge of Setin would have no choice but to move out as well.

...Otherwise, they were bound to lose as he was the only demon nearby that could fight on equal terms with Omogulg.

Hearing the word 'rewards' being mentioned, Kevin looked at me with a look of surprise.

"Rewards?"

"Mhm"

Seeing the surprise in Kevin's face, whilst still staring at the army of orcs in the distance, I proceeded to add.

"Mind breaker curse cure of course, and a couple of other things. Don't worry there are things for you too"

Taken aback, Kevin pointed towards himself.

"Me?"

"Yeah"

Seeing me confirm, frowning, Kevin said.

"...but I've already gotten my five-star sword manual, it wouldn't be an even deal if I took something"

He had already gotten a five-star sword art, if he took rewards wouldn't that mean that their deal was unfair?

Although Kevin trusted Ren, he was apprehensive at the thought of owing someone as it could lead to complicated situations arising in the future.

Glancing at Kevin from the corner of my eyes, understanding his thoughts, I shook my head.

"Well if you're not going to take it then suit yourself, I'll just leave it there since it has no use for me"

"No use for you?"

"Yup, that's why I thought you could use it. You don't have to owe me anything if you take it"

It was true.

The item I was giving Kevin was something that I couldn't use so there was no point in me keeping it.

"Just take it as me giving a friend a gift"

Taken aback, Kevin asked.

"...we're friends?"

Smiling at Kevin, a chuckle escaped from my lips.

"Well, we've pretty much been through life and death situations, it wouldn't be strange to call ourselves friends...or is it just me?"

I wasn't lying when I said this.

Having spent a lot of time with Kevin and going through a lot of life and death situations, I pretty much considered him a friend.

Staring at me deeply, Kevin proceeded to nod his head.

"No, you're right"

He also felt the same way as Ren, but he never really dwelled too deeply into it as he thought perhaps it was just him and Ren only thought of him as someone with who he had made a deal.

...honestly, Kevin was secretly glad Ren felt the same way as him as despite his popularity had never had a proper friend in the academy.

He was quite happy.

Unaware of Kevin's thoughts, smiling as I glanced at him on my right, I teased.

"So you're going to take the reward or not?"

Smiling bitterly, Kevin shook his head.

"...Ill take it"

"Good"

To be honest, the item was supposed to belong to him anyway so it was only natural that he got it. After all, the stronger he got, the happier I was.

He was the one with the highest chance of defeating the demon king after all.

Although I acknowledge the fact that if I continued this way there was a chance for me to be able to be on par with the demon king, with Kevin as reassurance I wouldn't have to worry too much.

...that was as long as we had enough time to grow.

But if there was one thing I learned from being in this world for the past seven months it was that life was a bitch.

When you expect something to happen, the world would suddenly flip its middle finger at you and present you with a scenario outside of your prediction catching you off guard.

Therefore, I stopped expecting.

...if the world will throw something that does not match what I envisioned I'll just get strong enough so that I could retaliate in kind.

I was no longer planning on being passive like before.

Staring at the army that had started moving out of the city, recalling something as I glanced at Kevin who was standing next to me similarly looking at the army in the distance, I said.

"Wait here, I've still got something to do, I'll be back shortly"

Taken aback, Kevin asked.

"What? Where are you going? They are about to leave?"

Glancing at the army below us, I rolled my eyes.

"So? It's not like they are running?"

We were talking about an army of thousands upon thousands of orcs each wearing large bulky metallic armor.

They weren't going to be the hardest people to follow.

...although yes, their strong bodies allowed them to move fast despite the fact that they were large armors, it still took time for them to go out, so we still had half a day.

Realizing this, Kevin scratched his head in embarrassment as he said.

"Ah, I guess you're right. How long will it take?"

"About an hour? Maybe less who knows"

"Alright, I'll wait for you"

"Cool, see ya soon"

Moving out of the area we were in, I stared towards the distance as a faint smile appeared on my lips and thought to myself.

'Hopefully, what I'm about to do next plays out nicely...'

...

Inside of a dark confined location, kneeling on the ground was a figure whose hands and legs were bound by thick metal chains that connected all the way towards the ceiling.

The figure had its eyes closed and if not for the faint movement of his chest, someone would've easily mistaken him for dead.

In the dark world, silence prevailed the surroundings.

-Clank!

Suddenly, the silence was disrupted as a hooded figure calmly walked in and stopped right before the figure that was kneeling.

Staring at the figure kneeling down on the ground the hooded figure whose features were obscure called out.

"Silug..."

"khrr..."

A minute after his name was called out by the hooded figure, slowly raising his head, the features of the figure kneeling on the ground became more apparent revealing a white orc with a massive scar tracing over half of his face.

His deeply sunken green eyes were rather hazy as a result of the isolated confinement, however, the boundless bloodlust hidden within them could not be masked.

Staring at the hooded figure before him, Silug's deep yet groggy voice resounded across the space.

"Who are you?"

"...who am I?"

Raising his head, the hooded figure slowly said.

"Someone who can help you"

"Help me?"

Nodding his head, the hooded figure slowly said.

"Yes, I can grant you freedom"

"Freedom?"

Taking a couple of seconds to understand what the hooded figure was talking about, after a couple of seconds, lowering his head, Silug responded.

"...no, I do not wish for freedom"

Unbothered by the denial, the hooded figure once again spoke.

"Revenge...I can grant you revenge"

Raising his head once more, Silug weakly asked.

"Revenge?"

Nodding his head, the hooded figure once again said.

"...yes, I can grant you revenge"

"Grant me revenge?"

"Yes...I can help you get revenge on Omogulg, the orc chief"

Hering the name Omogulg being mentioned, as if some life returned in his eyes, Silug asked.

"...Is what you said true?"

"mhm"

Weakly clenching his fists, Silug deeply stared at the hooded figure before him.

"What do you want in exchange?"

"What do I want?"

Smiling behind the hood, the figure slowly spoke.

"In exchange, I want your loyalty...no, that doesn't sound right"

Raising his head, the features of the hooded figure became more discernible revealing a pale youth with deep blue eyes.

"A human?"

Staring a Sigul who was looking back at him with a trace of shock in his eyes, the youth extended his hand forward and slowly clenched it.

"...All you need to do is be my piece"

Chapter 176: The vigil of the war of Immorra [2]

Returning to where I had last seen Kevin after I spotted him casually leaning against a wall I called out for him as I waved at him.

"Yo, I'm back"

"Oh you're bac-huh?"

Spotting me, just as Kevin was about to greet me, stopping abruptly his eyes paused on a tall hooded figure that stood behind me.

"...Hey Ren, who is he?"

Glancing at the hooded figure standing behind me I waved it off as I casually said.

"Him? You've already met him before"

"Who?"

Turning around, and glancing at the hooded figure, I spoke in Lartvian.

"It's okay to take off your hood, he's with me"

The reason I was able to communicate with him in Lartvian was thanks to Angelica's telepathic ability which allowed me to understand and speak the language.

"khrr...Yes"

Nodding his head, the hooded figure slowly pulled down his hood revealing the features of a white orc that had a large scar that traveled past half of his face making him look especially intimidating.

Opening his eyes wide, Kevin exclaimed.

"What?! Silug?"

Nodding my head, I confirmed.

"Yeah, Silug in the flesh"

Alternating his head between Silug and I, Kevin had many things he wanted to say. However, he refrained from voicing them out as he knew it wouldn't do them any good at the moment.

Especially since Ren pretty much recruited the one guy he fucked over.

...just what had the world become.

Unaware of Kevin's thought, with a smirk on my face I said.

"Surprised right?"

"Yeah, if I said I wasn't surprised that would've been a lie"

I mean, he had just recruited Silug, a legion commander and someone whose rank was far above his.

...how could he not be surprised?

Seeing Kevin's reaction, nodding my head repeatedly I glanced at Silug who was standing behind me.

"Well, things just happened and I think Silug would be a great addition to our team. Moreover, he was just rotting in jail, felt that it was a waste of his talent"

With an awkward smile on his face, Kevin nodded his head.

"...yeah, if you say so"

He was indeed someone that could go toe-to-toe with a count-ranked demon.

...it would indeed be a waste for someone of his strength to rot in jail.

But that wasn't the problem as Kevin really couldn't wrap his head around the fact that Ren had just recruited the one person he screwed over.

If he later found out the truth of the matter, Kevin wouldn't even know how to help Ren.

*Sigh*

Sighing out loud, Kevin glanced at Ren and asked.

"How did you convince him?"

"It didn't take me much, I just proposed to him a couple of..."

As Kevin and I were conversing, Silug remained motionless.

He was currently staring at the army of orcs in the distance with a solemn expression.

Because Kevin and I were not speaking in Lartvian he couldn't understand a thing, but he didn't seem to care as his eyes were currently fixed on the army of orcs in the distance.

More specifically the orc leading them.

Omogulg.

The current orc chief, and an existence that stood at the top of the food chain of Immorra.

...Staring at Omogulg in the distance, Silug's eyes burned with hatred.

For having his loyalty thrown away in the trash because of something he did not commit, Silug never felt this much hatred in his life before.

Not even for the demons who had taken over their land.

...at the moment, to Silug, as long as he killed Omogulg he did not care about what he would do next.

Even if he had to be someone's slave for life, Silug did not care.

He had to get his revenge!

Noticing Silug's odd behavior and thinking of something, Kevin glanced at me and asked.

"How were you able to free him from the prison?"

Wasn't he supposed to be imprisoned?

How could Ren suddenly sneak into the prison without getting caught? From what Kevin remembered, the prison was supposed to be heavily guarded.

...yet Ren was able to sneak in that easily and take one of their most wanted prisoners out?

Kevin was beyond confused at the moment.

Understanding Kevin's thoughts, I shook my head and said.

"...it honestly wasn't that hard, I just went in and brought him out"

"Eh?"

Yeah, that was pretty much all I did.

Infiltrating the prison really wasn't that much of a challenge for me.

I just casually walked in and freed Silug.

No special plan or scheme was needed to accomplish this goal.

With pretty much every single orc in Gud Khodror leaving to attack the demons, they naturally were lax in defending the prison.

In fact, there was practically no one guarding it.

Still, although no one was guarding the place, Silug was still trapped there as he was bound by the thick chains specifically made to restrain him.

...it was evident that although he wasn't guarded he couldn't get out and was left to rot there.

Omogulg wanted him to die of starvation.

Naturally, this was for what had happened with the food supply.

Although Silug wasn't responsible for the fiasco, someone had to take the blame, and Silug was the orc that Omogulg decided to pin the blame on.

The way that Omogulg refused to even use him for the war against the demons went to show on how much resentment he had against him.

I guess he just wanted to find someone to blame and Silug was the perfect target as he was the one in charge of the food supply.

From the way I saw things, there was no way Omogulg didn't know that Silug was on break when the explosion happened, so I figured he wanted to vent his anger against someone for his son's death...wrong as it may be.

Thinking along those lines, I couldn't help but shake my head.

'Even the strongest leaders had their weaknesses'

...but honestly, although I had not predicted for this scenario to happen, I couldn't be happier with this development.

In fact, just the thought of it made me involuntarily smile.

Being the scum that I was, I took advantage of this situation I created myself and took the opportunity to make Silug join my side.

[The 43rd power-law - Work on the hearts and minds of others]

By seducing him with the exact thing that he wanted, freedom and revenge...I've managed to recruit him to my side.

Once I fully accomplish what I promised him, without a doubt I'll have Silug's heart conquered and he will truly start following me then.

An orc whose strength was around A rank.

Now that would truly be an achievement worth celebrating.

In fact, as soon as Silug agreed to my terms, multiple plans and scenarios started formulating inside of my mind for the past few days.

...and finally, after ten days of thinking, I finally knew of how he could be of use to me.

"Hehehe"

As I thought about it, a small laugh escaped from my lips.

Noticing my laugh, looking at me weirdly, Kevin asked.

"What are you laughing at?"

Glancing at Kevin, I casually waved my hand.

"No, nothing, I was just laughing at how easily I was able to infiltrate the prison and free Silug"

"That's true...but shouldn't they have at least left someone behind?"

Shaking my head, I pointed towards the orcs in the distance as they slowly left Gud Khodror.

"Nah just take a look at them, do you think they even care about returning at this point?"

Turning his head towards the orcs in the distance, Kevin fell into deep thought before nodding his head.

"..ah, I guess you're right"

From the way that the orcs were behaving, it did indeed seem like they weren't planning on coming back.

...I guess the orcs were really enraged this time.

Staring at the orcs leaving Gud Khodror for a couple more minutes, turning around, I knew it was about time to move out.

"Alright, we should get going as well"

"Yeah..."

Next destination, Setin.

...

There were three main cities in Immorra, Setin, Budkod, and Zrozed.

Each of the cities was guarded by a Marquess ranked demon and given the size of Immorra, each of the cities was quite far from one another.

About a week's worth of travel between each city.

...and this was at speeds only Marquess ranked demons could achieve.

Had it been a regular demon, the time could stretch to a couple of weeks or even reach a month's time.

"We're here"

Halting my steps and staring towards the distance where a large city stood, I knew that our journey to Immorra was reaching its climax.

"...So this is Setin?"

"Yeah"

Standing next to me, Kevin couldn't help but softly exclaim.

"...this is a lot more than I expected"

Glancing at Kevin, I didn't comment as I too felt the same way.

The city before us was something that I could've only dreamt of seeing in movies and illustrations back in my past life.

...it left that much of an impression on me.

Built along the banks of a river that rested between two tall volcanoes where lava quietly dripped down towards the ground, was the city Setin. With towering buildings and uniquely shaped infrastructures that were built in black and pointed towards the sky with its sharp tips, Setin looked extremely intimidating.

The sky around Setin was dyed in red and black as demonic energy shrouded the whole perimeter of the city.

Because of the demonic energy lingering in the air, the environment resembled the demon world more and more as the pale blue sky of Immorra was nowhere in sight.

Staring the sky from afar, looking at the city in the distance, turning his head in my direction Kevin asked.

"Why is the city so important for the orcs?"

...although Kevin had a map of Immorra, he wasn't fully aware of the circumstances around Immorra as the system only gave him a brief overview of the world.

Therefore, he was genuinely curious about the city before him.

The reason he asked Ren was because he seemed to know a lot...and although Kevin didn't know how he didn't really bother asking.

...it was none of his business.

Glancing at Kevin for a second, I responded.

"Because of the soil"

"The soil?"

"Yeah, the volcanic soil to be more precise"

The reason why Setin was the most important city for the orcs was because of the fertile soil that came from the active volcanoes that resided next to Setin.

With the volcanic soil containing special minerals, the herbs and crops grown on the soil were densely packed with nutrients that were especially useful for orcs that used aura as it enabled their bodies to become stronger.

With the fertile land that came from the volcano, the orcs were able to grow an endless amount of food to feed their whole populations including the other planets on which they resided in.

...and it was precisely because of the food grown on Setin that the orcs were able to increase their strength so rapidly and hence turn into such a prosperous race.

If not for the nutrient-rich food, the orcs would've never been able to develop and become as strong as they were now.

Sadly, as the demons invaded Immorra too fast and to unexpectantly, the orcs which at the time were fighting amongst each other, found themselves completely helpless and divided.

As a result of this, the orcs had suffered a devastating defeat, and thus why they had to settle far away from their land in Gud Khodror.

Had they been prepared and united, the situation would've never have happened.

Turning his head around, glancing towards the distance, Kevin asked.

"How long do you think it will take for them to catch up?"

Tilting my head in confusion, I asked.

"For who?"

"The orc army"

"Ah, I think a couple more days with the pace they are currently moving at"

Because the goal was Setin, I had asked Kevin to lead me there, and thus why we separated from them.

By now the demons were fully aware of the fact that the orcs were waging war on them as for the past few days, I've witnessed the orcs pummelling through the demons that were in their way.

Wherever they went devastation was left behind.

...and because the demons were caught off-guard, many small cities which had been taken over by them were destroyed and seized by the orcs.

No one was spared.

However this did not last for long as not long after, the demons were made aware of the fact that the orcs had launched an all-out war against them...and thus also prepared a counterattack.

Both sides already started fighting, but the war was still in its early phases as the strongest warriors from both sides had still not made a move.

...and thus, staring at Setin in the distance, I knew that a long battle that would last years had just started.

One that would leave nothing but devastation and lead to countless deaths from both sides.

I knew...

I knew that from this day forth the flames of war had finally enveloped Immorra.

Chapter 177: Setin [1]

"Well, that was easier than I thought"

Stepping foot into Setin, Kevin glanced around as he responded.

"...Yeah, this was a bit too easy for my taste as well"

Casually looking around the insides of the city, I nodded my head and added.

"Well, it is only natural considering the layout of the city"

"I guess..."

Entering the city of Setin wasn't hard, with how massive the city was and the fact that there were no outer walls encircling the place, Kevin, Silug, and I were able to enter the city without any difficulties.

Still, although we had entered the city fairly easily, that didn't mean that we could let our guards down.

The city was filled with demons and a single wrong step could lead to our demise.

...so just because we had entered didn't mean anything. This was probably the easiest task.

The hard part would naturally come in due time.

Looking left and right of the city as he admired the buildings before him, Kevin said.

"I guess the fact that orcs aren't very good at sneaking into places also played a part as to why the city is not that heavily guarded"

Hearing's Kevin point, I couldn't help but agree more.

"Yeah, that's true"

Simultaneously glancing towards our right, both Kevin's and I's eyes paused on Silug's massive frame. After traveling with him all the way to Setin, we pretty much understood why Setin wasn't that secured.

There was no way someone as big as him could enter the city without being noticed. Especially since orcs tended to be extremely hot-blooded.

Just an insult and they would fly into a fit of rage.

If not for the fact that I kept enticing Silug with the prospect of revenge, we would've long been discovered.

Inwardly sighing and staring at the city before me, I decided to find a secluded spot to rest.

We had been traveling non-stop for the past few days and so we needed to find a place to get proper rest as things were soon going to become difficult.

...especially considering what we had to do next.

"Here, this should do for now"

After a while, arriving before a rather inconspicuous-looking house that seemed to be desolate, checking to make sure that no one was present, I urged both Kevin and Silug to enter.

This was after I was able to confirm that the place was indeed abandoned.

The interior of the house was nothing special as dust and spiderwebs covered the place. Torn and worn-out carpets appeared on the floor and aside from a large wooden table and a few chairs in the middle of the room, there was nothing else inside of the house.

...it was evident that this was an old house that an orc used to prior to when the demons invaded.

Staring at Silug and Kevin who had both sat down on the wooden chairs of the room, I made my way towards the entrance of the house.

"You guys wait here, I've got something to do...I'll see you in around an hour"

Turning around and looking at me, Kevin looked at me in confusion.

"What are you doing?"

"I have to do something"

Although I wanted to rest, I sadly still had something to do.

...It was about time I started the next part of my plan.

Glancing at Silug who sat opposite to Kevin, I looked back at Kevin and said.

"Although you might not need the help, Sigul will be here to protect you...with his strength, you won't really have to worry about demons coming in here and exposing your whereabouts. So just in case a demon comes and finds you, just ask Silug to take him out. Oh, and make sure he does this quietly, don't let yourselves be exposed as that would ruin pretty much everything"

Listening to me and glancing at Silug who kept quiet the whole time, Kevin nodded his head as he once again asked

"Sure, but what are you going to do?"

Staring at Kevin, I answered vaguely.

"Mhh...you'll see soon enough"

I kept the answer vague on purpose.

With my next plan once again involving Angelica, I sure as heck couldn't let the both of them be aware of her existence.

Kevin because he had once fought her and explaining things to him would become troublesome.

...Silug

Well, he definitely couldn't be allowed to be made aware of Angelica's existence.

If he found out that a demon was with us, he might put the pieces together and realize that the whole situation arose because of what Kevin and I did.

...and simply put, that could not happen.

If that happened, everything that I had worked hard for would come crashing down in a matter of seconds.

As my thoughts paused there, staring at Kevin and Silug, I waved at them.

"Alright, I'm leaving"

Turning around, I opened the door and left the building.

It was time to start the next part of my plan.

...

"Angelica come out"

After moving far from where Kevin and Silug were, with my left-hand twitching I called out for Angelica.

-Fwaa!

Materializing before me, Angelica glanced around and looked towards the sky as she said.

"Hmmm...I've missed this familiar scent"

"Okay..."

Hearing Angelica's comment I was a bit weirded out, but I somewhat understood how she felt. With this place being filled with demonic energy, Angelica was like a fish in the water.

"Anyway, Angelica please release your aura"

Turning around and glancing at me, Angelica raised her delicate brow as she asked.

"Release my aura?"

Nodding my head I curtly replied.

"Yeah..."

This was the last task that Angelica had to complete.

Release her aura.

With Angelica having left a distinct trace of her demonic energy on Zornaraugh's body, the orc chief could naturally sense her if she released it.

The reason I wanted her to do this was because I wanted to lure out the strongest demon away from Setin.

With Omogulg directly targeting Setin due to him being able to somewhat sense Angelica's distinct demonic energy trace, he would naturally move to Setin and as a result, cause the stronger demons in Setin to move out and defend the city.

Although Omogulg hated all of the demons, he would naturally want to target his son's killer first.

This was a crucial step to my plan, and that was because...

Staring into the distance where a large eerie and intimidating black castle stood, I knew that entering that place was the key to achieving my goals.

Getting a closer look at the castle, I couldn't help but mumble to myself.

"Oh wow, talk about an eerie castle"

The castle before me was quite eerie and intimidating.

Especially due to its design as twelve narrow round towers formed a protective barrier all around the castle which were connected by high, narrow walls made of black stone. At the side of the castle were dull windows thinly scattered around the walls in fairly symmetrical patterns, along with huge banners and flags that were fluttering atop the castle.

At the front of the castle was an enormous black gate connected by thick and heavy metal chains with various intimidating-looking statues appearing next to it...further adding to the eerie feeling that shrouded the castle.

'The castle of Azeroth'

That was the name of the place, and it was also where Marquess Azeroth resided. One of the three Marquess-ranked demons residing in Immorra.

Fortunately, because Setin was the closest city to Gud Khodror, with Angelica releasing her aura here, it was only natural that the orcs would come here first.

...in fact, because of how far the two other cities, Budkod and Zrozed, were, reinforcement wouldn't come anytime soon, meaning that when the orc chief came, Marquess Azeroth would have no choice but to leave the demon castle he resided in.

And the exact moment Marquess Azeroth left his castle, was the moment that I knew I had to move.

This was an extremely crucial step as that was where the items I wanted were located.

With the demons plundering the whole of Immorra, most of their treasures and items were naturally kept somewhere.

...and one of those places was naturally in Setin, or more specifically in the castle of Azeroth, where one of the strongest existence on the planet resided.

Although the demons had no use for most of the items there, that didn't mean that they were useless as demons could entice other orcs to join them using those items.

...just like villains.

And If I didn't remember incorrectly, most of the items I was looking for were locked inside the basement of the building.

Inside of a treasury...including the cure to the mind breaker curse.

*Sigh*

Sighing to myself and staring at the castle in the distance, I've never felt so close yet so far from my goal.

...if only things weren't so complicated.

As I was busy studying the castle in the distance, recalling something, I turned towards Angelica as I asked.

"Hey, Angelica I want to ask...when demons form a pact with someone, do both parties have to be present at the same time, or can they make a pact from far away?"

Staring at me for a couple of seconds, Angelica shook her head.

"No, as long as we both sign the contract that binds our souls, we don't have to be present. You just need to sign the contract and everything would be sorted"

"I see..."

Interesting.

Finding things that I as the author didn't know was something really interesting.

As I've never brushed on the topic of demon contracts back in my novel, I had no idea that both parties didn't need to be present when signing a contract.

...this came as a pleasant surprise as an idea suddenly lit up inside of my mind.

Squinting her eyes and looking at me apprehensively, Angelica said.

"Why are you asking?"

Glancing at Angelica who was looking at me with caution, I shook my head and casually said.

"It's nothing"

Not believing my word one bit, Angelica became even warier.

"...human, you better not be playing any games with me"

"Relax...you know me, if I have to ask you for something, I'll naturally give you the appropriate rewards for it. I am not a stingy man!"

As I spoke, I tried to suppress my beating heart that came as a result of my excitement.

A really interesting idea came into my mind...

...and the more I thought about it, the more I couldn't help but find the edges of my lips curve upwards.

If the plan I came up with worked, then a very interesting situation would come as a result.

...and when I meant interesting, I meant truly interesting.

Chapter 178: Setin [2]

-Rumble! -Rumble!

The ground shook as an ocean of bulky figures wearing large metallic armors walked through the vast plains of Immorra.

As the troops marched forwards, they left nothing but devastation in their wake as they crushed anything that obstructed their paths.

With each step they took, the ground beneath them shook.

Be it demons or beasts, they would attack and show no mercy.

Blood spilled everywhere as the green plains of Immorra were dyed by a sea of blood.

Karum! Karum! Karum!

Chanting their war cry, the orcs excitedly plundered the cities they crossed and took whatever they could find.

Food, clothing, gems, coins, anything that could be taken was taken.

Nothing was spared.

"Khrrr..."

Standing behind the army, overlooking the orcs from the distance, was an imposing and enormous figure whose frame was much larger than that of the orcs in the distance.

The figure's muscles were extremely defined as they bulged out of his body. His forearm alone was the size of a human head.

The orc's skin was a shade of dark green and on his body, were red tattoos that traced from his face all the way to his abdomen.

"Khhr...khrr..."

Thin adulation of energy emanated from the orc's body every time he took a breath as a stifling atmosphere shrouded the area he was in.

With his eyes closed, the orc had his arms crossed and stood still without moving a single muscle.

He acted as though nobody was around him.

As the green orc stood motionlessly with his eyes closed, behind him, five orcs stood with their backs straight not daring to make a single move nor utter a single word afraid of angering the orc before them.

Although each of the five orcs that stood with their backs straight all had rather powerful energies, theirs was a far cry from the power of the orc that was before them...as just a single glance from him could cause their blood to freeze.

Omgolung

That was the name of the figure before them, and he was their chief.

"Hm?"

Sensing something, Omgolung suddenly opened his eyes as he stared towards the distance.

"Has something happened chief?"

Noticing Omgolung's strange behavior, slowly walking towards his direction was a thin elder-looking orc that supported his body with the help of a wooden staff.

Glancing at the elder-looking orc before him for a second and staring toward the distance Omogulg's deep and raspy voice resounded across the space.

"Umhra, I sense it..."

Solemnly looking at Omgolung, the elder-looking orc named Umhra asked.

"Sense what?"

After a short pause, an extremely frightening pressure exuded from Omgolung's body as he slowly spat.

"...I sense the demonic presence that is responsible for my child's death"

-Fwua!

Suddenly, like a tremendous gust of wind, everything around Omgolung was swept away as the orcs standing behind him had a hard time stopping themselves from being swept away as well. It was as though a tremendous tornado was upon them.

"khhh...chief!"

Fortunately, the pressure did not last for long as Omgolung was able to quickly regain his composure.

Sighing in relief, opening his eyes slightly, Umhra asked.

"Pardon my impudence, where is the location of the target?"

Closing his eyes once again and taking a second to get a better feel of where the energy was coming from, after a minute, Omgolung responded as he stared towards a certain direction.

"Setin...the demon that killed my son is in Setin"

Taken aback, the elder-looking orc asked cautiously.

"Setin? Where Marquiss Azeroth resides?"

"Yes..."

At the mention of Azeroth's name, Omgolung showed no reaction as he had already expected such a scenario from the beginning.

...since the demon was living in his city, it meant that he was the one who had issued the orders no?

Thinking along those lines, Omgolung felt his rage reach a whole new level as the bloodlust that he had kept hidden within his body slowly started to reveal itself as a suffocating pressure engulfed the area he was in.

If only it wasn't for that darned Silug.

Recalling Silug, Omgolung felt his blood rush.

Failure upon failure.

Everything went downhill from his first failure in the expedition...and the same thing happened with the food supplies.

Had he done his job properly, none of this would've happened.

"...Silug"

Slowly muttering his name underneath his breath, a thick bloodlust emanated from Omgolung's body.

There was a specific reason as to why he had imprisoned Silug.

He wanted to set an example for the others that stood behind him.

...that this was the price of failure.

Still, although he had done this, Omgolung wasn't planning on keeping Silug chained up for long.

They were at war after all.

He just wanted to teach him a lesson.

He couldn't let such a powerful figure rot in jail like that, the only reason why he was leaving him in jail was to dilute his inflated ego.

He had to show him his place.

...only when the war reached its climax would he release him and let him join the fight.

The reason why he wanted to do this was because he wanted to appear magnanimous towards the others.

Not only would it solidify his position even more, but it would also boost the morale of the troops as Silug was a force to be reckoned with.

"Chief!"

Noticing Omgolung's odd behavior and feeling the dense bloodlust leaking from his body, Umhra tried to redirect the topic in hopes of distracting him.

"Shoulds we redirect the troops to go there? I mean Setin"

Briefly glancing at Umhra, nodding his head, Omgolung's deep voice echoed across the space.

"Yes, forget about all of the minor cities. We are directly marching to Setin!"

"Understood"

Taking a large horn from one of his servants, Umhra placed the horn in his mouth and blew it.

-Boooummmmm!

As soon as Umhra blew on the horn, a shockwave swept the surroundings as every orc in the distance stopped whatever they were doing and glanced at Umhra in the distance.

"keumm...Keumm..."

Seeing that he had gotten everyone's attention, clearing his throat and putting the horn back, glancing at everyone, Umhra shouted.

"Finish with what you're doing, under the orders of chief Omgolung we are going to Setin!"

Hearing the command, starting at each other for a couple of seconds, the orcs proceeded to shout their war cry completely unaware of the fact that most will die as a result of this decision.

Karum! Karum! Karum!

...

"Stop!"

A day after deciding to go to Setin, abruptly staring into the distance, Omgolung suddenly halted his steps as glared towards a certain area in the sky.

"Show yourself"

"kakaka, it seems you've gotten better of the years Omgolung"

Chucking, appearing from out of nowhere and standing in the air with two empty eyes stood a black humanoid figure who indifferently looked towards the orcs beneath him. Behind him, thousands upon thousands of humanoid creatures similarly appeared out of thin air.

Every single one of them had a grin plastered on their face.

"...it's been a while since we last met Omgolung"

As the black creature stood in the air, a constant shadowy veil dangled around the creature's torso...resembling a lot like the heads of a few other orcs.

Noticing this detail, the hatred Omgolung had towards Azeroth intensified as a powerful pressure bore down on everything within the vicinity.

Noticing Omgolung's unstable state of mind, the elder-looking orc next to him shouted.

"Calm down chief, this is likely a trap to rile you up"

The orc heads was definitely a trap set up by Azeroth in order to rile up Omgolung so that he could increase his advantage.

Realizing this, Omgolung quickly calmed down as he nodded Umhra in acknowledgment.

"...a pity"

As the humanoid creature floated in the air, its blood-red eyes did not shift away from Omgolung even once. A bony tail swept behind the creature as coarse hairs cover it sporadically.

Behind him, two gigantic wings extend themselves fully. Spiky bones and blistering membranes stretched upward preventing anyone from seeing anything other than this being. Still, as the creature stared at Omgolung from below, a horrible grimace appeared on its face.

"You still haven't answered my question Omgolung, why are you suddenly attacking us demons?"

Glaring at Azeroth even more fiercely, Omgolung's deep voice resounded across the land.

"Do not play dumb, you know exactly why I'm here?"

Shaking his head, Azeroth teased.

"...but I don't, was it because you missed me after last time?"

"Khrrr...as you wish"

Staring at Azeroth standing in the air, with each breath Omgolung took, a similar sound to that of a muffled thunder escaped his nose as he glared at Azeroth in the air.

Since Azeroth wanted to play games, he was going to show him a fun game.

...a game involving his death!

Picking up a large metallic hammer decorated in fine patterns which also had a single blue orb attached in the middle, raising the hammer in the sky as he pointed towards Azeroth in the distance, Omgolung shouted.

"Then...since you won't admit your wrongdoings, I shall personally kill you!"

Thereafter, Omgolung swung the hammer down towards the ground.

-Boooooom!

...and as if the world split apart, the ground beneath Omgolung cracked apart as a loud explosion resounded across the space.

Shortly after, sharp like projectiles that came as a result of the fragmented rocks that had just been smashed by Omgolung's hammer attack shot towards Azeroth who stood in the air.

-Swiiiish! -Swiiish!

Taken aback by the sudden attack, smiling widely, Azeroth chuckled.

"kukuku, it seems like you really want to die"

-Plank! -Plank! -Plank!

Spreading his arms widely, a translucent black shield appeared before Azeroth as he blocked most of the projectiles coming his way.

After blocking most of the projectiles, simultaneously glaring at each other, both leaders pointed towards each other as they shouted.

"Attack!"

"Attack!"

Following their commands, the orcs and demons moved, and not long after pained screams and blood started spilling everywhere.

The battle of Immorra had just begun.

...

Moments before Omgolung met Azeroth, Setin city.

"Alright, I think the coast is clear"

Noticing that Azeroth had just left the castle, turning my attention towards Kevin and Silug, I urged them to follow me.

"Yes"

Swiftly moving around the streets of Setin, we were quickly able to arrive before the castle of Azeroth.

Glancing left and right of the city, Kevin was flabbergasted as he said.

"Seriously, how can traveling inside of a demon city be so easy?"

They barely saw any demon patrolling the area.

...how was this place supposed to be one of the main demon cities. The lack of surveillance made him speechless.

Hearing Kevins' comment and glancing at him, a faint smile appeared on my lips.

"It really isn't, the only reason it is like this is because I made it this way"

"What?"

As I hadn't explained to Kevin my plan, it was naturally understandable that he had no idea of what happened.

...but in short, because Azeroth had taken a lot of demons with him, we were, fortunately, able to arrive at the castle quickly despite the fact that Silug's figure was fairly noticeable.

Since there were fewer demons, it was naturally much easier to move around. Moreover, with everyone being distracted by the conflict that was happening not so far from Setin, it was only natural that the security was lax.

"Here..."

Halting my steps a couple of meters away from the castle, glancing at Kevin and Silug, I fell into deep thought.

...so far everything was going as I had envisioned.

Omgolung took the bait and moved towards Setin, and following that Azeroth had no choice but to move as well...pretty much leaving behind the castle with only a few demons patrolling it.

The build-up to that part also went as I had envisioned as I was able to pin all of the blame towards the demons giving rise to this situation.

...everything so far was how I had envisioned it prior to coming to Immorra.

The pieces that I had set up had finally started to move according to how I dictated and now, it was time to end the game.

Glancing at Kevin and Silug who were respectively on my left and right side, I pointed towards the castle and said.

"That is going to be our next destination"

Chapter 179: The castle of Azeroth [1]

Staring at Kevin who was busy controlling his drone in the air, I impatiently asked.

"You got something?"

Staring at his watch as he monitored the drone in the sky, Kevin shook his head.

"Nothing yet"

It's been about a couple of hours since Kevin, Silug, and I were waiting outside of the perimeter of the castle.

As Kevin was able to enter the castle through the use of a skill that he had acquired a couple of months prior back in the novel, for obvious reasons, I couldn't replicate the same method he had used to enter the castle.

...If only there was only a secret passage.

*Sigh*

Sighing inwardly, I knew that lamenting at my past decisions was stupid as my past self would've never been able to know that I was going to enter my own novel.

...but I still did it anyway as I needed someone to vent my frustrations against.

In the end, as I didn't know of any secret passage that led to the inside of the castle, we could only scout the castle using Kevin's drone to get a better idea of how to sneak in.

Interlocking my arms together as I stretched my body, I asked.

"How much more time do you need?"

Staring at his watch intently, Kevin shook his head.

"I'm not sure, because I don't want to get caught I'm currently operating the drone at an altitude of four kilometers...it's hard to get a proper read from that height"

Surprised by the information, I asked.

"four kilometers?"

"Yeah, since we aren't sure on who is in the castle, the safest height to surveil would be that"

"I see..."

Kevin's words weren't without merit.

Although Marquess Azeroth wasn't present in the castle, as we still weren't fully aware of who was inside, it was never wrong to take extra precautions.

Moreover, since demons could fly, the chances of the drone getting discovered weren't low despite the fact that it had a cloaking system.

Thus, such a high altitude made sense.

Plus, with how advanced technology was, that height still didn't impede the drone from scanning the castle below.

"Alright, I think I got a general idea of the layout of the castle"

After another ten minutes of surveying the castle, nodding his head, Kevin tapped on his watch as a three-dimensional model of the castle appeared before him.

"Good"

"Khhr...hm?"

Taken aback, Silug who was standing next to Kevin showed a surprised look on his face as he looked at the holographic image that appeared before Kevin.

Pointing towards the castle, he curiously asked as his deep voice resounded across the area.

"What is that?"

Turning towards Silug, speaking in Latrvian, Kevin responded.

"It's called a hologram and one of the castles before us"

Confused, Silug repeated.

"Hulogram?"

Nodding his head, Kevin elaborated.

"Hologram, yes, it's human technology and it helps us project an image of objects through the use of infrared sensors and-"

"Stop, you're confusing him"

Staring at Kevin who was about to delve into the topic of holographic technology, I rolled my eyes as I pointed at Silug who seemed to be even more confused than before.

"Project? Infra-red? Sensors?"

Staring at Silug, Kevin rubbed his nose in embarrassment as he apologized.

"...sorry, I got too into it"

He got too caught up and almost rambled about his hobby.

Knowing that Kevin was a tech junky, I didn't think too much of his behavior and switched the topic.

"It doesn't matter, forget about that, have you found something?"

Turning his attention back to the holographic image displayed on his watch, Kevin pointed towards a certain section of the castle.

"Yeah, take a look at this"

Heeding Kevin's words, leaning in, I looked in the direction of where he was pointing at.

"Check this out, although it looks like there are only three entrances of the castles, if you look at the map close enough you can see that there is another one not so far from the easter gate"

Frowning as I squinted my eyes to get a better look at the holographic image of the castle before me, after a minute, not seeing it, I glanced at Kevin and asked him to point it out for me.

"Where?"

"Here"

"Oh, I see it..."

Pinching the holographic image and moving it to the right, Kevin pointed towards a certain section of the castle where a small wooden door appeared.

Because of how grand the castle was relative to the door, If not for the fact that Kevin pointed it out for me, I would've never been able to see it.

Though I do find the fact that there was such a place odd...in the end, I didn't dwell too deeply into it.

If there really was something off about that place, with the red book in my hand, I didn't have to worry about our safety too much.

Seeing that I noticed the door, Kevin continued.

"From the looks of it, this seems to be the exit that the servants of the castle use to dispose the trash and unnecessary items. Although I wasn't able to figure out how many guards are present in that place, from the looks of it there are no more than two guards. But it doesn't really matter as what we should truly care about is their strength..."

Nodding my head, I glanced at Kevin and asked.

"Hmm, so are you suggesting we sneak from there?"

"Yeah..."

After thinking for a couple of seconds, nodding my head, I agreed.

"That sounds reasonable, when should we go?"

Placing his hand on his chin as he pondered for a moment, Kevin glanced at the castle before him for a couple of seconds before saying.

"hmm, now that I've figured out about that area I'll try to get even more info on it so that we can create a more appropriate plan...so maybe a day?"

Taken aback, my brows knit tightly.

"A day?"

Wasn't that a bit too long?

Seeing the doubt on my face, Kevin elaborated.

"Yeah, the more thorough we are the less the chances of something bad happening"

Checking my watch and seeing the time, my face crumped up a little.

"That's a bit too long, if we spend a day surveilling the castle we'll only have eight hours before we are forced to go back to earth"

Glancing at me from the corner of his eyes, Kevin nodded his head.

"Yeah I know, but since you said that the castle is the last place we need to go, I don't think we'll need to spend more than eight hours there"

Pausing for a second and fully looking at me, Kevin continued.

"...unless you think we need more time and if so I can just do a short skimming and we can go in a couple of hours, but the chances of something going wrong might be higher"

Given that they weren't going to go stay there for long, Kevin estimated that eight hours should've been enough.

Since Ren said that they were only going there to collect a few things, staying there more than eight hours wouldn't really be the best idea since each passing second they spent there could lead to situations where they could get spotted.

Listening to Kevin speak, with my brows knit even tighter, after a while, my brows eventually loosened as I shook my head.

"No you're right, do your thing"

After thinking about it for a while, I knew that Kevin was right.

Although eight hours was indeed enough time to accomplish everything, considering the fact that we were going to be moving slowly and carefully around the enormous castle, there was a small chance that it might not be enough time given that something could happen during the time.

However, after weighing the ups and down, I decided to go along with Kevin's decision.

...so what if we ended up wasting a day.

As long as we could reduce the chances of getting caught whilst infiltrating the castle, I was all in for it.

Haste made waste.

Thinking thus far, resolutely looking at Kevin, I nodded my head.

"Alright, take your time and get a proper read on the situation"

...

"How long?"

"Shhh..."

Placing his finger on his lips, Kevin looked towards the distance. Towards a certain part of the castle.

"...soon"

Just as planned, Kevin spent a whole day scanning the perimeter of the castle as he got a proper read on the situation.

After restlessly analyzing the situation through looking at the times in which the door was used and who was guarding it and who was leaving it, Kevin was able to come up with an appropriate plan on how to infiltrate the castle which he naturally shared with me.

...and well, once I heard of his plan I couldn't help but scratch my head in confusion.

The reason why I was confused wasn't because of how complicated the plan was...no, it was the exact opposite.

The plan was simple.

Too simple.

It was so simple yet so efficient that I was left speechless for a long time.

-Clank!

Not long after Kevin spoke, snapping me out of my thoughts, the door opened revealing the features of two orcs. Each around <B> rank.

After them, another orc carrying a trolley filled with trash soon appeared as he moved out of the castle and headed towards the direction of where Kevin and I were hiding in.

"Good...everything is going as planned"

Seeing the orc heading our way, sighing in relief, Kevin glanced at Silug who was standing next to him and said.

"Silug, your turn"

"Khhrrr...Yes"

Nodding his head, Silug's deep green eyes remained fixed on the orc that was slowly approaching him.

In terms of size, the orc was a bit smaller than Silug, however, aside from that, he resembled him a bit as his skin pigmentation was a shade of light green, almost white.

...although they could easily be told apart if they stood next to each as Silug had a massive scar running across half of his face, if it was only for a short moment, others might actually not notice that they were in fact different orcs.

Which was something we were aiming for.

Not long after, taking a step forward, as soon as the orc was close to Silug, quickly dashing in his direction and grabbing him by the neck, Silug clenched his arm as the muffled sound of bones breaking resounded across the space.

-Crack!

-Thud!

Throwing the orc into the trolley, taking the trolley, Silug turned around and made his way back towards the entrance.

At the entrance of the door, two orcs quietly stood with their weapons by the side. They both wore thin metallic armors that only covered part of their bodies.

-krrr! -krrr!

Hearing the sound of the trolley headed their way, staring at Silug's figure heading their way, the guards stood still as one of the guards asked.

"You're back already?"

"Yes"

"That was fas-huh? Who are y-"

Arriving before them and stopping them mid-sentence, before noticing that something was wrong, two large hands grabbed both of them by the neck as once again the muffled sound of bones breaking resounded across the area.

-Crack! -Crack!

...not even a minute after he incapacitated the previous orc, Silug took out the two guards. Almost as if he swatting a bunch of flies.

Scary.

Extremely scary.

Staring at Silug who had just incapacitated the two guards, smiling, Kevin looked at me and said.

"Come on Ren, let's go"

"...yeah, sure"

Looking at Kevin for a couple of seconds, I couldn't help but scratch my head.

...I was not used to this.

I was not used to sneaking into places through pure brute strength without going through elaborate schemes and preparations.

Felt sort of weird and refreshing at the same time.

Was it just me?

I think I might be going crazy.

Chapter 180: The castle of Azeroth [2]

Entering the castle, we soon found ourselves inside of a long and narrow corridor in which a red carpet dyed the floor.

-Clank!

Closing the door behind him, Kevin glanced at the bodies of the orcs that Silug had just taken out.

With one body inside of the trolley and two leaning against the wall of the hallway it was safe to say that they were not going to wake up anytime soon.

"Alright, if everything goes according to what I've observed, there shouldn't be another turn shift for the next twelve hours which is within our eight-hour limit."

Pausing for a second and staring at Silug and then the orcs on the ground, Kevin sighed in relief as he continued.

"Fortunately he held back and didn't kill the guards, else the situation would've turned troublesome"

...Although Silug had broken their necks, because of the orcs strong constitutions, they were still alive.

Albeit barely.

Had Silug killed the orcs, then things would've become troublesome as they would've immediately alerted the demons of their presence.

The reason being was because each of the orcs had signed a contract with a demon. If their contractee suddenly died, they would be the first ones to know as their souls would be damaged.

Looking at me, Kevin started speaking.

"Ren, now that we've entered the castle we should still not let our guard down as I'm not sure about how many enemies are hiding in the building..."

"mhm"

Listening to Kevin speak I absentmindedly nodded my head.

Although I was aware of what Kevin was saying, my mind was currently preoccupied with something else.

Staring at the door behind me for a couple of seconds, I couldn't help but think to myself.

'...something doesn't add up'

I feel like there was something missing.

Something that Kevin and I forgot to take into consideration when entering through that door.

I mean, if you think about it, there was no way that a huge castle with three enormous gates would have this small backdoor which was much easier to sneak through.

Yes, although it was indeed protected by two <B> ranked orcs that were under the contracts of the demons, I highly doubted that this was all of the security they had...there must be something else at play.

Frowning hard, recalling something, I quickly took out the red book and quickly skimmed through it to get a better idea of the situation.

-Flip! -Flip!

"Ah...I see now"

A couple of seconds after flipping through the book and skimming through the last page, I finally understood why the security was lax here.

...and what I found out instantly cleared all the doubts I had in my mind.

Prison.

What lay before us was a massive prison that trapped orcs and demons inside.

The reason why the security was so lax was because there was another layer that we had to go through before truly reaching the insides of the castle.

...now this was troublesome.

It already took us a long time to sneak into the building yet we were now presented with another annoying situation?

Just what in the world...

Massaging my forehead, I sighed as I mumbled.

"...talk about problematic"

Hearing my mumble, turning around Kevin asked.

"What's wrong?"

Glancing at Kevin, I lazily waved my hand.

"Ah, nothing, it's just that I've figured out where we are"

"Where we are?"

Staring towards the end of the corridor, I slowly said.

"Yeah, we are at the entrance that leads to the prison"

Hearing my answer, taken aback for a short moment and realizing why I was acting the way I was, an extended sigh escaped from Kevin's mouth.

"Ah...no wonder it was so easy to get in. Does that mean that we have to think of another plan?"

"No, not particularly"

Although there were indeed demons guarding the prison, according to what I read from the book, the situation wasn't that bad.

Although troublesome, it wasn't impossible.

FIve <B> ranked demons, which was well within the scope of acceptable.

Especially since we had Silug with us.

...normally there would've been at least an <A> ranked demon, however, given that the demons were at war with the orcs not so far from here, the only ones remaining here were the <B> ranked ones.

Thinking along those lines, a smile appeared on my face.

I guess all the preparations for this moment weren't for naught.

I was finally reaping the fruits of my labor.

"Alright, let's go"

Glancing at the long corridor, I urged Kevin and Silug to follow along.

...

"Is this the prison?"

"Yeah?"

Walking past the corridor, we were able to quickly arrive at the entrance of the prison. As I had already checked beforehand, there was no one guarding the area we were currently in.

From what I've gathered from the book, all of the demons were waiting on the other side of the prison.

Directly in the area that led towards the inwards of the castle.

"Go in"

"Yeah"

As we entered the prison, the first thing I noticed was how cold and humid the atmosphere of the place was.

It was as though I was in the middle of winter with how cold it was as I felt my cheeks instantly puff up as a red tinge appeared on them.

To make matters worse, the air inside of the prison tasted like stale bread and centuries-old stale water; extremely rancid.

The walls were bare, with faint scuffmarks marking the gray stone of the prison walls.

The cells barred with metal bars appeared everywhere as orcs and demons could be seen kneeling down with their bodies bound by thick chains.

"khhh..."

"Wu"

"Ahh..."

Groans and weeps of despair continuously echoed across the space.

Passing past the prisons cells, glancing towards the orcs imprisoned, noticing something, Kevin asked.

"What's wrong with the orcs over there?"

"Hm?"

Pointing towards one of the orcs in the cells, Kevin said.

"Look at the orcs over there, they have black veins tracing all over their body"

Looking in the direction of where Kevin was looking, I soon noticed the black veins that Kevin was talking about.

Instantly realizing what they were I explained.

"Ah, they are orcs that have been forcefully made to sign a contract with a demon"

From what I remembered writing, the black veins were a result of when someone was forced to sign a contract.

Because the other party didn't agree to submit to the demon, as they were forcefully made to sign a contract with them, they were put under a curse that subjected them to intense pains.

If they didn't agree to submit by a given period of time, they would be left to rot in jail under the curse.

Ruthless.

Closing my eyes, I double-checked with Angelica.

'I'm not wrong right?'

[Mhm, if both sides don't agree to the contract, the weaker party will suffer immeasurable backlash that is equivalent to being punctured by millions of needles]

'That painful?'

[What do you expect human? The contract binds the two contractor's souls, of course, it is going to hurt]

'...I guess that makes sense'

Since the contract involved the binding of both souls, the weaker party would obviously suffer more if they were resisting.

...and once the contract was signed and they were bound by it, if the other party refused, they would be put under the curse.

Nodding his head in understanding, after a bit of thought, Kevin asked.

"...If they are under contract, why leave them in prison?"

Hearing Kevin's question and snapping me out of my thoughts, placing my hand on my chin, I mused for a second.

"Hmm, I'm not too sure, but I think it's because they are resisting the contract. Unless they agree they would most likely stay in in their current state"

Understanding somewhat, glancing at the prison, Kevin asked.

"So what do you plan next?"

Pausing for a second and glancing at Silug who was standing next to me, Kevin asked.

"Should we just make Silug brute force his way through like before?"

Shaking my head, I smiled.

"No, there's a much easier way actually"

"Easier?"

With my smile deepening, glancing towards the cells before us, I extended my arms and said.

"Yeah, we just set free a couple of prisoners"

"Eh?"

Taken aback, barely any words escaped from Kevin's mouth as he somewhat understood what Ren wanted to do.

...was he trying to create chaos and then use the chance to escape?

Wouldn't that attract a lot of attention?

Seeing that Kevin had understood, I nodded my head.

"Yup, just like you're thinking, I'm planning on causing a commotion and force the demons to come into the prison and settle it down. Using the distraction as a chance we can directly enter the castle and do what we were planning on doing"

Pausing as I clapped my hands together I said.

"Easy peasy"

Massaging his forehead, Kevin nodded his head.

"Ah, alright...I guess that works too though I still think having Silug kill the guards silently is the best method"

Nodding my head, I scratched my nose as I vaguely said.

"You're not wrong, but....let's just say this method is the most ideal for me"

"What?"

Seeing Kevin's confusion, I just smiled and didn't elaborate.

What Kevin said was true.

Having Silug brute force his way through wasn't a bad idea, however, as I glanced at the prison before me, an idea irrelevant to the current situation had come into mind.

Rather, the idea stacked up with another one of my ideas that I had thought of before, helping me resolve a few of the problems I was having.

Thinking along those lines, a faint smile appeared on my lips as I thought to myself.

'I guess the prison still had its uses'

Staring at the prisoners trapped in their cells, pointing towards the thick chains binding them, Kevin asked.

"Hey, Ren, if we're freeing them, what are we going to do about the chains?"

"The chains?"

"Yeah, they seem really hard to break. At least not without making enough of a commotion"

Pausing for a second, and understanding what he wanted to say I waved it off as I casually said.

"Ah, don't worry about them, they are special chains made to block any aura flow. Therefore, they are actually quite easy to break. Especially if you are using mana"

These were the same type of chains that trapped Silug back in Gud Khodror.

They were specifically crafted chains that stopped all aura flow turning the orcs into powerless individuals.

However, it had to be noted that the chains only worked for orcs as mana could easily break through them.

This was also why I was able to free Silug so easily.

Nodding his head in understanding, glancing at the numerous cells before him, he asked.

"Who should we free? Everyone?"

Shaking my head, I responded.

"No, let's just go with the strongest"

Confused Kevin asked.

"Who?"

Smiling I pointed towards two cells in the distance where two orcs could be seen keeling down on the ground.

"Those two over there"

Both of the orcs had their head held down with one having long silver hair covering his face whilst the other having a thin red mohawk tracing down half of his head. The frames of the two orcs were huge as their muscles, which were the size of two footballs had green veins popping out from them making them look extremely intimidating.

Although I couldn't tell their strength because of the chains binding them and blocking their aura flow, judging from the fact that their chains were the thickest out of all the prisoners, I knew that they were the strongest.

...although they weren't as strong as Silug, they were still quite strong.

Staring at the two orcs in the distance with a smile on my face, recalling something, and turning my attention back to Kevin I asked.

"Hm, by the way, Kevin, can you take out two healing potions"

Raising his brow, Kevin was confused.

"Healing potions, for what? healing them? Shouldn't you have them?"

Raising my arm, my eyebrows twitched as I tried to wave it in his direction.

"You think?"

"Ah, right"

Although a lot of time passed since I lost my arm, I still couldn't fully use my arm as I would get continuous currents of electricity running through it.

...if I bore through the pain I could probably use my arm like normal, but honestly, wasn't too fond of pain so I refrained from using my arm unless necessary.

Naturally, I had used a lot of potions to heal my arm hence why Kevin somewhat believed my statement of me no longer having any potions available.

...which by the way was a lie.

I actually still had quite a few potions with me.

The reason why I asked Kevin for the potions, was because regular potions didn't work on orcs.

With them unable to ingest mana, regular potions couldn't work on them pretty much rendering them useless to the orcs.

However, there was a solution to this problem and his name was Kevin Voss.

With the system shop available to him, although expensive, Kevin could easily be able to purchase potions that worked on orcs.

Plus, with Kevin being relatively smart, he understood that I was merely using the arm as an excuse.

He knew that I knew something about the system, but he only thought that I only knew just a small fraction of what the system could do.

So he didn't really care and just complied which I liked.

-Fwua! -Fwuar!

Extending his hand forward, materializing before Kevin were two green-transparent potions. Admiring the potions in his hands for a couple of seconds, Kevin tossed one of them to me.

"Here"

"Thanks"

Catching the potion I thanked him.

Holding the potion with my left hand, staring at the two orcs I had set my sights on, smiling towards Kevin I said.

"Alright everything is set, let's free some orcs shall we?"

Chapter 181: The castle of Azeroth [3]

With everything prepared, glancing at Silug who was standing next to me, I pointed towards the entrance of the prison and said.

"Silug you wait near the entrance of the prison"

...this was a must.

The reason I asked him to do this was self-explanatory.

Once the commotion started Kevin, Silug, and I would immediately move towards the entrance of the prison.

With Silug's enormous frame, there was a high chance he could get spotted therefore it was better for him to just wait near the entrance so that the chances of us getting caught were lower.

After all, it was very hard for Silug to run without causing too much of a commotion.

"Khrr...Yes"

Unaware of my thoughts, Silug nodded his head and glanced towards the direction I pointed.

"Ah, right, before you go here"

Just as Silug had taken a couple of steps towards the prison entrance, recalling something, I took out a large gray fabric from my dimensional space and quickly threw it at him who caught it with his large hands.

"Put it on"

After I threw the fabric at Silug, turning towards Kevin, I took out a small thin circular white object thing and threw it at him.

"You on the other hand put that"

Confused, Kevin caught the item that I threw at him and took a good look at it.

"Hm? What's this? A mask?"

Nodding my head, taking out a similar mask, I put it on my face.

"Just a precaution"

Yes, a precaution.

Unlike the cheap mask that I had used back in the black market, this mask didn't come off as easily and it molded perfectly with the face of the person wearing it preventing anyone from seeing the wearer's identity.

Although I wasn't sure whether demons had things like cameras, I knew that they definitely had some sort of means to be able to look at what had happened during a specific period of time.

...therefore, for safety precautions, it was best if everyone hide their faces. Just so that it wouldn't come back and haunt us in the future.

Although I may be acting paranoid, this was a necessary precaution.

[Power law 29 - Plan all the way to the end]

I couldn't allow for any liability to affect my plans...if there was a possibility of something happening, I would thoroughly make preparations for it.

Plus, if I thought about it carefully, I was essentially coming here to rob the place.

What kind of robber comes to rob a place without wearing a mask?

Only amateurs would do that.

"Makes sense"

Thinking for a bit, Kevin nodded his head in agreement and put on the mask I had given him.

Subsequently, as if the mask was alive, it slowly wiggled around his face and distorted his features.

...he looked a lot uglier now.

Seeing Kevin put on the mask, turning towards Silug I stocked my chin and proceeded to nod my head in satisfaction.

"Not bad"

Wearing a large grey hood, Silug's facial features were completely hidden. Although his frame still gave away the fact that he was an orc, this was fine.

The reason why he was wearing a hood and not a mask was rather simple. The mask was made for humans, not orcs, so it just wouldn't fit him.

...either way, as long as they didn't catch wind of his face, it wouldn't affect the plans that I had for him.

I had big plans for him so I couldn't let anyone catch wind of his identity.

...I couldn't afford to lose an important piece at the beginning of the match.

At least not a piece that would play a crucial part in the grand scheme of things for the future I had envisioned.

"Alright, this should be enough"

After making sure that everyone's features were hidden, I saw Silug off and glanced towards the two cells in the distance where the orcs were imprisoned.

Pointing towards the cell where the orc with long hair was imprisoned, I looked at Kevin and said.

"Kevin, you take the other one and I'll take this one"

Nodding his head, Kevin looked at the other orc, the one with the mohawk, and asked.

"Him right?"

"Yes"

"...Okay"

Coming to an agreement, Kevin and I quickly moved towards the cells of the two orcs. Moments after, stopping before the prison cells, without hesitation, Kevin and I easily broke the metal bars of the cells and arrived before the orcs who were bound by the large metal chains.

Glancing at Kevin who was in the cell opposite to me, I quietly whispered.

"You ready?"

"yeah"

Glancing at me and nodding his head, unsheathing his sword, Kevin closed his eyes as a red hue enveloped his sword.

A second after, as the red hue shrouding his sword reached a certain level, Kevin proceeded to hack at the large metal chains binding the orc.

-Clank!

A muffled sound of the chains hitting the side of the walls echoed across the prison as Kevin's sword directly cut into the chains. Fortunately, as Kevin was alert, the chains didn't produce that much sound as they hit the sides of the wall.

-Clank!

After Kevin broke through the first chain, he proceeded to cut the next one and after a couple of minutes, Kevin managed to break all of the chains binding the orc.

-Thud!

Freed from the chains, the orcs frail body weakly fell towards the ground creating a small thud which fortunately was dampened thanks to Kevin reacting in time and cushioning his fall.

Sighing in relief as he helped the orc sit upright, glancing towards my direction, Kevin looked at me and whispered.

"I'm done"

"Same"

Similar to Kevin, coating my sword with mana I slowly cut the chains that were binding the orc before me.

In a matter of minutes, all of the chains were broken.

After breaking all of the chains, taking out the potion Kevin had given me moments prior I glanced at Kevin and pointed towards the potion.

"Give him the potions"

Opening the lid of the potion I propped the orcs head up and tried to feed him the potion.

"Yes"

Similarly taking the potion out, nodding his head, Kevin propped up the head of the orc he was with and fed him the potion.

Seeing Kevin feed the orc the potion from the corner of my eyes, a small frown appeared on my face as I tried to feed the potion to the orc before me.

"Here, drink this"

Still in a daze and unaware of what was happening the orc's hazy eyes looked towards the potion that was near its mouth.

Perhaps because he was still out of it, despite my many attempts at feeding him the potion, the orc refused to drink the potion.

"I apologize in advance"

Annoyed, after a couple of seconds and seeing that the orc was too out of it to drink the potion, grabbing him by the hair I forcefully shoved the potion in his mouth as a small gagging sound escaped from his mouth.

"Gukh..."

Should've done this before, couldn't afford to waste time.

...although the demons weren't patrolling the prison, that didn't mean that they wouldn't occasionally come to check. The less time I wasted, the better the situation was for us.

-Plap!

"Khhuaa..."

After I made sure the orc drank the whole potion, putting the empty bottle back in my dimensional space, I looked at the orc before me whose body was rapidly healing.

"Good..."

Glancing at Kevin and seeing that he was similarly done, I nodded my head in his direction as he nodded back.

...everything was proceeding smoothly.

"Right, almost forgot"

After feeding the orc the potion and just as I was about to leave, recalling something, I made my way towards the chains.

-Crank!

Using my hands I made sure to crush them with my hands...in a way that it looked as though someone had directly broken the chains through brute force.

...I needed to cover my traces.

Although they would definitely find the whole situation bizarre as two orcs directly broke free at the same time, it was better to make them think that the chains had malfunctioned rather than think that it was someone's doing.

Even though the demons will later find out that someone infiltrated the mansion, I would rather them not know that it was through the prison as I still had a use for it.

Glancing at Kevin who was similarly trying to hide his traces by breaking the chains, I pointed towards the entrance and whispered.

"You done?"

Taking his hands off of the chains, Kevin nodded his head.

"Yeah"

"Good...alright, let's go"

After making sure we left no traces of our presence, Kevin and I directly left and joined Silug at the entrance of the prison.

...

"Huaaaa-!"

A minute after Kevin and I freed the orcs, an enraged roar resounded across the prison as two overbearing auras that looked be around <B> to <B+> enshrouded the prison.

"What's going on?"

"Huh?"

"We've been breached!"

Feeling the enormous pressures emanating from the insides of the prison, the guards waiting at the entrance of the prison were startled. Instantly and without hesitation they all rushed towards the source of the commotion.

...because of how powerful the auras were, no one stayed behind as they instantly understood that the situation was serious.

The opponent was not something that just a few of them could face. They had to be together or else they would without a doubt die.

Of course, as they moved they also called for reinforcement, however, at the moment with only five guards present, they all had to be present at the scene, or else only death would await them.

...this was exactly what I was aiming for when I freed the orcs.

Thus, seeing that all of the guards had left, glancing at Silug and Kevin, I smiled and dashed towards the door that lead towards the innards of the castle.

"Alright, let's go"

I was now one step closer to my goal.

...

-Clank!

Opening the door that lead to the outside of the prison, the first thing I saw was a majestic hall with paintings all over the walls and bright chandeliers hanging from the ceiling of the hall.

Staring at the hall before me, I couldn't help but be reminded of a luxurious mansion owned by the nobles back in ancient times.

Unfortunately, because I didn't have much time I could only admire the scenery before me for a couple of seconds.

Looking towards my left and right, I tried to make sure there was no one present.

After seeing no demons present, turning around, and looking at Kevin and Silug, I pointed towards a set of stairs in the distance and said.

"Kevin, you and Silug go downstairs towards the bottom floor"

"What about you?"

Pausing for a second as I stared deeply into Kevin's eyes, I softly said.

"I have to go to another place"

Frowning, Kevin asked.

"Then I should come with you?"

Glancing at Silug who was standing behind Kevin, I shook my head.

"I wouldn't have minded normally, but he's with you"

"Ah..."

Also realizing the problem, Kevin understood.

It was Silug again.

...with him with us, moving and sneaking around the castle was not ideal. Therefore, it was best if the three of us split up so that I could accomplish my mission faster.

Thus, thinking along those lines and looking at Kevin, I apologetically said.

"Yeah, someone needs to make sure he isn't spotted. Although he is strong, what's the point of infiltrating this place if we're going to get caught immediately"

Hearing my explanation, Kevin rolled his eyes.

"...so in short you want me to babysit him?"

Freezing for a second, processing what he said, a bitter smile appeared on my face as I nodded my head.

"In a way, yes, but it's not like im telling you to go downstairs for nothing. At the bottom floor there should be the treasury, and what I want you to do is scout the perimeter and tell me who is there so that when I come back we can come up with an appropriate plan. Although Silug's frame can be annoying, his strength should make up for it"

It was true.

Although Silug was not the best person to have when trying to sneak around, he was strong in his own right.

...heck, he could very well be the strongest person in the castle present.

If not for me being unsure about whether this statement was true or not, I would've just bulldozed my way in.

"...that does make sense"

Hearing my explanation, Kevin proceeded to nod his head.

In a way, although Silug's frame would stop them from sneaking in, he made up for it with his strength.

If push comes to shove, he could very well just kill anyone that blocked his path ensuring Kevin's safety.

Seeing that I had somehow convinced Kevin, turning around, I quickly made my way towards the stairs in the distance.

"Alright, I'm going now"

"Sure, meet up with us after you're done with your thing"

"Yup"

Turning my head away from Kevin, glancing at the stairs in the distance, a faint smile appeared on my lips.

...it was about time I reaped the rewards of this trip.

Chapter 182: The castle of Azeroth [4]

After separating from Silug and Kevin, glancing at the ring on my finger I softly said.

"Alright, Angelica you can come out now"

-Fwa!

Following my voice, black smoke rose from my left finger and Angelica's figure slowly materialized before me. Opening her eyes, Angelica glanced at me and softly said.

"I'm ready"

Smiling, out of nowhere, I threw an orb-like object in her direction.

"Here"

-Plack!

"Huh? What's this?"

Catching the orb with her hand, Angelica tilted her head in confusion as she observed the black orb in her hand.

"It's your core"

Noticing Angelica's confusion, I smiled.

"..."

Taking a couple of seconds to process the object in her hand, opening her eyes wide and looking at me, Angelica's voice raised a few pitches.

"Ah?"

Seeing Angelica's reaction, raising my brow, I teased.

"What? You don't want it? If you don't want it I'll gladly take it back"

"No, no, no, I'll take it"

Shaking her head, Angelica quickly placed the orb in her chest.

-Shua!

Shortly after, as if made out of water, the orb directly melted into Angelica's body.

-Fwua!

As the core melted into her body, a terrifying red hue enshrouded her body giving her regal and majestic presence.

After a couple of seconds, slowly opening her eyes and turning her attention back to me, with a skeptical look on her face Angelica asked.

"...why are you giving it to me?"

Thoughtfully placing my hand on my chin, I shortly replied.

"Mhh, let's just say that I'm trusting you"

Taken aback by my answer, Angelica didn't know how to answer.

Being a demon and coming from a place where everyone would screw you over at the simplest mistake, the word 'trust' was not something Angelica was very familiar with.

There was no such thing as trust amongst demons and so Angelica was naturally unaware of how it felt to be trusted by someone.

...yet that all changed today.

For the first time in her life, someone had said that they trusted her. Moreover, it was the same human that had enslaved her and made her work for him for five years.

...it was weird and made Angelica feel odd.

Although she wasn't sure how she was feeling right now, deep down, just a little part of her felt grateful.

Turning her head away from me, Angelica softly muttered.

"...I see"

Seeing her reaction, unaware of what she was thinking, I kept a simple smile on my face.

Everything was a lie.

Of course, that wasn't the truth.

...but she didn't need to know that.

Taking out the orb wasn't actually that hard.

All I needed to do was channel my mana towards where the orb was located and I was able to quickly pull it out.

Moreover, since we've signed the mana contract it didn't matter if I gave her the core back or not, lest she completed the five-year deal with me, she was still bound to me.

I could've already given the core to her back when we signed the contract, but I refrained from doing so.

The reason was simple.

I was waiting for a moment like this to happen.

...for the perfect chance to appeal to her and make it seem like I trusted her. On the outside, it looked as though I was trusting her and making her feel important, but in reality, I was merely trying to appeal to her so that she would let her guard down against me.

[Power law 43 - work on the hearts and minds of others]

Just like Silug, if I wanted her to wholeheartedly follow me, I had to appeal to her desires.

...in this case the core.

By adding some flowery words, I made her feel special increasing her favorability towards me.

Though I sounded manipulative and perhaps borderline psychopathic, I didn't really care. I needed to do what needed to be done.

If I wanted her to fully become my piece, this was the necessary step.

...Like I said before, I was no hero. Sometimes, for the sake of the future, I had to do things that I would've never done before.

After all, what was the point of being a saint if it only led to a future where the demon king swallowed the world?

If the world wanted a hero, they had Kevin.

If they desired a hero off of me, I'm sorry, but I couldn't grant them that wish.

Sometimes, someone had to get their hands dirty for the sake of the greater good...

-Baaam!

Suddenly, snapping me out of my thoughts, out of nowhere a muffled explosion rang in the distance shaking the whole castle slightly.

Glancing towards the direction of where the explosion was coming from, squinting my eyes I instantly understood what had happened.

"hmmm...it seems like the aftershock of the battle is reaching all the way here"

I guess Angelica revealing herself once again has caused the orc chief to attack even more fiercely.

He probably took it as a provocation and hence why the aftershock of the attack reached all of the way here.

...that was good though.

The fiercer he was, the laxer this place was. By distracting the demons inside of the castle and redirecting their attention towards the fight, it would in turn allow for Angelica and I to have an easier time when moving towards our destination.

Thinking along those lines, glancing at Angelica I said.

"We should go"

"Yes"

Halting my steps and glancing at Angelica, I said.

"Angelica walk before me"

The reason I asked Angelica to walk before me was self-explanatory.

She was a demon hence she could pretty much move around the castle without arousing too much suspicion.

Moreover, given the current situation of the castle both externally and internally, it was safe to assume that no one would particularly pay too much close attention to us.

...so just having Angelica prove that she was a demon was enough to somewhat move around the castle without much trouble.

Still, although Angelica being a demon helped somewhat, that didn't mean we were just brazenly moving around the castle with no care of the world.

No.

We still needed to be careful when moving around. If someone stopped us and questioned us, without a doubt we would get caught.

-Gulp!

Therefore, as an extra safety precaution, I took out a [Gigantification potion] and quickly downed it.

"...this will be hella annoying"

Feeling my body expand and become larger, I quickly changed my clothes to the ones of the orc that I had met at the entrance at the back of the castle and wore them.

Although I couldn't change my skin pigmentation, it didn't really matter.

Placing my fingers on my face, or more specifically the mask I was wearing, I tried my best to distort my features to look more like that of an orc.

After a couple of seconds of molding, glancing at Angelica I asked.

"This should be enough, do I look like an orc?"

Briefly looking at me, Angelica shook her head.

"...not really"

"Not even a little bit?"

"Only if you look from far"

"That's good enough for me"

In the first place, this was merely a precaution I took in order to reduce the chances of getting caught. I wasn't actually planning on fully copying an orc as that would take too many resources and there would be too many loops in my plans as I did not sign a contract with a demon.

Thus, as long as I looked at the part from far, it was good enough. Glancing at Angelica I quickly urged her to move forward.

"Alright, let's go"

Irritated, Angelica responded.

"Don't rush me human"

"Ya, ya, I guess you don't really care about reaching the viscount rank"

"Viscount rank?"

"Yeah, the place we're going to has the item that you're looking for"

Hearing my response as her eyes lit up, Angelica quickly moved forwards.

"Let's go"

Seeing Angelica's reaction, I shook my head as a smile appeared on my lips.

"What a child"

...

The layout of the castle was rather simple, there were four floors with the bottom floor being the place where Kevin and Silug went.

The place where the treasury was located.

Other than that there was the second and third floor, but honestly, there was nothing important there as only the first and fourth floor were important as they were places I wanted to go to.

Currently, Angelica and I were on the first floor of the castle and our goal was to reach the fourth floor. The highest and most secured area of the castle.

...that's where our goal was.

"Let's go"

"Mhm"

As we moved around the castle, fortunately, given the fact that Angelica's strength was pretty strong and that we were walking rather inconspicuously, no one questioned nor stopped us as we walked through the castle.

Moreover, the fact that there was a war happening not so far from here added with the fact that the prison area was currently in chaos, the castle security was even laxer than before.

...thinking along those lines, I secretly gave a pat on my back.

All that planning wasn't for nothing.

Infiltrating such an important place had never felt as easy as now. Even Kevin back in the original novel had a much harder time than I was having.

Thus with Angelica next to me, we passed by numerous different rooms, from the dining hall, the kitchen, the armory, the magic item storage, the alchemy lab, the prison, and the kennel.

Had I not been in a rush for time, I would've without a doubt spent the time admiring the place, unfortunately, since we only had about seven hours at our disposal, I could only ignore the scenery around me and increase my pace.

...finally, after carefully walking around the castle with Angelica we were able to reach the final destination.

Marquess Azeroth's private space.

Staring at the large black door before us, Angelica curiously asked.

"How do we enter the place?"

Glancing at Angelica, I bluntly said.

"Easy, just open the door and enter"

Rolling her eyes, Angelica focused her attention on the black door.

"Stop joking...isn't there going to be some sort of security measure that will prevent anyone from sneaking in?"

Given how important the place was, there was no way just opening the door was enough.

Thus, glancing left and right Angelica tried to see what she could do to help.

....she really wanted to reach viscount rank.

Seeing Angelica dismiss what I said, I was a little offended.

"I really wasn't joking when I said that, you know"

Entering Marquess Azeroth's personal space wasn't actually that hard.

-Clink!

Arriving before the door, putting my hand on the doorknob I pulled back and the door slowly opened.

Silence swept the surroundings as Angelica was left standing speechless.

"..."

"That's it?"

Smugly looking at Angelica, I nodded my head.

"Yeah, what do you expect?"

In the first place, marquess Azeroth rarely left his castle. Added with the fact that orcs are terrible at sneaking in and that all of the demons present were under his control, entering his private quarters wasn't really that hard.

Moreover, the guards that were supposed to be guarding the room were taken by him to fight, resulting in even laxer security.

...still, although entering was easy it didn't mean that there were no safety precautions set in place by him.

"Angelica you wait here for a second"

Telling Angelica to wait at the door, I quickly took a step into the room, and the first thing I saw was two translucent membranes that covered the front part of the room.

These double membranes were specifically made to alert marquess Azeroth of anyone who entered his office.

Once someone trespassed those membranes, marquess Marquess Azeroth would immediately be alerted of the trespassing.

Honestly, the membrane was a very good way to block anyone from breaking in.

...however, there was just one problem, and that was that it only worked on demons and orcs.

It did not take into consideration humans.

Given that this world was only inhibited by demons and orcs, it was only common sense for Marquess Azeroth to set up safety precautions against the two races.

...unfortunately, an outlier such as I was present.

Thus, quickly bypassing the membrane, I entered the office.

"...ah, I finally found you"

Entering the office, halting my steps, and staring towards the corner of the room, a large smile appeared on my face.

"Would you look at that"

The main ingredient used to cure the mind breaker curse was right before me.

Chapter 183: The one [1]

Passing through the membranes in front of the door, I entered the room and took a moment to look at my surroundings.

The room was quite big, measuring about 50 x 50 ft. As I walked in, my nostrils instantly picked up the smell of a mixture of two very distinct smells, old wood, and burning hair.

The room was lit by only the glow of a small, unshaded lamp found on a moderately sized oak writing desk in the middle of the room. Behind the desk stood a large window with bronze handles that led to the balcony outside where you could overlook the garden that was on the ground floor.

"...not bad"

Glancing at the room, my eyes instantly drifted towards the balcony of the room, behind the desk, where a large potted plant stood.

With its branches intersecting with one another, the sharp tips of the branches pointed towards the sky. The plant had no leaves, and hanging from a couple of branches were four pale green fruits that had a red hue pulsating from them.

'Xurin'

That was the name of the fruit that hung from the plant.

...and also the plant that could cure the mind breaker curse. In fact, not only the mind-breaker curse but most curses out there.

The fruit before me was had an extremely potent effect against curses, with the mind-breaker curse being one of the curses it could cure.

Therefore, although I came here primarily for curing the curse on my parents, I was also enticed by the fact that the fruit could prove useful for me in the future.

...it's worth was immense.

-Clank!

"Come here..."

Opening the balcony door, I quickly arrived before the potted plant. Touching one of the fruits with my hand, I softly muttered.

"This looks pretty tasty"

Admiring the fruits before me, I was almost tempted to just take one and eat it right off the bat, but I refrained from doing so.

...I wasn't that stupid.

After admiring the fruits for a couple of seconds, I immediately placed the whole plant into my dimensional space.

Staring at the now empty spot where the plant used to be, I softly muttered.

"If only I could grow these fruits"

Ideally, I would've loved to have grown the plant back on earth.

Unfortunately, I couldn't.

Unless I could replicate the demonic environment around here, any hopes in growing the plant were basically nonexistent. Moreover, it took a couple of years for the fruit to grow so the thought of mass-producing the fruit could only be scrapped.

'Oh well, it's not like there won't be a chance in the future

Even if I couldn't grow the plant now, that didn't mean I couldn't find a solution in the near future.

Nothing was set in stone, and knowing this, I decided to take the whole thing with me.

"What next..."

Done taking care of the plant, I looked around for a moment. Soon, a smile appeared on my face.

"I guess it's about time I start plundering no?"

Going back into the room, arriving before the desk, I quickly took anything that I thought was useful. From every nook and cranny of the room, I just took everything that seemed to contain any worth.

Having spent basically everything that I had just to come here, I was now dirt poor.

I also still owed Smallsnake money, so if there was anything that looked remotely valuable I just took it.

As I stole, I couldn't help but think to myself.

"...is this how thieves feel when they steal?"

I didn't hate this feeling

...it felt exhilarating

As my thoughts paused there, my hand froze for a split second just as I was about to pick up another object.

"...Although it is nice, I should definitely not get addicted to this feeling"

Nothing good would come out of me getting addicted to stealing.

Well, though I said that I continued to plunder the area freely.

As I took most of the items I also made sure to be careful when taking some of the stuff.

I didn't take everything.

Just because something looked valuable, it didn't mean that it contained no thorns. There were definitely items that I couldn't take else the consequences could become disastrous.

I made sure to stay away from anything that looked like an artifact or emanated strong demonic energy.

There was definitely a chance that Marquess Azeroth could trace the item, and if such a thing happened, I was in for a whole world of trouble.

...this was even if I returned back on earth.

Although it took quite a lot of materials to travel to earth as portals required the usage of expensive and rare ingredients, if Marquess Azeroth was hell-bent on taking revenge, which seemed likely given the fact that I was pretty much taking everything he owned, I could kiss my sorry ass goodbye.

Having a blood feud with a Marquess ranked demon when you were only <E> rank yourself wasn't something that I could handle.

Sorry but no thank you.

-Plack!

"Bingo!"

As I was plundering, opening the drawer of the desk, my eyes were instantly drawn towards a couple of items. More specifically towards a grey metallic cube and a couple of black-looking fruits.

...apart from the Xurin fruit, these items were what I was looking for.

Without hesitation, I took everything.

"This should be everything"

With everything gathered, checking every nook and cranny of the office, and making sure that I took everything that I could possibly take, I nodded my head in satisfaction.

"Four hours?"

Glancing at my watch and seeing that I only had four hours left, I decided to quickly leave the place.

It was about time I reunited with Kevin.

"Hmmm...It wouldn't be nice of me if I just left without leaving behind a present"

Just before I left, recalling something, I placed a small black box on the wooden table.

...it was a small present that I wanted to give to the demons.

After all, I did take quite a lot of stuff from them, it would've been impolite of me to just come and go without leaving anything in return.

"Hopefully it'll be appreciated"

Having taken everything that I wanted, I comfortably left the room by once bypassing the two membranes at the entrance.

Glancing at the translucent membranes at the front of the building, a chuckle involuntarily escaped from my lips.

'I wonder how Marquess Azeroth would react once he finds out about how I raided his whole place'

...well, sadly for me, I wouldn't be able to tell as I would be long gone.

However, once Marquess Azeroth did indeed find out about what had happened, if he was still alive by the time the war ended, I could already imagine the scenery outside.

Spotting Angelica warily glancing towards her surroundings to make sure that no one was coming, smiling, I casually threw an item at her.

"Here, catch"

-Plack!

Raising her hand and catching the item, Angelica skeptically looked at the item in her hand. Not even a second after glancing at the time, opening her eyes wide, Angelica's voice raised a few pitches.

"Hm, what's this? wait!"

Seeing Angelica's shocked expression, smiling, I nodded my head in confirmation.

"Yeah, it's a devil fruit...a highly concentrated one at that"

Elves, dwarves, and humans all shared one thing in common.

They used mana.

Orcs on the other hand utilized Aura, and demons utilized demonic energy.

As I've mentioned before, devil fruits were fruits that improved a demon's bloodline.

Although ranks were what assessed someone's strength, for demons their strength was assessed from the purity of their bloodline

The greater the purity of their bloodline the stronger they were.

A devil fruit improved bloodline purity, and this was exactly why it was extremely coveted by the demon.

It was a catalyst that enabled demons to drastically improve their strength. Moreover, the better the quality of the fruit, the greater the benefits.

...and with the fruit being one that I had taken from a Marquess ranked demon, there was no question about the quality of it.

Breaking Viscount rank with it shouldn't be difficult.

Glancing one last time at the room behind me, turning my attention back to Angelica who was looking at the fruit in her hand with shining eyes, I smiled.

"As I've promised, I've now held my end of the deal. See, I'm a man of my words"

Staring at the fruit in her hand, Angelica closed her eyes slightly as a soft voice escaped from her lips.

"...thank you"

Her long-cherished dream of finally reaching the viscount rank was within an arm's reach.

She had tried countless times to break through this rank to no avail as she miserably failed each time.

...she had originally thought that she would still take another five years before breaking through, but now with the fruit in her hands, she could now be able to quickly break through to Viscount rank without a hitch.

Something that she had longed for a very long time.

Staring at my watch and seeing the time, my brows knit for a split second before I turned to Angelica and said.

"Alright let's go back, we don't have much time to spare"

Taking her eyes off of the fruit, Angelica nodded her head.

"Okay"

"Ah, almost forgot"

Just as we were about to leave, recalling something, my footsteps paused.

"Angelica before we go down I have another deal to propose to you"

Tilting her head, Angelica's delicate brows knit slightly.

"A deal?"

Seeing the look of confusion on Angelica's face, a large smile appeared on my face as I softly said.

"yeah, a deal"

...

"Hey, I'm back!"

Walking towards the bottom floor wasn't that hard, although things have quieted down in the prison area indicating to me that things have been sorted there, most of the remaining demons inside of the mansion were still most likely there trying to figure out what had happened.

Thus, just like before, my path was fairly unobstructed. Although there were a couple of occasions in which a demon passed by near me, with their focus being on either the war outside or the incident in the prison, I was somehow able to avoid being detected.

...and so thanks to that, I was able to quickly reach Kevin's location.

Obviously, before reuniting with Kevin and Silug I had asked Angelica to turn back into a ring. Her presence was something that couldn't be revealed.

Turning his head and spotting me in the distance, Kevin asked.

"Have you sorted out everything?"

"Yup"

Nodding my head and looking around the area we were in, I was soon able to spot a large metallic golden door in the distance with fine patterns covering the whole door. In the middle of the door was a small slot the size of a cube.

Pointing towards the door, I asked.

"So what's the situation here?"

Similarly glancing at the door in the distance, Kevin had an odd look on his face.

"Actually it's surprisingly quiet here"

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that there are not that many demons here protecting the treasury. In fact, there's barely anyone here"

Pausing and turning his attention back to me, Kevin continued.

"Apart from the area that leads to the door, there's practically no demon in here. From what I've figured, the demons are confident in the door's durability hence why they don't pay too much attention to the place"

Hearing Kevin's evaluation and placing my hand on my chin, I nodded my head as I softly mumbled.

"...well I can't say I'm too surprised by this info"

From what I remembered writing in the novel, the door before us was something that even Marquess Azeroth couldn't forcibly break open.

Made with special metal alloys and materials, the door was practically impenetrable. Unless you had the key to the place, you practically stood no chance at breaking in.

This also explained why the security here was lax.

They were just that confident in the fact that no one could enter the place.

...fortunately, this made things a lot easier for me.

With barely any demon present, I could comfortably open the treasury without any obstructions.

Plus, if a demon really did come here, glancing at Silug who was standing upright next to Kevin, I knew that I could count on him.

Thus, turning around and glancing at the door in the distance, I confidently said

"Leave the matter of breaking into the treasury to me"

Weirdly looking at me, Kevin asked.

"Was the reason you were missing because of the door?"

Nodding my head, I didn't deny what Kevin said.

"Yup"

Although it was only part of the reason as to why I went to Marquess Azerorth's living space, I did in fact go there with the intention of getting the key to the treasury.

After all, aside from the Xurin fruit, there were a lot of other things that I wanted.

...like the flute of Artemis, and a couple of other things that would drastically boost my strength.

"Alright, it's about time we entered the treasury"

Taking out the cube-like object that I had gotten from Marquess Azeroth's living space, I calmly walked towards the large golden door and placed the cube in the small slot in the middle of the door.

-Crriiii!

Shortly after inserting the cube inside of the slot, the door suddenly glowed in a golden light and the metallic sound of the door opening rang across the space.

Glancing at Silug to make sure he was guarding the entrance, a smile appeared on my face as the contents that were on the other side of the door was revealed.

"....finally, it was time that I reaped the rewards of my trip"

Chapter 184: The one [2]

-Fwaaaa!

As the door opened revealing what lay behind it, I knew that all of the struggles that I had gone through this past month were finally going to pay off.

...in a very lucrative way at that.

-Clank!

Once the doors fully opened up revealing what was behind the large door, my footsteps halted for a second as my mouth opened up slightly.

"This is more than I expected..."

A vermilion rug ran down from the door all the way to the end of the room. Banners with golden embroideries swung gently from the side of the walls that were coated in a golden luster. Between each banner stood a large candlestick, almost all of them lit and in turn illuminating the room below them.

Around the room were rows upon rows of glass-protected cabinets with all sorts of weapons and artifacts hidden behind them.

Artifacts, natural treasures, weapons, and many other miscellaneous items were all stored inside of the cabinets.

"Oh wow.."

Entering the room and taking a look at the place, Kevin exclaimed in disbelief.

"This is a lot more than I expected"

The number of treasures present was beyond what Kevin had ever expected.

Although he expected there to be something, he did not expect there to be so many items here. All of the stuff here could probably fetch him a hefty sum of money.

...just the weapons alone were enough for anyone to drool over.

"Let's go, Silug you wait outside"

Entering the treasury, the first thing I did was tell Silug to wait outside.

There were a couple of reasons as to why I kept him outside, one to guard the entrance in case demons found out we broke in, and two because there was a chance that something that detected the presence of orcs was installed in this place.

Just like the living quarters of Marquess Azeroth.

...I couldn't afford to take any chances therefore I just asked him to stay outside.

Glancing at me who was similarly looking at the treasury with shining eyes, Kevin asked.

"How are we going to take the stuff, should we just break all of the cabinets?"

Hearing Kevin's suggestion, I shook my head in disappointment.

"If only that was possible..."

The cabinets before us were made of special materials that were extremely durable.

So, even if we forcefully tried to break them open, it would probably take a long time to open each and every single cabinet present.

I honestly wanted to take everything with me, but given the time left we had, I could only select a few of them to take.

Unaware of my thoughts, Kevin asked.

"So if we can't break them, what are we going to do?"

Glancing at Kevin, I reassured him.

"Don't worry, I've already thought it through, although we can't take everything, I pretty much know which stuff is the most useful for us"

In the novel, Kevin pretty much took every single item in the treasury, so I already knew what items there were and which ones were the most valuable.

Therefore, without hesitation, I instantly made my way towards one of the cabinets closest to us.

"Alright, this should be the first one"

Following me, halting his steps as he suddenly thought of something, Kevin suggested

"Wait, what if we put everything in our dimensional space and bring them back to earth?"

Hearing Kevin's suggestion, I shook my head.

"I don't think we can do that"

"Why?"

Brushing my hair to the side, I pointed towards the bottom part of the cabinets.

"Look, the cabinets are attached to the ground. We could've probably done that if we had more time, but we don't so we can only break a select few cabinets"

"Ah, fair enough"

Staring at the cabinets, Kevin indeed noticed that they were directly attached to the ground making it impossible to just put them in the dimensional space.

Even if they did cut the bottom part, it would take way longer than just breaking the windows, therefore, Kevin knew that he could only give up on the idea of bringing everything.

Though disappointing, Kevin knew that he was partly responsible for this as he took too much time counting the castle.

Pointing and moving before one of the cabinets in the distance, I urged Kevin to follow me.

"Yeah, let's not waste any more time, and let's start our thieving spree!"

Speechless by my comments, Kevin wanted to refute but realizing what I said wasn't wrong, he could only silently follow my lead.

"...Alright"

Arriving before a certain cabinet and standing next to me, Kevin curiously asked.

"This one?"

Nodding my head, I placed my hand on the glass of the cabinet as I moved my face closer to get a closer look at what was behind.

"Yeah, this is the first cabinet we should be opening"

Glancing at the cabinet before him that had many different things on display ranging from fruits, herbs, and many other things that seemed to be naturally made, Kevin curiously asked

"Are those natural treasures?"

Nodding my head, I affirmed.

"Yup, natural treasures"

Hearing my response, Kevin's brows knit together. Glancing at me he asked.

"Natural treasure? But will they work on us?"

Since this world was a plant inhibited by orcs, most of the natural treasures before us could only be consumed by the orcs thus making them useless to us.

Kevin's question was appropriate, however, just because most of them were items that were only useful for orcs, that didn't mean that there were only items that only orcs could consume.

In fact, some herbs could in fact be ingested by humans.

...and I knew this because right in the corner of a cabinet were three stalks of grass that had a tint of blue.

'Sky grass'

A natural treasure that could also be found on earth and that both Kevin and I could consume.

Upon consumption, it would in turn allow for the both of us to rank up.

Kevin to <D> rank, and me to possibly <E+> rank.

The reason why I directly jumped to <E+> rank when I was only <E-> rank was because I was already close to reaching <E> rank.

With four months passing since my last rank increase, I knew that it was only a matter of time before I reached <E> rank, therefore, with the aid of the sky grass, reaching <E+> wasn't impossible.

...and so, staring at Kevin, I pointed towards the grass at the corner of the cabinet.

"Hmm, most of them won't work on us as only orcs can use them, but if you look closely over there you can see the stalks of sky grass"

Spotting the sky grass in the corner of the cabinet, Kevin's eyes lit up.

"Oh, I see them, what grade are they?"

"Enough to help us rank up once, so I think they are fairly good, plus those two treasures are not my main goal, but it's the other stuff"

"I see..."

Nodding his head and turning his attention away from the sky grass, Kevin glanced at the other natural treasures. Turning his head around and looking at me, he curiously asked.

"What about the rest, is it for Silug"

Nodding my head, I didn't deny it.

"Yeah, I did promise him that I'll help him get stronger. This was the condition for helping us"

"That makes sense"

Silug was indeed very helpful.

Without his help entering the castle would've been a lot harder than originally planned, plus with him, an element of safety was added to their trip so it was only appropriate that he got rewarded for it.

Turning his attention back towards the cabinet, Kevin asked.

"So how are we supposed to break this open?"

Pointing towards the sheath of his sword, I casually said.

"Just use your sword"

"Just that?"

Shrugging my shoulders, I nodded my head.

"Yeah, although the glass is durable, your strength should be enough to cut it. Although it may take some time, it should work"

Taken aback, Kevin had a weird look on his face as he unsheathed his sword and channeled his mana into it.

As the red hue around his sword was becoming stronger, turning his attention back to me, he asked.

"Alright, whilst I do that, what will you do?"

Glancing around the room, my eyes soon paused on a couple of cabinets as I responded.

"I'll open the other stuff"

Looking in the direction that I was looking at, Kevin nodded his head.

"Okay, you do your thing, I'll call you when I'm done"

"Yup, that would be ideal. Once you're done with the cabinet you're on just take whatever you want"

"mhm, will do"

"Aight, good luck"

Separating from Kevin and arriving before another cabinet, my attention was instantly drawn towards a pale green flute that sat in the middle of the cabinet.

A white hue shrouded the flute making it look really impressive.

"I've finally found you..."

The flute of Artemis, a <S> ranked artifact.

...and the item that would propel Ava to a whole new level.

The item was probably something that Marquess Azeroth took back when he was not on this planet. Perhaps from the dwarves, elves, or even humans.

I wasn't too sure.

...but considering his status as a Marquess ranked demon, it wouldn't be strange if he had been to all of these places.

Although the flute was a <S> ranked artifact, it could only be used by beast tamers and thus was not very coveted hence why it was stuck in this place to collect dust.

Moreover, looking at the cracks on the side of the flute, I knew that it was currently damaged and hence why it only had the aura of a <D> ranked artifact.

...but that was fine.

I knew of a way to fix it, and the fact that it was damaged was also not a bad thing.

With the rank of the item being low, Ava could safely use it without being too overwhelmed by it as high-ranked artifacts were not something long ranking people could use.

The season was simple.

The mana needed to activate a <S> ranked artifact was not something a <F> ranked as Ava could use, so this was perfect for her.

"Alright, enough time-wasting"

Without wasting time, shrouding my sword with mana, I quickly tried to break the cabinet open.

...and oh boy it was tedious.

For the next twenty minutes or so, tracing my sword around the glass of the cabinet, I patiently channeled my mana through my sword as I tried to break it open.

-Crack!

It was a long and laborious task but finally, after hearing a slight cracking sound coming from the glass, I knew that I was almost there.

-Crash!

Not long after the first crack appeared, came the second one and then the third one. Finally, after a couple of minutes, the whole glass shattered as a loud sound resounded across the place.

Without hesitation, as soon as the glass shattered I quickly grabbed the flute.

"Finally!"

Grabbing the flute and staring at it, I knew that I had finally accomplished one of my main goals in coming here.

"Is there anything else?"

Checking the cabinet, I soon found a couple of other things which I took without hesitation.

Although I wasn't too sure of what they did, I still took them with me and put them in my dimensional space.

'...I'll check them later'

After I made sure that there was nothing else left, clapping my hands together I softly mumbled.

"Alright, now that I have the flute it's time I go get what I came here for..."

Turning around, my eyes soon paused towards a certain cabinet in the distance where a certain black book was being displayed.

Without hesitation, I instantly arrived before the cabinet and repeated the same glass-breaking process.

-Crash!

In a similar fashion to before, twenty minutes after I started breaking the glass, the sound of glass shattering rang across the place.

Ignoring it, I quickly grabbed the black book from behind the glass.

"Yes..."

Staring at the book in my hand, my heart beat intensely as I flipped it around and read the skill description through my status window.

[[D] The one]

A skill that enables the user to instill fear into the opponents' minds resulting in them feeling like they were standing before a sovereign that overlooked everything. The skill may work on individuals who are one rank higher than them, however, if the difference between the two parties is greater than two ranks, the skill effect diminishes.

"This is the skill..."

Reading the skill description before my eyes, a large smile appeared on my face.

Although it may not look like it, this skill was extremely strong. Even though it was only <D> ranked, the effects of the skill were something that made anyone want to drool over them.

By instilling fear into the opponents, you were essentially gaining the upper hand in both battle and negotiations.

Like I've said before, battles were 90% mentality and 10% skill. If I could have the upper hand mentally, the chances of me winning were far higher.

Moreover, this skill added with my other skill, monarch's indifference...

Smiling to myself, I couldn't help but mutter.

"Oh, the possibilities..."

Just the thought of using those two skills together sent chills down my body.

...they perfectly complemented each other.

One skill that erases all emotions, and another that instilled fear into the opponent.

The possibilities were endless.

-Shua!

Without a second thought, placing my hand on the book, I softly muttered.

"Sorry, Jin, but I'll be taking this from you..."

...yeah, the skill should've originally belonged to Jin, however, given that the plotline had pretty much derailed from the original and that I was now practically destroying it with me starting a war and being in Immorra, I honestly didn't care anymore.

Although me taking the skill would cause Jin's future self to be weaker, given his current mindset and change, perhaps he might actually be stronger.

Who knows.

Either way, the future that I knew was no longer there.

...it was about time I started becoming a bit greedier for the sake of myself.

After all, I've pretty much have come to terms with the fact that I now was just as part of this world as everybody else.

There was no use denying it.

I was now also responsible for defeating the demon king just as much as Kevin was.

Therefore, I knew that I had to be greedier.

With the plotline no longer being the same as before, it was also about time I started taking things into my own hands.

-Fwuap!

Shortly after placing my hand on the book, the book mysteriously glowed as it soon disappeared from my hand as black particles flew in the air.

Opening my eyes slightly, a satisfied smile appeared on my lips.

....I had finally learned a new skill.

Chapter 185: Return [1]

Opening my eyes slightly, two dull-grey eyes replaced my usual clear blue eyes.

"Are we done?"

Snapping me out of my thoughts was Kevin's voice in the distance. Turning my attention back to him, my eyes soon returned to their usual blue color.

Smiling, I nodded my head.

"Yeah, I guess it's about time we return to earth"

-Plamf

"Oooof, this was one long month huh?"

Understanding that we were about to go back to earth, a faint smile appeared on Kevin's lips as he slumped on the ground.

Recalling what had happened this past month, Kevin felt tired.

From infiltrating the orc capital to starting a war to infiltrating the most secured location in Setin...

A lot happened this past month.

Nodding my head, I scratched my nose as I agreed.

"Yeah, a very stressful one, but it's not like it wasn't without any gains"

Staring at the items in his hands, Kevin nodded his head.

"I guess so"

This trip, which was supposed to be something he had agreed to repay Ren for the five-star sword manual, turned out to be much more fruitful than he had ever imagined.

From the sky grass to a couple of other things he picked up from the treasury, it was a truly fruitful trip.

Staring at Kevin slumped on the floor, recalling something, I smacked my hand with my fist

"Ah right, I've got to go somewhere again"

Opening his mouth slightly, Kevin looked at me weirdly as he rolled his eyes.

"Again?"

How many times was it now?

Was this the third or the fourth time now?

Ren just simply loved to disappear whenever he wanted.

Kevin was not amused.

Unaware of Kevin's thoughts, I seriously nodded my head

"Yeah, it won't take long, by the time you set up the portal I should already be back"

Waving his hand, Kevin yawned as he lazily said

"Alright, be quick"

Smiling, turning my attention back to Silug as I left the treasury, I urged for him to follow me.

"Follow me Silug"

Nodding his head, Silug did as I instructed

"Yes"

Halting my footsteps and glancing at Kevin once again, I pointed towards Silug next to me as I raised my voice slightly.

"Kevin, say goodbye to Silug, you won't be seeing him for a while"

Turning his head in my direction, Kevin's right brow raised.

"Hm? He's not coming back to earth with us?"

Shaking my head I responded.

"Unfortunately not, I've got other plans for him"

Frowning for a couple of seconds, Kevin nodded his head and waved in Silug's direction.

"Alright, see you Silug"

For the past few days, Kevin spent quite a bit of time with Silug.

...although Silug didn't speak much, Kevin had actually gotten along with him quite well these past few days.

This was mostly due to the fact that Ren just kept disappearing leaving the two together for prolonged periods of time.

They were bound to get along.

Thus why Kevin felt that it was a bit of a pity saying goodbye to him now, but he also understood that he might end up meeting him again in the future.

As long as he was with Ren, he was bound to meet Silug again.

"Goodbye human"

Nodding his head, Silug's deep voice echoed across the treasury.

"Alright, it's time to go"

Finished with the goodbyes, turning around, Silug and I directly left the treasury.

I still had plans for him.

...

After separating from Kevin, Silug and I quickly returned to the prison area.

-Bam!

-Crash!

As Silug and I moved closer to the prison area, we could hear the faint sound of fighting inside.

From time to time the muffled sound of fighting that came from outside the castle could also be heard, but those sounds were primarily drowned by the sounds coming from the prison.

...still, although it was loud, it seemed as though the fight was coming to a conclusion as the sound was becoming fainter and fainter by the minute.

Stopping not so far from the entrance of the prison, I looked towards the entrance of the prison that was currently guarded by two demons. Behind them, the door that led to the prison was still open therefore I was able to see everything that was going on inside.

-Clank!

-Clang!

"Huaaaa-!"

Staring at the fight happening inside of the prison area, it looked as though the orcs seemed to be on the verge of losing as the demons around them were working together to bind them with special-looking ropes that seemed to be able to negate aura circulation.

No matter how much the orcs tried to fight back, it seemed as though they were going to lose very soon.

As I saw what was happening inside, a smile emerged on my lips.

"Perfect, I'm still not too late"

Turning around the looking towards the ceiling of the hall I was in, I placed my hand on my chin as I nodded my head and softly muttered.

"I guess it's about time I presented the gift"

Glancing at my watch, looking towards the guards fighting against the orcs at the entrance of the prison, I subsequently tapped on the screen.

-Booooom!

A massive explosion followed my tap on the watch and the castle shook.

"What's going on?"

"What happened!"

"Huaaaa-!"

Taking advantage of the distraction that the explosion created, the two orcs that were on the verge of losing instantly become more fierce as they tried to break through their encirclement.

"Damn it!"

"What the hell is happening!"

"Huaaaa-!"

-Clank!

-Spurt!

Looking towards the ceiling where the explosion came from, I couldn't help but mutter.

"Oh wow, that was one big of an explosion"

When moving to the fourth floor with Angelica, I had placed all sorts of explosives around the castle.

There was a specific reason as to why I did so and currently, the explosion that happened should be coming from the fourth floor, Marquess Azeroth's office.

One of the places I had placed a bomb in.

...honestly, the explosion was much louder than I had expected, but this was exactly what I was aiming for.

Taking advantage of the chaos and the fact that the demon's attention was back to the orcs who were rampaging even more fiercely, once again entering the prison, Silug and I directly moved deeper into the prison.

-Clank!

Stopping before one of the cells in the depth of the prison area, breaking the chains and killing the demon that was residing in it whilst simultaneously disposing of its corpse, I looked at Silug and pointed towards the cell.

"Here, you stay in here"

Confused, Silug asked.

"Here?"

Nodding my head, I took out a brow backpack from my dimensional space and threw it at Silug.

"Yeah, take this"

Taking the bag, Silug became even more confused.

"What are these?"

"Didn't I promise you that I'll help you get revenge?"

Opening the bag, Silug nodded his head.

"Yes"

Smiling as I looked at the bag in Silug's hands, I softly said.

"That's the key to your revenge"

"I see..."

As he looked through the bag, Silug fell into a daze for a split second as he instantly understood my intentions.

The bag he was holding was currently filled to the brim with natural treasures.

...all of whom were extremely rare and things that he had only seen his commanders consume back when Immorra was not under the demon's control.

Each and every one of the treasures could cause massive conflicts within the orcs nowadays.

...and they were all items that Kevin and I took from the treasury below.

They were all items that should've originally belonged to the orcs, but as the demons invaded Immorra they were taken away, and as Marquess Azeroth could not consume them, they were left on display in the treasury as a possible incentive for the orcs that were on their side.

They were priceless.

...and Silug knew this.

Seeing Silug's reaction, I smiled and continued.

"These items should be enough to help you break through to S rank in a couple of years. This should put you on the same level as the orc chief and Marquess Azeroth"

Pausing for a second and looking in the direction of where the war was happening, I softly muttered.

"...by the time you achieve S rank the war outside should be coming to an end"

The war was going to be a long one.

Wars always tended to be extremely long and this one was not an exception. With both sides currently being in a deadlock, I estimated that the war would end in a couple of years.

Just around the time Silug should be reaching <S> rank.

This was what I was aiming for.

Turning my attention back to Silug, I pointed at him and seriously said.

"...and that is when your time will come"

"Once the war reaches its ending, I want you to go out and kill both Marquess Azeroth and the orc chief. With the war going on for several years they will both be exhausted and injured, when you come out as a newly emerged <S> rank no one will be able to fight against you."

Pausing for a second and deeply staring at Silug, I clenched my fist and slowly said.

"Kill them both and become the new orc chief"

Yes.

This was the plan that I had envisioned as soon as I saw the opportunity present itself.

Make Silug become the new orc chief.

...with him becoming the new orc chief and expanding his territory, that was the same as me expanding my forces.

With Silug working under me, in the near future, I would have my very own orc legion that I could use in my fight with the demon king...

Just the thought of it made me involuntarily smile.

Now, this was what you called an important piece.

Staring at me and nodding solemnly, Silug asked.

"What about the two other demons residing in the other two cities, won't they interfere"

Turning my attention back to Silug, I reassured.

"Don't worry about the other Marquess ranked demons, they will most likely not be there."

With demons not being united this wasn't surprising.

As Marquess Azeroth was fighting the orc chief, the two other Marquess-ranked demons were most probably just enjoying the show.

Although they wouldn't let Azeroth die, they still wanted to weaken him so that they could take his treasures and possessions.

...that's just how demons were.

Greedy, and opportunistic.

Therefore, taking advantage of their greediness, Silug could easily sweep in and kill both Marquess Azeroth and the orc chief before the two other Marquess-ranked demons could have enough time to figure out the situation.

"I understand"

Urging Silug to enter the prison and binding him with the chains which no longer worked, I continued explaining my plans.

"After you kill them both, take over Setin and grow your forces. With the terrain around here, you can easily regrow the crops from before and from there you should easily be able to rejuvenate the orc forces of the past"

Frowning, Silug asked.

"Will the Marquess ranked demons move after I take over Setin?"

Shaking my head, I confidently said.

"They won't move"

Given Silug's strength and the fact that they were very far from Setin unless they waged an all-out war, they wouldn't be able to defeat Silug without risking their own life.

Given the demon's selfish and preservative nature, there was a low chance of them trying to fight Silug.

At most, they would try to annoy him from time to time, but unless they were confident in their strength, they wouldn't move.

Glancing at Silug to make sure he understood my plan, I asked.

"Do you understand my plan?"

Nodding his head, Silug said.

"Yes"

"Good"

Smiling at the fact that Silug understood, I closed my eyes slightly as I softly muttered.

'...I hope this somewhat makes up for what I've done'

Although what I did was messed up as I started a war that will lead to a lot of demons and orcs dying, I was also giving the orcs a new chance.

Near the end of the novel, Immorra would disappear as the demon king directly swallows the whole planet in order to increase his strength even more.

The orcs here only had one end.

Death.

...and so, by allowing Silug to take over, they were essentially going to be an asset that I would use to fight against the very thing that would cause their death.

Therefore, I'd like to think that this war was for the sake of their future.

I knew that this was bullshit, but it was in a way helping me cope with the fact that I was changing.

Had I have done this before back when I had just come into this world, I would've never imagined myself starting a war just for the sake of getting a few items.

...but the more I stayed in this world the more I realized that I needed to change.

I could no longer be as soft as I was before.

If I wanted to stay in this world, I needed to become like the others. I needed to make decisions that I would've never done before.

Still, although I said that, I made sure to set up a line that I wouldn't dare cross.

...as crossing that line would make me no different from the villains and the hypocritical heroes of this world.

Hopefully, that situation will never happen...

Recalling something and taking out a white scroll from my dimensional space, I unscrolled the scroll and pointed towards the bottom of it.

"Oh, before I forget, I'll give you this, and here is where you need to sign"

Looking at the scroll, Silug tilted his head in confusion.

"What is this?"

Smiling, I casually said.

"A demon contract"

Taken aback, Silug's voice deepened.

"A demon contract?

Nodding my head, I explained.

"Yeah, back on earth I have a demon colleague and she gave it to me. I'm sorry but If you don't want to get caught, you have to sign this"

Hopefully, he doesn't think too much into it.

Although it wasn't the best excuse, I could only think of this excuse at the moment. Fortunately, it wasn't that weird for demons to ally themselves with others so, it wasn't that unbelievable.

"Okay"

"Before you decide to sign it, only sign it after I'm gone. I don't know what time measurement you use here, so sign it after you hear another explosion in the distance"

Pausing slightly and staring deeply at Silug, I repeated.

"By the way, I can't stress enough about the fact that you need to sign the contract. If you don't sign it, your revenge will never happen"

With every orc and demon present inside the prison having signed a contract, if Silug was the only one that didn't have it, he would without a doubt get exposed. Therefore, after convincing Angelica to hand me the contract, I immediately presented it to Silug.

The reason why I told him to sign it later was because I didn't want Silug to know that Angelica was with me on this planet as once he signed the contract he would get a general idea of where she was.

Him thinking that Angelica was not here was a must, I couldn't let him link everything that had happened to him to me.

That aside, convincing Angelica wasn't actually that hard since this deal was quite advantageous for her.

Once Silug broke through to <S> rank, with her soul being linked to his, she too would get a massive boost in power.

Although the downside was that she would die if Silug died too, she also know that this was the best chance she could get to breaking even higher up.

Therefore, after I explained to her my plan, she immediately agreed.

Thus, looking at Silug who was remaining quiet, I asked

"Have you understood?"

Staring at me, after a short pause, Silug said

"Understood"

Smiling, I turned around and prepared myself to return back to earth. Turning around and glancing at Silug one last time, I said.

"Good, I will see you again in a couple of years, hopefully when I see you again you'll show me something surprising"

Bounded by the chains with the bag filled with treasures hidden in the corner of the prison, Silug's deep voice rang across the prison cell.

"...If this really does help me achieve revenge, I will swear loyalty towards you"

Smiling at Silug, I happily said.

"Then I wish you success..."

I didn't take his words to heart.

Although orcs were creatures that were true to their words, I wasn't someone that would just believe in someone's words.

I needed reassurances.

...hence why I made him sign a pact with Angelica.

With Angelica under my control, no matter what he did, he would still be within my control.

Although this would only last for five years as Angelica was only under me for that period of time, I wasn't worried.

I had already made preparations for it.

....everything should still be within my control.

Chapter 186: Return [2]

"You sorted everything out?"

"Yeah"

Returning back to the treasury, I stared at the portal that stood before Kevin. Just like the first time I saw it, the black portal in front of Kevin emitted fine adulations of magic resulting in a whirlpool of different colors circling around the portal.

"Hurry, up the portal is ready, lets go back to earth"

"Alright, I'm coming"

Having achieved my goal in coming here, and having sorted Silug's situation, I knew that it was about time we returned back to earth.

Glancing at the walls of the castle, I could hear the faint sounds of fighting coming from both the insides and the outsides of the castle. The insides coming from the orcs in the prison, and the outside coming from the war that was happening in Immorra.

Although I would've loved to watch the war that was happening, I knew that it wasn't the time.

The war was merely a means to achieve my goals.

Perhaps once I returned to Immorra in the future to see how Silug was doing, I could see another war with the two other Marquess ranked demons, but that was for another time.

Staring at me who was slowly walking towards the portal, Kevin impatiently said.

"You going?"

Keeping the portal open actually took quite a toll on his body. The more Ren delayed, the bigger the toll his body faced.

He was understandably getting anooyed.

"Yup, coming, hold on a sec"

…and as I also understood this, I hurried up my footsteps and prepared myself to enter the portal.

"Ah wait..."

However, right before stepping into the portal, recalling something and glancing at my watch, I quickly tapped on it.

-Booom! -Booom! -Booom!

Shortly after, explosions rang all over the castle as the whole structure shook.

Startled, Kevin looked at me in shock as he exclaimed.

"Ren, what are you doing!?"

Glancing at Kevin, I said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Hm? I'm just hiding our traces"

Like I said before, I didn't want anyone to find out that we've infiltrated the building through the back entrance, therefore, I installed explosives everywhere.

This way once they investigated, chances of them finding Silug were ever lower.

Although once he signed a contract the chances of him getting discovered were already low, with this, his chances of being discovered were going to be even lower allowing him to gain strength without too much trouble.

I admit, that my plan was not the most perfect one as there were a couple of more loopholes in my plan that could expose Silug, however, given that the demons were currently in the middle of a war, he shouldn't be able to get exposed for now.

Which was good enough for me, and so I could more or less now be satisfied with the outcome.

Opening his mouth, Kevin wanted to say a lot of things, but given that this was a building that housed demons, he shut his mouth.

...why should he care if the demons suffered?

In fact, he wanted nothing more for them to burn in hell.

"...I see, anyhow hurry up I can't hold on for too long"

"Aye, aye"

Taking one last look at the treasury before me, shaking my head I stepped into the portal

It was really a pity that I couldn't loot everything.

-Fwa!

As I stepped into the portal, just like before, the world around me turned dark and I lost all of my senses.

It was about time I returned back to earth.

...

-Fwa!

-Pamf

"Gah, fuck!"

Passing through the portal, the first thing I felt when I felt my senses return was something heavy landing on my back.

Turning around I found Kevin's body slumped on top of me.

"Can you get off?"

Opening his eyes slightly and seeing the position he was in, Kevin scratched the back of his head and embarrassingly said.

"Sorry, opening the portal took a lot of energy"

Trying to stand up, I instantly felt my back go numb as I glared at Kevin.

Usually, he wouldn't have passed out like this, but given the fact that he used most of his energy keeping the portal open, Kevin found himself passing out for a bit.

"Ghhaa, my god, are you some kind of whale?"

"Sorry"

Holding onto my back, my face scrunched up from the pain as I sat up straight. Just when I was about to scratch my cheek, I suddenly found my hand smacking me on my cheek.

-Smack!

"The hell!"

Cursing out loud, I suddenly remembered that the gravity here was three times lighter than that of Immora's resulting in me suddenly slapping my face because my every movement was now lighter.

"pfftt..."

As I was caressing my cheek due to the pain, I suddenly heard the faint sound of laughter coming from my left hand side. Turning around I soon spotted Kevin covering his mouth as his cheeks puffed up.

Gritting my teeth, I glared at Kevin.

"You think this is funny?"

Shaking his head, Kevin tried to refuse, but the trembling of his body immediately sold him out.

"Pffftt...No"

"Ah, I see. I'll remember this"

Finally, after hearing my statement, Kevin couldn't hold it anymore and burst out laughing as he held onto his stomach

"Pfttt, hahahahah...I can't believe you slapped your own face, you should've seen the look on your face"

Smiling, but not smiling at the same time, I nodded my head as I imprinted Kevin's laughing image inside of my mind.

"Okay, okay, keep laughing. Just keep in mind that I will remember this moment"

...Oh, Kevin, Kevin, Kevin.

Had you known you messed with your own creator you wouldn't be laughing would yah?

Very well, I will definitely remember this moment.

*Sigh*

Carefully standing up, I slowly made my way towards my sofa and slumped on it. Sighing out loud I softly mumbled.

"Ah...talk about a great return"

The first thing that happened when I returned to earth was having Kevin fall on top of my back and me slapping myself.

...just great.

"huh?"

As I was slumped on the sofa, frowning, I suddenly noticed something weird happening inside of my body.

Closing my eyes to understand what it was, my eyes soon lit up.

"Kevin, quick, give me the sky grass"

Wiping a tear from the corner of his eyes, suddenly sensing something and noticing the solemness in my voice, Kevin sobered up and asked.

"Huh? The sky grass?"

Nodding my, I extended my hand and urgently said.

"Yup, I'm about to rank up"

"Oh, here"

Hearing that I was about to rank up, without hesitation, taking out a stalk of sky grass from his dimensional space, Kevin quickly handed it to me.

"Thanks!"

Without hesitation, I took the sky grass from his hands and placed it in my mouth not caring for the least about how I looked.

I could feel it.

...I was on the verge of breaking through to <E> rank.

Honestly, I had expected this to happen in another month, but given that I had spent a month in Immorra where the gravity was three times that of earth, every moment I spent there was like training.

It came as to no surprise as to why I was now on the verge of breaking through as soon as I came to earth.

Staring at me who was about to rank up, Kevin asked.

"Should I go?"

Supressing my rank, I looked at Kevin and nodded my head.

"Yeah"

I needed to be fully focused when I was ranking as any distraction could prove to be extremely detrimental.

With Kevin understanding this, he naturally proposed to leave so that I wouldn't get distracted.

Naturally, I didn't refuse his intentions.

Staring at me solemnly, Kevin nodded his head and proceeded to make his way out of the room.

"Alright, I'll see you at the academy"

"Yeah, see you"

Once again waving goodbye to me, Kevin directly left my room leaving me alone.

-Clank!

-Shua!

As soon as Kevin left, a white hue shrouded my body as veins bulged out of my body.

"Khh...this is more painful than I expected"

Chewing on the Sky grass, I slowly felt my body burn up due to how potent the effects of the grass were.

Honestly, using the Sky grass was a bit of a waste as it could help still work on higher ranks, but I needed to get stronger faster, moreover, there were many other opportunities out there for me to find a similar herb like the sky grass, therefore, persevering through the pain, I kept on chewing on the grass that was in my mouth.

"Haa...haa...haaa"

Panting heavily, I kept on chewing as the pain on my body intensified with every chew of the grass. Multiple times I wanted to stop chewing, but gritting my teeth and enduring the pain I kept on chewing.

Saliva slowly dripped down from my mouth.

-Fwua!

Finally, after an unknown period of time, the white hue around my body shrouded the whole room as I suddenly felt my body become a lot stronger and sturdier.

Just like my previous experiences, all of my senses sharpened as everything around me become more clear.

Staring at my muscles for a couple of seconds, I opened my status window and checked out my stats.

===Status===

Name : Ren Dover

Rank : E +

Strength : E +

Agility : E -

Stamina : E +

Intelligence : E +

Mana capacity : E

Luck : D

Charm : F

--> Profession :

[Swordsmanship lvl. 3]

The degree of understanding of the sword has evolved to the next level. User will find it easier to understand concepts that were previously harder to understand.

--> Martial Manual :

[★★★★★ Keiki style] - Greater realm of mastery

Sword art created by Grandmaster Toshimoto Keiki. A five-star module that focused primarily on reaching the apex of swordsmanship and speed. Upon mastery, the sword art becomes so fast that before an opponent could even think about their next move, their heads would already be rolling on the ground.

[★★★ Ring of vindication] - Minor realm of mastery

Highly advanced sword art that creates a perfect ring of defense around the user. Upon mastery, the ring can create a three-dimensional sphere that protects the user from all sides. Because of the lack of offensive capabilities, the manual was graded three-stars.

[★★★ Drifting steps] - Greater realm of mastery

Movement art that progresses with each step. With every step taken, user speed will increase. Unless user stops, speed will continuously increase until the user either runs out of mana or due to injury.

--> Skills :

[[G] Monarch's indifference]

A skill that enables users to erase all emotions, and act as a supreme monarch that only calculates the best option regardless of circumstance.

[[D] The one]

A skill that enables the user to instill fear into the opponents' minds resulting in them feeling like they were standing before a sovereign that overlooked everything. The skill may work on individuals who are one rank higher than them, however, if the difference between the two parties is greater than two ranks, the skill effect diminishes.

"Yes, I ranked up twice!"

Staring at my status screen a large smile appeared on my face as I noticed my rank go from <E-> rank all the way to <E+> rank.

A two rank increase.

This was a phenomenal boost in my strength as I was now caught up with Jin.

...Aside from Kevin, I was pretty much the strongest first year in the academy alongside Jin.

In fact, since I knew Jin like the back of my hand, I was probably stronger than him.

"huh...my charm"

As I was rejoicing about my rank increase, staring at my charm I suddenly noticed that it also ranked up.

Not once but twice.

With my mouth trembling, I suddenly found small tear trace down from my cheek all the way down to my chin as I closed my eyes and secretly thanked the gods.

'Thou shall reward the diligent'

After months of constant cuckblocks, I was finally rewarded for my diligence.

My one cursed stat finally improved!

I honestly wasn't sure whether to be happier about my rank increase or my charm increase.

...what a tough decision.

That aside...

[Monday, 16:37]

Glancing at my watch and staring at the time and date, I knew that the day was not over.

Squinting my eyes as my demenour became incomparably serious, interlocking my fingers together, I softly mumbled.

"...it is about time I resolved something that has been plaguing me since coming here"

It was about time I dealt with Matthew and cured my parents.

Chapter 187: When everything comes crashing down [1]

"Whaaa! Pwudding!"

Sitting on the red sofa in my parent's house, I watched as Nola happily played with 'Pudding' a.k.a Angelica in the living room. A peaceful and relaxed smile appeared on my face.

For the past month, I had to be on constant alert as I was in a completely new planet where dangers lied everywhere.

From infiltrating Gud Khodror to infiltrating Setin and assassinating the young chief. Not a moment that I spent in Immorra did I relax or let my guard down.

Honestly, this relaxing atmosphere where I didn't have to worry about someone attacking me or had to be on constant alert was a nice change of pace.

I really needed this...

"Calm down Nola, you're going to scare the cat if you do that"

Sitting next to me, my mother, placed her hand on her cheek as a troubled look appeared on her face. Staring at me who was peacefully lying down on the sofa, she tapped my shoulder and worriedly said.

"Ren do something about this, I don't want Nola to get hurt"

Glancing at my mom, I reassured her.

"Nah it's fine, Pudding is a very docile cat"

"Is that so?"

Waving it off, I further reassured her that everything was fine.

"Yeah, she's a very gentle one. She won't hurt a fly"

"Well, if you say so"

Trusting my words, my mother finally calmed down.

Honestly, when my parents saw Angelica for the first time they were surprised. The reaction I got from my mom rendered me speechless.

She immediately hugged me and apologized to me by saying things like;

'For you to go all the way and buy a cat, you must've been lonely'

'Come here mama will comfort you'

'I'm sorry for not being with you all the times'

Yeah...

My speechless reaction was understandable.

This would've never have happened if Angelica remained as a ring, but tired of being a ring, Angelica transformed into her usual cat form.

I guess she disliked always being on my finger, but who was I to bash her for it. Had I been in her position I probably would've felt the same way.

Either way, her being in her cat form was ideal.

Especially since I needed for her to stay with my parents for a bit whilst I took care of the 'trash'

Someone had to protect them whilst I was gone after all.

Sitting on the floor of the living room, turning her head in my direction, Angelica spoke to me inside of my mind.

[Human, get this monkey away from me]

Hearing Angelica's voice inside of my head, I shook my head as an odd look appeared on my face.

'Stop pretending, I know that you've fallen for the charms of little Nola'

Staring at Nola happily petting Angelica with her small hands, I knew that Angelica had fallen for her charms.

If she disliked it so much she could've simply moved away, but she didn't as she just laid on the ground with Nola caressing her back constantly.

Moreover, whilst Nola was caressing her, Angelica's ears were perked upright indicating that she liked it.

Feigning ignorance, Angelica angrily said.

[What are you talking about human?]

Raising my brow and looking at Angelica, I shook my head disappointedly.

'mmmhmmm, then why are you letting her pet you?'

She may have been able to fool someone else, but not me. Since she had previously told me she disliked being treated like a cat, why would just be so docile in front of Nola?

...just because she was a child?

No, that was not it.

She had fallen!

Slightly flustered, Angelica turned her head sideways and said.

[B-beacuse she is a child]

Hearing her response, I smirked at her.

'Sure, what about all of the children outside that wanted to pet you?'

On the way here, there were many children Nola's age that wanted to caress her, but Angelica outright refused them as she just ignored them or moved away.

There was no way that excuse would work on me.

Pausing for a second and realizing that she couldn't refute as I was indeed right, Angelica glared at me.

[Shut up human]

Crossing my legs, I shook my head and clicked my tongue.

'Tsk, you tsundere'

[Tzundure? What is that?]

'Hm, who knows'

Feigning ignorance, I proceeded to look at my watch.

[Hey human, what does Tzundure mean? Answer me!]

Whatever she said, I just ignored it.

Better not let her know what it means or I'll get a massive headache.

Either way, after I managed to rank up, I immediately headed towards my parent's house to get rid of the curse.

The less time I wasted, the better.

Every single second that my parents had the curse was second more that they were in danger. Although it was a Monday and tomorrow was a school day, if I headed back in the morning, I should only miss the first lecture with Donna being the professor in charge.

Although I might get scolded a bit, with my current relationship with Donna, I would at most just be scolded.

After all, this was far more important.

Why would I care about being scolded?

Standing up and heading towards the kitchen area, I looked at my mom and asked.

"Mom, would you like some tea?"

Scrolling through her phone, hearing my call, and raising her head my mom covered her mouth as she asked.

"Oh, sweetie, you're going to make some tea?"

"Yeah"

Nodding my head, I stared at my father who was sitting at the living room table busy looking through some files.

He had glaring dark circles beneath his eyes which were evident signs of the fact that he was currently being overworked.

Secretly clenching my fists behind my back, I smiled and said.

"Yeah, I'll make one for dad that too"

Smiling brightly, my mother nodded her head.

"What a sweetheart, of course, I would love some tea"

"Then some tea you shall get"

"Oh dear, I truly have the most handsome and wonderful son"

"Indeed"

Hearing my mother's comments I couldn't agree more.

With my charm now having risen to F rank, if before I could topple countries, I could now topple continents.

What she said was very understandable and factual.

Kevin who?

Making my way towards the kitchen, Nola suddenly ran up to me as she exclaimed.

"Nola too! Nola wants tea!"

Staring at Nola I shook my head.

"Sorry Nola, but you can't"

Looking up to me as a hurt look appeared on her face, Nola clasped her hands together as she weakly said.

"Why can't Nola have tea?"

Looking at Nola's crystal eyes that seemed to burst at any moment, I felt a slight peng inside of my heart as I kneeled down on the floor and stood at eye level with her.

Wiping the tears that were about to fall from her cheeks, I explained.

"Nola you can't have the tea because it is very bitter, just like coffee, you don't like bitter right?"

Shaking her head, Nola said.

"Um! Coffee bleargh! No like bitter!"

"Good, how about this I'll give you a cup of hot cocoa instead, does that sound good?"

Hearing my proposition, Nola instantly brightened up as she repeatedly nodded her head.

"Um!"

"Great"

Seeing that Nola had calmed down, standing up I patted her in the head resulting in her letting out a small giggle.

"hehehe"

Smiling, I headed to the kitchen and proceeded to look around the kitchen for the tools needed to make the tea.

"If I don't remember wrong, the stuff should be here..."

Taking out the tea equipment, I quickly boiled the water in the kettle and took out the tea leaves from the top cupboard.

Waiting for the water to boil, sneakily taking two out of the four Xurin fruits in my possession, I took a deep breath.

"Huuu...hopefully, this works"

Although I knew that the fruits would without a doubt cure my parents of the curse, I was still quite nervous.

...there was this voice inside of my mind that kept asking what-ifs resulting in me becoming nervous.

However, this only lasted for a brief moment as I was able to quickly calm down.

There was no point in being nervous.

Being nervous was not going to solve anything.

It was an unnecessary emotion that only further added to my anxiety and prevented me from thinking rationally.

I needed to learn to always remain composed at all times.

Just like in this case, even if the cure doesn't work, panicking was not going to solve anything.

I needed to remain cool-headed at all times regardless of the situation...

"Bwig bruda! Look at pwudding!"

"Yes, Nola"

As I was making the tea, snapping me out of my thoughts was Nola's voice that came all the way from the living room.

"Look! Look! Look at pwudding!"

Staring at Nola from the Kitchen, my eyes drifted towards the direction she was pointing at and I soon spotted Angelica in her cat form wearing black sunglasses with a pink tiara on top of her head.

"pfftt.."

Caught off-guard, I almost laughed out loud as my body trembled uncontrollably.

Staring at Angelica's unamused face that seemed as though she wanted to bury herself in the ground I had to forcefully bite my tongue to try to prevent myself from laughing out loud.

It was only after a couple of minutes that I was somewhat able to calm myself down.

Weakly looking away from Angelica who was glaring daggers at me, I secretly did a thumbs up.

"She looks fantastic Nola"

Smiling widely, Nola clapped her little hands together.

"Yaah!"

[Human, do you want me to gauge your eyes out?]

'I'm good'

Shaking my head, I proceeded to make my way back to the kitchen as I tried to hold my laughter back.

In the end, even a borderline Viscount ranked demon fell for Nola's charms.

-Ding!

As I was still waiting for the water to boil, feeling my pocket vibrate, staring at the caller ID, I quickly picked up the call and answered in a low voice so that my parents wouldn't hear.

"Smallsnake, is everything ready?"

After a short pause, Smallsnake's voice echoed from the speaker of the phone.

[Yes, we are outside the establishment of the target]

Frowning slightly, I proceeded to nod my head.

"Have you got your eyes on the target? What is he doing?"

[The target is currently resting after having attended a banquet with his father. They are currently staying inside of Hotel Dellamorca in Avenue street XXX]

"Is his father with him?"

[No, he is currently staying in a separate room of the establishment]

Whilst playing with the Xurin fruit in my hand, I bit my lips for a couple of seconds before I nodded my head.

"Good, I'll be there shortly, report anything to me if you see the target escaping"

[Okay]

-Clack!

Hanging up the phone, my face became incomparably solemn. Staring at the tea before me that was turning murkier and murkier by the minute, I knew that once my parents ingested it and the curse was broken, Matthew would quickly be made aware of what had happened.

The reason he would notice it was because as soon as the curse was removed the demon Matthew was contracted with would suffer an intense backlash resulting in him becoming heavily injured.

...and so without a doubt, the demon would directly go to Matthew to find out what was going on.

Meaning that it was the perfect time for me to strike.

Kill both Matthew and the demon behind him in one fell swoop.

This was the plan.

Currently, Smallsnake and Leopold were surveilling the building Matthew was on, and so I would instantly be notified if anything happened or if Matthew tried to escape.

I had made these arrangements prior to coming to Immorra as I knew this would've happened.

The quicker I dealt with them, the higher the chances of me succeeding.

"Huuu..."

Taking a deep breath and placing the two teacups on the tray, I then proceeded to cut the two Xurin fruits open and squeezed the juices into the tea.

-Shuiii!

After making sure I squeezed all the juices from the fruits, placing the used up fruits back in my dimensional space, with a smile on my face I proceeded to make my way towards my parents.

"Tea's ready!"

Chapter 188: When everything comes crashing down [2]

"Bye Ren, see you later"

"Bye bwudda!"

"Bye"

Smiling as I waved at my parents and Nola who were waving back at me as they stood at the front of the house, I turned around and made my way towards the entrance of the compound.

As I turned around, the smile that was on my face faded away.

Taking out my phone I dialed Smallsnake's number.

-Ring! -Ring!

A couple of seconds after I dialed Smallsnake's number, answering the call, Smallsnake's voice traveled through the speakers of the phone.

[Hello, Ren? Are you coming?]

Walking towards the exit of my parent's compound, I cut straight to the chase.

"Smallsnake, make sure you alert me if anything happens during the time that I am traveling to the destination. I'll be there in thirty minutes"

[Understood]

Pausing for a second, frowning slightly I asked.

"By the way, how much did you spend?"

[For the information gathering?]

"Yeah, the information gathering"

I had previously asked Smallsnake to gather as much information as he could get for the upcoming operation.

I didn't specify the budget, and therefore I was unaware of much money was spent.

[The amount of money that I used to gather all of the information that you had asked totals around a couple of million U]

"Tsss..."

Hearing the sum of money that was spent on information gathering, I couldn't help let out a small hiss.

That was a lot more money than I had expected, but in all honesty, it was necessary.

From past experiences, I knew that information was key.

Therefore, to thoroughly crush Matthew, I had to gather as much information as possible.

From his past, habits, and everything that was known about him...I had to know everything.

Although I knew a bit about Matthew from the previous Ren, I still didn't know everything about him.

To know everything about him, I had to dig a lot. Hence the large sum of money spent.

...however, as I said before, it was worth it.

Thanks to the information I've learned a lot of new things about Matthew.

They were extremely helpful in helping me get a better idea of who I was dealing with.

With the information, I've also learned about his whereabouts of today a month prior to this day. This helped me thoroughly plan for today's upcoming operation.

"Hotel Dellamorca"

That was where Matthew was staying today.

Holding onto my phone with my shoulder, I tapped on my watch and looked through the information Smallsnake sent me with regards to the hotel.

Apparently, the hotel was a very prestigious hotel that housed celebrities and highly ranked heroes.

The building was worth over a billion U and was considered as one of the most luxurious hotel places in the whole of Ashton city. It had 88 floors, and each room cost an astronomical amount of money.

Naturally, because of its fame and prestige, the security was pretty tight with many guards and security measures installed in the place.

Fortunately, as I had invested my money wisely and have learned of this place from Smallsnake, I managed to book a room in the hotel a month back. One that was close to Matthew's.

...this time I didn't need to infiltrate.

Needless to say, I've also had Smallsnake thoroughly analyze the hotel as well.

From there I managed to learn how many security guards and staff worked in that place, who their strongest individual was, the layout of the building, and so on.

I made sure to know everything.

This was so that nothing could go wrong.

Only by having a solid idea of who I was dealing with and what environment I was in that I could thoroughly be able to crush my enemy.

Although it was expensive, money was merely a number that could be grown later.

...at the moment my priority was getting rid of one of my enemies.

Thoroughly at that.

[Hey, Ren can you hear me?]

"Huh, yes? I can hear you"

Snapping me out of my thoughts, was Smallsnake's voice as he asked.

[Good, I wanted to ask, from the way that you've been speaking for a while, it seems to me that Matthew isn't your only target. Is there perhaps someone else we should be looking out for?]

Without hesitation, I confirmed.

"Yes there is"

[Do you have any idea of who he/she is? Any info on them?]

Hearing Smallsnake's question, I shook my head.

"Unfortunately not"

Regarding the demon that Matthew was contracted with, I wasn't sure of what rank he/she was, however, I was fairly certain that it was at most Viscount rank.

From what I have gathered after thoroughly investigating Matthew thanks to Smallsnake, I was able to find out that Matthew's talent was in fact A rank.

This was excellent.

This sort of talent could definitely attract Count ranked demons, however, the reason why I was sure it wasn't a count-ranked demon he had made a contract with was because a count-ranked demon would've never have coveted my parent's guild.

That sort of play couldn't be something that a count-ranked demon would do as they were usually members of the main clan and were extremely proud.

Knowing this, I knew that they wouldn't stoop to the level of manipulating humans to gather resources for them.

I could be wrong and this could be an elaborate setup by the demons, but the chances of such a thing happening were low.

Either way, it didn't really matter.

Right now, whoever the demon backing Matthew was he/she had no other choice but to give up on the notion of being able to battle me.

With the curse having been forcefully broken, the extent of his/her injuries were severe.

Extremely severe.

Knowing this information, I was somewhat reassured about the whole operation. Of course, I did in fact have backup plans in case things went south, but I highly doubted that I would be forced to go to that extent.

But you never know, there was a chance for everything, and I thus I naturally had to make countermeasures for those events if the possibility ever presented itself.

Thinking along those lines, I softly said to Smallsnake as I switched the topic.

"Make sure you report to me if you see anything suspicious. If something does happen, just report it to me and do not, and I mean do not do anything else. Are we clear?"

Hearing my voice, Smallsnake reassured.

[Yes, I'll make sure to inform Leopold about it]

"Smallsnake, I can't stress enough the do not part. Please don't do something stupid, understood?"

[Understood]

With Smallsnake agreeing, I could rest assured.

"Good, I'll see you soon"

[Okay]

-Clank!

"Huuu..."

Exhaling as I ended the call and put my phone back into my pocket, I looked at the darkening sky in the distance and raised my hand.

"Taxi!"

-Screech!

A short moment after I called out for the taxi, a white car stopped before the road I was on.

-Clank!

Opening the door of the car, I quickly got in and thanked the driver for stopping.

"Thank you"

Although I could've used a simple app to get a taxi to come to me, I was old school and so I preferred getting taxis this way.

Lifting his head up, the driver looked at his rearview mirror and asked.

"Where to?"

Without hesitation, I glanced at my phone text and casually responded.

"Hotel Dellamorca in Avenue street XXX"

"Understood"

Nodding his head, the driver didn't ask any questions and directly pressed the gas paddle as the car slowly drifted towards the distance.

"haa...I guess this is it"

Leaning back and sitting comfortably on the seat of the car, I looked at the window and stared at the ever-changing scenery before me.

Today was the day I washed away the previous Ren's regrets.

...

-Spurt!

"Gahhh...huff...huff...."

Panting heavily, with his elbow on a small glass tea table that only reached the height of an adult's knees, a handsome youth gagged as droplets of sweat kept pouring down from his body.

"Khh-How did it happen?"

Everything was going perfectly fine for him for the past few months.

From almost bringing Galxicus to their knees to receiving awards after awards and helping his father's company, Matthew's life was sailing as smoothly as a newly sewn sail that operated with perfect winds.

Everything was just perfect.

....However, all good things must come to an end as out of nowhere Matthew found his body flung all the way to the other side of the room crashing onto the side of the wall.

Weakly wiping away a drop of blood that was dripping from the corner of his mouth, turning around, a black humanoid creature appeared not so far from where Matthew was as the glass of the building he was on was completely shattered.

Standing on top of the glass, the black humanoid creature's eyes were dyed in a deep crimson color as endless bloodlust exuded from his body.

As he stood there with his bare feet on top o the glass, the demon's eyes were fixated on Matthew who was on the ground panting heavily.

Weakly pointing at Matthew with his skinny black hand, the demon, which was in fact the demon that Matthew contracted with, glared at him and shouted.

"You useless insect!"

As he spoke, his croaky voice which made it seem as if though it was about to break at any minute drifted around the room.

Noticing the demon's presence, flustered, Matthew spoke.

"Viscount Avelon?! What happened?"

Ignoring Matthew as his skinny hand pointed towards him, Viscount Avelon once again angrily shouted.

"You insignificant insect, it's all because of you! What have you done!?"

Taken aback, Matthew was slightly flustered as he raised his hands and said.

"W-what? I have no idea what you are talking about"

"The curse! I am talking about the curse on the people that you told me to curse"

"What about the curse?"

"It's gone"

Opening his eyes wide, Matthew exclaimed.

"What?!"

...the curse he had placed on Ren's parents was gone?

How was this possible!?

Wasn't the curse supposed to have no cure?

What could've possibly have happened?

"H-how is that possible, didn't you tell me that the curse was incurable?"

"It was...at least on earth"

Deeply staring at Matthew who was sprawled on the ground, Viscount Avelon understood that Matthew was indeed telling truth about the matter.

...however, that did not mean that he would spare him.

"It seems that you really don't know, but it does not matter..."

Had he never have cursed those two people, he would've never have faced such a huge setback.

Regardless of who did it, someone had to pay, and Matthew was his current victim.

Usually killing a contractee would lead to a backlash, however, this only applied if the terms in the demon contract were fulfilled.

However, in this case, with the curse having been broken, the chances of Matthew succeeding in the takeover of Galxicus were now lower albeit by not much.

This was enough for Viscount Avelon to use as an excuse to get rid of him as it was an indirect breach of contract.

Knowing this, staring at Viscount Avelon who had just raised his hand and was just about to stab him, Matthew moved backward with both his arms and legs and pleaded.

"W-wait, no, think about this rationally, this had nothing to do with me...don't kill me until I've achieved my goal that you've promised me!"

"You can kiss your goal goodbye, now die!"

-Spurt!

Just as Viscount Avelon was about to attack Matthew, his body suddenly froze as a black hand directly pierced through his body and black blood spilled all over the ground.

"Pfttt..."

Spitting out even more black blood from his mouth, Viscount Avelon could barely muster any energy as he weakly muttered.

"Kh-who?"

Slowly and weakly turning his head around to see who had attacked him, Viscount Avelon soon spotted a black humanoid creature with two horns on his head and a large twisted smile on his face.

With an amused smile, the demon chuckled.

"Ku ku ku, peekaboo!"

Chapter 189: When everything comes crashing down [3]

-Spurt!

"ku, ku, ku, Peekaboo"

Peeking from the side of Viscount Avelon's face, a demon with a twisted smile on his face appeared.

Black blood spilled on the ground as Viscount Avelon found himself unable to move.

Casually looking at Viscount Avelon next to him, Everblood teased.

"Am I intruding?"

"Kh-how?"

-Spurt!

Smiling widely as he looked at Viscount Avelon's shocked face, Everblood retrieved his hand back as a black orb that pulsated a black hue appeared in his hand. If one took a closer look at the black orb, as it rested in Everblood's hands, it slowly lost its hue as threads of demonic energy were steadily moving towards Everblood's body.

"Pfff...y-you"

Staring at the orb before him, Everblood licked his lips as he muttered.

"Well...with this I should be able to rank up

The orb that was in Everblood's hands was Viscount Avelon's demon core.

Aside from devil fruits, and regular training, there was another way demons could use to increase their strength.

...and that was through the consumption of demon cores.

By consuming a higher-ranked demon's core, demons could improve their bloodlines and thus raise their strength.

However, this was a taboo practice amongst the demons as it was equivalent to cannibalism.

If a demon was ever caught killing another demon for the sake of their core, they would immediately be hunted down by the other demons and regarded as traitors.

If such practice was allowed, then most demons would kill each other threatening their population as a whole.

...but Everblood didn't care.

His goals had changed.

No longer did he care for the demons, no longer did he care about what they thought of him or what their plans were...

His only goal at the moment was one person and one person only.

...unless that person tasted true despair, Everblood would stop at nothing regardless of his means to achieve his goal.

He had gone rogue.

"Kh...."

Dully looking at Everblood as he laid on the floor motionless, with the last remaining energy he could muster, Viscount Avalon opened his mouth as he tried to say something.

"phfff"

Unfortunately, the only thing that came out as soon as he opened his mouth was black blood as it spilled all over the ground.

Turning his attention away from the core in his hand, Everblood leaned his ear closer towards Viscount Avalon's mouth.

"hm? You have something to say. Last words perhaps?"

Struggling with all his might as his body rapidly shrank, Viscount Avelon muttered.

"W-hy?"

Standing up, Everblood smiled.

"Why? Well, you are after all the demon that has placed the curse on the dear parents of someone who I hold very dear to my heart, how could I not follow you when I noticed that something happened to you?"

With Viscount Avelon being the one that placed a curse on Ren's parents, Everblood naturally paid close attention to him, borderline stalked him.

...and as soon as he was alerted about the fact that something had gone wrong with Viscount Avelon, Everblood dropped everything that he was doing as he followed him around.

Although he wasn't aware of what was happening, how could he possibly let go of the opportunity before him?

Noticing Viscount Avelon's erratic aura, Everblood knew that following him would bring him a frutious opportunity.

...and he was right.

With the demon core in his hand, he was now one step away from reaching the Viscount rank.

Staring at Marquess Avelon whose life force was quickly getting drained by the second, playing with the said core in his hand, Everblood's tone became serious.

"You laid your hands on something that you should've never have touched...had you not touched them, you would've never been in this situati-"

"khhaa-!"

Cutting Everblood midsentence, Viscount Avelon's body suddenly spasmed as his eyes suddenly became white. Letting out a pained scream, Viscount Avelon's body suddenly froze as he took one last big desperate breath of air.

"kuuuu...."

He had died.

Staring at Viscount Avelon's dead body and then proceeding to look back at the core in his hand, covering his mouth as his body trembled, Everblood chuckled.

"ku, ku, ku, what a delightful opportunity that you have presented me Ren..."

Although he wasn't fully aware of what had happened, Everblood had a faint feeling that Ren was the one responsible for this mess.

After all, he was the only one that was aware of his parent's curse. Who else aside from him could be responsible for this?

With him being a polite demon, he naturally had to thank him.

Just thinking along those lines made him uncontrollably laugh.

What a truly delightful gift.

"kukuku, hahahaha"

-Rustle!

"hm?"

As he was laughing, hearing a rustling sound coming from the corner of the room, Everblood turned his head towards the direction of where the sound was coming from and his eyes soon paused on the figure of a youth in the distance.

With disheveled hair and a panicked face, Matthew pointed towards Everblood as he flusteredly shouted.

"Y-you, who are you?"

Staring at Matthew in the distance, putting the core away, the smile on Everblood's face deepened.

Raising both of his hands in the air, Everblood casually said.

"Ah, you must be young Matthew, I've been wanting to meet you since a long time ago, I apologize for my tardiness"

Taken aback, Matthew pointed towards himself.

"M-me? How do you know me?"

Smiling, Everblood tilted his head.

"But of course I know you..after all, we share a common acquaintance, how could I not know you?"

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Matthew muttered

"Are you perhaps referring to Ren...?"

It wasn't hard for Matthew to be able to infer who the common acquaintance Everblood was referring to.

...after all, he had managed to overhear Everblood speaking his name from where he was. Even if he didn't mention his name, Matthew would've figured it out from all of the clues that Everblood left behind as he talked, like how he mentioned 'his parents' and how he shouldn't have touched them.

Staring at Matthew, Everblood laughed.

"haha, it seems like you aren't that stupid"

Staring at Viscount Avelon's corpse beneath him, Everblood pointed at it and asked.

"...how about you leave this old foggy and sign a contract with me eh?"

Taken aback, Matthew weakly asked.

"A contract...with you?"

Smiling, Everblood tempted, "Well how about it? don't you want to take revenge on the person responsible for all of this?"

"Revenge?"

"Yeah, take revenge on the one that caused you to fall this low. If you work with me, I'll show you the grandest of spectacles...what do you think?"

"...Revenge on Ren?"

Yes...

Now that he thought about it, none of this would've happened if not for Ren.

Had Ren not found a way to cure his parents he would've still comfortably been relaxing in the hotel room enjoying his new life...

Yet, now, because of what happened he had lost everything.

With Viscount Avelon dead and his contract now gone, Matthew knew that he would soon find his body slowly rot as a consequence.

With Viscount Avelon forcefully making him digest pills and feeding him devil fruits that contained demonic energy, Matthew knew that he could no longer live as a regular human-like before.

...without the contract, he would be a fugitive and be forced to hide like a rat. He could no longer live the life that he was living right now.

He didn't want this!

Everything that he worked so hard for just got ruined because of one man.

Gnashing his teeth, Matthew hatefully muttered.

"Ren..."

Seeing Matthew's current state of mind, Everblood smiled.

"You've got to make this quick, by now someone must've noticed that something was wrong...after all, this idiot here came straight through the window"

Staring at Everblood with red eyes, Matthew slowly muttered.

"Okay, I agree..."

Hearing Matthew's response, smiling widely, Everblood clapped his hands lightly.

"Congratulations Matthew, a lot of fun will await us in the future..."

Just as Everblood was about to hand Matthew a contract, sensing something, he looked in the direction of the door with pity as his body slowly melted with the environment.

-Fwua!

"ah, it seems like someone is coming..."

-Bang!

Not long after, with a large bang, an elderly man urgently walked into the room as he frantically looked for Matthew.

"Matthew! What's happening? I heard the sound of glass breaking. I've talked to the hotel security and they will be here in five minutes"

Looking towards the direction of the door, Mathew soon exclaimed.

"Dad!"

Glancing around the room, a look of shock appeared on Matthew's father's face as his eyes remained fixed on the black humanoid creature that was on the floor.

"What's going on here? What is a demon doing on the floor!? Did you kill it?"

Calmly staring at his father as his eyes flashed, Matthew smiled as he nodded.

"Yes, I did"

Opening his eyes wide, Matthew's father exclaimed.

"You killed a demon?! That's my son!"

Taking out his phone and turning around, Matthew's father quickly tried to dial a number as he moved frantically around the room.

"Where is my phone? I've gotta call the media, the press, and everybody. I have to let them know that my son killed a demon. Our guild's fame will skyrocket and so will Mat-Pfffff"

-Spurt!

Just as he was about to make a call, out of nowhere, red blood spilled on the ground as Matthew's father opened his eyes wide. Weakly turning his head to the side, the phone in his hand dropped as he dumbfoundedly muttered.

"M-matthew!?"

-Spurt!

Smiling, Matthew pulled his hand away from his father's body as blood splattered all over the floor.

Caressing his father's head, Matthew gently laid him down on the ground as he softly said.

"Sorry dad...I really wanted to stay with you a bit longer but I really had no choice"

With his eyes wide open, Matthews's father, Bernard Bartley and guild master of a gold-graded guild, <C-> ranked hero, looked at his son in shock as he weakly muttered.

"W-why!?"

Hearing his father's question, the smile on Matthew's face disappeared as his face twisted savagely.

"Why you ask?!"

"Did you just ask me why!"

Looking towards the ceiling, Matthew laughed out loud as he proceed to look back at his father.

"Hahaha, how pathetic. To think that you don't even know your own wrongdoings? Do you think I wouldn't know why mom killed herself?"

Pausing for a second, Matthew grabbed his father by the collar as he shouted.

"You think I wouldn't know!"

Weakly looking at his son who was shouting at him maniacally, Bernard weakly muttered.

"khh...what are you talking about?"

Glaring at him, Matthew's voice raised a few pitches.

"Don't feign ignorance with me!"

"She killed herself because of you! Mom killed herself because of you!"

"Ever since young you've done nothing but instill your ideals to me, countless times you've beaten me and mom, yet, I never fought back. Why? Because mom was with me, my young self was somehow able to get through your harsh beatings and scoldings...but...but, you killed her! Because of you I was forced to betray the ones that I held dear to my heart just so that I could kill you in the most pathetic and humiliating way!"

Grabbing his father by both collars once again and dragging his father's face towards his, Matthew shouted as spit flew everywhere.

"How dare you!!!"

"You are the cause of everything, this is because of you and your stupid pride. I am the monster that you have created, I am your sin! I am the creature that your greed and pride has created! I am the reason for your death!"

Staring at Matthew who had lost all sense of reason, Bernard weakly muttered.

"I-im sorry Matthew"

...seeing the state of his son, Bernard could only apologize.

Listening to what his son was saying, he knew that everything was his fault.

...he knew that this was a result of his greed.

Although Matthew may have not noticed, a year after his wife's suicide, Bernard realized how lonely it was at the top.

He missed his wife's cooked meals.

He missed her beautiful smile that she would direct to him despite how harsh he was on her.

...he missed her.

It was only after a year that he realized his mistake and he broke down. He realized how much of a scum he was.

He tried to make amends for it.

Although he knew that what he did would never make amends for what he had done, he at least wanted to treat Matthew better.

He stopped forcing his ideals on Matthew and stopped beating him and scolding him like he used to before. He tried to shower him with as many gifts as possible.

...but before he knew it Matthew changed.

Matthew became more obedient and more excellent, he started excelling in everything, and naturally, Bernard was extremely proud.

Without realizing it, he had changed into his ideal version of what he wanted Matthew to be.

He thought that Matthew had finally accepted him and forgiven him for his sins...

...however, as he lay on the cold floor staring at Matthew's who was glaring daggers at him with pure hatred written on his face, Bernard knew that he had been wrong this whole time.

With every breath he took, Bernard could feel his consciousness slowly becoming fainter and fainter.

As he slowly found his life draining away from his body, Bernard knew that he was merely paying for his sin.

This was the price he had to pay for being too greedy.

As Bernard's consciousness was on the verge of extinguishing, taking one last look at Matthew he worded with his mouth.

'I'm sorry and I love you'

Shortly after, his heart stopped as his body rested on a massive pool of blood.

"huuu..."

Feeling his father's heart-stopping, letting go of him, Matthew exhaled. Nodding his head, Matthew gently caressed his father's cheeks as he softly said.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too...I'm sorry for the fact that I couldn't have made you suffer more"

-Spurt!

Slashing his hand upwards, Barnard's head detached from his body as Matthew stood up and spat.

"Rot in hell, you bastard"

-Clap! -Clap! -Clap!

Sitting on the red sofa of the room, with his legs crossed, Everblood continuously clapped his hands as an amused look appeared on his face.

"Ku ku ku, Even though I wanted to leave, how could I possibly leave when I am being presented with such a beautiful display of raw emotions...I liked it very much. Bravo!"

Closing his eyes, Matthew extended his hand in Everblood's direction and exhaled.

"Huu...give it to me"

Raising his brows, Everblood teased.

"Oh my, someone is hasty"

Glancing towards the door, Matthew frowned.

"Didn't you say that hotel security was coming?"

"Mhm, they are coming...but before they arrive someone else will be coming"

Staring at Everblood in confusion, Matthew asked.

"Someone else?"

Smiling widely, Everblood nodded his head.

"Yeah, a dear friend of ours at that"

Realizing what Everblood was hinting at, Matthew asked.

"Could you be talking about..."

Smiling, neither agreeing nor denying, Everblood stared at the door in the distance as his figure once again melted with the background of the room. Before he disappeared his voice traveled into Matthew's ears.

"...our dear guest is going to be here in a minute, we shouldn't be leaving without leaving behind a gift for him, no?"

Staring at the corpses on the floor, Matthew smiled.

"Yeah..."

Chapter 190: When everything comes crashing down [4]

-Ding!

As the doors of the elevator opened up revealing a quiet hall where a red rug ran all the way down towards the other end of the hall, I stepped out of the elevator and turned right.

I didn't have much time.

Right when I entered the elevator, I got a message from Smallsnake informing me of something happening on Matthew's floor.

Therefore, knowing this, I knew I had a time frame of five minutes to operate before the security guards from the hotel arrived before Matthew's room.

Currently, as I was walking down the corridor that led to Matthew's room, I was neither running nor looking anxious. I was also not wearing a mask to hide my identity despite the fact that cameras were installed in the halls.

The reason for this was simple.

I had booked a room on this floor.

There was no need for me to sneak in or cover up my identity with a mask.

…I had a solid alibi.

The plan was to pretend to pass by Matthew's room and suddenly enter the room with the excuse of hearing that someone was in 'distress'.

Once I entered the room and found Matthew and the demon he was contracted with, I would kill them both and once the security guards from the hotel came, I would pin the blame on the demon for killing Matthew as both parties fought with their life on the line and killed each other.

With demonic energy lingering amongst both parties and the fact that the demon Matthew was contracted with was noticeably injured, my excuse would easily be bought. Moreover, with the fact that I was still 16 years old and publicly my rank was still <F> rank, I wouldn't be linked to this case.

Although I would be taken into question as a result of this incident, that was as far as they could legally go as I would make sure to leave no trace of what I had done behind.

In addition to that, even if I used the Keiki style, no one would link it back to me as no one knew that I practiced that sword art.

…I had everything thoroughly planned.

I was in control.

-Clank!

Arriving before the door of Matthew's room, glancing at the cameras of the building from the corner of my eyes, I pretended to be extremely surprised as I moved towards the door and slowly opened it.

As I opened the door and took a step in, my body froze.

"What the..."

Staring at the room before me, the sight that I had expected to see was nowhere in sight as black blood dyed the white carpet of the room floor. In the corner of the room stood a black corpse that had shrunk significantly.

"…the demon?"

Dead?

What was going on?

How was the demon that was supposed to be under contract with Matthew already dead?

Confused and looking up, my sight instantly paused towards a certain individual who was standing before the edge of the room where the large glass window of the room used to stand. Looking towards my direction as a peaceful smile appeared on his face, Mathew greeted me.

"It's been a while, Ren..."

Frowning, my eyes grew cold.

"Matthew, was this your doing?"

Still smiling, Matthew shrugged his shoulders.

"Mhm, I'm not too sure myself, it all feels like a blur if I have to be honest. In one moment I was relaxing in my room when suddenly Viscount Avelon, the demon I was contracted with, came into my room saying things like the curse has been broken what have you done and blah, blah, blah"

Staring at Matthew who was standing at the edge of the apartment, ignoring what he was saying, I placed my hand on the sheath of my sword as a white hue shrouded my body.

I had to end this quickly.

There was no need to waste time with useless monologies.

I was here to kill him and kill him I shall.

...prior to entering the room, I had thought that everything would've gone as I had planned…but never in my wildest dreams did I expect such a scene to greet me.

The demon was dead whilst Matthew was still alive.

Just what had happened?

Gritting my teeth, I removed all unnecessary thoughts that were circulating inside of my mind as I prepared to kill Matthew right here and now.

Right now my priority was to quickly kill Matthew and set up the scenario that I had previously envisioned.

That was my priority.

Seeing the white hue shrouding my body, raising his hands upwards Matthew smiled as he took a step back towards the nothingness that stood behind the window.

Opening my eyes wide, I shouted.

"Hey what are you doing!?"

Winking at me, Matthew's body soon leaned backward as he fell back first towards the ground.

Right before his body fell, Matthew's mouth worded.

"I'll see you soon, Ren"

-Swooosh!

Blankly staring at the area Matthew used to be standing, quickly regaining myself from the stupor, I immediately rushed towards the edge of the apartment and looked down towards the outside of the window.

...did Matthew just kill himself?

No!

This could not happen!

The cameras already knew that I had entered the room therefore if they managed to identify that Matthew had killed himself after I had entered the room, things would become extremely troublesome for me.

As I looked towards the bottom floor from where I was standing, to my shock, I couldn't find any trace of Matthew.

"Huh, nothing?"

-Bang!

Just as I was staring towards the bottom of the building to see if Matthew's body was anywhere near in sight, suddenly, a large sound come from the front of the apartment as five huge bodyguards came into the room and glared at me.

With an overbearing pressure emanating from each of the guard's bodies, they shouted.

"Security, whoever you are surrender now!"

Staring at the guards before me, covering my face with my hand, I clenched his teeth and cursed out loud.

"...fuck"

I've been had.

…

-Tap! Tap! Tap!

Sitting inside of a white room with a large black mirror by the side of the wall, I tapped on the large metallic table before me.

Currently, my face was incomparably dark as I inwardly beat myself up.

…everything had gone to shit.

The plan that I had thought was perfect failed miserably and I was currently being confined inside of a remote facility owned by the central government awaiting questioning.

Outside of the building reporters were flocking the area asking for questions.

News of what had happened at the hotel quickly made headlines as my face was all over the news.

To make matters worse, the fact that I was the only one in the room with the corpse of a demon did not go unnoticed.

Rumors about the fact that I had apparently 'killed' or aided in the killing of a Viscount ranked demon spread throughout the whole of Ashton city.

To make matters worse, Matthew who had disappeared the following night, showed up and endlessly praised me for saving his life by saying things like 'had it not been for him I would've never been able to escape' 'He is the one that killed the demon, I saw it firsthand'

-Bang!

"Damn it!"

Punching the metal table before me, I couldn't help but curse out loud.

I've been had good.

Just when I thought that everything was going to go as I had envisioned, I suddenly found everything crashing down on me.

All because of one element that I did not take into account.

Clenching my jaw, I angrily spat under my breath.

"Everblood…"

I already had my suspicions before with the Angelica accident, but I now knew that Everblood was the one responsible for this accident and everything that had happened before.

If before I was only half certain, I was now sure.

With Angelica and the demon that Matthew was contracted with out of the picture, the only one that could be responsible for all of this was Everblood.

There could be no one else.

...even if he hid it from me and refused to show himself, I was sure it was him.

There was no way it was anyone else. It could only be him!

To make matters worse, although Smallsnake and Leopold were keeping an eye on everything, they would've never been able to spot him.

He was a baron-ranked demon after all. With his cloaking technique, unless someone who was of a similar rank was present, no one would've been able to see him.

Especially since Smallsnake was weak and Leopold was only D ranked.

-Clank!

Snapping me out of my thoughts, a fairly beautiful lady wearing a formal suit with a grey skirt and black leggings walked into the room. Wearing a pair of squared glasses and with her hair tied in a bun, the lady calmly walked towards the seat opposite to me and sat down.

Taking out a tablet, the lady quickly scrolled through it and proceeded to look at me. Fixing her glasses, she introduced herself.

"Hello, nice to meet you, Mr. Dover, my name is Irene Bennoit, an executive agent and the person in charge of questioning you. Do you have any questions?"

Nodding my head, I asked.

"Do I have the right to remain silent?"

Raising her brow, Irene nodded her head.

"Yes you do"

"Okay"

Staring at me from beneath her glasses, looking back at her tablet, Irene nodded her head and proceeded to say.

"Alright, let's start with the interview"

Pausing for a second as she recalled something, Irene's tone became incomparably serious as she said.

"Ah, before we start the interview I would like to strictly warn you, if there is any falsehood in your answers, you will be immediately be charged with perjury. My abilities allow me to instantly understand if someone is telling the truth or if they are lying...therefore, if you choose to answer you better answer with the truth and the truth only, Understood?"

Nodding my head I curtly replied.

"Yes"

"Okay, please state your name"

"…"

I did not respond.

Since I had the right to remain silent, I rightfully refused to speak.

Especially since I had a lot of things to hide.

"Please state your name"

Seeing that I did not respond, Irene lifted her glasses up with her finger as she repeated.

"…"

Once again I did not respond.

"Okay"

Nodding her head and understanding that I was not responding, Irene tapped on her tablet and proceeded to ask even more questions.

"When were you born?"

"…"

"According to the data, your talent rank seems to be D is that correct?"

"…"

"According to the data, it seems that your current rank is F+ is that correct?"

"…"

"Did you participate in the killing of the demon inside of the room?"

Indifferently staring at her, I did not respond again.

With me using the cure to directly her the demon, I naturally played a role in his death.

If I said no, Irene would immediately be able to tell that I was lying.

"Why were you at that hotel?"

Following that, Irene continued asking me questions to which I didn't respond. Given the fact that her abilities could detect between lies and truths, I knew that the less I talked the better it was for me.

"Thank you very much Mr. Dover"

After going through all of the questions, despite me not answering, Irene stood up and made her way towards the door. Glancing at me, she urged me to follow her.

"Mr. Dover, I would like for you to follow me"

Frowning, I asked.

"Where are we going?"

With her back facing my direction, Irene said.

"We're going to test your rank and your talent"

Opening my eyes slightly, I carefully asked.

"Do I have the right to refuse?"

Shaking her head, Irene opened the door of the room and calmly walked out. I followed after her as she said.

"No, you do not as this is information which will be used for your case...and so, because of this, you have no right to refuse"

Hearing her explanation, I proceeded to nod my head as my face became incomparably dark.

"Understood…"

Following Irene out of the room, I clenched my fist tightly as I cursed inwardly.

…shit.

Everything I tried so hard to hide was soon going to be exposed to the world.

Apart from the Keiki style, my talent and my rank were soon going to be made known to the world and the relatively peaceful life that I had been enjoying was no longer going to be the same.

"huuu…"

Taking a deep breath as I closed my eyes, I tried to retain my composure as I slowly followed Irene towards a large room filled with strange equipment.

…as I stepped into the room, I knew that from this day forth, I could no longer operate as I did before.

From this day forth my name would quickly spread throughout the whole human domain as my talent and strength would be laid bare before the world.

...I knew that there was no longer a chance to be passive anymore.

Chapter 191: Exposed [1]

-Di! -Di!

"Alright, you can remove your hand"

Indifferently staring at a blue orb before me, I removed my hand from it as Irene looked at the tablet in her hand with a small frown on her face.

With each passing second, the frown on her face deepened as an odd and confused look appeared on her delicate face.

Lifting her glasses up with her finger, she softly muttered.

"Odd..."

After a couple of seconds, alternating her eyes between the orb and me, she once again asked me to place my hand on the orb.

"Please put your hand on the orb again"

"Okay"

Heeding her command, once again placing my hand on the orb I inwardly clicked my tongue as thought to myself

'tsk, how useless'

The orb before me was called the 'Talent assessment orb'

A dwarven artifact that measured the talent of an individual. Although the relationship between the humans and the three races wasn't the most ideal, trades between them still happened, as dwarves required a lot of resources to develop their artifacts.

The talent assessment orb was an orb that the dwarves had created and developed with the goal of assessing an individual's talent.

By measuring the general structure of the body from the veins to muscle fibers as well as mana proficiency and mana affinity, the orb was able to determine the talent limit of a person.

In general, the test was fairly accurate with more than 99.98% of cases reaching their dictated talent limit. For the 0.02% of cases where the artifact was inaccurate, generally, it was only by a margin of error of one rank. Meaning that if the orb dictated that someone's talent was D rank, there was a 0.02% chance that their talent could be C.

However such occurrences were rare. Furthermore, aside from that, there really haven't been any cases where the artifact was wrong by a large margin.

...at least as of yet.

Once again staring at her tablet and then proceeding to look at the orb that was beneath the palm of my hand, Irene muttered.

"Is the device perhaps malfunctioning?"

Typically once someone placed their hand on the talent assessment orb, the orb would immediately change color depicting their talent limit.

Yellow - G

Green - F

Orange - E

Red - D

Blue - C

Purple - B

Grey - A

White - S

Pink - SS

Black - SSS

...those were the different colors that the orb would display upon someone touching it. However, as she looked at the orb that I was currently touching, she couldn't see any changes in color as the orb did not light up.

Was the artifact perhaps malfunctioning?

Though extremely rare, such cases were not unheard of.

Placing her finger on her ear where her earpiece was, Irene softly muttered.

"Sir, we've got a situation. It seems like the talent assessment orb is malfunctioning"

"Yes, it seems to be that way"

"I haven't tested it myself but the looks of things it really seems to be broken since everything else is working fine"

"Understood, yes"

Staring at Irene who was obviously speaking to a higher-up, I tried to eavesdrop on their conversation.

Since the conversation was related to me, it was only natural that I was curious.

Unfortunately, as the earpiece was stuck in her ear, I couldn't hear what she was talking about and thus could only give up.

Either way, although I wasn't able to properly listen to their conversation, from what I've gathered it seems as though they wanted to replace the talent assessment orb.

Realizing this I shook my head.

Unfortunately for them, the results were going to be the same.

With me having consumed the seed of limit, the artifact was no longer capable of assessing my talent as it was beyond its scale.

Therefore why the orb wasn't reacting to my touch.

-Clank!

The efficiency of the central government was high. After Irene took the call, not long after a man wearing a black suit came in holding onto another similar-looking orb to the one that was before me.

Replacing the old one with the new one, the man did not stay for long as he nodded his head in Irene's direction and directly left.

Seeing that the orb was once again set up, Irene once again took out her tablet and instructed.

"Okay, place your hand again"

Smiling, I moved and placed my hand on the orb.

"Sure"

Again the orb did not light up.

"What?"

Seeing the orb not light up again, Irene directly moved towards the orb and placed her hand on it.

This time she wanted to test it herself.

Previously she had not done this because she genuinely thought that the orb was broken, however, seeing a similar reaction from the second orb, Irene knew that something was up.

-Fwua!

...and she was right.

As soon as she placed her hand on the orb, it quickly turned yellow indicating to me that her talent limit was G rank.

Staring at the yellow color being displayed on the orb, lifting her head and looking at me she asked.

"Are you human?"

Hearing her comment, my mouth twitched.

"I think I am"

"Then why is this not working, is your body allergic to the orb or something?"

"...how should I know?"

What kind of logic was this?

Allergic to the orb?

...just what was going on through her head?

Looking at me with a complicated look on her face, Irene turned around and moved towards a secluded area of the room as she said.

"Give me a second"

"Alright, alright"

*Sigh*

Nodding my head, another sigh escaped from my mouth as I stared at the orb before me.

At this point, we were just wasting time.

...regardless of what they were going to try, they were never going to be able to measure my limit. This was what the seed of limit did.

Unfortunately, I could not say this out loud resulting in this situation.

After talking to her higher-ups and coming up with a conclusion, returning towards where I was standing, Irene calmly pointed towards the right side of the room.

"Alright, Mr. Dover, it seems like we will leave that test aside for now. For now, we will now measure your rank"

Good.

It seems like they have given up on my talent assessment for now...

"Okay"

Nodding my head and turning my attention towards where Irene was pointing at, I soon spotted a large metallic capsule that stood upright. Next to the capsule was a black monitor that was facing away from the capsule with different numbers and data displayed on it.

Seeing the machine, a bitter smile appeared on my face.

Although I had never seen it in real life, I instantly knew what that machine did.

...Measure someone's rank.

Yes.

The machine before me was a machine that measured someone's rank.

Although I was unsure about the technicalities of the machine, I knew that it could measure someone's rank extremely accurately with an extremely small margin of error.

Regardless of how much someone tried to hide or suppress their rank, it would not go unnoticed by the machine.

Calmly walking towards the capsule and standing next to it, extending her hand, Irene said.

"Okay, now please enter the capsule"

"Understood"

Nodding my head as an extended sigh escaped from my mouth, I calmly walked towards the large capsule in the distance and entered it.

Unlike before with my talent assessment, I knew that I couldn't dodge this one.

I knew that my E+ rank would soon be exposed.

...and from there, although they wouldn't be able to know what my talent was, they could more or less make a guess as a 16-year old E + rank was almost unheard of.

-Clank!

A couple of seconds after the doors of the capsule closed, I suddenly felt a weird tingling sensation around my body as my mana instinctively channeled around my body, and a white hue exuded from my body.

Although the sensation I was feeling was not annoying, it was still uncomfortable therefore I wished for it to end sooner.

-Di! -Di!

Fortunately, my prayers were quickly answered as not long after, the tingling sensation stopped and the capsule opened and steam rose everywhere.

Exiting the capsule, as the steam dyed down, the first thing I saw was Irene's shocked face.

Seeing the shock displayed on Irene's face, turning around and looking in the direction of where she was looking, a bitter smile on my face as I saw the large E+ displayed on the screen.

...yep.

There was no going back.

Since this was a public case and a fairly high profiled one, the test results would soon become public for the whole world to see.

...and once that happened, I knew that I could no longer operate as I did before.

Thinking along those lines, turning my attention back to Irene who was looking through her tablet, I irritably asked.

"Am I free to go?"

Snapping Irene out of her thoughts was my annoyed voice as she looked at me in shock. Nodding her head, she stepped to the side and said.

"Yes, you may leave. We have taken all of your answers and have also finished with the testing, you are free to go. We will soon send you an email detailing the follow-up of our investigation. Thank you for cooperating with us"

"Mhm"

Hearing her explanation, I nodded my head and quickly made my way towards the exit of the room.

I honestly, did not listen to what she had said.

My mind was currently racing as I started thinking of the future that lay ahead of me.

Given the circumstances, I knew it was about time that I stopped hiding.

...

Staring at Ren's figure leaving the hall, tapping on the earpiece in her ear, Irene softly said.

"Sir, the results came out, the student's rank has been determined to be E+ rank"

Seconds after Irene spoke, a deep voice filled with authority echoed in her ear.

[Mh, according to the reports the student's talent should be assessed as D rank no? But given his E+ rank, that does not seem possible]

Looking at her tablet and scrolling through the profile of the youth named Ren Dover, Irene calmly nodded her head and responded.

"Yes, I also understand that his talent cannot be D rank. However, even after switching the artifact with a new one, the orb doesn't light up."

Pausing for a second as her brows knit together in a frown, she asked.

"what should I write in the report?"

[...S rank with the possibility of it being higher]

Hearing the response, Irene became slightly flustered.

"S-S class potential with the possibility of it being higher!?"

We were talking about S class here.

This was a one in a hundred thousand kind of talent!

Moreover, from the way her boss spoke, it seems like there was a possibility of his rank being even higher than that!

How absurd was that?

[Yes, put that]

Forcefully trying to calm herself down, Irene worriedly asked.

"...is that really okay?"

If the results turned out to be false, the whole of the central government would become the laughing stock of the human domain.

After all, everyone that had the potential of reaching S rank was regarded as a prodigy.

If it turned out that his talent was in fact not S rank, countless resources and time would be wasted nurturing someone that in the end would not achieve what was determined of him.

...this would naturally create dissatisfaction amongst the general public resulting in the reputation of the central government would drop.

In Irene's opinion, this assessment was too hasty! They needed to quickly think of other ways to assess his talent.

Hearing the worry in Irene's voice, the person she was talking to reassured as he calmly explained.

[Yes do not worry. I'm fairly certain about my assessment]

"How?"

[Simple really, if you think about it logically, according to historical records, reaching E rank at the age of 16 is an indication of someone having a talent above A rank. For him to be E + at 16 years of age, it can be quite safe to assume that his talent rank is around S if not more..]

As she was listening to her boss speak, placing her hand on her chin, Irene suddenly realized that what he was saying was in fact true.

According to all historical data, all of the youth that reached such rank at that age were indeed people that had an extremely high talent.

The reason was simple.

The closer someone was to their talent limit, the slower their progress. The greater their talent was, the faster their training.

Therefore, although the talent assessment orb was unable to measure his rank, if you thought about it from this perspective, his talent did indeed seem to be around S rank.

Thinking along those lines, Irene closed her eyes and nodded her head.

"...I see, I understand. Alright, I will do as you say"

[Good, inform me if you find anything else regarding that student. He has piqued my attention]

"Yes, understood"

-Tack!

Turning off her earpiece and taking out her glasses, Irene pinched the middle of her brows as she muttered.

"Just what kind of monster have we discovered..."

...

Unaware of what was happening in the room Irene was in, walking out of the room, after moving across a couple of corridors I took the elevator and directly headed towards the lobby of the building.

From what I've been informed, my parents were waiting for me in the lobby of the building.

Because this was only a questioning as I wasn't arrested, I was pretty much free to go after they asked me a couple of questions and measured my rank.

Unfortunately, because of the incident, I pretty much lost a day and therefore skipped a day of lectures.

Knowing this, I knew that I had to hurry back to the academy.

At the moment my current plan was to meet up with my parents before going back home to pick up Angelica and quickly returning back to the academy.

...just thinking of the scolding I would get from Donna caused me headaches.

-Ding!

"Hm? Who's that?"

Exiting the elevator, my footsteps soon halted for a second as I spotted my parents chatting with a tall beauty in the distance.

Squinting my eyes to get a better look at who they were talking to, recognizing the identity of the female, I exclaimed.

"Miss Longbern?"

Talk about the devil.

What in the world was she doing here?

Chapter 192: Exposed [2]

"Miss Longbern?"

Wearing a loosely fit white T-shirt that was tucked beneath her blue jeans, I spotted Donna leisurely conversing with my parents in the distance.

Hearing my exclamation and turning around, Donna raised her brow as the edge of her lips faintly curved upwards.

"Ah, it seems like Ren is done with the questioning"

Before I had any time to realize what was going on, I suddenly found my mother jumping in my direction as she embraced me tightly.

"My baby Ren!"

"ooooof.."

Pounced by her, I almost lost all the air inside of my lungs as the wind was knocked out of me and took a couple of steps back.

Recovering slightly, I couldn't help but think to myself.

...seriously, was my mother really F ranked?

It felt as though as if I was rammed by an elephant.

Obviously, I kept those thoughts to myself as I didn't have a death wish. Although my mother was usually very nice, once she was angry she was scarier than anything that I had ever seen.

...never mind Everblood.

Not even the demon king could rival my mother when she was angry. Recalling the last time I saw her angry sent shivers down my spine.

The only thought I had at that time was to run as far away from there as possible.

I saw death itself staring at me.

After embracing me for a solid couple of seconds, detaching herself from me, my mother instantly patted my body completely as worriedly asked.

"Are you hurt anywhere? Are you okay? Did anybody hurt you? What happened to you?"

Under her barrage of questions, shaking my head I patted my arms as I calmly responded.

"I'm okay. As you can see, I'm perfectly fine"

"Are you really okay?"

"Yup, never been better"

Actually, that was a lie.

Although nothing happened to me during the accident, my arm was still not fully recovered from what had happened back in Immorra.

In fact, unless I consumed an advanced potion I'd probably not be able to fully recover the sensation in my arm.

Problem was, given the price that advanced potions went for, recovering my arm would still take a long time as I currently could not afford it.

Although I had encountered a lot of fruitful opportunities in Immorra, I still had to be careful when selling the stuff that I got as it could arouse some suspicions amongst the demons.

After all, I did fuck over a Marquss ranked demon. Although extremely low, there could be a chance that one of the items that I had sold was recognized by one of the demons alerting Marquess Azeroth of the fact that the possible thief was staying on earth.

Actually, thinking about Marquess Azeroth, was he doing well?

I bet that right now he took more damage from me stealing all of his stuff than from fighting against the orc chief.

Thinking along those lines, a small chuckle escaped from my lips.

...either way, my mom didn't need to know that.

Therefore, looking around I calmly tried to divert the topic.

"Where is Nola?"

"Hm? Nola is at the daycare"

"Daycare? What about pudding?"

"Pudding is at home. Because we were in a rush we weren't able to bring her with us"

Nodding my head, I glanced towards Donna in the distance and asked.

"I see, so what's going on here?"

Turning her head and similarly staring at Donna in the distance who was talking to her husband, my mother calmly said.

"Ah, Miss Lonbern came here all the way from the academy to pick you up"

"She came to pick me up?"

"Yes, you have a very kind teacher don't you"

"Yeah..."

Recalling all of the beatings I took from her, I awkwardly nodded.

In a way Donna was a good teacher as she cared a lot for her students, however, in this case, the reason she showed up probably was because of another reason.

Placing my hand on my chin, I fell into deep thought.

'...I guess the case was too high profile for her and the academy to ignore'

After all, it involved the direct death of a Viscount-ranked demon

Normally, this wouldn't have created a fuss, however, unfortunately, this was a different case as the person directly responsible for the demon's death was a 16-year-old kid.

...there was no way it wouldn't garner the media's attention.

[A 16-year-old student aids in the killing of a viscount ranked demon]

Just imagining the headline of tomorrow's paper caused me to have a massive migraine. It was already bad enough when Amanda 'killed' Elijah, now that I was directly involved with the death of a Viscount ranked demon, the waves it would cause would be a lot greater.

...just the thought made me want to puke.

"Ren we should be going"

Finished exchanging a few words with my father, snapping me out of my thoughts as she waved at me, Donna called from the distance.

"Aye"

Nodding my head and staring at my mom who still had a worried look on her face, I felt slightly warm inside of my heart as I said.

"Mom, I've got to go"

"Mhm, mom understands"

Staring at Donna in the distance, my mother nodded her head and proceeded to take out something from her dimensional storage that was in the form of a silver ring.

-Fwua!

Shortly after, a black hoodie appeared in her hands as she handed it to me.

"Here Ren, take this. This should still fit you nicely"

Raising my brow, I looked at the hoodie in her hand as I tilted my head.

"A hoodie?"

Nodding her head multiple times, my mother patted the hoodie in her hand with a serious expression.

"mhm, you're going to need this"

"Okay..."

Seeing how serious my mother's face was, I proceeded to nod my head as I took the hoodie. Something told me that I would really need this.

"Ren, follow me"

Taking one last look at my mother, I heard Donna's voice in the distance urging for me to come.

Nodding my head I waved goodbye at both my mom and dad.

"Bye mom, bye dad, I'm leaving now"

Standing next to my dad, my mother smiled sweetly as she waved goodbye.

"Bye Ren, contact us as soon as you get back to the academy"

"Be safe son"

"Yeah sure"

Waving goodbye to my parents, arriving before the entrance of the building, Donna halted her footsteps and stared at the hoodie that was in my hands. Pointing at it she said.

"Before we leave, I suggest you put the hoodie on now"

Taken aback, I looked at Donna and asked.

"Now?"

Firmly nodding her head, Donna strictly ordered.

"Now"

"...okay"

Though confused, I did as Donna told me and put on the hoodie.

Although I knew that there were reporters outside, seeing the seriousness in both my mom's and Donna's faces, I instantly understood that the situation may have been worse than I had expected.

...now this was going to be troublesome.

"Here, pull down the hoodie"

After putting the hoodie on, staring at me for a couple of seconds, and leaning closer to me, Donna extended her hands forward as she pulled down the hood to cover my face.

As she did that, her face came a couple of inches away from my face catching me off guard. Fortunately, this did not last for long as Donna quickly took a couple of steps back as she smiled.

Putting her hands on the handles of the door she asked.

"Are you ready?"

Nodding my head, I seriously said.

"Ready"

"Okay..."

-Clank!

Opening the doors of the building, as soon as I stepped outside revealing the cloudless blue sky, I instantly understood why everyone was so adamant about the hoodie.

-Click! -Click! -Click!

"Mr. Dover look over here!"

"Mr. Dover is it true that you were able to aid in the killing of a Viscount ranked demon at the age of 16?"

"Mr. Dover, can you tell us what had happened yesterday night?"

"What were your thoughts when you killed a Viscount ranked demon?"

"Were you really able to kill a viscount ranked demon or are you just taking the credit from someone else?"

With clicking sounds coming from my left and right, reporters appeared everywhere as they surrounded the area I was in.

Lowering the hood of my hoodie, I silently cursed to myself.

'ah, fuck'

This was much more than I had expected.

Amusingly looking at me from the side, Donna glanced at the reporters waiting outside as her amethyst-colored eyes shone slightly. Opening her mouth, her crisp and pleasant voice traveled through the ears of every reporter present.

"Please move away"

Instantly, as if everyone turned into a zombie, heeding her command every one took a step back and paved a path for Donna and me.

"Let's go..."

Staring at the scene before me with my mouth wide open, I reminded myself to never get on her bad side.

...yup.

Definitely not.

Just one word from her and I would find myself becoming her puppet.

...what a scary woman.

Unaware of my thoughts, I followed Donna towards a rather secluded area. Halting her steps and taking out a black helmet from her dimensional space, Donna calmly walked towards a black bike.

Hopping onto the bike and patting the seat behind her she calmly said.

"Hop on"

"..."

Staring at Donna for a couple of seconds as my mind froze, I opened my mouth as no words escaped from my mouth.

...seriously?

Putting her helmet on, Donna turned her head in my direction once again and asked.

"Where do you want to go, your place or the academy?"

Staring at Donna dumbfoundedly, an extended sigh escaped from my mouth.

*Sigh*

Did she seriously not understand the struggles that I was going through?

Although right my mental state was much stronger than back when I had just arrived at the Lock and therefore could now resist her charms...that didn't mean I was completely free from otherworldly thoughts!

In the end, I could only forcefully freeze my heart completely as I tried to remove all unnecessary thoughts from my mind.

After I managed to calm myself down, I suggested.

"Let's go to the academy"

My original plan was to go back home with my parents to pick up Angelica and bring her to the academy with me.

...but it seems like I will have to scratch that plan.

I'll let Angelica stay with my parents for the week, I'll pick her up next week.

In a way, this worked out better as Angelica needed to break through to Viscount rank anyway. If she did it at the Lock she would quickly get exposed as she wouldn't be able to suppress the demonic energy inside of her body.

Therefore this somehow worked in her favor. Plus, in the meantime, she could protect Nola and my parents.

"Alright, hold on tight"

Nodding my head and sitting on the backseat of the bike and putting my hands on Donna's slim and soft waist I softly muttered.

"...sure"

-Vroom!

Shortly after, the bike slowly picked up speed and sped into the busy streets of Ashton city.

Chapter 193: All eyes on me [1]

-Vroom!

With my hands on Donna's waist, I turned my head to the side and stared at the cars beside us that were slowly getting surpassed by Donna who was zig-zagging around them at extreme speeds.

With the speed that we were going, I would've normally been scared shitless. However, knowing that a <S> ranked hero was the one driving, I knew that I was in safe hands.

...furthermore, my mind at the moment was currently racing as I tried my best to not be affected by Donna's seductive art.

Although she wasn't actively releasing it, just standing close to her almost made me lose composure multiple times.

This was really taking a toll on my mental fortitude.

Fortunately, helping me distract myself from all of the unnecessary thoughts that I was having, Donna came to the rescue as she asked.

"So, your rank is E+?"

I was instantly taken aback.

"How did you know?"

I thought that the results weren't even out.

How could she had possibly known?

Briefly glancing at my dumbfounded expression and rolling her eyes beneath her helmet, Donna replied.

"Who do you think I am?"

"Right, sorry I even asked..."

Instantly realizing my mistake, I apologized.

Why did I even need to ask?

Given Donna's reputation as a ranked hero, it was only natural for her to be able to get access to the information before it was released.

As soon as my rank was measured at <E+> rank, without a doubt she got notified of this.

Therefore, I knew that I could no longer get out of this situation.

Even if Doona didn't get the results immediately she was bound to find out given that the data would soon be updated on the investigation report.

Yup.

The more I reminded myself of this fact, the longer my sighs became.

-Skrri!

After a while, stopping before the red traffic lights, Donna glanced at me and scrutinized my body closely for the first time since leaving the building.

"Mh, if your rank is E+ then something really doesn't seem to add up."

"What doesn't add up?"

Smiling beneath the helmet, Donna calmly analyzed as she asked.

"How can your talent assessment possibly be D rank when you're already almost close to that rank?

"That..."

"That shouldn't be possible, right?"

Hearing her statement, I feigned ignorance.

"I don't know, maybe the orb was malfunctioning?"

...It's not like I could say I had limitless talent no?

Sadly, my acting was unable to convince Donna who continued.

"Judging from how calm you are, most likely you already knew that your rank was not D from the very beginning, aren't I right?"

If the talent assessment orb really malfunctioned, Ren should've easily been able to notice that something was wrong with the orb.

He was E+ at the moment. Only someone stupid couldn't tell that his talent assessment was wrong.

...the more Donna thought about it, the more certain she was about the fact that I knew that my talent was not D rank all along.

Thinking along those lines, Donna triumphantly smiled.

"Although you may be able to trick others, you won't be able to trick me"

Hearing Donna's conjecture, I shut my mouth and did not respond.

"..."

I shall rightfully plead the fifth.

Since anything I said could potentially reveal clues to my limitless talent I may as well just not talk.

...although most of my secrets were laid bare to the world, it was still better to hide the existence of the seed of limit.

After all, you never knew how humans behaved.

Furthermore, given my rank and talent assessments, there was a high chance I would be targeted by the Monolith and the demons.

Not that it matters as much anymore...

Unaware of what was happening, snorting, Donna's lips curved as she proceeded to stare at the street ahead of her.

"I won't ask since it's none of my business, but I do warn you..."

Pausing for a second as her voice turned cold, Donna threatened.

"If for whatever reason you were hiding your strength and rank had to do with demons or anything that would jeopardize the school reputation...I will make sure to get rid of you personally"

Feeling the coldness in Donna's voice, I firmly nodded my head and responded.

"understood"

Smiling, speeding up the bike, Donna softly mumbled.

"Good, I hope you don't betray my trust"

Following that, along the way back to the academy, neither Donna nor I spoke a single word as we silently made our way back to the academy.

Donna wasn't the type of person to pry about her student's past given that everyone had their own secrets they couldn't share.

Kevin included.

Moreover, given that I wasn't a villain as no demonic energy lingered in my body, Donna hoped that I wasn't someone that had bad intentions towards the academy.

After all, she had gotten quite attached to me these past few months. With all of the training sessions we had together, it was only natural that this happened.

To Donna, it would really be a pity if it turned out to be someone who worked for the demons.

-Screech!

Stopping right before the academy, Donna took off her helmet. Her black hair gently cascaded all the way down her shoulders as a result. Turning her head around and glancing at me, she said.

"We're here, hop-off"

Nodding my head, I jumped off the motorcycle and took off the helmet that was in my head.

"Thanks, here"

Extending my hand, I handed the helmet back to Donna who calmly took it back and reminded me.

"Thanks, make sure you are not late tomorrow"

"Aye"

As I was putting the helmet back into her dimensional space, not so far from where I was standing, putting her hands on the handles of the bike, Donna calmly waved goodbye to me.

"Alright, that's enough of that for now, I'll see you in the morning. Once again, do not be late!"

"Understood"

-Swoosh!

Nodding my head as a defeated look appeared on my face, I watched Donna's figure leave in the distance. Shortly after, I turned around and slowly made my way back towards my dorm.

...ah, if not for Donna reminding me, I probably would've forgotten about the fact that tomorrow I had a training session with her early in the morning. Recalling all of my past experiences with her, I sighed and softly muttered.

"I really don't feel like getting a beating..."

...

[Who is the mysterious youth that aided in the defeat of a Viscount ranked demon? Is this the rise of a new prodigy?]

[Breaking news : According to reports, the youth's name is Ren Dover, and is currently studying at the Lock, the number one academy in the human domain. From current police reports and data released by the central government, we may have found the next prodigy. With a staggering rank assessment at E + and...]

-Click!

Turning off the TV as a photo of me wearing my school uniform appeared next to the male anchor reporting the news, I massaged my forehead.

Not long after, I sat down on the sofa of my dorm and once again massaged my forehead as I felt a headache coming my way. Calmly staring at the window of my room, I muttered.

"I guess the cat is now officially out of the bag"

...the whole world now knew of my talent and rank.

My parents included.

Without a doubt, my peaceful life was now gone. Thinking thus far, I sighed and stood up.

"I need to take a breath of fresh air"

-Clank!

Opening the door that led to the balcony, I calmly walked towards the edge of the balcony where a handrail made out of granite stood. Placing both of my elbows on the handrail of the balcony, I calmly looked at the academy before me.

"I guess this is it..."

Overlooking the academy campus from the balcony of my room, I brushed my hair to the side.

News of my exploits had already made waves throughout the whole human domain, and although I was able to enter the academy fairly unnoticed thanks to Donna, I knew that tomorrow my once peaceful life would be gone.

I really had mixed feelings about this situation.

Although the fact that my talent and rank were exposed to the world was very inconvenient as it would definitely create a lot of enemies for me.

Honestly, aside from that, there were also advantages that came from standing out.

...like gathering the attention of a large organization that would do anything to protect me and my talent or to appear more dominant against my opponents.

Leaning on the handrail of the balcony and staring at the star-filled night, a bitter smile appeared on my face. Turning around and looking at my room, I softly muttered.

"Would I still be in this room?"

With my talent soon becoming known throughout the academy, it wouldn't be strange for me to be allowed access to the Leviathan building.

...it's just that I felt that it was a bit of a pity.

Although I wasn't able to stay here for long, I had actually made two proper friends here. Leo and Ram.

For the past month that I had been with them, I always hung out with them at night as we tried all of the restaurants near the academy. I also loved relaxing and chilling with them back in my apartment or their apartment as we played cards.

Aside from that, I knew that I still had unfinished business here. As I thought along those lines, with my brows knit and placing my hand on my chin, I mused.

"Mhh, Tyrants aside, I guess I don't really have to worry about Ava..."

With me having already established a relationship with Ava, I didn't necessarily need to be in the same building as her anymore.

After all, we were in the same class. Even if I moved away from her I could probably still interact with her like usual.

Thinking along those lines, I sighed in relief.

...now that I had gotten the Flute of Artemis, having Ava join our group was a must. With her, the strength of the mercenary group would without a doubt soar to unprecedented levels.

Placing my hand on my chin as I frowned, I looked at the star-filled night and muttered.

"I guess, that now leaves me with the five tyrants problem..."

Should I remove them or should I leave them alone once I left?

*pfftt*

Chuckling to myself, I shook my head as I looked at the lamps on the campus grounds that shone and illuminated the asphalt roads of the academy.

Who was kidding?

Regardless of the fact that I may soon leave this building, I was still dead set on removing them.

That goal did not change.

...and that was because of a couple of reasons.

One, making Leo and Ram's life more bearable. With them losing time stamps, their growth would be hindered which was not good as they were fairly talented.

Secondly, because I was a petty person.

As they had stolen from me, I had to let them know their place. I wasn't just going to let someone steal from me and let the walk Scott-free...

Lastly, this project was chosen in order to maximize the profit that I would gain from the operation of eliminating the five tyrants.

Thinking about the plan that I had prepared in order to eliminate the five tyrants, my brows knit together as I softly mumbled.

"...I guess I need to make changes to my plans"

Before, my plan was made with the thought of not interfering with the plotline, adding a lot of restraints to them.

...but now.

Staring at the darkness in the distance, a soft smile appeared on my face.

Now I didn't really need to worry about it anymore.

-Rustle!

As the wind blew and brushed past my skin, extending my hand forward I caught a leaf that drifted along with the wind. Staring at the leaf in my hand, I softly muttered.

"I guess it's about time I changed along with the changes in my plans..."

My memories of the novel.

I knew that I could no longer rely on such knowledge like I used to before.

What I so desperately wanted to keep was no longer going to be something I could use to my advantage.

The changes that I have caused since reincarnating into this world have slowly piled up together changing the original course of the novel.

In what way the changes I have brought will affect the future, I had no way of knowing.

...but what I did know was that I had to change along with the changes that I had brought.

There was no longer a need for me to keep the storyline as it was before.

It was time for me to personally take matters into my own hands and protect this world for my sake and the sake of those whom I hold dear.

Releasing the green leaf in my hand as it once again drifted in the sky, I muttered.

"In a way, I guess this is better..."

Although a lot of troubles lay ahead of me, I knew that the end result would make up for the struggles.

Just like a pawn.

I could only move forward and not backward.

This was merely the beginning of my life in this world.

End of volume [1]

Quick author note : Thank you for reading this far. I hope you liked the first volume. Now, a quick note about the next volume.

For the second volume, things will change. The story should be faster-paced, and interactions between Ren and the others will drastically increase. With the layout and the info-dumps pretty much all done in the first volume, the second volume should naturally flow much more smoothly. I hope it will be better than the first one. Fingers crossed. (P..S. this message won't increase the price of the chapter since its written after I uploaded the chap)

Chapter 194: All eyes on me [2]

-Clank!

Entering the classroom, I instantly felt countless stares directed towards me. Already prepared for this, I ignored the stares and indifferently made my way towards my seat.

Walking towards my seat, I could hear the faint whispering sounds coming from some of the classmates as they stared at me with a look of apprehension.

"Is that him?"

"Was he really hiding his strength the whole time?"

"Tsk, he's just stealing someone else's credit. He's nothing but a fake"

"Then how can you explain his E+ rank?"

Ignoring the whispers and murmurs coming from my classmates, I continued to make my way towards my seat.

At the moment I was extremely tired.

Having spent most of my morning getting beaten black and blue by Donna, I was feeling lethargic.

To make matters worse, my arm was currently spasming beneath my shirt.

Recently the problem with my arm has been getting more and more problematic.

It was starting to get really annoying as it was impeding me from training with the same intensity as before. Donna did in fact notice this.

When she asked me about it, I could only tell her that I had slightly injured myself during training the past few days.

Since Donna was not a doctor, she quickly bought my excuse and lowered the intensity of the workout.

However, although I managed to avoid getting questioned this time, I knew that this couldn't go on and I had to find a way to purchase an advanced potion to heal my arm.

Lazily sitting down on my seat as I interlocked my fingers together and yawned, my eyes drifted towards the left side of the classroom as I thought to myself.

'she should be able to make advanced potions by now, no?'

If there was someone that could provide me with cheap and high-quality potions, it was obviously Melissa.

Given that Melissa was practically my potion dealer as the deal I had made with her long ago was not just a one-time deal but a long-term one, I could enjoy better quality potions as she improved.

...the real question now was.

Did she improve?

Now that she was busy with the development of the magic card system, there was a possibility that her progress in potion-making stalled.

If so, it would be an annoying problem as I didn't want to fork out 35,000,000 million U to cure my arm.

At least with Melissa, I could pretty much save 80% of the cost as I would only need to provide her with the raw ingredients.

Crossing my arms in my seat, I repeatedly nodded my head.

"Yup, yup, I need to get in touch with Melissa again"

"Can I seat here?"

Snapping out of my thoughts, I suddenly heard a familiar voice calling me from behind. Turning around and looking towards my left, I stared at the person who spoke to me.

A surprised look appeared on my face as I recognized who the voice belonged to.

"Kevin?"

Smiling, Kevin looked at the seat beside me and once again asked.

"Can I sit?"

*Sigh*

"Do whatever you want"

Staring at Kevin for a couple of seconds, a sigh escaped from my lips as I lazily waved my hand.

There was no point in hiding the fact that I was friends with Kevin. Given that I already stood out, Kevin sitting next to me wouldn't make the situation worse.

Plus, I kind of felt bad for him.

He was just as much of a loner as I was. Apart from Emma and a couple of other people, he really had no friends.

Although in the novel he would become pretty close with Jin, that would be at the later stages in the novel, and...

Staring at Jin from the corner of my eyes, my mouth twitched.

Indifferently sitting on the left side of the classroom, Jin was probably one of the only people that wasn't paying attention to me as he continued to stare at the front of the classroom with a serious look.

...yeah, I don't see Jin ever becoming close to Kevin.

Given how unfriendly he had become these past few months, I wasn't sure whether this was a possibility anymore.

Even though he was no longer arrogant and looked down on people like before, I felt like his new personality was a bit too serious...

If I had to be honest, I had mixed feelings about this.

Unaware of what I was thinking, looking at me, Kevin worriedly asked.

"Hey, are you doing okay?"

"Hm?"

"I've seen what happened on the news, it's practically everywhere, are you okay?"

Since it was all over the news, Kevin had obviously heard about what had happened with Ren.

...and unlike the other students that were skeptical about Ren's strength, Kevin was not. After all, he had seen his strength first hand.

Although Ren was weaker than him in terms of rank, Kevin did not think that he was any weaker than him. This was especially since he had seen his sword art first hand.

Fast.

So fast that he could barely react.

At the moment, Kevin felt that between him and Ren, their strength was approximately the same, with maybe him having a little bit of an edge due to his rank being higher.

Hearing Kevin's question, I lazily responded.

"Ah, that...I'm fine, but why are you sitting next to me?"

Blinking his eyes a couple of times, Kevin replied.

"Well, we are friends aren't we?"

"...and?"

"And so it is only right that I sit next to you...or am I perhaps bothering you?"

Pausing for a second and staring at Kevin, I was at a loss for words.

What he said wasn't wrong.

Since he regarded me as his friend and I too regarded him as a friend, what was wrong with him sitting next to me?

...I guess all those years of being alone caused me to have practically zero social skills.

Thinking along those lines, crossing my arms on my desk, I lowered my head and closed my eyes.

"...Nah, it's fine. There's nothing wrong with what you said"

"Great"

Happily smiling, Kevin took out his tablet and other materials for class. Once he put everything on his desk, Kevin looked around the classroom as he softly muttered.

"Wow, we're really attacking a lot of attention"

Hearing Kevin's remark and lifting my head up, I instantly understood what Kevin meant.

Currently, practically everyone inside of the class was staring at us from the corner of their eyes as they whispered amongst each other.

Although they were trying to be sneaky about it, when almost everyone was doing it, it became pretty obvious.

Glancing at Kevin I muttered.

"Shouldn't you already be used to this?"

Blankly looking around, Kevin bitterly said.

"I am, but it's never been so bad"

Rolling my eyes, I annoying said.

"...this is why I didn't want to stand out"

Patting me on my shoulder as a trace of pity appeared in his eyes, Kevin consoled me.

"You'll get used to it"

"Piss off, I did not have a choice whilst you did"

Opening my eyes wide, I smacked Kevin's hand away as I cursed at him.

With Everblood purposely screwing me over so that I stood out, I really had no choice with regards to this matter.

Kevin on the other hand purposely chose to show off his skills.

Getting used to it my ass, I did not want to get used to this.

The staring felt piercing.

Feeling wronged, Kevin explained.

"Oh come on, I also did not have a choice. It's not like I knew that I was actually talented"

Having spent most of the time outside of Ashton city, Kevin had no idea that he was that talented. Therefore, when he took the exam he tried his best thinking that his performance was not going to be any better than some of the second-generation kids that were nurtured with resources since young.

Who would've thought that they were actually that weak?

Not him.

"..."

Hearing Kevin's statement, I was left speechless for a couple of seconds.

Although I knew what Kevin meant by that statement, I felt the urge to slap him on the back of his head.

To make matters worse, I was the one that made him that way.

Ah, who should I be hitting, him or me?

Seeing the dark look on my face, Kevin quickly diverted the topic.

"By the way, are you coming to the banquet next week?"

Raising my brow, I asked.

"Banquet? Are you perhaps talking about the banquet with the exchange students?"

"Yeah"

"Mhh, I guess I will. Either way, it's not like I have a choice"

Nodding his head, as he crossed his arms, Kevin agreed.

"Mhm, since you're part of the tournament team, you have no choice but to participate"

"Yeah..."

The banquet Kevin was referring to was a banquet that was held by the academy to welcome the new exchange students that came from the four great academies.

This banquet was mostly something that the academy had set up to give an opportunity to the exchange students and the academy students to interact with one another.

The main reason for this was so that the students could build connections and friendships amongst each other.

After all, everyone present at the banquet was someone whose future was bright. It was never wrong to make connections with people living in other cities.

In hindsight, I think this was a good opportunity for me.

Although I could no longer hide my presence as I did before, I think that creating connections was a good way for me to develop my strength.

Especially since I would eventually want to expand my influence outside of Ashton city.

Thinking thus far, I asked.

"When is it again?"

Staring at his watch and looking at his calendar app, Kevin calmly answered.

"In about a week"

Frowning slightly, I asked.

"Do we have to wear formal clothes?"

Rolling his eyes, Kevin responded.

"What do you think?"

"That's going to be problematic..."

"Why?"

Scratching the back of my head, I bitterly said.

"Because I don't have any formal clothes?"

"What?"

"All of my formal clothes don't fit me anymore"

With my physique drastically improving, I no longer could fit into my old suits.

To make matters worse, with my fashion sense being quite frankly terrible, I was in a pickle as I did not know what to wear for the banquet.

Placing his hand on his chin as he fell into deep contemplation, glancing towards the left side of the classroom, Kevin suggested.

"Actually, you can ask Emma with regards to that. She helped me choose one when I had to attend a banquet for my elective last month. Her fashion sense is outstanding"

Frowning, I looked to the side where a beautiful young girl with short brown hair sat. Currently, she was sitting next to Amanda. From time to time the two would talk, but with Amanda not being very talkative, it was mostly Emma who was doing the talking.

It was a rather comical sight.

Still, recalling my past experiences with Emma, I shook my head.

"Emma?...I'd rather not"

Understanding my thoughts, Kevin reassured me.

"It's fine, I'll come too. You won't have to go with her alone"

"Eh, I don't know. I'll think about it"

Seeing that I was still not convinced, Kevin suggested.

"How about this, why don't we go after class? Since there are no electives today, we should be able to go after class no?"

"Eh, I'll see..."

Honestly, the idea did sound tempting, however, I was still not fully convinced as I didn't want to deal with Emma.

...I'd honestly rather deal with Melissa.

Actually, I didn't mind being Melissa as she was quite fun to tease these days. With me no longer being scared of her, getting a reaction off of her was actually quite entertaining.

Just recalling how pissed she was in our last meeting made me smile.

Suddenly recalling something, I looked at Kevin and asked.

"By the way, what class do we have next?"

Without hesitation, Kevin responded.

"Theoretical science of mana and psyons"

Hearing the name of the next lecture course, suddenly remembering something, I cursed out loud.

"Ah...fuck"

Confused, Kevin tilted his head and asked.

"What's wrong?"

Weakly staring at Kevin, I muttered.

"Well, I just suddenly thought of an annoying problem"

"What annoying problem?"

-Clank!

Right before I could answer Kevin, the doors of the classroom opened and a handsome youth with dirt blond hair entered the classroom.

"Everyone please sit down"

Blinking a couple of times, Kevin's eyes became cold as he stared at Gilbert who was slowly making his way towards the podium in the middle of the classroom. Suddenly realizing why I cursed out loud, Kevin looked at me and nodded his head in understanding.

"My condolences"

Hearing Kevin's comment, my mouth twitched.

"What condolences! You're just as much of a target as I am!"

"Silence! Class is about to start"

Suddenly, Gilbert's voice drifted across the classroom as everyone shut up. Smiling gently, he looked around the classroom until his eyes suddenly paused on me.

Staring at me for a couple of seconds, Gilbert muttered.

"So you must be student Ren Dover"

Instantly, as soon as his words fell, everyone turned their heads in my direction.

Feeling the countless stares directed in my direction, I bitterly nodded my head.

"In the flesh"

Alternating his head between Kevin and me, Gilbert nodded his head.

"I see, I've heard of what happened. It must've been rough"

"It was alright"

Nodding his head, Gilbert smiled as he turned around and looked at the whiteboard before him. In a rather stern tone, he said.

"Well, it doesn't matter. I hope you obediently follow the class like the rest of the students here. Although what you have done can be considered an astounding achievement...that is only if you have actually done what is said on the paper. It wouldn't be good if you took someone else's credit for something that you did not do..."

Understanding the meaning of his words, I rolled my eyes.

"Yes"

This was karma I say.

This was the karma I got for all the times I gloated at Kevin for having to deal with Gilbert.

"It's good that you know"

Finished talking to me, Gilbert proceeded to start the lecture.

"Alright, today we are going to be talking about condensing your..."

Fortunately, Gilbert was rather tame today.

Apart from the beginning of the class and the fact that I was picked a couple of times to answer some of his questions, nothing particularly annoying happened to me today.

In fact, aside from the occasional stares from my classmates, it was pretty much just like any regular class.

If I had to guess as to why Gilbert was not proactively making my life difficult, it probably had something to do with Donna. With what had happened to Kevin not so long ago, Gilbert knew that he couldn't perform the same stunt again as he could actually get into trouble this time.

Although his father could cover him for a while, that didn't mean he could do as he wished.

Especially since the headmaster of the academy was also an SS-ranked hero. Once the headmaster returned from his trip, there was no way Gilbert would get away with what he had done Scot free.

Knowing this, Gilbert could only lay low for a while.

...and so thanks to that, Kevin and I didn't have a hard time today as the class ended in about an hour.

Staring at Gilbert's figure leaving, I muttered.

"Well, that was better than I thought..."

Nodding his head, Kevin added.

"Yeah, I honestly thought he would pick on you more"

Pausing for a second and staring at me, Kevin glanced at Emma who was packing up her stuff on the left side of the classroom, and asked.

"...so do you want me to help you with the suit thing or not?"

Frowning slightly, after a bit of thought I nodded my head.

"Sure"

Since I had nothing to do as well, I may as well buy a new suit.

Chapter 195: Relaxing times [1]

Cocking her head to the side as her auburn hair gently fell on her shoulders, Emma unamusingly asked as she pointed towards a pale youth with deep blue eyes and black hair standing next to Kevin.

"So you want me to come with you guys to help him buy a suit for the upcoming banquet?"

Nodding his head, Kevin asked, "Yeah, can you do that?"

Frowning, Emma stared at Ren who was yawning next to Kevin.

...observing Ren, Emma's feelings were mixed.

Although she no longer hated him like before after realizing her own immaturity, his presence still irked her.

After all, her pride was huge.

Even if she had realized she was in the wrong, she wouldn't openly admit it.

Like the famous quote said, 'realizing you were wrong wasn't hard, what was hard was admitting you were wrong'

Knowing this, looking at Kevin who was sincerely asking her for a favor, after a while, nodding her head Emma begrudgingly agreed.

"Fine, but only this time"

Since Kevin had helped her out on multiple occasions in the past, she wouldn't mind doing him a favor.

Besides, she could just use this chance to relax. After all, after she helped Ren buy a suit she could very well enjoy herself.

Turning around and glancing at Amanda who was slowly and quietly packing up her stuff, Emma asked.

"Amanda, you want to come along?"

Slowly turning her head, Amanda blinked her eyes a couple of times as a confused look appeared on her face.

"Come along?"

Nodding her head, Emma pointed towards Ren and said.

"Yeah, come with us to help that guy get a suit"

Tilting her head, Amanda became even more confused.

"Get a suit?"

Noticing how Amanda was becoming even more confused, Emma explained. "Yeah, apparently he doesn't have a suit for the banquet next week, and since Kevin asked for my help I decided to help out. Why don't you come along too?"

Hearing Emma's explanation, Amanda understood. Placing her hand on her chin as she glanced at Ren, Amanda's brows knit together.

"Hmm..."

Seeing Amanda thinking about it, pulling her by the arm, Emma pleaded. "Don't leave me alone with them..."

Turning around and glancing at Kevin and Ren, Emma's eyes soon paused on Ren as she added "Although I trust Kevin, I don't trust that guy at all. What if he suddenly attacks me out of nowhere? What am I going to do? Please come with me"

Emma's words weren't without merit. Even though she already had a hunch about Ren's true strength, when it was revealed that it was <E+> she was extremely surprised.

It took her quite a bit to come to terms with the news. After all, she had a general idea of his background. To be <E+> rank with such a background, was nothing short of a miracle.

Therefore, he was definitely suspicious in her book.

"..."

Hearing Emma's remarks, Ren's mouth twitched.

He was speechless.

...did she not know that he was standing next to her and he could hear everything?

Since Emma was helping him, Ren tried his best to suppress his annoyance. However, with Kevin next to him trying his best not to laugh, Ren found this task becoming increasingly harder.

Elbowing Kevin by the side, Ren's face darkened as looked at Emma and pointed towards himself.

"Oy, you know I'm here"

"Yeah, yeah"

Waving her hand to dismiss Ren, Emma proceeded to look at Amanda again as she continuously tugged her arm.

"So you coming?"

"...Okay"

Seeing how persistent Emma was, after a couple of seconds, Amanda eventually nodded her head as a helpless expression appeared on her face.

In the end, she also had nothing to do so might as well just go. Plus, since she'd always reject Emma whenever she'd ask her to go out, Amanda felt slightly bad compelling her to agree.

"Yay!"

Happily clapping her hands, Emma proceeded to look towards the front as she asked.

"Melissa?"

Raising her brow, Melissa turned around and frowned.

"What?"

Glancing at Melissa, Emma pointed at Ren and asked.

"Want to come with us to help him get a suit?"

Scornfully glancing at Ren, Melissa quickly refused.

"I'd rather die"

Rolling his eyes, Ren muttered.

"Then die"

"What did you say?"

"Nothing"

Seeing the exchange between Melissa and Ren, Emma was left speechless for a couple of seconds as she proceeded to look in the direction of where Jin usually sat.

"Jin?"

However, before she could even ask Jin, Emma suddenly realized that he had already left the classroom. Seeing this, Emma annoying muttered.

"...forget I even asked"

Ever since the trip to Hollberg, Jin started to become more and more anti-social.

Although he was already anti-social, these days it was much worse as he did not interact with anyone. With Emma having met Jin at an early age due to her dad's job, she naturally was able to see how much Jin changed.

If before he was arrogant and cold, this time he was just cold. He was essentially a male version of Amanda that was far less likable.

Crossing her arms together, Emma snorted.

"Hmph, who cares about that guy anyway..."

In the end, the group consisted of Kevin, Amanda, Emma, and Ren. Clapping her hands together as she looked at everyone, Emma happily said.

"Alright, let's meet at the train station in half an hour. From there we will go buy him a suit"

Nodding his head, Kevin agreed.

"Okay"

"Good, let's go, Amanda"

Finished with what she wanted to say, Emma quickly dragged Amanda out of the classroom leaving Ren and Kevin behind.

Turning around and staring at each other for a couple of seconds, Kevin broke the silence as he asked.

"Ren, are you going back?"

Blinking a couple of times, Ren turned his head around and stared at Melissa's figure in the distance. Shaking his head, he responded.

"You go back first, I need to ask Melissa something"

Taken aback, Kevin asked.

"Melissa?"

"Yeah"

Opening his mouth as he wanted to say something, Kevin eventually shook his head and wished him luck.

"...okay, good luck"

Having interacted with Melissa before, Kevin knew her character well. Therefore, he was naturally aware of the troubles that Ren was about to face.

Thus, as he silently prayed for Ren, Kevin left the classroom.

...

Unaware of Kevin's thoughts and staring at his figure leaving the classroom, turning around and glancing at Melissa who was just about to leave, I called out, "Melissa wait, I need to ask you a favor"

Without looking at me, Melissa coldly said.

"Don't wanna hear it. Just text your request to me in the form of a message"

"Come on, It'll only take a minute"

"Nope"

"Pretty please?"

Turning her head around and disdainfully looking at me, Melissa irritably said.

"Is this your way of convincing me to stay? Cause you're not succeeding"

Smiling, I replied.

"I'll keep annoying you if you don't listen"

Hearing my response, Melissa's footsteps halted. Without turning around, she said.

"Make it quick"

Seeing that I had succeeded in getting her attention, I cut straight to the point.

"Alright, fine, I'll get to the point, I want you to make me a potion"

Frowning, Melissa repeated.

"A potion?"

Nodding my head, I reminded Melissa of the deal that we had made a while back.

"Yeah, don't forget the deal we made"

"...that"

Reminded of the deal, Melissa froze for a second.

"Yup, that"

Nodding my head, a smirk appeared on my face.

...how could I not remind her of the fact that she was my potion slave.

*Sigh*

After a while, rolling her eyes as a large sigh escaped from her mouth, Melissa annoying asked.

"What do you need?"

Without hesitation, I responded.

"An advanced healing potion would be ideal"

Only an advanced healing potion could help me heal my arm. Aside from that, there was nothing else that could help me fully recover the senses of my arm.

I could technically opt for direct surgery.

...but given that it was more expensive and that potions were faster and more effective, it was only natural that I tried my best to get a potion.

Hearing my request, Melissa's frowned deeply.

"An advanced healing potion?"

Nodding my head, I asked.

"So, can you make it or not?"

Frowning even harder, Melissa softly muttered.

"...I haven't really tried"

Since she was spending most of her time developing the magic card project, she didn't have much time to spend on making potions.

Therefore, although she could more or less now make advanced-level potions, Melissa wasn't sure about how good the quality of the potion was, and how high the chances of success were.

Staring at Melissa who was in deep contemplation, I dejectedly lowered my head and said.

"So you can't?"

Snapping her head in my direction, Melissa annoyingly said.

"Who said I can't"

Raising my head as a defeated look appeared on my face, I reassured Melissa.

"Melissa, it's okay if you can't. Just admit that you cannot do it so that I can look for it somewhere else"

Hearing my comment and gritting her teeth, Melissa said.

"I'll do it"

"Do what?"

Clenching her fists tightly, Melissa's face twisted.

"It seems like you really want to die?"

Smacking my fist on the palm of my hand, I looked at Melissa and exclaimed.

"Ah, so you can make the potion. Why didn't you tell me this before Melissa?"

Pretending to be excited, I laughed inwardly.

How gullible.

All I needed to do was bruise her ego a bit and Melissa quickly agreed without hesitation.

So easy.

Keeping my thoughts to myself and nodding my head multiple times, I complemented Melissa.

"Mhm, yes. Gifted with both brains and beauty, you are indeed the perfect woman. Melissa, how about marrying me?"

Hearing my comment, Melissa's body froze for a second. Processing my remarks for a couple of seconds, Melissa's voice lowered as her face became incomparably dark.

"If you don't get out of my sight within the next five seconds, I will erase you from this planet"

Seeing how dark Melissa's face was, I knew that she was serious this time.

Putting my hands on my pockets, I clicked my tongue and turned around.

"Tsk, I was just joking, no need to take it so seriously"

Who'd want to marry you anyway?

Only a psycho who doesn't care about their own life would do that.

I wouldn't even want to find out what would happen during a lover's quarrel. Would she just make her lover drink failed potions that she couldn't commercially use or would she make him sleep on the sofa for a whole year?

Just the thought sent shivers down my spine

"one"

"Aye, aye, I'm leaving, I'm leaving"

Lazily waving my hand, I proceeded to make my way towards the door.

Right before I exited the room, turning around, I glanced at Melissa and shouted.

"Text me when you're done making the potion"

"Two"

"Bye!"

Waving goodbye to Melissa I directly left the room and made my way back towards the dorm.

I had left at the right time.

...I had a feeling that if I stayed any longer, something bad would've happened. Perhaps I had just dodged a bullet.

In all honestly, I didn't actually care.

It was just that it was fun teasing her.

...

Not long after I separated from Melissa, Kevin, Emma, Amanda and I met up at the train station and quickly took an air train that directly went towards a busy area of Ashton city.

From what I heard Emma say, we were currently headed towards a rather famous shopping district that was often frequented by the rich. Apparently, there were lots of designers stores as well as places that had professional tailors that would directly take my measurements and make a suit that would fit me perfectly.

...as soon as I heard of this, I instantly knew this was a setup.

Emma was planning on draining my wallet!

In terms of wealth here, I was probably the poorest out of the lot. And when I mean the poorest, I meant by far the poorest. My net worth was probably spare change in their eyes.

How in the world did they think I could afford a suit!

Set up I say!

-Ding!

As I was ranting about the fact that I was being set up, suddenly the air train stopped and a gentle voice traveled from the speakers of the train.

[Station - Central district : Remolan street, arrived]

Stepping out of the air train, turning around, and dragging Amanda out of the train, Emma happily shouted.

"Alright, let's go shopping!"

Just letting you know, the next couple of chaps will be fillers. (focus primarily on character interactions rather than the main plot - you can probably skip them and nothing will change. However, you'll miss out on the interactions between Ren and the others as their characters become more fleshed out)

Also, the author needs a break from all the action. The next two chaps will be like that. Basically, just one day break for those that don't like this kind of stuff.

Another thing, after the next two chapters, my writing style will be quite different. Hopefully, it's better.

P.S, If you wanted to ask, no. you are not getting charged more for me writing this. Oh, and for new readers. DO NOT BUY PRIVILEGE! It's almost the end of the month. If you buy privilege you will end up with only 8 days worth of privilege. IT will reset by end of the month.

SO DO NOT BUY PRIVILEGE

I don't want you all to waste your money.

Chapter 196: Relaxing times [2]

After leaving the train station, we arrived at Remolan street. A rather famous shopping area located in the central district of Ashton city.

Stepping into Remolan street, I was left in a daze.

People roaming everywhere, massive buildings, giant fountains, fancy restaurants, massive stores, and even arcades. This place had everything.

Glancing at the busy streets, I made a pledge to myself.

Right after buying a suit, If I still hadn't sold my kidneys, I had to treat myself to something fancy.

Similarly looking at the streets, Kevin asked, "I've only been here once, so are you going to be the guide?"

Emma, who had heard Kevin, pridefully nodded her head, "Of course, I've been coming here ever since I was a kid. I know this place like the back of my house. Not only do I know where most stores are located I also know who..."

Walking through the busy streets, Kevin and Emma continued to chatter. From time to time Amanda would join in on the conversation as Emma would forcefully drag her into it.

Kevin did try to bring me in the conversation multiple times, and when he did I half-heartedly replied.

"Ren, you've never been here before right?"

"No, I have not"

"Well, I've only been here once so I guess I'm just as clueless as you are"

"I guess so..."

While Kevin and I were talking, Emma's footsteps halted. Following her example, I along with Kevin and Amanda also stopped.

Looking up, I soon noticed that we had stopped in front of a large transparent door. Behind it were countless mannequins wearing different sets of clothes.

From suits to regular shirts, the mannequins wore different matching sets of clothes that perfectly complemented each other.

Taking my eyes away from the mannequins, the first thing I noticed as I took a closer look at the store before us was a large sign with the words [Shiplen tailor&clothing] engraved on it.

"This the place?"

"Yup, I know the manager here, so he can help you with regards to the suit, Moreover..."

Looking at Amanda, Emma excitedly said.

"...this place doesn't only sell suits but also sells other types of clothing"

"Women too?"

Nodding her head in confirmation, Emma placed her hand on the door handle and casually pushed it open.

"...Alright, let's go in"

Soon, the interior of the shop become became visible for anyone to see.

Just like Emma had said, the shop was divided into many different sections as there was a woman section, a male section, and a kids section.

Each section had different types of clothes with different prices on them.

"Where are the suits?"

As I entered the store, I was a bit on the fence.

The store didn't look like a store that made suits. Although I did in fact see some suits on display, they weren't anything fancy nor were they of high quality.

I'm sure Emma wouldn't just bring me here without reason.

Casually looking at the store, Emma replied.

"Before we get you a suit, why don't you choose some clothes first"

"Me?"

"Yeah, I first want to see what types of clothes you wear. From there we can choose a proper suit for you"

"Sure"

Realizing her intention, I nodded my head.

That made sense.

Since Emma was choosing a suit for me, she had to get a better idea of my tastes. After all, this was a suit for me not for her.

If she didn't know my tastes, she wouldn't be able to help me.

"Alright, I'll be back shortly"

Separating from Kevin and the others, I looked through the shop as I picked some of the clothes that I liked.

Fortunately, there were a lot of options available in the store. All sorts of shirts, pants, and T-shirts were displayed in the store. There were so many options, that I honestly couldn't choose. They all looked good to me.

"Hm, this looks like it matches"

After a while, picking a couple of shirts and pants that I particularly liked, I made my way towards the changing room and got dressed.

"This looks good"

After putting on the clothes and staring at my reflection in the mirror, I nodded my head in satisfaction.

Reflected on the mirror was me wearing a nice Hawaiian shirt tucked in between some slick brown pants that reached all the way to my ankles. I left a slight gap in the middle of the T-shirt to further emphasize my chest.

The more I looked at myself, the more satisfied I was with my look.

Touching my chin, I mused.

'Hmm, I feel like I'm missing something. Maybe sunglasses?'

If I had sunglasses I would without a doubt look better. Sunglasses with a Hawaiian shirt, now that's what you would call a matching combo.

Still, it was best if I asked the others about their opinion. After all, I couldn't wear sunglasses at the banquet.

Exiting the changing room with the clothes still on, I waved at Kevin and the rest in the distance. Posing slightly, I asked.

"Hey, what do you guys think of this?"

Kevin : "..."

Emma : "..."

Amanda : "..."

Covering her face with the palm of her hand, Emma muttered.

"He's a lost cause"

Simultaneously nodding their heads, Kevin and Amanda couldn't agree more.

"I agree"

"Mhm"

Noticing their reaction, I became slightly flustered.

"W-what? It looks nice though"

I really liked what I was wearing.

I had spent a lot of time choosing these clothes. I was genuinely proud of what I had achieved. Squinting my eyes, I thought.

'Was it the sunglasses?'

The more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that the reason they reacted like this was because I didn't have any sunglasses on.

Unaware of what I was thinking, Kevin, looked at Emma who was massaging her head, "This is going to be a lot harder than I thought"

"Emma, do something about this"

"On it"

Taking out her phone, Emma quickly sent a message to someone.

Not long after she sent the message, a man wearing a neat grey suit that perfectly outlined the general structure of his body came down from a set of stairs in the distance.

The man was rather old as he had thin gray hair and a well-trimmed mustache. Despite his age, the man looked extremely refined and elegant.

With a bright smile, the man greeted Emma.

"Why if it isn't the young miss, what do I owe you the pleasure of coming here"

"Fix him up"

Cutting to the chase, Emma pointed at me. Staring in the direction of where Emma pointed at, the old man covered his mouth, "Oh my, him?"

Expecting such a reaction, Emma sighed and nodded her head, "Yeah, he's a lost cause"

"I can see that, what's the budget"

Looking at me, Emma asked the old man, "How much does a suit typically cost?"

Taking out a small tablet from his pocket, the old man patiently explained, "Depends on what type of materials we use to make the suit. Generally, our prices usually range from 5,000 U all the way to 100,000 U. With 100,000 U using the felt of some beasts coming from the outer regions"

Hearing Emma's and the man talking, excluding their shit talk, one thing caught my interest.

The prices of the suits.

They were much cheaper than I had expected.

Perhaps because I tended to spend millions of U with every purchase I made, the price for suits seemed rather cheap to me at the moment.

I had honestly expected to be asked an absurd amount of money to make a suit, but I guess my perception of money had inflated too much.

In the end, interrupting the discussion Emma and the old man were having, I chose the most expensive option.

"Give me the best that you've got"

Since I could afford it and it wasn't going to hurt my pockets, I may as well go all in.

With a big smile on his face, the old man caressed his hands. Turning around, the old man urged me to follow him.

"Very well, please follow me so that we can take your measurements"

"Sure"

Scrolling through the tablet that the old man held before, Emma casually said "Whilst you take the measurements, I'll choose the suits with the others"

Halting my steps, I protested "Wait, why can't I choose?"

Right after my words fell, everyone's stared at the clothes I was wearing. As if stating the obvious, Emma disdainfully said, "What gives you the right to ask after wearing such monstrosity?"

Offended, I looked towards Kevin for moral support "Was it really that bad?"

Deeply staring at me, Kevin bluntly nodded his head, "Yup"

With a hurt look on my face, I looked at Amanda. Feeling my gaze, Amanda turned her head to the side and pretended that she didn't see anything.

"..."

Clenching my teeth, I squinted my eyes, "Fine..."

Bunch of traitors.

Following the old man upstairs, we soon arrived in front of a small wooden room filled with suits.

Without wasting any time, the old man took out a measuring tape. Using the measuring tape, the old man measured every part of my body from waist, chest, calves, and biceps.

"Alright, we're done"

A minute after he took the first measurement, the tailor quickly wrote down all of my sizes on a piece of paper. Once he finished taking my measurements, we quickly headed back downstairs to meet the others.

Noticing my arrival, Emma casually glanced at me, "You're done?"

"Yeah"

Squinting my eyes, my sharp gaze met Kevin's. After a couple of seconds, unable to bear my piercing stare, Kevin lowered his head.

That's right.

Lower your head traitor.

Unaware of my exchange with Kevin, Emma casually handed the tablet back to the old man "Alright, we've already selected a suit"

"Oh? Can I see it?"

Shaking her head, Emma refused. "We've already ordered it, you'll see it once it arrives"

"..."

Opening my mouth, no words came out.

Did they seriously just buy me a suit without asking whether I liked it or not?

"Please follow me to the register to pay"

Smiling brightly, the old man made his way towards the register.

Dejectedly following the old man to the register, handing him my card, I paid for the suit that Emma and the others choose for me. After paying the bill, I turned around and made my way out of the shop as the old man reminded me of a few things.

"Thank you for your purchase, your suit will be delivered to you in a couple of days. In case your suit breaks, make sure you come back to us so we can fix it. We provide a two-year warranty"

"Sure, thank you"

Exiting the store and reuniting with the others, Kevin checked his watch and asked.

"Where should we go now?"

With me having finally purchased a suit, we now had time to properly enjoy ourselves and do whatever we wanted.

Emma was especially excited at the moment as her eyes shone brightly. Looking towards the distance, she exclaimed.

"Arcade! We are going to the arcade!"

Without waiting for anyone else to respond, Emma grabbed Amanda by the arm and forcefully dragged her into the arcade.

From how fast she was moving, she seemed to be itching to go.

"..."

Staring at Amanda who was helplessly being dragged around by Emma, a trace of sympathy flashed across my eyes.

"This is why she always rejects Emma"

"How did you know?"

Confused, Kevin asked. To which I shrugged my shoulders and casually said.

"Just a hunch"

"...what a terrifying hunch"

Glancing at me and nudging his head, Kevin suggested.

"...So, we also going to the arcade?"

"But of course"

Without hesitation, I replied.

I was also raring to go to the arcade. Especially since I was really curious as to how arcades in this world looked like.

Would there be 4-D pac-man games? 4-D donkey kong?

Just the thought made me excited.

Following Emma through the busy streets, we soon arrived in front of a large building with a large sign with [Blisscore Arcade] engraved on it as different lights blinked around it.

By the time Kevin and I arrived at the arcade, Emma and Amanda were already long gone.

A small crowd appeared at the front of the building as they stared at the insides of the building with interest. Multiple different lights flashed from the insides of the building, as we could faintly hear the sound of music playing.

"This the place?"

"Should be"

Staring at the crowd outside of the shop, Kevin asked "Should we go in?"

"Yup"

Pushing through the small crowd that had gathered at the entrance of the building. Lifting my sleeves up, a smirk appeared on my face.

"Make way for me you noobs!"

If there was one thing I was good at back in my world, it was the arcades. Whenever I had spare money I would always go to the arcade to play some games.

After having accumulated countless hours of experience, I was confident.

I was confident that there was no game I couldn't beat.

Chapter 197: Relaxing times[3]

"How much do you want to change?"

"Let's go with 5,000 U first"

With a bright smile, the cashier of the arcade greeted me. Handing my card to the cashier, the cashier quickly scanned the card and handed me a black card along with my bank card.

"Thank you for your patronage"

"Yup"

"Sure"

I took the card and turned around.

To be honest, I was just as excited as Emma was. I loved arcades. Glancing behind me, I looked at Kevin who was patiently waiting in line and shouted.

"I'm gonna go play some games, meet me once you're done"

Turning his head, Kevin nodded his head.

"Sure"

"Alright"

...

Roaming the arcade, I couldn't decide on which game to play first.

'Which game should I play first? Hmm, should I try the classics or the new ones? Oh, that one over there looks nice'

There were just so many games that I wanted to play.

From the virtual race car game to 4D Pac-man, there were just so many options to choose from.

"...this is rigged!"

Whilst I was pondering on which game I should play, I suddenly heard a familiar voice in the distance.

Without even needing to look at who the voice belonged to, I instantly knew that it belonged to Emma.

Turning around and glancing in her direction, I spotted her fiercely staring at the machine before her. Poor Amanda was next to her trying to calm her down.

The sight looked rather comical.

"Emma, please don't shout"

"Is money what you want!? Take it, I've got enough for the likes of you!"

Ignoring Amanda, Emma furiously glared at the machine as she cursed.

'Ah, she's playing the crane game'

With her hand carefully controlling the joystick of the machine, Emma's lips were plucked outwards as she fully immersed herself in the game.

Lowering the crane, Emma successfully picked up a stuffed teddy. Excitedly looking at Amanda, Emma exclaimed.

"I can feel it, this time I'm going to win!"

"mhm"

Having heard the same words more than five times already, Amanda bitterly nodded her head.

"I've got this, come on..."

With her tongue out, Emma slowly moved the joystick. She was so immersed in the game that she did not notice me coming from behind her. Controlling the joystick, Emma tried to move the claw towards the small hole on the bottom left of the machine.

-Plap!

Unfortunately, she failed as the teddy bear fell before she could reach the hole. When she saw this, Emma's face turned red.

"Shit!"

Sitting down on the machine next to her, I said "That's not how you do it"

Turning around, Emma shouted, "Who is it?"

"It's me"

Finally noticing me, Emma's voice became monotonous, "Ah, it's you"

"What an enthusiastic reply"

"What? did you want me to be excited or something?"

Shaking my head, I pointed at the machine before her and said "Nevermind that, you're playing the game wrong"

Raising her brow, Emma mocked "What? Are you some kind of expert or something?"

Nodding my head, I proudly puffed my chest, "In fact I am"

This was not a lie.

In fact, the very reason why I was so good at this game was because back on earth I used this machine to make some spare change.

By winning the bears and selling them on the internet, I was able to make a small profit. With that, I was able to fuel my arcading addiction.

Not believing my statement one bit, Emma suddenly smiled as she thought of something, "Alright if you're such an expert, how about we make a bet"

Instantly, I frowned "A bet?"

Nodding her head, Emma elaborated, "Yeah, how about this. I'll pay for the next fifteen games, and if in those fifteen games you manage to get even one bear, It'll count as my loss. However, if you don't get any bear during those fifteen tries, It'll count as my win"

Hearing the terms of the bet, I almost laughed out loud.

Fifteen tries?

I didn't even need two and I was certain I could win.

Trying my best to keep a straight face, I frowned slightly. With a solemn expression on my face, I nodded my head, "Sounds fair, what are the terms of the bet?"

Having caught my interest, Emma laughed inside of her heart. She knew that she had baited him.

It was already her fiftieth try, and she had still not got a bear. The machine was rigged and Emma knew it. There was no way she was going to lose this bet.

This was her chance to get back at him!

Trying her best to keep a straight face, Emma proposed.

"If you win, dinner's on me. Regardless of place, I will pay"

"What if I lose?"

Emma smirked, "he...If you lose?" Crossing her arms, Emma cocked her head up a little, "If you lose I want you to apologize to me"

Hearing the terms, I tilted my head "Apologize? Apologize for what?"

Glaring at me, with her arms still crossed, Emma gritted her teeth "For being rude to me"

"What? When have I ever been rude to you?"

Snapping her head at me, she bared her teeth "Don't pretend that you don't know!"

"ehh...okay, sure?"

Seeing how snappy she was being, with a confused look on my face I didn't ask for more details.

Even though I didn't know what she was talking about, it didn't really matter. I was gonna win anyway.

I was that confident in my skills.

With a confident look on her face, Emma extended her hand, "Deal?"

'Hmph, let's see for how long you can keep that arrogant attitude of yours. I'll use this chance to get my revenge on you'

Irked by her attitude, I smiled and shook her hand, "Deal"

'Since you're asking to be humiliated, don't blame me for humiliating you'

Turning her head towards Amanda, Emma said, "Amanda, you can attest for the bet"

Alternating her eyes between me and Emma, Amanda helplessly nodded her head.

"Okay"

Tapping her black card on the side of the machine, the number fifteen was instantly displayed on the right side of the machine as the mechanical claw returned to its regular position. Standing up and taking the seat next to it, Emma smiled as she patted the machine, "Alright, you can start"

"I won't be polite"

Taking Emma's seat, I took the joystick.

In one swift motion, I quickly moved the claw machine to the right. Stopping right before one of the bears, standing up I looked around the machine to see if I had gotten my angles right.

In order to make the game harder, the workers tended to change the strength of the claw throughout the day. Knowing this, I knew that I couldn't rely on the claw of the machine. Only proper angles could help.

"Perfect"

After finding the right spot, sitting back down I pressed on the red button of the machine.

Staring at me intently, Emma snorted, "Hmph, I wanna see where your confidence comes from"

Emma firmly believed that the game was rigged.

There was no way he could win.

Unfortunately for her, she had spoken too soon. As soon as the claw clutched the bear, it quickly went back up and deposited the bear in the bottom left compartment. Staring at the bear in my hand in disbelief, Emma's face turned red as her voice raised a few pitches.

"...w-what! Impossible!"

Smirking at Emma, I casually said "I guess dinner is on you today"

Recovering from her stupor, Emma gritted her teeth, "Y-you!"

Raising my brow, I teased "What, you not going to honor the bet?"

"Who said I'm not! Amanda let's get out of here"

Gnashing her teeth, Emma tried to drag Amanda aways. At the moment she wanted to bury herself inside of a hole.

She was too embarrassed.

Seeing that Emma was about to leave, I shouted "Wait, who said I'm done"

'You think I'm just going to let you run away after only one bear?'

No, no, no.

I was going to thoroughly crush her pride today.

Halting her footsteps, Emma looked at me in confusion "You're not done?"

"Watch me"

Turning around, I once again repeated the same process. This time, I failed.

Seeing me fail, Emma felt slightly better as she couldn't resist the urge to mock me, "I guess you were just lucky"

Glancing at her from the corner of my eyes, my lips tugged upwards

"Oh really?"

"Yup, just dumb luck"

Smirking, I once again turned my attention back to the claw machine. Repeating the same process as before, this time I succeeded. Opening her eyes wide open, Emma's mouth dropped to the ground.

"W-what! How come!"

Staring at Emma, I mocked "Luck"

Gnashing her teeth together, Emma's chest heaved up and down unevenly. Not bothered by this, I turned my attention back to the game.

For the next couple of minutes, I continuously harvested teddy bears as a crowd slowly formed around me. Not minding it one bit, I skillfully controlled the joystick and once again took another bear.

"And that's the sixth!"

In the end, after I used up all of the fifteen tries, the total harvest came to six bears.

Emma, who stood by the side looked as though she had seen a ghost as her complexion was extremely pale. Pointing at me, she weakly said.

"Y-you're cheating!"

Rolling my eyes, I retorted, "I've been using the same machine you were using before. If I had cheated someone would've been able to tell. Moreover, you were right next to me the whole time. If I had cheated, you would've noticed it immediately"

Unable to refute, Emma dejectedly lowered her head in defeat. "Ghh..."

"Here"

Ignoring Emma, I casually threw one of the teddies in Amanda's direction. Confused, she asked, "Me?"

"Take it, I don't need this teddy"

From the very beginning, Amanda had been staring at the bears with a longing look on her face. I wasn't dense. With her secretly loving cute things, I knew that she wanted the teddy bear.

Thus, I gave her one.

The other five were for Nola.

"Thank you"

Thanking me and taking the teddy, Amanda's face did not change.

Seeing her reaction, I shook my head.

Even though it did not show from her expression, at the moment she was very happy. I could tell since whenever Amanda was happy, her brows tended to go up.

Just a small character trait that she had.

Weakly tugging Amanda's sleeves, Emma said "Let's go Amanda, I'm no longer in the mood to play this game"

"Okay"

Putting all of the teddies in my storage space, we went out separate ways.

During the time, I roamed around the arcade looking for new games to play. In the end, we spent a total of two hours inside of the arcade before we finally decided to leave and have dinner.

To honor her bet, Emma invited everyone to a fancy restaurant that resided on the top of a high-rise building.

Since it was free I naturally did not hold back and ordered the most expensive dish they served.

'Steamed Arcane Sparrow glazed sprinkled with a touch of white truffle and a side of foie gras'

With her mouth open, staring at me who was gulping down the food like a starved beast, Emma exclaimed "Although I said I was going to pay for everything, did you really have to order the most expensive dish? Two at that?"

Stuffing myself with the food, I gave Emma a casual look. "Hm? You're loaded anyways, this is merely spare change for you"

"No, that's not the point"

"Soo good"

Ignoring Emma, I blissfully ate the food before me as my tonsils jumped with joy. With every bite of the dish I took, juices would come rushing into my mouth promoting me to eat more.

Staring at me, Kevin shook his head as he tried to console Emma. On the other side of the table, sitting next to me, with a knife and fork, Amanda cut the steak before her as she took small bites of the steak.

Ignoring the others, as I ate my food, I couldn't help but reminisce at my past self back on earth where I would continuously eat fast food every day as it was cheap. Even after I came into this world I had not treated myself to proper high-end food.

I have to say, after today, my palate will forever be changed.

Instant noodles? To hell with that I say!

After an hour, I was finally stuffed. With a dark look on her face, Emma went to the cashier and paid for the food.

In the end, the total bill for the food came at a whopping 750,000 U. As the food was made from rare beasts and herbs, it was naturally very expensive.

Staring at the bill in Emma's hand, I took a step to the side and whistled in the air.

'Let's just pretend that 450,000 of that 750,000 wasn't just me'

Unfortunately, my wish did not come true as Emma glared and cursed at me.

"You! How can you eat so much! You pig!"

Shrugging my shoulders, I hid behind Kevin "You are the one who proposed the bet. It's on you not me, plus you're rich anyway, this shouldn't be too much for you anyways"

"Hmph!"

Crossing her arms, Emma turned her head away from me and proceeded to ignore me. Noticing how angry Emma was, I frowned.

'Why is she reacting this much?'

I was honestly confused. Since I had created her, I knew her character best. And I knew that she wasn't a stingy character as she never bothered forking out millions of U for useless stuff.

Stepping in, Kevin tried to calm Emma down.

"Alright guys calm down, how about we go back to the academy for now. It's already getting late"

Hearing Kevin's remarks and calming down a bit, Emma nodded her head, "Fine"

"Good"

Like that, the shopping trip came to an end as we all took the air train back to the academy.

...

Outside of the train station, near the Lock.

After parting ways with Emma and Amanda, only Kevin and I remained.

Looking at me, Kevin said, "Weren't you being a bit too harsh on Emma?"

"Me? harsh? I was just teaching her a lesson"

"What lesson?"

Without hesitation, I replied, "Don't bet against me. You're bound to lose if you do so"

Unless I was certain about my victory, I was not the guy who would take a bet.

That was my principle.

Therefore, if I ever accepted a bet, it was because I was certain that I was going to win.

Shaking his head, Kevin patted me on the shoulder and changed the topic, "If you say so. Anyhow, I wish you the best of luck for tomorrow"

Confused, I looked at Kevin, "What are you talking about?"

Smiling mysteriously, Kevin didn't answer as he walked towards his dorm.

"Good luck"

"Wait, hold on, tell me what's going on!"

With his back facing me, Kevin casually said.

"You'll see tomorrow"

"What, come on!"

Despite all of my protests, Kevin refused to answer me. In the end, shaking my head, I muttered "What's up with him being so vague?"

'Tsk, what a terrible friend. First, he betrays me, and now this? Hmph, I'll get you back in the future'

...If it were me, I would've immediately have told him everything.

Turning around as I kicked a rock to the side, I wondered what Kevin meant by good luck. Was something going to happen tomorrow that I was not aware of?

Unfortunately for me, I would only find out what Kevin was referring to tomorrow.

And when I did find out, my face twisted so much that my charm dropped all the way down to H rank.

Chapter 198: Dominating through fear [1]

Late night.

After returning from her short shopping trip, Emma laid down on her mattress exhausted. With her short brown hair scattered on the bed, Emma scrolled through her phone.

Thinking of something, Emma opened her bank account and checked her balance.

[Account balance : 7,472,060 U]

Seeing the number, Emma ground her teeth and muttered.

"...what a pig"

During her small trip, she had planned on only spending at most 100,000 U. She had not expected herself to fork out 750,000U. This was way beyond the budget she had set herself. In fact, spending 100,000 was already too much for her at the moment.

Normally, she wouldn't have minded.

...but her current circumstances weren't normal.

Looking at how much money she had in her bank account Emma felt bitter.

"How long will this last me..."

She truly regretted betting with Ren. Had she not bet, none of this would've happened.

-Ring!

At that moment, Emma's phone rang.

Checking who the sender was, Emma's face darkened. It was her uncle.

[Hello Emma, how was your day?]

Clenching her teeth, Emma picked up the phone and replied.

[Everything is fine, thank you, uncle]

[That's great, but Emma...]

[Yes]

[Did you go out today?]

Seeing the message, Emma's face contorted to a frown.

'How is that any of your business'

Forcefully trying to calm herself down, she replied.

[Yes, with two of my friends]

Ren was definitely not her friend.

[That's good, but do you still have enough money? I hope you're still not mad at me for blocking your card. With your dad leaving all responsibilities to me, we have to take precautions]

"Bastard..."

At her father's mention, Emma felt truly enraged. Ever since her father caught wind of a secret plot that the Monolith was brewing in preparations to attack Ashton city, as its city mayor, her father had no other choice but to leave and prevent their plans.

This was four months ago.

Right now, with her father gone, her uncle was the one in charge of the family affairs.

He did not like Emma.

With Emma being the direct inheritor of her Roshfield family, her uncle was jealous. He too had a son. However, he was only ten years old.

Given how young he was, he did not stand a chance at inheriting the family's leading position. He was just like him, stuck in his brother's shadow.

How could he tolerate that?

Therefore, when the opportunity presented itself. Emma's uncle tried to do his best to suppress her.

One of the first things he did was block her card. With the excuse of Emma spending too much money on useless stuff, her uncle managed to convince the others to freeze her card until her father came back.

Obviously, Emma knew this, however, with her father gone she could only swallow this bitter pill.

Suppressing her rage, Emma cut the conversation short.

[I understand uncle, do not worry about it. I have to go to sleep now as classes start early in the morning, good night]

Without waiting for her Uncle's reply, Emma threw her phone towards the other side of the bed.

Tucking herself inside of her blankets, she cursed.

"...this fucker"

...

Same time, the room next door.

Returning to her room, Amanda carefully walked towards one of her drawers. Taking out a stuffed teddy, Amanda carefully placed the teddy on top of the drawer. Facing her way.

Looking at the teddy, Amanda nodded her head in satisfaction. She really liked the teddy.

"..Haa"

After carefully putting the teddy on the drawer, tired, Amanda buried herself on her bed.

A lot of things happened today. What seemed to be a regular day like any other turned out into an outing with Emma, Kevin, and Ren.

She normally disliked such outings as she hated crowds. However, with everything that had happened today, she couldn't say she disliked it.

It was fun.

Suddenly her phone rang.

-Ring! -Ring!

The caller ID was Maxwell Benson, her personal assistant.

Amanda picked up the phone.

"Yes?"

Maxwell's voice was pleasant to the ears. Neither hurried nor slow. As Amanda listened to what he wanted to say, a look of understanding appeared on her face. A trace of surprise was mixed in it too.

—Amanda, your father, and the elders want to meet you next week. They have agreed to your proposal and are expecting you soon.

"I understand"

Knowing that Amanda did not like to talk for long periods of time, Maxwell kept the conversation short and asked.

—Is there anything else that you would like young miss?

"No, this is good for now.

—I understand, I wish you good luck for next week.

"mhm"

Nodding her head, Amanda hung up the call.

-Tack!

Scrolling through her phone, Amanda opened her chat log with Melissa and clicked on a specific video.

Displayed on the screen was a card held by two pincers as mana was slowly injected into it. Not long after, a massive flame engulfed the video.

After getting the greenlight from Melissa, Amanda contacted her dad and guild elders regarding a possible business proposition.

Normally, given how busy most elders and her father were, they would've never have agreed. However, since it was Amanda who proposed the deal, they agreed without asking too many questions.

This was what the phone call was about. Her father and the elders of the guild had agreed to listen to Ren's and Melissa's plan.

Although she did not doubt that they would've agreed, she was quite surprised by the fact that they had agreed to meet in a week's time.

With how busy they usually were, she had expected to even wait as far as a couple of months. This came as a bit of a surprise for her.

But after a bit of thinking and realizing who the two people in question were, Amanda understood.

With Melissa being the genius that she was, there was no doubt that her guild wanted to form a connection with her.

On the other hand, there was Ren. Given how influential her parent's guild was, without a doubt that they knew a few things about him. Especially with regards to what had happened a few nights ago when he supposedly aided in the killing of a Viscount ranked demon.

Given how popular he was nowadays, without a doubt the elders and her father wanted to meet him in person.

<E+> rank at age sixteen.

Though Amanda expected this somewhat, she was still shocked. Without a doubt, his talent rivaled that of Jin's and Kevin's.

Huuu—

-Plack!

Taking a deep breath, Amanda carefully put away her phone in her drawer and closed the lights.

Closing her eyes, Amanda suddenly thought of Ren.

After getting to know him better, her impression of him slightly changed.

Her first encounter with him had left a deep impression on her.

She could still recall those cold and merciless eyes devoid of any emotions looking at her. At that time she thought that he was an undercover bodyguard that her family had sent to protect her. But after confirming with her father and guild, she knew that this was not the case.

Therefore, her interest in him piqued a little.

After meeting him a few more times, Amanda realized that he was completely different from how she thought he was.

Perhaps he was faking it, but from what Amanda figured, he was not the merciless killer that she thought he was in her first encounter.

He was just like everyone else. Just a regular youth in his teens.

Silly at times, serious in others.

If she did have to point out something odd about him, it was his fashion sense. Recalling how proud he was about the clothes he was wearing, Amanda shook her head.

It was frankly terrible.

It was so bad that Amanda was left speechless.

Aside from that, Amanda also recalled the look of despair on Emma's face once he got six teddies in fifteen tries whilst she didn't even get one despite so many tries.

...it was the first time Amanda saw Emma so depressed. The more she thought about it, the more the corner of her lips curved upwards. Suddenly a strange noise came out of her mouth.

"ku..."

With the corner of her lips curved slightly upwards, Amanda slowly lost consciousness.

That night, Amanda slept more peacefully than usual.

...

Lunch time; 12 : 00 P.M. Class A-25

Standing before me, a student wearing a similar azure-colored uniform pointed in my direction and shouted.

"Ren Dover, I challenge you to a fight"

Opening my eyes wide, I glanced towards my left where Kevin sat. He had an all-knowing smile on his face. The smile didn't last for long though.

Not long after someone challenged him too. However, unlike me, he was challenged by an exchange student.

The exchange students were currently not mixed with us yet as that would start next week after the banquet was held.

The reasoning for this was simple.

The courses between each academy were different. In order for the exchange students to follow our class, they needed a week or so to adapt to what our academy was teaching.

Given how different some of the materials were, if they were suddenly put in our class, chances were that most of them wouldn't understand a thing.

This would pretty much ruin the whole point of the exchange. If their students learned nothing from this, what was the point of sending them here?

Looking down on me, the youth proudly puffed his chest. His voice raised, "So? Are you going to accept my challenge or not?"

The youth's name was Haris Parra, and he was ranked in the top 50's.

Ever since yesterday, the youth before him, Ren Dover, had been appearing all over the news.

He did not believe it.

He believed that he was just someone that happened to show up at the right place at the right time. Killing a Viscount ranked demon at the age of sixteen? Who was stupid enough to believe that?!

Certainly not him!

That's when Haris suddenly had an idea

'What if I use this chance to crush him and make my name famous?'

If he crushed the talk of the city who was deemed the next prodigy, wouldn't everyone think he was the prodigy?

The more Haris thought about it, the more convinced he was about his conjunction. Staring at Ren with burning eyes, he repeated.

"What about it, huh? You accept or not?"

Looking up at the youth before me, and more or less understanding what he was thinking, I frowned.

'Should I reject him?'

It's not like he could force me to fight.

If I rejected him, the worst that could happen would be him humiliating me in front of everyone in the classroom. Which frankly speaking didn't bother me at this point.

I did go through this for half a year after all.

However, I shook my head.

'No, there is no need for me to run anymore. In fact, I should use this opportunity'

Having come to a resolution not long ago, I knew that I no longer needed to avoid such situations.

'Use this opportunity to thoroughly set an impression on the others. With the aid of this extra, I should use this chance to thoroughly implant a deep impression of myself to the others. One that would make them not dare bother or challenge me...'

I no longer needed to remain hidden, and avoid conflicts. With my rank and name known by the most influential people in the city, I knew that hiding was pointless.

It was about time I revealed some of my abilities.

Seeing me shake my head, the youth's lips curled upwards as he mocked.

"Are you refusing? Are you perhaps scared? It's fine I won't bite"

Shaking my head, I deeply looked at the youth before me. After a while, with a plain smile on my face, I nodded my head.

"No, I accept"

Chapter 199: Dominating through fear [2]

Ten minutes before Ren and Kevin's matches were about to start, section G, upper rows of the arena grounds.

"Amanda! Over here"

Waving in Amanda's direction, Emma patted the seat next to hers.

Spotting Emma, Amanda sat next to her. With a drink in her hand, Emma asked.

"How many times today?"

"Five"

"Five? Too little, last time it was six, this time I'm betting on seven"

What Emma was referring to was how many fights Kevin will have before lunch break ended. Last week, in the span of an hour, he was challenged a whopping six times.

This time, Emma bet that he would be challenged seven times.

Having learned her lesson, she naturally did not bet any money.

Stretching her arms upwards, Emma yawned.

"Huaaamm...man, watching Kevin fight is always entertaining, don't you agree?"

"Yes"

Amanda nodded her head.

With how good Kevin was, watching his fight was both entertaining and enlightening. There was much to learn from him.

This was why it usually attracted a lot of people.

"Just the way he moves and how he fights, you never get bored of it. Especially since he always holds back. Kind of feel bad for his opponents"

Clenching her fists, Emma's eyes became bright.

"Still, I'm not planning on getting left behind"

Burping out loud and casually tossing the drink in her hand, Emma recalled something.

"Burp...Right, that guy is also fighting"

"Ren?"

"Yeah, him"

At the mention of Ren's name, Amanda's interest piqued a little.

She had already seen him fight once before, back in the after-party. Despite only having seen a fraction of his true abilities, Amanda never forgot that moment.

'Will he use the sword art or skill from back at the after-party? The fast one?'

All she remembered was a blur.

However, it left a deep impression on her. It was so fast that even Elijah wasn't able to catch a glimpse of it.

Was he going to use the skill or art he used to beat Elijah back then?

Amanda wanted to know.

"Who was his opponent again?"

With her arms crossed, Emma frowned. She had no idea who Ren was fighting. After a while, she shook her head and gave up.

"Eh, I can't seem to remember his name"

"Do you know anything about him?"

"Nah not really, from what I've heard, his rank is in the top fifties so he shouldn't be too bad"

"Top fifty?"

"Yeah, I'm actually curious at how strong that fuc-kheum, I mean Ren is. What about you?"

Mid-sentence, Emma coughed and corrected herself. Amanda's reply was short and curt.

"Yeah, I guess so"

"This fight seems to be attracting a lot of people"

Expecting such a response, Emma looked around. Noticing something, she pointed towards her left.

"Hey look, Amanda! Jin's here too. I guess he too is interested in the fight"

Sitting a few rows next to them, Jin had his arms crossed. His full attention was towards the arena grounds.

Neither Arnold nor Troy sat next to him.

It was apparent that he had come here with the intention of observing the fights.

Curious, Emma looked at Amanda and asked, "Do you think he's here for Ren's or Kevin's fight?"

Without hesitation, Amanda replied, "Ren"

"What makes you think so?"

"He wasn't here last time when Kevin fought"

"Oh, now that you've mentioned it, you're right"

Emma did not see Jin ever spectating any of Kevin's matches before. Unless he had a change of heart, he came here to watch Ren fight.

"But, why would he watch Ren instead of K-"

"Huaaa!"

Cutting Emma mid-sentence were the loud cheers coming from the arena grounds. Two youth's appeared on the stage below.

"Oh, the fight is about to start. It looks like Ren's first"

...

By the time I arrived at Section G, the news of my upcoming challenge had spread throughout the academy.

This was to be expected.

Given that I was challenged publically, the news was bound to spread quickly.

Despite it being lunchtime, the arena was bustling with people. Even more shocking was the number of reporters present at the scene.

Coincidentally, right before entering the arena, I was able to hear a nearby reporter talking.

"Shocking news, it is being reported that right now student Kevin Voss and Ren Dover are being simultaneously challenged to a duel. Their opponents are..."

*Sigh*

Listening to the reporter, I shook my head and sighed.

With Kevin being challenged every day, it was only natural that they were present. After all, every guild out there was salivating to know more about Kevin and his unrivaled talent.

Now that the opportunity presented itself, they were all itching to know more about me.

'Ren Dover, the next prodigy, blah, blah, blah'

For the past few days, that's all I had been seeing on the papers and on the TV. Although it may not seem like much, for humans, another prodigy popping up was something worth celebrating.

The stronger humanity was, the safer they were.

Such attention was natural.

Suddenly, as I was making my way towards the entrance of the arena grounds I was stopped by a man in black. A Lock emblem was on sewed on his right pocket.

Frowning, I pointed at my uniform, "I'm wearing a student uniform, can't you see?"

"Haha, it's not that. It's better if you don't go that way"

"Why's that?"

The man took out his watch and played a clip. More specifically, a live camera view of the entrance of the arena.

"Take a look for yourself?"

"Tss..."

Hissing, I secretly wiped the cold sweat that had accumulated on my forehead. In the video, tons of reporters waited with their microphones in their hands. Some used their phones too.

They resembled hungry wolves waiting for their prey.

"Where should I go?"

"Here, this path was specifically made for these kinds of reasons"

Taking a step to the side, the man opened a small door.

"Ah, I see. Thank you"

Thanking the man, I entered the door.

Sure enough, after walking through a long narrow corridor, I arrived before the changing rooms unobstructed.

-Clank!

Entering the changing room I soon spotted Kevin. Turning around and sensing my presence, a bitter smile appeared on his face.

"Fancy seeing you here Ren"

"This is what you get for gloating at someone else's misfortune"

Sitting down and taking out my training uniform, I quickly got changed.

"I was prepared for it though"

Putting on my shorts, I paused slightly and looked at Kevin.

"Actually, what's the point of you agreeing to every fight?"

"They are good practice dummies"

Rolling my eyes, I retorted, "Stupid, if you want proper training dummies just practice with the VR machines"

The VR machine had a special function that allowed people to fight against virtual models of well-known heroes.

Though it could not replicate their fighting experience in full, they were much better than the students Kevin was fighting.

They were cannon-fodder after all.

"It's just not the same"

"How so?"

"Because the feeling is not the same"

Hearing his response, I once again rolled my eyes.

'I guess that 1% really bothers him'

Stretching my neck, I stood up.

"Well, you do you. I'm not planning on wasting my day endlessly fighting opponents"

My goal was simple.

Crush my opponent thoroughly. Use him as an example and deter others from challenging me.

Jin did the same, and things worked out well for him. Now no one dares to challenge him.

I couldn't be like Kevin where I would endlessly waste my time fighting against a bunch of nobodies. I had other things to do after all.

"Good luck"

"Sure, I'll see you after the fight is over"

"Alright"

-Clank

Exiting the training room, I quickly moved to the arena grounds.

*

Arriving before the arena, my opponent, Haris was already waiting for me. Looking up, I saw that the stands were filled with students.

Everyone's attention was directed towards me. Seeing this scene, I clicked my tongue.

'Tsk, who would've expected for such a day to come'

It really was weird.

From suddenly trying my everything to not stand out, to now being the center of everyone's attention.

With his eyes locked on me, Haris chuckled.

"Hehe, to think you actually accepted my challenge. Today I will prove to the whole school that you are just a phony. I will let them know who the true prod-"

Raising my hand, I irritably said, "Can you stop?"

"What?"

"What is it with you people always giving speeches before you fight? Like do I look like someone who cares about what you have to say?"

With this not being an official match, there were no hosts nor speakers. Apart from me, no one else could understand what he was saying. Not like the others would actually care.

Actually, there was someone else. The referee, though I doubt he cared.

Before letting Haris continue his rant, I stared at the referee and said, "Ref, can we get this fight started?"

Nodding his head, the referee raised his hand, "Are you guys ready?"

It seems like we were on the same page.

Staring at me with burning eyes, Haris gnashed his teeth and nodded his head. I did too.

"Yes"

"Yes"

Slashing his hand down, the referee shouted.

"You may begin"

—Booom!

The ground shook and Haris disappeared from his spot.

I stood still.

Staring at Haris's figure that was quickly approaching me, I shook my head. Covering half of my face with my hand, my eyes slowly turned dull grey.

The arena came to a standstill.

"The one..."

...

A/N : I'm sorry. I know. I repenting.

Chapter 200: Dominating through fear [3]

At this exact moment, an indescribable yet terrifying aura appeared on the tall stage.

Everything stood at a standstill.

Be it Haris, the referee, or the people in the stands. A cold chill traveled across the arena grounds.

"W-what is going on?"

Stopping midway, Haris felt as if his legs were made of lead. He couldn't move.

"Y-you what have you done to me?"

The momentum that Haris had previously completely disappeared the moment Ren's eyes turned grey. As if an invisible hand had grasped his neck, Haris's speech stuttered and his eyes dilated.

This was the first time he had ever felt such dread from someone. He could barely utter a word as his body convulsed slightly.

Swaying left and right, Haris tried his best to remain standing.

His heartbeat increased, his back was slowly getting drenched, his eyes dilated, and his breathing became rugged.

He was suffocating.

At this moment, in the eyes of the spectating students, Ren looked incomparably scary. With just one look, and his opponent could barely stand. Even the referee was affected as droplets of sweat appeared by the side of his head.

Noticing that Haris was still standing, Ren took his hand off his face. His two eyes were revealed, and the pressure intensified.

Right after the second eye was revealed, Haris's mind almost collapsed. He let out a sharp and pained cry.

"Haa-!"

Ren ignored him.

His dull grey eyes remained fixed on him.

The more Haris looked into Ren's eyes, the more insignificant Haris felt. It felt as though he was a peasant looking at his king.

How insolent of him!

"...Kneel"

Finally opening his mouth, Ren's hoarse yet cold voice echoed across the arena.

Without even thinking, Haris's knees weakened. An indescribable look of terror appeared in his eyes as his body continued to move down slowly and carefully.

He was afraid of angering the person before him.

Slowly and carefully Haris placed both knees on the ground.

As he knelt, he faced the ground the whole time. He did not dare look into Ren's eyes, nor did he care about how he looked at the moment.

Right now, all he wanted to do was kneel down.

Nothing else mattered to him.

As long as he knelt he was going to be fine...

"Stop! The match is over!"

Recovering from his stupor, staring at Haris who was slowly kneeling on the ground, the referee raised his hand and ended the match.

Instantly, the pressure alleviated and Ren's eyes returned to their usual deep blue color. Smiling as if nothing had ever happened, Ren nodded towards the Referee.

-Gulp!

Staring at Ren, the referee swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

He was currently a third-year and his rank was D. He could be considered quite talented for his age.

The reason he choose to be a referee was so that he could improve his CV for when he applied for a job once he graduated. However, at this moment, he almost regretted his choice.

The moment Ren's eyes turned grey, even he couldn't help but be affected. To make matters worse, once Ren's voice rang in the arena, he had almost knelt as well!

Had it not been for Ren holding back, who knew what could've happened. With everyone spectating and recording, this would've been extremely detrimental for his future.

Gratefully looking at Ren, the referee announced.

"Student Ren Dover wins"

Right after the referee announced the winner, silence prevailed over the surroundings.

Ren did not seem to mind this as he leisurely turned around and made his way towards the tunnel that led to the arena.

Like that, Ren's true show of might was revealed to the world.

...

"What was that?"

"I don't know"

Staring at the arena grounds below, Emma had a solemn expression on her face.

At this moment, no one cheered. Everyone had the same question on their mind.

'What just happened?'

Emma was the same.

All she saw was Ren's eyes turn dull grey before an indescribable chill washed over the arena grounds.

Even though she couldn't directly feel what had happened, judging from the referee's change in expression as well as Ren's opponent's reaction, Ren had done something outrageous.

With her body leaning forward, she muttered, "Was that a skill?"

"...possibly? But I don't know"

Amanda shook her head.

She did not know. She had originally thought that Ren was going to reveal the sword skill he had used back when he killed Elijah, but it seems like she was wrong.

Whatever Ren had used, she had never seen such skill before.

"Than what do you think that was?"

"I'm not sure..."

Because they were far from the actual arena grounds, they weren't fully aware of what had happened.

Although they felt something, it wasn't strong.

But it was enough for them to understand what Ren's opponent went through.

Frowning, Emma looked at Ren's opponent, Haris. His complexion was currently extremely pale, and his eyes were blank.

With a stretcher in tow, two medical staff came into the arena and placed Haris on it.

Placing her hand on her chin, Emma asked, "You think he's going to be okay?"

"I'm not sure"

Amanda once again shook her head.

She had no idea.

"I think he went a little too hard on him. There is a chance that he might never recover from this. From the way I see things, the opponent might be scarred for life..."

"Indeed..."

With a complicated expression on her face, Amanda agreed.

Had this been a physical fight she might've been able to tell the extent of his opponent's injuries.

However, from the very minute that the match had started Ren had not moved from his spot. This meant one thing.

Whatever Ren did, he had destroyed his opponent's mentality.

This had something to do with the brain! One of the most delicate organs of the human system.

If something really happened and the brain got damaged, no potion or modern technology could solve this issue.

Both Emma and Amanda knew this.

Once again staring at Haris who was slowly being carried away from the arena grounds, Emma's and Amanda's expressions turned solemn.

What would've happened if it was them? Would they have been able to resist whatever Ren had done?

...they did not know.

After Haris was carried away from the arena grounds, a show cast over them as a figure left the arena stands.

"Jin's leaving"

Walking towards the exit, Jin indifferently left the arena grounds. Apart from his brows being slightly knit, Jin seemed rather unfazed.

No one knew what he was thinking.

"I guess he really came to look at Ren's fight"

"mhm"

"Oh, it's finally Kevin's turn"

A minute after Jin left, Emma's eyes lit up as she saw Kevin enter the arena grounds.

Enough time had passed since Ren's shocking scene, and most of the people in the stands had recovered from their previous shock. Emma and Amanda too.

Standing up, they all cheered.

"Huuua-!"

...

Right after Ren's fight ended.

Inside the tunnel that led towards the arena grounds, Kevin leaned against the side of the wall with his arms crossed.

Spotting Ren's figure walking in his direction, Kevin smirked.

"You show off"

"No choice, unlike you I am not planning on treating everyone as my training dummy"

Rolling my eyes, I shrugged my shoulders.

Since I've said I was going to leave with a bang, I naturally did as I said.

This little stunt of mine will cement my position as a 'prodigy' but that was part of my plan. I knew that I needed to adapt to the changes.

After spending the last couple of days thinking, I had more or less come up with a rough outline of my future courses of action.

In a way, though it had its disadvantages, standing out could help me achieve my goals faster.

"By the way, you didn't permanently hurt him right?"

"Nah, I held back"

"You held back?"

"Well yeah"

My opponent was only F ranked after all. Had I used my full power, he would've permanently been scarred.

He would recover with a little bit of rest.

I was not stupid enough to cripple someone. That would achieve the opposite of what I wanted.

"That's true..."

Nodding his head, Kevin agreed. He knew Ren wasn't stupid enough to permanently injure a student out of pettiness.

Had he actually done that, he would've been in trouble.

"Alright, good luck with your match, not that you need it"

Wishing Kevin good luck, I headed to the changing room.

"You're right, I guess I don't"

"Pu! Since when have you become so arrogant?"

Halting my footsteps, I spat on the ground.

The Kevin that I knew would've never said such words. Who had corrupted him?

"Mh, I guess I've been spending too much time with the wrong people"

"I agree, don't hang out with Emma and Melissa"

Hearing Kevin's statement, I nodded solemnly.

Emma and Melissa were both bad influences for Kevin. He needed to spend less time with them or else he'll turn into an arrogant prick like the both of them.

"...I was talking about you"

"..."

I blinked a couple of times to make sure I wasn't hearing things.

"Who else would I be talking about? I literally spent a month with you in Immorra. Yesterday too! If I'm getting influenced by someone, it's you"

"Piss off!"

After a short pause, I irritably waved my hand and turned around. The veins on the top of my head were bulging.

This fucker.

Me a bad influence? What was he on about?

Not even in the slightest.

"hahaha, I was just kidding"

Laughing out loud, Kevin turned around and entered the arena.

It was his turn.

Chapter 201: The future [1]

—Clank!

I slid the doors that led to the balcony.

"...how annoying"

After the match with Haris, I left immediatly. With everyone distracted by Kevin's match, I took the opportunity to slip out and go back to my dorm.

Like that, I avoided most reporters.

Furthermore, apart from electives, there were no other lectures today. Therefore, I was naturally free.

Regarding Kevin's match, he naturally won. I wasn't sure about how many times he go challenged, but it was probably more than five.

"Haaa...what should I do now?"

A lot of my plans had changed because of what had happened in the most recent days. My plans of laying low were pretty much scrapped.

"hmm..."

Were they?

Now that I thought about it, although I could no longer remain as hidden as before, nothing prevented me from building my forces secretly.

I guess you could say that I was now operating in both the light and the dark.

In a way this was good.

A lot of my plans would speed up as a result of this. I did not need to be as cautious as before and could be more brazen about it.

'...Should I create an alias?'

By creating an alias I could still operate more secretly. On one hand, I would be this 'talented' individual that studies in the Lock.

On the other hand, I would use my other alias to operate my mercenary group and company.

That would be ideal.

...but who knows. I needed more time to think about this.

After what had happened a couple of days ago, I found my confidence shatter into pieces.

Anytime I came up with a plan, I felt paranoid.

What if this happened? What if that happened? What if a meteorite suddenly fell from the sky and destroyed my company?

With my recent successes piling up, I had become arrogant and complacent. I needed to stop thinking that I had everything in my control.

Nothing was ever in my control.

Just like Everblood, there were things that I couldn't account for. I needed to knock this into my skull.

I was so sure that everything was going according to my plans before...and guess what, Everblood showed up.

Someone who I didn't properly account for.

"...there's that fucker too"

There was also Matthew...

I'd never have expected him to go public with the incident.

If I could have, I would've immediately have told Irene the truth. The truth about the fact that he was a villain.

Sadly, I couldn't.

With Matthew knowing that I had a way to cure the Mindbreaker curse, I knew that I couldn't touch him at the moment.

If such news were to be revealed to the world, not only would I become the number one target of the demons, I would also be targeted by other people who were desperate for the cure.

Fortunately, since I could reveal that he was contracted to a demon, he also couldn't reveal what he knew.

We were currently at a stalemate.

"...Damn it, I need to be stronger"

I clenched my teeth hard and glared at the scenery outside of the balcony.

I had to get stronger quicker.

"I can't let this go on..."

Taking out the diary that contained all of the information about the novel, I quickly flipped through its pages.

—Flip! —Flip!

"Where is it..."

Since I knew I had to get stronger, I naturally had to see what I could do to make myself stronger. The book in my hand had the answer.

"This should be the page"

Stopping at a certain page, I frowned.

—Flip!

Licking the tip of my finger, I flipped to the next page. My eyes constantly moved from the left to the right.

I needed to look for anything in the novel that could be useful for me in the future.

An ideal item would be one that would help me pass lie detectors.

Those were a problem...if not for Irene being able to detect lies, none of this would've happened.

Fortunately, there was an item that could help me with regards to that.

—Plap!

"Haa..."

A couple of minutes after, I closed the book and exhaled.

I knew what I had to do now.

After taking a proper look at the book, I had a general idea of my next course of action. Even though it would cause some trouble to some people in the future, I no longer cared as much.

Right now all I wanted to do was get stronger.

—Ding!

At that moment, my phone suddenly rang.

[They agreed to listen to you]

It was Amanda. Her message was vague yet I instantly understood what she meant.

[Demon hunter? They agreed?]

[Yes]

[When?]

I needed to know the time. Since this was a formal meeting, I needed to prepare in full. Just one mistake and the deal could fall through.

[Next week, a day after the banquet]

[I understand, I'll get everything ready by then]

[Okay]

After that, Amanda no longer messaged me. Since I knew her personality, I wasn't bothered.

"Alright, this is good"

Securing this deal would take a load off of my back.

Not only would I secure a long-term money system, but create a connection with the demon hunter guild as well.

Naturally, the reason why I stood out so much today was because of this. The more talented I appeared the greater the appeal of the project.

They weren't just investing in the magic card system, but in me too.

...this was what I wanted.

"I guess that's sorted for now… Also, there's that too…"

Looking towards my wrist, I stared at the bracelet in my hand.

I still had not checked the extra items I got from Immorra. With everything that had happened recently, I didn't have enough time to properly check my spoils.

Perhaps there was something interesting mixed in there.

"Before that...guess it's time to annoy Melissa"

I took out my phone and quickly typed a message.

[Yo, Melissa, about the potion...when?]

My arm still hurt after all.

...

At the same time, inside a white laboratory space.

—Clank! —Clank!

The heavy sound of machinery moving items to and fro resounded across the white laboratory space. Large metallic arms moved around the asphalt pavement carrying different-sized boxes. Inside of them were spare robotic parts or different colored potions.

—Booom!

Suddenly a large explosion rang inside of the lab. Inside of a white confined room that could be seen through a rectangular glass, fire spread everywhere as it enveloped the whole room.

Not long after, the fire died down and a red card held by two pincers was revealed. A cold and mechanical voice rang.

[Experiment log #598 - Mana lingering in room : 49%]

Standing opposite to the glass, a beautiful girl inwardly muttered.

"Another failure"

After countless trials, Melissa still couldn't quite synchronize the mana inputted in the card with the right pysons. Despite the fact that the current magic circle installed in the card was a simple [Fireball], occasionally a couple of other psyons that were not flame psyons would enter the system resulting in a large loss of efficiency.

"...just what am I missing?"

Compared to when she had just started there were a lot of improvements...however, this was not enough.

In order for the card to be commercially viable, Melissa needed to have only a 30% efficiency loss. Any more than that and there was no point in using the card.

At the moment her efficiency loss was 49%

Still a far cry from her goal.

"Melissa, you've got a message"

Suddenly, a crisp voice called out for her from the other side of the room. A cheerful girl walked in Melissa's direction.

"Rosie? Who would message me at the moment?"

With her right hand on her white lab coat, Melissa took the phone. Instantly her brows knit.

[Yo, Melissa, about the potion...when?]

"This bastard..."

Melissa's clenched the side of the phone.

She was already busy enough with the magic card concept and now he wanted him to make him an advanced potion.

Fuck that.

"Rosie, order an advanced potion off the market"

Turning to her assistant she quickly ordered. She couldn't be bothered to make a potion herself, so might as well just order one from the market and pretend that it was from her.

"An advanced potion?"

"Yes"

"What about the quality?"

"Make it the lowest..no scratch that, make it the highest quality you can find"

Melissa was originally tempted to just give Ren the lowest quality potion. However, she suddenly realized that it would be unrealistic.

How could she, Melissa Hall, make such a low-quality potion!

Impossible!

Her pride wouldn't allow her to do that!

"It's around 40,000,000 U, that okay?"

"40 million?"

"Yeah"

"...yeah"

Secretly gritting her teeth, Melissa nodded.

'Calm down Melissa, you can secretly strangle him in your sleep'

Once she developed the magic card system money will start coming in. Compared to what she usually spent on experiments each day, 40 million could be considered spare change for the likes of her.

—Ding!

[Helloooo? Anybody there? I can tell that you've seen the message. I can't believe you're ghosting me. What a rude-]

Before she could finish reading the message, Mellisa's veins were already bulging from her forehead.

"I swear to god..."

Trying her best to suppress her rage, she typed.

[I humbly apologize for the inconvenience. This slave will quickly get your potion done in record time just for you. Not like she's busy with real life which is something someone else doesn't seem to have. Perhaps you'd want a massage right after I deliver the potion?]

[That would actually be quite nice not gonna lie]

Moments after she sent her reply, she got a reply. Staring at the reply, Melissa smiled.

The smile was so terrifying that Rosie, who was not so far from her had to take a couple of steps back.

All she saw was death.

"Ren Dover!"

...

Northern District.

Inside a medium-sized mansion, a childish voice rang out.

"Wa! where is pwudding?"

"Calm down Nola, Pudding will come back soon, she's probably taking a stroll around the compounds"

Taking Nola in her arms, Samantha Dover quickly tried to calm Nola down. She was used to such scenes.

Occasionally Pudding would sneak out from the house for prolonged periods of time causing Nola to be upset.

Samantha did text Ren about this problem to which he replied, 'it's fine, she will return soon. She does this from time to time'

...and it was true.

Not long after, pudding would quickly return to the house. Naturally, from there Samantha no longer worried about her disappearance.

The only problem was Nola.

"While we wait for pudding why don't you play with mama for now?"

"Nwo! Pudding is better"

"Oh my"

...

Inside of a secluded space, the figure of a beautiful woman could be seen sitting with her legs crossed.

After moving away from Ren's house, Angelica managed to find a rather safe and secluded location where she start her breakthrough.

Even though her breakthrough wouldn't cause a large commotion, she naturally wanted to be on the safer safe. Thus why she chose a secluded space.

"Haa...after this I should be able to breakthrough"

Angelica exhaled and looked at her hand. A black fruit that pulsated a red hue appeared.

Staring at the fruit, her face was solemn.

This was it.

With the aid of the fruit, she will finally break through to Viscount rank. A long-cherished dream of hers.

From this moment forward she will be known as 'Viscount Von Doix'

—Gulp!

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Angelica brought the fruit closer to her face.

"Here goes nothing"

—Crunch!

Angelica took a bite of the fruit.

Chapter 202: The future [2]

—Click!

"What do you think?"

Inside of a pitch-black room, on a long and round table, sat multiple obscured individuals.

Displayed before them was a projection of youth with jet-black hair and deep blue eyes standing on what seemed to be an arena ground.

Out of all the figures sitting, only one stood up.

A relatively old man who had long grey hair and a thin mustache on his face. Judging from how respectful the individuals in the room were towards him, it could be inferred that he was a relatively important figure.

As the clip played, the youth's eyes slowly turned dull grey. Not long after, the match ended.

It was one-sided.

The youth not once moved from his spot.

"..."

After the clip ended, silence prevailed over the room as no one spoke.

"What skill was that?"

After a while, one of the figures broke the silence and spoke. His eyes remained fixed on the youth displayed on the screen.

"I'm not sure as well"

The old man shook his head.

He too wasn't too sure about what had happened. Despite being one of the strongest people in the human domain, he wasn't omnipotent. He didn't know everything.

"Could it be a fear-inducing skill?"

A figure interjected.

"I doubt it, I've seen similar skills, but none of them even comes close to this one"

"Than what do you think?"

"I'm also not sure"

Another figure spoke.

"Then could it just be the youth's power?"

"That's right, from what I've read he was ranked E+, it could very well be just his aura"

Instantly the room was filled with discussions as more and more people joined in.

Suddenly, as everyone was speaking, one of the figures sitting in the room spoke up as he looked at the old man.

"Sir, I don't understand. Why did we have to go public with his information? If we wanted to protect him, wouldn't it have been better if we did not disclose his information?

Instantly the room turned silent. Everyone stared at the old man.

They too were curious.

Feeling the stares directed in his direction, the old man shook his head.

"Haizz..Unfortunately, because of the pressure coming from the guilds, we had to reveal the information"

The old man truly felt that it was a pity.

With the world still following a capitalist principle, talented youth were treated as prize pieces for the top guilds to own for the sake of their honor.

If there was ever a chance that a talented youth was found, they were to immediately report it to them. This was so that they could 'nurture' them into future powerhouses for the sake of humanity.

The old man knew that this was bullshit.

Despite the fact that humans were facing the threat of extinction. Instead of being united, humans still segregated themselves into different factions with the idea of wanting more power.

"Hai...I guess there is no end to human greediness"

Once again the old man shook his head.

He originally wanted to keep the youth's rank and talent sealed, but with the pressure coming from all sides, he had to give in.

After all, he was responsible for thousands of people's jobs. Even though he was strong. He was only one man.

"Tell the Lock to take care of him. Oh, and make sure you warn Maximus. I won't tolerate another one of his son's blunders. If push comes to shove even a mosquito sting can be devastating"

This time he was serious. What had happened to Kevin not long ago truly sent him into a fit of rage.

If not for the fact that Gilbert had not killed Kevin, he would've personally have taken action.

A talent like Kevin could not die!

"Haa...I hope I won't have to take action"

Calming down, the man sighed.

This was the best he could do for the youth at the moment.

He really hoped he would give him a pleasant surprise in the future. The world needed talented youths more than ever. Especially since they were currently facing the threat of extinction.

"Understood"

Staring at the old man, everyone shouted in unison. The meeting ended after that.

...

[Lock, 7:50 A.M]

Class A-25

Having set an impression during my sparring session yesterday, no one approached me.

"Huuuam...morning"

"Morning"

No one besides Kevin of course. Taking out his tablet, Kevin sat down. Used to Kevin now sitting next to me, I didn't mind his presence.

"haha, check this out"

Scrolling through his tablet, Kevin laughed out loud and handed me his tablet. Curious I took it and read what was written on it.

[Shocking display of might coming from Kevin Voss and R-]

"Bah, don't show me this crap"

Tossing the tablet back to Kevin I rolled my eyes. I had seen enough articles talking about me. Every time I saw an article about me I ended up cringing hard.

Fortunately, I knew that with given time they would slowly decrease in number.

"Oh right, has your suit arrived?"

Putting his tablet down, Kevin suddenly thought of something.

"My suit?"

"Yeah, the one we bought a couple of days ago"

"mhm, it did"

I was honestly surprised by how efficient the tailors were. Within one day the suit was already sent and delivered to my apartment.

I haven't tried the suit, but from the outside, it looked pretty good. Not sure whether it was comfortable though. Looked pretty tight.

"So, what about it?"

"What about what?"

"What about the suit I mean? Do you like what we choose?"

"I guess it's alright"

"What do you mean alright, I choose the suit! Of course, it's good"

As Kevin and I were talking, Emma suddenly interrupted.

It was evident that she was eavesdropping on our conversation. Ignoring her blatant attempt at joining the conversation without looking like she was eavesdropping, I responded.

"Is it really?"

To me, it just looked like a regular suit. Though it looked good, nothing about it stood out.

"This guy is hopeless"

"...and what are you doing here?"

Leaning back, I crossed my arms.

"What about me?"

"What are you doing here? Go back to your own seat"

"Does this seat have your name on it?"

Looking around, Emma pointed at the seat she was in. Frowning, I shook my head.

"No"

"Then sit here I shall"

Smiling, she sat down.

"..."

No words escaped from my mouth.

She was doing this on purpose, wasn't she?

"Ren, it's useless. Once Emma sets her mind on something, there's no convincing her"

Sitting next to me, Kevin shook his head. He had been through this multiple times.

"Uh..."

I knew that...

That's why I was speechless.

"Oh, Amanda sit here too"

Right before I was about to rebuke, spotting Amanda entering the classroom, Emma waved at her. Staring in Emma's direction, Amanda's eyes were hazy. She was not a morning person.

"Why?"

"Just come, don't leave me here alone with those two"

"Then why don't you just leave"

I quickly retorted.

If she didn't want to seat next to me, she could just move. No one was forcing her to stay with me and Kevin.

Emma ignored me and kept pestering Amanda. In the end, still lethargic due to having just woken up, Amanda gave in and sat next to her.

A row ahead of where I was sitting.

"Great, just when I thought it couldn't get any worse..."

"It's okay"

Patting me on the shoulder, Kevin consoled me.

'This is practically your fault!'

If Kevin had never sat next to me, this would've never have happened!

If before a lot of the students were staring in my direction, now practically everyone was staring in my general direction.

Kevin was enough.

But now Emma and Amanda too? Are you kidding me?

"Ah right, Kevin, what time are you going to the banquet next week?"

Turning around, Emma asked.

"Hm, around 7:00 P.M."

"I see..."

"Why are you asking?"

"Nothing"

Turning her head around, Emma avoided the question. Her voice had a hint of disappointment.

Noticing this, I rolled my eyes.

'Just tell him that you want to go with him already!'

Emma was obviously trying to ask Kevin to go with her. Unfortunately for her, Kevin was dense. Unless she told him right in his face, he would never pick up the hint.

"What about you Ren?"

Unaware of this, Kevin asked me the same question to which I vaguely responded.

"Whenever"

That was a lie.

I was in fact going to go one hour earlier than Kevin. There was a reason for that. It was to stop something that will eventually happen at the party.

Although the plotline was different from what I remembered, the events at the Lock should still somewhat be the same, right?

I wasn't sure.

That's why I wanted to go early and check.

"Ah right Kevin, by the way, did you hear about the—"

Quickly recovering, Emma turned around and asked.

"Shush...class is starting"

Cutting Emma mid-sentence, I put my finger on my lips. A second after, the door of the classroom opened up and Donna walked in.

Checking the time, 8:00 A.M, I muttered.

"Punctual as usual, not even a second late..."

...

Late that night.

—Bang!

Emma slammed the door to her room close, then jumped on her bed.

"Dense bastard..."

For the past day, Emma had tried dropping as many hints as she could to Kevin. She wanted him to accompany her to the banquet.

The reason was simple.

Given how popular she was, she would naturally attract the attention of a lot of boys. This has happened to her multiple times in the past.

Knowing this, she wanted Kevin to act as her shield. As long as she was with him, no one would dare bother her.

...unfortunately.

"How can he spend so much time with that fucker..."

Ever since last week, Ren and Kevin had almost been inseparable. They were almost always together!

He even changed seats to sit next to him!

In fact, Emma understood why Kevin was interested in Ren. She too was slightly interested in him.

Ever since watching him fight, Emma's interest in him piqued. Especially after she saw him fight Haris.

She did not know what he did that day...but he was scary. In fact, the moment she saw him in the arena, she was reminded of the time back in Hollberg. Back when he was strangling Jin.

They had the same vibe...

Cold, and vicious.

"That's beside the point!"

Emma shook her head and dismissed such thoughts from her head.

There was a more pressing issue.

To her, the way Kevin and Ren became so close to each other was just so fast!

Within a couple of days and they were suddenly best friends? Who would buy that?

Emma didn't.

Just what could've happened between them during such a period of time?

"Could he be...

Suddenly she had a thought, her body shuddered as a result. She quickly shook her head.

'No, no, no, get your mind out of the gutter! There's no way Kevin is like that. Maybe Ren, but not Kevin...But what if?' Falling deep into her delusion, Emma bounced around on her bed while striking it repeatedly.

The next day, Emma attended the lectures with glaring black circles beneath her eyes.

...

[Monday 6:00 P.M.]

A week had passed and finally, the day of the banquet arrived.

As usual, I attended the morning and afternoon lectures. Apart from the unusual stares which I was starting to get used to, nothing in particular happened.

Having set an impression during my fight last week, no one approached me. Be it the five tyrants, the factions, or the professors.

This was understandable.

They all wanted to observe me first before approaching me.

What I had done back in the arena grounds sort of made most people apprehensive. In fact, not a lot was known about me. My background was also unknown. The extent of my abilities was unknown.

Apart from 'the one' which no one knew anything about, everything about me was unknown.

Therefore, without getting a proper read on me, no one would naturally approach me.

So for the past week, it was pretty chill. Not sure about the future.

"Is it this way? No...this way right?"

At the moment I was currently looking at myself in the mirror. Wearing a slick deep blue suit that complimented my eyes and perfectly outlined the outlines of my body, I tried to put on my tie.

Unfortunately, having only worn a suit on a couple of occasions in the past, I had no clue on how to proceed. I did look at the web, but it was easier said than done.

"Screw this crap, if only they allowed me to take the Hawaiian shirt..."

Eventually, out of frustration, I threw my tie on the floor. I regretted not taking the Hawaiian shirt.

Would've been much easier.

—Ding!

Suddenly my door rang. Walking towards the door, I opened it and found a package on the ground.

"Oh, just in time"

My eyes lit up, the sender was Melissa. Taking the package into my room and closing the door, I ripped the package open.

—Riiip!

"..."

Opening the package and looking through its contents, my hand froze. Blinking a couple of times to make sure I wasn't seeing wrong, I was left speechless.

'Are you serious?'

The potion was there alright.

...there was just one problem. It was the fact that there was a glaring sticker with the words (W.V pharmaceuticals) engraved on it.

"Haa..."

Pinching the middle of my brows, I exhaled.

"...you could've at least removed the tag"

I shook my head.

Melissa probably forgot to specify this to her assistant when she gave her the orders.

—Click!

Taking out my phone, I took a selfie. I made sure to emphasize the sticker by the side of the potion.

[Thank you for the wonderful potion YOU MADE]

Typing some words of appreciation, I sent Melissa the photo.

"Serves you right..."

For all those horrible days, it was about time I made you suffer.

—Ding!

Suddenly my phone rang. Leo was the sender.

[Ren where are you?]

I had promised him and Pram that I would go with them. Thinking about them, a smile appeared on my face.

Despite what had happened these past few days, they treated me the same.

Unlike the others, they weren't scared of me. From there I knew that they were truly good friends.

[Coming, coming]

Trying my best to fix my tie, I typed back.

[We're waiting for you on the bottom floor]

[Alright, give me a minute, I'll be right there]

—Plack!

Checking myself once again in the mirror, I turned off the light and headed downstairs.

It was time for the banquet to begin.

Chapter 203: Banquet [1]

"Looking good Ren"

"Sharp"

With my tie still crooked, I headed towards the lobby of the Manticore building. With me, Leo, and Pram heading an hour earlier than the others, the lobby of the building was relatively deserted.

It was evident that everyone was still busy dressing up for tonight.

"Can't say the same about you guys though"

Pulling the side of my collar I took a look at Leo and Pram and shook my head. Leo's suit was too big for him, and Pram's suit was a bit too tight for him.

They looked ridiculous.

"Are you sure you guys didn't swap suits?"

If they swapped suits they'd probably look normal.

Leo and Pram's smiles instantly froze. Their faces turned red.

"Says the guy that doesn't even know how to put on his tie!"

"You! Is this what you say after we compliment you?"

Hooking my arms around them I laughed.

"haha, I'm kidding let's go get a taxi. The ride is going to take some time..."

*

The banquet was not held at the academy. In fact, It was located in a separate private establishment quite far from the academy.

[Le manoir vert]

The owners of the establishment were of french descent, and naturally, it had a french ambient because of it. The establishment was fairly popular, as most wealthy individuals in Ashton city knew of its name.

"Thank you"

—Clank!

Exiting the taxi, with Leo and Pram in tow, we headed towards the mansion. Observing the mansion from afar, I muttered.

"We're finally here"

After thirty minutes, we had finally arrived at our destination.

Sitting at the center of a small hill, the mansion looked spectacular. Built using white-colored brick, the house's visual perfectly complemented the greenery that surrounded it. The tall, rectangular windows by the side of the house added an overall posh and sophisticated look to the mansion.

At the roof of the mansion was a tall, dark blue sloping roof that was nicely hipped.

"Damn, this is fancier than I expected"

Recovering from his stupor, Leo exclaimed.

"I agree"

"Yup, I agree. How about we go in?"

I suggested, to which Leo and Pram replied with a nod.

Once again fixing my collar, I walked towards the entrance of the mansion. Out of spite, due to what I had said before, Leo and Pram did not help me fix my tie.

Petty bastards.

"Ticket please"

In front of the mansion, we were stopped by a tall bodyguard in black. He had a thick french accent.

"Here you go"

"Here"

Taking out our phones, we showed the guards our tickets. Scanning our tickets, the guard nodded his head and let us in. With a smile, he welcomed us.

"Welcome to Le manoir vert, we hope you have a nice stay"

"Thank you"

"Thanks"

Thanking the guard, we entered the mansion and walked through a long and expansive corridor. As we walked through the corridor, a nice lavender scent invaded my nostrils.

Right after, we heard the sound of chatter in the distance.

'I guess we weren't the only ones that decided to come early'

Turning right of the corridor we arrived before a large hall that was lit by an enormous golden chandelier that hung from the ceiling.

"Oh wow, I like the ambiance of this place"

Leo and Pram looked at the hall in surprise. It was evident that they had not frequented such places before. I too was the same.

Recovering from our slight stupor, we walked in together.

The inside of the hall was just as gorgeous as the outside. A calming classical piece flowed beautifully, while each and every decoration was delicate and elegant.

"It's Mozart"

I instantly recognized the piece that was being played.

Turkish March by Mozart.

With me being a fanatic of classical music, I naturally knew what they were playing.

"Do you know who that is Leo?"

"No clue, never heard of such guy before"

"..."

No words came out of my mouth.

I was having second thoughts. Perhaps I shouldn't have befriended them.

"Oh look, isn't that Professor Rombhouse? Professor Thibaut is here too"

Pointing towards the end of the hall, Leo exclaimed.

Standing on the other hand of the hall, Professor Rombhouse conversed with Professor Thibaut. Both had a glass of prosecco in their hand.

"...It's them"

I squinted my eyes. I naturally recognized both of them.

Professor Rombhouse was the guy who kept pestering me at the beginning of the year with regards to the mana poisoning theory. With regards to that, after I had told him the theory, he did not pester me again.

He was busy researching.

"He should be close now no?"

With almost a year passing, he should soon be able to prove the theory that I put forward. That would cause quite the annoyance.

I made a mental note to myself.

'I've got to tell him not to include my name in the final thesis'

Taking my eyes off of Professor Rombhouse, my eyes soon paused on Professor Thibaut. My eyes became cold.

He was one of the people I had to look out for today. That was because he had a major role in today's incident.

"What should we do now? We're still a bit early"

Looking at me, Leo asked.

Snapping out of it, I held up my watch and looked at the time, 6:15 P.M. I then turned around.

"I've gotta go to the bathroom, I'll be back in a minute"

"...eh, alright"

"Take your time, we'll go try some appetizers whilst we are at it"

"Go ahead, I'll be back in ten"

*

Distancing myself from Leo and Pram, I took the stairs and led to the second-floor bathroom.

In any case, today my job was simple. Check if everything was progressing as it was in the story. I wanted to see the extent that my actions had on the plot.

Regardless, even if the story was progressing as it should, I was intent on interfering a little bit.

The reason was simple.

For the first time in the novel, villains would make an appearance. Their plan was to kill a few of the transfer students.

With the Lock being responsible for hosting the party, they would naturally take part of the blame for the incident.

That was what the villains wanted.

They wanted to create conflicts between the four great academies and the Lock. In the story, the villains almost succeeded.

Unfortunately, someone known as Kevin existed. With his plot armor and protagonist halo, he quickly foiled their plans and resolved the situation.

That was what was supposed to happen.

My interference should make his life a little bit easier.

Will the incident be the same as in the novel? I wasn't sure.

In any case. If something did go wrong, I still had the book with me.

"Which one is it?"

Entering the bathroom, five wooden cubicles appeared before me. After musing for a bit, I went for the fifth.

Since my favorite number was five, it should naturally be in the fifth.

—Clank!

"There..."

I was right. Opening the lid of the toilet, I sighed in relief.

"I guess I still have some leeway to work with..."

...

7:00 P.M

The air had started to chill as the sun slowly made its way towards the horizon. The world became dyed in the color orange.

A slick black sedan parked before the mansion and two individuals got off. Emma and Kevin arrived at the banquet. Fully adorned in party clothes, their perfect figures shone brilliantly.

They Instantly attract the eyes of everyone present.

After days of continuous hints, and seeing that she wasn't going anywhere. Emma choose to be upfront about it and asked Kevin to accompany her directly.

After listening to her reasoning, Kevin naturally didn't refuse.

"What a fancy place"

Looking at the mansion, Kevin's voice carried a hint of awe.

"Hm, I've actually been here before"

Flicking her hair to the side, Emma took a quick glance at the mansion. She was not amused.

"Oh? How is it"

"It's pretty good, their service is not half bad"

"Not half bad?"

"I've had better before"

Emma seriously nodded her head.

She had been here multiple times in the past. Their service was quite good. However, compared to other places she had been to, this place was only decent.

"Eh...sure"

Once again, Kevin was reminded of how rich Emma was. If this pace was alright, what was good in her books?

Kevin wanted to know.

"Shall we?"

"Okay"

Shaking his head, Kevin offered his arm. Emma smiled back and didn't refuse. Like that, under everyone's watch, they entered the mansion.

...

"Young miss we have arrived"

Ten minutes after Kevin and Emma arrived, another car stopped right before the mansion.

Wearing a black shimmering dress, Amanda stepped out of the car. Just like Kevin and Emma, she also attracted the attention of everyone nearby.

"Wow, she's so beautiful"

"Who is she?"

—Clank!

Ignoring the stares, Amanda closed the car door. She was used to such attention.

—Screech!

Suddenly, another car stopped right next to Amanda. Exiting the vehicle, wearing a white one-piece dress, Melissa exited the vehicle. She was currently not wearing any glasses.

Closing the doors of the car shut, she angrily muttered.

"...wait until I get a piece of you"

Glancing at Amanda standing next to her, Melissa nodded her head. Amanda nodded back.

Holding onto a small white handbag, Melissa grumpily headed towards the venue hall. She seemed to be in a bit of a bad mood.

Staring at Melissa's departing figure, Amanda had a thought.

'Perhaps someone offended her?'

...

Inside of the large hall, 7:30 A.M.

"In our academy, we have a specialized course designed to make the life of stu..."

With a glass of wine in her hand, Donna calmly listened to the professors from the other academies speak.

The hall was filled to the brim with students and professors coming from either the Lock or the four great academies.

"And so, we believe that separating courses into smaller time periods is better"

"Haha, that does seem effective. However..."

At the moment, Donna was listening to the conversation of a couple of the professors coming from the other academies. They were obviously boasting about their academies. Even then, it was interesting to Donna.

Listening to them discuss their educational system and how their academies differed from the Lock, interested Donna a lot.

Despite being strict, Donna really cared for her job. She naturally strived to become a better teacher.

Such conversations were useful for her. Especially since the ones talking were experienced professors who had been at it for years.

"Excuse me Miss Longbern, may I...ah, I apologize"

Out of all the people present at the banquet, Donna was the youngest. Aside from her, there were only a few that were a few years older than her.

Naturally, attracted by her beauty, a lot of the younger professors tried to strike up a conversation with her. With her beauty and fame, who wouldn't want to be with such a girl?

Used to this, Donna merely shook them off with a smile.

All it took was a calm smile. After that, all her pursuers as if in a trance calmly walked back from where they came from.

"Hu? What happened? What was I doing?"

A minute after they would snap out of it and find themselves with no recollection of what had happened moments prior.

"Hm?"

After shaking off another one of the people that tried to flirt with her, Donna suddenly frowned.

"Strange..."

Generally, once someone reaches S rank, their senses became much stronger. They were naturally much more sensitive to energy fluctuations. As long as it wasn't too far, they could feel it.

This was especially true for someone like Donna who was the strongest person present in the venue.

At this moment, Donna's senses told her that something was happening towards the upper floor of the mansion.

"Excuse me for a minute, I'm going to check on something"

Without a second thought, she excused herself.. With her brows knit, she decided to investigate.

Chapter 204: Banquet [2]

Le manoir vert, third floor.

Moving forwards, Donna felt the thread of energy lingering in the air become thicker. Her brows were fully knit.

"This should be the place..."

Donna stopped in front of a room. That was where she felt the thread of energy was coming from.

"Crap!"

Suddenly, Donna opened her eyes wide.

—Bam!

Without a second thought, she broke the door open. After she got close enough, she understood what the thread of energy meant.

A portal!

Someone was trying to open a portal.

"...I knew that something was odd"

Only demons and villains could make such portals. Even among villains, one had to be contracted with a powerful demon in order to do this.

"Oh? It seems like you've found me"

On the other side of the room, a skinny individual with sunken cheeks stood up. Behind him, a translucent black portal appeared.

"It's been a while calamity witch Donna Longbern"

"...Edumud"

Donna's face became complicated.

Edmund Rice, rank 198 of the Villain ranking.

An ex-classmate of Donna.

Her impression of him was faint. He was a loner. He never interacted with others. Naturally, because of this, she did not know much about him. All she knew was that one day he had disappeared and reappeared as a notorious villain a few years later.

Deranged reaper.

That was his nickname.

"What happened to you why did you turn out this way?"

"Ah well, shit happens ya know"

Edmund shrugged his shoulders. Looking at Donna, he smiled.

"How long has it been since we last saw each other? Five years? Seven years? It's been so long..."

"I'll give you one warning, stop whatever you're doing, else..."

Whiiing—!

A black whip suddenly appeared in Donna's hand. Her amethyst-colored eyes lit up.

"It's too late...I'm already done!"

Edmund smiled. Two daggers appeared in his hands. Without wasting any time, he pounced Donna.

—Kacha!

"You!"

Like a snake, Donna's whip suddenly flew and headed in Edmund's direction. At the same time, her eyes lit up even more.

"It's useless!"

—Clank!

Crossing his two daggers into an X position, Donna's whip and Edmund's daggers clashed. The loud sound of metal clashing resounded across the place.

Taking a step back, Edmund closed his eyes.

"Regardless of how much you try, you won't be able to tempt me with your art!"

As long as he did not look into Donna's eyes, Donna's art wouldn't be able to affect him.

"Let's see how long you can keep that act for!"

Enraged, Donna's whip struck down repeatedly. Each time her whip clashed with Edumund's dagger, sparks flickered.

—Clank! —Clank!

Like that, unbeknownst to anyone, a fight amongst <S> ranked individuals began on the third floor.

...

Back at the main hall.

"Yo, I'm back"

I took out a mint and ate it. After that, I waved at Leo and Pram in the distance.

"Ren, what took you so long?"

"What do you mean?"

"You were gone for like an hour!"

Turning his wrist, Leo checked his watch and responded.

"Ah, I was actually lost, ended up in the upstairs bathroom. After that, I took a number two"

I scratched the back of my head.

In all fairness, taking care of the business took a lot longer than I had expected.

"Dude, there's like a toilet sign over there"

"Ooops"

"Seriously..."

"Enough about that, what have you guys been doing in the meantime"

Switching the conversation, I looked at the plates in their hands. It was filled with all sorts of delicious food.

'definitely need to try those...'

"Nothing much, we've been talking about the exchange students"

"Ah, what about them?"

After having researched every single one of them, I had a general idea of almost every exchange student.

"We're just talking about who we should be looking out for in the tournament"

"Oh? Who caught your interest"

"Hmm, so far, the Leinfall twins from Lutwik academy, John Berson from Kuzk academy, Eleonore Grey from Vellon academy, and lastly Aaron Rhinestone from Theodora academy"

Musing for a bit, Pram responded. From what he could tell, those were the highest-ranked invidious of each academy.

"Hmm, you're spot on"

I nodded my head.

Those were indeed the people that they should look out for in the inter-academy tournament.

They were the most outstanding individuals from the other academies, with Aaron from Theodora academy being the 'villain' of that arc.

Don't get me wrong, he wasn't a villain in the literal sense, but he was the antagonist. In the novel, he did give Kevin a run for his money.

In terms of strength, he was stronger than Jin.

'He doesn't seem to be here...'

Aside from them, there was another individual that people had to look out for. Unfortunately, he did not attend the banquet.

"Ah Ren, there you are"

Suddenly, I heard a crisp voice in the distance. Instantly I had an ominous premonition.

"Huh, Melissa? Why are you talking to me?"

"Oh, don't be silly Ren. As your business partner, I naturally have to say hello to you"

Melissa waved her hand. A sweet smile appeared on her face.

"Huh? Hold on, wait what are you doing!"

Acting coquettishly, Melissa pulled my wrist and dragged me away from Leo and Pram. Shivers ran down my spine.

I remember Melissa acting like this once in the novel.

'Not good'

Without hesitation, I tried to get away.

"Haha, unfortunately for you Melissa, I already have plans, Leo, Pram let..."

Ah.

The moment I turned around, Leo and Pram were already gone.

Once again, they betrayed me.

"What plans?"

"..."

I massaged my forehead.

'I'll remember this'

"How about I fix that for you?"

Looking at my crooked tie, Melissa offered to fix it. I instantly refused.

"...I would've normally said yes, bur your smile does not look r-khhh"

Before I could finish talking, Melissa grabbed my tie and tightened it. I tapped her hand.

"Khh-Melissa, that's a bit too tight"

"ho ho ho, It's okay, leave it to me. Trust me, I know how to tie a tie"

Melissa laughed. Her smile became even sweeter. To me, it looked like the smile of a devil.

...

At the same time, not far from where Ren was. With a glass of wine in their hands, Emma, Amanda, and Kevin conversed with each other.

"From what I remember if we go to..."

"Excu-"

From time to time, some people would try to join in on their conversation cutting them off.

Whenever this happened, Emma responded with a glare.

"Can't you see that we're talking?"

"S-sorry"

"How many is that?"

Kevin Looked at Emma. That was about the fourth person that approached them. More specifically Amanda.

"Four"

Tapping her foot on the ground, Emma bitterly raised four fingers. She then looked at Amanda who was next to her.

"Amanda, you should've done something similar to me"

"What do you mean?"

"You should've had someone escort you"

Emma pointed at Kevin.

With him there, no one dared to approach her. Unfortunately, Amanda was alone. Naturally, a lot of people tried to approach her.

"But, who?"

"I dunno, Jin...no, probably not him...ah, what about Ren"

Emma's eyes lit up.

"Ren?"

"Yes, he would've made a great escort"

Although she hated to admit it, he could've been a great escort.

Though he was not as handsome as Kevin, with his current fame, he would've made a nice deterrent for the others.

"Actually, where is he at...oh"

Thinking of a brilliant idea, she looked around the hall. Suddenly, her eyes opened widely. She then pointed towards the distance.

"Aren't those Ren and Melissa?"

"What? Where?"

"Over there"

Looking in the direction of where Emma pointed at, Kevin soon spotted Ren. He and Melissa were currently standing very close to each other.

They looked very close.

In fact, it looked like Melissa was helping Ren put on his tie.

"Since when have Ren and Melissa been so close? Is he perhaps escorting Melissa? But I've never seen Melissa smile like that"

Emma muttered.

She was taken aback, she had never seen Melissa smile like that before. Originally, Emma had thought Melissa hated Ren with a passion...but from how things looked, that didn't seem to be the case.

...Unless.

Melissa was putting on an act!

"Uh..."

Looking at Emma, Kevin wanted to say something. In the end, he chose not to. After observing more carefully, to him, it looked like Melissa was strangling Ren. From the way his face was turning red, this seemed to be the case.

'Haa...I don't know. I'm not good at judging this kind of stuff'

He shook his head. Perhaps his judgment was wrong.

He wasn't very good at this kind of stuff.

"Hm?"

On the other hand, Staring at the scene from the distance, Amanda's brows knit for a split second. It came as fast it went.

Watching Ren and Melissa interact in the distance, for a short second, Amanda felt a sense of discomfort.

'What happened?'

Because of how fast it came and disappeared, Amanda couldn't quite put a grasp on what she felt. After a while, she shook her head.

'Perhaps the sense of discomfort is a because of all the people that are approaching me?'

This was the only plausible explanation Amanda could think of.

...

"Damned witch!"

After freeing myself from Melissa's grasps, I headed towards the drink section. I needed some wine.

My tie was in a worse state than before. If you try to help, at least help!

Fortunately, with this being a public space, Melissa didn't go overboard. After ruining my tie even further, she directly left.

'I'll definitely get her back for that'

I made a mental note to myself.

Turning my wrist, I checked my watch. My brow soon raised.

"Oh? I guess it's about time the main event kicks in"

After checking my book, I knew the approximate time of when the event was about to start.

'It should start any second now...'

Right on cue.

KAAABOOM—!

A large explosion resounded across the space, and the mansion shook. Startled screams echoed around the mansion.

When the dust cleared, Donna's figure appeared. On her hand, a long black whip gently touched the wooden floor. Her eyes at the moment shone brilliantly as her body pulsated a purple hue.

Before her, was a lanky individual whose cheeks were sunken. He looked malnourished. I instantly recognized him.

"Hero rank 198, Edmund Rice, the Deranged reaper"

He looked exactly as I had described him in the novel. Basically like a starved malnourished adult with sunken eyes and cheekbones.

Kinda creepy.

Suddenly, Edmund screamed.

"Now!"

...

Right before the explosion resounded, in a rather inconspicuous corner of the hall, professor Thibaut calmly looked at his watch.

"Should be soon..."

KAAABOOM—!

Suddenly an explosion rang in the distance and dust and debris spread everywhere. Enveloping his body was a thin transparent membrane. Professor Thibaut tensed.

It was almost his turn...

The dust settled down and the features of the two individuals were revealed.

Smiling widely, Edumud screamed.

"Now!"

Out of thin air, professor Thibaut sneakily took out a remote controller. Without hesitation, he pressed the button.

—Click!

"..."

Seconds passed and nothing happened.

"Uh? What's going on? No!"

—Tap! —Tap!

With nothing happening, Professor Thibaut frowned. His heart raced.

'Did it perhaps malfunction? This can't be happening!'

Professor Thibaut turned the device upside down and tapped the back of it repeatedly. After a while, he tried again.

Results were the same. Nothing happened.

'Damn it, work!'

Out of desperation, Professor Thibaut smacked the back of the controller repeatedly. If the plan failed he was done for!

In the distance, a youth with deep blue eyes leisurely swirled the wine cup in his hand. That someone, Ren Dover, had a thin smile on his face.

Pitifully looking at Professor Thibaut's panicked figure in the distance, Ren leisurely played with a small metallic orb in his hand.

"Oh my, the device doesn't work? I wonder what happened?"

He had no idea.

Not like this had anything to do with him.

Chapter 205: Banquet [3]

BOOOOM

As the dust cleared and Donna's and Edmund's features were revealed for everyone to see, silence prevailed over the surroundings.

The silence was short-lived as Edmund's hoarse voice echoed across the space.

"Now!"

Unfortunately, seconds after his voice resounded, nothing happened. Confusion spread amongst the guests inside of the hall.

"What's going on?"

"What happened?"

"Isn't that Miss Longbern? Who is the other guy?"

Taking a look at her surroundings, Donna's eyes were sharp. Turning her attention back to Edmund, a faint smile appeared on her lips.

"It looks like whatever you were planning did not work"

Edmund's face was expressionless. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Thibaut's panicked expression.

Instantly, he knew that something had gone wrong.

"That's Edmund Rice! Villain Rank 198!"

Recognizing Edmund, one student shouted out loud. Following this, the previous somewhat calm atmosphere tensed.

"What!?"

"What do we do?"

"Ahhh...I don't want to die!"

Several students turned pale from fright whilst others outright shook. Despite the professors' attempt at calming down their students, more and more students were starting to panic.

It had to be noted that there were far fewer professors than students.

"Calm down, everybody! Don't forget who you are!"

Noticing that the situation was getting out of control, with her eyes shining, Donna shouted. Hearing her voice, as if in a trace, everyone instantly calmed down.

That's right.

Who were they?

They were the proud students of the world's best academies. The first thing they learned from the academy was that they always had to remain cool-headed. Panic did not help anyone!

Moments after, everyone finally completely calmed down. A solemn expression appeared on everyone's faces.

"We're currently under attack! Get your weapons out and watch over your surroundings!"

Satisfied with the result, with her eyes focused on Edmund, she continued.

—Whiiing!

Without being told what to do, everyone instantly brandished their weapons and cautiously looked towards their surroundings.

"Brilliantly done"

Staring at Donna, Edmund complemented. To have calmed everyone down in a matter of seconds, Edmund was impressed.

"I suggest you give up"

With her brows knit, Donna's remained fixed on Edmund. She couldn't carelessly attack.

She was currently surrounded by students.

Given her power, the aftershocks of her and Edmund's attack could potentially lead to students getting hurt.

Fortunately, by some stroke of luck, Edmund's plans seemed to have failed. If not Donna couldn't have imagined how the situation would be.

She needed to stall for time. At least not until the other professors sorted out the students and checked the perimeter.

She was not the only <S> ranked individual present. As long as nothing unexpected happened, they would be able to quickly resolve this issue.

"I guess we'll make do with what we have..."

Seeing that things weren't going his way, Edmund put his daggers away.

Edmund smiled, subsequently his body shook. Suddenly the lights of the hall flickered, and his figure melted with the darkness.

"Guess I'll have to initiate plan B..."

"No, you don't!"

With her full attention on Edmund throughout the whole time, as soon as he moved she moved. Raising her hand, like a lightning bolt, her whip appeared on the spot he was standing.

Staring at the incoming whip, Edmund smiled. Passing through his body, the tip of the whip landed on the spot where he was standing.

—Kacha!

The loud cracking sound of the whip resounded across the hall. The wooden floor split apart. Smiling, Edmund's voice contained a trace of pity.

"It's really unfortunate that things didn't work out as I had originally envisioned..."

Noticing that her attack had failed, Donna cursed.

"Damn it!"

Even though Edmund was weaker than her, he was notorious for his ability to melt with the shadows.

For a short period of time, he could also make his body immune to physical attacks. Just like now.

This was why despite the fact that they were fighting for a good bit upstairs, she still couldn't harm him. He was the perfect counter for her.

"Slippery bastard..."

His ability to escape tight situations was the reason why he was put so high up in the rankings. If not, he might've not even made it to the rankings.

KWAAANG!

At the exact moment Donna's whip hit the ground and Edmund's body disappeared, the hall shook and the windows of the building broke.

—Crash! —Crash!

Countless black figures emanating strong energy appeared.

"Villains!"

"We're under attack!"

Sensing the erratic mana that was mixed with a hint of demonic one emanating from the bodies of the figures, everyone was instantly able to tell who they were.

They were villains!

—Thump! —Thump!

Landing on the ground, multiple figures appeared in the main hall of the mansion. If not for the hint of demonic energy lingering in their bodies, no one would've been able to tell them apart from regular people.

Stepping out, was a caucasian looking villain. Holding onto a dagger, he smiled crazily.

"Unfortunately for you lot, we've been ordered to kill you all, so..."

They were originally supposed to appear once everyone was in a panic, but because the plan failed they could only directly attack.

Even if a part of their plan was thwarted, their goals did not change. Kill the transfer students.

"...Attack!"

"Everyone, get ready to fight back!"

Stepping in front of the students, the professors brandished their weapons. Different colored hues emanated from their bodies.

"Group up together and cover each other's back!"

"They are coming!"

"Hold your ground!"

BOOOOM!

Soon explosions rang across the building, as many different colors flickered in the hall. The fight had officially started.

...

Meanwhile, in the drinking section of the hall.

—Clank! —Clank!

With fights happening all around me, I was probably the only one that was still relaxing in the corner of the hall. Perhaps it was because of the chaos, but no one noticed me.

I knew this wouldn't last for long though. I'd eventually get spotted.

"...Oh?"

Suddenly, from the corner of my eyes, I spotted Professor Thibaut trying to escape the hall. I quickly downed the drink in my hand.

"Haaa...Welp, looks like it's my turn to move"

With Professor Thibaut failing the only job he had, it was only natural that he made a run for it. The Monolith would surely send someone to take care of him due to his failure.

Despite his merits, Professor Thibaut was not someone very important. His strength was only <D-> rank, and agents/managers could be easily replaced.

Thibaut knew this, and hence why he made a run for it. Unfortunately for him, he had something I wanted.

"...and sent!"

Putting the empty wine cup on the table, I took out my phone and sent Kevin a quick message.

Guess it was about time I caught the rat.

...

—Spurt!

Extracting his sword from the body of a villain, Kevin's face was cold. He had no idea of what was happening, but he knew that at the moment, he had to do his best to relieve the pressure off of the professors.

Especially since most of the stronger professors were outside the venue fighting against the stronger villains.

"Haaa—!"

Taking a step to the side, Kevin narrowly avoided an incoming blade. With one smooth swing, Kevin traced his sword upwards and blood spilled everywhere.

—Spurt!

His cold and red eyes brilliantly complemented the blood that spilled in the air. Without wasting time, he moved towards another villain close to him.

A red hue enveloped his sword. Raising his sword, he prepared to slash down.

Shiiiing—!

Suddenly, before Kevin's sword could pierce through the back of the villain, a shadow quickly appeared. Following this, the villain Kevin was targeting collapsed.

—Thump!

Appearing on top of the corpse of the villain was a pale youth. The youth had bright blue eyes and long black hair that cascaded all the way down to his shoulders. He had an air of elegance about him. Staring at Kevin, the corner of his lips tugged upwards.

"he he, too slow"

Kevin frowned. Catching a glimpse of the youth before him, he muttered, "Aaron Rhinestone..."

"In the flesh"

Taking a glimpse of Kevin before him, and looking at the corpse on the floor, Aaron calmly observed Kevin's figure After a couple of seconds, he shook his head.

"So you're Kevin huh?...only so, so"

—Swiiiish!

Before Kevin could reply, Aaron's figure disappeared.

"As expected..."

He had heard a little bit about Aaron Rhinestone before. This was natural, in the news his name often tended to come out a lot. Oftentimes, the two were compared to each other.

Kevin never paid attention to him as he did not care about such stuff. He did recall Emma talking about him in the past.

With her father being an important figure, she had naturally met him. From what he heard from her, he was very arrogant and it seems like she dislikes him a lot.

'Two-faced bastard'

Was what she nicknamed him.

...observing him first hand, it seems like what Emma had said was true.

Shiiiing—!

Suddenly, Kevin bent down. A cold blade pierced through the air. Twisting his body, holding the sword as if it was a dagger, Kevin stabbed behind him.

—Spurt!

Blood splattered everywhere, and a body fell. Closing his eyes, Kevin wiped some of the blood that had splattered on his face and stood up.

Turning around, Kevin's attention was drawn towards the distance where he spotted two silver streaks reaping through the lives of some of the weaker villains.

"Who's that?"

Squinting his eyes, Kevin was able to see two individuals moving around each other reaping through the lives of the villains near them.

The way they moved perfectly synchronized with the other.

If not for the blood spilling in the air, someone could've easily mistaken what they were doing for a performance.

"Ah, I see, they must be the Leinfall twins..."

After getting a closer look, Kevin instantly recognized them. With their platinum-colored hair, it wasn't that hard for him to recognize them.

"Kevin!"

Suddenly someone called his name. Kevin looked towards where the voice came from.

"Emma?"

"Haa...haa...I finally found you"

At the moment, despite the fact that Emma's dress was still perfectly fine, Emma's hair was disheveled and her breathing was rugged. It seems like she had a rough time.

"What's wrong?"

Catching her breath, Emma said, "Haa...let's stick together. I don't think I can do this by myself"

"Sure"

Kevin naturally didn't refuse. With someone watching his back, he could act more freely.

—Ding!

Suddenly Kevin's watch vibrated. It was Ren.

[Second floor of the mansion, there should be a <D> ranked villain over there setting up a portal. If you don't want people to die, kill him.]

Reading the message, Kevin frowned. He quickly typed back.

[What about you?]

[I've got other things to do, I'll see you later. Ah right, make sure you bring Donna with you]

[Donna?]

[Yup, tell her Edmund is there. Alright, I really have to go now]

"Who was that?"

A sigh escaped from Kevin's lips. He then proceeded to shake his head.

"Ah, nothing...let's go"

"Where?"

Looking up, he responded.

"To the second floor"

"Why?"

"Just follow me"

Even though Kevin had many questions, given the situation, he knew that now wasn't the time.

Following Ren's instructions, he quickly moved to where Donna was.

'I hope you're right'

Chapter 206: Banquet [4]

—Spurt!

"Haa...haa...Damn it!"

Extracting the tip of her spear out of the corpse of a villain, Melissa cursed. This was the fifth person she had killed. With combat not being her forte, Melissa was obviously easily tired. Her breathing was rugged.

If not for her spear, she would've been in deep trouble.

===

Name : Blood-line Spear

Rank : D

[Bloodlust control] - Helps users identify if there is any bloodlust directed towards them.

===

With the effect of the spear, by feeling their bloodlust, Melissa was less prone to sneak attacks.

This was specially made for her since she did not have a battle instinct as others did. With her spending most part of the day inside of a lab, it was only natural that she didn't have a battle instinct.

Battle senses could only be developed through experience. Without experience, such a thing was not possible.

—Shuuuua!

Suddenly, Melissa's spear vibrated. Leaning back, the sharp tip of a reaper passed by her grazing the side of her cheek.

"Hup!"

Turning around, Melissa took a step back and swung the spear horizontally creating a beautiful arc.

—Spurt!

Blood spilled everywhere, and a female villain fell to the ground.

Ignoring the corpse, Melissa wiped the side of her cheek, and muttered, "Haa...that's the sixth"

Aside from the effect of the skill, the spear was extremely sharp giving her an advantage over opponents of the same level. As long as her opponent was not a lot stronger than her, she could hold her own.

"Haaaaa—!"

Before she could relax, a large blade slashed in her direction. Feeling the bloodlust, Melissa instinctively straightened her spear and blocked the attack.

—Clank!

Loud sparks flew everywhere and Melissa took ten steps back.

'Damn it, he's stronger than me'

From the initial exchange, she knew that her opponent was stronger than her. She might be in trouble this time.

—Swoosh!

"Haa!"

Without giving Melissa any time to think, her opponent slashed vertically towards her. Once again, Melissa straightened her spear.

'Damn it!'

—Spurt!

Just as Melissa was about to block the attack, a silver streak brushed past her and impaled the man in the head. Blood spilled everywhere.

"Haa...Ha...Thanks!"

Sighing in relief, Melissa turned around and nodded her head. In the distance, Amanda held her bow and repeatedly shot arrows supporting anyone she could. Her cold eyes surveilled the perimeter like a hawk. Nothing escaped her vision.

Standing in front of her, multiple students formed a protective shield. Like this, Amanda reaped through the lives of multiple villains.

Naturally, she attracted the attention of a lot of villains as well.

"Stop her!"

"Attack her!"

Whiiiing—!

Distracted by Amanda for a moment, a whistling sound arose next to Melissa. Despite her spear warnings, the attack was too fast.

'Crap!'

With her eyes wide open, the back of Melissa's hair raised. She knew that she was in trouble.

—Spurt!

However, right when she thought she was going to die, she heard a splattering sound. Turning her head around, she spotted Jin silently standing on top of the corpse of an asian looking man.

Taking his eyes off of the corpse, Jin coldly looked at Melissa for a moment before he disappeared.

Shiiiiiik—!

He then reappeared behind a caucasian looking villain a couple of meters away from her. Slitting his throat the villain instantly died.

"Haa...haa..."

Recovering from the shock of almost dying, Melissa's breathing was extremely rugged. Staring at Jin's cold face in the distance, Melissa thought, 'Is he on his period?'

...

"Haa...haa...this should be far enough"

Leaning against a tree, Professor Thibaut caught his breath. In a matter of minutes, he had run very far from the establishment. Approximately five kilometers.

'I'm screwed!'

Despite having run so far, he knew that his days were numbered. With the plan failing, he knew that all responsibility would befall him.

"Fuck, what went wrong!"

He did everything according to the plan.

He came in early and installed all of the devices that he was given. Nothing should've gone wrong.

Moreover, how could the blame fall on him if the devices malfunctioned?

He was a manager, not a technical expert.

"Who's there!?"

Sensing something, Thibaut's head snapped towards the distance. A blue hue mixed with black threads emanated from his body.

"Woah, I came in peace"

Suddenly a youth with deep blue eyes appeared fifty meters away from Professor Thibaut. Scratching the back of his head, the youth awkwardly said.

"Fancy seeing you here Professor, you also running away?"

The youth was in fact me.

Catching up to Professor Thibaut wasn't actually that hard. Despite its flaws, drifting steps was a movement art that was perfect for chasing someone.

Knowing the general direction of where Professor Thibaut ran, I caught up to him in no time.

Though I do have to say that the mana consumption of drifting steps was no joke. About 1/6 of my mana was gone.

"Huh? Who are you"

Startled, the hue around professor Thibaut intensified. Alarm bells rang in his mind.

'Who was he? How did he find me? He looks like a student?'

"Hm, that hurts. It's me professor, Ren...Ren Dover"

A hurt look appeared on my face.

I've been attending his classes for eight months and he completely forgot everything about me? Was my charm still not high enough?

Squinting his eyes and getting a closer look, Professor Thibaut suddenly remembered, 'That's right, isn't he the youth that appeared all over the news? The one that the higher-ups told me to take a closer look at? Wait...'

Professor Thibaut suddenly flashed a brilliant smile, "Ah, it's you. What are you doing here?"

"Running of course. It'd be stupid of me if I didn't run after what I witnessed"

Secretly disgusted by his smile, I shrugged my shoulder and casually answered.

"That so...you came at just the right time"

Staring at me, a thought struck Professor Thibaut, 'What if I killed him? Would the higher-ups pardon me for today's blunder?'

This seemed plausible.

In fact, the more professor Thibaut thought about it, the more convinced he was about his conjunction. A trace of hope appeared in his eyes

'Yes, if I kill him, there's a chance that I not only will get pardoned but awarded too!'

With the death of such high-profiled talent, the Monolith would surely reward him. Recalling something, Professor Thibaut subtly turned his watch.

[Target]

[Name : Ren Dover]

[Rank : E+]

[Age : 16]

[Status : Dead or Alive]

[Reward : 5000 merit points]

Opening the bounty list and staring at the reward list, Professor Thibaut's heart raced.

'5000 merit points? Yes, this should be enough to save my life!'

Since cash was traceable, the Monolith used a system called merit points. With them, all members of the Monolith could exchange the points for items and artifacts.

At that moment, Professor Thibaut saw a ray of hope. 5000 merit pints was more than enough to save his life.

He had to seize this chance at all costs!

"Keumm...Keumm...professor what are you doing?"

Perfectly reading Professor Thibaut's thoughts, I coughed.

'At least hide that smile off of your face'

"Me? Nothing..."

Snapping out of it, Professor Thibaut smiled savagely.

Shiiing—!

Without answering my question, Professor Thibaut pulled out a saber from his dimensional space. Having never seen Professor Thibaut fight before, He looked a bit funny holding onto the saber.

Still, the pressure coming from his body was nothing to scoff at.

"Wait, you're a professor. You need to be more civil about things. Let's talk things out"

I raised my hands and protested. Why must people always fight during conflicts?

Words worked just as well.

"Shut up and die!"

Professor Thibaut sneered and imbued his saber with magic power.

Wiing—!

Just like a laser, a horizontal blade of magic power shot up from the tip of the saber. But that only lasted for a second. The sword's blade flickered, then disappeared. Following which it appeared a couple of meters before me.

Staring at the incoming energy slash, I calmly placed my hand on the sheat of my sword.

'I guess he's not someone that likes to talk...here goes nothing'

Click—!

Tapping onto the grip of my sword, a subtle clicking sound resounded across the area.

...

BAAAANG!

"Impossible!"

A figure crashed against the side of the walls. Cracks appeared everywhere.

"It's no use, Edmund!"

Calmly walking forward, Donna's whip gently caressed the ground. Stopping a couple of meters before Edmund, Donna triumphantly smiled.

"You've already used your skill before, you won't be able to use it anytime soon"

Depending on skills, generally, there was a cooldown time. Edmund's skill also had one, hence why once Donna found him, she easily took him down.

"Khh...how did you know I was here?"

With his legs broken and his arms dislocated, Edmund knew that he was finished.

At this moment he only had one thought in his mind, 'How could this have happened?'

He made sure to cover his traces perfectly when moving to the second floor. Donna shouldn't have been able to sense him.

It was understandable before since he purposely leaked out some of his energy. But he had not leaked anything out this time!

This shouldn't have been possible!

"How you say?"

In fact, Donna was just as shocked to have found Edmund here. If not for Kevin's persistence, she would've never been able to find him.

Thinking of Kevin, Donna frowned, 'Just how did he know?'

—Kacha!

Staring at Donna waiting for an answer, instead of an answer, Edmund suddenly saw a black streak flash past his eyes. A cracking sound followed suit and his vision turned black.

—Thump!

His unconscious body leaned to the side.

"Like I would let you buy time..."

With a lot of experience under her belt, Donna didn't waste any time. Extending her hand, a cracking sound resounded across the space and she knocked Edmund out.

Why talk to him now when she could talk to him during questioning?

BAAANG!

Suddenly another explosion rang from the distance. Taking a peek, Donna's smiled.

Waving at Donna, Kevin shouted.

"Miss Longbern, we're done on our side too"

Holding onto the head of a blonde individual, Kevin's chest heaved up and down unevenly. Apart from his hair and clothes being a mess, he looked perfectly fine.

Wizzz—! Wizzz—!

"Done here as well!"

Behind him, a black portal slowly shrank. Emma patted her hands in satisfaction.

Donna took care of Edmund, Kevin took care of the villain, and Emma took care of the portal.

That was the plan.

Though close, Kevin was able to overpower the villain, and the plan succeeded.

With Edmund caught and the portal broken, Kevin knew that everything was over.

"Good job"

Donna also knew this, hence why she was happy. What could've been a terrible situation was resolved quite easily.

'I guess today is my lucky day...'

Chapter 207: Banquet [5]

"Haa...Haa...I guess this is the level I'm currently at"

Taking a deep breath, I sat down on the bench near the villa. Sirens rang everywhere and the colors red and blue flashed everywhere.

'Weeeeooo! 'Weeeeooo!

"Khh..."

Suddenly I felt a sharp pain by the side of my abdomen. My face scrunched up, and a bitter smile appeared on my face.

'I guess fighting without using 'Monarch's indifference' and 'The one' is still a bit tough for me', I thought.

Since Professor Thibaut's strength and mine were quite similar, I decided to fight him using my skills only.

Wasn't too keen on losing another arm. Plus, depending on the opponent, there was a chance that 'The one' wouldn't work. I needed to know the extent of my abilities without the use of my skills.

The result?

A deep gash on the side of the abdomen.

"Khh...still, I guess all of my efforts weren't for nothing"

Ignoring the pain, I took out two things from my pocket. A black smartwatch and a ring.

[Alfonse Thibaut]

Time : 21:39

Messages (69) Calls (2) Mail (987)

'Well, looks like someone doesn't check their mail'

Booting up the smartwatch, I quickly looked through Professor Thibaut's watch. Noticing the 987 unopened messages, I shook my head.

What an irresponsible man.

'If I'm not wrong, it should be this...yup'

Opening the setting function of the watch, I scrolled down, pressed software update, and rebooted the watch. Moments after the interface of the watch changed.

Instead of the usual colorful interface, one with a darker tone appeared.

"Success..."

Successfully entering the database, I clenched my fists. Four apps appeared on the screen.

[Bounties]

[Annoucements]

[Merits]

[Missions]

At the moment I was in the Monolith main database system. It was something that every member of the Monolith had. With it, I could check the different bounties, announcements, and missions that they had up during a certain period of time.

This was key information for me as it would help me avoid a lot of trouble.

Playing with the watch in my hand, I smiled, 'Fortunately it has no tracking device installed'

For obvious reasons, all the watches were anonymous without any tracking devices installed in them.

No one in the Monolith trusted each other. If there was a tracking system installed in the watch, chances were that none of the villains would wear it.

This was especially so since most villains liked to operate alone. Who'd want someone to keep watch of their movement?

Even worse, what if the Union suddenly hacked their system? Wouldn't that expose the location of all their members?

'Ding!

[Ren we're done here, where are you?]

Suddenly my watch rang. It was Kevin. Putting the other watch by my side, I responded.

[Just resting]

[Where exactly?]

Taking my eyes off of my watch, I looked around. It appeared to me that I was on a bench in the backyard of the mansion.

[Looks like the backyard of the mansion. Ah, if you're thinking of looking for me, curb such thought from your mind]

[Why?]

[Because I want to be in peace]

Kevin was the main star of the show today.

Defeating a <D> ranked villain, whilst simultaneously preventing the portal from being created, a lot of the attention right now was drawn towards him.

This was one of the reasons why I chose to interfere. To increase his shine.

Though not exactly a solution, it somewhat diluted the amount of attention I was getting.

[Alright, if you say so...by the way, thanks for the information]

[Don't mention it]

I should be the one thanking you.

[Alright, I'll contact you later]

[Cya]

"Haaa...this is tiring"

Typing goodbye, I turned off my watch and laid back on the bench. Frowning slightly, I took out a potion and quickly downed it.

'Gulp!

Instantly the wounds on my body started recovering. Unfortunately, because the potion was a low leveled one, the rate at which my wounds were healing was slow.

Feeling the stinging sensation coming from my wounds slowly disappearing, a thought suddenly struck me, 'Actually, what is the bounty on Kevin at the moment?'

Turning on Professor Thibaut's watch again, I clicked on the bounty section and clicked on Kevin's profile.

"12,000 merit points? Tsss..."

Instantly I hissed. That was a lot more than I had expected. Out of curiosity, I clicked on my profile as well.

'5000? Hmm, that's alright'

Though a lot, it was less than half of Kevin's. Good enough.

'Alright, that seems to be all'

Aside from mine and Kevin's I checked the other's bounty as well. In general, mine was in the same range as Amanda's and the others.

"This watch sure is handy..."

I had to say, getting the watch was a good idea. With it, I could more or less avoid possible dangers.

I was also glad that I was the author.

Usually, the watches would self-destruct as soon as the owner died. This method was created with the purpose of not allowing the union or the central government to get access to the information.

Unfortunately for them, because I was the author, I naturally knew of a way to bypass this system.

At the back of the watch, there was a small crystal. The function of the crystal was simple. Act as a detonating switch that would destroy the watch once it no longer felt demonic energy being transmitted to it.

Knowing this, before I killed professor Thibaut, I took out the crystal and quickly put it in my dimensional space. With time and space frozen in my dimensional space, the watch didn't self-destruct.

The solution was so simple yet so difficult at the same time. With not much known about the crystal, it was only natural that the union had a hard time getting their hands on the watch.

In fact, even the Monolith had no idea about this flaw. It was only later in the story that Kevin found this trick.

'There's also this...'

Putting the watch away, I took out a ring. Playing with the ring in my hand, I caressed it with my thumb.

'The Monolith Ring...'

The ring in my hand was the primary reason why I decided to kill Professor Thibaut.

Its function was simple yet extremely important. It allowed me to create a portal to direct me to the headquarters of the Monolith.

With Professor Thibaut being an agent, he naturally had this. This item was so rare that only a select few had this. Professor Thibaut was one as he operated in the Lock.

Unfortunately for them, it fell into my hands...

"Well, I did promise Smallsnake..."

Part of the reason I did this was also for Smallsnake. With him being haunted by them, I naturally had to help him as I promised him.

Aside from that, I also had other plans. But that was well off into the future...

Leaning against the bench, I inwardly muttered, 'Future aside, right now I need my well-deserved rest'

Exhausted from my fight, I was indeed in need of some nice rest.

"Ahhh...life sure isn't easy"

...

At the front of the mansion.

A black agent stood before a beautiful young girl wearing a black dress that perfectly complemented her obsidian eyes and hair.

"So you're saying that right after the calamit...khemm, I mean Miss Longbern appeared, the attack started?"

Coughing, the agent corrected himself midsentence. It was quite well known that Donna hated her nickname.

With her, in the vicinity, it was best not to mention it.

"Yes, that's what happened"

Amanda's reply was short and to the point.

For the past twenty minutes, Amanda had been asked many different questions. She naturally did her best to answer them.

Having played a major role in today's event, a lot of attention was on her. From both reporters and Agents.

Fortunately, the agents working for the central government were keeping the reporters in check or the situation would've turned out extremely troublesome.

"I understand...is this everything?"

"Mhm"

"Okay, give me a second"

Taking out a tablet, the agent tapped on the screen. After a couple of seconds, he nodded his head.

"Alright, that is enough for now. We will contact you later for further inquiries"

"Thank you"

Thanking the agent, Amanda was finally free.

Looking around, Amanda decided to move away from the scene.

She wanted a quiet space to rest.

Having used a lot of energy, it was only natural for her to want to rest. Plus, she disliked noisy places. She preferred quiet ones.

....

'Clink!

Turning off his watch, Kevin raised his right hand. Two hands covered with blue rubber gloves patted the arm.

At the moment Kevin was being examined by a doctor. This was standard procedure.

"Alright, we're done"

Thoroughly checking Kevin, the doctor in charge of Kevin took out a pen. Taking out a clipboard he proceeded to check a few boxes.

"Okay, everything seems to be in check..."

Completed with the check, the doctor dismissed Kevin.

"Apart from a few superficial wounds, there's nothing particularly worrying. Just take a potion and you'll be fine. You may go"

"Thank you"

Jumping off the stretcher, Kevin thanked the doctor.

Starin at Kevin's departing figure, the doctor muttered, "What a talented youth"

Despite having fought against a similarly leveled villain, Kevin came out on top with only minor injuries.

The doctor was impressed.

"Kevin? you're done?"

Exiting the tent, Kevin met Emma. It seems like her checkup was also done.

"Yeah, how are you doing?"

"I'm good, I didn't really have to fight so nothing on my side, you, however..."

Checking Kevin who only had minor injuries on his body, Emma shook her head. She had seen him fight against the villain first hand.

His opponent was nothing to scoff at, and yet he was unharmed.

Emma shook her head helplessly, 'When will I ever catch up to him?'

She naturally didn't say this out loud. Slapping Kevin in the back, she rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, just thinking about you makes me jealous"

"You'll get there eventually"

Kevin tried to comfort Emma, only to have his hand smacked away.

"Piss off!"

Recalling something, Emma suddenly asked, "Oh, by the way, you seen Ren?"

"Ren? Ah, he's apparently resting"

An odd look appeared on Kevin's face. That's what Ren told him in the message. Whether it was true, he didn't know.

"Resting? Like I'll believe that! I didn't see him at the scene at all, he must've run!"

"I don't think so"

Kevin quickly shook his head. Emma's brows knit in response.

"Why are you defending him?"

This was definitely suspicious. Her eyes narrowed.

"Are you and Ren perhaps..."

Before she could finish, Kevin quickly waved his hands.

"No, don't get me wrong, I also didn't see him do anything, but..."

"But what?"

With a complicated look, Kevin responded, "He's the one who told me to go to the second floor"

...

At the same time. In the backyard of the villa.

"Ren?"

Sitting on the bench with my eyes closed, I suddenly heard someone call out my name. My brows knit together.

'Great, just when I wanted to be left alone...'

Opening my eyes, I was taken aback.

"Amanda?"

What was she doing here?

From what I remembered, she should be warned by agents and reporters. Did she perhaps slip out?

Looking at the bench I was sitting on, Amanda softly asked, "May I sit down?"

"Hm? Oh, you want to sit? Sure"

Nodding my head, I scooched over the side. Since it was Amanda it was fine. Had it been anyone Kevin or the others I would've had a headache. They talked too much.

"..."

Sitting down, an awkward silence enveloped the area we were in. Not minding it, Amanda suddenly looked at me.

Pointing towards my right abdomen, her brows knit.

"You're hurt?"

"This? Just a scratch"

I casually waved it off. It wasn't that bad.

"To be honest, the fact that my suit is torn pains me more"

Looking at my suit, a pained expression appeared on my face.

That was 100,000 U. Even though it was not a lot compared to the money I spent on potions, 100,000 U was still a lot of money.

Fortunately, I had a warranty. Thank god for the warranty.

"Does it hurt?"

"Nah, I took a potion. I no longer feel any pain"

Ten minutes had passed since I took the potion. I pretty much no longer felt any pain.

"I see..."

Hearing this, Amanda nodded her head. Suddenly her eyes landed on my neck.

"Ehmm...may I?"

"May I what? huH? What the..."

Before I knew it, Amanda leaned closer to me and grabbed my tie. I reflexively flinched. Flashbacks of what happened with Melissa replayed in my mind.

Noticing my reaction, Amanda's brows slightly knit. In a soft voice, she said, "Don't move"

"...okay"

Nodding my head, I stood frozen like a statue. I had no idea how to react at the moment.

Amanda had a mild case of OCD.

She disliked unorganized things. At the moment, the reason why she was fixing my tie was probably due to this, but...

Our faces were only a couple of inches from each other. I could feel her warm breath next to my face.

Fortunately, this did not last for long. Within a couple of seconds, Amanda took her hands off of my tie.

"Done"

Staring at my tie, I was at a loss for words. It was perfect.

I quickly thanked her, "Thank you"

"No problem"

"..."

After that, silence once again descended the area we were in. This time, it wasn't as uncomfortable as before.

Turning my head to the side, I looked at Amanda. With the moonlight directly shining on her figure, she looked breathtaking.

I did not stare for long. However, the short moment I looked at her felt like a long time. She looked really beautiful.

Blinking a couple of times, I quickly snapped out of my delusions.

'What's wrong with me?'

Had this been the usual me I would've never acted like this. The exhaustion must be catching up to me.

'Yeah...It's definitely cause I'm tired'

I once again reassured myself that this was all fruit of my exhaustion.

"I'm going to go, goodnight"

"See you"

It was only after five more minutes had passed that Amanda finally stood up. Turning around, she waved at me slightly. I waved back

"Haa..."

Staring at Amanda's parting figure, I recollected myself. Taking a deep breath, I put my arms around the bench and relaxed.

Looking at my tie, I thought, 'What am I supposed to do now?'

Had this been right before the party, I would've been extremely happy, but the thing was...

The party was already over.

What did I need my tie fixed for?

Chapter 208: Follow-up [1]

—Clank!

"Haa...I'm finally free"

Entering her office, Donna shut the door behind her. Slumping on her chair, she exhaled.

Despite the fact that she was a ranked hero, even she wasn't exempted from the questioning. The fact that she had caught, Edmund Rice also didn't help.

He was a high-profile target after all.

In the end, after more than five hours of questioning, she was finally set free.

"What time is it?"

[3:00 A.M]

Turning her wrist, Donna checked the time. Time sure flew by. Leaning on her chair she decided to take a quick rest.

—Ring! —Ring!

"Now what?"

Right before she could closer her eyes, her phone rang.

Annoyed, Donna picked up the phone and looked at the caller ID.

"Oh god..."

It was Monica. Ranked 27 in the Hero ranking and an ex-classmate of hers.

Someone that she couldn't handle.

—Ding!

Frowning, whilst contemplating whether she should pick up the call or not, a message popped up on her screen.

[Donna, if you don't pick up the phone I'm going to go to you directly. Right now!]

Without hesitation, Donna picked up the call.

"Hello? Monica? Is that you?"

—Hmph, I knew you'd pick up once I sent you that text.

Monica's high-pitched voice echoed from Donna's phone speaker. Judging from the tone of her voice, she seemed to be sulking.

"What are you talking about?"

Donna feigned ignorance.

—You think I'm stupid? You picked up as soon as I sent you that text. What does that tell me?

"Haa...is this the reason you called me?"

Covering her face, Donna sighed. She was too tired to deal with her at the moment.

—Ah, no. Of course not

"Then get to the point"

—Sheeesh...talk about petty. Alright, to put it simply, the Union wants a detailed report from you about the incident.

"Now?"

—No, but by this week.

Donna closed her eyes. She was visibly annoyed, 'You calling me at this hour just to tell me this? I've already spent five hours answering most of the questions'

"I can do that"

She still agreed in the end. Not like she had a choice. It was her duty as a ranked Hero.

—Great, love you lots...Oh right, before I forget. Congratulations!

"For what?"

—For your rank increase! Since you caught Edmund, at the end of the year when the ranks will be redone, you'll definitely rise. More money for you.

"Oh, that does indeed sound good"

Donna's mood improved a bit.

Every four years the Hero rankings would be refreshed.

By calculating the achievements of the top heroes, the ranking would be renewed with some increasing their ranks and some falling off the rankings.

Naturally, the higher the rank the more financial support from the union and central government.

Donna was naturally happy. Monica teased.

—How about you buy me dinner at a fancy place once you get your paycheck?

"Are you finished?"

Donna rolled her eyes. Monica's rank was higher than hers, and so was her salary.

She should be the one buying her dinner.

—Oh, I also wanted to check out that other student of yours.

"Who?"

Donna's eyes squinted. She was quite protective of her students. She was naturally prepared to refuse Monica.

—The one that I met at back in Hollberg...what was he called again, ah! He was on the news. The one in the news!

"Ren?"

Instantly the image of a student popped into Donna's mind. She did remember seeing Monica checking Ren out back in Hollberg.

He also appeared on the news recently.

Who else could it be but him? He checked all of the boxes.

—Yes, that guy! I knew that there was something up with him back in Hollberg. Hehe, my instincts never lie.

"That's good for you"

Donna also remembered dragging her away that day. Unfortunately, the effort was still futile. Ren had still caught Monica's interest.

—How about I come to the Lock as a guest lecturer for a month?

Suddenly Monica dropped a bombshell. Donna's eyes shot up.

"Guest lecturer, you?"

She couldn't believe it. Monica as a teacher? That would be disastrous.

Sensing the disbelief in Donna's tone, Monica was offended.

—What? Do you think I won't be able to handle it?

"You won't be able to handle it"

Donna quickly shot her down. Given her personality, she really couldn't be trusted with students.

Monica became even more offended.

—You! Just watch me! Hmph! Hmph! Hmph!

"Wait...are you actually being serious?"

—Of course, I am!

"What about the union?"

Monica was an important member of the union. She couldn't just leave her post whenever she wanted.

—Them? They won't mind since they also want me to keep a check on Kevin. What Maximus's son pulled off last time didn't sit well with some of the heads.

With Kevin once again affirming himself as one of the most talented humans out there, the union decided to put even more emphasis on him.

They naturally wouldn't let an incident like last time happen again.

Donna naturally understood this. However, she was still apprehensive about the idea of having Monica teach at the Lock.

"Do I have a right to say no?"

—Nope, I've already made an application. I'll see you in a week's time. Love you!

Before Donna could respond, Monica hung up.

—Tak!

"Haa...This bitch. To think she's applying for a guest lecturer role"

Clenching her phone, Donna cursed.

Given Monica's ranking and high position in the Union, the academy would naturally not refuse.

This troubled Donna quite a bit.

Just when she thought she got rid of her back when they separated from the academy, she once again found a way to annoy her.

Donna massaged her forehead, 'Just when I thought it was my lucky day...'

...

The incident at the banquet was a plan that was carefully instigated by the Monolith. Their goal was to create minor conflicts amongst the four great academies and the Lock.

In the novel, they almost succeeded. Unfortunately for them, thanks to Kevin's efforts, the animosity between the academy and the Lock did not reach an all-time high.

There still was some though.

This time, however, it was safe to say that the situation was handled correctly. There was no animosity between the academies.

In fact, it was quite the opposite.

According to the report, only about thirty people died. Compared to the over hundred people that were supposed to die, this was a lot less than in the original storyline.

Moreover, it was later found that most of the casualties came from the professors from the Lock who tried to protect the students.

This naturally made the four great academies see the Lock in a more favorable light.

Sacrificing for the sake of their students. To the four great academies, the Lock looked even more majestic.

Thus, the Monolith's plans were thwarted.

Unfortunately, this was merely one of three events that would take place in the upcoming months.

Their real goal was in fact the inter-academy exchange. An event that was watched by the whole human domain.

The grander the stage the grander the impact.

If you wanted to make a statement, you had to do it in the grandest event possible.

Now that they had failed this one, I wasn't sure how the future would pan out. But if there was one thing I was sure about, it was about the fact that they wouldn't stop there.

How'd they go about things in the future...even I didn't know.

But I sure as heck would do my best to be prepared.

*

Currently, it was 8:00 A.M in the morning.

I was waiting for class to start. At the moment, most of the class's attention was drawn towards my general direction.

To more be precise, towards Kevin who sat next to me.

Without a second thought, I scooched over to the next seat.

Everyone looked at Kevin with a mixture of different emotions. Envy, Jealousy, Admiration, and respect.

Most of it was respect.

With him being critical in defeating the villain and destroying the portal, this was only natural. He saved quite a lot of lives.

'Yes, keep shining like that'

The more he shined, the better my situation became.

Although I had made a statement before with my fight against that unknown extra whose name I had already forgotten, I was bound to be challenged once again in the near future.

With Kevin taking most of the attention off of me, those chances had now reduced.

"Ren, why are you sitting that far?"

Suddenly Kevin called out for me. I feigned ignorance and looked at the front of the classroom.

Kevin's eyes narrowed.

"Ren, I know that you heard me"

"Hm? Ah, well, how should I say this...I've got a fever?"

My mouth twitched.

"...you'd think I'd believe that?"

Right, fevers don't really exist anymore. Should've thought of something better.

"Haha, well you see. I have contracted something very infectious, you better stay away from me for the next few days"

Kevin squinted his eyes, 'Just what are you trying to pull?'

A thought struck him, "Don't tell me you're avoiding me because of all the attention?"

"That's precisely it, so stay away from me"

My reply was blunt. Might as well let him know. In response, Kevin smirked and raised his voice.

"That's a pity. I just really wanted to thank you for helping me out yesterda-"

Opening my eyes wide, I pounced Kevin and hurriedly covered Kevin's mouth.

This bastard. He was planning on letting me sink with him!

Like hell, I would let him do that.

"Do not say another word!"

"Thank you so m-mhmhm"

I put more pressure on my hands.

"Help-mhh fin---"

In the end, seeing Kevin's persistence, I could only give up. Taking my hands off of his mouth, I raised my hands in defeat. Kevin smiled triumphantly.

"Alright, I give up. I won't avoid you..."

"Hee...suspicious"

Suddenly I heard a soft voice from the side. It was Emma. Her eyes were squinted and her face alternated between Kevin and me.

"What is going on between you two?"

"Oh, Emma. Good morning"

Pushing me away, Kevin greeted Emma with a brilliant smile. Looking at his smile, Emma fell into a slight daze. She quickly recovered and switched the topic.

"M-morning...you still haven't answered me, what were you guys doing?"

"Nothing, we were just having fun"

"Having fun?"

'Was having Ren practically hugging you count as having fun?', Emma thought.

She naturally didn't voice this out. In the end, she quietly sat down on her seat. As she sat down, Emma suddenly recalled Kevin's words, 'He's the one who told to go to the second floor'

Turning around, she took a peek at Ren. His face was quite dark at the moment. He looked pretty annoyed.

Her brows knit, 'was this true? Did he really tell Kevin about the portal and the villain on the second floor?'

"Emma? Are you okay?"

Hearing Kevin's concerned voice, Emma snapped out of it. She quickly waved her hand.

"Nothing, nothing, I'm just feeling a little off since it's early in the morning"

"Ah I see then I won't disturb you"

Dense as always, Kevin bought the excuse.

"Thanks"

Turning her attention back towards the front of the classroom, Emma's face became solemn.

'Just how did he know?'

Chapter 209: Follow-up [2]

"Alright, everyone please be quiet"

—Clank!

Suddenly the doors of the classroom opened up, and Donna entered. Her crisp voice traveled through everyone's ears.

Instantly the classroom quieted down.

Putting her hands on the podium, she solemnly looked at everyone present.

"Okay, have you all received the message? The one about the mourning ceremony for tomorrow?"

[Announcement to all students, due to what happened yesterday at the banquet, Wednesday, from the times 8:00 P.M - 9:00 P.M the academy has decided to...]

Turning my wrist slightly, I pressed on the foremost notification. I quickly skimmed through the long text.

'I see...'

Despite what happened yesterday, classes resumed as usual.

Originally there should've been a week break, but because the incident was handled so cleanly and swiftly, there was no break.

Regarding the fallen professors and students, a mourning ceremony would be held tomorrow night.

That was what the current announcement was about.

"As most of you have been informed, there have been 31 confirmed deaths from yesterday's accident. 15 of which were our very own academy professors"

"I'd like for you all to attend tomorrow as a form of respect for those that have sacrificed their lives for you. It's the least you could do..."

Donna's face was solemn. Even if she was used to death, such announcements were never easy.

Especially since some of the people that died were people that she had talked to as recently as yesterday.

It truly was depressing.

"...enough of that for now"

Finished with all of the depressing stuff, Donna's tone became lighter. Brushing her hair to the side, she checked her watch.

"Alright, with that out of the way it is now time that I introduced you to your new classmates. They should be here soon..."

—Knock! —Knock!

Right on cue, the doors of the classroom opened and around twenty youths came in. They all wore different uniforms.

Instantly the classroom became noisy. Sitting next to me, Kevin's eyes squinted.

"It's that guy"

"Who?"

Curious, Emma turned around and looked at Kevin. With his eyes narrowed, Kevin softly said.

"Aaron"

"You've met him?"

Emma's brows raised.

She had met Aaron a couple of times in the past. She had the worst impression of him.

To think that Kevin went through a similar situation as her.

"Yes, at the banquet. He came at me from out of nowhere. If I don't remember wrong, he said something along the lines of 'you're only so-so' or something of the sorts..."

"That does indeed sound like him. I've had a similar situation happen to me..."

Whilst Emma and Kevin were busy talking, I stared at the incoming students. My eyes instantly paused on a certain few individuals.

Five to be exact.

The Leinfall twins, John Berson, Eleonore Grey, and the man in question, Aaron Rhinestone.

The strongest first years of each respective academy.

Nothing much needed to be said about the Leinfall twins. With their platinum blonde hair, they were easily recognizable. Moreover, their flawless teamwork was what made them so famous.

The same went for Aaron.

Long black hair and deep blue eyes. His fame and skill were already documented for everyone to see.

John Berson on the other hand had a sturdy build with short brown hair. His stature resembled that of Arnold's, however, he was much more intimidating than Arnold.

'Now that I think about it, he shares quite a lot of similarities with Arnold'

Build aside, both of them used a shield. If not for John being stronger, I could've easily have mistaken the duo for a pair of siblings.

Lastly, there was Eleonore.

She had had short black hair and an oval-shaped face. Though she wasn't ugly, compared to the likes of Amanda, Melissa, and the others, she was average.

Despite this, her skills were undeniable. Especially since she was a combat mage.

Someone who specialized in casting spells.

'That should be it...'

Apart from them, everyone was pretty much an extra.

I obviously knew who they were, but in general, those five people were the ones I had to watch out for.

"As most of you know from the recent banquet, for the following two months, exchange students will be joining us in our classes"

Snapping me out of my thoughts was Donna's voice.

Turning around, she stared at the twenty students next to her. Sensing the air of confidence and aura coming from certain individuals, Donna nodded her head in satisfaction.

They were definitely on par with the student at the Lock.

To her, regardless of the fact that they were from the Lock or not, it was always gratifying to know that such talented humans existed.

Taking a step to the side, she smiled.

"I don't think you need me to introduce them as most of you have already met at the banquet or known each other beforehand. In fact, some of them are so famous that they even appear on Tv..."

After a brief introduction, Donna stopped. Redirecting her attention back to the exchange students, she smiled.

"So how about you guys find yourself a seat. Just sit wherever you like"

"Sure"

"Thank you"

Thanking Donna, the exchange students split into many different groups.

Many choose to sit towards separate areas of the classroom, whilst others sat at the front or back.

Ignoring the commotion, I suddenly found two shadows cast over me.

Turning my head around, I found the Leinfall twins looking in my general direction. At times they would take glimpses of Kevin and the others.

"May we sit here?"

"...Sure"

I naturally didn't refuse. After all, that would be quite rude of me.

Plus, they merely just wanted to sit with Kevin and the others.

Since I was the one that led them around the academy, they found it easier to just ask me.

After I gave them the green light, the twins quickly sat down. Extending his hand, the older brother introduced himself to everyone.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Nicholas Leinfall and this is my Twin sister..."

Whilst twins introduced themselves to Kevin and the others, I leaned against the table and massaged my forehead.

'Haa...what the hell is going on?'

I suddenly realized something.

What was supposed to be my secluded seat far from the prying eyes of others turned out to be the place with the most attention in the class.

Just where did I go wrong?

...

Inside of a shabby three-bedroom apartment.

"Isn't he the person that came to our door last time?"

Sitting on a worn-down couch, a lady in her mid-thirties pointed towards the TV screen standing opposite to her.

[Following up the investigation on the student...]

On it, a TV anchor relayed the news. Besides him, a picture of youth with jet-black hair and deep blue eyes appeared. Hearing what the anchor had to say about him, the lady looked quite surprised.

"Oh my, it seems like he was quite a talented youth. To think that he was from the Lock, no wonder he was so strong"

Turning towards her son, the lady excitedly pointed at the screen.

"Ryan, it was him that come to our house, wasn't it? I'm sure of it"

"Um, it was..."

Playing with two plastic toy cars in his hands, Ryan looked up to his mom. Blinking innocently and looking at the TV for a couple of seconds, Ryan nodded his head.

"Wow, to think that we would be meeting someone so important! I can't believe it"

Getting confirmation from Ryan, his mom became quite excited. She had met such an outstanding figure, how could she not be excited?

Taking her controller, she raised the volume.

—Clank! —Clank!

Ignoring his mother, Ryan kept playing with his toys. Suddenly, his mom turned around and scolded him.

"Ryan, why don't you go play with the toys in mom's bedroom. Mom wants to watch the TV!"

With him playing so loudly, she could barely hear what they were saying.

"...Okay, I'm sorry"

Stopping whatever he was doing, Ryan lowered his head. Taking his toys, he obeyed his mom.

"Thank you, Ryan"

"No problem"

He moved away from the living room. Turning right into his mother's bedroom, he quickly moved towards her drawer and opened it. Without hesitation, he took out a large file and skimmed through it.

"This should be it..."

Stopping on a certain point of the page, he took his mother's phone and dialed a number.

'I hope I'm making the right call'

...

"It's so hot..."

Covering my eyes, I stood under the blazing sun and the blue sky, enjoying the clear and warm Ashton city weather. With summer around the corner, the temperatures were steadily rising.

I was currently waiting at the front of the academy.

"You're finally here"

After waiting for approximately five minutes, Melissa's figure appeared in the distance.

Wearing a long white blouse coupled with matching black pants, Melissa calmly walked in my direction.

'Hmm, not that I think about it, I usually see Melissa in either a lab coat or school uniform...she looks kinda weird'

I wasn't used to this. Sort of felt out of place.

"Seen enough?"

Heating her steps, Melissa's face darkened a little. I nodded in response and quickly switched topics.

"Plenty...by the way, did you get everything?"

"I spent the last couple of hours adding some finishing touches, it should be good for now"

Rolling her eyes, Melissa took out a hard drive. On it was a detailed report about the project.

"This?"

"The presentation as well as the data"

"You're giving this to me? Can't you just keep it?"

My eyes shot wide open. She was giving me such important information?

Melissa shook her head, she had a reason for doing this.

"I've got a spare. I'm just giving this to you in case something happens to mine"

Though the chances of such things happening were extremely low, Melissa didn't like to take any risk. Thus, she why made a spare one for me.

"That's fair"

Though I wasn't sure what could happen, I still naturally accepted the hard drive. Putting the hard drive in my dimensional space, I covered my face with my hand to avoid the sun. Turning around, I asked.

"So, when's the ride coming?"

"I don't know, should be soon"

"Haa...I've already been standing under this heat for too long"

It was currently 5:00 P.M, and it was naturally the time of the day when the sun was most active.

Despite my superhuman abilities, I still could not combat the heat. Melissa seemed to feel the same way as droplets of sweat appeared by the side of her cheek.

"Suck it up. Stop being extra"

"Stop pretending, I know you're just as tired as me. ..."

Another sigh escaped from my mouth.

Right now, Melissa and I were headed to the Demon Hunter headquarters. Today was the day that we would pitch our magic card concept.

Right after the lectures ended I quickly headed back to my room to get changed. An hour after getting changed, I directly went to the entrance of the academy.

Looking at the sun, I muttered, "This heat sure is something..."

"It's here"

Snapping me out of it, suddenly, a black limousine stopped in front of us. It was a long, luxurious limousine that I only thought existed in the movies.

Exiting the front doors of the limousine, a man dressed in black opened the door for us. He wore white gloves.

"Please get in"

I got inside the limousine with Melissa and quickly sat down. Sitting on it made me recall the time I was traveling to Hollberg.

If not for Melissa, I would've probably moaned out loud.

"Is everything alright?"

"Mhm"

Turning around, the driver checked on us. Melissa nodded her head in confirmation. At Melissa's confirmation, the driver put his foot on the peddle and drove off.

Throughout the journey, the limousine moved without shaking in the slightest. It was so smooth that I thought we weren't moving at all.

Before long, we arrived at Demon Hunter's headquarters.

"As expected of the world's number one ranked guild..."

Taking a step out of the limousine, I was left in awe by the building before me.

The first thing I thought once I looked at the building was, 'Isn't that the shard from London back on earth?'

Honestly, it looked amazing.

Each part seemed to have been designed carefully as the building looked both beautiful and geometrically marvelous.

This tall building was undoubtedly built using cutting-edge magic engineering and technology.

It looked flawless.

—Shuuua!

Suddenly the transparent doors of the building opened up. Wearing a neat black suit, Amanda greeted us.

"Welcome to the Demon Hunter guild"

Chapter 210: Proposal & Negotiations [1]

After we met with Amanda, we directly entered the building.

Instantly I was left speechless by the grandeur of the place. The place reminded me of my parent's guild lobby. But a lot more spacious and luxurious.

Standing at the front of a lobby, a young man that looked to be in his mid-thirties came to greet us.

Maxwell Benson, Amanda's personal assistant.

Spotting me, he held out his hand with a warm smile. He gave off a good first impression, like an older brother next door. Competency aside, it was because of the impression he gave off that he was chosen to be Amanda's assistant.

"Ren Dover, right?"

"Yes."

I shook his hand.

"And I'm sure I don't need to introduce myself to Melissa, right?"

Melissa smiled at Maxwell's words. She had already met him before. Turning his attention back to Amanda, he offered.

"Young miss, shall I give the two a tour?"

"Nah, I'm good. I've already been here before. Plus, we've got more important things to do"

Before Amanda could respond, Melissa instantly refused. Maxwell smiled at her response.

"Very well, then I shall escort you to the meeting place"

"Hey wait, I didn't say I didn't want to hear about this place"

I immediately protested. Unlike her, this was my first time here.

"No one asked you"

Unfortunately, I was immediately cut off by Melissa who quickly moved towards the elevator area.

Out of pity, Maxwell briefly introduced me to the place. Together with Melissa, and Amanda, we stood in front of the elevator.

"The first and second floor as you can see are the areas which we attend and greet our guests. From the second floor up, there are the offices for the contracted heroes that are currently working under us..."

Ding'!

The elevator then arrived, and Maxwell hopped in and pressed the button that led to the fifth floor. Amanda who was next to him pressed another button.

She had other things to do and so she couldn't stay with us. She only came to the bottom floor to greet us.

Ding'!

[Fifth floor]

After a brief moment, the elevator arrived on the fifth floor. Bidding Amanda goodbye and exiting the elevator, I saw a large circle-shaped lobby and office doors spaced out along the wall.

Navigating through the fifth floor, Maxwell guided me, and Melissa to a rather spacious office. A large round table stood in the middle with special triangular-shaped devices in front of each seat.

Standing by the side of the office, Maxwell politely smiled.

"Please make yourself comfortable. This is where the meeting will be held. Briefly, the master will contact you. In the meantime, whilst you're waiting for the master and the elders to attend, I'd suggest you set up your presentation. Aside from that, you can contact me if you need anything else"

Maxwell turned his head left and right and checked the room. Seeing that everything was set up, he bid farewell.

"It seems like there's nothing left for me to do here. If you need anything else, please let me know. If you'll excuse me now, I must leave."

"I understand, thank you"

Nodding my head, I politely bid Maxwell goodbye.

Entering the office, heeding his suggestion, Melissa and I got quick to work. We quickly inserted the USB inside of the projector and loaded the presentation up.

After a while, I clapped my hand in satisfaction. Turning the projector on, I curiously asked Melissa.

"Is it ready?"

"Should be"

"Do you remember your lines?"

Prior to today, I had memorized my lines. This was so that I wouldn't screw it up.

"What lines? I don't do lines"

"...Oh, right"

It was then that I remembered that Melissa was the one who built the project from scratch. She didn't need to remember any lines.

Ping'! Ping'! Ping'!

Suddenly, the triangular-shaped devices resting on the table lit up.

One after another, different types of holograms popped up from the devices. A total of twelve holograms appeared before us, depicting men and women of various ages.

In a matter of seconds, all the devices apart from one lit up.

Like a zoo animal, I felt all eyes directed towards me. With keen interest in their eyes, the people behind the hologram scrutinized me from head to toe.

"How young"

"So you must be the ones that we are meeting today?"

"I wonder what they will be presenting us..."

Ping'!

At last, the device at the head of the table lit up. A middle-aged man with obsidian black eyes and a black heir appeared.

Instantly the atmosphere inside of the room changed. Everyone on the table looked at than with hints of respect and awe.

This was Edward Stern, the Demon Hunter guild master, and Amanda's father.

One of the most powerful figures in the human domain. Smiling amiably, Edward Stern looked at me and Melissa before apologizing. I instantly waved it off.

"Sorry for not being able to see you personally"

"It's, okay we understand"

I wasn't offended in the slightest. In fact, I was delighted. This put a lot less pressure on me when presenting.

Plus, this situation was understandable.

With each and every member present here being an extremely influential person, they weren't always going to be at the guild.

Just the fact that they had made time for me and Melissa was enough.

Directing his attention towards the presentation behind us, Edward Stern kicked off the meeting.

"Alright, let's not waste any time. Since we are all busy, let's get straight to the point. Please introduce us to your concept"

"Very well"

Melissa stepped up. Pressing onto a small stick in her hand, the PowerPoint slide switched.

"Today we are going to be presenting you a new concept. It's a new external mana system that can be used to integrate magic circles ranging from..."

Melissa's words flowed like water. They were crisp and pleasant to the ear.

Everything that she said was clear and consise, and with the aid of the presentation, even I could easily understand what she was talking about.

Listening to her, I just stood beside her with a plain smile. On a couple of occasions, I would nod my head.

'She's good, I hope I don't screw it up...'

What I was in charge of speaking was more on the business aspect of the deal.

I was in charge of talking about who our target customers were, what type of strategy we would use to combat competitors, the longevity of the product, how we would expand in the future, and so on...

Fortunately, I had come prepared. Once it was my turn, to my surprise, I didn't stutter once.

Another positive point was that I was comfortably able to answer most of the questions thrown at me by the elders. The longer I spoke the more confident I got. In less than ten minutes, I finished the presentation.

"...and that's the end of the presentation. Thank you"

After a while, with satisfied looks on their faces, the elders whispered amongst each other.

Judging from how reverent their discussions seemed, their interest was piqued.

Watching this scene, Edward Stern suddenly raised his hand and everyone instantly stopped talking.

Turning his attention back to us, he smiled kindly.

"Alright, thank you very much for the presentation. We will contact you shortly after a brief discussion amongst ourselves"

"Sure"

I naturally didn't mind this. Given how big the investment was, it was only natural that they talked over this.

"Thank you, I'll let you know as soon as possible"

Ping'!

His hologram soon disappeared.

Ping'! Ping'! Ping'!

Following his hologram, one after the other, the other holograms disappeared.

...

At the same time, the last floor of the Demon Hunter guild. Amanda sat down and looked at the presentation displayed on a large monitor before her.

Displayed on it were Ren and Melissa presenting.

Melissa's presentation was spotless. Her points were clear and easy to understand. Amanda couldn't find any faults with anything she said.

On the other hand, there was Ren. Although he started roughly, by the end of the presentation he managed to get every single point across perfectly. It was quite good in Amanda's opinion.

Cliiii'!

After a while, the monitor switched, and thirteen different screens appeared on her monitor. For a brief moment of time, no one spoke.

"What do you guys think?"

Edward Stern was the first one to break the silence. He wanted to hear the other's opinion before voicing his. Instantly one of the elders spoke up.

"The concept itself is revolutionary. If we were to do as they proposed in the presentation we would surely make a lot of money. In fact, this could probably help us widen the gap with Starlight guild"

"But what if the project fails? If it fails won't we be losing a lot of money?"

An elder interrupted. Although they were rich, they couldn't just freely give money away. They had to be wise.

"That is true, if it fails we could potentially be losing more than what its worth"

"What is there to worry about? His daughter is here"

Suddenly another elder spoke up. This time, no one followed up.

When the words 'his daughter' fell from the elder's mouths, the room's mood became somber. Even Edward Stern's expression couldn't help but change.

Everyone inside of the room knew who he was referring to. It was Melissa's father.

An existence that everyone feared. Edward Stern included. After a while, Edward Stern shook his head.

"Let's take him out of the picture for a moment. Melissa is in fact a very capable person. She alone is worth the investment. As long as we don't do anything that is out of the line, he won't move."

Once the elders heard this, the discussions resumed. One after the other, the elders offered their opinions.

"I agree"

"Hmm, if we offset the pressure that will come from the other guilds and perhaps the union, I can see a lot of profit being generated in the long term. If we play our cards right we may be able to cement ourselves to the top"

"This is a valid point indeed"

"Once again, the problem is...what if the project fails?"

"It just means we lose money. If we keep this project under wraps all that we lose is money. Plus, there's also that youth"

"Ah, that's right. If we manage to recruit him, even if the project fails, it might be worth the loss"

Ren Dover.

He was one of the main reasons why they chose to listen to the presentation.

Despite him being so young, he showed extreme signs of promise. With them being the number one guild, they naturally knew a lot more about him than the others.

Like the fact that the talent assessment orb doesn't work on him. This point alone was enough to garner the attention of everyone present.

"I agree, if we managed to bring him under our wing then it might be worth the loss"

"But won't the Lock interfere?"

"It's fine, we can sign a pre-agreement that will only come into effect once he graduates. If we do that, the Lock won't argue"

Silently listening to the conversation, Edward Stern had a thought, "Amanda, what do you think?"

As her father's words fell, the whole room became quiet. Everyone's attention shifted towards Amanda.

"That's right, let's hear Amanda's opinion"

"Yes, young misses opinion is important"

"I agree"

Despite being young, Amanda was quite smart. Moreover, with her possibly being the next guild master, it was detrimental to know her opinion and thought process.

Subjected by such intense stares, Amanda was unfazed.

With her brows knit, Amanda thought of her words carefully. After a while, she opened her mouth.

"Hmm, I..."

...

"Haaa...that was tiring"

A couple of minutes after finishing the presentation, I slumped onto one of the chairs in the room.

This was much more mentally draining than I thought.

Reminded me of the days where I had to go to endless amounts of interviews just to apply for one job.

To think I would go through such a situation again.

"Get up, they are going to finish up soon. I don't want them to see your incompetence"

Turning my head to face Melissa, I rebuked her.

"Excuse me? I'm the one who dragged this team-up. If not for me, you would've never been able to come up with the concept"

"Pfft, let's not joke around"

"Who said I was joking?"

Without me, she would've never been able to come up with the concept until well off into the future. I was the reason why she was able to even touch such a topic so early.

"If it wasn't for my idea you would've never been able to get to where you are now"

Melissa rolled her eyes and retorted.

"Do you want me to show you the so-called concept you showed me? Compared to now it's merely some random gibberish you wrote on a piece of paper. In fact, if it weren't for my genius, it would've probably taken someone else another ten years to decipher what you wrote"

What's are you on about? I muttered, but Melissa looked at me with meaningful eyes, then snickered. I instantly had an ominous premonition.

"Kheumm...kheummm..."

Interrupting me, a cough resounded inside of the room. Turning around, my mouth twitched.

'How long has he been there?'

Sitting on the head of the table was Edward Stern. He was obviously still in his hologram form. He had a friendly smile on his face.

I scratched the back of my head awkwardly.

"I presume that the meeting has come to an end?"

I wasn't sure for how long he was in the room, but I hoped he didn't overhear any of our conversations.

"Yes the meeting came to an end, and we've come to a decision. After I talked it through with the elders, we chose to accept your offer, however..."

Edward suddenly paused. With a solemn expression, he continued.

"We would like to renegotiate the terms of the deal"

Silence prevailed over the room. Melissa turned her attention back towards me. Interlocking my hands together, I propped my chin up. With a solemn expression on my face, I pretended to look troubled, "I see, I understand, let me think..."

Inwardly I smiled.

I was prepared for this from the very start. There was no way such a big guild wouldn't try to negotiate for more favorable terms.

The more profit the better. That's how big guilds operated.

Brushing my hair to the side, I thought, 'I guess it's time for the negotiations to start...'

After a minute of silence, I turned my attention back to Edward Stern.

"Very well, let's listen to what your terms are...."

Chapter 211: Proposal & Negotiations [2]

Fifth floor, demon hunter guild. Inside an office space.

'Tap! 'Tap!

The rhythmical tapping sound of my fingers echoed across the office space.

Opposite to me was Edward Stern's holographic image. Neither one of us spoke.

"What you proposed is 15% on all profits with no shares, am I correct?"

He was the first to break the silence.

"Mhm, that's my initial proposal"

I nodded my head in confirmation.

"Isn't that a bit too low?"

"I believe fifteen percent is extremely fair. Given that we're just borrowing your name for protection"

Throughout the exchange, neither mine nor Edward's expression changed.

To be a good negotiator one needed to be a good actor. That was what I had learned throughout my life.

If the other party knew about what you were aiming for, things became much easier for them.

Only through deception and indifference could one make a great negotiator.

"That's true, but we'd also be the ones facing the backlash from this situation"

Edward Stern calmly rebutted.

"What might you be referring to?"

Hearing his response, my brows knit for a split second. I then proceeded to feign ignorance. The slight twitch in my brows did not go unnoticed. Edward caught that.

Whether he thought I was acting or not, I did not know.

"Let's not play dumb. We can all tell the potential of this magic card system of yours. However, despite its perks, it also comes with its downsides"

"Like?"

"...Like for example making an enemy of all lower-tiered mages"

"Wouldn't the money you make up for the hate you accumulate?"

I quickly rebutted.

With enough money, what did it matter if the lower-ranked mages left? They could easily replace them.

"We are a guild. We can't just screw over our own members like that. Plus, we also need to talk long-term, what if a competitor pops up on the market? Or what if the cards don't function as well as you presented them to be..."

Edward Stern shook his head at my response. With no emotions on my face, I calmly nodded my head.

"Yes, but I've also offered a discount just for your guild members on all magic cards. Even if you're hated by the lower-tiered mages, you'd make up for it with the cheaper prices for the cards"

"What's the discount? selling at market price?"

In a pinching motion, a small gap appeared between my thumb and index finger.

"Just a tad bit above market price. You know that's already fair. Given the high demand coming from you guys, if we go market price we might make a loss since you'd be taking most of the production"

Edward Stern shook his head.

"That's not good enough. Raise the profit to seventeen percent and we've got a deal"

"Seventeen percent?"

I instantly shook my head.

"No, that's too much"

"I believe it's fair given all the backlash we will receive from this deal."

Adjusting the hologram angle, Edward Stern proceeded to explain.

"Despite being ranked number one amongst the other guilds, if we suddenly come up with such a revolutionary product, the other diamond-graded guilds won't hesitate to band together to stop us. You of all people should know how the world works. Everyone is full of jealousy. Once we cement ourselves as the number one guild, I don't doubt that the other diamond-graded guilds would sit still and do nothing..."

Hearing Edward's analysis, a 'troubled' look appeared on my face. Glancing at Edward Stern for a short moment, I massaged my forehead.

"I understand your troubles, but the highest I can do is sixteen percent"

Edward Stern frowned in response.

This was merely acting though.

In reality, he was already fine with fifteen percent. He originally wanted to test the waters to see if he could increase the profit.

It looks like he succeeded.

'He's still a little bit wet in the ears'

Not that it was bad. He was sixteen after all.

"Sixteen percent? Is that all?"

I shook my head.

"No, there's another condition"

"Another condition, what is it?"

Edward Stern this time frowned for real. Another condition?

"...I want you to protect a couple of people"

After a short pause, I went straight to the point.

"Protect?"

"Yes, I want you to use your guild resources to protect my parents. 24/7, at all times. With the best possible security available"

I made sure to emphasize the words 'best possible security available'. Couldn't be having useless bodyguards protecting my parents.

That aside, this was my main objective in this negotiation.

From the very beginning, I was prepared to concede one percent for this.

Despite Angelica being with my parents at the moment, she couldn't stay with them all the time.

I needed her.

With Everblood and Matthew still at large, I knew that my parents weren't safe. Even worse, now that the Monolith was also targeting me, I knew that my parents were walking on thin ice.

This deal was crucial, and I knew it.

"So you want the guild to protect your parents?"

"Yes"

Hearing my blunt reply, on the hologram opposite to me, Edward Stern suddenly smiled. He instantly understood everything.

'So he purposely baited me, not bad...'

To think that he purposely enticed him to ask for more profit. It seems like the flow of the conversation was not on his side...

Not bad at all. In fact, he was impressed.

"Sixteen percent plus protection? that can be done"

I smiled.

"Then we've got a deal"

*

"Well, that worked out somehow..."

Ten minutes after coming to an agreement on the terms of the deal, Melissa and I got out of the office.

"Can't believe it you pulled it off, I guess you're not as useless as you seem"

She murmured in a soft voice. She was legitimately surprised. She didn't know that I was quite talented at negotiating.

'That's because I was never useless, to begin with', I softly muttered. I didn't say it too loud as I wasn't really too keen on arguing with her.

Fortunately for me, she didn't hear.

'Ding!

Stopping at the elevator, I pressed the button that led to the first floor. Suddenly, a thought struck me. I quickly turned to Melissa.

"By the way, how long do you estimate you'd finish the product by?"

Melissa mused a little bit as she stared at me.

"If nothing goes wrong by the end of the second year. If there are complications, I'd say beginning or end of the third year"

"I see..."

This seemed to be within my estimation.

Given her current rate of improvement, I'd say I would still have to wait around a year or two before the card would officially be commercially usable for the market.

As long as she could solve the efficiency loss problem, the rest was a breeze. Unfortunately for her, I didn't know this, hence why she was on her own.

Fortunately, thanks to today's deal, Melissa was able to procure enough funds to push the project forward.

It was sort of a bonus that she got to increase the pace of the development of the product.

'Ding!

Exiting the elevator, Melissa and I quickly got out of the building. Waiting for us outside was the same limousine as before.

We quickly got on it and headed back to the academy.

Like that, the negotiations came to an end.

...

Demon hunter guild, top floor. Guild master office.

Amanda sat on her father's office chair. Before her, stood her father's holographic image.

"You sure have some peculiar classmates"

"mhm"

In response to her father's words, Amanda nodded her head slightly. He wasn't wrong.

"Are you not going to say goodbye to them?"

"No"

She shook her head.

She would meet them tomorrow, there was no point.

"That's fair...I'm sorry I can't be there with you again"

After Amanda's reply, for a brief moment, there was an awkward silence between the two. In response, Edward Stern quickly changed the topic.

"You know, with a new S ranked dungeon appearing in one of our areas, we have no choice but to keep guard of it"

"It's okay, I understand. I'm used to it"

A bitter smile appeared on Edward's face as he heard his daughter's response.

'If only I had more time...'

"Good daughter, I will sort out the situation by the end of the month. When I came let's have some father-daughter bonding time okay?"

"mhm"

"Great, that's great...huh? The gate is showing signs of opening?...Amanda, baby. Daddy has to leave, I'll contact you soon...yes, I'm coming, Love you"

"Lov-"

'Clink!

Before she could reply, her father hung up.

Silence descended the office space. Neatly putting her phone to the side, Amanda slumped on her chair and blankly stared at the ceiling.

How many days was it that she had last seen her father?

Fifty? One hundred? Two hundred? A year?

No matter how much Amanda thought about it, she didn't know.

She had already lost count.

...

Undisclosed location, far from Ashton city.

WUAAAA! WUAAA! WUAAA!

Waves of magic energy spread across a flat field.

Not minding the pressure one bit, standing not so far from the enormous gate that seemed to be the size of a large house, was Edward Stern. Guild Master of the Demon Hunter guild.

Holding onto his phone carefully, he spoke in a soft tone.

"....When I came let's have some father-daughter bonding time okay?"

"Sir, there seem to be fluctuations coming from the gate! It's spiking up repeatedly!"

Mid-call, an urgent voice called for him in the distance.

"Great, that's great...huh? The fluctuations coming from the gate are spiking up repeatedly?"

Edward quickly put his hand on the speaker of the phone.

He did not want to worry his daughter.

Turning around he looked at the worker who had just spoken.

"What's the situation now?"

With a tablet in his hand, the worker's pupils dilated.

"Yes sir. The measurement seems to be rising again! Oh my god, it's getting worse!"

Sensing the urgency of the matter, Edward Stern knew that he had to step in. Removing his hand from the phone, he bid Amanda farewell.

"...Amanda, baby. Daddy has to leave, I'll contact you soon"

"Sir it has risen once again! This time more than double!"

Once again the worker spoke. This time his whole body was shaking.

WUAAA! WUAAA!

The magical energy that was being emitted from the portal quickly spread within the vicinity.

"...yes, I'm coming"

Sensing the changes within the environment, Edward Stern knew that he had to act fast.

If the energy of the gate became too high, then the environment around them would become impossible to live in.

The magical energy alone in the area would be too strong for anyone to live in, and the area would soon be turned into a no man's land.

"Love you"

'Clink!

Left with no choice, Edward had to cut the conversation with his daughter quickly. He quickly hung up.

"Show me the data now!"

Without wasting any seconds, he quickly appeared before the worker who was startled by his sudden appearance.

"Shit, this is a lot worse than expected..."

Staring at the data on the tablet, Edward knew that he had to act fast. He quickly put on his suit and moved to the entrance of the dungeon.

He was going to dive in.

Chapter 212: Dungeon trials [1]

'Bang!

"Guuuh..."

A pained groan escaped from my lips as I crashed against the side of the wall. I opened my eyes with some difficulty. My entire body ached.

"Not bad, you lasted one more minute compared to last time"

On the other side of the room, Donna tied up her hair. Staring at me she smacked her lips. It was a habit of hers that came out whenever she was satisfied.

"Miss, what do you suggest is the best way I can improve my strength faster?"

Recovering a little, I sat up and spoke up.

After the fight with Thibaut back at the banquet, I had come to a powerful realization.

I was weak.

Purely based on my fighting strength alone, I was far from where I should be. I urgently needed to improve the mastery of my arts.

They were the foundation of my strength.

Unfortunately, I did not have a lot of time.

With everything that I needed to do, I couldn't focus as much on training as I used to.

From handling the mercenary group stuff, the company, studying for classes, and the many other things, I couldn't train as hard as before.

I needed to increase my efficiency. I needed to find a way to train faster.

Unaware of my circumstances, Donna thought for a moment before speaking up, "Train faster? You're already improving much faster than other people at the moment. Why do you want to improve faster? If you want to increase your rank, take a potion or an earthly treasure"

Donna paused and shook her head. Walking over to the side of the room, Donna took a white towel and sat down.

"However, I suggest against doing so. For one, it's really expensive, and two it can only be used on rare occasions. There's a chance you might get a backlash or it could even stunt your talent limit"

If too many potions and natural treasures were consumed there was a chance that they could permanently damage someone's body beyond repair.

If such a situation happened then there was no longer a chance for them to become stronger.

That was why most people didn't just stuff themselves with potions and earthly treasures. It did more harm than good.

"If you're looking it at from purely from a skill perspective then the answer is easy. Just go to the time regressor machine and hone your skills there. It's the perfect place to practice your skills"

"...ah, that"

My mouth twitched. I almost forgot about this.

With me being so busy and those bastards monopolizing the place I still did not have a chance to use that place.

Had I been able to use that place, then perhaps I would've been stronger than now.

"You better get going, classes will start in half an hour"

Checking her watch Donna spoke up. It was already 9:30 A.M, and classes were about to start soon.

In response, I stood up and patted my clothes.

"Fair enough"

"Oh right, before you go, I've got some good news for you"

Suddenly, Donna recalled something.

Tapping on her watch, she scrolled through a couple of files. After a few scrolls, she stopped at a specific file.

"Good news?"

My interest instantly piqued. Who didn't like good news?

"Mhm, congratulations"

"Congratulations, for what?"

I was instantly confused. Did I win something? I don't recall ever doing something that warranted an award. Noticing my confusion, Donna shook her head and explained.

"You have been accepted to the Leviathan building. You can move in by as soon as next week"

"Leviathan building, next week?"

I was instantly taken aback.

Though I did expect this to happen, I didn't expect for me to move in so fast.

"Hmm, somehow you don't seem as enthusiastic as I thought"

At my response, Donna raised her brow.

Normally, when someone was given the opportunity to enter the Leviathan building, they'd be jumping up and down with joy. Yet here I was completely unfazed by the news.

"No, no, no, don't get me wrong, I am indeed really happy"

I raised my hands in defeat.

I wasn't lying when I said I was happy.

Problem was that I had a lot of unfinished things back in the Manticore building. Furthermore, despite its flaws, it really was a nice place. Especially since Leo and Pram were there.

The more I thought about it, the more melancholic I became.

"Was that sarcasm? You know that you have every right to refuse to move right?"

"No, I'll go"

I helplessly shook my head. I'd be stupid to refuse such a place. Especially since the equipment, there was far more advanced.

"Haa..."

Stumbling a couple of steps I made my way towards the exit of the training grounds.

'Looks like I'll have to hasten my plans...'

I guess I needed to push up my plans to clear up the Manticore building soon.

Before I could start that, I had to wait for Angelica to be back on my side.

Since the deal with the demon hunter guild was finalized, I no longer had to worry about my parents as much.

Angelica could now return and join me once again. I needed her for the next part of my plans.

She was crucial.

"See you, Miss"

Waving Donna goodbye and dragging my tired body away, I inwardly muttered, 'Looks like I have to start doing some revision...'

...

Inside of a large office space decorated in gold with fine paintings all over the beige walls, in front of a large desk, sat a man. Though he did not look any older than forty, the man's hair had a mixture of black and white hair.

On his face was a black goatee that reached halfway through his neck. Despite his looks, an air of elegance and authority exuded from him.

'Clink!

Suddenly, the man tapped on his phone and dialed a number.

'Tut!

Not long after someone picked up. The man instantly greeted him. His voice carried a hint of respect.

"It's been a while, Micheal. Have you been doing well?"

'...Jasper Roshfied. Why have you contacted me?

After a short pause, an imposing and authoritative voice rang out from the speaker of the phone. In response, a faint smile appeared on Jasper's lips.

"Stop playing dumb. I know a man of your caliber knows exactly why I contacted you"

'...So you want my aid?

There was a brief pause that stemmed from Jasper's voice. Not long after, the man named Micheal once again responded. Jasper smiled at the response.

"An enemy of my enemy is my friend. Isn't that what they all say these days?"

'What do you propose?

'Got him'

Jasper clenched his fists underneath the table. He knew that he had caught Micheal Parker's interest. Without skipping a beat he went straight to the point.

"Let's form a partnership"

'A partnership?

"Yes, help me get rid of my niece.

'Oh? So you want me to do your dirty work?

Jasper rubbed his chin and pondered. His lips curled up even more.

"Hmm...I'm not sure if that's the correct way to word it, but yes. That's precisely it"

Jasper's goal was to get rid of Emma. Despite being the current head, he had no real power.

Only his brother had that authority.

Jasper hated that. He also carried the Roshfield family blood. What made them so different?

Jasper secretly clenched his fists beneath the desk, as he thought, 'It doesn't matter anymore'

With his brother missing, Jasper knew that he had a chance to turn the tables in his favor. He had to deal his brother a blow now that the opportunity presented itself.

This was why he called Micheal Parker. His brother's enemy.

'If I agree to this deal, what do I stand to gain from this?

Throughout the whole conversation, Micheal Parker's voice remained stoic. However, despite it being that way, there was no denying that he was interested.

Jasper could feel it. Thus, he explained.

"You'll obviously get a chance to deal a big impact on my big brother. I thought you hated him, didn't you? Plus, you'll be directly removing a thorn known as my niece from your sight. Given how talented she is..."

Suddenly Jasper's eyes became cold.

"...if she's allowed to grow any further, we both know how things will turn out for the both of us right? With me aiding you from the inside, handling her shouldn't pose a problem for you"

'...I see, what about you? What do you stand to gain from this deal?

The phone became silent for a couple of minutes before Micheal Parker once again spoke.

"Me?"

Jasper smiled.

"My son's future..."

...

Despite the Lock being the number one academy in the human domain, they did not have access to a lot of dungeons as most of them were under different guild's jurisdiction.

Fortunately, the Lock could make up for it with its expansive connection. With many students graduating each year, they had many various connections that spanned all over the human domain.

At the moment, over a thousand students stood outside an enormous gate.

In front of it were multiple men and women dressed in black with all sorts of devices in front of them.

"How is the energy level?"

"Everything seems in check"

"Are the preparations done?"

With the man and women in black busily talking amongst each other, an instructor wearing a Lock uniform stood before us.

With his sharp eyes that were faintly hidden beneath a pair of sunglasses, the instructor looked at every student present before him.

"Courtesy of Liamon Guild, today, you'll all be entering the dungeon in teams", he said as he took off his sunglasses.

"The teams will be selected at random, and once you enter the dungeon you will be directly spawned into the environment with your team. You will all be on the same map at the same time and..."

Listening to the instructor, I nodded my head.

Today we were going to have a real dungeon experience. Students would form a team of six and experience a real dungeon for the first time in their life.

Not the school dungeon, but a real functioning dungeon.

With the connections the Lock had, it wasn't hard for them to rent out a dungeon from the Liamon Guild. A small gold-graded guild.

"Alright, I'll send you the team list now"

Ten minutes in, the instructor finished talking.

Taking out his tablet, the instructor tapped on the screen. Instantly the sound of smartwatches vibrating echoed across the area.

'Ding! 'Ding! 'Ding!

Turning my wrist, I pressed on the foremost notification.

[Team 4]

Amanda Stern

Emma Roshfield

Eleonore Grey

.

.

[Team 7]

Aaerin Leinfal

John Berson

Ren Dover

.

.

[Team 15]

Kevin Voss

Melissa Hall

.

.

[Team 23]

Jin Horton

Aaron Rhinestone

.

.

"Haaa...give me a break"

Checking my team list, I covered my face with my hand.

To think that I would be in the same group as two new exchange students. Suddenly, skimming through the list, one of the teams caught my interest.

"Huh? Jin is with Aaron?"

I caressed my chin.

'Right, there was something like this back in my novel. I almost forgot'

This was the event that would lead to Aaron proving a statement. In this event, Aaron would cement himself as the main antagonist of the tournament arc by humiliating Jin.

Wasn't sure now though.

Turning my head, I looked in their direction.

Aaron had a provoking look on his face as he looked at Jin in the distance. On the other hand, Jin just stood motionlessly. He seemed completely unfazed by the provocation.

In fact, I don't even know who his teammates are.

'He sure changed a lot...'

Had it been the old Jin, he would've immediately checked the watch and tried to establish his dominance. This time, he treated Aaron like air.

This obviously didn't sit well with him as his face soon became dark. Looking at the duo, my interest piqued.

'I wonder what will happen between the two now....'

Chapter 213: Dungeon trials [2]

Upon entering the dungeon, each respective team would be summoned to different areas of it.

The goal of this trial was to accumulate as many points as possible.

The points were.

===

G - One point

F - Two points

E - Three points

D - Four points.

Boss monster - One thousand points.

===

This dungeon only had one boss monster. As such, once it was slain, that was it.

The team with the most points at the end would win, and the reward for the best teams was extra credits for their courses.

Naturally, there were also additional rewards. But those weren't disclosed. They were a 'surprise'

*

The moment our teams were announced, I grouped up with the other members of our team. Since Aerin and I had already met beforehand, there was no need for us to introduce ourselves. We just simply nodded at each other.

"Nice to see you again"

"You too"

"haha, nice to meet you!"

Suddenly a bulky figure approached us with a hearty laugh.

It was John Berson, our other teammate, and another person I had to look out for.

He had a generic Western look with brown eyes and a tall nose. Despite knowing that he was tall, I only truly realized how tall he was once he was only a few meters away from me.

I had to tilt my head upwards in order to look at him properly.

"You must be Aerin! It's great meeting you. I've heard a lot about you!"

"Ah, yes, nice to meet you."

Spotting Aerin, John held out his hand in a friendly manner. She nodded her head expressionlessly.

Watching the exchange, I wondered if Aerin would shake someone's hand in her first meeting. From my impression of her, she seemed to be rather cold and distant so I wanted to know. My answer was soon answered as she shook it.

"You must be the famous John Berson"

"Haha, In the flesh"

Being recognized, John once again heartily laughed.

"I've already met with our other teammates, they are Asim, Melody, and Do-Yun"

Letting go of her hand, John calmed down. He then turned around and introduced her to the other teammates which he seemed to have met along the way.

"Asim here is a..."

As John was introducing the other teammates to Aerin, standing by the side I couldn't help but realize how much of an extrovert John was.

Only a minute had passed since the team announcements and it seemed as though he was on friendly terms with everyone.

He seemed to get along well with everyone he talked to.

Or so I thought...

'Hmm, hello, I'm also here'

It was only after a minute that I realized that I was being completely ignored.

To make matters worse, I was not an unknown extra like before. My name was pretty much all over the news, there was no way John didn't hear about me.

If before I could've understood, but now? It had to be on purpose.

'Did I perhaps offend him somehow?'

Recalling my previous exchanges with John, I discarded such a notion. I did not interact with him once. He also lived in a different city. How could I have offended him?

Then thought suddenly struck me, 'Perhaps he was too excited with the prospect of meeting Aerin that he completely forgot about me?'

Right, this seemed plausible at the moment.

Now that I took a closer look at Aerin, she was in fact quite beautiful. One could argue that her looks could rival that of Amanda and the others.

If it's that way, it sort of made sense. John was essentially trying to establish his alpha position by ignoring me. Since he knew about my fame, he must've done this on purpose to make himself look like the most reliable person here.

Just the thought made me cringe.

"Hello, I'm Ren, nice to meet you"

Holding back the cringe, I extended my hand and introduced myself. I wasn't that immature.

"Hm, oh? I'm John"

John shook my head unenthusiastically. Right after shaking my hand, he continued chatting with Aerin. His eyes were full of affection.

"So as I was saying, I believe that we should..."

Being blatantly ignored, I found my mouth slightly twitching. But that was just about it. In fact, a trace of pity flashed across my eyes as I stared at him trying to talk to Aerin.

He may not know, but I knew.

'Such a pity, truly...'

I secretly shook my head.

Unfortunately for him, Aerin was created by me. I naturally knew a lot about her.

'...She is a bro-con'

A pretty big one at that. He had no hopes of courting her.

*

After a brief chat with the team regarding the overall plans and approach of the dungeon, we quickly entered the dungeon. Right before entering the dungeon, the other three teammates, Asim, Melody, and Do-Yun did a quick introduction.

"Hi, I'm Asim and I'm a martial artist"

"Hello, I'm Melody and I'm a spear user"

"Nice to meet you, I'm Do-Yun and I'm a swordsman"

"Hi I'm Ren and I'm a swordsman..."

I naturally introduced myself as well. Despite my fame, no one actually knew how I fought. There were rarely any videos of me properly fighting with a sword. Thus I did a quick introduction of myself.

After we introduced ourselves and got a general idea of the other's weapons and strength, we quickly got into formation.

The current formation was John at the front, Aerin in the middle, and me at the back. By the side were the other three teammates. Like that we entered the dungeon.

"Hm?"

After walking for a while, John's footsteps halted. A massive barren field appeared before us.

"What should we do now?"

John spoke up. He subconsciously acted as the leader.

No one protested.

I couldn't be bothered to protest myself as I would stand to gain nothing from it. What was the point?

"What else is there to do aside from killing monsters?"

Turning my head I responded. To which he rebuked.

"Yeah, but where are the monsters?"

"Hmm"

He had a point.

There were no monsters before us. All that I saw was a barren land with nothing within sight. Just when we thought that there were no monsters, Melody stepped up.

"I may be able to help"

"You?"

"Yes, I've got special skills that allow me to detect any living form within a given radius"

Melody calmly nodded her head. An air of confidence rose from her body. John was naturally elated by the news.

"Really? Okay, try it"

"Will do"

Right after her words fell, her blonde hair stood up slightly, and her eyes shone a blue hue.

—Shua!

Instantly I felt a gush of wind brush past me.

'Strange..."

A minute after, a frown appeared on Melody's brows. Pointing towards the distance, Melody's voice became grave.

"There are fifteen monsters within our vicinity"

"What fifteen? I can't see them"

John exclaimed to which Melody politely responded.

"That's because they are currently hiding waiting for us to ambush them"

Out of curiosity I interrupted and asked, "What type of monsters are they?"

"I'm sorry, but my skill only allows me to locate the general direction of monsters nearby. I can't really tell what type of monster they are"

"That's fair"

In response to my question, Melody shook her head. I nodded back in understanding.

If she could, the skill would be quite broken.

It would without a doubt be a skill that I would covet.

Would make my life a lot easier. Too bad I don't recall ever giving Kevin one.

"So what do we do now?"

Hearing about a large number of monsters within the vicinity, everyone grew weary and took out their weapons.

Throughout the whole time, the only one that remained calm was Aerin who responded.

"I suggest we hunt the nearest monster together. Once we get the general idea of what monster is present we can split up and work individually to gain points. If the monster is too strong for all of us to hand individually, then we should work together, if not we can split up"

Since the one who spoke was Aerin, John naturally agreed. Turning around, he asked.

"That sounds fair, Let's go with this idea! Is that okay with you all?"

"Yes"

"Yes"

"Yes"

Everyone nodded in agreement. I naturally didn't disagree. This plan was reasonable.

"Great!"

Seeing this, John's confidence rose.

"Alright, then let's do it this way"

Following this, we all steadily and cautiously moved towards one of the boulders in the distance.

According to Melody's skill, there should be a monster near there.

"Huuu.."

Halting his steps, John took a deep breath. Following this, his body shone and a large translucent shield appeared before him. Turning around and looking at everyone, he solemnly said.

"Let's go"

...

In a different area of the dungeon.

KWAAANG

A large explosion rang across the desolate space and a large creature fell on the ground. Standing on top of the corpse was an arrogant young man.

With the air slightly blowing on his features, he looked quite handsome and dashing. Beneath him were five people.

—Ping!

Moments after the young man killed the monster, everyone's watch vibrated.

[Points awarded - 3]

Checking his watch, Aaron turned around and looked at his group. More specifically towards a certain someone within the group. He tried to provoke him.

"At this point, I'm practically doing everything. Help this one out okay? We don't need baggage in our team"

"..."

Despite Aaron's provocations, all Jin did was spare him a glance. Just one glance. He did nothing else. Occasionally he would appear behind a monster and quickly finish it. But in general, that was all he did.

This obviously did not sit well with Aaron.

'Wasn't he supposed to be someone whose talent rivals that of Kevin? what happened to him?'

From what he read from his information, Jin was extremely talented and arrogant. He was someone who could compete with the likes of Kevin. His main target.

He wanted to use this opportunity to bury Jin in hopes of provoking Kevin, but things did not seem as he had originally envisioned. From the very beginning, his target had not once acknowledged his existence.

This angered Aaron to no end. Pointing at him, he raised his voice.

"Hey can't you at least help or do something lik-"

"Shhh"

Placing his finger on his mouth, Jin looked towards the distance. Before giving Aaron another chance to speak, Jin coldly said.

"The boss monster is near here"

...

In a different section of the dungeon.

BAAAAAM!

—Spurt!

"Kueeee-!"

"Haaaa....that's the fifteenth..."

Blue blood sprayed everywhere, and a large thud resounded across the area. Standing next to the corpse was Kevin's cold and indifferent figure.

—Ping!

Moments after killing the monster, Kevin's watch vibrated. Used to such a thing he didn't even bother checking it as he turned to face another monster in the distance.

Putting his hand on his face, he squinted his eyes and softly mumbled, "I see the next one, looks like another <F> ranked monster..."

—Spurt!

Extracting the sword from the corpse of the monster beneath him, Kevin prepared to attack the other monster.

However...

"Wow, Kevin you are so great!"

With eyes full of affection and adoration, a girl suddenly attached herself to him. A helpless expression appeared on Kevin's face as he tried to shake her off. Only to be completely ignored.

"Please let go of me"

"That monster was so ugly and scary that I didn't know what to do..."

Despite Kevin's attempts at shaking the girl off, they were all in vain. Regardless of what he did, she would come to him even more strongly.

"Your figure whilst fighting the monster was so dashing that I was entranced by it completely. God, how can you be so strong and handsome at the same time..."

The girl's name was Jessica Pavard, and ever since spotting Kevin within the group she never once let go of him.

Whenever Kevin killed a monster she would shout and cheer him continuously. It was as though she was looking at her favorite idol.

'What the fuck is going?'

Standing by the side, Melissa's mouth twitched. What was this crap?

Whatever Kevin did, Jessica would quickly go over to him and praise him endlessly. Be it breathing, brushing his hair, or just anything of the sort, Jessica would immediately attach herself to him like a deranged fan.

Staring at Jessica in the distance, Melissa took off her glasses and massaged her forehead.

She hated to admit it, but….

This girl was more annoying than Ren. Something Melissa had never thought was humanly possible.

'Ren, you've found an opponent'

Chapter 214: Dungeon trials [3]

"If I'm not wrong those are Black-shelled scorpions"

John pointed out as he looked into the distance. I nodded my head.

"They indeed seemed to be black-shelled scorpions"

Black-shelled scorpions were <E> ranked monsters. They were named as such because of the black shell that coated their outer layer. They were generally the size of an adult's thigh, and they were renowned for their powerful stingers that had a strong paralyzing effect.

"How many points was that again?"

"Should be about three per kill"

Standing by the side, Asim responded. Nodding his head, John looked at Melody who was next to Aerin.

"How many monsters within the vicinity?"

Closing her eyes, using her skill Melody calmly responded, "I only feel twelve entities in front of us. So they should all be black-shelled scorpions"

"Great, then that means we can secure 36 points"

"Yup"

"So how should we go about this?"

The Black-shelled scorpion's method of attack was quite simple. Incapacitate the prey with their stinger and then kill them with their sharp claws. What made them especially troublesome was their tough outer layer that was hard to crack.

In short, within a short period of time, they couldn't be killed easily. Fortunately, we had John with us.

He was a great meat shield. As long as he tanked, given enough time we could easily crack the outer layer.

...and John knew this.

"I'll do the tanking, you guys get rid of them"

He then patted his chest.

"I can more or less resist poisons"

Having trained for all sorts of situations like this, John was indeed immune to most poisons.

Unless they were extremely strong ones, he could continue defending without needing to worry about getting poisoned.

"I see...As long as we keep the scorpions in check, we shouldn't be able to face any problems"

Aerin nodded in agreement. She also believed this was the best strategy.

'No, this strategy won't work'

After subtly touching my chin, I shook my head.

We six were definitely enough to kill a black-shelled scorpion. But what worried me was the fact that there wasn't just one scorpion.

"....can I say something?"

"What?"

After a bit of thought, I decided to voice out my concern. Instantly everyone's attention was gathered towards me.

"Frankly speaking. If we follow this strategy we are going to die"

With a solemn face, I broke the news.

Though we wouldn't die literally since the academy professors were hiding in the distance, we'd fail the class.

Simply put.

This strategy was not going to work.

"Huh?! Do you even pay attention in class? If you properly paid attention you'd know that this is the best possible strategy"

Hearing what I had to say. Aerin and Melody aside, everyone's faces became dark.

"What are you talking about?"

"If you want to say something, at least say something useful"

"No, I get that, but haven't you guys noticed?"

"Noticed what?"

I shook my head and pointed in the distance. Towards where the scorpions were located. I then elaborated.

"That they scorpions aren't too far from each other. Once we create enough of a commotion when attacking one scorpion we'll attract the other scorpions and our situation will turn into a six vs twelve. Not that I doubt any of your abilities but, we can't handle twelve <E> ranked monsters at the same time..."

"..."

"..."

Silence fell. Everyone's previous thoughts of fighting the scorpion disappeared. The ones who were trying to argue with me before didn't even look me in the eyes.

"Then what do you suggest?"

The first to break the silence was Aerin. To which I calmly responded.

"Actually, we can still follow the previous plan, but we'd need to target each scorpion individually. In short, we need to lure them to us instead of us going to them"

With John tanking at the front and the other's supporting, killing a scorpion was easy. As long as they weren't grouped together this was going to be a breeze for us.

"But who's gonna bait them?"

Falling into thought, Aerin lifted her head.

"Actually, I can do that"

Placing my hand on the sheath of my sword, I raised my hand.

In terms of crowd controlling and baiting, there was no better sword art than [Ring of vindication].

Which, I still, unfortunately, have not managed to increase to the greater realm of mastery.

I was missing the crucial step which I did not know the answer to. I did try asking Donna, but she told me she couldn't help me with regards to this matter as it did not involve psyons.

She did however tell me that she knew someone who could help me. That was about a week ago.

In the end, I was still unable to break through.

But that was fine. Since my current level was good enough for now.

"You can do that?"

"Yes, I can"

"Okay, then let's go with that"

Aerin came to a decision. Standing by the side John's eyes narrowed slightly before he nodded his head too. Following John, everyone else also agreed.

"I'm okay with that too"

"Nothing to complain"

'Bunch of ass-lickers'

I instantly rolled my eyes. Despite my current fame, I was still not as famous as Aerin and John who had been there for a long time.

It was only natural that they paid more attention to their words.

"Haa...Alright, let's start"

'Swooosh!

I took out my sword and drew three circles in the air. Instantly, three translucent rings appeared before me. Noticing the rings, the others started discussing.

"What's that?"

"Is that a skill or you sword art?"

"It's obviously a sword art"

Amongst the ones discussing, Aerin and John weren't part of them. Their attention was directed towards the rings. With me being one of the people who they had to look out for, they naturally had to pay extra attention.

Noticing their solemn expression from the corner of my eyes, my lips tugged upwards.

'If only they knew that this was just merely a fraction of what I could do'

"Hup!"

Moving my finger upwards, the rings shot towards the scorpion in the distance. Watching my rings fly towards the nearest scorpion, I turned my head.

"Does anyone have a long-range attacking method?"

"I do"

The one to step up was Aerin. Unsheathing her rapier she asked, "What do you need me to do?"

"Nothing much, I just want you to startle the scorpion"

"Very well"

Aerin took a stance.

"Huu..."

Pulling her reaper backward, Aerin exhaled slightly. Her platinum blonde hair fluttered slightly and her rapier became dyed in green. She then thrust it forward.

"Hyaaa!"

Wiiiiing'!

Like a lightsaber, the rapier became dyed completely in green. Following her shout, a beam of light shot towards the scorpion in the distance. In a matter of seconds, it arrived before the scorpion and directly hit it in its outer shell.

A muffled explosion rang, and the scorpion's enraged roar resounded across the plain.

"Skreeee'!"

This naturally startled the other scorpions in the vicinity, but after not spotting anything nearby, they proceeded to ignore the rampaging scorpion.

"Haa...haa...was that good enough?"

"Sure"

Turning my head to the side, I nodded my head. Inwardly I was shaking my head.

At the moment Aerin's complexion was pale and her breathing was rugged. She looked exhausted.

'Do you think you can fool me?'

I obviously could tell that she was acting. Despite her ragged breathing and slightly pale face, she didn't actually use that much energy in that last attack.

She just wanted to make herself look weaker.

Mind games.

"Aerin are you okay? Are you exhausted, let me do the rest"

"It's okay I'm fine"

Spotting the exhausted Aerin, John naturally tried to comfort her. To that, Aerin put on a brave face and reassured him she was fine. My mouth twitched at their display.

'Seriously?'

'Swoosh!

Moving my finger, I proceeded to ignore them and directly moved my rings around the scorpion.

"Skreeee'!"

Spotting the rings, the scorpion became even more enraged. Swinging its claws and tails it tried to attack the rings

'not that I'll let you'

Moving my finger upwards, I'd command the rings to dodge the attacks quickly. Only when the scorpion was running in the opposite direction that I wanted it to go would I actually not avoid the scorpion resulting in it directly hitting my ring.

"Skreeee'!"

As soon as the scorpion hit the ring, the ring instantly broke. But it achieved its purpose as the scorpion quickly turned towards the opposite direction.

Every time a ring broke, drawing a circle in the air, I replaced it. This repeated three times until the scorpion was finally within ten meters of where we were hiding. Turning my head to the side, I whispered.

"Ready?"

"Mhm"

"Yes"

Nodding their heads, everyone took a battle position.

We had dragged the scorpion far enough from the other one so we no longer needed to worry about creating a commotion.

"Go!"

The first one to move was John. With a massive translucent shield before him, he jumped up and tackled the scorpion.

"Huuup!"

"Skreeee'!"

Caught off-guard and colliding with the scorpion, John managed to push it back a couple of meters.

"Support me!"

With the attention of the scorpion on him, John took a knee and shouted. Everyone moved.

"Tackle its weak points, the joints!"

Like a streak of light, Aerin dashed before the scorpion and stabbed towards one of its joints. Asim and the others followed her example and tacked the joints.

"Skreeee'!"

Coordinating with one another, everyone moved around the scorpion and tackled its joints. The scorpion shrieked in pain and became enraged. Its pincers and claws widely attacked everything in its vicinity.

The battle strategy was simple.

John aggroed the scorpion, whilst the others attacked its joints to hinder its movements. Wasn't the fastest method, but it was the most efficient one.

'Swooosh!

'Clank!

"Thanks!"

"No prob, I've got you"

Leisurely standing by the side, I naturally just used my rings to support them. Whenever they were in trouble I'd aid them. That was just about all I did.

'Such carefree life, I love it...'

Helping by the side like an orchestra operator. I really liked this life.

"Haaa!"

'Thud!

Finally, after two minutes of arduous fighting, the scorpion fell on the ground with a large thud. Aerin was the one who took the last hit.

"Phew, that was though..."

"That was a tougher opponent than I thought"

'Keep with the great acting'

Watching from the side, I clicked my tongue. The monster was only <E> ranked. Aerin and John alone could've taken care of it.

The only reason it took two minutes was that everyone held back. I did too, so I couldn't really complain.

'Ping!

[Points awarded - 3]

Everyone's watches vibrated, and a notification appeared. Briefly glancing at his watch, John clapped his hands.

"Alright, I guess we have to do this eleven more times"

...

Three hours passed since then.

'Thud!

With a large thud, a monster fell onto the ground, and Aerin calmly extracted her reaper from the body of the monster. By her side, John approached her.

"How many does that make?"

"I can't remember"

"Is that so, that was great, let's go to the next monster. At the rate we are going we might get the first place"

"Let's do that"

Sheathing her rapier, Aerin calmly nodded her head and headed in the direction of the next monster. Next to her, were her teammates.

"Aerin you were so amazing"

"As expected of you"

"John too, although I knew you were strong, I thought it was an exaggeration"

Right after every fight, everyone would start complimenting her and John. The two biggest contributors.

Aerin kept an indifferent face throughout the whole time. She was used to such behavior.

The only one that stood out to her was the last youth in the group.

Standing leisurely with his hands on his head, a youth with blue eyes walked towards the scorpion corpse.

'Ren Dover was it?'

Despite having seen him on the news she didn't know too much about it.

She did see him during the fight a couple of days ago, but that was just about all she could recall about him. It was a shocking fight that only made him more mysterious in the eyes of others.

Was he strong or not?

Apart from doing a couple of minor things with the rings, he did nothing shocking. The others did more.

Nothing that would warrant his current fame.

'Should I just talk to him?'

Perhaps if she talked to him directly could figure something out.

Right before entering her brother told her to keep a close watch on John and Ren.

This was partly why she didn't ignore John's annoying and blatant approaches. If not, she would've already dug her rapier into his skull.

'Yeah, I can't let my brother do all of the work...'

Just as Aerin firmed herself to approach him, next to the scorpion, Ren's eyes lit up as he looked into the distance.

"It looks like the other teams are already fighting the boss monster."

Chapter 215: Dungeon trials [4]

"Five-tusked Mammoth? How can we defeat that?"

Kevin and his team looked down below them. An enormous elephant-looking creature with five tusks extending from its mouth leisurely walked across the area below them.

Five-tusked Mammoth, a <D> ranked creature famous for its tremendous strength and tough outer layer.

"T-that's the boss monster isn't it?"

Standing beside Kevin a tall individual spoke. He had brown eyes and black hair. His name was Ray and he came from Lutwik academy.

"It is"

Feeling the tremendous pressure coming from the monster, Kevin knew without a doubt that that was the boss monster.

'Can I defeat it by myself?'

Despite being D ranked himself, Kevin was unsure. Simply put, the pressure exuding from the monster was terrifying. Thinking along those lines, he decided to stay put.

"Let's wait for the other teams to come"

"Other teams?"

"Yeah, at the moment, even if we can try to defeat the monster, without a doubt the other teams will come and may try to steal the kill from us"

If once they were close to defeating the monster the other teams came and stole their kill, Kevin would be pretty pissed.

"Look another team is here"

Suddenly Ray pointed out as he looked towards the distance. Turning around, Kevin looked towards the direction of where Ray was pointing.

"That's Jin...oh, and him"

Kevin instantly spotted Jin standing in the middle of the group. Besides him, was Aaron.

Immediately his eyes narrowed.

He did not have a good impression of Aaron. From the small interaction he had with him, Kevin knew that he was targeting him.

"Hm?"

On the opposite side, sensing something, Aaron turned his head around. A smile emerged on his lips.

"Look who we've got here..."

Aaron's and Kevin's eyes interlocked. Sparks flew in the air. The tension between the two rose.

"Oh, I definitely remember writing this part..."

Whilst Kevin and Aaron were busy looking at each other, on the opposite side, a black-haired blue-eyed youth looked at them with an amused expression.

"Writing what part?"

"Wha-the!"

Startling Ren, Aerin appeared next to him. Placing his hand on his chest, Ren waved his hand.

"Jeezus, don't scare people like that"

"I'm sorry, but what were you talking about before?"

"Hm? Oh nothing, I was just referring to the notes I had made on the five tusked Mammuth"

"Oh, what have you got?"

Aerin instantly got curious.

From what she figured out so far regarding Ren after interacting with him for a bit during the dungeon run was that he had good knowledge of the monsters within the dungeon.

Like their weaknesses and behavioral patterns.

"I forgot"

In response to Aerin's question, Ren shook his head. Aerin was left speechless as a result.

"..."

"What? It doesn't really matter anyway"

Noticing her reaction, Ren rolled his eyes.

'We're aiming to steal kill from the others. No point in fighting it ourselves'

Jumping off the rock he was on, Ren quietly moved closer to where the boss monster was.

"For now, all we really have to do is pretend to attack the monster like the others. Since our goal is killing it, we should naturally hold back once attacking..."

Arriving before a rather secluded area, Ren sat down and waited for his team to catch up.

The reason why he wasn't attacking the Five-tusked Mammuth now was because it would prove to be a fruitless endeavor.

He had to wait for the other teams to gather before deciding on his next move.

Fortunately, not long after, more and more teams had started to gather. The more teams gathered, the more the tensions grew.

Staring at the five-rusked Mammuth below, everyone had a similar goal in mind.

Kill the boss monster and emerge as number one.

...

An hour had passed since then and a large explosion shook the surroundings.

BOOOOM

"bahruuuuuuhhhhaaaaa—!"

"Keh!"

"Ghh..."

Dust and debris flew everywhere as the five-tusked Mammoth flew into a fit of rage. Wherever it went, students would be sent flying.

—Shwup!

Fortunately, whenever a student was injured severely, an instructor would quickly appear and take them away.

Such scenes appeared everywhere.

Everyone was given a special artifact beforehand, so in case they received a blow that could threaten their life it would activate and protect them.

Unfortunately...

Whenever this happened, fifty points were deducted from the overall team's score.

—Swooosh! —Swooosh! —Swooosh!

On top of a small large rock, stood Amanda with her bow drawn. Whenever she pulled the string of her bow back a blue translucent arrow would appear. Like that she aimed for the Mammuth below.

Amanda was currently aiming for its eyes.

That was its main weakness. Letting go of the string, the arrow disappeared. It soon reappeared in front of the Mammuth who quickly closed its eyes.

—Clank!

A large sound reverberated across the plain and Amanda's arrow disintegrated. Unbothered by this, Amanda once again drew her bow. Once again she released the arrow.

—Swooosh!

Below her, Emma and Eleonore worked together with the other teams to deal as much damage as possible.

Emma used her shortswords whilst Elonore stood at the back, casting different types of spells.

"Back me up!"

"Like you would need my help!"

All sorts of colorful yet devastating spells flew towards the Mammuth in the distance as Eleonore cast spells as if she was a machine gun.

Occasionally Emma and Eleonore would bicker, but they worked well together as Emma stood at the front and Eleonore helped at the back.

SHIIIING—!

Next to them, Aaron and Kevin swiftly and deftly moved around the Mammuth's lower area.

Whenever their sword slashed, blood spilled. They were aiming for the joints and legs of the monster.

Unfortunately, due to how tough the outer layer of the monster was, the best they could do was cause the monster to bleed.

But that was enough...

"bahruuuuuuhhhhaaaaa—!"

Slowly but surely the Mammuth was slowing down. Its movements had started to become more and more predictable. Everyone could feel it.

They were close to killing it.

"Huaaa!"

"Hup!"

Seeing this, everyone stopped holding back. Different colored hues enveloped the surroundings as everyone attacked more fiercely.

Emma's attack became more fierce, Kevin's attack became more powerful, Amanda's arrow became faster...

Everyone was going in for the kill.

"Hee..."

Standing not far from them, a faint smile appeared on my lips.

'Go on, keep lowering its health. Do the heavy job and leave the lightwork for me'

Since the very beginning, I had not moved.

There was a reason for this. It's because I had a plan.

My plan was quite simple. Just when everyone was about to deal their last blow I would quickly send a ring in front of them to block their attacks.

Though it won't completely block their attacks, it would be enough to delay them. I would then swoop in and take the kill.

'Ah, just imaging the faces of everyone once they see this makes me chuckle...'

The smile on my face deepened.

Just thinking of Kevin's face once he realized that I stole his kill...

I couldn't wait.

"It's almost dead! Amanda, use your strongest move! Eleonore help me!"

Looking at the Five-tusked Mammoth and sensing something, Emma suddenly shouted. Following her call, the Mammuth roared towards the sky as one of its legs gave out.

"bahruuuuuuhhhhaaaaa—!"

Nodding her head, a tremendous amount of power gathered towards Amanda. Looking at each other, Eleonore and Emma quickly separated from each other.

"Hehe, where do you think you're going"

"What are you doing Emma?"

Stopping before Kevin, Emma smiled sweetly. Two short words appeared in her hands.

"Sorry but, I, unfortunately, have to hold you back here. How about this, I'll let you go once Amanda is done, you okay with that?"

"Ha...is this how you want to play?"

Kevin instantly got the gist of the situation. They were trying to hold him back. Emma's smile deepened as she didn't deny it.

"You sure got that right"

"You give me no choice..."

Instantly, Kevin's pressure intensified manifolds as the red hue around him shrouded everything within a ten-meter radius.

"Let's see for how long you can hold me back!"

BOOOOM!

Not far from Kevin and Emma, a similar situation was unfolding as Eleonore stood before Aerin and her brother Nicholas.

"Sorry guys, but I'll have to hold you back"

"Oh? So you're resorting to this trick as well?"

Stepping up, Nicholas smiled. Looking towards Kevin in the distance, he pretty much got the gist of the situation as well. In response to Nicholas's question, Eleonore nodded her head.

"Unfortunately, yes"

She had discussed this with Emma beforehand.

Aside from Kevin and Aaron, the most threatening of all the people were the Leinfall twins. She opted to go for the Leinfall twins.

Aaron was too hard to handle for the current her.

"I see, so you want to let your partner take the shot whilst you hold back all the possible competitors. What an interesting plan"

"That's exactly it, so give it your best shot at getting through me"

Staring at the Leinfall twins before her, Eleonore's hands became engulfed in flames. In response, the Leinfall twins took out their weapons and stood back to back with each other.

A tremendous white hue emanated from their body.

"Well, shit..."

Feeling the pressure from the twins, Eleonore was starting to regret her decision.

Fortunately, she only had to hold them back.

Thus...

Increasing the intensity of the flames in her hands, she attacked.

"Haaa!"

*

"What a sight..."

Within a hundred-meter radius of the Mammuth, similar situations were unfolding. Everyone tried to hold back the strongest person of the other group whilst they had one member go for the kill.

Fortunately, I wasn't one of those people targeted. Guess everyone thought I wasn't as high of a priority.

Was slightly offended, but since it worked in my favor I guess it was fine.

"Looks like it's about time I moved..."

Unsheathing my sword, I prepared to enact my plan to kill the Mammuth. I was going for the kill.

However...

Right before I could move, a silver streak of light dashed towards the five-rusked Mammuth. It was so fast that barely anyone could detect it.

WHIIIIIING—

Following this, a small hole appeared on the Five-tusked Mammoth.

—Thud!

With a large thud, the mammoth fell to the ground.

"..."

"..."

Silence prevailed over the surroundings as everyone stood motionless and stopped whatever they were doing. Be it Aaron, Emma, Kevin, Amanda, or anyone present...

Everyone stopped whatever they were doing. Instantly, everyone's eyes were directed towards one individual.

"Haa..."

Standing on top of the monster, was Jin's cold figure. With a dagger still in his hand, Jin wiped the blood off of his face.

Turning his head slightly, Jin hopped off Mammuth's corpse.

—Ping!

Within the silence, the only sound that echoed was the sound of his smartwatch vibrating. Jin didn't even bother looking at it.

Without saying a word he left.

He came as fast as he went.

"Ah...What?"

Watching Jin's figure leave, I stood rooted on my spot. Multiple thoughts crossed my mind.

'When did he get so strong?...and did he just steal my kill?'

Chapter 216: Cleaning up [1]

12 P.M

Outside of the portal gates of the dungeon trials.

—Beeep!

"...and that marks the end of the trial"

With a stopwatch in his hand, the instructor in charge of the dungeon trials announced the ending of the class. Following this, all of the students inside of the dungeon stopped whatever they were doing and exited the dungeon.

—Wooosh! —Wooosh!

It was only after ten minutes had passed that everyone had finally exited the dungeon. Doing a headcount, the instructor nodded his head and tapped on the tablet in his hands.

"Alright, that seems to be everyone...I'll quickly post the team results online"

—Ping! —Ping!

Instantly everyone's watch vibrated.

===

1st Place - [Team 23]

2nd Place - [Team 15]

3rd Place - [Team 7]

===

"Third place huh?"

Having just exited the portal, I suddenly felt my watch vibrate. Turning my wrist, I stared at the leaderboards. I was instantly surprised by my group standings.

Despite not having killed the boss monster, we had actually managed to secure third place.

Not bad.

"You've got third place? That's pretty good"

Arriving next to me, Kevin looked at the rankings on his watch. His team got second.

"Not as good as you. You've got second place"

"It doesn't really matter since second place doesn't really get anything"

Kevin shrugged his shoulders.

Only first placed individuals got the extra points. Second place and below only had boasting rights.

Not that it mattered, since he wasn't someone that liked to boast.

"You're right"

"By the way, when did Jin become so strong?"

Suddenly Kevin switched the topic. Recalling the moment when Jin beat the five-tusked Mammuth, Kevin's face couldn't help but become serious.

During that moment, Kevin was actually able to see Jin's last attack. Albeit only slightly, he knew that Jin right now was leagues above the Jin of the past.

"Hm, Jin?"

"Yeah, I feel like Jin has become incredibly strong somehow"

Pausing, Kevin stared at Jin in the distance. I too looked at him.

At this moment, Jin was the center of attention. Having killed the boss monster right under everyone's eyes without the use of any trickery, he naturally gathered a lot of the people's attention.

'He's completely different from how he was supposed to be...'

Despite all of the attention he was getting, he remained indifferent.

From being this arrogant young master to this cold and indifferent one. It was safe to say the Jin from the novel was no longer here.

The Jin right now was much stronger than back in the novel. In fact, not just by a little.

No.

He was leagues above the Jin from the novel.

I wasn't the only one who felt Jin's incredible growth.

Kevin felt this, and so did Aaron who was supposed to have humiliated him during this trial.

Despite Jin not having accumulated as many points as Aaron in the beginning, by killing the five-tusked Mammuth, he left Aaron in the dust by gaining 1000+ points.

Staring at Aaron whose face was incomparably dark, I knew that he no longer cared about Kevin anymore.

He had switched target.

His target was now Jin. He wanted to repay him back for today's humiliation.

Once again, another change occurred.

"Enough about Jin, wanna grab some dinner?"

Suddenly, I felt a slight tap on my shoulder. It was Kevin. After a bit of thought, I nodded my head.

"Yeah, I might as well. Where to?"

"Let's go to the school canteen"

"Sounds good"

Despite my surprise, I wasn't unhappy with this development. No, it was quite the opposite in fact.

The stronger Jin became, the brighter the future was. He was after all one of the people that was supposed to defeat the demon king in the future.

Taking one last glance at Jin in the distance as I headed to the canteen with Kevin, I smiled in relief.

'This isn't too bad...'

In a way, this eased some of the burdens I had.

...

11 P.M

Inside of a private training area.

"Huuu..."

Sitting crossed leg in the middle of a training room, was Jin's topless figure. Closing his eyes, he exhaled, and turbid air escaped from his mouth.

'Everyone has tasted defeat in their life. Your father, your grandfather, the current strongest person in the human domain...'

'No one in this world is exempt from defeat'

A calm yet firm voice echoed inside of Jin's mind.

It was his father's voice.

'Countless great warriors face defeat. What matters is not how they lose, it's how they react to the loss'

'Will they accept the defeat and move on, or will they look back to that moment until the end of their life? Will you truly let that one defeat dictate your future?'

Like a morning alarm, the words rang inside of Jin's mind continuously. It was as though his mind had been smashed by a hammer repeatedly.

His mind became completely numb.

'Don't let yourself drown in needless thoughts. Grow up more. Get up and move, as you always did'

'Although we put a lot of hope in you, what does it matter to you about what others think? It's your life to live, not ours nor the others'

'Stop being pathetic and realize that what truly matters is yourself, not the others! Your true opponent is not whoever beat you, but you yourself!'

'If you can't beat yourself, what does it matter if you beat every single person in the world?'

The words stopped there.

Those were the words his father had told him once he had locked himself inside of the training room for two months straight without stopping. It was right after the Hollberg incident.

At first, Jin didn't really understand the true meaning behind those words.

It was only after the codebreaker trials that Jin truly understood what those words meant.

Throughout the code breaker trails, the only thing he did was listen to Ren. Like a puppet, he moved as Ren had asked him.

He could clearly remember how he felt during that time. It was as though he was trapped inside of a metal cage filled with water bound to thick metal chains...

It felt suffocating.

Listening to someone else's commands disgusted him to no end. It was against everything he had worked for since he was young.

Yet, despite him knowing this, he did not protest once.

He couldn't bring himself to protest against the one guy that had humiliated and defeated him in the past.

It was then that Jin realized...

The problem was not Ren, but him.

There was nothing stopping him from rebuking Ren's orders, yet he didn't. There was this seed that he had implanted inside of his mind that made him listen to whatever Ren said.

After this, he finally understood...

He had subconsciously placed himself below Ren. It was not Ren that had placed him below, but he himself.

Jin Horton.

Only after Jin came to such a realization that he was finally able to understand the meaning behind his father's words.

'Stop being pathetic and realize that what truly matters is yourself, not the others! Your true opponent is not whoever beat you, but you yourself!'

Like the morning bells of a church, the words continuously tolled inside of his mind.

From that moment, Jin realized what he had to do.

He had to stop giving a fuck.

'That's right. Who cares about Ren, Kevin, or anyone else. At the end of the day, everyone is different. Even if I am weaker now, it doesn't mean I'll be weaker in the future...'

No longer did he care about Ren, Kevin, and the others.

No longer did he waste needless time caring about his pride or the nonsensical bubble he created around himself to make him feel superior to others.

He just stopped caring. The only thing that mattered to him was, he, himself. As long as he kept increasing his strength, what did everything else matter?

It was only after he realized this that his strength saw a significant rise...

With his mind no longer clogged, Jin felt as though everything was clear to him. Training became less laborious, and everything started to flow more smoothly.

He felt reborn.

"Haaa—!"

Suddenly, Jin opened his eyes. He screamed out loud and a wave of air spread out from his body. Like a gust of wind, everything near him flew away.

—Swoooosh!

Suddenly, Jin's muscles bulged and hot steam escaped from his body. The room quickly became engulfed by the hot steam.

"Haa...haa..."

Once the steam died down, Jin's topless figure stood in the middle of the room. His breathing was rugged and sweat dripped all over his body.

Once his breathing calmed down, Jin slowly stood up and walked towards a nearby mirror. Staring at his body in the mirror, Jin brushed his damp hair up revealing his two deep green eyes.

"Haaa...is this D- rank?"

After months of intensive training, Jin had finally broken through to <D-> rank.

Oddly enough, he felt nothing.

He knew that compared to moments before, his strength was superior, but...

"It's alright I guess"

Without celebrating his breakthrough, Jin walked back to the training ground. Picking up two large metal bracelets, he put them on.

Why would he celebrate for a measly D rank promotion?

—Clank! —Clank!

"Khhh..."

The moment Jin put on the metal bracelets, his knees almost gave out. Clenching his teeth, Jin placed both of his hands on the ground and did a handstand. With firm eyes, Jin slowly lowered his body and counted.

"1...2...3...4...5..."

He was to repeat this until his muscles gave out. This was what Jin had been doing for the past few months.

Train, train, and train even more.

There was no need to celebrate the fact that he had broken through to D rank.

He had realized that only once he truly surpassed himself and reached the top he was allowed to celebrate.

Before that, nothing else mattered.

If the Jin of today was weaker than the Jin of yesterday, he had failed.

Chapter 217: Cleaning up [2]

Saturday, 12:00 P.M.

Standing in front of a large wooden door, with a smile on my face I rang the doorbell.

'Ding! 'Dong!

"Coming!"

Instantly a crip voice rang from the other side of the door. Not long after, a beautiful woman came to greet me at the door.

'Clank!

"Ren!"

Just as the door opened, without skipping a second, my mother instantly pounced me.

"Kh...It's nice to see you, mom"

This time I was prepared. Tensing my quads, I withstood the impact that came from my mother's embrace. Patting my body all over, I was instantly bombarded with questions.

"Oh Ren, thank god you're okay. Is everything okay in the academy? Have any more demons come to harm you? Did they treat you well at the academy? How dare that vile demon..."

Suddenly my mother's face turned dark. Noticing this, I placed my hand on her shoulder and comforted her.

"Mom it's okay. I'm okay"

It was only after the incident was spread on the news that my mother actually found out what had happened. Once she did, total chaos ensued.

Every day she would continuously text me asking me if I was okay or not. At first, it was okay, but after she started texting every hour, I became a little firmer on my stance.

After a long struggle, we managed to settle to one text a day.

Aside from that, she, like my dad, was extremely surprised about my rank assessment.

Ever since my rank and talent were revealed to the world, the situation in Galaxicus stabilized considerably.

My parents no longer faced as much pressure as before. In addition, as a result of this, everyone within the guild now tried to get on their good graces...

Life was now good for my parents. I was happy.

"Why don't you come in Ren?"

"Sure"

Snapping me out of my thoughts was my mother's warm voice. Nodding my head I stepped into the house. Instantly I was brought left speechless by what I saw.

'Although they did mention that they were going to give my parents a house, I didn't expect for it to be this big...'

Right after I made the deal with Amanda's father, the first thing he did was move my parents to a secure house. The reasoning behind this was so that he could keep better watch of them.

I naturally agreed. As long as my parents were safe I was fine with anything. My parents were shocked at first but after I explained the situation to them, they naturally agreed.

Thus, bringing me into this situation...

"What do you think?"

With a satisfied look on her face, my mother proudly showed off the house.

Decorated with pictures and brand new furniture, the house looked fantastic. Large enormous windows appeared on the other side of the room, and beneath them, one could see the whole of Ashton city.

White walls covered the place and sleek and modern furniture that had a mix of wood and white appeared all over the house. Staring at the place, I couldn't help but nod in approval.

"It's quite nice, not going to lie"

"Awww, we are very proud of you. If not for you we would've never have been able to live in such a place"

In response to my compliment, my mother once again tried to hug me.

"Bwuddar!"

However, just as my mother was about to hug me again, out of nowhere Nola came running in my direction.

Squatting down I opened my arms.

"Nola!

"Bwuaddar!"

"Hup!"

Jumping up, Nola fell into my arms and hugged me. Taking her into my arms, I lifted her in the air.

"hehehe"

With a smile on my face, I looked at Nola who was giggling in my arms and softly said.

"Nola, big brother has a gift for you"

"Gift?"

Hearing the word 'gift' Nola's interest piqued.

"Yes..."

'Fwua!

"Tada!"

Smiling, five teddy bears appeared in my hand. Nola's eyes instantly shot wide open. After a couple of seconds, throwing her hands in the air she instantly dashed towards the bears and hugged them.

"Waaaa! Teddy bears! So cute!"

Putting Nola down and watching her play with the bears, a faint smile appeared on my lips.

This was nice...

'Human you're back'

Suddenly, I heard a crisp voice inside of my head.

Walking in her cat form, Angelica calmly stood a few meters away from me. Surprised, I greeted her back.

'Hey, been a while since I last saw you. How have you been doing?'

'Better before than now'

'That's a bit harsh no?'

Talk about sassy. That was the first thing she said once she saw me. Ignoring me, Angelica snorted and turned her head around.

'Hmph, I've broken through'

'Oh? You've reached the viscount rank?'

'That's right'

'Wow, congrats...'

Though I expected this, I was still pleasantly surprised. That was one <B> ranked bodygua...keuhm, I meant partner for me.

"Come, Ren, Lunch is ready"

Whilst I Was conversing with Angelica, I suddenly heard my mother's voice calling me from all the way down to the kitchen.

"Coming!"

With a smile on my face, I headed to the kitchen.

Arriving at the kitchen, sitting at the kitchen table was my father reading the newspaper. Smiling at him, I greeted him who greeted me back with a warm smile. Following this, I sat down and ate lunch with my parents.

For the next few hours or so, we just talked and caught up.

...

Manticore building, Lock.

8:00 P.M.

"So you're saying that he contacted you?"

Standing by the edge of my balcony, I held my phone in my ear. Smallsnake's voice rang out from the phone's speaker.

'Yes he did

"...and, what did he say?"

'He agreed

"Agreed to the terms we offered in the contract?"

'Pretty much

"I see, I guess the fact that I was all over the news helped out in a way"

Almost half a year had passed since I had last come into contact with Ryan. Finally, after patiently waiting for that long, he contacted us.

With my face all over the news, and after having 'observed' us for a while, Ryan had finally decided to accept the offer that I had proposed to him.

Ah, when I said 'observe' us, I meant what Smallsnake allowed him to observe. Despite Ryan's genius, he was in no way capable of hacking our system.

The only reason he could hack into our system before was because I had told Smallsnake to go easy on him.

Plus, he didn't really have the best equipment to work with. It wasn't that hard for Smllsnake to stop him.

'But we've got a problem...

Unfortunately, right before I could rejoice, Smallsnake poured cold water over me. As a result, my eyes narrowed. After a bit of thought, I instantly understood what problem Smallsnake was referring to.

"It's his age right?"

'Yeah, he's a bit too young. Ashton city law says that he needs to be at least fourteen before he can work.

"Hmm, that indeed sounds like a problem"

I placed my hand on my chin and fell into thought.

His age was indeed going to be a problem since according to the law in Ashton city, kids below the age of 14 couldn't legally work. With Ryan being 12, I knew that this was going to be a problem.

'I do have a solution though.

Fortunately, Smallsnake seems to have thought things through. My eyes lit up as a result.

"What do you suggest?"

'Why don't we just take him in as a trainee.

"A trainee?"

'Yes, we can use the excuse of teaching him how mercenary businesses work to bypass the law. At least until he turns fourteen.

My brows knit.

Indeed. If we took Ryan as a trainee instead of an official member, taking him under our wing wouldn't be a problem.

Furthermore, this worked in my favor since he still needed to learn a lot.

"I see, that makes sense"

'Ah! Regarding his payment, we can just set up a separate account with the money already inside. We can just give it to his mom, or let him have access to it.

Since we couldn't directly give him the money, this was the most appropriate method. Super suspicious but with Smallsnake being the one who handled everything, there shouldn't really be any problems.

After all, I'm sure he had his ways. I trusted him.

'Should I go ahead?

"Yes go ahead...ah, by the way, Smallsnake, how much money do we have left in our funds?"

Vaguely nodding my head, I suddenly recalled something and asked him about the money situation. In response, Smallsnake's voice became slightly troubled.

'Right, I almost forgot. We're almost out of money. Everything else aside, we've only got 5 million U left.

"I figured..."

'I presume you've got this problem solved no?

"Yeah, I in fact do have a solution to this problem..."

'Great, whilst you figure the money thing out, I'll settle the things with Ryan.

"Sure"

'Tak!

Pressing the red button on my screen, I hung up the call with Smallsnake. Staring at the blue sky, I exhaled.

"Haaa...I'm poor again"

After the trip to Immorra and after spending my money on a couple of other things, my bank account was almost empty.

Just when I thought I had enough money it quickly ran out...

Suddenly I looked at my bracelet and sighed.

'Right, I guess it's about time I sold the items I got from Immorra'

Walking back towards my room, I made my way towards my desk. Tapping onto my bracelet, multiple objects quickly appeared on the table.

'Fwu!

"Let's see..."

Overall, the number of items on my desk was quite a lot. I needed to carefully check the uses of each one of them through the status window before me.

'Clank! 'Clank!

"Useless...useless...hmm, this should be fine...useless"

Staring at the multiple items on the desk, I quickly separated the useful items from the useless items. Since some of the items could only be used by orcs, they were naturally useless for me.

"Pheww, this should be it"

After ten minutes of sorting, I wiped the sweat that had accumulated on my forehead. At the moment, there were three different piles before me.

The useful pile, the useless pile, and the 'I don't know pile'. With the 'I don't know pile' being the one that contained items which I wasn't sure whether they could be useful for me or not.

'Clank!

Quickly putting the useless and I don't know pile back in my bracelet, I stared at the last

Surprisingly there were a lot more useful items than I had expected. However, despite this, they were still far less than the other two piles.

At the moment, there were twelve items, of which four especially stood out to me.

Name : Hand of Malice

Rank : D

Description : A glove that enables the user to increase strength stat by two minor sub-ranks.

Name : Mother's kiss

Rank : N/A

Description : Powerful venom that is capable of dissolving the internal organs of the target upon ingestion. Can work on <B> ranked creatures and below.

Name : Seduction Ichor

Rank : N/A

Description : Very powerful aphrodisiac. Can work on <C> ranked creatures and below.

Name : Ring of gravity

Rank : C

Description : A ring with ten settings. Upon wearing the ring, body mass will double. Whenever the setting is changed, the mass will double with respect to setting chosen.

"Tss..."

Staring at the items, I drew a cold breath. If I had to be honest, I wanted them all.

But, I knew that I couldn't do that. Especially since the next major event was happening soon.

'Ashton city grand-annual auction'

Just ten minutes ago, everyone in the academy received a message with an invitation to the auction. Being a part of the academy, I got one too.

The Ashton city grand-annual auction was a massive event where all sorts of artifacts, skills, and arts were sold. Despite how tempting most of the items in front of me were, the auction that would be held in two weeks' time had far better items.

'Plus, that item is being auctioned there isn't it?'

There was one specific item that I really desired from the auction. The value of the item I wanted was quite expensive, but it would be all worth it.

That one item alone could propel me to new levels...

'Well, if only it was that easy'

There was just one slight problem with my plan. I did not have enough money to buy it. Hence why I had to resort to auctioning the items before me.

'Actually, could I maybe take one?'

According to my approximation, the item I wanted to buy was worth around 100 million U. The net worth of the items before me was around 150 million U.

'Perhaps I can take something?'

I quickly shook my head. Now was not the time to think of this. I still had two weeks to sort things out, if I was lucky enough I could perhaps keep two items.

Who knows.

'Ding!

Suddenly my watch vibrated. It was Kevin.

[Hey are you going to the auction?]

"Well, that was fast..."

Taking my phone, I quickly typed back.

[Yes I'm going]

[Great, I'm going with Emma and the others too. Wanna join us?]

[No]

I quickly refused. Rather go with Leo and Ram.

[Cool, I've just added you to the group chat]

"..."

Does this guy not know that no means no?

'Ding!

[Auction chat]

[You've just been added to a group chat - Time 8:32 P.M.]

Kevin : Hey guys, Ren agreed to come with us.

Melissa : What's this guy doing here?

Emma : What?! Kevin, I thought you said you weren't going to invite any more people?

Kevin : Sorry! [Praying emoji]

Emma : What's the use of being sorry when you're not even sorry? [Angry emoji]

Amanda : [Wave emoji]

-Tack!

Blankly staring at their conversation for a good minute, I threw my phone on the bed. I couldn't read any more of their chats spammed with emojis.

"Haa...well, if I look at this on a positive note, at least this saves me a bit of trouble"

With Emma and Melissa being VVIP's, I could naturally get a better seat and skip annoying lines and processes. In a way, this worked out in my favor.

Closing my eyes, I massaged my forehead. A thought struck me, 'Hopefully, nothing goes wrong...'

I said hopefully, but I knew that something was definitely bound to happen.

Regarding the auction, in the novel, it was supposed to be the next event prior to the tournament arc.

'Well, at least should've...'

Leaning back on my chair, I crossed my legs.

In theory, there should've been two more incidents before the tournament arc, but given that I had pretty much foiled the Monoloth's plans, I couldn't see how they were going to carry on with their original plans.

The primary reason I was sure about this was because I had killed Professor Thibaut.

The main initiator for all three events.

With his death, the chances of the other events happening were almost slim to none.

But still...

Just because I expected the events to not happen didn't mean I wouldn't make preparations for it.

If there was one thing I learned from the Everblood incident, it was to always think that something will go wrong.

Therefore, I quickly reminded myself to be on alert for the following weeks.

'Creaaak!

Just as I was in the middle of my thoughts, suddenly the window of my room opened up revealing a black cat. My eyes instantly lit up.

"Hm, oh, Angelica. Welcome back, you're already done?"

"Yes"

Leisurely walking into the room, Angelica nodded her head. Jumping on top of the bed, Angelica curled up and closed her eyes. Completely disregarding my presence.

Seeing this, the edges of my lips curled upwards.

'She's sad that she can't see Nola again'

Ever since returning from my parent's house, Angelica had been a bit moody. Though it could be from the fact that she was now seeing me again, I knew that it was because of Nola.

Unfortunately for her, I needed her. And thanks to her, everything was now set.

Placing my elbow on the armrest of my chair, I supported my chin. Staring at Angelica who sat on the bed in her cat form, I lightly tapped on the other armrest of the chair. The edges of my lips curled even more.

Tap!Tap!Tap!

I could now finally finish what I had set to finish a long time ago.

'Hmm, if this works out well, perhaps I don't really need to sell any of my artifacts...'

Thinking along those lines, I knew that I couldn't make any mistakes.

It was clean-up time.

Chapter 218: Cleaning up [3]

Gerrard Lim - W.V. Pharmaceuticals chairman son

Romelu Connel - Both his parents are A-ranked heroes, and work under platinum rank guild.

Adrea Forsetti - Son of the elder of Gladiatori, platinum rank guild.

Jessica Pandev - Daughter of one of the school instructors.

Gabriella Lemass - Daughter of branch manager of Ashton-district bank, one of the largest banks in the city.

'Plack.

I closed my notebook. In it were all my notes on the five tyrants.

"...well, things should work out for now"

With Angelica's aid, I've already made my move. Now all I had to do was wait.

"Human"

Suddenly, Angelica called out for me. With her body curled up and resting on the bed, Angelica looked quite cute from where I was sitting.

"Hm? Angelica? What's up?"

"You still haven't told me why you made me do all of that"

"Ah, that..."

Right. Though I've made Angelica do all the work, I still had not told her the plan. Wasn't sure whether she would be interested or not.

"To be honest, it's not something you'd find particularly interesting. Even then, do you still wanna hear about it?"

"No, never mind"

Angelica quickly shook her head.

'Then why ask in the first place?'

Staring at Angelica curled up on my bed, I shook my head.

To be honest, even if I had explained it to her, chances were that she wouldn't have understood anything.

My plan was to instigate internal conflicts amongst the tyrants. I mean, why fight them when they can just do it for me.

Of course, it didn't just amount to that much. If it was just that, it wouldn't solve any of my problems. My real goal was to make everyone turn against Gerrard. The one with the strongest backing and the one I had to revolve my plans around.

Only once everyone was against him would my plan finally begin...

'Fwua!

Tapping on my bracelet, a green card appeared in my hand.

'The time stamp...'

The card in my hand was why the five tyrants existed in the first place. If not for them, such a situation would've never have existed.

After thinking about it for a long time, I realized that this was the key link between the five tyrants.

That's when my plans started formulating.

Having spent countless hours observing and researching each and every tyrant, I knew quite a bit about them. From their habits to their hobbies and basically anything that I needed to know about them.

From there I was able to come up with a rough plan which I enacted with the help of Angelica.

Whether it worked or not, I'll know by the end of the day.

"Huuuam...I'm kinda sleepy"

Lazily stretching my arms, a yawn escaped from my lips. Having spent the majority of the day revising the information I had acquired on the five tyrants, I was understandably tired.

Making my way to bed, I looked at my room. A thought suddenly struck me, 'I should be moving out of this place soon shouldn't I?'

Right, I do recall Donna telling me that my room in the Leviathan building was just about done.

Truly a pity.

Just when I got used to this place and made a couple of friends, I had to leave. What a bummer.

'Pamf!

Slumping on my bed, I turned off the lights and closed my eyes.

'Oh well, it's not like I can turn down the chance into going to the Leviathan building'

I mean, we were talking about top-notch facilities with even bigger rooms and training grounds. No matter how much I liked this place, I'd be stupid to refuse.

Plus, having enacted my plan, everything would sort itself in this place.

All that was left for me to do right now was wait.

Wait for everything to fall into place.

...

After an uneventful weekend passed, it was Monday and the class ended at 5 P.M. like usual.

"Alright, that is it for today's class"

Marking the end of the class, with a quick goodbye, the lecturer gathered his stuff and left the classroom.

"Huua...I'm so tired"

Stretching her arms, Emma lazily stood up and packed up her stuff. Next to her, Amanda did the same thing.

Having spent the last ten hours or so studying, everyone was understandably tired. Me included. As she was packing up her stuff, Emma turned around and looked at Kevin.

"Hey Kevin, what are you going to do once you go back?"

"Train"

Putting his tablet back in his dimensional space, Kevin's reply was blunt. In response, Emma rolled her eyes and complained.

"Ghh, do you do anything else apart from training?"

"No, he is a muscle idiot"

I quickly interjected. Elbowing me, Kevin glared at me.

"What did you just say?"

"I apologize, I meant a deaf muscle idiot."

"Oy! Repeat that if you dare?"

"Deaf muscle idiot"

Fearlessly looking at Kevin I repeated. Smiling, Kevin cracked his knuckles.

Crack. Crack.

"It seems like someone is itching for a beating"

"You can't beat me"

"Oh? Do you want to try?"

Now that I thought about it. If Kevin and I fought, who would win?

Despite Kevin's absurd talent and higher rank, I was confident in defeating him. The reason for this was simple.

I knew everything about Kevin.

From how he fought and his weaknesses and weak points. Book aside, when designing his character I added several flaws in his form and strength at the beginning.

These things would obviously no longer be something noteworthy by the end of the novel, but as of right now they were easily exploitable flaws that could give me an edge when fighting him in the future.

Still, that was just speculation on my part. I wasn't actually keen on fighting Kevin. At least not now. As a result, I quickly denied Kevin's challenge.

"Nah, I don't want to fight you. Too bothersome"

"Sigh, I can't deal with you guys..."

Staring at Kevin and I bickering, Emma's mouth twitched. Shaking her head, she took Amanda by the wrist and led her out of the class.

"Let's go, Amanda"

"mhm"

Completely unfazed by everything, Amanda nodded her head. Turning my head and watching the two girls leave, I looked at Kevin and proposed

"We should probably go too"

"Yeah"

It was getting late. Probably shouldn't waste too much time chatting in the classroom. Especially now that I was so busy.

'What I should do next, hmm...I should probably tr-hm?'

Right as I was about to leave the classroom, I felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning around I noticed Kevin pointing towards the entrance of the classroom.

"Ren, there's a couple of people at the entrance for you"

"Oh? Who?"

With me not having a lot of friends, this came as a surprise. Who could possibly be looking for me?

I soon found out the answer.

"Leo? Ram?"

Standing at the entrance of the class were Leo and Ram. Noticing that I had noticed them, Leo was the first to speak.

"Ren, how are you so calm?"

My brows knit.

"What's wrong with you guys?"

Staring at their faces which were quite solemn, I felt that something was odd about them. Noticing the confusion on my face, Leo flashed his watch.

"Have you not seen the announcement?"

"What announcement?"

"Check your phone"

Seeing how clueless I was, Leo sighed. Frowning, I turned on my watch and checked my notifications. Soon the edges of my lips curled upwards.

"I see, so it's started..."

[To all those under Gerrard's protection, after classes end today at five, make your way to his room ASAP. If any of you are even a minute late, you will have to bear the consequences]

"Did you say something?"

'Oops, I may have spoken out my true thoughts'

Waving my hand I quickly tried to change the topic. Me and my tongue.

"Hm, Oh? nothing, what a shocker. What could've happened?"

With his arms crossed, Ram thoughtfully said, "We don't know. didn't we just give them the time stamp yesterday? Why did they call for everyone? Perhaps something big happened"

"hmm, that does sound plausible"

To Leo and Ram, the situation may seem extremely odd as it had never happened in the past. Unfortunately for them, this was the scenario that I was waiting for.

'Looks like everything is going according to plan, at least for now'

Still, just because everything was going according to my plans, I wasn't going to let my guard down.

Fortunately, with Angelica back with me, the chances of an external factor disrupting my plans were slim.

"Ren what should we do?"

Rumbling for another minute, Leo nervously looked at me as he asked for advice. I shook my head in response.

"We don't have a choice but to go"

"But..."

"Let's go, I'll protect you guys. You forgot who I am?"

"Ah, that's right. How could we forget"

Given my strength, I was actually amongst one of the strongest people in the Manticore building. There was nothing to really worry about.

Don't get me wrong, it's not that the people in the Manticore building were weak, it's just that all the other strong people went to the other two buildings. Anyone that reached D rank was extremely talented and rich, the chances of staying in the Manticore building were low.

Because of this, it meant that I was one of the strongest people in the building. Leo and Pram also realized this, hence why they sighed in relief.

"Alright, let's go"

"Sure"

"Yeah"

Right as I was about to leave with Leo and Ram back to the Manticore building, I felt a slight tap on my shoulder. Turning around I realized it was Kevin. After having listened to our conversation, he more or less understood what was happening.

"Do you need help?"

"Hm? Nah, I've got this"

With a grin on my face, I shook my head. If Kevin joined, my plans wouldn't work. I knew his character all too well, what I was about to do was not something he would've liked.

"You sure? If you need help just message me"

"I appreciate the thought, but it's not as bad as you think"

Patting Kevin on the shoulder, I reassured him that everything was going to be fine. Staring at me in the eyes for a couple of seconds, Kevin eventually gave up.

"Alright, if you say so"

"Hm, I'll message you if I really need help"

Grinning, I flashed my phone.

"Sure"

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow"

"Cya"

Waving Kevin goodbye, I hooked my arms around Leo and Ram and followed them back to the Manticore building.

'Time for a thorough cleanup....'

Chapter 219: Cleaning up [4]

Staring at his phone, Gerrard's brows knit tightly. A minute after, he clenched his phone tightly and swore out loud.

"Damn it..."

Ever since a couple of days ago, a rift had started appearing amongst the five tyrants. Apparently, the timestamps that the other tyrants had gone missing.

Oddly enough his timestamps remained untouched.

'Can't these retards understand that the reason why my stuff is untouched is because whoever the thieves are, they fear me?'

Although the other tyrants had respectable backings, if they were to be compared to the likes of W.V. Pharmaceuticals, they were still a level below.

To Gerrard, it was clear as day that the thieves had specifically skipped him because they feared him. Unfortunately, the others didn't seem to understand this as they kept looking at him suspiciously.

After a day and no news about the stolen timestamps, everyone forcefully convinced themselves that Gerrard had played a part in the disappearance of the timestamps. Hence the current predicament.

Without a doubt, they were going to target the people under his jurisdiction. They wanted to cut his timestamps supply.

"Damn greedy bastard..."

'Clank!

"Gerrard, everyone has gathered"

Suddenly the door of Gerrard's room opened, and Noah, one of his lackeys called him. Fixing his collar, Gerrard nodded his head.

"Everyone is already here? Okay, I'm coming"

Walking out of his room, Gerrard closed the door behind him. Entering the living room of his apartment Gerrard saw a crowd of students looking at him. Walking around the room, he was instantly able to pick up the awe and fear coming from some of the student's eyes.

The corner of his lips tugged upwards as a result.

"Thank you for coming all the way here today"

Stopping before the crowd, Gerrard gave a brief round down of the situations to the students. In short, he told them about how they might get targeted by the other factions and that they needed to be extra careful.

'Hm? Where have I seen that guy?'

As he was talking, Gerrard's eyes suddenly paused on a certain individual. Pale white skin and deep blue eyes. He seemed to have a faint recollection of such a student. Suddenly he remembered.

'Ren Dover'

The talented youth who appeared all over the news.

'Right, he might be able to help me...'

An idea suddenly struck him.

If he could get Ren on his side he could quickly use him as a deterrent against the other tyrants.

With him being one of the strongest people in the dorm, he could quickly crush all of his opposition. Without a second thought, Gerrard pointed at Ren.

"You come with me"

"Me?"

Baffled, the youth named Ren pointed at himself. Raising his brow, Gerrard nodded his head.

"Yes, who else am I pointing at? Follow me quickly, I don't have much time to waste"

"O-okay"

Flustered, Ren hurriedly followed him. Staring at Ren's flustered figure, Gerrard secretly smirked.

'I guess it's true. He really has no backing'

This was going to be easier than he thought.

"You take care of the situation while I take care of this one"

Staring at Noah, Gerrard quickly ordered. In response, Noah nodded his head.

"As you wish"

"Good"

'Clank!

Closing the doors to his room, Gerrard carefully scrutinized Ren before him. After seizing him up, with a satisfied nod, he got straight to the point.

"How about you work for me?"

"Work for you?"

"Yes, I've investigated you a little bit. This is only natural. After receiving news about your talent I started getting interested in you. I know that your parents work for a third-rate guild and you have no backing. How about it, work for me. I can provide you with all the necessary reso-why are you smiling?"

Gerrard stopped himself mid-sentence. The reason was that the student before him was smiling widely. Almost as if he was watching the most amusing show of his life.

"Oh? I'm smiling?"

Startled, Ren touched his lips. Noticing this, Gerrard became enraged as his voice echoed across the area.

"Yes, you were! Do you think I said something funny? Am I a joke to you!?"

"haaa...me and my shitty acting"

Letting out a sigh, Ren brushed his hair up and silently cursed. This startled Gerrard who suddenly had an ominous premonition. Staring at Gerrard, Ren slowly opened his mouth.

"I mean, how stupid would I be to work with the son of the guy who murdered Thobias church and caused the downfall of the previous number 1 pharmaceutical company?"

"W-what! How do you know?"

Opening his eyes wide, Gerrard froze on the spot.

'I-impossible! How did he enough such confidential information? Apart from me and my dad, no one should know about this! He must be bluffing, yes. If not bluffing how else would he have known?'

Unless he was bluffing, things wouldn't make sense.

"How did I know?"

Smiling once again, Ren displayed a map to Gerrard. Pinpointed on it was a certain location within Ashton city.

"Meet me here after the meeting is over, I'll let you know then. Oh. If you ever tell anyone about what I said to you, not only you will die but I will slowly reveal everything to the world."

Weakly pointing at Ren, Gerrard shouted, "Y-you're just bluffing!"

"Haaa...do I look like I'm bluffing?"

Halting his steps, turning his head around. Suddenly an incomprehensible pressure bore down on Gerrard as Ren's eyes slowly turned dull grey. Instantly the world around Gerrard froze and his body trembled uncontrollably.

Pressing his hand down, Ren's hoarse and cold voice echoed across the room.

"Kneel!"

Thud!

With a large thud, Gerrard kneeled on the floor. Without even questioning the decision, Gerrard kneeled on the ground. An inexplicable sense of fear washed over him.

'N-no, what's going on? Isn't this like back in the arena?'

Garrad remembered this moment. This was the exact same scenario that happened during Ren's fight against Haris. At first, he thought it was some phony skill that Ren had used to deceive the opponent, but he felt it...

He felt the true horror that was before him. It was like he was standing before a humongous black mass that looked down on him as if he was an ant.

He needed to know his place! Thus, Gerrard gave up any thoughts of fighting.

"It's good that you are not resisting"

"Please-I'm sorry, I give up. Don't kill me p-please..."

Staring at Gerrard's figure for a couple of seconds, Ren smiled. Slowly his eyes returned to their usual deep blue color. Patting Gerrard on the shoulders, Ren warned.

"If you don't want such information to spread, I'll give you an option"

"Right after the meeting is over, you are to quickly come to the place I had previously shown you"

Once again taking out his phone, Ren showed him the image of the location. After a couple of seconds, turning his head back to Gerrard, Ren asked.

"Do you understand?"

"Y-yes"

"Good"

Satisfied, Ren patted Gerrard on the shoulder a couple of more times before leaving towards the exit of the room.

However, just as he was about to leave, Ren's feet halted in front of the door. Turning around, with a calm smile on his face, he opened his mouth.

"Ah, if you try anything stupid I'll be the first one to know. As soon as you try to call someone for help or send someone a message, I'll quickly spread everything that I know to the world. Whatever your father worked hard to accomplish will be quickly ruined overnight, and the people that you bullied and harrassed will flock at you like mad hyenas..."

Pausing slightly, Ren nodded his head in satisfaction. At the moment, Gerrard was sweating profusely as he imaged the scenario Ren had just spoken about. Without hesitation, he kept nodding his head.

"Good, it seems like you know what's best for you"

Touching the handle of the door, Ren slowly opened it as his expression changed to that one of someone who had just been scolded.

"I hope you don't disappoint me"

'Clank!

Those were the last words Gerrard heard before the door closed, and silence descended upon the room.

*

Not very far from the Lock and on the outskirts of the central district resided an old factory, Thriven Industrial Co.

The factory used to be an old toy factory that was quite well known within Ashton city. Unfortunately, after a few board disputes and corruption cases, the company was forced to shut down. Ever since then, the company has been left abandoned with no one wanting to buy the land due to its fairly remote location and expensive listing price.

It was precisely because of how remote the place was that I chose this place as the location for today's operation. It was perfect since there were no cameras around and there were not a lot of people living nearby.

Regardless of how much sound 'they' made nobody would notice anything.

'Grrrrrr!

Suddenly the doors of the factory opened and a shuddering Gerrard walked in.

'Thud!

"You're finally here"

Smiling, I jumped off a machine I was sitting on and welcomed him with open arms. In response, Gerrard shuddered even more as looked at me and took a couple of steps back.

"Y-you how did you know such information! How did you know about Church's death!"

Without hesitation, he got straight to the point.

"How did I know?"

Smirk

Staring at Gerrard's flustered expression, the edges of my lips tugged upwards.

"How did I know?"

'Simple really, it's because I am the author of this book'

I naturally couldn't say it. Despite it being the truth, there was no way he would believe me.

"Answer me!"

Taking my smirk as a sign of me looking down on him, Gerrard became enraged as he started shouting.

"If you don't answer me I'll quickly send an emergency message to my father!"

"Oh?"

Flashing out his phone, Gerrard showed me the text message that was already written. With his thumb on the send button, he threatened.

"Yes! See this, this is my phone! If you as so much make as single move and don't tell me about how you know that information, I will immediatel-khhh"

'Click!

A subtle clicking sound resounded across the factory.

"Khh...W-what?!"

Clenching onto his chest, Gerrard's eyes opened wide. Looking down on his hands, red blood gushed down on the ground.

'What just happened? I didn't see anything...'

Before he could even move or do anything, his body completely froze and he found himself bleeding profusely.

'Thud!

Seconds after, with a large thud, his figure fell on the ground. Tapping on the grip of my sword, I shook my head.

"Sorry to break it to you, but I really have no use for you anymore..."

To be honest, he wasn't really my main target to begin with. He was merely a means to reach that goal.

"Oh well, let's get this over with"

Staring at Gerrard's dying figure, I felt no pity for him. After having investigated him closely and discovered all of the disgusting things he had done in the past, I felt that this type of death did not do him any justice. He deserved a more gruesome one.

"Let's see..."

Slowly walking towards Gerrard, I calmly picked up his phone. With Gerrard having already unlocked the phone, I didn't have a hard time accessing his stuff and finding his messages app.

[Dad, can you come to pick me up? I've got some fantastic news to share with you. Come to me directly. There's this restaurant that I want to try with you]

"...and sent!"

Having investigated Gerrard very carefully, I naturally also investigated his father. With this, I naturally found a lot of things that I could've exploited. In this case, I managed to find a very interesting piece of news.

Jhanna Lim, Gerrard's father, was a very doting father. Whatever Gerrard asked of him, he would do it. It was because of this that for most of his life he managed to get away with most things Scott free.

Me asking him to come here was actually part of my plan. If everything went according to what I've investigated, his father would be more than delighted to come. This fact was proven not long after as Gerrard's phone vibrated.

'Ding!

[You want to have dinner with me? But of course, I'll come! I'll be coming soon. Wait for me]

"Bingo..."

With a smile on my face, I put the phone away.

Was I worried about Gerrard's father not coming?

Not at all.

Given Gerrard's history, him going to such places to carry out his degenerate plans was not strange.

Since his father had covered up for him multiple times, he would know by now how Gerrard did things. He wouldn't find this strange.

Moving back towards one of the machines, I leaned back and relaxed.

'Now all I have to do is wait...'

...

Jhanna Lim, the current head of W.V. pharmaceuticals. He was of Malaysian descent and was 43 years old as of today.

His life was tough. Inheriting his parent's company at a young age, Jhanna was born with a heavy burden on his shoulders. Despite this, after graduating from a rather prestigious academy he quickly got to work and expanded the influence of his company, W.V. pharmaceuticals rapidly.

Unfortunately for him, the road was filled with thorns. With competitors everywhere, reaching the top was tough. Still, using whatever method he had available, Jhanna managed to claim the number one spot as the top pharmaceuticals company in the human domain.

After years of constant struggles, he had finally ascended to the top.

"We're here sir"

"Alright"

The car halted and a bodyguard opened the door. Nodding his head, Jhanna stepped out of the car. Looking at the abandoned factory before him, Jhanna was taken aback.

"Where in the world..."

Next to him, one of his two bodyguards frowned.

"Something feels off sir"

"Yes, I think so too"

Jhanna agreed.

Although he wasn't strong, his instincts told him that something was definitely off about the situation. Without hesitation, Jhanna took out his phone and sent a message to his son.

[Son, I'm here why don't you come outside]

'Ping!

Within seconds he got a response back.

[Ah dad you're here? Come into the factory, I've got something amazing to show you]

"You two follow me. If anything seems out of place immediately call for backup"

"Roger that!"

Jhanna's brows knit tightly. Nudging his guards next to him, he made his way towards the factory before him. Although he felt that something was odd about the situation, he was confident about his guard's strength. If anything truly did happen, without a doubt the guard before him would defend him.

'Grrrrrr!

Opening the door that led to the warehouse, Jhanna instantly saw countless old types of machinery.

"Gerrard, dad's here. Where are you?"

Looking around for a couple of seconds, Jhanna raised his voice as he called out for his son.

"Jhanna Lim, W.V. pharmaceutical CEO, father of one kid, and murderer of multiple people who were deemed as competition..."

"!!"

Suddenly a cold voice echoed across the warehouse startling Jhanna and the guards next to him. Frantically looking around, Jhanna shouted.

"You! Who are you! Show yourself"

After looking for a while, suddenly, his eyes paused towards a certain machine in the distance. Sitting on top of it was a figure wearing a mask that only covered half of his face. With a smile on his face, the figure slowly opened his mouth.

"Who am I? Hmm, now why would I be stupid enough to tell you my name?"

Chapter 220: Cleaning up [5]

"Where is my son and who are you? Answer me!"

Staring at the masked figure before him, Jhanna shouted out loud. His deep voice echoed inside of the factory. Apart from the masked figure he could not see anything else.

Where was his son? Who was he? Why did he target him?

Jhanna wanted answers.

"Sir, he's no threat. He is only ranked E"

With his eyes squinted, one of the guards next to Jhanna tapped him on the shoulder and reported what he was able to observe. Without a doubt, the masked man was only <E> rank.

"Pheew, okay"

Jhanna instantly sighed in relief.

Knowing that the opponent was only E ranked calmed him down a bit. His two bodyguards were both <C> ranked. A measly <E> ranked posed no threat to him. Staring at the masked figure before him, Jhanna spoke in a more confident tone.

"I give you an option, either tell me where my son is, or I'll make you tell me where my son is. I'm not sure if you can tell, but I have two bodyguards with me. Both ranked C. With your measly strength there is no way you can fight them so I suggest you give up"

"Hmm, that is indeed true"

Staring at Jhanna before me, I smirked.

'What an idiot'

What he said was indeed true. If it was just me by myself I would without a doubt be taken down by his two bodyguards. Unfortunately for him, I wasn't alone.

Lightly glancing at the top of the factory, I caught a glimpse of two yellow eyes staring at Jhanna from above. They were the eyes of a predator.

'Good, it looks like Angelica is ready...'

Unaware of his predicament, Jhanna crossed his arms in triumph. In response, I raised my hands up.

"Good, so you know your limit. Okay, now tell me. What have you done to my son"

"Sorry but unless you hear me out I can't say anything"

"I see, so you want to play this way..."

'this is fine too. This saves me a lot of trouble. Since you don't want to play it the easy way, I'll let you experience the hard way...'

Pointing at the masked figure, Jhanna ordered his to guards.

"Get him!"

Nodding their heads, the two guards looked at each other as an overbearing pressure started exuding from their bodies. Clenching their fists, they prepared to move.

However...

'Spurt! 'Spurt!

Blood spilled in the air and the two holes appeared on the bodyguard's chest. With his eyes wide open, Jhanna witnessed his two bodyguards get attacked from behind. It all happened so fast that he was unable to identify who the perpetrator was.

"What happened!?"

Thud! Thud!

With two large thuds, the two bodyguards fell to the ground. They were dead. Staring at the corpses of his two bodyguards, Jhanna's mouth hung wide open.

'What's going on?'

He wasn't able to see a thing. It all happened so fast that his bodyguards could react at all. We were talking about two <C> ranked bodyguards. Some of the best of the best. Instantly Jhanna's body shuddered as fear seeped in.

'Calm down, calm down, you've been through worse situation. Try to gauge what the masked guy wants'

Jhanna forcefully calmed himself down.

"I apologize for my previous behavior. Please tell me what you need of me. If there's anything I can do I'll try my best to please your needs"

Bringing his hands together, Jhanna bowed. Having been blackmailed for ransom before, he knew of the standard procedure.

He was very clever. By acting this way, he was hoping for a negotiation without coming off as rude. Whoever the young boy before him was, he wasn't an opponent he could fight.

By acting this way he would be able to preserve his and his son's life. He knew when to attack and when to back down.

'huhu, all you want is money, right? I've got plenty of that. Whoever you are, even if you have someone strong backing you, you won't carelessly kill someone like me who has such a high status right? I've already memorized your voice and frame, even if you're wearing a mask I'll make sure to hunt you down once I return'

Jhanna Lim was gloating as he thought of the plan he had weaved.

Smirk.

Looking at Jhanna before me, the edges of my lips curled upwards. Noticing my smile, Jhanna, who took it as a positive reaction, thought that he had successfully managed to trick me.

'I did it!'

Now all he had to do was wait for the masked man before him to ask for the ransom. Once he successfully paid the ransom or whatever demand he had, he would quickly mobilize all of the resources at his disposal and hunt him down.

'Hopefully by the time I come back he's still not dead. Hahaha, I'll make you understand who you've messed with!'

Just the thought calmed his boiling heart.

He was the kind of man that would never forget a grudge. For as long someone messed with him, he would make sure to pay them back ten times.

"Very well, how about you transfer me the money first"

"Money? If I give you money will tell me where my son is and will you let us go?"

'Hehe, just the usual thief that thinks he/she can take some of my money'

Third rates. That's what Jhanna called such thieves. It wasn't because they were weak but because they only wanted money and nothing else. Once their demands were pleased they would immediately flee as far as possible.

Unfortunately for them, they had messed with the wrong person. With his power and connections, he would easily be able to locate the identity of the thieves.

"Yes, I'll let you and your son go after you send me the money"

"How much?"

"Hm, how much can you give me?"

"50 million"

"So that's how much you and your son's life are worth?"

Hearing the sum of money that was being offered, my voice became cold. Killing intent spread out from my body.

'He'll really kill me!'

Feeling the killing intent, Jhanna quickly waved his hands frantically.

"Nonono, I was only joking. 120 million is all the liquid assets I have. I can't offer any more than as that would take months to gather"

Jhanna wasn't lying. Most of his assets were long-term ones. Meaning that they couldn't be turned into cash quickly. The only cash he had at the moment was 120 million.

"Look! See, I wasn't lying"

Frantically tapping on his phone, he quickly showed me his bank account balance.

[121,098,549 U]

I slowly closed my eyes.

At the moment, I was trying my best to keep a calm look on my face. 120 million U. With it I would no longer need to sell most of the items that I got from Immorra. Opening my eyes once again, I nodded my head and took out my phone.

Transactions in this world were easy. Just a tap on the phone and the money would be transferred. Moreover, since the phone I was currently using was one that Smallsnake had given me beforehand and was connected to a separate account, I wasn't worried about anyone trying to track me down.

"Okay, send that money to this account"

Extending his hand, Jhanna was about to tap his phone against mine. Suddenly, he halted.

"How can I make sure you will let me go once I give you the money?"

"You don't"

I shook my head. In response, Jhanna quickly took his phone back.

"What! Are you messing with me?"

Jhanna was baffled.

A negotiation where the other guy did not even let the other negotiator propose any terms. This was the first time Jhanna had come across someone this stupid?

Why would he bother respecting the term if the other guy was not even willing to do the same?

"Do I look like someone who is joking?"

In response to Jhanna's attitude, my voice grew cold. Instantly, Jhanna's back became drenched in sweat as he swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Gulp.

'He really isn't joking...'

If he really didn't agree to the terms both he and his son would die.

'No, this is merely an act. I can't let him influence me like this'

Shaking his head, Jhanna clenched his fists. He couldn't give up that easily. This was merely a tactic the thief was using to make take advantage of him. Staring at me, Jhanna took another mouthful of saliva before once again speaking.

"I-if you can't guarantee me and my son's health, why should I send you the money?"

Smirk

"I'm not a man who goes against his promises, but since you don't seem to believe me, I have something else that is far more credible. Here"

Taking a black box from my dimensional space, I quickly threw it in Jhanna's direction. Catching it, Jhanna looked at the box with a trace of confusion in his eyes.

"What is this?"

"Wanna know? Open it"

Click.

With his brows knit, Jhanna slowly opened the box. Suddenly his eyes shot wide open and his body trembled uncontrollably. A finger was in it.

"Y-you demon!! What have you done to my son!"

"Nothing yet. But I sure as heck will do more if you don't send me the money"

Pausing slightly, my eyes fiercely stared at Gerrard before me.

"So?"

"Yes, yes, I will do so now"

Left with no choice, Jhanna could only take out his phone and comply with my terms. Clenching his teeth, Jhanna was enraged.

'This bastard! After I get out of this I'll make sure to skin you alive if that's the last thing I'll do. How dare you touch my son! I'll make sure you die a miserable death!"

'Ding!

A loud chime resounded across the factory. The transaction was successful. With a large smile on my face, I bowed down slightly and thanked Jhanna.

"Thank you for your patronage"

"Okay will you let me and my son go n-khhhh!"

'Spurt!

Before Jhanna could finish speaking, a hand penetrated his back. Staring at me, his eyes shot wide open. With a trembling hand, he weakly pointed at me.

"Why? y-you promised?"

"I didn't kill you though? Angelica, my subordinate did"

'Isn't that the same thing?', thought Jhanna as he slowly lost consciousness.

Understanding what he was trying to say, I shook my head and explained.

"Ah, well. You sir clearly don't watch a lot of movies. Whenever someone promises you that they won't kill you it generally means that their subordinates will"

This was such a common occurrence that I really wasn't sure how he bought my words so easily.

Well, I didn't really care. I've got my payday and removed a scum off the streets.

"Who is your subordinate?"

"Khemmm...Let me correct myself, I meant partner"

'You're technically my subordinate since your bound by contract, but I'll let it slide for now'

I wasn't someone who cared about the technicalities. As long as Angelica was pleased, I was fine.

Couldn't have her throw a fit on me. She was a very useful subordinate after all.

'Shua!

Stretching my arms, I looked at Angelica who was holding Jhanna by the neck. His body was slowly getting thinner by the minute as demonic energy spread in the air.

"Are you done?"

"Don't rush me human"

Angelica snapped her head in my direction and angrily barked. Raising my hands in defeat, I took out a black watch from my pocket. It was Thibaut's watch.

"Alright, do your thing"

'Ping!

Staring at the watch, Angelica suddenly asked, "What are you doing?"

"Me? Nothing, just checking how much they are worth"

Since Jhanna was a prominent figure, he had to be worth something no? At least to the Monolith.

[Target]

[Name : Jhanna Lim]

[Rank : G+]

[Age : 43]

[Status : Dead or Alive]

[Reward : 2000 merit points]

"What! Only 2000 merit points? That's far less than me!"

Opening the watch interface and pressing on the bounty list, my eyes opened wide.

To think that the CEO of one of the largest companies in Ashton city was only worth this much. Even I, a sixteen-year-old student was worth more than double of him.

Fiddling with the watch in my hand, I thought to myself, 'I should probably check later what I can get from the merit points...'

From what I remembered, merit points were quite useful for getting some extremely rare materials or artifacts. Moreover, it was completely anonymous so no one knew who got them.

'Is it wrong for me to call myself a part-time villain?'

By collecting merit points I was essentially doing the Monolith's dirty work. I was also getting paid for it in merit points. Calling myself a part-time villain wasn't exactly wrong.

However...

"Guh, why did I call them villains?"

I frantically rubbed my head. That was so cringy. Why couldn't I have come up with a better name?

"Haa...oh, well. Angelica, let's go home, I'm tired"

Shaking my head I stared at Angelica who was holding the corpses of the bodyguards with her hand. Gerrard's body was there too. With her hand on their bodies, demonic energy slowly seeped into them.

This was naturally done under my instructions. Had to make it look like this was the work of a demon, else someone could've pinpointed this to me.

Couldn't leave any trace of me behind.

Supporting my head with my arms, I calmly walked towards the exit of the factory.

Now that I've finished dealing with Gerrard, everything else should come down naturally.

Though I've only got rid of Gerrard out of the five tyrants, this was enough. He was the only one I needed to get rid of to get all five of them.

'I should get the results by tomorrow or the day after tomorrow?'

At least within a day or two, the five tyrants would be no more. I made sure of that.

"Huaam, I'm tired"

Putting on a thin skin mask to alter my face, I quietly left the factory.. Couldn't let others see my face.

Chapter 221: New professor [1]

"...and this is your new room"

Stopping before a door, a butler wearing a slick black suit turned around and handed me a white card. Without hesitation, I took the card and thanked the butler.

"Thank you"

"No problem, welcome to the Leviathan building"

Today was the day I moved into my new room.

A couple of days have passed since I had killed Gerrard and his father. During those days, a lot of things had happened.

Like wildfire, the death of Gerrard and his father spread all over the news. This was natural since Gerrard's father was the CEO of one of the biggest companies in the human domain.

The autopsy reports said that their deaths were due to an attack by a demon. This was easily discernible from the fact that demonic energy lingered on their bodies upon their death.

After investigating further, it was later found that Gerrard was being targeted by four individuals.

Four of the five tyrants.

This was all due to the timestamps that I had asked Angelica to steal.

Stealing them wasn't actually that hard.

Given that they had to be redistributed around to the other members, they were put inside of a separate dimensional space that was given to a distributor who would redistribute them.

Only after distributing all of the timestamps would the distributor give the remaining ones to the tyrant.

The identity of the distributor was naturally a secret that only a few individuals knew, and only after spying on them for the past month or so was able to find their identity and have Angelica directly steal their dimensional space.

That was how everything started. After that, I did what I did with Gerrard and his father.

...and given the tyrant's background, putting the pieces together, the four of them became prime suspects.

Although everything linked to the fact that it was a demon who had killed them, it wasn't uncommon for people to hire a demon to do the dirty work for them. Such was the case for Thobias Church.

Taking advantage of the situation, all of the victims of their bullying and suffering came forward and reported everything to the authorities.

As a result of this, the four tyrants were now under the heavy scrutiny of the public.

'...and checkmate'

Like a trapped king with no spaces to move, the four tyrants crumbled overnight as their crimes became public for the world to know. Their parents weren't exempted from public scrutiny due to their involvement in covering up for their children's crimes.

In just one night, everything that they worked so hard for crumbled. I naturally profited from this as I had made arrangements months prior to this event. Just a little bit of stock manipulation.

'There's also the Lock situation...'

Besides the four tyrants, the Lock also started facing heavy scrutiny. With this event and the previous incidents added together, the Lock became the prime target for the media and the public.

[Is the Lock a safe haven like the government made us think it was?]

[Problem after problem after problem, the truth about the Lock]

[Can they really secure the future of our children?]

Papers and news outlets criticizing the Lock began spreading everywhere. The more light was shed on the matter the angrier the masses became.

'How could we let our children enter such an academy when they can't even keep them safe?'

'What are all of those S rank heroes in the academy doing? Are they getting paid to sit on their asses all day?'

Anger.

That was what the public felt. They felt cheated.

How could the top academy in the world allow for such things to happen? Just how dysfunctional was the academy? Where were all their taxes going towards?

The public wanted answers.

In response to this, the academy held a press conference and vowed to be stricter and increase the security even more. This naturally wasn't enough to appease the angry masses, but this was all they could do at the moment.

With the headmaster currently being outside of the academy, they could only respond this way.

*

"You must also warn the guards beforehand about any possible outing in the middle of the ni..."

Leaning against the wall of the hall, I absentmindedly listened to the butler giving me a rundown of the rules of the building. Unfortunately for him, my mind was currently elsewhere.

'Things are going to get quite troublesome for the next few days...'

As the perpetrator of this whole incident, I knew that for a bit things were going to become troublesome. However, I didn't regret it.

Not only did I manage to secure myself a lot of money, but I also managed to sort out the Manticore building situation.

'Leo and Ram should be doing better now...'

With the five tyrants no longer being a thing, they should have a better life. Especially since there would no longer be anymore five tyrants in the future.

I didn't just get rid of the five tyrants, I also made sure to eliminate any possibility of more tyrants showing up.

If I just got rid of the five tyrants, new ones would certainly show up.

This was just how the world worked. Once the strong guys were gone, the next strongest guys would take the empty position and act like the next five tyrants. It was an endless cycle that could not be stopped.

After a lot of consideration, making this public was the most appropriate method to get rid of the problem from its roots.

Fortunately, it worked.

With the Lock enforcing stricter rules, there would no longer be any more five tyrants in the Manticore building. My plan was a success.

I no longer needed to worry about Leo and Ram as I made my way to the Leviathan building. Thus leading to my current situation.

'Fwua

Taking out a timestamp from my dimensional space I showed it to the butler before me.

"By the way, you said that there is a time regressor machine here. How does that work? Do I have to get time stamps or is there another way to access them?"

This was the most important information I needed to know. With barely any time to train, I needed to use the time regressor machine desperately.

Especially since the tournament was coming up soon. I needed to increase the mastery of my arts. Especially since my enemies were only going to start getting stronger from now on. I couldn't remain stagnant.

In response to my question, the butler nodded his head and calmly explained.

"Good question, you don't have to worry. There is no need to use timestamps for the time regressor machine. You may use it whenever you want. However do be careful, usage of more than five hours can be very harmful to the body as..."

'Clank!

As I was talking to the butler, I suddenly heard the sound of a door unlocking next to me.

'It must be my neighbor', I thought.

Turning my head around, I tried to greet my new neighbor, however, once I turned around and found out the identity of my neighbor, my smile froze. Similarly, looking at me, Melissa who had just returned from an exhausting day of researching froze on the spot.

A heavy silence descended the hall. The first to break the silence was the butler who greeted Melissa with a smile.

"If it isn't Miss Hall, how was your day? I'm currently showing your new neighbor the workings of the building. If you haven't met him, allow me to introduce him, his name is Ren Dover and just like you he is a fist year"

"Khem...kheumm...nice to mee you neighbor"

Awkwardly coughing, I waved at Melissa. In response, Melissa's mouth opened widely. No words came out of her mouth.

'Is that who I think that is?'

Blinking a couple of times to make sure she wasn't seeing wrong, Melissa's mind blanked. She quickly shook her head.

'nonononono, I must be hallucinating. Yes, this is because I've overworked myself. If not for that, I would've never been in such a nightmarish situation. Yeah, this must just be a horrible nightmare that I need to quickly wake up from'

Assuring herself that this was all fruit of her imagination, Melissa shook her head and made her way into the room. Completely disregarding me and the butler.

'Right, even if that guy was to come to this building the chances of him being my neighbor should be slim to none. This is just me hallucinating. Definitely shouldn't overwork myself'

Right as she was about to close the door, she took one last peek at her right side. Once again she froze.

"hi"

Amusingly looking at Melissa, I waved at her once again. This time, Melissa's eyes shot wide open as a blood-curdling scream escaped from her mouth.

"Why!!!!?"

...

It was early in the morning, 8:00 A.M. to be specific and the lectures were about to begin. Sitting next to me, Kevin kept poking my arm.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were moving to the building?"

After Melissa's scream rang out in the building, almost everybody went out of the room to check out what had happened. Be it Kevin, Amanda, Emma, or Jin, everyone found out about the fact that I had moved in yesterday.

I was trying to keep this quiet so that I could have a few days of peace but Melissa ended up screwing everything up.

Now that I thought about it, she was always screwing up my plans. Now I could no longer rest quietly in my room without anyone looking for me.

'Damn her...'

"How could you move in without telling me?"

Still poking at my arm, Kevin kept repeating himself. Since it was getting annoying, I finally answered him.

"Did I have to? It's not like you wouldn't have found out"

"Of course you did"

"Why?"

"So that we can celebrate the fact that you are moving in"

"What is there to celebrate anyway?"

Maybe because I had just moved into a new room a couple of months back, but I honestly wasn't that excited at the prospect of moving into the Leviathan building.

Though it had everything I could ever wish for, it also didn't really feel that different from my old room. Just everything but more enhanced.

'Maybe it's because I didn't get a proper look?'

I wasn't sure. Perhaps once I actually took a proper look at the facilities available I would feel something. But as of right now, I didn't feel particularly excited. On the other hand, Kevin who was next to me thought otherwise.

Smacking my back he exclaimed, "Ren you're taking this too lightly. Entering the Leviathan building is something that is worth celebrating. It means that your efforts have paid off and the academy has recognized you. This is without a doubt something worth celebrating"

"Sure, whatever you say"

Turning my head, I replied in an enthusiastic manner.

What he said was far from the truth.

The Leviathan building was just something used to split talented students from the less talented ones. It was sort of like separating commoners and nobles.

Still, what they were doing was understandable. With the world currently under threat who cared about equality and that nonsense. Strenght and talent ruled above everything else.

'Clank!

In the middle of my thoughts, the door of the classroom suddenly sprung open widely. Entering the classroom a beautiful girl with orange hair entered classroom.

Instantly the classroom descended into deep silence. Everyone's eyes were drawn towards the girl who had entered the classroom.

She had a rather petite figure and she looked to be about the same age as everyone. However, what set her apart from the regular students was the black instructor uniform that she was wearing. She completely looked out of place.

Even then, no one pointed this fact out.

There was a reason for this. A very good reason at that.

And that was because she was...

Monica Jeffrey, the sunset witch, and 27th on the Hero ranking.

An existence that was deemed to be the next <SS> ranked hero and had a celebrity-like status with almost everyone knowing who she was.

"Not bad..."

Noticing the silence in the classroom, Monica's lips curled up slightly. Arriving before the podium, Monica's cheerful and crisp voice entered everyone's ears.

"Nice to meet you, everybody. I will be your new instructor as of today! I hope that in the following months that I will be here we will learn and have a lot of fun together!"

Pausing, Monica looked at everyone in the classroom. Her eyes soon paused on a few individuals before she continued.

"I see that there are a lot of talented students here. During my brief stay here, I will try my best to make you all into elite heroes who will help humanity in the fight against the demons"

'She looked at me didn't she...'

Staring at Monica who was standing on the podium of the classroom talking, my mouth twitched as I noticed her eyes pausing on me for a couple of seconds.

"Crap..."

This was going to be troublesome.

Chapter 222: New professor [2]

—Ding!

"This game is bugged! Bugged I say!"

A sudden smartwatch notification clogged up the game screen at a crucial moment. Monica, who was resting on her sofa, roared and threw her phone across the room.

"You lost again?"

With her eyes on her laptop, Donna raised her hand and the phone stopped mid-air.

"Donna! The game bugged, I swear!"

Jumping on the sofa, Monica protested. Donna's face remained stoic.

"That's what you said last time"

"Ghhh...this time it's for real!"

"Sure, sure, whatever you say"

This was the fourth time Monica said the same thing. At this point, it was plain to see that Monica was just a sore loser.

—Plack!

Closing the laptop, Donna leaned back on her chair. With her arms crossed, Donna skeptically looked at Monica.

"By the way Monica. how did you get permission to teach the students so early?"

Even though Monica had told her she would be coming this week, she should've gone to an instructor training camp for the first two weeks. It was odd for her to suddenly show up unannounced inside of a classroom.

Despite Monica's power, it didn't matter if she was powerful or not. What was the point of being strong if you could not teach?

You couldn't just have someone become an instructor without adequate training.

"Didn't I tell you I was coming today?"

Calming down and putting her phone away, Monica slumped on the sofa and rested her feet on the tea table in front of her.

"You did, but you still did not go through training. I can't have you teach the students without adequate training"

Pausing, Donna's eyes narrowed.

"Don't tell me you've bribed some of the teachers..."

"Don't know what you're talking about"

Opening her eyes widely, Monica turned her head to the side and feigned ignorance. Her acting was terrible.

'As I expected'

Donna massaged her forehead.

Monica had obviously bribed someone in order to come to class today. She should've known better. Especially given the fact that she knew Monica's character quite well. This was definitely something that Monica would've done.

"Haaa...Monica, you know that you have to follow the rules right?"

"Ugh, stop being uptight. I'm Monica Jeffrey, 27th in the hero ranking! What is there to teach me!"

Standing up, Monica clenched her fist in protest.

Donna shook her head and ignored her pleas. This was for the safety of the students. Given how erratic Monica could be at times, Donna refused to let her anywhere near them without any adequate training.

"Until you've completed your training, I'm not letting you anywhere near the classroom again. Do you understand"

"Fine..."

Lowering her head, Monica gave up. Out of all the people in the human domain, Donna was the only person that could force her to back down. If not for Donna, Monica would've been a loose cannon terrorizing everything.

"As long you understand..."

Satisfied, Donna closed her eyes and leaned back on her chair. Not even a day had passed since Monica had arrived and she was already experiencing a headache.

'Just great'

"Ah Donna, I forgot to mention this but when I was in the classroom teaching today, a couple of students caught my interest"

Recalling something, Monica's eyes lit up. Instantly she recalled the faces of some of the students that had caught her interest.

'I wonder what would happen once I get a closer look at them...'

In particular, there were a couple of students that she was really interested in. Especially since her instincts told her so. She always trusted her instincts.

Hearing Monica's comment, Donna's hand froze and her brows knit. Staring at Monica, Donna's voice became stern.

"I'm warning you already Monica, don't have any funny thoughts about my students. No recruiting until they graduate"

This was Donna's bottom line. Even if they were close friends, Donna could not tolerate others poaching her students. Not only would it distract them from working hard, but it could also cause them to slack off.

With their future secured, why would they need to work hard? To make matters worse, it could also create further segregation within the academy. Donna did not want this.

"Hey! Of course, I won't. Although they interest me, the union isn't interested in recruiting newborn chicks"

Monica instantly raised her hands.

Although the students interested her, she wasn't here to recruit them. She just wanted to get a better look at them because they looked really promising.

Only once she got to know them better would she start poaching.

"Well, as long as you know..."

Though she did not trust Monica, Donna ended the conversation there. She did not want to worsen her headache.

With her palm on her forehead, Donna thought to herself, 'I guess I'll have to keep a closer watch of her...'

She couldn't allow Monica to roam freely as that would only spell disaster. Staring at Monica who was once again playing on her phone, Donna sighed.

"Haaa...just who would be so stupid to agree to let Monica come here?"

She really wanted to know.

...

—Click! —Click!

Laying down on my bed, I fiddled with a black watch in my hand.

"Hmm, let's see it should be this..."

Pressing on a specific button, a large interface appeared before me. On it were many different listings with pictures depicting different things.

===

Fire flower seeds - 300 Merit points

Poison Ivy - 500 Merit points

Ice scroll - 1000 Merit points

G ranked beast, winged rabbit egg - 800 Merit points

[{F} Flame fist] - 10,000 Merit points

===

"Oh? They even sell skills? How generous of them..."

Scrolling down the list of the rewards that could be acquired by using the merit points, I was shocked by some of the things that I could buy.

Especially the skills. Given how rare they were I thought that they wouldn't give them away but I was wrong.

The Monolith was a far more generous organization than I thought they were. In fact, as I scrolled down, I saw more and more skills being listed on their interface.

'How many merit points do I have? With the merit points earned from killing Jhanna, added with Thibaut's points I should have quite a lot no?'

Without hesitation, I checked my balance. I wanted to know how many points I had with me.

'Do I perhaps have enough to purchase an F ranked skill?'

Just the thought caused my heartbeat to quicken.

===

Balance - 2300 Merit points.

===

"...what?"

Staring at my balance, my mouth twitched.

"Just how incompetent was Professor Thibaut?"

Since Jhanna's bounty was already completed, 2000 of those 2300 were from me. This meant that originally Professor Thibaut only had 300 merit points.

Just what did he do in the time he was here in the Lock? He could've at least have left behind 10,000 points for me.

"Damn it, I guess I should work out more ways to earn more merit points"

—Plack!

Scrolling through the list for another minute and not finding anything interesting, I tossed the watch away.

So far all the things that interested me were too expensive for me to purchase. Therefore it was best if I didn't look at it.

If in the future there were people I killed or had to kill that were on the bounty list, I should definitely report this to earn some points.

Perhaps in the future, before I realized it, I would have enough merit points to purchase a strong skill.

—Ring!

"Hm?"

Suddenly my watch vibrated. Tilting my watch slightly, I realized that Smallsnake was the one calling me. Without hesitation, I picked up the call.

"What's up?"

—Ren, I've received the money. What do you want me to do with it?

"Ah, about that. Don't touch that money"

—Why?

"Because I'm going to be spending it all in the auction that is happening in the next few weeks"

—You're attending the auction?

"Yeah, I've got the tickets"

To be precise, every student in the academy got tickets. Not just me.

—I see, so do you have in mind anything that you want to buy?

"I in fact do have something in mind. It will be extremely useful for me in the future"

The whole purpose of attending the banquet was to get that one item that I desperately wanted. If not I would've never have attended such events as I hated crowds. In response to my answer, Smallsnake sighed on the other side of the phone.

—Haa...I guess I'll make do with the money that we will make from the stocks though it will probably take around a month to arrive.

"Do you need money urgently?"

—I in fact do. Especially since we need to recruit Ryan.

Right.

He did tell me that Ryan had contacted him. Smallsnake had a point. We needed money to hold up our end of the deal. Else Ryan would lose all trust he had with us.

"Actually, you don't really have to worry about the money. I've got it sorted"

Massaging my forehead, I calmly responded. Smallsnake's confused voice entered my ears.

—Why is that?

"You can just use some of my money"

—But aren't you going to the auction?

"I am, but what I have is enough. I'll give you 50 mill, give it back to me after you've sorted the stock thing"

The stock manipulation was going to take a while for it to bear fruit. Therefore, at the moment the only cash available was the one that I could provide. After a month, once everything was sorted, Smallsnake could give me the money back.

—Noted.

"Alright goodbye"

Tak!

Turning off the call, I took out a couple of things from my dimensional space. They were the items that I had acquired from Immorra.

"Let's see, what should I sell..."

Given that I was about to give smallsnake about 50 million U, the item should be around the price range.

"I guess I'll go with this"

After contemplating for a couple of minutes, I chose to sell the seduction Ichor and a couple of other items. The reason why I was selling the seduction Ichor was because I had no use for it. My charm was enough.

By selling those items I would be able to make up for the money I sent to Smallsnake.

'Thank god everything worked out just fine...'

If not for my plan working, I would've been in a serious predicament with regard to money. This would've been especially troublesome in the future when recruiting new members as they were an endless pit of money. The more I expanded the more they sucked the money away from me.

"Haaa...alright, now that everything is sorted I can peacefully rest"

Having sorted everything out, I decided to go to bed. Tomorrow morning I had to wake up early and practice with Donna.

Chapter 223: New Professor [3]

It was 6 A.M. in Ashton city, and the sun was slowly starting to rise from the horizon.

Refreshed from my goodnight's sleep, I headed towards section B. Just the usual private training with Donna.

Navigating my way through section B like it was my own backyard, I slowly made my way towards the private training grounds and opened the doors.

—Clank!

"Good morning"

Covering my eyes I waved at Donna who was already in the room. With how bright the ceiling lights were I needed a bit of time to adjust my eyes to the lights.

"Oh? you're here. Morning"

With her hands behind her head, Donna tied her hair into a ponytail.

"Are we doing the usual?"

"Yup"

Letting loose of her now tied ponytail, Donna picked up a metal staff.

"Alright let's get star—"

Donna abruptly cut her sentence short.

Her brows suddenly knit tightly as she looked towards the entrance of the training room.

'Hm? what's up with her?'

"Hu..."

Noticing Donna's odd behavior, I looked towards the direction she was looking at. A strange sound escaped from my mouth.

Peeking from the small glass window on the door that led to the training room, a familiar face flashed by.

Although she was covering herself with a mask and sunglasses, I was easily able to see through her terrible disguise.

Monica Jeffrey. The sunset witch.

"Monica, I know it's you. Come in"

Donna massaged her forehead.

Glaring at the door, her cold voice echoed across the room.

Flinching, the masked figure awkwardly opened the door to the training ground.

—Clank!

"Hehe, I didn't expect for you to see through my disguise. You are indeed formidable, Donna"

Removing her disguise, Monica awkwardly laughed.

'To think that my disguise was seen through that quickly. Donna truly is my archnemesis'

Monica once again told herself to never mess with Donna.

'Your hair color and stature gave you away'

Staring at Monica, I inwardly facepalmed. Even though she didn't say what she was thinking out loud, her facial expression gave away what she was thinking.

The number of people that had the same colored hair and were the same size could only be counted with one hand.

Seeing through her disguise wasn't hard at all.

"What are you doing here Monica?"

"Keumm...well, I was just passing by and noticed that the lights were on—"

"You were following me weren't you?"

Before Monica could finish speaking, Donna cut her mid-sentence. In response, Monica turned her head to the side.

"I have no idea about what you're talking about"

"Haa...Monica, you've got to improve on your acting skills. I can easily see through your lies"

Donna let out a sigh.

If not for the fact that she was used to Monica already, she would've long given up on her.

"Ghhh, enough about that Donna. If I didn't follow you, I would've never been able to find out that you were doing something so exciting!"

"Exciting? What are you talking about?"

"Him of course!"

Snapping her head, Monica pointed in my direction.

"Me?"

"Yes, you!"

With hawk-like eyes, Monica crossed her arms and observed my body carefully. Suddenly her eyes lit up.

"Oh!"

"Uk!"

Arriving before me, Monica put her hands on my body as her eyes twinkled.

"Hehe, what an amazing figure. You must've trained a lot"

"Ehh..."

Being touched all over, I tried to move away, but as if rooted on the spot I couldn't move. It was then that I realized who was before me. Monica Jeffrey, one of the strongest people in the human domain.

"Don't move and let me examine your body"

'This is sexual harassment I say...'

With her hands feeling my arms and legs, I felt extremely uncomfortable.

The way she talked made her sound like a sexual predator. No, her eyes also looked like that of a sexual predator.

"Monica what are you doing!"

Noticing that the situation was getting out of control, Donna knew that she had to act quickly. Taking one step forward, Donna arrived before Monica.

"Ghhh, Donna wait! What if someone suddenly comes in?"

Grabbing her by the armpits, Donna flung Monica away. Or at least tried. But as if she was an octopus, Monica's hands remained stuck on my body.

"Donna no! It's fine, if someone sees us they'll just think it's normal since I look his age"

"No! Even if you look his age you are 28, act your age!"

"Don't expose my age like that Donna!"

"What? It's something that everyone knows"

Monica's had a celebrity-like status, most of her personal information was known to the public. Her age included.

Regardless of whether she tried to hide it or not, everyone knew her age.

"Hmph, then you won't mind me saying that you're also 28?"

"You!"

Donna's eyes opened wide. Instantly she started exerting more strength.

"Hmph, hmph, since you disclosed my age it is only natural that I do the same"

"Haaa...alright, I give up. Can you please stop sexually harassing my student"

Struggling for a couple of more seconds, Donna eventually gave up as a loud sigh escaped from her mouth.

"I'm not sexually harassing him"

"Sure"

Donna stared at Monica who was still all over my body and apathetically nodded her head.

'As if anyone would believe you...'

With her all over my body, no one would believe her.

"No, really! Donna, you know my abilities best! You know I wouldn't do something like this unless something really interesting happened"

Feeling wronged, Monica finally let go of me and started explaining. As she listened, Donna's brows knit tightly.

'Ah right, there was something like this...'

Donna almost forgot.

Monica did in fact have a special ability that allowed her to detect certain things. Although she didn't know the specific details, her previous behavior started to make more sense.

"That's true, but that still does not justify your actions. You can't be acting like that in my presence. Please don't act like this again, okay?"

Regardless, Donna still needed Monica to calm down. She couldn't just do as she pleased like in the Union.

She was at the Lock right now. Her domain.

"Fine, I'm sorry"

Monica lowered her head and apologized.

Snapping her head in my direction, she suddenly pointed at me.

"You! You must be Ren Dover right?"

"Yes?"

"You are practicing a five-star sword aren't you? I can feel it. With the energy, your body is releasing and your muscular structure, I can tell that you've been practicing a five-star sword art. I'm right aren't I?"

The edges of my mouth twitched.

'Shit, does she have no filter?'

This was the reason why I wanted to avoid Monica at all costs.

She had a terrifying ability that allowed her to identify what grade art they were practicing. In the novel, she exposed Kevin this way.

If the was one good thing, it was that Monica wasn't a blabbermouth. Even though she worked for the union, she knew what lines to cross and which ones not to cross.

This became even more glaring now that Donna was with her. There was no way Donna would allow Monica to reveal such information.

"So, am I right or not?"

Monica leaned forward and poke my arm. Feeling Monica's intense gaze, I remained calm and kept my mouth shut.

"..."

Regardless of whether I answered or not, the cat was out of the bag. Monica was sure about the fact that I was practicing a five-star sword manual.

Didn't really matter if I didn't answer.

"I'll take the silence as a yes"

"Five-star?"

By the side, Donna's brows were knit.

'Although I knew that he was hiding something, to think that it was a five-star sword art. I see everything is starting to make sense now....'

Even she, a ranked hero only had a four-star sword manual. Putting the two and two together, Donna now understood why I always acted the way I did.

"Donna, you won't mind me taking over right?"

Monica looked at Donna with unusual seriousness in her eyes. A slim sword suddenly appeared on her right hand.

"Haa...do whatever you want"

Putting her staff away, Donna nodded her head. Not many people knew this about Monica, but she also practiced a five-star sword manual.

Despite the 'witch' in her nickname, Monica was actually a formidable swordsman.

So strong that many hailed her as one of the strongest swordsmen in the human domain.

'Since Monica specializes in swords just like Ren, it is only right that she teaches him'

Donna wasn't really good with swords so she wasn't the best person to look for when learning swords. She could at most help with psyon control, but that was about it.

However, at this point, just psyons control wasn't enough to raise my strength. Donna understood that.

Hence why having Monica teach me was more appropriate. At least for the sword part. Regarding psyon control, she would still do the teaching.

Furthermore, now that she knew that I practiced a five-star sword manual, it was only natural that she let Monica do the teaching.

"Oh right Donna, I think you should get that Kevin kid to join the training session"

Monica suggested as she swung her sword around.

"Kevin? Why him?"

"Just like Ren over here, he is also practicing a five-star sword art"

"What!? Are you sure?"

This time, Donna couldn't retain her composure and her voice increased a few pitches. Monica nodded her head.

"Yes I'm more or less sure of it"

When she scanned the classroom, she felt peculiar energy coming off from Kevin.

At first, she didn't think much of it, but being in the classroom for a full hour, she was eventually able to notice something odd about Kevin.

It was then that she caught sight of me and compared our energies. From there, she was able to conclude that we both practiced a five-star sword art.

'What an annoying ability...'

Standing by the side, I inwardly shook my head. In a way, it was a pretty strong ability.

With more experience, Monica would be able to determine what sort of art her opponent practiced and from there come up with a counter for that art.

"Seriously, what in the world is happening?"

Donna muttered. She was completely shocked by Monica's revelation about my sword art.

'Since when did five-star manuals become so easily accessible!"

It would've been understandable if the owners were Jin, Emma, or Amanda. With their backgrounds, such things wouldn't be strange.

They had enough funds and power to acquire a five-star sword art.

'But Kevin and Ren?'

Donna shook her head. She couldn't believe it.

Untying her ponytail, Donna secretly thought to herself, 'To think that the two students with the lowest background in my class ended up being the ones with the five-star sword manuals...'

The irony.

"Alright, if what you said is true we should also get Kevin to join the practice sessions"

Donna looked at Monica and suggested. Monica's eyes lit up as a result.

"Oh, that's a brilliant idea! If Kevin joins I'll be able to observe two amazing sword arts!"

'Is no one going to ask about my opinion?'

Standing by the side watching Donna and Monica converse, I was left speechless. Not once did they ask about my opinion. Donna and Monica just suddenly decided to train Kevin and me out of nowhere.

Though I wasn't against the idea of Monica teaching me since she was indeed the best possible teacher I could ask for, I wasn't exactly comfortable with the prospect of someone knowing about one of my hidden cards.

but, oh well...

Sometimes one had to lose some in order to gain some in the long run. Such was life.

I could only bear with it for now.

"Right, why don't you show me your sword art so that I can come up with an appropriate training method for you"

Having reached an agreement with Donna, Monica turned her head in my direction. With twinkling eyes, she fervently looked at me. My brows knit.

"Now?"

"Yes, show me your sword art. I want to see which one you are practicing"

"Hmmm..."

"Just show her, we won't reveal anything to the world. You can trust me"

With her back against a wall, Donna reassured me.

'I know...'

Knowing Donna's character very well, I knew that she was someone that kept her words. I knew I could trust her.

"Haaa...alright"

Nodding my head I moved towards the center of the training ground. Both Donna's and Monica's full attention was on me.

'Here goes nothing'

—Click!

Placing my hand on the grip of my sword, a subtle clicking sound resounded across the training ground.

Not long after, silence descended the training ground.

Chapter 224: New professor [4]

Who were the top 10 strongest people of all time? This was an age-old question.

Ever since the emergence of mana, humans had begun evolving.

Things like splitting rocks apart with bare hands or casting fireballs and spells were no longer the fruits of pure imagination.

Decades have passed ever since humans were able to gain superpowers and slowly they began to adapt to mana.

A more organized system began to emerge and humans with tremendous powers began to appear all over the world.

Grandmaster Keiki was one such person.

'The one-man-army' was what they called him.

With his deadly one-hit-kill style that no one could see through, Grandmaster Keiki killed countless demons without even moving or lifting a finger.

For those who witnessed this sight, they could only look back at it as if it was a beautiful memory.

Amongst historians, there was a general consensus.

The consensus was that...

Grandmaster Keiki, the wielder of the Keiki style, alongside nine other few, was one of the ten strongest humans to have ever lived in this age where mana existed.

This was an undisputed fact that even the current heads of the union did not disagree with.

Whoever had witnessed Grandmaster Keiki's prowess in the past could tell just how much of a fearsome figure he was.

Especially his sword art.

A five-star sword art that made Grandmaster Keiki known throughout the world.

Unfortunately, around three decades ago, Grandmaster Keiki disappeared from the world and so did his legacy and sword art.

With Grandmaster Keiki gone, the sword art was lost with no hopes of ever appearing again.

This was common knowledge. It was what everyone learned in history class.

The Keiki style would never appear again.

This was what everyone said.

Yet...

'Click!

With a subtle clicking sound, a magnificent arc drew in the air as the sharp tip of a sword split the air apart.

Not even half a second flew by before the sword was back into the scabbard. So fast yet so deadly.

Inside of the expansive training ground, deftly science descended.

"This..."

Standing by the side, Donna's mouth hung open.

'How is this possible?!'

Without a doubt that was the Keiki style. Right before her eyes, Donna witnessed the once-forgotten art style.

How could she not be shocked?

"K-keiki style"

The first one to break the silence was Monica whose breathing quickened.

As if teleporting, her figure appeared right before Ren. Grabbing him by the shoulder she asked him an endless amount questions.

"Was that the Keiki Style? Do you know Grandmaster Keiki? Is he still alive? Where did you learn it? How much of it have you mastered? How l..."

"Monica, calm down!"

Snapping out of it, Donna raised her voice. Letting go of Ren, Monica also snapped out of it.

"Ah, sorry. I was just too excited"

"It's okay"

Bitterly shaking his head, Ren waved it off.

From the moment he performed the sword art before Donna and Monica, he had been prepared for this.

"Ren is Grandmaster Keiki still alive"

By the side, Donna asked.

She wanted to know if such a legendary figure was still alive.

If so it would be something worth celebrating.

Although the world looked peaceful, Donna knew that it was only a matter of time before the balance that the humans created would break.

Humanity needed another powerhouse to bring more stability.

"Ah, no, he's dead"

At Donna's question, Ren shook his head.

Grandmaster Keiki was without a doubt dead. As the author, he knew best.

"I see..."

Donna was a bit disappointed with the answer, but she didn't have much hope to begin with.

It was already good enough that the Keiki style was not lost.

"Monica, you must keep this a secret, understood?"

Turning her head and looking at Monica, Donna's voice became serious. Monica nodded her head in response.

"I know, Donna. Although I work for the union, you know that I can keep a secret okay. Especially on these kinds of matters"

"I know, but just in case. We can't let others know about his sword art"

"Yeah, I agree"

If the world found out that Ren practiced the Keiki style, he would without a doubt become the prime target of the demons and humans.

Donna could not let anyone know about his sword art.

If the sword art landed in the wrong person's hands, it could prove fatal.

Humanity could not afford such a situation. Not at this moment. Therefore, it was her duty as a teacher and hero to help Ren keep his sword art a secret.

'At least not until he is strong enough...'

Only once Ren was strong enough to stand on his own would she be okay with the world knowing about the fact that he practiced the Keiki style.

Till then, she did not want anyone to know about this.

"Alright, I'm already starting to get itchy. Now that I know what art you are practicing let's start training shall we?"

Snapping Donna out of her thoughts was Monica's bright voice.

Checking her watch, Monica smiled from ear to ear.

'Sha! 'Sha!

Swinging her sword around, Monica looked at Ren provocatively.

"We've got three more hours to go. Show me what you've got. I really want to see the extent of your abilities"

...

'Clank!

"haa...I'm finally free!"

Stretching my arms, I exited section B. I was more exhausted than I had imagined.

After revealing my sword art, I was subjected to endless amounts of questions by Monica and Donna.

After that, I was put under their gruesome Spartan-like training.

Although I somehow knew this beforehand, Monica's style of training was even rougher than Donna's. My whole body was bruised.

'I should've expected this...'

Bitterly smiling, I shook my head.

The Keiki style was just that iconic.

Despite there being a lot of famous five-star martial manuals, the Keiki style was one of the most easily recognizable ones.

The quick draw style that could kill an opponent before they could even figure out what was going on was not something that other swords art could do.

The number of arts out there that had as much of an impact as the Keiki style were very limited.

Donna's and Monica's reactions were understandable.

"Still, it's not like the situation turned out bad..."

I had now gained two valuable allies.

With Donna and Monica trying to keep my secret a secret, I could now breathe more easily.

In a way, this turned out for the best.

"Right, I need to tell Kevin about the practice sessions"

I suddenly recalled something. Taking out my phone I quickly sent Kevin a message.

[Kevin, I've got some news to share with you on behalf of Donna]

During my training session, Donna had asked me to tell Kevin about the training sessions.

"...and sent"

Whilst waiting for Kevin to reply, I put my phone away and headed back to my dorm.

I needed to take a quick shower before going to class.

...

Inside of a white world.

An old man with a sturdy body stood in the middle of the white world. Gripping tightly onto a large broadsword, the old man lifted the broadsword up with one hand.

Shhh!

He slashed down.

Shhhu!

After the first slash, lifting the broadsword up, the old man once again swung the sword down.

Shaa!

Swish!

He repeated the process eight times.

With each slash, a different sound resounded across the white space.

The first slash was nothing particularly special. It was a simple fast and heavy sword swing.

However...

Swoosh!

With each and every slash, the sword became faster, heavier, and sturdier. The back muscles of the old man tensed even more with each passing slash. Alongside his back muscles, his other muscles became more prominent with each swing.

Kracka!

It was the fifteenth slash.

This time as the old man swung his sword, the air split apart and the ground shook.

Without a doubt, this sword slash was incomparable to the previous ones.

It was much stronger.

Without taking a breather, the old man once again lifted the broadsword up. As he lift the sword up, the old man's biceps bulged. The veins around them wiggled.

"huuu..."

Turbid air escaped from the old man's mouth as put both hands on the grip of the broadsword and prepared to slash down once more.

Ever since the first swing, this was the first time the old man put both hands on the broadsword.

It was evident that the next wing was going to be even more powerful.

'Ring! 'Ring!

Right before the old man could slash down the white world slowly started to crumble as an annoying chime repeatedly rang.

"Hmm? It's that dream again?"

Kevin murmured as he opened his eyes.

Ever since he had learned the Levisha style, every once in a while he would get strange dreams inside of his head.

In it was Grandmaster Levisha performing his sword art.

As Kevin's proficiency with the sword art increased, he found out that the dreams became more vivid as a result, and from the dreams, Kevin was able to gain a better understanding of the Levisha style.

From the breathing technique to the muscle movements. Slowly but surely, as Kevin mimicked the old man's movements, he was learning more and more about the Levisha style with each passing dream.

However, Kevin knew that the dreams were not as simple as that.

As the dreams became more vivid, Kevin was able to pick up more details.

Rage and despair.

For whatever reason, whenever Kevin looked at Grandmaster Levisha swing his sword he was able to see and feel incomparable rage and despair mixed within his eyes.

Directed towards the endless white world, Grandmaster Levisha poured his boiling emotions with each swing.

Every time Kevin tried to look in the direction Grandmaster Levisha was looking at, he was only able to see a black obscure figure.

No matter how much he tried to see the identity of the obscure figure, Kevin could only see a black mass. Nothing else.

It became apparent to him that he was still too weak.

Only once his mastery increased would he be able to figure out the entity that Grandmaster Levisha was trying to fight.

"Huaam...what time is it?"

Yawning, Kevin lethargically lifted his body up from his bed and checked his watch.

[Friday, 12:13 P.M]

"Oh crap! I'm going to be late"

Kevin was immediately startled awake.

Jumping off his bed revealing his shirtless figure that was only wearing a pair of grey boxers, Kevin quickly dashed towards his wardrobe and took out his school uniform.

Quickly dressing up, he dashed towards his bedside drawer where his phone was.

'Ring!

At the exact moment Kevin picked up his phone, his phone vibrated.

"What is it?"

With his brows furrowed, Kevin looked at who messaged him. It was Ren.

[Kevin, I've got some news to share with you on behalf of Donna]

[What is it?]

Tapping on the notification, Kevin sent a quick reply.

[Basically, every Wednesday and Friday from 6 A.M. to 12 A.M. you are to come to section B for private training]

"Private training?"

Looking at the message, Kevin's brows knit even further. He quickly sent a reply back.

[Private training? What are you talking about?]

[It's Donna's orders, she wants to personally teach you alongside Monica]

[Monica? Why her?]

[I don't know how to break it to you but Monica figured out your sword art]

"What!?

Startled, Kevin's voice raised.

[Quickly tell me the details]

He quickly sent another message.

[Don't worry, she only found out the grade]

"Just?"

Reading the message, Kevin massaged his forehead.

That just pretty much meant that she knew that he practiced a five-star sword art. Something that was highly rare and coveted by many.

How could Ren talk about it so lightly?

[Not that I don't trust you, but did she find out herself or did you tell her?]

Calming himself down, Kevin sent another message.

[No, I would never sell you out like that. Monica figured it out by herself. I only revealed to them what sword art you practiced]

'So this is why she was staring at me so much in class...'

Reading the first half of the message, Kevin nodded his head in understanding.

Kevin already had a hunch about this. Ever since the last class with Monica, she would always glance in his direction.

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have thought much about it since he was used to the stares, but under Monica's eyes, Kevin felt as though his secrets were completely laid bare before her eyes.

Her behavior made much more sense now.

"Hm?"

Kevin's brows suddenly knit.

Putting his phone closer to his face, Kevin once again read the message. More specifically, a certain section.

[Monica figured it out by herself. I only revealed to them what sword art you practiced]

'I only revealed to them what sword are you practiced...'

"Ren, you!"

Clenching his phone, Kevin cursed out loud.

'What part of 'I didn't sell you out' did you actually mean?'

Reading the message, Kevin knew that Ren had without a doubt sold him out.

Chapter 225: Auction [1]

"So this is the Leviathan building time regressive machine?"

I muttered as I looked ahead of me. Right before me stood a large metallic capsule. By its side were thick wires that stretched and connected to the side of the walls.

===

[Option 1]

[Option 2]

===

On the panel by the side of the machine, I was presented with two options.

Without hesitation, I pressed on the first option

The difference between option one and two was the time, with option one lasting one hour and option two lasting five.

Still not used to the machine, I chose option 1.

One hour was about one day inside of the time regressive machine, so it was plenty enough.

Didn't want to overwork my brain.

—Shuuua!

Moments after pressing on the first option, the pod slowly opened up. Steam rose in the air.

'Here goes nothing'

—Shuuua!

Just as I was about to enter my capsule, the capsule next to me opened up.

Emerging from the capsule was Jin.

"Hm?"

Stepping out of the capsule, Jin looked at me and our eyes met.

For a short period of time, neither one of us spoke.

After a while, I was the first one to break the silence as an awkward greeting escaped from my mouth.

"Sup?"

"..."

Jin did not answer me. He just coldly looked at me.

'Well, this is kind of awkward...'

Being stared at by Jin, I wasn't sure what to do. After a while, I shrugged my shoulders and proceeded to look at the panel on the time-regressor machine.

'Since you're not going to talk I'm just gonna do my thing...'

Sorting out a few things, I put my foot in the capsule.

"You better not fall behind me..."

Moments before I entered the capsule, Jin finally opened his mouth. As his cold words echoed across the room, my brow raised.

"Oh?"

'Interesting...'

"Fall behind you? Me? You wish"

Smirking, I looked Jin straight into the eyes.

'So you're challenging me?'

To think that the cold prince was openly challenging me like this.

Normally I would've avoided such a challenge, however, I was starting to become curious.

'Just how much did you improve whilst I wasn't looking?'

Staring at Jin who was incomparably different compared to how he was in the novel, I wanted to know.

Just how different was the current Jin from the past Jin?

"Now's not the time"

Staring at me for a couple of seconds, Jin shook his head.

Putting his hands in his pockets, he turned around. My brows knit as a result.

"Then when is the time?"

"You'll know eventually..."

Just before he left the room, Jin muttered in a voice audible enough for me to hear. He soon left the room.

—Clank!

"The hell was that..."

Staring at Jin's departing figure for a couple of seconds, I shook my head.

Although I wasn't really sure of what Jin meant by his last statement, I was ready.

He wasn't the only one who had seen a large increase in strength over the past few months.

I was now only a step away from breaking through to <D-> rank and almost all of my arts were near the greater realm of mastery.

Whatever he was going to throw at me, I was ready.

"I can't wait to see what you have in store for me Jin..."

I softly muttered as I finally entered the capsule and pulled the lid down.

As the author of this world, I couldn't help but get excited at the future that awaited Jin.

Could he perhaps surpass Kevin?

I wasn't sure.

But one thing was for sure.

The current Jin had the potential to reach even greater heights than he did in the novel.

'Since you said don't disappoint me, I can't disappoint you can I?'

My small interaction with Jin right now triggered something within me.

I couldn't explain it but, I was now itching to train.

—Ding!

Pressing on a small monitor before me, I slowly started losing consciousness.

*

Inside of a large world with an azure blue sky and a plain and expansive grass field stood a figure.

"Huuu..."

Extending my sword forward, I took a deep breath.

As I slowly traced my sword in the air, a translucent yellow ring appeared before me.

—Snap!

Closing my eyes, I snapped my fingers.

Immediately after, a translucent blue humanoid figure appeared a couple of meters ahead of me. On its right hand was a long sword.

This was one of the features of the time regressor machine.

During my training here, whenever I wanted I could call for an opponent to face me.

Furthermore, the humanoid's rank was made to be equal to mine. More precisely, both of our ranks were lowered to G.

This was so that during the sparring session was only skill-based.

'Let's see how much I've progressed...'

In the plain grass field, I stood before the humanoid figure. Opening my eyes, I evened my breathing and remained still.

"Attack me"

Pushing the ring I had created to the side, I commanded.

—Swoosh!

Instantly the humanoid figure dashed towards my direction.

In a matter of seconds, the figure was right before me. Raising the sword in its right hand, the humanoid figure slashed downwards.

The slash was neither too fast nor too slow, however, it was extremely accurate and powerful.

Calmly staring at the falling sword, I remained still.

—Woom!

Suddenly, a humming sound resounded across the space and the sword halted right before my nose.

—Drip! —Drip!

Blood slowly spilled on the ground as the tip of my nose bled.

Feeling the stinging sensation on my nose, I didn't care.

Staring at the sword that had stopped right before me, the edges of my lips curved upwards.

"Good..."

Suddenly clenching my fist, a ring appeared next to me.

—Woom!

Right as the ring appeared, the sword that had stopped right before me moved towards the direction of the ring and smashed against it.

Almost as if the ring was a magnet.

—Clank!

"You're wide open"

In the brief moment where the sword moved to the ring, an opening appeared on the humanoid figure.

I naturally took advantage of this.

Clenching my fists and tensing my back, I punched forward. Right towards the abdomen of the figure.

—Boom!

An explosion rang.

"khhh..."

Following the large boom, a small shockwave swept the surroundings. Crossing my arms, I covered myself as a gust of wind brushed past me.

As the dust cleared, the first things I saw were yellow particles flying in the air.

I had won.

"Haa...I've finally broken though"

Staring at the particles, I moved my hand forward and tried to touch them.

Unfortunately, they didn't feel like anything.

'Oh well, I should be content enough with my breakthrough...'

Having spent around twenty hours completely focused on training my sword art, I finally managed to push [Ring of vindication] to the greater realm of mastery and unlock its new feature gravitational pull.

A feature in which for a brief moment in time I could create a small gravitational pull towards the ring.

With this, my strength had now seen another considerable boost.

...

The first weekend of June, right as summer was about to come...

—Ring!

Standing in front of a mirror, I fixed the collar of my blazer. Suddenly, my phone rang.

Without looking at the ID, I knew that it was Kevin.

"Hello?"

Picking up the phone, I responded.

—Ren where are you? We are all waiting for you in the lobby!

"Give me a minute, I'm still changing"

Today was the day that of the Ashton-city grand auction.

Ever since I broke through to the greater realm of mastery for [Ring of vindication] two weeks had passed.

To say that my days were peaceful during those days would be a lie.

Now that Donna and Monica had found out about my sword art, the training sessions each week became even more demanding.

I was getting beat up more than ever before.

To make matters worse, the training sessions increased from two times a week to three times a week.

Despite all of the potions that I was consuming after each training session, I still could not get rid of my muscle soreness.

I was now starting to regret my decision of revealing my sword art.

If there was hell, this was hell.

Fortunately, not everything was bad.

Apart from the obvious rise in strength, there was something else that kept me going during these hellish days.

...and it was Kevin!

Kevin had now joined the training sessions. I no longer had to suffer alone.

Whenever he got beat up by either Monica or Donna I would instantly feel better. The same went for Kevin who gloated whenever I got beat up.

This irritated me quite a bit, but it also made his beatings that much more satisfying to watch.

In the end, that's how I spent the last two weeks. Just training.

Regarding the auction that I was about to attend, weeks prior I had made arrangements with Kevin to go with him and the others.

I would've normally have refused but given their VVIP status and their perks I could not refuse.

—What are you a girl? Not even Emma and the others take so long to change.

"That's pretty sexist of you"

I calmly rebutted as I fixed my tie.

What law said that guys couldn't change slowly?

Fortunately, unlike last time, this time I had bought an already made tie. This saved me a lot of trouble.

If not for the already made tie, I would've probably taken longer.

—Just hurry up, Melissa is getting really mad.

"Oh? Melissa is getting angry? Another reason for me to drag this out. Tell that mad scientist to drink some hot water. I heard it helps"

After a lot of research, I had come to the realization that hot water was a great way to resolve Melissa's anger.

I heard it was a great remedy for girls who have reached that time of the month.

Melissa seemed to be on her time of the month every day.

—...

In response to my joke, I was met with silence.

"Kevin?"

—Ren...pffff

'Is Kevin laughing?'

Though I may be wrong, I was pretty sure I heard Kevin laugh.

I had a sudden ominous premonition.

—I'm sorry to break this to you but I was on speaker. Melissa heard everything.

After a short pause, Kevin calmly responded.

"..."

I was instantly at a loss for words.

Who in their right mind would answer a call on speaker?

"Keumm...keummm...Melissa, how have you been?"

Awkwardly coughing, I greeted Melissa.

—...

Once again I was met with silence.

—Ren you better hurry up, Melissa's face is quite frankly terrifying at the moment

Shortly after, Kevin once again responded. This time his voice was quite grave.

"To be honest, now that you've said that I don't feel like coming anymore"

—Stop joking around and hurry up. We are about to leave without you

"Alright, alright, coming"

Shrugging my shoulders, I buttoned up my shirt.

—Tak!

Hanging up the phone I once again looked at myself in the mirror. Brushing my hand over my hair, I added some finishing touches.

"Alright, seems like everything is here"

Looking at myself in the mirror, I nodded in satisfaction.

After the banquet incident where I had my suit torn apart, with my two-year warranty, I was able to get a new suit.

Thank god for warranty.

Checking to see if I had everything with me, I once again nodded my head in satisfaction.

"Ah right, how could I forget?"

I suddenly recalled something.

Making my way towards my desk, I took a small red book.

Today was going to be a very eventful day. With Kevin coming along, it was only natural that I brought the book with me.

Since I had such a cheat with me, why not use it?

"Okay, this time I'm sure I have everything, right?"

I muttered as I took one last look at my room. After another quick check and seeing that I had everything with me, I decided to leave.

—Plack!

Making my way out of my room I closed the lights and exited the room.

It was time for the Ashton-city grand auction to begin.

Chapter 226: Auction [2]

"When is that guy coming?"

Opening the window of the limousine, Emma irritably asked.

It was currently 8:10 P.M and the auction would begin in thirty minutes. Given that it would take about the same time to arrive at the venue where the auction was going to be held, it looked as though they were going to run late.

"He's said he's coming"

Kevin responded whilst checking his phone.

He just got off the phone with Ren, from what he heard, he was about to come down.

"Just what in the world is taking him so long?"

Emma asked as she massaged her forehead.

"I dunno, he's probably changing?"

"That long?"

All Ren had to do was wear a suit.

He didn't need to put on any makeup.

Emma couldn't understand why it was taking him so long to change.

"Beats me"

Kevin shrugged his shoulders.

He asked himself the same question. It only took him a couple of minutes for him to change, how could Ren take so long?

Fortunately, the wait did not last for long.

"He's here"

Sitting by the window, Amanda spoke up. From the window, she could see Ren exiting the Leviathan building.

"Finally"

Melissa spoke up as she closed her small portable mirror.

She was starting to get really irritated. No, she was already irritated.

"Uhg, what is he doing?"

Emma let out a groan as she looked at Ren's figure in the distance.

Lazily yawning, Ren looked around before spotting the limousine where everyone was.

With his hands in his pockets, he leisurely walked up to the limousine.

"Hurry up!"

Rolling down the front side window, Emma shouted.

"Coming, coming"

Though Ren said that, he kept the same pace throughout the whole time.

It was as though he didn't hear her at all.

"This bastard..."

Emma ground her teeth as a result.

'I really am trying to be nicer to him, but it gets really difficult when he does stuff like this'

Ever since Emma realized how immature she was, she tried to be nicer to Ren.

Or at least tried.

But it was stuff like this that made it hard for her to follow through with it.

—Clank!

"Eyo, thanks for waiting for me"

Opening the door, Ren smiled and greeted everyone. Lowering his head, he sat next to Kevin.

"Haa...alright, let's go"

Taking a drink, Ren put his mouth on the straw and started drinking.

"Hm? Why are you all looking at me like that?"

Raising his brow, Ren stopped drinking.

'What's going on?'

At the moment, everyone was looking at him weirdly. It felt really uncomfortable.

"Haaa...Ren, did you really spend all of that time changing?"

Sitting next to him, Kevin let out a long sigh as he covered his face with his hand.

"Yeah, why?"

Nodding his head, Ren's confusion grew.

"Your button"

Interjecting, Amanda pointed at Ren's top button.

"What about my buttons?"

Ren tilted his head in confusion.

"It's one button too high"

"Oh, you're right. Good spot"

Looking down, Ren realized that he had indeed buttoned wrongly. He had buttoned one button higher than he was supposed to.

Scratching his head in embarrassment, he turned around and undid his buttons.

'Crap, I was too busy making preparations for tonight that I messed up my buttons'

The real reason why it took so long for Ren to come down wasn't because he was changing but it was because he was busy making preparations for the upcoming event tonight.

In reality, he only spent two minutes changing.

"My God, we had to wait for you this long yet you still couldn't button yourself?"

Looking at Ren, Melissa groaned.

Was this the same guy that she presented with back in the Demon hunter guild?

She couldn't believe it. He was just too clumsy.

"Larry, let's just go. We can't be late or we'll miss the beginning of the auction"

Knocking on the tinted window at the front of the Limousine, Melissa ordered.

"As you wish young miss"

Nodding his head, the driver put his foot on the accelerator and the car sped into the distance.

...

The Ashton-city grand auction was held inside of a large hotel, King's Crown. One of the most luxurious hotels in Ashton city.

The reason why the venue was so famous was because of its owner.

Ranked 58 in the hero ranking, <S> ranked hero Amber Rose. An especially fearsome Hero famous for her plant-based powers.

With a simple stretch of her hand, she could call countless vines and trap her opponents with it.

Many villains and heroes alike feared her because of her power. Especially since the vines she could call were extremely sturdy and hard to break.

As such she was nicknamed the 'Vine queen'

And so, with her being the owner of the building, no one had the balls to crash that place.

If they did, they would end up facing her ire. Something that most people wouldn't want to do.

"We're here"

Stopping in front of the hotel, the first thing I saw was a large sign with the words 'King's Crown' engraved at the front.

"Let's go"

The first one to get out of the Limousine was Melissa who was wearing a beautiful red gown that perfectly complimented her beauty.

"Huup, let's go"

After her, Emma alongside Melissa exited the limousine. Kevin and I followed suit.

"Are you going to buy anything?"

Stepping out of the limousine, Kevin Straightened his blazer.

"Yup"

I nodded my head in response.

"You have enough money?"

"Should have"

I had a little over one hundred million U in my bank account.

Though this wasn't enough to buy the item that I wanted, I was planning on putting a few items for auction so there shouldn't really be a problem.

"Mhm, if you don't have enough I can lend you some. Well, that is if you're not buying something ridiculously expensive. I'm not as rich as the others"

"Sure"

Smiling, I nodded my head.

If things progressed as they did in the novel, he wouldn't actually have enough money to lend me.

I knew that hence why I didn't really take his words to heart. Though I did appreciate his gesture.

"Let's go"

"mhm"

Making my way into the building I sort of felt out of place.

Not because of how luxurious the place was, but because of who I was walking next to.

Kevin and the others...

Characters who I designed to be incredibly good-looking.

'I look way too plain compared to them don't I?'

I thought as I bitterly shook my head.

Not that I was ugly or anything, in fact, I was quite handsome if I had to say myself. At least in old earthly standards.

Unfortunately, compared to Kevin and the others I was just too plain.

'I really need to increase my charm', I muttered as I followed Kevin and the rest into the hotel.

Arriving at the entrance, we were soon greeted by multiple attendants.

"Hello, welcome to the Ashton-city grand auction. Can you please show us your tickets?"

"Here"

Nodding her head, Melissa flashed a card to the attendants. Looking at the ticket, the attendants opened their eyes widely.

[Melissa Hall, VVIP]

"Please follow me this way"

Looking at the card, the attendants immediatly became more courteous. They all had brilliant smiles on their faces as they looked at us.

'Tsk, this is the difference between the rich and the poor'

Inwardly clicking my tongue I followed the others towards the VVIP section of the auction.

Had it been just me with my regular ticket, though I wouldn't be scorned I also wouldn't have been greeted with such enthusiasm.

"Here we are"

After walking for a bit, we were soon led to a large luxurious room.

"Oh, wow"

Entering the room, I was impressed.

'It isn't VVIP for nothing'

Illuminated by a large golden chandelier, the room looked exquisite.

Covering the floor was a slick red carpet the felt soft to the touch, and at the side of the room were multiple paintings that perfectly complemented the beige walls.

Most intriguing was the large window at the front of the room that overlooked a large hall which I presumed to be where the auction would be held.

On the right side of the room stood a minibar filled with drinks and food.

"Someone else will soon come to service you during the auction. If you have any questions or you would like to make a bid, please feel free to ask them and they will answer all of your inquiries. Please rest comfortably in the meantime."

"Sure"

Nonechantaly nodding her head at the attendant, Melissa sat on a large red sofa. Following her, Amanda and Emma also sat down.

"Hua, what a nice sofa!"

Slumping on the sofa, Emma lazily put her arms around it. Next to her, Amanda quietly sat down and looked at the window that overlooked the auction hall.

"Ren, what are you doing?"

Just as Kevin was about to follow their example, his feet abruptly halted. Turning around, his mouth twitched.

"Hm? Can't you see?"

Holding a plate filled to the brim with food, I looked at Kevin strangely.

Wasn't my intention obvious?

I was obviously taste-testing the food.

"Kevin, remind me again why you asked me to bring him?"

Turning her head, Melissa alternated her head between Kevin and I.

"Haaa, I'm also starting to regret my decision"

Shaking his head, Kevin let out a long sigh.

"Hey, you know I'm here"

"Pig"

Muttered Emma with a disgusted look as she looked at the plate in my hand that was filled with food.

She was suddenly reminded of the past. Back when she lost the bet.

"Who you calling a pig huh?"

Munching on an eclair I rebutted.

"Who else but you would I be calling you a pig? Just like last time, you're stuffing yourself with food"

"What? It's free"

The food was clearly there for the taking. Why was everyone else complaining? It's not like the food was here for decoration.

"Melissa is paying for it"

Emma rebutted as she pointed at Melissa.

"Oh, I see..."

'That's what makes this even tastier', I softly muttered as I took a bite of a green macaron and proceeded to ignore the others.

"Mhhh, so good!"

Closing my eyes I savored the food to the fullest. It was so good.

—Clank!

Right as I was in the middle enjoying my food, the door to the room opened.

Entering the room was an old man with a kind smile on his face. Politely bowing, he introduced himself.

"Hello, nice to meet you. My name is Jeremiah and I will be your attendant for today. If you have any questions regarding the auction you may ask me. Whenever you successfully bid on an item I will personally bring the item to you guys"

"Mhm, nice to meet you"

Turning her head around, Melissa nodded her head at Jeremiah.

Smirk.

'So you're finally here...'

Looking at Jeremiah who had just entered the room I put my half-finished macaron down as the edges of my lips twisted upwards.

'Jeremiah, you say?'

Though the others were fooled, I wasn't.

The man before me was not who was on the surface.

No.

He was tonight's main star and the man I was waiting for.

Ivan Ranvick, the man with a thousand faces.

Chapter 227: Auction [3]

At the same time, inside another VVIP room, a beautiful woman with green hair sat on a black sofa.

Next to her was a male attendant.

"All the preparations are ready. We have multiple A-ranked Heroes and B-ranked Heroes on stand-by watching over the venue"

Spoke the male attendant as he looked at the tablet in his hand.

"That's good, anything else?"

"Nothing so far"

The male attendant shook his head and responded.

"Alright, you may go"

Nodding her head, the green-haired woman dismissed the attendant.

"As you wish"

Bowing down, the attendant swiftly turned around and made his way towards the exit.

'Clank!

Right before the attendant could leave the room, startling him, the door to the room swung open and a small girl with orange hair entered the room. Following her from behind was a beautiful woman with long black hair and amethyst-colored eyes.

"Eyo how's it going Amber!"

"Monica, you're supposed to knock before you enter"

Shaking her head, Donna reprimanded Monica as she entered the room.

This wasn't the first time Monica brazenly entered a room like this.

She needed to fix her bad habits as one day it might come back and bite her.

"Monica? Donna? You guys are finally here"

"How are you doing Amber?"

Staring at Donna and Monica who had just entered the room, the green-haired girl whom Donna referred to as Amber, put her tablet down and smiled.

"I'm doing better now that you guys are finally here"

Being the owner of the establishment and the one responsible for tonight's event, Amber had a lot of things to do.

She was quite understandably tired.

However, now that Monica and Donna were here, Amber instantly felt better.

"How long has it been since we last saw each other Donna?"

Amber asked.

"Hmm, I'm not sure. Maybe eight years? You were two years ahead of us so we didn't spend much time together at the Lock"

"That true..."

If there was one thing Amber regretted, it was the fact that she was born two years too late.

If not for that she would've been able to enjoy her school life with Donna and Monica, her closest friends.

She truly missed those days where she would chase Monica around with Donna around the campus.

Those days were much easier.

Now she was presented with endless paperwork that she could see no end of. Every day was a constant challenge for me.

"Wow, what's this! Oh, look at all of this food! Don't mind if I take some. Oh, what a nice view!"

"Childish as always I see..."

Looking at Monica jumping all over the place, Amber shook her head.

'I guess some people never change...'

Even eight years ago Monica was the same. From how she behaved to how she looked, she was the exact same person.

Apart from her strength, nothing else seemed to grow.

"Tell me about it, I have to deal with her every day now"

Sighing, Donna shook her head.

"Oh? How come?"

"You didn't hear? Monica over here, for a short period of time, is going to be an instructor at the academy"

Donna pointed at Monica as she massaged her forehead.

"What!?"

Amber's eyes opened widely.

"Monica teaching? Isn't that a recipe for disaster?"

"It's what I've been saying!"

Donna had said this from the very beginning.

Monica was just not fit to teach. Not with that personality of hers.

Without a doubt, she was going to cause some sort of trouble sometime soon. Donna felt it.

"Hey, you know I'm here"

Turning around, Monica frowned.

'Why does everyone think I can't teach? I'm obviously way stronger than the both of you', muttered Monica as she took a plate of food.

Wasn't her strength enough to prove that she was qualified to teach?

'Hmph, they must be jealous', thought Monica as she stuffed herself with pastry.

"Alright, sorry Monica. Please have a seat and enjoy yourselves. The auction is about to start"

Waving her hand and apologizing to Monica, Amber pointed at the seats next to her.

"I'll forgive you only this time since you personally invited us here"

Turning her head to the side, Monica calmly walked towards a sofa and sat down. Donna did the same.

Shortly after the lights turned off.

...

"If you'll excuse me, I will now attend the other guests. If you have any inquiries, please feel free to call me by tapping on the call function on the tablet next to you"

Jeremiah explained a few things before bowing and excusing himself.

"Will do"

Looking at the auction hall, Melissa nonchalantly nodded her head.

"I hope you will have a pleasant experience"

Curtly bowing again, Jeremiah left the room.

'Clank!

Standing by the side of the room, I quietly munched on another macaron.

'I guess he's starting to make preparations...'

Watching Jeremiah leave the room, I smiled.

Jeremiah, or to be more precise, Ivan Rankvick was in fact an extremely renowned thief. In fact, he was actually the most infamous thief to date.

The reason for this was because no one knew who he actually was. That includes the Seven heads of the union and the Monolith. He was like a ghost.

Well, that's how it should've been, but...

I existed.

Being his creator, I naturally knew a little bit about him.

...and so why I came to the auction today. To meet him.

Auction item aside, Ivan owned something that I really wanted.

'The Mask of Dolos'

An <A> ranked artifact named after Dolos, the spirit of trickery. It was also the artifact that gave Ivan his current nickname, the man with a thousand faces.

The Mask of Dolos had the interesting effect of enabling the wearer to alternate their face to whoever they wanted.

By simpling touching a person once, the mask had the ability to mimic the facial features of the person it touched down to the bone structure which was what set the mask apart from regular skin masks that everyone could buy.

Since they only copied the face but did not change the bone structure, they tended to be quite unrealistic in some cases.

That aside, with the mask, Ivan was able to change his face whenever and however he wished, and thus thanks to the mask he was able to avoid the pursuit of the government agents.

That's how his name came to be.

'The man with a thousand faces'

To this day no one knew of the existence of the mask as everyone attributed his face-changing abilities to some sort of skill of his.

This was exactly what I wanted since it would make things much easier for me later along the lines...

"Ren what are you doing? The auction is about to start, aren't you going to sit down?"

Snapping me out of my thoughts was Kevin who shouted from his seat.

"Coming"

Putting my plate away, I quietly walked towards one of the sofas and sat down.

There was still quite a bit of time before I needed to act, so for the time being it was best to just enjoy myself.

"That's quite a lot of stuff..."

I muttered as I took a tablet and opened the auction catalog.

Artifacts, skills, monster parts, special ores, monster eggs, and many other things were present in the long catalog. Most of the items were things that would make anyone drool over them.

Especially me.

However, the items listed in the catalog were not the main stars of today's auction. No, the main stars would only come out once the auction began.

âLadies and gentlemen, I would like to thank you for coming to the Ashton city grand auction that is being held in the Crown's King hotel...

Right as I was checking the catalog, the lights turned off the voice of the auctioneer resounded across the hall.

Instantly all chattering from below stopped.

âFor our first item of today, I present you this.

Unveiling the first item, my brows knit together.

'A painting?'

It looked like just a regular painting at first glance. A badly painted one to boot.

"Ah, wait..."

Taking a closer look I soon realized my mistake. It wasn't a regular painting at all.

âSome of you might be thinking. What is this? A painting? Why would just a regular item be presented in the auction as the first item? Well rest assured everyone, this is no regular painting.

Pausing, the auctioneer traced his finger on the painting and channeled his mana. The painting soon glowed.

Instantly the hall was filled with murmurs.

"This..."

Squinting my eyes, I leaned forward. My interest had started to pique.

âThat's right, this painting is in fact an artifact. Especially painted by Leonard Vaz, 29th in the Hero ranking. With his incredibly artistic sense, Leonard created this painting for everyone to see and admire. What makes this painting special is the fact that the painting contains some of Leonard's insight on psyon control. One of the most fundamental subjects in order for one to reach the top. If one is lucky enough, upon looking at the painting, they may be able to take a step further in their martial mastery and become stronger.

The auctioneer paused and looked at the crowd. He was trying to let the information sink in.

âEnough said, the starting price for the painting is 500,000 U. Let the bids begin.

After a couple of seconds, the auctioneer officially opened the bidding.

Instantly a wave of hands rose in the air.

âNumber 60 bids 550,000U, going once, Ah! Number 78 bids 700,000U
âNumber 765 bids 1,300,000U! Oh, number 05 is raising the price even further 1,500,000 is the current bid!

"This..."

Seeing the crazy waves of bids, I looked at the tablet in my hand. On it was a red button that I could press to bid.

If I had to be honest I was quite tempted, but I forcefully tried to throw such thoughts from my mind.

'I already have Donna teaching me psyon control. It's no use for me. I shouldn't waste my money on the painting'

Though Donna wasn't as strong as Leonard, her mastery of psyon control was at least on par with his level.

There was no way a painting could help me as much as a face-to-face lesson with Donna. Though somewhat useful, it would sort of be a waste of money to me.

âNumber 1289 bids 5,690,000U! Anyone else? Oh, it seems like another distinguished guest wants to take a piece of the cake, 5,900,000U!

Looking at the rising price, any thoughts I had on buying the painting were immediately thrown out of the window.

Although the painting was indeed tempting, 6 million for it was a bit too much.

âNumber 60 bids 8,000,000U Going once! Going twice! Going thrice! And sold!

In the end, the painting ended up selling for 8 million U.

A fair price for someone that didn't have two ranked heroes teaching them three times a week.

âWhat an exciting first item. Now onto the next item. Right before you guys is a...

For the next half an hour or so, different items came and left as everyone fervently bid for them.

To be honest, although all of the items were somewhat interesting, none of them were something that I particularly needed so I wasn't tempted to buy anything.

'Huaam, when is the item I want coming', I muttered in a low voice as a small yawn escaped from my mouth.

Fortunately, the wait did not last for long.

âNext up, for our next item, I present you this.

Unveiling, the next item. A black ominous rock suddenly appeared before everyone.

Staring at the rock, my eyes lit up.

'Finally, it's here! '

The item that I had been waiting for.

...

Ever since young, Emma had always wantonly spent all of her money on whatever she wanted. If she wanted something, she would buy it. It was simple as that. Yet, for the first time in her life, she could only sit down and helplessly watch as multiple items she had her interest in fall into the hands of other people.

'If it wasn't for that damned bastard...', muttered Emma as she clenched her teeth.

With her card frozen, Emma could only stay still and watch others buy the items she had set her eyes on. It was the first time she ever felt like this.

It felt so frustrating.

This was all because of her damned uncle who was trying his best to suppress her.

âNext up, for our next item, I present you this.

Suddenly a new item was presented. It was a black rock about the same as a football.

âFolks, I'll have to be honest with you here. Not much is known about this item, however, after some thorough testing, we were able to find something extremely interesting. This item is incredibly strong. So strong in fact that even with our best equipment we still aren't able to make a scratch on it. The reason why we're presenting you this item is precisely because of this. Since we can't process it, we thought that maybe it would be better in someone else's hands.

'A rock? pfff, who would be stupid enough to buy this?'

Listening to the description of the item, Emma inwardly laughed.

So what if the rock was strong? If they couldn't cut it what was the point of even bidding for it?

To whoever bought the thing, it would just end up resting in their storage to collect dust.

âThe bid starts at 5,000,000U. Let the bids begin.

Following his call, like usual a wave of bids came in.

âNumber 99 starts off the bid with 7 million! Oh, number 643 is now bidding 9 million. Will there be a higher bid today?

"What a bunch of idiots"

Looking at the people below bidding for the rocks, Emma shook her head.

âDi!

Suddenly a small chime rang inside of the room. Turning around, Emma was taken aback by what she saw. With twinkling eyes, Ren looked at the rock below as he pressed on the tablet before him.

Besides him, the number 15 lit up.

âLooks like number 15 from one of the VVIP stands bids 15 million!

'What is this idiot doing?'

With her eyes wide open, Emma was at a loss for words as she looked at Ren.

"Ren?"

Showing a similar reaction, almost everyone in the room looked at Ren with confusion in their eyes.

"Ren, why would you spend so much on a rock that even the auctioneers can't cut?"

Kevin was the first one to ask.

He couldn't understand. If they couldn't cut it with the equipment they had, then who could?

"It's fine. I just like the rock"

Ren responded halfheartedly as he kept on bidding.

"Re-"

"Kevin, it's fine, let him do his thing. If he wants the rock just let him have the rock. It's his money anyways, he can do whatever he wants with it"

Interrupting Kevin, Emma shook her head.

It was his money anyways.

"Bu-"

"No buts, just relax and watch the show"

"Alright"

And so Kevin did exactly as Emma suggested. However, as time passed by, he found it increasingly harder and harder to follow through on this. Emma was the same as she opened her eyes wide as she looked at Ren.

âIt's number 15 again! This time he's bidding 79 million U!

"Ren where did you get all of this money from?"

'And here I thought that I could lend him some money', thought Kevin as he looked at Ren with wide eyes.

From the way Ren was bidding, Kevin realized that his previous comment was unnecessary. Ren was richer than him!

âDi!

A further ten minutes had passed since then and Ren was still trying to bid for the rock.

âIt's number 89 this time with 130 million U. Will anyone bid again?

At this point, everyone in the room had stopped trying to talk Ren out of it.

No matter how much they tried to dissuade him from buying the rock he kept stubbornly bidding for it.

Seeing how stubborn he was, Emma gave up and just watched as he and bidder 89 outbid one another for the past 5 minutes or so.

âOnce again 15 bids again with 135 million U. Anyone else? Perhaps bidder 89 wants to go again? No? Going once? Going twice? and sold! Congratulations to bidder number 15!

"Yes!"

Hearing the announcement, Ren stood up and fist-pumped the air.

'What's the point of being so excited for a rock?'

Staring at Ren from her seat, Emma shook her head. She really couldn't understand. Not just her, everyone else in the room shared the same sentiment.

What was so special about that rock that it made Ren buy want it so badly?

Chapter 228: Auction [4]

"Here's your item"

Holding onto a golden tray, Jeremiah politely bowed in my direction.

"Thank you"

Smiling kindly towards Jeremiah, I took the item that was on the tray. A small black rock.

"If you will excuse me, I will be leaving now. If you require my services once again, please feel free to contact me"

"Will do"

Nodding my head, I watched as Jeremiah left the room.

"You've seen enough?"

Tossing and playing with the rock in my hand, I quietly moved back to my seat. Completely disregarding the questioning looks coming from the others.

"Ren, why did you buy the rock?"

Kevin asked as he looked at the rock in my hand.

"This?"

Smiling, I casually tossed the rock in the air.

"Well, since they said it's unbreakable, why wouldn't I be interested in it? If I can somehow break it, wouldn't it be worth the cost?"

"Didn't you hear the part where it said that you can't break it?"

Emma interjected.

"What about in the long run? With modern technology advancing with each passing day, why disregard the possibility of being able to cut the rock in the future?"

Once again tossing the rock in the air, a calmly rebutted.

If one day the rock could be cut, its value would definitely shoot through the roof.

Not that this was the reason as to why I bought the rock, but it was indeed a good point.

"Ah, that's actually a good point"

At the words, 'long-run' Kevin finally had a look of understanding, as he proceeded to nod his head.

It seems like he thought that I was hinting at him that this was one of the things that I saw from my foreseeing abilities, but this was not really what I meant.

In the first place, why would I get such a detailed vision about a rock? It didn't make sense.

That aside, after my statement, Emma also shut up. She probably had given up.

'Next up for our next item, here we have an amazing...

Taking everyone's attention away from me was the auctioneer who started presenting the next item.

'Fools...'

Playing with the rock in my hand, I shook my head.

What I had said before about being able to cut the rock in the future was a lie. This rock wasn't something that modern technology could cut.

The reason for this was because the rock in my hand was a metal known as Okluom.

An extremely dense and rare material that could only be found on a dwarven planet.

Though I wasn't exactly sure as to how the metal ended up in the auction as I never touched upon it in the novel, I knew that with it I could create an amazing weapon.

Originally this ore was supposed to have been bought by someone else. Unfortunately, the said person ended up becoming a villain.

He was also the villain who owned the sword that I wanted to get. The very same sword that was made using the ore below.

At first, I wanted to just wait till the precise time where the villain would show up in the novel to take his sword, but after thinking things through I realized...

'Why take his sword when I can have one forged specifically for me?'

With the knowledge I had about this world, I knew someone who could make the sword that I wanted.

Malvil Ironhawk

A legendary dwarven figure known for his masterful craftsmanship. There were only five entities that could properly handle Okluom properly, and he was one of them.

If anybody else tried, though they would be able to forge a weapon, the artifact would never reach its full potential.

I knew this since the sword I had originally wanted to take was only <B> rank. It was clear as day that whoever made that sword was an amateur.

Especially since Okluom was a material used to make <S> ranked and above artifacts.

Thus, in order for me to get a good sword, I knew that I had to make a trip to the dwarven domain in the foreseeable future.

'Well, that's all for the distant future. As of now, I can't really do anything. Especially not with this rock...'

'Pshhhh!

Clenching my hand with all of my power, the rock disintegrated in my hand.

"As expected, it's fake...", I muttered softly as I opened my palm and fine black granules of sand fell on the floor.

'He's already made the swap, huh?'

Being a thief, Ivan disguised himself as Jeremiah, a leading attendant of the banquet.

His job as 'Jeremiah' was to attend to several VVIP clients and give them the object that they had purchased.

However, having made preparations in advance, Jeremiah had a copy of each and every single item sold at the auction today.

Whenever one of the people he was in charge of purchased an item, Ivan would quickly replace it with a fake.

Because everyone's attention was focused on the auction, no one noticed that they were given a fake. Of course, the fakes were good fakes. In theory, I shouldn't have been able to break the rock, but I had come prepared beforehand.

Furthermore, if someone did in fact discover that the item they had was a fake, Ivan could quickly swap his face and escape. This was one of the reasons why he was so infamous. Because he was so hard to catch.

Unfortunately for him, today was going to be his last day operating as a thief.

'It's not like I'm just going to leave you alone after you stole from me...'

I wasn't someone who forgot their grudges.

Dum. Dum.

Suddenly the stage lights lit up. The main event was just about to begin.

'Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great honor that I present to you the final item of today. Before that, I would like to firstly thank the host of this place...

Standing in the middle of the hall, the announcer stood with his back straight. I ignored whatever he was saying as the next couple of minutes were spent on pleasantries.

'And now I hereby present to you today's main item.

Finished with the boring part, the announcer smiled and got to the main point. the last item.

Removing the veil, a beautiful slim sword appeared before everyone in the hall.

Instantly the chattering died down. Everyone's attention was drawn towards the sword.

'That's right everyone. Today, I am delighted to present you guys an <S> ranked artifact. You heard me right, an <S> ranked artifact! The name of the sword is [Dawn of the Avenger], and it is considered by many as one of the strongest and sturdiest swords available on the market. It has...

Satisfied with the crowd's reaction, the auctioneer began introducing the item. From its history to everything that someone needed to know. Nothing was spared.

"Huaaamm..."

Listening to the announcer speak, a yawn escaped from my lips. I was bored.

Well, it was understandable.

Though the sword below me was an <S> ranked artifact, I had no interest in it. Not because I didn't like it, but it was because I couldn't afford it.

Since I couldn't have it, why even care?

It was evident that Emma felt the same way as she also yawned not long after.

And so, twenty more minutes passed this way...

"Hey Kevin, can lend me your bidding tablet?"

Sitting one seat next to Kevin, I leaned in slightly and softly whispered.

"Hmm? You're bidding for the main event item? Do you even have enough money?"

Kevin's brows knit.

"No, not really"

I quickly shook my head.

The sword was worth at least a billion U. There was no way the current me could afford it. Still, for my plan to work I needed to do a little bidding.

"Then why are you even planning on bidding?"

"To test my luck?"

I half-heartedly replied.

"What? that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. If you want to test your luck, just do it on your own. Why ask me?"

Hearing my answer, Kevin instantly rebutted. Shaking my head, I calmly responded.

"No, I don't want to attract too much attention on me. You do it for me"

I had already spent 100+ million U on a rock. If people were to find out that I was willing to pay even more for the sword, I'd gather a lot of unnecessary attention.

Wasn't something I wanted.

"That doesn't make sense"

Listening to my explanation, Kevin tilted his head in confusion. Grabbing him by the sleeve of his suit, I pleaded.

"Come on, please? I'll owe you one"

"...Just this once"

Under my pleading eyes, after a couple of seconds had passed, Kevin covered his face with his hand and sighed. He had given in to my demands.

"Yup, don't worry. If you tell me to turn right, I won't even glance at the left...or whatever they say."

A beautiful smile blossomed on my face.

"Stop being so dramatic, here"

Rolling his eyes, Kevin handed me his tablet. Taking the tablet, I smiled widely.

'This is probably the worse decision you could ever make...'

I wasn't being completely honest with Kevin. Although I was indeed not going to purchase the sword, what I was about to do next would prove to be quite troubling for him.

"Oh, right. Don't get flustered later, and don't care about the money"

Recalling something, I quickly warned Kevin.

"What do you mean?"

Turning his head in my direction, Kevin frowned. In response, I patted him on the shoulders and reassured him that everything was going to be fine.

"Don't worry, I've got it covered. Just don't act surprised regardless of what I do. Furthermore, don't reveal to anyone, and I mean don't reveal to anyone that I am the one bidding. Understood?"

Making sure that everyone thought Kevin was the one making the bids was key. If not my plan wouldn't work.

I was especially emphasizing this part.

"Honestly, I don't have a good feeling about this"

"Just trust me"

"...alright, but be careful"

"Yup, don't worry"

With a bitter smile, Kevin nodded his head. Seeing this, I smiled and looked back at the auction below.

'Number 754, bids 89 million U is there anyone else? Number 76 bids 90 million U!

Bid after bids were being made with each passing second.

"Alright, it's time to let the fun begin..."

Crossing my legs, I pressed on the tablet screen before me. Instantly I made a bid.

'Oh? It looks like bidder number 17 has entered the fray with 98 million U.

...

The moment the sword was unveiled, inside of a different VVIP room, Monica stood up and shouted.

"I want that!"

"Not again..."

With a bitter smile, Donna shook her head. Noticing the twinkle in Monica's eyes, Donna knew that at this moment nothing could stop Monica from buying the sword.

"Monica do you have enough money?"

Sitting next to Monica, Amber asked.

"Of course! I have plenty of money saved up"

Monica instantly nodded her head.

Excluding the extra money she got from brand deals and dungeon runs, Monica's salary was around 100 million U a year.

Her overall net worth was in the billions. Without a doubt, she had money.

"Where is the tablet?"

Asked Monica as she looked around the room.

"Here"

Amber handed Monica a tablet and curiously asked.

"Are you sure you want the sword? Isn't your sword good enough?"

"mhm, my sword is good, but it's about time I changed my sword"

Monica's current sword was only <A> ranked.

It had the amazing effect of amplifying her flame psyon control, however now that she was closing in on <SS> rank, it was about time she changed her sword.

If she reached <SS> rank, an <A> rank sword wouldn't really be useful for her anymore as it wouldn't be able to hold her power.

She needed to buy a new sword.

"Okay, since it's your money I won't stop you"

Though she didn't understand, Amber nodded her head. She then sat back down and proceeded to pay attention to the auction.

"Let's start big..."

Looking at the tablet, Monica quickly set up a price and made a bid.

âWow! Buyer 79 does not seem to want to joke around! 300 million right off the bat!

'I will get you at all costs', softly muttered Monica as she placed both hands on the glass window that overlooked the auction hall.

...

At the same time...

âNumber 17, 330 million U. Is there any higher bid?

"Hey Ren, what the hell is going on? Where in the world did you even get all of this money from!?"

With a pale face, Kevin softly whispered next to me.

At the moment he was being bombarded with questions by Emma. Having promised me to not disclose anything, Kevin could only helplessly look at Emma as she continued to berate him.

Next to her, Amanda and Melissa were also looking at Kevin with a shocked expressions.

"Trust me, everything will be fine"

Calmly reading my red book and ignoring the commotion, I nonchalantly waved my hand and pressed on the tablet again.

Though I understood Kevin's concern, I had everything under control at the moment. With the book in my hand, I knew my limits.

âOh it's bidder 79 this time with 380 million U. Is there anyone else that is willing to bid again?

Prompting me to raise my brow was the announcer's voice.

"Oh? She raised the bid again?"

Muttering in a soft tone, I pressed on the tablet in my hand once again and looked at the private room across to me.

Though the glass windows were tainted I knew who the person bidding was.

Monica Jeffrey. My second private instructor.

âOh it's bidder 79 this time with 380 million U. Is there anyone else that is willing to bid again?

"What!? Kevin are you out of your mind! Just where did you get all of this money from?"

Staring at the bid, Emma could no longer sit still and stood up.

"W-well that is...ehhh, I really like the sword?"

In a flustered manner, Kevin responded.

'Seriously?'

By the side, I facepalmed. Just what kind of excuse was this?

"What? It still doesn't make sense. You are still miles away from S rank. What would you need an S ranked sword for? You're wasting all of your money!"

Completely disregarding Kevin's statement, Emma berated. Listening by the side, I nodded my head.

What Emma said wasn't wrong.

Typically, because of the mana capacity requirement to utilize a high-ranking artifact, only those who were close to that rank could use it.

If Kevin who was D ranked tried to use an S ranked sword, it would simply not work since he wouldn't be able to activate it.

Well, that wasn't really a concern since we weren't actually going to buy the sword.

"Ren, help me"

Subjected by Emma's constant berating, Kevin helplessly looked in my direction.

Shaking my head, I spoke some words of encouragement. Not long after, I once again placed down a bid.

"Just keep doing what your doing, trust me, It'll be worth it"

âIt's bidder 17 this time with 400 million U! Ladies and gentlemen we have reached a record-breaking figure here! Will there be anyone else who would be willing to break the record?

"What! Did you bid again, Kevin? Are you even listening to me?"

âDi!

Disrupting Emma was a loud chime that resounded across the room. It was the room service button.

"What are you doing?"

Melissa asked as she turned around and looked at me. In response to her question, I gave her a simple reply.

"Me? I'm just calling Jeremiah. I have something to ask of him"

"Oh, okay..."

Quickly losing interest, Melissa nodded her head and turned around, and looked at the auction below.

...

"Grrr....who is bidder 17!? I will rip them to shreds!"

Gnashing her teeth, Monica furiously pressed on her tablet. Her chests heaved up and down unevenly. She was obviously angry.

âOh it's bidder 79 this time with 1.1 billion U. Is there anyone else that is willing to bid again?

"I dare you to bid higher!"

Listening to the announcer's voice, Monica's chest heaved up and down even more fiercely.

For the past ten minutes or so, she and bidder number 17 at been at each other's throats continuously out-bidding against one another.

It got to the point that the price had just gone up to a whopping 1 billion U. This was insane. Almost unheard of in fact.

By now all of the other contestants had pulled out. It was just the two of them.

âIt's bidder 17 this time with 1.2 billion U! Ladies and gentlemen we have reached a record-breaking figure here! Will there be anyone else who would be willing to break the record?

"Gaaaaahâ!"

Monica's high-pitched scream resounded across the room.

"Hey Monica calm down!"

Next to Monica, Donna tried her best to calm her down. But knowing Monica's character full well, she didn't stop her from bidding.

She was a lost cause.

'No! How dare you fight me for the sword! I want the sword at all costs!', angrily muttered Monica as she glared at the room opposite to hers.

'Bidder 17, after this is over I'm definitely going pay you a visit!'

Monica swore to herself. Regardless of who tried to stop her, she was going to let bidder 17 understand who he/she had messed with!

"huu..."

Taking a deep breath, Monica resolved herself.

'Since you won't give up, I'll go all in"

With trembling fingers, Monica pressed on the tablet. She was betting all of her savings.

âHoly! It's bidder 79 this time with 1.5 billion U. Will bidder 17 continue to bid? Bidder 17? No? Going once! Going twice...and sold!"

"Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeahhhh!"

The countdown felt agonizing, almost endless for Monica who was cautiously looking at bidder 17's room. Fortunately, the subsequent moments made everything worth it.

Shouting out loud, Monica punched the air and celebrated. She had won!

"Congratulations Mo-"

Turning around Donna was about to congratulate Monica but her sentence was cut half-short as Monica disappeared from the room.

âClank!

The sound of the door closing echoed across the room not long after.

'Oh, no'

As if their minds were in sync, both Monica and Amber looked at each other before they both rushed towards the door and tried to catch up to Monica.

If things were going as they predicted, then a really troubling situation was about to arise.

Chapter 229: Auction [5]

"Have you called for me sir?"

"Ah, Jeremiah, right on time"

"Yes?"

Putting the red book down, I smiled at Jeremiah who just entered the room. He was finally here.

'You probably have no idea that I already figured everything out, right?'

Seeing how carefree 'Jeremiah' was, I secretly shook my head.

In all fairness, I sort of understood why he was being carefree. The rock he had used to replace the one I had wasn't supposed to break as easily as it did.

The rock that Jeremiah had given me was in fact made of Voleum, a more inexpensive ore that although sturdy, did not hold a candle to Okluom.

Even then, normally someone like me wouldn't have been able to break it.

Voleum could only be broken by someone whose strength was around <C> rank, which none of the people in the room were.

The only reason I could break the rock was because of the small ring on my finger. To be more precise, Angelica.

She was the main reason as to why I was late today.

Had it not taken me ages to convince her to turn into a ring, I would've never have been late to the meetup.

It was worth it though. Thanks to her I was able to confirm that Ivan had replaced the rock.

'If only he knew...'

The more I looked at Ivan, the funnier he became to me.

Just the carefree look he had on his face that said 'You'll never find out until it's too late' made me want to laugh out loud.

Jokes on him, I had a Viscount ranked demon on my finger.

Though she was keeping quiet and suppressing her energy, Angelica was a full blow Viscount ranked demon.

Exerting enough force to break the rock wasn't hard for her.

"Right, Jeremiah, I have a task for you"

Turning my attention back to Jeremiah, I casually glanced at the red book in my hand. Should be soon...

"Yes, please tell me exactly what I need to do"

Curtly replied Jeremiah as he bowed down slightly.

"I want you to..."

'Bang!

"Who here is bidder 17?"

Before I could finish speaking, the door of the room abruptly opened. A high-pitched voice echoed across the room moments after.

"Huh?"

"What?!"

Startled by the sudden intruder, everyone abruptly turned their heads towards where the voice came from.

"Instructor Jeffrey!? what are you doing here?"

Emma shouted as she looked at Monica who had just entered the room.

'Angelica, suppress all of your demonic energy'

I urgently spoke inside of my mind. Angelica did not respond but I knew that she was doing exactly that.

'If everything goes according to the book, Angelica shouldn't get spotted yet', I thought, as I looked at Monica who had entered the room.

"Huh? It's you guys?"

Looking around the room in confusion, Monica had a surprised look on her face.

It was understandable, who would've thought that the mysterious bidder 17 she was so angry at was one of her students.

I would've been just as surprised.

"Monica, stop!"

"Monica!"

Moments after Monica entered the room, two more figures entered the room. Spotting Monica, they instantly appeared next to her and tried to calm her down.

"Monica you can't just barge into other peo-Huh?!"

"Miss Longbern?"

Once again, everyone had a surprised look on their faces.

Especially since everyone was all too familiar with one of the people that had just entered the room.

Donna Longbern. Our class instructor.

"Wait, isn't that Amber Rose!"

Emma pointed out as she looked at the green-haired girl beside Donna.

"What? It's you guys?"

Stopping mid-sentence, Donna showed a similar reaction to Monica.

"Donna, you know them?"

Looking around Amber asked. In response, Donna nodded her head.

"Yeah, they are my students"

"Oh?"

Amber's eyes lit up.

"They are the famous first years you spoke so highly of?"

"Well, more or less..."

"Who cares about that, I want to know who bidder 17 is!"

Dismissing Donna and Amber, Monica fiercely looked around the room.

Like a hawk, she scanned the whole room.

"Over here"

Without even flinching, I pointed at Kevin.

"W-what! Hey Ren! You're the one who made the bids"

Kevin's eyes shot wide open as his voice raised a few pitches. Shaking my head, I looked at Kevin apologetically.

'Sorry, but you'll be today's sacrifice'

Ignoring Kevin, I pointed at Kevin's seat where the number 17 was engraved at the bottom.

"No idea what you're talking about. Just take a look, your seat says 17 at the bottom. Mine says 15. Stop trying to shift the blame on me"

"R-ren!"

"I see, so it's you, Kevin..."

Looking at Kevin's seat, Monica smiled. It was a smile that sent chills throughout the whole room.

"No, no, I swear this is a scheme devised by Ren!"

Kevin repeatedly shook his head as his body shuddered.

"Oy, why are you backstabbing me like this? ...I can't believe this. I'm disappointed in you Kevin"

A hurt look appeared on my face as I looked at Kevin. To think he would sell me out like this. I was truly disappointed.

"You!"

Kevin clenched on the armrest of the chair and glared at me. I feigned ignorance to his glare.

"Kevin, I'll see you in our next practice session"

Calming down, Monica looked at Kevin for a good minute. After that, her lips savagely twisted upwards.

"B-but..."

"No, buts. You better not be late for our next session. I'll be sure to take good care of you"

Monica quickly cut Kevin off. There was no room for discussion.

"pff..."

Staring at Kevin who was at a loss for words, a small sound escaped from my lips as I tried my best to hold my laugh back.

"Ren!"

Sitting next to me, Kevin heard everything. The veins on his forehead bulged as a result.

"Ah, Jeremiah, I still haven't finished what I wanted to say"

Ignoring Kevin, I leaned back on my seat and leisurely called out Jeremiah who was sneakily moving towards the exit of the room.

"Hm? What are you doing over there Jeremiah? Are you leaving?"

"Ah, I thought that it was best if I left"

Scratching his head in embarrassment, Jeremiah stopped moving. Droplets of sweat appeared by the side of his face.

"Hm? Weird..."

"Heek!"

Monica's brows knit suddenly knit. Turning around, she appeared before 'Jeremiah', startling him.

Ignoring his reaction, Monica took a good look at Jeremiah.

"Ah, Madam Jeffrey, I'm a bit uncomfortable by your stare, may I please go..."

"Shut up and stop moving"

Monica's tone became grave. Instantly the atmosphere in the room became sullen.

Noticing the atmosphere Donna and Amber looked at each other in the eye. They did not say anything.

Though Monica was always childish, whenever she was serious it meant that something big had happened.

'Got him'

Looking at Monica who was staring intently at Jeremiah, I knew that Jeremiah or to be more precise, Ivan, was trapped.

Monica and Jeremiah had shared quite the history together.

Not a romantic one, but one of pure hatred from Monica's side.

Jeremiah had stolen from Monica before. Not once, but multiple times at that.

With how naive and childish Monica was, she wasn't the hardest target to steal from. No, in fact, she was a thief's best friend. Especially since she was filthy rich.

As such, Ivan always tended to target Monica.

Whenever there was an event with Monica in it, Ivan would infiltrate the place and steal whatever Monica got.

If Monica had to count how much she lost because of Ivan, she would estimate the value to be at around half a billion U.

An absurd figure.

Her hatred for Ivan ran extremely deep.

She tried utilizing all of the resources she had to catch Ivan, but like a slippery eel, he would always end up slipping away from her grasp.

This time things were different though. With Ivan next to Monica, he was pretty much done for.

With Monica's special ability, it wouldn't take long for her to recognize him.

If before Ivan could run away it was because he never got too close to Monica.

As Monica's ability was quite well known, he knew that he should never get too close to her.

This was why he never serviced her privately. If he was next to her, the chances of him getting caught were extremely high.

Unfortunately for him, I was here.

Knowing Monica's personality quite well, I knew that she was going to come here to let bidder 17 have a piece of her.

The one bidder who had forced her to use all of the money she had saved up for the past few years.

Taking advantage of this, right as Monica bought the last item, I instantly called Jeremiah.

I wanted to let the two meet.

Fortunately, as of now, everything proceeded smoothly.

"Should be here..."

Standing up, I muttered in a low tone as I moved toward a certain area of the room.

"It's you!"

Right as I leaned back on the wall by the side of the room, Monica's high-pitched voice once again resounded across the room.

'Looks like she finally recognized him...'

Opening her eyes wide, Monica instantly forgot about Kevin and threw a kick in Jeremiah's direction.

Bang'!

Like a broken kite, Jeremiah flew all the way to the other side of the room and crashed against a wall.

The wall I was next to.

"M-miss, you can't kill an innocent man because of your anger! Oh no! Jeremiah are you okay?"

Pretending to look startled, I quickly crouched down towards Jeremiah and tried to check his pulse.

In reality, I was peeling his mask off.

Because of how I was positioned, no one saw what I was doing. to them it just looked as though I was helping Jeremiah.

That was far from the truth though.

With one swift movement, I removed the mask that was on his face and put it in my dimensional space. This all happened in a matter of seconds so no one was able to notice anything.

"Don't touch him, he's dangerous"

Appearing next to me, I felt a slight tug on my shoulder. I soon found myself pushed back a couple of meters.

"O-oh, what why?"

Staring at Monica, I asked in a flustered manner.

"Take a look for yourself", Monica said as she nudged her head forward.

"W-wait his face is different!"

Looking down towards where Jeremiah was, I opened my eyes widely and pointed at Jeremiah.

At the moment, with the mask now gone, his real face was laid bare for everyone to see.

I wasn't the only one who noticed this as the whole room suddenly became quiet.

"Ivan Rankvick, It's been a while hasn't it?"

Breaking the silence, Monica muttered in a low tone. Hints of pure rage could be felt from her voice as she spoke.

Crack. Crack.

Cracking her knuckles, Monica crouched down and stood at eye level with Ivan who was slowly regaining consciousness.

"How about we catch up for old times sake...."

Chapter 230: Auction [6]

"Did you manage to retrieve all of the stolen goods?"

Asked Amber as she sat on a large leather chair. Before her, a female secretary politely nodded her head.

"Yes, we have Madam"

"Mhm, how much would we have lost if Ivan had succeeded?"

"That..."

The secretary hesitated.

Brushing her hair to the side, Amber's brows knit and her tone became stern.

"I want a clear answer"

Instantly the atmosphere turned sullen.

"2.7 b-billion U"

Closing her eyes, the secretary mustered up her courage and revealed everything that she knew.

"huuu..."

Hearing the sum, Amber took a deep breath.

She then looked at her assistant and asked once again. She wanted to make sure she didn't mishear.

Unfortunately for her, she did not mishear as her secretary shook her head.

"2.7 billion U, am I hearing incorrectly?"

"U-unfortunately not, Madam. After investigating we found a lot of the auctioned items to have been replaced with fakes. Excluding the sword, the last item, everything that was stolen had an accumulated value of 2.7 billion U"

"Haaa...alright, you may leave"

Letting out a long sigh, Amber dismissed her secretary.

'2.7 billion...'

Although this was within her estimation, hearing the number still threw Amber off. This was a lot of money.

Even she, a ranked hero as well as the owner of multiple businesses would need at least a couple of decades to be able to save up that much money.

"Thank you, Madam, I hope you have a good night"

"Yes, yes"

Dismissed, the secretary bowed her head. Amber casually waved her hand in response. She needed to be left alone.

'”Clank!

Closing the door behind her, the servant left the room.

Silence prevailed over the room as Amber quietly picked up some papers and looked through them.

'”Flip! '”Flip!

For the next thirty minutes, Amber skimmed through the stack of papers.

Written on them were the details of the incident as well as other information regarding the times retrieved from Ivan's dimensional storage space.

'Sigh, I can't seem to be able to concentrate...'

After a while, Amber put the papers down.

Just thinking about the whole situation gave her a headache. In fact, her head was already starting to hurt.

Opening her desk drawer, Amber took a small cylindrical bottle and took out a pill.

"If not for Monica, things would've turned out disastrous..."

Taking a glass of water, Amber downed the pill and muttered.

Had it not been for Monica, her night would've been a sleepless one.

Most of the responsibility for the incident would've been put on her, and in all likelihood, she was going to be the one who would have to pay a large portion of the damages.

"To think that there was a day where I would have to thank Monica. The world is truly something..."

Bitterly laughing, Amber leaned back on her chair and covered her eyes with her arm.

She was tired.

...

Outside the King's Crown hotel...

"See, everything worked out just fine"

With a smile on my face, I patted Kevin on the shoulder.

All in all, everything worked out just fine.

Rather than remaining angry at Kevin, Monica actually thanked him and completely forgave him.

Everything worked out just fine. There was no need for Kevin to remain angry at me.

"Don't touch me!"

Smacking my hand away, Kevin grumpily made his way towards the limousine that was a few blocks ahead.

"Oh, come on! It wasn't that bad. Monica is not even angry at you!"

"It doesn't matter. You backstabbed me"

"Tsk, if we're talking about selling out shouldn't we be talking about you?"

Clicking my tongue, I rebutted.

"What about me?"

"Did you forget about the fact that you literally exposed our conversation to everyone a couple of hours ago?"

"What? that's different"

In response to my argument, Kevin's brows knit.

"Is it though?"

"Yes, it is"

Shaking my head repeatedly, in a low voice that only Kevin and I could hear, I softly aid.

"No, it isn't. Who would you rather piss off, Monica or Melissa?"

If someone asked me who I would rather deal with, I would've without a doubt have chosen Monica.

Although she was weird, she wasn't as crazy as a truly angered Melissa. I'd rather deal with her than Melissa.

Fortunately, now that I was in a business relation with Melissa, things weren't that bad.

However, if it was someone else rather than me...

Well, let's just say that things wouldn't really be good.

"ah..."

Hearing my statement, Kevin opened his mouth. No words came out of his mouth. Deep in his heart he also shared the same sentiment as me.

Melissa was definitely worse than Monica.

"See, even you agree!"

Taking advantage of his hesitation, I pointed out.

"Ah, whatever, I don't want to talk about it anymore..."

Waving his hand in dismissal, Kevin entered the limousine.

'Heee, you're running away...', I muttered, whilst following him from behind.

In the end, Kevin knew that I was right.

An angry Melissa wasn't someone anyone could handle.

'That aside...'

Kevin's anger was somewhat understandable.

I did make him take the fall for me.

In my defense, everything turned out just fine.

Rather than being angry at Kevin, Monica was quite grateful for him.

'As they say, all is well that ends well...'

Had Kevin not pissed Monica off, she would've never have been able to discover Ivan.

The one person she detested with all her heart.

Aside from that, now that she had caught him, she would be able to take back all of the items that he had stolen from her. Me included.

The loss she made for buying the sword would quickly be made back.

"Get in"

Melissa shouted as she rolled the window of the limousine down.

"Aye, aye"

Talk about the devil...

Taking one last look at the King's Crown hotel, I entered the limousine.

The auction had officially come to a close.

*

After separating from the others, I returned to my room.

"Alright, you can come out Angelica"

At my words, black smoke rose in the air and Angelica's enchanting figure appeared before me.

Staring at Angelica for a couple of seconds, I thanked her.

"Thank you for your hard work"

"I'm going to the training room"

nodding her head in acknowledgment, Angelica made her way towards the training ground.

"Aye"

Looking at Angelica's indifferent figure moving towards the training grounds, I shook my head.

Ever since moving to this new apartment, Angelica had been spending most of her time in the training grounds.

With its great insulating system, Angelica could now train without holding back.

She no longer had to worry about her demonic energy being detected when training as the isolating system in the private training ground stopped all energy from leaking out.

She could train all she wanted.

"That aside..."

'”Shua!

Tapping into my bracelet, a wooden mask appeared in my hand.

"The mask of Dolos..."

I had finally laid my hands on the mask of Dolos. An item that would prove extremely useful for me in the future.

With the mask in my hand, a lot of possibilities had opened up for me. Especially when planning future schemes and endeavors.

'Well, in the future at least...'

Unfortunately, because the mask was so highly ranked, I could only use it for short periods of time before my mana would run out.

This put a limit on the things I could do with the mask.

Still, this was good enough for now.

With my strength progressing at a much faster rate compared to others, it wouldn't be long till I would be able to fully utilize the mask.

Furthermore, with the tournament coming up in a month's time, I wasn't planning on using the mask anytime soon.

Though I did have plans for it, they were for way later into the future.

"That reminds me..."

Standing up, I stretched my back.

"I guess I should start making preparations for the upcoming tournament"

With only a month left till the start of the inter-academy tournament, I knew that I had to start making preparations for it.

Prior to the tournament, there were supposed to be three big events orchestrated by the Monolith.

After completely destroying the first event, the banquet, there were supposed to be another two events.

However, they never occurred.

'Did they perhaps give up or are they planning something else?'

Sitting down on the sofa in the living room, I mused.

Knowing the Monolith well, I knew that they wouldn't give up on such an important event just because one of their plans had failed.

"There must be something else..."

Despite checking on the Monolith watch, I could not figure out what the Monolith had in plan for the tournament.

Even so...

Whatever they were planning on doing, I wasn't going to just sit down and wait for everything to happen.

No, that was the perfect recipe for disaster.

For the next month or so I was planning on doing a thorough investigation of everything that was happening in and out of the academy.

Only once I knew what their plan was could I come up with the appropriate countermeasures.

Rather than have them set up a net that I wouldn't be able to escape from, I would much rather create holes in the net to later use to my advantage.

This way I could come up with proper countermeasures for when the situation arose.

For that, I needed to spend the next month wisely.

"He, who knows. Perhaps I can even benefit from this ordeal..."

I muttered as I laid down on my sofa.

***

At the same time, in a different room.

"dadadada, dum, dum dum"

Lying down on her bed with her hair scattered, Emma hummed to the tune of one of her favorite songs.

"Hm?"

Playing on her phone, Emma opened her calendar and checked her schedule. Suddenly, something caught her interest.

"Oh? Kevin's birthday is coming up soon"

Months ago she remembered asking Kevin for his birthday.

After he had told her when his birthday was, Emma remembered putting it on her calendar so that she wouldn't forget.

"Should I buy him a gift?"

Emma's muttered as her cheeks suddenly reddened.

'Wait, wait, wait. What am I even thinking? Why would I need to buy a gift for him? I've never bought a gift for a boy before'

Clutching onto the helm of her dress, Emma silently shrieked as a myriad of thoughts entered her mind.

"That's right! There's no meaning behind the gift. I'm just thanking him for all the help I received from him"

Convincing herself that there was no meaning behind her action, Emma changed position. This time she was laying down face flat on her bed.

"What should I buy him?"

Emma was stumped. Having never bought a gift for a boy before, she had no clue on what to buy.

'Should I ask Ren?'

A thought suddenly struck her. Given how close Ren and Kevin were, there was a chance he would know about what Kevin would like, but...

'I don't know, I'd rather not...'

The idea of asking Ren to help her get a gift irked her a bit. If possible she didn't want to do this.

"Right, how much money do I have left?"

Emma suddenly recalled something.

With her bank account frozen, Emma just realized that she couldn't spend too much money on the gift for Kevin.

She needed to check how much money she had available before deciding.

"Ah..."

Opening her bank account, Emma's mouth hung wide open.

[Account : 64,098U]

She had no money.

***

'”Clank!

Closing the door behind her, Amanda entered her room.

Slumping on her bed, Amanda thought back on today's events.

At first, everything seemed normal. The auction seemed to be just like any regular action, that was until the last item was brought up...

That was when everything became weird.

Suddenly Kevin started a bidding frenzy. He just kept on putting bid after bid after bid.

At one point, it reached the bid reached such high figures that even Emma was at a loss for words.

However, during his bidding frenzy, though others may have not have noticed it as they were all focusing on Kevin, Amanda saw the subtle gestures and eye contact Ren would make to Kevin from time to time.

From there she started observing Ren more.

She knew that something wasn't right.

It was then that she realized that Ren was in fact the one making the bids.

Amanda was able to figure this out due to the way Ren was tapping on his tablet. It was too in sync with the call signboard.

Though Kevin was also tapping on his tablet, his tapping was a few seconds slower than the call sign that would light up whenever a bid was made.

This did not escape Amanda's perception as she quickly came up with a conclusion.

Ren was the bidder.

Later on, an even more shocking event happened.

Monica, her new instructor, burst into the room and suddenly kicked their attendant Jeremiah into a wall.

Jeremiah later turned out to be Ivan Ranvick, an extremely notorious thief.

'Did Ren know about Ivan?'

Amanda couldn't help but think as she looked back at the events of today.

There were just too many coincidences.

The timing at which Monica and Ivan arrived seemed too perfect for Amanda.

Furthermore, if Ren had purposely bid on the last item to cause Monica to come, it all made sense.

It was just that...

Amanda couldn't figure out was how Ren knew that Monica was in the other VVIP room.

Given that all information was kept a secret, and all the rooms were assigned randomly, such a thing wouldn't have been possible.

Another thing that she didn't know was how Ren was able to know that Jeremiah was Ivan.

Given his notoriety for being able to even escape the grasp of <S> ranked heroes, Amanda really couldn't figure out how Ren found out about his identity.

In the end, though curious, Amanda didn't want to pry too deeply.

Everyone had their secrets and she respected that.

Perhaps one day he would reveal it to everyone.

'”Ding!

Snapping her out of her thoughts was a small chime that rang from her phone. Looking at the ID of the sender, Amanda realized it was Emma who had texted her.

[Amanda, I need your help with something]

[What do you need?]

Picking up the phone, Amanda sent a quick reply. Following which Emma responded back.

[I want to borrow some money]

Reading the message, Amanda's brows knit for a couple of seconds before they quickly loosened.

She had somehow heard of Emma's situation from Maxwell. So understood what Emma was going through at the moment.

[Okay, how much do you need?]

[About, 5 million U? Can you lend me that much?]

Emma's reply came quite late. It was evident that she took a bit of time to write the message.

[Only that much?]

[Yeah, It's Kevin's birthday in a bit and I wanted to buy him a gift]

"Kevin's birthday?"

Amanda's brows knit. She had no idea that it was soon going to be Kevin's birthday.

'Should I also get him a gift like Emma?', Amanda wondered. Was this was the polite thing to do?

Amanda didn't know.

In the end, Amanda didn't know whether to give him a gift or not.

She wasn't actually that close to Kevin, so she wasn't really comfortable with the idea of giving him a gift.

[So can you lend me?]

[Yes, no problem]

Snapping out of her thoughts was a text from Emma, Amanda replied back.

[Thank you so much, Amanda, I'll pay you back soon!]

[Okay]

Closing her messaging app, Amanda opened her bank account and quickly transferred the money to Emma.

Moments after, the money was quickly sent.

'”Ring! '”Ring!

Right after Amanda sent Emma the money, her phone rang. Picking up the phone, Amanda answered. It was Maxwell.

"Hello?"

'”Ah, young lady!

Maxwell's voice rang out from the speaker. His voice sounded quite rushed.

"Yes?"

'”Young lady, there's a situation...

Instantly Amanda had an ominous premonition.

Chapter 231: Recruitment [1]

June flew by and July was nearing. Summer had already approached and the temperatures were starting to rise.

Inside of a training ground.

—Clank! —Clank!

The heavy sound of metal resounded across the room.

"Ren, cover me!"

Shouted Kevin as he quickly moved right of me. As his foot tapped on the ground, his body suddenly shot upwards.

"Huup—!"

—Swoosh!

Right as Kevin's foot touched the ground, I drew a circle in the air and pointed my finger towards a certain spot in the distance. In the same direction, Kevin was headed.

"Thanks!"

Twisted his body, Kevin quickly arrived before my ring. Putting his foot on the ring, he propelled his body towards the center of the room where a young girl leisurely stood.

"Haaa—!"

Arriving before Monica, Kevin let out a shout and slashed his sword down.

"Hmm, not bad…"

—Clank!

Lifting her sword with one hand, Monica easily blocked Kevin's attack.

"…but still not good enough"

BAAAM—!

"Guuuh—!"

"Khhuu!"

Casually swinging her sword and parrying Kevin's attack, Kevin was instantly pushed in my direction.

Because of how fast he was going, I wasn't able to stop him in time and we soon both crashed against a wall.

"Kuegh…this is so unfair"

I muttered as I laid down on the ground. My back hurt like hell.

"I agree…"

Supporting his body with one arm, Kevin weakly stood up. Raising his sword, he glared in Monica's direction.

"Oh, you're not done? I like your fighting spirit"

"Ren, stand up. It's not over yet"

"Ugh…"

Lifting my head, I let out a groan.

‘Damn it, I just want to lay down on the ground for another minute. I'm the one who took the brunt of the attack, not you!'

Why couldn't he let me rest?

Putting my hand on my knee, I stood up and stretched my neck. My eyes soon interlocked with Kevin's.

"Seriously?"

Without him even telling me what he wanted to do, I understood what he meant.

"Alright…"

"Good"

Nodding my head, I placed my hand on the grip of my sword. Kevin on the other hand raised his sword with both hands.

"Huuu…"

Taking a deep breath, I channeled all the mana inside of my body. A white hue shrouded my body.

Kracka! Kracka!

Mixed within the white hue were blue bolts of lightning that repeatedly crackled in the air. By my side, an empowering red hue expanded from Kevin's body. He was also getting ready to attack.

"Oh? You guys planning on using your strongest techniques? Good, good, I want to see…"

At the front, Monica's eyes lit up.

—Swoosh! —Swoosh!

"Let's see if you guys are any good"

Waving her new sword in the air as if showing off, Monica taunted.

"Ready?"

"Never been readier…"

As the red hue around Kevin's body became especially empowering, Kevin looked at me. Looking back at him, I nodded my head.

"Let's go…"

Kevin muttered as he slashed down.

VUUUUAM!

Instantly an enormous sword beam hurdled in Monica's direction. A powerful energy could be felt from the sword beam as a thick scar traced the path of the sword beam.

looking at Kevin's attack, I thought, ‘Slashing down with both hands on the sword, so he's already reached that stage…'

Kevin could now perform the fifteenth movement of the Levisha style. Not bad at all.

"Still…"

The third movement of the [Keiki style] : Void step

Not wanting to be outdone, after finally charging up, I took a stance. Moments after, the world around me turned dark and I found myself standing right before Monica.

"Huh?"

My sudden appearance startled Monica who for a second didn't know what to do. Taking advantage of the opening I created, I aimed my sword attack towards her head.

Unfortunately, Monica was quickly able to recover from the shock.

"Not bad…"

Faced with my and Kevin's attack, Monica smiled and muttered.

—Sha!

Tilted her neck to the side, to my horror, Monica easily dodged my attack.

After avoiding my attack, Monica casually swung her sword down and a small orange beam shot towards Kevin's sword beam.

—Craka!

As if made out of paper, Kevin's sword beam crumbled instantly.

"Haa…haaa…this is so unfair"

Landing next to Monica, I got on my knees and took heavy breaths. On the other side of the room, Kevin slumped down on the ground and supported his body with his sword.

‘Damn it'

Though I knew that the gap between me and an [S] rank was huge, I didn't think it would be this huge.

Throughout the whole time, it was as though Monica was treating us like children. She made it seems as though our most powerful attacks were nothing but child's play in front of her.

"I'm impressed"

Tracing her finger on the scar left behind by Kevin's sword beam, Monica complemented.

"To think that you guys were this strong. You guys were almost as good as me back when I was your age"

Listening to Monica's shameless boast, my mouth twitched.

‘Can't you be more humble?'

Unfortunately for me, I had designed Monica to be this way. If I had to complain, I could only complain to myself.

"Here, take this"

Looking in my direction, Monica casually threw a book in my direction.

"This…"

Catching the book, I didn't think too much at first, but my eyes soon shot wide open.

Quickly skimming through its contents, my heart started to race.

===

[★★★✰ Quick-slash style]

A sword art fully focused on speed. With one quick draw, the user gains the ability to kill an opponent without them noticing anything had happened. Created to replicate the Keiki style. After years of research, this sword art was the result.

===

"Is this for me?"

With trembling hands, I looked at Monica.

"Yup, since you need to hide your sword art, I decided to give you a little gift. The sword art is three and a half stars, but given the criteria, this was the best I could find"

Putting her sword away, Monica nodded her head.

"You don't like it?"

"No, no, of course, I like it. There's no way I wouldn't like it"

I quickly shook my head.

‘How can I not like this? It's perfect!'

With how popular Grandmaster Keiki was, the idea of someone trying to imitate his sword art wasn't strange.

In fact, there were many sword arts similar to the Keiki style in circulation at the moment, but after a quick skim through, I would just toss them away.

Tho call them imitations was already a compliment. They were not even close to their real thing.

This, however, was different.

Although it was still far off from the Keiki style, visually it wasn't. Meaning that the techniques looked exactly like the Keiki style!

‘That's right…'

If I practiced this sword art, I could now use the Keiki style whenever I wished without arousing too much attention.

Though it would only limit me to the basic movements, this made things much easier for me.

"I don't know what to say, thank you, Miss Jeffrey"

"Hmph, since I am your instructor I'll naturally take care of you"

Snorting, Monica looked away. From the side, I could see Monica's ears turning red. She was trying her best to hide her embarrassment.

‘Ah right, forgot she was weak to compliments'

Despite how boastful and shameless appeared to be, Monica was in fact extremely weak to compliments.

Just one compliment was enough to set her off.

"If you guys perform badly, I'm going to look bad so I must do my best to make you guys stronger for when the tournament comes"

Still trying her best to hide her embarrassment, in a stern tone Monica added.

"…but, no one actually knows you're coaching us'

I voiced inside of my heart. Of course, only in my heart. Had I actually said it out loud, given Monica's personality, I would be in for another round of beating.

Wasn't looking forward to that.

"Kevin, for you I don't have anything. Unlike Ren over here, you already have another sword art, so just use that. Try your best to not use the Levisha style"

Kevin did in fact have another four-star sword art. He was also quite skilled with it.

Hiding the Levisha style wasn't going to be a problem for him.

"Understood"

Kevin and I said in sync.

"Alright, that's it for today's lesson. You guys can both go back."

Turning around, Monica quickly left the training ground leaving Kevin and I heavily panting on the ground.

…

"Go!"

—Swooosh!

Throwing a metal ball forward, a young petite girl shouted. Following her shout, a furry brown creature flew past her and quickly caught up with the ball.

—Crunch!

Appearing before the metal ball, the furry creature quickly bit down on the metal and completely crushed it.

"Good job, Newton!"

Clapping her hands, the young girl, Ava, rushed towards the furry creature.

Upon closer look, the furry creature looked to be a brown bird with sharp eyes.

The bird was in fact, a sharp-clawed sparrow.

An [E] ranked creature that even now Ava had some trouble taming. With the sparrow being stronger than her, Ava had a hard time controlling it fully as it would oftentimes not heed her command.

Fortunately, things seemed to have been getting better for her recently as Newton, her contracted beast, was starting to become more and more obedient.

This was generally a good sign for monster tamers.

"Go, Newton!"

Taking out another metal ball, Ava threw it in the air.

"Newton?"

—Thud!

With a large thud, the ball fell to the ground. This time Newton did not catch the ball. Rather it did not even glance at the ball.

"A bust…"

Dejectively lowering her head, Ava moved to pick up the metal ball.

‘If only I was born as talented…'

Ava was not an only child, she had three older siblings. All of whom were way more talented than her.

Despite her family treating her just like all of her other siblings, Ava truly felt inferior to her siblings.

During family dinners, she would always be the one to talk the least as her talent and achievements were not worth talking about, unlike her siblings who always had something to talk about.

She hated that.

Ava wanted to let others know of her skills and talent. She wanted to proudly boast her powers like her siblings.

She wanted to get complimented by her parents.

She wanted to be acknowledged.

‘Alas, that's only a distant dream of mine'

Looking at Newton, who had already flown towards a nearby tree, Ava sighed.

"Newton come back down!"

—Ring! —Ring!

Right as she was calling for Newton to get down, her phone suddenly rang. Confused, Ava looked at the caller ID.

[Uknown]

"Unknown? Who could this be?"

Hesitating on whether she should pick it up or not, Ava eventually picked it up and answered the call.

"Hello? Who's this?"

—Ava, it's me. Mind if we meet up?

Answering the call, a bright voice entered Ava's ears. She instantly recognized the owner of the voice.

"Ren?"

Chapter 232: Recruitment [2]

After calling Ava and setting up an appointment with her, I asked Smallsnake to send me an official contract.

Today I was planning on recruiting Ava.

The location of our meetup was the same cafe' Amanda had brought me a couple of months back.

It was fairly secluded and was ideal for these kinds of deals.

"Over here, Ava"

Not long after I entered the cafe and sat down, I spotted Ava's figure entering the place. Standing up, I called out for her.

Spotting me, Ava headed in my direction.

"Thank you for coming"

"Ah-h, no problem Ren"

Lowering her head, Ava shyly sat down on the seat opposite of me.

"Would you like to order anything? It's on me"

I offered as I handed her the menu.

"No, thank you" Ava shook her head, "So...what did you want to talk about?"

'Straight to the point, I see...'

Well, it was understandable.

The relationship between Ava and I could only be considered to be as 'close acquaintances'

We weren't really friends, and given Ava's shy nature, I more or less understood why she wanted to get this over with quickly.

"Here"

Taking out a stack of papers from my dimensional space, I slid them over to Ava.

In it were the details of the contract that Smallsnake had sent me.

It had all the information regarding the salary, working hours, benefits, and other things that she would get if she worked for me.

"What's this?"

Looking at the papers, Ava tilted her head to the side.

"Just read it"

"Okay..."

Taking the papers, Ava started to read them.

After a couple of minutes, I watched as Ava's brows knit together tightly.

Lifting her head up, she asked in a soft voice,"Y-You're trying to recruit me?"

"Indeed" I smiled, "I want to recruit you to my mercenary group. Are you willing?"

"..."

Ava didn't respond immediately. She proceeded to flip through the papers one more time.

"...Sorry"

After a short pause, Ava closed the papers and pushed them back in my direction. Putting my hand on the papers, I raised my other hand.

"Before you refuse, listen to what I have to say"

Watching her push the papers back, I wasn't disheartened one bit.

From the very beginning, I was prepared to be rejected.

A 16-year old boy recruiting you to a newly established mercenary group that barely had any members.

No matter how you look at it, this deal looked shady.

I understood that.

That was why negotiations existed.

"Ava, you're talented. No, to call you talented would be an understatement. You are extremely talented"

Smiling, pushed the papers back, and started praising her. In response to the praise, Ava's face turned red.

"M-me?"

"Yes, just the fact that you can contract with two beasts at once is proof enough"

Typically monster tamers could only tame one beast at a time. This applied to even the strongest monster tamers on earth.

However, Ava could tame two at the same time.

This alone proved that she was extremely talented in the art of monster taming. She needed to understand this.

"B-but, they won't listen to my orders"

"You're too hasty Ava"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't compare yourself to the others. Just the fact that you're <F> rank is enough proof that you're talented. If you compare yourself to other people then, of course, you will look a lot less talented compared to them. However, keep in mind that you're a monster tamer"

Monster tamers tend to develop at a much slower pace than the others.

This was because they mainly focused on training their pets rather than themselves. Their slow progress was in every right, understandable.

Because Ava was exposed to such an amazing class filled with prodigies like Kevin and the others, she had started to subconsciously think that she was not talented.

This was not correct.

Compared to the other students, in terms of ranking, she was above average.

Most shockingly however was that she was above average whilst being a monster tamer. A profession that grew much slower than other professions.

Though she and the others did not notice, she was in fact a prodigy herself.

She needed to understand that.

"Thank you for your kind words, but I'm still not sure..."

"Don't reject me jus—"

Listening to what I had to say, Ava lowered her head and muttered in a low voice. She once again tried to reject me.

Tiiriing— Tiiriing—

Just as I was about to respond, my phone suddenly rang. My brows knit.

'What now…'

"Scuse me for a second"

"No problem, take your time"

Taking out my phone, my already furrowed brows tightened. Checking the foremost notification, I noticed that the sender was Emma.

[Um, I need your help. What gift should I buy for Kevin's birthday? Can you tell me?]

"…"

Shaking my head, I turned off my phone.

Now was not the time for me to deal with this. Turning my attention back to Ava, I decided to unravel my trump card.

"Ava, there's one more thing I forgot to mention when giving you the contract"

"What is it?"

"If you join, this will be yours..."

Taking out a pale green flute from my dimensional space, I gently placed it on the table.

"A flute?"

Curiously asked Ava as she looked at the flute on the table.

"It's not just any regular flute, have a look"

Smiling, I handed Ava the flute.

"T-this..."

Cautiously taking the flute, I watched as Ava's eyes opened widely. Holding onto the flute, Ava's hands trembled uncontrollably.

"Yeah, you're seeing it right. This is your ticket to the top"

Propping my chin up, the edged of my lips curled upwards.

'This should be enough to entice her to join, no?'

Presented with the opportunity to change her fate, Ava wouldn't reject me, right?

Had I been in her position, I would join without even flinching. Looking at Ava whose eyes did not leave the flute once, I once again asked.

"So, do you still wish to refuse?"

***

At the same time.

"Is he still going to ignore my text?"

Emma grumbled as she looked at her phone.

About an hour ago, she had sent Ren a text. It was regarding Kevin's gift. Despite agonizing over this issue for a whole week, she still couldn't figure out what gift to buy for his birthday.

Out of desperation, she decided to ask Ren.

He had yet to reply to her text.

"Ghhh, he definitely ignored my message..."

Gnashing her teeth, Emma put her phone away. There was no way Ren had not seen her message yet, in all likelihood he had ignored her.

'What should I do?', placing her hand on her chin, Emma mused.

With Ren not even bothering to text her back, Emma had no idea how to proceed next.

"Ah! Maybe Amanda can help me"

Suddenly Emma's eyes lit up. Amanda could definitely help her.

Heading out of her room, she decided to ask for Amanda's aid.

Though she did text Amanda today, she had still not gotten a response from her which was strange since she would always respond promptly.

As such, Emma decided to directly go to her.

Since they lived in the same building, it didn't take long for Emma to arrive at Amanda's room.

—Knock! —Knock!

Arriving before the door that lead to Amanda's room, Emma knocked.

"Hm, no response?"

A minute after knocking, Emma got no response.

—Knock!

'Did she perhaps not hear me knock?'

Plausible. Emma knocked again.

Yet again, no one responded.

"She's probably out" Emma muttered as she shook her head, "What do I do now?"

Standing in front of Amanda's room for a solid minute, Emma lowered her head.

In the end, she chose to give up and return to her room. She'll try to ask Amanda again later.

***

9:48 P.M.

—So you're saying that she rejected your offer?

"Yeah"

Standing outside of the balcony of my room with my phone on my ear, I responded. On the other side of the phone was Smallsnake.

—Even after you showed her the artifact and everything?

"mhm, I guess the offer wasn't tempting enough..."

Despite showing Ava the flute of Artemis as well as the lucrative contract, she rejected me.

This caught me off guard.

Almost blindsided me as I was confident in what I had to offer.

Even now, I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that Ava had rejected me.

If I were to have been in her position, I would've immediately have agreed to sign the contract.

Especially after seeing the flute of Artemis. A cheat like item that would make any monster tamer drool at its sight.

—So what are your plans now that you failed?

Smallsnake asked.

"I'm not sure, I'll have to think things through. What about you? How's the situation with Ryan going?"

—Ryan? Everything is going well. Though he still hasn't signed the contract yet, Leopold and I have already met him once. He came to the headquarters yesterday.

"Haaa...That's great"

At least this was a piece of good news.

After failing to recruit Ava this morning, my mood had soured quite a bit.

At the very least I could take this piece of news as a consolation prize.

'I guess there are times when things just don't work out...'

Bothersome, but this was just how life went. Nothing was ever going to go as I planned.

Sometimes life just loved to throw curveballs at you.

—Alright Ren, I have to go. Call me if you need anything

"Alright"

Slowly closing my eyes, I hung up the phone.

—Tak!

Putting my phone inside of my dimensional space, I proceeded to head to the training room inside of my apartment.

Opening the doors that led to the training grounds, I looked at Angelica who was sitting crossed-legged in the middle of the room.

"Angelica"

"What is it human?"

Angelica opened her eyes slightly.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Make it quick"

Angelica coldly said. Small undulations of demonic energy emitted from her body.

Ignoring the uncomfortable feeling I was getting from her energy, I scratched my neck.

"Right, how is Silug doing?"

The previous conversation with Smallsnake reminded me of something.

It was that there was still a member out there.

Silug.

After having returned from Immorra, with everything that was going on, I wasn't able to check on how he was doing.

Fortunately, there was Angelica.

"Silug?"

Fully opening her eyes, Angelica once again asked.

"Yeah, how is he doing?"

Since Angelica had signed a contract with Silug, I knew that she could contact him whenever she wanted.

Thanks to that I could now figure out Silug's situation as well as Immorra's.

With time flowing ten times slower than Immorra, a year or so should've passed since I had come back here. Many things should've changed whilst I was gone.

Though I knew Silug was still alive as Angelica was still right in front of me, I wanted to know if anything major had happened during the time that I had left.

"As of now, nothing major happened"

Angelica apathetically said as she once again closed her eyes.

"Nothing major happened, meaning that the war is still ongoing?"

"Yes"

"...then, has he broken through?"

"No, if he did I would've felt it"

"Right..."

That was stupid of me to ask.

If Silug broke through to S rank then Angelica would've also seen a considerable boost in power.

Since it wasn't like that, it meant that he had still not broken through.

"Any more questions?"

"No, that's enough for now"

I shook my head.

This was enough to appease my curiosity.

'That aside, I just hope that everything works out fine...'

The reason why I was asking about Silug was because he was a double-edged sword.

Like I've said before, although he said that he would serve me after I helped him with his revenge, I couldn't just trust his words.

In the first place, the reason why he had even agreed to my terms was because I had taken advantage of his situation.

By taking advantage of his thirst for revenge, I convinced him to join my side.

However...

Once he got his revenge and his emotions stabilized, I wasn't sure whether he would honor his words.

Would he still submit to me or would he rebel?

I wasn't sure.

Perhaps at first, he would honor his words, but as time passed and his influence in Immorra rose, there was a possibility of him getting drunk on his power and just outright ignoring my orders when the time came that I needed him for something.

This was a very real possibility that I couldn't exclude.

Though I had chained him with Angelica's contract, I knew that this wasn't a viable long-term option.

Excluding Angelica's five-year contract, if Silug became too powerful then in all likelihood there was a chance that he could break the contract naturally.

Though he would face a backlash, it was a still plausible situation that I couldn't discard.

I needed to quickly think of a solution to this new problem I was facing.

'More annoying is the fact that I don't have much time to work with...'

From two months to six months, that was how long I estimated the war of Immorra to last for.

After that, it would take anything between 10-50 years Immorran years for him to fully solidify his position as the leader of the orcs

During that time period of time, I had to think of a solution.

'The easiest solution would be for me to become stronger than Silug'

If I could beat Silug in a one-on-one battle, then there was a high chance that he would submit to me for real.

Since orcs valued power, this was the easiest solution I could think of.

The only problem was the time frame.

'Can I really reach <S> rank in five years?'

I wasn't sure. Though possible, I could not take it for granted.

I needed backup plans.

Unfortunately, my head was currently empty. I really wasn't sure how to proceed next.

"Sigh, there's so much I needed to do in so little time"

Letting out a long extended sigh, I scratched the back of my neck.

For now, it was best if I stopped overthinking things.

One step at a time.

Everything had an order, I couldn't rush things.

Chapter 233: Eve of the tournament [1]

[98-F, Demon hunter guild, guild master office]

"Young miss, thank god you're here!"

Arriving at her father's office, Amanda found Maxwell rushing in her direction. His face was visibly distraught.

"What's wrong?"

Halting her footsteps, Amanda frowned.

"Young miss, something terrible happened to the guild master"

Amanda's heart sank when she heard those words.

"...Father?"

She tried her best to keep her calm. At least on the surface.

"Investigating a potential energy spike coming from one of the <S> ranked dungeons that we own, fearing for the worst, the guild master decided to head in to check on the situation. Unfortunately..."

Maxwell took a deep breath.

"Unfortunately, the dungeon desynced whilst the guild master was inside"

"Ah..."

Amanda took a step back. Her body turned cold.

A dungeon desync was when the dungeon suddenly lost its connection to the human world.

As a result, if anyone stayed in it, they would find themselves transported to the demon world. The most dangerous place that existed.

"D-don't worry young-miss, although the guild master is in a t-troubling situation, not all hope is lost. His vital signs seem to still be okay at the moment meaning that he is still alive..."

Seeing Amanda's state, Maxwell tried his best to comfort her.

Unfortunately, his words weren't convincing as he occasionally fumbled on his speech.

"As I've said before, there really is no need for you to worry about the guil—"

Hearing Maxwell talk, Amanda stood there in a daze. Everything Maxwell said just went from one ear to the other.

She couldn't process anything.

Even if what Maxwell said was true, Amanda knew that the situation was dire. Stuck inside of a dungeon with no way out, chances were that her father would no longer come back.

In the past, there had never been a case of someone ever escaping from a closed dungeon.

Never.

"We are trying anything within our po...young miss?"

Taking a look at Amanda, Maxwell stopped. Her face was pale. Maxwell instantly became worried.

"Young miss, please listen. Although the guild master is stuck inside of the dungeon, his life does not seem in danger at the moment. Please don't assu—"

"May I have some time alone, please?"

Amanda suddenly cut Maxwell off. A weak smile appeared on her face.

"...as you wish young miss."

Staring at Amanda's weak smile, Maxwell lowered his head.

Though he wanted to say something, noticing Amanda's current state, he decided that it was best to leave her alone.

Bowing down, he turned around and left.

"Ah..."

Watching Maxwell leave the room, Amanda walked with faltering steps. Her legs didn't move as she intended them to. She almost fell multiple times but finally managed to arrive before her father's desk.

Sitting down on her father's seat, she looked at her father's desk. Apart from the myriad of papers sprawled all over the place, on it were multiple pictures of her and her father when she was a child.

Taking one of the pictures, Amanda caressed it.

As she caressed the picture frames, Amanda's mind blanked.

"father..."

She muttered as her body faintly trembled.

Was this a repeat of the past?

Was someone else going to leave her again? Would her father leave like her mother and Agnes, her nanny?

She didn't want that.

Suddenly, Amanda's vision blurred.

—Pita! —Pita!

Only then did she realize that tears were streaming down her face.

***

[Leviathan building, 10 A.M]

Inside of a private training ground.

"Huff...huff..."

With heavy breaths, I lowered my body and did a push up.

'294...295...296...'

Counting the reps inside of my mind, I continued to do this for the next thirty minutes or so.

Whilst I was doing the pushup, on my finger was a small black ring.

===

Name : Ring of gravity

Rank : C

Description : A ring with ten settings. Upon wearing the ring, body mass will double. Whenever the setting is changed, the mass will double with respect to the setting chosen.

===

By adjusting the settings of the ring I could manually increase the weight on my body.

Though I could use the gravity room, according to Donna, in order for me to improve my mana capacity, I had to continuously deplete my mana and replenish it.

Just like training a muscle.

"Huuu..."

Taking a deep breath, I did another push up.

After my meeting with Jin last week, I had this sudden urge within me to just drop everything and start training.

And so that's exactly what I did.

Leaving all matters related to the mercenary guild to Smallsnake, I closed myself inside of my room for a whole week and trained like crazy.

With lectures now on hold because of the tournament that was about to begin, apart from the occasional call-ups from instructor August with regards to the tournament, I had a lot of time to myself.

Time in which I fully spent on training.

Apart from eating and sleeping, all I did was train.

With Kevin and now Jin continuously getting stronger, I realized that I was getting left behind by them.

Most shockingly, Jin had ranked up to <D-> rank. Something that was only supposed to have happened towards the beginning of the second year.

Jin's rate of progress was astonishing.

'I can't get left behind...'

With this thought in mind, I upped the intensity of the training.

'Next goal, <D-> rank'

I could feel it, I was close.

***

The usual peaceful morning was disrupted by the endless chattering coming from a bunch of students lined up in a horizontal line.

Before them stood a tall and stern instructor.

After an arduous couple of hours of intense training, the instructor had ordered them to line up in front of him.

"Shut up!"

Instructor August's voice boomed across the area. Instantly all chattering ceased.

"This fucking job..."

"Here you go, sir"

"Hm?"

Next to instructor August, an attendant handed him a stack of papers. Briefly glancing at them, clicking his tongue instructor August thrust them back to the attendant.

"What do I need the papers for? Just send them to the students through a message"

Instructor August berated.

"This is your job, not my job"

"B-but—"

"No, buts, I don't have time to deal with this kind of crap. I'm here to train the students. Don't waste my time with such useless crap"

Cutting the attendant off, instructor August glared at the attendant instantly overwhelming him with his presence.

"Keugh..."

"Understood?"

"Y-yes"

Under the terrifying glare, the attendant could only nod his head.

The attendant took the papers and left. Not wanting to be next to instructor August anymore, the attendant had basically run away.

"You'll soon get a message detailing the games that you will be participating in as well as the rules of the tournament..."

Turning back his attention to the students, Instructor August gave a brief rundown on the situation.

"Huaaam..."

Listening to instructor August speak, a small yawn escaped from my lips.

Honestly, instructor August's training sessions, although brutal, were not as brutal as the ones I had with Donna and Monica.

Compared to theirs, this felt refreshing.

That aside...

'The atmosphere around the campus...'

With the tournament coming up in about a week's time, tensions were rising in the academy.

Especially between the Lock students and the exchange students.

Though things didn't reach the point where conflicts arose, the tension in the air was stronger than ever.

"...okay I think I've said enough for today"

Snapping me out of my thoughts was instructor August's loud voice.

"You're dismissed"

With instructor August's announcement, the training session came to an end. Besides me, the other students let out a sigh of relief as they headed back to their dorms.

"What are you going to do now?"

On my way back to the dorms, walking beside me, Kevin asked.

"I'm going to go back to the dorm"

"Ah, is that so..."

"Why? You wanted to go somewhere?"

"Not really....ah, by the way, what was up with you this past week? I could barely get a hold of you"

Kevin shook his head and switched the topic.

"Right, I was training"

Dedicating most of my time to training this past few weeks, I would only see him during the morning practice sessions with Donna or tournament training sessions.

Aside from that, I refused to leave my room.

Right now, all I had in my mind was training.

"Training?"

"Yeah"

"I see, that makes sense"

Kevin wasn't any different.

He too spent most of his time training. So this was probably why he didn't say much after.

"Hold up!"

Suddenly, a crisp voice called from the distance.

"Emma?"

Kevin said as he turned his head towards where the voice came from. He was able to instantly recognize the owner of the voice.

Turning around to double-check who the voice belonged to, to my surprise I found out that it was Emma's.

Arriving before Kevin, Emma passed by me without even greeting me or acknowledging my presence and looked at Kevin straight in the eyes.

"Kevin"

"Yes?"

"Can you slow down a little..."

"Ah, sure"

It was only then that I realized that Kevin and I were walking a bit too fast.

As such, we slowed down a little. Enough to accommodate Emma.

"Thanks"

Moving next to Kevin, Emma thanked him.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

Looking back into Emma's eyes, Kevin asked.

"...It's about Amanda"

"Amanda, what about her?"

"Mhmm, how should I say this, but did you perhaps notice something different about her these couple of days? I wanted to see if I wasn't the only one that felt this way"

After struggling to choose the right words, Emma voiced her concerns.

"So Amanda is acting weird according to you?"

"Yeah"

Turning his head, Kevin looked at Amanda who was not far off from where they were.

After a couple of seconds, he bitterly smiled and shook his head.

"She looks the same to me"

"Really? then am I perhaps overthinking things?"

Emma frowned. She did not look convinced.

"Sorry, I'm not very good at judging facial expressions and emotions..."

Scratching the back of his head, Kevin apologized.

"No, it's fine. I'm probably overthinking things. It's just that I wasn't able to see Amanda for the past week or so. I tried texting her but she wouldn't respond no matter how many times I messaged her..."

Typically Amanda would always text back within an hour or so. Her behaving like this was quite odd.

'What's going on?'

Overhearing the conversation between Kevin and Emma, I tilted my head to the side and looked in Amanda's direction.

'Did anything happen to Amanda?'

I turned my attention to Amanda. Taking a closer look at her from the distance, I tried to see if there was anything different about her.

After a minute, my brows knit.

Although nothing seemed out of the ordinary from Amanda's appearance, I could feel an air of gloom revolving around her.

She seemed to be much colder than usual, and even the people close to her felt the same as they stayed away from her.

'Could it be...'

Recalling Emma's words to Kevin, a thought suddenly struck me.

I could only think of one scenario in the novel that would cause her to become like this.

[<S> ranked dungeon desync incident]

The day where an <S> ranked dungeon desynced with her father in it.

An event that would only be revealed after a couple of years thanks to the higher-ups in the demon hunter guild covering everything up.

Unfortunately, they could not cover it up for long and it would soon be revealed to the whole world.

Once revealed, the whole world shook and the demon hunter guild fell to second place with Starlight guild finally overtaking them.

It was also the event that caused Amanda to close herself up even more.

But...

'Why now?'

I thought as I placed my hand on my chin.

I couldn't wrap my head around the timing of this event.

This was an event that was only supposed to happen in a couple of more years.

How did it suddenly get pushed up by so much? What were the variables that I influenced that made it this way?

Just when I least expected it, another problem arose. With Amanda's father now gone, I knew that I could only keep my parents safe for a couple of years.

Once news of Amanda's father's disappearance became known, I knew that I was on my own.

Staring at the clear blue sky, I muttered, "This is going to be troublesome, I hope I'm wrong..."

Chapter 234: Eve of the tournament [2]

===

Participant name : Ren Dover

Gender : Male

Year : 1st year

「Participating games」

— Dummy massacre. Within a specific time frame, participants will be surrounded by multiple combat dummies. The score will be based on most kills within that time period.

— 1st-year team battle royale. Three-man battle royale. Last team standing wins.

[Team composition]

▷ Kevin Voss

▷ Jin Horton

▷ Ren Dover

===

"Good thing I only have to participate in two games..."

I scrolled through my phone. This was the tournament log that I had received hours ago. In it were the details of the game that I would be participating in.

Dummy massacre, and battle royale.

Just two games.

Whilst I did select Dummy massacre out of my own volition, for the battle royale, that was all done by Donna.

'Since you guys are the strongest first years, I chose for you to participate as a team. The battle royale gives us the most points, and since we need to secure first place in that game, I had to put you guys together to bring our chances up'

Was what she said.

There was some truth to her words, however, I wasn't sure whether this team composition would work since synergy and teamwork were important.

Though I could work well with Kevin, the same couldn't be said for Jin.

He wasn't the type to listen.

'That aside...'

The reason why I chose dummy massacre was because I was confident in getting a high score in that game.

At the very least top ten.

Though there was a chance for me to get first place, there were a lot of tough competitors. I wasn't conceited enough to say that I was guaranteed first place.

—TWIIING! —TWIIING!

Suddenly I received a notification.

[Your friend Kevin Voss is turning 17 today, wish him a happy birthday]

"Oh, right"

Almost forgot.

Today was Kevin's birthday.

[Congratulations, you're now one day closer to your death]

Opening my chat log with Kevin, I sent him a quick birthday wish before closing my phone and going back to training.

Because the tournament was right around the corner, none of us had time to celebrate birthdays or anything of the sort.

Just a quick message was enough.

***

[Theodora academy exchange dorms]

—Have you chosen your teammates for the battle royale?

An authoritative voice echoed from the speakers of Aaron's phone.

"Yes, I have"

—That's good, are you confident in your chances?

"Mhm, there should be no problems instructor"

Aaron confidently said as he genuinely believed in his chances of victory.

He had everything planned out. From the games he was participating in, to the battle royale. Aaron had a detailed plan for everything.

He wasn't going to lose.

—I see, that's great. I hope that the next time you contact me, it will be news about your victory.

"It will be. Don't worry"

—Very well, I wish you luck Aaron.

"Thank you"

Du.Du.Du. Aaron hung up the phone.

"It seems like your confident in your chances of winning the battle royale"

At that moment, an cold and imposing voice resounded. Aaron turned around. There, a tall and sturdy man calmly walked in Aaron's direction.

"It's you..."

Opening his eyes slightly, Aaron's eyes coldly flashed for a second.

The man stopped right in front of Aaron. Their eyes locked for a second before the man suddenly smiled.

"What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing, I was just slightly surprised by your appearance"

Aaron shook his head and calmly responded.

"Oh? What's there to be surprised about?"

"I just didn't expect you to be here looking for me"

Under the man's questions, Aaron remained calm and patiently responded to them.

"I see..."

The man deeply looked into Aaron's eyes. For a brief moment, neither one of them talked. Breaking the silence was the man's stern voice.

"Aaron, I want you to keep in mind one thing. This year we're aiming for first place. I don't want to see any blunders. Especially from you..."

A powerful aura started exuding from his body.

"Khhh"

The imposing aura crashed towards Aaron who gritted his teeth and withstood it with all his might.

"You better not disappoint me"

Muttered the tall man as he retrieved his aura back. He was satisfied with this little test.

Aaron truly deserved his fame. Though he held back, his aura shouldn't have been something someone of his age could've withstood.

"Aaron, I believe in your talent. This is the year Theodora Academy beats the Lock. I hope you can help me lead Theodora academy to the top..."

"I understand"

Closing his eyes, Aaron nodded his head.

"You say you do, but do you really?"

"What do you mean?"

Aaron's brows knit as he opened his eyes.

"You think I didn't hear about your little blunder in the dungeon trials?"

"That...I was just caught off guard"

"I hope it truly was that way..."

"It is"

Aaron clenched his fists tightly. How could he forget that day?

He could still vividly remember the happenings of the dungeon trials like they were yesterday.

He had been too focused by Kevin that he had completely neglected the other student. Jin Horton.

That day Aaron experienced the bitter taste of defeat for the first time. Never again did he want to feel that bitter taste of defeat.

"Alright, I'll trust you for now"

The male student patted Aaron on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, I've got the third year's victory secured. The rest is up to you. As long as you win we're going to beat the Lock"

The male student spoke in a confident tone. He truly meant what he said.

He was confident in his chances.

Especially after having done a thorough investigation on the participating members for the third-year battle royale coming from the Lock.

Ebonie Wills, Mark Mendez, Perry Crossley.

Each, outstanding individual's whose fame resounded across the whole human domain.

All three of which, had already secured different deals with either the union or a diamond-graded guild.

Without a doubt, they were all future rankers.

Unfortunately, despite how good they looked on paper, there was a problem.

And the problem was that they were all the respective heads of the three major factions in the Lock.

Factions that absolutely despised one another.

Because of this, they had no synergy between them. No teamwork at all.

This was the source of the tall man's confidence.

A team with no teamwork was not a team. No matter how talented they were, if they weren't united, they were as good as gone. This was especially so in cases where they met strong and prepared teams.

The tall man knew that his chances of winning the battle royale were high...

—TWIIIING! —TWIIIING!

Suddenly the man's watch vibrated. Turning his watch slightly, the man read the foremost notification.

"I guess that will cut our little chat for now"

Tracing his hand over his short black hair, the man turned around.

"I hope you don't forget my words, Aaron. I'd be disappointed if you do"

Aaron watched as the man imposingly walked away. His bulky back, mountainous shoulders, and flawlessly refined physique showed that he was anything but simple.

Theodora academy third year's first-ranker.

A genius whose name was just as famous as the names of the three faction leaders of the lock.

Morgan Lowry.

A man who will one day become a top ranker.

***

Late into the night.

Kevin was working out in the public training ground of the Leviathan building. Because of the limited space of his own training ground, Kevin had no choice but to move to the public one.

Even so, Kevin did not dislike it here. Despite it being public, the number of people that frequented this place was low.

On rare occasions, he would spot Amanda training in the archery area. Other than that, it would usually be just him.

"Huuuup!"

With his feet shoulder length apart, Kevin lifted an 800kg bar and did a deadlift. As he lifted the bar, the veins by the side of his neck protruded as his face reddened.

BAAAM!

After lifting the bar once, Kevin dropped it. The heavy sound of the bar hitting the softened floor echoed across the room.

Kevin didn't care.

"This is enough for the warmup..."

Taking a towel Kevin wiped his face clean.

Stretching his neck, Kevin took out his sword and calmly walked towards the middle of the training grounds.

"Kevin!"

Just as Kevin was about to start practicing, a familiar voice called out for him.

"I had a hunch that you were here"

"Emma?"

The voice belong to Emma who was hurriedly walking in his direction.

"Did you not see my message?"

"Message?"

A look of confusion appeared on Kevin's face as he took out his phone.

"There's no need to check, I can already tell that you didn't..."

"hehe, sorry"

Putting her hand on Kevin's phone, Emma shook her head. As a result, Kevin laughed in embarrassment.

He was too engrossed with training to notice any messages directed to him.

"Here"

Biting her lower lip, Emma suddenly took out a black box from her dimensional space and handed it to Kevin.

"What's this?"

"Just take it"

Forcing the box into Kevin's hands, Emma's cheeks reddened slightly.

"Wait, what are you-"

"I won't disturb you anymore, good luck with your training...and happy birthday"

Wishing him a happy birthday she ran off leaving behind a confused Kevin.

'Was this her way of wishing me a happy birthday?', Looking at the box in his hand, Kevin smiled slightly.

It was cute.

—TWIIING! —TWIIING!

Right before Kevin opened the box, his watch suddenly vibrated. It was Ren.

[Congratulations, you're now one day closer to your death]

"...seriously?"

Looking at the message, Kevin was at a loss for words.

"What an idiot"

After a while, a small chuckle escaped from his lips.

Though he wasn't wrong, couldn't he have just wished him a happy birthday like any other person?

[You've got problems]

Sending a message back to Ren, Kevin turned off his phone and put the box that Emma gave him inside of his dimensional space.

He would check it once he was done with his training.

***

—Sorry, I've got nothing.

Smallsnake's voice echoed inside of my ears.

"...really? Is there like no information at all?"

—Unfortunately, it seems to be that way. No matter how hard I try, I can't find anything out. Demon hunter guild has sealed all types of information regarding Edward Stern.

"Haaa...I see, alright. Contact me if you find anything else regarding this matter"

—Will do that.

Du. Du. Du. Smallsnake hung up, and the repetitive sound of the phone tone rang inside of my mind.

Not minding it, I put my phone on my desk.

"This is troublesome..."

Opening my laptop, I wasted the next few minutes looking at random articles about the demon hunter guild.

I just wanted something.

Any clue leading me to find out the situation in the demon hunter guild was wanted.

Yet, no matter how hard I searched, I found nothing.

It was as though I was walking in an endless circle. No matter where I went I was back in the original spot.

"Should I ask Amanda?", I muttered as I closed a web tab. "No, that'd be stupid"

I quickly discarded such thoughts from my mind. It would be insensitive of me.

Amanda's state of mind was probably extremely fragile right now.

At this moment she was probably trying her best to remain strong. My comments might cause her fragile state of mind to worsen.

I couldn't let that happen.

Especially since she was trying her best to not let others down for the tournament.

If the event in which her father entered a dungeon desync really happened, then the situation was really bad.

It would only be after the third cataclysm started that Amanda would reunite with her father.

But that was in the novel...

This world was no longer the same.

Even though Edward Stern survived the hellish demon world, things might not be the same this time.

Right now, everything was different, and I was the cause of it.

This situation was my fault. I knew that. However, unlike in the past, I wasn't going to mourn or blame myself for my actions.

I did what I had to do. If this was the consequence of my action, then so be it.

I will live up to my mistakes and find a solution for it.

'Well, that's easier said than done'

Leaning back on my chair, I scratched the side of my neck.

I really was stumped this time.

Entering the demon world was out of the question.

With dangers lurking everywhere, I knew that going there would only prove to be suicidal on my end.

"Maybe I could..."

For the next thirty minutes or so I tried to think of all possible solutions that I could think of.

Unfortunately, my mind remained blank throughout the whole time.

"Haaa...what should I do?"

I muttered as I leaned back on my chair. I really did not know what to do.

No matter how much I tried to think, I couldn't find a solution to this problem.

Chapter 235: Inter-Academy Tournament [1]

The weekend passed by in the blink of an eye, and the day of the tournament had finally arrived.

Reporters filled the academy campus and different colored buses appeared on the roads of the academy as they entered through the main gates. All of the major and minor academies in the human domain had gathered here today for this event.

Everywhere I walked, I could see people. It was as though I was in Times Square New York back on earth during Christmas times.

It was very crowded.

"Can you share with us your thoughts on the tournament?"

"What are you planning on achieving?"

"Who do you think the favorites of this tournament are?"

As I walked around, I could overhear the conversations the reporters were having with some of the students.

Some of the students came from the Lock, and some from the other academies.

"Where are they?"

Arriving at the academy main gate, I looked left and right. Unfortunately, no matter where I looked, I could only see an endless amount of people trying to get in.

Right now, I was looking for my parents.

Once they learned of my participation in the tournament, they forced me to send them tickets to the event so that they could watch it live.

'No, we want to watch it live! Since you're performing, I want to cheer for you!'

Was what my mother said when I told her to watch it on TV.

Since I knew that arguing with my mother was pointless, I quickly gave in to her demands thus leading to the current situation.

"Ren!"

Suddenly, a familiar voice called out for me. Turning around a smile appeared on my face.

"You guys are here"

"Of course! We would never skip such an important day for you!"

With Nola in her arms, my mother walked up to me. Behind her was my father who nodded his head towards me. I nodded back.

"Bwudar!"

Nola called out for me as she extended her hands in my direction.

"Come here"

"Tehehe"

Grabbing Nola by the armpits, she suddenly giggled. My brow raised as a result. An evil thought crossed my mind.

"Oh? Did that tickle you? Do you want more?"

"Kyaaaaaaahahaha!"

Faintly tickling her armpits, Nola suddenly screamed. Hearing her screams, I smiled even more and tickled a little bit more.

"Ren, stop bullying your sister!"

My mother scolded me as she slapped my shoulder.

"Alright, I'll stop, I'll stop"

"Big bwuaddar is a meanie"

Looking at me, Nola pouted. Tears gathered at the side of her eyes.

"Aww, I'm sorry Nola. I'll make it up to you by winning okay?"

"Hmph"

Nola turned her head around and ignored me. I scratched the side of my neck.

"Alright, you win"

Sighing, I decide to resort to my secret weapon. Tapping on my bracelet, I took out a piece of candy. Instantly Nola's eyes lit up.

'Hehe, I'm already well versed in the art of bribery'

Nola was a very easy child to appease. Just a simple piece of candy and she would instantly forget any grudge.

"No, I don't want"

Just as Nola was to grab the candy, she suddenly stopped. Retrieving her hand, she continued to ignore me.

"Eh?"

The gears of my mind stopped working for a second.

This was not how the script was supposed to go. She was supposed to take the candy and quickly forgive me. Why wasn't it like this?

'Ah, maybe she wants another candy. How cute'

Suddenly a thought struck me. This was indeed plausible.

"Alright, here"

Taking out another piece of candy, I put it in Nola's hand. Once again, she shook her head.

"No!"

"You..."

My eyes narrowed. Once again I took out another piece of candy making them three. Yet again, Nola remained completely unfazed.

"Nola, what can I do to make you forgive me?"

Once again unable to appease Nola, I gave up and directly asked her.

"Fwive candies"

Glancing me by the side of her eyes, Nola opened her little hand.

"Five candies?"

"um, fwive!"

Nola nodded her head. Her stance was clear. Unless I gave her five candies, I was going to be shunned by her.

"Fine, you win"

I quickly gave up. There was no way I was ever going to win against my sister.

Just as Nola asked, I gave her five candies. I had an endless supply of candy anyway, didn't really matter.

"Okay, Nola forgives you"

Taking the candies, Nola happily smiled. She then proceeded to pat my head.

"That's a good boy"

"Eh..."

Opening my mouth, my mind suddenly blanked. I couldn't process what had just happened.

'What was that just now?

No matter how I looked at it, she had just treated me like a dog. What in the world had happened whilst I was gone?

'Angelica...'

Then a thought suddenly struck me.

It had to be her!

Other than her, I couldn't think of anyone else that would corrupt my sister like this.

'Damn it, I'll definitely not let you off for this...'

Clenching my fists, I swore inside of my mind.

How dare she...

"Ren, aren't you running late?"

My mother reminded me as she looked at her watch. I quickly snapped out of my thoughts.

'Crap!'

Checking my watch, I inwardly cursed. I really was running late.

"Please follow me, I'll lead you guys to the arena grounds"

With Nola in my arms, I turned around and quickly led my parents to the arena grounds.

All thoughts on revenge had to be put in the back of my mind for now. I had more pressing matters to attend to.

*

After dropping my parents at the arena grounds, I quickly made my way towards the changing rooms.

"You're late"

Waiting for me at the changing rooms was Kevin who flashed his watch.

"Sorry, was with my parents"

I was originally supposed to have met Kevin ten minutes ago, but with all of the crowd, it took me much longer than I expected.

"Your parents?"

Kevin asked.

"Yup, was showing them the way to the arena"

"Ah, I see, must've been nice..."

Kevin lowered his head slightly. A look of nostalgia appeared in his eyes.

"So what are we going now?"

Pretending to have not seen it, I quickly changed the topic.

"We're supposed to meet up with the other first years, after that we are supposed to be heading to the augural ceremony"

Lifting his head, Kevin responded.

"When's that?"

"In about two minutes..."

Tilting his watch slightly, Kevin responded. Silence enveloped the changing room.

"..."

"..."

"Shit!"

Cursing out loud I took out my clothes and changed into a new uniform made specifically for the tournament.

The new uniform was primarily black with a few touches of gold and white around the edges and insignia of the uniform. Putting on the uniform wasn't hard as within a minute I was already changed.

"Let's go"

Putting my other clothes in the dimensional space, I followed Kevin out of the room.

From this point forward, the tournament arc had finally begun.

***

Dark clouds filled the sky and heavy rain poured down.

"Haaaa—! "Haaaa—!"

Inside of a massive arena filled with people, blood-curling screams rang out repeatedly. Blood spilled everywhere and corpses littered the floor of the arena.

Huaa! Huaa!, The spirited cheering coming from the arena stands echoed all the way down towards the arena grounds, filling the contestants with adrenaline.

Standing in the middle of the training grounds was a pale youth.

SHIIIING—!

At some point, an individual snuck up from behind the youth and thrust their spear in the direction of their head.

Right as the tip of the spear was about to connect to the youth's head, the youth tilted his head ever so slightly.

The spear missed.

Taking a step forward, the youth turned around and swung his saber.

—Spurt!

A beautiful arc drew in the air and blood spilled everywhere.

—Thud!

Following this was a small thud and a head rolled on the ground.

"...that's thirteen"

The youth muttered as he slashed his saber to the side. Instantly the blood on the saber spilled towards the ground.

He then looked at the arena grounds.

Wherever he looked, corpses lied on the ground as the sound of fighting echoed everywhere.

Recovering some of his stamina, the youth was about to once again join the fray.

However...

—Beeep! —Beeep!

Suddenly two large beeping sounds echoed across the arena grounds.

Simultaneously, all contents stopped whatever they were doing.

—Congratulations to those who have passed the trials. Out of the 500 initial contests, only 28 remained alive. For the contestants that have survived, please make your way out of the arena.

Marking the end of the massacre was the voice of the announcer that echoed through the speakers around the arena.

Following the announcement, all those that remained standing in the arena walked towards the exit.

So did the youth.

Moments after, multiple people dressed in white entered the arena and cleaned up the corpses on the ground.

"Congratulations, it was a splendid performance"

"Thank you"

Arriving at the exit of the arena, a familiar voice echoed into the youth's ear.

"You better rest up for now Matthew. The next round starts in a week, if you aren't in the best conditions, chances are that you might die"

"mhm, will do"

The youth, Matthew, lifted his head slightly. Standing before him was a black humanoid creature who had a smile on his face.

'How long has it been?', Matthew wondered as he looked at Everblood before him.

Matthew's memory of the past few months was hazy.

After having been questioned by the authorities regarding the incident at the hotel a few months prior, Matthew had decided to leave everything behind and follow Everblood to the Monolith.

It was then that his new life had started.

Every day was a struggle.

Thrust into a domain where only the strongest survived, Matthew had to fight for everything.

Every week he would join the 'arena games' and compete for merit points.

The game was simple, within a specific time frame, hundreds of competitors would be put inside of an arena and till then it was free for all.

If you either survived or killed an opponent you would be awarded merit points.

Anything went there. There was no foul play. As long as you killed your opponent you were the winner.

This was the Monolith, and this was how Matthew lived for the pasts months.

Looking back, he could still remember his first time joining the arena games.

He remembered that day like it was yesterday. How could he forget that day?

It was the day that changed him.

He could still vividly remember the degenerate look the others had in the arena grounds.

At some point in time, the ground of the arena was already dyed in the color red.

There were many powerful opponents in the arena, and a single act of carelessness could've resulted in him losing his life.

Fortunately, he was amongst those who had survived. Having been trained since young, Matthew's skills were top-notch. If not for those, he would've long have died.

As he struggled to survive, he could still remember the sound of a buzzer marking the end of the game.

As if all energy had been sapped from his body, he remembered slumping down on the ground and blankly staring at the sky. It was then that he realized he needed to change.

And so he did...

Each week he would enter the trials and compete putting his life on the line.

He had realized that only through real life and death battles would his strength see actual improvements.

It was now Matthew's tenth time entering the arena games, and ever since joining, he had undergone a drastic transformation.

He had completely shed his past self and embraced his new self...

He had been reborn. No longer was he the naive old Matthew that was easily flustered by unexpected changes.

He was now a lot calmer and more calculative than ever.

...and this was all thanks to Everblood before him.

Had it not been for him, none of this would've happened.

"You've earned a total of 1,200 merit points. Not bad, with this, you're one step closer to purchasing a devil fruit to increase your strength even further"

Snapping Matthew out of his thoughts, Everblood patted Matthew on the shoulder. He was satisfied with today's harvest.

"Mhm"

Matthew nodded his head.

"Good, let's go rest up"

"Understood"

Turning around, Matthew made his way towards the changing rooms.

As he walked, his left foot limped slightly.

From the looks of it, he was injured. Still, he stubbornly persevered.

'Good grief...'

As he looked at Matthew, Everblood smiled.

Compared to the first time he had met him, Matthew was much calmer than before. He also spoke less and was more decisive.

He had matured.

Although he wasn't perfect, Matthew had this sharp feeling about it. Almost as if he was a sharpened sword ready to cut anything down.

Although the sword was still a little bit dull, with a little bit more polishing, Everblood was confident in creating an unstoppable sword.

Fighting with his life on the line every day, anyone was bound to change.

From the very beginning, Everblood knew that Matthew was talented. His current change was within his expectations.

No, rather, Matthew had exceeded his expectations. He was without a doubt a hidden gem.

'Still not ready though...'

Everblood shook his head.

There was still a long way to go for Matthew before he would truly turn into a diamond.

Till then, Everblood would do his best to polish him.

"kuku, let's take a rest. The tournament is about to start soon. Let's tune the TV and start cheering for our little acquaintance shall we?"

Everblood chuckled slightly. Turning around, he caught up with Matthew.

"Hopefully he'll show us how much he's grown during the time we didn't see him"

"yes..."

Listening to Everblood's words, Matthew's clenched on the grip of his saber.

'The tournament, I was supposed to be in it too...'

Had it not been for the incident in the past, he too would've been one of the participants for the tournament.

Unfortunately, his life had now changed.

He could no longer have the same life as before.

He knew that, yet he wasn't angry about it. There would eventually be a day where his name would spread around the world.

Till then, he would continue to polish himself.

Chapter 236: Inter-Academy Tournament [2]

The sun slowly rose up from the horizon and the bright light coming from the sun fully illuminated the arena grounds of the Lock.

As time passed, the spectating stands of the arena grounds started to become filled with more and more people. At some point, no gaps could be seen from the stands as all seats became filled to the brim with people.

If there was one thing that you had to take note of, it was that you couldn't watch the tournament for free. This was made to limit the number of people that could come and watch the tournament, as well as provide funds to pay for the security and management costs of hosting the tournament.

Though the Lock was rich, the price needed to host the tournament was tremendous.

Fortunately, the admission cost wasn't too high either; it was only a thousand U. And even if a limited number of people could enter the arena grounds, there was enough space to accommodate more than fifty thousand spectators.

A thousand U was the base price. The nearer you were to the platform, the higher the price. You had to pay at least tens of thousands to enter the area that was nearest to the arena grounds.

Even then, huge screens stood above the arena grounds showing the games that were happening below. So even if you were further back, it didn't really ruin the experience.

Today, the people from Lock Academy were dressed in black school uniforms with golden and white patterns. Lined up behind them were the people from the four great academies, and even further back were the other academies.

There were a couple of reasons why the Lock was ahead of the other academies; it mainly had to due to the fact that in the last tournament they had reached first place overall in the rankings, with the four great academies falling slightly behind. Aside from that, it was also because they were today's hosts of the tournament. As such, they were rightfully put at the front.

Behind the Lock and the four great academies were the other academies. Public and privately owned ones. Despite their limited budget, they were not to be looked down upon as every year a dark horse would emerge from them.

Even so, a large majority of them were inwardly praying that they wouldn't meet students coming from the Lock or the four great academies.

At least not on their first match.

No one wanted to meet the strongest so early on in the tournament as that would reduce their chances of standing out.

Everyone was here to make a statement. They wanted to let their names be glorified and made known throughout the whole human domain in hopes of pulling the attention of some of the top guilds in circulation.

No one was here to play today.

***

[Section G, Lock arena grounds]

It was now 10 A.M, and the arena grounds were now filled to the brim with spectators. Everywhere I looked I could see people.

"Huuu..."

Standing in the middle of the arena grounds, I took a deep breath.

I was currently standing in a long line with all of the first years that were participating in the games; there were about a hundred of us.

Standing in two different lines beside us were the second and third years. Everyone's faces were solemn.

"You nervous?"

Feeling a slight nudge on the right side of my waist, I looked at Kevin who was beside me.

He had a slight smirk on his face.

"Hee, unlike you I'm not used to all of this attention"

This was an event that would be broadcast everywhere, it'd be weird if I wasn't a little bit nervous.

"You'll get used to it."

"Don't think I ever will..."

Despite my popularity soaring over the past few months, I was still not used to the stares.

In fact, they were extremely bothersome.

I really didn't think I could ever get used to such stares.

"Silence."

A loud and imposing voice suddenly spread throughout the entire arena grounds.

Immediately, as the solemn voice covered the entire field, the originally-clamorous arena grounds went completely still. All forms of noise ceased.

"Thank you all for attending the fifteenth edition of the inter-academy tournament."

Following the voice, an elderly man appeared at the center of the stage.

The elderly man had long hair and a thick beard. Whilst his beard only reached halfway through his neck, his long hair spread over his shoulders, giving him a sort of free and easy appearance.

The old man's face was also not ordinary. Despite his age, the elderly man could still be considered quite handsome; chances were that in his younger days the old man was very handsome.

Perhaps in the same league as Kevin or Jin.

As he stood in the middle of the arena grounds, an ethereal and regal feeling exuded from his body. Be it, students or attendants, everyone could feel it.

He appeared unfathomable.

"It's the headmaster!"

One student spoke out loud, breaking the silence.

"The headmaster!"

"He's here!?"

"I didn't think he would be here..."

Once again, the arena grounds were filled with noises as both students and attendants whispered amongst each other.

"That's the second time I've seen him"

Besides me, Kevin muttered.

"Right, me too..."

I half-heartedly replied whilst my eyes never left the headmaster.

The first, and only time I ever saw the headmaster was during the inaugural ceremony at the beginning of the year.

In theory, this should've been the second time I had met the headmaster, but...

'He's a clone.'

The headmaster before me was not the real headmaster; he was a clone.

The current headmaster was still not here. He was in fact doing a very important mission. The only reason he was able to attend today was due to him using one of his strongest skills in the arsenal.

[Double pulse]

A <S> ranked skill that allowed for him to create a clone of himself. The skill generally had a long cooldown period hence why he couldn't do it often.

It was also the skill that the headmaster was most known for.

"If things don't change, then he should be back by the end of the tournament..."

"Hm? Did you say anything?"

Kevin asked as he looked at me.

"No, nothing"

I inwardly shook my head.

Really had to stop talking out loud.

"Okay"

Fortunately, it didn't seem like Kevin had heard me properly as his eyes remained fixed on the headmaster.

Suddenly the arena grounds quieted down as the headmaster started to speak.

"The inter-academy tournament is the most important event that is held each year to showcase the talented youths of the world. This year, the Lock will be the host of the event"

"As such we will try our best to ensure your and the participant's safety. I would also like to commend those that traveled far to attend today's event to support your team or child."

"I'm sure that some of you are tired from traveling so far. For that, I applaud you and welcome to the Lock"

"Thank you for hosting the event!" The instructors, students, and attendants applauded.

This carried on for a minute before the headmaster raised his hand. Once again, all forms of noise ceased.

Turning around, the headmaster looked at everyone in the arena.

His crystal blue eyes looked as though they could see through anything.

"I can see a lot of talented and eager youths today. This is gratifying for me to see. Especially in these hard times. I really am glad..."

The headmaster paused. Looking back at the spectators, his voice boomed throughout the whole arena.

"And it is with such an honor that I officially declared the beginning of the inter-academy tournament!"

Dam! Dam! Dam! Dam! Dam! Dam!

Following the headmaster's declaration, fireworks shot in the air and the sky became dyed in a multitude of different colors.

This carried on for five long minutes before they stopped.

Once the fireworks stopped, the imposing voice from before once again rang out again, "This is a message to all participants. In about a minute or so you will all receive a message with a timing schedule for your upcoming games."

This time the announcement was focused on the participants of the tournament.

"Some games will be held here in the arena grounds, some will be held in the VR space below us, and some in different areas of the academies"

"Now, for the first few games of today, we will start off the tournament with the following games, The hunter's quadrant, Abyss scavenger, Dummy massacre, and Supernova skip. All participants, please make your way to your games"

Following the announcer's words, the atmosphere in the arena grounds reached a boiling point, whilst, the atmosphere around the students became tense.

"Good luck, I'll be eagerly waiting for your performance"

Patting my back, Kevin followed some of the other students out of the arena grounds.

"Ugh, to think that I will be going in first..."

I groaned as I watched Kevin and the others leave.

Because they didn't tell us when our games were in advance, I only just learned about the fact that my game was coming up soon.

'Fortunately, these are just the elimination rounds...'

The tournament would span over a period of a month's time; this was a given as there were thousands and thousands of students participating.

They wouldn't be able to fit that many games in just a couple of days. Furthermore, students needed to be in optimal shape in order to perform at their best. If not the games would not be as entertaining.

Therefore, the chances of me being paired up with a strong contender were low.

Though I wasn't scared of any challenge, it'd be better if I didn't go against anyone strong yet.

'”TWIIING! '”TWIIING!

Suddenly my phone rang. Most likely was a message regarding the games.

ãDummy massacre '” Ren Doverã
â¼ Game time '” 10:45 A.M.

â¼ Location '” Arena grounds
â¼ Score '” N/A
â¼ Pass/Fail '” N/A

It indeed was a message regarding the games. Opening the message I quickly scrolled through the information.

'Still have thirty minutes before my game starts...'

It was now 10:15 A.M, and given that my games were at 10:45 A.M., I knew that I still had thirty minutes to go before my next game started.

This meant that for the next thirty minutes or so, I had nothing to do.

'”TWIIING!

As I was randomly scrolling through the data of the games to pass time, a notification clogged up my screen. It was my mother.

[Ren, I wish you the best of luck. Mom, Dad, and Nola can't wait for your performance. You better do your best!]

Reading the message, the edges of my lips curled upwards.

"Well, since my parents are watching, I better give them a show worth watching..."

I muttered as I put away my phone. Couldn't disappoint them could I?

Chapter 237: Statement [1]

The rules of the dummy massacre game were quite simple.

A contestant would be brought inside of a private room. In it were multiple combat dummies waiting in the room; each programmed to have different combat styles.

A timer would be set up in the corner of the room, and the goal was to eliminate all of the dummies within that specified amount of time.

If the contestant failed to win during that time limit, they were eliminated from the game.

Because of the overwhelming number of participants, multiple different groups were created and only the top five of each group were allowed to pass to the next round. Therefore, even if an individual managed to defeat all of the dummies, they were not guaranteed a chance to pass to the next round.

For those participating, time was of the essence. The fewer mistakes they made, the less time they would lose.

*

[Arena grounds]

"All done"

"Thank you"

Thanking a female attendant, I walked away and looked at my wrist. Wrapped around it was a black bracelet.

The bracelet was an artifact designed to suppress someone's rank.

'Tsk, I can certainly feel my rank getting suppressed', I thought as I inwardly clicked my tongue.

Typically it was used on prisoners; in this case, it was to make the competition fairer. Give the lower academies a better chance.

Arriving at the edge of the arena grounds where a large metal door stood, I waited for my turn to start.

Behind the metal door was the room that led to the dummy massacre game.

Originally it used to be an indoor training ground, but just for the tournament, it was converted into the area that would be used to hold the dummy massacre games.

'This feels weird...'

As I was waiting for my turn, ever so slightly, the edges of my lips twitched.

Amongst the participants present, I was the one that attracted the most attention. Everyone's eyes were on me.

Even though I wasn't the only first-year participant coming from the Lock, if someone here wasn't living under a rock, they would've seen my face on the news a month back.

I was the top dog in my group. Everyone knew that. Their wariness and apprehension towards me made sense. I too would've done the same had I been in their position.

'”Beep! '”Beep!

[Contenstant, Jude Wright; Time â¤ 2: 37 seconds]

'”Shuaaa!

The metallic doors suddenly opened and a confident youth walked out. Wearing a green-colored uniform the youth turned around and looked at his score.

A smirk emerged on his face.

[Dummy massacre group 9]

ã1ã'” 2 : 37; [Jude Wright/Rowlan Academy]

ã2ã'” 2 : 40; [Dan Potter/Lutwik Academy]

ã3ã'” 2 : 55; [Odessa Mack/Citadel Academy]

ã4ã'” 2 : 59; [Willie Morin/Velmont Academy]

ã5ã'” 3 : 01; [Luo Xuegang/Cape Croal Academy]

"So two minutes and a half is enough to get first place?"

This was a lot lower than I had expected. From when I practiced a few weeks backs, my all-time high score was in the early two minutes.

Furthermore, the only reason it was still in the two minutes range was because I never went all out.

Had I gone all out, my score would've been drastically different.

'Hm?'

Whilst I was looking at the scoreboard, I suddenly felt a stare directed towards my direction. Turning around, I found the same youth from before, Jude Wright, provocatively looking at me.

Almost as if he was saying, 'try beating my score'

"He."

Chuckling slightly, I helplessly shook my head.

Seeing him challenge me, I figured that he was very proud of his score. Unfortunately for him, his smile would not last for long.

I was going to give him a bit of a shocker.

"Participant Ren Dover, please make your way towards your designated area"

With a tablet in his hand, the instructor in charge of the game spoke.

"You should've already been briefed about the rules so I won't say much. Best of luck"

"Thank you"

Ta.Ta.Ta, fiddling with the gravity ring in my hand, I calmly walked into the room.

'”Clank!

Walking into the room, the metallic doors behind me closed. Darkness enveloped my vision.

Pa.Pa.Pa, following which the ceiling lights switched on. Surrounding me were over fifty dummies. Each with different stances and builds. Some of the dummies were tall, whilst others were short.

The dummies over here were created with a special metal alloy that could withstand the blows coming from <A> ranked heroes so I didn't have to worry about breaking them.

During the game, all of the dummies' ranks would be suppressed to a similar level to mine and when I exerted enough force to kill them, they would turn red and stop moving.

ã5 : 00 minutesã

In the middle of the room stood a large digital timer that would start counting down the time once the game started.

'”Your assessment will begin in three seconds. Best of luck.

From the corner of the room, a female voice resounded across the room.

'”3

"Should've probably stretched beforehand..."

Rubbing my neck, I put my hand behind my back and did a light stretch. I gotta reduce the tension in my muscles for optimal performance.

Didn't know whether this was true or not, but it was what I was told ever since I was a kid. Thus, I just did it.

'”2

"Right, I also promised my parents I would give them a good show..."

'”1

As I was stretching I was suddenly reminded of the message my parents sent me. Placing my hand on the sheath of my sword, I smiled.

'”The assessment will now begin.

"Well, since I promised..."

'”Click!

"I can't let them down now can I?"

A subtle metallic click resounded across the space.

***

"Which games are you planning on watching?"

Sitting on a large red sofa, Emma asked. Right now, inside of a special lounge area designated to the Lock students, Emma sat down next to Kevin. In terms of aesthetics, the lounge was visually stunning with the furniture and decorations around the room coming from well-known brands and designers.

In front of Emma and Kevin were multiple large TV screens showcasing the different matches that were happening in the arena grounds.

Since they had no games today, they decided to watch the games in the comfort of the waiting rooms. Rather than watching the games under the boiling heat of the sun, they'd much rather watch it here.

"I'm gonna watch Ren's performance"

Popping the top of a can and taking a sip of the carbonated drink, Kevin burped out loud.

"Burp...what about you?"

"That's gross"

Emma scooched a little bit to the side. After that, she mused for a moment before responding.

"I'm gonna watch Amanda. From what I recall, she's participating in the hunter's quadrant games"

She was more interested in watching Amanda's game. As her friend, it was only obvious that she supported her.

"The hunter's quadrant?"

"Yup"

Hunter's quadrant was a long-ranged type of game. The game took place outside of section G; inside of the dome, a building built specifically for the tournament games.

The purpose of the dome was to replicate the world outside of the human borders. One where beasts lurked everywhere.

The dome was a jungle-like environment that contained real beasts.

The description alone was enough to tell just how much money was poured into creating such a facility.

It was worth it though.

There were plans for the academy to use the facility and open it for regular students. Rather than directly sending them outside for practical experience in fights against beasts, this was much better and safer for the students since it was a more controlled environment.

"Seems tough"

Kevin muttered as he took another sip of the drink in his hand. Twisting the can, he started reading the nutritional information. He had to watch out for the calories.

"Mhh, I'm not too worried about Amanda though"

"Well, Amanda is strong..."

"You confident in the chances of Ren passing the round?"

"Passing the round?"

Kevin took his eyes away from the can.

"Yeah, what do you think of Ren's chances at passing the round "

"Pfttt...unless he purposely loses, there's no way that guy's gonna lose"

Kevin suddenly laughed.

He had seen first hand just how strong Ren was. This was made especially apparent from his training sessions with Donna and Monica.

Even now Kevin couldn't say with confidence that he could fend off one of Ren's attacks.

If Ren suddenly decided to sneak attack him, chances were that he wouldn't know how he died.

That's how scary he was.

There was simply no way Ren would lose. Kevin was confident.

"Pfffff..."

Out of nowhere, Kevin suddenly burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"No nothing, nothing"

Kevin waved it off. He had just recalled something.

'hahaha, how could I forget about the birthday gift Ren was supposed to give me...'

A week prior to the tournament, he recalled Ren suddenly asking him what he wanted for his birthday.

At first, Kevin replied with 'I don't really need anything' but after thinking for a bit longer, he suddenly came up with a wicked idea. Remembering Ren's dark face as he told him about the gift that he wanted, Kevin couldn't help but crack up.

He couldn't wait for the match to end.

"I see..."

Replied Emma as she took out her phone and randomly scrolled through some images.

"Oh, it's Ren's turn"

Suddenly, Kevin pointed towards one of the TV on the right side of the room. Not far from where they were.

"Now?"

"Yup"

"Then I guess I'll watch as well"

Emma stood up and followed Kevin.

"Weren't you going to watch Amanda's game?"

Kevin could clearly remember Emma saying that she was going to watch Amanda's game. Did she have a change of heart?

"Her turn is in thirty more minutes, so I've got time"

Checking her watch, Emma replied. Compared to the dummy massacre game, the hunter's quadrant took far more time to set up. The break in between each round was thus longer.

"Fair"

Sitting on one of the seats nearest to the TV screens showing Ren's game, Kevin grabbed the remote.

Turning the volume up, Kevin watched as Ren's figure calmly walked towards the center of the game room.

Right as his footsteps halted, the lights of the room turned on and fifty or so dummies surrounded him.

Surrounded by the horde of dummies, Ren looked completely unfazed. Right as the countdown hit one, Ren placed his hand on the grip of his sword.

'”Click!

Following this, a subtle clicking sound resounded across the space. With a large thud, five dummies instantly dropped dead on the ground as their bodies turned red.

Most shockingly, Ren did not move from his spot once. It was as though the dummies malfunctioned.

"This..."

'”Click! '”Click!

Before Emma could even make out what happened, two more clicks resounded. This time seven dummies fell on the ground. Once again their bodies turned red.

"H-how?"

Emma stood up. Her eyes open widely.

Sitting beside Emma, Kevin smiled. He was already too familiar with this scene.

Unfortunately for Ren, the opponents were too many in numbers. Right after the first wave was eliminated, the remaining thirty-eight dummies assaulted him from all sides.

It was then that an even more shocking scene appeared.

Right as the dummies were about to come close to Ren, three translucent circles appeared before him. With a lazy smile on his face, Ren pointed towards his left, right, and back.

"What!"

Emma suddenly exclaimed attracting the attention of some of the other students lazing about in the lounge area.

"What's going on?"

"Is there something entertaining? What!"

Turning their attention towards the TV screen Emma was watching, they too were left outstanded by the scene depicted on the screen in front of them.

With three rings within five meters of him, the spectators watched as some of the dummies started getting pulled by the rings. Though the pulling force was weak, it was enough to slow down the movements of some of the dummies.

Click. Click. Click, This was enough, as the same clicking sounds repeatedly rang across the area.

Dummy after dummy turned red as they all fell on the ground.

This scene repeated itself before only one last dummy stood before Ren. Calmly looking at the dummy, Ren once again touched the grip of his sword.

'”Click!

Following the last click, the last dummy fell. Thus marking the end of the trial.

In the waiting room, apart from Kevin, almost everyone who caught a glimpse of the scene could not close their mouths for a solid minute.

As though a lump was stuck in their throat, no one knew what to say at the moment.

However, if there was one common thought everyone had, it was 'I'm glad that he's on our side'

***

"Haaa..."

Exhaling, I looked around me.

The ground next to me was littered with dummies. All of which were dyed in the color red. Turning my attention towards the center of the room, I looked at the time left I had.

ã2 : 59 minutesã

"two minutes and one second, this should be enough for now..."

I honestly breezed through this. Although the difficulty was at its lowest as in the further rounds it would become much higher; I was honestly surprised by how easy it was.

Or did I once again get stronger? I wasn't sure.

'”Rumble!

Startling me out of my thoughts was the rumbling sound coming from the large metal door behind me. Opening up, the glorious sight of the arena grounds was once again revealed to me.

Covering my eyes as I walked out of the room, I suddenly felt multiple eyes directed in towards my direction.

Unfazed by the stares, I calmly walked back to where I stood before.

"Oh?"

My footsteps suddenly halted. Looking up, I found my image on one of the larger screens.

"Huuu..."

Gritting my teeth, I took a deep breath.

'Why did I even agree to this...'

Turning around, I looked left and right to see where the camera pointing at me was. I soon spotted it.

Once I did, with deadpan eyes, raising my right hand, I did a peace sign and blew a kiss to the camera.

ã1ã'” 2 : 01; [Ren Dover]

ã2ã'” 2 : 37; [Jude Wright]

ã3ã'” 2 : 40; [Dan Potter]

ã4ã'” 2 : 55; [Odessa Mack]

ã5ã'” 2 : 59; [Willie Morin]

A/N : Indeed. I've learned from my mistakes.. No cliff-hanger. (on this chap)

Chapter 238: Statement [2]

"Ah! Here he is, the contestant that got first place in his group. Ren Dover"

"Hm?"

A reporter suddenly approached me. With a tablet in his hand, the reporter shoved a microphone to my face.

"If you would spare us a minute, would you mind telling us what you were feeling during the match, and how will you continue moving forward?"

"W-well, I'm naturally happy about my result..."

Caught off guard by the reporter, I became slightly flustered.

Though I had expected such a situation to happen, I was still recovering from my previous stunt.

Before I could even calm down, I was thrown into another troublesome situation.

"Is that so, then what are your predictions for the games? Do you think you will make it to the top fifty, or is that a bit too high at the moment?"

"Top fifty?"

My brow raised. My nervousness instantly vanished. What did he just say?

"Yes, although hard, given your qualifications, it should be possible. Given some of the other contestant's scores, although your score is quite high, enough to get you first in the group, there are over a hundred other scores that are higher than yours. Do you think you can beat them?"

"Ha."

The edges of my lips pulled upwards, and a small chuckle escaped from my lips.

'To think that I am being looked down upon this much...'

They probably assumed that my timing was the best I could achieve. That I went all out.

"I might regret saying this, but..."

"Excuse me, is there something fu'”"

"Win"

A soft yet audible voice escaped from my mouth.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm going to win, no'”", I shook my head. This didn't sound right, "let me rephrase my words..."

Lifting my head, I looked straight into the cameras pointing at me.

"...I will win the dummy massacre games and crush every competitor that stands in my way"

Without waiting for the reporters to ask any more questions, I turned around and left. Behind me, the sound of intense scribbling rang out.

Although it was mainly my fault. I was tired of people looking down on me.

Now that I no longer needed to hide as much as before, it was about time I showed the world a little bit of what I could do.

This was my statement.

***

[...I will win the dummy massacre games and crush every competitor that stands in my way]

Inside a waiting room, a male's voice echoed from the speakers of a TV screen. On the opposite side of the TV screen was a large black sofa where a platinum-haired youth sat.

'”Click!

Raising his hand, the platinumed hair youth turned off the TV. A faint smile appeared on his lips.

"Who would've thought he was like that?"

Turning his head to the right, a beautiful platinum hair girl appeared by his side. A solemn expression appeared on her face.

If one looked closely; they'd be able to notice the striking resemblance the male and female students had. Had it not been for their different gender, they would've looked identical.

"Aerin, what do you think your chances of beating him are?"

"I'm not sure"

The platinum-haired girl, Aerin, shook her head.

She too was participating in the dummy massacre games. In fact, she had just returned from her game, and this was what she had come back to when returning to the waiting area.

Placing his hand on his chin, Nicholas, Aerin's brother, crossed his legs and fell into deep thought.

"Hmm, that's a bit worrying. Especially since we need to get first place here...", musing for a bit, Nicholas looked at Aerin and asked, "What's your best time?"

"For the first game? It's one minute and forty-two seconds"

"One minute and forty-two seconds?"

Directing his attention towards his watch, Nicholas opened the scoreboard and checked the scores of the other participants. More specifically, Ren's.

"Two minutes and one second, that's a lot slower than you..."

"I'm sure he didn't go all out"

Aerin pulled her eyes away from her brother's watch.

Not once did she believe that Ren had gone all out. She too didn't go all out in the beginning rounds.

Furthermore, it didn't really matter right now since the difficulty increased which each passing round.

This time was not the best representation of the final time. She understood that.

"Right, I share the same sentiment as you"

"Well, we are twins..."

Aerin replied with a slight smile on her face.

They were born at almost the exact same time, and have spent most of their life together. It wasn't strange for them to think similarly.

"Haaa, so even if you know that he didn't go all out. Then are you confident in beating him?"

"Yes, no problem"

Aerin replied as she stood up and looked at the TV screen in front of her. Her eyes were sharp.

The confidence in her voice couldn't be masked as she touched the grip of her rapier.

"That's my sister"

Nicholas stood up and lightly ruffled Aerin's hair.

"I know that you will win"

"You can count on me"

At her brother's compliment, a blossoming smile appeared on Aerin's face. Now, more than ever, she swore to herself that she wouldn't lose.

***

At the same time.

"What a peculiar child..."

Inside of a quiet and cozy office, an elderly man muttered as he sat behind a large wooden desk. An expensive nameplate was placed on top of the desk.

On it, the words [Douglas R. Barker] were deeply engraved.

The room was quite large. At least for an office space. On the opposite side of the wooden desk was a white leather sofa and a coffee table that could be used to greet the guests that came into the room.

"He is indeed very talented..."

Donna, who had been standing in front of the elderly man, gave a reply in a polite manner.

A look of reminiscence appeared on the headmaster's face.

"His sword art reminds of me the Keiki style. Ah, the last time I saw it was around five decades ago when Grandmaster Keiki fought against one of the top executives of the Monolith. Those days were much darker as order had still not been established..."

It took humanity nearly seventy years to establish a proper and well-organized civilization.

Before that, the world was in total chaos. Demon and beast attacks were a common sight, and skirmishes amongst fellow humans appeared far more often than now. At least on the surface.

Though Ashton city was already built, it was still a new city.

Compared to now, it was far more dangerous. The security measures weren't as advanced as they were now. Committing a crime back then was much easier.

Fortunately, there were humans that stood out from the rest.

They were the pillars that brought order to the chaotic world that people lived in. If not for them, humanity would've taken a lot longer to properly regain a foothold on their planet.

Grandmaster Keiki was one such person.

"I was still far from reaching his level back then, everything just sort of felt like a blur, however..."

The headmaster paused. Leaning back on his chair, he peacefully smiled.

"I could never forget that sight. The sight where he laid bare of hundreds of demons and villains without even moving. To this day, I have never forgotten that moment. It truly shocked my younger self to the core.."

By the side, Donna attentively listened to the headmaster's words. To her, Douglas was like a mentor. Someone she looked up to.

Any words from him were something that she would deeply engrave into her mind.

"If I'm not being rude, how long do you have left, headmaster?"

At Donna's question, Douglas smiled. He then proceeded to raise his hands in front of him. If only looked closely, they'd be able to notice that the hands were becoming transparent.

Turning his head around, Douglas looked at Donna. "I should still be able to hold on for another day. I'm currently inside of a safe location so I don't have to worry about overexerting myself. I should be able to be here for today's closing ceremonies"

"In the meantime, I'd like for you to tell me more about the students that you have been speaking so highly of, especially the youth on the screen over here..."

"As you wish"

Taking out a tablet, Donna bowed her head slightly and shared everything with the headmaster. She talked about Kevin, Ren, Amanda and everyone that she thought were good seedlings.

As she talked, she omitted a few things from her statement. Like what art Kevin and Ren practiced.

Although she held enormous amounts of respect for the person before her, she had promised not to share their secret with anyone.

As such, unless she got their explicit permission, she wouldn't reveal anything.

***

[Lock private waiting area]

11 A.M.

Laughter rang out in the room.

"I swear to god..."

"Hahahaha, I'm going to die!"

Kevin laughed, but he didn't just laugh. Holding onto his stomach, Kevin bent down and laughed like there was no tomorrow. It was as though he saw the funniest thing ever.

'Then die...', I inwardly muttered.

Unfortunately, as much as I wanted it to happen at this moment, it was impossible. Kevin was the key piece in defeating the demon king.

Without him, I'd be screwed. Till then he couldn't die.

"You laughed enough?"

"kh...yeah"

Despite Kevin's attempts at stopping himself from laughing, his trembling body easily gave him away.

It was only after another minute had passed that he managed to fully calm down. He quickly changed topics.

"I saw your interview..."

"You did?"

"Yeah, never expected you to act that way"

"Wel'”"

"That last statement. Pretty cocky of you"

Taking a quick sip of her drink, Emma who was sitting next to Kevin cut me mid-sentence.

"It was wasn't it..."

I didn't reject Emma's statement. Though I wanted to, I couldn't reject the truth.

I was pretty cocky. Wasn't even sure why I acted that way...

Normally I would've never have done such a thing. It was very out of character.

'Did my emotions get the best of me?', I wondered.

Perhaps so...

With all sorts of problems popping up recently, my mood had become a bit unstable. From how Ava rejected my offer, to Amanda's situation. Nothing was going right for me this past month.

My sudden outburst may be due to that. But I wasn't sure.

It didn't really matter though. Since I had already done the deed, all I had to do now was follow up on my statement.

"His statement made me cringe a little..."

"It was alright. His kiss to the camera was far more cringy in my opinion"

"True"

"Tsk, I'm leaving"

Overhearing Kevin's and Emma's conversation, I clicked my tongue and turned around. It'd be better if I just left before I snapped.

"Where are you going?"

Briefly glancing in my direction, Kevin asked.

"I'm going to walk around with my sister. You guys are pissing me off"

"Alrig'”"

"Amanda's game is starting"

Pointing at one of the TV screens, Emma cut Kevin off.

"Oh, where?"

Kevin didn't seem to mind this as he quickly turned around and looked in the direction of where Emma was pointing at.

Rolling my eyes, I made my way out of the lounge area.

"What a useless friend..."

Chapter 239: Her Resolve [1]

"Is it tasty?"

Grabbing Nola's little hand, I walked her around the busy streets. Right after leaving the waiting room, I quickly got changed and took Nola to see around the academy.

"Um."

Nola held onto the cone of the ice cream. Cream was all over her lips as she vigorously nodded her head.

"Don't make such a mess when you eat"

Taking out a handkerchief, I wiped the cream that was all over her lips.

"Uhh, stop."

Nola did not like that as she turned her head to the side and tried to avoid my handkerchief.

"Stop moving"

"Uhmm"

Softly grabbing Nola's tender cheeks, I wiped away every last bit of cream that was on her face.

"Alright, done. here, make sure you hold onto my hand tightly"

Because of the tournament that was happening, the current academy was extremely crowded. In fact, it was so crowded that I could barely see what was in front of me.

As such, I needed to make sure Nola held onto my hand tightly.

"You want this one?"

"Um, I want"

For the next twenty minutes or so, with Nola, I walked around the academy campus. On multiple occasions, I would stop and buy things for Nola to keep her entertained.

"I'd like one pl'”"

'”TWIIIING! '”TWIIIING!

At Nola's request, I made my way towards a cotton candy stall. Waiting in line for a couple of minutes, I arrived before the clerk. Just as I was about to order one cotton candy, my phone suddenly rang.

"Excuse me for a moment"

Letting go of Nola's hand, I rummaged through my right pocket and took out my wallet and phone.

Taking out a phew bills and handing them to the clerk, I answered the call.

"Hello?"

A polite voice answered the phone.

'”Hello, nice to meet you. My name is Simon Masquer, and I'm currently working for Moonlight Incarnation.

"Who?"

'”...

For a couple of seconds, the person on the other side of the phone didn't speak. It was evident that they didn't expect such an answer.

'”Keummm, Keummm, Moonlight Incarnation. We are a platinum graded guild. Have you perhaps not heard of us?

After clearing his throat, the person on the other side of the phone recollected himself and continued.

"Ah, I'm sorry. I, unfortunately, haven't"

I shook my head.

There were over a thousand platinum graded guilds in the human domain. Though I tried my best to memorize most of them, the sheer amount of platinum-graded guilds out there made it impossible for me to memorize all of them.

In the end, I settled on memorizing the more important ones.

And since I didn't remember this guild, it meant that they weren't important.

'”I-Is that so. Well, it's okay if you don't know about u-

The person on the other side of the phone, Simon, sounded a little flustered, but before he could speak any further I cut him off.

"Before you continue, I'd like to ask how you got my number?"

I was quite certain that apart from a few people, no one should've known my phone number.

So how was it possible for them to get in contact with me when I never gave them my phone number?

'”Let's not dwell on such trivial matters and let's get straight to the point. Ren Dover, us, Moonlight Incarnation would like to make a formal pro-

"Not interested"

I instantly cut him off.

'”Wai...

Without giving the other guy a chance to speak, I quickly hung up.

'”Tak!

"It seems like I need to change my number..."

I was quite pissed. This was an obvious invasion of privacy.

With my performances being broadcasted throughout the whole world, I'd expect guilds to be attracted by my performance.

In fact, as time passed and I shone more, chances were that my performances would attract the attention of more and more guilds.

What I didn't expect was for them to straight-up stalk me and find my phone number.

Did they seriously expect me to agree to join them when they pulled such a stunt? What a bunch of idiots.

"How annoying. Sorry Nola, let's go back for no'”"

Putting my phone away, I looked down to my right. I instantly froze.

Frantically looking around, my face became pale as I saw the endless crowd of people.

"Nola!"

To my absolute horror, Nola was no longer next to me.

***

Greenery filled the surroundings, and the thick vegetation made it hard for one to see. The world was enveloped by absolute silence. It was so quiet that if one listened attentively, they could've even heard the sound of a pin dropping.

Above the vegetation was a massive transparent dome that allowed the light from the sun to come in, energizing the plants.

'”Rustle!

The silence was soon broken by a rustling sound as a small boar suddenly dashed forwards.

Twang.Twang.Twang. Following the appearance of the boar, the vibrating sound of a bowstring echoed across the area.

"Guaaa'”!"

A pained shriek followed after.

'”Thump!

With a large thud, the boar dropped to the ground and stopped moving.

Red blood flowed from the area where the arrow impaled its body.

"huuu..."

Standing a couple of meters away from the boar, Amanda exhaled. This was the fifteenth board that she had hunted.

Just like the name suggested, hunter's quadrant was a game dedicated to hunting. The goal of the game was simple.

Within a specified amount of time, contestants would compete against fifty other people.

The top five contestants within the group that hunted the most animals in the designated time limit would make it to the next round.

Amanda's score was currently fifteen, which was five more than the previous number one spot of the group that had entered before her.

'”Beeep!

[Message to all contestants. The time is up. Please make your way out of the dome]

A voice suddenly echoed throughout the whole forest-like space announcing the end of the games.

Following the announcement, Amanda lowered her bow and made her way towards the exit of the dome.

Right after she stepped out, she felt countless eyes directed in her direction.

Amanda did not mind the stares as she indifferently left the premises. She didn't even bother checking the result of the game.

Most shockingly, even though there were reporters everywhere, none of them approached her.

The reporters could feel it from her aura; Amanda didn't want to be approached at the moment.

***

"Thank god..."

Taking out my phone I quickly followed the direction shown to me on the screen. Fortunately, Nola was currently wearing a hairpin that I had given to her as a gift not too long ago.

On it was a small GPS tracking device that I had installed just in case someone tried to kidnap her.

I had done this in case a situation like this happened in the future. I was glad I did.

Now I could track her position with a simple app on my phone.

"She should be near the park"

Turning right, I hastened my steps.

Fortunately, Nola didn't walk that far. In fact, she was actually quite close to me.

Yet, although I knew where she was, I rushed to where she was with all my might.

I couldn't discard the possibility of someone taking advantage of her. The more time I wasn't with her, the more exposed to danger she was.

"Nola, please be safe"

Clenching my phone, I quickly rushed towards where the GPS said she was.

***

Leaving the dome, Amanda aimlessly wandered around the academy. She was at a loss.

The most logical option would've been for her to go to the waiting room alongside the others, but she wanted to be left alone.

Amanda didn't want the others to see her in her current state.

In the end, she settled down for a nearby bench. Tapping onto a ring on her finger, a picture appeared in her hand. In it was an image of a handsome middle-aged man and a young girl happily hugging each other.

Amanda gently stroked the picture in her hand.

"Dad."

At that moment, it was as if her icy visage had never existed. A warm smile appeared on her face.

It was a smile that caused anyone that saw it to be mesmerized by it for a couple of seconds.

But for some reason, there was a gloomy feeling around her. Even though she was smiling warmly, the gloom didn't leave her face.

Her slender fingers continued to stroke the picture of her father. She had been smiling, but her expression was steadily getting darker.

Her grip on the picture tightened.

"Dad, I don't know what to do..."

The situation back in the guild was nothing but stable. With the disappearance of her father, the guild master, the elders were having a difficult time.

The pillar of the guild had suddenly gone missing. Chaos was inevitable.

Fortunately, none of the elders were coveting the main seat, as they all held massive respect for the current guild master.

This allowed Amanda to breathe more easily.

There was one problem though; for how long would they be able to keep the news of the guild master disappearance a secret?

Perhaps they could use the excuse of guild master being on a mission for a couple of years, but what about after that? For how much longer would their lie be able to keep up?

Amanda didn't know. Everyone at the guild didn't know.

Once the news got out, the guild's dark days would begin.

Although they had <S> ranked heroes at their disposal, once news of the guild master going missing would become known, Amanda wasn't sure whether they would stay or not.

Not all of the members in the guild were here because of their loyalty towards it. They were all here for the money. If their stability was jeopardized, chances were that they might suddenly jump ship.

Without a doubt, the competing guilds would spread their fangs in their direction once the situation reached such levels.

Once that happened, the guild would enter a state of vulnerability. There was a possibility for the guild to disband.

"I can't, let that happen."

Just the thought angered Amanda. She couldn't allow that to happen.

She couldn't allow the guild, which her father had painstakingly built from scratch be destroyed under her watch.

As his daughter, Amanda believed that it was her duty to protect what her father had built.

"Fuuu..."

Exhaling slightly, Amanda once again looked at the picture in her hand.

"Don't worry father, I'll try my best to keep the guild from bein'”hm?"

Amanda suddenly felt a slight tug on her pants. Snapping out of her thoughts, Amanda looked down as she saw a young girl looking up at her with sparkling blue eyes.

"Waaah, are you a princess?"

Chapter 240: Her Resolve [2]

"Waaah, are you a princess?"

A young girl exclaimed as she tugged on Amanda's shorts. Looking at the young girl, Amanda blinked a couple of times.

'Who is this child?'

She wondered as she observed the little girl before her. Long black hair, deep ocean-like eyes, and soft and puffy cheeks.

The girl looked adorable.

"umm, are you a princess?"

Once again the young girl asked.

"No, I'm not." A warm smile appeared on Amanda's face. Looking around, she asked, "Are you alone?"

"No, I'm with big bwuddar."

The little girl shook her head and turned around. However, to her dismay, no one was behind her.

"Bwuddar?"

Looking around, the girl frantically called out for what seemed to be her brother.

"Oh, no. Bwuddar!"

Tears started gathering in the corner of the girl's eyes as she realized her brother wasn't with her.

"It's okay calm down, I'll help you find big brother"

Seeing the young girl's state, Amanda decided to step in.

Taking out a handkerchief and wiping the tears that were threatening to fall from the corner of the young girl's eyes, Amanda reassured her.

"Everything will be alright, so don't worry. You can rely on me"

"Weally?"

Feeling the warmth coming from Amanda's hand, the little girl finally seemed to have calmed down a bit.

"Yes, don't worry"

Amanda once again reassured as she caressed the young girl's head.

"How about you sit with me"

Amanda patted the seat next to her. The young girl nodded her head in response.

"Um"

"What's your name?"

Once the girl sat down, Amanda asked for her name.

"Nola"

The young girl answered.

"I see, what's your brother's name?"

"Ben. Big bwother Ben"

"Ben?"

"Um, Ben"

Amanda's brows slightly knit.

She didn't know anyone that went by that name, but she didn't think too much of it.

There were over a thousand students in the academy. There was no way she would know the names of every student present.

Furthermore, she wasn't too keen on knowing who her brother was. She didn't have the best impression of him.

Who in their right mind would be so irresponsible to lose sight of such a young child? Amanda didn't have any good feelings for whoever Nola's brother was.

As such, after thinking for a bit, she decided to just contact the staff regarding a lost child. She wasn't too keen on letting Nola be with her brother as the situation might repeat again.

"Are you sad?"

Nola suddenly asked as she sat next to Amanda.

"Sad?"

Dialing a number on her phone, Amanda's finger suddenly paused. Looking at Nola, she asked.

"What made you think I was sad?"

"Your face. Lwuk sad"

"Ah. I'm sorry"

Amanda apologized.

She didn't realize that she was showing such a face. Her father's situation really dealt a huge blow to her.

She really didn't expect such a thing to happen to her so unexpectedly. It caught her off-guard.

"Here"

Rummaging through her pocket, Nola suddenly took a small object and gave it to Amanda.

"What's this?"

Amanda curiously asked as she looked at Nola's hand.

"Candy. Nola is no longer sad when get candy"

"I see, thank you"

A gentle smile appeared on Amanda's face as she took the candy. Under Nola's eager look, Amanda unwrapped the candy and put it in her mouth.

"Mhh, it's delicious."

"hehehe"

Seeing Amanda enjoy the candy, Nola giggled in satisfaction. Amanda warmly smiled in response as she turned her attention back to her phone.

"I will now call for someone to look for your br'”"

"Nola!"

Startling Amanda was a loud voice coming from the distance. It sounded quite familiar to Amanda who tilted her head to the side and looked at where the voice was coming from.

"Bwudar!"

Nola's eyes lit up as she jumped off the bench and ran towards where the voice came from. Soon a pale youth with black hair and blue eyes came into vision as he dashed towards Nola's direction.

"Nola!"

Rushing towards Nola, the youth hurriedly hugged the young girl who hugged him back.

"God, where did you go No'”"

"Ren?"

Cutting the youth off was Amanda who stood up. She had recognized the identity of Nola's brother.

Ren Dover. Her classmate.

Looking up, Ren froze for a second.

"Amanda?"

***

"Scuse me, coming through"

Forcefully pushing my way through a crowd of people, I hastily followed the GPS tracker on my phone.

"Hey watch it"

"What are you doing?"

"Sorry"

Because of how much of a rush I was, I didn't even bother holding back. I just pushed anyone that stood in my way, much to their displeasure.

"She should be here"

Looking at my GPS, I frantically looked around. Soon my eyes brightened up as I spotted a little girl in the distance.

"Nola!"

I shouted out loud.

"Bwuddar!"

Hearing my voice, Nola's head snapped towards my direction. Her eyes soon interlocked with mine.

Because of how relieved I was at seeing Nola, I didn't pay attention to the fact that she was sitting next to someone and just rushed towards her.

Soon, Nola appeared before me and hugged me tightly. I hugged her back.

"Thank god you're fine..."

Had something have happened to Nola, I wouldn't know how to face myself. Hugging Nola's body tightly for a few seconds, I breathed a sigh of relief and looked at her.

"God, where did you go No'”"

"Ren?"

Cutting me off mid-sentence, a familiar pleasant voice called out for me. Turning around, I was surprised to find Amanda here.

"Amanda? What are you doing here?"

"Is this your sister?"

Amanda asked as she pointed at Nola who was in my arms. Completely disregarding my previous question.

"Yes, were you taking care of her?"

"Mhm"

Though Amanda was usually cold, her words sounded unusually cold today.

"How old is she?"

Amanda expressionlessly said as she patted Nola in the head.

"Ehm, two. She's two years old"

"Two. I see."

Amanda's eyes grew even colder. For a short period of time, an awkward silence enveloped the area Amanda and I were.

Munch. Munch. Much. The silence was soon broken by the sound of Nola munching on some sweets.

"Should we go sit down?"

I suggested. The atmosphere was a bit too uncomfortable for my linkings.

"Yes"

Amanda coldly replied. It seems like she was mad at me.

"Great"

With Nola on my lap, I sat on a nearby bench. Amanda who was next to me quietly observed Nola munching on some candy in my embrace.

"You guys seem close"

After a while, Amanda spoke.

"Ah, well. She's my only sister after all."

"I see..."

Amanda brushed her hair to the side.

"I wish I also had a little sister."

Amanda softly muttered.

Her voice carried hints of jealousy as she looked at Nola in my arms.

In response to Amanda's statement, I smiled slightly.

Knowing Amanda's story well, I understood where she came from. If she had a sibling, her days of loneliness would've come to an end.

With her practically living by herself, having a sibling with her would've made her days that much more enjoyable.

'Right, this should be the right time to ask her, no?'

Since I couldn't find out too much regarding the situation back in the Demon Hunter guild as all of the information was sealed, perhaps I could try to get a clue about the overall situation by asking Amanda in a roundabout way.

I couldn't be too blunt about it as I wasn't supposed to know this information.

"I've been meaning to ask, but, are you okay?"

"...Mh?"

Amanda tilted her head to the side.

"Eh, like you know. The past few weeks you've been looking really on edge, I was just wondering if there was something bothering you." Pausing, I added, "Emma was quite worried about you too."

"..."

Amanda didn't respond immediately.

"It's okay if you don't want to answe'”"

"No, it's fine. Don't worry about it" Amanda shook her head, "There's just a slight problem back in the guild."

At her words, I closed my eyes slowly. Though she didn't say much, these words were enough to confirm my suspicion.

'It seems like my worst fears came true...'

Amanda's father really did get stuck into the portal a few years in advance than the original timeline.

Right now, the Demon Hunter guild no longer had a head running the place. Within a few years, the threat of them being pushed down would rise significantly.

By then the deal I had made with them would come crashing down.

"But, it's really nothing to be worried about. I believe that everything will be solved soon."

Amanda put on a brave smile as she said those words.

"Everything will definitely return to normal in a couple of years, there's no need for you to w-worry. excuse me."

But this did not last for long as she suddenly turned her head away from me.

Her voice shook slightly, and her shoulder trembled. At this moment, she looked extremely lonely.

"I see, I hope everything gets sorted..."

Staring at Amanda's broken figure, I felt a lump stuck in my throat. I wanted to comfort her and tell her that everything was going to be alright.

I wanted to make her feel better, but...

Things weren't that simple. I knew that.

With her father stuck in the demon world with dangers lurking everywhere, I knew that the possibility of him dying was high. I also could no longer rely on the fact that the world was following the plotline as it no longer was.

I could no longer count on the possibility of her father making it back alive. The possibility of him dying was quite high and I didn't feel like lying to Amanda.

In the end, all I could do was pretend to have not seen anything. I didn't want her to waste her efforts in preserving her dignity.

"Sorry, about that"

After a couple of seconds, Amand turned her head gratefully looked at me.

It appears like my efforts weren't in vain as she appeared to have fully recovered. At least on the surface. She then gently caressed Nola's head.

"You did nothing worth apologizing for."

Watching Amanda caressing Nola's head, I shook my head.

This situation wasn't her fault. She was merely someone who got dragged into a scenario that I had designed beforehand.

Right now, she was just a young girl suffering from a loss. The fact that she managed to keep her feelings bottled up till now showed how mature she was.

"huuu..."

Suddenly Amanda exhaled.

Staring at Nola for a couple of seconds, Amanda lifted her head slightly until our eyes met. For a brief moment, she didn't speak.

She just quietly stared at me, seemingly struggling to find the right words to say.

After a while, as if firming herself, Amanda opened her mouth and said.

"After the tournament is over, I'm dropping out of the academy"

A massive bombshell was suddenly dropped on me.

Chapter 241: Her Resolve [3]

'What did she just say?'

For a second I didn't know how to respond. My mind blanked out.

"Did I mishear? Are you saying that you're dropping out of the academy?"

"Mhm. You didn't hear wrongly."

Amanda calmly nodded her head.

"Haaaa..."

Leaning back on the bench, I looked at the blue sky above.

'How did it come to this...'

No, I knew exactly why it had come to this. I just didn't want to say it.

To be honest, I didn't know what to do. There was no solution to her problem.

No matter how much I tried to wrap my head around the problem, I couldn't think of a solution for her current predicament.

Saving her father from the demon world was not something I could do with my current abilities.

Unlike Immorra where I more or less knew the circumstances there, I knew nothing about the demon world.

Furthermore, the place was far more dangerous than Immorra. No scheme or trickery would ever help me in that place. I knew my limits.

Perhaps if I chose to hole up myself there I might be able to survive...

But that would be granted I had enough food and water for myself. If not, I'd die of starvation or dehydration before the third cataclysm arrived and the gate that connected the worlds opened up.

"Are you not going to ask me why?"

Amanda asked as she interrupted my thoughts.

"You must have your reasons, no?"

A bitter smile appeared on my face as I responded.

I already knew the reason why she was acting like that. I didn't want to ask too much.

No one liked it when someone asked too many questions. I didn't want to seem too invasive.

Especially since this had something to do with her father.

"Have you told the others?"

As such, I decided to change the topic.

"No, you're the first"

Amanda shook her head.

"I see..."

Hearing what Amanda had to say, somehow, a part of me felt happy.

I knew that she didn't mean anything special by telling me that I was the first person she told the news of her dropout as it could've just been because I was the first person she properly talked to for the past few weeks, but...

I was still happy.

Not sure why, but it made me feel better.

"What are you going to do about Emma? She's probably going to be in for the shock of her life"

I said as a thought suddenly struck me.

Without a doubt, Emma would lose her mind once she found out about this news.

"Can you help me keep it a secret? At least not until the tournament ends."

Amanda suddenly bit her lips, as her fists curled into a ball.

"...I want to tell her personally"

"I can do that."

I nodded my head slightly.

Not once did I plan on telling Emma the news. Given her personality, she would go on a small rampage which I wasn't too keen on being a part of.

"Thank you."

"Don't worry about it"

After that, we both became silent. This continued for a couple of minutes before I eventually stood up as I saw the sky darken.

"I should get going"

"Me too"

Amanda similarly stood up. Looking at Nola, Amanda waved.

"Bye, Nola"

"Say bye to Amanda"

Looking at Nola, I pointed at Amanda.

"Um, bye sister"

"Sister?"

My eyebrow raised as I looked in Amanda's direction.

Our eyes interlocked for a couple of seconds, and Amanda shook her head.

"I didn't tell her to call me that"

"Right..."

'Since when did they become so close?'

I wondered as I looked at Amanda suspiciously.

To be comfortable enough to call her sister...

Something was fishy.

Unaware of my thoughts, Amanda crouched down and patted Nola in the head, and whispered something to her ear.

"Be good Nola, next time I'll see you I'll give you amazing treats"

"Whaaa!"

"Oy, that's my thing"

I protested.

Only I could do that. If there was another person doing that, the bribes would start to become less effective.

I couldn't allow such a thing to happen.

"Not anymore"

Turning around, the edges of Amanda's lips curled slightly.

"Didn't you hear her call me sister? As her sister, it is within my duty to spoil her a little."

"Tsk, she most likely said that because you look beautiful. Otherwise, she wouldn't have spared you a glance"

I muttered as I clicked my tongue. This was the power of beauty I say.

"..."

"What's wrong?"

Tilting my head, I looked at Amanda. A surprised look appeared on her face.

"...you called me beautiful"

Her voice was so quiet that she sounded like a mosquito.

"Are you not?"

With so many people gunning for her, she'd have to be dense to think that she wasn't beautiful.

Why in the world was she surprised?

"N-nothing, bye Nola"

Waving at Nola one more time, Amanda turned around and disappeared within the crowd much to Nola's disappointment.

"Bye"

Nola waved back.

"Let's go, we should go to meet mom and dad"

Grabbing Nola's hand, I headed towards the arena grounds. Looking down, I firmed my grip of her hand and reminded her.

"Make sure you don't let go, okay?"

"Um"

***

All the games ended at 5 P.M.

Today, the only ones that were participating in games for the first years were Amanda, Jin, and I.

Unsurprisingly, we all managed to secure the first place spot in our respective group and hence made it to the next round.

"Did you see Jin? He was absolutely mesmerizing to watch. Not only his looks, just the way he dominated his match took away my breath."

"Did you see the Aerin girl from Lutwik academy? She without a doubt will clinch first place in the dummy massacre games...though I'm a bit bitter about the fact that she isn't from the Lock, I'm just glad that she's human."

By the time the headmaster was done with his speech, the sky had already turned dark. Many spectators brushed past me as they looked back on the games that happened today.

Walking back to my dorm, their discussions even reached my ears.

As I walked I did manage to overhear some conversations about me. Unfortunately, most of them were not good.

Some called me a narcissist, some called me an idiot, and some called me arrogant. Apparently, the interview that I took after my game wasn't well-received by the masses.

To those discussions, I just turned a blind eye.

Actions spoke louder than words. Once I reached first place and did what I said I'd do in the interview, I'd love to see the faces that they would make.

'”Ding!

Walking with my phone in my hand, a notification suddenly clogged up my screen.

[A message to all participating students. Tomorrow morning at 7 A.M, you are all to gather at the waiting room to further discuss the direction of the tournament. Sincerely, Ebonie Wills]

"...Tsk"

Reading the message, my tongue inadvertently clicked.

"I guess it's time that I met them."

The three strongest and most influential individuals within the academy.

Ebonie Wills, Mark Mendez, Perry Crossley.

Each individual with a talent that rivaled the likes of Jin, Amanda, and the others. At the moment they were all in their last year, and their respective rank was around <B> rank.

A rank that was comparable to some of the instructors in the academy.

This was good and all for the academy, but there was a slight problem...

'They are each the head of one of the three major factions in the Lock'

During the past few months, I had been approached a couple of times by most factions in the academy.

For obvious reasons, I had not been approached by the Blood Supremacist group as my circumstances were quite similar to Kevin's.

My parents weren't of very prominent lineage, and given my talent, without a doubt, they found me an eyesore.

Fortunately, I had somehow managed to weasel my way out of joining a faction, but I knew that this wouldn't last for long.

In fact, I feared that the day would come as fast as tomorrow.

For that, I knew that I had to prepare myself.

***

'”Clank!

Returning to her dorm, Amanda closed the door behind her.

After her father disappeared a few weeks ago, Amanda had a lot of time to think about her future.

At first, she agonized over the decision of dropping out for quite a while, but after the days passed and the situation at the guild worsened, she knew that this was the best decision she could take.

In fact, Amanda never actually needed to attend the academy. She already had the best training equipment at her disposal.

The guild also didn't lack <S> ranked heroes that could guide her.

The only reason she attended the academy was because of her father's insistence. But now that he was no longer here, Amanda knew that it was time for her to grow up and take over her dad's role.

At least until he came back...

"Dad."

Taking out a white orb from her dimensional space, Amanda gently caressed it.

The orb in her hand was her confirmation. It was what confirmed to her that her father was still alive.

Only once it broke would she know that her father had died. Till the orb didn't break, Amanda knew that she could still hope.

Hope for her father to return.

Feeling the warmth of the orb, Amanda felt a little bit better.

Somewhere out there in the universe, her dad was fighting and struggling with all his might to get back to her.

Amanda knew this. This was without a doubt something that she wholeheartedly believed.

Even though her father was never around, Amanda knew just how much he loved her. She understood that.

...and so she made up her mind.

She was going to drop out of the Academy and take over the guild.

She was going to grow it to heights that it never reached before. By the time she would reunite with her father, she would show him something that would let him be proud of her.

This was her goal.

"Haaa..."

Amanda sighed.

Though this was easy to say, it was much harder to accomplish.

Running a guild was not easy, and she knew firsthand how difficult it was. Now that her father was not here, she knew that she had to shoulder all of the heavy responsibilities he had.

Though it would take a long time, Amanda set her mind to achieving her goal.

'”Fwua!

Putting the orb away, Amanda changed into more comfortable clothes.

Taking out a wooden brush, Amanda sat down on her bed and brushed her hair.

As she brushed her hair, she thought back on today's events. From her game today to the incident at the park where she met Ren's sister, Nola.

She couldn't forget that moment. How could she forget such an adorable little girl?

It was only later that she found out that she was in fact Ren's sister.

As she looked at the two, at first, Amanda couldn't see any resemblance between the two, but after she saw the two together, she understood why they were siblings.

It was their eyes.

Their beautiful deep blue eyes that reminded her of the sea. A place she had once been with her dad when she was young.

'Tsk, she most likely said that because you look beautiful.'

Suddenly, Amanda recalled Ren's words. Unbeknownst to Amanda, her cheeks reddened slightly.

Despite having heard this sentence throughout her whole life, this was the first time she felt something other than indifference and disgust.

She couldn't explain it, but a subtle warm feeling washed over her body.

Her mood also seemed to improve.

"Beautiful..."

Amanda muttered slightly before she turned off the lights and closed her eyes.

Chapter 242: The Last Piece [1]

It was early in the morning, and following what was sent in the email yesterday, I made my way towards the Lock private area.

As I entered the room, the first thing I noticed was three individuals sitting at a round table.

I could instantly feel a deep and oppressive aura emanating from their body.

'Ebonie Wills, Mark Mendez, Perry Crossley...', I muttered underneath my breath as I looked at the three individuals sitting on the round table.

The three strongest students in the academy, and the heads of the three major factions in the Lock.

Calmly walking forward, I joined the small crowd of students that had gathered around them.

None of them dared to sit down with them as they just stood and watched them.

At the moment, a solemn atmosphere shrouded the room.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tapping on the table, a burly individual with short brown hair and green eyes spoke up, disrupting the silence. His voice contained hints of annoyance.

"Let's get this over with. I don't have much time to spare for the likes of this childish gathering."

"Shut up you brute. It's because of people like you that we have to hold these kinds of discussions"

Sitting opposite to him was an elegant youth with bright blue eyes and brown hair.

A look of disgust appeared on his face as he looked at the burly man opposite to him.

"Mark, Perry, can you guys shut up for five minutes?"

Standing up was a beautiful girl with tanned skin, black eyes, and dirt blonde hair.

Glaring at Mark, who was the elegant youth, and Perry who was the burly individual, the tanned girl, Ebonie Wills, walked towards one of the TVs and picked up the remote.

'”Clink!

Turning on the TV, Ebonie pressed a couple of buttons before a large data table appeared on the TV screen.

ãRankingsã - ãPointsã

Lock Academy - 986

Theodora Academy - 904

Lutwik Academy - 888

Vellon Academy - 867

SilverWing Academy - 803

Kukz Academy - 745

DeathSigil Academy – 711

Dusk of Dawn Academy - 657

Everlight Academy - 656

PridedHorses Academy - 640

Looking at the TV screen I thought, 'Those numbers seem similar to the ones I wrote in the novel...'

Though I couldn't remember the exact numbers that I wrote in the novel, I remembered that on the first day the Lock did not surpass 1,000 points.

This was a very important piece of information to take note of since it suggested that as of right now the tournament arc was progressing just as it did in the novel.

Not sure how long this would last, but for now I could more or less be able to infer a little bit of what was to come in the future.

"Let's talk about serious matters."

Putting the TV remote down, Ebonie pointed at the scoreboard projected on the TV screen.

"As you can see, as of right now we are overall in the first place."

"Indeed. But I don't think we need to hold a meeting to point this out, no?"

Perry, the burly individual, spoke up as he crossed his large arms. Ebonie nodded her head in response.

"True, but there is a problem"

"What problem?"

"...According to the data, we're slightly behind last year's first-day record."

Ebonie gravely said as she looked at everyone in the room.

"What was last year's record?"

Mark said as his eyes squinted slightly.

From the casualness of his voice, it was quite apparent that he did not take this matter seriously.

"Last year we managed to secure 1033 points on the first day."

Ebonie curtly responded. In response, Mark's brows knit for a second.

"So you're saying that we are 47 points behind last year's senior?"

"That's exactly it.", Ebonie nodded her head, and once pointed at the TV screen, "Furthermore, Theodora academy's score is a whole 80 points higher than their last year's score on the first day. Something isn't right"

"So? It's only the first day."

Irritably spoke up Perry as his voice couldn't help but raise.

"What matters is the end result, and right now we're first. All we have to do is continue to be first. Simple as that. I don't see why we need to care about this stuff."

As Perry spoke, his face gradually became darker.

From the looks of it, he was extremely irritated about the fact that he had to wake up this early in the morning to talk about this stuff.

"Huuu..calm down and listen to me."

Taking a deep breath, Ebonie tried to calm Perry down.

"Although it is only the first day, I believe that we shouldn't overlook this. If there is any chance that we might lose, we have to crush it before the seed can sprout"

"So in the end, you wasted our time for this useless nonsense?"

Perry abruptly stood up.

Instantly a domineering pressure exuded from his body as the students next to him backed up a couple of meters.

Because I was far, I wasn't affected by his pressure. Even then, I probably wouldn't have been affected much due to my experience in Immorra.

He pretty much reminded me of the orcs I faced back then.

"This is not nons'”"

"I'm leaving. I thought that this was something important. You're just wasting my time with your overly cautious personality"

Cutting Ebonie off, Perry turned around. Stretching his neck slightly, he made his way out of the waiting room.

As he walked, everyone stepped to the side to make a path for him.

"Wait lis'”"

"I'm going to have to agree with the brute over here"

Mark similarly stood up.

Without waiting for Ebonie to finish her sentence he followed Mark out of the room. Behind him, a row of students followed him out of the room.

Slowly, half of the people attending the meeting left, leaving behind Ebonie and what seemed to be her followers which included the likes of Emma, Amanda, and Melissa.

"Shit, don't come crawling back to me later telling me that I didn't warn you guys..."

Staring at the two individuals leaving the room, Ebonie, shook her head and sat down.

"Fucking arrogant pricks. Why can't they listen once!"

She cursed as her fists curled into balls.

'...As expected'

Staring at the scene from afar, I secretly shook my head.

It was exactly because of this reason that the Lock nearly ended up losing the tournament.

Had it not been for Kevin's intervention, the overall winners would've been Theodora's academy.

From the way I saw things, the situation was progressing exactly as it did in the novel.

In fact, given that things were now no longer in control of the plot, the chances of the Lock losing were even higher than before.

The three leaders although talented, could not work with each other.

They only trusted their decisions and their decisions only. It was because of their ego that the chances of the Lock losing increased.

"What do you think?"

"Hm?"

Startling me, I felt a slight touch on my shoulder. Turning around, I saw Kevin standing next to me.

'When did he get near me?'

I wondered as I looked at Kevin.

"So? What do you think?"

"Hmm, from the way I see things, she's right"

After musing for a bit, I shared my honest feelings.

"You think so too?"

"...yeah"

The lack of unity between the third years was quite clear to see.

Even though it was just as bad last year, this year it became even more apparent. Portraying this was the scene that had just occurred.

"Don't you have a game to be preparing for?"

I asked Kevin as I checked today's games schedule.

"Right, I better get going"

Punching my shoulder lightly, Kevin waved and left the waiting room. I followed him shortly after.

'At least I managed to escape an unwanted situation...'

If there was one thing that was good about the meeting it was that I didn't attract the attention of the three leaders today.

With that, I didn't have to worry about joining the conflicts between the factions.

***

Since the meeting, a week eventually flew by and it was now Monday. During the past week, I did what I set out to do. Dominate my rankings.

'”Click!

Thud. Thud. Thud, inside of a room illuminated by bright lights, a subtle clicking sound resounded across the space.

Following which, with large thuds, multiple dummies fell on the ground as they turned red.

"Huuu..."

Taking a deep breath, I subtly touched the small bracelet on my wrist.

"This feels weird."

I honestly still couldn't get used to my rank getting suppressed. It felt as though I woke up after a few hours of sleep as my body didn't move as fast as I wanted it to.

In fact, because of this factor, I almost missed a couple of dummies that were coming at me from the side.

Fortunately, I was able to remain level-headed throughout the whole time and barely managed to defeat them without wasting any time.

'”Beep!

Within a minute after the last dummy fell, a beeping sound resounded across the room, and my score was displayed on the board before me

[Contenstant, Ren Dover; Time â¤ 2: 02 seconds]

Smirk.

Looking at my timer, a smirk invertedly appeared on my face.

For the past week, I had participated in five games in which my score always remained plus or minus two seconds of two minutes.

Not once did I go below or above that record.

I naturally did this on purpose.

Although my score was actually the same as my previous scores, in reality, the values had a different meaning with each passing game.

That was because the difficulty of the trials rose which each game I passed.

Not only were the dummies harder to kill, but they also became faster and numerous. By the time the third game started, only one-fifth of the contestants were left.

My consistent score was my own way of throwing the middle finger towards those that called me names a couple of days ago.

Was it petty? Yeah. But I was a petty person to begin with, so I just went ahead and did it.

"There should be one more game left..."

As of right now, I had just finished the last game before the finals. The semi-finals.

Meaning that, if I beat my opponent who was in the room next door, I would be able to make it to the finals of the dummy massacre games.

"Huaa!"

Exiting the room of the game, I could hear the endless cheers coming from the crowd attending today's events.

Unfortunately, my parents were not here today, so I didn't really pay much attention to the cheers.

"...hm?"

As I exited the room, I suddenly felt a pair of eyes looking at me from my right. Turning around, I soon spotted Aerin solemnly looking in my direction.

With a casual smile, I waved at her. Surprised, she also waved her hand and put on a polite smile.

Then...

Under the watchful eyes of the spectators and cameras, Aerin calmly walked in my direction.

'It seems like she made it to the finals as well...'

I thought as I watched Aerin walk in my direction.

Though I had expected this from the very beginning, a little part of me hoped that the plot mess up would screw her over, unfortunately, it didn't.

She had made it to the finals just like in the novel.

If there was an opponent I was worried about for the finals of the games, then it would be her.

Even though she was at her strongest when she was alongside her brother, her skills alone were not something to scoff at.

If I was just one bit careless in my upcoming game, I'd without a doubt find myself losing to her.

Halting her steps in front of me, Aerin extended her hand.

"Congratulations"

"Thank you"

I shook her hand back.

Shaking hands, Aerin sweetly smiled and said.

"Two minutes and two seconds, that's awfully close to your other scores, isn't it?"

"What can I say? I'm a very consistent person"

In response to Aerin's sweet smile, I smiled back at her.

'So she caught on.'

I wasn't particularly hiding the fact that I was trying to keep my score consistent, so I wasn't surprised by the fact that she knew that I was holding back a bit.

"I see, that's very good of you. I hope you'll stay consistent in the upcoming finals"

Aerin squinted her eyes. Her grip on my hands tightened.

"Hm, who knows. I might just slip up..."

I merely smiled at her gesture.

From the way I described Aerin in the novel, she was a very competitive person.

From my current interaction with her, it looked like I was spot on.

"Mhm, once again, I'll see you at the finals."

"You too"

After a couple of seconds, Aerin finally let go of my hand.

Congratulating me one more time, she turned around and left.

Watching Aerin leave, I smiled and shook my head.

The next time I'd see her, it would be in the finals of the dummy massacre games.

Chapter 243: The Last Piece [2]

"Huaa!"

Cheers engulfed the arena grounds as the spectators jumped and shouted in excitement as they watched the games that were happening below.

"Sheesh, that's loud..."

Covering my ears with my hands, I walked towards one of the stands and looked at the arena grounds below.

Although I could've watched the games in the comfort of the waiting room, I wanted to come here at least once to spectate the games that were happening below.

There was also another goal I had in mind when coming here...

'”Hein Kraaijenschot from Ironia Academy and John Berson from Kuzk Academy still look to be holding out well. Scott Madison from Leingberg Academy seems to be about to give out! Who will pass to the next round?

Listening to the announcer, I leaned on the handrails and squinted my eyes to get a better look at what was happening below.

Standing on a platform, I looked as five students stood still motionless. With their legs perpendicular to their shoulders, the five individuals each held a shield in their hand.

Opposite to them was a combat dummy that every few seconds would unleash an attack on them.

With each attack, the power exerted by the dummy would increase.

Dum. Dum. Dum. Even as I stood above the arena grounds, I could hear the faint sound of collision that came as a result of the dummy hitting the contestants.

"So this is the Iron Fortress games..."

I muttered underneath my breath as I paid close attention to the five individuals below.

The Iron Fortress game was a game dedicated to those that specialized in defense. The objective was to withstand as many attacks as possible. The last person standing would directly make it to the next round.

As of right now, it was the semi-finals, and my attention was currently directed towards one individual.

Hein Kraaijenschot.

The next and last person that I wanted to recruit into my mercenary group.

With a sturdy build, light brown hair, and hazel eyes, Hein stood imposingly at the center of the stage as he withstood the barrage of attacks coming from the dummy opposite of him.

With each attack, Hein would skilfully shift his position ever so slightly. By either taking one step back or tilting the shield slightly, Hein was able to redirect some of the force away from himself.

Using this method, he appeared to be in a much better position than some of the other contestants.

'He's as good as I thought he'd be.'

Watching Hein skilfully redirect and block the relentless attacks coming from the dummies, I crossed my arms and repeatedly nodded my head.

Even though he wasn't the biggest individual on stage as John Berson was about twice his size, his technical ability was something that more than made up for his lack of natural size.

This was shown by how he had made it this far without even being a part of a famous academy.

This achievement alone was outstanding.

"He's the one for sure..."

Without a doubt, I knew that he was the last person I was looking for in my mercenary group.

Though he may not be known now, in the future, Hein would be known throughout the whole human domain as a ranked hero.

He was of Dutch descent, and despite his talent, because of his family circumstances, he could only enroll at a medium-high ranked Academy.

He did in fact get scholarship offers from large academies such as the Lock or the four great academies. Unfortunately, he chose to reject them because of his circumstances.

Had he enrolled in a top academy, he would've without a doubt have been as strong as some of the most prolific individuals in the tournament.

In fact, he would've without a doubt have even had a chance at beating John Berson who was considered to be the best tanker amongst the younger generation.

Unfortunately...

'”Hein Kraaijenschot from Ironia Academy, unfortunately, gives out and John Berson from Kuzk Academy takes the first spot and wins the Iron fortress games! Ladies and gentlemen let's give John a round of applause for his fantastic performance. The other contestants too, for their fantastic performances.

Listening to the announcer's voice, I shook my head.

'Too bad...'

Had Hein have had the same amount of resources as John, things would've been different. Sadly, there were no what if's in the world.

Staring at Hein who was sprawled on the ground tired, I watched as tears streamed down from the corner of his eyes.

He looked absolutely gutted.

"Huaaaa'”!"

Standing next to him, John Berson raised his hand in the air like the victor that he was and basked on the cheers coming from the spectators.

"Don't worry."

Taking one last look at Hein from above, a trace of a smile appeared on my face.

"I'll definitely do anything within my power to make you the best tanker there is..."

I softly muttered before turning around and leaving the arena grounds.

***

"Haa...Haaa..."

After getting defeated in the Iron Fortress game, Hein sat down in the changing room as he gasped for breath.

Covering his eyes with a warm wet towel, Hein tried to hide the fact that he was crying.

"I tried, I really tried..."

Muttered Hein as he put both of his hands on the towel.

Around four years ago, when Hein was still twelve years old, a horrible accident occurred.

His town was suddenly attacked by villains.

In order to protect him and his two other five-month-old siblings, his father suffered a permanent spinal injury resulting in his lower half becoming permanently paralyzed.

To make matters worse, his mother died in that incident. The one mother that had raised him since he was young.

One paralyzed father, two five-month-old children, and one twelve-year-old kid. That was the aftermath of the incident that took place in Hein's past.

It was also the turning point of Hein's life.

From there, in order to support his father and siblings, Hein would work hard every day at his family shop to provide income for the family.

Fortunately, although his father was paralyzed, he could still work as a clerk, and hence they were somehow able to live without too much trouble.

Years had passed since then and Hein reached sixteen years of age. It was also the time that he got his talent assessment measured.

<S> ranked. That was what his talent was measured by.

At first, he thought this was fantastic. He could now help his father. But that happiness did not last too long.

That was because he later found out that his father's injury could not be cured with the current technology.

Not even with the current best potions, his injury could not be cured.

This crushed Hein who wanted nothing more than for his father to once again regain the ability to walk again.

...and so, not wanting to leave his father and siblings behind, Hein chose to enroll in the best academy in the region and refused all of the other offers that came from the better academies.

'”TRIIING! '”TRIIING!

Feeling a slight vibration coming from his phone, Hein removed the towel off of his face and picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

'”...Son.

Instantly, Hein's hand shook. Hein's voice shook along with his hand.

"D-ad."

'”I've watched your game....I'm very proud of you.

"Than-k you"

Trying his best to suppress his emotions, Hein responded as he almost choked up on his words.

'”...I'm sorry as well...If it-t wasn't for me this w-ould've never have happ-

"Dad, please don't say anything. I don't blame you. This was my decision"

Hein cut off.

"This is my decision, and my decision only."

He repeated.

Multiple times his father offered to relocate to a better city so that he could enroll in a better academy, but Hein stubbornly refused.

He knew just how much the shop meant for his father.

It was the same shop that he built with his mother when she was still alive.

Hein could not bear to tear his father away from there. Not just his father. Hein as well couldn't bring himself to part ways with the last moment he had of his mother.

This was why he refused all of the other offers.

In hindsight, this wasn't a bad decision since the academy treated him extremely well as they invested a lot of resources in him.

Most of which were subsidies by the government to help him grow, but even then, his treatment was not bad at all.

"Do you understand father? You don't have to blame my decision on yourself"

'”..A-alright. I'll see you back home. Your siblings are waiting for you.

With a trembling voice, Hein's father responded.

From the way he was stuttering, it was evident that he was also trying his best to suppress his emotions.

Hein did not point this out.

"I can't wait to meet them as well..."

Thinking of his siblings, a gentle smile appeared on Hein's face.

'”T-that's good. I'll see you soon son. I love you. I wish you the best in the next game.

"Thank you..."

Du.Du.Du. Listening to the end tone of the call for a couple of seconds, Hein wiped the corner of his eye.

Clenching his fists, he slowly stood up.

"I will definitely not let you down"

Although he lost the Iron Fortress game, the tournament was not over yet. He still had to participate in the battle royale.

For that, he was going to give it his all.

***

Bang! Bang! Bang! The loud sound of collisions echoed inside of a private training room.

Standing opposite a machine, I repeatedly attacked it with my sword. Each attack was lightning fast as a green hue shrouded the body of the sword.

'”Click!

Following a subtle clicking sound, the room became quiet, and a small white graze appeared on the machine opposite to me.

"Huuu..."

With sweat dripping from the side of my face, I took a deep breath.

"I should be close."

I muttered as I looked at my arms.

I could feel it. I was close to ranking up. Perhaps as close as a couple of days, to as far as a couple of weeks. Soon enough, I was going to break through to <D-> rank.

Unfortunately, this was probably not enough time for the finals that were going to take place in a couple of days.

But I wasn't too worried about this as I was confident in my chances of winning.

That aside, by the time I returned to my dorm and looked at my notifications, I found my face plastered all over the news.

In the news, there was a picture of me shaking hands with Aerin.

To my surprise, as I read the comments on the article, there were a lot fewer negative comments about me.

In fact, I found a lot of people supporting me and wishing me the best of luck.

This surprised me quite a lot as I pretty much antagonized everyone in my first interview. But I guess my recent performances had won the hearts of the people.

Another thing that I took note of as I read the articles, was that a lot of people were comparing the way I fought to grandmaster Keiki. A legendary figure.

Fortunately, no one was able to make a connection with the fact that I was actually using the Keiki style as I didn't use any of the movements yet.

I also publically announced what sword art I practiced in one of the interviews I had this week.

It was obviously the Keiki-style counterfeit art.

As such, I was in the clear for the tournament. At least for now.

"Right, Angelica."

Turning around I looked at Angelica who was sitting in the middle of the room. A black hue shrouded her body.

"...Speak."

After a short pause, Angelica apathetically responded.

"Make it quick."

"Sure, did you find anything suspicious during the past week? Like any movement from the Monolith?"

"I have not."

Angelica shook her head.

"Not even a clue?"

"None."

"This is strange...or should I say weird?"

Placing my hand on my chin, my brows knit tightly.

For the past month or so, I had asked Angelica to scout the Lock and look for any clue that could give me an idea of what the Monolith was planning.

Unfortunately, I found nothing.

I've looked through Thibaut's watch in hopes of finding something, but there was nothing there as well.

I even looked through the scenario that was supposed to happen in the novel, but as I predicted, it was completely scrapped.

'Did they just give up on the tournament?'

From what I've gathered, the Lock managed to catch most of the villains that tried to infiltrate the place.

In fact, I'd estimate that a total of over 100 villains were caught by the Lock security alone. This alone suggested that the Monolith had not given up.

Furthermore, given how big the event was, there was no way the Monolith wouldn't jump at the idea of doing something big here.

Especially since this was broadcasted all over the human domain.

Fortunately, as of now, the Lock's security was good enough to stop any attempts that had happened.

However, I didn't know for how long this would last.

Despite the Lock being the number one academy in the world, they were currently fighting against the Monolith.

An organization that rivaled the likes of the Union.

For them, infiltrating the Lock and the tournament shouldn't be something impossible. If they set their mind to it, this was a very real possibility.

...and it was exactly this possibility that bugged me.

"hmmm, should I perhaps go to the black market to ask?"

If there was one organization that could help me find anything related to this case, perhaps it would be the black market.

With them being a natural faction frequented by both villains and heroes, this could very well be a plausible course of action.

However, there was only one problem with this scenario...

Money.

If they indeed had some information regarding the plan the Monolith had for the tournament, then without a doubt I would have to fork out a crap-ton of money.

...and that was something I couldn't do with my current cash reserve.

As such, I was once again back to square one.

"Wait! What if..."

Suddenly a thought struck me.

"How could I have not thought about this before!?"

Smacking my head, my face scrunched up a little. The answer to my problem was right before my eyes!

'Kevin Voss, the novel's protagonist.'

Given that Kevin was the original protagonist of the novel, in all likelihood he knew something.

In fact, his system might've given him a quest targeting this scenario precisely, and he was already preparing for it.

"Damn, I should stop overthinking things sometimes..."

Cursing slightly, I took out my phone and dialed Kevin's number.

Chapter 244: Dummy Massacre Finals [1]

'”Bang!

The blaring sound of a table being pounded resounded across the room. Following this, an enraged roar echoed across the room.

"This is bullshit!"

Perry stood up.

"I shouldn't be responsible for our school's lackluster performances!"

"That's not the point"

Sitting next to Perry, Ebonie shouted back. Her voice contained all of the frustration she held back for the past week.

"I've repeatedly warned you about this at the beginning of the week yet none of you listened to me!"

Turning around, Ebonie pointed at the TV screen where the rankings were shown and once again raised her voice.

"Now, look! We're only fifty points ahead of Theodora academy who should've been two hundred points behind according to the initial forecast. Whose fault is it other than yours for this?"

ãRankingsã - ãPointsã

Lock Academy - 11,089

Theodora Academy - 11,039

Lutwik Academy - 10,785

Vellon Academy - 10,467

SilverWing Academy - 9,803

Kukz Academy - 9,732

DeathSigil Academy – 9,311

Dusk of Dawn Academy - 8,953

Everlight Academy -8,824

PridedHorses Academy - 8,645

"What the fuc'”"

"Rather than voicing out your complaints, let's talk about the possible solutions to this problem."

Cutting Perry off before he could swear, was Mark. Compared to the first meeting, his face looked a lot more serious. He was no longer treating this as a joke.

He knew just how serious their current predicament was.

"...Right"

Finally, calming down a bit, Ebonie stood up. Biting her lower lip, she looked at everyone that had gathered in the room.

"From what I've gathered, in order for us to win, all we need is four first-years to win their respective games, followed by two by the second years."

Pausing, Ebonie took out a tablet. Tapping on the screen on the tablet, the TV screen behind her changed.

"If they somehow can achieve this, we should be able to widen the gap with Theodora Academy. If we can't achieve that then we have no choice but to..."

Ebonie paused.

"No choice but to...?"

Perry asked as he too seemed to have also calmed down from the previous outburst.

"Win one of the battle royale games..."

"..."

At her words, the room instantly became quiet.

If there was one game that no one could guarantee first place spot, it would be the battle royale game.

The reason was simple.

There was no rule that stated that the other academies couldn't form alliances with one another.

As a result of this rule, every year the Lock and the other larger academies would end up fighting at a numerical disadvantage. Making it much harder for them to win first place.

It was also because of this that the points awarded to the academies upon winning the game were much higher than singular games.

If two academies were neck and neck with each other in terms of points, they'd need to be able to win the battle royale in order to widen the gap.

"That shouldn't be a problem."

The first to speak up was Perry. A faint smile appeared on his lips.

"Since we're already guaranteed first place in our battle royale, we don't really have to worry too much about it."

"That's easier said than done..."

Ebonie replied as she put her tablet down. From the way that she didn't deny Perry's statement, it seemed as though she agreed with him about the fact that the third year will win their battle royale.

Even so, she didn't seem to be completely confident about this.

"Is it? I don't think so. It isn't right if the third years are the ones that carry the whole school up. The first and second years need to hold their weight."

This time it was Mark who started speaking.

Turning around, Mark looked at all of the people that had gathered in the room.

"Listen up you lot! You've heard what she said. Make sure you don't disappoint during the battle royale games..." A threatening aura started exuding from his body. "I hope we don't go down in history as the worst team to have ever appeared in the Lock."

In response to Mark's glare, everyone in the room sheepishly nodded their head.

I also followed their example and nodded my head.

Not that I actually cared about what they were saying. My mind was preoccupied with other matters at the moment.

More specifically, regarding the Monolith situation.

After calling Kevin last night, I decided to meet up with him in his room to discuss more on the matter.

Although I had the book with me, I honestly preferred to just ask Kevin. It wasn't because I was too lazy or anything like that, it was just that the book was far too long for me at the moment.

With it recounting everything that happened to Kevin, the book was filled with endless amounts of jibberish that I couldn't care less about.

'Kevin turned on the valve of his shower and washed his body with the new soap that he had bought yesterday at the convenience store...''”Now why would I want to read this?

Although the book somehow remained the same size, the number of pages it had was scary. It probably numbered in the thousands by now.

Most of it was filled with useless stuff like that. This was why I just chose to directly ask him about what he knew.

Fortunately, living under the same roof had its perks. Within a minute I had already arrived at his room.

After that, I entered his room and started spouting nonstop bullshit about how I had this vision that I couldn't quite make out about the Monolith and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...

In short, I managed to get Kevin to spill everything.

Perhaps because he trusted me a lot, or just because he was still immature due to his young age, after a bit of thought Kevin told me everything that he knew regarding the Monolith.

Though there was no concrete evidence, it was enough to convince me that something was definitely going to happen.

This talk pretty much confirmed that my worries weren't for naught.

The Monolith was indeed planning something big.

And to make matters worse, that thing was going to without a doubt implicate me.

That was because from what I had gathered from Kevin, they were planning on doing something big during the battle royale event next week.

'This information is good enough for now.'

Though I wasn't yet sure about what they were planning, this was a good starting point.

I at least knew that I had some time to work with. It was enough time for me to figure something out.

"Alright, thank you all for coming. You are all dismissed"

While I was preoccupied with my thoughts, Ebonie's voice suddenly resounded across the room.

Everyone in the room stood up. I too subconsciously followed the other's example.

Thirty minutes had passed since the beginning of the meeting, and after coming up with a rough plan, Ebonie satisfyingly stood up and dismissed everyone from the meeting.

"It's settled then. If we fail to win to get enough points in the individual matches, we will bet everything on the battle royale. I hope everyone tries their best till then. I will not let the technical staff brief some individuals on their upcoming games. Good luck~"

Grabbing her tablet, Ebonie left the waiting room. Not long after, Mark and Perry also left. Behind them were their usual rows of lackeys.

"Ren, come here"

Just when I was also about to also leave, Melissa called out for me as she sat on a chair in the corner of the room.

"Melissa? What do you need?"

I replied without moving from my spot.

"I said come here, I need to talk to you about your game that is coming up soon."

"Honestly, I'd rather stay as far away from you as possible..."

I shook my head.

Recalling my previous experiences with Melissa, I wanted nothing more than to be as far away from her as possible.

"Oh my, am I that scary?"

Covering her mouth with her hand, Melissa smiled.

"Yes", I replied. "...yes you are."

To make sure that she didn't misunderstand, I repeated this twice.

"Tsk, grow a pair for god's sake. I'm not doing this because I want to."

Clicking her tongue, Melissa was starting to get annoyed.

Although Melissa was enlisted as a contestant for the tournament, she wasn't actually participating in any game.

As Ebonie had stated before, there was a technical team.

The technical team's role was to analyze the student's performances as well as the competitors and come up with a good plan for them.

In this case, Melissa was talking to me because she was part of the technical team. In all likelihood, she wanted to talk to me about my upcoming game.

"Are you coming or not?"

"Alright, I'll stop joking. What do you need?"

Knowing when to push and when to back down, I gave in and moved to where Melissa was.

"Here"

Nonchalantly handing me her tablet, Melissa pointed towards a certain section of the screen.

"What is this?"

I curiously asked.

"This is the time that you need to beat in order to secure first place in the dummy massacre games"

"...and what gives you the confidence that this is the time?"

Taking the tablet, I solemnly looked at the information displayed on it. By the side, Melissa started explaining.

"After analyzing Aerin's game for the past six matches she had, I've made a rough estimate of her final score. Taking into account the worst-case scenario, I've shaven off ten seconds off of her estimated overall score and as a result, come up with this value over here."

Looking at the time Melissa was referring to, I softly muttered.

"...One minute and twenty-eight seconds?"

"Indeed."

Melissa nodded her head and continued.

"If we cross-reference the data from each game, this should be the target score that you should be aiming for when entering the finals. If you can beat this score, there is a high possibility of you getting first place."

Pausing, I felt Melissa's stare directed in my direction. With a soft voice, she asked. "Can you do it?"

"...Hmmm, maybe?"

Scratching the side of my neck, I responded.

If I went all out, then there was a possibility of me beating this score, but I wasn't sure.

Although I had some confidence in beating the score, I wasn't arrogant to the point that I would think that my victory was guaranteed.

Unless I actually won, it was always best to remain a little bit humble.

"Well, I don't care if you can't do it or can do it. I'm just doing my job."

Snatching the tablet off of my hand, Melissa put her hands in her pocket and left. From the looks of it, she didn't want to stay any longer.

"Heee...prickly as always. Do think about my previous advice about drinking hot water"

I of course wasn't going to let her go like that. I needed to have the last word.

"What?"

Melissa's footsteps halted.

Turning around, a sweet smile appeared on her face.

"Right, then how about you try the new potion that I've made?"

"The one that comes with the label from W.V. pharmaceuticals?"

I made a meaningful smile.

The last time Melissa made a potion for me it wasn't even made from her. Just something she got off the market as a replacement.

"...no, the one that I personally poured all of my love into. Trust me. You're going to enjoy it"

"Ha, I'll have to refuse you for now. Maybe next time."

"Tsk. Pussy"

Melissa clicked her tongue as she insulted.

"See you around!"

Pretending to not have heard Melissa's last comment, I directly left the waiting room.

I needed to prepare myself for the upcoming finals.

***

After separating from Ren in the waiting room, Melissa decided to head back to her dorm.

Walking back to her dorm, Melissa's footsteps paused. She then smacked her forehead.

"Right, I forgot to tell Ren that the difficulty of the round was going to be made even harder than before..."

Because of Ren and Aerin's recent performances, the instructors decided to increase the difficulty a little bit to make it more entertaining.

This was one of the things that she was supposed to tell Ren when consulting with him just now.

Of course, this didn't just apply to Ren's game alone. Some of the other game's difficulties were also increased by a fair amount.

"Oh well, doesn't really matter."

After contemplating for a bit, Melissa shrugged her shoulders.

"Won't really make a difference..."

Even if he wasn't told about this news, Ren aiming for a similar time to what she had shown to him before would without a doubt serve as a good motivational factor to perform better.

Well...

In reality, Melissa just wanted to see the dumb look that Ren would make once he realized his time was much slower than he had been aiming for.

Now that was something that she would love to watch. Just the thought made her chuckle.

"huhuhu, can't wait to see your performance."

Melissa's mood brightened.

***

Two days eventually passed and it was finally the day of the dummy massacre finals.

The arena grounds were filled to the brim with spectators, and everywhere around the world, millions of people were tuned in to watch the upcoming finals.

"Huaaa'”!"

Standing in the middle of the arena with my black Lock uniform I could hear the thunderous cheers coming from the spectators above.

It was deafening.

I didn't dislike it though. It sort of reinvigorated me. Pumped me up with energy.

Of course, I didn't show this on my face as I tried my best to suppress all of my emotions and remain level-headed.

Standing next to me, Aerin basked on the cheers as she cooly flicked her platinum hair to the side.

Staring at Aerin, I could feel an air of absolute confidence emanating from her body. It was as though she was saying, 'I'm definitely going to win this'

To that, I smiled.

'”Contestants, please make your way into the rooms.

The announcer's voice echoed across the speakers set up around the arena grounds. The cheers grew even louder.

"Huaaa'”!""Huaaa'”!""Huaaa'”!"

'”Rumble! '”Rumble!

Slowly the large metal doors that led to the match room opened up revealing nothing but darkness.

Turning her head in my direction, Aerin said. "I wish you the best of luck"

"You too"

With a slight smile on my face, I replied back. I then took a deep breath.

"huuu..."

After a couple of seconds, alongside Aerin, I calmly walked into the match room.

Pa.Pa.Pa. Just like before, as soon as I entered the room, the lights of the room lit up. Surrounding me from all sides were what seemed to be a hundred dummies.

"These are a lot more than I had expected..."

Calmly staring at the dummies before me, I scratched the side of the neck.

Compared to what I had I had originally envisioned, there were a lot more dummies than I had originally anticipated.

"So I'm supposed to beat the score of one minute and twenty-eight seconds?"

This looked almost impossible for me at the moment. Getting rid of one hundred dummies within that limited amount of time?

That sounded like an incredibly hard thing to do considering my current abilities.

but...

I wasn't someone that easily gave up like that.

Crack. Crack. Crack. Cracking my fingers, I took a light stance. Closing my eyes slightly, I softly muttered.

"Monarch's indifference."

Chapter 245: Dummy Massacre Finals [2]

'My goal is one minute and twenty-eight seconds...'

Setting a goal in his mind, Ren watched as the world around him lost color and his emotions disappeared alongside it.

Fear, nervousness, confidence, any and all emotions just disappeared.

In his mind, there was only one goal.

Reach one minute and twenty-eight seconds.

Regardless of the costs.

'”Beep!

Following the beeping sound, Ren closed his eyes.

Ta.Ta.Ta. Fiddling with a small ring on his finger, Ren calmly stood rooted in his spot. Within seconds the dummies were already upon him.

Lifting his head slightly, Ren opened his eyes and placed his hand on the sheat of his sword.

A second passed and over thirty dummies appeared within inches of his body.

'”Shuaa! '”Shuaa! '”Shuaa!

The sound of the air splitting reverberated across the space as each dummy swung their dulled weapon in Ren's direction.

To those that were spectating, it looked as though Ren had just given up.

Even as all of the dummies were attacking him at the same time, Ren stood still.

Some of the spectators couldn't watch anymore and turned their eyes away.

Although they knew that the contestants were going to be safe, just the visual impact of Ren getting attacked from all sides caused them to turn their heads away.

"Move!"

"What are you doing!"

"Gyaaaa'”!"

Screams echoed across the stands as some spectators stood up and shouted at the large monitor above.

The screams intensified even more once everyone could no longer see Ren's figure displayed on the screen.

All they could see at the moment were a pile of dummies on the same spot he was standing before.

'It's over.'

Everyone thought.

It was then that something shocking happened...

'”Click!

Following a subtle clicking sound, the volume of the arena grounds decreased.

The spectators who were watching Ren's match couldn't find any words to say as their mouth's hung wide open. Some even started stuttering as they pointed at the monitor above

"W-what just happened?"

"How is...this possible?"

"My god..."

Murmurs and discussions echoed across the arena grounds as everyone stared at the large monitor above.

They couldn't believe what they were seeing.

Standing in the middle of the room was Ren's apathetic figure. His calm and indifferent eyes were displayed for the whole world to see.

From his demenour, it looked as though this was nothing to him.

Most shockingly, around him, over half of the dummies present in the room had turned red as they formed a small circle around him.

This scene was deeply etched in the spectator's eyes as they all stood up and cheered.

"Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!"

The spectator's blood was boiling. How could it not?

Watching as Ren singlehandedly dispatched over half of the dummies in a single move caused almost everyone to be shocked.

Furthermore, no one knew how he did it as the cameras were blocked by the dummies.

The battle was still not over though.

Ren had only gotten rid of half of the dummies. Everyone also noticed this as they quickly stopped cheering and kept their eyes glued on the large screen.

They didn't want to miss a single second of what was about to come.

...and they were glad they didn't.

Without even letting Ren take a breather, the remaining dummies attacked him from all sides.

Click. Click. Click. Subtle clicking sound resounded across the arena grounds as more and more dummies fell on the ground.

No one could see Ren's movements, but his cold and indifferent image was deeply imprinted in their minds.

He looked like an awe-inspiring general that reaped through the lives of all of the enemies that got in his path.

Every second a dummy turned red. Such a shocking scene repeated over and over again as the dummies around Ren turned red without him even moving.

It was breathtaking.

Unfortunately, even though Ren had taken down half of the dummies, there were still a lot of dummies left that relentlessly attacked him from all sides.

Most of the time there would be rings around Ren to block their attacks, but sometimes an attack would make it past his defense and hit him directly.

At first, they thought it was because Ren's defense wasn't that great.

But it was then that people began to realize...

Ren was doing it on purpose.

He was purposely using his body to absorb the impact coming from some of the attacks so that he could make a quick counterattack.

He was sacrificing his body to reduce the time!

Everyone who witnessed this couldn't help but feel their hairs stand. Just how could anyone put their body under so much torture? Was it worth it?

Everyone wanted to know.

As the seconds passed, it became plain to see for everyone present that Ren's physical state was worsening by the second as his left hand drooped a bit.

It was either broken or dislocated.

...yet.

Ren didn't seem to care. He remained completely unfazed throughout the whole time. Dodge, get hit, kill. He repeated this over and over again.

The audience was breathless. They couldn't remove their eyes off of the screen. They watched the fight as though they were entranced.

'”Beep!

Startling everyone out of their stupor was the sonorous beep coming from the speaker of the arena's marking the end of the game.

Staring at Ren's figure who was indifferently looking at the last dummy on the floor, the crowd went into a frenzy.

"Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!"

Thunderous cheers resounded across the arena grounds.

[Contenstant, Ren Dover; Time â¤ 1: 31 seconds]

On this day, Ren's name was deeply imprinted into every's spectator's mind.

***

Right after the Dummy Massacre finals ended. Inside of a narrow and secluded corridor.

"Cough...Cough...this is why I don't use this skill often"

Leaning against the side of a wall, I repeatedly coughed as I felt my lungs burning. They felt like they were on fire.

Trying my best to move forward, I could barely keep my eyes focused as everything around me looked wobbly.

Like a drunken person, I roamed around the corridor of the arena grounds.

Although I tried my best to look fine after I finished my game, once I arrived at a secluded space, away from everyone's eyes, I started coughing uncontrollably.

'Damn it, I overdid it...'

As I was under the influence of Monarch's indifference throughout the whole game, I was unable to properly control what I was doing.

My body moved on its own to achieve the goal that I had set in my mind beforehand. Beating one minute and twenty-eight seconds.

...Unfortunately, I had completely overlooked the fact that under Monarch's indifference, I wasn't the same person.

Apart from achieving my goal, I cared nothing about anything else. Even if it resulted in me getting severely injured.

I could still vividly remember feeling my body getting battered all over by the dummies as I stood motionless waiting for them to completely surround me before using the second movement of the Keiki style.

In one swift movement, I managed to get rid of about half of the dummies. It was the most appropriate move given the time frame I had.

...but it was also what resulted in me sustaining serious internal injuries.

Although the Lock had set up a system where it would stop a game once the contestant was too severely injured, from how I was still not kicked out, my injuries were not enough to stop the game.

This most likely stemmed from the fact that I only sacrificed the areas that were less important.

...but, as my body continued to aim for the goal, my internal injuries worsened.

Throughout the whole game, I felt immeasurable amounts of pain being transmitted all over my body.

...yet my body completely ignored it.

As if the pain was only the fruit of my imagination, my body ignored everything and aimed to kill the dummies in the fastest and most efficient way possible.

Regardless of how much damage I was receiving.

In the end, after everything was over, my overall time ended up being one minute and thirty-one seconds.

Three seconds slower than my target score.

Back then I thought that I had failed, but once I got out and felt countless stares coming from the spectators, I knew that something was wrong.

As I turned around and saw Aerin's score, one minute and forty-eight seconds, reality finally struck me.

The information that I had gotten from Melissa was wrong.

Without a doubt, the difficulty was much higher than it was supposed to be.

"Damn you Meliss'”pfffftt..."

Abruptly stopping myself from speaking, I felt something sweet going up my throat. Not long after, blood spurted out from my mouth.

"Ah, shit..."

Staring at blood-stained hands, I cursed underneath my breath. My vision soon darkened and I slowly lost consciousness.

'”Thud!

***

"I'm sorry brother."

On the other hand, Aerin returned to her academy's waiting room. Standing before her brother, Aerin's head hung low.

"I-I really thought that I could win."

She muttered as her voice shook.

Prior to entering the match, she was confident that she could win the match. She really did think so.

Especially once she saw her score of one minute and forty-eight seconds. It was the best score she could've possibly have gotten.

Yet...

Her hopes were completely crushed once she found out that her opponent's time was even faster than hers.

...and not even by a close margin. A whopping seventeen seconds faster than her!

This completely crushed her spirit.

"It's okay. I'm not mad."

Patting Aerin on the head, Nicholas comforted her.

"Your opponent was just as skillful as you. You're both the same rank and from the looks of it, his sword art specializes in speed. Furthermore, he also had a mysterious skill that I presume specializes in targeting multiple opponents at once. This outcome was to be expected. Moreover..."

Nicholas's eyes squinted as he turned his head towards a nearby TV. Displayed on it were the highlights of Aerin's and Ren's games.

"Aerin."

"Yes"

Aerin replied as she lifted her head slightly.

"...You may not know this, but your opponent put his body on the line during the game."

"What do you mean?"

Aerin tilted her head to the side.

Nicholas pointed at the TV screen displaying Ren's highlights and explained.

"If you watch the replay of the match, compared to you where you directly avoided and dodged all of the dummies and counterattacked, Ren chose a more reckless approach."

"More reckless approach?"

There was a hint of confusion in Aerin's voice as she wondered what her brother meant.

"Yes, he chose to not avoid the dummies attacks and directly used his body as a shield. Take a look at the TV"

Under her brother's instructions, Aerin turned her head and directed her attention towards a nearby TV.

She then watched as Ren recklessly used his body to defend some of the attacks coming from the dummies. By her side, Nicholas continued explaining.

"By sacrificing his body, he was essentially saving precious seconds that you used on dodging some of the attacks. Though it could've gone wrong as he could've been eliminated for getting too injured, if done well, this strategy would've without a doubt have been the most optimal for getting a high score in the dummy massacred games."

Nicholas paused for a second before praising.

"His willingness to give it everything he's got for victory explains the huge gap between you two. Your loss was without merit."

"I see..."

A solemn look appeared on Aerin's face as she looked at the highlights displayed on the TV.

'Brother's right.'

Because of how frustrated she was at her loss, Aerin did not have time to see Ren's performance.

Watching it now, Aerin finally understood why she lost. It was because she put it her all like Ren had done.

Watching the highlights now, Aerin found a whole new level of respect for her opponent. If he was willing to go that far to win the game, then she could only accept her loss.

Standing next to Aerin, Nicholas satisfyingly nodded his head as he comforted.

"Don't worry. You were up against someone crazy. Someone that would even risk getting injured severely to win. You didn't lose without merit. Let's redeem ourselves in the battle royale games."

"Understood"

Aerin replied as her mood improved a bit.

'That's right, nothing's lost yet.'

Just because she lost this game didn't mean that everything was over. There were still the battle royale games.

'I'll definitely redeem myself there!'

She swore to herself as her fists clenched tightly.

"Good. Let's show them what we are really made of when we are working together."

Nicholas smiled as he looked at Aerin who seemed to have regained some of her previous confidence.

Many people may have forgotten because of Aerin's amazing performances, but Aerin was not at her best when she was by herself.

No.

Aerin was only at her best when she was working with her brother. Nicholas.

Together, no one could stop them.

***

"Ah..."

A short groan left my mouth. My body ached everywhere.

A pungent smell of alcohol invaded my nostril as my eyelids slowly opened up.

"Ghh, what the hell happened?"

Massaging the right side of my head, I felt a massive headache.

My memories at the moment were faint. I could barely remember anything that happened moments prior to me waking up here.

The only thing I remembered was leaving the arena grounds before everything suddenly turned dark and found myself waking up with my body aching all over.

"You're awake"

Startling me out of my thoughts was a crisp and captivating voice. Turning my head slightly, I found Amanda sitting on a chair next to me peeling an apple.

"...Amanda?"

'What's she doing here?'

I wondered as I took a proper look at my surroundings.

Decorated in white, I realized that I was in what seemed to be a hospital room as I found an electrical vital sign monitor next to the bed I was on.

Beep. Beep. Beep. The constant repetitive beeping sound was a testament that I wasn't still dreaming.

"What are you doing here?...and where am I?"

I curiously asked.

"You're at the academy nursing area."

Amanda calmly responded as she took a bite of the apple she peeled.

"Kevin was supposed to be here but he's currently participating in the finals of his game so he left me to watch over you."

"I see..."

Muttering softly, I looked at the ceiling above me. My memories were starting to return to me.

More specifically, the memories of me recklessly sacrificing my body under Monarch's indifference.

'...I really fucked up this time.'

From the top all the way to the bottom. I could barely even feel my body. Everything ached so badly.

It was as though I had just been rammed by a car going at 80 km/h. I felt like crap.

"...You know, everyone was worried about you once they found out that you passed out in the middle of the corridor."

Putting the knife that she used to cut the apple down, Amanda disrupted my thoughts as she icily glared in my direction.

"Three broken ribs, a punctured lung, one dislocated shoulder, and a concussion. Those are the injuries you sustained whilst you participating in that game."

Her every word sent shivers down my spine.

The more she spoke, the more I could feel the anger and frustration she had towards me.

"What were you thinking? Don't you have a sister that is watching you at home? What would she think if she saw your state on TV?"

She then paused.

"Why are you willing to go so far for a game?"

"...I don't know."

I responded after a short pause.

Because I didn't want to let the other know about my skills, it was the only way I could respond.

"You don't know?"

Amanda's voice became even colder.

"So you reduced your body to this state because of a whim?"

"Ah..."

I was at a loss for words.

Honestly, had Melissa not screwed me over, I would've never have found myself in such a situation.

Although I would've still have used Monarch's indifference, I probably would've sustained fewer injuries.

With each passing second that I was getting close to the score that Melissa told me, I started becoming bolder and bolder.

No.

Bolder wasn't the right term...

'Desperate'

With every second that I was inching closer to the goal that I had set in my mind, my body started to become more and more reckless.

The closer I was to the goal, the more desperate I was starting to get. Even if it resulted in my body getting severely injured. All my mind thought at that moment was 'One minute and twenty-eight seconds.'

Nothing else mattered.

...and it was because of that mindset that my body got so injured that not long after the games ended, I directly passed out on the ground.

"Listen, I'm sorr'”"

"...P-please don't do this again...Promise?"

Right as I was about to apologize, I abruptly stopped.

That was because I suddenly heard Amanda faintly whispering something.

At her last words, Amanda's voice choked up a little. It was very faint, but from where I was laying down I could hear it.

I was instantly at a loss. My throat dried up a little as I couldn't find the right words to say.

Why would she go as far as choking up a little over my injuries? I really didn't understand.

Was it because of all of the stress she was facing recently regarding her father's disappearance? Or was it because she was genuinely worried about me?

I didn't know for sure, but even so. Lifting my pinky, I smiled slightly.

"Alright, I promise."

Unless the situation called for it, I would never act recklessly like today.

Not just for me, but for those that cared for me.

"mhm"

Similarly lifting her pinky, Amanda hooked her pinky around mine and shook it.

"Don't go back on your words."

Amanda softly whispered as she let go of my pinky.

"I'll try my best."

After that, silence enveloped the room. But neither one of us minded this as I closed my eyes and recuperated from my injuries.

Besides me, I could hear the sound of Amanda chewing on an apple.

It was oddly peaceful.

Chapter 246: Preparations [1]

[Leviathan building, Lock]

"You feeling better?"

With his legs crossed, Kevin sat on the seat next to me as he scrolled through his tablet.

Displayed on it were the highlights of the different games of the tournament.

"...I feel like crap."

A light groan escaped from my lips.

My body was still extremely battered from yesterday's incident, and even though the medical facility was very advanced, it would still take a while for me to completely heal up.

"You'll be fine soon. That aside, I was honestly quite shocked by your performance. Didn't think you would go all out like that."

"Haha, me too..."

At Kevin's statement, a fake laugh escaped from my lips.

Had it not been for Monarch's indifference, I would've never done something like that.

"Fortunately, your injuries aren't too bad. Within a week you should be all healed up."

"Yup, so you really don't need to worry too much"

Kevin suddenly laughed out loud.

"Hear this, watching your performance, Emma was so shocked that she didn't speak for a whole ten minutes. Do you understand how much of an accomplishment this is?"

"Mhm, that does indeed sound really impressive."

Listening to Kevin, a small chuckle escaped from my lips.

Emma talked all of the time.

For her to not have been talking for ten minutes straight was an accomplishment in itself.

"Right?" Kevin chuckled alongside me. "I was just as surprised as you."

"It is what it is...by the way, when's the battle royale?"

Recalling something, I switched the topic.

"In about a week's time. So you should be able to recover by then. You could've recovered faster if you just took a potion..."

Kevin pointed out as his eyes glossed over the bandages covering my body.

"The doctor said that it's better if I don't consume too many potions, and recover naturally."

To Kevin's suggestion, I merely shrugged my shoulders.

If too many potions were consumed, the body would start to become accustomed to them and their effects would dilute over time.

As such, it was just better to recuperate naturally.

"...Oh right, um, so you found anything else about the Monolith's plan?"

I suddenly asked.

This was the main reason I had asked Kevin to come to my room. To talk about this topic, as it was extremely important.

Turning his head left and right to make sure that no one was present, Kevin lowered his voice and responded.

"Mhm. I've found out a couple of things."

"Spill it."

"Here?"

"It's fine, this place is pretty secure"

We were currently in my dorm, so no one else could overhear our conversation.

Kevin turning his head left and right to check if anyone was present looked pretty stupid from my position.

Although the Lock wouldn't go as far as spying on the conversation of their students, on the first day I moved here I checked to see if there were any listening devices installed in the room.

There weren't, so it was pretty safe.

"Alright...they are planning on attacking whilst the game is happening."

"I've figured that much. Anything else?"

"Mhm," Kevin nodded his head as he elaborated, "There apparently are a couple of <S> ranked villains amongst the people they are sending. Their goal is to kill as many first years as possible on national television to ruin the Lock's reputation as much as possible..."

"...to go that far."

My brows furrowed tightly.

If the Monolith went as far as to employ multiple <S> ranked individuals to make this work, it just went to show how much importance they put on this matter.

This was definitely going to be extremely troublesome.

"Are you confident in the source of your information?"

"Yes, I'm very confident."

"I see..."

Placing my hand on my chin, I mused.

Given that this information was most likely something he got from the system, I didn't need to worry about it being false.

The Monolith was definitely planning on killing as many first years as possible during the battle royale event.

"Have you got anything else?"

Turning my attention back to Kevin, I asked.

"No. That's it for now." Kevin shook his head. "All I know is when they are going to attack, but I don't know where."

'So it's that type of quest...'

At Kevin's reply, I had a sudden realization.

There were many different types of quests that the system would assign to a user.

There were ones that would give him a specific task that he would need to complete before getting awarded, and there was one that would ask him to stop a certain event.

This was most likely the latter as he may have gotten something that said; save as many people as possible during the incident that will happen in XXX at XX time.

If it was that type of quest, then Kevin really did only know that much.

"Let's think this logically Kevin. If you were a villain and you were trying to infiltrate the event, what would you do?"

"Hmm..." Kevin thought for a bit before responding. "I'd first disguise myself as one of the staff and then set up different portal links inside of the facility where the battle royale is being held."

"I agree."

At his evaluation, I nodded my head. This was the most plausible option.

"The battle royale is at the dome right?"

I asked to which Kevin nodded his head.

"Correct."

"That's problematic..."

"Right, I'm also stumped on this matter."

Kevin scratched the back of his neck as his brows furrowed.

Although the dome was only recently built by the Lock for the tournament, its security was extremely tight.

Regardless of how much Kevin and I wanted to infiltrate the place, it was practically impossible.

At least not with our current abilities.

"Kevin, how are we going to enter the facility and check where the portals are being set up? Do you have anything in mind?"

"...Actually, don't we have to infiltrate the place?"

Kevin replied after a brief pause. My eyes lit up at his response.

"Oh? You've got something?"

"Something like that...realistically speaking, Infiltrating the place is almost impossible. At least not with our current abilities. Right?"

"...Yeah."

My eyes squinted slightly.

"Right. So why don't we instead spend our time finding out who the people undercover are? That way, we don't have to enter the building at all"

"That's easier said than done. How are we going to identify who comes from the Monolith?"

I rebutted.

"Don't worry, I've got it covered."

Kevin laughed bashfully but didn't elaborate.

"...fine."

For a short period of time, I didn't respond as I looked at Kevin suspiciously.

This was merely acting on my part as I knew exactly what Kevin was planning on doing. Without a doubt, it had something to do with his system.

"Let's meet up in a couple of days when you're all healed up. During that time I'll scout the area for a bit."

Kevin got up.

"That sounds good."

"Alright. it's settled. I'll message you in a couple of days"

Picking up his phone from the table, Kevin waved his hand and made his way towards the door.

"Mhm. See ya."

Because of my injuries, I couldn't see him off, but he didn't seem to mind this. Closing the door behind him, Kevin left my apartment.

'”Clank!

***

'”Trriiing! '”Trriiing!

Two days later. My phone repeatedly rang throughout the whole day as the screen of my phone got clogged up by an endless amount of notifications.

It got so bad that I had to turn off my notifications for most of my apps. Only then did my phone once again became usable.

[Theodora Academy wins the battle royale against the third years of the Lock securing the first place spot in the tournament. Will the Lock undefeated streak finally break?]

"...so it really happened."

Reading the news article on my phone, an extended sigh escaped from my mouth.

Because of my lack of interest in the third years game, I only found out now about their loss.

'I guess this part of the novel didn't change.'

This event was inevitable. The lack of cooperation between the three heads was something that anyone could've seen.

The result of the battle royale was a clear indication of this.

'”Ding '”Dong!

Disrupting me from my thoughts was the sudden sound of my doorbell ringing.

"Hm? Who could it be?"

Confused, I made my way to the entrance of the room and opened the door.

"A package? Who is it from?"

Sitting right in front of my door was a small box. There was no tag on it so I wasn't aware of who gave it to me.

'This looks really suspicious...'

Squatting down, I lightly poked the box.

Although I knew it was safe because all boxes that came through the Leviathan building were checked beforehand, I was still slightly apprehensive.

After all, I didn't know who gave me the box.

"Oh well."

Looking left and right of the corridor, curiosity got the best of me, and I eventually took the box and brought it to my room. Taking a pair of scissors, I carefully opened it.

"Ah..."

A small sound escaped from my mouth. In the middle of the box was a colorless potion, and a sudden realization dawned on me.

"...how kind of her."

Looking towards the right side of my room, where Melissa's room was, my lips curled up slightly.

Everything started to make sense to me.

There could only be one person that would give me a potion and added with the fact that there was no tag on the box, it was without a doubt Melissa who had given me the box.

"...there's a letter too."

Taking the potion, I soon spotted a white envelope placed beneath it. Opening the letter and reading the message, my lips slightly twitched.

[You're fucking crazy.]

"Right, what did I expect."

Throwing the letter to the side, I looked at the potion in my hand. I guess Melissa did feel guilty about the false information she had given me.

But in hindsight, she really didn't do anything bad. I mean, never would she have expected me to sacrifice my body like that to get a high score.

She probably would've never expected me to act that crazy. Me neither to be honest.

"This looks like an advanced healing potion?"

Turning the potion around and inspecting it carefully, I realized what it was.

Although there was no label on it, having taken the potion a couple of times already, I was able to instantly identify it.

An advanced healing potion. Something that was worth around 40 million U.

"Hmm, I'll keep it for now. I'll use it later."

Since I had no games for at least a week, I may as well just save it for now. I had a faint feeling that I would definitely be needing this for the future.

***

Moonlight shone through the glass of a small window, illuminating a specific area within a dark room. In the middle of the room sat an imposing existence.

'”Lord.

A voice rang out in the empty space. The call awoke the existence that was sitting in the middle of the room.

'”There's important information I would like to brief you upon.

The existence slowly opened its eyes. The revealed pupils glistened like jewels as a scarlet red bloodlust faintly emanated from them.

"Speak."

The existence replied briefly. An emotionless voice echoed across the empty room.

'”We've already started making preparations. More than half of our spies have already been caught, but we somehow have managed to get two people to successfully infiltrate the premise where the battle royale will be held.

"Two?"

'”...Yes. Although we've sent over a hundred spies, most of them have been caught by the Lock. Their security is far too tight. We've only managed to get two in due to the aid of two <S> ranked villains.

"Understood."

'”What should we do next?

The existence did not reply immediately. Slowly he stood up.

Meanwhile, a full moon slowly revealed itself from behind the clouds. The moonlight entering the window brightened as it softly enveloped the exitance's body. The darkness that clocked the room became fainter.

"We proceed as we originally planned."

Underneath the moonlight, the figure's features slowly became more discernible.

With long-cascading black hair and jade-like skin, was a topless male figure whose looks could only be described as outrageously handsome.

If someone were to stand before him, they would assume he was an immortal that had descended upon the world.

Taking a couple of steps forward, a robe magically appeared on the male's figure.

"We can't let our plans fail. Especially not after our failure a couple of months back during the banquet. Any mishaps cannot be allowed to happen..."

His emotionless voice drifted around the room.

'”Y-yes.

The voice on the other side stuttered.

Despite communicating from such a distance, hearing the existence's voice sent chills down his spine.

"Anything else?"

Dully said the male figure as his hands interlocked behind his back.

'”...I have another thing to report.

"Proceed."

The figure's eyes shone slightly as he emotionlessly replied.

'”Someone has been snooping around lately.

"Snooping?"

'”Yes. We've found a student repeatedly making their way towards the dome. His visits appear to be too irregular.

"Don't do anything."

Replied the figure as he stood beneath the large window and stared at the full moon in the sky.

"If we act right now, there's a possibility of our spies getting exposed."

'”So what do you suggest we do if the person finds something?

"If such a situation happens, get rid of them."

'”As you wish, Lord.

"Anything else?"

'”No.

"You may leave."

'”Yes my Lord.

"Huuu..."

Basking underneath the moonlight, the figure slowly closed his eyes.

Silence once again descended in the room as only the sound of the figure's breathing resounded across the room.

Chapter 247: Preparations [2]

Under the faint moonlight, Kevin sat down on a bench inside of the Leviathan building.

'”You've got anything?

A voice entered his ears. It belonged to Ren.

"...yes. I do."

Kevin replied after a short pause.

"I've found out who the targets are, but there is a slight problem..."

'”What is it?

"They're both A rank and are not villains. Frontal confrontation is a no-go."

A short pause ensued before Ren replied.

'”...That's troublesome, have you got their names and info?

"Yes..." Kevin massaged his forehead. "Unfortunately, they are both individuals who have worked in the Lock for more than five years and are considered trusted individuals by the academy."

After discovering the identity of the two individuals who were working under the Monolith, Kevin spent a lot of time trying to figure out their background.

They were clean. So clean that he was left helpless.

'”Then this is really problematic.

Ren replied as his voice deepened.

"I know, but don't worry. Although we can't expose them now, I've found something else."

'”What is it?

"I found out the location of the portals they are planning on setting up"

After spying on the two individuals who were working under the Monolith for the past couple of days, Kevin was able to find a general pattern in their movement.

From there, he was able to come up with an estimate of where they would set up the portals.

'”...Oh?

Ren's voice jumped up a little. He seemed quite hopeful.

Unfortunately, shaking his head, Kevin poured cold water over him.

"Regrettably, we'll only be able to access them once the game starts."

'”Why's that?

"Because they're inside of the dome."

'”...ah.

Ren let out a strange sound. Kevin smiled as a result.

"I know..."

Given how secure the place was, it was almost impossible for him and Ren to infiltrate the place.

Furthermore, because there was nothing concrete yet, Kevin could not go to the professors and tell them about it. He'd just look crazy.

The portals were not set up yet, thus no evidence about what the Monolith was planning, and the personnel used were people with clean backgrounds.

The Monolith had planned this well.

They did not use villains but individuals who had been working with the Lock for a very long time and were trusted.

Unless he presented evidence, he'd look crazy.

'”So what now?

Ren asked in a troubled voice.

"That's it for now." Kevin shook his head. "I'll keep you updated if anything happens. In all likelihood, we're going to have to try to stop the portals from opening during the battle royale"

Kevin stood up.

"I believe that they are also not the only accomplices as in all likelihood, some of the students participating in the battle royale will be participating in their plans..."

Although he knew the approximate location of where the portal was going to be, he couldn't do anything else.

The only thing he could do now was, wait for the battle royale to start.

Once he did, he cooperate with Ren to destroy the portals.

'”I see...okay.

Ren replied after a short pause.

"Alright, I'm hanging up. I'll keep you updated if anything happens."

'”Sure.

Du. Du. Du. Hanging up, Kevin put his phone away.

Although he had just talked with Ren about sensitive information with his phone, Kevin wasn't worried about others finding out the contents of their discussion.

That was because the phone he and Ren were using could not be monitored.

"I guess, it's about time I head back...hm?"

'”Sha! '”Sha!

Right as Kevin was about to leave for his dorm, his feet abruptly stopped. That was because Kevin suddenly heard the sound of something cutting the air.

He could even hear a small, muffled shout that came alongside each slash. The sound was coming from the Leviathan building public training grounds. Curious, he headed over, whereupon he saw a short-haired girl swinging two small broadswords.

It was Emma.

"Em'”"

Right as he was about to call out for her, Kevin stopped himself.

A trace of a smile appeared on his face as he thought of something. Sneaking up from behind her, he shouted.

"Boo!"

"...hyak!"

Frightened, Emma turned around and swung one of her broadswords in Kevin's direction.

"Wow!"

Taking a step back, Kevin narrowly avoided the sword. Sweat trickled down his forehead as he raised his hands in defeat.

"Hey, it's me, Kevin! Calm down, Emma!"

"Y-you!"

Emma glared at Kevin. Raising her other shortsword, she once again swung her shortsword towards Kevin.

"Hey!"

Kevin shouted as he took a step back. Summoning his sword, he quickly deflected Emma's attack.

'”Clank!

"Die!"

"Isn't that a bit too harsh?"

After the first attack, Emma did not stop. Raising her other shortsword, she relentlessly slashed in Kevin's direction.

'”Clank! '”Clank!

The sound of metal colliding reverberated across the training ground.

"This is what you get for scaring me!"

Emma's attacks did not slow down. In fact, with each passing second, they increased in power and frequency.

Calmly deflecting Emma's attacks, Kevin laughed out loud.

"haha, I'm sorry."

As the night passed, the sound of metal colliding continued to echo across the training ground. Only after Kevin and Emma were too exhausted to continue did the sound stop.

***

"Alright. All that's left now is to prepare for the upcoming event."

After I got off the call from Kevin, I fell into deep thought.

To summarize our conversation, the Monolith was going to attack, and the only way we could stop it was by directly breaking the portals that they were setting up in the middle of the dome.

For that, I needed to make preparations.

"Without a doubt, I'm bringing you."

Taking the red book that sat in my drawer in the corner of my room, I placed it on my main desk.

Since Kevin was present, the book was a must-have.

"What else?"

My brows furrowed. After musing for a bit, opening up my phone, I ordered a couple of things from the web.

Because I had stored enough food and water to last me a long time, I didn't need to worry about that.

Plus, the battle royale was going to last at most one week. So I had plenty of food.

"That's about it, right?"

Double-checking everything and making sure that nothing was missing, I nodded my head.

'”Twiiing! '”Twiiing!

Suddenly my phone rang. It was a message.

Opening my phone and staring at the message, a smile appeared on my face.

"So you've finally changed your mind?"

***

Friday.

With all the side matches coming to an end, and the second years also finished with their battle royales, it was time for the last event to begin. The first years battle royale.

The event that was most looked forward to at the moment.

That was because this match was crucial in determining who would be the winner between the Lock and Theodora Academy.

The whole world's attention was on this game.

Would the Lock retain their undefeated record or would Theodora Academy finally break it? Everyone was eagerly anticipating the results of this match.

"Attention!"

As it was the last day of the week, the viewership on the TV channels was at an all times high.

The 1500 first-year students went to the dome in the Lock, and everyone was currently waiting with their group.

"It's time for us to check your storage devices"

As soon as the instructors made sure that everyone was present, they started inspecting everyone's storage devices.

It took about ten minutes for my turn to come.

Entering a small room, an instructor did a quick scan over my body as I handed him my bracelet.

"...I apologize in advance."

"Go ahead."

Slowly, the instructor took everything out of my storage device.

Because there was a lot of stuff, it took a couple of minutes to get everything out.

"...this is quite a lot of stuff."

The instructor muttered. Snacks, water dispensers, tents, potions, pretty much anything that I could think of I brought.

"Since we don't get penalized for bringing more stuff, it doesn't hurt to be extra prepared."

"Fair."

The instructor nodded his head. Taking out a small device, he traced it over all of the equipment before sending me back.

"It'll be over soon. Please have some patience."

"Sure."

The check took a total of two minutes before everything was okay.

"Alright, you're good. You may enter the dome."

"Thank you."

Putting everything back into my bracelet, I thanked the instructor and walked through another door that was connected to the dome.

'It's truly unfortunate'

As luck would have it, we were allowed to bring out our own dimensional spaces and weapons.

This was so that the bigger academies wouldn't fall into too much of a disadvantage when fighting against the other academies that would team up with each other.

Regrettably, because of these checks, I couldn't bring Angelica with me.

The device that the instructor just used measured for anything that contained demonic energy, or was explosive in nature.

This was obviously put in place to prevent any incidents from happening.

Although Angelica could hide her demonic energy with her skills, bringing her would be extremely risky. I didn't want to take that risk.

"You're done?"

Waiting at the entrance of the Dome was Kevin. Jin was behind him.

"You guys too?"

"Yup."

"...That's good."

"You nervous?"

Kevin suddenly asked.

"Sort of."

I gave Kevin a meaningful look.

The nervousness didn't stem from the battle royale game, but from what was about to come.

Our current plan was to split up as soon as we entered the game to directly find the portals and break them.

Because Kevin had already told me the location of where I needed to go, I knew exactly what to do.

So all that was left was for me to wait for the battle royale to start.

"The exam will begin shortly."

Half an hour after meeting up with Jin and Kevin, an instructor came out to brief us quickly on the rules.

"Since most of you have watched the two previous battle royales that had taken place, I will make this short. Last team standing wins. No time limit, and you may use as much force as possible."

At the examiner's last words, the place became noisy.

"Now, calm down everyone. The only reason I'm telling you that it's okay to go all out is because installed in your suits is a small defensive mechanism. Once you experience a blow that will kill you, it will activate and create a small shield that can withstand the impact of a <C> ranked warrior. However..."

The instructor suddenly paused and the air froze.

"The shield will only activate once and once it does you will be rendered immobile. From there you will be a sitting duck. To all the contestants present, once a contestant is taken down, you are not allowed to touch them. If you do that will be an instant disqualification."

At the instructor's words, everyone nodded their heads. This was fair and more realistic since everyone would be able to fight with all they got.

"Good. For those that are eliminated, an instructor will later come to pick you up and escort you out of the premises. That should be it for the rules. May the best team win."

Once the instructor finished explaining the rules, heavy tension descended on the waiting area. Everyone kept a fair distance from each other.

'”Beep!

Marking the beginning of the trial was the all too familiar beeping sound that I had been hearing since the start of the tournament.

'”Rumble! '”Rumble!

The large metallic overhang doors that connected to the dome slowly opened up revealing a dense forest-like environment.

Not long after, the students slowly made their way into the premises.

"Let's go."

"...Sure."

Following Kevin from behind, and with Jin next to me, we soon entered the dome. Right before we entered, my eyes interlocked with Kevin's.

We had approximately thirty minutes at our disposal. During that time, the contestants weren't allowed to attack each other.

And in that given time...

Kevin and I would do our best to stop whatever incident was about to happen.

Chapter 248: Battle Royale [1]

"...Where is it?"

Fifteen minutes had passed since I had entered the dome, and I was now alone.

Right after entering the dome, we all split up. Kevin, Jin, and I all went our separate ways.

Nothing needed to be said about Kevin and I since we had something to do, but Jin just naturally left. In all fairness, as an assassin, Jin thrived in this kind of environment so being with a team was useless to him. It would only give away his location.

"...We probably look like fools to the audience."

Moving forwards, a bitter smile appeared on my face.

This was a given though.

In a team game, the first thing we did was split up. This became especially worrisome to the spectators supporting the Lock as everyone knew that the lower-end academies tended to team-up together.

In short, we looked like the third years.

Their result? A humiliating loss. To the audience, we probably looked like arrogant pricks overconfident in our strength.

...but I honestly couldn't care less.

I had different priorities. What did the tournament matter if everyone died?

'”Vrrrrrr! '”Vrrrrrr!

'”Ren, how far are you from the location?

My watch suddenly rang. It was Kevin.

Raising my wrist towards my mouth, I softly whispered.

"I'm almost there."

Following the map that everyone was given at the beginning of the game, I was able to navigate my way towards the location Kevin told me to go to a couple of hours ago.

According to him, that was the place where the portal devices were going to be installed.

'”That's good, I'm almost there too. All that's left is finding the portal itself.

"...easier said than done."

Even though we knew the approximate location of the portals, unlike Kevin, I didn't have a system that would help me detect the exact location of the portal.

Kevin had it, so as long as he knew the general location it was in, he'd be able to find it. Fortunately, I wasn't completely helpless.

After all, there was bound to be a couple of individuals setting it up. All I had to do was find them.

'”Ren, I'm hanging up. I think I've got something.

"Sure."

Disconnecting my call with Kevin, I increased my pace.

Navigating through the dense vegetation, my pace slowed down significantly.

"...Let's not be too obvious."

Realistically speaking, the portal should be protected by at least four individuals.

If I was too brazen about my appearance, I'd lose the element of surprise and be at a disadvantage. Even though I was confident in my strength, four individuals were a lot.

Couldn't just brazenly show up without any preparations. It may end up costly.

***

"What are these idiots doing!"

Inside of the Lock private waiting room. A high-pitched voice sounded across the space.

"Why are they separating from the very beginning? Don't they have a brain?"

Like a machine gun, Emma venomously spat at the TV screen in front of her.

Besides her was Amanda. Though she said nothing, Amanda agreed with everything she was saying.

"Damn it, what are they doing? Did everything that I told them before the match go to deaf ear?"

On the other hand, not far from them, Melissa similarly cursed.

Prior to when the match started, she briefed Ren, Jin, and Kevin, on the strategy that they should've followed in the battle royale to secure first place.

but...

They had completely ignored whatever she had said to them. As though her words went from one ear to the other, the trio separated and did the exact same thing she told them not to do.

This irritated her to no end.

"Just wait till I get my hands on you..."

Melissa spat as she clenched on the side of the sofa.

Their performances were currently being displayed on national television. Everyone was watching.

As their assigned technical advisor, her face and name was plastered on the same screen as theirs. If they ended up losing, part of the blame would fall on her.

The more she thought about it, the greater her anger rose.

"Just you fucking wait..."

***

Masking my presence as much as I could, I stood on top of a tree and observed five individuals ahead of me.

"Two, E ranks and three <F> ranks?"

Although faint, the undulations of magic emanating from the bodies of the students before me suggested that they were around that rank.

"...this is going to be tough."

Although I wasn't one hundred percent sure, there was a high chance that these people before me were the ones I was looking for.

My deduction stemmed from the fact that they were in the area that Kevin had told me to observe and that they were behaving suspiciously; Staying within the same perimeter for an extended period longer than five minutes, and having one of the five individuals sitting on the ground in the middle pretending to fiddle with the dirt.

There was definitely something going on.

"Let's observe a little bit more..."

That being said, I still wasn't one hundred sure about their involvement. Before they made I proper move, I would stay here and keep a good watch over them.

Even so, I was already starting to make preparations.

'”Vrrrrrr! '”Vrrrrrr!

Startling me a little bit, my watch vibrated. Twisting my wrist lightly, I answered the call.

"...yes."

I then brought the watch near my mouth.

"Are you ready?"

'”I've found the portal and the targets.

Kevin seemed to be in a similar situation to mine, as his voice was very soft.

"...I think I've also found them. Tell me where the portal is."

If the scenario was the same, then the portal should also be in a similar position as his.

'”Mhm. My targets are four individuals. They seem to be roaming randomly but, they don't seem to be straying far from a certain location and I've also found that that they are around <E> rank to <F> rank in strength.

Kevin briefly paused before continuing.

'”...They also all seem to come from a lower-end academy. The strangest thing is their rank. It shouldn't be possible for such a low-end academy to have such talented individuals. They are individuals that even the Lock would want. This makes me think that it's them...No. Who am I kidding? It's them.

Nodding my head, my eyes squinted slightly.

"I've got something similar...five individuals though. Guess I've got the short end of the stick."

He got four whilst I got five. What a pain.

'”Hee...sucks for you.

At my reply, Kevin's voice became slightly sarcastic. My brows knit.

"You taunting me?"

'”...no.

There was a short pause before he replied. My mouth twitched as a result.

"You seriously mocking me in the middle of a serious operation?"

Since when did Kevin joke in such serious situations? Wasn't he supposed to be the serious type of MC?

Some rotten bastard was definitely influencing him.

'”Alright, I'm sorry. Anyways, the portal should be hidden beneath the ground. Right in the middle of all of the five individuals. At least that's from what I'm seeing right now.

Kevin apologized before explaining to me his situation.

"You sure?"

'”Positive. Is your situation the same?

"Yeah..you making a move?"

'”No. I'm making preparations. There are four people, so I can't afford to be sloppy. I'm setting everything up for an ambush.

"...Clever."

Blindly fighting against four individuals with unknown backgrounds was stupid. Taking the initiative and doing a surprise attack was the most efficient way to win against a group of people.

'”Alright. I'm about to start. You should too.

"Yeah."

Kevin soon ended the call. Lowering my wrist, I quickly took out a few things from my bracelet.

"...I guess I should get started as wel'”oh?"

'”Di! '”Di!

Suddenly my watch vibrated. A glaring red notification clogged the screen of my watch.

[You may now engage with the other participants.]

Staring at the message, the edges of my lips twisted upward.

"...talk about perfect timing"

'”Thud!

Jumping down the tree, I stealthily moved forward. Moving behind one of the individuals, my feet abruptly stopped. At this point, I stopped breathing and fully focused on the individual before me.

'Let's start with one of the strongest...'

'”Click!

Placing my hand on the sheath of the sword, the all too familiar clicking sound resounded across the area.

'”Thud.

A small thud accompanied the clicking sound as the individual I targeted fell face-first on the ground. Right at the moment my sword was about to hit his head, a small protective shield formed around him, saving his life. The impact still caused him to pass out. Although the shield saved his life, it did not reduce the force of the attack.

"What!"

"Who's there?"

The sound did not go unnoticed as everyone turned their heads in my direction. Already expecting this, dashing forward, I headed towards the person in the middle. The other <E> ranked individual.

Of course, the three other people wouldn't just let me attack their most important member. Taking out their weapons, they all instantly dashed towards me.

Staring at them, my eyes slowly turned gray as I commanded.

"Stay."

Instantly everyone stopped.

"Ghhh...what!"

"Khhh..."

"S-stop him!"

As if their bodies could not listen to them, they all took a step back terrified. They could only helplessly watch as I neared my target.

"Gyek!"

Dropping everything he was doing, the individual that was setting up the portal took out his weapon and dashed in my direction.

Watching him come at me, my feet abruptly stopped. Though confused, the individual before me slashed in my direction.

'”Shaa!

Staring at the incoming blade, I raised my right hand and snapped my fingers.

'”Snap!

"Huek!"

A strange noise escaped the individual's mouth as his body stopped moving. Taking advantage of this gap, I infused my fist with thick mana and swung it towards his chin.

'”Thud!

Face first, he fell on the floor. He was knocked out cold.

Raising my sword I stabbed in the direction of his heart. Right as my sword was about to stab him in the heart, a small protective shield formed around him like the previous individual.

My purpose in doing this was to activate the special function of the suit. The paralyzing effect.

Once the target was presumed by the system as 'dead' it would paralyze the user's body until a professor brought them out.

'”Shaa! '”Shaa! '”Shaa!

With no time to catch my breath, coming from all sides was the sound of multiple sharp objects cutting through the wind.

"Ugh."

Bending down and dodging one of the attacks, I drew a quick circle in the air. A translucent ring appeared before me.

"Go..."

Once the ring formed, I pushed it to the side.

"W-hat's going on!?"

"Hu?!"

Clenching my fist, the two remaining attacks headed in my direction magically changed direction.

Ring of vindication second move : Gravitational pull.

'”Bam!

"Khhuua!"

Taking advantage of the opening created, I lunged forward and punched one of the three students straight in the guts.

My fist soon connected with his stomach, and a small shockwave swept the area.

'”Thud!

Kneeling on the ground, saliva spilled everywhere.

Raising my leg, I Kicked him the individual I hit in the face and directly knocked him out. Raising my sword, I once again aimed for the heart.

'”Thunk!

"Another one down..."

After getting rid of another individual, I turned around. At the moment, the two other individuals were still busy trying to free themselves from the ring. With their ranks being lower and my strenght being a full rank higher than theirs, the rest of the fight was as good as done.

Click'”! Click'”!

Placing my hand on the sheath of my sword, two clicking sounds resounded across the area.

'”Thud! '”Thud!

With two more thuds, I finally got rid of the last remaining individuals.

"Huuuuu..."

A long extended exhale escape from my lips. My breathing was a little rugged.

"Alright, let's get this over with."

Pretending to act calm, I 'casually' walked towards the spot I presumed the teleportation device was located.

My goal was to 'accidentally' find the portal device before showing it to one of the cameras overlooking the event.

This was the most logical and fastest plan Kevin and I came up with.

The plan was for either me or Kevin to expose the device to one of the cameras that was broadcasting the event. From there, the instructors would immediately know what was going on and shut the even down.

Thus...

"haaa....haaa"

Standing on top of the spot where one of the students was, with my hands on my knees, I pretended to catch my breath.

"Oof, I better sit do'”"

"Not bad, but where are the other two?"

"Who?!"

Startling me was a cold voice coming from my right side.

'”Sha!

At the same time the voice spoke, I felt a cold metal object graze past my face. Not letting my guard down since the beginning, I was able to dodge the attack. Just barely though.

'”Drip! '”Drip!

Tracing my thumb over my cheek and staring at the blood on my finger, I lifted my head slightly.

My eyes narrowed.

"Aaron...."

Chapter 249: Battle Royale [2]

"Aaron."

"Oh? You know me?"

Standing on the spot where I used to be standing moments before, was Aaron. Theodora Academy's number one ranked first year.

"Of course, I would. You're pretty famous." Taking a step back, I replied. "...It'd be strange for me to not know you."

"That makes sense..."

As if it was the most logical answer, Aaron crossed his arms and thoughtfully nodded his head.

Looking around, he asked, "...but, you still haven't answered my question. Where are the other two?"

"You're talking about Kevin and Jin?" I shrugged my shoulders. "Beats me. They are off doing their own thing."

Even though I knew; why would I give him the answer? That was a stupid question to begin with.

"Mhm, I see. Then I'll get rid of you first."

Aaron's eyes coldly flashed. Disappearing from the spot he was standing, he reappeared a couple of inches away from me.

'”Sha!

Slashing sideways, I could hear the faint sound of his dagger splitting the air apart.

"...khuk!"

Bending my knees slightly, I watched as his dagger pierced the area where my head used to be.

'”Thump!

Stomping on the floor, I pushed my body back. Cold sweat trickled down my forehead.

"...that was close."

After distancing myself from Aaron, I placed my hand on the sheath of my sword and glared in his direction.

"Hmm, you're as good as I thought you were.", Aaron said as he looked at me from the distance.

"You too..."

There was a reason why Aaron was the number one ranked person in Theodora academy. Experiencing his skills firsthand, I now understood just how strong he was.

Furthermore, from the looks of it, he seemed to be taking me seriously unlike all of my other opponents before.

"Damn it."

Unknowingly, my grip on the handle of the sword tightened.

'”Sha! '”Sha!

Before I knew it, Aaron once again attacked me. Unlike before, I was more prepared and thus was able to dodge his attacks.

"...khuak!"

Unfortunately, cuts still appeared on my body as Aaron's dagger tore my clothes and skin.

'He's done his research on me...'

The more Aaron attacked, the more difficult my situation became. He was leaving me no room to breathe. Like a machine, he attacked, attacked, and attacked.

Because my rings needed half a second to make, and the Keiki style couldn't defend, I was truly in a stump. Slowly but surely, my injuries were starting to pile up as cuts appeared all over my body.

'Crap, I can't let this go on...I needed to create some distance.'

Gritting my teeth, I raised my head and directly stared at Aaron in the eyes. Slowly my pupils turned grey as I muttered inside of my mind.

'The one..'

Aaron instantly fell into a trance as his footsteps slowed down for a split second. Taking advantage of this opening, placing my hand on the sheath of my sword, a clicking sound resounded across the area.

'”Click!

"...Kahk!"

'”Clank!

Raising his dagger slightly, Aaron deflected my attack slightly as my sword changed direction and only ended up grazing his shoulder. A large cut appeared on his clothes as blood dripped on the ground.

With a smile on his face, Aaron took a couple of steps back.

"So you're finally decided to use that skill..." Touching his shoulders, his smile deepened. "As expected. You're a tough opponent."

"Likewise."

I calmly responded.

'...I really thought I had him. '

Staring at Aaron in front of me, my brows knit tightly.

By utilizing the one, and taking advantage of the small opening I created, I wanted to end the battle quickly, but from the looks of it, Aaron did not slack off in his research.

Even though 'the one' was a very strong skill, it had a severe flaw. If the opponent expected the skill and was not caught off-guard, then the effect of the skill diminished. Furthermore, if my opponent's mentality was strong, the effect of the skill was reduced even more.

From the looks of it, Aaron had found out the trick behind my skill after watching some of my clips online.

'What should I do?'

I was at a pretty severe disadvantage at the moment. Not only was Aaron extremely strong, but his fighting style, which was similar to Jin's, completely countered mine.

This was probably the first time since arriving in this world that I faced an opponent as skilled as Aaron.

'Actually, something is not quite right about this situation...'

Staring at Aaron before me, a thought suddenly struck me.

Was my meeting with Aaron truly a coincidence?

A seed of suspicion couldn't help but bloom inside of my heart as I looked back at the previous events.

The fact that he arrived right after I got rid of the five individuals was something suspicious in itself.

Was he there before...or was it truly a coincidence? I wasn't sure.

However, my suspicion further grew when I realized how familiar he was with my fighting style.

Although there were some videos depicting how I fought online, from how he was able to counter a few of my combos, it looked like he had been spectating the fight that I had with the five people before.

If it was like that...

"Shit!"

A curse escaped from my lips. Turning around, I activated drifting steps and made a run for it. A horrible thought suddenly emerged inside of my mind as I ran for it. On the opposite direction of where the portal was.

With the bodies of the individuals I took care of before near the portal, there was a high chance that an instructor would find something.

Therefore, if Aaron was truly another culprit, my goal was to get him as far away from there as possible. If that portal activated, we'd be doomed.

"Where are you running?"

Following from behind me was Aaron. Completely ignoring him, my legs continued to run as fast as they could.

Fortunately, with drifting steps at my disposal, the distance between Aaron and me increased with every step.

Before long, I was able to get a fair distance away from him.

Even so, I continued running. Something had seriously gone wrong with the plans. Somehow, the Monolith had gotten wind of Kevin's snooping and put countermeasures beforehand.

This was a serious problem since Kevin's situation might be even worse than mine. After running for a further kilometer, my feet stopped.

"This should be good enough for now."

Turning my head and no longer seeing Aaron, I hid behind a tree.

Taking out the red book, I carefully opened it. As I opened it, not once did I let my guard down.

Aaron could show up at any time. Especially since he had very terrifying skill at his disposal.

Dual-link.

An ability that allowed him to switch places with a selected target. As long as he saw someone, he could directly swap places with them. Of course, there were limits to it, but just the concept alone was terrifying.

If there was someone near me, Aaron could use that ability to directly teleport before me. I'd be screwed if that happened.

'Quick, quick, quick, quick.'

Frantically flipping through the pages of the red book, I secretly prayed that everything was going to be okay.

'Please, don't let it be like I presumed...'

'”Clank! '”Clank!

The sound of metal clashing reverberated across the area as Kevin swiftly dodged and parried the incoming attacks directed towards him from all sides.

"Haaa...haaa...fuck"

Kevin cursed. His breathing was extremely rugged.

Surrounding him from all sides were eight individuals. From the way they cooperated with each other, it was obvious that they were familiar with each other.

'What's going on?'

Kevin wondered as he distanced himself from the eight individuals.

'...This was a trap.'

Originally, Kevin had thought that there were only four opponents he needed to take care of, but contrary to his expectations, there were four more lying in ambush.

From the very start, they had expected his arrival.

'”Clank! '”Clank!

Deflecting two more attacks, Kevin took the offensive and counterattacked. Kevin slashed vertically.

Raising his sword, his opponent tried to deflect the attack when suddenly Kevin's sword disappeared and reappeared on his right.

"kuukh'”!"

Kevin's sword soon connected with his body and a small transparent shield appeared.

"One ou...khhh!"

Right, left, and back. Right as Kevin got rid of one opponent, three more showed up. In one swift movement, Kevin slashed horizontally, deflecting two attacks. Unfortunately, one managed to land and hit him in the shoulder.

"...khak."

'”Clank!

Without giving Kevin enough time to breathe, two more attacks came from his right and left.

"Shit..."

At this moment, it felt as though time had stopped for Kevin. Staring at the two attacks directed towards his head and chest, he knew he had to do something.

"Overdrive..."

He muttered.

Instantly, the veins and his muscles become more prominent. His pupils dilated and the side of his eyes became bloodshot.

'”Bam!

Like a meteor, his body shot forward and attacked the seven remaining opponents before him.

'”Bam! '”Bam!

Unlike before, he had the edge this time. His every strike was faster, more powerful, and more accurate.

The tides were changing. Kevin was slowly gaining the upper hand.

'”Sha!

Dodging another attack, Kevin stepped to the side and slashed vertically downwards. Immediately after he slashed, two opponents appeared and interlocked their weapons together to try to stop the attack.

Unfortunately for them, Kevin was expecting this. Suddenly, the arm holding onto the sword bulged. His veins wigged uncontrollably.

"Khhhh..."

Gritting his teeth, Kevin forcefully twisted his sword switching from a vertical slash to a horizontal slash. Right as the sword changed direction, Kevin planted his foot on the ground and did a 180 spin.

'”Thud!'”Thud!

Two bodies fell to the ground.

"Come on! I'm not done"

Having now Reduced the enemies to five opponents, Kevin regained some of his confidence back.

For the next couple of minutes, Kevin relentlessly pushed back all of his opponents. On multiple occasions, small cuts appeared all over his opponent's bodies. Nevertheless, even though he was pushing them back, his injuries were still piling up. Even though he was consuming potions whilst fighting, the rate at which his injuries were appearing, were much faster than their healing.

To make matters worse, his opponent's coordination was simply too great. Only being one person, Kevin was at a severe disadvantage.

"Haaa....haaa...crap. I need to do something."

In no time, like a battery that was about to run out of charge, Kevin's breathing became more and more rugged. He was running out of steam.

The effects of overdrive were wearing off, and the side-effects were starting to kick in.

His movements were started to become more sloppy. His slashes were becoming more predictable.

'”Clank!

"...khhh, damn it."

Blocking another attack, Kevin gritted his teeth decisively turned around. He judged that couldn't win. At least not in this state.

Unfortunately...

His opponents weren't just going to watch as he ran. Taking advantage of his state, their attacks became even fiercer. As though they no longer cared about their lives, their attacks revealed a lot of openings.

Kevin wanted to take advantage of that, but...

Not long after he started running, his feet stopped moving. He was too tired. His arms and legs refused to listen to him.

Thus...

'”Clank!

Not long after, a dull sound resounded across the area as a small protective shield appeared in front of Kevin. What followed that sound was another sound that caused the audiences who were watching the match to freeze on the spot as their blood turned cold.

"...pfffff"

As though time had frozen, Kevin looked down towards his body. Tilting his head, he looked at the sharp saber that had pierced through his heart.

Fresh blood spilled on the ground, as Kevin continuously spat blood from his mouth.

"Huuu...huuu..."

The sound of Kevin's desperate breathing echoed around the dome and televisions screens. Within seconds Kevin's legs became numb and he knelt.

'”Thud.

Falling face-first on the ground, Kevin's heart stopped moving.

On this day. Kevin Voss died.

"I-impossible."

My hands that were holding onto the book shook uncontrollably. My breathing quickened, my face paled, and my pupils dilated.

"K-kevin died?"

A/N : Sorry for the late chap, bit sick. If you find any mistake please tell me. Probably missed them cus my brain is a little bit fried. Oh, and yes.. Cliff-kun never fails to arrive.

Chapter 250: Battle Royale [3]

"Huuu..."

Taking a deep breath and calming my emotions down, I took out a pen from my dimensional space.

With Aaron following me, this was the only option I had at the moment. If I lead him to Kevin, things might worsen.

"Please work."

Channeling my mana into my fingers, I decided to make some changes to the book.

Unfortunately...

"Damn it!"

My grip on the book tightened. The changes that I had made to the book disappeared within five seconds.

It became apparent to me that I was still too weak.

Even though I could make changes to the future with the book, the changes were only proportional to the amount of mana I had. At this moment, my mana was only at the level of a <E> rank. It was pitifully low. The only changes I could make were not something that could help Kevin.

'Calm down...calm down, I need to calm down.'

I repeated inside of my mind.

Repeating the process a couple of more times, and once again failing miserably, my breathing started to get rough as panic started to set in.

"...I have no choice." My teeth clenched tightly. "I'm going to forcefully breakthrough."

Though I was breaking through a couple of days before I was supposed to, this was the only way I could save Kevin at the moment.

As long as I broke through to <D> rank, there might be a chance for me to change the future a little bit.

Clenching my fists tightly, I took out a small pill from my dimensional space.

"Ugh, I was saving this up for later but..."

Throwing the pill in my mouth, I closed my eyes and waited for it to enter my system completely.

The pill that I took was nothing really special, it had the ability to help one breakthrough when they felt that they were near. Originally, I had planned on using this pill in about a week's time, but given the circumstances, I had no choice.

"This is probably gonna hu'”khuak!"

Not even a second after I said that, an electric current ran down my body as all of my muscles spasmed uncontrollably. This was the consequence of forcefully breaking through.

Immense pain followed by potential future repercussions. The reason for this was simple. Because my body was still not fully capable of withstanding the huge increase in power that would come from a rank increase, by forcefully breaking through I was putting my body under immense strain.

If you put too much stuff inside of a box, the box will overflow. What I was doing was essentially the same thing. Stuffing my body with items, or in this case, energy.

My current body was still not fully capable of withstanding the large amount of energy. Hence why the unbearable amount of pain.

...but I did not have time to think about those problems. My main priority right now was saving Kevin.

"Haaa...haaaa..."

Fortunately, the pain didn't last long. Within half a minute everything was already over. With my body splattered all over the floor, I took massive breaths as I forcefully pushed my body up.

"...Please work."

With trembling hands, I opened the book and once again tried to make changes. Making the opponent miss, Making Kevin's attack land, Making the opponent trip...I tried everything.

"Khuak!"

Eventually, as if my soul was getting sucked out of my body, the book slowly changed.

"It's working."

My eyes lit up. Slowly but surely the future was changing...but my joy did not last for long.

'”Thud.

Falling face-first on the ground, Kevin's heart stopped moving.

On this day. Kevin Voss died.

"What? Dead again?"

Dropping the book on the ground, I covered my face with body hands and ruffled my hair.

Once again Kevin died.

The only difference was that he had managed to stay alive for eight more minutes.

"Damn it!"

A cruse escaped from my lips as my jaw clenched tightly.

'Was everything that I did useless? Was there really no way in saving Kevin?'

No.

I firmly shook my head. Taking a mana replenishing potion from my dimensional space and swallowing it down, I stood up.

"I've broken through already. With my newfound strength, I should be able to'”"

'”Sha!

Before I could finish my words, a cold metal object pierced through the air and aimed for my head. Fully on guard, ducking down, I managed to avoid the attack.

Standing opposite of me was Aaron who had caught up with me.

"Have you finally decided to face me head on?

'...damn it, I don't have time for this'

Exhaling, my muscles relaxed slightly.

"Huuu, I'm definitely going to regret this, but..."

Lifting my head slightly, and glaring at Aaron that had finally caught up, I muttered underneath my breath.

"Monarch's indifference."

***

After Aaron and Ren left, an instructor quickly arrived at the area they first engaged with each other, the area where five students lay on the ground passed out.

"This was all done by one student...?"

Arriving at the location and staring at the five students on the ground, the instructor was shocked.

He had in fact witnessed the whole fight from the very beginning. There were about fifty instructors on standby at the moment overlooking the entire dome.

On their wrist was a watch where they could spectate some of the matches the students were having. The instructor saw Ren's whole match from the beginning to the end.

It was a flawless performance. From first targeting the two strongest individuals before taking out the weaker three. He had executed everything perfectly.

"Alright, let's get this over with."

Twisting his hand, magically, all of the students on the ground floated in the air.

"Hm?"

The instructor's feet abruptly paused. He suddenly noticed something.

Walking over to a certain area, he tilted his head to the side. From where he was standing he spotted a small metallic shine. Curious, he decided to look.

"What the..."

Arriving before the metallic shine was, the instructor froze. Squinting his eyes, he bent down and dug the ground. Not even a minute after he started digging the ground, the instructor took out a large metallic disc from the ground.

Staring at the disc for a couple of seconds, the instructor's eyes opened widely as a curse escaped from his lips.

"Shit'”!"

Tapping on his watch, the instructor flusteredly sent a message to the other instructors.

"Code Red. We've got an emergency."

***

'”Rustle! '”Rustle!

The rustling sound of vegetation being pushed to the side echoed across the surroundings as two figures stood on opposite ends.

Standing on one side was Ren's cold figure, whilst on the other side was Aaron.

"You shouldn't have let me caught up with you."

Aaron playfully smiled.

In response to Aaron's provocation, Ren's face remained indifferent as he coldly said.

"Move out of the way."

"...Oh? Why should I?"

"..."

Ren did not respond.

Placing his hand on the sheat of his sword, he started channeling his mana.

"Hmmm"

Feeling the fluctuations coming from Ren's body, Aaron's face became serious. He soon disappeared.

SHIIIIING!

Just like before, Aaron reappeared right in front of Ren. Thrusting his dagger forward, he aimed for his throat.

However, something totally unexpected happened.

Staring at the incoming dagger, Ren stood still. He made no effort in dodging the attack at all. Placing his hand on the sheat of his sword, a clicking sound rang out.

'”Click!

"...What the!"

Right before the clicking sound rang out, the back of Aaron's hair stood to no end.

Abruptly stopping his dagger right before Ren's throat, Aaron disappeared and reappeared a couple of meters back. At the exact moment he disappeared, a lightning-fast sword appeared in the area he was standing.

Cold sweat trickled down his forehead as he stared at Ren with eyes filled with disbelief.

"Y-you. Were you trying to kill yourself to get rid of me?"

Aaron said in a flustered manner. Had he not dodged at the last moment, he would've without a doubt have been eliminated.

The same thing would've applied to Ren who merely stood still and watched the dagger aim for his throat.

"No."

Ren shook his head as he responded to Aaron.

"Then why didn't you defend yourself from my attack?"

"...Because I knew that you were going to back out."

"Are you calling me a coward?"

"Yes."

Conversing with Aaron, Ren secretly placed his hand on the sheath of his sword. Slowly, he was accumulating mana inside of his body.

He was trying to buy time.

"Ha..." A long sigh escaped from Aaron's lips. "To think that I'm being looked down upon."

Covering his face with the palm of his hand, Aaron's lips twisted upwards.

"...You think I didn't know that you were gathering mana?"

'”Fwuaa!

A majestic green hue suddenly shrouded Aaron's body. Bending his body slightly, he glared in Ren's direction.

"Funnily, I've been doing the same thing. Let's see if you can hold out well"

Aaron suddenly slashed diagonally with both daggers.

"Huuup'”!"

Like a lightsaber, two majestic green energies erupted from Aaron's daggers as they headed in Ren's direction.

'”Cracka! '”Cracka!

Staring at the incoming attack, Ren took a step to the right. Gripping on the handle of his sword, lightning crackled around him.

"Huuuu..."

He then took a deep breath and apathetically stared at Aaron. His body suddenly disappeared.

The third movement of the [Keiki style] : Void step.

SHIIIIING! SHIIIIING!

At the exact moment Ren's body disappeared, the two large energy slashes appeared on the spot he was standing, tearing everything apart. Two large deep scars appeared on the ground as everything within the vicinity of the attack tore apart.

Unfortunately for Aaron, Ren was not there.

"Wha'”huh?!"

Catching Aaron by surprise, Ren directly appeared in front of him. He then thrust his sword forward and aimed for his heart.

'”Spurt!

Aaron's eyes shot wide open as blood spilled on the ground.

"Khuak!"

"...you dodged it."

Ren coldly said as he looked at Aaron. At the very last moment, right when his sword was about to pierce Aaron's heart, he shifted his body left ever so slightly, saving himself.

"Kaaaah!"

A pained scream escaped from Aaron's mouth. Stomping his foot on the ground, he distanced himself from Ren.

"Haa...haaa..."

'”Thud!

Appearing a couple of meters away from Ren, Aaron gasped for breath as he knelt on the ground and touched his chest that was bleeding profusely.

In the distance, Ren was not in a good state either as a large cut that traced all the way from his right shoulder to his leg appeared. Blood trickled down his body.

Because the third movement did not directly teleport a user but was actually a quick burst of speed, he was unable to dodge Aaron's attack fully. He too suffered damage.

"...don't get in my way again."

Staring at Aaron's kneeling figure in the distance, Ren coldly said before slowly turning around and leaving.

Under normal circumstances, Ren would've eliminated Aaron, however...

These weren't normal circumstances.

He was under Monarch's indifference.

His goal was to save Kevin. Anything other than that was a mere waste of time to him. The only reason he chose to engage with Aaron was because he was obstructing his path. Furthermore, with him now injured, even if he consumed an advanced potion, it would take him at least an hour to fully heal.

Thus, without looking back, Ren's disappeared into the distance.

***

At the same time, inside of a private office.

'”Crash!

The heavy sound of a chair falling on the ground rang out in the office space as a beautiful woman stood up. Turning her head to the right, she stared at a young girl with orange-colored hair.

Opening her mouth, her tone was very grave.

"...Monica."

"I know."

With her eyes glued to the television screen, Monica nodded her head. Her face was incomparably serious.

"I know, Donna..." Monica bit her lower lip. "We can no longer keep the fact that Ren is the inheritor of the Keiki style a secret."

"Why did h'”"

'”Triiing! '”Triiing!

Cutting Donna off, was the sound of her smartwatch ringing. Turning her wrist slightly and staring at the notification on her screen, heavy tension descended in the room.

"Let's go now."

"Mhm"

Similarly staring at the notification on her screen, Monica solemnly nodded her head.

An emergency had occurred.

Chapter 251: Battle Royale [4]

In a different area of the dome.

SHIIIIING!

A black dagger pierced through the air in a lightning-fast manner.

KWANG!

Colliding with the metal body of a rapier, a defeating sound rang out, creating hot embers that scattered out.

At the same time, the dagger clashed with the body of the rapier, appearing on the right side of JIn were two twin swords. Raising his left hand, Jin slashed with all of his power.

KWANG!

Once again, a powerful sound rang out. The result of the clash ended up with one person getting pushed back.

"Brother!"

"...He's strong."

Nicholas muttered. Next to him was his sister, Aerin.

Lifting his sleeve, he wiped the blood that trickled down the edge of his lip.

Turning his attention towards his sister, Nicholas asked.

"Aerin, are you injured?"

"No."

"...Good. I'm afraid we have to go all out. We might lose if we don't."

"I agree."

In response to her brother's words, Aerin nodded her head.

"Haaaat!"

Then, with her brother next to her, she charged forward. Their speed was not something anyone could follow with their naked eyes. Within seconds, they were already in front of Jin.

Thrusting forward with her rapier, Nicholas accompanied her movements as he thrust his twin swords forward.

Claaaang—!

This time, it was Jin's turn to be pushed back. The twin's attacks were meticulous and calculated.

Alternating between each other, with no lag in their movements, they both aimed for the most vulnerable part of Jin's body.

Be it heart, lungs, head, liver; they aimed for all of the important organs. To make matters worse, because of how synchronized their attacks were, to Jin, it felt as though he was facing three opponents at the same time.

Slowly, cuts started appearing all over his body. For the next minute or so, Jin was slowly but surely being driven towards a corner. To the spectators, it looked as though he was about to lose.

But.

"Tsk."

Jin suddenly clicked his tongue. Almost instantaneously, a tremendous hue wrapped around his daggers.

Taking a step forward, his body suddenly melted into the darkness.

SHIIIIING!

Appearing right in front of them, Jin thrust his daggers forward as he performed an odd combo. His first strike was a powerful strike that shot up like lightning, followed by consecutive strikes that could seemingly sever rivers.

With each strike, the dagger's pattern became more and more eccentric. At one point, one of the daggers followed a path that was similar to that of a snake. Almost impossible to predict.

Under the barrage of attacks, Aerin and Nicholas both cooperated with each other and tried their best to defend themselves against Jin's weird attacks.

However, they knew that they were once again at a disadvantage. Even though they were going all out, they were still losing.

"Khhh...Aerin"

Pushed back, Nicholas painfully groaned.

"Yes, brother!"

"Let's use that."

"...but—"

"If we don't use it, we will lose. There is no point in saving it."

Nicholas quickly cut her off.

It became painfully obvious to him that they were about to lose. Their opponent was just too strong.

"Understood."

Biting her lower lip, Aerin nodded her head as she raised her rapier in the air.

A blue light suddenly enveloped the area. Standing next to each other, the twins connected their weapons together. A powerful current of magic power rose up around their weapons, heating up everything in their vicinity.

"Now!"

Slashing down, a light enveloped the area. A majestic vertical blue beam shot in Jin's direction.

SHIIIIING!

Tracing behind the beam was a beautiful light blue trail.

Coldly staring at the incoming attack, Jin's brows knit together.

"Huuu..." He then took a deep breath. "Light eye. Mana conglomeration"

Activating his skill, light eye, Jin's world suddenly slowed down. Looking at the approaching attack, he tightened the grip of his daggers as he channeled all of his mana towards them. Within seconds, the dagger dangerously glowed as all of Jin's mana flowed there.

Taking a step forward, he slashed down with both daggers. He was trying to meet their attacks head-on.

BAAAM—!

Enveloping the area was a bright light that illuminated everything within the vicinity. It was soon followed by a thunderous explosion that rang throughout the whole dome. Almost all of the students present heard it.

Dust and debris flew everywhere hindering the spectator's sight.

'Who won?' Everyone wondered as they eagerly anticipated for the dust to clear out. Then, within a minute, everyone finally got their answer.

With both daggers in his hands, standing in the same position as before, was Jin. Though his clothes were a mess and cuts appeared all over his body, compared to the twins that were on the ground struggling to get up, Jin looked to be in a much better condition.

He was the victor.

—WHIIIIII! —WHIIIIII!

Right, when Jin was about to finish off his opponents, the whole building turned red, and an ear-splitting sound echoed across the whole building.

[Attention to all students. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, the trials will now shut down. Please stop whatever you are doing and evacuate the premises. I repeat, please stop whatever you are doing and evacuate the premises. For those who are unable to leave, an instructor will quickly come to aid you.]

***

"Damn it!"

Cursing out loud, Kevin bent his neck slightly as he dodged a sword attack. Raising his sword, he deflected two more attacks coming from his left and right.

KWANG! KWANG!

Whilst he was fighting, Kevin's eyes would look towards his right from time to time. Right where the portal disc was located.

'...I was careless, damn it.'

It became painfully apparent to Kevin that someone had found out about his snooping. If not they wouldn't have sent so many people in one area. They must've added additional support at the very last minute to get rid of anyone that was trying to stop their plans.

Although Kevin had taken this option into consideration, given that he had done a thorough check of the surroundings, he only thought that there were four people within the area he had selected.

...but he was wrong. Using some sort of artifact, four more people hid around the area and waited for him to act.

He had been too careless.

KWANG!

"Khh..."

Groaning, Kevin took a step back and parried another attack. Stomping his foot on the ground, Kevin raised his sword and looked at his opponents.

'...I need to cut down their number.'

It was an eight vs one scenario. He was at a severe disadvantage in number. The only way he could have a shot at winning was by reducing their number. Everyone here was weaker than him. As long as he got rid of some of them, his situation would become much easier.

"Huuup!"

Right when Kevin was about to execute a special move, something strange happened.

"Kuak!"

Out of nowhere, one of the individuals suddenly tripped. Though confused, Kevin took advantage of this situation and swiftly stabbed his sword towards his back.

Cwaaaaang—!

Caught by surprise, the individual was unable to defend himself. Stabbing towards his back, a shield suddenly appeared on the student's body as he fell on the ground paralyzed.

This all happened within a second, and it threw everyone off. Needless to say, Kevin took advantage of his opponent's confusion and once again attacked.

Thrusting his sword forward, Kevin watched as his opponent flustered;y tried to block the attack. Unfortunately for him, it was a faint. Right when it was about to hit him, Kevin's sword magically reappeared by his throat.

Cwaaaaang—!

His attack was once again blocked by the small protective shield that all students had. Nevertheless, his opponent was down.

"Haaa. Haaa. That's two down."

A faint smile appeared on Kevin's lips. Still, the smile did not last for long once he realized that he still needed to get rid of six more opponents. Kevin wasn't conceited to the point that he didn't know that the only reason he had gotten rid of the two opponents was due to luck. Had his opponent not tripped this would've never have happened.

"...guess I have no choice" Therefore, taking a step back and glaring at his opponents, Kevin prepared himself to go all out.

"Overd—"

—Click!

Disrupting the fight, was a subtle yet powerful clicking sound. Kevin, who was struggling and was just about to use overdrive, abruptly stopped whatever he was doing. The edges of his lips curved upwards.

"...you're here."

—Thud!

Collapsing on the ground was one of the six remaining individuals. Behind him, was Ren's cold figure.

"Wh-at"

Caught by surprise, everyone turned to look at Ren. With cold and apathetic eyes, Ren merely glanced at everyone present before placing his hand on the handle of his sword.

—Kracka!

Lightning crackled in the air, and a white hue shrouded Ren's body. Taking advantage of the confusion, Ren attacked once again.

The first movement of the [Keiki style] : Quick flash

—Click!

Yet again, another clicking sound rang out in the area; a beautiful blue line drew in the air. With a large thud, another student was eliminated, leaving behind only four more people.

—Thud!

"R-ren, you!"

Opening his eyes wide, Kevin flusteredly looked at Ren. With a trembling hand, he pointed at Ren and shouted.

"Do you realize what you have done!"

With cameras broadcasting the event worldwide, the whole world had just found out that Ren was practicing the Keiki style. He had just placed a massive target on his back for no reason whatsoever.

"..."

Ignoring Kevin, Ren once again placed his hand on the handle of his sword.

—Click!

Once again, the all too familiar clicking sound rang out in the area. Unfortunately, this time his opponents were prepared as two of the four opponents stood next to each other and blocked the attack.

KWANG!

The sound of metal colliding rang out in the air. Staring at Ren, Kevin's grip on his sword tightened.

"...Damn it, Ren, you better answer me after this is over!"

Clank—!

Turning around, Kevin easily parried the incoming attack. Only needing to deal with two opponents, Kevin's life was now much easier. In fact, now that Ren had joined him, he was a lot more relaxed.

This became more apparent in the fight as Ren and Kevin were slowly but surely gaining the upper hand against their opponents.

With no restraints on him, Ren dominated his opponents. His lightning-fast attacks were not something his opponents could easily parry. Slowly but surely, wounds were starting to appear all over the opponent's bodies.

Within a minute, Ren would be able to get rid of his opponents.

"...Do it!"

Just when Ren and Kevin were sure of their victory, something unexpected suddenly happened.

Looking at each other simultaneously, all four of the remaining individuals took out a black pill from their mouths and swallowed it.

Fuuum—!

Their auras suddenly skyrocketed as a small gust of wind swept the area.

"What's going on?!"

Taking a step back, Kevin shouted.

"...Demon pill."

Ren softly muttered. Hearing Ren's remark, Kevin turned to look at him and asked.

"What's that?"

"...Th—"

SHIIIING—!

Unfortunately for him, right before Ren was about to respond, two of the four individuals attacked Ren whilst the other two attacked Kevin.

Raising his sword, Kevin tried to deflect their attacks. Once his sword collided with his opponent's weapons, a dull metallic sound rang out in the area.

KWANG! KWANG!

"Khuak!"

Taking two steps back, Kevin let out a strange sound. Staring at the two opponents before him, Kevin's face became serious.

"...They've gotten a lot stronger."

Click. Click. Click. Ren's situation was also not that great. Despite his repetitive lightning-fast attacks, his opponents were now able to block the attacks more easily. Of course, this only applied to just regular attacks.

Once Ren used any of the movements, injuries would appear on the bodies of his opponents. Unfortunately, he couldn't use those moves often as they consumed a lot of mana.

"Kevin, the effects of the pill will only last for one minute. Play defensive."

Ren calmly said as he dodged an attack coming from his opponent.

"...understood."

"Y-you, how do you know?!"

Overhearing the conversation, one of the students, opened his eyes wide in shock. Turning attention towards his companions, he shouted.

"Mission failed, activate plan B"

"Understood."

All four of them shouted in unison. At once, the bodies of three of the four individuals radically changed. Red threads of mana appeared on their bodies as their eyes became bloodshot and their muscles enlarged.

"Go!"

One of the individuals roared. He then, along with his other two companies shot towards Kevin and Ren.

"——!"

They were so fast that Ren and Kevin barely had time to react. Punching out, Kevin was pushed back a couple of steps.

Ren was in a worse state. Compared to Kevin, he had two individuals attack him.

BAAM!

"Kuh"

Crashing against a tree, a small groan escaped from Ren's mouth. Even though his face did not change upon impact, the pain was not something a loss of emotion could get rid of.

Still.

"...I'm fine."

Within seconds Ren had already stood up. Though his legs were a bit shaky, he looked completely calm.

"Thank god..." Kevin sighed in relief.

Turning his attention back to the trio, Kevin closed his eyes.

"Overdrive."

At the same time, Kevin muttered those words, an inexplicable power burst from Kevin's body as he charged forward. Because Ren was injured, Kevin wanted to take them all at the same time.

"Haaaat!"

Slashing down, initially, Kevin was at a disadvantage. However, as the seconds passed, his disadvantage became less and less apparent. In fact, the disadvantage slowly turned into an advantage as he was slowly gaining the upper hand. From the looks of it, his opponents were also in a similar state to his overdrive, but the length of time they could be in that state was much shorter than Kevin's.

—Thud!

Before long, there was only one individual standing before Kevin.

"Haaa. Haaaa."

Kevin's breathing was rough. But even so, a smile appeared on his face. He was close to winning.

However.

Just as he was about to finish the last opponent, Kevin's ears perked up.

Ka.Ka.Ka.Ka.Ka. A crackling sound rang out in the distance. Stopping whatever he was doing, Kevin watched as black lightning covered a metal disc in the last student's hands.

"Ren, stop him!" Staring at the student in the distance, Kevin opened his eyes widely. "He's trying to break the core! He's trying to blow everything up!"

With his hand already on the grip of his sword, Ren channeled all of the remaining mana he had in his body. Right as Kevin's words fell, he disappeared from his spot.

The third movement of the [Keiki style] : Void step

—Click!

Leaving behind a beautiful blue trail in the air, Ren appeared right before the student and thrust his sword into his throat.

Caught by surprise, the student fell on the ground paralyzed. Unbothered by this, taking the disc on the ground, Ren looked at Kevin in the distance.

"....It's too late."

Chapter 252: Battle Royale [5]

'”WHIIIIII! '”WHIIIIII!

The tumultuous sound of the sires rang inside of the dome. The whole facility turned red as emergency messages repeatedly echoed across the place.

[Please evacuate the premise] [Please evacuate the premise] [Please evacuate the premise]

"Crap!"

Ignoring the sirens and staring at the metal disc in Ren's hands that was shaking uncontrollably, Kevin's eyes interlocked with Ren's.

"Let's leave."

Dropping the disc on the ground, Ren took a couple of steps back.

"Wait what about them? Are we leaving without them?"

Kevin pointed towards the eight individuals on the ground.

"Yes. Leave them."

Ren coldly replied.

"But they are children"

"..."

Turning around, Ren completely ignored Kevin.

"Hey Ren, where are you going?" Kevin shouted. "Think about it, they could've been blackmailed by the Monolith to do their bidding. What if they are innocent"

Ren's footsteps halted.

Turning around, he coldly looked at Kevin.

"...They are not worth it."

"Bu'”"

Before Kevin could reply, Ren had already left.

Though vague, the meaning behind Ren's words was clear; let them die in the explosion

It was a cruel thing to say, but he was not wrong. With the impending explosion, trying to save the lives of others might result in his own death. Furthermore, these people were the ones that started everything. Regardless of the fact that they might've been blackmailed or not, they were the ones that caused everything. Trying to save them at the expense of his own personal safety was not worth it.

"...ah."

A small sound escaped from Kevin's lips.

Biting his lower lips, Kevin he lowered his head and clenched his fists tightly. He knew that Ren was right, but a part of him really wanted to save them.

"I'm sorry."

Eventually, Kevin came up with a decision. Closing his eyes he turned around. He knew that Ren was right.

Had the circumstances been different, he would've helped them. But now that his life was on the line, he needed to worry about himself instead of the others.

However.

Right as he was about to leave, an enchanting voice reached his ears.

"What's going on here?"

Kevin's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Miss Longbern, Miss Jefrrey!"

"Kevin, what is going on here?"

Landing softly on the ground, Donna looked at Kevin. Besides Donna was Monica.

"Over there."

Kevin pointed at the disc in the disc the distance.

"Miss, can you do anything about this?"

"'”'”!"

Gazing towards the direction Kevin was pointing at, Donna's brows jumped up slightly. Feeling the fluctuations coming from the disc, Donna was taken aback. Her whole demenour changed completely.

"Monica."

"I know. Give me a second."

Having already spotted the disc beforehand, Monica solemnly nodded her head. Slowly walking towards the disc, Monica waved her hand over the disc. An orange hue enveloped the disc.

Kracka. Kracka. Kracka.

Levitating in front of Monica, black lightning crackled around the disc.

Closing her eyes, Monica tried her best to suppress the impending explosion. To her dismay, however, she couldn't suppress the device. Gravely looking at Donna, she shook her head.

"I can't do anything about this. It's too late."

"Even you can't do anything about it?"

Donna's brows knit tightly.

"No, we need to evacuate quickly. We only have five minutes at most before the device explodes. Get as many students out as possible, and isolate this place."

With the core cracked, the internal energies within the core were starting to run rampant. A tremendous amount of energy was slowly building up inside of the device.

The energy accumulated would become so powerful that perhaps only an <S> ranked hero could withstand such impact. Even so, they would suffer tremendous injuries.

Donna and Monica understood this point, so the only thing they could do was get as many people out as possible.

"Understood."

At Monica's suggestion, Donna nodded her head. The best possible solution was to get as many students to evacuate the premises and call all the <S> ranked heroes present in the academy to create a shield around the dome to protect the surroundings from the impact.

Only then would they contain the explosion.

"Kevin, get as far away from here as possible!."

Looking at Kevin, Donna shouted.

"Yes."

Heeding Donna's advice, Kevin turned around and ran towards the exit.

"Monica, go help the students in need."

"Yes."

Stomping her foot on the ground. Monica disappeared from her spot. Turning around, and looking in the direction where Kevin and Ren had run off, Donna disappeared as well.

The corpses of the eight students disappeared along with her.

***

"Shut down the broadcast!"

At the same time, inside of a fairly large room that was filled with large monitors, a powerful voice rang out.

"W-we can't!"

A flustered voice replied back.

"What do you mean you can't?"

The powerful voice shot back.

"We've got direct orders from the higher-ups to shut down the whole event! Do it now!"

"Sir, I'm telling you we can't! The controls aren't functioning at all!"

Ta. Ta. Ta. Repeatedly pressing on the keyboard in front of him, a young man shot back.

"Let me take a look"

Shoving the young man to the side, a middle-aged man with a greyish beard leaned forward and pressed on a few buttons.

He had just received an order from the higher-up to shut down the broadcast. Staring at the monitors in front of him depicting panicked students running away from the dome whilst professors helping the paralyzed one, it didn't take a genius to understand what was going on.

...something terribly wrong had happened.

[Error] [Error] [Error]

"What the..?"

Staring at the large red marks on the screen, the middle-aged man's brows shot up. Turning his head, he shouted.

"What's the situation for the other cameras?"

"Sir we've lost control!"

"We can't do anything, sir. The control panel no longer works."

Multiple panicked voices replied back. Every single camera had been taken over.

"Damn it!"

Cursing out loud, the middle-aged man smacked his hand on the table.

"What the hell is happening!"

***

"Ahhhhh!"

A pained scream rang in the forest.

Once the effects of Monarch Indifference ran out, a tremendous amount of pain engulfed my entire body. Especially from my chest area where a large gash appeared.

"Haaa...haaa..."

Leaning against a rock, I took deep breaths. Taking out two potions from my dimensional space, I unscrewed the cap and quickly downed them.

"khhaa'”"

Throwing the two empty potions on the ground, slowly but surely, my wounds started to heal. My mana which had depleted to the bottom was also starting to fill.

"Ghh..."

Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to continue running forward.

With an explosion about to occur any minute now, the professors were now busy trying to get as many people out as possible.

Regrettably, with there only being a limited number of them compared to the thousands of competitors, there were bound to be casualties, it was inevitable.

Not wanting to be one of those casualties, activating drifting steps, I rushed with all my might towards the exit.

It was a race against time.

***

At the same time, a kilometer away from the exit.

"Coff...coff..."

Coughing, Aaron leaned against a tree. With his arm on his shoulder, he gritted his teeth.

"Bastard!"

Recalling the painful defeat that he had suffered not too long ago, Aaron clenched his jaw tightly.

Those cold and emotionless eyes that treated him as though he was trash, caused anger to surge from within him.

"How dare you!"

He shouted.

His humiliation deepened once Ren turned around without finishing him off when he could've. It was as though he was saying 'You're not worth my time.'

From Jin to Kevin and to now Ren. Aaron suffered loss, after loss, after loss. His fists clenched uncontrollably.

To make matters worse, this all happened in front of the whole world. He had become the butt of all jokes. The o' so famous Aaron Rhinestone, reduced as nothing but a mere stepping stone for someone else.

"Damn it! I can't accept this!"

He smashed his fist against a nearby tree.

'”WHIIIIII! '”WHIIIIII!

With the glaring sound of the sirens ringing across the facility, turning his head, and looking into the distance, Aaron knew that he needed to get out fast. He could feel the fluctuations coming from the distance. Within half a minute, everything was going to blow up.

"...hm?"

Aaron's feet suddenly stopped.

Looking towards the distance, Aaron suddenly spotted a familiar figure. At first, his face twisted savagely out of pure rage.

But.

An idea suddenly struck him as a wicked smile replaced it.

"Don't blame me for this...I'm just merely trying to survive"

Channeling every ounce of mana left inside of his body, Aaron's eyes locked themselves onto the figure in the distance.

"Thanks."

He muttered before disappearing from his spot.

***

"I'm almost there."

Looking at the doors in the distance, gritting my teeth and summoning every last bit of mana I had, I increased my pace. Because I was low on mana, my speed was not that great. But it was enough for me to reach the exit.

Next to me, I could see multiple students also slowly approaching the door.

Staring at the nearing door gate in the distance, I could see a faint blue sphere in the distance. That was most likely the barrier the instructors had set up in order to contain the explosion.

As long as I passed that barrier, I knew that I was going to be safe.

Therefore.

FOOOM!

I increased my pace even more.

"Cmon, I'm almost th'”huh?"

Right as I was about to exit the premises, to my horror, my body froze. Suddenly my vision turned dark, and I found myself in a completely different area. The exit which was previously very close to me was now extremely far.

My body froze, and my mind blanked.

Staring on the spot where I previously was standing, I could faintly see the outline of a youth in the distance. Squinting my eyes, I soon found out the identity of the youth.

Aaron.

With his lips twisted upwards, his eyes interlocked with mine. Turning around, he left the premise.

"Ah..."

A small sound escaped from my lips. Gazing at Aaron in the distance, I understood everything.

Right when I was about to exit the building, Aaron must've used his special skill, dual-link, to switch positions with me.

Understanding my current predicament, I felt a myriad of emotions. Anger, rage, despair, fear, anxiety, and many other similar emotions.

But.

"...It's too late."

Staring at the exit in the distance, and feeling the terrifying aura not far from where I was standing, I knew that I didn't have enough time to make it back. I was simply too far.

"Just where did I go wrong?"

'”Thud.

Helpless, I fell on my knees. Had I gotten rid of Aaron whilst under the influence of Monarch's indifference, none of this would've happened.

But I knew best that blaming Monarch's indifference was useless. Under Monarch's indifference, aside from my goal, anything else didn't matter. So did Aaron. My goal was to save Kevin not get rid of Aaron.

This flaw ended up being a costly one.

Taking out a small object from my dimensional space, a lost look appeared on my face.

'Do I really have no choice...?'

Turning my head and looking towards one of the cameras in the distance, I softly muttered.

"If the cameras are working, I'm sorry everyone..."

Recalling my family, Kevin, and the others, my chest started to sting.

'...Right, I guess I also couldn't keep my promise.'

Remembering the promise I had made with Amanda, a bitter smile appeared on my face. I truly regretted making the promise.

'”BOOOOOM!

At that exact moment, as if time slowed down, a huge explosion erupted, and a powerful shockwave shot outward shaking the whole dome from its foundations.

Staring at the blooming cloud of fire that was slowly making its way towards my direction, I could only mutter one word.

"Beautiful..."

***

Outside the dome.

'”BOOOOOM!

A thunderous explosion rang out, and terrifying energy that threatened to destroy everything in its path emerged from within the dome.

Outside of the large dome building, a large blue translucent sphere appeared.

Standing beside the sphere, many instructors placed their hands on it as they injected their mana inside of the barrier trying to contain the explosion.

"Pfffff!"

"Khuaaak!"

"Kaahhh!"

Once the explosion hit the barrier, it shook uncontrollably. The faces of many of the instructors standing outside of the sphere paled tremendously. Some of the weaker instructors even ended up passing out.

Fortunately, with the aid of the more powerful professors, they were able to contain the explosion.

Unfortunately.

Broadcasted on every television screen in the world, was the image of multiple students getting engulfed by the massive flames.

Their despairing screams as they were engulfed by the massive flames echoed across every television screen in the human domain. At this point, many turned off their TV screens as they could no longer watch such scenes.

But for those that kept watching, in particular, one specific angle stood out from the rest. It was the one where a student with Jet-black hair and blue eyes appeared. Muttering something to the camera, everyone watched as his figure slowly disappeared into the fire.

His image was particularly striking because he had been the student that most people had been paying attention to throughout the whole tournament.

He was the rising star of the tournament. The inheritor of the Keiki style, and the student that beat Aaron cleanly.

Under everyone's eyes, they watched as his body slowly disappeared inside of the flames.

On this day, to the world, Ren Dover had died.

Chapter 253: Ren Dover (1)

Minutes before the explosion, outside of the dome.

"Jin, you're here."

Kevin approached Jin.

Looking left and right, he asked.

"Have perhaps you seen Ren anywhere?"

Staring at the large translucent barrier covering the dome, Jin shook his head.

"No."

"Strange..." Kevin murmured. "I thought he'd be here already since he left earlier than me."

Having left before him, Kevin assumed that Ren had already left the dome.

'Perhaps he's already left the area?'

Though Plausible, Kevin shook his head.

Even if he chose to go back, he wouldn't have gotten far. Especially since Ren only left a minute before him.

Most likely, he was still roaming around here somewhere or was with a professor.

"Hey, you two! Help out over here!"

"..uh?"

Snapping Kevin out of his thoughts was a rough voice. Turning his head, Kevin spotted a professor in the distance.

With one hand touching the blue barrier, using his right hand, the professor motioned him and Jin to go to him.

Kevin immediately rushed to the professor. Jin silently followed from behind.

"How may I help you?"

"How is your mana reserve?"

The professor asked.

"Half."

"Good...you?"

The professor turned his attention to Jin.

Squinting his eyes for a second, Jin eventually responded.

"...About the same."

"Hm, that's perfect, I need you both to channel your mana inside of the barrier."

"Channel our mana inside of the barrier?"

"Mhm, we need as many helping hands as possible. This is the only way we can contain the large explosion from affecting the civilians that have come today."

The instructor's voice became serious.

"You understand how serious the situation is, right?"

If the explosion was not contained, many of the people that had come to attend the tournament would die. Especially since the majority couldn't defend themselves. Not everyone was a powerful hero.

"Understood."

Kevin's back straightened.

Convinced by the instructor's words, Kevin immediately placed his hand on the barrier and injected his mana into it. Jin did as well.

By the side, taking out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, the instructor thought for a moment before asking.

"Want some?"

"No, thank you"

Taken aback for a second, Kevin refused.

Even though smoking was not something that would affect his health as it did in the past, Kevin hated the smell.

Many people had a different way to deal with anxieties. Although the instructor next to Kevin was trying to put on a brave front, Kevin knew that deep down he was scared.

Perhaps the cigarette was the only way he could deal with the anxiety.

"You?"

He then turned to Jin.

"..."

"Guess you also don't want some...sucks for you."

Grumbled the instructor. Flicking his fingers, the cigarette lit up.

Puff.

Smoke slowly rose in the air.

"Haaa...nothing beats a nice cigarette"

"Hm?...what the"

Staring at the smoke that was floating in the air, Kevin's brows suddenly knit. Turning his attention back to the instructor he asked.

"...Why haven't they shut down the broadcast yet?"

Displayed on the opposite building to him was a large monitor.

On it, Kevin could see the images of some of the students desperately running away for their life.

With a couple of students in their arms, Kevin could also see some professors rushing towards the entrance of the dome.

"I'm also not su—"

"...Hm? Isn't that Ren?"

Murmured Kevin, cutting off the instructor mid-sentence. This anger the instructor a bit, but Kevin did not seem to care.

Staring at the scene displayed on the screen in the distance, Kevin all of a sudden noticed something odd.

Blinking a couple of times to comprehend the situation, his body suddenly froze.

"W-what."

Opening his mouth, like a goldfish, Kevin's jaw moved up and down repeatedly. But no sound escaped from his mouth.

'What is he doing there? Wasn't he supposed to already be here? Didn't he already arrive? This must be an illusion. What is going on?!"

For a short second, millions of thoughts ran through his mind. It was only after that he realized what was happening that he opened his mouth and screamed.

"REE——!"

—BOOOOOOOM!

Kevin's desperate voice was quickly drowned out by the large explosion that erupted within the dome. Taking his hand off the barrier, Kevin watched in despair as Ren's figure slowly disappeared within the flames.

Next to him, Jin was also staring at the monitor's in the distance. Because his face never changed, no one knew what he was feeling.

...but if someone looked closely.

They'd see his fists clenched tightly. So tightly that they were shaking.

***

At the same time, inside of the Lock private waiting room.

"W-what's Ren doing over there!"

Emma suddenly cried out in shock.

On the screen opposite to her was Ren's figure staring into the camera. Falling on his knees, he mumbled something to the camera.

Everyone in the room could see his face. It was without question Ren.

Then.

—BOOOOOOOM!

A defeating explosion rang, and the whole room shook. Because they were quite far from the dome, the aftershockes of the explosion were so strong that the windows trembled unctrontrollably. It was as though they were in the middle of an earthquake.

Even so, no one cared. That was because their eyes were glued on the TV screen in front of them.

Slowly, everyone in the room watched as Ren's body was enveloped by the thick and raging flames coming from the explosion.

"...kh"

Staring at the scene for a short second, Melissa grit her teeth and turned her head to the side.

She couldn't watch the scene any longer. Though her head was usually always clear, at this moment her mind was a mess. Many thoughts crossed her mind as she wondered...

'Did Ren just die?'

Despite her ability to comprehend the most complex problems in the world, for the first time in her life, Melissa found something she couldn't comprehend.

"...just w-hat?"

Emma too showed a similar reaction. Turning her head sideways, she also stopped herself from watching the TV screen.

Covering her mouth with her hand, she tried to supress her screams. Even then, as if her throat was dry, no words escaped from her mouth.

"..."

On the other hand, unlike the other two, Amanda's eyes never left the screen. Out of the three, she was the only one that watched the whole thing from the beginning.

Like a statue, her eyes remained fixed on the television screen. Amanda's mind was completely numb at this point.

She couldn't comprehend, process, grasp, what was happening. What had she just witnessed?

Ren couldn't be dead right?

Breathing started to become more laborious for Amanda, and before she knew it, tears had already started falling by the side of her cheeks.

Opening her mouth, in an almost inaudible voice, Amanda hoarsely muttered.

"...Liar. "

***

"Noooooo!"

Inside of a relatively large apartment, a high-pitched scream rang out.

"Ren!"

Staring at the TV screen in front of her, like a crazed person, Samantha Dover, Ren's mother grabbed the TV screen and shouted.

"No, not my son! Anyone but my son! Give me my son back! Give him back to me!"

Screaming, tears had already started falling by the side of her face.

"Mama?"

Being only two years old, Nola couldn't comprehend a lot. But even then, seeing the state her mother was in, Nola understood that something wasn't right.

Slowly she too started to cry.

"Maama...whaaa!"

Blankly sitting on a sofa opposite to them, bearing a striking resemblance to Ren, was Ronald Dover, his father. He wasn't a many of many words, but that didn't mean that he didn't love his family.

No.

In fact he loved his family tremendously. The only reason he was still working at a run-down guild that was filled with debt was because of his family.

But.

"...Ren."

Staring at his wife and daughter crying in front of the TV screen before him, tears started streaming down his cheeks.

Immense guilt washed over him. He had so many regrets.

'If only I had been a better father...'

He only had one wish.

'Son… my son… I'm so sorry, I hope you have a better father in your next life….'

***

...14 hours later.

Clank!

Donna barged into the room by flinging the door open.

Inside of a room filled with monitors, she met a familiar face.

"...Good morning, Donna"

Surveillance department head, Johnattan Morrison.

They were reunited after last seeing each other during their academy days.

"..."

Without saying any greetings, Donna approached one of the monitors. Displayed on it were Ren's last moments.

When she saw Ren getting engulfed by the flames, she clenched her teeth.

The one student that she had been privately training for the past few months, and had gotten close with.

"Do you have any ideas how he got into such situation?"

Donna asked.

She was trying to maintain her composure throughout the entire time.

"Not yet. There's a lot of angles that we have to look through."

The dome was large.

There were over a thousand students as well. It would take a couple of days to understand what had happened. Especially since the camera's tended to switch.

"This was the Monolith wasn't it?"

"...most likely."

Donna apathetically responded.

Having caputered eight of the people involved, Donna was prepared to get an answer. Although all signs pointed towards the Monolith, there were no clear indications that it was them.

...that was because all of the parties involved that were caught had no trace of demonic energy within their system.

Even so.

That did not apply to the four of the eight students she had caught. Though faint, there were traces of demonic energy in their bodies.

What she was wondering was now, how were they able to get in? Typically if any sign of demonic energy was detected, the security system would quickly find it and alert them.

This time, it didn't work.

Was it a flaw of the system or was there something new at play?

"Is he someone you know?"

Snapping Donna out of her thoughts was Johnattan's voice.

Having observed Donna for the past minute, he could Donna's eyes repeatedly moving towards a certain screen.

"...He was my student."

Donna said after struggling to find the right words. Her eyes reddened slightly.

"I see, I'll try my best to let you know in a couple of days."

Johnattan sighed softly.

Never had he seen Donna, who used to shine so brightly in this state before. He must've been an exceptional student.

"I'll let you know if I can find anything."

"...Thank you."

Chapter 254: Ren Dover (2)

[July 15, 2056.

A terrorist attack took place at the Lock during the battle royale games of the inter-academy tournament.

Two teleportation devices were found to be installed during the event. Investigators have linked this attack to the Monolith.

With the brave efforts of two young students, the portals were soon found and their activation was prevented.

Unfortunately, in a last-ditch attempt, one of the perpetrators directly cracked the core installed in the teleportation device.

A massive explosion followed suit, killing 260 people and injuring more than 80 in the process.]

'”Click!

Turning off the TV, Emma threw the remote to the side.

"It's about time." Dressed in a black dress, Emma turned around. "Let's go, Kevin."

"Hmm"

A weak and hoarse voice replied back.

"...Kevin."

Emma's lips tensed.

Staring at Kevin who was sitting on a white sofa dressed in black, Emma felt her heart tear apart.

Ever since 'that' day, Kevin had not been the same. He was skipping out on meals, and for the most part, he was always absentminded. He had even stopped training, something that she had never seen him do throughout the whole year.

His whole complexion was white, and his eyes were bloodshot. Glaring black circles appeared underneath his eyes.

"It's all my fault..."

He repeatedly muttered to himself.

Emma did not understand why he was blaming himself for Ren's death. It wasn't something he could've controlled.

But.

Every time, Kevin would mumble those words. Blaming himself for Ren's death.

"...Kevin."

Emma called out.

"...Ah, Emma... Give me a second."

Kevin finally looked at Emma. He tried to smile cheerfully, but that made him look all the more pitiful. His lifeless eyes coupled with his glaring black circles caused Emma's heart to stir.

Emma understood.

Ren's death had truly hit him hard.

"We need to go. Attending is the least you can do for him"

Today was the day of Ren's funeral. For obvious reasons, there was no corpse at the scene. Even then, no one questioned his death.

Unless a miracle happened, there was just no way for Ren to survive.

"...E-emma, what do I do?"

Bringing Emma back to reality was Kevin's hoarse voice.

Staring at her in the eyes, he weakly muttered.

"I-i, don't know what to do...Had I not been so stupid, and just left wi'”"

"Enough!"

Emma cut him off.

"Now is not the time for this! How long are you going to wail in self-pity?"

She was starting to get angry now.

It was only natural for someone to be distraught upon the death of someone close. She too was sad. Although she wasn't particularly close to Ren, she did interact with him quite a lot in the past.

And although Kevin and Ren were really close, the last thing Kevin could do was drown himself in self-pity.

It wouldn't be something Ren would've wanted for him. Even though, Emma didn't interact with Ren much, she could see how much he genuinely cared about Kevin.

He would never want Kevin to blame himself for something like this.

Lifting his head, Kevin weakly asked.

"...Then what should I do?"

"Get stronger." Emma's voice became firm. "...Get strong enough to prevent this from ever happening in the future and make those that have caused this pay. Be it the Monolith or anyone that was involved!"

Whilst she spoke, Emma's eyes never left Kevin.

She wanted him to understand that instead of beating himself up for what had happened, it was better for him to pick himself up and mature.

Even if took years for Kevin to recover from this, Emma wanted Kevin to use this incident as a reference point for his growth.

She wanted him to grow stronger. Strong enough to prevent any of this from happening.

"...I see"

Kevin said after a brief moment of silence.

Staring at Kevin, Emma was able to notice a subtle change in Kevin. Even though the sadness never disappeared, there was something else within that sadness.

Resolution.

The resolution to grow up and change.

Seeing the change, Emma smiled beautifully.

"I'm glad you've picked yourself up." Emma extended her hand "Let's go, it's time we say goodbye to him."

"Mhm."

Taking her hand, Kevin stood up.

***

Laying on her bed as her hair scattered all over her pillow, Amanda blankly stared at the ceiling of her room.

A couple of days had passed since the incident, and unbeknownst to anyone, she had already started packing up her stuff.

She was planning on leaving the academy soon.

If before it was about the guild. This time, her reason for leaving the academy was different.

...it was because the academy reminded her of 'him'

Everywhere she walked in the academy she would recall her conversations and memories with him.

Although few, Amanda could vividly recall every single interaction she had with him. Even the small ones she had during class or around the campus.

Despite having witnessed Ren's death right before her eyes, Amanda still couldn't quite grasp the situation.

At this point, she was almost numb to the pain of having someone in her life disappear.

Yes.

Important.

It was only after Amanda witnessed Ren's death, that she had realized her feelings for him.

...she liked him.

She didn't know when, but at some point, she had started to long for him. Every day, a small part of her would look forward to the lectures, and classes. The ones that had him in it.

Just the casual things he would do from cringing whenever the class attention was on him, or when he would randomly slap Kevin in the head to get a reaction out of him.

All of those moments were deeply etched inside of Amanda's mind.

At first, unfamiliar with this type of feeling, she couldn't quite grasp what she was feeling. But now she knew.

...and the realization was a painful one.

One that once again shut her heart completely.

Tok, tok'”

"Young Miss, it's time."

Disrupting Amanda, was her attendant, Maxwell.

"The car is waiting for you downstairs.

"...I'm coming"

Weakly lifting her body up, Amanda responded.

Staring at the neat black dress on her desk opposite to her, Amanda calmly walked up to it.

It was time for another goodbye.

***

'”Click!

Dressed in black, Melissa closed the door behind her.

"..."

Right when she was about to leave, her footsteps halted. Turning around, she looked towards the room that was next to hers.

By now, the room was already empty. Everything that used to belong to Ren had already been taken by his parents a day prior.

'...he's really gone, huh.'

Ever since meeting him, she had wished nothing but for him to die.

...but now that he had actually died. She felt lost.

Perhaps because she had never talked to anyone else but him, but his death hit Melissa harder than she had expected.

This caught her by surprise.

For the past few days, she wasn't able to focus like before. She made a lot more mistakes than she would've normally have done.

"Haa..."

Closing her eyes slightly, Melissa exhaled before muttering.

"Just what is wrong with me."

Turning around, she left.

***

July 17th.

Two days after the tragic incident. It was a clear and sunny day in Ashton city. A day that completely contrasted the gloomy atmosphere that was revolving around the whole city.

Inside a funeral home.

"Waaaahh...Whaaaaa..."

Several people stood by the side of the room. A high-pitched wail echoed throughout the whole room as a young girl cried in front of a picture frame. Her eyes were red and snot fell from her nose. The scene was heartbreaking for anyone that was watching.

"Bwuddar!"

It was Nola.

Next to her, her mother and father tried their best to console her.

But.

"Waaaahh...Whaaaaa..."

No matter, how hard they tried, the crying wouldn't stop. It was only after someone used a sleeping spell on her that she stopped crying.

By the side, Emma, Jin, Kevin, Amanda, Melissa, Leo, Ram, and Donna all stood by the side. Staring at Ren's picture in the middle of the room.

All people who Ren had influenced throughout his life.

For some he was a best friend, for others he was something else. A business partner, a student, a friend, and the person that changed their life.

Unknowingly, unbeknownst to Ren, for better or for worse, he had influenced the life of every single person present in the room.

Listening to the funeral hymns, everyone lowered their head.

For the next thirty minutes or so, no one talked. They all mourned for Ren's death.

On this day, to the world, Ren Dover was officially dead.

*

"Haaa..."

Staring at the blue sky, Kevin exhaled. With the funeral coming to an end, Kevin decided to go out to take a breath of fresh air.

His mind was a mess.

Despite what Emma had told him moments prior to the funeral, Kevin still couldn't quite pick himself up. He knew better than anyone else what had happened that day.

Had he not been so fixed with the idea of saving those eight people, and had directly left with Ren, none of this would've ever happened.

This thought alone was eating him up from inside.

"How are you holding up Kevin?"

"Miss Longbern?"

Disrupting Kevin out of his thoughts, was a familiar voice. It was Donna.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you."

"Me?"

'Why would Donna look for me? Did something happen?', Kevin wondered to himself.

"What do you need me for?"

After a bit of thought, Donna let out a soft sigh.

"...I think I know what may have resulted in Ren's death"

"What!?"

Shocked, Kevin's voice raised a few pitches.

Putting her finger on her lips, Donna gestured for Kevin to lower his voice.

"Shhh...lower your voice."

"Ah, sorry."

Realizing his mistake, Kevin apologized.

"...What do you have?"

"Here, take a look at this."

Extending her hand, a phone appeared on Donna's hand. Taking the phone, Kevin tilted his head to the side.

"A phone?"

"Give me a second."

Pressing on the screen of the phone, a video appeared.

"Take a look and tell me if you've also noticed something strange."

"...sure."

Pressing onto the play button, Kevin played the video. In the video, Kevin saw Ren.

"Huh? What?"

Most shockingly, he was quite close to the exit of the dome. In fact, he was practically almost out. Furthermore, from the looks of it, he had a lot of spare time to get out.

"Just what'”"

Kevin abruptly stopped himself midsentence.

That was because he saw it.

Right before Ren set his foot outside of the dome, he suddenly dissapeared. Replacing him was another youth. Kevin instantly recognized him. It was Aaron.

"W-what!?"

Kevin's eyes opened widely. His mouth opened and closed repeatedly. He couldn't quite comprehend the situation. Did the video glitch or something?

...but if it glitched, how come Ren suddenly appeared in the distance? This didn't make sense.

He then turned his attention back to Donna.

"What's this!?"

"...As you can see. I suspect that Ren death's wasn't an accident."

"T-this..."

Once again, replaying the video, Kevin's blood started to boil.

His breathing was slowly starting to get rough. A terrifying red hue slowly enveloped his body.

"Aaron!"

He venomously spat as he stared at the youth in the video. The more he watched the video, the more he was convinced that he had something to do with Ren's death.

"Khhh..."

"Kevin."

Unbothered by Kevin's pressure, standing by the side, Donna calmly spoke.

"Kevin don't act recklessly. We still don't have enough proof"

"What do you mean we don't have any proof? This is as clear as day that he was the one!"

Kevin snapped.

The video alone was enough evidence to prove Aaron's guilt. What else did they need?

Staring at Kevin, Donna shook her head.

"Unfortunately it's not enough. This could very well be due to some sort of lag in the video. With the bomb about to explode and everyone fleeing, such a thing can happen."

"Furthermore, even if we know that Aaron is the one who did it, we don't know how he did it. With his backing, we also can't do too much..."

There were a lot of things that they needed to take into consideration when persecuting someone for a crime. In this day and age where all that mattered was a backing, with the pitiful amount of evidence they had, she couldn't see a way to get Aaron to face a trial.

...they could also of course take matters into their own hand, and try to kill Aaron directly, but that would be far too risky at the moment.

Especially since he was now surrounded by bodyguards. Furthermore, if they found out it was them who killed Aaron, they would be in a lot of trouble.

They couldn't be reckless about this.

"So are we just going to let him walk away like that? Are we going to completely ignore the fact that he killed Ren!"

Kevin raised his voice.

"Calm down Kevi'”"

"How can you tell me to calm down!"

At this point, Kevin was practically shouting. The people around him were looking at him strangely, but he didn't care. His emotions were unstable.

"Please listen to me, Kevin"

Donna's eyes suddenly shone slightly.

Kevin, who was about to scream again, stopped.

"Haaa...haaa..."

Glaring at Donna, he took heavy breaths. A bitter smile appeared on Donna's face.

"Kevin listen to me carefully. I'm definitely not letting Aaron go that easily, that's for sure." Donna's voice suddenly turned grave. "The only problem is his backing. It's not something that we can go up against at the moment."

"...So what should we do?"

Calming down a bit, Kevin softly asked.

If they couldn't do anything now, what could they do? Was there really no other option?

Staring at Kevin for a good minute, Donna closed her eyes. After a while, seemingly having made up her mind, she said.

"...Join the union."

"The union? Wha'”"

"Please listen."

Donna raised her hand and started explaining.

"If you want to truly make Aaron pay for his crimes, the best option would be for you to join the union. With your talent, joining the union shouldn't be a problem."

"Bu'”"

Right as Kevin was about to say something, Donna once again cut him off.

"Let me finish...only with an organization like the union backing you can you enact your revenge. I've already talked to Monica, and she's willing to take you in right after you graduate."

"In the meantime, I'll help you grow to new heights and reach the top faster. Only when your truly strong will you have enough power to take revenge for Ren."

After taking a lot of factors into consideration, Donna came up with this solution. It was the best solution she could think of for Kevin at the moment.

With the Union backing him, Kevin would be able to take his revenge without a problem. No one would dare to fight the union. Kevin also understood this point, hence why he wasn't talking.

Originally, Donna had tried to get Monica to do something, but her hands were tied. With the Monolith terrorist attack that had just happened, the Union was in a complete state of alert.

Almost all high-ranking members had been called back. Monica wasn't an expectation.

She was so busy that she couldn't even attend Ren's funeral.

"So..."

Donna paused. Looking at Kevin straight in the eyes, she asked.

"....Are you willing?"

Chapter 255: 876 (1)

Pain.

An immeasurable amount of pain engulfed my entire being.

Slipping in and out of my consciousness I felt my whole body burn. Every part of my body was engulfed by flames.

At some point, I had lost track of time. Perhaps only minutes and seconds had passed, but for me, who was being burnt alive, such moments felt like an eternity.

Before long, my body hit something hard and cold. But, being in the state I was in, my mind wasn't able to process what was happening around me.

Instinctively, I just rolled around, trying to get rid of the flames engulfing me.

"Ah...ah..."

Whilst slipping in and out of my consciousness, mustering every bit of my last strength, I swallowed something that I had put inside of my mouth beforehand.

After that, despite all of my struggles to remain conscious, the world turned dark.

***

"Have you got anything?"

"No, his facial features are too deformed. We can't get a proper read on his identity."

'What's going on? Who's talking?'

Awakening my somber mind was the sound of two people conversing. Though I tried to focus my mind on what they were saying, my mind was too muddleheaded to be able to comprehend anything. In fact, I found it hard to even think properly at the moment as everything felt dull and slow.

"Hmmm, what about after we heal him?"

"That's possible, but it may take a couple of months for him to fully heal from these injuries. Almost half of his body is burnt. Perhaps if we use a high-grade potion, but..."

"No, we definitely can't do that. It'll be a waste of money. We can just wait a couple of months. Anything else?"

"For now no. All we know is that he suddenly appeared in the hall with third-degree burns all over his body. I'm more surprised by the fact that he's still alive."

"Were there any items on him?"

"No. Given the state he was in, there's a high chance that all the items he had got destroyed. From the looks of things, he must've survived some sort of explosion. He had no clothes on him when he appeared, and even the ring he had on him was badly damaged."

"...I see, alright, you may leave."

"Understood, call me if you need anything, professor."

Minutes after the conversation ended, slowly opening my eyes, I was met with an unfamiliar white ceiling. A bright white light entered my vision constricting my pupils slightly.

Turning my head slightly, I found myself laying atop a cold metal table with wires attached all over my body. My body was numb.

"Oh, you've regained consciousness?"

A voice suddenly called out for me.

Turning my head towards where the voice came from, an old man with a white lab coat appeared in front of me. With an amused smile, he studied me from top to bottom.

"How peculiar..."

He muttered.

Under his observant eyes, I felt like a lab mouse. Insignificant.

'Who are you? Where am I?'

"Ghaaa..fhhiuuu"

The words that I wanted to speak did not come out. Instead, a zombie-like sound escaped from my lips.

"Ah, I wouldn't recommend you to speak right now."

The old man said whilst a chuckle escaped from his lips.

'Where am I?'

"Huaagh..."

Unable to comprehend what he was saying, I once again spoke. The same zombie-like sound escaped from my lips.

"Tsk. What is it with you patients? Whenever I say something, you end up doing the exact opposite of what I tell you to do"

The old man grumbled.

"Hey you, bring me a mirror."

Turning around, the old man yelled at one of the people in the room. Lifting my head slightly, I spotted a man wearing a white coat and a mask.

"...yes!"

From how polite he was being, he was most likely his assistant. The assistant quickly rushed towards one of the cabinets.

Not long after, the attendant came back with a mirror. Taking the mirror, the old man walked up to me and smiled.

"Here, since you can't understand what I'm saying, I'll just show you the state that you're in."

Once he turned the mirror around, my mind blanked.

'This can't be...is that me?'

"huagh...guhhhg..."

Reflected on the mirror was something that you would only see in a horror movie. With no hair on my head and burn marks all over my face. The clear white skin that I used to have was no longer there as my face was now dyed red with pus flowing down my face.

I looked horrendous.

My mind which was showing signs of recovering was once again blank. I had many questions that I wanted to ask, but as if something was stuck in my throat, only hoarse sounds escaped from my mouth.

"hgugha...haefa"

It was then that I slowly started to recall what had happened.

Moments before the explosion happened, taking out the Monolith ring that I had taken from professor Thibaut a couple of months back, I desperately channeled all of my mana into it.

The goal was to teleport me to the Monolith.

Even though I knew it was a bad idea, this was the only way I could survive. Unfortunately, even though I successfully managed to teleport myself to the Monolith, by the time I had managed to activate the ring, the flames had already engulfed me.

From there it wasn't hard for me to understand what had happened. Having teleported directly in their headquarters, they must've directly taken me in.

"Hahaha, don't worry. With current technology, recovering your face shouldn't be too hard...but, unfortunately for you, the higher-ups aren't willing to fork out the money needed to heal you quickly, so it might take a bit for you to recover your old appearance."

Amused by my reaction, the old man laughed.

"Let me introduce myself real quick" Lowering his head slightly, the old man introduced himself. "Nice to meet you, my name is Joseph Sharp and I'm the person in charge of you."

"!"

The moment the old man mentioned his name, my mind instantly cleared up. Cold sweat trickled down my back.

"Now, now, be a good boy and stay here. I'm going to check out my other subjects, I'll be seeing you in a bit. By then, you should've already have recovered your voice."

Joseph Sharp.

A notorious scientist that worked in the Monolith. He along, with a couple of other famous scientists was responsible for an extremely important project in the novel.

The Monolith super soldiers project.

A project that involved the creation of elite soldiers that had no regard for life. Their sole purpose was to serve the Monolith and accomplish any task they were given. They were soldiers that felt no emotions nor pain, almost like robots. Each soldier ranked from D and above, and although singularly weren't that strong, when they worked together, they were a force to be reckoned with.

They were an elite unite that would appear five years from now and were responsible for many tragedies. They were so strong that they almost resulted in Kevin's death multiple times throughout the novel.

"You."

Disrupting me out of my thoughts, Joseph called out to the same assistant from before.

"Yes!"

"Give him a small dose of the serum."

"...how much?"

"Ah, I don't know. Given his state, I guess 2mg would be enough for now," replied Joseph, squinting.

"Understood."

Watching the assistant leave, Joseph smiled. My eyes soon interlocked with his.

"Alright, I'll see you soon, test subject 876..."

Waving slightly, he joyfully whistled his way out of the room.

'Get me out of here!!!'

"ghuuuaa!!!"

Watching him leave, a desperate scream escaped from my mouth. It was almost instinctive. Even though I survived, I was now in a place worse than hell.

The 'serum' that Joseph was referring to was the liquid that they used to create the super soldiers. It was a liquid that eroded someone's mind, essentially turning them into brainless puppets. From there the brainwashing would start, turning them into unwavering Monolith soldiers.

"ghuu!!"

Knowing this, mustering every bit of strength that I had in my body, I tried to get out of the binds that were locking me, but it was all to no avail.

My mana had been blocked. Regardless of how much I struggled, the binds around me wouldn't budge.

I was truly powerless.

Suddenly, spit escaped from my mouth as the air was knocked out of me. Though I felt no pain, it didn't take me long to realize that someone had punched me.

"Shut up."

The assistant glared at me.

"Be silent whilst I'm doing my job."

Taking out a long syringe that had a long needle at the top, the assistant put a strange blue liquid inside of it. Squeezing the bottom of the syringe, a droplet of blue liquid fell down the body of the needle.

"Perfect."

The assistant turned his attention back to me. Opening my eyes wide, I struggled even more fiercely than before.

'No! Anything but that!'

"Ughhh! guauhhhah!"

"Calm down, it's not going to hurt."

Seemingly taking pleasure out of my suffering, the assistant slowly moved the syringe in my direction. Whilst he did that, with his other hand, he covered my mouth.

"hmmm...hmmm!"

"Now, now, be a good boy and take the shot."

Feeling a slight tap on my shoulder, I knew that the assistant had already put the syringe inside of my body.

—Squeeq!

The moment the assistant injected all of the liquid inside of my body, my mind numbed and I once again lost consciousness.

'No...help.'

"ghh..."

***

—Fffwhheeu! —Fffwhheeu!

Merrily whistling, Joseph's brows suddenly knit.

"Hmm, another failure."

Staring at a patient from a large glass window, Joseph took out a notepad and crossed off a name.

"Test subject 037 failure...300mg seems to be too much for a single dose," Joseph muttered, scratching the back of his head.

Yet another failure.

"Fuck."

Despite spending over a decade in formulating the recipe for his serum, it was only half a year ago that he had managed to perfect it.

Even then, Joseph still needed to do a lot of testing.

He first needed to understand how much of the serum he needed to inject his patients with each day to erode their minds, then he also needed to check for any side effects. After doing a calculation, Joseph estimated that he still needed a year before finally being able to create his first super-solider.

The only problem was the higher-ups.

Having spent so much time on a simple formula, they were starting to doubt his research. He needed to present them with something fast.

"Joseph."

Disrupting Joseph out of his thoughts, a voice suddenly called out for him.

"..hm?"

Turning around, Joseph's face darkened slightly. A trace of disgust flashed his eyes.

"Xavier, what is it?"

Standing before him was a young male. He had fair skin and green eyes. Outwardly he looked like a perfect gentleman, however, Joseph wasn't deceived.

The man before him, Xavier Pearce, was one of the more sadistic and twisted men that Joseph had ever met.

He was extremely notorious for his torture methods that could cause his victims to lose their sanity within minutes. He was not someone that Joseph wanted to associate himself with.

And despite being higher ranked than Joseph in the hierarchy, Joseph couldn't bring himself to respect the man before him.

"How is test subject 876?"

Ignoring Joseph's obvious signs of hostility, Xavier asked.

"876? He's awake, I've already asked someone to inject him with the serum."

"Good...good. Make sure you give him to us after you dull his mind. We've got a few questions to ask him."

"Understood."

The number of people that were allowed to hold onto the Monolith ring was extremely few.

For someone that they did not know to have the Monolith ring and suddenly show up, the higher-ups had a lot of questions to ask him.

Joseph understood this.

The main reason why the test subject was given to him, was because they wanted to numb his brain for questioning.

Only once he could no longer think for himself would he be able to spill out everything.

"Alright, keep up the good work Joseph."

Patting Joseph in the shoulder, Xavier smirked. Just as he was about to leave, his footsteps halted.

"Ah, before I leave. The higher-ups have told me to tell you something."

"...what?"

"They said that within three months if you don't produce anything, they'll cut your funding by half"

"What!"

Joseph's voice raised.

He had clearly told them that he would get results in a year. Saying that they would only give him a month clearly meant that they had lost faith in him.

"You know that's impossible!"

"Haha, you know that I can't do anything about this Joseph."

Laughing out loud, Xavier's eyes squinted. A black show rose from his teeth.

"I don't care about whether it's impossible or not. I'm merely telling you something that the higher-ups have told me to say, so make sure you don't mess up. Is that clear?"

"khh...understood."

Under Xavier's threat, Joseph secretly ground his teeth and nodded his head.

'Damn it.'

He cursed inside of his mind as he looked at Xavier straight in the eyes.

"Perfect. I'll see you around."

Smiling brightly, Xavier turned around and left. Staring at Xavier's back for a moment, Joseph took out his phone and failed a number.

Before long, someone picked up.

—Professor?

"Increase the frequency at which we inject the patients with the serum from once a day to three times a day."

Chapter 256: 876 (2)

Opening a large metal door, was a tall and muscular guard. Wearing a gray uniform, the guard stood beside me.

"Test-subject 876, this is where you will be staying."

Grabbing me by the shoulder, the guard shoved me into a small 20x20 room.

"...khh"

Falling face-first on the ground, a dull sound escaped from my lips. My mind was a mess at the moment. I could barely formulate any thoughts.

After every couple of thoughts, I'd forget everything that I was thinking about.

Multiple different illusions flashed before my eyes. No matter how many times I blinked, or closed my eyes, the illusions would never stop. It was never-ending.

This was what the serum did.

It fed the brain with different kinds of illusions and vision, and in the process, it would slowly damage the neurons of the brain.

"You will receive food twice a day alongside your shot. In a week's time, if you're not dead, the professor will call you up."

The guard's cold voice echoed across the room.

Pui!

"...why the fuck do I have to deal with this shit."

Glaring at me, the guard suddenly spat on the ground. Turning around, he smashed the door behind him.

—Clank!

"..."

Once he left, silence enveloped the room.

"haaa..haaa"

Mustering every last bit of strength in my body, moving forward, I leaned against a wall. Just that much movement caused me to be at a loss for breath.

Turning my head slightly, I looked at the room I was in.

Though the room was small, it had a small bed by the side, coupled with a sink and bathroom. A large metal door stood in the middle of the room, and at the bottom was a small compartment where I presumed the food would be pushed in.

Looking around, I knew that there was no way out for me. Fortunately, there didn't seem to be a camera monitoring me.

Perhaps it was because I wasn't particularly important, but this worked in my favor. At least for now.

"Khhh..."

A groan suddenly escaped from my lips.

With the effects of the pain killers waring out, every part of my body started to ache. The pain wasn't unbearable though, so it wasn't the worst. Although most of my mana was sealed, not all of it was sealed.

The reasoning behind this was my injuries.

Unless mana circulated inside of my body, my injuries wouldn't heal as quickly. And given that they wanted for me to heal, they decided to only seal my mana up to rank.

This was enough.

Mustering every last bit of mana inside of my body, I muttered.

"M-monarch's...indifference."

***

Tok To—

"876, it's time for your meal."

A voice suddenly called out.

"..."

Unfortunately, the voice was met with no response.

—Clank!

"Fucking answer me when I'm talking to you."

The door flung open, and the same guard from before entered the room.

Staring at patient '876', the guard raised his brow.

"...so you've already gone insane?", The guard muttered.

Only six hours had passed since he had last seen him, and test subject '876' seemed to have already given up on life.

Leaning against the side of the wall, 876 was dully looking at the ceiling. Even after putting a tray filled with food in front of him, he seemed to be completely unresponsive.

"Let's get this over with."

Taking out a long long syringe, the guard shook his head. Bending down, the guard tightly grabbed 876 by the arm, completely not caring about the fact that it was burnt.

"...hm, no reaction? I guess the effects of the serum are pretty strong."

Uncapping the syringe, the guard pricked 876 in the shoulder and injected him with the serum.

—Squeeq.

"Khh..."

A light groan escaped from 876's mouth.

"Alright, we're done with the injection. Eat up your food."

Finished injecting 876, the guard stood up. Lowering his head, and looking at the tray of food on the floor, the guard once again bent down and grabbed the food with his hands.

"Eat up."

Grabbing 876 by the cheeks, he forcefully shoved food down his mouth. Even then, as he shoved food down his throat, 876 showed no reaction.

"Fucking eat!"

Annoyed by 876's reactions, or to be more precise, lack of reactions, the guard kicked the food tray away. The food spilled everywhere.

Blamp—!

"When I tell you to eat the food, eat the food!"

The guard suddenly threatened.

"By the time I come back, you better have finished all of the food, or else..."

Crack. Crack. Crack. Cracking his fingers, the guard sadistically smiled.

"Ho, ho, if not, we're going to be having a lot of fun."

The guard laughed out loud.

Being a low-level guard, the guard had a lot of pent-up stress built up. Seeing how responsive 876 was, he thought of using him as a way to relieve himself of the stress he had built up.

Since he was one of the many patients, he doubted they would care if anything happened to him. Furthermore, looking at the state he was in, he was sure that no one would notice if he suddenly go injured.

"hur,hur, what fund days."

Buzz.

Disrupting the guard out of his thoughts was a small buzzing sound coming from his wrist. Turning his wrist slightly, the guard cursed.

"Ah, shit. Guess it's time for me to leave."

Taking one last look at 876, he stepped on some of the food and made his way out of the room.

"I'll see you in a bit 876."

—Clank!

Smiling in satisfaction, the guard turned around and left the room. Once the door closed, silence enveloped the room.

In the midst of the silence, slowly lifting his head, 876, coldly looked at the metal door opposite to him.

***

"I'm hungry."

Having taken care of subject 876, the guard, who went by the name Mark, rubbed his stomach.

"...it's a little bit early, but since I'm done, I might as well go eat.

Licking his teeth, Mark turned his wrist slightly, Looking at the time, 18:50, he decided to head to the canteen to eat. After turning a couple of corridors, Mark arrived at the canteen. Because it was still early, the canteen was still quite empty.

"One fried chicken with some rice please"

Walking up towards the counter, Mark ordered something quick. Within a couple of minutes, a hot dish was presented before him. Taking the tray, Mark turned around and looked around the canteen. He was looking for anyone he knew. Soon his eyes lit up.

"Alvaro."

He called out.

Suddenly being called, a rather skinny man wearing the same uniform as Mark, turned around. Spotting Mark, he quickly swallowed his food and waved slightly.

"Hm, Oh, Mark!" Putting his fork down, he smiled. "haven't seen you in a while, how are ya doing?"

"...eh, I'm alright."

Putting his tray on the table, Mark sat down.

As he sat down, he let out a long exhausted sigh.

"Something up?"

"...no, it's just that I have been put on babysitting watch."

Mixing the rice with the chicken, Mark let out another depressed sigh. He was exhausted.

"Babysitting watch?"

"Yeah, you know that crazy professor?"

Alvaro's brows knit. After a bit of thought, he carefully said.

"Crazy professor?...you mean Joseph?"

Mark nodded his head.

"Yeah, him. I now have to take care of a couple of his subjects."

"Ah."

At Mark's words, Alavaro had a look of understanding.

Within the Monolith, everyone knew just how tough working under Joseph was. Especially taking care of his crazy patients. They were all insane, and difficult to deal with. What made it even harder for the guards was the fact that they couldn't use too much force on them. They were precious subjects after all.

A trace of pity flashed Alavaro's eyes as he looked at Mark.

"...must be tough."

"Tell me about it. Most of them are completely insane. If not for the fact that I'm getting forced to do this, I'd never take this crappy job." Mark suddenly recalled something, "....oh, right! I got a new patient today."

"New patient? Looking at how happy you are, the patient must be a good one?"

"...hm, out of all the patients I got, he's probably the best."

Mark responded after a bit of thought.

"The best?"

Alvaro tilted his head.

"Yeah, his whole body is burned and he can't even talk. hahaha, he's the easiest one to take care of."

All he had to do was give him food and a shot. That easy. Unlike the other patients where he had to restrain, 876 was different.f He was very docile. It was understandable though, given how weak subject he was, it'd be hard for him to struggle.

"For him to be this weak..." Alvaro wondered, "how badly burned is he?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised. The first time I saw him, I was shocked. Half of his body is pretty much burned to a crisp. It's crazy. I don't even know how he's still alive."

Describing subject 876's features, Mark couldn't help but shiver slightly.

The extent of his injuries was very severe. It was no wonder that by the time he saw him, 876 had pretty much already turned insane. If he was put through the same thing as 876, he too would've gone insane.

"...why don't they just heal him? I mean, if they give him a simple potion, he'd be healed in no time."

Listening to Mark's descriptions, Alvaro's brows knit.

Since he was treated as a test subject, it would only be natural for them to be in optimal condition. If they were completely injured, they'd be useless.

In response to Alvaro's point, Mark waved his spoon slightly.

"Tut. tut. tut. No can do. According to the instructions, we're not allowed to give him nor any other patients any potions."

"Why? Wouldn't his injuries heal faster? I mean, even low leveled ones would help speed up the process."

"No, that's strictly forbidden. According to what I've heard, if a patient that was undergoing treatment takes a potion, the effects of the serum they are injected with would be negated."

"Negated?"

"Yeah." Taking a spoonful of his rice, Mark took a few bites before continuing. "A-mhmg-lthough I don't kn-mhmg-ow much, according to the professor, only once the brain is damaged to the point of no repair can we give them potions. If not, everything would not work."

"Ah, I don't really get it, but sure..."

Nodding his head, Alvaro scratched the side of his neck. No longer interested in the topic, he decided to tell Mark about the latest gossip he had heard recently.

"Oh by the way, have you heard about the..."

***

"Ha...Cough!...cough!"

One hour after the guard left, opening my eyes, I coughed up blood. The blood spilled all over the ground and food that had now become cold.

"D-damn it."

Staring at the blood on the ground, I weakly cursed.

Although I had used Monarch's indifference to suppress the effects of the serum, it wasn't enough.

Monarch indifference, from what've I've tested after taking the first serum, could only slow down the effects of the serum. It wasn't a solution.

It could not heal my damaged neurons. Only something like a potion could do that. Furthermore, because of my low mana capacity, I could use Monarch's indifference for at most an hour and a half.

Thankfully, since I had only taken two serums so far, my brain was still not badly affected. However, if given time, I would without a doubt slowly lose all sense of reason.

Therefore.

Whilst my brain was still not fully damaged, I had to come up with a proper plan to escape this place.

"Huuuu..."

Taking a deep breath, and trying to suppress the pain that was engulfing my body, I started thinking of my circumstances.

'Alright, so far I'm stuck inside of the Monolith and I'm currently being treated as a test subject for their project.'

This I understood as soon as I learned of Joseph's name. Since he was a major character, I knew about him and his project.

'Another good is that I'm currently disfigured. They don't know who I am. That is good."

Had they known who I was, there was a high chance I'd be suffering even more. The Keiki style was that tempting.

In a way, getting burnt to a crisp was advantageous for me.

'Though not clear, I do remember them saying that my injuries would heal within three months...therefore, during that time I need to find a way to hide my identity.'

Realistically speaking, escaping within three months was almost impossible. At least not in my current state. Furthermore, I had no clue about the layout of the place.

...fortunately, I wasn't completely helpless.

Closing my eyes, I grabbed the food that was on the ground and stuffed my mouth. Even though it had now turned into mush and was covered in blood, I forcefully ate the food. This was a must.

If I wanted to escape this place, eating the food was something I had to do.

"Gkhhhh"

A groan escaped from my mouth. Saliva spilled on the floor.

Despite my stomach's attempts at throwing the food back out, I persisted and continuously ate the food.

'Two more days.'

"...hafjhfh...jfh"

I muttered whilst taking another bite of the food. Unfortunately for me, I still couldn't speak properly. Thus, only weird noises came out of my mouth. Even so, I persistently shoved food down the throat.

"At most two more days till I can turn this around."

Chapter 257: 876 (3)

Small disclaimer : Some parts of this may be disturbing for some. I'm warning you in advance. (well, although I say this, I'm not really sure how disturbing it is. But I'll put this just in case.)

Bam'”!

"khhh"

"Take your food and eat it."

Throwing the tray filled with food on the floor, Mark looked at subject 876 with disgust. Exactly two days had passed since he started to be in charge of subject 876, and although he always ate his food, he never showed any reactions to his abuse and beatings.

This annoyed Mark quite a bit. There was simply no fun in abusing someone that showed no reaction.

Even though this was supposed to be something to treat his stress, it was starting to annoy him more than actually helping him.

"Tsk, how boring."

Kicking, subject 876 on the foot, Mark decided to call it quits for today. Stepping out of the room, he smashed the door behind him.

Clank'”!

*

An hour passed since then.

"Huuu..."

Opening my eyes, I exhaled. At this point, the effects of Monarch's indifference had worn off and my mana was completely depleted.

Holding onto the wall, I weakly stood up. Making my way towards the toilet, I sat down. With my whole body shaking, I bit my tongue and patiently waited for my body to do its business.

'Please let this be the one...'

I repeatedly muttered inside of my head.

Plop'”!

Eventually, a splashing sound reached my ears. My eyes lit up as a result of the sound.

"khhh..."

Gritting my teeth, standing up slightly, I reached my hand downwards. Towards the bottom of the toilet. This was the third time that I had done this. The previous three trials had all ended up in failure.

Feeling a slightly mushy feeling in my hand, my stomach churned in disgust. Even so, I was not discouraged. Moving my hand around the toilet, I tried to feel anything hard.

"'”'”!"

After searching for a minute, I finally felt something hard. My eyes lit up.

Splash'”!

Removing my hand from the toilet, a black bracelet appeared in my hands.

'F-finally...'

Staring at the bracelet in my hands, I was almost unable to hold back my emotions. But, I couldn't help it.

The light had finally shone in the dark tunnel that I could see no end of. I could now hope. I could now hope for a tomorrow in this hellish place.

"Khhh.."

Biting my lowering lip, tears had started to gather in the corner of my eyes.

Right when the explosion started, I knew that there was a high chance I would get caught by the Monolith. Desperate, whilst channeling mana inside of the Monolith ring, I put my bracelet inside of my mouth and swallowed.

This was my last hope. Thankfully it paid off.

Splash'”!

Walking towards the sink, I turned the tap on and washed the bracelet. After thoroughly washing the bracelet, waiting ten minutes, and channeling the last bit of mana in me, I instantly took out two lower-graded potions from my watch.

Gulp'”! Gulp'”!

Uncapping them, I quickly downed them. Instantly, my mind which was slowing down with each passing day cleared up. My injuries also showed visible signs of improvement.

"H-hello?"

Opening my mouth, I tried to say something. Though groggy, my voice finally came out. Biting my lower lip, the edges of my lips curved upwards slightly.

"I-I can f-finally speak."

It was only after I spent three days like this that I realized that I had taken too many things for granted in my life.

I had taken my voice for granted. Only after losing it for the past three days did I realize how important it was for me.

"huuu..."

Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm my erratic emotions. Now was not the time for me to get emotional. I had other priorities to take care of.

'five hours...'

That was how much time I had at my disposal.

At the six-hour mark, the guard would come back with the food. Thinking of the guard, my teeth clenched.

'...when I get out of here. I'll definitely make sure to kill him first.'

For what he put me through these past few days, I was definitely going to make him pay. Just the thought of him caused my blood to boil.

...but of course, that wasn't anywhere near the rage I felt for someone else.

Aaron.

Krrrr. Krrrr.

The sound of my teeth grinding together echoed across the room.

Just the thought of him caused my eyes to turn red. Everything that I was going through was because of him. If not for him, none of this would've happened.

'If I ever get out of this place, I swear on my life, that I'll kill you!'

This was a promise I was intending to keep.

"Haaa...haaa..."

Taking deep breaths, I forcefully calmed down my rage. I needed to keep my feelings bottled up for now. My priority, for now, was escaping.

Revenge or any other thoughts were secondary.

Weakly lifting my body and walking up towards the bed, I took out an energy bar from my bracelet and quickly devoured it.

Because I had to focus on keeping my mind sane right after each dose, my food always ended up being cold. Furthermore, because of my injuries, the food was some sort of paste. It tasted terrible.

'”Fwau.

Tapping on my bracelet, a small transparent glass container appeared in my hand. Inside of it was a dark green liquid.

"Mother's kiss..."

An extremely potent poison that upon ingestion could even cause <B> rank creatures to die. It was something that I had found back in Immorra.

"huuu."

Staring at the liquid in my hand, I long exhale escaped from my lips. What I was about to do next was going to be very gruesome.

'”Fwau.

Once again tapping on my bracelet, a small dagger appeared in my hand. There was another feature of the mother kiss poison. It could be used to scar someone's face. To the point where only an incredibly expensive potion could heal scars.

Mother's kiss was only truly dangerous upon ingestion. If not ingested, it would seep into the skin scarring it completely.

That's right. I was about to scar my face to the point where only an incredibly expensive potion or lotion could heal me.

After having spent the last three days thinking about how to get out of this place, I realized that three months wasn't enough time for me.

If I wanted to get out of this place, I neeed to make thorough preparations. For that I needed time. I estimated that within two months my face would've healed enough.

Enough for them to finally recognize me.

I couldn't allow that to happen.

Therefore.

Taking out a couple of pain killers from my pocket, I directly shoved them in my mouth.

"khhuuu..."

Patiently waiting for ten minutes, and feeling the effects of the pain killers kick in, with shaking hands, I brought the knife closer to my face.

"khhuuuua!"

A muffled scream escaped from my lips. Despite my attempts at being quiet, a scream couldn't help but escape from my mouth.

'I wanna die...I wanna die..I wanna die...'

Scarring my face with the knife, I repeated those words inside of my mind. The pain was unbearable. It felt as though I had millions of needles puncturing my face at the same time. The pain was even worse than when I was being burnt alive.

The reason I was doing this whilst my face was still burnt was because no one would notice anything if I did it now. By the time my face healed up, it would be covered in scars.

Drip'”! Drip'”!

Blood seeped down from my lips as I bit them as hard as I could. Many times I almost passed out, but thinking about my family and my friends, I persevered.

If this was the price I needed to pay to get out of this place and reunited with the ones I was close with then so be it. I was prepared to do anything to get out of this place.

"khhuuuua!"

For the next couple of hours or so, pained muffled screams resounded across the room.

Regardless of how much pain I felt, I continued to persevere.

***

Since then a week had passed.

Apart from the usual routine of shots and abuse, nothing in particular happened. Fortunately, I now had my bracelet with me. It was filled with potions. With it, I didn't need to worry about my mind getting eroded.

Unfortunately.

The number of potions inside of my bracelet was limited. This once again reminded me that I had a limited amount of time to get out of this place.

If by the time I used up all of my potions, I wasn't able to escape, I was practically doomed. It was as simple as that.

Furthermore, because I would always swallow my bracelet back each time I used it, I had to wait two to three days for it to travel through my body.

Given that there weren't any places to hide the bracelet, it was the only thing I could do.

If by chance they found out that I had the bracelet with me, they would not only find out my identity, they would also get rid of my last hope at surviving this place.

There was no way I was going to let that happen.

Especially not after what I had done to myself a week ago.

Clank'”!

Disrupting me out of my thoughts was the sound of the door smashing open.

"876, the professor is calling for you."

The guard shouted as he entered the room.

"Hurry up and get ready, I was ordered to escort you there."

"..."

Without saying anything and staring at the guard who had suddenly shown up in the room, I weakly stood up.

"Hurry up"

Grabbing the side of my shirt, the guard shoved me forward.

"When the professor is calling for you, 876, you need to be there as fast as possible! Now follow me."

The guard then turned right. Silently following from behind him, I tried to memorize everything.

From the layout of the place to the corridors we were walking on. Not one single detail was missed. If I wanted to get out of this place, every little detail was crucial.

"Alright, we're here."

Arriving before a familiar room, the guard stopped right at the door.

To Tok'”!

He then knocked on the door.

Clank'”!

Before long the door opened and a familiar face showed up. It was the assistant that I met during the first day here.

"Oh, it's you."

Looking at me, he enthusiastically said

"Come in."

He then turned around and walked towards one of the cabinets. Heeding his orders, I slowly walked into the room. Just as my foot stepped past the door that led to the room, closing my eyes I muttered inside of my head.

'Monarch's indifference.'

Chapter 258: 876 (4)

"Excellent!"

Joyously shouted Joseph as he stared at a small monitor before him. Extending from the monitor were multiple wires that attached themselves towards an individual. Subject 876.

"Who would've thought that patient that I had put the least hopes on would end up being the one that I have the most hope for."

Joseph was truly delighted.

Out of all the promising patients he had, 876 seemed to be the one displaying the most obvious signs of success.

At the moment, subject 876 was going through a virtual simulation. Inside of the virtual simulation, the 876 was put under multiple different trials. The trails although different were all things that would cause any sane man to feel fluctuations in their emotions. From killing civilians to committing terrorist acts, or dying in multiple different ways.

At the moment, both the MRI machine and Holter monitor were currently showing no unusual fluctuations. This meant that subject 876 was currently in the exact state Joseph was trying to achieve.

A state where the user held no emotions.

This was great news for Joseph. Especially since he had been pressed for time recently. With the higher-ups getting impatient, he knew that he needed to get results.

He had finally got something.

—Beeereeeeeep! —Beeereeeeeep!

"...Hu?"

Startling Joseph out of his thoughts was a rhythmical beeping sound coming from the holder monitor.

"What's going on?"

Rushing towards patient 876, Joseph looked at the small Holter monitor. The fluctuations were no longer constant but were now extremely erratic.

—Beeereeeeeeeeeep! —Beeereeeeeeeeeep!

With each passing second, the fluctuations became more and more erratic.

"Stop the simulation!"

Joseph turned around and shouted.

"Yes!"

Heeding his command, his assistant arrived before patient 876 and pressed on the side of the headset he was wearing. Slowly the helmet turned off.

—Beeereeeeeeeeeeeeeeep! —Beeereeeeeeeep! ! —Beeeeeeep! —Beeeeep!

Upon turning off the headset, the beeping sounds coming from the Holter monitor calmed down.

"Damn" Joseph cursed slightly. "How long was he inside of the simulation for?"

"Reporting. About 13 minutes and 45 seconds."

The assistant promptly replied.

"13 minutes and 45 seconds..." Joseph murmured to himself.

After a while, he eventually shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh, well. 876 has only been here for a week. This result is understandable."

Even though 876 had only lasted for a little bit, Joseph wasn't disheartened. Given that 876 had only been with him for about a week and was already showing signs of being the one most compatible with the serum, Joseph knew that it was best not to rush things.

"Haaa...haaa..."

Staring at 876 who was breathing heavily on the table, Joseph rubbed his chin slightly as he pondered to himself, 'Hmm...I guess it wouldn't hurt to invest a little more in him.'

If he could nurture 876 properly, who'd care about the little money he'd lose off of investing in him.

Heck, by then he would be so rich in funds that he would only consider such a minuscule amount of money as spare change.

Convincing himself that this was the right choice, Joseph looked at his assistant.

"You."

"Yes!"

The attendant's back straightened. Pointing at 876 who was laying on the table, Joseph fatly said.

"Speed up his treatment."

"S-speed up his treatment?"

The assistant replied in a flustered manner. For the treatment to be sped-up, without using potions, it would be with modern technology.

However.

It was extremely expensive. The news of the office getting their budget cut in a few months had already reached his ears.

Simply put, it was a waster of money.

"Sir in my opinion that is a bit too ha—"

"Shut up, and do as you're told," Cutting him off, Joseph shouted in annoyance. "Treat him well, he's going to be one that's going to save our project!"

876 was his hope. Nothing could happen to him.

"Ah, don't forget to give him his shots. We can't be forgetting his shots..."

***

After taking the shots and taking a couple of more tests, the guard that was in charge of me escorted me towards somewhere I had never been before.

Clank—!

"Tsk, I don't know what you did but don't think you're getting rid of me."

Arriving in front of a room and opening the door, I was thrown inside of the room. Mentally exhausted, I fell face-first on the floor and stayed there.

My mind was too exhausted to properly formulate any thoughts.

"I'll be back in six hours for your meal."

Throwing me a look of disgust, the guard turned around and smashed the door behind him.

Clank—!

Silence enveloped the room. This continued for thirty minutes before I finally decided to stand up. My mind had sobered up enough for me to think properly.

"Hm?"

Once I stood up, blinking a couple of times, I realized that I was in a different room from before. To my surprise, it was much bigger and more luxurious than my previous room.

Although it wasn't anything fancy, it had a lot more things than my previous room. A wardrobe, a desk, a bed, toilet, and a most surprising of them all, a bathtub.

Yes.

A bathtub.

Though surprised, I quickly lost interest. With the current state of my body, a bathtub wasn't something I could use.

'Thank god I didn't hide my bracelet.'

Recalling the fact that I never hid my bracelet and just swallowed it, I sighed in relief.

'Fortunately, I was cautious.'

Had I not done this, my bracelet would've been lost.

"huuu..."

Sitting on the bed, I exhaled.

'Sucess!'

Shouting inside of my mind, I clenched my fists tightly.

'I have successfully gotten Joseph's attention'

By using Monarch's indifference to erase my emotions, I reproduced something that closely resembled one of the soldiers that Joseph was aiming for.

One that wouldn't react regardless of the situation presented before them.

Inside of the Virtual machine, the only reason I was able to do those horrifying acts was because of Monarch's indifference. If not for it, I would've never been able to do them.

Another thing. During the virtual simulation, thirteen minutes in, the effects of monarch indifference ran out.

I had done this on purpose.

Since I couldn't cut off Monarch's indifference whenever I wanted, doing some calculations beforehand, I purposely consumed some of my mana before meeting the professor.

I didn't want Joseph to think that I could last long in that emotionless state.

I had done this so that in the future, as the tests progressed he would see noticeable improvements in the time I could stay in that emotionless state. As long as I showed signs of 'improvements' he would invest more in me.

This was my aim.

The more important I was, the greater my treatment would be. This was a necessary step I needed to take for my future.

Only when I was fully healed could I escape.

***

Since then, another week passed.

Ziiiiii—! Ziiiii—!

Two mechanical arms hovered above 876's head. Strapped on a metal table, a red laser scanned his body from top to bottom.

He was unable to move at all.

Even then, he showed no signs of struggling. Dully staring at the ceiling, the laser beam continuously moved up and down. Shockingly, although slow, 876's injuries were showing signs of healing. Slowly but surely, his burnt skins showed signs of improving.

"How are the results?"

"Everything seems to be alright, professor. He may be able to recover within a month's time."

"A month's time, huh?" Joseph scratched his nose. "Any way we can speed up his recovery?"

"Ehmm, not unless we use a potion...and well, we can't really use those, so I unfortunately we can't."

Although technology had advanced to levels where they could pretty much treat most injuries, they weren't perfect. Unlike potions that could treat patients almost instantaneously, treatments like this took much more time.

"Alright, have you given him the serum yet?"

Somewhat accepting the circumstances, Joseph switched the topic.

"Yes."

"How many grams?"

"We've upped the those from 2mg to 10mg as you've suggested."

"Oh? Let's test its effects."

Click—! Click—!

Walking up to 876 and removing the restraints off of him, Joseph helped him up.

"Alright."

Seizing him up, Joseph nodded his head in satisfaction.

He then looked at him straight into the eyes. Noticing the indifference oozing off of him, Joseph smiled.

"From now on, you're name will be 876. You're my first successful subject, and your purpose from now on is to faithfully serve the Monolith and me. You are to never betray us nor have any other thoughts. From today onwards, you are the Monolith's faithful dog. Is that clear?"

Joseph grinned from ear to ear.

"Now tell me, who are you?"

"..."

"Who are you?" he repeated.

Not getting a response the first time, Joseph wasn't disheartened. It was only the second week of testing after all. Still, a little part of him hoped for 876 to answer him.

"..."

After a couple of minutes had passed and still not getting an answer, Joseph shook his head.

"Well, I guess we can try nex—"

"...876."

Joseph abruptly stopped speaking. Snapping his head right, towards 876, he raised his voice.

"Repeat that! Repeat to me your identity."

"....My...name...is...876"

Once again opening his mouth, 876 stuttered. The reply was slow, but, even then, the meaning of his words was easy to understand.

He had acknowledged himself to be 876.

"Hahaha, perfect!" Joseph burst into a fit of maniacal laughter "It worked! My experiment worked!"

He had finally gotten one step closer to creating his first super-soldier.

"This is great! With 876, I now don't have to worry about the funding! Ah, 876 come with me! I need to present you to the higher-ups."

Walking back and forth, Joseph bit his nails. Quickly redirecting his attention back to 876 and staring at his body, he stopped himself before shaking his head.

"No, I can't rush things yet. He's still not ready."

Joseph forcefully tried to suppress his emotions.

He was too high on success. Since he had been given three months, he might as well make full use of that time and develop 876 even more.

Added with the fact that they wanted to question him, it was best to thoroughly brain-wash him before going to the higher-ups. With their tempers, he wouldn't know what they'd do.

Thus, he turned towards his assistant whose name he still did not know.

"You."

"Professor?"

"What about the other subjects? How are they doing? Is there anyone else that is promising"

"Other subjects...hmm, let me check"

Taking out a tablet, the assistant scrolled through some files. Not before long, he answered.

"Hmmm...Out of the 1743 subjects we are testing, only 47 show a similar reaction to 876. Although not as prominent, they are the best next thing after him. From the data that we have analyz—"

"47? That little?" Joseph cut in the middle. "That's only like a 3% success rate."

This number was a lot lower than he had expected. not even 2.7% of his subjects managed to succeed. This just showed how difficult the project was.

It was no wonder why the higher-ups were getting impatient. At the rate he was going, they'd never see results. At least not within a short period of time.

"Yes." Used to being cut off, the assistant patiently explained. "A lot of the subjects either turned insane or died. The only ones that we could count on are these 47 subjects. Even then, they are only showing similar signs as 876. We can't guarantee that they will turn out like him."

"I see..." Joseph muttered.

Though the numbers were low, he had somewhat expected this. Especially since all humans were different. Not all could withstand the potency of the serum.

'...fortunately, I have 876 with me'

Recalling the successes he had with 876, Joseph calmed down a bit.

Using him as a reference, he should be able to create even more soldiers.

The more soldiers he created, the greater the impression he would leave on the higher-ups. This of course also meant a greater budget for future endeavors.

"Hehehe."

Thinking thus far, Joseph once again laughed. Things were starting to brighten up for him.

Chapter 259: 876 (5)

Inside of a large empty white room.

—Crash!

A loud crashing sound reverberated across the room. The source of the sound was a large metallic humanoid robot.

Opposite to the robot was a youth. The youth was fairly muscular and had thin short black hair that spiked upwards. Hair aside, the most striking feature of the youth were the terrifying scars that covered half of his face. Tracing from the top of his head to the bottom of his head, the youth looked absolutely terrifying.

This, coupled with his indifferent eyes, would've made anyone look at him in fear. He looked terrifying.

Coldly looking at the robot, the youth took a step back.

WHIIII—! WHIIII—!

Instantly two robotic arms appeared in the position he was previously standing. Once the two arms appeared, lifting his foot slightly, 876 twisted his torso 45 degrees and kicked one of the robots right in the head.

—Bam!

A dully metallic sound rang out.

—Thud.

Following this, one of the robots fell to the ground. Without wasting a single second, 876 thrust his sword downwards.

—Beep!

Once the sword made contact with the robot, a beeping sound came out of the robot. Ignoring it, 876 jumped on the robot and tensed his legs.

WHIIII—!

Upon making contact with the robot on the ground, 876 released the tension between his legs and jumped backward. The moment he jumped, a terrifying fist flew towards the area he was standing, barely missing him by an inch.

—Thud!

Softly landing on the arm of the robot, channeling his mana, and using his right leg, 876 kicked the last robot in the head.

Bam—!

Another dull sound rang out as a shockwave swept the area.

—Thud!

Falling alongside the robot, 876 softly landed on the ground. He was completely unharmed.

—Beep!

Repeating the same thing he did with the other robot, stabbing downwards, a beeping sound rang out. Having eliminated the last robot, sheathing his sword back, 876 calmly looked upwards. Towards a tinted glass window by the side of the room.

—Beep!

[Alright, good job 876, your test ends now. You're dismissed for now]

Joseph's voice rang out from the speakers around the room.

"..."

Without saying anything and nodding his head, 876 made his way towards the entrance of the room. Arriving before a thick metal door, 876's footsteps halted.

—Kshiii!

Slowly the doors opened and 876 left the room.

***

Inside of a different room.

Looking through a series of recordings regarding 876, Joseph laughed out loud.

"Excellent! Excellent! 876, has grown much more than I had anticipated."

Three months had passed since 876 had arrived. During that period of time, alongside two more test subjects, 091, and 654, Joseph had finally managed to develop his first prototypes of the soldiers he wanted to create.

An emotionless machine that would disregard anything for their goal.

Out of the three, 876 was by far the most successful subject. Not only was he capable of remaining under the emotionless state for the longest out of the two, but he had also shown the most growth in combat.

Compared to 091 and 654, 876 was by far a more completed super-soldier.

"It's a pity though..."

Recalling 876's face, Joseph shook his head. With scars covering a better part of his face, he looked absolutely hideous. Fortunately, looks didn't matter, so Joseph didn't really care about his scars.

—Triiing! —Triiing!

Disrupting Joseph out of his thoughts was his phone. Looking at the caller ID, Joseph's brows knit.

"...Xavier." He muttered underneath his breath.

The one person he disliked the most.

"What do you want?"

He answered.

—Joseph. How are you doing?

"Cut the crap, get to the point."

Knowing full well that Xavier also didn't like him, Joseph went straight to the point.

—Very well then...I would like to tell you that the three months are up. It's time to show us what you've achieved.

"...now?"

—Yes. By tomorrow.

"..."

Joseph remained silent for a moment.

Although he had expected such a day to come, now that it was quite close, he couldn't help but become nervous.

'What if they don't act as I intended them to? What if they fail?'

Many questions crossed through Joseph's mind as he bit his nails and walked around the room with his phone in his hand. This was a bad habit of his that showed up whenever his emotions were out of control.

—Did you hear me?

"Ah, yes...I heard you."

Snapping him out of his thoughts was Xavier's calm voice.

—Okay then. I will come tomorrow on behalf of the higher-ups to see what you've accomplished. You better not disappoint me.

"...wait you're the one coming?"

—...Is there a problem?

"No, I just thought that we'd have to go to them."

—Ah. Right, you must've not heard yet since you're always stuck inside of your lab.

"Heard what?"

Joseph's tilted his head in confusion. 'Is there some sort of event that's happening that I'm not aware of?'

Because he whole himself up in the lab most of the time, Joseph was unaware of what was happening in the outside world...or more like he usually didn't care. Therefore it wasn't strange for him to not know the situation outside of his lab.

—...We're currently at war. The higher-ups are busy.

"War!? What happened?"

Joseph's mouth dropped as he screamed out loud.

"Just what ar—"

—Know your place.

Before he could finish speaking, Xavier's grave voice cut him off. Realizing his mistake, Joseph instantly apologized.

"...ah, I apologize. I was just shocked."

He was but a mere researcher. It was impudent of him to ask for such sensitive information.

—That is understandable, however, you better watch your tongue....all I can tell you is that it has something to do with the union. But that's all.

"The union?"

—Yes...Anyhow, we've derailed from the original purpose of this conversation. I'll be seeing you tomorrow. You better show me something worth my time.

"...understood."

Joseph seriously nodded his head.

—Good. I'll see you tomorrow then.

Tak—!

Xavier quickly hung up the call.

"huuu."

Putting his phone away, Joseph took a deep breath. Turning around and looking at the three profiles on his table, he closed his eyes slightly.

"It's time for you three to finally make your debut."

***

Moments after leaving the training facility, putting on a couple of bracelets that suppressed my rank, the effects of Monarch's indifference instantly wore off.

After suppressing my rank, accompanied by the same guard as before, I was brought back to my room.

Fortunately, because of my elevated status, he couldn't abuse me as he did in the past. Thus after bringing me in and cursing at me, he directly left the room.

Clank—!

Once the guard closed the door, silence enveloped the room.

Blankly staring at the ceiling for a good minute, I closed my eyes slightly and muttered.

"Three corridors to the right...two to the left...and from there keep going straight till you find a large metallic door with a red lamp by the side..."

Those were the coordinates of the surveillance and communications room of the lab facility.

Passing them each day to get to the training room, I made myself repeat the steps to get there every time I came back from training. I couldn't allow myself to forget this piece of information.

If I wanted to escape, that was the first place I needed to destroy. Only when that was destroyed would I have a shot at escaping this place.

—Phsssss!

Calmly walking towards the bathtub, I twisted the valve upwards. Water instantly ran down the tub.

Walking towards my desk and taking out a small box, I opened it. Inside of it was a small glass bottle filled with green liquid.

Tu.Tu.Tu. Walking back to the bathtub, I poured the contents of the bottle into the tub. As I poured the liquid, the water inside of the tub slowly turned murky green.

"Hmm."

A faint smell of sulfur enveloped the room, prompting me to frown slightly.

The substance I was currently mixing in the bath was something Joseph had given to me. It was made from all sorts of rare medical ingredients, and it only served one purpose, and that purpose was to tamper my body.

Since Joseph wanted to train super-soldiers, to those that were actually successful, he provided adequate resources to aid their growth.

This substance being one of them. It helped reinforce the bones and muscles of the body.

—Tssssss!

Once the liquid was fully mixed, I took out my clothes. Taking one step into the tub, I slowly lowered my body. Upon making contact with my skin, vapor rose in the air.

"Huuuu."

Exhaling, I closed my eyes and grit my teeth. A stinging sensation enveloped my body. Like millions of needles were puncturing my body, my body was put under an unimaginable amount of pain.

Since Joseph thought that we could now not feel pain, he opted for the most painful method of growth. One that was could cause any normal person to go insane.

"Khhh."

A light groan escaped from my mouth.

Biting my lipd till they bled, I remained seated in the bathtub. At the ten-minute mark, my whole body turned red as my fists shook uncontrollably.

'Twenty more minutes...twenty more minutes...'

Enduring the pain, I grit my teeth and tried my best to remain inside the bathtub for another twenty minutes. According to the professor I had to endure the pain for thirty minutes for optimal results, therefore, clenching my fists tightly, I tried to endure the pain.

For the past few months, using the same method as what I was using just now, I was able to boost my strength considerably. I had already gone up by a sub-rank since coming here.

I was now <D> ranked.

Using this method, <D+> rank wouldn't be an impossibility to reach within the next half a year.

Splash—!

Eventually, thirty minutes flew by and unable to handle the pain anymore, I shot up and left the bathtub.

"Haa...Haa..."

With heavy breaths, I supported my body with my knees. Catching my breath for a minute, I weakly walked towards my bed and put on some clothes. Laying down on my bed, I muttered.

"...Almost."

Within the next few months, I was ready to finally get out of this place. By now, three months had passed and I was already almost fully healed. During these three months I didn't stay idle, every day I would contemplate to myself on how to escape this place. Slowly but surely, a plan formulated itself inside of my mind.

Though it was currently still filled with holes, given time, I could cover those. I just needed time. At least a couple more months. By then I would be able to have set up enough to properly escape this place.

'Till then, I need to lay low and continue planning.'

As long as I was still deemed useful to Joseph, I should be able to find ways to fill those holes.

...but I knew that I didn't have much time. I was now almost out of potions.

Chapter 260: 876 (6)

"So, is this what you wanted to show me?" Xavier's eyes squinted slightly.

His sharp eyes glossed over three individuals as he looked at them from top to bottom. Halting his steps, he raised his brow and pointed towards one specific individual. One whose face was riddled with scars.

"…he is?"

"That's 876"

Joseph replied.

"…876?"

Frowning slightly, Xavier licked his teeth underneath his lips.

"Just where have I heard of h—Ah!"

Smacking the palm of his hand with his fist, Xavier finally remembered.

"He's the one that came into our headquarters on fire?" Looking at Joseph, he asked. "That's him? What happened to his face? I thought that the extent of his injuries only amounted to burns, where did the scars come from?"

"That…I'm not too sure myself. I've never asked." Joseph replied with a bit of embarrassment.

He was too busy developing his serum and testing it on the other subjects that he didn't even bother questioning 876 about his past. In all honesty, he didn't particularly care about his past. He only cared about his research.

"I see…so how is he?"

Puffing up his chest, Joseph pridefully said.

"Well, as a matter of fact, he is my most successful subject."

There were also two other successful subjects 091 and 654, but compared to 876, they were still lacking. Even then, Joseph introduced them to Xavier.

"These here are 091, and 654. Although they may be a little lacking compared to 876, they are still very capable."

Alternating his eyes between 091 and 654, Xavier's eyes finally landed on 876. His eyes flashed with interest.

"Oh? So you're saying that out of the thousands of subjects you had, he's the most successful subject?"

"Indeed."

"Okay." Xavier nodded his head.

—Shap!

Dropping his jacket on the ground and unbuttoning the buttons of his sleeves, he calmly walked towards the middle of the training ground. Stretching his neck, he looked at Joseph and said.

"Alright, show me."

"Huh?"

"…what, did you not hear me? I said show me."

"S-show you what?"

Joseph was starting to get flustered. Turning his head and looking in the direction of where Xavier was looking at, he became even more flustered.

"W-wait, are you trying to fight him?"

876 was his treasure. His most successfully subject. There was no way in hell, he would ever let him go near Xavier.

Ignoring Joseph, Xavier continued. "Don't worry, I'll suppress my strength to his level…D rank was it? I'll fight him at that level"

"Bu—"

"It's not a request. It's an order."

Cutting Joseph off, a cold glint flashed Xavier's eyes. A chill ran down Joseph's spine.

"Joseph, I'm here on behalf of the higher-ups. All you did was show me three individuals. That is not nearly enough to convince me that you're worth investing in. I'm not here to play games? I'm here to see what you've actually done. If I'm not satisfied by the end of this, you can say goodbye to your project. Think carefully."

"Ah…"

A defeated sound escaped from Joseph's lips.

Despite his status, he was but a mere researcher. He couldn't really go against the higher-up's order. Especially since he couldn't fight back either. His only option was to give in.

Weakly staring at Xavier, he nodded his head.

"Understood. But please don't kill him."

Pleased, Xavier laughed out loud and reassured. "Hahahah…who do you think I am? There's no need to worry, I'll hold back a lot."

"That would be great."

A forced smile appeared on Joseph's lips.

'It's precisely because I know who you are that I'm saying this.' he cursed inside of his mind.

Xavier was notorious for his sadistic mindset. If his switch was flipped, only God himself would be able to stop him from going on a sadistic rampage.

Thus.

"No weapons."

Joseph said after mustering all of his courage.

As long as Xavier did not use a weapon, 876 may have a chance at surviving.

"…what?"

Stopping himself mid-stretch, Xavier looked at Joseph.

"What did you just say?"

Clenching his fists, Joseph repeated.

"I said no weapons allowed in this spar."

"..."

After a brief moment of silence, staring at Joseph, an amused smile appeared on Xavier's lips.

"Ah…I see, so you're afraid I won't keep my promise."

Xavier was not mad by Joseph's statement. In fact, he found it quite amusing. Raising his hand, he nodded his head.

"Alright, I promise....In fact, I'll do you one better. if he can land a single hit on me, I'll grant you your funds. How about it?"

Surprised by the fact that Xavier had agreed to his request, Joseph was elated.

"You're being serious?"

"I am."

"Alright…" Nodding his head, Joseph looked at 876 and ordered. "Go and fight him."

"Understood."

876 responded in a monotonous tone. Almost robotic. Under everyone's eyes, he moved towards the center of the training ground.

Standing five meters apart from Xavier, 876 indifferently looked at Xavier.

A tremendous pressure oozed out of Xavier who stood opposite to him. Yet, despite being under such pressure, 876 remained completely unfazed.

"HoHo, this looks interesting."

Joseph laughed out loud. Staring at the youth opposite to him was remaining unfazed by his pressure, his interest piqued.

Turning his head, he looked at Joseph.

"Joseph, you may initiate the spar."

"Understood."

Nodding his head, Joseph nervously looked at 876.

'Please don't die.'

If he died, all of his plans would go down the drain. Although 091 and 654 were both capable, they needed a lot more time to develop unlike 876 who was by far the closest to achieving the state that he wanted.

Alas.

Under Xavier's threatening pressure, Joseph could only raise his hand in the air.

"Ready, get set…go!"

—Bam!

The moment Joseph's hand fell, 876 moved. Xavier remained rooted on the same spot. With a slight smile on his face, his eyes followed 876's movements.

"…let me see what you can do."

The moment his words fell, 876 arrived before him. Planting his right foot on the ground, he twisted his torso slightly and kicked upwards. Aiming for Xavier's head.

"Oh? Not bad."

Moving his head slightly, a kick flew past him. The force of the kick was so strong that Joseph, who was standing quite far from them, could hear the booming sound of the air splitting.

However, despite the prowess of the kick, Xavier was still able to dodge it easily.

—Swoosh! —Swoosh!

Unfazed by the fact that his first attack had failed, 876 continued to attack. Elbows, knees, palms, fingers, every single part of the body, 876 used. For the past few months, he had been trained every day to fight hand-to-hand combat. He had not been given a weapon yet because of his injuries.

It could be said that because of that, he was now quite adept in hand-to-hand combat.

Unfortunately.

—Swoosh!

"Huaam…boring."

Avoiding another fist, Xavier yawned. He was dealing with someone that was much stronger than him. Even if his rank was suppressed, his fighting experience was leagues above his.

Turning his head, he looked at Joseph who was standing not far from where he was.

"Is this really what you've been working for the past few months? Honestly, I'm pretty disappointed."

Although he was impressed by the fact that 876 was unfazed by his pressure, that was it. Any regular guard could've performed as well as 876. There was nothing really special about him. At least nothing worth investing that much money in.

'Alright, let's get this over with.'

After a while, Xavier grew tired. The faster this ended, the more time he had for himself.

Raising his hand, Xavier threw a simple punch. Though it was simple, in actuality it was anything but simple. If one looked closely, a thin layer of mana was covering the fist. If the fist landed, without a doubt 876 would get seriously hurt.

—Swoosh!

The moment Xavier punched, a cold glint flashed 876's eyes. Turning his body ever-so-slightly, he tensed his abdominal muscles similarly punched out. A whistling sound arose and the air split apart.

"Hu—!"

—Pa!

Kracka—!

Before Xavier could make out what had happened, 876's fist connected with his face. The sound of 876's fist connecting with Xavier's face resounded across the room, alongside it was the sound of bones breaking. Following this, heavy silence descended the room.

"Ha...not bad. Not bad" Massaging his cheek slightly, Xavier's face twisted savagely. "...Not bad at all"

Staring at 876, Xavier's eyes paused towards his right hand.

"No wonder…"

With his right hand loosely hanging, 876 was no longer in a state where he could fight. His left hand at the moment was completely shattered. Even then, the goal of the fight was to hit him, therefore, he had technically won.

'So he purposely injured himself for the sake of hitting me...this indeed seems a little intriguing.'

A soldier that had no regard for their life. Xavier had originally thought that such a thing wasn't possible, but staring at 876 before him, he had to admit, he was wrong.

still.

—Bam!

Appearing before 876, Xavier's fist dug into his stomach. A small shockwave swept the surroundings.

"ohu.."

The moment Xavier's fist hit landed, a small groan escaped from 876's mouth. Though his face didn't change, because of how strong the punch was, the air was knocked out of him as he fell on his knees.

—thud!

"H-hey what are you doing"

By the side, Joseph flusteredly shouted.

"Shut up"

Snapping his head in Joseph's direction, a tremendous pressure bore down on him paralyzing him completely.

"There was another reason for me coming here" Joseph's deeply looked at 876. "And that reason is him. Subject 876...It's about time we found out who he truly is."

Kracka—!

Putting his hand on 876's shoulder, the sound of bones breaking echoed across the training ground.

"..."

To Xavier's surprise, as he broke 876's shoulder bones, he made no sound. He acted as though nothing had happened.

"This..." Xavier murmured. "The more I see it for myself, the more I'm amazed."

Kracka—!

Putting his hand on his other shoulder, he broke the other one. Yet again, 876 showed no reaction. Turning around, he looked at Joseph.

"Say...has he been brainwashed yet?"

"Y-yes."

"I see."

From what Xavier heard, Joseph's research consisted in erasing someone's emotions.

If so, with him no longer having any emotions, answering questions would no longer be a problem since they shouldn't really care about anything else. Why keep a secret when you no longer feel the need to keep it?

Turning his attention back to 876, Xavier asked.

"What's your name?"

After a short moment of silence, 876 replied. "...My name is 876."

"Ah," Xavier smacked his head lightly. "Sorry, let me rephrase. What was your previous name?"

"..."

This time, 876 did not respond. Xavier's brows knit as a result.

"Hm? Cat got your tongue? I'll ask again, who were you before coming here?"

"..."

Once again, 876 did not respond. Turning around, Xavier looked at Joseph.

"Are you sure this works?"

No longer under Xavier's pressure, Joseph nodded his head.

"Yes. It should work"

"Then why isn't he speaking?"

"Hmm" Placing his hand on his chin, Joseph thought for a moment before responding "There's a possibility that he might've lost a part of his memories."

"Lost a part of his memories?"

"Yes." Joseph once again nodded, as he explained. "Don't you remember the state that he was in when you brought him to me? There's a high chance that he may have lost a part of his memories due to the trauma he experienced prior to coming here. "

"Ah." Xavier made a small sound. "Right. That does sound plausible."

Recalling the state 876 was in when he first saw him, Xavier had a look of understanding. Turning his attention back to 876, Xavier asked multiple different questions.

"Do you remember anything about who you were before? Your parent's name? Your job? Your age...or where you got this ring from?"

From the first exchange, Xavier did not have much hope. He was only asking as a formality. He didn't really particularly care about 876's previous identity, but what he wanted to know was where he had gotten the ring from.

There weren't many rings in circulation, and each ring was extremely precious as it would directly teleport someone into the headquarters of the Monolith. He needed to know how he had gotten the ring.

This wasn't something to merely laugh about.

If 876 did not say anything useful, he'd have someone extract whatever memory he had. He didn't really care about the fact that it might result in Joseph's research slowing down. If he gave him enough money, it would more than make up for the loss.

"..."

And just like he had originally assumed, 876 did not respond. He just blankly stared back at him.

Lowering his head, Xavier sighed.

"Alright, I guess there's no point in continuing this conversation. I'll get someone to extract his memories and see for m—"

"...T-thibaut."

"Hm?"

Just as Xavier was about to leave, 876 spoke.

"The ring...the man who I got the ring from is called Thibaut"

"Did you just say...Thibaut?"

"...yes."

"Do you remember anything else regarding the ring?"

Xavier carefully asked.

"...Negative."

"I see."

Xavier's pinched the middle of his brows as the gears of his mind turned.

'Thibaut...Thibaut...where have I heard of that name?'

The name sounded familiar. He had heard of it before. It was just at the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't quite place his finger on it.

"Just wher—Ah! I remember now!" Punching the palm of his hand, Xavier was finally able to recall where had heard of that name before.

Alfonse Thibaut. The agent that the Monolith had spent countless resources in nurturing who regrettably ended up being a total flop. Had it not been for his failure half a year ago, the Monolith wouldn't have been in their current situation.

Finally, after more than half a year of searching, he had finally heard news about him.

Turning his attention back to 876, Xavier's tone became grave.

"Thibaut...is he dead?"

"Affirmative."

"Do you know who killed him?"

"Affirmative."

The moment he heard this confirmation, Xavier couldn't hide his anticipation. Because of how much Thibaut's failure had cost the Monolith, if he managed to find something about him, he may be able to get quite a reward from the higher-ups.

Furthermore, each time 876 answered, he answered monotonously. With no changes in tone or facial expression. This alone made Xavier think that he was not lying.

"Who was it? Who killed Thibaut?"

After a brief moment of silence, 876 answered.

"...It was me."

Xavier's brows jumped up at his response.

"You? Elaborate"

"Affirmative." 876 paused for a moment. "...According to my memories, said person attacked me. In self-defense, I killed him and stole all of his items...in the process of taking his item, his watch blew up and I got injured as a result."

The moment Xavier heard about Thibaut's watch blowing up, he knew that this was most likely not a lie. Upon the host's death, the Monolith watch would automatically destroy itself.

This was a preemptive measure that the Monolith used to stop the Union from getting access to their database. Not many people knew this fact giving more credibility to the story.

However, just because he said that there were still many things that didn't add up.

Like.

"If you've killed him, how did you figure out how the ring works?"

"From a small diary inside of his storage space."

"Diary?"

"Affirmative. Inside of it was a long list of names."

"Ah, I see..."

Xavier nodded his head as he fell into deep thought. Within moments he started to get the gist of the situation.

'After his failure in completing his designated mission, knowing that we would not let it go, he must've decided to run away. With us in his pursuit, in order to lay low, there's a high chance that he resorted to robbing people in the street to make ends meet...from there he must've attacked 876 but ended up failing.'

In Xavier's mind, everything was starting to check out. After killing Thibaut, whoever 876 was before, he must've looked through his storage device and took everything.

This was not something shocking as it was pretty much something everyone did once they killed someone.

'Also, the diary he was referring to must've been a list of possible recruits from the Lock...'

Every agent had one. It was so that they could keep track of the people that they wanted to exploit and entice them to join the union.

The more Xavier thought about it, the more everything started to make more sense. Closing his eyes slightly, Xavier looked at Joseph.

"All right I pretty much get the gist of the situation...Joseph. Take good care of 876. Once the higher-ups come back, I'll relay everything that he had told me to them and from there I'll let you know what we'll do with him"

As he pretty much understood everything, he decided to tell the higher-ups first before deciding on whether to extract his memory or not. At least for now, he didn't think there was a need to.

Sighing in relief, Joseph asked.

"Then what about my funds?"

"Oh? those?" Pausing, Xavier looked at 876 before smiling. "I'll put in a good word."

He was satisfied with what he had seen.

No, it would be better to say that he was extremely satisfied with 876's performance. A supersoldier that disregarded anything for victory. Now, this was something the Monolith didn't mind having.

Though he got punched in the face in order to confirm this, Xavier's anger had already ceased. Especially after hearing news about Thiabut.

Picking up his jacket from the ground, Xavier made his way towards the exit of the training grounds.

"Alright, I'll see you around Joseph...and 876."

Without looking back, he opened the door and left.

Clank—!

Chapter 261: Escape (1)

Days passed, and eventually, five more months flew by. It had now been about seven months since I had entered this place, and a lot of things changed.

Especially since my fight with Xavier, which took place around half a year ago.

Ever since then, the number of successful subjects increased from three to fifteen, and the conditions I had been living in had improved drastically.

Once again, my room changed. This time, it was a lot more 'practical' as although it lacked any luxury, it had a private training facility.

As a result of the improved conditions, my strength saw a significant boost.

Training every day, and being fed all sorts of weird stuff, my strength surged at a faster rate than ever before. Even more than when I was at the Lock learning from Monica and Donna.

Within half a year, I had reached <D+> rank, almost <C-> rank. Something that I would've never thought possible when first arriving here.

In around seven months, I shot up to almost <C> rank. This was a speed that perhaps only Kevin could rival.

Other than that.

===

[★★★ Full-body martial arts]

Hand-to-Hand combat technique dedicated to utilizing every single part of the body to incapacitate the enemy. It may be a 3-star art, but upon mastery, it can be used to complement other forms of martial art.

===

This was the technique that I had been learning for the past two months. A generic three-star technique that every subject was forced to learn.

And because I was learning this, my swordsmanship saw no significant boost during the past seven months. I wasn't saddened by this as I had now tackled one of my biggest weaknesses. Fighting without a sword.

But not everything was good.

Splash—!

Walking towards the sink and washing my face, I turned my head slightly. Brushing my hair up, I looked at a small scar on the back of my head.

"Khh...it still hurts."

Touching the scar, my face twitched in pain.

About a month ago I underwent a surgical procedure at the hands of Joseph. A chip was installed into my brain.

The chip was something that Joseph had created and what it did was essentially increase the computational abilities of the user. In short, it made someone think at a much faster rate than before. A basic necessity for the super-soldiers he wanted to create.

That was good and all, but unfortunately, there was also a tracking device installed in it. Unaware of such a device existing in the novel, I was unable to prevent this, and thus, stuck with the chip inside of my head, I had to delay my escape plan for another couple of months.

To make matters worse, two months ago, apart from one that I had been saving for a while, I had run out of healing potions.

The only reason I was able to remain sane till now was that the number of dosages I took also saw a dramatic decrease compared to before.

But this was a given.

After all, the dosages did damage the nervous system. Too many and they would only give the opposite effect of what they wanted. Instead of a super-soldier, they'd get an idiot.

Clank—!

"876, it's time to go"

Barging into the room and disrupting me out of my thoughts, was the same guard that had been attending me for the past seven months.

Throwing me a look of disdain, he stepped to the side and gestured with his hand.

"Hurry up, don't waste the professor's time."

"…"

Turning around, I Indifferently looked at him. No words escaped from my mouth.

Since I was supposed to be 'emotionless' I had to act the part. Therefore, without speaking a word I complied with everything the guard was saying.

Despite all of the abuse he was throwing at me, I endured and pretended to not feel anything.

'Well, that no longer applies as of today.'

Secretly clenching my fists, I closed my eyes. The gears of my mind slowly turned.

"Come on, I don't have all day." The guard impatiently grumbled.

"…"

Once again not responding, I moved towards the entrance of the room.

"Tsk, what an idiot."

Ignoring the guard, just as I was about to leave the room, my footsteps halted. Turning around, I looked back at my room.

Looking back at the room, I closed my eyes slightly.

'This is it,' I thought. 'The moment I step out of this room is the moment where my fate is decided.'

Seven months.

That was how long I had been waiting for this day. The day that I would finally escape from this hellish place.

After months of planning, the time was finally ripe.

With the conflicts between the union continuously escalating each day, it was now the optimal time for me to escape. Especially since most of the higher-ups were out holding back the Union.

"What are you doing?"

The guard's confused voice reached my ears. Silently turning around, I took a step out of the room and closed my eyes.

*

Following a route that I had been all too familiar with, the guard, Mark, stopped in front of the corridor that led to the training ground. Tapping onto his finger, a key appeared in his hand.

"Extend both of your hands."

"..."

Without saying anything, I raised both of my hands. On them were two thick black bracelets.

—Click! —Click!

Inserting a small key into my bracelets and unlocking them, I could instantly feel my mana replenish as my rank rose all the way to <D+>.

"There, I've removed your restraints."

Putting the key away, Mark patted his hands and put the bracelets away. Inching closer to my face, he smirked.

"Hmm...to think that you're <D> rank. That's stronger than me. "

Turning around and looking at the corridor to make sure that there were no cameras present, Mark raised his hand.

—Pa!

A loud smacking sound echoed across the corridor. The right side of my cheek started stinging.

"So what if you're stronger than me? In the end, you can't hit me."

"..."

Unpleased by my reaction, or lack of reaction, Mark waved his hand and shooed me.

"Go, it's time for your training to start."

"..."

To his surprise, however, I did not move.

"Hmm? You've got something to say?"

After a brief moment, opening my mouth, I said. "...as a matter of fact, I do."

"W-what—khu"

The moment those words escaped from my mouth, Mark froze on the spot.

Raising my face and extending my hand, to Mark's horror, he watched as my hand arrived before his throat. It was so fast that he had no time to react.

"Khh..."

Feeling the rough texture of his throat, I grabbed his throat. A groan escaped from Mark's lips.

Yet.

No matter how much Mark struggled, he couldn't free himself from his grasp.

"876, W-khmm-at are you doing?! Let go! A-re you betraying the Monolith?"

Coldly looking at Mark, a small smirk appeared on my lips. Instantly, a look of fear appeared on Mark's face.

"Betraying" A small chuckle escaped from my lips. "I've never been part of the Monolith. What betray?" To begin with, for someone to be betray something, they had to be a part of it. Not once did I recall ever agreeing to join the Monolith.

"W-what?"

Somehow my words had a great impact on Mark as his face visibly paled. He was slowly starting to understand the situation.

"Y-you. You were never brainwashed, to begin with."

"So you're not stupid." The smirk on my face disappeared. "You know..." Staring at Joseph, and recalling how he had tormented me for the past months, my grip on his throat tightened. "If I wasn't so pressed for time, I would've taken my sweet time with you. I mean, surely you wouldn't forget about all of the horrible things you did to me these past few months, no?"

For seven months I had held back my impulse to kill this piece of scum before him. Now that I was presented with the chance to get rid of him, a part of me really wanted to torture him. Torture him and make him go through the hell I had been through these past few months.

But.

Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time.

"T-th—"

"Like I've said before. I, unfortunately, don't have time to chat with you any longer." Clenching my teeth and once again increasing the strength of my grip on his throat, I hoarsely said. "The only reason I'm even speaking to you is so that you know who killed you.

Kracka—!

The moment I finished those words, without giving Mark any chance to speak, clenching my hand, the sound of bones breaking echoed across the room.

Even if I couldn't torture him, I wanted him to realize who he had messed with.

—Thud!

Throwing Mark's slowly dying body on the ground, I closed my eyes slightly. 'That's the first step of the plan done.'

"...Next."

Putting my hands inside of my underwear and taking out a small black bracelet, I channeled my mana and a wooden mask appeared in my hand.

Staring at Mark who was slowly dying on the floor, I lowered myself.

"Stay still."

Grabbing him by the cheeks, I slowly put the mask on his face. The moment the mask touched Mark's face, a blue glow enveloped the area.

Unfazed by this, I closed my eyes and channeled all my mana into the mask.

"khh..."

Within seconds almost a quarter of my mana was completely gone. Even then, I continued to persevere. Finally, just when I thought that the mask would consume more than half of my mana, the mask finally stopped glowing.

"Huu..."

Slumping back, I exhaled. Taking out a mana recovering potion from my dimensional space I quickly chugged it.

—Gulp! —Gulp!

Chugging the two potions and feeling my mana replenishing, rummaging through the pockets of the guard, I took his dimensional space. Injecting my mana in it and looking through his items, I slowly stood up.

—Snap!.

Staring at Mark's body on the ground beside me, flicking my fingers, flames rose in the air. Within seconds, only the ashes of his body remained.

—Swooosh!

Extending my hand, a small gust of wind blew, and the ashes scattered around the corridor.

"It's time."

Walking in the opposite direction of the training ground, I slowly placed the mask on my face. The moment the mask touched my face, I felt a strange wiggling sensation on my face.

This continued for the next two seconds before it stopped. Halting my steps and closing my eyes, I softly muttered.

"Monarch's indifference."

***

"What's going on? What's taking them so long?"

Gazing at the training ground from a private room, Joseph was starting to get impatient. Today was supposed to be another training session, but with 876 not present, they couldn't start.

'What is that incompetent bastard doing?'

Joseph did not for once think that 876 was at fault for being late. He was confident in the fact that he had completely brainwashed 876. The fault in this case without a doubt lied in the guard escorting him.

"Just what in the w—"

To Tok—!

In the midst of his anger, cutting Joseph off, someone knocked on the door of the observation room. Turning around, Joseph asked.

"Who is it?"

A muffled voice responded.

"Reporting. I'm the guard in charge of subject 876."

"It's you."

Upon hearing the identity of the person behind the door, Joseph pressed on a red button next to him, and the door that led to the room unlocked.

—Buuzzz!

The moment the door opened, Joseph was able to see the outline of the guard. With his head hung low, the guard did not say anything.

Unbothered by this, Joseph impatiently asked.

"What took you so long?... And where is 876?"

"..."

With his head still lowered, the guard did not respond. Frowning, Joseph raised his voice.

"Did you not hear me? I'm talking to you. What are you doing here?"

"...I'm here for" muttered the guard in an almost inaudible voice.

"What did you say?"

Suddenly, the guard raised his head. Upon raising his head, the guard coldly muttered.

"I'm here for you."

Chapter 262: Escape (2)

"Here for me?" Joseph questioned. "What do you want from me?"

"…"

—Clank!

Without answering, Ren, who was disguised as Mark, closed the door behind him.

"What are you doing?"

Finally noticing that something was amiss, Joseph took a step back. With his hands behind his back, Joseph tried to take out his communication device. Flipping the communication open, he warned.

"I don't know what's going on, but I suggest you get out right now."

"…"

Joseph's action did not go unnoticed by Ren, whose legs muscles tensed.

—Bam!

Releasing the tension, he quickly appeared before Joseph, startling him.

"Hiiik!"

With a black box in his hands, Joseph tried to dial a number, but before he could get to it, Ren had already appeared before him.

"Huek—W-what are you doing?!"

Grabbing onto Joseph's forearm, Ren clenched his hand. Joseph instantly lost all strength in his hand and the small box fell to the ground. His face paled dramatically.

"I don't know why you're doing this, but I'm warning you to sto—Huek!."

"Shut up."

—Thud!

Ren increased his grip.

Instantly, Joseph fell one knee to the ground. Glaring at Ren, Joseph raised his voice and threatened.

"What do you want from me!? You know if anything happens to me, death would be the easy way out!"

"What I want from you...?" Looking around the room, Ren lowered his head and coldly looked at Joseph. "I want two things."

"What two t—W-wait...this voice?"

Joseph abruptly stopped talking. Lifting his head up, his mouth stammered.

"T-this voice…is that you 876?"

Having spent over two months with 876, how could Joseph not recognize his voice. The color of Joseph's face bleached completely. His eyes trembled uncontrollably.

"I-t can't be? No, I must be imagining things."

"..."

Without saying anything, Ren coldly placed his hand on Joseph's throat.

"Huek!"

Placing his other hand on his face, a blue glow enveloped the room. The moment the glow dimmed down, Joseph's eyes opened widely. The monstrous scar-riddled face, Joseph would never forget such a face. It was 876.

"876!"

Like a goldfish, Joseph's mouth opened and closed repeatedly.

"Eight..eight months…how is this possible? You were faking it for so long?"

Ren silently nodded.

"H-how? It shouldn't be possible" Joseph muttered out loud. No longer caring about the hand that was gripping his throat.

"I'm sure that the serum works how cou—khu"

"Shut up." Cutting Joseph off, Ren tightened the grip of Joseph's throat.

"W-hy...!?"

—Kracka!

The sound of bones breaking resounded, and Joseph crumpled to the ground, with a look of indignation and terror on his face. Before he died, he managed to mutter one last word.

"H-how?"

"..."

Silently staring at Joseph's lifeless body on the ground, Ren bent down.

Bending down, Ren rummaged through his pockets. From his dimensional space to the black box on the ground, Ren took everything. Most importantly, he also took a small black card that hung on Joseph's neck.

It was a free-access pass that allowed access to most of the facilities available on the floor they were in.

Ren's current goal was to disable all of the security cameras and communication devices. He had already planned this beforehand. By disrupting the cameras and communications, he would be able to buy himself enough time to escape.

On another note, that was also the place that Ren could use to disable the tracking device installed in his head. Albeit temporarily.

After taking everything that was on Joseph's body, Ren placed the mask on Josephs's face. A blue glow enveloped the room, and Ren's mana depleted rapidly.

—Gulp!

Chugging a potion down, Ren placed the mask on his face. The moment the mask touched Ren's face, his face distorted continuously. Before long, his facial structure changed and wrinkles appeared on his face. He looked exactly like Joseph.

Taking Joseph's clothes off, Ren replaced his clothes with his.

Once he was done changing, Ren exited the room. On his way out of the room, Ren didn't forget to lock the room.

—Click!

*

Having spent eight months in the facility, Ren more or less knew the ins and outs of the facility he was in. He knew where the lab, canteen, and surveillance room were.

Turning right of a corridor, Ren, who was now disguised as Joseph, met a guard.

The guard nodded his head and greeted Ren.

"Morning professor."

"mhm"

Walking past the guard, Ren nodded back and turned left. Stopping right before a thick metallic door, REn looked towards the side of the door where the words [Surveillance room] were engraved.

—Ding!

Taking out the card that he took from Joseph, Ren swiped it on a small rectangular box on the right. Within seconds a green light flashed and the doors to the surveillance room opened.

Before opening the door, Ren tensed every muscle of his body. He was preparing himself for anything.

—Clank!

The moment the doors opened, Ren saw a large monitor at the very end of the room. On it were over a hundred rectangles displaying different areas of the facility. Below them were three individuals staring intently at the screens.

Besides them were two guards.

"Who are you?"

Taking a step forward, Ren hoarsely said. "It's me."

Squinting his eyes, the guard was instantly able to recognize Joseph.

"Ah, it's professor Joseph."

Putting on a friendly smile and relaxing, he asked.

"What brings your here professor?"

"...I'm just here to check the surveillance cameras."

"Check the surveillance cameras? How come?"

"I can't seem to find some of my files. I have a feeling that someone stole it."

"Stole it?"

A surprised look appeared on the guard's face.

Ren nodded his head.

"Mhm. That's why I would like to check something...Or at least, I want to make sure no one stole anything."

"No problem."

The guard nodded his head and looked towards the other guard.

Giving a silent nod, the other guard walked up to Ren.

"Before that, professor, as per procedures, we need to do a retina and fingerprint check."

"...Check?"

"haha, yeah. It's always been like this. We just need to record whoever comes into the room."

Taking out a small rectangular silver box, the guard walked up to Ren. With a friendly smile, the guard turned on the machine.

"...By the way professor. Are you sick or something? Your voice sounds a littl—Huek!"

—Kracka!

In a lightning-fast manner, Ren's placed both of his hands on the guard's head and twisted. Slumping on the ground, the guard died instantly.

"Hiiik!"

"Ahhhhh!"

Terrified screams rang throughout the room. Ignoring the screams and taking advantage of the chaos, Ren quickly turned his attention towards the other guard.

"You!"

The guard was unable to react in time, and as he fumbled to draw his weapon, Ren had already appeared before him.

Extending his elbow, Ren aimed for his head. Unfortunately, raising his arm, the guard moved right and blocked the attack.

Ren's surprise attack had failed, but Ren remained cool-headed. With the chip in his head running at full throttle, Ren was able to envision and calculate the most probably counterattack measure that the guard would use to fight back.

'A right kick towards the head'

Reading the guard's body language, Ren bent down. A swooshing sound passed by his head. Taking a step forward, Ren extended his hand. In a lightning-fast manner, his hand hit the guard right in the throat.

"Kuak!"

The moment Ren's hand hit the guard's throat, a hoarse sound escaped from the guard's mouth as he fell on the ground. With both hands on his throat, the guard opened his eyes widely.

"Y-ou're not the profess—Huek!"

"No shit."

—Kracka!

Placing both hands on the guard's head, Ren twisted his neck.

Two down.

Turning his attention towards the three remaining individuals, Ren did not waste a single second. Tensing his legs, before they knew it, Ren had already appeared before them.

"Don't get near me!"

"Hiik!"

Taking out a dagger from his dimensional space, Ren slit the throat of two of the three individuals, leaving behind the last one, who was leaning back in absolute terror.

"Stay away!"

With his hand underneath the table, the last individual tried to press the emergency button. This did not go unnoticed by Ren, who quickly shot his way.

Unfortunately, Ren couldn't make it in time.

—WHIIIIIII! —WHIIIIIII!

Before Ren could get to him, the last individual pressed on a button that was underneath the table. Instantly the whole facility turned red as the sirens rang throughout the whole facility.

—Spurt!

Unfazed, Ren quickly killed the last individual. Taking out the mask of Dolos, he placed it on top of one of the guards he had killed. A blue glow enveloped the room. After the glow died down, changing his clothes to that of the guard, he moved towards the monitors and sat down.

Ta.Ta.Ta.

A long string of text appeared before Ren's eyes as the repetitive sound of a key being pressed rang out of the room. Every second that passed, one of the camera views displayed on the large monitor turned black.

Ta.Ta.Ta.

In a minute, more than half of the cameras were shut off. Had it been before, Ren would've never been able to shut down that many cameras at this speed.

However, the current Ren was different.

With the chip on his head quickly processing most of the data for Ren, he quickly navigated through the system and shut down all communications lines, and cameras. He also managed to temporarily disrupt the connection of the tracking device installed in his head.

Ta!

Pressing one final key, the large monitor before Ren turned completely black. At the exact moment he pressed that key, two guards entered the surveillance room. Both of them had a weapon in their hands.

"Stop right there!"

Unfortunately for them, Ren was quick to react. Disappearing from his spot, he arrived before one of the guards. Ducking down and avoiding the attack of one of the guards, Ren moved behind the two guards. Twisting the dagger in his hand, he swung and aimed at one of the guards' heads. Simultaneously, using his free hand, he hooked his arm around the neck of the other guard.

—Spurt!

Blood spilled.

"Huek!"

Letting go of the dagger, Ren tightened his choke and within seconds the other guard's eyes turned white. His breathing stopped.

—Thud!

"Haaa..haaa..."

Breathing heavily, Ren's eyes paused on a small silver object resting on one of the guard's belt. It was a radio transmitter. Bending down, Ren took it and turned it on.

"Reporting."

After a couple of seconds, a voice replied back.

[...What's the situation?]

Moving out of the room, and putting on the mask, Ren spoke.

"Reporting. Target seems to have already left the surveillance room. Surveillance has been breached. Multiple fatalities."

[Have you managed to get a glimpse of how the target looks.]

"Affirmative. Said target seems to be very adept in combat and has a face riddled with scars."

[Scars? How do you know?]

"Affirmative. My colleague and I were able to spot him. We're currently chasing him."

[...I understand, I will quickly replay the situation to the other guards. They will soon come to your aid. Be on alert.]

"Understood."

—Crunch!

Turning off the radio transmitter, Ren tightened the grip of his hand and directly crushed the device.

Tap—! Tap—! Tap—!

Running around the corridor, Ren soon heard the sound of rushed footsteps headed towards his way.

Looking around and spotting a small room, using Joseph's card, Ren unlocked the room and quickly got into the room. The moment he entered the room, the guards quickly appeared on the corridor he was in.

"Over here!"

"According to reports, we're close."

Leaning back on the door of the room, Ren could hear the muffled voices of the guards. Within seconds, the guards quickly passed the area he was in.

—Click!

Carefully opening the door and taking out a small spherical object from his dimensional space, Ren bent down slightly and lightly rolled it towards the group of guards in the distance. The device in his hand was a small bomb that he had gotten from the dimensional space of one of the guards.

The moment he threw the spherical object, instead of moving backward, Ren moved forward. Almost as though he wanted to be blown up alongside the guards.

"Hey!"

He shouted.

The moment Ren shouted, all of the guards stopped moving and turned around.

"Hm?"

"Who are you?"

—BOOOOOM!

Before they knew it, an explosion rang.

Chapter 263: Escape (3)

—WHIIII! —WHIIII!

The color red flashed throughout the whole facility. Moving in a small unit of five, a group of guards ran throughout the corridors of the facility. From what reports have said, their target was someone whose face was riddled with scars.

"Captain, where do you think the suspect has run off to?"

Fiddling with the radio transmitter in his hand, one of the five individuals looked towards the front where a tall man wearing a black uniform stood. With long black hair and sharp brows, the man was the leader of the group.

"I'm not too sure myself. All we know is that the target seems to be someone that has scars on his face."

"Do you think he has already escaped?"

"Impossible."

The moment the alarms rang, the whole facility shut down. The exit was also blocked by multiple guards. If the said target had already escaped, they would've known by now.

"Then where do you—"

BOOOOM—!

All of a sudden, cutting the guard off, a massive explosion reverberated throughout the whole facility, startling everyone.

"What the!"

"What's going on?!"

The moment the explosion rang, the whole facility shook.

"Quick!"

"Let's go!"

Looking at his squad members, the captain's face turned solemn. Motioning with his hands, he rushed towards the direction where the explosion came from. Following from behind, the squad members took out their weapons.

Moving through the corridors of the facility, it didn't take long for them to get near the area where the explosion originated from.

"ughh...help"

"Ghhh.."

Turning right into another corridor, they could faintly hear the sound of pained groans coming from the distance.

"Quick."

"Let's go."

Exchanging glances with one another, the guards sped up. Soon, turning left of another corridor, they arrived at the scene. The moment they turned the corridor and looked at the after-effects of the explosion, the guards couldn't help but frown slightly.

With smoke filling the air, over five similarly dressed guards laid on the floor passed out. Limbs and blood were splattered all over the ground, depicting a gruesome scene.

Staring at the injured guards on the floors, one of the guards pointed towards the right side of their clothes where a large number '15' was imprinted.

"Captain, it looks to be the fifteenth unit."

There were many patrol units in the Monolith. There were a total of 30 units, and each unit consisted of five individuals, each led by one captain. Currently, the guards that had just arrived were from the second unit.

"What do you suggest we do?"

Staring at the injured guards from the fifteenth unit, the captain promptly replied.

"...help the injured."

"Bu—"

"I know, but we've got to approach this more carefully." The captain paused." If there's any one of them that can still talk amongst the injured, question them and ask them how the suspect looks like and his/her approximate strength...basically anything that can help."

Not much was known about their enemy. Apart from how he/she looked like, they knew nothing about the said target. Carelessly going after the target might prove to be extremely dangerous. Especially since the target seems to be very resourceful.

"Roger."

Under the captain's orders, the unit members quickly rushed to help the injured fifteenth unit members.

"Hey, can you hear me? Are you okay?"

Bending down and taking out a small potion, one of the guards from the second unit opened the mouth of an injured guard and directly poured it into his mouth.

"Drink up."

Out of all of the ones injured, the one he was tending seemed to be in better condition than the others. Although he too was injured, his injuries only seem to affect the lower part of his body.

"Khhh..."

Moments after feeding the injured guard with a potion, the guard slowly opened his eyes. A small groan escaped from his lips.

"...what's going on?"

"You've regained consciousness." Noticing that the potion had worked, the guard's eyes lit up. "Please be careful and don't move. Your body is still injured."

"Who are you?"

Looking around, the guard blinked a couple of times. Seemingly confused about the current situation.

"Let me introduce myself, my name is Balzar, and I'm part of the second patrol unit." Lifting his head and looking at his colleagues that were helping the other guards who were in a much worse state, Balzar asked "Can you tell me what happened?

"Second unit?...I see. Understood."

Taking a minute to finally realize what was going on, the injured guard nodded his head softly.

"Why you are in the state that you are in?"

"Cough...cough...I don't really remember much." The guard hoarsely said as he coughed a couple of times. "All I remember was me patrolling alongside my unit when suddenly someone called out for me and a bomb suddenly exploded. Caught off guard, we were unable to defend ourselves and found ourselves in this situation"

"...I see." The guard placed his hand on his chin. "Were you able to see the features of the individual who did this to you?"

"Just barely...From the brief moment I saw him, I could see that the person responsible for this was a male."

"Male? Anything else?"

"...mhm, his face was also filled with scars."

"Scars?" Raising his brows, and putting his hands on his chin, Balzar nodded his head. "Hmmm, yes, that does coincide with the reports..."

Turning his attention back towards the injured guard, Balzar asked.

"Do you know where the target ran off to?"

"Yes, over there."

Weakly moving his head, the injured guard looked behind him. Staring in the direction of where the guard was looking, Balzar lowered his head.

"I understand, is there anything else?"

"I'm sorry."

The guard shook his head and apologized.

"Don't be, this is good enough for now." Standing up, Balzar looked at the injured guard before saying. "I'm going to talk to my captain, I'll be back shortly. Please wait patiently."

"Understood."

Turning around, Balzar headed towards his captain. Behind him, Balzar was able to see his fellow unit members having a harder time getting information from the injured guards. They were all in critical condition.

Arriving before his captain, Balzar raised his voice.

"Captain! I've got a report."

"Go ahead."

"Understood. According to..."

Nodding his head, Balzar relayed to his captain everything that he had managed to learn from the injured guard. From how they found themselves in such a situation, to the suspects' gender as well as appearance.

Standing still, the captain silently listens to the report. Once Balzar finished speaking, the captain scratched the side of his forehead.

"I see...Good job."

Placing his hand on his chin, the captain's brows knit together.

"From what you're telling me, we can infer that the target seems to have access to explosives. Other than that, we still don't know the target's true combat abilities. But, the fact that the target is using explosives to deal with the unit members, is enough to indicate to me the target's approximate strength."

Although they were unaware of the target's true combat abilities, from how he resorted to using explosives rather than dealing with the guards directly and silently, the captain was able to infer that said target's strength could not be any higher than C.

The fifteenth unit captain was only D ranked himself. If the target was B ranked, they would've been able to deal with them without causing such a commotion. The fact that the target was unable to do that and had to directly use explosives which pretty much gave his location away, was enough to convince him about his conjunction.

Thus.

Turning his attention back towards his unit members, he commanded.

"Balzar, Remi, you two bring the injured to the infirmary. Ivan, Roman, and I will go chase the suspect."

"Understood."

Exchanging glances, the unit members unanimously shouted.

"Good. Ivan, Roman, follow me."

Having issued the orders, the captain quickly dashed towards the direction Balzar had told him the target had ran off to.

*

"Huup!"

A couple of minutes after the captain left, lifting two bodies and putting them on two separate wheeled stretchers, Balzar and Remi, the two remaining members of the second unit, quickly carried the bodies and headed towards the infirmary upstairs.

Moving forward, Remi, a fairly skinny individual with short brown hair and green eyes turned around. A trace of pity flashed his eyes.

"A pity."

Out of the five guards, only two people remained alive. The captain, and another guard. The rest were, unfortunately, unable to make it. Despite having come rather early, the extent of their injuries was too serious and thus they died within minutes of their captain leaving for the target.

—WHIIII! —WHIIII!

Running around the corridors of the facility, Balzar and Remi quickly arrived before a narrow corridor. Opposite to them was a large metallic door that was guarded by three guards. An intangible pressure oozed off of them.

"State your purpose."

Halting his footsteps, Balzar took out a token from his dimensional space and flashed it before the guards.

"Reporting. I'm Balzar, a member of the second unit. I'm under the captain's orders to bring these two injured people to the infirmary upstairs."

Looking at the two injured people in the stretcher, one of the guards asked.

"Who are they?"

Pointing towards the clothes of the two individuals in the stretcher, Balzar explained.

"This here is the captain of the fifteenth unit, and over here is his unit member. Both of them are heavily wounded."

"..."

Exchanging glances with each other and confirming that the two injured guards were indeed from the fifteenth unit, the guards stepped to the side.

"You may pass."

"Thank you."

Nodding his head, Balzar, alongside Remi, moved the stretchers forward and opened the metallic door. The moment they entered the door, they were able to see an elevator in the distance.

"Quick, we don't have much time."

Rushing towards the elevators at full speed, Balzar and Remi quickly pressed on the key and called for the elevator.

—Ding!

Moments after pressing the key, a chime rang, and the doors to the elevator opened up. Quickly entering the elevator, Balzar didn't waste any time and pressed the '1' button.

—Clank!

The moment Balzar pressed on the key, the doors of the elevator closed. Shortly after, a pushing sensation appeared underneath their feet and the elevator moved up.

"Huuu..."

Staring at the corner of the elevator that displayed which floor they were on as it moved up, Remi exhaled.

Turning his head to the right and looking at Balzar, he asked.

"Hey Balzar, what do you think is happening?"

Looking at Remi, Balzar scratched the side of his neck.

"Honestly, I'm just as clueless as you. From what I've heard, it seems like one of the experiments that professor Joseph was working on went rogue or something like that?"

"Rogue? Really? Wasn't he bragging to the higher-ups..."

Whilst Balzar and Remi were talking, unbeknownst to them, one of the injured guards opened his eyes. Taking something out from thin air, he quickly placed it in his mouth. After a couple of seconds, the injuries in his lower half of the body quickly healed up.

"You know what's worse. I heard that—Kh"

—kracka!

Cutting Remi off, was the sound of bones breaking. Before Remi knew it, he was no longer staring at front of the elevator, but at the back. After that, his vision was enveloped by darkness.

"What the."

Startled, Balzer looked up and saw two emotionless eyes staring back at him. Before he even had enough time to react, a dagger pierced him on the throat. Blood spilled on the ground.

—Thud.

Coldly looking at the corpses on the ground, Ren, who was disguised as a guard, did not waste any time. Channeling flame psyons at the tips of his fingers, the corpses of the guards were quickly ingulfed in flames. All of this happened within a minute.

—Ding!

Before long, the elevator stopped and the doors opened. Fixing his clothes, Ren took a step out of the elevator.

Chapter 264: Escape (4)

The moment I stepped out of the elevator and tried to get out of the laboratory, my mana which was depleting at an alarming rate, finally ran out. The mask fell off of my face, and the effects of Monarch's indifference ran out.

"Hey!"

"Shit!"

The moment my face was revealed, and I regained control of my body, the first thing I saw was three guards glaring in my direction.

Standing in the opposite hall to me and taking out their weapons, they all rushed towards me.

"We've found the suspect, I repeat, we've found the suspect. We're currently engaging him at the entrance of the laboratory."

They of course didn't forget to alert the other units.

Without wasting time, taking out another bomb from my dimensional space, I pressed on a small button at the top of the bomb.

—Click!

'1...2...3...4...'

Re-entering the elevator, and hiding by the side, I closed my eyes and silently counted inside of my mind. The moment my count was about to reach five, turning around, I threw the bomb towards the guards.

Without looking, I hid by the side of the elevator.

—BOOOOM!

"Huaaa!"

"Ahhh!"

Two seconds after throwing the bomb, a massive explosion ensued and the blood-curling screams of the guards rang out throughout the whole upper floor. Standing behind the elevator, I could feel the heat from the explosion brush past me.

—WHIIIII! —WHIIIII!

Shortly after the explosion rang, smoke-filled my vision, and the alarms rang.

Covering my nose with the sleeve of my shirt, squinting, I moved out. The moment I turned around and looked at the aftermath of the explosion, the first thing I saw was the corpses of the guards on the floor.

With blood and limbs splattered everywhere, the scene looked extremely gory. Even so, firming myself and moving through the broken glass, and pieces of flesh on the floor I quickly made my way towards the exit of the facility.

—Clank!

"Haaa..."

Opening the doors and exiting the laboratory, I involuntarily squinted my eyes and covered them with my arm. The side of my eyes teared up slightly.

'The sun.'

After eight months of being locked up inside of the facility, I was finally able to see the sun.

Never in my life would've I have expected myself to miss the sun so much. For a brief moment, I just dazedly stood at the front of the laboratory. My emotions were a bit erratic, but I was able to quickly snap myself out of it.

"Now's not the time to get emotions..." Turning around, I wondered. 'Where am I?'

Looking around, I noticed that I was currently in the middle of a forest. Behind me was the laboratory. The laboratory was hidden inside of a forest, and although it was still within the Monolith, for the obvious reason it had to be moved a bit further from the actual headquarters.

'I can't waste time standing here.'

Realizing that I was still not in the clear, I decided to run into the forest.

***

Unit 19 quickly arrived at the entrance of the laboratory.

—WHIIIII! —WHIIIII!

Standing outside of the laboratory, they could hear the blaring sound of the alarms ringing from inside of the facility.

—Clank!

Opening the door and entering the laboratory, the members of the 19th unit paused at the scene presented before them.

"What in the world happened here?"

"The guards standing at the entrance have been killed?"

"Who's the one responsible for this?"

"What? You're telling me that the surveillance and communication have been cut off?"

"What about professor Joseph?"

Many of them couldn't contain themselves and asked different questions. Their confusions only grew as time passed. Listening to the live reporters coming from the other squad units downstairs, they couldn't help but gasp in surprise.

Walking up to his captain, of the members of the 19th unit reported.

"Captain, Unit 7 who are downstairs have reported Joseph as dead. Furthermore, unit 15 has been annihilated, and two members from Unit 2 have been reported missing."

"What!?"

All of the guards let out a breath of cold air. Cold sweat ran down their back. Was this all done by one person? But how was that possible?

Solemnly looking at the scene, the captain spoke.

"Has anyone said anything about the identity of the target?"

"Yes."

"Continue."

"According to reports, the target seems to be one of the test subjects that Joseph was working on...from reports, he seems to be called subject 876"

"876?" The captain's brows knit, "Weren't they under the effects of the serum? How could they have escaped? And isn't there a chip installed in their head? How is this possible?"

The more questions the captain asked, the more he realized how serious the situation was; If they were the ones who had gone downstairs, would they have also been killed like the other two squads? Just the thought sent chills down his back.

"What now, captain?"

The captain wasn't a captain for no reason. Despite the situation, he was able to quickly recollect himself. Looking at his squad members, he ordered.

"Calm down. Don't panic. From the looks of things, there only seems to be one target, and he is armed with explosives." Looking at the state of the upper floor, the captain continued. "From the looks of things, the target seems to have already escaped into the forest...I want you all to notify the other units of the situation. Tell them to be on their toes."

"Understood."

Exchanging glances, the unit members did as their captain ordered. Taking out their communication devices, they quickly informed the other units and moved out of the facility. Stepping out of the laboratory, all of the members looked at their captain.

"Captain, where should we go?"

Squinting and looking around, the captain quickly looked towards a certain area and motioned for his members to follow. Being a captain, he had a lot of experience under his belt. Surveilling the forest and noticing a small irregularity in one of the bushes in the distance, he was able to quickly infer the location of where the target had run off too.

"Over here."

Dashing forward, he along with his team members disappeared into the wilderness.

***

"Haaa...Haaa..."

Breathing heavily, sweat trickled down the side of my cheeks. Even so, mustering every last bit of strength inside of my body, I continued to run. Now that the security had been alarmed about my whereabouts, I needed to distance myself as much as possible from them.

—Gulp! —Gulp!

As I was running, taking one mana recovering potion and one stamina recovering potion from my dimensional space, I quickly downed them.

After that, taking out the watch that I had gotten from Thibaut a year ago, I quickly put it on my wrist. Tapping on the screen of the watch and loading it up, I fiddled with it for a couple of seconds.

—Fwa!

A holographic map quickly appeared in front of me. Staring at the map, unknowingly my running speed slowed down significantly. .

'If I'm not wrong, I should be running in the right direction.'

The Monolith was extremely large, and for obvious reasons, the laboratory that I had just come out from was located a bit off of the Monolith.

My current goal right now was to infiltrate the actual headquarters of the Monolith.

It was the only way I could escape.

After contemplating for the past eight months, I realized that this was the only way I could get out of this place. Not knowing exactly where the Monolith was located on the world map, I knew that the only way I could get out was through the portals inside of the Monolith.

Fortunately, with Thibaut's watch on my wrist, I could gain access to the portal. Every portal use cost around 500 merit points, and with me having over 2000 of them, I knew that as long as I could get to the portals, I would be able to make it safely back home.

'There's only one problem...'

I needed to infiltrate the actual Monolith. Without a doubt, this was going to be harder than actually escaping the lab.

—Rustle!

"Huek!"

Snapping me out of my thoughts was a small rustling sound in the distance. Turning around, I noticed a silver streak of light quickly headed towards my direction. Ducking down, by a hair breath, I was able to dodge the incoming attack. Rolling on the ground, I lifted my head and glared in the direction of where the attack came from.

"I've finally caught up."

Coming from out of the bushes, wearing a black uniform, was a tall, bald, tanned individual. On the right side of his uniform was a small band as well as a large '19'. Holding onto a large metal axe, he solemly looked in my direction.

"...You must be 876"

Similarly staring back at him, my eyes squinted.

'Unit 19 squad captain.'

The moment I realized the identity of the individual who had attacked me, my wariness increased.

Each unit had a team captain, and apart from their obvious large amount of experience, what set them apart from their squad members was their individual strength. Each squad captain had the strength equivalent to rank.

Above them were commanders whose strength ranged from rank to rank.

"Huuuup!"

Seizing me up for a couple of seconds, without wasting any time, the 19th unit captain raised his axe and quickly slashed towards my direction.

The moment the 19th unit captain raised his axe, I knew that I needed to act fast. Tensing my calves, instead of moving backward, I dashed forward. Against opponents that required large motions, the best way to defeat them was through close combat confrontations.

...and I knew that.

With the chip inside of my head processing everything, taking a step to the right, and opening the palm of my right hand, I twisted my torso slightly and slapped towards my right. Right in the direction of where the axe was moving.

"Khhh..."

Touching the side of the axe, a small groan escaped from my lips as I was pushed back by a couple of steps. Fortunately, the moment my hand connected with the head of the axe, I was able to alter its course.

—Bam!

The ground trembled.

"What th——!"

Realizing that his attack had missed, the captain opened his eyes widely. But it was already too late.

'Now!'

Taking advantage of his distraction, I took a step forward. Grabbing onto the arm that was holding onto the axe, shifting my right foot, and turning around, I lifted the captain up and threw him on the ground.

—Bam!

Back first, the captain hit the ground.

"huaaak!"

A pained groan escaped from the captain's mouth as spit flew in my face.

Without giving the captain time to realize what had happened, I pierced his throat with my hand. Blood splattered on my face.

"Haaa...haaa..."

Wiping my face which was stained in blood, I took deep breaths. For the next few minutes, without moving, I blankly stared at the sky.

The fight ended much faster than I had originally anticipated.

Excluding the fact that I was a bit stronger than my opponent, with the extreme training I endured for the past few months, I knew exactly how to handle my opponent. As of right now, I was on a different level compared to before.

Such opponents weren't something that I couldn't handle.

—Rustle! —Rustle!

Before long, I could hear multiple rustling sounds coming from behind me.

With my eyes closed, and remaining still, I patiently waited for them to surround me. This fight was necessary for my escape.

Chapter 265: Escape [5]

—TSSSSS!

The static sound of the radio transmitter echoed throughout the area.

Bringing the radio transmitter towards my mouth, in a deep voice, I said.

"This is unit 19 speaking. Do you copy?"

[...Unit 19? Copied, what's the situation?]

After a couple of seconds, someone responded.

"We've captured the target. I repeat we've captured the target"

[You've captured the target?]

"Roger."

[Understood. I've relayed the information to units 8,13,21,and 29. They are on their way, please be patient.]

"Copy that. How long till they arrive?"

[Given their location, around five minutes.]

"Understood, I'll be waiting."

—TSSSSS!

"Five minutes..."

Turning the radio transmitter off and turning around, my eyes paused on the four individuals on the ground. They were 19th unit members.

Each of them, although passed out, were still alive. Even though they were fairly skilled, it didn't take long for me to knock them out.

Just their captain alone didn't take much, let alone them who were far below him in strength.

Unlike their captain, I kept them alive. There was a reason for this.

"...6mg, this should be enough."

Taking out a couple of syringes from my dimensional space, carefully measuring the dosages on each of them, I removed any distracting thoughts inside of my mind.

'From what I remember, 2mg is enough to render my mind numb, whilst 10mg is enough to knock me out completely.'

The syringes that I was currently holding were things that I had gotten from Joseph's dimensional space after I killed him.

They were all filled with the serum that I had been injected with for the past eight months. It was now time I used it on someone else.

'I hope this works.'

Since I was pressed for time, I couldn't care less about being delicate and careful. Stabbing one of the guards in the shoulder, I quickly injected him with a dosage of the serum.

—Squeq!

A squeaking sound came out from the syringe.

"huuuk!"

The moment I pushed the serum into the guard's body, the guard's eyes shot wide open. For a brief moment, his eyes turned white. His body then started convulsing madly.

'Shit, did I put too much?'

Grabbing the guard by the shoulders, I pressed him to the ground.

"Guuuuahh"

'Shit, please work.'

I cursed as I pressed him onto the ground.

The reason why I injected the guard with a dosage of the serum was because I wanted to numb his mind. Numb it to the point where, for a brief moment of time, he would fall into a drunken state and listen to my commands.

However, I knew all too well that this plan had a lot of flaws.

Too many variables were out of my control. For example, I didn't know what was the perfect dosage to use as well as the amount of time the serum would need to take effect.

It had to be noted that it took around 2 months to create a single super-soldier out of the thousands of subjects.

Though I wasn't trying to create a supersoldier myself, I still knew just how difficult this operation was. If it failed, I was done for.

Therefore.

"Come on, come on, work!"

Pressing onto the convulsing guard with both hands, I clenched my teeth.

"Ghhh.."

After a couple of more seconds, to my relief, the guard stopped convulsing. Thereafter, opening his eyes, the guard dully looked at the sky without saying anything.

"Haaa..Haa...Can you hear me?"

Breathing heavily, I asked whilst waving my hand in front of his face.

"..."

Unfortunately, I was met with no response. Frowning slightly, I helped him up. Waving my hand at his face again, I repeated.

"Can you hear me?"

"..."

Once again, he didn't respond. Lowering my head, I looked at the syringe in my hand.

"Did I put to—Oh?"

Just when I was about to despair, to my surprise, the guard who I thought was motionless, followed my movement with his head. Instantly my eyes lit up. Moving my hand towards the right, I watched as the guard turned his head towards the right. Taking a step back, the guard took a step forward.

"hahaha."

A laugh involuntarily escaped from my lips, and my fists clenched.

Even though he wasn't saying anything nor following my orders, this was enough for now. As long as they looked like they were under my command everything was fine.

'Alright, 6mg it is...'

Turning my attention towards the other guards on the ground, I did the same thing as the first guard. This time, I didn't waste any time and moved on after each injection. Since it worked, I didn't need to worry about them.

Just like the previous guard, upon injecting them with the serum, their bodies convulsed.

Fortunately, just like before, it stopped after a couple of seconds.

'Next.'

After injecting three more guards, turning my attention towards the last guard on the floor, bending down on one knee, I tapped on my bracelet.

Alongside a small dagger, a small hexagonal glass bottle appeared in my hand.

—Plop!

Opening the bottle and covering my dagger with the contents of the bottle, I first injected the individual with a dose of the serum, this time 10mg, and then slashed his face with the dagger.

"Guuuaah-mhhmmmm"

A blood-curling scream resounded across the forest. Using my hand to cover his mouth, the muffled screams of the guard continued to echo throughout the forest.

Despite his screams, I continued to slash his face. In fact, I sped up.

"I'm sorry, but you'll have to bear with it for just a little bit longer..."

I understood his pain all too well.

I too went through that pain not so long ago. It was the worst pain thing I've ever felt throughout my entire life. But I didn't feel any guilt. If this was the necessary step that I needed to take in order to escape this hell-hole, then so be it.

"mhhmmmm! mhhmmmm"

For the next minute, the muffled scream of the guard continued to resound throughout the forest.

This did not last for long as the guard soon passed out from the serum that I had injected in him.

"Haaa...haaa...Done."

Panting heavily, I slumped on the ground.

Putting my dagger back in my dimensional space, I moved towards the guard and wiped the blood that was on his face.

Then, taking out three healing potions that I got from the dimensional space that I took from their captain, I moved forward.

'This should work.'

Lifting his head slightly, uncapping the lids of the potions, I opened his mouth.

—VRRRRR! —VRRRRR!

"Hm?"

Just as I was about to feed the guard the potion, in the distance I could hear the faint sound of vehicles quickly approaching my location.

"Shit!"

Opening my eyes widely, I cursed.

Without wasting any time, taking three potions at the same time, I forcefully shoved them down the guard's throat. Almost instantaneously, I could see the guard's face healing. Even then, as his injuries healed, the scars on his face remained.

Letting go of the guard's head, I took out two mana recovery potions from my dimensional space.

—Gulp! —Gulp!

Shoving down the two potions down my throat, I quickly put the mask on my face. Wiggling around my face and covering it whole, my face changed that to the 19th unit squad captain.

Moments after I defeated the group, I copied their captain's face, replaced his clothes with mine, and punched his head to the point that it became unrecognizable.

I had done this in preparation for what was to come next.

Grabbing the passed-out 'scarred' guard by the collar, I moved forward. Behind me were the three other unit members.

—Screeech! —Screeech!

At the exact moment I moved forward, three large vehicles stopped before me.

—Clank!

Stepping out of the vehicle, were over fifteen individuals all wearing similar uniforms. Standing at the forefront was a tall muscular man with a black mustache under his nose. Wearing a pair of sunglasses, a wild and suffocating aura exuded from his body.

'Commander, Luther Black'

Reading the tag by the side of his uniform, sweat trickled down my cheeks. The moment I saw the words 'commander' I knew that I couldn't fight him. If I was caught, I was done for.

Stepping forward, I sternly greeted.

"19th unit captain reporting."

Calmly nodding his head, Commander Luther's eyes paused on the individual in my hands. Pointing at him, he asked.

"Is this the suspect?"

"That's correct."

With my back straight, I confirmed.

Studying the scarred individual from top to bottom, Commander Luther massaged his mustache.

"Hmm, scarred face just like the descriptions say."

Every second that Luther spent examing the body in my hands felt like an eternity to me. Many questions such as, 'Did he find something? Did he notice the fact that I am not the captain? Did he notice something wrong with my unit members?', passed by my head.

I knew that these were useless worries, but I couldn't control myself. To make matters worse, my mana had still not recovered. Within two minutes, the mask would start losing effect.

Each second that the commander used to examine the corpse felt agonizing to me.

Thankfully, the commander did not examine the body for too long.

"To think that this man has caused so many problems for us...he's still alive too?" Turning his attention back to me, the commander flashed a toothy grin. "You've done great."

"I was merely following orders." I humbly replied.

"Humble, I see."

Caressing his mustache, the commander showed a satisfied look. Turning around, he chuckled and ordered.

"Hur, Hur, let's get back to the headquarters and report the situation. Everyone get on the vehicles."

"Understood."

Unanimously, all of the people present shouted.

"Over here."

Motioning with his hands, one of the guards gestured for me and my unit to enter the vehicle he was in. To my luck, it was the one without the commander.

Just as I was about to follow the individual into the car, the commander abruptly halted his footsteps. Turning his head, squinting, he asked.

"Ah, I only count four members here. What happened to your other one?"

For a split second, my heart stopped, and a chill ran down my spine.

Thankfully, this was a question I had the answer to.

Lowering my head, I pointed towards the distance where one could see the outline of a corpse.

"...He, unfortunately, did not make it."

"I see...you have my condolences."

Staring at the corpse, the commander lowered his head slightly and boarded the vehicle. After that, helping 'my unit' members climb onto the back of the vehicle, I followed them into the vehicle.

—VRRRRR! —VRRRRR!

A minute after I boarded the vehicle, the car picked up its pace and sped into the distance.

"Khh..."

The moment the car picked started moving, my mind started spinning uncontrollably. Lowering my head towards my knees, the mask fell off of my face.

"Haaa..haaaa..."

Covering my face with my arms, I had a hard time breathing.

'That was too close.'

I had overexerted my mana way too much.. Had another minute have passed, I was sure that my identity would've been exposed.

Chapter 266: Escape [6]

Exchanging glances with each other, two guards at the front of the car laughed out loud.

"Hahaha, who would've thought that you were the lucky bastard that got to catch the escapee, huh, Jerome?"

"Yeah, I'm fucking envious of you."

'So his name is Jerome.'

Listening to their conversation, I made a mental note to myself of every little detail. This was so that I could blend in better.

With my head still in between my legs, I responded.

"...mhm, you're absolutely right."

There were a total of ten people in the car, including 'my unit'. From the brief conversations, I was having with them, the name of the 19th unit captain was Jerome, he was 28 years old, and judging from how friendly they were being to me, I figured that he was someone popular.

The layout of the car was two seats at the front of the car, with five more seats leaning by the side of the vehicle.

Switching the conversation, one of the guards next to me spoke up.

"Man, who would've thought that the commander himself showed up."

"Yeah, just his aura alone almost made me piss my pants."

"Tell me about it...just imagine what Jerome must've gone through when questioned by him."

With my head still lowered, I made small talk as well. This was so that I didn't look too suspicious.

"Yeah, it was really nerve-wracking. I thought that I was in front of a tiger...just look at me, I'm so exhausted just from that exchange."

"Hahaha, You indeed look tired."

"Hahahahaha."

Laughter erupted in the car. I too laughed, but it was a fake one.

My mind was too preoccupied with other thoughts to care about whether it sounded genuine or not.

'...Six bombs, eight serum dosages, four health recovery potions, and eighteen mana recovery potions.'

If I had to count how many people I killed the past few hours or so, the headcount would be around the twenties.

Every time I killed someone, I would never forget to collect their dimensional space. In it, were many resources that could become extremely useful for me. Bombs and serum being prime examples.

Without them, I would've never have made it as far as I did.

'That aside, I'm still not in the clear though.'

A bitter smile appeared on my face.

My mana was currently at around 1/9 of what it should be.

Having depleted all of my mana from the stunt I pulled in order to escape the lab, I had a hard time recovering it to what it was before.

Despite the multiple mana recovery potions I chugged in, they were only the lowest grade, and thus I barely recovered anything. This was also the reason why I was only able to hold out for a couple of minutes when the commander came.

To make matters worse, with my mask now off, I had to be in this awkward position where I had my face in between my legs and arms. Fortunately, I was wearing a hat and thus they did not notice the fact that I wasn't bald like the 19th unit captain was.

Had I not thought of this beforehand, they would've realized that I wasn't him just because of the fact that I wasn't bald.

"Man, how long do we still have till we arrive?"

"20 more minutes. The road is a bit rough here so it'll take that much."

"Ahhh, I'm hungry."

'...20 minutes'

Listening to the conversation the other guards were having, it became even more apparent to me just how big the Monolith domain was. Just the distance between the lab and the actual headquarters was 20 minutes.

Just how much land did they cover? And how did they manage to keep it hidden for so long, I wondered as the car sped.

'It'd be best to act before I arrive.'

Realizing that it would take twenty more minutes to arrive, I opted to wait till my mana recovered a bit more before making move.

Though the main reason was I was choosing to act late was because of my mana, it wasn't the only reason.

Peeking from the corner of my eyes, and looking in the direction of where the other cars were, I knew that things were not as easy as they seemed to be.

I just had a hunch.

***

At the same time, in a different vehicle.

Glancing at Commander Luther next to him and noticing a small smirk at the edge of his lips, the 7th unit captain, Isaac Lon, curiously asked.

"Commander, is something wrong?"

"Hm?" Lowering his head, Commander Luther looked at Isaac and flashed his teeth. "Oh, I just thought of something funny."

"Something funny?"

Secretly glancing at his unit members in the vehicle, Isaac noticed that each of them had a confused look on their face.

"...hur hur."

Reading the mood, a chuckle escaped from Commander Luther's lips. Lowering his head and looking at 'subject 876' who was passed out on the ground, with an amused smile, Commander Luther traced his thick fingers around his scars.

Startled by the commander's weird behavior, Isaac involuntarily raised his voice.

"Sir!? what are you doing?"

Instead of answering, Commander Luther continued to trace his finger all over subject 876.

Scratching the side of his chin, he muttered out loud.

"I wonder how he managed to give him scars? Is there a mask...or was he someone that he had he killed long ago and stored in his dimensional space...no that wouldn't work since he's alive? There also doesn't seem to be a mask, how peculiar."

"Excuse me? What?!" The captain's eyes opened widely. Pointing at the scarred man on the ground, he frustratedly asked. "A-re you suggesting that he isn't the one we are looking for?"

"Yes."

The commander nodded his head.

A chill ran down every guard present in the room. Not once did they doubt the identity of the scarred man before them. If not for their commander pointing it out, would they have ever found out?

Just the thought took their breath away.

Weakly looking at the scarred man, Isaac asked.

"T-then who is the one responsible?"

"It's the 19th unit captain, Jerome."

Luther replied without the slightest bit of hesitation in his voice.

"Jerome!?" Glancing at his unit members, Isaac struggled to find the right words to say. "b-ut how is that possible? I saw him just moments ago. He looked identical!"

Staring at the 7th unit captain by the side of his eyes, Luther asked.

"Did he though?"

"Yes!"

Firmly replied Issac. Though they only met briefly, Isaac did not find anything strange about him.

"Naive..." A smirk appeared on Luther's face before he turned his attention back to 'subject 876'. "Though he may have fooled you guys, he couldn't have fooled me. I've met Jerome a couple of times in the past, and I can tell you that it's not him. His face maybe, but..." Pausing and looking at everyone, Luther said. "His frame was completely different."

Listening to the commander's point, Isaac's brows knit as he muttered out loud.

"Now that you mention it he did look a lot more skinny than the last time I saw him."

All the unit captains knew each other. This was a given. All of the squads worked with each other most of the time, so everyone knew who Jerome was.

He was a tanned muscular man with a bald head. That was how everyone knew him for.

Recalling the meeting they had not too long ago, a shocked looked appeared on Isaac's face as he lifted his head up.

"B-but how is it possible for him to have the same face as Jerome?"

It usually took weeks for a face mask to be prepared. For subject 876 to actually have a mask identical to that of Jerome in that short period of time made no sense. That was unless someone was actively helping him.

"Mhhh, that's what I'm wondering as well," Luther replied with a solemn look. "The only thing that comes to mind is that this is the work of an artifact or that someone is helping him, but I'm not too sure..."

"An artifact?!"

"Yes."

As of right now, the second possibility was the one that made more sense, but if it was the first option...

A look of greed flashed past his eyes.

"If it really is an artifact, I really want to get my hands on it."

Pretending to not have heard the commander's last words, Isaac hesitatingly asked. "...sir, but what if there is no artifact and this was actually Jerome?"

"Impossible."

Luther firmly replied.

"But what makes you so sure?"

"At first I wasn't," Luther raised his finger. "...but right before entering the vehicle, I asked him what happened to his last member."

"...and?"

"And his story checked out. There really was someone dead in the distance."

Taken aback, Isaac asked.

"So what made you think that he was an impostor?"

If the story checked out, what made him so sure about the fact that the man before them wasn't a fake subject 876.

"Simple really..." Pausing, Luther teasingly smiled and looked at Isaac dead in the eyes. "his unit members. The moment Jerome turned his head, they turned their heads as well."

"What!?"

"Odd, right?"

"...could this have been a coincidence?"

Leaning back, Luther nodded his head. "Mhm, true...but once I looked at them closely and noticed their unfocused eyes, I realized that something wasn't right."

"But I recalled reading something before the mission started." Taking out a few documents from his dimensional space, Luther flashed them before Isaac. "It was then that everything clicked."

"Unfocused eyes?...and what's this?"

"Yes, they were under the effect of a drug."

"A dru—"

"It's the same drug that subject 876 was being injected with. I know because I've read the reports."

Being a commander in a high position, unlike the other captains, Luther had access to more confidential information. Being the one in charge of capturing him, he obviously also had some information about subject 876.

It wasn't strange for him to know the effects of the drug.

"Ah." Realizing this, a small sound escaped from the captain's mouth before as he wondered. Taking the documents and reading through the report, Isaac lifted his head and wondered.

"Then why didn't you do anything?"

There was enough evidence to take him down, why didn't he?

"Hur, hur, hur." A throaty laugh escaped from Luther's lips before it was replaced by a smirk. "I in fact already did do something."

"You did?"

Isaac was taken aback.

He didn't recall the commander ever moving, what could he have possibly done?

Noticing the confusion in Isaac's eyes, Luther looked at the front of the car. "...aren't we leading him right where the headquarters are?"

"Ah."

A realization suddenly dawned on the captain.

'That's right since we know about the fact that he's an impostor and he doesn't know that we know, by directly leading him to the Monolith and capturing him there, not only do we reduce the risk, but we can also guarantee results faster.'

The more the captain thought about it, the more amazed he was by the commander's planning.

"I see...I understand now commander."

"Hur, hur," Leaning back and interlocking his fingers together, Luther arrogantly smiled. "That little fucker probably thinks that we're completely clueless about his schemes...little does he know that I know everythin—"

"Sir, there seems to be something wrong with the car."

Cutting him off was the drive of the car.

"Hm?"

Turning his head around, and staring at the vehicle behind them, Luther noticed the vehicle swirling left and right a couple of times.

This continued a couple of more times before stopping. Then, just like normal, the vehicle continued following them from behind.

"...Interesting," Luther said, squinting.

Keeping watch of the vehicle behind them, for the next five minutes or so, the car continued to follow them from behind.

Apart from that initial swerving, nothing suggested that there was something wrong with the other car.

But everyone in the car all understood that something had definitely gone down in the car.

Had it been before, they might've thought it was just a small rock, but now they couldn't help but start questioning what truly had happened.

This was especially so after listening to Luther's evaluation.

"Sir, we're close to the headquarters, what should we do?"

Before long, a small gate appeared in the distance.

Behind it was a colossal structure that spammed kilometers in length. Decked with glass windows that reflected the sunlight, and built using high-tech precision cutting technology, was the Monolith.

The main headquarters of the villains.

Chapter 267: Escape [7]

"Commander, the car has stopped." The driver of the car alerted. "How should I proceed?"

Almost a kilometer away from the entrance of the Monolith, the driver saw the car behind them swerve towards the right before coming to a halt.

Having never taken his eyes off of the vehicle behind him, Luther raised his hand slightly and ordered for the car to stop as well.

"Stop the car, and tell the unit in the other car to get out as well."

"Understood."

'”Screeech.

Pressing onto the break, the car came to a halt. In front of them, not far from where they were, another vehicle came to a halt.

"Get out."

Opening the doors of the car, Luther jumped off of the vehicle. Behind him, five other people came out, including the 7th unit captain, Isaac.

"Hurry up."

Not far from them, Luther gestured for the other unit in the distance to hurry up. Before long, there were a total of ten people behind Luther.

Turning around and looking at all of the unit members present, Luther warned.

"The suspect may try to use bombs, so try your best to spread out and surround the car."

Having received brief reports about subject 876, the commander knew that his strength was in the <D+> range and that he somehow got his hands on explosives.

Luther wasn't worried about 876's strength. He himself was <B> ranked. He could make quick work of 876.

...his only worry was the bombs.

If he was hit directly by them, even though he won't die, he'd still get injured. Less needs to be said about the other people present.

They were all weaker than him.

Thus, In order to minimize the casualties from the bombs, spreading out the soldiers was a must.

"Commander?"

Stopping a couple of meters away from the vehicle, Isaac looked at the commander who looked back and nodded back.

"Understood." Stepping forward, Isaac shouted. "Subject 876, we know that you're in there. Get out of the car and surrender."

"..."

Waiting for a couple of minutes, Isaac was met with no response.

"Figured." Isaac shook his head, before looking at Luther and asking. "Commander, how should we proceed."

Squinting, Luther carefully looked at the vehicle. Waving his hand, a blue translucent shield appeared before him. In his right hand was a large metal mace.

Pointing towards the forest, he looked towards the other unit and ordered.

"Send someone to search the forest, we can't exclude the possibility that 876 has already escaped into the forest."

"Roger."

Five people unanimously shouted before running into the forest behind the car.

'”Rustle! '”Rustle!

"Get behind me."

With the shield before him, Luther gestured the 7th unit to follow him and slowly walked towards the vehicle. Because of the threat of the bombs, Commander Luther decided to approach this prudently.

'”Clank!

Approaching the car, Luther carefully opened the door. Glancing at his other members, he nudged his head slightly.

'”Clank! '”Clank! '”Clank!

Instantaneously, everyone moved around the vehicle and opened the other doors of the car with their weapons raised.

"..."

Upon opening the door, everyone braced themselves for an attack, but contrary to their expectations, they were met with deathly silence.

Exchanging glances with each other, everyone looked inside of the vehicle. Because the glasses were tinted, they were only able to see what was inside of the vehicle only upon opening the doors.

Entering the car and looking around, a confused look appeared on Isaac's face.

"Commander, the suspect is not in the car. It's possible that he escaped."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive sir" Glancing around the car, he briefly said. "but there seem to be the other unit members here, each passed out."

"Are they dead?"

Approaching one of the people in the car, Isaac placed his finger on his neck. Upon noticing a pulse, he responded.

"Negative."

"...so he chose to leave them alive?" Frowning, Luther muttered before moving forward and entering the vehicle. "Let me take a look."

Upon entering the vehicle, Luther looked around. Just like Isaac reported, everyone in the car was passed out, but none were dead.

"1...2...3....8"

Counting the number of people present, he managed to count eight people in total.

'Odd, has he run away? or is he hiding?'

The more Luther looked at the situation, the bigger more ominous the feeling inside him grew.

Unable to read Luther's thoughts, Isaac asked.

"What should we do sir?"

"Kill them all."

"What!?" Luther's reply startled Isaac. "Why? They are alive!"

"Idiot." Luther looked at Isaac as if he was a fool. "Did you completely forget what I said before?"

"What do y'”" Issacc suddenly paused and opened his eyes widely. "You don't mean...?"

"...Yeah" Arrogantaly looking at all of the people present in the car, Luther nodded his head "The little fucker can change faces. What if he threw one of the bodies away and tried to disguise himself as one of the people here?"

"Ah."

"Hur, hur, nice try b'”"

Di! Di! Di!

Cutting Luther off, was a small repetitive ticking sound.

It was then that, to his horror, almost simultaneously, two of the eight guards who were 'passed out' opened their eyes and took out a small spherical object from their pockets.

Pressing on top of it, Commander Luther opened his eyes widely. A curse escaped from his lips.

"...Shit! Get out!"

'”BOOOOOM!

A massive explosion reverberated, and a sea of fire raged.

***

Moments before the car stopped.

"We're almost there."

"Oh? It's about time."

"Jerome, have you recovered enough? It's about time we arrive at the headquarters. Get ready."

With my head still lowered, I groggily replied.

"...Sure."

Ba.Dump! Ba.Dump! Ba.Dump!

The closer we got to the headquarters the more nervous I became. For the past fifteen minutes or so, using the chip in my head, I simulated over a hundred different scenarios.

In it, I was calculating the chances of me escaping. Out of the hundreds of simulations, there was only one method that could give me the slightest chance at escaping this place...and even then, it was extremely dangerous and filled with suffering.

"Huuu..."

I exhaled.

'What choice do I have?'

Gritting my teeth, my brows knit tightly. Just the thought of what I was about to do next, sent shivers down my spine.

But.

'I can't afford to be picky.'

I knew this all too well. If I wanted to escape, this was the only way. Furthermore, a part of me knew that I was already exposed and that this was the only way for me.

'Instead of waiting for something bad to happen, it's best to act immediately.'

Thus.

Taking out five syringes that were filled with the serum from my dimensional space, I slowly lifted my head up and muttered out loud.

"Can we stop over here?"

"Hm? Do you need to take a piss Jerom'”Huh? Who are you!?"

'”Spurt!

Stabbing towards my right, I quickly injected the guard next to me with the serum. Before the others could react, removing the belt off of me, I moved forward.

Dashing forward, before the two guards at the back could remove their belts, I jumped towards the guard on the right side of the vehicle and stabbed him in the neck.

'”Squeeq!

Letting go of the syringe, stomping on the seat of the car, I propelled my body to the other side of the car. With another syringe in my hand, I repeated the same thing and injected the other guard with a dose of the serum.

This time the dosage was around 10mg, thus, upon injection, they passed out immediately.

"Huek!"

"Haaa!"

Their shouts startled the guards at the front.

What the!"

"Hey! What's going on?!"

Instantly the car started swearing left and right. Gripping on the metal bar at the top of the car, I hooked my feet around the front seat of the car and let go.

Using my core, I pushed my body forward, crossing my hands, I simultaneously stabbed both guards in the shoulder.

The squeaking sound of the syringe being pressed rang in the car.

'”Squeeq! '”Squeeq!

Right after I injected them with the serum, putting my hand on the wheel of the car, I quickly took control of the vehicle.

Shoving the driver of the car to the back, I managed to regain control of the car.

"Haaa...haa...the first part is done."

Breathing heavily, I kept my focus on the road. At the moment we were still in the forest area, but in the distance, I could see the faint outline of the Monolith. Slowly, the density of the trees started to diminish.

Following the cars ahead for the next couple of minutes, from time to time, I would glance behind me. Towards Jorome's unit members.

'”Screech.

About a kilometer away from the Monolith, pressing on the break of the car and turning the wheel all the way to the right, a screeching sound resounded and the car swerved.

The moment the car stopped, quickly hooping to the back of the car, and taking out four bombs from my dimensional space, I handed them to my squad members and ordered.

"Press on the top of this as soon as a guy with a mustache enters the car."

"..."

Staring at me with emotionless eyes, I was met with no response. Not minding it, I put it in their inner pockets and closed their eyes.

Click.Click.Click.

"...Just in case."

Taking out another bomb from my dimensional space, I quickly set a timer of five minutes and hid it beneath one of the seats.

This was my plan B in case the others couldn't follow my orders.

The reason why I didn't set a timer with the other bomb was that I didn't know how long it would take for them to search the vehicle.

From my calculations, five minutes was the max amount of time I estimated it would take them to thoroughly search the car.

If unit members failed to listen to my orders, then this last one was my insurance.

'”Clank!

Once I finished setting up everything, slowly opening the side of the door, I closed it and entered the forest.

Because I exited from the other side of the car, the others weren't able to notice me leaving the car.

Entering the forest, I moved forward and stopped not so far from them. Evening my breathing and hiding my presence as much as possible, I looked at the guard surrounding the car.

From where I was, I could overhear some of the conversations they were having.

...

...

"Subject 876, we know that you're in there. Get out of the car and surrender."

...

...

"Are they dead?"

...

...

"Send someone to search the forest, we can't exclude the possibility that 876 has already escaped to the forest."

...

...

Sneakily moving around the vegetation, I approached the other two vehicles in the distance. Behind me, I could hear the rustling sounds of the guards searching for me.

'Please work...'

As I was moving, I secretly prayed for my plan to work. If not, then everything would be for naught.

Fortunately.

'”BOOOOOM!

A massive explosion resounded not so far from where I was.

"Now!"

The moment the explosion rang, I sprinted towards the vehicle in the distance.

I had to be quick.

Although the bombs were powerful, they weren't something that the commander couldn't take. Even if caught off-guard. I knew that he was still alive.

"Huuuuuaaaa!"

The hoarse scream was the perfect testament to my conjunction.

Taking out the last bomb in my hand, I stepped on the pedal of the car and sped at full speed towards the gate of the Monolith.

'”VRRRR! '”VRRRR!

The booming sound of the car engine roared throughout the area as it quickly sped up towards the gate.

"Stop him!"

Behind me, I could hear the commander's hoarse voice. Listening to his voice, I could feel the deep seethed hatred he had for me.

Ignoring him, and speeding ahead, in the distance, I could see the startled look of the guards guarding the entrance.

'”WHIIIII! '”WHIIIII!

The color red flashed as the guards quickly rushed to activate the protective measures.

"You there stop!"

"Stop!"

But it was too late.

'”Clank!

Pressing on the top of the bomb in my hand, just when I was 100 meters away from the gate, dropping the bomb at the bottom of the vehicle and putting on a small weight on the pedal of the car, I kicked the door open and jumped out.

"khuak!"

Jumping out, and hitting the hard cement, I felt the air get knocked out of me. Many of my bones broke and fractured upon impact.

"Khh..."

Lifting my head slightly, and staring at the vehicle in the distance, I watched as the car crashed into the gates of the Monolith.

The moment the car hit the gates, a sea of flames spread out from it and engulfed the entire area.

'”BOOOOOM!

Following that was the sound of a massive explosion.

"Khhh..."

Mustering every last bit of strength in my body, dragging my injured body forward, I made my way towards the gates of the Monolith.

Arriving close to the gate, I could feel the heat coming from raging flames due to the explosion brushing past my skin.

Taking out a ring from my dimensional space, I put it on my finger and removed a small black bracelet off of my wrist.

'”Gulp!

Opening my mouth, I put the bracelet into my mouth and swallowed.

'...who would've ever thought I'd go through this again.'

Upon swallowing the bracelet, a bitter smile appeared on my face.

"Khh..."

Limping forward, I slowly entered the flames.

Chapter 268: Them [1]

Inside an office space, a beautiful young girl with glossy black hair and obsidian black eyes sat behind a large wooden desk. Behind her, the sunlight coming from the sun directly shined through the window brushing past her skin, further emphasizing her beauty.

Flipping through a long pile of papers, the young girl's brows would knit from time to time.

"Young miss, how should we proceed?"

Standing in front of her was a fairly young man. With his back straight and a gentle smile on his face, he asked.

"Hm?"

Lifting her head slowly and putting one of the papers down, the young girl's eyes glossed over the paper for a couple of more seconds before opening her mouth.

"Allocate the Nightgall dungeon to the senior members. Tell them to use it to train the new recruits."

"Understood." The young man smiled and asked. "What about the Adrianna dungeon?"

"The Adrianna dungeon?" Brushing her hair towards her ear, the young girl mused for a bit before answering. "Allocate that to Beta squad, they need more training."

"As you wish young miss." Taking note of her instructions, the young man looked at the girl and curtly asked. "Is there anything else you would like me to do?"

"No" The young girl shook her head, before once again diverting her attention towards the papers on the desk. "Thank you for your hard work, Maxwell. You may leave."

"As you wish, young miss."

At the young girl's command, Maxwell lowered his head slightly. Turning around, he made his way towards the door.

Reaching for the handle of the door, Maxwell suddenly stopped. Turning around, and staring at the young girl who was tirelessly working, after hesitating for a bit, he worriedly said. "Young miss, I know that you're working hard for the guild, and everyone is very appreciative of that...but please don't overwork yourself."

"Mhm."

Without looking up, the young girl casually responded.

She was already too immersed in her work to care about anything else.

"Haa..."

Staring at Amanda, a trace of pity flashed Maxwell's eyes. Sighing and shaking his head, he turned around and left the room.

"Please do heed my words, young miss."

'”Clank!

Once Maxwell left the room, silence descended in the room. Apart from the scribbling sound coming from the young girl's direction, no other noise could be heard.

'”Flip! '”Flip! '”Flip!

After a while, flipping through a series of files, the young girl paused and knit her brows tightly.

"This isn't correct. The numbers don't quite match here..."

The young girl who was busily looking through the files was in fact, Amanda.

Ever since Ren's death, just like she had planned originally, she dropped out of the academy.

She then proceeded to join the guild, and from there, she slowly started adapting to a leadership role. Of course, for obvious reasons, the bigger problems were being handled by the more senior members of the guild.

At the moment Amanda was only dealing with the smaller issues.

This would of course change in the future when she gained more experience, but for now, she was content with this.

She of course also did not neglect to train. Being the future guild master of the number one guild in the world, Amanda needed to be strong.

With the aid of the elders and resources available to her, Amanda's rank quickly shot up all the way to <D-> rank. Pretty much in line with what she estimated she would've been had, she stayed in the Lock.

Slowly but surely, Amanda was starting to adapt to her new role.

...at least that was how it looked on the surface.

In reality, Amanda was using work as an excuse to cope with the pain that she was feeling every day. From time to time, she would have nightmares of 'that day', resulting in her being unable to sleep.

The only way she was able to deal with those nights was by shoving herself with work. She just needed something to set her mind somewhere else.

Eight months passed, and though the pain was still there, it didn't hurt as much as before.

Even so, she would still get those nightmares from time to time.

Di! Di! Di!

Disrupting Amanda out of her focus, was her alarm. Glancing at the alarm and looking at the time, Amanda put the papers down and mumbled.

"It's already time?"

She was so immersed in her work that she did not realize the fact that she had been working for more than ten hours already.

Standing up, Amanda grabbed a black cashmere felt coat that was resting on the back of her chair and put it on.

Putting her hands on her pockets, Amanda headed towards the entrance of her office.

Just as she was about to leave, halting her steps right before the door, Amanda turned around and glanced towards the corner of the room.

Sitting on top of the shelf was a small teddy bear. Staring at it for a couple of seconds, a trace of sadness flashed her eyes.

"..."

For the next couple of seconds, Amanda just stared at the teddy in the distance.

After that, pursing her lips, she turned around and left the room.

'”Clank!

'I hope you're doing well up there.'

***

'”Fwoooooom!

Inside of a white room, flames suddenly erupted covering the whole room. The flames continued to rage for the next ten seconds before quickly disappearing and revealing a translucent red card standing in the middle of the room.

[Experiment log #1574 - Mana lingering in room : 38%]

A robotic voice sounded.

Standing opposite to the room, and staring at it through a large glass, Melissa touched the middle of her glasses with her index finger and lifted them up slightly.

"Still missing 8%"

Her goal was a mana efficiency loss of 30%. Compared to last year where it was at 49%, she managed to improve the magic card to the point where it was now thinner and more efficient than before.

Still.

"There's still work to do."

It was still not enough for commercial use.

The closer she was to the goal, the harder it became for her to develop the card further, Melissa knew this best.

Therefore, taking out a piece of paper, Melissa sat down on a stool and started doing some calculations.

"what if I altered the magic circle a bit? Perhaps simplify it? The magic card itself seems fine, but that could also..."

Staring at Melissa mumbling to herself in the corner of the lab, Rosie, her assistant, entered the testing room and cleaned up the place.

Ever since eight months ago, Melissa had pretty much holed herself up in the lab. Although she used to hole herself up in the lab before as well, this year she spent even more time inside of the lab.

She had gotten so obsessed with the research that she had started neglecting sleep and food.

Despite having the best resources available, she tended to sleep in the lab more than in her own room. She was totally addicted.

"Sigh, I hope she doesn't overwork herself."

Rosie muttered as she cleaned up the room. Having been Melissa's attendant for the past two years, she had gotten quite close to her. Rosie obviously did not like seeing her like that.

"Haaa.."

After spending the next ten minutes or so cleaning up the room, she walked out of the room and made her way towards Melissa.

"Melissa I'm do'”Hm?"

Standing behind Melissa, Rosie suddenly noticed a stack of paper by the side of her desk. Thinking that it was trash, she picked it up and briefly glanced at them.

"What the."

Upon reading the papers, Rosie's eyes opened up slightly. Looking at Melissa, Rosie muttered out loud.

"...there's someone else who owns this project?"

"Hm?" Overhearing Rosie's mutter, Melissa turned around. Staring at the papers in her hand, she quickly snatched them. "Give me that, that's confidential."

Because she spent most of the time in the lab, Melissa had forgotten that she had put the contract out. Fortunately, apart from Rosie, no one else entered the lab, else they would've found out about Ren's involvement in the magic card system, not that it really mattered anymore.

"Wait, I thought that you were the only one who was working on this project. Since when there was someone else?"

"What?" Turning around and looking at Rosie, Melissa raised her brow. "How did you get the idea that I was the only one that was doing the project?"

"...Ah, I just thought that it was yours because I've never seen anyone else helping you."

"Well, that's a given. I'm doing most of the work."

"Then..."

"The project idea and framework wasn't mine, so I can't help it."

"Ah."

Rosie let out a weird sound.

Ignoring her, Melissa leaned back on her stool. She suddenly thought of a problem.

"Actually, now that you've mentioned the other owner, how should I handle the payment?"

Originally Ren was meant to send it to a private bank account of his, but he died before he could even get back to her.

Whenever she asked, he would always say.

'Bank account? That, ah, well, I'll give it to you once I make it. Why not make it now? To be honest, it's a bit of a hassle.'

Recalling his face when he said those words made Melissa want to punch him in the face. Clenching her fists, she muttered.

"This bastard, even when he's dead, he's giving me trouble."

Though she said that, there was not an ounce of malice in her words. She was merely venting her frustrations.

"What should I do?" Brushing her hair by her ear, Melissa massaged her forehead. She was trying her best to think of solutions. "Ah!" It was then that she suddenly got an idea. "Wait, why don't I ask Amanda? She might know since she's also part of the project."

If there was anyone that would be able to help her, it was Amanda. She too was part of the project, and she seemed ot be quite close to Ren. Perhaps she knew something.

"This might work."

Taking out her phone, she typed a message and quickly sent her a text.

***

At the same time, standing in front of a large building, amidst a crowd of people, the eyes of all men and women were focused in a particular direction.

"Is she a model?"

"I doubt it, I've seen many models before, but none of them are as beautiful as her."

"She's hella hot."

"Wahhh, she's so pretty."

With a long stylish black cashmere coat that perfectly complemented her glossy black hair and eyes, a stunning woman stood at the entrance of the building, seemingly waiting for someone.

With her head lowered, Amanda scrolled through her phone. She was completely unbothered by the stares.

'”Ding! '”Ding!

Her phone would vibrate from time to time.

===[Melissa]===

Melissa : [Hey Amanda, I have something to talk to you about.]

Amanda : [Regarding?]

Melissa : [It's regarding the project I'm working on.]

Amanda : [The magic card one?]

Melissa : [Yeah]

Amanda : [Are you almost done?]

Melissa : [It's not that, it's about the payment. Once it's done, who should I send the money to?]

Amanda : [Ah.]

As she was typing, many of the males around her wanted to strike up a conversation with her, however, they refrained from doing so.

She had this cold exterior that made it hard for anyone to approach her. It was as though there was this invisible wall around her that made it hard for anyone to approach her.

"Excuse me."

That of course did not apply to everyone. There would always be that one fool in the crowd.

Confidently moving towards Amanda, was a fairly handsome young man with brown hair and green eyes. With his hand on his neck, and a gentle smile on his face, he asked. "Hey, are you waiting for someone?" Brushing his hair up, he nudged his head slightly. "How about grabbing something to eat with me later?"

"..."

With her head lowered, Amanda completely ignored the man who was speaking to her. As a result, the man was put in an awkward situation.

"Excuse me, did you no'”"

"Sister!"

Cutting the man off was a shrill sound in the distance.

Lifting her head up, Amanda stared at a young girl that was speedily running in her direction.

"Nola."

Instantly, her cold exterior vanished and a warm smile replaced it.

The moment she smiled, almost every person around her froze up. Turning their heads, they couldn't help but want to engrave the scene inside of their minds.

'She's soo beautiful'

Everyone thought.

"Waaaa, sister!"

Not minding their attention one bit, Amanda bent down slightly and extended her arms. Not long after, Nola ran into her arms.

"Sister!"

Embracing Nola, Amanda patted her head.

"How was preschool, Nola? Did you have fun?"

"Mhm, it was fun."

"Is that so?"

"Um. Today, I had lot of fun bwecause sister was coming. Also there was this big dinousar that was swuoo scary..."

Listening to Nola's words, Amanda would add a few words here in there.

"And then he suddenly scared him and I was like no, I won't be scared."

"Wow, you go Nola."

"Um, Um"

Despite Ren's death eight months ago, Amanda never went back on her word. She did not kick Ren's parents out of the apartment that she had given them and continued to have someone guard them 24/7.

During Ren's funeral, Nola had approached her and cried with her. It was then that she met Ren's parents for the first time.

From the brief conversation she had with them, they were able to learn of her identity, and from there they started talking from time to time.

It eventually got to the point where they were comfortable enough to let her pick up Nola at the daycare.

This was mostly due to Nola's insistence, but Amanda did not mind this one bit. She liked to be with Nola, it felt therapeutic for her.

Every time she would meet up with Nola, her stress and worries would quickly dissolve.

Furthermore, since she owned the building and it was near the guild, she decided to move there as well.

So it was no trouble for her.

"Then, the teacher suddenly appeared and pwotrected everyone. Bwut, I did not need protection like the others."

"Is that so." Listening to Nola, the edges of Amanda's lips curled upwards. "Nola, it's about time we head home, or we'll be late."

"Um."

Nola nodded her head.

Taking Nola by the hand, Amanda slowly stood up.

"Hm?" Turning her head, and finally noticing someone standing next to her, Amanda asked. "Sorry, do you need something from me?"

Staring at Amanda, the male who tried to flirt with her moments ago opened and closed his mouth a couple of times. Stuttering, he shook his head.

"Ah-ah...no."

"Okay." Lowering her head and once again looking at Nola, Amanda gently asked. "Do you want to stop at the ice cream store first?"

"Um!"

At Amanda's suggestion, Nola's eyes started sparkling. This caused the edges of Amanda's lips to pull up even more.

"Okay, ice cream it is."

*

6:31 P.M.

After buying Nola an ice cream at the ice cream store nearby, Amanda brought her back home. Arriving before a large wooden door, Amanda rang the doorbell.

Ding! Dong'”!

"Coming."

A couple of seconds after ringing on the door, a muffled voice echoed from the other side of the door. Not long after, the door opened, and a beautiful woman opened the door.

'”Clank!.

Staring at Amanda, Samantha Dover smiled sweetly. "Oh my, if it isn't Amanda. Thank you again for bringing Nola home." Lowering her head and caressing Nola in the head, Samantha said. "I hope she didn't cause you any troubles."

"Of course not," Amanda politely replied, whilst looking at Nola. "She's sweet. There's no way she'll be a bother."

"That's good to hear." Samantha smiled.

As they were talking, a nice fragrance suddenly enveloped the corridor, prompting Amanda's nose to open up slightly. Unknowingly, the edges of her lips started salivating as she smacked her lips a couple of times.

Noticing Amanda's reaction, Samatha smiled.

"I'm making a roast, you want to eat with us?"

"...Ah, Maybe next time, I still have work to do today."

Blushing slightly, Amanda politely refused.

Even though she had gotten closer to Ren's family, she was still not very comfortable eating with them alone. Thus, she refused.

Seemingly having read Amanda's thoughts, Samantha did not push any further.

"Oh, I see, that's a pity."

"I'm sorry for this." Gratefully looking at Samantha, Amanda bid Nola goodbye. "Bye Nola, I'll see you next week."

Just as Amanda was about to leave, she felt a slight tug at the hem of her coat. Turning around, she saw Nola looking up at her. Trembling slightly, her eyes looked extremely downcast.

"S-sister don't go."

Amanda's heart trembled.

By the side, Samantha tried to soothe Nola.

"Nola, let go of Amanda. She's busy."

'Those eyes.'

Staring at Nola's eyes, Amanda's heart started to hurt. If it was anyone else they might've not been able to notice it, but she knew those eyes all too well.

It was the same eyes she had when she was young.

'...she still misses Ren.'

The more she looked at Nola, the bigger the pain in her heart became. Those were the eyes of someone that was lonely.

Putting on a smile, Amanda took her phone out and sent a quick message. After that, turning around she looked at Samantha and said.

"You know what, it seems like I do have time to spare."

"Waaa!"

The moment Amanda said those words, Nola's face bloomed into a beautiful smile as she jumped towards Amanda.

Caressing Nola's head, Amanda decided to use this opportunity to let Ren's parents know about the magic card system.

She believed that if there was anyone that Ren would want to give the money to, it would be them.

Chapter 269: Them [2]

[The events that are taking place here, are five months after Ren's death. (Current timeline, is eight)]

'”Clang! '”Clang!

The sound of metal clashing against metal rang out repeatedly.

"Haaa..haaa..."

Standing opposite to each other, two youth's glared at each other. One held a long broadsword, whilst the other held a dagger in each hand.

They were Kevin and Jin respectively.

Both of their breathing was rough, and droplets of sweat trickled down the side of their faces.

Lowering his body, Jin's body slowly melted into the shadows. Squinting, and staring at Jin who had just melted into the shadows, Kevin closed his eyes and evened his breathing.

For the next few seconds, apart from the uneven sound of his sweat dropping on the ground, no other sound could be heard.

Kevin suddenly opened his eyes.

Turning around, he swung the broadsword.

'”Clank!

Sparks flew in the air as the body of the broadsword come into contact with both the daggers.

"Haaap!"

Planting his foot on the ground, Kevin shouted out loud as the muscles of his arms bulged. Taking a step forward he forcefully swung the broadsword down and pushed Jin a couple of meters back.

"...khh"

Pushed back, a subtle groan escaped from Jin's mouth. Indifferently staring at Kevin, he twirled the daggers around his hand.

Then, raising his right hand, he bent his body back and threw the dagger.

'”Swoosh!

Splitting the air apart, a whistling sound arose. The dagger was so fast, that only a streak of light could be seen.

Squinting his eyes and staring at the incoming dagger, Kevin tilted the broadsword vertically.

'”Clank!

"kuhk!"

Blocking the dagger with the body of the broadsword, sparks flew in the air as a small grunt escaped from Kevin's lips.

The moment Kevin blocked the dagger, Jin suddenly appeared behind him. With his dagger in his hand, he swung.

"Shit."

Cursing, Kevin knew that he was in trouble. Gritting his teeth, rather than moving the whole broadsword, tilting his wrist, he moved the hilt of the sword. By the side of his cheek.

'”Clink!

"Khak!"

Just barely, he managed to block Jin's dagger from hitting his face, however, the recoil that come from the block still struck him right in the face, dazing him a little bit.

Taking advantage of this, twisting his torso, Jin's body twisted 180 degrees in the air. Holding the dagger by the back of his hand, the tip of his dagger quickly approached the other side of Kevin's face.

Staring at the dagger by the side of his eyes, Kevin once again cursed.

"Shit."

'”Clap!

"Alright, that's enough. Jin's won."

Standing in the corner of the room, Donna clapped her hands once. The moment she clapped her hands, a small shockwave swept the area, pushing Jin away from Kevin.

Glancing at both Kevin and Jin, Donna was exasperated. "I've said this before, but this is a light spar, you're not here to kill each other. If you want to do that, don't do it on my watch."

"Haaa..."

Slumping down on the ground, Kevin dropped the broadsword down. With heavy breaths, he lifted his head up and congratulated Jin.

"Congrats on your victory."

Standing in front of Kevin, Jin indifferently picked up his dagger from the ground. He then briefly glanced at Kevin.

"...win what? I know that you're still not used to the broadsword."

"Well, a loss is still a loss."

For the past two months, Kevin had been switching weapons from a regular sword to a broadsword.

Despite his inexperience with the broadsword, he was able to quickly master it to some degree, and even though he was not quite as strong with it, he was still a force to be reckoned with.

Of course, that was only applicable if his opponent was someone that was not on the same level as Jin.

When facing an opponent at Jin's level, his inexperience was quite obvious to see.

"I'm going to class."

Taking one last look at Kevin on the floor, putting his daggers away, Jin casually strolled out of the training ground.

"Kevin, you should go back too," Donna said. "Class starts in an hour, so get a shower and change."

"Aye."

Listening to Donna, Kevin stood up and left the same way Jin left.

"haaa..."

Staring at Kevin's departing figure, Donna let out a sigh. Despite Kevin's attempt at looking fine, Donna knew that Kevin had still not recovered from Ren's death.

He along with Jin changed drastically after 'that' event.

Even though they trained a lot before, somehow Ren's death had sparked a fire within them that made them thrive for strength.

Just last month, both of them had almost broken through to <D+> rank. They were just a tad short, and by the end of the year, she estimated that both of them would breakthrough to <C-> rank, before reaching <B> rank by the end of their third year.

Their level of improvement honestly shocked Donna quite a bit. In terms of talent, there was no one else that could match them. They were total monsters.

'...no, actually, there was actually someone else that could've rivaled their talent.'

Past tense.

There used to be someone that could rival both Jin and Kevin in terms of talent.

...but unfortunately, said person was no longer present.

If it was him, Donna didn't doubt that Kevin and Jin would've had a run for their money.

Regrettably, that was no longer possible.

Recalling the moments prior to Ren's death, Donna's eyes became downcast. If she said that his death had not impacted her in the least, then she'd be lying.

Having spent a lot of time with Ren during their training days, Donna had gotten quite attached to him.

Just like Kevin, his death had hit her. She had become stricter with her students and chose to pour all of her efforts into nurturing them so that such incidents would never happen again.

Unfortunately, unlike before, she was now alone again.

Monica was no longer at the academy, and the last time she had heard from her was about a month ago.

Recently things have been quite hectic at the union, especially since there was a war going on at the moment.

One that was pretty much known to everyone.

The Monolith versus the Union. After the incident that happened at the Lock, the Union was seriously enraged, and from there, an all-out war between the two behemoths happened.

Monica, being one of the strongest people in the union, had to of course take part in the war. As such, she was always too busy to talk to her, let alone help her train Jin and Kevin.

"....Actually, I wonder how Monica is doing."

Tying her hair behind her head, Donna muttered.

"Let me try calling her." Taking out her private phone, Donna dialed a number. "...I hope she isn't too busy. I wanna know how the situation on her side is."

***

Ta.Ta.Ta.Ta.Ta.

The rhythmical and repetitive sound of keys being pressed rang out.

"Da, dum, da, dum~"

Inside of a fairly large room, sitting on a black leather chair that was twice his size, was Ryan. In front of him were five different screens. With both legs on his chair, Ryan's eyes darted all over the monitors in front of him.

This continued for approximately an hour.

After a while, scratching the back of his head, he turned around and apologized.

"...Hm, sorry, but there's no match."

"No match, are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Haaa..." Smallsnake, who was laying down on a small gray couch inside of Ryan's room, let out a long sigh. "How many times have you checked?"

"Eleven, there's no sign of him."

"hmmm." Massaging his head, Smallsnake mumbled. "Just where in the world are you."

Five months had passed since Ren's disappearance. Ever since things had not really been the same.

Even though everyone was still united, it was merely by contract, they weren't really doing anything apart from mostly training and lazying about.

Smallsnake could still remember watching the live stream where Ren died like it was yesterday.

As he watched the stream he got the scare of his life.

That day, he seriously thought that Ren had died.

...but contrary to his expectations, Ren had not died. He was sure of this, why? Because of the mana contract he and each of the members of Caissa had signed.

Had he died, the contract would've long gone null. Since it wasn't, it meant that he was alive.

Knowing that he was alive, Smallsnake started to hope for his return.

With Ryan's aid, Smallsnake created a code that bypassed most of the public security cameras in Ashton city.

From there, using a face recognition software, he looked through the many cameras in Ashton city in hopes of finding someone that matched Ren's descriptions.

Unfortunately, despite all of his attempts, he was unable to spot Ren.

Even so, he didn't give up. Ren was the core of Caissa. Without him, everything would go down the drain. He had to find him.

"Do another check," Smallsnake ordered as he glanced at Ryan. "This time remove anyone that is fat and tall. Keep anyone that has a similar body build as Ren."

"Aye."

Used to this, Ryan turned his attention back on the monitors and tapped on the keyboard.

From time to time Ryan would start biting his nails which would result in Smallsnake scolding him.

"Hey, how many times did I tell you that that is not good for you?"

"Sorry."

Ta.Ta.Ta.Ta.Ta.

Whilst Ryan was busy coding, standing up, Smallsnake moved towards the training ground where an enchanting figure sat down in the middle. Revolving around her was some sort of tangible black energy.

Entering the room, Smallsnake asked. "Angelica, do you have any idea where Ren is?"

After so much time had passed and with no results, Smallsnake was starting to doubt whether Ren was still alive or not. Even though the contract said otherwise, he really couldn't see how Ren had survived amidst that explosion. It was frankly impossible.

Even so, he knew that this was a needless worry.

Opening her eyes, a trace of disgust flashed Angelica's eyes as they paused on Smallsnake who was standing opposite to her.

"Stick like human, if I knew, you think I'd be staying here with you?"

"...Right, that's true, forget that I even asked." Smallsnake bitterly smiled before glancing around and asking. "By the way where is Leopold? I don't see him anywhere"

Closing her eyes, Angelica replied.

As she spoke the disgust in her voice became even more apparent.

"The beast-like human is outside, sucking on that fire stick."

"Fire stick? You mean cigarette?"

Opening her eyes, Angelica glared.

"I don't care, stop disturbing me."

"haaa..."

Being glared at by Angelica, Smallsnake quickly left the training room. Letting out a sigh, he mumbled.

"Ren, wherever you are, please get back quickly."

He was starting to lose his mind.

***

The union, 76th floor.

"Godamn bastards making me work 7 days a week. Even though I'm powerful, I'm still human~"

Sitting behind a desk, Monica muttered out loud as she flicked a small rubber on the top of her desk.

Though Monica said that, she wasn't actually mad. A little bit tired, yes, but otherwise, she wasn't angry by the fact that she was working 7 days a week.

She knew just how important her current mission was.

At the moment they were in a very delicate situation. Just a few weeks ago, they managed to finally find a way to access the Monolith. Although they couldn't directly send anyone there because it was too dangerous, and the location was unknown, the union had a secret weapon with them.

A special artifact that could create a small gate that could lead them towards a certain location as long as they had a visual image of the place.

Regarding the image, they were able to get it by extracting the memories of multiple villains they caught.

That artifact was the Union's secret weapon, and using it they were planning on sending a small unit directly to the Monolith, in hopes of creating as much chaos as possible

'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth'

Was what the higher-ups said during the meeting.

There were of course many limits to the artifacts such as the limited number of people that could enter, and the cooldown period, but given the situation, it was without a doubt the best weapon they could have to finally deal with the Monolith a devastating blow.

"Those crazy bastards." Recalling the details of the plans, Monica's pouted in annoyance. "Why can't they let me join the infiltration squad."

Unfortunately for Monica, during the time that the Union was planning on sending someone to infiltrate the Monolith, she was tasked with a different mission.

...and that was to garner the attention of the higher-ups of the Monolith, in order to make the situation much easier for the squad they were planning on sending in.

With her head slumped on her desk, she muttered.

"Man, why can't those old bastards let me in on the fun. I woul'”Hm?"

'”Ring! '”Ring!

Cutting Monica off was the sound of her phone ringing. Taking out the phone and seeing the ID of the person calling, she picked up the phone as a mischievous smile appeared on her face.

"Is that you, Donna? Did you perhaps miss me?"

'”What, ah...yes, yes. I missed you so much.

"~How sweet of you." Monica teased. "So what did you call me for?"

She could practically envision Donna rolling her eyes inside of her mind.

'”No...nothing really, it's just that I haven't heard from you for a month, did something happen?"

At Donna's question, Monica's mouth trembled, and the pitch of her voice raised.

"Err..no?"

'”So something really did happen.

Donna's grew stern.

'”Spill it.

"Damn it." A defeated smile appeared on Monica's lips as she mumbled. "Sharp as always."

'”Well...no, not really, it's just that you're way too easy to read.

"Ugh, that hurts."

Unfortunately, for Monica, Donna's words had some truth to them. She had a difficult time hiding secrets as her face would always give her away.

Fortunately, this only happened with Donna. Had it been anyone else, she would've been able to somewhat keep a stoic face.

'”Alright, enough with the jokes, did something really happen?

Donna's stern voice rang through the speaker of the phone. A hint of worry was mixed in the stern voice.

'”If so, is there anything I can do to help?

"Hmmm.." Monica mused whilst playing with the rubber on the table. "I can't say too much, but all I can tell you is that we're planning something big."

'”Something big?

Donna questioned.

"mhm, sorry, even if it's you, I can't say too much."

This was a top-secret operation that the Union was going to carry out. Even if she trusted Donna with all of her heart, she couldn't say anything.

Donna seemed to have understood this point as well, as she didn't pursue the matter any further.

'”I understand. Good luck with your mission.

"Thanks, is there anything else you wanted to ask?"

'”Well, I was going to ask if you would like to come to help me train Jin and Kevin, but from the looks of it, you're going to be quite busy.

"Right, sorry about that. I don't think I'll be available for quite a while actually."

The operation was going to be a very risky one. There was a lot of planning involved, and it may take as little as a month's time to complete, to as far as two years time.

Tapping on the rubber on the table, Monica's eyes suddenly lit up as she thought of something. "...I think that we should probably grab a drink before I go, what do you say?"

'”...I like the sound of that.

"Great." Monica suddenly stood up from her seat. "Let's do it right now."

'”Wait, what? Now?

"Yup, wait for me Donna, I'm coming."

'”Wait, what are you t-

Ta Tak'”!

Before Donna could reply, Monica had already hung up. Grabbing a red jacket that was resting on the back of her seat, she quickly headed for the door.

"They won't complain no? Meh, who cares, I deserve a little break"

'”Clank!

Closing the door behind her, Monica quickly left her office.

Chapter 270: The Last Hurdle [1]

The moment I stepped into the flames, I could feel the heat from the fire brush past my skin.

Waving my hand forward and channeling the wind psyons in the air, a protective sphere formed around me, redirecting the flames away from me.

With the sphere around me, I moved forward. Towards the sea of flames.

"Khhh..."

A couple of steps into the fire, a small groan escaped from my lips.

Despite the fact that I was diverting the fire away from me, the heat from the fire was no joke. The evidence of this was my skin which was slowly turning red.

"kh..."

Gritting my teeth, and ignoring the pain, I continued moving forward.

"Haaa!"

"Hue!"

Because of the raging flames blocking my vision, I couldn't see where I was going. Even then, I could still hear the agonizing shouts coming from the guards that were being burnt alive.

Focusing on the screams coming from the guards, I quickly headed in their direction.

They were my goal.

"Khh...khhh..help"

Before long, following the nearest scream, I arrived before a guard. Well, what remained of the guard.

With the air barrier revolving around me, arriving before him, I was able to get a quick glimpse of his condition.

The moment my eyes laid on him, all I saw was a charred body. With his hand raised towards my direction, in a groggy, almost inaudible voice, he begged.

"Help...me...ahh'”!"

"Sure."

Lowering my body, I raised my hand and smacked his head, directly killing him in one hit. At this point, even someone came to his aid, he was too far injured to be saved.

"huuu."

Exhaling, my eyes paused towards what seemed to be the hand of the guard. On it, was a small golden ring.

Taking the ring from the guard's hand, I closed my eyes and channeled my mana.

'Great, everything is here.'

Looking through the ring and seeing that everything was still in there, I smiled in satisfaction.

Taking out the ring that was on my finger and replacing it with the one I took from the guard, I put away my old ring.

Once I put the ring on my finger, staring at the corpse of the guard next to me, I moved back, and once again let it be engulfed by the flames.

Turning around, I moved a couple of meters away from the body and sat down.

"huuu."

Taking a deep breath, I knew that I didn't have much time. Closing my eyes, I decreased the radius of the air shield that was revolving around me.

"khh.."

Burn marks started to appear all over my body, but I didn't care. I had to save as much mana as possible.

The flames around me continued to rage wildly around me for the next ten minutes or so, and just when I was about to run out of mana, the flames finally started showing signs of decreasing.

"Over here."

"There is an injured person over here"

Before long I could hear the sound of the rescue team in the distance. Waving my hand, the air shield around me dissipated, and once it disappeared, the flames instantly enveloped my entire body.

Closing my eyes, using the last mana inside of my body, I muttered.

"Monarch's indifference."

***

Inside of a large room lit by a dim lamp, multiple figures sat around a large oval wooden table. At the moment, a heavy atmosphere shrouded the room as everyone's eyes looked towards a man sitting at the head of the table.

Objectively speaking, he was a handsome man. He had sharp, well-defined facial features that shone beautifully under the dim light.

His displeased expression was the reason for the heavy atmosphere.

"So you're telling me that you still can't track 876?"

His deep and cold voice rang across the room. Turning his head, and staring towards a certain individual sitting on the table, his voice grew colder.

"And you're also telling me that a commander like you is incapable of taking care of a single individual despite the fact that you had two units helping you?"

A heavy pressure descended upon the room. Every single individual's breathing became rough, and sweat trickled down the side of their faces.

"..."

Reprimanded, Luther wordlessly raised his head.

The moment he raised his head, and the light shone on his face, a massive burn mark that spread across half of his face became visible for everyone in the room to see.

Clenching his fists underneath the table, Luther did not rebuke and apologize.

"I acknowledge my mistake."

Propping his elbow on the table and resting his cheek on his fist, the handsome man indifferently asked. "Is that all you have to say?"

"No." Luther shook his head, before gritting his teeth, and suddenly standing up. "Please give me another chance, Xavier!"

'”Bang!

Smashing his fist on the table and startling the people around him, Luther raised his voice.

"I swear to you that I will grab that fucker and kill him with my own hands!"

Each and every single word that came out of his mouth was coated with unimaginable amounts of hatred.

Although he did not get any serious injury, fury and humiliation surged within him whenever he thought about the incident that happened not too long ago. Such disgrace was something he had never experienced before, it remained in his mind vividly.

Deeply starting at Luther, Xavier mused.

"So you're saying that you will take responsibility for your failure?"

"Yes."

Luther firmly replied.

"...I see, alright."

"Really?"

At Xavier's agreement, Luther's eyes lit up as the flames of hatred that were flashing across his eyes burned even more fiercely.

"I will not disappoint you!"

"mhm...but, there's one condition."

"One condition?"

Luther's excitement died down, and what replaced it was wariness.

'As expected, there's no free lunch in this world.'

This was how the Monolith operated, Luther knew that there were no such things as favors in the Monolith. There were only deals, and Xavier was just about to propose his deal.

"What's the condition?"

"Don't worry, it's nothing too bad."

Propping his other elbow on the table and interlocking his fingers together, Xavier casually said. "In the process of hunting down 876, I want you to bring a couple of recruits with you."

"A couple of recruits?"

"Mhm, they're fairly young, but I believe in their potential. Let this be a good experience for them."

"...Is that all?"

"Yup" Smiling, he teased. "What, you were expecting something else?"

"No, no, no, I understand."

"Good."

Smiling, and taking his attention away from Luther, Xavier switched the topic.

"Now, onto a different topic. Long story short, we're planning on ambushing Monica Jeffrey."

"What!? Monica Jeffrey?"

"ah?!"

"The sunset witch?"

Gazing at each other, murmurs and whispers instantly swept the room.

Everyone in the room knew who Monica was.

The sunset witch and the next SS ranked hero, a prodigy that had never been seen before, and the Monolith's number one bounty holder.

Propping his head on his hands that were interlocked together, Xavier calmly explained. "The reason why I'm telling you this is because the higher-ups are planning on ambushing her."

Pausing and looking at everyone present in the room, Xavier ordered. "In the meantime, once the higher-ups leave to take care of that pest, it will be your job to ensure everyone's safety. If there is anything big that is happening, it'll be your job to take care of it, understood?"

Listening to Xavier's words, everyone drew a cold breath.

If what Xavier said was true, and the higher-ups actually succeeded in killing Monica Jeffrey, then the war between the Monolith and the Union would escalate even further and reach points where they would start an all-out war.

One that would no longer be hidden in the shadows.

Understanding this, the atmosphere became extremely tense.

Fully aware of what everyone was thinking, Xavier sharply looked at everyone in the room.

"I repeat, did everyone understand what I just said?"

Staring at each other for a brief moment, standing up, everyone unanimously shouted.

"Yes!"

"Good, the meeting is over."

Clapping his hands together and standing up from his seat, Xavier turned around and made his way out of the room.

Once he left the room, following after him, were the rest of the people that had attended the meeting. Luther included.

***

For an unknown amount of time, darkness enveloped my vision.

I didn't know how much time had passed, but eventually, regaining control of my body, I opened my eyes.

The moment I opened my eyes, I was met with an unfamiliar white ceiling.

My mind felt hazy and my vision was foggy.

Did I succeed? Or did I fail?

The boundary between reality and dreams was ambiguous.

My whole body ached and many questions emerged inside of my mind as memories started flooding inside of it.

'Right, the fire.'

It was then that slowly I started remembering what had happened to me moments prior. The pain that was coursing through my body was what really reminded me of what happened.

"Ah."

Slowly lifting my head, a small audible gasp escaped from my lips. Covered from head to toe with bandages, I found myself inside of what seemed to be a hospital room.

Next to me, were other people in a similar state to mine.

"Oh, you're up?"

A soft voice called out for me.

Turning my head, a beautiful young girl with black hair and a nurse gown arrived next to me. In her hand was a small clipboard.

"Are you okay?" She asked whilst unwrapping the bandages that were covering my head. "Your injuries were pretty severe. You've got third-degree burns all over your body. If not for the sedatives and pain killers on you, you'd be passing out from the pain."

Watching her unwrap the bandages on my head, I refrained from speaking.

One, because there was a chance that they could recognize my voice, and two, because my brain was extremely drowsy.

With all of the medications I was on, it became incredibly hard for me to process what was happening around me.

Had it not been for the chip inside of my head, it would've taken way longer for me to realize what was happening.

'...did my plan work?'

Looking around, from the looks of thins, my plan seemed to have worked. Though it resulted in me burning myself once again, somehow, I was able to successfully infiltrate the Monolith.

"Alrighty Matteo, stay still so that I can replace your bandages?"

"Matteo?" I muttered out loud as I wondered inside of my mind. 'Who's Matteo? Never heard of him before, and why did she call me that?' Too distracted by my own thoughts, I was unable to realize the fact that Matteo was the name of the guard that I had swapped rings with during the fire. In it were his belongings and ID card.

That was why she had called me his name.

"Hm? Isn't that your name?" Tilting her head, the nurse lifted her head slightly and looked at her clipboard. "Matteo Monaco? Isn't that you?"

The nurse's words instantly cleared up my drowsy mind.

I then quickly pretended to still be under the effects of the drugs.

"...huuekk, teo teo."

"Hmm, I guess you still can't quite understand what I'm saying."

Fortunately for me, the nurse didn't put much thought into it and continued to replace the bandages in my head.

Realizing that I had managed to somehow bullshit my way out of my blunder, I sighed in relief.

If not for my quick thinking, I might've been in deep trouble.

"Alright, I'm all done." Finished replacing my bandages, the nurse clapped her hands in satisfaction before saying. "Have some rest, I'll come back to check up on you tomorrow."

"Khm, hm, hm."

I replied in a way that made it seem that I was still under the effect of the drugs.

"Alright, now onto the next patient."

Gazing at the back of the nurse, closing my eyes, the gears of my mind started turning.

'I need to get out of here as fast as possible.'

Despite the fact that I had managed to successfully infiltrate the Monolith, I knew that the real trouble was just about to begin.

I was closer to freedom than ever before, yet, it also felt like I was still miles away from my goal.

Still, I wasn't disheartened.

Since I had managed to get to where I was now, nothing could stop me from escaping this hell hole.

Nothing.

'Let's think this through before moving.'

Laying down on the bed, I refrained myself from quickly dashing out of the infirmary. There were still many factors that I needed to take into account before actually moving.

For one, without a doubt, the Monolith was currently looking for me everywhere. I mean, I did kill over a dozen of their soldiers, including their top scientist as well as blew up one of the entrances of the Monolith.

If they weren't looking for me, I'd be very surprised.

'Another thing I have to be careful of is the fact that by now, they should have an idea of the fact that I can change faces. They'd be stupid if they didn't, therefore, I have to be even more careful.'

Out of habit, lifting my hand and placing it on my chin, I started musing to myself.

If there was anyone present in the room, they'd find the scene quite comical.

That aside, my point still stood.

Even if the people hunting me down hadn't figured out that I had something that could help me change faces, by now, they should already have an idea of what I was capable of.

Therefore, I needed to be even more vigilant when moving than before. Couldn't be as reckless.

'...lastly the chip.'

This was the problem that was bugging me the most.

Although I had shut down the connection with my chip, the Monolith without a doubt had some devices that should be capable of locating the chip inside of my head.

Even though it may take time for them to set it up since Joseph was dead, I still needed to take this point into consideration.

The more I pondered about this problem, the more I realized how little time I had at my disposal.

If by the end of the week I was not out of this place, then I could kiss my chances of escaping goodbye.

I needed to get out of this place by the end of the week.

Chapter 271: The Last Hurdle [2]

"Reporting for duty!"

Three youths shouted as they stood in front of Luther. A sharp and distinctive aura spread from each and every one of their bodies.

"You must be the recruits that I need to watch over."

Placing his hand on the bottom of his chin, Luther's gaze swept through the bodies of each of the individuals present.

After a couple of seconds, he nodded his head in satisfaction.

"You guys are better than I thought."

He had originally thought he was going to be put with arrogant recruits that knew nothing about real combat but feeling the bloodlust that was emanating from their bodies, he knew that his previous assumption couldn't have been any more wrong.

They were already fully grown soldiers.

"Let me get things straight, so your names are Ezra, Alisa, and..." Pausing, Luther turned his attention towards one of the three youths.

Staring at him, Luther could feel that this youth was different from the others. The bloodlust around him was three times thicker compared to the other two youth's.

Compared to the other two, he was a notch above them.

"...and Matthew?"

Unbothered by Luther's stare, stepping forward, Matthew nodded his head.

"That is correct, sir."

Next to him, Ezra and Alisa seemed to have no qualms with the fact that he had responded for them.

This did not go unnoticed by Luther, who squinted his eyes.

'Hmm, I see. So he's the leader of the lot.'

Luther could see hints of fear and respect in the eyes of the other two recruits as they looked at the youth named Matthew.

Turning his head and staring at Matthew, Luther asked.

"Alright then, you guys must already be aware of what is happening, right?"

"Affirmative, we're here to hunt down subject 876."

"Good, good. Do you guys have any ideas on how we should proceed?"

Luther had obviously already made plans beforehand. The only reason why he was asking, was because he wanted to test them.

Since his job was to mentor them, he naturally had to do so.

"Affirmative."

Matthew responded.

Raising his brow, Luther gestured.

"Oh? Please share your thoughts."

"Understood."

Taking a step forward, Matthew proceeded to tap on the smartwatch on his wrist. A three-dimensional hologram of the Monolith projected before everyone's eyes.

Staring at the map, he started explaining. "There are two ways to escape the Monolith, and the simplest way to escape would be through the main entrance of the building."

Portals weren't the only way people could get into the Monolith. If one knew the location of the Monolith, they could just directly enter through the barrier that was protecting the Monolith.

"What is the other method then?"

"The other method would be through the usage of portals."

Listening to Matthew speak, a smile appeared on Luther's face.

"Mhm, that is correct. I like where this is going, go on."

"From the reports that I've read, not much is known about subject 876 apart from the fact that he is not a part of the Monolith. As such, we can exclude the first option and conclude that subject 876 will try to escape through the gates on the first level."

Subject 876 did not contain any demonic energy inside of him. This meant that he did not sign a contract with a demon.

Since he was not a part of the Monolith, the probability of him knowing the exact location of the Monolith were slim to.

The only way he could escape was through the gates.

"Interesting."

Listening to Matthew's deductions, the smile on Luther's face widened.

"Is there anything else you would like to add?"

"Mhhh" With his brows knit, Matthew mused. "Subject 876 also seems to be adept in combat, and from the looks of things, he has the ability to somehow mask his identity...?"

"Assume he does."

"I see, if so he will try to mask himself as a guard in the process of the escape."

"Reasonable deduction"

Luther nodded his head.

So far everything that Matthew had said was correct. Lifting his head, he asked. "If you assume he can change faces, what do you think is the safest and fastest way to catch 876?"

"Simple, we increase the security around the gates for the next week or so, and wait for him to come to us. Since he most likely knows that he's pressed for time, he'll eventually make a mistake and from there we can capitalize on it."

Matthew replied without a hint of hesitation.

876 had a chip in his head, and in the chip was a tracking device. According to the reports, within a week's time, they'd be able to reconfigure the tracking device and once again activate it.

Therefore, as long as 876 did not escape during that week, and the tracker once again worked, he was as good as caught.

"Hahahahaaha" Luther suddenly burst out laughing. Clapping his hands, Luther gazed at Matthew in satisfaction. "Good, good, you share the same thoughts as me."

He was originally planning on guiding them to come up with this solution, but it seems as though he had underestimated the youth named Matthew.

He had already understood the whole situation. He now understood why the other two youth's behind him were so respectful to him.

Praised by Luther, Matthew did not show any signs of arrogance or satisfaction and merely lowered his head.

"Thank you for your praise sir."

"Mhm, you deserve it." Nodding his head, Luther turned around and waved his hand. "Since you guys understand the situation, go to the first level and proceed as planned. I'm counting on you."

"Understood."

All three youth's unanimously shouted before turning around and leaving the room.

Turning his head slightly and staring at a flat surface where he could see his reflection. Looking at the burnt half of his face that was reflected on the flat surface, a throaty laugh escaped from his lips.

"hur, hur, hur, 876, I've already made my move, what are you going to do next?"

If things went according to plan, he would finally get his hands on 876 by the end of the week.

—Ding!

Disrupting Luther out of his thoughts was a small sound that came from his watch. Lowering his hand and tapping on his watch, the smile on Luther's face deepened.

"...this might end faster than I had originally anticipated."

***

—Splash!

Washing my hands in the sink, and staring at the small black bracelet in my hands, I turned the water off.

Staring at myself in the mirror, I muttered.

"I've seen worse."

Though my face was still burned, it wasn't to the same degree as the first time I got burned. By the time the flames had engulfed me, the rescue squad had already arrived.

After that, I was quickly sent to the infirmary where I spent the last couple of days in.

During those couple of days at the infirmary, aside from the fact that I needed to recover from my injuries, I tried to gain as much information as possible regarding the Monolith.

This was done through either listening to what the doctors and nurses were talking about, or just casual conversations I had with them when they were tending me.

It was from those little conversations I had, that I was somewhat able to learn of the structure of the Monolith.

Currently, I was in the infirmary which was located at the third level of the Monolith.

There were a total of five levels and each level was massive. My current goal was the first level. That was where the gates were located.

To Tok—!

Dusrpiting me out of my thoughts was a loud knock by the side of the bathroom.

"Matteo, are you finished?"

"..."

Without responding I lowered my head. Putting the bracelet on my wrist, I gazed at myself in the mirror.

'It's time...'

"Matteo? If you don't respond, I'm going to forcefully come in."

Unable to hear my response, the person behind the door once again called out for me. Grabbing the sides of the sink, I hoarsely said.

"Khh...sir, I might need some help."

"Haa, what is it this time? I'm coming in"

—Tick!

Opening the door of the bathroom, the guard came into the bathroom.

Staring at that guard, I pointed at the sink.

"Over here."

"What is the pr——hmmm!"

Clank—!

The moment the guard neared me, grabbing him by the head and covering his mouth with my left hand, I kicked the door shut.

"Mmhhh."

With my left hand on his mouth and my right arm around his throat, I clenched my teeth and choked him as hard as I could.

The guard's struggle persisted for ten seconds before he eventually fainted.

—Squeeq.

Taking out a serum from my dimensional space, I quickly injected it into his body. Then, dropping down the guard's body onto the ground and waiting for the serum to take effect, I stripped his body and replaced his clothes with mine. I also didn't forget to take the ring from him.

Once I was done changing, lowering my head, and staring at the guard, I took out my mask and placed it on his face.

A blue glow enveloped the room and a quarter of my mana dissipated.

—Gulp!

Taking out a potion from my dimensional space and chugging it, I placed my hand on the guard's face and channeled my mana. More specifically, flame psyons.

Slowly, the guard's face started to melt.

"huuu.."

Because of the serum, the guard was unable to feel the pain and thus didn't wake up. Closing my eyes, taking a deep breath, after ten seconds passed I removed my hand from his face.

Opening my eyes and staring at the guard's face, my brows knit.

"hmmm, his burns look a little bit too fresh."

Compared to my face, the guard's face looked quite different. His fresh burns would quickly give away the fact that it wasn't me.

Thus.

Taking out a low-quality healing potion from my dimensional space, I fed it to the guard. Slowly his burns started to get better.

"This is better."

After feeding him two potions, taking out the bandages from the ground, I started to slowly wrap them around his face.

"I hope this works..."

Even though it didn't look perfect, it still looked quite similar to me. Especially since the guard had a similar build to mine.

Once I was done wrapping his face, standing up, and putting him on my shoulder, I slowly opened the door.

"Ah right."

Just as I was about to open the door fully, I put the mask on my face.

Feeling a tingling sensation envelop my face, after a couple of more seconds passed, I fully opened the door and finally stepped out of the room.

—Clank!

Closing the door behind me, I headed for the infirmary. The location wasn't far, by the time I took a couple of turns, I was already there.

"What happened to him!?"

The moment I entered the infirmary, I heard a startled scream coming from the other side of the room. Lifting my head, I watched as the nurse that had tended me for the past couple of days rushed in my direction.

Taking a step back and raising my hand, I talked to her in a calm voice.

"Please calm down, he's just passed out, I've checked his breathing. There is nothing wrong with him."

"Ahh..." At my words, the nurse calmed down a bit. "Let me check."

"Sure."

Putting 'Matteo' down on the bed, I watched as the nurse measured his pulse.

Whilst she was checking his pulse, staring at her from behind, I silently channeled my mana towards my hand.

If by chance she noticed something, I was prepared to eliminate her right here and right now.

"Pheew, you were right. He's only passed out."

To the luck of both parties, it seems like she was unable to notice anything strange.

"Is that so? Then I will go back and patrol."

I smiled.

"Mhm, good luck with your work"

"Thank you."

Turning around, I quickly left the room. What I didn't notice upon leaving the room, however, was the nurse slowly taking out a small black box from her breast pocket.

Placing the black box near her mouth, she muttered.

"Reporting, as you've said, subject 876 was hiding in the infermary."

Chapter 272: The Last Hurdle [3]

"Are you guys ready?"

A stern male with a gray suit and squared glasses asked.

Holding onto a small spherical object, he raised his head and looked at the people in front of him.

There were a total of fifteen people in front of him, and each and one of them had a terrifying aura revolving around them. The lowest-ranked member present was <B> ranked, and the only reason why he was there was because of his special ability.

Calmly glancing at everyone in the room, the grey-suited male's eyes paused towards a certain girl.

An orange-haired one.

"Monica, I want you to listen carefully." Lifting his glasses with his finger index finger, he sternly said. "Your task is simple, you are to create as much chaos as possible. The location we've set is right outside the Monolith, you alongside the others are to divert the attention of the higher-ups away from the main building."

"Tsk, why do I get the most boring task."

Monica clicked her tongue.

"You're not the only one doing the boring task."

Behind her, one of the individuals spoke up causing Monica to turn around and glare in his direction.

"Shut up meat fodder."

"What did you call me?"

"I called you meat fodder, isn't that what you are?"

"Do you wanna fight?"

"Come on, I'm ready."

Bickering with Monica was a white-haired man with red eyes.

His skin was quite tanned and he had a sturdy build. An unfathomable aura exuded from his body, it was to the point that it even exceeded Monica's.

Ranked 5th in the Hero ranking, SS ranked hero, Amon Slabaugh, the unbreakable shield.

"Calm down both of you."

Stepping in and stopping the both of them, was a tall black-haired old man. A light gray goatee drooped down from the middle of his chin, and a white stripe appeared by the side of his hair.

Ranked 4th in the Hero ranking, SS ranked hero, Tasos Mallatos.

"Let's not do this now." Raising his hand to stop Amon from attacking Monica, before turning his attention towards her. "Monica, if you think about it, Amon and I are going to be the ones that will do the real heavy work. We're the ones that will actually be suffering the most, please be a little more respectful."

Both being SS ranked, it was them who were actually shouldering most of the troubles.

Monica was merely there to deal with the weaker S-ranked villains.

Raising her hands, Monica complained.

"That's why I'm saying it's boring. With you two next to me, how am I supposed to get a piece of the fun?"

Tasos smiled.

"Monica, if only it was as easy as you make it seem."

The mission they were currently being tasked to do was extremely dangerous.

Even he, an SS-ranked hero felt threatened by the mission. Less need to be said about Monica who was weaker than him.

"I know bu—"

"Alright, everyone please be quiet, I'm about to activate the artifact."

Cutting Monica off was the grey-suited male from before. Closing his eyes, and channeling his mana into the sphere, a yellow glow suddenly enveloped the room.

Shortly after, small threads of mana lingered in the air as a small portal formed before everyone's eyes.

—Vooom!

The moment the portal appeared, everyone stopped whatever they were doing and solemnly stared at the portal.

Heavy tension descended into the room.

"Haa..haa...done "

With heavy breaths, the grey-suited individual looked at all the people present in the room. Evening his breathing, he spoke.

"Please be careful when you go in, the goal of this mission is finally deal a heavy blow to the Monolith. I want you guys to take this seriously, and please try to come back safely...we can't afford to lose any of you guys."

Listening to the man's words, everyone reassured.

"Will do, don't worry."

"Roger."

"Alright...here." Turning his attention towards Monica, the gray-suited male handed her the orb. "Once you're done with everything, channel your mana into the orb and a portal should appear. Let me warn you though, the orb requires a lot of mana to activate, so don't go all out and preserve some mana."

"...I at least know this much."

Monica replied as she put the orb away.

"Alright, good luck on your mission everyone."

"Thanks!" Thanking the grey-suited individual, the first one to move forward and step into the portal was Amon. "haha, I'll be the first one to go in. I'll see ya'll on the other side."

—Vooom!

"Wait up you meat shield."

"Haish, can you two stop it."

Following him were Monica and Tasos.

—Vooom! —Vooom!

Eventually, everyone entered the portal, and silence descended in the room.

Staring at the portal that was slowly closing, the grey-suited individual lifted his glasses up with his finger before muttering.

"All the preparations are ready, the rest is up to you."

***

At the same time.

Standing in front of the large monitor where the image of a guard strolling around could be seen, Matthew turned his head and asked.

"The target seems to be moving towards the second level. What should we do?"

"We wait."

"Wait?"

"Yes." Without taking his eyes away from the monitor, Luther calmly explained. "We're going to observe him for a little bit more."

"I see..." Matthew's brows knit, obviously not satisfied with the answer. After a bit of hesitation, turning his head, he asked. "If I may ask, why can't we alert the others about him and just take him in?"

Interlocking his hands behind his back, Luther briefly glanced at Matthew.

"Be patient, Matthew. Our turn will naturally come. We don't know what he's planning, and we also don't want to startle him too early. We should first trap him before moving in."

If it was just him, he would've gone and captured 876 already, but since he was tasked with nurturing the new recruits, he couldn't be too careless.

"Either way, we've sealed the gates, so it wouldn't hurt to know what he's planning. Since I'm responsible for you all, I have to make sure you guys don't die."

Since this was a mission given to him by Xavier, he knew that the recruits over here were important.

He couldn't let them die.

"Sir, the cameras for corridor 2-Hall/4 have spotted 876. It seems like he has entered one of the guard's dormitory."

Disrupting Luther out of his thoughts was Matthew. Turning his head, he questioned. "Dormitory?" Luther's face turned into a scowl. "Is he planning on switching faces again? How laughably predictable"

The more he observed 876, the more scornful he became.

At first, he thought he was someone smart, especially since he had managed to flawlessly escape the lab.

However, from the looks of things, he had overestimated 876. He was merely someone who relied too much on an artifact that allowed him to change faces.

Turning around, he looked at his members and ordered.

"Alright, let's get this over with, it's time to move out and catch that little rat."

With 876 entering the dormitory, Luther knew that they had caught him. There were no escape routes that he could take.

He was done for.

***

Smirk.

Walking away from the infirmary, a smirk emerged on my lips.

'By now you think you've got me, no?'

If so, they were in for a surprise.

From the very beginning, I knew that the nurse was closely monitoring me. Not just me, but everyone that was present in that specific room.

Though the chances of them thinking that I had purposely burned myself were low, they were not slim. Therefore, it wouldn't have been strange for them to send someone to monitor the patients in the likelihood that this happened.

Turns out that they weren't wrong. I really was hiding amongst the burn victims.

Just then, me raising my hand pretending to kill her was also part of the act.

From a glance, I could tell that she was pretending to check the patient, and was actually looking at me.

Once she saw that I was ready to kill her, she quickly acted as though everything was alright.

Might've fooled someone else, but not me.

"Should be this way."

Turning right into a corridor, I lowered my head and hastened my footsteps slightly.

Even though I had already left and wasn't sure what the nurse was doing at the moment, I knew that she had probably warned the others of my whereabouts.

Well, in all honesty, I wasn't really that thorough when burning the guard's face. Though I covered his face with the bandages, it was pretty obvious that it wasn't me.

Anyhow, it was the effort that mattered.

As long as I made it seem like I tried, then everything was fine.

Her warning the others about my whereabouts was what I wanted.

'I hope that by now they know about my ability to change faces', I thought to myself, as I calmly walked through another corridor of the facility. 'They wouldn't be that dumb, right?'

Everything that I did since the beginning was not a coincidence.

From the very moment I pretended to be the unit captain back in the forest, I knew that my ability to change faces would be found out.

There was no way Luther wouldn't have found out about it due to the obvious difference in stature.

Maybe the others since they were distracted by the fake body in my hands, but not someone as experienced as Luther.

...I had not spent six months thinking about my escape from the lab to just throw it away due to a simple mistake.

Letting him know that I could change faces was part of my plans.

'I guess my worries were unfounded.'

Walking around the facility, I noticed that my path was fairly unobstructed. This could only mean one thing, they were monitoring my movements. The only reason why my path was unobstructed was because they didn't want to alert me.

'...and that's exactly what I wanted.'

Lowering my hat to hide the smile that had emerged on my face, I continued to move forward with even strides.

From the moment I was stuck inside the lab thinking about my escape routes, I realized that being passive and continuously hiding using the mask was not going to cut it when infiltrating the Monolith.

I needed to be more aggressive with my approach. Rather than waiting for an opportunity, I had to create one.

...and that was exactly what I was planning on doing.

By directly setting a target on myself, I was letting them feel in control.

Though my plans were filled with inconsistencies and were full of flaws, that was on purpose.

From the very beginning, my main plan was to act in a way that made it possible for me to read my opponent's next moves.

By putting subtle flaws in my plans, I was trying to influence their minds in a way that made them think and act the way I wanted them to.

'...and once you know what your opponent's next move is, everything else becomes easy.'

Freely moving around the Monolith, I quickly entered the second level. Completely unobstructed.

Wherever I went, no guard said anything or stopped me. Everyone was just minding their own business.

Upon entering the second level, checking the map on my watch, I headed towards the right.

Walking for a couple of minutes, I arrived before a metal door.

[Dormitory - Room 45]

"This should be it, I think."

Taking out a small card from my pocket and seeing the [45] engraved on it, I quickly swiped it.

—Clink!

Upon scanning the card by the side of the door, the door opened. Entering the room, the first thing I saw was five individuals sitting in front of a circular table playing cards. The smell of smoke invaded my nostrils.

With a cigarette in his mouth, one of the five individuals turned their head in my direction and pointed at the table.

"Oh? Ansel, you finished with your shift? Come and join us."

"Give me a second." Tapping onto my bracelet, a sword appeared in my hand. Nostalgically looking at the sword, I muttered to myself. "This should do for now."

Though it wasn't bleak star as it had been destroyed during the explosion, it was still a sword. This was enough for me.

"Oy, oy, why are you taking out a sword?"

The guy from before said. A hint of wariness appeared on his face.

"Oh, don't mind me. It's just been a while since I've touched a sword."

"A sword? Since when do you practice the sword?"

"A while?"

"I've never seen you hold a sword before...When you said a while, it must've been quite a long time ago."

The guy laughed.

"Mhm, been quite a while."

Smiling, I nodded my head.

Eight months to be exact. Given that I had stayed in this world for only two years, it was quite a lot of time.

"Anyway, put the sword down and come play a game with us."

"Ah, right." Putting my sword by the right side of my waist, I smiled and calmly walked towards the table. Glancing around and making sure there were no cameras, I approached the table.

Smirking the guy holding onto the cigarette pointed at his watch.

"Hehehe, you know the rules. If you want to play you must start with 10 merit points."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah."

—Click!

Suddenly, a subtle metallic click rang out in the room. Following this, with his eyes wide open, one of the five individuals sat on the chair slumped on the ground. A gaping hole appeared on his forehead.

"W-what are you doing?"

"Hey!"

"Ansel!"

Startled, everyone stood up and took out their weapons. Ignoring them, and staring at the guard I had just killed, I thought to myself. 'It's been a while since I last heard this sound, feels quite nostalgic.'

"Answer me! Why are you doing this!?"

Raising my head, and staring at the four individuals who had surrounded me, I lowered my head and once again placed my hand on the sheath of the sword.

"Sorry, but all but one guy will have to die for me."

—Click!

Once again, a clicking sound resounded across the room.. Not long after, heavy silence descended in the room.

Chapter 273: The Last Hurdle [4]

Kzzzzzzz'” Holding onto a cylindrical glass tube, a faint red glow enveloped my hand. The contents inside of the cylindrical glass tube slowly started to boil.

"This should do."

Staring at the gas that was forming in the tube, a satisfied smile appeared on my lips.

Glancing towards my right where one of the guards was dully standing, I removed the mask that was on my face revealing my burned up face.

"Here put this on."

Walking next to him, grabbing his hand and raising it towards his face, I gave him the mask.

"This should do for now."

Staring at the guard who with his right hand was supporting the mask on his face, my lips smacked together.

Even though he was under the effects of the serum, I couldn't really make him channel mana so this was good enough for now.

Out of the five individuals, his build was the closest to mine, and so he looked like a perfect mannequin of me.

Glancing towards my left and right to make sure that everything was perfect, I lay down beneath his feet with my back facing the door.

'Everything should be ready.'

According to my estimates, within a couple of minutes, a special unit would come to the room. That was the unit designed to hunt me down.

Just like they wanted me gone, I wanted them gone as well. My goal in killing them was so that I could take their commander's badge.

There were multiple gates at the bottom level, and according to my estimates, they were heavily guarded.

...but gates had different grades too, with some gates specifically only accessible to those that were of a higher grade.

Unlike the common gates, they should be less guarded since they required a special badge in order to access, which no one would expect me to have.

Luring the commander to me was the real goal. He was the true key to my escape.

By giving such subtle hints and flaws throughout my escape, I wanted to create a scenario where they would see me moving in accordance with their predictions, whilst in reality, I was masking my true intentions.

They were treating me as though I was a mouse stuck inside of a labyrinth with no escape route when in reality, it was the exact opposite.

The entire time, the one controlling their moves was me.

If there was no escape route, I just merely had to create one.

***

'”Vooom! '”Vooom! '”Vooom!

Appearing inside of a lush green forest, was a small black portal. Emerging from it were over fifteen individuals, each with a distinctive aura revolving around them.

Stepping out of the portal and putting her hand in front of her forehead whilst gazing at the scenery in front of her, Monica muttered.

"Well, this is not what I expected."

"What did you expect?"Amon asked as he stared at the enormous infrastructure in the distance. "Did you expect to be transported inside of a cave?"

"No" Monica shook her head. Scratching her nose, she said. "I was expecting something along the lines of a blood-red sky, or dark clouds with lightning crackling down from the sky, oh and a black castle too."

"...You watch too many movies." Listening to Monica's words, Amon was left speechless. "You realize we're on earth, right?"

"I know, I know, but a woman can still imagine no?"

"There's a limit to how much someone can imagine."

"What did you sa'”"

"Alright, be quiet the both of you." Cutting Monica before she could blow her top off was Tasos. "Don't forget we're here to finish a mission. Bicker later, not now."

"Tsk, fine."

"Right."

At Tasos's words, Amon and Monica begrudgingly nodded their heads.

"So what next?" Amon asked. "What are we supposed to do now that we've infiltrated the place?"

"That is up to Monica." Responding to Amon, Tasos looked at Monica, "If you can please do the honors?"

"Me?"

"Yes, go ahead."

"Hehehe, don't mind if a do." Laughing to herself, Monica unsheathed a thin silver sword from the side of her waist.

Caressing the body of the sword, she muttered.

"It's about time I try this baby out."

[Dawn of the Avenger], the <S> ranked sword that she had gotten from the auction almost ten months ago.

Ever since buying it, she had never tried the sword before, but now that the opportunity had presented itself, Monica couldn't help but be excited.

"Tsk, If only I didn't specialize in defense." Staring at Monica's sword, and turning his head to the side whilst clicking his tongue, Amon grumbled to himself. "If only I had at least one offensive ability"

He was called 'The unbreakable shield' for a reason. It was because he could stop the attacks coming from multiple <SS> ranked heroes at the same time without dying.

He was a walking fortress, and one of the reasons why he was selected for this mission.

Unfortunately, despite his great defense, he lacked in the offensive department, and even though his personality was that of someone who wanted to destroy things, he could only watch as Monica hogged all of the fun for herself.

"Ah, right, before I forget."

Just when Monica was about to prepare to attack, recalling something, she turned around and looked at the infiltration team.

"The moment my attack will land, that is when you guys go and infiltrate the facility." A solemn look replaced her usual childish one. "Just like the director said, your goals are the portals, so head there as soon as I create an opening."

"Roger."

The infiltration team solemnly nodded their heads.

Just like Monica said, the goal of the mission was to destroy the portals that were inside of the Monolith. More specifically the core inside of the portals.

Upon cracking the core, they would be able to create a massive explosion that would destroy a major part of the Monolith as well as kill a lot of their important figures.

'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth' Monica muttered inside of her mind as she recalled what had happened eight months back at the Lock.

Indeed, Monica had never forgotten the events that took place eight months back eight months ago.

What she was doing now was essentially the same thing they did back at the Lock. She wanted to let them know what happens when they cross lines that they should've never crossed.

"Good." With a solemn look, Monica raised her sword and closed her eyes. "I'll start now."

Channeling her mana, her sword suddenly started to resonate, unleashing an orange hue. The magic power slowly started to condense into a gigantic magic sword that levitated in the air.

Slowly, tremendous pressure engulfed the area.

Within a couple of seconds, the mana in the air had thickened up so much that it started to become tangible.

"Huuuu..."

Exhaling, Monica opened her eyes and took a step forward.

"Alright, I'm going to start. Get ready."

The moment her words fell, she slashed down.

'”Vuam!

Slashing down, the world froze and the sword slowly started to move towards the large infrastructure in the distance.

Thin undulations of magic spread in the air fabricating a scene resembling the northern lights.

"What's this?!"

Just when the sword energy was about to hit the Monolith, materializing in front of it was a skinny old man with sunken eyes and cheekbones. With a black mantle covering his body, the old man held a scythe in his right hand.

Glaring at the sword, he shouted.

"How dare you!"

Waving his hand forward, a translucent green shield appeared in front of him. Next to him, multiple other individuals appeared.

But it was too late.

'”BOOOOOOOM!

The sword came into contact with the shield, and a massive explosion reverberated throughout the surroundings.

Glasses shattered and the whole building shook.

This was the beginning of the Union's counterattack against the Monolith.

***

Appearing before the dorm room and double-checking with the surveillance department that 876 had not left the room, Luther glanced at the three recruits that had followed him.

"You guy stay out, I'll scout first."

He warned.

According to his predictions, the moment he would step into the room, the first he should see would be the corpses of the people that used to stay in that room.

He had already asked the surveillance team beforehand so he knew exactly how the people inside of the room looked like.

Not that it mattered since he was going to incapacitate anyone present in the room.

The only reason he wanted to go first was that, aside from keeping the recruits safe, he wanted to keep the artifact that could change faces to himself.

Having witnessed 876 's journey all the way from the lab, Luther knew about the capabilities of the mask, and without a doubt, it wasn't a simple artifact.

He knew it was a treasure, and he needed to get his hands on it at all costs. The closer he got to the mask, the greedier he became.

This was one of the side effects of signing a contract with a demon. Their innermost desires overpowered everything else.

This was the main reason why he didn't directly capture 876 back when he first saw him. The same could be said about the current situation.

Had it been a more rational person, they would've been able to capture 876 by now, but Luther was not in a rational state.

All he could think at the moment was the mask.

'”Clink!

Taking out a white card and scanning it, the door unlocked.

Upon unlocking the door, without wasting time and opening the door to the room, the first thing Luther saw was an individual standing in the middle of the room holding onto a wooden mask that neared his face.

With one guard beneath his feet and the others scattered around the room dead, the person standing in the middle of the room did not move.

"I've got you now, 876."

Staring at the mask, without wasting any time, Luther dashed towards 876.

'”Bang!

Tackling him with his shoulder, 876 crashed against the other side of the wall. The mask fell onto the floor and 876's back directly smashed against the wall as dust flew in the air.

Briefly glancing in the direction of where 876 was and making sure he was knocked out, squinting, Luther lowered his head and stared at the mask that was by the side of his feet.

Lowering his body, he grabbed the mask and checked its status.

"So this is the artifact that allows you to change faces?" Checking the stats of the mask, a look of amazement appeared on his face. "An <A> ranked artifact...no wonder you were able to make it this far."

The more Luther looked at the mask, the more amazed he became.

Despite being a commander, he was only <B-> in strength. He never actually owned any strong artifact, like the one that he was holding.

Lifting his head and staring at 876, the undisguised greed in Luther's eyes became obvious as his face twisted savagely. 'From this moment onwards, this mask is mine.' Luther muttered inside of his mind.

"So predictable."

"'”'”!"

A cold voice suddenly rang from behind, startling Luther out of his thoughts.

Shortly after, a small crystalline object flew in Luther's direction. Turning around, Luther raised his hand to block the attack.

'”Crack!

However, the moment his forearm came into contact with the crystalline object, it broke apart into millions of pieces as a green gas diffused in the air completely enveloping Luther's face.

"What the'”!"

Completely taken off-guard, Luther inhaled the gas that spread in the air.

"Kh'”hhha!"

Within a couple of seconds, Luther's eyes shot wide. Small red threads or blood appeared by the sides of his eyes as he knelt on the ground with both hands by the side of his neck.

Opening his mouth like a goldfish, Luther struggled to find any words to say as his breathing started to become more laborious.

"The human mind sure is strange." The cold voice once again rang inside of the room. Standing up, an all-knowing look appeared on Ren's face. "All it takes is one artifact and they completely lose sight of what's around them...well in your case, it most likely has to do with the contract you've signed, but it really is easy to manipulate someone like you."

Had Luther looked at the person he had knocked out, or just taken a better look at his surroundings, he would've easily found out that something was not quite right.

But by directly exposing the mask in front of him, Ren had diverted his attention away from everything else, making Luther's next set of movements extremely predictable.

Ren revealing the fact that he could change faces back in the forest was for the purpose of igniting Luther's greed.

By following his primordial instincts that were enhanced due to the contract he signed, he became nothing more than just a puppet that Ren could easily control.

Everything that Luther did after he found out about the mask was in accordance with what Ren willed.

"Kahua.."

Lifting his head, Luther watched Ren slowly walk up to him.

Even though he wanted to fight back, he could barely lift his body as everything inside of him was melting at a rapid rate. If not for the intense amount of mana he was using, he would've long have died.

Lifting the hat off of his face, and revealing his burned face, Ren tapped on the sword that was by the side of his waist.

"Thank you for acting like I wanted you to."

'”Click!

Following this, a subtle clicking sound rang out, and silence descended in the room.

Chapter 274: Ill Fated Relationship [1]

"Wow, that's a lot of stuff."

Staring at the commander's dimensional storage, I was amazed by the things he had inside of it. From potions to artifacts, he was loaded.

'Ah, I should check that stuff later, my priority should be the card.'

There was a time and place for everything.

Now was not the time for me to get distracted by the things inside of his dimensional storage.

My priority should be the card. Without it, my escape route was blocked.

"Here."

Thankfully, it didn't take long for me to find it as a black card quickly appeared on the palm of my hands.

Staring at the card, I put it back in my dimensional space and headed for the door.

"...I better hurry out of this place."

The hardest task was completed. All I needed to do now was rush all the way towards the gates at the first level.

"Commander, is everything alright?"

However, just as I was about to leave the place, someone else entered the room. The moment the individual entered and my eyes landed on him, my pupils dilated and my body froze.

"...What are you doing here?"

I muttered out loud.

"Hm? You know me?" Gazing in my direction for a brief moment, Matthew's eyes paused towards a certain corpse behind me. "Commander?"

Upon spotting the commander's dead body, instead of panicking, a wild yellow hue started revolving around his body. With his eyes focused on me, he commanded.

"Ezra! Alisa!"

"You called?"

"What's going on leader?"

At his call, two more people showed up. A wild aura revolved around their body.

"!"

Making eye contact with Matthew who nudged his head in my direction, they immediately got the gist of the situation and got into battle positions.

"You." Unsheathing his saber, Matthew didn't immediately attack. Pointing it in my direction, he said. "From your previous words, it seems as though you know me." Staring at my face for a couple of seconds, a trace of disgust flashed across his eyes. "...but I don't ever recall meeting someone like you. Especially with a face as memorable as yous."

Listening to his words, a light sigh escaped from my lips as I quickly regained my calm.

"Haaa..."

Scratching the back of my head, I muttered out loud. "Your attempt at trying to buy time is honestly pathetic." A green hue suddenly enveloped my body as I placed my hand on the grip of the sword. "Oh, and about what you said before, I don't actually know you, I was just expecting Luther to come by himself."

This part wasn't a lie.

I had originally expected Luther to try to accomplish this mission by himself with the goal of taking the mask for himself in mind. Never did I expect Matthew to show up.

But it didn't matter.

Gazing at Matthew and the three people behind me, neither one of us moved. We were both trying our best to waste time. Him for getting a better understanding of the situation and getting in battle formation with his members, and me for my mana.

'I need to finish this quick.'

I thought to myself, as my eyes peered through the gap of the door behind Matthew and his two companions.

Making sure that there was no one else, I once again looked at them and analyzed their strength.

'Judging from the mana revolving around them, all of them are <D> ranked, with Matthew being slightly stronger at <D+> rank.'

This wasn't strange though. For the longest time, Matthew had always been stronger than me.

However, ever since last meeting him, I had finally caught up with him.

Currently, standing opposite to me in a triangular formation with Matthew at the back, they were glaring at me with unprecedented calmness.

It became evident to me that they were extremely experienced individuals.

From where I was standing, I could see no gap in their formation.

To make matters worse, Matthew was standing more than ten meters away from me. This was outside of the range of the third movement, thus I couldn't one-shot him just yet.

'I need to take the initiative.'

Time was of the essence.

If they called for backup, then the situation would truly start to become troublesome.

Although it wouldn't hinder my plans as they would think that I was going for the normal gates, it would reduce the chances of me escaping by a certain degree. This, I did not want.

Thus, gripping the hilt of the sword, slowly unsheathing the sword, a subtle clicking sound rang inside of the room.

—Click!

The third movement of the [Keiki style] : Void Step.

My vision darkened and I appeared in front of the male individual standing in front of Matthew. With my sword unsheathed, I stabbed my sword in the direction of his heart.

—Spurt!

My appearance was so unexpected that he had no time to react before the sword quickly penetrated his heart.

"Huek!"

Blood spilled on the floor, and a body fell on the ground. If one looked carefully, they'd see a small hole in the middle of their body.

"Ezra!" Shouted the female individual.

Raising her weapon, she quickly dashed in my direction.

"Alise no! What are you doing!?" Matthew shouted as he watched Alisa dash in my direction. His face was incomparably white. Almost as though he had seen a ghost. Apathetically glancing at Matthew, I muttered. "It's too late."

The first movement of the [Keiki style] : Quick flash

—Click!

Yet again a subtle clicking sound rang in the room and another body fell.

"Haaaa..." Staring at the dead body beneath my feet, exhaling, I turned around and coldly glanced in Matthew's direction. "I'm sure you've already figured everything out, no?"

"Y-you!?" With his eyes wide open, raising his hands and pointing towards my direction, trembling he mumbled. "R-Ren?!"

***

Empty.

Gazing at Ren getting engulfed by the flames on live television, that was how Matthew felt.

The one source of motivation and goal to strive for power disappeared right before his eyes. For a brief moment of time, Matthew's world became blank.

'What now? He's dead, what's the point in getting stronger? What do I do? What am I?'

Upon losing what was once his goal, all that was left was nothing but emptiness. Matthew's purpose for strength was gone and what replaced it was nothing but emptiness.

Everblood had long disappeared, leaving him all alone inside of the Monolith, scraping for merit points by risking his life every day.

His weak mental state became apparent when during the battle arena matches he almost came close to losing on multiple occasions.

He felt empty, alone, and powerless.

Many times he wanted to just give up and die.

In fact, he had given up at one point. However, just when he was about to lose for good, a hand reached out for him.

Xavier Pearce.

That was the name of the person who gave him a second opportunity.

Taking his broken self and instilling new ideas and ideals inside of his head, Matthew managed to move on and create new goals for himself.

Though it took a while, he had finally shed his old naive self whose only purpose for growth was revenge.

It was only after he had gone through a reformation that he realized how naive and stupid he was back then.

Without looking back, Matthew grew at an astonishing rate. During the period he was under Xavier, not once had he seen Everblood.

But he no longer cared.

Put into another hell hole, Matthew did whatever he could to survive. He couldn't care less about Everblood even though he was his contracted demon.

He had new goals and ambitions, no longer did he want to dwell in the past. He just wanted to focus on the future.

...Or so he thought.

"H-how?"

Gazing at the half-burned person standing before him, Matthew's hand trembled as he pointed in Ren's direction.

"Yo—"

"Ezra!!"

Cutting Matthew off was Alisa who screamed as she watched her companion, Ezra, die right before her eyes.

"How dare you!"

Glaring at Ren, Alisa raised her sword and dashed in his direction.

"Alise no! What are you doing!?"

Snapping out of his thoughts, Matthew shouted as he stared at Alisa. She was no match for Ren.

"It's too late."

—Click!

But it was too late.

A subtle clicking sound rang out, and a body fell on the ground.

It all happened in a flash.

Too fast.

Fast to the point that it was almost impossible for him to keep up. Gazing at Alisa's lifeless body on the ground, Matthew lifted his head.

Standing above Alisa, Ren slowly turned his head.

"I'm sure you've already figured everything out, no?"

'That familiar voice.'

Busy figuring out his opponent, Matthew was unable to make the connection until just now. The sword technique and the voice.

It was a voice that he was all too familiar with.

Closing his eyes, Matthew forcefully calmed himself down. After that, opening his eyes, he calmly looked at Ren before asking.

"Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

"...It'll take much more than an explosion of that degree to kill me."

Standing a couple of meters away from him, Ren coldly replied.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah."

"Judging from how you killed my two companions with two big moves, you must be pretty low on mana, no?"

"You're not wrong."

Matthew smiled whilst a yellow hue that was mixed with black threads expanded from his body. A green hue similarly expanded from Ren's body.

As the mana on both of them soared, the atmosphere inside of the room became tense. Intense bloodlust enveloped the room as the two glared at each other.

"Should we finish what we've started?"

"Yeah."

Ren slowly closed his eyes and immediately exhaled a long breath. His eyes were suddenly shot opened and the green hue around his body intensified.

'Now.'

Sharply starting at Ren's hand, just when he was about to touch the sheath of his sword, Matthew made his move.

His toes gently pressed onto the ground as his body shot forward like a lightning bolt.

—Click!

A subtle clicking sound rang out.

—Clank!

However, unlike the previous times, the sound of metal clashing rang out. Separating from each other, Ren frowned whilst Matthew smiled.

"...even if you're alive, since you've revealed what sword art you practice, defeating you shouldn't be a problem."

The Keiki style was famous.

It was so famous that basic information about it could be found on the web. Even though Ren had died, Matthew researched the Keiki style.

One notable feature of the Keiki style was that it had five movements, and in between each movement there was a time when the practitioner needed time to accumulate mana.

As long as he attacked before he could activate each movement, the only thing Matthew had to deal with were extremely fast attacks.

Although tricky, they weren't impossible to defend and counterattack against.

"Huuuup!"

With a wave of his hand, the saber in Matthew's hand carried a ferocious force as it slashed vertically towards Ren's front. The pressure coming from the attack caused Ren's clothes to flutter slightly.

Sensing the incoming attack, Ren's brows twitched slightly. His indifferent eyes gazed at the incoming attack with unprecedented calmness. Removing his hand from the sheath of his sword, Ren raised his hands and followed the movement of the saber.

With his eyes tracing the movements of the saber, Ren's hands glowed. Soon the saber arrived before Ren, who took a step back. With his right hand touching the body of the saber, Ren's hand moved in a 'S' movement.

"What!"

—Bang!

To Matthew's shock, he watched as his saber followed Ren's hand movement, redirecting the attack towards the ground.

—Click!

Taking advantage of the opening he created, Ren placed his hand on the sheath of his sword. A clicking sound rang out.

Quickly recovering from the shock, Matthew let go of the saber as his feet pressed onto the ground. His body quickly shot back, narrowly avoiding Ren's attack.

"Haaa...haaa...you've got me on that one."

He muttered with heavy breaths as he looked at Ren with unprecedented seriousness.

'Damn it.'

From the short exchange he just had with Ren, he knew that in terms of strength, Ren was stronger. Not just that he also seemed to be adept in martial techniques.

Still, that did not mean that Matthew gave up. He had faced many similar situations back in the battle arena.

In a fight, all it took was one moment.

One moment to decide the end of the battle.

That was what he was waiting for. That one moment.

"huuu..."

Exhaling and tapping onto his bracelet, Matthew took out another saber from his dimensional space. Although it wasn't as strong as his previous saber, it would make do for now.

Staring at Ren opposite to him, Matthew decided to go all out.

'Let's see what happens when I increase my speed.'

Slashing down, he once again shot explosively forward. This time around, the speed appeared to have instantly become many times higher than what it was earlier as his figure became a blur.

In a second, he had already arrived before Ren.

Gazing at his cold face, Matthew slashed.

Chapter 275: Ill Fated Relationship [2]

WOOOOM'”!

Redirecting with his finger, a translucent yellow ring materialized above Matthew's armpits, and below the saber.

'”Crack!

Making contact with the ring, the saber broke the ring into millions of particles that diffused in the air. Fortunately, although it broke, it had served its purpose as Matthew's attack had pretty much been stopped.

By directly stopping the saber midswing rather than at full swing, Ren was able to reduce the amount of force the ring was subjected to upon making contact with the attack. This was one of the things he had learned in his experience at the Monolith.

Tapping onto the ground with his feet, Ren shot back and distanced himself from Matthew.

"No, you don't."

With the saber in his hand, Matthew chased after Ren. Fully knowing just how dangerous and powerful the Keiki style was, Matthew knew that he couldn't give him any time to breathe.

If he gave Ren time to breathe, he was as good as done for.

WHIIIN! WHIIIN! WHIIIN!

With each passing second, his attacks became more and more vicious. The yellow hue that resonated from his sword thickened enveloping his whole body.

"Haaa!"

Matthew roared out loud. The hue that was revolving around his body disappeared and agglomerated at the tip of his saber. Instantly it shot like a bullet towards Ren.

Unable to react to Matthew's sudden burst in power, the attack smashed solidly on Ren. The only thing he could do was stack three rings in front of him.

'”Bang!

"Hueek!"

Despite the rings revolving around his body cushioning some of the force, the force of the impact caused Ren to firmly smash against the side of the room. Landing back first against the wall, Ren found himself unable to breathe for a couple of seconds.

"huuu"

Gazing at Ren opposite of him, Matthew slowly exhaled. He didn't continue his pursuit. It wasn't that he didn't want to, it was because he couldn't.

There was one major flaw with Matthew's current strategy. It was that it heavily consumed his stamina. Especially that last attack.

Even though he was trying his best to mask it, he was slowly running out of stamina. If he continued to attack now, the chances of Ren being able to exploit his tired self increased. He preferred to play it safe.

'”Gulp!

Tapping onto his ring, Matthew took out a couple of potions and quickly downed them. Slowly his stamina and mana started to recover.

'I should be in a better state than Ren.'

Matthew thought as he wiped the side of his lips.

Ren had used two major moves to beat his two companions.

Coupled with the fact that he had killed the captain, Matthew estimated that he was currently extremely tired and low on mana. As long as he kept replenishing his stamina and mana with his potions without giving Ren any time to consume them, victory was in his bag.

"Ugh."

Eyeing Ren opposite to him, he watched as he slowly stood up. Dusting his body, apart from his torn clothes, Ren was fairly unscathed.

Staring at Ren, Matthew noticed that his expression was still calm. Frowning, he spoke, "You have really surprised me. Compared to years ago when you were much weaker than me, I must say, you've truly grown."

Matthew was honestly shocked by Ren's rate of progress. He could remember not long ago when Ren's talent assessment was only <D> rank. At that time he thought that he and Ren would never be on the same level, but surprisingly, Ren was now in the same rank as him.

Most shockingly, Ren had done it without the aid of the demon fruits that brought a massive increase in strength upon the first ingestion.

"Though I hate to admit it, it seems as though you've finally surpassed me." Mattew's eyes became solemn. "But don't let that fool you. Even if you're stronger than me, it is only by a marginal amount. In terms of experience, I'm far ahead of you."

As he spoke, the medical effects of the potions were starting to kick in. The yellow hue around his body slowly started to stabilize. In fact, it was also showing signs of thickening.

"..."

Listening to Matthew's words, Ren did not give a reply. He merely lifted his eyes and glanced indifferently at him. As he sensed the slowly soaring yellow-colored energy within Matthew's body, he quickly got into a stance.

"That's enough speaking from me. It's about time we end this relationship of ours." Matthew slowly raised his hand. The yellow glow revolving around his saber became increasingly dense as his gaze never left Ren. "Killing you will set me free from the binds of revenge that have chained me up for a long time. Your death will be the start of my rebirth."

Only upon Killing Ren could he finally move on and be his own person. This was the duel that would decide his fate.

Listening to Matthew's words, Ren's face contorted slightly. Almost as though he was cringing.

Unbothered by this, Matthew shouted.

"Let's finally settle this!"

As Matthews's voice slowly fell, the clothes on his body alongside his black hair on his head suddenly fluttered wildly despite the lack of wind.

A gloomy pressure gradually rose from within his body. The extent of the strength increase presented by Matthew caused Ren, who standing opposite to frown. Unprecedented seriousness clouded his face.

Suddenly, the saber in Matthew's shook and a clear ringing of the sword sounded. Following the sword ringing, the yellow hue revolving around it abruptly soared.

Lifting his head, the tip of his feet abruptly pressed gently on the ground. His body turned into a streak of light as he once again took the initiative to attack Ren once again.

The strategy was the same as before, attack before Ren could have enough time to do any big move.

The distance between the two of them was but ten meters. For someone like Matthew, this was distance was meaningless. It was something he could cover in a couple of seconds. His body flashed and reappeared, placing Ren within the range of his saber. Stabbing his saber, like a venomous snake in an almost erratic and unpredictable pattern, the sharp yellow glow revolving around the saber condensed slightly as it trickily pierced at Ren's chest in a vicious manner.

"Haaa!"

Matthew roared.

Relaxing his brows, Ren indifferently watched the tip of the saber that was slowly enlarging in his vision. Raising his head, a smirk appeared on his face.

"Naive."

Right when the attack was about to land on Ren, Matthew felt a cold chill wash over his body. The hair at the back of his head raised, as he abruptly turned his head.

Raising his left foot, Ren stomped heavily on the ground and an explosive sound was created. His body turned into a black-colored shadow and like a ghost, Ren disappeared from where he was standing, reappearing behind Matthew.

"haaa!"

Roaring, Ren punched out.

Borrowing the force from his half-rotated body, his fist viciously smashed towards Matthew's back with a terrifying force. An ear-piercing energy explosion rang inside of the room as the color green flashed across the room.

The reason why Ren's fist was coated in green was because at the moment it was currently coated with wind psyons. Using the same principle as the Keiki style, borrowing the speed that he got from the wind psyons, Ren released a devastating attack that was almost as fast as his regular sword attack.

This was a principle he had developed after contemplating on the Keiki style for a long time and combining it with his martial manual. If it worked on the sword, could it work on his fist?

The result? A terrifying attack that left Matthew breathless.

This was Ren's true finisher.

Everything before that was Ren merely trying to trick Matthew into thinking that he could only attack using the Keiki style, making him forget that he now could use martial arts.

Staring at the incoming fist that was slowly enlarging in his vision, Matthew could only open his mouth absentmindedly. It was already too late. He knew it.

'”Bam!

"Haaaak!"

The fist directly smashed into Matthew's stomach. Like a broken kite, his body flew all the way towards the other side of the room smashing against the furniture and wall.

Similar to Matthew, Ren did not chase. However, unlike Matthew, it wasn't because he was too tired. It was because he was preparing to finish it.

A majestic green hue enveloped the whole room, and alongside it was a terrifying pressure. Ren's clothes fluttered wildly as the pressure enveloping the room intensified. Coldly looking at Matthew opposite to him, Ren's left foot pushed back.

"huuuu."

He exhaled.

"Khh..."

Lifting his head and staring at Ren who was coldly looking back at him. Matthew was indignant. His ribs were broken, his head was dizzy, and he could barely lift his body.

'Is this how I die?'

He wondered to himself.

Gritting his teeth, Matthew glared at Ren. "I can't accept this!" He shouted.

This was supposed to be his moment. This was supposed to be the moment where he would finally leave his past behind and grow into a majestic phoenix. How could he let Ren, someone who was supposed to be weaker than him defeat him? He couldn't accept this.

"Come you fucker!"

Using every last ounce of his strength, Matthew slowly stood up. His body swayed left and right. Supporting himself against a shelf, a terrifying yellow hue exuded from Matthew's body. The veins on his neck and head popped out, and his eyes became bloodshot.

"I will kill you! Haaaaa!!!"

Roaring out loud, Matthew poured everything in his last attack. Tensing his legs, like a bullet, he shot in Ren's direction.

Coldly looking at Matthew who was approaching him, Ren closed his eyes.

'”Click!

A clicking sound rang out and his body then disappeared.

The third movement of the [Keiki style] : Void step.

Unleashing their attacks, the two passed each other. With their backs facing each other, neither one of them spoke. This continued for a good ten seconds before Matthew broke the silence.

"...so this is the end, huh?"

Letting go of his saber, Matthew knelt on the ground.

'”Spurt!

"Huek...shit" Lowering his head, blood splurted out of Matthew's mouth. A gaping hole appeared on his chest. Right, where his heart was. "Who would've thought that I would die like this."

Matthew laughed as he dropped to the ground with his back facing the ceiling. A somewhat gratified smile appeared on his face. His mind which had been clouded for a long time was slowly starting to clear up.

"I thought that death was scary...keuh!" Blood spurted from Matthew's mouth. Smiling, even more, Matthew muttered."For some reason, I don't feel scared."

Maybe it was because the effects of the demon contract were slowly disappearing and his sanity was returning, but Matthew was slowly coming to come to terms with his death.

His head felt clear.

"Haa...I deserve this don't I?"

As his sanity returned, a bitter and tragic smile appeared on his lips.

Turning around, Ren quietly listened to Matthew's words. He knew that this Matthew was the true Matthew, not the one that he had seen in the past.

"...I killed my own father, blackmailed the one only friend that supported me in the past, all for what? Power? Haaa, I was truly naive back then."

Covering his eyes with his arms, tears trickled down by the side of his cheeks.

At the end of the day, Matthew had only been a child. A child that was exploited and manipulated into signing a contract with a demon. His emotions were stripped away, and what was left was only a husk of a body that only followed his own desires.

"Do you know..." Weakly turning his head, Matthew looked at Ren. "Do you know that the person who drove my mother to suicide wasn't actually my father?"

A sad laugh escaped from his lips. Indifferently looking at Matthew, Ren did not speak and just listened.

"It was the demon who contracted me." Matthew hoarsely laughed. "Haha, what's worse, is that even when I found this out, I felt no anger or sorrow over her death. I was already too far gone to feel those types of emotions."

The reason why Matthew had signed a contract was due to his hatred for his father for driving his mother to suicide. It turned out that they had both been under the control of the demon to act like that.

If not for Everblood, he would never have found out, and even then, he felt nothing upon learning of this. He just continued pursuing strength.

"Looking back at it now, I truly was too naive."

Quietly listening to his story, Ren lowered his head. He didn't feel sorry, nor any pity for him. It was already too late for him. The things he had done were already done, even if he was manipulated into doing those, he couldn't bring himself to forgive him.

He couldn't change the past. Though tragic, this was Matthew's fate.

"Hey, I know you hate me for what I've done to you in the past, but..."

With hollow eyes, Matthew stared at the lights from the ceiling. His consciousness was slowly slipping away, and his breathing was starting to become fainter.

Opening his mouth a couple of times, he struggled to say his last words.

"...i-ff there is a next time, t-ry to be more gentle when you kill me...it hurts."

Matthew chuckled. A couple of seconds after, his eyes lost all of their clarity and his breathing stopped.

He had died.

"Huuu."

Closing his eyes, Ren quietly looked at Matthew for a couple of seconds before lowering his body and apathetically looking at him.

Closing his eyes, he proceeded to take his dimensional space. Then, taking his mask out, he prepared to put it on his face.

'”BOOOOOM!

However, just as he was about to copy his face, the whole building shook and a massive explosion rang out.

"What the?!"

Chapter 276: Total Chaos [1]

'”BOOOOOM!

"'”'”!"

The whole building shook, and all the furniture in the room fell onto the ground. Stumbling back a couple of steps, my eyes opened wide. 'What in the world just happened?' Without wasting time, dashing out of the room, I ran towards the entrance of the dorms.

Because the area had been sealed by Matthew and his two companions, there was no one in my area. It took a while for me to spot some people.

"What's going on?!"

"What happened?"

Turning right and walking into a corridor, startled guards appeared everywhere as they wondered about what had just happened. The confusion only grew deeper as more and more people came out

'Is the Monolith under seige?'

I wondered as I recalled the explosion that had just rung not long ago.

The force coming from the explosion was so strong that I knew that a big enemy had attacked the whole building.

The real question was, who attacked the Monolith? Was it perhaps the Union? Or was this due to some internal disputes inside of the Monolith?

Quite frankly, I wasn't sure.

There was a chance this was the work of the Union.

'If I don't remember incorrectly, they have an artifact that allows them to travel to the main headquarters of the Monolith'

This was something that I knew they had since it did not only teleport to the Monolith, but to other places as well. In the novel, they actually never used it to travel to the Monolith, but I knew all too well just how much the story had deviated from the original one.

The chances of this being the Union were not low.

'”BOOOOOM!

Disrupting me out of my thoughts, the building once again shook. This time, the explosion was even louder than before as the tremors intensified. Holding onto the side of the wall, I tried not to fall.

'”WHIIIIIII! '”WHIIIIIII!

[This is an emergency message, we're currently under attack. I repeat we're currently under attack. All personnel and members please make your way to the first level to aid the defense unit. I repeat, all personell...]

The blaring sound of the sirens rang out, and a warning echoed from the speakers around the building. Immediately after, almost everyone around me rushed towards the exit of the second level.

"Quick!"

"Everyone onto the first level!"

With almost everyone here being a guard, upon receiving the orders, everyone rushed towards the first level just like the alarm had told them to. Because of the chaos, no one particularly noticed me, as they all rushed downstairs.

"Might as well take advantage of the situation."

Lowering the cap on my head and putting my mask away, I decided to follow them downstairs.

Though I had the mask available to me, now that the whole place was in chaos, I could take advantage of it and escape through them.

This was for the best. With this, my mana which was quite low could be conserved. The mask did consume a lot of mana after all. Furthermore, amongst the chaos, the probability of someone actively looking for me through the cameras was low. They had probably forgotten about me by now.

'Perfect'

Joining the crowd and hiding my presence amongst the masses, I quickly headed for the first level.

Freedom had never been this close.

***

At the same time.

Three elderly-looking people levitated in the air as they coldly looked down below them. Their majestic mana filled the area causing the air around them to tremble slightly.

The three elders who appeared in the sky were wearing black-colored robes. Upon closer look, they all looked malnourished with sunken cheeks and red-blood eyes. Their bright red eyes swept the entire forest until finally, they paused on Monica, Tasos, and Amon who were all wearing skin masks to mask their true identities.

Instantly, a terrifying pressure bore down on them the moment the three elders spotted them. Had it been someone else and not them, their legs would involuntarily become limp under these violent gazes that were filled with killing intent.

"Hmph!"

Stomping her foot on the ground, the killing intent that was directed towards her vanished instantly.

"Such tricks won't work on me," Monica muttered in utter disdain.

Although the auras of these three black-robed old men were lower than hers, a seriousness that was difficult to mask covered Monica's face.

"Hmm, the Devlon brothers. You should be able to handle them, right Monica?"

Behind her, Amon's expression was lighthearted as he looked at the three old men who had appeared in the sky. Just his expression alone made it obvious that he didn't take them seriously.

Tasos's expression was also leisurely as he nodded his head with a faint smile on his face. Staring at the sky, he mused for a moment before looking at Monica.

"Do you want us to help you, or can you take care of it by yourself?"

"Who do you think I am? I can at least take care of this much."

"Can you really? You do know that the three of them combined have a strength equivalent to <SS> rank." Amon chimed in. Even though he knew that she could do it, he was merely trying to get under her skin.

"So? As long as I finish them quickly, I don't really see a problem."

Unfortunately for him, Monica did not fall for the provocation.

Turning their heads and staring at each other, they both shrugged their shoulders before giving her the green light. "Alright, do whatever you want. We're here to stall for time anyways. Once the big dogs show up, Amon and I will step up."

"True, she should deal with the small fries for us."

With her eyes closed and holding her sword vertically, Monica's brow twitched. Opening her eyes, she glared at the two of them.

"Can you guys shut up? I'm trying to concentrate."

"Alright, we're sorry. Do your thing."

Tasos bitterly laughed before taking a step back and looking at the enormous infra-structure in the distance.

If the Union had done their job, half of the higher-ups of the Monolith should've already been lured out of the headquarters. By directly exploiting one of the spies amongst the higher-ups, the Union had set up an intricate trap designed to lure the higher-ups away from the Monolith who were hoping to kill Monica.

Unfortunately for them, it would end up being a fruitless effort as the real Monica was with them. Unless an external factor that they did not account for meddled their plans, their plans of dealing a massive blow to the Monolith should work.

"Ke,ke, what's this? Some unexpected guests have shown up out of nowhere? You must be looking for death." Surprised by Monica's power, one of the elders levitating in the air throatily laughed. His blood-red eyes flickered brightly.

"It seems like it. Who would've thought that there was someone stupid enough to actually attack our main base?" Another elder added, licking his lips.

Squinting his eyes, the last elder and the youngest brother spoke up. "I can't seem to be able to make out their identities. They must be wearing skin masks."

Hearing their brother's words, the two elders that were talking to each other glanced at each other before taking a better look at the individuals below them.

Skin masks were generally a great way for someone to mask their faces. However, they had a fatal flaw, and it was that they could be easily spotted by those whose rank was in the <S> ranks.

Placing his hand on his chin, the oldest of the siblings mused. "Hmm, you're right...what's also strange is that I can't feel the aura's of the two guys standing behind the little girl."

"They might be using an artifact to mask their real strength."

"True."

Whilst the three elders were talking amongst themselves, Monica's gaze indifferently swept over them before once again raising her sword. Slowly an orange hue enveloped it.

"You guys talk too much."

Disrupting the three elders, was Monica's voice.

With her sword raised, her body trembled slightly. Wild and violent energy suddenly surged out explosively from the veins within her body. Finally, it became like a torrent of floodwater that flowed to every corner of her entire body.

Her eyes mysteriously shone in bright orange color. Her feet which were touching the ground slowly lifted up as Monica's body raised into the air. Raising her hand slightly, Monica clenched it into a fist.

Following this, the orange hue revolving around her body abruptly soared. An instant later, the glow disappeared and an orange-colored armor materialized, covering her exquisite pretty body. Once the armor appeared on her body, with her hair fluttering wildly in the air, her demeanor completely changed.

If before she was silly and childish, right now she looked like a war goddess that was craving blood.

Staring at Monica from below, Amon showed a surprised expression.

"Mana conglomeration, I now see why those bastards put so much hope on her."

Though he disliked Monica due to her childish character, he had to admit, she was extremely talented.

Especially since she could perform Mana-conglomeration, or more specifically, psyon-conglomeration which was the process in which someone whose control over psyons reached such levels of fine control that they could summon tangible mana in the air and form it into whatever shape they wanted.

In Monica's case, an armor.

It was a high-leveled technique that only the strongest individuals could use it. For Monica, who was only 28 years old to be able to accomplish this, it was nothing short of miraculous.

"T-that's mana-conglomeration."

Similarly staring at Monica in the distance, the expression of the elders standing not so far from her turned extremely ugly. Their previous arrogant faces had long disappeared.

Unaware of what was happening, suddenly opening her eyes, a bright shine enveloped the area as Monica's voice rang out in the distance.

"Haaa!"

Waves of wild, violent energy that lingered inside of her body rushed out, reaching all the way towards the tip of her sword where it converged together before releasing a terrifying orange beam of light that shot towards the three elders suspended in the air.

WHIIIIING!

"Get into formation!"

Staring at the incoming attack, the three black-robed elder's expressions were incredibly serious.

Taking a step back, they got into a triangular formation and frantically moved their hands creating different seals.

Following the appearance of this formation, three powerful mana signatures that were all dark green in color surged out from the bodies of the three of them.

The mana that surged out from their bodies did not scatter. Instead, it agglomerated above their heads forming a translucent circle that slowly expanded before everyone's eyes. The mana that was excluded by the three elders quickly linked itself onto the shield. Within seconds, the shield started thickening up.

"Brace!"

For a brief moment, silence ensued, waiting for Monica's attack to apprach the shield. As if time slowed down, everyone stared at the devastating attack approaching the elders at unprecedented speeds. Finally, Monica's attack made contact with the shield and an even more powerful explosion rang out.

'”BOOOOOM!

Everything shook.

***

'”BOOOOOM!

"The fuck is going on?"

With another explosion reverberating, the building once again shook, and I almost lost my footing. This time the explosion was so powerful that a lot of the people in front of me fell down. The ceiling also started showing signs of cracking, sending a lot of people into a panic.

Fortunately, I was near someone big, and thus, using him as support, I was able to keep my footing.

"Hurry!"

"Let's go!"

"We're under attack! Grab your weapons and go downstairs!"

Following the other people, I quickly rushed towards the first level. Honestly, although it was chaotic, somehow within ten minutes I found myself on the bottom floor.

Had I been following my original plan, this wouldn't take me far longer and it would've been far more dangerous as well. However, contrary to my expectations, someone had enough balls to attack the Monolith's headquarters.

'Well, I don't care whoever you are, thanks to you I can finally go back home.'

Clenching my fists tightly, I increased my pace. Along the way, I consumed a couple of potions just so that I could recover as much mana as possible.

Though unsure, there was a chance that I might once again have to be forced to go through another battle, thus, not wanting to take any chances, I consumed as many potions as possible.

BANG'”!

Turning around the corridor that led towards the portal areas, suddenly a whistling sound rang out. Following this, a muffled explosion echoed in the distance and multiple colors flashed. A terrifying pressure enveloped the area, resulting in my breathing becoming more laborious.

"What is happening?"

I was immediately alarmed. The pressure was definitely something that belonged to someone far above me. To make matters worse, it wasn't just one that I felt, there were multiple ones.

From where I was, I could feel the stinging sensation coming from the residual mana lingering in the area. It was that bad.

A bad premotion arose from within me as my footsteps slowed down.

"Call for backup! call for backup! The headquarters have been infiltrated!"

"Someone is attacking the portal'”Hueeek!"

Chaos.

Total chaos.

Upon entering the lobby area that led towards the portals, all I saw was chaos.

Halting my steps and staring into the distance, what appeared in my vision were people trying their best to run away from the place as explosions and screams rang out. Different colored hues appeared everywhere, and blood splattered everywhere.

Squinting my eyes, I was able to spot a group of ten or so people brute-forcing their way towards the general portals in the distance.

"Ah, shit."

Taking a better look at the situation and coming to a realization of what was going on, my face contorted.

Massaging my forehead, I silently cursed to myself.

'Seriously, why can't they just let me escape peacefully?'

Chapter 277: Total Chaos [2]

Amidst the chaos, glancing at my watch, I ran towards a certain section of the first level. From what I've observed, the people that had infiltrated the Monolith were targeting the general portals.

The ones that everyone used.

On a good note, those were not the portals that I was aiming for. On a bad note, I could more or less tell that they were planning on blowing up this place. The plan was fairly obvious, I was sure that the Monolith had understood this as well.

'Damn it, I don't have much time at my disposal.'

Ignoring all of the chaos around me, following the map on my phone, I quickly made my way towards the area where the private portal was. Time was not on my side. If they were truly hell-bent on blowing up the portals, then I really had to hurry.

"As expected, there are only a few people here."

Arriving before the designated location, glancing left and right, I noticed that the security was fairly lax.

My original plan was to pretend to be the commander using the mask to then directly enter the portal. The problem regarding his build wasn't actually a problem, I still had a few gigantifying potions from Immorra.

The only reason I had not used them back then, was because I wanted Luther to actually notice me.

Risky, but it paid off.

Either way, that plan was now no longer viable. With the Monolith under attack, everything changed.

Hiding behind a wall, and peeking right, I looked up and glanced at the cameras in the distance.

After that, I looked below them.

'Good, there are only two guards.'

Guarding an enormous metal door were two guards whose strength was about the same as mine, around the <D+> rank range. Under normal circumstances, there would've been stronger guards guarding the place, but these weren't normal circumstances.

The stronger guards had probably left their post in order to aid the people guarding the general gate.

Though this made them look sloppy, in reality, this wasn't a real problem. Without the special pass, even if the invaders tried to brute force the way into the room that led to the portal, they wouldn't be able to get in. The materials used to make the doors were something that even <S> ranked would have difficulty breaking.

Thus, the decision to leave those two weaker guards to guard the place was the right decision given the circumstances.

And this perfectly aligned with my plans.

"huuu..."

Closing my eyes, and exhaling, with the aid of the chip inside of my head, my brain started processing all of the information that I had just observed.

'The distance between me and the guards is more than ten meters, this I can't use the third movement. This is a bit of a problem since I don't want to alert the others of my presence...there's also another problem I need to take care of."

Because I specialized in sneak attacks, as long as my opponent wasn't way stronger than me or reacted faster than my swords, killing them wouldn't really pose a problem for me.

There was only one problem though.

Peeking right, I glanced at the cameras that were above the two guards.

The cameras.

The biggest problem at the moment was the cameras. If I wanted to use the Keiki style, I had to make sure that I removed all evidence of it.

By now, everyone knew that Ren Dover was the inheritor of the Keiki style. This was without a doubt something that everyone knew as it had been broadcasted to the whole world during the tournament. What they also knew was that I was dead.

If the Monolith suddenly spotted 876 using the Keiki style, then finding out about my real identity wouldn't really be a problem. If that were to truly happen, all hell would break loose for me.

'I can't let that happen.'

Just imagining the consequences of such revelation, caused the back of my hair to raise. Taking a deep breath, a look of resolution flashed across my eyes.

'Even if this removes the element of surprise and makes things harder for me, I don't want to leave anything that would come back and bite me in the future.'

Grabbing a couple of sharp objects from my dimensional space, squinting, and aiming for the cameras in the distance, I flicked my fingers, and the objects shot towards the cameras in the distance like bullets.

'”WHIIIIIZ!

The moment I flicked my fingers, stomping my foot on the ground, I quickly dashed towards the two guards in the distance.

"Hey!"

"Intruders!"

Spotting me, the two guards immediately became alert. Raising their weapons, they tried to call for backup, but before they could get to it, I had already arrived before them and punched out. A whistling sound arose, and powerful pressure enveloped the air.

"Khuek!"

The color green flashed for a split second and one of the guards flew towards the other side of the room.

Bam'”!

They soon crushed against the metal door behind them.

Unfortunately for me, as I had lost the element of surprise, the guard was able to block my attack, and thus didn't die immediately. He was only injured.

"Haaa!"

The moment the guard crashed against the door, the sound of the air splitting rang by my ear, as the other guard slashed their halberd down. Coldly glancing at the incoming attack, lowering my body, I stomped my foot on the ground and shot forward. Reappearing right below the middle area of the halberd.

Extending my hand, a green hue enveloped my hand as I grabbed the shaft of the halbert and redirected it towards the ground.

Bam'”!

Upon redirecting the attack, the halbert hit the ground at full force and a small crater appeared. Fine miniature crevices extended from the crater.

"What!?"

Unable to comprehend what had just happened, the guard frozen for a split second.

'”Click!

This prove fatal for him as a subtle clicking sound rang out and his body slumped down on the ground, devoid of any life.

"That's one dow'”"

'”Di! '”Di!

Cutting me off was a silent ringing sound in the distance.

Turning my attention towards the guard that I had injured previously, I instantly became alarmed. With a black box in his hand, I watched as the guard who I was unable to kill before, brought it near his face.

"No, you don't."

Unsheathing my sword completely from my scabbard, and coating my sword with it, bending my torso slightly, I released the built-up tension in the core of my body and threw the sword in his direction. Splitting the air, the sword disappeared from my hand and reappeared in front of the guard.

"Rep'”Huek!"

Before the guard could start speaking, the sword pierced him in the heart. The black box in his hand fell down, and a voice echoed across the room.

'”...Hello? Hello? Is anybody there?

Walking up to the radio transmitter, I grabbed it and spoke.

"Yes, everything is alright, I just wanted to know about the current situation outside."

After a brief moment, the voice on the other side of the transmitter raised.

'”What? Have you only called because of this?!

Heavy frustration could be felt from the voice.

"..Mhm, we're currently hearing fighting in the distance, and we're unaware of what is happening. The other guards who have left have also not told us anything, and I was wondering if you needed our assistance."

'”No! Stay there and keep watch of the portal. Do you understand? This is an order.

The more the person on the other side of the speaker listened to me, the more frustrated it became.

'”Remain in your post and if anybody comes, kill them on sight. Even if they are fellow guards. Understood?

"Affirmative."

'”Good.

Du.Du.Du. At my confirmation, the person ended the call. Crushing the transmitter in my hand, I turned around and looked at the massive door behind me. Glancing towards the right, I could see a small black box by the side.

Without wasting any time, taking out the black card that I took from Luther, I placed it on the black box.

Instantly the huge metallic doors unlocked, and I entered the room. Upon entering the room a massive gate appeared in front of me. At the moment, the gate was completely hollow since it wasn't activated, but even then, I could feel the complexity of the gate from where I was standing.

By the side of the portal, there was a white orb that pulsated white light. Knowing what it was, without a second thought, I walked up to the orb and placed my hand on it.

ãPlease select locationã
â¶ [Ashton City]

â· [Dromeda City]

â· [Park City]

.

.

The moment I placed my hand on the orb, a small window appeared in front of me. On it was the different locations I could teleport to. Without giving it a second thought, I selected Ashton city.

[Location selected, teleportation activation will now commence.]

Upon pressing it, the orb lit up, and a humming sound rang out in the room. After that, a robotic voice echoed as visible tangible threads of mana appeared out of thin air, converging towards the portal. Slowly but surely, the threads of mana entered the gate in a swirling pattern.

"...this is it."

Staring at the portal, that was slowly activating, I nervously bit my lips. Finally, after more than eight months in this hell hole, I was so close to finally reaching freedom. Knowing this, I couldn't help but become nervous.

As I was waiting for the portal to open up, I looked back at the previous fight I had with the guards.

'Now that I think about it, I spent more time fighting them than Commander Luther himself.'

The irony.

Although I had used an extremely powerful poison to deal with him, the fact that it took me less time to deal with him than some mob guards was quite ironic.

"How much time left..."

Glancing at the orb, I couldn't hide my nervousness as I repeatedly looked at the timer on it.

[5:07]

"Five more minutes, come o'”"

BOOOM'”!

Cutting me off was the sound of another explosion as the building shook intensely. From where I was, I could hear the sound of the building crumbling down. Rushing out of the room, I realized that apart from the room where the gate was, a major part of the building had been destroyed allowing me to see what was happening outside.

The moment I looked up and stared towards the distance, my body froze.

"This pressure, that orange-colored hair...Monica?"

***

The clear sound of energy exploding repeatedly resounded over the sky, as an orange hue clashed against a dark green one. As the two energies clashed, the aftermath of their clash resulted in large shockwaves that instantly killed the weaker individuals standing below.

BOOOM'”!

Another explosion rang out as Monica let out a muffled snort as her body got pushed back a couple of meters. The three black-elders in the sky were no better as they were similarly pushed back, just a little bit further than her. Clearly, they were at a slight disadvantage since Monica was just one person and they were three.

"hmm, it's been a while since Monica and the three elders have started fighting, why haven't the big shown up?" Amon wondered from below as his gaze never left Monica.

A couple of minutes had passed since her fight with the three elders started, and although she had the upper hand thanks to her mana conglomeration technique, it also had to be noted that her mana was depleting at an alarming rate because of it.

Furthermore, the remaining higher-ups of the Monolith should've already noticed that something wasn't right. For them to have not shown up by now, something was odd.

"That's because they are not coming."

Just as he was about to turn around and ask Tasos about his opinion, a cold voice rang beside his ear as a palm pressed against his back.

"What do you me'”Huek!"

A torrential wave of thick mana exploded onto Amon's back sending him flying into the nearby trees. Tasos's sudden attack on Amon did not go unnoticed by Monica and the three elders above who immediately ceased fighting.

With her blazing orange eyes, Monica looked in Amon's direction and then looked at Tasos. Although she didn't say anything, from how wildly the mana around her was fluctuating, it became evident that she was both shocked and enraged.

"Kekeke, you've finally decided to reveal yourself?"

The eldest of the three brothers suddenly burst out laughing as looked below.

"Had to, it looked like you guys were having trouble." Looking up, Tasos smiled before turning his attention back towards Amon. A trace of pity flashed across his eyes. "...to have only been able to come out with slight injuries after my sneak attack, the name unbreakable shield is not for nothing."

"Y-you"

A hoarse voice rang out.

As the dust cleared up and Amon's figure was revealed in the distance, with blood trickling down the side of his mouth, Amon's expression was terrifying.

Glaring at Tasos, he roared.

"How dare you betray us!"

The mana around him suddenly thickened up and agglomerated in front of him. Finally, an enormous black shield appeared in front of him.

"I will definitely make you pay!"

"Don't take it personally Amon, I've never actually been a part of the Union." Taking a step forward, with one hand behind his back, a rapier appeared in Tasos's hand. Alternating his gaze between Monica and Amon, Tasos smiled. "Tell you the truth, from the very beginning this plan of yours was a trap designed by me."

Thirty years.

That was how long Tasos had been working at the Union. At least on the surface. In reality, he had always been working under the Monolith.

Under their orders, he had been waiting and biding his time for the right moment. Originally the Monolith did not have any plans on revealing Tasos's identity this early.

He was their trump card.

However, an opportunity presented itself. A huge opportunity to get rid of one of the heads of the Union alongside a future head.

Monica and Amon.

By getting rid of them, they'd essentially be crippling the Union. Knowing this, they had no choice but to go through with their plans.

To show just how much importance they put on this plan, they had actually sent three of their <SS> ranked villains towards the trap designed by the Union. This was so that they could reduce any suspicions of the operation being a trap.

"Honestly, I didn't want to reveal myself this early in the game, but..." Raising his hand and clenching it, a blue glow enveloped his rapier as Tasos's clothes fluttered wildly. "I just couldn't miss out on the chance of killing one of the seven heads of the Union."

"I've had enough with your nonsense."

Unable to bear any more of Tasos's talk, Amon cut him off.

Then, raising the shield in front of him, his eyes glowed in a mysterious color as the shield in his arms slowly expanded.

"...We'll see if you can," Tasos replied with an amused smile on his face. He then took a stance.

Suddenly, both of their auras flared up wildly. The density of the air around them thickened up considerably.

Looking from above, Monica's face became chilly. Turning her attention back towards the elders, the mana in her similarly flared up. The natural energy in the atmosphere began to fluctuate vigorously upon being beckoned Monica. She knew that her only option right now was to go all out.

Below them, a countless number of gazes watched the intense fluctuations of natural energy in the sky. All of them knew that a frighteningly <S> and <SS> class battle was about to erupt!

Amongst those gazes was a burned-up youth whose face contorted more with each passing second.

"Ugh... You've got to be shitting me."

Chapter 278: Total Chaos [3]

'”Bang!

Crashing against the trees on the ground, was one of the black-hooded elders. Breaking multiple trees, his body skid on the ground leaving behind a massive trail of destruction.

"Brother!"

"Youngest!"

Accompanying the fall of the black-robed elder were two hoarse voices. It was the two other elders.

Once the dust cleared, the black-robed elder appeared on the ground passed out. Compared to before, the aura revolving around him was extremely faint, indicating that he had been severely injured.

"Kill this bitch. We can't let her live after what she's done!"

Staring at their brother, the two elders looked at each other with rage clouded eyes. However, even though they said those words, neither moved. The frightening power that Monica had displayed to the both of them, had left lingering feelings of fear inside of their minds.

To make matters worse, now that their brother was gone, their power had halved. Even then, their indecisiveness didn't last for long as their aura skyrocketed.

Staring at them from the corner of her eyes, Monica's orange eyes blazed brightly. Turning her head to get a better look and observing them from her position, she could tell that they were on their last struggle. One more move from her, and they were done for.

This was to be expected though. For the past five minutes, they had been going at each other non-stop, repeatedly releasing their most powerful moves whenever they could. In those exchanges, Monica had managed to gain the upper hand almost every single time. Now that one of their brothers was gone, the fight was as good as done.

"Haa..."

That being said, Monica was also not in optimal condition. Even though her injuries were far lighter than the three elders, her stamina wasn't. She estimated that within ten minutes, her mana and stamina would deplete completely.

She had to ends things quickly.

Raising her sword in the air, the mana within her body surged like a torrent of water as the hue around her expanded rapidly. From below, it looked as though a sunset had appeared from behind her.

She looked absolutely majestic.

WAAAAAANG'”!

As Monica was preparing herself to finish the two remaining elders in the air, on the ground, a terrifying beam of light shot towards a massive black tangible shield that radiated massives amounts of mana.

Like a shooting star, wherever the beam passed, nothing but the devastation was left behind as it scorched everything within its vicinity.

BOOOOM'”!

Finally, the beam collided against the shield, and a powerful shockwave spread across the area resulting in a massive crater being created as dust enveloped the area.

Once the dust from the collusion cleared up, in the middle of the crater there was only one area that remained unaffected. Standing in the middle of it, on top of a small structure, was Amon whose arms were crossed in a perpendicular manner. Levitating a couple of meters in front of him was the black shield.

Pushing the shield away from him, Amon provocatively looked at Tasos and mocked.

"You think that this kind of attack can hurt me?"

"Hmm, not really."

Tasos tightly held onto the rapier in his hand.

A rare trace of solemness flashed across his eyes, as his gaze never left Amon who was standing opposite to him.

"To be honest, I thought that I would've at least been able to scratch your shield, I guess your nickname is not for nothing."

Although he had known about Amon's capabilities for a long time, experiencing them for the first time, he couldn't help but feel like people had undersold just how strong his defense was. It was much sturdier than he had expected.

It was so strong that, not even a full-powered normal attack from him left a scratch on it. It was extremely sturdy.

Finally realizing just how tough Amon's defense was, Tasos wasn't disheartened. Closing his eyes, he let out a long breath.

Suddenly the mana within his body surged out in all directions. After which, slowly, it started converging towards the rapier in his hand.

SHIIIIIING!

A bright and powerful glow materialized on the rapier until it slowly started elongating. Sharp, threads of mana shot in all directions, causing some distortions to appear in the air.

"I'm ready." After a while, Tasos looked at Amon and raised the rapier in the air. "Let's see if you can tak'”"

BAAAM'”! BAAAM'”!

Cutting Tasos off just when he was prepared to unleash his attack, two black silhouettes crashed near him. Glancing towards where the silhouettes crashed, Tasos's brows knit.

Once the dust cleared up, and the features of the silhouettes became clear, a trace of disdain appeared on Tasos's face.

"...useless."

It was the two brothers.

Just like their other brother, they had been defeated by Monica.

Raising his head, Tasos stared at Monica who was looking back at him from the air.

At the moment, her complexion was fairly pale, and the orange glow around her had diminished considerably. Even then, her mana was slowly showing signs of recovery. She had most likely consumed a high leveled potions.

"Monica, get behind me," Amon shouted from below. "I'll protect you while you recover your mana. I've already contacted the others and told them to retreat."

"...Alright."

Monica nodded her head after a short pause. She wasn't mad about Amon decided to retreat. In fact, she was all in for it.

The moment Tasos betrayed them, it became clear to her that the operation had failed. Amon's instructions and actions were the appropriate ones given the circumstances. In order to minimize the losses, it was best to end the operation now and go back to the Union.

She had faith in Amon's defensive capabilities. As long as he was here, she didn't have to worry about Tasos.

Therefore, descending from the sky, she made her way towards Amons.

"What do you think you're doing!"

However, just as she was about to arrive next to Amon, Tasos's enraged shout rang from the distance. Following this, a tremendous light blue beam appeared in front of her vision, slowly enlargening with every second that passed.

"Hmph, not on my watch."

The first one to react to the attack was Amon, who stomped his foot on the ground as a green glow flashed underneath his feet. After which, he disappeared from where he was standing as a thunderous roar rang out.

BOOOOM'”!

Appearing right in front of Monica with his shield in front of him, the beam of light ruthlessly smashed against the shield, sending shockwaves everywhere. Successfully blocking Tasos's attack, instead of being happy, Amon's brows furrowed tightly.

Turning his head right, and looking upwards, Amon's stern eyes swept around as a chill flashed across them.

"Come out!" He roared. "I know that you're here. Come out!"

"What?"

Being next to Amon, Monica was obviously confused as she felt nothing. However, this later changed when.

"Oh? As expected of one of the seven heads of the Union. It truly is hard to hide from your senses."

Startling everyone, a vast and mighty voice resounded over the sky before finally spreading all over like furious rolling-thunder. It reverberated beside the ears of a countless number of people, breaking the eardrums of some.

Then, like an immortal from the novels, a gray-robed old man whose origins seemed to be Asian, appeared in the sky. With his white hair cascading down on his back, and long grey beard, the old man's presence completely enveloped the surroundings.

"'”'”!"

Upon spotting the old man, Monica's and Amon's eyes opened widely as they exchanged glances with each other. The grip of their weapons tightened.

Not looking at the two, briefly glancing at the three black-hooded elders on the ground, a slightly disappointed look flashed across the old man's eyes.

"Haizz, I really thought that they would've been enough."

He muttered in a tone loud enough for everyone to hear. Then, taking his eyes off of the bodies of the three elders, his eyes paused on Tasos.

A faint smile appeared on his lips.

"It's been a while since we last saw each other, how have you been?"

Staring at the old man in the sky, Tasos lowered his rapier. Smiling, he bent down slightly.

"Never been greater, Vice-leader."

***

"This..."

Gazing at the scene from below, sweat trickled down my forehead.

The pressure radiating from the people in the distance made me involuntarily swallow a mouthful of my saliva.

However, this was only before the elder suddenly appeared in the sky.

Upon his arrival, my throat instantly became dry and breathing started to become difficult. The back of my hair stood, and I involuntarily took a step back.

"...What is this pressure?"

Snapping out of it, I looked towards the elder in the distance with a newfound trace of fear.

Just the pressure coming from him made me feel as though a heavy train was loaded over my shoulders, and this was considering the fact that he was quite far from where I was. Had I been standing next to him, chances were that my body would've long been pulverized.

Just the thought sent shivers down my spine.

"An old man with grey clothes in the Monolith, who is he?"

The gears inside of my mind started turning as I tried my best to recognize who the old man was. Because barely anyone knew what the executives of the Monolith looked like, there were no images of them anywhere.

'Old man, grey clothes, Asian origin, unfathomable strength'”ah!'

As I was thinking, it was then that it suddenly hit me.

In the novel, there was only one person that matched the descriptions of the old man in the distance.

Mo Jiahao, the Vice-leader of the Monolith, ranked 2 in the villain ranking, and a <SS+> ranked villain.

"It can only be him."

The more I thought about it, the more I was convinced I was about the identity of the old man.

Unlike the Union where there were seven heads, the Monolith operated differently.

They had one leader, one vice-leaders, and four elders, each ranked based on individual strength and following.

'That aside, if he's here...'

"Shit!"

Pausing mid-thought a curse escaped from my lips as I stared at Monica and Amon in the distance.

If the Vice-leader had shown up, then they were in extreme danger.

'No, no, no, this can't be happening' Pacing around the room with my hand on my chin, I started pondering about the situation. 'Mo Jiahao's rank is <SS+>, whilst Monica's and Amon's are <S+> and <SS> respectively. Added with the fact that the Tasos is here as well, and his strength is <SS->...they stand no chance.'

The more I thought about the situation, the more I realized how severe it was.

Simply put, Monica and Amon were about to die.

"No, they can't die."

They couldn't die, not because they would play a role in the future when fighting against the demon king, but because their death would bring total disaster upon the human domain.

Their death would literally sign the death warrant of humanity.

Although the Union wasn't the most righteous organization out there, they were still the organization that shielded humans from the other races and villains. If anything happened to them, then humanity would be doomed.

Therefore, if the Union lost Monica, a future <SS> ranked, and Amon, an already established <SS> rank, then it would deal a devastating blow on humanity as a whole.

Without them, the demons and the Monolith might take advantage of the situation and directly attack the Union. With two of their key members missing, dealing with the Union wouldn't be as much of a problem as it was before. This would unquestionably lead to a tragedy.

"Damn it, just when I was so close to escaping."

I cursed out loud as I stared at the portal in front of me that was slowly forming. There was only a minute left till the portal formed, and freedom had never been so close.

But, I knew that this was no longer an option.

If the Monolith truly did manage to kill both Amon and Monica, even if I managed to escape, within 9 years the whole world would end up being destroyed.

'Do I really have no choice?'

Staring into the distance, and seeing Monica and Amon struggling, I clenched my teeth.

"Aahh, fuck!" A cursed out loud. "Let me catch a break for once!"

Pouring out all my resentment at the portal, I turned around and dashed out of the room.

Even though I didn't want to, I had no choice.

Monica's and Amon's death signified the downfall of humanity as the enemies would definitely take advantage of the situation, and even if humanity somehow managed to survive that ordeal, by the time they recovered to what they were, the third cataclysm would descend.

"Haa..haa...should be this way?"

Running through the narrow corridors of the room, checking the map on my watch, I quickly followed it and headed for the general portals.

As I was running, glancing towards the distance one last time, biting my lips hard until blood trickled down by the side, the gears of my mind turned at unbelievable speeds.

Slowly a plan started formulating inside of my mind.

Chapter 279: Total Chaos [4]

Running through the halls of the Monolith, I could hear the sound of fighting in the distance. The closer I was to the general portals, the louder the sound of fighting became.

'Shit, this isn't a fight I can stop.'

Once I arrived near the location of the portals, staring at the fight from the distance, I realized that recklessly entering the scene would only lead up to one conclusion, my imminent death.

"Damn it, what should I do?"

Though I couldn't tell the exact ranks of the people fighting in the distance, I could tell that it ranged from <A> rank to <S> rank. Just the faint undulations of energy that surged out of their bodies caused my face to contort.

Furthermore, judging from the situation up ahead, the people from the Union were currently at a disadvantage. Although they seemed to be even in numbers, the people from the Monolith were indeed a tad bit stronger. I could tell this from the auras that were being released from the bodies of the people from the Monolith.

The situation was slowly becoming direr and direr for the Union members.

'”BAAANG!

Suddenly disrupting me out of my thoughts was a loud crashing noise. Turning my head, an individual appeared not so far from where I was. Judging for the pure untainted mana that was faintly revolving around his body, he was part of the Union force.

Staring at the individual that was close to me, he appeared to be a caucasian man with brown hair and green eyes. At the moment his body was filled with cuts and bruises, and his breathing was difficult.

Looking at him, my mind started racing as a bold idea suddenly struck my head.

"...Ugh, this is nothing short of suicide."

My face contorted a little.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized how bold my idea was. Just a simple mistake and I would end up dying.

But, I had no choice.

Simply put, if I didn't go through with it, I'd only be delaying my death by 9 years. Monica and Amon's death would only signify the start of a whole world of trouble for my family, and humanity as a whole.

'I can't let that happen.'

Thus.

Taking a familiar small ring from Luther's dimensional space and putting it on my finger, I lifted my head up and checked to see if anyone was planning on attacking the injured person from the Monolith.

Fortunately for me, one of his team members was buying him time to recover from his injuries, and so I knew that no one would disturb me. At least for a bit.

Taking advantage of this, channeling my mana towards my sword until a white glow enveloped it, I dashed out and attacked the Union member. Because of the uniform, I was wearing, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

WIIIIIING!

Startled, the Union member looked in my direction. With the aid of the wall, he weakly stood up and raised his spear.

The moment his eyes landed on me and he lifted his spear, my feet almost stopped moving. It felt as though I was stuck at the bottom of the ocean with no air to breathe.

I felt completely powerless.

"Haaa!"

Even then, gritting my teeth, I pushed forward and slashed my sword in his direction. It wasn't the Keiki style, nor any other sword technique that I knew. It was just a simple slash with all my mana concentrated on the sword.

Arriving before the Union member, closing my eyes, I inwardly prayed.

'Please fucking notice!'

Then, the sound of metal colliding resounded.

Clang'”!

Once the metallic sound rang out, for a second nothing happened. Then, lifting my head up, I saw two obsidian black eyes looking straight into mine with unprecedented seriousness.

"Who are you?"

His cold voice rang in my ears.

Looking back at those eyes, I smiled in relief.

"Haaa....haaaa...thank god you've noticed."

There was a fundamental difference between Heroes and Villains, and it was that Heroes' mana was pure, whilst for villains, although they too utilized mana, theirs was tainted with demonic energy.

This was the fundamental difference that enabled people to tell the difference.

Therefore, upon spotting me, and noticing the pure mana that was revolving around my sword, they realized that I wasn't a villain. The lack of killing intent on my part also contributed a little.

Even then, that did not mean that I was still in the clear as his voice once again rang inside of my ears.

"You haven't answered my question. Who are you?"

This time a trace of killing intent was mixed in his voice, causing my body to involuntarily shudder.

Mustering every bit of strength to look at him in the eyes, I raised my sword and once again slashed in his direction.

"...You wouldn't know, but I can tell you this. I'm on your side."

Clang'”!

"Then why should I trust you, and how can someone as weak as you be of any help?"

"Bit harsh, no?"

My mouth twitched slightly at his words.

Clang'”!

As I was secretly conversing with the Union member, we kept exchanging moves. As I attacked, the union member defended. Of course, he pretended to be injured whilst defending against my attacks, else it wouldn't look believable.

"Cut the chit-chat, what is your purpose in approaching me?"

"I have a way to help you."

"You have a way?"

"Yes, but I need your help."

Clang'”!

Once again our weapons clashed. Staring at me, the Union member said after a brief pause.

"...Even though I can confirm that you're not a villain, why should I trust you?"

Cautiousness flashed across his eyes.

"Listen up," Slashing my sword down, the Union member 'narrowly' avoided it. Raising my sword again, I slashed down again. "Quite frankly, I don't gain anything by helping you. If we're being real, given your circumstances, the chances of you escaping are nearly zero, right?"

"What are you trying to say?"

WIIING!

This time it was his turn to attack, indicating with his eyes to me where he was going to attack next, I moved my neck slightly and narrowly avoided his attack.

Feeling the tip of the spear brush past me, I inwardly swallowed a mouthful of saliva and continued.

"You have no choice but to trust me. Instead of fighting a battle that you have no hope of winning, fight one that can give you a little bit of hope."

Whilst I was speaking, I made sure to read the Union member's expression. Even though frustration could be seen on his face, my words seemed to have had an effect on him as his attack weakened a little bit.

It was to be expected though. What I said wasn't wrong. Judging from how things were going, they were bound to lose. To make matters worse, they couldn't even escape since their opponents were sticking to them like an octopus.

The person before me knew this very well.

"...What's your plan then?"

'It worked!'

The edges of my lips curved upwards, as my heart finally relaxed a little bit.

Turning my head and staring at the gates in the distance, I spoke.

"I want you to clear a path for me to the portals, and hold the Monolith members back for at least a couple of minutes."

My plan was to directly break the core of the portals and create an explosion. Essentially, I was planning on doing with the Union were originally planning on doing, but unlike them, I could do it faster.

This was simply because of the card that I had gotten from Luther that enabled me to gain access to the portal data system.

"Clear a path to the portals?" A look of confusion appeared on the Union member's face. Then, as he processed the information, his eyes opened widely. "...wait, don't tell me that you're planning on breaking the core? That's impossible!?"

Slashing down, I reassured.

"Don't worry, I have my means."

"What means?"

"I don't have time to explain, just know that I can do it. The choice is up to you."

Clang'”!

Squinting, the Union member slashed down. For the next couple of seconds, neither one of us spoke.

After a while, the union member lifted his head and solemnly looked at me.

"...what are the chances of you succeeding?"

Smiling, I replied.

"That does not depend on me, it depends on you."

The success rate of the operation depended on how much time they could buy for me whilst I break the core. If they could hold out for more than a minute, then there was a good chance that I could break the core.

"...but what about the escape? Once you break the core, everyone is going to aim for you."

"Don't worry about that, I've got that covered too."

"B'”"

"We don't have time!"

Cutting him off I raised my voice. We had been fighting for approximately a minute, and in that minute the situation for the Union had gotten really dire. If we wasted any more time talking, then the whole plan would get scrapped.

He needed to quickly go back to aid them.

"Right now, your job is to do what I told you to do. If you do that, I can guarantee you a chance at escaping this."

"Alright." Staring deeply into my eyes, the Union member bit his lips before he slashed at me. This time with a little bit more force than before. A hint of killing intent appeared in his eyes, as his voice became cold. "...I will do as you say, but, if your screw us over, just know that I will do everything within my power to kill you."

Caught off-guard by the sudden attack, my sword flung away. Lowering my head and staring at him, I nodded faintly.

"Sure..."

"Alright, I'm counting on you then."

"Huek!"

As he finished his words, in a lightning-fast manner, the spear flashed and pierced my shoulder.

Feeling the tremendous pain in my shoulder, I fell to the ground and pretend to be dead. Turning around, the Union member quickly joined his members. Upon his arrival, the dire situation stabilized a little bit.

'Damn it, couldn't he have pulled his punches a little bit?'

I cursed whilst I played on the ground. The pain coming from the stab just now hurt like hell. Fortunately for me, I had been through worse and thus was able to bear with it.

Whilst laying on the ground, taking a deep breath I channeled my mana towards my feet and activated my movement art [Drifting steps]. Slowly, the hue around my feet increased.

As drifting steps had reached the Greater realm of mastery, instead of increasing the speed as I continued running, I could not stack up the wind psyons underneath my feet in a manner that upon releasing the stacked-up wind psyons, for a brief moment, I could reach a state similar to the third movement, Void Step.

The only downside was that I had couldn't move whilst I stacked up.

SHIIIIIIIIING!

As I was staking up, I suddenly felt a burst of mana coming from the distance. Lifting my head weakly, I realized that all of the Union members had decided to go all out.

'So he's managed to convince his members already?'

Not even five minutes had passed since he had left, and somehow the person I talked to before had managed to convince his team members. It looked like they were truly desperate.

Once everyone decided to go all out, the situation started to shift. Although the Monolith still held the upper hand, a small path had cleared up.

"Well, I guess it's my turn"

Once the path appeared, lifting my body up, my eyes locked towards the portal room in the distance. At the moment that area was the one that was most crowded, but with the aid of the Union members, most of the Monolith people had been pushed away.

"huuuu, here goes nothing."

Exhaling, the hue around my feet intensified.

BOOOOOM'”!

An explosion rang out and the world around me warped Within seconds I appeared near the portal. Without wasting any time, I quickly entered the room.

"What's going on!?"

My appearance obviously startled people, as for a brief moment, the fighting ceased. Knowing full well what was happening, this small opening gave enough time for the people from the Union to reorganize themselves as they moved nearer towards the portal.

"Stop him!"

Alarmed, and finally realizing what was going on, the people from the Monolith glared in my direction. Glared at by such powerful figures, I fell down on the ground due to the pressure.

"Hmph! Try your best!"

Thankfully, coming to my rescue were the people from the Union who attacked even more fiercely and relieved me from the pressure. Thanking them inside of my mind, I looked around the room.

"Quick, we can't hold them back for long!"

Without looking back, I raised my hand and did an 'Ok' sign. The person who just spoke was the person whom I told my plans to before.

'If I'm not wrong, it should be here.'

Moving towards the portal, I scanned it from top to bottom. Spotting a small compartment, my eyes light up. Taking out Luther's card from my dimensional space, I swiped it on the compartment.

Di'”!

Right after scanning the card, the compartment opened up. Upon opening the compartment, a small display appeared in my vision.

"...where, is it."

Turning on the display, I quickly swiped through its setting looking for the access panel for the core. As my finger moved across the monitor at incredible speeds, my eyes darted left and right trying to best see the setting that I was looking for.

"Shit, where in the world is it?!"

To my dismay, this was taking way longer than I had originally anticipated. Cold sweat trickled down the side of my face.

BAANG'”!

Startling me was a loud crashing sound next to me, lowering my head, to my horror I spotted a Union member lying lifelessly next to me.

"Oh no."

Turning my head, I noticed that the situation had truly become dire. The formation that the Union members had set up was almost crumbling, and within any second now, they would quickly appear next to me.

"Shit."

Knowing this, turning my head and staring at the display, my heartbeat like it had never done before. Frantically moving my fingers across the screen, I looked for the setting that enabled me to gain access to the core.

But this being the first time I had actually ever touched the panel, I had no idea where to look. Time was slowly running out, and the sweat by the side of my head intensified.

SHIIIING!

"Haaaa!"

Pained screams echoed from behind me. I did my best to ignore it, as I looked through the panel.

"'”'”!"

Biting my lips I continued to look for the right setting until finally, my finger paused on a certain area. My eyes then light up, and without hesitation, I pressed on the screen.

SHUUUUA!

The moment I pressed on the screen, the gate shook slightly, and the middle of it opened up revealing a black core. Threads of black demonic energy encircled the black core, as it pulsated slightly. Slowly, demonic energy enveloped the room.

"Stop him!"

Upon the core's revelation, the whole atmosphere changed. The people from the Monolith became even more desperate, whilst the people from the Union fought even more fiercely.

Although the people from the Union were dying at an alarming rate, the core had brought hope upon them. As long as they held just a little bit more, then there was a chance that they could escape.

"Quick destroy the core!"

A person from the Union shouted.

Without needing to be told what to do, I dashed towards where the core was and unsheathed my sword. Then, pouring most of my mana into it, I slashed down.

Clang'”!

A dull metallic sound rang out.

Chapter 280: Return [1]

Clang'”!

The moment my sword met the core, a dull metallic sound rang out as my sword vibrated from the shock. Accompanying the sound was a small ripple that began to spread all over the Monolith.

As the ripple spread, all forms of noises began to stop, as countless eyes directed themselves towards me.

Crack'”!

Not long after, a subtle cracking sound rang out. Lowering my head, terrifying energy enveloped the area around me, making it hard for me to breathe.

"Hueeek"

A strange noise escaped from my mouth as I tried my best to breathe. Unfortunately for me, the more time passed, the more difficult it became for me to breathe.

That was to be expected though.

Compared to back in the dome, the core here was of a higher grade. If back then it took multiple <S> ranked heroes to stop containing the explosion, this time, <S> ranked weren't enough. This type of explosion required the aid of multiple <SS> ranked individuals.

The pressure was too terrifying.

"Haaa..haaa.."

Even then, under everyone's stares, and powerful pressure, I remained calm.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly started circulating the mana inside of my body. More specifically, towards the ring on my hand.

The ring was something that I had gotten from Luther, and it was the same ring that Thibaut had.

The Monolith ring.

The ring that teleported people to the Monolith, or more specifically the VIP portal area. The room that I had been to previously.

It was because of the ring in my hand that I did not worry about the aftermath of destroying the core. As long as I had it, I could quickly escape from a dire situation.

'Come on, hurry up!'

Even then, it required some time to activate.

Channeling my mana and staring at the ring on my finger, I prayed that it worked faster. Time was tight, and I knew that right now, my life was hanging by the thread.

If in the next seconds the ring did not work, then everything would be over.

"How dare you!"

Suddenly, a thunderous roar that shook the building reverberated. Startled, I looked towards the distance.

For a split second, my heart stopped, and my eyes blacked out.

My breathing which was already rough became harder. With my hands on my face, as I lifted my head and stared into the distance, the first thing I saw was a pair of cold and chilling eyes that looked back at me with unprecedented bloodlust.

'I'm going to die.'

Upon meeting those eyes, the only thing I saw was my imminent death.

'This is it'

I thought as I stared into those eyes that seemed to be able to see through my very soul. Never before had I felt death so near to me. Not even when I was trapped inside of the lab for eight months.

"No! I can't die!"

For a split second, I had almost given up. However, recalling everything that I had gone through to get to where I was, I felt indignant. How could I die like this?

There was no way!

Clenching my teeth, and snapping out of my delusion, I found that blood was falling from the side of my mouth and eyes. Even then, not once did I stop channeling the mana inside of my body.

My eyes never separated from Mu Jinhao in the distance.

Glaring back at him, I suddenly watched as his body disappeared and reappeared a couple of meters away from me. A small smile appeared on my lips as I watched him reappear not far from me.

He was too late.

Suddenly, the ring on my finger glowed, and my body slowly turn into fine particles as all my senses disappeared. Then, under Mu Jinhao's terrifying glare, my body slowly started to fade away.

"Huaaaaa!"

The last thing I heard before I lost all of my senses, was Mo Jinhao's blood-curling scream. Then, everything turned back and my body disappeared completely.

SHUUUUA!

***

Moments before.

Standing behind Amon, with heavy breaths, Monica muttered.

"Haaa...Haaa...why aren't they coming?"

By now the armor on her body had become extremely faint, and her hair was a complete mess. With one of her eyes closed and with blood dripping down from the forehead, Monica was on her last rope.

In her hand was a white orb that pulsated in a rhythmical manner, with threads of mana encircling it.

It was the teleportation artifact that could bring them back to the Union.

For a while now Monica had been injecting her mana into the orb. By now, she was close to activating it, but there was a problem. The other Union members had still not arrived yet.

Staring at Amon who was standing in front of her, Monica's voice raised.

"Damn it, Amon. Didn't you tell them to retreat?"

"I did."

Amon weakly shot back as he held onto the black shield in front of him. Just like Monica, his state was also not good, as his body was riddled with injuries. In fact, it was terrible.

Though others couldn't see it, Amon could feel that most of his internal organs had been damaged to the extreme. He estimated that it would only take one more move from either Tasos or Mu Jinhao to kill him.

To make matters worse, the shield in his hand was now filled with cracks. Any minute from now, and he estimated that the shield would give out. They were pressed for time.

"Damn it!"

He cursed as he thought of his circumstances.

Despite the fact that he was called the unbreakable shield, under Tasos's and Mo Jiahao attacks, his shield which was famed for being sturdy enough to withstand the combined attack of multiple <SS> ranked heroes at once, was starting to break.

This was the first time it had ever happened to him, and it came off as a shock.

"What should we do?"

Disrupting Amon out of his thoughts was Monica who worriedly muttered.

"If they don't come back soon, what should we do?"

From how things were, they were not going to last any longer than a minute. Yet, there were still no signs of the other members showing up.

Amon knew this well, hence why after hesitating for a bit, he firmed his mind and said.

"...we have no choice but to leave them behind."

"Leave them behind?" Monica's brows knit. "Are you suggesting we escape by ourselves and leave the others behind?"

With a bitter smile on his face, Amon nodded his head.

"I know what you're trying to say, but we have no choice. It's already too late, I can't hold out for any longer."

What he was saying was the truth.

His body was on the verge of breaking down at the moment, and if they didn't escape soon, he would die.

CLAAANG!

"Huek!"

Suddenly another beam shot towards Amon. Reacting in a swift manner, with the aid of the shield, Amon was able to defend the attack, however, right after defending the attack, he instantly puked a mouthful of blood as he took a knee to the ground.

"haa...haaa.."

"Amon!"

"Prepare the portal!"

Amon glared at Monica as he raised his hand to stop her from approaching him. The only reason he had managed to survive this attack was because it was from Tasos who was much weaker than Mo Jiahao.

"khhh."

Biting her lips till they bled, Monica silently nodded her head and did as Amon said.

"You two finished talking?"

Mo Jiahaos's voice rang out.

With his cold gaze locked on Amon from the sky, Mo Jiahao raised his hand.

As he raised his palm, the mana in the atmosphere quickly converged towards it as a large translucent hand appeared in the sky. A frighteningly powerful ripple began spreading in the air as Mo Jiahao's clothes fluttered wildly in the air.

"Monica!"

Staring at the large handprint in the sky, Amon shouted.

"Almost!"

Channeling all over her mana in the orb in her hand, a small portal slowly started appearing in front of her.

Staring at the portal that was forming above, Mu Jinhao obviously did not sit still. Lowering his hand, he shouted.

"It's time for you two to d'”Hm?"

Feeling a powerful fluctuation coming from the distance, Mu Jinhao stopped his attack and turned his head. Once he did so, his brows jumped up as his face became incomparably solemn.

Below him, Monica and Amon too felt the fluctuation coming from the distance. Turning their head and staring towards were the source of energy was coming from, to their surprise they found a lone individual standing next to the core of the portal.

With a sword in his hand, he slashed towards the core.

Clang'”!

A simple, yet dull metallic sound rang out. It was a simple sound that could be heard everywhere around the battlefield, there was nothing particularly special about it.

Yet.

Once this sound rang, the whole battlefield became still as everyone stared towards the direction of where the sound coming. More specifically, towards a certain person wearing a Monolith uniform and had a burned face.

Next to him a tremendous pressure slowly enveloped the surroundings, increasing with each passing second.

"Hm?"

Feeling a powerful fluctuation coming from the distance, Mu Jinhao's face contorted rapidly. Glaring towards the person responsible for the disaster, his voice spread like a furious rolling thunder.

"How dare you!"

No longer caring about Monica and Amon, Mu Jinhao's body disappeared, reappearing right before the gate. However, to his shock, the youth suddenly disappeared from where he was standing.

"Huaaaaa!"

Mu Jinhao's thunderous roar once again sounded, spreading towards the surroundings. Glass broke, and many of the weaker individuals spat blood and fainted on the ground.

Glaring towards the surroundings, Mu Jinhao swore out loud.

"Whoever you are, I will make you pay for what you've done!"

Then, spreading his hands, a terrifying ripple began to spread as a massive light blue sphere began to envelop the area around the portal. As the barrier was enveloping the portal, Mu Jinhao looked down and saw all of the Monolith members looking at him with confusion. He instantly became enraged.

"What are you standing there like idiots for? Help me contain the explosion!"

Startled by his voice, all of the people from the Monolith immediately put their hands on the translucent shield and channeled their mana into it. Instantly the shield became sturdier.

Whilst they were doing that, the people from the Union took advantage of their distraction and made a run for it. If there was a time to escape, now was the time.

"Vice-leader!"

This obviously did not go unnoticed by the people from the Monolith as they all looked at Mu Jinhao.

"The people from the Union are leaving, what do we do?"

"Leave them be, we don't have time to look after them!"

The explosion that would come as a result of the cracked core was not something he could contain by himself. If the Union members retaliated, then things would turn out for the worst for them, and a tragedy would occur.

As the Vice-leader, Mu Jinhao couldn't allow this to happen. Thus, he chose to let them go. The members of the Monolith also understood this, therefore, although reluctant, they could only watch them leave.

"Quickly, pour more mana into it!"

"Yes."

As Mu Jinhao and the Monolith members were trying their best to contain the explosion, the members of the Union quickly ran out of the building and joined up with Amon and Monica.

"Is this all that is left?"

Staring at the members that had just returned, Monica noticed that out of the fifteen people that they had sent, only six had remained alive.

Lowering his head, a caucasian looking man with brown hair stepped forward and said.

"Yes, unfortunately, these are all the remaining survivors, everyone else died."

"...I see."

The losses were much bigger than she had expected.

"Monia what are you doing!? Is the portal ready?"

Amon shouted as he urged Monica to hurry up.

At the moment his complexion was extremely pale, and even though they were no longer under attack, his injuries looked to be worsening every second.

"On it." Staring at Amon, Monica lightly threw the orb in her hand in the air. Suddenly the portal that was in front of her stabilized completely. "Quick, I can't hold out for much longer."

As the portal opened, Monica urged everyone to get in. Because it consumed a lot of mana, Monica was not able to hold the portal for long thus why she was urging them to go. Who knew if the Monolith people would chase after them.

"Yes."

The others could also tell what Monica was thinking. Furthermore, Monica's complexion was rapidly paling, they knew that they had to hurry up to get out. Thus, each member quickly entered the portal in a hurry.

"Khuk...I'm going in."

"Mhm."

The last person to step into the portal was Amon, who limped his way into the portal. His eyes at the moment were half-closed, and he looked extremely frail. Staring at him, Monica thought that in his current state, anyone could probably beat Amon.

VUAAAAM!

Eventually, Amon also entered the portal, and silence prevailed over the surroundings.

"I guess it's my turn now."

Glancing at the portal, Monica walked towards it. However, just as she was about to enter it, her footsteps halted. Even though her mana was rapidly depleting, something was bothering her.

Looking back towards the Monolith in the distance, Monica's brows knit tightly.

"That aura..."

She couldn't quite place her finger on it, but recalling the burned-up individual responsible for breaking the core, Monica felt that he was oddly familiar.

With her special skill, Monica had the ability to be able to detect what sort of art they practiced. As such, she could tell who was who with her skill alone.

No disguise could work on her.

Therefore, ever since noticing a familiar feeling coming from the burned-up individual in the distance, Monica's mind couldn't help but wonder about the identity of the individual.

Yet, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't recall knowing anyone that was alive had a similar aura to the man from before.

"Just who is h'”'”!"

As she was thinking, It was then that Monica suddenly recalled something as her eyes shot wide open.

Abruptly turning her head and staring towards the Monolith in the distance, Monica's mouth opened slightly.

"It can't be...."

Chapter 281: Return [2]

"Haaa...haaa...khaaa!"

Slumping on the ground, I greedily breathed in the oxygen in the air. Blood dripped on the ground as I bled from all of the orifices on my face.

'Damn it, that was no joke'

An <SS> ranked individual's pressure was no joke. For a brief moment of time, I thought that I was going to die just from his stare alone.

Fortunately for me, he was too far from where I was. By the time he had arrived, I was already long gone.

Still, just the recollection of the pressure he emitted made me tremble in fear.

It was scary.

"Khh"

Groaning, I lifted my head and looked around.

"Haaa, guess things worked out."

I breathed a sigh of relief.

Once I looked up, I realized that this was the same room as before, the private portal room. Thanks to the Monolith ring that I had taken from Luther, I was able to teleport to this room.

The room was still the same as I had left it, as the portal was ready to go.

'Thank god, things worked out.'

Although I could've used this portal to create an explosion, had I done so, I wouldn't have been able to escape.

Supporting myself with the aid of the wall, I weakly stood up. Staring at the portal, my heart was surprisingly calm.

I was just one step away from freedom, something that I had been wishing for the past eight months. Yet, at the crucial moment, just when I was about to take a step towards freedom, to my surprise, rather than feeling excited or happy, I felt extremely calm.

Perhaps it was because of all of that happened during the past eight months, or because of the scare I just got, but I wasn't particularly excited about my escape.

It felt as though this was the outcome that was supposed to happen.

"hmm?"

Disrupting me out of my calm was a sudden fluctuation. The fluctuation was so strong that the ground started to shake.

"Shit, the core is about to explode."

Realizing the urgency of the situation, I decided to hurry up.

I wasn't necessarily worried about someone coming to get me since by now the others were busy trying to contain the explosion, but even then, judging from the ripple just now, the portal was about to explode any minute now.

For my own good, it was better to leave before it exploded.

"Huuu..."

Moving towards the portal, I took a deep breath. Turning back, and staring in the direction of where the general portals were, I raised my hand and flipped my middle finger.

As I did, I swore out loud.

"The explosion is only a little taste of what will come in the future you fuckers!"

For what they've done to me these pasts eight months, I swore to myself that I would do anything within my power to destroy them.

That was a promise.

Glancing in the direction of where the energy was coming from for the last time, I turned around and stepped into the portal.

Once again, a strange feeling hit me, and my body slowly disappeared.

SHUUUUA'”!

Finally, I was free.

***

At the same time.

"Damn it."

Standing in the sky, Mo Jinhao cursed out loud. His ashen grey colored eyes coldly stared at the portal in front of him. In the middle of it was a core that emitted tremendous ripples of energy that spread throughout the distance, dying the sky in the color black.

Kacha'”!

Suddenly, black lightning bolts crackled around the core, as the fluctuations started to intensify. As the fluctuations intensified, Mo Jinhao's face couldn't help but change as even he felt threatened by the energy that was being emitted by the core.

Lowering his head, he looked at Tasos next to him.

"Tasos, inject more mana."

"I'm trying."

Tasos replied back as the hue revolving around his body intensified.

Crack'”!

It was then that they both heard a subtle cracking sound coming from the core below them. The fluctuations ran even more wildly, and a thick black tangible energy began to spread outwards of the core.

Suddenly, the black tangible energy that was being emitted from the core stopped mid-air, almost as if it was frozen in time. Following this, the energy rapidly compressed together into the core before, deathly silence permeated across the surroundings.

"Brace yourselves!"

Mu Jinhao cried out as his robes fluttered widely in the air.

With both hands on the barrier in front of him, a majestic aura sprang out from his body. Following him, multiple different auras sprang up, with Tasos's energy being the most powerful of the lot.

Then, the explosion happened.

BOOOOOOOOM'”!

Like a thunderclap, a deafening sound rang out.

The land began to tremble and an incomparably vicious aura began to spread out from the core at unprecedented speeds, spreading throughout the whole barrier that was surrounding it. The energy that was spreading out from the sphere was so strong that it could've easily reduced an <S> ranked individual into powder.

"Hueeeek!

With both hands on the sphere, Mo Jinhao's face paled rapidly as the mana inside of his body quickly depleted itself. Next to him, Tasos was not doing much better as his mana was depleting at an even faster rate.

Regarding the others, nothing needed to be said as they quickly dropped like flies and spat mouthfuls of blood before fainting.

"Damn it, how fucking useless."

Staring at the scene from above, Tasos couldn't help but curse out loud. The more people fainted the bigger the burden he and Mo Jinhao bore. To make matters worse, he was already running low on mana due to the fight he had with Amon.

This was the worst-case scenario.

Crack'”!

Suddenly, Tasos heard a slight cracking sound coming from the barrier. A horrified look appeared on his face as he looked at Mo Jinhao.

Staring back at him, Mo Jinhao's face became extremely grave.

Crack'”!

Another cracking sound rang out. Following this, more and more cracks started to appear on the surface of the barrier.

"Shit!"

Tasos cursed as blood started to flow down from his nostrils. Turning towards Mo Jinhao, he cried out.

"Vice-Leader, what should we do? At this rate, the barrier won't hold out for long!"

"...I know."

Solemnly staring at the cracking barrier, seemingly having come up with a decision, much to Tasos's surprise, Mo Jinhao suddenly closed his eyes.

A gloomy expression flashed across his eyes.

"To think that I would have to resort to this."

Mo Jinhao inhaled deeply.

Opening his eyes, and raising both hands, terrifying energy suddenly erupted from his body, completely dying the sky in the color red. Then, clenching his fists, the red glow contracted rapidly until a large red staff appeared in his hand.

OMMM'”!

Raising the staff in the air, he lightly tapped it in the air. It was a seemingly simple tap, yet, the moment he tapped with the staff in the air, the space around it started to collapse as a red glow enveloped the barrier surrounding the portal, before contracting fully creating another barrier.

Once the new barrier formed, the previous barrier completely broke apart, and the remaining energy from the explosion flushed towards the red barrier.

Fortunately, with the previous barrier managing to absorb a lot of the energy from the explosion, the red barrier was able to withstand the impact.

Observing from the sky like an immortal, Mo Jinhao suddenly clenched his hand and shouted.

"Contract."

His eternal voice spread towards the surroundings, and the red barrier rapidly contracted. Sweat dripped down from the side of his face, as his face distorted rapidly.

Within seconds, the barrier contracted until it was the size of a football. Inside of it, terrifying energy fluctuated.

"Come."

Waving his hand, the football-sized barrier quickly arrived before Mo Jinhao. Waving his staff, the small ball quickly flew into the sky up above. Staring at the ball in the sky, blood started dripping from Mo Jinhao's eyes as his complexion paled significantly.

'”Spurt!

Suddenly, he spat out a mouthful of blood startling everyone near him.

"Vice-Leader!"

"Don't come..."

Just as the others were about to approach him to make sure he was okay, Mo Jinhao raised his hand to block them.

"I'm f'”Huaak!!"

Spitting another mouthful of blood, Mo Jinhao weakly raised his head in the air. Once he could no longer see the ball in the sky, he softly mumbled.

"Release."

BOOOOOOOOM'”!

Following his words, another terrifying explosion rang out. Clouds and wind surged as the explosion occurred, completely enveloping the sky in flames. The ground trembled uncontrollably, and staring at the scene from below, it felt as though the entire world was about to end.

It looked like the apocalypse had descended.

This continued for the next ten minutes before the sky cleared up, and once again the warm sunlight came pouring down.

Gazing at the sky from below, no one spoke as absolute silence enveloped the surroundings.

"D-id we do it?"

The first one to break the silence was Tasos who stared at the sky with utter disbelief.

A cold chill passed his spine as she recalled the explosion that had just occurred. The energy that came from it made him tremble in fear. It was so powerful.

'”Spurt!

Startling Tasos out of his daze was the sound of blood splurting on the ground. Turning around, he shouted.

"Vice-leader."

Instantly, he appeared next to Mo Jinhao and supported him with his body. Accepting Tasos's help, Mo Jinhao looked extremely frail, as it looked as though he had aged several years.

"Vice-leader, are you okay? Is everything alright?"

"I'm...cough...cough...fine."

Weakly replied Mo Jinhao as he descended towards the ground with Tasos.

Upon landing on the ground, Tasos offered Mo Jinhao to sit down, but he promptly rejected. Turning around and staring at the scene, Mo Jinhao looked at Tasos and ordered.

"Tasos, I want you to ask someone to report to me the losses that we've incurred from this ordeal, and..." Pausing, Mo Jinhao's face twisted savagely. "I want you to tell me who the one responsible for this is!"

Even though Mo Jinhao was extremely weakened, and severely injured, as he spat those words, Tasos and the people around him couldn't help but tremble slightly.

"U-understood"

Instantly, everyone got to work and started roaming around the Monolith to get an approximate idea of what had happened. They also checked the cameras and surveillance system to get a better idea of what happened.

The members of the Monolith were efficient.

Within half an hour, they had already managed to calculate the losses they incurred as well as found out the identity of the individual responsible for the tragedy.

Approaching Mo Jinhao and Tasos, was a tall middle-aged man. Although he was much weaker than the likes of them, he had the aura of an <S> rank.

Stopping before them, he politely bowed and handed them a report.

"Sir, we have completed the reports."

"Thank you."

Taking the report from the individual's hands, Mo Jinhao's cold eyes swept through the reports. As he was reading, the individual that handed him the reports started speaking.

"Sir, the losses are heavy. Almost half of the building is destroyed, and we've lost a major part of our force. The estimated damage is around 10 billion U."

Listening to the individual speaking whilst looking through the file, Mo Jinhao asked.

"What's the approximate loss of our force?"

"Eight S ranks, twenty-five A ranks, and over a hundred B ranks and below."

"I see..."

Silence swept the area. After a while, Mo Jinhao's face stopped towards a certain file. Glancing at the individual, he asked.

"876? Tell me more about him."

Lightly glancing at the paper, swallowing a mouthful of saliva, the middle-aged man carefully said.

"He's the one responsible for the explosion."

"Hm?" Putting the papers down, a terrifying pressure suddenly enveloped the surroundings. Glaring at the individual, Mo Jinhao coldly spoke,"...So you're saying that the person responsible for all of this is a product of one of our experiments?"

Under Mo Jinhao's terrifying pressure, the individual could barely breathe. However, mustering every last ounce of his strength, he weakly nodded his head.

"Y-yes"

"I see."

Kracka'”!

The pressure suddenly disappeared. Waving his hand, the sound of bones breaking rang out, as a body crashed towards a wall in the distance.

Crumbling the paper that contained the information regarding 876 in his hands, Mo Jinhao muttered underneath his breath.

"876...876...I will make sure you pay for what you've done. No matter where you are, I'll make sure to spare nothing to hunt you down!"

Every one of his words contained unimaginable amounts of hatred.

***

Darkness.

For an unknown period of time, only darkness enveloped my vision. I couldn't hear, feel, taste, nothing.

Like a pebble drifting in the endless void, my existence felt insignificant.

Thankfully, this seemingly endless darkness did not go on forever as it slowly started receding. All my senses soon returned to me, as my mind cleared up.

"khh.."

A groan escaped from my lips.

Opening my eyes, the first thing I saw was a clear blue sky. The warm sunlight coming from the sun gently enveloped my body as I weakly sat up.

"Cough...cough..."

Coughing weakly, I took out a couple of potions from my bag. Without wasting any second, I quickly downed them. Instantly, all of my wounds started to heal. Including the burns.

"Where am I?"

Once I was done taking the potions, lifting my head up, I looked towards my surroundings. To my surprise, I found out that I was in the middle of a vast plain.

With sparse trees in the distance and mountains in the background of the scenery, it finally dawned on me that I was no longer in the Monolith.

"Khuk."

Biting my lips, my body trembled slightly. The side of my cheeks became warm, as small droplets began falling towards my hands.

"I-m free..."

I hoarsely muttered.

Breathing in the fresh air, and realizing that I was no longer inside of that hell hole, for the next ten minutes, I just blankly stared at the scenery in front of me, trying my best to engrave it into my mind.

For the first time in a long time, I felt that the world truly looked beautiful.

"Huuuu."

Exhaling out loud, and wiping the side of my eyes, I tapped on my bracelet and took out my phone.

Turning on the phone and scrolling through my contacts, I suddenly caught a glimpse of my reflection.

"Is this how I look now?"

Touching my face, the only word that came to my mind was 'hideous'.

Although my burns were slowly healing, they were still there, and even then, the scars on my face did nothing to help me rebuke that thought. Clenching my fists, I lowered my head and muttered.

"I can't let the others see me like this."

For sure the others would probably not mind my current appearance, but I minded. I didn't want them to see the state that I was in. Especially Nola.

She couldn't.

Thus, after a while, I pressed on a certain contact and called them. As I called the number, I made sure to call using an untraceable line.

'”Hello?

Soon, a familiar voice rang inside of my ears.

"Ah..."

Opening my mouth, for the first few seconds, no words came out of my mouth as the only thing that came out from my mouth was a strained noise.

Opening my mouth again, I tried to speak, but once again, no words came out. It felt as though a lump was stuck inside of my mouth preventing me from speaking.

'”Hello? Who is this?

Not hearing a response, the person on the other side of the phone started to get annoyed.

'”If you don't answer, I'm going to hang up.

'No,no,no, don't hang up.'

Were the words that I wanted to say, but yet again, no voice escaped from my mouth.

'”Alright, since you're not talking, I'm hanging up.

Seeing that Smallsnake was about to hang up, swallowing a mouthful of saliva, and calming myself down, I finally spoke up.

This time, words finally escaped from my lips.

"Hey, Smallsnake....it's me."

Chapter 282: Return [3]

March 20th.

At the beginning of spring.

—Beeep! —Beeep!

A rhythmical beeping noise echoed inside of a white room.

Inside of the white room was a small bed where a beautiful girl with long orange hair lay.

Her breathing was faint, and if not for the cardiac event monitor next to her, someone could've mistaken her for a dead person.

"hmmm."

After a while, the girl's eyelids twitched slightly.

Before long, opening her eyes, the girl blinked a couple of times, as she wondered, 'Where am I? What's going on?'

Lifting her head up, the girl's eyes darted all over the room. Finally, she realized that she was in a hospital room.

—Clank!

It was then that the door opened and a nurse came in. Holding onto a trolley filled with equipment, the nurse calmly pushed it towards the side of the room.

Taking out a sack filled with some unknown transparent liquid, the nurse walked towards the bed.

"——!"

However, once she turned around, she suddenly became startled. That was because the patient that she was supposed to tend had woken up and was looking directly at her.

Calming down quickly, the nurse put her right hand on her chest and rushed by her patient's side.

"My god, you've startled me, are you feeling okay?"

"Mhm," Monica absentmindedly nodded her head, before asking."Where exactly am I?"

"You're in the Union medical department."

The nurse replied as she checked the IV saline that was attached to Monica's arm.

The main headquarters of the Union was quite big, about the same size as the Monolith's one.

Aside from having all the best training facilities in the world, they also had their own medical department that could treat injured Heroes. That was where Monica was currently at.

"I see...ah!"

It was then that Monica suddenly started remembering what had transpired before. From the betrayal of Tasos, to Mo Jinhao's appearance, and the destruction of the core. She slowly started remembering everything.

"I have to make an urgent report!"

Monica suddenly sat up straight, startling the nurse once again.

"What's going on?"

"I have something to report to the higher-ups. It's really important!"

The fact that Tasos had betrayed the Union was a serious matter that she had to relay to the others. He was after all one of the seven heads of the Union.

"Don't worry Monica, everyone already knows."

Right before Monica was about to rush out of her bed, a melodious voice suddenly entered Monica's ears. Following this, two breathtakingly beautiful women entered the room. One with green hair, and the other with black hair and amethysts colored-eyes.

"Donna! Amber!"

Monica widened her eyes in surprise.

In response, Donna smiled as she and Amber sat next to her.

<script>ChapterMid();</script>

"Looks like you've somewhat recovered."

Moving her arm around, Monica replied.

"My body is still quite sore though."

"All that matters is that you're fine."

"Hee, let's see for how long that is. Given how energetic she is, I wouldn't be surprised if one of her injuries suddenly relapsed."

Amber chimed in, laughing merrily.

"Tsk, what are you trying to imply?"

"Nothing, nothing."

Amber covered her mouth as she avoided Monica's glare. Smiling by the side, Donna suddenly looked at Amber and reminded her.

"Amber, let's tell her the news first."

"Ah, right."

Being reminded by Donna, Amber's face turned serious. Turning her head and looking at Monica, she seriously said.

"We've already been informed about Tasos's betrayal. The higher-ups are currently holding a meeting right now regarding the situation. This is what they told us to tell you."

"I see."

Lowering her head, Monica clenched her fists tightly. After a while, lifting her head up and looking at both Donna and Amber, she asked.

"What about the others, how are they doing?"

"The others? You mean the people that you went with?"

Amber questioned.

"...Yes."

Turning her head, Amber looked at Donna who was currently frowning. After a while, looking back at Amber, Donna nodded her head.

"It's alright, you can tell her."

Nodding back, Amber continued.

"Regarding the people that you went with, there was a total loss of 10 members, with only five making it back, Amon included. His conditions are quite critical as he's currently in a coma with no way of knowing when he'll wake up."

"Ah..."

Listening to Amber's words, Monica clenched on the bedsheets below her, wrinkling them slightly.

Although she knew that she was not to be blamed, a little part of her felt guilty. Guilty for being unable to realize that Tasos was one of the people working for the Monolith.

"That aside Monica, how did you escape?"

Noticing Monica's mood, Donna decided to change the topic. Amber who was next to her, also showed signs of interest as she leaned in slightly.

Although they were Heroes, they weren't actually working for the Union. As such, they didn't know the full details of what had happened. All they knew was who had gotten injured and that the mission had failed.

Lifting her head up, Monica looked at both Donna and Amber. After a brief moment of silence, Monica opened her mouth.

"We managed to escape because someone helped us."

"Somone helped you?"

Donna asked in surprise. Amber too was surprised as she couldn't help but ask.

"Who helped you?"

"..."

Biting her lips, Monica didn't respond immediately.

"Monica?"

Her behavior caught the attention of both Donna and Amber. Having known her for a long time, they knew that whenever she bit her lips, it meant that she knew something.

"Is it perhaps something that you can't tell us?"

Donna carefully asked.

With Monica being an elite member of the Union, she knew full well that some information could not be mentioned by her. If it was that, then Donna would be respectful enough to not pursue the matter any further.

However, contrary to her expectations, Monica shook her head.

"No, it's nothing of the sort...it's just that it's too unbelievable."

"Unbelievable?"

"Mhm." Monica quietly nodded her head. "...Even now, I'm not sure if what I saw was correct."

At Monica's enigmatic words, Donna frowned.

"Are you referring to the identity of the person who helped you?"

"Yes."

"Was it someone you knew?"

Closing her eyes, Monica suddenly raised her hand startling both Donna and Amber. Soon, a small orange hue enveloped her hand.

"Monica?"

"What are you doing Monica?"

Ignoring the two of them, a small transparent barrier enveloped the tree of them. Staring at the barrier, Donna instantly realized what Monica was doing.

"A sound barrier?"

"Mhm."

"Is the information that sensitive?"

Amber solemnly asked.

"It is..."

Monica nodded her head slightly, before looking at the two of them with an incomparably solemn expression.

Although she wasn't exactly sure about what she saw since she was quite far, her hunch told her that what she saw wasn't wrong. Furthermore, she trusted Donna and Amber enough with what she was about to say.

Once the barrier fully enveloped them, Donna asked.

"Monica, can you tell us exactly what is going on?"

Taking a deep breath, Monica looked at both of them in the eyes before saying.

"It's someone that we all know."

"Who?...are you referring to the person that saved you?"

"Yeah."

Monica suddenly nodded her head. Furrowing her brows, Amber asked.

"Who is it?"

Monica's enigmatic behavior had really started arousing her curiosity.

Pursing her lips, Monica glanced at both Donna for a couple of seconds before opening her mouth.

"It was Ren."

Following her words, a deep silence shrouded the area. The first one to speak was Amber who was then immediately cut off by Donna who stood up in shock.

"Who is Re—!"

"What!?"

Donna cried out loud. Staring at Monica, her voice raised.

"Impossible! You must've seen it wrongly. There's just no way. Impossible!"

Donna was in denial.

She could clearly remember seeing Ren get engulfed by the flames. Simply put, there was no way for him to escape.

It was impossible.

Yet, staring at Monica's eyes and seeing how serious they were, she knew that she wasn't joking.

After a while, calming down and swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Donna carefully asked.

"Monica, are you sure about what you're saying?"

Lifting her head and staring at Donna's amethyst-colored eyes, Monica nodded her head.

"I'm positive...I could tell from my power. The person who helped us was Ren."

"...ah"

Slumping back on the bed, Donna let out a small sound. At the moment it felt as though her whole body had lost all of its strength, as held her head with both hands.

"B-but how? You clearly saw how he died. How did he survive?"

"I want to know that too."

"Ehmm...guys."

Disrupting the duo was Amber. With a confused look, she asked.

"Who is Ren again?"

At her question, Monica and Donna looked at each other before coming to a sudden realization.

Aside from the two of them, Amber had only met Ren once. She obviously did not know who they were talking about.

Turning her head towards Amber, Monica thought for a moment before asking.

"You know the student you've met in the auction?"

"...yes." Squinting, Amber slowly nodded her head."Isn't he supposed to be dead? Why are you mentioning...wait, don't tell me?"

Amber's eyes suddenly opened widely. Staring at her. Monica silently replied.

"That's right, he is Ren."

"Wait what!?"

This time it was Amber's turn to be startled, as a look of disbelief appeared on her face.

"Are you saying that your student is still alive, and is also the person who saved you to boot?"

This honestly sounded ridiculous to Amber. From what she remembered, that student's aura was quite weak. Nowhere near <A> or <S> rank.

How could he have possibly have helped them when he was so weak? She couldn't understand. Furthermore, she had also seen his death live on television.

Quite frankly, although she could've survived the explosion, she didn't believe that she would've been able to do it without getting seriously injured.

For someone whose rank was around <E> to have been able to do it, Amber was quite skeptical.

Turning towards Monica, she asked.

"Did you get a clear look at him? How did he look like?"

"...err"

At Amber's question, Monica's face turned a bit strange.

"What's up with your face? You didn't?"

Waving her hand, Monica shook her head.

"No, no, I saw."

"Then what is the problem?"

Scratching the side of her nose, Monica hesitated for a bit before replying.

"Although I know that he was Ren, he didn't look like Ren."

This time it was Donna's turn to become confused as she asked.

"He didn't look like Ren? Then what did he look like?"

"How should I say..." Crossing her legs on the bed, Monica mused for a moment before replying. "His face was completely burned he had no hair, and he had the same colored eyes as Ren."

"Burned? No hair? Blue eyes?"

Listening to Monica's words, a few words suddenly caught Donna and Amber's attention as they looked at each other.

Their faces suddenly became inexplicably serious, as Donna asked.

"Did you notice anything else about him? Like were there any scars on his face?"

"Scars?" Monica frowned. "...mhh, now that you've mentioned, there could've been, but his face was quite burnt and he was quite far, so it's possible? He's also bald if I don't remember incorrectly."

"Oh, god."

Amber suddenly muttered out loud.

Next to her, Donna's brows furrowed tightly as she hastily took out her phone.

Reading the mood of the room, Monica's face became serious.

"Hey, what's up with you two? Is there something wrong with what I said?"

Rather than answering, Amber looked at Donna who kept scrolling through her phone. After a while, looking at Monica, Donna flipped her phone and asked.

"Does he perhaps look like this?"

"hm?"

Moving her head back, Monica squinted her eyes and looked at Donna's phone. Upon getting a better look at the phone, Monica was able to see a picture of a person with burn marks and scars all over his face.

Staring at the picture, Monica was instantly able to recognize him as she excitedly said.

"Yes! Yes! That's it! It's him! That's Ren"

"Monica."

Donna cut in, clearly showing signs of discomfort.

"What?"

"Rather than just tell you, it's better to just show you."

Tapping on the picture on her phone, the picture shrank and an article appeared. The moment Monica took the phone and read the article, her eyes dilated and her face paled.

"What!?"

***

VRRRRR—!

Laying back on a tree, I could faintly hear the sound of a car engine roaring in the distance. Before long, a massive black vehicle appeared in the vast plain I was in.

Soon the car stopped, and rushing out of it was Smallsnake who cried out.

"Ren!"

As I watched his lanky figure run in my direction, the edges of my lips curved upwards as I couldn't help but think.

'The name stick-like human really does fit him.'

From where I was, he really looked like a stick. Had to give it to Angelica, she was spot on with this nickname.

"Ren!" Running through the field, Smallsnake called out for me before stopping a few meters away from where I was. "Ren, is that really you?"

Smiling, I waved my hand,

"Been a while Smallsnake."

"It's really you!" Smallsnake cried out in relief. "Where have you been? We've been looking for you, all over the place. We've tried searching for you through a face scan and everything. No matter where we looked we couldn't find you."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah."

Exhaling, with the support of the tree behind me, I stood up and moved towards the car in the distance.

"Haa, well, it's a long story."

"A long story?"

"Yeah, it's one I don't really want to recall."

The memories of my experience at the Monolith weren't something that I wanted to recall. Those were some of the darkest days of my life.

"I see..."

Understanding my words, Smallsnake didn't ask anymore.

Following me from behind, Smallsnake hesitated before suddenly asking about something else.

"By the way, what happened to your face?"

Fully expecting Smallsnake's question, I entered the car and sat on the rear seats of the car before half-heartedly replying.

"Nothing much, I was just trying to boost my fire resistance."

"Hu?"

Taken aback by my answer, Smallsnake raised his head and looked at me from the rearview mirror.

"Fire resistance? What are you talking about?"

"I'm just messing with you, drive the car, I'll explain more later."

Smiling, I waved my hand and urged him to start the car.

For now, all I wanted was to rest.

Chapter 283: Forsaken [1]

Screeech—!

Pressing on the brakes of the car, the car stopped and a familiar building appeared in the distance.

"Alright, we're here."

Twisting the keys of the car, Smallsnake hopped off the car.

"Huaam"

Yawning out loud and stretching my arms, I opened the door of the car and got off as well. Then, turning my head I looked towards the familiar building in the distance.

"It's been a while..."

I muttered underneath my breath.

Eight months.

Perhaps it was even longer, but I couldn't remember anymore. All of my recent memories have made everything around me feel unfamiliar.

It was an odd sensation.

Similar to when I had just reincarnated into this world.

"Follow me, a lot of things have changed since you left."

"Changed?"

Twirling the car keys on his index finger, Smallsnake locked the car and made his way towards the warehouse in the distance.

"Mhm, rather than telling you it's better if I show you."

"...okay"

Following Smallsnake from behind, we soon arrived before the entrance of the warehouse. Stopping before the entrance, turning my head towards Smallsnake, I asked.

"By the way, how are the others doing?"

Been a while since I last saw them. Did they improve whilst I was gone?

Unlocking the doors of the warehouse, Smallsnake casually replied.

"Everyone is doing fine. Not much really happened during your absence."

"That so?...Then did you manage to recruit her?"

Halting mid-key turn, Smallsnake raised his brow and looked at me.

"Are you referring to the one you told me to recruit before abruptly disappearing?"

Awkwardly scratching my nose, I replied.

"...yeah."

"If your talking about that Ava girl, she's agreed to join."

"Really?"

A surprised look appeared on my face.

Last I remembered, during the tournament, she contacted me regarding my previous offer. From there I put her in contact with Smallsnake. Who would've thought that she had agreed to join despite my absence?

"Is she in?"

I asked whilst pointing at the warehouse. In turn, Smallsnake shook his head and unlocked the door.

"No, she's at the Lock."

"Right. I forgot about that."

She was still a student, so she couldn't technically be here full time. Just like me before.

"Alright, follow me in."

"You do know that I've been here before, right?"

Rolling my eyes, I followed Smallsnake in.

Entering the warehouse with Smallsnake, once we walked past the entrance of the warehouse, arriving before a certain room, I spotted a woman with two horns on her head sitting crossed-legged in the middle of the room.

Angelica.

I could feel powerful demonic energy emanating from her body. The aura on her body was much stronger compared to when I had last seen her. I suspected that she had broken through <B> to <B+> rank. She was now a fullfledged Viscount ranked demon.

Staring at her, I walked up to her.

Angelica suddenly opened her mouth.

"You're here, human. Took you a while."

"Things happened."

I shrugged. Then, looking at her, I asked.

"You've been doing well I presume?"

"...mhm."

Along with a casual nod, the demonic energy that was lingering in the air shrunk rapidly and entered her body. Standing up, she scanned me from top to bottom.

"What happened to your face?"

She questioned with an odd look on her face.

"Always straight to the point."

At her question, a helpless sigh escaped from my mouth.

Before even greeting me properly, she already jumped straight to what happened to my face. Talk about straightforward.

"Well—"

"Hmm..this energy?"

However, right as I was about to respond, her brows suddenly knit. Lifting her head, a shocked expression appeared on her face.

"Your rank..."

"Finally noticed?"

A smile appeared on my face.

Was hoping she'd notice.

Since I wasn't suppressing my rank, it was easy for her to tell that my rank was currently at <D+> borderline <C->.

"You are one interesting human."

"...Come again?"

What kind of statement was that?

"Throughout my life, I have seen many humans, I've even contracted with some..."

Pausing, a meaningful glare appeared on her face. Turning my head, I scratched the side of my nose.

Almost forgot about the fact that I had killed one of the people she had contracted with.

"...and out of all the humans that I had seen, you're the first one that has truly shocked me. Your talent is quite frightening."

"That so."

Being complimented by Angelica, I rubbed my nose slightly.

Glad she knows.

"Ren."

Smallsnake called out from behind.

Turning my head, I found a middle-aged man standing next to him. I was able to instantly recognize him.

"Leopold."

"Hmmm..."

With his hand on his chin, Leopold's brows knit.

"Is there something wrong?"

I asked in confusion.

Suddenly, raising his thumb up, Leopold repeatedly nodded his head.

"Boss, I like your makeover. Very badass!"

"..."

My mouth twitched.

"Oh god."

Standing by next to him, Smallsnake covered his face. From how unsurprised he was, it looked as though he had somewhat expected this.

"Mhm, I'm digging the scar and that bald look. Very nice."

"...haha, thanks."

I replied with a forced laugh.

From how serious his face was, I wondered if he was joking or being serious. Was slowly starting to regret my decision in bringing him in.

"By the way Smallsnake, where is Ryan?"

So far there were Smallsnake, Angelica, and Leopold in the room. There should still be Ryan.

"Ryan?"

At the mention of Ryan's name, Smallsnake's eyelids twitched slightly.

This did not go unnoticed to me as my eyes squinted.

"Is he not here?"

"No, no, he's here, it's just that..."

"Just that?"

Scratching the side of his neck, a helpless expression appeared on Smallsnake's face. Then, he suddenly sighed before turning around.

"Rather than telling you, it's better if you look for yourself. Follow me."

"...okay?"

Though I found the situation odd, I decided to follow Smallsnake from behind. Walking through the warehouse, we soon stopped in front of another room.

Halting his steps in front of the room, Smallsnake put his hand on the doorknob and twisted it lightly.

"What the."

Upon twisting the knob and opening the door, the first thing I saw was an endless amount of monitors attached to the side of the wall. Below them was a massive black wooden desk.

"This isn't it...no, not this one...nope."

Sitting on a large leather chair that was twice his size, was Ryan whose eyes darted all over the monitors like a maniac.

Entering the room, Smallsnake had an annoyed look on his face as he walked up to Ryan and removed the headset that was resting on his head.

"Maybe this one could—ah?!"

"Ryan, how many times do I have to tell you that you to take a break? Your eyes need to rest!"

Smallsnake reprimanded.

"S-smallsnake, what are you doing here?"

"Can't I be here?"

"No, no, no, you can, you can..."

A horrified look appeared on Ryan's face as he replied to Smallsnake.

"You see...I was in the middle of something im—"

"What does that matter? You want me to tell your mother about how much time you're spending on the computer?"

"No, no that. Anything but that."

Looking at the duo, an amused smile appeared on my face as I thought. 'Looks like Smallsnake has fully adapted to his babysitter role.'

Ever since returning to this place, Smallsnake's role as a babysitter became more and more apparent to me. From how he redecorated the whole facility, to how he handled Leopold.

Smallsnake truly became a dependable person.

"Pushov..keumm, keumm, I mean Smallsnake, it's okay, leave Ryan alone."

For a second, my tongue almost slipped.

"Boss!"

Turning his head, and spotting me, Ryan called out in excitement as he rushed towards me.

"hmmm?"

An odd look appeared on my face. Pointing at myself, I asked.

"Do you recognize me?"

"Of course I do."

Ryan replied without any hesitation causing me to be even more confused.

"But didn't you see me only once before?"

"That's right."

"...so how were you able to identify me?"

I curiously asked. Other than the time I rescued him from his mom, this was the second time I was meeting him. For him to have been able to recognize me this quickly despite the current state of my face, I was quite perplexed.

Blinking his eyes a couple of times, Ryan innocently tilted his head. Then, opening his mouth, he started speaking extremely fast.

"The color of your eyes, your physique, your voice, and the fact that Smallsnake brought you here. With his personality, there's no way he'd bring a stranger here. If you add all those factors together, it wouldn't be strange for me to come up with such a conclusion...oh, and what happened to your face?"

"I see."

Taken aback by how fast he was speaking, I nodded my head slightly. Either way, I pretty much got the gist of what he was saying.

If he put it like that, then it made sense.

Well, not that anyone else could've done it since they wouldn't have been able to memorize so many things at once.

Ryan was the only exception.

Once he finished speaking, Ryan's innocent eyes looked towards me as he asked.

"So what brings you here boss? Are you here to just greet me?"

"Ah right, thanks for reminding me."

Moving towards a gray sofa by the side of the room, I sat down. Propping my elbow on the armrest of the sofa, and resting my cheek on my arm, I opened my mouth.

"Ryan, I need your help with something."

"My help?"

"Mhm, it's a pretty big task, and even if you can't do it, I won't hold it against you."

What I was about to ask of him was going to be a difficult task. With him only being thirteen years old, there was a chance that his skills weren't developed enough to help me.

Patting his chest, Ryan confidently exclaimed.

"Don't worry boss, I'll make sure to complete it."

Listening to Ryan's words, a gratified smile appeared on my face. Then, pointing towards my head, I looked at Ryan and said.

"I want you to hack the chip that is stuck inside of my head."

"Hu? A chip?"

Listening to the side, a confused look appeared on Smallsnake's face.

"Ren, what are you talking about?"

Lightly glancing at Smallsnake, I casually shrugged my shoulders before giving them a brief recount of what had happened in the Monolith. Although I omitted a few things, I pretty much told them about the experiments and how a chip was installed inside of my brain.

"...such thing happened. I'm sorry, I didn't know."

Listening to the story, Smallsnake's face became gloomy.

The Monolith wasn't just a sensitive topic for me. It was also one for Smallsnake who was also forced to be a fugitive because of them.

Clenching his fists, Smallsnake lowered his head.

"I'm sorry, even though you spent so much money on us, we were completely useless when you were suffering so much."

"It's okay."

Seeing the state Smallsnake was in, the edges of my lips curved upwards. Patting my body, I reassured.

"I'm free, aren't I? Isn't that all that matters? The past is the past, now let's focus on the future and make it so a similar situation never happens again, okay?"

"Okay."

"Good."

After consoling Smallsnake, I turned my head towards Ryan's direction.

"So, Ryan? About the thing that I just asked, can you do it?"

Sitting back on his chair, Ryan's brows were tightly furrowed together. After a while, looking back at me he nodded his head.

"I can try..."

A smile appeared on my face.

"That's all I'm asking for."

At the moment, Ryan was the best bet I had for helping me with the chip problem.

Having destroyed a major part of the Monolith, I wasn't necessarily worried about them getting the chip tracking device functioning fast, but it was better to get it solved as soon as possible, given the fact that by now I should be one of the most wanted people by them.

"Okay, let me see what I can do."

Twisting the chair around, Ryan's finger danced all over the keyboard, as the sound of keys being clicked rang out in the room.

Ta.Ta.Ta.

"Hmmm..."

Frowning, Ryan's eyes darted all over the monitor screens in front of him. Staring at the codes in front of him, Ryan started asking questions.

"So, boss, what do you want me to do? Do you want me to directly disable the chip?"

I patiently responded to all of his questions.

"No, I want you to disable the tracking function."

The chip was quite useful to me. If possible, I didn't want to disable it. Apart from the improvement in my analytical abilities, the chip also helped me during fights.

For it to be disabled, I felt that it was a waste.

"So you just want me to disable the tracking function?...Okay, that doesn't sound too hard."

Ta.Ta.Ta.

Plucking his lips together, Ryan's fingers moved across the keyboard at lightning-fast speeds. Many different codes and numbers appeared in the monitors in front of him as Ryan's brows progressively knit with every passing minute.

This continued for ten more minutes before he suddenly let out a strange sound.

"Eh...?"

"What's going on, you found something?"

Sitting up straight, I worriedly asked.

"Hold on."

Ryan's eyes darted all over the monitor screens. Scratching the side of his head, Ryan repeatedly tilted his head from left to right, as the frown on his face deepened.

After a while, Ryan bit his lips. Turning his head, he looked towards me and apologized.

"I'm sorry, but it looks like I can't do it."

My heart sank.

"What's wrong? Why can't you do it?"

Instead of answering me, Ryan asked a question.

"Boss, you know how GPS trackers work, right?"

"GPS trackers?"

"Mhm, yeah. Do you?"

Pondering, I carefully replied.

"Sort of, ehmmm, from what I remember, GPS trackers use multiple satellites to determine the location of the device connected to it, or something along those lines."

"Mhm, sounds about right."

"So what's the problem?"

I wondered.

Looking up at the ceiling, Ryan thought for a bit before replying.

"...The problem is that the chip inside of your head is not connected to any satellite."

"Not connected to any satellite? Then how does it track me?"

"..."

A brief moment of silence ensued.

Tapping on the table, Ryan once again looked at the monitors in front of him, before replying.

"Mhm, I'm not entirely sure. But from what I've gathered through entering the database of the chip, there seems to be a special artifact installed? Material? Chrystal? Can't really tell. Either way, somehow, thanks to that, they are able to track you."

"Then, what do I do? Can I disable the chip in my head?"

Ryan shook his head.

"Unfortunately that is also not possible?"

"What? Why?"

"That's because the chip in your head has a self-destruction function. If you try to remove it, or I directly hack it, it'll automatically detonate."

"Ah..."

Listening to Ryan speak, my mind blanked.

If I couldn't remove the chip that I was inside of my head, then what was I supposed to do? Let the Monolith hunt me down?

Just as I was despairing over my situation, Ryan once again called out for me.

"...boss, actually, not all hope is lost."

Lifting my head, I asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well...you see, the only reason why I can't help you right now is because my skills are inadequate. If you give me time, I can do it."

"Time? How much time do you need?"

"From one month to a couple of years. I don't know."

"...is that so."

That was so too long. By the time he was skilled enough, I would have long been killed by the Monolith.

"Then what do I—"

"Wait, what's going on?"

Cutting me off was Ryan who suddenly turned around and looked towards his monitors.

"What happened?"

I asked in confusion.

"Look"

Nudging me with his head, Ryan pointed towards his monitors. Looking up, I saw that half of them had the same channel turned on.

"An emergency broadcast?"

"Looks like it."

Ryan turned the volume up.

[Breaking news — We're coming at you live with an emergency broadcast that will be shared throughout every television screen in the human domain. We're here to relay to you an important piece of information...]

Suddenly the screen split in half, on one side was the hostess and on the other were multiple images of an individual with a face riddled with scars.

"What the."

Staring at the image on the screen, my body froze and my pupils shrank. Ryan who was next to me opened his mouth widely.

[A bounty of over ten billion U has been set on this person. Said person is extremely dangerous and has been deemed by the Union as the number one most wanted person in the human domain. If anyone finds out information regarding the said individual, please contact XXX-XXXX-XXX.]

Crack—!

Unbeknownst to me, the armrest of the sofa next to me broke apart. I was clenching my fists so tightly that blood started seeping down towards the ground.

Dully staring at the monitor screen for a couple of seconds, my body started to tremble.

"Hey, Ren are you okay?"

Approaching me was Smallsnake. He too had seen the news as he was in the same room throughout the whole discussion I had with Ryan.

"kh..."

Lifting my head up, I suddenly flew into a fit of mad laughter.

"Hahahahah, I see, I see...so this is how you want to repay me...I see, hahahahah"

Though I was laughing, an unimaginable amount of rage was masked inside of that laugh. Smallsnake and Ryan who were next to me visibly shivered at the sound of my laugh.

But I didn't care.

That was because the Union had just sold me out.

Chapter 284: Forsaken [2]

[Union headquarters, 120th floor]

Inside a dimly lit room, five of the seven heads of the Union sat on a large round table.

Being some of the most powerful people in the human domain, they were individuals whose decisions could decide the lives of millions. As a result, multiple oppressive auras enveloped the room.

Anyone below <S> rank would simply faint under this pressure.

"I presume you all know why we're meeting right?"

A tall robust man with dirt blond hair spoke up. Just his casual words caused the air around him to crackle as thin lightning bolts revolved around his body.

He was Maximus von Dexteroi, third in the Hero ranking, and one of the seven heads of the Union.

"Hmm, It'd be strange if we didn't. Especially after that rat's betrayal."

A snaked-eyed person replied. He was seventh in the Hero ranking, Ceasar Kuliner.

An extremely famous Hero that was renowned for his dagger techniques that could mutilate opponents with a single look.

"Who would've thought that Tasos was a traitor."

"...Mhm, I guess looks can be deceiving."

Two melodious voices rang inside of the room.

The voices belong to Julia Romantica and Daphne Lawrence, respectively second and ninth in the hero rankings.

Adorned in jewelry and piercings, Daphne was a black woman. As one would expect, she had a wild beauty to her that would make any man grovel at her feet.

On the other hand, sitting next to her was Julia who in contrast to her was tall slim white beauty with white hair and blue eyes. Most frightening about her was her power, as she was only one rank behind the number one spot.

"Quiet, the meeting is about to start."

A soft voice suddenly enveloped the whole room. The moment the voice spoke, everyone subconsciously stopped speaking.

That was because the person who had just spoken was the number one ranked hero in the human domain, 'The sovereign', Octavious Hall.

The most powerful human in existence.

With brown hair and languid eyes that seemed to be devoid of any emotion, an aura of oppression and destruction exuded from his body. Completely suppressing the other auras in the room.

The power radiating from his body was so strong, that with every breath he took, tangible mana appeared in the air.

Closing his eyes, Octavious suddenly waved his hand.

"Let's begin."

The moment he waved his hand, the space in front of him tore apart and a small black void appeared out of thin air.

"Thank you for having me."

An ethereal voice suddenly rang inside of the room.

Not long after, a silhouette stepped out of the void. With ruby-red eyes that glistened underneath the lights of the room, long-cascading black hair, and fair skin, a male figure leisurely walked out of the portal.

<script>ChapterMid();</script>

Stepping out of the void, the man casually looked around and bowed his head slightly.

"Been a while since I last saw you, heads."

Indifferently staring at the man who had just entered the room, Octavious's mouth opened.

"Wahid 'aelah"

"In the flesh."

Also known as the one above all in Arabic, and the head of the Monolith.

Not much was known about him, but what everyone in the room could feel from the faint undulations of magic resonating from his body was that his power was on par with Octavious, if not even stronger.

The room instantly became tense.

"It seems like everyone is here."

Taking a seat all the way over on the other side of the table, Wahid 'aelah propped both of his elbows on the table before supporting his chin with his hands that were interlocked together.

"I'm sure you heads know why I asked to meet, right?"

"You wish to stop the war?"

Maximus coldly spoke from the side.

"Correct."

"Psh, so you want to stop a war you guys started, just like that?"

"You only want to cease the war now that you guys suffered a loss at our hands? Laughable."

"Indeed."

Ceasar mocked from the side. Julia and Daphne joined after him.

In response to their mockery, Wahid 'aelah smiled serenely.

"Is that so? Then what are the seve..scuse me, I meant five heads of the Union gonna do about it?"

Maximus suddenly stood up.

—Kracka! —Kracka!

Purple lightning crackled all over his body as he glared at Wahid 'aelah. Raising his hand, a lightning bolt that was filled with killing intent appeared in his hand, illuminating the whole room.

"I've thought about a better solution. How about I just kill you and stop the wa—"

"Sit."

Cutting Maximus off was Octavious's indifferent voice. Turning his head, Maximus glared at Octavious.

"Don't tell me you're not going to jump at the opportunity presented before you?"

There were five of the strongest humans present in the human domain in the same room. The leader of the Monolith was present in the same room as them.

This was the perfect opportunity for them to get rid of him.

With a face devoid of any emotions, Octavious responded.

"That's not his real body."

"Hmm, you could tell?"

A surprised look appeared on Wahid 'aelah's face.

"And here I thought that I had fooled everyone."

A trace of pity flashed Wahid 'aelah eyes.

"Cut the nonsense, tell us what you want." Ceasar cut in. "I don't have much time to waste on your games."

At Ceasar's words, Wahid 'aelah smiled. He then raised his finger.

"I only demand one thing." Pausing Wahid 'aelah casually looked at everyone in the room, before continuing. "...to be more precise, I want one person."

"A person?"

Waving his hand in the air, black flames appeared on the tip of Wahid 'aelah's fingers. Thereafter, the image of an individual riddled with scars formed in the middle of the flames. Turning his head and looking at the image, Wahid 'aelah spoke.

"Mhm, I want him. Subject 876."

Staring at the picture Daphne muttered out loud.

"...burned face and scars, that seems to fit the descriptions of the person that saved Amon, Monica, and the others."

Having read the reports that came from the survivors of the secret operation, everybody knew that the person that Wahid 'aelah wanted was the same person that had rescued, Monica, Amon, and the others.

As a result of this, everybody frowned.

Not minding the reaction of the others, Wahid 'aelah continued.

"That is correct. Give him to us, and I promise you a truce with the Union. We can sign a contract if you don't believe me. Well, that is as long as you agree to my terms."

"A truce?"

Octavius's voice rang out.

Following his voice, everyone looked at Wahid 'aelah to make sure that they didn't hear wrongly. Being stared at by five of the strongest people in the human domain, Wahid 'aelah's face remained serene.

"Mhm, you did not hear wrong."

Following his words, a look of understanding suddenly appeared on the faces of the people inside of the room.

The truce was the real reason behind the meeting.

876 was merely an excuse used to propose the truce.

With the Union losing two of their heads, including Monica, and the Monolith suffering similar large losses with both Mo Jinhao and Tasos heavily injured from the explosion, the two organizations at the moment couldn't afford to go to war.

This was especially so given the fact that they both lost <S> multiple <S> ranked heroes. If the war continued, then both organizations would be at risk of completely crumbling down.

Simply put, neither party could afford that.

"So, what do you think about my offer?"

The real intent behind the meeting was to buy enough time for both organizations to recuperate.

At least a major part of it was that, however, Wahid 'aelah wasn't lying when he said he wanted 876.

After all, he was the person responsible for injuring his Vice-Leader, as well as Tasos. This was also excluding the many high-leveled individuals that were a part of the Monolith.

Just one person alone had weakened the Monolith so much that they were forced to call out for a truce.

Though Wahid 'aelah was smiling, the rage contained within that smile could vividly be felt by everyone in the room as the air around him thickened up considerably every time he mentioned 876.

"I'll tell you what, I'll make this offer even juicier. From what I've heard, you guys seem to be close to developing portals but can't quite get there yet, right?"

"Right..."

Julia cautiously responded.

Although they had made a breakthrough in portal technology over recent years, they had still not quite perfected it yet. At least not for commerical use.

"Good, how about this, I'll do you one better, in exchange for revealing what you are missing, as well as proposing the truce, I want you guys to help us find 876. How about it? Not a bad deal, right?"

This was merely a customary proposal.

Everyone in the room here knew that humanity was close to developing portals. At most a year or two, and they would achieve it. The only reason Wahid 'aelah proposed such a deal was so that it made it seem as though both parties were on equal footing.

He knew just how prideful the people before him were.

"..."

At his proposal, deathly silence enveloped the room as no one spoke a word.

The silence continued for a while before Octavious finally opened his mouth.

"Let me discuss it with the other heads."

"Go ahead."

Waving his hand in the air, a black barrier formed around the five heads of the Union, completely covering them whole. This was a sound barrier that was made to prevent anyone from overhearing their discussion.

Once the barrier completely enveloped them, the first one to speak was Maximus.

"We should take the deal."

"What!? Why?" Daphne stood and protested. "I've been thinking this for a while, but this offer is ridiculous. Did you guys forget that if not for him both Amon and Monica would've died?"

For the others to think about sacrificing someone who single-handedly dealt so much damage to the Monolith as well as saved the backbone of the Union, Daphne couldn't understand why they were even thinking about going through with the deal.

Coldly looking at Daphne, Maximus spoke up.

"Daphne, let me ask you. What are we supposed to do in our job?"

"Our job? It's to keep as many people as possible safe."

Daphne quickly responded without any hesitation.

Maximus nodded at her answer.

"Correct, our priority is the lives of the citizens. If the war continues, a lot of lives will be lost."

"...so you're implying that we sacrifice the person that saved our members for the sake of stopping the war between us and the Monolith?"

"Correct."

"But..."

"Maximus has a point."

Julia chimed in with a complex look on her face.

She too was uncomfortable with this decision, but at the end of the day, if this was the price to pay in order to stop the war, she was willing to go through with it.

"What, you too?"

A shocked look appeared on Daphne's face.

Casually looking at Daphne who was beside her, Julia sighed.

"Daphne, like Maximus said, our job is to save as many people as possible. Sacrifices will be made in the process, and you should know better than anyone since you are one of the seven heads."

Julia's words hit Daphne like a thunderclap. Every word that she said was right. Daphne knew that, yet she still couldn't come to terms with the decision.

"But...still. I feel that what we're doing is wrong."

"Daphne." Octavious finally spoke up. With every word he spoke, the barrier around them would tremble slightly.

"You are one of the heads of the Union. Sympathy and those types of emotions are unnecessary."

"Our priority is the well beings of humanity. Although I acknowledge the fact that 876 has made great contributions to the Union, from what the reports stated, his power is meaningless, around <D> rank range."

"Saving him would do no good for us, just think of him as a sacrifice for the greater good of humanity."

"..."

Listening to Octavious's words, Daphne bit her lips.

Although she wanted to refute, she knew that in the end, the decision was not up to her.

Furthermore, every word that Octavious held some truth to it.

At the end of the day, they were individuals who needed to make sacrifices for the sake of humanity.

Emotions such as sympathy and the likes were unnecessary for individuals like them.

What they needed to think about was the best course of action to take for the sake of the Union and humanity.

Everything else was secondary.

"Alright, let's vote now. Those in favor of the proposal, raise your hands."

***

[Caissa headquarters.]

"Damnit, what should we do now?"

Pacing around the room, Smallsnake was in a state of panic.

"Calm down Smallsnake, let me think."

Seated on the sofa, I tried to calm Smallsnake down.

Forcefully quelling my rage down, I tried my bests to remain calm. There was no point panicking now. Wouldn't do me any good. Rather, it was better to think about my next course of action with a calm mind.

After a while, turning my head towards Ryan, I asked.

"Ryan, let me ask you something. Do you perhaps have a way to tell if the tracker is functioning or not inside of my head?"

"Are you asking whether I can tell when the tracking function is back on or not?"

"Yes, exactly that."

"Mhhh, give me a second."

Swinging the chair around, Ryan's fingers once again danced on the keyboard in front of him. This continued for the next couple of minutes before he turned around and nodded his head.

"Seems like it. As of right now, there is no connection between the chip and any external source, so I can tell you that no one is tracking you."

"That's good."

Crossing my legs, I started to ponder to myself.

'If Ryan can tell exactly when the connection between the tracking software and the chip is on, then this allows me to know when exactly the hunt for me will start. This is good. At least this way I won't be ambushed out of anywhere.'

The moment my bounty was put out, I knew that I could no longer stay in the human domain. I had to leave.

With my current strength and abilities, I could no longer stay here. It was time for me to start focusing on myself.

Originally I had thought about returning to where I was before, helping Kevin and the others just like before.

But my experience at the Monolith made me change my mind.

I realized that my mentality was wrong.

All I was doing was merely babysitting Kevin and the others. How ironic. Kevin was the protagonist and yet I was babysitting him from behind.

It became apparent to me that Kevin did not need any babysitting. Even though the plotline had changed, he was still the protagonist. He was the one with the system and amazing talent.

What did I need to help him for?

If he couldn't even overcome the challenges that lay ahead of him, then what was the point of him being the protagonist? I was not his babysitter, nor was he someone that needed to be under my watch.

It was time to abandon that mentality and focus on myself.

I needed to become strong.

Stronger.

Strong enough so that the likes of the Union and the Monolith could no longer oppress me.

As my thoughts paused there, lifting my head up and staring at Smallsnake, I resolutely stood up.

"Smallsnake, start making preparations."

"Preparations?"

Walking towards the entrance of the room I nodded my head.

"Yup, we're going on a long trip."

End of volume [2]/Part -1

Chapter 285: Before The Journey [1]

"What the fuck are you guys even thinking!?"

An enraged shout echoed inside of simple office space. Following this, pounding violently on a wooden desk, Monica glared towards the person sitting behind the desk.

"Daphne, just what went through your heads when you decided to sacrifice the person thas singlehandedly saved me, Amon, and the others!"

Monica once again shouted. She was beyond incensed.

Upon being notified by Donna about the bounty on Ren's head, Monica flew into a fit of rage and immediately went towards Daphne's office to get an explanation from her.

"Tell me so that I can understand!"

"Calm down Monica."

Daphne helplessly raised her hand to calm Monica down.

"Calm down my ass. How can I be calm in this situation?"

"Just listen to what I have to say."

Daphne pleaded.

"..."

Without saying anything, Monica stared at Daphne's eyes for a couple of seconds.

"Fine." Crossing her arms, Monica sat down on the seat opposite Daphne and gestured for her to explain. "I really want to know what crossed your minds when you made that decision."

Finally managing to calm Monica down, Daphne breathed a sigh of relief, before leaning back on her chair.

"Where should I begin."

Pondering for a moment, Daphne decided to relay to Monica about everything that went through that meeting. From how they decided to sign a truce, to how they decided to sacrifice 876 for the truce in order to give her and Amon enough time to recuperate.

The more Monica listened to Daphne, the tighter her brows knit.

"This is bullshit!" Eventually, after a while, she stood up and once again smacked the table. "Do you guys not realize that you've wasted a golden opportunity?"

"A golden opportunity?"

"Yes!" Monica cried out."Since they are the ones that proposed the truce, it obviously means that whatever the explosion did, they suffered major losses. If there is a perfect chance to fight back, it is now! Deal a devastating blow to both those demon bastards and the Monolith."

Though Monica wasn't able to fully witness the core explode as she had already left by the time it exploded, what she did witness was the pure destructive power that emanated from the core itself.

It was frightening.

There was no way that they came unscathed from that attack.

Listening to Monica's words, Daphne shook her head.

"If only it was that easy Monica."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you think we don't know about what you've said? We've also thought about attacking them, but there are a couple of problems."

"What problems?"

Monica's face showed obvious signs of distrust.

Not minding this, Daphne explained.

"For one, we don't actually know the extent of the injuries from the Monolith's side. For all we know, the truce could be a trap proposed by them to make us think that they are severely weakened. If it truly was that way and we attack, we'd suffer massive losses."

<script>ChapterMid();</script>

For the Monolith to be the first one to step back, the Union heads were not naive enough to believe that the Monolith was just openly displaying their weakness.

There was a high chance that they were trying to instigate the Union into attacking them.

"If that is also not enough of a reason, Malik Alshayatin alone is enough..."

Deep apprehension flashed across Daphne's eyes.

Recalling him back at the meeting, although she knew that it was just his clone there, his presence was no joke. He was in his own league.

"Malik Alshayatin? The head of the Monolith."

Listening to Daphne's words, Monica's brows knit.

"Mhm, him."

"What about him?"

Shaking her head, Daphne sighed.

"Haa, you weren't there Monica, but the moment he stepped into the room, all of us could tell one thing." Lifting her head and looking at Monica straight in the eyes, Daphne took a deep breath before continuing. "It was that he was on another level."

"Hm? Another level?"

With deep apprehension in her eyes, Daphne explained.

"Yes. After the meeting ended, Octavious himself confirmed it. He was weaker than him."

"Tsss..."

Monica inhaled a breath of cold air.

For someone as prideful as Octavios to say such a thing, it meant that it was true.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes. That is why we were hesitant on attacking them. Furthermore, with the demons behind them, the war would only end up being our loss."

"But—"

Daphne cut Monica off.

"Monica, what is done is done. Even though I have voted against the decision, the other heads all unanimously voted for 876 to be eliminated. In the end, he wasn't worth the sacrifice."

At the end of the day, 876 did not show them enough promise to make them go to war with the Monolith for his sake.

Had he been an unrivaled talent or a high ranker, they may have done something, but in the end, 876 was a measly <D> rank.

Something that was not worth mentioning by the likes of them. <SS> ranked Heroes.

'No, no, no, it's because I know who 876 is that I'm saying this!'

Listening to Daphne, Monica cried out inside of her heart.

If Ren was truly 876, Monica knew that if he really held a grudge against them, things wouldn't really turn out as simple as they think.

If Ren grew as she expected him to, then the Monolith would be the last thing the Union should worry about.

'God, I hope things don't escalate to that extent.'

Biting her lips, Monica inwardly prayed inside of her heart.

If things went that way, Monica wasn't sure whose side she would pick.

***

Inside of a dark room, an old man with a long bray beard and turbid grey eyes sat crossed legs. The air around him distorted from time to time.

—Shua!

Disrupting the silence and appearing from out of thin air, was an elegant young man with long black hair and ruby red eyes.

Standing up, the old man greeted.

"Leader, you have returned."

"Mhm."

Giving Mo Jinhao a casual nod, the man who just entered, Malik AlShayatin casually swept the room with his eyes before raising his hand and swiping right.

At his casual gesture, a black void suddenly appeared out of thin air. Then, after a couple of seconds, a cold and indifferent voice that seemed to come from the deepest parts of hell rang out from the void.

[Are you done? Have they fallen for it?]

"Unfortunately not." Curtly replied Malik AlShayatin. "The Union accepted our truce agreement."

[A pity.]

A trace of disappointment could be felt from the voice behind the void.

Lowering his body slightly, Malik AlShayatin asked.

"Your royal highness, is there anything you would like for me to do?"

[No, that is it for now. Make sure you don't get into any conflicts for at least a couple of years. Your recent failure has caused quite a few problems for me.]

Thick killing intent could be felt from the words of the individual whom Malik AlShayatin referred to as your 'Royal Highness'.

Mo Jinhao and Malik AlShayatin who were in the same room could feel this, as the void before them twisted strangely, and a tangible wave of bloodlust swept over them.

Lowering his head slightly, Malik AlShayatin replied.

"I apologize for the mishap."

[...It's good that you understand. For now, do as I said and lay low.]

"Understood."

[Good, I hope you don't disappoint me once again.]

The voice slowly drifted in the room before completely disappearing.

Once the voice completely disappeared and the void before them shrank, after a brief moment of silence, the first to speak was Mo Jinhao.

"Leader, what do we do now?"

Malik AlShayatin indifferently gazed at the place where the black void used to be and coldly replied.

"We do as the demons have ordered, and lay low for now,"

At the moment, the demons were at war with the three races. The incident where multiple <S> ranks and below died, resulted in a lot of the demons getting injured.

This in turn caused the demons to suffer a major loss, as one of their forces abruptly weakened out of nowhere.

It was because of this that he was forced to propose a truce to the Union.

Not because they were weak, but because the demons couldn't afford to have more of their members get injured.

Malik AlShayatin had originally hoped that the Union would be hot-blooded and directly take their truce as a sign of weakness and have them attack the Monolith. This would've been the perfect chance to ambush them and get rid of them.

Unfortunately, they did not bite the hook.

"A pity."

Malik AlShayatin shook his head in disappointment. Glancing towards Mo Jinhao next to him, Malik AlShayatin asked.

"Mo Jinhao, how are your injuries?"

"My injuries?"

"Mhm."

Pondering for a bit, Mo Jinhao replied.

"I've already taken a couple of high-leveled potions, they are not that severe right now. If the Union had gone and attacked us, we could've done a quick work of them."

The Union was truly lucky in deciding to agree to the truce. Had they not agreed, the only outcome for them was their imminent destruction.

With both Mo Jinhao and Tasos's injuries not being that serious anymore, they could've easily have been able to overpower the five heads of the Union without suffering any major losses.

It was truly a pity.

"I see.."

Malik AlShayatin's red eyes flashed before he turned around and left. Staring at his expressionless face from behind, Mo Jinhao had no idea about what he was thinking.

***

2 P.M.

Caissa headquarters.

Sitting on a large desk, I flipped through some files. After a while, I looked up towards Smallsnake who was sitting opposite me and asked.

"Smallsnake, how much money do we have saved up?"

Without taking his eyes off of the papers in front of him, Smallsnake replied.

"Around 10 million, why?"

"10 million? Since when did we have so much money?"

This amount honestly surprised me.

I had originally thought that there would've been less.

"You think we've been idle these eight months that you were gone?" Smallsnake rolled his eyes. "Let's exclude Angelica who did pretty much all of the major tasks, but I've been using the information that you had given to me before to make quite a bit of money."

"Information?"

I tilted my head in confusion.

"Yup, the one you told me regarding where to invest and stuff."

"Ah, that."

Then it finally dawned on me.

I had in fact given Smallsnake a list of companies that would rise in stock in the future, but I had long forgotten about that.

To be honest, this was mainly due to the fact that I no longer relied on the plotline like before.

Realizing that too many things were changing, I stopped relying on those things.

"Fair enough." Crossing my arms, I tapped on my bracelet and threw something in Smallsnake's direction. "Here."

"Woah!" Catching the object I threw at him with both hands, Smallsnake looked at it and asked. "What is this?"

"It's an advanced potion, sell it and give me the money. The 10 million you saved included."

Smallsnake's eyes widened in surprise.

"Wait, hold on. Did you just say adva—"

"That's not all, I want you to sell this stuff too."

Cutting Smallsnake off, one by one, I threw item after item towards him, who carefully caught them as though they were precious treasures.

"W-wait what is all of this stuff and what do you need that money for?"

Throwing a disgusted look on Smallsnake's face, I pointed at my face.

"What do you think? Have you seen my face?"

"...aren't those just regular scars? Can't you just take a normal potion?"

"Nope, that's why I'm telling you to go sell it. Only an extremely potent potion can cure my face."

Had Melissa's potion been enough, I would've used it as soon as I got out of the Monolith.

Unfortunately, it didn't work.

Still, its value was well within 40 million U. Other than that, I had a lot of useless stuff that I had gotten from the guards I had killed from the Monolith. Especially, Luther, he had quite a lot of good things on him. Including a couple of advanced potions.

All in all, it was raining money, and my face was soon going to be fixed.

Staring at Smallsnake, I reassured.

"Don't worry Smallsnake, I'm not going to spend all of the money on fixing my face. I've got other things to buy."

"Like?"

"Like a lot of things."

Potions, food supplies, water, clothes, and essentially everything one would need during a long excursion.

I needed the money to buy a lot of stuff for the upcoming trip. It was going to be a long trip.

Making ample preparations was a must, especially since I was running out of time.

"Okay, but can you at least tell me what you are planning on—"

"Later. I'll explain it when the others are here as well."

"Others?"

"Yup, everyone is going!"

"huh?"

"Yup. That's right, you too Smallsnake."

"Me? What?!" A startled look appeared on Smallsnake's face. "Wait, wait, wait, why are you bringing me? You do know that I'm practically useless in combat or anything related to that right?"

"Yeah."

"Then why are you bringing me?"

"Because it's never too late to start."

Smallsnake was a genius.

Maybe it was because of his low self-esteem or something like that, but Smallsnake was not fully aware of his brilliance.

The intention in bringing him to this trip was so that I could train him to fit with the squad. Once he truly realized how brilliant he was, the power of our mercenary group would drastically rise.

"Ah, right, Smallsnake, I'm leaving you with the task of convincing Ryan's mom, and Ava to come with me on the trip."

"What?"

"I know what you're going to say, but just make it work."

With the trip being a long one, though it was filled with danger, it was also filled with opportunities.

This was why I wanted everyone to come with me.

There were a couple of obstacles though. One was Ryan whose mother I needed permission from, and Ava, who was still at the Lock.

But to be honest, Ava was better off following me.

At the Lock, she would've never been able to show the full potential of her power. She needed real experience, and the journey I was about to embark on was the perfect opportunity for her.

In fact, not just for her, but everyone that was here, Smallsnake included.

It wasn't just me that needed to get stronger, it was them as well.

"Damn you, seriously. Deciding everything by yourself without caring about my input."

Smallsnake shot a glare in my direction. To that, I merely shrugged.

"You're the one who decided to follow me."

"Been regretting that decision for a while. Also, why are you making me work so much as soon as I come back?"

"You're my right-hand man Smallsnake. I didn't choose you for nothing."

Speechless, Smallsnake weakly waved his hand before turning around.

"Haaa, fine, fine, I'll do it."

"Ahah, knew I could count on you."

"Haizzz..."

Just as he was about to leave. Smallsnake's footsteps halted.

Turning around, he asked.

"Hmm, By the way, Ren, meaning to ask, what are you planning on doing right after you fix your face? From the looks of it your planning on doing something."

At Smallsnake's question, the smile on my face disappeared.

Then, leaning back on my chair and staring at the ceiling of the room for a couple of seconds, I softly muttered.

"...What else am I gonna do? I'm going to meet my family."

End of volume [2]/Part -2

Chapter 286: Before The Journey [2]

The next day.

"You work pretty quickly."

Opening the box that sat on the desk in front of me, I carefully picked up a small potion that was nestled in between a few wrappers.

98 million U

That was how much money I spent on the potion. Just thinking about the price made my face cringe, but I didn't regret my decision.

Holding onto the potion as though it was the biggest treasure in the world, I made my way towards the bathroom and closed the door behind me.

"Huu, it's about time I got rid of this look."

With both hands on the side of the sink, staring at myself in the mirror, and once again looking at my hideous face, I took a deep breath.

Then, uncapping the potion, without wasting any second, I quickly downed it.

—Gulp!

Within seconds of me downing the potion, a gentle and warm current flowed through the veins of my body. Opening my eyes, I could vividly see the burns on my face healing at an alarming rate.

In five minutes, much to my surprise, all of the burns on my face started disappearing. Then, once all of my burns disappeared, it was the scar's turn.

This process took a bit longer, as the poison on my face had penetrated quite deeply. With thick green lines appearing on my face, I felt a strange wiggling sensation crawling all over my face.

Lifting my head up and looking at myself in the mirror, I could see the strange worm-like lines wiggling all over my face as though they were alive.

It looked absolutely hideous.

Fortunately, this did not last for long as the lines shrank with each passing second.

This continued for a couple of more minutes before all of the green lines disappeared from my face. Following the green lines were the scars, and once they too were gone, what was left was a soft white skin devoid of any imperfections.

"I-is this how I look like?"

Staring at my reflection in the mirror, my fingers trembled slightly as I caressed the mirror in front of me.

"ha-aa..."

Biting my lips, I tried my best to remain composed.

But it was honestly hard.

This was the first time I had seen my face in eight months and the moment the scars from my face disappeared, it finally dawned on me.

I was free.

I was finally free from the horrible nightmare that I experienced at the Monolith. Although I still had a chip inside of my head, at least, for now, I could take matters into my own hands.

After a while, Scratching the scalp of my head and taking another potion, I muttered to myself.

"I should probably do something about this too."

—Gulp!

Uncapping the lid of the potion, I quickly downed the potion. Instantly, the moment I took my first sip of the potion, the hair on my head started to grow. Soon, they grew to the same length as it was before back when I was at the Lock.

"Better."

In this world, if there was a bald person, it was because they chose to be bald.

There was no such a thing as balding now. All it took me was a simple potion, and my hair was back to where it was back then.

Brushing my hair to the side, and staring at myself in the mirror for a couple of minutes, I took a deep breath. Then, turning around, I opened the door of the bathroom and went out.

"Smalsnake, I'm heading out. I'll see you in a bit."

Taking my coat and putting on a skin mask, I made my way out of the building.

As soon as I fixed my face, without letting anyone else see my face, the first thing I did was visit my family.

I really missed them.

***

At the same time, in a different place.

"Your lordship, please feel free to tell me if you need anything. I will try my best to assist you with anything."

Inside of a mortuary that was filled with corpses, a middle-aged plump man looked towards his right and nervously rubbed his hands together.

Beads of sweat dripped down from his forehead as he stared at a black-humanoid creature that was beside him.

With two horns on his head and deep red eyes that exuded boundless bloodlust, the black humanoid creature indifferently stared at the many corpses presented before him.

"Have you found your contractee, your lordship?"

The plump man asked.

"Mhhh, I have."

Opening his mouth, a chilly voice escaped from the humanoid creature's mouth. Then, moving towards a certain body, the humanoid creature bent down.

Turning towards the plump man, the black-humanoid creature asked.

"What is the cause of this youth's death?"

"This youth?"

Lowering his head and staring at a handsome youth whose face was now incomparably pale, the plump-man, started pondering. Then, after a while, he pointed towards many different areas on the youth's body.

"Hmm, just take a look at the bruises on the youth's body. Before death, we can tell that he has gone through a tough fight with someone. Perhaps they may have both been on equal footing, but..."

Pausing, the plump men suddenly bent down and pointed towards the chest area of the youth.

"...if you look closely, the real cause of death of for the youth is a clean strike to the heart. Honestly, judging from how clean the strike was, it can be inferred that whoever did this, did this in an extremely fast and precise manner. So fast that the—huh, your lordship?"

Startling the plump man out of his thoughts was the black-humanoid creature.

Tracing his finger over the hole on the youth's chest, the black-humanoid creature's body started trembling slightly. Then, the corner of his mouth sadistically twisted upwards.

"Y-your lordship?"

Noticing the demon's weird behavior, the middle-aged man called out. Then, out of nowhere, the middle-aged man felt chills run down his spine as a small chuckle echoed across the room.

"Kukuku..."

The chuckled soon turned to a raspy laugh that sounded from the deeps of hell.

"...so you were still alive, haAhhahahaahHA"

***

In a highly decorated lobby where people could be seen walking around everywhere, a middle-aged man walked up towards a certain desk that had the sign 'Reception' engraved by the side.

Stopping in front of the reception, the middle-aged man looked towards a young girl and asked.

"Excuse me, what should I do if I want to join this place?"

"Excuse me? Did you say that you wanted to join?"

The receptionist smiled kindly.

"That is correct."

The middle-aged man replied.

At his response, the secretary looked at the computer screen in front of her. Then, pressing onto a couple of keys. she asked.

"Alright, so you wish to apply to our guild okay, let's start with a simple question, what is your rank?"

"D+"

The middle-aged man replied without hesitation.

"D+ rank, I see...hm, wait, what!!"

It took a while for the secretary to process the information, and when she did, dropping everything she was doing she jumped out of her seat and stared at the man before her wide-eyed.

"Y-you're telling me that your rank is <D+>?!"

"Mhm."

Nodding his head, the middle-aged man released a whisp of his aura.

"...my god."

Feeling the terrifying aura exuding from the middle-aged man, the secretary cried out in surprise.

"It's true, you're really <D+> rank!"

Staring at the man before her, the secretary was terrified.

That was because the guild master of the guild she was working for was not as strong as the man before her. This man was a big shot!

Recovering from her stupor, the secretary hastily grabbed the phone that was next to her and looked at the middle-aged man with pleading eyes.

"Please wait a moment while I call the higher-ups."

"Sure, take your time."

The middle-aged man replied with a kind smile on his face.

His kind and patient attitude made the secretary sigh in relief as she nervously waited for the phone to pick up.

Soon, someone picked up, and the secretary started to speak to them.

"Yes, yes, <D+> rank...mhm, yes."

Talking on the phone for a good minute, the secretary soon hung up the phone and gestured.

"Please follow me, the guild master would like to meet you."

"Understood."

The middle-aged man obliged and followed the receptionist.

As they were walking, halting her footsteps, the secretary turned around and asked.

"By the way, have you already handed in your dimensional storage to the security?"

"Yes, I have."

"Good."

Checking her watch to double-check with the security at the entrance, once she got the okay, she directly brought him to the elevator.

Stepping onto the elevator and pressing onto the highest floor, the secretary turned to look at the middle-aged man.

"By the way, I forgot to ask, but what is your name?"

"My name?"

"Yes."

Pondering for a short second, the middle-aged man responded.

"Ren...my name is Ren Wright."

"Ren Wright?"

The receptionist once again asked.

"Mhm."

"I see, well, Mr. Wright, right now I will be bringing you to the guild master's office. As you are a highly distinguished guest, he will negotiate with you directly. Is that okay with you?"

"That's perfectly fine."

"Perfect."

Before long, the doors of the elevator opened up and the receptionist brought Ren to the guild master's office.

Arriving in front of a large wooded door that had a small sign with the words 'Ronald Dover' engraved by the side, the secretary halted her footsteps. Turning around, she politely said.

"This is as far as I can go. I hope you have a pleasant discussion. You may go in"

"Thank you."

Lowering his head slightly and thanking the receptionist, Ren opened the door. The moment he opened the door, the first thing he saw were two individuals.

Sitting behind a large wooden desk, was a tall man with black hair, and a masculine jawline. Though he couldn't have been considered the most handsome, he was fairly handsome in his own right.

Standing next to him was a stunning woman with golden hair and blue eyes.

Both of them looked haggard as dark circles appeared beneath their eyes. Even then, staring at Ren who had just entered the room, they stood up and put on friendly smiles.

"You must be the distinguished guest that wishes to join us. Please have a seat."

"Thank you."

Turning around and spotting a red sofa, Ren calmly walked towards it and sat down. Then, crossing his legs and extending his hand over the top of the couch, Ren suddenly waved his hand, startling the couple.

"What are you doing!"

Ronald Dover stood up and put his wife behind him.

Staring at the barrier that was forming around them, with his hand on his desk, he was prepared to call the security that was waiting outside.

"Calm down, I'm not trying to hurt you."

"Tell me, what is your purpose!"

Ronald Dover shouted.

"Before you do anything, please listen to what I have to say."

With a smile on his face, Ren nonchalantly put his hand on his face.

Then, grabbing onto his face, the couple watched as Ren's face distorted. Before long, a familiar face appeared in their vision causing the mind of both of them to blank out.

"Don't tell me you guys can't even recognize your own son?"

At his words, for a good minute, heavy silence enveloped the room.

After a while, the first one to speak was Ronald Dover who with a trembling finger pointed in Ren's direction. With a croaky voice filled with disbelief and confusion, he repeatedly stuttered.

"Ah..t-ha..Im-possible!"

"R-ren?"

Next to him, his wife was in a similar state of confusion as she couldn't mutter any words. Slowly the side of her eyes began to water, and tears started streaming down her cheeks.

Staring at the couple, Ren bit his lips and forced a smile.

"A-aren't you guys gonna say anything?"

"My boy!"

The moment Ren spoke, both parents quickly rushed towards him and embraced him tightly.

"Ren!"

"My son!"

"...Ah."

Feeling the warm embrace of his parents, biting his lips and staring towards the ceiling with reddened eyes, Ren muttered softly.

"M-mon, dad...I'm back."

End of Volume [2]/Part -3

Chapter 287: Before The Journey [3]

Had to rewrite the whole chapter, everything is now solved, enjoy.

"Ren, where have you been…I thought…I thought…"

Staring at my mother who was choking on her words, I felt a slight pang in my heart. Scooting over to her side and caressing her back, I reassured her that everything was alright.

"I know, but don't worry. Everything is over, I'm here."

"Sniff, sniff,...Okay."

Nodding her head weakly, my mother eventually calmed down. After a while, wiping the tears in the corner of her eyes, she asked.

"Ren, what are you going to do now? Now that you're back, will you go back to the Academy?"

With a smile on my face, I shook my head.

"No, ill be going away on a trip."

"A trip?" Taken aback by my response, my mother lifted her head and asked. "How long will it take? Will you be back by the end of the weekend?"

Closing my eyes, I once again shook my head.

"…no, I'll be going for a bit longer than that."

"Longer? A week?"

Pursing my lips, and staring at my mother in the eyes, I responded.

"..A couple of years."

"What!?"

My mother suddenly stood up in shock.

With her eyes wide open, she shouted. "You just came back and you're already leaving? What do you think you're doing?! Don't you care about how we feel?"

'It's because I care about you that I have to go.'

I inwardly muttered to myself, but never actually said those words out loud.

I didn't want to let my parents know about the chip and the bounty on my head. If they heard about it, I wouldn't even want to imagine how they'd react.

Therefore, lowering my head and clenching my fists, I resolutely replied.

"Mom, Dad, although I know I have been gone for the past eight months, I really wish you let me go. I need to go on this trip."

I needed to become stronger.

This trip was the key to achieving that. Throughout my whole life in this new world, I realized how flawed this world I created was. Everything in this world revolved around backing and power, and without it, you were nothing.

I understood this clearly. Even then, I couldn't stand that.

Never again did I want to feel so helpless. Never again did I was to go through a similar situation as before.

This was why this trip was necessary.

I needed to change myself, and become more ruthless and decisive. I still laked a lot of experience, and my mind was still too immature for this world.

If I truly wanted to survive in this world, and defeat the demon king, this was the only path I could take.

"No, Ren, I cant le-"

Despite my words, my mother still shook her head. However, right before she was about to disagree, my father put his hand on her shoulder and said.

"Let him."

"Ronald!" My mother looked at my father in shock. "Are you really going to let him go like this? Right after he only just came back to us?"

Looking back at my mom, Ronald shook his head and pointed at me. "Just look at him. He's already made up his mind. There is no changing his decision."

"But."

"Just leave him be. He's already an adult, we can't do anything about his decision"

Lifting my head up, I gratefully looked at my dad.

"Thank you"

"Mhm, but I hope you promise me one thing..."

"Tell me."

With a calm smile on my face, my dad said.

"I hope you stay safe and don't put yourself into too much danger. We already lost you once, we can't afford to lose you again. Promise me that you won't get hurt again."

"...Ah."

Those words.

They reminded me of an old promise I made. One that I couldn't keep.

Lowering my head, I softly replied.

"…I-I, I will try."

Staring at me for a couple of seconds, a calm smile appeared n my father's face as he said.

"That's good enough.."

Once my father's words faded away, a gloomy atmosphere shrouded the room. Uncomfortable with this atmosphere, trying to lighten it up, I decided to switch topics.

"By the way, where is Nola? Is she in Pre-school?"

"Nola? She's in preschool, she should be out in about an hour."

My mother replied.

"An hour?"

Checking his watch, my father suggested.

"Mhm, if you have time, do you want to go pick her up?"

"Can I?"

My eyes lit up.

I really missed Nola.

Checking her schedule, my mother replied.

"Yeah, Amanda is too busy today, so it was supposed to be my turn to pick her up. But since you're here, why don't you go pick her up?"

"Yes, that soun—"

Abruptly stopping myself mid-sentence, I looked at my mother in shock.

"…wait, hold on, did you just say Amanda?"

Did I perhaps mishear? Or was it a different Amanda?

"Ah that's right, you still don't know."

My mother's eyes suddenly lit up.

It was then that my mother started speaking about how she met Amanda, and how helpful she had been. From how she would always pick Nola up whenever they were busy, to how she would drop by at their house from time to time to play and eat dinner with them.

Listening to my mom excitedly talk about Amanda, millions of questions emerged in my mind. In the end, I could voice of them out, as a weird feeling rushed over me.

It was a hard one to describe.

...but it wasn't an unpleasant one.

Disrupting me out of my thoughts was once again my mother as she suddenly asked.

"Say Ren, why haven't you ever told me that you knew such a beautiful girl?"

"…ehm, mom?"

Looking at my mom and staring at me with shining in her eyes, I scooted a bit further away from her. The pressure that she was exuding was a bit frightening at the moment.

Leaning over, she asked.

"Are you really only just classmates?"

"…Yeah."

I awkwardly replied.

Though I interacted with Amanda from time to time, I don't ever recall our relationship being anything more than that of friends.

"Really?"

My mother squinted her eyes and gave me a skeptical look.

"Yeah, there's nothing going on between us. I think she just likes Nola."

No one could withstand Nola's charm, especially Amanda who liked cute things. This was probably why.

"Hmm, if you say so."

Though skeptical, my mom no longer asked any questions about my relationship with Amanda.

Then, for the next hour or so, I caught up with my parents.

Although my parents did try to ask me multiple times where I had been during these past eight months, I promptly dodged those questions. After a while, they both got the hint and stopped asking.

After that, we chatted about many different things, and through this conversation, my mind, for a very long time, finally relaxed.

At exactly, 4:30 P.M, covering her mouth with her hand, my mother pushed my back.

"Oh dear, I think it's almost time for Nola to finish Preschool, you better hurry now."

"Now? Okay."

Standing up from the sofa, I turned around and embraced both of my parents one last time before leaving the room. Before I left, I made sure to look at my parents one more time.

Once again, I resolved myself to become stronger.

Stronger for my sake and their sake.

*

5 P.M.

Standing in front of a large building, I muttered.

"This should be the place."

Though I had only been here once, I was sure that this was the location of Nola's preschool. Besides me, I could see a lot of parents similarly waiting for their children to go out.

Staring at the building in front of me, I could see cute pictures and paintings hanging outside the windows of the building.

Whilst waiting for Nola to go out, I carefully touched my face. Currently, I was wearing a skin mask. For obvious reasons, I couldn't just go meet Nola with my face. Although most people may have forgotten who I was, there was a chance that someone could've recognized me. After all, I did appear on national television.

I couldn't let this happen, as that would put my family in a lot of danger. Thus, I could only do this in a roundabout way.

—Riiing!

Before long, I could hear the faint sound of a bell ringing in the distance signaling the end of the of Preschool. Following the bell, the doors of the pre-school swung open, and children ran out to their parents.

"huuu."

Staring at the children that were happily running towards their parents, taking a deep breath, and fixing my clothes I moved towards the entrance of the kindergarten. Approaching the care lady, who was an older lady that seemed to be in her sixties, with a kind smile on my face I spoke up.

"Excuse me, I'm here to pick up Nola Dover. I'm sure you guys have already been informed about my arrival?"

Prior to arriving here, I had my parents inform them of my arrival. If they didn't do that, the Preschool would've never allowed me to see Nola.

Lowering her head slightly, the care lady stepped aside and entered the building.

"Mhm, ah, yes, I've been informed about you. Please come in."

"Thank you."

Lowering my head as well, I followed the care lady into the building.

Entering the building, we soon arrived before a small classroom where multiple children could be seen playing amongst themselves.

Scanning the room, I soon spotted Nola in the distance.

"Ah..."

The moment I spotted Nola, my heart started to hurt as only a small inaudible sound escaped from my mouth.

Sitting in the corner of the room, I could see Nola playing with a toy car by herself. Her small little figure playing with the toy car by herself made the corner of my ears involuntarily redden as I had to forcefully bite the corner of my lips in order to remain composed.

"Nola, someone is here to pick you up!"

The care lady called out.

At the care lady's words, Nola slowly turned her head. Once she turned her head and saw me, a trace of disappointment flashed across the little girl's eyes as she stood up and walked in my direction.

Though Nola was disappointed that her parents were not here, she didn't show it on her face as she greeted me politely with a small blow.

"Nice to meet you Uncle, my name is Nola."

Squatting down towards Nolas eyes level, I said.

"Nola? What a beautiful name, It's nice to meet you, my name is Kevin Voss, and I'm here to pick you up"

"Uncle Kevin?"

Nola muttered, resulting in the smile on my face deepening.

"That's right, I will bring you to your parents now."

"Um."

Grabbing Nola by the hand, and thanking the care lady, I soon walked her towards a black car.

Opening the door of the car, I helped Nola put on her seatbelt before closing the door and entering the front side of the car.

Once I sat in the car, putting both of my hands on the wheel of the car, I checked the rearview mirror.

"Uncle Kevin, how cwome mom and dad cannot come?"

Nola suddenly asked.

Smiling, I replied.

"Because they are busy with work. Fortunately, I was not."

"Are you strong?"

"Strong? I'm very strong, stupid too."

"Uncle is stupid?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, anyone with my name is stupid."

"Oh."

Nola nodded her head in understanding.

Laughing on the inside, I decided to stop tarnishing Kevin's name. Removing the mask off of my face, with a smile on my face, I turned around and faced Nola. With my regular voice, I asked.

"So tell me, Nola, would you rather go home or grab some candies with me?"

"Candies."

Hearing my regular voice, Nola subconsciously responded. Then, looking up in confusion, her eyes met mine.

"B-b...bwaddar?"

"Mhm."

—Pita! —Pita!

The sound of tears falling towards the bottom of the car suddenly echoed out loud as Nola's eyes became extremely watery. Then, taking off her seatbelt, Nola jumped towards my arms and cried.

"Bwuddar! Waaaa, waaaa"

Embracing Nola in my arms, I could feel her tears dampen my clothes, but I didn't care.

Caressing her by the head, holding back my tears I muttered.

"Nola, brother is back. So tell me if you want to go buy candies. Brother will buy it for you."

End of volume [2] Part - 4/5

Chapter 288: Before The Journey [4]

Inside of a fairly decorated household, cheerful laughter and the voices of people discussing something could be heard.

On a large table, sat a family of eight, composed of two males, and six females.

Lifting her fork and waving it in the air, the eldest-looking female sibling spoke up.

"Hear this, today when I was diving inside of a dungeon with my squad, we managed to find a <E> ranked core."

"Really? That is fantastic."

The father exclaimed in surprise.

Taking a bit of the food on the fork, the eldest female sibling continued.

"Yeah, according to the appraisal results, it seems like the core will sell for a lot of money. The commission will be around 1 million U."

"1 million? My god, that's fantastic."

Her mother praised.

"Dinner is on you then, sis."

"Hehe."

"Um—"

Whilst the family was joking with each other, sitting towards the right side of the table, a girl with a small petite body and large eyes, tried to speak up multiple times. Unfortunately for her, no one was able to notice her struggle as everyone was too busy listening to the eldest's recount of her day at work.

"Um? Ava?" This continued for a couple of minutes until finally, her mother noticed her. "What is wrong Ava? Is there something that you want to say?"

"Um, emm, I-I..."

Shily lowering her head, Ava tried to speak up. However, the words that she wanted to say never came out of her mouth.

"Come on Ava, don't be shy. Just tell us what you want." Her oldest sister kindly smiled as she encouraged. "We're family. We won't judge you."

Biting her lower lip, Ava clenched her small fists. After a while, looking up towards her parents and siblings and mustering all of her courage, Ava said.

"I-I would like to drop out of the Lock."

"..."

Ava suddenly dropped a bombshell, and the room turned completely silent.

—Clank!

The silence continued for a while until it was disrupted by the sound of forks dropping on the plates. Almost simultaneously, everyone stood up and looked at Ava with concern.

"What!?"

"What are you doing Ava?"

"Is everything okay, are they bullying you at the Lock?"

Under the barrage of questions, Ava was unable to answer as she buried her head towards her chest.

"Guys, please calm down. Let Ava talk."

Noticing Ava's predicament, Ava's mother raised her hand and gestured everyone to quiet down. It was then that everyone noticed Ava's state and quieted down.

Finally managing to get everyone to stop talking, Ava's mother walked up to Ava. Bending down, she touched her hand and softly asked.

"Ava, please tell us why you want to drop out of the Lock. Is it perhaps because they are bullying you? Or is it something else?"

The Lock's competitive nature was quite well known. It wasn't a rare occurrence for students to drag other students down just so that they could stand on top of them.

<script>ChapterMid();</script>

Although controversial, it was this type of competitive nature that granted the best results.

Ava's mother was currently fearing that her daughter was being treated this way due to her shy nature and character.

Throwing a grateful look at her mother, with her fingers fidgeting, Ava softly muttered.

"N-no, it's not that?"

"Then why do you want to drop out?"

Her mother asked.

Secretly, she was breathing a sigh of relief.

As long as Ava was not getting bullied, then nothing else mattered.

Once again fidgeting, Ava responded.

"Y-you see, the point of joining the Lock was for me to develop my abilities so that I can get a job...but for the past two years, I've not really learned anything that I already didn't know."

Although the Lock was the number one academy in the human domain, the beast tamer profession was just that rare. Although there was a couple of <S> ranked beast tamers, none of them chose to work for the Lock for one simple reason, the exorbitant cost needed to maintain their beasts.

In order to maintain their beasts and help them involve an absurd amount of money needed to be invested, and the Lock did not provide enough money for that.

As such, there was no one that could teach Ava. The only thing she could do was learn how to control her psyons better.

"Also...I've already found a job that pays well."

"A job? How come I've only heard about this now?" Ava's mother stood up. "Ava? Could they have scammed you?"

Given Ava's personality, this was a very real possibility.

"Um, no, I have signed a contract already."

"What!? You signed a contract without consulting us first?" Ava's father suddenly interrupted the conversation. Then extending his hand towards Ava, he seriously asked. "Show me the contract now."

"O-okay."

Scared by her father's sudden outburst, Ava complied and took out her contract. Handing it to her father, she softly muttered.

"I've already checked it, and I don't think that this is a scam."

"I'll be the judge of that."

Taking out his glasses, Ava's father snatched the contract off of her hand and seriously looked at it. However, upon looking through the contract, he couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

"What the."

"Father, what is it? Did Ava get scammed?"

"Honey, is everything okay?"

"Shhh, be quiet."

He exclaimed as he read through the contract.

The more he read the contract, the more his jaw opened. Eventually, it fully opened, forming a large 'o' shape. Noticing his odd behavior, Ava's mother and siblings worriedly looked at him.

They all knew about Ava's weak and shy nature. It wouldn't come as a surprise to them if Ava got scammed.

However, contract to their expectations, Ava's father shook his head. Then, with trembling hands, he looked at Ava and asked.

"Are the contents of this contract true..."

"Y-yes, it's a mana contract."

Ava nodded her head.

"Oh my god."

Covering his mouth with his hand, Ava's father weakly slumped on his chair.

"Father what is wrong?"

"Honey?"

Now convinced about the fact that Ava had gotten scammed due to his reaction, everyone quickly took the contract from his hands and started reading it.

"What..."

"!"

However, upon reading the terms of the contract, they all showed similar reactions to the father as they speechlessly looked at Ava who was sitting in her seat.

Being stared at by everyone in the family, Ava lowered her head even more. Then, looking at them, she asked.

"So, can I go?"

***

At the same time.

In front of a fairly luxurious apartment, standing before Smallsnake, an older lady furiously glared in his direction. With her arms crossed, she spat.

"So you're saying that you want to take Ryan away for a couple of years?"

Scratching the side of his neck, Smallsnake pitifully nodded his head.

"Ehm, yes. According to the leader's words, we're going to go on a trip."

"A trip? To where?"

"That..."

Smallsnake's mouth twitched.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Smallsnake silently cursed Ren with all of his heart.

'Damn it, Ren! Can't you at least give me more to work with?'

Despite having asked multiple times, Ren had still not told him about the location of the so-called trip.

Because of this, he could only honestly respond by saying.

"To be honest, I don't know as well."

"You don't know?"

"...I don't know."

"Tsk, I was so close to clearing this level!"

Whilst Smallsnake was confronting Ryan's mother, standing next to him was Ryan, who was currently playing with the console in his hand, completely unbothered by Smallsnake's predicament.

Nudging Ryan with his elbow, Smallsnake whispered in a pleading tone.

"Ryan, help me out here."

Unfortunately for him, he was promptly ignored by Ryan who continued to play his game.

"Useless."

Smallsnake cursed underneath his breath.

"So you're telling me that you're going to take Ryan away from me for a couple of years on some unknown trip that you don't know the location of?"

"Yeah..."

Smallsnake awkwardly nodded his head.

"What about the dangers? Is it dangerous?"

"..."

Smallsnake did not reply. However, this was enough for Ryan's mom who quickly grabbed him by the arm and dragged him behind her.

"Seeing that you can't answer me, I'll take that as a no, and I'll also say no. Ryan won't go."

"Ma'am, please listen, this trip is going to be extremely important in developing Ryan's abilit—"

"My answer is still no." Ryan's mother promptly cut Smallsnake off. "I'm not going to expose my thirteen-year-old ch—"

"Mom."

Tugging on the hem of her skirt, Ryan cut in.

Lowering her head and staring at Ryan who was looking at her, her face softened up a little.

"What is it Ryan?"

"Let me go on the trip."

"huh? But Ryan, didn't you hear? This is going to be a dangerous trip. No matter how great it is, I can—"

Ryan's words caused his mom to be taken aback as she quickly tried to dissuade him, but staring directly into her eyes, Ryan reassured.

"Mom, I will be fine."

"How can you be so sure Ryan?"

"...that's because our leader is there."

"Your leader?"

"Mhm, he's someone reliable."

After having heard Ren's recount of how he survived the Monolith, Ryan had faith in this leader of his. If he managed to survive such a place, there wouldn't be any problems for him to survive anywhere.

Plus, there was Angelica who although was scary, was extremely reliable.

Listening to Ryan's words, Ryan's mom tried to retort, but she was promptly cut off by him.

"But..."

"Mom, I know what you want to say, but I want to go."

Biting her lips and staring at Ryan who was looking back at her, Ryan's mom struggled to speak.

Although she never showed it, she knew just how smart Ryan was. Even though he always pretended to act childish in front of her, being his mom, Ryan couldn't fool her.

She knew that Ryan was merely putting on a facade for her to seem like a normal child. She feigned ignorance to his behavior because she knew that he was doing it for her.

...and now, staring into Ryan's eyes, and seeing the conviction in them, she knew that he had made up his mind.

Even though he was only thirteen, he was by far smarter than any other thirteen-year-old out there.

She was sure Ryan didn't want to go there just out of impulse.

As a mother, she should do anything within her power to support her son. Despite its dangers, if this trip truly did help pave the way for his future, she knew that she had to let him go.

Eventually, alternating her gaze between Smallsnake and Ryan, her eyes finally paused on Smallsnake. After a while, she softly lowered her head and with a shaky voice, she asked.

"P-please make sure Ryan stays safe. P-lease."

***

9 P.M.

Quietly driving the car through the streets of Ashton city, I looked towards my right where a small girl quietly rested on the front passenger seat.

A gentle smile appeared on my face as I looked at her.

After picking Nola up from Pre-school, I brought her around the city to enjoy whatever she wanted.

My treat.

The result? Nola went overboard and ended up passing out due to the sugar overload. Just thinking about it made me chuckle.

Accompanying Nola through the streets of Ashton city, I never felt so relaxed. Just watching her eat the sweets that I bought her brought joy to me, but alas, all good things must come to an end.

It was now time for me to let her go.

Stopping in front of a large apartment complex, I caressed Nola's cheek before trying to remove her seatbelt.

—Knock! —Knock!

Just as I was about to remove Nola's seatbelt, someone knocked on the window. Looking up, I saw my mother smiling warmly at me. Behind her was my father.

Opening the door of the car, she asked.

"Well, how was your little trip?"

Putting my finger on my mouth, I pointed at Nola.

"Shhh, she's sleeping."

"Ah, sorry."

Putting her hand on her mouth, my mother immediately apologized. Then, removing Nola's seatbelt, my mother gently took her in her arms.

Hooking her small arms around my mother, Nola muttered in her sleep.

"Ummm...bwuddar."

Smiling at Nola, and brushing her hair to the side, my mother turned towards me and asked.

"Ren, are you not going to stay for the night?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't."

I promptly shook my head.

Although every fiber within my body wanted to agree to their proposal, I knew that it was time for me to go.

With the chip threatening to expose my location at any time, I knew that the more I stayed with them, the higher the chance of them getting in danger was.

Even though Ryan could tell me in advance when the Monolith was trying to connect with the chip inside of my head, I didn't want to take any risks.

It was time for me to leave.

"I'll be going now."

Staring gently at Nola in my mother's arms, I kissed her forehead. Then, hugging both of my parents, I turned around and headed for my car.

Though short, the time I spent today was unforgettable.

End of volume [2] Part 5/5

Volume 2 is now completed. Thank you to those that have read this story so far.

P.S. no, I won't be taking a break. In fact, there's going to be two chaps a day from now on. (btw, time schedule for each chapter should be within 12 h of the last chapter just like in the past. I'll try to do both at the same time, but it may take time for that to happen.)

Chapter 289: Brief Stop, And Departure [1]

Ever since leaving my parents, two days have passed.

Late into the night, with a full moon hanging in the sky, I pressed onto the gas pedal of a large black eight-passenger SUV.

Having made all the necessary preparations, and pretty much spending every single penny I had, it was now time for me to leave.

Slowly the car sped into the night.

As I was driving, turning my head, and looking at Ryan whose eyes were glued onto his tablet, I asked.

"Ryan, is there a signal coming from my chip?"

"No, nothing yet."

Ryan replied.

His eyes never left the tablet in his hands.

"Alright."

Turning my attention back towards the road, I sighed in relief.

I still had time. This was good.

Good because I still had one thing to do before leaving the human domain, and that was recruit one last guy.

Hein Kraaijenschot.

My meat shield.

If there was a time to recruit him, it was now. The journey I was about to embark on was the perfect chance to create synergy amongst the group members. Not just combat, but outside of that scope as well.

As such, I had to take a little detour to Ironia City, the place where Hein lived.

"Haaa, since did I become a driver?"

Glancing behind me and seeing everyone busy either sleeping or messing with their phones, I sighed and drove the car towards Ironia City.

With the full moon hanging in the sky, the drive was a rather pleasant one.

*

After half a day of non-stop driving, I was beginning to become tired.

Fortunately, when the color of the sky finally changed and the sun fully emerged from the horizon, the outline of a large city filled with liveliness finally appeared at the edge of my vision.

Under the scorching sunlight from the sun, the distant outline of the city slowly started to enlarge.

Glancing behind me, I woke the others up.

"Wake up, we're almost here."

Before long, we arrived at the outskirts of the city.

Although there was no outer wall around the city, the city was heavily protected as guards could be seen patrolling everywhere.

Ironia City was seated on the western region of the human domain.

The spacious large roads that led to and from it caused it to become a place one must pass through in order to head to Dromeda city, one of the four great cities. Also the place I needed to go in order to leave the human border.

The position that it occupied was quite fortunate. If any incident occurred, with Dromeda city next to them, reinforcements could come at any time. That aside, Ironia city was also home to a few platinum graded guilds, so the place was fairly safe.

Woken up by me, Leopold yawned and stretched his arms.

"Huaaam, where are we going now?"

"Let's stop for breakfast."

<script>ChapterMid();</script>

I suggested.

Unfortunately, my suggestions were met with dead-pan eyes as nobody apart from Leopold seemed even remotely interested in the idea of having breakfast.

Taking a look outside of the window, Leopold asked.

"You know any interesting places?"

[Turn right in 100m, after that turn left.]

"Mhm, got just the right place."

With a calm smile on my face, I steered the wheel of the car slightly and followed the GPS device's instructions.

Not long after, pressing onto the breaks of the car, I stopped in front of an old shop with a large sign that said 'Tarquoise Hall'

"This should be it..."

Stepping out of the car and covering my face with my hand to block the sunlight, I glanced at the old shop in the distance. Turning around, I asked.

"Do you guys wanna come in with me to eat breakfast, or are you guys gonna tour the city by yourselves?"

"Tour!"

Ryan excitedly shouted.

"...You're not hungry?"

"No."

Ryan shook his head.

Raising my brow, I looked towards the others.

"What about you guys?"

"Um, no."

"No. I've suddenly lost my appetite."

Ava and Leopold respectively shook their heads.

"Alright, suit yourselves."

I shrugged my shoulders at their response.

It seems like the aesthetics of the place caused the others to not want to have breakfast.

Looking at Smallsnake, I casually said.

"You know what to do."

"...H, huh?"

As expected, he became flustered at my words. With a small smirk on my face, I elaborated.

"Be the babysitter that you are."

Smallsnake was instantly taken aback.

Taking out a stack of papers from his dimensional space he waved them at me.

"Wait, don't you need me to he—"

Snatching the papers from his hand, I waved my hand and shooed him off.

"Just give me the contract and go with them. I'll take care of everything. Have fun with them."

Originally I was supposed to have Smallsnake come with me for the negotiations of Hein's contract, but seeing how tired Smallsnake was, I decided to let him have a tour of the City.

He deserved a little break.

Squinting, Smallsnake skeptically asked.

"Can you really handle it?"

"Yes. Now, I've already taken the contract, so go"

"...Alright, if you say so."

Smiling, I looked towards Leopold.

"What about you? Since you're not having breakfast, gonna tour with them?"

"Nah, I'm gonna go hit the pub, call me when you're done."

Leopold shook his head before heading out. Watching Leopold leave, I looked at Ava.

"Ava?"

Alternating her gaze between Smallsnake and me, Ava weakly pointed at him.

"...I-I will tour with Ryan and Smallsnake."

"Wow, never before did I feel so rejected."

A bitter smile appeared on my face.

Guess everyone detested the idea of having breakfast with me.

Shrugging my shoulders, I looked towards the back of the car where a black cat rested.

"Alright, guess it's just me and you Angelica."

"..."

Without even looking at me, Angelica jumped out of the car and disappeared into the distance.

A cold voice echoed inside of my mind.

[I'll be back in two hours]

"..."

Speechless, I closed the door of the car and headed for the shop.

"Bunch of traitors."

I muttered underneath my breath.

"Welcome."

Entering the building the first person to greet me was an old man in a wheelchair.

Behind him were two four-year-old children who were looking at me with curious eyes.

"Good morning."

I greeted back.

Handing me a small menu, the old man pointed towards the back of the shop where different goods could be seen on display and asked.

"Are you here to buy anything, or would you like to eat something.

"Breakfast please."

"Alright."

The old man nodded his head. With his hand on the joystick of the wheelchair, he soon brought me towards a small table where I sat down. Taking out a pen, and a small piece of paper, he asked.

"What would you like."

Staring at the menu in front of me, and pondering for a couple of seconds, I quickly skimmed through the menu before ordering.

"Hmm, how about an omelet with ham and cheese."

"Omelet with ham and cheese? What about to drink?"

"Orange juice please."

"Anything else?"

"No thank you."

"Perfect." Turning around, the old man shouted towards the back of the shop. "Hein, someone is here. Quickly prepare an omelet with ham and cheese."

"Father, what's going on?"

Coming out of the back of the shop was a youth with curly brown hair and hazel eyes. He had a sturdy build that seemed to be extremely well-developed, and he gave off a momentous aura.

Cleaning his hands on the black apron on him, the youth walked towards his father.

"What is going on father?"

Pointing at me, his father handed him a small piece of paper that had my order in it.

"Hein, we have a customer. Here's the order"

"Ah, a consumer. Alright, I'll go straight to the kitchen."

Finally noticing me, Hein quickly dashed towards the back of the kitchen where he started preparing my breakfast. Bidding goodbye to me, Hein's father went towards the back of the shop to tend his two four-year-old children.

"Omelet with ham and cheese, and orange juice."

Before long, coming out from the kitchen, Hein arrived before me with the food that I ordered.

"Thank you."

Thanking him, I took out a fork and quickly dug onto the omelet before me. As soon as I took a bite of the omelet, I couldn't help but mutter out loud.

"Delicious."

"...Thank you."

Hein shyly responded by the side. Throwing him a glance, I pointed at the seat opposite to me.

"Please have a seat."

"...H, huh?"

Taken aback, Hein became slightly flustered.

"Ah, I'm sorry...It's just that you were the first customer in a while an—"

"Don't worry I won't bite, just wanted to talk to you about something."

Cutting him off again, I pointed at the seat in front of me. Looking into my eyes, Hein eventually nodded his head and pulled the chair back before sitting down.

"...Okay."

"Good."

As he sat down, he introduce himself.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Hein. Hein Hein Kraaijenschot."

"Mhm, I know."

Taking a bit of the omelet I nonchalantly nodded my head.

"You know?"

Hein's eyes instantly became sharp. A wisp of his aura instantly made its way towards me.

Ignoring it, I took another bite of the omelet before I leisurely said.

"I know of a way to heal your father. "

"..."

As soon as I said those words, the atmosphere became quiet. Then, Hein suddenly stood up and smacked the table with both hands.

"What!"

Because the store was empty, no one was present to witness his sudden outburst.

Well, no one apart from his father who hurriedly came out from the back of the shop.

"Hein, is everything okay?"

Realizing his mistake, Hein lowered his head and reassured.

"Everything is okay father, don't worry and go back."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it."

Hein once again reassured.

"Alright, if you say so."

Squinting his eyes, his father eventually relented and headed back to the back of the shop.

Once he could no longer see his father's figure, Hein shot a glare towards my direction as he angrily spat.

"You're not lying, are you? This is not some sick joke that you are trying to pull on me because of my father's conditions?"

"No. I'm not lying."

I truly did know the cure of his father's condition.

Although current human technology couldn't accomplish this. This didn't mean that other races couldn't.

In fact, the elves had this miraculous elixir at their disposal that worked wonders. It was even better than the most expensive potion in the human domain as it could heal injuries related to the head and spine.

...and surprise surprise, I was soon going to make a trip there. What better opportunity to have him join than now?

Glaring at me, Hein carefully asked.

"Why are you telling me this?"

Giving him an odd look, I replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Because I want to recruit you."

Why else? Cause I felt sorry for him? Though I did feel a little sorry for him, it was only a little. What I wanted was for him to join my group.

Nothing else really mattered to me.

"Recruit me?"

Hein cautiously asked.

"Mhm, I want you."

Couldn't leave without my meat shield, could I?

At my response, a bitter smile appeared on Hein's face as he sighed. He then stood up.

"Ha, so you're one of them."

His words made me tilt my head in confusion.

"One of them?"

"Yeah, one of those bastards from the big guilds."

Throwing me a disgusted look, Hein pointed at me and spat.

"You think you were the first one to try this method? At the end of the day, all you guys do is tell me how you can save my father, but in the end, right before I agree to join you, you're suddenly going to impose on me another detail in the contract that will say that my father's treatment will only begin once the technology is advanced enough. Before then, nothing will happen."

"I see."

Listening to Hein's words, I nodded my head in understanding.

In short, Hein had been repeatedly promised things that were not guaranteed. His anger was understandable.

"Yes, and I'm honestly sick of it. So I'm going to say it now, I will n—"

"How about this, will this be enough."

Cutting him off, right before Hein was about to leave, taking out a sheet of paper from my dimensional space I slapped it on the desk.

"I'm sure you'll know if I'm lying or not when you read this."

Furrowing his brows, Hein looked at the desk.

Staring at the paper, Hein was about to once again reject when suddenly he felt small threads of mana lingering on the sheet of paper.

"What are yu..huh? Is that a mana contract?"

"Indeed. Now read, and tell me if the conditions aren't fair."

Taking one last bite of the omelet, I passed the contract to Hein, who, with a skeptical look on his face, took the paper and slowly started reading it.

As he read through it, I couldn't help but take amusement in his gradual change of expression as a look of disbelief soon appeared on his face.

Finally, after reading through the contract for the seventh time, lifting his head, he asked.

"...Is this true?"

Having re-read the contract and seeing no hidden agendas or terms in it, Hein was in total disbelief.

Nonchalantly drinking my orange juice, I asked.

"So? What do you think?"

"This is a mana contract right?"

Hein asked as he flipped the paper around to make sure it wasn't a fake contract.

Rolling my eyes, I took out a pen and placed it on the table.

"Yup, once you signs it, we're both bound to it. If I fail to hold my end of the deal, I will die. Simple as that."

Putting the half-finished orange juice on the table, I looked at Hein straight in the eyes.

"I'm betting my life on you. Is this enough to prove my sincerity?"

—Gulp!

With an audible gulp, Hein once again looked through the contract. After an unknown period of time, taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and asked.

"You promised a couple of million in advanced payment as soon as I sign it, will that be given to me directly or do I have to wait?"

Pointing at the contract, I replied.

"As stated, you will receive the payment immediately."

[As a sign of goodwill, the contractee will get a down payment of 5 million U that will be paid upon the completion of the contract.]

"...Ah-h."

Biting the lower end of the lip, Hein stopped speaking and fell into deep contemplation. Staring at him from the opposite side, I calmly drank my orange juice and waited for his decision.

Fortunately, I didn't have to wait long. Lifting his head and staring at me in the eyes, with hope in his eyes, he asked.

"...Do you really have a way to cure my dad?"

Rolling my eyes, I rebutted.

"You think I would put my life on the line if I didn't?"

If I wasn't confident, I would've never proposed it. Since I was confident, it meant that I could do it.

"huuuu."

Taking a deep breath, Hein took the pen that was on the table. Staring at me in the eyes for a couple of seconds, he swiftly signed the paper.

"...Alright, you've got a deal."

"Good choice."

—Plack!

Smacking the now empty glass of juice on the table, I smiled and shook Hein's hand.

Like that, a meatshield was added to my party.

Chapter 290: Brief Stop, And Departure [2]

Once Hein signed the contract, everything was smooth sailing. Briefing him about the upcoming trip and how it was going to be important in his mission to cure his father, Hein promptly agreed to join me on the trip.

"Alright, let me send you the money. I'll let you handle the rest with your family."

"Mhm."

Transferring 5 million U directly to Hein's account, I stood up and left the shop.

Hein would be leaving on a long trip with me and the others, I didn't want to ruin his farewell with his father and siblings.

Fortunately, with the five million I had given him, they should be able to live very comfortably for the next few years. This was probably why he wasn't so against the idea of coming with me once I explained to him the purpose of the trip.

"Hmm, what time is it?"

Standing underneath the sunlight, turning my wrist slightly, I check the time. 9:30 A.M.

"Hm, so almost two hours have already passed..."

From what I recall, we arrived here by 8 in the morning. This meant that one and a half hours had already passed since I talked to Hein.

Taking out my phone, I texted the others.

[Guys, it's time to come back.]

Now that I had dealt with Hein's recruitment, it was now time to leave.

Walking back to the SUV, leaning on my seat I got some shut-eye. Having driven throughout the whole night, I needed to rest a little.

*

"We're back."

Waking me up from my nap was the sound of Ryan's high-pitched voice. Opening the door of the car, he quickly hopped in.

Following him were Ava, and Smallsnake. Leopold followed suit not long after.

Staring towards the back of the car, I looked left and right before asking.

"Hmm, looks like everyone is here. Where is Angelica?"

"She's there."

Smallsnake pointed towards the back seat. Leaning forward a bit, I finally saw Angelica resting in the back of the car.

"Okay, perfect, now all we have to do is wait for Hein."

Right as my words faded, the door of the shop in the distance opened and Hein came out. Looking closely, I could see that the side of his eyes was red, indicating to me that he had been crying.

Lowering the window, I asked.

"Are you done saying your goodbyes?"

"Mhm"

Lifting his head up, Hein softly nodded his head.

Opening the back door of the car, I gestured for him to get in.

"Great, get in."

Upon entering the car, pointing at Hein, I introduced him to the others.

"Guys, this is Hein, our new recruit."

"Hello."

Hein greeted the others who greeted him back. Smiling, I pointed at the others and briefly introduced them to him.

"Hein, these are the other members. This here is Smallsnake, if you want to know anything, ask this guy and he'll probably know. This over here is Ava, she's a monster ta..."

<script>ChapterMid();</script>

As I introduced Hein to the other members, before long, a weird look appeared on his face. Blinking a couple of times and alternating my gaze between him and the others, I came to a sudden realization.

Patting him on the shoulder, I let out a small laugh.

"Don't be too quick to judge."

Now that I thought about it, everyone looked pretty unreliable.

Smallsnake was lanky, Leopold looked like a drunkard, Ava looked extremely shy and Ryan was a child.

Skipping Angelica who was a demon, and Silug who I had no idea about what he was doing, the group really looked unreliable.

"Although they don't look reliable, don't look down on them. Everyone here is much scarier than you think."

"...Is that so?"

Hein forced a smile. Completely unconvinced by my words.

Shaking my head and patting him on the shoulder, I urged for him to take a seat.

"Well, you don't have to believe me now, you'll know when the time is right. Now have a seat, we'll be leaving now."

There was no need for me to convince him about the strength of the others.

In due time he'll realize that he was sitting with a bunch of monsters.

"...Okay."

Hein hesitantly nodded his bead before taking a seat.

Once he sat down, moving towards the front of the car and fastening my seat belt, I pressed on the gas pedal and drove towards my next destination.

Dromeda city.

***

Tk. Tk.

Rain poured down from the sky.

Sitting on a bench, Kevin quietly sat next to a beautiful girl with short auburn hair sat who currently had an extremely dark look on her face.

For the next five minutes, neither one of them spoke as the only sound that could be heard was from the rain hitting the asphalt ground.

This continued for a little bit more time, until finally, unable to bear with it anymore, Emma suddenly stood up and swore.

"Fuck!"

Glaring into the distance, Emma continued to swear. Seemingly wanting to vent out her frustuations.

"How fucking dare you do this to me you piece of scum! Is this how you repay my father for not kicking you out of the household! How dare you! How dare you! How dare you!"

"..."

Still sitting on the bench, Kevin took a deep breath and quietly listened to Emma's hysteric sounds.

He had a brief idea of what was going on.

In the past, he didn't know much about what was going on with Emma as she never talked about her personal life, but now, things were different.

With their relationship closer than ever, she revealed everything to him. From how her uncle was suppressing her, to all the schemes he was pulling in the dark.

It had gotten to the point where he was trying to get her to drop out of the Lock. Something that completely enraged her.

"Piece of scum!"

Watching Emma vent all of her frustrations towards the rain, unable to bear it anymore, Kevin finally approached her.

"Emma, do you have any idea of where your father could be?"

"Hm?"

Hearing Kevin's voice, Emma turned around.

"What are you talking about?"

"Isn't all of this happening because your father isn't here?"

"...Yeah."

"So, if he came back, the problem would be solved, no?"

As long as her dad come back, her uncle would stand no chance. There was a clear difference in power and competency after all.

"Do you have any way to contact him?"

"No."

Emma dejectedly shook her head.

"According to him, the mission is top secret, and so he can't come into contact with me at the moment."

"Top secret? Secret enough to not even contact his own daughter for months?"

"...Yeah."

Lifting her head and staring at the rain that was falling from the sky, Emma weakly muttered.

"A..ah, Kevin. I don't know what to do."

Staring at Emma's fragile figure in the distance, Kevin bit his lips as he suddenly felt a surge of anger well up from deep inside of him.

Walking up to her, he reassured her.

"Don't worry, I'll help you."

***

The journey to Dromeda city was quite smooth. Within an hour's drive from Ironia city, I could already see the outline of the city in the distance.

Leaning towards the window, Ryan cried out in excitement.

"Whaa, that's huge."

"It sure is."

I softly said as I stared into the distance.

Before long, a massive city appeared in the distance. Around the city was a humungous wall, where stationed every few kilometers at the top of the wall was a beacon that shot a light ray towards the sky that joined with different light rays that came from the different beacons stationed on the top of the walls.

As the light rays joined together, a massive barrier that enveloped the whole city was formed.

"Damn."

Staring at the barrier that was enveloping the city, I couldn't help but be amazed.

The difference between Ashton city and Dromeda city was the fact that Dromeda city directly bordered the Elven and Demon domains.

As such, they had no choice but to erect massive walls and invest tons of money on the barrier that was currently enveloping the whole city.

Though I wasn't sure, the cost of maintaining the barrier around the city was astronomical, and if not for the constant threat of the demons, they would've long disposed of it.

Snapping me out of my thoughts, Leopold asked

"Hey Ren, aren't we going to take a quick break here?"

Looking back, I shook my head.

"No, sorry, maybe next time."

"A pity, I really wanted to check the places around here."

Leopold muttered in disappointment as he leaned back on his seat.

Smiling, I drove the car towards the other side of the city.

With the chip in my head possibly activating at any time, I didn't want to risk the chance of meeting trouble this early on the journey.

I had already wasted too much time.

Any day now and a massive manhunt for my head would start.

In fact, the manhunt had probably already started, but with the tracking device not working, and my face now healed, their search was fruitless.

But I knew that it was only a matter of time before all hell would break loose.

Steering the wheel of the car, I didn't enter the city. That was because my priority right now was to leave the place, and not waste any time in the city.

Soon, nearing the walls of the city and arriving before a massive gate that led towards the outsides of the city, I was somewhat stunned to see tens of fully armed soldiers at the city's entrance. They stood at the two sides of the city wall and their sharp gazes continued to sweep across the passersby coming and going.

Once again steering the wheel of the van, I patiently waited for my turn. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait for long as within a couple of minutes, a soldier appeared by the side of the window.

Lowering my window, the soldier sternly asked.

"Please state why you want to leave the city."

"Here."

Flashing a black card that signified that I was a part of the mercenary group, I explained.

"I'm here to bring my members to hunt beasts and look for cores."

"Cores?"

"Mhm, mostly training. Cores, not so sure, but hey. What if, right?"

It wasn't a rare occurrence for mercenaries to leave the human domain and hunt for beasts.

Just like monsters they had cores and could be sold for hefty prices. Not only that but their bones and skin were also sought after.

"I see, how many people?"

"Including me, six. That is if you include a cat, and that would be seven."

"No, cats don't count. Alright, six people, that would be 60,000 U."

"Sure no problem."

Taking out my phone I quickly transferred 60,000 U to the guard. Once the money was fully transferred and the guard saw it, stepping to the side, the guard motioned for me to go.

"Alright, everything checks out. You may leave. Have a safe trip."

"Thank you."

Thanking the guard, I quickly drove the car forward.

As I drove forward, Dromeda city soon disappeared from the view, and what replaced it was thick lush trees.

With the sound of the engine roaring, I drove deep into the primitive forest.

The SUV's flexible suspension was excellent, but the ground of the primitive forest was too cragged. There weren't many roads and the ground was covered in decaying tree branches, leaves, and massive rocks.

Soon, it became apparent to me that the road was no longer drivable.

At the speed that we were going, walking would've been faster. As such, pressing onto the breaks and twisting the keys out of the socket of the car, I opened the door of the SUV and got out.

"Alright, that's as far as we can go."

"Hey, Ren, why are we stopping?"

Smallsnake asked, surprised by my actions.

Glancing at Smallsnake, I stretched my arms and lazily replied.

"That's because from now on we're going to be walking."

"Walking?"

Ryan cringed. Evidently against the prospect of having to walk.

Rolling my eyes and ignoring him, I pointed forward and asked.

"Well yeah. Do you guys see a road anywhere?"

Turning their heads and finally seeing the state of the road, everyone's face turned grim.

"Wait, are you telling us that we're going to have to walk all the way towards the destination on foot?"

Smallsnake darkly asked.

"Well, not really. A part of it yes."

Our current destination was the dwarven domain, which was located a bit behind the elven domain.

Fortunately, we didn't have to cross the elven domain to reach it, but the road that led to it was quite far, and the terrain was tough.

Still, that didn't mean that the whole trip was going to be on foot. During flat grouds, using the SUV wouldn't be a problem, but when the road was as tough as it was now, the only option was for us to go on foot.

Smallsnake also seemed to have realized this as he let out a pained groan.

"Ugh. Seriously, why did the road have to be like this.."

Patting Smallsnake on the shoulder, I reassured.

"Don't worry. This is good for us."

"How is this good?"

"Can't you tell? This is a great opportunity for us to train."

"Train?"

"Mhm. Why else do you think I brought you here? To have fun?"

Excluding the previous reasons as to why I chose to go on foot, another major deciding factor was because this was the perfect place to train.

With dangerous beats lurking everywhere, this was the perfect chance to have the members train together and increase their strengths as well as group synergy.

At the moment apart from a few, everyone in the group had little to no experience in real combat.

Me included.

Although I had just crawled my way up from hell, that experience made me realize that I lacked a lot.

But this was the best chance to fix those problems.

—Rustle!

Suddenly, a rustling sound came from the nearby bushes startling everyone present.

Following the rustling sound, a black silhouette suddenly jumped out of nowhere. Turning my head and staring at the silhouette that had just appeared, a smile appeared on my face.

"Well on the topic of training. We've got the perfect training partner."

Chapter 291: Journey [1]

Appearing from out of the bushes, was a huge red-furred creature that had a pair of bloody red eyes that carried a strange glint of green light and a large mouth where two enormous fangs drooped down.

A terrifying bloodthirsty aura spread out of the creature's body, enveloping the surroundings.

Standing on its four feet, the creature's red eyes glared towards our direction with saliva dripping down from its mouth.

"It's a red-furred two-husked wolf, looks like we've stepped on its territory."

A red-furred two-husked wolf.

An <E> ranked mutated creature that was commonly found in these areas. Glancing at my watch and staring at the beast encyclopedia, I got a brief overview of the beast.

To summarize what it said, the wolf in front of me mainly relied on its sharp claws rather than fangs to attack.

Once I got a better understanding of the beast in front of me, glancing towards my left, I ordered.

"Ava, Hein get ready. The others, get behind me."

"W-wait, what?"

"Me?"

Flustered looks appeared on the mentioned people's faces.

With a calm face, I pushed Hein towards the wolf in the distance.

"Go, do your thing and act like a meatshield."

"Wait wa-"

—Clank!

Before Hein could finish speaking, the wolf had already lunged in his direction. Fortunately, Hein was quick to react as a shield quickly materialized in front of him. Stomping onto the ground, he narrowly deflected the sharp claws of the creature.

"khhh."

With a groan, he took two steps back.

"What was that about!"

He screamed, looking at me. Shrugging my shoulders, I pointed at the wolf.

"Stop looking at me, your opponent is right in front of you."

—Clank!

Right as my words faded, the giant wolf ruthlessly clawed Hein's shield. A dull metallic sound rang out as Hein let out another pained groan.

"khuek!"

To Hein's misfortune, the wolf did not give him any time to breathe as it once again lunged in his direction.

—Clank! —Clank!

Under the barrage of attacks, Hein was able to somehow keep his footing, however, slowly but surely, he was starting to get pushed back.

Despite the fact that both Hein and the wolf were of the same rank, because Hein was still inexperienced in real combat, he was making a lot of mistakes that he normally wouldn't have done.

This became more apparent as time passed as not before long, Hein's back touched the trunk of a tree.

"Ahhh!"

It was then that suddenly Hein screamed out loud. Staring at the scene from afar, my face cringed a little.

That was because the wolf's attack had finally landed on Hein's body, and the result was a deep cut on his right arm. Like a fountain, blood spurted out from his arm, and Hein's face visibly paled.

<script>ChapterMid();</script>

"Hmmm, it must've cut an artery."

From how blood was splurting from out of his arm, the injury was quite a serious one.

Even then, I didn't move. Turning towards my left and staring at Ava, I raised my brow.

"Ava, aren't you going to help him?"

"B-but, how?"

Ava weakly responded.

"That's for you to figure out."

If I told them the answer, how would they grow? The whole purpose of this training session was for the growth of the others.

I wasn't here to babysit them.

This was especially true for Ava who quickly needed to grow a backbone. She was simply too shy.

"You better hurry, Hein's health is deteriorating."

Clang—!

"Huaak!"

Right as my words faded, a loud metallic sound rang out and Hein was forced to take a knee to the ground. Below him, a small blood pool was starting to form.

"Oh no!"

Seeing how dire the situation was, Ava quickly closed her eyes.

Pressing her arms together in a praying manner, she started chanting some sort of weird spell as a yellow glow enveloped her body, causing her clothes to flutter slightly.

"Chirp! Chirp!

Before long a chirping sound rang out and a small bird appeared in front of her.

Once the bird appeared, pointing towards the wolf in the distance, Ava quickly ordered.

"Quick, Newton, help him!"

"Twit!"

Circling in the air, Newton chirped.

Then, following her command, Newton, Ava's contracted beast, rose in the air. Staring at the red beast that was viciously attacking Hein, folding its wings together, it quickly dove down from the sky.

Shooting down from the sky at extreme speeds, Newton directly aimed for the wolf's eyes.

Since the wolf was busy trying to kill Hein, it was unable to notice the small bird heading down from the sky.

This was probably the biggest mistake of its life as Newton soon appeared right in front of its left eye.

Subsequently.

"Hueeeek!"

Blood splattered everywhere and an enraged howl reverberated across the surroundings as the wolf flayed its body wildly, looking around for the culprit of its injury.

It didn't take long for it to spot Newton who was smugly looking at it from the air.

"Oooooooooooooooowhoo!!"

Staring at the arrogant bird from below, the wolf howled towards the sky. Its blood-red eyes flickering coldly.

Staring at the scene from afar, turning my head and looking at Leopold, l softly muttered.

"Leopold, help them if they are in trouble."

"You go it, boss."

Leopold replied as he lit up a cigarette.

An amused look appeared on his face as he looked at Ava and Hein trying their best to fight the wolf.

*Puff*

Once he lit up the cigarette, taking a quick puff, he muttered.

"If I have to be honest boss, there's a lot of things that they need to work on. As of right now, they are more of a liability than actual companions. They are making too many obvious mistakes."

"...Yeah."

Listening to Leopold's evaluation from the side, I was forced to nod my head.

What he said was correct. Ava and Hein were still far too inexperienced to be called proper companions.

As of right now, they were a liability.

Fortunately, I was planning on changing this right now. This fight was the start of their change.

To make matters better, with Leopold next to me, I wasn't worried about teaching them the wrong thing.

Out of all the people present, Leopold was the person that had the most experience.

Not only that, but he was also very good at coaching and instructing, as he had been a part of a mercenary guild for over a decade.

Having worked therefore such a long time, he had ample experience, and he had a great eye for things.

"Oooooooooooooooowhoo!!"

Disrupting me out of my thoughts was the wolf's desperate howl.

"Oh shit."

Next to me, Leopold's face suddenly changed dramatically as he quickly flicked the cigarette away.

"What's wrong?"

I asked.

Stomping onto the cigarette, Leopold urgently said.

"The wolf just called for its pack. Soon we're going to be surrounded by a bunch of wolves. We should quickly get out of here."

"How strong do you think they are?"

Taking out a large broad sword from his dimensional space, Leopold tied his long hair back.

"Red two-husked wolf can only range between <F> to <E> rank, but that's not the problem. If thirty of them come at us at the same time, things would get really troublesome."

"Thirty <F> and <E> ranks..." Furrowing my brows, I looked into the distance and pondered for a couple of seconds. Then, shaking my head, I put my hand on top of his sword. "Put that away, we won't need it."

"Wait, but it's dangerous!"

Patting Leopold in the shoulder, I reassured him that everything was going to be fine.

"Don't worry, I should still be able to handle that much."

Not that I wanted to sound arrogant or anything, but with me being on the verge of breaking through to <C->, thirty <E> ranks were nothing to me.

In general, it was hard to determine someone's strength based on just rank. This was because things such as skills, experience, artifacts, and arts could help someone breach the difference in ranks.

However, if we exclude those, a rank difference signified a difference in the strength of about 10-20 individuals of the lower rank.

In short, an <E> rank could handle up to at most ten to twenty <F> ranks at the same time.

Although this would become exponentially greater as the ranks increased, with the difference between <S> ranks and <SS> ranks being bigger, in general, this was what difference in ranks amounted to.

At least till <A> rank.

As such, with me being pretty much almost two ranks higher than the beasts that were to come, I wasn't worried about the incoming wolves.

Staring at Hein and Ava who were slightly panicking, I shouted.

"Hurry up you two! A bunch of hungry wolves will be coming for you soon. If you don't want to end up being their dinner, step up your game!"

My words seemed to have had an effect on them as the auras on the bodies of the two quickly shot up.

"Huaa!"

The first one to move was Hein who stomped on the ground with his foot. Once he did that, the mana within his body soared up once more.

The surge of mana was silent but compared to before, it was a lot thicker. The shield in front of him became undoubtedly stronger as a brown glow slowly started to envelop it.

Once the brown glow enveloped the shield, the weight of the shield swiftly rose.

"Oooooooooooooooowhoo!!"

As Hein gathered his strength, the wolf did not stand idle. Howling towards the sky, the wolf's figure disappeared from its spot. Reappearing in front of Hein, the wolf's claws quickly slashed towards Hein's shield.

Clang—!

A dull sound resonated over the area. Immediately after, a small gust of wind swept out in a circular shape whistling like a storm with Hein and the wolf being the focal point.

With the veins on his forehead bulging, Hein looked at Ava and shouted.

"Khhh...Ava now!"

"Newton!"

Without needing to be told what to do, Ava once again pointed at the wolf in the distance.

"Twit!"

Just like before, Newton did a circle in the air before closing its wings and dashing towards the wolf on the ground. This time, Newton aimed for the other eye of the wolf.

Like a silver bullet, Newton soon appeared right in front of the wolf's eye.

"Oooooooooooooooowhoo!!"

A desperate howl resounded across the area as the wolf wept in pain. Blood dripped down from both of his eyes.

It had now been completely blinded.

"Huaamm...alright, the fight is pretty much over."

Taking out my sword from my dimensional space, I let out a yawn and walked over towards where Hein and Ava were.

With Ava's contracted beast having taken out both of the wolf's eyes, I no longer needed to spectate the fight.

—Thud!

Sure enough, by the time I arrived next to them, the wolf slumped on the ground dead.

"Haaa..haaa..."

Slumping on the ground, Hein forcefully swallowed a few mouthfuls of oxygen. His curly brown hair was now damp with sweat, and his expression was pale. To make matters worse, his right arm, which was dripping with blood was now spasming.

Looking at the state Hein was in, tapping onto my bracelet, I tossed him a potion.

"Here, drink this."

"Thanks."

Catching the potion, Hein quickly downed it and thanked me.

His reaction caused me to raise my brow as I couldn't help but ask.

"Oh? You not mad about what I've done?"

"I'm too tired for that."

Hein bitterly said as he leaned back on the trunk of a tree.

His response made me involuntarily smile.

"Alright, drink the potion for now. Once you're healed up, go talk to Leopold, he'll brief you on the things that you need to work on. Ava to—"

"Ren."

Cutting me off was Ryan.

Turning my head, and seeing how serious Ryan's face was, the smile on my face faded. Pursing my lips, I asked.

"Has the chip connected?"

Staring at the tablet in his hand, Ryan's face became complicated. Eventually, he nodded his head.

"...Yes."

"Haaaa"

Closing my eyes, I exhaled.

Although I knew that this was coming, I hoped that they would've given me more time.

Unfortunately, my prayers were not answered.

Things were soon going to become troublesome.

—Rumble!

"Hm?"

Disrupting me out of my thoughts, I felt a slight tremble coming from the ground. Following this, multiple howls echoed in the distance as over thirty red blood-thirsty wolves soon appeared in front of my vision.

Coming out from the side of the trees and bushes, the wolves menacingly stared at everyone present.

"Oooooooooooooooowhoo!!" "Oooooooooooooooowhoo!!" "Oooooooooooooooowhoo!!"

Looking back at the thirty wolves in the distance, Hein and Ava's faces vividly paled. Their bodies started to tremble.

Their reaction was understandable though. It took them everything they had to get rid of one wolf.

Now that there were twenty of them, they were beyond scared.

"Get back."

Stepping forward and coldly staring at the wolves in the distance, I placed my hand on the sheath of my sword.

"Hold on Ren! You can't possibly defeat that many wolves."

Smallsnake cried out from behind.

Ignoring Smallsnake, I slowly walked towards the wolves.

At the moment my mind was extremely calm.

Somehow, the prospect of these wolves ever putting me in the danger never crossed my mind. In fact, for some odd reason that I couldn't explain, all my mind thought at the moment was about how to kill these wolves.

It was as though a switch had been flipped and my emotions suddenly calmed down.

Similar to when I was under Monarch indifference, however, contrary to that, this time, I had full control of my body.

"Oooooooooooooooowhoo!!"

Taking one more step towards the wolves, they all simultaneously howled. The mana in the air surged, and they all growled at me.

Following this, a large part of them suddenly lunged at me.

Calmly staring at the horde of wolves that had suddenly appeared before me, I placed my hand on the sheath of the sword.

—Click!

The second movement of the [Keiki style] : Horizon splitting slash

Following this, a subtle clicking sound rang out and the world became dyed in white.

—Thud! —Thud! —Thud!

What came after the light was the sound of bodies repeatedly dropping onto the ground.

Apathetically staring at the wolves on the ground, I looked back towards the others who were all looking at me with shocked expressions.

Ignoring it, I softly said.

"Let's get going. We're going hunting."

Chapter 292: Journey [2]

"There's nothing here."

Smallsnake shouted as he stabbed the head of one of the wolves on the ground.

"I've also got nothing."

"Nothing here too."

Disappointment flashed Ava and Hein's faces as they also found nothing on the corpses of the wolves.

"Nothing on my side as well."

Leopold also added.

"..."

Looking at them from a distance, sitting on a rock and leaning forward, I fell in thought.

With over thirty wolves dying at my hands, everyone was now trying to see if they could find a core.

The process was relatively slow and tedious; however, the rewards more than made up for it as each core was precious.

Unfortunately, lady luck was not on our side as no one found anything.

This was a given, though.

The chances of finding a core were the same as winning the lottery. Miniscule.

"Huaam."

When I struggled to hold my yawn back, someone sat down next to me and tapped on my shoulder.

"What do we do now?"

Without the need to look back, I could tell who it was by his voice.

It was Smallsnake.

Still sitting on the rock, I turned my head and looked up at smallsnake.

His expression was severe, and with his hand on his chin, he had a pensive look on his face.

"If the chip has indeed started tracking our moves, we should probably not waste time here."

Smallsnake suddenly turned his head and looked at me.

"I think we should stop wasting time over here, and we should get going. According to my estimates, if they send someone to track you, within a week or month, they'll soon catch up to us."

Listening to Smallsnake and patting my pants, I silently stood up.

Scratching the side of my neck and staring towards the direction of where Dromeda city was, my brows furrowed tightly.

"You're not necessarily wrong."

"...Yes, that's why I'm suggesting for us to immediately go right now. The more distance we cover, the harder it is for them to find us."

Closing my eyes slightly, for the next few seconds, I didn't speak.

Then, opening my mouth, I said.

"We proceed at our own pace."

"What?!"

His eyes widened. Standing up, he walked to me.

"Did you hear what I just said?"

"...I heard what you said loud and clear."

"Then why did you say that we should go at our own pace?"

"Haa.."

Without answering Smallsnake, I brushed my hair to the side and let out a troubled sigh.

What Smallsnake said wasn't necessarily wrong.

Now that the tracking device was on, the Monolith and possibly even the Union would start hunting me.

On a good note, we weren't in the human domain, which made it harder for them to track me down directly.

Even then, it would only delay their search by at most a couple of weeks to a couple of months.

<script>ChapterMid();</script>

Still.

Putting my sword back into my dimensional space, I turned my head and looked towards the distance.

"We're going to continue going at our own pace."

My current goal was to travel to the dwarven domain.

The road was a treacherous one. One that was riddled with dangers.

Not only did I have to watch out for dangerous beasts, but I also had to watch out for demons.

Although not exactly close, the demon domain was not that far.

Approaching the situation prudently was the best way to go about things.

Plus.

Squinting my eyes, I muttered.

"Why should we be the hunted when we can just as well be the hunters?"

"h..huh?"

So what if they could track my location?

Who said that they were supposed to be the only ones hunting?

***

At the same time, Ashton city.

By the time Amanda had completed her day's work, the sky was already beginning to darken.

Sitting inside of a black car that was quietly driving through the busy streets of Ashton city, Amanda calmly looked at the ever-changing scenery outside of the window.

"Au.."

Blinking a couple of times, Amanda found that her eyelids were becoming heavier with each passing second.

She was tired.

Having spent most of the day working and working out, Amanda was utterly exhausted.

Quietly driving the car for ten minutes, her assistant, Maxwell, opened his mouth and reminded her.

"Young miss, we're almost there."

"Mhm."

Amanda faintly nodded.

Pulling onto her right cheek, Amanda tried to wake herself up. Right now, she couldn't afford to look tired.

Turning her head and looking at Maxwell, Amanda asked.

"How long till we get there?"

"We're already here."

Maxwell replied with a smile.

Once his words faded, the car soon stopped in front of a familiar building that Amanda had seen multiple times before.

Getting out of the car's driver seat, Maxwell moved towards Amanda's side and suavely opened the door for her.

"Youg miss."

"Thank you."

Thanking Maxwell, Amanda got out of the car.

Wearing a cyan-coloured blouse that was neatly tucked in between her skinny dark pants, Amanda looked stunning. Holding onto a small black handbag in her right hand, Amanda walked towards the building in the distance.

Like in the past, wherever she walked, she attracted the gazes of the nearby people.

Used to this, she promptly ignored the stares and walked towards the building entrance where a relatively older lady was waiting.

She was the care lady.

"Good Evening."

Amanda greeted.

Spotting a familiar figure, the care lady gently laughed.

"Ah, Amanda. It's you today."

"Mhm."

Amanda smiled at the care lady.

Being a frequent visitor, Amanda got along with her quite well.

They were both comfortable making small talk with each other at this point.

"I'll bring you to Nola."

The care lady soon walked into the building, exchanging subtle pleasantries with Amanda.

"I haven't seen you last week. Busy with work?"

"Yes. I've only managed to fit a bit of free time today."

"How wonderful. Nola will be quite excited to see you."

Whenever Amanda visited Nola, she would instantly brighten up and throw herself in her arms.

Such scene had become a common occurrence at the Preschool.

Especially since the scene of the two ladies together looked as though they came straight out of a painting.

"Still, do try to look after yourself. Although I don't know your exact age, you don't look older than twenty. Working so much at your age is not good."

"...I hope so."

A tired smile appeared on Amanda's face.

If possible, she also wanted to work less; however, Amanda couldn't afford to take it easy with her responsibilities increasing each week.

Rumours about her father's absence have slowly started circulating the world.

Fortunately, she was able to keep those rumours in check, but she knew that she didn't have much time left at her disposal.

As such, she was forced to push herself even harder than ever before.

This was also why she couldn't pick up Nola last week.

She felt guilty about this hence why she cleared up her schedule today and decided to surprise her by showing up today.

"We're here."

Walking through the corridors of the building, the care lady and Amanda soon arrived before a particular classroom where a young girl with glossy black hair and deep blue eyes was patiently waiting outside.

Fiddling with her fingers at the classroom entrance and wearing a white and blue one-piece dress, the young girl looked extremely cute.

"Nola, someone is here for you."

Raising her little head, the moment Nola spotted Amanda, her complexion instantly became brighter as she ran up to her and called out.

"Sister!"

"Nola."

Bending down, Amanda extended her hands. Soon Nola jumped into her arms and hooked her arms around her neck.

"Sister!"

"Happy to see me, Nola?"

"Um!"

Hugging Nola back, Amanda lifted her head and looked at the care lady.

"How has Nola been doing?"

Looking at the two with a smile, the care lady responded.

"Good actually, ever since that gentleman came to pick her up last time, she has been a lot more cheerful?"

"Gentleman?"

Amanda titled her head.

"Ah, yes. He came to pick Nola up not too long ago. On the day that you were busy."

Originally Amanda was supposed to pick Nola up on that day, but she had to cancel a week prior due to an emergency board meeting.

"I have to say, ever since that gentleman came, Nola seemed to have become a lot more cheerful."

"...Is that so?"

"Yes."

The care lady replied.

Hesitating, Amanda asked. Her voice filled with curiosity.

Just who could have made Nola so much more cheerful?

"If I may ask, how did he look like?"

"The gentleman?"

"Yes."

"...Well, he looked to be in his forties or something? He seemed to be someone who worked for Nola's parents. So I'm guessing he must be an employee? I'm not sure, though."

"I see."

Listening to the care lady's words, the edges of Amanda's lips curled upward.

Although she had no idea who the individual was, as long as Nola was happy, so didn't care who he was.

Turning her attention back to Nola, who was in her arms, Amanda patted her head.

"Come, it's time to go back."

"Um."

"Thank you for today; I will see you next week."

Standing up and giving a slight nod to the care lady, Amanda took Nola by the hand and brought her back to her car under everyone's stare.

Once they exited the building, Maxwell could be seen waiting in front of the car. Upon spotting Amanda and Nola, he opened the passenger's side door and greeted the two ladies.

"Young miss, little Nola."

"Hello."

"Isn't this our cute little Nola?"

Nola waved her little hand at Maxwell, who gently smiled in response and tapped on her nose resulting in a small giggle escaping from the little girl's mouth.

"Hehe."

Nola reminded Maxwell of his daughter a lot.

She was about the same age as his daughter, and whenever he saw her, he couldn't help but want to tease her a little bit.

—Clank!

Once Amanda and Nola entered the car, Maxwell followed suit. Then, pressing on the gas pedal with his toes, the vehicle soon picked up speed and entered the busy streets of Ashton city.

As they were driving, Amanda turned her head and looked at Nola, who was sitting next to her.

"How was your day?"

"Um, good."

Nola cheerfully responded.

"Did something good happen, Nola?"

"Um."

At first, she didn't believe in the care lady's words, but seeing how cheerful Nola was, Amanda became curious.

Just what made her so happy?

"Care to share with me why you are so happy?"

"Hehehe, I met big bwaddar!"

Nola excitedly shouted with a cute smile appearing on her face.

"..."

However, Amanda did not find Nola's smile cute at all.

Once her words faded, silence descended as Amanda's face paled slightly.

Staring at Nola, Amanda's voice shook slightly.

"...Y-you met your big brother?"

"Um!"

A worried look appeared on Amanda's face.

Was Nola still unable to come to terms with the fact that Ren had died? Did it reach the point where she started imagining him?

The more she thought about it, the more her face became worried.

"What did you do with your brother?"

Repeatedly nodding her head, Nola exaggeratedly waved her hands in the air.

"Um. He bring me to eat candy and ice cream. Delicious. And then he also bring me to the park where play with..."

Listening to Nola's words, Amanda limps trembled from time to time.

"Is that so? was it fun?"

Putting on a brave smile, Amanda continued to show interest in Nola's words. But, unfortunately, she could not muster the courage to tell her that Ren had died.

Despite her attempts, the words that she wanted to say remained stuck inside her mouth.

It was then that she realized.

She, too, had still not come to terms with his death.

This was why the more Nola spoke, the stronger the pain in her heart became.

"Um! Um! Swuper fun!"

"...When was this?"

Amanda asked.

Raising her small hand, a troubled frown appeared on Nola's face.

"One...two...thee...four."

Opening the palm of her hand, she slowly tapped on each finger and started to count. Finally, once she paused on her fourth finger, lifting her head she said.

"Fwour days ago!"

"Four days ago?"

"Um."

'Wasn't this on the same day that I was supposed to pick Nola up?' Amanda wondered as the confusion in her mind grew.

Was Nola's situation perhaps due to her not showing up four days ago?

If so, staring at Nola who was still happily counting with her fingers, Amanda's face became troubled.

Slowly, guilt crept up in her heart.

Next chap in an hour.

Chapter 293: Journey [3]

[Monolith headquarters, location unknown.]

After the explosion that took place not too long ago, the reconstruction of the headquarters had already begun. Though the damage the headquarters had taken were significant, the central infrastructure remained intact.

As such, It was estimated that the building would be fixed back to normal within a couple of months.

On the northern side of the infrastructure, an ominous and gloomy atmosphere spread across a particular room in an area that had been unaffected by the explosion.

"Looks like everyone's here"

A cold, eerie voice echoed inside the room as an old man with a long-grey beard and grey eyes apathetically looked at five individuals standing opposite him.

Observing them, the old man could vividly see a tangible aura spread out from their bodies as each of them stood with their back straight.

Lifting his finger, the elder, Mo Jinhao, looked towards a particular individual standing in the middle of the group and pointed at him.

Opening his mouth, his cold voice once rang out inside the room.

"Xavier, is this the group that you want to bring to the hunt?"

"Yes, Vice Leader."

Xavier softly responded as he stepped up.

His expression was constantly changing. However, what didn't change was his glaring eyes filled with killing intent and the small smile that resembled that of a serpent.

"Everyone here seems to be quite well trained. One <B> rank, two <C> ranks and one <D> rank."

"That is correct, Vice-Leader. They're my personal unit, and I've decided to bring them with me for the hunt. I want them to gain some experience."

"Not bad."

Mo Jinhao nodded in appreciation.

This was the current force they were prepared to send to catch 876.

After getting the tracking system functioning again, much to their surprise, they found out that 876 had long left the human domain.

This was a bit of a problem since the direction where 876 was going directly bordered the elven domain.

With them being extremely sensitive to the mana in the air, they could feel anyone with tainted mana from miles away.

What followed suit was a tragedy as the elves would try their best to dispose of them.

Because of this, Mo Jinhao was forced only to send a relatively weaker unit. But, even then, this was plenty to kill 876 many times over.

The last time he checked, 876 was in the <D> rank range. So anyone from the tracking squad was enough to get rid of him.

Especially Xavier, who was <A> rank himself. If he couldn't do it, he deserved to die.

Rubbing his beard, Mo Jinhao reminded.

"Mhm. Make sure to be careful. Although 876 is weak, he's a crafty one."

Having seen his exploits with the cameras, 876 knew just how terrifying his analytical and planning abilities were. Even though he was weak, he was not an opponent to go easy again.

<script>ChapterMid();</script>

Suddenly waving his hand in the air, a small circular object appeared in Mo Jinhao's hand.

Flicking his wrist, the object quickly flew in Xavier's direction, who caught it with his right hand.

"This the tracking device?"

Xavier asked.

"Yes."

Mo Jinhao responded before his eyes narrowed and the room's temperature dropped.

"Quickly get rid of 876. Actually, do me one better. If you can, bring him to me alive!"

"As you wish."

Casually tossing the tracker in the air and playing with it, Xavier lowered his head.

"I'll get this done within half a year."

"Alright."

"Thank you."

Turning around, Xavier left the room. Following from behind him were his unit members.

—Clank!

Once the door closed, silence prevailed over the room. Staring in the direction of where Xavier had left, Mo Jinhao's eyes narrow as he muttered.

"...I hope you succeed in your mission. Xavier."

For what he had done to the Monolith. And him.

Mo Jinhao was going to make 876 pay dearly.

***

The blazing sun had set, and darkness enveloped the sky.

The crackling sound of wood burning rang out inside of the forest.

"Haa..."

Amidst the fiercely burning fire, I sat and stared at the fire opposite to me.

It had only been a day since I ventured out of the human domain, and everyone was tired.

Apart from Smallsnake and I, who were on night watch, everyone had fallen asleep in their tents.

"Ren, now that we've left, can you tell me what are your plans?"

Disrupting the silence, Smallsnake asked.

With my eyes still lingering on the raging fire in front of me, I took a branch from next to me and casually threw it in the fire.

Kracka—!

The fire burned even more violently.

"If you're curious as to where we're going, then we're going to the dwarven domain."

I responded after a while.

Smallsnake couldn't hide his curiosity and asked.

"The dwarven domain? Can I ask why we're going there?"

"... there are several reasons, but the main one is because I'm looking for someone to forge my sword."

With the ore that I had gotten from the auction, I planned to create a new sword.

As I've previously mentioned, only a few people could handle the ore that I had with me.

Anywhere else, and the result would be a good artefact, but one with a lot of lost potential.

"Also, I think this is a great opportunity for you and Ryan."

"Good...opportunity?"

Smallsnake tilted his head. He was clearly confused by my answer.

"Mhm, perhaps I might not even have to wait for long before the chip inside of my head is removed."

"Wait,really?"

"Yup."

The dwarves were incredibly smart.

There was a chance that they could create an artefact that could block whatever was installed in the chip inside of my head.

Furthermore, if I could have them teach either Ryan or Smallsnake, they would learn a lot. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Dwarves did, after all like to interact with intelligent people.

"Okay, that makes sense."

Smallsnake tossed a branch into the fire.

"Then, what about after the dwarven domain?"

He asked.

"...After?"

"Yeah. Are we going back to the human domain?"

"No, there's something else."

"Something else?"

"Mhm, but I won't say much with regards to that as I'm not sure about the situation myself."

Initially, in the novel, a massive conference would be held in about two to three years in the elven domain.

What made this conference special was that, for the first time since invading earth, the elves, dwarves, and orcs agreed on allowing humans to participate.

This was a monumental announcement as the whole human domain went into a frenzy as hope dyed their eyes.

...and of course, needless to be said, Kevin and the others would participate.

After going to the dwarven domain, I planned to go there, but given how the future was no longer reliable, I had to make backup plans.

Still, that was for another time.

"Haa."

Standing up, I stretched my back.

"What are you doing?"

Smallsnake asked. Lowering my head and looking at him, I shrugged.

"Nothing, just stretching."

"Is that so?"

Smallsnake replied.

Then, lifting his head, he asked.

"Right, Ren, been meaning to ask. What did you mean by what you've said before?"

"...regarding the people hunting us?"

"Yeah."

"Ah, nothing much. Just that we're going to be reversing the roles that we're playing."

My goal was to quickly change the team's dynamic in a way that would soon get rid of our pursuers.

"But how? ...Aren't they stronger than us?"

"Stronger? You could say that, but you forgot one thing."

"What?"

Smiling, I pointed at him.

"Me?"

A confused look appeared on Smallsnake's face. Evidently, not having understood the joke.

"I've got you guys to help me."

The mercenary group.

A group filled with potential monsters.

"Us?"

Smallsnake asked as he pointed at himself.

"Yes."

"How?"

"Not just that. There's also a clear lack of information about me."

All the Monolith knew about me was my strength.

Nothing else.

This meant that they didn't know that I had multiple capable individuals working for me as well as a soon to be count ranked demon.

If I played my cards right, this tiny little pursuit would end up in a much more anticlimactic way than imagined.

Turning my head and staring at the fire in front of me, I closed my eyes and softly muttered.

"Isn't it fun?"

"...What is?"

Smallsnake asked.

Opening my eyes, I responded.

"Hunting."

***

'Hehehe, I met big bwaddar!'

Tossing around the bed, the exact words repeated inside of Amanda's mind as she had trouble sleeping.

'What did you do with your brother?'

'Um. He bring me to eat candy and ice cream. Delicious. And then he also bring me to the park where play with...'

"...When was this?"

"Fwour days ago!"

Bits and pieces of their conversation started to enter her mind, continuously haunting her in her sleep.

Because of this, Amanda couldn't sleep despite being tired.

"Auu.."

This continued for a couple of hours until Amanda could no longer take it and sat up.

Once she sat up, blinking her eyes, Amanda reached for her phone on the drawer beside the bed.

She didn't know why, but parts of her conversations with Nola troubled her.

Was it because it had something to do with Ren? Amanda didn't know. But all she did know was that she could no longer sleep.

As she sat up, Amanda wondered to herself, 'Did Nola really meet Ren?'

But she knew that that was impossible.

Ren was dead.

She saw it on TV. There was no question about it.

Yet.

Despite knowing this, doubt still flashed across her eyes.

Biting her lips, Amanda turned on her phone and dialled a specific number.

—Riiing! —Riiing!

The phone rang.

—Hello?

After two squeals, a groggy voice entered Amanda's ears. It became apparent to her that the person had just woken up.

"Maxwell...I want you to do something for me."

—...Yes?

It took a moment for Maxwell, who was on the other side of the phone, to realize who was speaking. Subsequently, the pitch of his phone raised.

—Young miss? Do you need anything?

"I want you to send me some surveillance footage."

—Surveillance footage? That's possible.

The Demon Hunter guild was the number one guild in the world. So it wasn't hard for them to gain access to some of the CCTV camera's installed around the city.

—Tell me the time date. And who you want to have checked.

Having contemplated for the whole night, Amanda already knew the answer to the questions as she promptly replied.

"Four days ago, around 5 P.M., and I want you to check Nola."

—Nola?

"Mhm, I want you to check what she did throughout the whole day."

Though confused, Maxwell did not ask any questions and simply complied.

Such a task, although troubling, was within his abilities.

—Understood...Anything else?

"No. Thank you."

—Alright, give me an hour.

"Mhm."

Lowering her phone, Amanda hung up and took a deep breath.

Slumping back on the bed, Amanda put her arm around her eyes and waited for Maxwell to message her back.

'...was what Nola said true?'

Could Ren have somehow survived? But that was impossible. She saw him die with her own two eyes.

...and why did he not tell her that he was still alive?

Many questions emerged in Amanda's mind as she blankly stared towards the dark ceiling of her room.

Trriiiiing—!

A message arrived on her phone, ending her thoughts at that moment.

As Maxwell promised, in just one hour, he had already done what she had asked him to do.

Nervously staring at her phone, Amanda quickly unlocked it. Then, checking her mail, she soon saw multiple video files attachements

Tapping on the screen of her phone, she slowly started to watch the recording.

Soon, the screen enlarged, and the video started playing.

The first video started with Nola getting picked up by a middle-aged looking man. Nothing looked out of the ordinary from there.

"...huh?"

However, things quickly changed as she went through the following few videos.

That was because instead of bringing Nola home, the middle-aged man brought Nola around the whole city.

He did exactly what Nola had said she had done with her brother.

Her heart started to beat wildly.

Bringing the phone closer to her, biting her lips, she thought. '...did Nola perhaps mistake him for her brother?'

It was a possibility, but she quickly discarded such a thought.

Nola though young, would not mistake her brother for a middle-aged man that bore no resemblance to him.

Skin masks did exist, after all.

As her train of thoughts paused there, swallowing a mouthful of saliva, her heart started to beat wildly.

"huu."

Taking a deep breath to calm herself down forcefully, Amanda checked out the last video.

With her eyes glued to the screen of her phone, as soon as she opened the last video, Amanda's body trembled, and her phone dropped out of her hands.

Covering her mouth with both hands, she muttered.

"O-oh god..."

The image of the middle-aged man hugging his parents and kissing Nola in the head in front of their apartment complex was reflected on the screen of the phone.

Chapter 294: Pledge [1]

Clear and cold moonlight slowly spilt from the sky, enveloping the entire forest in a faint and mysterious net of silver.

"Huuu."

With his feet planted on top of a thick branch, a youth tightly held onto the tusk of the tree. His cold deep blue eyes surveilled the surroundings as a small bun appeared at the back of his head, tying his shoulder-length hair.

An unusual silence prevailed over the forest.

"Rooooooar!"

The silence did not last for long as a ferocious roar soon broke it. Then, appearing from behind a couple of trees was an enormous black bear with sharp claws that extended to at least the size of a pen.

"Huuuup!"

Standing on the opposite side of the bear was a youth with hazel eyes and curly brown hair.

Holding onto a large shield, the youth glared at the bear standing opposite him. After that, crying out, he dashed towards the bear with his right shoulder protected by the shield.

"Rooooar!"

The bear once again roared.

Raising its enormous claws, Hein suddenly felt an intense force appear in front of him.

Faced with such strength, Hein's face remained calm. Stomping the ground with his foot, he let out an angry cry as a brown color began to envelop his shield.

Clank—!

A clear sound echoed throughout the forest. The sound, which lingered in the air for a couple of seconds, was piercing to the ear.

Upon blocking the bear's attack, the force of the impact resulted in the creation of a half a metre wide hole in the ground around Hein's feet.

Letting out a small groan, Hein suddenly shouted.

"Khh...Now, Ava!"

tootle-too~

Once his words faded, the melodious tune of a flute suddenly rang in the air.

—Rustle! —Rustle!

Not long after the tune rang out, three pairs of red eyes appeared from nearby bushes.

Multiple growling sounds soon rang out.

"Grrrrr..."

Then, appearing from behind the vegetation were three red wolves. The wolves did not move, glaring at the bear standing opposite them with red blood-thirsty eyes; the wolves continued to growl.

"Rooooar!"

Seeing the three wolves in the distance, the bear roared in anger. Then, standing on both two feet, the bear raised its paws in the air.

As the bear stood up, its sharp claws reflected underneath the moonlight.

A ferocious aura quickly spread from its body, and a faint red glow enveloped its paws.

"Not on my watch!"

Just when the bear was about to attack the wolves, stomping his foot on the ground, Hein took advantage of the bears' distraction and once again dashed forward, smacking his shield at full force towards the bear's back, throwing it off balance.

"Now!"

Hein suddenly shouted.

tootle-too~

Once again, the sound of a flute playing rang out.

<script>ChapterMid();</script>

The sound wave sent out from the short flute began spreading out in all directions as the eyes of the wolves flashed.

Following this, the wolves that had not moved since appearing finally made their moves. Howling in the sky, they quickly dashed towards the bear.

"Oooooouuuee!"

The wolves had already appeared before the bear in a brief two seconds. Bearing their fangs, they ruthlessly aimed for the neck of the bear.

"Rooooar!"

Blood spilt out, and the bear's agonizing roar rang out. Then, swinging its arm, the bear threw one of the wolves away and raised its paw and clawed towards the wolf that was biting onto its neck.

Clank—!

However, just when the claw was about to hit the wolf, the bear again lost its balance as a tremendous force hit it from the back.

"Stay down the fuck down, you bastard."

Hein cursed as he violently pressed his shield onto the bear, rooting him on the ground.

"Rooooar!"

The bear was enraged by this. However, it could do nothing about it.

Despite the bears' attempts to rise to its feet, Hein continued to press his shield onto the bear's stomach, rooting its large body onto the ground.

"Oooooouuuee!"

Taking advantage of the fact that the bear could no longer move, the wolves ruthlessly bit onto the bear's flesh.

Pu chi—!

Blood violently sprayed from the bear's body.

—Thud!

Ganged up by three wolves and one human, the bear could not do anything.

Eventually, lifelessly looking at its surroundings, the bear breathed its last breath of air before dying.

"Haa...haaa..."

Once the bear died, heavy silence descended on the forest. That was until it was broken by Hein's, who dropped dead on the ground, exhausted.

"Did we do it?"

Appearing from behind the tree was a small petite girl.

Tightly holding onto a green translucent flute, the girl cautiously looked at the bear on the ground.

"...It's dead, isn't it?"

"Let me check."

Hein walked up to the bear with his shield raised to ensure it was dead. Then, circling it a couple of times and seeing that the bear was no longer breathing, Hein smiled.

"We did it!"

Upon confirming the bear's death, Joy could vividly be seen on Ava's face as she flashed a beautiful smile.

"Ava. we did it, we finally killed a <D> ranked beast by ourselves!"

Hein cried out in excitement.

This was the first time they beat a <D> tanked create.

Ava and Hein celebrated their victory for the next couple of seconds.

Then, recalling something, they both turned their heads towards a certain direction.

"How was it? Did we do well?"

Hein asked.

Hints of anticipation could be felt in his voice.

"..."

Wordlessly staring at them from above, a faint smile soon appeared on my face.

"...Not bad."

Jumping down from the tree I was on and lightly landing on the ground; I stared at the corpse of the bear.

Walking towards it, I bent down and stabbed a dagger towards its skull.

"You guys sure have improved a lot..."

From being unable to take care of a single <E> ranked beast to now being able to take care of a <D> ranked one easily.

These past four months outside of the human domain had not been wasted.

Hein and Ava had now comfortably stepped into <E> rank range, and their experience had drastically increased.

They could now hold up against more vigorous opponents.

"A pity that there is no core."

I muttered as I wiped my dagger with a white handkerchief.

Once again, no core.

Despite having hunted so many beasts throughout the four months that I had passed in here, I was still unable to find a core.

Anyhow, core aside, the most pleasant surprise was now Ava, who could now control more than three beasts with the aid of the flute.

Although her technique was still not perfect, she was stronger than before.

The fight just now being a great example of this.

No longer could she be considered dead-weight.

"There's also her..."

If there was another individual whose strength improved, Angelica stepped onto the Count rank from the Viscount rank.

I now had another powerful asset at my disposal.

Them aside, I also didn't stand idle during those four months.

"Status."

Swiping my hand forward, a small rectangular screen appeared in front of me.

===Status===

Name : Ren Dover

Rank : C -

Strength : C -

Agility : C +

Stamina : C -

Intelligence : C

Mana capacity : c-

Luck : C +

Charm : D

--> Profession :

[Swordsmanship lvl.4]

The degree of understanding of the sword has evolved to the next level. User will find it easier to understand previously harder concepts.

--> Martial Manual :

[★★★★★ Keiki style] - Greater realm of mastery

Sword art created by Grandmaster Toshimoto Keiki. A five-star module focused primarily on reaching the apex of swordsmanship and speed. Upon mastery, the sword art becomes so fast that before an opponent could even think about their next move, their heads would already be rolling on the ground.

[★★★ Ring of vindication] - Greater realm of mastery

Highly advanced sword art that creates a perfect ring of defense around the user. The ring can create a three-dimensional sphere that protects the user from all sides upon mastery. Because of the lack of offensive capabilities, the manual was graded three-stars.

[★★★ Drifting steps] - Greater realm of mastery

Movement art that progresses with each step. With every step taken, user speed will increase. Unless the user stops, speed will continuously improve until the user either runs out of mana or is injured.

[★★★✰ Quick-slash style] - Minor realm of mastery.

A sword art fully focused on speed. With one quick draw, the user gains the ability to kill an opponent without them noticing anything had happened. Created to replicate the Keiki style. After years of research, this sword art was the result.

[★★★ Full-body martial arts]

Hand-to-Hand combat technique dedicated to utilizing every single part of the body to incapacitate the enemy. It may be a 3-star art, but upon mastery, it can be used to complement other forms of martial art.

--> Skills :

A skill that enables users to erase all emotions, and act as a supreme monarch that only calculates the best option regardless of circumstance.

A skill that enables the user to instil fear into the opponents' minds resulting in them feeling like they were standing before a sovereign that overlooked everything. The skill may work on individuals who are one rank higher than them, however, if the difference between the two parties is greater than two ranks, the skill effect diminishes.

A lot has changed during those four months, and most notable was the fact that I had now broken through to <C-> rank.

Not only that, but I was not close to reaching the next realm of mastery for the Keiki style.

The essence realm of mastery.

Once I learned that I would finally be able to use the fourth stance of the Keiki style, once again, my strength would shoot up to the next level.

Everything was slowly coming into place.

—Triiing!

My two-way radio suddenly beeped, disrupting me out of my thoughts.

Taking out a small device from my pants, I quickly answered.

"Ryan?"

—Ren, they're near.

A slight sense of urgency could be felt in his voice as he spoke.

My brows knit as a result.

"Already? How far?"

—...According to the devices I've installed and the drone, they should be a couple of kilometres away from here.

"Mhm, proceed as originally planned."

—Understood.

Ryan quickly ended the transmission.

Putting the two-way radio away, I looked at Hein and Ava.

"You guys proceed as planned."

"Yes."

Thoughtfully nodding her head, Ava jumped onto one of the wolves and disappeared into the forest.

Giving me a nod, Hein followed suit leaving me all alone inside of the forest.

"..."

Silence once again descended in the forest.

Closing my eyes, I sat down on a rock and lit up a small fire. Then, taking an apple from my dimensional space, I took a small bite.

—Crunch.

A subtle crunching sound rang out.

Chewing on the apple, gazing into the distance, my eyes flashed coldly.

"... Its about time I got rid of you lot"

Chapter 295: Pledge [2]

Crunch—!

The crunching sound of an apple being bitten rang out.

The juices from the apple trickled down the hand of a young man whose deep blue eyes reflected the burning fire opposite him.

Crunch—!

The youth took another bite of the apple with a cold and apathetic look.

—Rustle! —Rustle!

Suddenly, a rustling sound arose, and four shadows silently materialized from all sides of the youth.

"..."

Despite being surrounded by all sides, the youth kept his head lowered and continued to eat his apple.

Seemingly unbothered by their presence.

Before long, a male with fair skin and green eyes appeared from the other side of the youth.

Outwardly he looked like a perfect gentleman, as he had a kind smile on his face.

"Enjoying your meal?"

He asked.

"..."

He was met with dead silence.

Shrugging his shoulders, Xavier sat on a rock opposite Ren.

Looking at Ren from top to bottom, an amused look appeared on his face.

"Is that how you look without the scars, 876? Not bad, you look a lot better than before."

Crunch—!

Once again Ren took a bite of the apple.

Completely disregarding Xavier's presence.

Not minding Ren's attitude, Xavier continued.

"...If you remember, we've previously met once before. Back in the Monolit—"

"One broken hand, a punch in the stomach, two broken shoulders..."

Cutting Xavier off, opening his mouth, Ren softly mumbled.

"Hm?"

Xavier's brows knit.

"Have you gone crazy during the time that you left the Monolith?"

As he said that, wariness crept into Xavier's heart.

Things were odd.

After spending so many months trying to catch 876, once they were able to finally catch up to him, he seemed completely unbothered.

Almost as though he had been expecting their arrival.

But that was impossible.

He was only one person.

How could it be possible for him to find out about their arrival?

Furthermore, they had already checked the surroundings thoroughly; apart from him, there should be no one else.

Glancing towards the four black-clad people, Xavier nudged them with his head. Instantly they approached Ren.

Standing up, Xavier's eyes flashed coldly.

"What a pity. Although I was ordered to bring you back alive, I would'v—"

Opening his mouth, Ren once again disrupted Xavier mid-speech.

"...Those were the injuries I sustained during our first meeting."

Lifting his head up and staring at Xavier directly in the eyes, Ren casually threw the apple in his hand to the side.

"It's time for me to pay you back for what you've done to me."

Frowning, terrifying pressure suddenly sprang out from Xavier's body.

<script>ChapterMid();</script>

"What are you talking about? Have you gone insane?"

With a dagger materializing in his hand, Xavier raised it.

—Thud!

However, just as he was about to attack Ren, the faint sound of something falling on the ground resounded.

Turning his head, Xavier's eyes opened wide.

"——!"

A shocked look appeared on his face.

Standing behind one of the shadows that had previously surrounded Ren, was a stunning beauty with fair skin and long black hair.

With two horns on her head, Angelica casually glanced at the other three remaining shadows before raising her hand.

A black flame suddenly appeared in her hand, causing Xavier's face to pale slightly.

"A demon!? ...Impossible!"

He muttered in shock.

Staring at Angelica, Ren finally stood up.

Opening his mouth, Ren's cold voice echoed inside of Xavier's ears.

"What did I say? Today I'm definitely going to pay you back for what you've done."

As his words faded, rustling sounds could be heard throughout the area as three pairs of bloodthirsty red eyes suddenly appeared in the nearby bushes.

—Rustle! —Rustle!

"...I see. "

After spotting the three wolves and finally realizing what was happening, Xavier closed his eyes.

"It seems like I fell for your trap 876...who would've thought that you'd be resourceful enough to get a count ranked demon to work for you."

Xavier had many questions that he wanted to ask, such as why a demon was helping him and how he had known that they were coming, but he did not voice them.

He knew that he would only be met with deathly silence.

Staring at his three other members, Xavier nudged them with his head.

Instantly, they dashed towards Angelica's direction, completely disregarding Ren and the three wolves.

With a dagger in his hand, Xavier's hand fiercely shot out, ruthlessly aiming for Angelica's head.

His goal was clear, take out the strongest individual first before taking care of the rest.

"Nope."

A voice suddenly rang out.

Coming out from the nearby bushes was Hein, who quickly blocked the path of one of the black-clad individuals.

He was one of the weakest of the black-clad individuals.

—Clang!

The smashing of the two intense forces directly shaved a layer off the grass surfaced forest. Some of the weaker tree trunks directly broke apart.

"Grrr..."

Following this, the wolves finally made their moves as they quickly dashed forward and helped suppress one of the black silhouettes.

Whilst this was going on, Ren did not stand idle.

With his toes touching the ground, his body shot forward, and he soon appeared in front of the two other black silhouettes.

Coating his fist with wind psyons, Ren punched out.

As he punched out, Ren's sleeves fluttered wildly due to the tremendous speed, creating a paper like sound. Ren's fist then violently shot forward. Within the short distance, the intense force that the fist carried emitted a sharp whistle of wind splitting.

The sharp noise of the wind breaking behind him caused the black silhouette's face to turn aghast.

This seemingly simple punch contained such force that it made the black-silhouette instinctively want to avoid it.

—Bang!

"U...ugh!"

A clear sound echoed throughout the forest, which was soon followed by a groan.

Taking a couple of steps back, the black silhouette was forced to divert his attention away from Angelica.

The youth before him was not someone he could take lightly.

—Swooosh!

Just as Ren's body stabilized, a sharp wind flashed toward him. With a calm expression on his face, Ren forcefully twisted his body and narrowly dodged the sharp tip of a blade.

His body shot back a couple of steps as he expressionlessly stared at the blade.

Placing his hand on the sheath of his sword, a white glow sprang out from his body as a subtle clicking sound soon rang out.

—Click!

The first movement of the [Keiki style] : Quick flash

A white light enveloped the area within a second that the glow appeared. Not long after, a body fell onto the ground.

A huge gaping hole appeared by his head.

Just like that, a <C> ranked individual had died.

This all happened in seconds.

"Im...impossible!"

Just when the other black-clad individual was about to support his partner, to his utter dismay, he was already dead. To make matters worse, he wasn't able to see how his partner had died.

Stomping his foot on the ground and dashing backwards, he quickly took out a small communication device and tried to get in contact with the headquarters.

"Emergency, emergency, we—"

"It's no use."

Standing on the same spot as before, Ren calmly stared at the black-clad individual in front of him.

Bending down and taking the dimensional space off of the black-clad individual he had just killed, he softly said.

"All your devices will not function within this radius."

Hein and Ava were not the only people that had improved during these past four months.

Ryan had also been hard at work.

Although he still couldn't quite figure out the chip, he learned a lot of new things. One such thing was that he could now hack through different communications devices and block any transmission from going out.

Under the protection of Leopold, Ryan and Smallsnake were currently not so far from here, trying their best to help through the aid of the drones in the sky and through blocking all forms of communication.

This was extremely important since Ren did not want the Monolith to find out the fact that he had companions working for him.

The less information they knew, the bigger his advantage in the long run.

Furthermore, although Leopold's fighting abilities were above Hein's and Ava's, someone needed to watch out for their safety.

They were powerless after all.

"...shit!"

Listening to Ren's words, the black-clad individual's face turned aghast.

"Being in denial is not a good thing."

Taking advantage of the black-clad individual's panic, Ren's toes gently pressed onto the ground.

Soon, his body disappeared and reappeared in front of the black-clad individual, completely catching him off-guard.

Curling his fist into a ball, a green hue shrouded Ren's fist, directly smashing towards the abdomen area of the black-clad individual.

—Bam!

"Pu...chi!"

Helpless against the attack that came unexpectantly and extremely fast, the black-clad individual violently threw up a mouthful of fresh blood.

Subsequently, he feebly fell onto the ground.

—Thud!

"..."

Apathetically watching the black-clad individual fall to the ground, Ren simply wiped his hand indifferently. Then, turning his head, he looked towards Angelica's direction to see how she was faring.

—Boooom!

In the distance, an explosion rang out, and two figures shot back.

On one side was Angelica, who was wholly unscathed, whilst on the other was Xavier, who was breathing heavily with torn clothes.

"haaa...haaa..."

Glaring at Angelica, who was standing opposite of him, Xavier shouted.

"Why are you helping a human! You're a demon; we're on the same side!"

The Monolith was an association that directly worked for the demons.

Never did Xavier expect a demon to work with 876.

Listening to Xavier's words, a disgusted look appeared on Angelica

"Don't lump me on the same side as you guys."

The black coloured flames around her exquisite body intensified following Angelica's words.

A savage black flame violently surged forth from her body in the blink of an eye. The black flame gradually spiralled upwards, finally forming an enormous pillar of black that shot towards the sky.

The intense heat caused by the flames caused the nearby trees and vegetation to turn into ash.

Waving her hand, the enormous pillar of flames shot towards Xavier, who was standing opposite to her.

"Disappear from this world."

"Shit!"

Staring at the incoming flames, Xavier clenched his jaw tightly and cursed out loud.

Despite of the fact that he and Angelica were of the same rank, their strengths were nowhere near similar.

That was for one simple reason.

Angelica was a pure demon whilst he was only someone who borrowed the power of a demon.

Simply put, her count rank bloodline was enough to suppress the little demon bloodline Xavier had in his body due to the consumption of the devil fruits.

This was also why demons never worried about the Monolith or their contractees betraying them.

Their bloodline suppression was enough to completely put them in their place.

Unless another demon of a similar rank showed up, no one could stop her.

Had Xavier been a regular human, he would've been able to go toe to toe with her, perhaps even overpower her.

But, he no longer was.

"Damn it!"

Crying out, Xavier suddenly raised his dagger.

His mana surged out, and a blue hue suddenly enveloped his dagger. A blue pillar with faint black threads of demonic energy curling around it rose in the air.

Xavier's clothes fluttered wildly.

Staring at the incoming flames, Xavier knew that he had to go all out or he was done for.

"Haaaa!"

Once Xavier gathered enough mana, letting out a desperate cry, he slashed forward with all of his might as a faint thunder noise suddenly sounded.

Soon, the two attacks collided, and deathly silence shrouded the forest.

The silence continued for a few minutes as the two energies clashed in the sky. Seemingly at a stalemate.

However, the stalemate did not last for a long as both energies soon seemed to have exhausted their strength as they slowly died down and converged together into a small black and blue ball in the air.

With her brows knit, Angelica stared at the ball in the distance. Then, raising her fair hand, she suddenly clenched it into a fist.

"Break."

—Bang!

As her words faded, an explosive blast echoed throughout the mountain range.

"Pu...chi!"

—Bang!

Spitting a mouthful of blood, Xavier helplessly fell back and collided back first against a tree. The explosion contained both his and Angelica's energies combined.

The fact that he had still not died was a miracle in itself.

"Huak!"

Once Xavier's body smashed against the tree, he once again spat another mouthful of blood. Then, with one hand on the ground, trying to support his body, Xavier saw the shadow of two feet appear before him.

"Kh..."

With a ghastly pale face, he looked up. There, coldly looking at him from above, was Ren.

Bending down, Ren grabbed Xavier by the head.

"...I told you, didn't I?"

Leaning his head forward, he whispered.

"I told you that I would make you pay for what you did to me."

—Kraka!

Putting his hand on Xavier's shoulder, the sound of bones breaking rang out.

"That's the first shoulder..."

Another chapter in about an hour or two.

Chapter 296: Pledge [3]

—Kracka! —Kracka! —Kracka!

The repetitive sound of bones breaking resounded across the forests.

"Second shoulder, right arm, left arm, right ribs..."

Repeatedly breaking each and everyone one of Xavier's bones, I did not realize that Xavier had long passed out from the pain.

White foam streamed down from his mouth as his eyes had long, completely turned white.

—Kracka!

This time it was his left leg.

With rage clouding my mind, I completely lost myself in the torture. Of course, I wasn't aware of what was going on, but all I felt at the moment was the unprecedented urge to destroy Xavier.

"Ren, stop!"

"Huh?"

I could only wake up from my hysteria after I felt a slight nudge on my shoulder.

Turning around and seeing Hein and Ava looking at me with worried and fearful expressions on their faces, it was then that I finally realized what was going on.

Closing my eyes and exhaling deeply, I apologized.

"Haa...sorry. I lost myself there for a second."

Wiping the sweat that had accumulated on my forehead, I silently stood up.

'It happened again...'

Clenching my fists hard, I glared at the sky.

Four months had passed since I had escaped the Monolith, and even then, I was still suffering from the backlash of the experiments back in the Monolith.

Subjected to virtual simulations and serum dosages every day for months, a part of me broke, and at times, I would lose myself just like now.

To make matters worse, I had no way of controlling these types of moments.

Instead, they were now deeply engraved into my brain.

This was part of the reason why I didn't want to meet my parents for too long.

I didn't want them to see this new side of me.

"Haaa..."

Calming myself down and turning my head, I looked towards Ava and Hein.

"Are you guys done on your side as well?"

"Yes, we've taken him down."

Hein replied.

Looking behind them, I could see one of the black-clad individuals on the ground, presumingly dead.

I nodded my head in satisfaction.

"I see. Good job."

—You guys finished?

Ryan's voice suddenly rang inside of my ear.

Tapping onto my ear, I responded.

"Yes, we're done here. You can come down."

—Okay.

Once Ryan's voice faded, I lowered my head. Then, crossing my arms, I looked at Xavier, who was beneath my feet and on the verge of death.

Although almost all of his bones had shattered and he was almost dead, he still had one more role to fulfil.

He couldn't die just yet.

Just as I was about to bend down towards him, Angelica appeared by my side.

Placing her hand on Xavier's chest, she slowly removed all of the demonic energy that was lingering in his body.

<script>ChapterMid();</script>

This process took a while, but before long, any sign that she had fought with him dissapeared.

"Human, you've improved a lot."

She muttered as she was removing the demonic energy from Xavier's body.

Without taking my eyes away from Xavier, I softly replied.

"...You too. I guess Silug's situation helped you out a lot."

About fourteen months had passed since I had last seen Silug.

Given that the time in Imorra flowed much slower, about a decade had passed there.

I had initially expected the war in Immorra to end in about three years; however, my calculations were far off.

The war in Immorra had continued for over a decade, and it was only around three months ago that Silug had broken through to <S> rank.

Even then, he still had not joined the war.

He was still biding his time.

According to Angelica, Silug told her that the orc chief and Marquess Azeroth had still not clashed yet.

He was only going to swoop in when both sides were injured.

That was fine with me, though.

Although I wanted the war to end sooner so that Silug could build his forces faster, this still worked out since I was still unsure about Silug's stance.

On the bright side, Silug's breakthrough had benefited Angelica a lot. Thanks to him, she was able to break through to Count rank in only six months.

It was an alarming rate of progress. One that even left me speechless.

"Ren."

A familiar voice suddenly sounded out.

Turning my head, I soon spotted a few familiar figures approaching me from a distance.

The edges of my lips curled upwards.

"...You guys are finally here."

The individuals were Ryan, Smallsnake, and Leopold.

"Thanks for the help. You guys helped out a lot."

"No problem."

Smallsnake nodded his head before casually throwing a small object in my direction.

"Here's the listening device that you've asked for."

"Oh, nice."

Catching the device, I bent down towards Xavier.

The device that Smallsnake had given me was a simple listening device. Nothing special.

"What are you doing?"

Ryan curiously asked.

"Nothing much..."

Putting the small device into Xavier's mouth and making him swallow it, tapping on my bracelet once, I proceeded to take out a syringe from my dimensional space.

A nostalgic smile appeared on my face.

"A pity that you won't be able to know what hit you."

Sticking the sharp needle of the syringe towards Xavier's neck, I injected him with a high dosage of the serum.

"Khuk."

A slight sound escaped from Xavier's mouth.

Ignoring it, after injecting him with the first dosage of the serum, I tossed the syringe to the side and took another one and repeated the same process.

"Khuk"

A similar sound escaped from his mouth once I injected him with the second dosage.

Xavier was an <A> ranked individual; one syringe was not enough for him to ultimately become brain-dead.

This was why I injected him with another dosage.

As I predicted, the moment I injected the second full dosage of the serum, Xavier's both started to convulse like crazy.

"Ren?"

Smallsnake, alongside the others, took a step back.

"Don't worry, he's going to be fi—see, he's fine."

Not even halfway through my words and Xavier's body stopped convulsing.

Then, opening his eyes, revealing a languid look devoid of any emotion, Xavier blankly stared at the sky.

"...what have you done?"

Hein asked from the side.

Throwing the syringes away, my eyes became sharp.

"Nothing much; I've just given him a taste of his own medicine."

He was the individual that had approved the project.

Letting him have a taste of the serum was an excellent way to make him understand what I went through during those hellish eight months.

Well, it no longer mattered since he was now wholly brain-dead.

Tapping onto my bracelet, I took out an empty dimensional ring and tossed it towards Smallsnake.

"Here, take this ring and complete the task that I briefed you on before."

"...Okay."

Taking the ring, Smallsnake hesitatingly turned around and left.

Before long, he returned to my side and threw the ring in my direction. Catching the ring with my right hand, I put the ring on Xavier's finger.

Then, tapping onto another ring that was resting on Xavier's finger, I slowly channelled my mana onto the ring.

"Have a safe trip..."

Ten seconds after my words faded, out of nowhere, Xavier magically disappeared from where he was.

As he disappeared, I took out a small black box and sat down on a nearby rock.

Staring at the black box in my hand, the smile soon disappeared off of my face as a cold look soon replaced it.

***

A body was placed in the middle of the hall that was shrouded by a gloomy atmosphere. The body belonged to Xavier, who suddenly appeared out of thin air inside the VIP portal area.

Everyone in the hall remained silent as they eyed Xavier's body.

Although he was still alive and breathing, his brain was completely dead. So no matter how much they tried to stimulate it, they couldn't get any reaction from him. As such, extracting information from him was no longer possible.

At this moment, none of the people in the hall dared to emit the slightest sound because they could feel the chilly killing intent of the older man seated in an oversized chair.

"...Is this his way of mocking us!?"

Mo Jinhao stared at the corpse with bloodied eyes as he clenched his teeth audibly; explosive anger that was suppressed deeply inside of him could be heard in his thick voice.

To the people in the room, every second felt agonizing. The pressure exuding from Mo Jinhao's body was too oppressive.

—Bang!

Breaking the silence, the doors of the hall smacked open.

A rushed figure entered the hall. Bending down on one knee, he reported.

"Deputy head, we've found out about the contents of the dimensional ring on Xavier's finger."

"Tell me."

"...Yes."

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva with his head still lowered, the servant tapped on a small tablet, and a holographic image suddenly popped up in front for everyone to see.

"..."

Once the image appeared for everyone to see, heavy silence descended in the room.

"Is this a joke?"

Thick killing intent enveloped the room as Mo Jinhao stood up and glared at the servant.

"N-no deputy head...t-this is what was found in the dimensional space."

Under Mo Jinhao's heavy pressure, the servant started to perspire heavily. Finally, his complexion turned ashen white, and his body sunk to the floor.

Ignoring the servant and staring at the holographic image, a ferocious killing intent rose inside of Mo Jinhao's heart.

Depicted on the holograms was the image of four heads placed side by side.

The reason for Mo Jinhao's anger was because he knew who those heads belonged to.

They were the heads of the other four individuals that went with Xavier.

This was a blatant provocation to him!

Lowering his head and staring at the servant, Mo Jinhao's eyes narrowed.

"Was there anything else in the dimensional ring?"

"Y....yes."

Without looking up, the servant fearfully nodded his head.

"Give it to me. "

Swallowing another mouthful of saliva and trembling all over, the servant took out a small black box and handed it to Mo Jinhao.

"H-here."

Casually taking the box, Mo Jinhao asked.

"What's this?"

"It's a communication device."

"A communic—"

—Ding! —Ding!

As soon as Mo Jinhao held onto the black box, the box started to vibrate.

The room instantly became quiet.

Lowering his head, Mo Jinhao's brows knit. Then, pressing onto the top right corner of the small box, he muttered in a soft voice.

"876..."

Though his voice was silent, it powerfully rang inside of the ears of everyone present in the room.

Khhhhh—!

A static sound sounded.

—876?

Before long, a cheerful yet confused voice suddenly sounded from the device's speaker.

—...Right, that's what you guys called me. Been a while since I've heard of that nickname. Not gonna lie, kinda miss it.

"It's you..."

—Hmm, this voice. Mo Jinhao I presume?

"..."

Mo Jinhao didn't answer.

However, those around him suddenly felt the air around them thicken up considerably.

Their breathing started to become rougher.

—I'll take the silence as a yes.

Ren continued.

—The reason why I called you was to ask whether you liked my present or not? How was it? I spent quite a bit of time preparing everything for you. So don't I at least deserve a little thank you?

Tangible bloodlust suddenly manifested from Mo Jinhaos back as everyone in the room turned pale.

—Ah, don't be so angry. All I did was just kill an extra. Not that you'd know what it mean. Anyhow the reason I called you here was to just say one thing...

Suddenly the voice behind the speaker became colder.

—Hear me carefully because I'll only say it once.

As if a switch had been flipped, the cheerful voice from before wholly disappeared.

—I'm here to make a pledge.

Clenching tightly onto the black box, a thick aura sprang out from Mo Jinhao's body . His grey eyes coldly looked at the box in front of him as his clothes fluttered wildly.

—Remember...when I return, and I mean when because I will return.

As 876 spoke, certainty could be felt from his voice. It was as though he was utterly certain that he would return.

As if this outcome had been predetermined from the very beginning.

—When that happens, make sure to count your days. Because no matter how long it will take, be it a year, two years, or even a decade, I swear upon my life that I will do anything within my power to completely erase your existence from this world. I want you to remember this moment. Remember what I just said today, because once you look back on it in how many x years in the future, I want you to remember that that was the day that I proclaimed yours and the Monolith's deat—

Crush—!

Cutting the speech off, Mo Jinhao crashed the black device in his hand.

With a terrifying glare on his face, his body trembled uncontrollably as a black aura surged out from his body, completely enveloping the hall.

The hall suddenly shook, and Mo Jinhao's enraged roar reverberated throughout the whole building.

"876!!! I will kill you!!"

Chapter 297: Henolur [1]

Khhhhh—!

The static sound of the radio sounded.

"...I guess he hung up."

A trace of pity flashed across my eyes as I put the radio transmitter away.

Standing up and putting my coat on, I nudged the others to follow me.

"Alright, let's go."

Now that I had taken care of the annoying flies swarming on my back, I could now go to my destination without too many worries.

"Ren, how long do we have left?"

Ryan asked from behind.

"We're almost there."

Our current destination was Henolur, the dwarven capital.

After travelling for the past four months, we had almost arrived at the location.

"Precise time?"

"About one more week of travel, I would say."

Originally we were supposed to take a lot less time to arrive; however, to slow down Xavier and the other's pursuit, I decided to take a slight detour and travelled near the elven border.

Fortunately, during our fight right now the elves didn't get involved, but in all likelihood, they were already aware of our presence.

"Let's go before we run into trouble."

"Are you talking about the elves?"

Smallsnake arrived by my side and followed along.

"That's right."

Playing with the dimensional spaces that he had collected from the people we had just killed, Smallsnake handed them to me.

"...Do you think they'd attack us? I heard that they don't attack humans."

"Sort of, but you can never be too safe."

With humanity's advancement these past few decades, all three races started viewing humans in a more 'favourable' light.

That being said, this didn't mean that they still fully trusted us.

This was why a conference was going to be held soon.

It was made with the purpose of talking about the potential third cataclysm that was soon going to hit the earth and the possibility of allowing humanity to join the alliance.

Well, that was well into the future.

Right now, my goal was to enter the dwarven domain and increase my strength by leaps and bounds.

"Let's hurry for now. I don't want to meet any trouble along our way."

***

A few kilometres away from where Ren and the others were, Gazing at them from a distance, were two obscured figures.

With each breath the two figures took, the mana in the air would follow their breathing rhythm. Almost as though they were in complete synch with the mana in the air.

"Should we attack?"

Looking right, one of the figures asked as a melodious voice rang out.

Judging from their subservient tone, it was evident that the figure they talked to was higher ranked.

"...no"

The other figure shook its head.

"What about the demon?"

The higher-ranked figure pointed towards the distance, revealing a delicate white hand devoid of imperfection.

<script>ChapterMid();</script>

"Did you sense the mana of the people they were fighting?"

"Mhm, it was tainted with demonic energy."

"Right, for that female demon to work with humans and kill multiple contracted individuals, we can assume that she is no longer on the same side as the demons."

Although most demons worked with each other, in the end, what they cared for most was their self-interest.

Just because they were from the same race didn't mean that they had to help them.

This was a natural occurrence that occurred in all races.

"...That's true. However, I've also noticed that the demon follows that human with long hair. Strange."

The whole time they observed the fight in the distance, they noticed that everything revolved around a specific human with long black hair and blue eyes.

From how he was the one being targeted, to how the demon seemed to be following his orders.

"That is indeed strange; let's observe a little more."

As those words faded, the two figures disappeared.

***

Just like usual, Amanda sat on her desk and completed her paperwork.

This was a boring route that she had grown accustomed to over the last year or so in her new position in the demon hunter guild.

[Demon Hunter guild, Board member - Amanda Stern]

Her nameplate reflected the sunlight coming from the window behind her.

—Knock! —Knock!

A knocking sound sounded.

"Come in."

Lifting her head, Amanda opened her mouth, and the door opened.

"You called for me?"

Unceremonially entering the room, a slim girl with long light brown hair and a pair of glasses entered the room.

It was Melissa.

"So, what did you call me for, Amanda?"

Melissa asked as she looked around the neatly organized office. It was spotless.

Then, sitting on the sofa in front of Amanda, she crossed her legs and propped her elbow on the sidearm of the sofa.

"..."

Putting the stack of papers down, Amanda wordlessly stared at Melissa, sitting opposite her.

This continued for a couple of seconds until Melissa could no longer take it and mouthed in annoyance.

"So? You just called me here to admire my beauty? Sorry, but I'm not really into girls."

"How is the project going?"

Disregarding Melissa's comments, Amanda finally opened her mouth and asked.

"The project? It's going well; why? Has something come up from your end?"

"No."

Amanda shook her head, prompting Melissa's brows to furrow.

"Then why did you call me? Don't tell me you asked me to come here to find out about how the project is going, right?"

Melissa grumbled as she rested her cheek on her right arm.

"You do know phones exist, right?"

"It's not that."

Waving her hand, a small barrier appeared, enveloping the two of them.

"What are you doing?"

Melissa looked at the barrier that was slowly forming around her.

Though startled, she didn't show much of a reaction. She knew Amanda well. She wasn't one to do stupid things.

"...You know, I was joking about the previous comments about you being into girls...unless."

"Here."

Ignoring Melissa, tapping onto a small tablet resting on her desk, a holographic video soon popped up.

Pressing onto the image mid-air, the video soon began playing.

Once the video began playing, multiple different scenarios started to show.

In all those scenarios, there was a common thing: a middle-aged man playing with a young girl.

The only difference was the last video, where the middle-aged man hugged a couple before leaving.

Annoyance could be felt in Melissa's voice as she took her eyes away from the video and looked at Amanda.

"What's this? Are you perhaps looking for a partner to look at dramas with you?"

"No, look carefully."

Amanda then pointed towards the middle-aged man playing with the girl in the video.

"That's Ren."

"..."

For a brief moment, silence enveloped the room.

Opening and closing her mouth multiple times, Melissa didn't know what to say.

She was dumbstruck by Amanda's sudden statement.

This was until her face suddenly twisted weirdly.

"Have you completely lost it? Has all the work you've been doing finally fried your brain into oblivion?"

"It has not."

Amanda calmly replied.

Melissa snorted in response.

"Nu-hu, it has. So you are telling me that Ren has now become some weird middle-aged man that plays with kids."

"I have proof."

"Proof?"

Melissa stopped and raised her brow.

Nodding her head and taking out a small key, Amanda inserted the key inside her drawer.

She then twisted it and slid the drawer back. After taking out a couple of files, she handed them to Melissa.

"Here."

"What's this?"

Taking the papers with a confused look on her face, Melissa slowly read through them.

She asked after a while, alternating her gaze between the video and the files.

"...Are these the profiles of the people in the video?"

"Mhm, they're Ren's parents."

Scratching the side of her head, Melissa tapped on the names of the profiles.

"Right, I figured from their names, and the fact that his father looks similar to him...but this isn't nearly enough to prove that he is Ren."

"Look at this as well."

Amanda slid another paper in Melissa's direction.

On that paper was a detailed profile of the middle-aged man who visited them in the video.

"According to our investigation, that man in the video has long disappeared ten years ago. This was the first time in ten years that he has appeared."

"..."

Taking the paper, Melissa carefully looked through it without speaking.

Sitting opposite to her, Amanda was unable to read her expression. Instead, she seemed to be lost in her own world.

It was only after a couple of minutes had passed that Melissa finally opened her mouth.

"How sure are you about this?"

"Very sure."

Amanda replied.

With the power of her guild, this kind of investigation was a piece of cake for her.

She had information on Ren's parents due to having done a background check on them prior to when they first met and when Ren had asked to protect them.

This was to get a better idea of who the people they were protecting were.

On another note, Nola's recent behaviour had given Amanda another reason to believe that the man in the video was Ren in disguise.

"I see..."

Melissa muttered underneath her breath.

Sitting up straight and tapping her finger on the armrest of the sofa, she asked.

"Let's say what you said is true; why did you tell me? Aren't you a little too trusting of me?"

"...the contract. "

"The what?"

Taking out a piece of paper from her drawer Amanda placed it on the table and pointed towards a certain text.

"The contract you signed with Ren and me. It clearly states that we can't do anything to harm each other."

As the third business partner, Amanda had also signed a similar contract.

Although the contract wasn't a mana contract, as Melissa didn't want her father to find out about the project, the contract would directly break upon the infringement of a predetermined term through a particular spell.

From there, the other parties could directly go to the central government to present the case.

In short, if Melissa breached the contract, she would lose the rights to her project. Even if her father interfered, she could do nothing about it.

Silently staring at the contract on Amanda's table, Melissa's brows knit.

"...Okay, fine. but it still doesn't explain why you told me about the possibility of Ren still being alive."

Putting the contract and profiles away, Amanda put the papers back into her drawer and locked them with the key.

"It's because I need you to send someone to protect Ren's parents."

"Huh?"

Melissa's face turned ugly.

"Did I hear correctly? So you want me to get someone to protect Ren's parents? Wasn't that your job?"

"Mhm."

Amanda softly nodded her head.

She was also helpless in this situation. Although it was her job to keep Ren's parents safe, news about her father's disappearance started to make waves.

The other diamond graded guilds were starting to become bolder and bolder, and Amanda knew that Ren's parents might end up suffering from the repercussions.

Even though she was still trying her best to keep them safe, she could no longer guarantee their safety like before.

She asked for Melissa's help because her background was even more significant than hers.

If she helped, she didn't have to worry about their safety.

"Can you at least tell me why?"

Melissa asked.

With a wry smile on her face, Amanda apologetically shook her head.

"Sorry."

Covering her face, Melissa's mouth twitched.

"...you know what, fine. I don't care."

Melissa then stood up.

"I'll do it. Either way, I still need about half a year. In half a year, I'll have the product ready. I'll use the money his or your money to pay for the fee of the people that will protect his parents."

Amanda gratefully looked at Melissa.

"Thank you."

"Tsk."

Melissa clicked her tongue in displeasure.

Then, turning her wrist, she checked the time.

"Alright, I have to go now. I'll contact you again once I'm done with the project."

"Mhm."

Nodding at Melissa, Amanda watched as she left her office.

Once Melissa left the office, looking at the holographic video in front of her, Amanda tapped on the screen and pressed [Delete].

Soon the holographic video shut down, and the last evidence of Ren's existence disappeared.

She had already deleted all other video footage of him appearing.

This was the best she could do for him.

***

Leaving Amanda's office, Melissa's brows furrowed tightly.

Halting her steps and staring at the empty hall before her, she softly muttered.

"...So he's still alive."

Although she didn't show it outwardly back in Amanda's office, she was quite startled by the revelation.

Even now, she still couldn't believe what Amanda had told her.

It was only after she left Amanda's office that it genuinely hit Melissa.

Ren was still alive.

Her previous behaviour was merely a small facade to try to hide her current shocked feelings.

"This fucker...just when I thought I finally got rid of you."

Taking out her phone, Melissa soon looked through the contacts in her phone.

Staring at a specific contact, her brows twitched before finally dialling the number.

Before long, a joyful voice rang out from the speaker.

—Why if it isn't my little angel of a niece Mel...

"Shut up; I've got a job for you."

Chapter 298: Henolur [2]

"Wow."

Standing on top of a hill, my mouth opened in amazement. The scenery I've only seen in movies and paintings was currently presented before me.

It was a lot more mesmerizing than I had ever imagined.

I could barely take my eyes away from the sight.

The mountain range revealed nature clearer than anywhere I had ever seen before.

The slight chill in the air was enough to give me a gentle shiver but not enough to find the need to cover up.

Staring into the distance, the gentle breeze coming down from the mountains tickled the trees, making their leaves shake and sway as though they were laughing.

"Is that where we're supposed to go."

Leopold asked as he pointed at the mountain range in the distance.

"It is indeed the place."

Giving a small nod, I replied.

"That over there is Henolur, the dwarven capital, and our destination."

Traversing a thousand kilometres over these past few months, we were finally close to reaching our destination.

Just like usual, we encountered a few beasts during our journey, but in general, nothing out of the norm that would result in our trip being delayed occurred.

The only noticeable delay in our journey was the Monolith incident, but it was now over.

"Huaam, I guess we can finally have a proper night sleep."

Leopold yawned and packed up the camping equipment beside him.

Turning my head, I wryly smiled.

"...not so sure about that."

"What?"

"It'll depend on our luck."

Although Henolur was generally safe and did not block humans from entering the place, that didn't mean that it was completely safe.

It was best to stay alert at all times.

"...seriously? And here I wanted to finally rest."

"Tell me about it."

Constantly watching our backs due to the threat of beasts, apart from Ryan, almost everyone here was running low on sleep.

"Ren!"

"Yes?"

Holding onto a small tablet, Ryan suddenly ran up to me.

"I've found it. I've found the entrance of the place."

"That fast?"

Because the mountain range was massive, finding the exact location of Henolur was a lot harder than originally anticipated.

Fortunately, I had Ryan with me, who could use his drones and equipment to look for the place.

Shoving the tablet in front of my face, Ryan excitedly pinched the screen and pointed towards a specific area in the mountains.

"Yes, check over here. Doesn't this look like a statue?"

"It sure does."

Because the drone was so high up in the sky, to avoid the dwarves detection, I wasn't able to see too much.

However, from what I could make out, by the side of one of the mountain ranges in the distance, there seemed to be some sort of artificial monument.

Sort of like a statue.

Taking my eyes away from the tablet, I patted Ryan's head.

"Good job."

"Hehehe."

Ryan pridefully laughed at my compliment, prompting a smile to appear on my face.

'I guess he's a child at heart'

Even though Ryan was a genius and acted mature at times, he was still a kid after all.

Just a simple praise and he became so excited.

"Guys, pack up; we're going."

Finally, we had arrived at the dwarven domain.

***

At the same time.

Standing not so far from where they were.

Sunlight seeped past the thick canopy of branches, revealing the figures of two elves.

Both elves shared similar features, with fair skin, pointy ears, and stunning faces. However, there was a difference between the two.

Their hair.

Of the two, one of the elve's hair instead of being pure gold, though faint, had a mix of silver in it.

An almost regal aura spread from that elve's body.

"What should we do? Should we follow?"

Squinting, the golden-haired elf asked.

"No, we can't go any deeper."

"...Is it because of the demon's movements?"

"Correct."

The demons were starting to make their move.

The usual skirmishes that occurred between each bordered lengthened and the general rank of each force were increasing.

To the three races, this was a sign that the demons were preparing for war.

As such, the two elves that had been spying on the humans for the past week could no longer continue their observation.

...at least for now.

"So what should we do now? Should we let them go?"

"Mhm."

The silvered-haired elf turned around and disappeared.

"They're bound to leave sooner or later. We might meet them again in the future."

***

As we neared Henolur, the massive stone gates of the city that were attached to the side of the rocky mountains soon appeared in my vision

Built beside the gate were at least several statues depicting dwarves holding onto massive axes and hammers.

Their imposing presence, made me, who standing below them, feel insignificant.

Contrary to when I was looking at the scenery from the drone, it was only now that I was close that I truly understood the sheer size of the 'monument'.

It was massive.

Nearing the gates of Henolur, an earthy and sulfur-like scent invaded my nostrils, prompting my brows to momentarily furrow.

"Uek!"

It seems like I wasn't the only that didn't like the smell as Ryan grimaced and pinched his nose.

"You'll get used to it."

Henolur was the capital of the dwarven domain.

In fact, it was also the only city that existed in the human domain.

Unlike the other races that lived on the earth's surface, dwarves lived underground.

There were multiple reasons for this, but in the end, it all boiled down to the fact that the temperature was the hottest nearer to the earth core.

Using the tremendous heat coming from the earth's centre, the dwarves were able to smelt the ores faster and more efficiently.

The sulfur-like smell probably originated from the natural gasses found in the earth below.

"Ren, are you sure going through the front is the best way to get in..."

Smallsnake asked as he tapped on my right shoulder.

Turning around I reassured.

"Yup, don't worry."

As I've said before, the three races prejudice against humanity had died down a lot.

Going to their places wasn't out of the question, plus, we weren't particularly strong anyways.

Aside from Angelica, who was now back in her ring form, there was no real need for them to be too wary of us.

I mean, I was pretty much the strongest of the group, and even then, I was only <C> ranked.

"Plus, it's not like we're going empty-handed."

A look of realization dawned on Smallsnake as he smacked the palm of his hand.

"Ah! so that's why you spent so much money on those ores."

"That's right."

On my dimensional space were multiple different ores that I had repurchased in the human domain.

The reason I bought them was so that I could trade them with the dwarves.

With the crazy amount of metal that they went through each day to craft an artifact, ores were definitely a valuable and scarce resource to them.

As long as we came to trade with them, we wouldn't be kicked out.

Nearing the enormous gate, I looked back and warned the others.

"Guys, follow closely behind me. Let me do the talking."

"Okay."

Everyone nodded their heads in unison, prompting me to smile in satisfaction.

"Great."

Before long, arriving right below the massive gate, I spotted a group of small burly creatures holding onto large metallic barrels standing beside the gate.

'Are those guns?'

I wondered as I stared at the barrels in the dwarves hands.

They sure looked like guns.

"Halt!"

As if they were waiting for our arrival, a dwarf wearing a thick metallic armour stepped forward.

With a long ginger beard that fell all the way down towards his neck and light wrinkles by the side of his eyes, the dwarf scanned us from top to bottom with a curious look.

Then, opening his mouth, his barky and throaty voice rang out throughout the whole area.

"Human, state yer purpose."

Halting my footsteps, the others also stopped.

Raising my hands, I spoke up.

"We mean no harm, we're here to trade."

"Trade?"

My words instantly piqued the interest of the dwarf.

"Interesting, how much be we talking?"

"A hundred tonne of iron, hundred tonnes of Adenium, seventy-two tonnes of Ronium, fifty-six tonnes of..."

Listing the ores I had brought with me, I felt a slight pang in my heart.

The amount of money I had to spurge out to buy this much stuff made my heart bleed.

I could've probably bought myself an advanced potion with the money I had used to buy this stuff.

"!"

As I was listing the ores that I had brought with me, the dwarf opposite to me was left dumbstruck.

Opening his mouth wide, his burly, loud voice once again rang out.

"Yer nae playing with me be ye?"

"No, I'm being completely serious."

I was honestly having a bit of a difficult time understanding his words, but thanks to his gestures, I understood somewhat what he was trying to imply.

Frantically waving his hand towards my direction, the dwarf said.

"Give me, let me inspect tha goods"

"Sure."

Casually walking towards the dwarf, I took out my dimensional space and tossed it to him, much to the confused reactions of the others behind me.

"It's alright guys. Just trust me."

Dwarves were honest and straightforward people.

They disliked scheming and cautious people the most.

By directly giving him the ring that contained all of the ores inside, I was displaying to him that I was also straightforward.

Acting the way I was, I was trying my best to set a favourable impression, almost like in games with NPC's.

Though it may backfire on me, it was a risk I was willing to take.

"Hur, hur, hur, ye weren't lying."

Fortunately, it didn't seem to have failed.

Playing with the ring in his hand, the dwarf burst out laughing.

"I like yer attitude 'uman."

Tossing the ring back in my direction, the dwarf turned around and faced the gate. Then, twirling his small bulky hand in the air, he shouted.

"Open tha gates."

KOOOONG—!

The moment the dwarves words faded, the ground trembled, and the enormous doors slowly opened up.

Staring at the enormous doors in the distance, I wondered.

'Why are the gates so big?'

The gates were pretty much made for giants, yet, the dwarves which weren't even a quarter of my height were proudly using them.

Perhaps it made them look more imposing? Honestly, I did not know, nor did I care too much about finding out as the doors soon fully opened and a wave of hot air suddenly brushed past me.

Turning around, the dwarf puffed his chest and pridefully smiled.

"Welcome ta Henolur."

Chapter 299: Henolur [3]

KOOOONG—!

Entering the gates, the grandiose door soon closed shut behind us.

"Me name be Elluid Brickpike, an' I'll lead ye ta tha first level."

Following the dwarf from before whose name was Elluid, we walked through a narrow tunnel, that was lit up by multiple bioluminescent plants planted by the side of the walls.

"There be four different levels ta tha city, with each level differentiating by depth. At tha moment we're currently going towards tha first level, where tha main city be located."

Listening to Elluid speak as I looked around, I understood somewhat what he was saying despite his accent.

In short, there were four levels to Henolur.

Each level dwelling more deeply into the mountain.

Currently, we were headed to the first level, around 50 meters below the mountain and where the central city was located.

"From tha second level onwards, everything be aff limits. That be if ye value your lives. "

Below the second level, were where the vault, and working facilities were. Simply put, the temperature below was far too hot for regular beings to go.

Therefore, unless you wore special gear, it was off-limits.

Most of the stuff Elluid was saying, I knew. However, I still paid close attention to what he said as I didn't want to make any mistakes.

If there was one thing I've learned, it was that it was always best to have as much information as possible regarding a new location.

As such, opening my mouth I asked.

"Is that so, by the way, I've been meaning to ask, is there anything I need to be wary of when going to the city? Like the areas I'm not supposed to go, and how I should behave myself?"

"huh? good question."

Elluid's footsteps halted.

Stroking his long ginger beard, Elluid mused before shaking his head.

"Nae, in general, if ye dinna go below tha second level, there will be nae trouble."

—Smack!

Smacking the palm of his hand, Elluid suddenly remembered.

"Ah, right, it's best ta nae wonder too much outside o' tha city, as those pesky tunnelling monsters will give ye a hard time."

Monsters?

'I guess he must be referring to the beasts.'

Just because Henolur was underground, it didn't mean that it was safe from the threat of beasts.

As long as I was in the city, there shouldn't be any problems though.

"...actually there be something else, but it's best if ye dinna know too much."

"Hm?"

Elluid's next statement caused my brows to furrow. Didn't this sound a little too ominous?

Turning around, Elluid's tone became a bit graver.

"Human, it's nae that I dinna want ta tell ye, but it's best if ye dinna know since yer nae strong enough ta know. Had ye been stronger, I might've helped ye."

"...alright, I won't ask."

Squinting, I eventually nodded my head. Elluid smiled in response as he raised his hand and forcefully patted me on the back.

"Great, I'm liking ye more an' more human. "

Or at least tried to, but in the end, he ended up patting my ass.

"Hur, I like dealing with people that understand their limits."

"T-that so."

My mouth twitched, and I took a step forward.

As I stepped forward, I suddenly heard weird noises coming from behind me.

"Pfttt."

Turning around, much to my depression, I found the others holding onto their mouth's with red faces.

Evidently trying their best to suppress their laughter.

"...you guys."

"Hehe."

Then, Elluid who was next to me chuckled and eyed me with a teasing look.

"Sorry there, does yer arse 'urt?

'This bastard did it on purpose, didn't he?'

I instantly shot a glare at Elluid, who burst out laughing and twirled his bulky hand in the air, nudging me to follow along.

"Hahaha, follow me; we're almost there."

"...I won't forget this."

Glaring at the others behind me, I followed Elluid deeper into the tunnel.

Before long, as we neared the ending of the tunnel, I could see the light coming from the distance.

Squinting my eyes and passing through the end of the tunnel, a bright light instantly clouded my vision, prompting me to cover my face with my hand.

Once my eyes adjusted to the light, staring at the scenery presented before me, I was left in awe.

"Woah."

I wasn't the only one that felt that way as the others, too, had amazed looks on their faces as they looked at the city below them.

Built inside the mountain, with small metallic pipes on the top of the hill to allow fresh air and light to seep through to the city below, a vast and bustling city appeared before my view.

In the middle of the city, a great waterfall dropped through a hole at the top of the mountain, forming into a pool in the central square where a massive statue of a dwarf was erected.

Besides the statue, were many uniquely shaped infrastructures that ranged in sizes. However, though they were all different, the infrastructures brought me this strange sense of awe.

From afar, they all looked like structural masterpieces as each infrastructure was built to the most delicate of details, showcasing the dwarves masterful craftsmanship.

"This be as far as I can bring ye."

Halting his steps. Elluid proudly looked at the city from above.

Then, turning around, he slapped my thigh and laughed.

"If ye manage ta trade successfully, with tha money ye make, bring me ta have a drink. harhar"

"...Sure."

I wrily replied as I massaged my thigh.

Though he was small, his slap sure packed a punch.

"Alright, best o' luck, human."

"Thank you."

Staring at Elluid's figure disappear back into the tunnel, I let out a sigh before looking at the others.

"Had enough fun? Let's go."

Was me getting slapped in the ass and thigh really that funny? I couldn't tell.

Walking down a spiral of stones steps, we soon stepped into the city. The moment we set foot into the city, it was as though we stepped foot into a whole different world.

With enormous infrastructures and bright lights illuminating the place, I could hear the raucous laugh of the dwarves in the distance.

An overall joyful and cheerful atmosphere shrouded the city.

Contrary to my expectations, grass and trees grew in the city, making the place look that much more stupefying.

"Ren, where should we go first?"

Smallsnaked tapped on my shoulder and asked.

"Hmm, let's go find a place to settle down for now."

I replied after musing for a bit.

"Sure."

Smallsnake nodded in agreement.

Although it looked like everyone was itching to go around the city to have a look, at the moment, the priority was to settle down and rest.

Also, I needed to better understand the place before deciding anything else.

Thankfully the others were understanding and didn't fuss over my arrangements.

"Wait, is that an elf!?"

"I also see an orc!"

On a side note, much to everyone's surprise, Henolur did not only have dwarves roaming the streets as we could see orcs and elves roaming the place.

I already knew this beforehand; with Henolur being the place where artifacts were sold and crafted, the fact that other races came here wasn't surprising.

Though I did have to admit, the elves were a lot better looking than I had expected. Be it male or female; their appearance made me once again realize just how average I was in this world filled with handsome and beautiful people.

Not that I was ugly.

To make matters worse, I had only myself to blame.

"Guys, wait for me for a bit."

Walking for a further ten minutes, I stopped by a couple of important places and directly sold some of the ores I had brought with me.

I had to have some money after all.

After trading some of the ores I had brought with me, asking the direction of the nearest lodging, we soon arrived in front of a certain building.

"We're here."

[Rusted Hammer Lodgings]

A sizeable metallic sign hung on the wall of the building.

To my surprise, it was written in human language; it was only after a while that I realized that it was actually not.

The sign was in fact an artifact that would automatically display the words based on the language the viewer could speak.

Pretty neat.

"Let's go in."

Taking a step into the building, I urged the others to follow me from behind.

The moment I stepped into the place, I saw a dwarven lady with thick black hair tied into two ponytails, holding onto a broom, and leisurely cleaning the wooden floor.

Once we stepped in, turning her head, the dwarven lady exclaimed in surprise.

"Oh? a human, haven't seen one in a couple o' days."

Putting the broom down, she moved towards the counter.

"Ye here for a room?"

Did she just say that there were other humans in here?

"Did you just say that you saw another human?"

Though I had somewhat expected this, this revelation was a bit shocking.

Leaning on the counter, the dwarven lady pinched her fingers together and nodded her head.

"Was a lovely guy a' tell ye. Even gave me a tip. So, ye here for a room or nae?"

"...Ah, yes."

"How many?"

Looking behind me, the dwarven lady tippie toed and tried counting.

"One, two, t—"

"Six rooms please."

To make things faster, I just told her the rooms.

Technically I only needed five since I wanted Smallsnake to stay with Ryan, but the sixth room was for Angelica.

Though, I wasn't really sure how that would work out.

"Six? Hm that'll be fifty Tansels"

Tansels was the currency used in the dwarven domain, and in general, each Tansel was equivalent to about 1,000 U.

Therefore, the total cost was around 50,000U.

"Fifty Tansels? Isn't that a bit too expensive?"

Although 50,000 U didn't sound like a lot, this was relative to the big things I spent on back in the human domain.

50,000 U was in fact a crap ton.

My reaction was understandable.

Flashing me a look of disdain, the clerk lady flicked her ponytail.

"Nae at all, have ye seen where we be? just tha fact that our place be cooler an' has fresh air makes up for tha price."

"...right."

Though her words had merit, in the end, I didn't want to argue anymore and so just gave up.

Taking out a bunch of coins, I placed them on the counter.

Fortunately, taking Elluid's advice, before coming here, I directly sold a couple in order to get myself some cash.

This was the only reason why I could afford this place.

"Here."

"Alright, please wait a moment."

With a greedy look, scooting her small arm over the counter, the lady took all of the coins.

Then, disappearing into the back, the lady soon came back with a smile on her face and tossed multiple keys in my direction.

"Your rooms be on tha second floor. I've put ye all together on tha same floor. Breakfast be tomorrow morn, 7 A.M human time."

"Thank you."

Thanking the lady, I turned towards the others and gave them each a key.

"You guys understood what the lady said?"

"Breakfast at 7 and our rooms are on the second floor?"

"As expected of the babysitter."

"...hey."

"You'll get used to it."

I patted Smallsnake on the shoulder.

Looking towards the others, my face became serious.

"Enough said, I'm going to go now. Still got things to do, I'll come back in a couple of hours. You guys have a rest in the meantime."

As I've said before, information was key.

Going around this place without knowing the ins and outs was a no go. As the one who brought them here, I had the responsibility of taking care of them.

Couldn't expose them to too much danger.

"Alright, I'm off. I'll see you guys in a bit."

Waving goodbye to the others, I turned around and left the building.

A/N : Sorry if nothing much happened these past few chaps, but you know, have to try to build the world before anything important can happen.

Chapter 300: Encounter [1]

"Haa..."

Hein finally let out an exhausted breath, sitting on top of a large bed.

'These couple of months sure have been, though.'

Going from a regular teen who went to the academy each day and during the night supported his father's shop to suddenly leaving the human domain to constantly fight against beasts each day.

—Hiiing!

Taking out his shield, Hein slowly started cleaning it.

Compared to before, his shield was now riddled with scars and cracks.

It was an <E> ranked artifact that had accompanied him for many years.

Yet, it was now reduced in such a sorry state that it could no longer be called a shield.

Perhaps calling it a piece of scrap metal was more accurate at this point.

Still, Hein wasn't disheartened.

They were in the dwarven domain where artifacts lay everywhere.

It was also about time he switched it for a better one. His shield was no longer as useful as it was back in the past.

Opening his mouth, Hein softly muttered.

"Status."

Then, a translucent table appeared before his vision.

===Status===

Name : Hein Kraaijenschot

Rank : D -

Strength : D

Agility : E +

Stamina : D +

Intelligence : D

Mana capacity : D -

Luck : E

Charm : D -

--> Profession :

[Tanker lvl.3]

--> Martial Manual :

[★★★ Iron Body] - Greater realm of mastery.

A martial manual that focuses on reinforcing the bones and muscles of the user. There is nothing exceptional about this art, except that it trains the body to the utmost limit. The user will have the hardest and most durable muscles upon mastering this technique.

--> Skills :

Upon activating, the user will not experience any pain for a set period of time.

Checking his stats, Hein had to admit he was on a whole different level compared to before.

Not only did his stats improve drastically, but so did his martial art proficiency.

This level of progression was not something he had initially anticipated when joining the group.

Instead, he had expected to only reach <D> rank in a couple of more months.

Honestly, this rate of progression was shocking to him.

"Haaa.."

Putting his shield down and taking out his phone, Hein scrolled through his photo album and clicked on the image of his father with his siblings.

"Dad, little ones, how are you doing? I hope you're doing well without me."

Looking at a picture of his father and his siblings, a look of nostalgia appeared on Heins's face.

Never had he been so far away from his family throughout his whole life.

This was the first time in so long that he had been apart from them, and even after four months had passed, he still missed them dearly.

<script>ChapterMid();</script>

Every day, he would look at the picture and remind himself why he was on this trip.

He would also record a small message to share his thoughts if he did not make it.

It was a way for him to cope with the sudden change in his life. Was it perhaps silly? Maybe, but Hein didn't care as this time was sort of therapeutic to him.

Opening his mouth, Hein once again spoke.

"In all honesty, I thought that I was going to pair up with a bunch of weirdos in the trip."

A wry smile appeared on Hein's lips as he thought about his other group members.

"When I first met Smallsnake and Ryan, I thought that they were going to be baggage, but it turns out that the two of them are way smarter than I could ever wish to be. I was too arrogant."

Ryan was a child, and Smallsnake was fairly skinny with a low rank, and although he wasn't entirely wrong about needing to protect them, he only realized further into the journey how useful they were.

Ryan was extremely competent at handling technology, whilst Smallsnake was highly knowledgeable about most beasts and vegetation.

Without them, the trip would've been a lot harder.

"There's also Leopold, heh. That guy, I don't know what to say about him. I took him for a deadbeat drunkard when I first saw him...yet, I couldn't be any more wrong about him. He's sort of becoming a master to me."

It was all thanks to Leopold that he and the others could adapt to the new world riddled with dangers.

Not only that, but he was also the guy who taught him how to hold the shield properly and what to do and not do when fighting a beast.

Without him, he would've probably have died many times over.

"There's also Ava, man; what should I say about her..."

Recalling the first time he met Ava, Hein couldn't say that his first impression of her was that great.

"The first time I tried to speak to her, she could barely formulate any words. I had a hard time talking to her. However, man did she change during these couple of months."

Lowering the phone slightly, an envious and bitter look appeared on Heins's face.

"Not only can she now speak properly, but man, she's strong; her ability to tame multiple beasts at the same time is genuinely overpowered."

Genuine bitterness could be felt in Hein's voice as he spoke.

Ava's ability to tame multiple beasts simultaneously was truly overpowered, and he had witnessed it first-hand when he worked together with her.

"Well, on a good note, she at least works together well with me. "

It was also thanks to that ability, that they found out that they worked well together.

With her beast taming ability and his tanking ability, the two of them could now solo <D> ranked beasts without breaking too much of a sweat.

In fact, they could also probably deal with a <C> ranked beast for a short period of time.

"Ha, Ava aside. You won't believe who the next member is. Her name is Angelica, and she's a demon."

Shaking his head, Hein still couldn't believe it.

A silly smile appeared on his face.

"You won't believe what face I made when I first discovered we were working with a demon. Honestly scared the crap out of me. Ava wasn't any better as she turned white as paper. If not for Ren, we probably would've passed out."

Holding onto his forehead as though he had a headache, Hein let out a bitter laugh.

"Man, I swear. I'd say it took me more than a month to get used to her. She's one scary woman. But, still, I have to admit, she's really strong. Like crazy strong."

Even now, the image of her defeating an <A> ranked individual as though he was nothing was deeply engraved into his mind.

After that day, Hein found a whole new level of respect for her.

"Lastly, there's Ren. Our leader..."

Hein scratched the side of his face.

"How should I start? He's really an enigma to me."

Ren was truly someone who was shrouded with mystery to Hein.

Even after spending four months with him, he couldn't understand him.

"Like, I always wondered, just how did he manage to recruit and bring together so many talented people?"

Wasn't he the same age as him? How in the world was he that resourceful?

"At times he's like this really nice guy that you can get along with just fine, but in other times he can truly be scary."

Hein had witnessed Ren's dark side multiple times these past few months, and whenever he saw it, he couldn't help but want to run away.

Chills would run down his spine.

"Yeah, and I still can't believe that he's the same age as me. Just how did he get so strong?"

Although he rarely moved, Hein was always left speechless by his strength whenever Ren acted.

He was simply way too strong.

His attacks were also scary, and in all honesty, he had no confidence in stopping his attacks.

They were just too fast.

"Will I one day be like that as well?"

Hein wondered out loud to himself.

Though he didn't outright admit it, a tiny part of him wanted to be strong like Ren.

But he knew that this wasn't something that could've been achieved in just a few months.

It probably took Ren a lot of time and dedication to get to where he was.

Ren was a role model for him.

Someone who he should follow closely and learn from.

"Huaam"

As he sat back, Hein suddenly yawned.

Tapping on the screen recording, he once again yawned before muttering.

"I think this is enough for today. I'm too tired. Guess I should get myself some sleep. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Closing the recording and tutting the phone away, Hein's eyelids started to become heavier.

"Au..."

Leaning back on the comfortable bed, Hein slowly closed his eyes.

For the first time in four months, he finally slept peacefully.

***

"One pint of ale, please."

Sitting on a stool, inside of a busy and lively tavern, I looked at the clerk and ordered myself a drink.

This being one of the most generic novels, dwarves acted as generic dwarves did.

In short, they loved alcohol.

Holding onto a white towel, and cleaning a large wooden cup, the clerk eyed me.

Then, smacking the cup below a large wooden barrel, he turned the valve and a brown liquid slowly poured into the cup.

Once the cap was filled, he smacked it on the table.

"'ere yer go"

"Thanks."

Taking the huge pint of ale, I took a small sip.

"Ugh."

Taking a sip of the ale, my face grimaced.

It was a lot more bitter than I had expected.

According to what the clerk lady back at lodging said, the current tavern I was in, was the most popular tavern in Henolur.

Almost everyone in Henolur knew this place.

Furthermore, it was also peak hour at the moment, meaning that it was the busiest time of the day.

This was the perfect place to get as much information as possible.

After all, you speak the most when you were drunk.

"Ugh, I really can't."

Putting the ale down, I forced myself to not make a face.

The ale was way too bitter for me.

"How was your day at work?"

"Ugh, tell me aboot it. All I've been doing today be hit tha hammer until me hands turned numb."

Silently listening to the conversations happening in the tavern, I tried my best to filter out the useless ones.

This was a much harder task than I thought.

The dwarves were just way too loud.

"Good thing we showed those bastards their place."

Suddenly, a certain conversation caught my attention.

Boisterously laughing out loud, and putting his little bulky leg on the table, a drunken dwarf raised his half-finished pint in the air.

"Har,Har,Har, them bloody demons. We sure showed them a good time a week ago. I bet they be still pissing their pants at what we did ta them."

Besides him, another dwarf tugged his clothes and forced him down from the table.

"Shhh, yer nae supposed ta talk aboot it here."

"What be there nae ta talk aboot? everyone here knows that tha demons be planning on attacking us! let them know that we've already won tha first exchange. "

The dwarf disdainfully replied.

"We shou' nae shy away from our achievements."

'Demons?'

My brows furrowed tightly.

Did he just say demons? What was going on?

"Elveal! we're nae supposed ta talk aboot it. It's military order. "

"Pah! fuck that order, i'm—argh!"

Smacking the pint on the table, the dwarf named Elveal once again tried to stand up on the table, however, he, unfortunately, missed a step and crashed against a hooded figure sitting behind him.

—Crash!

Dazed, the dwarf looked at the ceiling of the room.

Getting out of their seats, the two other dwarfs tried to help him up.

"Oy Elveal, be ye okay?"

"ye be too drunk."

"Go away."

Shoving the two other dwarfs away, Elvael, glared at the black figure behind him and gave him a light shove.

"Tha fuck be ye doing?"

"..."

Without looking back, the black hooded figure silently drank his drink.

Completely disregarding the dwarf's presence.

This obviously did not sit well with the dwarf who stomped his foot on the black hooded figure's table and brought his face close to the hooded figure.

"Did ye do that on purpose? did ye nae see that I was here?

"..."

It had to be noted that the hodded figure was definitely not a dwarf.

The figure was twice the dwarf's size.

The scene of the dwarf pushing the hooded figure was just too comical.

"Oy, be ye deaf? did ye nae hear what I said?"

Once again the dwarf pushed the hooded figure.

By now, the whole tavern had quieted down a little bit, and the two companions had long given up on stopping their friend.

It wasn't because they couldn't, but it was because they no longer wanted to be involved with him.

They were currently off duty, therefore they had nothing to defend themselves with.

"Ye still nae listening?"

Elvael once again pushed the hooded figure.

—Plack!

This time, the hooded figure did not standstill.

Smacking his drink down, he turned around and lowered his hood.

"I'm sorry, but can you leave me alone?"

His cold voice caused everyone to feel a chill run down their spines.

"I would like to drink in peace."

For a brief moment, a terrifying pressure bore down on the tavern making it hard for people to breathe.

However, contrary to the other's reactions, mine was the complete opposite.

Opening my eyes wide open, my mouth opened widely.

"Wait, isn't that..."

Chapter 301: Encounter [2]

"Wait, isn't that..."

The moment the black hooded figure removed his hood, I was left sitting in shock.

The drink in my hand dropped on the counter, and my mouth hung wide up.

'How?'

I wondered to myself as I sat there in a daze.

"Hiiik."

In the meantime, the dwarf that was picking a fight with the hooded figure quickly sobered up and dragged his friends out of the tavern.

He realized that he had messed with the wrong person.

Staring at the dwarf that had just left, I turned my attention back to the hooded figure who once again covered his features with the hood.

Standing up, I walked in his direction.

"May I sit?"

I asked whilst looking at him from above.

Lifting his head, the hooded figure's cold voice rang through my ear.

"Didn't I say that I wanted to drink in peac—"

Mid-sentence, the hooded figure paused. His eyes widened a little bit.

"hmm, you're also a human?...so young as well."

"Yeah."

I casually put my drink on the table.

"So, can I sit?"

"No, I still want to be left in peace."

The black-hooded figure still shook his head.

Ignoring him, I still sat down and took a sip of the ale.

"Ugh, bitter."

The result was me putting on a bitter face.

Seriously, the ale was just too bitter.

"You have a lot of balls."

"...not really"

I murmured thoughtlessly.

For the most part, I was a coward.

Unless forced to, I would never do something that would end up putting my life at risk.

If not for the fact that I was sure that the hooded figure before me would not hurt me, I would've never have approached him.

"Knowing the extent of my abilities, you still approaching me. Don't think that just because you're human, I won't touch you."

He warmed.

In response to his threat, I shrugged my shoulders.

"Mhm, I'm not that stupid."

"Since you know, I'll give you ten seconds; if you don't leave in that amount of time, I'll forcefully remove you."

Putting his cup down, the hooded figure started counting.

"1...2..."

Eying the hooded figure from the side of my eyes, I lazily stood up.

Pretending to be downcast, I muttered out loud.

"Well, I just wanted to say that I used to be good friends with your daughter, Emma. But it seems like I'm unwanted."

"...3—huh?"

The man abruptly stopped counting.

Then, standing up and grabbing me by the collar, his voice raised.

"What did you just say?"

His cold voice sent shivers down my spine.

Still retaining my composure, raising both hands in the air I replied with a slight smile.

"Emma Roshfield, your daughter. I know her."

That's right.

The hooded figure before me was Emma's father, Waylen Roshfield, mayor of Ashton city and Vice-director of the Union.

<script>ChapterMid();</script>

'...Union.'

Pretending to keep a smile on my face, my jaws clenched tightly, and my eyes closed.

Just the thought about that organization caused my blood to boil.

For what they did to me, I was going to make them pay dearly, just like the Monolith.

Regarding Waylen, although he was part of the Union, I did not resent him.

The people I had resentment with were the ones that decided to cast me out as though I was trash.

...those guys.

All I could tell them was to wait for me. Wait for me to come to clean up the place!

Retaining his grip on my clothes, Wayland's eyes squinted.

"You know my daughter?"

"Can you let go first?" Then, tapping his large hands on my clothes, I spoke in annoyance. "Kinda hard to breathe."

Realizing that his hands were still on my clothes, Waylan apologized and let go.

"Ah, sorry."

"It's fine."

Fixing my clothes, I calmly sat down and looked at Waylan, who sat back down.

Observing him from up close, I couldn't help but think.

'He sure does look like Emma.'

Handsome face, auburn colored hair, and a perfect physique. No wonder Emma looked the way she did.

Damned genes.

Twirling his almost empty cup, Waylan suddenly asked.

"...do you truly know Emma?"

"Mhm"

I nodded and pretended to take a sip of my ale.

I didn't actually drink it, though. Too bitter.

"How can I tell that you're not lying?"

"U can't, nor do I care if you don't."

That was a lie.

I actually did care especially after I remembered that he worked for the Union.

A crazy thought hit me as soon as I saw him.

'What if I bring him to my side?'

Dealing a significant blow to the Union with my current power, was practically impossible. In fact, in the future as well.

They were just too strong.

...but that didn't mean that it was completely impossible.

What if I decided to grow a cancer inside of the Union?

Monica and Wayland.

What if I somehow brought those two people to my side. What would the end result be?

Just the thought threatened to cause the edges of my lips to curl upwards.

Still, that was just a thought for now.

It was all up in the air for how I was going to deal with them.

"...You're right; I have no way of knowing whether you are laying or not."

"Here."

Tapping on my bracelet and taking out my Lock student ID card, I handed it to him.

"What's this?"

Taking the card, Waylan slowly started reading it out loud.

"Ren Dover, seventeen, lock class A-25..."

Halfway through reading the card, Wayland stopped.

Pretending to take another sip of the ale, I raised my brow.

"Believe me now?"

"Yeah."

Wayland nodded before passing the card back to me and asking.

"How is she? is she okay? Is everything alright?"

At his question, I helplessly shrugged my shoulders.

"How would I know? You know damn well that I haven't seen her for months."

Without portals, it took a long time to arrive at the dwarven domain.

Furthermore, the last time I saw her was like a year ago, and we weren't even that close.

"...Right. Sorry, I got a little bit too worked up."

"It's understandable."

Leaning back on the chair, I looked at the ceiling before opening my mouth.

"Well, I do know that her situation isn't the best right now."

"What do you mean?" My words instantly piqued Walan's interest as he leaned his body forward."Care to tell me what you know?"

Frowning, I thought for a moment before saying.

"Well, this is a few months old news, but your brother is making your daughter's life difficult."

Before leaving the human domain, I had Smallsnake send me information regarding the others to see how they were doing.

Out of everyone I asked, Emma was the only one that seemed to be in a dire state.

Her seemed to have started making a move.

This was much faster than anticipated, and even worse, it seemed like he was working with the Parkers.

"My brother?"

Waylan tilted his head.

"Yeah..." Sighing, I explained. "He's been trying his best to get Emma out of the Lock and has also frozen all of her cards. So she basically has nothing."

"That bastard!"

—Smack!

Waylan suddenly stood up and smacked his hand on the table. His enraged roar shook the whole tavern, and not long after, the table in front of me broke apart.

All eyes in the tavern were drawn towards us.

But it seems like Waylan was too caught up in his rage to not realize this as he followed up.

"How dare he!"

A threatening aura slowly started exuding out of his body.

Standing up from my seat, I quickly tried to calm him down.

"Calm down, hear me out before you do something stupid."

Unfortunately, I was but an ant in his eyes.

Waving his hand, I was pushed a couple of meters back.

"How can I remain calm in this situation? No, I need to tell the others that I need to go."

"Oy, at least listen to me before you go."

"What is it?"

Waylan asked as he turned around to face my direction.

"Just have a seat, and let me finish talking."

Shaking my head, I tossed a couple of coins to the clerk and sat on a new seat.

From how unfazed he was, this seemed to be a regular occurrence.

"Please." I motioned with my hand. "At least let me finish before you go on a rampage."

"...Alright."

My pleading, fortunately, worked as Waylan soon sat back on the seat opposite to him.

Throwing him a grateful look, I thanked him.

"Thank you."

'I guess it's true when they say that all fathers are suckers for their daughters.'

Not that I wouldn't understand since I probably would've also been the same if Nola was in the same situation.

"...so, what did you want to say?"

Waylan impatiently asked.

Scratching the side of my head, I opened my mouth.

"All I wanted to say was that you don't have to worry."

"Don't have to worry, you do know th—"

"Oy, let me finish."

Cutting him off, I glared at him before continuing.

"Although Emma is in a tough situation, I never once said that she was helpless. She got a lot of reliable people working with her to solve the problem. Your presence will do more harm to her growth than anything else."

"What do you mean?"

"If you indulge your daughter, she's never going to grow. No offense, but your daughter is pretty spoiled. If you're there, she's never going to grow up and solve her problems by herself."

If Emma never overcame any challenge presented before her, she would never grow.

Although she had Kevin with him, it didn't mean that things would be easy.

She needed to experience hardship to grow. I knew this best.

"Plus, a guy I know will help her out."

"Did you just say a guy?"

Waylan's eyes turned into two small slits. A wisp of his pressure radiated out of his body.

"ehhh...he's a friend."

I replied whilst looking away.

"Tell me more."

"..."

Did I just accidentally sell Kevin out?

I was putting on a good word for him in my defence.

"Haha, well, keummm, it's getting hot in here."

"No, no, I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to switch the conversation. Who is the guy?"

"Errr...he's my best friend?"

When I was trying my best to dodge the conversation, Waylan suddenly grinned.

"I'm joking. I don't mind as long as he truly is reliable, as you say."

Sighing in relief, I seriously said.

"He's reliable. That I am sure of."

"...Alright, I'll trust your words for now."

Smiling, I cursed inside of my mind

'Trust me my ass'

It would take him months to get back in the human domain, and even then, there was a high chance that he would be in big trouble since he most likely had some critical work to do here.

He had no choice but to trust my words.

"Now that I've answered all of your questions..."

Propping my elbows on the table and interlocking my hands together, I rested my chin on my hands.

"It's my turn to ask questions."

Waylan leaned back and took a sip of his new drink.

"...right, it's only right that I answer some of your questions."

Without wasting any time, I went straight to the point and pointed to a table not far from us.

Where the dwarf from before sat.

"What is going on here? I heard the word demons being mentioned by that dwarf from before, and seeing how you're here, it seems like something is going on here."

"Haa, you're sharp."

Wayland said as he put the cup down.

"At the moment, I, along with a few others, have been sent to the dwarven domain to carry out some diplomatic talks with the dwarfs regarding artifact trading."

Shrugging his shoulders, Waylan wryly smiled.

"Unfortunately, we arrived at the wrong time."

"Wrong time?"

My brows knit.

Taking a sip of the ale, Waylan raised his cup and said.

"Mhm, and that's because right now, the dwarves are at war with the demons."

"War?" My eyes shot wide open. Then, I leaned forward with both hands on the table and urgently asked. "Are you telling me that the dwarves are at war with the demons right now?"

"Indeed, in fact, it's still in the early stages."

Glancing towards his left and right, he whispered.

"Furthermore, to establish a good diplomatic connection with them, we have no choice but to stay behind and help them. You're most likely going to be dragged into the war as well."

"Shit..."

Leaning back on my seat and massaging my forehead, I felt a massive headache coming.

If what Waylan said was right, then I really might get dragged into the war.

Not because I wanted to, but because by the time I left, I would end up facing thousands of demons at the same time.

Talk about bad timing.

Raising my head, I suddenly recalled a small part of the conversation.

"Wait, did you just say we? What do you mean by we?"

Nonchalantly taking a sip of his ale, an amused smile appeared on Waylan's face.

"Right, you mentioned you were from the Lock, right?"

"That's right."

Placing the drink down and whipping the foam that was on his mouth, Waylan opened his mouth and said.

"Isn't that great? Your headmaster is also here."

Chapter 302: Malvil Ironhawk [1]

"The headmaster?"

My eyes shot wide open.

"The SS ranked hero headmaster who never once showed up during my stay at the lock?"

Waylan almost spat out his drink. Giving me an odd look, he wrily smiled.

"Odd way to put it, but correct."

"...my god."

Leaning back on my seat, my brows furrowed tightly.

Although I knew that Waylen and the headmaster were on a mission together, I didn't actually know that they were in the dwarven domain.

This was because Kevin back in my novel only went to the dwarven domain after the conference that took place a couple of years from now.

That was also the first time the two properly showed up in the story.

Tap.Tap.Tap

Tapping on the table, I fell into thought.

'Who would've thought that he was here?'

The headmaster's presence makes things complicated.

Although he wasn't there during the tournament, most likely he was aware of me. After all, there was no way Donna wouldn't have told him about me.

Furthermore, as the headmaster, he was probably made aware of each death that occurred during that day.

Explaining to him how I was still alive was going to be really troublesome.

'ugh, how troublesome indeed.'

"Do you have any other questions for me?"

Waylan downed the whole drink and smacked the cup on the table. He then proceeded to wipe the foam that lingered on his lips.

Lifting my head, I nodded my head.

"Yes, one more."

"Go on, but make it quick I'm supposed to leave soon."

Waylan replied as he checked his watch.

Leaning forward, I asked.

"Have you perhaps heard of anyone called Malvil Ironhawk before?"

"Sir Malvil?"

An odd look flashed Waylen's face.

"Is there something wrong?"

From the look on Waylen's face, it seemed as though he knew him.

With a complicated look, Waylan scratched the back of his head.

"No, not really, it's just that...he's, mhhh, how should I say it."

Stroking his chin, Waylan tried to find the right words to say.

"...Let's just say that he's a very hard man to please."

"I figured."

Leaning back on my seat I let out a sigh.

Malvil was one of the few people that could handle Okleum properly.

He was a legendary craftsman. Without a doubt his standards for materials were high, and not just that, he was probably also very selective of his clients.

In no way would he craft artifacts for whoever asked.

But.

I still had to try.

"Even if he might reject me, I want to know."

I wanted to get stronger faster.

Surrounded by so many enemies, I had no choice but to get stronger.

It was a must.

At my response, a small smile appeared on Waylan's face.

"Mhm, if you insist."

Twirling his now empty cup, Waylan thought for a moment.

"Usually he's working at the fourth level, but you can find him on the first level from time to time. In fact, he's probably at his shop right now."

"Where exactly is that? Can you tell me the location?"

"...Sure, but I'll warn you beforehand. Don't expect him to make an artifact for you. No matter how rich you are, he won't do it unless he feels like it."

"Mhm."

Understandable.

Like I've said before if he just crafted for anyone, he'd have a line that would stretch all the way to the human domain.

"Pay close attention."

Tapping on his watch, a holographic map soon appeared before us. To my surprise, it was a map of the whole first level.

Waylant then pointed towards a certain area on the map.

"The shop is right here, if you follow this path over here, you should be able to get there in about ten minutes."

"I see."

My brows furrowed slightly.

The map was a bit of a mess since wasn't an official map, but it got to the point.

I now knew where to go.

"I have to go now."

Putting his hood back on, Waylan suddenly stood up. Before he left, he tossed me a dark colored metal plate.

"Hmmm, before I go, take this as well."

"What's this?"

Catching it, I curiously asked.

Pointing at the plate in my hand, Waylan explained.

"It's an identification badge. In case you want to meet me, you can just show them to the guards and they'll let you pass."

Staring at the green plate in my hand, I gratefully looked at Waylan.

"I see...thank you."

This might come in handy.

"No problem"

Flashing a grin behind the hood, Waylan gave a slight nod.

"Have to go now. Thank you again for telling me about Emma."

"No problem."

Recalling something, Waylan's footsteps suddenly halted. Turning around, he

"Oh, right, if we meet up again Dd tell me more about that guy you mentioned before. Very curious about him."

Sweat instantly dripped down my forehead.

"...sure."

"Good, good."

Satisfied, Waylan turned around and left the tavern.

Gazing at his back from where I was sitting, I closed my eyes and wished Kevin the best of luck.

Looks like he really couldn't get out of this one.

***

[Leviathan building, Lock.]

Every day at this hour, Emma and Kevin would train at the public training ground inside of the Leviathan building.

Not only was it bigger than their own personal training grounds, but it was also great for training with companions.

Training with his swords in the middle of the training grounds, Kevin suddenly sneezed.

"Achoo!"

"Kevin?"

Emma dropped her short swords and worriedly looked at him.

Holding onto his nose and raising his hand to gesture to her that he was fine, Kevin wrily smiled.

"Nothing, I just suddenly felt a chill run down through my spine."

"...got a cold?"

"Don't think so."

Excluding the fact that cold's didn't exist anymore, Kevin had been feeling good these days. His strength was progressing at an alarming rate.

He had just broken to <C-> rank not too long ago.

He was healthier than ever.

"It's probably just my imagination."

He muttered to himself before once again raising his sword.

—Sha!

Slashing down, a beautiful yet deadly arc drew in the air.

"...I'm feeling great, probably just my imagination"

"That's great."

Emma sighed in relief before suddenly her face turned serious.

"By the way, Kevin, did you finally make up your mind?"

But at that moment, Kevin's focus completely scattered and he turned to face Emma.

"...Regarding?"

"Regarding what you told me not too long ago."

"Ah, that."

Lowering his sword, Kevin's face distorted. Clenching tightly onto his sword, he softly muttered.

"Mhm, I have decided to go through with the offer."

"A pity."

A look of disappointment flashed Emma's eyes.

"Well, it's not like I can stop you since I also think that this decision isn't a bad one."

"I know, but..."

Kevin's fists clenched tightly.

From Ren's death to Emma's problems. Kevin realized that he was still too weak.

If only he had been more powerful, or had someone backing him up, of the problems would've ever occurred.

Never again did he want to feel so helpless.

Lifting his head and raising his sword, Kevin once again slashed down.

—Sha!

"Joining the Union is the fastest way to make up for my shortcomings."

***

With the city built directly inside of a mountain range, the only indication I got that it was nighttime was the slight chill that travelled in the air.

Even then, it quickly disappeared as the thermal system built underground turned on, warming up my shoes, and the air around me.

"This should be the place right?"

Lifting my head, I stopped in front of a fairly large shop.

Compared to the other shops that I saw, this shop was the shabbiest looking one. Yet, despite it being the shabbiest looking one, it somehow felt like the most premium one.

It was hard to describe.

Was it perhaps its atmosphere? Or just my imagination?

Wasn't sure, but I was just about to find out.

[The Golden Hammer.]

A shabby looking insignia hung outside of the shop.

Turning around and finally taking notice of my surroundings, to my surprise, I barely found anyone frequenting the place.

It was as though everyone was avoiding the shop like plague.

Clang—! Clang—! Clang—!

The rhythmical, steady sound of metal being pounded was the only thing that indicate to me that I was in the right place.

Taking a step forward, I knocked on the door.

—Knock! —Knock!

"Hello? Is anybody here?"

No response.

—Knock!

I once again knocked. This time, I raised my voice a little bit more, just to make sure that they heard me.

"Hello? Is there anyone in the shop?"

Clang—! Clang—!

"Hmmm, strange."

Yet again no one responded. However, the sound of metal being pounded was unmistakably there.

Was he perhaps too into it? Maybe that was why he didn't hear me.

"Well, whatever."

Shrugging my shoulders, I pushed the door open and entered the shop.

"Ugh."

As soon as I entered the shop, a wave of hot hair brushed past me as the heavy scent of iron invaded my nostrils prompting my nose to momentarily close up.

It took me a couple of seconds to get adjusted to the smell, and once I looked around, I found myself inside of a nicely decorated shop filled with all sorts of different artifacts.

From all kinds of weapons ranging from swords, axes, spears, and much much more, to bracelets, and other different accessories were put on display around the shop.

From a distance, I could tell that they were of a different quality.

"Come on, put more strength into it."

"I'm trying!"

Clang—! Clang—!

As I was observing the artifacts, in the back of the shop I could faintly hear two voices.

Turning my head and walking in the direction of where the voices were coming from, I curiously peeked from the side.

And there I saw it.

"Steady your arm!"

"Ok!"

Two dwarves fully focused on hammering a small piece of metal.

Sweat trickled down the side of their faces, and their focus never left the piece of metal before their eyes.

In fact, they were so focused that they did not notice my presence.

Of the two dwarves, one was evidently older whilst the other was much younger. Furthermore, observing from the side, I could tell that the older one was trying to coach the younger one.

Clang—! Clang—!

"no, nae, nae! harder! tha'ss'a too soft!"

The older looking dwarf shook his head in disappointment before pointing at a specific section of the metal.

"Idiot, ye did nae hammer this part enough. Look, tha shape be aff!

"Im trying ye old bastard."

—Smack!

Raising his hand, the older looking dwarf suddenly smacked the younger-looking dwarf in the head.

"who ye calling bastard ye bastard."

"Oy that hurts!"

Letting go of the hammer, the younger dwarf screamed in pain and held the back of his head in pain.

This enraged the older looking dwarf who raised his voice.

"you idiot, why did ye let go o' tha hammer?"

"because ye hit me!"

The younger dwarf cried out in grievance.

Unfortunately for him, the older dwarf had no sympathy for him as he once again smacked him in the head.

—Smack!

"A good blacksmith can work under any conditions. Now look, ye failed. What a waste o' good materials."

Covering his face with his hand, the older dwarf muttered out loud.

"What did I do ta get such an incompetent disciple..."

"Maybe if ye were nicer ta me, i wou''ve made it."

Raising his hand, the older dwarf threatened.

"Oy shut up 'afore I smack ye again."

"..."

The threat seemed effective as the younger-looking dwarf instantly shut up and covered his head with his hands.

"hmm? Who be ye?"

Finally taking notice of my presence, the older looking dwarf turned his head and looked at me straight in the eyes.

"Hey."

I awkwardly waved my hand.

"Are you perhaps Sir Malvil?"

Chapter 303: Malvil Ironhawk [2]

"It's me, but who be ye? Human?"

Malvil picked up the hammer from the ground and tried to place it on the table.

Seeing him struggle to put the hammer on the table, I moved forward and offered him a hand.

"I'll help out."

"Ah, thank ye."

"...What in the world is this hammer made out of?"

In hindsight, I probably should've thought this more thoroughly since the hammer weighed a ton.

Even with my current stats, I could barely lift it.

"Khh, what is this hammer made out of?"

"A lot o' bloody metal"

"Aren't you a blacksmith? How can you work with a hammer that you can't lift."

"...Well, it's nae mine, it's me students."

"Bounded artifact?"

"Ye."

"...no wonder."

Bounded artifacts were artifacts that could only be used by a specific user. If anyone else tried to use it, the artifact would not respond to any mana fluctuation.

As such, unless held by the true owner, it was nothing more than a piece of scrap metal. An extremely heavy one at that.

"I'll hold it by its head an' ye hold it by tha handle."

"Okay...ukk."

"Put more strength in your hips, youngster."

"Ugh, I'm trying."

After struggling for what felt like an eternity but was actually more like a little less than a minute, we finally managed to place the hammer on the table.

"...My god."

I collapsed on the ground, completely drained of energy.

Even if the artifact was a bounded one, to think that it would weigh so much in its regular state. Just how difficult was crafting it?

"...So what did you come here for?"

Malvil wiped his forehead that was filled with sweat.

Standing up, I tried to introduce my self. However, before I could do that, I was quickly cut off by him.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Ren, and I'm he—"

"You're here to get an artifact, right?"

"...yeah."

It looks like he already knew my answer. He probably just asked out of formality.

"What type of artifact do you want?"

"A sword."

As I asked, my heart rate sped up a little. Most likely, I was going to get rejected. But I at least wanted to know the requirements for getting accepted.

Malvil pointed towards the front of the shop and said.

"We have plenty in our shop; you can check them."

"I already have."

"...and?"

"I'm here to have a sword crafted rather than buying one."

"Crafted?"

"Yes."

An odd look flashed Malvin's eyes.

Patting the hammer on the table, he sat down on a wooden chair and rested his elbow on the table.

"Alright, show me your move. If ye can intrigue me, I may be interested in forging ye a sword."

"That's it?"

Just show him a move, and if he was impressed, he would craft it? Didn't that sound a little bit too easy?

<script>ChapterMid();</script>

At my expression, Malvin spat.

"What do ye mean tha'ss'a it? boy, let me tell ye this. I've seen all kinds o' swordsmanships. If what ye show me be nae something worth me time, I will simply nae make ye a sword."

"That makes more sense."

For someone to be hailed as one of the greatest blacksmith's of the world, they had to at least have this much pride.

Ko—! Tok—!

Tapping on the table to get my attention, Malvil warned.

"Boy, remember, just because ye helped me, dinna assume that it will affect me judgment. I'm very strict when judging."

"...Never thought you would."

"Glad ye know."

Taking out a random sword from my dimensional space, I rested it by the side of my waist.

Typically I would never walk with a sword in my waist as it hinders my movements when walking. I only took it out whenever I was about to fight or was in a dangerous environment.

Once I was set, lifting my head slightly, I asked.

"Just show you a regular move?"

"Doesn't really matter. Preferably, a regular move. Big moves can damage tha place. Whatever damage ye cause, it's on ye."

"Sure..."

Glancing at the room and realizing that it was filled with precious materials and artifacts, I decided to hold back on the major moves.

Though I wasn't sure about what he wanted exactly, I was still planning on going all out.

"Huuu..."

Taking a deep breath, I placed my hand on the sheath of the sword and calmed my mind. Closing my eyes, I placed my thumb right beneath the guard of the sword.

"Ye ready?"

"I am,"

I replied.

Slowly extending my right foot back, I awaited Malvin's go ahead.

The wait didn't last long as not even a couple of seconds after I spoke, Malvil gave me the go-ahead.

"Alright, show me what ye can do."

—Click!

The moment I got the okay from Malvil, almost out of instinct, my thumb pushed forward, and a silver streak of light shot out.

What followed the silver streak was a subtle clicking sound.

In a split second, I had sheathed and unsheathed my sword at incredible speeds.

Once I performed one movement, turning my head, I looked at Malvil, who wordlessly stared at me with his arms crossed.

"..."

"How was it?"

I asked, genuinely curious and nervous about his evaluation.

I had put everything in that one strike. I felt incredibly good about that one strike.

Was what I did good enough to meet his standards? I wanted to know.

The silence lasted for a brief couple more seconds before Malvil opened his mouth. His voice, sounding extremely disappointed.

"That's it?"

"H..huh?"

His words made me lose composure slightly as my heart sank.

The unamused and almost borderline bored expression on his face was what did it for me.

It was making me doubt myself. Was it really that bad? Was my swordsmanship that boring and interesting?

Quickly recovering my composure, I looked back at Malvil and asked.

"What do you mean that's it?"

"What I meant was, was that truly tha best ye were capable o'?"

"...Yes."

Although I didn't use any of my main movements, it would've made no difference to someone like Malvil.

The fundamentals were there.

"I see"

Standing up, Malvil let out a sigh before going back to the entrance of the shop. I followed from behind.

"Excuse me?"

"...What?"

"So, did I fail?"

"You dinna think."

A trace of disappointment flashed across my eyes.

Although I never had too much hope from the beginning, getting told outright that I didn't make the cut still disappointed me.

"Can you at least tell me why?"

I put my katana back and leaned on the counter of the shop where Malvin stood opposite.

"What was the problem with my swordsmanship?"

Though disappointed, I wasn't disheartened.

I faced many failures in my life.

One single failure or rejection wasn't going to make me lose myself. Rather, it was best for me to understand why I had failed so that I could work on it.

Just because he rejected me now, didn't mean he was going to reject me again in the future. I knew that I just had to prove my worth.

No knowledge from the novel could help me with this regard.

Slightly glancing at me from the side, Malvil picked up an artifact and cleaned it.

Before long, letting out a sigh, he opened his mouth.

"I'll do this because ye be young."

"Please."

I smiled happily.

Rolling his eyes, Malvin went straight to the point.

"Simply put, your swordsmanship be a mess."

"A mess?"

"Ye probably only have just learned how ta wield a sword nae too long ago, right?"

Putting the artifact down, Malvil picked another one and repeated the same process as before.

As he cleaned, he eyed me from the side of his eye.

"Is me analysis wrong?"

"...no, you're correct."

I bitterly shook my head.

As expected of one of the best blacksmiths in the world. With just one glance, he was able to tell that I had only touched a sword for just around two years.

"Yer nae bad for someone who just touched a sword for that little bit o' time. I can tell from your rank that yer talented, an' that tha swordsmanship ye practice be quite sophisticated, but..."

Malvil paused.

Putting the artifact down, he once again picked another one and repeated the same process.

Glancing at the artifact he put down and looking back at Malvin, I urged him to continue.

"...But?"

Though the way I was acting may come across as rude, his words were really enlightening me.

It felt as though a new door was opening up to me. My impatience was understandable.

Fortunately Malvin didn't take my action to heart as he lightly shrugged.

"That's all there be ta it. Ye just have a high rank, average degree o' psyons control, an' a good art. In terms o' actual swordsmanship, yer pretty bad."

"Bad?"

"Mhm, I can bet that aside from that weird swords style ye use, ye've never actually trained with tha sword properly."

"...Never trained with a sword properly? What do you mean?"

My brows knit tightly.

A part of me wanted to reject what he was saying, but another part of me, deep down, knew that he was probably right.

With his attention on the artifact in his hand, Malvil lightly said.

"Instead o' focusing on tha basic o' swordsmanship, ye've only focused on improving your little style, an' completely neglected tha fundamentals. Correct?"

"You're correct."

What he said was correct.

I've only truly trained the Keiki style, never actually trained in the basics of swordsmanship.

Malvil shook his head in disappointment at my confirmation.

"That's wrong."

Tossing the artifact back down, Malvil picked a new one.

"Although, I can also see that ye've put a lot o' effort in mastering psyon control, but tha'ss'a nae enough. Ye be simply wasting your talent."

"..."

Closing my eyes, I didn't say anything and just processed what Malvin was trying to say.

My mind was a bit of a mess right now, but what Malvin said was nothing but the truth.

I had only been focused on improving the Keiki style and my wind psyon control, that I completely neglected to train the basics.

Putting another artifact down, Malvin leaned on the counter.

"When someone asks me ta craft them an artifact, I always tell them tha same thing. Unless ye show me something that can truly inspire me ta work, I will never craft an artifact for them."

"...I understand."

Opening my eyes, I took my elbows off the counter.

Giving a light glance at the artifacts present in the room, and noticing their astronomical prices attached to them, I quickly gave up on buying them.

Lowering my head, I thanked Malvil for his advice.

"Thank you for your advice. I will come back once I'm ready."

"Well, ye better be quick. I'm getting on with me age soon. Dinna make me wait too long."

"Sur—Uh?"

WHIIIIIIIII! WHIIIIIIIII!

At that moment, just as I was about to leave the shop, an alarm rang out. Resounding across the whole city.

Putting an artifact down, Malvil's face darkened.

"Haizz, tha city be under attack again."

"Under attack? Again? Can you tell me what's going on?"

Malvin's words confused me.

What was going on? Were the demons perhaps already invading? And what did he mean by Again?

I had many questions to ask, but Malvil promptly ignored them as she screamed towards his disciple upstairs.

"Oy, ye ungrateful bastard, tell tha commander that I will be coming soon."

"Yes master!"

The disciple replied.

Finally turning his attention back to me, Malvin opened the door of the shop.

"Human, ye shou' probably go back now. Although we shou' be fine, ye never know what might happen."

"Can you at least tell me what's going on?"

"We're under attack tha'ss'a what's going on. Now go, tha shop be closed."

"Okay."

Seriously nodding my head, I took a step out of the shop.

—Clank!

The moment I set foot outside of the shop, the door of the shop behind me closed.

Not minding it, I quickly ran towards where the lodgings were.

If the city was truly under attack, then I needed to quickly reunite with the others. They may be in danger.

Chapter 304: Tower Defense [1]

As he was returning from the tavern, Waylen suddenly heard the sirens of the city ring out.

Without wasting any time, he hurriedly ran towards the outer walls of the city where an elderly figure stood.

Deeply gazing into the distance on the top of the enormous wall outside of the mountain where Henolur resided; a terrifying wind blew from below the walls.

Oddly enough, despite the strong winds blowing, the old man's clothes remained completely still and didn't flutter the slightest.

Sensing something, the old man turned his head and greeted Waylen with a calm smile.

"Waylen, you're back."

"I just came back from a drink, what exactly is going on, Douglas?"

"Haaa."

Closing his eyes slightly, the old man, Douglas, looked towards the distance.

Waving his hand, the strong winds around them completely disappeared and silence descended.

He then pointed towards the distance, where a mass of black dots appeared in the distance.

"As you can probably tell, the demons are once again attacking. This time, they are attacking with a large number of troops."

Putting his hands on the battlements of the castle; The upright projections on the castle walls shaped to look like teeth, Waylen glared.

"Those bastards. Have they sent the big shots?"

"Not yet. It looks like they are still trying to gauge the defensive mechanism of the city."

"So they've basically sent the cannon fodder."

"Mhm, for now."

Douglas calmly nodded his head.

Stroking his long white beard, he softly reminded.

"We should still be careful. We might never know what might happen."

Nodding in agreement, Waylen suddenly thought of something.

"...Right, what did the dwarves say?"

"The dwarfs?"

"Yeah, are they allowing us to help them?"

Acting without permission could enrage the dwarves.

This was because their interference might have adverse effects on the dwarves who were perhaps planning on activating a specific defensive measure that required no interference.

If they wanted to act, they could only do so at the okay of the dwarves.

After all, they were here to please the dwarves, not antagonize them.

Understanding full well what Waylen was implying, Douglas shook his head before once again turning his attention towards the distance.

"Nothing yet, but I've already told them that we will assist them if anything happens."

"That's good enough for now."

Also turning his attention towards the distance, Waylen's eyes squinted and tangible bloodlust started exuding from his body.

"If they permit us to move, I'll slaughter each and every demon that comes my way."

***

WHIIIIIII—! WHIIIIIII—!

The sounds of the sirens rang out throughout the whole city as the dwarves quickly closed up shop and hid inside of their homes.

<script>ChapterMid();</script>

From how unpanicked and organized this was, I could tell that this wasn't the first time that this had happened.

"Ren, what's going on?"

"Smallsnake?"

Regrouping with the others back at the lodgings, the first one to approach me was Smallsnake.

Glancing behind him and seeing everyone staring in my direction, my brows furrowed tightly.

"I'm not too sure, but from what I've heard, it looks like the city will be under siege soon."

"Under attack?"

My words instantly caused Smallsnake and the others to panic.

Everyone but Leopold, who listened attentively from the side. His experience was starting to show, as he remained coolheaded the whole time.

"What do we do now? Should we take cover? Or should we just leave this place?"

"I'm not sure myself, but leaving is not an option."

As Waylen had told me beforehand, escaping this place was no longer an option.

The end result would just be us against thousands of demons.

Massaging my throbbing forehead and staring at the others who seemed well-rested, I cursed out loud.

"Ah shit, I still didn't sleep yet."

Unlike them, I still had not properly rested as I ran around the whole city ever since arriving here.

Was my luck really that bad?

But at the moment, Smallsnake tapped me on the shoulder disrupting me out of my thoughts.

"...What is it?"

"Ren, what do you suggest we do?"

Lowering my head and looking at Smallsnake straight in the eyes and looking back at the others who were also waiting for my answer, I let out a groan.

"Ugh, whatever, I don't care anymore."

Once again taking out my sword from my dimensional space, I put it on my waist and tapped on my watch.

A holographic map of the city appeared in front of me.

Musing for a moment, I soon came up with a decision.

"Let's just go help out. It'll be good training for us."

Not only that, but it would also raise our reputation amongst the dwarves.

In any case, I needed this to distract my mind off of the things that Malvin had told me not too long ago.

"Get ready, we're about to move "

Before the others could respond, I had already run.

*

Henolur was built inside of a large mountain within a massive mountain range.

Blending with the environment; making it harder to spot from a distance, towering walls erected from outside of the mountain.

The walls were divided into two areas, the upper areas where the bigshots were, and the lower areas, where the weaker individuals were.

In order to make up the disparity, built on the lower area were many different defensive structures and artifacts, with dwarves, elves, and orcs patrolling around the area.

In general, they only talked amongst their own races and kept to themselves, but the impending attack from the demons sobered everyone up as they all helped each other out.

In contrast to the lower level, the higher level was more restricted for the stronger individuals. One could see from the level of security around the area that brought towards to the higher level, that highly classified meetings were being held there.

"Oy you over there!"

A buff dwarf yelled over to my side. Turning my head, I instantly recognized him.

"Elluid."

The dwarf that I had previously met at the entrance of the city.

Without greeting me nor waiting for me to reply, Elluid shouted onto a small device in his hands.

"Orimdus I've got some people here who be right for tha job. Quickly come ta pick them up."

—Quit shouting ye fucker, I'll be there in a minute.

Because Elluid didn't bother lowering the volume of the device, I could pretty much hear whatever they were saying.

"The fuck did ye say ta me?"

—Pah, what be ye gonna do?"

Before long, the man called Orimdus arrived. Glaring at Elluid, he raised his middle finger and flipped him off.

Then, turning his attention towards me and the others, he began to size us up.

"Mhh, nae bad. This will do for now."

Nudging me to follow him with his two fingers, I, along with the others, followed Orimdus towards the northern gate.

Walking along, he gave me and the others a brief overview of the walls defensive structure. The walls had four gates, which were named after the cardinal points. Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western.

The Northern gate, the gate that I was currently at, directly faced an expansive forest and was on the opposite side of where the main demon force was. As such, it was supposedly the easiest side to defend.

Orimdus, the dwarf that was guiding me and the others, was the one that oversaw the operations on the northern side.

On the other hand, the other two sides, the Eastern, and Western gates, directly faced the other mountain ranges. On normal occasions, those sides would've been the easiest to defend against, however, it had to be noted that demons could fly.

Because of this, the geographical advantage was almost negligent.

Lastly, there was the Southern gate, and that was where most of the demons were coming from. In short, that place was a living hell for whoever was there.

It was also the place where most bigshots resided.

"What do ye guys specialize in?"

Orimdus suddenly asked.

Turning around, I briefly gave him a rundown of our capabilities.

"I'm a swordsman, he's a tanker, she's a beast tamer, he's good at commanding, and these two can help with a utility such as scouting and paperwork."

At my mentioning of Smallsnake's and Ryan's capabilities, Orimdus instantly became disinterested.

From the looks of it, he didn't believe that the two of them could match the dwarven analytical abilities.

To that, I could only shake my head.

He was soon going to see just what those two were capable of.

"Mhhh, noted...I was hoping for a long-ranged damage dealer, but your composition be still good for when those bastards come near."

"Maybe I should get one..."

"Did ye say something?"

"No, just thinking to myself."

Orimdus previous words made me realize that I needed to get a long-ranged damage dealer in my group.

This was a serious flaw that I had not taken into account before.

"That reminds me, what be your ranks?"

Orimdus asked thoughtlessly to which I swiftly responded without hiding anything.

"I'm C- rank, and the others are D-/D rank with those two at around G rank."

Aside from Ryan and Smallsnake, pretty much everyone was now <D> rank and above. Sort of shocking given that not too long ago, everyone was barely at the entry-level of <E> rank.

"You guys be pretty strong for your age, I'll give ye that."

Orimdus pointed towards an area in the distance.

"You guys see tha area over there, right where tha tower be? go there, an' one o' tha people shou' make arrangements for ye."

I looked towards the area he was pointing at.

The tower he was pointing at was one of many that were along the walls and had windows and doors that individuals could use to either snipe or jump down from above to directly fight the enemies.

It wasn't a terrible spot to snipe, but it was a pretty obvious place, giving away the location of the sniper quite easily.

Fortunately, we didn't have one with us, and so we soon arrived below the tower where we quickly informed another dwarf about Orimdus's words.

Glancing at Smallsnake and Ryan with a disinterested look, the dwarf casually said.

"I see, let tha two utility users come with me an' ye guys can go ta tha middle level o' tha building."

"Got it."

Turning my attention towards Smallsnake and Ryan, I patted them on the shoulder and softly whispered.

"Smallsnake, Ryan, they're looking down on you. I want you to let them know their place."

To look down on the two geniuses that I had chosen, like hell I would let them.

"Got it."

"Yes."

Solemnly nodding their heads, they both soon followed the dwarf towards the uppermost floor of the tower.

From how serious their faces were, it seemed like they were fired up.

A grinned at that.

"You guys follow me up."

Nudging Ava, Hein and Leopold with my head, we soon walked towards the middle level where a large group of different races stood.

The group compromised of dwarves, elves, and orcs.

"Humans"

A tall male elf lazily eyed us. A trace of disdain flashed his eyes before speaking in a commanding tone.

"Tell us your abilities and rank. "

My brows knit.

"Ren Dover, Rank C-, swordsman, Ava leafz, Rank D-, Beast tamer—"

"What are humans doing here?"

An orc at the back suddenly raised his voice, cutting me off. His tone sounded quite displeased.

"We have no use for you weaklings over here. Go tell the dwarves that we can handle this side ourselves. You'll be a hindrance."

"No can do."

Ignoring the orc, I sat down on the ground and proceeded to ignore the orc.

Leopold followed my example and also sat next to me.

Out of all the people in my group, he was the only one that never appeared nervous in any situation.

I guess this was due to all the experience he had.

Eying Ava and Hein who was still standing, I patted the ground next to me.

"What are you guys doing? Sit down as well."

"Yes."

"Okay."

"Did you just ignore me?"

My behaviour obviously did not sit well with the orc who stood up from his spot and glared in my direction.

Glancing at him from the side, a trace of disdain flashed across my eyes.

Having been to Immorra, a place filled with bloodthirsty orcs that fought with their lives on the line every day, the orc before me was a joke in my eyes.

I couldn't even be bothered to argue with him. Let alone the elf that was too full of himself.

He was most likely some low levelled warrior that put on airs on those he deemed weak.

Aside from the two of them, there were more elves and orcs, however, they merely gave us a glance before going back to their own thing. It seemed as though their pride did not allow them to associate with us, a bunch of humans.

"Human, are you deaf? Did you not hear what I said?"

The orc slowly approached me. A strong aura exuded from his body.

Ignoring him and taking out binoculars from my dimensional space, I tapped on my bracelet. A potion soon appeared in my hand.

—Gulp!

Downing the potion, I glanced towards the others and muttered.

"Get ready, the bugs are coming."

Chapter 305: Tower Defense [2]

The sun started to set, and darkness slowly enveloped the land. A cold breeze brushed through the forest; the paper-like sound of the leaves fluttering sounded across the area.

The scene was rather tranquil, but everyone standing on top of the northern tower, knew that this was the calm before the storm.

Rustle—!

Soon, the silence was broken by the rustling sounds of the vegetation in the distance.

Stationed at the middle levels of the tower, I gazed into the distance. There were many black creatures in the distant forest, approaching our direction. Some were flying, whilst others weren't.

The atmosphere was heavy, and everyone on the middle level of the tower started to take out their weapons, as they quickly got back to their post, readying themselves for the upcoming battle.

"It's time we also get ready."

With the aid of my sword, I slowly stood up. Facing Ava, Leopold and Hein, I looked back towards the forest before muttering.

"This is going to be a long battle."

***

"You two follow me an' dinna touch anything."

Following the dwarf from before deep into the tower, Ryan and Smallsnake soon found themselves inside of what seemed to be the control room of the tower.

The layout of the place was quite simplistic, as the room was about the size of a normal living room. Around ten dwarves or so hurriedly paced around the room, looking through different holographic images, depicting different angles of the tower where the demons could be seen.

In the middle of the room was a large map filled with numerous dots; presumingly depicting the demons that were approaching.

Their number was quite large. Large enough to make Smallsnake gasp in shock.

On the other hand, staring at the room starstruck, Ryan couldn't help but let out an exclamation of surprise.

"Wow."

Running towards the map in the room, Ryan waved his hand over the map. His small hand passed through the holographic image.

"This looks so cool, how does it work?"

"Ryan, calm down."

Smallsnake hurriedly went to stop him.

However, their disturbance did not go unnoticed as an older looking dwarf pointed in their direction and shouted.

"Oy, who let tha two o' them in? An' what be a child doing here?"

"It's me."

The dwarf that led Ryan and Smallsnake in, raised his hand.

"Sir Bamus, I did this under the orders of Sir Orimdus."

"Orimdus? Tsk."

The older looking dwarf, Bamus, clicked his tongue.

"What be that guy thinking? Has he lost his mind?"

"He said ta let them help out with tha miscellaneous stuff. Their combat power be fairly low, an' they may end up being more useful than ye can imagine.

Bamus rolled his eyes.

Although he was the person in charge of the logistics in the northern tower, at the end of the day, Orimdus was the one in charge of the whole northern area.

<script>ChapterMid();</script>

He had to follow his orders.

"Alright, I'll do it."

"Thank you, sir."

The dwarf gratefully looked at Bamus.

Although Bamus was ill-tempered, he was not someone who would refuse a helping hand. Furthermore, he really needed someone to help him out.

Though he wasn't really sure about the ability of the two humans before him, the tasks he was about to give them wasn't too hard.

"You two follow me."

Following Bamus, Smallsnake and Ryan stopped in front of a large wooden desk. Atop the wooden desk was a similar map to that in the middle of the room; the only difference was that it was much smaller.

"I won't give ye guys a hard task, ye see over here?"

Bamus pointed at the map. More specifically the red dots around the map.

"This device over be a simplified version o' tha map in tha middle o' tha room, an' it gives us an overall outlook o' tha battlefield."

Tapping on a specific area of the map, a small square appeared on the map displaying the current situation of the area.

"Wooow!"

This startled both Ryan and Smallsnake who looked at it with amazement.

Staring at the two, Bamus's voice filled with pride.

"Your task be simple. What ye guys need ta do be report ta me every couple o' minutes how many demons be approaching from tha different sides o' tha tower. Ye guys can do that, right?"

Tilting his head, Smallsnake asked.

"We can, but why cant the device count it?"

Since their devices showed the dots on the screen, couldn't they have a system that directly counted them?

Fully expecting the answer, Bamus answered.

"The main device can, but we do this just in case tha artifacts miscalculates some o' tha data. After all, some o' tha demons cou' be using some special techniques that avoid tha detection o' tha device. Sometimes, a discerning eye be better than a machine."

"...So that's why."

Ryan turned his attention back towards the maps.

He then tilted his head and mumbled something to himself.

Crossing his arms, Bamus stroked his beard before turning around.

"Good, then I'll leave you two to—"

"134 left, 56 right, and 329 from the front."

However, before Bamus could leave, Ryan spoke up.

His eyes darting all over the map.

"H..huh?"

Bamus who was just about to leave almost tripped over. Turning around, he glared.

"What are ye talking about? Are ye joking around?"

Innocently looking at Bamus, Ryan pointed at the map.

"You wanted to know how many demons are coming? Those are the numbers..."

Ryan suddenly stopped. Blinkin a couple of times, he corrected himself.

"Oh wait, it's not 132 left, still 56 on the right, and 324 from the front."

"That's wrong Ryan."

"Huh?"

Smallsnake interjected from the side, startling Ryan.

Leaning forward, Smallsnake tapped on the tower. Soon an image of the place appeared and Smallsnake explained.

"Ryan, you forgot to count the ones that have infiltrated, there's about twenty-two missing from your count."

Lightly smacking Ryan in the head, Smallsnake's head shook in disappointment.

"This is what happens when you're trying to show off. "

"Sorry."

Holding onto the back of his head, Ryan dejectedly lowered his head.

Staring at the due from behind, Bamus was speechless.

"What the."

Turning around and walking towards the main map in the middle of the room, Bamus checked if what they said was correct.

Before long, his mouth opened wide.

"...Ah."

Turning his head and looking towards Ryan who was still being scolded by Smallsnake, Bamus's eyes opened in shock.

What they said perfectly matched what the artifact said.

***

From the looks of it, the enemy did not have any battle strategy prepared—Like a swarm of locusts, the demons charged from above. Demons riding onto huge beasts followed from below.

—Rumble! —Rumble!

The ground shook, and a cloud of dust appeared in the distance.

SHIIIIII—!

The next moment, the elves raised their hands and magic circles soon appeared on the palm of their hands. Before long, spells started raining down from above. Towards the demons in the distance.

Gazing at the scene from behind, I was impressed by the elves firepower.

Unlike typical novels that had elves specializing in archery, I instead designed them to be good at magic rather than archery.

Probably the only different thing that I did in my novel.

Even then, that didn't mean elves were bad at archery, it's just that they were far better magicians due to their affinity with mana.

On a different note, it was quite easy to tell how strong an elf was.

This was measured by the hair color of an elf, with green hair signifying lower affinity with mana, and with silver, which was the hair color that royalty had, signifying the highest amount of affinity with mana.

WHIIIM—!

Suddenly, a tremendous spell appeared in the sky. Lingering in the air for a couple of seconds, it soon fell towards the demons in the distance like a meteor.

BOOOM—!

The ground shook and hundreds of demons died instantly.

Turning my head towards the elf responsible for the attack, I found out that it belonged to the elf that had greeted me before; his hair was a color mix between gold and green.

"Damn."

Even though green haired elves had a low affinity with mana, that didn't mean that they were weak. The low affinity was only with respect to other elves.

Compared to us humans, they were still a notch above.

Xiu—! Xiu—! Xiu—!

On a different note, the elves weren't the only long-distance damage dealers, as the dwarves shot the demons from above with an object that resembled a gun.

Although the things they were holding did somewhat resemble guns, they operated differently as they shot projectiles made out of mana.

They were devastating as each shot equalled the life of a demon.

Turning my attention away from the elf and the dwarves, and gazing below the tower, I found that despite the strong spells and attacks from the dwarves and elves, demons were still managing to infiltrate the place.

They were simply too numerous.

"Uuuaargh!"

Unfortunately for them, to those that infiltrated, the orcs were already waiting for them at the entrance as they quickly pummeled them down.

With their huge bodies, the orcs prevented most of the demons from infiltrating the tower where the weaker dwarves and elves resided.

Because they were so focused on the demons attacking, if a demon infiltrated, they would be left helpless.

BANG—! BANG—!

Explosions rang everywhere signalling that the war was in full swing; with both sides slowly starting to accumulate losses.

"Ren, what are you thinking? Should we help out?"

"...Right."

At Leopold's reminder, I realized that we had still not moved yet.

To be honest, the reason why I did not move yet wasn't because I didn't want to fight, but because I found this situation a bit odd.

Although demons were indeed a species that loved to fight, they weren't stupid either. For them to attack without any strategy was quite odd in itself.

"Ren?"

"Coming, coming."

Well, whatever, the dwarves were probably aware of this already. My job right now was to get rid of as many demons as possible.

I'll leave the thinking to the dwarves for now.

"Step aside."

Walking down towards the lower level, the demons continue to flood in from all areas of the castle.

Their incredible numbers made it hard for the orcs below to full stop them.

Before long, three demons managed to pass through the first line of defense and started rampaging through the inner sides of the castle where the elves and dwarves were left helpless.

Raising one of his sharp claws, one of the demons approached a dwarf near me and screamed.

"Die you vermin"

"Hiiik!"

"Shut up."

—Click!

However, before the demons could do any significant damage, a subtle clicking sound rang out and the head of the demon rolled on the ground.

Apathetically glancing at the dead demon beneath my feet, and ignoring the stares coming from the dwarf that I had just saved, I calmly walked towards where the orcs were.

"Stop."

Just as I was about to pass through the orc defensive line, the orc that screamed at me before, stopped me.

He had evidently not seen me stop the demons that had infiltrated the place.

"What are you doing, human?"

He asked.

A strong scent of blood exuded from his body.

"I'm helping out."

I coldly replied.

Putting his hand on my shoulder, the orc pushed me back.

"Get back human, you'll only be a hindrance, wait what are you..uuek!."

Smiling, I grabbed the orcs hand that was on my shoulder. Squeezing tightly, the orc let out a groan.

"Ukkk!"

"Know your place."

I coldly muttered.

To think that an orc who was not even <C-> rank like me was had the audacity to try and stop me.

He wasn't even one of the strongest people present, yet, because he thought I was weaker than him, he tried to walk over me.

What a delusional orc he was.

Coldly looking at him, I forcefully withheld my impulse to kill him right on the spot and let go of his hand.

"Next time you lay your hand on me, I'll cripple it."

Then, turning my attention towards the demons in the distance, I tied my hair up and unsheathed my sword.

SHIIIIING!

"Hein, Ava, Leopold, cover me."

Glancing at the other's behind me, I shoved some of the orcs to the side and directly entered the battlefield, much to the shock of the orcs and others.

I really wanted to see how long I could last without using the Keiki style.

Chapter 306: Tower Defense [3]

—Bang!

"Huek!"

Blocking the attack of a demon, Hein let out a groan. Even then, his footing remained glued to the ground.

Solid and unmoving.

tootle-too~

Right as Hein blocked the attack of the demon, a melodious tune sounded.

Following this, three wolves suddenly appeared out of nowhere as Ava stood behind them with a green flute in her hand.

A subtle golden glow exuded from her body.

"Ava, get one of the wolves to aim for the leg."

Standing behind, Leopold squinted

"Get your other two wolves to attack the other legs and arm. You don't have to worry about finding the core."

In order to kill a demon, they needed to destroy their core, and finding the core was the challenging part of killing a demon. However, this only applied to titled demons.

Untitled demons were not powerful enough to develop a core, and therefore, they would die by simple decapitation of the head.

SHIIIING—!

"Khhh!"

On the other hand, standing next to Leopold, I slashed towards every demon that came my way.

Usually, I would've gotten rid of every demon in my vicinity with just a simple movement of my sword.

Unfortunately, I could no longer do that.

At least for now.

From the moment I had left Malvin's workshop and heard his words, I realized just how flawed my swordsmanship was.

Simply put, I could no longer act as I did before.

I needed to change, and what better opportunity than right now?

This being the first wave, and the wave filled with the weakest demons, I had to make good use of this opportunity to get as much practice as possible.

Spurt—!

Slashing forward, my blade slashed through the body of a weaker ranked demon, cutting him into two equal pieces.

"Ueek!"

Black blood spilt all over my clothes, and face.

Clenching tightly onto the grip of my sword, I stomped my foot on the ground and twisted my torso.

Then, releasing the tension in my torso, I slashed towards another demon.

"Ueeeek!"

Slowly, my body count started to increase, and so was my scope of time.

I just killed, killed, and killed.

My emotions started to dumb down, and my body started to move on its own. Moving towards wherever a demon was.

Unbeknownst to me, before I knew it, I had lost count of how many demons I had killed, and standing in front of me were three demons.

Of the three, one stood out particularly, as a pressure rivalling mine exuded from its body.

***

At the same time, inside of the control room of the control tower.

"Oy, ye two follow me."

Bemus beckoned Smallsnake and Ryan with his hand.

"…yea?"

Though confused, both Ryan and Smallsnake followed Bemus's instructions and walked to where he was.

<script>ChapterMid();</script>

Pointing at the large map depicting the northern tower, Bemus asked.

"Take a look at this. Which side do ye reckon wou' be breached first."

His sudden questioning caused the dwarves nearby to look at him in shock. It had to be noted that, Bemus was a very hot-blooded and strict person.

For him to personally ask the opinion of someone else, it only meant two things. He had either acknowledged them, or he was testing them.

Nevertheless, for him to test them, meant that their skills were real.

Not fully comprehending the situation, Smallsnake pointed towards himself and Ryan.

"You're asking us?"

"Who else?"

Bemus crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.

Pointing at the map he asked again.

"Answer my question. Which side do you think will be breached first and needs the most support?"

Frowning, Smallsnake looked at the large map before him.

Next to him Ryan also looked at the map. Touching the hologram to see the different camera angles, Ryan tugged Smallsnake's pants and pointed towards a certain area.

"Smallsnake, look."

"Hm? Oh?"

Smallsnake's eyebrows jumped up.

Bending over and looking at the area Ryan pointed at, he looked back at Bamus and answered.

"Oh then, it would be the eastern area of the northern tower."

"What makes you so confident in your answer?"

Bemus asked with a frown on his face.

As the other dwarves had known, he was actually testing Smallsnake and Ryan.

He already knew the answer, and he just wanted to see how capable they were. However, their answer disappointed him.

Shaking his head, Bemus opened his mouth.

"Nevermind, looks like I was overthinking, ye guys can go bac—"

But before he could answer, Smallsnake cut him off.

"…we'll that's because it can't be the eastern and northern areas."

"Can't be the eastern and northern areas?"

Bemus's frown deepened.

"...Right."

Nodding his head, Smallsnake elaborated.

"The northern area, although has the most demons coming, is also the area with most defensive measures. So far there is no indication that it will fall. At least not in this wave."

The northern area was the area that had the most demons coming. Therefore, it was also the most protected area with multiple artifacts and soldiers stationed there.

At the moment, it was also the safest area.

Listening to Smallsnake's words, Bemus agreed and asked.

"Correct. But what aboot tha western area?"

Scratching his head, Smallsnake answered.

"Well, that's because Ren is there."

His answer was so unexpected, that Bemus who was listening was left confused.

"…huh? Who?"

"It's better if you see for yourself."

Tapping onto the map, a video image of the situation began to play before Bemus.

The moment the video began playing, Bemus was left speechless by the scene presented before him.

"What's this?"

Surrounded by two demons, a lone youth stood in the middle of the battlefield. Behind the two demons was another demon.

One whose aura was much more powerful than the duos.

Eyeing each other, the two demons closely followed the youth's movements. They did not act arrogantly like the demon they were serving, but more like bodyguards, their sharp nails resembling swords extended all the way down from their hands.

Around them, were many different demons, but they were all quickly shot down by the people from the tower.

In case they didn't die, a large youth holding a shield and a girl holding a flute would quickly provide assistance. Behind them, a middle-aged man directed them calmly.

"He's directly facing the commander."

Observing from the control room, Bemus muttered out loud.

From what he knew, each wave had a commander, and from the looks of things, the youth in the video was currently facing the commander of the first wave.

On a good note, the commander didn't seem too strong as this was only the first wave, which was more for scouting than attacking, even then, he was not to be underestimated.

At least Baron ranked.

Turning right, Bemus asked.

"Is this the reason you are so confident the easter area will not be alright?"

"Correct,iIf it's him, then there should be no problems."

Smallsnake crossed his arms and stared at the video.

Ryan who was next to him also did not show any signs of worry, They both knew full well Ren's capabilities.

This was especially so after having been with him for over four months during their journey to the city.

He was strong.

"...Oh, they're starting."

Ryan's high pitched voice sounded, and as soon as his words faded, Ren began to move.

Stomping his foot on the ground, creating a small crater on the ground, his body shot forward with his blade stabbing towards the nearest demon.

Attacking so suddenly and unexpectedly, the demon was not able to react in time.

Ren's sword immediately stabbed towards its demon's head, causing black blood to fall on the ground. Following this, Ren pulled out his sword and slashed vertically, decapitating the demon.

Everything happened so fast that, apart from the leading demon behind, the other demon was unable to react.

Still, that didn't mean that the other demon stood still.

It was at that moment when the other demon finally reached Ren, slashing with its large nails. A whilst arose, and the air split apart.

Ren coldly glanced at the incoming attack. Glancing at the stronger demon to see if he was going to move, he took a step back and narrowly dodged the attack.

WHIIIING!

He then took a step and stabbed forward, towards the demon's head. Unfortunately for Ren, the demon reacted extremely quickly; one of its hands grabbed Ren's sword whilst the other slashed in his direction.

This sudden block caught Ren off guard, however, that didn't mean that he was helpless. In a split second, he already knew what to do.

Letting go of the sword, Ren bent his body backwards dodging the attack. Then, coating his feet with a green hue, he twisted his torso and kicked the demon right in its chin, sending him flying a couple of meters back.

"Huek!"

Taking advantage of this moment, Ren bent down and grabbed his sword that was left on the ground. Stomping his foot on the ground, he shot forward and killed the remaining demon.

Throughout the whole fight, the leading demon did not move an ounce from its spot.

Without changing his expression, Ren did not waste any time.

He immediately charged over the demon who he confirmed was a baron ranked one.

The Baron ranked demon was very cunning. Previously, he had been observing Ren carefully. The only reason why he didn't move when Ren was killing his minions was because he wanted to get a better understanding of his opponent.

Only after having observed Ren kill his two subordinates that he finally started to move.

Raising both hands at the speed of lighting, the baron ranked demon crossed them; ten red claw marks shot in his direction. Wherever they passed, scars would be left behind.

Ren's expression suddenly sank. Sidestepping, he tried his best to avoid the attacks. However, that didn't mean he was unarmed, as a large gash appeared by the side of his chest.

"Khu...!"

Red blood dripped down on the ground.

Apahtetically starting at the demon opposite, who had a cunning smile on his face, Ren exhaled.

Taking out a potion from his dimensional space, he quickly downed it. In seconds, his injuries started to heal.

Eyeing the demon opposite to him, a green glow enveloped his body. Stomping on the ground, Ren shot forward and raised his sword.

Within seconds he reappeared in front of the demon who was waiting for him. However, much to the demon's surprise, once Ren arrived before him, he stomped his foot on the ground and forcefully forced his body back.

The sound of bones creaking sounded, and Ren's face grimaced in pain.

SHUA!

The demon who had been prepared to strike Ren the moment he appeared, was left dumbfounded by Ren's sudden actions as his attack missed completely.

"Got you."

With a slight smile, Ren once again raised his sword and slashed down. It was a simple strike, yet, to the demon who was left in an awkward position, this strike looked terrifying.

FWUAP!

Out of desperation, extending the back of his wings, the demon flapped them and his body shot back. Unfortunately for him, Ren's attack still managed to hit him. An arm flew in the sky and black blood dripped on the ground.

Thud.

With a small thud, the arm fell on the ground, not so far from where Ren was.

"Huuuuuuaaak!"

Silence descended around the area where Ren was. Following which, an enraged scream sounded from above as the baron ranked demon pointed at Ren.

"Kill him!"

His bloodshot eyes glared at him, and tangible bloodlust started exuding from his body. Instantly, the demons within the vicinity all turned their attention towards Ren.

We were talking about over thirty demons or so.

All of them looking at Ren with bloodthirsty eyes.

Within a second of the Baron's ranked demons words, all the demons lunged in Ren's direction. To those that were watching from the tower and in the control room, it looked like a slaughter was about to happen.

However, unbeknown to them, Ren's face remained calm. In the face of the incoming demon's, his face remained cold and unmoving.

In fact, something that would leave them at a loss for words suddenly happened.

With his eyes locked on the Baron ranked demon, Ren's pupils slowly turned grey and the battlefield froze.

All the demons that were lunging towards his direction stopped, seemingly as though they were frozen in time.

His ashen grey eyes made all the demons present wasn't to kneel down and worship him.

"Move."

His cold voice rang out, travelling through the ears of each demon present, sending shivers down their spines.

Almost out of pure instinct, all the demons stepped to the side, creating a small path leading to the Baron ranked demon.

SHIIIING—!

Unsheathing his sword from the scabbard, Ren did not even bother looking at the demons besides him and calmly walked towards the demon in the distance who had trouble taking his eyes away from him.

Step. Step. Step.

Each step he took resonated with the wildly beating hears of the demons present.

"Huek!"

Gazing at Ren who was slowly moving in its direction, the baron ranked demon took a step back.

Even though it was not completely helpless like the other demons who could barely move, nevertheless, the demon was injured and his state of mind was weak.

The effects of the one had crept through his weakened mind, resulting in the momentary loss of the demons will to fight.

Soon Ren stopped in front of the demon. Raising his sword, he muttered.

"This is enough for today."

SHUA!

Ren slashed and a head flew off.

Spurt—!

Following this, Ren dug his hand into the demon's body and removed a black core from the demon's body.

Just like that, the first wave ended.

Chapter 307: Interlude [1]

"See, what did I tell you? With him there, the western side is safe."

A slight smile appeared on Smallsnake's lips as he looked at Bemus beside him.

Secretly he was sighing in relief.

Although everything went as he had expected, there were some close calls. Ren's way of fighting was a lot more different than he had seen before, but still, he had won, and that was all that really mattered.

The only one that wasn't happy with the situation was Ryan, who sulkily said.

"My calculations were wrong, Ren took much longer than usual."

"...You thought so too?"

Ryan's words caught Smallsnake's attention who lowered his head and patted him on the head.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought so."

Now used to Smallsnake patting him on the head, Ryan didn't react and continued to sulk.

"My calculations were off by five minutes..."

"Five minutes?"

"Yes."

"Hmm."

Placing his and on his chin, Smallsnake mused for a couple of seconds. Then, turning his attention towards the video depicting Ren's fight, he nodded in agreement.

"Looks like you're right. Ren could've ended this five minutes faster the expected."

"Did something happen to Ren?"

"Not sure..."

Smallsnake's brows knit.

However, he eventually shrugged his shoulders.

"If you really want to know, we can ask him later. Maybe he was trying to save mana? I'm not really sure..."

Although he had no idea why Ren chose to take his time in eliminating the demons, Smallsnake wasn't really worried.

Having known Ren for over a year now, he knew that he wasn't someone reckless.

If he did something, there was a logical reason behind it.

Patting Ryan in the shoulder he reminded.

"We should probably go to sleep soon. Another attack might happen at any time, so we should be ready for that."

"...okay."

Though disappointed, Ryan obeyed Smallsnake's words.

On the other hand, standing not far away from the duo...

'Calculations wrong? Five minutes off? Just what in the world are they talking about?'

Bemus wondered as he speechlessly looked at the duo discussing amongst themselves.

Although he had heard what they said, he couldn't comprehend what they were saying.

Were they saying that the human that defeated the Baron ranked demon did not go all out?

That came to him as a shock since his performance was still deeply imprinted in his mind.

"Sir Bemus."

Disrupting Bemus out of his thoughts was Smallsnake.

Lifting his head, Bemus asked.

"...What is it?"

"Do you mind if we go take a quick nap?"

"Nae, go, go."

Waving his hand, he quickly shooed them out of the control room.

Their performance was excellent. Furthermore, Smallsnake's words were correct. Another wave was coming soon, and so the best option right now was to sleep.

<script>ChapterMid();</script>

Only with a clear mind could they perform well and suffer the least amount of casualties.

"Make sure to come back after you rested well."

Right before they left, he reminded.

As he spoke, he emphasized the part where they had to come back. Having witnessed first-hand just how brilliant they were, Bemus no longer doubted their ability.

Not just him, but the other dwarves present looked at them with more respect than; their abilities had been somewhat acknowledged.

They were people they desperately needed, and he couldn't afford to miss out on such talented people.

***

Dosha! Dosha! Dosha!

A curtain of rain enveloped the northern tower, limiting everyone's field of vision. The sound of the pouring rain filled everyone's ears, and the black blood belonging to the corpses of the demons on the battlefield began to seep deep into the soil.

Kracka!

A bolt of lightning suddenly tore the sky apart, illuminating the surroundings for a split second.

Standing below the rain, watching it fall on my face, I closed my eyes.

The droplets of rain trickled by the side of my face. Opening my eyes and looking at the sky above, my brows knit.

'It had to rain just as the battle ended.'

What better timing.

By now, all of the demons had been killed or had fled, and what was left behind was only a trail of corpses.

The death of the Baron ranked demon marked the end of the first wave, and if I had to evaluate my fight with the Baron ranked demon with one word, it would be 'mediocre'.

Not only was I injured, but I had also used quite a bit of mana using the one. Had I used the Keiki style, I could've ended this uninjured, and with a lot more mana.

This just went to show how reliant on the Keiki style I was.

Still, I had won, and that was all that mattered. Although I had cheated by the end and mainly relied on my opponent's recklessness, it still counted as my win.

But.

This wasn't what I was looking for.

I was looking to improve my skills, not kill my opponent.

"Hm?"

Feeling a light tap on my shoulder, I turned around and Leopold's face appeared next to mine.

He then proceeded to point at the tower in the distance.

"Ren, let's head back."

"...Right."

Taking one last look at the battlefield, I followed Leopold and the others back into the tower.

Overall, the battle lasted for only an hour, and the enemies suffered great losses.

The battle could be considered a success since the tower wasn't breached, and we managed to ward off the first wave without letting them know too much about the defensive system of the tower.

That being said, the dwarves also suffered some losses due to the demons managing to break through the tower; however, overall, the result was in favour of the dwarves.

Furthermore, this was when the dwarves had still not activated all their defensive measures.

Because it took a lot of energy to operate, the dwarves chose not to use them for now. The dwarves weren't planning to show all of their cards just yet; however, the demons could say the same thing since they only sent the cannon fodder so far.

The upcoming battles were going to be extremely dangerous.

"Huaam…"

Yawning, I reminded myself to get some sleep.

With the threat of the second wave coming, I had to be in optimal condition for my next fight.

"Ava, how many did you kill?"

"I've got eight."

"What about you, Leopold?"

"Me? Eight."

"Eight? That's the same as Ava."

"No shit, who do you think was commanding you guys? Her kills are my kills."

"What! Not fair!"

Overhearing the other's conversation, I shook my head.

I had long lost count of the number of demons that I had killed in the last battle, but it would be around fifteen to twenty if I had to make a rough estimate.

Needless to say, this was to be expected since I was a rank higher than them.

*

The moment I stepped back into the tower, I felt multiple eyes directed towards me.

They belonged to those that had witnessed my fight below.

"What is it?"

Halting my steps, I found the same orc from before blocking my path.

His fierce eyes looked down on me from above.

Lifting my head and staring back into those eyes, my mouth opened.

"Are you picking a fight with me?"

Did he perhaps get offended for what I did before? If so, I was prepared to let him know his place again.

'No I can't fight…'

However, I quickly halted those thoughts.

The lingering bloodlust was still affecting my mind, and if I fought now, I might lose myself.

The consequences of such actions would be highly detrimental to me and the others.

I was prepared to use Monarch indifference's at any time, now.

"Get out o——!"

However, contrary to what I had expected, the orc lowered his head and apologized.

"I'm sorry."

"H..huh, what?"

My composure took a hit as my speech stuttered for a second.

"What are you talking about?"

It was completely different from what I had expected the situation to turn out.

Misunderstanding my words, the orc knelt on one knee and raised his voice.

"I'm sorry for what I did to you before. I didn't know you were that strong."

"What are you doing? Get up."

Unable to take the orcs antics, I grabbed his arms and pulled him up. I was seriously taken aback by the situation.

And if that wasn't all, the elf from before also came up to me.

"Human, you're not half bad."

Though his words weren't as direct as the orcs, the intent was clear.

He had acknowledged me, the disdain in his eyes completely disappearing.

Their reaction slightly changed my perception of the individuals present in the room.

From what I could see, they didn't act the way they did to me before because I was human, but more because they thought that I was weak.

They respected the strong and disdained the weak.

'If only humanity was like this...'

There was a reason why the other races were stronger than humanity.

Now that I, along with the others have shown a glimpse of what we could do, we had earned the respect of the people present in the room.

Of course, not everyone was convinced, but for now, this was good progress.

In the future, if we continued to perform as we did today, perhaps their minds could be changed as well.

My initial wariness disappeared, and I took out my sword, much to the vigilance of the others.

Looking at the orc below me, who was fearlessly staring back at me, I opened my mouth.

"...So, who should I ask if I want to repair this?"

A small smile appeared on my lips.

*

Before dawn, Orimdus walked into the logistics department with a bunch of papers in his hand.

With glaring black circles beneath his eyes, he dragged his tired body up the stairs that led to the control room of the northern tower.

"Bemus, give me a report on the situation here."

With his hands crossed, Bemus looked at the map of the tower in front of him. Then, as he heard Orimdus's voice, he turned around and gave him a casual glance.

"Orimdus? You're finally here."

"I'm tired. Can't you make this quick?"

Orimdus placed the stack of papers on a nearby table and leaned on it. He then proceeded to close his eyes.

Running around doing logistics throughout the whole northern walls, he was beyond tired.

Furthermore, he was still not done with his job.

He now had to collect the logistic reports of the northern tower to report back to the higher-ups about the losses, how well they were faring, and if reinforcements were needed.

It was a tough job.

"Oy."

Walking up to him, Bemus asked.

"Where did you find those humans?"

"Humans?"

Opening his eyes, Orimdus tilted his head to the side.

Because of how tired he was, it took him a bit to finally realize what Bemus was talking about.

"Ah, them!"

Orimdus smacked the palm of his hand.

It was then he recalled that he had assigned a group of humans in the northern tower.

His joy did not last long, however. With a worried look, he turned his attention towards Bamus and asked.

"Did something happen? Did they cause any trouble or did they die?"

"..."

Eyeing Orimdus for a couple of seconds, Bemus eventually shook his head.

"No, it's the opposite."

"The opposite?"

"Just take a look at this."

Swiping his hand, the holographic image of the map disappeared, and what replaced it was a video.

"What are you doing? I don—"

"Shut up and watch."

Bemus directly cut him off.

He was getting irritated by Orimdus's attitude.

Tapping the air, the video soon began to play. What was displayed on it, caused Orimdus who was half asleep, to sober up real quick.

"What in the bloody..."

A/N : Don't know if you've noticed, but the previous chap uploaded was in fact an unedited version. I accidentally copied the wrong draft. It should be fixed now.

Chapter 308: Interlude [2]

"That is all…"

Inside a spacious white hall, a dwarf put a small file on top of a desk and stepped back.

"Looks like the situation is still stable."

There were multiple people inside the hall; sitting on a large oval wooden desk. One of them grabbed the papers and read through them; he was a bald old dwarf. He wore circular black-framed glasses and had thick black brows.

"We've only suffered minor casualties so far, an' tha city hasn't been breached."

"…at least for now."

Someone else added.

With long hair cascading down his back and pointy ears, the man was an elf. His hair was primarily of golden color, however, if one looked closely, they'd noticed a few silver strands in his hair.

A regal aura exuded from his body.

Opening his mouth, his melodious voice rang throughout the whole room.

"Although the situation looks stable for now, we never know what might happen in the future. It's best if we don't get overconfident with the result of the first wave."

"I agree with Nasir."

A deep and powerful voice sounded, and the table slightly shook.

The voice belonged to an orc whose physique was at least double that of any of the individuals present inside the hall.

His terrifying eyes could make any regular person faint in fear.

"We should not be arrogant with our results."

Putting the papers down, the bald dwarf from before opened his mouth.

"Yroh, Nasir, although I understand what yer trying ta say, dinna be so pessimistic, we still haven't activated tha city's main defensive system yet."

A proud smirk appeared on the dwarf's lips as soon as he mentioned the city's defensive system.

And rightfully so.

Everyone in the room knew just how powerful the dwarves' defensive system was. That was because the dwarves never shied away from showing it off to the others.

Although they didn't know the full extent of its capabilities, from what they saw, it was no joke.

If not for the fact that it consumed a lot of energy, the dwarves would've already used it by now.

"Once tha system be up, we won't have ta worry aboot those demons for a while."

"…but don't you think that the demon's movements are a bit suspicious, Belgig?"

This time another person spoke up.

He appeared to be an old man well into his eighties. His long white hair gently cascaded down his back, and his long white beard reached down towards his chest. The only unordinary thing about him was probably his temperament. He wore a kind and warm smile on his face, making him look friendly to those around him.

He was Douglas, the headmaster of the Lock.

"They indeed be, Douglas, me best guess be that they're trying ta infiltrate tha defensive system an' shut it down."

"...That would be pretty problematic."

The bald dwarf's response caused Douglas to frown.

<script>ChapterMid();</script>

Belgig, which was the name of the bald dwarf, quickly reassured.

"Don't worry; we've already taken countermeasures for this."

"You have?"

"Yes, but I'll have ta apologise in advance for nae telling ye anymore than this."

Raising his brow slightly, a look of understanding appeared on Douglas's face.

"Understandable."

Smiling kindly, he stopped asking questions.

He understood what Belgig was trying to imply.

'No one could be trusted.'

For there could be someone present in the room that was secretly working with the demons. It was best to have the least amount of people know about the ins and outs of the defensive system.

Tap.Tap.Tap.

Tapping on the table, Belgig suddenly recalled something. A sly smile appeared on his face as he looked at Douglas.

"On another note, now that I'm talking ta ye Douglas, I want ta thank ye."

"Thank me?"

Douglas tilted his head in confusion.

He didn't remember doing anything notable enough to warrant any gratitude.

Douglas's reaction caused Belgig to raise his brow.

"Are you perhaps not aware of what happened in the northern area?"

"Northern area?"

Douglas's brows knit. After a while, he shook his head.

"No, I apologize."

"Is that so?"

Belgig frowned and looked towards the corner of the room where another dwarf stood.

Waving his hand, he beckoned for him to come to him.

"Oy, you there. Show Douglas the video of the northern tower incident."

"Yes."

Taking out a small device, the dwarf placed it in the middle of the table and a holographic projection soon appeared in front of everyone.

Tapping on the device, a video soon began to play.

"Here you go, sir."

"Thank you."

Dismissing the dwarf, Belgig began to look at the video. Although he had already seen this before, he couldn't help but want to watch it again. It was very entertaining.

Besides him, the other people also curiously watched the video that was playing.

Furthermore.

Turning his head, Belgig amusingly looked at Douglas.

He wanted to see his reaction.

"Huh?"

It was then that they witnessed the outstanding scene that happened in the northern tower. From how those at the towers beautifully defended the place with the massive spell, to Ren, Ava and the other's defending the western area of the tower by themselves.

The video lasted a total of ten minutes, and by the end of it, some couldn't help but compliment.

"Not bad."

"Though lacking, they aren't bad at all. They also look quite young."

"They are quite the talented humans."

Although the battle wasn't anything in their eyes, it was still quite an entertaining watch.

At that moment, whilst everyone was lightly praising the youths, the only one who wasn't was Douglas, who looked intently at a certain youth on the screen.

'Where have I seen him before?'

***

"We're here."

Separating from the others, I followed the orc from before down the stairs of the tower. Towards the utility center.

"The utility center is located at the bottom of the city, towards the third level, and connects with each of the towers on the walls."

As I followed the orc; named Ghorloz, he started explaining to me the ins and outs of the place.

Every time he spoke, his deep voice shook my eardrums.

If not for the fact that the orc knew the human language, I would've had trouble understanding him.

"It isn't strange for weapons to break during wars...krr...Especially since we're facing a lot of opponents...krrr...The Utility center is an area created with the purpose of providing a place for us soldiers to our weapons fixed fast."

The only trouble was the slight nasal sounds that came from his nose whenever he took a breath.

"We can also get a replacement right?"

I asked, genuinely curious about the prospect of buying a new weapon rather than having it fixed.

Ghorloz nodded his head.

"Correct, if beyond repair, you can have a new one made, or replaced...krrr...You must use achievements points to pay for anything here."

"Achievement points?"

"It's...krrr...the payment system used over here."

—Clank!

Reaching the bottom of the tower, Ghorloz opened a large metallic door. As soon as he opened the door, a wave of hot hair brushed past my skin. A strange pungent smell also lingered in the air, prompting my nose to involuntarily close up and my face to grimace in disgust.

"Ugh."

It seems like I was the only one not used to the smell as Ghorloz continued to leisurely move forward.

"The more demons killed, the more achievement points awarded...krrr...Achievement points are used to reward those that contributed a lot during the war....krrr...Also a great way to motivate soldiers."

Catching up to him, I asked.

"How do I check my achievement points?"

Ghorloz halted his steps.

Then, looking at me, he asked.

"You want to check your achievement points?

"Yeah."

I nodded.

'If it's like he said, I should have some points, no?'

Though I didn't know the exact number of demons I had killed, I definitely should've killed enough to get a decent number of points.

"Follow me."

Hurrying my steps, I followed Ghorloz from behind. Because he was at least twice my size, each step he too was about two or three of fine, making it hard for me to keep up. But this was nothing to me.

Before long, we soon stopped in front of a large board. From where I was, I could see a long list of names displayed on it.

However, because a large crowd formed around the board, it was hard to see the full names of the people as they obstructed my view.

"Krrr...Step aside and let other people see."

If not for Ghorloz paving a path for me with his big body, I would've had a difficult time checking the leaderboard.

Soon the board appeared in my vision, and I was able to catch a glimpse of it.

"The list over here ranks individuals by achievement points...krrr...It goes from 1 to 1000."

Putting his large hand on my shoulder, Ghorloz squinted his eyes and explained.

Similarly looking at the board to see whether my name was on it, I muttered.

"How do they know how achievement points we have?"

"The dwarves' technology is much more advanced than you think...krr...Something as simple as counting how many people you killed is nothing to them."

Ghorloz answered without taking his eyes off of the board.

He was trying to see if his name was there.

"I see..."

I silently muttered.

What he said made sense. No, rather, my question was stupid.

"Krr...do you see your name anywhere?"

"Give me a second."

Squinting, I thoroughly checked the board. It didn't take me long to find my name, as it was quite far up.

Ren Dover Rank - 209 17 kills - 574 achievement points

"Ranked 209, that's not bad."

I did not expect to be ranked so highly if I had to be honest.

Since there were many more powerful people than me, and I did not have any real AOE skill, this was honestly quite a good rank. I was satisfied.

"574 achievement points, that is not bad...krr"

Ghorloz said from the side.

"What about you, what rank are you?"

"Just a bit below you, rank 278, with 507 points."

"Not bad, what can I buy with those?"

Sounded like a lot of points to me. Perhaps I could even buy myself an artifact.

Unfortunately, Ghorloz was quick to pour cold water on me.

"Not much as of yet, since the cost of repairing a regular sword is just as much...krr...It's still a good amount of achievement points for the first wave."

"...That so."

I inwardly clicked my tongue.

The fact that the number of achievement points I had was only good enough to repair my sword was a bit disheartening, but on a good note, I could still use money to repair my sword.

Since I had a few to spare, might as well use those and save the points for later.

Having both spotted our names, Ghorloz turned around and once again beckoned me to follow him.

"Follow me; I'll bring you to a blacksmith."

"Thanks."

***

Kracka! Kracka!

Bolts of lightning continued to tear the sky apart. Blocking the sunlight; a dark grey cloud hung in the sky. Rain began pouring down like torrents, limiting the vision of everyone present.

Kracka!

Another lightning sounded.

Standing on top of the northern tower, was a petite girl; the girl was Ava. Pressing both of her hands by the side of the wall, she silently gazed at the massive veil of rain. Lost in her own thoughts.

This continued for a couple of more minutes before she sat down on the ground and took out a small pale green flute.

'The flute of Artemis.'

At first, she was sceptical about its abilities.

What Ren had said was just too good to be true.

But now that she had it, she realized that what Ren had said was true. This was a true game-changer for her.

As of right now, she could only control three animals with the flue, that was excluding her two other pets.

Furthermore, according to Ren, in the future, once she got the flute repaired, she would be able to tame more.

For that, she couldn't wait.

'I've changed didn't I?'

A wry smile appeared on Ava's lips.

If it was half a year ago, Ava would've never have had such thoughts. Thoughts about wanting to become stronger.

The only reason she used to train hard was because she didn't want to let her parents and family down.

Although they never looked down on her, Ava never felt uncomfortable at home.

How could she?

Everyone was so successful, yet, she wasn't. It made her feel insecure, and almost felt suffocating. Although she did enrol at the Lock, she knew that she couldn't make it far with her monster tamer profession.

That was just how she saw it not too long ago.

It was this insecurity of hers that led to her shy character.

However, that was the past.

Standing up, a faint smile appeared on Ava's lips.

'It's fun.'

The prospect of getting stronger was fun. The prospect of going out from the human domain was fun. The prospect of feeling free was fun.

Everything felt new to her, and she couldn't help but look into the future with excitement.

Just how much stronger could she become?

—WHIIIIIII! —WHIIIIIII!

Suddenly, disrupting Ava out of her thoughts, the sirens began to sound. Following this, someone shouted.

"Everyone get ready, the second wave is coming."

Gazing into the distance, Ava's hair blew away as a terrifying pressure bore down on everyone that was present on the tower.

Without a doubt, this wave was going to be much harder than that previous one.

Even then.

She was not scared.

Chapter 309: Activating The Defensive System [1]

—Clang! —Clang!

Following Ghorlorz, soon the sound of metal being pounded sounded. The air became hotter, and the pungent smell lingering in the atmosphere became even more pervasive. My face twisted slightly as a result.

"That is t—Clang!"

The heavy sound of the metal being pounded became louder as we neared the location. As a result, I had a hard time understanding what Ghorlorz was trying to say.

"What did you say!"

I raised my voice.

"What I'm trying to—Clang!"

Once again, his voice was drowned out by the sound of metal being pounded. Finally, fed up, Ghorlorz grabbed my shoulder and pointed towards the distance where an enormous building stood.

"Is that the place?"

I slowly mouthed with my mouth, to which he nodded his head.

Raising my hand and giving him an 'OK' sign, I saluted Ghorloz and separated from him. The only reason why he was accompanying me was because he wanted to apologize for his earlier actions.

He didn't actually need his weapon repaired, so once he brought me to the location, we separated.

Arriving before the large building, I put my hand on the handle of the glass door and pushed it open.

Ci— Clank—!

Entering the building, the heat intensified, and droplets of sweat started to fall from the side of my face.

The interior of the building followed a minimalistic style. There were no signs of any other decorations besides a reception and a couple of sofas. Behind the reception was a young dwarven girl who greeted me with a smile.

"Welcome, what would you—"

"It's you human."

Just as she was about to greet me, she was cut off by another dwarf. Instantly her eyes opened wide, and she bowed her head.

"S-sir Malvil!"

"Malvil?"

Hearing a familiar voice, I turned my head and spotted Malvil, the blacksmith I had met before.

Wiping his forehead with a white towel, he dropped it by the reception counter and asked.

"What be ye doing here?"

Tapping on my bracelet, I flashed my worn down sword.

"Trying to get this fixed."

To be honest, the sword was not very good, and the only reason I was using that was because I did not know that we were about to face a war.

I would've bought a new one if I had known.

Taking the sword, Malvin scowled as he examined it. Slashing it around, the scowl on his face grew. Turning his head, he asked.

"You want ta get this trash fixed?"

"...Yes."

Though true, his words were a bit harsh.

"Hmm, it's pretty heavily damaged."

"Fought quite a bit."

Killed seventeen demons and a baron ranked one with it. This was only natural.

—Clank! —Clank!

Tossing the sword to the side as though it was garbage, Malvin's face became serious. Turning to face me, he suddenly asked.

<script>ChapterMid();</script>

"Do ye really want ta improve your swordsmanship?"

Seeing how serious he was, my back straightened.

"Yes! "

No ounce of hesitation was in my voice when I answered.

What kind of question was that?

Of course, I wanted to. Recalling what I had been through for the pasts few months, my mind became even firmer.

Never again did I want to feel so helpless!

Malvil and I locked eyes for the next couple of seconds before he sighed and turned around.

"Alright, wait for me here."

"Hm? Where are you going?"

Unfortunately, before I could even ask, he had already disappeared to the back. Looking at the similarly clueless receptionist, I gave up.

Fortunately, the wait did not last for long; within five minutes of leaving, he soon came back with an object covered by a white cloth. The outline looked like that of a sword.

My eyes instantly lit up.

'Is he planning on giving me a sword?'

My heart started to beat with excitement.

Arriving before me, Malvil directly handed me the 'sword'.

"Take it."

"Is this..."

"Yes, it's a sword."

My eyes lit up.

Taking the object and feeling it in my hand, I soon unwrapped the white cloth covering it. Once I unwrapped it, just as Malvil had said, a sword appeared in my hand.

At the sight of the sword, my mouth opened slightly.

Alternating my gaze between the sword and Malvil, I asked.

"...Am I supposed to use this?"

"Correct."

Malvil nodded with an amused smirk on his face.

'Is this a joke?'

Staring at the sword in my hand, I didn't know what to say.

Although I did not have high expectations when he brought out the sword, I didn't think he would bring me an old blunt sword that looked like it could crumble at the slightest touch.

"Huuu.."

Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself down. There had to be a good reason for this.

"May I ask why you gave me the sword?"

With his arms crossed, Malvil bluntly replied.

"I asked you if you wanted to improve your swordsmanship, is that correct?"

"Yes."

That was exactly what I asked for.

How was this crappy sword going to help?

"If ye want ta get stronger, tha sword be tha answer."

Pointing at the sword, Malvil explained.

"By using this sword, ye will learn how ta properly control your power. From how broken your previous sword was, I can tell that yer nae efficiently using it. A good swordsman treats their sword as though it be their treasure."

Picking up my old worn-out sword, he placed it on the table and pointed towards the right side of it, where a large crack appeared.

"Just look at this. This was most likely a result o' ye parrying incorrectly. Ye shou''ve cushioned a bit o' tha damage by either moving tha sword back or redirecting tha attack, an' this..."

Listening to Malvil's words attentively, unbeknownst to me, my head subconsciously nodded every time he spoke.

Every word he said, though harsh, was correct. What shocked me the most was that he was able to point out the flaws with my sword style just by looking at the sword.

Before long, I came to a sudden understanding.

"I understand."

Tracing my finger on the sword he had given me, I realized what his intention was when he gave it to me.

By trying my best not to crack the sword, he was trying to get me to improve the way I used the sword.

Less wasted movements and more efficient ones. As well as more efficient parries.

As long as I did those, my sword should never break. Once I achieved that, it meant that I had mastered the basics.

"Thank you."

Thanking Malvil, I reached to grab my old sword. However, before I could do that, I was stopped by Malvil, who grabbed my wrist.

"What are you doing?"

"...Ah?"

I tilted my head.

Slapping my hand, Malvil coldly said.

"Put that down."

"W-whhat?"

Pointing at the blunt sword in my hand, he said.

"You're only allowed to use that sword. Nothing else."

"...But what if it breaks due to my mistake?"

Since this was the first time I was trying this method, I'd be in trouble if the sword broke, even more so if many demons surrounded me.

Unfortunately for me, Malvil did not seem to care, as he indifferently replied.

"Tough luck, I'll see you again once I die of old age."

"..."

Once again, I was left speechless.

Was he really trying to send me on the battlefield with just one sword?

"Seriously?"

Taking my sword, Malvil put it in his dimensional space.

"The best way ta fight be ta fight wi'out reassurance, if ye do it that way, ye'll be forced ta improve since your life be on tha line."

"...ugh, alright, fine."

Eventually, I gave up and agreed.

What he was doing was for my benefit. If what he said really worked, then I might as well just follow it.

"Thank you for today, I—"

Before I could finish speaking, Malvil once again cut me off.

"Wait, what be ye doing?"

"I'm leaving."

I gave Malvil an odd look.

What else would I be doing? Since I had already gotten the sword, it was now time for me to leave.

Raising his hand, Malvil opened his palm and pinched his fingers.

"That would be 80 achievements points for the sword, please."

"..."

At that moment, for a moment, just a moment, I envisioned a future where Malvin didn't exist.

WHIIIII—! WHIIIII—!

Perhaps because the world's plot armour protected Malvil, the sirens started to ring at the exact moment I envisioned a world without him.

Unaware of what I was thinking, Malvin's face darkened. Putting both of his hands on my back, he pushed me out of the building.

"Go, pay me back once you come back from this fight."

Before he could push me out of the building, I screamed.

"Wait, wait, I need something else."

"What is it?"

He shouted in annoyance.

Not minding his attitude, I asked.

"Ehmm, can you perhaps give me..."

***

Dosha! Dosha! Dosha!

The rain continued to plummet down from the sky, obstructing everyone's vision.

"How is the situation?"

Two dwarves were looking at the situation from a small operating room in an unknown location in the city. One of them had both of his hands pressing on the table, looking through the video images of the castle. He had fiery red hair and wore a brown apron.

The other dwarf stood behind the red-haired dwarf with folded arms. He appeared to be in his middle ages. His long back hair was braided behind his back, and his white beard also had a couple of braids by the site of it. Unlike the other dwarf, he had a serious disposition, as his brows always locked into a frown.

The dwarf with a serious disposition opened his mouth.

"The situation be nae good, tha weather be too erratic. Fighting now wou' put us at a disadvantage."

The red-haired dwarf nodded his head in agreement.

"You're right. Fighting in these conditions wou' put us at a severe loss."

Both dwarves agreed on the fact that fighting with this weather was simply impossible.

It would lead to too many losses.

The red-haired dwarf walked towards the middle of the room where a large yellow beacon stood.

"Seems like we have nae choice but ta activate tha defensive system."

"Go ahead, I've already reported it ta tha others"

"Good, I'll start."

Di—! Ding—!

Pressing his hand on the beacon, a defiant yellow hue discharged from the beacon. A glaring red [100%] appeared in the middle of the beacon, and a homing sound soon sounded.

Ohmmm!

Before long, a bright yellow light shot towards the sky from the beacon.

***

Rushing towards the northern tower, Orimdus, the dwarf responsible for the northern tower, shouted loudly towards his communication device.

"What!? yer planning on activating tha defensive system this early into tha war!?"

Shuuuum!

Suddenly a bright light shot towards the sky. Once the light reached a certain point, each of the towers on the walls shook and multiple yellow lights soon shot out as well, converging with the light coming from the beacon, forming a bright yellow ball in the middle of the sky.

Once the lights converged, a thin transparent yellow film started extending from the yellow ball, enveloping the entire mountain.

"Shit..."

Lowering the hand that held the communication device, Ordimus cursed.

***

'Looks like they activated the defensive system.'

Running up the stair of the tower and arriving at the top of the walls, I gazed towards the distance, through the gap of the battlements.

Though the heavy rain was obstructing most of my vision, it did not cover the yellow film that was slowly enveloping the mountain.

"Ren, you're finally here."

A familiar voice sounded from behind me.

"Leopold, you rested enough?"

"Yeah."

Leaning on the gap in between the battlements, Leopold's hair slowly started to get wet from the rain.

"Looks like we're going to be fighting again."

He tiredly muttered.

Similarly leaning on the gap of the battlement, I wordlessly stared at the barrier that was enveloping the mountain.

"Tell me about it."

Perhaps only eight hours passed since the last fight? I didn't count, but it was not too long. Most people were tired, and the terrible weather was not helping.

Neither of us spoke for the next couple of minutes.

That was until I recalled something.

"Before I forget, take this."

Tapping on my bracelet, I handed Leopold an object. At the moment it was covered with the cloth that Malvil used to cover the sword.

This was a little something I bought back at the utility center. Thought that it would be a perfect fit for Leopold.

Tilting his head, Leopold asked.

"Hmm?...What is this?"

"Have a look."

Nudging my head, I mysteriously smiled.

"...okay."

Taking the object, Leopold slowly removed the cloth, revealing a slick black artifact that resembled a one handed shotgun.

Leopold's eyes opened widely.

"Fweeeeuuu"

He then proceeded to whistle as a small smile appeared on his face.

Caressing the artifact, he couldn't help but complement it.

"Hot damn this is beautiful."

Lowering my hand and staring at the artifact in his hand, a smile crept on my face.

"I knew you'd like it."

Chapter 310: Activating The Defensive System [2]

"I thought that it might come in handy to you."

After having witnessed the prowess of the dwarves with their gun-like artifacts, I thought that it would've been a perfect fit for Leopold, who usually always helped out from the back.

This way, he wouldn't need to join the fights when commanding the others directly.

Aiming the gun around, Leopold asked.

"What are the requirements for using this little thing?"

"Just inject some mana, and it'll work. It's a <D> ranked artifact."

The artifact was something that only dwarves could create and essentially worked as a gun.

Upon injecting mana into the device, the artifact would activate, releasing the bullets that were loaded inside.

Well, that's how it should work. Never used it, so I didn't know.

"Take good care of it; it cost me quite a lot."

Aiming the gun towards the distance, Leopold put his finger on the trigger.

"Sounds easy enough."

"Well, I still think you need time to get used to it."

Just like any weapon, it needed time to be mastered, and although Leopold was already good with the sword, at the end of the day, his talent did not lay in swordsmanship but in commanding.

Plus, just because he was now using a gun, it didn't mean that he couldn't use a sword.

He could very well use it during short-range fights and then replace it when he's helping out from the back; after all, the gun would be more useful when he's commanding a lot of people at once.

Looking through the status of the gun, Leopold suddenly asked.

"How's the recoil on this thing?"

"…how about you try?"

I also was curious about this.

Raising his brow and looking around, Leopold picked his ear to ensure he didn't hear wrongly.

"Try? Here?"

"I don't think anyone would mind being honest. Just shoot the air."

We were in the open, and most likely, the sound that would come out from shooting the weapon would get drowned out by the sound of the rain.

Furthermore, I don't think the dwarfs would mind this.

"Guess you're right."

Leopold was a simple person. At my words, he stopped thinking too much and put a bullet inside of the gun-like artifact.

Chi Chak—

Loading the artifact, Leopold aimed towards the distance with one hand.

His semi-long hair was already wet from the rain.

Closing one of his eyes and aiming towards the barrier in the distance, he softly muttered.

"I'm going."

Looking at him and taken aback by the fact that he was only using one hand, I blurted out.

"Wait, why are you using only one hand?"

"...just cause."

As soon as his words faded, a gentle hue shrouded his hand, directly entering the artifact.

Click—!

Leopold then pressed on the trigger.

—Booom!

Accompanied by a thunderous sound, a blue ball of energy shot out from the gun, directly aiming for the barrier in the distance. Travelling at incredible speeds, the blue energy travelled through the air, splitting the rain apart.

Before long, it appeared right before the barrier.

However, right as the energy was about to hit the barrier, something miraculous happened; the blue ball stopped mid-air before suddenly disappearing out of thin hair.

On the other hand, while the energy ball shot out from the gun, Leopold, the one responsible for the shot, was sent a couple of steps back.

"Uukkk..."

As he was pushed back, he let out a groan. Once he managed to rebalance himself, staring at the gun in his hand, he couldn't help but curse out loud.

"Bloody hell!"

Massaging his right wrist, the one that held onto the artifact, he softly muttered.

"The recoil on this thing…"

"Maybe you held it wrong? Perhaps we can go ask the dwarves for things that can be added to reduce the recoil?"

Although I wasn't an expert with guns, I do think that the way that Leopold held onto the gun was wrong.

Right as he took a shot, his hand flung all the way up in the air, and he was pushed away quite far.

"Maybe try using both hands next time and keep your feet planted on the ground."

From the looks of it, he still needed a lot of practice before using the gun properly. If every time he shot this happened, there was no use in him keeping the artifact.

Still massaging his wrist, Leopold nodded his head in agreement.

"You're right; I need to practice more."

"...Mhm."

Turning my head and glancing at the barrier that had now enveloped the whole mountain, I muttered.

"Since the dwarfs are planning on using the barrier, you've got some time to practice."

Depending on how long the dwarves were planning on keeping the barrier, I estimated that we had at least a day to ourselves.

Right until the weather cleared up.

"If I'm not wrong, the dwarves have chosen to erect the barrier because of the weather. So we've got till it stops raining to get prepared."

"…Thought so too."

Tossing a small box in Leopold's direction, I reminded.

"If you're planning on practicing, please don't carelessly treat the bullets as though they are as easy to get as water. They are actually quite expensive."

So expensive that if converted into U, it would total around 500,000U per bullet.

Sounded expensive, but there was a reason for this.

According to Malvil, the cores gained from beasts and monsters could be turned into powder which would in turn function as gunpowder. In fact, demon cores could also do this.

The reason why I had quite a lot of bullets on me was because I traded them for the core of the Baron ranked demon that I killed.

At first, I thought of giving it to Angelica, but at the mere mention of it, she threw me a disgusted look.

Fair enough, though; after all, even I wouldn't be very excited at the prospect of eating another human.

On another note, the bullets could only be created by the dwarves as humans were incapable of creating them. At least not yet.

This was also why humans didn't have guns as of yet.

Humans could at most create bows or other relatively simpler weapons.

Things such as guns didn't only require a skilled blacksmith but also advanced engineering skills that understood the core underlying principles of mana, which humanity severely lacked.

This was understandable, though. After all, humanity had only been exposed to mana for less than a century.

Patting Leopold on the shoulder, I spoke.

"Take good care o—Ukkk."

Cutting me off, an electric current suddenly ran through my body and head. My knees buckled, and I almost tripped on the ground.

Fortunately, Leopold, who was next to me, caught me by the arm.

"Wow, Ren, you okay?"

He worriedly asked.

Unfortunately for him, I couldn't respond.

"Ugh..."

"Ren? Ren?!"

Clenching my teeth, Leopold's voice was faint in my ears.

My vision blurred slightly as well.

To my luck, this did not last for long as I soon got myself together.

Taking a moment to rebalance myself, I reassured Leopold that I was fine.

"Ren, are you okay?"

"Haaa...Haa...Thanks, but I'm now fine."

Holding onto my head, I painfully muttered.

"It's just that my head suddenly started to hurt. Probably didn't have enough sleep."

Leopold put the gun away and carefully looked at me.

"Since we have some time, you should probably get some rest."

"Yeah..."

"You okay, now?"

"Yeah, no problem."

I forced a smile and stood up straight.

The pain left as fast as it came.

Though sceptical, Leopold no longer asked about my condition.

Putting the bullets away, he looked at the entrance of the tower in the distance.

"I'll go check on the others now."

"...got it."

"If you need anything, tell me."

Giving me a simple nod, Leopold soon walked away.

Staring at Leopold's back, the smile on my face disappeared as my brows knit tightly.

'What was that?'

Was it because my head was still messed up due to what had happened at the Monolith, or was it something else entirely?

The pain was somewhat familiar. Though I couldn't explain it, it felt as though I had a similar headache in the past...

'...just what in the world."

The more I thought about it, the deeper my frown grew.

Was there something wrong with me? Or was this really something due to my tiredness?

For now, I wasn't sure, but I sure hoped that it was the latter and that this was just a one-off occasion.

—Booom!

It was then that an explosion suddenly sounded. Following this, the whole city shook.

Turning my head and staring in the direction of where the sound originated from, I saw a faint ripple appear on the enormous barrier enveloping the entire mountain.

Spreading throughout the whole barrier, miniature waves appeared on the barrier before disappearing not long after.

It appeared to me that the barrier had absorbed the attack from before.

Gazing in the direction of where the ripple centered, my brows furrowed tightly.

"They've started the siege…"

***

[Lock, Leviathan building.]

Ci Click—!

"Haaa..."

Entering his apartment, Kevin let out an exhausted sigh.

He had trouble walking at the moment, and if not for the fact that he had consumed a potion, he wouldn't have made it back to his dorm room.

"…she could've gone easier on me."

Kevin muttered underneath his breath as he entered the bathroom.

Donna's training as the years progressed did not become easier but became even more arduous than before.

"Ugh, it stinks."

Taking off his clothes, Kevin's face grimaced slightly.

He was currently wearing his training clothes; as such, having sweated the whole day, they stunk.

Shhhh—

Taking a step into the shower and turning on the shower valve, water soon started dropping towards his body.

Taking the shampoo resting on the right side of the shower room, Kevin began to wash his hair.

As he was showering, he couldn't help but think about what had happened to him in the past year.

It's been over a year since Ren's death, and a lot has changed.

He was now almost a third year, and during the past two years, he did nothing but train.

Originally, he was supposed to go to an exchange during the second year, but it was cancelled because of the Lock incident.

As such, he was stuck at the Lock.

It was probably for the best, though; he could feel himself improving every day with Donna overlooking his training.

On another note, Jin had now also joined the training sessions, and both of them had been growing at astonishing speeds.

But.

'Still not enough...'

Kevin was not satisfied.

Tightening his grip on the showerhead, Kevin bit his lips.

A certain memory flashed, and his face darkened considerably.

'How's your friend doing?'

Aaron muttered in a mocking tone not too long ago, during the second year inter academy exchange.

As expected, he was the one responsible for killing Ren.

His mocking words still resonated across Kevin's ears to this day.

—Bang!

Punching the side of the wall, the sound of Kevin's teeth grinding up together was drowned out by the sound of the water hitting the bottom of the shower.

Tik.Tik.Tik.

'I'll definitely....'

Kevin swore to himself as he clenched his fists tightly.

—Chik

"Huuu..."

Calming down and turning off the shower valve, Kevin exited the shower and dried his hair with a towel.

Taking another towel and tying it around his waist, droplets of water trickled down his chiselled body.

Walking out of the bathroom, Kevin ruffled his hair and threw the towel on top of a chair.

"Huaaamm…it's already quite late."

Yawning, Kevin checked the time.

10:30 P.M

Entering his bedroom, Kevin changed into more comfortable clothes and decided to go to sleep.

However.

Just as he was about to go to bed, he noticed something strange.

Turning his head, Kevin tilted his head in confusion. Before long, his eyes became sharp, and he cautiously looked towards his surroundings.

After making sure that no one was present, he turned his attention back towards his bed, where a red book he had never seen before rested.

"What is...."

Chapter 311: Synchronisation [1]

A book he had never seen before lay on his bed.

"Who put this here?"

Kevin muttered out loud as he turned his head around and once again scanned the whole room from top to bottom.

'...Did anybody come here without my permission?'

He wondered to himself.

Even though he had never seen the book before, the more he stared at it, the more entranced with it he became.

It was as though the book was begging for him to pick it up.

This made Kevin more and more apprehensive about the book. There was something wrong with it,.

Yet.

He took a step forward. Towards the book.

—Gulp!

Stopping right at the edge of his bed, he swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Ba..dum! Ba..dum! Ba..dum!

Unbeknownst to him, his heart started to beat faster.

It wasn't out of fear nor nervousness, but something different…

Something he couldn't explain.

"Huuu…"

Taking a deep breath, Kevin reached out for the book.

Even though his mind was telling him not to touch the book, his body moved on its own. Refusing to listen to him.

It was as though someone was controlling his body.

His finger soon touched the book, and it was at the exact moment that a static current ran down his body.

"Arrgghhh!"

Pain.

An almost unbearable pain coursed through his brain, threatening to tear it apart.

"Huuueeeaaaaaghhh!"

—Thud!

Falling face-first onto the ground, Kevin directly passed out. The pain was too much for him to handle.

Next to him, the now open red book mysteriously glowed.

As though a breeze of air had entered the room, the pages soon started to flip by themselves.

***

Only darkness enveloped Kevin's thoughts and mind for an unknown period of time.

He couldn't hear, see, or feel anything.

Like when he was travelling through a portal, his mind drifted through an endless void.

"Kevin!"

A faint voice reached Kevin's ears.

It was a familiar voice, one that he had heard not too long ago.

"Kevin!"

The voice once again called out for his name.

This time the voice was a lot clearer.

Kevin's mind slowly cleared up, and he opened his eyes. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw a devastatingly beautiful girl looking at him at nose length.

With a small pout, she muttered.

"Geeez, class is about to start; just for how long are you planning on sleeping for?"

"…Emma?"

Kevin blinked a couple of times.

Raising his head, he glanced around. Then, much to his surprise, he found himself inside of the classroom.

He couldn't quite remember what happened before that.

"Strange…"

He muttered as he looked around the classroom.

"What's strange?"

Emma tilted her head.

Her short auburn hair gently fell on her shoulder.

Kevin pointed at the classroom.

"Did we have this many people in our class before?"

"Hm? What are you on about?"

Emma's brows furrowed.

She then put her hand on his forehead.

"You're acting strange, Kevin. Are you sure you're okay?"

"But…"

—Clank!

But before Kevin could ask any more questions, the door to the classroom opened up, and a familiar figure walked in.

It was Donna.

Entering the class with her usual elegance, she gathered the attention of all of the boys in class.

"Alright, class is about to start. Everyone, please be seated."

With both hands by the side of the podium, Donna's amethyst coloured eyes scanned the room.

Soon her eyes paused on Kevin and the others.

A satisfied smile appeared on her face.

"Let's start with the register."

Tapping on her tablet, Donna started doing the register.

This was a routine that everyone was used to.

"Rank 1, Kevin Voss."

"Present."

Kevin instinctively answered.

His mind was still a mess. No matter how much he tried to remember what had happened the moments before waking up in the classroom, he couldn't remember.

Something was wrong, but he couldn't quite place his finger on what was wrong.

"Rank 17, Troy Derekz"

Donna called out, to which a youth with yellow eyes raised his hand and responded.

"Present."

"Rank 18..."

As time passed, Donna continued to do the register. Kevin, who was lost in his own thoughts, frowned as he listened to the register.

'Why is it taking so long...?'

Usually, the registration would've taken a lot less time. Instead, it was taking a lot more time than expected.

It was then that something caught his attention.

No, rather, it took away all of his attention.

"Rank 1750, Ren Dover."

"Present."

"—!"

Kevin instinctively stood up and looked towards where the voice came from.

Sure enough, he didn't hear wrongly.

Sitting on the left side of the classroom by himself was a youth with deep blue eyes and jet black hair.

Leaning back, he had an expression of someone who was super bored.

He was exactly as Kevin remembered him.

'Ren! You're alive!'

Kevin wanted to shout out loud as he looked at him.

However, he refrained himself.

That was because he suddenly realized that something was wrong with the situation.

"Is there something wrong, Kevin?"

Donna asked by the podium as her brow raised.

Staring back at Donna and realizing that everyone in the classroom was looking at him, including Ren, Kevin seriously shook his head before pointing at Emma beside him.

"No, it's nothing. Emma poked me by the side."

"H…huh!?"

Kevin's answer caused Emma to be flustered.

Her face became red, and she menacingly glared at Kevin.

"Y...you!"

"Sit down for now."

Donna impatiently said from the front of the class.

Maybe it was because she favoured Kevin due to his hard work, but she didn't pursue the matter anymore.

"Thank you, Miss."

Kevin sat down, much to Emma's annoyance.

Leaning towards Kevin, Emma hatefully glared at him.

"You better explain to me why you sold me out like that…"

"Sorry, I owe you one."

Unfortunately for Emma, Kevin did not care that he had sold her out as he immediately apologized and went back to his own world.

Despite the many times that Emma wanted to talk to him, Kevin was too busy being in his own world to respond.

At the moment, his mind was a mess. He couldn't think of anything else; less needed to be said about Emma.

Glancing at his watch, Kevin checked the date.

[September 24, 2055]

—Gulp!

He swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

'2055...'

The date coincided with the time of his first year of the academy.

'Have I gone back in time? Or is this a dream? An illusion?'

"Uk.."

Pinching the left side of his cheek to make sure he wasn't dreaming, Kevin opened his eyes widely when he realized that he was actually feeling the pain.

This wasn't a dream.

Everything that was happening around him was real. Supporting his head with both hands, Kevin's mind blanked.

He didn't know what was going on.

'Just what in the world is happening, and why am I here?'

A flood of questions rammed through his mind as he tried his best to remember what happened before arriving here.

But.

Regardless of how much he tried, his mind remained blank.

"Kevin!"

Starling him out of his thoughts was Emma's annoyed voice.

Throwing him an annoyed look, Emma packed up her things before standing up and sulkily leaving the classroom.

"I was planning on asking you whether you wanted to follow me back to the dorm, but it looks like you're not in the right mind today."

Before Kevin could reply, she had already left.

Glancing around, Kevin realized that most of the class had already left as well.

Before he knew it, the class had already ended.

"I should also get going..."

Standing up, Kevin packed up his stuff and exited the classroom.

Once he exited the building, the all too familiar academy campus was what met his sight.

Everywhere he looked, everything felt the same as back in the real world.

The same clean air, the same smell nature-like coming from the vegetation, and the same noisy students who hung out after class.

Nothing was out of place...

Kevin absentmindedly walked around the academy campus for the next hour or so. Throughout the walk, his mind tried to come up with as many reasons as possible as to why he had gone back in time, but regardless of how much he tried to rack his brain over the matter, he couldn't figure it out.

Just why was he here?

"Huh?"

It was then that before he knew it, he had stopped in front of an unfamiliar building. Rather, he had seen the building before but had never actually set foot inside of it.

[Horned sheep]

Was engraved by the gates of the buildings.

Staring at the sign, Kevin's brows jumped up slightly.

'…if I'm not wrong, this is where Ren lived during this time period.'

Back when he was still hiding his strength.

Unbeknownst to him, he stopped right in front of the building Ren was living in.

He didn't know why or how, but his instincts told him that this was the place that would clue him about the reason why he was here.

Ci Clink—!

Entering the building, Kevin walked up to the dorm guardian and flashed his student ID.

"Excuse me, may I know which room a student named Ren Dover stays?"

Since it wasn't secret information, the clerk at the front desk of the horned sheep building immediately told Kevin where Ren's room was.

It also had to be noted that Kevin's status was extremely high. Being the number 1 ranked student, his status was far above some of the other students.

As the building guardian spoke to Kevin, he maintained a cardinal, subservient attitude.

"...if you follow that path, you will be able to find student Ren Dover's room."

"Thank you."

Thanking the guardian, Kevin followed the guardian's instructions and soon arrived before Ren's room.

"Huuu…"

Stopping in front of the room, Kevin took a deep breath.

This was the first time he was going to talk to Ren ever since his death.

If he said he was nervous, that would've been a lie…

But.

More than anything else, this anticipation within him dispelled any nervousness within him.

Finally, he was once again going to see his best friend.

Kevin just wanted to talk to him even if he was a fake and didn't remember him. He just wanted to see his friend.

To Tok—

He knocked on the door.

"…"

But he got no response.

'Is he not back yet?'

Kevin thought to himself.

Given that the horned sheep building had no private training facilities, Ren could've probably gone towards the public training area to train.

Checking the time, 6:30 P.M., Kevin realized that this was probably the case.

'I guess I'll go ch—'

However, just when he was about to leave to check the training grounds, the door opened.

Creak—

Kevin's footsteps halted.

Turning around, he called out.

"Ren?"

"…"

No response.

Frowning, Kevin opened the door slightly.

"Ren, are you in th—huh!?"

The moment Kevin opened the door, Kevin's mouth shut, and a shocking scene appeared before his eyes.

Laying on the cold floor with terror strike eyes was Ren. Standing on top of him was a black humanoid figure with a sadistic smile on his face.

"...Took you long enough."

As the humanoid figure turned its head to face Kevin, a raspy voice rang out.

Raising its long skinny arm and pointing it towards Kevin, the black humanoid's figure smile widened.

Seemingly taking pleasure in seeing Kevin's shocked face.

"Ku, ku, ku, this is on you."

"Ukk!"

Grabbing Ren's figure on the floor by the neck, the sadistic smile on the black humanoid figure widened. Staring at Kevin who was on the opposite side, the grip of Ren's neck tightened.

"I am the sin you created."

As those words sounded, chills ran down Kevin's spine.

Licking his lips, the humanoid figure turned its attention back towards Ren and tightened the grip on his neck.

"Uek!"

"...I am the consequence of your actions."

Glaring at the black humanoid figure, Kevin snapped out of it and screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Don't you d—!"

Spurt—!

But it was too late. Before Kevin could do anything, Ren's head exploded into millions of pieces.

"Nooooo!"

Kevin's blood-curling scream rang out.

Not long after, the world started crumbling down.

However, right before the world could completely crumble, the same raspy voice travelled through Kevin's ears.

"…never forget…I am the one sin...you will never get rid of...."

Chapter 312: Synchronisation [2]

Ashen grey clouds covered the sky as a gloomy atmosphere enveloped the world.

WIIIIIING!

Suddenly, a brilliant light spread shot out, spreading within the empty air. Following this, a terrifying pressure rose, causing the grey clouds to disperse.

Within the light was a human figure whose features were indiscernible. Yet, the pressure that the figure gave out caused the air to vibrate.

Whoever the figure was, they were an absolute master.

Soon enough, the human figure within the brilliant light became increasingly clear as the light dimmed down. Finally, the light converged towards the figure, and a black-clothed male with two crimson-colored eyes clearly appeared in the air.

Lifting his head, the crimson-eyed figure looked towards the distance with unprecedented seriousness.

—Riiip!

It was then that a hand suddenly stretched out of thin air, grasping the sky, and tearing it apart as though it was tangible.

White hair, red-blood eyes, and fair skin.

Stepping out of the void was a figure resembling a human. Although he appeared extremely ordinary, only a genuine expert could sense just what kind of terrifying existence he was. The strength contained within his skinny body could wipe the whole world with a single wave of his hand.

It was terrifying.

Indifferently floating in the sky and staring below, what met the white-haired figure's sight was destruction. A world that was now on the verge of destruction.

A smile formed on his face.

Then, lowering his head and staring at the crimson-colored male below him, the white-haired individual's eyes rippled slightly.

The crimson-colored male stared back, and silence enveloped the world.

Neither spoke, but tremendous energy shot out from each of the two figure's bodies before silently clashing together.

A formidable ripple spread out from the clash of the two, and everything below them disintegrated.

Finally, after an unknown period of time, the crimson-colored male opened his mouth.

"Jezebeth."

His soft voice traveled through every corner of the world. Yet, deep-seeded hatred could be felt in his voice as he spoke.

Staring at the red-eyed individual below, the white-haired figure closed his eyes slightly before the smile on his face deepened ever so slightly.

"How have you been? It's been a while since we've last seen each other."

Before the white-haired figure could finish speaking, his mouth suddenly stopped moving, and the world crumbled down.

***

"Haa….haaa…"

Abruptly opening his eyes, Kevin sat upright.

His breathing was rough, and his clothes were drenched in sweat.

"What just happened!?"

Kevin's eyes were bloodshot.

Frantically looking around, Kevin found himself back in his own room. Or at least that's what it looked like.

But he no longer knew.

Lowering his head, Kevin looked at the watch that was resting on his wrist.

Tapping on it, he quickly checked the year.

[2057]

"…am I back?"

Staring at the year, Kevin did not immediately rejoice. Instead, taking out his phone, he quickly skimmed through his chat longs to see if everything was the same as it was before.

"Wheeew..."

Upon checking and seeing that everything was just as he remembered, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

He was finally back in the original timeline.

Standing up, he sat back on his bed and muttered out loud.

"Just what in the world happened?"

His brows couldn't help but furrow.

Many questions he had no answer to flooded his mind.

"Ukk.."

Clenching his teeth, Kevin groaned as his head started to ache. Fortunately, it was a lot milder than before.

But it was also due to this headache that he finally remembered how everything started.

Everything started the moment he picked up the red book on his bed. It was then that all the strange things happened.

The humanoid creature, the white-haired figure, Ren, the book…

They were all things he had never seen before, yet, why did they feel so familiar? As though he had already seen them once before?

"Just what is happening."

Kevin clenched his head with both hands as he tried to rack his brains around the matter.

The more he thought about it, the more his head ached.

—Gulp!

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Kevin tried to distract himself from the topic. Unfortunately, every time he started thinking about what had just happened, the headaches would start.

He couldn't bear them.

"Hm?"

Turning towards his right, to his horror, Kevin spotted the red book from before.

Instantly his eyes shot wide open, and he moved back. As far away from the book as possible.

Soon enough, sweat dripped from the side of his face as he looked at the book with deep apprehension.

Unlike last time, it was now open, and from the looks of it, there seemed to be something written on it. But maybe it was his imagination since it wasn't clear from the angle he was looking at.

"Huuu.."

Staring at the book from afar, Kevin took a deep breath and calmed himself down.

"Haaa, I need to calm down."

Closing his eyes, he took another breath before standing up.

Opening his eyes, he stared at the book opposite of him. He then took a step forward.

Although he knew that the book was dangerous, his curiousness overtook his rationality.

He wanted to understand what had just happened to him.

Something wasn't right...

Cautiously walking towards the book, Kevin refrained from touching it and peeked at it from above.

He wanted to see what was written on it.

Sure enough, as soon as he looked at it from above, he could see words written on them.

Furrowing his brows, he slowly started to read the book.

===

—Boooooom!

The barrier shook and a ripple once again formed on the thin barrier enveloping the mountain.

****** who stood atop the northern tower seriously looked at the chaos in the distance.

Dosha! Dosha! Dosha!

The rain continued to plummet hard, hitting the barrier from above.

Closing his eyes, ***** tied his black hair behind his head and rested the blunt sword he got from Malvil by the side of the wall.

Sitting down on the ground, **** leaned his back against the wall and closed his eyes.

===

Reading the book, Kevin tilted his head.

'Is this a novel?'

He thought.

But he quickly shook his head. Something didn't add up. Why was the name of the person in the book blacked out?

Lowering his body, Kevin tried to get a better look at the book.

However, regardless of how much he tried to read the name, Kevin could not see who the story was about.

It was as though a veil was preventing from seeing it.

—Ding!

It was then that he suddenly heard a chime ring inside of his head, and a small screen appeared before him.

Lifting his head and staring at the screen, Kevin's pupils dilated.

===

『Synchronization – 22%』

[Demon King ascenscion]

▷ 10 years, 287 days, 08 hours, 45 seconds.

▶ 08 years, 287 days, 08 hours, 45 seconds.

===

"What the…"

***

[Henlour]

After an unknown period of time had passed, a familiar voice reached my ears.

"They're removing the barrier in ten."

I opened my eyes and found Hein and the others standing opposite of me.

Stretching my arms, I asked.

"Has the rain stopped?"

"No, not yet, but it's better than before."

Ava replied as she looked into the distance.

Lifting my head and staring at Ava, I noticed that her hair was a lot shorter than before. About shoulder length.

"When did you cut your hair?"

"..Oh, this?"

Ava touched her hair and casually replied.

"I realized in our last fight that long hair hinders my eyesight, so I decided to cut it."

"Fair enough."

Ava's words reminded me of my long hair. Though they didn't really hinder me during fights, maybe it was about time to have them cut as well.

Or maybe not, who knows.

On another note, staring at Ava opposite me, it only dawned on me now that I was talking to her just how much she changed over the last few months.

She talked a lot more confidently than before and what was more impressive were her eyes. They sparkled with a never seen before light.

"Oh well, you do whatever is best for you."

Raising my hand and gripping onto something, I supported my body up.

Turning around and gazing into the distance, I could see that the weather had cleared up a bit. Although it was raining, it was a lot milder than before.

I could now at least see what was happening in the distance.

Resting his shield by the side of the wall, Hein suddenly asked.

"...Are we going to do the same thing as last time?"

"Like?"

"Like going outside to fight?"

"No, that would be suicidal."

That reckless approach was only okay during the first wave, but the second wave would be a lot more difficult than the first wave.

Count and Viscount ranked demons would join the fray. Unfortunately, they weren't something I could handle at my current capabilities.

"Understood, so what are we going to do?"

I pointed towards the distance where a bunch of orcs stood.

"Hold the line with the orcs. It should still serve as good training."

Unlike last time, this time our job was to hold the front line with the others. Since we couldn't be as reckless as before due to the increased difficulty of the opponents, the least we could do to secure our safety was to work with the others.

Although I was confident in the abilities of the others, I didn't want them to die. We could fight without worrying too much if we worked together with the orcs.

Turning my head left and right, I curiously asked.

"By the way, has anyone seen Smallsnake and Ryan? Haven't seen them since they left."

"They're with the dwarves." Leopold lazily replied. "They didn't want to wake you up, so they told me to tell you that they are fine."

"Is that so? I guess that makes sense."

I had a sudden understanding.

Most likely, Ryan and Smallsnake had impressed the dwarves with their abilities. So much that they probably forced them to stay downstairs.

That was good.

The more they learned, the better for me. Who knows, maybe Ryan could figure something out about the chip in my head.

On a good note, regarding the chip, as of right now, the only information the Monolith had on me was the fact that I was currently somewhere around here.

From what Ryan told me before, it seems like the city system could somewhat disrupt the connection of the chip in my head.

Although it didn't completely stop the chip, it at least made sure that the Monolith had no idea of where exactly I was.

Even so, it didn't really matter.

The Monolith was a human association; regardless of how much they wanted to try to investigate in this city, they'd come out empty-handed.

After all, the dwarves weren't just going to let them do as they please.

This was especially so when there was an ongoing war at the moment. It wasn't like they would open the gates just for them.

At the moment, the city was sealed, and no one could enter.

Plus, even though there was an organization similar to the Monolith in the dwarven domain, they wouldn't go out of their way to help the humans.

They had more important things to do, like trying to interfere with the war.

Therefore, as of now, I didn't have to worry about the Monolith.

This was also why I wasn't in a rush to get the chip removed.

Might as well have Ryan remove it for me.

Well, I was obviously going to consult a dwarf before that. So if they really could do it and Ryan was too busy, I may as well let them do it.

"By the way, Smallsnake told me to give you this."

Leopold suddenly took out a small black badge.

"What's this?"

I curiously asked as I looked at the black badge.

Handing it to me, Leopold explained.

"Smallsnake said that if you wanted to visit him in the control room, you could directly give this to the guards standing outside, and they would grant you access."

"...how thoughtful."

I muttered as I took the badge from Leopold's hands.

Then, I picked up the blunt sword that was resting by the side of the wall and headed downstairs.

"As long as they are fine, then everything is good...oh right."

Halting my steps, I suddenly recalled something.

Turning my head, I reminded.

"Don't forget to get as many achievements points as possible."

There were a lot of good rewards after all.

Chapter 313: The Second Wave [1]

Standing behind a line of orcs on the tower's ground floor, I turned towards Leopold, who was next to me.

I then pointed at the gun in his hand.

"How's it going with that thing?"

Playing with the gun, Leopold flashed a satisfied smile.

"It's not bad, not bad."

Ci Chik—!

Taking the bullets out of the gun, Leopold tossed the gun in my direction.

"Here, have a look at it yourself."

Catching the gun with one hand, I took a good look at the gun.

The design of the gun was, how should I say, crude? Not sure if that was the right word.

It looked a bit like some of the older guns that existed back in the past. Of course, that was only aesthetically. In reality, the gun was far more advanced than any gun that had ever existed.

More powerful as well as each bullet could penetrate the skin of a demon.

Tossing the gun back to Leopold, I curiously asked.

"Have you found a solution for the recoil issue?"

"Sort of."

"Oh? Do tell me, I'm genuinely curious."

Kind of wanted a gun myself, if I had to be honest. However, I wasn't sure just how useful it would be to me. Most probably, it wouldn't, but it looked nice.

Unaware of what I was thinking, Leopold, pointed at the dwarves behind him.

"I talked to them and they told me that there are things we can buy to increase the weight of the gun and reduce the recoil; the only problem is that it cost a lot of money."

"That isn't that much of a problem. I think I have enough—"

Before I could finish, Leopold cut me off.

"I also thought about asking you for money, but then it suddenly hit me."

"What?"

Out of nowhere, taking out a cigarette from his dimensional space, Leopold lit it.

Cik. Cik.

*Puff*

Taking a small puff, the smoke slowly diffused in the air.

"Sorry, bit stressed."

Saying that he proceeded to take his sword out. He then waved it at me.

"Since I can also use the sword, as soon as I use the gun, I'll store it in my dimensional space. Then, I can just take the gun back after things calm down."

Leopold's response was out of my expectations.

Alternating my gaze between his ring and the gun, my head tilted in confusion.

"…that works?"

"Yup. I've tried. It's one of the tips that the dwarves have given me. The only problem is the reloading which takes time..."

"Okay…"

If the dwarves said that it worked then it probably did. However, I'd assume this strategy only works for people like Leopold, who could use two weapons.

WIIIIIIIIM—!

It was then that suddenly a strange noise enveloped the battlefield.

*Puff*

Leopold, who was next to me, took another puff of his cigarette. He didn't even need to look to understand what was happening.

"Looks like we're about to start."

As soon as his words faded, the barrier in the distance slowly started to disappear. What lay behind it were over thousands and upon thousands of demons.

The air instantly became tense, and the mana in the air started to thicken up.

The second wave was just about to begin.

***

Inside of an unknown room in the city.

"Shut down tha barriers, tha weather has cleared up."

A red-haired dwarf walked towards the beacon and placed his hand on it.

[92%]

Was engraved in the middle of the beacon, signifying how much energy it had left.

Kru Kuk—!

Soon enough, the moment the red-haired dwarf's hand touched the beacon, the beacon let out a strange noise, and the light that shot upwards slowly started to dim down.

Gazing up towards the hole where the beam shot out, the red-haired dwarf muttered.

"We've already lost 8% o' tha energy this early into tha war."

"It shou' still be fine for now. What's really important be that we withstand tha second wave."

Replied another dwarf with black braided hair.

"Ye think so?"

"Yeah."

According to him, as long as they did not suffer substantial losses in the second wave, and they didn't activate the barrier once again, they'd have a good shot at the war.

Crossing his arms and sitting on a stool, the red-haired dwarf tiredly asked.

"How many more waves do you think there's gonna be?"

Tap.Tap.Tap.

Tapping on the table, the braided-haired dwarf thought for a moment before answering truthfully.

"I'm nae sure but I do believe that tha war will continue for at least a year."

It wasn't just them that were at war, but the orcs and elves too. Each side had sent some people to help out, but from the looks of it, things wouldn't clear up for a least a while.

For a war of this magnitude, it would take at least a year to see which side would have the upper hand.

"Till 'en we shou' do our best ta nae use tha barrier."

The less they used the barrier the more impact it would have during the climax of the war.

If they used up all the energy now, the shield might fail when it truly mattered.

This was undesirable.

Turning his attention back towards the beacon, the red-haired dwarf solemnly nodded his head.

"I agree."

***

Northern tower control room.

"You two get ready, tha real battle starts now."

"Yes."

Smallsnake and Ryan quickly went to their stations at Bemus's instructions.

Unlike before, their station was a lot more spacious, and the map they were working with was a lot more advanced.

Bemus stood behind them with his arms crossed.

"Since I've seen your skills, I'm going ta give ye two a heavier task."

Pointing at the map in front of them, Bemus explained.

"Your task be ta analyze tha strategy tha enemy be using. If ye can find anything suspicious in their movements tell me."

This was by no means an easy task.

Not only did this require extreme concentration, but also good spatial awareness and good analytical and calculative abilities.

To find out an enemy strategy, you had to look at the bigger picture as well as, the smaller details.

Even a single detail needed to be spotted. If that one detail was missed, then the enemy strategy would succeed.

"I trust that both o' ye can do it."

Bemus's words were proof that he trusted them.

Of course, he had other people working on the same task and it wasn't only unique to them, but this was him telling Smallsnake and Ryan that he regarded them as highly as the other members.

Before leaving, taking out a small card from his pocket, Bemus handed it to Smallsnake.

"Human take this. This card will give ye access ta tha map o' tha other towers including tha northern one. If everything looks regular in tha northern tower, do check other towers as well. We're currently short on hands an' any information be appreciated."

Sometimes, just looking at one section wasn't enough to figure out an opponent's strategy.

By giving them access to the whole mapping of the walls, he was helping them have a clearer outlook of the situation.

"Understood."

Smallsnake fully understood this.

Taking the card, he solemnly looked at Bemus.

"I'll do my best."

"Good, I've taken enough o' your time. I'll be leaving now."

Nodding in satisfaction, Bemus turned around and headed towards the other areas to give out similar instructions to the other dwarves.

"Ryan, help me out."

Turning his attention back towards the control panel, Smallsnake quickly got to work.

Squinting his eyes, he slowly started analyzing the details of the map in front of him.

As Ren said, this was a good experience for him.

***

—BOOOOOM!

Different colored lights enveloped the city's outer walls as both sides attacked.

Standing at the bottom level of the tower, I gazed into the distance.

Next to me, were Hein, Ava, and Leopold.

Angelica was also here, but she was in her ring form, and she couldn't quite show herself just yet. Furthermore, even if she did show herself, she'd be pretty useless since it took a lot of time for her to regain her abilities.

The downside of her ability was that in order to make herself appear as an ordinary ring, she had to get rid of most of her demonic energy.

In short, she'd be returning to her usual form with practically zero demonic energy in her. Not exactly that, but close to it. In a situation such as this, that was practically suicide.

On a good note, the others seemed to be less nervous about the upcoming fight than before.

Perhaps fighting in the first wave was a good decision since it gave them more confidence.

Glancing at my sword, my brows furrowed.

'What should I do with this...'

I was now fighting without any sword art and an almost broken sword. If I had to be honest, I wasn't very confident about the upcoming fight.

Not only were my opponents stronger than before, but my handicap grew even larger.

Even then, I wasn't scared.

If this was what it took to become stronger, so be it.

WAAAM—!

At that moment, a sea of demons fastly approached the tower. Then, like a flock of birds, they mercilessly sped towards where we were.

—WIIIING!

At the top of the tower, all sorts of spells and forms of energy beams shot towards the approaching mass of demons.

The land trembled. Black blood that was accompanied by the corpses of the demons poured down from the sky like a storm. The misty black blood enveloped the entire northern area as more and more demons fell towards the ground.

Most shockingly, even though the demons were dying at an alarming rate, they continued to move towards the tower fearlessly.

It was as though they had no sense of death.

Before long, the number of demons had decreased drastically, but the land they covered also increased.

It wasn't long till they arrived before the tower.

"Shit..."

Once they were only a few meters away from us, I turned to look at the others and warned.

"They're coming; get ready, you guys! Stay close to each other!"

My words were soon drowned out by the whistling sound that arose from the sky as the demons dived down from the sky.

WHIIIIIM—!

Like black bullets, within seconds, they arrived before the first defensive line.

FWAP—!

Spreading their wings open, their body came to an abrupt halt. A black hue spread from their body as they clawed the orcs waiting at the frontlines.

"Hein!"

I shouted.

Three demons were headed in our direction.

"On it…huuuup!"

At my call, Hein took a step forward and cried out.

CLANG—!

Holding the shield in front of him, Heins shield smashed against two demons. Sending them back a couple of steps.

Before I could say anything else, with a cigarette in his mouth, Leopold held the gun with one hand and pressed the trigger.

WHIIIZZZ!

An energy beam shot out, piercing the demon right in the heart. Killing it immediately.

Just like Lepopld had said before, the moment he shot the gun, he directly placed it in his dimensional space and took out his sword, cutting down the other demon that was attacking Hein.

On the other hand, Ava took out her flute and summoned her beasts.

Tootle to~

At her melodious tune, three wolves and a bird appeared in front of her. As soon as they were summoned, they attacked the other demon.

Staring at them from behind, I shrugged my shoulders.

"Looks like they don't really need my help…"

I was originally planning on helping them out a bit, but it looks like I was overthinking.

SHIIIING—!

There were a total of three demons that had attacked us. Two of them were blocked by Hein, with one dying by Leopold's hand and the second one fighting for its life against the three of them.

The third demon had obviously seen what had happened to his two comrades and chose to aim for my life directly. Seemingly thinking that I was going to be an easier target.

"Hieek!"

Raising its hand, the demon cried out and slashed in my direction. Instantly, three tangible energies shot towards me.

"Guess it's my turn."

Staring at the incoming demon, raising the blunt sword in my hand, I slashed down.

Chapter 314: The Second Wave [2]

WIIIIIING!

Staring at the incoming attack, I slashed down.

However, the moment I slashed down, I came to a sudden realization and forcefully stopped myself mid-swing.

"Uk!"

This was probably not a good idea as a groan soon escaped from my mouth and an inexplicable pain coursed through my muscles.

But I didn't have time to care about that.

Coating my fists with wind psyons I punched out, and a ferocious force burst out from my fist.

Puchi!

My punch soon collided with the demon's attack, and the demon was pushed back.

"Khh..."

Gritting my teeth, I glanced towards my right hand, where a large wound appeared. Red blood dripped down from the ground.

Gritting my teeth and withstanding the pain, I glared at the demon opposite me.

For a moment, I forgot about my training. If not for my sudden realization, the sword in my hand would've been long broken into pieces.

There was no way the sword could've withstood the full force coming from the demon's previous attack.

Lifting my sword slightly and seeing that it was still okay, I sighed in relief.

'…Just like Malvil said, I need to be more efficient when defending and attacking.'

Tightening my grip on the sword, I proceeded to take a deep breath.

WIIIIING!

It was at that moment that the demon reappeared in front of me. A sharp force quickly headed in my direction.

Icily staring at the incoming attack, I wasn't panicked. Just as the demon's sharp nails were about to reach me, rotating my heel, my body appeared by the left side of the demon. Clenching onto the hilt of the sword, I slashed down.

Clang—!

To my surprise, the demon was able to react on time. Twisting its torso, the demon blocked my attack with its sharp and sturdy nails.

Once the sword came into contact with the nails, a few sparks flew; however, rather than trying to attack again, I increased the strength of my attack. Sure enough, the difference in our strength was too big.

Before the demon could realize what had happened, its body directly smashed towards the ground.

Bang—!

Raising my leg, I mercilessly kicked the demon in the face.

"Ueeek!"

As soon as my foot landed on the demon's face, the demon let out a strange noise as its body flew backward.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, stomping my foot on the ground and borrowing the momentum from the impact, I shot towards the demon at incredible speed.

—Spurt!

This time, there were no mistakes as my sword cleanly cut the demon's body in half.

"Haaa…haa…"

Without wasting any time, taking out a potion from my dimensional space, I quickly downed it.

Soon enough, the wounds on my body started to heal at an alarming rate.

Bang—!

Just as I finished the potion, five more demons broke through the first line of defense. They all soon turned their attention towards me.

"Fuck..."

Dropping the potion on the ground, I brushed some of the loose hair away from my face and silently muttered.

"If this continues, I might die at this rate…"

***

At the same time, utility center.

—Clang! —Clang!

Sparks flew and a large hammer fell on the red piece of metal sitting on a large anvil. Holding onto the hammer, a relatively younger dwarf pounded the metal.

"Harder!"

Behind him, with his arms crossed, was Malvil, who strictly shouted.

"Put more power into it. How do you expect the metal to shape into what you want with that little bit of power?"

"I'm trying."

Malvin's disciple shouted back with a voice full of grievance.

He was already trying his best, yet Malvil repeatedly told him to hammer even harder.

"It's nae enough, I want ye ta pound tha metal, faster an' harder, Ornol! Tha more time ye waste tha harder it becomes!"

The best time to pound metal was right when it was piping hot. Once it cooled down, it would practically be impossible to shape.

When heated, the atoms within the metal begin to vibrate, and as a result, the atoms move farther apart. Thanks to this phenomenon, it becomes easier to mold the metal.

"Ha!"

Letting out a cry, the disciple, whose name was Ornol, again hammered the metal.

—Bang! —Bang!

This continued for ten minutes until finally, a perfectly square-shaped piece of metal rested on top of the anvil.

"Haaa…Haaa…done!"

Ornol cried out in joy as he let go of the hammer, heavily hitting the ground.

Sweat trickled down the side of his face.

"Not bad."

Carefully picking up the box. Malvil complemented.

"See, if ye put work into it, ye really can come up with some good stuff."

Too tired to listen to Malvils compliments, the young dwarf weakly lifted his head and suddenly asked.

"Master, did ye really give that human a broken sword?"

"Broken sword?"

Malvil raised his brow.

Nodding his head, the disciple elaborated.

"Ye, the old worn-out one you always told me never to throw away."

Ever since becoming Malvils disciple, he had seen that old worn-out sword resting in the artifact box that Malvil always brought with him.

He always thought that it was a waste of a sword, and now that he had given it to that human, he couldn't help but be skeptical about his master's decision.

Was he trying to kill the human?

"…Isn't that a little bit too cruel."

Taken aback, Malvil glanced at his disciple and pointed at himself.

"Pah, ye think I'm that cruel?"

"Yes"

The disciple answered out of instinct.

Smack—

Before he could realize it, Malvil had already chopped his head.

"Ouuu!"

Ornol screamed out in pain.

Throwing his disciple a look of disdain, Malvil shouted.

"Like I wou' actually give him a sword that wou' break easily."

"What? but that sword be clearly failed."

Malvil once again raised his hand, threatening to chop his disciple in the head once again. At his master's threat, Ornol immediately became wary and took a couple of steps back. Then, with an amicable smile on his face, he tried to calm his master down.

"Master, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Ye know I like to joke around."

Rolling his eyes at his disciples' behavior, Malvil lowered his hand, much to his disciple's relief. He then proceeded to sit on a stool.

"That sword over there be as tough as any sword can be. Tha only reason I told him what I told him was so that he wou' be more careful when fighting."

Listening to his master's words, the disciple was suddenly enlightened. His master was a lot more soft-hearted than he had originally thought.

By telling the human that the sword was brittle, when in reality it wasn't, he was trying to make him realize his flaws and correct them as he fought.

"I'm sorry I misunderstood. But if the sw—"

Before he knew it, Malvil had turned around and aimed a kick in his direction.

"Enough talking, Get back ta work, we've got a lot o' things ta craft."

***

—Clang!

"Ukkk!"

Taking a couple of steps back, I let out a pained groan.

Standing opposite of me were three demons. Behind them were the corpses of two demons I had killed with a lot of effort.

They were all untitled demons; as such, they were much weaker than me, yet, I was having trouble dealing with them.

"God..."

I was beyond pissed at this point.

For me to have so much trouble dealing with a bunch of demons I could've killed with a tap of my sword was really frustrating.

Not only that, the injuries on my body were slowly starting to accumulate. If not for the potions, I would've long bled out.

"Huppp!"

Letting out a cry, I took a step forward, and tensing my core, I slashed diagonally, releasing all of the tension accumulated in my core. The result was a speedy attack containing a large portion of my strength.

Clang—!

At my attack, two demons quickly raised their hands and blocked the attack with their nails. Sparks flew, and their bodies were pushed at least ten steps back.

At the end of the day, I was much stronger than them. If not for the handicap, I could've easily killed them with a single punch.

Unfortunately, I couldn't.

WIIIIING!

As the two demons were pushed back, the third one appeared right next to me.

Clang—!

Having long seen through the intention of the demon, using the hilt of the sword, I directly blocked the demon's attack. Then, flicking my wrist and inserting the hilt of the sword in between a small gap between the nails, I pushed downwards and the demon lost its balance.

Taking advantage of the situation, twisting my heel, I swiftly appeared by the side of the demon and slashed horizontally.

Spurt—!

Black blood spilled everywhere and another corpse fell on the ground.

Wiping my face that was now dyed in black, I faced the two other demons that were fastly approaching me.

'…should I use monarchs indifference?'

I thought as I stared at the two demons.

If I used Monarch indifference, I may be able to increase my concentration and achieve results faster.

By erasing my emotions and fully focusing on the task at hand, I could increase the speed I was learning by a lot, but...

'No, that would be a bad idea.'

I shook my head.

Recalling my previous experiences with Monarch indifference, I quickly discarded the idea.

There was a high chance I was going to lose a limb in the process, and I couldn't afford to do that at the moment.

Not when I was in the middle of a war.

—Clang!

Within a single breath of time, the two demons were once again upon me. Raising their hands, a black hue shrouded their nails before violently slashing towards my direction. As they slashed, the air split, and two whistling sounds arose.

Staring at the incoming attack, I focused my mind and tried my best to cushion their attacks by either taking a step back or redirecting their attacks somewhere else. Given that I was worried about the state of my sword, this was the only option available to reduce the force that the sword faced.

Cli Clank—!

Unfortunately, I was still not used to this. The large force contained from the combined attack of the two demons forced me to take a single step back. Even while stepping back, much to my surprise, the demons had already stabilized themselves and were once again at my throat.

"This isn't going to work…"

Distancing myself from the demons, my frown deepened.

The way I was fighting was too inefficient. I was currently being too defensive. This wasn't going to work.

"Let's try this…"

Exhaling, I concentrated my mind and slowly started channeling wind psyons in my sword. Within seconds a green layer covered the sword, as it rhythmically pulsates like a heart.

WIIIIING—!

Right as I fully coated the sword the demons reappeared in front of me. Lifting my head up, with unprecedented seriousness on my face, I raised my sword and met their attacks.

It was then that a shocking scene happened. Right as the nail of one of the demons was about to touch my sword, the wind psyons coating my sword redirected the attack away from the sword. The scene was similar to a tornado where the nails circled around the sword before being redirected away from the sword.

"——!"

An opening soon appeared and my eyes instantly lit up.

I quickly held the sword with both hands. Taking a step to the right to avoid the other demon's attack I slashed down towards the other demon.

The result was as expected.

Spurt—!

The demon instantly died at my attack, and a familiar rain of black poured down on me. Turning my attention towards the other demon, rather than waiting for it to come to me, I excitedly headed in its direction.

Arriving before the demon, the green hue shrouding my sword shined brilliantly.

"Huuup!"

Crying inside of my heart, I slashed down.

Though the demon tried to defend, just like before, the green hue around the sword acted as a barrier and redirected the demon's hands away. Violently kneeing the demon in the face, I slashed diagonally. The demon met a similar fate to that of its companions, and that was its inevitable death.

"Haaa…haa…"

Supporting my body with the sword, I heavily gulped for air, and a satisfied smile appeared on my face.

At long last, though still rough around the edges, I've finally found a way to improve.

Chapter 315: The Second Wave [3]

—Spurt!

Retrieving my sword back from the corpse of a demon, I icily looked towards the distance.

About half a day had passed since the start of the second wave and as of now, the situation was under control.

Although the first line of defense had been breached multiple times, I, alongside Hein, Ava, and Leopold, had done an excellent job at keeping the demons from breaching the second line.

Of course, we weren't the only ones standing in the second line of defense, but judging from the body count alone, we were some of the few individuals that had made the most contributions. This was mainly due to the fact that the powerful individuals had not made a move yet.

Spi Sli—!

Slashing the sword down to get rid of the blood coating it, I turned to face the others.

"You guys doing alright?"

—Clang!

Blocking an incoming attack, Hein let out a muffled groan before finally stabilizing his footing. Turning his head, he forced a smile.

"Khh...Yeah, though I'm a bit tired."

Raising my hand, I pointed towards my wrist, or more specifically, towards my bracelet.

"Drink a potion then. It'll help out."

"...Right, I almost forgot about that."

"You what?"

His answer made me shake my head.

Perhaps it was because he was too excited, but it seemed as though Hein completely forgot about the fact that potions existed.

"Tell the others to cover for you while you drink a potion."

"Oka—Huk!"

But just before Hein could take out a potion, a demon shot explosively towards him, and a whistling sound arose. Soon the demon violently clashed against Hein's shield.

—Bang!

Fortunately, Hein was quick to react. Even though he had been distracted the moment the demon attacked, angling his shield right in front of his shoulder, he nudged it slightly and cushioned the attack of the demon. Sparks flew, and Hein proudly remained standing on the same spot as before.

Unmoving.

"..."

Silently staring at Hein from behind, I was impressed by his performance. Not only him but Ava and Leopold's performances deeply impressed me. In fact, they were doing so well that all together, they had accumulated quite a substantial amount of kills.

Quite a few more than me who was a whole rank higher than them.

Well, this was to be expected. After all, I wasn't fighting at my fullest abilities. My body count would've been way higher if I had been using the Keiki style.

On another note, I was also improving as the fight continued. The more I got used to this new fighting style, the faster I started killing the demons. If before it took me a minute to get rid of a <D> ranked demon, it only took half of the time now.

Slowly but surely, everyone was improving.

"Hm?"

Sensing something, I looked towards my right.

Sure enough, a demon was quickly headed in my direction. Before long, it appeared a couple of meters away from me.

"Hieeek!"

Sinisterly opening its mouth, the demon let out a screech and viciously slashed in my direction.

WIIIIIING!

Staring at the incoming attack, I was completely unfazed. Raising my sword and thrusting it forward, the green hue enveloping my sword expanded and contracted rapidly.

Shuop—!

What came as a result of this was a subtle suction force that altered the direction of the demon's attack. An instant later, gently tapping on the ground with my foot, the ground cracked apart with a 'bang,' and I appeared only a few centimeters away from the demon.

The speed at which I moved was so fast that the demon could not react in time. Raising my sword, I slashed upwards, cleanly cutting the demon's head off.

Spurt—!

As black blood sprayed everywhere, the head of the demon quietly rolled in front of me. Wiping my face, I softly muttered.

"That's another one down."

But just as my words faded…

VUAAAAM—!

It was then that a grim pressure suddenly enveloped the battlefield.

Glancing towards the distance, a black humanoid figure stood in the air with its wings wide open. The moment the humanoid figure appeared, I instantly knew that things were about to become serious.

Behind the humanoid figure, the moon shone brightly, enveloping the humanoid figure and enhancing its features.

The whole battlefield soon came at a standstill and everyone turned their attention towards the sky.

—Splurt!

Stepping on the head of the demon I killed before, unprecedented seriousness clouded my face.

"Looks like the commander of the second wave finally showed up."

***

Moments before the humanoid figure showed up.

"What do you think?"

Two men were looking at the battle ensuing outside of the walls from a small room. One of them had his hands interlocked behind his back; he was the headmaster of the Lock, Douglas.

The other person stood behind the old man with his arms crossed. He was none other than Waylan Roshfield, Emma's father. Similarly, staring at the battle from the small room, Waylan leaned his body forward a bit.

Raising his hand, he pinched slightly. The video that was playing before them zoomed, and a couple of figures appeared on the screen. More precisely, they were the images of two youths and an adult who supported them from behind. The adult would take out a weird gun-like object and shoot it at the demons from time to time.

Most impressive was his commanding abilities as he perfectly told the two youths what to do. The way the three of them coordinated with each other deeply impressed Waylan as he couldn't help but compliment them.

"They're good."

Leaning back on his seat, he crossed his arms and looked at Douglas, who was wordlessly staring at the same screen. The pensive look on his face reminded Waylan of a sage. Calm and wise.

Pointing at the screen, Waylan started making small talk.

"The guy who is leading them from the back seems very experienced. Judging from how he can make the right calls in this situation, he must've gone through similar situations before."

Having observed them long enough, Waylan could tell that the man helping the two youths was highly experienced.

Not only were his calls the ideal ones, but the timing at which he supported them was also superb.

Moving his hand slightly, the video soon focused on the two youths.

"On the other hand, these two youths seem to be extremely talented, especially the girl…"

Waylan's brows furrowed tightly.

"If I'm not wrong, she's controlling four beasts…that's almost unheard of."

Typically a beast tamer could only control one beast at a time.

This was the common consensus.

On rare occasions, some could tame two, but even then, they were extremely expensive to take care of, and most of the time, they weren't a class that people paid particular attention to.

However, things were different if the beast tamer could control more than one animal. If they could control more than two beasts, things would be very different.

"Is it perhaps the flute?"

It was then that he noticed the girl holding onto a flute.

Whenever she blew her mouth onto it, the beasts would move. It was almost as though they were hypnotized.

An intrigued looked suddenly appeared on his face as he focused his whole attention on Ava.

"How interesting. To think that there was something like that…"

It was just a hunch for now, but the more he observed, the more he found his conjecture to be true.

But he wasn't quite sure just yet. The flute could very well be an artifact that enhanced her mental capabilities.

Turning his head and looking at Douglas, Waylan suddenly asked.

"What do you think, Douglas?"

Silently staring at the screen, Waylan did not answer back immediately.

At the moment his attention was fully focused on a particular youth on the screen. He was neither the girl nor boy that Waylan was looking at but someone else. He was another youth with jet black hair and deep blue eyes.

Standing a little bit further away from them, he skilfully dealt with the demons that were coming his way.

"?"

Turning around and looking toward where Douglas was looking, Waylan had a sudden look of understanding.

"I see, so you're interested in him."

Stroking his beard, Douglas curiously asked.

"You know him?"

"I've met him before."

Waylan replied with a slight smile.

"Oh?"

Douglas's brow raised, and his interest was instantly piqued.

Turning to face Waylan, he asked.

"Can you tell me more?"

Glancing at Douglas, Waylan leaned back and nodded his head.

"It was at the t…keumm…I mean when I was walking down the streets. He was a human, so pretty easy to spot."

Waylan coughed in the middle and corrected himself, but judging from how indifferent Douglas was Waylan knew that he had not fooled him.

It had to be noted that he wasn't actually allowed to go anywhere near that tavern since he wasn't allowed to get drunk. After all, they couldn't allow themselves to let down their guards in such an unfamiliar place.

Knowing that he had slipped up, Waylan quickly changed the topic.

"Anyhow, what makes you so interested in him?"

Shaking his head, Douglas's brows knit for a second.

Touching his beard, he thoughtfully answered.

"...He seems familiar."

"Familiar?"

This time it was Waylan's turn to be surprised.

"You've also met him before? …or have you not realized that this is the youth from the video you showed me before."

Glancing at the video, Waylan tilted his head.

"Hmm, now that I take a good look at it, compared to what we've last seen, he seems to be fighting a lot more differently. Does it look like his swordsmanship has regressed? Or is it just me?"

The way he was fighting was beyond sloppy.

His attacks were all over the place, and he seemed to be having trouble fighting opponents weaker than him.

From the looks of it, he lacked a lot of experience.

Compared to the last time he fought the demons, his performance was more lackluster.

"No, it has. Compared to before, his swordsmanship has regressed a bit."

"...wait, that aside. What did you mean by he seemed familiar?"

Stroking his beard, Douglas hesitantly spoke.

"I think he's supposed to be one of the students Donna had told me about; it's just that…"

"Just that…?"

"He's supposed to have died."

As soon as Douglas's words faded, silence enveloped the room. Then, not long after, Waylan's face turned strange.

"...What? Did I hear wrongly? Dead? He's standing right there. How can he be dead?"

Shaking his head, Douglas kept looking at the youth on the screen.

"Remember the incident back at the Lock? When the Monolith attacked?"

"Yes, I remember very clearly."

A bitter smile appeared on Waylan's face.

How could he not remember? Douglas overexerted himself by using the special skill that allowed him to create a clone of himself during that day.

He was bedridden for a month because of the incident. During those days, he had to go to replace him and go to boring meetings every day.

Those days were a nightmare to him.

Squinting his eyes, Douglas pointed at the youth.

"That day, that student should've died."

At Douglas's revelation, Waylan's face became serious.

"…how certain are you?"

"At first, I was quite certain, but…"

Intently staring at how the youth was fighting, Douglas started having doubts.

"I've not seen him use his main sword style yet."

"What do you m—"

TWIIIIING—!

Cutting Waylan off was a sudden message that appeared on the screen. Before long, a red message covered half of the screen.

[Marquis ranked demon spotted in the northern area, please provide assistance.]

"Talk about bad timing."

Waylan sighed before standing up.

Though he seemed lighthearted at the moment, his current disposition was nothing but serious as a powerful pressure started exuding from his body.

Taking off his coat and putting on two black gloves, he looked at Douglas.

"I'll be going now; tell me later if you find anything more about that kid."

Glancing at Waylan by the side of his eyes, Douglas gave him a simple nod.

"Be careful."

"I will."

Right as he spoke those words, Waylan exited the room.

Once he left, silence once again enveloped the room. Bringing his hands together, Douglas's eyes never left the youth on the screen.

He continued to stare at the youth for a while before muttering.

"....Are you really the inheritor of the Keiki style?"

Chapter 316: The Second Wave [4]

Leviathan building, private training ground, Lock.

—Clang! —Clang!

A sword and two daggers interlocked together, and sparks flew in the air.

Shortly after, two figures appeared a couple of meters away from each other. Their breathing was even, indicating that their exchange was only a light one.

They were Kevin and Jin.

Staring at the daggers in his hands, Jin frowned.

Pointing his dagger at Kevin, he darkly said.

"What are you doing?"

His tone carried hints of anger.

"What do you mean?"

Kevin absentmindedly lowered his sword.

Glaring at Kevin, Jin put his daggers away.

"If you're not interested in sparring with me properly, then don't call me again. Don't waste my time like this."

Just before Kevin could reply, Jin turned around and left the training grounds.

Staring at Jin's back, Kevin let out a sigh.

"Haaa…"

Although he wanted to refute what Jin had said, he couldn't muster any words to argue back. That was because he was right.

He was not in his right mind yet.

Ever since the appearance of the red book, he could no longer focus on basic things such as training or studying.

He didn't know why, but the image of the red book never left his mind.

It was as though a curse had been implanted in his mind, making him think of it all the time.

"Just what are you…"

Walking towards the side of the training ground, Kevin's eyes paused on a certain book beside a bench.

Walking up to it, he slowly picked it up.

A day ago, after mustering his courage one more time, much to his relief, he realized that he could now touch the book without going through some crazy experience like before.

From the looks of things, it seemed as though it was a one-time thing.

Sitting on the bench beside the book, Kevin opened the book and read what was written on it.

===

The oppressive pressure bore down on every corner of the battlefield, and a thick wave of bloodlust began to spread in the air.

Staring at the humanoid figure in the distance, ***** face became dyed with unprecedented seriousness.

"Looks like it's about time I get serious..."

The climax of the second wave was just about to begin.

===

"Second wave? Climax? What is going on?…and just who are you?"

The more Kevin read the book, the more questions he had.

The book was a complete mystery to him. The more he had it with him, the bigger the mystery became.

For example, who was the figure depicted in the book? Kevin did try to look back at previous pages to see if he could read anything, but they were locked.

Regardless of how much Kevin tried to read the previous pages, the pages wouldn't budge.

Because of his apprehension about the book, Kevin did not experiment much with it. But from what he found out in the last day or so of having it was only visible to him. No one else could see it, further adding to the book's mystery.

Tracing his finger on the words written on the book, his finger paused on the blurred-out name on the page.

Many times he tried to figure out who the person was, but in the end, he couldn't. The only thing he knew about the person was that he was a male, and was currently participating in a war.

Turning the page of the book, Kevin was met with a blank page.

Tightening the grip of the book, he silently cursed.

"Damnit, if only I could read back."

As long as he could read back on the book, he'd be able to figure out the identity of the mysterious figure being depicted in the book.

Unfortunately, he couldn't. As though fate itself was laughing at him, the only thing he could see at the moment was what was happening to the person on the other side of the book.

"This is annoying."

Putting the book down, Kevin let out a tired sigh.

He believed that as long as he found out who the person in the book was, he'd be able to get a better understanding of what was happening to him.

TRIIIIING!

It was then that his watch suddenly vibrated.

Staring at the caller ID, Kevin realized that it was Emma.

Putting the book down, Kevin answered the call.

"Emma?"

***

Instead of returning to his dorm, Jin directly headed for the Lock's entrance.

Waiting for him outside of the academy campus was a black limousine.

"Young master."

A beautiful woman dressed in a black suit was greeting him outside of the limousine.

Bowing her head, she walked towards the passenger side of the limousine and opened the door for him.

Briefly glancing at the girl, Jin got in the limousine and thanked her.

"Thank you."

"It is my duty."

Once again, lowering her head, the girl closed the door and walked towards the other side of the limousine, where she entered and sat a few rows away from Jin.

Her name was Eleonore Plight, and she was Jin's bodyguard.

She was an <A> ranked hero that had worked for the Starlight Guild for seven years. Aside from raiding dungeons, her job was always to make sure that Jin did not leave the academy by himself.

Leaning forward towards the driver at the front of the car, Eleonore ordered.

"Please bring us back to the guild."

"Understood."

At Eleonore's orders, the driver pressed on the gas peddle, and the car soon sped towards the busy streets of Ashton city, towards the Starlight guild, the second-ranked guild in the human domain.

Once the car finally picked up speed, Eleonor leaned back on her seat and looked at Jin, who was casually staring at the scenery outside the window.

"Young master, I'm sorry for abruptly calling you like this, but this was at the request of your grandfather."

Giving Eleonore a sideway look, Jin turned his attention to the scenery outside the window and softly responded.

"I understand."

Unbothered by Jin's distant attitude, Eleonor continued.

"Young master, I would like to remind you that today's meeting is a secret and that you must not tell anyone else about what is going to happen."

Closing his eyes, Jin silently nodded.

"I understand."

From the very moment his grandfather had called him, Jin knew that whatever was going to happen in the meeting, it would be imperative.

After all, his grandfather rarely showed himself nowadays. He would only show himself when there was an important announcement that would decide the family's fate or when it was his birthday.

Taking a glass of champagne beside him, Jin twirled the cup before taking a drink.

He had a feeling that today's meeting would change his fate completely.

***

"Move back for now."

The moment the demon appeared in the air, I knew that the situation was about to take a drastic turn.

The balance that we have kept ever since the beginning of the second wave was soon going to be broken.

For now, the best option would be to retreat further back.

"Guys, move back to the third line of defense."

The residual magic released from the demon in the air was extremely dangerous.

Perhaps I could withstand it, but the others were still a bit too weak to handle the residual magic that came from what seemed to be a Viscount ranked demon.

They might suffer serious internal injuries.

"Okay."

Thankfully the others listened to me and did as I ordered.

Turning my head, I repeated.

"Make sure you guys don't move towards the second line. It's too dangerous for you at the moment."

There were three defensive lines, and at the moment, we were stationed at the second.

There wasn't a particular reason why we were stationed on the second line. It was completely random.

Not that it mattered since the truly strong demons were being handled by the people at the top of the tower and the first defensive line where the strongest orcs stood.

The second defensive line was mainly to clean up the demons that weren't worth taking note of or somehow slipped through.

The third defensive line was there for extra reassurance.

So far, they had still not done anything as we had cleaned most of the demons that had managed to slip through.

It had to be noted that, although the third defensive line was the one that faced the least number of demons, it was the most crucial line.

That was because right behind them were the dwarves and elves who were shooting spells at the demons from above.

Unlike the orcs, they were powerless in close range.

BOOOM—!

Just as I expected, when I told the others to retreat, a terrifying shockwave swept the whole battlefield. The ground trembled, and a strong gale of wind swept past everyone. Some of the weaker individuals were directly sent flying.

—BANG! —BANG!

What followed after was another wave of demons crashing towards the first line of defense.

This time they were a lot bolder and bloodthirsty than before.

Before long, more and more demons broke through the first line of defense and quickly headed for our direction.

There were even a couple of titled demons among the demons that had managed to breakthrough.

The situation was dire, and I knew that I could no longer hold my strength back.

Without hesitation, I drew four rings in the air and redirected them towards the others, aiding them in their retreat.

Vooom—! Vooom—!

"Hurry up to the third line!"

I shouted at them.

Unlike them, I chose to remain in the second line of defense.

As I drew more circles in the air, the mana inside my body started to deplete rapidly. Fortunately, I had enough mana recovery potions with me.

I didn't use [Ring of vindication] before to focus on my swordsmanship wholeheartedly. But that was before, now was different.

Putting the blunt sword into my dimensional space, I proceeded to take a newer sword.

…like hell would I gamble my own life during a war.

Although I tried my best to listen to what Malvil was saying, I knew that something like this was bound to happen at the end of the day.

There was a time for everything, and now was not the time for me to care about my training.

WIIIIIIING—!

It was then that I suddenly felt a subtle stinging sensation on my face. Turning my head, I saw a demon fiercely approaching my way.

I knew that this was no regular demon from the pressure released by the demon's body; I could tell it was a titled one. To my luck, it was only a Baron ranked one, something that my abilities could handle.

Raising its hands, a vicious attack rapidly approached my direction.

Unprecedented seriousness clouded my face as my toes pressed onto the ground. The ground beneath cracked with a 'bang', and I narrowly avoided the attack by a hairbreadth, much to the demon's surprise.

The demon that had attacked me was quick to recover once it noticed its attack missing, expanding its wings, the demon's blood-red eyes locked onto me. Then, flapping its enormous wings, the demon disappeared from where it was standing, leaving behind an afterimage.

Coldly looking at the demon, four rings suddenly appeared from behind me. Redirecting them towards my right with my finger, I raised my hand.

"Freeze."

The moment the demon reappeared in front of me, clenching my fists, a sudden gravitational pull discharged from the rings.

The demon froze in mid-air.

Without wasting any time, I placed my hand on the sword's sheath.

The second movement of the [Keiki style] : Horizon splitting slash

—Click!

In a flash, a head soon rolled on the ground. Staring at the head, I knew that it was not over.

Spurt—!

Looking at the body of the demon in front of me, my hand pierced through its chest. Once my hand reached deep enough, feeling something, I retrieved my hand back, and a black orb soon appeared in my hand.

It was a demon core.

Putting it in my dimensional space, the demon's body slowly started to crumble right before my eyes.

"I missed this feeling...."

Chapter 317: Meeting [1]

Click—!

The usual clicking sound rang out, and three heads rolled on the ground.

Of the three demons I had just killed, none were titled demons, and as such, they died by a simple tap of my sword.

—Rumble!

It was then that the ground suddenly shook. Turning my head and staring towards the distance, where the sound came from, I soon spotted two figures standing in the sky face to face with each other.

One figure resembled a human, while the other was the same demon from before. The Marquis ranked one.

"Is that Waylan?"

Upon closer look, I realized that the human figure was non-other than Waylan Roshfield, Emma's father.

'…so they've decided to send him out?'

From what I've heard, each side of the city had multiple <S> ranked individuals assigned.

Being on the safer side, the northern area had fewer assigned <S> ranks, and from the looks of it, Waylan was part of the group in charge of keeping the northern area safe.

There were definitely more waiting on standby, but it seems like they've thought that Waylan was enough.

—BOOOM!

A strong gale suddenly brushed past me.

This came as a result of Waylan and the demon releasing their aura in the sky.

"Ukhh…"

Leaning forward slightly and covering my face with my arm, I tried my best to remain balanced. My clothes fluttered wildly, and a paper-like sound echoed next to my ears.

The already oppressive air became even more oppressive, and the colors black and gold suddenly enveloped the sky.

Soon, the two majestic auras clashed together.

***

[Ashton city, Starlight guild.]

Clank—!

"This way, young master."

The limousine soon stopped in front of an enormous modern building.

The building had a streamlined design with glass coating the outer surface of the building. The minimalistic and simplistic design of the building was indeed a sight to those that saw it from below.

In fact, it was so well designed that it had become a tourist attraction to those that came from outside of Ashton city.

Casually glancing at the building, Jin followed Eleonore inside.

Standing at the building entrance were a lot of people that ranged from heroes, mercenaries, agents, and tourists. All were eagerly trying their best to enter the place.

Jin didn't have much trouble entering the building as Eleonore's aura made those that obstructed their path move away in fear.

The interior of the building was finely decorated with neat and simplistic furniture that perfectly complemented the calm ambiance of the place.

Having been in this place ever since young, Jin casually glanced at his surroundings before heading deeper into the building.

As he walked, all of the staff bowed their heads in reverence.

Had it been the old Jin, he would've savored the looks coming from the staff, but now he was different.

He no longer cared for such looks.

Di Ding—!

Stopping in front of the elevator, the door soon opened, and Eleonore stopped to the side to let Jin in.

"Young master, please."

Lowering his head in acknowledgment, Jin entered the elevator. Eleonore followed after and pressed on the bottom that led to the highest floor.

As soon as she pressed on the bottom, the elevator reached the top floor within a couple of seconds.

It was so fast that by the time the doors closed, they immediately opened after.

Di Ding—!

Exiting the elevator and casually looking around the top floor, Jin turned right and walked towards a certain office.

In front of the office was a small reception where a male receptionist greeted him with a smile.

"Young Master, the master is waiting for you."

"I understand."

Walking past the receptionist, Jin stopped in front of a large wooden door.

[Starlight guild, Senior Guildmaster, Evangelion Horton]

"Come in."

As if they were able to sense Jin's presence, a cold and aged voice rang out from the other side of the door.

Creak—!

Blinking slowly, Jin opened and door and entered the office. As he entered, he made sure to shut the door behind him.

"Jin."

The moment Jin entered the room, the same aged voice from before reached his ears.

With his hands behind his back and gazing outside of the window of the office, Jin saw his grandfather.

Despite his age, he looked to be in his fifties. He had a sturdy back, with wide shoulders and blonde hair. Though his hair did have some white hair mixed into them, he did not look over fifty.

But, Jin was not fooled by his appearance.

He knew very well how old this man was; one hundred and five years old.

"Grandfather."

Greeting him, Jin sat on the sofa opposite the main desk.

With his back still facing Jin, Evangelion asked.

"Do you know why I called you here?"

"I do not."

Jin shook his head.

His grandfather was always someone that did things on a whim, so he had no idea about his purpose in asking him here.

"…is that so?"

Turning around, Evangelion looked at Jin.

With a small smile, he walked towards his desk and sat down.

Leaning back on his oversized leather chair, Evangelion took a good look at Jin.

The more he looked, the greater the satisfaction in his face grew.

"Almost <C> rank at the age of 18, very impressive. You're even more talented than your father back when he was your age."

Jin's rate of progression was outstanding.

Although Jin had a lot of resources poured into him, that didn't mean that he would be guaranteed success immediately. His current achievements were a testament to his hard work.

His current achievements were fundamentally all due to his own efforts.

Crossing his arms, Evangelion went straight to the point.

"…Since you've come of age and you've shown me your immense talent, I've decided that it is finally time for me to hand over to you the family five-star martial manual."

[Cry of the fallen]

Was the name of the five-star martial manual, and it was a dagger art that was solely handed down to the Horton first in line inheritors.

"Although it is a tough technique to learn, once you learn it, nothing will stop you from reaching the top and carrying the Starlight guild to greater heights."

"…"

Listening to his grandfather, Jin's face remained stoic. As though the five-star manual was nothing in his eyes.

This obviously did not go unnoticed by Evangelion, who curiously asked.

"What's wrong? You don't like my arrangements?"

"I'm satisfied."

Jin replied.

Although he didn't show it outwardly, he was actually quite satisfied with the arrangement.

But that was it.

Satisfied.

He knew just how much effort was required to make the manual into something truly formidable.

It would take hours upon hours of blood, sweat, and tears before he could finally utilize the manual properly. Only upon finally reaching that point would he truly be happy.

"Since you're satisfied, I will give you the art now."

Evangelion was a man who did not like to waste time. Listening to what Jin said, he decided to quickly give him the sword art.

Motioning Jin to come closer to him, Evangelion pressed his index finger on his forehead.

Instantly, a white hue enveloped Jin's body completely. Following this, floods of the information entered his mind.

For the next couple of minutes, Jin stood still like a statue with his eyes closed tightly.

After a while, opening his eyes, the aura around Jin changed.

If before, it was cold and carried hints of arrogance, it was now calm.

His usual cold demeanor melted slightly, and what replaced it was a calm one that seemed as though it would remain calm despite being in the direst of situations.

Lowering his head, Jin softly muttered.

"Status."

===Status===

Name : Jin Horton

Rank : C -

Strength : C

Agility : B -

Stamina : C

Intelligence : C

Mana capacity : C -

Luck : D -

Charm : B +

--> Profession :

[Assassin lvl.5]

--> Martial Manual :

[★★★★ Shadow harvester] - Essence realm of mastery

Dagger art primarily focused on lightning-fast attacks that slice through the air at astonishing speeds. The greater the mastery, the faster each swing becomes making each attack harder to defend against.

[★★★★ Void link] - Greater realm of mastery

Movement art that enables user to momentarily move between shadows. The greater the mastery, the longer the user can travel between shadows. Speed of user inside of shadow is tripled, and when exiting the shadow, user speed will be considerably boosted for a couple of seconds.

[★★★★★ Cry of the fallen]

An eighteen-stroke dagger art that becomes progressively faster and stronger with each strike. Upon completion of the eighteenth stroke, the attack magnifies by a factor of 18.

--> Skills :

[{E} Mana conglomoration]

A skill that enables user to gather all of their mana into a singular point and letting it explode in one swift attack that multiplies the attack power by a factor of ten.

[{F} Light eye]

A skill that stimulates the neurons located in the eyes, enabling the user to enhance their vision. From being able to see further away, to being able to see at night and being able to slow down the world around him. Light eye enables user to enhance ocular functions.

==========

Jin was satisfied with what he saw.

Although he didn't have many skills and arts in his arsenal, each and every single one of their mastery was above the greater realm of mastery with his previous main dagger art even reaching the essence realm of mastery.

Although it was a bit of a pity for him to suddenly switch his dagger art, at the end of the day what really mattered was the level of his profession.

Now that it had leveled up all the way to level five, reaching greater heights with his new art wasn't going to be a problem.

Plus, he could still use his old dagger art whenever he wanted to.

"How are you feeling?"

Disrupting Jin out of his moment, Evangelion opened his mouth and asked with a slight smile on his face.

"You like the new art?"

Turning his attention back towards his grandfather, Jin faintly nodded his head.

"Yes, I like it a lot."

"That's great."

Evangelion muttered with great satisfaction.

Closing the status window, Jin asked.

"Is there anything else you wish to ask of me, grandfather?"

Eyeing Jin from the side of his eyes, Evangelon's face became serious.

"Looks like you've realized that this wasn't the only reason I called you here. So for now, sit."

Evangelion pointed at the seat behind Jin.

Doing as his grandfather instructed, Jin sat down.

Propping his elbows on his desk, Evangelion interlocked his hands together.

"The third and fourth rank guilds have recently contacted me with an offer."

His words instantly caused Jin, who was seated down, to frown.

"What is the offer?"

"They want to create an alliance with us to take down the Demon hunter guild."

"The Demon hunter guild?"

Jin tilted his head to the side.

"Even if we combine forces, we won't be able to take them down."

Evangelion shook his head.

"You might not know this, but reports have said that the guild master of the Demon hunter guild has gone missing."

"…missing?"

The frown on Jin's face deepened. It was then that a sudden look of understanding appeared on his face as he leaned backward.

'Is this why Amanda left the academy?'

If so, this made a lot of sense.

Based on what he knew about her, she was the type of person that would shoulder all responsibilities by herself.

Her choice of leaving the Lock did not make sense to Jin before, but now he finally understood why she did what she did.

Jin asked, lifting his head and looking at his grandfather straight in the eyes.

"Why have you told me this?"

Evangelion pushed a stack of papers to the side of the desk.

"...I wanted to know your opinion. Should I accept the offer or not?"

"No."

Jin responded without a hint of hesitation.

His quick response was unexpected as Evangelion quickly became curious.

"Elaborate. Tell me why we shouldn't take the offer."

Standing up, Jin's calm face slowly turned into one of disgust.

"...Since when have we the Horton family ever allied ourselves with others to gang up on someone?"

"If we want to get rid of the Demon hunter guild, then we do it ourselves, not with the combined powers of the others. Not only would that make us look weak to the others, but it would also destroy the reputation that we've built."

Pausing, Jin carefully looked towards the window that overlooked the city from above.

"On another note, if we help them, all we'd be doing is putting a target on ourselves."

Once the Demon hunter guild was gone, Starlight guild would become the next first ranked guild and from there the cycle would repeat.

Even if they came up with a deal, at the end of the day, there were no allies in front of profit. Before they could realize what had happened, they'd suddenly find a knife stabbed in their back.

...and it was because of these factors that he believed refusing the offer would be the most ideal option.

"If they really want to take down the Demon hunter guild, let them. We can just stand by the side and reap the profits after. Though I'd doubt they would really do that."

Looking back at his grandfather, Jin seriously said.

"If you really want to surpass the Demon hunter guild, do it through our own merits rather than by stealing them."

"…"

Wordlessly staring at his nephew from behind his desk, a large smile soon appeared on Evangelon's face.

"Looks like we're on the same page."

Chapter 318: Meeting [2]

BOOOM—!

Ferocious shockwaves appeared in the sky.

The residual mana that spread from the shockwaves enveloped the entire battlefield.

BANG—!

This exchange had been going on for about a day now, and it had started to become progressively stronger. Both sides were still not going all out as they were gauging each other and buying time for those fighting below. Whenever the situation shifted for one side, the other would quickly interfere to return the balance.

"Why don't you guys open up the barrier? The situation looks tough for you guys."

The Marquis ranked demon pointed at the battle that was ensuing below as he coldly laughed.

"Will you guys be able to last without it?"

"You're really full of nonsense."

Waylan glared at the Marquis-ranked demon. His hand that held onto the large broadsword swung downward.

The large broadsword whirled around, releasing waves of pressuring wind sounds.

WIIIIIING!

Seeing Waylan's swift and ferocious attack, the Marquis ranked demon's face grew darker. Finally, he let out a cold laugh, and a ferocious aura suddenly sprang out from its body.

"You're truly one annoying human."

***

At the same time.

"Khh..."

Taking a couple of steps back, a light groan escaped from my mouth.

Standing opposite of me was a demon. Similar to the other demons that I had killed before, it was Baron ranked one. However, this time, the situation was different.

"Haaa!"

—Click!

Crying inside of my heart, I tapped on the sheath of my sword. Just like usual, a subtle clicking sound rang out.

Clang—!

However, unlike my previous fights, the demon did not cower at my attack as it met it head-on. The demon appeared to specialize in speed; therefore, it left me with little to no time to attack. The moment I was about to attack, the demon was already upon me, preventing me from releasing the full might of my attack. Taking a step forward, the demon's sharp claws carried a powerful force as they violently met my sword mid-swing.

Clang—!

A clear sound of metal on metal came rippling out from the mid-point where my sword and the claw met. Then, following the circular sound waves that came as a result of the collision between my sword and the demon's claws, a powerful force soon began to spread out, blowing everything that was near away.

The ground beneath me and the demon also began to crack, forming small crevices that expanded for a couple of meters.

"Khh…"

At this fierce exchange, I came out at a disadvantage as I took a couple of steps back in contrast to the demon who was merely pushed one step back.

"Kekeke, very good human. I didn't expect to meet a human this strong at your age."

A disdained laugh escaped from the demon. It appeared that the demon was feeling confident about its chances against me. Or perhaps it was just trying to provoke me.

BANG—!

Ignoring the demon's blatant provocation, I stomped my foot on the ground, and my body explosively shot towards the demon, like a sharp arrow.

However, the demon seemed to have expected my attack, as it did not do any of those useless dodging actions. Instead, its sharp and sturdy nails swiftly danced around as none of my attacks were able to penetrate past them.

Every time my attacks would meet the demon's claws, they would be violently repelled back, creating an opportunity for the demon, which it rightfully didn't miss.

Clang—! Clang—!

The clear sound of metal being exchanged sounded throughout the battlefield, as the ringing metallic sound lingered in the air for a while after each exchange.

Bang—!

Sent flying backward, I crashed against the side of the tower. Fine miniature crevices began to spread around the area I crashed as I spat saliva from my mouth.

"Kuhk"

Wiping the side of my lips, I looked down and found blood lingering by the thumb area of my hand.

Standing up, my eyes locked onto the demon opposite to me. Although the demon was also sent back during our previous exchange, for anyone that witnessed our exchange, they would've been able to tell that the demon held the upper hand.

Removing the hairband on my air and letting my hair loose, I started to circulate the mana inside of my body fully.

'Enough playing.'

Once again, wiping the side of my mouth, a subtle green glow enveloped the bottom of my shoes.

Right after, my vision blurred, and I reappeared a couple of meters away from the demon, much to its surprise.

The previous exchanges were merely me trying to figure out the demon's attack pattern and what worked against it. Although I did suffer quite a bit during our previous exchanges, I now understood how it fought.

As I reappeared in front of the demon, three rings revolved around my body.

It was now time to end things.

—Bang!

Just as I was about to enter the demon's attacking range, I stomped my foot on the ground and tried to stop my body from fully entering it. But this wasn't enough as the momentum I had pressured me forward, but I had a solution. Pointing with my finger forward, one disc appeared towards my left and another towards my right, a bit further from the second disc.

Jumping in the air, my foot softly touched the left ring before I tensed my leg and shot towards the right ring, where a similar situation occurred.

Before the demon could react, I was already upon it. The demon's face finally changed, but it was too late.

A powerful wave of mana suddenly burst out from my body.

"Huuup!"

Letting out a low cry, rather than using the Keiki style, I simply unsheathed my sword and swung upwards. This was no regular swing, however.

The moment the demon was about to block the attack, using my last remaining ring, I used its gravitational pull effect and changed the course of the swing. Since I was already going fast, the demon was unable to react on time.

"Puchi!"

Blood poured down from above, creating a misty rain of black.

Turning my head, I looked at the demon's immobile and upright body. Leaning forward slightly, the demon's body fell heavily towards the ground with a small thud.

Thud—!

Staring at the demon's 'lifeless' body on the ground, I was not fooled. Since the core was not destroyed, the demon was still alive.

As the demon helplessly stared at the nearing ground, sheathing back my sword in my scabbard, I walked up to its body and once again pierced my arm through its body and removed the demon core before putting it inside of my dimensional space.

Finally, the demon's body turned into soft powder before it was blown away by the winds that arose due to nearby conflicts.

Gently rubbing my chest, which had somewhat swollen, I let out a soft cough.

"Cough, I can't fight anymore…"

Turning my head, much to my relief, I found that the fight in the distance was slowly showing signs of calming down.

It looked as though the second wave was coming to an end.

Wiping the right side of my mouth, I decided to move upstairs to the tower.

I was no longer in the condition to fight and needed to go back upstairs to recuperate.

***

Distancing its body from Waylan, who stood opposite, disappointment flashed the Marquis ranked demon as it looked below.

"Looks like this attack is also a bust?"

Extending its hand, black threads of mana started to swirl around the demon's hands. Following this, a ferocious black ball levitated on top of its palm. The energy contained within the ball caused Waylan, who was standing opposite, to become wary.

Kracka! Kracka!

Black bolts of lightning crackled around the energy ball as circular waves of pressurized wind began to spread out throughout the surroundings, creating strong winds.

Within seconds, the ball which had become the size of a car slowly started to compress together before turning the size of a football.

"Since we're losing, I might as well even the playing field once more."

WIIIIIING—!

But just as the demon was about to attack below, Waylan suddenly appeared before it. He had not been staying still when the demon was accumulating its energy.

It wasn't like he was just going to let the demon do as it pleased.

Tightly holding onto the broadsword, the golden glow around it brightened considerably. Right after, the sword lengthened drastically.

"Uaaghh!"

Screaming at the top of his lungs, Waylan cut diagonally. From the bottom right towards the top left.

"You annoying fucker!"

The Marquis-ranked demon was obviously not happy with this new development as it glared at Waylan. Then, extending its enormous wings, a small shadow cast below.

Fwuap—!

Flapping the wings once, within an instant, the demon appeared a hundred meters away from Waylan. Outside of the striking zone of the broadsword.

But it was then that something shocking happened.

Seeing that his attack was about to miss, steam slowly expanded out of Waylan's body. The veins on his face became more prominent, and his muscles expanded.

A bright light shot out from his body before it directly converged with the broadsword in his hand. The broadsword once again lengthened, this time, a lot more than before. The weight of the sword also increased drastically, and the velocity of the swing followed suit.

"You!"

This time the demon was unable to react in time. Staring at the incoming attack, the demon had no choice but to discard its previous plans and slapped the palm that contained the ball of energy towards the incoming attack. Soon, the two forces met head-on.

A powerful blast of energy shrouded the sky. An instant later, it brewed into a terrifying force that caused both the demon's and Waylan's expression to change drastically as they both hastily distanced themselves away from each other.

—BANG!

Soon, the energy blast expanded, before reaching the battlefield below. Instantly, many of those fighting below turned into ash and a thunderous noise reverberated through the whole battlefield, drowning out every other sound.

As this was a bit further away from the tower, it didn't affect those that were protecting it. But it did affect those that chose to leave the defensive line to fight the demons.

Dust and debris flew everywhere, enveloping the whole battlefield and preventing anyone from seeing the conditions of the battlefield.

Standing opposite to each other were the demon and Waylan.

Before long, the dust cleared out, and the aftermath of their collision became clear to see for the two of them. Lowering its head and staring at the damage below, the demon's face darkened.

Opening its mouth, the demon's raspy and cruel voice rang through the ears of each demon present.

"Retreat."

Then, expanding its wings, the demon flew away. But right as it was about to leave, the demon did not forget to send one last terrifying glare in Waylan's direction.

"This is merely the start."

***

Upon walking the stairs of the tower, I once again met the others.

The second wave lasted a total of two days, and everyone was understandably tired. Me especially.

"Are you guys alright?"

"Just barely."

Hein replied weakly.

"You don't look so good."

Compared to when I last saw him, he was indeed in a worse state.

Not only were his clothes and hair a mess, but his shield, which he had just bought not too long ago, was almost completely broken.

Ava and Leopold were also in a similar state as they were too tired to speak.

Slumping down on the ground, I leaned my back on the wall.

"…I need to rest as well."

Although my body was all healed up due to the potions I had, mentally, I was anything but fine. My mind was utterly exhausted.

At the end of the day, I did fight for two days straight without rest.

"Human."

But just as I closed my eyelids, as if the world refused to let me rest, someone called out for me. Opening my eyes, what greeted me was a short dwarf.

"What is it?"

"Someone is asking for ye; follow me."

Without giving me a chance to object, the dwarf turned around and left.

"Hey, wait."

Groaning to myself, I propped my body up and caught up with the dwarf.

Given our size difference, catching up to him posed no problem for me. I still complained, though.

"At least wait for me, damnit. I just came back from a fierce fight."

Once I reached the dwarf, I stopped complaining and just silently followed him from behind.

Knowing that the dwarf wouldn't answer any of my questions, I didn't bother asking them. Not that it mattered since I already had an idea of what was happening.

Looking back at the northern tower, I wondered.

'....he should've already figured things out, no?'

Chapter 319: Meeting [3]

Following the dwarf, we soon got out of the northern tower and directly entered the city of Henolur.

Upon entering the city, I noticed that compared to before, it was a lot quieter.

The liveliness that shrouded the city when I had first arrived was no longer there, and what replaced it was a solemn atmosphere.

"We're almost there."

Walking through the city's empty streets, before long, we arrived in front of a mansion.

With metal fences surrounding the place, what I could see from the gap of the fences was a lush green garden filled with all sorts of plants and trees.

Stopping beside the gate, the dwarf that led me here pressed onto the bell of the mansion. Then, as if expecting the dwarf's appearance, the gates of the mansion opened up.

Ki Clank—

The moment the gates opened, the scenery that I could barely see from the gaps of the fence was now on full display for me to see.

Surrounding a large fountain in the middle of the garden was a neat array of plants and trees. The wide range of colors that came from the plants perfectly contrasted the beige-colored mansion that stood in the middle of the garden.

Taking a step into the mansion, I took a deep breath. Compared to the city, the air here was much fresher.

With both feet outside the mansion gate, the dwarf that brought me here opened his mouth.

"Please enter tha mansion, me duty be now over an' I shall now leave."

"Oh, sure."

I absentmindedly replied at the dwarf.

My mind was too distracted by the view presented before me.

"This is amazing..."

Walking around the mansion, I couldn't help but marvel at the garden.

It had to be noted that we were currently underground, meaning that there was no sunlight. For the plants to grow this healthy, it was a testament to how advanced the dwarves were.

"You like it?"

Startling me out of my thoughts was an aged voice.

Without turning around, I already knew who it was.

"It's nice."

I faintly replied.

"I'm glad you like it, Ren."

Turning my head, my eyes paused on the old man standing next to me.

As I stared at him, he gave me a calm and unfathomable feeling.

Looking back at me, he asked.

"Should we head inside?"

"Sure."

Judging from how he called me Ren, he appears to have finally recognized me.

Not that it was hard since I wasn't trying to hide it.

From how I didn't hide my face, to how I straight up used my real name in the achievement points section.

The goal in doing so was to gain his attention. Even if I was acquainted with Waylan, that didn't mean he could allow me to meet Douglas.

The purpose of exposing myself was to gain Douglas's attention.

"Over here."

Upon entering the mansion, Douglas brought me inside of an enormous living room where we sat down.

Right as we sat down, Douglas offered me some tea.

"Would you like some tea?"

"Sure."

"Green or black?"

"Let's go with black."

In contrast to green tea, black tea was much better for relaxing. Now that I had just come out from a long battle, all I wanted to do was relax.

"Good choice."

With a pleased smile, Douglas waved his hand.

Soon, a teapot filled with water materialized in front of us. Then, with a simple touch, the water in the pot began to boil.

While he was preparing the tea, he started making small talk with me.

"How did you find your stay in Henolur?"

"It's a pretty nice place."

"Is that so? Anything you didn't like?"

"The war."

Once the water began to boil, the headmaster threw in black tea leaves before closing the pot.

Turning his attention back to me, an amicable smile appeared on his face.

"As we wait for the tea to be ready, how about you tell me about your circumstances."

Leaning back on the chair behind me, I crossed my legs.

"You want to know why I'm still alive?"

Without answering, Douglas continued to smile kindly.

"I'll take that as a yes."

My previous relaxed attitude disappeared, and what replaced it was a serious one, but I couldn't help it. I was about to take a huge gamble.

One that could decide my future.

With Douglas not being a part of the Union and being one of the only selfless humans in the novel I wrote, I felt that he could be trusted. He had a deep sense of responsibility, especially to those that were part of the Lock.

The fact that he was Donna's and Monica's master was a testament to his righteous behavior. He was the one that engraved onto them their current upright and selfless personalities. If there was anyone that could be trusted, it would be him.

Now that I thought about it, the changes that had been happening due to what I did shouldn't have affected him since he wasn't within the scope of my changes.

But I could never say for sure. After all, I was no god. I didn't know everything.

Perhaps the changes that I brought, though unlikely, have changed Douglas into someone different.

Still, I knew that I had to take this gamble.

"How should I begin? It all started when…"

And so I started to tell Douglas about my experiences.

From how I teleported to the Monolith to how I escaped and saved the people from the Union to only be stabbed in the back by them. Of course, I did omit some important information, but I did say most of the important stuff.

As I recounted the story, I tried my best to suppress my uneven heartbeat.

Throughout the whole conversation, the smile on the headmaster's face slowly started to fade as his brows knit tightly.

"…the Union joined hands with the Monolith and put a bounty on me. Because of the bounty, I was forced to leave the human domain. It is also the reason why I'm here."

Leaning forward, the headmaster's eyes ripples slightly. For a while, he didn't say anything.

It wasn't long before he finally opened his mouth.

"Do you know why the Union decided to agree to your bounty?"

"...I do."

I replied.

At first, I wasn't too sure, but after coming to Henolur, I understood why the Union decided to agree to the Monolith's terms.

"It's because of the war that is currently happening. With the demons not wanting to suffer any major setbacks, they most likely ordered the Monolith to cease all forms of conflicts with the Union."

I thoughtfully said before leaning back on my chair. Propping my hand on the armrest, and resting my cheek on my hand, I continued.

"Considering the Union's situation, they chose the most pragmatic solution, which was to accept their offer and sell me out. At the end of the day, they are still not ready to fight against the Monolith."

Removing the lid from the teapot, Douglas poured the now-ready tea into a tiny porcelain teacup in front of me.

"Do you resent them?"

"You're referring to the Union? If so, yes, I do. I very much resent them."

Knowing Douglas's personality very well, I decided to be honest with my answer.

Although their decision was the right one, that didn't mean that I didn't resent them.

I very much resented them. But, to throw me under the bus right after getting back home...

Let's just say that I was very pissed.

Taking a small sip of the tea, Douglas opened his mouth.

"If I may ask if you become strong enough to face them, what are you going to do to the Union?"

"…Good question."

I breathed out.

Was I going to let them go for what they did? Was I going to make those that forced me to leave the human domain pay for what they did to me? Or was I going to let them go?

"Are you planning on causing them significant damage?"

Lifting my head and staring at Douglas in the eyes, I shook my head.

"Sadly, not. Although I do resent them, I have to keep the bigger picture in mind."

"You're referring to the demon king?"

"Yes."

No matter how much I hated the people at the Union, they were still powerful people.

If I wanted to defeat the demon king, I needed them to live.

Closing my eyes and musing for a moment, uncrossing my legs and leaning forward, I softly said.

"For the meantime, whatever I do to the Union, it'll be on the forms of self-defense, as for what happens later…"

Putting the teacup down, I looked at the small ripples that appeared on the tea.

"That'll depend on the future."

Following my words, a deep silence shrouded the room. Then, with my eyes locked on Douglas, I patiently waited for his answer.

"Sigh."

After a while, putting the teacup down, Douglas let out a sigh.

"…That's good enough for now."

Standing up, with his hands behind his back, he walked towards a particular painting. Halting his steps, with his back facing me, he softly muttered.

"Although I do not wish for you to carry on the hatred you have for the Union, I do understand where you are coming from."

Though his words were soft, they powerfully rang inside of my ears.

"The reason why I have never joined the Union is precisely because of their pragmatic view on lives."

Douglas closed his eyes slightly.

"They are those that add value to life, and I do not agree with such a view. Every life is as important as the other, and the moment we think of it that way, our society will fall apart."

Listening to Douglas from the side, my brows progressively furrowed.

As expected, I wasn't wrong about him. He really had high morals. I was more and more convinced about this the more I listened to him.

Turning his head, Douglas's looked at me with clear eyes.

"The reason you told me everything is because you want me to protect you when the time is right, correct?"

Blinking slowly, I nodded my head.

"That is correct."

"I like your honesty."

A small smile appeared on Douglas's face.

Turning to face the painting one more time, he interlocked his hands behind his back.

"I will not interfere with what you wish to do with the Union; However, I do wish for you to keep in mind the bigger picture. No matter how much you hate them, they are individuals who will play a big role when the time comes that the demon king descends. If the Union falls into chaos, our chances against the demon king will decrease."

"…I'll keep those words in mind."

From the very start, I was trying to keep the bigger picture in mind.

At the end of the day, my goal was to survive the third cataclysm. For that, I needed as many pieces on the board as possible.

Still, it wasn't like I was going to let them go scot-free for what they did to me. Once I had enough power, I was definitely going to let them understand what they did.

"I'm satisfied as long as you think that m—"

Clank—

Cutting Douglas off, the living room door suddenly opened, and a haggard figure walked in.

The moment he entered the room, the mana in the room thickened up considerably.

"Ugh, Douglas, I was so close in defeating that de—Huh? What are you doing here?"

It was then that Waylan suddenly noticed my presence.

"I called him here."

Douglas replied with a helpless smile.

"You did? Oh, right. You did mention something about you recognizing him."

Slumping on a sofa near me, Waylan helped himself to a cup of tea.

After taking a sip of the tea, Waylam's shoulders fully relaxed.

"Haaa..."

Letting out a relaxed sound, he lifted his head and looked at Douglas.

"So, what did you guys talk about?"

"…That."

Turning to face Douglas, my face twitched.

It wasn't like I could reveal to Douglas what had happened with the Union when he was the Vice-leader of the organization.

Although his position was lower than the seven heads, he was still the Vice-leader.

Fortunately, Douglas understood this as well. However, the answer he gave completely caught me off-guard.

"We were talking about a new assignment that I will be giving him."

Blinking a couple of times, a look of understanding appeared on Waylan's face.

"Oh? Are you talking about that job?"

"Yes."

"Hold on, what are you guys talking about?"

What in the world were the two of them talking about?

"It's better if I show you."

Walking towards me, Douglas waved his hand, and a piece of paper appeared in his hand.

"The task is simple.. All you need to do is protect someone."

Chapter 320: Revelation [1]

[Jomnuk Dramegrip]

• High priority target.

• Main operator of the defensive system.

• Responsible for setting up the defensive barrier around Henolur, and the only dwarf that is capable of doing so.

• Believed to be currently targeted by multiple assassins sent by the Inferno.

"Jomnuk Dramgrip? Inferno? Defensive barrier?"

The more I read, the more I realized that this was no simple task.

Turning my head to face Douglas, I asked

"That's correct, you must protect him from Inferno. The dwarven equivalent of the Monolith."

As he spoke, Douglas's face turned serious.

"You must be very careful, although they are all made up of Duergar, a subrace of dwarves that contract themselves with demons."

Douglas explained from the side.

Part of the information he was telling me, I knew. But I still listened carefully.

I've long realized that I did not know anything. Just because I wrote this world, didn't mean that all the information that I knew was correct.

On most occasions, there was extra useful information that I was not aware of. Like for example what Douglas was explaining to me at the moment.

"Unlike the dwarves which are an honorable race, Duergar's are much more insidious and sneaky. Not only are they adept in setting up ambushes, but they also specialize in hidden weapons and some even go as far as using poisons. You must be extra careful when fighting against them.

The more he spoke, the warier I became.

Turning my attention back on the papers, my frown deepened.

"…If I may ask, why me?"

If what he was saying and what was written were real, then that would mean I would have to safeguard an extremely important person from an organization equivalent to the Monolith.

I was in no way qualified to handle this sort of high-profile mission.

Putting the papers down, I looked up.

"If I have to be frank, I don't think I'll be able to do much with my strength. I'd be more of a burden than actually help."

"Don't worry about that."

With a calm smile, Douglas walked back to his seat and looked at Waylan.

"You won't be the only one that will be going."

"Uh? Me too?"

Dumbfounded, Waylan put the teacup down.

"The demons will soon attack again, don't you think they will need me here?"

"This is more important."

Douglas shook his head and handed Waylan another stack of papers.

"They asked for at least one <S> ranked individual to go. Since you just fought, I thought that you were the perfect fit for the job."

"Ugh."

Letting out a groan, Waylan lazily slumped back on his chair.

"Who else is going? Can I bring more people?"

"As many as you want. The dwarves have entrusted us with protecting Jomnuk. Though they did send a couple of people to aid you."

"Any strength requirement?"

"No. You don't have to worry about that. Your strength is enough to handle most of the attacks."

Taking the papers, Waylan went through them.

The more he read, the deeper his frown became. After a while, he put them down and questioned them.

"You sure? He seems like a very important person. Will they not send any <SS> ranked individuals?"

"You don't have to worry about that, if someone of that caliber arrives, we naturally have countermeasures against it."

"I see…"

Turning his head to face me, Waylan nudged his head.

"What about him, why do you want to bring him in this mission? From the looks of it, this looks like a very dangerous mission. I don't think a <C-> rank like him will be able to do much."

"You don't have to worry about that. The main goal in bringing him is so that you can watch over him."

"Hah?!"

My eyes shot open.

Waylan was also just as surprised as me.

Facing Douglas, he asked.

"Watch over him? Is something going to happen to him?"

"No."

Shaking his head, Douglas secretly winked in my direction.

Because it was so subtle, the only one who noticed his action was me, and the moment I did, I instantly understood Douglas's intentions. Hence why I stopped speaking.

"If nothing is going to happen to him, then why do you want me to look after him?"

Stroking his beard, Douglas vaguely said.

"Waylan, I'm sure you've also noticed it."

"…you mean."

Though Douglas's words were vague, Waylan who had been with him for over a couple of years instantly understood what he was trying to say.

Douglas smiled.

"Right, his swordsmanship is quite lackin—"

"Not just lacking, it's quite frankly terrible."

Cutting Douglas off, Waylan looked at me.

"Although you did get better as you fought. Honestly, it was very painful to watch. I don't even know how you made it that far with that kind of swordsmanship."

Listening to Waylan's words, I lowered my head and didn't say anything.

Although his words hurt, everyone one of his words was correct. There was nothing for me to refute.

My swordsmanship was indeed lacking.

"Now, now, Waylan, since you're also a swordsman, I thought that it was a good idea for you to teach him something. Didn't you say that you were getting bored?"

"…I did say that."

Scratching his head, Waylan turned to face me.

Scanning me from top to bottom, he looked back at Douglas.

"There's a bit of a problem though."

Extending his hand toward the right, a broadsword appeared in his hands.

"I use the broadsword while he uses a sword. What I can teach him will only be limited to the basics."

"That's more than enough."

I finally spoke up.

There was no way I was going to miss the chance that Douglas had provided me.

Staring at the broadsword in his hand, I lifted my head and looked at Waylan straight in the eyes.

"I don't need to learn any fancy techniques or stuff like that, all I want is to improve the basics."

Malvil said that the problem that I faced lay within my fundamentals not in my techniques. I already had the Keiki style, and that was enough.

I didn't need to learn anything else.

"I don't have a problem with that, but…"

A sly smile suddenly appeared on Waylan's lips.

Looking at Waylan from an angle, the sly smile on his face reminded me of Emma.

My face cringed a little at the sight.

"Douglas, if I don't recall wrongly, didn't you say that you were quite bored here. If I'm teaching him something, why don't you teach him something as well?"

Douglas smiled at Waylan.

His face remained completely unfazed.

Taking a small sip of the hot tea, he put the teacup down.

"You don't have to worry about that, I was planning on doing that from the very beginning."

"…huh?"

Waylan looked at Douglas in surprise.

Alternating his head between me and Douglas, Waylan dumbfoundedly asked.

"You're actually going to teach him?"

"Mhm, I will be polishing his psyon control."

Turning to face me, Douglas suddenly asked.

"Ren, was Donna the one who thought you how to control Psyons?"

"Yes, for about half a year.

"No wonder you're psyon control is much more refined than your swordsmanship."

Stroking his long beard, Douglas smiled in satisfaction. However, my next words caused his hand that was stroking his beard to freeze.

"Actually, although for a shorter period of time, Monica also taught me swordsmanship."

Lowering his hand, he asked with an alarmed voice.

"Did you just say Monica?"

Ever since meeting Douglas, not once did I see him ever get flustered. Yet, at the mention of Monica's name, his usual calm facade broke instantly.

"I did."

"Haa..."

Sighing, Waylan massaged his forehead.

"This makes a lot more sense now."

"…what does?"

Waylan asked from the side with an amused smile.

Judging from how his lips were trembling, this was also the first time he had ever seen Douglas this flustered.

Ignoring Waylan, Douglas let out a helpless sigh.

"That child, although talented, is the worst person to ask for mentorship. She's the type of person that thinks differently from others, and so whatever she teaches is based on her experiences which most of the time is useless on others."

The more Douglas talked, the worse the smile on his face became.

He then turned to face me.

"She is someone that has little to no patience. You probably experienced this, right?"

"That…"

Recalling the bitter experiences that I went through when Monica was teaching me, I nodded my head.

Douglas was right, Monica had zero patience.

Whenever I got something wrong she would throw a fit and beat me black and blue.

"You're right. My friend and I did go through quite a rough beating because of her."

"Friend? There was someone else too?"

Douglas curiously asked.

Obviously intrigued by the fact that Monica not only taught me but someone else.

Taking a sip of the tea, I nodded my head.

"Yes, you probably know him, his name is Kevin. Kevin Voss."

At the mention of Kevin's name, Douglas's brows furrowed.

"…Kevin Voss? I think I've heard that name before."

"I'm sure you have."

Kevin was the first-year super rookie that scored some of the highest scores recorded in history. There was no way Donna didn't talk about him.

"…Is that so? Interesting. So you're saying that Monica trained both you and him?"

"Correct. We were beaten by her a lot, but he deserved it. Me not so much."

"Deserve it? Why?"

"Just cause."

For someone to have a system and yet still be unable to follow instructions, he deserves to get whatever beat down Monica gave him.

"Alright, enough about Kevin and Monica"

Standing up, Douglas looked at Waylan.

"Are you okay with the arrangements, Waylan?"

Putting his broadsword away, Waylan also stood up.

"Yeah, I have no problem with the arrangement."

"That's good."

Similarly standing up, I asked.

"What should I do now?"

"For now go back and rest. You just came back from a long fight. You're in no state to fight."

"You're right."

I was indeed quite tired from the fight.

Nodding my head, I decided to bid farewell to Douglas and Waylan. However, right before leaving I turned around and asked.

"By the way, you previously said that you could have as bring as many people as you wanted in the operation. Does that mean I can bring my group members?"

If possible I wanted to bring them with me. This might serve as a good experience for them.

Looking at each other, both Waylan and Douglas smiled.

The first to open his mouth was Douglas, who said.

"Yes you can. We also have an interest in them."

"That's good."

A part of me was relieved by the fact that they also caught the attention of Waylan and Douglas.

With their coaching, they might improve a lot more.

"Alright, I will be taking my leave n—"

"Hold on a second."

Just as I was about to leave, Douglas called out for me. Tilting me head, I asked.

"Yes?"

Douglas pointed at the ring on my hand.

"That concealment is quite strong. If not for the fact that I was closely examining you I wouldn't have noticed it."

Douglas's words instantly cause my body to freeze.

"Tell me, Ren. What is a demon doing on your hand?"

***

Ding—

Signaling the end of the lecture was the loud chime that rang throughout the academy halls.

"What are you going to do now Kev—"

"I'm leaving."

Packing up his stuff, Kevin dashed out of the classroom, much to Emma's shock.

"Wait, wha..."

But before she could complain, Ren had already left.

Ignoring Emma, moving out of the classroom, Kevin decided to head back for his dorm. He had something to do.

These couple of days, he had trouble sleeping, and this was all due to the mysterious red book that appeared out of nowhere in his room.

Ever since the last experience, a lot of questions flooded his mind. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't quite figure out what was going on.

To make matters worse, every time he fell asleep, he would re-envision the visions that he had upon touching the book.

Kevin felt that he was going crazy.

Just what was going on?

He knew that the answer lay in the book, but for the past few days, he had not touched it.

There was a simple reason for this, and that was because the more he read it, the more his confusion grew.

As such he just decided to wait for a couple of days before deciding to read it.

It was sort of like when stacking chapters for his favorite ongoing novel.

Ci Clank—

Entering his room, Kevin quickly headed for his bedroom.

There, sitting on top of his shelf above his work desk was the red book.

Without hesitation, Kevin sat down on his desk chair and took the red book out.

"Huu…"

Staring at the book in his hand, Kevin took a deep breath.

He had a nagging feeling that today was the day. Today he was going to finally see who the person in the book was.

With trembling hands, Kevin opened the book.

Chapter 321: Revelation [2]

"Tell me why... you have a demon on your finger."

As soon as Douglas's words faded, the atmosphere instantly froze. The echo of his words chilled the very air, creating a palpable tension.

"What's going on?"

Feeling that something was gravely wrong, Waylan looked at Douglas.

Staring at the two for a while, I tapped the ring on my finger after letting out a long sigh.

'This isn't going to be easy.'

"Looks like I can no longer hide it. Come out, Angelica."

SHUU—

At my call, black steam rose from my hand, much to Waylan's surprise. A stunning woman materialized next to me.

Having just canceled her taxing transformation, Angelica's face was extremely pale, and she barely had any strength to defend herself.

"Need a hand?"

Seeing how weak she was, I offered to lend her a hand, but she swiftly refused it.

"——!"

The moment she appeared, Waylan, who was next to Douglas, finally realized what was going on.

He suddenly became wary.

"A demon…"

A threatening aura suddenly sprang out of his body, aiming towards the currently weakened Angelica.

However, just as the pressure was about to crash against Angelica, Douglas waved his hand. The pressure instantly disappeared.

"Stop."

"Douglas?!"

Waylan cried out in surprise, evidently confused by Douglas's actions. Raising his hand, Douglas calmly looked at Waylan.

"Wait."

Turning his head, Douglas scanned Angelica up and down. A frown emerged on his usually calm face.

Opening his mouth, he asked,

"Have the demons advanced so much that their stealth abilities have become nigh undetectable?"

"It's her skill,"

I replied in Angelica's stead.

"She has a special skill that allows her to turn into any object she wants. The downside, as you can see, is her current, weakened state, where for a while she has no demonic energy in her body. However, because of this skill, it becomes extremely easy for her to infiltrate most areas."

"Oh?"

Humming in thought, Douglas took a step forward, walking towards Angelica who fearlessly stared at him from where she stood.

She seemed unafraid and proud while she matched eyes with a seemingly overwhelming opponent. She looked dauntless.

Halting a few meters away from Angelica, Douglas continued to stare at her. She coldly looked back at him, not letting her gaze falter for a moment.

"..."

"..."

Their staredown continued for what felt like forever, till finally, turning his head to face me, Douglas pointed towards the seats.

"I think we still have a bit to talk about."

Slowly closing my eyes, I looked at Angelica before nodding my head and heading back to the seats.

"I understand."

***

At the same time.

[Lock, Leviathan building.]

Flip—! Flip—!

The sound of pages being flipped echoed inside of a room.

Sitting behind a large wooden desk, dimly lit by a small lamp, Kevin's eyes darted between each page of the novel. He carefully read each line twice to make sure he didn't miss a single detail.

Before long, his finger paused in front of a certain page.

Leaning forward to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him, Kevin's face changed from one filled with seriousness to one filled with absolute shock.

"…N-no way."

The hand holding onto the page of the book trembled as Kevin had trouble keeping himself calm.

Reappearing in front of the demon, three translucent yellow rings appeared, revolving around his body.

Bang—!

Just as ***** was about to enter the demon's attack range, he stomped his foot on the ground and tried to force his body to a halt. However, it wasn't enough. His momentum was still too strong.

However, he had expected that.

Pointing his finger forward, a disc appeared towards his left. What followed the first disc was a second that stopped a bit further on the right.

Jumping in the air, ***** softly landed on the left ring before he propelled himself towards the right one, where he repeated his actions.

Before the demon could react, ***** was already upon it. The demon's face finally changed, but it was too late.

Letting out a low cry, a powerful wave of mana suddenly burst out from his body.

"Huuup!"

Rather than making use of the [Keiki style], ***** opted to apply a simpler move.

Unsheathing his sword, he swung upwards.

This was no regular swing, however, as the moment the Baron-ranked demon was about to block the attack, using the last ring, ***** used the gravitational effect and changed the course of the sword, once again catching the demon off-guard.

"Puchi!"

Blood poured down from above, creating a misty rain of black.

"N-no, it's not possible. I-…impossible. How?"

Dropping the book, Kevin moved back. A look of complete denial appeared on his face.

"It...it's not possible. How can he still be alive? I-I watched him die!"

The terrifying explosion, the mourning, the nightmares.

How was it possible? How could he still be alive?

Kevin couldn't believe it. No, he didn't want to believe it. How could he? How could he suddenly accept the fact that his friend, who he thought to be dead, was still alive?

How could he accept such a sick joke?

He'd be stupid if he didn't understand who the person in the book was.

Who else could it be but Ren?

His best friend that he thought he had lost more than a year ago.

Biting his trembling lips, Kevin tried to calm himself down.

"Haa...haa... Let's calm down."

His attempts to calm down were in vain. It just wasn't possible for him to remain cool-headed. The news was too shocking for him.

'Could this, perhaps, be a recount of the past?'

Right, this could be a possibility. Perhaps what he was seeing was what had happened to Ren in the past, but…

'The moment the Baron ranked demon was about to block the attack.'

"Haa…"

Staring at the sentence, Kevin knew that it was impossible. He knew Ren's real strength.

He knew that it was impossible for the previous Ren to kill a Baron-ranked demon.

"Ugh..."

It was then that Kevin's head started to sting out of nowhere.

Letting out a groan, Kevin's knees buckled slightly.

Holding onto his head, Kevin supported his body by holding the top of his chair.

Following the stinging sensation, the book started to glow mysteriously.

"Argh..."

The pain in his head intensified as the book brightened.

Covering his eyes with his hand, it wasn't long before the glow disappeared.

"… What just happened?"

Blinking a couple of times, Kevin's eyes flashed with wariness.

Standing up, Kevin stared at the book with slight apprehension.

As his eyes landed on the book, Kevin's eyes opened widely. That was because the black mist covering the name of the individual slowly started to fade.

Wiping the side of his mouth, a subtle green glow enveloped the bottom of Ren's shoes.

Right after, his body explosively shot towards the demon, like a sharp arrow.

"This…"

Kevin weakly slumped back on his chair as he absentmindedly stared at the book.

"Ren's shoes… It really is him."

Holding his head with both hands, Kevin's mind was a mess. He couldn't make heads or tails of the situation.

Aside from the shock and relief of finding out that his best friend was alive, there was something else that Kevin was curious about.

Just what in the world had happened to him, and why did he fake his death? How did he even survive such a strong explosion?

More and more questions flooded Kevin's mind.

After a while, Kevin's eyes landed on the book.

He knew that the answer lay somewhere there.

Flip—! Flip—!

Once again flipping through the pages of the book, Kevin quickly read through every part, without missing a single detail. Now that he knew that Ren was the person in the book, he wanted to know more about what happened to him and how he was doing.

"Hehe…"

Scrolling through the pages, Kevin's face would change from time to time.

He would sometimes frown, oftentimes be taken aback, and sometimes laugh.

The more he read, the less his worries for his friend became. Though he was in the middle of a war, he seemed to be fine. In fact, he seemed to be thriving.

He had killed multiple Baron-ranked demons and was getting along with the other races.

"Hah?"

But then his hand paused on a certain page. Frowning, Kevin leaned back slightly. The more he read, the bigger his frown became.

Before long, his face turned extremely dark.

As Ren recounted the story, he tried his best to suppress his uneven heartbeat.

Throughout the whole conversation, the smile on the headmaster's face slowly started to fade as his brows knit tightly.

"…the Union joined hands with the Monolith and put a bounty on me. Because of the bounty, I was forced to leave the human domain. It is also the reason why I'm here."

Leaning forward, the headmaster's eyes ripples slightly. For a while, he didn't say anything.

Bang—!

"What?!"

Kevin pounded the table violently.

The sound of his fists clenching tightly resounded in the room.

"Union!"

Kevin's voice turned hoarse as he glared at the book. For them to do what they did to Ren... The veins on Kevin's forehead popped.

"...You bastards! How could you sell out the one guy that saved your asses!?"

For them to betray Ren like that when he had helped them, those bastards. Kevin's rage was reaching a boiling point.

"Haa...haaa..."

Scrunching up a piece of paper beside him, Kevin tried his best to calm himself down.

Only when he read about Ren's plans regarding the Union did Kevin finally manage to relax.

He realized that he was letting his emotions get the best of him.

"...Shit, I need to be more rational about this."

If Ren, the person involved, was so calm, then, why should he, someone who did not even go through the hardships he went through, be angrier than him?

Recovering from his sudden outburst, Kevin finally managed to put the pieces together.

"Wait...so you were 876?!"

876, the most notorious person in the human domain.

The individual who suddenly showed up out of nowhere with a super bounty on his head.

Someone who was hunted by both the Monolith and the Union.

"Haa, Ren. What in the world have you done..."

As he put the pieces together, Kevin slowly started to feel the helplessness that Ren felt when the bounty was put up.

"No wonder you had to leave..."

Hunted by the two strongest organizations in the human domain, he had no other choice but to leave.

He too would've done that if he was in the same situation.

As his thoughts paused there, Kevin's brows knit.

'...How odd. Why does it feel like I went through something similar before?'

Getting completely abandoned by the world and forced to leave the human domain, the scene felt oddly familiar.

But that was impossible since he had never gone through it.

'Could it be because of the red book?'

Could the red book be sharing Ren's experiences with him? But how was that possible? And, why was the book connected to Ren?

Instead of finding answers to his questions, Kevin was left with even more questions compared to before.

"Ugh."

A sudden stinging sensation hit his head.

Scratching his head, Kevin decided to stop thinking about it.

The more he thought about it, the stronger his headaches became.

'Let's set those questions aside from now.'

Flip—!

Flipping through the next page, Kevin continued to read. He didn't want to miss a single page.

"You're right. My friend and I did go through quite a rough beating under her tutelage."

Ren replied, with a bitter smile.

The memory of the time he trained with Kevin at the Lock, with Donna and Monica, was still deeply etched into his mind.

"Friend? There was someone else too?"

Douglas amusingly asked.

He was obviously taken aback by the fact that Monica not only taught Ren but someone else too.

Taking a sip of his tea, Ren proceeded to nod his head.

"Yes, you probably know him; his name is Kevin. Kevin Voss.

At the mention of Kevin's name, Douglas's brows furrowed.

"Oh?"

Pausing there, an intrigued look appeared on Kevin's face.

"...So you didn't forget about me."

A relieved smile appeared on his face. His chest felt warm.

Flipping the page, he continued to read.

"…Kevin Voss? I think I've heard that name before."

"I'm sure you have."

Kevin was the first-year super rookie that scored some of the highest results recorded in the history of the Lock. There was no way Donna didn't talk about him.

"…Is that so? Interesting. So you're saying that Monica trained both you and him?"

"Correct. She beat us black and blue, but he deserved it. Me? Not so much."

"…pfft."

Reading the last line, Kevin's lips trembled. Before long, leaning back on his chair, Kevin started laughing out loud.

"Hahahaha, you bastard… You fucker! No wonder I sneezed so...m-much."

As he laughed, unbeknownst to him, a small tear dropped by the side of his cheek.

'This isn't my imagination, right, Ren?'

Covering his face with his arms, it finally dawned on him.

Ren was alive.

Chapter 322: Protection [1]

"So you're saying that you defeated her and in doing so convinced her to sign a mana contract with you?"

Douglas's clear voice echoed throughout the room.

"That's correct."

I replied with a nod.

Since the cat was out of the bag, I came clean about Angelica.

I told Douglas and Waylan everything that had happened between Angelica and me, from how I defeated her to how I made her sign a mana contract with me and how we came to the current working relationship.

I, of course, altered a few of the details about the story. After all, I couldn't just tell him that I defeated her through the use of the red book.

All I told him was that Angelica was heavily injured before fighting me, and that was how I was able to defeat her.

"…I see."

Stroking his beard, Douglas looked at Waylan, who looked back at him.

"Do you have a copy of the mana contract with you?"

Waylan asked from the side.

"I do."

"Can you let us see it?"

Turning to face Angelica and seeing her nod her head, I nodded back.

"No problem."

Tapping on my bracelet, an old-looking scroll materialized in my hand.

Unraveling the scroll, I took a brief look at it.

「Mana contract」

[Term 1]

Party A and Party B are prohibited from harming each other, regardless of means. If either party has any intention of harming the other party, the contract breached will suffer the consequences.

[Term 2]

If Party A is in danger, and Party B has the power to help, he/she must provide support to other party.

[Term 3]

The contract between the two parties will dissolve in five years. After five years, the two parties will no longer be bound by the terms of the contract.

[Term 4]

Parties are prohibited from harming each other's self-interest.

[Term 5]

.

.

.

"Here you go."

After taking a good look at it, I proceeded to hand it to them.

"Thank you."

Taking the contract, Waylan and Douglas unscrolled it and took a good look at it.

The silence that ensued after that felt almost suffocating.

But I remained calm.

I had gone through too much shit to get fazed from something like this. At the end of the day, given Douglas's personality, there shouldn't be any worries.

...I hope.

"How long do you have left in the contract?"

Douglas suddenly asked.

"How long?"

Frowning, I mused.

'If we're talking about time, counting the eight months I spent at the Monolith, the four months I used to get here to Henolur, and the additional four months that I spent with her before the Monolith incident, it should be about...'

Lifting my head, I confidently replied.

"Three years. I still have a little over three years of contract with her."

Turning their heads to face each other, Douglas stroked his beard and once again looked through the contract.

"Here, you can take this back."

Scrolling the scroll, he proceeded to hand me back the contract back.

"Thank you."

Taking the contract from Douglas's hands, I put it away.

What followed after was a subtle uncomfortable silence that was soon broken by Douglas, who's face returned to its usual calm.

"Having taken a good look at the contract, I can tell that what you were saying was the truth."

Turning his head, Douglas looked at Angelica with interest.

"…to think that you managed to get a count ranked demon to ally with you."

"I was lucky."

In reality, Angelica was not even a Baron ranked demon was when she tried to fight Kevin and me.

Because of the injuries she sustained from Elijah's death, her rank was downgraded to that of an untitled demon, and that was how Kevin and I were able to beat her.

If Douglas and Waylan found out that Angelica had gone from Baron to Count in a mere two years, they'd start to grow suspicious.

"Alright, it seems like we've taken enough of your time. You can go rest now."

Glancing at Angelica, Douglas asked.

"Can she still turn back into a ring?"

I nodded my head.

"She should still be able to."

"I see."

Taking the teacup, the tepid tea re-heated instantly at Douglas's touch. Steam slowly diffused in the air.

"Then you should do so for now. Her concealment is excellent. However, it's not perfect."

Waving his hand, the demonic energy that leaked out of Angelica's body suddenly stopped, and a small transparent film enveloped her.

Douglas took a small sip of the tea.

"Although subtle, she does leak demonic energy from time to time. It was because of these subtle traces that I realized that she was a demon. This little protection I added should be able to hide her presence even better. Don't worry too much, though. Only <SS> ranked individuals can see through this level of disguise…"

Pausing, Douglas frowned.

"No, wait. Elves can probably also see. The only reason you hadn't been caught till now was probably because they were too focused on the enemies rather than you."

He then put the teacup down and mused.

"Now that I think about it, cases in which demons have worked with other races aren't all too rare. If you had explained it to the dwarves before coming here, she probably would've been able to roam around freely."

"You have a point."

Waylan spoke up from the side.

Leaning back on his chair, he said.

"I've already seen a couple of demons working together with the dwarves. So it's not that strange. What's strange, however, is..."

Turning to face me, Waylan pointed at my hand.

"Trying to hide a demon in your finger. That's very suspicious."

"...Right."

Now that I thought about it, what Waylan was saying was right.

I shouldn't have hidden the fact that I had Angelica with me. Everything would've been resolved if I had just shown them the contract.

This was a factor that I failed to take into account.

Crossing his legs, Waylan once again spoke up.

"Now that the cat is out of the bag, are you planning on telling the others about Angelica's presence?"

Lifting my head and staring in his direction, I shook my head.

"No, I would like it if her presence still remains a secret."

"Oh? Why is that?"

Douglas curiously asked.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Leaning back on my chair, I tapped on the wooden armrest.

"Why?"

Briefly glancing at Angelica from the corner of my eyes, I calmly opened my mouth.

"Because we can use her presence to our advantage…"

***

Separating from Waylan and Douglas, I made my way towards the utility center. I needed to sell the demon cores that I had harvested during my fight.

On my way there, much to my surprise, I was met with looks of approval. Be it dwarves, elves, or even orcs, whenever I went, they would nod their heads in my direction before going on about their business.

It was a bit surprising, but now that I thought about it, dwarven technology was quite advanced. It wouldn't be hard for the others to see clips of how I fought.

Even then, I was quite pleased with the sight.

After all, their looks were a sign of acknowledgment. It meant that my efforts paid off.

Following the same road as before, I walked towards the utility center's main building.

Ci Clank—!

As soon as I entered the building, I instantly spotted Malvil. He was currently leaning by the side of the reception, wiping his sweaty forehead with the large apron in his body.

Upon seeing me, he greeted me with a somewhat cold voice.

"You're here, human. How was yer fight?"

"...Not bad."

Taking a glimpse at Malvil, the first thing I noticed was the unpleased look on his face.

'He probably saw it, didn't he?'

Inwardly sighing, I decided to come clean.

"Alright, fine. I didn't fight the whole time with the sword you gave me."

"Tsk."

The sound of Malvil's tongue clicking sounded.

Turning around with his hands behind his back, he silently walked back to his workshop.

'There goes my chance at getting a sword forged from him.'

I helplessly muttered to myself as I stared at Malvil's disappearing back.

The moment I took out my sword, I sort of expected this outcome. I did, after all, refuse to listen to Malvil's instructions.

If I were in his shoes, I, too, wouldn't want to make a sword for someone that refused to listen to his instruction, but at the end of the day, I did not regret what I did.

What was the point in having a sword if I wasn't alive to hold it?

Of course, that didn't mean I was sad about this development, but it's not like I could force him to make a sword for me, right?

"I guess I'll just have to find another bl—"

"What be ye doing? Follow me."

"Huh?"

But just as I was about to leave, Malvil's voice rang out from afar.

Lifting my head, I saw him standing not too far from where I was with an annoyed look on his face.

"Why be ye still standing there like an idiot? hurry up; I dinna have much time."

"…Ah, yeah. Sure."

Staring At Malvil in the distance, a smile appeared on my lips.

It was a smile mixed with relief and joy,

'I guess things aren't as bad as I thought they'd be.'

"hurry up."

"Coming, coming."

Following Malvil deep into the building, we soon stopped in front of a large room where an enormous furnace rested.

—Pang! —Pang!

The sound of metal being pounded sounded, and a heavy scent of iron invaded my nostrils.

Standing behind the furnace was Malvil's disciple. The one I met back at his shop on the first level.

Sitting down on a wooden stool, Malvil extended his hand in my direction.

"Give me the sword."

"Okay."

Tapping on my bracelet, the dull sword that Malvil gave me appeared in my hand.

"Here."

"Let me see."

Snatching the sword from my hand, Malvil put it on the table and analyzed it. Then, flipping the sword on the table, Malvil opened his mouth and asked.

"Do ye know why I gave ye tha sword?"

"To help me train?"

Wasn't this what he said before? That the purpose of the sword was to help me train?

"Tsk, yes. But that's only a part of it."

A part of it?

The more Malvil spoke, the greater my confusion became.

But before I could voice out my concerns, Malvil started speaking.

"To a blacksmith, a simple sword can tell me a story."

Looking closely at the sword, Malvil traced his finger across the scars that appeared on the sword.

"From tha scratches on tha body o' tha sword ta tha cracks an' tha nicks on tha sword. We can tell how a swordsman fought, an' how they well they fight, but that be granted that they be alive."

Putting the sword down, Malvil looked at me.

"Had ye nae switched tha sword an' continued ta fight using it, ye wou''ve died on tha battlefield, an' what blacksmiths hate tha most be their swords going ta waste like that. Tha reason why i'm nae angry at your decision be because ye proved ta me that ye value yer nae stupid enough ta know when ta train an' when not to."

"Is that so..."

I was worried for nothing.

From the looks of it, Malvil had never expected me to use the sword the whole time. The only reason he said what he said was probably to test me.

Stroking a certain scratch on the sword, Malvil suddenly asked.

"Why did you want to get your sword made by me?"

"Because I've heard that you were one of the greatest blacksmiths alive."

I replied without hesitation.

"Is that the only reason?"

Malvil asked, turning his attention away from the sword.

"Hmmm."

What other reason other than that did he want?

Musing for a moment, I tapped on my bracelet and took out the piece of Okleum that I had on me.

Handing it to Malvil, I added.

"Also, because you're one of the only people that can handle this metal."

"…what the."

Something unexpected happened.

The moment I took out the rock from my dimensional space, Malvil's jaw dropped and he became flustered.

"Y-you...y-you, where did you get that!?"

Chapter 323: Protection [2]

"Pftt..."

Walking out of the utility center, I let out a chuckle.

Remembering what had happened in there, I shook my head.

'Who would've thought that he'd go that crazy over an ore?'

The moment I took the Okleum out, Malvil went into a crazy fit and started shouting everywhere. For a moment I was worried that he would directly steal the ore in my hand.

Fortunately, that did not happen. Well, given my height advantage, I managed to stop him from stealing it by just raising my hand.

But it was his over-the-top behavior that made me realize just how precious the ore in my hand was.

Had it not been for his behavior, I would've never been able to tell.

The scene of Malvil jumping up in the air trying to grab the ore was quite comical.

In fact, it was so funny that even now, I was still laughing.

"Hehe."

'At least, I've come closer to my dream of forging my ideal sword.'

Yes.

After calming down, Malvil finally agreed to make a sword for me. Well, sort of.

He didn't explicitly say that he would craft the sword for me, but he did say that he was now more willing to do it as long as I managed to improve my swordsmanship to the point where he would have no qualms giving it to me.

I, of course, agreed to his terms.

"Should've probably showed this before."

'Hmm, but it wouldn't have made that much of a difference.'

Either way, Malvil was not going to make me a sword if I didn't prove that I was worthy of it. Therefore, even if I didn't show him the ore, the requirements would've been the same.

"How is it that the dwarves are so technologically advanced yet can't create a damned elevator."

I inwardly grumbled to myself as I climbed up the stairs of the northern tower. Because the utility center was located all the way down towards the fourth level, the walk up the stairs was actually quite a long one.

If not for my stamina, I would've long passed out of tiredness.

"You guys rested enough?"

Upon finally reaching the middle area of the northern tower, what greeted me was the sight of Ava and the others.

Compared to when I left them, their complexion was much better. Although their clothes and hair were still a mess, it was now an acceptable mess, if that made any sense.

"Oh, Smallsnake, Ryan, good to see you guys too."

Upon spotting Ryan and Smallsnake who I had not seen in a while, I warmly smiled.

"Took you long enough..."

"Ren!"

Ryan excitedly shouted as he ran up to me.

"Ren, Ren, I think I've found a way to help you with the chip in your head."

"Oh?"

My interest instantly piqued.

"You see—"

But before Ryan could speak, Smallsnake spoke over him.

"We know a guy who can help you remove the chip."

"…Smallsnake."

Ryan, who was excited about sharing his findings, was left deflated by Smallsnake's interruption.

Unfortunately for him, Smallsnake didn't care in the slightest.

"After asking the dwarves working in the logistics center, we found out that there are two different types of professions that handle artifacts."

"Blacksmith and Engineer."

I calmly said with my arms crossed.

Just like Smallsnake said, there were two professions that handled artifacts, Blacksmith and Engineers.

The blacksmiths were responsible for creating the artifacts, whilst the engineers were in charge of developing the blueprint and designs of the artifact.

"Anyhow, since we figured that Ryan wouldn't have enough time to help you with the chip, due to how swamped we are at the moment, we decided to ask our supervisor, Bemus for information."

As he was talking, Smallsnake patted Ryan's shoulder.

Somehow, it looked like he took pleasure in teasing Ryan.

It could've just been me, though.

"According to him, these kinds of problems usually lie in the engineering sector, and according to him, a guy called Jomnuk Dramegrip can help with regards to the chip inside of your head."

Blinking a couple of times, my eyes snapped open.

"Wait, wait, what did you say his name was?"

That name sounded extremely familiar.

"Jomnuk Dramegrip?"

"…hah?"

My brow raised all the way up.

Unaware of what I was thinking, Smallsnake nodded his head.

"According to Bemus, our supervisor, he's the best dwarf engineer."

'The world is truly small…'

It was then that it finally hit me.

To think that the person that I was supposed to protect turned out to be the person that could help me solve the chip problem.

Talk about coincidences.

"Tell me more."

"Sure."

And so Smallsnake started to tell me everything he knew regarding Jomnuk. As he spoke, I made sure to not miss a single detail.

The more I knew about him, the better.

*

Over the next two hours, I listened to Smallsnake recount to me all the information he knew about Jomnuk. As he spoke, I took careful note of everything he said.

After that, I offered him and the others to join me, but I was promptly rejected by everyone who wanted to remain on the frontline. The reasoning behind this was because they felt like they could improve the most there.

Although I tried to convince them to follow me, I decided to leave them be after pondering for a bit. In fact, this may have been for the best.

Since I was pressed for time, I just bid them a short goodbye before leaving.

"Is this the place?"

Following the map that Douglas had given me beforehand, I stopped in front of a large metallic door that was deeply attached to the hard bedrock.

By now, I had long forgotten where I was as I had been going through a maze of tunnels. This was to be expected, though, since the location had to be hidden.

Furthermore, from what Waylan told me, the map I was given would only work for a day before it would no longer work.

Apparently, the tunnels rearranged themselves every day, and so a new map needed to be made each day.

"Should be the place."

Lowering my head, I double-checked with the map displayed on my watch.

'The cursor is saying that I am in the right place, so I guess I'm not wrong...'

Moving forward, I raised my hand and knocked on the metal door.

Do Dong—!

"Who be it?"

Upon knocking on the door, a cold voice rang out from the other side.

"I am one of the guards assigned to the mission."

Taking out a small device from my dimensional space, I placed it against the socket of the door.

Right after I placed the object on the door, a subtle clicking sound rang out, and the doors opened.

Clank—!

Once the door opened, what was revealed behind it was a massive room. The decoration of the place was quite simple. Hanging on the high ceiling of the room was a bright golden chandelier that illuminated the whole room.

Large paintings hung by the side of the hall, and a soft red carpet rested on the ground.

Around the hall, there were many different doors that led to different places of the underground mansion. Since this place was where Jomnuk had to live for an extended period of time, it was understandable for him to have a large place to himself.

"This way."

Greeting me at the entrance of the place was a dwarven guard that led me directly towards a certain room of the underground mansion.

Clank—!

Opening the door, what greeted me was another large room. However, this time the room was not empty as a few individuals could be seen seated on a large red sofa in the middle of the room.

The moment I entered the room, all eyes fell on me.

Surprisingly, there was a lot of diversity in the room as not only were there dwarves present but there were multiple orcs and elves here too.

"Oh, Ren, you're finally here."

It was then that Waylan, who was also seated on the red sofa, greeted me.

"Come, Ren, let me introduce you to someone."

Before I could say anything, Waylan had already dragged me towards where the others were seated.

Knowing my place, I decided to remain standing.

After all, the aura that each individual seated emitted was far stronger than mine. Sitting down might displease them.

Waylan didn't seem to mind this as he sat down and clasped his hands together. Then, pointing towards the dwarf seated in the middle of the sofas he started speaking.

"As you've probably seen home from the pictures, this here is Jomnuk, the individual that you are supposed to be protecting."

Then, turning his attention back to Jomnuk, Waylan pointed at me.

"Jomnuk, this over here is Ren. A fellow human whom I decided to bring along. Don't be fooled, though. I didn't bring him here just because he is a human. He has the skills to stay here."

"I see...Nice to meet you."

Jomnuk greeted me with a simple nod.

"Nice to meet you too."

I nodded back in response.

With a long gray beard that was neatly braided and balding head, Jomnuk appeared to be an older dwarf. Supporting this was the wrinkles by the side of his face.

The exchange was brief, but that was how it was supposed to be.

I was here to guard Jomnuk, not be friends with him.

Smiling from the side, Waylan introduced me to the other people present in the room.

"Over here, there's Angus, someone that I personally selected. He is an extremely skilled dwa..."

As Waylan spoke, my mind wandered elsewhere.

More specifically, I was thinking back at what Smallsnake said. Regarding Jomnuk.

According to him, Jomnuk was a highly skilled engineer. He was extremely important because he was the only individual who knew how to access the database of the barrier around the city.

He was the only one that could destroy the system as he was its creator.

And it was precisely because of this that he was currently being targeted by the duergars, also known as the under dwarves. If they managed to kidnap him and force him to tell them how to shut down the system, they could practically end the war in one go.

"...and lastly there is, Komoluk, he's a highly skilled orc warrior who will also be responsible for protecting Jomnuk."

Distracting me out of my thoughts was Waylan's voice as he pointed at a large orc that was standing not so far from Jomnuk.

Before I knew it, Waylan had already introduced everyone in the room.

Nodding my head, I greeted Komoluk.

"I see; nice to meet you."

",,,"

Unfortunately, the orc didn't seem to reciprocate my feeling as he promptly ignored me. But I think this mostly had to do with his culture.

Once Waylan finished talking, Jomnuk finally opened his mouth.

"Is everyone here?"

"Yes, everyone is here."

Waylan replied.

"Good. Ye guys must've had a lot o' trouble coming here ta protect me." Jomnuk said. "I be nae an unreasonable person. Once tha mission be over, I will hand out additional rewards for ye,"

The eyes of the individuals in the room lit up. Although they were granted a lot of achievements points at the completion of the mission, an additional reward personally given by one of the top dwarven engineers was always enticing.

'I can probably ask him to get my chip fixed.'

My eyes lit up slightly.

If what he said was true, I could have him deactivate the tracking system of the chip inside of my head. This was exactly what I wished for.

The meeting was a short one. Apart from a few, the rest of the individuals moved back to their posts. I, too, did that.

"Good luck, Ren."

Waylan said from the side.

Looking back towards him, I calmly nodded back and scratched the side of my face.

"Thank you. I will do my best."

"Good."

Waylan replied as he also scratched the side of his cheek.

Upon seeing him scratch his cheek, I secretly sighed in relief.

'Looks like they are going through with my plans.'

This small gesture was a secrete gesture that Waylan and I used.

Prior to coming here, after analyzing the situation, I came up with a complex plan regarding the current situation. The plan was extremely risky, but the payoff was well worth the risk.

After deliberating over it for a while, I shared it with Douglas and Waylan, who were initially against the idea. However, after my endless persuasions, they ended up agreeing to it.

The scratch just now was Waylan telling me that there were no issues on his part.

Chapter 324: Protection [3]

Sitting on a wooden chair, I attentively scanned the room.

My task was to protect Jomnuk from any potential threats coming from Inferno.

The Monolith equivalent for the dwarves.

They were an organization made up of Duergars, which were also known as under dwarves. They held great infamy for being sneaky and cunning.

Since Jomnuk focused all of his time on engineering, he was quite weak. It was exactly because of this that he needed to be protected.

The only noteworthy thing about him was his mana capacity, but that was just about the same as mine.

Unlike us humans, dwarves were quite weak in combat, their short statures being perfect evidence of it. They mainly relied on their artifacts; therefore, their ranks and other stats didn't really matter to them.

At the Lock, when they used to teach about dwarves, the professors would say,

'A dwarf without an artifact is as easy to kill as a <G> ranked human.'

The statement wasn't wrong. I'd personally witnessed just how helpless they were without their artifacts during the war above.

But that wasn't the only thing I saw.

I'd also seen them with their artifacts, and what I saw truly shocked me. They were incredibly strong.

Although humans could also use artifacts, dwarves were able to utilize them to the very extreme, drawing out latent potential. Because of their highly developed brains, unlike other races, they could use a lot of artifacts at the same time.

Typically, it took a lot of concentration to use just one artifact. Controlling an artifact required the user to manipulate their mana in complex patterns to activate the artifact. The sheer sophistication of some dwarven artifacts could fry a human's brain. This was how it typically went. These limitations didn't apply to dwarves who could use multiple artifacts at the same time. They were literally big-brain people.

Still, according to convention, that didn't change the fact Jomnuk was weak.

Given how important of an individual he was, it was only natural that he had so many people guarding him.

"Here, Douglas told me to give you this."

Disrupting me out of my thoughts, Waylan flashed a mysterious grin before handing me an odd-looking red box. It looked quite out of place.

"What's this?"

I curiously asked, taking the box.

The box felt light to the touch, and although it didn't look special, it had fine golden patterns sewn by the side of it.

"Open it up and find out."

"...Okay."

Waylan's mysterious attitude had piqued my interest.

Just what was in the box that was making him grin like that?

Ci- Clink—!

Finally opening the box, a subtle clicking sound rang out.

"This..."

Upon opening the box, I let out a strange voice. Turning my head to face Waylan, he flashed me a slightly envious look.

"Although I don't know what you did to make Douglas favor you so much, all I can say is that even I would've had difficulty getting that in my younger days."

Leaning back on the chair, Waylan brushed his hair to the side.

"Go on. Take it before we no longer have time. You shouldn't worry too much for now."

"...Ah, yes."

Staring at the contents of the red box, I had no words to say.

That was because inside it was a small, circular black pill.

The pill's intoxicating fragrance invaded my nostrils and the mana within my body jumped up wildly. I couldn't hold back a smile. I was in euphoria.

Wiping off my smug grin, I glanced at the pill once more to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

[Probulin]

Medicine pill created through the combination of a Blood Ginseng, Ash Herb, and Queen's Coriander. Upon mixing the three ingredients together, a potent pill is created. Disclaimer, the pill can only be taken once per year. The medicinal properties of the medicine are too strong to be consumed often.

Staring at the pill's description, I still could not find any words to say. I was honestly speechless.

That was because this pill in front of me was extremely rare. Not only would it help me breakthrough to <C> rank, but it also had other benefits such as improving my concentration and mana recovery.

Without a doubt, this was a precious treasure.

"There's a room at the back you can use to breakthrough."

Waylan patted my shoulder and pointed towards a certain room in the distance.

"I'm counting on you. So better hurry up."

"I understand."

Standing up, I gratefully looked at Waylan.

Waylan waved it off and sat back down, and lowered his head slightly.

"Bah, there's no need to thank me. In fact, I should probably thank you."

"Still, it would be impolite of me to just take it without expressing a little bit of gratitude."

"You're way too polite for someone your age. If only my daughter could be just a tiny bit as polite as you..."

Smiling slightly, I didn't say anything.

Knowing just how doting he was to his daughter, any comment that wasn't going to praise her was probably just going to annoy him.

As such, I decided to not waste any more time and bid Waylan goodbye.

"I'll go take the pill now."

"Ah, sure, sure."

Holding onto the box as though it was my most prized treasure, I followed Waylan's instructions and walked towards the back of the room.

"You need something?"

Blocking me from entering the room was one of the guards designated for the mission. He was an orc, and his large stature made him look extremely intimidating.

Standing in front of him, I could vividly feel the difference in our size. Moreover, from the pressure that he was emitting, he was at least a rank above me.

"Yes, I need to use the room."

I calmly replied with a nod.

Although he looked extremely intimidating, for some reason, I wasn't scared. Well, if I had to be honest, ever since a while ago, I realized that my emotions had numbed down quite a lot.

It took a lot to make me lose composure.

Hell, even an <SS> rank didn't faze me, so what could a <B> rank orc do?

Squinting his large eyes, the orc's deep voice resounded.

"For what purpose?"

"To breakthrough."

"Breakthrough?"

"Yes."

I opened the box in my hand revealing the pill that was in it.

Instantly, a nice aroma shrouded the area we were in, but I didn't care. Since orcs couldn't use mana, I wasn't worried about the guard coveting the pill in my hands.

And my thoughts were true as the orc had a disinterested look on his face.

Frowning, the orc contemplated for a moment. Turning his head to face Waylan who was sitting not so far away from where he was stationed, only upon seeing him give the heads up did the guard finally relax and take a step to the side.

"Understood. You may enter."

"Thank you."

—BOOOM!

But just as I was about to enter, the whole place started to shake as a terrifying explosion sounded from above.

Looking up, my brows furrowed for a second.

'It looks like the third wave has begun. I hope the others are alright.'

Since they refused to follow me on this mission, I did not know how they were faring. Although they were all capable, I really hoped nothing bad happened to them.

After all, the third wave was going to be even more troublesome than the previous two waves.

This wave was where the real war started.

From here on, the real heavy hitters would finally make their move unlike before. This was why I was particularly worried about the others' safety.

But, I also knew that it was their choice and I had to respect it.

Click! Clank—!

Closing the door behind me, I looked around myself to survey the room.

Although the place was not quite big, it was sufficiently large enough for my use.

The interior of the room was rather plain. Other than a grey mat in the middle of the room, there were no other decorations. A meditating room true to its name. I was lucky to have found a good place to break through. I sure as hell wouldn't be comfortable breaking through to <C> Rank with orcs staring down at me.

Sitting crossed-legged on the mat, I carefully placed the box in front of me.

"Huuu..."

'Been a while since I ingested something like this.'

Granted, a lot of time had passed ever since I took something like this, I shouldn't suffer any side effects from eating the pill.

"Alright, let's get this over with."

Opening the box, my eyes instantly locked onto the small pill resting in the middle.

A thin yellow glow shrouded the pill, giving it a faint, mysterious appearance. Other than that, a fragrant smell invaded the room, and the mana inside of my body trembled in excitement.

Extending a hand to grab the pill, I felt a slight chill run through my body the moment my fingertips brushed its surface. Locking my brows tightly, I stuffed the pill in my mouth.

—Gulp!

The instant I swallowed the pill, it transformed into a somewhat gentle and calm energy that swiftly entered all of the energy paths inside of my body. My body started to tremble noticeably.

Unlike my previous experiences, I suffered no pain this time as everything flowed smoothly.

Glancing at my arms, I could vividly feel my strength surging with each and every second.

Closing my eyes, I continued to process the medicine inside of my body.

It wasn't long before a bright light shot out of my body, and I felt an unfamiliar, refreshing strength fill every single pore.

'Ah, I missed this feeling.'

VOOOM—!

Like a pulsating heart, the glow around my body rhythmically increased.

Slowly, it became even more radiant.

Before I knew it, the whole glow enveloped the room.

***

[Leviathan building, Lock.]

"...He's so fast."

Sitting inside of his room, staring at the red book in front of him, Kevin's face was filled with various emotions.

'He's already <C> rank.'

Because he could now see what Ren was doing, Kevin was able to tell that Ren had just broken through to <C> rank. A rank above him.

It had to be noted that Ren used to be one rank weaker than him back when they trained together.

For him to suddenly surpass Kevin made the latter feel a flame ignite inside of him.

'Like I'll let you surpass me...'

Though others did not know this, Kevin was extremely competitive. He wasn't someone that liked to lose. For Ren to surpass him in strength, Kevin felt his body itching to train.

'Before that...'

Turning his attention back towards the book, Kevin frowned.

That was because a particular person caught his interest. It was the other human. The one that handed him the pill.

"He said his name was Oliver..."

Kevin had a feeling that the person was extremely important. He still couldn't quite figure out who he was though.

All he knew was that his name was Oliver. He didn't know his last name yet.

"Haa..."

After a while, closing the book down, Kevin let out a sigh and put it back on the shelf.

'I should probably stop looking at it for now.'

Every time Kevin looked at the book, he felt like a stalker. Although he was glad that his friend was fine, at the end of the day, what he did was nothing short of stalking.

As such, he decided to stop reading the book all the time.

Perhaps once a month would do. Just to check how Ren was doing.

On another note, another reason why he decided to stop reading the book was because he finally understood what he had to do.

He was still going to join the Union.

If Ren was ever going to come back, Kevin was prepared to help him out. After all, he did have a huge bounty on his head.

If he got into a high enough position, he would be able to lend Ren a hand.

'It's still not enough, though...'

Kevin took out his phone and scrolled through his contact list.

After thinking for a while, Kevin realized that if he truly wanted to help Ren out, he needed allies.

He thought about asking Emma, but she was too preoccupied with her uncle's problem to be able to help him at all.

There was also Jin, but well, he hated Ren, so Kevin couldn't really ask him for help.

Regarding Donna and Monica, they were too closely tied to the Union. Kevin didn't know just how loyal they were to them.

He didn't want to risk exposing Ren.

He needed someone who had power, strong authority, and was trustworthy.

As such, after a long time of contemplation, his finger paused on a certain contact. His brows knit in thought.

Be- Beep—!

Pressing onto the contact, the phone soon started to ring.

"Kevin?"

Before long, a cold and crisp voice entered Kevin's ears.

Scratching the side of his head, Kevin opened his mouth.

"Hey, Amanda. Do you have time?"

No, Oliver is not a mistake.

Chapter 325: The Attack [1]

Standing up, I looked at my arms.

Compared to before, they were a little bit thicker. Clenching them into fists, I could see the veins on my arm pop out slightly.

Lifting my shirt up, I could also see that my abs were a lot firmer than before. If I compared my current body to the body I used to have when I just arrived in this world, the difference was huge.

My hard work paid off.

Tying my hair with a black hairband, I calmly walked towards the door of the room.

Placing my hand on the knob, I opened the door and stepped out.

Click! Clank—!

"How was it?"

Greeting me at the entrance of the room was Waylan.

Scanning my body from top to bottom, a pleased look appeared on his face.

"Not bad, not bad, congrats on reaching <C>"

"Thank you."

Lowering my head slightly, I thanked Waylan. Without him, I would've never been able to break through to <C> rank.

Placing his hand on his chin, he muttered.

"I have to say, your talent is as good as my daughter's."

"Emma?"

"Yeah."

"I see…"

I replied whilst trying to keep my face straight.

As expected of a doting father.

Best for me to just agree to whatever he was saying.

"Say, what do you think about joining the Union once the war ends?"

But his next words caused my body to freeze for a split second.

It was only for a short period of time, as I quickly regained my composure. Lifting my head up, I shook my head and apologized.

"Sorry, I might have to refuse the offer for now. I'm planning to join the Lock as a professor."

That was a lie.

Although I was indeed interested in joining the Lock as a professor, it wasn't feasible right now.

Well, a few of the people that I wanted to recruit for my group would indeed come from the Lock, so it wouldn't be a terrible idea.

But as I've said, that was well into the future.

For now, I had to focus on something else.

Like the current protection mission.

"That's a pity."

Fortunately, Waylan did not insist and proceeded to sit back down.

Interlocking his hands together, Waylan's face suddenly turned serious.

"About the plan that we agreed on with Douglas, I'm still a bit worried."

"Really?"

My brows slightly knit in surprise.

I sort of expected this.

Ever since I told him and Douglas about my plan regarding the protection mission, I had a feeling that they were still worried about something going wrong.

It was understandable though. After all, it was quite a risky one.

In order to increase the chances of this plan working, the three of us agreed to tell the least amount of people possible.

Though the chances were small, there was the possibility of a spy being here, and because the details of the plan couldn't be leaked lest it backfires, I opted to tell Waylan whom I trusted and believed could give me input on the idea.

After all, I was not perfect.

There could be holes in my plan.

Plus, just because the chip in my head was helping me didn't mean that I was now a genius. I could only think faster, not think better.

"I've talked to Douglas about it and although he seemed a little bit concerned at first, we came to the conclusion that if this plan works, we're going to massively increase our chances in the war."

"That's great."

I replied while also taking a seat.

Crossing my legs, I asked.

"What about Jomnuk? Did you tell him about the plan yet?"

"We have. He's onboard."

Waylan nodded.

"Okay."

Propping my elbow on the armrest of the chair, I supported my chin and let out a long sigh.

'Can't believe I'm going to do something like this…'

Even though I was the one that proposed the plan, I couldn't believe just how crazy it was.

Not only would it be more dangerous than the war going on outside, but there was a very real chance of me dying.

But…

If I could pull it off, then not only would I be able to give the dwarves a massive advantage in the war, I would also get the dwarves on my side.

This was fundamental in granting me immunity against the Union.

Although the risks of this mission were huge, so was the pay-out.

"Ren."

"Hmm?"

Disrupting me out of my thoughts was Waylan, who asked, "I've been meaning to ask, but now that Douglas found your name, are you going to keep your real name on the achievements board?"

"...Ah, Good point."

Right, the only reason I put my name there was to have Douglas find out about my identity. Now that he knew, it would be better to change it.

"If you want, I can help you change it."

Waylan offered before taking out a small device from his dimensional space.

He then turned to face me.

"Have you thought of a name yet?"

"Name?"

Furrowing my brows, I started to ponder.

What nickname should I use? Should I go for something overly dramatic or simple?

I asked such questions inside of my mind as I tried to think of a good nickname for myself.

After musing for a couple of minutes, lifting my head, I responded with a slight grin.

"Let's go with Caeruleum."

Raising his brow, Waylan curiously asked.

"Caeruleum? That sounds familiar... Wait, isn't that blue or something in Latin?"

"Yeah."

Waylan scratched the side of his face before suddenly pointing at my eyes.

"I take it that you chose blue due to your eyes?"

"You're right."

It was a simple nickname.

After thinking about it for a while, all the nicknames that I came up with were a bit too cringy.

As such, I just decided to go simple. Blue, for the color of my eyes.

The reason I chose to have it in Latin was because plain blue was just boring.

Had to have at least this much.

'I've long let go of my dark days.'

As if he could read my thoughts, Waylan wryly smiled.

"Alright, as long as you're satisfied with it."

Shaking his head, he proceeded to change my name on the achievement board.

As he was changing my name, lifting his head, he cautiously looked around the room. After making sure that no one was listening, he lowered his voice and whispered.

"Back to the previous topic, how ready are you?"

"Don't worry, there are no problems on my end."

"That's good."

Waylan sighed in relief.

From how he kept asking me the same question, it was evident just how worried he was about the plan. But it was understandable, as failure was not an option.

"I won't bet on my life without making ample preparations, that I can assure you."

I reassured.

As I've said before, the upcoming operation was going to be extremely dangerous. Any mistakes and I wouldn't know how I died.

There was no way I was going to go there without making ample preparations.

"Alright, take this."

Extending his hand, Waylan passed me a small ring.

"What is this?"

I curiously asked as I took the ring from Waylan.

Looking at it from the top of my palm, it looked like a plain old ring.

Leaning back onto his seat in a comfortable manner, Waylan replied, "Inside of it are the things that you previously requested."

Clenching the hand holding onto the ring, I nodded my head and put the ring away.

"That's good."

***

[Northern tower.]

A chilly wind blew past, lifting a couple of fallen leaves into the air as an icy killing intent enveloped the surroundings.

BOOOM—! BOOOM—!

Terrifying explosions rang in the sky. What followed after were numerous thunder-like blasts and energy ripples that spread throughout the whole battlefield.

The energy contained within each explosion was so strong that the aftershocks of every impact would even affect those far away.

Clank!

Hein defended against the attack of a demon amidst the chaotic battle. Sparks immediately shot out at their exchange.

Apart from that specific demon, none came his way, and that was because...

Bang!

"Hieeek!"

A blast of energy ferociously smashed against the chest of a nearby demon, sending it flying away.

"Aeooooo" "Aeooooo" "Aeooooo"

What followed after were the cries of three wolves as they jumped towards the demon and chewed him out.

"Thanks."

Ava thanked Leopold, who was next to her.

SHIIIIING!

Unsheathing his sword, Leopold cut down. Black blood spilled from above. Turning his head, he replied.

"Save the thanks for later, focus on helping Hein out. You're a team, remember that."

"Yes."

tootle-too~

Blowing onto the flute, Ava redirected the wolves towards the demon attacking Hein.

Flying around her was Newton, her other pet.

Compared to the wolves that were all each around <E> rank. Newton was a little bit weaker, but that was fine to Ava since its task was to watch out for any ambushes and warn her about strong opponents.

Once it spotted someone strong nearing her direction, it would quickly warn her, when in turn Ava would report to Leopold.

On a different note, Ava's abilities could only allow her to control five pets at the moment. She was currently missing one, but given that it took a lot of mana to keep the flute active, she decided against getting one more.

Clang—! Clang—!

The wolves fiercely jumped the demon. Biting onto the lower leg of the demon, black blood seeped down from their mouths.

Letting out a shriek, the demon tried to move back, but before it could do that, another wolf quickly bit down on its other leg, preventing it from moving.

"Hieeek!"

Helpless, the demon clawed down towards the nearest wolf. But right as the claw was about to hit the wolf, it quickly let go and jumped back.

"Grrrrr..."

Glaring at the demon, black blood seeped from the gaps of the wolf's teeth.

tootle-too~

Blowing onto her flute, Ava, who was watching by the sidelines, quickly ordered the wolf to once again attack.

"Rufff!"

Once the flute sounded, the wolf's eyes shone slightly as it barked out loud. Tensing its legs, it once again shot towards the demon.

"Ugh."

But right after sending that command, Ava suddenly felt her body grow weak.

Holding onto her head, Ava stumbled slightly. Her complexion had paled considerably, and her vision was slowly starting to get blurry.

She was showing signs of mana fatigue.

'I need to get this fixed.'

Ava clenched the hand holding onto the flute.

Had the flute not been broken, the mana expenditure would've been far less than what she was spending at the moment. Unfortunately, because it was broken, she could only tame three beasts.

To make matters worse, controlling each beast took a considerable amount of mana.

If not for that, she would've been able to fight for longer.

However, that same flute was what changed her destiny.

"Ava, are you okay?"

Feeling a light tap on her shoulder, Ava turned her head.

"Hein?"

Though her head was dizzy, she was instantly able to recognize Hein's face.

'Looks like he managed to defeat the demon'

A relieved look appeared on her face.

"Oy, oy, are you okay?"

Supporting Ava, Hein looked at her pale complexion. Frowning, he looked at his wrist. More specifically, at a small bracelet.

Shaking his head, he turned towards Leopold.

"Leopold, do you have any mana recovery potions on you?"

BANG!

Blowing the head of a demon, Leopold turned to look at Hein. Upon seeing Ava's complexion, he immediately checked his ring.

However, he too shook his head and replied.

"I've also run out. Looks like it is time for us to retreat."

"Understood."

Turning his attention back to Ava, Hein supported her by the arm and helped her walk back into the tower.

Because this was where the real fight started, the radius of the line that protected the tower increased considerably. It was also because of this that they were quite far from the tower despite being in the second line of defense.

SHIIIING!

"You guys keep going, I'll cover you."

Cutting another demon, Leopold paved the way for Ava and Hein back to the tower.

"Thank you."

They turned back, heading towards the tower again.

Chapter 326: The Attack [2]

—Clang! —Clang!

Inside an enormous room, the sound of metal clashing against metal resounded across the empty space as a dull slim sword intersected a sharp, large broadsword.

Upon clashing, a circular wave of wind pressure shot out from the intersecting point of the clash.

"Khhh…"

Letting out a groan, I stumbled back and stabbed my sword towards the ground to keep my body steady. Long live magical swords that could pierce the earth as if it were butter, they never get nicked from such weak stabs.

That was what I was supposed to say, but staring at the sword in my hand, I let out a depressed sigh.

'Here goes another sword...'

Once I managed to steady my body, I realized that my breathing was incredibly heavy.

"Haa…haaa…"

"Hmm, you've improved considerably."

A leisurely voice reached my ears.

Lifting my head up, I looked at Waylan who was standing opposite of me with his broadsword hanging by the side of his shoulders.

'Damn you for lifting that like it weighs nothing!' I cursed internally but kept a smile on my face.

Wearing a thin smile on his face, he complimented me, saying, "Compared to a month ago, your swordsmanship truly improved quite a bit."

"Ugh, I'm still far from it."

Slumping down on the ground, I let go of the sword and tried to catch my breath.

It's been about three weeks since joining the protection mission, and so far, everything had been calm.

But, of course, this was merely the calm before the storm.

I knew that soon enough the Duergars would attack.

This was why I chose to spend most of my time training with Waylan.

Every little bit of strength was instrumental for me.

My life also kind of depended on it…

"Well, you've shown significant improvements over the last couple of weeks. Be glad that we had this much time to train."

"Yeah, I guess…"

Inferno was known to be an extremely sly and cunning organization. This meant, that, unless they made enough preparations, they wouldn't attack.

This was probably the only reason why they had still not made a move yet.

On another note, our current location was quite well hidden, so it would take a lot of time and resources to find this place.

'Well, maybe before. Things are a bit different now…'

Sitting on the ground next to me, Waylan asked.

"How are the preparations on your side?"

"I'm ready. All that really matters is whether Jomnuk is ready or not."

He played a critical role in my plans.

If he suddenly changed his mind last minute, everything would be ruined.

Patting me on the shoulder, Waylan tried to reassure me.

"Don't worry about him. We've already talked it through with him. As soon as we hear something about the enemies, we'll immediately go ahead with the plans."

"Alright, that's all I need to hear."

Propping my body up with the aid of the sword, I slowly stood up.

Removing the sword from the ground, I turned to look at Waylan once more, "As long as Jomnuk follows through with the arrangements, I will take care of the rest. You can count on me for that."

"Well, I sure hope you do."

Similarly standing up, Waylan pointed his broadsword in my direction with a challenging look on his face.

"As we wait for those bastards to make a move, how about we continue our little spar. Every little bit of strength you gain will be of extra help for when you're going to clear the mi—"

TWIIING—

Cutting Waylan off was a small ringing sound.

"Give me a sec."

Rummaging through his pockets, Waylan took out a small phone-like device and answered.

"Hello?"

Because Waylan didn't put the phone on speaker, I wasn't able to hear what the other individual on the phone was saying, but judging from Waylan's facial expression, I knew that it had to do with the upcoming mission. His face steadily grew grimmer as he listened to the call.

"Alright, understood, we'll be there soon."

Hanging up the call, Waylan put his broadsword away and turned to face me.

An unprecedented look of solemn determination clouded his face.

"Alright Ren, it's time for us to move. The information about the hideout has been leaked."

"Understood."

Putting my sword away, I followed Waylan back into the hideout.

'Talk about timing…'

Right as we finished talking about the situation, the duergars suddenly decided to attack. Wasn't coincidental though.

***

[Ashton City]

The outline of a cafe appeared in Kevin's vision. From the outside, the place looked like any regular cafe.

Scribbled on a small blackboard standing outside of the cafe was a list of drinks and dishes.

The clear glass walls made it possible to see through the cafe from the outside, and the plants and vegetation lining the place perfectly completed the structure which was in part made of wood.

It had a nice ambiance, its vibe and general atmosphere alone should have made it a popular spot.

Yet, things were different today.

Looking around, Kevin found the place to be quite deserted.

'Amanda must've cleared up the place beforehand.'

As expected of someone with as much power as her.

With a single call, she could clear up an area.

Ding! Ding—

A small chime rang as soon as Kevin opened the door of the place. It was rather pleasant to hear.

The moment he stepped foot inside of the cafe, a heavy scent of coffee invaded his nostrils.

"Eh?"

Because there was no one inside of the place, it took little to no time for Kevin to spot Amanda.

Sitting in the corner of the room, next to the glass window, the gentle glow of the sun enveloped her perfect figure, enhancing her features.

Compared to when he had last seen her, Amanda looked a lot more beautiful.

However, that wasn't the only change.

She also looked a lot more mature compared to when he had last seen her. Gone was her cold looks and what replaced it was a calm one that looked as though it would remain unfazed even in the harshest of situations.

She truly had the aura of a leader.

"Over here."

Similarly spotting Kevin, seated at the back of the cafe, Amanda raised her hand.

Smiling, Kevin walked up to her and sat down.

"To think that it took over two weeks to schedule an appointment with you. Just how busy are you?"

"Do you want anything?"

Smiling slightly, Amanda passed the menu to Kevin.

Taking the menu, Kevin slowly went through the list of things.

Whilst he looked through the menu, Amanda put both hands on the table and went straight to the point.

"Kevin, why did you ask to meet me?"

"Hmm?"

Lifting his head up and remembering the reason he was here, Kevin's brows knit in worry.

Glancing around to make sure that no one was present, he lowered his head and whispered.

"Actually there is something really important I want to discuss with you."

"You don't need to whisper, this whole placed is owned by me. Apart from me and you, no one can hear what you're saying."

Amanda calmly said, much to Kevin's surprise.

"…must be nice to be rich."

Kevin muttered in a low voice as he landed back. Then, putting the menu down, he relaxed a little.

Staring at Kevin opposite of her, Amanda once again asked.

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Right."

Lifting his head and staring at Amanda straight in the eyes, Kevin softly said.

"You may not believe me, but…Ren is alive."

His heart skipped a beat. He didn't know how she would react. He didn't even know if he should tell her. But, he had to. He had to do something to help his friend.

"…"

Bracing himself, Kevin waited for Amanda's reply. However, as soon as his words faded from the atmosphere, Kevin was met with an awkward silence.

Seeing that Amanda's expression had not changed, Kevin thought that she didn't hear correctly.

'Maybe the shock was too great?'

He decided to repeat his sentence, for Amanda's sake.

"Ren is ali—"

"I know."

Amanda cut him off.

Crossing his arms together, Kevin repeatedly nodded his head.

"I know that it must be tough for you to swallow this piece of—huh? What!?"

Kevin stood up in shock and looked at Amanda who was still quietly sitting in the seat opposite to him.

"You knew!?"

"Yes."

Amanda nodded her head.

"I've known for about four months now."

"…what?"

Slumping back on his seat, Kevin absentmindedly looked at Amanda.

"You knew?"

He couldn't even muster the energy to say anything else. Amanda literally blew the wind out of his sails.

'But how is that possible? Amanda doesn't have the book or any similar means!'

It was then that it finally hit him.

'Was it right after he escaped the Monolith?'

According to what Ren said back on the book, once he escaped the Monolith, he was chased out of the human domain.

This meant that during the brief time he escaped, he had met up with Amanda.

Staring at Kevin's deflated face, Amanda shook her head.

"No, it's not what you think."

"What do you mean?"

Kevin frowned.

Taking a sip of her coffee, she replied.

"He did not meet up with me, I found out by myself."

"You found out yourself?"

"Correct."

Scratching the side of his head, Kevin tilted his head in confusion.

"How did you find out?"

"Secret."

Amanda shook her head with a small smile on her face.

She couldn't quite say that she found out after stalking the guy that was taking care of Nola.

"Eh, come on…"

Obviously, Kevin was surprised by the answer as he leaned back in disappointment.

'This is too much to process… Shouldn't this have been the other way?'

Putting her black purse on the table, Amanda checked her watch.

"Is that all you wanted to tell me?"

"No."

Lifting his head, Kevin shook his head before letting out a long sigh.

"Haa…"

Although he was surprised by the fact that Amanda knew, Kevin quickly moved on.

This at least saved him the trouble of explaining how he knew.

Fiddling the with the menu in his hand, Kevin spoke up.

"Since you know Ren is alive, you also probably know that he is 876…"

Plap—

This time it was Amanda's turn to be surprised as she dropped the cup in her hand.

Fortunately for her, the cup was empty and nothing spilled.

Still, with wide open eyes, Amanda asked.

"Are you referring to that 876? That 876?"

"…Yeah?"

Kevin replied as he massaged his forehead.

'I thought she knew that… As expected of Ren, he just had to leave a massive mess…'

From her reaction, he understood that she had still not figured that part out.

He was just as shocked as she was when he found out that Ren was 876.

"Basically this is what happened…"

And so Kevin started recounting Ren's story to Amanda.

At least the information he knew.

The more he talked, the colder Amanda's face became. But that didn't last for long as it disappeared just as fast.

For a short second, Kevin thought that he was hallucinating.

"…and that's it."

Once Kevin finished recounting what he knew about Ren, Amanda frowned.

Musing to herself, she bit on the edge of her sweater.

After a while, she said.

"So, in short, the reason you contacted me was because you wanted to help in the future once Ren would try to come back to the human domain?"

"That's correct."

Kevin replied with a surprised expression.

He didn't even ask anything and she had already figured out his intentions.

As expected of Amanda. She truly was the daughter of the clan leader of the first ranked guild.

Picking up the cup that she had previously dropped, Amanda gently put it on the table.

Putting her bag on her shoulder, she checked the time.

[4:34 P.M.]

It was almost time to pick up Nola.

Staring at Amanda in confusion, Kevin asked.

"Are you in or not?"

Standing up, Amanda nodded her head.

"I'll help the best way I can."

"…I see, I'm glad."

A look of relief appeared on Kevin's face as he leaned back on the chair.

"With your aid, we might be able to help him out once he gets back."

Unfortunately for Kevin, as he said that, he wasn't able to notice the complicated look on Amanda's face.

Chapter 327: The Attack [3]

Click! Clank—

Upon entering the hideout, I was immediately greeted by a solemn atmosphere.

"Waylan, yer finally here."

Once Waylan entered, Jomnuk, sitting with his arms crossed in the middle of the living room, sighed in relief.

Sitting down on the seat opposite to Jomnuk, Waylan inquired, his tone serious. An unprecedented feeling of grim concern clouded his face.

"What's the situation here?"

"According to reports from the spies, the enemies are preparing to attack by tonight."

Answering Waylan, in Jomnuk's stead, was a dwarf. He had thick eyebrows and long, flowing black hair. Most striking were his thick arms that looked to be the size of a small football. It gave off the impression of breaking rocks by merely flexing them. Fitting, for a race of miners.

"Tonight?"

Waylan's brows furrowed in thought.

Subtly turning his head to face me, I faintly nodded back.

Upon seeing me nod, Waylan's tense shoulders relaxed a little.

Because everyone was currently focused on the situation our little exchange went unnoticed.

'To think they've already found this hideout in a month's time. As expected, there must be a spy hiding amongst the upper echelon. We have a traitor in our midst.'

It was normal for both sides to have spies planted.

Unlike the Union and the Monolith, where the power balance leaned more on the Monolith's side, the difference in strength between the dwarves and the Duergars was just about the same.

This meant that both sides had to resort to more discreet means to weaken the other. For example, planting agents in the upper echelon of each organization.

A classic tactic in warfare, there was never a conflict where spies or intelligence-gathering divisions were not put to use. Methods of subterfuge often laid waste to enemy armies, as it is often said, 'know thy enemy, and thou shalt win a hundred battles.'

However, the nature of conflict here brought about a certain issue. In order to be a spy for the other organization, one must show that they have mana tainted with demonic energy. Unlike the Union that could not replicate this, the dwarves were capable of doing it.

That just proved how advanced the dwarven species was.

"Alright, although I didn't expect them to find this place so early, now that the situation has escalated to that point, we must get ready."

Standing up, Waylan looked at the others and started to issue orders.

"Everyone, do as trained. Guard each perimeter of the place, and make sure to check all the ventilations and food for any poison or gas. We all know just how sneaky those bastards can be."

"Understood."

Everyone nodded their head in agreement.

Since Waylan was the strongest by a large margin, no one had any qualms with his arrangements.

Not even Jomnuk, who instead seemed rather pleased with the new directives.

Whilst everyone was busy organizing themselves, walking up to Jomnuk, I tapped him on the shoulder.

"Sir Jomnuk, I would like to have a word with you in private."

Raising his brow, Jomnuk tilted his head to the side.

"Human? What is it?"

Fidgeting my fingers, I replied in a quiet tone, "Well, you see…I'd ideally prefer to discuss this in private rather than in the open."

"Why?"

Wariness flashed in Jomnuk's eyes.

Looking around the room, towards the other guard in his post, Jomnuk stared back at me.

"If you have anything to say to me, say it here."

Scratching the side of my neck, I smiled wryly.

"…Well, you see, I can't really say it out here since it's something I can only ask you in a more comfortable setting."

The matter regarding the chip in my head was a sensitive topic.

The fewer people that knew, the better.

Unfortunately for me, my vague words were irritating Jomnuk. He started to raise his voice.

"What is it? Spit it out already."

Glancing around the room, I lowered my voice slightly.

"You see, I have something stuck inside of my head, and I'd like to have it looked at. I've heard that you are one of the best engineers that have ever lived. So I wanted to ask you for advice."

The moment I said the words, 'one of the best engineers', a flattering look appeared on Jomnuk's face.

"Hehe, well, there's no need to exaggerate like that."

"No, no, I'm not exaggerating. I have to give credit where credit is due."

I really was serious with my words.

As Ryan said, Jomnuk was indeed one of the top dwarven engineers available.

My words weren't empty acts of sycophancy.

"You have something in your head?" Jomnuk asked, his tone sounding a lot more comfortable than before, evidently pleased by my words.

"Correct. That was why I wanted to ask you for advice."

"Might as well."

Standing up, Jomnuk glanced at the other guards present in the room and shooed them away.

"As you've heard, I need to help him with something. If possible, I'd like for you lots to clear the room."

"That's not possible."

The dwarf standing guard immediately refused.

"Oh? Why is that?"

Jomnuk's face sank.

Unfazed, the dwarf replied with a straight face.

"I'm sorry sir, but since your life could in danger, we can't allow you to be left alone."

In simpler words, they weren't willing to trust me.

"Bah, what is there to worry about? Since you guys are waiting outside, there is no worry about anyone coming in to kidnap me."

"But—"

Before the dwarf could argue, Jomnuk cut him off and pointed in my direction.

"If you're talking about him being a threat, scratch that thought. I've got enough artifacts on me to protect myself from a mere <C> rank."

'Mere <C> rank...'

Somehow, those words hurt a lot more than I expected.

"The human over here is also with Waylan so questioning him is the same as questioning Waylan."

"…Understood."

Unable to refute any longer, the dwarf eventually nodded in defeat.

Turning his head to face me, the dwarf said.

"I'll give you guys ten minutes."

"That'll be enough, thank you."

I replied back.

Jomnuk nodded in satisfaction before sitting back down on his seat.

"I'll also be leaving then."

Waylan, who was watching the whole thing from the sidelines, also stood up and followed the others out.

He then put his hand on my shoulder.

"Be quick, we don't know when those Duergars will make a move. It's best if you end the conversation early."

"I got it."

"Alright then."

Satisfied, Waylan left with the others.

Click! Clank—

Soon, the door closed and the room was enveloped with silence.

The first to speak up was Jomnuk.

"So…"

With his arms crossed, and a smug look on his face, he asked.

"How was my acting?"

Turning my head, the edges of my lips pulled upwards.

"Oscar-worthy."

***

"How much time has passed?"

The dwarf from before muttered in annoyance as he looked back at the room where Ren and Jomnuk were discussing.

"Don't worry, nothing will happen with me here."

Waylan said with a slight smile.

Unfortunately for him, his words did not ease the dwarf's worries.

Frustratingly looking at Waylan, the dwarf said, "Human, I don't doubt your abilities, but you just don't know how vile those malevolent cretins are."

"You're right. I've not faced many of them yet, but that doesn't mean I don't know what you're talking about."

Upon getting this mission assigned, Waylan spent a lot of time researching the duergars.

From how they fought to what types of strategies they used.

He wasn't just going to blindly protect Jomnuk without knowing at least this much.

"I've done my research and I can guarantee you that as of right now, no one will be able to enter the room."

Raising his hand, a thin glow enveloped it.

Staring at the dwarf, Waylan flashed a slight, fox-like smile.

"That's because I've already sealed the whole room with my mana. Unless someone kills me, no one will be able to do anything."

"I see…"

Having seen this much, the dwarf couldn't say anything else.

Even he had to admit that it was pretty safe.

Click! Clank—

And right on cue, the door opened. Coming out from it were Ren and Jomnuk.

With his arms behind his back, and a pleased smile on his face, Jomnuk looked around.

Seeing the tense faces of everyone present, Jomnuk chuckled.

"As you can see, I'm totally fine. The human did nothing to me."

"Please wait, sir."

Blocking Jomnuk's path was the same dwarf as before.

The moment the dwarf blocked Jomnuk's path, his face scrunched up.

"Angus, what are you doing?"

"I apologize for my rudeness in advance."

Before Jomnuk could say anything, the dwarf named Angus took a small black object out of nowhere.

Pressing onto it, red lights shot out from the box, completely enveloping Jomnuk, whose face looked extremely pissed.

Bee-Beep—

It wasn't long before the X-rays disappeared and the box rang.

Lowering his head and checking onto the black box, Angus finally relaxed.

"Everything is alright. The check came out clean."

"Of course, it came out clean!"

Jomnuk angrily spat.

"What do you think could've happened with you guys guarding outside?!"

Putting the device away, Angus stood up straight and replied.

"Sir, I'm just doing my job."

What Angus just did was check whether Jomnuk was truly fine via a scanning device.

The device that he used was capable of detecting poisons that may have entered Jomnuk's system unknowingly. Not only that, it had many other interesting functions such as measuring the skeletal structure of the target as well as diseases and other stuff.

'This guy is pretty thorough. Seems like he even came prepared for all eventualities,' Ren mused from the side.

After all, one didn't have to be strong to poison someone.

"Sir, my priority is your safety. You can punish me if you want."

Staring at Angus from the side, Jomnuk's frown receded.

After a while, letting out a sigh, he helplessly waved his hand.

"Sigh, forget about it. I know that you're doing this for my own safety."

Just as things were calming down, Jomnuk glared at Angus and raised his voice.

"But that doesn't mean I'm not pissed. If something like this happens again, be prepared to face the consequences."

"Now, now, Jomnuk. There's no need for that."

Stepping in-between Jomnuk and Angus, Waylan tried to de-escalate the situation.

"Just let it go for now. He's merely doing his job. There is no need to be so harsh on him."

"Hmph."

Jomnuk turned his head away and crossed his arms.

Helpless, Waylan patted him on the shoulder.

"Anyway, it's time for dinner. Let's go eat."

"Dinner? Alright."

Behaving like an appeased child, once Waylan stepped in, the whole situation calmed down as Jomnuk's mood shifted at the mention of dinner.

"That's good, I'll follow you soon."

Winking at Angus, Waylan urged him to follow Jomnuk to the dining hall.

"I owe you one, human."

Throwing Waylan a grateful look, Angus brought Jomnuk to the dining hall.

Thanks to Waylan, Jomnuk was no longer angry and this did not give him a hard time.

"I'm glad that's sorted."

Waylan wiped his forehead.

Then, turning his head, he proceeded to walk in Ren's direction.

"How was it, has he managed to solve the problem that you had?"

Turning around, Ren proudly smiled and started endlessly praising Jomnuk.

"But, of course! As expected of the best dwarf engineer, I never once doubted his abilities! As soon as I showed him the problem, he was quickly able to tell me where the source lay! He even guaranteed that it can be fixed in a little less than a week! Truly marvelous!"

"That fast?" Waylan sounded quite surprised.

"What else do you expect from the best dwarven engineer? Something as little as my problem is nothing in his eyes."

"Is that so…"

Wryly smiling, Waylan looked towards the other guards standing in the room.

Then, turning his attention back to Ren he beckoned him to follow along.

"As long as you're happy. Let's go, it's time to eat."

"Food? Great! I'm starving."

Rubbing his stomach, under the guards' watchful gazes, Ren followed Waylan into the dining hall.

'Truly marvelous, hehe…'

Chapter 328: The Attack [4]

[Northern tower.]

"How long do you think they will keep the barrier this time?"

Leopold asked Ava, standing next to her. He glanced at her for a moment, wondering what was going through her mind.

"I don't know."

She replied in a soft tone, her eyes transfixed, gazing into the distance. She seemed preoccupied, an endless stream of thoughts rushing in her head.

From time to time, ripples would appear on the barrier. Whenever that happened, waves would form around it, enveloping the mountain.

Ever since a week ago, the situation was getting more and more out of hand.

The attacks of the demons were more ruthless and relentless than ever before. The lower-ranked demons even threw themselves at the barrier, turning into a mush of blood and gore. It was honestly gruesome.

If not for the barrier that had been activated, things would've been extremely dire for everyone.

"Are you going somewhere?"

Hein asked from the side.

Lifting her head and looking at Hein, Ava nodded.

"Yeah."

"Where are you going?"

"To fix this."

Ava lifted her hand, in the middle of her palm lay a pale green flute.

"You're fixing that?"

"Yeah."

It became apparent to her from the last fight that the flute had some serious flaws.

If she did not fix it, once the barrier stopped functioning, she would be in big trouble.

"Great, I'm coming with you, I've got to fix my shield too."

He raised his shield, showing it to Ava.

"Oh, wow. You fought with that?"

She was surprised to see it. The state of the shield was quite bad. Not only was it filled with cracks, but it was also marked with numerous indentations.

In its current state, Ava wouldn't be surprised if it would break at a simple touch. It made her wonder if buying a new one would be better.

Putting the shield away into his dimensional space, Hein looked towards the barrier in the distance.

"Yeah. I need to get it fixed before the barrier goes down."

"You guys planning on going to the utility center?"

Disrupting their conversation was a familiar, tired voice.

"Hua~ If so, I'm coming too."

Yawning, Leopold walked over to them and flashed his gun.

"I've run out of bullets."

***

"Ah, I'm starving!"

Sitting on a round table, Jomnuk, alongside Waylan and a few other individuals, stared at the beautiful dishes presented in front of them. It looked sumptuous, to say the least. Meanwhile, Ren remained standing. He kept his back straight and stared intently at the food on the table.

"Shall we get straight to eating?"

Pulling his sleeves up, Jomnuk eagerly looked at the food in front of him. His eyes shone brightly. Picking up the silverware beside him, Jomnuk prepared to dig into the food.

"Please wait, sir."

But just as he was about to eat, he was once again stopped by Angus, one of the dwarven guards assigned to him, and the one that had previously checked up on him.

The interruption obviously did not sit well with Jomnuk.

"What is it this time?"

The constant meddling was starting to get to him.

Lowering his head, Angus apologized. But even as he did, he chose not to stop in his task.

"I apologize, but we have to do our regular check."

"Be quick!"

Putting the silverware down, Jomnuk grumpily leaned back on his chair. He was obviously not pleased with being stopped from eating, but since that was something he had gone through for over a month, it had become a mild annoyance by then.

Already used to Jomnuk's behavior, Angus didn't mind it and proceeded to take out the same device from before.

Tapping on the device, a red glow soon enveloped the whole table. The device not only checked if the food had poison, but it also confirmed whether the tableware and glasses were hygienic and safe.

After all, food wasn't the only means to poison someone.

Ding! Ding—

It wasn't long before the results came out.

Once everything came out clean, Angus finally took a step back.

"Looks like there is no poison in the food. Thank you for waiting, sir."

"Tsk."

Clicking his tongue, Jomnuk picked the tableware and finally started to eat.

Putting his fork on a large piece of meat, Jomnuk devoured it in a single bite lacking any reserve. Chewing on the food, he looked at Waylan and loudly asked, almost spitting saliva and pieces of meat everywhere.

"How is the situation going upstairs?"

Cleaning his mouth with a napkin, Waylan inquired, "Upstairs? Do you mean the war?"

"Yeah, that." Jomnuk waved dismissively.

Since he was the only one who knew the code that granted access to the defensive system's main database, Jomnuk held some curiosity for the situation above.

Putting the napkin on top of his things, Waylan replied leisurely, "From what I've heard, the situation upstairs is under control as of right now. The dwarves have currently set up the barrier, and so, for the moment, things are quite calm."

"I see."

Taking another bite of the meat, Jomnuk nodded in understanding.

"So, you're saying that, for now, things are still under control, right?"

"Correct. But, based on reports, the barrier is slowly running out of energy."

"How long will it last? Any idea?"

"From what Douglas said, about six to eight more months."

"...Mhm."

Jomnuk grumbled, frowning deeply while chewing on the meat.

"That's a lot less time than I expected. From my initial calculations, it should've been far longer than that."

"It's probably because the forces sent there are a lot stronger than we initially anticipated," Waylan replied.

According to original estimates, the troops sent by the demons should've been a tad bit weaker.

Unfortunately, that turned out to be wrong. The demons had sent a tougher task force than expected.

They weren't pulling any punches.

"There's also the problem with the weather. Because of it, the barrier has been set up prematurely and an extra bit of energy was used during that time."

The demons weren't dumb.

Once the barrier was set up, they instantly attacked it with all their might in hopes of consuming its energy.

It was exactly because of that attack the barrier got disrupted, making it consume more energy to stabilize. Thus, it would last a lot less than originally intended.

If things kept going that way, there was a very real possibility of losing the war.

Taking another bite of the meat, Jomnuk muttered in a gloomy tone, "This is quite troublesome."

A solemn, tense atmosphere shrouded the room as each individual present couldn't help but frown at the turn of events.

For the next couple of minutes, no one spoke a word. Everyone just silently ate.

This lasted till Jomnuk finally broke the silence by putting his cutlery down and burping out loud.

"Hmm! I'm full."

Ren, who was not far from Jomnuk, showed a displeased expression at the burp.

He wasn't the only one as every person in the room was a little grossed out.

Ignoring the look given by everyone, taking a toothpick, Jomnuk asked the rest, "Now that I think about it, you guys also seem to be hungry."

Pointing at the food on the table, Jomnuk flashed a grin.

"Since I've eaten my fill and there's still enough food, why don't you guys have some?"

"No sir, we can't—"

Angus tried to refuse, but he was promptly cut off by Jomnuk. The latter glared at him, seemingly done with his guard's antics.

"Enough!"

His rough voice echoed throughout the whole room.

"Ever since a while ago you've been constantly annoying me. Is that your new job? You already checked the food, huh?"

"Yes," Angus replied quietly. He lowered his head, not wanting to offend Jomnuk.

"Than what's the fucking problem? Since you've checked it and it's going to waste, let the others eat it."

Pointing towards the empty seats at the table, Jomnuk looked at everyone in the room.

"Go. Eat. There's plenty for all of you."

"Don't mind me."

The first one to move was Ren who sat down on a seat close to Waylan.

Taking a fork, he leaned forward and stabbed it towards one of the dishes, much to the surprise of the others.

Putting the fork in his mouth, Ren smiled in satisfaction.

"Not bad."

"Hahaha! Good, good, I like your guts, human."

Laughing boisterously, Jomnuk looked towards the others and pointed at Ren in a provoking manner.

"It seems like this human over here is the only one that has balls."

"Don't mind me."

Finally, the others could no longer stand it and similarly sat down, much to Angus's dismay.

Taking a small bite of the food, Waylan looked towards Angus and helplessly shrugged his shoulder.

"Just let it go, Angus. Why don't you have something to eat as well? Eating won't hurt them much. I'm here, nothing will happen. Let loose a little."

Staring at everyone eating joyfully at the dinner table, Angus eventually gave up and sat down, joining them.

"…I guess you're right."

Taking a fork, he started to dig in the food.

"Hehe, good, good! I'm glad everyone is enjoying the food."

Sitting on his seat and looking at everyone eating merrily, Jomnuk laughed in satisfaction and slapped the table.

"This is the atmosphere that I wanted. Not the gloomy and unbearable one that we've had over the past month."

Stabbing his fork at one of the dishes on the table, Jomnuk took a bite of the food and spoke, "You know what, watching everyone eat has made me hungry again."

And so, for the next hour, a peaceful atmosphere shrouded the dinner table.

Unfortunately, it did not last for long.

One of the guards suddenly stopped eating. He frowned, staring at his plate. He was the same orc that had stopped Ren from entering the meditation room not too long ago.

"Something isn't right…" He muttered.

Leaning his hand on the table, the orc's complexion paled suddenly. Something was gravely wrong.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Coming to his aid was another guard who tapped him on the shoulder.

"What happened? Is it the food?"

"Urk…"

Holding onto his neck, the orc desperately tried to speak. He had trouble mustering any strength. He weakly slumped on the chair.

He was just barely hanging in there.

Jomnuk who was watching by the side did not sit still. He immediately stood up and ordered the rest, "Someone quickly call the medic! The situation is serious fo- Huh?!"

He couldn't finish his words. Joining the orc, Jomnuk's complexion paled out of nowhere. At a speed much faster than before, he suddenly lost strength and stumbled.

Holding onto his head, he looked around in confusion. Jomnuk's vision turned blurry, but he tried to hold on.

In a raspy tone almost completely devoid of life, he uttered, "What is going… on? I can't… circulate the mana… inside me?"

It was then that he finally noticed it. Everyone by the table was in a similar state.

"Urgh…"

In pain, Jomnuk looked towards Waylan, "Waylan, I think… we've been poisoned."

"Yes, it seems like it."

With complete calm, Waylan stood up and scanned the room.

Unlike the others, his complexion was much better, but that was only on the outside.

'What kind of poison did they use?'

Though slower than the others, he too was also losing his ability to use mana.

He had to find the culprit quickly.

"Jomnuk, stick close to me."

"Yes..."

Nodding his head, Jomnuk tried to remain close to Waylan.

"Ren, are you okay? Quickly go to the other room to hide."

Moving towards Ren, Waylan tried to get him to safety.

However, once he arrived before Ren, he found him passed out on the ground.

"Shit…"

Picking him up, Waylan put him on a nearby sofa and tried to wake him up. But, regardless of how much he tried, Ren wouldn't wake up.

"Damn it. Ren!"

In the middle of his attempts, a voice suddenly rang out not so far from where he was.

"It's no use. He won't wake up."

"Who?!"

Turning around, Waylan soon spotted the individual. And, once he saw him, a shocked expression appeared on his face.

"Angus?!"

He cried out in unison with Jomnuk.

Chapter 329: The Attack [5]

"Angus!?"

Jomnuk and Waylan cried out in shock, flabbergasted at the scene presented before them. Their disbelieving looks gave out the betrayal they felt. The shock was too great.

"Heh, surprised?"

Smirking, Angus looked at them from a safe distance.

BANG!

Before Waylan could do anything, the door of the hideout shot wide open and several blue-skinned dwarves emerged out of nowhere.

"Angus!"

In a tone full of anger, Waylan waved his hand and formed a small barrier around the few individuals who could not defend themselves. Even though he was alarmed by the sudden turn of events, he managed to keep calm.

"Don't panic. As long as I'm here, you will all be safe. Stay calm. There will be back up," At that point, Waylan was unsure if he was saying it to the rest or himself. His words felt empty to himself. He did not think that his chances of survival were high.

Not only was he surrounded by a hit squad of duergars, but the poison in his body had also begun to act fast. He wasn't sure, but it might have been due to his movements and casting. Although it wasn't anything serious, it rapidly drained his mana.

Being without mana in this situation was tantamount to suicide.

"It's no use. I've sealed all forms of communication. Your backup call will go unanswered."

A triumphant smirk emerged on Angus's face as he moved next to a couple of duergars. They each held large gun-like devices.

"You damn traitor…"

Cursing out loud, Waylan glared at Angus.

"To think that you were a spy. I'll have to be honest, you'd be the last person I'd suspect," Spitting at Angus, Waylan was incensed.

From how uptight and trustworthy he seemed, people wouldn't consider Angus a suspect at first. His cover was both simple and effective. As much as Waylan hated to admit it, Angus's acts as the mother of the group had slightly affected even him. He'd let his guard down.

Lifting his head, Waylan muttered dejectedly, "I see. So the reason why we weren't able to detect the poison in the food was because you had purposely rigged the device."

"That's correct."

Angus looked towards the few duergars that had shown up.

Each and every single one of them was extremely powerful, almost rivaling Waylan in terms of strength when put together.

"We've spent a ton of resources trying to infiltrate this place. Who would've expected that just when we thought that it wasn't possible for us, you would select our group for being a part of the protection mission? You wouldn't understand my happiness even if you tried. Ah, how happy I was…"

"Shut up." Gritting his teeth, Waylan decided to shut Angus's mouth. Permanently.

Since he knew that he was pressed for time, Waylan decided to go all out from the get go. Although he had wasted a little bit of time listening to Angus talk, Waylan had managed to grasp the situation and form a plan of action.

Small-time crooks loved to monologue.

Turning around while looking at the others, Waylan clenched his hand and a small barrier enveloped each of the individuals present behind him.

Ren and Jomnuk also had a small barrier enveloping their body.

"Don't get out of the barrier. It's the safest place you can possibly be at the moment."

He reminded.

Then, turning his attention towards the squad of duergers, Waylan punched out.

Vooom—!

Instantly, a whistling sound arose. Like a thunderclap, Waylan's fist explosively shot forward, forming a pressurized ball of wind that shot towards the duergars direction.

Staring at the incoming attack, Angus remained calm.

With his hand behind his back, he looked towards the duergars next to him and ordered in a serious tone.

"Activate the artifact."

The duergars each simultaneously tapped on their right chest. The moment their hands touched it, a small light shot out, converging in front of them.

In an instant, a thin, translucent, black barrier formed in front of them.

BANG—!

Right as the barrier formed, Waylan's attack connected, and a thunderous sound resounded across the room.

A ferocious wind gale spread out from the point of contact, destroying all of the furniture around the room as dust and debris flew everywhere.

"Damn it," A helpless voice rang out before the dust settled.

Waylan's fear came true. The barrier stood strong, albeit a little bit faint now. Yet, that wasn't much. He didn't have enough time to deal meaningful damage.

"It's no use, Waylan. I've come prepared."

Turning towards one of the duergars on his right, Angus pointed towards Jomnuk who was currently being protected by a thin barrier.

"Go, get him. We'll take care of the others."

"On whose watch?!"

Waylan's voice reverberated across the whole room as he took out his broadsword.

A terrifying glow enveloped the blade as the mana in the air converged towards it.

Staring at Waylan opposite, Angus pointed at Jomnuk, "Capture him."

"Don't you dare!"

Waylan raised his broadsword. But just as he was about to slash down, he stopped.

"What are ye doing, Waylan? Attack that traitorous wretch!"

Jomnuk shouted from behind Waylan.

But it was this voice that reminded Waylan about where he was.

He was currently inside of a mansion built underneath the mountain.

"Fuck…"

Waylan swore out loud.

If he went all out then he would put everyone at risk as the whole place could crumble down.

Staring at Waylan in the distance, Angus's lips twisted upward.

"Focus on Jomnuk, ignore the others."

Pulling a small black box out of thin air, Angus threw it next to him. Then, after waving his hand, the box lit up and the mana in the air started to twirl towards it.

Before long, a black portal started to form.

SHIIIIING—!

The moment Waylan saw the box, he knew just what Angus was planning on doing. As such, he instantly cut down.

Understanding the predicament he was in, he decided to cut down on his power to 40%.

The moment he attacked, the mana in the air condensed onto the top of his sword and a terrifying white slash formed, headed towards the duergars that were trying to get to Jomnuk.

But just like before, the duergars at the back tapped on their chest and formed a barrier.

—BANG!

The moment Waylan's attack met with the barrier, the whole room shook.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

Large cracks formed on the ceiling of the room, and pieces of rocks fell towards the ground, narrowing Walan's visibility.

—Swoosh!

Emerging from the cloud of debris were two duergars. They directly headed for Jomnuk, who watched on with a frightened look.

"Hup!"

Stomping his foot on the ground, Waylan put his broadsword away and shot towards the nearest duergar.

After thinking things through, he decided to let go of the sword and focus on close combat. The broadsword put him at a disadvantage in this kind of environment. The area was perilous and narrow.

Vooom!

But the moment Waylan shot towards the druegar, as though the latter had been expecting him, the enemy stomped the ground. Thereafter, clenching his hand, black gas filled the area.

"You sneaky bastards!"

Covering his face with his arms, Waylan stopped breathing.

Unfortunately, because it had happened all too abruptly, he was unable to completely stop himself from breathing in the gas.

"Urk!"

Instantly, Waylan's mana reserves took a nosedive and his head started to spin.

—Thud!

With a small thud, the duergar that had released the poison fell onto the ground.

His body had completely dried up. He was dead. It was a suicide attack.

'To think that they're going as far as to kill themselves to make this successful… They are all mad.'

Waylan thought as he had one hand on his nose and the other holding onto the wall.

CLANG—!

The sound of metal striking something hard resounded.

Turning around, Waylan realized that the other duergar was already upon Jomnuk.

The only thing separating the duergar and Jomnuk was the thin barrier Waylan implemented to protect him.

"Oh, no..."

Waylan's mana supply was already extremely low. He wasn't sure for how long he could keep holding the barrier.

"Waylan, I don't have any artifacts! I need help! Help! Waylan!"

Banging onto the thin shield, Jomnuk cried out for help.

His face was white as paper, and his legs were trembling.

"I'm… coming."

Supporting his body, Waylan tried to move towards Jomnuk. However, the enemy chose to give no respite. Before he could take a step, another duergar quickly jumped in his direction.

Crack!

"Argh!"

Before he knew it, the same black fog enveloped him. Fortunately, Waylan was prepared this time. He didn't inhale anything, but the black gas had completely shrouded him.

Pressing his toes on the wooden floor, the flooring beneath him split apart and his body shot towards the duergar trying to attack Jomnuk.

BANG—! BANG—!

But just as he moved, two more duergars appeared before him and tried to stop him.

"Haaa!"

They tried to repeat the same thing as before, but Waylan was prepared to stop it this time. Waving his hand, he pushed them back with a blast of mana and continued to run towards Jomnuk.

But, he was too late.

"NOO!"

Crack— Crash!

By the time he had come close, the barrier broke apart and the duergar threw something in Jomnuk's direction.

Within seconds, a transparent net enveloped Jomnuk and completely captured him.

SHIIIING!

It was do or die. No longer caring about the environment, Waylan once again took out his broadsword and prepared to slash down. But, before he could do that, the duergar held a small dagger by Jomnuk's neck. The blue glow of the net highlighted the duergar's features, making him look sinister.

"Stop or he dies!"

"Fuck!"

Waylan cursed out loud. He hated this. He was so close!

His grip on the broadsword tightened considerably.

Seeing that his threat had worked, the duergar spoke more confidently, "Take one more step and he dies."

Angus looked on from afar. A victorious grin was plastered on his face.

"You bastards!"

Gritting his teeth, Waylan glared at Angus, who chuckled at his misery.

"Hehe, as expected of a dumb human. You were too easy to manipulate."

As Angus spoke, the duergar holding Jomnuk hostage slowly walked in his direction. Jomnuk had long passed out.

As he moved, the duergar continued to hold the dagger on Jomnuk's neck, his eyes never leaving Waylan, who was standing still, staring at him from afar.

Clench!

The sound of Waylan's fists clenching tightly was heard clearly in the quiet room.

He could do nothing at the moment. With Jomnuk's life in their hands, Waylan could do nothing but just watch them take him away.

A truly helpless expression appeared on his face.

"Damn it all…"

Before long, the duergar finally reached Angus. He passed Jomnuk over to him.

"Good work."

Taking Jomnuk's body, Angus didn't waste any time and simply waved his hand towards Waylan.

"Well then, we'll be taking our leave. Goodbye, Waylan."

Giving a final victorious look, Angus stepped towards the portal.

While walking towards the portal, a thought entered Angus's mind. He suddenly halted his steps. The sudden stop seemed hesitant, but he still turned to look at Waylan for a moment.

Taking out a small device, he threw it in the middle of the room.

"Just gotta make sure you don't try anything silly. No hard feelings here."

VOOOM!

Right after he threw the item, Angus threw Jomnuk's body into the portal.

Ding. Ding!

Shortly after, the item that was thrown on the floor started to beep.

It was then that it finally dawned on Waylan's face. The device was an explosive.

"Y-you!"

Cursing out loud, Waylan turned around and moved towards Ren and the others.

Staring at Waylan's desperate figure from where he was, Angus waved goodbye and entered the portal.

"Hehe, I'll see you later… in hell."

Ignoring Angus, using his last bit of mana, Waylan created a massive shield and enveloped everyone that was present in the room.

"You crazy bastard! Mark my words, Angus-"

Glaring at the portal in the distance, Waylan's bloodthirsty scream resounded across the whole room.

"I will kill you!"

—BOOOOOOM!

What followed after was a terrifying explosion.

Chapter 330: Inferno [1]

330 Inferno 1

Inside of a dark room, a loud slap echoed.

-Smack!

"Oy, wake up."

With a bald head, a white beard that was so long it felt like it hadn't been cut in months,and bluish-purple skin, a creature resembling a dwarf spoke in a hoarse tone.

"If yer don't wake up within a minute's time, I'll make you feel something worse than the previous smack."

A vicious aura revolved around the blue-colored dwarf as he looked in front of him. A frail old dwarf sat there.

Bald head, braided hair, and wrinkling face;the dwarf was none other than Jomnuk.

The only dwarf that knew the access code of the security system. At the moment, he had both eyes closed shut and his hands were strapped on top of a large metallic chair. He wore a one-piece grey clothing and all of his beard hair was unbraided.

Since artifacts were hard to identify, they decided to strip Jomnuk of everything.

Although his mana was sealed because of the poison, it was still best to remove all of the items that he was wearing.

-Smack!

The blue dwarf once again smacked Jomnuk in the head.

"Yer finally coming to your senses?"

This time, the blue dwarf finally managed to get a reaction. Jomnuk's eyes twitched slightly.

It wasn't long before he finally opened his eyes.

Upon opening his eyes and staring at the blue dwarf in front of him, a frightened and bewildered look appeared on Jomnuk's face.

"Huh? Where am I? What is going on?"

Moving his body, Jomnuk found that he was bound to the chair he seated.

"What the-?!'

"Haha, you finally came to your senses."

Taking pleasure in Jomnuk's struggle, The blue dwarf flashed a sadistic smile.

Hearing the blue dwarf's words, Jomnuk finally came to his senses. He looked at the duergar and asked in a worried tone, "W-Who are you?"

"Hehe, let me introduce myself..."

Plack! Plack!

Tapping onto something, the dark room was instantly lit up by bright white lights.

Once the lights turned on, Jomnuk was finally able to see his surroundings.

But upon witnessing what was inside of the room, a look of horror flashed in his eyes.

Because the whole room was one massive device connected to a helmet.

"Y-you're insane!"

Bam-!

Smacking onto the metal armrest of the chair,the blue dwarf leaned closer.

"My name is Karl Kullam and as you can probably tell, I am a Duergar."

Walking towards the back of the room and taking the helmet, Karl flashed an evil smile.

"Although I'm not exactly famous among you dwarves, amongst us Duergars, I'm extremely well known."

Walking back towards Jomnuk, he dangled the helmet in his face.

"If you want to die peacefully, tell us how we can access the main defensive systems. If you refuse to do so..."

-Spurt.

A fountain of blood sprayed all over the room as Karl stabbed Jomnuk in the thigh.

"Huh?"

But contrary to his expectations, in what should've been a pained and desperate scream, Karl was met with two cold, emotionless eyes.

A chill ran down his spine.

Without taking his eyes off of Karl, Jomnuk took note of his injured thigh.

Then, looking up and staring at Karl, he muttered in a voice completely lacking an ounce of fear, "Is that all you've got?"

Pui-!

Turning his head, Jomnuk spat towards the right side of the room.

"Oh?"

Karl shook his head and shrugged off the cowardice in him.

"It looks like you still got some grit in you."

Approaching Jomnuk and grabbing him by the hair, Karl lifted his head up and stared at him in the eyes.

On his right hand was the helmet-like device.

"I want you to say that again while looking at your face. Where are your tough words from before? Lost all confidence already?"

"..."

Coldly looking at Karl, Jomnuk did not answer.

Smirking, Karl turned his attention towards the helmet-like device in his hand. Raising his hand and shoving the device on top of Jomnuk's face, Karl spoke up.

"You see…the device on your head is my own creation, and what it does is something simple…"

Clank-!

Karl locked the helmet on Jomnuk's head.

"...the helmet will help me extract the memories in your head. Although it is still in the development stages, I should be able to extract some information regarding the defensive barrier from you."

As he spoke, Karl couldn't contain his excitement.

The device was one of his latest inventions and had the ability to extract the memories of the subject put under it.

Ever since he heard that Jomnuk had been successfully kidnapped, he couldn't hold his excitement.

That was because he knew that they would task him with the job of extracting his memories.

The prospect of looking through the memories of one of the greatest dwarven engineers ever excited Karl to no end.

He didn't actually care about the war nor for the information to disable the defensive system, all he cared about was Jomnuk's knowledge.

Clasping his hands together, Karl could no longer contain his excitement and pressed on the top button of the helmet.

-Ding!

The moment he pressed onto the top button,the helmet lit up.

"Hehehe, I can't wait to extract all of those juicy memories."

"She should just about be done by now..."

"Huh?"

Lowering his head, to Karl's shock and horror,a thin white hue enveloped Jomnuk's body.

"What?! Impossible! Your mana was supposed to be sealed!"

Pointing his hand toward Jomnuk's direction, Karl took a step back. Fear and disbelief dyed his face.

That was because Jomnuk, the dwarf that they were supposed to have captured, started emitting mana from his body.

The poison was supposed to last at least a couple of days.

Something was terribly wrong.

But before Karl could figure anything out, Jomnuk broke free from his restraints and took off the helmet from his head. Then, without wasting any time, he explosively shot towards Karl's direction. His speed was unbefitting that of a dwarf as he reappeared right in front of Karl. His speed was so fast, that Karl had no time to react before Jomnuk reached out his hand and grabbed him by the throat.

"Khh.."

He then lifted Karl in the air. No matter how much he struggled, Jomnuk's grip was far too strong. It wasn't long before Karl's already blue face turned a deeper shade.

Many times Karl struggled. To retaliate, to beg. But, Jomnuk's grip was far too strong. He couldn't speak at all.

Before long, his eyes turned white and he passed out.

Turning his attention away from Karl, Jomnuk clicked his tongue.

''Tsk, I've got to make this quick."

Putting his hand on his face, Jomnuk grabbed at it and pulled forcefully. In a fluid motion, Jomnuk's face ripped apart. Underneath, was a youth with black hair and blue eyes.

The figure was none other than Ren, who was considerably shorter than his real self.

In order to disguise himself as Jomnuk he took a potion that decreased his height.

"Huuu..."

Breathing out loud, Ren didn't waste time.Taking out his clothes, he quickly replaced them with Karl's.

After that, he put the mask on Karl's face. What followed after was a subtle blue glow that enveloped the room.

"Done."

After a while, Ren retracted his hand from Karl's face.

Putting the mask on his face, Ren did not channel his mana quite yet. He was currently low on mana, he needed to conserve some of it.

Clank-!

Locking Karl into the chair, Ren put the helmet on his face and turned to face the right side of the room.

There, standing not so far from Ren, was Angelica.

Though her complexion was pale, she stood in the corner of the room with her finger pressed on a small device that stood at the top left corner of the room.

"You done?"

"Yes."

Angelica coldly replied back as she took her finger away from the small device in the corner of the room.

'Tsk tsk tsk. Being so cold all the time, who knows if that's the secret to your skin. Getting a little warmer might not hurt, you know. I know I annoyed you, but still!' Ren cursed internally. Still, he had to give credit where it is due.

"Good," He smiled.

If someone paid close attention, the moment Ren smiled, one could see a missing tooth.

If not for the fact that Ren had been slapped in the face, one might think that Karl was the one responsible for the missing tooth. But, in fact, the one responsible for it was Ren himself.

Since he knew that the Duergars would strip him of everything he had, he knew that he couldn't have Angelica turn into a ring.

As such, after pondering over the issue for a while, he came up with a brilliant idea.

Have Angelica use her skill to turn into a tooth.

The moment he proposed the idea, Angelica almost blew him all the way to the other side of the room. If not for Douglas and Waylan's intervention, he wouldn't know how he would've died.

In the end, it took a lot of convincing and bribing to finally make Angelica turn into a tooth.

That aside, the reason why Angelica had appeared in the corner of the room was because Ren needed her to disable the surveillance system.

Once Ren woke up and spotted it, he immediately spat her in that direction. By disabling the system, Ren was able to switch places with Karl without alarming the others.

But, of course, the fact that the surveillance system had been disabled definitely did not go unnoticed, but with the aid of the mask of Dolos, he should have no problems passing off as Karl.

"Angelica, I need you to turn back into a tooth."

"..."

Closing her eyes, a look of disgust appeared on Angelica's face.

Eventually, she nodded and walked in his direction.

"Thanks."

Ren thanked Angelica as he fixed his clothes.

Without needing to look at Angelica, he knew that she was currently displeased.

But he was helpless.

They both knew that the breakdown of the surveillance system had alarmed someone.

Soon, someone would come in to check up on him. Knowing that he couldn't just have Angelica standstill in that form.

"Bear with it for just a little bit longer."

Ren muttered as he fixed the helmet on Karl's face.

'This looks good enough...'

Ren thought as he looked at Karl, seated opposite him. At the moment, Ren was wearing Karl's clothes, and his head was covered with the helmet.

If someone came in, only if they paid close attention would they notice that something was wrong? But it's not like Ren would let them.

His plan was simple.

Unlike last time where he had to escape back at the Monolith, Ren's goal this time was the opposite.

Instead of escaping, he planned on infiltrating.

For that, he had made many preparations, and he wasn't going to let something like this ruin all of his plans.

"Uh!? What are you doing?!"

Startling Ren who was fixing himself, a slender hand suddenly grabbed his jaw.

Opening his mouth, Angelica replied with a deadpan face, "I'm doing as you asked."

"Wait, wait!"

Pushing Angelica back, Ren facepalmed.

"Although I told you to turn back into a tooth, that doesn't mean you have to go back in my mouth!"

He then pointed towards the corner of the room.

"You know that you could've just turned yourself there and no one would've said anything."

"_ _!"

At Ren's words, Angelica's usually cold facade crumbled. Her cheeks turned slightly red.

This obviously did not go unnoticed by Ren.He smirked.

"Oh my? Are you blushing from embarrassment?"

"Shut up unless you want to die." Angelica threatened, sparks of demonic energy going off around her.

Glaring at Ren, she walked towards the corner of the room and prepared to transform.

Clank!

But right as she was about to, the door of the room swung open and a Duergar rushed in.

"Karl, everything okay?"

Chapter 331: Inferno [2]

331 Inferno 2

[Waylan's mansion]

"Ugh."

Slumping down on a large sofa, Waylan let out a pained groan.

"That actually hurt."

"Don't be so overly dramatic."

Douglas replied with a slight smile, sitting on the seat opposite to him.

"If you act like that, no one will believe you."

"You think? And here I thought I was convincing enough. Gotta say acting is quite hard, eh?"

"I really think that your acting was fine, though." Douglas chuckled from the side.

"I swear that I will kill you! Your scream was so loud that even I could hear it. Stellar acting, Waylan," He added.

"Maybe I was just too into it. After all, you don't often get fun chances like this." Waylan smiled wryly.

"There was nothing funny about what happened. It was very risky, and even you could've died," Douglas chided.

Giving Douglas a look, Waylan spat.

"As if..."

From the very beginning, he had never been poisoned.

In fact, everything went according to Ren's plan.

Not once had he been in danger.

It went so according to plan that Waylan actually felt a little afraid. Just how amazing was that kid's foresight? Does he even know how good he is?

Nonetheless, Waylan was pleased. Lifting his head, he chuckled, "Haha, those bastards will never think that everything that happened today was part of our plan, including the leak!"

Just remembering Angus's triumphant face made Waylan chuckle to no end.

"I wonder what kind of face those bastards would make once they realize it all. They'd been duped and had just invited in a calamity called Ren Dover!"

"..."

Listening to Waylan's words, Douglas kept a calm smile on his face. His friend was in a good mood, and it made him happy.

Especially when what Waylan said was true.

They were indeed the ones that purposely leaked out the location of where Jomnuk was staying.

Not explicitly, but through the use of the spies sent by Inferno.

Since Waylan was responsible for picking some of the people that were allowed to be selected in the protection mission, he purposely chose two spies from Inferno.

One of them was Angus.

The reason they were able to select Angus was because they weren't working alone.

After sharing their plan with Jomnuk, he readily agreed and helped them get in contact with one of the top dwarven executives.

As he was quite high up, he was able to tell them the right candidate to choose from.

Much to Waylan and Douglas's surprise, the selection was quite large. There were a lot of spies they could've chosen from.

Although the dwarves could not find every single spy that was in their midst, for those that had been found out, they wouldn't immediately arrest them but use them to their advantage such as in situations like this.

That aside, in total, only around five people knew about what was happening.

Since there were spies everywhere, the fewer people that knew, the better.

With a worried frown, Waylan looked towards Douglas and asked.

"Hey, you think he's going to be alright?"

"I have no idea," Douglas shook his head, "We will know soon enough. If that child succeeds, then we will have an upper hand against the demons that are attacking."

"Finally, an upper hand in the war..." Waylan muttered.

Putting his arms around the couch, Waylan stared at the ceiling of the room.

"I sure hope you're right..."

If Ren truly succeeded in the operation, then they truly would be able to land a massive blow to Inferno, which in turn would make the dwarves owe them a massive favor.

From the very beginning, their goal was to improve their relationship with the dwarves.

If they succeeded in this mission, they would finally be able to go back home.

"In any case, we have already done everything that we could've done to help him. The rest is up to him."

Stroking his beard, Douglas looked towards the door of the room.

"That aside, we'll have more pressing matters to attend to."

Bang-!

And right as his words faded, the door slammed open and an enraged dwarf walked in.

Glaring at Douglas, he shouted.

"Douglas!"

***

"Master Karl, is everything okay?"

Barging into the room was another blue-skinned dwarf.

Upon entering the room, the duergar spotted Karl standing in the middle of the room. He seemed to be staring at a dwarf wearing a large helmet.

Fiddling with the helmet in the dwarf's head, different colored lights flashed.

-Tick!

A subtle ticking sound rang by the corner of the room, but this went unnoticed as the duergar's attention was on Karl.

Turning his head, Karl glared at the dwarf that had just entered.

"What are doing there standing in a daze? What the fuck are you doing and why have you disturbed me?"

"I apologize."

Karl's words caused the duergar to flinch.

Standing still, and mustering all of his courage, the guard spoke up.

"The surveillance system is not working, so I thought that something was wrong."

"The surveillance system is not working?"

Raising his brow, Karl looked towards a certain spot of the room where a surveillance device was installed.

Touching his brow, he muttered.

"Strange...."

Seeing Karl calm down, the Duergar also managed to relax a little.

"That's right. The reason why I decided to intrude was to make sure that you were safe and that nothing had happened."

Pinching his brows, Karl's eyes soon lit up.

"I think I know what the problem is.

With his back still facing the duergar that came in, Karl patted the helmet on Jomnuk's head and asked.

"Let me ask you a question. Did the device stop working once I activated the helmet?"

Frowning, the duergar swiped left and looked back at the video footage. After a while, his eyes lit up in surprise.

"Yes, you're correct."

Smiling, Karl patted the helmet.

"Then, it's probably because of this. The device requires a lot of energy, so it short-circuited the system. Don't worry about it. With you guarding me outside, there should be no problems."

"I understand, sir."

Sighing in relief, the duergar bowed and put the device away.

"I apologize for disturbing you and wish you the best with your task."

Click! Clank-!

After that, he turned around and left the room.

Once the duergar guard left the room, Ren, who was disguised as Karl, touched his face.

'Seems like the coast is clear for now.'

His plan had worked.

He had managed to successfully infiltrate Interno.

"There's still stuff to do."

Infiltrating the place was only step one of the plan.

It was also the easiest step.

What he was about to do next was definitely going to be much harder than what he had done before.

Turning his attention back to Angelica in the corner of the room, Ren called out.

"Angelica, it's time."

At his call, Angelica instantly reappeared before him.

At the moment, her complexion was quite pale, and in order to remain standing, she had to lean on the wall.

It became apparent to Ren that transforming twice took quite a toll on her.

Walking up to her, Ren extended his hand in her direction.

"I'm sorry, Angelica. But, we don't have much time. Do you have it ready?"

"Yes, I do."

Lifting her head, Angelica nodded her head.

Then, waving her hand, a thin scroll appeared in her hand.

"Check it. Tell me if there's anything you're unsatisfied with."

Taking the scroll floating mid-air, I carefully checked its contents.

"Looks good."

I nodded in satisfaction as I looked at what was written on the scroll.

The contents were almost identical to that of the mana contract I signed with Angelica. However, the only difference was that the contract would only last for half a year as opposed to the mana contract which was five.

"As per the main mana contract, even if I want to harm you, I can't do anything to you. So, you don't have to worry about me trying to scam you."

"No, I understand."

The contract in Ren's hands at the moment wasn't a mana contract, but in fact, a demon contract.

In order to infiltrate the facility properly, after pondering over the issue for a long time, Ren decided to sign a contract with Angelica.

By signing a contract with her, he was essentially going to turn into a 'villain' or 'contractee'

His mana would become tainted with demonic energy, and his emotions would become more erratic.

But this was a risk that Ren was willing to take.

Once his mana became tainted, not only would it reduce the chances of him getting caught drastically, but it would also grant him a small power boost.

Unfortunately, as he had not consumed any devil fruit, his boost wouldn't be anything impressive. He'd probably be at around <C+>.

"Alright, let's sign it."

Biting his thumb till he bled, Ren placed his thumb on the contract.

Shia!

The moment his thumb pressed onto the contract, the contract showed a dark hue and slowly levitated upwards.

Then, small threads of demonic energy encircled the contract in a circular and random manner.

With each passing second, the threads of demonic energy in the air increased, and before long, the whole contract was enveloped by a black ball of demonic energy.

Ren, who was standing below, watched this scene in amazement.

'So, that's how my words and ideas manifested. This is how a demon contract takes place...'

Before he could finish staring at the scene, the black ball expanded, only stopping until it reached the size of a basketball.

Similarly staring at the contract in the air, Angelica eventually snapped out of it and said,"Get ready, Ren."

"I'm ready."

Looking at Angelica, Ren slowly closed his eyes. Right as he was about to close his eyes, from the gap in-between his eyelids, the last thing he saw was Angelica raising her hand and placing it on his head.

The moment her hand touched his head, his eyes turned white and he passed out.

Fortunately, Angelica was there for him. She swiftly supported his body.

Plop-

On another note, the moment he passed out, the mask on his face fell off.

Fortunately, for a little bit, the coast was still clear.

Dragging Ren's unconscious body to the side, Angelica leaned him on the side of the wall.

Tch! Tch! Tch!

From time to time, his body would twitch as thin black threads of demonic energy seeped into his skin as though they were worms.

Taking her eyes away from Ren, Angelica didn't turn herself back into a tooth.

Not that she was interested in once again becoming one.

Sitting opposite of Ren, with her legs crossed, Angelica closed her eyes and tried to recuperate her demonic energy.

Chapter 332: Inferno [3]

332 Inferno 3

Ba-dump! Ba-dump!

The rhythmical pulsating sound of my heart beating resounded in my ears as my vision was enveloped in darkness.

Apart from the sound of my heart, I could feel, smell, and see nothing.

But this sensation did not last for long, though. An uncomfortable energy dug into my muscles. I could feel it forcefully making its way through my body, tearing into me.

I could feel the sinister and dark energy trying to change the structure of my body as it entered me. It wasn't pleasant.

Many times, my body tried to reject it, but as though it was bound by something, the energy continued to claw its way in, and before I knew it, the sinister energy had completely settled, making itself a new home inside me.

And it wasn't long before the energy reached all the way to my brain, and when it did, my head started to hurt like crazy.

Several different flashbacks went through my head as the pain inside increased with each passing second. It felt as if the demonic energy was banging the sides of my head, trying to break through the skull to make its way outside. It was excruciating.

"Haaa!!"

Before I knew it, my eyes shot wide open and I stood up.

"Haa...haa..."

"You're awake?"

Breathing heavily, it was only upon hearing Angelica's voice that I remembered what had happened.

"Shit..."

Leaning back and sitting down on the ground, I tried to catch my breath.

Lifting my head up, I looked at Angelica and mustered the strength to ask a question.

"...How long was I out for?"

"Half an hour."

Standing up, Angelica softly replied.

"Only?"

It honestly felt like a whole day passed.

"Do you feel any different?"

"...A little bit."

Clenching my fists, I realized that something was indeed a bit different.

I was a lot stronger than before.

"I've broken through to <C+> rank."

It was then that it finally dawned on me.

I had broken through to the next level.

Propping my body up with the aid of the table next to me, I raised my hand and channeled some wind psyons.

Shuu!

The moment I channeled the wind psyons, a green hue enveloped my hand. However, contrary to the usual pale green color that would arise whenever I channeled my mana, black threads of demonic energy circled the chartreuse-like hue.

Staring at the black threads of demonic energy, my eyebrows furrowed.

"It worked..."

I was now officially a contracted individual.

Angelica, who was watching by the side, reminded, "Use as little mana as possible."

I felt concerned by Angelica's words. Something about it nagged my mind as if I should pay attention to it. Turning my head to face her, I asked, "Why's that?"

"Because the more you use your mana, the faster the demonic energy in your body will corrode your brain."

"...That's problematic."

Staring at the mask of Dolos in my hand, my brows knit even more tightly.

"Then I better finish this next part quickly."

Putting the mask back on my face, I felt a familiar wiggling sensation and my face soon morphed into that of Karl's appearance.

Heading towards the door, I spoke inside of my head.

'Angelica, stay here. Knock anyone that enters this room out.'

Since everyone here was contracted to a demon, upon killing them they would immediately be alerted. I had no choice but to refrain from killing.

At least for noW.

[Understood.]

"Good."

Click! Clank-!

Opening the door of the room, I took a step outside.

Greeting me at the entrance of the room was the same duergar from before.

"Karl? Is there anything that I can help you with?"

"Yes. I've managed to extract some information. I'd like to meet up with the elders."

The guard's eyes instantly lit up in joy.

"Understood! I'll relay the information right now."

Taking out a small communication device, the guard communicated with someone else.

Before long, putting the device away, the guard turned towards me and gestured me to follow along.

But just before leaving, I opened my mouth to speak, "Tell the guards that will patrol this area to never enter the room."

"Huh?"

"Let me repeat, if anyone tries to enter that room, I will kill them. I do not want anyone touching my equipment. If something goes wrong, who will take responsibility for calming down the elders' wrath?"

Listening to my words, a frightened look appeared on the guard's face as he repeatedly nodded his head.

"Yes..yes, understood!"

Ci-Clank!

Walking towards the door, the guard pressed his hand by its side. Moments after, a clicking sound rang.

Turning his head to face me, he said.

"I've locked the door. Unless I'm present, no one should be able to break into the room."

"Good."

I nodded my head with a satisfied look.

"Alright, let's get moving then."

Interlocking my hands behind my back, I urged the guard to move.

***

The location wasn't too far. I was led inside of a large hall within a matter of minutes.

Right as we arrived at the hall, the guard stopped at the entrance and didn't dare walk in.

His status was too low to enter the hall.

Walking inside and standing in the middle of the large hall, I stood face to face with some of the higher-ranking members of Inferno. Judging from how they were all already present, it seemed as though they had been expecting me.

The pressure oozing out of their body was terrifying, but I kept my cool.

"So you've found a way to disable the defensive system?"

Staring back at them, I nodded and replied in an unconcerned tone.

"That is correct. I've managed to extract the memories of that bastard, and so I know exactly how to disable their defensive system. If you grant me access to the system, I will be able to disable the defenses from right here."

"Oh?"

My words instantly caught the interest of the people present.

In particular, the interest of an old duergan lady with thin white hair seemed piqued. She gave a sinister smile and mumbled quietly, but I was able to hear her words.

"How interesting..."

With her eyes fixed on me, the same lady asked, "How long do you need to disable those bastards' defensive system?"

"Two days per beacon."

I replied without the slightest hint of hesitation.

There were a total of fifteen beacons installed around the walls.

Each beacon connected with each other to create the massive barrier that protected the whole shield.

"If nothing goes wrong, perhaps maybe even one day."

"Two days, and if nothing goes wrong, one day?"

The answer did not seem to please the lady. Her face scrunched up in annoyance. She spoke in a demanding tone, 'That's quite a long time, don't you think?"

"It is not," I calmly shook my head.

"If we take into consideration the fact that all the information I have regarding the disablement of the beacons has come from a bunch of fragmented memories, the half a day estimate can only be considered fast."

"That makes sense."

An older Duergar muttered from the side.

He, like Karl, had no hair on his head. His beard, which was gray-colored, extended all the way down to his chest, and he had two blood-red eyes that exuded a terrifying bloodlust. He didn't seem like someone I could take lightly.

Turning to face the old lady, the old Duergar spoke, "We should already be satisfied with this development. Who cares if it takes half a day or more? At the end of the day, what matters is the destruction of those bastards..."

Clenching his fists tightly, he continued, his face full of anger, his expression hateful, "We've waited for this moment for years. We're so close to our goal. We mustn't mess it up. What is this little bit of extra time to us?"

"...You're right, I was being hasty. The sight of the end clouded my judgment," the old lady replied with a sentimental look, recomposing herself right after.

Turning her attention back to me, she ordered, "I, Durara Locklom, the third elder of Inferno, hereby grant authority to Karl Kullam equivalent to that of a senior advisor. You may be granted access to as many resources as possible."

Pausing, the old lady, Durara, glared in my direction and slowly opened her mouth, "You understand what I just did, right?"

"I do."

I replied back.

Of course, I knew what just happened.

I didn't infiltrate the place here without making any preparations. Whilst waiting for them to make a move, I spent the month training with Waylan as well as absorbing everything that was available regarding Interno.

I knew who the people in front of me were, the way they behaved, their hierarchical system, and a little bit more.

It would've been stupid of me to come here without knowing at least this much. I had to prepare myself thoroughly. A covert operation had a thousand different ways to go wrong, and I couldn't afford a single one of them.

This was also why I knew what kind of authority I was just granted.

"If you understand, I'd like for you to get to work."

Pausing, Durara looked towards the other duergars seated in the hall.

"I believe that no one has problems with my arrangements."

"..."

She was met with silence. Believing it to be an act of silent affirmation, she scanned the room once with a sharp gaze. Durara turned her attention back to me.

"I'll take that as a ye-"

"Wait."

But before she could finish her words, someone interrupted her.

"What is it?"

This obviously annoyed her. She glared towards the one who interfered.

Soon, her eyes paused on another duergar seated in the hall. He had short white hair and a long braided beard. A terrifying and chilly aura spread out from his body.

"Hutrud? Do you have a problem with what I said?" Durara spoke with an annoyed tone.

Raising his hand to gesture her to calm down, Hutrud replied, "Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with your arrangements."

"Then, why did you interrupt me?"

Durara raised her voice. Even as another elder, she wasn't willing to tolerate an act like that.

Turning his attention towards me, Hutrud pointed at me, "I have no problem with your arrangements, but the rate at which you're going about implementing them. now that's another story. To put it bluntly, I think you're being too hasty."

"Too hasty?" Durara raised her brow, "What do you mean?"

Seeing that he had managed to get the attention of Durara and everyone present, Hutrud continued, "What I'm trying to say is that we still don't know whether what he said is true or not. What if the dwarves purposely altered Jomnuk's memories to throw us off? Even something similar is a threat to us right now."

Hutrud looked into the eyes of everyone present.

Then, pointing at me, he stated, "Before granting him such high authority, we should verity whether or not he is actually capable of removing the defensive system."

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Tapping on the table, Hutrud squinted for a second. He looked in my direction, asking me, "You're okay with such arrangements, no?"

"Yes, no problem."

I replied back without a hint of nervousness.

My response seemed to have pleased Hutrud who clapped his hands and looked towards the other duergars seated in the room.

"Good, good. Is everyone else in favor of this?"

"I am fine with it."

The first to speak up was a relatively younger duergar. He had no beard and short brown hair on his head.

Unlike the other duergars present in the hall, he set a bright impression. But none of the Duergar present were fooled by his outer appearance.

Everyone knew just how sinister and insidious the young-looking duergar was.

"So am I."

After the younger Duergar spoke up, the others in the room also showed no signs of resistance as they agreed to go with Hurtrud's proposition.

Seeing everyone joining Hurtrud's side, clenching her fists, Durara had no choice but to also agree.

"Fine..."

Turning her attention back towards me, she ordered once more, this time with a different directive.

"Karl, you've heard them. Prove your worth and disable one of the beacons of the defensive system. Send those bastards into a panic!"

Chapter 333: Infiltration [1]

333 Infiltration 1

"This should be the place."

Leopold murmured as he looked at an enormous building in front of him.

"It should be..."

Besides him were Ava and Hein.

Since the barrier had been set up and was covering the whole mountain, they decided to use the free time they had available to fix their equipment.

Although they wanted to rest, they acknowledged the fact that before they could do that, they had to have all of their equipment ready. After all, no one knew what could happen in the future.

The barrier could be turned off at any moment, and they knew that if that happened, they'd be the first to die.

This was something they had learned during their journey to Henlour.

Ci Clank-

Entering the building, a wave of hot hair brushed against the skin of everyone present.

It was already hot outside, but the moment they entered the building, it felt as though they were inside of a steaming hot sauna.

Breathing started to become more challenging, and sweat started forming on the side of their faces.

Wiping the sweat away from his face, Hein tiredly muttered.

"It's way too hot here…I'm going to die."

"I feel you."

Leopold lazily muttered.

The heat was causing his body to feel extremely lethargic.

"How may I help you?"

Respectfully greeting them at the lobby was a dwarven girl. With a smile on her face, she kindly looked at Leopold and the others who had just arrived.

Unlike them, she was not sweating.

From the looks of it, she was used to this type of heat.

"Hey."

Leaning against the counter, Leopold breathed out in exhaustion.

-Plack!

Taking out his gun, he placed it on the counter and lethargically asked.

"Where...can I get ammunition for this? I'm kind of running low. Haa…it's too hot."

"This..."

Lowering her head, the dwarven girl stared at the gun-like device on the counter.

Pointing at the gun, she looked at Leopold and asked.

"May I?"

"Go ahead."

Picking up the gun, she carefully analyzed it from top to bottom.

After a while, putting it back on the counter she pointed towards a corridor on the right side of the lobby.

"Judging from the model of the artifact you showed me, what you're looking for should be over there. Prices can vary from what types of bullets you are trying to get."

"Thank you."

Thanking the receptionist, Leopold took the gun and proceeded to head towards the direction she had pointed at.

"Oops, I almost forgot."

However, just as he was about to leave, halting his steps, he suddenly recalled something.

Turning back, he looked at the receptionist and asked.

"Do you perhaps know of anyone named Melvil? Mulvil? Molvil..."

Frowning, Leopold scratched the side of his head as he tried his best to remember the name of the dwarf that Ren had told him to visit.

Unfortunately for him, his memory wasn't the best, and therefore, he had quite the trouble trying to remember the name of the dwarf that Ren had mentioned.

"...Damn it, it's at the tip of my tongue. Mulvil? Morvilla?"

Listening by the side, the receptionist's brows jumped up.

With a hesitant look, she asked.

"Are you perhaps talking about Sir Malvil?"

"Ah!"

-Snap!

Snapping his fingers, Leopold pointed his finger at the receptionist and excitedly nodded his head.

"Moolvil, Yes. That's the name."

"It's Malvil."

"Yes. That's exactly what I said."

The receptionist's face froze for a second. Leopold's behavior had left her speechless; however, she was quick to recover. She had seen all types of individuals. Compared to them, Leopold was a lot milder.

With a perfect business-like smile, she asked.

"You wish to meet Sir Malvil?"

"Correct."

Leopold then pointed towards Ava, who was silently standing behind him.

"You see, my companion over here needs to have her artifact fixed. From what we've heard, this Melan is very skilled and can help her fix her artifact."

"I see..."

By now she had already understood what type of character was and completely ignored the fact that Leopold had once again mistaken the name.

Touching her hair, she made a difficult face.

"...Let me see what I can do."

Taking out a communication device, the receptionist tried to get in contact with Malvil.While she was waiting for him to pick up, turning her attention back to Leopold, she reminded.

"Don't get your hopes up. Malvil is incredibly busy, so I can't say if he will meet you or not. Don't get too disappointed if he rejects you. "

"That's fine. Oh, before I forget..." Leaning by the counter, Leopold whispered. "If possible, tell him that we were referred by a guy called Ren."

"Ren?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

Though confused, the receptionist kept that in mind.

"Hello? Sir Malvil, yes..."

It wasn't long before Malvil picked up. Once he did, the receptionist unconsciously straightened her back and started to relay everything that Leopold had told her.

"Yes, they are human. They said that they were referred by a human named Ren… Yes, okay, I got it."

The call went on for a couple of minutes before finally, after speaking to Malvil for a short period of time and turning off the communication device, the receptionist fixed her clothes and smiled towards Leopold and the others.

"Please follow me; Malvil is willing to speak to you."

***

[Inferno headquarters, unknown location.]

At the elder's orders, I was asked to prove my capabilities. I didn't mind this as it perfectly coincided with my plans.

"This is the equipment that you can use in order to do your task."

Arriving inside of a large room, the first thing I saw was an enormous levitating panel.

Displayed on the panel were all sorts of different pieces of information and commands.

To be honest, I could barely understand anything that was displayed on it, but even then, calmly walking towards it; I pretended to look at it with disinterest.

Stroking my beard, I muttered.

"I see..."

"Is there anything that you are unsatisfied with?"

The guard that brought me here asked

Lightly glancing in his direction, I shook my head.

"No, everything is fine."

"Here are the items that you have requested."

Extending his hand, the guard handed me a small pouch. Upon seeing the pouch, my lips twisted upwards.

"Good."

Snatching the pouch from the guards hands, I opened it and looked through its contents. After a while, nodding my head, I gestured for the guard to leave.

"Good, everything is here. You may now leave."

"Understood, I will be waiting outside. If anything happens, so, not hesitate to call for me."

"Aye."

Turning around, I walked in front of the panel and focused my attention on it. Completely ignoring the guard's existence.

According to the files I received, Karl Kallum was an individual who had zero on things that were nonartifact related. He would always show an aloof and disinterested expression on his face whenever he interacted with others.

At least that was what it said on his profile.

Thanks to the chip inside of my head, I was able to store an incredible amount of information in my head. From their behavior, traits, and hobbies, I was able to memorize a lot of things.

As such, I knew exactly how Karl acted and behaved.

'This looks like something that would come out straight from the movies.'

I inwardly muttered as I admired the panel in front of me.

Though it wasn't the first time he had seen this, it never ceased to amaze me whenever I saw it.

Ci Clank-

As I was analyzing the panel, the door behind me suddenly closed. Without paying much attention to it, I continued to pay attention to the panel.

The sound most likely came from the guard from before as he had probably left the room, leaving me inside of this place by myself.

Even then, I continued to focus on the panel in front of me.

Since I was currently being monitored by the surveillance system, even if the guard had left, I couldn't quite do anything.

In fact, there was a high chance that the elders were currently watching over me from the surveillance system

'Let's get this started.'

Placing my hand on the panel, a circular spiral animation manifested on the screen, encircling the palm of my hand.

Thereafter, multiple different commands appeared in my vision. All of them were in the dwarven language, but I had no trouble reading them.

Having stayed in Helour for quite a while now, I could now understand and speak the language.

This was all due to the chip inside of my head. If not for it analyzing the language, I would've never been able to speak it.

Though it took a while, it made this mission possible.

'It should be this.'

Pressing on the panel, a small holographic keyboard appeared in front of me.

Ti. Ti. Ti.

With the chip in his head working, my fingers quickly danced on the keyboard.

'Since you guys want me to prove my abilities, that's exactly what I'll do.'

There were a total of fifteen beacons built around the walls of the city; at the moment, I was planning on shutting one down.

Prior to the incident, I had Jomnuk secretly teach me how to shut down one of the beacons.

Since we both knew that this was crucial for the plan, he had no qualms with it and as such revealed to me how to shut down one of the beacons that connected to the main defensive system.

He obviously only thought me how to shut one down. Regarding the other fourteen beacons, had no clue.

But this was enough.

Enough to convince the elders that I wasn't all talk.

***

"Today, we are here to discuss your inability to protect Jomnuk Dramegrip; exposing all of us to danger."

A cold voice sounded inside a large white room where seated on a large wooden semi- circular desk, were multiple dwarfs. Judging from the pressure that was oozing from their small bodies, it was apparent that each and every single dwarf present was an important figure.

At the moment all of their eyes were focused on a human figure; he stood with his back straight, and his clear brown eyes fearlessly looked at the dwarves opposite to him.

The figure was none other than Waylan.

The news of Jomnuk getting kidnapped had sent the higher-ups into a state of panic. Being the one responsible for protecting Jomnuk, Waylan bore the full brunt of the dwarf's rage.

At the moment he was put under trial tor his failure in protecting Jomnuk, one of their best engineers and the dwarf responsive for setting up their barrier.

His kidnapping had obviously dealt a massive blow to the dwarfs, and Waylan, the one responsible for being unable to defend Jomnuk, was currently being glared at by half of the dwarfs inside of the room.

Even then, under the glares of the dwarves, he kept a calm and composed face.

Ever since he had accepted the plan, he knew that he was going to face a similar situation.

'I can at least do this much.'

This much was nothing new to him.

Ren was currently in the middle of infiltrating Inferno, an organization that was just as scary as the Monolith, if not even scarier.

What Ren was going through was probably a million times more dangerous than what he was currently going through.

And it was because of this that Waylan did not have an ounce of nervousness as he stood in front of some of the most powerful dwarves in the human domain.

Plus, it's not like he didn't have a plan for this.

In fact, everything was going just as he and Ren had discussed.

As he thought that far, Waylan inwardly laughed.

'That kid is crazy...'

Ever since meeting Ren, his dull days at the dwarven domain had become a lot more interesting.

For that, he had to thank Ren.

Chapter 334: Infiltration [2]

334 Infiltration (2)

"I propose for Waylan Roshfield to be exiled from Henlour."

A rough voice echoed inside of the hall.

The owner of the voice was a dwarf who sat on the right side of the semi-circular table. He had light grey hair, a long beard, and his face was filled with wrinkles. His bushy thick brows were currently locked into a tight frown as he glared at Waylan who was standing in the middle of the hall.

The more he looked at Waylan, the darker his face became.

Raising his hand, he pointed at him and looked towards the other dwarfs sitting on the table.

"Because o' his incompetence we now have a huge liability on our back. In fact, we may very well have lost tha war!"

Spit flew from the dwarf's mouth as he spoke.

Everyone in the hall could feel the anger in the dwarf's voice as he spoke.

Leaning back, he threw a disdainful look towards Waylan.

"I'm already being generous enough by nae proposing his execution!"

After he finished speaking, the hall was enveloped in a brief moment of silence.

However, the silence did not last for long as it was soon broken by another dwarf.

"I concur with Givor."

The dwarf was a female, and she too sat on the right side of the table. A couple of seats away from the dwarf that had just spoken, Givor.

Nodding towards Givor, she continued.

"I believe that exiling him would be the best decisio-"

"I disagree."

But before she could even formulate her sentence, she was promptly cut by someone.

With bushy fiery red eyebrows, the dwarf had a sturdy and muscular build.

BANG-!

Banging his fist on the table, he raised his voice.

"By exiling him yer basically exempting him from all o' his crimes."

"What crimes? He did not commit any crime, Randur."

Givor spoke up from the side.

Turning his head to face Givor, the red eyebrowed dwarf, Randur glared.

"His crime was his negligence! Had he been more attentive, We wou"ve never been under such a situation!"

"He can't be blamed for the insiders."

The dwarven lady from before spoke up.

"Although it was indeed his negligence that caused all o' this, we're also at fault here. One for trusting him an' two for being unable ta realize that there was a spy among us."

"Hmph"

At her words, Randur's face sank.

Crossing his back and leaning back on his chair, Randur shook his head.

"Naive. You're too naive. It's because of dwarves like you that we're currently suffering this much."

"What did you say!"

The dwarven lady stood up and also violently pounded at the table.

BANG-!

Pointing at Randur she shouted.

"I dare ye ta say that again! see what will happen ta ye!"

"Oh, now I'm really interested. I want ta see how rusty ye got ever since our last fight, alga."

Standing up, Randur looked at the dwarven lady, Alga, with a provoking look.

"You d-"

"Enough!"

Just as the exchange was about to heat up, a powerful voice shook the room, all forms of noise ceased.

Soon, the attention of all of the individuals in the room focused on an elderly dwarf that sat in the middle of the hall.

A look of respect and revere was present in the eyes of many of the dwarves present as they looked at the elderly dwarf seated at the table.

Not minding the stares, the elderly dwarf looked at Randur and Alga.

"Let's nae argue amongst ourselves. Dinna forget why we're here."

His aged voice smoothly entered the ears of each and everyone present, calming them down, or rather, completely suppressing their fighting spirit.

Eventually, the two dwarves that were arguing, Randur and Alga, calmed down and sat down back on their seats.

"Fine."

"Alright."

"Good."

Nodding his head slightly, the elderly dwarf turned his attention towards Waylan who was standing in the middle of the hall.

Studying him for a couple of seconds, he soon opened his mouth.

"Waylan Roshfield, as ye have heard, there be many who wish for ye ta either be exiled or punished for your negligence."

The elderly dwarfed interlocked his hands on the table as his calm voice drifted across the hall. reaching Waylan's ears.

"Let me ask ye, what do ye think we should do with you?"

The moment the elderly dwarf spoke, the eyes of many of the dwarves present opened widely.

Was he seeking the opinion of the human they were supposed to put on trial? What was going on?

Instantly the sound of murmurs rang across the hall as each dwarf looked at the elderly dwarf with growing confusion.

Just what was he thinking?

With a calm and composed face, Waylan looked at the elderly dwarf and bowed his head slightly.

"It is an honor to finally meet you, Metropoliskeeper, Geris Lasfront."

Respect could be felt in Waylan's voice as he spoke.

He knew exactly who the dwarf before him was. Gernis Lasfront, also known as the Metropoliskeeper; the highest status a dwarf could get.

Raising his head, Waylan looked at Gernis in the eyes.

"Regarding your question. Are you asking me what sort of punishment I should receive for my mistake?"

"That's correct."

Geris flatly replied.

Smiling, Waylan fearlessly looked at Gernis and said.

"Then, I would like for you to give me a chance to redeem myself."

The moment he spoke those words, heavy silence distended the hall.

However, the silence did not last for long as it was soon broken by the sound of a table being heavily slapped.

BANG-!

"What nonsense is this!"

A dwarf stood up and shouted; he was none other than Randus.

Staring at Waylan, Randus's face was completely red.

"Y-you!"

He was so angry that he had trouble finding the right words to say. It was only after a couple of seconds that he managed to formulate a complete sentence.

"...Redeem yourself!? After what ye've done? Be ye sure yer nae trying ta hinder us instead o' helping us?"

"Randus calm down."

Genis raised his hand towards Randus, gesturing for him to calm down.

"But-"

"Later."

Genis shook his head and cut him Off.

Although Randus tried to protest, Genis had long forgotten about him and focused his attention back on Waylan.

His words had caught his interest.

"Redeem yourself? Elaborate more on that."

With his eyes still locked with Genis's, Waylan suddenly smiled.

"What if I told you that I have a way to win the war?"

***

[Honelur, fourth level, Utility center.]

"Yer want me to fix this?"

Malvil said as he held onto a pale green flute.

His brows tightly knit as he analyzed the flute in his hand.

On the outside the flute looked ordinary, in fact, there were a couple of cracks around it, signifying that it was damaged.

But to Malvil, whose eyes had seen all types of artifacts, he knew that this was no ordinary flute.

Turning around to face Ava, he asked.

"This is yours?"

"...Yes."

Ava replied as she curiously looked around the place. As she looked around, she spoke.

"Ren said that if there was anyone that could fix it, it would be you."

Taking his eyes away from the flute, Malvil raised his brow.

"...He said that?"

"Yes."

"I see."

Malvil smirked before turning his attention back towards the flute.

"Did he also tell ye that bootlicking me doesn't work? he shou' know this firsthand."

"No, he did not tell me this."

Ava replied, scratching the side of her face.

"Heee..."

'How peculiar.'

The more he stared at the flute, the more fascinated he became with it.

It had to be noted that it took a lot to impress someone like him, one of the world's most skilled blacksmiths. The fact that the flute was enticing him so much was a testament to just how unique of an artifact it was.

Tracing his finger across a large crack at the bottom of the flute, Malvil muttered.

"The damage seems to be pretty extensive."

As he analyzed the flute, Malvil's brows progressively knit.

That was because the flute seemed to be a lot more damaged than he had originally expected. In fact, because of the damage, the artifact seemed to have regressed in grade by quite a lot.

'Interesting...'

But the more challenging it looked, the more Malvil wanted to fix it.

Not many knew this about him, but Malvil was a fanatic of artifacts.

Especially when it came to fixing complex artifacts like this.

By trying to fix it, he was going to see what sort of technique the crafter used to make it, and perhaps even learn a thing or two from it.

After all, for someone to make a flute-like this, they had to at least have a similar skill level to that of Malvil.

Just the thought of it excited him.

Turning his head to face Ava, Malvil put the flute on a nearby table.

"I won't promise anything, but I'll take a look at tha flute. Whether I will be able ta fix tha flute or nae will be a discussion for later."

Although he was busy with the war and all, he could definitely make time to play with the flute.

Malvil then pointed towards a stool in the distance.

"For now have a seat or go back. I will need a lot of time to fix this."

***

[Inferno, unknown location.]

'Now, if I'm not wrong, I should do this...'

With a tight frown, I looked at a long complex code in front of me. My eyes darted around, trying to see if there was anything missing in the code.

Gulp-!

Reaching my hand towards the right side of my waist, I put my hand inside of the pouch that the guard had given me and took out a potion which I immediately swallowed.

The potion was a mana recovery potion and it was one of the things that I had asked the elders to give to me whilst I was trying to deactivate the beacon.

Although I was now C+ rank and my mana capacity had risen considerably, the mask of Dolos, being an <A> ranked artifact, still consumed an incredible amount of mana.

This was understandable though.

Unlike the mask Jomnuk used to disguise himself as me, the mask of Dolos was unique as in, it completely changed the skeletal structure of my face, unlike the one Jomnuk wore.

In order to avoid having Angus scan him, I pretended to throw a fit at Angus. Furthermore, since the result saw no changes in my skeleta structure, Angus did not see the need to scan 'Ren'.

That was a big mistake.

That aside, the mana consumption of the mask was still too great for me. I could now sustain it for at least half a day, but compared to the two-day time limit that I had said I could deactivate the beacon, it was not enough time.

Hence why I asked them to bring me mana recovery potions.

'Still, I'm not sure if this is a good idea...'

Frowning, I put the empty potion to the side.

Closing my eyes, I felt the mana inside of my body and shook my head slightly.

The rate at which my mana was consuming was a lot faster than the mana that I was recovering due to the potion.

As such, after deliberating over the matter for a bit, I decided to speed things up and get it done within a day.

In reality, I could've done this in just a matter of minutes, but I was trying to buy time for Waylan to get his stuff sorted.

After all, he was probably going through a rough time.

Di. Di. Di.

Increasing the speed at which I was typing on the keyboard, I inwardly prayed that Waylan would complete his part of the plan before I could activate the beacon.

As long as he managed to convince the elders of his plans, we would finally be able to deal a massive blow to the demons.

Chapter 335: Infiltration [3]

335 Infiltration [3]

[Henolur, Elder council]

A deathly silence enveloped the hall.

"…what did you just say?"

Gernis's solemn voice echoed across the hall.

A terrifying pressure spread out from his small and aged body, completely enveloping the hall.

Subjected to such pressure, Waylan merely frowned.

Having been with Douglas for a long time, he was already used to the pressure. Although Gernis was indeed higher ranked than Douglas, at the end of the day, the dwarves weren't really a combat-oriented race. They were craftsmen, not warriors. They didn't possess the bloodlust or battle-aura frontline fighters did, not to the same extent.

The pressure wasn't anything that Waylan couldn't handle.

"Haaaa..."

Closing his eyes and breathing out, Waylan opened his eyes and stared directly at Gernis.

"I'll say it again. Give me a chance, and I will help you end this war."

"Pftt..."

Once Waylan's words faded, the dwarf with red eyebrows, Randur, burst out laughing.

"Hahaha, I can't-I can't believe this! What kind of nonsense is this?"'

Slapping the table, Randur continued to laugh for a solid minute.

It was only when he realized that everyone's attention was on him that he finally stopped laughing.

Looking around, he asked with a deadpan look, "What? dinna ye guys also find his delusions funny?"

"This be nae laughing matter, Randur."

Gernis spoke gravely, the look on his face severe.

"Don't tell me you actually believe his words?" Randur asked with an incredulous look.

To him, it was clear to see that Waylan was merely spouting nonsense to save himself.

Leaning his body forward, he looked towards the other dwarves present before pointing at Waylan.

"Stop tha war? bah, if he cou've done it, he wou've done it 'afore. Why now? he's clearly just trying ta save his ass. I'm sure yer all smart enough ta understand this, right?"

Unexpectedly, Randur was met with silence. No one spoke up.

The silence further enraged him. He glared at everyone present.

"Have low have we fallen for you guys to not realize this, eh?!"

In reality, everybody shared the same thoughts as Randur. However, unlike Randur, they didn't speak up because of Gernis.

The solemnity clouding his face prevented them from speaking up. He had a grim aura surrounding him, one that seemed to suffocate the air itself.

No one was as fearless as Randur in that situation.

Fortunately for Randur, Gernis didn't seem to mind his words. The latter seemed too preoccupied with Waylan's actions. All of his attention seemed focused on the human before him.

Staring at him for quite a while, he asked.

"...How confident are you in your words?"

"Very."

Waylan flatly replied.

Looking at the other dwarves present, he straightened his back.

"If you give me a chance, I'll do what I said I will do."

"Hmm.."

Staring at Waylan's confident expression, Gernis's brows knit in thought.

Although what Waylan said sounded absurd, his fearless expression planted a seed of doubt inside of the old dwarf's mind.

What if he could actually do it? Or could he? Was he really just saying this to save his own ass?

After thinking things through, Gernis doubted it.

Although Waylan was going to be punished for his failure, it wasn't going to be something extreme like an execution. After all, although he was one of the main people responsible for the failure, they too were at fault for being negligent.

But that was before, things were different now.

Waylan escalated the situation with his words.

By saying something like he could stop the war, he had aggravated the situation. If before he couldn't have been executed for a failure not entirely on him, he would be guaranteed death for failing in his mission after making such a grand claim.

Waylan was betting on his life.

The sheer gravity of Waylan's words and determination made Gernis think that he wasn't bluffing.

No one would be stupid enough to worsen their crimes.

Squinting, Gernis decided to see where this bet would take the future of the war.

"...Ye've got me interest. Tell me what your plan be."

"I apologize."

But contrary to what Gernis expected. lowering his head, Waylan apologized.

Seeing this, Gernis's face sank.

"...Are you playing with me?"

Looking up, Waylan shook his head and glanced at all of the individuals seated in the hall.

"No, don't get me wrong. It's not that I don't want to tell you, but I just don't really think that it's appropriate."

"Why is that?"

Lifting his head, Waylan shrugged his shoulders and looked at the other dwarven elders present.

Raising his brow, he indifferently answered.

"...Isn't it already obvious why?" It was then that it finally dawned on Gernis.

The reason why Waylan was not saying anything was because he was afraid that a spy hid amongst one of the dwarves present.

Gernis wasn't the only one who understood his words as all of those present in the room showed a displeased expression.

One dwarf, in particular, wasn't happy with his words as he raised his voice.

"What nonsense is this? You first say you can stop the war and then you insinuate that there might be a spy amongst us? Are you purposely trying to create a rift among the council?"

The dwarf was none other than Randur.

His face was twisted with rage.

Ever since the trial started, he seemed to have this sort of vendetta against Waylan. In fact, he wasn't the only one that thought in such a way, but unlike the rest, Randur was a lot more vocal at expressing his displeasure.

Plus, the ones who kept quiet didn't want to annoy Gernis, someone whom they highly respected.

"I kinna believe ye guys be even listening ta him! Ye are a bunch of cowards!"

"I understand how ye feel, Randur, but what if his words be right? what if he truly knows o' a way ta stop tha war?"

One of the dwarves seated finally spoke up and addressed Randur.

Snapping his head in the dwarf's direction, Randur spat.

"Bah, how can he know when even we don't know? And why only now? Something ain't addin' up! I dinna and winna trust that human!"

"You make a valuable point, Randur."

Gernis chimed in, much to Randur's joy.

"Then..."

However, his next words caused Randur's face to sink completely.

"But, I'll still give him a chance ta prove himself ta us. Since Jomnuk has been kidnapped, we have nothing ta lose. It's nae like we're going ta let him do this unsupervised."

Gernis turned his attention back towards Waylan.

"Under tha witness o' everyone present, I grant ye tha power ta carry on with tha plans ye have. If ye manage ta successfully do as ye've said, nae only will we clear ye O' your failure, but we'll also award ye with honor."

His words were like a thunderclap to some of the elders present, especially Randur who blanky sat there with his mouth hung open. But, before anyone could even protest, Gernis raised his hand to stop them.

"I've already made up my mind. 'Tis shall be the final decision. You can't change my mind."

Since he was the most powerful and respected person, the other dwarves present could do nothing but remain seated in quiet. Displeasure could be seen on their faces.

Once the others calmed down, turning his attention back to Waylan, Gernis continued, "Waylan, tha only reason why I'm giving ye this chance be because o' Douglas. Me faith be nae with ye but with Douglas. If ye try anything funny, ye will nae be tha only one that will suffer tha consequences..."

Closing his eyes, Waylan nodded his head slightly.

"I understand. I will do my best to keep my word.

"That's all we wish for."

Turning his head left and right, Gernis stood up.

"That is all for now. If Waylan needs something, try your best to help him."

"Understood."

Similarly standing up, though displeased, the other dwarves acquiesced.

While they were leaving, what the others did not know was that once the decision had been made, both Randur, the dwarf that seemed to have a vendetta against Waylan, and Waylan, smiled, in a way similar but all too different.

Everything was going as planned.

***

Gulp-!

Chugging another potion, my eyes remained transfixed on the panel in front of me. At this point, my eyes were bloodshot and my mana was all the way down to ten percent of full capacity.

Still, I had managed to last for another eight hours.

I've long since managed to infiltrate the system.

Anytime I wanted, I could deactivate the beacon.

It was only a matter of when.

Cli Clank-!

Suddenly, the door behind me opened up. The guard that brought me here came in.

"I'm here to relay a message."

"On with it."

I replied with a disinterested look as my fingers continued to press on the keys of the keyboard.

This was merely an act, though.

"The elders want to know how much longer will you take to deactivate the beacon."

Di. Di. Di~!

Turning my attention towards the right side where the surveillance system was, I opened my mouth and said in an unbothered tone, "'In about a minute."

Since the elders were watching, there was no need for me to directly tell the guard. I could just address them from there.

"In a minute?"

The guard behind me cried out in surprise.

"Mhm."

Nodding slightly, my fingers started to move even faster.

'I think Waylan had enough time to convince the elders.'

My mana was at a level where any further drop would result in my identity being exposed.

Anything lower than ten percent would not be ideal. As such, I decided to end things at that moment.

I just hoped Waylan had managed to convince the elders.

Di. Di.

"Huuu..."

Taking a deep breath and staring at the panel in front of me, my fingers paused.

This is it...' I thought as I was one key away from deactivating the first beacon.

The moment I pressed the key in front of me, chaos would ensue in Henolur.

The barrier would weaken considerably. Furthermore, the time that it could remain standing would shorten greatly. It would bring about a massive change to the war, for better or worse.

Perhaps, some might even die because of what I was about to do

Even then, I knew that it was a necessary step I needed to take in order to win the War.

'Lives will be lost, but it is necessary. Innocents might die, but there is no choice.'

I already had a lot of blood on my hands.

Extending my hand, I finally pressed on the final key.

Di.

"...Done."

A second after, pressing onto the last key, a satisfied smile appeared on my face.

Rumble-!

It was then that everything started to shake, almost as though I was at the center of a massive earthquake.

Since I was already prepared for this, I was able to keep my footing.

"What the-?!"

Unfortunately, the same thing couldn't be said for the guard behind me. He fell face- first on the ground.

Ignoring him, placing my hand on the right side of the panel, I opened up the camera view and looked at what was happening outside.

The moment I checked the panel, I witnessed one of the lights connected to the barrier slowly disappear.

Once it happened, the color of the barrier became fainter and the ripples forming on its surface increased in wavelength.

I could vividly see the panic spread among all the dwarves below. They were unable to make sense of what was happening.

On the other hand, the demons started to attack with even more vigor. In a complete frenzy, they were trying their best to deplete the energy of the barrier.

"My god, you actually did it..."

Before I knew it, the guard was standing next to me, similarly looking at the panel that was displaying the happenings outside.

Turning my head slightly, I replied.

"Of course I did it. Who do you think I am?i

Chapter 336: Infiltration [4]

336 Infiltration [4]

[Utility center, fourth level.]

"This is a lot more complicated than I first thought."

Malvil muttered under his breath as he studied the pale green flute in front of him.

After completing his work for the day, he had spent most of his free time analysing the flute.

It was then that he realized that the flute was even more sophisticated than his original estimates.

"...Just how did they manage to make the mana flow this way?"

Touching the shaft of the flute, a white hue emanated from his finger, entering the object.

The moment mana circulated in the flute, it lit up and Malvil was able to see thin vein lines inside. His eyes locked intensely on it, his gaze enraptured.

"I see….. So, in order to create an oscillating sound, the mana is stored and released in short bursts that causes the frame of the flute to burst..."

Taking out a piece of paper, Malvil started to sketch an image of the flute.

Although there was technology that could perfectly capture an image of the flute, Malvil was the type of dwarf who preferred to use a regular pen and paper.

Sitting by the side, Ava curiously looked at Malvil. He seemed to have completely forgotten her presence. The dwarf was utterly fascinated by the flute in front of him.

Having stayed in the workshop for almost a day, she was understandably tired. Moreso than Malvil, even.

Hein and Leopold were still in the facility, but they were currently looking through the other sections, having a merry time.

It was currently just her and Malvil in the room.

"...Excuse me."

"Hm?" Malvil turned, looking at Ava curiously.

"Yer still here?" A hint of surprise in his voice.

"Yes..."

"You should probably go back, it will still take me a while before starting to fix this thing."

That was a half-truth.

Although it would indeed take him a while to fix the flute, in reality, Malvil wanted to spend more time analyzing it. Therefore, he was planning on slowing down the rate at which he was going to fix the flute.

It was selfish, but there was nothing in the world that could stop a dwarf from his craft.

'Consider this as a small payment for fixing the flute.'

Malvil mused as he put more mana into the flute.

Typically, he would've never done this kind of job, but the situation at hand was an exception.

The flute was just that intriguing.

"I can already tell you now, I won't be able to fully fix this thing immediately."

"Is that so..."

Ava dejectedly lowered her head. Her small frame looked pitiful at that moment. There was so much depending on the flute. Without it, her power would drop considerably.

With the current ongoing war, Ava couldn't wait long for the flute to be fixed. She simply didn't have that much time.

Staring at Malvil, she asked quietly, "How long do you think it will take?"

"Hmm..."

Stroking his beard, Malvil put the flute down and pondered more to himself than Ava, "Given that I still don't quite fully know the structure of the flute and the fact that I'm quite busy with other repairs, I would estimate that it would take me at least a year to fix this."

"A year?!"

Ava's eyes widened in shock, her jaw nearly dropping to the ground. Malvil's reply was beyond her wildest imaginations.

A year was far too long! She could've understood if it was just one week or a month, but one year was far too much for her.

If she left the flute here to get fixed, then she wouldn't be able to participate in the war. It would be extremely detrimental both to Ava and her team.

Noticing the look of dejection on Ava's face, Malvil instantly understood her worries and reassured, "Don't worry. Although it will take me over a year to fix the flute, that doesn't mean you can't use it whilst I'm fixing it."

Lifting her head up in surprise, Ava hurriedly asked, "Really.? I can use the flute even when you're still repairing it?"

"Ye."

Malvil nodded. A slight smile played on his lips.

"Whenever you need the flute, you can just come and take it. It's not like the flute will stop working once I'm fixing it, haha."

Malvil's words brought some much- needed relief to Ava. She put her hand on her chest and sighed in relief.

"Okay, if it's like that then there is no proble-"

Rumble-!

Before she could finish her words, the whole structure started to shake violently.

"_ _!"

"What is going on?"

Both Malvil and Ava panicked. Holding onto the side of the table, the two of them tried to remain standing.

"Just what in the..."

With difficulty, while maintaining an uneasy footing, Malvil took out a small device from his dimensional space and switched it on.

Soon, a holographic image appeared before him, depicting the situation outside.

"Oh, god almighty..."

The moment Malvil witnessed what was happening outside, his jaw dropped in shock. The colour of his face paled slightly.

His behavior did not go unnoticed by Ava who was standing next to him.

"What is going on?"

Leaning her body slightly, Ava took a peek at the holographic image.

"Ah!"

But at that very moment, when her eyes fell upon the image, Ava wished she had been in the dark.

That was because the barrier protecting the city from the outside slowly became fainter.

Outside the borders of the barriers were a wave of black demons that stretched all the way till they couldn't see.

The scene looked horrifying.

***

"So, what you're saying is…. you want us to help you infiltrate Henolur?"

A raspy voice sounded inside of a dark hall.

"...That is correct."

A cold and emotionless tone rung back.

"What are you trying to achieve by infiltrating Henolur?"

An aged female voice sounded; it belonged to none other than Durara, one of the elders of Inferno.

At the moment, all of the elders were present, and their gazes remained transfixed at the hologram before them

Displayed on the hologram was an old man with dull grey eyes. He was a human.

"You do realize that we're currently in the middle of a war? We, by ourselves, face great difficulty infiltrating the place. What makes you think that we can help you enter? In fact, why do you think we would even consider helping you?"

Durara spat.

Her voice was filled with annoyance due to the unreasonable demand.

Unfazed by Durara's words, the old man in the hologram spoke up, "I'm trying to look for a human. He's someone that the Monolith is paying special attention to."

"Oh? And why should we care?"

Another Duergar spoke up.

Wearing a monocle, the Duergar had thin white hair on top of his balding head.

His name was Orion, and he was one of the elders of Inferno.

"Why should we care about helping you look for a human? You're not planning on asking us to do this for free, right?"

Orion's words were met with nods of approval from some of the other elders.

It would take a lot of resources, including but not limited to the time and logistical constraints Inferno currently faced, to get someone to infiltrate Henolur. Moreover, they had nothing to gain from this.

Unless there was a reward, the elders of Inferno did not see the need to approve of the request.

Staring at the duergars present in the hall from the holographic projection, the human, Mo Jinhao, squinted his eyes and spoke in a cold, dead tone devoid of the slightest trace of emotion, We can compromise then. Help us capture the human. In exchange, we will owe you one."

"Owe us one?"

"Yes."

"…What does this human look like?" Orion inquired, his interest in the human piqued. To be owed a favor by such a large organization, the leaders interest were piqued.

"We're uncertain as of right now, but we have a tracking system on him. With it, you should be able to locate him."

"I see..."

Propping both elbows on the table, Orion interlocked his hands together.

Taking a look at the other duergars present in the hall, confirming their expressions, Orion spoke up, his voice and words on behalf of the council.

"Alright, we'll give it a thought. We'll contact you later to let you know of our decision."

"I understand."

Mo Jinhao replied with an indifferent tone. Moments after, his projection disappeared from the hall.

silence fell in the hall moments after.

"What do you think? Should we accept the offer?" Orion asked.

"I don't really care, but..." Durara was the first to speak up as she expressed her opinion, "If they really can locate that person with a tracker, then things would be a lot easier for us. For them to owe us a favor in exchange for something like that doesn't like a bad deal at all."

"I concur."

Another druegar spoke up.

"If it takes little to no effort, then I don't see why we shouldn't take the deal. Those humans have their uses."

"Hmm."

Resting his chin in his hands, Orion fell into deep thought.

What the others were saying made sense. The reward was decent and the risk low, yet, as he thought about it, he couldn't quite get rid of this nagging feeling at the back of his head.

For an organization as big as the Monolith which, although weaker than Inferno, could still be considered a powerhouse in their own right, to have trouble finding this one guy, just how troublesome was he?

He was afraid of perhaps inviting a storm inside of his own house.

The situation was already too delicate for them. Inferno couldn't invite danger carelessly.

"I think we sh-"

But before he could address the matter, the door suddenly burst open.

Clank! Clank-

Entering the hall, a dwarf wearing a guard's uniform halted in his steps and straightened his back.

"Elders, Karl is here!"

The guard shouted, gathering the attention of all the elders present inside of the hall.

Before long, an old druegar came into the room.

Staring at the elders of Inferno present in the room, Karl had a fearless look on his face as he addressed them.

***

Entering the hall, I found all the leaders of Inferno looking at me with fervent, eager expressions.

"Karl. You did not disappoint me."

Durara was the first to speak. A large and pleased smile hung on her face.

"I always had faith in you."

'...I guess she's not wrong.'

Out of all the elders present, Durara was the only one who believed I could deactivate the beacon.

In fact, the thought most likely never crossed her mind. but that didn't matter to me.

At that moment, I was eagerly waiting for my reward. That would allow me to enable the next step of my plans.

Unaware of what I was thinking, Durara suddenly stood up and banged both of her hands on the table in front of her.

"Karl Kallum, in light of recent events, you are now granted the position of senior advisor. On top of that, you will be granted this ring."

Extending the palm of her hand, Durara revealed a black ring.

The moment she revealed the ring, surprised expressions appeared on the elders present.

The reason for their reaction lay in the significance of the ring's contents. It was not just any regular ring, but actually, a dimensional space filled with money, artifacts, and potions. Every elder present knew just how valuable the things inside of the ring were.

They would definitely help me break through to the next level.

"Satisfied?"

"...Yea. I'm very satisfied with the reward."

"That's good."

Interlocking her fingers, she looked in my direction and eagerly asked, "So? When can you take the rest of the beacons down?"

Lifting my head up and staring back at Durara, musing for a moment, I made up a lie.

"…Give me two months, and I'll be able to do it."

Chapter 337: Setting The Pieces In Motion [1]

337 Setting the pieces in motion[1]

''Two months..? Why? Since it takes you about two days for each beacon, shouldn't you be able to complete this in a month's time?" Durara asked in wonder. She seemed confused.

In response to her question, I shook my head in denial.

"That would only apply if I sorted all of Jomnuk's information. Unfortunately, I didn't. It will take a bit of time for that."

"I see."

Orion nodded in acknowledgment from the side, understanding what I was trying to say.

"Orion, I don't think it matters much whether it will take two months or not."

One of the elders spoke up, looking at Orion. He was Hutrud, the elder who'd previously doubted my capabilities. I still remembered him.

With both hands interlocked together in a display of thought, Hutrud's eyes remained fixed on the table where a small projection of the outside appeared.

He then pointed at the beacons outside of the walls.

"If we change our plans, as long as my estimate is right, once we manage to deactivate eight of the fifteen beacons, we can break the barrier completely. By then, the barrier will be too weak to withstand a full-frontal assault."

"That's true..."

Durara muttered from the side, her head repeatedly nodding in agreement.

Then, she turned to face me once more.

"I guess that's settled. Do your best in deactivating the rest of the beacons. As I've said before, you will be granted authority at the level of senior advisor. Do as you please."

"Thanks."

I replied with a disinterested look.

Since I was Karl, I had to act the part.

And it soon became apparent that my acting wasn't too far off from the original Karl. The elders merely turned a blind eye to my blatant show of disrespect.

"Since you're here, let me hear about your opinion on a certain matter."

It was then that Orion opened his mouth.

"Wait, are you planning on asking him about that matter..?"

Opening her eyes wide, Durara looked at Orion with an incredulous look.

Orion then glanced at her and the other elders present.

"Even if he's not an elder, it doesn't hurt to ask. The matter has little to no significance to us anyways."

Orion shrugged.

However, Orion wasn't being completely honest.

"I'm just asking for his opinion since he seems to have a bright head on his shoulders. Who knows, perhaps he can even come up with a good plan."

He wanted another opinion because he couldn't get rid of a nagging feeling in the back of his head.

"Well..."

"I think Orion makes a valid point, Durara.

Hutrud spoke up.

Tap.Tap.Tap.

Tapping on the table with his small, chubby blue hand, he looked at Durara and the other duergars present.

"Since he's smart enough to be able to find a way to deactivate the city's defensive system, he should be able to come up with reliable input regarding those humans."

'Humans?'

Standing by the side, the moment I heard Orion mention humans, my brows knit in consternation. Albeit, for but a single moment.

'Something's off.'

"...He has just been promoted to senior advisor, so I guess it's fine to tell him."

Durra eventually relented and turned to glance at Orion, who looked straight at me.

The moment our eyes met, a cold chill ran down my spine, but I kept my cool.

Opening his mouth, Orion started to speak.

"Alright, if anyone is against the decision of asking Karl for his opinion, please let me know."

Once his words faded, a deathly silence permeated the hall.

Though I wasn't sure what was happening, I listened attentively to what they were trying to say.

From the looks of it, they want to ask me about my opinion on something that was somehow related to humans.

As such, I just patiently waited for them to speak. Perhaps this was going to be important information.

Fortunately, the wait did not last for long as no one spoke up.

Nodding his head slightly, Orion glanced at me from the side.

"Since the others have agreed, I will now be asking you about a certain matter. Since about a month to two months ago, a human organization…."

It was then that Orion slowly started recounting to me what had happened moments prior to me entering.

From how the Monolith was trying to contact them in order to get their help in infiltrating Henolur to how they were apparently searching for someone, Orion told me everything.

'As expected of them. They've finally moved...'

The more I listened, the greater my indifference.

This development, I expected it. Ever since I killed Xavier back in the forest and provoked Mo Jinhao directly, I was sure that they wouldn't let go of the matter.

In fact, I took this factor into account when making my plans, and the timing couldn't have been more perfect.

Originally, my plan was to bring it up to the elders once I rose to a high enough position, but it looks like that was no longer needed.

"...And that is how it is. What do you think Karl? Should we accept the offer or not?"

Disrupting me out of my thoughts was Orion's voice.

"Let me think..."

Scratching the side of my head, I pretended to think for a moment.

As I was thinking, I could feel the eyes of every elder present, scanning me from top to bottom.

Although I was confident in the mask, my heartbeat couldn't help but increase.

Finally, raising my head, I looked at Orion and the other elders in the room.

"Accept it."

"Oh?"

My answer seemed to have been unexpected as both Orion and the elders showed a surprised expression.

The first one to recover was Orion. He leaned forward, his eyes sparkling with interest.

"Tell me more, I'm interested. Why should we accept?"

"…Okay."

Under everyone's expectant gazes, I started to speak.

"The reason why I believe that accepting the offer is ideal is because, aside from the favor that you receive from them, we can also use their presence to our advantage."

"Are you referring to the other humans?"

Hutrud finally spoke up.

Compared to the last meeting, he had spoken considerably less.

"That is correct."

Either way, nodding my head, I continued.

"As you probably know, there's a couple of powerful humans working together with the dwarves. What if we use the chance to create internal conflicts amongst them? Although there aren't many humans present, we could take advantage of the situation and create a scenario in which we frame the humans and pit them against the dwarves."

Just like the dwarves could replicate demonic energy with the aid of an artifact, so could the duergars accomplish the opposite.

If they helped the Monolith members infiltrate the city and have them disguise themselves as non contracted humans, the duergars could have them go around killing random soldiers here and there.

Of course, every time that would happen, they would need to do it in a way so that the others would realize humans were responsible for it

Slowly, as that continued, the duergars could have the Dwarf race and other races turn on the humans.

Given Waylan's failure at saving Jomnuk, this time, he might face severe repercussions even if he was innocent.

At that point, Waylan and Douglas would have no choice but to fight back, resulting in the dwarves suffering damage internally.

On a long term perspective, they would also lose all possibility of allying with the humans.

"...aside from that, doing this would without a doubt, further damage the dwarves' morale."

From the barrier slowly breaking down and everyone turning their backs on the humans, the morale of the Dwarf race as a whole would decrease rapidly.

They would be surrounded on all fronts. It would be a despairing situation.

Pausing and glancing at everyone to make sure that they were following along what I was saying, I continued.

"Although it is hard and a lot of sacrifices will be made, if we manage to succeed in this operation, we might be able to completely destroy the dwarves before we can even remove the barrier."

"...."

Moments after I finished speaking, the hall was once again enveloped in silence.

Glancing towards each other, the elders showed pensive looks.

Standing in the middle of the hall, I kept a straight face.

'I've already said what I needed to say. Now, all I have to do is wait for their answer.

Although it looked like I was purposely screwing Waylan and the others, this was only on the surface.

If there was one thing the elders didn't know, it was that I was the individual the Monolith was looking for.

All those words I just said were just me trying to convince Inferno to let Monolith in.

My real goal was to lure them to me.

The location of Inferno was unknown, and despite all of the dwarves' efforts in trying to find it, they couldn't.

But what if Waylan and Douglas knew about the arrival of the Monolith members and quietly followed them from a distance?

Since the tracker led to me, and I was in Inferno, their location would soon be exposed, and that was when the true fun would begin.

Normally this wouldn't have been possible since the building was encircled by a tracking dampening system, however, things were different now.

I now had a higher authority, and with the excuse of it interfering with my beacon deactivation, I could have a small area around me where the dampening system wouldn't work, meaning that the chip inside of my head would indeed work even in this highly secured place.

Just thinking along those lines threatened to cause the edges of my lips to curl upwards.

Slowly the pieces were falling together, setting up the perfect board.

Fortunately, I was able to keep a steady face throughout the whole time the elders were discussing.

At this point, they no longer cared about my input, but even then, each second they discussed felt agonizing.

Their decision was going to dictate the future of my plans. And although I did have a backup plan, ideally, I wanted the first one to work.

Fortunately, I did not have to wait for long.

Sitting back on their seats, the elders nodded to each other, signaling that they had come up with a decision.

With both hands on the table, Orion spoke up.

"It looks like we all agree about our next course of action."

Lowering his head, and staring at me, Orion's eyes squinted slightly.

"...Since we've got nothing to lose with this plan, we have all agreed on executing it. "

***

Click! Clank-!

Closing the door behind me, I walked towards the center of the room where Jomnuk' was strapped to a seat.

Squinting, I glanced around, trying to make sure that the surveillance system was still down.

'Looks like they heeded my words…

Prior to leaving, I had told the guard to not enter the place or I would kill them.

Looks like my threat worked as nothing seemed to have been touched. Even the surveillance system.

"Haa..."

-Plop!

Slumping down on a chair, the mask came off my face and I finally relaxed a little.

It was then that a voice rang from behind me.

"How was it?"

"Alright."

Without even looking, I knew who the voice belonged to.

Rummaging through my pockets, I threw a small ring in Angelica's direction.

"Here."

"What is it?"

Catching the ring, Angelica narrowed her eyes. As she looked at the ring, she quickly realized that it was a dimensional storage.

Upon realising this, she unceremoniously checked the contents of the ring.

"_ _!"

Her eyes shot wide open.

Turning my head and seeing Angelica's shocked expression, I smiled.

"Those things are pretty useless to me, but I figured you might like them..."

Since we were in an organization controlled by those that signed contracts with demons, the rewards I received were things I could use, like the devil fruit.

But just because I could use it didn't mean that Angelica couldn't.

The things stored inside of the ring should definitely boost her strength, and given her current reaction, it seemed like I wasn't wrong.

Knock- Knock-

But just as Angelica was looking through the contents of the ring in shock and elation, someone suddenly knocked on the door of the room.

Chapter 338: Setting The Pieces In Motion [2]

338 Setting the pieces in motion [2]

Ko Knock-

The moment the door knocked, my head snapped in its direction.

Staring at Angelica who was also staring at the door, I put my finger on my mouth and urged her to hide.

Ko Knock-

The door knocked once more.

Taking the mask and putting it on, I hoarsely said.

"Coming."

-Gulp!

I quickly chugged onto a potion. Slowly, the mana inside of my body started recovering, albeit slowly.

Glancing around the room to make sure that Angelica wasn't within sight, I extended my hand towards the right side of the wall.

Ci Clank-

Upon touching the wall, the side of the wall lit up slightly and the door unlocked with a click.

"Who is it?"

Showing an annoyed look, I opened the door and looked at the one responsible for disturbing me.

This time, I wasn't acting.

I truly was annoyed.

"Hello."

Standing opposite to me was a Duergar wearing a typical guard uniform. One that most guards wore, although they were a little bit too big for him.

'Is he a new guard?'

I wondered to myself.

Glancing left and right, I noticed that he was someone that I had never seen before.

My brows instantly knit.

"Who are you? Are you my newly assigned guard?"

"No sir."

The Duergar replied, shaking his head.

"Than what is it?"

"I'm here to drop something off."

He briefly replied in a low tone.

My eyes squinted at his words.

"...Drop something?"

"Something by D.W."

At the mention of D.W. my eyes opened up slightly.

Taking a step to the side, I gestured for the guard to come in.

"Get in. Don't disturb me while I'm working."

"Okay."

The guard nodded his head and entered the room.

Once the guard stepped into the room, subtly glancing towards my left and right, I closed the door.

Ci Clank-

Upon closing the door, I turned to face the guard that had just arrived.

Extending my hand, I asked.

"Do you have it?"

"Yes."

Taking something out from his dimensional space, the guard handed me a familiar black bracelet.

The moment my eyes landed on the black bracelet, they instantly lit up.

"Thank you very much."

Snatching the bracelet away from the guard, I quickly looked through its contents.

'...looks like everything is here.'

Making sure that nothing was missing, the smile on my face grew.

That's right, the bracelet in my hand was in fact my bracelet.

Because I knew that the duergars would strip me of everything, and I wasn't too keen on ingesting the bracelet again, I asked Waylan and Douglas if there was a way to have the bracelet delivered to me.

Fortunately, it seemed to be possible.

Although the location of Inferno was hidden, they still had portals.

With the aid of one of the upper-echelon of the dwarfs, we managed to contact one of the spies put in Inferno and had him deliver the bracelet to me.

The D.W. Stood for Douglas and Waylan. It was a small keyword to indicate to me that they were the ones who sent the duergar. If not for that, I would've been extremely wary, and perhaps have even resorted to extreme methods.

That aside, this saved me a lot of trouble since I had carefully prepared a lot of things beforehand. Now that I had the bracelet with me, things would start progressing much more smoothly.

In fact, I also had a few new things that I was sure the duergars would absolutely love.

Whilst I was looking through the bracelet, looking back towards the door, the guard spoke up.

"I have delivered the package, I should be leaving now. If I stay any longer our roles will be compromised."

His tone sounded a bit worried.

"Hm, ah, yea."

Because I was too engrossed in checking my bracelet, I completely forgot about the guard's existence.

'He's got a point.'

Given Karl's character, for him to be talking to a guard for so long would make no sense. Since this whole place was under strict surveillance, everyone that came into contact with me would be put under heavy scrutiny.

Especially since I was a very important person right now.

This was why I quickly dismissed him.

"You can go. If you find anything strange do report it to me."

"Yes."

After my words, turning around the 'guard' headed for the door.

But just as the guard was about to leave, recalling something, I spoke up.

"Wait a second."

"Yes?"

Halting his steps, the guard tilted his head in confusion.

"Give me a second."

I proceeded to take out multiple pieces of paper and a pen from my dimensional space. Then, holding onto the pen with my right hand, moving onto a desk, I quickly wrote something on each paper.

Since I couldn't get in contact with anyone outside of Inferno, the only way I could communicate to the outside would be through the guard over here.

Aside from warning Waylan and Douglas about the situation, I also wanted to give Smallsnake and the others a heads up.

Things were going to be a bit hectic soon, and they too will have a small role to play soon.

"...done."

It didn't take long for me to write the message.

Aside from a few words about how much I missed them and how my life without them was devastating, I wrote a few things regarding the plan.

Putting the pen down, I smiled in satisfaction.

Folding each paper neatly, I handed them to the guard.

"Here, take this. When you have time, deliver these to the same people that gave you the bracelet. You don't have to worry about finding them, just hand them to the guy who gave you the bracelet and he should know what to do."

Since Waylan knew who they were, he would have no trouble delivering them the letters. Plus, this could also give him an excuse to meet them and perhaps even teach them a thing or two.

"...I understand."

Taking the pieces of paper, the guard put them away. After that, lowering his head slightly, he opened the door and finally left.

Ci Clank-

Silence once again descended on the room.

Angelica who had been hiding the whole time finally revealed herself.

Since the only people that were aware that I worked with Angelica were Waylan, Douglas, I couldn't quite expose her identity just yet.

"Have you sorted everything out?"

She asked.

Her tone sounded extremely annoyed.

Turning my head in her direction, I nodded slightly.

"Yeah, we should no longer have any more distractions. Feel free to do whatever you want to do."

In hindsight, her annoyance was understandable.

Whenever she had to hide, she would always have to consume a lot of energy.

I couldn't be blamed though. Not my fault I was popular.

"...Okay."

Unaware of what I was thinking, much to my fortune, closing her eyes, Angelica sat down on the ground and started to practice.

Staring at her for a brief moment, I stretched my arms.

'Gotta get to work as well.'

Time waited for no one, and each second I lazed around, the greater the danger the city would be in.

As such, after a while, turning around I sighed and walked back towards the panel.

'Let's see if Jomnuk kept his word.'

Tapping on my bracelet, I took out a small squared metallic box.

At the side of the box was a small hole that was about the size of a finger. Without hesitation, I put my finger on the hole.

-Shua!

Right as my finger entered the hole, the box lit up and a holographic projection soon appeared next to me.

Squinting, I looked at the projection next to me.

Moving my hand across the projection, my brows furrowed tightly.

"...this is a lot more complicated than I thought...at least he's kept his words."

Projected in front of me were the instructions on how to disable the second beacon. However, much to my surprise, the instructions were completely different from the first beacon.

In fact, they weren't similar in the slightest.

"...I get that you did this to make it harder for the duergars to compromise the defensive system, but why am I the one that needs to do all the work?'

I grumbled to myself.

Although I was grumbling, my eyes never stopped studying the projections in front of me.

In order to buy me more time, and prove my worth, I needed to deactivate a couple more beacons.

My goal was simple.

Just when things looked to be on the duergars side, that'd be the moment I would finally make a move.

***

[Lock, research facilities.]

SHUOM-

A terrifying flame completely engulfed a white room, enveloping it like a curtain. The bright and ferocious flame was so hot that black spots started forming on the glass that allowed one to oversee the insides of the room.

The fire curtain spread around the room at incredible speeds, till finally, it completely enveloped the room.

As the fire spread, if one looked closely, a bright light shone in the middle of the room. It was so bright that it even outshone the light coming from the fire.

The light within the brilliant flame soon became increasingly clear as time passed and the flame lost some of its powers. Finally, the flame weakened completely and a small red card appeared in the middle of the room.

Clamped by two large metallic arms, complicated runes and engravings appeared in the middle of the card.

Once the flame completely died down, only smoke could be seen in the room. But it wasn't long before that also disappeared as the ventilation system quickly got rid of it too.

[Experiment log #11286. - Mana lingering in room : 30%]

A metallic voice suddenly sounded from above.

With both hands pressing on the windowsill, a beautiful girl looked at the scene within the room with astonishment.

"30%? ...I did it, didn't I?"

An incredulous and almost relieved look appeared on Melissa's face as she stared at the card in the middle of the room.

She couldn't believe it.

After working on the project for over a year now, she had finally managed to get some results.

She had finally managed to reduce the efficiency loss to 30%.

Although it sounded like a lot, she went from 49% around a year ago all the way to 30% in just a year.

That was a massive improvement on a system that she had to develop all by herself. Furthermore, the value wasn't just any value.

The value signified that she could now commercialize the product. Soon, money would start endlessly coming into her pockets.

"Kekeke."

Just the thought made her chuckle like a deranged person.

Standing next to Melissa, with both hands on her mouth, her assistant muttered.

"Melissa? …we did it didn't we?"

"Who is we?"

Melissa sharply said, no longer laughing.

Pointed at herself, she corrected Rosie.

"It's me who did. There is no we."

"…ah, I didn't mean it that way." Rosie quickly apologized.

It was true.

Melissa was the one that did all the work. All she did was watch from the side and help her clean up the room.

Stroking her small delicate chin, Rosie took her eyes away from the room and softly said.

"Hmm, technically speaking if you count the other person in the group, it could count as we."

"Ah?"

Unfortunately for Rosie, Melissa heard it all.

She then looked at her in disgust.

"Him? He did nothing. I was the one that did all the work. He can die for all I care."

"But isn't he already dead?"

Being the one that was responsible for cleaning up after Melissa's mess, she knew who the other partner was.

Of course, Melissa made her sign a contract in order to keep her mouth shut.

"How can he die when he's already dead?"

She joked.

But contrary to the reaction she expected, once she looked at Melissa, she realized that her face was completely stiff.

"...Melissa?"

Hearing Rosie's words, Melissa's brow twitched.

She forgot that only she and Amanda knew that Ren was still alive.

Turning around she walked towards a nearby desk.

Her next words confused Rosie to no end.

"...You're right Rosie. I'd be very surprised if he was still alive. So surprised that I might end up killing him again.Of course, by accident."

Chapter 339: Setting The Pieces In Motion [3]

339 Setting the pieces in motion (3]

"...That took way too long."

I muttered wearily, taking my eyes away from the panel in front of me.

It has been about a week ever since I infiltrated the place, and so far, everything was progressing smoothly.

Well, sort of.

The deactivation of the second beacon took a lot longer than my initial expectations.

Compared to the first beacon, the process was a lot different.

The whole process was coded in a completely different manner compared to the first beacon, making it almost impossible for me to complete it quickly.

Any wrong step and I would end up locking the whole system.

Furthermore, the panel I was currently using was less advanced than the one I previously used when deactivating the first beacon.

With those factors added together, the whole process took a lot longer than originally anticipated.

Fortunately, using the excuse that Jomnuk's memories were too jumbled up and that I needed to reorganize them properly, I managed to placate some of the impatient elders.

It wasn't easy, but given my previous performance, they let it slide.

It had to be noted that they were all individuals whose minds were corrupted by demonic energy, so the fact that I managed to calm them down was a miracle in itself.

"Are you done?"

A cold voice reached my ears. It was Angelica.

"Yeah, I'm pretty much done."

Before I knew it, Angelica was standing next to me, looking at the panel in confusion.

Seeing the confusion on her face as she looked at the panel, I shook my head at her.

"Don't bother trying to understand it, even I don't know what I did. I won't be able to explain even if you asked."

I only did what the instructions told me to do.

I had no real idea of what I was doing.

Had I known what I was doing, then perhaps I would've completed it at a much faster pace.

"I see..."

Relaxing her brows, Angelica proceeded to move towards where Tomnuk was.

Standing next to him, she put her hand on the helmet and asked, "What should we do with him?"

"Him?… Good question."

Turning around and staring at Karl, I frowned.

"Also, don't touch that. I don't know what that thing does."

It was a fact that I couldn't kill him.

If he died, then everyone would know that I wasn't the real Karl. After all, the demon that he was contracted with would definitely report back.

That was part of why I didn't want Angelica to touch the helmet. If something happened to Karl, then everything would come crashing down.

"Okay."

Fortunately, Angelica understood that. She removed her hand from the helmet.

"Thanks."

Thanking Angelica, I turned my attention back towards Karl.

'Could I use him to my advantage?" I pondered.

So far, the plan that I set up was perfect. At least, that's how it seemed to me.

But I knew better than anyone else that no plan was ever perfect.

Even if there were no apparent flaws in a plan, anything could ruin it at any time. There were too many unknown variables to account for, especially in my situation.

Perhaps, due to some external factor, or even a minor miscalculation, the whole plan could crumble at any time. And that, I couldn't afford to have.

Although I had a plan B, it wouldn't hurt to come up with a plan C.

Pinching the middle of my brow, I spoke up after a while.

"Leave him be for now. I'll figure something out while I'm at it."

"...Okay."

"Good."

Turning my attention back towards the panel, I double-checked the values to make sure that nothing was wrong.

'Everything looks correct.'

None of the values seemed out of place.

"...Here goes the second beacon."

Once I checked and made sure that there were no errors, I pressed onto the final key.

Di. Ding-

"Haa…. Done."

Once I pressed on the keyboard and initiated the deactivation of the second beacon, leaning back on my chair, I closed my eyes for a brief moment.

'I wonder… Just how much damage will the second beacon's loss do to the city defense?'

The first beacon's deactivation weakened the barrier considerably.

Perhaps the second beacon would have a similar effect, if not worse.

Opening my eyes, I then proceeded to tap on the panel.

Before long, video images appeared in front of me and I took a look at the situation outside.

***

At the same time, in Henolur's outer walls.

"The second beacon is down!"

A panicked scream echoed the hymn of despair in the hearts of all dwarves.

Right as those words faded, one of the lights in the sky started to fade away before completely disappearing.

Those who were standing below and witnessed the scene firsthand had horrified looks on their faces as they vividly watched the barrier once again lose color.

"It's the second beacon!"

"Oh almighty, what in the world is happening here?"

Crack! Crack! Crack-

But just as it looked like things couldn't get any worse, enormous cracks started to appear on the surface of the barrier.

Before long, the cracks slowly started expanding all over the barrier's surface.

BANG-! BANG-!

As the cracks formed continuously, on the other side of the barrier, the demons attacked with greater ferocity. As they attacked, they had bloodthirsty, savage expressions on their faces.

BANG-！

To those standing behind the barrier, it looked as though the attacks were working as the earth shook and the blasts were no longer getting dispersed like they used to before. Even the barrier seemed to shake in the face of such an onslaught.

"Over here."

Standing at the very bottom, right at the edge of the barrier, Hein glanced behind him and pointed towards a small crack forming on the surface.

"There's a crack forming over here! Quickly report this to Smallsnake!"

"Got it."

Ava solemnly replied and took out a communication device from her dimensional space.

With Smallsnake and Ryan taking care of the logistics, they had asked her and the others to report to them whenever they saw a crack form on the barrier.

As she was taking out her communication device, turning her head right, towards Newton, she ordered, "Newton, go check if there are any more small cracks forming."

*Twiit*

Twirling, Newton flapped its wings and flew in the air.

In a couple of seconds, it was already high up in the air, searching for any possible cracks on the shield.

"Good boy."

Once Newton flow off her shoulder, Ava quickly sent a message to Smallsnake and told him of her findings.

"There is a crack in the location that I'm currently in. So far, the crack looks small. but it appears as though it is increasing in size, although very slowly. I've sent you the coordinates already. Check it out when you have time."

Click-

Once she reported everything, turning off the communication device, Ava looked at Hein.

"We're done with this site. Let's go look for more cracks."

"Okay."

Nodding, Hein left the area with Ava.

***

"This much damage with just the second beacon...?"

For the barrier to weaken that much, just from two of its beacons not working, it seemed like my previous thoughts were correct.

My plan had to be altered.

Originally, I had expected this type of weakening from the fourth beacon's deactivation, not the second.

But for it to be damaged this much by just losing two beacons, something had gone terribly wrong with my plans and they needed to be changed.

Not by much, but I now needed to operate at a faster pace.

"This is fucking annoying."

I was of course annoyed by the development. I couldn't help but curse out loud.

"What happened?"

Angelica asked from the side.

Turning to glance at her, I scratched the back of my head and sighed.

"Angelica, it looks like we have less time than I had expected."

"What do you mean by that?"

She asked, narrowing her eyes.

Massaging my forehead, I replied in an exasperated tone, "I mean that we are going to start moving either today or tomorrow."

"What..? But, didn't you say that you needed a month?"

"You're right, but things have changed..."

Just like Angelica said, the plan was originally going to span a month's period, just the right time to set everything up, but it looked like I was too naive.

Taking out a small communication device, I sat back on my chair and texted Waylan and the others.

With the dampener removed, I could now freely text whomever I wanted.

I could also share my location with the others.

In reality, I didn't really need the guys from the Monolith to lure the others in here, but that wasn't my only goal.

My goal in having the Monolith lure the others here was simple. I wanted to make it seem as though they were the ones responsible for the whole mess.

By doing so, I was trying to instigate conflict between Inferno and Monolith.

Having two of the main demon-contracted organizations fight against each other, how sweet was that?

Just thinking about it made me excited.

-...Ren

Disrupting me out of my thoughts was Waylan's voice.

Without even realizing it, Waylan had called me.

"I know."

He sounded a little absent-minded.

Most likely, he realized that our calculations were a little off.

But he wasn't a veteran for nothing. In a matter of seconds, he recomposed himself and asked.

-What do you suggest we do?

"I think we have no choice but to speed things up."

-I see...

A brief pause ensued.

Looking at the panel displaying the situation outside, I asked, "How are things on your end. You holding up well?"

'Last I heard, the Monolith should've already made it in. Did they do as I suggested?'

-Let's not talk about it. In fact, I'm quite relieved you're starting to move now. I think we underestimated the reaction of the dwarves regarding the sudden deaths of their comrades.

"That bad?"

Judging from his response, it seemed as though the Monolith had already started making its move.

-Yes. That bad.

"Damn..."

With the aid of Inferno, the members of Monolith infiltrated the city.

The process was a smooth one. They were able to do it under the dwarves' noses. But, the only reason why they made it in so easily was because of Waylan and Douglas. They gave them a little hand in secret.

After that, following the words that I had said, the members of Monolith started killing a few dwarves here and there.

Although their target was me, at the end of the day, Waylan and Douglas were also individuals that they wanted to get rid of.

They had no qualms with what Inferno asked them to do.

-If not for Douglas, I'm not too sure how I wouldn't have been kicked out of this place.

"What about the others? How are they faring?"

With the perception of humans becoming more negative because of the deaths, I hoped the others didn't get affected by it too much.

Fortunately, Waylan's next words relieved me a bit.

-Them? Hmm, their situation is a bit better. Since everyone's watched them fight with their life on the line, they are fairly respected. But I'm not sure how long that impression will last for...

Nodding, I replied, "I understand. Keep an eye on the members of Monolith. As soon as they move, proceed as planned."

-Wait...but are you going to be fine? The plan is proceeding way faster than anticipated, will you be able to handle the changes?

"Yeah, don't worry. Although it will be tough, I should be able to handle it," I reassured Waylan.

Although things were more annoying now. I wasn't completely helpless.

-Okay...if you say so.

Waylan replied, his voice sounding a little bit less concerned.

I guess the confidence in my speech helped him relax a little.

"Good. I'll contact you again when I'm about to make a move. Message me when the Monolith is going to make a move."

-Got it.

Turning off the communication device, I stood up and stared at the panel intently.

Then, turning to face Angelica, I muttered.

"I guess it's about time we start getting serious."

Chapter 340: Setting The Pieces In Motion [4]

340 Setting the pieces in motion [4]

Ci Clank!

Exiting the room I was staying in, I calmly looked at my surroundings.

'It's a lot quieter than I thought,' I thought.

Now that I was done with the deactivation of the beacons, it was now time that I properly scouted the place.

Since I had to suddenly hasten my plans, I decided to get everything ready within the next day or so.

The first step was to know the environment well.

Although I knew the general layout of the place thanks to some of the things Waylan had sent me, I wanted to get a proper look myself.

After all, seeing in person was much better than seeing through a small map. Moreover, the map was created by the spies sent by the dwarves. With everyone being strictly monitored, they were bound to miss something.

"Karl? What are you doing?"

But just as I took a couple of steps outside of my room, someone called out for me; it was the guard that had been assigned to me.

Turning around, I irritably said.

"What do you care what I do?"

My unfriendly tone was done so that the guard would get the idea, and leave me alone.

Unfortunately, the guard didn't seem to care.

Unfazed by my tone, he calmly said.

"I am your guard, of course, I care. Right now you're probably one of the most wanted duergar in the whole of Henlour. I was told never to leave your side."

'...ah, right, should've expected this.

In hindsight, he wasn't wrong. Being the one responsible for shutting down the beacons, my life was in quite a bit of danger.

Saying that I was the most wanted duergar wasn't a lie. I truly was.

Although I could probably defend myself now that I was <C+> rank. with my every move being watched, I couldn't carelessly kill anyone at the moment.

Plus...

Eyeing the guard next to me, I knew that his only goal wasn't just to guard me.

Most likely, he had been sent by the elders to keep watch of me.

It seemed like they still did not fully trust me.

Unaware of what I was thinking, the guard continued talking.

"We've already managed to stop two assassination attempts that were aimed for your life. If you go alone, I won't be able to protect you, and the elders would not let me go. For my life, I have to follow you."

"...Ugh, fine."

Listening to him continuously speak, I eventually relented.

His presence wasn't the worst thing ever. At the very least, he could protect me.

It would be pretty ironic if I died at the hands of a dwarven spy.

Since only a few individuals knew of my presence here, as of this moment, I was the enemy of all dwarfs.

"Thank you for understanding!"

Seeing me agree, the guard sighed in relief and thanked me.

He then proceeded to run up to me.

"So, where are you headed?"

He asked, finally catching up to me.

Glancing at him from the corner of my eyes, I responded.

"Just casually looking around. I've been in the room for too long. Need a breath of fresh air."

"Ah, I see."

The guard repeatedly nodded his head in understanding.

He then started complimenting me out of nowhere.

"With what you've achieved, getting a little bit of rest is the least you deserve. Your achievements are truly something noteworthy. With you, we might very well be able to finally cleanse this place of those bastards."

"...right."

Listening to the guard speaking, I kept an indifferent and stoic face.

Whatever he was saying, just went from one ear to the other.

After a while of this nonsense, just as I was about to get fed up bv his bootlicking. a thought suddenly struck me.

'Wait, why don't I put the guard to good use?'

since he insisted on following me, might as well have him be my guide.

As he was a guard, without a doubt he knew the ins and outs of the place.

Perhaps this may turn into a more fruitful opportunity than I imagined.

Making up my decision, turning my attention back to the guard, I opened my mouth and ordered.

"Oy, give me a tour of the place."

"You what?"

At my unexpected request, the guard halted his steps and looked at me with an incredulous expression.

Also halting my steps, I looked back and asked in confusion.

"What's wrong?"

"A tour? ...have you not seen the place already?"

"No."

I shook my head and continued to move forward.

Stroking my long beard, I muttered.

"I spend most of my time doing research. I've never bothered to check this place out so I've got no clue about where I'm going. Since you like talking so much, be useful and tell me about the place."

As I was talking, I secretly glanced at the guard from the corner of my eyes, hoping that he didn't notice anything strange.

Although my request sounded a bit suspicious, given Karl's character, I was probably not that far off from the truth.

After all, in his description, it did say that he was a research fanatic. Never left his room as he wanted to continue his research on memory extraction.

In fact, he spent so much time researching that not many knew how he acted. This was why I was able to somewhat get away with the things I was doing.

The fact that the guard didn't seem too shocked by my request was a testament to this, much to my fortune.

"Ah, I see."

And I was indeed correct.

After the initial shock of my request and thinking things through, the guard quickly recovered before nodding his head.

"I would be more than delighted by this request...if you would please."

Picking up his pace, he started walking ahead of me.

As he walked, he said.

"I'Il make sure to give you a detailed tour of the place. By the end of it, you will know the whole place as if it was your own house."

Walking behind him, upon hearing his words, I suddenly smiled.

"I couldn't ask for anything better."

***

[Lock, Class A-25]

"Hey, what have you been doing this past month? You've been acting awfully suspicious."

Emma poked Kevin who was packing up beside her.

Standing up and putting both hands on the table, she looked at Kevin who was still seated.

"You also seem a lot more cheerful than before...did something good happen?"

"Not particularly."

Kevin replied, putting his notebook and tablet away in his dimensional space.

"Then why are you acting so suspiciously? Going out of the academy repeatedly, spending more time training in your room rather than at the training grounds, and even laughing to yourself at random times…Something isn't adding up."

The more she spoke, the smaller her eyes became.

Lifting his head and staring at Emma's beautiful face, Kevin thought for a moment before standing up.

"Follow me, I've got something to tell you."

"Wa-wait!"

But before Emma could protest, grabbing onto her wrist, he dragged her out of the classroom.

"Kevin what are you doing? Let go of me!"

Ci Clank-!

Exiting the building, Kevin soon headed for a rather secluded area.

"Kevin let go of me!"

Along the way, Emma would protest, but regardless of how much she protested, Kevin did not let go.

On another note, Emma's resistance was pretty weak. If she wanted to she could've easily gotten herself free.

Stopping in a rather secluded area, one devoid of any students, Kevin finally let of Emma's wrist.

"W-what are you trying to do."

Holding onto her wrist, Emma looked at Kevin; her face was dyed red in embarrassment.

Her thoughts were running wild.

'W-what do I do!? Is he planning on doing what I think he's doing…is he planning on confessing to me?'

Holding onto the side of her face, Emma could feel her cheeks burning up.

Staring at Kevin who was in front of her, Emma's continued to have wild thoughts as she couldn't help but fall into her own delusions.

'...should I say yes or no? although I do like Kevin, I don't know if this is the right time. We've just become third years and...'

Unaware of what Emma was thinking, Kevin, checked his surroundings to see if there was anyone present.

Then, waving his hand, he formed a small barrier around them.

"Good, no one is her-"

"A...are perhaps trying to..."

Emma shyly said from the side, cutting Kevin off.

Tilting his head, Kevin asked.

"Hm? Trying to do what?"

"You know c..con-"

"Emma I know where your father is."

Before Emma could finish her sentence, Kevin cut her off and went straight to the point.

"Con...c-What?"

Throwing Emma off guard, the moment she processed Kevin's words, her body froze and her face stiffened.

Turning her attention back towards Kevin, her face frosted. Gone was her previous flustered appearance.

"What did you just say?...You better not be messing with. I will never forgive you if you do that."

Looking back into Emma's eyes, Kevin answered seriously.

"I'm not joking, I know where your father is."

"...how?"

Biting her lips, Emma's shoulders trembled slightly. The side of her eyes reddened slightly.

Raising her hand, she pointed her finger at Kevin.

"Y...you better not be messing with me, Kevin. I am warning you."

'I am not. I know where he is."

Grabbing onto Kevin's shoulders, Emma desperately said.

"Tell me...please...I want to know."

Three years.

She had not seen her father for three years.

Ever since his disappearance, her life had slowly become miserable.

Rumors that her father had died continuously spread throughout her family, and her position slowly started to fall more and more.

It had gotten to the point where she couldn't even step foot into that place before someone would try looking for trouble with her.

She couldn't take it anymore.

Moreover, she couldn't accept her father's death. How could he, one of the strongest humans in existence die? Emma couldn't accept it.

But as time passed, and after receiving no contact from him for the past three years, her belief in her father slowly started to fade away.

'Perhaps he truly died.'

Emma thought to herself sometimes in her room multiple times. Perhaps he had truly died and the reason he couldn't contact her was because he couldn't.

And the more time passed, the more she started to believe this.

But just when she had given up and was starting to come to terms with it, Kevin suddenly dropped a bombshell on her.

How could she not be this shocked?

"Is he okay? ...did something happen to him?"

The number of questions she wanted to ask were endless, but what she wanted to know the most was whether he was okay or not.

All that mattered to her was whether her father was doing well or not.

"Calm down."

Grabbing onto Emma's wrist, Kevin smiled.

"He's doing fine."

Emma raised her head.

Her weak and fragile figure pained Kevin's heart.

"...h...he is?"

She weakly said, tears dripping down the side of her cheek.

Wiping one of the tears from her face, Kevin smiled.

"He is doing well."

The moment he said those words, as though all of the pain and resentment she had bottled up over the past few years had disappeared, Emma finally smiled.

"I...is that so...I'm glad....I'm so glad..."

It was a smile filled with relief.

But to Kevin, who was standing opposite to her, the smile looked like the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

"Kevin?"

It was only after Emma called out for him that he realized that he had fallen into a trance.

Scratching the back of his head, he tried his best to hide his embarrassment.

"Ah, yes, as I was saying, your father is currently with the headmaster of the academy on a mission in the dwarven domain..."

And so Kevin soon started telling Emma about what he knew.

He of course did not tell her about Ren and the fact that a war was happening, but the more he talked, the bigger her smile became, and the more entranced he became with it.

***

At the same time, Leviathan building, Lock.

Clank-!

The window of a particular room opened up and the sound of light footsteps echoed across the empty room.

Step. Step. Step.

It wasn't long before the footsteps halted.

As the footsteps stopped, a large shadow cast on the wooden floor of the room, right next to a large wooden desk.

Extending his hand, the shadow reached out for the bookshelf on top of the wooden desk. Soon the shadow took a small rectangular object.

Upon touching the rectangular object, the shadow halted for a second. Then, putting it on the table, the shadow's long and slender fingers were revealed.

Flip- Flip-

Soon, a sound similar to that of pages flipping sounded.

The sound continued for a couple of seconds before the shadow's body started to tremble uncontrollably.

What followed after, was a raspy voice that chilled the whole room.

“...ku, ku, ku, I've finally found you."

Chapter 341: Taking The Initiative [1]

341 Taking the initiative [1]

Halting his steps in front of a large metallic door, the guard paused for a moment.

Placing his small blue hand by the side of the door, the metallic structure rumbled and slowly opened up.

Rumble-

Once the door was halfway open, the guard started talking.

"This over here is the artifact testing area. As you're probably aware, this place is dedicated to testing artifacts and their power."

"Oh? I've heard of this place."

Walking into the room, I pretended to be unamused by what I saw.

In truth, I was beyond shocked. With all sorts of complex machinery around the room, duergars could be seen testing all sorts of artifacts.

BANG-

Covered in sophisticated equipment, the duergars tested weird-looking artifacts against some sort of odd machinery. Displayed on the machine was all sorts of data which other duergars looked at by the side, taking notes on their holographic- looking devices.

Some of the artifacts were so powerful that I could sense the mana in the air convering towards it.

Keeping a straight face had never been more difficult for me.

'...I wonder if I can steal them.'

I thought to myself.

Oddly enough, that was the first thing I thought as I looked at the artifacts. I couldn't be blamed though.

Each one of the artifacts present would sell for astronomical prices back in the human domain.

To be honest, the probability of me being able to steal them was low, but a man could dream, right?

'Mhm... Actually, it's not impossible for me to steal them...'

A wild thought suddenly entered my mind.

If everything proceeded as planned, then, perhaps, I may be able to take some of the stuff here.

Unaware of the thoughts I was having, standing next to me, the guard patted the side of the walls.

"The walls of the facility are made of Rhimestone, ensuring some solid safety. This way, our researchers can conduct experiments without restraint."

"Rhimestone?"

I raised my brow in mild surprise.

From what I remember, Rhimestone was an incredibly sturdy rock that could withstand heavy impacts.

It was also ridiculously expensive.

Tracing his finger across the wall, the guard nodded in affirmation.

"That's correct. This whole place is made of Rhimestone. Because of it, we don't have to worry about the facility if the artifacts ever do malfunction. The walls over here can withstand the full-blown attack of an <SS> ranked artifact."

"They'd be stupid if they didn't do this much."

I responded, trying my best to memorize the layout of the place.

This place might turn out to be more useful than I thought.

"Is this place isolated from the other areas?" I carefully asked.

Depending on his answer, I could probably make up for the sudden time increase.

Now, it was no longer a matter of greed. This place could be instrumental to my plans.

"Isolated? Are you asking whether the mana fluctuations and the like reach outside of this place?"

"Yea."

"Ah, got it. In that case, no. Everything in this place is completely isolated. Take a look over there."

The guard pointed towards the corner of the room, where a lone monitor stood.

"That machine over there measures the mana density in the room. When the mana density reaches a certain level, it will trigger a defensive mechanism and activate the security system, which in turn will shut the whole place down."

"If it shuts down, what about the ones stuck inside? Do they have a chance to flee? I assume this must happen in a matter of seconds."

"Ah, them?" The guard looked at the duergars working on the artifacts in the distance before shaking his head. "They'll be sealed inside, and probably die. We don't want to take any risks. For better or worse, everyone here knows how the system works so they come prepared to die at any time."

Pity flashed across the guard's eyes as he looked at the researchers in front of him.

"Either way, if they do end up surviving, the system will deactivate as soon as it judges that the mana density in the room is at safe levels."

"...I see."

'That's quite ruthless of them.'

In order to make sure the threat would not go outside of the room, they were prepared to have anyone inside die.

Though I didn't really care about what happened to the people here, I did feel that Inferno had taken some excessive measures.

They were ready to sacrifice their own, after all.

It would be a pity to lose so many talented researchers.

Still, the information was actually quite useful to me.

The plan that I had previously envisioned became much more feasible.

"Shall we go to the next area?"

The guard called out to me, moving towards the door of the facility.

Taking one last glance at the facility, nodded.

"Yes."

***

[Leviathan building, Lock]

Ci-Clank-!

"Haaa..."

Returning to his room, Kevin let out a long, extended sigh.

It took a while for him to calm her down as the news had truly shocked her, but Kevin did not regret telling the truth to Emma.

Remembering her relieved smile, a small smile of his own appeared on Kevin's lips.

"I'm glad she's feeling better."

Because of what was happening with her family, Emma had been going through a lot of stress.

For her to finally show a happy smile, Kevin felt warmth in his heart.

"Huam… I'm tired."

Yawning, Kevin headed towards his room.

This morning, he had trained with Jin and Donna for over six hours. Kevin was understandably tired.

Although it was only seven in the afternoon, Kevin decided to head to bed.

Pomf!

Slumping on the bed, Kevin felt the soft covers gently embrace him.

'I should be able to rank up soon.'

Kevin thought as he stared at the ceiling of the room.

He had broken through to <C-> rank not too long ago, but he felt that he could already breakthrough to <C> within a month's time.

His rate of progress was nothing short of astonishing. The only one that could keep up with his speed was Jin.

With all of the resources at his disposal, thanks to his family, Jin's rate of improvement was just as impressive.

Kevin estimated that by the end of the year, he and Jin would at least reach <B-> or <B> rank.

After that, though, he estimated that his rate of progress would slow down considerably.

According to the professors, once someone reaches <A> rank, the rate of progress would decrease dramatically.

'Right…I wonder what rank Ren is. It's been a while since I had last seen the book.'

Lifting his head up, Kevin looked towards his bookshelf right above the desk.

"Hm?"

Suddenly, his brows knit in consternation.

Standing up, Kevin walked towards his desk. His face was extremely serious.

Walking towards his desk, he looked through the bookshelf. However, despite how hard he looked, he couldn't find the red book.

"What in the..."

Frantically looking through his bookshelf, Kevin tried to find the red book. But, no matter how much he searched, he couldn't find it.

'No… this cannot be!'

Despair momentarily took hold of Kevin's heart, until he felt something hit his feet.

-Tock!

"Huh?"

Looking down, much to Kevin's surprise, he found the red book on the floor, open and facing upwards.

"Did it drop?"

Looking up towards his bookshelf, he found it plausible.

Bending over, Kevin picked up the book.

Looking at the book in his hand, Kevin had an ominous feeling.

But, he couldn't quite understand where it was coming from.

"Oh, well."

After a while, shaking his head, Kevin opened the book and proceeded to read through its contents.

***

[Henolur]

Waylan made a call through an encrypted line.

"The members of Monolith seem to be on the move. They are heading towards your location. Should I proceed as planned?"

-Yes. When you're ready, message me.

The voice belonged to none other than Ren.

"What other plans do you have?" Waylan asked.

-I found some useful information while I was looking around the place today. I'm going to set up a different portal over there. Get those that you trust to join you in the operation. Whilst everyone iS distracted outside, we will attack from the inside.

"Haaa…"Waylan let out a sigh, "Are you confident?"

-No, not really. But...

Ren responded after a short pause.

Hints of doubt could be felt in Ren's voice.

It looked like he wasn't too confident with the operation. Still, the small 'but' at the end intrigued Waylan.

"But what?"

-...But I can make it work. It'll be hard, but I can do it.

"Ren."

Waylan's face turned serious.

"I have no choice but to trust you. Me and Douglas, both our asses are on the line. The reason we chose to put ourselves in this situation is because we believe in you and your plan."

-Having second thoughts?

Ren teasingly answered from the other side of the call.

"No. I trust you."

So far, everything went according to Ren's plans.

Ignoring the fact that if the mission failed he truly would be in big trouble, Waylan was impressed with what Ren had shown him.

Ren was a sort of strategist and a man of action. He had already proven to him his capabilities. There was no time for doubt.

"You've already shown me enough to believe in you... Be careful, though. I don't want you dying on me just yet."

-Well, let's just say that it takes a lot to kill me. I'm a bit of a cockroach, you see...

"Odd thing to compare yourself to, Ren."

Waylan shook his head with a smile.

"I'll do as you said. I've got to go now. I need to go speak to the elders."

-Got it. Best of luck.

"You too."

Di. Dun-

Waylan put the communication device away.

"Haaa..."

Letting out a deep breath, Waylan fixed his clothes and proceeded to make his way towards a large familiar door in front of him.

The door couldn't be considered large in the conventional sense, as it was about five meters in height. But given that it was made for dwarves, in a way it was.

Arriving in front of the door, Waylan put both hands on it and pushed.

Cla- Clank-

Upon pushing the door open, a familiar sight met Waylan.

Sitting around a large, semi-circular wooden desk, he saw all of the higher ranked elders and individuals of the dwarven domain.

The Council of Dwarves.

However, the dignity and passion they held themselves with seemed to have dimmed. Compared to the last time he saw them, they had haggard, tired looks. It seemed as though the situation with the barrier had made them go through sleepless nights.

The moment Waylan stepped in, all eyes were on him. Some were neutral, some even unfriendly. Yet, there were few filled with curiosity.

But, in general, most gazes were filled with resentment. It was understandable, though. If not for his failure in protecting Jomnuk, none of this would have ever happened.

Feeling the resentment-filled stares, smiling, Waylan paid no heed to them and walked towards the center of the room.

Upon arriving in the middle of the room, with his back straight, Waylan looked at everyone present. His gaze unafraid, he stood tall and proud.

No matter what, Waylan couldn't look weak.

After a brief pause, he opened his mouth to address the Dwarven Council.

"Thank you for granting me your time despite the predicament you face.."

Pausing, Waylan looked at each and every individual present. Be it dwarf, orc, or elf, all eyes were on him.

No one talked or disrupted him in the brief silence.

His eyes soon paused on Douglas. He encouragingly nodded in his direction with a calm smile. Yes, Waylan might have forgotten it for a second.

He had someone to support him here.

Smiling back, Waylan spoke with even greater suave.

"The reason why I've gathered you here is simple. In two days..."

Everyone stared at him. None ignored him. This was it.

"I plan to end this war."

The moment Waylan bet his own life had come.

Chapter 342: Taking The Initiative [2]

342 Taking the initiative［2]

"...I've got a way to stop the war."

A palpitating almost chilling silence enveloped the hall as everyone stared at Waylan in the middle of the room.

Before anyone could speak or voice out their objections, Waylan continued speaking.

"Yes, I know what you guys are thinking. Is he crazy? Is he out of his mind? Is he right in the head?…I'd also think the same if I were to be put in the same position as you all."

Waylan looked around before his eyes soon paused on Gernis, the Metropoliskeeper, and leader of the dwarfs.

"I know what I'm saying I absurd, but I really do have a way to end this war. You don't have to be-"

Unfortunately for Waylan, in the end, not everyone could keep themselves from voicing out their objections.

Standing up, one of the elders shouted.

"What n-"

"Quiet!"

A sharp voice echoed throughout the hall, cutting the elder off before he could formulate a sentence.

Glaring at the elder, Gernis solemnly said.

"I will nae permit any talking until he be done speaking."

His deep voice traveled through the ears of each individual present. A strong pressure came along the voice.

"...I apologize."

Reprimanded by Gernis, swallowing his pride, the dwarf apologized to Waylan who merely smiled in response.

Turning his attention back to Waylan, Gernis gestured for him to continue.

"Sorry for tha disturbance, ye may continue."

"Thank you." Waylan thanked. "As I was saying. I have a way to end this war. I know that you all must be doubting my words, hence why I came prepared."

Swiping his hand in the air, a scroll suddenly materialized out of nowhere.

"...What in the."

"A mana contract."

"Is that a mana contract?"

Everyone instantly recognized the scroll that appeared in Waylan's hands.

It was a mana contract.

Something that most individuals present in the hall had used once before, except the orcs of course.

"Correct."

Waylan said as he reached out for the contract in the air.

Grabbing the contract, he slowly unraveled it for everyone to see.

"Since none of you might believe me, I thought to myself. Is there a way to convince you guys that I'm not lying to you and that I truly know of a way to stop the war?"

Glancing at everyone in the room, Waylan flashed a smile.

"...Well, guess what? There truly is a way."

Waylan raised the hand that held onto the Scroll.

"This over here is the highest-ranked mana scroll that I could find. Meaning that it is of the highest rank available. If by any chance I breach the contract, according to the contract, I will instantly die, regardless of my rank."

As Waylan spoke, the eyes of the individuals in the room finally changed.

At the mention of the contract, the individuals who had previously treated this meeting as a mere joke finally had to change their stance.

The moment he took out the contract, they knew that this could no longer be a job.

Almost everyone in the room knew how a mana contract worked; therefore, they knew the severity of Waylan's words.

There were no falsehoods in his words, that was unless he didn't value his life.

At this moment, everyone in the room understood one thing, Waylan was putting his life on the line. He was putting his life on the line to prove to everyone present that he truly knew of a way to end the war.

"...You're being real?"

The first one to speak up was Randur. The dwarf that had been giving Waylan a hard time in the previous meeting.

Glancing at Randur, Waylan looked towards Gernis who was looking back at him.

His face clouded with unprecedented solemness.

After a while, opening his mouth, Gernis asked.

"Can I see tha contract?"

"Yea you can."

Waylan nodded with a smile. Evidently prepared to have been asked such a thing.

"Here you go."

Walking up to Gernis, Waylan handed him the contract.

As he moved, Waylan noticed everyone's eyes focus on him, or more specifically towards the contract in his hands.

"Let me have a look."

Taking the contract from Waylan's hands, Gernis started looking through it.

"Let me see just how valid your words be.."

Staring at Gernis who was looking through the contract to see if there were any loopholes, Waylan merely smiled.

He was confident that regardless of how much Gernis looked, there wouldn't be any loopholes.

Before singing it, he had gone through it with Douglas and Ren. As they were checking, they made sure to remove anything that the dwarfs could use as a point to dismiss his contract.

Fortunately, it seemed like they had indeed managed to remove all loopholes as an astonished look soon appeared on Gernis's face.

"You…to go this far..."

"What is it? Let me have a look."

Randur impatiently said as he eagerly looked at the contract in Gernis's hands.

"Have a look at it yourself."

Taking his eyes away from the contract, not minding Randur's attitude, Gernis passes the contract onto him who quickly snatched it and went through its contents.

"What in the..."

But just like Gernis, a shocked look appeared on his face as he looked through the contract.

"This...If I, Waylan Roshfield, do not have a way to stop the war, will die. If I, Waylan Roshfield, backstab the dwarves in any way, will die. If I, Waylan Roshfield..."

Opening his mouth, he started reciting the contents of the contract for everyone that was present in the room.

The more he spoke, the more shocked he was.

The contract was truly straight to the point. If he breached even a single point of the contract, he would die. He was leaving himself with no leeway to lie.

No matter how much Randur looked at it, there were no loopholes.

The others in the room also realized this as they all looked at Douglas with shocked eyes.

'Does he really know of a way to end the war?'

Everyone wondered.

Noticing the changes that were happening in the room, Waylan smiled in satisfaction.

'...Everything is going just as planned.'

Signing a mana contract was in fact his idea.

Although Ren was the one that came up with most of the plans, that didn't mean that he and Douglas were useless.

They also contributed to the plan by either polishing it or expressing their inputs on areas that needed to have further consideration.

One of the areas they needed to cover was how to have the leaders believe their words, and it was Waylan's idea to use the mana contract to shut everyone up.

Since everyone knew what it was, no explanation needed to be said when presenting it to the leaders.

The move worked flawlessly.

"...If I, Waylan Roshfield, break any one of these statements, I will die."

Disrupting him out of his thoughts was Randur who finally finished reciting the contents of the contract.

A heavy silence descended in the hall as Randur's words fade. The silence did not last for long as not long after, total chaos erupted in the hall.

"Is that really a mana contract. Do you really have a way to stop this war?"

"Human, tell us immediately how we can stop this war!"

"Is that a real mana contract?"

Everyone fervently looked at Waylan who was standing in the middle of the hall. All at once, everyone in the room kept asking question after question.

Under the barrage of questions, Waylan was a bit taken aback as he wrily smiled.

"...Please ask one at a time. I can't answer everyone at the same time."

He helplessly said.

"Silence everyone."

Coming to Waylan's aid was Gernis.

His powerful voice and aura spread throughout the whole hall, silencing everyone present.

Finally, much to Waylan's relief, all forms of noise ceased.

Nodding his head, turning his attention back towards Waylan, Gernis asked.

"Waylan, now that everyone is quiet, tell us what you want us to do."

To those in the hall, Gernis's words sounded normal, but Waylan knew what he meant when he said 'tell us what you want us to do.

Rather than asking Waylan about the plan, he had directly asked him about what they were supposed to do.

The implication behind those words was clear to Waylan.

'Avoid speaking about the plan, and just speak about what we need to do.'

It was clear to see that Gernis was aware of a possible spy hiding in their midst. If Waylan said all of his plans, there was a good chance that their plans would be exposed to the enemy and would end up no longer working.

"Yes, I will."

Nodding towards Gernis to gesture that he understood his intentions, Waylan looked towards everyone in the room.

"The plan is simple. In two days, come to this place. Make sure you bring as many subordinates as possible. Preferably, ones that can fight. The more the better."

His words instantly created another buzz in the hall as everyone started to discuss amongst themselves.

"Subordinates?"

"Ones that can fight?"

It wasn't long before someone asked him a question.

"Are you sure we should be bringing our strongest warriors? What about the barrier outside who is going to defend that?"

Expecting such a question, Waylan answered swiftly.

"Good question but you don't have to worry about that. The barrier is strong and sturdy enough to last at least a couple of days of constant attacks."

That was true, in fact, the barrier could probably last even a week.

The plan was going to be put in motion in a couple of days. By the time they were done with the operation, they wouldn't have to worry about the barrier not holding up anymore.

"How sure are you that this operation will succeed?" Randur asked from the side. "If something goes wrong with the operation, by the time we come back Henlour, the barrier is gonna be weakened to the point that we will be surrounded by all the demons. It's basically a do or die type of plan, no?"

At Randur's words, Waylan's merely smiled.

"You're correct; however I am confident in our chances of winning. You don't really have to worry about the barrier. It's a gamble. But it's a gamble that will guarantee you victory. From how things are going, even if the barrier does hold up, we are set to lose."

Though Waylan's words were harsh, he was merely speaking the truth.

From the way things looked, The probability of the dwarfs winning was quite low.

Even if the beacons still worked at the end of the day the number of demons attacking the city was endless.

Everyone in the room also understood this, hence why, after a brief silence, much to everyone's surprise, Randur spoke up.

"Okay. I will do as you said."

The moment Randur spoke, a look of shock appeared on the faces of some of the elders present.

It had to be noted that Randur was one of the dwarfs that were most vocal against Waylan, for him to suddenly agree, the other dwarven elders had no idea on how to respond apart from also agreeing.

"I will also do the same."

"Me too."

Soon, more and more joined in and agreed to the proposition.

***

"Looks like everything is set..."

Staring at the communication device in my hand, a smile crept up on my face.

I then glanced towards Angelica who was standing on my right.

"Get ready, we're about to move."

"Okay."

Right as those words faded, black smoke released from Angelica's body as she rapidly shrank.

Tick-

Once the black fog faded, what remained was a small tooth.

Bending over, I picked it up.

Cracka!

"Kh..."

Touching one of my teeth, I yanked it out of my body. Though it was painful, I did not show it outwardly.

This was nothing compared to what I went through at the Monolith.

Replacing the tooth with Angelica, I bit my teeth a couple of times before glancing at the room behind me.

A day has passed since Waylan told me that he had managed to convince the elders, now, I had just received a report from him telling me that the Monolith members seemed to be close to the Inferno headquarters.

According to Douglas, the one that was following them, they seemed to be closer to their 'target'.

Closing my eyes, I numbed down my emotions. Thereafter, I activated the chip inside of my head. Instantly, my brain functions sped up and everything became much clearer to me.

Ca Clank-

Extending my hand forward, I opened the door and exited the room.

'...time to piss off another major organization.'

Chapter 343: Beginning Of The Assault [1]

343 Beginning of the assault [17]

In a remote location of Henolur, four individuals walked through a long, narrow dark tunnel.

It had been about a day since they decided to accomplish their mission, and for that long period of time, they had been stuck going through the unending dark corridors.

For how long they walked, it seemed as though the number of tunnels was endless. Just when the group thought they were close, they would suddenly find themselves in front of a dead end.

It was then that the group of four realized they had taken things too lightly. Even though 876 had entered the city and managed to get away from their sight, there was no way he would just stay in the city without finding a proper hiding spot.

Di. Dang—

A dull metallic ring rang out.

"The signal disappeared again."

One of the four individuals spoke up, his voice echoing through the tunnels.

"Odd…"

Another one muttered. Holding onto a small, dimly lit lamp, the features of the individuals became slightly discernible. Long, silver coloured hair, a feminine-looking face, and a fairly skinny body. If not for the adam's apple protruding from his throat, someone could've easily mistaken the man for a woman.

Squinting, the silver-haired male scanned the surroundings.

"The same thing happened a day ago. He suddenly disappeared for a couple of hours."

Lowering his head and staring at the detector in his hand, the silver-haired male tapped the back of the device.

"…Or could it be that this thing is broken?"

Ever since arriving at Henolur, the group had kept constant watch over the tracking device. Oddly enough, at times, the tracker's signal would suddenly disappear, leaving them wondering whether something had gone wrong with the device.

"The more plausible conclusion is that 876 entered some sort of restricted area that blocks all forms of signals."

Another one of the members said.

"That's true…" The silver-haired male replied.

Moving the small lamp towards his right, the features of the individual who had just spoken were highlighted due to the light.

He had a tall and muscular stature, his biceps the size of a football. With short hair fashioned into a buzz cut, a large scar traced half of his face. Added with his sharp gaze, he looked extremely intimidating.

With his brows knit, the muscular man thought out loud.

"If he's in an area where the signal is constantly disrupted or shut off, we can assume that the place is extremely well-protected."

He turned to face the silver haired individual.

"…I suggest we wait for the signal to come back before deciding to ambush him."

"I agree, but we should first get an idea of where he is. Let's assess the situation after we know of the exact location he is hiding in. If we can handle it, we proceed as planned."

"Yes."

The muscular man nodded.

Di. Ding—

But it was then that the tracker rang again.

"The signal is back!"

The silver haired male shouted. Lowering his face to get a closer look at the device, his eyes jumped up in delight.

"We're close! We're almost at the location where that little rat is hiding."

Clenching onto the sides of the device, the silver haired individual smirked before picking up his pace.

"Quickly, follow me. We should soon be able to see that little bastard that has caused us so many problems."

Following his words, everyone increased their pace and headed deeper into the tunnel.

***

At the same time, not far from the members of Monolith.

Materializing a couple of meters away from them was Douglas, whose face contained unprecedented solemnity.

Staring at the members of the Monolith not so far from where he was, waving his hand, a transparent shield enveloped the area Douglas was in.

Then, whilst still hidden from the members of Monolith, Douglas threw a small device on the floor.

Tick—

The device didn't look particularly eye-catching, as it seemed rather dull and unassuming. But, the moment Douglas threw the device on the ground, the mana in the air suddenly twisted wildly. If anyone was present to witness the scene, they'd see several small tornadoes appear in the air, where the tip at the bottom funneled towards the device in the middle.

As time passed, more and more tornadoes formed, all converging towards the device in the middle.

Ci- Clank—

Before long, the device opened up and a small portal started to form. Because of the barrier, Douglas had formed, the residual mana that lingered in the air from the portal's activation did not leak outside. Therefore, the members of Monolith were completely oblivious to what was happening.

Vooom—!

It wasn't long before a large portal appeared in front of Douglas.

Turning his wrist, Douglas looked at the display of his watch.

[01H : 32M : 53S]

Once he finished checking the watch, lowering his hand, he took out a communication device from his dimensional space.

***

"You're done setting up?"

Waylan's voice echoed across the expansive hall.

—Correct. According to what I heard, we shouldn't be too far from the Inferno headquarters. Just in case, I double-checked with the coordinates that Ren sent me, and we shouldn't be too far.

Douglas's voice echoed outside of the communication device in Waylan's hands.

"That's perfect. I'll get everyone ready then."

—Good luck.

"You too."

Tick- Tock—

Turning off the communication device, Waylan turned to face the hall. The moment he did, he was met with thousands of stares directed solely at him, each belonging to either the dwarven elders or powerful individuals who fought at the frontlines.

Curiosity filled their eyes as they stared at Waylan who was standing opposite them with a calm smile on his face.

"Alright. I guess it's time we start."

Putting the device away, Waylan raised his hand to get everyone to stop talking.

"Everyone, I would like a moment of your attention, please."

The exact moment his words faded, everyone simultaneously stopped talking.

'Oh wow, they are a lot more obedient than I had expected.'

Mused Waylan as he looked at everyone in the hall.

Taking out a similar device to what Douglas had taken moments before, Waylan started speaking, "As you all already know, I have mentioned a way to end the war. Most of you here are probably confused by my words. After all, how can a human they have never seen before suddenly say such an absurd thing, especially when many of you couldn't find a single way…"

As Waylan spoke, no one interrupted him. There were some that did try to complain, but they were promptly stopped by one of their elders.

Staring at the scene in amusement, Waylan put the device in his hand down. He then pointed in its direction.

"As most of you already know, this over here is a teleportation device."

Lowering his body and activating it, the mana in the air slowly started to converge towards the box. Multiple different colored tornados swirled around the teleportation device.

Slowly, a portal started materializing in the middle of the hall.

While the portal was forming, looking at all of the individuals in the hall, Waylan mysteriously smiled.

"You want to know how to stop the war? If you want to know, all you have to do is step into this portal."

Pausing, Waylan saw worried looks flash by the faces of some of those present.

With a calm smile, he decided to assuage their fears.

"If you're worried that I will send you to some unknown location to trap you, fret not. If you check the contract that I signed, one of the terms there states, 'If I, in any way, try to scheme or work against the dwarves' benefit, I will die.'"

Patting his chest, his smile widened.

"As you all can see, I'm alive and well. There is no need to worry about me doing anything sketchy against you guys—Oh! The portal is ready."

Mid-speech, Waylan suddenly noticed that the portal was now ready.

Glancing at the watch on his wrist and taking a step to the side, Waylan pointed at the portal and said in an amused tone.

"I think I've said enough. Who wants to go first?"

[00 : 55M : 21S]

***

'They should have already started…'

Going out of my room, with the mask on my face and Angelica stuck in-between my teeth, as much as she hated it, I walked towards the room that the guard had shown me a few days ago.

"Master Karl, are ye going somewhere?"

But of course, the moment I took a step out of the room, the same guard came to greet me with a smile on his face.

"Taking a small break, are ye, Master Karl?"

"You can say so."

At the guard's questions, I gave an indifferent response and continued to head towards the artifact testing zone.

Already used to my dismissive attitude, the guard walked up next to me and rubbed his small blue hands togheter.

"If I may ask, where are you going?"

Staring at him from the corner of my eyes, I pretended to be irritated.

"Can you just shut up? I'm trying to have a break. Your constant yapping is getting on my nerves."

"I apologize."

At my harsh words, lowering his head, the guard apologized.

"Hmph."

Snorting, I turned my head and ignored the guard.

"Know your place."

*

Walking through a series of corridors and stairs while maintaining a steady, unhurried pace, I finally arrived at the artifact testing grounds.

"Artifact testing ground?"

The guard muttered as he stared at the room in front of him. He had followed me quietly up until now.

Clank—!

Ignoring the guard and placing the palm of my hand on the side of the door, a blue glow enveloped it and the door soon opened.

Before entering the room, halting my steps right at the edge of the room, I looked towards the guard and said with an annoyed look on my face.

"Stay out here, and don't follow me."

"Huh?"

The guard looked at me in surprise.

Raising my brow, my tone became harsher than before.

"Did you not hear me? I said, stay out of the room and guard me from there. Don't tell me you can't do this much."

"I can, but I—"

"Don't care."

Before the guard could even voice out his complaints, I entered the room and closed the door behind me.

Clank—

Once the door behind me closed, looking left and right, I walked ahead, pretending to look at the place.

BANG—! BANG—!

Just like the first time I came here, duergars could be seen testing all sorts of artifacts on the machinery present before them.

Because everyone was so focused on what they were doing, no one noticed my presence.

That was exactly what I wanted.

Walking around the place, I carefully scanned the room and took note of each and every piece of surveillance equipment installed in the room.

It didn't take long for me to spot all of the surveillance equipment that was installed in the room.

'There's a total of two camera-like devices installed in the room, diagonal to each other… That's manageable.'

Once I spotted all of the devices, checking my watch, I walked towards one end of the room.

Tick—

Stopping right below one of the surveillance cameras, I put my hand in my mouth, removed a small tooth, and dropped it on the ground.

Right after that, tapping on my bracelet, I took out a balled-up piece of paper and threw it on the ground, right next to the tooth.

"What is this crap doing here? I thought I had thrown it away."

Kicking the paper lightly, I pretended to look around the place with a bored face.

It wasn't long before I stopped right under the second surveillance system camera.

"I probably shouldn't have come here. What a waste of time."

I muttered whilst leaning on the wall.

As I leaned on the wall, I checked my watch.

'Five more minutes…'

[00H : 05M : 46S]

Chapter 344: Beginning Of The Assault [2]

344 Beginning of the assault[2]

Ohmm— Ohmm—

A repetitive humming sound echoed, and what followed after were the tapping of footsteps, each sounding different. Some were heavier, some lighter, and others so faint that unless one paid close attention, they wouldn't be able to hear it.

Slowly, emerging from the portal that Douglas had set up, were the elders and the respective fighters of the other race.

"What's going on?"

"Where be ye?"

"Where is this?"

The moment they became aware of their surroundings, a multitude of different questions rang in the air. An atmosphere of anticipation and slight nervousness ensued.

"Please be quiet for now."

Waiting on the other side of the portal, Douglas tried to organize everyone present.

Because of the number of people present, it took quite a while for them to get out of the portal.

As the dwarves, orcs, and elves came out of the portal, the transparent shield that was enveloping them expanded. This of course was at the expenditure of Waylan's mana. However, for someone of his rank, this amount of mana was nothing worth taking note of. Plus, Waylan was willing to give it his all to make sure every step of the plan he was responsible for went flawlessly.

It took a lot of time to organize everyone, and by the time the last batch came out from the portal, only five minutes remained.

"…That should be the last group left."

Coming out of the portal, Waylan headed towards Douglas.

Glancing at everyone and making sure that there were no problems, Waylan asked in a calm tone that belied his inner emotions.

"Have you organized everyone properly?"

"There should be no problems for now."

Turning to face everyone present, Douglas looked at the leaders and elders of each group, beckoning them to come towards him.

Because they had always been focusing their whole attention towards them, the moment Douglas called for their attention, they immediately moved towards him.

"What have you gathered us here for?" Randur, one of the dwarven elders, asked.

With his brows tightly knit, he looked around the place.

"Where exactly are we?"

"You don't have to worry about that."

Waylan replied with a small smile.

"All you have to do is listen to us and we can get this over with without a hitch."

At Waylan's words, Randur stopped speaking.

Satisfied with the outcome, Waylan looked at everyone present and asked, "I'm sure most of you are wondering about what you are doing here. Am I right?"

Without giving them a chance to answer, Waylan glanced at his watch and continued to speak.

"Listen up closely. We only have about five minutes left before we start the operation."

Turning his attention towards Gernis, who was silently standing in the middle of the group, Waylan gave out instructions.

"We're going to separate into two groups. One group will consist of all the elite warriors that are here, and the other group will be made up of the strongest present here. The lowest rank amongst that group will be <S> rank, and we can only have a maximum of five people in the group."

Turning his head right, Waylan looked at Gernis.

"…Well, if we exclude me and you, it would be three."

"Hmm, so ye be basically asking me who the three we should send with ye guys should be?"

"Right. You're the only one I trust that can do this, Gernis."

"I see…"

With his brows locked into a tight frown, Gernis looked behind him, towards the group of elites he'd stuck with through thick and thin during the whole war.

Although Waylan's request was odd, because of the mana contract and the fact that they were already too deep into this, Gernis decided to not question any of their decisions and just went along with it.

Staring at the members present, he did not have any trouble selecting two of them.

"Aris, Utruk, would ye be so kind and go with them?"

The moment he called out the two names, everyone turned their heads and stared at the two individuals.

One was an orc while the other was an elf.

With long, silver-blonde hair, Aris, the elf that was called out by Gernis, stepped forward without hesitation. With a cold face, and long eyelashes, Aris looked incredibly stunning. As she moved forward, everyone could feel a tremendous pressure emanating from her small body.

"I have no problems with the arrangements."

She said as she walked towards Waylan and Douglas.

"Me too."

Following her words was a deep and powerful voice.

Stepping out of the group was a large orc; Utruk. It wasn't hard to spot him. The moment he stepped out, his towering and muscular figure pushed aside those that were next to him.

Compared to Aris who had a small figure, Utruk was the exact opposite of her. It was difficult to say who was the scarier one.

"It looks like this group will have the most fun role…"

Ignoring Utruk's last comment, Gernis nodded towards the team assembled so far and turned his attention back to the rest.

With one human, one dwarf, one elf, and one orc, the composition of the group was almost perfect. What they were now missing was a dwarf. Someone that was capable of handling multiple artifacts and help from both long and short-range.

Although Gernis could do this as well, he specialized more in defending due to all of his artifacts being defense-based.

Although he did have attack-oriented artifacts, his main role was to defend Henolur and evacuate everyone in case a disaster struck the city. It was also because of this reason that he was called the Metropolis Keeper.

Either way, selecting another dwarf was a lot more difficult for Gernis as he wasn't clear about what type of mission they were going to partake in.

But before Gernis could come up with a decision, Waylan spoke up, pointing at Randur, who had a surprised look on his face.

"If you're looking for a dwarf, we believe Randur is a perfect choice."

"Me?"

"Yes. If there's anyone that can help us, it would be you. I'm certain."

A small smile appeared on Waylan's face as he looked at Randur.

"Are you sure?" Gernis asked as he looked at Randur with a complicated look.

Waylan's decision was odd.

He had witnessed the amount of animosity Randur had with him these past few weeks, so for Waylan to choose Randur out of everyone present was odd.

But, in the end, he couldn't go against Waylan's decision. After all, he must have a reason for choosing Randur out of all people.

"I guess that's all for this group. The rest will form the other group."

Looking at Gernis, Utruk, Aris, and Randur, Waylan nodded in approval before turning his wrist and taking a glance at a certain watch.

[00H : 02M : 34S]

Turning his attention back towards Douglas, Waylan's face became incredibly solemn. The calm had been replaced by grim determination.

"Douglas, we don't have much time. Lead the council to a frontal assault. I'll start setting up the portal now."

"Okay."

Nodding in acknowledgment, Douglas waved his hand and removed the barrier that was enveloping everyone present.

Instantly, everyone's presence was no longer masked. Their auras sprung forth, forming a deafening pressure.

Raising his voice, Douglas calmly walked forward towards the end of the tunnel and opened his mouth to address the main group.

"Everyone, we will now start the assault. Please get ready for battle."

His calm voice traveled through the ears of each individual present, and even though many had questions such as who they were going to attack, the council decided to follow his instructions and took out their weapons.

No matter how the situation turned out, they would not be unprepared. They had been roped into this by the human, but they weren't wannabes; each one present had the means to secure their safety if things went awry.

They were the strongest elites of Henolur, not some wannabe soldiers.

On the other hand, throwing another device on the floor, a familiar scene appeared in front of Waylan and the others.

Turning towards Gernis and the rest, Waylan checked his watch one more time.

"Get ready. We're about to do something extremely dangerous. Even though I know you guys are strong, stronger than me, in fact, I can't guarantee that you will all make it back alive. I can just guarantee one thing…"

They were about to infiltrate Inferno, one of the most powerful organizations in the Dwarven domain.

Of course, not all would make it back.

Waylan took a deep breath and stared at everyone present.

"This war is about to end."

"Human, I like you! You say some bold things! I'm even more excited now, haha!" Contrary to what Waylan expected, Utruk burst into laughter, his eyes shining eerily as he stared at the slowly forming portal.

"If you're saying that it's dangerous then it must mean that we get to fight a lot, no? I'm all in."

"Since you said that this mission can stop the war, I would at least expect this much danger."

Gernis said from the side, seemingly unconcerned by the danger the mission proposed. Next to him, Aris and Randur did not show any reaction, indicating that they too were ready for what was about to come next.

"I guess you guys aren't powerful leaders for nothing."

Smiling, a huge portal formed behind Waylan. Turning his attention to the portal, Waylan checked his watch.

[00H : 00M : 02S]

"It's time."

Without wasting any more time, glancing toward the others, he took a step into the portal.

"I'll be going in first.

His figure had disappeared halfway.

"I'll wait for you on the other side."

Ohm—!

Once Waylan's words faded, he had completely disappeared into the portal.

***

A little bit before Waylan entered the portal.

Staring at the tracking device in his hands, the silver-haired male from the Monolith muttered, "How long has it been since we lost the signal again?"

"I would say about an hour."

The muscular member replied, his brows tightly furrowed.

"Compared to the previous occurrences, there has never been a time where we lost the signal for so long."

"True…" The silver-haired male replied, his words drawling as he suddenly felt an ominous premonition.

"Even still, if we follow the previous coordinates, we should be right around…here?"

The silver-haired male tilted his head and checked the tracking device again.

"Something isn't adding up."

Despite standing close to where 876's signal indicated, the only thing they saw was an endless dark tunnel. There was nothing in the vicinity.

"Strange…"

The muscular male said as he scanned the surroundings.

Taking a brief glance at the tracking device, he carefully inspected the surroundings.

Yet, wherever he looked, all he saw was just one long tunnel that led to nothing.

"Hmm…"

Walking towards one end of the corridor, he put his hand on the side of the wall.

"——!"

The moment he touched the side of the wall, he suddenly noticed something.

"Hey Miles, I think I know where that bastard is hiding."

"You found something, Lawrence?"

"Yes, have a look."

The silver-haired male, Miles, looked around in anticipation at the muscular male's words.

Once he turned his head, Miles had a sudden look of understanding.

"No wonder we couldn't see him…"

With half of Lawrence's hand inside the wall, it became clear to everyone present that there was more to the place than what met the eye.

"This appears to be an illusion. The rat is probably hid—huh!"

Before he could finish his sentence, the muscular male, Lawrence, froze in shock. Then, unprecedented fear clouded his face.

"What the-!?"

He wasn't the only one. Everyone showed a similar reaction as all the members seemingly froze in place.

Turning their heads towards the direction they came from, they suddenly felt a monstrous presence headed for their direction.

The pressure was so strong that even they had difficulty breathing.

"Let's go!"

Without thinking twice, all members rushed towards the illusionary wall.

Since the wall could hide their presence, they thought that this was their only option of escape.

Fear had clouded their judgment.

Chapter 345: Beginning Of The Assault [3]

345 Beginning of the assault[3]

[00H : 02M : 23S]

'Angelica, get ready.'

Taking my eyes away from the watch, I reminded Angelica inside of my mind.

[I got it, no need to tell me.]

Angelica coldly replied inside of my head.

'Just making sure.'

I replied back, unbothered by her attitude.

At this point, I was already used to her attitude. Even if she was cold to me, at the end of the day, she did whatever I asked her to do. So, I had nothing to complain about.

Taking a good look at the surroundings and making sure that no one was paying attention to me, I kept a close look on my watch.

'…Almost.'

Very soon, total chaos would descend on this place, both internally and externally.

The external threat would be from Douglas attacking the outside of the facility with all the warriors gathered, and the internal one would be from Waylan and the others infiltrating through the portal I had set up in the room I operated in.

Since the dampening system was turned off in that one specific room, setting up a portal was not a problem.

Which was exactly what I did. Having completely gained the trust of the duergars after removing the second beacon, they no longer suspected me of having ulterior motives, and just let me do whatever I wanted.

Unfortunately for them, this had been a set-up from the very beginning.

Soon, when the timer on my watch hits zero, Waylan alongside his small group would appear inside of the building. Douglas, on the other hand, would start attacking the place from the outside.

Timing was essential for this operation.

Once Douglas started attacking outside the headquarters, most of the attention of the higher-ups would get focused there. This meant that less attention would be put on Waylan and the others who would enter the headquarters through the portal.

But of course, I couldn't guarantee that no one would take note of their appearance. The fluctuations they would release couldn't go unnoticed by the elders of Inferno.

Hence why, after a bit of thinking, I came up with another idea and headed towards this room.

My plan was simple; create chaos inside of this facility a little bit before Waylan and his group stepped into the headquarters.

The goal was to divert attention away from them and have it focus on me. But I couldn't guarantee whether it would work. Yet, it was worth a try.

Also, because this place was made of Rhimestone, I wasn't worried about my safety.

It would take at least a couple of <SS> ranks to enter this place forcefully, and with what was happening outside, I'm sure the elders would suddenly suffer a massive headache with all the trouble going on at the same time.

The more the internal chaos, the higher the chances that the operation would succeed.

Since this was all happening at the same time, the elders would have little to no time to think before they would be forced to act.

And because of this, the higher the chances of mistakes happening.

[00H : 01M : 09S]

'Angelica, let's start.'

Checking my watch one last time, I decided to act.

Crash—

Lifting my head, I threw a small object and destroyed the surveillance system in one go.

The sound that came from the destruction of the surveillance system was minimal.

In fact, it didn't matter whether I was loud or not. Since the sounds that came from the artifacts being tested were way louder, no one inside of the facility was able to tell what I just did.

'That's one down.'

Once I destroyed the surveillance system, lifting my head slightly, I spotted Angelica in the distance.

Because she barely had any demonic energy in her body, and everyone was focused on their experiments, no one noticed her presence.

On another note, the mana in the air was so thick that even if she did release her power, one of the Duergars could've easily mistaken her as someone testing a new artifact.

Still, it actually didn't really matter whether she was spotted or not. I had already briefed her on what to do if such a situation occurred.

Bending over, Angelica picked up the foiled paper I'd thrown before. Unraveling it, a black fruit appeared in front of her.

Before consuming the fruit, Angelica raised her delicate hand and touched the surveillance system. Like pressing onto a bug, the surveillance system broke instantly at Angelica's touch.

She was a lot more subtle than me when destroying the surveillance system. But what could I say, she was also a lot stronger than me.

'Alright, it's my turn now.'

The moment she destroyed the surveillance cameras and prepared to eat the fruit, I knew that it was time for me to act.

Calmly walking out of my position, I walked towards the nearest of duergars.

Before coming into this place, I had obviously checked the ranks of everyone present.

It wasn't hard to tell, as everyone had their aura out for all to see.

Since they were testing artifacts, they had to use their mana.

'One <S> rank, two <A> ranks, one <B> rank and three <C> ranks. That was the total composition of the group."

I was quite surprised by how highly ranked the duergars present in the room were, but after realizing that even <S> ranked artifacts were being tested here, it all made sense.

Either way, whatever rank they were, duergar or dwarf, unless prepared, they were quite weak.

Since all the duergars here came for experiments, none of them seemed to be equipped for combat.

Which was exactly the situation I was looking for.

"What are you guys testing?"

Walking towards a group of three, all of whom were in the <C> rank range, I curiously looked at the artifact in their hands.

It was a strange-looking rod that shot electrical beams.

"Hm? Who are you?"

Finally taking note of my presence, one of the duergars asked.

"I've never seen you befor—"

Crack—

Before the Duergar could finish his sentence, putting both of my hands on his neck, I twisted it without remorse. The sound of bones breaking was loud.

"——!"

"Huh?"

Because this all happened so fast, none of the duergars present were able to react on time.

Thud—

Finally, with a small thud, the Duergar fell on the ground, dead.

Lowering my head and staring at the dead duergar, I raised my head and looked at the other two.

"Would you believe me if I said that it was an accident?"

Kracka! Kracka!

Without saying anything, the Duergar holding onto the rod channeled his mana into it. Lightning started crackling from it.

"Guess not."

Raising my right hand to block the incoming attack, the rod came into contact with my forearm and a current of electricity ran through my body.

"Khhh…"

Groaning slightly, I grabbed the rod with my hand. Then, raising my foot, I drew an arc in the air and kicked him directly in the head.

BANG!

Face-planting onto the ground, the duergar's blood splattered everywhere.

'…And that's two.'

Spurt—

Raising my foot, I stomped the head of the duergar, killing him.

Then, at the same time I stomped on the head of the duergar, I channeled my mana into the rod, and electricity started crackling from its tip.

Without hesitation, I swung the rod in the direction of the remaining duergar, who was left helpless in the face of my attack.

BANG—

Before he could even react, the shaft of the rod hit him in the face.

"Hieekk-!"

The duergar's face caved completely and the sound of bones breaking resounded in the place. What followed after was a bloodthirsty scream that disappeared as fast as it came.

Thud—

Falling onto the ground, the duergar died just like that.

BANG—!

Right as I killed the last duergar, a loud sound echoed from the other side of the room. Lifting my head, I saw Angelica get rid of two high-ranked duergars.

One was the <S> ranked one, and the other was <A> ranked.

'Must be nice having such an advantage…' I enviously thought.

Compared to me, Angelica had a much easier time.

Having just consumed a devil fruit, restoring all of her demonic energy, Angelica was able to easily defeat the duergars present.

With the fact that she was a demon, her bloodline suppression worked wonders, weakening all of the Duergar present. In fact, the reason why I had such an easy time was probably because of her.

That aside, everything that just happened now, occurred within the span of a dozen seconds.

This meant that we still had a bit of time before the guard outside would be able to react and come into the room.

Before I could let that happen, removing the mask off of my face and extending my hand towards the right, I took out my sword.

'It's been a while since I last held a sword...'

Putting it by the side of my waist, my toes gently tapped onto the ground, and with a small bang, my body shot forward, towards the nearest duergar.

He was <B> ranked. Despite the effects of the bloodline suppression, I didn't blindly assume I could take care of him as easily as the other duergars I previously defeated.

And I was indeed proven correct.

The moment I appeared before him, taking out a small device from his dimensional space, the duergar threw it in the air.

BANG—

With a light bang, my vision blurred. Covering my eyes with my forearm, I came to a halt.

SWOOOSH!

Almost instantly, I heard a whistling sound coming from my right side. Although I didn't know what it was, out of pure instinct, I tensed my calves and pushed my body backward.

As I moved backward, I felt a slight sting right on top of my nose.

Coming to a halt while opening my eyes and touching the top of my nose, I felt a wet sensation on my hand.

Lowering my hand, I found that it was covered in blood.

"Shit."

Abruptly lifting my head, I spotted the duergar from before holding onto a gun-like artifact aimed towards my direction.

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

Before I could even fully recover my eyesight, the duergar aimed his weapon and shot it at my direction. Three powerful energy blasts launched towards me.

Staring at the incoming blasts, I took a calm breath. Drawing a familiar circle in the air with my sword, I took a step to the side and narrowly avoided one of the attacks. Because I was pressed for time, I could only draw one circle. Therefore, after avoiding one of the attacks, moving the ring in front of me, I blocked the second attack.

Crack!

Unfortunately for me, the ring broke apart as soon as it blocked the attack. Having already dodged one attack and blocked another, I was left completely open. The last energy blast aimed directly at my heart. For a brief moment, I saw my life flash before me.

'No!'

Gritting my teeth, using every ounce of energy within my body, I tilted my body ever so slightly to the right, eventually moving my heart away from the energy beam's range.

Even then, although I managed to avoid having my heart pierced, I was not completely left unscathed. The blast hit me on my right shoulder, my dominant one.

"Arghhh…"

The moment the attack hit my shoulder, I felt an intense burning sensation on my right side. I let out an agonizing scream.

Clank—

Losing all sense of feeling in my right hand, I dropped my sword on the ground. Unwillingly, with a look of frustration, I raised my head.

The moment I did, the only thing I saw was the barrel of the gun directly aimed at my face.

Staring at the barrel aimed for my head, a wry smile appeared on my face. I muttered in a desperate voice.

"…Well, fuck."

Chapter 346: Beginning Of The Assault [4]

346 Beginning of the assault[4]

"…well fuck."

Staring at the barrel of the gun right in front of me, the world around me froze.

Despite of the fact that I had a gun barrel aimed at my head, I was calm. My eyes paused on the hole of the narrow barrel where I could see a small energy blast forming at the very end of it. Upon closer look, I noticed a small bundle of spherical mana agglomerating towards the very end of the barrel, forming a small pink ball.

Not taking my eyes away from the ball, the chip inside of my head started processing at full power, and all sorts of different scenarios materialized inside of my head.

All the scenarios had different survivability probabilities.

Some high, some low.

All the processing and analyzing happened within a short second, and before the ball had fully formed, I already knew what to do.

'…and I really wanted to conserve my mana.'

In the end, after simulating the many scenarios inside of my head, I decided to go with the most efficient method.

Although I really didn't want to do this as I had to conserve as much mana as possible, I was left with no choice but to do this.

Slowly lifting my head, I inwardly muttered.

'The one.'

The moment my words faded, the duergar standing opposite to me abruptly came to a halt as the hand that held onto the gun shook. The energy beam that was forming at the end of the barrel suddenly twisted and disappeared into the air like smoke.

Calmly placing my left hand on the gun, I moved it slightly. Then, leaning my head backward, I head-butted the duergar right in the face.

"Huek!"

Thud—

Falling butt first onto the ground, the duergar let out a strange sound and let go of the gun.

Without giving him any chance to recover, I stomped my foot on the ground.

Spurt—

A gory scene appeared in my vision as blood and pieces of flesh covered the ground below me.

Unemotionally staring at the scene below me, deactivating the effects of the one, I walked towards my sword and picked it up.

Tapping on my bracelet using my left hand, taking a potion out from my dimensional space, I uncapped the lid and chugged it down.

Gulp—

"Haaa…"

Downing the whole potion in one go, my shoulder slowly started to heal. Unfortunately, the process was not a quick one as my whole shoulder had almost gotten blown away.

It was so bad that I may as well have had my whole arm amputated. At this point, it was practically useless.

According to my estimates, I would need at least a couple of hours for it to fully heal.

Normally I wouldn't have had a problem with this, but that was on normal occasions. Unfortunately for me, this was no longer a normal occasion.

With everything that was going on, time was of the essence, and the fact that my dominant hand was no longer working was a cause of concern.

'To think that things have gone wrong this early into the plan…'

From how I practically lost my right arm to how I used more mana than I had originally anticipated.

Things were not going as smoothly as I had anticipated.

BANG—

Fortunately, this was only coming from my end as Angelica swiftly dealt with the last remaining duergar.

Crashing onto the side of the walls, blood splattered everywhere, and a gory scene once again presented itself before my eyes.

"Hm?"

Once she disposed of the duergar, turning her head to face my direction, the first she noticed was the state of my shoulder.

Raising her hand, she pointed at it.

"What happened to you?"

"A little accident."

I replied whilst heading towards the alarm system of the place. The one that the guard had previously pointed out to me during the tour.

Once I arrived at the place, turning to face Angelica, I nudged her with my head.

"Security should already be aware of the fact that the surveillance system is down, wait at the door while I try to activate the system. Kill anyone that comes in."

Around thirty to forty seconds had passed since we attacked and disposed of the duergars in the room. If my estimate was not wrong, within a couple of seconds, a bunch of guards would quickly head in our direction.

Given that I had to activate the system as well, and the fact that my right hand was no longer working, I could only leave the matter of defending the place to Angelica.

"…"

Without saying anything, much to my relief, Angelica understood the situation and headed toward the entrance of the facility.

Briefly glancing at Angelica's parting figure, I focused my attention back on the emergency system and tried my best to recall all of the information that the guard had previously said when I was here.

'According to what he said, the system activated whenever it feels like an explosion might happen by measuring the mana that is lingering in the room, therefore, if I want it to activate, I need to mess with the sensor…'

Fortunately, I didn't have a hard time recalling what the guard had said. With the aid of the chip inside of my head, remembering word for word what the guard had said not too long ago was not hard as I went straight into action not long after.

'It should be over there…'

Scanning the area I was in, I immediately spotted the mana sensory system. It wasn't far from where I was and it also wasn't hard to spot.

With a label right above it, I would be dumb not to spot it.

[00H : 00S : 21S]

"——!"

Checking my watch and noticing that I barely had any time left, I rushed towards the sensor.

'Assuming that the sensor scans then mana density that is lingering inside of the whole room, I'd estimate that the sensor will only activate once the mana that is dispersed throughout the whole room reaches a certain level. If I channel my mana right above the sensor, I should be able to distort the data and replicate a scenario where it looks like an explosion is happening.'

As my thoughts were running wild, I soon arrived before the sensor.

BANG—

But just as I arrived at the sensor, a terrifying explosion resounded from behind me, without turning back I knew that security had finally arrived.

Without wasting any time, I raised my left hand and touched the sensor with my finger. Upon touching the sensor, I channeled all the mana inside of my body towards it and a white thread that detached from my body sank into the sensor.

BANG— BANG—

While I was busy trying to interfere with the sensor, the sound of fighting behind me rang even more powerfully as Angelica's demonic energy shrouded the whole room.

"What are you doing demon!"

"What have you done!?"

"Why are you interfering with us?"

The angered shouts of the duergars behind me powerfully rang throughout the whole facility.

'Come on…come on…'

Staring at the sensory system, I fully concentrated on the task at hand and channeled even more mana into the system.

[00H : 00M : 09S]

Briefly glancing at my watch, my heart rate sped up and I felt a strong sense of urgency.

Although I had managed to do the most important step of the plan, which was to gather the attention of everyone, that was the problem.

Douglas had still not attacked yet, meaning that everyone's attention was on me. If the security system did not work, I would find myself in a scenario where I would end up facing the elders of Inferno.

Only when the security system activated would I truly be saved, albeit temporarily.

Di Ding— Diiii—

Just when I thought I wouldn't have enough time to activate the system, a large chime rang out and red lights flashed.

Rumble—

What followed after was a small rumbling sound as the doors of the facility started to shut down.

"The system activated!"

"Hurry!"

The moment the doors started closing, the duergars became alarmed and attacked even more fiercely. But how could Angelica let them?

Channeling all of her demonic energy, raising her hand, a small ball materialized in her hand. The ball was about the size of a baseball, but the energy that emanated from it was no joke. With threads of demonic energy encircling it, Angelica pushed the ball forward, towards the attacking duergars.

"Shit! Move back!"

Realizing the threat of the ball, all duergars moved backward and tried to avoid the attack. It had to be noted that this was a full-powered attack coming from a Count ranked demon. The energy contained within the attack was not someone that anyone could take.

Clank—

Before Angelica and I could see whether the attack had any effect or not, the doors of the room shut down.

With my hand still channeling mana in the sensory system, I looked at Angelica and muttered.

"Did we do it?"

BOOOM—

Before Angelica could even reply, a terrifying explosion rang from outside of the facility and the whole room shook.

"Ah…I guess we did."

Still touching the sensory system, my shoulders relaxed a little.

"…it has finally started."

The war between the dwarves and Inferno had officially begun.

***

Moments before the explosion.

"What in the world…"

"Is this what I think it is?"

Crossing through the illusion set up at the end of the tunnel, Douglas, alongside the many others that had followed him, were left speechless by the scene that they were presented with.

Deeply etched into the walls was an enormous structure resembling a large gate with all sorts of engravings by its side. The infrastructure was enormous, and standing outside it were three tall large statures, depicting two duergar killing a dwarf.

"This…"

It didn't take a genius to realize where they were, and the moment they did, the faces of everyone present changed.

Some of the faces of the individuals paled significantly while the faces of others shone brightly.

Still, their appearance did not go unnoticed. The moment they appeared, the gates of the enormous structure shut down. What followed after was even more alarming. The sides of the structure opened up and cannon-like devices slowly came into everyone's view.

"Get ready."

Staring at the cannons in the distance, Douglas's face became incredibly serious.

Extending his hand forward, a terrifying pressure suddenly engulfed the entire area as the mana in the air thickened up and agglomerated towards his hand, coating it completely.

A similar scene appeared in the distance as small colorful spheres made out of mana entered the barrels of the cannons, converging towards the middle where a large colorful sphere formed.

[00H : 00M : 01S]

As both sides accumulated energy, glancing at his watch, with a grave face, Douglas pushed his palm out.

A whistling sound arose, and what followed after was a boundless force. Like a tsunami, the force obliterated anything that crossed its path.

In response to Douglas's attack, the cannons also shot out a fierce attack. All of them whistled down at the same time. A rumbling thunder roar resounded continuously.

Different colors lightly flashed across the surroundings. Immediately after, the two forces met in front of everyone's eyes.

BOOOM—

A terrifying explosion instantly rang out, and energy ripples spread from the point of collusion. The tough ground immediately burst apart, covering the place with dust.

***

Ohm— Ohm—

At the same time, emerging from out of a portal, were five figures.

WHIIII— WHIIII—

The sonorous sound of sirens rang, as the whole facility flashed in red.

Staring at the unfamiliar environment, Gernis alongside the others questioned.

"Where are we?"

Standing opposite of the others, Waylan waited for everyone to appear before answering. Rather than saying it multiple times, it was better to only just say it once.

Ohm—

It didn't take long for the last person to exit out of the portal. Once the last member stepped out of the portal, Waylan looked at everyone and smiled.

"You guys must be confused about our current location, right?...Hm?"

Without giving the others a chance to reply, taking notice of a small piece of paper that was resting on the table of the room, Waylan raised his brows and picked it up from the table.

Opening it, he slowly read through it.

After a while, scrunching the paper in his hands, he turned his attention back towards the others.

"If you guys have still not figured it out, I'll make the instructions quick."

Burning the paper in his hand, Waylan pointed at the door of the room.

"If you haven't still figured it out. Welcome to Inferno."

Chapter 347: Planting The Seed Of Chaos [1]

347 Planting the seed of chaos[1]

[Inferno, Duergar council.]

Sitting in his seat, Orion, one of the duergar elders, looked around him and asked the rest of the elders present, "How is Karl doing?"

"He is currently working on disabling the third beacon."

Durara answered from her seat. She sounded very pleased with Karl's work.

"Do you have any idea when he will get it done? If we get one or two more beacons disabled, we should be able to completely destroy the barrier of the city."

"That…I'm not too sure myself. He's just got done with the second beacon, so I reckon it would be done within the week."

Durara replied with a tight frown on her face.

Because Karl requested for him to not be monitored or bothered while he was working, no one actually knew how far he was in the project.

Since he had proven himself by deactivating the first and second beacons, the elders had no qualms with the fact that they couldn't monitor him.

Furthermore, Karl's request wasn't strange. Many of the duergars present were engineers, and they all knew just how important keeping their blueprints and projects a secret was.

It was their life's work. No one would like it for their work to be seen by others.

All that mattered to them was that he deactivated the beacons.

Having already inspected his strength, they weren't worried about Karl running away as they had set up multiple guards way above his rank to monitor him.

"From what I heard, Karl said that the process of deactivation differs per beacon. That is why it is taking time for him to fully extract the memories from Jomnuk and process them in time."

"I see…looks like that bastard was a thorough one."

With both hands on the table, Orion mumbled to himself.

"…If he manages to get it done by the end of the week, we should start getting ready."

Turning to face one of the duergars standing on the other side of the hall, Orion decided to give out orders.

"Send a message to all members."

Orion stood up and clenched both of his fists.

"Within a week, when the barrier is finally breached, I want them to be ready to assault Henolur from the inside."

A colorless hue mixed with black threads of energy expanded from his body as his cold voice rang throughout the room.

"…It's time we finally got rid of those bastards."

Bang—

But just as his words faded, with a loud bang, a duergar rushed into the room.

Before the elders could say anything about the rude intrusion, the duergar shouted in wild panic.

"We've got an urgent report! The artifact testing facilities have been breached!"

"The artifact testing facilities?"

Orion's brow raised in surprise. He seemed relaxed despite hearing of an intruder in the artifact testing area.

"Who's the idiot trying to breach the artifact testing facilities?"

That place was like a prison. The moment it was breached, although no one could go in, no one could also go out.

To Orion, whoever was trying to breach the place seemed to be an idiot. Thus, he was completely relaxed.

It was also because of this that he started to glare at the duergar that had so rudely barged into the room.

"Why have you barged into this place to report such a small matter?"

His cold voice entered the ears of the duergar. The latter froze on the spot.

His pupils instantly dilated and a sense of death washed over his body as he fumbled on his words, struggling to form a sentence.

"B-but…b-but, K-Karl is there, s-sir."

"…"

Eventually, with shaking legs, using all of his willpower, the duergar managed to complete his sentence.

However, as soon as his words faded, a palpitating, almost terrifying chill spread throughout the whole room as the countenances of all the elders present changed horribly.

"What did you just say?"

The first one to recover was Durara, who immediately stood up with an alarmed look.

"Did you just say that Karl was inside of the artifact testing facility?! Speak!"

"Y…yea."

Subjected to Durara's terrifying glare, the duergar could only helplessly nod his head.

"Oh no…"

Getting confirmation from the duergar, Durara turned her head and looked at the other elders present in the room.

Bang—

Without needing to be told what to do, one of the elders disappeared from the hall.

A loud banging noise resounded as the door of the hall smacked against the side of the walls.

Once the elder left, a grave and solemn atmosphere permeated the room.

"Shit, how did those bastards manage to get to them?"

Smacking his fist against the table, Orion raised his voice.

"Didn't we increase the security around Karl? How in the world could this have happened?"

Given how important of a figure Karl was, there was no way they would just let him go as he pleased without a bodyguard.

Furthermore, everyone in the artifact testing facility should've been filled with loyal duergars. Given how important artifacts were, the elders weren't just going to let anyone test them.

They were duergars that had been selected after a tough screening. For an incident to have happened there out of all places was odd.

'Did one of us betray us?'

It was the first thought that Orion had as he scanned the room. It was the most plausible outcome.

"You all—huh?!"

But just as he was about to voice out his concerns, out of nowhere, the base's defensive system activated.

Di! Ding—

"What's going on?"

"What is happening?!"

The moment the defensive system activated, everyone grew even more alarmed.

Tapping onto the table in front of him, one of the duergars swiped his hand and a large holographic image of the outside of the facility appeared before everyone.

"How could this be? We're under attack!"

It was then that everyone instantly understood what was going on. They stood up in unison and stared at the powerful energy blast that was headed towards the direction of the facility.

"Everyone, get ready! Sound the defensive system and warn everyone to be ready to fight."

The duergars in the room weren't leaders for nothing. Upon realizing just what kind of situation they were in, instead of panicking, they all calmly gave out orders and rushed out of the hall.

The only one who remained in the hall was Orion, whose eyes remained glued on the energy blast headed for the base.

Before long, the energy blast connected with the cannon blasts.

BOOOOM—

A thunderous explosion sounded and the whole place shook.

With his feet steady on the ground, Orion's face sank as he darkly muttered.

"…How dare you."

***

WHIIII— WHIIII—

What followed after the explosion was the sound of alarms ringing.

Still channeling my mana at the sensor of the room, I glanced in Angelica's direction.

Indifferently walking in my direction, Angelica's footsteps halted right as she was a few meters away from me.

"What should we do now?"

"We wait."

I softly replied.

In response, Angelica cocked her head to the side. Confused by my answer.

"Wait?"

"Yeah, we wait for Waylan to come to pick us up."

Pausing there, my brows suddenly knit in thought as I muttered to myself.

"Talking about Waylan, I hope he got my message."

When setting the portal in the other room, I made sure to leave behind a note on the desk.

On it were a couple of instructions that Waylan had to follow. Alongside it was the location of the artifact testing facility that I was currently in.

Aside from that, there was also a small map marked with a few important places like the surveillance room, where the dampening system was, and finally, the location of where the security system was.

Our priority was to have all three of those facilities destroyed. Once those three systems were down, it would essentially be equal to crippling Inferno and thus helping us ensure victory.

"…Once Waylan comes to pick us up, the real struggle starts. So, try your best to recover as much as possible. Although you can probably fight against <S> ranked duergars with your bloodline suppression, it's best if you're careful."

"Mhm."

Faintly nodding her head, without saying too much, Angelica sat on the ground and started to process the effects of the devil fruit she had just ingested.

Slowly, a small black layer formed around her body, enveloping her whole.

While Angelica was recovering her demonic energy, with my hand still on the sensor, I tried to move my right arm.

"Khh… Still nothing."

Unfortunately, the moment I tried to move my arm, I felt an electric current run through my body, momentarily paralyzing my movements.

It immediately became clear to me that my arm still needed time to recover.

The only issue was that I had no time.

To make matters worse, since I had to keep injecting mana into the sensor, I couldn't use my other arm to take out any potions. This meant that I was rapidly losing mana.

'Damn it.'

Things were not looking good for me at the moment.

***

Standing right by the door that led to the inside of Inferno, Gernis turned towards Waylan and asked, "What should we do now?"

"We're going to split up in two groups."

Waylan promptly replied to Gernis's question.

As he spoke, the sound of sirens rang in the background, drowning his voice a bit.

"Split up?"

Fortunately, everyone in the room was an elite. With their enhanced senses, it wasn't hard for them to make out what exactly Waylan was saying.

"How should we split up and why do we need to split up?" Gernis asked.

In response, Waylan gave a brief reply.

"We're going to split up in two groups. One group of two and one groups of three."

Turning his head toward Ultruk, the orc leader, Waylan continued to give out instructions.

"Regarding the first group, it will consist of Ultruk and me."

"Me?"

Ultruk questioned from the side. Nodding his head slightly, Waylan explained.

"Yes, I need Ultruk for this part of the plan."

He was planning on going to rescue Ren. Since there was a high chance that an elder would show up at the place, in order to increase his chances of survival, Waylan decided to have Ultruk join him to fend off the enemies.

"While Ultruk and I are busy on our mission, the three of you will go to deactivate the surveillance system. Since most of the attention is away from us, do it in the fastest way possible. Our goal is to have the surveillance system destroyed before they notice anything."

By destroying the surveillance system, they were essentially buying themselves an advantage. It would basically make the next two operations much easier for them as the duergars wouldn't be able to coordinate with each other well.

"I understand the plan somewhat."

Listening to Waylan's plans, everyone in the room understood what he was trying to do. Hence, none of them voiced any complaints.

"Take this."

Taking something from his dimensional space, Waylan handed it to Gernis.

"What is it?" Gernis questioned as he stared at Waylan's hands, where a small cubic object rested.

Upon taking a closer look, Gernis was able to instantly tell what the device was.

"Oh? Is this a holographic map?"

"Yes. In there, is the location of the surveillance system. Although it is not very detailed, you should be able to make due with that."

Thanks to the information that he had gotten from Ren, he was able to pinpoint the exact location of where the important rooms were, and thus marked it on the rough map of Inferno that the everyone here used.

"Yes, this is enough."

Putting the device away, a solemn atmosphere prevailed over the room.

Having finished what he wanted to say, Waylan checked his watch.

"Are you guys ready?" He asked while moving towards the door of the room.

"Yes."

Taking out their weapons and artifacts, everyone put a small badge by the side of their chest.

The moment the artifact touched their chest, the light in the room reflected away from their body and their figures disappeared.

"Let's go."

Putting his hand on the side of the door, a small glow enveloped Waylan's hand as it opened shortly after.

Henolur's strongest warriors were going to make a move.

Clank—

The door closed, and the countdown to the war began.

Chapter 348: Planting The Seeds Of Chaos [2]

348 Planting the seeds of chaos [2]

BANG— BANG—

A loud metallic sound rang as an energy blast shot towards a large metal door.

The sound rang in the air for a brief moment before it disappeared completely. What followed after was the cacophonous sound of several alarms ringing, completely drowning out the banging sounds that ensued after repetitive attacks towards the metallic door.

"Step to the side."

Seeing that the attacks were not working, a duergar stepped up.

Holding onto a large metallic barrel in-between his armpits, the duergar channeled his mana towards it. Soon, spherical orbs of mana agglomerated towards the center of the barrel, forming a concentrated ball of energy.

The threatening energy expanded in the hall as it steadily increased in size.

Before long, once the ball reached a certain size, the duergar firmly planted both of his feet on the ground and discharged the energy.

BOOOM—!

What followed after was a terrifying blast that shot towards the massive metal door. A colorful trail of mana traced behind the attack.

Once the attack connected with the door, a thunderous sound rang out, and smoke diffused in the air.

"Did it work?"

The duergar who shot the attack wondered out loud as he tried to see through the large cloud of smoke.

"It's no use. The door is designed to withstand the impacts of <SS> ranked individuals. All you're doing is wasting mana."

Before the duergar could get a proper look, a cold and apathetic voice spoke from behind.

Turning to the direction where the voice came from, the duergar's face paled considerably.

"L-Lord!"

"Stay put."

Scanning the metal door, the mood of the duergar elder sank.

"Damn it."

Placing his palm on the door, the elder circulated the mana inside of his body towards the palm of his hand and closed his eyes. He was trying to gauge what was going on inside the room.

While the elder was busy, the duergars behind him stood silently with their backs straight, not daring to mouth a single word.

After a while, opening his eyes, the elder's face relaxed a little.

"He's still alive…"

After having scanned the internal structure of the room, although he wasn't able to tell what exactly was going on inside, he could tell that there were two people alive.

Out of the two, one was a demon and the other was Karl.

Recognizing Karl's mana signature, the elder was able to tell that he was still alive. At this revelation, he felt a lot more relaxed. As long as he was alive, all was good.

"Hm?"

However, apart from those two energies, he felt no other energy. This meant only one thing.

Every single researcher inside had been killed.

'Why did a demon betray us?'

The elder wondered as his brows tightly knit in consternation.

For the perpetrator to be a demon, no wonder the Duergars assigned to Karl had failed to protect him. Nobody would have seen it coming.

—How is the situation going on your side?

It was then that a voice suddenly entered the elder's ears.

Completely unfazed by the voice, the elder tapped on his ear and responded in a calm tone, "Karl is still alive. However, he is currently being held hostage inside of the room with a demon."

—A demon?

The voice sounded a bit surprised. It quickly followed up with a question.

—So you're saying that the one responsible for this is a demon?

"That is correct."

The elder darkly replied.

"How is the situation on your side? What exactly is going on?"

Before arriving at the artifact testing room, the elder had naturally heard a large explosion that seemed to have come from outside the base.

Although the elder was curious, he still chose to pursue his role, which was to find out what was going on with the artifact room.

"Are we under attack?" The elder questioned.

After a brief moment of silence, the voice responded.

—…Yes. The location of our base has been compromised. We're currently under siege by those bastards. We've called for reinforcements, and have set up the defensive system.

At those words, the elder's face sank completely.

"Our location has been breached? That's impossible! Our dampening system has made it impossible for those bastards to find the coordinates of our base! Unless…"

A sudden thought struck the elder as he turned his attention back towards the Rhimestone door.

—Unless what?

The voice in the elder's ear asked.

Frowning, the elder thought for a moment before replying with a deep breath.

"…Unless the one that exposed our location is Karl."

—…That's impossible.

The voice spoke after a brief moment of silence.

—You know full well just how much Karl hates the dwarves. His hatred runs even more deeply than some of us present in the council. How can it be him? Furthermore, he is also responsible for taking down two beacons. It can't be possible.

"…You might be right."

Pondering over the matter, the elder soon realized the validity of the words presented to him.

Given Karl's background, and the fact that he hated dwarves with a passion, the probability of him being the culprit was low.

Karl was someone that the dwarves had rejected and scorned due to the various ideas he had proposed in the past. Each dwelling in the neurological field and memory extraction area. Something that was considered taboo to the dwarves. As such he was treated as an outcast that was left out to rot.

If not for them, he would've long died by now.

The elder could vividly remember the deep seethed hatred he saw in Karl when he signed the mana contract with the demon.

He was there.

He had witnessed the whole thing.

The fact that he also took down two beacons was a testament to his possible innocence… That was, of course, unless he was faking it the whole time.

But for him to have been faking it for so long...the elder didn't want to believe it.

Giving a skeptical look to the door, the elder massaged his forehead as he tried to think of other possibilities.

"Just who could it be?"

'Could it be a spy entered Karl's room while he was decoding the beacons? Since the dampening system was turned off in that specific area, it could've happened.'

'But it can't be that either. No one except Karl ever entered that room.' The elder shook his head in confusion. He couldn't make heads or tails of the situation.

—Actually, we already have an idea.

"What do you mean by that? Why are you telling me this now?"

Raising his head in surprise, the elder hurriedly asked.

—I'm only telling you now because I just got a live feed of what happened prior to the attack.

The voice paused for a moment. The elder could feel a tone of malice emerge from it.

—Remember those human bastards that asked for us to let them enter Henolur?

The elder's brows knit at those words.

"Yes...Is it related to them?"

—Yes.

The voice in the elder's ears deepened.

—They were the ones that led the attackers towards our location. Moments after they appeared, we were suddenly attacked. Coincidence?

"No, I don't think so."

The elder's face sank once more.

Clenching his fists, the elder trembled with uncontrollable rage.

"To think that those incompetent bastards would scheme against u—"

—…BANG!

Suddenly, a loud explosion rang in the elder's ear.

"What is going on?"

The elder instantly became alarmed.

—Shit, I'm currently under attack. The dwarves have inf—Bzzzz

Before the sentence could finish, the signal cut off, and the elder was left panicked, wondering what had just happened.

'Was he trying to say that someone has infiltrated the place?'

The panic did not last for long, calming down, the elder tried to make out the last words that the voice in his ear was trying to say. But, before he could even think properly, the hair at the back of his neck rose.

WIIIIIING—

Without hesitating, the elder raised his hand.

Clang—

A loud clashing sound rang out. What followed after was a circular, pressurised wind that expanded from the point of contact between the two forces.

"Khhh…who!?"

Taking several steps back, the elder stabilized his body and lifted his head up.

Upon lifting his head and getting a closer look at who had attacked him, the elder immediately identified the perpetrator of the attack.

"Human…"

His eyes narrowed into thin slits.

"Guess that didn't work."

Standing opposite the Duergan elder, Waylan raised his broadsword and once again slashed down. Not wasting a single second.

As he swung the sword, a thin coating of mana enveloped the body of the blade. What followed after was a terrifying attack that shot out from the broadsword, headed straight for the elder.

WIIIIIING—

Staring at the incoming attack, the elder did not panic in the slightest. Raising his hand, a thin arm bracer appeared on his forearm.

Channeling his mana towards the bracer, a thin transparent shield materialised in front of the duergan elder.

BANG—

Waylan's attack arrived right as the shield formed. Connecting with the shield, ripples formed around its surface as it completely absorbed the energy of Waylan's attack. Before long, the attack completely dispersed.

After absorbing the attack, raising his head, the elder did not waste any time. Extending his hand towards the right, a large hammer appeared in his hand.

Gripping on the handle of the hammer, the elder glared at Waylan.

"Huaaa!"

Crying out, the elder raised the hammer in the air and swung downwards with all his might.

BANG—!

The moment the hammer smashed against the ground, it tore apart and an invisible attack shot towards Waylan who responded in kind.

Once again raising his broadsword, letting out a long breath, the mana in the air thickened up considerably and rushed towards his broadsword. It became apparent to everyone in the room that whatever attack Waylan was about to use was going to be extremely powerful. The mana shook around the broadsword, making it look threatening.

There was only one problem with this method, however. It was that Waylan would have no time to complete it before the elder's attack reached him.

But, Waylan was no fool. With his eyes glued on the incoming attack, just as it was about to reach him, he shouted.

"Now!"

"Hahahaha, as you wish!"

The moments his words faded, a powerful voice rang out with a merry tone, and a large orc suddenly appeared out of thin air.

Pressing his toes onto the ground and holding onto an enormous axe, the ground beneath the orc split apart with a loud bang as his body immediately reappeared right in front of Waylan.

"Huua!"

Raising his axe, a deep cry powerful enough to shake the air reverberated throughout the whole room as Ultruk slashed down and met the duergar's attack head-on, in classic orcish style.

The two attacks soon me.

BOOOM—

Once the two attacks met, a terrifying energy expanded from the point of contact. What followed after was a thunderous noise that rang throughout the whole area.

Leaning forward, with his feet pressed on the ground, the orc turned to face Waylan for a second.

"Your turn human."

As he looked at Waylan, slowly, Ultruk was slowly starting to get pushed back. Fine, miniature crevices formed beneath his feet as he tried to hold on.

Without answering Ultruk, Waylan turned his attention back towards the elder. With the elder having just attacked, he was wide open.

Waylan knew this, and he wasn't going to waste such an opportunity.

Leaning his body forward, he slashed down once more. It was a simple slash. It did not look extraordinary or anything of the likes, however, the moment he slashed down, the world came to a standstill.

SHIING— SHIIIING—

What the people in the room thought did not come to pass. Instead of a mana-based slash, all they saw was a plain downward swing.

Spurt—

But it was only a second after, as the sound of blood spilling on the ground reached the ears of everyone present, that they realized it was no regular swing.

With his eyes wide open, the elder stared in Waylan's direction with an incredulous look.

Many questions entered the elder's mind as he tried to figure out what had had just happened.

From the very beginning, the elder knew that Waylan was preparing a powerful attack. Therefore, although it looked like he was open, he was prepared to active his arm bracer.

But before he could do that, once Waylan slashed down and the elder prepared to activate his barrier, he saw his blood splatter everywhere.

Even during the last moments of his life, the elder couldn't figure out what had just happened. His body began to collapse, the ground becoming increasingly closer.

—Thud!

With a dull thud, the elder fell on the ground. He was dead.

"Haaa…haaa…"

Supporting his body with the broadsword, Waylan heavily gulped for air.

"Go take care of the others."

Although he wanted to rest, turning his head in Ultruk's direction, Waylan nudged him towards the other duergars present.

"Got it."

Nodding his head silently, Ultruk picked up his axe and headed for the other duergars.

While he was doing that, Waylan walked in the direction of the door and put his palm on it.

"Haaa...haaa… Ren, I'm done."

A few seconds after his words faded, the door slowly started opening up.

Clank—

Once the door fully opened, a pale youth slowly walked out.

Staring at Waylan who was standing opposite of him, he muttered in an unhurried tone.

"Took you long enough."

Chapter 349: Crippling The Insides [1]

"Hm."

My brows furrowed as I took a step out of the room.

Turning my head and staring towards the right, a scene of carnage appeared in my vision. Holding onto an enormous axe, an orc swung it horizontally, in wild abandon. As the axe moved, it tore the air apart and a whistling sound arose. What followed after was a fountain of blood as the axe split the bodies of several duergars in two.

"Is he the one you brought along with you?" I asked as I turned to face Waylan again.

Taking a closer look at him, my brows jumped up lightly, "That aside, what in the world happened to you?"

Now that I had taken a closer look at Waylan, his complexion seemed to be quite pale. His breathing was rough, and with both of his hands on his knees, he looked to be having a rough time.

"Haaa…haa… Don't worry too much. In order to get rid of the elder, I was forced to use my strongest move. I already drank a potion, I should be good in a bit. What about you? You don't seem to be in optimal shape as well."

Waylan said as he pointed at my right arm. Lowering my head and staring at my arm, I helplessly shrugged, "It happened because of my inexperience."

"…Ah."

At my words, Waylan had a sudden look of understanding.

He then patted me on the shoulder.

"Don't worry about it. I've been through it too. If you think duergars and dwarves are easy to fight just because of their small statures, you're damn wrong. Those bastards could become one hell of a tough opponent. Especially since they seem to have an endless amount of tricks up in their arsenal."

"…I learned this the hard way."

I replied with a bitter smile.

Just as Waylan said, duergars were very tricky opponents. Possessing an arsenal packed with a multitude of different artifacts, their attack pattern was almost unpredictable.

Unlike when fighting other opponents, I couldn't properly gauge what they would do next, making them that much harder to fight.

Furthermore, their cunning tactics that were aimed at my weak points made things even more annoying.

"By the way, what's that? I've never seen you with that before."

Disrupting me out of my thoughts was Waylan who pointed at my hand.

Leaning forward to get a closer look, he silently muttered, "It looks like a regular metal pole. Anything special about it?"

"Oh, this?"

Raising my left hand, revealing the long metal stuff, I swung it around.

Swiiish—

With each swing, the air split apart, and a crackling sound similar to that of a whiplash would arise.

It was pretty good.

Putting the bottom end of the metal rod on the ground, I leaned on it slightly.

"Just something I looted from the place. Since I can't use my arm I figured that this would do for now."

Another reason why I chose to go to the artifact testing room was obviously because of the artifacts.

That was a no-brainer.

Since my right hand was currently out of action, I took the liberty of taking the metal staff artifact that the duergar used against me.

Although there were other artifacts, I did not choose them since they were either far too high in rank and would rapidly consume my mana or were utility-based. Which meant that they had no use in my current situation.

"Now that you've reminded me, take this."

Remembering something, taking out a glove from my dimensional space, I handed it to Waylan.

"What's this?" He asked with a pointed look.

"It's an <S> ranked artifact that I picked up. I thought that it might be useful to you."

"An… <S> ranked artifact?"

"…Yes." I replied with a bit of struggle.

'If only I was a little bit stronger…'

Although it was an <S> ranked artifact and I wanted it, because of my lack of mana and the fact that we were currently participating in a very important mission, I decided to hand it to Waylan. Of course, I was merely just lending it to him.

There was no way I would give such a nice artifact for free.

Just as I was about to give Waylan the glove, my hand paused.

Lifting my head, I reminded.

"I'm just lending it to you, okay? You'll have to give it back after you're done with it."

Waylan's brows twitched at my words.

Snatching the glove from my hand, he commented in an annoyed tone, "You're a greedy one, aren't you?"

"It's an <S> ranked artifact, what do you expect? Of course, I'm going to be greedy."

The last time I checked, besides the fact that it increased the strength of the user, the artifact was also extremely durable and could block heavy blows from an enemy.

It was both offensive and defensive, of course, I wanted it.

Studying the glove in his hand, Waylan put it on.

Once he put it on, the glove magically expanded to fit his hand. Clenching his hand repeatedly, Waylan nodded his head in satisfaction.

"It's not bad."

"I'm glad you like it…"

Trying my best to not look envious, I looked away from Waylan. Only then did I notice the corpse of the elder in the middle of the hall.

My eyes instantly lit up.

Turning to Waylan, I asked, "Are you not going to loot his body?"

Since he was an elder, the duergar must have had some good things on him.

Perhaps a couple more <S> ranked artifacts, maybe?

"Don't bother, I've already checked. All of his artifacts are bounded ones."

Pouring cold water onto my hopes, Waylan put his sword away.

"We can't do anything about them as they are linked to his body permanently."

"I see…"

Although bounded artifacts were rare in the human world, they were a lot more common here in the dwarven domain.

Malvil's disciple being an example as his hammer was a bounded one.

"Should we get moving then?"

Since I now knew that the artifacts on the elder were bounded to his corpse, I quickly gave up on them and turned to face Waylan.

Lowering his head to meet my eyes, Waylan asked in a serious tone, "Where to next?"

"Dampening system," I quickly replied. There was no ounce of hesitation in my voice.

Since there was another team currently headed for the surveillance system, there were only two places left to choose from; the security room that was responsible for the protective measures installed outside of the base and the room where the dampening system was located.

"Good idea. I was thinking the same." Waylan nodded his head in approval. "Once we take care of the dampening system, communicating and coordinating with the others will be much easier."

"That's what I think too."

The dampening system was responsible for blocking all frequencies and other methods that connected to the outside world.

If we managed to destroy it, we'd essentially be removing the restrictions on communications and thus be able to communicate with Douglas, who was outside, as well as with the other group that was currently taking care of the surveillance system.

"Let's not waste any time and go now. Ultruk just finished as well," Waylan said as he saw that Ultruk was finally done taking care of the duergars.

Touching my tooth slightly, I briefly glanced in the orc's direction to make sure that he was okay.

Waylan also seemed to have the same idea as me as he waited for Ultruk to come.

"I'm here."

"Good. Let's go."

Once Ultruk was done and had arrived before Waylan, turning his head to face me, Waylan urged, "Ren, let's hurry."

"Okay, give me a second." Nodding my head, I touched my face and made sure that the mask was properly sealed.

Since the security system was still not down, I did not want to have my real face exposed in the open.

Because I wanted to save mana, the mask I wore was just a regular skin mask. I had also removed the effects of the potion and was now back to my regular height.

It definitely felt much better to be back to normal.

"Ren!" Waylan hissed.

"Coming, coming," I answered while moving to him.

Taking my hand away from my face, I followed Waylan and Ultruk deep into the hall. The dampening system's location awaited us.

***

Thick threads of mana lingered in the air as thunderous explosions rang in the atmosphere.

A multitude of colors flashed in the air as two different forces clashed against each other.

The pressurized wind gales emerging from the point of collision between the two forces shot out towards a large army that stood below.

This persisted for over ten minutes as both sides mercilessly attacked each other, spreading chaos everywhere.

"Khh…"

Standing below, at the far end of the army, a blonde youth pushed his shield forward and blocked the wind gale that shot in his direction.

Tensing his leg muscles, the youth's body stood rooted on the ground as the earth beneath his feet crumbled slightly.

It was only after a whole minute had passed that the youth could finally relax. Lowering his shield slightly, he thought back at the attack just now.

'If what I just blocked was the residual energy from one of the clashes, I wonder how strong the real force is…'

As his thoughts paused there, he broke out into a cold sweat and shook his head.

'Let's not think about it. I'm still too far from that level.'

Just the thought alone sent shivers down his spine.

"What should we do?"

A soft voice entered his ears from behind him. Turning around, the youth, Hein, saw Ava look towards the distance, where the conflict was happening.

Her delicate brows were tightly knit in a frown as her lips pursed into a small, worried pout.

"…Are we going to fight soon?"

"No. We wait for now."

Answering her was Leopold.

With his sword by the side of his waist and a gun in hand, he too was looking at the conflict happening above.

Turning his attention away from the conflict, he looked back at Ava.

"For now, Ren told us to stay put. He said that he'll contact us when it's time. Before that, we are supposed to lay low."

"…If you say so."

"Okay."

Nodding his head, Hein did not say anything else and continued to stare at the battle in the distance.

With every second that passed, the strength of the attacks on each side increased. The pressure bearing down on everyone increased by the second.

"We should get ready."

Chugging down a potion, Hein closed his eyes and tried to recover as much mana and stamina as possible.

He estimated that the real battle would start within the next couple of minutes. Before that happened, he wanted to be in optimal shape.

He knew that compared to the previous one, this one was going to be a lot tougher and more dangerous.

He could no longer take it easy. He wasn't the only one that understood that, as Ava and Leopold also got ready, each making their own preparations for the battle to come.

***

BANG—!

"Hieeek!"

Using the side of the large axe, Ultruk brutally smacked a duergar by the side of the wall. His attacks held no grace or elegance, yet never lacked precision.

They were pretty gory too, but at this point, I'd rather have efficiency and precision over what the aftermath looked like.

"This way."

No longer bothered by such a scene, I ran through a large corridor. Of course, as I ran, I made sure to be in-between Waylan and Ultruk.

I wasn't naive enough to think that I could take the front or back.

All I could do at the moment was direct the two in the right direction. Having already memorized the layout of the place, the task was a breeze for me.

"There it is…"

Before long, halting my steps, I pointed towards the distance.

"Ah, it looks like our plans have been read."

But just as I was sure we had arrived, obstructing our path were several duergars. Standing next to each other in a tight formation, they held their weapons while aiming in our direction. A multitude of spherical bundles of mana lingered in the air, converging towards their artifacts.

To make matters worse, standing in the middle of the duergars was a familiar figure, someone I didn't expect to see so soon.

"Durara…"

I muttered underneath my breath.

One of the leading elders of Inferno, and an <SS> ranked duergar, Durara had made her appearance.

Chapter 350: An Intense Fight [1]

"Ren, stay back."

Extending his hand towards my direction, Waylan pushed me back. His piercing, ice-cold gaze indifferently scanned Durara who was standing opposite him.

Holding onto a wooden staff double her size, a red orb deeply embedded at the very top of it. A soft, misty red hue shrouded the area around the staff, creating a mysterious feeling.

A heavy tension enshrouded the hall as both sides were locked in an intense stare-off.

WIIIIING—!

In a smooth motion, Waylan took out his broadsword and pointed it in Durara's direction.

Comparing the pressure he was giving off to Durara's, I could tell that he was weaker than her. In fact, it wasn't even a close match as his aura was swiftly getting suppressed by her.

Waylan also seemed to know this fact as a never-before-seen look of seriousness marred his face.

Without wasting any time, he channeled what little bit of mana he had recovered in his body towards the tip of the broadsword.

'…His psyon control is leagues above mine.'

I thought to myself as I observed him from the side.

From how he managed to freely control the psions to reach a certain point of the broadsword unimpeded, I could understand just how capable Waylan was.

But as Waylan was getting ready to fight, contrary to his expectations, Durara's attention wasn't directed toward him or Ultruk, who had still not made a move and was quietly observing Durara.

Her attention was in fact directed towards me. Durara mouthed slowly, in a tone I couldn't quite place my finger on.

"This familiar aura…"

Her chilly voice traveled through the ears of everyone present as my face couldn't help but change slightly.

Durara's expression turned from ice-cold to gloomy as her eyes that contained a faint black light shone even more fiercely. Her mind was slowly processing everything happening before her.

Seeing that she was slowly figuring things out, raising my hand, I waved in her direction, in an almost mocking manner.

"Hi."

Having been paying close attention to me for the past week or so, she was already familiar with my aura. Although I could hide it, I didn't feel the need to do so anymore.

She had already figured out what had happened so there was no longer a need.

Karl's role was done. He was no longer needed.

Might as well piss her off to disrupt her mentality.

"…It can't be. N-No, it cannot be possible…!"

Upon seeing me wave my hand in her direction, it finally dawned on her. A look of absolute shock and betrayal appeared on Durara's face as she tightened the grip on her staff.

But it didn't take long for her to calm her emotions down. Her face returned to its usual cold and indifferent one. However, everyone in the room could feel the tangible bloodlust exuding from her body.

She was angry.

'What a bummer…'

Seeing that my taunt did not work, I felt that it was a bit of a pity.

If I had managed to provoke her into doing something stupid out of anger, we could've used that chance and capitalized on it.

Too bad no such thing happened.

"I get it. I finally get what you guys did. Clever little trick…"

Every single one of her words chilled the very air as a palpitating and almost suffocating feeling blanketed the hall.

VUAM—!

It was then that a murderous aura suddenly sprang out from behind her small body, in the form of an illusory red skull.

Tightening her grip on the staff, even more, Durara glared in my direction, directing the murderous aura revolving around her body towards where I was standing.

"…You will pay for what you've done!"

She cried out loud, her aura bursting forth in my direction like an unstoppable tsunami. Opening its mouth, the illusory skull shot in my direction at a terrifying speed.

"Stay back, Ren."

Pushing me further back, Waylan stepped forward and threw a regular palm in the direction of the skull. Though the palm looked just like an ordinary attack, it was anything but.

Moments before it came into contact with the red skull, which was a tangible reflection of Durara's bloodlust, a small white glow enveloped Waylan's palm as the aura encircled his hand in a soothing, calm manner.

Once the skull was only a few meters away from me, chopping his hand down, a large gap formed and the skull split apart as though it was made out of water. What followed after was a strong gale that messed up my hair and clothes, but other than that, I was completely fine.

"Hmph."

Seeing that her small attack had not worked, Durara snorted. She then proceeded to tap her staff on the ground once.

Crack! Crack!

Suddenly, the moment her staff touched the floor, everything beneath her feet completely shattered apart, revealing the rough ground underneath it.

The broken tiles of the floor slowly rose in the air around her, encircling her very body.

Thin threads of mana suddenly materialized around Durara, surrounding her completely. She raised her staff in the air, releasing a blood-curdling scream.

"I'll kill you, traitor!"

Her enraged shout reverberated throughout the whole building as a frightening power surfaced from above the top of the staff. Within seconds, a powerful ball of energy materialized in front of Durara as she pointed the staff in my direction. The ball then proceeded to levitate in front of her.

"Hieaak!"

But she wasn't done.

With another high-pitched scream, the mana around Durara suddenly froze. Then, in unison, it agglomerated towards the ruby placed on top of the staff.

All of this happened in a matter of seconds. By the time the mana had completely converged on top of the staff, a second had passed and one more ball appeared in front of her.

While this was happening, the dozen or so duergars weren't standing still. Aiming their weapons in our direction, they were also getting ready to fire at the same time.

Soon, both sides were ready as a threatening energy expanded from their direction.

With a grave look, Waylan looked to his side.

"Ultruk, can you handle her attack?"

"Leave it to me," Ultruk reassured.

Being an <SS> rank himself, Ultruk was confident in defending against Durara's attack. Although he could feel just how powerful her attack was, he wasn't scared.

Or, at least, that's how it looked to me.

But as the seconds ticked by, the energy gathered at the top of her staff became more threatening and powerful.

At this point, I could no longer quantify the power radiating from her attack.

"Huuuuarg!"

Responding to her, Ultruk let out a deep shout. His voice resembled the furious cry of thunder as it reverberated throughout the hall, strongly shaking the surroundings. A devastating energy rooted deep within his body sprang out, enveloping him whole, like a thin veil.

Taking a step forward, the floor beneath him cracked apart as fine, miniature crevices expanded from the area around his foot. His calf muscles tensed, revealing thick veins that threatened to pop out of his skin at any second. Ultruk painted a menacing visage.

Noticing what Ultruk was doing, Durara's eyes became even colder. The enormous energy lingering atop her staff halted.

Without saying anything, she lowered the staff at a forty-five degree angle, the two spheres of energy revolving around her merged together to form an even larger, inconceivable mass of destructive mana that quickly shot it in our direction. A wild and violent energy swept the wind apart, forcefully tearing down anything in the hall.

Durara's frightening attack caused Ultruk and Waylan's gazes to harden. However, Ultruk, who was standing at the front, did not dodge. Releasing the built-up energy in his calves, his body tore through the air at an extremely terrifying speed. Holding onto the large axe with both hands, he appeared right in front of the energy blast as though he had teleported.

Because Ultruk moved faster than ever before, the axe was positioned lower, its head angled right below his waist. But this was no problem for him. Intensifying his grip on the axe, Ultruk's muscles bulged and he swung diagonally in an upwards manner.

A thick red light surged from the tip of the axe and ruthlessly smashed against Durara's attack. The space around Ultruk exploded.

BANG—!

A great force emerged from the head-on collision, causing Ultruk to get forced backward. A bright light shot outwards, and everything close to the epicenter of the collision disintegrated.

The others around Durara and Ultruk were pushed even further back as a result of the aftermath.

Fortunately for me, I had Waylan for support. A thin shield enveloped the two of us.

"Ugh…!"

Although we were not too close to the attack, I could see Waylan struggling to diffuse the aftershocks of the collision.

Staring at the ensuing battle, Waylan's face couldn't be any more serious.

"This is not a fight I can interfere with…" he silently muttered.

Having witnessed the exchange that just took place, Waylan realized that the fight was far beyond his league.

'The gap between each rank grows as one gets closer to the top.' I thought to myself.

"Compared to the previous elder we encountered before, she's in a different league. He, I could handle. She, I can't."

"What rank was the previous elder?" I asked out of curiosity.

Since I wasn't there, I had not witnessed the fight.

Glancing at me from the corner of his eyes, Waylan softly replied, "<S+>, borderline <SS->."

"Ah, I see…"

I guess I now understood why Waylan could take care of him.

"We can only hope that Ultruk can handle her…"

Waylan's expression was cold and indifferent as he stared at the duergars standing behind Durara.

Stabilizing their bodies from the aftermath of the explosion, they turned their attention towards us.

Raising their weapons, they aimed them at us without hesitation.

Taking a step forward, Waylan forcefully pushed me behind him.

"Stand back, Ren. You're too weak to be of any use. You're just a burden at the moment."

"Got it."

Nodding in understanding, I heeded Waylan's words. Although he was a bit harsh, Waylan was correct.

I didn't need to deny the truth. At my current level, I was just a burden.

I had already finished my role. The rest was up to them.

BANG— BANG—

Before I knew it, Waylan and the other duergars had started fighting, multi-coloured lights surging in the air.

'I don't like this…'

Even though I knew that I had already completed my role, staring at the ensuing battles, a weird feeling bubbled up from inside me.

I couldn't quite explain what I was feeling. Annoyance? Frustration? Helplessness?…Or a mix of all those?

Just staring at the two of them battle and treating me as a burden did not sit right with me. I was long past my passive phase.

I wanted to help. I wanted to ease their burdens, if even a little bit.

This was obviously not because I felt compassion for them or any other emotions similar to it. I wanted to help them because I didn't want them to tire out and eventually lose later on in the operation.

I also didn't like the feeling of being a burden.

'…Just how can I help them without causing them more trouble?'

Crossing my arms and biting the nail of my thumb, the chip inside of my head started processing at full power.

The last thing I wanted to do was try to help and end up making the situation worse. If I was planning on helping them, it had to be in a way that would actually help, not hinder.

I needed to take into account all the variables and factors around me.

'…But, just what can I do?'

Staring at the ensuing battle, and glancing at everything that was happening around me, my brows started to knit together.

It wasn't long before something finally struck me as my eyes opened slightly.

'What if…'

Chapter 351: An Intense Fight [2]

A powerful ripple of energy swept past as an axe clashed against a wooden staff. A shocking scene ensued after the two weapons collided. Instead of the staff breaking apart upon making contact with the axe, the axe bounced off the body of the staff and a small opening appeared.

"You think your mediocre weapon can go against my staff? An <SS> ranked artifact?"

Durara mocked.

She obviously did not miss the opening. Pushing her palm forward, her hand touched Ultruk's bare body.

BANG—

A powerful blast sounded and Ultruk was pushed backward, only halting when his back crashed against the wall behind him.

Durara had come on top at their first true exchange.

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

Not so far from them, the situation with Waylan looked a lot more controlled. He skillfully blocked the attacks coming from the duergars standing behind Durara.

Pushing his plan forward, a thick energy blast shot at terrifying speed towards the duergar in the distance.

But, they were well prepared. Upon seeing Waylan's powerful attack, the duergars chose not to panic. Throwing several small boxes on the floor, five large transparent barriers formed right in front of them.

BANG—

Right as the barriers formed, Waylan's attack reached the duergars' position.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The moment his attack touched the barriers, three of them instantly tore apart as transparent shards of mana diffused in the air.

But that was as far as the attack could go. By the time the first barrier broke, Waylan's attack lost half of its power, and with each progressive barrier that broke, the weaker his attack became.

It wasn't long before his attack completely disappeared, leaving behind two intact barriers.

"Damn it…"

Staring at the scene in front of him, Waylan silently cursed.

Although he didn't show it outwardly, I could tell that he was running low on mana. He still hadn't recovered from his previous battle. Even though it was faint, if one paid close attention, they would notice that the hue surrounding his body had dimmed a little.

'…Things are not looking good.'

Although it was premature of me to say that they were both at a disadvantage, from how things were going, even if Waylan and Ultruk did end up winning, the two would be at their last breaths by that time and essentially become even more useless than the current me.

Taking my eyes away from Waylan's fight and turning my attention back towards Ultruk who seemed to still be in top shape, I spoke inside of my mind, addressing a certain someone.

'Do you think your bloodline suppression can effect Durara?'

[…What do you mean?]

Angelica responded inside of my mind.

'If I were to somehow manage to get you close to Durara, do you think your bloodline can suppress her powers, even if it's a little bit?'

If I could, somehow, get Angelica close to Durara in her tooth form and then have her appear from behind and suppress the latter with her bloodline, we could gain the edge we need to win.

After contemplating for a bit on how I could help, and running multiple different scenarios inside of my head, it was the best solution that came into my mind.

Although it would be unrealistic to say that Angelica could suppress Durara by a lot due to the massive gap in strength, it might be enough to give Ultruk an advantage, or so I hoped.

[That's impossible.]

Pouring cold water onto my ideas, Angelica denied the possibility.

[I can tell what you're thinking. It's an unrealistic plan.]

'Why is that?'

[The gap between my strength and hers is far too big for my bloodline to have any effect on her. Her contractor is probably a demon that far surpasses me in power as well. Even if it were possible, how can you guarantee that I'll get close to her without getting detected? She's an <SS> rank, not some nobody. She'll easily be able to notice something isn't right like Douglas did last time.]

'You're right...'

Angelica's words made me realize just how naïve my thoughts were.

If things were that easy, for as long as she was with me, fighting every elder present would be nothing but a breeze.

I guess my hastiness had blinded me for a moment.

'But, then…what should I do?'

Time didn't wait for anybody. Every second we wasted made our situation slightly more disadvantageous, for those here and the others outside.

[Have me go toward those little creatures.]

It was then that Angelica suggested something. Processing her words, my eyes soon lit up in understanding.

'You don't mean…'

[Indeed. Although I can't do anything about her, I can do something about those little creatures fighting that human.]

The urgency of the situation left no room for arguments. I didn't say anything about the fact that she called the duergars 'little creatures' and mused over Angelica's words.

Indeed, if I had Angelica help Waylan defeat the duergars holding him back, it would turn the situation into a two vs one.

Although Waylan was weaker than Durara, she was currently busy fighting someone whose strength was on par with hers. If Waylan was put into the mix, victory would almost be guaranteed. But, that depended on how things would pan out next.

'Alright, let's go with that plan.'

Having come to a decision, without wasting any second, I put my hand in my mouth and extracted one of my teeth.

'Wait…'

My hand suddenly paused as I thought of something.

'Do you have any devil fruits with you?…Or did you consume them all already?'

I asked inside of my mind.

[Yes, I used my last one before.]

My heart sank at her words.

'…Then, how are we supposed to do this?'

Without the aid of the devil fruit, Angelica wouldn't be able to recover her demonic energy and suppress the duergars.

My head suddenly started to ache.

'Seriously… How are we supposed to do this when you don't have a devil fruit?'

[What are you talking about?]

'If we don't have a devil fruit, you won't be able to recover your demonic energy and suppress those little creatures.'

Unknowingly, as I was speaking, I started referring to the duergars as little creatures.

[We don't need a devil fruit for that.]

Angelica replied in the most relaxed tone I'd heard.

My eyes jumped slightly.

'We don't?'

[You're contracted to me. You have demonic energy. Just put some into me and throw me in their direction.]

'…That actually makes sense. Why did I only just realize this now?' Pausing in thought, my brows furrowed.

'Hold on, why didn't you do this before when we were in the other room?'

[Last time, I was planning on fighting. This time, I'm not. I'm just trying to suppress them.]

'Alright, got it.'

Having thought things through, holding onto Angelica in my hand, I tried to channel my mana mixed with demonic energy into her.

[Be careful. Even though you may not have felt anything, the more mana you use, the further the demonic energy inside of you will corrode your mind.]

As I was injecting her with demonic energy, Angelica reminded in a serious tone.

Fully aware of the fact, I nodded at her words.

'I know, don't worry.'

I had been contracted for a total of a week and a half with Angelica, and although I tried my best to use the least amount of mana possible, given the circumstances, I had no choice but to use it quite often.

So far, nothing had happened, but I couldn't guarantee that things would remain the same in the future.

I had to be more careful.

[Enough.]

After injecting a large chunk of my mana into Angelica, I stopped after hearing her voice.

[I can only keep this for one more minute before I return to my regular form. Quickly get me over there.]

'Got it.'

Nodding my head, I turned to face Waylan who was standing not so far from me, attacking the duergars in the distance.

The conversation I had with Angelica only spanned for at most half a minute. So, nothing much changed since the last time I saw him.

This was good.

"Hey, Waylan!"

Raising my voice, I called out.

"Now is not the time, Ren!"

Bang—

Smacking away an energy blast, Waylan raised his broadsword and swung it downwards.

Watching him fight, I once again opened my mouth and shouted, "Waylan, listen to me. Do one big attack!"

"What are you talking about…?"

With furrowed brows, Waylan turned to glance in my direction for a short second.

"Now is not the time to be messing around. Can't you see that I'm curr—ughk!"

Boom—

Cutting him mid-sentence, a small grenade-like object exploded right in front of him. A black gas cloud diffused in the air right after the explosion.

Reacting just in time, Waylan closed his mouth and waved his hand, pushing all of the gas away.

Right after, Waylan turned to glare in my direction. In response, I merely shrugged my shoulders and responded quickly, "Just trust me and force them to pay attention to you. I have a way to help you out."

If that wasn't enough to convince him, I raised my hand and showed him the tooth in my grasp.

"——!"

The moment Waylan saw the tooth, he instantly understood what I was trying to do. Without wasting any time with unnecessary words, taking a step forward, the mana inside of Waylam's body shot out crazily, like a tidal wave.

Clusters of mana threads surged out of his body. After which they all shot towards the broadsword in his hand, the length of the blade increasing drastically. From two meters to three meters and then four meters… It kept increasing until it finally reached fifteen meters in length.

Wielding an absolutely massive broadsword, if it could even be called that, Waylan stared at the enemy for a moment. The sheer aura of the blade instilled horror in the duergars.

Even Durara was almost distracted for a moment, but Ultruk didn't let her. Their clash continued fiercely, both sides not letting up.

Before the duergars could make a move, Waylan briefly glanced in my direction, signaling me to start.

Silently nodding my head, I didn't waste a single second.

The moment Waylan was about to cut downwards, I threw Angelica towards the duergars' direction. Because my throw was extremely weak and their attention was currently focused on Waylan's sword, none of the duergars present took notice of my action.

How big of a mistake that was.

A couple of seconds after I threw Angelica, Waylan let out a shout that came from deep within his body and slashed horizontally.

"Haaa!!!"

WHIIIIING!

Staring at the incoming attack with grim determination, the duergars took out all their defensive artifacts and tried to use them. But just as they were about to do that, an oppressive force suddenly entrapped their body.

The force that was entrapping their body wasn't too strong, for it only made their movements slightly sluggish. But, in a scenario where each second mattered, that slight disruption proved to be fatal.

"Haa!!!"

"Hiekkk!"

The desperate screams of the duergars rang out as blood splattered everywhere.

Falling simultaneously, the headless bodies of seven duergars fell to the ground with a small thud. Standing almost fifteen meters away from them was Angelica who had the palm of her hand open, directed towards where the duergars were standing before.

Thin threads of demonic energy lingered around her body.

There were a total of eleven duergars before, and of the eleven, seven were dead with the rest gravely injured.

The rest was a breeze for Waylan. Pressing his foot on the ground, he disappeared from his spot and reappeared in front of the last remaining duergars, killing them instantly.

I wanted to join him on the fun, but before Waylan went to attack the duergars, he put a small barrier around me, afraid that Durara would do something while he was busy killing the last remaining duergars.

Fortunately, that didn't happen.

Spurt—

Killing the last remaining duergar, Waylan turned his attention towards Durara who was fighting on equal footing with Ultruk.

Because of how intense their fight was, neither knew what had just happened.

They did not know that in the last few seconds, the balance of the whole battle had turned towards our favor.

Chapter 352: An Intense Fight [3]

'What are you doing Angelica? Take their stuff.'

While Waylan was preparing to join the fight, glancing at Angelica, I pointed at the dead duergars on the floor.

'Didn't you say that you were out of devil fruits? Check their stuff, there might be a couple in there.'

[You just want their stuff don't you?]

Angelica coldly said, having read my exact thoughts.

Blinking a couple of times, I chose to remain silent.

'…'

Raising her brows in the distance, Angelica gave me a not-so amused look.

Sighing, I came clean.

'Fine you win. I do, so hurry up and get their stuff and give it to me. Keep the useless stuff.'

Having seen just how much trouble Waylan went through when he fought them, I couldn't help but covet the stuff that they had.

There was definitely going to be something useful in there.

[Fine.]

Tempted by the idea of getting more devil fruits, Angelica eventually nodded her head and headed towards the corpses of the deceased duergars.

Rummaging through their stuff, she briefed me on the things that she found.

[I've found another artifact, but just like the others, it requires a mixture of both mana and demonic energy to properly function. You can use it now but when the contract is over you'll no longer be able to use them.]

Pausing, she glanced in my direction and continued.

[…that is unless you're planning on consuming a devil fruit. If so, you can probably use them even after the contract is over.]

'No, I'm good. I can just sell it in the black market for a good price.'

I quickly shook my head and denied her offer.

Since the black market was for both villains and heroes, I didn't doubt that there was a market for the things that Angelica picked up.

When I returned to the human domain, I planned on selling all of the stuff I got today to fund my future endeavors.

'Anything el—'

Bang— Bang—

Cutting me off was a large explosive sound that came from the distance. Turning my head to face the direction of where the sound came from, I was once again reminded of the fight that was happening next to me.

However, contrary to the last time I looked at them, this time it was Ultruk who held the upper hand in the conflict.

'Angelica, get the stuff and quickly come back to me.'

Worried that something unexpected might happen, I urged Angelica to hurry up and return to me.

Replying with a cold stare, Angelica silently picked up her speed before quietly returning to my side. For obvious reason, I had her transform into a tooth again.

This time I didn't put her in my mouth and just put her in my pocket.

"Huaaarg!"

Just as I put Angelica in my pocket, letting out a deep roar that came from deep within him, Ultruk wildly rushed in Durara's direction.

His movements contained no set pattern and looked sloppy, but the power contained within each swing was not something to take light of. They contained unimaginable amounts of power.

Durara who was standing behind a thin purple translucent barrier knew this best as she struggled to find a chance to counter-attack. Ultruk's attacks were just too relentless, forcing her to be in a passive position.

It had gotten to the point that it looked like Ultruk was the one that was set to win the fight.

"You damned primitive race and your infinite stamina."

She cursed out loud.

Tapping her staff onto the ground, a giant ripple formed on the ground beneath her, and a strong circular pressurized wind gale shot outwardly, pushing everything away.

The ripple wasn't anything powerful, however, it did successfully manage to accomplish its goal which was to distance Ultruk who was swept off of his feet and sent a couple of meters away from her.

"Fucking die!"

Taking advantage of the small gap that she had created, lightning crackled from the tip of her staff.

In a matter of seconds, multiple bolts of lightning crackled around her staff, encircling it like a python strangling its prey.

Slowly, the lightning condensed together, forming a rotating lightning plate. A wild and violent energy gathered within it, and an aura of destruction spread throughout the hall.

A rare trace of solemness surged onto Ultruk's face when faced with Durara's attack. It was too late for him to get close to her. He had to quickly counter-attack her move with a move of similar power.

Soon, a dark green hue began to surge into the surface of his body.

Standing opposite each other, the two icily stared at each other as they prepared to unleash a terrifying attack.

All of this happened in a matter of seconds, and before long, Durara opened her mouth.

"...Do your best at surviving this."

Raising her staff, she pointed the tip of her staff in Ultruk's direction. The electric plate that stood atop the staff suddenly whistled down. The space itself distorted an inch at a time as it traveled.

Standing far and staring at the attack, my mind blank.

If not for the protective shield that Waylan had set up around me, I would've been a goner just from the residual energy that it was releasing.

In fact, the more I stared at the energy, the more I realized just how much danger I was in. If that attack did not diffuse and connected, I wasn't sure whether Waylan's barrier would be able to withstand the aftershocks of the impact. It was that terrifying.

"Crap..."

I wasn't the only one that shared the same thought as Waylan's face hardened considerably.

Right before Durara attacked, throwing away three empty potion bottles, he took a deep breath.

"Huuuu…"

Breathing out, a turbid, almost tangible breath released from his mouth before diffusing in the air.

Locking his eyes in the direction of Durara, his broadsword, that was glowing brightly, suddenly brightened even more.

Although no one could tell just how much mana Durara consumed when preparing her last attack, without a doubt she had used a considerable amount.

For the last minute, knowing that the two of them had still noticed that he had won, Waylan had been secretly preparing for that exact moment to strike.

And what better moment than now when Durara had just consumed a lot of mana to attack.

Using every last once of mana in his body, the muscles of Waylan's body rapidly expanded.

Staring at him from the distance, although I couldn't tell what type of attack he was trying to pull off, I could tell that it was no joke. Just from how the space around the broadsword distorted, it was evident that this was Waylan's last resort attack.

The moment Durara released her attack, Waylan also attacked.

Taking a step forward, he slashed downwards.

WIIIING—!

To my surprise, the slash looked like any regular slash. There was nothing special about it. No fancy lighting, no space distorting energy blast, or any of those flashy moves that made the attack look spectacular.

It was just a plain downward swing.

However, what happened next, completely shocked me.

The second that Waylan slashed down, the space around Durara suddenly distorted.

"Huh?"

Completely taken off-guard by the changes happening around her, the moment the space distorted, it appeared next to her, Waylan's attack.

The moment she noticed what was happening, Durara's face paled significantly. Before she could even react, the attack hit her in the body, and a metallic clink sounded.

Clink—

"Hieak!"

Letting out a screech, Durara body swung back a little and her attack changed direction. Instead of heading for Ultruk that was standing opposite to her, it headed towards the deeper end of the hall.

As her attack was deflected, the metallic sound resonated in the air for a brief moment before disappearing.

With her eyes wide open, Durara glared at Waylan. Revealed underneath her clothes was a shining armor that covered her whole body.

"You bastard!"

She screamed as she touched her armor that now had a large scar on it.

"Haaargh!"

But before she could do anything, taking advantage of the fact that her attack had missed and her attention was away, Ultruk, who had similarly charged up a powerful attack swung his axe in her direction.

A large cluster of light surfaced from the tip of his axe. After which, it arrived with a swift speed in her direction. The wild and chaotic energy within the attack caused the air to be torn apart.

Swooosh—!

Staring at the incoming attack, Durara was left with no choice but to defend.

Tapping the ground with her staff, multiple barriers formed around her.

"Ultruk quick."

While Durara was preparing herself to defend against his attack, Waylan, who was standing not so far from me weakly called out as he pointed at the other side of the hall where Durara's previous attack headed.

Turning his attention towards Waylan, Ultruk nodded his head in understanding.

Crack!

Stomping his foot on the ground, and not looking back, he reappeared before me and grabbed me by the waist.

"Ooof…"

The moment his large muscular arms grabbed my waist, he knocked the air out of my body as I struggled to catch my breath.

Crack!

Once he grabbed me, Ultruk stomped his foot on the ground again and shot in Waylan's direction, and a similar scene occurred.

Once he grabbed Waylan, using all of the last remaining energy inside of his body he quickly ran towards the other side of the hall.

Fortunately, his body contained an unbelievable amount of explosive power. With each step he took, he would cover over a large distance. It was almost as though he was continually teleporting. But even though we were moving at incredible speeds, Ultruk would look back from time to time in worry.

That was because he knew that at the current speed we were going we might not be able to fully evade the aftermath of Duraras attack. Ultruk may have been able to defend against the attack had he been in optimal condition, but now that he had used a lot of his aura, added with the fact that Waylan and I were with him, the only choice he had was to run.

BOOOOM—!

It was then that a terrifying explosion sounded from behind and the whole building shook. The ceiling crumbled apart and a torrential flame shot towards our direction like an unstoppable tsunami.

"Khrrrr…"

Using every ounce of his strength, Ultruk ran as fast as he possibly could. Although he was carrying both me and Waylan, his speed never slowed down.

"Nooooo!!!"

Durara's desperate scream sounded from behind as the after-effects of her own attack engulfed her entire body. Whether she lived or died, I could no longer tell as her shriek was soon drowned out by the powerful flame that was quickly approaching our direction.

"There!"

I pointed towards a door in the distance.

"Go to that room, that's where the dampening system is located."

"Okay."

Nodding his head, Ultruk rushed towards the direction I pointed at. Within seconds we arrived at the entrance of the door which at the moment was wide open as the duergars inside of it went out to check what was responsible for the terrifying explosion.

Bang—!

Kicking one of the duergars to the side, Ultruk dropped both me and Waylan to the ground and shut the door behind us.

Though it was close before the flame could get to us, Ultruk managed to push the doors down.

As he shut the doors, I managed to catch a glimpse of the flames engulfing the hall that we were previously in. A cold chill ran down my spine as I witnessed the sight.

Clank—!

Soon the door fully closed, and finally, everyone slumped on the ground to catch their breaths.

As I was the one that had used the least amount of energy, it didn't take long for me to recover.

Standing up, I looked around the room we were in.

'We've made it.'

We finally arrived at the control station of the dampening system enshrouding the whole of Inferno.

***

A/N : And that's the third chap.. The arc is almost ending, enjoy.

Chapter 353: Shutting Down The System [1]

"Let me have a look."

Moving towards the control system that overlooked the dampening system, I placed my palm on the holographic screen.

Right as my hand touched the hologram, a map of the entire building presented itself before me. Marked on it were a multitude of red dots that depicted the areas where the dampening devices were installed.

The range they covered was also displayed on it.

Scanning the holographic map before me, my brows knit tightly.

Placing my hand under my chin, I softly muttered, "Hmm… This is a lot more troublesome than I had expected."

Tapping one of the red dots marked on the map, a small window popped up in front of me.

On the window were a series of complicated numbers and words.

As I looked through the long, complex numbers and words displayed on the window, the chip inside of my head started processing the information in my mind.

But it was useless. Even with the chip inside of my head, I could barely understand what was happening.

The more I looked the greater the frown on my face became.

'…I should've expected this from the beginning. There's no way the dampening system wouldn't have some sort of defense mechanism installed.'

Getting into the place was the first hurdle, and the second hurdle was now deactivating the system, which, honestly, I knew very little about.

Massaging my forehead, I tried my best to make heads or tails of the data before me.

Turning my head, my eyes paused on Ultruk. He was lying on the ground, breathing heavily.

'…No, that won't do.'

I thought about asking him if he knew anything, but after remembering that orcs weren't the brightest of creatures, I promptly gave up.

"Here."

But just as my head was about to ache even more, Waylan arrived next to me and passed me a small, black-coloured rectangular object.

"What's this?" I asked in wonder as I took the device from Waylan's hands.

Feeling it in my hands, the black object was sized and shaped to resemble a USB device. It wasn't exactly a USB though, since it looked like a black metallic stick.

Flipping it around and seeing nothing particularly special about the stick, I lifted my head and looked up at Waylan.

"…What exactly is this supposed to do?" I repeated, sounding mildly curious.

With a weak smile, Waylan explained, "Before coming, Jomnuk gave me this. He seemed to have already known that you would have trouble figuring out how to disable the system."

"He did? Well…"

Turning to look at the window filled with numbers, I couldn't deny Waylan's words. Or Jomnuk's, for that matter.

"Although Jomnuk did say that you could've done it by yourself, he also added that by the time you'd be done, hours would've already passed… And so, before coming here, he told me to pass it to you."

"Good idea…"

For a moment, I thought that I was going to be spending the next couple of hours trying to figure out how to enter the system.

Fortunately, Jomnuk had great foresight. He had given Waylan the necessary equipment to help me disable the system.

Given that time was of the essence, it was nothing short of a life-saving grace.

Pointing at the holographic map in front of me, Waylan explained to me the uses of the stick.

"According to him, all you have to do is put this thing over there and it should automatically disable the system within the next couple of minutes."

Listening to his words, I nodded my head repeatedly before opening my mouth and saying, "That's simple enough."

"It is. Just stick it in and let it do the rest."

"Got it, I'll do it now."

Without wasting any time, I inserted the USB stick-looking device inside of a small socket at the bottom of the holographic system.

Clink—

The moment I inserted the device into the socket, the panel flashed and a small tab opened up.

[Database synchronisation]

0%________________100%

Upon seeing the message window, my eyes lit up in glee.

"It worked."

"Looks like Jomnuk was right." Waylan smiled in relief from the side, "We would have been in trouble if that didn't work."

"You're right. But, we're not in the clear yet," I responded from the side, cooling down my initial excitement.

Taking a look at the panel tab that had now moved up to 2% progress, I solemnly said, "I'm sure that the elders have been made aware of what happened here by this time. If my estimates aren't wrong, they'll send a couple of them to us soon…"

Looking at Waylan, whose complexion was extremely pale, and Ultruk, who, well, still looked green but had a tired look on his face, I could tell that in the state they were currently in, another fight would only lead to our imminent loss.

"Oh, right."

It was then that a thought suddenly occurred to me as I looked at Ultruk's direction.

Tapping on my bracelet, I took out a small bag and walked up to him.

Tapping him on his broad shoulder to get his attention, I pushed the bag in his direction.

"These might help you recover a bit."

"Huh?"

Turning to face me, Ultruk briefly glanced at my face before looking at the bag in my hands.

"What are these?" His deep voice echoed throughout the room.

"Just a few things I picked up in a certain place."

The place was none other than Immorra, but he didn't need to know that.

After taking everything that I could possibly get from that place, there were a few things I had no use for.

Especially the fruits that were inside of the bag, they were useless to me. I wasn't exactly sure on how precious they were because I could not ingest them, but they would hopefully be of some use to Ultruk whose aura was low right now.

Since potions didn't really exist for orcs, as they used aura, the orcs couldn't recover like we did with mana. They consumed special fruits like the ones in my hands.

In retrospect, they did recuperate their aura at a much faster rate than us, but it still took a bit of time.

By giving Ultruk the fruits, I was hoping that he would have a much easier time recovering his strength for when more enemies arrived.

"Show what is inside, human."

Though initially sceptical, Ultruk took the bag in my hand and looked through it.

"——?!"

The moment he opened the bag and saw what was inside of it, his eyes opened wide in shock.

Seeing Ultruk's rapidly changing facial expressions was so amusing I couldn't hold back a smile.

Pointing at the bag, his eyes darted between me and the bag.

"This… How… No, where did you get this!?"

He said with slight excitement in his voice.

Standing up from the ground, Ultruk hurriedly moved towards where I was and grabbed me by my shoulders before he started shaking me a little violently.

"Where did you get this stuff?! Answer me, human!"

Unable to free myself from Ultruk's grasp, I was left powerless as he shook my body around like a doll.

"H-Ho-ld…on! Wait a… minute! Stop!"

For a brief moment, I felt my life flash before my eyes as Ultruk shook my body repeatedly.

To make matters worse, no matter how much I tried to free myself from the grasp of his hands, they wouldn't budge an inch. It was as though Ultruk's hands were stuck on me like glue.

'…I'm starting to understand Durara's pain.'

"Ultruk, stop. You're killing him."

It was only after Waylan spoke to him that Ultruk realised what he was doing to me.

Letting go of me, he scratched the back of his head and apologised, "Oh, sorry. I was a bit too excited."

I was a little surprised by the sincerity in the huge orc's tone. It felt a little odd.

Putting his hand inside of the bag, Ultruk took out a pale fruit. Somehow, the fruit looked really beautiful.

Looking at me and Waylan, Ultruk admired the fruit in his hand. As he looked at it, hints of nostalgia could be seen in his eyes.

"You may not know this, but this fruit over here is a rare delicacy I have not seen in over five decades. Back when we were still in our own world, I would eat this everyday with my comrades and friends. It was a time where we basked in the sunshine, and enjoyed the afterglow of the sunset. I'd almost forgotten those days until I saw this again…"

The nostalgia in the orc's tone became even more apparent the more he talked. I had never seen him talk so much, especially in such a tone.

"Over five decades?" Waylan asked in surprise. Turning his attention towards the fruit, he tilted his head.

"Strange, I don't feel any mana fluctuations coming from it."

"That's because this fruit is not something you can consume."

Splitting the fruit in two, a subtle energy sprang forth from inside it.

It was a familiar energy that Waylan knew all too well.

"Aura…"

"Correct."

Nodding his head, Ultruk took a bite of the fruit. With the fruit's juices dripping from his large hands, Ultruk showed a delightful expression.

"It tastes just as I've remembered it."

"So? Did it help you recover a bit?" I asked.

"Recover?"

"Yes. I mean, did the fruit help you recuperate some of the aura you lost?"

"Hmm…"

With his other hand holding onto the fruit, Ultruk closed his eyes. After that, for a brief moment of time, he did not speak.

It was only after a minute had passed that he opened his eyes.

Raising his hand and devouring the other side of the fruit, Ultruk opened his mouth.

"The grade of this fruit is good. But, it is still too little for me to make a full recovery."

"…Is that so?" I said with a little bit of disappointment.

Pointing at the other fruits in the bag, I asked again, "What about if you eat all of those fruits?"

The moment I finished saying those words, Ultruk's face hardened.

"…Finish?"

"Yeah, you said that it helped you recover a bit. What if you ate them all?"

"…"

Staring at the fruits in his hands, Ultruk's face contorted.

After a while, he grimly responded.

"I should be able to recover half of my aura."

"That's good!"

My eyes instantly lit up at his words. If he recovered half of his aura, it would make things a lot easier for us going forward.

Turning my attention towards the panel and seeing that it was still only at 5%, I knew that we would soon be going through another tough battle.

The goal was to disable the whole dampening system. Once that happened, communications would return and the tides of the battle should start shifting towards our direction.

As my thoughts paused there, turning my head to face Waylan, I asked, "How about you? How long will it take for you to recover your strength?"

"Me?"

Placing his hand on his chin, Waylan closed his eyes for a brief moment before shaking his head.

"At least one more hour. I wont be able to help much in the next hour."

"One hour?"

Frowning, I looked towards my right arm. Shaking my head, I said, "I'm the same. Not that it really matters, since you guys are way stronger than me."

Well, I could just take care of the mobs. That would make things easier for them.

Although they wouldn't be able to do much harm to Waylan and Ultruk, they could still prove to be annoying. And, in a tough battle, such distractions could even prove fatal.

It was best if I could recover quickly as well.

"Okay, eat the fruits now and recover quickly. We never know when they are going to come at us. By now, the enemy should already be aware that something happened to Durara, so we should probably get ready."

Booom—!

But just as my words faded, a large explosion sounded and the whole room shook.

Opening my eyes wide, I stared at Ultruk and Waylan. Their gazes interlocked with mine.

Then, turning towards the panel and seeing that it had only moved to 7%, my face sank.

"…They came a lot faster than expected."

Chapter 354: Shutting Down The System [2]

Booom—!

The metallic door that led to the room shook as a thunderous explosion rang out.

"…They're already here."

Focusing my attention on the door, my face turned solemn.

After that, turning my attention towards the window that displayed the percentage of progress, I mused to myself.

'The rate of progress at the moment is about 1% for every five seconds. The current progress is 7%, and therefore, we would need to stall them for about four hundred and sixty-five seconds. That's a little bit under eight minutes.'

With the aid of the chip inside my head, I was able to calculate the time we needed to stall the duergars in seconds.

Although it did not sound like a lot of time, given our current circumstances and the opponents we were up against, it was too long. The stakes were up against us.

In fact, I wasn't sure whether we would be able to defend for such a long period of time, especially since we needed to take into account our current surroundings.

If the stick inside of the panel broke, we'd be screwed.

Booom—!

Disrupting me out of my thoughts was the sound of another explosion. It came from the other side of the door.

As the explosion rang, a narrow gap appeared by the edge of the door, exposing what was happening outside. Although it was only a small glimpse, I could tell that there were several duergars waiting for us outside.

I didn't even need to check whether an elder was present, because I could feel a threatening aura from outside of the door.

It was almost on the same level as Durara. Almost. I could feel that the elder was a bit weaker than her.

It seemed like I wasn't the only one who noticed that, as Ultruk's face eased up a little. But only just a little.

The odds were still stacked against us.

"The door won't last for long, you need to eat those fruits now. The more time you waste the less time you'll have for recovery." I said while pointing at the bag in Ultruk's hands.

"I can understand that you don't want to eat them, but we can't afford to have you conserve the fruits," I smiled and added, "If you want more, I'll get you some later."

"You will?"

Ultruk's head snapped in my direction. It was so fast I thought his head could have popped off.

Seeing how he reacted to my words, I knew that I had the crux of the problem in my grasp.

"Well...yes. I think I should be able to get more later. I won't make any promises, but I'll keep it in mind."

I had to go back to Immorra one day or another, so getting him more of those fruits wouldn't really be hard for me.

Well, that was as long as Silug did as planned.

If not, there'd be no point in me going to Immorra where a Marquis ranked demon was eagerly waiting to roast me alive.

'I wonder how Silug is doing...I hope he's secretly getting strong, as planned-'

Ultruk's voice disrupted me out of my thoughts.

"...That is good enough for me."

After getting some form of confirmation from me, no longer hesitant, Ultruk rummaged through the bag and stuffed his mouth full with the fruits from Immorra.

Scrunch! Scrunch!

Juices flowed down from the edges of his mouth as he devoured the fruits as though he was drinking water.

Booom—!

The door shook once more.

"Damn it, why couldn't they have made the doors more durable?!" I shouted out loud as I stared at the door which was slowly breaking apart.

For a door that was supposed to lead to the dampening control system, it was a little too loose.

"Well, in the first place, they didn't expect anyone to be able to infiltrate their own base. Although the dwarves have indeed planted some spies, they wouldn't expect them to pull off a stunt of this caliber."

Waylan murmured from the side, responding to my previous words.

"I guess you're right…"

If not for the fact that the elder behind the door had still not made a move, the door would've already crumbled.

The only reason why he didn't was probably out of caution; fear that we might end up ambushing him out of nowhere.

Booom—! Booom—!

The door shook even more fiercely as multi-colored lights flashed from the narrow gap in-between the door.

Putting my hand in my pocket, I threw Angelica towards the corner of the room.

'Get ready.'

I, of course, did not forget to throw her a few devil fruits.

They were ones she had managed to loot from the duergars earlier. Unfortunately, they weren't very high-quality fruits, so I didn't know how useful they'd be.

'Try to recuperate as much demonic energy as possible. It looks like we're in for a tough battle.'

Because they were busy staring at the door, both Waylan and Ultruk did not notice what I did. Even then, it wouldn't have mattered.

Once I made sure Angelica was okay, turning my head towards Waylan, I asked in a serious tone, "How long do you think the doors will be able to last?"

"Not sure. Maybe a minute?… And that's me being optimistic. If an elder is personally making a move, I'd give it half a minute."

"That's too little time…"

We needed to stall for at least the next seven minutes. One minute was not going to cut it.

"Let's not wait before acting. The more time we waste the better."

"…Okay." Nodding in agreement, I took my attention away from Waylan and checked my dimensional space.

'Let's see…'

Because I didn't have enough time, I had still not checked what I'd gotten from killing those duergars. Perhaps, there might just be something that could prove to be useful to me.

It was then that I finally spotted something.

"I've got something!"

My eyes lit up in glee as I took out a couple of things from my dimensional space.

Tapping Waylan on the shoulder, I showed him three familiar metal boxes.

"I think I've got something that might be able to help us stall for time."

"What is it?"

"Remember this?" I said as I channeled my mana to the metal boxes.

The moment my mana entered the black boxes, they lit up with a strange light and expanded. Before long, a large barrier formed before us.

"Where did you even get that from in the first place?" Waylan asked with a look of surprise on his face.

"Looting, obviously," I responded with an obvious look whilst walking towards the door, and placing the metal boxes by the side, close to the hinges.

One in front, another on the left, and the last one on the right side.

After that, I channeled my mana into them and three barriers formed.

As I was setting them up, turning to look behind me, I asked, "These things were able to block your attacks, right? It should be able to stall for a bit of time."

"…You're right." Pausing, Waylan furrowed his brows.

"But I don't know just how useful it will be against <SS> ranks. The gap between each stage is massive."

"That's fine, we just have him to hold him back for a little bit."

I pointed at Ultruk who was eating the fruits and slowly recovering his aura.

"As soon as the door breaks, Ultruk will stall the strongest duergar while we defend against the weaker ones."

"It's a bit risky…" Waylan muttered reluctantly. With a serious, contemplative look, he glanced at the shaking door.

"What are we going to do once we shut down the system?"

"That… There's no need to worry about that. I've already got a solution."

"Is that so?"

"Yup, so all we have to do now is de—"

Boooom—!

Not even allowing me to finish my sentence, the door broke apart, revealing the duergars standing behind.

Holding onto several different artifacts oozing with power, they didn't even wait for the door to fully fall before starting to mercilessly shoot in our direction.

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

The energy blasts from their weapons shot in our direction at terrifying speeds.

They were so fast that I was unable to react in time. If not for Waylan who was next to me reacting in time and activating the barriers, I would've seriously been injured.

"Huarg!"

What followed the first attack was Ultruk's shout as his voice reverberated throughout the whole room.

Without wasting any time, his figure shot towards the duergar who had the most powerful aura.

Holding onto a massive hammer that was way bigger than he himself, the duergar raised it and met Ultruk's attack head on.

BANG—!

A circular, pressurized wind spread out from their collision, sending everyone nearby flying away.

Only a few were able to remain standing, and of those, I wasn't one. My body crashed against the back of the room, knocking the air out of my lungs.

"Khhh…"

"You okay?" Waylan asked as he looked back at me.

"I'm… fine." Sliding down, I raised my head and reassured Waylan that I was still somewhat intact.

"Fuck, that hurt." I cursed. Wiping the side of my mouth, I weakly stood up.

'Damn it. If not for the barrier I had set up beforehand, I would've most likely died there…'

Just a simple attack from the two of them almost cost me my life.

That was how scary <SS> ranks truly were. People were collateral damage to them.

Fortunately, they both held back a bit. Had they truly gone all out, not only I would've died, but the other duergars present would have joined me in the afterlife too.

BANG— BANG—

The loud banging sound from the fight never ceased as both Ultruk and the duergan elder continued to fight in the distance. With each attack, they would progressively get further away from us.

It became evident to us that they each wanted to avoid letting their own side suffer from the aftermath of their attacks.

During their exchange, neither held the upper hand and although Ultruk was in fact one sub rank higher than the elder he was fighting, their fight at the moment was even because he had still not fully recovered his aura. He was fighting conservatively.

"Watch out."

Waving his hand forward and creating a small barrier around me, Waylan deflected the wind gales that arose from the conflict between Ultruk and the elder, as well as some of their residual energy. However, it came at a cost, as Waylan's face paled a tiny bit.

Breathing out, he urgently said, "Ren, quickly get up. We don't have much time!"

Standing opposite to us were the duergars from before with their weapons ready. All of their weapons varied, ranging from guns to hammers and even swords or axes.

A bright glow enveloped their weapons as they all glared in our direction.

Staring at the duergars' opposite, Waylan's face became grim.

"I don't have much mana in me. I don't know for how long I'll be able to hold them back."

Once again wiping the side of my mouth, I walked up to Waylan and reassured, "Don't worry too much. We've got help."

The moment my words faded, and right as the duergars were about to attack the barriers, their movements suddenly became sluggish as a bone-chilling pressure enveloped their bodies.

"…What?"

Spotting this, Waylan's eyes jumped up. Sensing something, Waylan turned his head and looked behind him.

With her hand raised, standing right behind me, Angelica held a couple of fruits in her left hand.

Kracka! Kracka!

Taking out a long metal stick, my reward for defeating the duergar in the artifact testing facility, I grasped it tightly and let my mana flow in it. Then, with a confident tone, I spoke while looking at the enemy.

"She should be able to lend us a hand."

***

A/N : Another chap within next thirty minutes.

Chapter 355: Shutting Down The System [3]

"You handle the weaklings."

Taking a bite of the fruit, black threads of demonic energy sprung forth from Angelica's body. Her clothes fluttered accompanied by her glossy black hair that wildly flung around.

With cold and apathetic eyes, she eyed the duergars standing opposite to her before her delicate foot gently pressed onto the ground and her figure disappeared.

Swooosh—!

Once Angelica made her move, turning to face Waylan, I pointed towards one particular duergar whose aura was incomparably stronger than any of the other duergar present.

"Can you stall that guy?"

With his eyes already locked onto the duergar, I was talking about, Waylan nodded his head.

"…I should be able to. Although I can't defeat him, I think I should be able to stall him. Especially since that demon companion of yours should be able to somewhat weaken his strength."

"I'll leave it to you."

Nodding my head, I took out a small circular device from my dimensional space and threw it on the floor.

The moment the device touched the floor, four retractable claws extended from the bottom of the device, hooking themselves onto the ground.

Fine miniature crevices appeared on the ground as the device hooked itself firmly on the ground.

Walking up to it, I waved my hand over it.

Vooom—!

Moments after I waved my hand over it, the mana in the surroundings started spiraling towards it stopping right at the very top of the device.

Slowly, with each second that passed, the mana spiral would become bigger and bigger. Before long, a miniature portal had started forming.

Bending down quickly, I inserted the coordinates of the room I had previously used when I was disguised as Karl.

'…Alright, I'm done setting this up.'

Once I was done setting up the device on the ground, I looked at the timer and noticed that it had moved up all the way to 13%.

Once the dampening system would deactivate, I shouldn't have a problem using the portal since there was no longer anything blocking the portal from connecting with the other portal I had set up before and where Waylan had come into the building from.

BANG—!

An explosion suddenly sounded from behind me.

With the metal rod in my hand, turning to face the direction of where the fight was happening, I clenched my right hand slightly.

'Still not good…'

Some of the feelings that I had lost had returned, but it was still not in the state where I could use it properly. My right hand was now more of a liability than an asset.

Clenching onto the metal rod with my left hand, I put all my mana into it until the lightning started revolving around it.

Kracka! Kracka!

Once lightning started to formulate around the rod, channeling wind psyons at the bottom of the soles of my shoes, my toes pressed onto the hard ground and my body shot towards the weaker duergars in the distance.

Kracka! Kracka!

"Huuup!"

In an instant, I appeared before the nearest duergar and slashed downwards diagonally.

As I slashed down, a diagonal blue line formed in the air, tracing my attack.

Caught off guard, the duergar was unable to react in time and so the moment I slashed down, the rod instantly hit him in the shoulder.

Bang—!

Although the force of the attack wasn't very strong as I was only using one hand, the moment the rod touched the duergars body, the electricity that come from the rod, swiftly entered duergar's body and stunned him.

Clank—!

Taking advantage of the situation, I raised my foot and kicked him in the head.

Swoosh—!

Drawing a beautiful arc in the air, my kick hit the duergar right in the head, sending his head crashing into the hard ground.

Bang—

With a bang, his body planted face-first onto the ground. Following that up, I raised the rod and stabbed it downwards.

Fresh blood spurted everywhere and what remained of the duergar was just the body.

'…that's one of four.'

There were a total of eight duergar present. Of the lot, there was one <S> ranked one, two <A> ranked ones, one <B> ranked one, four <C> ranked ones, and one <D> ranked one.

The duergar I had just killed was one of the four <C> ranked ones.

At the moment, Waylan was handling the <S> ranks duergar, while Angelica was holding back the two <A> ranks and <B> ranks.

With her bloodline advantage, she was able to keep them in check…but just barely.

Catching a glimpse of her fight, I noticed that she was currently in a bit of a disadvantageous position as the three duergars attacked her from all sides. They were relentless as they didn't even leave her any room to catch her breath.

Fortunately, all she had to do was stall them, not beat them. Although she was at a disadvantage, she was still handling it well. Without a doubt, she should be able to hold on for the next thirty minutes which was all I asked for.

Swooosh—!

Sensing something, my head snapped toward my left where I saw the pointy tip of a cold blade heading for my eyes.

Clink—!

"Huuah!"

Reacting almost out of instinct, I stabbed the rod upwards, hitting the bottom of the blade. Once the top of the rod hit the blade, it redirected it upwards and the tip of the blade narrowly missed my eyes.

Cold sweat trickled down my back as I realized just how close of a call that was.

Focusing my attention towards the perpetrator, I found a duergar standing not so far from where I was. Next to him, were the other four duergars.

Staring at them, and glancing toward my right arm, I silently cursed.

"…well shit."

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

Without giving me a chance to properly analyze the situation, one of the duergars, the weakest one, raised his gun and shot in my direction. Almost at the same time he started shooting, the three other duergars also began to act.

Following behind the energy blasts that shot from the gun, they quickly headed towards my direction.

Stomping my foot on the ground, the ground beneath me cracked apart and my body shot back.

Despite doing so, my body was still slower than the incoming energy beams as they easily gained ground on me.

Staring at the incoming energy beams, rather than panicking, I raised my left hand, the one that held onto the metal rod, and channeled all my mana into it.

Within seconds, a translucent green hue enveloped the body of the rod. Once the hue completely enveloped the rod, my body soon came to an abrupt halt.

"Haaa!"

Crying inside of my heart, I twisted the rod in my hand in a circular motion.

Once I spun the rod in my hand, a sort of translucent circular shield appeared in front of me. Taking a step forward, I met the attacks head-on.

Clink! Clink! Clink!

A strange scene followed suit. The moment the energy blasts met the body of the rod, instead of hitting it, they changed direction completely, shooting away from me.

Before I knew it, all three beams shot away from me.

'As expected, all my training with Waylan wasn't for nothing.'

I inwardly muttered as I looked at the rod in my hand which was currently coated by the same green glow as before.

The trick I had just used was a trick that I had learned from fighting against the demons during the waves.

By coating my weapon with wind psyons, I could essentially create an effect in which the wind psysons would act as a repellent for anything that touched them.

It had to be noted that this sort of thing was not something I could've pulled off before. Although it looked easy, it was nothing but easy.

What I just did required a high level of control over psyons and if not for Waylan and Douglas's teaching over the past month, I would've never been able to pull off such a move.

Swoosh!

Not even a second after I managed to redirect the attacks away, the three other duergars were already upon me.

But I was prepared.

The moment they arrived before me, lowering my left hand, the green glow enveloping the rod disappeared.

Turning my head, I stared at the duergars right in the eyes and inwardly muttered.

'The one…'

The atmosphere instantly froze and the bodies of the three duergars came to an abrupt halt.

Following this, their faces paled, and their body trembled.

With my eyes locked on a particular duergar, putting the rod away, I raised my hand and enveloped his face with the palm of my hand.

Crack!

The sound of a skull breaking sounded and blood spurted all over my face.

At the same time I squeezed my hand, twisting the heel of my right foot, I twisted my torso and my body spun. As my body spun, I raised my left leg and kicked with it, further adding to the momentum of the spin.

Crack!

Midway through the spin, I felt a slight force on the heel of my left foot. What followed after was the sound of something breaking sounded.

Thud! Thud!

Once I managed to stabilize my body, the bodies of the two duergars I killed fell onto the ground with two small thuds.

Without even looking at where the sound originated from, I focused my attention on the last two duergars who were stunned by what they saw.

I, of course, took advantage of this.

Extending my left hand the rod once again appeared in my hand.

Lightly throwing it in the air, I once again twisted the heel of my right foot at an angle of 45 degrees. Simultaneously, I raised my left foot and kicked.

Xiu!

My foot soon connected with the tip of the rod, and the rod disappeared from my vision.

As I had not channeled mana into the rod, no lightning formed around it. But, that didn't really matter.

To only deal with a <D> rank, that was enough.

Swoosh—!

Using the momentum of the kick, once my foot kicked the rod, it did not stop as it quickly headed towards the last duergar that was close to me.

Raising both hands, the Duergar tried to block my attack, but it was in vain. Once my foot connected with his arms, the sound of his arms breaking sounded and he fell backward onto the hard ground.

"Hieeek!"

Bang—!

Once the duergar fell onto the ground, the rod appeared before the other duergar and hit him directly in the head. Whether he had lived or died, I wasn't sure.

Raising my foot, I stomped down and killed the last duergar.

Spurt—!

Blood once again sprayed everywhere.

"Haaa…haaa…"

Once I killed the last duergar, I noticed that my breathing was quite heavy.

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, and wiping the sweat that had accumulated on my forehead, I moved towards the main room and checked the holographic map.

[Data synchronisation.]

0%_________[94%]_100%

"Haaa…94%? That's go—"

Booom—!

But just as I was about to rejoice at the fact that the dampening system was about to deactivate, a terrifying explosion sounded near me.

Turning my head, my face paled considerably and what replaced it was a look of horror.

All forms of fighting stopped, and the atmosphere froze completely.

"Oh…shit..."

With a blank look on my face, my head stopped working as a feeling of death enveloped my entire being.

"You…"

A blue skinny hand pointed in my direction. Following this, a high pitch voice sounded across the entire hall.

"You....because of...you!"

Standing over Ultruk's body, with disheveled hair, and half of her entire face burned, was Durara.

Raising her staff and stabbing it right into Ultruk's heart, blood spilled all over her entire body.

"I...will...kill...you!"

Before I could even react, Durara aimed her staff in my direction. A bright white light shot in my direction, and time froze.

...or should I say, I wished for it to stop.

Coming at me like an unstoppable tsunami, the bright light came towards me, enveloping my entire body.

There and there, although I couldn't tell for real, I felt my whole existence disappear like that.

...It all happened too fast.

What followed after the white glow was total darkness.

Chapter 356: Reversing the known [1]

BOOOOOM—!

The hall flashed, turning white, as a torrential wave of energy burst forth from Durara's staff. A rumbling, thunderous roar resounded continuously as the energy shot forward, towards Ren's direction.

Everything happened so fast that barely anyone present in the hall could react.

Not Waylan, not Angelica, and especially not Ren, who could only helplessly watch as the attack quickly headed in his direction, enveloping his body completely.

Under the eyes of everyone present, be it the duergars, Waylan, or Angelica, Ren's figure slowly disappeared under the terrifying energy's onslaught.

It was so fast that he could not even scream.

BANG—

Once Ren's figure disappeared, a thunderous explosion rang out once more.

Ripples of energy spread apart once Durara's attack hit the other side of the hall.

Once the energy ripples dissipated, what was left behind was only a long trace on the ground, marking the direction of where the attack headed.

Dust and smoke diffused in the air.

"Haaa…haaa…"

Durara's heavy breaths rang out throughout the corridor as she supported her body with the aid of her staff.

Her hair was disheveled. One could tell she was in a terrible state.

Thud—

Despite her menacing facade, it was apparent that she was on her last straw. Mere seconds after she released her attack, falling to one knee, Durara fell face first on the ground.

Whether she was dead or alive, no one no longer knew.

"This…"

On the other hand, with a pale look, both Waylan and Angelica stared in the direction of where Ren used to stand.

Apart from the now melted rod, the only thing visible was the long mark that traced all the way to the other side of the hall. There was no sign of him.

"…It…no…way…"

Waylan fumbled on his words as he stared in the direction of where Ren once stood. He couldn't find him anywhere. His gaze wasn't just directed there, he also looked at Ultruk who was impaled by Durara's long staff.

Despair overtook him.

"This…can't be it, right?"

Where did everything go wrong?

A look of resignation and defeat appeared on his face as he tried his best to process what was happening.

Everything was going so well just a few minutes ago. Yet, everything changed within a second.

Ultruk and Ren had died.

To make matters worse, Waylan's condition had regressed.

Having just exerted some mana to fight against the duergars, he was on his last legs.

Thud—

His right knee gave out.

"Huaaaaaa!"

Snapping him out his thoughts was a high-pitched scream of agony that sounded not so far from where his position.

Turning towards the direction of where the scream originated from, Waylan's eyes stopped on Angelica. Staring at her condition, his mouth opened like a fish, as his throat dried up.

'Right, she's connected to Ren…'

He instantly understood what was going on with her.

The resignation in his eyes deepened.

He could no longer deny the inevitable reality.

"Haaaa!"

Angelica's agonizing screams echoed in the lifeless hall. Her desperate cries tore at Waylan's heart. Alas, he could only watch and stare as she met her demise.

Clenching onto her stomach, Angelica's knees buckled, her blood and saliva mixing as it dropped on the floor. Her hair scattered all over her face, painting a desperate visage crying for momentary respite. Yet, Angelica's eyes never left the place where Ren once was. She weakly extended her hand in that direction, as if trying to grasp a fleeting phantom.

"Haaaa…haaaa…"

Her screams never stopped. But, what came next was arguably worse. Angelica's whole body slowly started to crumble under everyone's watch. Soon, her voice thinned out, sounding faint, before completely disappearing alongside her body.

Waylan wished he wasn't there to see it.

As the final ashes of Angelica's body disappeared, it left behind a small, cracked core in the middle of the hall.

Crack-a! Crack-!

But that too soon disappeared as fine, miniature cracks enveloped the core like small spider-webs.

Bang—

Exploding into a million tiny particles, the core completely shattered.

"…It's over. It's all over." Waylan muttered to himself. The last shred of hope he had in him completely disappeared.

Since Angelica had signed a mana contract with Ren where his death would equate to hers, her disappearance was evidence that Ren had died, bringing her alongside with him.

Now, he was completely alone.

Surrounded by multiple duergars as well as an elder whose rank was above his, Waylan could only resign himself to his death.

But…

Despite his cruel fate…

He wasn't going down without one last fight.

"Haaaa!!!!"

Letting out an almost heart-wrenching scream, Waylan raised his broadsword in the air. Forcing himself to stand, a bright luminous light glowed from the body of the sword, lighting up the whole room like the sun.

Pouring all the mana he had in his body towards the sword, Waylan's body slowly shriveled up. His muscles thinned out, his appearance aged.

To the eyes of everyone present, they watched Waylan transform into a weak and frail on the verge of death man. Yet, none dared to underestimate him. His aura was frightening.

Seeing that there was no way out for him, Waylan no longer hesitated. He decided to supplement his sword with all the remaining life force in his body.

He was planning on dying.

The glow enveloping his sword became even brighter, blinding the eyes of almost everyone present.

'I'm sorry, Emma… My beloved daughter…'

In his final moments, a small tear fell down by the side of his sunken cheeks.

…Just when he thought he was so close to once again seeing his daughter, everything came crashing down.

He felt indignant.

But it was already too late to feel regret.

Within a fraction of a second, his attack was ready.

Glaring at the duergars near him, who had their weapons aimed at him, Waylan's enraged shout echoed throughout the whole hall as he slashed down. This time, his words weren't a mere act.

"I will kill you all!"

WIIIIIIING—

A terrifying energy exploded from the tip of his broadsword as a bright light once again enveloped the hall.

***

[Lock, Class A-25.]

"There are many different ways one can control psyons. Some can channel the psyons in the air in a way that they conjure a spell or some can control psyons in a way that it coats their weapon…"

A crisp and melodious voice sounded inside of a classroom.

The voice belonged to none other than Donna, as she explained the concept of psyon control to the over one hundred students present in the classroom.

Raising her right hand, a subtle purple glow enveloped it.

"Although it is hard, once one reaches a certain level of control, they can freely move their psyons to wherever they please…."

As she spoke, the glow around her went from enveloping her entire hand to just enveloping one of her fingers. Moving her fingers, the glow would move from one finger to another.

"Kevin."

The glow disappeared, and Donna called out to Kevin, who was listening to the lecture with his cheek rested by his arm.

"Huh?! Yes…?"

Called out by Donna, Kevin sat up straight.

"Did I do something wrong?" He asked in a worried tone.

Although his posture wasn't good, and he already knew most of the stuff she was talking about, Kevin had been paying attention to the whole class from the beginning.

He didn't think he did anything wrong.

Lowering her hand, Donna shook her head.

"No, you didn't do anything wrong. "

Raising her hand, she pointed at the front of the classroom.

"I called you out because I wanted you to demonstrate to the others how you control psions to cover your weapon. If I do it, others will just assume I can do it because it's me. If you do it, people will have a better idea of how to follow up. So, quickly get down from there and demonstrate for the whole classroom how you can cover your sword with psions."

'Are you sure you're not picking on me?'

Was what Kevin wanted to say when Donna asked him to demonstrate in front of the whole classroom how to coat their weapons with psions.

But those were only his thoughts. He didn't actually say them out loud. No way would he do that.

He valued his life after all.

"…Okay."

Standing up, Kevin walked towards the bottom of the classroom and stopped right on the spot that Donna had told him to stay at.

Extending his hand and taking out his broadsword, without saying anything, Kevin slowly channeled his mana into it.

With all eyes focused on him, Kevin calmly channeled his mana out of his body before connecting it with his broadsword.

A red hue slowly materialized in front of everyone's gazes. Under Kevin's fine control, it slowly started to diminish until it formed a thin red veil that coated the body of the broadsword. It seemed perfectly stable.

"Excellent."

Standing by the side, Donna smiled in satisfaction.

Turning her attention towards the classroom, she pointed towards Kevin's sword and resumed her lecture.

"As you can see, once you reach a certain degree of control over your psyons, you can create this small protective film around your weapons. Now, why is this important?" Donna rhetorically asked the students present.

Before anyone could answer, Donna continued, "The reason why it's important is because not only will it increase the strength of your attacks, but it also helps you reduce the amount of mana you waste while attacking. As many of you know, during battles, this is very…."

While Donna was explaining to the whole classroom the importance of mastering their control over psyons, Kevin stopped channeling his mana into the sword. In response, the red hue enveloping it slowly disappeared.

Although he made it look easy to everyone in the class, what he did was anything but easy.

The amount of concentration someone needed in order to have all the psyons move the way they wanted was absurd.

There was a reason why not many could pull off this move.

Right as Kevin stopped channeling his mana, something shocking suddenly happened to him.

Ding— Ding— Ding—

"Huh!?"

Startling him, A repetitive chime rang inside of his ears, almost as though an alarm had just sounded.

Following three rings, a familiar transparent window appeared in front of his vision.

[Emergency quest.]

Use the time codex to alter Ren's death.

Reward : +5% synchronisation.

Penalty : Demon king ascension → - 2 years.

Time limit : 10 : 00 minutes.

'Ren's death? Time codex? Demon king ascension? Reward synchronization?'

A million questions emerged in Kevin's mind as his body froze and his eyes locked onto the screen in front of him.

Nothing made sense to him at the moment. His mind couldn't process what was present before him, but the moment he saw the time limit and the penalty, his heart sped up and he activated his skill [Mind Cleansing].

Instantly, the moment he activated the skill, Kevin's mind started to process everything faster.

'Ren… died?'

'Time codex? Could it be referring to the book?'

If Kevin hadn't activated [Mind Cleansing], he would have remained in shock for much longer.

Before long, Kevin was able to come up with an idea of what was going on. And the moment he did, Donna's voice rang in his ears, startling him for the umpteenth time that day.

"Kevin? Are you okay?"

Staring at Donna with a blank look on his face, Kevin's mouth opened and closed repeatedly. But, regardless of what he wanted to say, he was unable to muster the right words to form a reply.

In the end, he put his sword away and apologized to Donna.

"Ah…eh… Sorry, I need to go."

"Wha—"

Before Donna could even finish her sentence, Kevin turned around and ran out of the room, much to the shock of everyone present in the class.

Clank—

The loud sound of the door smashing rang in everyone's ears, and Kevin's figure soon disappeared from sight.

Chapter 357: Reversing the known [2]

[Leviathan building, Lock.]

Bang—!

Kevin hastily entered his room, smashing the door against the side of the wall.

"Goddamn it, Where is that book?!" He repeatedly muttered out loud in haste.

Dashing towards his room, Kevin ran up to his bookshelf and threw all the books down from it as he looked for the red book.

[01 : 37 minutes]

With the timer by the side of his vision, Kevin couldn't be any more worried.

He was running out of time.

"Here it is!"

Finally, after getting rid of most of the books on the bookshelf, Kevin found the red book and placed it on the table.

Without wasting any second, he opened the book towards the last page and started reading.

"I…will…kill…you!"

Before Ren could even react, Durara aimed her staff in his direction. What followed after was a bright white light that shot in his direction, and time froze.

…Or, at least, Ren wished for it to have stopped.

Shooting at him like an unstoppable tsunami, the bright light came towards him, enveloping his entire body.

Although he couldn't tell for real, Ren felt his whole existence disappear like that.

…It all happened too fast.

What followed after the white glow was total darkness.

"Oh shit…"

Staring at the book, Kevin's face paled considerably, his arms trembled in shock. His knees buckled slightly and he uncontrollably sat down on his chair.

'The system was right… Ren really did die… This…not again…'

"What do I do, what do I do?"

Flipping through the pages of the book, Kevin had no idea about what to do next.

The system said that he had to change the outcome, but…Ren was nowhere near him! How was he supposed to help?

"How am I supposed to do this!?" Kevin shouted in desperation as he looked at the system interface in front of him.

The Quest said to use the time codex, but what exactly was that? It was the red book, wasn't it...? But, how was he supposed to use it?

He had no idea.

"System!" Kevin shouted, his voice filled with urgency and helplessness as he tried asking the system for help.

But it was useless. No matter how much Kevin asked, the interface wouldn't respond to him.

The only thing he saw was the timer slowly ticking down on him.

"Shit…shit…"

Kevin's voice echoed in the room as he flipped the book around and tried to look for anything that could help him.

At the moment, Kevin did not know how to help Ren, nor did he know how to prevent the world from ending if the demon king truly descended in two years' time as the system told him.

It had never lied to him before, so he knew that if he didn't save Ren, the demon king would truly descend in two years' time.

Even though he had many questions to ask, such as how Ren's death was correlated to the demon king's ascension, Kevin had no time for such questions.

"Ahh… Just what I am supposed to do...?" Kevin muttered as a helpless expression appeared on his face. He wanted to do something-anything-to help Ren. But what?

Ding—

Just as Kevin was about to succumb to despair, a familiar chime rang in his ears.

At the sound of the chime, Kevin abruptly lifted his head and a new window popped up in front of him.

Simultaneously, the book in front of him flipped open and a golden hue enshrouded the whole room.

The pages of the book continued to flip rapidly, until, finally, stopping at the last page. A message window appeared in front of Kevin.

On it was one question.

[Do you wish to make changes?]

"Yes…yes!"

Kevin hastily nodded his head.

"Change!"

He said out loud.

Once his words faded, the hue enveloping the book brightened up considerably, forcing Kevin to raise his hand to block the bright light reaching into his eyes.

It was blinding.

Ding—

Another chime rang, and the window in front of him updated.

[What do you wish to change?]

"Ren's death."

Kevin quickly answered, his voice filled with hope.

Ding—

[Invalid command. The command is too vague and the user does not have enough mana.]

His hopes were soon dashed as the glow around the book diminished slightly and a new interface popped up in front of him.

"Bullshit!"

Bang—!

Kevin shouted in frustration as his fist heavily pounded the table.

"Huff...huff..."

'I need to calm down.'

His frustrations only lasted for a short bit as Kevin forcefully calmed himself.

Every second mattered, and the more time he wasted the less time he had to save Ren and prevent the impending doom.

'The command is too vague... not enough mana...'

With his mind now calm, Kevin quickly analyzed the two sentences that appeared on the screen in front of him.

'Let's think about this logically. Since it says that the command is too vague, just saying that Ren should be alive is not enough. Furthermore, it also says that my mana is not enough… Does that mean, in the future, the stronger I get the more variables I can change? Maybe even stop a whole event from happening?'

With his skill activated, Kevin's thought process was quick. In a matter of a short second, he had carefully analyzed the words in front of him.

That was why after another two short seconds passed, Kevin lifted his head and looked at the book.

"94%? Haa... That's go—"

A certain sentence written in the book caught his attention.

'What if...'

An idea suddenly popped up inside of his mind as he grabbed the book with his hands.

Flipping the pages of the book, his eyes scanned the whole text in a lightning-fast manner as he quickly read through the numerous pages.

"Ukh!"

Kevin suddenly let out a pained groan. The more he read, the greater his headache became.

Although his skill enabled him to think and process things at a rate far higher than normal, it also came with downsides. One such downside was the fact that the skill put a heavy strain on his brain.

By the time Kevin read two pages, the pain in his head had almost become unbearable.

It felt as though someone had tried to split his head in half.

The pain was agonizing.

If not for Kevin's strong mental strength, he would've long crumbled on the ground.

"Haaa…haaa…"

Slowly, his breathing became heavier.

But finally, after reading fifteen pages, he was able to understand what was going on.

Putting the book down, and placing his palms by the desk, Kevin supported his exhausted body.

'I see… So you're basically trying to shut down the dampening system so that you can gain access to the portal. If so, if that 94% changed to 100% you'd survive, right? Right, Ren?'

He didn't sound confident. But, after racking his brains over the matter, it was the most plausible solution he could come up with.

[00 : 35 seconds]

Lifting his head and seeing that time was slowly running out, Kevin no longer hesitated.

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Kevin glanced at the system interface and softly said.

"System, change the 94% to 100%."

His words were short and concise, straight to the point. He didn't want to be rejected once more for being too vague in his command.

Ding—

Right as his words faded, another chime rang in his head, and a new window appeared in front of his eyes.

[Command invalid. User does not have enough mana.]

Kevin's heart sank completely.

With a trembling mouth, he mumbled out loud, "What...do you mean not enough mana...? Is my mana still n-not enough? What is the amount of mana required in order to change the outcome?"

He didn't have much hope when he asked that question, but contrary to his expectations, the system message changed as another chime rang in his ears.

Ding—

[C rank.]

"C rank?" Kevin voiced out in a surprised tone.

But the surprise only lasted for a brief second as his brows then knitted together into a tight frown.

That was because he was still <C-> ranked.

He estimated that his rank would increase within a month's time, but still not yet.

Massaging his forehead, Kevin started to think.

'<C> rank... I cant breakthrough in my current condition. What do—Ah! right, I have those!'

Just as the situation seemed hopeless, Kevin suddenly remembered something.

Extending his hand towards the air, Kevin took out a few chalks of bluegrass from his system's dimensional space.

"…I still haven't used these guys yet."

It was the sky grass he had gotten from his trip to Immorra with Ren. He had tried one small piece, but he felt that it was a waste to use it when his rank was still low.

After all, sky grass was also useful when someone was at <B> rank.

"With this, I should be able to forcefully breakthrough to <C> rank." Kevin softly muttered as he looked at the sky grass in his hands.

Without hesitation, Kevin put the sky grass in his mouth and chewed it.

Typically, one would make a lot of preparations before ingesting such an expensive herb, but Kevin did not have the luxury of doing so.

The moment Kevin chewed on the sky grass, a warm energy entered his body, spreading through every corner of his body, from his bones to the muscles.

[00 : 15 seconds]

"!"

As he swallowed the sky grass, Kevin made sure to check the time, and when he noticed that he had only fifteen seconds left before Ren's inevitable death, he did not hold back and forced all the energy around his body.

Usually, when breaking through, the last thing someone would do was what Kevin chose to do.

Not only would it damage his internal organs, but it would also lead to a lot of the energy from the medical item to get lost completely.

Sadly, although Kevin knew this, he couldn't afford to do that. He was forcing himself to breakthrough.

"Haaaaa!!"

Because he was so close to breaking through already, it didn't take long for Kevin to finally reach <C> rank, but the moment he did, an agonizing scream escaped his mouth as he collapsed on the floor.

"Haa...haaaa..."

His breathing was extremely rough, and his whole body ached. Kevin could tell that the forceful breakthrough had damaged his internal organs.

But he didn't care.

Mustering every last bit of strength, Kevin lifted his head from the ground and muttered.

"System, change the 94% into 100%…please."

As soon as his words faded, Kevin's vision distorted. Soon, his vision turned dark.

Slowly, he started to lose consciousness.

Ding—

As he was losing consciousness, a small chime rang in his ears, and a bright light enveloped his closed eyes.

Ding—

[Quest completed.]

[The reward will be assigned shortly.]

A window appeared in his vision.

What followed after were a series of similar windows and chimes.

Ding—

Reward : Synchronisation +5%

Ding—

[Processing reward…]

Ding—

[Reward processed. The reward will be granted shortly. The user will fall into a coma state for the next two weeks.]

The screens continued to appear in Kevin's vision. But at this point, Kevin was unable to process what was happening around him. His mind was in a state of burnout.

"I…did it…didn't I?" Kevin softly muttered, using the last remaining energy inside of his body.

Although he couldn't really tell what was going on, from catching a small glimpse of the status windows in front of him, he knew that he had succeeded in changing the future.

He had many questions about what had just happened, but at the moment, he could barely think straight.

He was slowly losing all of his feelings. From his sense of touch to smell, hearing, and vision.

With a weak smile on his face, right before he lost consciousness, Kevin muttered inside of his mind.

'Ah…I…did good, right, Ren? You...damned cockroach.'

His consciousness quickly slipped, and darkness completely enveloped his world.

Chapter 358: Final push [1]

Spurt—!

Blood once again sprayed everywhere.

"Haaa…haaa…"

Once I killed the last duergar, I noticed that my breathing was quite heavy.

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, and wiping the sweat that had accumulated on my forehead, I walked towards the main room and checked the holographic map.

But before I could even make it to the room, a rumbling sound rang out throughout the whole building.

Rumble—!

Stumbling slightly, and leaning my body by the side of the wall, I looked up towards the ceiling.

Vrrrr—! Vrrrr—!

The ground beneath me buzzed and the communication device that I had kept in my pocket for quite a while now suddenly started vibrating.

'...It's done!'

I muttered to myself as I took out the communication device from my pocket.

At the same time that my communication started vibrating, the others also noticed the changes that were happening around as everyone stopped fighting for a brief moment to check what was going on.

"Waylan! Angelica, let's go!"

Taking advantage of that one brief moment of distraction, putting the communication device back into my pocket, I called out for Angelica and Waylan who had also stopped fighting.

Giving me a quicky nod, without saying anything, Waylan and Angelica proceeded to stop attacking.

Following this, they rushed towards my direction, ignoring the duergars who were standing behind them.

===

[Data synchronization.]

0%_____________{100%}

===

Entering the room and passing by the holographic map, I rushed for the portal which by now had already started fully functioning.

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

The sound of energy blasts being shot towards Waylan and Angelica sounded from behind, but I paid no attention to it as I focused my whole attention on the portal before me.

With mana threads spiraling at the top of a small circular device, a portal appeared in front of my vision.

"Hurry up!"

Halting my steps right in front of the portal, I looked behind me and checked Angelica's and Waylan's positions.

"I'll quickly call Ultruk and tell him to come back."

Now that communication inside and outside worked, I could send a message to Ultruk telling him to come back.

I had already briefed him on what to do before, so the moment I called him and he felt the slight vibration, he would quickly rush towards us.

That was at least what was supposed to happen...

But just as I was about to send him a message, a thunderous explosion sounded in the distance.

Boooom—!

What followed after the explosion was a strong pressurized wind gale that spread throughout every corner of the hall.

The duergars that were previously attacking Angelica and Waylan stopped and looked in the direction of where the explosion came from.

Taking advantage of this moment, Waylan and Angelica appeared next to me.

"You...!"

A high-pitched voice followed after the explosion as the dust cleared out revealing a haggard figure standing at the top of a large body.

Upon closer look, I noticed that the body was none other than Ultruk.

"Shit"

I cursed out loud as my heart rate sped up.

With disheveled hair, and half of her entire face burned, Durara stood on top of Ultruk's figure. A torrential wave of mana burse out from her body.

'...How is she still alive? Fuck.'

I silently cursed at my circumstance.

Just how strong one had to be in order to survive that terrifying explosion from before? I couldn't fathom it as I involuntary took a step back towards the portal behind me.

"Khhh...y..you.."

Supporting her body with her long wooden staff, Durara pointed her skinny blue hand towards the holographic panel system that controlled the dampening system.

"What...have you...done!"

She shrieked with a distraught look filled with malice and despair.

Spurt—!

Raising her staff and stabbing it right into Ultruk's heart, blood spilled all over her body. Directing her terrifying glare towards our direction, she slowly and darkly muttered.

"How...dare...you!"

With my back facing the portal, taking one more step back, and giving Durara one cold glance before glancing at Ultruk's dead figure underneath her body, I finally turned around and entered the portal.

It was time for me to go.

"Let's go. We're done here." I said as I glanced at Angelica and Waylan.

Without waiting for the others to say anything, I entered the portal, and I slowly started to lose all of my senses.

Sharing the same thoughts as me, Waylan and Angelica also entered the portal.

"Die!!!"

The last thing I heard before losing all of my senses was Durara's enraged screams as a threatening energy appeared from behind me.

But by the time the energy appeared, I had long already disappeared from the place.

***

Boooom—!

A black mass of energy covered the land from above, dimming the enormous cave in an instant. A monstrous like aura spread from the black mass of energy, enshrouding the whole battlefield.

The land shook slightly.

Below the black energy mass were many different colored lights that met in the air, spreading small shockwaves throughout the entire battlefield.

The final battle between the duergars and the dwarven members had been going on for over an hour now, and both sides suffered tremendous losses.

Unlike the previous fight that was happening above, this was an all-out fight where neither side held back. If one side lost, that was it, they were gone forever.

Neither could afford to hold back.

The black mass of energy that was levitating above continued to spread, before completely enveloping the land outside of the headquarters of Inferno. Immediately after, the black mass of energy churned and droplets of black rain fell towards the battlefield on the ground.

"Be careful."

Standing at the top of a cliff, Givor, one of the dwarven elders, softly spoke to the people next to him. A grave expression dyed his face as his eyes were filled with unprecedented solemness.

He was unaware of what the black mass in the air was, but he knew that it was nothing good.

"The energy mass in the sky is supplementing the duergars with demonic energy. It is not an offensive attack, but the fact that it is providing the enemies with more energy is a case of concern."

Answering Givor's worries was Alga, another dwarven elder.

With a similar solemn look on her face, she gazed into the distance. Raising her hand in the air revealing a small black bracelet, the bracelet slowly lit up and a powerful energy gathered at the center of her palm.

The gathering of energy was fast. Within a split second, a small energy ball had formed at the center of her palm. Thick adulations of mana began to spread out from the energy ball.

The energy that emitted from the ball was so strong that had any weaker individual that was below <A> rank been present, they would've instantly died by just standing near it.

Fortunately, the people around her were all elites whose strength was far past <A> rank. Such energy was no longer threatening to them.

"Go."

Pushing the energy ball in the air, it quickly shot towards the black mass of energy in the sky.

Leaving behind a long luminous trace in the air, marking the direction of its path, the space around the attack distorted slightly.

With just a brief glance, everyone could tell just how powerful the attack was.

The speed of the attack was extremely fast. By the time the energy ball had left Alga's palm, it had already arrived by the black mass of energy in the sky.

"This should be able to do it..." Givor said as he looked at the attack in the distance.

But just when the attack was about to land on the energy mass in the sky, a thin film suddenly materialized around it, acting as some sort of shield.

Boooom—

What followed after the appearance of the thin film, was a sound similar to that of a thunderclap.

The defeating sound of the explosion drowned out all the other sounds that came from below the battlefield.

Ripples formed around the small veil, and the residual energy from the attack spread out throughout the enormous cave.

"As expected, this is going to be a lot tougher than I had imagined."

Alga sighed softly upon seeing her attack being blocked. She did not say anything else.

With her eyes locked on the black mass, Alga's eyes furrowed deeply.

"If we don't take that down soon, we will soon fall into a disadvantageous situation."

Lowering her head she stared at the battle that was happening below with a worried look.

"While our fighters are slowly losing mana as they fight, the duergars will continuously replenish the energy with the demonic energy that is being supplemented to them from above. Although we're currently at an advantage thanks to our surprise attack, if we don't find a solution for that anytime soon, we're going to be in deep trouble."

Alga's words caused the atmosphere to turn tense.

"Actually, you don't have to worry about it too much."

An aged voice suddenly sounded.

The moment the voice reached everyone's ears, everyone present turned their heads towards where the voice came from.

Once they managed to figure out the identity of the one who spoke, a surprised look appeared on the faces of some of the people present.

"Human?"

Alga was the first to speak as she raised her brow in a questioning manner.

"What do you mean by what you just said now?"

"I meant exactly what I said. You don't have to worry too much about what's going on at the moment."

Douglas replied to Alga with a relaxed look. His aged and wrinkly eyes calmly stared at the massive gate in the opposite direction.

With his hands behind his back, his eyes rippled slightly.

"Our real goal is killing the higher-ups, correct?"

His sudden question caught Givor off-guard as he thought that Douglas was asking for the obvious, but nevertheless, he answered.

"Indeed. If we kill at the higher-ups or at least a major part of them, then that will be enough to be considered a victory."

Because duergars were connected to demons through contracts, the moment one died, a demon would suffer heavy repercussions from it.

By killing the higher-ups of Inferno, what they were essentially doing was at the same time dealing damage to the demons outside of the city. The more powerful the duergars that were being killed were, the stronger the corresponding demon that was contracted with them.

And because the demons were currently outside of the city, and couldn't get in, they could only helplessly suffer the tremendous repercussions of having their contractee die.

The war was over when the demons would be weakened to the point where they could no longer attack.

"Correct...."

Douglas nodded. His eyes swept over the fight happening below. Because their fight would cause most of the people below to die, they were forced to stay put for now.

"Anyways, human, what were you trying to say when you said that we didn't need to worry too much?" Givor asked, redirecting the topic back to Douglas's previous words.

He wasn't the only one that was interested in what he had to say as almost everyone next to him paid close attention to his next words.

"Ah, right...." Douglas's brows relaxed a little. "What I meant by my previous words was that—"

Vrrr—! Vrrr—!

Abruptly halting mid-sentence, Douglas suddenly felt the side of his waist vibrate. The moment he felt the vibration, his eyes jumped up a little.

Then, realizing what was going on, the edges of his lips curled upwards.

'They did it.'

For the communication device to vibrate now, it could only mean one thing. Ren, Waylan, and the others had managed to accomplish their mission.

"Have you guys done it?" Douglas asked, taking out the communication device and enabling the speaker to function for everyone present to hear.

After his words sounded there was a brief pause before a voice sounded from the speakers of the communication device.

"...Yeah, we did it. The surveillance and dampening systems are down. We can proceed as planned."

Chapter 359: Final push [2]

Voooom—

"Haaa...haaa..."

Stumbling out of the portal, before I could even catch my breath, I forcibly raised my hand and pointed at the portal disc underneath the ground.

"...Quickly change the coordinates of the portal before they get here."

If we could enter the portal, so could they.

"On it."

Being the last one that stepped out of the portal, Waylan immediately bent down and twisted the bottom-half of the portal, changing its coordinates.

Click! Click! Click!

After twisting the bottom half of the portal three times, the mana in the air finally stopped gathering towards the portal. Only then did we relax.

"Shit..."

Waylan cursed as he slumped down on the ground. His already pale face paled even more, and his body trembled.

"You okay?"

I asked, leaning by the side of the wall.

"khhh..."

A groan suddenly escaped my mouth as a head-splitting pain coursed through my brain.

'W-What the-?!'

The pain was so strong that my mind blanked for a brief moment.

"Hey, Ren, are you okay?"

Waylan worriedly asked as he moved towards me, reaching his hand out in support.

"Don't touch me."

"Wha-?!"

Smacking Waylan's hand away, I weakly stood up.

'...It...hurts!'

"Khhh..."

A throbbing, constant, and unrelenting pain coursed through every area of my head as I had difficulty breathing.

The pain was so unbearable that for a split second I had thoughts of ending myself. Flashbacks of what happened back at the Monolith replayed inside of my head repeatedly, threatening to eat away at my sanity.

But before things got to that point, using the last shred of sanity within my body, I activated Monarch's Indifference.

Instantly, the moment I activated Monarch's Indifference, my emotions dulled. Although the pain remained, most of the negative thoughts disappeared from my mind.

***

"Ren...?"

Waylan carefully called out as he looked at Ren who was standing opposite of him.

Ever since reappearing from the portal, he had been acting weird. He looked to be in extreme pain, but that did not last for long, as he soon calmed down.

"Ren, are you okay?" Waylan carefully asked once more, his concern only increasing.

"I'm fine." Ren emotionlessly replied as he turned to face his direction.

"I see, I'm glad."

'He must be tired.'

Waylan didn't think too much of Ren's sudden switch in behavior.

They had just been through a lot. They had almost died, and Ultruk had lost his life...

Thinking about Ultruk, Waylan sighed in discomfort.

He had not known him for long, but he still felt a little bit down about his death. If not for him, they would've all been dead by now.

In fact, he wasn't sure what his death meant for the upcoming plans.

Lifting his head and looking at Ren, Waylan asked in a somber tone, "What do we do now, Ren? Now that Ultruk is dead, do we have to switch our approach?"

"Him?"

Briefly glancing at Waylan from the corner of his eyes, Ren shook his head.

"He already served his uses. His death was inevitable."

"...What?"

Ren's cold voice repeatedly rang inside of Waylan's ears as he tried his best to process what Ren had said.

It was only after he realized what he said that Waylan stood up in rage.

"What do you—"

"Stop."

But before he could vent his anger, a delicate white hand touched him on the shoulder.

Without turning around, Waylan knew who the hand belonged to.

Slowly turning his head and glaring in her direction, Waylan coldly spoke, his voice forming a deep contrast with the burning rage inside of him.

"What do you mean, 'stop'?"

Unfazed by Waylan's unfriendly look, Angelica pointed at Ren and calmly explained, "The demonic energy in his body has started corroding his brain... I can feel it."

"What?...Already?" Waylan replied, his brows jumped up in surprise.

Turning his head to take a closer look at Ren, it was only then that he noticed fine threads of demonic energy lingering around his body.

"This is a problem," Waylan said with a troubled look, his anger previous subsiding completely.

'What do I do?'

If Ren was not in the right condition, the next and last part of the plan would be even harder to achieve, especially since Ultruk was...dead.

"There's no need to worry too much."

Angelica took her hand away from Waylan's shoulder.

"What do you mean?" Waylan asked, sounding baffled. He couldn't understand why Angelica said that.

"He's currently using a skill to mitigate the effects of the demonic energy, but it's only partially working."

Extending her hand forward, the threads of demonic energy lingering outside of Ren's body slowly moved towards her direction, connecting to the tip of her fingertips.

"I'm not exactly sure about what skill he's using, but, at least for now, he is okay."

"I see."

Angelica's words eased some of Waylan's worries. His brows relaxed, the frown disappearing from his face.

"Do you have any idea why his brain suddenly started to get affected by the demonic energy? It has only been a week since you and he had signed a contract."

As the threads of demonic energy continued to extend towards her fingertips, Angelica's brows furrowed as she fell into deep thought.

After a while, Angelica opened her mouth to answer Waylan's question.

"Demonic energy feeds on the negative thoughts a person has inside of their mind. The darker someone's thoughts, the faster the process."

"You don't mean...?" Waylan muttered in a stunned voice.

He wasn't stupid. Waylan knew exactly what Angelica meant by her words.

"Is Ren perhaps..."

Lowering her hand, the threads of demonic energy revolving around Ren's body had diminished significantly.

She then waved her hand and collected all of the demonic energy in the air.

"Ren's mind is not clean, but it's not to the point where the demonic energy would corrode him this quickly."

A black hue sprang forth from Angelica as the small threads of demonic energy agglomerated towards her body.

"There's another way for demonic energy to corrupt someone quickly. It is when their mind is unstable. Prior to coming here, Ren suffered a traumatic experience, scarring his mind quite badly"

Angelica turned her head.

"In short, Ren's head is not in the right state."

"...I see," replied Waylan with a worried look.

Unaware and uninterested in the things the two of them were talking about, taking out a small communication device from his pocket, Ren powered it on and quickly got in contact with someone.

Vrrr—! Vrrr—!

Before long, the communication device stopped vibrating and a familiar voice rang out in the room.

—Have you guys done it?

"We're done. I'll send you the coordinates briefly."

—That's perfect. We'll start immediately, then.

The voice behind the communication device sounded relieved as it learned of the mission's success.

—By the way, is everything alright? No one died, righ—

Di—! Di—!

But before Douglas could even finish his sentence, Ren switched off the communication device.

"That was uncalled for," Waylan frowned.

Although he knew that Ren was currently in the right state of mind, Douglas was asking an important question.

They had to let them know that Ultruk had died.

"We don't want their morale to fall. Answering his question is detrimental." Ren spoke while staring into Waylan's eyes, not a hint of remorse or emotion inside. It was soulless.

Without giving Waylan a chance to reply, Ren turned around and headed out of the room.

Clank—!

Closing the door behind him, Ren left the room.

'....This is going to be harder than I thought.'

If not for Angelica's previous words, Waylan would've been unable to stay quiet.

The current Ren was making it very hard for him to remain calm.

***

Di—! Di—!

Douglas looked at the communication device in his hand with an awkward look.

He had not expected Ren to shut him off before he could finish speaking. Especially not when he was with the representatives from the other races.

But Douglas was a man with a lot of experience. In a matter of seconds, he was able to quickly recompose himself.

Di- Ding—!

Shortly after, his communication device once again rang.

Taking a small glimpse, he smiled at the others and took out multiple teleportation devices from his dimensional space.

'Could it be Gervis?'

All the dwarven elders wondered to themselves as they looked at the teleportation devices Douglas held.

Teleportation devices were not like any other artifacts. They were incredibly hard to make, and fairly rare in the world.

Unless you were a dwarven elder, having more than one teleportation device was almost unheard of. The fact that Douglas was able to pull out four at once shocked most of the people present.

It was only now that they understood that someone with high standing was backing him.

Uncaring for the stares, Douglas fiddled with each teleportation device in his hand.

As he worked with them, Douglas would, from time to time, check his communication device.

'...They should already be aware that the dampening and surveillance systems are down.'

The duergars would be stupid to not realize that they had been compromised from the insides.

The plan was rather simple; create four different groups and have them infiltrate the facility from four separate locations.

If there was a better time to strike, it was now.

Chaos must've seeped in the heart of Inferno as their dampening system, as well as their surveillance system, had been shut down. Attacking at this moment would ensure the greatest chance of success.

"Done."

After a couple of short minutes, Douglas hastily threw the teleportation devices in the air.

Clanck—! Clanck—! Clanck—!

As he threw the devices in the air, at the bottom of them, three clamps expanded outward, hooking themselves onto the ground tightly once they landed.

Once the teleportation devices hooked themselves onto the ground, the mana in the air spiraled towards the center of the portal devices.

WIIIIIIING—!

Right as the portal started to form, a terrifying energy burst forth from one of the individuals present, catching almost everyone off-guard.

The energy was in the form of a small blood bead that whistled through the empty space. Although everyone present was extremely powerful, none were able to stop the sudden attack as it came too fast, and unexpectedly.

WIIIIIIING—! WIIIIIIING—!

But that wasn't the only attack that came whistling down from the individuals in the crowd. Two more quickly followed up with a similar lightning-fast attack.

Finally, the three attacks smashed against the teleportation devices in front of the many watching eyes. At that moment, everyone's heart suddenly tightened.

"It looks like your plans have crumbled instantly."

One of the individuals responsible for the sudden attack said as a wild laugh escaped his mouth, but that laugh had barely started when it was suddenly halted.

Standing opposite of him with a bored look, Douglas looked at the destroyed teleportation devices on the ground and took out four more from his dimensional space.

Casually glancing at the individuals responsible for the attack, his lips twisted upwards, forming a sly smile.

"Looks like I accidentally used defective products. Thank you for reminding me."

He had expected this from the very beginning.

There was no way the spies planted by Inferno would stay put and do nothing when he started setting up the portals. Therefore, prior to coming here, he got himself four defective teleportation devices that no longer worked and used them as dummies to bring out the spies.

Although they were surely not all of the spies hidden amongst the individuals present, they were most likely a large part of them.

Now that everyone was aware that there were spies hidden amongst them, they had become a lot more alert.

No way would the spies be able to pull off a similar stunt again.

This made him a lot more relaxed.

"Take care of them, please," Douglas said as he pointed at the three individuals who had attacked previously.

Immediately, the spies were thrust under heavy magical bombardment and several attacks. It seemed like the crowd of elites was angry.

'Let's finally end this war.'

With the Duergar spies' cries as the backdrop for his work, Douglas turned around to the explosions occurring behind him and once again fiddled with the portals in his hands.

***

Chapter 360: Final push [3]

"Hey Ren, hold up."

Waylan's frustrated voice rang throughout the long and narrow corridor of the Inferno headquarters.

Usually, there would've been many duergars present patrolling the area, but now, it was completely deserted.

They were either fighting against the large army outside or most likely gathering towards the spot Ren and the others were previously in.

The enormous commotion they had caused definitely did not go unnoticed by them as they most likely sent reinforcements.

"Ren, I still haven't recovered from my injuries."

Frustratingly said Waylan as he hurried his pace.

Following from behind him was Angelica. Unlike him, she still seemed fine. Having recovered some of her demonic energy from Ren, she was in a much better shape than Waylan.

"We don't need to be in optimal condition for this part of the plan. Our roles are already over. All we have to do is show up in the locatio—"

Ren coldly muttered before picking up his pace.

But just as he walked a couple of steps further, his legs buckled slightly and he stumbled slightly.

***

"Ukhhh..."

Holding onto the side of the wall, the effects of Monarch's indifference quickly wore off.

In order to cope with the throbbing pain that was coursing through my head, I had activated Monarch's indifference. Now that the pain was over, Monarch's indifference naturally wore off.

Instantly, my head cooled a little.

"Haaaaa..."

"Ren?"

Turning my head, and staring at Waylan whose complexion seemed too pale for his own good, I massaged my forehead.

"Ugh, I'm fine, I'm fine."

"Has your head cooled down a little?"

"Yeah...." I replied, taking a deep breath.

Even though Angelica had warned me beforehand about the side effects of signing a contract with her, I didn't know they would be this severe.

Not only did it feel as though my head was being split into two, but even under the effects of Monarch's indifference, I could barely stop myself from formulating dark thoughts.

"I'm glad you're feeling better," Waylan replied in relief.

"Me too,"

I replied back.

Had I continued to roam in that state, I wasn't sure how things would've gone. Perpahs, everything would've crumbled.

Glancing around the corridor, Waylan suddenly asked.

"You've already warned Douglas, right? Should we proceed with the last step of the plan?"

"Yeah, they should already be done taking down the surveillance system."

Still supporting my body with the side of the wall, I slid down on the ground to recover some energy.

Before taking out the communication device from my dimensional space, I looked at Waylan and bitterly smile.

"He's not going to kill us after everything is done, right?"

Scratching the back of his head, Waylan wrily smiled.

"That, I don't know. He'll probably be pretty pissed..."

"Ugh.."

Letting out a groan and taking out my communication device from my dimensional, I quickly got in contact with the other group.

The one with Gervis and the others were in.

Di— Di—

Before long, a familiar voice rang out from the speaker of the communication device.

***

In a dark room filled with smoke and multiple impressive auras, the communication device of one of the people standing in the room rang.

Di— Di—

"Hello?"

Answering the communication device was Gervis, the metropolis keeper of Henlour.

Having just finished his mission and having just destroyed the surveillance system, everyone present in the room was waiting for the next set of instructions.

The wait didn't last for long as Gervis's communication system rang as Waylan had told him.

"Waylan? Have you guys accomplished your task already?"

—We have.

Waylan's voice echoed from the speakers of the device.

"That's good. What next?" Gervis asked, nodding his head in relief.

Ever since entering Inferno, they had been in the dark about what they were supposed to do.

Waylan had not revealed a single thing to him or the others.

Was it on purpose? Gervis didn't know.

—We'll soon be sending you a set of coordinates. Go there, that's where the elders of Inferno are located. Reinforcements are quickly in the way so you guys should obstruct their path so that they don't go anywhere.

Since Gervis had enabled the speaker function everyone in the room could hear what Waylan was saying.

—Although you guys will be at a numerical disadvantage, with your skills, you should be able to hold out for at least a couple of minutes, right?

The air around the room tensed at his words.

Taking a deep breath, Gervis said with a solemn voice.

"A couple of minutes? Nothing longer than that right?"

—Yes, hold them back until the reinforcements arrive.

Turning his head to look at the other people present, Gervis stroked his beard.

As he stroked his beard, his hand would pause from time to time until eventually, exhaling, he once again opened his mouth.

"We can do that. But the most we can do is a couple of minutes. I can try to waste as much time as possible but I can't guarantee anything beyond that.

—It shouldn't be long. Shouldn't be less than two minutes. Some of the spies must've already alerted the higher-ups of Inferno, so we need to act right now.

"So be it."

Gervis said.

He understood the seriousness of the situation.

With the dampening system out and reinforcements coming in, the elders would without a doubt either flee or choose to fight back.

They could also set up a portal and escape from there, but that would be even better since they would gain access to all of inferno's resources. Enough for them to compensate for their losses and contribute to the war going on up above.

This was the least likely scenario, however. If they escaped their headquarters and the dwarves gathered all of their resources, their chance to rise once again would practically be impossible.

For the duergars, such an option was nothing short of suicide.

All in all, this was a favorable situation for them. One they shouldn't be missing out on.

"I will do as you've requested."

Douglas said, reinforcing his convictions.

—That's good. I'll send you the coordinates soon. We'll be meeting each other very soon.

"We'll leave now."

—Good luck.

Turning off the communication device Gervis looked at the others present in the room.

"You heard him, didn't you? Let's go."

Putting the communication device away, Gervis headed for the door of the room.

"Are you guys coming or not?"

As his words faded, Gervis stepped out of the room and took a look behind him.

A smile appeared on his lips as he saw that everyone was fine with the arrangements.

"You don't have to worry. We know just how important the next part of the mission is. We will try out best to help you out."

Aris, the elf of the group replied. Her voice was smooth, yet intertwined with an ever-so-faint ring, reminiscent of a cup of tea mixed with a little bit of honey.

Next to her, Randur didn't say anything and just nodded his head to express his agreement.

Seeing that he had the support of Aris and Randur, Garvis smiled.

"That's good. Let's go."

Turning around he left the room and rushed towards the coordinates that Waylan had shared with him.

*

"Is this the place?"

Following the coordinates sent by Waylan, Gervis, Aris, and Randur stopped in front of an enormous door.

An old oak door stood tall towering over them. With intricate runes engraved by the side of the door, the door gave an ancient and mighty feeling to those standing behind it.

Since this was the point where the coordinates ended, the door most likely was the door that led to the Inferno elder council.

"We should be careful."

The place was deserted, and if not for the fact that he could feel a couple of powerful auras lingering by the other side of the door, Gervis wouldn't think that everyone had already escaped.

Casting a powerful barrier using a large chunk of his mana, Gervis was not joking around.

Reaching out to grab the rusted handle, the door opened effortlessly and a loud ear-piercing creek sounded from its hinges, slowly revealing what was behind the door.

"Get ready..."

Gervis muttered as he walked forward carefully pulling the door all the way open as another deafening creek accompanied by a low rumble sounded by the feet of everyone present.

Rumble—

Upon fully opening the door, Gervis and the others instantly became alarmed.

Seated in their seats, were eight duergan elders.

With their faces relaxed, they all directed their attention towards Gervis and the others.

Their relaxed attitude gave Gervis an unsettling almost ominous feeling.

"It's been a while Gervis."

A gruff voice entered Gervis's ears.

'This voice...'

It sounded slightly familiar to Gervis who immediately snapped his head in the direction of where the voice came from.

The moment Gervis's eyes paused on the duergar that had spoken, the very air inside of the room chilled as Gervis coldly muttered.

"Orion."

"How long has it been since we've last seen each other. Fifteen years?" Orion replied, a relaxed smile plastered on his face.

"That's fifteen years too little." Replied Gervis, his voice filled with coldness. "After the incident, you should've stayed put and repented for the rest of your life…but not only did you not repent, but you joined the enemy side as well?"

"Hahaha."

Orion's hoarse laugh resounded throughout the whole room.

The laugh did not last for long as it was soon replaced by a bone-chilling pressure.

Standing up and smacking his palm on the table, Orion glared at Gervis.

"Do you have any idea what I've been through the past year? Do you!?"

His voice thunderously shook throughout the entire hall, as everyone present could feel the malice and hatred contained within each and every word that he said.

'What's going on?'

While Orion and Gervis were speaking, Aris, had a confused look on her face.

Turning around to face Randur, she transmitted her voice inside of his head.

'Dwarf, tell me what happened between the two of them.'

"Huh!?"

Startled by Aris's sudden transmission, Randur let out a strange sound. Fortunately, everyone present within the hall was too distracted by Orion's and Gervis's exchange to pay attention to him.

It was only after he realized that it was Aris that was talking to him that he calmed down.

'You may not know, but the two of them used to be contenders for the Metropoliskeeper role.'

Randur explained from the side, taking note of her confusion.

'Although the two of them were never considered friends back in the past, they didn't hate each other as they did now.'

'What exactly happened?' Aris curiously asked, glancing at Gervis's back.

She wanted to get a better idea of the situation.

Nodding his head, with his eyes locked onto the exchange in the distance, Randur gave a very brief summary of what had happened between the two.

'It's a complicated story, but in short, Orion had cheated during one of the trials that would elect the Metropoliskeeper of Henlour and Gervis exposed him for it. After that, Orion was set to be imprisoned for life but he somehow managed to escape with the aid of inferno, and the rest is history.'

The story was quite a famous one, so he summarized it the best he could.

'I see…'

Aris nodded her head in understanding.

"Because of you, I had to go through fifteen years of torture!... Let me tell you, they were not the best years of my life."

Startling the two out of their discussion was Orion's powerful voice that once again thunderously reverberated throughout the hall.

Remaining calm, Gervis replied back.

"Don't blame me for your own mistake."

"Pah! My ass! All of us participating knew that you had been selected beforehand. Had I not done what I did I would've never gotten a shot at the position." Orion replied with a disgusted look on his face.

"Is that what you've been telling yourself every year? That's the excuses losers make."

Narrowing his eyes into slits, Orion didn't reply back.

Sitting back in his seat, with his arm on the table, his fingers tapped on the table.

Tap.Tap.Tap.

After a while, returning to his usual calm attitude, Orion once again opened his mouth.

"You may be right. Maybe I truly did lose because I was not good enough…but so what?"

Staring at Gervis for a good couple of seconds, Orion suddenly grinned.

"The past is the past. I've long since moved on. After all, what matters is not what happened in the past, but what happens in the future."

Seeing Orion smile and relax, Gervis suddenly had an ominous premonition.

"What are yo—ukhhh."

But before Gervis could even finish his sentence, blood spurted from out his mouth.

Looking down in his hand that was now reeking in blood, Gervis weakly looked behind him where another dwarf stood.

With a cold look on his face, Randur lowered his head slightly.

"I'm sorry, but this was necessary. You've gone too much astray. It's about time I set this place back to normal."

Those were the last words Gervis heard before his consciousness slipped.

Chapter 361: Final push [4]

[Outside of Inferno headquarters.]

As powerful blasts shook the air, spreading a powerful gust of wind throughout the expansive battle. Thick residuals threads of mana lingered in the air, carrying themselves in the form of color smoke.

Suddenly, a subtle chime rang amidst the fierce battlefield.

Di Ding—!

"We've got a message!"

Bang—!

Raising his hand and pointing his gun towards one of the duergars in the distance, Leopold pulled the trigger and a powerful energy blast shot towards the duergar killing it instantly.

Without paying much mind to it, turning his head and looking towards the others, Leopold flashed his communication device.

"It's time to get a move on. Looks like its finally our turn."

Clang—!

"G...got it!"

Blocking an incoming energy blast, Hein replied with a low grunt. Taking a step back, he looked towards Ava who calmly dealt with the duergars with her pets.

But, there was a big difference to how she fought compared to her previous fights up above. During the demon waves.

Tootle too~

"Khrrr." "Khrrr." "Khrrr."

The movements of her pets were a lot more fluent and Ava was able to keep blowing onto the flute for a lot longer than before.

'Looks like Malvil has done a good job at fixing the flute.'

Hein thought to himself as he stared at Ava.

Had it not been for Malvil who had repaired a small part of the flute, Ava would've had a lot more trouble fighting against the duergars at the moment.

With her now utilizing less mana with each use of the flute, she could now fight for a prolonged period of time.

—I'm done setting up the portal.

A voice suddenly sounded in Hein's ear.

The moment the voice reached his ears, Hein's eyes instantly became sharp as he looked at Leopold and Ava who also looked back at him.

"Let's go."

Without wasting a single second, he twisted the heel of his foot and smashed his shield against one of the duergars behind him, opening up a path for him and the others to go through.

***

Ohm— Ohm—

Slowly exiting the portals, Douglas alongside a few other members carefully scanned their surroundings.

The walls of the room they were teleported in were coated by a tough metallic alloy. Plastered by the sides of the walls were all sorts of different holographic devices displaying all sorts of geometric shapes and patterns that morphed continuously.

They were a total of seven members present at the moment. For obvious reasons, they couldn't bring all the members in. If they did, not only would the elders upstairs realize they were in, but the situation outside would crumble within a short second.

In fact, their very presence at the moment was a risk in itself.

Ohm—

The last one to step out of the portal was Alga who curiously looked around.

"Where exactly are we?"

She asked, joining up with the group.

"Inside of Inferno."

Douglas replied with a calm rippleless tone.

To the other present, his voice was nothing but calm as it powerfully rang inside of their minds.

"What did you just say?!"

"Did you just say that we're inside of Inferno?"

"Are you playing a joke, human?"

Voices filled with disbelief and shock echoed throughout the room as everyone had a hard time understanding just what was going on. Raising his hand to calm the people down, Douglas patiently said.

"We don't have time to waste discussing whether I'm lying or not."

Lowering his head and staring at the communication device in his hands, Douglas once again opened his mouth to speak.

"I've already gotten the coordinates of where we need to go. Follow me, and I'll prove to you that we're inside of Inferno."

Gently pressing his foot onto the ground, he walked towards the door of the room and calmly exited the room.

In his hands, the communication device where the location of the duergan elder council was located.

Gazing at Douglas's back from behind, the others looked at each other before deciding to follow him.

Although they were initially in shock, they weren't elites for nothing. In matters of seconds, they were back to their usual selves.

***

"Wait here."

Gazing at a familiar door in the distance, I extended my hand and stopped Waylan from taking a step further.

Coming to a halt, Waylan's brows tightly knit as he looked at the door at the end of the long corridor.

We were still quite far, about a couple of hundred meters away, but with our vision, we could clearly see that the door was now half-opened.

The reason why I decided to stop right here was because I didn't want to run the risk of getting exposed just yet.

"The others must've already gone in..." I muttered, staring at Waylan who was gazing at the door with his eyes squinted.

Although there were no energy fluctuating coming out from the room in the distance that indicated that a fight was going on, judging from how the door was half-opened, I could tell that Gevir and the others had already entered the elder hall.

"Are you planning on waiting for the others?"

Waylan asked from the side.

Lowering my head and starting at the communication device in my hands, I nodded slightly.

"Yeah. Realistically speaking, if we go in now, we'll be nothing but a burden."

"You're right."

Waylan replied with a bitter smile on his face, signifying that he too agreed with my words.

Quickly chugging a mana recovery potion, I added.

"...Not only that, but we also have to give them time to sort everything out."

"Which side?"

"Both."

I mysteriously said as I glanced towards his left. A smile soon crept up on my face.

"Looks like they're already here."

Right as my words started to fade, coming from the other side of the hall were the figures of multiple people headed our way. At their lead was Douglas who calmly led them through the dark corridors of Inferno.

"Did you guys encounter any trouble on your way?"

Waylan asked, walking up to Douglas.

Briefly nodding in Waylan's direction, Douglas's steps came to a halt as he calmly said.

"We met quite a few duergars on our way here, but we cleanly wiped them out. With the communications and surveillance system down, the elders are probably unaware that we're here."

Pausing, Douglas's brows knit for a brief second as he scrutinized Waylan from top to bottom.

"What happened to you? You're injured?"

"No, my mana is severely depleted at the moment."

"Okay..."

Turning his head Douglas looked at the others behind him.

"I guess only the elders and I can put up a fight against us at this point."

"Right..."

Waylan nodded his head in agreement as he stared at the group behind Douglas.

Even though they were all currently suppressing their auras in order to not attract the attention of the elders in the distance, the pressure they give out was no joke.

Catching a glimpse of the door in the distance, Douglas raised his hand and pointed at it.

"I presume that's the place we need to go right? Should we get going? The more time we waste here, the more people die outside."

Since they had taken a large chunk of the elite from the battle outside, every second they wasted here would worsen the situation outside.

Facing the door in the distance with unprecedented solemness, Douglas along with the others quietly headed for it.

"Alright, let's go."

Waylan nodded his head in agreement.

Then, turning his head to face me, he whispered.

"Let's go."

"Yeah, give me a second."

Sending a quick message through my communication device, I took a deep breath before following Waylan and the others into the room.

'If everything goes according to the plan, everything should end in the next hour.'

***

Thud—

With a dagger stabbed deeply into his back, Gervis fell onto the cold hard floor with a small thud.

With his eyes open wide, Gervis gazed at Randur who was standing on top of his body with a cold look on his face.

"You should've thought better about your previous decisions. This is on you."

Randur uttered with a look filled with Malice.

Bending down and retrieving the dagger that was stabbed Gervis's back, Randur stared at the blood that dripped from the sharp body of the dagger.

Taking his eyes away from the dagger, he glared at Gervis.

"I can't forgive you for leaving Jomnuk behind and not punishing the ones responsible for his kidnapping."

Raising his foot, Randur kicked Gervis's body with his foot.

Thump—!

"Why did you leave him at the hands of those idiots!"

Thump—! Thump—!

Randur relentlessly continued to kick Gervis's body.

The sound of his foot smashing against his body repeatedly sounded throughout the hall as Orion stared at the scene with amusement.

Glancing behind him, where a duergan elder was busy setting up a portal, he thought back at his previous encounter with Randur.

Many did not know this, but he was in fact very close friends with Jomnuk.

The dwarven engineer they kidnapped in order to gain access to the beacons. It was thanks to his kidnapping that they were even able to shut down two beacons.

It was at that moment that they thought that they were going to win the war, but unfortunately, things didn't end up that way.

Before they knew it, their headquarters had been infiltrated and a massive army suddenly showed up out of nowhere.

Fortunately, they were aware that the dwarves were planning something as Randur has been in constant contact with them. He originally wasn't on their side, but in a desperate bid to save his friend, Jomnuk, he decided to betray the dwarves and backstabbed Gevir at the very last moment.

"Like we agreed. I've gotten rid of him. Now, tell me where Jomnuk is."

Randur's voice reverberated throughout the hall, snapping Orion out of his thoughts.

With his eyes locked onto him, Randur continued to speak.

"We've signed a mana contract. As long as I betray the dwarves and kill Gervis, you will give Jomnuk to me."

He then pointed at Gervis who was lying down on the ground, dead.

"I've held up my end of the deal, it's your turn."

Wordlessly staring at Randur from his seat, Orion propped his elbows on the table.

Interlocking his fingers and resting his chin on it, his eyes paused on Gervis's lifeless body.

Channeling his mana towards his eyes, he made sure to check if Gervis was truly dead.

'...His heart has stopped beating.'

Only upon confirming that he was truly dead that he finally relaxed.

Although he had already signed a mana contract with Jomnuk, it was only after the deed was done that Orion know that Randur was on their side. At least for now.

A huge sense of relief washed over his body as he thought back at the long agonizing years he had suffered due to Gervis.

Even though he had not been the one who had killed him, the fact that Gervis had died knowing that one of his closest aides was the one responsible for his death pleased him just as much.

Just recalling his face before death pleased Orion to no end.

"So? Did you not hear what I said? Where is Jomnuk!"

Once again disrupting Orion out of his thoughts was Jomnuk's powerful voice.

"Where is he!!!"

"Calm down, calm down."

Orion lightly said as he raised his hands, trying to calm the anger-stricken Randur.

"We'll let you meet soon enough. You know we signed a mana contract. Since you've held your end of the deal, so will I—Hm?"

Suddenly, his brow raised. Lowering his head and staring at the small panel attached to his desk, his brows furrowed slightly.

"Hm, it looks like we have guests coming."

Bang—!

As soon as his words faded, the door of the room burst open and multiple figures slowly walked in.

"...Ah."

But the moment they all entered, they all froze in shock at the sight that was presented before them.

Chapter 362: Everything coming together [1]

Chapter 362 - Everything coming together [1]

"Gervis…"

Staring at Gervis's lifeless corpse, Douglas shuddered slightly, his voice strained.

What followed his words was an intense chill that shrouded the entire hall.

It didn't take a genius to understand what had happened, especially with Randur standing not so far from Gervis with a dagger in his hands, dripping with blood.

Lifting his head, Douglas's eyes paused on Randur.

"Why have you decided to betray us?" Douglas asked in a tone bereft of emotion.

His voice was calm and composed, but everyone in the room could feel the anger hidden within. The air around him trembled.

"Why did you do that…Randur?"

"…"

Silence.

Douglas was only met with silence. Randur just kept staring at him in the eyes.

After a while, raising his small, bulky hand, Randur pointed it at Waylan who was standing next to Ren.

"This is all your fault, human. If not for you, I would've never been forced into such a situation." Randur mouthed as he turned his head to face Douglas.

"If not for your companions' negligence, Jomnuk would've never have found himself in such a situation!"

His voice thunderously rang throughout the whole hall.

It contained all sorts of different emotions, with pain and agony being the primary ones as Randur mourned for the kidnapping of his friend.

Lowering his head and staring at Gervis's dead body, Randur's expression turned to that of disgust.

"And him… Despite the fact that Jomnuk had been kidnapped, one of the most important members of the city, he failed to punish the human responsible for the blunder and instead give him the power to take control of the operation because of some flowery words he spoke through the use of a mana contract?"

Walking up to him, Randur kicked his lifeless body.

Thump—

"Bullshit, I say! In the first place, the war could've been won with Jomnuk's barrier alone." Randur shouted as he glared at each and every person present in the room.

"The barrier could've lasted for at least six more months. If Jomnuk was with us, we could've figured out a way of extending it for even longer…yet you chose to give up on him and even supported the one responsible for his loss!"

Spit flew from Randur's mouth as his face turned red the more he spoke.

Everyone could feel the deep-rooted anger he had within him from just his voice alone.

"You call me a traitor? What bullshit?! The only traitors here are those who gave up on Jomnuk and chose to follow this human who has made nothing but mistakes…"

No one disrupted him as he spoke. A deafening silence enveloped the hall.

Everyone quietly listened to everything he said.

Some of the dwarven elders lowered their heads in shame as they heard Randur's words. They knew just how close he was with Jomnuk. They understood where he came from.

They felt a little bit of sympathy for him.

But whether they agreed with him or not, that was a different argument.

Everyone knew that Randur was merely deceiving himself when he said that they would've been able to win the war with Jomnuk. It was far from the truth.

"Haaa…haaa…"

Eventually, the sound of Randur panting heavily resounded across the hall as he poured all of his resentment on the others.

After a while, taking a deep breath, Randur calmed down and looked at everyone present in the hall.

"I don't care about what you guys thinking about me from now on. I've already said what I wanted to say. Call me a traitor for all I care. At the end of the day, to me, you're the traitors."

Then, walking towards Orion and the others, he calmly halted his steps in front of them.

Placing the palm of his hand on the table and leaning forward, he muttered, "Have I proven myself enough? I've killed Gervis already. You better let me see Jomnuk as we've agreed."

Calmly staring at Randur who was standing opposite him, Orion pointed at the people standing behind. More specifically, at the forces of Henolur.

"That'll be a bit difficult right now. He's locked in another room, and the portal needs a few seconds to set up."

Turning his head and staring at Douglas and the others, Randur faced Orion once again.

"How much time do you need?"

He didn't need to be told what he needed to do. He understood exactly what Orion wanted him to do next.

Seeing that Randur had perfectly understood his intentions, Orion suddenly smiled.

"Not much. A portal doesn't take too long to function. We should be able to bring you to Jomnuk within a couple of minutes."

In fact, it took a bit longer than that to set up a portal since they were currently trying to set up a portal that could teleport more than ten people at the same time.

But they had already been setting it up before the attackers came. Therefore, the time they needed to waste was a lot less.

Orion suddenly frowned, the smile wiped away from his face.

"We've already wasted too much time here waiting for you to get rid of Gervis."

Raising his hand and lifting one of his fingers, he solemnly said, "One minute. All I want you to do is help me stall them for one minute. Can you do that?"

His question made it sound like he was asking for nothing difficult, but that would only be applicable under normal circumstances.

Normally, a minute's time would've been nothing, but given the current circumstances where both sides had extremely powerful individuals ready to fight at any moment, a minute was an incredible amount of time.

Within that short minute, anything could happen. It sounded simple, yet it was anything but simple.

"Okay."

Randur nodded before walking behind Orion and the other elders.

Taking out a large axe from his dimensional space, a powerful energy burst out from his body.

"I'll help you guys buy time while we wait for the portal to open."

At his words, Orion suddenly burst out laughing.

"Hahah, That's all I—

"Pfttt…"

Suddenly, disrupting the hall and cutting Orion mid-sentence was the sound of a subtle laugh that quietly sounded throughout the whole hall, catching the attention of everyone present.

Turning their attention towards where the sound came from, everyone's eyes paused on a human standing at the end of the hall.

Lifting his head and staring at everyone who was looking at him, the youth, Ren, realized his mistake and quickly shook his hands.

"Ah, don't mind me. I'm just doing my thing. You guys keep doing your thing. I was just thinking of something funny."

Unfortunately for Ren, despite his words, no one took away their attention from him.

The very air chilled even more.

Raising his hand and pointing it in Ren's direction, Orion's mouth opened and closed like a goldfish, struggling to form a sentence.

"You…You're…"

"Yes, I'm the guy who pretended be Karl if that's what you're trying to ask me."

Ren finished Orion's sentence for him.

At this point, there was no point in keeping it a secret, and he was also wearing a skin mask, so even if they did try to look for him later, all they'd have on him would be an image of his fake face.

Glaring in his direction, Orion slowly stood up.

Next to him, the other duergan elders did the same as they all glared in Ren's direction, with undisguised malice.

Because they had been in the room the whole time, they had not understood how the whole situation had happened. The situation that led to the current fiasco.

But now they did.

It was all that human's fault!

Had it not been for him tricking the elders into thinking that he was one of them, none of this would've happened.

The human opposite to them had disguised himself as Karl and created this whole mess.

Just the mere thought caused the blood of some of the elders present to boil as their jaws clenched tightly.

Even though they had managed to kill Gervis, the strongest dwarven elder in the city, they had still suffered tremendous losses.

Not only did they lose several important elders, but they were also forced to retreat from the war because of what had happened.

The demons were not pleased by the development at all. In fact, they were beyond enraged.

Not only were they unable to conquer the city, but they also suffered tremendous losses without even being able to do anything.

Their rage was understandable.

As they stood up, all of the duergan elders focused their attention on Ren.

Especially Orion, who couldn't control himself and muttered out loud.

"This… Everything is because of you. If not for you…we would've never been in such a situation!"

A powerful energy burst forth from Orion's body as he stared daggers at Ren.

Following his example, the other elders also did the same as multiple powerful auras sprang forth from their small bodies, heading towards Ren's direction.

"Not on my watch."

Stepping in between the elders and Ren, Douglas waved his hand and the aura that shot towards Ren was neatly cut in two.

A powerful gust of wind blew over Ren as his long hair became undone.

Following this, everyone in the room took out their weapons and multiple oppressive auras burst forth from the body of each individual present in the room.

A terrifying and chilling stand-off ensued as both sides prepared to kill each other.

And just as the air was starting to get incredibly tense, a ringing sound rang out.

Di— Ding—

The sound once again originated from Ren's direction. He nonchalantly took out a small communication device from his dimensional space and answered it.

"Hello?"

His relaxed, even lazy, voice rang inside of the hall, much to the confusion of everyone present.

Glancing at the others, he lowered his head in apology, his voice never dimming.

"I see, so you're also done. Okay. I'm a bit busy at the moment, but I'll tell the others about your accomplishments."

The call was quick. It only lasted a few seconds, but the last words he said caught the interest of some of the people present.

They weren't stupid. Something was up.

Putting the communication device back in his dimensional space, Ren slowly turned his head to face Orion and the others.

Scratching the back of his head, he opened his mouth and rhetorically asked, "So, you know the dampening system that caused you a lot of problems before?"

Without waiting for him to answer, turning his head slightly, Ren's eyes paused on Randur.

"Well, I've set it back up, so you don't have to worry about leaving this place."

"What do you m—"

The moment his words faded, the portal being set up in the distance disrupted.

It wasn't long before everyone realized that the connection with the portal was fading away as the portal continued to morph in a vivid, pulsating manner.

This continued for the next few seconds. It slowly dawned on everyone present, that Ren's words were no joke. The dampening system was back up.

Staring at the portal, trembling all over, Orion snapped his head towards Douglas and Ren's direction.

"You—"

Spurt—

But before he could even finish his sentence, Orion suddenly felt a stinging sensation in his back. The pain was only slight, but it soon covered his entire body. Before he knew it, Orion's body started to slowly stiffen and paralyze.

Turning his head, his pupils dilated as he saw Randur standing behind him with a familiar dagger in his hand.

"Y-you…"

With a cold smile on his face, Randur muttered, "Unlike that one, I'm using a different kind of poison. A poison that actually kills the ones who come into contact with it…"

Following his words, Gervis, who everyone thought was dead, slowly stood up.

Glaring at Randur for a split second before turning his attention back to Orion, Gervis's lips parted, a voice that came back from the dead echoing in the hall.

"…Even though I have no idea about what happened, it looks like this is our win."

Chapter 363: Everything coming together [2]

Chapter 363 - Everything coming together [2]

[One month ago, Douglas's residence.]

"No, I would like it if her presence still remains a secret."

"Oh? Why is that?" Douglas curiously asked.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Leaning back on my chair, I tapped on the wooden armrest.

"Why?"

Briefly glancing at Angelica from the corner of my eyes, I calmly opened my mouth.

"Because we can use her presence to our advantage…"

"To our advantage?"

Both Douglas and Waylan frowned at my words.

Douglas's calm gaze directed itself back towards the defiant Angelica.

"How can she be of help?" He asked.

Plack—!

Tapping onto my bracelet and taking out a wooden mask from the dimensional space, I placed it on the table for everyone to see.

"What's this?" Waylan questioned. Douglas, who was beside him, leaned forward to get a better look at it.

I extended my hand towards the mask.

"Rather than me telling you, how about you guys have a look yourself."

Raising his eyes, Douglas didn't say much and grabbed the mask. The moment his hands touched its surface, Douglas's calm face trembled slightly.

"Interesting…" He muttered, his eyes rippling slightly.

It was clear that the mask had surprised him.

Waylan obviously did not miss this and took the mask from Douglas's hands.

"Holy shit."

Unlike Douglas, his words were a lot cruder, but it was also clear that he was as surprised as him when he saw the effects of the mask.

"…This is way better than the skin masks we use."

Putting the mask on his face, the moment it touched his face, his appearance slowly started to morph before changing to that of one of the guards I met back in the Monolith.

To be precise, it was the guard I had killed during my escape from the infirmary.

"This feels weird," Waylan muttered as he touched his face. Touching his nose and pinching it slightly, Waylan's hand traced his jaw.

"I don't feel like I'm wearing the mask at all, but I can tell that this is not my face. This is amazing…"

I could feel hints of jealousy in his voice as he spoke those words. To be honest, I couldn't really blame him.

I too would've been jealous if someone else showed me the mask. It was just that good.

"Anyway, what did you want to tell us by showing this mask?" Waylan said as he removed the mask from his face and placed it on the table.

"Since you've showed it to us, it must mean that you've got a plan." Douglas calmly added from the side, his eyes never leaving the mask on the table.

Staring at him from my seat, I could see that Douglas's eyes contained no trace of desire as he looked at the mask.

They did contain hints of curiosity within, but nothing else.

Taking my eyes away from Douglas, I nodded in affirmation.

"I do."

"Care to share?" Waylan asked, leaning back on his chair.

"It's just a rough plan for now… What if I infiltrate Inferno?"

"…"

A chilly silence shrouded the room as both Douglas and Waylan looked at me with open eyes. Sitting up straight, the first one to speak was Waylan.

"Are you crazy? Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

Raising my hand, I pointed at Waylan in a shaking manner.

"In response to your questions, yes and no, respectively."

"Elaborate."

"Think about it. The way that we're going, the result of the war will remain uncertain. In fact, it'll probably last for at least a couple more years."

Turning my head to face Douglas, I posed a question.

"Don't you want to go back to the academy instead of being here?"

Before he could answer, turning my head towards Waylan, I asked him something else.

"Don't you want to meet Emma?"

Crossing my legs and staring at both Waylan and Douglas who had complicated looks on their faces, I spoke up, striking while the iron was hot.

"I know what I'm proposing is absurd, and what I have in my head is just a rough plan, but I do believe we have the necessary means to accomplish this."

Finished speaking, I stared at both Waylan and Douglas, waiting for them to speak.

After a while, the one who first broke the silence was Douglas. He leaned forward slightly and carefully asked, "How confident are you in accomplishing this task?"

"It depends. It's not that I'm not confident… It's just that we'll first need Jomnuk to agree with it. Without him, a major part of the plan wouldn't work, and as I've said before, Angelica could be of big help to me."

Unblinkingly staring at me from his seat, Douglas didn't say anything for the next minute. Waylan, who was sitting beside him, also kept silent as they both contemplated on the matter at hand.

After a while, standing up, Douglas took out a communication device from his dimensional space and tried to get in contact with Jomnuk.

"I'll try arranging a meeting with him. If you can manage to convince him, then we can proceed with what you've planned."

"That's all I'm asking for," I gratefully said to Douglas as he smiled back in kind.

"Since you're one of my students, it's my duty as headmaster to give you a helping hand…"

Pausing, Douglas recalled a sudden detail before his lips parted and a small smile appeared on his face.

"…Even if you're no longer attending the academy."

As soon as he finished saying those words, walking out of the room, Douglas quickly got in contact with Jomnuk.

***

"How interesting," Jomnuk muttered as he scanned the mask of Dolos in his hands.

Putting the mask down, he looked towards Douglas sitting next to me.

After arranging a meeting with him, we quickly headed to where he was. For obvious reasons, I disguised myself as someone else since 'Ren' could not meet Jomnuk just yet.

"So, you want to use this mask to pretend to be me and infiltrate the headquarters of Inferno?"

"In short, yes," Douglas replied.

"After discussing it for a while, we think that this is the best way to deal significant damage to Inferno as well as stop the war," he added.

Leaning back on his chair and crossing his legs, Jomnuk stroked his beard.

"Interesting…" He softly muttered, "Not only do you want to pretend to be me but you also want me to give you the method of disabling the system beacons?"

"Just two beacons," Douglas corrected from the side.

"That's still a pretty huge thing you're asking of me. You must know that each time a beacon is disabled, the barrier protecting the city weakens as a result."

"We know, but this is the best way to make them believe that you were truly kidnapped," Waylan said as he joined in on the conversation.

"I don't disagree, but…"

Jomnuk's brows furrowed.

"This is not enough to ensure the plan goes smoothly. There are too many loose factors at the moment."

"I also agree with this, and that's why we came to talk to you. If we have an elder supporting us, we can increase our chances even further. I'm sure you know someone you would trust your back to, don't you?" Douglas asked, his eyes looking straight at Jomnuk who knit his brows in thought.

"Haaa… Although I don't know how he'll react, we can give it a try."

Sighing, Jomnuk took out a small box from his dimensional space and put it in the middle of the table.

Pressing the top of the box, it lit up, and a holographic image soon materialised before everyone.

"Jomnuk? Hm? Who are you with?"

A rough voice sounded from the other side of the hologram before the image of a dwarf appeared before everyone.

"Randur." Jomnuk greeted him with a smile on his face.

Facing Jomnuk, Randur's brows furrowed.

"You're using an encrypted line. Do you have something important to say?"

"Yes, listen here…" Nodding, Jomnuk slowly started recounting the things Douglas had told him during the meeting.

He started from how we were planning on swapping me with him and subsequently infiltrating Inferno. Of course, he didn't leave out the fact that we requested to have him hand over the methods of deactivating two beacons in order to gain the duergars' trust.

"…And that's it. What do you think? I've thought about it and it does seem like a good method, but it lacks support. That's why I called you, my friend. You're someone I trust with my life."

Finished speaking, heavy silence descended over the room as Randur's brows furrowed tightly.

"This is quite the plan…" He muttered, his tone sounding a bit uncertain.

Lifting his head up, he calmly looked at everyone present in the room before his eyes paused on Douglas.

"If I say yes, what do you want me to do? I can support you, but what will my role be?...Don't get the wrong idea human. I'm only asking to get a better idea, I'm not agreeing to anything just yet."

"That—"

"We want you to betray the dwarves."

I cut in before Douglas could even start speaking. The moment my words faded, both Jomnuk and Randur snapped their heads in my direction, shock displayed on their faces.

Waylan and Douglas shook their head slightly.

Before letting the others misunderstand, I continued speaking.

"It's simple, really. Since you're good friends with Jomnuk, what would you do if he suddenly gets kidnapped?"

"I'd do everything in my power to get him back," Randur replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

I nodded in response.

"Exactly… And we can exploit this."

"You mean…"

Both Jomnuk and Randur raised their brows at my words as they slowly started to understand where I was getting at.

"Yes, there's a high chance that once Jomnuk gets kidnapped, Waylan will go under persecution. In the most likely case, he will not suffer any major setbacks since he is only partly to blame for Jomnuk's kidnapping—"

"And so you want me to pretend to be extremely enraged and eventually propose a deal with Inferno to trade Jomnuk in exchange for betraying the dwarves."

Randur completed the sentence for me, shaking his head in interest.

I gave a slight nod.

"Exactly it. You can even propose a mana contract with them, telling them that if they hand over Jomnuk, you will betray the dwarves."

"But the contract will not work since you're the Jomnuk that they have kidnapped… Yea, I see. That works…" Randur repeatedly nodded as he mused over the plan.

After a while, staring at Jomnuk, he slowly said, "The plan is doable. I'm not against it."

Everyone's eyes lit up the moment he said those words.

"So you're willing to help?" Waylan asked.

Turning to face Waylan, Randur nodded in reassurance.

"Why not? The plan is still a bit crude, but once we take care of the minor problems, it can deal a massive blow to Inferno and end the war."

Pausing, Randur's face suddenly turned serious.

"We have to keep this meeting amongst ourselves and never let anyone else apart from the five of us know about the plan. Not even Gervis or the others must know. The fewer people know about this, the higher the chance of this plan working will be."

"I agree," I said, nodding my head.

Like the idiom said, in order to deceive your enemy, deceive your allies first.

***

"…You were careless. Since you never kidnapped Jomnuk, the contract was never active. All it took was one small detail to completely have you within my grasp."

Randur uttered as he brought his face close to Orion.

"Ukhh…"

Staring at Randur with wide-open eyes, Orion had trouble formulating any words as the poison in his body slowly started corroding his organs.

Even though he was higher ranked than Randur by one sub-rank, Orion was unable to defend himself from the sudden sneak attack that had been mixed with an extremely potent poison.

Had he not been as strong as he was now, he would've probably died already.

But even the strongest could not escape their fate, as Orion slowly slumped on the ground, to the shock of everyone present in the room.

As he fell on the floor, Orion's face was filled with horror and indignation.

Chapter 364: The end of the war [1]

Thud—

With a loud thud, Orion's body fell face first on the ground.

As his body fell onto the ground, everything froze and the atmosphere in the hall chilled completely.

Apart from Waylan and Douglas, everyone had confused and astonished looks on their faces.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Randur, who everyone thought was a traitor turned out to never have been a traitor but was actually manipulating the whole scene from behind.

Not everyone was clear about what had happened, but they all knew that at this moment, Orion had been taken out by Randur.

'I guess my jobs done…I'm tired.'

Staring at the scene from afar, my eyes grew heavy.

For the past week or so I have had sleepless nights, trying my best to infiltrate this place and making sure everything went according to plan.

It was hard.

It was really hard.

In an unfamiliar place surrounded by enemies, this place reminded me of my time back at the Monolith. Just the mere thought about the past made it hard for me to get a good night's sleep as the nightmares would haunt me in my sleep.

I could only cope with the nightmares by working even more. Trying my best to make sure that my plan had no flaws.

"Huaam..."

A soft yawn involuntarily escaped from my lips.

Blinking a couple of more times, turning around, I headed for the door and exited the hall.

Soon enough a massive battle would ensue, and given my current state and strength, I would be nothing but a burden.

The best course of action for my sake was to just leave.

"Ukk..."

Upon exiting the hall and walking quite far from it, entering a secluded room, and closing the door behind me, I took out my communication device and sent a message to Waylan and the others.

'Once you're done, come and wake me up.'

The message was short and concise with the coordinates of my location attached to it.

Bzzz— Bzzz—

"Ah, right, the dampening system is back on."

It was then that I realized that the dampening system was back on and I could no longer send a message.

"Oh well..."

Shrugging my shoulders and leaning back on the wall, I slid down and finally relaxed.

'It's finally over…'

At least my part was over.

Everything else would be left to Douglas and the others. With the teleportation devices down and their leader currently under the effects of a strong poison, everything was set for our victory.

Finally, after planning everything for over a month, the plans came to fruition and the war was now as good as over.

Although the fight might be a difficult one, I had done everything within my power to give the dwarves a large advantage. If they couldn't even win after all I've done for them, they might as well just die.

"Haaa…I'm tired." I muttered out loud, my eyes slowly closing.

'I don't know how I was able to last this long with everything that was going on, but I should be able to get some rest now, right?...I can at least have this much...' I inwardly to myself as my eyes slowly closed and my vision slowly turned dark.

***

"Leave no one alive."

Gervis's cold voice rang throughout the hall as a powerful energy blast shot towards from his large staff, towards the duergars in the distance.

"I repeat, make sure you kill everyone in the hall. Spare no one!"

He of course reminded everyone to kill all the duergars in the hall.

Since their goal was to stop the war and deal significant damage to the demons outside, sparing anyone in the hall was not an option.

They had to all die.

BOOM—!

A torrential energy blast shot out from both sides as the mana in the air froze and the space distorted.

The terrifying fluctuations that came from the attacks of each side would've left anyone weaker than <S> rank paralyzed in fear, unable to move.

Despite of the fact that the walls of the room were made out of Rhimestone, as both sides attacked each other, the walls slowly started to crumble apart.

It was clear to see that the power of the individuals present was too much for the walls to hold.

Rumble—

The whole room shook, and more and more energy blasts and attacks shot from the opposite directions as the representatives from each side fought with their own lives in the line.

There were no fanciful attacks, but each and every attack that came from the individuals present in the room could shake the whole city outside. If not for the special room they were in, everything would've long crumbled apart within seconds that the fight had started.

"Haaa!"

Bang—!

Blasting away one of the duergan elders away with his long staff, Gervis looked in Randur's direction.

At the moment he had joined back their side and was fighting against another duergan elder who was glaring holes at him.

Swinging his axe downwards and blocking an attack coming the elder, sensing something, Randur turned his head and his eyes soon met with Gervis's.

Once their eyes met, Gervis gave him an all known look and mouthed.

"We'll be having a long talk later."

Some may not know this, but when Randur stabbed him in the back, Gervis had genuinely thought that he had betrayed him.

He was stronger than Randur, but Randur was not an elder for nothing. Despite his strength, he was unable to react before he had already stabbed him in the back.

Once he got stabbed in the back, he felt his own body paralyze, and for a brief moment of time, he actually thought he was going to die.

…but that sensation didn't last for long as before he knew it, he had gained his consciousness back and was presented with a familiar scene.

It was a scene where Randur stabbed someone in the back, but this time, the one at the end of the dagger was not him but Orion.

It didn't take long for Gervis to understand what had happened as he soon got a clear picture of what had happened.

In order to deceive the enemies, he decided to deceive them as well.

It was a great plan, but Gervis was not too pleased with it.

Was he that untrustworthy?

"We will definitely talk about this matter later," Gervis said once more as he turned around and sent another powerful energy spell towards a duergan elder in the distance.

Staring at Gervis in the distance, Randur's face became bitter.

'I did it in order to ensure the highest chance of success, and it worked…and I didn't even stab him that hard.' He inwardly muttered to himself as he lamented over his bleak future.

He did this for the benefit of the dwarves, yet he was going to get an earful for what he had done later.

He really was not looking forward to that.

"Well, whatever, a small price to pay for victory."

Shrugging his shoulders, Randur once again raised his axe in the air.

Preparing his attack, the mana in the air gathered towards the head of his axe, and a bright glow enshrouded the whole area around him.

Raising his hands, he slashed down.

Bang—

Gervis's body jerked as he slashed down while the mana converged towards him, transforming into a white stream that headed with a frightening power towards the elder in the distance.

As he was currently fighting against an orc, he was unable to react in time by the time the attack reached him, and it directly hit him in the body.

Clank—!

But the elder was not an elder for nothing, the moment he knew that he could not dodge the attack, rather than dodging the attack, he did nothing, and a loud metallic sound rang out throughout the hall.

The metallic ring lasted for a brief moment before disappearing as the duergan elder remained standing. Revealed underneath his torn clothes was a buff metallic armor.

A subtle glow enveloped the armor as the elder turned his attention towards Randur. He had an almost smug look on his face as he looked at Randur opposite to him, but contrary to his expectations, Randur did not care one bit for him as he slowly turned around and left, much to the surprise of the elder.

Before the elder could react, a large hand came from above, grabbing him by the head and smashing it towards the ground.

Boooom—

With a large sound, the head of the elder smashed against the ground with a 'bang,' fine miniature cracks formed around the area where his head smashed.

The one responsible for the attack was the orc from before.

Randur's goal was never to defeat the elder. He was only trying to distract him to buy an opportunity for the orc.

He knew that his attack wouldn't have worked since the elder had an armor.

Being an elder, Randur obviously knew who the duergan elders were and how they fought. So he knew from the very beginning that he wore an armor.

Usually, armors were only worn by tanking-type individuals. Typically not many wore it since it consumed quite a lot of mana and weighted quite a lot.

An example would be Orion and Gervis. As they were both long-ranged type fighters, in order to maximize their movements, they refrained themselves from wearing an armor.

Still, even if they wore an armor, Randur wouldn't have had a problem taking them down since he mainly relied on the poison rather than the attack to deal damage to them.

As long as he just gave them a scratch, they would've found themselves in the same situation.

"Let's get this over with."

Planting the heel of his foot on the ground, Randur shot towards a nearby duergar and once again attacked.

Bang— Bang—

Tremendous energy blasts shook the entire hall as the terrifying battle continued.

Blood spilled from both sides as the duergars fought with their life on the line.

Some tried to run but were soon stopped by even more reinforcements coming. In the end, by the time the third hour passed, all of the duergars in the hall were dead.

None remained standing.

"Haaa…haaa…"

Panting heavily and supporting his body with his staff, Gervis looked at the hall which used to be the elder council of Inferno.

It was a scene of carnage. The hall was now dyed red with blood as pieces of flesh and limbs scattered all over the hard ground.

Propping his body up with the aid of his stuff, Gervis turned to face his right, where another dwarf stood. It was Alga. With her hair disheveled and panting heavily, she too, looked extremely tired, but her eyes were bright.

"We did it…we've finally won." She muttered in a relieved and joyful tone. The raw emotions contained within her voice were clear for anyone around her to feel.

"We did…" Gervis added by the side, walking up to her. Staring at the scene before him, a heavy load was lifted away from his shoulders.

They had finally defeated Inferno.

But Gervis's joy didn't last for long as his face soon became serious.

"What are our losses?" He asked, with his brows furrowed, intently staring at the surroundings before him.

Turning her head, Alga's previous joyful expression turned into a bitter one as she lowered her head and said. "We've lost a total of six people out of the fourteen that came with us. Of the six, four of them are from our side…"

"Shit…" Gervis cursed out.

It had to be noted that all those that died were elders who stood at the peak of Henlour. Each ranging from <S> rank to <SS>.

Every one of their death was a big blow to their power.

Fortunately, with Inferno now gone, they could grow and recuperate their losses easily, but it still pained Gervis who had spent years with each and everyone present.

Lifting his head up, with his bushy eyebrows locked into a frown and staring at one of the panels that had somehow managed to survive the terrifying battle that had ensured in the hall, displaying the situation outside, Gervis turned his head and looked at the others people present in the hall.

"We'll hold a tribute for all our fallen comrades later. For now, let's get rid of the remaining forces outside. It's not over till it's really over!"

His powerful voice reverberated throughout the whole hall as everyone lifted their head and stared in his direction.

It was only then that they realized that a battle was still going on outside.

Carrying his tired body towards the exit of the hall, Gervis stumbled a couple of times, but using his last bits of energy, he continued to move forward.

As a leader, he had to set an example.

His weak and tired figure stood as an example to the people present as soon, following him from behind, were the survivors of the terrifying battle.

As they carried their bodies outside, although tired and injured, everyone knew that at this moment, the war was finally over.

They had finally won.

Chapter 365: The end of the war [2]

Vrr— Vrr—

"Hmm?"

Waking me from my slumber was a low buzzing sound coming from my right side.

It was quite subtle, reminiscent of a bee's buzz. Needless to say, it was fairly annoying.

Opening my eyes slightly and lowering my head towards the direction of where the buzzing sound was coming from, my sight soon paused on the communication device tightly held in my right hand.

Vrrr— Vrrr—

The buzzing sound continued, and as my mind cleared up, I could feel my hand vibrate slightly.

'How long have I been sleeping for?'

My thoughts felt groggy as I propped my body up with the aid of the wall.

'Since the communication device is working, they should already be done by now…'

Lowering my head and turning the communication device on, I spoke in a thick, hoarse voice.

"Hello? You guys done already-"

—Ren!

The moment I answered the communication device, Waylan's voice sounded from the speaker, cutting me off.

His voice was quite loud and sounded a bit panicked. Instantly, my head sobered up and my brows furrowed tightly. My body tensed slightly.

"What happened while I was gone? Did something go wrong? Did the enemies perhaps have a secret weapon that we were not aware of?"

Many possibilities rushed through my head as my heart sank.

Thinking of all the possible things that may have gone wrong while I was asleep, my previous relaxed attitude completely vanished as I prepared for the worst.

—What are you talking about?

"Huh? What do you mean? Did something go wrong or not?"

But it looked like I was overthinking too much as Waylan's words allayed my fears.

—No, everything is fine. I'm only calling because we were worried that something happened to you. You just left out of nowhere, without even telling us what you were going.

"Ah…"

'Right, the dampening system was back on and I couldn't quite tell them that I was taking a nap.'

Smiling wryly, I scratched the back of my head.

"Sorry about that… I was taking a nap. Since I couldn't participate in the fight, I figured that I may as well just go to a random room and sleep. I was gonna be a burden anyway."

Silence.

Once my words faded, I was met with total silence.

Even though he wasn't present at the moment, I could vividly imagine Waylan opening and closing his mouth, speechless, trying to find the right words to say.

It might have looked amusing to an onlooker, but I was feeling a bit guilty...just a little.

The silence continued for a brief moment before Waylan repeated.

—…A nap? Did you just say…that you were taking a nap?

His voice was filled with incredulity. As though he couldn't quite comprehend what I just said.

Being the good guy that I was, I nodded to confirm my previous words, even though he couldn't see it.

"Yes, that's exactly what I said. I took a nap."

—Y…you…

Struggling to find the right words to say, Waylan fumbled before eventually giving up, letting out a long, exhausted sigh.

—Haaa, what should I do with you? If not for the fact that I don't have the slightest idea of where you are, I'd have already strangled you to death.

"That's a bit harsh, no? I was just taking a small nap, I don't think that warrants getting strangled over."

—You know what? I give up. Where are you? Send us your coordinates, we'll send someone to pick you up.

"Sure, give me a second…"

Lowering my head and checking the coordinates of the room with the aid of a small device, I quickly sent Waylan the location of the place.

Once I sent the message, lowering my hand to stare at the communication device, I asked, "Did you get it?"

—Give me a moment… Ah, yes, I've got it.

"Good. Need something else from me?"

Leaning against the side of the wall, I once again slid down and propped my hand over my knee.

—We don't need anything else, just stay out of trouble…

A brief pause ensued. After a couple of seconds, in a low whisper, Waylan said.

—…and thank you for your hard work. Had it not been for your help, the war would've never been over.

"No problem. Not like I did everything myself anyway." I tiredly said, closing my eyes.

After checking the time, I realized that I had only slept for a total of three hours. This was clearly not enough as my mind was still quite groggy.

—I'll hang up now. Soon enough, someone should come to pick you up. Once they knock on the door, open it, okay?

"Sure…sure…" I replied, my eyes stinging slightly from the lack of sleep.

—I'll see you soon. Great job.

"Mhm…you too."

Those were the last words I said before turning off the communication device, and my eyelids slowly came to a close.

***

After the events of Inferno, the raging war that took place on the outer walls of Henolur came to a halt as the demons stopped their assault and retreated.

Although not many knew what had happened, once Gervis, alongside the others, returned and announced the end of the war, everyone in the city rejoiced as the citizens and warriors alike basked in a joyous atmosphere.

One point of concern was the fact that the demons had still not fully retreated, but they had stopped attacking and even showed signs of giving up did not go unnoticed by the dwarves, who rejoiced boisterously.

The bars and taverns were filled with dwarves, orcs, and even elves as they happily chatted amongst each other.

It was clear that the war, although brought great suffering, had also strengthened the bonds of those who participated in it. They all held each other in high regard.

Sitting inside of a particular tavern in Henolur, on a round table, were six hooded figures in black.

"So you're saying that on your way to the dampening system you encountered a duergan lady, and she's still alive?"

One of the hooded figures spoke up in shock, his body trembling slightly.

"What have you done with her? Have you told the others about her…? Or, do only you guys know?" The hooded figure asked, his tone containing a great depth of solemnity.

"We weren't the only ones present back then since we had another dwarf escort us to the location you sent us. That's also where we met her… But her condition seemed quite critical. She looked to be on the verge of death when we met her."

"What was the Duergar's rank?" The hooded figure asked. His serious tone made the atmosphere on the table turn somber.

"If I don't recall wrongly, she was S ranked. Her injuries were quite serious…"

"I see…" The hooded figure muttered with a complex frown on his face. He lifted his face slightly, revealing the features of a young man with pale blue eyes resembling the ocean. It was Ren.

He was currently seated with his members of Caïssa: Ava, Hein, Leopold, Smallsnake, and Ryan.

The duergar they were talking about was probably Durara, the one who killed Ultruk.

Recalling that piece of information, Ren's face paled slightly, but he was able to recompose himself quite quickly.

Turning to glance at the others on the table, Ren carefully worded his reply, "She's extremely dangerous. You must be extremely careful around her. In fact, have you even restrained her mana yet?"

"Don't worry, we're not that stupid."

But from the looks of things, his worries were unnecessary as Leopold and the others gave him confirmation that they had indeed sealed her up.

"Where is she?" Ren asked.

"She's currently locked up, thanks to the dwarves," Hein responded, taking a small sip of the ale in front of him.

"She's locked up?" Ren's brow raised a little before he leaned back on his chair.

Stroking his chin, Ren had a thoughtful look on his face.

Curious as to what he was thinking, Smallsnake opened his mouth, deciding to ask directly. He had an ominous premonition.

"What are you thinking so hard about? You can't be…"

"Can't be what?" Ren asked, raising his head, a sly smile appearing on his lips.

All too familiar with the smile, Smallsnake raised his hands and shook them in panic.

"You… No, I'm against it! Whatever you're planning, I'm totally against it!"

"What's wrong, Smallsnake?" Ren asked, his smile only growing.

"What's up with you? What are you talking about?"

The others, or to be more precise, Leopold and Hein, grew confused at Smallsnake's sudden outburst.

Raising his hand and pointing it in the direction of Ren's face, Smallsnake raised his voice.

"You see that smirk over there? No? Well, I've seen it plenty of times. Whenever he smiles like that, you should know that nothing good will come. Trust me, I've experienced it too many times for you to imagine."

Listening to Smallsnake's words, Ren innocently tilted his head.

"What are you talking about, Smallsnake?"

Right as he said those words, the corners of his mouth moved up slightly.

This did not go unnoticed by Smallsnake. He slapped the table and once again pointed his finger in Ren's direction.

"You see it? That smirk over there! That's the smirk of a devil! The Devil, I say!"

"Tsk."

Clicking his tongue, Ren turned his head and muttered quietly, "Relax, Smallsnake. I'm not planning on doing anything you're thinking about just yet."

"Yet… I don't like that 'yet'. Are you telling me that you're planning something later!?" Smallsnake muttered in panic, his complexion paling.

Just recalling the events in the past made Smallsnake's body tremble.

Frowning slightly, Ren briefly glanced in Smallsnake's direction and didn't answer.

"As I was saying, I won't have time to do anything crazy…"

"Oh dear god, save me."

Smallsnake clasped his hands together and looked up towards the ceiling, praying in earnest.

"What have I done to deserve this?"

Taking a glimpse at Smallsnake from the corner of his eyes, Ren paused and secretly shook his head.

'Am I really that bad?'

He really couldn't understand where Smallsnake was coming from.

Although he did do some crazy stuff, it worked out most of the time. He was merely overreacting, in his opinion.

"Anyways, as I was saying, we're going to be attending the mourning ceremony tomorrow, and in two weeks' time, once they are all done with the mourning, the elders have invited us along Waylan and the others to commemorate our achievements."

Leaning forward slightly and pinching his fingers, Ren looked at everyone in the eyes and softly said, "You know what I mean, right?"

"…"

Everyone's brows twitched as they looked at Ren. They all understood what he implied. They had to admit, they were also tempted by the upcoming rewards. But to be so blunt about it…

Only Ren could do it.

While the others looked at him in disgust, Ren took a sip of his ale.

"Ukhh…"

But the moment his lips touched the ale, his face cramped up.

"Ugh, it's so bitter..."

"What do you expect?" Smallsnake said, taking a big swig of the ale in his hands. An odd look appeared on his face as he looked at Ren opposite of him.

It had been an hour since Ren entered the tavern, and he barely drank the ale.

He kept trying, but the result was always the same. His face cramping up, and then him muttering about how bitter his drink was.

Annoyed by the stares coming from the others, Ren stood up and lightly glared at them.

"Well, whatever. You guys do yourselves. I'm done drinking. I'm going to rest up a little more."

Although a couple of days had passed since the war had 'ended', Ren was still tired.

In fact, now that he thought about it, he did not even have a single moment of rest after escaping the Monolith, as he was repeatedly dragged into complicated situations.

Now that the situation in the city had calmed down, Ren was planning on using this time productively. And that was by resting as much as he could.

He had earned himself a little bit of rest.

Chapter 366: Rewards [1]

Staring at myself in the mirror and fixing my tie, I turned to glance at Waylan who was next to me.

He too was staring at himself in the mirror, putting on a suit.

Tying my hair back with an armband, I muttered in annoyance.

"Why do I have to wear a suit? It's not like dwarves also wear suits."

"Because we're about to attend a banquet with the dwarven leaders. It is costumery to dress well in such an important event." Waylan replied back, neatly fixing his hair.

Squinting, and staring at his figure from where I was standing, I couldn't hide my jealousy.

'Sigh, is this the difference in our genes? Just how high must his charm be to look like that at his age?'

Waylan was probably in his fifties, yet he looked no older than twenty. His perfect jawline which perfectly contrasted with his face and body, made me feel ashamed of myself.

'Hmm, well, not as much actually.'

Stroking my chin and staring my myself in the mirror, my previous thoughts halted.

As I looked at myself in the mirror, I had to say, I looked quite charming myself.

Having signed a contract with Angelica, who used to be the matriarch of the charm tribe, a subsidiary of the charm clan, my charm increased by quite a bit.

It was now in the <B> rank range.

Pretty much my highest stat at the moment.

From the lowest to now the highest. Wasn't that quite an ironic situation?

That said, as I had been wearing a mask throughout the whole ordeal back at Inferno, I wasn't able to get a proper look at my face till this past week and a half when everything was over, and I really do have to say, my charm increase really made a difference.

I could almost rival Jin and Kevin in terms of appearance.

"Aren't you staring at yourself a bit too much?"

Snapping me out of my thoughts, I felt Waylan's large hand rest on my shoulder as he looked at me in the mirror opposite to me.

Scrutinizing my face carefully, he showed an impressed look.

"Gotta say, you really do look a lot better now than before. You're almost unrecognizable."

"You're over-exaggerating."

I replied, my eyes squinting to get a better look at myself in the mirror.

"Although I indeed look a little bit better, I still look like the old me."

Fundamentally, all that happened was that my skin became smoother and all the previous scars that I had on my face had completely disappeared.

While I was in thought, leaning forward, Waylan touched his chin before he shook his head.

"Nope, don't see any resemblance at all. You may as well have had plastic surgery."

"…"

My mouth opened and close multiple times as I had hard trouble stopping myself from throwing as many curses as possible.

"Hahaha."

Waylan suddenly burst out laughing, amused by my reaction.

Smack—!

Slapping me on the back, he consoled.

"Don't worry, I'm just kidding. You just looked a little bit stiff, wanted to help you relax a bit."

"Really?" I asked, raising my brow.

'Was he really just trying to cheer me up?'

I was a bit skeptical of his words since I was not nervous at all. But well, it was the thought that counted.

But it looked like I had been deceived again as Waylan smirked and shook his head.

"Nah, was kidding. You think someone who has no qualms infiltrating the main headquarters of Inferno will be nervous over a banquet?"

"…You."

Pointing my hand in Waylan's direction, who was having the time of his life laughing at me, I shook my finger multiple times.

"I finally get it. The mystery has been solved."

I said out loud.

My wards piqued Waylan's interest as he stopped laughing and asked.

"Get what?"

"I finally get where Emma got her annoyingness from. It was you. You're just as annoying as her!"

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Waylan asked, seemingly offended by the fact that I called his daughter annoying.

But I didn't care. Raising my hand and pointing it at him, I continued.

"Face the truth, Waylan. She's the product you created. You should know all too well how her character is."

"...Don't go too far, Ren." Waylan pretended to glare in my direction. "Are you calling my daughter annoying?"

"What you gonna do about it?" I retorted back, puffing my chest.

"Now, now, stop with the jokes. We're about to attend the banquet."

Just as things were about to get heated, entering the changing room was Douglas who merely shook his head at the two of us.

He wasn't mad or anything as he obviously knew that Waylan and I were merely joking around, but his eyes still contained a slight trace of helplessness.

"You guys are wasting too much time chatting. We need to go in the next couple of minutes, lest we want to set a bad impression on the dwarves." Douglas said, checking onto his wrist where a nice watch rested.

'Damn…'

Wearing a nice gray suit, which perfectly outlined his body, I was left surprised by how buff Douglas actually was.

Because he usually wore baggy clothes, I was unable to realize just how fit he actually was. But Douglas was damn fit as his suit perfectly displayed how defined his body was. Especially his shoulders which were extremely wide.

While I was looking at his clothes, turning to face Waylan, Douglas said.

"We'll be leaving in the next couple of minutes. Fix your hair and go downstairs."

Then, turning his head to face me, Douglas's eyes paused on my neck area. Or to be precise where my tie was.

Raising his hand and pointing at it, he asked.

"Do you need help with that?"

The moment he said those words, my body froze. Lowering my head and staring at my tie, I looked back at Douglas and nodded my head.

"Yes, please."

This was probably the second or third time I had worn a suit, and well, I still couldn't tie my tie properly.

Would always end up almost strangling myself. It was odd, out of all the things I could do, tying a tie was just not one of them.

'I should probably spend some time learning this.'

Would probably only take me a couple of minutes to learn, but it just had never been on my priority list of things I had to do.

With a soft smile on his face, reminiscent of a friendly neighborhood uncle, Douglas beckoned for me to come to him.

"Alright, come here."

"Thanks."

Thanking Douglas, I moved up to him who slowly grabbed my tie and started tying it.

'…this feels like an oddly familiar scene.'

As Douglas was tying my tie, my brows furrowed slightly as an old memory started to resurface inside of my mind.

It was right after the banquet after I defeated Thibaut. Outside of the mansion, tired, sitting on a bench with…

Unbeknownst to me, I had fallen into a slight trance as I reminisced over the past.

"Done."

"Hmm?…Already?"

It was only after I heard Douglas's words that I snapped out of it.

Turning my body slightly, Douglas pointed at my reflection on the mirror.

"There, all set. What do you think?"

"Hmm…"

With my tie now done, and suit that perfectly outlined my body, I had to admit, I looked really good.

Turning my head, I thanked Douglas.

"I like it, thank you."

Smiling softly, Douglas patted me on the shoulder before turning around and leaving the room.

"You look much better now. Let's get going."

"…alright."

Fixing my collar and hair a bit, I turned around and followed Douglas out of the room.

***

The banquet was held in a separate location from the elder council, inside of a large building near the center of the city.

According to Waylan and Douglas, this was an exclusive banquet to commemorate those that participated in the war and contributed.

In other words, it was the award ceremony.

It was where our contributions were announced and our rewards were handed.

If I had to be honest, I was quite excited about this part. Now that everything was over, it was finally time for me to reap the rewards of my struggle.

I already had something in mind. After mulling over it for the past week and a half or so, I thought that I had come up with a good request.

Sitting inside of a small carriage which was in fact an artifact, I turned to face Douglas and Waylan who were both sitting next to me.

"Are you guys sure you told them that I had signed a contract with a demon?"

The fact that my mana was tainted with demonic energy was not something I could hide from the prying eyes of the elders. They may have not been able to tell back at Inferno or were able to but because they were busy trying to fight the duergars, had glossed over it, but now that I was going to attend the banquet, there was no way they wouldn't notice.

I didn't want any unnecessary drama to arise because of the demon contract that I had signed with Angelica.

After all, I didn't want to face a similar situation that had happened back in the human domain where I was forced to leave due to some special circumstances.

Just remembering it depressed me.

Why couldn't the world give me a break…

Fortunately, it seemed as though my worries were unfounded as Douglas shook his head.

"Don't worry, Randur has taken care of that matter already. You can come without any problems. Everyone has already been told about you, just relax and enjoy the small banquet."

"Well…fine."

As long as that was taken care of, I didn't really have to worry about anything else.

Propping my elbow by the side of the carriage and staring at the lively city, my shoulders relaxed a little.

'I really want to go home…'

I thought as I looked at the streets of Henlour.

I really wanted to go back and meet my parents, Kevin, and the others.

But I also knew that I couldn't do that at the moment. There were many things that I still needed to do.

I first needed to remove the chip inside of my head, without it removed, I couldn't go back as the Monolith would always pursue me. After that, I had to have my sword forged which Malvil was taking care of, and lastly wait for the demons to completely retreat before even considering getting out of Henolour.

Although we had won the war, they had still not fully retreated yet. We couldn't quite get out just yet.

'If the conference is happening, maybe I'll meet them there…'

Although I wasn't sure if the conference was still going to be a thing, by the time I was done with all the things I had just listed, it would be the time for the conference to start and also the time when I would finally reunite with the others.

"We're here."

Before I knew it, as I was in the middle of my thoughts, ten minutes had passed and the carriage soon stopped in front of a tall and elegant building.

Ci clank—

With the doors opening automatically, I slowly stepped out of the carriage and took a deep breath of the fresh air of Henlour.

We may have been inside of a mountain, but the air here was just as clean as on the outside. The only thing that was different was the smell as a faint smell reminiscent of that of iron lingered in the air as it traveled through the nostrils of my nose, while I took a deep breath.

The smell used to be something that I disliked, but now that I had been in the city for over a month, it was now a smell that I now associated with the city.

Taking a step out of the carriage, Douglas looked behind, in my direction with a smile on his face.

"Let's go. Make sure you set a good impression on them."

"I know."

Nodding, I followed behind it.

Chapter 367: Rewards [2]

The moment I stepped into the hall, a bright light invaded my eyes, prompting me to cover them with a hand.

Taking a few seconds to adjust to the light, lowering my hand, the first thing I saw was an enormous table that stretched all the way to the other side of the hall.

Seated along the table were the representatives of each race as well as the dwarven elders.

They were all mixed together, and there were no particular seating arrangements. It brought for a nice atmosphere, as all races mingled together.

The moment we entered the hall, all eyes were on us.

As Douglas smiled kindly at the others, Waylan, who was next to me, whispered in a soft voice, "Looks like we are the last to come."

"Yeah."

The fact that there were only three empty seats did not go unnoticed by us. We realised that our group was the last to come.

"Humans, you are finally here."

But fortunately, the others didn't seem to mind this, as Gervis stood up and warmly welcomed us to the hall.

He pointed at the seats close to him.

"Come, come, I've reserved seats just for you."

"Thank you."

Lowering his head, Douglas did not stand on ceremony and walked toward the seats that Gervis had pointed at.

Naturally, I followed behind him.

As we were walking toward our seats, from the corner of my eyes, I caught sight of a familiar figure.

'Isn't that Malvil?'

Sitting next to his disciple, Malvil was taking a sip of his drink.

Seeing me looking at his side, he raised his cup slightly before turning his attention back to his drink.

Smiling back at him, we soon arrived at our seats.

Right after, standing up, Gervis warmly greeted us.

"I'd like to thank you humans for coming."

"It is our honor," Douglas politely replied. His reply caused Gervis to laugh out loud as he patted him on the back.

Well, he tried, but he ended up patting his thigh.

"Hahaha, there is no need to be so polite. Your people have made great contributions alongside Jomnuk, and…"

Pausing, Gervis squinted his eyes before looking towards a not-so-far-away seat, his voice turning into a quiet whisper.

"…and that guy."

His voice contained hints of anger and bitterness.

The guy he was referring to was none other than Randur, who helplessly shook his head.

It was clear that he was still not over what had happened a while ago, back at Inferno.

"Have a seat so that we can start eating."

With that said and done, Gervis gestured for us to sit as he himself sat down. Out of respect, we had remained standing until then.

Following his example, we all sat down on our seats. Once we did, Gervis looked at everyone present in the hall before coughing slightly and raising his voice.

"Keumm… May I have everyone's attention for a moment."

At his words, silence enveloped the hall.

It was clear to see that, judging from how everyone stopped talking when he spoke, Gervis was highly respected by everyone present.

"Thank you."

The moment silence enveloped the hall, Gervis smiled.

Glancing at everyone once more, after a brief moment of silence, Gervis started to speak.

"If I had to be honest with all of you, at the very beginning of the war, I was not optimistic about our chances…"

His voice was soft, but each word that came out of his mouth reached the ears of all those present in the hall.

"I thought that given our current capabilities, we won't be able to defeat the demons. We also had to worry about both external and internal attacks. Our chances were slim."

He paused, letting his words sink in.

His eyes were slightly emotional, Gervis looked at every single individual present in the hall. At that moment, it felt like he was reminiscing about the past, thinking about those who were no longer here.

Then, lowering his head slightly, he thanked everyone.

"…and when I'm saying I'm truly grateful for your help, I mean it. Had it not been for what you guys did, we would've never been able to win the war. Be it dwarves, or whatever other race you are, the moment we fought together, such things no longer mattered, and all I can say is that we, the dwarves of Henolur, are extremely grateful for what you've done for us."

As soon as his words faded, I started clapping my hands.

Clap— Clap—

"Huh…?"

But just as I was in the middle of clapping, lifting my head up, I noticed everyone in the hall staring at me oddly.

"Ren, clapping is a human thing."

It was only after Waylan's reminder that I realized my blunder.

An ordinary person could die of embarrassment here, but fortunately, my skin was now thick.

Extending my hand and grabbing the drink in front of me, I took a soft and subtle sip.

Turning my head to face Gervis, I raised my cup and gave a toast to him.

"It's good stuff."

It wasn't. It really wasn't. It was almost as bad as the ale in the tavern, but I was somehow able to keep my face straight as I said those words.

Staring at me for a brief moment, Gervis smiled.

Turning his attention towards the others, he once again started speaking.

"That said, I would also like to especially thank a few individuals."

Gervis then pointed in our direction.

"As many of you probably already know, the only reason why we were able to win this war was because of the contributions of certain individuals who are seated among us. Of the individuals, I would like to thank these three humans over here: Douglas, Waylan, and Ren."

Turning his head, Gervis's eyes paused on Jomnuk and Randur.

"Thanks to the intricate plan they formulated with Jomnuk and Randur, they infiltrated the main headquarters of Inferno and created an opportunity for us to end the war. For that, I plan on rewarding each individual present."

Gervis's words did not cause any stir as everyone present calmly accepted them.

I was of course excited at the prospect of receiving a reward, but I did not show it outwardly.

"Now, after thinking about it for a long time, I decided to reward Jomnuk and Randur by granting them the highest level of authority, only second to mine, the Metropoliskeeper."

Instantly, all the dwarves in the room opened their eyes wide in shock.

Before letting the others voice out their opinions, Gervis raised his hand and cut them off.

"My decision is final. They have made enough contributions to earn their current reward. If you feel that that is unfair, do something of their caliber before talking to me."

All the dwarves that had previously tried to voice out their opposition stopped and sat back down.

Scanning the crowd with his eyes, Gervis turned to face our direction. He then extended his hand to bring the attention towards us.

"Regarding you humans, instead of me personally giving you a reward, I'd rather ask you for what you want. Since I don't know what you guys want exactly, I'd prefer to ask you directly."

Once he finished his words, Gervis looked at Douglas straight in the eyes.

As Gervis was looking straight at him, Douglas glanced towards his right where Waylan sat. Staring at each other for a brief moment, they both nodded in agreement before Douglas opened his mouth to speak.

"For someone of my age and level, there aren't many rewards that intrigue me. "

"Understandable," Gervis muttered upon hearing his words.

As they were both powerful figures, they understood that once someone reached a certain level, not many things attracted their attention.

"Still, I insist that you ask something from us. It would make us look ungrateful if we don't give you anything for all the help that you have given us."

With a slight nod, Douglas worded his next sentence carefully.

"Then, I would like for you to consider the possibility of working together with humanity."

The moment his words faded, the hall was enshrouded with silence. Gervis's brows knit in thought.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Tapping the table with his finger, his deep voice responded throughout the hall.

"What do you mean by that? Elaborate a bit further."

Unfazed by the sudden shift in mood, Douglas continued.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not asking you to ally with the humans immediately. I'm only asking you to consider the possibility. We have the same opponent, so you know that we're on your side."

"Hmmm…"

With his brows knit, Gervis propped his elbow on the table and supported his face with his hand.

"If we do choose to ally with humanity, we would first need to talk with the other alliance members… And, not only that, but we would also need to provide you guys with resources so that you can catch up to our current level because frankly, you guys are still quite weak."

"We know," Douglas calmly replied, "But you've seen how much we've grown ever since you guys came, without your aid. If you choose to support humanity, I'm sure it will be beneficial to the Fantasia Faction in the long term."

Silence once again descended on the hall as Gervis stroked his long beard.

For the next minute or so, Gervis didn't say a word, and naturally so didn't the other people present in the room.

After a while, glancing at Douglas, Gervis carefully said, "Okay. I will give it some consideration. What you've done for us is akin to saving the lives of millions of dwarves. I will only look ungrateful if I refuse…"

Turning his attention away from Douglas, Gervis looked at the people in the room and announced, "Once the situation settles down for the two other alliance members, I will propose the admission of humanity in our alliance."

Once his words faded, a myriad different expressions appeared on the faces of the people present, but no one disagreed.

They all knew that Douglas's previous words contained truth in them.

Ever since the arrival of the other races, humanity had truly evolved into a medium to large-sized power. Given a few more years, they would without a doubt become even stronger.

"Thank you, that's all I'm asking for," Douglas replied, a big smile finally revealed on his aged face.

"It's the least we can do," Gervis replied with a slight smile. Then, he turned his attention towards me.

"What about you, human? I've heard that you made quite a big contribution. What would you like as a reward?"

'This is it.'

The moment he asked me that question, sitting upright, I carefully worded my next words.

"Well, my request is much simpler. I'd like to select a skill if possible."

After a lot of consideration, I thought that this was the most appropriate reward.

I could've asked for an artifact, but with Malvil working on my sword, I didn't think it was necessary.

Moreover, I still had plenty of artifacts which I had gotten from the duergars that I had killed back at Inferno.

Although most of them were useless as they required demonic energy to function, they could still be worth a lot if sold in the black market.

I also thought about trying to get a martial manual, but then I remembered that those could only be found in the human domain.

So, in the end, I was left with no choice but to choose a skill.

Not that I was against it, as skills were extremely rare. In fact, they were far more valuable than any manual or artifact.

There was another reward that I wanted, but, well, now was not the right time to ask.

"So, you want a skill?"

Gervis's voice sounded in my ears, disrupting me out of my thoughts.

Meeting his eyes with mine, I nodded.

"Yes."

After that, a subtle silence ensued before Gervis nodded back.

"Okay, that's doable…"

Chapter 368: Rewards [3]

"Very well, you will be allowed to gain access to our treasure to pick whatever skill you want."

Gervis said. Then, pausing, he looked at me straight in the eyes and solemnly said.

"But I warn you, don't be too greedy. When one must choose a skill, one must choose a skill nearing their rank. If you choose a skill that is far above your rank, it would destroy your body, so be careful."

"I understand."

I replied with a subtle nod.

What Gervis said wasn't wrong.

The only reason why Jin and the others didn't have extremely powerful skills that were far above their rank level with respect to their background was exactly because of this problem.

Their immature bodies couldn't contain the power of the skill.

Most times they'd end up suffering extreme consequences.

As such, one had to be careful when choosing a skill.

"I'm glad that you know."

Smiling in satisfaction, Gervis turned to look at the others in the hall and raised his cup.

"Now then, since we're over with all of that stuff, it's time for us to celebrate our victory! Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

Everyone replied back, raising their cups in celebration.

And so for the next couple of hours, everyone feasted on the delicious food on the table.

I also feasted like never before as I tried all of the food on the table.

It had to be noted that the food was made by cooking special beasts. They weren't simple beasts at that, but vicious and powerful wild ones that had to be hunted beforehand.

Not only did the meat contain mana, but it also had additional effects in helping the body recover faster.

With each bite I took, I could feel myself feeling more and more refreshed.

The feeling felt euphoric to me.

'Since it's free I might as well.'

Without holding back, I stuffed myself with as much food as possible, much to the shame of Douglas and Waylan. But I didn't care. Unlike them, I was still in my growing phase.

It was only after my stomach could no longer hold any more food that I finally stopped.

"I think, I ate too much..." I muttered while leaning back on my seat and rubbing my stomach which was now bulging slightly.

Regret slowly started to seep in.

I had eaten so much that I felt like I could explode at any second.

Aside from that, I also was slowly starting to feel sleepy.

Fortunately, by the time I was done eating the banquet had already come to an end and everyone slowly went back to their residences.

Following Douglas and Waylan out, I also prepared to head out of the hall, but before I could go out, someone tugged my pants.

Lowering my head, I spotted Gervis looking up at me from below.

He was here to remind me about my previous request.

"Ren, I've talked to Randur and he will be bringing you to the treasury tomorrow morning. Go get some good rest."

The moment he mentioned the words 'treasury' my mind sobered up real quick and I nodded my head.

"I understand. I'll be up first thing in the morning.

"That's good. Have a good rest."

"Thank you."

Lowering my head to thank Gervis, I rushed out to catch up with Douglas and Waylan who had already exited the hall.

Just like that, the reward ceremony had come to an end.

***

The next day.

"Huaaaam…"

Waiting outside of my residence, I let out a long exhausted yawn.

After getting back from the banquet last night, I fell asleep almost immediately.

I slept like a log.

Honestly, if not for the fact that I was so excited about my reward, I probably wouldn't have gotten out of bed.

"You're already up?"

Startling me out of my thoughts was a familiar voice.

Turning my head in the direction of where the voice sounded, I spotted Randur in the distance.

"You're finally here."

"What do you mean finally? I'm right on time." Randur replied, taking out a small item resembling a pocket watch and checking the time. "In fact, I'm a couple of minutes early."

"Well, to me it's finally since I've been waiting for this moment since about a month ago."

I replied back, walking up to him.

"A month? That's quite a long time? You were that confident in the plan working?"

"Not really, but it served as good motivation for ensuring that the plan would be a success."

"That's quite smart."

Randur replied, stroking his chin. Then, turning around he beckoned me to follow him.

"Come, our next destination is quite hidden, so we must be extremely careful."

"Yes."

Since we were headed for the treasure, which was the place where all the most precious equipment and items were stored, the place was heavily protected and hidden.

His seriousness was understandable.

Silently following Randur from behind, we walked through the streets of Henlour.

Finding the silence uncomfortable, I decided to make small talk on our way to the treasury.

"Have the barriers been set up again? The ones that I took down?"

"Yeah, Jomnuk set them back up as soon as we beat Inferno."

"Oh? I see."

Was a bit worried about this part just in case the demons once again tried to attack, but it looked like I was worried for nothing.

Most likely, Jomnuk re-activated the barriers. Since I only disabled the barriers and never actually destroyed them, he was able to set them back up in no time.

"That's good."

After that, I continued to make small talk with Randur on our way to our destination. Before long, we stopped in front of a large portal.

"Hey."

Casually greeting a dwarven guard that was standing guard of the portal, Randur headed for the portal and started to configure its coordinates.

Staring at him from behind, I thought.

'I see, so in order to keep the location of the treasury a secret, the dwarves must've only told the coordinates of the place to a select few individuals…'

Reminded me of what Inferno did.

"Alright, I'm done."

It was only after a couple of minutes after Randur went to the portal that, clapping his hands together, he turned towards me and indicated to me to get in the portal.

"I've already set the coordinates, you go in first. We can't let others know of the location of the place."

"Okay."

Taking a step forward and greeting the guard, I climbed up a couple of stairs and soon stepped into the portal.

"See you on the other side."

Those were the last words I heard before my vision blurred and slowly I was enshrouded by a familiar uncomfortable sensation.

*

"Ugh, I hate portals."

I muttered as I took a step out of the portal.

Despite having been through quite a lot of them, I still hated the sensation I got from taking them.

It felt as though I had been spun around in circles at extreme speeds. Nauseating to say the least.

"What's this smell?"

While I was recovering, a rustic scent lingered in the air, invading my nostrils. Lifting my head up, my eyes soon paused on an enormous ancient door that stood opposite of me.

At the moment, there was no one standing outside of the door, but I knew for a fact that there were people guarding it.

They were most likely hiding somewhere.

"It's nice isn't it?"

Coming out of the portal, Randur looked at the enormous door in the distance. A sense of pride could be felt in his words as his eyes paused on me.

"Yeah."

I softly replied back.

The more I stared at the door, the more noticed the complexities around it. It felt more and more majestic to me.

"Follow me."

Walking towards the door, Randur took out a small badge from his dimensional space and placed it inside of a small socket in the middle of the door.

Ci Click—

With a small clicking sound, once the badge entered the socket, a soft rumble sounded and the ground trembled.

Rumble—

"Take a step back."

Pushing me back a bit, Randur watched as the enormous doors opened up before us.

"Since it's a secret, I can't tell you much about the place."

Randur said as he interlocked his hands behind his back.

"All you need to know is that even if multiple <SS> ranks tried to break through the door, it would take them at least a day to break through the place. And that's if they were all attacking with their strongest attack..."

Bang—

With a small bang, the sides of the door smashed against the walls enabling me to see what was on the other side of the door.

"…ah."

No words could describe what I felt when I caught a glimpse of what stood behind the door.

I was speechless.

With countless treasures ranging from all sorts of artifacts to cores and skill books, neatly displayed throughout the enormous room, my eyes couldn't help but start to glimmer.

My heart slowly sped up.

Halting his steps by the side of the door, Randur looked at me and said.

"I'll wait for you over here."

Raising his hand and pointing towards the room he continued.

"You're free to pick anything you want from the room. You said you wanted a skill book right?"

"Yes."

"Then you can find those over there, at the very end of the room." He said as he pointed towards the very end of the room, on the right side.

"Thank you."

Unable to hold my excitement, I nodded my head at every one of his words.

Seeing how excited I was, Randur sighed and shook his head. He was all too familiar with this scene.

"Go, choose your skill, but remember, you're only allowed to choose one, don't take any more than you're supposed to."

The last part of his sentence was said with an incredibly serious tone, as Randur warned me about the consequences of being too greedy.

"Don't worry, I'm not that stupid."

I honestly replied back, curbing down on my excitement a bit.

Although everything was tempting, I wasn't someone who was blinded by greed.

Thanking Randur one more time, I quickly headed in the direction he previously pointed at, the direction where the skill books were located.

The room was fairly large, about the size of the Lock's arena ground.

As I headed towards the skill book section, there were many things that attracted my attention, but, I had a clear goal from the very beginning.

Even though everything in the room was tempting, I didn't let them tempt me away from what I really needed.

'Where is the <B> skill section? I should also check the <A> rank section while I'm at it.'

Before long I arrived at the place Randur pointed at, and the first thing I did was look for all the <B> ranked skills available.

I also kept a lookout for the <A> ranked section.

Although I wouldn't be able to use it immediately, by the time I broke through <B> rank, I should have no trouble learning an <A> ranked skill.

If I had to estimate, I'd estimate that within half a year or less I would have no problem breaking through to <B-> rank.

I was <C+> ranked at the moment, but that was thanks to the contract. Once that expired, I'd regress back to my old strength.

Well, that was unless I improved during that time, which in that case, I would not regress and remain the same.

As I was in deep thought, pondering over which level of skill I should get, the corner of my eyes caught the side of a small section.

A small section where only a couple of books rested, but the energy coming out from each book was palpitating, borderline terrifying.

'What if...'

Catching sight of the area, a dangerous thought flashed through my mind.

'…no, no, no, let's not be delusional."

Shaking my head, I tried to get rid of all useless thoughts from my head.

That section over there was the <S> ranked section, and for a brief moment, I was almost tempted into going there. But after rationally thinking about things, I instantly dropped the idea.

By the time I would end up breaking to <S> rank, at least five years would've passed, and in the meantime, I could've used the skill that I had gotten from here to further improve my strength.

Plus, I actually already knew of an <S> ranked skill that I wanted, was just too weak for it to get it.

'Let's see what they have.'

In the end, for the next hour, I looked through the <B> rank and <A> rank sections, till finally, after a long time, I narrowed my search to two skills.

[[A] Eyes of Chronos]

Upon using this skill, the user will be able to see everything in slow motion. The more mana is used, the slower the time will be in their eyes.

[[B] Quick burst]

Upon using this skill, the user will be able to display a quick burst of speed that is 10x the user's regular speed. Effect of skill will only last for a single burst, with a cooldown of 5 minutes per user.

Staring at the description of the two skills before me, stroking my chin, I muttered.

"Which one should I choose?"

Chapter 369: Rewards [4]

Waiting by the door of the treasury, Randur turned his head toward me, sensing my gaze.

"Have you selected your skill?" He asked, squinting.

"Yeah."

"Which one is it?"

"I choose this skill."

I handed Randur the skill book that I had chosen.

Lowering his head and staring at the book, a surprised look flashed on Randur's face.

"Eye of Chronos?"

"Yes."

After thinking things through, I decided that this was the most optimal skill for me at the moment.

Quick burst was nice since I could activate it immediately unlike the third movement of the Keiki style, but the five minute cool down at the end was what made me turn away from it.

In the end, after thinking things properly, the Eye of Chronos was the only option for me.

"Hmm… If I'm not wrong, you're still <C+> rank. That means you won't be able to learn this skill until you breakthrough to <B> rank. Are you sure about your decision?" Randur questioned, looking at the description of the skill book in his hands.

Raising my head and meeting Randur's eyes, I nodded.

"Yes, I'll go with this."

Although I couldn't learn the skill immediately, I was not in need of any skills at the present moment.

Since I was going to stay in Henolur until things outside calmed down and also wait for Malvil to finish forging my sword, I was not pressed for time.

"Well, okay, as long as you're fine with that decision. Gervis did say that you could pick whatever you want. Now that you've chosen, let's go back." Randur said, shrugging his shoulders.

Taking a step out of the treasury, he looked at me right in the eyes and asked once again.

"Once we leave, you won't be able to change your mind, so I'll repeat it one more time: are you sure about your decision? Do you really want to pick that skill?"

"I'm sure," I replied without an ounce of hesitation.

This was the ideal skill that I needed, and I wasn't going to let it slip away just because of some short-term gains.

Gazing in my direction for a brief moment, Randur lowered his head and placed his palm by the side of the door.

"Alright."

Motioning me to get out, he tapped the emblem that he had previously attached to the wall.

"I've already recorded your choice. I'll now be closing the treasury."

As soon as his words faded, Randur retrieved the emblem stuck on the wall and the ground once again started to shake with a low rumble.

Rumble—

Moving out of the portal with his hands behind his back, Randur stared at the treasury doors slowly closing away.

'I wish I could've taken more.'

I thought to myself as I stared at the treasury from behind Randur.

It was just a wish, but I also knew that it was impossible. Well, that was unless I made any more contributions.

'I should just be happy with what I have.'

The skill was obviously not the only reward I had gotten from the whole ordeal, but it was the most precious of them all.

Now that I had taken the skill I wanted, it was time for me to go back up and start planning about my future.

"Shall we go?"

Startling me out of my thoughts was Randur's voice. Lifting my head up, I gently pressed onto the ground with my foot and followed him from behind.

Like that, I had finally gotten myself a new skill.

***

"You chose an <A> ranked skill?" Smallsnake's surprised voice sounded in my room.

"Yeah, I think it was the best choice," I replied back, staring at the book on the table opposite me.

"Although it might take a while for me to reach <B> rank, given our current circumstances, I doubt we would be able to get out of here any time soon."

Pressing my palm on the table and standing up, I looked at everyone seated close to me.

They were Angelica, Leopold, Ava, Hein, Smallsnake, and Ryan. All the members of my mercenary group.

'Looks like this war has truly helped them grow.'

I thought as my eyes paused on everyone.

Compared to when they first entered the city a couple of months back, everyone had matured quite a bit as their auras possessed faint traces of bloodlust, something only an experienced fighter would have.

If they fought their previous selves, they would without a doubt be able to beat them without shedding a single drop of sweat.

I felt a little proud as I stared at them. Of course, that didn't last for long as I remembered what I called them here for.

Raising my fist over my mouth, I coughed lightly.

"Keumm… Anyways, as I was saying, since we're most likely not going to be leaving this place anytime soon, I've decided that we should spend all of our time training."

"Training?"

"What are you saying?"

As everyone processed my words, all I was met with was confused looks.

Knowing full well that they were going to react that way, I pressed my palm down and continued.

"Yes, training. After talking with Douglas and Waylan, they agreed to train you."

Pausing, I turned to look in Ryan and Smallsnake's direction.

"Well, almost all of you. In the case of Smallsnake and Ryan, you guys will be trained by Jomnuk."

"Jomnuk? You don't mean…?"

"Yup, the best engineer of this city. He owed me one, so I asked him to train you two."

Crossing my arms together, my brows knit.

"He did say yes, but he also said that if you guys are not on par with what he's teaching, he'll stop."

"…"

Once my words faded, Smallsnake and Ryan stared at each other for a brief moment before they looked back at me.

The one to speak was obviously Smallsnake, who frowned.

"I'm grateful for the offer, but what about the chip in your head? Are you not going to get that removed?"

"The chip?"

Raising my brow, I suddenly recalled that I did indeed have the chip still stuck inside of my head.

'Now that I think about it, Douglas did say that they've caught the people from the Monolith and have locked them up in prison… I should definitely visit the place when I have time.'

There were still a couple of things that I needed to get done.

Scratching my chin, I sat back down and leaned on my chair.

Then, after a brief moment of silence, I looked at Ryan who was seated opposite of me.

"…About the chip, I want you to get it removed for me."

"What!?"

Pressing both of his hands on the table, Smallsnake stood up.

"So you're not going to get your chip removed now?... And you're trying to get Ryan to do it? A fourteen years old kid?"

"Yeah, pretty much." I nonchalantly replied back.

The reason why I wanted to remove the chip in the first place was because of the threat of the Monolith. But, now that I was in a safe place where the Monolith wouldn't dare to step in after what had just happened, the removal of the chip was no longer one of my main priorities.

Might as well just have Ryan do it. It could serve as great motivation for him.

Casually glancing in Ryan's direction, I asked, "You can do it in a year's time, right? You previously told me that you could've done it in about this much time. Now that you'll have Jomnuk teaching you, you should be able to finish at a much faster time, no?"

Propping my elbow on the table and supporting the side of my cheek with my hand, I lazily said, "Just treat the chip removal as a graduation test."

"This..."

A complicated look flashed on Smallsnake's face as he looked at Ryan.

From the concern that I could see in his eyes as he looked at Ryan, I could tell that Smallsnake had gotten quite attached to him in the past month.

It made me quite happy.

But contrary to Smallsnake's concern, with a resolute look on his face, Ryan stared back at me, his eyes unwavering.

"Let me do it."

His previous childish demeanor was completely gone, replaced by a mature-like seriousness that I had never seen from him before.

His sudden change in demeanor caught everyone off-guard as they all looked at Ryan with surprised looks.

Especially Smallsnake, who couldn't find the right words to say.

Not minding the stares he was receiving from the others, Ryan spoke up, "I can do it. Since you've put so much trust in me, I will try my best to help you remove the chip in your head."

Staring at him for no longer than a couple of seconds, the edges of my lips pulled upwards.

"If that's what you wish, then it's settled."

I then glanced upwards, towards the standing Smallsnake.

"Do you have any problems with what Ryan said?"

With a complicated look on his face, Smallsnake looked at Ryan, who stared back at him, his eyes filled with burning desire.

"Haaa…"

Smallsnake then let out a long sigh.

"What am I gonna do with you guys?" He complained before nodding his head softly, "Fine, I'll join as well. I want to see how well he is going to progress."

"That's great." A large smile appeared on my face.

Then, turning my attention towards Ava, I asked, "How about you? How is the situation with the flute?"

"Malvil is handling it. I'm not exactly sure, to be honest," Ava replied back with clear eyes devoid of any of its previous shyness. The war seemed to have changed her.

"I see, I'll have to talk to him later then."

Since he was also taking care of my sword, I could use the time when I was checking on it to see how he was progressing with Ava's flute.

The only problem I saw with the flute was that it was an <S> ranked item or even higher. So, when it does get fixed, Ava would no longer be able to use it.

I had to find a way to solve that problem.

"About you two."

I then turned to face Leopold and Hein.

"Since you guys contributed quite a lot too, you should be able to get yourselves some good swords and guns. You should probably do that when you have time."

"Will do."

Both of them replied at the same time.

"That's good."

I wasn't the only one that got rewarded. The others did too. But compared to me, their rewards were a lot smaller.

Even then, getting a good artifact should not be a problem for them.

"Lastly, Angelica…"

Turning in Angelica's direction, who was quietly sitting on a chair without speaking, an odd look flashed across my face.

"Well, she's already sorted her stuff, so there isn't much I can say about her."

Unlike us, she didn't need to train as much. Though not many knew, she had also gotten rewarded quite well.

Since the dwarves had looted the Inferno headquarters, there were a few devil fruits around. Because they had no use for it, they just decided to reward Angelica with them.

Therefore, she was all set for the future already.

"Well, I guess that's it for now."

Standing up, I looked at the others.

"Let's not waste any more time with this meeting and start training. It's rare for us to have a moment like this, so let's make full use of what we have."

Finished with what I wanted to say, I dismissed everyone from the meeting.

Watching everybody leave my room, taking a deep breath, a resolute look flashed across my eyes as I swore to myself.

'I'm going to make full use of this time that I have to become as strong as possible.'

With threats appearing one after another, I had to make full use of this moment to become as strong as possible.

Since I now had the opportunity to do so, I was planning on using it as best as I could.

Chapter 370: Synchronisation [3]

Pitch black darkness enveloped the world

"I've always been meaning to ask, but if the demon king manages to take over earth, what are you planning on doing?"

A voice suddenly resounded throughout the nothingness.

"What? Are you thinking that I'll just go run to some other planet?"

Another voice replied back.

"Will you not?"

"…if only things were as simple as that."

The voice cracked a little.

Unprecedented bitterness and sadness hid beneath the voice as the veil hiding the obscured figure trembled slightly.

"I-I…haaa, it's not possible."

He muttered.

Obviously finding it hard to continue speaking about the topic.

"What do you mean it's not possible? If we truly can't defeat the demon king, don't you think we should just ditch this place?"

The other voice asked, with a mix of confusion and curiosity hidden beneath his words.

"Just get the people you are close with and teleport somewhere far away. Away from the demon king's reach. I know you have the mean—"

Smack—

But before the voice could finish speaking, the loud sound of something smacking sounded.

The sound was reminiscent of a hand smacking against a flat surface.

Following the smacking sound, the other obscured raised his voice.

"I've tried alright! Everything that you can think of, I've tried! I have fucking tried it all! None of it works! It's impossible!"

His voice boomed throughout the voice as every one of his words was mixed with helplessness and desperation.

One could also feel the little bit of madness hidden deep within it.

"Curb that thought of your mind. There is no escaping the demon king! Unless we defeat him, we're all fucked!"

His last words powerfully rang throughout the void.

"Haaa...Haa...I-i'ts impossible."

The voice muttered with heavy breaths.

Following this, a brief moment of silence ensued as neither of the two figures spoke.

Then, the veil that was obscuring the two figures slowly started to fade, revealing two individuals on the opposite end of a wooden table.

One was standing, while the other sat down.

The one standing was wearing elegant black clothes while the one sitting was wearing a casual white T-shirt.

Even though the veil faded, the faces of the two figures were still obscured. Making it impossible to discern the identity of the two individuals speaking.

Leaning back a bit, crossing his arms, the white shirt individual broke the silence.

"…what do you mean tried? The demon king has not even ascended yet. You make it sound as though you have tried this before."

The black clothes male's body froze for a second before he quickly waved his hand.

"You're thinking too much."

He then sat down and stared at the other individual opposite of him.

Taking a moment to choose his words carefully, the black-clothed figure finally managed to calm down a bit.

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, he started to explain the reason for his previous outburst.

"The reason why I'm saying that it's impossible to defeat the demon king once he conquered earth, is because by then, he will break through the world limits and finally gain to access the Akashic records."

Placing the palm of his hands on the table, the white-shirted figure was taken aback.

"The Akashic records?…What in the world are you talking about?"

Raising his hand, and touching his forehead, the black-clothed male thought for a moment. Then, instead of answering the question, he asked one.

"Have you ever wondered why we are able to see status windows? How we are able to gain access to skills, or where mana comes from?"

The black-clothed individual interlocked his hands together.

"Has that thought ever crossed your mind once? How many of those things are possible?…or did you think that everything has come just because of some supreme power out there that has given everyone access to skills and mana?"

The black-clothed male's words powerfully rank inside of the white-clothed ears as he deeply mused over his words before replying back.

"...I have had thoughts but because I've always been paying attention to the demon king, I've never had properly thought about it."

Pausing, the white-shirted male looked at the black-clothed one.

"…Are you trying to say that all of the phenomenons that you have listed are because of these so-called Akashic records?"

"Yes…"

Nodding his head, the black clothes male exhaled loudly.

"The reason why we are able to see status windows, and gain skills is all because of the Akashic records."

"...Are these records some sort of god?"

The white-shirted male asked.

It was obvious that he was having trouble understanding what the black-clothed individual was trying to say to him, but he continued to ask.

"Since as you've said, they are responsible for the status windows and the creation of skills, they must be some sort of gods, right?"

Lowering his head, the black-clothed male didn't say anything. Placing his hand in his chin, he mused for a bit.

Then, lifting it up, he looked back at the individual sitting opposite of him.

"In a sense, you can say that, but at the same time, they are not."

"What do you mean?"

"It's complicated...the Akashic records are a compendium of all universal events, thoughts, words, mana, skills, emotions, and intents that have ever occurred in the past, present, or future in terms of all entities and life forms. That includes all other races. They are essentially the record of the laws of the world, but..."

The black-clothed individual paused.

"But what?"

The white-shirted male asked, curious about the black-clothed male's next words.

Lowering his hand, the black-clothed male's tone became solemn.

Leaning forward, his voice became fainter.

"But the demon king is trying to gain access to them. Or to be more precise, he wants to take control of the Akashic records."

"What?!"

The moment the black-clothed male said those words, the white-shirted male stood up in shock.

"Is that even possible? Are these records a physical entity?"

His voice was filled with incredulity as he slowly started to understand the reasoning behind the black-clothed individual's previous outburst.

"They are and aren't at the same time, but once you reach a certain level, gaining access to them is not impossible, and that's what the demon king is trying to do…and in order to do that, he must conquer the earth and consume all of the mana in the world so that he can break through to the next rank."

Supporting his body with the aid of the table, the white-clothed individual asked.

"In short, we have no choice but to beat the demon king?"

"Yes."

The black-clothed individual replied. Leaning back, he stared upwards and helplessly said.

"The demon king is incredibly powerful...I'm not very confident in my chances against him."

But the white-clothed individual didn't think like that as he said.

"You haven't even faced him, what makes you think you can't face him? You're the strongest in humanity, the first to break through to <SSS>, what makes you think that you can defeat him? Have a little bit of faith in yourself."

"If only things were like that…"

The black clothes male muttered.

"Hm?"

Suddenly, sensing something, the black-clothed male's body jerked towards the right, and a powerful aura swept out of his body.

"He found me."

He muttered in an incomparably solemn tone.

"Who found you?"

The white-clothed male asked, similarly staring in the direction where the black-clothed individual was staring, but he saw nothing.

Staring back at him, he asked.

"What exactly are you looking at, and who found you?"

"The time remnant."

The black-clothed male replied, fixing the collar of his jacket.

"The time what?"

Before he got an answer, the black-clothed male disappeared from where he was standing.

"Sorry, I have to go."

"Hey wai—"

"I have no time now, I don't want it to find you. It's not something you can deal with."

"What are you—"

Before the white-shirted male could finish speaking, the world slowly started to crumble as the darkness started to envelop completely.

Before long, everything disappeared, and what remained was a chilling darkness.

***

"Huaaapp"

Sitting up straight, Kevin took a deep breath.

"Hufff…huff…"

His breathing was heavy and the bedsheets below him were soaked in sweat.

It took a while for him to fully calm down, and when he did, looking around the room and seeing that he was in an unfamiliar place, he forcefully calmed himself down as he wondered.

"Where am I?"

The room looked to be a regular hospital room.

Next to him, all sorts of equipment appeared, as they repeatedly beeped.

"Ugh."

Letting out a groan, Kevin held onto his head as an agonizing pain coarsed through his head.

'Just what was that dream?'

It was faint, but he could still vividly remember what he had just seen.

'The akashic records? The demon king is trying to take over them and the only way he can do it is through the conquest of the earth?'

The more Kevin thought about it, the more agonizing the pain in his head became. It was as though it was trying to reject all the information he had just seen.

He couldn't understand anything.

'Could this vision have just been a fabrication of my imagination?' He thought as he tried to explain the contents of his vision.

Ding—!

But before this idea could even gain any traction, a familiar chime rang in his head and his system interface showed up in front of him.

[Quest reward : Synchronisation +5%]

[Completed.]

[Additional rewards.]

+ 5000 Credits.

+ Advanced potion x 5

'…so it wasn't a dream.'

The moment he saw the quest window, he knew that whatever he had witnessed moments ago was real.

As he understood this, the questions in his head only multiplied.

Who were the two that were talking in the vision?...and what was the time remnant the black-clothed individual was talking about?

So many questions, yet no answer.

As he was trying to make heads or tails about what had happened, Kevin suddenly recalled something and his body jerked up.

'Wait, is Ren okay!?'

The reason why he was in such a state was because he was trying to save Ren.

By using the red book, he forcefully broke through to <C> rank and changed the events depicted his death in the book, but where was the book?

Frantically looking around the room, Kevin looked for the red book, but he saw nothing.

'Shit the book must still be in my room.'

It was clear that his mind was still groggy and messed up due to the sudden vision.

If not for that, he wouldn't have forgotten the fact that the book was not something he could store in his dimension space, let alone the system.

'Ah, wait, what if…'

A sudden idea flashed his mind as he raised his head and stared at the system interface in front of him.

His eyes soon paused on a certain text.

[Quest completed.]

'The quest said to save Ren, if it says that it is complete, it can only mean that I've succeeded, right?'

Once his thoughts paused there, Kevins's shoulders relaxed a little as he leaned back.

Tapping onto the system and double-checking to make sure it was like that, Kevin breathed a sigh of relief.

Slumping back on his bed, he softly muttered.

"I'm glad…I'm glad that he's alright."

As long as Ren was still alive, the little struggle he suffered was worth it.

"Hm?"

Clenching his fists tightly, he realized that his body felt a lot more powerful than before.

His vision was also clearer. Not only that, but his other senses also experienced a similar thing as they all became sharper.

'I guess this can serve as consolation for what had happened.'

Kevin thought as he bitterly smiled.

Lately, the pace at which he had been breaking through had slowed down quite a bit.

For some odd reason, the system had been assigning him a lot less missions than before.

It had stagnated his previous stellar growth, but given his talent, the speed at which he was improving was incredibly fast too.

It had to be noted that he had been spending most of the time trying to perfect the Levisha style instead of focusing on his rank.

If he had been focusing on improving his rank, he might've been able to be a lot higher ranked.

Bang—!

"Huh?!"

Out of nowhere, starling Kevin out of his thoughts was the loud sound of the hospital room smacking open.

"Kevin!"

Entering the room was none other than Emma.

Her complexion seemed haggard, and her face was quite pale.

The moment her eyes landed on Kevin, her mouth trembled slightly. Raising her hand to wipe her eyes, and said something in an almost inaudible voice.

'I'm glad that you're still okay.'

Had it been the previous Kevin, he might've been unable to hear it, but now that his ears were a lot more sensitive, he was able to hear every word that Emma muttered.

His heart warmed.

But that didn't last for long as Emma's face soon became indifferent. The moment Kevin saw that his heart froze.

Without saying anything, Emma slowly walked in his direction.

Watching Emma slowly making her way towards him, her indifferent face made Kevin swallow a mouthful of saliva.

He felt an ominous premonition.

Raising his hand in her direction, he waved slightly.

"Hey."

Chapter 371: The Conference [1]

Staring at Emma who was indifferently staring at him from above, Kevin weakly smiled.

"Hey."

"You…"

Despite how hard Emma tried to keep a straight face, before long, her body trembled. She had a hard time formulating her words as her eyes grew blurry.

"W..why did you do that?"

Her voice was faint and weak, but Kevin was able to make out every single word that came out of her mouth.

"A...re you so desperate to breakthrough that you would reduce your body to that state?...Are you still not over...his death?"

Lifting his head up, and meeting Emma's eyes, Kevin shook his head.

"No, it's not that."

"Then why!"

She screamed, tears flowing down her cheek.

"Why would you do that to yourself? Do you not understand how worried everyone was when they saw you in that state in your room!?"

"You wouldn't understand."

Kevin replied.

He couldn't quite bring himself to tell her the truth. That he had done what he did to save Ren.

He wanted to, but he couldn't.

Who would believe him in the first place? Ren was dead, he'd only look crazy to Emma if he said those words.

"You…"

A hurt look appeared on Emma's face as she heard Kevin's words.

"Am I that untrustworthy to you?"

"No, it's not that."

Shaking his head, Kevin took out the wires that were attached to his body and weakly stood up.

"What are you doing!"

This obviously flustered Emma who rushed towards him and tried to put him back on the bed.

"Got you."

But just as Emma was about to grab him, extended his hand forward, Kevin grabbed Emma by the arm and pulled her towards the bed, helping himself up in the meantime.

"Hiak!"

Falling onto the bed, she screamed in panic.

Staring at Emma who was on the bed, Kevin teasingly smiled.

"Thanks for helping me up."

"You!"

An enraged looked appeared on Emma's face as she looked up towards Kevin.

Turning his back in Emma and walking towards the exit of the room, Kevin's smile faded.

Thinking back at all the things that had happened recently, Kevin felt this sense of urgency rise from within him.

From the synchronization episodes to the fact that the demon king was going to ascend in eight years' time, Kevin knew that he could no longer take things as easily as before. This recent event was a wake-up call to him.

He had to put in even more effort. He had been relying on his system too much.

Now that it wasn't grating him as many quests as before, he knew that he needed to make a change.

He needed to push himself even more than he ever pushed himself before.

"Hey Kevin, where are you going?"

Right as Kevin was about to leave the room, Emma's voice echoed from behind.

Turning around, Kevin briefly glanced at Emma before answering.

"I'm going back to the dorm."

"To do what?"

Halting his footsteps right at the door, Kevin extended his hand and pushed the door open.

"To train."

***

Eight months later.

A festive mood enshrouded the Lock as a large banner hung at the entrance of the academy.

[Lock third-year graduation ceremony.]

A myriad of people walked below the banner as agents and guild scouts appeared all over the academy campus. Their eyes, which seemed crazed, made everyone around them want to run.

It was a mess.

"Haaa...haaa...did I finally manage to run away from them?

Standing outside of the academy building, in a rather secluded area, Kevin looked back at the academy campus behind him.

With his arms on his knees, Kevin tried to catch his breath.

About a month before graduating, a series of guilds crazily started contacting him, in hopes of recruiting him. This was understandable, being the top-ranked guy for three years in a row was without a doubt something that all guilds would crave when recruiting someone.

But there was a limit to how crazy things could get. But with him constantly being harassed on the phone every day and night, Kevin was forced to change his phone number.

But even that didn't work as they would somehow find out about his new number immediately.

"About time you arrived."

Waiting for Kevin in the area was Emma who was looking at him with her arms crossed. Her foot repeatedly tapped the ground.

Standing next to her were Jin and Mellisa.

The three of them all wore long robes with the academy logo engraved on the back. Kevin too wore a similar attire as they were the academy graduation robes, signifying that they had graduated from the academy.

"Sorry, had to take a small detour."

Kevin apologized before walking up to them.

Glancing behind him one more time, Kevin had a nostalgic look on his face.

'I'm finally leaving this place.'

After spending over three years at the Lock, it was now finally time for him to leave. It'd be a lie if he said that he wasn't sad. A lot of good memories were made in this place.

Glancing at the others from the corner of his eyes, Kevin's eyes paused on Melissa.

Out of the four, she seemed to be the one that cared about leaving the least. In hindsight, she spent most of her time in the lab, therefore, she didn't have any attachment to the academy.

"You don't seem to care at all about the fact that we're leaving the academy."

"That's cause I don't." Melissa bluntly replied. "What are we even doing here anyway?"

"We're waiting for Amanda. Didn't you forget that she wanted to celebrate our graduation with us?"

Emma replied from the side.

Brushing her hair behind her ear, she yawned slightly.

"She said something about, Hm?"

Sensing something, Emma suddenly turned her head towards her left.

"Talk about timing. She's already here."

Pointing towards the left, everyone saw the silhouette of a figure exiting a nice black car.

Wearing a long one-pieced black dress that perfectly showed off the contour of her body and legs, Amanda stepped out of the car and faintly smiled in their direction.

"Thank you for waiting."

She said, walking in their direction.

"I hope I didn't make you wait for long."

"So, what did you want us here for?"

Melissa said, lifting her glasses up. Before even sharing any formalities, she quickly went straight to the point.

It also had to be said that she was quite comfortable with Amanda, which was why she acted like this.

"Want to join my guild?"

Amanda replied back.

The moment she said those words, Melissa's face alongside the others froze up.

Only to then relax upon seeing the small smile on Amanda's face.

"Y-ou…you better not joke about that stuff again."

Emma said, pointing her finger in her direction.

"Who said I was joking?" Amanda replied, turning her attention towards Kevin. "My offer still stands. If you're not planning on joining the Union, you can always join my guild."

"No thank you."

Kevin kindly declined with a smile.

"That's too bad."

Amanda didn't seem too fazed by his rejection.

She only tried for the sake of it. I mean, who wouldn't want someone as talented as Kevin in their guild?

Brushing the side of her hair behind her ear, she looked at Kevin and asked.

"So you've made up your mind into joining the Union?"

"Yeah."

Kevin nodded.

Even though he knew that Ren was alive, he still decided to join the Union.

It wasn't about getting revenge this time, but more because he decided that this was the best course of action to take in order to further boost his strength.

Just like they were planning on using him, Kevin was planning on using them.

Each to their own benefits.

"So, what should we do now?"

Emma suddenly asked from the side.

Rubbing her stomach a little, she looked around and said.

"Are we going to go eat or anything? I'm kind of hungry."

With a helpless look on her face, Amanda looked at Emma before she nodded her head.

"I've booked a good place where we can all stay to celebrate your graduation."

"That's good, cause I'm starving."

Without waiting for Amanda to say anything else, she quickly headed in the direction of her car and quickly got in.

Once she got in, rolling the passenger window down, she shouted.

"What are you waiting for? Let's go now!"

Right after she said those words, she sat back in the car and nudged them to hurry up.

Watching Emma from afar, everyone was left speechless.

They didn't know what to say.

"Shall we just go?"

In the end, it was only after Kevin said those words that everyone finally moved and headed for the car.

'It wasn't bad.'

Getting in the car and staring at the academy campus for one last time before the car slowly sped into the distance, Kevin knew that this was the beginning of a new journey.

***

[Henlour, elder hall.]

Seated in the middle of the semi-circular desk where all the other elders sat, Gervis looked around the hall.

"Have there been any further reports regarding the remains members of Inferno?"

His solemn voice reached every corner of the hall.

"We have located a couple surviving members, but that's all. There are still quite a few at large, but let's be honest, they are nothing but cornered rats at this point."

Alga replied from a couple of seats away from Gervis.

She was one of the thirteen remaining members of the elder council. There used to be a total of twenty-one before the war.

A total of eight elders had died during the war.

Casually nodding at Alga's words, Gervis looked at the others with a serious look.

"That may be true, but unless all of them are out of the picture, I don't want anyone lowering their guard."

Although they had taken out most of the high-ranking members of Inferno, quite a few still managed to escape.

It was fair to say that their main force was gone, but that also didn't mean that they should lower their guard.

Just because they were not as powerful as before didn't mean that they couldn't cause any trouble.

Just because someone was cornered didn't mean that they couldn't bite back when you'd least expect it.

As someone with a lot of experience, Gervis firmly believed in this, hence why he tried to warn all the elders present to keep a lookout at any of the remaining members of Inferno.

Of course, he also did send out a task force to remove as many of those rats as possible.

It was only a matter of time before all the remaining members were killed.

"That matter aside, the reason why I have gathered all of you here is because of the human's request. The one about joining our alliance."

Instantly, silence descended upon the hall.

Sweeping the room with his eyes, Gervis continued.

"I've just received word that the elves and orcs have also managed to defend against their enemy. Of course, that is thanks to our help."

As they had won the war, the dwarves, being their allies, had to provide assistance to the elves and orcs they naturally did.

This was part of their agreements as allies. If, and if they had the ability to help, they had to help the alliance member when it was in trouble.

With troops to spare, the dwarves sent a few elite warriors to help the two other races and in turn, managed to take a huge load off of their shoulders, securing them a victory.

They were naturally very grateful for this as they had anticipated a very long and tragic war.

"After having talked to them and having explained how we were able to win our war thanks to the help of the humans, I briefly told them about their request.

Gervis paused.

With his eyes locked onto everyone present, as they too looked back at him with their ears wide open, Gervis continued.

"…and after discussing with them for a while, we decided to host a conference where we will decide whether the humans will join our alliance or not."

Pressing both palms of his hands on the table, Gervis stood up.

"The reason why I've gathered you here is to hear your opinion on this matter. What are your thoughts on the conference?"

"I agree."

Just ad Gervis finished saying those words, one of the dwarves seated in the hall instantly agreed.

It was Randur.

With all eyes drawn towards him, Randur remained calm.

"Giving the humans a chance to prove themselves is ideal. We have all seen what they are capable of. We don't really lose nothing from giving them a chance."

Gervis then shrugged his shoulders.

"But of course, as Gervis said, we are merely giving them a chance to prove themselves. Whether they can convince us to join or not will depend on how convincing they are."

"And how do you expect them to prove that?"

Givor, another one of the dwarven elders asked.

Turning his attention towards Givor, Randur smiled.

"Easy, why don't we let them fight against some of our warriors?"

Gervis was quick to catch up to Randur's intentions as he asked.

"You want to propose a spar to test how far the humans have come?"

"That's correct," Randur replied. "We may have seen a glimpse of what they can do from Douglas and Waylan. But it also has to be noted that the two of them are the most elite members of humanity. What I truly want to know is whether they are worth investing in."

Hearing Randur's words, Gervis stroked his beard.

"You make a good point."

Then, turning to face the other members, he asked.

"What do you guys think? Do you agree with what Randur said?"

"...I agree with the proposal."

Alga was the first to reply as she stood up and looked at everyone present.

"They don't even need to fight, but they must at least prove to us that they are worth taking in our alliance. Having one more ally can be beneficial to us in the long-term when fighting against 'him.'"

"I too agree."

Another dwarf stood up.

"Me too."

Then, one by one, everyone in the room slowly started to agree with the idea.

It wasn't long before everyone in the hall agreed.

Staring at the scene with a satisfied look, Gervis clapped his hands once.

"Okay, since all of you seem to agree, I'll tell you all now that in four months' time, the conference will begin. It will be held in the elven domain."

Chapter 372: The Conference [2]

Bang—! Bang—!

The sound of small shockwaves resounded as circular pressurized wind gales pushed outwards from the point of contact between a fist and a punching bag.

"Haa!"

Letting out a cry, drawing a beautiful arc in the air, the instep of his foot collided against the punching bag.

Bang—!

This time, a louder sound resounded as an even more powerful shockwave swept through the private training grounds.

Thump—!

Following the kick, the punching bag fell onto the floor as a large tear appeared by the side of its body. Black sand spilled out from it.

Lowering his head and staring at the punching bag below him, Jin's breathing was a bit rough.

Having spent the most part of the afternoon training, he was understandably tired.

"Thank you."

Grabbing onto a towel that a servant girl offered, Jin thanked her. Then, putting it on his face, he wiped the sweat that had accumulated on his face.

It was only after Jin was done drying up that the servant lady finally spoke up. Her tone was extremely respectful.

"Young Master, the items you requested have arrived."

"Oh?"

Jin raised his brow and stared at the servant lady. Wearing a black suit and having long blonde hair that perfectly complemented her emerald-colored eyes, she looked very beautiful. But of course, Jin wasn't in the least bit interested in her beauty.

Without saying anything, he handed the towel back and headed for his office space.

Sure enough, sitting on his desk was a large box. Walking towards the box and carefully opening it, Jin took out a pair of clean daggers.

On closer inspection, one would discover faint lines that spread throughout the set of daggers. These lines gave out a strange feeling as the mana in the air trembled slightly at its presence.

The grip of the dagger felt rather rough, but it was to ensure a proper hold. On the other hand, the main body of the dagger was extremely sharp. Just from a casual glance, Jin could tell that the daggers were extremely well-crafted.

"This should be of good use to me."

Jin nodded in satisfaction before putting the daggers away.

Ci- Clank—!

Right as he put the daggers away, the same servant lady from before entered his office space.

Bowing down slightly, she quietly stood by the side, without saying anything.

Used to such a scene, Jin didn't say anything and sat down on his desk.

Tapping onto its surface, a series of holographic images materialized before him.

Briefly looking at them for a moment, Jin turned his attention back to the servant lady and asked in a neutral tone, "If I don't recall incorrectly, you said that the Union is about to make a big announcement in the following month?"

"That is correct." The servant lady replied in a monotonous tone and proceeded to take something out from her pocket. It turned out to be a small white envelope, which she promptly handed to Jin.

"What's this?" Jin asked as he took the envelope from her hands. He sounded slightly curious.

Tearing the seal, Jin took out the letter inside the envelope and read through its contents.

"An invitation from the Union?"

"That is correct. In the wishes of the guild master, you are to participate with him in the event," the servant lady replied from the side.

"I see."

Jin tapped his fingers on the table, unsure of what to make of the invitation.

It was no secret at this point that something huge was about to happen, but everyone was still in the dark.

He had tried asking Kevin, who was now working at the Union, for information, but even he had no idea about what was going on.

Staring at Jin, who was in deep contemplation, the servant lady patiently waited for him.

It was only after she saw his brows relax that she finally spoke up.

"Young master, there is another thing that I would like to brief you upon."

"What is it?" Jin said as he casually glanced at the lady.

"Amanda from the Demon Hunter guild has tried to get in contact with you. What would you like me to do?"

"Amanda?"

A surprised looked flashed on Jin's face. Then, his brows knit tightly as he quietly muttered, "She must be trying to talk to me about that matter…"

He already had an idea of what Amanda wanted to talk about.

During the past year that he had spent in the guild, there was only one thing that had been annoying him to no end.

The emergence of demon pills. A pill that essentially acted like a devil fruit and boosted the power of whoever consumed it.

It was essentially like steroids, but much worse. The individuals who consumed the pill would be exposed to demonic energy, forcing them to crave more of it.

It was a drug that spread throughout the whole human domain this last year, and essentially forced the Union and Central government to act upon it as the consequences of the pill were enormous.

He didn't know much about it before as he was still in the academy, but after graduating from the academy three months back, and joining the ranks of his guild, he had a firm idea about what was going on.

Lifting his head up, Jin tapped on the holographic device in front of him.

Then, swiping a couple of times, he gently pressed on a certain profile and called Amanda.

Right before calling her, turning his attention back towards his attendant, he glanced at the door.

"Would you please?"

"As you wish."

Understanding the meaning of his words, the lady bowed slightly before leaving the room.

Even though she had been working for the Horton family for over a decade, she still understood that there were some things that someone of her rank couldn't listen to.

Ci- Clank—!

It was only after she left the room that Jin turned his attention back towards the holographic device and finally called Amanda.

***

"How many does that make?"

A crisp and melodious voice sounded at the top of a wide rooftop.

The veil of the moonlight sprinkled down on her fair and pretty face, making her look especially attractive.

With her eyes locked onto the building in front, her delicate brows knit into a tight frown.

"That's the third one we've found in the past month, young miss."

A solemn voice replied from behind the girl. He was Maxwell, Amanda's servant.

"They have become more and more rampant over the last year. All the other guilds have also tried shutting as many facilities down as possible, but as soon as one is destroyed, a new one is built."

"That is quite troublesome," the girl, Amanda, replied. Then, extending her hand forward, a bow appeared in her grasp.

A thick and powerful wave of mana suddenly sprang out from Amanda's body as the sound of the bow string being stretched echoed in the surrounding area.

Following which, a translucent arrow materialized in-between her fingers.

Closing one of her eyes, Amanda aimed her bow at the warehouse in the distance.

She was about a kilometer away from the warehouse, and it was deep into the night, but Amanda had no trouble staring at the building as her eyes locked tightly on a particular window.

Before releasing the string, she softly asked, "Have you evacuated all the residents and people nearby?"

"Yes. There will be no innocent victims."

"Okay."

At Maxwell's confirmation, she finally released the bowstring.

Kacha!

With the sound that was reminiscent of that of a thunderclap, the arrow suddenly disappeared into the quiet night.

Xiu!

A faint and muffled projectile-like sound reverberated through the air as a blue translucent streak of light headed towards the warehouse in the distance.

It didn't take long for the arrow to arrive at the warehouse. It reached the place in a matter of seconds.

Then, without missing an inch, the arrow broke through the window with a crash, and what followed after was a tremendous explosion that shook the surroundings.

BOOOOM—!

A mushroom cloud sprung up in the air as the warehouse was obliterated into nothingness.

Lowering her hand holding onto the bow, Amanda quietly stared at the scene from afar.

Before long, the shockwaves that originated from the explosion swept past her, and her clothes and hair fluttered slightly.

"You have improved quite a lot, young miss."

Maxwell complemented from the side as he stared at the remains of the warehouse in the distance.

"Check if there are any survivors," Amanda said, her eyes still locked on the building in the distance.

"Will do."

Maxwell's words echoed through the rooftop as he disappeared from the spot he was standing.

Finally relaxing her brows, Amanda closed her eyes and tried to recuperate the mana she lost.

Vrrr— Vrrr—

But before she could even do that, she felt her phone vibrate.

Letting out a sigh, Amanda took out her phone and checked the caller ID. It was Jin.

'Jin?'

She was a bit surprised by the fact that Jin had called her at this hour, but she nevertheless answered.

She had, in fact, been trying to reach him for quite a bit, but he had always been busy handling guild matters that he barely had any time to answer her calls.

The moment she answered, Jin's voice reached her ears.

—Am I disturbing you?

"No." Amanda replied as the sound of sirens and the raging fire sounded in the background.

—Hm? I can hear something in the background? Did you perhaps just partake in the destruction of another trade spot?

"I did."

—How many does that make this month for you?

"Three," replying to Jin, Amanda's answers were short and concise.

—I've heard that you've been trying to reach me. What do you need?

Turning her head to face the building in the distance, her black, obsidian pupils directly reflected the raging fire that came out from the warehouse in the distance.

"I want to cooperate with Starlight Guild."

Her voice was faint, but one could feel the resoluteness in it.

"We're short of hands right now, and we can't take care of all of the trade points. If we cooperate together, we can spare our forces and save time."

Her words contained some truths and falsehoods.

Them cooperating together would indeed save them both of them some time but at the same time, the reason why Amanda was short of force was because of a different reason.

Jin had an idea, but he didn't say anything about it.

—That's a tempting offer.

Jin's voice remained calm despite what he said.

His next reply came after taking a few seconds to deliberate over Amanda's offer.

—Taking care of the trading points has been quite an annoying problem for us. If not for the bounties offered by the central government, we wouldn't have even bothered with it.

"That's why I'm offering to collaborate," Amanda spoke bluntly, her bow disappearing from her hand.

"Are you in or not?"

—Give me time.

"How much?"

A short pause lingered before Jin replied back.

—I'll give you an answer during the Union's big announcement next week. I'm sure you've gotten the invitation, right?

"I have."

As one of the representatives of the Demon Hunter guild, Amanda had indeed received an invitation from the Union about an important announcement.

Her position in the guild wasn't actually that high as the elders mostly took care of the important stuff, but once the invitation came, they all insisted that she wanted in their stead.

That aside, she did try asking Kevin what it was all about, but he didn't know.

In hindsight, Kevin was only still a recruit, so it was understandable as to why he didn't know anything.

—I'll have an answer for you by then.

'Okay."

After Amanda's response, Jin ended the call.

As soon as Jin ended the call, Amanda lowered her hand and put her phone away.

Then, taking a step forward, she jumped down the rooftop.

Chapter 373: The Conference [3]

News about the Union's upcoming announcement spread like wildfire throughout the whole human domain.

It was the first time in a long time that the Union declared such an event.

'An event that will completely change the fate of humanity.'

Was what the Union proclaimed when announcing the event.

All TV broadcasts and news stations were called up to stream the event so that everyone in the world could see what exactly the Union was planning on announcing.

Judging from the scale of the event and the Union's words, everyone in the human domain paid close attention to the date of the ceremony as they eagerly anticipated the announcement.

Of course, not everyone was happy with the news, such as the Monolith, but they could do nothing about it.

Having signed a ceasefire agreement that would still last for a bit, they could only watch the events unfold.

Of course, they already knew what it was about since the demons were aware of what was going on.

Since the announcement happened, a week had passed and it was now the day of the event.

"Let me in."

"I've got an invitation, look here."

"Don't cut in line."

A bustling crowd stood below the entrance of the Union as reporters swarmed the place.

"Please stay in a single line."

Helplessly staring at the crowd that was trying to get into the premises, wearing a black tuxedo, Kevin tried to keep their huge numbers in check.

Although he was invited to attend the ceremony, he was still a rookie. He needed to wait by the door and check all of the invitations before he could actually attend the ceremony.

"It's the Starlight guild!"

It was right then, that too out of nowhere, the busy crowd split apart and paved the way for a handsome youth with blonde hair and emerald-colored eyes.

With respect and solemnity, everyone watched as Jin slowly made his way toward the entrance of the ceremony area.

"Here."

There were around fifteen attendants, but out of the fifteen of them, Jin chose to head towards Kevin's side.

As he handed him the letter, the edges of his lips curled upwards a little.

This obviously did not go unnoticed by Kevin, who forced himself to smile with all his might.

"Jin Horton, is it?"

He said, trying his best to keep his formalities. But that obviously didn't last for long as Jin raised his brow and pointed at the invitation, where the words 'Jin Horton' were imprinted.

"You blind or something?"

Kevin's face instantly crumbled apart.

"Yo—"

"I guess we're done here."

But just as Kevin was about to say something, snatching the letter from his hands, Jin calmly walked into the venue.

Turning his head and staring at Jin's figure from behind, Kevin's chest heaved up and down unevenly.

For a moment, he was about to lose it.

"Here."

But not even a moment after Jin left, a crisp voice sounded from behind him.

"Amanda?"

Turning around, he immediately recognized the identity of the person. It was none other than Amanda.

At that moment, the light from the top of the building shifted towards her. Faint particles danced within the light, giving a sparkle to Amanda's face.

Her long eyelashes gently fluttered as her black hair cascaded down her shoulders, towards the back of her black dress that seemed to sparkle underneath the light.

She, just like Jin, attracted the attention of everyone present. And just like him, she attracted attention for both her status and looks.

"Here you go."

She was a lot kinder compared to Jin, as she calmly handed Kevin the invitation. Throwing Amanda a grateful look, Kevin checked her invitation before letting her in.

"You may go."

"Thank you."

Taking the invitation back, Amanda's figure slowly disappeared into the building. It was only after she entered that the people waiting outside of the building once again riled up and chaos ensued.

"Here you go, this is my letter."

"I was first."

"Wait guys, please calm down."

Kevin's brief moment of peace ended as fast as it came, as he, alongside the other attendants, had a difficult time trying to calm the raging crowd.

But just as things were about to turn for the worst, a delicate hand touched him on the shoulder. Following this, an airy and crisp voice sounded from behind his ear, startling him.

"Do you need help?"

"Miss Donna?"

Familiar with the voice, Kevin instantly recognized her, his face lighting up in surprise.

Turning his head, he caught a glimpse of her standing behind him. Wearing a dark-purple dress that perfectly outlined the curves of her body, Donna didn't need a moment to attract the attention of every male present.

Next to her was Monica, who had dark circles underneath her eyes. Wearing a red dress that perfectly complimented her hair, Monica also looked beautiful.

Staring at Kevin with her beautiful amethyst-colored eyes, Donna's lips curled.

"You're no longer my student. You shouldn't be referring to me with the word miss anymore."

"Ah, that's right."

With a wry smile, Kevin scratched the back of his head.

Turning her head to face the direction of the people, Donna's delicate brows knit into a frown.

"It looks like things are out of control. Let me lend you a hand."

Her eyes suddenly shined, and everyone present froze on the spot.

"Please form a single line and calmly hand in your invitation without making a mess."

Her gentle voice traveled through the ears of everyone present. Be it, man or woman, all of them looked at Donna in a trance as they nodded their heads in affirmation.

"Great."

With a smile on her face, Donna tapped Kevin on the shoulder before turning around.

"I'll see you at the event."

Then, with Monica next to her, the two entered the venue.

Following this, much to Kevin's joy, the line was a lot more controlled as everyone calmly handed their tickets. It wasn't long before the line slowly diminished and the time for the event began to near.

"Here you go, have a pleasant night."

Sending back the last person, Kevin finally sighed in relief.

'Too bad Emma can't come.'

With the whole situation happening back at her home, Emma couldn't come for obvious reasons. But, she was much more relaxed now, thankfully.

With the fact that her father was now alive, she was no longer worried about her family situation.

'I think her uncle is here?'

Now that he thought about it, her uncle was probably going to be attending the event today.

He needed to take a good look at him, for one of the reasons why he joined the Union was to set him back in his place.

"Alright."

Fixing his clothes, Kevin looked around one last time to make sure that no one else was present before heading back in and closing the door behind him.

It was time for the ceremony to begin.

***

Bright white lights enveloped a large hall, where multiple figures, all wearing expensive dresses, walked around, observing and reveling in the ambiance.

Some held onto small, thin wine cups and would take a sip of their drinks from time to time.

Every single person present in the hall was someone with a large background. They were akin to celebrities to the outside world.

"So, have you come up with a decision?"

Standing opposite each other, holding onto a glass filled with champagne, were Amanda and Jin.

"Hmm…"

Taking a small sip of his drink, Jin wordlessly stared at Amanda. His eyes were composed, and no ounce of desire was hidden within them. One couldn't guess his thoughts easily.

It was clear that he was just trying to gauge her mind.

Amanda too was looking back at him as the two stared at each other for a good couple of seconds. With the both of them being the future representatives of the number one ranked guild and the second-ranked guild respectively, they had to gauge each other properly in order to best benefit their respective guilds.

They were no longer fellow students like in the past. At the moment, all they had to think about was the interest of their guild.

Finally, putting the glass down, Jin opened his mouth.

"Sixty-forty. No negotiations."

He only said two words, but Amanda, who was standing opposite him, instantly understood the meaning behind them.

Placing her cup down, Amanda's face remained indifferent, preventing Jin from reading her expression.

"You want sixty percent of the rewards?"

"That's exactly what I said," Jin casually replied.

"I've thought about it. Although it will be a hassle, we don't need to work together with you guys. I think it's only fair that we take a little bit more, else the costs just wouldn't match our losses." He added, taking a sip of his drink.

"…"

Listening to Jin's words and staring at him for a good couple of seconds, Amanda's eyes squinted lightly.

"No negotiations?"

"No negotiations."

Brushing her hair behind her ear, Amanda's eyelashes fluttered briefly, before eventually, she nodded her head.

"I can agree to that."

"Oh?"

Not expecting Amanda to agree so readily, Jin raised his brow.

"Did you just agree?"

"I did."

"I see…"

Normally, Jin would've been happy with this development as he had gotten exactly what he wanted, but he felt that something was off.

"Well, fine. Since you've agreed, I can't say much else."

In the end, he shrugged his shoulders and went along with it.

Reading Amanda's expression was impossible. Since this deal ended up benefitting him and his guild, it was something worth celebrating anyway.

"I guess we should set up an appointment later after this event to sign the agreement."

"Okay." Amanda expressionlessly nodded.

Secretly, however, she was smiling.

From the very beginning, she had expected this sort of 'unfavorable' deal. In the first place, her goal wasn't money, but the workforce.

Because most of her members were busy dealing with the demon pill incident, the available heroes that she had was low.

For a guild of her size, it was unacceptable. This was why she readily agreed to Jin's terms.

It may seem unfavorable, but in reality, not long ago, she received word that Melissa's magic card system was ready to be launched. And owning a small portion of the profit, Amanda knew that the 10% she lost from Jin was worth nothing.

As long as the magic card system was launched in the market, she could quickly make up for the loss.

In the end, this was a win-win situation for both Jin and her.

Taking another drink from one of the waiters in attendance, raising his glass towards Amanda, Jin looked at her.

"I guess that settles it, we can—"

"Attention."

But before he could finish his sentence, cutting him off suddenly, a soft voice echoed throughout the hall. The voice was neither loud nor overbearing, but the moment it sounded, almost everyone in the hall quietened down.

Turning their attention towards the center of the stage, they spotted a tall man with masculine features, broad shoulders, a black suit, and blonde hair that was neatly pulled back. Faint lightning bolts crackled around his body as he imposingly stood in the middle of the stage. His entire presence overwhelmed most of the people present.

He was none other than Maximus Von Dexteroi, one of the seven heads of the Union and the Number 3 in the hero ranking.

"Cough…"

Coughing to get everyone's attention, Maximus's eyes scanned the whole venue before he slowly opened his mouth.

"I'm very happy that many of you were able to come to today's event."

As he spoke, all of the cameras pointed toward his direction as everyone paid close attention to his words.

"As you've all been told beforehand, today, we will be making a huge announcement."

Pausing, Maximus looked toward one of the cameras.

"An announcement that will shake the foundations of the human domain."

Chapter 374: The Conference [4]

"An announcement that will shake the foundations of the human domain."

Maximus's words thunderously rang through every corner of the venue as the hearts of everyone witnessing the scene started beating faster.

Be it the people attending or those watching from whatever means that had, everyone's eyes were glued on Maximus in the middle of the hall.

With all the attention focused on him, Maximus's composure remained firm.

Then, opening his mouth, he finally made his announcement.

"We've just received news that in a month from now, the three other races have decided to host a conference in the elven domain to discuss whether humanity will be able to join their alliance..."

Silence.

Absolute silence enshrouded the hall and the whole human domain. Everyone, from the people present in the hall or watching outside, opened their eyes widely as Maximus's words repeatedly rang through their ears.

The silence did not last for long, however, as all the reporters simultaneously stood up and the flashes coming from the cameras repeatedly flashed across the stage.

"Your excellency Maximus, are your words true?"

"Will humanity finally join hands with the other races?"

"What is the so-called event that will happen in a month's time? Any more details on that?"

The questions were endless, and it wasn't only the reporters that asked the questions as the people that were invited also started to ask questions, not caring about their statuses.

The Union wasn't kidding when they said that this was a huge announcement.

Everyone was prepared to hear something outrageous, but this was beyond their expectations.

It had to be noted that ever since the three races entered the earth, they had never tried to associate with humanity.

But out of nowhere they suddenly wanted to join hands with humanity?

This was mind-blowing.

Just imaginining the technology and trades that they could make with the other races once they allied together made everyone realize that humanity was soon going to face a new era of prosperity.

It made them all excited!

'So he's already announced it?'

Staring at the scene from behind, Kevin leaned on one of the tables and took a sip of his drink.

He of course knew of the event before anyone present.

However, it wasn't the Union that told him, but it was in actual fact, the red book.

With him being able to see what Ren was up to, he of course knew what was going on. In fact, he knew even before the Union did.

This was why he refused to tell the others about it. After all, only he knew the secret of the book.

'Now that I think about it, it's been a while since I last checked the book…'

About half a year or so.

Since Ren was doing fine and spending most of his time training, Kevin no longer felt the need to check the book.

He too had been training like crazy during this past year, and he wanted to see for himself just how much Ren had improved.

Since they were going to reunite soon, he didn't want to be spoiled too much.

A competitive flame ignited in his eyes as his thoughts paused there.

After all, he was planning on having a good spar when they would once again meet. If possible, he wanted to give him a good beating too.

The amount of crap Ren said the last time he checked the book pissed Kevin off quite a bit.

"Everyone please quiet down."

Disrupting Kevin out of his thoughts was Maximus's voice.

Following this, a terrifying pressure enveloped the entire hall, instantly shutting down the mouths of all the people present.

"Thank you."

Once everyone stopped talking, relaxing his shoulders, Maximus continued.

"I know that all of you have a lot of questions to ask, but I would like for all of you to please calm down and let me continue talking. I've only said a small part of what I wanted to say."

His words seemed polite and the way he worded them made it seem as though he was asking a favor from the audience, but the commanding tone could not be hidden from the people present who nodded their heads in obedience.

"Good."

Taking a step forward, Maximus continued his announcement.

"As I was saying, the three other races have agreed to host us in the elven domain with the scope of deciding whether we are eligible for joining their alliance or not. They had one request when telling us to come, and that was to show them why they should allow us to take them into the alliance."

Pausing, Maximus's eyes scanned the audience like a hawk.

"In simple terms, they are asking us to prove ourselves...our worth."

Like a bucket of cold water had been poured on the heads of everyone present, everyone cooled down from their previous excitement and heavy tension enshrouded the hall.

"What exactly are they trying to have us prove? That we can fight?…or something else?"

Someone spoke amidst the tension. He was a reporter from a famous news agency.

Turning his attention towards the reporter, Maximus nodded his head.

"They have asked us to display to them the abilities of our top-ranked people as well as the younger generation."

Once again scanning the room with his eyes, Maximus's eyes paused on a few individuals within the hall.

Before long, his eyes paused on Kevin that was standing at the back of the hall.

Being stared at by Maximus from the distance, Kevin suddenly felt an electric shock course through his body, jolting him into shock.

'Strong...'

He inwardly muttered.

It was only a stare, but Kevin could feel just how big the gap between Maximus was.

With a faint satisfied smile on his face, Maximus turned his attention back towards the hall.

"It's like when choosing an investment. We need to convince the other races that we are worth investing in...prove to them that were are not dead weight. We don't want to be treated as cannon fodder now do we?"

Silence once again descended in the hall as complicated looks flashed across the faces of some of the people present.

It was never pleasant to hear that they were being treated as mere objects that were being tested to see if they were worth the investment or not.

But they also knew just how important this opportunity was for them.

It wasn't long before the frown of some of the people present started to recede.

Then, another person asked decided to speak up.

"How many people can we bring?"

"Good question."

Tapping onto a small device in his ear, Maximus opened his palm and raised it.

"Five?"

Instantly, confusion spread throughout the hall as they looked at Maximus's raised palm.

Shaking his head, Maximus replied.

"Five hundred. We are to bring five hundred people maximum. We've tried to ask for more, but the elves aren't too keen on letting too many of us in."

The noises in the hall once again quieted down as they all understood the implication behind his words.

Even though they were being granted a chance, with only five hundred people present, they were going to be at the mercy of the other races.

If they did anything to piss them off, they could find themselves annihilated.

"How are the members selected?"

Another reporter asked. He was from A.I.S.R, another famous news agency.

His question instantly drew the attention of the people present as they were all interested in the answer.

After all, many wanted to participate in the event. This was a chance for them to represent humanity.

If they managed to perform well, they would without a doubt bring a lot of prestige and honor to their names.

Everyone in the hall shared these same thoughts as all eyes focused on Maximus, waiting for his reply.

Clearly experienced in reading expressions, Maximus knew exactly what they were thinking and once again poured cold water on the heads of some of the people present.

"Four hundred of the five hundred members have already been selected."

"What!?"

Once again the hall became nosy as some people expressed how unfair this was to the others. But it was clear that Maximus did not care about their opinion at all as he continued.

"I don't care if you think this is unfair, but the four hundred people that we've selected have already proven to us that they are the top elites of humanity."

Raising his hand and lowering it down, Maximus gestured for everyone present to shut up.

"Don't worry, as I've said before, of the five hundred, there are still one hundred spots that are open for people to enter."

"And how do we access them?"

This time, instead of it being a reporter asking the question, it was actually one of the guests present in the hall.

Turning to face the guest, Maximus replied.

"It's simple, we've set up a small tournament that will take place for the next month or so. Just before the conference will start. The top one hundred contestants of the tournament will get the chance to participate in the conference."

Maximus's words sounded throughout every speaker in the world as many of those that were interested in joining finally saw hope.

Letting his words sink in for a good minute, Maximus adjusted his tie slightly.

"Now, I think that's enough for the announcements."

Straightening his blazer, he waved his hand and made his way toward the stairs that led to the bottom of the stage.

"Oh right."

But just as he took a couple of steps away from the mike, recalling something, he turned to face the mike once again.

"I almost forgot. For those four hundred people that have been selected, you will soon receive a message on your devices telling you about participation, but I want you guys to keep something in mind..."

Midway through, Maximus's face suddenly turned solemn.

With his eyes locked on everyone in the hall, his deep and powerful voice resounded throughout the whole venue, shaking it slightly.

"If you're selected, you are not allowed to refuse. You are here to represent humanity. Your refusal will be treated the same as treason."

A cold chill ran through the spine of some of the people present as they felt the slight killing intent hidden behind his words. Some of the reporters who were only regular humans even fainted at his words.

But Maximus's words were clear.

If they were selected and refused, they would become criminals.

Letting that thought sink in, everyone drew a cold breath.

"I'm glad everyone has understood the severity of the situation."

Nodding in satisfaction, Maximus finally left the stage.

Vrrr— Vrrr—

Not even a second after he left the stage, the smartwatches, and phones of some of the people present started vibrating one by one.

Vrr— Vrr—

It wasn't long before the hall was enveloped by continuous buzzing sounds.

'I guess this was inevitable…'

Kevin too felt the vibration as he took out his phone and looked at the foremost notification on his watch.

To : Kevin Voss

Congratulations, you have been selected as one of the participants for the events that will decide the fate of humanity. This message is confirmation of your participation. You will receive a follow-up message soon.

"Haaa…"

Reading through the message, Kevin let out a long sigh.

'At least this will save me a bit of time.'

He had always intended to participate, so he was quite glad that he didn't have to participate in the tournament that was going to happen soon.

Lifting his head up and staring at the hall, Kevin soon noticed a couple of familiar figures also checking on their phone.

'Oh, looks like Jin and Amanda also got an invitation.'

***

Inside a large mansion, laying down on a brown leather sofa and eating a bunch of grapes, a youth casually looked at the TV.

"I'm glad everyone has understood the severity of the situation…"

Maximus's voice rang from the speaker of the TV.

Vrr— Vrr—

And right as Maximus's words faded, the youth's wrist vibrated.

Turning his wrist slightly, a smirk appeared on the youth's face as he muttered.

"As expected. They aren't blind."

To : Aaron Rhinestone.

Congratulations, you have been selected as one of the participants for the events that will decide the fate of humanity. This message is confirmation of your participation. You will receive a follow-up message soon.

A chuckle escaped Aaron's mouth as he looked at the message.

***

[Roshfield household.]

Laying down on her soft bed, Emma blankly stared at her phone, watching the live stream of the event from her room.

Although she wanted to attend the event, the only one that was invited from her family was her uncle and as such was unable to do anything about the situation.

Squinting her eyes to get a better look at the event, she tried to look for Kevin, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't find him.

Eventually, Maximus started to speak and her attention was drawn to his words.

"Conference? Elven domain?"

The more she heard, the more the confusion on her face grew.

Vrr— Vrr—

And before she knew it, her phone vibrated. Then, a message suddenly appeared.

To : Emma Roshfield.

Congratulations, you have been selected as one of the participants for the events that will decide the fate of humanity. This message is confirmation of your participation. You will receive a follow-up message soon.

"Huh? I was invited?"

Similar scenes appeared all over the human domain as more and more people received the same messages.

On this day, the whole of humanity had a sleepless night.

Chapter 375: The Conference [5]

A day after the shocking announcement made by the Union, a bustling atmosphere filled the whole human domain as everyone went to their local Union branch and signed up for the upcoming tournament that was going to be held in two days.

Everyone, be it young or old, wanted to participate. Some were a bit hesitant about joining when they heard that they couldn't leave, but the Union suddenly released another piece of news which assuaged everyone's fears.

Whoever participated in the conference and performed well would be able to join the Union as an honorary member. Not just that, they got to enjoy the benefits of being part of the Union without actually being tied down with it.

It was then that those who were initially reluctant no longer hesitated and signed up for the tournament.

"So you've also got invited."

Standing below one of the Union branches, basking beneath the warm sunlight, was Kevin.

With the gentle sunlight enveloping his features, his crimson eyes shined brightly, making him look especially handsome.

Wooosh—

Suddenly, a nice breeze brushed past his body, freshening his mind.

"Congratulations."

At the moment, he was talking to someone on the phone. The person was none other than Emma, who shared the news about her invitation to Kevin. Albeit a bit late, she had her reasons for not telling sooner.

Naturally, Kevin understood why and didn't say much else.

—Yeah. I think most of the high rankers of the Lock got an invitation to the Conference. Amanda, Jin, Han Yufei, Troy, you, and some other names that I don't really remember. Apart from that, I heard they summoned most of the ranked heroes. Not all, though. Some were forced to stay behind.

"Well, it's understandable. Imagine what would happen if all heroes left the human domain at the same time to attend the conference. All hell would break loose here."

Even though the Monolith and the Union had signed an agreement, at the end of the day, that was only applicable to them.

If the demons chose to invade the human domain, humanity would be rendered helpless. As such, the decision to only bring five hundred individuals was the best one.

Not that they had a choice anyway.

—Hmm… Say, what are you doing right now?

"What am I doing?"

Lifting his head up and staring at the tall skyscraper, Kevin shrugged.

"Well, I'm about to leave for the elven domain."

—Already?

Emma's voice raised a few pitches. She sounded surprised by the sudden development.

"Well, we are not technologically advanced enough to teleport five hundred people at the same time, so the Union decided to send people in batches of ten, and I happen to be part of the second batch that is being sent."

—I see.

Emma sounded a bit concerned at first, but after hearing Kevin's words, her voice softened up a little bit.

—Okay, I'll be seeing you soon anyways. Since I'm part of the people invited, they are bound to take me to the tournament venue.

"They sure…huh?"

Midway through his sentence, Kevin suddenly felt a powerful wave of mana coming from the building behind him.

Turning around, his eyes squinted.

"…Looks like something is happening."

Vrr— Vrr—

Not even a couple of seconds after he said those words, his watch suddenly started to vibrate.

Lowering his head, Kevin turned his wrist and checked his watch.

[Kevin, get back here right now. The portal is almost ready.]

Seeing the message, Kevin knew that it was time for him to hang up.

"Sorry, Emma. I need to go right now or I'll be late. Once again, talk to you later."

—Wait, don't your da—

But before Emma could voice out any more complaints, Kevin had already hung up the phone.

'Sorry Emma, but I really need to go.'

Fixing his clothes and making sure that he looked presentable, Kevin entered the building through the glass door entrance.

Wooosh—

Upon entering the building, a strong wind brushed past Kevin as his hair and clothes fluttered wildly, almost as though he was in the middle of a strong storm.

The cause of this phenomenon was a strange black metallic frame that stood in the middle of the room. A huge gap appeared in the middle of the square frame.

'That should be the portal.'

Halting in his steps, Kevin got a better look at the portal in the distance.

With technology gradually advancing, portals, which used to be very rare, were now a common thing in Ashton city. And thanks to what the Union did, humanity now had access to the technology that finally enabled them to fully develop portals.

Standing a few meters away from the portal, Kevin could vividly see thick residual threads of mana encircling the air before forming a swirl in the middle of the metallic frame.

And as more and more mana threads swirled around it, something strange suddenly happened.

The spiraling mana in the middle of the metallic frame suddenly started to pulsate, and before long, it slowly and steadily started to expand, creating a strange translucent purple veil that covered all parts of the squared portal. The veil itself was thin, but it held a mystical feel to it.

"Kevin, get in your position."

Spotting Kevin who had just entered the premises of the building, wearing a Union uniform, a tall middle-aged man pointed towards a certain area.

"It's too dangerous where you're standing, head to your designated position."

Straightening his back, Kevin flatly replied, "Yes, section chief."

Then, without saying another word, Kevin walked toward the designated area.

The man who had just talked to Kevin was Mike Rotondo, and he was Kevin's direct superior at the Union.

Having worked with each other for over a couple of months, they were quite familiar with each other, hence why when Kevin was ordered by him he immediately got to his position.

'I wonder how much longer till the portal functions.'

Standing in position, Kevin's eyes locked onto the strange-looking device in the distance.

His heart was beating faster than before due to the uncontrollable excitement he felt about going to the elven domain.

It had to be noted that this was a place that only a few humans had ever stepped foot inside, so no one knew exactly how the place was.

He wasn't the only one that was nervous, as beside him were nine other individuals all wearing similar attire, staring at the portal in front of them.

They, alongside Kevin, were all waiting for the moment when the portal would activate.

"It's done."

Fortunately, the wait didn't last for long. A joyful voice sounded throughout the place as an old man with a hunched back and a lab coat looked at the device with undeniable excitement.

"I can't believe we finally managed to get access to long-distance portals. It's truly marvelous," he shouted in joy.

Walking around the portal and tracing his finger on its metallic frame, the old scientist circled the portal more than five times before he finally stopped.

Turning around and staring at the people present, his eyes narrowed into slits.

Locking his eyes with the person that Kevin referred to as 'section chief', the old scientist pointed toward the portal and raised his voice.

"As I promised to the Union, the portal is now ready to teleport the candidates to the elven domain. I've already set the coordinates. All you need to do is go inside. Go one at a time, and be careful of the side effects as they are strong."

"Thank you for your services." The section chief replied, staring at the portal in awe.

"Alright, alright."

Waving it off, the old man glanced at the portal one more time before leaving.

"This is all the thanks I get after doing all of this work…" He silently muttered as he left.

Pretending to have not heard him, the section chief turned to face Kevin.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes, I'm ready."

Then he turned towards the others and asked the same question. They too responded like Kevin.

"Okay, the coordinates have been set to the elven domain. There should be a few human representatives there already. By the time you arrive, they should be waiting for you at the other side."

Turning to look towards the right hand of every member present, where a black ring rested, the section chief asked, "Have you made sure to pack all your necessities?"

"Yes sir!"

Everyone replied at the same time.

Satisfied by the answer, the section chief took a step to the side.

"Good. Now get into the portal and do our race proud."

Once he finished those words, one by one, the representatives slowly started to enter the portal.

'This is it…'

Taking a step forward while waiting for his turn, Kevin took a deep breath to calm his heart.

'The moment I step into the portal, I will no longer be in the human domain.'

It had been a while since Kevin had been out of the human domain, in such an unfamiliar environment. He was obviously a bit nervous.

"It's your turn, Kevin!"

"Got it."

But that nervousness didn't last for long for it was soon his turn. Taking a step forward, into the translucent purple veil, Kevin's figure slowly started to disappear.

It wasn't long before his whole figure completely disappeared.

Standing behind the portal to make sure that everyone had entered, once he could no longer see Kevin, taking out his phone, the section chief reported.

"I've sent the second batch already… No, there were no problems."

***

A raging fire burned, and in the midst of the raging fire was a long, slim piece of metal. Its color had turned black, due to cooling down.

Using two metal pliers to grab onto the long piece, Malvil dropped it on an anvil and raised his hammer.

Clank— Clank—

The repetitive sound of the metal being hammered rang throughout the room. With each hit, a soft metallic ring would linger in the air for a couple of seconds before it was replaced by a new one.

Clank— Clank—

Hammering the metal two more times, and then wiping the sweat that had accumulated on his forehead, Malvil put the metal back into the furnace, waiting for it to become red-colored again.

Then, for the next couple of hours, he repeated the same process again.

"The frame is done…"

Finally, after who knew how long, Malvil turned off the furnace and stared at his anvil where the frame of a sword rested. Black steam slowly rose in the air.

Wiping his hands over his apron, Malvil called out to his disciple.

"Oy, little twerp, tell that useless human to come here."

Putting the hammer down, Malvil's disciple turned to face Malvil and bluntly said, "He's not here."

"No shit he's not here. That's why I told you to go get him."

"No, I mean, he's currently out of Henolur. He said that he'll be gone for a week or something."

Malvil's eyes faintly shivered.

"A week? What is he going to do for a week outside of Henolur?"

"I don't know." His disciple replied while helplessly shrugging his shoulders.

He really didn't know.

Ren, alongside the other humans, just told him that they wouldn't be in Henlour for a week. In fact, Malvil was there when he said those words, but he was too busy doing his own things to properly listen.

"How long ago was that?"

"About three days ago? They should be here in four more days."

Staring at the frame of the sword on his anvil that was still releasing smoke, Malvil let out a curse.

"Ah, fuck. This is annoying."

Taking off his apron, he threw it to the side and left the room.

As he was leaving, his loud voice echoed throughout the workspace.

"Well whatever, I'm done with the frame anyways. All that's left is for that useless human to come here to check the weight. Imma go get some sleep, call me once he comes back."

Chapter 376: Heading to the Conference [1]

===Status===

Name : Ren Dover

Rank : B

Strength : B

Agility : B +

Stamina : B -

Intelligence : B

Mana capacity : B -

Luck : A +

Charm : C +

--> Profession :

[Swordsmanship lvl.4]

The degree of understanding of the sword has evolved to the next level. User will find it easier to understand previously harder concepts.

--> Martial Manual :

[★★★★★ Keiki style] - Essence realm of mastery.

Sword art created by Grandmaster Toshimoto Keiki. A five-star module focused primarily on reaching the apex of swordsmanship and speed. Upon mastery, the sword art becomes so fast that before an opponent could even think about their next move, their heads would already be rolling on the ground.

[★★★ Ring of vindication] - Essence realm of mastery.

Highly advanced sword art that creates a perfect ring of defense around the user. The ring can create a three-dimensional sphere that protects the user from all sides upon mastery. Because of the lack of offensive capabilities, the manual was graded three stars.

[★★★ Drifting steps] - Greater realm of mastery.

Movement art that progresses with each step. With every step taken, user speed will increase. Unless the user stops, speed will continuously improve until the user either runs out of mana or is injured.

[★★★✰ Quick-slash style] - Minor realm of mastery.

A sword art fully focused on speed. With one quick draw, the user gains the ability to kill an opponent without them noticing anything had happened. Created to replicate the Keiki style. After years of research, this sword art was the result.

[★★★ Full-body martial arts] - Greater realm of mastery.

Hand-to-Hand combat technique dedicated to utilizing every single part of the body to incapacitate the enemy. It may be a 3-star art, but upon mastery, it can be used to complement other forms of martial art.

--> Skills :

[[G] Monarch's indifference]

A skill that enables users to erase all emotions, and act as a supreme monarch that only calculates the best option regardless of circumstance.

[[D] The one]

A skill that enables the user to instill fear into the opponents' minds resulting in them feeling like they were standing before a sovereign that overlooked everything. The skill may work on individuals who are one rank higher than them, however, if the difference between the two parties is greater than two ranks, the skill effect diminishes.

[[A] Eyes of Chronos]

Upon using this skill, the user will be able to see everything in slow motion. The more mana is used, the slower the time will be in their eyes.

'I'm slowly getting there.'

I inwardly muttered as I stared at my charm which was now in the <C+> rank range.

After my contract with Angelica dissolved, my charm and my stats immediately dropped back down to where they were originally supposed to be.

For about a week, staring at myself in the mirror, depression once again overcame me as recollections of my handsome days would spring upon me from time to time.

Still wasn't over it if I had to be honest.

Sigh.

That aside, my strength did drastically rise over the past year, and just a few months ago, I broke through to <B> rank.

'Can't have everything.'

I muttered in consolation.

Swooosh—!

Closing down my status window, a clear mountain breeze blew past and shook the leaves of the tree that I was sitting on.

The rays of light coming from the sun filtered through the gaps of the leaves, creating a small net that sank over me.

A calm peace enshrouded the area that I was in, inviting anyone present to want to relax. Of course, that was merely what was perceived on the outside.

Rustle—! Rustle—!

It wasn't long before the peace was broken as a clear rustling sound resounded from the nearby bushes.

"Roooooar!"

With a powerful roar, coming out of the bushes was a large brown bear with red eyes and sharp claws that were about the same size as my arms. A threatening aura expanded from its body, scaring away all of the nearby birds as they flew into the sky.

'An evolved black bear...hm, it's also <C+> ranked at that. Not bad.'

Staring at the bear with great interest, from the tree that I was sitting on, my eyes squinted slightly.

That was because a little fox was standing opposite the bear, growling at it with its canines.

'Looks like the bear was in the middle of his hunt.'

It had to be noted that this was no regular bear, but an evolved one. Their diet was drastically different from what they were prior to when they were normal bears.

"Rooooar!"

With another roar, the bear raised his body halfway up in the air and shot towards the fox that was standing opposite to it. It wasn't long before the bear and the fox neared the area that I was in.

'Well, guess that's my cue.'

"Huuup!"

Tugging my body forward and leaving the branch that I was sitting on, my body slowly fell to the ground at a high velocity before perfectly landing on the top of the bear's head.

BANG—!

Despite our size difference, the moment my foot pressed onto the skull of the bear, with a loud bang, the beast's head crashed against the ground.

Dust diffused in the air, masking my eyesight.

Swooosh—!

But of course, this was no problem for me. Waving my hand slightly and channeling my wind psyons, a small wind formed, blowing all of the dust away.

'Well, that's dinner sorted.'

Cleaning my hands, I got off the bear and took a good look at it.

With all four legs outstretched from its body, the bear laid on the ground unmoving. I didn't need to check whether it was dead as its skull was practically crushed into a pulp.

"Hm?"

"Grrrrr."

Just as I was about to skin the bear, I heard a slight growling sound coming from behind me. Turning around, I noticed the small fox from before glaring in my direction.

Before I could even make out what was going on, the fox darted in my direction. Its claws were outstretched trying to claw into me.

"I just saved you, and instead of being grateful, you're attacking me?"

Click—!

Without even moving, turning my attention back to the bear, a subtle clicking sound rang out and I heard a small 'thump' from behind me.

'Ugh, how did Waylan say that I should skin a bear...?'

Staring at the bear in front of me, I started to ponder over the different methods that Waylan had taught me about skinning a beast, but in the end, shrugging my shoulders I just decided to put the bear's body into my dimensional space.

"Oh, right, there's you too."

Once I put the bear back into my dimensional space, turning around, I found the dead body of the fox from before.

'Guess we're having roast and stew tonight.'

Picking it up, I also put it in my dimensional space.

Humming a tune, I headed back deep into the forest. Towards my camp, and where the others were.

***

The location of the camp wasn't far. About a ten-minute walk from where I previously was.

Coming out from one of the bushes, the first thing I saw were multiple tents set up on a flat piece of land. In the middle of the tents, a fire crackled, and sitting around it was everyone apart from Douglas who for obvious reasons, couldn't come.

They were all having a merry good time talking to each other and drinking whatever drink they had in their hands.

"I'm back."

I smiled as I approached.

"Back already?"

Waylan was the first to react as he looked at me from his seat. After him, the others also looked in my direction, but in contrast to the warm welcome that I had expected, they had all looks that asked the question, 'Where's the food?' Not one of them seemed to think about anything else.

'I spoiled them too much.'

I thought as a bitter smile appeared on my face, but I kept walking regardless.

I was the one who dragged them out to the forest as soon as the demons retreated. This was so that everyone could get some good training, which they did and learned a lot from, but still, they did hold a bit of resentment towards me.

After all, with how advanced the dwarves were, training there was not a problem.

The one that held the most resentment was probably Smallsnake who would snort from time to time whenever he would see my face. 'Why do I need to train when you know that I have no talent?' he would repeatedly mutter.

But of course, I ignored his words.

He needed to get used to such dangerous environments. He wasn't always going to be inside of a safe location like back in Henlour.

"Ren, we should head back soon. We've trained enough, we'll be heading to the elven domain in a couple of weeks' time."

Waylan stood up and stretched his back.

"Already?"

Tapping onto my bracelet I took the bear out and sat down on a small chair next to the fire.

"Oh? we having bear tonight?"

"This too."

Once again tapping onto my bracelet, I threw the fox on top of the bear.

"A fox?"

Hein said as he stood up to take a closer look at the dead fox. Extending his hand to try and touch it, right before his hand could touch the fox, a small hand grabbed onto his wrist. It was Ava.

"Don't touch that."

"Why?"

"It's gross."

"Is it?"

I questioned, secretly taking a sip of Smallsnake's drink.

Snapping her head in my direction, Ava repeatedly nodded her head before pointing toward Angelica's direction.

"It is. Just look at Angelica, she agrees with me."

Leisurely sitting on her seat, although Angelica didn't say anything, she too seemed to be in agreement as her brows were slightly knit into a frown.

Meeting my gaze, her face cringed a little.

'...For some reason, I feel like Angelica is more disgusted by me.'

Ava seemed to have noticed our slight interaction as she coughed slightly.

"Trust me, she was definitely referring to the fox, not you."

"...Are you sure about that?"

Didn't seem like that to me at all.

Over a year had passed since we had been together, and by now, pretty much everyone was used to Angelica.

In fact, you could say that she and Ava seemed to get along quite well.

"Well, whatever."

I shrugged my shoulders. Didn't really care about what they thought as I looked at Waylan who approached the bear.

Then, taking out a small dagger from his dimensional space, he stabbed it in the middle of the bear's stomach.

Staring at him from my seat, I opened my mouth and asked.

"About what you said, did Douglas contact you and tell you?"

Removing the guts from the beast, a pungent smell diffused around the area we were in. Ava and Angelica instantly glared in our direction.

Of course, they only glared.

The one who was doing this was Waylan who was by far the strongest of the group.

Taking out the heart of the bear, Waylan nodded his head. Throwing the heart to the side, he continued to remove the organs.

"Yeah. He contacted me not too long ago."

"Did he say that we had to be back now?"

"Mhm."

Taking the last organ out of the bear's body, Waylan clapped his hands together and droplets of blood spilled around the area we were in.

"We will return tomorrow morning, and start making preparations for our trip to the elven domain. We will be going by the portal."

"I figured that much."

Imagine going all the way to the elven domain by foot. That would take even longer than it took for me to reach Henlour from the human domain.

Just the thought sickened me.

"Anyways, how's your training been?"

"It's been alright, I shouldn't have a problem breaking into <B+> rank in a couple of months, granted that I don't take any special herb."

"Don't rely on those too much."

With a slight nod, Waylan grabbed the bear and put it on top of the grill that rested above the fire.

A sizzling sound rang out the moment the bear was placed on top of the grill.

"If you consume too many herbs, you'll end up being over-reliant on those. Just look at my daughter, I spoiled her too much. Sigh, back when she was only..."

'Here we go again.'

Should've known from the moment the word 'daughter' was mentioned that Waylan would go on another hour-long story about how precious Emma was to him.

It seemed like I wasn't the only one that thought this way as the others also had helpless expressions on their faces. Well, not everyone.

Sitting by the side, smoking a cigarette, Leopold would repeatedly nod his head as he listened to Waylan's words.

'Well, this isn't too bad.'

I thought as a smile crept on my face as I stared at everyone present.

Who knows, this could very well be the last moment of peace that I would enjoy for a very long time. I hoped not, but, my previous experiences suggested otherwise.

Leaning back on my chair, I tried to make the best out of the little time of rest I had remaining.

Chapter 377: Heading to the Conference [2]

Rumble—

With a low rumble, the ground shook and the doors of Henlour opened up.

Without saying anything, we entered the gates.

"Welcome back."

Greeting us at the entrance of the city was another dwarf. By now, most people already knew who we were, and hence, whenever they saw us, they would greet us.

"Thank you."

Greeting them back, we once again entered the city.

Rumble—

It wasn't long before a low rumble sounded again and the gates closed shut behind us.

"Go get some proper rest. We will start our preparations for the elven domain over the next few days."

"Got it."

The first thing we did was go back to our own residences to get changed.

Having stayed in the nearby forests for over a month, everyone needed to get a proper bath.

Although our tents were indeed advanced, they still didn't have showers built in them. As such, whenever someone needed to wash, they would need to go to a nearby river to get cleaned.

Actually, I did briefly pass by Henlour a week ago to talk to Malvil about my sword, so it was only a week for me.

"Huam."

Once I arrived at my residence and separated myself from the others, I headed for the shower.

Turning the valve on, I let the warm water fall on my tired body, which had a couple of scars on them, before i relaxed completely.

Once I was done with the shower, drying my hair with a clean towel, I sat on the bed.

As I sat down, the water droplets that dropped down from my body traced down my toned body before they reached the clean bedsheets, wetting them.

"Let's see if anyone contacted me during all this time."

Opening my desk drawer, I took out my watch and booted it on.

Since there was no signal outside of the city as the dwarves tried to limit most outside communications, I had no idea about what had happened while I was gone.

It wasn't even a moment before a long string of text appeared on my watch. All of them coming from the same individual.

"Oh, Malvil called me."

'Is he finished with the sword?'

Him calling me only meant one thing: the sword was almost ready.

After the incident with Inferno, and after spending nine months improving my swordsmanship, I was finally able to convince him into forging a sword for me.

Not many had such a privilege, and so I was very happy with this development.

"That aside, I also feel much better now that I no longer have the tracking device inside of my head working."

Thanks to Jomnuk's coaching, Ryan was able to develop to the point where he could now easily hack into my chip and tamper with the device.

He could turn it on and off whenever he wanted to. This was a great piece of news to me as I could definitely make do with it in the future.

Especially at the conference where I was going to meet up with the Union.

With the chip tracking device off, they would of course be unable to tell that I was 876, but for sure I was going to let them understand that they had messed with someone extremely petty.

Well, that was granted if the opportunity for it came. If there wasn't, I could just wait for later.

'Right, that fucker will also be there…'

Recalling a certain face inside of my memories, my lips tugged upwards.

'I've still got quite the score to settle with you, don't I?'

If there was someone whom I hated much more than the Union, it would be none other than the individual that brought me to 'that place' to begin with.

'The pain I had suffered there…'

The sound of my teeth grinding together sounded across the room.

"Huuuu."

I took a deep breath, trying to calm down.

There was a time for everything and now was not that time.

Standing up and quickly getting changed, I headed for the door of my room.

Cli- Clank—

Right now, my priority should be visiting Malvil and seeing how much he progressed on my sword.

I wanted to leave for the elven domain with a new sword, especially since the ones I have been using weren't the right fit for me. They just broke too readily.

***

If there was one thing that I hated about the fourth level, it would without a doubt be the tremendous heat.

With it being so close to the earth's core, it was extremely hot.

Every time I went there, it would feel as though I was inside a steaming hot sauna.

It wasn't pleasant, to say the least.

"You're finally here, human!"

Upon entering the main building of the facility center, Malvil came to greet me at the door.

Well, it was more like he was already there talking to the secretary, and only greeted me once he saw me coming in.

"Took you long enough... I was already done a couple of days ago." He grumbled, looking at me with a peeved expression.

"That fast?"

He sounded quite annoyed, but I merely shrugged my shoulders.

Couldn't be blamed, I put all of my focus on training instead of anything else. Though, I was impressed by his speed.

"Follow me."

Bidding goodbye to the secretary, Malvil brought me to his workroom.

Just like in the previous times that I had been there, it was a mess. With equipment sprawled all over the place and scrap pieces of metal on the floor, it looked as though a storm had raged inside of the room.

Fortunately, I was already used to this. Stepping over the garbage, we soon paused in front of a large desk.

Thump—

Dropping a long object that was covered in a thin white cloth onto the table, producing a dull sound, Malvil slowly unfolded the sword.

The moment he unfurled the cloth and my eyes paused on the sword, my face twitched slightly.

"…Is this the completed sword?"

It took me a while to process the…sword in front of me, if it could even be called that.

It looked nothing like it. Rather, it looked more like a burned stick.

With no sharp edges, no grip, and completely nothing that would make it look like a sword, the thing that was in front of me could not even be considered one.

'Don't tell me that he failed?'

But that was impossible. With Malvil's pride, he would never show me something like this unless there was something more to it.

As my thoughts paused there, I looked up to Malvil who was looking at the sword with traces of satisfaction on his face.

Extending his finger forward and tracing it over the body of the piece of metal, Malvil muttered to himself.

"How beautiful…"

'Really? You call that thing beautiful?'

I really wanted to say those words out loud but I managed to keep my mouth shut throughout the whole time.

It was only after a couple of minutes passed that Malvil finally regained himself and coughed slightly.

"Keum…sorry about that, almost lost myself there."

"…Right," I replied with a forceful smile.

"Oy, what's with that look?"

But it appeared that my face was quite obvious as Malvil glared at me.

Raising my hands in a show of peace, I calmly replied, "Nothing. I was just curious if this was the sword that you were planning on forging for me."

"Of course it is."

Malvil slammed his small hand on the table.

He then pointed towards the long piece of metal.

"Can't you see that this is the frame of the sword?"

"Well yes, I could tell that much."

"Sigh, ignorance is such a bliss."

Shaking his head, Malvil interlocked his hands behind his back before walking towards another counter and picking up a small white hammer that was adorned with tiny blue, red, and green crystals.

He then proceeded to walk towards the sword frame.

Throwing me one last glare, he handed me the hammer.

"Here, you'll understand once you do it."

"You're giving that to me?" I asked, confusion dying my face. Why in the world was he giving me the hammer?

"Just take it."

Obviously annoyed by my question, Malvil shoved the hammer in my hands and pointed at the sword frame.

"Now hammer the sword!"

Seeing just how serious he was being, I calmed myself down quickly and stared at the sword frame.

I knew that Malvil was not someone who would joke about things related to his profession, so without wasting any more time, raising my hand which held onto the hammer, I prepared to hit the sword with it.

"Inject your mana before you do it."

But before I could even swing downwards, Malvil's voice traveled through my ears.

"Got it."

Closing my eyes, I channeled all of my mana into the hammer.

Vooom—!

The gems embedded on the hammer's side suddenly started to glow, lighting up the room in beautiful myriad colors.

Once that happened, pointing towards the metal frame, Malvil shouted, "Now! Hammer the sword right now!"

Snapping out of it and nodding in response, I swung my hand downwards.

Clank—!

A loud metallic ring swept throughout the room as the hammer in my hand came into contact with the sword frame.

"Again!"

Malvil shouted after the ringing in the air dissipated.

Clank—!

Without saying anything, raising my hand once again, I swung the hammer and a similar ring swept through the room.

Once the ringing sounded disappeared, Malvil once again shouted.

"Again!"

Clank—!

Raising my hand again, I once again swung.

Clank—!

"Again!"

Clank—!

"Again!"

Clank—!

And so for the next three hours, the same scene repeated again and again as I continued to hammer the metal.

TWIIIING—!

Smashing the hammer one more time, another loud ring rang out and a bright light suddenly enveloped the room.

"Move back."

As soon as the light appeared, pushing me back, Malvil snatched the hammer from my hands and once again hammered the sword frame.

Clank—! Clank—!

With each swing, his arm became faster and faster, and before long, the bright light that came from the sword enveloped the entire room, blinding me completely.

"Give me your arm."

He shouted before I felt a small hand grasp my wrist and bring me forward.

I was completely blinded by this point, so I had no idea what he was trying to do, but it was at that moment that I felt a sharp sting coming from the tip of my finger and a strange worm-like feeling suddenly enveloped my body.

It felt like I was being constricted, or stung by a viper. I couldn't be sure, because my senses were going haywire.

But that feeling didn't last for long as all the remaining mana inside of my body suddenly got sucked out of me, and headed like a torrent towards the sword, to the point where I felt the pain.

"Ughk!"

"Resist the pain! We're almost done!"

Malvil shouted from the side as my knees buckled up slightly.

"Ukh!"

Letting out another groan, one of my knees gave out and I fell to the ground, but thankfully, supporting me from the side was Malvil, as his big, burly hands pushed me up from below.

"I…I can't last much longer," I weakly muttered, trying my best to remain awake. Every second that passed felt agonizing, and slowly but surely I was feeling all the energy in my body getting sucked out of me.

"Done!"

TWIIIIIINNG!!!

Thankfully, right before I passed out, Malvil removed my hand, and another crisp ring rang out throughout the room.

"Haaa….haaa…."

Falling down on the ground, I tried to catch my breath as sweat dripped down from the side of my face.

'What kind of demonic rite was that? You making a sword or what?!' I screamed inwardly. Unfortunately, I couldn't speak, and exhaustion had overtaken me.

Before long, once I managed to rest for a good minute, I finally opened my eyes.

"What do you say?"

It was then that I saw it.

My new sword.

Chapter 378: Heading to the Conference [3]

"Is that my sword?"

My eyes flickered slightly after opening. It took me a couple of seconds for my eyes to recover from the previous bright light.

But the moment I recovered, my eyes focused on the sword that was being dangled in Malvil's hands.

Standing up, I reached out for the sword.

"May I?"

"It's yours."

Malvil handed me the sword.

Buzz

The moment my hand touched the sword, intense light exploded from it. This time, I wasn't blinded.

Next, my eyes opened up in amazement as I watched the sword in my hand gain a faint green luster. At a single glance, I could see just how powerful the sword was as the mana in the atmosphere agglomerated towards it at terrifying speeds.

The sword was about half a meter in length, glossed in a matt black color, and gazing at its sharp body that made it seem as though it could cut anything, my lips curled up in satisfaction.

"It's pretty light."

I muttered as I focussed my attention back onto the sword and moved my hand up and down to test its weight.

It was a lot lighter than I had originally anticipated.

In fact, it was so light that I thought that was holding onto a feather.

"Try injecting mana into it."

Malvil said from the side. Sitting down on a stool, he rested his arm on the table behind him and nudged his head in my direction.

"Instead of checking it directly, why don't you try seeing for yourself just what the sword can do."

"Inject my mana?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

With a slight nod, I did as Malvil instructed and channeled my mana into the sword.

Buzz

Another low buzz suddenly sounded. Then, without me noticing anything, the ground beneath me began to creak, as fine miniature crevices started to expand from the bottom of my feet.

"What the..."

After that, my hands which were holding onto the sword started to become heavier as my muscles bulged upwards, trying their best to keep the sword in position.

"What in the world!"

I shouted as I turned to look in Malvil's direction.

"What is going on?"

"Calm down."

With a calm look on his face, extending his hand in my direction, he pointed at the sword.

"That over there is the ability of your sword."

"This? Ability?"

Lowering my head, I focused my attention back on the sword in my hands.

'Is the ability that Malvil is talking about, the ability to change the mass of the sword as I will?'

This ability reminded me of the ability of one of the artifacts that I previously owned.

It was a ring if I didn't remember wrongly. It could change its mass upon changing its settings. I quite liked it too, but unfortunately, it was now long gone as it broke during the explosion that led me to…that place.

Taking a deep breath and stopping my mana flow, the sword in my hand returned to its normal mass and I glanced around the place.

"Let me test this in a different location."

I then turned to face Malvil.

"Do you perhaps have a scabbard?"

"A scabbard?"

"Yeah, I kind of need it…"

The Keiki style could still work without the scabbard, but I was just so used to it by now that it felt weird without it.

"Here."

Rolling his eyes, Malvil reached out for something in the desk behind him and threw me a black leather scabbard.

"Thank you."

Catching it with one hand, I thanked Malvil.

Then, without saying anything else, I left the workspace and headed out towards a rather secluded area to test out my new sword.

The area that I stopped was quite deserted, and the land was flat. Perfect place to test my new sword.

"Huuu."

Putting my new sword into the scabbard that Malvil had just given me, I took a deep breath.

With a thought, the mana in the air converged toward my hand that gripped onto the sword.

As mana started to flow, the sword gradually started to glow and my pants started to feel heavier.

Confirming that it was working, I stopped channeling my mana and the sword once again became lighter.

Taking a step forward, and focusing all of my mana on the tip of my finger, I tapped the grip of the sword.

Click—

A clear and crisp sound was heard in the air the moment I touched the grip of the sword.

Bang—

What followed after that was a loud explosion as the earth before me tore apart and a long line that stretched over the next couple of meters appeared in front of me.

A deep scar that sank at least a meter onto the ground appeared in my vision once the dust cleared out.

"Holy shit."

Staring at the damage, my mouth hung on in shock.

'Was that really something that I did?'

Lowering my head and staring at the sword in my hand, my heart started to beat faster.

Letting out a long breath and stabilizing my heartbeat, I stopped channeling my mana.

'Let me try without using the effect of the sword. Will there be a difference?'

Click—

A similar clicking sound rang in the air, but contrary to the previous attack, the ground did not break apart. Instead, a small line appeared in the distance, but that was all.

"The difference is huge…"

F = ma.

This was a formula that I previously thought was useless back when I learned it back in school. That was back then, now...now things were different.

Couldn't be any more grateful for it.

Thanks to the mass increase, accompanied by the acceleration that was brought from the Keiki style, a tremendous force was released from my sword, resulting in such a terrifying attack to occur.

Honestly, the more I thought about it, the fonder I grew of the sword.

It was the perfect fit for me.

"Looks like I've done a pretty good job, huh?"

Startling me out of my thoughts was Malvil's voice.

Turning around, I nodded my head.

"Yeah, it's amazing."

"Hehe."

Malvil laughed in satisfaction at my response.

Then, stroking his beard, he tilted his head and extended his hand.

"Give it back."

"Hm?"

This time it was my turn to tilt my head as I looked at him in confusion. But seeing just how serious his face was, without wasting any more time, walking in his direction, I handed him the sword.

"Here."

"Thanks."

Taking the sword, Malvil traced his finger over its body.

"Hmm, it looks like I still need to polish it. It's not exactly done. The fact that I had to seal it because of your rank is probably why."

"You sealed it?"

Throwing me a casual glance, Malvil rolled his eyes.

"You think someone like you can handle a sword of this caliber with your rank?"

"No."

I shook my head with a bitter smile. He was right.

At my current rank, <B> rank, I wouldn't be able to properly use the sword. Had he not sealed it, the mana consumption would just be too much for me.

On a good note, if it was sealed, it meant that my sword was still not at its fullest capabilities.

Just the thought made my eyes shine.

Focusing my attention back on Malvil, I suddenly thought of something.

"How long do you need to polish it?"

Giving me a long stare, Malvil smirked.

"I know what you're thinking about. Relax, I'll have it done before you leave this place. I'll hand it to you right before you leave."

"Is that so…okay."

It was only after hearing Malvil's words that my shoulders relaxed.

Since I had no idea for how long I would be in the elven domain as well as know when the next time I would be back in Henlour would be, the next time that I would meet Malvil again, years may have passed.

Fortunately, my worries were unfounded.

"Alright, I'll quickly get to work. You should also go back for now."

Hugging onto the sword which was double the size of his body Malvil turned around and headed back in the direction of where his workshop was.

"I'll get it done on time so relax."

"Got it."

I replied back, staring at his small figure slowly going back towards the main building.

'I guess I should start preparing myself as well.'

Once Malvil's figure completely disappeared, looking around the place, I decided to head back and pack up.

My stay in Henlour was coming to an end.

***

Since then, a week had officially passed and it was now the day I would head out for the elven domain.

"Are you guys ready?"

Standing in front of a large portal, Douglas looked in our direction.

We were nine people in total, him, Waylan, Ava, Hein, Smallsnake, Ryan, Angelica, Leopold, and me.

Originally we were supposed to go with the dwarves, but decided against it and just decided to head there an hour after.

The reason why we decided to head an hour after was because…

"Where in the world is Malvil?"

Ava muttered out loud as she leaned by the side of the wall.

Turning to face Ava, our eyes met and we both bitterly smiled.

"He told me that he'll be done by today."

"That's what he said to me too."

I wasn't the only one that was waiting for Malvil as Ava too was waiting for him.

Having worked on it for over a year now, the flute which I had given to her a while ago was almost completely fixed. Of course, just like my sword, Malvil had sealed it.

That being said, it was now a lot more efficient than before, and not only that, from what Ava told me, it could now even allow her to have more beasts under her control.

This was a massive boost in strength for me.

"He's here."

Just when we were about to directly head to his workshop to find him, in the distance we saw a glimpse of a familiar figure.

Running towards our direction, with sweat all over his face, was a young dwarf.

Instantly, our brows knit.

"Isn't that Malvil's disciple?"

Having seen him multiple times already, we were all able to recognize him instantly.

Running in our direction, his figure looked haggard and tired.

"Typical Malvil, letting his disciple do the heavy work. I feel bad for him. As his leader, and master, he should be more responsible..."

I muttered out loud as pity flashed across my eyes.

It was then that I suddenly felt a pair of eyes burning holes at the back of my head. Turning around, I found Smallsnake glaring daggers in my direction.

"What are you looking at me for?"

"You…"

Raising his hand and pointing it at me, Smallsnake opened and closed his mouth multiple times, seemingly struggling to get his words out of his mouth.

"Do you have any idea about the words that you've just—"

"Haaa…haaaa…here is your stuff."

But before Smallsnake could even finish his sentence, Malvil's disciple arrived before us, instantly drawing my attention away from Smallsnake.

With heavy breaths, he took out two objects that were wrapped in thin white cloths and handed them to me and Ava.

"Thanks."

"Thank you."

"Looks like we're ready."

Douglas said, standing by the portal.

"Since you guys have your stuff, we should get going."

Then, turning around, he proceeded to make his way toward the portal.

"Let's go."

"Wait."

But just before he could enter, Malvil's disciple spoke up.

Instantly everyone looked in his direction.

With all of our eyes focused on him, a bitter smile emerged on his face as he scratched the back of his head.

"Ehm…master told me to go with you."

"…"

Silence enshrouded the area around us. Before anyone could say anything else, he continued.

"Master said that I need to check on the two artifacts to see if there are any problems with them."

"I g—"

"Okay, you can come."

Before I could say anything, cutting me mid-sentence, Douglas gave his approval.

Looking at me, he tapped his wrist.

"We don't have much time and one more person won't hurt us, so let's go."

Vooom—

No longer wanting to waste any more time, Douglas directly stepped into the portal and vanished.

Following him was Waylan, and the others who also had no qualms with the sudden addition of Malvil's disciple.

'Well, since everyone is fine with it.'

Shrugging my shoulders, I followed the others into the portal. He may end up being useful.

Finally, the long-awaited conference was about to begin.

Chapter 379: Issanor [1]

Issanor. That was the name of the capital of the elven domain.

Situated on the northern and central hemisphere of the new world, one would think it to be a very cold place filled with snow.

They couldn't be any more wrong.

If there was one thing humans knew about the elven domain, it was that it's beautiful.

Thanks to the elven magic, which was closely related to nature itself, an expansive land that was filled with greenery and the most breathtaking scenes came to be.

All the humans that had ever crossed this land said the same thing: 'It's the most beautiful place that I've ever seen.'

"Ukh."

Stepping out of the portal and suffering from the usual nauseating feeling that I'd get whenever I came out from one of those things, I stumbled a couple of steps.

It had to be said that the distance we traveled was incredibly far. The side-effects of the portal were much stronger than before.

I felt a sensation akin to having my own stomach turned and rolled multiple times. It was anything but pleasant.

Fortunately, with my now improved body, I was quick to recover.

"…wow."

The moment I opened my eyes and saw what laid ahead of me, I lost my breath, as if it was snatched away.

"Is that… Issanor?"

A city surrounded by large canopy trees built upon low, rolling hills appeared in the distance. Short and wide towers were built along the side of the city, overlooking everything in the distance.

The walls of the towers were made of a marvellous murky-coloured rock, as if they were sculpted in a way that supported the infrastructure below the city.

Behind the city, in the background, water poured down towards the smaller towers in a narrow waterfall. The faint water particles that lingered in the air refracted the light coming from the sun and drew a beautiful multi-coloured rainbow that added vibrancy to the city.

Below the waterfall was a large lake encircled by beautiful white buildings.

In the middle of the lake was a small island where an enormous white building adorned in silver and gold stood. The light coming from the sun was perfectly reflected by the gold-coated areas of the building, further adding to its elegance.

"Welcome to Issanor."

A melodious and crisp voice rose in the air, waking me up from my daze.

Then, turning my head, I saw a beautiful elven lady greet us at the entrance of the portal.

With delicate features and beautiful hair that was a mix between gold and silver, I could immediately tell that she was a high-ranking member of the elves.

She wore a white tunic paired with breeches covered by long, thin robes.

Smiling kindly, she turned and extended her hand towards the city in the distance.

"Nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you humans. My name is Aselia, and I will be bringing you to the city."

Then, turning around, she elegantly walked over a small pathway.

"Let's go."

The first one to follow her was Douglas, who stared at the city in the distance with a rare sparkle in his calm eyes.

Behind him, Waylan was the second to follow as he too looked at the city with a rare excitement.

'He must be missing Emma quite a lot, huh?'

It was understandable. After having not seen his daughter for such a long time, he must for sure be wanting to meet her at all cost. Especially since he heard about the things that she was going through.

'The others should also be there, no?'

Gazing at the city in the distance, my lips tugged upwards.

"I guess I'll be seeing them soon too."

Lightly pressing my toes on the ground, I followed the others towards the city.

With a grin, I thought, 'I wonder what kind of face he'll make when he sees me.'

"It's that face again, step back."

"Hm?"

Snapping me out of my thoughts was Smallsnake's voice.

Turning around, I found him staring at me with a deathly pale face.

"What's with you?"

"Stay as far away from me as possible." Smallsnake said as he took a couple of steps back, dragging Ryan and the others behind him.

I shook my head at his reaction.

'So extra…'

***

The city wasn't located far from the portal. It was about a half-an-hour walk.

The reason why the portal was located so far off from the city was because the elves wanted to avoid a scenario where instead of allies coming from the portal, enemies would appear.

Of course, the enemies could very well set a portal in the city, but that was a lot harder to do.

Walking through a small forest, penetrating the leaves of the trees, a net of light appeared on the ground beneath us.

The air was a bit chilly, but whenever I passed through the small net, a gentle warmth would envelope my body, prompting me to move towards where it was.

"We're here."

Halting her steps, Aselia, the elf that was guiding us to the city, looked behind her, in our direction.

She then pointed ahead of her, where a long bridge stood.

"This over here is the bridge of Eislin, and there is one rule that must be kept at all times when crossing this bridge. That is, only one person can cross it at the same time."

"Only one person?"

Douglas raised his brow. Leaning his body forward, he looked at the bridge in the distance.

Retaining the smile on her face, Aselia nodded.

"Yes, only one person. It's our tradition."

"We have no problem with that."

"Thank you."

A soft wind suddenly flew, and Aselia's hair fluttered. Taking a step to the side, she motioned Douglas to head to the bridge.

"If you would, please."

"Okay."

Smiling kindly, Douglas didn't say anything else and moved towards the bridge.

It was then that something suddenly happened. The moment he stepped onto the bridge, the outline of a barrier suddenly appeared in our vision, completely enveloping the city.

"Apart from tradition, the barrier over here is set up using an ancient spell that enables us to determine individuals who have demonic energy inside of their body," Aselia said without a change of expression.

Following her words, she turned to look in Angelica's direction.

"We've already heard about you from the dwarves and have made a special exception. Here."

Taking out a small bracelet from out of nowhere, Aselia handed it to Angelica.

"The bracelet is coated with a special spell that will tell the others that you are on our side."

Taking a couple of steps forward, Angelica extended her hand and took the bracelet.

Putting it on, a white glow suddenly enshrouded her whole figure.

"You're all set. You should have no problems entering the city now."

Turning her head, Angelica gave a small nod of appreciation to Aselia.

Replying with a small smile, Aselia's ears suddenly twitched before she turned to face our direction.

"It looks like he's already made it, who's next?"

"I'll go."

Waylan offered himself up as he took a step forward and passed through the bridge.

The bridge's length wasn't long, about 100 meters or so, and thus, before long, Waylan soon appeared on the other side of it.

Following him, the others also went one by one until, finally, it was my turn.

"Your turn."

"Mhm."

Without saying anything else, I took a step forward and also started to cross the bridge.

Right as I took a step into the barrier, a warm glow enveloped my body.

Ignoring it, I kept moving forward.

'I can't see the end of this.'

Walking forward and staring below the bridge, I swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

The bottom of the bridge was incredibly deep, and without a doubt, if anyone fell from it, they'd end up dying instantly.

Only <S> ranks could survive such falls as they could somewhat fly.

'I wish I can fly.'

I enviously thought as I looked below the bridge. For one to be able to fly, they must have an incredibly amount of psyon control as well as mana.

The principle was the same as when coating my sword with psyons, but instead, rather than coating the sword, I had to coat my body, which was a lot harder to do.

That aside, once I finally crossed the bridge, I moved to where the others were, inside of a large square.

The inside of the city were just as beautiful as the outside. The streets were made of pasty-coloured pebbles and single lines of grass crossed in-between every couple of meters of the road, further adding vibrancy to the environment.

Sophisticated buildings in white coated with gold and silver appeared by the side of the road, further adding to the elegance benefitting elven creatures.

Around us, elves appeared everywhere. Despite our appearance, none of them seemed to be bothered by our presence. They just went about their business, treating our existence as nothing out of the ordinary.

"A couple others humans have entered the city before you guys. This is why they aren't shocked by your sudden appearance." Aselia said as she appeared behind us.

Seeing our reaction of the city, her lips curled up slightly before she pressed her foot on the ground and followed a certain path.

"Follow me, I will be bringing you to your residences. It will be right next to the dwarven ones."

"Are we not going to stay with the other humans?" Waylan asked, hope filled his eyes.

Turning back, Aselia shook her head.

"Unfortunately not, you guys are guests from the dwarves. They requested for you to be with them. Of course, if you want to see the other humans, you may be able to do that during the inauguration of the Conference where we'll host a banquet for all the races to join."

Pausing and placing her finger over her chin, Aselia's brows knit slightly.

"The ceremony should be in about a week's time when everyone is here, so you won't have to wait long. Of course, you can also meet them in their residence, but they'll be coming at different times, so I'm not sure if the people you're looking for will be there."

"…Alright." Waylan replied with a simple nod. Undisguised disappointment could be felt from his voice.

Walking up to him, I tapped him on the shoulder and whispered, "I think this is for the best."

"Why do you say that?"

"I know you miss Emma, but what do you think will happen when you suddenly show up in front of her after not having seen her for a few years?"

Waylan's face froze at my words. Nodding my head, I continued.

"That's right, she will most likely be very angry at you. Not that it's bad, but you should also take this chance to properly analyze how the situation in your family is. I'm quite certain Emma is not the only one that got invited from the Roshfield family. Try to get a better understanding of the situation before you act."

With Waylan's brother? Cousin? Honestly, forgotten how he was related to Waylan, but with him having taken the reins of the family for quite a while, even if Waylan suddenly showed up again, there was a chance that the divide in the house would continue.

After all, he must've already bought some of the people's loyalty after having stayed in that position for that long.

Exposing his existence right now was not ideal.

"You've managed to not see her for what- Three to five years? What can an extra few days do? Get a hold of your house before anything else."

"Huuuu."

Listening to my words, Waylan suddenly let out a long breath.

"You're right. I was being too impatient."

"You were."

Patting him on the shoulder, I smirked.

'Knowing Emma's personality, there's a high chance she's going to be more pissed about the fact that you didn't meet her as soon as you knew she's there…hehe.'

He didn't have to know this part.

Patting him on the shoulder more, pity flashed across my eyes before I followed Aselia towards our residence.

Chapter 380: Issanor [2]

"Woahhh."

Taking a step out of the portal, Emma looked at the scene presented before her with amazement.

Wearing a white baseball hat along with a simple shirt and shorts, Emma's curiosity piqued as she looked around the place with an excited gaze.

"Curb your excitement."

Exiting the portal after her was Melissa. Squinting her eyes and taking out her glasses, she glared in the direction of the sun.

"If only that damned bastard didn't force me to come here…"

She muttered out loud, obviously not hiding the displeasure in her voice.

Overhearing Melissa's comments, Emma turned around and asked, "What's wrong about coming here?"

"I would've much rather spent my time finishing my project.

"And what's fun about that? You never go out. Just look at you, you remind me of a vampire."

Pausing, Emma pointed at the sun.

"The first thing you did as soon as you got out was glare at the sun!"

"Shut up."

Rolling her eyes, Melissa put her glasses back on.

As the two of them were bickering, not far from them, the other group members were slowly coming out of the portal.

It wasn't long before eight more people exited the portal. Once the last person came out, an elf came to greet them and led them to an area outside of the portal where there were others waiting.

As they were headed towards the larger group, Emma was instantly able to spot Amanda.

"Amanda, you're already here."

This part wasn't hard since she stood out quite a bit.

The fact that most of the males' gazes were directed at her also didn't help since it only made it easier for Emma to spot her.

Walking up to her, Emma tried to hug her, but Amanda swiftly dodged, prompting Emma to pout.

"Hey!"

"Save that stuff for Kevin."

"Hey!"

Emma shouted even louder as her cheeks turned rosy.

"How long have you been waiting here?" Emma asked, in hopes of trying to switch the topic.

Fortunately for her, Amanda had tact. Pretending to have not seen anything, she casually answered, "It's been about three hours since we arrived."

Lifting her head and staring into the distance, toward the direction of where Emma came from, Amanda continued.

"Besides you, we should be waiting for one more group before they will bring us to the city."

"Another group?"

Emma turned her head and stared in the same direction as Amanda.

"Any idea who it is?"

"They are from another city."

"Oh? Which one?"

"I'm not too sure myself."

"They're already here." Melissa said from the side, gazing into the distance where another group was slowly headed in their direction.

At the forefront of the group was a young man with black hair and blue eyes. He may have been the youngest of the group, but his demeanour was unmatched as it contained this rare elegance to it that made him the focal point of the group.

"Aaron… so it's him."

A rare of solemnity appeared on everyone's faces as their eyes paused on him.

They all naturally knew who he was. After all, it was hard for them to not have heard of him when he had been a thorn on their side during their first year. Second and third year for Emma and Melissa.

Walking in small strides, Aaron's eyes soon paused on their group, and a surprised look flashed across his face. It wasn't long before a smirk followed after as he walked up to them.

"It's been a while since I've seen you guys."

Pausing, Aaron's eyes soon stopped on Amanda. His brows knit for a second before they relaxed.

"You must be Miss Stern. I think we maybe briefly met during your first year. It was unfortunate that you left after and we were unable to see each other."

"Okay." Amanda replied with a short and indifferent acceptance of his words.

Not expecting such a reaction from Amanda, Aaron's smile froze for a very short second before he regained his calm.

"It seems like Miss Stern isn't too keen on talking to me, so I will take my leave."

Smiling at Amanda, Aaron turned around and left.

Staring at his back from behind, Emma turned to look in Amanda's direction.

"Hey, are you sure you want to treat him like that? His guild is pretty powerful. You sure you won't regret this in the future?"

"No."

Amanda shook her head as she stared at Aaron's back.

She knew very well what type of background Aaron had. He was the heir of the most powerful guild in Lutwig city, one of the four great cities in the human domain.

In terms of power, his guild was not as great as hers, but in terms of influence, it was very powerful. They were not someone that the current Amanda could deal with if they truly decided to attack them.

Lowering her head and staring at Emma, Amanda softly said, "The reason I'm doing this is because he is already working with another diamond-graded guild in Ashton city."

"He is?"

Surprised flashed in Emma's eyes at this revelation.

"Why would they reach out for the other guilds?"

"Because they are greedy."

Amanda coldly replied, her voice taking a chilly tone.

News about her father's dissapearance had now spread wide, and not just the guilds in Ashton city, but even the other guilds from outside wanted to have a slice of her guild.

Amanda was obviously enraged by this, but she was also helpless at the same time.

"Thank you for coming all of the way here to Issanor."

Disrupting Amanda out of her thoughts was a crisp and melodious voice that came from the distance.

Lifting her head, Amanda's eyes paused on an elf standing far ahead of the group.

As he addressed them, he seemed to be very polite.

"Sorry for the long wait. Now that everyone has gathered, I will escort you to the main city. So, if you would please follow me."

Turning around, the elf started to walked along a pathway that led to the city.

As he left, one by one, the other people present slowly started to follow him.

"Let's go."

The first one to move out of the three girls was Emma who quickly lined up and followed the others into the city.

Excitement flashed across her eyes.

"Here, take this."

Just as Amanda was about to follow Emma, grabbing her shoulder, Melissa handed her a couple of things.

"Since you will be displaying your talent to everyone, you might as well be useful and advertise this as well. The better the performance, the richer we become."

Finished speaking, Melissa also lined up.

Staring at Melissa in confusion, lowering her head, Amanda stared at her hand where several different cards of various colours rested.

Blinking a couple of times, her lips tugged upwards ever so slightly.

***

Clank—!

A metallic ring sounded throughout a small room as a broadsword crossed against two sharp daggers.

A circular pressurized wind sprang out from the point of contact between the blades as the two individuals distanced themselves from each other.

Gazing at each other from the distance, the individual holding onto the broadsword lowered it and complimented his sparring partner.

"You've improved a lot."

"You too."

The two individuals were none other than Kevin and Jin.

After arriving early to the elven domain and meeting up together, they decided to spend most of their time sparring against each other.

As they had been doing this for the past two years back at the Lock, both of them were quite familiar with the way the other fought, hence why they were able to fight against each other evenly.

Although they had not sparred together ever since leaving the Lock, the both of them were still quite familiar with each other's styles. Hence, they were able to make the most out of their training.

If there was one thing that was different about the two, it was that Jin was now a rank lower than Kevin, at <B->.

This wasn't due to a lack of training, however. Jin had been training harder than ever. The reason for his current rank was that he had acquired a five-star dagger technique not long ago.

Since he was now more focused on improving his dagger art, the time he spent on improving his rank lowered significantly.

And it was because of this that he lagged behind Kevin, in terms of rank.

Wiping the sweat that had accumulated on his forehead, Kevin put away his broadsword.

"This should be enough for today, the others will be coming here soon."

"Okay."

Putting his daggers away, Jin nodded in response.

Moments prior to their spar, they heard from the others that they had already arrived.

Pulling his hair back, Kevin turned around and headed out of the room.

"They should be here soon. Let's go meet them."

Without saying anything, Jin followed him from behind.

***

At the same time, in another part of Issanor.

"You guys have finally made it."

Welcoming us with open arms was Randur.

Turning his head to face my direction, he asked, "Did you guys sort everything out?"

"Yeah." I nodded.

"We managed to get it in the nick of time. In fact, we also brought someone else with us."

Taking a step to the side, I proceeded to point at a certain someone who stood at the back.

That person was none other than Malvil's disciple, whose name I still did not know.

"Ho ho, isn't that Malvil's disciple?"

A look of surprise flashed across Randur's eyes as his gaze paused on the only dwarf in our group.

He of course also knew who the dwarf was. Given Malvil's fame, it was hard for the elders to not pay attention to him.

After all, if one of their most famous blacksmiths had a disciple, he would most likely become someone important in the future. As an elder, Randur had to pay close attention to such things.

"Good, good. This will be a great experience for him."

What followed after the surprised look was a satisfied one as he repeatedly nodded in approval.

"With him around, we won't have to worry about our weapons breaking." He jokingly said as he patted him on the shoulder multiple times.

After saying a couple more things to Malvil's disciple, he focused his attention back on us.

"Alright, now that you are all here, I presume that you guys have already seen your rooms, correct?"

"Yes, we have. We're currently going to go for a stroll around the city to get a better idea of the place," Waylan replied. At the moment, he was wearing a skin mask in order to hide his face.

He wasn't the only one wearing a mask as we were all wearing one.

Although the chip inside of my head was disabled, I didn't want to take any chances and therefore chose to wear a mask.

If someone recognised me, things would get troublesome.

The only one missing from the group was Douglas, who joined Gervis to talk with the higher ups of the elves.

Anywho, the reason why we were currently going out was, just as Waylan said, to get a better look at the city.

Just like in Henlour, I wanted to get a better idea of the environment I was in so that if trouble arose in the future, I would have more options open for me.

Information was key to everything.

Actually, the real reason was because we wanted to know where the others were staying. But what I previously said wasn't that far from the truth.

"I see…"

Stroking his beard, Randur pursed his lips before nodding in agreement.

"That's a good idea. I've got a map of the place if you want. That can help you familiarise yourself with the place better."

"That would be ideal," Waylan replied, taking up on Randur's offer.

"Very well."

Laughing a little, Randur threw Waylan a small device which contained the map of the city.

"Enjoy your little tour."

Chapter 381: Meeting from afar [1]

"Say, demons are not going to suddenly show up out of nowhere and attack us, right?"

Walking through the city, a rough voice sounded next to me. It was Leopold.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, just that…"

Leopold looked around and lowered his voice.

"I'm kinda tired of dealing with demons, and I was wondering if another situation similar to Henlour might happen."

Oh, it was about that. I nodded.

"Not sure, to be honest. But unlike the dwarves, elves are much better at detecting demons since they are super sensitive to mana, so there's a chance that no such thing will happen."

"…what do you mean?"

"Just like I said, elves are much more sensitive to demonic energy. Therefore, it is a lot easier for them to spot demons. In fact, didn't you notice the barrier before?"

Squinting, Leopold looked behind him.

"The one at the bridge?"

"Yeah, that alone should stop most of the demons."

Had Angelica not worn the special bracelet, she would've easily been found out. Even if she had turned into a ring form there was a chance for her to get spotted.

During The Conference, in the novel, it was because of this that no demons managed to interfere. That being said, never say never.

"That's reassuring."

Leopold finally relaxed and took a deep breath of the fresh air.

Then, his footsteps suddenly halted as he brought his hands closer to his face. A clicking sound repeatedly rang in the air.

Click— Click—

"What are you doing?"

"Ah, shit."

With an embarrassed look, Leopold lowered his hands and scratched the back of his head.

"I was trying to have a smoke, but I forgot we can't do that here."

"…."

Seriously?

Before coming here, I remember expressively reminding Leopold that he couldn't smoke lest he wanted to piss off the elves. I even took away his cigarettes in order to make sure he didn't. He was just that addicted.

Plus, with how nature oriented the elves were, any form of littering or smoking was a big no-no.

"Right, sorry."

Putting the lighter away, Leopold's face scrunched up a little.

Staring at him, I shook my head.

'He's already suffering withdrawal symptoms.'

The last time he smoked was not that long ago, maybe half a day? Just how addicted was he?

Shaking my head, I followed the rest of the group around the city.

Ignoring Leopold's progressively worsening face, we continued our tour of the city.

Most of the city was accessible to us apart from a few places, like the enormous building that stood in the middle of the lake.

Apparently, that place was where the elders held important discussions, and since we were not that important, we could not go there. That was probably where Douglas went.

"I wonder if we're going to be participating in the tournament…" Hein murmured from the side. It was audible enough for everyone present to hear.

"You want to participate?" Ava curiously lifted her head. "From what I've heard, we don't really need to participate."

"We don't," I replied with a nod.

"We've already proven our qualifications to the others, so, realistically speaking, we don't have to participate, but…"

"But?"

'Looks like everyone is interested.'

Seeing everyone stare in my direction, my lips tugged upwards.

"…but no one said we couldn't. I mean, if you guys want to participate, go. Do your thing. In fact, use this chance to see how much you guys have improved over the past month."

If there was one thing my group had an edge over all the other people their age participating in the tournament was true combat experience.

Sure, some might have a bit of experience fighting against demons and the like, but who could proudly say they had fought a war against a full-on attack from the demons and came out on top?

I don't think there are many.

"I heard that the winners from each respective age range will get quite a reward…"

'Oh right, there's that too.'

Snapping my head towards Hein, I grabbed his shoulder.

"Hein, remember how I told you that there's a way to cure your father?"

"You don't mean…?"

With my eyes locked onto Hein's, I nodded.

"Yes, one of the top prices for the tournament is in fact the elixir that can cure your father of his disability."

There were many prices granted to the top winner of the tournament, and if I didn't recall it wrong, one of them was the elixir that Hein could use to heal his father.

Honestly, with how much the dwarves favored us, there was a possibility of them giving it to us if we just asked, but that might result in the elves losing favourability with us.

Plus, this was a good way to motivate Hein into joining the tournament and even win.

It was time to finally let the world see just how talented he was.

"You're…not joking, right?"

Hein's voice sounded rather weak. Completely different from his usual deep and confident one.

'He must care a lot about his father.'

I thought with a smile before patting him on the shoulder.

"We've already signed a contract, why would I lie to you?"

"I se—"

Click— Click—

It was then that we heard a clicking sound coming from the side. When we turned our heads, we saw Leopold with his hand on his mouth, trying to light up a non-existent cigarette.

"Anyways, this is the opportunity that I promised you. It's up to you whether you will grasp it or no—"

"No, I will take it."

A resolute looked appeared on Hein's face as his fists clenched tightly.

"Having spent over a year with you guys, I had almost forgotten my one true goal, and that was to save my father…"

Hein said as the air around him changed. He gave out an aura of a man who was about to go to war.

'Looks like he's made up his mind.'

As long as Hein resolved the one knot that was tying him down, his family, his growth would reach a new, unprecedented level.

This was what I was waiting for.

"Well, I'm glad that y—"

Bang—

Mid way through my speech, my body crashed against something soft and hard.

"Ow."

Massaging my head, I slowly looked up. It appeared that I had bumped against Waylan.

"Hey, is everything okay?"

I was met with no response. Waylan stood motionless in the middle of the streets, prompting me to frown.

'Just what in the world…'

Sensing that something was wrong, I looked in the direction of where he was staring at.

"Ah…"

It was then that I let out a strange noise, as my face froze.

Walking on the opposite side of the street, far into the distance, was a certain group.

But that wasn't the reason for my reaction.

"…they're here."

***

"As I was saying, if we're going to meet each other during the tournament, I'm going to go all out and won't hold back."

Emma's energetic voice rang out.

Having crossed the bridge with the group and entering the city, once she got a close look at the place, Emma couldn't hide her excitement, curiously looking at everything like a newborn child.

"Oh wow, look at that!"

Taking out her phone, she snapped photos of the place.

Once she took enough pictures, Emma put her phone away.

"What was I saying again…?"

Trying to recall what she was trying to say before, Emma's brows knit, forming a frown.

"Ah, right!"

Then, hitting her right fist on the palm of her left hand, she turned to look at Amanda and Melissa with a challenging look on her face.

"If we meet each other in the tournament, don't expect me to hold back. I'll show you how much stronger I've gotten during the time we've not seen each other."

"I'm not fighting."

With a scornful look, Melissa took her glasses out and replaced them with sunglasses.

Squinting, Emma looked at Melissa and muttered out loud, "Those don't really fit you."

"As long as they do the job, it doesn't really matter."

Lowering her head and staring in Emma's direction, Melissa repeatedly nodded her head.

"Yup, yup, I can no longer see you."

It took a while for Emma to get her comment. Once she did, she shot a glare in Melissa's direction.

"It's obvious that you can still see."

"Who's talking? Is someone there?"

"You…"

"Please stop."

Before things got heated, Amanda decided to step in.

"Save this stuff for later when we're in private."

Fortunately, Amanda now had plenty of experience in handling these sorts of situations.

With her having an active role in her guild, she was well-versed in handling disputes amongst guild members.

She was also quite familiar with the two of them, so it wasn't that hard for her to calm Emma down.

"We're soon going to meet up with the others and—"

"Who are they?"

Amanda's footsteps came to a sudden halt. Emma's voice attracted her attention.

Turning her head, her eyes paused on a certain group in the distance who was, at the moment, looking at them as well.

"Are they looking at us?"

Emma turned her head left and right before her eyes paused on Amanda who nodded in affirmation.

"They are…"

Although they were quite far from each other, Amanda was able to get a good look at the people in the other group, and she could tell that the two of them were staring in their direction.

The two staring were people she had never seen before. One was a middle-aged man with dark gray hair and a goatee, while the other was a young man with light brown hair and green eyes.

'Why does he feel familiar?' Amanda thought, her eyes squinting.

That young man… He felt familiar. But, how? His demeanor reminded her of someone, but at the same time, it wasn't exactly the same.

There were differences.

Still, that nagging feeling continued to grow in Amanda's heart as she stared in their direction.

"Creep."

That was, however, disturbed by Emma's comments as she stared at the middle-aged man in the distance with a scornful look.

Turning her head, Amanda saw Emma visibly shiver as she took a step back.

"Ugh, I thought I was used to the stares, but when an old man stares at me like that, it's still creepy."

Paying close attention to Emma's words, Amanda turned her attention back towards the group in the distance.

"They're gone."

But they were already gone before she knew it.

"I'm glad they are."

Emma replied by the side, still visibly shaken by the experience.

"That guy's eyes were totally creepy. He was looking at me with—ukh, I'd rather not talk about it."

Shivering from cringe, Emma vented her frustration to Amanda.

"Did they also look at you like that?"

"I'm not sure," Amanda replied. She had been so distracted by their appearance that she had not seen the looks on their faces.

"They're probably from another group that came earlier. Anyway, let's go."

With her hands in her pocket and styling her sunglasses, Melissa followed the group.

Turning her head, Emma followed Melissa.

"I have to agree with you for once…"

Stopping next to Melissa, Emma tilted her head and asked, "Hey, are you not creeped out by what you just saw?"

"Someone talking to me?"

"You!"

Brushing her silky black hair behind her ear, Amanda's eyes continued to linger towards the previous spot where the humans stood.

'Strange…'

The more she thought about it, the stronger the familiar feeling she felt when looking at him grew.

It was starting to invade her mind, as she stood in a daze, trying to piece the puzzle together, but before she could do that, a voice called out to her. It was Emma.

"Amanda, are you coming or not…?"

Turning her head and seeing that the group was quite a distance away from her, taking one last glance at the previous spot, she followed the two.

"I'm coming."

Chapter 382: Meeting from afar [2]

Step— Step—

Walking through the city of Issanor, silence enshrouded our group as no one spoke. A somber and tense atmosphere enveloped the area around us.

"Pftt…"

The silence did not last for long, however, as a small laugh soon escaped from my mouth.

The instant my laugh sounded, Waylan shot a glare in my direction.

"You done?"

"Y…yeah…"

But that didn't help me in any way as my lips trembled even more. A memory sudden flashed inside of my mind and it wasn't long before I was unable to contain my laughter anymore and I laughed out loud.

"Hahhahaha."

Holding onto my belly, I laughed as I had never before. Tears slowly started to gather by the side of my eyes, as I couldn't help but slap my thigh.

"I can't believe she called you a creep and looked at you that way…hahaha, I can't."

The more I laughed, the darker Waylan's face became.

I of course knew my limits. Just when Waylan's face was about to explode, I raised my hands in defeat.

"Alright, alright, I'll stop…pfttt."

Unfortunately, I was unable to keep my face straight. Before long, another laugh escaped from my mouth and Waylan's face became even darker.

What was supposed to be an emotional cliche moment where Waylan would stare at his daughter with longing eyes from the distance, expressing his sorrow about his inability of not being able to meet her, turned into a moment where he was scorned and called a creep by her.

Recalling that moment, another laugh escaped from my lips as pity flashed across my eyes.

Obviously, Waylan was not pleased by the laugh as he venomously stared at me.

"Another word and you're done."

His threats may have worked on someone else, but as someone who had been with him for over a year, such threats were no longer effective.

Walking up to him I patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry too much. You should be happy instead."

"Happy?" Waylan raised his brow and coldly looked at me. "Why should I be happy about the fact that my daughter treated me like some sort of creep?"

"Because it means that you've taught her well."

"What?"

Taking my hand off of his shoulder, I explained.

"Well think about it, why in the world would she recognize you when you're wearing a mask to hide your features. Had she looked back at you with the same eyes as yours I'd be worried."

My words seemed to have some sort of effect on Waylan as he calmed down and logically thoughts things through.

Then, his shoulders slumped down in defeat.

"You're right…"

"Of course I'm right."

If I were in the same situation as he and Nola reacted differently, I'd start to worry.

'Actually, what if I was in Waylan's spot and Nola reacted the same way?'

As my thoughts paused there, I instantly started to realize what kind of pain Waylan was going through, and the pity I previously had for him turned into sympathy.

"…Still hurts that I was called a creep."

Once again placing my hand on Waylan's shoulder, I apologized.

"I'm sorry for laughing at you before. Now that I've thought things carefully, I can understand your pain somewhat."

Lifting his head up, Waylan turned to face me and our eyes met.

"Thank you…"

"Pftt, never mind."

Unfortunately, I was still unable to hold my laugh back as I took a look at his face and recalled the previous moment.

It was just too funny.

Smack—

Smacking my hand away, Waylan distanced himself from me.

"Dont talk to me."

"Oh come on, I was just messing around."

Following Waylan from behind, I tried to apologize, but all my words went to death ears as Waylan completely ignored me.

'This is nice.'

I thought with a smile as I followed him from behind. This was the first time in a while that I had a relaxed day without fighting or training.

Just these casual jokes helped me alleviate some of the mental burdens I was suffering from.

Even though I was no longer contracted with Angelica, and as such no longer had any demonic energy inside of my body, my mind was still broken. It was slowly healing...but the scars and traumas that I had gone through couldn't just be overwritten that easily.

If that was possible, I wouldn't need to worry about the frequent nightmares and thoughts that would haunt me from time to time.

It was moments like this where I could feel my mind slowly start to heal. Or at least, delude myself into thinking that.

I...was suffering.

"Huu..."

Exhaling deeply, I tried to calm my mind down and thought back to the previous meeting. Trying to distract my mind away from the dark thoughts.

'I'm also glad that they're doing fine.'

Soon, a serene smile appeared on my face.

Although I wasn't able to see them for long and was not able to get a clear look at them, just the fact that they looked to be doing fine lifted something off of my chest.

Especially Amanda, at first I thought that she was going to turn even colder than before, with everything that happened with her father and her guild, but seeing how serene and calm she looked, I felt relief.

Do they even still remember me? I had only known them for a year, and we hadn't spent much time together, but that one year was unreplaceable to me.

To them, I might just be another extra that had died along with the many others that died during their life, but to me, they were the first friends I had made in a very long time.

Even if they may have forgotten about me, I..I, .was really happy that they were doing fine.

"Ugh."

Rubbing my eyes, I tried to think of something else.

'I wonder where Kevin is? Since they were here, he must also be in the city, right?'

I already knew that the humans would be coming in batches, therefore, I wasn't worried that he wasn't coming.

'I'll see him soon.'

There were plenty of opportunities for me to meet with Kevin and the others. I may have missed this one, but there would always be a second.

"Hm?"

Snapping out of my thoughts, lifting my head, and staring at the others that had walked quite a fair distance away from me, I called out for them.

"Hey, wait up. Don't leave me behind."

Lightly pressing my foot onto the ground, I followed them from behind.

***

"You guys have finally made it."

Greeting Emma, Melissa, and Amanda in front of a large white building were Kevin and Jin who had just come out from their training session.

Leaning against one of the pillars of the building, Emma closely scrutinized Kevin. She then turned to face Jin.

"Did you guys just come out of training?"

"You can tell?"

"What do you think? You're soaked from top to bottom."

Lowering his head, Kevin looked at his shirt which had a huge sweat mark, and scratched his head.

"Guess you're right. Was supposed to be a light spar, didn't know we would get this sweaty."

"The smell is the worst part."

Melissa added from the side, taking off her sunglasses and staring at Kevin and Jin with a not so pleased look.

Listening to Melissa's words, stretching his white shirt, Jin sniffed it.

The same went for Kevin who mimicked Jin's movements.

"I'm not even going to say anything."

Staring at the duo, Melissa shook her head before she decided to head for her room.

"Don't disturb me for the next couple of days. Ive got important things to do."

Then, without waiting for anyone to say anything else, she directly left.

Once Melissa left, Emma took the opportunity to switch the topic.

"Kevin you won't believe what happened while we were coming here."

"Oh? What happened?"

An intrigued look appeared on Kevin's face.

"On our way here, we met another group of humans."

"You met another group?"

Kevin's brows knit at her words. Nodding her head, Emma continued.

"Yeah, I didn't count how many there were, but hear this, once we were passing with their group, a middle-aged man in the group suddenly leered in my direction."

Hugging her body, Emma's face cringed.

"Ugh, just recalling the way he looked at me sends shivers down my spine."

"Emma."

Kevin's serious voice snapped Emma out of her story. Staring at Kevin's face which was incredibly serious, Emma noticed that something was wrong.

"What's wrong?"

"Did you just say that you saw another group of humans?"

"Yes, I did."

Emma nodded. Then, her head snapped in Amanda's direction.

"You saw it too, right? They were humans for sure."

"They were."

Amanda softly replied. Her delicate face was also solemn.

Seeing the changes in Kevin's face, she knew that something was up at the moment.

Her previous feelings couldn't have been wrong.

Ba…thump…ba…thump.

Her heart started to beat faster as she thought of a possibility.

'It couldn't be him, right?'

For Kevin to react like that, there must be something, right?

His demeanor, and the way he carried himself…there was only one person that Amanda thought acted like that.

"Emma, that middle-aged man was probably your father."

But, pouring cold water into Amanda's thoughts was Kevin's voice as he revealed a shocking piece of news.

"E..eh?"

A weird noise came out of Emma's mouth as her face paled and she took a step back.

Halting her steps, Emma's face suddenly brightened up as she patted Kevin on the shoulder.

"Ah, ha, ha, I see what you did there, you must be joking. Nice joke."

Her strained laugh rang in the air.

"Hahaha, I didn't take you for a joker Kevin..."

Her facade quickly crumbled as soon as she saw how serious Kevin's face was.

"…haha, you're joking right?"

Her voice sounded even more strained. Kevin shook his head.

"I'm not joking. Apart from you guys, all the humans that have arrived should be in this building. They won't let anyone wander around until everyone has gathered."

Kevin paused.

"Didn't I tell you how your father was safe, and on a secret mission."

"…mhm."

Emma weakly nodded her head. Trying her best to process the information that Kevin was telling her.

"From what I know, he was on a secret mission in the dwarven domain, and from the rumors I've heard, there's a human group over here that came from the dwarven domain...."

"…ah."

Weakly leaning onto the side of the pillar, Emma's mouth trembled.

She wasn't stupid. She instantly understood what Kevin was trying to say, and it was because of this that all of a sudden, all of the energy drained out of her body.

"It can't be…is, he really…"

Tears started to gather by the side of her eyes. Visible relief and disbelief dyed her face as she tried to process what Kevin was telling her.

It wasn't long before her knees gave out and she stumbled onto the ground.

"Ha...dad.."

Walking up to her, Kevin kneeled down and patted her back.

"It's okay. He's finally here. He's not dead. "

Hearing Kevin's words, as if a dam had burst, Emma let go of all of her pent-up stress and tears started to stream down the side of her cheeks.

"I'm glad…I'm so glad…"

Staring at Emma from the side, Amanda turned her head slightly and secretly wiped the corner of her eyes.

Closing her eyes, she bit the bottom of her lips.

'Where are you father?'

It had been over three years since she had last seen him.

With the orb in her hand, she knew that he was fine, but the worry hidden within her was still there.

With no idea where he was and how he was doing, Amanda was only pretending to be strong on the outside.

Inside, she was just as fragile as she was when he first left her. Emma's current situation reminded her that her father was still out there, somewhere, fighting for his way back.

That being said, she was genuinely happy for Emma. Going through the same hardship she was going through, she could familiarise herself with her circumstances. She could feel the relief in her voice.

Breathing out, Amanda looked up at the sky.

'I miss you, father.'

Chapter 383: You remember me? [1]

Elven tear.

Some might call it a miracle drug. The item was something that the elves were highly famous for. It could practically heal all diseases regardless of their seriousness.

It could even bring back someone from the brink of death. That was how effective the elven tears were.

But of course, just like the name suggested, it could only be created by the elves, and even then, it wasn't like they could easily make them.

In fact, it was quite hard for them to make. Perhaps in the past, back when they still had the world tree at their disposal, creating miraculous elixirs like the elven tears might have been easy. But that was then, and this was now.

Times had changed, and each elven tear was incredibly valuable.

So valuable that it had created great havoc in the human domain once upon a time when someone managed to get their hands on one elven tear and decided to sell it.

At that time, it was sold to an anonymous bidder for a tremendous price of 2 billion U.

"I need it."

Sitting on his bed, Hein leaned forward and rested both of his arms on his legs.

'I need to get that elixir at all cost.'

A determined looked flashed across his handsome face as his fists clenched tightly.

Remembering the troubles his father had gone through while he was injured while trying to provide for both him and his siblings, an inexplicable feeling arose within Hein, prompting him to clench his fists even more tightly.

"According to what Ren said, the top ten winners will have the possibility of requesting any reward."

The prize didn't necessarily have to be the elven tears. There were many other items that were more valuable than the tears up for grabs for the winners, but for Hein, the tears were priceless.

He couldn't care less for the other prizes.

'Can I do it?'

Worry flashed across his eyes as he thought about the upcoming tournament.

He knew his limits, and he knew that he wasn't strong enough to be first. If Ren participated, he may as well kiss the chances of getting first place goodbye.

But tenth?

'I have to do it.'

After all the training that he had done in Henlour, Hein had confidence in his abilities. He no longer thought that the others were as scary as he once thought.

"Hm?"

Blinking a couple of times, Hein suddenly turned his head towards the right side of the room.

"Oh no."

Standing up from his bed, he rushed towards a particular wooden desk where a shield rested on top. A small black smudge appeared by the side of the shield.

"How did you get dirty again?"

Taking out a handkerchief from his dimensional space, Hein wiped the small smudge that was on top of his shield.

This clean freak attitude was something that he had developed back in Henlour when he was scolded by Malvil for not being careful enough with his shield.

'If I ever see a smudge on that shield, I will not give you a shield! Treat it as if it's your most prized possession! It's fine if it breaks from fighting a lot, but if you show me just how much you don't care about your shield, why should you bother asking to have one made for you?'

Those words deeply resonated with Hein, who understood the intent behind Malvil's words.

As such, from that point on, Hein literally did as Malvil said and treated his shield as though it was his baby.

And just like now, whenever the shield got dirty, Hein would immediately stop whatever he was doing and clean the shield.

His behavior annoyed Ava quite a bit as she would look at him the same way Angelica would look at Ren.

But Hein just couldn't help himself.

"There's another one over here."

Leaning his head to the side, Hein wiped another part of the shield.

***

"Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not. I called my own dad a creep."

Realization dawned on Emma after Kevin revealed to her the possibility of her father being present.

"You never know. That could also not be your father."

"What do you mean?"

Emma's head snapped upwards, prompting Kevin to raise both hands to try to calm her down.

"Calm down, all I'm saying is that they may have not been the group where your father came from. But, I wasn't lying when I said that there were a couple of humans from the dwarven domain."

"…Okay."

Lowering her head, Emma thought of something before mumbling softly.

"I don't understand."

Staring at Emma from the opposite side, Kevin didn't say anything.

He could tell what she was trying to say. If that was her father, why didn't he greet her and instead just look at her from afar?

Kevin already had an idea as to why, but it wasn't like he could share it with her.

It'd just increase her worries.

Lifting his head and staring at the tranquil, blue sky, Kevin's eyes closed.

'Since they're here, he should also be here. Emma did say that her father was in a group…'

And if he was part of the group, he must be aware of the fact that everyone was here.

Since he had not revealed himself yet, it meant that he was planning something. As such, after thinking for a bit, Kevin decided to let him be for now.

Of course, only for now. If the opportunity presented itself, he was definitely going to give Ren quite the beating.

'I wonder just how much stronger you've become ever since the last time we saw each other…'

Thinking along those lines, Kevin's lips curled upward.

"What are you thinking about?"

Snapping him out of his thoughts was Emma who had recovered somewhat from the news of her father's appearance.

Opening his eyes, Kevin shook his head.

"Nothing to worry about."

With a smile on his face, he extended his hand in Emma's direction.

"Now, what do you say we go tour the place?"

Lowering his head and checking his watch, Kevin continued.

"We've got a couple of hours before the sun sets."

"Sounds like a good idea."

Extending her hand and grabbing Kevin's, Emma slowly sat up straight.

***

It took a while to calm Waylan down, but once we managed to get back to our residences, his previous rage had pretty much calmed down.

Sitting on an oversized wooden chair, in a beautiful green garden that overlooked the entirety of the city from above, I took a deep breath of the fresh air.

'This is nice.'

Compared to Henlour where the air was stuffy, the air here was incredibly fresh. It helped me relax a lot.

"Say, you saw a couple of your friends. Why didn't you go greet them?"

Seated next to me was Waylan who also gazed into the distance with a serene look.

"Unlike me, you didn't need to hold back from seeing them."

Turning his head, Waylan crossed his legs.

"Why are you holding yourself back from seeing them?"

"I'm not."

Placing a hand over my face and removing the mask off of it, I locked my gaze into the distance.

"It's not that I don't want to meet them, it's that I couldn't at that moment."

"Couldn't?"

"Mhm."

I really did want to go meet them. I really did.

There was just one problem.

Aaron.

He was in the group.

When I saw him, I was surprisingly calm. I had originally expected to see myself going crazy at the sight of him but, surprisingly, I was able to remain cool-headed.

However, I was not sure if the same could be said for the next time I would see him.

Of course, if there was one thing I was sure about, it was the fact that the anger inside of my heart had still not disappeared.

I was calmer, but at the same time, the feelings of revenge had never died down.

Had I shown myself back then, Aaron would've most likely been shocked, and he would either prepare some sort of scheme to try to kill me again or become wary of me who had come back from the dead.

If that happened, doing anything to him would become that much harder.

I couldn't allow that to happen.

"I'm not sure about the details, but I don't think it's fair for you to keep your friends in the dark."

Waylan had a sagely look on the side. HIs look closely resembled Douglas's.

'Was he so lonely without Emma that he started to become more like Douglas?'

Placing both of my hands on the armrest of the chair, I propped my body up.

"Don't worry about it, I'm planning on meeting them in a couple of days. I just have to take care of one thing before I can meet them."

That problem was of course Aaron.

He needed to die.

For my sake, he needed to die.

"Where are you going right now?"

"I'm gonna go back to my room to get some proper rest."

"Planning on doing anything else one of these days?"

"Like stalk the others?"

Looks like I hit the nail on the head. The moment I said those words, a difficult look appeared on Waylan's face before he turned his head to the side and pretended to have not said anything.

"…"

"Yeah, I'm good."

Shaking my head, I headed back to my room. There were a couple of things I needed to get done in these few days before the ceremony would begin.

***

Issanor, unknown location.

Step— Step—

The sound of light footsteps echoed throughout a small room. Deep and robust roots embedded themselves by the side of the room, and an elegant figure slowly walked in.

With long and pure silver hair that cascaded down her smooth back, the elegant figure had pointed ears and an otherworldly face. Her looks were similar to that of a goddess.

She was the current elven queen of the elves on earth, Maylin Xiltris.

Not much was known about her except for the fact that she was quite young and had a pure elven bloodline, making her a terrifying existence.

The queen's feet soon came to a sudden halt.

Opposite her was a small wooden capsule, about the size of a car. Enshrouded by small roots and leaves, a tiny opening appeared inside of the capsule.

Placing her small delicate hand over the capsule, the queen leaned her forward slightly.

Peeking through the small gap of the capsule, a beautiful face appeared in the elven queen's vision. Its beauty did not lose to the queen.

But there was something different between her and the queen. She didn't have silver or blonde hair, a distinctive features elves had. Rather, she had silky black hair that extended all the way down her back.

In fact, her ears were not pointy either, but rather curved. Just like a human.

As the queen leaned forward, her silver hair slowly fell in front of her. Raising her hand, she brushed her hair behind her ear.

A subtle silence followed after, as the queen stared at the woman behind the capsule for a good minute.

"…They have arrived."

An airy and melodious voice echoed through the room as the queen finally opened her mouth, looking at the face behind the capsule while uttering those words.

A melancholic look appeared on the queen's face as she looked at the woman inside of the capsule.

"I owe you my life. Without you, I would've never have made it as far as I have now…"

Following her words, silence once again descended on the room.

There was a visible struggle on the queen's face as she looked at the sleeping woman. It was clear that whoever the woman behind the capsule was, she held a great important place in her heart.

Closing her eyes, the queen let out a long breath.

"I will definitely fulfill your request."

Chapter 384: You remember me? [2]

Four days later.

"Ugh, not this again."

My face darkened as I looked at myself in the mirror.

Wearing the same suit as when I met the other elders in Henlour, I once again struggled to tie my tie.

There were improvements, however.

Staring at my reflection in the mirror, turning around, and touching my tie multiple times, I nodded in satisfaction.

"It's not too bad."

Compared to last time, when I struggled quite hard to tie it, there were massive improvements.

Remembering how Douglas had tied my tie, I was somewhat able to mimic his movements. Thanks to that, I was able to somewhat do a good job. Was well satisfied with it.

Of course, it wasn't perfect, but it was better than nothing.

Staring at myself in the mirror and fixing my hair which was still quite long, my hand paused slightly.

'They should also be there…'

Kevin, and the others. I was finally going to see them properly.

This time, not from afar.

"Huu…"

Thinking about them, I let out a long breath.

'I guess it's time.'

After thinking things through, I decided to finally reveal myself to the others.

There was no point in hiding myself from the others. Sure, the high-ranking members of the Union were there, but it wasn't like they could instantly tell that I was 876.

With the chip disabled, it would be quite difficult for them to figure out who I was.

This was why I decided to stop pretending. Of course, I was only planning on revealing myself to them. Not the Union.

Despite the fact that the chip was now disabled, and there being no concrete evidence linking me to 876, there were still many loopholes in such thought.

For example, the last sighting of 876 was in the dwarven domain. I came out of the dwarven domain. 876 is a human, I am a human...there were just too many links for my comfort.

'It's too risky to expose myself completely.'

The more I thought about it, the more I realized just how much of a risk my exposure was, but…

'I'll still meet them.'

My mind was made, and I wasn't going to change it, even if the risks were there.

I just needed to be more careful.

Fixing my clothes, and reaching out for my mask by the side of the table, I pressed it against my face and my face soon morphed into that of someone else.

"But before that, I need to take care of something else…"

There was something very important that I needed to take care of before meeting with the others again.

***

"Hurry up, we're going to be late.

Emma's voice rang from below the residence as she looked up towards a certain window.

Ci Clank—

Opening the window of the room, Kevin leaned out of it and shouted.

"Give me a minute! I'm coming."

"Wha—"

Clank—!

Kevin closed the window before she could even speak. This obviously did not sit well for her as she Crossed her arms together, and pouted in dissatisfaction.

"How is he slower than me? It's not like he's putting on any makeup."

"Maybe it's his hair?"

"What hair? It shouldn't take this long to do his hair."

Emma snappily replied to Amanda who was standing beside her. She was currently wearing a beautiful black dress that sparkled under the veil of the moonlight, perfectly outlining her curves.

Most notable about her was her hair, which was being held by a small pin, exposing her slender neck.

"Hmmm…"

Squinting her eyes, Emma leaned forward to take a closer look at Amanda.

"Now that I take a closer look, it's the first time that I've seen you with your hair tied. It suits you."

"Thank you."

Amanda replied with a smile.

"I'm serious, you look really beautiful," Emma circled Amanda multiple times before placing her hand on her chin and muttering. "Maybe I should try it as well…"

Gli Clank—

It was then that the both of them heard the sound of a door closing. What followed after was Kevin's apologetic voice.

"Sorry for the wait. I was having trouble putting on the suit."

"Took you long enough."

Melissa commented from the side. Wearing a pale yellow one-piece dress, Melissa leaned by the side of the residence.

It was rare for Melissa to not wear any glasses, and today, for the first time in a while, she decided to wear contacts, exposing her beautiful crystal clear eyes that sucked one in if they stared at them for too long.

At the moment, she looked pretty annoyed as her brows were slightly knit a frown. But at the same time, she always looked annoyed. This was probably why no one paid much attention to her words.

Walking down the stairs and arriving before the others, Kevin looked around before saying.

"Looks like everyone is here, shall we get going?"

Checking the time on her watch, Emma replied with a nod.

"We should, or we'll end up being late."

"Okay."

And so, once Emma's words faded everyone headed towards where the ceremony was being held.

But just as they had taken a few steps, Kevin suddenly recalled something and his footsteps came to a sudden halt.

"Wait, what about Jin?"

"…"

"…"

"…"

Following his words, everyone stopped walking and an awkward silence enveloped the group.

It was only after a couple of seconds that Emma finally opened her mouth.

"Eh…I kind of forgot he was coming…or rather, forgot about his existence."

***

The location where the ceremony was being held was in the enormous white building in the middle of the lake.

Apparently, that was the only place that could host the event. The sheer number of attendees was far too many for a simple building to contain.

It was supposed to be the place where only the high-ranking elven members stayed, but they made a special exception this time, just for the ceremony.

"All done?"

"Yeah."

Fixing my suit, I met up with Douglas in front of my residence.

Besides him were the others who also were dressed in formal clothes.

Even Ryan was there. He looked quite uncomfortable with a suit, but whenever he tried to complain, Smallsnake would elbow him from the side.

"Your clothes are all wrinkly."

"It's fine, it's fine. Stop pestering me."

Quite a comical sight if I had to say.

The only one that was missing was Angelica. This was mostly her choice, but it was also the most appropriate one as she was a demon.

She may have helped the dwarves back in Henlour, but that didn't mean that the orcs and elves still fully trusted her. Perhaps some could trust her, but many were still against the idea of keeping a demon close to them.

It also had to be noted that this was for her safety too. Since Angelica had helped the dwarves, she was considered a traitor to the demons. We managed to hide this back in Henlour, but the same couldn't be said in the elven domain.

Exposing her too much would only be detrimental to her safety.

"Is there anyone missing?"

Douglas asked, looking around.

Wearing a different suit compared to the one that he wore back in the dwarven domain, Douglas still looked as imposing as before.

In fact, he looked even more imposing than last time.

Shaking my head, I replied.

"No, I think everyone is here."

"Did you forget anything?"

Patting my suit, I shook my head.

"No, I have everything with me.

"Okay then, we may leave now."

Turning around, Douglas headed towards the lake in the faraway distance.

Matching his pace, I walked beside him.

"Have you met with the others yet?"

"You mean with Donna and Monica?"

It had been a while since I had last seen him. Since the time we split up when we first arrive. I was genuinely curious if he had met up with the others yet.

"Yeah."

"No, not yet." Douglas shook his head."I've been too busy attending meetings with the others that I had no time to look for them."

Douglas's eyes suddenly focused on the enormous white building in the distance that was becoming clearer by the minute.

"The both of them should already be aware of my presence. I'll meet them at the ceremony."

"You don't look that nervous…"

Pausing, I turned my head and looked at Waylan who was quietly following us from behind.

Wearing a skin mask, he looked to be in his own thoughts.

A look akin to a soldier that was about to embark on a long war appeared on his face. Quite frankly, he looked quite haggard.

'Looks like he didn't get much sleep, huh?' I muttered in thought, before turning my attention back to Douglas and pointing at Waylan behind me.

"…at least not compared to him."

"Haha." Douglas let out a small chuckle. "The difference between the two of us is that I'm not worried about Donna and Monica making any attempts on my life."

"Hee, Emma won't go that far."

Or, at last, she won't be able to...right?

"His looks say otherwise."

"Maybe you're right, but he deserves it. "

Our conversation continued for the rest of the way and it wasn't long before we arrived at the edge of the lake of Issanor.

"Wow."

I muttered underneath my breath as I looked at the lake in the distance.

It was currently nighttime in Issanor, and the moonlight gently shone above the surface of the crystalline lake. As the water rippled, faint sparkles of light appeared on the surface of the lake, mimicking the stars in the sky.

It was a breathtaking sight.

Staring at the opposite side of the lake, where the building was, my brows knit.

"How do we cross the lake?"

"There are boats over there."

Replying to my question, Douglas pointed toward the right where multiple wooden boats appeared.

It was only after Douglas had pointed them out for me that I realized they were boats. The reason why I was unable to see them was because they were quite far in the distance.

Turning his wrist, Douglas checked the time. Then, without further ado, he headed for the boats in the distance.

Naturally, we all followed him from behind.

***

At the same time, not far from where Ren was.

Standing at the edge of the boat, Emma gazed into the distance. Turning her head towards the end of the boat where an elf calmly stood, she turned to look towards the others.

"Doesn't this remind you of Nuova Roma?"

"Nuova Roma?"

A look of contemplation appeared on Kevin's face.

"Are you talking about the Italian city?"

"Yeah."

"Oh? What about it?"

Emma pointed at the boat.

"When I was looking for a place to tour, I remembered checking a couple of cities and Nuova Roma had something similar to this. According to the history, they were trying to create something similar to Venice, an old Italian city that was wiped away after the first cataclysms. They had similar boat rides over there."

"Interesting, I didn't know that."

"Yeah, yeah, what's mor—"

To— Tok—

Halting Emma mid-speech was a low knocking sound. The sound was a bit softer than when knocking on a door.

"We've arrived."

Following the knocking sound, the elf that stood at the back finally opened his mouth and his crisp and melodious voice entered the ears of everyone present.

Tak—

Then, the boat came to an abrupt halt.

"Wow!"

Emma who was caught off guard almost fell off the boat. Amanda who was quietly sitting down calmly stood up and Kevin who was next to Emma helped her rebalance herself.

"Thanks."

Hopping off the boat, Emma looked back at Kevin and thanked him.

"…whew."

Wiping her forehead, she then turned to look at the building in the distance where multiple figures could be seen slowly entering.

Unable to contain her excitement, Emma went ahead of the others.

"Let's go!"

Chapter 385: You remember me? [3]

Stepping into the building, an amazing scene presented itself before my sight.

A sweet fragrance instantly invaded my nostrils as I took a step into the building. The hall was bathed in the hues of nature, a story told in strong browns and forest greens, making one feel close to nature itself. It was the kind of space that let the calm rise and breathe.

Walking around the venue, orcs, elves, dwarves, and humans appeared everywhere. There were even quite a few familiar faces that I had not seen in a while.

Han Yufei for example.

I had not seen him ever since leaving the Lock, and judging from the aura that he gave off, he had gone through quite the improvement over the years.

"Douglas!"

It wasn't even long before we walked into the building that a high-pitched voice sounded in the air. Following which, like a bullet, something shot in Douglas's direction.

"Calm down Monica."

But before the 'thing' could even get close to Douglas, raising his hand, the 'thing' came to an abrupt halt revealing the features of a beautiful girl with orange-colored hair. It was Monica.

Staring at Douglas with her big eyes, she raised her hands and tried to hug him.

But as if there was an invisible in front of her, she was blocked. Stopped her a few meters away from Douglas.

"Oh come on, we haven't seen each other for so long!"

Monica complained as she calmed down. Putting her hands on her lips, she pouted in annoyance. Her reaction prompted a smile to appear on Douglas's face.

He then looked around the hall.

"There is a time and place for that kind of stuff Monica. Now, as you can see is not the right time."

"Hmph."

Monica snorted and turned her head.

"You're still the same as back when I used to teach you."

Douglas merely smiled at her antics. He knew just how she was.

Recalling something, he suddenly asked.

"By the way, I don't see Donna anywhere?"

"Donna?"

"Mhm."

Turning around, Monica squinted her eyes.

"Mhh, she was just here with me. I can't see her anywhere." Looking around for Donna, Monica eventually shrugged her shoulders. "She's probably with Amber, can't seem to see her."

A look of understanding appeared on Douglass's face.

"That's right, I remember. You, Donna, and Amber were inseparable back in the academy days. It's nice that you guys are still so close."

"Well, we see each other a lot less because of w—hm?"

Abruptly halting her words, Monica's head snapped in my direction and our eyes met.

Blinking a couple of times, and cocking her head towards her right and left, her eyes suddenly opened wide.

Raising her hand, she pointed it in my direction.

"Yo—"

"Shhhh."

But before she could say anything, putting his finger on his mouth, Douglas shook his head. Indicating to her to not say anything.

Blinking a couple of times, Monica raised and lowered her hand multiple times before she let out a long breath and calmed herself down.

Then, turning her head towards Douglas, with a curious look on her face, she pointed in our direction, more precisely, mine, and asked.

"So, who are they? New disciples of yours?"

"Well…you can say so."

As he said those words I suddenly felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning my head, I realized it was Douglas.

With a smile, he patted my shoulders.

"At least he is."

"Oh, nice, nice, I was once your disciple so you can say that I'm their senior."

Monica slowly walked in my direction. Stopping right in front of me, and realizing that she was as tall as my shoulders, she looked up slightly.

A smile appeared on her face.

To the others, it looked like an innocent smile, but to me, who was being subjected to it, I could feel the malice hidden in it.

'This doesn't look too good.'

She definitely recognized me, didn't she? I took a step back.

With her hands behind her back, she leaned her body closer in my direction.

"So you must be Douglas's new disciple, right?"

I took another step back.

But that didn't seem to work, as with each step back I took, she would match my tempo and take a step forward.

It wasn't long before she arrived before me and placed her hand on my shoulder. Once she did, a brilliant smile appeared on my face.

"So very nice to meet you."

"Ukh."

I suddenly let out a pained groan.

"Oh my, what's going on here?"

Monica cocked her head to the side with an innocent look on her face. Her hand still pressed on my shoulder, squeezing my collar bone tightly.

"You seem to be in pain. Perhaps Douglas has been overworking you, hasn't he?"

"R…right…"

I struggled to reply as the pain in my collar bone intensified.

Fortunately, Monica did not hold for long as she soon released her grip. With her hands behind her back, she twirled around.

"Well, I'm glad you're doing okay, and…"

Halting her steps, she mumbled something softly. It was almost inaudible, but with my now improved hearing, I could make out her words.

"Thank you…thank you for last time."

Right after saying those words, she waved goodbye to Douglas and joined the other people in the hall.

Staring at her disappearing back, I touched my shoulder and muttered.

"That hurt."

I was lucky that she didn't mean to seriously injure me. Still hurt though.

As I was massaging my collar bone, I suddenly heard Douglas's voice from the side.

"She seems to care a lot for you."

"Doesn't look like it to me."

Did she really? My collar bone says otherwise.

"Hahaha"

Douglas chuckled slightly.

"I know that girl too well. If she really didn't care about you, she would've never have expressed her emotions like that. She may be childish, but the only reason why she acted like that with you is because she's comfortable enough with you to do that."

"If you say so."

Actually, I didn't need to be told by Douglas to know this. Her expression and words at the end were enough for me to understand this much.

Brushing my hair up, I looked at Douglas and my expression turned serious.

"Those matters aside, regarding the thing I asked…"

"I have."

Douglas solemnly replied back. His voice sounded extremely serious.

Closing his eyes for a brief moment, he turned to look at me.

"Ren, although I've done what you've asked of me...I want to ask you to not cross the line. If you cross the line, the consequences would be dire for you even if I try to help you."

"Relax," I reassure Douglas. "I know my limits. I won't go as far as you think I will."

Squinting his eyes and taking a closer look at me, trying to read my intentions, I stared back at him. Taking a deep breath, I once again tried to reassure Waylan.

"Trust me. I won't go as far as you think I will."

"…Okay, you have half an hour."

Douglas eventually relented and nodded his head. A brilliant smile appeared on my face as soon as I heard his words.

"Thank you."

Lowering my head and bidding goodbye to the others, I fixed my clothes and headed deeper into the building.

Once I was far enough from them, lowering my head and walking through the hall, I thought back at the conversation with Douglas.

'It won't count as a lie if I plan on crossing the line far into the future?'

All I did was promise Douglas that I wouldn't cross the line today, but I never said I wouldn't do it in the near future.

After all, I planned on taking my sweet time for what I was about to do.

***

Staring at Ren's slowly disappearing back, Douglas's face turned even more solemn. He then opened his mouth.

"What do you think?"

"He's mind is unstable."

Waylan replied from the side. A similar look to Douglas appeared on his face.

With his hands in his pockets, he muttered.

"I don't think he will be able to hold back."

"I think the same. I'm worried he will do the exact thing he told me he won't do, should I cancel?"

"No."

Waylan shook his head.

"He needs to overcome the demons in his mind. If we stop him, it'll only aggravate his mind. Ill go take a look at him."

"You will?"

"Yeah, just so that he doesn't end up doing something stupid."

"That would be ideal."

Douglas replied. His face finally relaxing.

"With you watching him, I won't need to worry about him doing anything out of or—hm?"

Douglas suddenly stopped speaking. Squinting his eyes and staring into the distance, a surprised look appeared on his face.

"...Maybe you won't have to interfere after all."

***

In another part of the hall.

Taking a sip of a drink that was inside of an elegant glass cup, Kevin smacked his lips together.

"This tastes pretty good."

The liquid inside of the cup was pale yellow in color; it had a honey-like scent that sweetly diffused in the air.

Staring at the drink in his hands, Kevin turned to his right where Emma was. Behind her, were the others who were looking at her with a mix of confusion on their faces.

"You're still looking for him?"

"Yeah."

Emma bluntly replied, her eyes darting all over the hall. It was clear that she was looking for someone.

'I should help her.'

Kevin took another sip of the drink. He understood just how much Emma was missing her father, and he had the right skill to help her.

[[C] Inspection.]

A skill that enables user to inspect an object or individual.

It was a skill he purchased from the system shop, back in his third year of the Lock. Right before he was going on a field trip to the Clayton ridge.

It was a pretty powerful skill. One that enabled Kevin to see the names of everyone present.

He could also see their stats, but that required a tremendous amount of mana. The stronger they were, the more mana he needed.

Turning to face Emma, Kevin asked.

"What's the name of your father again? Was it Oliver?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Just curious."

Taking note of her father's name, Kevin activated his skill.

'Inspection.'

He muttered in his mind as small name screens suddenly started to appear on the top of each individual present.

There were quite a lot of people, and so it was quite difficult for Kevin to go through the names of each person present. Fortunately, since he was looking for humans, he was able to narrow down a lot of his search.

'Oliver Roshfield…Oliver Roshfield…Ol—mh?'

Kevin suddenly paused.

Blinking a couple of times, his pupils suddenly shrank as his eyes locked onto a certain individual in the distance.

Quietly passing through the hall, the individual had brown hair and green eyes. He looked quite ordinary, someone that you wouldn't remember after seeing once. This was someone that Kevin had never seen before, but…

[Ren Dover]

Staring at the top of the individuals and seeing the name, Kevin's heart quickened.

"E…excuse me."

Forgetting everything, Kevin headed in the direction of where he saw Ren. His speed increased with each step he took.

"Kevin?"

Emma called out from behind as she noticed Kevin's odd behavior. She wasn't the only one that noticed this as Jin, Amanda, and Melissa all frowned.

"Excuse me, excuse me."

Ignoring the others, Kevin continued to rush in the direction of where Ren was going. His eyes locked onto his back. He was here.

"Excu—ukh."

Pushing through the crowd, Kevin suddenly bumped against something hard.

"Ah, sorry."

Lifting his head and seeing that the individual was an orc who shot a glare in his direction, Kevin quickly apologized. Stepping to the side, Kevin's footsteps came to a sudden halt.

'Where is he?'

Frantically looking around, Kevin looked for the browned hair individual from before, but no matter how much he looked, he couldn't find him.

"Fuck, where did he go?"

Chapter 386: You remember me? [4]

At the same time.

Aaron calmly walked around the venue with a glass cup in his hand.

His brows were locked into a tight frown as he looked at a small letter in his hand.

The first thing he thought as he stared at the letter was, 'Why would they give this to me?'

He was merely drinking and trying to make as many connections as possible when suddenly one of the elven workers handed him the letter.

It was apparently from one of the higher ups. Dwarven elders to be exact. Their comments were rather vague, but in short, they wanted to arrange a meeting with him.

'What exactly do they want from me?' Aaron wondered, taking a sip of his drink.

"…maybe they've heard about the product my guild is making."

A sudden thought occurred to him.

Lowering his head, he looked at his smartwatch. Tapping onto it, he looked through a series of files on his watch.

[Project - Nolon]

[Project - Convention467]

[Project - β98]

[Project - Rentolv]

On his watch was a list. A list of projects that his guild was working on behind the scenes.

Being the number one guild in Lewington city, one of the four great cities, their guild invested in many side projects. This was just what guilds did.

Staring at the list, Aaron's finger soon paused on a certain file.

[Project α-12]

Project detail : Automated machine.

Time of operation : 12 minutes, 09 seconds.

Capabilities : D rank.

Licking his bottom lip, Aaron had a sudden look of enlightenment.

'They must be curious about this.'

He had been worried over nothing. The reason why the dwarves wanted to meet with him had to do with this. Project α-12, one of their latest projects and something that they had been working on for over a decade.

The project idea was simple, create an automated artifact that would act on its own and kill monsters without the need of sending actual heroes. Sort of like a golem.

It was a project in which they had invested billions and billions of U. It was still in the testing phases but without a doubt, it was something that would revolutionize the world once it got out.

Most likely, one of the elders from his guild leaked the contents of the project to one of the dwarven elders in hope of catching their interest.

'I'm sure it's this.' A smirk appeared on Aaron's lips. Folding the letter neatly, he quietly placed it inside of his pocket before heading for the back exit of the building.

Even if it wasn't because of the project, Aaron wasn't suspicious of the contents of the latter.

After all, he didn't think anyone would have the balls to plan something against him when he was so close to so many elites. His death would definitely be a sign of incompetency from them, as well as a declaration of war on the humans.

'According to the letter, I should have no problem exiting the building.' Aaron lightheartedly thought as he followed the instructions written in the letter.

It wasn't long before he arrived at the back door exit of the building where an elven guard stood.

Standing with his back straight, the elven guard stared up ahead. An imposing presence emanating from his body.

Rummaging through his pocket, Aaron showed the elf the letter.

"Here, I've been told to go out of this place."

Lifting his head and staring at Aaron, the elf wordlessly took the letter in his hands and gave it a quick scan before giving it bank.

Ci clank—

Following which, extending his hand, he opened the door for Aaron who quietly got out.

Throughout the whole exchange, the elf never spoke a single word to Aaron, but he didn't seem to care as he also didn't talk back to him and quietly exited the building.

"Haaa…"

Once he got out, Aaron let out a long breath. He felt a lot more relaxed.

Since the elf had taken his letter and accepted it, it must mean that the contents of it were legitimate. He no longer needed to worry about it being a sham.

Wooosh—

As he took a step outside of the building, a fresh nightly breeze brushed past him as his clothes and hair fluttered. Around him were a lot of trees, making it hard for him to see ahead.

'What next?'

Glancing around the place and only seeing trees, Aaron licked his lower lip.

Taking out the letter and taking a good look at it, his head tilted sideways.

"Go straight?…Okay."

And so Aaron headed deeper into the forest. Not an inkling of worry was displayed on his face as he followed the directions indicated in the letter.

Rustle—

It was then that out of nowhere a rustling sound rang from next to him. Snapping his head in the direction of where the sound came from, Aaron saw the silhouette of a figure in the distance.

Because it was dark, it was hard for Aaron to make out the features of the silhouette, but staring at its outline in the distance, Aaron could tell that it was not a dwarf. It was simply too tall to be a dwarf.

But he was still not worried. With a relaxed tone, he called out for the figure.

"Hey, are you the guy that I'm supposed to meet?"

His tone was polite, but the narcissism and pride behind it could not be hidden.

"You're here to meet me right?"

Lifting his head and staring at the greenery, he muttered.

"Im not exactly sure as to why you want to meet me here, but here I am."

Rustle— Rustle—

Once Aaron's words faded, the silhouette slowly walked forward, and Aaron, who was paying close attention to it, suddenly frowned.

'Doesn't he look like a human?' He thought as his eyes squinted. Trying to get a better look at the features of the silhouette.

He wasn't as big as an orc, nor did he have pointy ears like an elf. The more he stared at the silhouette the more Aaron was sure that it was a human.

"….hm?"

It didn't take long for the silhouette to come out from the bushes as its features were soon revealed for Aaron to see.

Brown hair, emerald-colored eyes, and rounded ears. As he had suspected, he was a human.

"Who are you?" Aaron asked, the frown on his face deepening.

An ominous feeling suddenly enshrouded him as the figure just stared at him without saying anything. Aarons's muscles tensed, reading himself for combat at any moment.

"Are you mute or somethin—"

"Yes, I'm here to meet you."

Cutting Aaron off, the figure suddenly spoke. His calm and collected voice echoed throughout the area around him.

Listening to the words, Aaron finally calmed down and a smile returned to his face.

"Ah, I see. That's good. You weren't speaking so—hm?"

Midway through his sentence, Aaron suddenly stopped speaking.

That was because the figure suddenly did something completely unexpected.

Placing his hand on his face, the figure slowly clenched his hand and ripped something off of his face, revealing two distinctive blue-colored eyes that were as deep as the ocean.

His black hair slowly fell onto his shoulders, and a serene look appeared on his face. But the serene look did not last for long; what replaced it was a cold and indifferent one. Standing beneath a tree, half of his face was obscured.

'What's going on?…he looks familiar.'

Blinking a couple of times, trying to comprehend what was going on, Aaron tilted his head.

It was then that the figure suddenly took a step forward and his face became clearer to see for Aaron as the moonlight shone directly onto his face.

The moment Aaron was able to get a clear look at the figure, his body froze.

Coldly looking at Aaron from the other side, the figure softly said.

"You remember me?"

***

"Fuck, where is he!"

Kevin shouted in frustration. His voice was quite loud, gathering the attention of the people around him.

Realizing what he had done, Kevin bowed slightly.

"Huuu."

Letting out a long breath, he lowered his head and walked away.

He was walking in the direction of where he had last seen Ren. He only missed him for a split second, he was bound to be close, no?

'Ren, Ren, Ren…no, no, no.'

Blinking a couple of times, Kevin looked at the names of everyone present, in hopes of finding Ren. But regardless of where he looked, he was unable to see Ren at all. Just where could he have gone?

'There's no way he made it that far, he should still be within my visible range,' Kevin tiptoed to get a better look at what was ahead, but all he saw were an endless amount of people.

"How could I have missed him?"

He muttered out loud with a voice filled with frustration.

"Are you looking for Ren?"

Just when he was about to give up, he suddenly heard a calm voice from behind.

"Who?"

Startled, Kevin snapped in the direction of where the voice came from. Kevin's eyes soon paused on an old man who was looking at him with keen eyes.

He appeared to look like a regular old man, but the moment Kevin observed him through the inspection skill, he felt an overbearing pressure bear down on him, prompting him to quickly turn off his skill.

With a calm smile on his face, The old man opened his mouth.

"Are you Kevin?"

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Kevin nodded his head.

"Yes…yes, I am."

The old man looked familiar, but Kevin did not know where he had seen him before. He just remembered having faint recollections of seeing him before.

He didn't know why, but as Kevin looked at the old man before, he felt that he had to answer him truthfully.

Stroking his beard, the old man, who was none other than Douglas, opened his mouth.

"You're looking for Ren aren't you?"

"…ah."

Kevin did not know what to say. How did the old man before him know what he was looking for? Was he somewhat related to Ren?

Kevin nodded his head again.

"Yes."

"Over there."

Douglas pointed towards the distance. His calm and serene voice gently traveled through Kevin's ears.

"If you're looking for Ren, he's gone through the back exit of the building. You don't need to worry about exiting, I've already told the guards that a group of humans will be going out."

"A group of humans?" Kevins's head titled. But before he could ask the old man more questions, a voice sounded from behind.

"Kevin! There you are?"

"…what are you guys doing here?"

It was Emma and the others. Everyone was here.

"What do you mean what are we doing here? You were previously causing a scene."

Leaning forward, Emma looked up at him. Worry flashed across her face.

"You okay?"

"…ah, yes."

Kevin took a step back and pushed Emma away slightly.

Shaking his head and clearing his mind, Kevin remembered why he was here and turned his head to where the old man was previously standing.

"Huh?"

But the moment he turned his head, the old man that was previously there was long gone.

"Kevin are you okay?"

"Yeah…yeah….I think so."

Absentmindedly nodding his head, Kevin turned to stare in the direction of where the old man pointed at.

"…I've got something to do."

"Something to do?"

"Yeah…"

Without paying more attention to Emma, Kevin headed for the exit in the distance.

"Wait up."

Emma followed after him. After her, Amanda also followed. She had a pensive look on her face. As though she had an idea of what was going on.

Then, after them, it was Jin and Melissa.

It wasn't long before they all arrived at the exit of the building where an elf stood. But before they could even say anything, the elf merely opened the door to let them out.

Ci Clank—!

Chapter 387: Broken [1]

"You remember me?"

A chill ran down Aaron's spine as he heard those words. Those indifferent and cold eyes, menacingly staring at him from a few meters away…and that familiar face. A face he thought he would never see again.

"I…impossible…"

Aaron muttered, pointing in the direction of where the other person stood. His hands shook slightly. Still unable to process what was happening before him.

"You should've been dead!"

He said out loud as he took a step back.

"How is possible? I've watched you die…You can't be alive!"

A crazed look flashed in his eyes as he recalled the day of the incident, around three years ago when he used his ability to swap with him. He saw him get engulfed by the flames, it should've been impossible for him to have survived that kind of impact.

It was impossible

"Why would I be dead?"

Ren cocked his head to the side, unmoving from his spot.

"Y..you…y…"

Aaron opened and closed his mouth multiple times, seemingly struggling to find the right words to say. But regardless of how much he wanted to speak, no words came out of his mouth. The shock was too much for him.

For a brief moment of time, his eyes just focused on the figure before him. The figure that should've been dead.

"Huuuu…"

'I need to calm down.'

But the shock did not last for long as letting out a long breath, Aaron forced himself to calm down. He had been trained for incomprehensible situations such as these, and thus he knew best that he had to remain coolheaded.

Losing his mind at the moment would not benefit him in the slightest.

And so, lifting his head up and staring at Ren right in the eyes, he coldly muttered.

"I don't know how you are alive...but it doesn't matter."

Turning his head and staring at the building in the distance, calmness returned to his face.

"You think you'll be fine if you do anything to me? You forget who is inside of that building?"

The edges of his lips curled upward. Confidence rose in his voice, as he realized that Ren couldn't do anything to him.

The situation was strange. For Ren to have been able to get some people to lead him here, he definitely must've asked a few favors, but that didn't really matter. He knew just how valuable his life was, and his death would only lead to his eventual death.

Aaron clicked his tongue multiple times.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, you should've stayed dead. Now that I know that you're alive, I'll do anything within my power t—"

Bang—

With a loud bang, Aaron's vision suddenly went dark as he felt a tremendous impact on his head.

The air was knocked out of his lungs, and a forced sound escaped from his lips.

"Uahk!"

An iron-like taste lingered inside the back of his mouth as his head throbbed.

'…what happened?' Aaron wondered to himself as his mind became clearer.

Everything happened too fast for him to understand what had happened.

It was only after his vision returned and he saw a large hand in front of him that he finally understood that he had been smacked against the ground.

"Get up."

A cold voice entered his ears. Lifting his head up, he saw Ren standing a few meters away from him. His deep blue eyes locked onto him from the distance.

"Khhh.."

Aaron gritted his teeth.

'…I was just caught off-guard.'

It had to be that. If he wasn't caught off guard, he would've never been taken down.

How could he lose? Ren was someone that he had already defeated. Plus, he had not been slacking during the time the incident happened. He was miles stronger than most people his age. How could someone like Ren, whom he had already defeated in the past manage to knock him down? He definitely just caught him off-guard.

Yes, it had to be that.

Aaron repeatedly reassured himself. His confidence slowly rose back

With his hands behind him, Aaron slowly stood up. As he stood up, his eyes never left Ren who was standing opposite him.

It wasn't long before Aaron was once again standing.

SHIIIING— SHIIIING—

Taking a pair of daggers from his dimensional space, Aaron took a stance and Ren once again spoke.

"Come at me. Show me how much you've improved."

Ren's posture seemed rather leisurely and his facial expression unchanging. Seemingly treating this brief exchange as nothing worth his eyes.

'Is he looking down on me?'

Wiping the corner of his mouth, Aaron looked at his finger where he saw a smear of blood. His fists clenched into a fist.

Then, without saying anything else, pressing his toes into the ground he appeared right behind Ren.

'See if you can keep up with my speed.'

Twisting his torso, he swung his dagger towards Ren's temple area. His movement was so fast that it left after-images behind.

Swoosh—

But just as the dagger was about to hit Ren in the temple, Ren's eyes flickered slightly and he leaned his head back.

"Huh."

All Ren did was a simple movement, there was nothing special about it, but Aaron's attack, which was going at speeds faster than a bullet, shockingly missed completely. Landing in the grass, Aaron looked behind him where Ren stood. His eyes opened wide in shock.

"That's it?"

Two words.

Ren only said two meager words, yet when Aaron heard them, it felt as though two thunderbolts had struck his mind, sending him into a daze.

'H...how?'

Clenching his teeth, Aaron stared at Ren who was standing before him before he suddenly burst into a fit of laughter. A crazed looked flashed in his eyes.

"Haha, fine, fine. I'll show you something you won't be able to dodge."

Pressing his foot onto the ground, a low 'bang' sounded as Aaron jumped in the air. Then, as he was in mid-air, Aaron proceeded to twist his body into a spiral. His two cold daggers shone underneath the moonlight.

It was then that his eyes locked on Ren and he smirked.

'Swap.'

Fwop—

The mana inside of Aaron's body suddenly drained and his body disappeared, reappearing right in the spot Ren was standing.

Following this, Ren appeared in the air, where Aaron previously was. That's right, Aaron had just used the skill responsible for causing everything.

Using the momentum he had accumulated from the spin, as soon as he reappeared, Aaron threw both daggers in his direction.

Xiu! Xiu!

Like unstoppable missiles, the two daggers split the air apart with a low 'bang', breaking the sound barrier.

The daggers then arrived before Ren in a matter of seconds. They were so fast that it was as though they had teleported before him.

"Hap!"

Letting out a low cry, Aaron forcefully stopped his body and planted both of his feet on the ground. Lifting his head, he stared at Ren.

But…

Clank— Clank—

Raising his hand, Ren merely grabbed the two daggers with his hands, from the sharp side as blood spilled from his hands. Then, with a low 'thud', he softly landed on the ground and threw the daggers away.

Lifting his head, Ren looked at Aaron.

"Disappointing."

He muttered.

"W…what."

Aaron took a step back.

'How did he stop that?'

Aaron's mind blanked, and his heart started to race uncontrollably.

That attack he had just used was one of his strongest moves. Not many individuals could stop that move as the speed of the daggers were just too much for people to stop.

He believed that when someone was at least in the <A> rank they could stop it. But how was he able to stop it?

'It can't be…'

Fear finally started to set as realization suddenly dawned on Aaron.

The man before him was far stronger than he was.

Once Aaron realized this, without hesitation, he turned around and tensed his legs. He was going to make a run for it.

'Fuck it, as long as I get back into the building nothing will happen to me.'

He was confident in his speed.

So long as the others were made aware of his presence he wouldn't have to worry about the man before him.

'In fact, I'll ask them to kill him for me.'

Having made up his mind, Aaron pressed his foot onto the ground and shot towards the building in the distance, but before he could even cover a meters distance, he suddenly felt a large hand grasp him by the back of his neck.

"Ukkh!"

Bang—

Following this, his head once again came into contact with the hard ground knocking him unconscious for a split second. All thought processes in his mind came to a sudden halt.

"Khaaa!"

It was only after a couple of seconds that Aaron finally screamed out loud. The pain had finally set in.

"Uahk."

But before he could think of anything else, Aaron suddenly felt Ren's hand grasp the back of his hair.

Bang—

His face once again smashed against the hard ground.

Riiiiiing—

His ears started to ring, and Aaron's mind blanked.

"Huuu…huuu…stop…"

He begged.

At his words, Ren finally let go of his hair and twisted Aaron's body upwards, to face the sky. His two cold and emotionless blue eyes staring at him from above.

"Do you want to know why I'm still alive?" He asked.

The very sound of his voice chilling every part of Aaron's body.

Before Aaron could even reply, Ren squatted down and continued.

"You see after you swapped bodies with me…I went through a lot. I was burned alive, had to scar my face with extremely powerful poison, had to be injected with mind-breaking serums…and had many of my bones shattered and broken in the process."

Lowering his head, Ren stared at Aaron who was looking back at him. Unable to utter a single word back.

"…and one might think, how could someone who has gone through this much possibly still be sane?"

Raising his head, Ren pointed it towards his head. His lips trembling.

"Unfortunately, I'm no longer sane...you took that away from me."

Snap—

Following his words, Aaron suddenly heard the sound of a finger-snapping, and a warm sensation enveloped his body.

"Haaaaaaaa!!!!"

He suddenly let out a scream. It was an agonizing scream that came from the depth of his heart as he felt his whole body be completely engulfed in flames.

"Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it stop!"

Aaron screamed as he rolled around the grass in hopes of extinguishing the flames that were engulfing his body. As he rolled around, Aaron was able to see Ren's blue eyes staring at him from above. No emotions laid beneath them.

"Kill me!! I want to die…I want tdh die…I wanthd to diehw!"

He shouted once with all his might as his throat started to become sorer.

Snap—

Before Aaron knew it, another snapping sound rang and the fire in his body finally extinguished.

"Huuup!..Huuuup!…Huuup!"

A weird nasal sound came from Aaron as he tried to take a deep breath.

The pain had already completely overwhelmed his body. He couldn't move, nor think properly. The only thing he could do was stare at Ren who was staring at him from above, with his deep blue eyes.

Aaron opened his mouth.

"Mhsg….mjahudi"

'Please stop.'

A zombie-like sound escaped from his lips as he was unable to speak properly.

"It hurts right?"

Ren's word sounded right next to his right ear.

"Imagine me. I went through this pain twice."

SHIIIING—

Aaron suddenly felt something cold trace his face.

"Don't think for one second that what you went through was the worst pain you've experienced. What you've experienced is only the tip of the iceberg."

Following those words, Aaron felt something on his face. Suddenly, his neck stiffened and electricity coursed through his body as he felt even more agonizing pain run through half of his face.

His eyes flung wide open.

"Hua…hua…huaaaaaa!"

'No…no…Noooooo!'

His desperate echoes reverberated throughout the whole forest.

***

Chapter 388: Broken [2]

Swooosh—

A gentle wind blew past a forest as the leaves rustled.

The gentle moonlight shone from above, creating a tranquil environment.

"Hey, Kevin, hold up, where are you going?"

But the tranquility did not last for long as it was soon broken by multiple individuals who ran through the forest. To be more precise, it was four individuals chasing behind one individual, Kevin.

Halting his steps, Kevin scanned the surroundings. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he had not noticed the others behind him.

'The old man told me to go out this way, but where is he?'

The forest was huge.

So huge that Kevin estimated that it would take him a whole day to explore it. Finding Ren inside of the forest was like finding a needle in a haystack.

"Kevin!"

Suddenly, Kevin heard a voice coming from behind him. What followed after was the sound of rushed footsteps.

Kevin slowly lifted his head.

Coming over from behind a couple of trees were Emma, Amanda, Jin, and Melissa. They were all looking at him with weird faces.

"…huh?"

Caught off-guard by the unexpected sight, Kevin stared at them with a dazed look. Then, quickly recalling what he was here for, he spoke up.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"That's the question we want to ask!"

Emma frustratingly said, walking up to him. Stopping a couple of feet away from him, she looked around the forest.

"You suddenly started acting weird out of nowhere. I called out for you multiple times but you never replied so I followed you here."

"You followed me?"

"Well…hm, yeah. You had a very serious look on your face, I thought that something was up."

Emma turned her head.

"You guys also followed for the same reason, right?"

Everyone silently nodded. Clearly siding with Emma.

Staring at them, Kevin scratched his head. He had been so focused on looking for Ren that he had lost his composure and ended up worrying the others.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you guys like that."

"Whatever."

With a deep sigh, Emma rubbed her face and then looked at the moon in the sky. 'At least she doesn't look too pissed'. Kevin sighed in relief.

But then Emma frowned and glared at Kevin.

"Oy."

"What?"

"You still haven't told me why you're here."

"Oh, right..."

Kevin turned his head before he scratched the back of it.

"Not gonna say anything?"

"…you see, things are kind of complicated."

Not satisfied with the answer, Emma's glare intensified.

"I think we deserve an explanation after you made us worried and caused a whole scene."

"Ugh." Kevin groaned. Lifting his head and staring at the others who were looking back at him, Kevin let out a deep sigh. 'How should I tell them that I was looking for Ren?'

Would they even believe him? Maybe Amanda as she already knew, but what about the others?

"…Ehew."

Eventually, he let out another sigh. He trusted everyone here, and so he didn't mind telling them about his skill, inspection. Whether they believed him or not, it was up to them.

"Haaaa!"

But just as he was about to open his mouth, a muffled shout rang in the distance.

Everyone's head snapped in the direction of where the sound came from. Then, everyone exchanged glances with each other.

"What was—huh? Kevin?"

Emme tried to speak up, but before she could say anything, Kevin had already run off towards where the sound came from.

"Kevin, wait up!"

Staring at Kevin's disappearing back, Emma called out for him and rushed from behind. Amanda, Jin, and Melissa followed suit as their figures slowly disappeared into the forest.

***

Not so far away from them, overlooking the forest from above, with his hands behind his back, Douglas stared into the distance.

He appeared to have a solemn and pensive look on his face.

"Haaaa!"

With each scream that rang out, his brows would knit further.

"Should we interfere?"

Next to him, Waylan had a worried look on his face.

Staring at Ren in the distance, from the way things were going, he could tell that something horrible was about to happen.

Squinting his eyes, Douglas did not reply.

"Haaa!"

Another scream rang out. Turning his head, Waylan urgently said.

"He's already lost control of his rationality. If we don't stop him now, he'll end up killing that kid."

At all costs, they couldn't let Ren kill Aaron. The consequences of such actions were too detrimental for them.

They had done this in hopes of helping Ren get over his mental demons, but from the looks of it, things may have backfired.

"Haaaa!"

"I'm going."

Unable to watch the scene any longer, Waylan decided to make his move. It would only take him a second to arrive at the scene, so he should have no problem stopping Ren.

"Wait."

But before Waylan could act, extending his hand towards the right, Douglas stopped Waylan.

"What is the meaning of this?" Waylan asked in frustration.

Raising his hand, Douglas pointed towards a certain spot in the distance.

"Take a look over there."

"…huh?"

Skeptical, Waylan turned to look in the direction of where Douglas had pointed and his eyes opened.

Looking at Douglas again, he muttered.

"You're not telling me…"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you.

***

"Haaaaaa!"

Aaron's scream rang out. His pained and agonized scream felt like a beautiful piece of music to my ears.

I craved for more.

"You see...In order to not have my face revealed, I had to scar my face using this blade over here."

Disappointment suddenly flashed through my eyes as I stared at the dagger in my hand.

"Unfortunately for you, I ran out of the poison long ago, or I would've used it."

Don—

Taking out a small flask and removing the cap, I smeared the liquid inside of it all over my dagger. The liquid was pale yellow in color and was quite viscous, which was perfect as it stuck on the dagger quite well.

"Don't worry though. I've got the perfect replacement for it."

Lowering my head and staring at Aaron who was barely hanging onto life, my head tilted.

Putting the dagger down, I took out a potion from my dimensional space.

"I spent quite a bit of money on this, so be grateful."

Placing my hand on his chin, I opened his mouth and chugged the potion down his throat.

"Drink up."

"Ugh…Mhh."

Weak muffled noises escaped from his mouth as I shoved the potion down his throat. A horrified look manifested on his face as he flung his arms around. It was clear that he was trying to protest, but I didn't care. I just watched his body slowly start healing right before my eyes.

Then, once the burns on his face slowly disappeared, pressing Aaron onto the ground I brought the knife closer to his face and traced it down his face.

"Khhaaaaa!"

Aaron screamed in agony as a long black scar traced down half of his handsome face. Ignoring his screams, I continued to cut his face.

"...It hurts, doesn't it?" I asked, tracing the dagger along his face, creating more and more scars.

The more I traced the dagger on his face, the dizzier my head became. It was strange...it felt as though a part of me was slowly losing control. But I couldn't quite grasp what was happening. I was too immersed to care about anything else.

"Haaa…stop!…stop!…p-please."

With the aid of the potion I had given Aaron previously, his voice slowly returned to him, and his words started to once again make sense.

Once I heard his words, my hand suddenly came to a halt. I then lifted my head.

"Did you just say please?"

"Haaa…haaa…"

Instead of an answer, I was met with Aaron's rough breathing. Standing up and leaning my body forward to take a better look at him, I noticed that Aaron's eyes were not focused. They seemed rather dull.

'He already broke?'

"Haha, of course, he didn't break."

I laughed.

There was no way he could've broken with just this little pain.

"Come, I'll make you return to normal quickly."

Getting on my knee, I once again fed Aaron with another potion. The injuries in his body healed at an even faster pace. I was satisfied.

"Let's continue."

Taking out the dagger, I traced it along his face once again. Fresh blood dripped down from the side of his face.

"Why aren't you screaming."

My face froze.

Tracing my dagger along his face, I got no reaction from Aaron who just looked up toward the sky with a blank look.

My eyes became unfocused.

"Aaron?"

I called out, leaning my ear close to him.

"Haaa...haaa...."

"No,no,no,no,no! You can't break now!"

Grabbing Aaron's face I shook it. Trying to get a reaction out of him.

But no matter how many times I tried to shake his face, he wouldn't respond.

"No…no…"

My heart froze.

What he went through was not even remotely close to what I went through. For what he did to me, he did not suffer enough!

"Wake the fuck up damn it!"

Spit flew from my mouth as I grabbed Aaron's head and repeatedly shook it,m. But regardless of how much I tried to shake it, all I was met with was just a blank look.

"No! No! No!"

I shouted in the air.

Standing up, I paced around. Bringing my hand towards my mouth, I bit my nails.

'This is not enough…this is not enough…this is…he's useless…he needs to die…yes, that's right. He needs to die. Since he can't suffer anymore, what's the point of keeping him alive…'

Turning my head, my eyes focused on Aaron on the ground.

'Kill him.'

A voice said inside of my head. I scratched the side of my face.

My head throbbed.

Biting my nails, my eyes continued to stare at Aaron on the ground.

'Kill him.'

The voice once again rang inside of my head.

I scratched the left side of my face this time.

'…should I just kill him?'

And it wasn't long before the fake thoughts inside of my mind completely overtook my rationality as the only thing I could think of right now was Aaron.

The more I stared at him, the darker my thoughts became.

'Yes, he should die. He's useless…why should I keep him? Just like he tried to kill me, I should kill him, no? Right...'

I took a step forward, in the direction of where Aaron was.

Then, walking all the way before Aaron, my footsteps came to a sudden halt. Lowering my body, and getting to my knees, I extended my hand towards his throat. Reaching out for it. Wanting to grasp it.

'End him. Get rid of the one responsible for everything.'

"Yes, he needs to die."

My mind was blank. The only thought I could process was Aaron's death. I had long lost all sense of reason and rationality.

"Khhhh."

My hand soon touched Aaron's throat. Feeling his warm skin, I blinked a couple of times before I slowly started to squeeze.

'Kill him…'

"Die."

With both hands on Aaron's neck, I squeezed as hard as I could and Aaron's face slowly turned from pale to red to then blue.

He was dying.

'Die! Die! Die!'

With each second that passed, the wider my eyes became. In anticipation of his eventual death. I suddenly felt this sudden rush of adrenaline.

"What are you doing Ren!"

But just when I was about to completely kill Aaron, a familiar voice sounded from behind.

With my hands still on Aaron's neck, my body froze completely...all thought processes inside of my head came to an abrupt halt.

'That voice...'

Turning my head slowly, my eyes soon paused on a few figures. The figures…I knew them.

They were Kevin, Emma, Amanda, Melissa, and Jin.

The people who I had seen for a very long time.

"…ah."

A weird sound came out of my mouth as our eyes met.

Chapter 389: Broken [3]

His hair may have been longer, and his body was a lot more muscular, but the man before him was indeed Ren.

Starting at Ren, Kevin did not know what to say, and his feet came to a pause.

Lowering his head, his eyes continued to look at Ren. Three years? How long was it now? He did not know…it felt like a really long time. He changed so much.

A chill ran down Kevin's spine as their eyes met.

He felt this inexplicable sense of terror coming from Ren.

"Ren…"

Kevin softly muttered, his brows furrowing together.

'He's not in the right state of mind.'

Ren had this blank look on his face, one that seemed to be unable to properly comprehend the situation. Mounting Aaron from above, he had his hands pressed on his throat.

A tense silence enshrouded the forest.

Kevin wasn't dumb. He knew exactly what was going on. Ren was trying to kill Aaron.

Rustle—!

A rustling sound suddenly came from behind Kevin. Turning around, he realized that it was Emma and the others. Walking out of the bushes, Emma squinted her eyes as she look at Kevin.

"What's going on h…what?"

It was then that she suddenly noticed something else. Turning her head, her eyes soon paused on Ren and her face froze.

"…w…what."

Out of pure instinct, she took a step back.

Rustle— Rustle—

Behind her, Amanda, Jin, and Melissa also walked out and when they noticed Emma's expression, they turned to look in the same direction as where she was looking at.

Their faces froze too.

"I…impossible…"

Emma muttered out loud, breaking the silence. Pointing her hand, which was trembling, in Ren's direction, her mouth opened and closed multiple times.

"W…what is he doing here?"

She turned her head and looked at Kevin. Her mouth trembling.

"Wasn't he supposed to be dead…tell me I'm not seeing things?"

The presence he gave off scared her. It was this chilling presence that made her hair stand.

It sort of reminded her of the time back in Hollberg, but…this time it was a lot more extreme. The bloodlust exuding from out of his body felt suffocating.

She wasn't the only one that felt this way as Jin, Amanda, and Melissa all warily looked in Ren's direction.

Something was off about him.

"What are you doing, Ren?"

Kevin softly said in a calm manner.

He understood where Ren was coming from. He had read about the things that he had been going through and fully understood that at the moment he wasn't in his right state of mind.

If possible, Kevin would've turned a blind eye to what was currently happening, but that was impossible.

If Aaron died, horrible consequences could ensue. He couldn't allow Ren to kill Aaron. At least not today.

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Kevin slowly approached Ren.

"Ren, it's me, Kevin. I'm sure you know who I am."

Behind him, the others did not stop him. Worry and many other different emotions flashed across their eyes as they stared at Ren and Kevin. Especially Jin who stood rooted on his spot like a statue.

Shock dying his entire face. His mind was unable to comprehend the situation before him.

Soon, Kevin stopped in front of Ren. His eyes paused on the hand that was grabbing onto Aaron's neck.

"Ren, let go of Aaron."

His voice was soft, but everyone around him could hear it.

"You know you can't kill him. Think about the consequences that would happen once you kill him. It won't just be affecting you, but it will affect us too…"

His words seemed to have an effect on Ren, who slowly loosened the grip of his hand. Kevin sighed in relief once he saw this. A smile appeared on his face.

"That's good if y—"

But then, Ren turned his head and his eyes interlocked with Kevin's.

"Are you trying to stop me?"

Ren's cold voice echoed throughout the forest.

Kevin's face froze at his words.

"…No, I'm not trying to stop you."

"Then why can't I kill him?"

"That…I've already explained it."

Tension slowly grew as Ren continued to stare at Kevin with a face devoid of any emotion and rationality.

"Explain what?"

Ren slowly stood up. Taking a step forward, he stopped right in front of Kevin. Their faces about ten centimeters away from each other.

"Why are you stopping me from killing him?… Do you know what I've gone through because of him?"

Ren's calm voice rang throughout the forest, as his eyes became even more unfocused.

Not backing down, Kevin nodded.

"I know, I know…I know exactly what you've been through."

'I've seen it in the book.'

Kevin wanted to add. But of course, he couldn't say that. Would Ren even believe the fact that he could see his life through a book?

"You understand shit!"

Ren suddenly shouted out loud, grabbing his head with both hands.

"You don't understand anything!…haaa….yo…if you truly understood, then why are you stopping me?"

A heavy pressure suddenly released from Ren's body. The pressure was so powerful that Kevin was forced to take a step back.

"Ren, calm dow—"

"Shut up!"

Ren shouted, his eyes losing all semblance of reason.

Kevin's heart sank when he saw this.

'It's too late.'

The current Ren could no longer be reasoned with.

"…Ren you really don't want to do this. Don't make me do this."

Ignoring Kevin, Ren lowered his head and stared at Aaron. Then, pointing his finger at him, he raised his head and stared at everyone.

"Anyone that stops me from killing him...will be my enemy."

"Ren, stop."

It was then that a soft voice rang out. Taking a step forward, Amanda looked at Ren.

Despite her face being cold, Kevin could see worry hidden within her eyes.

"Please stop."

She softly muttered, biting her lower lip.

"I...may not know what you've gone through, but, I don't want you to suffer more."

Her voice was quiet, but each word she said rang powerfully inside of Rens's head as his brows trembled slightly.

Taking a step back, he muttered.

"Y…you're also against me?"

Sadness flashed across his eyes.

"No, th—"

"Fine, fine, whatever! I don't care!"

He shouted. His face which remained indifferent throughout the whole time finally broke apart, revealing one riddled with many conflicting emotions.

Clenching his fist and coating it with mana, Ren raised it and aimed it in Aaron's direction. A heavy bloodlust enshrouded the whole area.

"I need to kill him…I need to kill…him!"

He repeatedly muttered before he punched out.

Bang—!

But before Ren's fist could even reach Aaron, his body shot in the opposite direction, crashing against the trees in the distance.

Kevin clenched his teeth.

"I…you forced me"

"Hahah…I see…"

Ren's laugh rang out throughout the forest. Standing up, he glared at Kevin.

"So you decided to go against me..."

"No—"

Bang—!

The ground beneath Ren suddenly broke apart and he reappeared right in front of Kevin.

'Fast.'

Kevin thought as he took a step back, dodging Ren's fist. But just as he had dodged his fist, he suddenly heard a paper like-sound coming from his right side.

Bang—

Before he knew it, he felt a tremendous force smash against the right side of his face as his head planted itself on the ground.

Swoosh—

Before Kevin's mind could even make out what was happening, a similar sound rang above his head and Kevin rolled over.

Bang—!

From the corner of his eyes, Kevin saw Ren's fist smash against the hard ground, tearing it apart.

Before Ren could follow up, with both hands behind his back, Kevin flexed his core and jumped up. Then, twisting his heal, he kicked toward Ren's heads

Bang—

But just as his foot was about to land on Ren's head, raising his left hand, Kevin suddenly felt a powerful grip take hold of his shin.

Raising his head, Kevin's eyes met with Ren and everything came to a sudden halt.

"Is this it?"

Disappointment clouded his face as he increased his grip.

"Ukh."

Kevin let out a pained groan. Clenching his teeth, a red hue suddenly sprang forth from Kevin's body.

Jumping up with his other leg, he twisted his body and kicked toward the other side of Ren's face.

His movement was so smooth and fast that he left afterimages behind.

Bang—

But, just like before, Ren grabbed his other leg, shocking Kevin.

"How?"

Clenching onto both of Kevin's legs, Ren coldly stared at Kevin.

"You want to stop me with this much."

Then, letting go of Kevin's feet, Ren raised his foot and kicked Kevin right in the middle of his chest with the sole of his foot.

Bang—

Like a broken kite, Kevin's body flew towards the other side of the forest, crashing against multiple trees.

"Kevin!"

Emma shouted in worry as she ran up to him.

"Cough…cough…"

Coughing multiple times, Kevin tasted a sweet sensation inside of his mind as he stared at Ren.

'He's strong…'

Although he had still not gone all out yet, Kevin could tell that the current Ren was extremely strong. In fact, he wasn't the only one that noticed this as everyone around him shared the same feeling.

"Oy, what do you think you're doing!"

Of course, everyone but Emma took a step forward.

Taking her eyes off of Ren, Kevin watched as Emma stood up and glared in Ren's direction.

"You think you're some sort of tragic hero who thinks their whole world is against them." She spoke out loud.

Taking out her two short swords, Emma pointed them in Ren's direction.

"I can tell that you've gone through a lot…and there are a lot of things that I want to say…but I can tell that you're not in your right mind…so, let me help you get your sanity back."

Without further ado, Emma shot in Ren's direction.

"Fuck, Emma, don't! You're no match for him."

But it was too late as Emma had already neared Ren.

Propping his body up with the aid of the tree, Kevin held the side of his chest and ran forward.

"Haaap!"

Reappearing right in front of Ren, and letting out a low cry, Emma slashed down with both her short swords.

Something shocking suddenly happened. Raising his hands, Emma's short swords soon came into contact with Ren's hand and blood spilled on the ground.

The whole area froze.

"Y…you…you're crazy!

A look of shock appeared on her face as she looked at Ren who coldly looked back at her.

Without saying anything, Ren pulled his head back and prepared to headbutt her. But before he could do that, Jin suddenly appeared from behind and aimed his dagger toward his back.

He came so fast and unexpectedly that Ren was unable to react in time.

Spurt—!

Blood spilled on the ground and Ren's face finally changed as he let go of Emma's shortswords.

Taking advantage of the moment, Emma distanced herself from Ren. Her face was pale.

"We've still got a score to settle."

Jin's cold words suddenly sounded as he removed the dagger off of Ren's back and took a couple
of steps back.

"…"

Lowering his head and staring at the blood that was pouring down from his back, Ren lifted his head and stared at Jin who was standing a couple of meters away from him.

Without saying anything, extending his hand, a sword suddenly appeared in his hand. Gripping onto its grip, Ren suddenly pulled. A terrifying pressure exuded from his body.

Click—

A clicking sound soon rang out.

Hearing the clicking sound, Jin's eyes opened wide as he took a step back. An unprecedented sense of crisis flashed across his mind as he heard the sound.

But before he could even react, he felt an inexplicable sharp pain in the right side of his shoulder.

Following this, his body came tumbling down onto the ground.

Just as his face was about to land on the ground, placing his other hand onto the ground, he pushed his body up in the air. Twisting his body, he softly landed on the ground.

"Khh…"

Grabbing onto his shoulder, Jin looked at his hand which was soaked in blood. Then, turning his head, he stared at Ren. An inexplicable seriousness flashed across his face.

He like Kevin didn't go all out as he wanted to gauge his strength, but from this exchange, he, and everyone present understood one thing.

Ren was strong.

Incredibly strong.

Chapter 390: Broken [4]

"Had to take him before things got serious."

Thud—!

Placing Aaron's body down on the ground, Waylan turned to face the distance.

Next to him, with his head lowered, Douglas looked at the battered-up Aaron. Thanks to the potion that Ren had given him, the injuries that he had sustained from the torture were slowly healing up.

But that was obviously not enough. His body may be healing, but his mind wasn't. Fortunately, Douglas came prepared. Bending down, he pushed a small pill inside of his mouth.

"How is he?"

"His mind is unstable, but he should be fine now. He'll probably be back to normal by tomorrow."

Douglas stood up. Staring into the distance, he shook his head.

"It looks like Ren was not wrong when he told us that he might lose himself today."

They had already been warned by Ren beforehand that there was a chance that he might end up losing his mind.

In case that happened, he wanted them to stop him.

Everything that was currently happening had been planned out for the past week.

Originally, Ren had been planning on taking care of his issues with Aaron after the conference, but after realizing that he might be unable to hold back whenever he saw him, and potentially compromise his identity, he decided to just handle the situation on the get-go.

Rather than hold up the pent-up feelings boiling inside of him, he wanted to finally let loose.

Of course, this was granted that he wouldn't go too far…

Fortunately, Douglas and Waylan were here.

"For him to go on a rampage like this…he must've been suffering quite a lot."

Douglas deeply sighed.

In the time that Douglas had met Ren, he had only occasionally seen him lose himself. But it was never on the same level as what he was displaying right now.

'Just how much had he been suppressing himself?'

It came as a small shock to him.

"Yeah…"

Waylan replied with a solemn look, his eyes never leaving the area where Ren was.

To be more precise, his eyes were currently locked onto a certain girl in the distance.

'…Emma.'

He muttered inside of his heart. A longing feeling swelled up from deep within it.

"We don't have much time."

Disrupting him out of his thoughts was Douglas who glanced at his watch.

"Gervis said that the elves have agreed to only give Ren thirty minutes…"

"Should we stop them?"

"No…" Douglas shook his head. Interest flashed in his eyes as he looked into the distance. "Not yet. I want to see just how strong Ren has gotten. Of course, I also want to see just how strong the pupils Donna trained are...and I believe that Ren needs this to resolve some of the demons inside of his heart."

Despite his words, he was still planning on keeping his promise to the elves.

If either someone was about to die, or the time was up, Douglas would appear and stop everything. He was strong enough to ensure everyone's safety.

Lifting his head and taking his eyes away from his watch, Douglas softly muttered.

"Now…let me see just how strong you guys are."

***

Clank—!

A powerful wing gale spread apart as two swords intersected against each other. A metal ring lingered in the air for a brief moment of time.

Separating from each other, Ren and Kevin stared at each other. Neither one spoke.

Swooosh—!

Sensing something, Ren suddenly lowered his head and Jin appeared from above. Swinging his daggers horizontally.

Lifting his head, Ren stomped his foot on the ground. With a loud 'bang', the ground beneath him tore apart and Ren shot up. His eyes flickered, and Jin's movements suddenly started to slow down.

Touching the sheath of his sword, he prepared to attack, but before he could do that, he suddenly felt a powerful force coming from Kevin's direction.

Glancing from the corner of his eyes, Ren saw Kevin hold onto his broadsword with both hands. The surface of his broadsword pulsated repeatedly, as a faint destructive force lingered around it. The hue looked like a tall pillar that supported the whole sky.

Following this, Jin suddenly hooked his arms around Ren, restraining him.

"Do it!"

Jin shouted in Kevin's direction.

Nodding his head, Kevin muttered.

"Sorry, Ren...this might hurt a bit."

Taking a step forward, he soon appeared right in front of Ren. With his sword raised, he slashed down and terrifying pressure bore down on Ren.

TWIIIIING—

Restrained by Jin, Ren couldn't move. He could only watch as Kevin's attack slowly came at him. However, despite how dire the situation looked, he didn't panic.

Staring at the incoming attack, his eyes suddenly turned dull gray, and a monumental pressure suddenly bore down on everyone present. Jin's grip loosened slightly, and Kevin's attack faltered.

Taking advantage of this, stomping his foot on the ground, Ren propelled his body backward. With Jin still behind him.

Bang—!

"Kuak!"

Crashing against a tree, Jin spat a mouthful of blood as Ren turned around and punched out, hitting Jin right in the face. Following this, he quickly elbowed the side of his face, sending Jin into a daze.

Buzz Buzz

Right as he was about to follow up on his attack, a low buzz suddenly sounded from behind as Ren felt a frightening suction force. Grabbing onto the tree and pressing his feet onto the ground, till it cracked apart, Ren turned around.

Rumble—

A black-light sphere formed at the top of Kevin's sword. The surrounding rocks and debris flew at incredible speed towards the black hole. White light wildly rotated as the very air started getting sucked into the black hole.

This move was something that he had managed to grasp after mastering his four-star sword art, [Everlasting sunset.], it essentially allowed him to create a black hole that sucked everything inside of it and essentially restrained the movements of those that were subjected to it.

Crack. Crack.

The tree that Ren was gripping bent as the roots detached themselves from the ground.

A grave expression flashed across Ren's face. Grabbing onto the grip of his sword, a powerful hue suddenly sprang out from his body, enveloping the entire surroundings.

"Don't forget I'm here."

But right as Ren was gathering his mana, he suddenly heard Jin's cold voice.

Bang—!

Before he could even react, he felt a powerful force hit him in the stomach and he lost grip of the tree. His body shot towards the black hole.

As he flung backward, his indifferent eyes locked themself onto Jin, sending chills down his body.

Then, twisting his body in the air, till he came face to face with the black hole, Ren slowly pulled out his sword. A torrential amount of mana gathered toward him in a matter of seconds.

Click—!

The fourth movement of the [Keiki style] : World splitter.

After reaching the essence realm of mastery of the Keiki style, Ren finally managed to grasp the fourth, and second the last movement of the Keiki style. The world splitter, a terrifying move that tore everything within a certain radius apart.

A faint click sounded in the sorroundings as a deep silence suddenly descended upon the world as the suction force in the air disappeared.

Then, out of seemingly nowhere, like a piece of paper, the black hole was suddenly dissected into multiple different pieces.

Rumble—!

The ground tore apart, throwing dust and rock alike in the air like fast projectiles, and seismic quakes struck the place. Everyone lost their balance and fell to the ground.

With their eyes wide open, horror flashed across them as they stared at Ren softly land on the ground with a low 'thud.'

Thud—!

"Haaaa....haaaa...."

With heavy breaths, Ren stumbled a couple of steps. Stabbing his sword onto the ground, he fell to one knee.

"...huh?"

A strange sound came out of Ren's mouth as he turned his head.

"Where is he?"

His head darted all over the place. Panic dying his face completely.

"Where is he! Where is he!"

He shouted out loud. Completely forgetting his surroundings as he looked for Aaron's figure who had gone missing.

"Haaaa...no!"

Grabbing onto his head, Ren fell to both knees and screamed.

"No! No! No!"

Digging his nails into his face till he bled, the screams soon disappeared. Lifting his head, his bloodshot eyes paused on Kevin and the others.

"Where is he?!"

"Wha—"

"I said where is he!"

Standing up, Ren's chest moved up and down unevenly. As he walked, he stumbled on his steps. It was clear that he was tired, but despite this, he continued to move forward.

"Tell me...haaa...haaa...where is h—"

Before he could finish speaking, a powerful force came from his right side. It was Jin.

Raising his hand, Ren blocked the attack, but as he blocked the attack, his right leg gave out and he fell back. Following Jin's example, Kevin dashed forward and attacked. After him was Emma, and soon Ren found himself attacked by everyone.

"Khaaa!"

Ren tried to react, but at the end of the day, his mana reserve was limited. He was already at a numerical disadvantage, and with everyone attacking him from all sides, it wasn't long before he could no longer defend himself.

Bang—!

Pushed back by a powerful impact, Ren skid back a couple of meters away.

"Haaaa…haaa…."

His rough breathing echoed throughout the quiet forest. Raising his head, his cold and indifferent blue eyes rippled slightly.

Holding onto his right rib, Kevin stumbled forward.

"Ren, get back to your senses!"

He pleaded as he stared at Ren. But Ren shook his head.

"Where is he?…Where did you hide h...im!?"

His voice was rather weak. So weak that it made the others understand just how much pain he was going through.

Xiu!

It was then that a silver streak of light coarsed through the air and directly smashed against Ren's chest, sending him crashing against a tree.

Bang—!

"Khua!"

An agonized scream rang out and Ren weakly fell to the ground.

Supporting his body on all fours, Ren coughed up blood. Turning his head, his eyes paused on a long arrow. The very tip of it was blunt, but the force behind it was terrifying. At least three of his ribs were broken.

Lifting his head, his eyes soon interlocked with Amanda who had finally made her move.

"Y...you..."

He hatefully glared in the direction.

"Why!?"

Biting her lips, Amanda lowered her head. Hiding her expression behind her long hair.

"I..I'm sorry"

She softly mumbled, lowering her bow.

"Hold him back."

Following Amanda's words, Melissa nudged Jin and Kevin who Immediately dashed in Ren's direction and held him down on the ground.

"Khhh…let me go!"

Ren shouted out loud, trying his best to struggle out of Jin's and Kevin's hold. His spit flew everywhere as he screamed.

"Let me go!"

"Hold still."

Kevin and Jin may have sustained more injuries than him, but at the end of the day, they were two people, and they were not as tired as Ren was as they effortlessly held him down on the ground.

"Le…khh…t me…go!"

"Shut up."

Arriving before Ren, Melissa squared down. Taking out a small flask from her dimensional space, she opened the lid, grabbed Ren by the cheeks, and shoved them down his throat.

"Be a good boy and drink this."

"Khh…"

Despite Ren's attempts at not swallowing, lifting his head up, Melissa forced the drink down his throat, almost choking him multiple times.

Once she saw that Ren had drunk the whole potion, she stood up and patted her hands.

"I guess I'm done for now."

Clarity soon started to return in Ren's eyes as he stopped squirming around. Shocked by the development, Kevin raised his head and looked at Melissa.

"What did you give him?"

"What do you think?"

"Some sort of mind cleansing potion?"

"Close enough. I gave him a period tablet."

"Huh?"

"Kidding."

Turning around, Melissa caressed her slender neck.

"I just increased his serotonin levels. His mood should return to normal."

"Ah, I see."

Pretending to understand her words, Kevin nodded his head.

As long as it worked, he honestly did not care. Turning his head and staring at Ren, Kevin finally let go of his grip and stumbled back. But first against the ground.

"Haaa…haaa…"

Breathing out loud, he fixed his eyes on the moon in the sky.

'I'm tired.'

He quietly muttered, before a relaxed smile soon appeared on his face. Staring at Ren who had finally calmed down, his shoulders relaxed.

At last, the fight had ended.

Chapter 391: Broken [5]

'What happened to me?'

I don't quite remember. My mind was hazy, and my body hurt all over.

"Haaa…"

I breathed out, and my eyes slowly opened up.

The first thing I saw once I opened my eyes, was the full moon hanging in the sky. Next to it were the millions of stars sorrounding it.

'Beautiful'

I thought.

Alone in the sky surrounded by many different stars, a deep sense of tranquility enshrouded my mind.

"You back to normal?"

It was faint, but I could hear a familiar voice next to my ears.

I turned my head, and my eyes soon paused on a figure. Leaning against a broken tree, with his arm on his knee, Kevin looked at me.

"Looks like you've recovered."

A fait smile hung on his face.

'Ah…'

It was then that fragments of memories started flooding my mind, and I was able to understand what had just happened.

Without saying anything, I covered my face with my arm and proceeded to turn my head back to its previous position.

'I lost it.'

I knew that there was going to be a chance that I would lose myself when confronting Aaron. It was also because of this that I chose to handle the situation as quickly as possible.

Rather than losing myself then, in front of everyone and the Union, I would've rather have lost myself alone, but…

'Why were they here? How could they suddenly show up out of nowhere?'

They weren't supposed to be here.

They weren't supposed to see me in this state...

"Are you not going to say anything?"

Kevin's voice sounded once again.

I wanted to say something. I wanted to tell him a lot of things...but the words just wouldn't come out of my mouth.

"We haven't seen each other for over three years. Everyone here thought you were dead…and the first time we see you again, you suddenly go into this crazy rampage…"

Kevin's words sounded calm. But, as I laid on the ground with my eyes closed, I could feel the sadness hidden within his voice.

'Why is he sad?'

I wondered as my chest stung.

Does he perhaps feel betrayed by what I did? Disillusioned that I was not the same Ren that he previously knew? Maybe.

Silence enveloped the surroundings.

"…You really don't have anything to say?"

Kevin asked as he disrupted the silence.

I shook my head.

What did I have to say? Do I tell them that I'm broken?…That the me that they used to know was no longer there?

'I…I don't know what to do.'

"I somewhat know how you're feeling."

His words made my brows furrow slightly.

Moving my arm down, I peeked through the narrow gap.

Letting out a deep sigh, Kevin lifted his head and stared at the moon in the sky.

"Haa…Ren…I've got many things that I want to say to you…but…"

Lowering his head, our eyes met. He smiled faintly.

"…I'm just glad that you're okay."

"Ah…"

My lips trembled, and my eyes started to hurt. Covering my eyes once again, I tried to hold myself back…but it was hard.

What I've been through. The loneliness and pain I felt when I was suddenly thrown into the Monolith.

Just when I thought that things couldn't have been worse, I was forced to become a fugitive and had to escape the human domain.

It was then that the loneliness inside of my heart increased. I started to realize, that maybe…just maybe…the world was trying to tell me something.

'You don't belong here.'

And maybe the world was right. At first, I thought that it was just me…but with each passing day, the idea started to take more and more semblance inside of my mind, until finally, I thought, 'Maybe I truly don't belong here.'

Once the idea sprouted, despite my many attempts at trying to not think about it, it continued to grow inside of my mind.

It wasn't long before that was what I thought each night when I went to sleep.

The times I thought of killing myself, trying to numb myself from the pain that I was undergoing each day.

I thought that maybe I really didn't deserve to be here, but…

'…I'm just glad that you're okay.'

Those words.

They were simple words, yet, the moment Kevin said them, it felt as though someone stabbed me straight into the heart. His words pierced harder than a dagger ever could, and my emotions stirred once again.

"Say, are you crying?"

Kevin's voice sounded once again. This time, it was a lot closer.

"Hey…are you really crying for what I said?"

My brows knit as I heard his voice. The previous emotions that I felt numbed down, and what replaced them was annoyance.

"Heee…you really did cry..."

Sensing the subtle teasing tone hidden within his voice, my mouth twitched.

The annoyance within me grew even more and before I knew it, my mouth opened.

"Fuck off."

"…ha? Did you just tell me to fuck off?"

"I did. The tone of your voice pisses me off."

"Wha—"

"You finally understand how I feel whenever I hear your voice."

It was then that, cutting Kevin off, I heard another familiar voice. Without even seeing who spoke, I could tell who the voice belonged to.

Melissa.

Who other than her would ever say those words?

"I kind of already knew the feeling before."

I replied back.

"You did?"

"Yeah, after all, I used to talk to you."

A brief moment of silence ensued after I said those words. Of course, the silence did not last for long as I soon heard the sound of sleeves being pulled upwards.

"…alright."

"Wait, Melissa stop! Stop!"

Kevin's panicked voice sounded. I didn't even need to look to understand what was happening.

"Let me go, Kevin! As you can see, he's still not in the right state of mind. I need to give him an extra dosage. One…no, he needs ten more before he finally recover—"

"Pfttt…"

Before I knew it, my stomach started to tingle and my moth trembled. I suddenly burst out laughing.

"Hahahahaha."

"Oh look, great. He's completely lost it."

Melissa's voice rang amidst my fit of laughter.

Removing my arm away from my face and propping my body against a tree behind me, I finally got to see a closer look at everyone present.

They had changed a lot. Compared to the last time I saw them, when they looked a lot more childish, the people in front of me had now fully matured.

Finally letting go of Melissa, a relieved look appeared on Kevin's face as he said.

"I'm glad you're feeling better."

I could feel the genuine relief in his voice as he said those words, and I smiled as a result.

"…ukh."

But just as I was about to speak, I suddenly felt a sharp pain by the side of my chest. Lowering my head, I rubbed the area that was hurting.

"Ren, are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Reassuring Kevin, I unbuttoned my shirt to get a closer look at my injuries.

Taking off my shirt and taking a closer look at my body, my brows jumped up slightly.

"No wonder it hurts."

A large blue bruise traced from the right side of my ribs to the bottom part of my chest.

'This was probably from Amanda's arrow.'

The memory was faint, but I could definitely tell that this was because of Amanda's last shot that hit me directly in the ribs.

Touching it slightly, I flinched.

"Fuck that hurts!"

Taking a potion from my dimensional space, I quickly chugged it down. Slowly, the wounds started to heal, and the pain slowly subsided.

Once I took the potion, lifting my head, I noticed everyone staring at me.

Surprise flashed across my face.

"Hm? What are you guys looking at?"

Raising his hand, Kevin pointed it towards my body.

"Ren, you…"

"Oh, right I forgot."

Realization suddenly dawned on me, as I scratched the back of my head.

'Right, I'm currently shirtless. How careless of me.'

Grabbing my shirt, I put it back on.

As I was putting it on, I tried to apologize to the others.

"Sorry, I completely forg—"

Right as I was buttoning my shirt back, a hand grasped my wrist. Turning my head, I found Amanda next to me. Her eyes locked onto my body.

"What are you doing?"

I asked. But she promptly ignored me. Extending her hand, she took my shirt away.

"Oy!"

Startled by her sudden action, I looked up, but when I did, the words that were about to say became stuck.

"You…"

With an indifferent look, Amanda just stared at my body.

At first, I found her behavior odd, but when I looked at her and looked into her black eyes, I could see a rare display of emotion hidden deep within them. I saw that same look before...but I just couldn't quite remember when.

Standing up, Amanda turned her back against me. Seemingly trying to hide her expression away from me and the others.

'Why is she reacting like that?'

I wondered to myself, staring at her back from where I was.

Turning my head and seeing the others who displayed similar odd reactions, I looked down, towards my body, and it was then that I finally realized why everyone was reacting so strangely.

Without saying anything, grabbing my shirt, I quickly buttoned it up and stood up.

Scratching the back of my head, I tried to play it off.

"Haha, surprised by how much I've changed?"

Walking up to them, I shrugged my shoulders.

"Don't worry about those. I can get them removed anytime. They are nothing major."

"Pleas…e stop lying."

It was soft. Almost inaudible. But when I heard those words, my feet came to a sudden halt.

Turning my head, I looked at Amanda who still had her back turned on me. Her shoulders trembling a little.

Biting my tongue, I forced a smile.

"It's fine. What you saw were just scars I got from my training. They aren't anything worth being wo—"

"Ren, stop."

A hand pressed against my shoulder. It was Kevin.

Shaking his head, Kevin had a complicated look on his face as he looked at me.

"I won't ask you to tell us what you've gone through…but, please, stop trying to pretend that you're alright when you're not."

"Stop pretending?"

"Yes. Stop pretending to be someone you're not."

Staring in Amanda's direction before turning to look at the others, I let out a long breath.

"Huuu."

Lifting my head, I stared at the sky.

'Stop pretending…When was the last time that I've done that?'

The last time I acted like my true self?...was there ever a time?

Thinking about it, I have never ever been my true self. I always wore a mask to hide my real feelings.

The reason why was obvious, no?

As the leader of the group, I couldn't show them their weak side. Who would follow a broken leader?

No one.

Even with my parents, I had to pretend to be someone else as I had taken the body of their real son.

Even at the Lock, I always pretended to be this weak extra and accepted the abuse from the others just so that I wouldn't have to expose myself.

Was there ever a time when I did not pretend for once?

Closing my eyes, memories flashed inside of my mind. From the happy times to the sad times, I started to recall everything.

They say someone remembers their saddest moments more vividly than their happiest ones.

It was only now that I finally understood what they meant.

Out of all the memories that I tried to recall, most of them were made up with sad ones.

"You don't have to pretend to be someone you're not when you're with me. I won't judge you for that."

Kevin's words powerfully rang inside of my mind as I opened my eyes again.

"Haaa...haaa..."

Breathing out a couple of times, I tried to suppress the inner turmoil inside of my head before finally, mustering every little bit of strength inside of my body, I muttered.

"Pl..ease help me."

Chapter 392: Reunion [1]

They say that saying sorry was hard, but it was only now that I realized that asking for help was just as hard or perhaps even harder than apologizing.

"Pl…ease help me."

Uttering those words, it felt as though I used up all of the strength inside of my body.

I felt completely drained of energy.

Almost as though I had sprinted a full marathon. Uneasiness swept my body, and my heart beat faster.

Yet, despite feeling this way, the feeling I got after the initial lethargic sensation wasn't all too bad.

I felt this sense of relief wash over my body.

As though a heavy boulder had been lifted off of my shoulder, finally allowing me to stand up straight again. I couldn't quite explain it in words, but it just felt liberating.

"Haaa…"

I deeply exhaled.

"It's okay."

It was then that Kevin finally spoke.

Taking a step forward, with his hand on my shoulder, he looked at the moon in the sky.

"I know that you've been through a lot over the past few years. I won't pretend to know just how much you've suffered, and that I even understand what you're going through, but…I want you to remember one thing."

Kevin paused. With his eyes still directed onto the moon in the distance, he continued.

"Hard as things may be, you're not alone. It may look like you are, but all you have to do is look around you."

Turning his head, Kevin looked at me before turning to look at the others who were also staring at me.

"…and when I say take a look, I mean take a proper look. See just who is around you, and see that there are people out there that actually care about you."

Closing my eyes, I lowered my head.

Guilt crept up inside of my heart.

I understood that they cared about me, but the problem was not them, it was me.

Ever since coming into this world, I've seen everyone as my pawn.

People who I could move as I pleased for the sake of my final goal, defeating the demon king. Be it Kevin, Douglas, Waylan, my mercenary group members, everyone was a piece in my eyes.

A piece that I could move as I pleased.

That was how it should've been, but…

Recalling the words that Kevin had just said, for the first time, I felt like maybe my mentality was wrong.

Maybe, I was looking at things in the wrong way…not just for my own goals, but for myself as well. Perhaps, without realizing it, the so-called pieces became more than pieces to me.

It made me wonder, 'were these 'pieces' really as expandable as I thought they were?'

Lifting my head, and staring at everyone present, my eyes soon paused on Kevin and I finally opened my mouth.

"…I think I understand somewhat, thank you."

'Thank you for making me understand my flaws.'

A smile appeared on Kevin's face as he removed his hand away from my shoulder.

Turning his back on me, he muttered.

"You know, I don't know when, but from the very first time I met you, I felt like there was this invisible wall that you erected on yourself. As though you wanted to get as far away from us as possible…it was quite odd, but I never questioned you. I feel like you're hiding something, but who doesn't? Everyone has got their own little secret that they can't tell the others. I get that, but…"

Swooosh—

Turning around, a soft wind brushed past Kevin as his clothes fluttered.

"…but it looks like whatever your secret is, it's eating away at you."

My brows jumped at his words.

Before I could say anything, Kevin raised his hands.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not telling you to tell us what your secret is. I'm just saying, if need help, we're here for you."

Opening my mouth, I tried to reply to his words, but I struggled to find the right words to reply with.

'This world is a novel world and I'm the author.'

There was no way I could tell them this.

Setting the fact that they would most probably not believe me, even if they did, I didn't want to make them feel like they were just some novel characters I wrote on a whim.

I didn't want to let them think that all they've gone through in the past were just things that I had done in order to design their characters.

There was no way I could tell them that and was never planning on telling them.

Some things were just better off being unsaid.

I smiled.

"I understand...thank you."

"You're doing it again."

Kevin's voice sounded once again.

Lifting my head, I was met with the sight of a frowning Kevin. Taken aback, I asked.

"Doing what?"

"You're hiding your true feelings again. That smile you just did easily proved my earlier points."

He shrugged his shoulders.

"…but well, I can tell that it's hard for you, so I won't say anything else. Just keep in mind the words that I previously said."

"Than—"

"Cough."

Just as I was about to thank Kevin for the nth time, I heard a faint cough come from behind me.

Instantly, my head snapped in the direction of where the cough came from and my eyes soon paused on Douglas who was standing not so far from where I was with a smile on his face.

I wasn't the only one who was startled as Jin, Amanda, Kevin, and Melissa all drew out their weapons and stared at Douglas with wariness.

"Calm down, I'm on your side."

Douglas chuckled at the sigh. Turning to face me, he alternated his gaze between me and Kevin before saying.

"Looks like you guys have sorted out your stuff. How about we head back?"

His clam voice echoed throughout the surroundings.

Lowering his head and turning his wrist, he added.

"Time is almost up. The elves will be mad if we stay here any longer."

"Ah! You're the old man from before!"

Kevin suddenly said from behind me. Surprise flashed across my face as I heard his words.

Alternating my gaze between Douglas and Kevin, I asked.

"Huh? You've already met?"

"Yeah, he's the one that told me your location."

"He what?"

This time it was my turn to look surprised as I turned to look in Douglas's direction. My eyes instantly squinted.

"Cough…I think I made the right call." Covering his face with his fist and pretending to cough, Douglas calmly smiled. "As you can see all's well that ends well. You may have lost yourself a bit, but I can tell that some of the burdens in your heart have been resolved."

Listening to Douglas's words, I secretly shook my head.

'So that's how it is…No wonder they were able to find me. It's because Douglas told them!'

Everything was starting to make sense.

I had been wondering why they suddenly showed up out of nowhere while I was taking care of Aaron.

The whole area around us should've been sealed, therefore, for them to come, it shouldn't have made any sense. I merely shrugged it off before since my mind was too preoccupied with other things, but when I think about it now, it should've been impossible for them to enter.

Staring at Douglas, it finally dawned on me.

I finally realized how they were able to enter this area.

"Where you also the ones that took Aaron?"

"Yes, we have."

Douglas nodded.

Nodding back, I stroked my chin before asking.

"…is he okay?"

"He should still be fine."

I sighed in relief at his words.

Fortunately, I had asked Waylan and Douglas to back me up in case things went wrong. Already taking into consideration the possibility of possibly losing myself, I had asked Douglas and Waylan to be present for this very reason.

So that I wouldn't do something I might end up regretting.

Had Aaron died, things would've been terrible for me and the others.

Not only that, it wouldn't have been enough to satiate the thirst for revenge that lingered inside of my mind.

Just dying wasn't enough for me to be satisfied. He needed to suffer more.

Once again checking his watch, Douglas's brows knit.

"Let's quickly head back. The ceremony is about to begin."

Before turning around, raising his hand and pointing it at me, he said.

"Fix your shirt before we go. You're a mess."

"…ah, right."

Lowering my head and seeing the current state my clothes were in, a wry smile appeared on my life.

"Let me fix it now."

Pulling my shirt down and tucking it inside of my pants, I slowly fixed up my buttons. Adjusting my shirt I caught a glimpse of the scar on my body.

'I'm glad they only saw these scars.'

I thought to myself, as I fixed my clothes.

Had they seen how I looked after I left the Monolith, I wondered just what types of faces they would've made.

Well, the only thing that was scarred back then was my face, not my body.

Body-wise, it was more about the burns as my body had been burned to a crisp.

'They do look pretty gruesome though.'

Looking back at the scars on my body, I could somehow sympathize with their reactions.

The current scars that were on my body were merely scars I got from my training over the last few months in Henlour.

This was when I was fighting in the wild against random beasts.

I wasn't perfect.

Despite my strength, there were times when my opponents were just too challenging and the scars just sort of accumulated. Since I didn't want to waste money on scar-removing potions or high-quality healing ones, I just kept them there.

Didn't really care about how my body looked.

In fact, there was still a huge scar on my shoulder from the time I wreaked havoc at the Inferno headquarters as well as from when I was fighting against the demons that were attacking the outer walls of Henolour.

"You ready?"

Once I was done fixing my clothes, Douglas's voice sounded from the distance.

Lifting my head and staring at everybody, with a smile on my face, my foot gently pressed onto the ground and I followed after them.

"Yeah, I'm coming."

***

'He's strong.'

Heading back to the hall, Jin stared at Ren's back.

As he did, it felt as though he was looking at an enormous mountain he couldn't see the peak of.

Recalling his previous fight with Ren, Jin could feel the difference between the two of them.

Not only was his rank higher than his, but the mastery of his sword art was even more refined than his.

It was clear for him to see that there was still a huge gap between the two of them. Perhaps, Ren was even stronger than Kevin, but he wasn't sure.

Neither side ever went all out against each other.

Clenching his fists, rather than being angry, excitement coursed through Jin's body.

He wasn't as close to Ren as Kevin was, but actually, deep inside, even though he never showed it, he was grateful for Ren.

Had it not been for him, he would've never realized his flaws.

Ever since the Hollberg incident, Jin had set Ren as his goal. To wash away the humiliation he suffered back then, he wanted to beat Ren, but...

He never had the confidence in beating him. Just recalling the events that lead up to his loss, Jin felt this inexplicable difference between him and Ren.

The same as what he was feeling now.

Even then, he never gave up and continued to set him as his goal.

And just when he felt that he was strong enough to challenge Ren again, he suddenly died and the goal that he had been striving for suddenly crashed right before his eyes.

With Ren no longer being there, and no goal in mind, although Jin trained just as much as before, his rate of progress slowly stagnated.

He had always regretted not fighting Ren.

It was probably his biggest regret.

And so, staring at his back from behind, the ambers inside of Jin's heart suddenly reignited and he clenched his fists tightly.

'Ren Dover'

He was the man that he was today because of him, and he was also the man that he was determined to beat.

Chapter 393: Reunion [2]

Melissa found herself roaming the halls after separating from the others.

Passing through a group of individuals, Melissa clenched her teeth and mumbled.

"…What does he want from me now?"

Melissa has a strong urge to just turn around and leave the premise, but she knew that she could do nothing but listen to his words.

To make matters worse, her current mood was not very stable.

After what she had just witnessed, how could her mood still be stable? Although she knew that Ren was still alive, a part of her didn't really believe what Amanda had told her in the past.

She was a pragmatic person.

What she witnessed that day suggested to her that the probability of Ren surviving was almost impossible.

As such, she only partially believed what Amanda said. 'Turns out she was right.' Melissa quietly murmured.

Who would've thought? He was actually still alive.

One of the only people that can get on their nerves whenever they spoke.

"I swear, I'm going to lose it one day."

She shook her frustrations with a sigh, then quietly headed for a particular section of the hall where a large wooden door stood.

"This should be the place right?"

Halting her steps in front of the door, Melissa took out a small flask from her dimensional space and directly chugged it.

Gulp—

"Haaaa.."

Wiping her mouth, she glimpsed at the empty flask in her hand before putting it away.

Smacking her lips, her face cringed a little.

"I've got to improve the taste of this."

What she just drank was the same thing that she had given Ren before.

It was pretty much a life-saver for her. It basically helped her calm her nerves. If not for it, she would've probably gone on a similar rampage.

Fortunately, because of the situation, no one questioned her about the potion when she gave it to Ren. Saved her a lot of explaining.

"...Alright."

Once she felt her nerves calm down a little, taking another deep breath and raising her hand, she knocked on the door.

To Tok—

"Come in."

Not long after she knocked, An emotionless voice sounded from behind the door. Hearing the voice, Melissa's brows furrowed tightly.

Grabbing onto the doorknob, she slowly entered the room and closed the door behind her.

Ci Clank—

***

"Huuu."

Thud—

I sat down on a comfortable chair. My shoulders instantly relaxed.

Because of what happened before, I was forced to change my clothes.

Gritting my teeth, I extended my hand and grabbed a drink. My whole body was numb, and if not for the pills I took before, I would've been in extreme pain.

"You feeling okay?"

I was currently back inside the hall which was crowded with people. From how everyone was still happily conversing, it was clear that no one had noticed what had happened outside.

Sitting next to me, with a drink in his hand, Kevin took a small sip. His eyes drew into half-moons as he took a sip of the drink.

"…no, not really. Everything hurts."

"That so?"

Kevin took another sip of his drink...or at least tried to, just when he was about to bring the tip of his glass near his mouth, Kevin's face suddenly crumbled and the drink in his hand shook. Spilling onto the ground.

"Looks like you're also not okay."

Taking a napkin to wipe away the liquid that had fallen on him, he eyed me from the side of his eye.

"…and whose fault do you think that is?"

I shrugged.

"Your fault for being weak."

"What did you say?"

"You heard me right. Your fault for being weak."

I put down my drink.

"If I don't remember wrongly, I was kicking both you and Jins's ass."

I may have lost in the end, but that was because I was fighting against four to three people at the same time.

Of course, I knew that they were both holding back.

Jin and Kevin were both really strong in their own right. It would've been weird if I was able to beat them both if they weren't holding back.

"…I was holding back."

"Yeah, and I wasn't in the right state of mind."

The edges of my lips curled upwards, and the faint sound of Kevin grinding his teeth rang next to me. Turning his head, Kevin's eyes turned into small slits.

"You sure know how to piss me off."

He muttered with his teeth clenched tightly.

Putting his cup down and taking off his blazer, Kevin stood up.

"How about you have another go at me? I'll show you that what you remember was wrong."

"I'm good."

I lazily yawned before I exaggeratively pointed toward my rib cage area.

"I'm quite injured you see. Ahhh, so painful."

Glancing at Kevin, I raised my brow.

"You won't try fighting against someone who is injured, right?"

"Ugh."

A groan escaped from Kevin's mouth before he sat back down in a defeated manner.

Seeing how deflated he was, I patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, we will get a chance to fight again at the event. We won't have to hold back then."

Buttoning the buttons of his blazers, Kevin grabbed a new drink and took a sip of it.

"You're right. I will hold myself back till then."

Lifting his head, Kevin looked around.

"By the way, where are the others? Haven't seen them."

"How should I know?"

The first thing I did when arriving back into the hall was sit down. Kevin followed me after, but regarding the others, I really did not know what they were doing.

"May I have your attention."

While Kevin and I were wondering about the whereabouts of the others, suddenly a melodious and peaceful voice sounded throughout the whole place and everyone stopped speaking.

Turning our attention towards where the voice came from, a mesmerizing figure appeared in the distance.

There were a lot of words that could've been used to describe how beautiful she looked, but I refrained from telling them as I was too mesmerized by her looks…or rather, it was the sense of tranquility that enshrouded her body. Seemingly trying to suck me in.

The more I looked at her, the more entranced by her looks. But it was then that I suddenly felt a sharp pain by side of my ribs. Right, where I was injured.

"Khhh!"

Groaning, I turned my head and realized that the pain came from Kevin elbowing me.

With a solemn look on his face, he warned.

"Careful."

"...Thanks."

Snapping out of it, I lowered my head and thanked Kevin. Had it not been for his intervention, I would've remained dazed for a bit longer.

"The mana around her body is very pure. If your mind is weak, you might end up getting mesmerized by it."

Kevin explained from the side, his eyes locked onto the figure in the distance.

"…Right."

I nodded my head solemnly.

Kevin was right. Because of the purity of the mana surrounding the figure in the distance, my mind fell into this weird daze.

This was one of the features of pure-blooded elves. Definitely had to take note of this in the future.

Normally I would've never fallen into such a situation, but it was clear that my current mind was still not very stable.

"Thank you all for coming here today. As most of you know…"

Disrupting me out of my thoughts, the elves' crisp and melodious voices rang throughout the hall as everyone present their attention to her.

***

At the same time.

Emma sat down on a large red sofa. Curiously glancing around the room, she tried her best to remain composed.

Right after they managed to calm Ren down, the old man that suddenly showed up in front of everyone brought her to this room.

Although skeptical about his intentions, Emma immediately agreed.

She had an inkling about what this was about.

Ba…thump! Ba…thump!

The sound of her heartbeat was the only sound that Emma heard inside the room.

With both arms on her legs, she sat up straight.

Ci Clank—

Her wait did not last for long as the door of the room soon opened. Appearing from the other side of the door was a middle-aged man with black hair and bushy brows.

With an annoyed look, the middle-aged man entered the room and deeply sighed.

"Sigh, Douglas, the ceremony is already in full swing, why are you—"

But halfway through his words, his feet came to a halt. Lifting his head, his eyes soon met Emma's, and the room froze.

Staring at the figure that she had not seen for a long time, Emma's lips trembled.

Clenching her small fists tightly, she released the grip before clenching again. She repeated this several times as she tried to find the right words to say, but despite all of her attempts, her mind was currently blank.

Mustering every little bit of courage inside of her, she muttered.

"D…dad."

Before long, her vision blustered and tears streamed down the side of her cheeks.

"I've mis..sed...you."

***

"Well, that was boring."

Leaning back on his chair, Kevin softly muttered.

The speech lasted for over an hour. There was not a lot of important information in the speech as the things that were said were things that most people already knew.

Apart from the date of the tournament, which was in a week's time, the rest of the stuff that was said was just pleasantries.

"You thought so too?"

Standing up, Ren stretched my arms. Then, looking around, he asked.

"By the way, did you figure out where the others went?"

"No, not really, but if I had to guess Amanda and Jin had to leave because of guild-related stuff, and regarding Emma, I really am not too sure. She just told me that she had something to do."

"Ah, right. I forgot you guys are no longer as free as you used to be."

A look of melancholy appeared on Ren's face as he muttered those words.

Staring at him from the side, Kevin understood how he felt.

Having not seen everyone ever since their first year, it was understandable that he felt that way. He wasn't the only one that changed, everyone else changed too.

They were no longer the same naive students from the past.

"It's alright, you'll get used to it."

Patting Ren on the shoulder, Kevin walked alongside Ren towards the exit of the building.

The ceremony was still not over, but after what happened not too long ago, they decided to head back. Their bodies just couldn't keep up.

"...Huh?"

Bust just as he was about to near the exit of the building, Kevin's feet came to an abrupt halt as he stared at the panel in front of him.

Furrowing his brows, and staring at the red message that had appeared in front of him, Kevin muttered.

"Just what in the..."

[Warning.] [Warning.] [Warning.]

Time remnant has set its eyes on you. Advice caution.

This was not the first time that he had seen the message.

In fact, he had been seeing this same exact message for quite a while now, but he just never understood it.

'Time remnant.'

That was the only thing that caught his interest, but despite his many attempts at trying to figure out what it was, he was never able to figure out what it was.

He did remember hearing about it in one of his visions, but that was all.

"Something wrong?"

Ren's voice rang from the side.

"No, nothing."

Kevin smiled.

'I should not get him involved in this.'

Whatever this time remnant was, it was definitely after him, and judging from how the person in his dreams seemed so wary of it, Kevin knew that this time remnant was something he had to be very careful of.

Kevin didn't want to drag Ren into his problems. He had already gone through enough.

Plus, what would he know about it?

Chapter 394: He knows [1]

"Ghua!"

Aaron's eyes shot wide open. Clenching onto his heart, Aaron started hyperventilating. He kept breathing, but with each breath he took, he felt this overwhelming sense of death wash over him.

"Haa...haaa..."

Only after taking a couple more breaths did Aaron finally calm down a little.

'What happened to me?'

He looked beneath him, his bedsheets were soaked in his own sweat. Touching his forehead, Aaron wiped his forehead which was dripping with sweat.

Faint memories started to surface inside of his mind as his face paled considerably.

"Ukh..."

Clenching onto his head and letting out a groan, Arron lifted his head and looked around him.

Wooden floor, white walls, and a white ceiling. He was in his own residence.

"Haa...haaa..."

His hyperventilation did not stop as he bit his lips till his lips bled. his body shook all over. Hugging his body, he repeatedly muttered.

"Spar..e..me...spare...me."

He could feel this vivid sense of pain course through his whole body. He just wanted it to stop.

'What is this smell?'

Sniffing around, Aaron suddenly smelled a strong and pungent smell, reminiscent of that of alcohol. Lowering his head, he pulled his shirt and smelled it.

"It's coming from me."

He mumbled underneath his breath. When he realized this, he pulled himself off his bed and moved straight to the mirror.

He stumbled a couple of times, but it wasn't long before he stood face to face with the mirror.

"...I'm still okay?"

Aaron muttered, touching his face and body all over. Though faint, images of different scenarios propped up inside of his mind. Recalling them his body trembled all over.

The pain.

It felt so vivid. As though he had truly experienced it.

Even now, he couldn't quite get rid of the sense he had experienced.

"It was just a dream, just a dream...I must've drank too much...he's dead for sure."

Aaron repeatedly muttered as he stared at himself in the mirror. It had to be that.

The smell of alcohol in the room and the fact that he was still alright were testaments to that. Also, the fact that the person responsible for torturing him was someone who was supposed to be dead, Aaron realized that there were simply too many holes in his dreams to make it seem that what had happened had truly happened.

He laughed.

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"Hahah, it must've been a bad dream."

His laugh was forced, but he was merely trying his best to remain composed.

Although he had no idea about what happened at the party, he was planning on checking later to make sure it really was a dream.

"Fuuuu..."

But just as Aaron had calmed down, and he had managed to convince himself that everything that had happened last night was merely a dream that came as a result of him getting too drunk, from the corner of his eyes, he caught a glimpse of a small letter by the side of his desk.

"What's this?"

An ominous feeling washed over him as he laid eyes on the letter.

"Huuuu..."

Taking another deep breath to calm his nerves down, Aaron slowly walked toward the letter. Extending his hand which was trembling, he slowly unfurled the letter.

"...Whew."

Aaron breathed a sigh of relief. Reading through the contents of the letter, he realized that it was just a long list of rules regarding the upcoming competition.

Sitting back down on his bed, he let out another deep breath.

"I need to stop drinking..."

Ever since waking up, he felt paranoid about everything. Just the slightest thing startled him.

"Ukh!"

A sharp pain coursed through the right side of Aaron's head prompting him to flinch slightly. Fortunately, the pain only lasted for a brief moment.

Scratching the area that hurt, he muttered.

"Strange?...Why does the side of my head hurt?"

***

Thump—!

Dropping a large dumbbell onto the ground, I took a white towel from the side and wiped the sweat from my face.

'He's probably forgotten about everything that has happened...'

About two days had passed since the incident. The one where I tortured Aaron.

At the moment, Aaron was probably thinking something along the lines of, 'Everything I went through is a dream.' or some bullshit like this.

This was exactly what I wanted him to think.

The torture was merely something for my own self-satisfaction. I had other plans for him.

With the aid of Douglas and the others, we were able to somewhat create enough alibies and evidence to make it seem that he really had been drunk, and everything was just a drink.

"You're early."

Currently, I was in a private training room, near my residence. This was a small perk I got thanks to the dwarves.

From about 100 meters away, Amanda's voice rang out. Looking at her, I nodded.

"...Yeah, I'm used to it."

Since the training room was massive, and it was at my disposal, I told the others that they could use it whenever they wanted.

Naturally, everyone took me on my offer. Well, everyone expect Melissa who did not want to have anything to do with training.

"You look quite tired."

"Well, the dumbbells are pretty heavy."

In order to get used to the mass-changing properties of my sword, I had to resort to this kind of muscle training.

If not for this, even if I used the Keiki style and increased the mass of the sword halfway through my swing, by the time I was done with my movements, my sword would just drop to the ground and an opening would appear.

"How heavy?"

"About 500kg?"

"...That much?"

"Well, anything lower would not work."

Amanda nodded her head. Extending her hand, she took out her bow.

Wearing her training gear, Amanda had a small hairband on her mouth as she gathered her hair behind her in a ponytail, revealing her slender neck.

"I see, should we do the usual?"

"Yeah."

This was actually not the first time that Amanda and I met up. It was probably the fourth time by now. I was a bit surprised the first time, turns out we both trained at the same time.

For her, this was the routine she was used to ever since taking over the guild in her father's stead.

Apparently, she had to train very early since her days were usually very busy with guild-related stuff.

For me, it was more of a habit I developed when training in the wilderness back in Henlour.

Either way, this was good for me.

Training with someone else was a lot more efficient than just training alone. Plus, there were a lot of things that I wanted to ask of her.

Especially regarding Nola and my parents.

Raising her bow and aiming it at me, Amanda's soft voice rang out.

"Are you ready?"

Taking a deep breath, extending both of my hands forward, I channeled the wind psyons inside of my body until a green hue shrouded my body.

Right now, Amanda was helping me train my reflexes and agility.

One thing that I noticed was that one of my lacking aspects was my agility. Not only that, but long-ranged opponents were especially hard for me to deal with.

Amanda was a big help to me.

"Ready."

"Okay, I'm starting."

Amanda released the string of her bow.

A translucent blue streak of light shot out from her bow. Following the first shot, Amanda extended her hand again and pulled the string again before releasing it.

Not even a second after she shot her first arrow, two more arrows shot out and following this more and more quickly headed in my direction. It wasn't long before a wall made of blue streaks appeared in front of me.

Staring at them from the distance, my face turned serious.

'This is going to be tough...'

I had set a couple of handicaps on myself for this training. I wasn't allowed to use any skill or any manuals apart from the full-body one.

Since my goal was training my agility, this was the most appropriate choice.

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

Cutting through the air like missiles, the arrows soon materialized in front of me.

Gently pressing my foot onto the ground, I took a step back.

Xiu!

An arrow brushed past the side of my cheek. Following that arrow, two more arrows arrived in my vicinity. Moving my hands in front of me, twisting my heel, I swiftly grabbed the bodies of the arrows, disrupting their momentum.

Then, after the arrows lost their momentum, I dropped them to the ground and did the same thing for the next few arrows.

Weaving through the endless amount of arrows, sweat started to accumulate on my forehead as I found my body progressively getting more and more tired with each passing second.

But that wasn't the only thing I was feeling. I could vividly feel myself getting better and better at moving in tight spaces.

Excitement flashed across my eyes as I continued to dodge the arrows.

It wasn't long before I started to get used to the rhythm and I started to feel at ease dodging the arrows.

Xiu! Xiu!

Dodging a couple of more arrows, I looked up to Amanda. A smirk appeared on my lips.

"That the best you can do?"

Staring back at me, Amanda's hand trembled slightly. Her brows knit as a result of my provocation.

"I'm getting bored her—"

Xiu!

Before I could even finish my words, a blue streak of light suddenly rushed in my direction at a speed at least five times faster than the previous arrows. Caught-off guard, my brows jumped up.

"Wait—uk!"

But it was too late. Before I could even react, the arrow directly hit me in my right thigh. The force behind the arrows was so strong that I was forced to take a step back.

Fortunately, all the arrows that Amanda shot were blunt, else I would've been in serious trouble.

Still, it hurt quite a lot.

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

The sound of the wind being split rang from above, and my eyes trembled. Raising my head, much to my horror, I found over a dozen similar arrows headed in my direction.

"Okay, stop! stop! You win!"

Covering my body with my arms, I squirmed in pain as a dozen arrows crashed against my body at terrifying speeds.

Xiu! Xiu!

"I said stop!"

But it seemed as though Amanda couldn't hear me as she continued to shoot the arrows in my direction. Turning my head in her direction, it was then that I finally noticed the edges of her lips were finally curled upwards.

"You're doing this on purpose!"

I shouted.

Xiu!

"Ooooof!"

Another arrow shot, hitting directly in the ribs. A pained groan escaped from my mouth, and I dropped to the ground.

Fortunately, once Amanda saw that I was on the ground, she finally stopped.

Glaring at her, I raised my hands in defeat.

"You win, I give up."

Approaching my location, Amanda's face remained stoic. But from the way she was skipping toward me resulting in her ponytail to jump up and down behind her, I could tell that she was proud of her achievement.

I ground my teeth as a result.

"You happy?"

"...About what?"

Amanda replied, feigning ignorance. I rolled my eyes. Amanda had changed a lot ever since I had last seen her. She had gotten a lot cheekier.

"Whatever."

Shaking my head, I sighed.

If there was anyone I had to blame, it had to be me. Why did I have to go on and provoke her? Dumb move.

Raising my head and staring at Amanda who was standing near me, I muttered.

"You know, I think you've gotten a lo—"

TWIIING—! TWIIING—!

Before I could finish my sentence, my communication device vibrated.

'Who's trying to talk to me?'

Tilting my head, I took out my communication device and checked who the sender was. Surprise flashed across my face as I realized that the sender was none other than Melissa.

Even more surprising was her message.

[We need to talk.]

Reading it, uneasiness washed over me. Just what did she mean by this?

Chapter 395: He knows [2]

Raising my head, a large white building appeared in my vision. The building was located on the outer side of the city, and it was where the other humans resided.

"Is this the place?"

"Yes."

Amanda's soft voice rang from next to me.

She was currently accompanying me to the place. I wasn't the only one that was called, as Amanda received a similar message not long after.

Since both of us received the same message, I already had an idea about what Melissa wanted to talk about.

It was just a hunch, however. I could've been wrong.

"What do you think Melissa called us for?"

Touching her chin, Amanda thought for a moment before she shook her head.

"…unsure."

"Guess we'll find out when we meet her."

Walking up the stairs of the residence, we soon paused in front of a certain door.

Looking around to make sure that no one was present, I pointed at the door.

"This is the one, right?"

Lowering her head and staring at her communication device, Amanda nodded.

"Yes."

"…okay."

Raising my hand, I knocked on the door.

Tok— Tok—

***

If Melissa had to describe her relationship with her father in one word, it would be 'terrible'.

She wasn't mistreated or anything of the sort, but her father was someone who always strived to be the best.

He was someone that was not satisfied with being second. He was also someone that desired for his children to be the best.

Melissa was never interested in such matters ever since young. She only cared about her research and nothing else. As such, because of their clashing personalities, they never got along.

Their relationship wasn't anything complicated, it was just that. But it was enough to create a distance between the two.

"What a troubling matter."

Leaning back on her chair, Melissa stared at the ceiling.

Thinking back to what happened a couple of nights ago, she took out a potion from her dimensional space and stared at it.

'Should I? Or…should I not?'

She was tempted to try the potion, but after staring at it for a few seconds, she deeply sighed.

'Better not. If I take too many, I'll end up going crazy.'

Honestly, she was quite addicted to the potions by now. Having taken so many of them, it was almost like a routine for her.

It was so bad that she would get withdrawal symptoms when she skipped a day. She knew she had to stop.

"…hm?"

Putting the potion away, Her brows furrowed not long after as she turned to look at the door.

"Do they think I have all the time in the world for them? Just what is taking them so long?"

Standing up, Melissa checked her watch.

"Tsk."

They were at least a couple of minutes late.

Tok— Tok—

"Finally!"

Fortunately, she didn't have to wait for long as someone soon knocked on the door.

Fixing her glasses, Melissa headed for the door and opened it.

Ci— Clank—

"Took you two long enough."

Standing opposite her was Amanda, and Ren, under disguise.

"Sorry for the intrusion."

Before Melissa could fully open the door, barging into the place as though it was his home, Ren gave an empty apology to Melissa and sat down on the chair she was previously sitting on.

Turning his head and glancing in her direction, he casually said, "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Following him, Amanda also entered and sat in another seat.

Melissa's brows twitched.

"Huuuu…"

She then took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves.

'…maybe I really should've taken the potion.'

Regret had started to kick in.

Not even a minute had passed since she talked to him, and she was already on the verge of losing it.

Ci— Clank—

Taking another deep breath, Melissa closed the door behind her, albeit a bit forcefully.

Then, she sat down next to Amanda. Once she did, Ren spoke up again.

"What did you want to talk about? I'm sure someone as busy as you wouldn't call us for nothing."

There was sarcasm hidden within his voice. One that Melissa was all too familiar with.

"You're right."

Melissa nodded before mumbling something underneath her breath.

"I'd rather die of suffocation than do this."

"What did you say?"

But it appeared as though Ren had somehow managed to hear her words. Ignoring him, Melissa leaned back on her chair with a solemn look.

"I'll get straight to the point. My father knows."

"…Knows?"

Wariness flashed across Ren's face. Sitting up straight, he leaned forward.

"What does he know?"

Extending her hand, Melissa took a few cards from her dimensional space and slapped them on the table.

Smack—

"He knows about the magic cards."

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"He what?"

Contrary to the reaction she expected him to have, Ren only tilted his head.

Melissa pointed at the cards on the table.

"Do you not get me? I'm saying that he knows about them."

"You're talking about your father, right?"

"Who else would I be talking about?"

"…Oh?"

Ren's shoulders relaxed as he leaned back on his chair. On the other hand, Amanda's eyes were fixed on the cards at the table. Her brows twitched slightly.

'Why is he not surprised?'

Melissa looked stultified by Ren's reaction. Her brows jumped up slightly.

Did he perhaps not know just who her father was? Maybe that was it.

Just to make sure, she asked Ren in a clear and slow voice, "You do know who my father is, right?"

"Octavious Hall, number one ranked hero."

Ren's reply came as soon as her words ended. Surprise flashed across Melissa's face.

"If you know, why aren't you worried…?"

"Did he ask you to give him the cards?"

"…No."

Melissa shook her head.

So far he only mentioned it as a passing matter. But that was worrying enough. If he truly wanted to get his hands on the magic cards, things would get really troublesome.

"Then, what's the problem?"

But it was clear that Ren didn't think the same way as he stood up in a relaxed manner.

Lowering his head, his eyes paused on the cards at the table. They were currently neatly piled up together. Courtesy of Amanda, who sorted them out while she was talking to Ren.

Melissa didn't put much thought into it. Amanda had minor OCD, so she had seen her do similar things back at the Lock.

On the other hand, lowering his hand and picking one of the cards up, Ren curiously studied the card in his hand before asking, "Can I try this?"

"No."

Melissa's blunt reply came immediately.

She then pointed at the door of the room.

"If you want to try it, do it outside, not in my room."

If he activated the magic card now, the whole room would end up going in flames. Melissa had a lot of valuable stuff in the room. She wasn't too keen on having it all destroyed.

"Tsk."

Ren clicked his tongue, prompting Melissa's brows to twitch.

"You've got a problem with my arrangements?"

"Nope."

Shrugging his shoulders, Ren headed for the door. Staring at his back from her seat, Melissa took out a potion and chugged it.

In the end, she couldn't resist the temptation and finally gave in.

Gulp—

Chugging the potion down, her emotions instantly calmed down.

Standing up, she followed Ren.

"So far, I've managed to create three grades of magic cards. Not sure about their naming, but the last grade has a power equivalent to a <C> rank attack."

"…that's kind of weak."

Ren commented. Stopping in front of the door, he pulled the handle back and opened it.

Click—

"I'm the only one working on this project, what do you expect?"

Melissa retorted. She could've hired more people to help her with the magic card development, but since she wanted to hide the news from her father, she chose to do it by herself.

Even if she had them under a mana contract, the more people that knew, the higher the chances of her father finding out became.

In the end, it was all for naught. It turned out that her father still found out.

"Sigh, whatever. Just go out and try them. I've encrypted four different magic circles on the card. Choose whichever one you want."

"Sure."

Exiting the room, Melissa followed him out. Amanda also quietly followed from behind. Melissa could see keen interest in her eyes as she followed after.

***

Bang—

Not even a couple of steps out of Melissa's room and I heard a 'bang' come from below the residence.

Curious, I moved towards the wooden handrail and looked below.

"What is he doing here?"

Surprise flashed across my eyes as I spotted a familiar figure standing below.

Dust and smoke rose in the air, masking most of his features. But from the way he was holding onto his shield and his body size, the guy standing beneath was definitely Hein.

'...What happened to him?'

I wondered to myself as my brows knit in thought.

He had his own residence, what did he have to come here for?

"What are you doing here?"

A deep voice reverberated, following which, a tall and muscular figure walked out from the dust. He looked quite familiar, but I wasn't able to recognize him instantly.

"John Berson."

Thankfully, Amanda recognized him. Turning her head to look at me, she explained.

"Currently <C+> rank, he was one of the exchange students that came in the first year. At the moment, he seems to be an extremely promising candidate for the next <S> rank tanker type hero."

"…oh."

I now finally realized who the person was. It was the same guy that beat Hein back at the tournament.

Leaning on the handrail, I chose to observe.

"What are you doing here? I know for sure you were not one of the five hundred people selected to come to the conference."

His deep and loud voice attracted the attention of the other residents. One by one, a small crowd formed.

Not minding the crowd, John continued.

"Since you aren't one of the people on the list, you must've somehow managed to sneak in."

'That's kind of stupid.'

There was no way one could have sneaked in. In order to make sure there was no one from the Monolith, the Union strictly checked everyone going in and also made sure to only teleport 500 people.

It was impossible to have another person.

"Wait, I didn't sneak in."

Hein finally spoke, trying to defend himself.

"Then, why are you here?"

"That…"

A complicated looked flashed across Hein's face. He looked unsure of how to answer.

"So, you can't even answer that."

A burst of mana suddenly sprang out of John's body.

"Since you can't answer, I'll—"

Before John could finish speaking, having enjoyed enough of the show, I finally spoke up.

"I brought him here."

"…hm?"

Instantly everyone's attention was drawn to me. Since I was wearing a mask, I honestly didn't mind the attention.

Turning his head, the mana inside of John's body faltered.

Squinting, his eyes met with mine.

"Who are you?"

"…eh, you don't need to know that."

I pointed my hand at Hein.

"Let him go for now. If he had truly sneaked in, you think the elves wouldn't have noticed?"

"What do you know?"

John frowned at my words. I facepalmed at his reaction.

Turning my head, I looked at Melissa. Flashing the cards in my hand, I decided to ask a question.

"I'm allowed to use this, right?"

Surprise flashed across her face for a brief moment of time. It wasn't long before an innocent smile appeared on her face.

"I've always tested the card on robots. I never tried it against a human…"

Her innocent smile suddenly looked a lot more devilish. A cold chill ran down my spine.

"I'm actually quite curious about its effects."

-->

Chapter 396: Testing [1]

"Huuup!"

Jumping down from the building and softly landing on the ground, I walked over to Hein.

"You okay?"

"…Yeah."

He replied, his eyes darting all over the shield. My brows furrowed at his actions.

"What's wrong?"

"...Nothing."

Taking out a handkerchief, he slowly wiped away the dirt that was on his shield.

A sigh escaped from my lips once I saw this. Ever since Henlour, he had always been acting up like that whenever his shield got dirty. I didn't even know how to react at this point.

That aside, apart from minor dust on his body and shield, he truly did look fine.

"We'll talk more later. For now, step back."

"Wai—"

Cutting him off, I extended my hand and turned my head.

"Don't worry, I'm only borrowing him. You can fight him later."

My goal was to test the magic cards. I wasn't going to kill him. Hein could easily fight against him in the future. Plus, at the moment John was still stronger than Hein by one minor rank.

"…fine."

What I said seemed to have some effect on Hein who eventually stepped back. I nodded in satisfaction.

Looks like he still had some respect for me.

"You still didn't answer me, who are you?"

John's voice rang from behind as a powerful wave of mana sprung from his body.

Ignoring him, lowering my head, I stared at the cards in my hand.

'Fireball, Ice wall, quake, and blind.'

They were the spells enchrypted in the magic cards. They were quite the simple spells, but they were still quite powerful. At least, they were powerful enough to deal with the person in front of me.

The reason why Melissa chose to encrypt these spells was because the others were just too complicated for her current level of development.

Lifting my head and staring at the place which was surrounded by people, I looked back at John.

"Looks like a big crowd has formed around us."

"That's good."

John lowered his body and took out his shield. He took a stance that looked similar to that of Hein. But, if I had to say, It was a bit more refined. Not sure if it was a bit more efficient though.

"I'll keep you in check until the others come. See how you can explain the fact that you are here despite not being one of the people participating."

I rolled my eyes at his words.

Honestly, if I explained to him properly, I could resolve this whole conflict, but…why would I?

Had the perfect testing material right in front of me. Why would I miss such a good opportunity?

Turning my head, I looked at Hein and softly muttered.

"Pay close attention."

Bang—!

Then, pressing my foot onto the ground, I shot in John's direction. Within a couple of seconds, I was already before him.

"Huuup!"

Reacting to my sudden burst of speed, taking a step forward, the ground beneath John cracked apart and small pieces of rock shot upwards.

Dodging the pieces of rock, I swiftly arrived before him. As I arrived before me, in my view, all I saw was a massive shield. It looked as though I was facing a massive tortoise.

Quite frankly, despite my experience, I saw no openings. Still, I wasn't disheartened by this.

'Let's see.'

Taking out the 'fireball' magic card, I channeled my mana into it. Then, turning my body sideways, I skid before the shield and smacked the card right on it.

Smack—!

Since I didn't want him to notice that I had attached the card to his shield, I put quite a bit of force into my attack. The moment my hand smacked against the shield, a circular pressurized wind gale outwardly shot from the contact point between my hand and the shield.

Swoooosh—!

As a result, the ground around us bent down.

Then, pressing my foot on the shield, I jumped up and did a backflip, distancing myself from him.

"Was that it?"

Once I distanced myself from him, lowering his shield, John looked at me. Confusion flashed across his face.

"Was that the strength of your attack?"

He once again questioned. The edges of his lips tugged upwards.

Without saying anything, I touched my chin.

'Is one enough?'

From what Melissa told me, it would take one second and a half to activate the card.

However, if I wanted to, I could also delay the activation of the card by ten more seconds by channeling my mana inside of a specific area that would delay the flow. This was a feature that I suggested to her a while back and the one that I wanted to test out.

Glad she listened.

"Try attacking again."

John taunted.

Ignoring his taunts, I took out another magic card and once again dashed in his direction. The speed at which I was going was the same as before.

Bang—

Right as I arrived before the shield, stomping my left foot on the ground, my body shot toward the right side and I once again smacked a card on his shield.

Smack—!

Another powerful wind gale shot out between the point of contact between my hand and the shield. Despite this, John remained unmoved.

'I think two is enough.'

Distancing myself away from John once again, I stopped. Since the time limit was only ten seconds, there wasn't enough time to add a third one.

But considering my opponent's strength, this was enough.

"Are you done playing around?"

Standing upright, John halted his steps. Furrowing his brows tightly, he glared in my direction.

"I don't know what you just di—"

"I'd be careful if I were you."

SHUUUUA—!

Before he could even finish his sentence, his shield glowed, and a bright flame suddenly erupted, enveloping his body completely.

He didn't even have enough time to scream before his whole body was entrapped by the flames.

Actually, though faint, I could hear a small scream coming out from his lips.

"...Oh shit."

As seconds ticked, and the flames engulfing John grew, my eyes opened wide.

The flames were a lot stronger than I had originally thought.

Turning my head in Melissa's direction, I found her looking at John's burning body with excitement.

With a notepad in front of her, she scribbled a bunch of stuff on it. Next to her, Amanda had a helpless expression on her face.

Turning her head, our eyes met and I shrugged.

'What did I expect?'

"What's going on here?"

It was then that a familiar voice suddenly sounded.

Turning my head, I spotted a familiar figure rushing in our direction. Long black hair, amethyst color hair, it was Donna.

Swoooosh—!

Appearing right before John, Donna waved her hand and the flames engulfing his body completely disappeared.

"Haaa..haaa..."

Once the flames disappeared, John knelt down on the ground. His breathing was extremely rough, and a part of his hair was burnt. Fortunately, that was the extent of his injuries.

I sighed in relief once I saw that.

'Fortunately, he specialized in defense.'

Had he truly been heavily injured, I would've found myself in a bit of trouble. It wouldn't be to the extent of me getting kicked out by the Union or anything like that, but it would still be bothersome.

"Did you do this?"

Snapping me out of my thoughts was an airy voice. Turning my head, my eyes interlocked with Donna's. She had an icy glare on her face as she looked at me.

Gulp—!

Stared at by Donna, I swallowed a mouthful of saliva. She may have not been releasing any pressure, but the aura that her body gave off was no joke. It felt suffocating, to say the least.

Fortunately, it wasn't anything too bad.

Having been close to <SS> ranks before, the pressure she gave out wasn't anything I wasn't used to as I quickly regained my composure.

'Guess I have no choice.'

"Huuuu..."

Taking a deep breath and lowering my head, I muttered inside of my mind.

'Monarch's indifference.'

***

The tournament was coming up in a couple of days and Donna was supposed to give a roundup to the participants about who their opponents were and how the structure of the tournament worked.

But just as she was about to arrive at the residence, she suddenly saw a bright flame in the distance.

Though faint, she could also hear a muffled scream.

Without hesitation, she dashed in the direction of where the noise came from.

Once she arrived, it was then that she saw two males fighting against each other. One seemed to be fine, while the other was completely engulfed in powerful flames.

Without hesitation, she raised her hand and quickly removed the flames away from the individual's body.

Thankfully, the flames quickly dissipated away, revealing the features of a young man close to his twenties.

'John Berson.'

Donna instantly recognized him.

He was one of the few people she paid close attention to due to his outstanding talent.

Once she made sure that he was okay, she turned to face the perpetrator of the incident.

Her brows instantly knit as soon as her eyes laid on him.

'I've never seen him before.'

Donna had memorized the faces of all the five hundred participants, and yet, the face before her was not someone on that list.

Instantly she became warier.

"Who are you?"

She asked whilst secretly channeling the mana inside of her body, ready to be utilized at a moment's notice.

"You don't need to know."

Opening his mouth, a cold and emotionless voice rang through the air.

Donna's eyes suddenly opened slightly.

'That look.'

It felt familiar. Cold eyes, and an emotionless voice. She remembered seeing a similar look in the past.

The mana around her body faltered slightly. Calming down, she took a closer look at him.

He had blonde hair and green eyes. He didn't look particularly handsome, but he was still attractive in his own right. Moreover, he looked to be in his mid-twenties. He didn't look like anyone she knew, yet, the aura he currently gave off was oddly familiar, yet at the same time it wasn't.

She couldn't quite tell since he was hiding his aura, but Donna could tell that the male in front of her was strong. Maybe not as strong as her, but compared to John, he was on a whole different level.

'He also doesn't seem to be wearing a skin mask.'

This was another thing she noticed. Had he been wearing a skin mask, Donna would've been able to tell with a quick glimpse, but he wasn't, meaning that he truly was someone she had never met before.

But that made things even stranger.

How could someone as talented as him go unnoticed for so long? Something just didn't add up.

Calming down, she asked.

"I've never seen you on the list of people that should be here. I just want to know what you're doing here."

"He was being harassed, so I helped him out."

Turning around he pointed toward another youth in the distance. Sitting down on the grass in the distance, another blonde male appeared. He appeared to be wiping his shield.

Donna was once again taken aback.

'I've also never seen him before.'

Her brows knit even more tightly.

Two individuals that she had never seen before.

Something was oddly wrong with the situation.

Turning her attention back towards the main blonde male, Donna channeled her mana into her eyes.

'Let me get a look at who you truly are.'

Since he wasn't planning on revealing who he was, Donna was planning on using her powers to find out.

Normally she wouldn't have done this, but since this concerned the fate of humanity, she had no other choice but to.

"We're with the humans that come from Henlour."

But before Donna could even use her power, as though he knew about what she was going to do, the blonde male spoke up.

Instantly the glow in Donna's eyes receded.

"The humans from Henlour? Isn't that the dwarven city?"

"It is."

A sudden look of understanding flashed across Donna's eyes.

"...Oh."

'That's right, Monica did tell me that Douglas was there...but why is someone as young as him coming from there too?'

Donna didn't know much about the dwarven situation, but she was still a bit skeptical.

She knew that the mission was something that required Douglas's assistance, but why would two people as young as them also go?

Something didn't add up to her.

"Okay, for now, I want you guys to stay here so that I can—"

"Donna it's fine. I can confirm for them."

Cutting her off, a familiar high-pitched voice rang from the distance. Donna instantly recognized the voice.

"Monica?"

"Mhm."

Calmly nodding her head, with her hands behind her back, Monica stopped right in front of the blonde male.

Leaning her body forward, the corners of her lips curled upwards before she patted him on the shoulder lightly.

Throughout the whole exchange, the blonde youth remained indifferent.

"This guy over here is in fact our little junior."

Turning her head to look at Donna, Monica smiled even more brightly.

"A very talented one at that."

Chapter 397: Dream or reality? [2]

"Junior? What are you talking about Monica?"

'Oh god.'

At Monica's arrival, the effects of Monarch's indifference wore off.

My goal was to prevent Donna from using her skill to make me talk. With Monica here, the chances of that happening were almost null to zero and thus, Monarch's indifference wore off.

"Um, Um."

Walking around me, a look of mischief appeared on Monica's face.

'What is she planning?'

Wariness flashed across my eyes.

With her hands behind her back, Monica twirled around and whistled.

"Hewww...hewww..."

Well, at least tried to. Wasted effort on her part as it just sounded like she was blowing air. She quickly gave up after a couple of tries.

She then arrived next to Donna and reassured her.

"Anyways, as I was saying. You don't have to worry about these two."

"...If you say so."

Donna nodded her head with a confused look on her face. It was clear that she was still taken aback by the news. But since Monica was the one telling her the news, she merely went along with it.

"So...is everything sorted?"

Turning her head, Donna looked at John who was slowly standing up.

Although he was injured, it wasn't that bad. Brushing her hair by the side of her ear, she sighed.

"Since he's fine, I guess everything is alright."

"Alright."

I proceeded to walk up to John. The moment I did, Donna's voice rang from behind.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm just getting my stuff back."

Bending over, I picked up the two magic cards that I used. They were still intact, but compared to the first time I used them, they shined less.

"...What are those?"

"Wow!"

Observing the cards, Monica's voice suddenly rang in front of me, startling me. Leaning forward, she curiously looked at the card in my hand.

"Is this what you used to beat him?"

She extended her hand, trying to touch the card. Moving my hand away, I glared at her.

"Hands off."

"What?"

"This is off-limit. You'll know more about it later."

"Tsk."

Monica clicked her tongue and crossed her arms. Fortunately, Monica was reasonable enough to stop. After all, there was still a crowd of people around us.

"Stingy."

She muttered under her breath. Rolling my eyes, I nudged my head in Hein's direction.

"Hein, let's go."

Lifting his head, Hein put his handkerchief away. Leaning sideways to make sure there were no smudges on his shield, only once he was sure it was shining did he finally stand up and nod his head.

"...Alright."

'I've got to have a talk with Malvil about this...It's getting out of hand.'

"If you would excuse me."

Nodding my head in Donna's and Monica's direction, I headed back upstairs under everyone's watch. As I walked up, I could feel Donna's eyes burn holes at the back of my head, but I promptly ignore it.

'She'll probably figure it out soon.'

Not like I was trying to hide it. The only reason why I was still wearing a mask was because quite a few people knew of my face, and the matter regarding 876 wasn't resolved yet.

Of course, I had plans regarding that matter.

Walking up the stairs, it wasn't long before I stopped in front of Melissa's residence. Stopping in front of her, I proceeded to hand the cards back to her.

"Here, they are not bad."

"Keep them."

But, raising her hand, Melissa passed the cards back to me. Surprise flashed across my face.

"When did you suddenly become so generous?"

Melissa's face scrunched up at my words.

"...Now why would you think I would want something you touched?"

Understanding flashed across my face.

'Figured.'

Still, I quickly retorted back. Couldn't have her out petty me.

"Why wouldn't you? Didn't you see my body?"

"Yeah, bleached my eyes after I returned home."

"Tsk."

I clicked my tongue.

From the corner of my eyes, I could see Amanda covering her eyes with her hand. Understandable, guess even she couldn't handle Melissa's pettiness.

"Anyways, keep the cards. I've got plenty of them."

"Well if you say so."

I put the cards back in my dimensional space. They may end up being useful in the future.

'Actually, I still needed to properly test the cards.'

John didn't turn out to be that good of a punching bag. It only took two cards to take him down. Was kind of disappointed. From his display, I could tell Hein was more skilled.

While in thought, flipping through her small notepad, Melissa headed back to her room.

"Okay, if you would please go away. I've got work to do."

Ci Clank—!

Before I could even say anything, the door shut with a loud bang. Shaking my head, I looked at Hein.

"What time is it?"

"About 12."

Hein replied after checking his watch.

"Hmm..."

Looking behind me, at Amanda, I asked.

"Want to go get something to eat?"

"Um."

Amanda thought for a moment before she nodded. I then turned to look at Hein.

"What about you?"

"No, sorry, I can't."

"...Oh? Got something else going?"

"Yeah, I'm supposed to meet with Leopold."

"Leopold?... Never mind, I'd rather not ask."

The withdrawal symptoms have been getting more and more severe for Leopold. It had gotten to the point where his face was sunken from sleep deprivation.

'Should I call Kevin?'

Lowering my head, I took out my communication device and messaged Kevin.

TWIIING—! TWIIIING—!

It didn't take long for him to reply. Unexpectantly he also rejected me.

[Sorry, I can't. I'm busy.]

Was a bit perplexed by the rejection, but I didn't think too much. Perhaps he was training.

"Guess he's not available as well."

Shrugging my shoulders, I looked at Amanda.

"Well, guess it's just us two."

***

With her hand on her chin, a complicated look flashed across Donna's brows.

"What's wrong?"

Walking beside her was Monica. With her hands behind her head, she had a nonchalant look on her face. Sensing something off about Donna's mood, she asked.

"Something wrong with you?"

Donna's footsteps came to a halt. Raising her head, she looked at Monica.

"Tell me, Monica. That guy from before was someone I know right?"

"...Eh?"

Coming to a stop, Monica's eyes opened up. Putting her arms away from her head, she casually looked around.

"...Am I right?"

Donna reiterated. Her tone was a lot more serious than before.

Subjected to such a tone, Monica hurriedly nodded her head.

"Yes, yes, you're right."

"Who is it?"

"It's—"

Pinching the middle of her brows, Donna raised her hand to block Monica from speaking.

"Wait, don't tell me. I think I already have an idea."

'There's only one person that would interact with Melissa and Amanda like that...moreover, that look.'

That cold and emotionless look. She thought that she was overthinking things back then, but it finally dawned on her why it looked so familiar.

If there was anyone with that look who got along with Melissa and Amanda who usually never talked with anyone, there could only be one person.

Donna lifted her head.

Turning her head back in the direction of the dorms, her amethyst-colored eyes shined.

Soon a smile appeared on her face as she muttered.

"I see...no wonder you were reacting like that."

***

Sitting inside of his own room, leaning on a chair with his arms crossed, Kevin stared at the panel in front of him.

===

[Warning.] [Warning.] [Warning.]

The time remnant has set its eyes on you.

===

The more he looked at it, the tighter the frown on his face was.

"Just what is this?"

It had been a while since he had seen this, but the sense of foreboding he got from it increased with each passing day. It was as though it was telling him that something bad was about to happen.

Kevin had been careful throughout the whole trip and the past few months, but the uneasiness within him only grew as time passed.

It had gotten to the point that he was now starting to become paranoid.

TWIIING—! TWIIIING—!

"...Hm?"

Distracting him out of his thoughts was the sound of his communication device vibrating. Lowering his head, he looked at his communication device. It was Ren.

[Do you want to have lunch with me and Amanda?]

Staring at the message, Kevin turned his attention back toward the panel in front of him. Of course, he didn't forget to send a message back to Ren.

[Sorry, I can't. I'm busy.]

TWIIIING—!

Once he did, Kevin stood up and walked in circles around the room with a thoughtful look on his face.

===

Synchronization : 27%

===

'This is the only clue I have regarding the time remnant.'

But how was he supposed to raise the synchronization rate?

He tried asking the system, but it completely ignored all of his words. Usually, it would give him answers, but this time it just stayed mute. This was another thing that increased the uneasiness in Kevin's mind.

He really had a nagging feeling that these synchronization events were really important. No, he knew that they were important.

Especially after seeing the message regarding the time remnant.

Kevin wasn't someone that liked to leave the problems for later. Ever since the appearance of the message he had been trying to find a solution to it, but despite all of his attempts, he couldn't find the answer.

"Wait...what if I used the book?"

A thought suddenly crossed his mind.

'That's right, the last time I went through a synchronization event, it was after something happened to Ren and I touched the book...which was called the time codex?'

Kevin's mind started to race. He felt like he was getting closer to the solution.

Halting his steps, he placed his arm underneath his chin.

'Time Codex...Time remnant.'

His eyes opened wide.

"What if this whatever time remnant is, is not looking for me but the time codex?...Or..."

Many ideas started to flash across Kevin's brain as he paced around the room. He was looking for the red book.

He had an inkling that perhaps he might find an answer there.

"Where did I leave it?"

But as he looked for it in his room, he suddenly noticed that it wasn't supposed to be where he originally thought it was. On his desk.

In fact, this had not been the first that this had happened.

Sometimes he would find his book a couple of centimeters away from where it was supposed to be, or sometimes it would just fall over. It didn't happen often, maybe once every few months, but now it was completely gone.

He never put much thought into it before since the book was not something others apart from him could see.

But now.

With the idea of the time remnant flashing across his mind, the uneasiness within him only grew.

"Where is it? Not here as well?"

Pacing around the room, he slowly started to panic. Flipping his whole room upside down, Kevin's breathing soon became rough.

"Haa...haa...no, no, no, where is it?"

Scratching the back of his head, he muttered.

"...It's gone."

The book was gone. No matter how much he looked, the book was gone.

'But how? Who could've taken the book? I've already tested it. There is no way anyone can see the book apart from me!'

"...Huh?"

Biting his lips hard, Kevin took a step forward. But it was then that suddenly his vision blurred. His foot stumbled slightly and the energy inside of his body suddenly drained.

Before he knew it, the ground neared his vision.

===

[Emergency quest]

Description : ∎∎∎∎∎∎∎∎∎∎∎∎∎∎∎∎∎∎∎

Synchronisation : +7%

===

"...eh?"

But just as he was about to fall, a panel suddenly popped up in front of him.

His mind was growing hazier by the second, but he was able to make out the contents of the panel.

Bang—!

Sadly, he wasn't able to see for too long as his head soon smashed against the ground and his consciousness slipped.

-->

Chapter 398: Dream or reality? [3]

"I'd like to have this please."

Sitting inside a restaurant, Amanda could hear Ren's voice coming from in front of her. He was currently ordering a meal.

"Yeah, I want this and this."

He pointed at the menu on the table.

"This one looks interesting too."

After ordering a couple more meals, lifting his head he looked at her.

"What about you? Did you order already?"

"Mhm."

Amanda nodded her head.

She had already ordered beforehand. Unlike him, she only needed one meal to be full.

"Oh, I see."

Ren nodded in understanding.

He then turned towards the waitress.

"I guess that's all."

With a simple nod, the elven waitress left.

Staring at the back of the waitress, Ren leaned back on his chair.

"Who would've thought that they had restaurants here too."

The place they were currently in was one of the most famous restaurants in Issanor. Ren chose this place.

The internal design of the place gave off a calm and tranquil feeling with simple yet elegant designs. Plants appeared all over the place, and a wispy scent of lavender lingered in the air.

"How is Nola doing?"

Whilst absorbed by the environment, Ren's voice suddenly reached her ears.

Turning her head, she answered.

"She misses you."

Amanda proceeded to take a sip of her drink. It was the same honeydew they served back at the hall.

"Is that so?"

"Mhm. She always talks about you."

"..I see, looks like she hasn't forgotten about me."

Lifting her head, Amanda could vividly feel the relief in his voice.

Nodding her head, she took another sip of her drink.

"I bring her to the guild from time to time when your parents are at work."

"At the guild?"

"…she likes the place quite a lot."

Maxwell, her butler was especially attached to her. Thinking about it, a smile crept upon her face.

"You must really like Nola."

A smile soon emerged on Ren's face as he looked at her. The smile didn't last for long however as he soon lowered his head.

"How old is she now? Four? Five? It's been a while since I had last seen her. If only…"

"It's okay."

Amanda reassured.

Pursing her lips, she put her drink down.

She wasn't the best person to ask when it came to relationships, but from having interacted with Nola long enough, she knew that Nola did not resent him in any way for not being there.

"Just make up for it later."

"Make it up?"

"Spend time with her later."

"...I don't know if I'll have time in the future."

"Ah."

Staring at Ren, an idea suddenly struck Amanda.

"I can take a video message if you want."

"A video message? Good idea!"

Vigor returned on Ren's face.

He then turned to look towards his left and right.

"Where should we take it?"

"Let's take it outside."

Amanda suggested. It wasn't really appropriate in here since the guests had to keep a certain volume. Fortunately, Ren seemed to have noticed this as he soon nodded his head.

"You're right. Let's take it after we eat."

Following his words, a calm atmosphere enshrouded their surroundings as neither one of them spoke for the next couple of minutes.

Catching a glimpse of Ren who was sitting opposite of her, Amanda had a complicated look on her face.

Apart from the morning training sessions, this may be the first time that they had truly talked to each other alone.

Ever since his disappearance, Amanda had a lot of time to reflect on herself.

She was currently unsure about her feelings towards him. Back when he first disappeared, she realized she liked him.

It was an odd emotion that she had never felt before, but it didn't last long as his death and her work had taken her mind away from such matter.

Now that he was back in front of her, Amanda didn't know what she felt about him.

'Do I like him, or do I not?'

Her mind was conflicted.

Being the next-in-line guild master for the number one guild in the human domain, she had her fair share of suitors. It would be a lie if she said she didn't.

They were all handsome and had nice backgrounds, but…

No matter how many tried to approach her, Amanda could only feel repulsion from them. They may try to hide it, but Amanda could see through their greed. It was clear that they were only after either her beauty or her guild. None of them truly understood her.

"Let me fix that for you."

Distracting Amanda out of her thoughts, Ren suddenly leaned forward and corrected the posture of her utensils. She was so distracted that she had only noticed it now.

"Better right?"

He asked with a smile before leaning back on his chair.

Staring at the utensils, Amanda lowered her head and softly mumbled.

"Thank you."

Her heart, which had not once moved, finally skipped a single beat.

Not many knew about her small obsessive-compulsive disorder. It was a small disorder that made her obsessed with cleanliness and symmetry. It bugged her whenever she saw something that wasn't positioned properly.

And even if they did, no one would go out of their way to help her.

At least, not till she met Ren who did these small gestures from time to time back at the Lock.

It was perhaps small stuff like this that made Amanda conscious of him. It was as though he knew exactly what she liked and disliked.

"…Amanda."

Ren's voice suddenly sounded. Lifting her head, Amanda looked at him and their eyes met.

"...Yes?"

"Tell me if I'm not seeing things."

Extending his hand, Ren proceeded to point towards the window of the restaurant.

"…"

Turning her head, Amanda's eyes dulled.

Standing outside of the window, with her hands cupped together to get a better look at the insides of the restaurant, was Emma.

Glancing around the place for a brief moment, her eyes soon met with hers and Amanda could vividly see Emma's eyes lit up.

Before she could even say anything, Emma entered the restaurant and headed in her direction with a brilliant smile.

"Hahaha, Amanda, fancy seeing you here."

"Mhm."

Amanda nodded her head.

"Am I disturbing?"

Emma asked. Lowering her head, her eyes soon paused on Ren.

"Are you…"

"Yes, it's me."

Ren casually answered.

"Mind if I join?"

"Do as you please."

Ren sighed before pointing toward the right side of the table where there was an empty spot. Emma's eyes lit up with glee.

"Thanks!"

She then unceremoniously sat down and called for a waiter.

"Excuse me, can I order something?"

Emma's loud voice reverberated throughout the whole establishment.

Turning her head, Amanda's eyes soon met with Ren's. Then, turning their attention back to Emma, as if synchronized, they both sighed at the same time.

"Haaa..."

"Haaa.."

Lifting their heads, their eyes once again met and a chuckle escaped from Amanda's lips.

"Hehe."

Ren merely smiled in response. But it was clear to Amanda that he was trying to hold his laugh back.

"What's so funny?"

Emma's voice suddenly rang. With her head turned, and her eyes squinted, she alternated her gaze between Amanda and Ren.

"You guys aren't laughing at me are you?"

"…No."

Turning her head, Amanda feigned ignorance. But of course, this didn't go unnoticed by Emma who eyed her like a hawk.

"You're definitely lying. Tell me what you were laughing about."

With her head turned, Amanda's mouth remained shut. Regardless of how Emma protested, she just continued to ignore her.

"Tsk."

This continued for a minute before Emma eventually relented and clicked her tongue.

Taking the menu, she proceeded to make her order.

Fortunately, for the next hour, no more incidents occurred and they were all able to enjoy a nice meal together.

***

Ci Clank—

Returning to my room from lunch, I felt exhausted. The food was good, but it was a lot heavier than I had expected.

I still had fun though. Not as much when Emma joined, but it was fun.

'I'll get some sleep.'

Was originally planning to train some more but I felt extremely lethargic at the moment.

"…huh?"

Right as I was about to head to bed, my feet came to an abrupt halt and my body froze.

"W…what?"

My eyes locked onto the corner of the room. More precisely on the top of my desk.

"…What is that doing there?"

I took a step back.

Wariness flashed across my body as my eyes locked onto a small red book in the distance. Ever since I was brought to the Monolith, I thought that the book had burned into nothingness.

Since I couldn't put it in my dimensional space, I thought I had lost it forever, but…

'Why is it here?'

Uneasiness flashed across my eyes. Normally I would've been happy about it, but I wasn't.

For it to suddenly appear out of nowhere. Something just wasn't right.

"Huuuu…"

I took a deep breath, calming down my nerves.

Carefully looking around the room to make sure there wasn't anyone present, I took a step forward.

Just in case, I channeled the mana inside of my body, ready to use it at any moment in time.

Halting my steps in front of the book, I took another breath. Then, extending my hand forward, I placed my palm on top of the book.

"…Nothing."

Once my hand touched the book and nothing happened, my shoulders relaxed a little.

'Perhaps I'm just overthinking things.'

Still, that didn't mean that I was less wary of the book. How did it suddenly show up in front of me out of nowhere? Did it just automatically follow me?…but why now and not before?

There were so many questions I had in my mind, but regardless of how much I thought about them, I couldn't find the answer.

In the end, after contemplating on the matter for the next couple of minutes, I finally decided to open the book.

"I wonder if it still shows me Kevin's point of view—huh?"

My hand froze.

Flip—! Flip—!

"Hold on…"

Moving my head from left to right, my mouth trembled slightly.

"...Why is there nothing written on it?"

The book was blank. Completely blank. There was nothing written on it. My eyes opened wide at this realization.

"Just what in the…"

SHIIIIIIIING—!

A bright light suddenly shot out from the book, enveloping my body completely.

"Wha—"

Throwing the book away I took a couple of steps back, but before I could take even more steps back, the light completely devoured me whole.

What came after the light was darkness.

***

I couldn't tell for how long I was out, but for a long time, my body felt numb as a heavy pressure bore down on me from above. It felt as though a truck had been placed on top of me.

I really couldn't put it into words, but the sensation never disappeared as I soon regained my consciousness.

Abruptly opening my eyes, I sat up straight. Or at least tried to, but the heavy pressure bearing down on me from above prevented me from doing so.

"Haaa…haaa…"

I had difficulty breathing, and my mind was groggy. A heavy stench of alcohol invaded my nostrils.

"Ukhhh!"

I groaned in pain.

It was an indescribable pain. As I was getting choked, I was deprived of oxygen. I couldn't breathe, and I couldn't talk. All I could do was struggle…

My vision began to turn cloudy. I couldn't feel my limbs. My body felt numb, but I didn't see anything like my life flashing before my eyes.

'It…hurts!'

I tightly clenched my head as I internally screamed to myself.

As I held my head I felt an odd sensation, but I couldn't quite make out what it was. The pain had overtaken my entire mind.

The pain lasted for over a minute before it slowly disappeared.

"Haaa…What…haaa…just happened?"

Lifting my head up, I tried to make heads or tails about what had just happened, but when I did, my body suddenly froze.

"W…what?"

My heart started to quicken, and my already rough breathing started to become even rougher.

"Impossible…no, no, it can't be…"

Lowering my head and staring at my hands, horror struck me.

"Haaa…."

My heart sank to its lowest levels.

"Why…why…why am I back?"

Chapter 399: Pure Evil [1]

"This can't be…"

I took deep breaths, trying to calm my mind. But it was all for naught as I struggled to breathe properly.

I was suffocating.

"Haaa…haaa…"

I took a couple more breaths in hopes of trying to calm myself down. Fortunately, this time it worked as my nerves quickly calmed.

'Get it together.'

Closing my eyes and taking another deep breath, I muttered inside of my mind.

'Status.'

Nothing.

My heart rate quickened.

'Status.'

I muttered once again.

Nothing.

Biting my lips I tried channeling my mana.

'Perhaps this might work.'

Again, nothing.

"Huuuu."

Anxiety suddenly struck me as my tows curled inwardly. My teeth started to chatter, and my eyes darted all over the room.

I was inside of a single bedroom appartment. It was a familiar place. One that I remember seeing in my memories and living in for over thirty-two years of my life.

A place that I thought I would never get to see again. My stomach churne .

'It…can't be…'

My head was numb.

Lowering my head and staring at my hands, the truth finally dawned on me.

I was back in my own world.

'No, no, no.'

I repeatedly muttered inside of my mind.

Denial.

I was in complete denial.

It couldn't be.

How could I have possibly come back here? Was everything I went through a lie?...Was everything really just a sick dream?

"Impossible!"

I shouted at the top of my lungs.

There was simply no way! Everything felt so clear. No one way did I want to believe that everything I had been through was a dream!

'Wait, what if this is all an illusion?'

Now that I thought about it, all of this happened as soon as I touched the red book. What if this scenario was merely an illusion I was trapped in?

Yes, it had to be that. I deluded myself.

'There must be something more about this situation than I'm making out.'

Staring at my desk in the distance, hope rekindled in my eyes.

"Ughh!"

I tried to sit up straight, but...

"Haaa...haaaa..."

Breathing heavily, I stared at the white ceiling of the room.

'Fuck, I forgot just how fat I was..."

Rolling around the ground, using my hands, struggling with all my might, I was eventually able to help myself up.

"Haaa..haa...haaa.."

But as I stood up, I noticed that almost all of my energy was gone. A nauseating feeling coursed through my head as I had to lean onto the side of the wall in order to keep my balance.

It took me a while to regain my energy.

Once I felt comfortable enough to once again move, I headed for my desk.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

A low thump sounded as my feet touched the ground. Trying my best to ignore it, I soon arrived before my desk. Moving the chair back, I sat on it.

Creak—

A familiar creaking sound reverberated throughout the room as soon as I sat on the chair. Ignoring it, I slowly opened my laptop and checked the date.

My hand which was holding onto the mouse paused. Shocked dyed my face.

"...Two days?"

'Only two days have passed since I died? ...This makes even less sense.'

The experiences I went through amounted to at least three years of my life. You're telling me that everything I went through, I experienced in just two days? Bullshit!

Click. Click.

Pressing onto the mouse, I moved the cursor around the screen and opened my novel page.

===

[The luminescent swordman]

===

Click.

===

Chapter 399 : Preparations before the final battle [3]

Chapter 400 : The final battle [1]

===

"...It's the same as I remember."

Those were indeed the last two chapters I uploaded before dying.

Click. Click.

Moving the cursor, I pressed onto the chapter and checked the comments.

===

Goodguy85 : Author I have a question. How come the demon king is trying to consume earth? You said it was because it would help him break through the limit, but why? Is he just trying to conquer the whole universe?

Roman : The more I read the more confused I am. Ugh, I can't wait for this to finish so that I can finally understand why Kevin acted so out of character in the previous chapter.

EB : I feel like there's something missing about this story. It's as though there should be something else. Some of the interactions and behaviors don't make sense.

Alekzi : Upload faster, take my money. I've got plenty of it!

Crocs : Thanks for the chapter.

--> Alekzi : I was first.

--> Crocs : No, me.

Weeaboo : Why no chapter? It's been two days.

===

"Haa..."

Covering my head with my hands, I leaned back on my chair.

"...What is happening?"

Everything was the same as it was in the past. Nothing changed. It truly did look as though I was back in my own world.

"But...but..."

The anxiety that I had been suppressing inside of me suddenly once against erupted out me as my stomach churned. My teeth chattered, and my leg tapped onto the ground repeatedly.

'No, no, no, this can't be happening. I refuse to believe it....no, no, no.'

"You'll be fine."

It was then that a voice suddenly rang from the corner of the room.

"Who?"

My head snapped towards my right side. Towards where the voice came from.

"Wha..t?"

My eyes opened wide and my body froze.

From the corner of the room, with an innocent smile on his face, a figure slowly appeared in my vision. Jet black hair, ocean blue eyes, it was a familiar figure.

He was someone that I knew all too well by now. Of course, how couldn't I know him?

"...Ren?"

He was none other than the person I transmigrated into.

The real Ren Dover.

***

In the vast and limitless expanse of mist and debris, the smell of blood lingered in the air as a powerful pressure bore down on the world from above. Torn houses and dead bodies littered the whole world as the color red dyed the atmosphere.

Boooom—!

With a loud explosion, one of the buildings suddenly collapsed.

"Emma!"

What followed after was a panicked voice as a black figure rushed down. But before he could arrive at the building, a voice suddenly sounded inside of the black figure's ears.

"Leave her be."

The voice was deep and devoid of any emotions.

"Shut up."

The black figure shouted. This obviously did not sit well with the voice inside of his ear as it coldly rebutted.

"What are you doing? You think she's more important than what we're doing?"

Despite the voice in his ears, the black figure promptly ignored the voice as it continued to dash towards the direction of where Emma crashed.

"Fucking useless!"

The other voice once coldly said.

Anger could vividly be felt in his voice as he spoke his words.

"What the fuck are you doing? Ignore her. She's baggage. What's more important is defeating the demon king!"

Despite the voice's words, the black figure continued to ignore it and searched for Emma amidst the rubble.

"...Kevin—"

The voice inside of his ears sounded again. Kevin tapped onto his ear and shut off the communication devices in his ear.

"Emma...Emma...Emma..."

Kevin desperately searched through the rubble. His face was pale and his eyes darting all over the place.

"Ukhh..."

Suddenly Kevin heard a faint groan coming from his right side. It was faint, but with his superhuman hearing, he was able to hear it. His eyes instantly lit up.

"Emma!"

Moving through the debris, Kevin soon saw a hand sticking out and he immediately reached for it.

Clasping the hand, he waved his hand, and all the debris around him pulverized revealing a beautiful figure.

Kevin's face dyed with joy once he saw Emma again, but that joy did not last for long.

With hazy eyes, Emma stared at the sky. Blood seeped from the side of her face. Her hair was disheveled and deep cuts appeared all over her figure. She was in a terrible state.

Sensing something, Emma's eyes rippled slightly.

"K...Kevin...is that you?"

Her voice was faint. So faint that it sounded like a mosquito buzz. Of course, this was no problem for Kevin as he leaned his head forward and weakly nodded his head.

"Yes..yes...it's me."

"I see..."

Emma smiled. It was a weak smile, but there was a look of relief in it. Kevin's heart sank when he saw this.

"You're going to be fine...you're going to be fine. I'm here."

Holding her into his arms, Kevin quickly reassured her.

"Here drink this."

He quickly fed her a potion.

Feeding the potion to her was quite a struggle as she was barely holding onto her consciousness, but he eventually managed to give her the whole drink.

Once Kevin fed her the potion, Emma's injuries started to heal at a visible rate. Relief appeared on Kevin's face once he saw this.

"...Huh?"

But that relief did not last for long as Emma's eyes suddenly sprung open widely.

"Ukhh!"

Emma's body suddenly started to convulse. Foam escaped from her mouth as her body trembled uncontrollably.

"Emma? Emma? Emma!"

Panic struck Kevin as he held her in his arms.

"What happened? I'm sure I fed her the right potion? How come her condition worsened!"

Taking another potion from his dimensional space, Kevin forcefully fed it to her, but it was all to no avail as her body continued to tremble. With her eyes wide open, staring at the sky, Emma's body continued to shake.

With each passing second, her condition seemed to worsen. Biting her lips, Kevin tapped onto the communication device in his ear.

"Just hold on Emma."

"...Ah"

But before he could even speak, with a weak sound, Emma's body suddenly stopped shaking. Kevin's face bleached. Extending his hand, with a trembling finger, he tried to feel her pulse.

"No...n...no...Do-don't leave me....no...please...."

Despite his many attempts at trying to feel her pulse, he felt nothing. She was dead.

Tears streamed down the side of his face as his body limped. He suddenly felt as though all the energy inside of his body had been drained from out of his body.

The world suddenly became gray.

"...It can't be. No...why?"

With Emma in his arms, pain flashed across his face as his body trembled uncontrollably. Then, raising his head and staring at the sky, towards the red mass in the far distance, Kevin screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Haaaaaaaa!"

His desperate and pained cry resounded through the whole world.

***

Inside of a tent, not far from where Kevin was.

A male stared at the panel displaying the battle that was ensuing. His eyes were devoid of any emotions. In fact, there was deep ruthlessness hidden within them.

Staring at Kevin who was mourning Emma's death, the male did not feel anything. Rather, there was a trace of disgust on his face.

Tapping onto his right ear to cut off the communication device, he took his eyes away from the screen.

"...How useless."

His emotionless voice rang through the room.

"You had one job, and one job only. Defeat the Demon King, yet, you let such emotions sway you. How many times does this make it?"

Deep disappointment flashed across his eyes as he stared at a small flask in his hand. It was a flask similar to the one that Kevin had fed Emma.

"...I wouldn't have had to resort to this if you hadn't been so compassionate, I hope her death can finally set your mind straight."

Putting the flask away, the male turned his attention back to the screen.

"No matter how important of a piece you are, a piece should act as a piece should act."

Lifting his head, the male sat down on a large chair and propped his face up with his arm.

"...I hope this will finally clear your head."

Chapter 400: Pure evil [2]

Ci Clank—

"I know a nice place."

Closing the door behind me, I followed Ren out of my apartment. After taking a look at our surroundings, we decided to move to a better place to talk. Simply put, my apartment was too filthy to stay in.

Just the stench of alcohol alone was enough to make the both of us want to leave.

As I followed Ren from behind, there were many questions that I wanted to ask him such as what was he doing here? And why was he in my apartment?...but, more than anything else, I finally felt calm.

Ren's presence and existence gave me a sense of calmness.

If he was here, it meant that everything that had happened to me wasn't merely some kind of dream. I wasn't in a coma, and I really did reincarnate back into that world.

'It's real.'

What I went through wasn't the fruition of my imagination.

Knowing this, I was able to recompose himself.

"After parting ways with each other, darkness completely overtook my consciousness. I thought that I was finally gone for good, but before I knew it, I found myself in this world."

Walking around the streets, Ren's voice reached my ears.

"It wasn't even for that long. Probably a day and a half. Just when I thought I would never associate myself with my old life, you suddenly showed up. I honestly, didn't expect to see you so soon."

My brows slowly knit together.

'Probably a day and a half. Didn't expect to see you so soon.'

Indeed, if I wasn't wrong, only two days had passed since I had died in this world. Just like the other Ren said, the time he had been here only amounted to around a day and a half.

"At first I was a bit confused about this world. As in, everything looks a lot less advanced than I previously remembered. There were no air trains, no holographic devices, or anything remotely close to that kind of level of technology..."

Ren's feet came to an abrupt halt.

"There also isn't any mana in this world."

His brows were knit into a tight frown.

Taking another step forward, Ren continued.

"At first I was very scared. Scared about the idea of coming into a world that I had never been in...but thinking about the fact that my family was fine, and that they were in your hands, I felt somewhat reassured."

Stopping in front of a cafe shop, Ren entered the place. I followed behind him. He then proceeded to order a coffee, and I did the same.

I was familiar with the place we were in. I remembered coming here a couple of times back in the past. It wasn't bad.

"As I was saying, just when I had come to terms with this world you suddenly appeared out of nowhere."

Raising and lowering his head, Ren's eyes passed on me before he squinted.

After a while, seemingly having made up his mind, he suddenly asked.

"Is that how you looked before coming to my world?"

My mouth twitched at his question. Eventually, I nodded.

"...Yeah."

"I see."

Ren took a sip of his coffee before his brows suddenly furrowed.

"Strange..." He softly muttered.

Hearing his words, my head tilted.

"What's so strange about me looking like this?"

Yes, I was fat. Very fat if I had to put it bluntly, but was it really so strange? Well, perhaps it was since he would've never have thought that the guy who took over his body was someone like me.

"Oh!"

Ren covered his hand with his mouth before waving them.

"Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that the fact that you are fat is strange. I'm just more concerned about other things."

The frown on my face deepened.

"What are you talking about?"

Ren put his cup down. His face turned solemn.

"...I don't know...it's just that I find this place weird."

"Weird?"

Looking around the place, I found nothing strange. Everything was just as I remembered in my memories. The view, the smell, the people, and the atmosphere. There was nothing strange about what I was seeing.

What was so strange about this place?

It was then that a thought suddenly struck me and a look of understanding flashed across my face.

'Ah, right. He could be referring to the fact that he was not used to modern technology.'

A faint hung on my lips as I tried to reassure Ren, but before I could finish my sentence, he promptly cut me off. My face froze as a result.

"I get what you mean, don't worry about it. Everything is the same as ba—"

"No, not that."

"...What do you mean?"

Biting the tip of his finger, Ren tapped the table with his other hand. For the next couple of seconds, he didn't say anything. He was just blankly staring at the distance.

"Do you perhaps have your ID on you?"

He suddenly asked. My head tilted back in bafflement.

"My ID? Why are you asking me about my ID?"

Was he perhaps trying to pretend to be me? Indeed, he was a nobody in this world, but that wouldn't really work. We looked completely different.

"Do you have it or not?"

Ren's impatient voice reached my ears.

"...Yeah."

I was a bit taken aback by his impatientness, but I still complied. Reaching out for my pocket I took out my wallet and took out my ID card.

"Here."

I then slid it over to Ren who took it and analyzed it. A deep silence enveloped us as Ren carefully analyzed the card in his hand. It wasn't long before he was done looking at it.

"...As I expected."

He put the card back down on the table.

"What did you find?"

I asked out of curiosity.

Ren pointed at my ID. His expression was extremely serious

"Have a look at it yourself."

Tilting my head, I lowered my head and stared at my ID card.

"I don't see anything wrong with i—"

My mouth froze. Extending my hand forward I slid the card before me. Lowering my head I took a closer look at my ID card.

"...What's going on?"

Shock clouded my face as I stared at my card. Lifting my head, I looked at Ren.

"Where is my name?"

There was a picture of me, my address, date of birth, and all the stuff that an ID card had, yet, there was no picture of me.

'Wait a minute. Something isn't right.'

I scratched the back of my head.

'What was my name again? ...What?'

Leaning forward I massaged my head. Even after returning, I couldn't remember my real name...and now even my own ID card did not have my own name? ...Something wasn't right.

"...Just what in the world is going on?"

"Ren...can I call you that?"

The other Ren carefully asked.

Staring at him once again, I nodded.

"Yeah..."

I was now used to being called that.

The other Ren nodded before he leaned back on his chair.

"Let me ask you a couple of questions."

"Go ahead."

"Do you remember the faces of your parents?"

"...The faces of my parents?"

I closed my eyes and tried to remember.

Blank.

'...Why can't I remember the faces of my parents?'

My breathing started to become rougher.

"You can't remember?"

Ren's voice reached my ears. With my head still lowered, I shook it.

"...Okay, let me ask you another question. What was the name of the university you wanted to enter?"

My eyes lit up. This answer I knew. Lifting my head I confidently said.

"Unversity A."

"...Unversity A?"

Ren repeated. Lowering his head and eying me from the top of his eyes, he had a questioning look on his face.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

I nodded confidently. This answer I did not forget.

How could I forget my dream university?

"Ren..."

A troubled look appeared on the other Ren's face. My brows furrowed after seeing his face. Was there something wrong with my answer? I didn't think so.

Meeting his eyes, I asked.

"Is there something wrong with my answer?"

Ren scratched the side of his head.

"How should I say this, but, is there really a university called university A?... Does such a name really make sense to you?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty su..." Pursing my lips, my voice slowly became fainter. The previous confidence I had slowly started to dissipate.

Doubt started to creep into my body as my mouth opened and closed multiple times.

'Unversity A, that is indeed the place I wanted to go to..'

Meeting the other Ren's eyes, the anxiety within me only grew.

There was something seriously wrong with the situation.

"Huuuu..."

I had to take a deep breath to calm myself down. Of course, that was of no help as the weird sensation in my chest never disappeared. Raising my right hand, I started to bite on my nails.

Ren who was sitting opposite me remained quiet throughout the whole time. He had a pensive look on his face.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

With his legs crossed, his left arm tapped onto the table. Then, raising his head, he asked.

"...From what you've told me, it looks like there is something really messed up about your memories before entering the novel. As though someone tried to purposely mani—"

A thought suddenly struck me as I cut the other Ren off.

"Wait, how do you know that the world you came from is a novel? Also, how come your questions are right on the spot?"

How could he have possibly known about this? Only I know the password of my laptop.

I stood up.

"Is there something that you're not telling me?"

Silence enveloped our area as Ren and I stared at each other. Then, lowering his head and staring at his watch, Ren muttered.

"Looks like we won't have time to continue our chat."

My head leaned back in bewilderment.

"What ar—"

SHUUUUA—!

Before I could even finish my sentence, a similar bright light to before suddenly enveloped my whole body and I felt my existence completely disappear like that.

***

Staring at Ren's figure slowly getting enveloped in light, the other Ren remained seated on his chair.

He watched as Ren disappeared in front of his eyes.

As he watched, his previous innocent facade slowly started to crumble apart and what replaced it was a cold and indifferent look.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

Cracks started to form around the world before it completely shattered apart like glass.

Crash—!

What came after was an unending darkness.

Step. Step. Step.

Standing up, Ren slowly walked amidst the darkness. It wasn't long before his feet came to a pause.

Raising his head, Ren came face to face with a white orb with black threads revolving around it.

At the moment the black threads were trying to entrap the white orb, but despite its many efforts, the black threads were slowly starting to get pushed back.

Staring at the orb with an indifferent look, Ren blinked slowly.

"Looks like this one might also be a failure..."

He silently muttered.

Closing his eyes and extending his hand, he placed the palm of his hand on the white orb.

"...I have to give you credit for being able to escape my influence."

Ren slowly lifted his head.

"But don't think for a moment that this is it."

Suddenly, his face twisted as the black threads around the orb danced wildly, trying their best to entrap the orb. Yet, it was still to no avail.

Realizing that the threads couldn't do anything to the orb, Ren's face returned to its emotionless one.

"All the pieces have been set into motion long ago. Don't think for a second that you have escaped me. I will always be here..."

His cold words spread throughout the empty space.

Then, taking his hand away from the orb, darkness completely enveloped his body. His deep blue eyes shone amidst the darkness.

Before his figure completely disappeared, opening his mouth, he spoke a couple more words.

"Kevin..."

Drifting in the void, his words soon disappeared alongside his body as darkness completely took over the world.

"...Don't think for a second that this is over."

Chapter 401: Pure Evil [3]

Splash—! Splash—!

Splashing water onto my face I stared at my haggard figure in the mirror. Glaring dark circles bagged beneath my eyes as my mind felt numb.

Glink—!

Turning off the tap, I turned around.

My eyes paused on a certain book in the middle of the table.

My heart remained calm as I stared at the book...or rather, my head was too numb to process what was happening around me. Nothing excited nor stimulated my emotions.

Closing my eyes, I sat down on my bed and leaned forward.

"...Just what happened?"

Ever since waking up, I've been trying to make heads or tails of what had just occurred to me.

My head really hurt.

'For starters, the world I was in not too long ago was definitely not my own world...or did that world even exist in the first place?'

From the fact that I had no recollection of my parent's faces, my own name, and the fact that the prestigious university I wanted to go to was called 'Unversity A,' a name which itself seemed far too generic to make sense.

Putting everything together everything that I previously thought that I knew no longer started to make sense inside of my head.

"Aghhh."

'My head hurts.'

Grasping my head with my hands I ruffled my hair into a mess.

Everything was a mess. A mess I couldn't quite figure the answer to.

"There's also him..."

The previous Ren.

Just thinking about him spread uneasiness throughout my whole body.

There was definitely something odd about that guy. How did he know about the fact that the world was a novel? I never gave him the password of my laptop so it shouldn't have been possible for him to figure out that the world I was in was that of a novel I wrote.

Furthermore, how did he know to ask the right questions?

Like what my name was, whether I recalled my parent's faces and the name of the university I wanted to go to.

The order of the questions didn't really make sense...it was as though he already knew about my answers beforehand.

"Haaa..."

I suddenly stood up.

My head throbbed even more fiercely.

Pacing around the room, I started to think back to my first interaction with the previous Ren in search of an answer.

This wasn't hard, I had only interacted with him once throughout my whole life so I could still vividly remember what had happened.

It was the time he was showing me his past experiences with Matthew and what was going on with his parents...my parents.

I remember that time clearly.

I could see just how sad he was.

Was that a facade or was that really him? At this point, I no longer knew.

"Ugh."

I groaned.

Massaging my head, I thought even further.

'Ever since meeting him, did something strange ever happen to me?'

My brows knit tightly.

Placing my hand on my chin, I fell into deep thought.

"Something strange happening after meeting him..."

My brows which were knit together suddenly jumped up in shock.

"Wait...hold on..."

Looking back at any of the incidents that had occurred right after meeting the previous Ren, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

My head snapped upwards.

'There was one...'

My hands fidgeted all over.

"My thought process...it definitely changed after meeting him..."

It never occurred to me before, but, didn't my personality change moments after meeting him?

I may have not noticed it back then, but now that I look back at myself, right after meeting the previous Ren, I started to get this weird idea that everything around me was a chess piece and that everything was under my control.

'Where did that come from?'

If I looked back at my previous behavior, the moment prior to meeting the previous Ren, everything I did was completely different. My personality was different.

Never before had I had such thoughts about treating everyone as a chess piece and having everything under my control. It was odd.

I never put too much thought into it in the past because I never felt it. I never felt the change...but now that I was looking back at them, from this new perspective, it really did seem as though something within me had been forcefully changed.

It was as though someone was forcing traits and different ideologies inside of me. Ideologies that I had never once thought about.

A wild and crazy theory suddenly pierced through my brain.

My breathing evened out.

"....It can't be, right?"

Impossible. No, I refused to believe that. I shook my head repeatedly. It couldn't be. Yeah, there's no way something like that happened...right?

My toes curled inwardly.

TRIIIING—! TRIIIING—!

Amidst my anxiety, my communication suddenly rang, snapping me out of my thoughts. Lowering my head, I looked at the message. It was Waylan.

[Ren, the tournament will begin tomorrow, are you ready? Should I come to pick you guys up tomorrow morning?]

"Haaa...haaa...."

Closing my eyes, I suppressed all the anxiety inside of me. Taking my communication device, I quickly sent back a message.

[Yeah, that would do.]

After sending the message, I shut off the communication device.

"huuuu..."

Taking a deep breath, I took my jacket and put on my face mask. Then, I proceeded to head for the door.

I needed some fresh air to sort out my thoughts.

The thoughts were eating away at my sanity.

Ci Clank—!

Closing the door behind me, I walked down the stairs.

***

Ding—!

A loud chime rang inside of Kevin's head as he slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw as soon as he opened his eyes was a system notification.

[Synchronization complete]

Synchronisation : 34%

"Haaa..."

Sitting up straight, Kevin exhaled deeply. Covering his forehead with his hand, he supported his body with his other hand.

"...What in the world did I just see?"

The vision he saw was clear.

Kevin vividly remembered everything that he saw in the vision, and it was because he remembered that at the moment he couldn't quite grasp what was happening around him.

Sitting up straight, Kevin was able to calm himself down.

'That was me wasn't it?'

It had to be. The fact that he was desperately searching for Emma, and that the name of the black figure was 'Kevin', he didn't believe for one second that the vision wasn't about him, but...

The vision he saw, was not something he had ever experienced before.

'Could that have been a vision of the future?'

Leaning his head back, Kevin stared at the white ceiling of the room.

Just thinking back at the vision made his body tremble.

'If not the future, what else could it be?'

The more he thought about it, the more certain he was about his analysis. Whatever he just saw, it was the future.

"...Fuck."

Kevin's fists clenched tightly.

Just the thought of Emma dying on him hurt his very being.

"Haaa..haaa...who was that man?"

Kevin questioned. There was another part in the vision he saw. The features of the figure were obscured and so was his voice, but from what he saw, the figure was the one that killed Emma.

His words and the flask in his hands already gave him an idea of what had happened. The man had purposely killed Emma.

Kevin was sure.

His fists clenched even more tightly as anger rose within his body.

'...He needs to die.'

His eyes flashed with hatred as he recalled that scene. But there was only one problem, Kevin did not know who the man was.

He felt slightly familiar though.

As though he had met him before, yet, at the same time, he didn't. There was this chilly air surrounding the man that sent shivers down Kevin's spine.

'Could that have been Ren? ...No, he wouldn't do that.'

Kevin quickly shook his head, trying to discard such thoughts from his mind.

Although the two figures bore slight resemblances, Kevin knew Ren. He would never do such a thing to him.

"It couldn't be, right?"

Kevin weakly shook his head. Despite his many attempts at trying to deny what he saw, the confidence he had within him slowly crumbled apart.

Doubt started to creep into his mind.

"Haaa...What do I do."

Leaning forward, Kevin covered his face with both hands. He really did not know what to believe in at the moment.

***

Before I knew it, my footsteps stopped in front of the training grounds.

By the time I woke up from the 'dream' it was early in the morning. I thought about going around the city to explore the city.

To get my mind off of things, but having walked a couple of steps out of my residence, I subconsciously made my way towards the training grounds.

"This is good too..."

What I needed at the moment was to clear my head.

Training was a good way to do that.

Breathing out, I opened the gates of the training ground.

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

'Guess she's already here.'

Walking towards the changing area I could hear the sound of Amanda's arrows splitting the air apart.

Loosening up my shoulders, I quickly got changed before entering the training grounds.

Once I stepped into the place, Amanda appeared in my view.

With her glossy black hair tied behind her back exposing her neck, Amanda plucked her cherry lips together as she pulled the string of her bow, resting it right next to her chin.

With one of her eyes closed, her entire focus was on the target before her.

'...She still hasn't noticed me.'

A wicked thought suddenly crossed my mind as a smirk soon emerged on my lips.

Hiding my presence as much as I could, I tried to sneak behind her.

Fortunately, she was so focused on the target at the moment that I was easily able to get behind. It wasn't long before I was right behind her.

Staring at her figure from behind, just as she was about to release her pull of her bow, I softly whispered near her ear.

"What are you doing?"

"Kyaaaah!"

A shrill cry escaped from Amanda's mouth as her face paled. The scream was so loud and so uncharacteristic of her that I was taken aback for a moment.

Thump—!

What followed after the scream was a low thump as Amanda fell butt first on the ground.

'Oh shit.'

A moment of silence ensued as Amanda quickly regained her calm.

Turning her head, our eyes met.

With her cheeks blushing in embarrassment, Amanda glared in my direction.

"I'm sorry, I did not know you were going to be that scared. I thought you would've at most just flinched."

"..."

Supporting her body up with one arm, Amanda took her bow with the other hand.

Recovering from her embarrassment, her face became extremely cold.

Gulp—!

I swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

The aura the current Amanda gave off was extremely terrifying. Similar to that of a demon that was about to devour me.

Regret started to seep inside of my body.

I took a step back.

...and another one after that. Before I knew it, I took over ten steps back.

Thump—!

As I was taking steps back, my back suddenly bumped against something hard. Turning my head to look behind, my heart sank.

"Oh no."

Without realizing it, I had already moved back all the way to the other side of the training room.

Standing opposite me, Amanda's cold and emotionless eyes continued to glare in my direction.

Staring back at her, with a wry smile on my face, I raised my hands as a sign of defeat.

"Now Amanda, I know that you're mad...but, could you forgive me this one time?"

Without saying anything, a powerful wave of mana sprung forth from Amanda's body as she aimed her bow in my direction.

'Guess not.'

Suddenly, over a dozen or so translucent blue arrows materialized on her bow. Staring at her from the distance, I silently cursed.

"...Shit."

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

Not even a second after my words faded and Amanda released the string of her bow.

What followed after was an avalanche of arrows, my face quickly cringed at the sight.

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Chapter 402: Doubt [1]

Ci Clank—!

Closing the door behind him, Kevin got out of his apartment. Taking a deep breath, he stared at the scenery before him with lethargic eyes.

Closing his eyes for a brief moment of time, he soon opened them again and proceeded to head down.

"There you are, Kevin."

Waiting for him below was Emma who waved her hand in his direction.

Kevin's feet came to a pause. Staring at Emma who was waiting for him from below, Kevin's unfocused eyes became a little bit more focused.

'Emma...she's alive.'

Faint fragments of the vision replayed in his mind as he stared at her. Each time recollection resulted in a stinging sensation inside of his heart.

Smiling weakly, he nodded his head and greeted her back.

"Yeah...I'm here."

His voice was rather weak, but it was loud enough for Emma to hear. Of course, Emma was able to notice that something was wrong as her brows knit together.

"What is up with you? Are you okay?"

"...I'm good."

Kevin gave a short reply. Then, placing his hand on the handrail, he walked down the stairs of the building.

Not convinced by Kevin's words, Emma leaned forward. A worried look flashed across her face.

"…You don't seem to be okay? Should we have you checked?"

"I'm really fine."

Kevin raised his head and met Emma's eyes. They stared off for a good minute before Emma eventually relented.

"Alright, if you say so."

Staring into the distance, she flipped her hat backward.

"Let's go then. The others are probably already waiting for us."

Rummaging through her pockets, Emma took out a pack of gums. Taking one of the gums she placed it in her mouth and started chewing.

"Munch…munch…want one?"

Extending her hand, she offered one to Kevin. Raising his hand, Kevin politely refused.

"No thank you."

"Munch…munch…suit yourself."

Putting the pack of gums away, Emma blew a bubble gum and proceeded to head towards the center of the Issanor.

Pop—

"Ukeh!"

But just as she took two steps, her bubble burst apart and the gum splattered all over her face.

***

Today was the day of the conference tournament.

As the sun slowly rose from the horizon the atmosphere in Issanor became extremely lively and filled with excitement.

This was the event that everyone was eagerly awaiting.

Not just for the prizes, but for its meaning as well. It was the event that decided the fate of the alliance between the three races.

When I arrived at the main tournament square, the place was already boiling with noise.

Separated from each other, numerous dwarves, elves, orcs, and humans alike gathered in groups as they chatted with each other.

Apart from the members of the other races who were fairly relaxed, every human wore an expression of nervousness and excitement. This was understandable however as the tournament held a lot more meaning to them than the other races.

'Looks like they are already here.

Staring into the distance, I caught a glimpse of Amanda, Melissa, and Jin.

They were without a doubt the center of attention. They looked like famous celebrities surrounded by a bunch of fans, all trying to curry favor from them.

Their behavior was understandable, however. After all, not only were they extremely good-looking, but their talents and achievements at their age made them individuals to look up to.

Without a doubt, they were the future pillars of humanity.

A faint smile appeared on my lips as I witnessed this scene from afar.

'Some things just never change.'

The scene was quite familiar as I had seen it multiple times back at the Lock.

Despite the fact that they had all grown up and were entirely different people from the past, their shine never disappeared. In fact, they shone more brilliantly than ever before.

"Alright, now...where are the others?"

Taking my eyes away from them, I glanced around the crowd and looked for Waylan and the others.

To be honest, I was supposed to have come with them to the place, but since I didn't want to skip my training session I decided to just go by myself. Amanda was also training with me, but it appeared that she was a lot faster than me at changing.

Guess the stereotype of girls being slow at changing was just a myth.

'I see them.'

Fortunately, it didn't take me too long to spot the others. Standing at the far corner of the human section I caught a glimpse of a familiar figure. It was Douglas. Behind him were the others.

Apart from me, everyone was currently not wearing a skin mask.

Well, they didn't need to. The only ones that had to hide his identity were Waylan and me. The others not so much. I was quite thankful for this. It made the search a lot easier for me.

Fixing my clothes, I headed in their direction.

"You're finally here."

Upon arriving, I was immediately greeted by Douglas who had a calm smile on his face. I nodded back.

"...Yeah, my training session was a lot longer than I expected."

"That's fine. We're not in a hurry. "

Douglas reassured with the same calm smile.

I softly smiled in response. Then, turning around I proceeded to greet the others. Apart from Leopold, Smallsnake, and Ryan who weren't planning on participating, Ava and Hein had nervous looks on their faces.

This was quite funny to me as not too long ago they were brimming with confidence. But as they stared at the people around them, their previous confidence completely deflated.

Well, I understood where their worries came from. After all, there were a lot of talented people present today, and everyone here was pining for the top prices.

That included me as well.

I was also aiming for the top spot.

There was an item that I absolutely had to get at all costs. It was the item that only the winner could get and with it, I would have no trouble breaking through to <A-> rank in half of the time that I originally anticipated.

"…hm?"

While in thought, raising my head, I suddenly noticed Melissa and the others heading in my direction. I deeply sighed at the sight.

'This is definitely Melissa's doing…'

She knew just how much I hated attention, and she was definitely coming to me knowing that it would attract the attention of the others. How petty of her.

Under everyone's watch, the three of them stopped right in front of me. As they stopped, I suddenly felt hundreds of eyes directed in my direction and my mouth twitched.

Secretly rolling my eyes, I asked in an annoyed tone.

"Why are you doing this to me?"

Of course, I didn't hide the displeasure in my voice as I tried to make it as evident as possible.

"…Doing what?"

But of course, Melissa being Melissa feigned ignorance and pretended to not have understood the implications behind my words. I sighed in exasperation once I saw this.

"Here."

Extending her hand, Melissa handed me a set of cards. Lifting her head, she nudged her head in the direction of the others.

"Although I don't think you will need it, I believe that your friends might need them."

She was obviously referring to Hein and Ava.

"Guess I'll take you up on the offer."

Nodding, I took the cards from her. Then, turning around, I handed them to Hein and Ava.

Hein already had an idea of what the cards did as he saw me use them against John not too long ago, but Ava didn't so I spent the next couple of minutes explaining to them how the cards worked. Once I was done, the both of them looked at Melissa with grateful looks on their faces.

Moving my head sideways, and staring behind Melissa and the others, I wondered out loud.

"By the way, have you guys seen Kevin by any chance?"

Kevin wasn't really the type to be late.

His absence kind of felt weird. Or maybe I was just overthinking things? Could just be that he was hanging out with Emma since she was also missing.

"They're over there."

Right on cue, just as I was wondering about Kevin's whereabouts, Amanda suddenly spoke as she pointed towards the distance.

"Where?"

"There."

Squinting my eyes, I tried to look in the direction of where she pointed, but my vision wasn't as good as hers so it took me a while to spot Kevin.

Fortunately, it didn't take long for me to finally see them.

"Oh, I see them."

Walking with Emma next to him, Kevin's head hung low. Emma looked like her usual self, but Kevin looked a bit different than usual. There was this weird aura surrounding him.

'Is he sick or something?'

My brows knit at the sight. Not only was his aura weird, but his hair was disheveled and his overall complexion looked extremely pale. The current Kevin looked to be in no state to participate in the tournament.

While I was looking at Kevin in the distance, seemingly having noticed my stare, Kevin raised his head and our eyes met.

"…hm?"

But the moment our eyes met, a strange scene occurred as Kevin's body froze and his body trembled. It was faint, but it was enough to catch my attention.

Taken aback by his reaction, I tilted my head.

'Is he okay? Why did he react like that?'

***

Meeting Ren's eyes, Kevin felt his body completely paralyze from top to bottom. A cold chill ran through the top of his spine as his pupils dilated.

Staring at Ren, Kevin's eyes flickered slightly.

'...He looks familiar to that figure's back.'

This thought only last for a brief moment of time as he soon snapped out of it.

"Huh? …what just happened?"

For a brief moment of time, Ren's figure overlapped with the guy from his vision. It sent chills down Kevin's spine.

Staring at Ren once again, the feeling that he felt before was no longer there, but there was this strange mist enshrouding his figure making Kevin doubt his eyes.

Raising his hands, he rubbed his eyes...but the mist around Ren never disappeared.

Blinking a couple of times, Kevin deeply sighed.

"Sigh…I must be seeing things from not having slept all night."

Whatever the vision was, it was messing with his mind. Was he perhaps starting to get paranoid? Kevin did not know...but the nagging feeling inside of his heart never disappeared.

"Kevin, are you coming or not?"

It was then that Emma's voice rang from the front.

"Coming."

Nodding his head, Kevin followed along.

While he was walking, many tried to strike a conversation with him, but he politely waved them off. He was already used to such scenes.

It wasn't long before he arrived before the others.

"You guys are finally here."

Ren greeted, waving in their direction with his signature lazy smile.

Pop—

With a loud pop, Emma's gum burst apart and she nodded her head.

"Um."

"...Hey."

Kevin followed up after her as he awkwardly waved his hand.

Even though Ren was wearing a mask, the aura he gave off was the same. It was easy to tell him apart.

Walking up to him, Ren worriedly asked.

"Kevin, you alright?"

Lifting his head and staring at Ren, Kevin put on a bright smile as he nodded his head.

"Yes, I'm all good."

"...That so? Alright then."

Extending his hand Ren patted Kevin on the shoulder.

"You look a bit off today. Did you perhaps train all night? Don't tell me that you were that nervous?"

"Haha, you got me."

Kevin responded with a forceful laugh. Lowering his head and staring at Ren's hand, Kevin's eyes became slightly unfocused.

As he stared at Ren, the strange feeling inside of his heart slowly started to disappear as the mist around Ren slowly started to clear up. His mind slowly started to calm down as a result.

'Yeah, whoever that figure in the vision was, it wasn't Ren. He would never do such a thing...'

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Chapter 403: Doubt [2]

Dong—! Dong—!

As time passed and the arena grounds began to fill, a loud toll spread throughout the whole surroundings.

Once the bell tolled, all chattering stopped and everyone raised their head.

Standing in the middle of the platform was an enchanting elven figure with silver hair. From the color of her hair, it was clear that she was of pure elven blood.

"There are many of you here, and all of you already know what this tournament is about and what it represents; therefore, I'll make this quick."

The sound of her voice was crisp and pleasant to the ears as it smoothly lingered in the air like the note of a fine-tuned instrument.

"For the preliminaries, contestants will be paired with a random opponent until the top 128 participants are selected. The real tournament will begin once the top 128 contestants are selected."

Pausing for a brief moment of time so that everyone in the square understood her words, the elf continued.

"...For the preliminaries, the opponents will be decided randomly. Each and every one of you has already been assigned a number, and when you're called up it will be your turn. It's that simple."

Lowering their heads, the contestants stared at the bracelet that was resting on their wrists. On it was their alias and number.

"That will be all."

The elven presenter wasn't a woman of many words. Once she said what she wanted to say, she directly left.

Once her figure disappeared from the arena grounds, the place instantly became bustling as an air of excitement and anticipation shrouded the surroundings.

The upper echelon of the four races was gathered on a viewing platform near the square. Amongst them, seated at its very center was the elven queen.

Seated on her right was Gervis, the dwarven Metropoliskeeper.

Keen interest flashed across his eyes as he swept his gaze throughout the grounds.

"Not going to lie, I'm actually quite curious about the upcoming battles."

"Khhrrr.."

Next to him was a towering figure that emanated a terrifying pressure that could cause anyone below <S> rank to quake in their boots.

He was Brutus, the orcen leader and one of the most powerful beings on earth.

Brutus's face was wide and he had deep green eyes, making him look thoughtful. His face was expressionless as he stared at the orcen resting area. Whenever he took a breath, the air around him trembled.

"Khrrr...Khrr..."

Lastly, seated on the left of the elven queen was Octavious Hall.

The strongest human.

Amongst everyone present, he was by far the weakest. Update faster, please come to Novel Despite his strength being at the pinnacle of the human domain, with a simple gaze, everyone could tell that there was a strength difference between the three representatives and him.

Everyone regardless of rank could sense the gap.

Not minding the stares, Octavious expressionlessly stared at the human side. His dull eyes never once rippled despite being in the presence of such big shots.

He may have not been the strongest, but the way he carried himself left a good impression on the three other representatives.

It was then that the elven queen finally opened her mouth.

"Should we initiate the tournament?"

Her airy yet faint voice easily traveled through the ears of each individual present.

"Indeed we shall."

Gervis replied while stroking his beard. Next to him Brutus silently nodded his head.

"Khrrr.."

"…yes."

The last to reply was Octavious. His voice contained heavy hints of solemness as his eyes were currently locked on a black-haired male with crimson red eyes in the stands.

The male was none other than, Kevin Voss.

Although he didn't say anything, it was clear that Octavious had some expectations regarding the individual over there.

Sensing the solemness behind Octavious's voice, the other representatives remained expressionless.

They understood very well what this contest meant to him, and even for them in some sense.

"Very well then."

Standing up, the elven queen waved her hand at once.

Bang— Bang—

Following her movement, loud explosions rang in the air, signaling the start of the preliminaries.

***

Overhearing the loud explosions in the air that marked the beginning of the tournament, I focused my attention on the arena grounds where the referees had already ascended.

They stood there motionless, waiting for everyone to stop speaking.

Once silence finally descended, the referees finally called up the first few contestants.

"Number 021, Dugream Broadgut vs Number 696, Ostinach"

"..."

"..."

"Number 1876, Arnold Kane vs Number 984, Korak"

"Number 271, Han Yufei vs Number 535, Eslan."

Among the names called up, two, in particular, attracted my attention, and that was because I knew who the two individuals were. Of course, I knew them. They were people whom I had gone to the academy with.

The first one to leap onto the stage was Arnold.

Compared to when I last saw him, he looked to have put on even more muscle as his towering figure stood out from the other humans.

What was mind-boggling about his transformation was the fact that his physique almost rivaled that of his opponent, Korok, an orc.

On the other hand, calmly walking up the stage was Han Yufei. Update faster, please come to Novel With a calm and composed look on his face, he briefly analyzed his opponent, an elven male with pure golden air. An air of indifference spread from his body.

The atmosphere of the entire place suddenly began to boil as everyone focused their attention on one of the platforms.

Watching the scene from afar, I crossed my arms with a solemn look. Next to me were Kevin and the others.

"Who do you think is going to win?"

Kevin asked. Compared to when I first saw him he looked to be in a much better mood as his eyes cleared up a little.

Stroking my chin, I replied.

"Arnold and Han Yufei should have no problem winning their current matches. They got lucky with their picks."

Han Yufei and Arnold were the creams of the crop of the human domain while their opponents weren't. And my words proved to be correct as their matches did not last for long.

Han Yufei's match lasted for only two minutes while Arnold's lasted for five minutes. It sounded like a lot, but by the time their fight ended, the other matches were still in progress not even close to their climax.

The way they quickly disposed of their opponents instantly gathered the stares and attention of the many participant and spectators. With solemn and composed looks, they both calmly walked back to their places.

As time passed, the matches on the platforms quickly came to a close. Members from each race were eliminated at once, be it orc, elf, or dwarf, none were spared as they were all eliminated.

However, it became clear to everyone present that among the contestants the ones that were being eliminated the most were the members coming from the human side.

It had gotten to the point where whenever a human got paired up with a member from another race, they would show excitement on their face. Clearly rejoining at the fact that they got an 'easy pick.'

"Number 2543, Caeruleum vs Number 369, Estiandor"

Amidst the fierce fighting, my name, or to be more precise alias was finally called up.

Massaging my neck, I stood up.

"Guess it's my turn."

As I stood up, Kevin and the others wished me luck.

"Good luck."

Smiling at them, I headed down towards the platforms. Arriving at the platform, tensing my muscles, I jumped up.

Thud—!

Softly landing on the platform, I looked to my front where my opponent stood. He was an elven male and he had a calm and composed look on his face.

Despite the fact that he wasn't speaking, I could tell with just one look that he was looking down on me. The indifference in his eyes as he looked at me was clear for me to see.

Not minding it, staring at my opponent, I thought, 'Should I go hard or easy on him?'

I could tell from a glance that my opponent was weaker than me.

The aura that spread from his body was that of a <C> rank, a whole rank below me.

As such, I wasn't worried about losing one bit.

That aside, If I went hard right now I would leave a powerful impression on my opponents and perhaps gain the 'fear' factor, but that would also put a lot of attention on myself.

Was gaining attention really worth it? Mhhh, actually, I didn't really care about the attention.

'…I'll see how things go.'

It wasn't so much for the fact that I didn't want others to pay attention to me, but it was because I didn't want to reveal all of my cards just yet, a.k.a. the Keiki style.

In a way, I wanted to gain the attention of the Union. I had a little surprise for them in-store.

My lips twisted upwards as I thought about the future.

Just as I had made up my mind on how to approach the situation, the referee suddenly cried out.

"Begin."

The moment the referee's voice rang, my opponent's eyes changed.

Following this, raising his hand in a lightning-fast manner, two complex magic circles materialized before him. From where I was I could see that he was not holding back at all as the mana in the atmosphere vividly converged towards the magic circles.

Within a couple of seconds, the magic circles fully lit up. Raising his head, Estiandor, my opponent muttered before releasing the attack.

"Get out of the stage."

TWIIING—!

Like a tsunami, a powerful wave of mana quickly headed in my direction at a frightening speed. A complicated look appeared on my face as I stared at the attack.

'Now, how should I dodge this without giving away too much?'

This really was a troublesome problem. Fortunately, it didn't take me too long to figure out the solution to this problem.

Extending my hand, I took out three blue cards from my dimensional space. I then proceeded to channel my mana into them.

Stomping my foot on the ground to gain some distance, I flicked the cards forwards.

SHIIIING—! SHIIIING—!

The moment the cards left my hand, to the shock of everyone present, three towering ice pillars rose from the ground. Not a second after the pillars came into contact with the attack, a terrifying explosion rang throughout the square.

BOOOOM—!

Broken ice fell everywhere and a mist suddenly engulfed the entire stage. Update faster, please come to Novel Taking advantage of this moment, lightly pressing my foot onto the ground, my body shot in the direction of where I had last seen my opponent.

Raising my fist, mana started to converge towards it. It wasn't long before my fist was fully coated in mana.

Bang—!

Arriving before my opponent, pressing my foot on the ground, cracks formed underneath the sole of my foot as I swung my fist above my head.

Thump—!

A muffled sound was heard as my fist connected with my opponent's face. As my fist connected with his face, I made sure to keep my strength in check and only hit him with one-quarter of my true strength.

"Uekh!"

But, despite holding back, the force of my fist still caused the elf significant damage as he took three steps back. Raising my left hand, I channeled my mana towards another magic card and quickly flung it in my opponent's direction.

FUAAAA—!

A powerful flame suddenly sprang out from the card, engulfing my opponent. Just as the flame was about to engulf my opponent entirely, a fierce wind blew and the flame disappeared.

"Number 2543, Caeruleum."

What followed after was the sound of the referee's vice announcing my victory.

The moment the referee announced my victory, I felt countless eyes direct their attention towards me, or to be more precise, towards the cards in my hands.

Lifting my head, my eyes soon met with Melissa's in the distance. An idea suddenly struck me as a smirk emerged on my face. Noticing my smirk, Melissa's face changed.

'I'm sorry,'

I softly mouthed.

If there was a chance to publicize the cards, then what better place than now? Since her father knew and the product was ready, there was no longer any need to keep it a secret.

Raising my hand and staring at everyone present, I pointed it in her direction.

"If you want to know more about these, you can ask her. She made them."

Chapter 404: Doubt [3]

Hatred.

Pure hatred.

If there was one feeling to describe how the current Melissa felt, it would be pure hatred.

At the moment, about a quarter of the arena grounds' attention was drawn towards her. Clenching her fists and staring at Ren who was still standing on the arena grounds with a smirk on his face, Melissa's eyes turned into crescent moons.

For a brief moment of time, Melissa looked back at the time when Ren was presumingly dead. The good old days as one might call them.

Not even a week after he reappeared and he was already causing her problems.

Fortunately, with the preliminaries in full swing and the others couldn't approach her yet. She was still safe. At least for now.

"Ugh, my head hurts."

Just imagining what was going to happen once the first day ended, Melissa felt her head throb uncontrollably.

Without a doubt, she was going to be hounded from all sides, all trying to gain information regarding the magic cards.

"Haaa..."

She deeply sighed at the thought. Still, it wasn't the end of the world.

She naturally understood what Ren was trying to pull. By displaying the power of the cards in front of everyone, he was essentially advertising to all four races the effects of the cards.

Having spent over a year mass producing the cards, she had plenty to give away.

If she could secure a deal with the other races, she wouldn't need to worry about money for the rest of her life. She had to admit, Ren's plan was quite smart, 'ugh', Melissa's stomach suddenly churned at that thought.

The words 'smart' and 'Ren' being put together left a bitter taste in her mouth.

"Number 456, Amanda Stern vs Number 096 Kodiak"

As Melissa's stomach churned in disgust at the thought of having complemented Ren, Amanda's name was suddenly called up.

Seated next to her, with her bow in hand, Amanda stood up.

As she stood up, instantly, half of the stares directed at Melissa lingered on Amanda who indifferently walked down the stands.

Melissa sighed in relief as she saw this. With half of the stares gone, she felt much more comfortable.

***

[At the upper echelon section.]

"…interesting."

Gervis muttered as he stared at the human in the distance. The cards in his hand had truly left him surprised. Never had he seen such artifact technology. Update faster, please come to Novel His inner dwarven mind instantly became excited at the prospect of analyzing the cards.

'I'll ask him to give me a sample.' Gervis thought as his eyes focused on the human standing in the middle of the square. He already knew who it was, but he just pretended to not know him.

This was obviously at his request.

Turning his head, he glanced at Octavious and complimented him.

"That's some peculiar technology. I didn't know you humans were able to create such artifacts."

"…It is indeed an interesting piece of technology." Octavious calmly answered from the side. His eyes never left Melissa who was currently everyone's center of attention.

Despite the attention she was drawing from everyone present, he remained completely indifferent to it. As though he didn't care about her current predicament.

'What a strange human…' Gervis thought as he studied Octavious from the side.

He had interacted with many humans before, but none were as weird as Octavious. To Gervis, his composure was something admirable. It made it harder for people to understand what he was thinking.

Even he had difficulty reading his expression.

"Number 456, Amanda Stern vs Number 096 Kodiak"

It was at that moment that the referee announced the next contestant and a young human female stood up.

The moment Amanda stood up, the elven queen's brows jumped up. Throughout the whole tournament, she had always remained seated with a stoic and indifferent look on her face.

Despite all of the exciting matches that had occurred her expression not once changed, yet, the moment Amanda appeared, her facade crumbled slightly.

This did not go unnoticed by the others who stared at the queen with hints of surprise on their faces. Then, turning their attention towards Amanda in the square, they all wondered, 'Why would the queen react like that at her appearance?' Everyone believe that there was more to it than she let out.

Ignoring them, the elven queen leaned her body forward. A rare trace of solemnity emerged on her face.

"…it can't be."

***

Hearing her name being called up, Amanda headed toward her designated platform.

"Good luck."

"Mhm."

Passing by Ren who had a smug look on his face, Amanda nodded back. But just as he passed her, Ren didn't forget to whisper something in her ear.

"…If you want to win, all you have to do is pull the same move like yesterday. Trust me, you will never lose if you use that move."

Amanda's feet came to a pause and her head snapped backward only to see Ren's figure quickly headed for his seat.

Staring at his figure, Amanda gently bit her lips.

Recalling the events of yesterday in the training grounds, a slight blush appeared on her cheeks. Lowering her head, and letting the hair cover her face, Amanda's eyes flickered slightly.

'I concede, you win. Forgive me. I will never do it again, okay?'

Flashbacks of him begging for forgiveness replayed in her mind.

'…Was yesterday not enough?'

The grip of her bow tightened slightly.

If he really wanted to try her moves again, she was all in for it. With her head still lowered, unbeknownst to her, the corner of her lips tugged upwards.

Arriving before the platform, tensing her legs, Amanda jumped up. Her foot soon softly landed on the hard ground.

Stabilizing her body and brushing her hair back, Amanda looked at her opponent.

Standing opposite her was an orc. Just like any other orc, he had a well-built body and a ferocious look on his face. Staring at her with his ferocious gaze, her opponent, Kodiak, flexed his muscles, exposing his muscular body.

Lowering her bow, Amanda closed her eyes.

Swooosh—!

A soft wind blew and Amanda's clothes fluttered. Following this, the referee's voice rang out.

"Begin!"

The orc was the first to move following the referee's voice.

Bang—!

Taking a step forward, the ground beneath the orc cracked apart. His clothes flapped about, while a dark green hue swirled on the surface of his body creating a rather imposing sight.

Feeling the tremendous power bursting from the orc opposite of her, Amanda remained motionless with her bow hung low.

Perhaps feeling offended by Amanda's nonchalance, the former's foot pushed off the ground and he shot in Amanda's direction at incredible speeds.

Within seconds his body had appeared in front of Amanda, his enormous fist which was coated in a dark green hue quickly smashed in her direction. The orc's attack was extremely swift and ferocious, reaching Amanda's face in the blink of an eye. It was clear that he was trying to deal serious damage to her!

However, just as the fist was about to land on her pretty face, Amanda raised her hand, the one which held onto the bow, and took a step back.

The movement was so abrupt and masterful that the attack narrowly missed as it brushed past her nose. What followed after was the orc's fist entering the middle of her body. With cold eyes, Amanda twisted the bow up and bent the orc's arm, trapping it.

"Ukek!"

The orc let out a pained cry as his arm twisted upwards. A faint green line appeared on the part where his skin touched with the string of her bow.

Pushing her body up and tensing her core, Amanda agilely moved around the orc's massive body before her legs hooked onto his neck and she squeezed with all of her might.

"Khhhh..."

Caught off-guard, the orc let out another groan as his face turned a deeper shade of green. Raising his hand, he gripped Amanda's leg and tried to remove it away from his neck.

Gritting her teeth, Amanda raised her elbow and smashed it towards the orc's stomach.

Thump—!

A muffled sound rang out as the orc's eyes went wide with pain. Not missing this opportunity, Amanda increased the strength of her hook even more as her body bent backward.

"Khh..."

As time passed the orc's movements became more and more sluggish as the air was starting to get cut off his brain.

Thud—!

With a large 'thud' the orc soon kneeled on the ground with his eyes completely white. He had clearly passed out.

"Number 456, Amanda Stern wins."

Only after the referee announced her victory did Amanda finally release her leg hook and the orc fell face-first onto the ground.

"Haaa...haaa..."

Aside from her rough breathing, Amanda had flawlessly beat her opponent. Update faster, please come to Novel What was more impressive was the fact that throughout the whole time, she had done this while fighting in close range, rather than long-range which was her specialty.

"Huuuuu."

Lifting her head and staring into the sky Amanda took a deep breath before standing up.

***

'...Remind me to never piss her off.'

A cold chill ran down my spine as I stared at Amanda choking the orc.

Although I knew that Amanda could be fierce at times, now that I saw it firsthand, I realized that I had been playing with fire.

Overall, the match only lasted a total of two minutes before she emerged victoriously.

'She truly has improved a lot over the years that I haven't seen her.' I thought as I stared at her figure basking in the cheers of the crow. She looked especially dazzling standing underneath the bright sun from the sky.

"...That was a good match."

I greeted Amanda once she returned. Out of precaution, I scooched over to the side.

Turning her head and staring at me, Amanda raised her brow. 'You saw what I did there, didn't you?' That was what her face implied as I looked at her.

Nodding, my lips pursed together.

'I shouldn't have provoked her.'

Me and my big mouth.

Avoiding her eyes, I looked at the weather.

"Beautiful day isn't it?"

"...It is."

Sitting down next to me, Amanda nodded her head as a faint and proud smile hung on her lips.

My eyes squinted at the sight, but I decided to not say anything. I had already learned my lesson.

Following this, neither of us spoke as we just stared at the intense battles in each of the various arenas.

An explosive atmosphere shrouded the surroundings as defeating cheers began to erupt whenever a winner was decided.

As time passed, more and more people began to be eliminated. However, the remaining individuals were becoming increasingly more powerful, causing the battles that followed to naturally be even more entertaining.

Even I had to admit that some of the fights were extremely engaging.

Over this period, I had three more matches. There were no upsets regarding my outcome. Using the magic cards I was able to swiftly dominate my matches.

There were some protests regarding my means of victory, but at the end of the day, magic cards were regarded as artifacts and therefore all arguments were quickly shut down since many used their own artifacts. This was perfect for me as I could continue advertising the power of the cards and at the same time keep my main cards hidden.

My actions did attract quite a bit of attention, but it was soon overshadowed by the performance of a few other individuals. Especially Kevin who practically dominated every single one of his matches.

Before I knew it, I had entered the top 128.

However, not all was smooth sailing. Out of the 128 competitors, only a meager fifteen were humans. Yes, only 15 out of the 128 participants were human.

The faces of most humans darkened at the thought.

Already expecting such an outcome, I was fairly relaxed. Originally, in the novel...'this world really comes from a novel, right? Yeah, novel. There was no need to doubt this.'

As I was saying, originally, there were only supposed to be eleven participants, but the addition of me, Hein, Ava, and Troy had given humanity four more participants...not that it really mattered anymore.

Appearing in the middle of the battlegrounds, was the same elven lady from before.

Glancing towards her spectators, her eyesight briefly lingered on us. Or at least, it looked like it did.

Taken aback, I glanced towards the other to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

"Am I seeing things or did she just look at us?"

"...Yeah, you weren't seeing things," Kevin replied with a deep frown on his face. "I don't know if its because—"

Before he could continue his sentence, the elven lady spoke up, and all forms of noises ceased.

Glancing toward each other, we both smiled and shrugged. Couldn't be helped.

"There have been a lot of exciting and entertaining matches, truly."

"Your outstanding performances have truly impressed the higher-ups, and I'm pleased to announce that this is the end of the preliminaries."

Silence descended upon the arena grounds as her words drifted through the ear of each individual present. Amidst the silence, leaning slightly, I whispered into Kevin's ear.

"Kevin you're supposed to clap once she ends."

"Really?"

"...Yeah."

"Oh, I see."

Kevin innocently nodded his head in understanding. With a stoic face, I returned to my usual position.

"With that being said, this will be it for today. The main competition will begin tomorrow. I hope you have a good day"

Once her words faded, for a brief moment of time, silence once again descended upon the arena grounds before the sound of someone clapping their hand suddenly resounded across the place.

Clap—! Clap—!

Instantly countless gazes directed themselves in Kevin's direction.

"...Huh?"

Noticing that something was strange, Kevin let out a surprised sound. Feeling a slight tug on his clothes, with her cap lowered to the maximum, trying to hide her expression, Emma whispered in his ear.

"Kevin, clapping is a human thing."

"..."

Kevin's face froze at her words as his face paled and his mouth trembled.

Turning his head, Kevin's two red eyes glared in my direction. Trying my best to keep my face straight, I shook my head.

"Kevin, that was embarrassing, don't do that again."

Speechless, Kevin raised his hand and pointed at me.

"Y..you!"

Chapter 405: Doubt [4]

Crash—!

With a loud crash, an orc came crashing down on the hard ground.

"Haa...haa..."

'I will definitely make you pay for what you've done.' Kevin swore to himself as he stared at the orc opposite him. With his head on the ground and his eyes closed, the orc was knocked down cold.

"The opponent is knocked out cold, the match is over."

The referee's voice resounded across the grounds, marking him the victor of the duel.

"Winner, Kevin Voss. He will be advancing to the top 64 of the tournament."

Announcing his victory, the referee raised Kevin's hand in the air.

The loud cheers coming from the audience rang out.

Kevin in return smiled at the audience.

'...That piece of shit.'

Or at least pretended to smile.

In reality, he was still fuming about what had happened yesterday.

The humiliation and embarrassment he felt were something he had never felt before in his life. Just recalling what happened sent shivers down his spine. The embarrassment was just too much.

Turning his head and staring towards the distance where Ren stood, Kevin deeply sighed.

Then, turning his head, he looked towards Emma who was seated next to Ren. Noticing his stare, the two of them waved in his direction.

Staring at the two of them from the arena grounds, doubt crept inside of Kevin's heart.

'...Could the figure in the dream really be Ren?'

Part of him truly wanted to dismiss such thoughts from his mind, but after looking back at the past, Kevin realized that there was a chance that the figure in the vision was Ren.

The Hollberg incident, the time when they were attacked by demons when they were returning from the dungeon, and just a week ago when he lost himself.

In those times, Ren truly reminded Kevin of the figure in the vision.

No matter how many times he wanted to deny reality, he knew that he couldn't...but Kevin wasn't planning on letting those visions dictate his mind.

In the first place, he never truly understood what the visions signified. Were they a vision of the possible future?...or were they simply just visions?

He spent a lot of time trying to rack his brain over the matter, but regardless of how much he thought about it, he couldn't quite understand it.

In the end, he just stopped thinking about it.

He realized that thinking on the matter was simply going to be a waste of time.

Be it the present past or whatever the visions signified, Kevin was not planning on letting the visions corrupt his mind and turn his back on his friend.

Never...

***

"The real matches should begin now."

With my arms crossed, I solemnly gazed at the platforms below.

"...the real matches?"

"Yeah."

I nodded my head. Seated next to me was Emma who was leaning back with her cap held down, covering her face. A small shadow cast over her beautiful face.

Apart from the two of us, pretty much everyone else was fighting in the arenas below. Jin, Amanda, Hein, Ava, you name it, they were all fighting.

Somehow, I ended up stuck with Emma whilst waiting for our turns.

"What I mean is that the next opponents are going to be extremely hard to deal with."

"Munch...much..."

The repetitive munching sound of her chewing on her gum rang out. From the way she was acting, she didn't seem to be the least bit worried.

"Munch...much...I'll still win."

"Say that when you get matched up with Kevin."

Pop—!

Emma's bubble burst apart.

"...Even better. This way he will finally fight me seriously for once."

Lifting her head, a fire appeared in her pupils. It was clear that she was excited at the prospect of fighting Kevin.

"Suit yourself."

'If Kevin really goes all out against you, you'd probably lose in a single move.'

I thought as I shrugged my shoulder. She didn't need to know anyway. The chances of her going against Kevin were the same as going against me.

The only difference was that I wasn't planning on going on easy on her if she did go up against me.

"Oh look, Kevin's looking at us."

I waved in Kevin's direction.

"Really?"

Raising her hat and staring at Kevin, Emma waved her hand too. With a forced smile on his face, Kevin waved back.

"...He still looks embarrassed from yesterday."

I muttered out loud as I stared at Kevin's forced smile. Overhearing my words, Emma's face cringed as she lowered her hat.

"Ugh, don't remind me."

"Winner, Kegigoth. He will be advancing to the top 64 of the tournament."

Following her words, the referee announced another winner and my previous joyous mood shifted.

Lowering my head, a deep frown emerged on my face.

'He's strong.'

Walking back to his area was an enormous orc. His very presence attracted the attention of the spectators as his frightening display of power over the tournament had made people realize that he was a fearsome contender for the top spot.

"Winner, Sarfu. He will be advancing to the top 64 of the tournament."

"Winner, Vaalyun Venmoira. He will be advancing to the top 64 of the tournament."

"Winner, Borerlig Barrelbeard. He will be advancing to the top 64 of the tournament."

Following him, a series of new names started getting called up.

A trace of solemness appeared on my face as I stared at the individuals whose names were being called up.

'They are all higher ranked than me.'

I could tell from a simple glance that they were all <B+> rank from the undulations of mana surrounding their bodies.

"Winner, Gilbert Von Dexteroi. He will be advancing to the top 64 of the tournament."

Yet again attracting my attention was another announcement, and the frown on my face deepened. This time, it was out of annoyance.

'...How troublesome.'

Proudly standing in the arena was Gilbert who basked in the cheers of the crowd. With a calm and composed look, he walked back to his stands.

With a rank of <B+>, he was someone that I needed to watch out for.

"...I can't believe that scum is also participating."

Looks like I wasn't the only one that felt annoyed by Gilbert's appearance as Emma lifted her hat and threw a disgusted look in his direction.

"Well, he is only 25. He just barely made it to the threshold."

The maximum age one could participate was 25 years, and Gilbert just barely made it.

"Tsk, sometimes I forget that he's only a couple of years younger than us."

Emma clicked her tongue before once again lowering her cap and basking in the sunlight coming from the sun.

Following her words, a few more people's names were called up. Those were the names of the winners of the first half of the round of 128.

Ten minutes after the winners were announced, it was time for the second half of the matches to begin.

"Guess it's my turn now."

Standing up, I stretched my shoulders.

So far the matches had been smooth sailing, but I knew that whoever my next opponent was, it was going to be someone powerful. I could no longer hold back as I did before.

"Platform 13, Caeruleum vs Han Yufei."

"Please may the contestants make their way to the platform."

Hearing my alias being called out, my hands froze mid-stretch.

Abruptly lifting my head and staring towards the designated platform, I saw a youth slowly walk to it with a calm and composed look.

A calm yet dangerous aura spread throughout his whole body as walked toward the platform.

"Shit..."

I silently cursed underneath my breath.

Although I did expect someone strong, I didn't think they would be at this caliber.

Han Yufei, <B-> rank, and a former classmate of mine.

Someone whose combat talents were on the same level as the protagonists, and someone who I had been keeping in mind for a while.

"Oh, this is going to be an exciting match to see."

Emma muttered from behind as she lifted her hat. Turning my head, I rolled my eyes.

"...Right."

'Well, she isn't entirely wrong.'

Han Yufei was definitely someone who I would definitely have trouble fighting.

My matchup did not attract that much attention. With the people having already witnessed the same repetitive magic card attack system from me, there really wasn't any excitement for my match as I headed down to the platform.

Stepping onto the arena, I removed all unnecessary thoughts from my mind as I focused my attention on my opponent. Han Yufei.

Standing opposite me with his hands behind his back, Han Yufei gazed in my direction with a small frown on his face. Seemingly trying to peer through me.

I merely smiled at his stare.

With a frown on his face, Han Yufei opened his mouth.

"...Are you going to use those cards to fight me?"

"Mhm, who knows."

I replied in a playful tone.

'...I most likely will.'

Of course, the playfulness was merely a front I was putting on as I knew that he was going to be an extremely tough opponent for me.

"I see."

At my words, Han Yufei nodded his head before he stopped speaking. A brief moment of silence ensued.

However, the silence did not last for long as it was soon broken by the referee's shout.

"Match begin!"

Bang—!

In the next instant, Han Yufei's body shot out.

Appearing halfway through the arena, with a stomp of his left foot, Han Yufei's body rose in the air. His leg ripped through the air with a crackling sound, filled with outstanding force. Like a whip, it venomously aimed for my head.

A powerful wind blew past my face as the kick swiftly headed my way.

In response to his kick, I merely raised my hand. I wanted to see just how powerful his attack was.

Bang—!

A powerful blast spread as my arm came into contact with his kick. The power of his kick was so strong that my arm recoiled back.

Han Yufei quickly followed up after his first attack as he thrust his hand forward. With his fingers linked together, like a sharp dagger, they headed straight for my neck.

'Dangerous.'

I thought as I stared at the incoming attack. Channeling my mana towards the tip of my fingers, I flicked my left hand and a card popped up in front of Han Yufei's hand.

Bang—!

A powerful blasting sound resounded throughout the square as a wild and powerful wind unfurled throughout the arena. Following this, an enormous ice pillar appeared.

Cracka! Cracka! Cracka!

The pillar did not stay for long as it soon cracked apart before shattering completely.

Crash—!

Standing a few meters away from me, surprise flashed across Han Yufei's face as his movements came to a stop.

"From the way you reacted after my attack I can tell that you are hiding your strength."

He carefully moved his head up and down as he scrutinized me from head to toe.

"You are far stronger than you let out. I can tell this from the way you were able to react to my attack."

Leaning forward, Han Yufei took a pose as the air around him changed completely.

"I don't understand why you are hiding your strength, but I will now take things up a notch."

'...This might be dangerous.'

I thought as I looked at Han Yufei.

If before he looked like a calm and composed individual, right now he looked like a terrifying dragon that wanted to devour me alive.

Then, taking a deep breath, Han Yufei muttered.

"Martial body."

The moment Han Yufei uttered those words, mana surged over from all around and poured into his body.

Strands of mana light swirled around his body as the ground beneath his feet started to crack. His entire presence changed completely as heavy solemness descended on my face.

However, amidst the solemness was a trace of excitement.

That was because finally, I could see one of the techniques that I had been coveting for a very long time.

'Martial body.'

A secret ancient Chinese technique that would push the body to the limit and forcefully raise the sub-rank of a person by one.

It was a godly technique that once mastered could even help someone train faster than before.

"Get ready."

Snapping me out of my thoughts was Han Yufei's cold voice rang out. Following this, with a loud 'bang', his body suddenly disappeared from where he was standing before reappearing right before me.

Bang—!

Chapter 406: Talk [1]

Bang—!

A large palm appeared in my vision, magnifying in front of me at an incredible speed.

A powerful wind pounced on me, causing my heart to tremble a little. The fact that Han Yufei was fifth-ranked in the Lock was definitely proof of his strength.

Staring at the incoming palm, I immediately decided to use one of my skills.

'Eyes of Chronos.'

Upon activation, the world around me started to slow down significantly. In fact, it came to a complete standstill. But, even though time had slowed, it had only slowed down from my eyes. My body was also frozen. Fortunately, my brain could keep up with everything that was happening around me.

'I can't avoid it.'

Carefully staring at Han Yufei's incoming attack, I realized that it couldn't be avoided.

The attack was simply too fast and too close to me at this point in time for me to avoid it.

Although faint, I could also see a small suctioning force coming from Han Yufei's palm. Even if I somehow managed to dodge the attack, the result would still be the same.

As such, after deliberating on the many different scenarios presented before me, I opted for the simplest solution.

'The one.'

Activating for 'the one' for a split second, I simultaneously deactivated 'Eyes of Chronos.'

Han Yufei's hand faltered. It was only for a split second but it was enough to buy me enough time to cross my arms together in a defensive posture.

Boom—!

Han Yufei's palm heavily landed on my arms, a tremendous power came pouring down on me.

"Khhh..."

Feeling the tremendous impact of his attack, my body shook and I slid all the way back to the edge of the arena, only stopping at the very edge of the arena.

As my feets stopped at the edge of the arena, lifting my head, I shook my arms which were completely numb from the pain at this point.

'Man that hurts.'

I may somewhat be used to intense pain by this point, but the power behind the attack was no joke.

It felt as though the bones in my arms had completely shattered. That was just how powerful the attack was.

It also had to be noted that Han Yufei had only attacked me with a simple palm attack. It was not a fancy skill or technique. Just a regular palm strike.

Yet, the power hidden within that simple strike was incredible.

"Huuuu…"

Lowering my hands, I took a deep breath.

Slowly, the mana in the atmosphere began to converge into me.

Bang—!

Without giving me enough time to recuperate, taking a step forward, bending his body forward like a predator that was about to hunt its prey, Han Yufei's body shot in my direction.

This time he was even faster than before as an after-image of his lingered in the air for a brief moment of time.

Staring at the incoming Han Yufei, pressing my foot onto the ground, the mana around me swirled wildly, creating a faint green coating around my body. Then, releasing the tension in my foot, my body shot in Han Yufei's direction.

A cold light flashed across Han Yufei's eyes as he stared at my approaching figure. Raising both hands in the air, tangible mana began to swirl and emerge from his hands, creating sharp energy blades.

As he moved, his clothes flapped out while the muscle hidden beneath his clothes exploded outwards. An imposing aura began to spread out from his body.

Thump! Thump!

In a short span of less than a dozen seconds, Han Yufei and I exchanged a total of twenty moves. No longer holding back my strength, I fully unleashed my <B> ranked aura, matching his aura under the state of 'martial body'.

Although I couldn't pay attention to the surroundings, I knew that our fight was drawing the heads of everyone present as the force behind each and every one of our attacks increased for every exchange.

It had gotten to the point where powerful sonic booms echoed throughout the arenas as the both of us remained on equal footing with each other.

Boom—!

My fist connected with Han Yufei's. A wild wind spread from the point of contact between our fists.

Boom—! Boom—! Boom—!

Separating from each other, our fists repeatedly met. This continued for the next five minutes as blood soon started to drip down on both of our knuckles.

Lowering my head and staring at my fist, I thought.

'Should I use the Keiki style?'

Had I been using the Keiki style, there was a high chance for me to defeat him. But that would expose my identity to the Union and especially Aaron.

That was a no-go for me as all the preparation I had made this past week in Issanor would go to waste.

Boom—!

Meetin Han Yufei's fist once again, the both of us once again separated from each other. Taking a look at Han Yufei whose breathing was quite rough, I grinned.

"Let's—"

"I concede."

But before I could even finish speaking, Han Yufei turned his attention toward the referee and directly forfeited the match. My face froze slightly.

"Are you sure you wish to surrender?"

The referee asked. Turning his head toward my direction, Han Yufei's eyes lingered on my body for a short second before he nodded.

"Yes, I am positive."

"Very well."

The referee nodded before pointing in my direction.

"Winner, Caeruleum. He will be advancing to the top 64 of the tournament."

Thunderous cheers broke out as the referee announced the result of our match. I could feel the eyes of numerous individuals look at me with renewed interest.

Not caring for the stares one bit, I ran to Han Yufei.

"Oy, hold on, why did you give up?"

"...I do not wish to fight a fight where my opponent is not even taking me seriously."

Han Yufei calmly replied before directing his attention toward my hands.

"I can tell from a glance that you do not specialize in body combat."

Raising his hand, Han Yufei opened up the palm of his hand. To my surprise, it was devoid of any calluses.

"This is how the hand of a someone who has trained in hand-to-hand combat should look like, yours is nowhere near that." Han Yufei explained. "Yours is filled with calluses, an obvious sign of weapon usage. If you are on the same level as me when I'm using one of my strongest techniques, I don't see the need to continue this farce."

Before I could say anything, Han Yufei hopped off the stage and left.

'...Well, that was unexpected.'

I thought while scratching the back of my head. I really didn't think that he would have been able to tell this from our brief exchange.

Shrugging my shoulders, I turned around and similarly hopped off the stage.

"What devious trick did you use to make him surrender?"

The first one to greet me was Melissa who immediately threw a jab in my direction. Her eyes were filled with malice. Evidently clear that she was still resenting me for what I did yesterday,

"At least I didn't pretend to lose just like a certain someone."

I quickly shot back.

In order to avoid participating in the fights, Melissa deliberately lost her matches yesterday. Had to say, her acting skills were superb. When she got eliminated, it truly seemed as though she had used all of her strenght to fight.

"...sounds like a smart move to me."

Melissa replied with a yawn.

Turning my attention away from her, I glanced at Amanda who had been staring at me all along. Meeting her gaze, I couldn't help but say.

"What's wrong? Have you perhaps been charmed by my fighting prowess?"

It took a moment for Amanda to process my words, and when she did, her face cringed back in a way that made it obvious to me that she was trying to imply, 'As if.'

To add insult to injury, she added.

"Han Yufei is much more charming."

"...Is that so?"

My brows knit.

That actually bugged me quite a bit...I swear my charm was higher than his.

Glancing at Kevin who was talking to Emma for a brief moment, I decided to sit down and stare at the next few matches.

'Oh, it's Hein.'

My attention instantly gathered towards one of the platforms where Hein stood. His opponent seemed to be pretty strong, but with his sturdy build and perfect timings, Hein was able to swiftly defend himself from the opponent's attack.

'He really has improved a lot.'

I thought in admiration as I watched him from the stand. Sadly, I knew that his strength was not enough for him to place in the top tens. At least not now that I took a good look at who the opponents were.

They were simply in a different league than him.

For the next ten minutes, Hein defended while his opponent continuously attacked. Hein's battle strategy was simple, wear out his opponents before dealing the finishing move...and that was exactly what he did.

Gathering all of his mana towards his shield, he quickly smashed it against the opponent's body, sending him crashing against the other side of the arena.

Following this, the referee checked up on his opponent before finally declaring him the victor of his match.

'Not bad, not bad.'

I thought as I saw him head for a different section in the stands.

"....Oh?"

It was then that I spotted Jin. Seated next to Arnold and Troy, he appeared to be carefully analyzing the matches happening below.

If there was one person that changed the most after my absence, it was without a doubt Jin.

Compared to before, he was a lot more attentive to detail, and never took things for granted as he did in the past. His changes were so drastic that Troy, someone who was supposed to turn on him in the original timeline, actually still stuck with him.

Honestly.

I was pleasantly surprised by this development.

'...Now that I think about it, apart from him and Emma, I pretty much antagonized everyone present.'

This...

I really didn't know.

***

'Should I, or should I not?'

Staring at Ren who was deep in thought, Kevin's foot nervously tapped onto the hard ground.

'Should I tell him about my visions?'

Now that he had decided to trust Ren, Kevin was struggling to decide on whether to come clean to him or now. What he meant by clean was that he wanted to come clean to him with regards to his visions and what he saw in them.

There was only one thing stopping him from doing so.

And that was the fact that he might have to reveal some of his secrets to Ren.

Despite the fact that he didn't want to reveal them as it might expose Ren as well as him to danger, Kevin felt that this was necessary.

If he wanted to prevent the vision from ever happening in the future, Kevin believed that he had to come clean to Ren...and show him that he trusted him.

From the way things were going, Kevin felt a crack appear in his trust towards Ren. This was not something he wanted.

Whenever the vision flashed back in his head, anger would rise from deep within his body. He had to resolve this problem quickly.

"What are you thinking so hard about?"

Snapping him out of it was Emma's voice. Raising her hat and staring at him, Emma continued.

"Since yesterday I've seen you with that look on your face. Is there something wrong? You know you can talk to me."

Kevin smiled at her words. He promptly shook his head.

"Thank you, but I can't really tell you what is happening."

"..Oh? Is that so?"

Lowering her hat and crossing her arms, Emma closed her eyes.

"Well, if you're ever planning on telling me what's going on, I'm over here."

"Thank you."

Kevin smiled. Then, turning his attention back towards Ren, he stood up.

He had made up his mind. He was going to have a serious talk with Ren regarding his visions.

Chapter 407: Talk [2]

After Hein's match, there were a couple of more matches, but none interested me, so I just made small talk with the others in order to pass time.

Fortunately, Hein's match was one of the very last ones as the round of 128 finally came to an end after one last big battle.

Though I said big, it was only like that because the two opponents facing each other were of similar strength and so was very entertaining to watch.

"This will be it for today's matches. I hope the contestants will take this time to rest for tomorrow's matches." The elven lady once again said as she showed up on the stage. Following her words, everyone stood up and left the premises.

Similarly standing up, just as I was about to follow the others out, Kevin came up to me. He had a serious look on his face.

Instantly my brows knit.

"...what's wrong?"

"Ren, we need to talk."

There was undeniable solemness in his voice as he spoke to me. Glancing around to make sure that the others had left, I slowly nodded.

Kevin wasn't the type of guy to act like this unless there really was something wrong. As such, I knew that the situation was serious.

"Where should we talk?"

"Your apartment."

"...my apartment?"

"Yeah. It's the place that has the least amount of people nearby."

"Fair."

And so we decided to head to my apartment to talk. The walk wasn't long as within ten minutes we were already there, but it was strangely uncomfortable as I felt this weird tension coming out from Kevin's face.

His face reminded me of someone who was just about to go to war.

Ci Clank—

Opening the door of my apartment and letting Kevin in, I slumped down on one of the chairs of the room.

Kevin shortly followed suit as he sat on the seat opposite of me.

"..."

An uncomfortable silence descended on the room as Kevin leaned forward, with both his arms on his thighs. Interlocking his hands together, Kevin's foot repeatedly tapped onto the ground.

Seeing that Kevin was having difficulty speaking, I decided to break the silence.

"...So? What did you want to talk about?"

Lifting his head, Kevin looked up at me.

"Say..."

His brows furrowed even more tightly.

"...do you perhaps have a secret that you can't tell me?"

"A secret?"

I was taken aback by his abrupt question.

'Did he find something out?...and isn't that rather vague?'

I had plenty of secrets, and so I wasn't really sure about which one he was referring to.

Nodding his head, Kevin's crimson red eyes continue to gaze in my direction.

"Yeah, do you have any secrets that you can't tell me?"

Leaning back, and deeply gazing into Kevin's eyes, I eventually nodded my head.

"...There are."

The fact that this world was a novel, the book, my skills, I had plenty of secrets that I couldn't tell him.

If he found out any of those secrets, I wasn't too sure how he would react. There was a high chance that a rift could form between us, creating some unnecessary drama that I did not want.

"I see."

The tapping of Kevin's foot became more prominent. This was an obvious indication to me that he was nervous.

'What's going on with him?'

"What is up with you? Don't drag it out, tell me exactly what—"

"I've been having visions lately."

Kevin cut me off. But I wasn't the least bit mad as his words instantly attracted my attention.

"Visions?"

I don't recall Kevin ever having visions in the novel. Another butter-fly effect?

"...Yeah."

Kevin nodded.

"What type of visions were they?"

"I'm not too sure, but I've written them down. Take a look for yourself and tell me if you know anything."

He proceeded to take out a small book from his dimensional space before handing it to me.

Extending my hand, I took the book. Although I was confused, I still complied.

'Let's see.'

Glancing at Kevin one more time, I lowered my head and directed my focus on the book in my hands.

'Since Kevin is this serious, it must be something important.'

"...What the?"

I initially didn't have many expectations when opening the book. Why would I? I didn't think there would be anything I didn't know, but I was quickly proven wrong as my hands froze.

'Time remnant? Akashic records? Black-clothed guy? Jezebeth?'

The more I read, the greater the confusion on my face became. That was because I didn't know any of the things that were written in the book apart from the Akashic records which I already knew beforehand.

They were essentially an entity that acted as the gods of this world, yet at the same time couldn't be considered gods. It was a confusing concept that I decided to add near the end of the novel, but that wasn't what shocked me.

'Kevin isn't supposed to find out about the Akashic records till later in the novel.'

Not only that but the visions that he was currently experiencing were also not part of the novel.

My head throbbed.

'...What in the world is happening?'

Most likely, the butterfly effect of my actions had pushed forward a couple of plot points several times ahead of where they should've been. Sucked, but it was nothing new. Happened many times in the past and so I was able to quickly recompose myself.

Flip—!

Without saying anything, I flipped to the next page. Reading through the passage, my eyes opened wide in shock, and my mind blanked.

"...I wouldn't have had to resort to this if you hadn't been so compassionate, I hope her death can finally set your mind straight."

"No matter how important of a piece you are, a piece should act as a piece should act."

"...I hope this will finally clear your head."

Abruptly lifting my head, I looked at Kevin who was looking back at me with a serious look on his face.

Opening and closing my mouth repeatedly, I didn't know what to say. It felt as though a lump was stuck in my throat, preventing me from speaking.

Lowering my head and once again reading the book, my hands shook.

"It can't be..."

I muttered in disbelief as I shook my head.

'The way of speaking...and those words...that's definitely me.'

"You felt it too right?"

Silently gazing in my direction throughout the whole time, Kevin finally spoke up.

Extending his hand and pointing at the book, he questioned.

"The person in the vision was you, wasn't it?"

"This..."

I wanted to deny his words with all my might...but I couldn't. The man described in the book reminded me an awful lot of me...or rather, me under the influence of Monarch's indiffer—

"No, it can't be."

I muttered out loud as horrifying thoughts flashed across my face.

"Did you figure something out?"

Kevin asked from the side. But I didn't respond. I was too immersed in my thoughts.

'...Monarch's indifference.'

Two words repeatedly rang inside of my mind as I re-read the passage multiple times. I swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Ever since the first time I got Monarch's indifference, I had always had my reservation about using it. Not only did it feel as though I would lose all control of my body, but it also felt as though my actions were somehow getting controlled by someone.

'That aside...now that I look back, my chess ideology did not stem from meeting the previous Ren but from using Monarch's indifference.'

Right, at first I thought that the ideologies that were being implanted inside of my head came from the moment I met the previous Ren, but that wasn't true at all...they came the moment I used Monarch's indifference.

They only got exponentially more prominent the moment I met the other Ren. Maybe that was why I never noticed it, and only noticed it now that I was reading the notes

Shivers ran down my spine.

"Huuu..."

Taking a deep breath, I tried to look back at any of the incidents revolving around me using Monarch's indifference.

There was one incident that particularly stood out to me.

The time back in the dome when I activated it to save Kevin. More specifically, the time when I fought Aaron.

At first, I thought that leaving Aaron alive was merely a side-effect of Monarch's indifference since my goal was saving Kevin...but was it really a fluke? It had to be, didn't it? After all, under Monarch's Indifference, all that mattered was the end goal, not the side goals.

But there was this nagging feeling inside of my head that never ceased.

'I'm definitely overthinking things'

I quickly shook my head, trying to dispel such thoughts.

The theory was just too far-fetched to make sense, but something about that incident really bugged me off.

Thinking back about my past, many of the big incidents that had occurred to me felt kind of forced...almost as though someone was trying to manipulate the path that I needed to take. I couldn't quite explain it...it just felt that way.

'Ugh, my head hurts.'

The more I thought about it, the greater the throbbing sensation on my head became.

Something just wasn't right.

***

Gazing at Ren who seemed to be in deep thought, Kevin remained quiet.

At first, he was a bit apprehensive at the thought of letting Ren know about his visions, but now that he was getting a good look at him, he was glad he did.

Ren's reaction confirmed to him that he knew something was up. This was enough to tell him that there was some truth in the visions.

No, that figure was Ren. Kevin was sure now.

"Haaa..."

Kevin leaned back on the chair and exhaled.

'...Now what?'

Even if he was able to confirm that the figure was Ren, what was next? Kevin really was unsure.

Kevin knew for a fact that the vision was just like the name suggested, a vision. It was only a possible future. One that could be stopped.

Kevin felt that coming to speak with Ren was the necessary step he had to take in order to prevent that event.

"...huh?"

While waiting for Ren to return to his usual self, glancing around the room, Kevin's face suddenly stiffened as he abruptly stood up.

His reaction was so abrupt and unexpected that it attracted Ren's attention.

"Kevin, what's going on?"

"I...Impossible "

Staring towards the corner of the room with eyes wide open, Kevin's eyes paused on a familiar red book.

'How is that here?!'

He shouted inside of his mind as his face clouded with disbelief. He was showing a similar reaction to that of Ren when he had just seen the notes.

There was no way he could mistake the appearance of the book. He had been carrying it with him for over two years now. It was without a doubt that book.

"Kevin, what in the world is going on with you?"

Ren asked once more as his voice was filled with confusion.

Without answering him, raising his hand, Kevin weakly pointed it towards the red book in the distance.

Suddenly many different memories of the past resurfaces inside of his mind as he took a step back.

'No...'

He had a feeling.

A feeling that he wanted to make sure.

Trembling all over, Kevin turned to look at Ren.

"...Hey, do you see that?"

Ren's brows furrowed as he stared in the direction of where Kevin was pointing at.

"See what?"

"The red book over there."

"The re—"

Ren's face suddenly stiffened. He then slowly turned his face in Kevin's direction.

"You can see it?"

"...Ah."

Kevin let out a strange sound as he slumped back on his chair. All the different memories of the past started to puzzle started piecing themselves together as Kevin finally realized something.

Ren could also use the book.

An uncomfortable silence descended on the room.

Chapter 408: Talk [3]

An unbearable silence descended upon the room as Kevin and I struggled to find the right words to say.

I really didn't know what to say. I was just that shocked by the fact that Kevin could see the red book and knew what it was.

Just when I had thought things had calmed down, something as unexpected as this suddenly happened.

It really made one wonder how I managed to cope with the constant shocks.

"…Have you always been able to see the red book?"

Kevin finally broke the silence.

Lifting my head and staring at him, I didn't answer him immediately.

My mind was currently a mess.

Glancing at the red book in the distance, many questions came into my mind, but out of all of them, one, in particular, stood out to me.

'How come he can see the red book now and not before?'

I had used the red book many times in front of him before. Yet, in all the times I had used it, Kevin never showed signs of ever being able to see the book.

So why now?

"Ren?"

"Ah, right."

Snapping out of it, I looked back at Kevin who gazing at me with a face filled with questions.

"How much do you know about that book?"

I asked whilst breathing out.

Depending on what he answered, I was going to decide whether to tell him the truth or make something up.

Gazing in my direction for a brief moment of time, Kevin walked up to the book and placed his hand on it.

Seeing that there was no reaction, Kevin sighed in relief. Then, opening it, he carefully flipped through its pages.

"…it's empty"

He muttered out loud. His brows furrowing tightly. Then, putting the book back down, with his back facing me, he started speaking.

"The first time I got the book was when I was returning to my dorm."

I sat up straight at his words. This was important information.

"I was very surprised by the fact that a random book magically showed up in the middle of my room. Of course, it was only after I touched the book that I realized that the book was special. It was also during that time that I had my first vision."

Kevin paused. But he didn't need to say anything. I had the notes with me, and I already knew what the vision he was referring to was about.

Flip—

I flipped through the notes before finally pausing on a certain page.

It was the vision where I was supposed to have died.

"Ku, Ku, ku, this is on you."

"I am the sin you created."

"…I am the consequence of your actions."

"…never forget…I am the one sin…you will never get rid of…"

As I looked through the notes, Kevin continued speaking.

"The first vision was different compared to the others. I could move there, and it wasn't just like any other of the visions I saw later"

Kevin's brows knit tightly.

"…but it was also the oddest of the other visions."

"I can tell."

I solemnly replied whilst looking through the notes he wrote. As I read, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

'If I died in in this vision, does that mean that the visions are not entirely accurate?'

Possible.

However, that was beside the point as my entire focus shifted towards the description of the demon responsible for killing 'me.'

"Say…"

Flip—

I flipped to the next page.

"This demon that you saw in the vision, can you describe it for me? What did it look like?"

Kevin nodded.

"…he was a black humanoid figure. A demon. Red blood eyes and a sadistic smile on his face."

Hearing the description, my brows furrowed.

To be honest, what he was describing to me was just how any regular demon acted and looked.

I really had no idea who the black humanoid figure was. Despite having crossed many demons, none really left an impression on me…well, there was Angelica, but that was abou—right, there was Everblood too.

Now that I thought about him, he was a bit of a mystery to me. I had only seen him once in my life, and that was back at the dungeon.

Ever since then, I had never seen him. Yet, for some strange reason, he seemed to have developed an obsession with me.

'Could the figure be Everblood?'

I thought. But after a while, I shook my head.

'That's impossible, Everblood is just some random Baron ranked demon I can get rid of any time I wanted. Furthermore, the only reason he developed a connection with me was because I ruined his plans back at th—'

My brain suddenly froze. My heart sped up a little bit.

'Now that I think about it, wasn't Everblood the reason I got Monarch's Indifference?'

Had I not been able to meet him and defeat him, I would've never gotten my hands on Monarch's Indifference.

Could there be a link? There couldn't be, right?…it just didn't make sense.

"Do you have something in mind?"

Snapping me out of it was Kevin's voice. Lifting my head and staring in his direction, I shook my head.

"No…at least not yet."

The Everblood theory was just too far-fetched. There were some connections, but they weren't enough for me to make a proper deduction.

Still, I was planning on keeping track of this matter. I had a nagging feeling that there was more to it.

"Okay."

Kevin nodded his head before he continued narrating to me each and every one of his visions.

From the way he was talking, I could tell that he was leaving nothing behind.

The more I listened to him, the tighter the frown on my face became. That was because I understood nothing.

I originally thought that as the author of the novel...or whatever this world was, I would know most of the stuff regarding this place, yet, listening to what Kevin was telling me, I really couldn't understand anything.

It was a strange feeling.

"…and lastly was the vision regarding the figure that resembled you. The cold one."

Kevin finally concluded.

Before I could say anything, Kevin once again opened his mouth.

"There's another thing that I haven't told you."

"…Something else?"

"Mhm."

Kevin nodded his head before taking a deep breath. The atmosphere in the room tensed significantly.

"Huuuu…"

Taking another deep breath, Kevin lifted his head and directly met my gaze.

"Ren, you know about my past right?"

"I do."

I replied with a short nod. Nodding back, Kevin continued.

"…than you must know that the village that I came from was invaded by demons and I lost my parents."

"Yeah."

This was the general setting of Kevin in the novel.

Demons kill parents, he becomes the sole survivor, and he gains a system. Nothing particularly special.

"…there's one thing that I never told you."

My brows suddenly jumped up as I abruptly lifted my head.

'He couldn't be…'

"Ever since that day, some weird phenomenon occurred and I'm not sure exactly when, but I received this strange interface that essentially helped me get to where I am now. That interface, it's called the system."

"Ah."

I could only reply to his words with a weird sound. I really couldn't understand what was happening at the moment. Did Kevin just reveal to me his biggest secret?

"…System?"

Of course, even though I knew about the system, I pretended to look both shocked and confused.

"Yeah. It's because of it that I managed to push myself to where I am now."

"Oh."

'Kevin isn't the type to reveal something like this. There must definitely be something else.'

My eyes squinted.

It just wasn't in Kevin's nature to do something like this. There was definitely more than he was currently letting out.

"Yes. It works similar to a status window, and it assigns me quests from time to time. Once I complete them, I get rewarded by the system through either rank upgrades or materials."

"I see…but why are you telling me this?" I suddenly asked, trying to get the crux of the matter immediately.

"You caught on fast."

Kevin smiled.

Raising his hand, Kevin flashed the red book.

"It's because of this."

"The book?"

"…yeah, or to be more precise, the time codex."

"Time what?"

Confusion once again dyed my face as I wondered what in the world he was talking about.

Where in the world did he get the name 'Time codex' from?

"Time codex."

Kevin once again nodded his head, reaffirming the fact that the book was called the time codex.

I was still a little bit doubtful if I had to be honest as I couldn't help but ask.

"...Are you sure?"

"That was what the system called the book. The time codex."

Most of my doubt was dispelled at those words.

"Time codex? …so that's what it was. Is this why you revealed to me about your system?"

"Yeah."

Kevin nodded his head.

"…Since you know that I can look into the time codex, you probably know that when I had it, I could look into what you were doing."

"Right…"

An uncomfortable feeling washed over me at the thought of Kevin having looked through what I was doing.

Yes, although I did the same for Kevin, being on the receiving end did not feel so good.

"You probably don't know this, but you died before."

Before I could even recover from my initial shock about knowing that Kevin could see the book, Kevin suddenly dropped a bombshell on me and my eyes widened.

Abruptly lifting my head, disbelief clouded my face.

"When was this?!"

"Back in the dwarven domain when you were infiltrating the place. The dwarven lady killed you before you could deactivate the dampening system."

"Shit…really?"

I naturally understood what Kevin was referring to. It was probably the time when Durara suddenly showed up out of nowhere and attacked us.

Thinking back, it truly was an event where we were hanging on a by a single strand.

If I died during that moment, it wouldn't have been strange for us to have died.

'…So I really died.'

A cold chill ran down my spine.

Had Kevin not interfered, I would've truly been dead.

What was even scarier was the fact that till now I didn't know what had happened. Turning my head to look at Kevin, I thanked him.

"Thank you."

Leaning back on the table and crossing his arms, Kevin repeatedly nodded his head.

"Yup, you died, and if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be here right now talking to me."

The shock on my face soon faded and my brows furrowed.

"Just so you know you died too."

"When?"

Kevin's face froze as he stood up straight. His reaction was quite similar to mine.

"Back at the dome, before the incident. The reason why I rushed to you was because the time codex replayed your death."

A strange feeling of superiority rose from within me as I spoke.

"Not only that, but I also saved Jin's life back in Hollberg."

"Jin?"

I nodded before explaining.

"Yeah, he was going to die and so I decided to help him. That was also the time you noticed me I think."

"…you're right," Kevin replied with a thoughtful look on his face as he tried to remember the time we met. "No wonder you were acting like that. So it was to save Jin."

TWIIIING— TWIIIING—

Almost at the same time, both of our communications vibrated.

Glancing at each other for a brief moment, we both looked down and checked our communication devices.

The first one to lift his head was Kevin who asked.

"It's Emma. She's inviting everyone for dinner. Want to go?"

"…Yeah." I nodded. "All of this talk made me quite hungry."

"Same."

Brushing his hair back, Kevin headed for the door of the room.

I followed from behind.

Halting his steps in front of the door, Kevin turned around.

"Regarding what we discusse—"

"Do I look like someone who would snitch?"

"Never mind. We should talk more about it later, I'm still confused about many things."

"Yeah."

Ci Clank—

Extending his hand, Kevin opened the door and left the room. I followed after him.

Chapter 409: Incident [1]

As we were headed for the dinner location, I suddenly recalled something and my feet came to a stop.

"You go ahead without me," I said as I looked at Kevin.

Also coming to a halt, Kevin's brow jumped upwards. He was clearly taken aback by my words.

"You going somewhere?"

"Yeah, I forgot I had another appointment."

I replied while scratching the side of my cheek.

Prior to Kevin wanting to talk to me, I had already made an appointment with someone else. It was regarding a very important matter and so was something that I couldn't avoid.

Staring at me for a couple of seconds, Kevin shrugged his shoulders.

"…Suit yourself, you already know our location anyways. Just come when you're done."

"Sure."

I replied with a smile.

"Alright, see ya later."

Raising his hand, Kevin bid me goodbye before leaving.

Staring at his disappearing back, I deeply sighed.

'If only I could tell him about my secret.'

A little part of me felt guilty for not being able to tell him everything, but I had my reasons.

Although I appreciated the fact that Kevin trusted me to the point where he would share his biggest secret, I, unfortunately, wasn't the same.

I couldn't do it.

Even if I wanted to, I just couldn't.

At least, I wasn't comfortable sharing it now.

The repercussions behind my secret were just too big.

All the messed-up decisions I made in the past would quickly come back and haunt me, and a drift in our relationship would definitely appear.

I wasn't ready for that, nor could I afford to do that. In the first place, I was also unsure about my memories. Were they real or were they fake?

…I didn't know.

Until I figured my shit out, I was planning on keeping the secret regarding my reincarnation to the grave. Plus, his secret wasn't so much of a secret to me since I already knew it.

Gazing at Kevin's figure that had disappeared into the distance, I softly muttered.

"Sorry."

Then, lowering my head and staring at my wrist, I proceeded to head in the opposite direction.

Maybe one day.

***

An oil lamp burned within an undisclosed location, spreading a murky yellow light.

A middle-aged man with clean facial features and nice clothes sat upright behind a desk, expressionless as he gazed at the middle of the table where a holographic image stood.

Reflected behind it was an imposing figure. A cold and stern aura rose from between the figure's brows, while a faint pressurizing feeling spread outwards from his body, and this was despite the fact that he was behind a holographic video.

It was clear that he was someone of enormous power.

After a long silence, the middle-aged man sitting behind the desk finally opened his mouth and dully said.

"It seems like Fabian has also failed to make it past the rounds of elimination."

—I've heard that Emma had made it to the round of 64.

The man reflected behind the hologram replied.

He was none other than Micheal Parker, the man that had previously attempted to massacre the students of the Lock, back in Hollberg.

On the other hand, the middle-aged staring at the holographic video of Micheal was Jasper Roshfield, Emma's uncle.

Overheating Micheals's comments, Jasper's eyes narrowed slightly like a viper as he venomously spat.

"Despite everything that I have done to hinder her growth, she was still able to make it this far. Such stubbornness...she truly is his daughter."

Killing intent soon flashed across his eyes as he gazed back at Micheal Parker.

"Have all the preparations been made?"

—They have.

Micheal apathetically nodded his head behind the holographic image.

—She and her friends are currently headed out for dinner. I'm planning on personally going there in case something goes wrong. This is the chance we have been waiting for.

"There will be other people with you, right?"

—Yes.

Micheal replied in a cold and detached tone.

It was clear that he was still in a terrible mood after learning of his son's failure to qualify.

Listening to Micheal's words, Jasper frowned.

"If you go there, won't the elves be able to detect that something is wrong from the fluctuations of your body?"

Since the elves were so sensitive to mana, if Micheal acted, without a doubt they would quickly be able to sense him. This was a cause of concern for Jasper who wanted nothing more than for this plan to work.

As long as Emma died, the whole of the Roshfield household would be his.

He couldn't wait for her to die.

—They will.

Worry flashed across Jaspers' eyes as he asked.

"Are you not worried?"

The scale of the operation may not have been big, but any mistake could prove to be extremely deadly.

But to his surprise, Micheal merely shook his head.

—No.

"Why's that? Why are you not afraid of the elves finding out?"

—Why would they interfere?

Micheal coldly asked.

—This is a matter amongst humans. If they do notice that something is wrong, they will not do anything unless it directly involves other elves.

"...You make a good point."

Jasper nodded after a while. Secretly, he sighed in relief.

One of the few things that bugged him regarding the upcoming operation was the possible interference from the elves, but from the looks of it, he was probably overthinking things.

Why would they interfere in human conflicts? Unless they did something crazy, they would just let them be.

"Alright, when are you going to take action?"

—Now.

Bi—! Bi—!

Immediately after his words, the communication shut down.

With his gaze lingering in the area where Micheal's figure used to be projected, a sinister smile emerged from the corner of Jasper's lips before he coldly muttered.

"I hope you won't blame me for what I'm about to do next, Emma."

If there was a time to finally get rid of his niece, a thorn that he had been keeping for a long time, it was now.

Since they were no longer in the human domain, they were no longer bound by their restrictions.

If anything happened to Emma, no one would be able to say a thing.

Just the thought caused Jasper's smile to deepen.

It was finally time for him to take reigns of the Roshfield household.

***

At the same time.

"It took you a while."

Arriving at the designated location, Kevin quickly met up with the others who seemed to have already arrived a while back and were just waiting for him.

They were the usual people. Emma, Jin, Amanda, and Melissa.

Surprisingly though, Kevin also noticed the appearance of Arnold and Troy. He was a bit taken aback by their appearance as he had never hung out with them, but he was quick to recover.

It made sense, they were Jin's friends.

With her hat flipped backward and her hands in her short jeans, Emma walked up to Kevin and glanced behind him.

"Is he not with you?"

For the sake of remaining ambiguous regarding his identity as Troy and Arnold were present, Emma did not use Ren's real name and just referred to him as 'he' and 'him'.

Kevin quickly picked up her cue and also avoided using his name.

"He said he had something to do. He'll probably join us later."

"Oh, I see."

Emma nodded her head.

"By the way, where are we going to eat?"

Kevin curiously asked, trying to switch the topic. Glancing at him, Emma answered.

"I'm not too sure either, but it's a bit outside of the city. I've been told that it's a nice place to eat so I figured we may as well go there."

Surprise flashed across Kevin's eyes.

"Outside of the city?"

Just where in the world was Emma trying to bring them?

"...Well, not exactly outside of the city, within the borders of the barrier, but more in the more rural area."

Kevin's eyes squinted at her words. Not really sure how to respond.

Noticing Kevin's odd reaction, Emma shrugged her shoulders softly muttered. 'They said it was a good place, so don't judge.'

Then, turning her attention towards the others, she asked.

"Should we get going then?"

At her question, everyone proceeded to nod their heads. Having just fought intent battles, everyone was visibly hungry.

They didn't really care about the location of the restaurant. They just wanted something to eat.

Kevin was of the same sentiment as he quickly dropped the topic.

"Alright, let's go."

Understanding their feelings, Emma brightly smiled before taking the lead.

Without saying anything, Kevin followed behind as Emma lead everyone towards the place where they were going to eat dinner.

***

Outside of the human dorms.

"Is this the place?"

Going all the way to the residence where the humans stayed, I stopped in front of a certain room.

Glancing towards the side of the room, I double-checked the number.

"Room 839? I'm sure this is it."

After making sure that I was at the right door, raising my hand, I knocked on the door.

To Tok—!

Following the knock, for a short period of time, I was met with silence. However, that did not last for long as the door soon opened.

Ci Clank—!

"You're here."

Appearing on the other side of the door was a familiar figure. With the same calm and composed look from before, the figure was none other than Han Yufei.

Moments after our match ended, I asked him if he could meet me. He said that he had time today, so we decided to meet a couple of hours after the tournament.

I had almost forgotten about it due to the talk that I had with Kevin.

"...Come in."

Taking a step to the side, Han Yufei invited me into his room.

Nodding my head, I entered the place. As I entered, Han Yufei closed the door behind me.

Ci Clank—!

The moment I stepped foot into the room, a nice and aromatic herbal smell lingered in the air causing my body to relax at its smell.

I didn't know how to explain it, but it was just very relaxing.

Aside from the nice herbal smell in the room, there was nothing particularly special about the room as it was basically a downgraded version of my room. Perhaps the only difference was the fact that it was cleaner than my room.

As I was looking around the place, Han Yufei pointed toward one of the chairs in the room.

"Please have a seat."

"...Thank you."

Complying, I sat down on the chair.

Before I could even properly adjust my position, Han Yufei quickly got straight to the point and asked.

"What did you want to talk about?"

I was a bit taken aback by his abruptness, but I quickly regained my calm.

Resting both of my elbows on my thighs, I leaned my body forward.

"I came here to talk to you about something important."

I paused and raised my head to directly meet Han Yufeis's eyes. I wanted to properly gauge his reaction to what I was about to say.

Just in case, I also secretly channeled my mana. I knew for a fact that what I was about to ask of him was going to be outrageous. So outrageous that he might end up attacking me out of nowhere.

Of course, I came prepared as I wasn't just going to provoke him blindly, but I still had to be cautious.

"..."

Feeling my gaze, Han Yufei didn't reply as his brows tightened.

'How should I word this?... I don't think flowery words will work with him, so I guess I should just be straight to the point?'

I really wasn't sure, but after staring at Han Yufei and meeting his intense gaze, I knew that anything but that option would prove detrimental.

"Huuu..."

Taking a deep breath, and carefully wording my words, I went straight to the point.

"...I want you to teach me martial body. Your family for star and a half martial technique."

Chapter 410: lncident [2]

"...I want you to teach me martial body. Your family four stars and a half martial technique."

A rather awkward atmosphere enshrouded the place as Han Yufei's calm and composed face finally crumbled.

Even when we were fighting his face had never once changed this much. It was clear that he was extremely shocked by my request.

"...Are you making fun of me?"

Han Yufei suddenly stood up as he sharply glared in my direction.

A threatening aura sprung out from his body, shrouding the whole room.

"You think that just because I surrendered in the tournament, that I'm now a pushover?"

His voice was becoming increasingly louder with each word he said.

Pushing my hands down, I tried to calm him down.

"No, I don't think that at all. Calm down and listen to me."

But that didn't seem to work as Han Yufei got even more riled up.

"Calm down? ...how do you expect me to calm down when you just asked me to teach you our family's most prestigious art? Do I look like a joke to you?"

"Of course, I know what I asked was outrageous, but I obviously have something of equivalent value in exchange."

"...Eh?"

Han Yufei suddenly froze.

"What did you just say?"

Finally gaining Han Yufei's attention, I continued.

"What I'm trying to say is that I'm willing to exchange something of equal value with you in order for you to teach me the martial technique. In fact, you can also say that it's actually a notch above what you're going to teach me."

"A notch above?"

Han Yufeis's brows furrowed at my last words. He was obviously not convinced. I smiled at his doubt.

"Yeah, I can offer you something even better than your family martial arts."

Han Yufei sat back down.

His eyes were filled with interest.

'Got him.'

I thought as I inwardly smiled to myself.

Just by looking at his eyes, I could tell that I had gained his interest. This was all I wanted.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Tapping on the table with my right hand, I remained silent for a couple of seconds. Staring at Han Yufei who was looking back at me, I only spoke up once I noticed that he was about to lose patience.

"In exchange for you teaching me your martial technique, I will give you a five-star manual."

The room froze at my words as Han Yufei was unable to process what I just said.

But it didn't take too long for him to finally understand what I said as his eyes shot wide open. Standing up and smacking the palm of his hand on the table, he leaned forward.

"Did you just say five-star martial manual?!"

His voice cracked a little as he said those words.

It was clear that he was still in disbelief by my proposal.

Staring at him from my seat, I nodded back.

"Yeah. I will give you a five-star manual in exchange for your family art. That simple."

'The Gravar style'

That was the five-star manual that I was planning to exchange with him.

I had always had this plan in mind whenever I saw Han Yufei. The Gravar style, although powerful, was practically useless to me.

Even though Han Yufei was not a sword user, Han Yufei wished nothing more than for his clan to rise into prominence and dominate the other Chinese clans.

The Chinese clans were quite powerful, and there was a lot of competition amongst them.

By owning a five-star sword manual, the chances of his clan rising to prominence would drastically improve.

Obviously, by giving him the Gravar style, I wasn't just trying to get his martial manual, but I was also trying to form a connection with the Chinese clans.

Han Yufei remained silent. Squinting his eyes, he appeared to fall into deep thought. But it wasn't long before he managed to recompose himself and carefully ask.

"...How can you prove to me that you are not laying?"

I smiled at his question. I had long seen it coming.

"It's simple really."

Taking a small piece of paper from my dimensional space, I slid it over.

"We can sign a mana contract."

The moment the words 'mana contract' escaped from my mouth, all doubts seemed to have been dispelled from Han Yufei's head as his brows relaxed.

"Let me see it."

Before saying anything else, sliding the piece of paper in front of him, Han Yufei carefully looked through it.

"Hm?"

But as he was looking through it, his brows which had previously relaxed furrowed once again.

He then proceeded to put the paper down.

"This is not a mana contract."

"No, it's not."

I shook my head.

Before he could voice any complaints, I quickly continued.

"These over here are just the terms that I want to propose for the deal. Regarding the mana contract, you can be the one who provides it. I'm sure you will feel like it's more secure if you are the one that makes the mana contract, right?"

Although hard, it wasn't impossible to replicate a mana contract.

There were many out there that had been duped by fake mana contracts, and so, by allowing him to provide the mana contract, I was essentially showing him my willingness to cooperate with him.

Of course, that was merely on the surface. In reality, a mana contract of that caliber was just too expensive for me to purchase.

I just couldn't afford it at the moment.

"I see."

Fortunately, it seemed as though Han Yufei bought the excuse as he thoughtfully nodded his head. Then, taking the paper back, he continued to look through it.

I secretly smiled to myself when I saw this.

"...eh?"

Furrowing his brows once again, Han Yufei put the paper down and pointed toward a certain section of the draft contract.

"Over here it says 'The signee of the contract will join Caïssa mercenary group as a member for five years before he is free to leave.' What in the world is Caïssa?"

"Ah, that."

I scratched the back of my head.

"In short, for five years, you will join my mercenary group. I made it this way since what I'm offering is actually of higher value than what you are offering."

"What!?"

Han Yufei stood up.

"Join your mercenary group? Do you know who I am?"

"Of course, I know." I calmly said.

'You are one of the people I have been keeping close watch of ever since transmigrating into this wolrd. Of course, I know who you are.'

"Han Yufei, <B-> rank, ranked fifth in Lock, age twenty years, son of Han Gaye, current head of the Han clan, and current Heir of the clan."

A look of shock appeared on Han Yufeis's face as I recounted all the information I knew about him.

The shock did not last for long as he quickly calmed himself down.

"...If you know all of this, why are you asking me to join?"

His words were filled with confusion and doubt.

I merely smiled at his question.

"Because you're still young. From the way things are going, you won't become the head until you're fifty or something, right?"

"..."

Han Yufei's face turned ugly at my words.

Despite that, he didn't answer back. He knew that my words held some truth into them.

With people now being able to live over two hundred years of age, it would still take quite a long time for him to actually become the head of the Han clan

If he kept on waiting, he was essentially going to be losing a lot of time waiting for something that would happen a few decades into the future.

What he lacked was real experience, and I could provide that for him.

"Why waste your time there? If you join me, I can guarantee you that you will definitely see your strength improve."

I held great confidence in myself as I said those words.

I may not be a great teacher, but I definitely knew the right places to help my members train.

Compared to when I first saw them, the current members of my mercenary group were a far cry from where they were in the past. If he joined, I didn't once doubt the fact that he would see massive growth in his skill.

Of course, the real goal was to gain his trust. If in the future he planned to leave, I wanted to at least have a solid relationship with him so that I could pull the Chinese clans to my side.

That alone would massively boost my influence in the human domain.

As soon as I finished saying what I wanted to say, silence descended upon the room.

Staring at him, I didn't say anything else. I had already said everything that I wanted to say. Whether he wanted to accept my offer or not, it all depended on him.

The wait for his answer did not last for long. Raising his head and meeting my eyes, Han Yufei opened his mouth.

"I..."

***

At the same time, in a different location.

"How far is the place?"

Gazing around him and only seeing trees, Kevin looked at Emma. Lowering her head and gazing at a small holographic map, Emmas scratched the back of her head.

"Ehmm."

Tilting her head sideways, she continued to scratch the back of her head. Behind her, Melissa facepalmed.

"Don't tell me that you're lost."

"I don't think so."

Emma replied in a high-pitched voice. Clearly indicating to the others her lack of confidence.

"Oh god."

Melissa's face scrunched up as her hand twitched.

'Calm down, calm down, we have agreed to cut down on the potions. Calm down, calm down.'

Unaware of what Melissa was thinking, Emma, handed the map to Kevin and pointed toward a certain spot.

"...We are on the right path though. Look."

"Let me see."

Taking the map, Keving took a good look at it. Staring at it, his brows furrowed.

"It really does look like we are on the right path."

"See."

Once he confirmed that Emma was right and they were indeed following the right path, he handed the map back to her.

As he handed her the map, he asked.

"Strange, where did you hear about the place from?"

Taking the map, Emma quickly replied.

"Someone suggested it to me, I don't quite remember though, I wasn't really paying too much attention to what they were saying, but apparently it's a very famous place. I've confirmed with a couple of elves along the way."

'Typical.'

Kevin thought.

Emma was the type of person to ignore most of the things that others said to her. Of course, this only applied to strangers.

"…hm?"

Kevin's feet suddenly came to a halt. It was so abrupt that Emma, who was walking behind him, smashed her face against his muscular back.

Grabbing ahold of her nose, she looked up at Kevin.

"Ukh. What was that f—"

Placing his hand on Emma's mouth to shut her up, Kevin put his finger on his mouth.

"Shhhh."

His sudden behavior caused everyone to instantly became alert.

Once he made sure that everyone was alert, Kevin took his hand away from Emma's mouth.

"What's going on?"

She softly mumbled, her eyes were filled with vigilance. Kevin shook his head in response. He too had no idea, but he knew there were other people around the area.

"I don't know, but it looks like we are not the only people here."

Rustle—! Rustle—!

Not even a couple of seconds after he said those words and the nearby vegetation rustled.

Following this, multiple figures suddenly appeared, surrounding everyone.

WIIIIIIING—

What followed after was the appearance of a transparent dome that covered the whole surroundings.

"…Shit."

Kevin cursed, a grim look appearing on his face.

SHIIIING—!

Besides him, the others got their weapons out and prepared to fight.

No one said a word as everyone understood that they were being ambushed. Instantly, mana sprung out from their body as they gazed in the direction of their aggressors.

Chapter 411: lncident [3]

'You will be the next heir of the Han clan.'

'You must work hard to support your clan in the future.'

'You are the hope of the Han clan. Make sure to always think of the clan ahead of anything else. Even yourself.'

Ever since he was little, all Han Yufei heard were those words. He had become so used to them, that he had now started to firmly believe in those values.

However, just as much as he believed in them, there were times when he really wanted to give up.

Expectations, expectations, expectations, and even more expectations.

Being the sole heir of the Han clan, one of the four major clans in [Xin Shijie], the Chinese main city in the human domain, he shouldered the heavy expectations of his clan.

The Han clan was a powerful clan that was equivalent in power to any diamond-graded guild. Perhaps not as strong as the Demon hunter guild during its peak years, but if all four clans joined hands, such comparisons wouldn't be unwarranted.

Despite the fact that they were often compared to famous guilds, they were also not the same.

They operated differently than guilds, but their influence and power were nothing to scoff at. Unlike guilds that mainly hired individuals from anywhere, clans only took in individuals who were of the same blood.

That aside, not all things were peaceful for the Chinese clans.

With the land they were covering being quite small, all the top clans were in conflict, in hopes of trying to gain more land and becoming to biggest power in the Chinese region of the human domain.

Some of the clans worked together, but at the end of the day, the alliances formed were only alliances on paper.

The end goal of every Chinese clan was to become the sole remaining clan.

Of course, Han Yufei, being the heir of one of the four main clans in the conflict, was no stranger to these types of conflicts as he had seen them throughout his whole life.

And because he was familiar with these kinds of stuff that he was also familiar with negotiations.

He had witnessed many negotiations happening in the past with his father and clan elders.

As such, he knew when he was seeing a good and a bad deal.

"Yeah. I will give you a five-star manual in exchange for your family art. That simple."

"In short, for five years, you will join my mercenary group. I made it this way since what I'm offering is actually of higher value than what you are offering."

'Ridiculous'

That was the only word that Han Yufei could think of as he looked through the contract proposed to him.

Yes, the value of the goods that he was offering was indeed higher. A five-star manual in exchange for a four-star one...but, the five-year contract? That was what alarmed Han Yufei.

It said that he was going to join a mercenary group.

But what about it? Setting aside the fact that he first needed to gain permission from the elders of the clan, Cassia? What in the world was that?

He had never heard of such a group before. From the looks of it, they were either a hidden group or a new group that he had no clue about.

He also seemed to be of the belief that by joining him, he was going to see massive boosts in strength.

Was he really just telling him that an unknown clan can teach him better than his own clan?

Arrogant, Han Yufei thought.

The more Han Yufei thought over the matter the more apprehensive he became.

Lifting his head and staring at the figure opposite him, Han Yufei finally opened his mouth.

"I reject your offer."

There was firmness in his voice as he said those words.

The offer was tempting, but Han Yufei saw too many things that were wrong with the individual before him to fully trust him.

Following his rejection, for a brief moment of time, silence descended on the room as the two of them looked at each other.

However, it had to be noted that, Caeruleum, the figure who had proposed the deal to him, seemed completely unperturbed by the rejection.

It was as though he had already expected such an answer for him.

'Why does he still look so confident despite the fact that I rejected him?'

There was this strange sense of confidence revolving around him that made Han Yufei uncomfortable.

Unaware of what he was thinking, leaning back on his chair, Caeruleum calmly asked.

"...Why did you reject my offer?"

Han Yufei did not answer. Instead, he asked a different question.

"Who are you? You suddenly ask for me to meet you, and yet, I still know nothing about you. Do you think I will accept the offer of someone who I know nothing about?"

Caeruleum.

This was what he called himself back at the tournament.

Just who was he?

Regardless of how much Han Yufei tried to find information about him, he had nothing on him. This was a point of concern.

Someone so strong and so young, yet he, and almost everyone else, knew nothing about him? Something was definitely suspicious about him, and Han Yufei wasn't stupid enough to agree to join a total stranger's proposal.

In all fairness, he proposed signing the contract using a mana contract, but that was not nearly enough to convince Han Yufei.

"Ah, right. How rude of me."

Realizing the crux of the problem, Caeruleum smiled and uncrossed his legs.

Leaning forward, he apologized.

"I'm sorry. You see, I'm so used to wearing this by now that I completely forgot about it."

Placing his hand over his face, he slowly pulled away at his face. A subtle smacking sound resounded throughout the room as he pulled his face away.

With his long black hair gently falling by the side of his shoulders, the features of a pale youth with jet black hair and deep blue eyes were revealed.

Extending his hand forward, Caeruleum smiled.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Ren."

"Ren Dover."

***

"Shit."

Kevin cursed as he stared at the hooded figures that had suddenly appeared from out of nowhere.

Encircling them completely, the situation looked grim.

"Stay behind me."

Placing his hand to the side, he instinctively pushed Emma behind him as he took out his sword.

In response to his actions, Emma didn't say anything and merely stared at the hooded figures before her.

"Hmmm."

With her eyes squinted, she swept her gaze over each and everyone one of the figures before her sight finally paused on a certain individual.

A cold chill ran down her spine as her eyes landed on the hooded figures. She felt this indescribable suffocating feeling coming from him that made her almost lose sight of herself.

Fortunately, she was able to quickly snap out of it.

Tugging Kevin's clothes, she pointed in his direction.

"Kevin, he looks like bad news."

But it seemed as though Kevin had already spotted the figure.

With his eyes also locked onto the figure in the distance, Kevin solemnly nodded his head.

"...You're right."

Staring at Kevin from the side, Emma turned her attention back at the hooded figure in the distance, trying to peek through the shadow cast over his face, in hopes of finding his identity.

But regardless of how much she tried to peek, she was unable to identify the individual.

'Bummer.'

She thought as her shoulders slumped down.

"...Who are you?"

The first one to speak was Jin.

With both daggers in his hands, thin threads of dark mana revolved around his daggers, creating a rather imposing sight. However, his radiance did not last for long.

With a simple gaze from the hooded figure, the mana threads revolving around Jin's daggers jumped up wildly and Jin's face paled considerably.

"khhh..."

Taking a step back, Jin spat on the ground. His face grimaced in pain.

Turning his gaze in Kevin's direction, Jin darkly said.

"Haaa...haaaa...shit, he's too strong. At least <S> rank."

Overhearing Jin's comments, the atmosphere instantly froze up.

The strongest person present was Kevin, and he was merely <B> rank. For an <S> rank to suddenly show up, everyone understood just how serious the situation was.

"What is an <S> class doing here?"

Melissa spat. On her right hand was her spear while on her other hand were a multitude of different colored cards.

Squinting her eyes, she calmly analyzed.

"From his body structure, the figure seems to either be a human or an elf."

"Yes."

Besides her, Amanda quietly gazed in the direction of the other enemies, her bow drawn to the fullest.

Step. Step. Step.

Taking a couple of steps forwards, the leading figure, the <S> ranked individual finally paused a couple of steps away from Kevin and the others.

As he was doing so, Kevin's eyes darted all over the place, in hopes of finding a way out of the situation. However, before he could figure anything out, the hooded figure finally spoke.

"... It's useless. You're already trapped. There is no point in trying to escape."

His cold and detached voice traveled through the ears of everyone present.

Firming the grip of his sword, Kevin glared at the hooded figure as he once again asked.

"Who are you?"

But his words were met with silence as the figure refused to answer him. Then, turning his attention towards the other hooded figures, the hooded figure raised his hand.

Just as he was about to gesture for them to attack, someone suddenly spoke up.

"Excuse me, but are you perhaps my uncle?"

The voice belonged to none other than Emma who nonchalantly took a step forward. Not a shred of worry clouded her face. Instantly, all attention was drawn toward her.

Not minding the attention, gazing in the direction of the leading figure, Emma tilted her head.

"Hmmm, judging from your strength, you don't seem to be my uncle. Who exactly are you?"

The calmness and perhaps even playfulness hidden behind her words shocked almost everyone present. 'Just how could she be so calm in such a life-threatening situation?' Everyone thought as they stared at her with open eyes.

The one who was most shocked by this development was of course Kevin who quickly pushed her behind him.

"Emma, what is wrong with you? Now is not the time for this."

"Hm?"

Emma innocently looked at Kevin before turning her attention back toward the hooded figures.

Taking one last sweep of the place, she clicked her tongue.

"...Well, since that coward isn't here anymore, the whole thing lost purpose."

As soon as her words faded, a figure suddenly materialized next to her, startling everyone present apart from the leading hooded figure who remained calm. Or at least that was what he showed on the surface, but the slight fluctuation in the mana around his body did show that he had indeed been slightly startled by the new figure's appearance.

It was clear that he had been unable to detect him.

Recollecting himself, he asked in a threatening tone.

"Who are you?"

A fiercesome wave of mana sprung out from his body, enshrouding the whole surroundings before heading in the direction of where Kevin and the others were.

Woooosh!

However, with a casual wave of his hand, the pressure that was trying to bear down on everyone present quickly dissipated.

It quickly became clear to everyone present that whoever the figure was, he was someone of equivalent strength, if not, even stronger.

A palpitating tension suddenly engulfed the surroundings as the two figures stared at each other.

"...I asked who are you?"

The hooded man repeated. This time, the mana revolving around his body became even thicker.

"..."

Without answering the hooded figure, the man that stood beside Emma placed his hand on his face and took off his skin mask, revealing the features of a young male that looked to be in his mid-twenties.

However, the moment the figure took off his skin-maks and his features were revealed, almost everyone present jumped out in shock.

There was a simple reason for this.

...and that was because everyone knew who the figure was.

He was none other than Oliver Roshfield. Emma's dad.

Chapter 412: Incident [4]

A week ago, during the conference inauguration.

"D…dad."

Staring at the familiar figure standing before her, Emma had many words that she wanted to say.

'Where have you been? How are you doing? Where were you? Why did you leave without telling me?'

For each and every question she had in mind, she was dying to know the answer.

In fact, she felt a little bit of resentment as she thought about all the time that she had spent by herself, without him.

But the moment she gazed into her father's eyes, all the resentment disappeared in a flash.

"Dad!"

Before she knew it, her legs moved on her own and she ran up to her dad. Extending her hands, she hugged him tightly.

Tears streamed down the side of her face as she felt the familiar warmth that she had not felt for a very long time.

She really missed it.

"Emma."

The hug did not last for long however as she was pushed away by her father.

Raising her head and facing her father, she realized that his mood was off.

"...what's wrong?"

She asked. Worried that she might have done something wrong. Fortunately, his next words dispelled all of her worries.

"I'm sorry Emma…I've heard everything about what happened to you and about what Jasper did to you…"

Pausing, Oliver bit his lips hard. Trying to keep himself composed.

Taking a deep breath he stared Emma right in the eyes.

"Emma, I don't have much time so listen carefully."

As he spoke, his voice contained an unprecedented amount of solemness, causing Emma to quickly regain her composure as she nodded her head.

"The reason why I haven't been able to see you as soon as I came here was because I was paying close attention to Jasper."

"Uncle?"

"Yes."

Oliver nodded his head.

"As you already know, Jasper hates my guts. This was something that had carried on ever since we were young as he would always try to make trouble for me."

Emma nodded her head at his words.

She already knew about the relationship between the two.

The hatred that Jasper had for her father was something that almost everyone in the household knew.

Lowering his head, Oliver stared at his watch.

"Anyways, back on topic. In short, I've been spending my time closely watching Jasper, and I know for a fact that he's trying to pull something on you. You probably felt it too, right?"

"Yes."

Emma nodded her head.

Ever since arriving in Issanor, she felt that her uncle was planning something. She just couldn't understand what he was planning.

Staring at his daughter, Oliver continued.

"....After trying to find out what he was planning and looking deeply into him, I found something out. He is currently working together with the head of the Parker family, Micheal Parker."

Oliver's teeth gnashed together as he said those words.

The Parker family had a terrible relationship with the Roshfield family. In fact, you could say that they hated each other's guts.

For Jasper to ally himself with them, Oliver knew that the future of the family was in Jeopardy.

Jasper was essentially allying himself with a family of snakes. As soon as Jasper let his guard down, the whole of the Roshfield family might get swallowed up by them.

"...After finding out that they have allied themselves with the Parker family, and after investigating the matter even more thoroughly, I realized that they were going to make a soon. Most likely in the middle of the conference, depending on the results."

A chill spread throughout the room as Oliver spat the last few words. Unprecedented anger rose from deep within his body as he thought about what his daughter was going through.

Lowering and gazing in Emma's direction, Oliver raised his hand and caressed her on the head.

He could see from her eyes that she was worried.

"Don't worry. Now that I'm here, I won't let anything happen to you. I've already talked to Ren regarding the matter, and we've come up with a plan."

"Ren?"

Surprise flashed across Emma's face as she heard his last words.

"You know Ren?"

"Oh, right."

Oliver's face scrunched up a little.

He realized that he had messed up a little. Staring at his daughter who was looking back at him with questioning eyes, he sighed.

"Well, yes, I know him...in fact, I've spent over a year with him."

"Over a year?"

"Yeah. Back in Henlour, the capital city of the dwarven domain."

"...Oh."

Emma nodded her head. She already knew from Kevin that her father had been in the dwarven domain, however, what she didn't know was the fact that Ren was also there with him.

Gazing at his watch one more time, Oliver continued. Trying his best to shift the topic away from Ren.

Knowing Ren quite well, he didn't want him anywhere near her.

She might get corrupted by him.

"Enough about Ren. You've already seen him, he's doing...well, he's okay, just a little bit sick in the head. He should get better soon."

Oliver glanced at his watch one more time. Urgency filled his face.

"I can't hold you for any longer or Jasper will become suspicious. I will soon contact you when I find out more about the situation and tell you what you should do."

"Okay."

Emma nodded her head, signaling to him that she understood. Oliver smiled in response. Leaning forward, he gently kissed her on the forehead.

With a smile on his face, he muttered.

"Let's catch up once things are done."

Before Emma could say anything else, Oliver had already disappeared from her sight.

With her eyes lingering on the area where he used to stand, Emma, sighed before turning around and leaving. As she left, her face relaxed.

With her father now back, it felt as though the boulder that had been heavily pressing on her had disappeared.

***

Towering trees stood within the gloomy forest while moist dirt carpeted the ground. A dangerous atmosphere enshrouded the surroundings as two groups stared at each other.

Of the two groups, two figures stood out the most. With their powerful auras completely overwhelming the auras of the other people present, one hooded figure and a youthful figure glared in each other's direction.

"Oliver Roshfield..."

The hooded figure muttered. His cold and detached voice filled with killing intent.

Raising his head and staring at him, Oliver nonchalantly said.

"There is no point in hiding your face, Micheal. I know it's you."

"..."

Placing both of his hands on his hood and pulling it down, a blonde male with blue eyes appeared in front of everyone's view. His features resembled that of Fabian, his son, and someone that almost everyone present knew.

"...How did you know?"

He asked as his deep voice lingered in the air for a few seconds. In response to his question, Oliver smiled.

"Are you asking how I knew that you were planning on coming?"

"..."

Micheal remained silent, but Oliver took it as a silent nod of approval and continued.

"You guys were too careless."

Oliver shook his head. Traces of disappointment flashed across his eyes. Standing next to Emma, Oliver patted her on the back.

"She was the one that noticed that something was wrong and called me. The only reason why she's here is because I told her to lead you guys here."

Indeed. Emma was not stupid to the point of actually following the advice of a stranger. She had only pretended to be lost before.

Micheal also seemed to have realized this as a deathly and icy silence enveloped the surroundings.

Staring at Oliver standing opposite of him, the air around Micheal chilled as the mana around him froze completely.

Raising his hand, he clenched it.

SHIIING—! SHIIING—! SHIIING—!

Following his movement, the ground beneath everyone shook uncontrollably and a tremendous force suddenly assaulted Oliver from all sides.

Micheal's attack was like a signal. A signal that signified the beginning of the battle.

With their weapons ready, and their eyes locked onto the coming hooded figures, everyone got into battle positions.

***

[Han Yufei's residence.]

"...Y-you?"

With an astonished look on his face, Han Yufei stood up in shock and pointed his finger in my direction.

"Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

"I am, yes..."

Halfway through my words, frowning, I looked at him.

"You recognize me?"

It would be a lie if I said that I wasn't surprised.

It had to be said that I had not once interacted with Han Yufei back in the Lock. For him to instantly recognize me, I was quite surprised.

With his eyes locked onto me, Han Yufei nodded his head.

"Yes...I recognize you. Died in the first year of Lock, and inheritor of the Keiki style."

'Ah, right, there is that.'

I had almost forgotten the fact that I had revealed the Keiki style to the public. No wonder he managed to recognize me so quickly.

"Well, since you recognize me, it makes things easier."

Leaning back on my chair, I went through the details of the contract once again.

"I don't want to make things any longer than they should be. The offer is, I will give you a five-star sword manual...no, it's not the Keiki style."

Seeing his hope-filled eyes, I quickly shut him down.

I wasn't going to give the Keiki style to anyone else. That was my sword art, and mine alone. The more people knew about it, the more glaring its weakness would become.

"I know the circumstances in your clan are not good, and I also know that if I give you the sword art, your clan will experience a massive boost in strength...perhaps even surpass the four other clans."

Han Yufei swallowed a mouthful of saliva at my words. Even though I noticed this, I decided to not point it out and continued.

"Regarding the five-year contract, well, it's kind of obvious that the values of the two things arent exactly equivalent. If I give you the manual, in exchange for that, I would be coming up with a loss...and I don't like losing."

In fact, I loathed the idea of even losing. Perhaps in the past, I could stomach a loss or two, but now...I couldn't stand the idea of losing.

This was why I was planning on going all out in this tournament despite the fact that I was nowhere near the strongest individual.

Lifting my head and staring at Han Yufei whose face was filled with doubt, I continued.

"I know that you are apprehensive about the idea of joining me for five years, but I never said that you have to join immediately. In fact, you don't have to join if you really don't want to."

Han Yufei had so much potential. Perhaps even more than some of the people in my group. It would really be a bummer to let him go, but I also knew best that I couldn't have anyone join my group against their will.

Take Angelica for example. Although she was part of my group and she was under a five-year contract, she was doing so willingly.

Keeping someone who didn't want to be in the group was just not ideal when trying to form a synergy between the members.

In fact, it might even prove detrimental.

"You can first meet the others before deciding on whether to join or not. If you are really against the idea, we can change the deal to something else, but that would be such a waste."

Staring at Han Yufei straight in the eyes, I asked.

"So? ...What do you think?"

"Hmm."

With a deep frown on his face, Han Yufei didn't speak a single word for the next minute or so.

Secretly, I was relieved when I saw this.

Since he didn't reject me immediately, it meant that the offer had tempted him somewhat.

Recalling something, I added.

"Ah, right. I almost forgot to say this."

"Keep in mind that if you join my group, I'm not going to stop you from doing anything clan-related. Everyone is free to do anything. Of course, that is on the premise that you guys listen to what I say when the matter counts."

Once my words faded, standing up, Han Yufei looked straight into me and extended his hand.

"I won't accept the offer yet. I want to first understand what kind of person you are. Is that okay with you?"

My brows jumped at his words, but soon a smile emerged on my face.

"I have no problem with that. "

Standing up, I shook his hand.

Just like that, I was one step closer to recruiting my newest member. Han Yufei.

Chapter 413: Incident [5]

"Huaaam."

Letting out a yawn, I walked away from Han Yufei's apartment.

'I won't accept the offer yet. I want to first understand what kind of person you are. Is that okay with you?'

That was what he said to me. In short, he had neither accepted nor rejected my offer but has instead delayed the answer.

To be honest, that worked well for me as well.

It would take me a while to collect the Gravar style anyways.

I wasn't in a rush.

Lowering my head and staring at my watch, alarm flashed across my eyes.

"Oh crap, I should probably join the others before they get too pissed."

Before I knew it, I had spent almost half an hour talking with Han Yufei.

'If I'm not wrong, Waylan told me before that today was the day that he was going to take care of his family problems.'

This was something that he had been planning ever since coming here. The reason why I knew this was happening was because I helped him out here and there when coming up with the plan.

It took a while for me to convince him that Jasper would definitely exploit Emma's naivety to lure her somewhere unknown, thank god he listened to me.

As I was walking, I suddenly had a thought. 'Right about now, the fight should've already started. If they found out that I knew that this was going to happen and that I deliberately didn't go because I had other stuff to do...'

A cold shiver ran down my spine.

"Yeah, I need to go."

Lowering my head and staring at the map of the place, I quickly picked up the pace.

***

Booom—!

A powerful energy blast resounded in the air as Micheal attacked Waylan. In order to prevent any 'friendly fire,' the two of them distanced themselves from the others.

Not minding the explosion, Kevin's crouched body was stretched taut while his eyes fixed themselves on one of the hooded figures standing opposite him.

The rank of the individual was <A->, a rank quite a bit higher than his. Next to him were two other individuals, each about <B> rank.

A heavy solemness descended on the field, as the two groups stared off. Judging from the body structure of the hooded figures, Kevin realized that they were all most likely males.

Turning his head slightly, Kevin looked at Emma.

"Emma, since your father said that he already knew they were coming, how come he didn't take into account that the enemy before us is stronger than us?"

The other <B> ranks, fine. However, the <A-> ranked individual was not someone that Kevin could beat without suffering heavy injuries. Of course, he wasn't entirely worried about him, but the fact that they had to deal with one <A-> rank and two <B> ranks baffled him.

Did he have that much trust in their strength?"

"Ehm."

Listening to Kevin's words, Emma frowned before softly muttering. 'He said that he had already calculated everything perfectly, I didn't know he would make such a mistake too.'

Her voice was soft, but everyone heard it. Instantly, the atmosphere became grimmer.

Bang—!

Startling everyone out of their thoughts was a loud bang as the <A-> ranked individual finally made its move. Following after the hooded figure was the other two figures.

Sch! Sch! Sch!

Melissa was the first one to react as she threw three pale blue magic cards in the air.

Three large ice barriers erected in front of everyone.

Crash—!

But the barriers were unfortunately too weak. As though they was made out of glass, the ice barriers shattered apart.

Fortunately, the purpose behind erecting the barriers was to create enough time for everyone to distance themselves.

Taking out his sword, Kevin clenched its grip tightly. Glimpsing towards where the others were, Kevin commanded.

"Emma, Amanda, and Melissa, you three focus on the <B> ranked individuals."

Turning his head, his eyes met Jin's.

"We deal with the <A-> ranked individual."

Knowing everyone's capabilities well, Kevin knew that this was the optimal formation to guarantee victory.

Listening to his commands, everyone nodded their heads. Including Jin who quietly melted into the shadows.

"Good."

Red mana light swirled around Kevin's sword as he viciously slashed in the direction of where the hooded figures were.

Curling his fist into a ball, the <A-> ranked figure punched out, and his fist met with Kevin's sword.

Thump!

With a soft 'thump' Kevin's body was swept backward, only managing to stabilize himself after taking a couple of steps. The difference in strength was made quite clear from the first exchange.

Ignoring the burning pain from his hand, Kevin took a stance and slashed out.

As he slashed, his sword swept at a horizontal angle while all the mana in his body surged out and poured into his sword.

"First movement!"

Kevin cried out as his sword once again met the hooded figure's fist.

Clank!

A dull metallic sound swept out as Kevin's hand flew back. The power behind the attack was evidently not enough to deal any significant damage to the figure before him. However, Kevin wasn't discouraged.

"Second movement."

With another low cry, he slashed out again. This time, the red hue shrouding his sword, became visibly brighter.

Clank!

Yet again, the result was the same. However, there was a slight difference this time as his attack became more powerful and faster. Of course, Kevin did not care in the slightest bit about this as he once again slashed.

"Third movement."

Kevin once again slashed out, and the moment he did, a beautiful white arc drew in the air.

The arc was so beautiful that it looked as though he was drawing in the air. The red glow enshrouding his sword became even brighter.

Clank!

Sadly, the attack once again seemed to be useless as the hooded figure effortlessly blocked the attack.

Following the block, a powerful wave of mana suddenly sprang out from his body as he stared in Kevin's direction. It became clear that the hooded figure had realized that there was something wrong with Kevin's attacks.

Pressing his foot on the ground, just as the hooded figure was about to attack Kevin, he suddenly felt something and ducked down.

Sch!

Materializing above his head was a sharp dagger that cut through the air horizontally. The speed behind the dagger was no joke as Kevin had difficulty following its movement.

Thud.

Landing on the ground with a soft 'thud', Jin coldly looked at the hooded figure before him.

Extreme solemness clouded his face.

Raising his head and staring at Kevin, Jin mouthed.

'I'll buy you time.'

Following his words, his figure quickly melted into the darkness.

Gazing in the direction of where Jin disappeared, Kevin took a deep breath before he once again raised his sword.

"The fourth movement."

An even more powerful pressure escaped from the tip of his sword as he slashed down.

Having already recollected himself, the hooded figure seemed to be extremely pissed as his aura skyrocketed.

A pressurized wind gale shot out from his body causing the nearby grass to bend down at a forty-five-degree angle.

Pressing his foot onto the ground, his body suddenly appeared before Kevin. His movement was so fast that Kevin was unable to react. Curling his fist tightly, the hooded figure punched out.

Staring at the incoming fist, Kevin remained calm. Rather, there was no once of anxiety in his body.

Sch!

Right before the fist was about to connect with Kevin's face, Jin once again materialized beside the hooded figure. With a lightning-fast movement, his dagger aimed for the back of the neck of the hooded figure.

Sensing the ambush, the hooded figure's fist came to a halt. Twisting his foot, he bent his torso and kicked out. The kick was not a simple kick. With strands of mana revolving around it, the kick blasted through the air as it ruthlessly smashed in Jin's direction.

Still in the air, it was almost impossible for Jin to block such an attack. However, he, just like Kevin was not worried

SHIIIIING—!

Coming to his aid, Kevin quickly slashed down as a tremendous force bore down on the hooded figure.

Sensing the sudden attack, the hooded figure's kick slowed down a notch as he raised his hand to block Kevin's attack. This distraction proved to be crucial as Jin took advantage of this distraction to once again melt into the shadows.

'It's working.'

A smile crept up on Kevin's face as he looked at Jin's disappearing figure.

Despite their differences, Kevin and Jin worked extremely well together. Having been training together for two years, their teamwork was seamless as understood each other's fighting styles perfectly.

It was because of their perfect coordination that they were able to evenly fight against an <A-> ranked individual. Of course, this only worked when the both of them were going all out.

In the fight against Ren not too long ago, they did try to replicate this method, however, it was to no avail as Ren's style completely countered Jin's fast style, resulting in their cooperation crumbling apart before it could even start.

Catching glimpse of Jin's disappearing figure, the hooded figure finally spoke up. His voice was eerily dark and filled with rage.

"I'll kill you!"

Once again curling his fingers into a fist, the hooded figure punched out as a sonic boom rang out.

Bang—!

"Fifth movement."

But a similar scene occurred. Just when the fist was about to connect, Jin would appear and the two of them would create an opening for each other.

Jin would also sometimes fake out his attacks, sending the hooded figure into confusion.

"Sixth movement."

"..."

"Eight movement."

"..."

"Twelfth movement."

"..."

"Twenty-ninth movement."

With each and every one of Kevin's strikes, his figure became more and more mesmerizing as the speed of his attacks and power drastically increased.

It wasn't long before he reached the twenty-ninth movement, and he was now on equal terms with the hooded figure in terms of speed and power much to his horror.

Clank—!

Once again meeting Kevin's sword with his fist, to its absolute shock, the hooded figure was suddenly pushed back one step.

"Jin!"

This did not go unnoticed by Kevin who quickly shouted Jin's name and raised his sword in the air.

Heavy sweat trickled down his face as a powerful glow revolved around his sword.

Sensing the danger, the hooded figure reciprocated by releasing all of his energy outwards. However, just before it could make its move, Jin showed up from out of nowhere.

Spotting Jin, a sinister smile crept up underneath the hood of the figure as he shouted.

"Got you!"

He was ready this time.

Having been subjected to Jin's constant attacks, he had already managed to somewhat decipher Jin's attack patterns. Therefore, he quickly punched out towards his right side.

Following the punch, his fist connected with something solid.

Bang—!

"Yes!"

Feeling that his fist connected with something solid, the hooded figure cried out in joy.

"Huh?!"

However, the joy did not last for long. As he watched his fists penetrate Jin's figure, he suddenly realized that there was no blood coming out from him.

Something was wrong!

Sadly, the realization came too late as he felt a powerful energy coming from Kevin's direction.

Turning his head, his face became clouded with horror as he watched the surrounding mana surge over and pour into Kevin's body. His clothes flapped wildly as a red mana light flowed out from his body, covering the entire sword from top to bottom.

Lowering his head and staring at the hooded figure, Kevin muttered.

"Thirtieth movement."

Taking a step forward, Kevin slashed out and the ground beneath him shook violently.

The moment he slashed out, the air in front of his sword ripped apart as an overwhelming force spurted out.

"Impossible!"

The hooded cried out in astonishment as he stared at the incoming attack. How could someone only ranked <B> rank pull such a move? Kevin's attack was not any weaker than that of an <A> ranked figure!

Bang—!

The hooded figure wanted to react, however, before he knew it, his body was sent flying backward like a cannonball as he spat mouthfuls of fresh blood and a terrifying scar traced from the side of his body.

"Khh..."

Lifting his head and ignoring his injuries, he crawled up, in hopes of running away. However, before he could even move, a subtle clicking sound rang out and his body froze.

Click—!

The last thing the hooded figure saw before losing his consciousness was a black-haired youth with two deep blue eyes.

With his hands on his knees, he briefly glanced in his direction before muttering.

"Haa...haa...I'm not too late, right?"

Chapter 414: lncident [6]

Having run all the way here, I was at a loss for breath. Therefore, with both of my hands on my knees, I tried to catch my breath.

Thud—

With a soft thud, a body fell next to my feet. Lifting my head, my eyes met with Jin's and Kevin's.

"Haa…haa…I'm not too late am I?"

"..."

I was met with no repose.

Kinda rude if I had to say.

"...So you guys okay or not?"

I asked again. This time, Kevin finally moved. Slowly walking towards the corpse next to my feet, Kevin bent down and placed his fingers on his neck. He checked his pulse.

"He's dead."

He muttered. Raising his head and staring in my direction, he hatefully spat.

"Good job coming here right when the job was already over."

"...What?"

My head tilted back. I was a bit confused by his sudden burst of anger.

However, before I could say anything else, Jin walked up next to Kevin and also looked at the body of the man I had taken down.

"Thank you for taking credit for someone else's work."

"...Huh?"

What were the two of them on about?

Shaking his head, Kevin stood up.

"Whatever, it's not really your fault. You probably had no idea what was going on."

"...Yeah, that."

With a stoic face, I replied with a soft nod.

"I had just finished my business and was coming to meet you guys up, however, just when I was about to arrive, I ran into the barrier. Was very shocked to find you guys in this situation."

Have to admit. At this point, I was very good at bullshitting.

"Right."

Turning his head, Kevin stared in the direction of where the others were.

Bang—!

Right on cue, a body came crashing down against one of the trees.

Xiu!

What followed after was a swift and ferocious light that quickly impaled itself onto the figure as blood sprayed everywhere.

Without needing to look, everyone could tell that he was dead.

Standing a couple of hundred meters away from the figure was Amanda who stood with her feet planted on the ground and her bow slacked on her hands.

Next to her was Emma who had both of her shortswords drawn.

Bang—!

With another bang, the last remaining hooded figure came crashing down on the ground. The ones responsible for this were Arnold and Troy who, with the aid of Melissa, were able to swiftly take care of him.

Staring in the direction of where the hooded figures lay, just when I was about to check their identities out, Kevin grabbed me by the shoulder and pointed his finger at his face.

"...Ren, your face."

"Ah, right."

It was then that I realized that I wasn't wearing a mask. In order to save as much mana as possible, I ran without a mask.

"Let me put it back on."

Taking out my mask, before the others figured out my identity, I put the mask on my face and my face quickly morphed.

Feeling my facial structure change, I clapped my hands in satisfaction.

"Better."

"...Where have you been?"

It was then that I heard Emma's voice come from the distance. Walking up to me, she glanced at Kevin to make sure he was fine before turning her attention back to me.

"You missed quite a lot."

"...I sure did."

Boooom—!

Not even as my words faded, a terrifying explosion spread out in the air. Raising my head I could see two figures fighting in the air. The intense mana fluctuations coming from their fight sent shivers down my spine.

As I was watching, I heard a faint sound coming from my right side.

"...Dad."

Glancing towards Emma, I reassured her.

"He's going to be fine."

"...What do you mean?"

"Don't worry about it. Your father is a lot stronger than you think."

'At least stronger than Micheal Parker.'

Not only was Waylan well into the <S+> rank range, but his strength had also seen a massive boost after the events of Henlour.

With Douglas using the 'conference' as his reward, Waylan was able to choose his own reward. With it, he was able to boost his strength massively. Someone like Micheal should be no match for him.

"Wh—"

Booom—!

And I was quickly proven right.

Before Emma could say anything else, a sonic boom resounded in the air. Following the boom, like a broken kite, a figure quickly crashed against the ground, creating a massive crater.

Dust flew everywhere, covering everyone's sight.

"Khhh..."

Though faint, I could hear a weak groan coming from the middle of the crater. As time passed the dust settled down, and a miserable figure appeared laying down in the middle of the crater. The figure was none other than Micheal Parker.

With his head raised and staring into the air, Micheal glared upwards, where a figure appeared to be levitating in the air.

"Dad!"

Emma cried out in joy as she spotted her father in the air.

Slowly levitating down from the ground, Waylan smiled at Emma before turning his attention back towards Micheal.

"What should I do with you?"

"You—khhh!"

Staring at Waylan above him, Micheal opened his mouth. But before he could say anything, with a flick of his fingers, a small light flashed, and Micheal's head recoiled backward, knocking him out completely.

Staring at the passed-out Micheal, Waylan's brows knit tightly. Then, turning his head, his eyes met with mine.

The moment our eyes met, I instantly shook my head as I mouthed. 'Don't look at me, and don't talk to me. We don't know each other.'

But it looked as though Waylan was unable to comprehend what I was trying to say as he asked.

"What do you think I should do?"

The moment his words faded, everyone turned their attention toward me.

My face froze up.

Lifting my head to look at the moon, I feigned ignorance.

"...Ehm, I don't know what you may be talking about. I just came here."

"You just came here?"

Waylan's face turned strange.

"Weren't you the one who told me to bait them?"

An intense chill ran down my body as I felt everyone's eyes direct themselves onto me.

'....Well, shit.'

The first to move was Kevin who tilted his head to the side to get a better look at my face.

"...Excuse me for a second, but are you saying that he knew about this all along?"

Confused, Waylan nodded his head.

"Yeah. He was the one who suggested luring them using their own trap and getting rid of them at once."

"...Is that so?"

An all-knowing look appeared on Kevin's face as a smile appeared on his face. It appeared as though he wasn't the only one who understood what was going on as apart from Troy and Arnold, the eyes of everyone present frosted all over.

Curling my fingers into a fist and bringing it to my face, I lightly coughed.

"Keum...well, let's not dwell on the technicalities."

I then turned my attention back towards Micheal.

"Let's settle the matter on how we should deal with him."

Obviously, Kevin was able to see through what I was trying to pull as he said.

"...This is not over, Ren."

"Yeah, yeah."

Ignoring Kevin and squatting down, I stared at Micheal.

Thinking for a little bit, I sighed.

Turning my attention toward Arnold and Troy, my brows furrowed tightly.

'Should I...or should I not?'

After a while, I shook my head. 'No, it's not worth it.' Standing up once again, I walked up to them, much to their confusion.

"What's going on?"

"Is there something wrong?"

"There is nothing wrong."

Putting on the friendliest of smiles, I placed my hand on their heads and smashed them together as hard as possible.

Bang—!

With a loud bang, the heads of both Arnold and Troy smashed against each other as the both of them instantly fell to the ground, passing out.

"Ren!"

"What are you doing?!"

Everyone instantly became startled by my actions. Especially Jin who glared in my direction.

Innocently raising my hands in the air, I calmly said.

"Sorry, I had to do it."

Putting my hand on my face, I quickly pulled out my mask and pointed at it.

"As you guys can see, I don't trust them enough to have them know of my identity quite just yet."

At my words, everyone instantly understood why I did what I did.

"...Did you really have to be that harsh?"

Kevin softly muttered from the side. Glancing at him, I repeatedly nodded my head.

"Yes, yes I did."

Although I had already taken revenge against Arnold long ago, that didn't mean that I still wasn't pissed about what he did to me back then.

My pettiness was on a whole different level.

Well, that and the fact that I did not trust Troy at all. Back in the novel, he was supposed to turn on Jin and become a villain.

The fact that he wasn't one, went to show that he had changed, but that didn't mean that I trusted him. This was out of precaution.

Once again ignoring Kevin, I proceeded to head towards Micheal.

Bending down, I extended my hand and placed it on top of his face. A blue glow suddenly enshrouded the surroundings.

"...and done."

I then tossed the mask to Waylan who quickly caught it with both hands.

"Use that."

"Thanks."

Lowering his head and staring at Micheal, Waylan asked.

"What should we do about him?"

"...Since he's someone of importance, we should hand him over to—"

As Kevin was speaking, I extended my hand towards Micheal's neck and clenched it tightly.

Crack—!

The sound of bones breaking resounded throughout the forest as everyone's faces froze. Especially Kevin who had trouble processing what had happened.

Not minding their reactions, I stood up and carefully looked at Micheal who was now dead.

'So this is how it feels to kill an <S> ranked individual...it feels like killing any regular other person.'

Not that I had expected it to be different.

"...Y-you."

Snapping me out of my thoughts was Kevin's shocked face as his head repeatedly looked towards me and the corpse.

'Ah, right. I forgot how he was.'

Walking up to Kevin, I patted him on the shoulder.

"Kevin, do you remember the time when we were in Holloberg and a bunch of assassins suddenly attacked us?"

My question was so random and abrupt that Kevin subconsciously nodded his head.

"...Yes."

Lowering my head and glancing at Micheal, I softly said.

"He's the one that ordered the attack."

My voice was soft, however, everyone around me managed to hear what I said and their eyes opened wide.

A heavy silence descended on the forest.

"...Is...is that true?"

Breaking the silence was Kevin who stared in Micheal's direction. His previous concern was completely gone.

"Yeah, it's true. I wouldn't lie about something like this."

"I see..."

Kevin took a deep breath. Staring at him, my brows furrowed tightly.

"Kevin, you're too soft."

"...What?"

Glancing in Micheal's direction, I snapped my fingers. The moment I snapped my fingers, a tremendous flame rose, completely enshrouding Micheal's body, startling everyone apart from Waylan.

Seeing their reactions, I shook my head.

"Not just you Kevin, but everyone here. You guys are too fucking soft."

My words instantly attracted the attention of everyone present. Not minding it, I continued.

"...I can't believe you guys even thought about sparing him."

This baffled me.

Not too long ago, this guy right there was trying to kill everyone present. The fact that they were shocked by my actions showed me that they needed to change their mentalities. Well, everyone apart from Melissa.

She was the only one that didn't show any particular reaction.

In hindsight, she was someone who wanted nothing more than watch the whole world burn before her eyes, so it was understandable.

Anyhow, they needed to learn to always kill their enemy. Especially Kevin.

I knew his principles very well. He didn't like killing an opponent when he was already down, but, this kind of mentality was not something he could afford to do anymore.

He was no longer at the Lock.

He needed to change.

"What are you ta—"

"Shut up and listen to me."

I stared right into Kevin's eyes before turning to look at the others.

"You guys too."

Extending my hand and pointing it towards Micheal's burning body, I continued.

"Even if he was already incapacitated, letting someone who tried to harm you go, is just not worth it unless you're planning on doing something with them later. Trust me, from my experience, these kinds of people will just come back to you in a more annoying manner."

I had learned this fact the hard way.

Just thinking of Everblood and Matthew caused rage to rise from within me. Had I killed them before, I wouldn't have had as many problems as I did in the past.

Well, I could've done nothing about Everblood since I had only seen him back at the dungeon, but regarding Matthew, I could've killed him long before.

Fortunately, I did end up killing him, or things would've gotten more complicated.

"Alright, I think I've said enough."

Taking out a hairband, I tied my hair back before turning around and rubbing my stomach.

"I'm hungry, let's go."

Before anyone could say anything else, I headed out of the area. Of course, as I headed out, I put on a skin mask.

Chapter 415: Battles [1]

'Was I too harsh?'

I thought while my feet came to a sudden stop and I looked behind me where the others were.

Thinking back at the words I said to Kevin and the others, I thought that perhaps I may have been a little bit too harsh on them...but, thinking back at their behavior after my actions, I didn't regret what I said one bit.

If what I said helped them become aware of their mentality then so be it.

They could think whatever they wanted about me.

At the end of the day, what mattered was that they became strong. Strong enough to defeat the demon king.

Taking a deep breath, I leaned my body against the three and waited for the others to come.

Fortunately, I didn't have to wait for long as Amanda was the first one to come.

Walking underneath the moonlight, Amanda held her bow with her right hand. Her fine black hair draped over her shoulders, while the moonlight shone behind her, enhancing her delicate features.

The beautiful scene was akin to a painting.

Smiling at her, I opened my mouth and asked.

"...You guys done sorting your stuff out?"

"Mhm."

With a simple nod, she greeted me. But right as she nodded, her head tilted a little as her delicate brows knit together.

Noticing the change in her expression, I asked.

"What is it?"

"...your face."

She bluntly said.

My brow raised at her unexpected answer.

'Is there something wrong with my face?'

Touching my face with both hands, I found nothing wrong with it. Staring at me from a few steps away, Amanda sighed as she took a step forward.

Before I knew it she was a few inches away from me. Raising her hands she put her hands on my face, squishing my cheeks softly.

"Whwat are yowu doiwng!?"

I instantly became startled by her actions. But before I could say anything else, Amanda placed her finger on her lips.

"Shush."

'What do you mean shush?!'

I internally mouthed as Amanda's face was a few inches away from mine. Unknowingly my heart sped up a little.

Compared to the past, Amanda had only gotten more beautiful, and now that she was almost an adult, her features had become even more stunning. It took my breath away.

'Fuck, what's going on?'

Staring at her face which was extremely close to me, for the first time in a while, I was at a loss for words about what to do as my eyes darted left and right, in hopes of finding something to help me out of my predicament.

But it appeared as though I was the only one who felt this way as Amanda's expression remained unperturbed.

"Done."

It wasn't long before Amanda took her hand away from my face, and I could finally relax.

Quickly recomposing myself, I touched my face.

"...Done?"

Done with what?

I was so confused that I did not notice what she was trying to do.

"Mhm."

Amanda nodded.

Noticing my confusion, she pointed toward her face.

"You didn't put your skin mask well."

"Ah."

Realization finally dawned on me.

'So it was about my mask.'

Was it because I was in a rush? I wasn't sure, but it appeared as though I had somehow not placed my mask properly.

Still, my brows knit as I looked at Amanda.

"...You know, instead of doing it, you could've just told me and I would've been able to fix it myself."

A thought suddenly struck me as my brows knit.

Was she teasing me?...No, Amanda wasn't the type of girl to do this..actually, I really wasn't sure anymore.

"Is that so?"

Amanda innocently tilted her head.

From the way she was looking at me, it didn't seem as though she did what she did on purpose.

My eyes squinted in doubt.

'...did she really unknowingly do that...or is she teasing me?'

I really couldn't tell.

After staring at her for the next second, I decided to let it go and looked towards the distance where I could see the faint outlines of the others coming in our direction.

'...Just to be sure.'

Tilting my head slightly, I tried to peek in Amanda's direction.

"Aha!"

It was then that from the corner of my eyes, I saw the corner of Amanda's mouth lift up slightly. My head instantly snapped in her direction, unfortunately, Amanda was quick to react as her face quickly returned to its serious self.

"I saw that."

"Saw what?"

"Tsk."

Seeing that she had returned to her usual poker face, I clicked my tongue. She had definitely done that on purpose.

Talking about her poker face, I had a sudden thought as I looked at Amanda.

"Say, now that I think about it, have you ever played poker?"

Slightly taken aback by my question, Amanda didn't answer immediately. It was clear that she was trying to see if I was trying to retaliate against her or not.

It was only after a couple of seconds had passed that she finally answered. As she answered, her voice was filled with vigilance.

"...yes, with Emma."

"What was the result?"

"She called me a menace to the poker community."

"...That far?"

"Mhm."

"Pftt..."

A laugh escaped from my lips as a scenario of Emma throwing a tantrum at Amanda flashed in my mind.

Guess I found myself a new way to earn money.

Glancing at me from the side of her eyes, Amanda's red lips opened up slightly as she asked.

"Why did you ask?"

"Just curious."

I replied with a simple smile.

Her eyes squinted in doubt, but in the end, she didn't say anything.

"So that's where you guys were."

It wasn't long before I heard Kevin's voice coming from the distance.

"Took you long enough."

"What do you mean? You do know that there were three more bodies to dispose of, right?"

"Yeah, sure."

I replied with a lazy look.

Judging from how he was still okay despite the words that I said to him, it looked as though he took the words I said to heart. Or at least, took them into consideration.

I smiled at this.

The stronger Kevin became, the brighter my future was.

***

Inside of a private residence.

"Has he completed the mission or not?"

Pacing around the room, Jasper tried to remain composed. However, the mere thought of the mission failing caused him endless amounts of anxiety.

If there was a chance to get rid of Emma, it was now. There was no better time. If they failed the mission, he would never truly be the main leader of the Roshfield house as there were still some who were loyal to Oliver.

With his current influence, he could have easily kicked them out of the house, however, that would drastically lower the forces of the family and so he couldn't afford to do that.

The only way he could fully control the house was through Emma's death.

"Damned him."

Jasper gnashed his teeth in hatred. Just the mere thought of Oliver angered him to no end.

Despite the fact that he had disappeared to who knows where he still created troubles for him everywhere.

Veins popped out from his forehead as he thought about the troubles that Oliver's influence still caused him to this day.

Placing the palm of his hand on his desk, Jasper glanced at the door and muttered.

"What is taking him so long?"

Getting rid of a bunch of children should take no time for an <S> rank like him. Not even a minute. What could've taken him so long?

Fortunately, Jasper did not have to way for long as someone quickly knocked on the door.

Knock—! Knock—!

Jasper's eyes lit up with glee at the sound.

Recomposing himself and straightening out his clothes, he sat down on his chair and opened his mouth. A cold and authoritative voice traveled in the air.

"Come in."

Ci Clank—!

Once his words faded, opening the door, a familiar figure walked in.

Brightly smiling, Jasper stood up and extended his hands in a hugging motion.

"Micheal, I'm glad you're finally here."

Giving Jasper a casual glance, Micheal returned the greeting with a simple nod and did not say a single word.

Not minding Micheal's attitude, Jasper pointed towards the seat opposite him.

"Have a seat, have a sit. You must be tired from the mission."

Pulling the chair back, Micheal sat down and crossed his legs. Once Micheal sat down, Jasper did the same.

"So, is the matter complete?"

A trace of anticipation and impatientness hid in Jasper's voice as he looked at Micheal.

Silently staring at him for a couple of seconds, Micheal nodded his head.

"It is."

"Great!"

Unable to contain his excitement at the news, a bright smile emerged on Jasper's face and he soon burst out laughing.

"Ahaha, wonderful, wonderful."

Micheal smiled at Jasper's excitement.

"Are you that happy that Emma died?"

"Of course I am."

Jasper replied. The smile on his face grew even bigger.

"Wither her gone I can now have full control of the house. Those old bastards can't prove that I am the one that got rid of her, and so will be forced to listen to my or—Eh?"

Before he could finish his sentence, Jasper's eyes grew wide open as he watched Micheal slowly place his hand on his face. What happened after caused his complexion to turn ashen white as his body trembled uncontrollably.

"I...impossible."

Smack—!

With a loud smack, a wooden mask appeared on the table as a figure that bore striking resemblances to Emma, his niece, appeared in front of him.

That figure, he knew...of course, he knew, how could he not know? It was the same figure that he tried to surpass throughout his whole life!

"H-how!?"

With a smile on his face and staring deeply into Jasper's eyes, Oliver replied.

"Jasper, it has been a while, hasn't it?"

***

In a certain room.

Crash—!

Aaron's eyes were bloodshot as he smashed everything in the room. It was a long time before he finally stopped, panting for breath. His face twisting savagely.

Bang—!

Raising his fist, Aaron punched a hole through the wall of his room as he snarled through gnashed teeth.

"Get out of my fucking head!"

His scream was filled with resentment and helplessness.

Ever since that day, Aaron had been unable to sleep. His head itched all the time and 'that face' beating down on him would resurface in his mind over and over again as though someone was haunting him.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck."

Rubbing his hair till it became messy, Aaron's face turned ashen as the back of his head started to itch more and more.

Covering his face with his hands, blood trickled down his forehead as his nail deeply dug onto his skin.

Faint recollections of the pain he felt that day continued to flash in his mind, sending him into an agonizing spiral of pain.

"Arghhh!"

He screamed in agony as his breathing became even heavier.

Clenching his fist tightly, Aaron stumbled towards his table and looked through the list of contenders for the round of 64. Scrolling through the list, his eyes soon paused on a certain profile.

[Caeruleum]

His hands shook uncontrollably.

A subconscious fear rose within him when he saw that profile.

Nothing was known about him apart from the fact that he was a human.

Having made it to the round of 64, Aaron naturally paid close attention to everyone's profile, and when he saw Caeruleum, something within him itched. After observing him more and more, a horrific realization dawned on him.

What if what he experienced was not a fabrication of his dream?

From the way he interacted with Kevin, Jin, and the others, there was a very real possibility that that was 'him'.

The mere thought caused Aaron to have sleepless nights as glaring black circles formed underneath his eyes.

"...No...it can't be...Impossible..."

Raising his hand, Aaron slowly started to bite his nails. Curling himself onto the ground, he continued to bite the nails of his fingers.

'I must kill him...he must die...make his life miserable for making me suffer so much...only after he dies will all the nightmares stop'

A strange voice entered his mind as he continued to bite onto the nails of his fingers.

Slowly ideas started to implant themselves into his mind as Aaron soon started to bite onto the top skin of his fingers.

"You...must...die!"

***

Early morning.

A soft chill blanked the city of Issanor, causing white steam to come out from the mouth of the people present whenever they took a breath.

"Huaaam."

Stretching my body, I let out a large yawn.

After the events of last night, we all headed out for dinner and went back straight to bed right after. Reason being that today we were going to have our next matches.

With these rounds being more important than the previous ones, a new area was selected to hold the tournament.

Arriving at the place, an enormous field sprawled across the place.

Most shockingly, an enormous tree stood in the middle of the field. Raising my head and staring at the tree, I was totally shocked by its size as it was at least as tall as some of the tallest buildings in the human domain.

At the bottom of the tree were thick roots that deeply etched themselves onto the ground. On the other hand, by the side of the tree were eight thick branches that stretched outwardly. Placed at the very edge of them was an enormous platform.

Most likely the platforms where the fights were going to take place.

At this current movement, surrounding the tree was a sea of people. Practically all of the faction leaders as well as citizens of Issanor had gathered here.

Appearing before them were large circular mirror-like spells that displayed the view of the platforms above. They essentially acted like large monitors.

Thunderous noises echoed across the field.

The moment I appeared beneath the tree, I instantly attracted the attention of the many people.

I didn't need to wonder why they were looking at me as a large projection of my face, well, the one of me with the mask, appeared.

Pursing my lips, I shook my head and headed towards the center of the tree.

It was finally time for the real tournament to begin.

Chapter 416: Battles [2]

"Huuuu."

Placing my hands in my pockets, I exhaled as white steam rose from my mouth.

A chilly breeze brushed past me as the cold air made me involuntarily shiver. Had to say, the mornings in Issanor were quite cold.

"You guys here pretty early."

Moving through the crowd, my footsteps soon came to a halt as I gazed into the distance where Hein, Ava, Leopold, Smallsnake, and the others were already waiting.

I smiled at them.

'Looks like everyone is here.'

Well, everyone apart from Angelica.

Kind of felt bad for her but it seemed as though she was happy with this arrangement.

Gazing in Hein's and Ava's direction, I asked.

"Are you two ready?"

"Yes."

"Um."

The both of them firmly nodded their heads. They looked quite confident in themselves.

Especially Ava whose eyes burned with fighting spirit as she tightly held her flute in her right hand.

On the other hand, standing beside her, Hein looked a little bit more anxious as hugged his shield with both arms.

It had to be noted that a white cloth covered the whole of his shield from top to bottom. The intent behind it was clear.

"We will try our best."

Hein said, trying his best to look confident.

"...That's good,"

Pretending to not have seen the cloth covering his shied, I replied with a straight look.

"I really hope you pass..."

Internally, I was a bit worried.

After having checked the contestant's list, I knew that the chances of Hein and Ava passing this round were not as high as the both of them thought. The opponents were nothing to scoff at.

Plus, to make things worse, one guy was a shield user and the other was a beast tamer, not really the best for one on one competitions.

"Haaa..."

At the thought of it, a sigh escaped from my lips as once again vapor rose from my mouth.

Gulp—!

What followed after the sigh was a low gulping sound. Turning around, my eyes met with Leopold's as he stared at the slowly rising water vapor.

My mouth twitched.

'...I don't even know what to say.'

His relapses were starting to become worse and worse.

'Oh, right.'

Right as I was about to say something to him, I suddenly recalled something and turned to look at Ryan who was currently standing next to Smallsnake.

"Ryan has the matter been settled."

"The matter?"

Upon hearing my words, Ryan tilted his head, evidently unsure about what I was trying to say. Seeing his confusion, I elaborated.

"Regarding what I asked you to do back in Henlour and that I told you to keep close attention to..."

"Ah!"

A look of realization suddenly flashed on Ryan's face as he nodded his head.

"Yes, everything is already done. I can turn on the connection whenever you want."

"Perfect."

The edges of my lips curled upwards.

If everything went according to what I had set up, I may be able to finally regain my freedom. Of course, this was only granted on the fact that my plan worked and the people involved acted the way that I wanted them to act.

If not, everything would be for naught.

"Oy!"

Snapping me out of my thoughts, I heard someone calling out for me. Without needing to look in the direction of where the voice came from, I already knew who it belonged to.

It was Kevin.

Following behind him were the others.

Since they were coming from the same dormitory, it was only right that they came together.

Stopping a couple of meters away from me, Kevin looked around the place. Lifting his head and staring toward the platforms on the thick branches of the tree, Kevin opened his mouth in amazement.

"How in the world are we going to get up there?"

"Portals."

I said as I pointed towards the distance where multiple small portals were being set up.

Turning his head, Kevin's eyes squinted into small slits as he tried to get a better look at the portals in the distance.

"Oh, that makes sense."

Then, turning his head to look behind me, his eyes soon paused on Ava.

"Huh? Isn't that Ava?"

Kevin didn't try to hide his shock as his words were quite loud, attracting the attention of everyone present.

"Ava?"

Shock appeared on the faces of everyone present as their eyes paused on Ava.

"Eh? That's Ava?"

"Is that her? She looks different?"

Their shock was understandable, after all, Ava was indeed someone who used to be in our class.

However, there was something that I didn't understand.

Glancing at Kevin, I pointed in Ava's direction.

"Wait, you just noticed? You know she made it to the top 64 of the tournament..."

"Did she?"

"Yeah."

There weren't that many people that made it this far. For him to have not even noticed her was a testament to his unpreparedness.

This just went to show that we operated differently. Unlike him, before every round, I would spend a lot of my time studying the profiles of each and every contestant present.

It was a must.

Kind of baffled by the fact that Kevin still did not do this.

"You've got to be more prepared, Kevin."

Glancing at him, I shook my head in disapproval.

In response to my words, Kevin scratched his head in embarrassment.

'Was Ava's presence that small?'

Perhaps it wasn't even that that he didn't come, but that Ava changed too much compared to her time back at the Lock.

In hindsight, the Ava of back then had little to no presence whatsoever. Compared to her past, the current Ava looked completely different.

I too wouldn't have recognized her if I were in Kevin's position.

"I think it's probably because we just met you again and so we didn't notice her."

Shaking my head at his failed attempt at trying to remedy the situation, I shrugged my shoulders.

"Well, alright, it's not really that important."

Taking a step to the side, I decided to introduce Kevin and the others to my group.

"You guys probably already know her, she's Ava."

"Hey."

Staring at the others, Ava greeted them with a confident smile. Surprise flashed across their eyes as they stared at her.

'Is that really her?'

Was what their faces were saying as they looked at her.

Smiling, I pointed in Hein's direction.

"This guy over here is Hein, he has also made it to the top 64. He's a great meat shie...keum, I mean, he's great at taking blows."

Almost slipped there.

Ignoring Hein who was glaring in my direction, I introduce the others.

"This drunkard over here is Leopold, this little child is Ryan, and...yeah, well, this guy is Smallsnake."

"...Did you seriously have to introduce me in such an unenthusiastic way?"

Smallsnake complained from the side.

I scoffed at him.

"As if—Huh?"

Before I could say anything else, Kevin abruptly walked up to Smallsnake and hugged him tightly.

"...It's okay. I understand your sorrows. I know just how much of an ass he can be."

Smallsnake's mouth trembled as he bit his lips and hugged back.

"You too?"

"...Yeah."

My face froze at the sight.

Alternating my gaze left and right to make sure I wasn't seeing wrongly, I remained speechless for a good minute.

Once Kevin and Smallsnake separated from their hug, the way they looked at each other reminded me of two old comrades finally meeting each other after a long war.

'The hell...'

"So is this some sort of club you created to inflate your ego?"

While I was looking at Smallsnake and Kevin, I suddenly heard a faint voice coming from my right side. Without needing to look I knew that it was Melissa.

I instantly rolled my eyes.

"Yes, yes, wanna know its name?"

"N—"

"Well that's too bad, it's called the Melissa fan club. A club dedicated wholly to worshipping you."

"Dissolve it."

Melissa immediately said as her face cringed and her head rolled back.

"That's kind of rude. That what you say to your fans?"

"Want to die?"

"Already have."

Figuratively and literally.

"Have you two had enough? Stop bickering, the tournament is about to start."

Emma commented from the side as she stood next to Amanda who looked at the both of us weirdly.

After Emma spoke, the noises in the background suddenly became louder as the sound of a gong reverberated throughout the area.

Dong—!

As the gong reverberated across the area, a visible excitement enshrouded the surroundings.

Staring into one of the magical monitors in the distance, the elven lady from before appeared at the center of one of the platforms, mana surging from out of her body as her sweet and melodious voice rang out in everyone's ears.

"Participants for the round of 64, please ascend towards one of the platforms when your bracelet lights up."

Just as her words faded...Vrrrr—! Vrrrr—!The bracelet on my wrist lit up. I wasn't the only one in the group whose bracelet lit up as Amanda, and Jin also had their bracelets light up.

"To the contestants that had their bracelets light up, please make your way towards the designated arena."

Following her words, figures immediately moved towards the teleportation areas set up beneath the tree.

Amongst the loud cheers coming from the spectators, one by one, figures materialized on the platforms above.

"Guess that's my cue to go."

Moving next to me and patting me on the shoulder, Kevin said.

"Good luck."

"Thanks."

Thanking Kevin, lowering my head, and staring at my bracelet, I headed towards the portal that lead to platform [3], the area where my fight was.

*

Swoooosh—!

Materializing on the top of platform [3], a gentle and cold breeze brushed past me as my clothes fluttered. Because it was so high up, the air felt a lot colder than when I was below.

'What a view.'

I inwardly muttered in amazement as I gazed at the platform.

The platform was circular, and it was extremely wide, with a radius of about 40 meters. Walking towards the edge of the platforms, I cringed a little as I gazed at the massive drop below.

FWUOP—!

As I was checking the platform, it was then that a touring figure materialized opposite me. It soon became clear to me that my opponent was an orc.

My brows instantly knit as soon as he appeared.

That was because his entire presence radiated danger. If I had to estimate his strength, it was about <B> to <B+>, about the same as mine.

"Are you two ready?"

Out of nowhere, another figure suddenly showed up on the stage. It was the referee.

Hearing her words, without wasting any time saying any words to each other, the both of us nodded our heads.

"Begin!"

Once the referee's words faded, pressing his large foot onto the ground, my opponent shot in my direction at a breathtaking speed.

With his fist raised, a murky green hue enshrouded the orcs fist. Arriving before me, he punched out.

"Shit."

I cursed as I stared at the incoming fist.

It was so fast that I was unable to react on time and thus was forced to cross my arms together in a defensive stance.

Bang—!

Soon his fist connected with my arms and I felt a bone-breaking pain course through my body as my body skid back all the way towards the edge of the platform.

Stopping near the edge of the platform, I grit my teeth as I tried to suppress the groan that was about to escape from my lips.

Inevitably, I failed as I groaned out loud.

"Ughhh!"

The pain was just too much for me to bear. It felt as though all the bones in my arms had been broken.

Shaking my head, I quickly recomposed myself.

Lifting my head and staring at the orc in the distance, the mana inside of my body sprung out as I released all of my power. Wariness instantly flashed across the orc's face.

Placing my hand by the side of my waist, I rested my hand on the grip of the sword.

'Looks like I can no longer afford to fight like before...'

Chapter 417: A carpet of red [1]

Gazing at my opponent, I bitterly thought.

'Looks like I can no longer afford to fight like before...'

He was simply way too strong for me to not use my sword against.

SHIIIIING—!

Unsheathing my sword from my scabbard, I distanced myself from my opponent who did not give chase. It was clear that he became a little bit warier once he saw me release my aura.

This was good.

It bought me enough time for me to prepare myself.

Lowering my head and glancing at my sword, which was not the same sword Malvil gave to me, I took a deep breath.

"Huuuu..."

Slowly, I calmed my mind as I felt the grip of the sword in my hand.

The sword felt a bit unfamiliar, but it was still alright. I wasn't planning on using the [Keiki style] just yet, so there was no need to work myself up over the unfamiliarity.

Despite the fact that Malvil said that the sword was ready for use, in reality, he was only partially right.

Setting aside the fact that it was still sealed, its body was too short for me to properly use.

It was about half a meter in length.

Supposedly, it was supposed to lengthen the more seals I unlock. In fact, according to Malvil, one of its feature unlockable features was that it could lengthen to whatever size the owner wanted.

Sounded neat, but, yeah, I needed to unlock the first seal before being able to do that.

Bit of a pity since I really liked its main feature.

"Huuuu..."

Taking another deep breath, I moved my sword forward and drew a circle in the air. The time it took me to draw a circle was just but a mere half a second.

As I drew the circle in the air, a translucent ring suddenly materialized in front of me. Following the first ring, using as little time as possible, I drew more rings.

Within a couple of seconds, I had already formed three rings.

Bang—!

By the time the third ring formed, with a powerful bang, the orc once again dashed in my direction. It had probably already scrutinized me enough.

'...How in the world is he so fast!?'

I exclaimed inside of my mind as I caught a glimpse of the orc coming in my direction.

Despite his size, the orc's speed was extremely impressive. Before I knew it, he had already appeared before me.

Raising his fist he once again punched out in my direction.

Catching a glimpse of his attack from the corner of my eyes, I instantly realized that his attack was a lot faster and more powerful than the previous attack he used on me.

Fortunately, this time I was ready.

"Haaa!"

Letting out a scream, and glancing behind me where the massive drop was, I took a step back, towards the nothingness.

The moment I took a step back, the orc's fist and movement faltered, and audible gasps could be heard from the bottom of the arena.

This was the exact reaction I was looking for.

"Go."

Waving my fingers, with a soft rushing sound, one of the rings moved toward my left, right beneath my right foot.

Swooosh—!

Following the first ring, another ring moved towards my right side. About waist level. Tensing my left leg, I jumped up and used the ring as support for my right foot.

The orc who had now realized what was happening once again punched out in my direction as a sonic boom followed after his punch. Unfortunately, it was already too late. Propelling myself off of the ring, I flipped in the air and softly landed behind the orc.

The moment I landed on the ground, I clenched my fists and muttered.

'Gravitational pull.'

It was at that moment that the rings behind me suddenly glowed and the orc found his movements suddenly become sluggish.

Taking advantage of that moment, raising my sword in the air, I drew more and more circles. Each time I drew a circle, I would propel it in the direction of the orc as the gravitation pull effect activated.

"Khuuuuua!"

Behind me, the orc's enraged shout reverberated throughout the whole platform. As more rings were added, the more sluggish his movements became.

However, despite his shouts, I continued to draw more and more circles. After deliberating for a while, I found that this was the best tactic I could use outside of going all out using the [Keiki style], and it seemed to be somehow working.

Unfortunately, there were still not enough rings.

I could tell that the current amount of rings I had set up wasn't enough to keep him at bay, thus, briefly glancing in his direction, I activated 'the one'.

"Stay put."

I icily said as I glared at my opponent.

It was only for a moment, but the moment I activated 'the one' and uttered those words, the orc's movement came to a sudden halt. Deep fear hid beneath his eyes as he involuntarily took a step back.

I didn't let go of this opportunity as I drew more and more rings before sending them in his direction.

Having reached the essence realm for [Ring of vindication] not too long ago it took about fifteen seconds for each ring to dissipate in the air, therefore, by the time I drew the twentieth circle, the orc was finally unable to move anymore.

Despite the orc's many attempts at moving, it was all to no avail as the gravitational pull behind each ring forced the orc into place.

"Khhhhh!"

Realizing that he was in a deep predicament, the orc's desperate and enraged shout shook the entire platform.

As he screamed, his bloodthirsty eyes glared in my direction. He had a look on his face that made me think he wanted to eat me whole.

Of course, I merely shrugged it off.

If looks could do anything, I would've died the moment I met Melissa.

Lowering my sword, I could feel the mana inside of my body drain at a rate that I had never felt before.

'I guess keeping twenty rings active at the same time is still too much for me.'

The expenditure behind keeping this many rings was nothing to scoff at as I estimated that my mana would ran out in about a minutes time.

I had to end this quick.

Still, keeping my face straight, I walked up to the orc. Arriving before him, I stopped at around a meter's length away form him.

Glaring in my direction, the orc snarled and gnashed his teeth loudly as he repeatedly screamed.

"KuuahkkK!"

"Good match."

Raising my foot upwards till the sole of my foot touched his chest, I softly pushed the orc outside of the arena.

"Khuuuuuua!"

Unable to resist, the orc bitterly watched as his body fell off of the arena and plummeted to the ground at a terrifying speed. Fortunately for him, there was someone waiting for him below.

With a simple wave of their hand, a soft wind blew beneath the orc and his body came to a sudden halt.

Since each and everyone present was a representative from each race, the elves tried their best to save as many people as possible from dying. This of course did not mean that you couldn't kill your opponent, but it would be quite a hard thing to do with the referees present.

Making sure that my opponent was fine, the referee raised her hand and shouted.

"Match winner Caeruleum, he will proceed to the round of 32."

The moment the referee's voice faded, thunderous cheers rang from below.

Closing my eyes, I secretly sighed in relief.

Thankfully, I only had to expose [Ring of vindication] instead of the [Keiki style]. This was good for me as I could still keep it a secret for when I met an opponent that was far above my league.

For example, someone whose rank was in the <A> rank range.

They...yeah, they were opponents where I may end up being forced to go all out.

"Contestant, please make your way back towards the stands."

Snapping me out of it was the referee's voice. Turning to face her, I politely nodded my head and did as she told me.

Moving towards the edge of the arena, I jumped.

*

"Looks like you've won your match."

Upon arriving back at the waiting area, I found Jin quietly sitting by himself, solemnly staring at the large projections of the other ongoing fights.

Seeing that Amanda was still not here, only meant that her fight was still ongoing.

"Huuuuuua!"

But not even a minute after I said those words, loud cheers once again reverberate throughout the arena as a profile appeared in one of the projections.

"Guess she won"

Reflected in the projection was none other than Amanda who had an aloof look on her face. Seemingly unfazed by her victory. Despite that, staring at her from below, I could tell that she was visibly tired by the uneven movement of her chest.

Taking my eyes away from Amanda, I turned to look at Jin. At the moment his eyes were locked on a specific projection.

"What are you looking at?"

Staring in the direction of where he was looking, my eyes instantly lit up with interest.

"Hm? Kevin vs Gilbert. Now that's an interesting one."

Given all of the drama that had happened between the two, there was a lot of animosity between them.

Without a doubt, it was going to be a good match.

The match had still not started, but from the screen, I could see Gilbert talking trash against Kevin who just stood there with an indifferent look on his face. Not caring for the slightest bit about the things he was trying to say.

Crossing my arms, I looked at Jin.

"Where are the others? Are they also having their match?"

"Over there."

"Oh."

Raising his hand, Jin pointed toward three different projections. They were respectively, Ava, Hein, and Emma.

At the moment all of their fights had not started as they were waiting for the matches from the first batch to finish.

'It looks like Ava is fighting against a dwarf while Hein is fighting against an elf.'

Carefully looking at their opponents, my brows knit.

As I had already memorized the profiles of every contestant present, I could tell that they were up against tough opponents.

Out of the two, Ava was the one that got the short end of the stick as her opponent was <B> rank.

Although Ava was a beast tamer and she didn't fight by herself, I still found it hard to believe that she could win her fight. The gap just seemed too big.

On the other hand, Hein's opponent was <B-> which was somewhat manageable. But, it was still tough for him as he, just like Ava, was only <C+> rank.

In fact, unless they got really lucky, I didn't see the possibility of them winning.

'...I better keep watch of them now.'

Who knows, they might just be able to pull an upset.

After all, they did have a lot of experience under their belt after having trained with me for a very long time.

Perhaps I was being way too pessimistic.

Taking my eyes away from them, glancing around the other projections, my eyes soon paused on a specific projection.

My brows instantly furrowed extremely tightly.

"That should be Emma, just who is her opponent...eh?"

After a while, my eyes opened wide as I saw Emma stare off against her opponent. At first, I didn't pay too much attention, but after taking a second look at her opponent, my heart skipped a beat.

Locking my eyes on Aaron's figure, I stood up from my seat.

'...Oh crap, although I took this possibility into account, I really thought it wasn't going to happen.'

Sneaking a peek towards Kevin's arena, lowering my head, I sent Ryan a quick message.

[Give me the command, quickly.]

Chapter 418: A carpet of red [2]

"This isn't good..."

Staring at the projection where Emma and Aaron appeared, my face darkened and my heart sped up a little.

I suddenly felt an ominous premonition.

'...I should've seen this coming.'

I should've seen the possibility of Aaron getting matched up with someone like Emma. Or rather, I knew about the possibility, but I still chose to ignore it.

Normally, I wouldn't have worried, but the current Aaron was not in the right state of mind.

Of course, he wasn't.

I made sure he wasn't.

Back then, when I had taken him outside of the building, I didn't just go to him with the goal of beating him up to satiate my thirst for revenge.

No, things were a lot more complicated than that.

After Waylan and Douglas took him away from me, and after I regained myself, they quickly gave him back to me at my request.

I told them that I had a plan in mind. The both of them did not refuse but made me promise not to kill him, which I didn't.

Once I gained their permission, I gave Aaron more sedatives to keep him knocked out.

From there, I had Ryan create a small chip that was similar to mine and have it installed in his brain. That took about a day to do, and with the aid of a potion, I was able to remove any trace of anything ever happening to him.

After having learned a lot through the teachings of Jomnuk, Ryan was now able to create an almost perfect replicate of the chip, well, at least the tracking part of it, which was exactly what I needed.

After installing the chip, I also injected him with a little bit of the serum. The one that the Monolith injected me over and over again.

The intent behind such a move was so that traces of the serum would be found inside of his body, increasing the links to him possibly being 876.

Of course, there was much more to it in the plan than that. After all, there was countless evidence pointing to the fact that he couldn't possibly be 876, but I already had a solution for this.

Anyhow, the point was that the current Aaron was no longer the previous Aaron. His current state of mind was akin to what I had experienced not too long ago.

He was now extremely dangerous, and I was worried that something was going to happen.

Vrrr— Vrrr— Lowering my head and glancing at my watch that had just vibrated, I quickly tapped on its screen. It was a message from Ryan.

[Permission to access granted]

[On] [Off]

Without hesitation, I pressed the [On] switch.

Raising my head and staring in the direction of where Emma and Aaron were, I secretly clenched my fists before gazing in the direction of where the referee was.

'...She shouldn't die from this.'

Hopefully, the referee should have no problem stopping the fight before anything bad happened.

Crossing my arms, and glancing in the direction of Kevin's match, I secretly prayed that nothing bad happened.

If something happened to Emma...I really couldn't tell how Kevin would react.

***

An eerie silence enveloped platform [5] as Aaron and Emma stared off.

At the moment, they were both just waiting for the referee to begin the match.

As the two stared at each other, Aaron, whose face was slightly sunken and had glaring black circles underneath his eyes, opened his mouth.

"Hey…"

A raspy almost croaky voice came out of his mouth as he spoke.

Emma frowned when she heard his words, however, she didn't reply back to him.

She knew Aaron all too well. Although he was different from his usual self, an aura of arrogance still radiated from his body.

Simply put, she wasn't keen on hearing his trash talk.

But it didn't seem as though Aaron got the message as he continued to speak.

"…are you close to Ren?"

Emma's face froze slightly.

His words were so unexpected that for a moment, Emma almost slipped up.

Fortunately, she was able to quickly recollect herself as her face became colder.

"Why are you talking about a dead person?"

"…Dead?"

Aaron scoffed. A clear look of mockery appeared on his face.

"I know…I know…I know…"

His head tilted from left and right as he said those words. Raising his hand he pointed it at Emma.

"I know he's fucking alive, little bitch. I fucking know!"

Placing both of his hands on his face, his voice trembled in an uncontrollable manner.

"I saw it...he was definitely there that night...I can't be wrong!"

"…He's completely lost it."

Emma softly muttered as she looked at Aaron.

From the way he was acting, it was a clear indication to her that Aaron had completely lost it.

Flashbacks of what she saw a week back replayed in her mind as she secretly sighed.

'Ren, did you really have to go that far?'

The current Aaron was a far cry from what he was in the past. Emma almost felt pity for him.

Gone was the usual elegant self. All that was left was an almost deranged and borderline psychopathic version of him.

"Begin!"

Before she could say anything else, the referee's voice rang out, marking the beginning of the match.

The first one to move was Emma.

Pressing her feet onto the ground, her figure dashed in Aaron's direction.

Although Emma knew that Aaron was stronger than her, given his current mental state, Emma believed that she had a chance of beating him.

Therefore, unwilling to waste the opportunity, she immediately went all out from the beginning.

Mana poured into her body as she quickly redirected all of her mana toward one of her shortswords.

"Hiiiia!"

Arriving before Aaron, she slashed down. Despite being lower ranked than Aaron, her attack was nothing to be trifled with as it tore the air in a devastating manner.

Aaron who had only just snapped out of his delusions was unable to react in time and thus was only able to partly dodge her attack as he only took a step back.

"Khuaa!"

Extreme pain coursed through Aaron's body as a long scar traced from his lower torso all the way towards his right shoulder, and the color red sprayed on the arena grounds.

Drip! Drip! Drip!

Taking a few steps back, Aaron's face grimaced in pain as he felt blood trickle down his body.

In the background, the booming cheers from the audience reverberated throughout the whole area grounds.

"W...wha...t?"

Opening and closing his mouth, Aaron did not know what to say. Raising his head and staring in Emma's direction, his mind blanked.

Unfortunately, that slight distraction once again cost him. Repeating the same attack as before, Emma reappeared in front of Aaron and once again slashed down, this time, her attack hit him right in the shoulder.

"Khuuuak!"

A pained groan escaped from Aaron's lips as he stumbled down on the ground. With his hands behind his back, Aaron fearfully crawled back.

Raising his head and staring upward, at where Emma was, Aaron blinked a couple of times.

'What's going on? What is happening to me?... Why am I losing to such trash?'

A myriad of thoughts flashed across his mind in seconds as his eyes remained locked in Emma's direction.

Aaron couldn't comprehend what was happening to him.

He couldn't think straight.

With his eyes darting all over the place in looking for something to grab on, it wasn't long before his eyes locked towards the distance.

SHIIIIING—!

Just as his eyes locked themselves there, he suddenly felt a powerful force quickly headed in his direction. From the corner of his eyes, he caught glimpse of Emma's shortsword nearing his face.

From that point, everything that happened next happened within the blink of an eye.

Just as Emma's shortsword was about to land on Aaron's face, Aaron's body suddenly disappeared from the spit, startling Emma.

"Huh?"

Then, reappearing in his position was the referee who was just as startled to find Emma's shortsword directed in his direction.

SHIIIIING—!

Waving his hand, the shortsword came to an abrupt halt.

Spurt!

But not even a second after the referee stopped the attack, blood suddenly sprayed all over his body as Emma motionlessly stood on her feet with her eyes wide open.

"y..you?"

Weakly turning her head, the last thing Emma saw before passing out was Aaron's smiling face. Opening his mouth, he coldly said.

"...I hope you send Ren your greetings for me."

Thump!

Following his words, Emma's sight became black and she fell face first towards the ground.

As her body fell onto the ground, blood spilled out from her wound, slowly forming a pool of blood around her, and the noise around the arena toned down a notch.

***

At the same time, on another platform.

Clank—!

A loud metallic sound reverberated throughout the platform as two swords crossed together. The moment the two swords connected, the air around them blasted out, it was clear that neither party was trying to give the other a single inch.

While their swords were locked together, meeting Kevin's eyes, Gilbert clenched his teeth tightly and muttered.

"Remember the time when I sent you flying across the wall back at the Lock? ...That was intentional."

"I know."

Swooosh—!

Not falling for Gilbert's provocation, Kevin raised his foot and kicked in the direction of Gilbert's head. However, pressing his foot on the ground, Gilbert was able to quickly dodge his attack and distance himself a couple of meters away from him.

Bang—!

Once he dodged his kick, with a loud bang, he propelled his body back in Kevin's direction. Raising his sword, he slashed downwards.

Clank—!

Meeting his attack, their swords once again intersected.

Strands of mana swirled on both of their bodies as the two glared at each other and circular pressurized wind gales shot outwards of their bodies.

Thump! Thump!

With loud thumps, the two figures clashed under the attention of countless gazes, the outlines of their swords appearing here and there.

With the animosity that the two held for each other, neither showed any mercy in their attacks as each and every one of them was aimed to hurt, making the fight look exceptionally entertaining to the audience.

Be it heart, head, or even private parts, both of them aimed their attacks toward their weakest areas.

As they fought, from an audience standpoint, their fight looked even. With neither side giving an inch to each other, it really did appear as though the both of them were equally matched, however...

Right as Gilbert's attack was about to viciously slash Kevin's neck area, Kevin's body suddenly disappeared from where he was standing.

"Huh?"

Before Gilbert knew it, Kevin had reappeared behind him. Startled, Gilbert tried to turn around, but it was already too late, with a simple push, to Gilbert's horror, he suddenly realized that he was out of bounds and his body fell to the ground.

"Haaa...haaa..."

Breathing heavily, and staring in the direction of where Gilbert fell, a smile crept up on Kevin's face.

From the very beginning of the fight, Gilbert's goal was simple, hurt him. Kevin, who had watched Ren's fight right before his match, thought that this was the perfect opportunity to replicate his tactic.

Since Gilbert's focus was on him the entire time, Kevin took advantage of this and purposely led him towards the edge of the arena.

Once he lead him there, the rest was easy. Using his movement art and reappearing behind him, Kevin simply pushed him out of the arena, marking the end of the match.

"Match winner Kevis Voss, he will proceed to the round of 32."

Following Gilbert's fall, the referee's loud voice boomed throughout the field. However, contrary to Kevin's expectations, there were no loud cheers to meet his victory.

Glancing around, Kevin suddenly realized that the stadium was a lot quieter than before.

Frowning, he moved towards the edge of the platform. To get a better view of what was happening.

Glancing towards the other platforms, it was then that Kevin saw it.

Emma laying on the ground as blood spurted out of her back, slowly forming a carpet of red blood. Around her multiple elves were trying to stabilize her condition.

From there, time seemingly froze for Kevin as he motionlessly stared at her figure from above.

Chapter 419: Dominance [1]

Rushing in my direction, Kevin shouted. His voice sounded extremely panicked.

"Where is Emma?!"

"Calm down, Emma has been taken by the staff, her father is with her."

Raising my hand, I motioned him to calm down.

"From what I've been told, she is still alive. Just before Emma was about to get stabbed in the back, the referee reacted in time and slightly shifted her body away, preventing her death, but..."

Pausing, my brows furrowed.

"But what!?"

Raising my head and meeting Kevin's gaze, I deeply sighed.

"...but, well, it's not looking too good. She was hit directly in the spine, so I don't know."

"Haa..."

Like a deflated balloon, Kevin's stumbled a couple of steps back as his face drained of all color.

Grabbing onto his shoulder, I held him up.

"Relax, don't lose hop—"

"The book!"

Kevin suddenly shouted as he cut me off.

My eyes immediately opened wide at his words.

Placing my hand over his mouth, I quickly shushed him.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

"Hmmhmmm."

Increasing my grip on his mouth, I whispered in his ear.

"Get a grip of yourself, the event has already happened, the book can't do anything. Furthermore, there is nothing written on it. You know best since you've seen the book yourself."

Listening to my words, Kevin quickly calmed down as his eyes dulled.

Seeing this, I asked. "...Are you finally calm?"

Kevin silently nodded his head in response.

Eyeing him for a while, I proceeded to take my hand away from his mouth. Taking a deep breath, I tried to reassure him.

"Don't worry too much, I'm sure she will be fine."

Despite my words, I wasn't too confident in the things I said.

Emma's condition was quite critical. Fortunately, the elves were able to intervene just in time to stabilize her condition and so she was at least guaranteed her life.

Regarding whether she was disabled or not, I wasn't sure. Only time could tell.

"Huuu..."

Taking a deep breath, I turned my wrist and glanced at my watch.

[Permission to access granted]

[On] [Off]

'This is enough for now.'

Tapping onto the screen of my watch, I turned off the tracking device in Aaron's head.

***

On the upper echelon platform, moments before.

Silence descended on the platform as the eyes of all the members on the platform locked themselves on the one specific projection where a girl lay on the floor in her own pool of blood.

"Someone go and get her patched up quickly."

The first to speak out amongst the members was the elven queen whose delicate brows knit tightly.

She was evidently displeased by the fact that an incident had occurred.

Turning her head to glance in the direction of the others, the elven queen lowered her head and softly apologized.

"I apologize for the mishap, it should've never have happened."

"krrrr...krrr...What is there to apologize about?"

Responding to her, Brutus's deep voice reverberated throughout the platform. Despite the fact that he wasn't trying to speak loudly, his voice boomed loudly throughout the viewing platform.

"If a contestant dies, so be it...khrrr...Only the strong deserve to live."

"I agree."

Gervis nodded from the side as his eyes locked onto the projection in the distance.

"All contestants had been warned beforehand of the possibility of death, we can't blame you guys for this."

"I see."

The elven queen reluctantly nodded her head before standing up.

"Still, I believe that this shouldn't have happened during my watch. Each individual present represents the future of our kind, and so their death could significantly damage our futu..."

As the elven queen was speaking, the only one that remained did not have a change in expression throughout the whole event was Octavious Hall who remained seated on his seat, completely unperturbed by the various happening.

No one knew whether he cared or not about what had just happened.

Trrr— Trrr—

It was then that Octavious suddenly felt a vibration coming from his watch. Turning his watch, Octavious indifferently glanced at it.

We have detected slight fluctuations from one of the meters the Monolith gave to us.

The connection went as fast as it came as so we were unable to properly locate the individual, but it appears as though 876 is currently present.

Octavius's brows furrowed slightly.

876.

Octavious had almost forgotten everything about him.

876 was someone that the Union had agreed to catch in exchange for the truce.

In reality, this was merely a formality thing as the Union had never bothered investing that much effort into catching him.

Since they had agreed to it, they had to do it, but it had never been on their lists of priorities.

The reason why he had completely forgotten about 876 was because his signal disappeared a while back. Octavious thought that he had died.

Still, since the Monolith had never said anything regarding him being dead, Octavious had some people keep watch for any signal.

Judging from the current message, it appeared as though he was still alive.

Tapping onto the screen of his watch, Octavious sent a message back.

[Make sure to be on constant alert. If you find his signal again, capture him alive.]

Once he sent the message, Octavious leaned back on his chair with an aloof look.

Whether they captured 876 or not, he really did not care.

***

Late at night.

A heavy scent of alcohol permeated throughout a small room.

Laying on a small bed was a young girl with auburn-colored hair. With a pale complexion, her frail figure lay on a soft bed.

Seated beside her, holding onto her small delicate hand was Kevin whose body trembled uncontrollably. A couple of hours after the incident, the elves managed to finally stabilize her condition, allowing for the others to finally visit her.

Along with Ren and the others, Kevin went to visit Emma. Taking his feelings into consideration, they all chose to visit at a later hour, giving him some alone time with her.

Gazing at Emma's frail figure, Kevin felt a heartwrenching pain coarse through his body.

A multitude of emotions flashed across his face ranging from pure hatred and sadness.

'...This is all my fault.'

Squeezing her hand harder, Kevin clenched his teeth tightly. It was only after someone showed him what had happened that he realized that the person responsible for this was Aaron.

An undisguised amount of hatred flashed across his face as he tried his best to keep himself calm.

However, that proved to be a lot harder than he imagined as his face turned red from anger.

'...If only I did not stop Ren during that day.'

None of this would've ever happened if he had not stopped Ren that day.

Depression slowly started to sink in as dark thoughts entered his mind.

Cli Clank—!

It was then that the door of the room suddenly opened and Ren walked in. Staring in his direction and walking up to him, he softly said.

"Kevin, you don't have to worry too much the doctor said that she will live."

"...I know."

Kevin muttered. His voice shaking.

"I know that she's going to live...but, he also said that sh-e suffered from a permanent injury on her back. She...will never be able to w-alk again."

Kevin squeezed Emma's hand tightly before muttering.

"...I should've let you kill that time."

There was an undisguised hatred mixed in his voice as he uttered those words.

Turning his head and glancing in Ren's direction, Kevin's snarled through gnashed teeth.

"You were right, I am too soft. I should've not interfered back then when you were about to kill him! ...This is all my fault!"

The more he spoke, the louder his voice became.

He could feel himself losing control of his emotions.

He couldn't understand what was happening to him, the feeling he was currently experiencing, the heartwrenching feeling of losing Emma...it all felt too familiar to him.

Kevin couldn't quite explain it, but the more he thought about it, the more his body trembled.

'I can't let her suffer!'

In response to his sudden outburst, Ren shook his head and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"It's not your fault...It really isn't."

Letting go of Emma's hand, Kevin stood up. Closing his eyes for a short minute, he quickly recomposed himself.

"No, you're right. This isn't my fault."

Raising his hand and wiping the corner of his eyes, Kevin's face slowly became indifferent.

"If there was someone to blame, it has to be Aaron. He's the one who is responsible for this."

A red glow suddenly manifested around his body. Turning his head and facing Ren, Kevin's voice suddenly became colder.

"I'm going to win the tournament."

He suddenly proclaimed.

"The doctor said that there is a chance of her fully recovering, and that's through the usage of something called an 'elven tear'. I will win the tournament and ask for that."

Before Ren could say anything back to him, taking one last look at Emma, Kevin walked out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

Clank—!

As he walked out, Kevin slowly felt his emotions become numb as a fire lit up in his eyes.

Nothing was going to stop him from winning the tournament.

Be it Ren, Jin, or anyone else. Kevin was going to destroy everyone.

***

"Haaa..."

Gazing at Kevin's departing figure, a long sigh escaped from my mouth.

Turning my head and gazing in Emma's direction, I massaged my forehead.

'I messed up badly...'

If there was someone to blame, it was me.

Had I not done what I did, none of this would've ever happened. The reason why Aaron attacked Emma was because of my own personal greed in making him suffer more.

Was the move I did wrong? I didn't know.

Without a doubt, I felt guilty for what happened, but somehow, a part of me told me that what I did was the right thing.

That what I did was a small sacrifice that I needed to take in order to regain my freedom.

...I felt like shit when those thoughts crossed my mind, but what could I do? I couldn't stop them.

Were they even my thoughts to begin with?

I really didn't know.

Having been made aware of the fact that perhaps my mind was being manipulated by someone, it became more clear to me that the thoughts that I was having could also be a fabrication of the one that wanted to manipulate me.

But just who was it?

Cli Clank—!

Snapping me out of my thoughts was the sound of the door opening.

"Amanda?"

At first, I thought that it was Kevin, but to my surprise, the person that had shown up was in fact, Amanda.

"...You're here to visit her as well?"

"Mhm."

Holding onto a bouquet of flowers, Amanda slowly walked up to her and placed them beside her.

Worry flashed across her eyes as she looked at Emma who was currently in a coma. Lifting her head and gazing in my direction, Amanda brushed her hair behind her ear and softly asked.

"Do you know when she will wake up?"

"...I don't know."

I shook my head.

"The doctor said that she also suffered a head trauma and so they don't know when she will wake up."

"I see."

Nodding her head in understanding, Amanda sat next to Emma and held her hand.

'I should probably go.'

It would be rude of me to intrude in their moment. But just as I was about to leave, Amanda's soft voice rang throughout the room.

"...Emma was my very first friend."

Her voice was soft, but there was an undisguised pain laying deep within it.

Turning around, with both hands holding onto Emma's hands, I could Amanda's body trembled a little. She looked especially lonely.

My heart pained at the sight.

Amanda was not someone who had many people close to her. Yet, throughout her life, everyone that was close to her would end up disappearing from her life.

Her mom, her dad...and now Emma.

The amount of pain she went through was really too much for someone as young as her.

Startling Amanda, taking a stool and placing it beside her, I sat down and warmly smiled in her direction.

"Tell me more."

Lowering my head, I stared at Emma before looking back into her eyes.

"Tell me more about your good moments with Emma."

"Ah..."

Letting out a strange sound, Amanda's eyes reddened slightly.

Lowering her head till her hair covered her face, Amanda's shoulders slowly stopped trembling as she replied with a soft hum.

"Um."

Chapter 420: Dominance [2]

Late night.

Sitting up straight in a patch of grass near his residence, Hein looked towards the sky. Surrounded by the millions of stars in the sky, the moon looked especially beautiful tonight as it slowly drew a bright white blanket on the area around him.

"Haaa…"

Sighing out loud, Hein laid down on the grass.

Covering his eyes with his arm, he bit his trembling lips tightly.

"…I failed."

He failed to make it past the round of 64.

Despite putting everything into his fight, in the end, the result was his inevitable loss.

His opponent was just too strong.

Warmth flowed down the side of his cheeks as he tried his best to hold back his tears.

But, in the end, thinking back about his father and family and realizing that he could no longer get the cure, Hein was no longer able to hold back as more and more tears started to stream down the side of his cheeks.

Despite all of the hardships he suffered, and his rapid improvement Hein was still unable to make it to the top 10.

It was now that he realized just how vast the world was.

Just because he had far outstripped his former schoolmates, it didn't mean that there were others out there that didn't similarly outstrip him.

"I'm such a failure…"

He muttered out loud, whilst clenching his fists tightly.

Had he trained even harder he definitely could've won! He had been too lazy in his training.

"No, you're not."

But it was then that he suddenly heard a familiar voice coming from nearby.

Quickly wiping his eyes, Hein lifted his head and looked in the direction of where the voice came from.

"Ren?"

Upon spotting the figure, Hein set up straight.

"Mhm."

With a simple nod, Ren sat down next to him.

Placing both of his hands on his knees, Ren looked towards the moon in the sky and muttered.

"You did not fail."

***

As I muttered those words, I took my eyes away from the moon and gazed in Hein's direction.

With the side of his eyes red, I could see that he had just been crying.

I didn't bring this topic up.

Raising my hand, I patted him on the shoulder.

"If you're worried about your father, don't worry. I can get you the cure."

"Bu—"

Before Hein could say anything, I quickly cut him off.

"Are you worried that I will waste my winning opportunity to get the elven tears?"

Surprise flashed across Hein's face as I said those words.

I smiled at his reaction. His reaction made it quite clear to me that those were his thoughts.

Leaning back on the grass, I muttered.

"...You don't have to worry about that. Although elven tears are rare, you don't have to win the tournament to get them."

There was no way the elves only had one elven tear available. They had multiple of thems. The only issue was getting them to trade them, and I already had a solution long ago.

"What?"

Disbelief flashed across Heins's face as he looked at me.

Pointing at me, his voice shook.

"…but didn't you tell me that the only way to get them was through getting the top ten spots in the tournament?"

"That was a lie."

I softly said.

Closing my eyes, I feel the nice cold breeze brush past my body.

"You never had to get top ten to get the elven tear."

"W…what?!"

Despite the fact that I had my eyes closed, I could feel the genuine shock in Hein's voice as he heard my words.

His shock was understandable. I had purposely lied to him about the elven tear so that he would try his best at the tournament.

He must somehow feel betrayed.

"Wh—"

"Don't think too much. I only lied to you so that you would try your best at the tournament."

Opening my eye, I looked straight into Hein's eyes.

"If I didn't tell you this, you would've never pushed yourself to the limit and would've never realized just how strong people there are out there."

Despite his many experiences with me back in Henlour, Hein still did not truly the depth of this world.

Just because he had been rapidly improving his rank, it didn't mean that he was strong.

An example would be Kevin, Jin, and I. We all practiced five stars manuals.

Because we practice five-star sword manuals, we spend most of our time mastering them instead of focusing on our ranks like others do.

It was partly because of this that the rate of our growth seemed to be on par with some of the other prodigies out there. But it was also because of this that our strength was far beyond theirs.

If I fought someone with the same rank as me, I would have no trouble getting rid of them.

Unfortunately the same couldn't be said with Hein who did not practice a five-star sword manual and only focused on his rank.

"Anyways, you can relax. I promised you long back that I will get you the cure for your father. I'm not going to break that promise."

Having signed the mana contract, I had to fulfill what I had promised.

"…I see."

At my words, Hein's shoulders finally relaxed a little. A visible relief appeared on his face.

Turning to look at him, I asked.

"Are you not mad?"

"Mad?"

"Yeah, mad about the fact that I lied to you."

Pursing his lips, Hein shook his head.

"No."

Leaning back, Hein lifted his head and looked at the moon in the sky.

"...Maybe at first, but after listening to what you said, I realized that you were doing this for my own benefit."

Hein suddenly lowered his head.

"…and for that, I'm grateful to you."

Listening to his words, the edges of my lips curled upwards.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah."

Hein nodded his head.

Stretching my arms, I slowly stood up.

"That's good."

"…You leaving?"

Hein asked with a slightly disappointed look. Massaging my neck, I yawned.

"Huaammm...yeah, it's quite late. Still got a tournament tomorrow."

"Then I won't hold you back."

Waving my hand, I bid Hein goodbye and headed back to my room.

However, as I headed back to my room, the smile on my face slowly started to disappear.

Flashbacks of today's incident replayed inside of my mind.

'Something doesn't add up about today's incident…'

The way it played out. It felt odd to me.

Something about the incident just felt very odd to me. Or rather, the feeling that I got when Aaron stabbed Emma in the back.

Instead of worry or anything else, the first thing that came to mind was. 'Everything is going according to plan.'

"Odd…"

What was even crazier was the fact that I felt nothing when I saw Kevin lose himself back then. The feeling was a bit different, but it felt as though I was getting rid of a burden.

The more I thought about it, the more concerned I became.

"I have no choice, do I?"

Halting my steps and closing my eyes, I looked up at the sky and breathed out.

Ba…thump! Ba…thump!

My heart unknowingly sped up.

'If I want an answer, I have no choice but to do this, don't I?'

For the first time in a while, I felt fear creep inside of my mind as I took another deep breath to calm myself down.

Then, going back to my room, I threw my bracelet on the bed and headed for the training grounds.

Ci Clank—!

Upon entering the training grounds and seeing that there was no one present, I headed for one of the private training rooms.

Entering the room, I locked the door behind me and sat down crossed-legged in the middle of the room.

"Huuuu…"

Taking a deep breath, I channeled out all the mana I had inside of my body. As I channeled my mana, a powerful white hue suddenly sprung outwardly, enveloping the entire room.

Gritting my teeth, I continued to channel my mana until only a small amount remained. Just about enough to last me five minutes.

Once my mana reached that level, I looked towards the corner of the room and spoke up.

"Lock the room for five minutes."

Ci clank—

Once my words faded, a loud clicking sound resounded through the room as a timer initiated by the side of the room.

[5M : 00S]

Staring at the timer above, I closed my eyes.

Ba…thump! Ba…thump!

The repetitive sound of my heart beating resounded throughout the room as I slowly opened my mouth and muttered.

"Monarch's indifference…"

***

In a different room.

"System."

Kevin said out loud as he leaned forward and looked at the system interface.

[Intermediate healing potion] x 8

[Strength enhancing potion] x 2

[Advanced healing potion] x 3

"No, it's not here…"

Scrolling through his item list, Kevin shook his head.

After a while, he quickly tapped on the interface and looked through the system shop. He was trying to see if he could find something to help Emma there.

"Elven tear…elven tear…elven tear…"

Yet, despite how much he tried to look, he couldn't find what he was looking for nor anything that had similar effects to the elven tear.

"Fuck…"

Kevin cursed out loud as he tightly clenched his teeth together.

'Is the only way to get the elven tear through winning the tournament?'

He thought with a depressed look on his face. But just as he was about to give up, a thought suddenly flashed into his mind.

"Wait."

Kevin's eyes suddenly lit up.

Scrolling through his system interface once again, his finger soon paused on a certain section.

[Melandoir]

Main eleven planet of the past. On this planet resides the world tree which has been corrupted into a devil tree. It is where devil fruits are currently being harvested.

Difficulty : <S+> rank minimum.

Time difference : 1/5 human days.

Expense : <A> rank core.

"Damn it!"

Studying the interface, Kevin clenched his fists as all hope quickly dashed away from his mind.

The requirements were just too high.

Leaning forward and grabbing onto his head, Kevin's mind became jumbled up with all sorts of different thoughts.

'…Just how could that incident have happened?'

Why did Emma have to get injured, and why now? Although Aaron didn't like Emma, why would he suddenly try to kill her? It didn't make sense!

Taking out his tablet, he started the video and replayed it.

As he watched the video, his face would repeatedly change. Especially at the exact moment when Aaron stabbed Emma right in the back.

During that moment, he had to physically force himself to watch and prevent himself from throwing up.

Watching that clip over and over again, a cracking sound resounded as the tablet slowly started to bend.

"…hm?"

It was about the eighth time that he replayed the video, and right as he was about to stop torturing himself, he finally noticed something.

He quickly brought the tablet near his face to get a better look.

It was then that Kevin saw it.

Right after stabbing Emma in the back, Kevin caught a glimpse of Aaron saying something.

Tapping onto the tablet, Kevin slowed down the video. It was only after he slowed the video by four times that he was finally able to make out what he wanted to say.

"…I hope you send Ren your greetings for me."

Kevin muttered out loud as he deciphered the words that came out of Aaron's mouth. When he did, Kevin's face froze slightly.

'Did he find out about that time?'

But, how? Ren told him that he had taken care of the situation and that he couldn't have remembered anything.

How was it possible for him to know that Ren was behind the incident that happened to him?

Something didn't add up.

"What if…'"

Suddenly, flashbacks of his vision replayed inside Kevin's mind. The vision in which someone resembling Ren killed Emma.

A cold chill suddenly enshrouded Kevin's body as he stood up.

"It can't be. It's impossible for him to have done it…"

Kevin repeatedly muttered out loud. But the more he thought about it, the weaker his voice became.

"Haa…haaa…"

With heavy breaths, Kevin tried to calm himself down.

'That's right, this could all be a misunderstanding. I'll go talk to him and resolve this matter now.'

Rather than just waiting for something to happen, Kevin decided to directly confront Ren.

He didn't want to live doubting Ren. Someone who he deeply trusted and even shared his deepest secrets.

"That's right, this may all be just a stupid misunderstanding."

Grabbing onto his coat, Kevin headed out of his room.

Chapter 421: Dominance [3]

Pitch black darkness.

What met my sight upon activating Monarch's indifference was pitch black darkness.

The darkness seemed to be unending.

But it wasn't long before I regained consciousness and wondered to myself.

'What's going on?'

Why was I in this pitch-black word? ...and why could I move as I pleased?

This had never happened before, back when I activated Monarch's indifference.

Did that mean that my previous conjecture was correct and that Monarch indifference had a link with the shift in my mentality? Intense wariness flashed across my eyes.

Glancing around the place, I opened my mouth and coldly said.

"...Where are you? I know you're here somewhere."

Silence.

As my vice echoed amidst the darkness, all I was met with was silence. However, I wasn't one to give up easily as I once again opened my mouth.

"Come out. I've already figured things out."

"Hm."

It was then that with a soft hum, someone materialized a couple of meters away from me.

It was none other than the other Ren. Or at least, that was what I used to think. But now, I wasn't too sure.

With a thoughtful look on his face, he scanned my body from top to bottom.

"You're not half bad."

He muttered after a while.

I frowned at his words as I felt a weird sense of discomfort wash over my body. The sense of discomfort came from the way he was looking at me.

It reminded me of a scientist looking at his experiment. It felt very uncomfortable.

Calming down my nerves, I looked straight into the other Ren's eyes and got straight to the point.

With my limited amount of time, I could only carefully choose my questions.

"...You were the one responsible for what happened to Emma, weren't you?"

"Me?"

Lifting his head, the other Ren raised his brow. A small smile then surfaced on his face as he shook his head.

"Now why would you think that?"

"...Because I would never make such a mistake."

"Oh? Aren't you confident in yourself?"

Waving his hand, a wooden table materialized in front of the other Ren. Gesturing for me to sit down opposite of him, Ren sat down and raised his hand where a small teacup materialized.

Holding onto the handle of the cup, he raised the cup slightly. A small smile tugged the edge of his lips.

"Everything that happened is a result of your actions. I am merely someone whose body you took over."

"Don't bullshit with me!"

I quickly shot back.

"You can stop your little facade. I know that you're hiding something."

Walking over to the table, I sat down. Leaning forward, I coldly looked at the other Ren.

"I don't know what you're hiding, but I for sure know that you must've had a hand in my transmigration."

"...I'm hiding something? Transmigration?"

Raising his hand, Ren took a sip of his tea before putting it back down on the table.

Rubbing his fingers together, he asked a completely unrelated question.

"What is your goal?"

"My goal?"

Baffled by his sudden question, I was unable to answer instantly.

Nodding his head, Ren once again asked.

"Yes, what is your goal? What is your goal in life? What are you aiming to achieve in your life? It's a simple question."

Hearing his question, my eyes squinted tightly.

Despite being baffled by his sudden question, I still nevertheless answered. I wanted to see where he was going with it.

"...Defeating the demon king."

Upon hearing my answer, Ren nodded his head even more.

"Right, your goal is to defeat the demon...no, defeating should be the roadblock that you need to pass through in order to get to your real goal such as living a peaceful life with your family, or even being the head of the Union."

Picking up his cup of tea, Ren gazed into the distance, towards the darkness.

"If the demon king doesn't die, whatever goal you have will be all for naught."

Listening to his words, I didn't reply back.

Even if I wanted to refute his words, I couldn't. His words held some truths in them.

Unless the demon king died, any other goal that I had would all be for naught.

For example, if my goal was to keep my family safe unless I defeated the demon king that would be impossible.

Raising my head, my eyes squinted even more tightly.

"Get to the point."

Taking another sip of his head, Ren put the teacup down.

"I've just answered your previous question."

"What are you talking about?"

What answer? I don't recall ever hearing his answer.

All he did was ramble about how I should defea—wait. He couldn't be?

Raising my head, my eyes opened up.

"You.."

Opening my mouth, I closed it and opened it again. I was currently having trouble trying to formulate my sentence.

Seated opposite me, Ren just calmly looked at me with a superficial smile on his face.

"...You're talking about the incident with Emma, aren't you? It really was you."

My hunch turned out to be right. It really was him!

He was the reason why I did what I did and felt what I felt.

As my thoughts paused there, the anxiety within me only grew. If that was true, and what happened to Emma was truly due to his influence, didn't it prove all my previous conjectures?

My body shook at that revelation.

Closing my eyes, instead of panicking I forced myself to calm down.

It took me a while, but once I managed to calm myself down, I once again opened my eyes.

"What does Emma's circumstance have anything to do with defeating the demon king?"

I asked, anger rising in my voice.

Resting his cheek on his fist, Ren frowned.

It was then that the air around him suddenly distorted and his demeanor changed to that of a cold and emotionless person. He looked just like me when I was under Monarch's indifference.

"Don't ask such dumb questions. You already know the answer."

A powerful force sprang out from his body, enshrouding the area around me as a dominant force completely enveloped me whole, making it hard for me to breathe.

'I knew it.'

Subjected to such force, I showed no reaction.

Closing my eyes, I didn't say anything else.

I already understood what he was trying to imply. How could I not? It was obvious, yet, I didn't want to acknowledge it.

"Emma, Amanda, Jin, or these so-called 'friends' are only emotional baggage that Kevin carries with him. He does not need them."

Opening my eyes, I gazed into the other Ren's eyes. Staring deep into his eyes, I could sense no shred of emotion inside of them.

Those eyes.

Those eyes reflected the eyes of a man who no longer cared for anything.

"You must've also sensed it. The current Kevin is far too soft. He does not have his priorities straight."

"He is the one that the akashic records chose, and yet he is the one that is least fit to carry on that role."

Ren suddenly stood up and turned his back away from me. His cold voice once again rang throughout the whole void.

"You want to keep your family safe? You want to defeat the demon king? You want to live?"

Each and every question he asked powerfully rang inside of my head.

"...If so, this is the only way."

"No."

I shook my head and similarly stood up.

"That is not the only way to defeat the demon king."

Walking up to the other Ren, I stopped a couple of meters away from him.

"Yes, Kevin is soft, but he's still young. He can change. I don't see the need for you to hurt Emma or anyone that is close to him. What if he suddenly loses himself in the process? What would you do then?"

"He won't."

Ren indifferently shook his head.

"...Kevin will never change. Fundamentally, he is wired to prioritize those that are close to him. He does not think of the bigger picture."

Turning to look at me, he continued. His dull eyes peered through my very being.

"You don't need to lie to yourself. Deep inside you know I'm right. Removing every single burden around Kevin will grant us the highest possibility of beating the demon king...isn't that how you previously thought? Have you suddenly changed the way you thought?"

Meeting his gaze and listening to his words, my brows knit tightly.

"Why do you speak as though the future is certain?"

Ren didn't answer.

Instead, turning around once more, he coldly said.

"It's far too early for you to know the truth. Just know, that I'm on your side and know that what I'm doing is for your benefit. We alone can't kill the demon king. Kevin is the pawn that we need to use in order to defeat him. Move him wisely."

"Wh—"

Before I could ask any more questions, my consciousness started to slip. Realizing this, I cursed inside of my mind.

'Damn it, not yet. I want to ask more questions!'

Regardless, within a couple of seconds, my consciousness slipped and the world became even darker.

"We are cursed."

Were the last words I manage to hear before everything disappeared.

***

"Haa..."

Raising his head, and staring into the spot where Ren used to stand, the other Ren let out a long exhale.

"...It seems like you've also become too soft."

He proceeded to shake his head in disappointment.

"If only you followed the plot like you were supposed to..."

Extreme bitterness and disappointment could be felt in his voice as he said those words.

His face which had remained indifferent throughout the whole exchange suddenly twisted as he gnashed his teeth together and muttered.

"I had set everything up for you!"

"All you had to do was follow the fucking plotline, and yet, you seem to throw away the ideals that I implanted into you as soon as you awoke!"

A powerful aura sprang outwardly from his body as his face twisted in an extreme manner. Lifting his head and staring upwards, towards the darkness, he shouted.

"And you! You! Don't think for once that I will let you go! Once I defeat the demon king, and I will, I will come for you!"

The more he spoke, the more his face twisted.

"Everything that is happening to me is because of you! You are the one that cursed me into this eternal prison! If only you did not choose such an incompetent person I would've never have suffered so much!"

"It's all your fault!"

His bloodcurdling voice reverberated throughout the void. As he shouted, His voice was filled with nothing but hatred.

It took a while for him to calm down, and when he did, his face returned to its usual indifferent self.

Closing his eyes, he coldly muttered.

"Nothing is lost. There are still many pieces that I can set into motion. Be it the current me, or Kevin, I will fix the both of you."

"No matter what you do, you will never escape me."

Turning his head in a certain direction, pressing his foot onto the void, Ren proceeded to head in that direction.

Step—! Step—!

Walking amidst the void, Ren's feet soon came to a pulse.

In front of him was a familiar white orb.

Compared to the previous time Ren had visited, the black threads revolving around the white orb had duplicated, and now, about a quarter of it was enveloped by them.

Walking up to the orb, Ren placed his hand on the white part.

Tsssss.

A low hissing sound rang out as Ren's hand started to fade.

"Not yet."

Ren mumbled before turning his attention away from the orb.

An ominous and solemn aura started revolving around his body as he slowly started to disappear.

"Things are processing a lot slower than I originally anticipated, if only you didn't figure things out so quickly..."

Closing his eyes, Ren's body soon become completely transparent. But before his figure completely disappeared, he managed to utter a few more words.

"...Ren, one day you will understand. One day you will understand what I'm doing...and I will make sure you do."

Chapter 422: Coming clean [1]

Raising his hand, Kevin knocked on the door of Ren's apparent.

To Tok—

However, upon knocking on the door he was met with no response.

To Tok—

Frowning, Kevin knocked once again. But, yet again, he was met with no response.

'Is he not back yet? Could he perhaps be training?'

Although Ren seemed like a slacker he was in fact someone who worked hard, therefore, Kevin quickly came to the assumption that he was training at the moment. Well, at least to him, that was the most probable location of where he could be.

As his thoughts paused there, he started hesitating.

'Should I? ...or should I not?'

If he was training, then he didn't really want to disturb him. He knew just how annoying it was when someone interrupted him in the middle of his training.

"Screw it."

But after thinking things through, he decided to go anyways.

He desperately needed answers.

The doubts that were rising within him were starting to eat at his sanity.

He had to deal with them right now.

And so, after once again checking to see if Ren was present in the room or not, Kevin decided to head to the training grounds.

***

At the same time.

Opening my eyes, I found myself back in the training room.

Di—! Di—!

[00 : 00]

What followed after was the repetitive sound of the alarm ringing, signaling that the training session was over. What followed after was a subtle clicking sound and the door opened.

"haaa...haaa..."

Leaning my head back, I breathed heavily.

At the moment my mana was completely drained and I had trouble moving my body.

As I had left my bracelet back in my apartment, I did not have anything to refuel my mana with. This was a precaution I took in the chance that the other Ren took over my body.

Fortunately, nothing happened, but I didn't want to take the risk.

Closing my eyes, instead of leaving the room I remained seated and channeled the mana in the surroundings towards myself.

As I was recuperating my mana, I started thinking back on my experience.

'Looks like I was right, Monarch's indifference is not a simple skill.'

For me to suddenly be brought to a weird void the moment I activated the skill, I could tell that there was now more to it than it looked on the surface.

My apprehension towards it grew even more.

Not only that but the fact that I was somehow able to get the skill made me question reality. Did I really get the skill by simple coincidence? ...If so it wouldn't make sense. How could such a skill suddenly fall in my hands like that?

The more I thought about it, the more questions I had.

But if there was one thing I was now certain about, it was the fact that I was being manipulated.

Whoever the other Ren was, he was trying to make me act like he wanted to. Disgust washed over me as my thoughts paused there and my eyes opened.

'Is this how others feel when I manipulate them?'

Disgusting.

Scratching the side of my head till my hair became messy, I coldly muttered.

"...Want to treat me as a pawn?"

Raising my head, I clenched my fists tightly.

"Fine, so be it, use me as a pawn. I'll show you just what happens when a pawn does not move the way that you want it to move."

If everything that I was doing was being directly predicted and controlled by him, then all I had to do was do something completely out of his expectations.

I wasn't just going to let someone manipulate me.

Propping my body up with the aid of the wall, I stretched my body.

Despite the fact that I was still low in mana, having recuperated some of it in the meantime, it was now at a manageable level.

Walking to the door and opening it, my feet came to a sudden stop. My brows furrowed tightly as my eyes locked onto a figure in the distance.

"What are you doing here?"

Standing opposite me, all the way towards the other side of the entrance of the gym was Kevin.

The moment my eyes lay on him, I was instantly taken aback.

'There's something wrong with him.'

The way he was looking at me. It didn't feel right.

Extending his hand, Kevin pointed it at me.

"You."

Kevin spoke.

His words sounded quite cold.

Taking a step in his direction, I tried to figure out what was going on.

"Hey, what's going on? Are you still worried about Emma?"

The shock he got from what happened to Emma must still be haunting him. Perhaps he came here to train and get his mind off of things.

But as I took a step forward, he took a step back.

"Don't come any closer."

"What's wrong?"

I was instantly taken aback by his reaction.

The confusion in me only grew as he continued to stare in my direction.

It was then that he suddenly opened his mouth and asked.

"…Ren, I want to ask you something."

As he asked, his face was extremely serious.

Though confused, I stopped moving and nodded my head.

"Ask."

I put on a friendly smile.

"If you have anything to ask you can just ask me. I will do my best to answer your questions."

"Okay…"

Kevin softly nodded his head.

Then, staring deeply into my eyes, his voice suddenly became cold.

"Did you have any part in what happened with Emma?"

"...eh?"

My face froze and the smile on my face quickly receded. Lowering his head and staring at me from the top of his eyes, Kevin repeated.

"I said, did you have any part in what happened to Emma?"

"W…what?"

'Did he figure something out?'

Ba...thump! Ba...thump!

Unknowingly, my heart started to speed up.

Staring back at him, I forced a smile.

"...What makes you think that?"

Without saying anything, Kevin took out his tablet and turned on the holographic function where a replay of Emma's fight materialized in front of me.

Moving his finger across the hologram, the video changed and it soon paused at the time where Aaron stabbed Emma in the back.

"Take a look at Aaron's mouth."

Slowing down the footage, Kevin pointed his finger towards Aaron's mouth.

"…I hope you send Ren your greetings for me."

He slowly mouthed as his cold voice rang throughout the training ground.

My heart sank at those words.

'Shit...'

Once the video stopped playing, Kevin put the tablet away. Tilting his head, he curiously asked.

"You said that Aaron shouldn't have remembered anything, yet why did he suddenly say those words?"

"That…"

Lifting my head and meeting his gaze, I really didn't know how to answer.

'Should I just tell him that someone inside of me is trying to manipulate me and Kevin to do his bidding? Would he believe me when I say it?'

Biting my lips, I struggled to find a way to explain to him what was going on. But I knew that I had to reveal to him the truth.

Like I've said before, in order to get out of the other Ren's influence, I had to do something that he couldn't possibly predict.

And out of all the things that he couldn't possibly predict that I would reveal everything to Kevin. Regarding the matter about my reincarnation, and all the fucked up shit I did in the past.

I knew that in order to escape his influence, I had to do something that I would normally not do.

"…So it really was you."

But before I could say anything, a powerful aura suddenly erupted from Kevin's body.

Feeling his powerful aura, I took a step back and raised my hands.

"Wait, Kevin."

But it was already too late. With a loud 'bang' Kevin's body suddenly disappeared before reappearing right in front of me.

Opening my eyes wide, I saw his fists hurtling in my direction like a cannonball. What followed his fist was a muffled boom.

'Damn it!'

Seeing that it was too late for me to speak, gritting my teeth, I pressed my foot on the ground and sidestepped, narrowly voiding his fist by an inch.

Successfully dodging the attack, channeling the small amount of mana I had in my hand, I softly placed my palm on his abdomen. My movement was so fast and fluid that Kevin was unable to react on time.

Booom—

With a loud boom, like a missile, Kevin's body slid backward till his back crashed against the side of the wall. From where I was standing I could hear a muffled groan coming from out of his mouth.

"Haaa…haaa…"

'Damn it, I used too much mana!'

With heavy breathing, I gazed in the direction of where Kevin crashed.

"Kevin wait a minute. Let me explain!"

"What is there to explain?!"

Kevin's loud voice reverberated throughout the whole training ground before once again dashing in my direction. This time, his speed was a lot faster than before.

'Damn it, he's lost control of his emotions.'

I cursed inside of my mind as I gazed at Kevin who was quickly rushing in my direction.

I knew that I was in a lot of trouble at the moment.

I had no sword, and barely any mana left in me. At the moment fighting Kevin was impossible!

Swooosh—!

Feeling a powerful breeze near my face, using the last amount of energy inside of my body, I pressed my feet on the ground and jumped backward.

Booom—

Right as I dodged, Kevin's fist came crashing down against the hard ground. Fine miniature cracks formed around the area he punched. A small crater resembling the structure of Kevin's fist appeared on the ground.

Staring in the direction of where Kevin's fist landed, I secretly sighed in relief.

'Had that hit me, I would've been seriously injured.'

Fortunately, because Kevin was not in the right state of mind, I was able to somewhat predict his movements and hence why I was able to dodge his attack.

Had this been the usual calm Kevin, I would've lost back in the first exchange.

Staring in Kevin's direction, before he could follow up on his attack, I screamed at the top of my lungs.

"Kevin stop! Let me explain!"

"Explain?"

Kevin's feet came to a pause. I was relieved to see this. However, that relief did not last for long as Kevin said.

"What is there to explain? Your expression tells me everything. You were responsible for what happened."

Gritting his teeth, Kevin's voice raised.

"Tell me. Tell me why I should believe anything that comes out of your mouth!!??"

"Haaa…"

Instead of answering him, I breathed out and sat down on the ground.

"I give up."

My abrupt action startled Kevin.

"Give up? What are you talking about?!"

Crossing my legs, I channeled the mana inside of my body. A faint glow manifested around my body. Eying him from the side of my eyes, I raised my hand and showed him the fact that I was out of mana.

"...As you can see I am in no condition to fight."

I then proceeded to extend my arms outwards, whilst waving my hands inwardly. In a motioning manner.

"Come, do it. Beat me up. As you can see, I'm currently weakened. You're angry at me? Fine, be angry. I won't fight back. Do as you fucking please."

A powerful aura sprang out of Kevin's body as he glared in my direction. This persisted for a minute before gradually, Kevin forced himself to calm down.

Despite having calmed down, Kevin's glaring never receded as his chest moved up and down repeatedly.

"You calm?"

I asked, still seated on the ground.

"…"

He didn't respond. Not minding this, I motioned him to sit down opposite me.

Then, raising my head and staring towards the ceiling where the lights were, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

'...I guess I have no choice.'

Ba…thump! Ba…thump!

My heart started to speed up.

Opening my eyes, and gazing in Kevin's direction once again, I finally opened my mouth and said.

"…I think it's about time I tell you the truth. The truth about me and everything that happened."

Chapter 423: Coming clean [2]

Gazing in Kevin's direction, I lowered my head and stared at the floor next to me.

Following my hints, Kevin who had calmed down slowly walked over and sat down. He didn't say a single word throughout the whole time.

I didn't blame him for his reaction.

Resting my arms over my knees, I opened my mouth.

"Where should I start? There's much I have to say…"

There truly were a lot of things that I wanted to say.

So many that I had difficulty trying to sort my thoughts out.

But in the end, after realizing just how important it was for me to disclose everything, I calmed myself down.

Eyeing Kevin from the side of my eyes, I muttered.

"Just so you know, you're the only one that I've ever told my secret. I hope you don't tell anyone else about my secret."

This was a secret that I originally meant to take with me to the grave, but circumstances forced me to do otherwise. If I didn't disclose everything, the rift that the other Ren was trying to create between me, Kevin, and the others would simply widen.

But, if possible, I wanted only Kevin to know. It wasn't that I didn't trust the others, but I didn't want the others to have a false idea about who I was.

"Can you do that for me?"

"…okay."

After a long silence, Kevin eventually nodded his head. I smiled in response.

"Thanks."

Then, letting out a deep sigh, I began recounting to him everything.

"…well, it all started a week prior to the beginning of the Lock. That was the day I awoke...or should I say, those were the days where my memories began."

***

"The moment I woke up, I had faint recollections of a previous world where mana did not exist and I was a novel writer. A failed one at that."

"Luminescent swordman. That was the name of the last novel I created, and the name of the protagonist was...Kevin Voss."

Listening to Ren's words, Kevin's anger slowly started to disappear and what replaced it was pure shock.

The shock was so strong that Kevin found himself unable to speak nor think as his mind was entranced by every word that Ren said.

Many times he wanted to outright stop Ren from speaking.

He just couldn't come to terms with what he was saying. This world was a novel that he created, and he was the main character of that world? How could he believe that? But the more Ren talked, the more things started to align with his weird behavior, his deep knowledge regarding a few things, and his way of words.

Kevin's heart started to sink.

Doubt started to creep deep into his body as his face paled.

'Could his words be true?'

"It was only after the events after Immorra that I stopped being passive with my knowledge regarding the wo—"

"...Bullshit."

Kevin finally mouthed out loud, cutting Ren off. He just couldn't listen to Ren's words anymore.

He couldn't accept the idea that everything that had happened to him was merely part of some writing that Ren wrote.

Weren't Ren's words essentially saying that all the disasters that were currently happening to the world were a fabrication of his imagination? Were everything he felt in the past and his memories also fake?

Kevin couldn't accept it!

"You can't be real. It's impossible."

With a bitter smile on his face, Ren shook his head.

"I wish. I really wish that I was lying, but, I'm not. What I told you was nothing but the truth..."

Pausing mid-speech, Ren's face suddenly darkened.

"...Or at least that was what I originally believed to be the truth."

Kevin frowned upon hearing those words. A trace of hope rekindled in his eyes.

"What do you mean?"

Raising his head, Ren didn't say anything for the next few seconds. His brows repeatedly furrowed and relaxed during that time before finally, looking straight at Kevin straight in the eyes, he said.

"I no longer have reason to believe in those memories. I think that world was a fake world designed by someone to make me act the way that they wanted me to."

"...What?"

The confusion in Kevin intensified. Leaning his neck forward, Kevin tilted his head.

"Are you saying that someone implanted those memories into you, and is trying to manipulate you?"

Making a difficult face, Ren eventually nodded his head.

"Right..."

He proceeded to massage his forehead. Then, lifting his head, he looked straight into Kevin's eyes.

"I don't know what to say, you can think that I'm lying, but whatever is happening to me, their target is you."

"Me?"

Kevin raised his brows in surprise. However, the surprise did not last for long as flashbacks of the last synchronization started to replay in his mind.

'Could it be that the vision was real?...and the one responsible for killing Emma was that entity?'

If so, everything was slowly starting to make more sense.

The vision he saw was truly a flashback of the future. Apprehension instantly hit Kevin as he eyed Ren opposite him.

Unaware of what Kevin was thinking, Ren, nodded his head.

"Yeah, I believe that the entity responsible for all of this is targeting you."

Pausing, Ren's face twisted slightly before he suddenly lowered it.

"...The incident regarding Emma, you were right. I was somehow responsible for it."

Like thunderbolts, Ren's words thunderously clapped inside of Kevin's ears as his eyes opened widely.

However, that did not last for long as Kevin was able to quickly recompose himself.

The moment he had linked everything to the previous flashback, he already understood that whatever happened to Emma was not an incident.

"...Remember how I told you that the entity was trying to target you?"

Ren suddenly asked.

Closing his eyes, Kevin took a deep breath.

"Continue."

Ren pursed his lips.

"...The goal of the entity is to try to harm everyone that is around you."

Listening to Ren's words, Kevin showed no reaction as he softly muttered.

"Harm those around me?"

"Yes."

Ren nodded his head and continued.

"From what I've gathered, the entity is trying to make you less soft. Or rather, trying to change you into someone they deemed fit to fight the demon king."

Closing his eyes, Kevin once again took a deep breath as he tried to process all of the information he was being told.

'Trying to change me into someone deemed fit to fight the demon king? Why does he think I can't defeat the demon king...and why me?'

Seemingly being able to read Kevin's thoughts, Ren added.

"He is the one that the Akashic records chose, and yet he is the one that is least fit to carry on that role."

"This was what he said."

Lifting his head, Kevin suddenly felt his head throb.

'Akashic records.'

Those words were once again being mentioned.

Kevin was a smart person. The moment Ren mentioned those words, he was able to quickly piece everything together. 'The one that the Akashic records chose.' What else could they refer to but the system?

Slowly the veil and mystery revolving around the world started to fade. Lifting his head, Kevin came up with a theory.

But Ren seemed to be a step ahead of him. Before he could voice out his theory, Ren had already started speaking.

"Sensing that its existence was in danger due to the threat of the demon king, as a way to preserve itself, the Akashic records chose someone to prevent the demon king from ever getting to it, and that person is none other than you, Kevin. This probably explains why you have a system."

Hearing Ren's words, Kevin had no other choice but to agree. He also believed that this was the case.

The only question he had was, 'Why me?'

Out of all the people in the world, why him? He really couldn't understand this.

"Huuuu..."

Leaning his head back and staring at the ceiling of the training ground, Kevin tried to digest all of the information inside of his mind.

Everything was starting to make more sense, however, Kevin knew that he had only barely scraped the surface of it.

Sitting near him, Ren also remained silent. He had a thoughtful look on his face.

As he looked at him, the previous anger that Kevin felt for him slowly started to dispel as he asked.

"Did you figure something out?"

Raising his head and looking at him, Ren shook his head.

"Nothing concrete yet, but thinking back at the vision you previously told me about, I have a nagging feeling that whoever the entity trying to manipulate us is, he knows the future."

Raising his hand and placing it below his chin, Ren carefully said.

"Remember how you said something about the 'time remnant' targeting you? What if the entity inside of me is the time remnant?"

"...That makes sense."

Kevin softly muttered as he sat up straight.

"Whatever this entity is, we can conclude that its end goal is defeating the demon king. But we still don't know why."

"Yeah."

"Haaa..."

Letting out a long breath, Kevin stood up. Lowering his head and staring in Ren's direction, Kevin softly said.

"Thank you for telling me everything."

When he said those words, Kevin truly meant it.

A while ago, when he revealed everything to Ren, about the system and the book, Ren never said anything about himself. Kevin did not call him out for that, but he felt slightly disappointed.

It felt as though Ren was trying to build a wall between them. Trying to stop him from getting too close.

He didn't truly understand at first why, but it was only after Ren told him everything that he understood why Ren acted the way he did.

How could he blame him?

Still seated down, raising his head, Ren looked up towards Kevin.

"You don't seem mad."

"Mad?"

"...If you realized that I knew the future and that this world may possibly be a novel, you must know of the fucked up shit I did. About the war in Immorra, the Hollberg incident, and how I let children die, an—"

"Stop."

Kevin suddenly said, cutting Ren off.

"Don't think for one second that I am not mad about what you did. In fact, I'm trying my best to hold back..."

Kevin's fist clenched tightly.

Just the thought of the innocent lives that Ren had sacrificed in the process of trying to achieve his goals, pissed him off, but...

"I also know that you were being manipulated by someone to act the way that you did, and even then, I realized something."

Pausing, Kevin exhaled.

"Your previous words were right. I am too soft."

Kevin closed his eyes and clenched his fists even more tightly.

"...I may not agree with the things that you did in the past, but I also realized that my approach may have been too immature."

Simply put, he was too emotional.

Whenever he saw injustice or someone near him get hurt, he would always lose himself.

Perhaps it was because of what he experienced in the past with his parents, but, at the end of the day, it was one of his big shortcomings and something he needed to fix.

'The chosen one.'

Was what the entity inside of Ren called him.

Staring at the system interface before him, Kevin didn't doubt his words.

This wasn't merely out of arrogance, but he truly believed that he had been chosen by the Akashic records to defeat the demon king.

He had been granted everything.

Talent, a system that could grant him any resource he wanted, and perhaps, most important of all, people whom he could entrust his back to.

Yet, after talking to Ren, Kevin realized something.

He wasn't fit to be 'the chosen one'. Simply put, despite not wanting to admit it, he was still too immature.

He was still stuck in the past.

He needed to let go of his past, and finally, move on. Learn to be more decisive, and improve from his mistakes.

If there was one thing that Kevin realized, it was that talent and luck weren't the keys to success, but it was how one utilized them that determined one's success.

Chapter 424: Confrontation [1]

After the incident with Emma, the tournament was put on hold for a couple of days.

The reason why it was put on hold had nothing to do with Emma, in truth. Instead, it was because the preparations for broadcasting the tournament throughout each domain were ready.

Since it required a lot of mana to broadcast the events, the leaders only chose to start broadcasting them at the round of thirty-two.

With radio frequencies being blocked by the barrier enveloping Issanor, normal broadcasting means couldn't be used. Hence, the long waiting time.

At least this applied to the human side as they needed to make the proper arrangements. They weren't as advanced as the other races after all.

"Congrats on passing the round."

Meeting up with Ava and Hein, I first congratulated Ava who had actually passed the round.

Because of the incident that happened, I was unable to watch her fight live. But after gaining access to replays of the video, I spent a good couple of hours analyzing her fight. And I had to say, I was impressed.

At first, I thought that she wouldn't have made it this far as, like Hein, her specialty didn't lie in 1 v 1. But, I was quickly proven wrong.

With her now improved flute, she could summon up to eight beasts, with all of them ranked at around <C> rank.

Typically, this many beasts wouldn't have been able to deal with a <B> rank, but the synergy that Ava was able to create between each beast made her a known threat, enough to bridge a rank gap.

Watching her fight in the video I was really left amazed and made a mental note to myself to pay close attention to her next fight. Perhaps she would once again surprise me.

"Thank you."

At my words, Ava replied with a smile.

"I wasn't really confident in my chances, but I guess I got lucky."

"No."

I shook my head.

"Luck can only get you so far. This was all you."

Turning to look behind Ava, my eyes paused on Hein.

"You seem to be doing a lot better than before. You managed to get over your loss."

"Not really…"

Hein replied with a bitter smile on his face.

"Although I always knew that I wasn't going to win… I at least wanted to make it past the round of thirty two."

"There, there."

Turning around, Ava patted Hein on the shoulder… Or at least tried to. She was too short to reach him.

Eventually, after realising that she couldn't reach him, she gave up.

"Whatever."

She softly mumbled as she crossed her arms and pouted. Hein, who was already used to such a scene, didn't seem to mind it and continued.

"I don't know, I just feel like I still have a lot that is lacking."

"Don't we all?"

Honestly, I felt gratified that Hein felt this way.

If someone did not think they were lacking in anything then their growth would just stunt. Even Kevin whom I had talked to last night realized just how many flaws he had.

No one was perfect.

That included me. I was nowhere near perfect. But, just because one had flaws didn't mean that they were weak.

"Well, since you realized that you have many flaws, just work on them. The less they become apparent, the more you know you're doing something right."

I was honestly not the best person with regard to giving advice, but I firmly believed what I just said.

Fortunately, Hein understood the intent behind my words and nodded his head in understanding.

"Yeah."

"That's good."

With a smile on my face, I glanced around.

"By the way, where are the others?"

"You mean Smallsnake and the others?" Ava asked. I nodded in response.

"Yeah."

Did they perhaps go around to explore the city? It was understandable, after all, since they weren't participating and perhaps got bored.

But Ava's next sentence completely caught me off-guard.

"Oh, they went back to the human domain for a bit."

"…Eh?"

Unable to process her words, I blinked repeatedly.

"What did you just say?"

With a strange look on her face, Ava replied.

"…I said that they went to the human domain."

"You can do that?"

The confusion within me grew even further.

"Ah, right. You were probably busy with everything that happened so you didn't know the portals have been opened up. Unfortunately, only those who are not participating can leave. The cost is expensive, too."

"I see…"

'They could've told me beforehand.'

I was a bit salty about this development, but I wasn't too mad. After all, once the tournament ended, I was planning on settling back in the human domain.

Well, of course, that depended on whether everything that I had set up beforehand worked.

I did message Donna and Monica regarding it, too. They said that they would help me, but I hadn't heard back from them since then.

"Well, whatever. I guess I should use this time to relax."

I eventually shrugged my shoulders. Since the only people that could go back were the ones that weren't participating in the tournament, I couldn't go back and visit my family.

Either way, it didn't really matter. I was going to meet them soon enough.

"The two of us will go now. Hein said that he will help me train for my next opponent.

Snapping me out of my thoughts was Ava who waved goodbye to me.

Raising my head and glancing in their direction, I waved back.

"Bye."

Following my words, the two of them left, leaving me alone, standing in the middle of the city.

'Hmmm, what should I do?'

There wasn't really much for me to do at the moment. I couldn't really talk to Kevin since he was probably sorting his stuff out, and Melissa probably headed back for a bit. Amanda had said that there was something for her to do and she will contact me later.

There really wasn't any- actually, there was someone.

As my thoughts paused there, scratching the back of my head, I let out a sigh after a while.

"Whatever, I'm that bored. It won't make a difference."

Taking out my communication device, I quickly dialed a number.

After a couple of rings, someone finally picked up. It was Jin.

—…What do you want?

"Cough."

Heading Jin's voice, and recalling the past we had with each other, my voice raised a bit.

"Well, Jin, it's been a while. You free?"

***

At the same time, in a different place.

"Khrrr…khrrr…"

Inside a large room, a rough nasal sound resounded throughout the whole place.

Seated at a large table were over ten figures, each of which was an orc.

In the middle of the table were multiple projections, depicting the image of all the contestants remaining.

"Vaalyun, Borerlig, Ignar, Amelia, and Kevin Voss. These are the most likely candidates for the top spots."

One of the orcs seated said while sorting out the images.

A deep silence ensued in the room as everyone gazed at a certain individual. The moment their eyes landed on him, their breathing became rough, and unknowingly lowered their head in submission.

The individual before them was called Kimor, and he was the strongest orc amongst the younger generation. With a rank of <A->, he was one of the individuals with the highest chances of winning the tournament.

Staring at the hologram, Kimor finally opened his mouth.

"Khhrrr…khrrr… Who is the biggest threat?"

Although he spoke softly, his voice rang throughout the whole room like thunder, alerting everyone present.

The only one that seemed to be unfazed by this was the orc who had previously spoken. His name was Artian, and he was the strongest orc in the room, at <B+> rank.

"Khrr..khrrr… If we directly look at it from what we've seen, Vaalyun, Borerlig, Ignar, and Amelia are the only ones that truly pose a threat. Maybe the human Kevin can be dangerous, but he's only <B> ranked."

"<B> ranked?"

Disgust flashed across Kimor's face as soon as he heard that Kevin was only <B> ranked.

"Is he the strongest amongst the humans?"

"Yes."

Artian nodded. Closing his eyes, Kimor leaned his head over on his hand that was clenched into a fist.

"… How weak." He spat.

"The purpose of this non-essential tournament was to test whether humans are worth entering our alliance?"

"That's correct."

Artian once again nodded.

"What about the other humans? How strong are they?"

Tapping on the hologram, Amelia opened up several other profiles.

"Ava Leafz. Her rank is the lowest amongst the contestants present, at <C+> rank. However, with the aid of some weird artifact, she is able to summon multiple beasts, making her a sizable threat."

Swiping right, another profile appeared.

"Amanda Stern, <B-> rank. Long-range attacker uses a bow."

"Jin Horton, <B-> rank. Assassin type, uses daggers."

"Aaron Rhinestone; <B-> rank, speed type, uses daggers and has a technique that allows him to switch places with people. Data regarding his skill is incomplete."

"Lastly, Caerileum. Believed to be using an alias, he's a <B> rank swordsman. The fighting style seems to depend on special car-like artifacts. Despite being the same rank as Kevin, it is believed that his combat power is far below his."

Listening to Artian's narration of the human contestants, Kimor gradually frowned.

In the end, after a while, he shook his head in disappointment.

"Worthless. None of them are worth taking note of. Skip towards the other contestants."

"As you wish."

Swiping his hand, another series of profiles appeared and Artian went through the same process again.

***

Similar scenes took place on the elven side, as the strongest elven contestant Vaalyn showed the same reaction as Kimor upon looking through the list of remaining contestants.

Seated at the head of the table, his silver-colored hair gently cascaded down his shoulders as an air of nobility exuded from his body. Accompanying the noble air was a cold and arrogant one.

"Apart from that human named Kevin Voss, there is no one worthy of note."

His voice gently traveled throughout the room.

Lifting his head and staring at the other elves seated in the room, he casually said, "You guys will be in charge of taking care of the other humans. They may be the same rank as you, but you shouldn't have trouble beating them."

"Yes."

All the elves simultaneously nodded upon hearing Vaalyn's words.

"Good." Vaalyun nodded.

Looking back at the human profiles, traces of disappointment flashed across his eyes.

As a royal blood of the elves, he naturally understood the purpose behind this tournament, and to say that he was disappointed was an understatement.

He had been paying close attention to the humans, and honestly, he was quite irritated by them.

To think that this was the best they had to offer.

Embarrassing and appalling.

"I think we've sorted everything out already. I will be taking my leave."

The more he thought about it, the greater the anger within him rose. Standing up, he brushed his silver hair behind him and left the room. Following him from behind were five other elven figures.

As he left the room, Vaalyun's face twisted slightly.

To him, the only way humans could join the alliance would be through being their cannon fodder.

They simply weren't worth the time.

As his thoughts paused there, he muttered inside of his mind.

'You want to join our alliance with that level of strength? Fine, so be it. I will let you guys understand just how big the difference between our races are.'

His words weren't merely out of superiority but based on what he had seen so far in the tournament.

Clank—

Chapter 425: Confrontation [2]

At the moment I was currently sitting down inside a famous elven shop where one could enjoy the fantastic scenery of the city from above. Sat with one of my legs crossed, I enjoyed the nice northern breeze.

"Hey."

Taking a sip of the famous elven honeydew drink, I greeted Jin who was walking over with a serious look on his face.

Squinting his eyes, Jin wordlessly sat on the seat opposite of me.

"What's with the serious look?"

I asked.

He looked like someone that was just about to fight his biggest enemy. How strange.

"...You still haven't told me why you're meeting up with me."

Pausing, Jin placed his hand on the table and leaned forward.

"What exactly do you want?"

There was deep apprehension in his eyes as he looked at me. My hand which was holding onto the cup froze.

"What?"

The moment I processed his words, I instantly became confused. I then proceeded to put my cup down.

"What makes you think that I called you here with any intent?"

"...So you just called me here for the sake of calling me."

"Yeah, pretty much. I was bored."

Opening and closing his mouth, Jin tried to say something, but from the looks of it, my answer had made him speechless.

Seeing him like that, I forced myself to not laugh.

"I'm joking, I actually do have something to talk about."

Jin's brows furrowed upon hearing this. Before he could say anything else, I continued.

"Aside from being bored, there was actually something that I wanted to talk about. It's regarding our next opponents. Since you train so much, I figured that you didn't know much regarding our next opponents, Plus..."

Lowering my head, I looked at my watch.

"We should get our matchups soon."

In about ten minutes or so.

That aside, Jin was the type of person that would not make any preparations prior to when fighting an opponent.

It wasn't that he didn't want to, but it was because he just preferred using that time to train. Ever since meeting him, I noticed that he had become a training fanatic.

Either way, the reason why I was telling him about the next opponents was because I wanted to avoid a similar scenario to that of Emma's and also increase the chances of him winning.

I wanted to make sure no other slip-ups happened.

Humanity joining the alliance was a must. Even if Kevin and I performed well if Jin and the others didn't perform well, the probability of the other races allowing us to join would drop drastically.

At my words, Jin finally showed some interest.

"Continue."

Nodding my head, I proceeded to take out my tablet and placed it on the table.

Then, tapping on its screen, a holographic projection appeared before the two of us. On it were the different profiles of the top thirty-two contestants.

"So, here are the people that you need to watch out for. As you probably know, the strongest representatives from the three other races are in a league of their own. Honestly, given our current rank, it would be quite hard to beat them, but it's not entirely impossible."

Pausing, I looked at Jin who was staring at the profiles next to me.

"How much of your five-star manual have you learned?"

"Huh?"

Surprise flashed across Jin's face as his head snapped in my direction.

With his brows furrowed tightly, he asked.

"How do you know that I practice a five-star manual?"

I rolled my eyes at his question.

"Don't tell me the Horton family doesn't have a five-star manual?"

"...They do."

"Right, and given your talent, there's no way they wouldn't give it to you."

Although he still did not look convinced by my words, Jin eventually let it go and slowly answered.

"Greater realm of mastery."

"Mhhh..."

Leaning back on my chair, I crossed my arms.

"Greater realm...you must've not gotten your art for a very long time."

If I had to be honest, it was kind of low.

Well, this was understandable. Although Kevin and I were in the Essence realm of mastery, we did get our manuals a lot earlier than him.

"About a year and a half," Jin answered.

"I see."

This was going to be difficult.

TWIIIING—! TWIIIING—!

Just as I was about to open my mouth to say something, both of our watches suddenly started to vibrate.

Staring at each other for a second, we quickly checked our watch.

"It looks like the matchups are out."

"...Yeah."

'Alright, let me see my match up.'

Lowering my head, I proceeded to look at my match-up, but the moment I saw who my opponent was, my eyes opened wide.

===

[Tournament round of 32 | matchups.]

.

.

Ava Leafz vs Amelia.

.

.

Kevin Voss vs. Aaron Rhinestone.

.

.

Caeruleum vs. Kimor.

.

.

Jin Horton vs. Artian.

.

.

Amanda Stern vs Ivona.

===

Raising his head, Jin's eyes met with mine. A smirk soon emerged on his lips.

"Looks like you got the short end of the stick."

"Fuck off."

I irritably said as I turned off my watch and leaned back on my chair.

'God damn it. Out of all people, I am matched up with one of the strongest in the tournament. Talk about crappy luck.'

If there was someone that I did not want to meet, then it would without a doubt be Kimor.

Not only was he ranked higher than me, but he also fought wisely. He wasn't like the other orcs that fought without thinking about their next move.

He was not someone I couldn't fight without pulling every single card in the book.

Be it Keiki style, The one, Eyes of Chronos, he wasn't someone I couldn't fight without going all out.

It didn't take long for me to come to terms with reality as I eventually let out a long sigh.

"Oh, well, it's not like I was planning on hiding for long."

The thing that bugged me the most however was not that, but it was Kevin's matchup. He was against Aaron.

Flashbacks of what we said last night replayed inside of my mind as I thought of the possibility of Kevin possibly even going as far as killing Aaron in the matchup.

If he really did that, then I had to alter a few things in my plan.

"It's about time you showed your real strength."

Jin commented from the side, snapping me out of my thoughts. Raising my brows, I looked at him.

"What do you mean?"

"...I want to see you fight at full strength."

As he said those words, Jin's green eyes burned interest. I was a bit taken aback by this, but after thinking for a bit, I realized why.

'So he's still hung up about the Hollberg incident.'

During the time that I held him by the throat, and said a lot of things. Considering Jin's personality it made sense for him to want to know about my current strength.

Taking a sip of my drink, I softly said.

"Guess you won't have to wait for long, really."

Letting out another sigh, I glanced around and looked for the waiter. I was planning on ordering something powerful.

But just as I was about to call out for the waiter, the place suddenly became quiet as everyone's attention drew towards a certain individual. Behind him were five other individuals.

Leading the five individuals, with long silver hair cascading down his back, and a porcelain-like face, was an elf who walked into the establishment. Wearing fine-silk clothing, he exuded a regal and almost otherworldly aura.

Behind him, the other five individuals, although lacking a bit compared to the leading man, also exuded a noble presence.

The moment they entered the establishment, all eyes fell on him.

Without needing to be told who he was, I instantly recognized him. He was none other than Vaalyun, the strongest participating elf. Someone that was on par with Kimor in terms of strength.

Seated from where I was I could feel the respect and awe the others had for him.

I wasn't the only one that felt this way as Jin shifted his body on the chair.

Glancing at him from the corner of my eyes, I mumbled.

"Looks like we've found your elven brother."

"What?"

Jin replied in confusion. Leaning slightly, I elaborated.

"Not too long ago, you acted exactly like him. In fact, you still do."

That arrogant and smug look seemed to favor the respectful stares from the others. He really did act like the old Jin.

The moment he heard my comments, Jin's eyes squinted.

He had obviously understood what I meant and was obviously not pleased. Then, thinking of something, he raised his head and nudged in the direction of one of the elves following the silver-haired one.

"...guess we also found your family. You pretty much acted like them not too long ago."

"Pah."

I scoffed. But as I took a closer look at the people following behind Vaalyun, who looked just like extras, perhaps Jin did have a point.

Not that I was going to admit it.

"Hm?"

Blinking a couple of times, I suddenly noticed Vaalyun glance in our direction for a brief moment.

Then, nudging his followers from behind, he headed in our direction.

Blinking a couple of times, I turned to look at JIn.

"...Is it just me or are they coming our way?"

Shaking his head, Jin solemnly said.

"It's not just you."

And he was right, not even a couple of seconds after his words faded, Vaalyun came our way.

'Oh god.'

Staring at him who was coming our way, I couldn't help but secretly curse at my continuous string of bad luck.

Despite the fact that elves tended to act less arrogantly than the orcs, and perhaps even other races, that didn't mean that there weren't arrogant elves.

They did in fact exist, and unfortunately, Jin and I crossed paths with one of them today.

Halting his steps in front of our table, he gave us a brief glance before saying.

"You must be Jin Horton and C something."

'C something?'

Was my alias really that hard to remember?

"What do you want?"

Jin coldly answered by the side. His words were quite blunt, but I knew he could already tell from a glance that Vaalyun was looking for trouble with us. Hence why he quickly discarded all forms of courtesy from the get-go.

Pausing his eyes on Jin, Vaalyun calmly replied.

"What I want is simple. Give up on the tournament."

"...Ah?"

Listening to his demand, I almost spat out the drink that I had in my hand.

My sudden action did not go unnoticed by Vaalyun who showed a displeased expression.

"Is there something funny about what I just said?"

Tilting my head back, my face turned strange.

Without answering him, I leaned closer to Jin. "Are you sure he's not part of your family? I swear, he really does act like you."

The similarities were almost impeccable.

"Shut up."

Raising his hand, Jin pushed me back to my seat. I clicked my tongue in response.

Having watched the whole exchange from the beginning, Vaalyun's face twisted in disgust as he muttered.

"Savages."

Despite having heard his words, I continued to ignore him.

He may not know this, but I had plenty of experience when it came to dealing with arrogant people. All thanks to the Lock which was riddled with them.

Still, unlike them, I had to be careful when dealing with him. He was of a noble elven lineage, and therefore beating him up here would only bring trouble. Not that I could easily do it since he was ranked higher than me and had people behind him.

What a pain in the rear...

As I was pondering over the situation, I realized that there really wasn't much I could do. Considering the bigger picture, if I acted out too much at the moment, it would only be detrimental for me and the others in the tournament.

Jin also seemed to have understood this as he forced himself to hold back.

Turning my attention towards him, leaning on the table with my arm, I asked.

"Say, why do you want us out of the tournament?"

"Because it's an embarrassment," Vaalyun replied with a voice filled with scorn. "If they allow people like you to make it far, it would only devalue the power of our races."

"...Okay."

Nothing he said really made sense, but I pretended to nod at his words.

"So what do we get for forfeiting the match? You must offer us something, right?"

The moment I said those words, a powerful pressure suddenly bore down on both Jin and me. It was so sudden and unexpected that we weren't able to react on time. It felt as though a heavy track had suddenly been parked on top of our backs.

"Ukh."

A groan escaped from my mouth.

'Guess he has a lot more self-control than I originally anticipated.' I muttered inside of my mind as I felt the heavy pressure on me lighten up.

Was really hoping he would do something stupid and exploit it, but I guess he wasn't as dumb as he looked.

"What do you get from forfeiting the match?" Vaalyun's face twisted even more savagely. "You get to keep your honor intact. I'm not saying this for my sake. I'm saying this for your sake."

He hatefully spat.

Before I could say anything else, Vaalyun turned toward one of the waitresses in the establishment.

"Kick the both of them out."

And just like that, giving us one last cold look, Vaalyun left and sat down at a table further away from us. Following his actions, two waiters came to us and politely told us to leave. Since I didn't want to cause any trouble I obediently left the establishment with Jin.

Once we were a couple of meters away from the place, Jin's cold voice rang from behind me.

"Are you just going to let him get away with what he did?"

"Get away?"

A chuckle involuntarily escaped from my mouth as my eyes flashed coldly. Turning to look in Jin's direction, I softly muttered.

"...Don't worry, I'm definitely not going to forget about this."

If there was one thing that most people close to me knew, it was that I was the epitome of pettiness.

What happened today.

Definitely was not going to forget.

Chapter 426: Round of thirty two [1]

On the same day, in a remote location in Issanor.

With tall trees covering the sky, the only light that came was from the sun above, which had to pass through the many leaves above, creating a yellow net of light.

Walking up ahead, and leading Amanda inside of the forest was an elegant elven male.

With a simple smile on his face, he pointed towards a certain direction and said.

"This way please."

Amanda gave a simple nod in response.

At the moment, Amanda had many questions she wanted to ask inside her mind.

Recalling everything that happened to her not too long ago, everything felt like a blur to her. She was just minding her business in her room, reading a book that she enjoyed when out of nowhere, the elf before her came to knock on her door saying that someone important wanted to meet with her.

She was a bit apprehensive about the whole situation but seeing how insistent he was being, she had no choice but to go.

Of course, she did give a heads up to Donna and Monica about her current situation. But apparently, they knew beforehand, dispelling all of her worries.

"We're here."

Stopping in front of a large ancient tree, the elven male placed his hand on the tree. It was at that moment that a green light exuded from his hand, and the ground trembled.

Rumble—

Following the low rumble, much to the shock of Amanda, the tree started growing in an upward manner.

This persisted for a couple of seconds before it finally stopped, revealing a small door.

Taking a step to the side, the elf opened the door and gestured for her to go in.

"Please."

Nodding her head, Amanda slowly walked in.

Upon entering the place, Amanda suddenly heard the sound of the door closing behind her.

Clank—

Turning around, she realized that the elf was no longer there and that she was the only person present.

Wariness instantly flashed across her face, but just as she was about to walk back to the door, a gentle voice entered her ears.

"Don't worry, we mean no harm."

Upon hearing her voice, Amanda's head snapped in the direction of where the voice came from, and when she did her eyes opened wide.

With long silver hair gently cascading down her back, and an otherworldly face that made anyone wonder whether she was a mortal or a goddess, stood a familiar figure.

A figure that Amanda had seen many times in the past.

She was none other than the elven queen.

Immediately upon realizing this, Amanda lowered her head and politely greeted her.

"I, Amanda Stern, greet the queen."

The queen smiled at Amanda's action as she raised her hand.

"There is no need for you to be polite with me."

"Hm?"

The moment Amanda heard the queen's words, her brows furrowed.

'No need for you to be polite with me?'

Was she just saying this out of politeness? If so, Amanda decided to continue being formal.

A helpless smile appeared on the queen's face when she saw this.

Pursing her lips, the eleven queen looked at Amanda. After looking at her up and down, a gentle smile emerged on her lips.

"You must be wondering why I suddenly summoned you, right?"

"...Yes."

After a brief moment of silence, Amanda nodded her head.

Upon seeing this, the smile on the queen's face receded a little.

"Come here, I will show you something."

Then, turning around, she walked deeper into the place. Staring at the queen's back, Amanda followed her from behind.

Walking for a couple of minutes, the two of them soon stopped in front of a small door. The door looked nothing special. It was just a simple door, but from where she was standing, Amanda could feel a gentle power coming from the room, causing her to instantly feel a warm and gentle sensation wash over her body.

Opening the door of the room, the first thing Amanda saw was a large pod surrounded by thick branches. On the other hand, deep roots etched onto the side of the room, as small leaves extended from them.

The room was quite small, and aside from the pod in the middle of the room, there was nothing else particular about it.

The moment she entered the room, Amanda could see a noticeable change in the queen's demeanor as she looked towards the pod with deep sadness in her eyes.

Pressing her feet on the ground, the queen moved towards the pod in the middle of the room and gently placed her hand on it.

Closing her eyes, silence descended on the room as the queen didn't say anything.

It was only after a while that she finally opened her mouth and said.

"There was a time, a decade ago when I was weak…"

Pausing, she looked in Amanda's direction.

"Back then, I was still in the process of inheriting my mother's powers and so was in a state of weakness."

"You may not know this, but in order for one to become the queen, one must have the purse of elven blood before inheriting the power of the former queen. This is something that has been happening for generations and generations of our race."

"Naturally, the demons who knew this tried everything they could to assassinate me. In fact, they almost succeeded."

Turning to look towards the capsule, the queen's eyes cast with sadness.

"That was until I met her…"

The moment her words faded, she looked in Amanda's direction and muttered.

"Your mother."

Bang—

Like a thunderbolt, the queen's words reverberated throughout Amanda's mind as she tried to process what she was saying.

Her indifferent demeanor crumbled slightly, as she turned to look at the capsule in front of the queen.

Seeing the look on Amanda's face, the queen motioned her to come.

"Have a look."

Without saying anything, Amanda slowly walked up to the capsule. The closer she walked to the capsule, the more difficult it became for her to walk. It felt as though heavy lead had been stuck on her legs, preventing her from moving forward.

But eventually, Amanda was able to reach the capsule. Once her footsteps paused in front of it, she took a deep breath.

Ba…thump! Ba…thump!

Staring at the capsule, she could feel her heart beating deeply inside of her own body.

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, she slowly leaned her head forward, and peered through the small gap in the middle of the capsule.

"Ah."

A weird sound came out of her mouth the moment her eyes peered through the small gap of the capsules as she stumbled a couple of steps back.

Covering her mouth with both arms, Amanda's mind shook.

She couldn't understand what was happening. Recalling the face of the woman inside the capsule, Amanda was sure. She was her mother!

The resemblance with her was almost uncanny. However, if there was a difference, it was the fact that she looked younger and more beautiful than what she remembered in the past.

"You must have a lot of questions."

The queen suddenly asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

Turning to look at the queen, Amanda weakly nodded her head. She was currently having a hard time making out what was happening.

Was this a trick? Was the woman over there really her mother? How did she meet the queen, and how was it possible for her to be here?

The number of questions Amanda had were endless. She didn't know where to start.

Seeing the confusion on Amanda's face, the queen once again smiled. Then, with her eyes still locked on the capsule, she suddenly asked.

"Do you know the reason why your mother left your side when you were young?"

"...Because she couldn't cope with the pressure coming from my father's guild."

Amanda answered after a short pause.

This was the answer that most people she asked told her, and was what she believed throughout her whole life.

However, in response to her words, the queen merely shook her head.

"No, it's not."

Amanda's body froze upon hearing this. Her mind followed along as it blanked out.

What did she mean, it's not?

Was the queen trying to insinuate that whatever reason her mother left her not because of what the others told her?

Her heart started beating even more wildly.

"Your mother left not because she didn't want to be with you, nor because she couldn't handle the pressure coming from handling such a big guild, but it was because she was...cursed."

"...Cursed?"

Amanda's brows jumped up in shock.

Staring at her, the queen nodded her head.

"Yes, you may already know what the curse is, it's queen a famous one, 'The mind breaker curse.'"

Opening her mouth, no words came out of Amanda's mouth as she struggled to find the right words to say.

Amanda wasn't dumb.

After hearing what the queen said, she already realized what happened.

The mind breaker curse was an infamous curse that the demons could apply to humans in order to control their life and death.

It was a curse that was famous for not having a cure.

Putting the pieces together, Amanda understood what happened. Somewhat and somehow, her mother got cursed by a powerful demon, and in order to keep her, and her father safe, she chose to directly flee with the excuse of not being able to handle the pressure.

As her thoughts paused there, Amanda felt a tear stream down her cheek as her heart started to hurt.

But before she could wipe the tear, she suddenly felt a soft hand touch her cheek. Lifting her head, she saw the elven queen stare at her with a soft smile on her face.

"It seems like you've figured out what happened."

Amanda nodded her head.

Her shoulders trembled at the thought of everything her mother went through.

Suddenly she felt a hand press onto her shoulder, without looking she knew that it was the queen.

"Your mother was quite a smart and brave woman." The queen said. "In order to stop the demon from using her to target your father, she directly pretended to not care about him and leave. Furthermore, in order to stop the demon from directly telling your father the truth, she fled out of the human domain and threatened to end her own life within a couple of days."

Caressing had hair back, the queen continued.

"You may not know this, but cursing someone with the mind breaker curse is not that simple. Especially the number one guild in the human domain. It probably took the demon an insurmountable amount of resources to even curse her."

"Not wanting to let go of their one chance to take control of the number one guild in the human domain and waste all the resources that they had invested, the demon pursued her, and during that pursuit, it was there that I met her."

Taking her hand away from Amanda's shoulder, the elven queen turned to once again look at the figure hiding behind the capsule.

"It was during her pursuit that she stumbled upon me who was quite injured. Taking pity on me, she took care of me and healed me up"

"During those days, we developed a close relationship with each other and that was how I was able to learn the truth. And, with her protecting me, I was able to successfully take in my inheritance and gain enough power to defend myself, but…"

Closing her eyes, the queen tried her best to suppress her emotions. But it was to no avail as Amanda could feel subtle fluctuations coming from the mana in the air.

"The moment I was able to take in my inheritance, the demon pursuing her realized that they could no longer do anything and just decided to end things by activating the curse."

The queen suddenly clenched her fist tightly as she bit her lips. Her usual calm expression crumbled slightly.

"I tried everything I could to save her, but the curse is simply too strong. Despite my powers, all I could do was watch as she slowly died from the curse. I even tried feeding her an elven tear once I brought her back to Issanor, but it was to no avail as her life energy continued to drain away at an alarming rate…"

Taking a deep breath, heavy sadness flashed across the queen's face as she mumbled.

"In the end, the best I could do was seal her here."

Lifting her head, the queen turned to look at the capsule that was connected to the many roots coming from above the room.

"The capsule over here will constantly feed her life energy keeping her alive, but in the end, despite all of the life energy that was entering her body, the curse is slowly eating away at it. Unless we can find a cure for the curse, there is no way to wake her up."

A heavy silence descended upon the room once the queen's words faded.

Having listened to every word the queen said, Amanda turned to look at her mother's figure that was peacefully resting inside of the capsule. Tears streamed down her face.

'I'm sorry.'

Amanda muttered inside of her mind as her shoulders shook even more.

'...and thank you for everything you did for me.'

Chapter 427: Round of thirty two [2]

Human domain, Ashton city.

The moment it was announced that the conference would be broadcasted throughout the whole human domain, an air of excitement washed over the entire city as everyone fine tuned their devices to stream the entire tournament.

"According to sources, only six humans managed to qualify for the round of thirty-two."

Broadcasted throughout every screen were the faces of two announcers as they talked to each other. Of the two announcers, one was a female announcer with a beautiful face and glossy black hair that gently fall behind her shoulders.

Wearing a beautiful dress, she looked especially dazzling.

Her name was Lorena, and she was a famous <A> ranked Hero.

Next to her, with a straight back, handsome features, and brown hair was her co-host, Zack Middlespaw, also a famed <A> ranked hero.

At the moment the two of them were talking about the upcoming contestants.

"Caeruleum, Aaron Rhinestone, Kevin Voss, Amanda Stern, Jin Horton, and Ava Leafz."

Zack replied with a smile as he crossed his arms on the table before looking straight into the cameras.

"Of the six people, you guys must already know who four of them are, right?"

Smiling, he pressed his finger on the table and four profiles lit up more brightly.

"Aaron Rhinestone, Kevin Voss, Amanda Stern, and Jin Horton."

Underneath their profiles was a brief description of them. Their height, their age, and a brief overview of their past.

"I won't go into much detail regarding these four individuals since you can easily find information about them online, however, what I will do, is go through the remaining two individuals, Ava Leafz and Caeruleum. The two dark horses of the tournament."

The moment his words faded, the screens of everyone present darkened and replays of their fights started to show on everyone's screens.

This persisted for a good five minutes before the screens returned back to normal, and the camera was now angled in the direction of Lorena whose smile enchanted some of the viewers watching.

"As you have seen, the two contests we have showed you did not get to where they were simply by luck. Especially Ava Leafz who has managed to defeat an opponent a whole two minor ranks above her!"

A small square appeared beside her, displayed on it was the last moment when Ava managed to defeat her opponent.

Her gallant figure standing tall in the middle of the platform as she beat her opponent instantly caused the heartbeats of many people to boil with excitement.

"I guess many of you are probably wondering who she is?"

Redirecting the attention of the viewers towards herself, Lorena mysteriously smiled.

"Well, fret not, we've already done an investigation on her."

Pressing onto the table, Ava's profile lit up.

"According to sources, Ava Leafz was someone who used to attend the prestigious Lock, but in her second year suddenly decided to drop out. As for the reason why she dropped, the Lock refused to give us more information."

Shaking her head, Lorena shrugged her shoulders before continuing.

"She is the same age as the other contestants and her profession is 'beast tamer'. An extremely hard class to master. However, don't treat her as any regular beast tamer. p an da no v el Ava over here can actually summon more than one beast at a single time. Something that is almost completely unheard of. A generational talent some might call her."

Lorena paused and turned her attention toward the camera that was pointing toward her.

"There is not much known about her after dropping out from the Lock, but whatever she did, it seemed to have worked out for her as she has now qualified for the top thirty-two."

Brushing her hair back, Lorena grabbed a couple of papers on the table before stacking them neatly.

A more serious look suddenly flashed across her face.

"Now...regarding the other contestant Caeruleum, not much is known about him. As most of you can tell, he's obviously using an alias."

Lorena's delicate brows suddenly knit.

"We don't really know why he chose this alias, but according to what we've found Caeruleum signifies Blue in Latin."

Pursing her lips, Lorena turned to look at Zack who smiled and continued for her.

"Since we couldn't really find anything out about this contestant, all we can do is show you his way of fighting."

As soon as his words faded the screens darkened and replays of Caeruleum started to display on the screen of everyone present. google p an da no v el This continued for the next minute before the screen returned to normal and Lorena and Zack reappeared on the screens.

"As you can see, the way Caeruleum fights is...how should I say, very unique?"

There was some uncertainty in his tone when he said those words, but he quickly followed up by saying.

"Anyways, most of you are interested in what he is using, and I've received reports that the artifact he is using is called 'magic card' and is one of the latest inventions made by Melissa Hall. According to sources, anyone who has mana can use them, and can essentially enable a person to cast a spell like a regular magician."

Once the topic shifted towards the magic cards, all interest regarding Caeruleum faded away as every viewer just wanted to find out more about them.

In fact, it wasn't just the viewers that wanted to find out more about them, but almost all large corporations such as guilds, and businesses all wanted to find out more about them.

The whole idea of magic cards was revolutionary!

***

At the same time, Issanor.

[Anyways, most of you are interested in what he is using, and I've received reports that the artifact he is using is called a 'magic card' and is one of the latest inventions made by Melissa Hall. According to sources, anyone who has mana can use them, and can essentially enable a person to cast a spell like a regular magician.]

"Ugh."

Staring at the screen in front of her, I watched as Melissa's face twisted savagely. Standing beside her, I took a step to the side.

'Better move as far away from her as possible.'

"Where do you think you're going?"

But it seemed as though Melissa was not going to let it go as she turned to glare in my direction. After that, she grabbed onto my clothes and brought her face closer to mine.

Her angry face totally mismatched her beautiful features, making the scene quite comical. It was really hard for me to hold my laugh back.

"What so fucking funny?"

"Nothing?"

I replied whilst turning my face away. However, that didn't seem to work as she increased her pull and brought my face even closer to her as she threatened.

"Don't think for one second that I'm not going to do anything to you for the little stunt you pulled. Do you have any idea of how much trouble you've brought me?"

I shook my head.

"No, not really."

Melissa's face twisted even more at my words. Her pale face turned completely red from anger as I could hear the sound of her teeth grinding together.

"Krrr...krrr"

Hearing the s found of her teeth grinding together, I couldn't help but comment.

"You sound just like an orc."

The moment those words came out of my mouth, I sort of regretted saying them, but as I watched Melissa's face turn from red to purple, all that regret quickly dissipated, and a sense of achievement washed over me.

'Is this how it feels to win over Melissa?'

Not going to lie, it felt addicting. But it appeared as though I was the only one that felt this way, as Melissa's mouth trembled uncontrollably. search p an da no v el Her eyes soon rolled back in anger.

"Y...you!"

"Okay, I'm sorry, please don't be angry, I'll make it up to you somehow."

"You? Make it up to me?"

Melissa suddenly burst out laughing. It was a fake laugh though.

"How in the world are you going to help me?"

She spat.

"Can you let go first?"

"Fine."

Tapping onto her hands which were still grabbing onto my clothes, Melissa released the grip and I fixed them. Warily glancing in her direction, I continued.

"...Remember back at the Lock when I revealed a way to solve mana poisoning?"

Calming herself down, with a thoughtful look on her face, Melissa nodded her head.

"Yes, I do. I don't know if you revealed it on purpose, or you were just being plain stupid."

My mouth twitched at her words, but as the more mature person, I refrained from saying anything.

"Well, what if I told you that there was another way. A faster, and simpler way to solve mana poisoning."

"Oh?"

Melissa's right brow suddenly raised. There was keen interest in her eyes as soon as I said those words.

Staring at her, my brows furrowed.

"Honestly, I don't know if the theory will work or not."

Originally, this was a theory that Melissa was going to figure out herself in the future, but with everything that was going on, I doubted she would have time to figure it out.

Also, I only had a rough idea of how the theory worked.

'Mhh, now that I think about it, is the reason I know so many theories because of the memories implanted inside of my head? So, was Melissa really the one who came up with them?'

This was a good question.

Was she really the one that came up with the theories in the end? ...Or were they something that the mysterious figure implanted inside of me.

I mean, just how could I suddenly pull out so many theories from a novel I wrote? Novels only scratched the surface of most theories, but the knowledge from knowing the novel shouldn't have been able to help me come up with the things I did in the past.

"...So?"

Snapping me out of my thoughts was Melissa's annoyed voice. Scratching the back of my neck, I wrily smiled.

"I don't think this is the right time for me to tell you the theory. I need some time to properly write them down. Plus, it's not like right now is the right time."

Turning my head, I glanced towards the massive crowd that had gathered below the enormous tree.

"Fine."

Realizing the situation as well, Melissa eventually relented, much to my relief. Then, without saying anything else, she left the arena. From the looks of it, she couldn't stand my presence any longer.

Not that I cared.

I won.

"Hm?"

As I was looking around the place, it was then that I suddenly spotted a familiar figure sitting in the distance. It was Amanda.

The moment my eyes paused on her, my brows furrowed.

'What's wrong with her?'

Although Amanda usually had an indifferent look on her face, at the moment, her face was especially chilly, preventing anyone from approaching her.

Well, anyone but me.

Walking up to her, I calmly sat down next to her. Then, turning to look at her, I asked.

"Are you okay?"

Slowly lifting her head, and turning to look at me, Amanda nodded her head.

"Yes."

Staring deeply into her eyes, I lowered my head and gazed at her uniform before sighing.

"...Say, didn't you call me a liar not too long ago?"

"What do you mean?"

Amanda's brows knit.

Instead of answering her, I scooched over a little and bent down. Although I couldn't tell how Amanda reacted to my sudden action, from how her body jerked a little, I could tell that she was shocked by my sudden actions.

Ignoring it, I grabbed her shoe and tied her shoelaces. Once I was done, I gave her an all-knowing look.

"For someone who is as much of a neat freak as you, to forget to tie their shoelaces, something is wrong."

Meeting my eyes, Amanda gently bit her lips before closing her eyes. For the next couple of seconds, her brow relaxed and kit repeatedly. Eventually, staring deeply into my eyes, she softly said.

"...It's about my mother."

"Eh?"

Her sudden words caught me completely off-guard.

'Did I hear wrongly?'

Did she just say something about her mother?

I actually didn't know much about her mother, she never really appeared in the memories implanted inside of my mind.

Apart from the fact that she had left Amanda when she was young, I really didn't know much else.

"Um."

Amanda nodded her head, before softly saying.

"She's here."

"...What?"

The shock within me grew even more, and my back straightened. Unknowingly, my heart sped up a little.

Glancing around, I lowered my head a little and softly asked.

"She's here? Like, here, here?"

"Um."

Amanda once again nodded her head.

But just as she was about to continue speaking, the whole arena erupted with cheers. Following the cheers, I watched as a familiar figure appeared on one of the projections below the tree.

The familiar figure was none other than Ava who stood proudly on the screen with the flute in her hand.

Then, following her appearance, an elf appeared on the screen. With hair of a mix between gold and silver, the elf proudly stood on the opposite end of Ava.

Following his appearance, a referee materialized between the two of them.

"For the first round of thirty-two, the match will be Ava Leafz vs Amelia."

Once his words faded, glancing at both of them to make sure they were ready, the referee raised his hand and lowered it.

"Begin!"

Chapter 428: Round of thirty two [3]

"Begin!"

The moment the referee's words faded, both Ava and Amelia simultaneously moved.

Raising his hand, the mana in the air agglomerated towards the palm of Amelia's hand creating a circular pressurized wind ball. Within a couple of seconds the ball turned the size of a basketball before with a low shout, Amelia directed the ball in Ava's direction.

Swooosh—!

With a low hissing sound, the ball quickly headed in Ava's direction as it pierced through the air at a terrifying speed. It was so fast that the spectators below were unable to see a thing.

At the same time Amelia was preparing to attack, holding onto three blue cards, Ava quickly channeled her mana into them and threw them in front of her. As she did so, she pressed her foot on the ground and pushed her body back.

SHIIING— SHIIING—

The moment the cards left her hand, three massive ice pillars materialized in front of her.

Bang—!

It was then that the ball came into contact with them and a terrifying explosion resounded throughout the whole arena. But it had to be noted, Ava was two minor ranks lower than Amelia, and so were the cards.

The moment the ball came into contact with the pillars they instantly broke apart into pieces like broken glass, creating a small mist in the air.

Fortunately, Ava already knew about the fragility of the ice pillars. The only reason she used them was to buy herself enough time for her next move, which was exactly what she did.

Taking out her flute, she quickly blew at its ip

Tootle too~

A melodious tune suddenly rang throughout the whole arena grounds.

Meanwhile, as Ava was blowing onto the flute, Amelia's attack never stopped. The only thing that was different about the attack was that its momentum had slowed down. This was of course a result of the ice pillars.

Within a couple of seconds, the attack was already in front of Ava. However, it was then that something happened.

Just as the attack was land on her, a massive boulder-like creature materialized in front of her and crashed onto the ground with a loud bang.

Booom—

Then, following the appearance of the creature, a terrifying explosion resounded throughout the arena as the ball came into contact with the creature. Dust and debris flew in the air, blocking the sight of all parties present.

As this happened, the hearts of every human that was watching tightened as everyone wondered.

'Was Ava able to stop the attack or not?'

Fortunately, all doubt seemed to resolve over the next few seconds as the dust settled down revealing an enormous beetle-like creature standing in front of Ava.

With its anterior opened wide and only a few scratches on it, the creature looked completely unharmed. Furthermore, standing behind it was Ava who had her flute pressed by her lips.

Confusion instantly appeared on the viewers faces as they looked at the creature standing in front of Ava.

Fortunately, the announcers were not just there for show as Lorena quickly commented.

"That right there is a metal-plated beetle. A creature that has low attacking power, but incredible defensive power. Simply put, they are tremendous tanks."

Nodding his head, Zack quickly followed up from the side. Excitement flashed across his eyes.

"Right, as you've just seen, despite only being a low ranking creature it was still able to withstand the impact from Amelia. Ava's opponent."

"Oh, it looks like Ava is going to summon more creatures," Lorena added as she pointed toward the screen in front of her.

And just as her words faded, Ava once again blew on the flute.

Tootle too~

Following her blow, a subtle glow enshrouded the flute as three more creatures suddenly materialized next to her. As the creatures appeared, Ava's face paled considerably.

Once the three creatures appeared, a look of realisation appeared on Zack's face as he softly muttered.

"Interesting, so Ava is going the defensive route."

The creatures that Ava had just summoned were known as the steel-webbed spiders, a terrifying <C> class creature that could shoot out webs that were as sturdy and powerful as steel.

As soon as Zack's words faded, Amelia who had not been standing idly, attacked once again.

This time, he summoned three balls. It only took him a couple of seconds to create them, and once he was done with them, he quickly sent them in Ava's direction.

Unfortunately for him, Ava was ready. Snapping her fingers, the three steel-webbed spiders she summoned quickly distanced themselves into a small triangular formation. From how fast and readily they got in their position, it became apparent to everyone present that Ava had practiced this formation many times.

Lowering their lower body, the spiders quickly shot out spider webs in the direction of where the attacks were coming from, creating a large resplendent net.

But this wasn't all, following the appearance of the next, the metal-plated beetle quickly moved a couple of meters behind the web. This was of course at the instructions of Ava who orchestrated everything from behind.

And just as the metal-plated bottle arrived, the three attacks came into contact with the webs. Just like a parachute, the moment the balls came into contact with the webs, they inflated by a large margin.

Snap—! Snap—!

In the end, however, it appeared as though Amelia's power was still too strong for the likes of some webs to stop.

Low snapping sound resounded throughout the whole arena as the spiderwebs quickly came undone. However, the purpose of the nets wasn't to stop the attacks, but only to disrupt their momentum.

Once the energy inside of the hall dissipated, Ava turned to look in the direction of the metal-plated beetle that quickly dashed forward and met the attacks head-on.

Booom—! Booom—!

Loud explosions once again reverberated throughout the arena as the metal-plated beetle skid back all the way towards the edge of the area.

Tssss.

The moment the beetle skid back and the audience was able to get a look at its appearance, everyone drew a cold breath.

With its outer layer completely cracked, the metal-plated beetle was worse for tear. Trying to stand, its body stumbled down repeatedly, and eventually, unable to hold on for any longer, it quickly dropped to the ground with a low 'thud.'

Gazing in the direction of the metal-plated beetle, Ava softly said.

"Come back."

Tootle too~

Blowing onto her flute, the beetle quickly disappeared from arena and entered the small pocket dimension inside of the flute.

Following its disappearance, Ava's complexion became incredibly solemn. It was clear that she hadn't expected for her beast to lose this quickly.

Swooosh—!

To make matters worse, Amelia who was standing at the back with a smug look on his face, once again attacked.

Pointing his finger in the sky, the air suddenly fumbled towards the tip of his finger as a terrifying pressure descended on the arena.

Following his movement, he gazed in Ava's direction before pointing his finger towards her.

"Go."

He mumbled under his breath before he attacked.

Like a raging storm, the attack came crashing down on Ava and her beasts. Unlike the previous attacks, this attack covered almost half of the arena and so both her and her beast were quickly swept inside of it.

Staring at attack, Ava didn't attack. Instead, placing her mouth on the flute once again, she blew it.

Tootle too~

A subtle melodious sound rang out, following which, all the spiders disappeared from the arena.

This was not all, blowing onto the flute one more time, Ava turned around and run towards the edge of the arena. Once she arrived at its edge, without turning back, she jumped out of the arena, much to the shock of everyone present.

"This…"

Witnessing Ava jump out of the arena, Lorena and Zack who were watching from the studio stood up in shock as their hands pressed onto the table.

Then, glancing at each other for a good second, they looked back at the cameras and slumped back on their chairs.

"Ladies and gentlemen it appears as though contestant Ava Leafz ha—"

"Wait, look."

Cutting Zack off, Lorena suddenly stood up and pointed towards the screen where displayed on it was Ava standing right behind Amelia who was looking at the referee with a look of anticipation. It was clear that he was waiting for him to announce the victor.

And just as the referee was about to say something, Amelia suddenly felt an ominous premonition. But it was too late as he suddenly felt a powerful mana fluctuation coming from behind him.

Turning around in a lightning-quick manner he extended his hand towards where the source came from, but by the time a magic circle appeared in his hand, five large fire pillars engulfed his entire body.

The source of the fire pillars was none other than Ava who quickly followed up by blowing onto her flute. Six beasts simultaneously appeared in front of her.

Of the six beasts, three of them were the same spiders from before while the other three were ferocious wolves that quickly dove in the direction of Amelia who was currently being engulfed by the flames.

A look of total shock appeared in the eyes of the spectators watching the scene. At one moment they thought that Amelia had won when suddenly Ava turned the tables and was now winning!

And just as the wolves were about to dive onto him, a hand came sweeping down from above, blowing everyone away, including the fire engulfing Amelia.

Once the fire disappeared, Amelia's haggard figure appeared on the stage. With heavy breaths and disheveled and burned clothes, he glared in Ava's direction.

"You bitch!"

He snarled as he weakly stood up. But before he could do anything, the referee's voice resounded throughout the arena.

"Match winner, Amelia. He will pass to the round of 16."

"…eh?"

"Huh?"

The moment everyone heard the referee's voice, looks of confusion appeared on the faces of the spectator. This was especially so for the human spectators who started throwing curses at their screens.

How could Ava have lost when she clearly destroyed her opponent?!

Was the referee blind?

As this was happening, Zack had a thoughtful look on his face as he looked at the screen. Next to him, Lorena noticed this and asked.

"Have you figured something out?"

Staring at the screen for a couple more seconds, Zack eventually nodded his head with a complicated look.

"I have."

The moment the viewers heard this, they instantly shut up.

With a deep sigh, Zack followed up by pointing towards the edges of the arena.

"If I'm not wrong, the moment Ava jumped out of the arena, she must've summoned some sort of aerial beast to carry her all the way towards the other side of the arena. In short, the reason why she was able to go to the other side was because she flew at the bottom of the arena."

Everyone nodded their heads upon hearing this evaluation. Most people had also come with this conclusion upon seeing her appear all the way towards the other side of the arena.

Shaking his head, Zack regretfully said. "Unfortunately, according to the rules, the moment the contestant's head falls below the arena grounds, they will be out of bounds, and as Ava's head did in fact fall below the arena grounds, I can only regretfully say that she has lost."

Looks of understanding appeared on the faces of everyone who was listening as they finally understood why she lost.

"That being said, Ava performed spectacularly and we can say that she did not put us to shame. Had it not been for the rules, she would've won."

Zack added as he stood up and started clapping his hands. Following his example, everyone in the studio did the same.

***

"Great job."

"Thanks."

Greeting Ava at the bottom of the tree, I raised my hand and we high fived.

Pack—!

Once we high-fived, passing by me, Ava softly muttered.

"I did as you've told me to do."

"Mhm, I saw."

A smile crept up on my face once I heard her words.

What happened just now was intentional.

From the very beginning Ava and I knew that there was a low probability of her beating her opponent. That being said, I told her to still try and if things didn't work out to just do as I planned which was what happened.

Go underneath the arena and basically ambush Amelia from behind.

After looking through Amelia's files, I realized that he was one of Vaalyun's right hand man. You know, the nice elf I met a day ago.

Naturally, when I learned of this, my inner pettiness flared up.

'In the off chance that you deem your opponent too strong to beat, jump off the arena, use newton to carry you all the way to the other side and go ham. Don't hold back, destroy him.'

Those were the exact words I told her.

Since Amelia knew the rules, he probably wouldn't have thought that Ava would do such a silly mistake, and exploiting this fact, well, what just happened...happened.

Plus, given Ava's innocent looks, no one would blame her for this.

Gazing in the direction of where Amelia was, completely humiliated and pissed off, the smirk on my face rose up.

Then glancing in the distance where an elf with silver hair stood, I softly muttered inside of my mind.

'Don't worry, there's plenty more where that came from.'

This was merely the start.

Chapter 429: Round of thirty two [4]

What followed after Ava's match was a string of other matches.

As it was still not my turn, I sat back down in the stands and just enjoyed the matches. Since some of them could be my future opponents, I didn't want to miss a single detail regarding their fighting style.

Sat next to me was Amanda who was also focused on the other matches.

Matches aside, glancing around I could see no sign of the others apart from Jin who was sitting a few rows away from us. But it was to be expected. Ava was done with her match and so she rightfully decided to go back and rest whilst Kevin was about to have his match next.

Regarding Melissa...yeah...nothing else needed to be said.

On that note, turning my wrist and gazing at my watch, I also started to get ready for Kevin's upcoming match.

The moment that Kevin and Aaron would appear on the screen would be the time I reactivated the device.

After talking with Kevin last time I had a nagging feeling that he was about to do something to Aaron.

The extent of his action, I really didn't know. Maybe he would even go as far as killing him, but, well, considering the fact that people did not change overnight, I had my doubts regarding this possibility.

Either way, it didn't really matter.

I was ready for whatever the outcome of his match was.

"Oh, right, you were talking about your mother previously, what was that about?"

Thinking about Kevin's match, it was then that I suddenly remembered the previous conversation I was having with Amanda and turned to face her.

Upon hearing my words, Amanda focused her attention back on me.

Then, gazing in a certain direction, she leaned forward and softly mumbled near my ear.

"...I will tell you after today's matches end. Now is not the right place to say."

"Okay."

I nodded my head.

Amanda's words made sense. Considering that the topic at hand was something very personal, I understood that she may have been uncomfortable talking about it in this type of environment.

I was just happy that she was willing to share something like this.

It meant that she trusted me, right?

Maybe?

'Ugh, well whatever, I should focus on the matches at the end.'

And it was right at that moment when the intensity of the crowd's cheer increased marking the end of another match.

"It's Kevin's turn." Amanda suddenly said from the side as she directed her attention towards one of the platforms in the distance.

Matching her line of sight, I turned to look at one of the projections, and there I saw Kevin's image appear in it.

The moment he appeared, I subtly lowered my head and tapped onto the screen of my watch.

Once I did, raising my head, I looked in Kevin's direction once again.

'...I leave the rest up to you.'

***

Upper echelon platform.

Calmly seated amongst the other leaders of each respective race, Octavius's eyes were currently locked on a specific platform.

Kevin Voss vs Aaron Rhinestone.

There weren't many things that interested Octavious, but given Kevin's Voss enormous potential as well as the fact that he was part of the Union, he naturally held the upcoming match with more regard than the previous ones that had already occurred.

However, the same thing couldn't be said for the other people seated close to him, as neither Gervis, Brutus or the elven queen seemed particularly excited about the upcoming match.

TWIIIING—! TWIIIING—!

Just as the match was about to start, Ocatavious felt a small vibration coming from his watch.

Lowering his head and turning his wrist slightly, his brows furrowed upon seeing the message.

[We have once again received signals of 876's presence. We are currently in the process of locating him. How should we proceed?]

Tapping onto the side of his chair with his finger, Octavious replied briefly.

[Keep doing what you're doing. Once you locate 876, report it to me. I'll handle it.]

[Understood.]

Taking his attention away from his communication device, Ocatvious once again focused his attention on the upcoming match.

All thoughts about 876, disappeared from his mind.

***

'Why did I join the Union?'

Kevin wondered to himself as he stood at the edge of the platform.

The reason he joined the Union was for the sake of having an important backer. After the incident back at the Lock, where Ren died, Kevin wanted nothing more but to take revenge on Aaron.

After all, he was the one that caused the death of his friend.

Over the years, he had set himself a goal, and that goal was to get revenge on Aaron.

He had made a lot of preparations for it as well. In order to get revenge on Aaron, Kevin had to thoroughly research his backers and connections. It wasn't an easy task as Aaron's backing was extremely powerful.

Even then, Kevin did not give up and continued to deeply investigate him. It was then that he found a lot of material that he could use against him.

But just as he was going to further his plans, a mysterious red book suddenly materialized in his room and that was where he learned the fact that Ren had not died.

From there he managed to learn a lot of things about what had actually happened and came to the conclusion that Ren had other plans for Aaron and dropped all his previous plans altogether.

However, that was then, and this was now.

Things had changed, and he was no longer seeking revenge against Aaron for all the things he did in the past.

No.

Now, he was simply trying to eliminate a thorn that had grown too big for its own good.

FWUAP—!

With a low sound, materializing on the opposite end of the arena was a familiar figure. He looked the same as the day the incident with Emma occurred.

Disheveled hair, unfocused eyes, and glaring black circles underneath his eyes.

The moment he appeared, Kevin's eyes grew colder.

"It's been a while."

Aaron muttered the moment his eyes met Kevin's.

"Did you like what I did to your little friend last time? Is she okay? ...I really didn't mean to harm her. Was just an accident."

Every word that came out of his mouth was filled with mockery. He was obviously trying to get a rise out of Kevin.

Had it been the Kevin from before, then perhaps he would've gotten something.

But after having had that talk with Ren, Kevin spent a lot of time contemplating his previous actions, and it was then that he realized that he was too emotional and soft.

He realized that he needed to change in order to become stronger.

Therefore, every word that came out of Aaron's mouth simply went from one ear to the other.

This obviously did not go unnoticed by Aaron whose face twisted.

"Listen to me!"

He shouted. However, yet again, Kevin ignored him.

Closing his eyes, he extended his hand and a sword suddenly materialized in his hand. Like a ripple less aged well, his mind instantly calmed down and all the noise coming from the outside disappeared.

"Huuuuu..."

Taking a deep breath and opening his eyes once again, Kevin noticed the fact that the referee had appeared on the stage.

Meeting the referee's line of sight, Kevin nodded his head.

Turning his attention away from Kevin, the referee turned to look at Aaron who had calmed down, and nodded back.

Once he got consent from both sides, the referee raised his hand and shouted.

"Begin!"

Bang—!

Not even a second after the referee's words faded and Aaron's body disappeared from the spot. Well at least to those that couldn't keep up with his speed.

His speed was so fast that he had left an afterimage of himself on the spot he was previously standing. It was only after a couple of seconds that people realized it was an after-image, and once the realization came, Aaron's real figure suddenly appeared behind Kevin.

'So fast.'

Everyone thought in their mind as they focused their attention on Aaron.

Unlike the others, Kevin was able to instantly tell where Aaron left the moment he moved. Sensing something cold brush past the back of his neck, Kevin simply ducked down.

Swooosh—!

Right as his head moved down, a cold blade suddenly materialized, slashing in a horizontal manner. Unfortunately for him, Aaron's attack missed.

Despite missing his attack, Aaron quickly followed up with another attack. Using his other dagger, he slashed downwards.

But Kevin was one step ahead of him.

Pressing his foot onto the ground, the ground beneath cracked apart as Kevin propelled his body backward, slamming directly against Aaron's.

Bang—!

Once their bodies came into contact, Aaron's found his stance breaking apart.

This was what Kevin was aiming for. Giving a short glance in the direction of the referee, Kevin knew that he only had one shot at this.

'Overdrive.'

He softly muttered inside of his heart.

A tremendous wave of mana suddenly burst out of his body as his rank quickly rose to <B+> rank, almost reaching the threshold of <A->.

This was not all, following the usage of [Overdrive] Kevin quickly bit his teeth where two advanced [Speed enhancing potions] were hidden. The moment he bit them, a wave of cold fluid instantly traveled throughout every corner of his body as the explosiveness of Kevin's muscles increased further.

If Kevin's previous speed was around <A-> rank, then it was currently even faster than that at <A> to <A+>! Of course, this was only for a very short period of time, but this was enough.

Everything that happened next was so fast that barely anyone could react. Rotating his body at a forty-five-degree angle, Kevin grabbed onto his broadsword with two hands and slashed upwards diagonally.

SHIIIIIING—!

'A curtain of red.'

That was what the viewers and the spectators would say when describing the scene that they were currently witnessing.

Everything happened so fast that the only thing they saw was Aaron's body freezing in the middle of the air. What followed after was a jet of red.

Spurt—!

Time seemed to have frozen at that moment.

With his eyes opened wide and still locked onto Kevin, the last thing Aaron saw was Kevin's blood-red eyes glaring in his direction.

The color of his eyes completely matched the red liquid dying his vision. Then, lowering his head, Aaron watched in horror as his lower body split apart from his body.

The ground soon inched closer and what replaced his vision was complete darkness.

Thud—! Thud—!

With two thuds, Aaron's dissected body fell onto the ground as blood continuously leaked from the waist down.

Swooosh—!

Not even a second after Aaron's body fell onto the ground, the referee suddenly materialized next to him and cast a spell on him. But it was already too late.

Aaron had died.

A deafening silence enveloped the arena as everyone tuned their focus on Kevin who stood in the middle of the arena, gazing at Aaron's body with an indifferent look.

As his eyes paused on the now dead Aaron, Kevin did not feel an ounce of happiness.

'...This is what I should've done a long time ago.' He thought inside of his mind.

Regarding the repercussions of having killed Aaron in front of the whole world? Kevin merely scoffed.

He was going to win the tournament. He was going to prove to the world his worth.

With the Union backing him and him showing just how valuable he was, so what if Aaron's parents were angry at him? To their anger, he would welcome it with open arms.

Since this was bound to happen one day or another, he may as well just destroy them as well.

'Too soft, huh?'

Taking one last look at Aaron's corpse, Kevin swore right then and there that he would destroy anyone that stood in his path.

Aaron's guild being his first stepping stone.

Whilst Kevin was deep in his own thoughts, with a complicated look on his face, the referee slowly stood up.

He was clearly not happy regarding the fact that he was unable to stop Aaron's death, but then again, killing was allowed.

He was only slightly embarrassed since the queen had previously told everyone to reduce the chances of someone dying. He could only blame his luck, however.

Who would've expected Kevin to suddenly pull such a move?

Shaking his head, the referee announced.

"Match winner, Kevin Voss. He will pass to the round of 16."

Following his announcement, the originally quiet arena suddenly burst with cheers as everyone stood up and applauded Kevin.

Although not many were able to see what had happened as it all happened too fast, they all realized something.

Kevin Voss was a lot stronger than they originally anticipated.

Once everyone realized this, almost every human forgot about Aaron's death as they all looked at Kevin with sparkling eyes.

Finally, hope ignited inside the heart of the many humans watching as they all shared the same thought. 'Could he perhaps win?' After witnessing what just happened, this became a very real possibility.

The human domain quickly boiled with excitement at this possibility.

***

While this was happening, standing beneath the platform, with my mouth wide open, I stared at Kevin's figure in the middle of the projections.

"Holy shit."

A curse inadvertently escaped from my mouth as I looked at Kevin.

'Although I did say to him that he was too soft, I didn't think he would change so much from such a simple talk.'

I was obviously shocked by the sudden development. Kevin had really changed beyond my expectations.

Honestly, I felt quite gratified seeing his change. It meant that he truly took the words I said to heart and took it upon himself to change for the better, or rather, for the sake of the future.

On a good note, Aaron's death did not interfere with any of my plans.

Lowering my head and staring at his watch, a yawn escaped from my mouth.

"Huam."

'Guess it's my turn to get ready.'

Following Kevin's match, there were two other matches, and after that was mine. Since there weren't any more matches for me to watch, I just decided to get ready for my upcoming match.

If there was one thing I was sure about, it was that if I didn't go all out, I might end up in a worse state than Aaron.

Therefore, taking one last look at Kevin's projection, I bid Amanda goodbye and quickly got ready for my match.

Chapter 430: Your choice [1]

Inside of a small room.

With his head lowered, Octavious studied Aaron's dissected body.

Next to him was a man with neatly combed black hair and squared glasses. He was currently wearing a white lab coat with blue gloves in each hand.

Beep—! Beep—!

In his hand was a small transmitter that repeatedly beeped throughout the room.

The man was called Conrad Johnson, and he was the one assigned with the task of finding traces of 876. The wanted fugitive that the Union and the Monolith had agreed on hunting down together.

The first time he saw traces were a few matches back in the tournament. Before he could get a proper read on them, the signal quickly disappeared.

Then, after that, he was able to find traces once again, and as he had reacted quickly, he was able to find where the traces came from, but when he did, he was left with more questions than answers.

"You're saying that the transmitter the Monolith gave us is indicating that 876 is none other than Aaron?" Octavious asked as his deep and emotionless voice rang throughout the whole room.

"Yes, yes, it appears to be so.

Conrad nodded his head in a helpless manner before placing the transmitter next to Aaron's head. Beep—! Beep—!Beep—! Beep—!The moment the transmitter touched his head, the transmitter started to beep even more loudly.

With a complicated look on his face, Conrad took out a small tube that was about the size of a finger. Then, taking a small sample of his blood, he put it in the tube and shook it.

This process only lasted for a couple of seconds before he stopped.

Once he stopped, he turned to look at the tube and when he did, he shook his head.

"His blood is also contaminated just like the Monolith said."

Doubt started to creep inside of Conrad's head as he softly and carefully asked.

"...It's him, isn't it? 876 is Aaron."

But contrary to his expectations, Octavious shook his head.

"It's not him."

"Not him?"

Conrad replied with a confused look on his face.

Be it the tracking device and blood test, all evidence pointed that he was indeed 876, so he really couldn't understand.

Without sparing him a glance, Octavious continued.

"Aaron's whereabouts during the time 876 was in the Monolith can easily be found. It is impossible for him to be 876."

Before the tournament started, Octavious paid close attention to all the promising contestants and so he naturally knew that it was impossible for Aaron to be 876.

Once his thoughts paused there, with a frown on his face, Octaviois suddenly thought of something.

What if...

Placing his hand over Aaron's face, he suddenly squeezed it.

Crack—

The sound of bones breaking resounded throughout the room as blood spurted all over the room.

Conrad, who had been watching the whole time, opened his eyes in shock as he couldn't quite make out the situation.

Before he could say anything, Octavious retrieved his hand back.

It was then that Cornard suddenly noticed it. A small device that was resting in the middle of his finger.

Supposedly, this was the tracking device.

Calmly analyzing it for a good minute, Octavious handed it to Conrad.

"Analyze it. See if there is something hidden inside of it."

"Y…yes."

With trembling fingers, Conrad took the chip and weakly nodded his head.

After that, giving Aaron one last look, Octavious left the room.

***

Ashton city.

Inside a private residence owned by the demon hunter guild, two people sat in front of a sofa, staring at a holographic projection in front of them.

Displayed on the projections were the images of the tournament.

Of the two people seated on the sofa, one was a male while the other was a female. With blonde hair and blue eyes, the woman looked stunning.

On the other hand, the male looked less impressive, however, his solemn and sharp look did give off his own charm.

With her left hand on the male's thigh, the woman, Samantha Dover, covered her mouth with her hand as she muttered.

"...I'm glad we didn't let Nola see this."

"Yes."

Ronald nodded his head. He completely agreed with her words.

This was especially so after the last match where they saw a contestant being cut in half by someone. The scene was just too gruesome for someone as young as Nola to see.

Pressing her hand on her cheek, Samatha wondered.

"I wondered when it will be Ren's turn."

As she said those words, a look of anticipation flashed across her eyes.

Originally, the both of them weren't very interested in the tournament, however, upon receiving an anonymous tip from someone that Ren was going to participate, they dropped everything they were doing and decided to watch the tournament together.

"He should be coming soon."

Ronald replied briefly. Despite sounding stoic, Samantha could feel the excitement and nervousness in his voice as he anticipated his son's performance.

Excitement at the prospect of seeing his son shin in the tournament, and nervousness at the dangers that lay in the tournament. Especially after having seen so many injuries and even deaths.

But not even a second after he said those words, the front doorbell of their house rang.

Ding—! Dong—!

Turning to look at each other, the duo curiously turned to look in the direction of the door. Then, standing up Samantha calmly walked towards the door.

"Oh my."

Checking the camera to see who it was, a look of shock appeared on Samantha's face not long after as she quickly headed for the door and opened it.

Ci clank—!

With a brilliant smile on her face, she greeted the guests.

"Welcome."

***

At the same time.

Standing near the portal that would transmit the contestants to the platforms, Kimor had a calm look on his face. Or rather, he looked bored.

He did not have any excitement about his next opponent.

He was merely <B> rank after all.

He would've previously dismissed him for being human, but after witnessing Kevin's strength not too long ago, he decided to no longer look down on them as much.

He acknowledged the fact that not all humans were useless.

Even then, he still did not have high regard for his next opponent. After all, it was already rare enough for the humans to have someone as strong as Kevin, but to have two? Kimor did not believe in the chances.

As his thoughts paused there, his line of sight met with one of the people managing the portals.

Then, taking a step forward he slowly entered the portal.

***

"What's with that look?"

Staring at Kevin who had just come out of the portal, my face leaned back a little as my eyes squinted.

The way he came out of the portal, just...well, how should I describe it? It felt as though he was trying to purposely act like a tough guy.

The moment Kevin heard my words, his brows twitched a little.

"What are you on about?"

"...You know exactly what I'm talking about."

I replied with a meaningful look. Raising his brow, Kevin glanced towards his right and left before he leaned his body forward slightly and whispered.

"Actually, I was trying to imitate you."

"Imitate me?"

"Yeah."

Kevin nodded his head repeatedly."

"You know...when you go all edgy and stuff, and to be honest, I think I did a very good job."

"Eh?"

Kevin's response was so out of my expectations that I was unable to reply to him properly.

It was then that a victorious smirk appeared on Kevin's face as he patted me on the shoulder.

"I'll wait for you at the stands. If you can, try ending the match as fast as I did."

Before I could say anything back, Kevin bid goodbye to me and directly left.

There were a lot of things that I wanted to say to him before he left, like how he had doped himself to victory, but then again, they were within the rules so I really couldn't say anything.

Unlike the tournaments at the Lock, this was not a children's tournament.

Apart from the out-of-bounds rule which was set up purposely with the intent of limiting the contestant's space, there were very few rules placed in the tournament.

This was obviously done on purpose. After all, in a real fight, rules did not exist.

Be it artifacts, potions, killing, or anything that would've normally been banned in tournaments held in the human domain, everything was allowed here.

The referees were only there to initiate and end the match.

Deaths were inevitable, and so if someone died, although it would look bad on them, it was really nothing worth mentioning.

Couldn't say I was against this, to be honest. After all, only through these types of tournaments would someone truly be able to display their full power.

This was no soft tournament where everyone just cuddled with each other after the end of each match. No, this was a real tournament.

A tournament meant to replicate reality.

"Caeruleum please make your way to portal 7."

Snapping me out of my thoughts was the voice of one of the people responsible for watching over the gates.

Upon hearing his voice, I immediately followed his instructions and headed for the portal, and entered.

*

Swooosh—

The moment I stepped out of the portal, a familiar breeze brushed past my body as I took a look at my surroundings.

It was then that I suddenly felt a terrifying pressure coming from the opposite end of the arena.

I didn't need to look to realize that it belonged to my opponent. Kimor.

Standing tall with his back straight, wearing leather armor that covered the bottom part of his body as well as his chest, Kimor gazed into the distance with languid eyes.

Subjected to his pressure, I merely frowned. Although the pressure he was releasing was strong, it wasn't anything that I wasn't used to.

Surprised flashed across Kimor's eyes as his languid eyes became a little bit clearer.

It was then that a referee suddenly materialized in the middle of the arena.

Once the referee appeared, extending my hand, Malvil's sword appeared in my hand. Given the current circumstances, I had no choice but to use the sword, and even then, since our terrain was limited, I wasn't too worried about its short length.

Placing my sword on the right side of my waist, I raised my head and stared at the referee.

Once I was all set up, I nodded my head.

As soon as I nodded my head, the referee turned to look at Kimor. Feeling the referee's gaze, turning his eyes away from me, Kimor nodded his head.

Raising his hand, the referee shouted.

"Begin!"

Bang—!

Once the referee's words faded, as though a grenade had exploded, a terrifying sound resounded throughout the whole arena as Kimor's body disappeared from its spot.

Everything happened so fast that I had barely any time to react. Fortunately, I wasn't helpless.

'Eyes of Chronos.'

The moment I heard the loud explosion, I activated Eyes of Chronos. Following this, everything around me suddenly slowed down significantly.

'Shit.'

Once time slowed down, my face paled slightly as I was left shocked by the fact that Kimor was already only a couple of feet away from me.

It had to be noted that I had activated my skills the moment I heard him leaving. For him to have moved this far, it could only mean that his speed was frightening.

Fortunately, I was not helpless.

With my hand by the side of my waist, I decreased the intensity at which time slowed down. Once that happened, Kimor's body started to once again move in my direction.

Just as he was a couple of meters away from me, I activated my other skill.

'The one.'

Kimor's body faltered, and a small opening appeared right next to his right shoulder. The opening was so small, that if I didn't have Eyes of Chronos, I would've never been able to find it.

Thankfully I did and I quickly pulled out my sword.

With time still flowing slowly, I watched as my sword smoothly came out from my scabbard before coming into contact with Kimor's body. Once it came into contact with his body, I deactivated all my skills.

Time which was previously flowing slowly, instantly became faster and I suddenly felt a terrifying pressure bear down on my hand which was holding onto the sword.

Spurt—!

Following this, green blood dyed my vision as my body skid all the way back before coming to a halt near the edge of the arena.

Once my body came to a stop, raising my head, I watched as Kimor looked at me with his eyes wide open in shock. With his hand pressed onto his shoulder that was continuously leaking blood, his originally languid eyes completely changed, and so did the aura around him.

The arena which was originally loud also became extremely quiet as I felt multiple eyes land on me.

With a bitter smile on my face, I placed my hand on my face and clenched it.

'Guess the cat is out of the bag.'

No point in hiding anymore.

Chapter 431: Your choice [2]

"This..."

Looks of absolute shock flashed across the faces of Lorena and Zack as their eyes bulged wide open.

'What have they just witnessed?' They both thought at the same time.

Everything happened so fast that they were both unable to understand what had happened.

In fact, moments prior they were merely commentating about the much without much enthusiasm. After all, Kimor was extremely strong. Both Lorena and Zack were unsure about their own prospects of beating him let alone someone who was <B> ranked like Caeruleum.

But just as they thought that this was going to be an easy match, out of nowhere, they witnessed Caeruleum gain the upper hand over Kimor as blood seeped down from his shoulder.

It had to be noted that Kimor not once had been injured throughout the tournament.

Could this have been due to luck?

Everyone shook their head. There was a limit to how lucky someone could be. The speed at which Caeruleum attack was simply way too fast for anyone to pick up with the backed eye.

To add further clarity that this may have not been just luck, the look on Kimor's face as soon as he realized he had been injured became perfectly vivid for all spectators present to see as they understood that from the first exchange that this was no luck.

How he did it, everyone did not know, however, hope suddenly reignited inside their hearts.

Could it be possible?

"Wait, what is he doing?"

Startling everyone out of their stupor was Lorena's voice as she stood up and pointed toward the screen.

It was then that everyone saw it.

Caeruleum placing his hand over his face and slowly removing what seemed to be a mask off his face revealing the features of a young man with jet-black hair, and deep blue eyes.

His looks, which were fairly handsome, instantly attracted the attention of almost everyone that was watching the match.

"Quick, someone scan his face and get me a report on who he is."

The first one to react to his sudden face reveal was Zack who stood up and glanced in the direction of the people working in the studio.

Instantly, upon hearing his voice, everyone woke up from their stupor and quickly got to work.

It wasn't just them that was doing this, but so were the big guilds throughout the world as they all wanted to find the identity of the mysterious young man that had suddenly shown up on the stage and had even managed to gain an advantage on Kimor, one of the top contenders for the top contenders of the tournament.

The reporters were quick.

Within just a minute of them scanning the face of the young man who had appeared on the stage, they were able to gather information about him.

Without wasting any seconds they quickly sent it to Zack who briefly looked through them.

However, the moment he looked through them, his mouth opened up in shock.

"This…"

Lifting his head and staring at the crew to make sure he wasn't seeing things wrongly, it was only after he got confirmation from them that he turned to look back at the camera.

A complicated look flashed across his face as he repeatedly lowered and raised his head to make sure that the profile did indeed match the features of the man on the stage.

"This…I don't know how I should break this, but…"

Lowering his head and once again looking through the information, Zack scratched the back of his head and muttered.

"We have identified the contestant on the stage, and…well, I don't know how to say this…but…his name is Ren Dover"

Zack paused.

Then, raising his head and staring straight into the cameras, he said.

"...and he is supposed to be dead."

***

At the same time this was happening, on the upper echelon platform.

Interest finally ignited on the faces of the people present as they gazed towards the platform where Ren and Kimor were fighting.

This was especially so for Brutus and Gervis who leaned their bodies forward. Seemingly trying to get a better look at the match.

The elven queen on the other hand, although more interested, didn't show as much interest as the others.

Her head was preoccupied with different matters.

With his eyes glued on Ren's figure on the stage, surprise flashed across Octavious's languid eyes.

Given his strength, he was naturally able to see exactly what happened, and it was because he was able to see what happened that he was left surprised. Simply put, the speed of the attack was incredibly fast.

So fast that even an <S> ranked individual would have difficulty following up unless they paid close attention to it.

Lowering his head he glanced at his watch and sent a message.

[Send me information regarding the young man on the stage.]

Pressing onto the screen, he proceeded to send the message.

Whoever he sent the message to, they were efficient. Within a minute or two, he got a reply back, the moment his eyes landed on the information, the surprise in his eyes only increased.

Name : Rank Dover

Status : Dead

Information : Believe to have died during an explosion at the Lock three years in the past, during the inter academy tournament. Inheritor of the Keiki style…

Reading through the information, Octavious momentarily closed his eyes.

'…so this is who 876 is.'

Piecing all the information together, he quickly came to the conclusion that Ren was 876.

As his thoughts paused there, his brows furrowed.

'Why did he reveal himself?'

It wasn't really that hard for him to figure out that he was 876. Matching the exact time when the Monolith said they met 876 to the time Ren supposedly died, Octavious did not think for a moment that 876, or should he say 'Ren', would do something so careless and reveal his identity so quickly.

There was definitely more to it than he thought.

Opening his eyes again, he directed his attention back towards the tournament. Or to be more precise, in the direction of where Ren was.

The interest in his eyes only increased.

He was curious about his motives for suddenly revealing himself.

***

Ren slowly put the mask away.

Swoooosh—!

A soft breeze suddenly brushed past his body sending his hair scattering all over his face. Raising his hands, Ren took out a hairband and tied his hair back.

On the other hand, as Ren tied his hair, Kimor, who had slowly recuperated from the shock of what happened, grit his teeth and straightened his back once more.

The languidness in his eyes completely disappeared and what replaced it was a heavy solemness.

From that one brief exchange, Kimor understood that he was facing no easy opponent. In fact, it wasn't just him who understood this as almost everyone that was spectating understood this.

Whoever Caeruleum was, he had previously been hiding his strength.

"...Are you not going to start?"

Snapping Kimor out of his thoughts was Caeruleum's cold voice. Raising his head and meeting Caeruleum's dull gray eyes, Kimor body faltered slightly.

He took a step back.

A deep sense of fear enshrouded his whole body as his eyes never left Caeruleum's dull gray eyes.

The more he looked at them, the more he felt his soul getting sucked into them.

Reflected behind those dull grey eyes was the same figure standing in front of him. However, instead of standing in front of him, he was merely looking at him with a bored look, sitting on a golden throne. Most strikingly were his emotionless and cold eyes that seemed to treat him as a passerby, or rather, an insignificant figure.

It sent chills down his spine.

The overbearing pressure coming from him became many times more powerful the more he stared at hm as a deep sense of dread completely washed over his entire body.

It felt as though he was in the presence of a Monarch.

A being that he was not supposed to cross!

His legs buckled slightly. He suddenly had the urge to kneel. No, he had to kneel! How could someone like him remain standing in front of such a presence?

But just as he was about to kneel, he suddenly stopped.

'What am I doing?'

He suddenly thought to himself. Was he just about to kneel? Who was he? He was Kimor, one of the strongest orcs amongst the younger generation and someone who had only kneeled in front of his leader, Brutus.

How dare he suddenly kneel to some unknown human he had never met before?! Preposterous!

Closing his eyes, Kimor channeled all the mana inside of his body as he screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Huuuuuargh!"

As he screamed his thunderous voice boomed throughout the whole arena as he quickly snapped out of his delusions.

Clenching his teeth, the aura revolving around his body intensified to the extreme as he reached out to grab onto his axe which was behind his back using his left arm. The one that was not injured.

SHIIIIIING!

Sparks flew on the ground as the tip of the axe came into contact with the ground.

Then, once he took out his axe, without wasting any time, he tensed his legs and propelled his body forward.

This time, as he moved, he made sure to increase his speed even further. His speed was even faster than in the first exchange.

From the previous exchange, he understood that even though his opponent was not exactly strong, the speed at which he could attack was terrifying.

Most frightening was his ability to make decisions in the little time he gave him to react.

Therefore, after thinking things through, Kimor decided to switch strategies. Instead of opting for pure speed, he was planning on using brute force as well.

Bang—!

Arriving before Caeruleum, pressing his foot onto the ground till it cracked apart, Kimor raised his axe and cut horizontally.

Fast and furious!

The moment the axe came swinging down, it came charging in Ren's direction like an avalanche. Its momentum was almost unstoppable.

***

My eyes stung.

Staring at the incoming attack that seemed to be able to cut through me like butter using Eyes of Chronos, I found that the more I used the skill, the more my eyes started to hurt.

His current attack was many times faster than his previous attack, the power that it contained was also many times stronger.

Unfortunately, the attack was not something I could dodge. Therefore, after thinking things through, deactivating Eyes of Chronos, I pressed my foot onto the ground, tilted my body towards the direction of where the axe was coming from, and met the attack using the body of my sword.

Clank—!

Sparks flew in every direction as his axe came into contact with my sword.

For a brief moment, neither of our weapons moved, but this only lasted for a short moment before I found myself flung all the way towards the other side of the arena.

Intense pain coursed throughout my whole body as my hands almost let go of the sword in my hand.

Bang—!

Whilst I was in mid-air, I suddenly heard another loud sound coming from the direction of where Kimor was from.

Lowering my head, I watched as Kimor stretched his waist and threw a brutal punch in my direction.

What came after was a small after image of a fist that quickly shot in my direction.

Staring at the incoming attack, I had very little time to react. Raising my sword and ignoring the pain, I channeled all the mana inside of my body and drew two rings.

Once the rings formed, raising my hand, I directed one ring towards where the attack was coming from, whilst I directed the other one to go right beneath one of my feet as a form of foothold.

But it appeared as though I had underestimated the power hidden behind Kimor's attack.

Not even a second after coming into contact with the ring, it quickly tore it apart before arriving right in front of me.

"Khuuuak!"

This time I was not so lucky as my body once again shot back and I felt a lingering sweetness coming from the back of my throat.

"Spurt!"

Unable to hold back the sweetness, I spat a mouthful of blood as I felt my chest cave in slightly. I knew that I had broken at least five ribs.

Bang—! Bang—! Bang—! Bang—! Bang—!

But this was not it. Not even a second after I got hit by the first attack, I heard the sound of five more attacks headed my way. My face darkened at the thought.

Suppressing the pain, motioning for my last ring to come my way, the ring quickly arrived beneath my foot. Touching the ring with my right foot, I released all the tension that I had been gathering in it and propelled my body upwards.

Swooosh—! Swooosh—!

Doing so I was able to narrowly avoid the attacks. However, just because I was able to avoid the attacks didn't mean I could relax as Kimor continued to send more and more attacks my way.

Bang—! Bang—! Bang—!

Lowering my head and staring at the incoming attacks, I had a sudden thought.

"...Doesn't this remind me of Amanda's attacks?'

By now I was around four hundred meters above the platform.

Beneath me were a barrage of attacks that came hurdling in my direction like cannonballs.

Subjected to such high intensity of attacks, I would've normally panicked by now, but this scenario was oddly familiar.

It looked exactly like the scenario which I practiced with Amanda many times in the past. Instantly, an idea on how to handle this came into my mind.

Raising my sword and channeling all the mana inside of my body, I continuously drew circles in the air. As I drew the circles in the air, the pain that was coming from my chest intensified as I had trouble breathing.

"Cough, cough."

I spat more blood.

By now, my body which had been rapidly raising was slowing down, and it wouldn't be long before I would fall back down. Fortunately, that was exactly what I wanted.

Upon drawing my twelfth circle, the momentum was completely gone and my body quickly fell to the ground. Beneath me were the massive cannonball-like attacks.

Blinking once, I muttered inside of my mind.

'Eyes of Chronos.'

Time slowed down and the whole world around me froze.

With the aid of the chip inside of my head, my eyes dilated as an arrow suddenly appeared inside of my vision, showing me the path that I needed to take in order to make it back down to the ground safely.

Everything happened within a small fraction of a second, and once I managed to find the right path, I quickly acted.

Clenching both fists tightly, the rings around me quickly shot downward and positioned themselves in the spots where I had calculated the attacks wouldn't land. Then, pressing onto a ring that I had placed beneath my foot, I propelled my body downwards.

Like an arrow, my body shot towards the nearest ring I had set up at unparalleled speed. Once I arrived next to it, I would use it as a foothold to push my body down even faster.

Booom—! Booom—!

Each time I stepped onto the ring, it would explode into millions of particles. However, thanks to this, I was able to increase my speed even more.

I was traveling so fast that from time to time I was forced to activate 'Eyes of Chronos'. This was so that I would not lose sight of what was happening around me.

Booom—! Booom—!

Breaking apart two more rings, activating 'Eyes of Chronos' once again, I finally saw Kimor standing in the middle of the arena.

It was only for a brief moment, but when I saw Kimor, I realized that he was holding onto his axe with both hands. His eyes locked in my direction.

A cold chill ran down my spine as I placed my hand on the sheath of my sword.

The third movement of the [Keiki style] : Void step

Chapter 432: Your choice [3]

Click—!

It was very subtle, but almost everyone in the arena and the ones spectating were able to hear the sound.

Zack and Lorena, who were staring at the screen, their eyes filled with shock, suddenly stood up as they watched Ren's figure disappear from the sky.

He was already traveling at a speed that made it hard for them to follow, but the moment they heard the clicking sound, his figure, which was already a blur, completely disappeared from their vision.

What followed his disappearance was a deathly silence as Ren's figure suddenly materialized in front of Kimor.

It had to be noted that before his figure disappeared, he was still quite far from him. For him to have suddenly appeared in front of Kimor at such speed, many couldn't follow his movements.

Clink—

It was then that Ren's sword met with Kimor's axe. A loud metallic sound rang in the air, travelling through the ears of each person in the arena.

With the tip of his sword meeting the edge of Kimor's axe, time seemed to stand still as everyone kept their eyes glued on the two figures standing in the middle of the arena.

BOOOOOOOM—

The originally quiet environment was soon drowned out by the terrifying sound of an explosion as four pressurized circular energy beams shot out from the point of contact between the two weapons.

The whole arena started to crack apart as small pieces of rock flung in the air like projectiles. Unfortunately for Ren and Kimor, the projectiles quickly attacked them as even more wounds started to appear on their bodies.

It wasn't long before Ren's upper garments tore off, revealing his muscular body that was riddled with scars. The sight was deeply etched into the vision of everyone that was watching.

Soon enough, dust flew in the air, covering the vision of most spectators.

The explosion was so loud and powerful that even after it disappeared, some people had difficulty hearing.

Slowly, once the after-effects of the explosion died down and the dust slowly started to settle, every spectator leaned forward with anticipation.

Their palpitating heartbeats rang throughout their heads as they all had the same question inside of their mind.

'Who won?'

Just who had won between the two contestants?

"This…"

It wasn't long before everyone got their answer. Zack and Lorena simultaneously looked at the screen with extreme surprise.

Displayed on their screen were the images of both Ren and Kimor laying down on the ground, blood seeping from the bodies of both individuals. Neither of them was moving.

Zack and Lorena's heart squeezed the moment they saw this. Zack softly muttered in response.

"This… It looks like both contestants are knocked out cold. The match seems to be coming to end in a—"

However, just as he thought that the match was going to end in a draw, his eyes lit up as he watched both Ren and Kimor's body twitch.

His eyes isntantly lit up when he saw this.

***

"Ugh."

Everything felt like a blur to me. I don't quite remember what happened after my strike, but all I could feel at the moment was an intense pain coursing down my body.

Regaining a bit of clarity, I felt my cheek pressing against something hard.

"…ah."

Opening my eyes, I realized that I was on the ground. Blood leaked from my mouth.

Slowly lifting my head and glancing around, I could see all the spectators' eyes directed in my general direction.

I couldn't quite hear anything.

There was this constant ringing sound inside of my head that prevented me from hearing anything.

The referee was also standing not so far away from where I was, carefully alternating his head in my direction and to somewhere behind me.

"Khh…"

Placing my right hand on the ground, an electrifying pain ran through my whole body, prompting me to fall back down on the ground.

With both forearms on the ground, my eyes twitched repeatedly as my body seemed to refuse to listen to me.

Eventually, through sheer grit of will, I supported my body up with the aid of my arm.

The ringing sensation inside of my ears decreased, the noise coming from the arena becoming more discernible.

Thunderous.

It would be how I'd describe the audience once my ears returned to normal.

The noise coming from the audience was thunderous. So loud that it reminded me of a thunderbolt descending from the sky.

Drowning the noise coming from the crowd to the back kf my mind, I grabbed onto the side of my waist and forcefully suppressed myself from screaming out in pain.

Although I couldn't quite make out the extent of my injuries, from the way I was having a hard time moving and breathing, I could tell that I was severely injured.

Even then, since the referee had still not announced the victor, I knew that I didn't win yet.

Gritting my teeth hard, I slowly turned around, and it was then that I saw Kimor standing opposite me.

His current state was the same as me, or rather, he seemed to be in a worse state as his right arm hung loosely down his body. On his left was his axe. Blood dripped down from his body.

With one eye closed, he glared in my direction and took a small step forward. Then, grabbing onto a small fruit from the side of his pants, he quickly put it in his mouth. Immediately, some of his superficial wounds started to heal.

'Goddamnit, this fucker is still standing.'

I cursed inside of my mind when I saw this.

If I said that I was in a state to fight, then it would be a lie.

At the moment, every time I tried to move my body, it would ache unctrollably as all the muscles inside screamed in pain.

Not only that, my mana was completely drained. I was no longer in a state to be able to use my sword anymore.

However, if there was one thing that I could do, it was to withstand the pain.

I may scream here and there because of the pain, but that was merely something I did to distract my brain.

"Huuuu…"

Taking a deep breath and tapping onto my bracelet, I took out a couple potions and quickly ingested them. Slowly, some of my injuries started to heal.

Unfortunately, the effects of the potion weren't instantaneous and the extent of my injuries were just too much to heal in such a short period of time.

Fortunately, it was enough to give me that one push to fight for a bit longer.

Thump!

Kimor took another step. Raising my head and clenching my fists, I similarly took a step forward.

Thump! Thump!

Slowly but surely, we both neared each other. It wasn't long before we came face to face with one another.

His towering figure looked down on me from above as I looked back at him straight into his eyes, neither one of us giving each other an inch.

"Khrrr…khrrr..."

I could feel Kimor's breathing from where I was.

Thamp!

Suddenly, with a large sound, Kimor dropped the axe in his hand.

"Huaaaarg!!!!"

He suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs. His body arched backwards, his hand curling into a fist. A dark green glow enshrouded Kimor's fist.

Seeing him prepare himself to attack, I decided to meet his attack head-on.

Channeling all the mana inside my body, I also curled my hand into a fist. A powerful glow suddenly enshrouded my hand as I breathed out and glared at my opponent.

Then, seemingly coming to an agreement, we both punched out.

Bang—

A powerful blasting sound reverberated throughout the whole arena the moment our fists connected. What followed after was a strong circular pressurized wind gale that shot outwardly, our clothes fluttering due to it.

"Khaaaa!!"

It wasn't long before our hands separated. A pained groan escaped from my lips as I felt my hand shatter apart upon meeting his fist.

Kimor let out a similar sound as his body skid back a couple of meters. However, unlike me, his hand was still intact.

Despite him being more injured than me, his body was tougher than mine. But that was the only thing I could do given my circumstances.

Ignoring everything, I clenched my left fist and followed up with another punch. Only a second had passed from the previous attack.

"Huaaag!!"

Barely managing to react on time, Kimor raised his hand and blocked the attack using his forearm.

Bang—

Another powerful blast shot out as Kimor's figure skid back even more. A pained shout escaped from Kimor's mouth as his right leg gave out for a brief moment.

"Fall, damn it!"

I screamed in frustration as I glared at Kimor who was still standing. Taking a step forward, my left leg similarly gave out, but I quickly moved my right leg and barely managed to stop myself from falling down.

Placing my left hand on the ground, I hopped forward with my right leg and continued to move forward.

"Khhhh…"

Despite the fact that every part of my being wanted me to give up, I refused to listen.

I had no choice but to do so.

I couldn't lose. No, I didn't want to lose.

So what if my opponent was stronger than me? Raising my head and staring at him who was barely holding on, I knew that this was the result of all the pain and suffering I had been going through.

Giving up now was the same as trashing all of the experiences I went through.

It wasn't long before I was once again front of Kimor.

"Haaa…haaa…"

Crack. Crack. Crack.

I clenched my right fist, the one that had shattered. Then, rotating my heel and arching my body backward, I screamed.

"Stay the fuck down, damn it!"

Bang—

Throwing a lower hook, my hand finally came into contact with Kimor's lower jaw. Whether I was able to deal significant damage to him or not, I couldn't tell as I lost complete control of my arm and I fell onto the ground.

My right leg had finally given up.

Thump—

As I fell onto the ground, I felt a slight tremble coming from opposite me. Lifting my head, I saw Kimor's figure laying down on the ground with his eyes wide open, staring into the sky.

'Still not enough!!!?'

A twisted anger suddenly rose from deep within me as I saw that Kimor had still not passed out.

Using my left hand, the only hand I could move, I dragged my body forward.

With every motion I made, an unprecedented amount of pain travelled throughout my body. But I just continued to endure.

It wasn't long before I reached Kimor and mounted him from the top.

My eyes soon met his. Raising my left hand and curling my fingers into a fist, I punched out.

Bang—

As I punched out, my hair came undone, scattering all over my face, but I didn't care. Raising my left hand again, I punched out once more.

"Give up, you piece of shit!"

Bang—!

"Fucking faint already!"

Bang—!

"Damn you!"

Each time I punched out, I cursed out loud to let go of my frustrations. At this point, I had long forgotten about my surroundings as I continued to punch and punch and punch.

Bang— Bang—

"Just fucking give up!"

Swooosh—

"Huh?"

It was only after I felt a gentle power envelope me and lift me in the air didI finally came to my senses. Soon, I fell onto the ground with both knees.

Lifting my head up and feeling the gazes of everyone present, my left hand finally lowered.

"The winner of this match is Caeruleum. He will proceed to round of 16."

The referee finally announced.

Once the referee's words faded, a brief moment of silence ensued before the whole arena exploded into a fit of cheers.

To be honest, I could barely make out what was happening.

My vision was quite blurry. The only reason why I was still conscious was because I refused to pass out.

'Not when everyone is watching.'

"Haaaaa…."

Raising my head, I gazed into the sky.

'This should be enough, no?'

Chapter 433: Your choice [4]

Human domain.

"…"

A deathly silence enveloped the studios where Zack and Lorena worked at as neither of them could open their mouths.

The scene that they had just witnessed, how could they describe it in words? It was so shocking that they were unable to say anything.

It wasn't just them, but everyone who was watching felt the same.

Especially the last few minutes of the match where they watched as Ren pummelled over Kimor's body, punching him until he completely passed out.

Each and everyone one of his punches deeply resonated with their palpitating hearts, further imprinting the scene into their hearts.

"Wh…what have we just seen?"

Zack softly mumbled as he slumped back down on his chair.

His eyes filled with disbelief.

He really couldn't understand what had just happened. At one moment he thought that it was going to be a one-sided beating, from then thinking that it was going to be a tie before finally ending in Ren's victory.

The whole match was like a roller coast of emotions for him, and for everyone that was watching.

It was simply mind-blowing.

'Could I have won if I was in the same position as him?'

Zack thought as he tried to recall the events of the match.

'No, it's impossible.'

He quickly shook his head.

He didn't think so.

Lifting his head, Zack stared straight into one of the cameras. For a good minute, he didn't say anything. He just quietly stared at the cameras.

Then, opening his mouth he said.

"He won."

The moment those words left his mouth, the eyes of all the viewers watching returned to him. Lifting his papers and stacking them up, Zack took a deep breath before solemnly saying.

"…Ren Dover has defeated Kimor and has passed to the round of sixteen."

***

Upper echelon platform.

"What an amusing fight."

Gervis boisterously laughed out loud as he stood up and praised. Staring at the arena down below, his eyes shine with deep interest.

Turning his head to look at Brutus, he couldn't help but throw a light jab in his direction.

"Who would've thought that your strongest warrior would be defeated at the hands of a human. You didn't see that one coming, right?"

Despite Gervis's taunts, Brutus's complexion remained the same as his heavy breathing resounded throughout the area.

"Khrrr…khrr…"

With his eyes locked onto the arena, more specifically Kimor, he turned to look in Ren's direction before saying.

"Khrr…the human deserved to win. A loss is a loss, and Kimor has lost."

"True."

Gervis nodded his head.

Although he had not interacted much with Brutus in the past, he had a good impression of Brutus. This was simply because of his honest personality. He wasn't the type of person that would hold grudges at a loss.

This was just how he, and the orcs were. They respected those that beat them without making any excuses.

Taking his attention away from Brutus, Gervis softly mumbled to himself.

"...That aside, the match was truly unexpected. I really didn't think that the human was this capable."

Gervis meant those words.

Although he knew that Ren was capable as he had seen firsthand his capabilities back in Henlour, that was only on a mental aspect.

He had actually never seen him fight.Do you want to read more chapters? Despite him having one of the largest merits in them being able to take down Inferno and stop the war, Gervis had not seen him fight once.

And having just witnessed how Ren fought firsthand, he really was left impressed by his performance.

Such talent...he really was envious.

"Hm."

Snapping out of his thoughts, Gervis suddenly remembered something.

Turning his head to look at where Octavious was sitting, for the first time ever since seeing him, Gervis finally saw a change in Octavious's facial expression.

Although it was still indifferent, there was this deep sense of solemnity hiding deep within them.

Massaging his beard, he decided to go to him. He had something he needed to say to him.

Walking up to him, he stopped a couple of meters away from him and coughed.

"Keum...keum..."

"..."

Hearing Gervis's cough, Octavious raised his head.

"Do you need something?"

Putting on an amicable smile, Gervis calmly sat down next to him.

Turning his head and staring straight into his eyes, Gervis suddenly asked.

"What did you think about the match?"

A hint of surprise appeared on Octavious's face upon hearing Gervis's question. What came after it was wariness.

"…it was good."

Even then, he still replied after a short pause. Gervis nodded his head upon hearing his words before leaning back on his chair.

"I totally agree with you. The match was very good. Especially that human youth over there that won. He's quite the talent isn't he?"

"He is."

Octavious replied.

Gervis nodded his head more fiercely when he heard his words.

"Right, right. He is also very smart and will probably be one of the future pillars of the human side if I'm not wrong?"

"...What are you trying to get at?"

Octavious coldly asked, his brows finally furrowing together and the air around him finally changing.

He had finally realized that the situation was not right.

For what reason was he trying to praise Ren?…was it truly an innocent act, or was he trying to imply something else.

It didn't take long for Octaviois to get an answer as Gervis calmly and slowly said.

Walking over the edge of the platform, he transmitted his voice inside of Octavious's head.

"You see, you may not know this, but that human over there helped me out quite a bit over the last year, and it would truly be a bummer if something happened to him…"

"..."

Upon hearing Gervis's words, everything started to click inside Octavious's head.

He had already received the reports of what had happened back in Henlour from Douglas and the Vice-Leader. He had a general idea of what happened and how they were able to defeat Inferno and stop the war.

The moment he heard Gervi's words, putting the pieces together, Octavious understood just what his words implied.

Once he did, Octavius's eyes chilled.

"Are you threatening me?"

"…am I threatening you?"

Walking back to his previous chair, Gervis sat back down, leaned back, and massaged his beard.

This behavior persisted for a good minute before eventually, he shook his head.

"No, I am not threatening you. I'm just telling you how the facts are."

Turning his head to face Ren's direction, he continued.

"…You need to realize that this whole conference would not have happened if not for his aid. It wouldn't be wise if something happened to him."

Standing up, Gervis took one last glance in Octavious's direction before leaving.

"He's waiting for you. You should go meet him. I'll be visiting him in the next hour, I sure hope he is still breathing when I visit him next."

As he left, his words directly entered Octavious's mind, causing his frown to tighten.

Crack—!

A cracking sound suddenly resounded as the Octaviois gripped onto the side of the chair with increased intensity.

***

Beneath the arena.

"Haa..."

Amidst the thunderous crowd, Amanda was sitting on a small bench collecting her breath.

Despite it soon being her turn, Amanda refused to go to the arena.

The reason for this was because of Ren's match.

The moment the match started, she couldn't take her eyes away from his figure.

The intensity at which he fought, the way he skilfully dealt with his opponent's moves, and the way he completely disregarded his own safety just to secure his own victory, Amanda's emotions were in a state of disarray.

Her current feelings were hard to describe.

On one hand, she could see just how much he had improved over the years when he went missing.

She had already seen a glimpse of his strength during the time she reunited with him, but it was only now that she fully understood the extent of his improvement.

The pain and suffering that he must've gone through in order to achieve such a level of strength, Amanda couldn't imagine, nor did she want to imagine.

Every time she did, an uncomfortable feeling would rise from deep within her heart.

She couldn't really explain what that feeling was. But, she didn't like it.

On the other hand, the stronger he became, the further he felt from her. She hated that feeling.

Secretly she was quite a competitive person, and so, as she watched Ren and the others drastically improve, a never seen before fire lit up inside of her heart, prompting her to want to train even harder.

"Amanda Stern, please make your way to the portal."

Snapping her out of it, Amanda's wrist suddenly lit up as a melodious voice reached her ears.

"..."

She stood up and looked down in the stands. Below, she could faintly see the outline of an elf standing next to a portal.

Portal [09]

Taking one last look in the direction of Ren's match, Amanda bit her soft cherry-colored lips before slowly making her way down towards the portal.

It wasn't long before she reached the portal. Raising her hand and presenting her wrist, the elf took a step to the side.

"You may go in."

Nodding her head, Amanda closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Then, recalling Ren's fight, from the way he fought to the way he persevered throughout the end despite being at a clear disadvantage, she tightened the grip of her bow and stepped forward.

***

'…I see, so this is the gap between us.'

With his eyes locked onto the projection where Ren stood in the middle, Jin slowly closed his eyes.

He originally thought that he had managed to bridge the gap between the two of them but it soon became clear to him that it was merely his delusions.

The fight just now had clearly shown him the difference between himself and Ren.

It wasn't just that he was stronger, but the way he was quickly able to adjust to the situation and come up with solutions in that short period of time he was fighting, that truly shocked JIn.

One notable example of this was during this fight. During the last moments of their exchange.

Not many may have realized this, but the moment Ren was about to attack, he realized that Kimor was also preparing to unleash a terrifying attack.

Whilst in the air, and before activating whatever last skill he used, Kimor's axe was already swinging down on him.

In that split moment of time when Kimor's axe came down, Ren directly aimed the tip of his sword right at his axe.

The intent behind it was clear.

Disrupt the attack before it could gather even more energy!

In fact, now that Jin thought about it, this was probably the only move he could pull considering his position. Had he directly aimed for Kimor, although he may have perhaps been able to defeat him, he would've probably sustained injuries far more grievous than what he ended up with.

Jin might even push it as far as saying that he could've died.

Simply put, Ren far outstripped him in terms of experience. An aspect that Jin severely lacked in comparison to him.

'I won't give up.'

Even then, Jin suddenly clenched his fists.

Despite having come to the realization that the gap between the two was big, Jin still chose not to give up.

Like his father said.

'The moment one is satisfied with themselves, that is the moment their growth will stunt. '

And he firmly believed this.

***

Sitting up on my bed with bandages all over my arms, I calmly looked towards the outside of the window. Behind it were the beautiful landscapes of Issanor.

'Eight broken ribs, a fractured hand, shattered right hand, broken kneecap, and a concussion.'

Those were the extent of my injuries.

If not for the fact that the elves had cast on me multiple spells and I was given a couple of potions, I would've long passed out from the pain.

"Haa.."

I took a deep breath as a calm silence enshrouded the room.

The atmosphere unfortunately was soon broken by the presence of someone. It was so subtle and unnoticeable that the only reason why I was able to tell that someone had appeared was through the small reflection of the window glass.

Even then, I was not panicked.

Closing my eyes, I softly said.

"You've come."

"...So you're the famous 876."

A cold and emotionless voice responded back.

Slowly turning my head away from the window, my eyes met with Octavious Hall's. The number one ranked Hero in the human domain.

Lowering my head, I politely replied.

"In the flesh."

Chapter 434: Your choice [5]

Upon confirming that I was indeed 876, the very air in the room chilled by a few degrees.

When I felt this, I merely smiled.

There was not an ounce of nervousness inside of my body.

Octavious Hall was a pragmatic man. He was someone who calculated profits above all else. Although he didn't look like it, from where I sat, I could tell that he was fuming.

If there was one thing that Octavious hated, it was losing control.

In a way, he was like me, except that he sought a different type of control. He sought control for the sake of his minuscule pride, while I sought control for the sake of being able to quickly adjust over the slightest of changes.

Even then, seeing his current complexion, I couldn't help but think to myself.

'Guess Gervis overdid it…'

There could only be one reason I could think of for him to be like this, and that was because he had been threatened by Gervis.

Well, it was inevitable. I had to guarantee my own life, after all.

"Does your confidence stem from Gervis's backing?"

Octavious finally spoke, his cold voice reverberating throughout the whole room.

I tilted my head for a second before eventually nodding.

"In a way, yes."

"So you're not afraid I will ignore his warning and kill you right here on the spot?"

"Yup, not at all." I shook my head. Then, glancing at him from the corner of my eyes, I softly added. "To be honest, I fear Melissa more than you."

This was not a joke.

As I've said before. Octavious was a pragmatic man. He wasn't the type to act rashly.

Since Gervis had obviously threatened him, it was clear that he couldn't make any rash moves, and as such, I wasn't worried about my safety.

But unlike him, Melissa would attack me even if she was threatened. There was a clear difference between the two.

"I see."

Octavious nodded. Surprisingly, he didn't look too fazed by the fact that I mentioned his daughter.

Did he perhaps already figure out that I was the one working with her regarding the magic cards…? If so, things were going to be even easier than I thought.

After a brief moment of silence, he opened his mouth again. His voice sounded much calmer than before.

"Your goal is freedom, isn't it?"

My brows knit.

"…Yes."

At my confirmation, Octavious quickly followed up with another question.

"And you're trying to frame Aaron as 876 in order to gain freedom, correct?"

"Right."

It was pretty much the gist of it, yes.

Guess he had fully understood what I was planning. However, his next words caused the frown on my face to deepen.

"What about your family?"

"… Don't worry about them."

I coldly replied. However, it seemed as though it went to deaf ears as Octavious continued.

"By now, I'm sure that it is not just I who figured out that you're 876. The Monolith must have found out as well. Since they can't come here, in all likelihood, they are going to target your parents. Was this the freedom that you wanted?"

Closing my eyes, I calmly looked back towards the scenery of Issanor.

"They won't do shit."

I replied after a while. A smile soon crept up on my face.

"Do you believe I didn't think this far ahead?"

I wasn't that naive to think that he would be the only one to figure things out.

From the very beginning, I knew that the Monolith would find out about my identity the moment I revealed my face.

I had already made preparations a long time ago. At the moment, they should be in safe hands.

Turning my attention back towards Octavious, I lazily said, "My family is safe, and they won't have any trouble with you or Monolith."

To my surprise, instead of displaying anger, Octavious merely closed his eyes and nodded.

"So you've thought things through."

Opening his eyes once again, he leaned back on his chair.

"If you've thought that far, then I have no choice but to listen to what you have to say."

Octavious interlocked his fingers.

"So, tell me. Why should the Union help you?"

"… Why should you help me?"

My eyes opened wide before I eventually laughed. Turning to look at Octavious, I looked around the room before I pointed toward myself.

"Are you messing with me? ...I need your help?"

Did he smoke something before coming here?

When in the world did I ever say that I needed their help?

Did they actually think that I would seek help from the one organization that turned its back on me?

How laughable.

Lifting my head up, I stared straight into Octavious's eyes. The smile on my face completely disappeared as I leaned in closer.

"Listen well, and listen good."

"Let's make something clear. I never needed your help, nor do I need it now. All I'm doing right now is giving you a choice."

It seemed as though he had completely misunderstood the situation. I didn't ask him to come to me for my sake, no, it was for their sake.

Lowering my hand and shifting my body forward a little, I asked, "I'm sure by now you've seen my worth, have you not?"

Octavious didn't answer. I continued.

"You've seen my fight, have you not? You've also seen that I'm on good terms with the dwarves, and not only that, I've saved the asses of some of your precious people a while back."

The more I spoke, the sharper my words became.

I was simply venting out my frustrations. Not only did I see Monica and the others back at the Monolith, but I also had many other qualities that should prove my worth.

Lowering my head and gazing at my watch, I tapped on the screen and a holographic image appeared before us.

Presented in the holographic image was a replica of the contract Octavious and the others had signed with the Monolith.

Once I took out the contract, Octavious's face finally changed a little. His voice turned deep, and he asked, "Where did you get a copy of that?"

"You probably already know," I replied. The answer was obvious anyways. It was from Waylan.

I had already briefed him on my situation with the Union, so he knew of my circumstances. The moment we arrived in Issanor, as the Vice-Leader of the Union, he helped me get a copy of the contract.

It was only after reading through it that I was able to find the holes within it.

Regarding Waylan, things would've been easier if he was here, but he headed back to the human domain the moment he got rid of Jasper. He had to sort out his house after all.

Concerning the contract, it was just a copy and not the real thing, but it was enough.

"Have a look over here."

Raising my hand, I pointed toward two highlighted parts in the contract.

"The terms of the contract will be null if Party A (Union) fails to provide adequate effort in the capture of wanted fugitive 876, dead or alive."

I slowly recited before pointing toward another section of the contract.

"Because Party A does not have the means to properly identify 876, Party B will provide Party A with a tracking system as well as a blood measuring system that will verify the identity of the captive. If the two criteria are met, Party A is requested to bring the individual to Party B."

Pausing, I raised my head and looked at Octavious.

"I wonder what these two things could be?...You know, the tracking system, and blood measuring system."

I proceeded to cross my arms before sarcastically saying.

"Maybe the device that was found in Aaron's head or even possibly the traces of serum found inside of his body?"

In response to my question, Octavious merely closed his eyes and continued to not say anything.

I shrugged it off.

'Party B will provide Party A with a tracking system as well as a blood measuring system that will verify the identity of the captive.'

These words in the contract were what made me act the way I did back then when I attacked Aaron.

I wasn't just venting out my emotions on that day. Even though a part of the reason was because of that, it wasn't the main reason why.

No, I had taken that time to implant a chip inside of his head as well as inject a dosage of the serum into his body in order to meet the criteria that the Monolith had set for when capturing 876, or to be more precise, me.

The reason why the criteria was set as such was because the Monolith feared that the Union would just send over a dummy and say that he was 876.

They had to be more specific with their demands, hence why they set those two criteria. After all, the Monolith was sure that the Union couldn't replicate the serum as well as the chip.

They had every reason to believe that the criteria was enough, but unfortunately for them, they had not taken into account that Ryan was able to replicate the chip inside of my head and that I still had a couple of dosages of the serum on me.

Furthermore, the contract was signed before I even went to the dwarven domain, which was about to go to war at that time.

Never in their wildest expectations did they believe that I would be able to gain their favor and create a small replica of the chip.

"If, in any way, Party A tries to tamper with the evidence, the contract will nullify, and Party A will suffer heavy penalties."

Tapping onto the screen of my watch, the hologram disappeared.

"I'm not part of the Union, so the contract terms have still not been breached," I stated. "Furthermore—"

"Since the contract has not been breached, once I hand Aaron over to them, the truce will still last and the Monolith won't be able to do anything," Octavious said as he cut my words off.

"...Right."

I nodded, not the least bit offended by the fact that he had cut me off.

That was pretty much the gist of the plan.

Although yes, the Monolith would know that the one they were handing over was not the real 876, but, because he met all of the criteria they had set up, they could only swallow the bitter pill.

Added with the fact that the contract wouldn't breach when doing this, not only did I have to not worry about the Monolith for a couple of years as they were still in a truce where they couldn't attack the human domain, the same would apply to the Union if they chose to support me.

Staring into Octavious's eyes and seeing a trace of clarity within them, I understood that he was weighing down his options.

Well.

'… As if he has any.'

He had no choice but to agree with my terms.

The only thing he could hold against me was the fact that one of the biggest diamond-graded guilds would hold a grudge against the Union if they choose to hand Aaron over, but it had to be noted that Kevin was the one who killed Aaron.

And where did Kevin belong to?

That's right, the Union.

This meant that they had already offended the diamond-graded guild! Furthermore, considering Kevin's talent and Octavious's pragmatic way of thinking, there was no way he was going to hand him over to them.

The bridge between the Union and Aaron's guild had long been burned down.

This meant only one thing.

He had no choice but to choose me. There was no other alternative and he understood that. I'm sure he did.

This became notable to me from how silent he was being.

'Checkmate.'

Leaning back on the bed, I once again gazed into the distance.

All the threads I had set up had finally closed down, trapping Octaviois completely. Unless he was demented, he had no choice but to say yes.

"… So, what are you going to do?"

I eventually asked.

Chapter 435: About my mother...[1]

"Haa.."

Letting out a long breath, my eyes stayed fixed on the scenery presented outside of the window glass.

The scenery outside was dotted with beautiful green grass, great mountains, and ancient trees that further added to the vibrancy of the place. It gave me a sense of tranquility that I desperately needed.

Especially after going through such a big fight.

"…"

The silence continued to persist as I slowly lost myself to the scenery outside. Alone, silently gazing in the distance with no one to bother me. It felt soothing.

After asking Octavious about the choice he was going to make, he just simply left. Vanished out of thin air.

I took that as a sign of confirmation.

He may have not explicitly said yes, but had the answer been no, I would've surely been able to tell.

Either way, I cared more about actions rather than verbal agreements. He could tell me yes right now, but that solved nothing. Only through handing over Aaron would I truly know the answer to his decision.

Lifting my head to gaze at the fluffy white clouds roaming in the sky, I pressed my hand against the window before mumbling softly.

"...If Octavious truly does agree, I'll finally be able to go back home, huh?"

Those words.

They felt quite weird.

After who knew how long, finally, I was soon going to be able to return home.

Not as 876, nor anyone else, but as myself, Ren Dover.

The sense of relief when I realized this was immeasurable as my shoulders finally relaxed and the anxiety within me subsided.

I was finally going to come back home.

Clank—!

Snapping me out of my thoughts, I suddenly heard the sound of the door opening. Glancing in that direction, my brow raised in surprise.

"Oh my, you're actually coming to visit me?"

"..."

Unfortunately for me, the person who I spoke to didn't answer back as she just calmly entered the room. The person who had just entered was none other than Angelica who curiously looked around the place.

Seeing her like that, my brows furrowed.

"...You not going to say anything?"

'Did she just come here to sightsee?'

From the looks of it, it really did look like that. Raising her head, Angelica softly said.

"...I was bored."

"Eh?"

Her words were so unexpected that I had no idea how to reply to her.

In fact, I really didn't know how to reply.

"You're bored?"

"You can't hear, human?"

"No, I can...but what does that have to do with anything?"

"B—"

"You know what, never mind."

Before she could say anything else, I quickly cut her off.

I just recalled the fact that the others had left the human domain, and that she was trapped in a room for a major part of the week. Since she wasn't adept with technology, the only thing she could do during those weeks was training, and well, that was boring.

I only realized now just how bored she must've been. Once my thoughts paused there, I felt a little bit guilty as I took out my tablet from my dimensional space and pressed on the screen.

A holographic image soon appeared.

Then, pointing towards the seat where Octavious previously sat, I nudged with my head.

"Since you've got nothing to do, come watch the matches with me. It might help relieve your boredom."

"...Okay."

Angelica nodded her head after a bit of hesitation.

From the struggle in her eyes, I could tell that she wasn't too keen on watching since her strength was far above theirs, but in the end, she still decided to watch.

Guess she was that bored.

***

Only ten minutes had passed since the previous match where Ren defeated Kimor, and the crowd was still excitedly discussing the events of what happened before.

The previous match was so thrilling that all other matches seemed a lot more lackluster. That was until the current match started.

SHIIIIING!

A cold blade cut through the air as Jin's figure suddenly appeared behind a towering figure. An extremely intense energy ripple suddenly erupted from his body.

Clank!

Just as Jin's blade was about to slice through the neck of his opponent, a thin veil suddenly materialized around the figure, blocking his attack as a loud metallic sound reverberated through the air.

'Not enough?'

Upon seeing his attack missing, Jin knit his brows for a moment. He suddenly twisted his body in midair before quietly landing on the surface of the arena.

Upon landing on the ground, Jin raised his head and stared at his opponent who was similarly staring back at him.

Artian.

That was the name of Jin's opponent. According to the information Ren had given him, he was Kimor's right-hand man, and although he was quite a bit weaker, he was still an extremely powerful individual.

A raging fire burned inside of Jin's eyes as he looked at his opponent. Artian may have been weaker than Kimor, but he was still a strong opponent. From what he heard, the way he fought was similar to Kimor.

Jin may have been able to see the difference between himself and Ren, but only through a real fight would he be able to feel the true difference between them. And that was why he was particularly excited about his match.

"Huuuuuarg!"

With a loud shout, a majestic green glow made out of aura erupted from Artian's body as his muscles bulged outwardly.

He was clearly trying to gather aura around his body to unleash a powerful strike.

Not that Jin would let him.

Pressing his right foot onto the ground, black threads suddenly started to materialize around Jin as his figure disappeared and reappeared a short distance in front of Artian.

"Hmph!"

Spotting Jin, Artian let out a short snort. After which, he curled his fingers into a fist and punched out. What followed his punch was a sonic boom that tore the air apart and headed in Jin's direction like an unstoppable train.

Facing such a terrifying attack, Jin remained unfazed. Suddenly, to the shock of all viewers present, he closed his eyes.

A small black pool suddenly formed beneath his feet as black threads shot out from the ground before wrapping around his body like a cacoon. It wasn't long before his figure was completely enveloped by the black threads.

All of this happened within a short second, and the moment the attack was about to land on him, opening his eyes, revealing his emerald green eyes, Jin's figure suddenly disappeared from the spot, avoiding Artian's attack by a hairbreadth.

Booooom—!

Despite Jin's absence, Artian's attack continued to pass through the platform before reaching the edge of the arena, releasing a thunderous sound.

Watching his attack miss, Artian's expression turned extremely solemn. With his eyes darting all over the arena, he focused all of his attention on his senses as he tried to pick up any clue regarding Jin's whereabouts.

Bang—!

Sensing something, raising his foot, Artian suddenly stomped his foot on the ground. With a loud 'bang' the ground beneath him cracked apart and a shadow jumped out. The moment the shadow appeared, Artian's sharp gaze locked onto it and he punched in that direction, but...

SHIIIIING

Artian suddenly felt a cold chill run down his back as another shadow materialized behind him. It was at that moment he realized that he had been tricked. The previous attack was a decoy!

"Haaaa!"

Crying out loud, Artian channeled all the aura inside of his body. A soft glow enveloped his whole body as the muscles of his body expanded even more. Forcefully twisting his body, his eyes became bloodshot and he changed the direction of his fist towards where the shadow came from.

As he changed the course of his attack, he could feel his muscles scream in agony. But he still persisted and punched out.

Boooom—!

His fist tore through the air resulting in a powerful blast to resound throughout the platform. But just as he thought he had managed to counter his opponent, he realized that his attack had missed.

SHIIIIING!

Yet again, Artian suddenly felt a dangerous feeling rising from behind him. Gritting his teeth, his face twisted savagely as he shouted.

"Stop hiding you rat!"

His voice was so powerful that even the audience below could hear it. However, none of them paid attention to Artian as everyone's eyes were locked on a figure standing on the opposite end of the arena.

With his right hand raised, and half of his hand covered in black, everyone watched as black threads encircled Jin's arm.

His cold eyes were currently locked onto Artian who was currently madly throwing punches around. Failing to realize that beneath him was a small black pool that would shoot black threads left and right whenever Jin's hand twitched.

Slowly but surely, more and more black threads formed from beneath the pool, wrapping around Artian's legs.

Because he was so distracted by the attacks, Artian was unable to take note of the black threads and before long about half of his lower body was covered in black threads.

"Huh?!"

Finally, after realizing that something was wrong with the situation, Artian lowered his head and took notice of the black threads. Out of pure instinct, the first thing he did was lower his arm and grab onto the threads.

But as he pulled, he found that they were stuck onto him like rubber. He could still move properly, but something about the situation wasn't right.

It was then that he raised his head and finally noticed Jin staring at him from the distance. Anger suddenly rose from deep within Artian as he pressed his foot on the ground, preparing to lunge in his direction.

But just as he was about to move, Jin suddenly clenched his fist and the black threads around his tightened up considerably, halting his movement.

"Huargh!"

Clenching his teeth, a green glow sprung out from Artian's body as he forcefully tried to move his body.

Snap. Snap. Snap.

His efforts weren't in vain as soft snapping sounds rang out as some of the threads snapped off, allowing him to recover some of his mobility, but by the time he was able to take a step forward, it was too late.

SHIIIIIIING—!

Appearing right in front of him was Jin. With his body twisted, and his dagger near his right cheek, Artian eyes opened wide. Before he could react, Jin slashed down and a feeling of death suddenly washed over Artian's body.

Even then, as a proud orc, he kept his eyes open and continued to glare at the dagger. He knew from the moment that his body had been trapped that he had lost the match, but he still persisted.

Unfortunately, his stare wasn't enough, and Jin's dagger enlarged in front of him. Just as the dagger was about to take his life away, it came to a sudden halt.

Thud.

With a low thud, Jin landed on the ground and brushed his hair up.

A deathly silence enveloped the arena grounds as all the spectators gazed in Jin's direction.

However, the silence was soon broken by the referee's voice as it boomed throughout the whole venue.

"Winner of this round, Jin Horton, he will pass to the round of sixteen."

Following the referee's words, the whole stadium erupted into cheers.

***

Once Jin's match ended, it was Amanda's turn to compete.

Standing on the opposite end of the arena, Amanda held onto her bow with her left hand whilst simultaneously taunting the string back with her left hand.

A blue translucent arrow materialized on her bow as she gazed at her opponent.

Standing opposite her was a young dwarven girl with both of her hair tied in ponytails. With both of her hands forward, grasping a metal bar, Amanda's face twitched slightly as she looked at the artifact the dwarven girl was holding.

A sub-machine gun? ...Amanda really couldn't quite get a grasp on her opponent's weapon, however, she could tell from a single glance that it was no ordinary weapon.

Materializing in the middle of the arena was the referee who looked at both of them before asking.

"Are the both of you ready?"

Upon hearing the referee's words, Amanda and her opponent simultaneously nodded their heads.

Without wasting any time, the referee officiated the match.

"Begin!"

Chapter 436: About my mother....[2]

"Begin!"

The referee's voice boomed throughout the arena as mana simultaneously burst from both Amanda and her opponent.

With both of her hands on the handle of the sub-machine gun like artifact, a subtle red glow suddenly enshrouded the artifact as the tip slowly started to rotate. With each rotation, the faster the barrel moved.

Tat.

Eventually, after the first rotation, a small energy beam suddenly shot out from the barrel of the weapon as slowly but surely more and more energy beams started to shoot out.

Tat. Tat. Tat.

It wasn't before long that three more energy beams shot out.

Amanda wasn't standing still while this was happening. With her back arched a little bit, she taunted the string of her bow back as three translucent blue arrows materialized on her bow.

The moment the first energy beam shot out, Amanda calmly stood still.

Her decision proved to be the correct one as the projectile quickly missed her, resulting in her hair to fluttered wildly.

Following the first beam, more and more beams started to shoot out from her opponent's artifact.

Even then, Amanda refused to release her arrows the mana around her started to twist.

Whenever a beam would come hurtling towards her, she would either take a step to the side or move a small part of the body. Her movements were minimal, however, each time she moved she was able to miraculously dodge the energy beam that was hurtling towards her at incredible speed.

Amanda's actions caused almost everyone that was watching to look at her in awe as her mesmerizing figure stood in the middle of the arena like an unbeatable war goddess.

Her nimble and yet minimal movements that helped her dodge the beams caused everyone to be at a loss for breath.

'So skillful'

Everyone thought as they watched her dance around her spot, like a beautiful butterfly.

The reason why Amanda was able to do all of this was because of her skill.

[[C] Mana sense]

A skill that essentially allowed her to sense the mana as well as see the disturbances around it. Not only did the skill help her determine the direction of her arrows when she shot them, but she was also able to sense the direction of where the attack of her opponent would go.

It was thanks to this skill that she was able to do what she was doing. However, this only worked for a short period of time. From a certain point, the projectiles would become way too fast to dodge even if she knew where they were coming from.

But fortunately, Amanda was ready.

Tat. Tat. Tat.

Barely dodging three more energy beams, the mana around Amanda's body burst out like a raging storm. Then, eyeing her opponent, she released two of the three arrows.

Xiu! Xiu!

The moment she released the two arrows, the air tore apart and the two arrows disappeared from the spot.

They were so fast that by the time Amanda's opponent could retaliate they were already upon her.

Letting out a low cry, a transparent shield suddenly materialized around the dwarven girl. However, what happened next was completely out of her expectations.

Right as the arrows reached her, instead of hitting her shield as she expected them to, they suddenly expanded and formed two thin blue barriers. Trapping her from above.

In the distance, pursing her lips, Amanda softly muttered.

"Contract."

Instantly the two thin shields started to contract. And slowly but surely, they reached the dwarven girl's shield, applying heavy pressure on it.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

It wasn't long before cracks started to appear on the shield of Amanda's opponent as a helpless look appeared on her face.

Raising her bow towards the air, Amanda finally let go of the final arrow. Once again, it disappeared from her bow, tearing through the air like a comet.

Crash!

The exact moment her arrow left her bow, the barrier around Amanda's opponent finally tore apart with a loud crash.

Before her opponent could even react, the dwarven girl suddenly felt a powerful mana fluctuation coming from above. Lifting her head up, she watched as a terrifying arrow came hurtling down on her.

It was so fast that she was unable to react on time.

Booooom!

A terrifying explosion ensued a couple of seconds after as Amanda's arrow came crashing down on her opponent, sending dust flying everywhere.

Once the dust settled, everyone watched as the referee appeared a couple of meters in front of Amanda's opponent with his hand raised. Behind him was the frightened opponent who couldn't stop trembling as she let go of her large weapon.

Thud.

"The winner of this match is Amanda Stern, she will pass to the round of sixteen."

***

"How strong..."

I softly said as I watched every second of Amanda's match. If I said I wasn't impressed by her performance, that would've been a lie.

Although her opponent wasn't exactly the strongest, for Amanda to one-sidedly beat her like that, was a testament to just how much she had improved over the years.

Taking my eyes away from the screen, I turned to glance at Angelica. With her head cocked to the side and a curious look on her face, Angelica also seemed to be entranced by Amanda's performance.

I smirked when I saw this.

"…by the way, did you really come here because you were bored?"

Honestly, I had a hard time believing this. Although yes, she had been isolated alone, given her resources and the fact that she wasn't a very social person, I was kind of doubting her answer.

Perhaps I was overthinking.

Brushing her hair behind her ear, Angelica slowly raised her head and looked at me. After a while, she shook her head.

"No."

"…oh?"

So there really was something else that she wanted to talk about. Now I was curious.

Before I could say anything else, turning her attention back towards the screen, she softly said.

"Silug has broken through <S-> rank and is planning on consolidating his strength before attacking both the orc chief and Marqiss ranked demon."

Her words rang like thunderbolts inside of my head as I started recalling all of the plans that I had set up in the past.

One of the plans was to turn Silug into the orc chief of Immorra so that I could use him to help me fight against the demon king who arrived during the third cataclysm.

"I see…that's great news."

Although I was happy, I didn't show too much of it.

Silug had only broken through, he had done none of the things that I had tasked him to do.

Not only was I unaware of where his true loyalties were, but I also sure hoped that he wouldn't die.

After all, he was planning on interfering in the war between two individuals whose strength wasn't inferior to his.

The only thing he had on them was the element of surprise, and even with that, I knew that his chances of winning were not very high.

They weren't low, but not high at the same time.

"Did he say anything about the time he will attack?"

"No."

Angelica shook her head. Pausing for a second, she added.

"But I don't think he will attack any time soon. He is trying to find the best way to deal with the situation."

"I see."

I thoughtfully nodded her head.

A part of me was glad that Silug was not rushing into the big fight as soon as his strength broke through, however, my worries weren't the least bit quelled.

After all, his death would put Angelica in jeopardy. I didn't want that to happen.

Placing my hand on my chin and taking a small glance in Angelica's direction, I softly said.

"You should probably turn yourself into a cat."

Angelica's brows knit when she heard my words.

"Why?"

"That's because people will come to visit me soon. I'm sure you don't want too much attention gathe—"

Before my words could even fade, we suddenly heard the sound of footsteps coming from the other side of the door.

Opening up her eyes, throwing me a glare, a black shadow cast over Angelica before her figure shrunk and she turned into a cat.

Following her transformation, she jumped up on the bed before resting on the top of the small ledge by the side of the window.

Clank—

Because she was now a full-fledged count-ranked demon, it only took a brief moment for her to transform.

Just as she sat on the ledge, the door swung open and Kevin entered the room. Upon entering the room, Kevin causally greeted me.

"Hey."

"Mhm."

I greeted back with a nod. Looking around the place, Kevin's feet suddenly came to a halt as he pointed in the direction of where Angelica was.

His brows jumped up in surprise.

"Is that…?"

"Yes, it's her."

I nodded my head. I had already briefed him about Angelica so it was no surprise that he was able to recognize her.

Raising my head, I asked.

"Did you just come back from visiting Emma?"

"Yeah."

Kevin replied as he sat down on the chair where Octavious and Angelica previously sat.

"Her condition seemed to have stabilized, however, she's still in a coma and hasn't woken up yet."

"I've heard."

Emma's situation, was how should I say, delicate? After all, I was somewhat responsible for what happened. Or rather, the entity that was inside of me was responsible, but deep inside I knew that was also to blame.

Had I realized that I was being controlled sooner, such things would've never happened.

This was especially so after realizing that there were plenty of flags indicating to me that something wasn't right.

"Emma aside, have you seen her father?"

Kevin's next words caused me to snap out of my own thoughts. Raising my head, I looked up for a moment before nodding my head.

"Yes, he's back in the human domain. Family problems."

Kevin's brows knit as soon as he heads my words.

"…Does he know about Emma's situation?"

"He probably doesn't."

I shook my head.

Because people couldn't communicate through the two places, Waylan probably had still not found out about the situation with Emma.

It also had to be noted that her match had not been broadcasted live, meaning that even if he paid attention to the tournament, he would have no idea.

Seeing how troubled Kevin looked, I reassured him.

"Don't worry, I did send a couple of people to inform him. But I'm not sure when he will get the message."

Those two individuals were Ava and Hein who were both out of the competition. Since they probably both missed their families a lot, I told them to just go back to the human domain and visit their parents.

On the way, I did remind them to tell Waylan about the situation with Emma.

It wouldn't feel right if he didn't know.

"That's good."

Visible relief appeared on Kevin's face as soon as he heard my words. Then, placing his hands on his knees, he slowly stood up.

"I just came to check up on you. Since you're fine, I'll take my leave."

Throwing one last glance at Angelica, he turned around and headed for the door.

Before leaving, halting his steps, he softly said.

"I saw your match with Kimor…"

My brow raised when I heard his words.

"What did you think of it?"I lazily replied with my back leaning on the comfortable pillow of the bed.

It took a while for Kevin to answer, but his next words surprised me a bit.

"...Let's just say that I'm not confident in my chances of beating you."

Before I could say anything else, opening the door, Kevin left the room, leaving me in my room staring in the direction of where he left with eyes wide open.

'Did he just say what I think he just said?'

I couldn't quite contain my surprise. Not many knew this, but Kevin was in fact extremely prideful.

He may hide it well, but it was deeply engraved in his body.

For him to suddenly say something like this, only meant one thing. He truly meant those words.

Honestly, I didn't know whether to be happy or sad.

"Haaa…"

In the end, letting out a tired sigh, I turned my head to once again stare at the scenery outside.

Although what Kevin said may have been true, at the end of the day, those were just words. Only when we fought each other for real would we truly know who was stronger between the two of us.

Clank—

After a while, as I was gazing at the scenery with Angelica, the door once again opened. Turning my head to see who the person was, I was pleasantly surprised to find Amanda walking in.

A smile appeared on my face.

"I saw your match, congratulations."

Chapter 437: About my mother...[3]

"Thank you."

Amanda replied with a soft smile as she heard Ren's words.

Directly coming out of her own match she was quite tired, however, thinking back at her own mother's situation, she quickly discarded all of her tiredness and chose to visit Ren.

Aside from the fact that she wanted to make sure he was okay, she also wanted to see if he could help her.

Amanda understood her situation well.

She knew that her mother's situation was dire, and she also knew that if she did nothing the problem wouldn't solve itself.

Instead of keeping the problem to herself, she took it upon herself to try asking for help, and the first person that came to her mind was Ren.

She did also think about asking Kevin, but she felt more comfortable asking Ren first.

Even though she was comfortably around Kevin, she felt more at peace when she was around Ren.

Furthermore, having talked to him, Amanda knew that he had just come back from the dwarven domain. She also knew that his relationship with them was good, and therefore, after carefully thinking things through she decided to ask him if he had a way to solve the mind-breaker curse.

Her hopes were low, but nevertheless, it wouldn't hurt asking.

Sitting down, placing both of her hands on her laps, Amanda took a good look at the place before her eyes suddenly paused on a small black cat sitting by the edge of the window.

"Pudding?"

She called out in surprise. A flood of memories suddenly flashed through her head as the surprise in her eyes grew only bigger.

'How is she here?' She thought at first, but after that, staring at her fluffy fur, her right hand instantly twitched as she had a sudden urge to pet her.

However, the moment Amanda's words faded, pudding's body suddenly twitched as the room froze for a second before a wry smile appeared on Ren's face.

Scratching the back of his head, Ren forced a laugh before scooching his body away from pudding.

"Haha, yes, it's pudding."

He turned his head to look away from her.

Amanda tilted her head once she saw this, but recalling the purpose of her visit, she stopped paying attention to pudding and cleared her throat.

"Keum…keum…"

Her soft coughs rang through the room, attracting Ren's attention. Sensing the shift in Amanda's mood, he sat up straight.

"What's wrong?"

Brushing her hair behind her ear, Amanda softly said.

"...Do you remember the conversation we were having back at the tournament stands?"

"Tournament stands?"

Placing his hand on his chin, a thoughtful look appeared on his face as he tried his best to recall the previous conversation he had with her.

As he was thinking, gazing at him from where she was sitting, Amanda took a good look at him.

'He's changed.'

She thought. Amanda wasn't the type to care about someone's looks, however, if she had to say something, it was that the current Ren was a lot more handsome than in the past.

Not only were his facial features sharper and more chiseled out, but so was his body which previously used to be very skinny.

Unknowingly, the side of her cheeks heated up forcing her to turn her head to the side.

Fortunately, the embarrassment did not last for long as Ren's loud voice echoed throughout every corner of the room.

"Ah! You mentioned something about your mother!"

His face quickly turned serious.

Recollecting herself, Amanda nodded her head.

"Yes."

"…Did something happen to her?"

Ren proceeded to ask before he raised his head and carefully looked around the place.

"You said that she was here, but I don't see her anywhere."

Ren's sudden action caught Amanda off-guard as she couldn't help but smile at his actions. The way he was moving his head around to look for her mother was funny. After all, there was no one else but her in the room.

He was clearly overacting for nothing. But it was because of such things that she was comfortable with him.

But her smile did not last for long as the smile soon wiped away from her face and her face darkened.

"...She's sick."

Amanda eventually said, and Ren finally stopped moving. Following this, worry and surprise flashed across his eyes.

Leaning forward, he asked.

"…If I may ask, what happened to her?"

Amanda nodded her head. She had already braced herself to tell everything that had happened to him.

Bitting the bottom of her lips she took a deep breath before she started to recount to him everything that had happened not too long ago with the elf queen.

From how she brought her to this strange place, to how she told her about the situation with her mother, and how she had saved the queen's life. As she spoke, she made sure to not miss out a single detail.

"...After reaching the place, I saw my mother resting inside of a large capsule. Although she didn't look exactly like in my memories, I could still tell that she was my mother..."

With every word that Amanda spoke, the heaviness in her chest slowly started to lift away as her words became clearer.

It felt as though a heavy burden had been lifted away from her, making her talk more calmly.

"…the queen said that my mother is currently under the mind breaker curse and that if nothing is done, she will forever be trapped in the capsule, without any hope of ever waking up again."

It wasn't long before she finally finished recounting everything. With her head lowered she had a bitter look on her face.

Clenching her fist, she softly muttered.

"I know that you probably don't know anything about my current situation and that I'm probably adding to your burdens, but I'm glad you listened to what I had to say."

A bitter and sad smile soon appeared on her face.

To her, this felt more like a venting session. From the beginning, she never placed much hope in Ren being able to have a solution to her problem, but even then, she wanted him to at least know her current situation.

Lifting her head up and preparing herself to leave, her body suddenly froze when she saw Ren's face.

***

"This..."

Staring at Amanda who was looking back at me, I was left momentarily speechless.

Recalling the words she said to me as she recounted the events that led to her finding out that her mother was alive, I really couldn't help but be inwardly shocked.

'There was such a story?'

This was the first thought that came to my mind. Moreover, what was even more shocking was the fact that I didn't know of such an important matter.

Especially if it was regarding Amanda, one of the main characters of the story. 'Was it purposely left out by the entity?' I thought to myself as I tried to make heads or tails about the situation.

Although it was a far-fetched possibility, I knew that I needed to take this matter into consideration. As far-fetched as it was, the possibility of it biting me in the ass in the future wasn't impossible.

However, it was then that I suddenly recalled something important. Focusing my attention back towards Amanda who looked extremely down, I softly said.

"...Actually, I know of a way to cure the curse of your mother."

"Huh?"

It took a moment for Amanda to react, but the moment she processed those words she stood up in shock and looked at me with eyes filled with a mixture of shock and surprise.

"Really?"

She asked with a voice filled with hope. I nodded my head.

"Yes, I do."

The mind-breaker curse. Thinking back to the past when I went to Immorra with Kevin to collect the cure, I would've never thought that I would have to use them again.

'Actually, now that I think about it, wasn't there someone that was supposed to be healed by the fruits?'

The whole reason why Kevin went to Immorra was to collect the Xurin fruits in order to heal someone from the mind-breaker curse. Was that someone Amanda's mother? ...If so, why did I know nothing about this?

Moreover, if I pieced everything together, Kevin went to Immorra when he was <B> ranked, and the timing perfectly coincided with the current timing...was I missing something?

The more I thought about it, the more perplexed I became. Was that information purposely omitted? ...I really didn't know, and I wasn't too happy about this.

However, even though I wanted to think more about it, staring at Amanda who seemed to be looking at me with eyes filled with hope, I smiled at her.

"You don't have to worry too much about your mother's situation. I have a cure for her."

Amanda's shoulders suddenly started to tremble upon hearing my words, but before I could say anything else, she quickly closed her eyes and calmed herself down. Soon, opening her eyes once again, a calm look appeared on her face. It became clear to me that she didn't want to let her emotions take control of her rationality.

A smile appeared on my face when I saw this. She was a strong girl, and I quite liked her for that.

"Thank you."

She softly whispered before sitting back down on her chair. There was a mixture of relief, gratitude, and even something else in her voice that I couldn't quite understand.

"Here."

Taking out a small card from my dimensional space, I tossed it towards Amanda who caught it with one hand.

Lowering her head, she looked at the card with a confused look on her face.

"What is this?"

"Those are the keys to my room." I calmly replied. "If you go to my room, there should be a safe over by the room. The passcode is [887930], and over there you should be able to find my dimensional bracelet. In it is the fruit that can cure your mother of the curse."

As I had a very big match, afraid that my dimensional space would break during the fight, I decided to store all my important items inside of another dimensional space before putting it inside of a safe. The red book was also stored inside of the safe.

I would've gone in her stead, but at the moment, I wasn't really in the condition to go, so I could only have her go for me.

Clenching onto the card with her hand, Amanda gratefully looked in my direction before she took a deep breath.

Biting her lips softly, she once again muttered.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

Waving my hand, I leaned back on my bed. Although the Xurin fruit was worth quite a lot, I didn't regret giving it to Amanda.

Aside from being one of the closest people to me, she was also someone that went through a lot. In fact, the situation with her father was probably a result of my own actions, and I felt a little bit guilty about that.

Yes, her father would've always gone to the demon realm, however, it wasn't meant to be that early. My actions changed the future and as a result, caused him to go under even more danger than he was supposed to.

Standing up, with the card to my room tightly clenched inside of her hand, Amanda mumbled something before leaving the room.

"...I will definitely pay you back."

It was faint, but I heard it. Before I could say anything else, opening the door, Amanda directly left the room, once again leaving me alone with Angelica inside the room.

Covering my face with my hand, I leaned back on the bed as I thought.

'I'm glad I was of help.'

Right as I was about to go to sleep, a shadow cast over me. Frowning, and opening my eyes, I was left startled by Angelica's presence. With both of her brows locked tightly, a complicated look flashed across her face.

Realizing that something was wrong, I opened my mouth and asked.

"What's wrong?"

However, I wished I never said those words as her next words caused my body to freeze entirely.

"...If you don't want to die, you need to stop her from curing her mother."

Chapter 438: About my mother...[4]

"...If you don't want to die, you need to stop her from curing her mother."

Angelica's words echoed throughout the room, and my body froze as a result of her words. Following which, my head snapped in her direction.

"What are you talking about?"

I will die if Amanda cures her mother? What in the world was she on about?

Sitting back down on her chair and crossing her legs, Angelica nodded her head. A heavy solemness descended upon the room.

Sitting up straight, I waited for her to speak.

After a short pause, Angelica opened her mouth and asked.

"Do you remember when we signed a contract?"

"Yes."

How could I forget?

It was a couple of days after I managed to defeat her and wanted to make her join my group. But why was she suddenly asking about this?

Pursing her lips, Angelica's delicate brows knit together before she finally let out a long sigh.

"I'll cut straight to the point, the person who has cursed Amanda's mother was me."

"...huh?"

My eyes instantly opened wide upon hearing her words. Out of nowhere Angelica suddenly dropped a bombshell on me.

My mouth opened and closed repeatedly, as I struggled to find the right words to say.

I finally understood the meaning of her previous words.

[In no way shape or form can Party A harm Party B and viceversa]

This was one of the clauses in the mana contract that we signed, and me giving Amanda's mother the cure would be a direct breach of the contract, as it would directly harm Angelica.

This clause was also the reason why Angelica told me about the situation. If she didn't tell me, she would also be breaking the clause.

"This..."

I had many questions that I wanted to ask. However, I knew that I couldn't let my emotions get the best of me.

Closing my eyes and calming my uneven heartbeat, I opened them again and looked around.

Then, glancing at Angelica from the corner of my eyes, I spoke inside of my mind.

'In case someone overhears our conversation, it's best if the two of us telepathically talk.'

[Okay.]

Angelica nodded her head. After which, demonic energy suddenly sprung forth from her body as she once again returned to her cat form.

Jumping onto the bed, she once again made a move for the ledge of the window. Once she settled down, she proceeded to look out of the window.

While this was happening, taking another deep breath and trying to calm my mind which was currently in shambles, I proceeded to question Angelica.

'Please tell me the full story so that I can make a proper judgment.'

There were many things that I wanted to ask her, but instead of asking them, I opted to listen to her side of the story first. From there, if there were any more things I was uncertain of, I would proceed to ask.

Before then, I just wanted to hear what she had to say for herself regarding the matter. I didn't want to make any rash decisions.

Raising her pow and caressing her head, mimicking a cat's movement, Angelica nodded her head before her voice entered my mind.

[It happened a while back. About fifteen years in the past if I don't remember wrongly.]

My brows furrowed.

'Fifteen years back...that was quite a while ago, was Amanda's dad even highly ranked back then?'

It had to be noted that humans didn't live for as long as demons did, and therefore, fifteen years was quite a lot of time. If it was fifteen years ago, I doubted that Amanda's father was even <S> ranked.

However, that still wouldn't be able to explain how she was able to curse Amanda's mother. After all, he may have not been <S> ranked, but the disparity in strength should've been big.

[Back then, I was only a Baron ranked demon, and was newly elected as the Matriarch of the charm tribe. As the newly elected Matriarch, I was very ambitious, and an opportunity presented itself.]

Angelica paused and looked at me. Pinching the middle of my brows, I proceeded to ask.

'Could that opportunity have anything to do with you cursing Amanda's mother?'

Turning her head and twirling her tail in the air, Angelica softly replied.

[It is exactly that.]

Upon hearing her words, the confusion within me grew.

'Tell me more about this opportunity. I mean no offense, but I seriously doubt that you have the ability to actually be able to curse her mother.'

Even if it was fifteen years in the past, Angelica shouldn't have been strong enough to do that.

Fortunately, Angelica's next words managed to resolve some of my doubts.

[Your words are correct. I was indeed too weak back then to actually curse her mother. Although Amanda's father was not the guild leader just yet, the security around her mother was simply too much for a Baron-ranked demon like me, even if I had the support of my tribe.]

'Well, yeah. That is to be expected.'

Amanda's mother was the wife of the guild master of the number one guild in the human domain.

Regardless of how weak humanity was, it was still a powerhouse that most demons wouldn't dare touch without proper preparations.

'Since the security was so tight, how were you able to curse Amanda's mother?'

[I had support.]

Angelica quickly replied. My head jumped up when I heard this as an idea suddenly formulated inside of my mind.

'Could it be the Lust clan?'

[Indeed.]

Angelica nodded her head, and I covered my face with my hand.

'Fuck, no wonder you were able to curse her.'

Unlike the Charm tribe, the Lust clan was an enormous demon organization. If I had to estimate its power, it was probably stronger than the current Union, and not just stronger, but incomparably stronger.

It also had to be noted that there were six other clans of similar strength. If not for the other races being the priority, humanity would've long been wiped out.

In the midst of my thoughts, Angelica continued.

[The Lust clan is enormous and powerful. Moreso than you can ever imagine. The tribe that I was in, the Charm tribe, is a small tribe that was branched out to the human domain in order to expand the influence of the clan.]

Angelica suddenly paused and turned to look at me, trying to make sure that I understood. Giving her a slight nod, she continued.

[As the representative of the Charm tribe, I was selected as the demon who was going to place the curse on Amanda's mother. The main purpose of this was, as you probably already figured out, was to try to take over the number one guild in the human domain.]

'I get that, but why you? Couldn't they have chosen a stronger demon?'

[Can't.]

Angelica shook her head.

[Back then, the stronger demons were busy still busy trying to settle down on earth and were also fighting against the other races.]

Listening to her words, I still had some doubts.

Honestly, I really didn't buy the whole idea of Angelica being selected out of all the other demons that could've been chosen.

There was most likely something that she didn't want to tell me, and although I wanted to know, I didn't push it. There was probably a reason why she didn't want to tell me.

Since the mana contract stated that she couldn't think of doing any harm to me in any way shape or form, I could tell that she wasn't divulging this with me in order to protect me. Or perhaps something else. I really wasn't sure at this point.

Scooting my body back, I placed my hand over my chin and fell into thought. After a while, I looked at Angelica and shared my findings.

'In short, I can already predict what happened next. With the aid of the Lust clan you were somehow able to curse her, however, the moment you tried to threaten her, instead of following your orders, she directly ran away. Not wanting to disappoint the Lust clan, you tried to chase after her, and somehow failed, resulting in you activating the curse.'

'Upon activating the curse, you thought that she had died and forgot all about her.'

It didn't really take a genius to get the gist of the situation, and when I was done recounting my speculation, Angelica could only helplessly nod her head.

[That's correct. However, back then, I really thought that I had killed her.]

'...I get what you mean.'

Amanda's mom could count herself lucky. Had it not been the queen that was next to her, she would've died a long time ago.

Raising my head, a sudden thought occurred to me.

'Hold on, was this failure the reason why you chose to attack Amanda a while back?'

Turning her head, Angelica's voice softened.

[...yes.]

'I see.'

A petty one I see. Because of her failure with Amanda's mother, it seemed like she held a grudge against Amanda.

Still, this sudden revelation by Angelica caused the gears of my brain to turn. Something about this situation was odd. Very odd.

For a situation like this to have occurred, I felt that something wasn't right.

From my memories of Amanda's mother being completely gone to Angelica's sudden involvement with me.

It felt as though this scenario had been carefully set up in order to trap me and stop me from healing Amanda's mother.

Raising my head, I turned to look at Angelica before asking.

'Angelica, remember the time when you said that someone gave you a photo of me, telling you that I was the one responsible for Elijah's death?'

Upon hearing my words, Angelica's eyes turned into thin slits as her voice became slightly colder.

[Of course, I didn't forget.]

My mouth twitched when I heard the coldness hidden in her voice. However, as thick-skinned, as I was, I decided to just pretend to not have felt it.

'You said that you don't exactly remember what happened since your memories of that time were cleared out, however, you did say that the individual involved was a demon, right?'

[Correct.]

Angelica replied, her voice a little bit less cold.

Upon hearing her words, only one name popped up inside my mind.

'...Everblood.'

Back then, when I was trying to figure out who was responsible for instigating Angelica to attack me, I remembered calculating the possibility of Everblood being the one responsible for the whole scenario, and not too long ago, I also came to the conclusion that Everblood may have been a pawn set up by the other entity.

After all, he was the demon responsible for getting my hands on [Monarch's indifference.] It was a far-fetched theory, but this event strengthened that hypothesis.

Not only was the scenario a bit too coincidental, but thinking about how that entity knew the ins and outs of my personality, I didn't for once doubt that me picking up Angelica and making her my partner was a part of his plan.

'Just how much have you planned out?'

Over three years had passed ever since contracting Angelica, and not once had I ever thought that such a possibility was possible, for how long had the entity inside of me planned everything?

My stomach churned at the thought.

"Fuck."

Eventually, a curse escaped from my mouth.

It had finally dawned on me just how serious the situation was.

Turning my head to look at Angelica, my head started to hurt. Just how was I going to solve this situation?

Should I just tell Amanda the truth and hope for her to accept the fact that I was working with the demon responsible for tearing her family and childhood apart, or should I just make up a random excuse and tell her to wait for a couple of years, till the contract ended?

Clenching my head with both hands, I groaned out loud.

"Ugh, this is the worst..."

Was there really no other way out?

Just as I was losing all hope, Angelica suddenly spoke up. A complicated look appeared on her face when she said those words.

"...Actually, there might be a way."

Chapter 439: About my mother...[5]

"...Actually, there might be a way."

Angelica said with a complicated look on her face.

Her words reignited hope within me, however, that was quickly dashed away when I realized that there was no free lunch in this world.

Indeed, there may have been a way, but there was most definitely going to be a cost associated with that way.

Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath to collect myself, I opened them up again and asked.

"What is the way? Breaking the contract?… You know that's not really possible."

Mana contracts, regardless of the party's will could not be broken. The reason for this was unknown, the same went for skills, no one really knew why they existed…well, that was back in the past, I now knew.

It was because of the Akashic records. They were the entity responsible for creating the laws of the world, and in this case, the law that they had set was that mana contracts couldn't be broken.

Was there a deeper reason for this? ...I really wasn't sure.

That aside, It was because of this 'rule' that people were extremely apprehensive when signing a mana contract.

Since both parties couldn't break the contract, if both were unable to fill the requirements set in the contract, both parties may end up bound together for life.

Furthermore, I didn't want to break my contract with Angelica.

Not only was she a powerful ally that I could trust, but all the previous plans that I had made with Silug would go to waste.

I couldn't really afford to lose those.

Angelica also seemed to have understood this point as she quickly shook her head.

"No, it's not that."

Pausing, Angelica stroked her ears with her paw and carefully said.

"…the contract we signed back then, if I don't recall wrongly, its grade is not that strong."

"Right..." I nodded my head.

As I've said before, there were different grades to a mana contract. Each grade meant for a different rank an individual it could bind.

The grades went from [I] to [V], with [V] being the highest.

For obvious reasons, back then I couldn't have afforded a [V] mana contract, in fact, even now I couldn't afford a [V[ mana contract, its price was way too high. Those kinds of contracts were not only hard to get but had little to no supply and extremely high demand.

It wasn't something I could get my hands on.

Back then, with the money I had, I only managed to get my hands on a grade [III] contract.

This was the standard grade contract and could bind individuals whose strength was around <C> to <B> rank. Which was my exact rank.

"Back when we signed it, if I don't remember incorrectly, I think I was baron ranked while you were still somewhere around D to E rank."

"Yes."

I was indeed around that rank when I first met her. Still, my eyes squinted as I tried to understand what she was trying to get at.

"...That was back then, right now I'm a count ranked demon while you're <B> ranked. Just around the threshold of the mana contract rank effectiveness."

"Aah!"

Hearing Angelica's words, I suddenly slapped the palm of my hand.

'How come I didn't think of that!'

It didn't take too long for me to understand what she was trying to hint at, and when I realized what her plan was, a mixture of surprise and caution washed over my face.

She was basically hinting at the fact that there was a chance for me to survive the backlash of the contract.

As long as I managed to break through to <B+> rank, I would have a very real possibility of surviving the ordeal.

That being said, even if I exceeded the rank grade, there was still a very real chance for me to suffer serious consequences. The possibility of death may have been significantly lowered, but it wasn't exactly off the table.

To make matters worse, even if I did end up surviving the backlash of the contract, it wouldn't break.

It would just repeat the same thing at the next violation.

"…You know the consequences of forcefully enduring the backlash of the contract, right?" Angelica asked, her voice deepening as she leaped off the ledge.

"Yes."

I closed my eyes and nodded. Then, opening them up again, I looked at Angelica and asked.

"…but what about you, won't you suffer a backlash from breaking the curse?"

"I will."

Angelica replied with a soft voice.

"However, the backlash will not be too troublesome for me. Maybe by a month's time, I will recover…about you…"

Angelica suddenly frowned. Before she could say anything else, I cut her off.

"It's fine. I can take it."

Raising my head and staring towards the ceiling of the room, I softly murmured.

"I don't think it will be a problem..."

Honestly, I know this might be a dumb move on my part, but, I felt that this was the only way to resolve everything perfectly.

There was a probability of me dying, but I think with enough preparations I could avoid it.

Even then, I would without a doubt suffer heavy consequences.

I wasn't sure how much. Perhaps it could even go as far as me losing a rank, and obviously kicking me out of the tournament due to the injuries, but I felt like this was the right thing to do.

"Eh?"

My mind suddenly halted as my thoughts paused there. A sudden thought struck me.

'...Do I perhaps like Amanda?'

Was the reason why I was going to make such a rash decision because I had feelings for Amanda?

If I thought about it, I wasn't the type to risk my life for the sake of others unless it jeopardized my own. It just wasn't me…yet, here I was now, just about to do that same exact thing.

...I couldn't quite comprehend the feelings I was having.

Sure, Amanda was beautiful, drop-dead gorgeous if I had to add, but I had seen plenty of other beautiful girls in my life.

Yet, thinking about the possibility of her hating me, my decision in letting Amanda hand her mother the fruit became more resolute.

Deep down inside, I knew that if I did nothing about the situation, and Amanda found out everything, our relationship would reach a point where we would never be able to talk again, and I really didn't want that.

But did this mean that I liked her?

'Uh…I really don't know.'

I ruffled my hair into a mess.

The more I tried to rack my brain over the matter, the more confused I became.

I really knew nothing about romance, and honestly, I had not been with Amanda long enough to think of her as a romantic interest...yet, why did I not want her to hate me?

Clank—!

Just as the storm Inside my mind was starting to stir even more wildly, the door to the room opened up and Amanda walked in.

In her hand was my bracelet. Walking up to me, her soft footsteps rang throughout the room before she handed me the bracelet.

"Here."

"Thank you."

Taking the bracelet from her, I quickly focused my attention on the bracelet. Somehow, I couldn't muster the courage to see her face.

Channeling my mana into it, after a couple of seconds, I took out a familiar-looking fruit.

The Xurin fruit, and the fruit responsible for curing Amanda's mother of her curse.

Feeling the fruit in my hand, it suddenly felt a lot heavier than I thought. It felt as though I was holding onto a large five-hundred-kilogram dumbbell.

I knew that this was all fruit of my imagination and a complicated look flashed across my face, however, realizing that Amanda was here, I forced a smile and handed it to her.

"…This is the fruit that can cure your mother."

With her eyes locked onto the fruit in my hand, Amanda didn't speak. However, I could see hope glimmer inside of her as she eyed the fruit in my hand.

Extending her hand, Amanda flinched and retrieved it before turning to look at me and politely asking.

"…May I?"

"Go ahead."

I replied whilst extending my hand, urging her to take the fruit.

Mustering some courage, Amanda eventually extended her hand and took the fruit. Then, retrieving it, she started to carefully examine it in her hand.

As all of her attention was focused on the fruit, I took this chance to finally take a good look at her, and the moment I did, a thought suddenly crossed my mind. 'She looks like a cat that just found its favorite toy.' It was quite cute.

The way that her eyes would dart around the fruit, and her subtle changes in facial expressions were quite a comical scene for me to see.

"Hahaha."

Before I knew it, a small laugh escaped from my mouth. I instantly covered my mouth when I realized what I did.

Unfortunately, it seemed as though I had laughed a little bit too loudly as Amanda's voice soon reached my ears.

"Is something funny?"

"...Ehm."

Glancing around the room and seeing that we were the only two people present aside from Angelica, I just decided to come clean.

"You."

My response seemed to have taken Amanda by surprise as she cocked her head to the side, letting her glossy black hair fall off her shoulders.

"What did I do?"

"...You just looked really funny. You reminded me of Pudding."

I shrugged and replied honestly.

The way she curiously looked at the fruit, and how she usually never displayed her emotions. The more I thought about it, the more similarities I found between the two.

I chuckled once again.

"...pudding?"

As I was laughing, Amanda's eyes turned into slits before she turned to face Angelica who was looking back at her.

The moment the eyes of the two met, Amanda's hand flinched once again.

With a look of uncertainty, raising and lowering her hand a couple of times, Amanda eventually lowered it.

It seemed as though Angelica's stare was just too much for her.

'She must really want to pet her.'

I thought when I saw her act that way.

Pulling me down from the cheerful moment, I suddenly heard Angelica's solemn voice in my head.

[So you're really going to do this?]

'...Yeah.'

I replied back inside of my mind. This time my voice was a lot firmer.

[I understand.]

Angelica nodded before curling her body on the ledge.

The moment she did that, from the corner of my eyes, I saw Amanda lower her head as a trace of disappointment flashed across her face.

I secretly smiled when I saw that. But that smile did not last for long as I remembered the conversation I previously had with Angelica. About what happened with her mother.

Frankly speaking, I did not hold any resentment nor blame Angelica for what she did. I did not have the right to.

Angelica was a demon through and through. Her actions were something she did for her race, and I understood that.

The situation was messed up but I couldn't blame Angelica for anything.

Just the fact that she was willing to go through the pain of having the curse broken was proof to me that she was different in the past. And even if she wasn't, I honestly didn't care.

She was not my pet. She was herself.

Closing my eyes and pursing my lips, I turned my attention toward Amanda.

"...Amanda, when are you going to give your mother the fruit?"

"After the next round."

Amanda replied after a short pause.

"I see."

Nodding my head, I didn't question why she decided to delay her mother's cure, but this was good.

By the time the next round happened, I would have made enough preparations to be able to survive the ordeal.

I may end up having to forfeit the tournament, but that was fine.

Although there was a certain item that interested me, it wasn't going to be the end of the world.

Despite the fact that the memories inside of my head no longer coincided with reality, I still knew of a couple of items that I could collect to further boost my strength.

This little setback was nothing to me, and honestly, I was tired.

Tired of all the fighting and constant problems that would show up one after another.

I just wanted to go back home.

Chapter 440: One last match [1]

Clank—!

The door closed, and silence enshrouded the room.

Leaning back on my bed, I looked towards the ceiling of the room.

"How troublesome…"

I muttered to myself. It wasn't long before I heard Angelica's voice inside of my head.

[Are you really going to drop out of the tournament, you know you could've just told her to wait after the tournament, right?]

"…about that."

Turning my attention back toward Angelica, a bitter smile flashed across my face. Before I could say anything, Angelica spoke up once again.

[If you had participated till the end, you would've most likely won the whole thing. That Kevin friend of yours, he's weaker than you.]

Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, I couldn't really deny her words.

Even though we had not fought each other yet, I could tell that the current Kevin was weaker than me. Not only did I know the ins and outs of how he fought, but I also had plenty of experience when it came to fighting.

I didn't waste my time in Henlour after all.

Just the knowledge of how Kevin fought was enough for me to be able to beat him, let alone all the experience that I had accumulated.

[If you know that he's weaker than you, why are you just quitting the tournament?]

"…It's cause I'm tired."

[Tired?]

Angelica replied, her voice sounding surprised.

Brushing my hair back, my hand soon paused on a certain part of my head before I started to scratch it.

"Yeah, I'm tired of all the constant problems that keep popping out of nowhere. I just want to relax for once. Have a breather."

I had already exposed myself, and I had proven my strength. The opponents, I could probably beat the all.

There was no need for me to continue the tournament anymore.

Most importantly, and the real reason why I no longer cared about continuing the tournament, was that I no longer cared about the top prize.

The only incentive the tournament had was the top prize. It was the only reason why I ever joined the tournament in the first place.

However, this no longer applied anymore. After hearing from Amanda just how much the elven queen cared about her mother, I figured that my gesture might end up earning her favor.

If that happened, what was the point of winning the tournament? Might as well get this event over fast.

Just to clarify, the reason why I gave Amanda the Xurin fruit wasn't because I wanted to earn the queen's favor. The possibility of earning her favor only occurred to me after I handed her the fruit and hence why I no longer held the tournament with as much importance as before.

Stroking the bottom of my chin, my mind shifted toward a different topic.

"…Right, I should also breakthrough right about soon."

The higher ranked I was, the greater the possibility of me surviving. The only hope I had when this happened was for me to not suddenly lose a rank.

Though the chances weren't exactly high, it was still possible. In hindsight, even if I did end up losing a rank, I'd just go back to where I was now.

Also, that was only applicable if I truly did lose a rank.

There might be a slim chance that I might just have to suffer an inhuman amount of pain, and I was fine with that. Nothing could be worse than what happened to me at the Monolith, right?

…I hope so.

In the midst of my thoughts, I suddenly felt a shape gaze coming from my left side. I didn't need to look to understand to who the gaze belonged to.

"...Why are you looking at me like that?"

[I'm curious. Why didn't you tell the truth to that girl?]

"Truth?" I wrily smiled. "You do know that if the elven queen comes to know of your involvement with the situation, you might die without knowing how you died?"

Though I didn't think that Amanda would say anything, I really couldn't afford to lose Angelica. This was the best option that I could think of.

[I didn't think of that....]

Angelica eventually said inside of my head upon hearing my words. Her voice sounded much fainter.

"Yeah, we can't really afford to say too much."

Interlocking my fingers together, I extended my arms and stretched.

"Ugh...let me start making preparations."

Just as I had set my mind to prepare myself for the upcoming event, my watch suddenly vibrated.

'It's probably the matchups for the round of sixteen.' I thought when I felt the vibration.

TRIIIING— TRIIIING—

Lowering my head and staring at the message written in it, my face froze.

"…errr."

[What is it?]

In the midst of my sudden behavior, Angelica's voice reached my ears. Turning to look in her direction, a bitter smile appeared on my face.

Lifting my arm and turning my wrist, the smile on my face become even more bitter.

"My next opponent is a really thought one you see..."

[Round of sixteen]

Ren Dover vs Kevin Voss

"So much for the speech about being tired and all. Sigh, really, what kind of dog shit luck is this?"

For Kevin to be my next opponent, truly, I couldn't understand how luck was my highest stat.

Seriously.

***

Late night.

Inside a small room, quietly laying down on a bed, was a beautiful girl with auburn hair that scattered all over the pillow.

Her faint rhythmical breathing echoed throughout the lonesome room.

Twitch.

Suddenly, one of the girl's eyes twitched. It was very subtle and almost unnoticeable. As the room was currently empty, no one was unable to notice this.

Twitch. Twitch.

Ten more minutes passed, and after the first twitch came the second and then the third twitch.

Before she knew it, Emma opened her eyes, and then the first thing that she saw was a plain white ceiling.

'…What happened to me?'

She wondered to herself. Her memories were blurry, and she barely had any recollections of what had happened. That didn't last for long as memories soon started to flood her mind, reminding her of exactly what happened.

'Ah…I lost.'

Aaron's face suddenly popped up inside of Emma's head as the memories started crashing down on her head.

She could clearly remember the moment when he suddenly appeared behind her and stabbed her in the back.

Had it not been for the referee's intervention, she might've died there and then.

'…I was careless.'

Emma clenched her fist when she thought about her loss.

She already knew from the beginning that her chances of beating him were low. Because of everything that had happened with her uncle, a lot of her resources were cut out from her, resulting in her strength being a notch behind the others.

Secretly, this had been eating away at her. Watching her friends and people close to her slowly surpass her, leaving her behind, Emma truly felt inferior.

As a result, she decided to train even harder. The lack of resources truly made it hard for her to keep up with Kevin and the others, however, through her sheer willpower and perseverance, she was able to get to where she was now.

<C+> rank, almost <B->.

It may have not been outstanding compared to Kevin and others, but it was still amongst the top in her generations.

The reason why she fought Aaron was that she wanted to prove herself.

She wanted to prove to Kevin and the others that she wasn't some dead weight.

Even if she might end up losing against Aaron, she thought that it would've been a great experience for her. It would help her identify her own weakness to later work on and develop.

Unfortunately, she had been too naive.

Just because Aaron was also a human, it didn't mean that he wouldn't try to kill her during the tournament. She had joined the tournament with the wrong mindset, and she ended up paying a heavy price for this naive thinking.

Lifting her head up and looking around the room, Emma wondered out loud.

"...Where are the others?"

But then, when she realized that was dark outside, she understood that they were most likely sleeping.

Massaging her head with her hand, Emma leaned her body to the side and tried to get out of bed.

"Huh?"

But as she tried to move, her face suddenly froze. Moving her arm down, she once again tried to get out of the bed.

Her face stiffened as soon as she tried to move her legs once again.

"I…I…I can't move my legs."

Her face dyed with horror as she came to a sudden realization.

She could no longer move her legs!

Lifting her body up with both arms behind her, Emma tried to shift her body around the bed, in hopes of seeing if she still had some feelings in her legs, but it was all to no avail as she eventually realized that she could no longer move them.

Once the realization dawned on her, instead of crying or panicking, she simply laid back on the bed with a listless expression on her face.

A deep silence enshrouded the room following this.

"Maybe this is for the better…"

She eventually murmured, breaking the silence.

Closing her eyes, she quickly accepted her circumstances. She knew that this was a result of her own failure and carelessness.

Staring at the ceiling of the room, her eyes eventually dulled as she thought.

'Maybe this really is for the better. I've already been holding everyone back with my problems.'

***

At the same time, in a lush green forest.

Bang—!

A thunderous sound echoed throughout the forest as a boulder shattered into dust particles. The leaves rustled, and the grass bent in a prostrating fashion.

"Haaa…haaa…"

With a somewhat rough breath, Kevin's crimson red eyes shined admitting the darkness as they locked onto the area where the boulder used to stand.

Raising his hand, he wiped the sweat that had accumulated on his forehead.

"Sigh."

A long sigh escaped from Kevin's mouth as he looked at his watch. Following this, a rare trace of solemness appeared on his face.

"Although I expected this to happen, I didn't expect for it to happen so soon…"

It had to be said that they were still in the round of sixteen. The chances of them meeting may have not been low at around 1/32, but still, Kevin had hoped that they would see each other much further down the tournament.

But alas, it was only wishful thinking on his end. The drawings were random, so he couldn't complain.

The only problem he had was however the elven tear situation. If he lost the match, then he would be unable to get them.

He thought about asking Ren to get it for him in the chance he lost, but he quickly shook his head.

Ren might do it if he asked, but Kevin had his own pride.

The elven tear was something he needed to win, not Ren, or anyone else. Furthermore, he didn't want Ren to go easy on him.

He truly wanted to fight him with the both of them going all out.

Kevin had a general idea of what Ren went through after his death, and he understood the difference between the two of them.

However, just because Ren had been through such hardship didn't mean that he had been standing idle.

Not only did he have Donna personally tutor him throughout the whole of the three years, but he had also gone through many missions where he had killed and gotten rid of Monolith-associated organizations.

The resources the system provided him were also boundless.

Simply put, although he knew that Ren was strong, possibly even stronger than him, Kevin was not scared the least bit.

Rather, he was excited.

Excited at the prospect of finally being able to determine who was better between the two of them.

Chapter 441: One last match [2]

Then high noon sun was blazing intensely hot, as the world was enveloped by a bright light.

Two days had passed since the round of thirty-two, and today was the round of sixteen. Right now, the area below the tree where the tournament was held was packed with people.

A bustling and boisterous atmosphere enshrouded the place.

Seated amongst the many spectators, Han Yufei quietly gazed in the direction of where the tournament stage was.

Replays of Ren's match against Kimor flashed across his mind as his fists clenched tightly.

'…I was right in admitting defeat to him last time.'

The reason why he had given up when fighting Ren was because he felt that he was holding back when fighting against him. Turns out his speculation was correct.

Ren had truly been holding back when fighting him.

The image of him pummelling down Kimor was deeply engraved inside Han Yufei's mind, and he could never take it away from his sight. It would forever be engraved in his mind.

"Crazy..." Han Yufei ended up muttering to himself.

They were both the same age, yet, the gap between them was so big.

He now understood where his confidence came from when he met him last time. He was confident that he could convince him through his domineering strength!

...and Han Yufei had to admit. He truly had won him over in terms of strength.

Just recalling how he had won the match, Han Yufei's heart couldn't help but be moved. It made him rethink about the offer. If before he was sure about refusing, now...he wasn't so sure.

However, before he could think things through, a new shocking development happened.

Kevin Voss vs Ren Dover

This piece of news, completely shook Han Yufei who couldn't help but feel his heart palpitate with excitement.

There was another person that Han Yufei couldn't properly gauge the strength of, and that was Kevin.

Regardless of how much he trained for the whole three years he had been at the Lock, he had never once been able to come close to him.

He had always been reaching out his hand, trying to grab onto his back, but not once had he ever come close to his level.

Being the heir of the Han clan, Han Yufei was naturally proudful, but whenever he tried to compare himself to Kevin and now even Ren, he couldn't fathom how in the world he was going to come close to their level.

Even so, Han Yufei was not the jealous type.

Just because the two of them had surpassed him, it didn't mean that he felt any jealousy or envy against them.

He just simply wanted to be like them, and recalling the conversation with Ren, Han Yufei had an inkling feeling that Ren might truly be able to help him reach his limits.

Crossing his arms and leaning back on his seat, Han Yufei took a deep breath.

He had finally decided.

If Ren won this match or truly convinced him of his strength, then he, Han Yufei, will talk it out with his family about the possibility of joining him.

***

Human domain.

Click—!

Turning on the channel that broadcasted the tournament, a boiling atmosphere enshrouded the human domain.

Kevin vs. Ren

Banners and posters spread across every street as heavy excitement flashed across the faces of many individuals who were all eagerly waiting for the upcoming duel.

There were some dissatisfactions about the matchup since there could only be one winner, and both sides were human, but those were only in the minority.

At the moment everyone just wanted to see who between the two youths was the strongest.

Was it Kevin?

The individual who had many accomplishments to his name and was named to be the next generational talent, or was it Ren, a dark horse that had emerged from out of nowhere?

Everyone wanted to know.

"Welcome everybody, thank you all for joining us today."

It was then that two familiar faces finally showed up on the screens of everyone's devices. The two individuals were none other than Zack and Lorena.

With a bright smile on her face, Lorena spoke up.

"I'm sure you're all tuned in today for one reason, and one reason only."

Extending her hand, she proceeded to tap onto the table. Two holographic images appeared in front of her when she did so.

The two holographic images were the images of Ren and Kevin. By the side was a brief overview of their data. From the description of how they looked, height, age, and what weapon they specialized in. It covered most of the basics.

"This match was a long time coming. Even though it happened a lot faster than it was originally intended, it was still inevitable for us to see the clash between these two giants. Ren Dover, and Kevin Voss."

Lorena said as she swiped her hand. At her action, images of the arena grounds appeared by the side of her face.

Then, turning her head towards her colleague, she asked.

"Zack, who do you think will win the match between the two of them?"

The moment she asked that question, almost all of the viewers dropped whatever they were doing and paid close attention to Zack's answer.

Although he was only an <A> ranked hero and did not have as much battle awareness as <S> ranked ones, Zack was an expert in the field.

After having watched many matches in the past, he somewhat was able to give an accurate analysis of the situation, and therefore, clearing his throat, Zack began to speak, sharing what he thought to the world.

"Keum...Keum...It's hard to make a proper assessment."

"Let's take aside the fact that not much is known regarding the contestant Ren Dover, we also do not know the limits of the other contestant, Kevin Voss."

"All we've seen him do is kill Aaron with one move, and that was only for a split second, we truly didn't see the limit of his power. Even then, what we did was truly something extraordinary.

Extending his hand, Zack pressed onto the table and multiple magazines appeared on the side of the screen.

"Even though Kevin has not shown much in the tournament, the same couldn't be said for when he was here in the human domain. In fact, most of you viewers have already seen his exploits in the past."

Extending his hand, he pinched his fingers and dragged a specific article toward himself. Following this, he pinched in an outward manner causing the article to expand in front of him.

"Just a year ago, back when he was still <C> rank, Kevin managed to clear out two large demon pill warehouses. Not only that but it is also stated that he managed to defeat two <B-> ranked individuals in the process."

"Let me repeat, a <C> rank defeating two <B-> ranks. That's almost similar to his opponent Ren Dover who defeated his opponent whose rank was <A-> at <B> rank."

Once again extending his hand, Zack grabbed multiple news articles and expanded them for the audience to see them.

"This isn't even the first time this happened. As you can see there are several similar accidents in the past where Kevin Voss displayed his immaculate talent."

"The Sanabria accident, the Kolain tower accident...the list goes on and on."

Taking his eyes away from the articles, Zack stroked his hands together.

"What I'm trying to say is that Kevin has an incredible amount of combat experience. Especially when dealing with opponents that far outstripped him in power."

Clenching his hand into a fist, the articles disappeared, and Zack once again turned to look at the camera pointing in his direction.

"There is nothing to doubt about Kevin's skills. If he was put up against Kimor, there is a chance he could've won as well. Especially after his match with Aaron."

Pressing onto the table, replays of Kevin's match with Aaron appeared on the screens of the viewers. Following this, he dragged his finger across the screen to slow down the video as much as possible, and continued.

"During that fight, his speed skyrocketed to almost <A+> rank. Without a doubt, he has the capabilities to beat Ren, whom we know not a lot about apart from what he's shown."

Extending his hands, he looked at the cameras and concluded.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not belittling Ren's abilities, but I simply don't know enough about his abilities to make a proper assessment. All I can do is tell you how I feel things are, and from what Ren has shown he might not be able to beat Kevin."

Nodding her head by the side, Lorena brightly smiled before adding.

"Talking about what he's shown, he's the inheritor of the famed Keiki style. A style that pursues absolute speed, right?"

"You're absolutely right, Lorena."

Zack nodded his head, placing both of his hands on the table.

"He is indeed the inheritor of the Keiki style, a famous five-star art that was previously thought to have been lost."

Raising his head and massaging the bottom of his chin, Zack concluded.

"From what we've seen in their fight, Ren is an incredibly strong individual whose specialty lies in his quick thinking abilities, and sword style. On the other hand, Kevin's style is somewhat similar, but his swordsmanship seems to be a lot more refined and well trained. Coupled with his other incredibly assets, I'm still of the opinion that Kevin will win this."

A confident smile appeared on Zack's face when he said that.

He had thought things through thoroughly, and after a lot of contemplation, the result of his analysis was that Kevin would inevitably end up beating Ren.

He was almost certain of this.

"It will be a close fight, but I give the edge to Kevin."

By his side, Loren nodded her head in agreement.

"I'm also with you on that one."

Before she could say anything else, the two of them suddenly saw two figures appear on the arena grounds and immediately sat up.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it looks like the long-awaited match will finally be starting."

***

Issanor, arena grounds.

"Ugh, what luck right?"

Kevin said with a wry smile on his face. He was currently standing opposite me, and he had a casual look on his face.

But having known him for long enough, I knew that he was currently on his highest guard.

I shook my head when I saw this.

"It really is terrible luck…"

Ever since the day of the matchup, I had been unable to see Kevin, and today was the first time that I saw him after a long time.

Looking at each other in the eyes, we could tell that we both thought of this situation as ridiculous, but at the end of the day, we really couldn't do anything about it.

It was what it was.

"Hey, Ren."

Kevin called out for me, his voice sounding extremely serious.

"What is it?"

"You better not hold back on me."

"...Yes, yes, I know."

My eyes rolled when I heard this.

Wasn't planning to. I wanted to see just how much stronger I was compared to Kevin.

Also, knowing Kevin's personality, he would probably end up getting mad at me if I didn't take him seriously.

He had his own pride after all, but I mean, who didn't? If I had to be honest, I had a pretty big ego myself, and this probably explained where my pettiness came from.

So, being the respectable person that I was, I was going to beat him up.

Swoooosh—!

A soft breeze suddenly brushed past my body as I closed my eyes for a brief moment. Once I opened up my eyes again, I found the referee standing in the middle of the arena.

Silence descended in the arena at the appearance of the referee.

Turning his head to glance in both of our directions, Kevin and I both nodded our heads. Following this, raising his hand the referee shouted.

"Begin!"

Chapter 442: One last match [3]

"Begin!"

The referee's thunderous voice boomed throughout the arena. Following his words, Kevin flourished his broadsword. The broadsword was about three feet in length, and its sharp edge directly reflected the glaring light coming down from the sun.

As the broadsword appeared in Kevin's hand, I watched as his muscles bulged outwards and his hand lowered slightly.

A clear indication of just how heavy the weapon was.

SHIIIIING—!

With a light sound, Kevin's sword became enshrouded by a red hue visible to the naked eye! Slowly, layers upon layers of crimson air emanated from Kevin's sword.

At this moment, despite the referee's words, neither one of us moved. A heavy tension enveloped the entire arena.

As I gazed in Kevin's direction, an indomitable aura escaped from his body as it billowed outwards.

I grew solemn when I saw this. Taking a deep breath, time seemed to come to a standstill. Then, at the exact moment that I started to exhale, Kevin's body disappeared from the spot.

SHIIIING—!

Unsheathing my sword and coating my sword with mana, I pressed my foot on the ground and shot forward. In a second, Kevin's figure appeared right in front of me.

Clank—!

A loud metallic ring spread in the air as Kevin's sword met mine. Sparks flew in the air, and a strong pressurized wind expanded outwardly, resulting in my clothes to flutter, releasing a paper-like sound.

The clash lasted only for a brief moment, and once the momentum of our attack dissipated, Kevin's body took a couple of steps back, and so did I.

Stabilizing my body, lifting my head, my eyes met with Kevin's.

"Not bad."

I ended up muttering when I looked at Kevin.

From the first exchange, I could somewhat gauge his strength. It was just a little bit weaker than mine, but it also had to be noted that Kevin still had multiple tricks up his sleeve.

"You're not bad yourself," Kevin replied back with a voice filled with heavy solemness.

Then, raising his sword once again, he disappeared from his spot before reappearing a couple of meters away from me. With his sword above his head, he slashed diagonally down.

A red glow enveloped his sword, and the speed at which it was hurtling towards me was quite frankly, terrifying, but it was still manageable.

Twisting the heel of my foot on the ground, I turned my body to the side, and swung upwardly, trying to meet his sword dead on.

Clank—!

Once again a clear metallic ring resounded throughout the whole arena grounds, as my clothes flapped even more wildly. The hairband which I had used to tie my hair came undone, and my hair scattered all over my face, preventing me from seeing what was happening in front of me.

This may have flustered the normal person, but I was somewhat used to this situation as the mana inside of my body erupted in an outward manner, and I put all my force onto my sword, resulting in Kevin's body being pushed back a couple of meters back.

It was enough for me to catch my breath and fix my hair.

'I seriously need to cut my hair.'

I thought to myself as I brushed my hair behind me.

Although it normally wasn't a problem, it still was a hassle. Especially in big fights when my hairband would always come undone.

It was either cutting my hair or buying a better hairband.

SHIIIING—!

Snapping me out of my own delusions, I suddenly felt a tremendous force come from opposite me.

Like a torrential wave of energy, a bright red light suddenly enveloped Kevin's sword.

Following this, a terrifying pressure bore down on the arena. Taking a step forward, with a loud 'bang' the ground beneath Kevin cracked apart.

The muscles on Kevin's body suddenly bulged upwards, and his veins became more prominent. Wiggling around like worms.

"Haaa!"

Kevin cried out. Both hands held the broadsword, and with a sudden and swift movement, he slashed downwards.

As Kevin slashed, his imposing aura suddenly rose. The air around him began to distort as if there was an invisible current flowing around him, and agglomerating into his long broadsword.

Boooom—!

A thunderous explosion followed after as a powerful sword energy came crashing down on me. Feeling the power contained within the attack, my brows couldn't help but frown.

Activating 'Eyes of Chronos' the world around me started to slow down and Kevin's attack stopped.

Sensing the mana in the air, I calmly analyzed my situation before reducing the effect of the skill, allowing for time to flow a little bit faster. In my vision, Kevin's sword started to move at a snail's pace.

My eyes started to strain once I did this, however, it was a necessary price that I needed to pay.

Tensing the muscles of my right hand which was holding onto my sword, I channeled all my mana towards it, creating a small even green coating.

Then, deactivating the effects of 'Eyes of Chronos', taking a step forward, I slashed out. The moment I slashed out, the mana inside of my body began to stir. Following which, a powerful attack shot out from my sword, meeting Kevin's attack head-on.

Clank!

A metallic ring spread throughout the arena as my feet sank to the ground, and my foot became trapped in the thick floor. Glaring at me from above was Kevin who slashed down with all his might.

Kevin was using a broadsword, which was incomparably heavier than my sword. Although my sword had an effect that could make it become heavier, at the moment, it was of no use. Kevin's sword was above mine, and increasing the mass would only put me in a disadvantageous situation.

As a result of this, he came out on top in this exchange.

"Kaaahh!"

Gritting my teeth, I pushed back with all my strength, and just barely managed to push Kevin's broadsword away. But Kevin backflipped into the air, and as he was airborne, his body twisted at a weird angle and his broadsword drew a majestic arc, aiming straight for my neck.

The attack came flying at me at an incredible speed. Fortunately, I had an ace up my sleeve with regards to speed attacks.

That was none other than, Eyes of Chronos. An <A> ranked skill, and the strongest skill in my arsenal.

Time once again slowed down, as my eyes darted all over Kevin.

Soon, the chip inside of my head started to process everything at a rate matching the speed at which my eyes could see, and using the data coming from Kevin's muscle movements and current sword trajectory, I was able to get a clear idea of where the sword was going to land.

Deactivating Eyes of Chronos, I merely took a step to the right, at a fourth three-degree angle from where I was standing.

SHIIIIING—!

A cold air blew past my face as Kevin's attack completely missed. Taking advantage of this moment, Raising my hand, I smacked in a downward manner. Aiming for the back of his neck.

But, as though he had eyes at the back of his head, Kevin pressed the palm of his hands on the ground and once again twisted his body at a weird angle, just barely avoiding my attack.

"You..."

The next thing that Kevin did truly shocked me. Putting his broadsword back in his dimensional space, and raising his legs, Kevin wrapped his legs around my arm. Then, grabbing onto it with both hands, he locked my arm into an armbar

I suddenly felt a muscle-tearing pain coarse through my body. Just for a second, my knee almost gave out. However, gritting my teeth, I tensed my arm and raised it in the air, with Kevin still latched onto it.

"Aaaaarrghhh!"

Raising my arm in the air, I could feel Kevin's lock tighten. Nevertheless, gritting my teeth, my arm soon raised all the way towards the top of my head. Once that happened, I smashed my arm towards the ground.

All of this happened within the course of a couple of seconds, and so Kevin wasn't able to properly get a hold of my arm.

Sensing the imminent danger, Kevin finally let go of my arm. But I wasn't going to let him go off the hook that easily!

Just as he released the grip on my arm, placing the plan of my hand on the ground to support my body, I twisted my legs and aimed a kick towards the side of his body, hitting him cleanly in the chest and sending him crashing in the distance.

Bang!

With a loud bang, his figure landed a couple of meters away from me.

Standing up and finally taking a breather, I massaged my arm which was aching in pain.

'Shit, I might've torn a muscle...' I thought to myself as I felt an electrifying feeling wash over my body whenever I tried to move my arm. However, this was nothing much. Grabbing a potion, I quickly downed it, and the pain slowly started to disappear.

Doing a similar thing by the other side of the arena, Kevin once again took out his broadsword as a powerful hue sprung out of his body.

Also taking out my weapon, I channeled all of my mana into my sword, forming a thin green hue around it.

Raising my head and meeting Kevin's line of sight, I smirked. Then, pressing my foot onto the ground, I propelled my body in his direction as I slashed down with all my might.

Everything happened in a split second, but the moment I arrived in front of Kevin, what met my sight was the sharp end of his broadsword quickly heading for my face. Turning my foot at a one-eighty degree angle, to halt my body, I similarly slashed to meet his attack.

Boooom—!

Yet again, a thunderous explosion reverberated throughout the whole arena as the ground trembled, and both Kevin and I were pushed back.

Steading my feet, I looked up. There I saw Kevin looking back at me with a very solemn look.

"What's wrong?" I asked, clicking my tongue and trying to hide the fact that my arm was currently trembling from the previous exchange. "Something bothering you?"

I lowered my sword slightly.

In response to my question, Kevin shook his head.

"Nah, I was thinking that it's about time the two of us get serious."

"Oh?"

Kevin rolled his eyes. Lowering his body, he took a stance as an even more terrifying red hue sprang out on his body.

As the hue covered the sky, dying it red with his color, he icely said.

"Let's stop messing about. I know you're also holding back."

"…Fine."

I sighed.

Kevin was right. It was about time that we ended the warm-up.

Lifting my hand, I put my sword back into the scabbard.

Moving my foot behind me, I took a deep breath as I circulated all of the mana inside of my body to the maximum. However, right before I was preparing to take things seriously, I shouted.

"Get ready Kevin, this is revenge for all the stalking you did!"

"Huh?!"

The moment those words escaped from my mouth, Kevin almost tripped on his own feet. The hue around his body shrank considerably. Raising his head, he rebutted.

"If I don't recall wrongly, you were the first stalker."

"But you didn't know that."

"…what does knowing have anything to do with the fact that you still stalked first?"

Kevin asked, his voice filled with disbelief. Shrugging my shoulders, I replied.

"Let me remind you that I've also saved your life…"

"Y…you."

Kevin's face twisted drastically before the hue around his body intensified many folds.

"Talk about ungrateful," I mumbled in a voice loud enough for Kevin to hear. The red hue surging out of his body increased by another fold.

Sensing the power coming from Kevin's body, the smile on my face disappeared as I too channeled every last bit of strength inside of my body.

Following this, my aura and Kevin's aura clashed in the middle of the stage.

Chapter 443: One last match [4]

Human domain, broadcasting studios.

"Kevin and Ren look to be evenly matched so far."

Lorena commented whilst staring at the screen in front of her. Sitting beside her, Zack nodded his head in agreement.

"You're absolutely correct. The two contestants seem to be perfectly matched at the moment. Whenever one of the two has the upper hand, the other quickly pulls out a new move to once again regain the upper hand."

Pressing both of his hands on the table, Zack leaned forward to get a better look at the battle.

Staring at the battle, Zack's eyes started to hurt. He was so mesmerized by what he was seeing. So much so that he forgot to blink his eyes multiple times, and when he realized, his eyes had already started to sting.

But he didn't mind the pain. He felt that it was worth it.

Never in his life had he seen two <B> ranks be so strong.

It was truly shocking.

Lorena was also experiencing a similar situation as Zack as she too couldn't take her eyes away from the screen. Fortunately, the two of them weren't the only people present in the studio as one of the staff helped Lorena recollect herself.

Smiling brightly, Lorena looked at Zack and asked.

"Zack, after seeing the match, are you still of the opinion that Kevin will win?"

"Uh?"

Caught by surprise by the sudden question, Zack had a dumb look on his face. Thankfully, he was able to recollect himself quickly. He had plenty of experience, and so, smiling toward the cameras, he nodded his head.

"Yes, of course."

Extending his hand, he pointed toward the main screen and started to share his analysis of the situation.

"As you've most probably seen by now, although the two of them seem evenly matched, if you pay close attention, neither is going all out. Let's be real, the two of them seem to be treating this more like a friendly spar than an actual fight."

Hearing Zack's word from the side, Lorena subconsciously nodded her head.

It was as he said. Although the fight between the two was extremely intense, there was no real sense of crisis like in the previous matches. It felt more like a match between friend more than anything else.

"From the last match, most of you have already done your research on the two contestants. Therefore, you should already know that the two of them are close friends."

"That's correct," Lorena said before adding. "But what does that have to do with you keeping your decision about Kevin being the victor?"

"Nothing really, I just wanted to say that even though they are evenly matched, Kevin has still not gone all out. Once he does, Ren won't be able to beat him, even if he also is holding back." His words were firm when he said this. As he had already declared Kevin to be the victor, he was going to stick to it till the end.

"Mhhh…"

Lorena squinted her eyes. Her eyes were filled with doubt, however, since Zack was an expert in this field, she decided to no longer question his analysis. At the end of the day, only time would reveal the true victor of the fight.

Before Lorena could further comment on the matter, Zack suddenly stood up and his voice raised.

"Oh, it looks like Kevin and Ren will be finally going all out!"

Startled, Lorena turned her head and stared at the screen where the match was currently being broadcasted, and there she saw two enormous hues clashing in the arena.

One red, and one white.

Waves of billowing heat flowed outwardly from Kevin's body, as he channeled the fire psyons in his body.

A sizzling, feverish swelter enveloped the arena grounds as the temperature shot up. With each second that passed, the greater the hue around Kevin's body became.

Standing on the opposite end of him was Ren, similarly, mana began to sprout out of his body.

Howling gales of strong wind formed as a result of his power, scattering in all directions.

The two hues covered half of the arena each and slowly threatened to devour each other.

Standing in the middle of each hue were the blurred figures of Ren and Kevin who held onto their weapons tightly. Neither one of them moved as they both stood motionless.

"…It's finally starting."

Lorena muttered underneath her breath.

It wasn't just her Lorena who saw this, but almost everyone in the world witnessed the same scene as they held their breath, eagerly waiting for the moment when the two figures would finally reveal their true powers to the world.

Fortunately, they didn't have to wait for long.

Boooooom—!

A thunderous explosion reverberated throughout the studio speakers as Kevin's and Ren's figures suddenly disappeared from their spot, reappearing in front of each other.

Before either could even unleash their attacks, the tournament ground beneath them cracked apart, and dust instantly rose in the air, masking the eyesight of the viewers watching.

Bang—!

It didn't take long for the dust to clear and once the dust cleared out, there was another deafening sound of an explosion. The momentum of Kevin's braodsword was like a tsunami, and the limitless red hue came crashing down on Ren's body with unstoppable momentum.

As Kevin slashed, he made sure to keep his eyes locked onto Ren. To his shock, he just stared at his attack with a dull look in his eyes. Before Kevin could react, a subtle clicking sound rang out.

Click—!

Ren's hand blurred, and Kevin's broadsword suddenly met an incredible resistance!

"Khhh…"

Pressing both of his feet on the ground, the veins on Kevin's neck protruded outwardly as he used all of his strength to push forward, trying to gain the upper hand against Ren. However, regardless of how much he pushed, Ren's body wouldn't budge.

"Haaaa!"

Kevin let out a low cry. Like a phantasmal ghost, his figure faded into the air before suddenly reappearing by Ren's side. This was so fast that Ren was unable to react on time. Furthermore, before anyone could even realize it, Kevin had switched from a broadsword to a sword!

His movements became incomparably faster, and in a flash, his sword struck out a couple of dozen times.

Sha! Sha! Sha!

A tight net of deadly sword attacks formed around Ren, trapping him completely.

Kevin's swordsmanship dazzled the crowd as they found it to have reached a point near perfection. For someone as young as him to have reached this level of swordsmanship, the crowd opened their mouth in awe.

Even Lorena and Zack were left speechless by Kevin's dazzling sword mastery. It was just too shocking!

Staring at Kevin's lightning-fast attacks, the audience shared the same thought. 'He can't dodge that.' Not only were the strikes incredibly fast and powerful, but they were also incredibly numerous. Creating this sort of net that left him with no way out.

Instantly some of the viewers watching closed their eyes. They didn't want to see what would be made of Ren's body once he came in contact with Kevin's attack.

All these thoughts occurred in an instant. Between Kevin's masterful and extremely fast attacks, almost everyone in the audience thought that Ren was going to sustain heavy injuries, but at this moment, Ren touched the sheath of his sword.

"Nice try."

His soft voice reached Kevin's ears. Before Kevin could even react, the hue revolving around Ren's body sprang out like never before, reaching for the sky at an unimaginable momentum that left the audience baffled. Following this, a subtle and familiar clicking sound rang out.

Kevin's eyes instantly opened wide as he cursed out loud.

"Shit!"

Click—!

Time seemed to have come to a standstill following the subtle clicking sound. The silence did not last for long, however, as everyone's eyes opened wide.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

Dissecting into thousands of equal pieces, the area around Ren distorted. The ground cracked, before splitting into multiple even pieces, and the sky itself seemed to be torn apart as Kevin's attack disappeared into nothingness.

Shooting up like projectiles were the remnant pieces of the rocks that had been split by Ren's sudden attack.

The audience who was watching stiffened up on the spot and their hearts froze.

What had they just witnessed?! It felt as though they had watched someone split the world with a single sword. It was incredible!

Puchi!

Following the attack, blood splurted towards the ground.

Bang—!

Crashing onto the other end of the arena was Kevin's haggard figure. Blood dripped down from his body, as his clothes were torn into bits and pieces.

"Fuck."

Weakly standing up, Kevin wiped the side of his mouth. Grabbing onto the side of his shoulder, he cursed to himself.

At this moment, he was counting his lucky stars. The move that Ren had just done. He had seen it before. Back when he had fought him with Jin and the others.

This was Ren's strongest move and was something that he had not used when fighting against Kimor. Had he used it, Kevin was sure that Ren would've had a much easier time in his fight.

But it was also the reason why he knew this skill that he was able to still be standing. Although his injuries looked serious, they weren't anything to be worried about. At the very last moment, when he realized that Ren was about to use that skill, he used overdrive and managed to narrowly avoid his attack. Of course, he had paid a price for this. He had at least cracked a couple of ribs.

"Khhh..."

Holding onto the side of his chest, Kevin grit his teeth and endured the pain he was suffering.

Bang!

Without wasting any time, still under the effects of overdrive, pressing his foot onto the ground, the red hue around Kevin's body expanded rapidly. In a heartbeat, he appeared before Ren. Switching from sword to broadsword once again, he slashed down.

[The first movement of the Levisha style.]

Clank!

Ren's feet sunk onto the ground as his sword met Kevin's broadsword. Not giving Ren enough time to react, Kevin, raised his broadsword again and slashed out.

[The second movement of the Levisha style.]

Clank!

This time the ringing sound became even more powerful as Ren's feet sank beneath the ground even more. Raising his broadsword, Kevin repeated the movement again.

Clank! Clank! Clank!

Every time Kevin attacked, the red hue revolving around his body became even firmer. Not only did his attacks become more powerful, but they also increased in speed.

Furthermore, thanks to the effects of 'Overdrive' Kevin was in a state where he could continuously attack without leaving Ren any room to breathe. Slowly but surely, the strength of his attacks increased more and more, and by the time he had reached the twentieth attack, Ren was already on one knee to the ground.

When the audience saw this, their hearts started to palpitate. 'Is this it? Is Kevin going to be the one that will emerge victorious in the end?' Everyone shared the same thought as they watched Ren's figure slowly but surely lower.

Staring at the match from the studio, a pleased smile appeared on Zack's face as he looked at this development. His analysis was once again correct.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it appears as th—"

But just as he was about to finish his sentence, his face froze. Not only him, but everyone that was watching froze as their eyes opened wide in shock.

Clank!

Striking once again, the hue revolving around Kevin's body became even thicker. It was now the twentieth move, and he was preparing to end the match right now. Although he had managed to keep Ren suppressed, for now, he knew that he didn't have much time. The side-effects of Overdrive were starting to kick in!

Raising his broadsword once again, the hue enveloping Kevin's broadsword funneled in the air like a tall pillar as a terrifying pressure bore down on the whole arena.

"Haaaaa!"

He screamed at the top of his lungs as he raised his broadsword above his head. Lowering his head and staring at Ren who had his head lowered, Kevin mumbled.

"Sorry Ren, but this will be my victory!"

However, just as he was about to slash down, Ren finally raised his head and with a playful smile on his face, he asked.

"Had enough fun?"

"W...what?!"

Seeing Ren's smile, a flustered look appeared on Kevin's face as he felt an ominous premonition.

Before Kevin could make out what was happening, to his horror, over thirty rings suddenly sprung out from Ren's body as they completely encircled him. Then, something shocking happened. Slowly moving around him like satellites, Kevin watched as the rings turned resulting in the flame psyons around his body trembling uncontrollably.

His attack which he had stacked up for so long suddenly lost most of his power! And before he could make heads or tails of the situation, a powerful force came crashing down on his chest forcing him onto his knees.

"Kahhakh!"

The force was so strong that Kevin almost felt the urge to puke. Trying his best to breathe, something hard smacked onto his right hand and his broadsword flew towards the distance.

Clank! Clank!

The sound of his broadsword clattering in the distance rang in Kevin's head as realization soon dawned on him.

Weakly lifting his head up, Kevin saw Ren looking at him with a lazy smile on his face. Placing his sword in front of his head, he slowly said.

"Looks like you still have a long way before reaching my level."

Chapter 444: Fame [1]

"…err."

A deathly silence enveloped the studios as Zack was at a loss for words. His mouth momentarily twitched as he had difficulty trying to find the right words to say.

Staring at the screen in front of him, he wanted to bury himself underneath the ground.

Recollections of the words he previously said flashed across his mind as he lowered his head in shame.

If Ren had beaten Kevin within a very small margin, he may have been able to brush it off, but that was not what happened. It was a far cry from what happened as Ren simply beat Kevin without the fight even being a close one.

Rubbing salt to his wounds, Lorena spoke from the side.

"…So, I guess your previous analysis was incorrect."

"Keum, well, it appears that I may have underestimated Ren."

With a slight cough, Zack quickly brushed the topic aside and quickly changed the topic. He was a man that had been in the industry for quite a while, and therefore, had very thick skin.

"Anyways, have you all seen the last moments of the fight? When Ren was able to defeat Kevin?"

Tapping onto the table, replays of the last moments of the fight appeared on the screens of everyone watching. With a serious disposition, Zack pointed toward the rings surrounding Kevin.

"Most of you are probably already aware of what these rings are. Since you've seen his profile you must know that one of the sword techniques Ren practices is [Ring of vindication], a three-start defensive manual."

Pinching the hologram and zooming toward the ring, Zack continued.

"Notice how the rings over here are red? ...When one reaches the essence realm of mastery for this art, they are able to display 'Elemental discharge', which is the third movement of the defensive art. What it essentially does is attract a specific psyon before diffusing it in the air. In doing so, one is able to weaken a psyon attributed attack, which is exactly what happened in this case."

Zooming out, Zack pointed at all the thirty rings on the screen. Then, pinching onto the screen he zoomed toward Ren and pointed at his sword.

"While Kevin was attacking, Ren was secretly gathering rings. Once Kevin was about to use his most powerful move, it was then that Ren discharged all the rings and dissipated all the flame psyons revolving around Kevin, reducing his attack completely."

As Zack explained to the audience, secretly he was shocked himself. Had he not replayed the match a couple of times before, he would've never been able to tell what had happened.

Once he did find out exactly what Ren did, he was left extremely impressed. Ren may have not outclassed Kevin in terms of brute strength, speed, or any other stat, but what he did however completely outclassed Kevin in terms of strategy.

Although he hated to admit it, Ren without a doubt deserved to win the match.

***

At the same time.

"Looks like you still have a long way before reaching my level."

Ren's words powerfully rang inside Kevin's ears as he looked up at him with a mixture of shock and confusion.

'Just what in the world happened?' Kevin wondered to himself as he looked around, towards the rings surrounding him.

He already had an idea of why he lost, but the way that Ren was able to handle him so easily made him question reality. After all, Kevin didn't think that it would've been so one-sided. Especially when he knew that he could also beat Kimor.

Fortunately, seemingly being able to see through his thoughts, Ren softly said.

"I broke through."

"Huh?"

A look of disbelief flashed across Kevin's face as he quickly closed his eyes. Then, sensing the mana around Ren's body, he couldn't help but gasp in surprise.

It was true!

Ren had broken through to <B+> rank. No wonder he felt so much stronger than when he had fought against Kimor.

"Haaa…"

Letting out a long and tired sigh, Kevin smiled before leaning back and resting his hands over his knees.

"You beat me fair and square. I can only accept my loss."

Kevin took the loss quite well. He wasn't the type to make excuses whenever he lost.

Even though Ren was higher ranked than him, that didn't mean anything in Kevin's eyes. After all, Ren did beat Kimor who was two ranks higher than him. He didn't doubt that Ren may have also beaten him if their ranks were the same.

In the end, Kevin had set his mind to take this opportunity to contemplate over his shortcomings.

The only problem he had with the situation was the fact that he was unable to gain the elven tear, however, after deliberating over this matter for the past few days, he decided to perhaps try to trade for it with one of his more important items.

This was all he could do at the moment.

With a self-deprecating smile, Kevin leaned to the right and tried to stand up.

"Well, congrats on winning. I guess this is the end for me. Do me a favor and win the tournament so that I don't feel terrible for losing to you."

Ren merely smiled when he heard Kevin's words. Just before Kevin could say anything else, Ren turned around and shouted.

"I forfeit."

Like a thunderclap, Ren's words resounded throughout the whole stadium as everyone froze on the spot. Including Kevin who couldn't believe Ren's words.

"…Ren."

Kevin's brows furrowed.

"Are you doing this because of the situation with Emma? If so, you don't need to forfeit. It was my loss, there is no need for you t—"

"Stop it."

Ren cut Kevin off before turning his head to look at him.

"First things first, I'm not surrendering because of your situation."

"Uh...really?"

Ren's words confused Kevin. If he wasn't surrendering because he felt pity for his circumstance, then what was the reason for his sudden withdrawal?

After all, everyone had seen it. He had beaten him cleanly! There was no benefit in him forfeiting the match.

Before Kevin could ask any further, the referee's voice echoed throughout the arena.

"Contestant Ren Dover, are you sure about what you've just said?"

There were hints of doubts in the referee's words as he too struggled to understand why Ren wanted to give up.

Turning his head to glance at the referee, Ren didn't answer but instead yawned and walked toward the edge of the platform. Upon arriving at the edge, he slowly sat down and dangled his legs out.

With his eyes locked onto the audience who was currently still in shock by his sudden forfeit, Ren spoke up again.

"The reason I'm forfeiting is quite simple really..."

Though Ren's words were soft almost everyone that was watching heard them. Be it the viewers from the human side, or the spectators that were currently down below.

Everyone held their breath as they eagerly waited for the answer to why he was suddenly giving up. 'Was he perhaps injured?' Everyone thought.

It was understandable. Having fought against Kimor and Kevin back to back, it would make sense for him to have suffered incredible internal injuries that made it hard for him to continue.

These thoughts flashed in the mind of everyone watching for a brief instance. However, Ren's answer completely took everyone off-guard as some people even fell off the edge of their seats.

"…the reason I'm quitting is because I'm bored."

Silence.

Absolute silence descended upon the tournament grounds as everyone looked in Ren's direction with a baffled look on their face.

Two seconds passed since then, and once the crowd was able to process his words, many individuals stood up from their seats and shouted.

"Bored?! The reason why you're quitting the tournament is because you're bored? Nonsense!"

"Bullshit!"

"Just admit that you can no longer fight!"

Obviously, not many people were happy with Ren's words. Ren's words were a blatant provocation to the other races! He was clearly saying that everyone was too weak or beneath his notice to even bother to continue participating in the tournament.

Instantly curses and all sorts of profanities headed in Ren's direction who simply took everything with a smile on his face. Seemingly finding the greatest of pleasure at the crowd's anger.

Shrugging his shoulders, he continued provoking.

"What? Aside from Kimor and Kevin, there isn't anyone worth fighting. It's simply too boring."

Hearing Ren's words, the crowd became even more heated as more cursed were thrown.

"How dare you human!"

"Such arrogance!"

Shrugging his shoulders, Ren rebuked.

"You guys complain, but I mean my words. Apart from Kevin and Kimor, is there anyone that would even pose a challenge to me?"

His words may have been somewhat drowned out by the crowd's noise, but almost everyone present heard them, and one of the elves couldn't help but stand and shout.

"Vaalyun!"

Following the elves' words, another elf stood up and similarly chanted.

"Vaalyun!"

Slowly, one by one, more and more people started chanting the same name, and it wasn't long before Valyuun's name started to resonate throughout the surroundings

"Vaalyun!" "Vaalyun!"

With his back straight, and with a prideful look on his face, Vaalyun took a step forward, and everyone's eyes gathered on him. He had this prideful and otherwordly aura around him that made the others shout his name even louder.

This obviously did not go unnoticed by Ren who couldn't help but cringe at the sight.

"Keum..."

Clearing his throat, he scratched the side of his head and innocently said.

"Sorry, but Vacuum who?"

The smile on Vaalyun's face froze, and so did the smile on the people who were chanting his name.

Following this, silence once again descended upon the stands as everyone was at a loss for words.

Taking advantage of the silence, Ren continued to speak.

"No offense, but I don't have a single clue as to who you guys are talking about. Whoever this Vacuum guy is, since I don't know him, it means that he's not worth looking at."

Ren's words were like sharp daggers that cut deeply, as Vaalyun's face twisted savagely. He was clearly enraged.

Not that Ren cared as he turned his head and pointed in Kevin's direction.

"Honestly, I don't care. I've made my decision. If this Vacuum guy is as strong as you guys said, he should be able to defeat Kevin. If he can't, then you guys clearly have placed too much attention on some random guy that is not worth paying any attention to."

A long and exaggerated sigh escaped from Ren's mouth as he said this.

In all honesty, he obviously knew who Vaalyun was. After all, Ren wasn't one to forget grudges. No matter how small they were.

Unfortunately, since he had decided to drop out of the tournament, he didn't have enough time to fight Vaalyun and thus beat him up in front of everyone.

Since he couldn't do that, he opted for the next best option which was to simply humiliate him in front of everyone. For the sake of humiliating Vaalyum, Ren chose to provoke everyone. Also, he was using this as an excuse to stop Kevin from getting trying to change his mind.

Since he had vouched for him, Kevin would have no choice but to beat Vaalyun in order to not tarnish the faith he put in him.

Jin who was watching the match from below obviously could see through what Ren was doing, and when he realized just how petty he was being, he couldn't help but shake his head.

He made a mental note to himself to never provoke Ren.

He was simply too petty to be worth provoking.

"Well, that's enough said from me. Good luck in your next match."

Waving at Kevin, Ren moved forward and dropped out of the platform above, falling down at incredible speeds. Just as he was about to land on the ground, a small circle appeared beneath his feet, and he softly landed on the ground.

With all eyes locked on him, Ren slowly left the place. Even though people were still angry at him, remembering his performance not too long ago, they chose to remain silent.

Staring at his disappearing back, almost everyone had the same thought.

'What if what he said is true?'

Thinking back at how easily he beat Kevin, and how he beat Kimor, everyone wondered if Ren's words were truly groundless.

What if there really wasn't anyone that could pose a challenge to him?

The sheer thought caused the hearts of some of the people present to freeze.

Chapter 445: Fame [2]

Upper echelon area.

"Hahahahaha!"

A boisterous laugh resounded across the platform as Gervis slapped the side of the chair and helplessly held onto his stomach, trying his best to contain his laughter.

However, as he recalled Ren's actions, his laugh only became louder.

It took a couple of minutes for him to finally calm down, and when he did, wiping the side of his eyes, he commented.

"This is great!"

Even though Ren's words were extremely arrogant and offensive, Gervis didn't take them to heart. He was all too familiar with him and knew he probably had his reasons for whatever he did.

Also, dwarves weren't particularly known for their combat prowess so he wasn't offended at all.

Calming himself down, Gervis stroked his beard and turned to look at Brutus who was wordlessly sitting on his seat.

"You saw that right?"

"...Yes."

Brutus unperturbedly replied.

"His words aren't wrong."

"Oh?"

Gervis showed a look of surprise. He didn't expect such an answer from him.

"You really think that there isn't anyone else worth fighting?"

"Khrr...khrr...correct."

With a deep and unfathomable look on his face, Brutus calmly nodded his head.

"After he defeated Kimor...khrr...khrr...the victor of the tournament had already been decided. What is said is true. There isn't anyone that is worth fighting."

Gervis's eyes squinted when he heard Brutus's words, but he decided to stay silent.

There was no point in him saying anything else as he too somewhat agreed with what he said.

As the two were conversing, the elven queen had a weird look on her face. Even though she wasn't particularly offended by what Ren did, she was not entirely pleased. After all, he had humiliated Vaalyun in front of the whole world.

He was supposed to be the best prodigy that the elves could offer. At an age that was similar to that of Ren in human years, he had already broken through to <A-> rank. He was supposed to be a generational talent that was rarely seen, yet he had been completely overshadowed and even turned into the butt of the jokes for those that were watching.

"Sigh."

Still, it wasn't like she could do anything about it. Given her status, if she did something, it would look bad on the whole race. Not that she was planning on doing anything in the first place.

To her, this was a good opportunity to humble Vaalyun a notch. He had become a little bit too arrogant for his own good. If this humiliation served to calm him down a bit, then the queen could turn a blind eye to what happened.

Furthermore, Amanda had already told her about the Xurin fruit. Even though she was still unclear about whether it was real or not, if that was truly the Xurin fruit that could cure Natasha, Amanda's mother, then she owed him a big favor.

Whatever was happening to Vaalyun, the queen could only pretend to have noticed.

"..."

The only one of the four that didn't show any reaction to Ren's victory was Octavious who quietly gazed toward the arena with an indifferent look on his face.

There was no visible change in his expression as he looked at the arena, however, if one looked closely, they might be able to see a more resolute look on his face.

He had finally made up his mind.

***

After Ren left, the excitement over the next few matches died down a little.

There were two reasons for this, one, the matches were not as tense as Ren's and Kevin's matches, and two, they were all still riled up at Ren's words, making it hard for them to truly enjoy the other match.

It was still the round of sixteen and so the top contenders had not fought yet, but in their hearts, everyone already knew that the purpose of the tournament had faded. Especially after seeing Ren's performance.

If there was only one thing that everyone was focusing on at the moment, it was Kevin's potential match with Vaalyun, who was now synonymously known as Vacuum throughout the whole human domain.

Unbeknownst to him, he had become the butt of the jokes to all humans as they all replayed the last moment when Ren's words caused his pride to crumble apart.

Click—!

Pressing onto the remote controller, Smallsnake turned off the television and sat back in his seat.

*Puff*

Recalling Ren's last words during the tournament, Smallsnake's face twisted.

"Ugh, is he trying to piss all of the races at once?"

He could already feel a massive headache coming his way. Not only had Ren's last words provoked the other races, but he had done it in a way that pretty much maximized the hate directed at him.

Smallsnake at the moment could only pray that this incident wouldn't come back and bite him in the ass. However, knowing Ren's personality, Smallsnake already knew that this was a pipe dream.

*Puff*

"Ugh."

His head started to hurt. Massaging his forehead with his hand, Smallsnake lamented over his luck. "Just why do you always have to cause me so much trouble."

*Puff*

"Can you stop?"

Smallsnake's head snapped towards his right. There, with his legs on the table and holding onto a massive cigar, Smallsnake watched as Leopold repeatedly took big puffs of the cigar.

*Puff*

Ever since returning from Issanor, there was not a single moment when Leopold didn't stop smoking. At this point, Smallsnake questioned whether his lungs were made out of smoke or were even still there.

The amount Leopold smoked was simply too much!

*Puff*

Taking another puff of the cigar, Leopold shrugged his shoulders.

"Can't help it. I'm just making up for the time when I couldn't smoke back in Issanor."

Recalling the days when he couldn't smoke back in Issanor, Leopold's body shivered. It had completely traumatized him.

"You—"

Just before Smallsnake could say anything else, the door of the warehouse opened and Ava, Hein, and Ryan entered the office space.

The moment they entered the place, Smallsnake noticed that they all had a haggard and tired look on their faces.

Clank—!

"...Hey."

"Hey Smallsnake."

"mhh..."

"What's up with you guys?"

Smallsnake questioned with a strange look on his face. Halting her footsteps a couple of meters away from Smallsnake, Ava sat down on a sofa and leaned her head back.

"Family, that's what happened."

Ava tiredly said, as Hein and Ryan similarly sat down next to her. They all had similar looks on their faces.

Covering her face with her hand, Ava groaned.

"Ever since coming back, no matter how much I tried to leave they wouldn't let me!"

Raising her head to look at Smallsnake, Ava continued her rant.

"To make matters worse, my family has already alerted the whole neighborhood about the fact that I participated in the tournament! The moment I came back, all I did was spend countless hours greeting strangers who I have never seen before in my life!"

"Same for me."

Hein said with a sympathetic look on his face.

"My father was the same....I-I wish I could have my time returned to me."

Listening to their stories, Smallsnake felt a little bit of pity for them. Turning his head to look at Ryan, he didn't even need to ask to understand why he looked the way he did. Given how doting and protective his mother was, he could already guess what happened.

He was less sympathetic for him though. Ryan deserved what he had coming to him. Especially since he had been annoying him for a whole year.

Leaning back on his chair, Smallsnake smiled.

"Well, I'm glad that you have all settled down back here."

It had been quite a while since everyone had returned to the human domain, and it looked like they had all finally settled down.

After going through such hardships back in Henlour, this was a well-deserved rest that everyone earned.

Of course, Smallsnake knew that this wouldn't last for long as half of the people here were already famous. If they took into account Ren, who was probably the most famous human at the moment, then Smallsnake could already guess how grim the future was looking for him and the others.

***

After leaving the arena grounds, taking out the mask of Dolos, I quickly changed my face and clothes before heading back to the arena grounds.

Walking around the place, I soon spotted a familiar figure and sat down next to her.

"When is your match?"

Startled, Amanda gave me a cold look before proceeding to ignore me.

At first, I was confused about why she ignored him, but then I realized why. Smiling, I once again said.

"Ah, it's me."

This time, I used my regular voice.

Amanda's delicate brows knit at my words. She then proceeded to stand up and proceeded to leave. Not even sparing me a second glance.

Seeing this, I grabbed onto her hand and said.

"Hold up, it's me!"

"Let go."

Amanda coldly said. An icy hue began to sprout out of her body.

My mouth twitched when I saw this.

"Oy, you don't recognize me?"

Although I didn't look the same, she should still recognize me from my voice. However, it soon dawned on me that the arena grounds were too loud. I wrily smiled when I realized this.

The hue revolving around Amanda intensified by the second, and it wasn't long before she attracted the attention of some of the people present.

Realizing just how much of a predicament I was in, I had a sudden thought.

"Wait, hold up."

Tapping onto my bracelet, I took out my student ID card and briefly flashed it to Amanda. It was the only thing I could possibly show her to prove my identity.

Fortunately, it somehow seemed to have worked as Amanda quickly calmed down. The hue revolving around her body disappeared, and it was then that it finally dawned on her that I was, well, me.

Once she realized this, much to my confusion, she lowered her head and softly said.

"…Can you let go?"

"What?"

I asked. Because of the noise around me, I could barely hear her words.

Pursing her lips, Amanda pointed towards my hand which was still holding onto her wrist. Realization soon dawned on me, and I yanked my hand back.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to do it on purpose.

I quickly apologized.

"Mhm."

With a soft nod, Amanda proceeded to sit next to me. An awkward atmosphere revolved around us.

Coughing slightly to get rid of the weird atmosphere, I decided to ask. "How are the preparations for your mother?"

Hearing my words, Amanda's face turned serious. Turning her attention back toward the arena, Amanda replied in a low tone.

"We will do it today, after my match."

"Oh."

I absentmindedly nodded my head. Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm myself down.

"Do you want to come?"

Snapping me out of my thoughts I suddenly heard Amanda's voice. Taking a couple of seconds to process her words, a complicated look appeared on my face before I proceeded to shake my head.

"No thank you. It wouldn't be right for me to intrude on your family reunion time. Although I know that you feel indebted to me because I gave you the fruit, you should take this moment to reunite with your mother. I'll eventually meet her after she's healed."

"I see.."

Amanda lowered her head. It was clear that she was disappointed, but I couldn't help it.

The moment that Amanda gave the fruit to her mother, I was going to suffer the backlash of the contract breach.

Since I didn't want her to find out about what I had done, I could only politely reject her.

Raising my head, my eyes paused on the tournament platform. Recalling the order of the fights, I turned to look at Amanda.

"If I don't recall wrongly, after this match is your match, right?"

Lifting her head and staring at the arena, Amanda nodded her head.

"Mhm."

Then, taking out a hairband and tying her hair back, she slowly stood up.

Raising my hand, I wished her luck.

"Good luck."

"Thank you."

With a soft smile, Amanda proceeded to head for the tournament grounds. Staring at her figure from my seat, I sighed.

"So it's tonight huh?"

I really dreaded this moment, but letting out another sigh, I firmed my mind. Perhaps this would turn into a good opportunity for me.

Chapter 446: Natasha Stern [1]

Late at night.

The sun had already begun to set, and slowly darkness enveloped the city of Issanor.

Following Ren's match, Jin and Amanda also went next. After a long and arduous fight, the both of them were able to come out on top and thus make it to the rounds of eight. This may have been something noteworthy in the past, but Ren's actions had completely overshadowed their achievements. The same could be said for the other contestants as well.

Not that Amanda cared as after winning her round, the first thing she did was change her clothes into more comfortable ones. Following this, she was led by an elf toward a restricted area in Issanor.

As she had already been to the place before, Amanda was already quite familiar with where she needed to go, and before long, stopping in front of a familiar tree, the elven guard she came with placed their hand on the tree causing it to move upwards and revealing a familiar entrance.

Rumble—!

Giving a polite nod to the guard, Amanda entered the place. Through her memories, she navigated the place and paused before a certain room.

Raising her hand, she knocked on the door.

To Tok—

"Come in."

A smooth and pleasant voice spoke up as soon as Amanda knocked on the door.

Getting confirmation from the queen, Amanda entered the room where the first thing she saw was the elven queen standing beside the capsule her mother was resting in.

With her hand over the capsule, the queen stared at Amanda's mother with sadness in her eyes.

Then, turning her head to look at Amanda, she smiled.

"You're finally here."

"Mhm."

Amanda nodded; she was still a little bit reserved with the queen as she had not known her for long, however, from the way she was treating her mother, Amanda knew that she truly cared for her.

Unaware of what Amanda was thinking, the smile on the queen's face deepened as she raised her hand and revealed a familiar-looking fruit. With doubt on her face, she looked at Amanda.

"I've checked out the fruit that you've given me. I can't really tell if it will work or not, but are you sure that the individual that has given you this is trustworthy?"

"He is."

Amanda firmly nodded her head. Not for one second did she believe that Ren would try to lie to her about the fruit.

Seeing the resolute look on Amanda's face, the queen sighed before softly mumbling.

"I see."

Honestly, despite Amanda's confirmation, she was still on the fence about the fruit.

The moment Amanda explained to her how she got the fruit, and who gave it to her, the queen quickly had her servants do a background check on Ren.

The matter was far too important for her to take lightly.

Her servants were fast and efficient. By the time they came back, they had already compiled all possible data about him, from what he had achieved back on earth to even his exploit in Henlour. They had left nothing behind. There was even a report about him passing through their borders a year back.

The queen was truly surprised when she saw his exploits, however, that still posed a question to her.

How was he able to get his hands on a fruit that in no way shape or form the dwarves could've ever had nor could be found in the human domain?

'Was it just out of luck?' The elven queen wondered, but she quickly shook her head. It didn't really matter if it was luck or not at this point. What mattered was whether it worked or not.

The queen was especially worried since Natasha had been in this state for over fifteen years. She truly hoped that the fruit would work.

"Did he tell you what sort of preparations are needed for the fruit?" The queen asked Amanda, who nodded her head in response.

"Yes, he said that squeezing the fruit and extracting the juice will be enough."

"Okay."

Casually tossing the fruit in the air, the fruit halted mid hair. A white glow slowly enveloped the queen's hand as she twisted her fingers slightly, crushing the fruit completely.

Viscous golden liquid immediately dropped down from the fruit as elven queen completely crushed it with her hands.

As the liquid dropped toward the ground, right when it was about to touch the ground, twisting her fingers in a circular motion the juices came to a stop. Then, bending her fingers in her direction, the liquid moved in her direction, slowly accumulating together and forming a small golden ball.

Once she was done extracting all of the liquid from the fruit, the elven queen motioned with her fingers and the ball in front of her wobbled.

Slowly, a golden line formed in the air as the queen controlled the juices with her extreme control over psyons. Pointing towards Natasha who was laying down on the capsule, the liquid slowly seeped through the small hole at the top of the capsule before making its way towards Natasha's mouth.

Once the liquid stopped before her, the queen turned to look at Amanda and nudged her head.

"Open her mouth please."

"Okay."

Following the queen's orders, Amanda walked up to her mother and pressed her thumb underneath her chin. Applying a little bit of pressure, she slowly opened her mouth and the liquid the queen was controlling quickly entered her mouth.

It took about three seconds for all the liquid to completely enter Natasha's body, and once it did, Amanda finally let go of her mother's chin and looked at her with eyes filled with anticipation.

The queen also had a similar look on her face, as her eyes were also filled with hope. She wanted nothing more than for her savior to wake up.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

Slowly time started to tick away, and it wasn't before long that a couple of minutes had passed.

"Did it not work?"

Disappointment flashed across the faces of both Amanda and the queen as the two of them had a hard time hiding their disappointment.

Although only a couple of minutes had passed, Ren had previously mentioned that the curse would break as soon as the liquid was ingested, and ever since giving her mother the fruit, she had not once shown signs of improvement, indicating to them that something had gone wrong.

Twitch.

However, just when they thought that all hope was lost, Natasha's eyes twitched.

"!"

With the queen's insane perception she was naturally able to pick up the twitch, and when she did her head snapped in Natasha's direction.

Twitch. Twitch.

With another twitch, Natasha's eye once again twitched and her pale complexion slowly turned rosier. It wasn't before long that Natasha's complexion returned to a healthy young glow, raising hope for both Amanda and the queen.

Twitch. Twitch.

With a couple more twitches, Natasha finally opened her eyes revealing her beautiful obsidian black eyes that seemed to suck the soul away of anyone that was looking at them.

The moment Natasha opened her eyes, she had to squeeze her eyes multiple times to get adjusted to the bright lights coming from above. Then looking around the room, she opened her mouth and asked in a croaky, borderline hoarse voice.

"...Where am I?"

***

"Ugh, I really didn't think this through enough."

Staring at the potions in front of me, my face twisted slightly. To be honest, despite having made so many preparations, I still felt the threat of death looming over me.

Aside from a couple of advanced potions I had prepared in advance, there were also a few powerful pain killers. The hope was so that they could help me endure the pain more easily, but I didn't hold too much hope.

The contract would directly eat at my soul, and so this was not something any potion or pain killer could really alleviate.

Still, it was worth a try. Perhaps I would be left pleasantly surprised.

Taking a deep breath, I turned to ask Angelica who was standing in the corner of the room.

"Are you ready?"

I wasn't the only one that needed to make preparations. Angelica was also preparing to undergo some pain.

Since the curse was going to break she was also going to suffer the after-effects of it. However, since she was now a count-ranked demon, the effects of the curse break wouldn't be as damaging as what I would go through, but it would still hurt a lot.

"Haaa…"

Leaning back a little, a long sigh escaped from my mouth.

At this point, I was starting to question whether choosing the Keiki style was really the really move as I started thinking that maybe, just maybe, the Gravar style suited me more.

With all the pain and suffering that I had been going through as of late, I was honestly baffled by the idea that maybe, had I practiced the Gravar style, all of these experiences would've only made me stronger.

If I had to be honest, however, it was thanks to all these experiences that I was able to beat Kevin.

Compared to me, he should've been much higher ranked than I was. Since he had the perfect environment for him to train, he wouldn't have had trouble reaching a higher rank than me.

I figured that the reason why he was lagging behind me was because I took the seed of limit from him. The fruit as well.

Had he taken those two items, without a doubt, he would've been a rank or two higher than me.

In terms of experience, I'd still give myself the edge.

Lowering my head and checking my watch, my brows furrowed as I muttered.

"Just how long will it take for this thing to kick in."

Every second honestly felt nerve-wracking to me. I mean, I currently felt like a death-row inmate that was waiting for the time they would be killed. It was anxiety-inducing.

Fortunately, or should I say, not so fortunately, I got the answer to my prayers not too long after.

With a muffled groan, black threads of demonic energy suddenly sprung out from Angelica's body as her face twisted in pain.

Her hair instantly scattered in the air, and her eyes started to become red. Although I was interested in what was happening to Angelica, I, unfortunately, could not afford to do that.

A second after Angelica started to get affected by the side effects of the curse, my body suddenly froze.

Honestly.

From this point on, everything felt like a blur. The pain was so intense and strong that my brain was unable to process it.

It just couldn't.

Sitting down dumbly, the world turned white, and my breathing stopped. Not only that, but most of the other functions of my body stopped working as my body started to twitch uncomfortably.

I didn't know how long I was in this state, but it wasn't long before I finally started to feel the pain, and once I did, I wished I had never felt it.

What I was going through just couldn't be explained in words. Even though I wanted to scream, no words escaped from my mouth as my head rolled back and my body started to spasm all over the floor.

It was only after an unknown period of time had passed that I was finally able to somehow control my body, as my chest heaved up and down unevenly. Gritting my teeth, I grabbed onto the carpet beneath me and clenched it will all my might. But that didn't seem to work as soon enough, another wave of pain suddenly coursed through me, resulting in me momentarily passing out from the pain.

"Aaaaaghhhhh!"

What followed after was a blood-curling scream. I tried, I really tried to hold my scream back, but it was hopeless. The pain I was currently experiencing was not something I could explain in words.

But.

If I truly did have to put the feeling into words, it would be, 'Never before did I ever wish to die as much as of right now.'

Chapter 447: Natasha Stern [2]

"Where am I?"

A croaky and weak voice resounded across the small room as both Amanda and the queen froze on the spot where they were standing.

Blinking her eyes a couple of times, Natasha's eyes slowly adjusted to the light, and when she did, a familiar figure appeared in her vision. She was an otherworldly beauty with long silver hair.

"Maylin?"

Natasha called out. There was notable confusion in her voice as she stared at the figure looking at her from above.

Although she looked like Maylin, she also looked a little bit more mature compared to the last time she had seen her, and therefore was uncertain about whether the woman staring at her from above was really Maylin, her friend.

Extending her hand out the narrow gap of the capsule, Natasha asked.

"Maylin, is that really you?"

Upon hearing Natasha's voice, Maylin smiled. Reaching out to grasp her hand, she nodded her head.

"…It's me."

Her voice was filled with emotions as she was barely able to keep herself from leaking out her emotions.

However, given all of her experience in the past, she was able to keep her composure.

"I see."

Upon getting confirmation from Maylin that she was indeed her friend, a relieved smile appeared on Natasha's face as she muttered softly.

"You look quite different from the last time I saw you."

The more she looked at her, the more she was convinced that Maylinn had changed.

Compared to the last time she had seen her, she looked a lot older, and beautiful as well. If before she looked like a mature teenager, right now she looked like a fully grown adult.

Mayilin's smile hardened a little when she saw Natasha's confusion. Most likely, she was still unaware of the fact that a long time had passed since the incident.

"Huh? My curse?"

Natasha's startled voice echoed throughout the room as she slowly sat up and patted her body.

Snapping her head in Mailyn's direction she incredulously said. "The curse, it's gone! Did you manage to remove the curse from me?!"

Tears started gathering in the corner of her eyes as she looked at Maylin. However, contrary to her expectations, shaking her head Maylin pointed towards another spot in the room where a girl stood.

"Actually, I wasn't the one that managed to help you get rid of the curse. If you want to thank someone, thank her."

It was only after Maylin pointed it out to her that Natasha finally took notice of Amanda's presence, and once she turned her head to look at her, she was left stunned.

'How beautiful.'

She thought inside of her mind as she gazed at the young girl in front of her. She was simply stunning. With her glossy black hair gently cascading down her back, the young girl's face had this youthful innocent to it that made anyone that looked at her have an urge to protect her.

The more Natasha looked at her, the more she couldn't help but admire her beauty.

However, this didn't last for long as his brows soon knit into a frown. The reason for this was because the young girl looked quite familiar. But regardless of how much Natasha tried to think about it, she couldn't make heads or tails of where she had seen her before.

In the end, snapping out of her thoughts, Natasha lowered her head and thanked her.

"Although I do not know who you are I wanted to thank you for what you did to me."

She was so lost in her beauty that she had forgotten to thank her.

Despite not having known the girl for long she had this sense of familiarity with her that made her warm up to her instantly as a smile blossomed on her face.

"Truly, I am grateful."

"…It's okay."

Amanda awkwardly replied. It appeared as though her mother had not recognized her yet. She was not disappointed by this. She understood exactly what was going on, and didn't say anything else.

Turning her head, Amanda's eyes met with Maylin's who nodded her head and turned to look at Natasha. Raising her head, she pointed in Amanda's direction.

"Natasha, do you not recognize her?"

Tilting her head and staring at Amanda, Natasha's brows knit together.

"She looks familiar, but I'm positive that I've never seen her before in my life."

Glancing at Amanda, Natasha asked.

"I'm sorry if I haven't been able to recognize you, but have we met before?"

The more she looked at Amanda the more she found the sense of familiarity increase. This became especially prominent after hearing Maylin's words.

But just who was this girl? No matter how much she tried to think, she just couldn't piece the pieces together.

Seeing the notable confusion on Natasha's face, Maylin let out a long sigh. She understood the crux of the problem. Instead of directly introducing Amanda to her, she asked.

"Natasha, how long do you think you've been in a coma for?"

"How long?"

Though surprised by Maylin's sudden question, placing her hand underneath her chin, Natasha thought for a moment and answered.

"Maybe half a year to a year?"

Maylin pursed her lips. Lowering her head for a moment, she took a deep breath and softly said.

"Longer."

"...Longer?"

Taken aback, Natasha's head recoiled back as her brows furrowed. Her heart started to slowly sink.

"...Two years? Three years? It can't be any more than that I don't thin..."

Whilst speaking, Natasha made sure to check Maylin's reaction, and when she saw that she was still shaking her head, her heart sank completely and her face paled considerably.

"...N..no, it can't be."

Her shoulders started to tremble as she had a difficult time trying to formulate a sentence. She was a strong woman, however. Closing her eyes, she calmed herself down.

Staring at Maylin, she softly asked.

"How long have I been in a coma for?"

Putting on a strong front, she repeated.

"Maylin, there is no need to lie to me."

Pursing her lips, Maylin had a difficult look on her face. Brushing her silver colored hair behind her ears, she sighed and said.

"Fifteen years. Natasha, you've been in a coma for fifteen years."

"...Ah."

A weird sound escaped from Natasha's mouth as her previous strong front crumbled apart.

No matter how strong someone was, if they heard that they had been in a coma for over fifteen years, their mind would have trouble processing the information, causing them to enter a state of momentary shock.

This was exactly what was happening to Natasha as her mouth opened and closed repeatedly. Her mind was completely blank.

"F...fi..fifteen years?"

She muttered. Her teeth chatter and the previous healthy complexion on her face paled to the point where she looked exactly the same moments before waking up.

"haa...haa..."

Her chest moved up and down uneavely as she had trouble processing the information. It took a total of five minutes for her to calm down, and when she did, the first thing she asked was, "My family...are they okay? Do you know anything about them?"

"Yes."

Maylin nodded her head. Then, with a smile on her face, she took a step to the side and pressed both of her hands on Amanda's shoulders before pushing her forward.

"...Maylin, this right here is your daughter. Amanda."

Like a thundercalp, Maylin's words deeply reverberated across Natasha's head as he looked at Amanda who was standing in front of her.

Suddenly, the sense of familiarity she felt when looking at her made more sense. Not only that, but it was also now that she took a closer look at her that she realized that she bore a striking resemblance to herself.

She didn't pay close attention before since she had just woken up and her mind was still foggy, but the more she looked at the girl in front of her, the more she felt that the girl, no, woman in front of her was truly her daughter.

Closing her eyes and swallowing a mouthful of salive, Natasha weakly called out.

"...Amanda?"

Meeting her mother's gaze, and hearing her words, Amanda smiled. With a weak nod, she softly said.

"Yes."

***

"Aaaarghh!"

Grasping onto the floor, I tightly clenched my heart as spit dropped down from my mouth.

A heavy tightness gripped my entire chest as I tried my best to reach out for the potions that were scattered in front of me.

"Haa…haa..haarg…."

With my hand shaking, I could feel every fiber of my body getting torn apart as I could barely move my body. Even then, gritting my teeth, I reached out to grab one of the potions in front of me.

Despite my hands shaking continuously, I uncapped the potion and brought it toward my mouth.

Gulp—

Taking a sip of the potion, a cold sensation washed over my body, alleviating some of the pain, however, my body still kept on shaking, and I could see blood seeping out from my skin.

Realizing just how serious the situation was, I didn't hold back and took the remaining potions.

Instantly, the pain further alleviated and I was somehow able to stabilize my mind. Originally, I thought that the potions wouldn't help much, but I was wrong. They really were of use.

The moment I took them, the pain subsided by quite a lot. Of course, this was only temporary as the pain would come back stronger and more powerful than ever before.

"Haa…haaa….Haaaa!"

An electric current-like sensation suddenly coursed through my body, sending me spasming all over the floor.

'It hurts so much...'

I cried out inside of my mind as I tightly gripped the ground with my hands, and bit onto something soft. Compared to what I had experienced at the Monolith, be it burning myself alive, having my face scarred, and getting injected with a mind-numbing serum, what I was currently experiencing was far more painful than anything I had ever experienced in the past.

I could barely keep track of reality. My vision slowly started to blur and I could feel my heartbeat slowing down.

Slowly, I started to lose track of time.

One hour, two hours, three hours, for who knew how long, I screamed around the room and suppressed the intense pain that was coming at me in repetitive bursts that seemed more powerful with each continuous burst.

"Khaaaa!"

With both of my arms on the ground, I gagged multiple times.

I didn't really know how I was able to stay sane for those many hours, but at the eight-hour mark, the pain finally stopped. Or so I thought it did, but just as I was about to relax, an even more excruciating pain suddenly washed over me, and at that moment, I felt my life flash across my eyes as I screamed at the top of my lungs.

"Haaarg!"

Following the scream, my body once again started spasming all over the ground. Many times I just wanted to pass out, but I knew that I couldn't. No matter how long and how painful the pain was, I had to remain conscious.

I didn't want to.

I really didn't want to remain conscious, but realizing that my life was on the line, all I could do was bite hard onto the sheet in my mouth and keep perserveiring.

"Hmmmmmm!"

***

Crack. Crack. Crack.

Inside a dark space, cracks started to form around a white orb. Surrounding it were thin black threads that constantly tried to encircle it completely.

The black threads started to seep into the cracks as they formed. The pure white orb started to change, becoming an ugly, murky color. The process was slow, but as it continued, the changes became more obvious.

With his hands behind his back, Ren stared at the orb in front of him with an indifferent look on his face.

Closing his eyes, he muttered.

"Predictable."

His cold and deep voice spread throughout the void as his figure soon melted into the darkness.

Chapter 448: Natasha Stern [3]

"A...Amanda?"

Natasha's voice shook, as she looked at the girl standing before her. She looked so much older than when she had last seen her.

She was fully grown up now.

Natasha couldn't really explain the emotions she was feeling right now. Thinking about how she had lost the chance to see her daughter grow up, she felt a deep sense of sadness. What mother didn't want to see their child grow up? ...She knew that this was inevitable, but she couldn't hide the sadness she felt when seeing her daughter.

However, seeing just how beautiful and healthy her daughter had turned out, she was more gratified than sad.

Placing both of her hands by the side of the capsule, Natasha tried to get out. But as she tried to lift her hands, she found it extremely hard to do so as she had trouble coordinating her brain with her hand movements.

"Wait up."

Maylin who noticed this, waved her hand and the capsule enveloping Natasha tore apart. A gentle white glow enveloped Natasha as she levitate in the air.

Waving her hand once again, Natasha slowly moved toward the ground.

As Natasha's feet touched the ground, she stumbled a couple of steps. Amanda did try to offer her a hand, but raising her hand, Natasha refused.

"Let me."

Taking two steps forward she was somehow able to stabilize her body.

Having stayed in a coma for over fifteen years, this sort of reaction was understandable. Her brain needed to get adjusted to her muscles once again.

"Haa..."

Taking a deep breath, Natasha finally stood straight. Then, staring at Amanda and getting a proper look at her, the smile on her face became extremely gentle.

"...You've grown up so well."

With a face mixed with many different emotions, Amanda lowered her head. A smile also blossomed on her face.

Seeing this, Natasha raised her hands and motioned her to come to her.

"Come here, let's get a better look at you."

Complying with her mother's wishes, Amanda slowly walked up to her mother who placed both of her hands on her cheeks and slowly started to pinch. Her next comments caused Amanda's face to turn red in embarrassment.

"Mhh, very soft and smooth, not bad, not bad."

Letting go of her cheeks, Natasha looked at her up and down and commented.

"You've also developed quite nicely in all other departments. Very good, very good. There must be a lot of boys chasing after you, eh?"

"...Uh?"

Natasha's sudden words caused Amanda to freeze on the spot. What in the world was happening? She had not expected her mom to be so bold!

"You must be around how old now?"

Without waiting for Amanda to speak, Natasha placed her hand on her chin and pondered.

"I left you when you were just about to turn five, so you should be around nineteen to twenty years old. Five years younger than me from back then."

Natasha's brows furrowed when she thought that far.

Amanda may have been her daughter, but she was only five years younger than her if you took into account the fact that she had been frozen for fifteen years of her life. Her mentality and personality were still that of her twenty-five-year-old self.

"You're around nineteen to twenty years old if I'm not guessing wrong?"

"Mhm, I'm twenty years old."

Amanda replied with a soft hum.

She naturally understood why her mother was acting the way she was, and so was able to somewhat adjust to her mother's personality. To be honest, she felt more like a sister to her than her mother, but it wasn't like she could do anything about it.

"Twenty years old...huh, I can't believe my daughter is so old already."

Bitterness flashed across Natasha's eyes as she said those words, but it left as fast as it came as she looked back at Amanda. She was curious about something.

"Amanda, how were you able to come here?"

She had left Amanda when she was young and so she didn't know about the current world's circumstances. However, from what she recalled humanity wasn't on good terms with the elves. For what reason was Amanda here?

Did Maylin perhaps tell her about her situation and brought her here?

"About that..."

Before Amanda could explain, Maylin cut in and quickly told Natasha about the world's circumstances.

About how they had invited the humans into their domain and how they were contemplating the possibility of letting them in the alliance.

Listening to Maylin's recount of the situation, Natasha covered her mouth with her hands.

"Such thing happened?"

"Yes."

Maylin nodded her head before putting both of her hands behind Amanda's shoulders.

"Amanda over here made it to the round of eights of the tournament."

"She did?"

Surprise flashed across Natasha's eyes as she took another look at her daughter. Sensing the mana revolving around her, the surprise in her eyes only intensified.

"<B-> rank?"

Since Amanda was not hiding her strength, it only took a moment for Natasha to distinguish her rank. Once she realized that Amanda was <B-> rank at just the tender age of twenty, she was left stunned. Even she, who was supposed to be one of the most talented humans back then was only <B+> rank at the age of twenty-five.

At the rate at which Amanda was progressing, Natasha didn't doubt that she would reach her strength far earlier than her!

"...It's no wonder you were able to make it so far in the tournament," Natasha said with a tone filled with astonishment.

Her level of progress far outpaced the level of progress of humanity in the past.

As her thoughts paused there, Natasha suddenly remembered something she was extremely curious about.

"Oh, right, the curse. How were you able to find a cure for it?"

As far as she knew, there was no cure for the mind-breaker curse. She knew best since she had spent countless days trying to find a way to remove it. In the end, after going through countless books and papers, she was unable to find anything regarding the cure for the mind-breaker curse causing her to make the decision that she did.

Not wanting to be taken hostage and used as a bargaining chip for her family, she was forced to run.

"...Someone I know gave it to me."

Amanda curtly replied. Her answer caught Natasha off-guard as her eyes instantly squinted.

"Someone gave it to you?"

"Mhm."

"Is it a boy?"

Natasha's words were sharp, but Amanda didn't seem to have noticed it as she nodded her head.

"...Yes."

"I see, I see. You are indeed at that age."

Glancing around the room and seeing that there was no one else, she asked.

"Where is this so-called boy?"

"...Eh?"

Amanda tilted her head as she looked at her mother with a confused look on her face.

"Why do you want to know where he is?"

"Of course, I want to know where he is. He is the one that saved me after all!" Natasha replied, her voice raising a couple of pitches. "If I didn't thank the person that was able to help me reunite with you, then what would the others think?"

"Oh."

Amanda had a sudden look of understanding. She simply wanted to thank Ren. Before she could reply, her mother asked.

"By the way, is this so-called boy also in the tournament?"

"He is."

Mayling replied for Amanda before a small look of displeasure flashed across her face.

"But he has not made it past the round of sixteen."

Maylin's look of displeasure didn't go unnoticed by Natasha who inwardly thought. 'Ah, I see, so he's weaker than my girl, moreover, Maylin seems to dislike him. I should definitely pay more attention to this matter.'

Even though she had been absent for over fifteen years, Natasha was still a mother at heart.

Although she wasn't certain that the boy was someone that was courting her daughter, she definitely wanted the best for her daughter.

Even though he was the one that had helped her get rid of the curse, she wasn't just going to hand her daughter to him on a silver platter. He needed to meet her criteria, and so far she was quite uncertain about this so-called 'boy'.

Unaware of Natasha's delusions, Amanda was just about to add a comment with regards to why Ren had not made it past the round of sixteen, but before she had the chance to do so, her mother's next words caused her to freeze on the spot.

"How is your dad?"

Seeing her daughter's complexion pale at her question, Natasha's heart sank as she softly asked.

"...Did something happen to your dad?"

Biting her lips, Amanda raised her head and looked at her mother. Seeing the worry in her eyes, Amanda closed her eyes for a moment. Honestly, she didn't want to tell her mother about what had happened to her father.

It wasn't because she didn't want to tell her out of spite, but because her mother had just woken up from a long coma.

She was already shocked enough about the fact that fifteen years had passed, if she found out that her father had been missing for over three years, she wouldn't know how she would react.

However, seeing the worried look on her mother's face, Amanda didn't have the heart to lie to her.

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she slowly started to recount to her the dungeon incident that happened three years ago, and how although he was still alive, he was trapped inside of the demon realm, with no way out.

"...N..no way."

Listening to her daughter's words, Natasha's legs weekend and she almost fell back. Had it not been for Maylin's timely intervention, she would've most likely fallen over.

Taking a look at her daughter and seeing that she was not lying, tears started to gather in the corner of Natasha's eyes. However, not wanting to look weak in front of her daughter, blinking her eyes a couple of times to get rid of the tears, she quickly calmed herself down.

Then, moving towards Amanda she slowly brought her in her embrace and mumbled.

"He's going to be fine."

Biting her lips, she repeated.

"He's definitely going to be alright."

***

"Huaakk!"

Letting out another scream, I crashed against the ground and heavily gulped for air. Lowering my head slightly, I could see the veins on my hands wiggle uncontrollably.

Blood started to seep out from every part of my skin as my neck twisted at a weird angle.

A strange and radiating pain coursed throughout my whole body making it hard for me to breathe.

At this point, I had already lost track of time. Hours may have passed, and perhaps even days could've passed by now.

Fortunately, I didn't have to worry about others coming to me as I had said to them that I was going to be busy for the next couple of days. Furthermore, the room was soundproof meaning that no one would be able to hear my screams.

"Khhhaaa!"

Clenching my heart one more time, I crawled forward towards the area where the potions were.

Reaching out my hand grabbing onto a potion, I uncapped it and brought it to my mouth.

"S..shit!"

But just as I put the potion in my mouth I realized that it was already empty. Clenching my teeth, I threw the bottle to the side and reached for another one, but the same thing happened.

"Khhh..."

The pain in my heart intensified as I felt something cold run down my nose. I didn't need to look to understand that my nose was bleeding.

Raising my hand to wipe my nose, I looked around the room. My eyes were unfocused and I could barely process what was happening around me, but seeing the bloody mess around me I understood that I had run out of potions, and when this happened, my heart sank completely.

Not even a second after coming to this realization, another wave of pain suddenly attacked me causing my back to arch back and another scream escaped from my mouth.

"Khuuauuuua!"

Thud—!

Landing hard on my back, my arms spasmed and I had a hard time controlling my body. I didn't know for how long this attack lasted, but it was by far one of the most excruciating ones that I had experienced.

"Haaa...haa..."

With my back on the floor, facing the ceiling, I heavily gulped for air as the pain slowly subsided.

The pain was not constant. It would come and go in short bursts of intervals, however, with each burst the pain would intensify, and at the moment I was only waiting for the next burst to arrive.

While I was waiting, sensing something, I slowly turned my head to face the right. 'Is Angelica done?'

Angelica didn't breach the contract and therefore the pain that she had to go through was not as bad as mine. It wouldn't be strange for her to be done by now.

"...Huh?"

However, as I turned my head what met my sight was not Angelica. My blood instantly froze as my eyes paused toward the distance.

Calmly sitting on a small red sofa inside of the room was a figure that bore a striking resemblance to me. Crossing his legs and leaning his body on the armrest of the chair, he coldly said.

"Took you long enough."

Chapter 449: Slumber [1]

"Took you long enough."

Hearing his cold and indifferent voice, my mind blanked and for that one moment, I forgot about all the pain that I was going through and sobered up a little.

"H...how?"

I incredulously asked. Because of the experience I just went through, and all of the screaming I did, my voice was extremely hoarse. It was barely audible, but the other Ren nevertheless understood what I was trying to say as he simply looked at me with a cold and indifferent look.

"It's all thanks to you."

He coldly said before removing his elbow from the armrest of the chair.

Standing up and walking around the place, I could only follow him through my gaze as I still couldn't move my body. It just refused to listen to me.

"Ren."

As my eyes were still locked on the other Ren, a familiar voice entered my ears. Turning my head, I spotted Angelica looking at me from the distance.

Her complexion was somewhat pale, nevertheless, she looked fine. From the looks of it, she was able to go through the curse break without too many problems.

"Did you finish?"

She asked as her eyes paused on me.

It took me a moment for me to process what she was saying and snapping my head in the direction of where the other Ren was standing, I wondered to myself.

'Can she not see him?'

Alternating my head between him and her, it appeared to me that she couldn't.

Just to make sure, I asked Angelica if she could see anyone else in the room. And as expected, shaking her head, Angelica replied.

"Do you see anyone else in the room?"

"No."

"I see."

I muttered while supporting my body up with one hand. The pain was no longer there, and it seemed like the after-effects of the contract break had finally ended.

"Khhh.."

It took me a while to properly stand as I stumbled repeatedly. Once I was able to stand, I moved toward a nearby sofa and the first thing I did once I settled there was ask Angelica just how much time had passed since the contract break.

Hopefully, I wasn't out for a whole week. If so, explaining to the others what I was doing in the meantime would be extremely troublesome.

"Exactly how much time has passed?"

"Fifteen hours."

"...Fifteen?"

Pursing my lips, I lowered my head.

If I said I wasn't surprised at the moment that would be a lie. Everything felt like a blur to me and I had long lost my sense of time. If I had to be honest, I thought that a lot more time had passed.

It felt as though weeks or even days had passed. But this was good.

Twitch. Twitch.

Whilst in thought, my shoulders kept twitching. My head also started to hurt. Leaning back on the sofa, I let out a long exhale.

"Haa..."

Despite the fact that I was no longer being subjected to the pain, I could barely move my body.

Every little movement felt as though millions of needles were stabbing my body. It was agonizing.

It was then that Angelica's surprised voice took my attention away from the pain.

"Your rank."

"My rank?"

Furrowing my brows, my heart sank.

'Right, I probably lost a rank due to what just happened.'

It was inevitable, but it still sucked. Closing my eyes, I softly said inside my mind.

'Status.'

===Status===

Name : Ren Dover

Rank : B +

Strength : B

Agility : B +

Stamina : B +

Intelligence : B

Mana capacity : A -

Luck : A +

Charm : B -

--> Profession :

[Swordsmanship lvl.4]

The degree of understanding of the sword has evolved to the next level. User will find it easier to understand previously harder concepts.

--> Martial Manual :

[★★★★★ Keiki style] - Essence realm of mastery.

Sword art created by Grandmaster Toshimoto Keiki. A five-star module focused primarily on reaching the apex of swordsmanship and speed. Upon mastery, the sword art becomes so fast that before an opponent could even think about their next move, their heads would already be rolling on the ground.

[★★★ Ring of vindication] - Essence realm of mastery.

Highly advanced sword art that creates a perfect ring of defense around the user. The ring can create a three-dimensional sphere that protects the user from all sides upon mastery. Because of the lack of offensive capabilities, the manual was graded three stars.

[★★★ Drifting steps] - Essence realm of mastery.

Movement art that progresses with each step. With every step taken, user speed will increase. Unless the user stops, speed will continuously improve until the user either runs out of mana or is injured.

[★★★✰ Quick-slash style] - Greater realm of mastery.

A sword art fully focused on speed. With one quick draw, the user gains the ability to kill an opponent without them noticing anything had happened. Created to replicate the Keiki style. After years of research, this sword art was the result.

[★★★ Full-body martial arts] - Greater realm of mastery.

Hand-to-Hand combat technique dedicated to utilizing every single part of the body to incapacitate the enemy. It may be a 3-star art, but upon mastery, it can be used to complement other forms of martial art.

--> Skills :

[[G] Monarch's indifference]

A skill that enables users to erase all emotions, and act as a supreme monarch that only calculates the best option regardless of circumstance.

[[D] The one]

A skill that enables the user to instill fear into the opponents' minds resulting in them feeling like they were standing before a sovereign that overlooked everything. The skill may work on individuals who are one rank higher than them, however, if the difference between the two parties is greater than two ranks, the skill effect diminishes.

[[A] Eyes of Chronos]

Upon using this skill, the user will be able to see everything in slow motion. The more mana is used, the slower the time will be in their eyes.

[[?] ?????]

???????????????????????????????????????????????

==========

"...My rank."

Angelica's reaction finally made more sense. Staring at my screen, I was left in disbelief by the fact that my rank had not dropped at all.

The shock lasted for quite a while as I wondered to myself.

'How is this possible?'

Realistically speaking, I should've without a doubt dropped a rank. Even though there was a chance for me to not drop, with my luck, I didn't think that that was possible.

So how was it possible for me to have not dropped?

"It's because you consumed the seed of limit."

It was then that a voice suddenly whispered from behind me, causing me to jump up in shock and almost caused me to fall off my chair. This obviously did not go unnoticed by Angelica who looked at me strangely.

"What's wrong?"

Turning my head and staring at the chair I was sitting on before, I saw the other Ren calmly standing and staring at me with his emotionless eyes. Pursing my lips, I softly said.

"...Nothing. The pain has still not vanished."

"Oh."

Angelica nodded and dropped the topic altogether. Placing my hand on the ground, I tried to stand up, but yet again I had difficulty in doing as I had no strength in my body. It took me a couple of seconds to get back in my seat.

Propping my elbow on the armrest, I supported my chin with my arm. Messaging my eyes, and letting out a long sigh, I mumbled in a very soft voice.

"What does the seed of limit have to do with anything?"

Actually, there were other questions that I wanted to ask, but at the moment, I really wanted to understand what he meant by his previous words.

Staring at me for a couple of seconds, the other Ren opened his mouth and explained.

"By canceling a mana contract, what you are doing is damaging your soul as well as your talent limiter. The damage to the talent limiter is the reason why most people drop a rank when breaching the contract, however in your case, a case where you have no limiter, no such law applied, and therefore, are exempt from having your rank decrease."

I was a bit surprised by the fact that he was willing to explain to me the reasoning why I did not rank down, but upon hearing his words, I found that his words made a lot of sense.

'Indeed, since my talent limit is removed if it becomes damaged there really won't be any changes.'

The more I mused over his words, the more I found that they made sense. Generally, it wasn't impossible for someone's talent to be damaged. There were many ways to do it, and apparently surviving a mana contract breach was one of those methods.

Theoretically, I should've had my talent drop, but since I had no limit to my talent, there was no such drop. Once I realized this, I was left pleasantly surprised. I mean, who would be happy about the prospect of losing their hard work?

Suppressing my joy, I turned to look at Angelica and solemnly said.

"Angelica, can you leave the room for a bit? I need some time to myself."

"...Okay."

Angelica was a little bit taken aback by my words, but upon seeing the state that I was in, she complied. Standing up from the spot she was previously in, Angelica calmly walked out of the room, leaving me alone with the other Ren.

The moment Angelica left the room, I instantly asked.

"How come you're here?"

Clenching my fists my gaze sharpened as I looked at the other Ren.

Calmly staring back at me, the other Ren said nothing. He had this 'you already know the answer' type of look on his face that irked me to no end. I wouldn't be asking if I didn't know.

Once again, I asked.

"Why did you suddenly show up out of nowhere? Answer me."

Once again the other Ren didn't say anything as he remained silent. My brows furrowed.

'Fine, since you won't say anything, I'll just figure it out myself!'

Calming myself down, I looked back at the events that just happened.

'All of this happened as soon as I breached the contract. Therefore, the key to his appearance should lie in the breach of contract.'

It didn't take a rocket scientist to understand this much. The real question was why?

Why would he suddenly show up as soon as the contract was breached?

Activating the chip inside of my head, all sorts of different ideas started to spring inside my mind as I tried to find any connection with the current situation.

This all happened within a second and by the time the second passed, an idea suddenly sprung inside of my mind as I turned to look at the other Ren.

'Wait, what if…'

"So you've figured it out."

As though he could read my mind, Ren stood up.

"You're theory is correct. The only reason you can see me is because of the damage you took to your soul."

"!"

Hearing his word I instantly became more conscious.

It was as I deducted. Since the other Ren was another soul, or consciousness, the moment my soul got damaged he took advantage of the situation and appeared.

Once my thoughts paused there, the first thought I had in mind was, 'Is he trying to take control of my body!' My body jerked a little as extreme solemness flashed across my face.

"I'm not."

The other Ren said. Seemingly being able to read my mind.

Glancing around the room with a detached look, he continued. "I'm not here to take over your body, nor do I have any interest in taking over your body. My goal is simple"

Staring at me with his deep blue eyes, Ren suddenly raised his right hand.

Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank.

As soon as he raised his right hand, a sharp, hard, nonresonant sound, like that produced by two pieces of metal striking one against the other suddenly resounded across the room as metallic chains sprung out from the ground before they quickly latched themselves onto Ren.

Staring at the chains with an indifferent look on his face, Ren softly said.

"Take a proper look."

Raising his left hand, more chains sprung out from the floor as they latched themselves onto his left arm. Staring at the chains with a calm look on his face, Ren said.

"I just wanted to show you just what kind of curse you're going to go through."

Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank.

Following his words, more chains sprung out as they slowly started to bind his arms and legs before pulling him down to the ground.

Staring at the chains, I looked at the other Ren and asked.

"What's going on?"

"Our curse."

Ren replied, as his body slowly started sinking into the ground. Seeing that he was about to leave, I tried to get as much information as possible.

"What curse? Elaborate!"

"I'm not allowed to say, but you'll eventually know. We'll be seeing each other soon enough."

Then, his next words caused my blood to freeze.

"Right, I wanted to remind you. The moment I disappear, you will once again resume your contact breach pain. I was suppressing the pain for you till now."

"Huh?!"

"Have some rest."

"Wa-Hauuuugh!"

Not even a moment after he said those words, a sudden rush of pain suddenly engulfed my entire being. Caught off-guard, I was unable to resit and my eyes rolled back behind my head.

Thud—!

The last thing I could remember was hitting the ground before passing out.

Chapter 450: slumber [2]

About an hour had passed since Ren had told Angelica to leave the room, and after not sensing any movement coming from inside of the room, Angelica decided to head back into the room to check if anything happened.

Clank—!

Opening the door to the room, Angelica walked in.

She wasn't really sure what to expect to see when entering the room but seeing that Ren had already paid the consequences of the contract, she didn't think that anything bad had happened.

Perhaps he only wanted some time alone to recover from the wounds.

"!"

Unfortunately, it seemed as though she had thought wrong as the first thing she saw once she came into the room was Ren's passed-out figure in the middle of the room.

Twitch. Twitch.

Furthermore, his body was repeatedly spasming on the floor as white foam escaped from his mouth. Angelica was instantly alarmed when she saw this as her body disappeared from the spot she was standing before reappearing right in front of him.

The first thing she did was immediately check his condition.

"…Hmm."

Her brows knit tightly as she checked him. His situation was not good. Angelica could vividly feel his vitals dropping at an alarming rate.

"Can't let this happen."

Angelica solemnly said as worry flashed across her eyes.

If Ren died then she would also suffer heavily. After all, their lives were connected.

If she was in prime condition she may not exactly have died, but she wasn't. She was currently quite weakened from having suppressed the after-effects of the curse. If Ren died right now, she was in no state of being able to survive the consequences of the contract breach.

Staring at Ren who was spasming on the floor, Angelica bit her lips.

'…Should I just wait?'

Ren had specifically told her to not contact anyone when undergoing the pain, but she wasn't really sure if that was applicable at the moment. After all, he was currently on the verge of death. If she waited any more, she was afraid that Ren might actually die.

Twitch. Twitch.

In the end, after contemplating the matter over the next few minutes, Angelica realized that she couldn't stay still. If she did stay still, Ren would without a doubt die.

Standing up, Angelica reached out for the nearby table and took Ren's communication device.

He had set it there beforehand in case the situation really got out of control. He had only told her to use it when she thought that he was going to die.

It was supposed to be a last moment resort, but it appeared as though it was the right decision,

"How do I use this?"

The communication device was quite light and small, however, to Angelica this object was quite foreign. She had seen Ren and the others use it every day, but she had never truly had any interest in it.

Fortunately, she wasn't completely clueless. Ren did tell her exactly what to do in the case the worst-case scenario happened.

Fiddling with the communication device in front of her, it wasn't long before she saw the words [Kevin Voss/Emma simp] on the screen.

Unaware of what the words meant, she immediately pressed on the name and a low ring suddenly echoed out from the speakers of the communication device.

Riiing—Riiing—

Calling Kevin was also part of the instructions that Ren had given her.

As she was calling the number, Angelica suddenly regretted telling Ren about the third option.

In reality, the reason why she had told him about the third option was because she also wanted to get rid of the curse.

The reason why demons didn't often use the mind-breaker curse was because it would put a massive toll on the demon's body depending on what rank their victims were.

If they were regular humans, the burden wasn't anything note-worthy. In fact, anything below <C> rank did not put any particular burden on the demon that had cursed them.

However, in Angelica's case, the person she cursed was quite highly ranked. Around <B+> rank, and this was back when she was still a Baron. Had it not been for the main clan's help, she would've never have been able to curse Amanda's mother.

It was also because of this that she now understood why she had been unable to increase her rank for over fifteen years. Amanda's mother had actually not died as she had originally thought.

Had it not been for the resources she had managed to get thanks to Ren, she believed that she would've been stuck in the same rank forever.

When she found out about this, she told Ren about the third option so that she could get rid of the burden on her body to further her strength even more. However, it backfired on her as Ren was now on the verge of death.

***

Bang—!

With a loud explosive sound, the punching bag in front of Kevin swung all the way back as it crashed against the ceiling of the training grounds before falling back down.

"Huuup!"

Arching his back, once the punching bag was about to fall back down, Kevin prepared himself to punch it one more time, however, before he could do that, his communication device suddenly started to ring.

TWIIIING—! TWIIIING—!

Taking a step to the side, Kevin swiftly avoided the punching back. With sweat trickling down his face, he moved toward the other side of the room and checked the communication device to see who was calling him at this hour.

It was Ren.

Previously Ren had told him and the others that he was going to be by himself for the next day or so and that he wasn't going to be able to communicate with them in the meantime.

Since he said that, it was a bit strange for him to call him, but Kevin nevertheless answered. Perhaps he was done earlier than expected.

"Hello?"

—…

No response.

Kevin's brows knit when. Opening his mouth, he asked again.

"Ren? Did you call me?"

—…

Yet again he was met with no response.

'Strange, did he call me by accident?'

He was a little bit doubtful, but this seemed like the most likely scenario to him as he shrugged his shoulders and hung up.

It happens.

TWIIIING—! TWIIIING—!

But just as he hung up, his communication device once again started to ring. Kevin's brows knit even more as he once again picked up the call. The caller ID was still Ren.

"Ren?"

—…

To Kevin's frustration, no one spoke once again. At first, Kevin thought that it was an accident, but now he was starting to doubt this possibility.

The first time yes, but this was the second time that he had called him. Multiple different possibilities coursed through his mind as he opened his mouth to ask.

"Ren is something going up?"

His voice was more solemn this time.

Perhaps it was also a mistake again and Ren simply had his communication device in his pocket and was just accidentally calling him, but Kevin also didn't exclude the possibility of something going on.

After all, Ren did say that he wasn't going to be able to contact anyone for the next few days.

"Ren, if you are fine say something."

—…

Yet again he was met with no response. Closing his eyes, Kevin turned off his communication device.

He decided to check for himself.

Click—!

'Hopefully, I'm wrong.'

Taking a towel to clean his sweat, Kevin headed out of the training grounds. Since they were quite close to Ren's living area, it only took a few minutes for Kevin to head there.

"hmm…"

To Kevin's surprise, as soon as he neared Ren's apartment, he found the door open. Alarm bells instantly rang in his head as he quickened his pace.

"Shit!"

Once Kevin entered the room, his eyes instantly opened widely a curse escaped from his mouth.

Spasming all over the ground, Kevin saw Ren on the floor with an extremely pale look and foam escaping from his mouth. He looked to be on the verge of death!

Kevin was fast to react. Snapping out of it, like a shadow, his body disappeared from the spot before reappearing right in front of him.

Bending down on one knee, he quickly checked Ren's pulse.

"This is not good!"

Kevin's heart sank.

As soon as he checked his pulse, he realized just how dire the situation was. Not only was his heartbeat extremely weak, but so was his breathing. Extending his hand, he quickly took out a potion form his dimensional space and fed it to Ren.

It was an advanced potion that cost a lot of money, but Kevin didn't really care. Kevin wasn't one to care about money.

As soon as Kevin fed Ren the potion, his condition slowly started to stabilize. However, he was not in the clear yet as Ren had still not woken up. Furthermore, the spasming had still not stopped.

Ruffling his hair into a mess, Kevin took another potion from his dimensional space and fed it to Ren, however, contrary to the effects of the last potion this one didn't seem to have had any effect on him as he still continued to spasm on the ground.

In fact, it seemed as though his condition had only worsened.

Seeing just how dire the situation was, Kevin grabbed Ren by the armpits before dragging him towards the bed. As he dragged him towards the bed, lowering his head and staring at him, he couldn't help but blurt out.

"What in the world did you do!?"

Just what exactly had Ren done to reduce himself to this state!?

Placing Ren onto the bed, Kevin placed his hand over his chin as his right leg repeatedly tapped the floor.

'Damn it, what should I do?'

Ren's situation was extremely dire, and seeing that potions didn't work on him, Kevin was left completely helpless.

'System.'

He muttered inside of his mind as a familiar interface suddenly materialized in front of him.

Pressing his finger on the interface, Kevin quickly looked through the system shop in hopes of finding anything useful that could help him assess the situation, but as he looked through the many items the shop had to offer, he realized that this was all futile.

He didn't know what Ren's condition was, so how could he help him!? It was like he was searching for a needle in a haystack.

"huh?"

Ding—!

Just as he was about to close the system, he suddenly received an alert. Following this, the system interface changed and Kevin's eyes opened widely.

[Emergency quest.]

Save Ren.

Reward : +5% synchronisation.

Penalty : Demon king ascension → - 2 years.

"What in the world?...This again?"

Kevin took a couple of steps back as he looked at the screen.

His mission only consisted of two words, yet, they were enough to make Kevin understand just what he needed to do. But what really made Kevin confused was the fact that this mission was oddly familiar to the one he previously received a couple of years ago.

If before he had a feeling that the system was somehow connected with Ren, he was now sure. Ren and the system were definitely linked!

Unfortunately, he didn't have time to contemplate the matter as Ren's condition suddenly worsened. His body started to spasm even more intensely than before!

"Fuck."

Another curse escaped from his mouth as he became more restless.

Scratching his head, he decided to call everyone else. He was currently incapable of handling the situation and he figured that maybe with the other's help he might be able to figure something out.

The more brains the better.

Riiing—

The first person he called was Melissa. With her being an expert in potions and stuff of the sorts, Kevin concluded that she was the best person to call in case something like this happened.

The only problem he had when calling Melissa was the fact that she tended to ignore his calls most of the time. Fortunately, he was in luck as not a couple of squeals after, her groggy and annoyed voice rang out from the speaker of the communication device.

—What is it? Do you know what fucking time it is?

Kevin's eyes lit up as soon as he heard her voice. In a rushed voice, he replied.

"Melissa, I need your help. Quickly come to the location that I sent you."

Without giving a chance for Melissa to rebuke, Kevin quickly hung up the call.

Having known Melissa for quite a while now, he knew that the best way to make her say yes was by not giving her a chance to say no. Therefore, before letting Melissa say no to him he quickly closed the call and sent her the location.

Following this, he quickly dialed every number he knew.

As this was happening, Kevin was unaware that in the corner of the room two bright yellow eyes were staring at him and Kevin intensely. Those eyes belonged to none other than Angelica who worriedly looked at Ren.

At this moment, she knew that if Ren died, so would she. She could only hope that his friends would be able to do something about the situation.

Chapter 451: slumber [3]

"Who else should I call next?"

Looking through his communication device, Kevin contemplated on who to call next. Now that he had called Melissa, he needed to think of who to call next.

There were multiple people that he wanted to call, but since he was pressed for time, he needed to decide on who to prioritize.

Scrolling through his contacts, his finger paused on a certain name, [Octavious Hall]

'Should I inform Octavious?'

Kevin's relationship with Octavious wasn't very close. In fact, Kevin had barely talked to him.

If there was anyone that could help him, it was him. Being the leader of the biggest organization in the human domain, he definitely had the resources and knowledge to be able to find a solution for Ren's situation.

Moreover, since his daughter was coming here, and a future prospect of humanity was in danger, there was a possibility of him possibly helping.

'No, this won't work.'

But after thinking about it for a short while, Kevin proceeded to shake his head.

Kevin may have not known him for a long time, however, from what he knew, Octavious was a pragmatic man. Meaning that if he chose to help Ren, he would expect something in return. In the most likely scenario, he was going to force Ren to join the Union which was something that Kevin knew Ren would absolutely loathe.

Furthermore, now that Ren was injured, and now that he knew that he was 876, there was also the possibility of him handing him over to the Monolith.

If he judged that Ren couldn't be of any use, he would simply follow through with the deal with the Monolith, and Kevin couldn't allow for such a scenario to occur.

Therefore, he quickly discarded the notion of informing Octavious of the situation.

"Damn it, who should I call?"

He wanted to call Monica and Donna. If the two of them had been here they would've most likely been able to find a solution, but for some unknown reason, the two of them had returned to the human domain.

Scratching the side of his head, Kevin continued to scroll through his list, and just as he was about to press on a random contact, a cold voice sounded from behind him, startling him completely.

"Call the Amanda girl."

"Who!?"

Kevin's head snapped in the direction of where the voice came from.

The moment his head snapped in the direction of where the voice came from, the first thing he saw was a familiar black cat jumping down from a tall cabinet.

"You."

Kevin was instantly able to recognize the cat. It was none other than the demon that accompanied Ren. His wariness toned down a notch.

Although she was a demon, he knew that she was contracted to him through a mana contract and as such also knew that she didn't mean any harm.

Softly landing on the ground, the demon, or as of right now, cat slowly moved in Kevin's direction.

As she moved, the cat's bright yellow eyes gazed in Ren's direction. Pausing a couple of meters away from Ren who was still spasming on the bed, she softly said.

"If you want to call someone, you must call Amanda. She may be able to help...or should I say, the people that she can ask help from can help."

"Amanda?"

Kevin asked in a confused voice.

Shua—

Black smoke suddenly diffused in the air as a cold and enchanting figure suddenly materialized before Kevin. With long black hair cascading down her shoulders, Angelica's delicate brows locked into a tight frown.

Glancing in Kevin's direction, she repeated.

"The only person that can truly help Ren at the moment would be Amanda. Tell her the truth, and that Ren is currently on the verge of dying. She will know what to do next."

Listening to Angelica's words, Kevin had many things that he wanted to ask, but after realizing just how serious the situation was, he could only comply with her words and turned his attention back towards his communication device and did as Angelica told him and called Amanda.

"Make sure you tell Amanda to bring the people next to her."

Angelica added as she watched Kevin call Amanda.

"...Okay."

Though confused by the sudden request, Kevin nodded his head.

Riiiing— Riiiing—

As he was calling her, Kevin turned to look at Ren. Worry flashed across his face as he thought.

'Damn it, why do you always do this kind of shit.'

***

Fifteen hours had passed ever since her mother woke up.

Because it was almost early in the morning when her mother woke up, Amanda who was understandably quite tired, headed back to her dorm to sleep before going back to the queen's quarters to meet her mother.

She may not have spent a lot of time with her mother, but Amanda was not uncomfortable with her.

Amanda wasn't one to like physical touch much, and therefore loathed it when other people tried to touch her except for a select few, but somehow she was unable to feel any repulsion coming from her mother when she hugged her yesterday.

Understanding her backstory and their familial blood ties, in her heart, Amanda had already accepted her as her mother.

At the moment, she was accompanying her mother and Maylin for dinner.

Seated on a large wooden table covered in a long white cloth, a multitude of succulent food appeared before Amanda. Staring at the food, Amanda had trouble selecting what she wanted. In the end, she settled for a crystal clear grape.

Plucking the grape away from the pedicel, Amanda brought the grape to her mouth and ate it. The moment she bit onto the grape, Amanda's cheeks sunk as the juices coming from the fruit exploded in her mouth like a waterfall.

"Say, I'm still curious about something."

Snapping her out of her thoughts was the sound of her mother's voice.

"Yes?"

Waiting for her mother to continue, Amanda tilted her head. Her mouth was still watering from the grape.

"...About the thing that you used to cure me, how was the boy able to get it?"

Hearing her mother's comment, Amanda's brows knit.

Actually, she had also wondered where Ren had gotten the fruit from. Because she trusted him, she never once questioned the validity of the fruit, but that didn't mean that she wasn't curious.

She naturally understood that everyone had their own secrets and that was why she never pressed for an answer, but if she said that she wasn't curious that would be a lie.

"I don't know."

Amanda eventually answered.

Placing her hand over her chin, Natasha muttered.

"I see. You must really trust that boy to not have questioned if the fruit was valid or not."

"...I do."

Amanda nodded her head.

From the moment that Ren had presented the fruit to her, Amanda had not once doubted the validity of his words.

She had seen him do the craziest stuff and have even survived an explosion that put <S> ranks to shame. Furthermore, he didn't really have a reason to lie to her.

Maybe if he was trying to impress her, but Amanda knew that he wasn't that type of person.

From the moment that she had met him, she had never seen him be interested in any girl. The only girl she had ever seen him trying to impress was Nola, and rightfully so. She was just too cute.

Caressing her cheeks, a smile blossomed on Natasha's face.

"Interesting. To make my daughter trust him so much, this boy must be quite the charmer."

Hearing her mother's comment, Amanda's cheek turned rosier. Before she could say anything else, her communication device suddenly started to vibrate.

TWIIIING—! TWIIIING—!

Amanda's brows furrowed when she sensed this. She then turned to look at her mother who smiled at her.

"Go ahead and take it."

"Thank you."

Turning her communication device on, Amanda looked at the caller ID. It was Kevin.

She quickly answered the call.

"Hello?"

—Amanda!?

Kevin's rushed voice suddenly sounded from the speaker of the communication device. Amanda instantly became serious. This was one of the few rare times that she had ever heard Kevin sound so panicked. Something was definitely up.

Bringing the communication device closer to her ear, she carefully asked.

"Kevin? Is there something going on?"

—You need to come to Ren's room. Ren's on the verge of death.

"...huh?"

Like a thunderclap, Kevin's words powerfully resounded across Amanda's head as her mind blanked. She couldn't quite process what Kevin had said.

Opening her mouth, she asked.

"...Is it true? W..what you just said? ...Is that true?"

—Yes, so come quick. Make sure to bring the people that are next to you.

Du.Du.Du. Before Amanda could ask anything else, Kevin quickly hung up, sending Amanda into a state of shock. Everything happened so abruptly that she wasn't sure how to react. Was what Kevin said real or fake? She wasn't sure, but she doubted that Kevin would lie to her about something this serious.

Realizing this, Amanda's heartbeat increased.

'Not again'

She thought.

Trying to keep her mind clear, Amanda thought back at the conversation before a few words suddenly caught her attention.

'Make sure to bring the people that are next to you.'

The last sentence...how did he know that she was with someone? Did Ren tell him? ...She had so many questions that she wanted to ask, but she quickly dropped them.

The priority was saving Ren.

Noticing Amanda's strange reaction, Natasha's face grew solemn as she asked.

"Amanda, is everything alright?"

Turning her head to look at her mother, Amanda opened and closed her mouth repeatedly as no words came out of her mouth. She then shook her head and said.

"No."

***

Hanging up the phone, Kevin turned to look at Angelica.

"Alright, I've told Amanda to come. Can you explain to me what happened?"

"No."

Angelica shook her head, quickly shutting Kevin down.

"This is not something you should be meddling with."

She added.

"What?!"

Hearing Angelica's words, Kevin's voice raised. Pointing at Ren who was spasming uncontrollably on the bed, he shouted.

"He is right here dying, and I'm here trying to help him. Shouldn't I at least know how he got in this state so I can figure things out?"

Kevin was angry, and understandably so. He was trying to figure out a way to save Ren, yet, the one person that should be helping him was telling him to not meddle.

One of his closest friends was dying, why in the world would he not meddle!?

Despite Kevin's protests, Angelica was adamant about not telling him anything.

"...This is a private matter. If you want to know what happened, you should ask Ren after he is healed."

Her words made Kevin angrier, but after thinking things through for a bit, he realized that her words somehow made sense.

Right now his priority should be helping Ren. Since Angelica was adamant in saying that this was a private matter, Kevin decided to stop being unreasonable and proceeded to calm himself down.

There was a time and place to lose his cool.

Clank—

And it was then the door suddenly swung open at full force and an enraged Melissa came in. Angelica who was standing next to Kevin quickly vanished from sight.

Before Kevin could wonder where she had left off, Melissa's angry voice resounded throughout the room.

"You better have a good excuse for telling me to come here and hanging up on m—"

Halting her footsteps, Melissa's eyes paused on Ren. Her brows knit tightly when she saw the state that Ren was in. Walking towards Ren she turned to look at Kevin and asked.

"Did he overdose on period tablets? ...I told him not to do that."

Hearing Melissa's remark, Kevin's mouth twitched.

"You think now is the time for jokes?"

"...just saying."

Bending down and taking a closer look at Ren, Melissa closely examined his body before taking out several potions from her dimensional space and quickly fed them to him.

The moment she fed him the potions, Ren's body instantly stabilized much to Kevin's surprise. Turning his head to look at Melissa, Kevin asked.

"What did you do?"

Putting the empty potions caps away, Melissa did not respond to Kevin. Staring at Ren's pale face for a good minute, she finally took her eyes away from him before replying.

"I gave him a muscle relaxer to relax his muscles, a healing potion, and a couple of other things, but..."

Pausing, her brows knit.

"It has only stabilized his condition a bit. He is still far from being in the clear."

Standing up she looked at Kevin.

"What in the world did he do?"

Chapter 452: Slumber [4]

"Where am I?"

My mind was a mess. I couldn't really think properly. My body was numb, and the moment I opened my eyes, all I saw was darkness.

A pitch-black darkness.

A darkness that seemed to completely eat the world around me.

Placing my hand on the ground, or what seemed to be the ground, I propped my body up.

"...What is happening?"

I muttered out loud.

Glancing around me, and only seeing darkness, at first I was confused. However, recalling the events that had happened not too long ago, I was able to instantly realize that what was happening to me was definitely connected to the other Ren.

'This place, I have been here before.'

Once I made the connection with the other Ren, everything started to make more sense as I realized that I had been in this place before.

It wasn't that long ago as well.

Around the time when I had activated Monarch's indifference to test my theory and communicate with the other Ren.

Once my thoughts paused there, I instantly looked around the place in hopes of finding the other Ren, but regardless of how much I looked, I couldn't find him.

My brows knit.

"Where are you."

I muttered out loud. From what I recalled, the last time, when I called him, he instantly appeared before me. Perhaps it was the same now.

"..."

Unfortunately, I was only met with silence.

Just as I was about to call out for him again, I closed my mouth as I suddenly recalled something.

'Could it perhaps be the chains?'

Right before I appeared in this place, I remembered the other Ren being bonded by a series of chains. Was the reason why I couldn't find him because of this?

This was a plausible scenario.

Taking a look at my surroundings one more time, I took a step forward and walked towards the darkness. Even though I wasn't sure of where I was headed, it was better than staying in the same place.

After all, there was nothing but darkness around me.

Right now, my priority was going back.

***

"What in the world did he do?"

"That..."

Hearing Melissa's question, Kevin opened his mouth and tried to say something, but he proceeded to helplessly shake his head.

"I really don't know if I have to be honest. I was coming back from training and this is how I found him."

As he said those words, from the side of his eyes, Kevin eyed a black cat in the distance. At the moment, she was the only person that knew about what happened to Ren.

Unfortunately, for some reason, she refused to say anything or even show up.

Listening to Kevin's words, Melissa raised her brow.

"You don't know?"

"I don't."

Kevin earnestly replied, staring straight into Melissa's eyes. This persisted for a couple of seconds before Melissa eventually gave up.

"Alright, if you say so."

Then, turning around she walked out of the room, much to Kevin's surprise.

"Wait, where are you going?"

Halting her steps, Melissa glanced at Kevin.

"Where else? I'm going back."

"What about him?"

Kevin pointed at Ren's sickly figure that was laying down on the bed. Staring at him, Melissa scornfully looked at Kevin.

"Who told me to come here without telling me what type of situation this was? I only came here with the basic stuff. You expect me to have the right tools to heal him?"

Reprimanded by Melissa, Kevin wanted to say, '...But it's because you would've refused if I didn't do it this way.' However, he knew that this wasn't the time or place to fight against Melissa as he could only apologetically lower his head.

"Had you actually told me that Ren was in danger I would've come here with more potions and preparations? Had you told me I would've been able to save so much time, and now because of you, I'm forced to go back to get the proper potions that might help him get through this."

"You're right, you're right, I'm wrong."

For every word that Melissa said, Kevin lowered his head and apologized. Honestly, all of Melissa's words went from one ear to the other, and the only reason he was apologizing was just to appease her anger.

He really couldn't care less about her complaints. But he knew that there was a time and place to act up.

Fortunately, Melissa's anger did not last for long. As she too realized how dire the situation was, saying a couple more discourteous words, she directly left the room, finally leaving Kevin alone once again.

Clank—!

"Haaa..."

Once Melissa left the room, Kevin powerlessly sat back down on the sofa as he let out a long and tired sigh. Turning to look at Ren whose condition seemed to have stabilized, Kevin forced a smile.

"Seriously, just what in the world did you do to suddenly find yourself in this kind of situation?"

Kevin knew Ren well. He was an extremely cautious person that would try to not take any risks at all. For him to find himself in such a situation, Kevin just couldn't understand what had happened.

Right as he was about to take another long sigh, a charming voice suddenly entered his head, startling him.

[Soon Amanda will come with the elven queen and her mother, when that happens, I want you to take their attention.]

"Huh!?"

Jumping back in shock, Kevin almost bumped his head against a nearby table as he looked around the room. It wasn't long before his eyes paused on a black cat in the distance.

"Did you just talk inside of my head?"

Kevin asked. Nodding her head, Angelica sat down on top of the shelf and continued.

[Once the elven queen and Amanda's mother come in, if they do find out about me, which they probably will since the queen's perception is strong, I want you to tell them that I'm contracted with Ren.]

Kevin's brows jumped up a little. He naturally understood the implications in Angelica's words. She was trying to tell them that if anything happened to her, Ren would die. Kevin did not doubt her words as he knew that the two of them were under the same contract.

For her to say such words, it felt as though the queen was going to do something to her if she found out about her existence.

Alarm bells instantly rang inside of Kevin's head, as he suddenly asked.

"Do you have something to do with Ren's situation?"

"..."

Silence.

Kevin's question was met with silence as Angelica simply stared at him.

"So?"

Kevin asked once again. However, yet again, he was met with silence.

[Just know that the reason why I called you first is because Ren told me to do so. Your job is to stop them from killing me.]

"But why would they kill you?"

Kevin asked. However, yet again he was met with silence.

Angelica's lack of answers caused frustrations to rise from deep within Kevin's body. All Angelica did was order him around without telling him exactly what was going on. Had it not been for his friend's situation, he would've flipped out by now.

In fact, he was already irked by Melissa's attitude, and Angelica's attitude did not help at all!

'Calm down, calm down, I'm bound to find sooner or later. Since she told him that he needed to protect her for when the elven queen and...huh?'

Snapping his head in Angelica's direction, Kevin suddenly asked.

"Wait, did you just say Amanda's mother?"

[I did.]

Angelica replied causing Kevins' eyes to open widely.

"How is that possible?!"

Being friends with Amanda, Kevin knew about her mother's circumstances. About how she had left her when she was young to never appear again. For her to suddenly appear in Issanor, Kevin was naturally shocked.

Opening his mouth again, he incredulously asked.

"How in the world did she appear here?"

[That's b—]

Clank—!

Before Angelica could reply, the door burst open and three figures walked in. Before Kevin had the chance to see who the three figures were, one vanished from the spot before reappearing in front of Ren.

Bending down on the bed, a look of worry flashed across Amanda's eyes as she stared at Ren's pale figure on the bed.

Taking a couple of seconds to take a good look at him, Amanda bit her lips before turning to look at Kevin and asking.

"W...what happened!?"

***

For how long did I walk for? ...I really wasn't sure at this point.

It felt as though I had been walking for over a day, yet at the same time, knew I didn't. The darkness around me made me lose my sense of time and direction as I aimlessly wandered around the darkness.

A thought suddenly occurred to me as my feet came to a pause.

'Does the other Ren live in this world?'

If so, his behavior made sense. To be trapped in this voidless world for such a long time, anyone would go crazy. I was already starting to feel that way, and yet I had only been here for a day at most.

How long had the other Ren been here for?

My thoughts continued to wander astray as I continued to move around the never-ending darkness.

At some point, I just continued to walk for the sake of walking. I had long stopped thinking and was just blankly staring at the black void before me.

'How long must this go on for?'

I wondered as I took another step.

'Is there anything else apart from darkness here?'

'Just how big is this place?'

'Am I walking in circles?'

Question after question popped up inside of my mind as my eyes dulled and my feet came to a stop.

'I can't do this anymore.' I thought as I lowered my head. The loneliness and purposeless wondering made it hard for me to continue walking. What was the point in moving forward when there was no direction to move?

"haaa..."

I let out a long exhausted sigh before sitting down in the void.

"Hm?"

Clank. Clank.

But just as I sat down, my ear picked up a faint sound coming from the distance. Making sure that the sound was real, vitality quickly returned to my face.

"This..."

Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank.

"This sound, it sounds familiar."

The more I heard the sound, the surer I was that I had heard it before. It didn't take me long to figure out what the sound was as I immediately stood up and moved in that direction.

Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank.

With each step I took, the louder the sound became. It wasn't long before the sound fully reached my ears, and I finally spotted a familiar figure in the distance.

With chains moving all over his body, binding him together toward the ground, I finally saw Ren again.

Seemingly being able to sense my presence, turning his head toward my direction, his deep blue eyes locked onto me before he softly said.

"Took you long enough."

Walking up to him, my footsteps came to a halt. My eyes furrowed as I heard his words.

"Took me long enough? Were you expecting me?"

"Didn't I say it before? That we'd see each other soon enough?"

The other Ren indifferently said as he gazed at his arms and legs which were currently being bonded by thick metallic chains. Taking his eyes away from them and raising his head once again, he muttered.

"We just have enough time..."

"Enough time?"

My brows furrowed even more. Recalling just what kind of state I was in before entering this place, I shook my head.

"What time? Right about now I should be on the verge of death because of you."

But contrary to my worries, the other Ren simply said.

"It's fine, you won't die."

"I won't die?"

Hearing his words, I grew confused. Before I could say anything else, the other Ren added.

"Yes, I won't let you die even if you wanted to die. I've already made the proper calculations."

Chapter 453: lsn't it fun?[1]

"Yes, I won't let you die even if you wanted to die. I've already made the proper calculations."

"This..."

Hearing his words, I unconsciously took a step back as my eyes opened wide.

'It can't be...'

He had made the proper calculations? ...Didn't that mean that he already knew that I was going to act the way I was going to act?

How was that even possible?!

Furthermore, from what his words suggested, my life had never been in any danger. The only reason why I had passed out was probably him trying to drag me here.

Confirming my doubts was the other Ren's voice as he coldly said.

"Don't think too much. It's exactly what you think."

"...How!?"

I softly muttered, trying to suppress the shock within my body.

The shock didn't last for long. Clenching my teeth, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Then, lifting my head and meeting the other Ren's gaze, I opened my mouth.

"So it really was you who planned this whole thing..."

I already had a hunch before this when I linked up the scenario with Angelica and Amanda's mother.

The clues were there, from how Everblood had tried to manipulate her to come to me, to how she was able to have pictures of her mother back at the Lock.

Everything was a full circle, and it all led to the man in front of me. Of course, everything was just speculation on my part, but the more I looked at the other Ren, the more I was convinced about my conjecture.

As my thoughts paused there, my brows furrowed.

'If this is indeed planned by him, what would his real motive be?'

Could he be trying to separate me from the others? ...That was a plausible scenario, but I don't think it was the right answer.

From what I knew, his goal was to create a 'perfect' version of Kevin. An unfeeling Kevin that had no burdens and only aimed to kill the demon king.

That was the only goal I knew he had. Without a doubt, there were other goals he had, but I had no idea about what they were.

'...Wait.'

It was then that a thought suddenly struck me.

'Wasn't the reason why I was able to see him in the real world because of the damage that my soul took due to the contract breach? ...What if the real purpose in him trying to set this whole scenario up was to damage my soul...'

A cold chill ran down my spine as my thoughts paused there. Lifting my head, my eyes met with the other Ren's.

"Looks like you've figured things out."

The other Ren said as he calmly stood in the void with the chains rotating around his body, binding him down even more tightly.

With both of his hands locked down, he continued.

"My goal was indeed to damage your soul."

Upon hearing his confirmation, I became even warier of him. Taking a step forward, I coldly asked.

"Was the reason I made the decision that I did because of you?"

"...You can say so."

The other Ren indifferently nodded his head, admitting to every single thing that I was accusing him of.

This increased my wariness even more as my brows tightened even further.

If what the other Ren said was true, then didn't that mean that he had manipulated my emotions as well? The reason why I chose to forfeit the tournament, and my questionable feelings for Amanda, were also things that he had implanted into my mind?

Why and when did he do that?

"It was back when you activated Monarch's indifference."

Seemingly being able to read my thoughts, the other Ren answered the question that was inside of my mind.

"Back when you used Monarch's indifference, that was when I implanted the ideologies inside of your mind."

My body froze upon hearing his words.

'Did he just admit to the fact that he could affect my mind whenever I use Monarch's indifference?'

I already had my speculations in the past, and I was able to confirm this when I met him a while back, but who would've thought that during that time I activated it again he would take advantage of the situation to set up a few seeds inside of my mind?

The more I talked to this version of Ren, the more apprehensive I became. Whenever I thought I was one step ahead of him, I would later find out that he was ten steps ahead of me.

It was frustrating.

Just how much had he planned everything?

I secretly clenched my fists at the thought.

Unaware of what I was thinking, or at least pretending to not know, the other Ren continued.

"The choice of forfeiting the tournament was for the purpose of not allowing you to grow stronger when undertaking the contract breach. Had you been stronger, the damage that your soul would've taken wouldn't have been enough for me. Only at your current rank could I guarantee your survival as well as the optimal soul damage."

The more he spoke, the number my mind became.

The feeling of having every one of my actions carefully puppeteered to the will of someone else caused me this sense of loathing to rise from deep within my heart.

Thinking back, his words made perfect sense.

Had I waited until after the tournament ended, although it would've taken me nearly four months to reach <A-> rank, it would've definitely have increased my chances of surviving.

Regarding Amanda's mother's situation, I could've easily said that I needed to make some preparations that required me to reach <A-> rank.

My choice from back then didn't make sense...

Slowly my heart started to freeze.

The other Ren didn't seem to care about what I was thinking, as he continued to speak.

"Regarding your feelings for Amanda, the only reason why I planted them inside of your mind was so that I could create a perfect excuse for you to act the way that you did."

My heart squeezed when I heard this. Indeed, back then, I remembered doing what I did for the sake of not hurting Amanda. But taking a look at it back now, I was still uncertain about how I felt for her.

Compared to before, the feelings inside of my heart weren't as dominant. If that made sense.

Opening his mouth, the other Ren continued.

"I only amplified your feelings for her. Whether you like her or not, it's for you to figure out. I don't care if you like her or not."

Lowering his head, the other Ren's eyes once again met with mine.

"Frustrating isn't it?"

"..."

Gazing back into his eyes, I chose to remain silent. Tilting his head, the other Ren looked towards the darkness.

"Having someone control the flow of your life, it's frustrating isn't it?"

"Hm?"

Hearing his words, my brows jumped a little.

For the first time in a while, I heard emotions coming from the other Ren's voice. It was faint, very faint, but I could feel a mix of sadness and hate hidden within his voice as he gazed toward the distance.

My face changed slightly when I sensed this.

Opening my mouth I asked.

"Why are you telling me this? What's your purpose?"

From how he revealed to me that he had been manipulating me to how he revealed that he could influence my thoughts whenever I activated Monarch's indifference, what was his goal in telling me this?

Usually, someone with a hidden agenda would never reveal such things, yet, here he was, telling me everything that he had done.

Was he just stupid, or did he have something else in mind? Especially with Monarch's indifference.

Now that I knew that he could manipulate me through it, why would he ever think that I would ever use it again?

'Unless...'

A thought suddenly struck me as my head snapped upwards and I glared at the other Ren.

"Are you once again trying to influence my decision-making by telling me all of this?"

This sort of setup, it felt familiar.

Memories of the Monolith incident replayed back into my mind, or more specifically, the time when I was manipulating the commander into acting the way that I wanted him to act by acting in a way that made it seem as though he could predict my movements.

This was exactly what was happening.

The reason the other Ren was telling me all of this was so that I would be forced to act in a way that he could predict.

Once I realized this, my glare intensified.

But before I could say anything, the other Ren asked.

"Isn't it fun?"

Hearing his voice my body instantly froze as for the first time since ever meeting Ren, a smile crept up on his face and a cold chill ran down my spine.

"Fun?"

I questioned, swallowing a mouthful of saliva. What was so fun about the situation.

Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank.

Taking a step forward, the sound of the chains on his body rattling against each other reverberated throughout the void as the other Ren neared me.

CLANK—!

He was only able to take a couple of steps before his whole body was forced back with a loud 'clank', but it was enough to near me.

With a smile still on his face, the other Ren calmly said.

"Isn't it fun? ...Creating multiple threads and setting up different scenarios to entrap the person you wish to manipulate into doing your bidding?"

"Isn't it fun to watch them struggle as they try to desperately leave the grasp of our influence to only realize that they had just been running right into our trap?"

The smile on the other's face deepened as his eyes peered straight through my soul.

"Remember this...no matter what you do, no matter what decision you make, I know. I know everything."

"You think you will never use Monarch's indifference again after I told you that I can control you through it? ...Think again. There will come a day where you will use it once again, and it will be on that day that I will finally see the truth."

Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank.

Suddenly a familiar metallic sound reverberated throughout the void as the chains binding Ren started to move as they dragged him back to where he previously stood. Slowly, once the chains dragged him back to the spot, more chains sprung out from the ground as they dragged him toward the ground.

Ignoring the chains, the other Ren kept his gaze locked on me. The smile that was on his face had long faded away from his face as his cold and indifferent voice rang out in the void.

"I've already set up the pieces, now it's your turn to move."

Following his last words, the chains binding his body dragged him toward the ground and his figure quickly disappeared.

Before he disappeared, he managed to utter a few more words.

"I'll see you soon..."

Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank.

Following his disappearance, the sound of the chains rattling rang out for a couple more minutes before silence once again descended on the world.

"Huuuu..."

With my eyes closed, I took a deep breath.

His last words, I understood them. Although confusing, I understood exactly what he was trying to hint at.

The game he was playing, it was like a chess game.

One where two opponents would try to predict and try to influence the other's move.

So far, the game that we had been playing had been a one-sided one. Every move I made, he had already predicted or had made me move that way.

I naturally understood that I was at a disadvantage, but, clenching my fists, I glared in the direction of where the other Ren had disappeared.

Slowly my consciousness started to slip as I muttered softly.

"...You're right, it's fun."

It was fun beating an opponent that seemed to have everything under control.

Chapter 454: lsn't it fun [2]

"How's his condition?"

Kevin's gaze locked onto the elven queen as he asked.

Although he looked unperturbed on the outside, in reality, he was quite shocked by the queen's appearance.

But that wasn't the only thing that he was shocked about. Standing beside the queen was a tall woman with long black hair and beautiful black hair. Furthermore, her looks rivaled that of the queen.

She was stunning.

She looked to be a little bit older than him, and if not for the striking resemblance that she had to Amanda and the fact that Angelica had told him beforehand, he would've never been able to make a connection with her mother.

In fact, he still couldn't quite accept this fact as she looked more like her sister than her mother.

While Kevin was in the midst of his thoughts, the elven queen pressed her hand on Ren's forehead, and a thin green glow suddenly enshrouded his figure.

Staring at him for a couple of seconds the queen's face darkened a little as her brows knit.

Noticing this, Amanda, who was standing next to her mother, worriedly asked.

"Is everything okay?"

Her voice was quite rushed, making it clear to everyone in the room that she cared a lot for Ren who was currently being treated.

Standing beside her, Natasha, her mother, quietly observed everything as her eyes paused on Ren's sickly figure laying down on the bed.

'...Did his condition have anything to do with me?'

She wondered. She wasn't quite sure yet, but her guts told her that the reason he was in that state was because of her situation.

It made sense if one thought about it. There was no free lunch in the world, and to heal something as incurable as the mind-breaker curse, there must've been some sort of big price that one had to pay in order to do so.

Once her thoughts paused there, she looked at her daughter. Looking at how pale her figure was, Natasha felt guilt creep up inside of her mind.

She blamed herself for what was happening. Had it not been for her own uselessness none of this would've happened, and her daughter wouldn't have had to suffer as much as she was suffering.

She had already lost too many people in her life. It wasn't fair on her.

Taking her hand away from Ren, the elven queen placed her hand on her chin. Then, turning to look at Amanda, she shook her head.

"I'm not sure, his soul seems to be heavily damaged."

"His soul?"

Kevin solemnly asked.

Turning to face Kevin, the queen nodded her head.

"That's correct, his soul, and that's what makes this extremely problematic."

The queen turned her attention back to Ren who was laying down on the bed. His breathing was extremely thin.

Waving her hand, the green veil revolving around his body disappeared.

"Had it been any other type of injury, I would've been able to heal him using the elven tear, but he is currently suffering some sort of soul backlash."

A look of worry flashed across Amanda and Kevin's faces as they heard the queen's words. Following this, they both simultaneously asked.

"Is there no way to heal him?"

Thinking for a bit, the elven queen eventually shook her head.

"Like I said, this is a soul type of damage. I don't have anything at my disposal that can help with that regard as a soul is not something one should mess with. Just a simple mistake and you can obliterate their soul, completely destroying their existence."

Before Kevin and Amanda could say anything else, the elven queen continued.

"Even though there is no way to currently heal him, if we find out the source of why he is in such as state, then maybe we can figure out a solution."

"Ah..."

Letting out a weak sound, Amanda's face bleached even more as she had to sit down on a nearby chair.

She currently felt powerless.

This wasn't the first time she felt this way. It was a feeling she was all too familiar with.

Clenching her clothes, she looked around the room in hopes of finding any clue that might be able to help Ren in any way, but it was to no avail as she found nothing.

The more time passed, the stronger the feeling of powerlessness became as she thought to herself.

'...Is there really nothing that can be done?'

If even the queen couldn't do anything, what could she do? Just when she thought that the situation was going to be a grim one, her eyes paused on Kevin.

The moment her eyes paused on him, she immediately noticed his facial expression.

Her brows instantly knit.

Placing her hand on the armrest of the chair she was sitting on, she supported her body up as she looked at Kevin and asked.

"Kevin, do you know something that we don't?"

The moment Amanda's words faded, everyone turned their attention toward Kevin.

Feeling everyone's gaze and scratching the back of his head, a complicated look flashed across his face.

"This..."

"If you know something say it now. The more time you waste the more likely your friend will die."

Mayling added from the side.

Pursing his lips, Kevin eventually let out a long sigh.

"Before I say anything, I want you guys to promise me something."

"...Say it."

Turning his head to look at the elven queen, Kevin's eyes soon paused on Natasha.

"I'm not exactly sure myself, but I want you two to promise me that whatever happens next the two of you must remain calm and not do anything rash. If you guys act rashly, then Ren might die for real."

Everyone furrowed their brows upon hearing Kevin's words. Nevertheless, they all nodded their heads. They didn't have time to waste.

"Okay."

"Sure."

"That's good."

Nodding his head, Kevin turned to look towards the corner of the room where a black cat was quietly resting.

Honestly, he wasn't exactly sure about what was going on and whether the two of them would be able to keep their promises, but he had at least given them a warning which was enough to make them think twice before acting.

And that was all Angelica asked for.

The moment his eyes paused on the black cat on the top of the shelf, everyone also turned their attention towards it. Feeling everyone's gazes, Angelica calmly hopped off the cabinet she was resting on.

As soon as Angelica's touched the ground, a black mist suddenly diffused in the air as an enchanting figure suddenly materialized in front of everyone shocking everyone apart from Maylin and Kevin.

"I was wondering when you were finally going to appear."

Mayling said as she calmly observed Angelica in front of her.

Ever since arriving in the room she already knew of her presence. However, since Angelica was currently wearing a bracelet indicating that she was on their side, she didn't think too much of it and proceeded to focus her attention on Ren.

The only thing that she was curious about was why she had never done anything since their arrival.

'Pudding was a demon?'

The one that was most shocked by the situation was Amanda. She naturally recognized the cat, she had seen her multiple times in the past, and not once did the thought of her being a demon ever cross her mind.

A multitude of questions suddenly emerged inside of her mind as her mouth opened widely.

It finally dawned on her.

She finally realized why Pudding always refused to let her touch her.

"Y...you!"

Snapping Amanda out of her thoughts and before the elven queen could open her mouth, Amanda suddenly heard a panicked sound coming from next to her.

Turning her head, she noticed her mother staring at Angelica with eyes fully opened and filled with fright.

'What's going on?'

Amanda thought as she looked at her mother.

Taking a step back, Natasha's face bleached even more as she stumbled back a bit. There was a mixture of shock and fear in her voice as she took a couple of steps back.

"I..it...can't be."

"What's going on?"

Realizing that the situation wasn't right, the elven queen instantly became wary. Focusing her attention back on Natasha, she quickly tried to calm her down.

"Natasha, speak to me. What's going on?"

But, regardless of how much she tried, Maylin was somehow unable to calm Natasha down who seemed to be completely frozen as fear clouded her face entirely.

Realizing that Natasha was not in a state to communicate, Maylin stopped trying and turned to look in Angelica's direction.

Feeling the elven queen's gaze, Angelica ignored it as she continued to look at Natasha.

Standing by the side and alternating her gaze between Natasha and Angelica, an idea suddenly formed inside of Maylin's mind as her few instantly became cold.

The temperature of the room suddenly dropped to zero degrees as the mana in the air warped around her body.

Turning her attention toward Angelica, Maylin coldly said.

"It was you, wasn't it?"

Lifting her head and meeting Maylin's eyes, Angelica didn't respond. The temperature of the room dropped a few more notches.

"...I may have not been able to sense it since it's a lot purer and more powerful than before, but now that I take a closer look at you, the demonic energy in your body bears a striking resemblance to the one that cursed Natasha."

Her words may have been soft, but they powerfully reverberated through the ears of all the people present like powerful claps of thunder. Especially for Amanda whose eyes opened widely.

"W...what?"

What did she just say?

Amanda couldn't quite process the words that the elven queen said. Even though she wanted to refute her words, Amanda knew that she couldn't.

For someone as powerful as the elven queen, she had no reason to lie like that meaning that without a doubt, the demon in front of her was the one responsible for tearing her family apart.

Suddenly everything started to become more foreign to her as she had trouble processing what was happening.

All along, the black cat that had been accompanying Ren in the academy was the demon that was responsible for cursing her mother?

Her heart suddenly squeezed, and her face paled.

...she...she didn't know what to make out of the situation.

Turning her head toward Ren who was laying down on the bed, Amanda wondered to herself.

'Did he know all along?'

Did he know all along that the demon he had been with was the one responsible for her mother's curse? ...the thought caused Amanda's stomach to churn.

However, the sensation did not last for long. Closing her eyes, she quickly calmed herself down.

At the moment she didn't know all the information.

It was far too early for her to judge. She didn't want to immaturely come up with a conclusion before she heard the whole truth.

SHIIIING—!

Stopping Amanda from saying anything, the whole room was enveloped in ice as a series of sharp icicles encircled Angelica completely.

Pressing against Angelica's skin, the sharp tips of the icicles caged Angelica in her spot. If she as much as lifted a finger, an icicle would quickly pierce through her whole body, obliterating her existence completely.

Seeing that the situation was turning out for the worst, Kevin quickly shouted.

"Wait!"

"What is it human?"

Maylin icily asked as water vapor escaped from her mouth. Meeting the queen's gaze head-on, Kevin continued.

"Didn't we agree to it before? That you must not act rashly the moment she appeared?"

"Rashly?"

The queen laughed. Her sweet and melodious voice rang throughout the whole room. Glancing at Angelica, she asked.

"Do you have any idea what this demon has done? The fact that I haven't killed her on the spot is enough mercy."

"No, I don't know about the circumstances, but I do know something.

Turning around he pointed at Ren.

"If you kill her, he will die."

Hearing Kevin's words, the elven queen's brows furrowed.

She naturally understood what Kevin's words meant. It meant that the youth before her had signed a mana contract with the demon, and if she died, so would he.

This situation put her in a tight spot as it made her unsure of what to do. And just as she was about to come up with a decision, she suddenly heard Natasha's voice from behind her.

"You can stop now."

"...Natasha?"

Slowly walking towards Angelica, Natasha who was previously looking at her with fear now had a calm look on her face. Or at least that's how it looked on the surface. Then, turning her attention back toward Maylin, she softly said.

"How about we listen to what she has to say?"

Glancing in her daughter's direction, she smiled.

"You would want that, wouldn't you?"

Chapter 455: lsn't it fun? [3]

"Mhm."

Hearing her mother's words, Amanda nodded her head.

Staring at Ren who was lying down on the bed, Amanda turned her head to look at Angelica. A complicated look flashed across her face.

She still couldn't quite come to terms with the fact that the cat that had been following Ren all the time was in fact the same demon that had cursed her mother, but she felt that there was more to the story than it was let out.

"Are you sure about this Natasha?"

Maylin asked while turning to look at Natasha. The icicles in the air trembled slightly.

"This is the same demon that stopped you from seeing your daughter for fifteen years. Are you sure that you want to let her go just like that?"

With her eyes locked on her daughter, Natasha sighed.

"What other choice do I have. Just take a look at my daughter..."

Waving her hand, all of the icicles that were aiming at Angelica vanished out of thin air.

"...Okay."

Giving a cold glance to Angelica, Maylin added.

"Just because I'm not killing you right now doesn't mean that I won't be doing it later. I'm only doing this for her sake."

"..."

Under Maylin's pressure, Angelica kept her cool.

She wasn't a count-ranked demon for nothing. Despite the fact that she had been subjected to the power of one of the strongest people in the human domain, she was able to remain unfazed.

"Let her be Maylin."

Natasha's voice rang throughout the room as she stepped in front of Maylin. Then, turning her attention towards Angelica, she took a deep breath.

Memories of her past surfaced inside of her mind.

She could still remember getting chased and threatened by her, and it honestly frightened her. But, for the sake of looking strong for her daughter, she remained composed.

"...C.can you explain the situation?"

There was a faint tremble in her voice as she asked Angelica her question, but following that, her words became more concise and the tremble vanished.

Turning her head, she looked at Ren.

"What happened for him to turn this way?"

There was an awkward silence following her words.

"You don't have to hide anything. I can tell that it is somehow connected with my awakening."

A complicated look appeared on Angelica's face as she heard her words. It wasn't long before she eventually opened her mouth.

"You're correct."

Lowering her head, Angelica lightly glanced in Ren's direction.

"The reason why he's in that state is indeed due to the fruit that he gave you."

"I see."

Rather than being shocked, a look of understanding appeared on Natasha's face. She then turned to look at Kevin.

"If I don't remember wrongly, you previously said that if something happens to her, the boy over here will die, correct?"

"...Yes."

Kevin nodded his head as his brows furrowed.

Seeing Kevin confirm her words, Natasha pursed her lips before turning her attention back toward Angelica.

"I think I get the gist of the situation. I'm sure you also have an idea Maylin."

"Yeah..."

Maylin nodded from the side before adding.

"I have enough evidence to believe that Ren and the demoness over here have signed a mana contract."

"Yes, and in the contract, there was most likely a clause that stated that neither party could harm the other."

Looking up toward the ceiling of the room, Natasha plucked her lips outwardly. She then crossed her arms together and tapped onto the right side of her arm with her fingers.

"Since he handed Amanda the fruit, we can conclude that the moment I ate the fruit and the curse broke, 'she', the demoness, suffered from the backlash of the curse and as a result broke the boy broke the contract with 'her' and was thus put into this type of situation."

Walking toward Ren and staring at his sickly figure, Natasha placed her finger underneath her chin and added.

"That also explains why his soul is in the state that it is now."

Listening to the analysis from Maylin and Natasha, Angelica's eyes opened up a bit.

Before she could even explain the situation, the two of them had already figured everything out.

She wasn't that surprised by this, however. One was the elven queen while the other was the wife of one of the top executives in the human domain.

They didn't get their jobs because of luck. They were quite competent in their own right.

Placing her hand over Ren's forehead, Natasha further analyzed.

"Since he is still alive, we can already assume that the contract that he signed with..."

Furrowing her brows, Natasha's words halted mid-sentence as she glimpsed in Angelica's direction. The pause was brief, as she quickly continued.

"...her, is ranked between [I] and [III]. Since Amanda previously told me that he's made it past the round of sixteen of the tournament we can exclude rank [I] and [II] contracts, leaving me with no choice but to believe that he signed a tier [III] contract."

Once Natasha's analysis reached this point, her brows proceeded to knit tightly.

"...But that would mean that he would be ranked around <B+> in order to survive the contract breach."

Pausing once more, Natasha's head snapped in Ren's direction. This time her face had a little shock in it.

Having already come up with a proper analysis of the situation, she suddenly realized something. And that was that the only possible way for Ren to have survived the situation was for him to have reached a rank of <B+>.

But how was that possible? She was already shocked by the fact that her daughter had reached <B-> rank, but <B+> rank? What kind of monster was this youth before her?

This kind of thought became even more prominent from the fact that she knew that he was around the same age as her own daughter.

Slowly her mouth hung open as she turned her head to look at Maylin, hoping that perhaps her analysis was wrong, but instead, Maylin's next words caused the shock inside of her body to double.

"It's exactly like you thought, he indeed rank is <B+>."

"W...what? How is that possible? Didn't he get eliminated from the tournament already?"

Maylin's mouth twitched. Turning her head to the side, she softly said.

"Well, how should I say this...he eliminated himself."

"Himself? ...Why would he do that?"

Forcing a smile, Maylin replied.

"...Because he said that he was bored."

While Natasha and Maylin were discussing the reasoning behind Ren's elimination, Amanda who had been listening throughout their whole time, powerlessly sat back down on her chair.

'So everything that happened was because of me...'

Amanda's emotions were currently a mess as she felt many different things at the moment.

On one hand, she was grateful and even touched by what Ren did. After all, he did just try to sacrifice his life for the sake of her mother.

But at the same time, she was also angry.

She was having trouble putting it into words, but she really hated the way Ren did things. She hated the way that he just did things without caring about himself or what the others felt.

Amanda understood why Ren acted the way he did, and it was exactly because she understood this that she felt the way she did.

Had he told her the situation from the start, Amanda would've understood.

She wasn't unreasonable. Ren had never taken part in her mother's situation.

Furthermore, although she wasn't exactly sure, she could tell that Ren most likely didn't know about the fact that the demon he had contracted with was the one responsible for her situation.

Thinking back, Amanda had a feeling that the demon Ren contracted with was in fact the same demon that had contracted with Elijah, the elective representative back at the Lock.

If so, how he met her made sense.

She had always wondered why that demon had not targeted her again, but it was only now that she understood that Ren had taken care of it.

Closing her eyes, Amanda bit her lips.

It became clear to her that Ren still did not trust her enough.

The realization saddened her, but it did not discourage her. This was only natural. Especially since they hadn't known each other long enough to develop a full sense of trust between each other.

"Oy!"

Snapping Amanda out of her thoughts was her mother's voice.

Turning her head to look in the direction of where her mother was, she saw her with her back bent and her face a few inches away from Ren's face.

"M...mom!"

Amanda immediately became flustered at the sight as she stood up from her seat. However, her mother's following words caused her to freeze on the spot.

"Boy, I can tell that you're awake. You can stop pretending."

"Eh?"

Raising her hand, Natasha flicked Ren's forehead.

"Ouch!"

***

Suddenly having my forehead flicked, my eyes snapped open.

The moment I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was a familiar-looking face a couple of inches away from mine. Caught off guard by the sudden situation, I felt my cheeks warm up a little as a bitter smile appeared on my face.

That was because I was able to instantly recognize the woman before me. She may have looked like Amanda at a first glance, but there was definitely a difference.

"Looks like you're fine."

Amanda's mother muttered before finally moving her head away from me. It was then that I was able to see the current situation in the room, and when I did, I almost wished I didn't.

With almost everyone present in the room, including Angelica. I already knew that the cat was out of the bag.

The smile on my face became more bitter as I suddenly recalled the other Ren's words.

'Isn't it fun?'

'...No, it's not'

I muttered inside of my head as I silently shook my head.

'No, it's not fun at all.'

"Ren, how are you feeling?"

In the midst of my thoughts, a familiar voice reached my ear. Without turning my head, I already knew who the voice belonged to.

It was Kevin.

"Ugh."

Moving my head, I tried to sit up straight, but a terrifying pain suddenly caused my body to helplessly fall back before I could even move a few inches up.

My brows knit when I realized this.

Just as I was about to try again, I suddenly felt a hand touch mine and a sweet voice reached my ear.

"Sit back down, you're in no condition to move."

Turning my head, I saw Amanda staring at me with a smile on her face. I was surprised by this.

Glancing in Angelica's direction, just as I was about to say something, Amanda shook her head.

"It's fine, I understand what you did. I'm not angry."

"...Eh?"

She wasn't?

"No, I understand why you acted the way you did. You probably didn't want to cause any misunderstandings right?"

A wry smile appeared on my face when I heard her words.

She had pretty much read me like a book. Yeah, that was one of the main reasons as to why I never told her the truth. Well, that was until I found out that my memories were being tampered with, and realized that perhaps those may have not really been my true thoughts.

In hindsight, it was a terrible decision. Staring at Amanda in the eyes, I understood that Amanda would've listened to everything that I had to say with a clear mind.

Amanda wasn't the type of person that ran away before she heard the full truth.

"I'm s—"

Opening my mouth, I tried to apologize to Amanda, but just as I was about to do so, the door of the room burst open and Melissa entered the room.

She had her usual grumpy look on her face.

Clank—

The moment she stepped into the room, her body froze as her eyes landed on the elven queen and Amanda's mother. Once her eyes paused on her, she tilted her head to the side as she had trouble processing the situation.

Then, turning her head our eyes met.

For a brief moment, the moment our eyes met, Melissa's eyes flashed as an awkward silence enveloped the room. Soon after, clicking her tongue, she muttered in a disappointed tone.

"Ah shit, you woke up."

My mouth twitched when I heard her comments.

"...Why do you sound so disappointed?"

Covering her mouth, Melissa laughed.

"Do I? Must be your imagination."

Crossing her arms, her eyes soon paused on Kevin. After that, her eyes paused on Amanda as her face slowly turned to one filled with disgust.

Her next words almost made me want to kill her on the spot.

"...and here I thought you were only going to stick with Kevin. Looks like you've got yourself quite the decent harem, huh?"

"Fuck off."

Chapter 456: Returning to the human domain [1]

'Ugh, I just woke up and this is the situation I find myself in.'

Melissa alone was enough to give me a headache, but the fact that almost everyone was here increased the pain in my head. Leaning back on the bed and dully staring at the ceiling of the room, for a moment I wished to slip back into a coma.

Would rather have that than be in this type of situation.

Unfortunately, this was only wishful thinking on my part as following Melissa's words, everyone's head snapped in my direction.

I could only bitterly smile at the sight.

"What are you looking at me for?"

Raising my hand, I pointed in Melissa's direction.

"Don't listen to anything she says. Especially when she's part of the harem."

"Huh?"

This time it was Melissa's turn to feel what I felt as everyone turned to look at her with strange looks on their faces.

Opening her eyes widely, Melissa glared at me.

Sensing her gaze, I slowly mouthed with my mouth.

'Trying to ruin me? I'll drag you down with me.'

As soon as I said those words, I could vividly see the side of Melissa's cheeks tense. I smirked when I saw this.

'That's right, I may have lost the battle, but I won the war.'

Like hell, I would ever let Melissa one-up me.

"Khh..."

Just as things were getting heated between Melissa and me, yet again, a throbbing pain coursed through my body, prompting me to let out a groan.

This instantly attracted the attention of everyone present.

As she was already seated next to me, the first one to help me was Amanda who worriedly asked.

"Are you okay?"

"...Somewhat."

I replied with a forced smile. To be honest, I was anything but fine. Although I had survived, the damage that my soul took was significant.

'I need to find something to heal my soul.'

Though extremely rare, there were definitely ways to heal someone's soul.

The damage to my soul wasn't to the extent that it would affect me in any way, but looking back at what just happened, I felt that I needed to somehow find a way to heal my soul.

The sense of discomfort that it brought wasn't something I quite liked.

Just as I was about to make my mind up about how to heal my soul, a sudden thought crossed my mind.

'Wait, what if this has also been planned by him?'

At this realization, my body froze completely.

Ever since meeting the other Ren, or to be more precise, the entity inside of my body, he had always been acting in a way that made it seem as though everything was going according to how he planned.

...and so far, it seemed to be true.

Everything that had happened to me seemed to have already been planned beforehand by someone. From the incident back at the hotel with Matthew to the dome incident. Everything just felt so warped and altered that made me think of the possibility of it being something that the other entity had planned.

It was only a hypothesis for now, but it wasn't one that I was willing to discard.

If it was truly like that, then it meant that my every move was being predicted.

Realistically speaking, the logical direction that I should take would be to heal my soul, but what if that was also part of the plan?

What if he wanted me to heal my soul? ...but if it was truly like that, why would he reveal to me that he had purposely damaged my soul so that he could have more control over it?

'This...'

The deeper I started thinking, the greater the throbbing sensation in my head became.

The other Ren, entity, or whoever he was, he was definitely trying to mess up the way I was thinking.

So much so that I finally realized why I had never been able to get the upper hand over him.

It wasn't that he had everything planned, but it was just that he was playing a psychological warfare against me.

Just like now.

Because of everything that he had said, I no longer had any idea how to proceed.

'Should I heal my soul...or not?'

Secretly, my fists clenched tightly. This was definitely not a pleasant feeling.

"He looks quite tired, I think we need to give him some space."

Whilst in thought, I suddenly heard a sweet voice from the distance. Turning my head, my eyes with Amanda's mother.

Once our eyes met, for a brief moment neither one of us spoke. Then, turning her head, she looked toward the elven queen.

"What was his name again?"

"Ren."

The queen answered.

Nodding her head, Amanda's mother turned her to face me one more time. Or rather, before that she glanced in Amanda's direction before looking back at me with a strange look on her face.

Her gaze felt weird.

"Alright, Ren, there are many things that I want to say to you, but it looks like you're in no condition for it, so I will cut it short."

Lowering her head slightly, she said.

"Thank you. Thank you for what you did for me."

Following her words, for a brief moment of time, silence enveloped the room. Raising my head and seeing that she still had her head lowered, I pursed my lips together.

"It's fine. You don't have to mention it."

Most of it was the other Ren's doing, but that didn't mean I wasn't ever planning on helping her. It was just that it would've taken a lot longer.

"Even then, I would still like to thank you. I was already grateful for the fact that you were willing to dispose of something so precious in order to heal me, but after seeing the sacrifice you've made just to heal me, I felt compelled to do this."

"It's fine, really."

I answered back, feeling a little bit awkward about the situation.

Raising her head, Amanda's mother's eyes paused on Amanda for a good while. Then, with a soft smile on her face, she headed for the door.

"Alright, I guess we should head back now. You should definitely get some rest."

"...What about her?"

Just as she was about to leave, the elven queen pointed in Angelica's direction. My face froze when I saw this.

As I had not yet woken up when she revealed everything to them, I had no idea about what had happened whilst I was asleep. My heart tensed when I saw the elven queen stare at Angelica.

Just as I was about to say something, Amanda's mother spoke up.

"Leave her be."

"Huh?"

A strange sound escaped from my mouth as I heard her words.

I wasn't the only one that reacted this way as almost everyone in the room aside from Melissa who had no idea about what was happening, showed a similar look.

Recovering from the shock, the elven queen asked.

"How come?"

Instead of answering the elven queen, Amanda's mother shook her head.

"There is no point. Since she's now contracted to that boy, I mean Ren, all I would be doing is adding trouble to the person who saved me."

"But this would've never have happened had it not been for her. We don't have to kill her, but we can still lock her up."

The queen replied, obviously displeased by Amanda's mother's words. Her displeasure was understandable. Being a queen, she naturally had to be more ruthless than others, and as a sovereign, being lenient towards enemies was a big taboo.

Glancing in the direction of the elven queen, Amanda's mother merely shrugged her shoulders.

"She's a demon, to begin with. She was just following orders. The people I should be angry about should be the ones behind her. Not her."

Pausing, she looked in Angelica's direction. Her brows furrowed a bit.

"Don't get me wrong, just because I'm not acting up doesn't mean that I have forgiven you. Had it not been for my daughter, I would've loved nothing more but to have followed Maylin's suggestions, but then again...such is life."

Following her words, closing her eyes and letting out a sigh, she said.

"It's also my fault for being careless. Had I been more attentive, none of this would've happened."

With a soft smile on her face, Amanda's mother took a step out of the room and left.

The elven queen followed from behind. There were still obvious signs of displeasure on her face, but it didn't look like she would go against Amanda's mother's wishes.

Following their disappearance, the next one to leave was Melissa. Still mad about the words I said to rebuke her, she only gave me a casual look before disappearing.

After Melissa, it was Kevin who left after a simple goodbye.

"You should get some rest."

Following Kevin, Amanda also left. She looked uncertain about whether to leave or not, but as soon as her eyes paused on Angelica, she quickly made up her mind and also bid me goodbye.

Clank—

Once the doors closed, the only people that remained in the room were Angelica and I. Lifting my head up with some difficulty, I bitterly said.

"Rough day, huh?"

***

Issanor, infirmary.

Silently gazing toward the city of Issanor from her bed, Emma's figure silently rested by the side of the bed. She had a dull look on her face.

Clank—

Suddenly the door opened up and Kevin walked in.

Walking into the room, the moment he saw Emma's condition, he softly sighed and sat beside her bed.

"You're still up."

"Mhm."

Emma softly nodded her head. Following her words, silence descended on the room.

Pursing his lips, Kevin tried to strike up a conversation.

"You know, I'm going to win the tournament soon. Once I get my hands on the elven tear, I ca—"

"Don't."

Before Kevin could finish his sentence, Emma quickly cut him off. Weakly turning her head, she replied.

"I don't want you to waste your chance on me. I'm only going to be holding you back. Use that opportunity to make yourself stronger."

"What are you talking about?"

Kevin's brows furrowed.

"Kevin, during this time that I had to myself, I came to realize just how useless I am. Not only do I always drag you into problems, but not once have I ever been of help to you."

As she was speaking, the corner of Emma's eyes started to water.

"I know my limit. I will at most reach <S> rank in my life while you will sooner or later reach a rank that is far above that. Use this chance to grow stronger. If you really want to heal me, do it after you've become strong enough to get the elven tear without wasting all of your achievements."

Clenching onto the bedsheets of the bed, Emma bit her lips.

"I...I can wait. If it means that you won't have to waste this opportunity that you've been given on me, then I can wait."

Listening to Emma's words, Kevin didn't know how to reply. It was only after a couple of seconds had passed that he finally said.

"Emma, I never thought of you like that."

Grabbing her hand, Kevin scratched the back of his head with his other hand.

"Also, I can't really do that."

"Why!?"

Snapping her head in Kevin's direction, Emma raised her voice.

"Why must you waste your opportunity like that? Just let me be like this. I've come to terms with reality. I'll just go back home and handle the matters there. It's not like it's the end of the world. I can wait till you get strong enough to heal me. Focus on yourself, and focus on helping me later."

Raising her hand, she repeatedly tapped her finger on Kevin's chest.

"You need to set your priorities straight. And right now your priority is to become stronger. If you don't want anything similar to happen again, just grow stronger. So strong that nothing like this ever happens again."

Grabbing onto Emma's finger, a bitter smile appeared on Kevin's face.

"Emma, do you know how I managed to get to where I am in the tournament?"

"Huh?"

A confused look appeared on Emma's face as she heard Kevin's words. As if stating the obvious, she replied.

"...By beating all of your opponents?"

The smile on Kevins' face grew even more bitter as he shook his head.

"No, it wasn't that."

Lowering his head, Kevin let out a long sigh. Matching Emma's gaze, he bitterly said.

"...The only reason why I've come this far in the tournament is because Ren was bored."

***

A/N : This arc is coming to a close, and so is Volume [3].

Chapter 457: Synchronisation [4]

A red sky enshrouded the world.

Rubble and debris appeared everywhere as corpses and limbs sprawled all over the ground.

Absolute silence enshrouded the world.

"Haa...haa..."

Breaking the silence was the sound of someone's rough breathing echoing throughout the space.

White hair, dull grey hair, and a presence that completely enshrouded the world. A man stood on top of a broken building.

With his right hand missing, and a long scar tracing down his well-built body, the man coldly looked towards the distance.

There laid a figure who had similarly colored white hair and red eyes.

With black blood seeping down from his mouth, and his body laying down on a broke building, the figure blankly stared toward the sky as a cruel smile sprung up on his face.

"...It's no use, you won't be able to kill me."

His playful words rang throughout the world as he proceeded to raise his hand.

The moment he raised his hand, the world seemed to have come to a standstill as demonic energy gathered towards the palm of his hand, forming a small ball the size of a basketball.

"Stay put."

But before the black orb could fully form, the white-haired figure with dull grey eyes, raised his hand and motioned it in a downward manner.

Crack. Crack.

As though gravity had been warped, cracks formed beneath the red-eyed figure as his body crushed against the ground hard as a crater formed beneath him.

Even though the force of the impact was huge, the red-eyed figure remained completely unfazed as he gazed in the direction of the grey-eyed man.

The smile on his face only deepened.

"...Stop with your useless struggle. I've already won."

"Shut up."

The grey-eyed figure replied as the area him pulverized into bits.

Whilst this was happening, standing not so far from the two figures was a male with jet-black hair and crimson red eyes. He was none other than Kevin.

Holding onto the left side of his arms, he dully looked at two figures before him. Then, turning his head he looked at the world around him.

Devastation.

Wherever his eyes looked, all he saw was pure devastation as the world he once knew had been turned into nothing but a desolate place. Recalling the memories of how the world was in the past, Kevin stumbled a couple of steps.

Having fought a terrifying battle for the past couple of days, he was on the verge of death, and right now the only reason he was even able to move was because of the effects of [Overdrive] which was slowly eating away at his life-span.

'H...how did things turn out like this.'

He thought as he slowly moved towards the two figures.

As he was walking forward, sensing his presence, the grey-eyed figure turned to look in his direction as he coldly muttered.

"Your turn."

With the palm of his hand motioned downwardly, he kept the other figure in check. However, it was painfully obvious to Kevin that his power wasn't enough to contain the other figure for long as his hand slowly started to shake more and more.

"What are you waiting for, end him."

The grey figure once again said. His voice sounded a little bit more rushed this time.

Turning his head to glance in the red-eyed figure's direction and then looking towards his surroundings, Kevin's lips trembled.

"I...is this the outcome that you wanted?"

"What are you talking about?"

The white-haired figure replied back. His brows furrowed tightly, and his voice became even colder.

Clenching his teeth, Kevin pointed towards the distance.

"Take a look at the world. It's completely destroyed! Almost all of humanity has been destroyed because of your actions, and yet, you don't seem to care!?"

Kevin's voice powerfully rang throughout the world as his fists clenched tightly.

"For the sake of killing him! You decided to sacrifice the whole of humanity! What's the point of killing him when there's no one left? What's the fucking point!?"

Quietly listening to Kevin's words, the grey-eyed figure answered.

"...Because I don't care."

"You don't care?"

A powerful red hue suddenly sprang out of Kevin's body. The hue that sprang out of his body was very faint and almost invisible, but the pressure that came out of it was nothing to scoff at.

"You don't care about the fact that because of your actions humanity is on the verge of extinction?"

"What are you doing?"

Ignoring his words, the grey-eyed figure dully asked.

Raising the palm of his hand, Kevin pressed onto the space next to him and replied.

"Something that I should've done the moment I remembered everything."

Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank.

Right as his words faded, much to the shock of the grey-eyed figure, black chains suddenly sprang out from the ground beneath him clasping onto his legs and arms.

Finally, for the first time in a while, the grey-eyed figure's face crumbled apart as he looked at Kevin who was staring back at him.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

Raising his hand, the grey-eyed figure tried to move his body, but regardless of how much force he applied, he couldn't move his body at all. The mana inside of his body had been sealed completely.

Realizing just how much of a predicament he was, his voice raised.

"What did you do to me!?"

Ignoring his words, Kevin turned to look at the other white figure who was watching the scene with an amused look on his face. Although he was also on the verge of death, there was a triumphant look on his face as he looked at Kevin and the grey-eyed figure.

"...It looks like it's going to be another failure."

Clenching his teeth, Kevin proceeded to ignore the figure.

"khh..."

Stumbling forward, he could feel his vitality slowly leaving his body. The hue around his body slowly started to fade as Kevin's figure paled.

"Kill him now, end this now! End it!!!! You know full well that you're the only one that can stop him! What are you waiting for!?"

Once again the grey-eyed figure's words reverberated loudly as he glared intensely in Kevin's direction. A look similar to desperation flashed across his face as he shouted those words.

"It's always the same with you..."

Taking one more step forward, Kevin's feet came to a pause a couple of meters away from the grey-eyed figure.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

As he walked, the chains wrapping around the grey-eyed figure became more numerous as his whole body stopped moving.

Seeing that his words couldn't reach Kevin, the grey-eyed figure stopped shouting. His face which was originally cold dulled completely.

Lowering his head and glaring in Kevin's direction, the grey-eyed figure monotonously.

"You think this will be enough to stop me?"

"I don't know."

Kevin shook his head.

"But we will find out soon. At least for now, you won't be able to do anything."

Spurt—!

Raising his hand, Kevin suddenly pierced right through his own chest. Instantly, blood leaked out from his body.

Staring at Kevin, the grey-eyed figure's eyes grew colder.

"How d—"

The moment Kevin's life slipped away, the world turned white and everything crumbled.

***

"Haa...haa...."

Abruptly sitting up from his bed, Kevin's breathing was ragged as sweat trickled down the side of his face.

Glancing around the place, it was only after he realized that he was back in his own room that he finally calmed down.

"What just happened?"

He muttered out loud as he clenched his chest tightly.

"Khhhh..."

Letting out a groan, he hunched his body over as he felt his chest throb intensely.

'W...what's going on?!'

The pain left as fast as it came, but the sensation was deeply etched inside of Kevin's brain as recollections of the vision flashed across his mind.

Sorting out the memories, his mind became a mess.

He knew that this was part of the synchronization reward that he had gotten from the previous quest, but he couldn't quite understand what exactly had happened.

The number of questions he had inside of his mind only caused his head to throb even more as he held his head with his hands.

Blinking a couple of times, sweat continued to trickle down the side of Kevin's face as a multitude of different scenarios presented inside his mind.

Lowering his hands and clenching onto his bedsheets, he bit his lips.

"...What should I do?"

***

Two days quickly flew by and the tournament resumed.

Seated down in the spectator's stands, wearing a mask to hide my identity, my face flinched from time to time.

'Damn, it still hurts like hell.'

Despite the fact that a few days had passed since the incident, the discomfort that came from the damage my soul took was still affecting me now.

From time to time it would feel as though a large needle pricked through my heart, sending shivers all over my body.

Unfortunately, as I was still on the fence on whether to heal my soul or not, I had to endure the pain.

"Are you really okay?"

In the midst of my pain, a soft voice rang from beside me. With my head still lowered, I forcefully nodded my head.

"...Yeah. I'd like to think I am."

"That doesn't sound very convincing."

Turning my head and staring at Amanda, I could only force a smile. Ever since the incident, she had been a lot more attentive toward me.

It sort of got to the point where she was now acting like my personal nurse. I didn't dislike it, but it felt very weird to me.

"Amanda, I get that you feel compelled to help me because of what I did, but really, I'm fine."

Despite my words, Amanda retained her stubborn look as she refused to leave my side, and thus, letting out a long sigh, I decided to switch topics.

"That aside, are you sure you're not going to fight?"

"Yes."

Amanda nodded her head.

Closing my eyes and leaning back in my seat, I softly muttered.

"I see."

Before I could say anything else, Amanda added.

"The main reason I am forfeiting is not because of what happened. I'm forfeiting because I know my limit. My opponent is too strong for the current me to face."

"I know."

There was no need for her to say that. I naturally understood the reason for Amanda's forfeit.

The reason was because her opponent was none other than Vaalyun.

The strongest contender left, alongside Kevin and Jin.

A part of me was glad that she chose to forfeit. After all, I did humiliate Vaalyun in front of everyone. Though unlikely since Amanda had the elven queen's backing, what if a situation similar to Emma's occurred?

A situation where she would almost die happened? Just the thought made me uncomfortable.

I couldn't allow another fiasco to happen.

Turning my head to gaze in the direction of the tournament, just as I was about to look for Kevin, I felt a slight tap on my shoulder.

"What is it?"

"...Maylin wants to speak to you after the matches for today are over."

Amanda's voice reached my ears from the side. Hearing her reply, my brows furrowed.

"Maylin?"

"The elven queen."

"Oh."

I had a sudden look of understanding as my head moved back. Secretly, I was trying to hide the smile that was threatening to appear on my face.

'It's time I get what I want, right?'

As I've previously mentioned, there was a reason why I wanted to participate in the tournament, and the only reason why I forfeited was because I knew that I could still get it without winning.

Most likely, at the moment the elven queen had called for me in order to thank me.

Was definitely planning on using this situation to my advantage.

Snapping me out of my thoughts was the boisterous sound of the crowd cheering as I saw Jin's and Kevin's profiles suddenly appear on the large projections.

"Oh, it looks like Kevin and Jin both passed the round."

Standing up, I clapped with the crowd.

The matches had not even lasted a couple of minutes and they had already won. That was really impressive.

Patting my hands together, I stretched my shoulders and glanced in the direction of where the elven queen sat.

"Guess I need to get ready to meet the queen."

'...and claim me rewards.'

Chapter 458: Returning to the human domain [2]

"Been a while since I've been here."

Standing on top of the boat that led to the enormous white building in the middle of the lake, lowering my head and taking a look at the crystal clear water of the lake, I marveled at the sight.

As the boat moved, the calm and still water of the lake rippled, and the imagery of the mountains in the distance reflected on the surface of the water distorted.

Taking my eyes away from the water, a calming breeze tickled my ear lobes as I could faintly hear it whispering something in my ears.

Every time the wind passed by, it left behind a scent of maple and berries so strong that it made my nose twitch. It smelt heavenly organic yet delightfully tasty. It reminded me of the sweet honey-like brew that the elves had to offer.

Tok—

It wasn't before long that we finally reached the other side of the lake as the front side of the boat gently touched the small wooden pier.

"We're here." The elf responsible for pushing the boat said.

Nodding my head, I hopped off the boat. Then, as I got off the boat, I extended my hand.

"Thank you."

Taking my hand, Amanda gently got off the boat as her feet landed on the wooden pier without making a sound.

Quickly letting go of my hand, Amanda headed toward the building in the distance.

As she moved toward the building, I noticed that her footsteps were quite rushed. Tilting my head, I asked.

"Are you in that much of a hurry to see your mother?"

"Mhm."

Without looking back, Amanda nodded her head. I found her behavior strange, but I didn't think too much of it. After all, she had just met up with her mother after fifteen years, so it was understandable for her to want to see her every day and catch up.

Swooosh—!

Suddenly another breeze blew and Amanda's hair swayed towards the side of the wind. The moment that happened, I noticed something peculiar.

Amanda's ears were red. I instantly pointed this out to her.

"Hey Amanda, your ears are red."

"...!?"

The moment those words came out of my mouth, Amanda's body suddenly jumped up in fright. Without turning around, in a stuttering voice, she said.

"..It's because it's cold."

"Oh, okay."

Raising my hand and feeling the breeze, I shrugged my shoulders. In a way, she wasn't wrong. It was pretty cold.

Following Amanda from behind, it wasn't long before the two of us arrived at the entrance of the building where a couple of strong-looking elves were waiting.

Sensing the power behind the elves guarding the structure, my back unknowingly straightened.

'They are without a doubt <S> rank.'

I may have reached <B+> rank, but <S> ranks were still an existence that I couldn't touch. Therefore, the pressure that came out of their body was quite overwhelming.

Not that I wasn't used to it.

As soon as Amanda and I arrived, taking a step to the side, the elves quickly led us toward the building.

"Please follow us."

The interior of the place was exactly as I remembered from a while back. Following a minimalistic style, plants and simple furniture decorated the place. Compared to the typical luxurious buildings back in the human domain, the decorations inside of this place were less extravagant.

Walking for about a minute, we soon arrived in front of a large hall. On the opposite end of the hall was a small flight of stairs.

A golden throne rested atop the flight of ornate stairs, looking over the entire hall. Upon that throne sat the Elven Queen, Maylin. Her long, silver hair gently cascaded down her back, highlighted by the ornate crown upon her head. She rested her hand upon her cheek, looking upon me and Amanda who had just entered the hall.

Standing next to her was Natasha whose lips curled in an upward manner when her eyes met with Amanda's. Her beauty not lose out to Maylin's at all.

The guard that had led us to the place knelt down on one knee. Following his example, Amanda and I did the same.

"You have arrived."

Maylin said as she tapped onto the armrest of the throne. A thin metallic sound rang throughout the space as her nails came into contact with the metallic armrest of the throne.

With my head still lowered, I suddenly felt her gaze from above.

"...Do you have any idea as to why I summoned you here?"

"No, I do not."

I flatly answered with a straight face.

Secretly, I was trying my best to hide the smile that was threatening to show up at any second.

Of course, I knew why she had summoned me. What else but to give me the reward for saving Amanda's mother?

Seemingly unaware of what I was thinking, Maylin slowly stood up from her seat.

With a simple wave of her hand, the doors of the hall burst open and five elves came into the hall.

Adorned with simple servant attire made out of thin silk, the hem of their clothes silently fell toward the bottom of their ankles. On each of the servant's hands was a red fluffy pillow, where an item rested in the middle.

Walking towards the elven queen, they stopped beneath the flight of stairs and knelt on one knee. With their heads lowered, the servants raised the pillows above their heads.

"Good."

Maylin softly said as her gaze swept over the items resting on top of the pillows. Pursing her lips together, I once again felt her gaze land on me.

Her sweet and crisp voice soon rang throughout the hall as she started speaking.

"Previously, because of circumstances, I was unable to thank you personally for saving Natasha's life. I'm sure that the fruit that you have given her must've been extremely rare and hard to find."

"Although I'm curious about where you have gotten such an item, I will not ask further as I don't want to put you in a difficult spot."

Taking a step forward, Maylin walked down the flight of stairs. Every step she took carried no sound as she soon stopped in front of the servants that were holding onto the pillows.

Sweeping her gaze over the items, she continued.

"Over here are some items that I think you might find useful. Originally I was planning on letting the winner of the tournament take the first pick, but I believe that you have done more than enough to get the first pick."

Extending her hand, a gentle sigh escaped from her mouth.

"Please, choose whichever item you want. You can pick whatever item is over here."

Raising my hand to cover my mouth, with a slight cough I stood up.

"Keum...It is an honor."

I then proceeded to calmly look through the items that were presented before me.

To be honest, I already knew what item I wanted from the very beginning, but if I acted too fast it would seem as though I had planned for this beforehand. Therefore, interlocking my hands behind my back, I carefully looked through each of the items presented before me.

Glancing at the items on the pillows, my eyes soon paused on a small hexagonal-shaped glass bottle. Inside of it was a crystal clear liquid that looked exactly like clean water fresh from the mountains.

The moment my eyes paused on the bottle, I was able to instantly recognize it as my eyebrows jumped up.

'Oh, that should be the elven tear.'

Maylin who had been staring at me from the beginning seemed to have noticed my reaction as she spoke.

"I heard that one of your friends is injured, you want to choose that?"

"No."

I shook my head. Before she could say anything else, I continued.

"That's Kevin's job."

"...Kevin? That handsome boy?" Suddenly, Natasha's voice reached my ears as she unknowingly appeared next to me.

Blinking a couple of times, I nodded my head.

"Yeah, I guess."

Then, tilting my head ever-so-slightly, I looked at Maylin through the corner of my eyes.

"He should have no problem winning the competition."

As expected. The moment those words escaped from my mouth, Maylin's face twitched.

This was to be expected. After all, I was basically saying that Kevin was going to win when Vaalyun, the elves' strongest competitor had still not been eliminated.

Well, I didn't care about how she felt as I reached my hand forward and grabbed onto a small black pill that had a nice yellow luster revolving around it.

As soon as I picked the pill up, a strange look appeared on Maylin's face.

"You're going to pick that?"

Staring at the pill in my hand, I slowly nodded my head.

"Yes, I will pick this."

"...Are you sure?"

Maylin once again asked. There was a weird look on her face as she said those words.

This was understandable though.

The pill that I had taken was the item that I needed from the very beginning. It was the item that could help me reach <A-> rank a lot faster than originally planned.

Pinching the pill in between my fingers, I turned to look at the queen.

"This is the item that I want."

Hearing my words, the queen's face turned even stranger as she carefully said.

"You know about the side effects of taking the pill right?"

"...Yes."

I firmly nodded my head. Before I could continue speaking, overhearing our conversation, Amanda suddenly spoke up.

"Side effects?"

Turning her to look at me, her eyes grew colder.

Feeling her intense stare, I raised my hands and quickly explained.

"Wait, it's not a bad side-effect. I will be in a weakened state for a while and lose all the hair on my body."

"..."

Silence.

Right as my words faded, silence descended on the hall as Amanda looked at me with her eyes wide open.

Staring back at her, I shrugged my shoulders.

"What? It's not like it's permanent. It will last till the effects of the pill wear out and I reach <A-> rank."

If I had to estimate how long it would take for me to reach <A-> rank, I would say it would take me about a month or two. Although I would find myself in a weakened state for a while, it wasn't the end of the world. I wasn't really planning on doing anything big for the next two months, so it didn't really matter.

Regarding the hair loss, I had the mask of Dolos with me. Could easily make it look as though nothing happened.

Pinching the pill even more tightly, I focused my attention back on the elven queen.

"Anyhow, I've made up my mind. I choose this."

***

The next day.

Sitting crossed-legged in the middle of the room, I stared intently at the pill in front of me.

"This is it..."

After selecting the pill as my reward, instead of hastily eating it right after I returned, I chose to wait a day to make enough preparations for it.

To be honest, as of right now, what I dreaded the most was the hair loss rather than the weakened state that I would find myself in. However, this was a necessary sacrifice.

Without the pill, I estimated that it would take me at least eight months to reach <A-> rank. Shortening that time to two months was definitely worth the small side-effect.

"Huuuu...Here goes nothing."

Letting out a long breath, I licked my lips.

Glancing around the place to make sure there was no one else present, I slowly picked up the pill and placed it in my mouth.

Touching the tip of my tongue, a sweet and sour taste instantly enveloped my taste buds as the pill slowly started to melt in my mouth like hard candy.

No longer hesitating, I popped the pill inside of my mouth and kept it on top of my tongue.

As the pill melted inside of my mouth, a wave of warm energy flowed into my body and slowly but surely, I felt my strength start to increase.

Chapter 459: Returning to the human domain [3]

"Give me a break."

Passing my hand over my head, and feeling just how smooth it was, I bitterly smiled.

"The effects of the pill are a lot stronger than I originally thought."

For my own sake, I refused to look at myself in the mirror. Wasn't too keen on seeing my appearance, which in the most likely scenario, probably would've reflected the lights coming from the top of the mirror and blinded my eyes.

That aside, I wasn't exactly sure about how much time passed since consuming the pill, however, if I had to make an estimate, I would say that I had been in my room for about a week.

"Ugh."

The stench that was coming out of my body made my nose momentarily close up.

Covering up my nose, I turned my wrist and checked for any new notification.

"Oh, right."

Checking my watch, my eyes lit up as soon I noticed the date. Today was the day of the finals for the tournament.

"I wonder if Kevin managed to get to the finals."

I thought out loud as I stretched my body.

Since I had not moved for about a week, my body was understandably sore.

That aside, I would start questioning life if Kevin didn't make it to the finals. My sacrifice would end up for naught.

"Anyhow, I should probably go see the match now that I'm at it."

Lowering my hand, I glanced around the room and pretended to not see just how messy it was. Then, letting out a small sigh, I headed for the shower.

***

Booom—!

The platform shook and a powerful energy blast spread out throughout the whole platform.

"Kh..."

Skidding back, Kevin's feet came to a halt near the edge of the arena grounds. A faint red hue enshrouded his sword.

'Eighteen...'

He muttered inside of his head as he slowly lifted his head and his eyes soon paused on the figure before him.

With long silver hair gently cascading down his back, and a haughty look to match his presence, Vaalyun glared in Kevin's direction.

"Is this really the best you can do? Were all the words that arrogant human said lies?"

Despite his words, there was heavy solemness in Vaalyun's voice. They had been fighting for over ten minutes, and neither of them had still gotten the upper hand in their exchanges. Their fight was even, and this enraged Vaalyun to no end.

Raising his hand, the mana in the surroundings converged towards his body. Then, twirling his fingers, a small magic circle manifested in front of him as the mana around him twisted into small sharp funnels that levitated around his body.

As soon as the spikes formed, with a simple wave of his hand, Vaalyun directed his attack in Kevin's direction.

"Die!"

Swooosh—!

Like fast projectiles, Vaalyun's attack shot in Kevin's direction at an unbelievable speed. They were so fast that only a select few from the audience below could see the path of his attack.

"Huuuu..."

With his eyes locked onto the attacks, Kevin took a deep breath. A red hue suddenly enshrouded his body, as he raised his sword in the air and slashed down.

'Nineteen...'

With a sound akin to a paper being cut, the moment Kevin slashed his sword, the area around him froze. Following this, much to the audience's shock, Vaalyun's attack once again became visible for everyone to see.

However, what made the audience gasp in surprise was the fact that the attacks were split into equal halves as they diffused in the air.

Once again, their exchange resulted in a tie. Or at least that was how it seemed at first, however, it soon became clear to the audience that Kevin held the upper hand in the exchange as the energy coming from Kevin's attack still persisted for a bit and was only stopped when Vaalyun chanted another spell to block the attack.

Stopping the attack, his body skidded backward before coming to a halt a couple of meters away from the edge of the arena.

Vaalyun's face twisted when he saw this. It had to be noted that the attack he had just used now was not just a simple attack, but one that was filled with everything that he had within him.

He didn't notice it at first, but only now that he was fighting did he notice that Kevin's attacks were becoming stronger and stronger with each slash. It had gotten to the point where he was now at a disadvantage.

His heart tensed when he realized this.

'I need to finish this quickly.' Vaalyun thought.

After the day he had been humiliated in front of everyone, people started to doubt his abilities.

They even went as far as saying that Kevin might have a shot against him.

This enraged Vaalyun to no end. A <B> rank having a shot against him, someone at the pinnacle of the elven younger generation, and a <A-> ranked individual? Preposterous!

Clenching his fists tightly, mana sprung out from his body. His long silver hair flayed wildly the moment he channeled his mana.

Lowering his head and extending both of his hands outwardly, the mana in the surroundings agglomerated in his direction as his <A-> rank pressure bore down on the arena grounds. As the mana gathered towards him, the pressure that he was emitting strengthened even further as a blue ball the size of a basketball materialized in his hands.

All of this happened within seconds, and not long after the ball of energy materialized, Vaalyun closed his hands together and compressed the energy ball.

"Contract."

He cried out inside of his heart as a circular pressurized wind gale spread out from his body as he contracted his hands together. Then, with a low clapping sound, Vaalyun managed to clasp both of his hands together. Once that happened, a smirk appeared on his face.

"...It's over."

Lifting his head and revealing his delicate and handsome features to the spectators, Vaalyun slowly lifted his palm. On it, a blue whisp was writhing slightly. An instant later, it suddenly shot out in Kevin's direction.

Theoretically speaking, because the whisp was so small and so fast, it should've been extremely hard for the spectators to see its course. However, this was no regular whisp. This whisp was filled with extremely cold energy; Therefore, a white trail of ice formed beneath its course.

Normally this wouldn't have been a good thing as it would allow an opponent to see the course of the attack, but in this case, because the attack was so fast, and so powerful, it made such a small flaw negligible.

"Huuu..."

In that split second that the whisp headed in Kevin's direction, Kevin, who had not been standing idly whilst this was happening, raised his sword in the air. The moment he did, a bright red-colored flame suddenly sprung out from his sword, enveloping the area around him.

'Overdrive'

Kevin muttered inside of his heart as the bright-colored flame became even more vibrant and the energy coming out from Kevin's body exploded.

Clenching his teeth together, Kevin ignored the terrifying energy that was starting to become too strong for him to handle. His hands were entirely focused on moving the sword downwards.

Within an instant, his hands started to bleed profusely as he increased the grip of his sword.

'Twenty...'

Kevin muttered inside of his mind as he cried out inside of his heart and slashed out.

Unlike his previous attacks, something different occurred. With a muffled thunder-like roar, as Kevin's sword fell, a violet flame shot out from its tip.

This was no regular flame, as the moment it shot out it carried a terrifying force. Waves of ripples surfaced in the air as Kevin's attack shot in the direction of Vaalun's attack.

The two attacks soon met.

At the moment when the two energies came into contact with each other, the space around the two attacks distorted. Two different kinds of terrifying energy, one being white and the other being bright red, cold and hot, stood off against each other for a moment before suddenly exploding in the air.

Bang—!

The intense energy explosion sound reverberated throughout the surroundings spreading through every corner of Issanor.

It was so loud that even those that were not actively watching the tournament could hear it.

The arena grounds instantly tore into shreds and the spectator's vision blurred as dust and debris flew everywhere.

It wasn't only the spectators that were unable to see the outcome of the match, but even the referee had a hard time seeing who had won as the energy released by the attack of the two individuals was not something he could take lightly.

Following the massive explosion, silence pervaded the surroundings as everyone eagerly waited to see the outcome of the match.

***

Bang—!

"Ah, shit. Looks like I'm late."

Hearing the loud explosion in the distance, I hurried towards the tournament areas. After having taken a shower, I quickly got dressed and put on the mask to hide my face.

Prior to ingesting the pill, I had taken a copy of my face and therefore, if I wanted to, I could look exactly the same as I did before. The only problem was my weakened state.

That one was actually annoying as it meant that I had to stay away from fighting for a while. Well, it wasn't like I was planning to pick a fight with anyone.

Entering the tournament stands, glancing around the place, my eyes soon paused on a few familiar figures in the distance. I immediately headed in their direction.

Upon arriving close to them, I asked.

"Who won?"

"Who are you?"

Jin's brows furrowed as he looked at me. Before he could say anything else, Amanda softly whispered.

"It's Ren."

"Ren?"

Tilting his head, Jin had a sudden look of understanding.

"I didn't recognize you with your mask."

"That's fine."

Waving my hand, I shrugged it off. Couldn't really blame him. The face I was currently using was the face of one of the guards I had killed back at the Monolith.

What I really was surprised by was how Amanda had been able to recognize me. From what I remembered last time, she had almost mistaken me for a someone that was hitting on her, yet, the moment she saw me now, she was able to instantly recognize me.

Just as I was about to ask her how she knew, seemingly being able to read my thoughts, she moved a bit closer and whispered.

"Since that incident, I've memorized the faces of all the humans that were supposed to be present in Issanor. Your face doesn't belong to anyone on the list."

"Ah."

That made sense.

Sounded like a lot of effort. Not that I was one to speak as I had also done the same.

"Hm?"

Blinking my eyes a couple of times, I suddenly noticed something.

Lowering my head, I was surprised to see Emma sitting down in the stands, watching over the match in the distance.

Currently, her eyes were focused on the arena grounds in the distance that was covered by a large dust cloud.

Seeing the worried look on her face, I decided to not say anything and just focused my attention on the arena grounds.

The dust that was enshrouding the arena grounds did not stay for long as it was soon cleared out by the referee who simply waved his hand. At the exact moment when the dust was cleared, silence pervaded the stands as everyone's eyes locked towards the distance.

'...He didn't disappoint.'

With one knee on the ground and supporting his body up with his sword, Kevin appeared in the middle of the arena. Apart from the fact that his clothes were torn and his hair was messy, he didn't look too injured.

The same couldn't be said for Vaalyun, his opponent. Laying down with his eyes closed, his hair scattered all over the ground, and heavy injuries all over his body, it became clear to everyone watching that Vaalyun had lost.

In the midst of the silence that was enshrouding the place, I turned to look at Jin.

"Hey, is that really the guy that kicked us out of the coffee shop? I kind of feel embarrassed now. Also, now that I think about it since you're here, it must mean you have lost. What place did you get?"

Jin's mouth twitched when he heard my words. Before he could say anything else, the crowd erupted into large cheers, and a relieved look appeared on Emma's face.

Turning my attention away from Jin and staring at Kevin's figure in the distance, a soft smile appeared on my face as I thought to myself.

'...Guess I can finally go back home now.'

Chapter 460: Returning to the human domain [4]

Once Kevin won his match, he was quickly brought to the medical area. Even though he looked fine on the outside, I knew for a fact that he was anything but fine.

Having used [Overdrive] for the lengthy period time that he did, his internals must've been heavily damaged.

Besides that, Vaalyun was no easy opponent. That last energy blast was something that even I had trouble handling. Let alone Kevin who was weaker than me.

"Congratulations on your victory."

Entering the nursing area and seeing Kevin all bandaged up, I tapped onto the mask on my face and my face warped to my regular face. With hair, obviously.

There was no chance in hell I would ever let Kevin find out about my hair situation. Not even if I was on the verge of death. Just imaging the consequences of the reveal made me secretly clench my teeth in anger.

Absolutely no way!

"Let me take a seat over here, you don't mind, do you?"

Currently, it was just the two of us in the room. The reason for this was because Emma was in a wheelchair and thus Amanda took it upon herself to push her here.

That being said, it would still probably take them a while to come here, therefore, I quickly took a seat next to Kevin.

Sitting down, I massaged my chin and complemented.

"It was a pretty good fight, not going to lie."

Not that I watched it. The moment I arrived the match was already almost over.

"T...thanks."

Kevin weakly said as he laid on the bed. He had a serious look on his face.

Noticing this, I asked.

"What, you not happy about the fact that you've won?"

"No, I am."

Kevin replied with a difficult look.

"It's just that..."

Halting himself mid-sentence and turning his head, Kevin faced the window that was beside him.

"Nevermind, I'll tell you later. Right now is not the right place to tell you this. Maybe once I sorted my thoughts out."

"Oh?"

My eyebrow raised when he said this. Just as I was about to say something else, Kevin quickly switched the topic.

"How are you holding up?"

Despite noticing Kevin's attempt at changing the topic, I decided to feign ignorance to it. Since he wasn't planning on telling me right now, I was planning on waiting till he felt comfortable enough to tell me.

"I'm fine."

I replied with a smile as I flexed my bicep. Kevin's brows knit when he saw this.

"You don't look fine to me."

The smile on my face froze.

"...You can tell?"

Were the side effects of the pill that obvious for him to see?

Crossing his arms together, Kevin nodded his head.

"Yeah, the mana revolving around your body seems extremely weak."

"You're more perceptive than I originally thought."

Crossing my legs, and leaning back on the chair, I let out a long and extended sigh.

"I've currently ingested a pill that will boost my rank, so for the next two months I will be in a weakened state."

Surprise flashed across Kevin's face as he asked again.

"Ingested a pill?"

"Yeah, it's a pretty strong one at that."

"That's problematic. What if someone suddenly attacks you?"

"Small price to pay for strength."

Well, it wasn't just that.

What was truly special about the pill was not only the fact that it allowed me to cut a considerable amount of time for me to rank up but the fact that during the two months that I was in a weakened state, I would be able to perceive the psyons in the air a lot more clearly.

In fact, as of right now, my perception of psyons had boosted significantly. Although I couldn't quite see them as the elves could, I still had two months to get to that level.

Under this ultra-perceptive state, if I took advantage of my situation properly, my psyon control should reach a level far above what I had in the past; Therefore, although it only looked like the pill made me rank up, it actually had the added effect of drastically improving my perception of psyons and thus give me a considerable strength boost.

This itself was what made the pill so miraculous and tempted me so much. The stronger my psyon control, the stronger my general moves would become, and not only that, so would my mana consumption efficiency.

Simply put, this was a must-take pill, and I was glad I took it.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I suddenly recalled something. Lifting my head, I looked at Kevin.

"Before I forget, Kevin, what are you going to choose for your reward?"

Clank—!

Before Kevin could reply, the door opened up and Emma walked in with Amanda pushing her from behind.

The moment Emma entered the room, Kevin's eyes lit up.

"Emma."

Pushed behind by Amanda, Emma smiled in Kevin's direction.

"...congratulations on your victory."

"Thank you."

Staring at them who had just entered the room, I glanced in Kevin's direction. The moment I saw the expression on his face I already knew the answer to my question. Letting out a long sigh, I pressed my hands over my thighs and stood up.

Stretching my neck, I patted Kevin on the shoulder.

"Guess this is my cue."

Taking his eyes away from Emma, Kevin looked up at me and dumbly nodded his head.

"Huh, ah, yeah sure."

Seeing the state that he was in, I shook my head and secretly spat inside of my head.

'Simp.'

Glancing in Amanda's direction, as though we were in sync with each other, she quickly bid Amanda goodbye and we both left the room, leaving the two of them alone together.

Stepping out of the room, Amanda pursed her lips before she turned to look at me.

"...What are you planning on doing after this?"

Thinking for a bit, I responded.

"I'm going to pack my stuff, you?"

Actually, that was a lie. I didn't really need to pack up. However, as I've previously mentioned, with my perception of psyons intensified, I wanted to take advantage of every little moment I had to study them, and thus improve my control.

Every second that I used was precious.

"...My mother."

Amanda answered with a calm look on her face.

"Is she going back to the human domain with you?"

"Yes."

"...I see."

Not sure why she decided to leave, perhaps because she wanted to help out with the guild? I wasn't really sure, but, in a way this was good.

From what I've heard, Amanda had been having a hard time back in the guild since she was taking care of everything single-handedly. Having her mother help her was a good thing.

***

Two days passed since then.

The conference was officially over, and every human that had come to participate was slowly leaving to return to the human domain through the portals outside of the city.

Waiting at the front of my residence were a couple of familiar figures.

Gervis, Douglas, and Ornol, Malvil's disciple.

After having spent over a month in Issanor, it was finally time for me to return to the human domain. How long had it been since I returned home? A year, or two?

Honestly, I had lost count, but it had been too long for my comfort.

"Here ya go."

In the midst of my thoughts, I suddenly heard Gervis's voice as he tossed me a small transparent flask. Snapping out of it, I quickly raised my hand and caught the flask.

"Thanks."

Without needing to look at it, I knew what it was. The elven tear.

Since I had promised Hein that I was going to get him one for his father, I naturally pulled some strings and had Gervis get one for me. Of course, this was at a price and not for free.

In exchange for the elven tear, Gervis had asked me to do something for him. Fortunately, the task required me to be at around <S> rank, so I still had time.

Taking a look at the flask in my hand, I decided to put it away. Then, raising my head I alternated my head between Gervis and Douglas.

"...About the result of the conference."

"You don't have to worry about that."

Raising his head to stop me from speaking, Gervis smiled.

"If you're asking about whether humanity will be able to join the alliance or not, although we have not come to an agreement just yet, things are looking promising for you guys."

"That's great," Douglas replied with a smile.

Clasping his hands together, he turned to look at me.

"Are you ready? We will be leaving soon."

"Yup, give me a second."

Glancing in the direction of Ornol, I extended my hands forward and took an object that was currently enveloped in a white cloth from him. It was my sword.

After my fight with Kevin, since I was no longer planning on fighting anymore, I gave Ornol the sword to check for any damages. Even though it was made out of a material that made it almost impossible for it to break, it was never bad to double-check.

Handing me the sword back, Ornol reminded.

"As I've said before, there are no damages to the sword, and the first seal should break as soon as you reach <A-> rank."

Putting the sword back in my dimensional space, I nodded my head.

"That's good."

With a displeased look, Ornol crossed his arms.

"Take good care of it. My master said that the sword will only be yours if you can fully unlock all of its seals. If before the age of twenty-eight you can't unlock four of the five seals, he said that he will not unlock the final seal for you."

"Yes, yes, I know, you don't have to remind me."

This wasn't the first time that I heard this. Malvil had repeatedly told me the same thing before. I naturally understood his intentions.

Malvil wasn't the type to give out his works easily. One had to prove to him that they were worthy of them, and therefore, as I had still not proven to him that I was worthy of holding onto the sword, the sword was still not actually mine.

Well, in a sense it was as Malvil wouldn't actually take it back, but without his approval, the final seal of the sword couldn't be opened and therefore lose a lot of the potential the sword had.

With all the seals unlocked, I didn't doubt that the sword's rank would reach a level near or even above <SS> rank.

"Alright Ren, it's time for us to go."

In the midst of my thoughts, Douglas's voice reached my ears, snapping me out of it.

"Ah, sure."

Spending the next minute or so bidding Gervis and Ornol farewell, I soon followed Douglas from behind. It wasn't long before we arrived at our destined portal station. Because Douglas and I did not go to Issanor the same way as the others, we were led to a different portal to get back to the human domain.

Apparently, it was for 'security reasons'.

Pausing in front of the portal, Douglas turned around and asked.

"Did you bring everything with you?"

Patting my clothes and checking my bracelet I nodded my head.

"Yes, I have everything with me."

This included the red book that was currently resting inside of my bag.

Upon hearing my words, with a soft smile on his face, Douglas turned around and stepped into the portal.

"Okay then, let's get going."

Entering the portal, his figure soon disappeared from my vision and I took a deep breath.

"Haaa..."

'This is it'

I thought. Finally, I was about to return home.

Taking another breath, I slowly stepped into the portal and a familiar sensation washed over my body.

***

A/N : If you're wondering why there have only been one chap updates in the past two days, it's because I'm taking my time planning volume [4]. I will go back to two a day in a day or two. I just need a bit of time to properly plan.

Chapter 461: Returning to the human domain[5]

"It's been a while since I've been here."

Staring at the metropolis that was Ashton city, I felt a wave of nostalgia wash over me.

It had truly been a while since I had gone back to the human domain and everything felt weird from the skyscrapers that covered every inch of the city to the general vibe of the place.

Comapred to Henlour and Issanor, it just felt different.

After separating from Douglas, and altering my face with the mask, my first stop was my parent's house. Well, in a way it could also be argued that this was my house since I didn't really have my own house. Used to live in the Lock dormitories after all.

"This should be the place, no?"

Halting my steps in front of a large building and double-checking with my phone's GPS, I proceeded to walk into the building.

The building that I was currently walking into was owned by the Demon hunter guild and it was the place that Amanda had given to my parents in order to ensure their safety.

Walking into the building I could understand why Amanda had decided to bring them here. The moment I stepped into the building, blocking the door were several guards whose rank was in between <B> rank to <A> rank.

Not only that, but the moment they appeared, I felt the presence of a few lasers scanning my body from top to bottom.

Di—! Di—!

"Stop right there."

A booming voice echoed as several guards came to greet me at the entrance.

It was clear that whatever the laser beams were, they were able to alert the guards of my strength as they all came at me with solemn looks on their faces.

For a moment I didn't know how to react to the situation as I was slowly surrounded by the guards.

Taking a step forward a buff guard with a sharp look and serious disposition scanned me from top to bottom.

"State your name and the reason for entering this place."

Staring at the guard in front of me and feeling his aura, I secretly thought.

'She wasn't kidding when she said that security here was tight.'

In terms of size and strength, he was comparable to Kimor.

Putting on a polite smile, I tapped onto my face and handed him my ID.

"I'm here to meet my family."

At the exact moment, I tapped on my face, my face morphed to my normal face, with hair obviously, and surprise flashed across the guard's face as he hastily took my card. Checking the card, the guard lowered and raised his head multiple times.

This repeated for the next minute or so, and just as I was about to get annoyed, the guard's disposition crumbled apart as he weakly muttered.

"I...it's really you."

"Huh?"

Following his words, he, alongside the other guards quickly rushed toward me.

"I'm a huge fan of yours."

"That fight was amazing. I replayed it multiple times."

"The way that you made those arrogant bastards know their place..."

Overwhelmed by the looks that the guards were giving me, I became slightly flustered and took a step back.

'What in the world is going?'

The way they were looking at me felt as though they were looking at their favorite celebrity.

Although I had originally expected such a reaction after my performance at the conference, I didn't expect it to go as far as this.

I was typically used to being ignored and low-key, but this sudden change took me by surprise.

"...I knew that this was going to happen."

Before I could do anything about the situation, a crisp and tired voice sounded from behind me. I was able to instantly recognize who the voice belonged to as I turned my head with glee.

My savior had finally arrived.

"Amanda!"

"Yes."

Standing at the entrance of the building wearing simple blue shirts and a plain white shirt, Amanda's hair which was tied in a ponytail swayed from left to right as she walked up to me.

Looking at her coming in my direction, I had to say, although she was wearing simple clothing, it couldn't hide her stunning beauty as she quickly mesmerized all of the guards present.

Not minding the stares and stopping next to me, Amanda eyed the guards that were surrounding me with a displeased look on her face.

"I'm not paying tens of millions of U a month just to stand there and fanboy over him. Quickly go back to your post."

"Y...yes madam."

Listening to Amanda's words, all of the guards quickly lowered their heads and apologized.

Following this, heading my ID card back, they all returned to their regular posts.

Once the guards disappeared, Amanda sighed.

"You need to be more careful. After what you've done at the conference your name is no longer unknown, you are now one of the most famous people in the human domain. Your face is quite recognizable."

Touching my face, I softly muttered.

"That so..."

"Yes."

Amanda nodded her head before she started to walk towards the far end of the building. I naturally followed her from behind.

Stopping in front of the elevator, Amanda pressed the button and called for it. With a small chime, the button lit up.

Di—!

Taking her hand back, Amanda turned to look at me.

"When did you arrive?"

"Just now, you?"

"This morning."

"...I see."

This made sense.

Since I had to wait for Gervis to give me the elven tear, as well as wait for Douglas to finish with his tasks, I returned to the human domain at a much later hour than the others.

Glancing around the place, I asked.

"What about your mother?"

"...She's already settling herself at home."

Pausing, for I moment I saw her brows twitch. It was very subtle and almost unnoticeable. For a moment I thought that I saw wrong, but her next words made me understand that I had seen correctly as her face crumbled slightly.

"She also already met Nola."

"Huh?"

My eyes opened widely when I heard this.

"She already met Nola?"

"Yeah, we live on the same floor after all. Let's not talk about her reaction."

"That bad?"

"Yes, and I've also met her. She's very excited to see you."

A smile appeared on my face when she said this.

Di—! Di—!

With a loud chime the elevator doors opened up and we quickly got in. Pressing onto the top button, the elevator soon closed and I felt a pushing sensation coming from the bottom of my feet.

Unbothered by it, my brows suddenly furrowed as I thought.

"Wait, you already told her that I'm coming?"

"Yes."

Amanda tilted her head and gave me a 'what about it look?'. My mouth twitched when I saw this.

'...and here I was trying to surprise her.'

Well, in hindsight, this was for the best. After all, it had been quite a while since I had last seen Nola. A child's memory was short and she could've already forgotten about me. Hearing that she was excited about my arrival made me feel more relaxed.

*

There were a total of two hundred floors in the building, and it didn't even take half a minute for us to reach the top floor. Once the doors opened, I followed Amanda out of the elevator.

The walk wasn't long. As the top floor was reserved for the most premium guests, there were only a couple of rooms.

"Here we are."

Halting in front of a large door, my heartbeat unknowingly sped up.

Closing my eyes, I quickly recomposed myself. There was no need for me to be nervous. I was just about to meet my parents. It wasn't anything life-threatening or anything like that.

Hell, I wasn't even nervous when I planned to infiltrate Inferno, an organization that was even bigger than the Monolith, why would I be nervous now and not then?

In the midst of me trying to convince myself that I wasn't nervous, extending her hand and placing it by the side of the door, with a subtle 'click' the door unlocked. Then, placing her hand on the handle of the door, Amanda opened the door.

With a smile on her face, she turned to look at me and said.

"There's no need to be nervous, the are already wai—"

"Wheee..."

But not even halfway through her sentence and her mouth froze. Following which, with a small 'swooosh' something flew past us as a soft and cheerful voice rang in the air.

"This..."

Staring at the scene presented before me after the door opened, my mouth twitched as I had trouble processing what was happening.

Standing in the middle of the room with a soft orange glow enveloping her body, Monica raised her hand in the air. Levitating in the air was Nola who wore a cute red one-piece dress with white dots all over.

Staring at Monica, Nola giggled uncontrollably.

"More, more."

Staring at Nola who was levitating in front of her, Monica's smile widened.

"Do you want to go faster Nola?"

"Um, Um."

Nola clenched her fists and nodded her head repeatedly.

"Faster!"

"Okay, here we go!"

With a satisfied smile on her face, the glow around Monica's body intensified and Nola's body shot away.

"Wheeeeee!"

Nola's voice rang throughout the whole house as her body flew all over the place.

Staring at the scene in front of me, I opened and closed my mouth repeatedly. For the first time in a while, I had become so speechless that I felt my mouth hanging all the way toward the bottom of my neck.

'What in the world is going on?'

To make things even more confusing, sitting by the other end of the room were my parents alongside a couple of familiar faces. Donna and Amanda's mother. They looked to be completely fine with the fact that Nola was currently flying all over the room.

"Wheeeeee...."

Nola's joyful voice once again rang throughout the room as her body zig-zagged through every corner of the room.

With a dull look on her face, Amanda shook her head and sympathetically said.

"...I was the same as you this morning."

"I'm try—"

"Oh, Ren, you're finally here."

Cutting me off mid-sentence was Monica's high-pitched voice. Following her words, everyone finally took notice of my presence and Nola's body halted mid-air.

"Brother!"

She joyfully shouted as she extended both of her hands. Before I could even react, Nola's body suddenly shot in my direction.

Swoooosh—!

Caught by surprise, my eyes opened widely and Nola's body came crashing down on my chest, knocking the air out of me.

"Ahhghh..."

Fortunately, I was able to safely catch Nola who snuggled up on my chest like a puppy that had not seen its owner for years.

"Brother! Brother! Brother!"

She repeatedly shouted as her body tightly clung to me. Lowering my head and staring at her, a soft smile appeared on my face. Extending my hand, I caressed her small head.

"I'm back, did you miss me?"

"Um, Um. I saw you on TV. So cool. My brother is the coolest."

"Is that so?"

Listening to her words of praise, unknowingly the smile on my face deepened. Not going to lie, it felt good being praised by her.

While Nola was still snuggling in my arms, I suddenly heard my mother's voice coming from the distance.

"Oh my, Nola, your brother is tired, don't cling onto him too much."

Standing up from her seat, she quickly approached us and grabbed Nola by the armpits, trying to get snatch her out of my arms.

"No!"

However, Nola's grip was strong. Latching onto my body like an octopus, she refused to let go of my body.

"Nola, let go right now."

"Noooo!"

Unfortunately, despite all of Nola's protests, my mother proved to be too much for Nola to handle as she quickly retrieved her from my body. Then, turning to face Amanda, she handed Nola to her.

"Amanda dear, would you do me a favor and hold her for a bit."

"...Okay."

Nodding her head, Amanda took Nola in her arms. Although Nola wanted to protest, under our mother's glare she could only obediently do as she was told.

Seeing that Nola had calmed down, clapping her hands with a satisfied look on her face, she turned to look at me.

"Okay, my turn."

The moment her words fell, my eyes opened widely.

'Shit.'

"Oumph!"

Unfortunately, I realized her intentions too late. Before I could even react, she already dashed in my direction and instantly brought me in her embrace.

"Oh, Ren, my dear son! Your mom was so worried about you!"

Pausing every few seconds, she would pinch my face all over and repeat the same words.

"Look at how much you've grown. Oh, my boy has grown up so much."

Under her constant hugs and kisses, a bitter smile appeared on her face. To add insult to injury, as my mother was clinging to me, giggles and laughter rang throughout the whole room as everyone looked at me with pity in their eyes.

Even Amanda who usually never laughed was giggling uncontrollably.

Never before in my life did I ever want to bury my body so deeply down under the ground.

"Okay, honey, you can calm down now."

Coming to my rescue was my father who quickly arrived and patted my mother on the shoulder.

"Hmmm, a little bit more."

My mother protested, however, my father shook his head.

"Didn't you say it before? Ren's tired, let him rest a bit."

"Ugh...fine."

Finally, after a couple of seconds, she finally let go of me. However, as she let go, I could see a look of deep reluctance on her face.

Free from my mother's grasp, I gratefully looked at my father.

"Thank you."

Smiling back, he nudged me with his head.

"Come, have a seat with us at the table."

Upon saying those words, he quickly brought my reluctant mother towards the table where everyone else sat. Amanda followed after him.

Raising my head and staring at everyone in the room, I lowered my head slightly and muttered.

"...Okay."

For the first time in a very long time...

I felt at peace.

***

A/N : End of Volume [3]. I will return to two update schedule after tomorrow.

Chapter 462: Crack in the sky [1]

Inside of a pitch-black void.

With his eyes closed, a figure bearing striking resemblances to a human sat in the middle of the void. He had ashen-grey white hair and a cold merciless look that chilled anyone that looked in his direction.

Sitting crossed-legged in the middle of the void, the figure's eyes were closed.

For an unknown period of time, the figure remained seated without moving a single muscle of his body. Had it not been for the rhythmical movement of his chest, someone could've easily mistaken him for dead.

How much time passed since then, no one could tell as the concept of time had become null in that black void.

Twitch.

With a small twitch, the figure's eyes suddenly moved.

Following the first twitch came the second twitch, and before long the figure's eyes suddenly sprung open revealing two blood-red pupils.

"…"

Blinking a couple of times, the area surrounding the figure suddenly froze.

Glancing around the place, the figure had an apathetic and cold look on his face.

It was then that his lips tugged upwards as he slowly opened his mouth.

"You've weakened haven't you."

Drifting throughout the void was the figure's cold, yet arrogant voice. A deep chill permeated the place as the figure slowly stood up.

Taking a look at his surroundings, the figure closed his eyes and raised his hand. With a simple swipe of his hand, the space in front of him tore apart.

C...crack!

Once the space tore apart creating a small crack in the fabric of space in front of him. Following the space tear, a shocking scene was revealed behind it.

Over thirty or so different figures stood behind a large honeycombed sphere that was currently surrounding the white haired figure. Each figure emitted a tremendous pressure that caused the surroundings to distort at their mere breath.

Staring at the figures standing behind the sphere, the ashen white haired individual smiled.

"What an interesting welcome." The figure muttered before he closed his eyes and took a step toward the crack.

Before entering the crack, he mouthed a couple of more words.

"It looks like the two of them have already partially awoken. It's time for me to do my part."

***

"Welcome back."

"Congratulations on your victory."

"Your performance was amazing."

The moment Kevin entered the Union headquarters, he was instantly greeted by his colleagues who flattered and applauded him for his achievements at the conference.

No one mentioned his loss with Ren, but this was understandable. Kevin was part of the Union while Ren wasn't. Furthermore, Kevin was the rising star of the Union; no one wanted to get on his bad side.

With a calm smile on his face, Kevin thanked everyone that complimented him. He was already prepared for such a scenario and therefore wasn't the least bit flustered.

"Thank you, thank you."

After thanking everyone, Kevin quickly headed for the changing room. Today he was tasked with the role of entering a dungeon with another small team from the Union.

It was a simple reconnaissance mission. With the Union owning over a thousand different dungeons, every once in a while they needed to do a small check to see if any demon had infiltrated or if the dungeon was still stable.

Arriving at the changing room, Kevin opened his designated locker room and took out a special suit.

Clank—

He quickly put it on.

The suit was made from the skin of a rare beast that could only be found on the outskirts of the human domain and had to be personally hunted. What made the skin so special was its special properties that allowed for it to absorb 10% of the damage inflicted by an <A> ranked individual.

It didn't sound like a lot, but for Kevin, this amount was something that could potentially save his life.

As he put on the suit, he secretly thought to himself.

'Even though I won the competition, they only gave me a few days' rest. How ungrateful.'

Not even a couple of days had passed since his return to the human domain and the Union had forced him to go on this small excursion.

He was honestly quite tired, but a job was a job, and thus.

Ziiiip!

Zipping the back of his suit up, Kevin calmly walked out of the changing room. Then, turning right of the room, Kevin headed for a special room where several people were already waiting for him, all wearing similar suits to him.

Upon arriving in the room, Kevin glanced towards the other and solemnly asked.

"Everyone's already gathered?"

With their backs straights, all of the recruits simultaneously shouted.

"Yes sir!" "Yes sir!" "Yes sir!"

"Good."

Kevin nodded his head in satisfaction when he saw this. Extending his hand, Kevin asked.

"Give me the report on the dungeon."

"Yes sir!"

Taking a step forward, a young girl with long brown hair tied in a ponytail and a chubby figure handed Kevin a small tablet.

"Thank you."

Taking the tablet from the girl with a polite smile, Kevin quickly looked through the information written on the tablet.

"<B> rank dungeon, Asmdeous's call."

Swiping right of the tablet, he read the details of the dungeon aloud.

"The dungeon is a land-type dungeon. Its setting is in the grassland of the demon realm, and the monsters that can be found in the dungeon are, the Mongslow, Cobarweb, Ascentiatic scorpion..."

As Kevin read through the list of monsters found inside the dungeon, his brows couldn't help but furrow.

'This dungeon is a lot more difficult than I had originally anticipated.'

It was only now that he looked through the list that Kevin realized that the dungeon he had been assigned to was on the higher spectrum of the <B> rank dungeons. In terms of danger, this dungeon could even rival some low leveled <A> ranked dungeons.

"Alright, I get the gist of the situation."

It was only after he read through the information a couple of more times that Kevin finally put the tablet away and turned his attention back toward the recruits.

With a solemn look on his face, he looked at everyone present.

"I'm not exactly sure why the heads of the department chose to hand this mission to us, but from the l—Hm?"

In the midst of his speech, Kevin's eyes suddenly shrunk as the whole room suddenly started to shake uncontrollably.

Rumble— Rumble—

"Huh?!"

"What's going on?"

"An earthquake?"

At the exact moment the trembling happened, everyone inside of the room became alarmed as they grabbed onto something to keep themselves steady.

Grabbing the side of the portal, Kevin also wondered what happened. Channeling the mana inside of his body, he kept his body upright and looked around the room in wonder.

However, before he could even have time to process everything, a low chime suddenly rang inside of his head as multiple red labels materialized in front of him, startling him completely.

"What the..."

Di— Di—

[Warning.] [Warning.] [Warning.]

===

[Demon king ascension] : 5 years : 8 months : 2 days : 57 seconds.

===

Staring at the system interface in front of him, Kevin's mouth hung open as his mind blanked completely.

"W...what's going on!?"

Everything happened so fast and unexpectantly that it took time for him to understand what the message meant, and when he did, his eyes opened widely and a curse escaped from his mouth.

"Shit..."

It was at that moment that Kevin understood that something terrible must've happened.

***

"Bye Nola."

"Bye Brother."

Dropping Nola at school, I bid her goodbye with a smile on my face.

Having spent the last couple of days with her and my family I felt much more relaxed.

Because I had been away from her and my parents for a very long time, there was a lot I had to catch up with them. During the days that I returned, I spent most of my time at home catching up with them. From there, I was able to learn a lot of new things such as the fact that Nola was now in kindergarten and that my parents were now no longer in any debt.

In fact, with the world now knowing of my identity, they received multiple sponsorship deals from large conglomerates, in hopes of trying to get on their goods sides.

I originally thought that this was a good deal for them, however, it appeared as though the two of them were satisfied with what they had and refused all of the offers that came their way.

Despite me telling them that it was okay for them to accept the offers, they adamantly refused, and so, shrugging my shoulders, I could only accept their decision.

"...I should probably get going."

It was only after I watched Nola's figure disappear in the school that I finally left the school premise.

Clank—!

Heading for my car, the moment I arrived a couple of meters away from it, the car door slowly rose in an upward manner.

Following this, I quickly entered the car and stepped onto the accelerator. My next destination was the group headquarters.

It had been a while since I had met the others, and it was time that I started making preparations for the future.

That, and the fact that I needed to take care of a couple of problems. Primarily, Everblood and Aaron's parents.

Now that I was back in the human domain, I decided to quickly eliminate all possible threats before they got to me.

Rather than wait for them to come at me, the best decision was to go at them before they even had the chance to come at me.

There was also the Monolith, but they weren't an organization I could simply touch as I wished. I was still far too weak to handle them.

"Hm?"

Coming to a stop in front of a traffic light, my brows suddenly furrowed. Staring toward the sky, I suddenly saw a horde of birds flying in the air in a weird manner. To make things even weirder, I suddenly felt a weird fluctuation in the mana in the air.

Twisting the keys of my car, I turned off the engine of the car and stepped out of the car. Placing my hand on the top of the car, I looked at my surroundings. Everything felt normal, yet different at the same time.

It was hard to explain, but...it felt as though this was the calm before the storm.

Ba...thump. Ba...thump.

Unknowingly my heart started to speed up.

Rumble—

Before I could make heads or tails of the feeling that I was feeling, the ground started to shake and startled screams rang everywhere.

"Shit."

A curse escaped from my mouth as I channeled the mana inside of my body and kept my feet planted on the ground.

Rumble— Rumble—

As seconds passed the ground started to shake even more fiercely and people started to fall over. Their panicked screams rang throughout every corner of the city, and the cars around me started to beep uncontrollably.

Cra...Crack.

Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, my ears twitched as I heard the sound of something tearing apart.

Slowly lifting my head, my pupils instantly dilated as I watched the sky tear apart and a huge tear appeared in the sky.

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, I opened and closed my mouth repeatedly.

"It can't be, this event..."

Before I could even finish my sentence, the crack in the sky opened up even more widely, and suddenly, the mana in the air thickened up considerably.

Instantly the pores of my body opened up and my body started to greedily absorb the mana in the air. My strength which had been growing at a steady pace increased by a notch or two.

Normally I would've been happy about this development, however, I was anything but happy. Rather, a heavy solemness enshrouded my body as I quickly got back into my car and turned on the engine.

Pressing onto the gas peddle, I quickly turned back and headed back to the kindergarten.

As I sped through the streets, I couldn't help but repeatedly curse aloud.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck..."

Chapter 463: Crack in the sky [2]

Screeech—!

With a loud screech, the car came to a stop in front of Nola's kindergarten and I got out of the car.

Without looking back, I quickly headed for the kindergarten. Although the situation wasn't exactly dangerous as I knew what was happening, I still decided to pick Nola up. I couldn't quite trust my memories anymore.

Rumble—!

Entering the premise of the kindergarten, there were a couple of guards guarding the entrance, however, they were all too preoccupied looking at the sky to even notice my appearance as I quickly headed inside.

'Which one is Nola's classroom?'

Cluelessly navigating through the corridors of the building, I looked left and right in hopes of seeing Nola.

As I looked around the place, I could hear the panicked screams and cries of the teachers and students echoing throughout the corridors and classrooms of the place.

"Nola!"

To my luck, I didn't have to look for long as I soon found Nola inside one of the classrooms, hunched on the ground with her head covered with her hands.

I immediately rushed towards her.

Hearing me call out for her, Nola turned around and reached her hands for me.

"Brother!"

"I'm here."

Grabbing her by the armpits, I brought her into my embrace and finally calmed down. So long as she was okay, then everything was okay.

Raising my head and staring at my surroundings, my brows furrowed.

There were over twenty other children inside the room, and they all looked panicked.

Rumble—!

With another rumble, the classroom shook and the children started to cry even harder. Nola who was tightly holding onto me, tugged the back of my shirt as she softly said.

"Brother, I'm scared."

"It's alright, it's nothing major. Just a small earthquake."

Caressing her head, I quickly reassured her that everything was fine.

"Earthquake?"

"Yes, just grab tightly and nothing will happen."

Lowering my head and staring at Nola, I smiled.

"Didn't you say it before? Brother is strong isn't he?"

"Um."

Seemingly convinced by my words, Nola brought her face closer to my chest and closed her eyes.

I sighed in relief once I saw this.

Taking a look at the children inside of the classroom, I headed for the teacher that was trying to calm everyone down. Because of what was happening she had still not realized my presence.

Walking toward the teacher, I softly called out for her.

"Excuse me."

"Huh? Who are you?"

Startled, the teacher jumped back.

Tilting my head and showing the teacher Nola's face, I quickly tried to calm her down.

"It's alright, I'm her brother."

Then, glancing toward the others, I quickly said.

"You don't have to panic about the situation. It's only a light earthquake, it should disappear in a couple of minutes. What you should do is calm the kids down. The building is reinforced with special means, so it won't crumble down under this type of shaking."

If I had to estimate the strength of the shaking, I would say that it would be comparable to an earthquake of magnitude 6.5.

It was strong, but it wasn't something that could cause the building any trouble. After all, the building was designed to even withstand earthquakes of magnitude 9.9, which was the highest ever recorded, even when the first cataclysm occurred.

Simply put, this situation was not dangerous.

As I said those words, I made sure to release a wisp of my aura to reassure her that I was someone reliable.

"O...okay."

Hearing my words, and sensing my power, the teacher finally managed to calm down. She then quickly got to work and helped all of the children calm down. I nodded when I saw this.

Then, with Nola still in my arms, I quickly got out of the building.

As I had memorized the way when I entered, it didn't take me long to get out of the building.

Arriving at my car, the door opened and I let Nola sit on the front seat.

Clip—!

Fastening her seatbelt, I got onto my seat and pressed the accelerator of the car. My current destination was the mercenary headquarters. At the moment, that was probably the safest place that I could go to.

As I was driving the car, I glanced towards the small screen that sat at the front of the car. With my right hand, I tapped onto the screen and called my parents to make sure that everything was alright with them.

The last time I checked they were home, and therefore shouldn't be too worried about their situation. But I still needed to double-check.

Riiing—! Riiing—!

The phone did not ring for long as my mom's panicked voice sounded from the speakers of the car.

—Ren? Is everything alright? Are you okay? Is Nola with you?

Seeing how panicked she sounded, I quickly tried to calm her down.

"Mom, calm down, everything is alright. I'm with Nola."

Turning my head, I looked at Nola.

"Nola, say hi to mom."

"Hi, mom."

—Oh thank god, I was very worried. Thank god you two are fine.

It was only after she heard Nola's voice that my mom calmed down. Before she could continue, I quickly informed her of my plans.

"Mom, I'm going to bring Nola to my workplace. I figured that's the safest place to bring her, so you don't have to worry about us."

As I was talking, I suddenly noticed Nola tilt her head away from the speakers.

Extending my hand, I lowered the volume of the speakers before continuing.

"Regarding the situation, it's best if you stay home for the next couple of hours. The situation is not as bad as you think it is. But just in case, stay at home with dad, okay?"

Because I already had an idea of what was happening, I knew that the situation wasn't exactly terrible. However, just in case something did happen, I still suggested that they should stay at home for the day.

Fortunately, my mother readily agreed with my words as she said.

—Okay, if you say so. Make sure you keep Nola safe, okay? I trust you.

"Yes, don't worry."

Glancing at Nola who was staring at the streets, I once again repeated.

"Don't worry."

***

"What is happening?"

Standing up and staring toward the window of her apartment, Monica's brows furrowed. Taking a step forward, she appeared outside of her building, levitating in the air.

Her bright orange hair gently moved upwards as the wind blew past her.

Raising her head and staring at the crack in the sky, her brows knit tightly.

"This doesn't look good," She softly mumbled to herself. Although she couldn't quite understand what was happening, she knew that the crack in the sky was not a good sign for what was to come in the future.

Her disposition quickly became serious.

"Hm?"

From above she could faintly hear the panicked cries coming from beneath the city, however, this all went deaf hear to her as she suddenly an odd sensation coarse through her body.

"What's going on?"

Raising her hand, her pupils dilated as she found millions of bright red particles floating around her.

Swiping her hand to the right, she watched as the bright red particles brushed past her hand like water. To make matters even odder was the fact that as she brushed her hand past the particles, she could feel the mana inside of her body increase.

Her lips dried up once she felt this.

"The mana in the air, it's thickening up..."

Before she knew it, the red particles in the air surrounding her became denser and denser. It wasn't long before she was surrounded by the red particles.

"Huuuu."

Instead of panicking, Monica suddenly closed her eyes. Following this, something extraordinary happened.

The bright red particles that were floating around Monica came to a sudden stop. Then, as though Monica was a vacuum, the particles in the air suddenly shot toward Monica's body like a funnel.

The hue revolving around Monica's body intensified and her hair shot upwards. With her eyes still closed, a bright flame-like hue suddenly materialized by the side of Monica's eyes as the area around her froze.

Ohm~ Ohm~

An humming sound rang in the air, and a red funnel manifested above Monica's body.

This persisted for an unknown period of time before Monica's head suddenly arched upwards and a bright red pillar shot out from her body.

The moment the bright red pillar appeared in the air, all the powerful individuals in the human domain simultaneously raised their heads and stared in its direction.

At this moment, they all knew that something extraordinary was about to happen.

***

Dashing out of the Union headquarters, Kevin's footsteps came to a stop once he was finally able to get a clear view of the sky.

There he saw the massive tear in the sky, and his face couldn't help but twist once he saw this.

'What in the world is happening?'

From the system message to the crack in the sky, Kevin had no idea about what was happening.

However, if he had to make a guess, Kevin believed that it somehow had to do with the demon king. For the timer to suddenly shrink down, and this to happen, Kevin knew that this was not a coincidence.

The demon king was definitely up to something.

His teeth clenched at the thought.

"Hm?"

Because Kevin had been too distracted by his thoughts, it was only after a couple of minutes had passed that he noticed something odd about the world. Or rather, the mana in the air.

"The mana in the air..."

Unlike Monica, Kevin was unable to see the individual psyons in the air; however, he wasn't dumb.

He could definitely sense that something was up with the mana in the air.

Closing his eyes, Kevin quickly channeled the mana in the air towards his body. After a couple of seconds, his eyes opened widely.

"The mana in the air is denser!"

If before it took him an hour to fully recover his mana, at the moment, Kevin estimated that it would take not even half of that time. The mana in the air had become that much denser!

This was a pleasant surprise to him.

Not only did it mean that he could now fight longer, but it also meant that he could break through at a faster rate than in the past.

Kevin did not rejoice for long, however.

Although the fact that the mana density of the earth had increased was a good thing for humanity as a whole, he also knew this was just as bad as it was good.

'If only every human was good.'

By now, Kevin knew that he wasn't the only one that noticed that the density of the mana had increased. From the members of the Union to the members of the Monolith.

This sudden change definitely threatened the balance of the world. The stronger people became, the more chaos it sewed, and the Union would have a much harder time retaining the little order the world had.

To Kevin, this change was not ideal. Rather, it only served to make him more apprehensive about the whole situation.

"Huh?"

Snapping Kevin out of his thoughts, Kevin suddenly sensed an enormous pressure coming from the distance.

Turning his head to glance in the direction of where the pressure came from, Kevin's eyes opened widely as he stared at an enormously large orange pillar in the sky.

"This..."

Gazing at the orange pillar in the sky, Kevin felt an odd feeling of familiarity coming from it. It didn't take too long for Kevin to realize where the feeling came from as his head rolled back in shock.

"This familiar mana footprint, it definitely belongs to Monica."

It wasn't clear to him at first, but because the mana output coming from the pillar in the distance was so enormous, Kevin was able to instantly tell that the mana belonged to Monica.

He had been with her long enough to know this.

"Is she about to break through to <SS-> rank?"

Furthermore, to his shock, he realized that the mana in the air was rapidly covering in her direction.

Having broken through several times in the past, Kevin was quite familiar with the process, and therefore, after staring in Monica's direction for a couple of more seconds, he was able to quickly come up with the conclusion that Monica was just about to break through to <SS-> rank.

Once his thoughts paused there, his fists secretly clenched.

Finally, after a long time, humanity was about to gain another powerhouse.

Chapter 464: Crack in the sky [3]

8 :10 a.m — [A huge unknown crack suddenly appeared in the sky. What followed after was intense trembling resembling that of an earthquake of magnitude 6.5]

8 :40 a.m — [The trembling persisted for a total of thirty minutes before stopping. At the moment there have been no reports of deaths as there were only reports regarding a couple of injured individuals. Not much is known about the crack in the sky.]

9 :15 a.m — [Reports coming from the Union have stated that everything is under control and that they have increased their guard on the crack in the sky.]

9 :15 a.m — [In a shocking turn of events, scientists have reported the fact that the mana density of the planet has increased by a factor of three. Many individuals who had been stuck at the same rank for years have suddenly found themselves breaking through.]

9 :15 a.m — [Our world has reached a new turning point.]

Click—!

Turning off the holographic projection, Smallsnake solemnly looked toward the others gathered in the room. At the moment, everyone was currently seated on the large wooden desk set up in one of the rooms of the warehouse.

The room was a special room made for emergency situations. The moment the crack in the sky appeared, Hein and Ava panicked and were just about to rush back to their parents and family to make sure that they were alright.

However, before they could go out, they were quickly stopped by Ren who had called in and told everyone to remain in the building. Before Ava and Hein could protest, he also told them that their parents were going to be alright.

Although Hein and Ava wanted to protest, since Ren was the one to speak, and they knew that he was usually not wrong in these types of situations, they obediently followed his orders.

That being said, an air of nervousness and tension permeated throughout the whole room as everyone was still confused about the sudden turn of events.

Out of everyone present, the only one that seemed to be the least bit concerned about the situation was Angelica, who was currently seated by the far end of the table with her eyes closed. Next to her was Ava.

Turning on his laptop and browsing through his information channels, Smallsnake thought for a moment and raised his head.

"Angelica, do you have any idea about what's going on?"

Her calmness made Smallsnake think that she knew something. However, it appeared as though he had assessed wrongly as Angelica quickly shot him down.

"No."

The frown on Smallsnake's face deepened.

Pinching the screen of his laptop, Smallsnake looked through the images of the crack in the sky, however, regardless of how much he tried to look, he couldn't make heads or tails of what was happening.

'I hope Ren gets here sooner. I really am not liking this situation.'

Staring at the different headlines and titles in front of him, Smallsnake shook his head. This situation was worrying him to no end.

Lowering his head and checking his watch, just as Smallsnake was about to call Ren, Smallsnake was suddenly alerted of the presence of someone in the warehouse. Opening the cameras and seeing that it was Ren, Smallsnake finally relaxed and closed his laptop.

'Thank god he's here.'

***

Clank—!

Entering the warehouse, with Nola still in my arms, I quickly headed for the conference room. If they listened to my instructions, everyone should be there at the moment.

And it was exactly as I thought. The moment I entered the room, I found everyone already seated, waiting for me.

Upon my arrival, I felt everyone's eyes directed in my direction, or to be more precise, Nola in my arms. I feigned ignorance to the stares.

Smallsnake was the first to speak. Or at least tried to, however, I quickly cut him off.

"Ren, you—"

"Shut up Smallsnake."

There were more important things that I needed to say.

But just as I was about to speak, Nola's brows furrowed as she looked at me and said.

"Brother, that's not nice."

"Hm?"

Raising her finger, Nola said.

"You can't say shut up. Shut up is a mean word."

"...Er."

My mouth twitched. Before I could say anything else, Nola pointed in Smallsnake's direction.

"Mommy said that you must apologize if you say a bad words."

"..."

Once again, my mouth twitched. Biting my lips and staring at Nola who had a serious look on her face, my shoulders slumped down, and I let out a long sigh.

"Alright, fine."

Turning my head to look at Smallsnake who was looking at Nola with tears in his eyes, my right hand twitched uncontrollably. Taking a deep breath, I mouthed.

"Alright, Smallsnake, I'm sorry for what I said before."

Seemingly taking pleasure at the situation, Smallsnake's chin raised as a benevolent look appeared on his face.

"It's okay. No harm feelings."

My teeth clenched when I saw this. However, realizing that Nola was still in the room, I could only relent and dropped her on a seat beside me.

"Be a good girl and sit over here."

If possible, I didn't want her to be here, however, since everyone was gathered in the room and there was no one outside to supervise her, I could only have her listen to the conversation.

Still, I wasn't just going to let her listen to the conversation. Once she sat down, I gave her my phone.

I'm going to have an important talk right now, so play with my phone."

"Um."

Taking my phone, Nola obediently nodded her head. I smiled when I saw this.

Then, raising my hand, I small transparent barrier formed around her, blocking all the sound coming from the outside.

'This should do.'

Satisfied, I turned to look at the others. Placing my hands on the desk and leaning my body forward, I took a deep breath.

*Puff*

Just as I was about to speak, out of nowhere, smoke diffused in the air.

I didn't even need to look to understand who was responsible for this. Closing my eyes, I slowly said.

"Leopold, for the love of God. Please put the cigarette down."

I had already been told by Smallsnake just how much of an addict Leopold had become ever since coming back from Issanor, and at first, I didn't believe Smallsnake.

No, rather, I didn't want to believe it. However, staring at Leopold in front of me, I could only secretly shake my head.

*Puff*

"...Fine."

Taking another small puff of the cigarette in his hand, Leopold glanced at Nola before flicking the cigarette away.

"Thank you."

Thanking Leopold, and making sure that there was nothing else I needed to pay attention to, I started to speak.

"Many of you are probably wondering about what's currently happening to the world, and what the big crack in the sky is, well, I have some good and bad news for all of you."

Pausing, I smacked my lips together.

"The good news is that the situation is not as dire as you all think. For the next year or so, there won't be that many changes to the world apart from the fact that the mana density is slowly increasing. In fact, you could say that this is a good thing."

With the mana density increasing, not only would it become easier for people to break through to the next rank, but so would the speed at which they broke through increase.

Lifting my head, my eyes paused on Smallsnake and Ryan.

"Do you guys know how a talent limit is measured?"

"I know the answer to this!"

Ryan enthusiastically answered as he lowered the gaming console in his hand.

"Oh, go on."

Placing the gaming console on the table, Ryan sat up straight and started explaining.

"Jomnuk told me this back when I was in Issanor. There are several factors that can measure the talent limit of someone, however, the most important factor is their mana absorption rate."

"Yes, that's correct."

Listening to Ryan's words, I nodded my head.

There were many factors that determined the talent limit of someone, however, the primary factor was their mana absorption rate. Typically, the higher their mana absorption rate, the higher their talent.

In the midst of my thoughts, Ryan continued.

"Correlating the mana density in the air with the mana absorption rate of the user, we can determine the talent limit of someone. Mana absorption rate is typically linked to the genetic spectrum of the user, thus it can't be changed through internal factors. There can only be so much mana that they can absorb at once, and therefore, comparing the data with the mana density in the air an estimate of someone's potential can be measured."

"That point aside, there is a general positive correlation between mana density and absorption, meaning that the higher the mana density, the higher the absorption."

A satisfied smile appeared on Ryan's face as he finished his sentence. However, before he could fully rejoice, Smallsnake shook his head.

"Ryan, you're forgetting something."

"huh?"

Turning his head to face Smallsnake, Ryan tilted his head in confusion. Raising his brow, Smallsnake looked at him with a face that said 'Aren't you forgetting something important?'

"Ah right, I almost forgot!"

Smacking his fist on the palm of his hand, Ryan's eyes lit up.

"When measuring the talent limit of someone, the biological structure of the user is also taken into account. For those with low mana absorption rates, once the mana inside of their body reaches a certain threshold, the rate at which they grow also stunts."

'How impressive.'

Listening to their conversation, I was left pleasantly surprised. It looked like they had not spent their days in Henlour in vain.

What they said was true. With the crack in the sky increasing the mana density in the air, the talent assessment of individuals would now need to be reassessed as the limit was now pushed upwardly.

Of course, that primarily applied to the lower-ranked individuals. For the higher-ranked individuals, although they would also experience a change, it wouldn't be as drastic as the lower-ranked individuals.

However, even if they did experience a change, it wouldn't go as far as breaking the talent cap. Only I could do that as I had consumed the seed of limit.

Without it, no one could realistically break through the limit.

Secretly smiling, I nodded my head at Ryan.

"That's correct Ryan."

Massaging the bottom of my chin, I asked.

"Now, hypothetically speaking, what do you think will happen if the mana density in the human domain continuously rises throughout the years?"

Before Ryan could answer, Smallsnake interjected from the side as he answered.

"Well, that's simple. Everyone will rank up faster and the people who previously thought they were limited to their talent will find themselves breaking past their talent limit."

Mid-sentence, Smallsnake's eyes opened widely.

"Wait, are you saying that that is what is happening right now?"

"Correct."

Glad that Smallsnake caught on, I continued to explain.

"What is currently happening, is the very early prelude of the third cataclysm, and the very last cataclysm before the demon king will finally enter this world..."

Once my words faded, the room instantly became tense. However, before anyone could panic, I quickly reassured them.

"Don't worry though, the third cataclysm is still quite far away from now. I would say that it will happen in five years' time."

According to my memories, this event signified the demon king's awakening, and from what I remembered, it took about five years for him to ascend to earth once the crack in the sky appeared.

Even though I knew that I couldn't blindly trust the memories in my head, I didn't think that these memories were wrong. Since the other entity's goal was to defeat the demon king, I didn't think that the information was wrong.

"That being said, with the mana density in the world thickening up, in about a year's time, the peace that we are currently experiencing will crumble apart as more dungeons will appear, and dungeon overloads, which were previously thought as nothing dangerous, will now become a major threat to the world."

Closing my eyes, I sat down on the chair behind me. Leaning back on my chair, I gazed at everyone present.

"Don't think too much about the future. Your job is simple, and that is to improve as much as you can. You guys, including me, are still too weak to think about the future."

I hated to say this, but this was the sad reality.

At the moment everyone was still too weak to worry about the demon king and the impeding third cataclysm.

Hein and Ava were still around <C+> rank, Leopold was <B-> rank, and Smallsnake and Ryan were both unranked. There was also Angelica who was <A> ranked, but her situation was still unknown as the contract was going to expire in a little less than two years.

Hopefully, she would decide to prolong the contract, however, the possibility of her not doing so was still there, so I couldn't get my hopes up.

Angelica aside, it was a fairly strong group, however, it was a far cry from where I wanted them to be.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Tapping on the table with my finger, I opened my eyes.

"I won't say much more. However, this crack is an opportunity. An opportunity for everyone to become stronger, it would truly be a waste to let go of such an opportunity."

Chapter 465: Changes [1]

Thud—!

Softly landing on the ground, Monica's hair gently fell over her shoulders. Opening her eyes, she lowered her head and glanced at her hand.

"So this is how it feels to break through to <SS-> rank."

She quietly mumbled.

The sensation was completely different from when she was <S+> rank. She couldn't quite explain it, however, if she had to put it into words, it felt as though her connection with the mana in the air had significantly improved.

With just a simple thought, she could will the mana in the air as she wanted.

Raising her hand, she waved it in the air. What followed after the simple gesture was an incredible scene.

The moment Monica's hand swiped right, the red particles that were floating in front of Monica all froze in the air. Following this, as though Monica's hand was a magnet, they all rushed toward her hand.

A thin bright red coating soon formed on Monica's hand, creating some sort of gauntlet.

Gazing at her newly formed gauntlet, a look of amazement appeared on Monica's face.

"....So this is how it feels to truly agglomerate mana."

Mana agglomeration.

A technique that she was able to replicate when she was <S+> rank and was supposed to be something that only <SS> rankers could use.

If before her technique was unrefined and still weak, it was now no longer that as the mana expenditure had decreased drastically, and so did the power that was held within it.

Clenching and unclenching her hands repeatedly, Monica looked towards the sky as her pupils started to shine with an orange glow.

Arching her back, Monica clenched her fists as tightly as possible and punched towards the sky.

At the exact moment she punched out, the space around her distorted and a massive orange beam shot towards the sky with unprecedented speed and power.

BOOOOOM—!

A defeating explosion akin to that of the sound barrier breaking apart rang through the sky as circular pressurized wind gales began to expand out from the area Monica punched out, spreading throughout the sky like forever expanding rings.

"...Not bad."

Gazing at the sky, Monica muttered in a satisfied tone.

"Let's try adding a little bit more power."

Still excited by her newfound power, Monica decided to test out her powers once again.

Arching her body backward once again, the red particles floating in the air gathered around her at an even faster rate as the glow around her arm intensified considerably. As a result of this, the gauntlet in her arm thickened up.

It didn't take long for Monica to gather enough mana to once again release another attack, however, just as she was once again about to punch out in the air, a voice rang from the distance.

"Monica stop!"

Frowning, Monica looked toward where the voice came from, and there she saw Donna looking at her from the glass window of the building she was previously in.

"Donna?"

The moment she recognized Donna, her eyes returned to their normal color and the glow in her hand disappeared.

"What's wrong?"

Monica curiously asked as she looked at Donna. In response to her question, Donna looked toward the ground.

"Have a look for yourself."

Following her line of sight, Monica's face froze.

"Wha...err."

Gazing at the sea of people that were staring at her from below, Monica finally realized just how much of a scene she had caused.

'I messed up...'

Pinching her nose in embarrassment, Monica took a step in the sky and reappeared in front of Donna.

The moment she appeared in the room, she instantly apologized.

"Sorry."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

Donna replied back as she let out a long sigh and proceeded to sit back down on a sofa. Once she sat down, her line of sight paused on an unfinished cup of wine that was resting on the table in front of her.

Moving her body forward, Donna grabbed the cup and leaned back on the chair. Taking a sip of the wine, and savoring the taste, Donna looked at Monica.

"<SS-> rank at the age of 32, you truly are a monster."

"Mhhh, it's not that."

Monica shook her head once she heard Donna's compliment.

Sitting down on the seat opposite of her, she looked at the crack in the sky.

"You've also felt it didn't you?... The fact that the mana in the air has suddenly become denser."

Taking another sip of the wine, Donna nodded her head.

"I have."

Smacking her lips together and putting the wine glass down, Donna's face turned solemn.

"I've already contacted the Union and Douglas about the situation, they've told me that they currently don't know anything about the crack and that they are still studying it. For now, they told us to stay put and conserve our strength in case something bad happened."

"That's a good idea."

Monica nodded her head.

Furrowing her brows, Donna decided to switch the topic.

"Those matters aside, now that you've reached <SS-> rank, you probably won't be able to help me with the request I previously asked."

"...You're right."

Monica had an awkward look on her face when she replied. Scratching her neck, she looked at the crack in the sky and softly muttered.

"...You can't really blame me for this though."

With both index fingers touching each other, Monica pursed her lips.

"You know yourself that I really can't control the fact that a huge crack appeared in the sky and the mana density of the world suddenly increased."

"No, I know you're not at fault."

Fully understanding Monica's situation, Donna did not blame her for the situation. Similarly glancing at the crack in the sky, she continued.

"This is a situation that none of us could've ever predicted, it's just a pity that you won't be able to help me. The situation would've been a lot easier had you been hel—"

"Wait."

Cutting Donna off, Monica's head snapped in her direction. Snapping her fingers, she suddenly said.

"Donna, there's a perfect replacement for me. Well, not perfect. After all, no one can replace me."

"Who are you talking about?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

With a mysterious smile, Monica leaned back on her chair and crossed her arms.

"Although he won't be as good as me, he should be good enough to help you. Plus, the mission isn't even that hard, and he owes the both of us for helping him..."

"Ah..."

The moment when Donna heard the last part of Monica's sentence, her eyes opened up as she finally caught on.

The smile on Monica's face deepened when she saw this.

"What do you say? He's the perfect replacement isn't he?"

Brushing her hair back, Donna smacked her lips before she closed her eyes and nodded her head.

"I hate to admit it, but your suggestion is quite a good one..."

"Oy, there was no need for that."

Ignoring Monica, Donna stood up. Taking out her phone, just as she was about to dial a number, she proceeded to lower her phone.

"You know what, I don't think this is the right time to tell him. I'll call him in a while to tell him about the situation."

[Ren Dover]

Staring at the caller ID that she was about to press, Donna smiled.

"I'll give him more time to rest, he must still be tired after all the time he has been away. It would be unfair of me to ruin his days of peace."

***

"...It looks like the situation has calmed down."

Seeing that there was no more shaking, I finally relaxed and looked toward the others. After my words, everyone had managed to calm down, and everyone was no longer as tense as when the situation occurred.

Glancing in Hein's direction, I tapped on my bracelet and threw something in his direction.

"Hein, catch."

"Uh..what?!"

Caught off-guard, Hein who had his feet on the table almost fell off the chair.

"Watch it."

Fortunately for him, Ava was sitting next to him. Placing her hand behind his chair, she managed to stabilize the chair he was sitting on.

Thanks to that, Hein was able to easily catch the thing I threw at him.

Once he managed to catch the thing I threw at him, he threw a grateful look at Ava.

"Thank you."

However, Ava didn't seem to be too amused with Hein as she shook her head.

"Didn't I tell you to sit properly before?"

"What does that have to do with anything? I didn't expect him to throw something at me. I was just caught off-guard."

"Sure."

Ignoring her words and still seated with both legs on the table, Hein turned his hand and opened his palm revealing a small hexagonal-shaped flask.

"What's this?"

He curiously said as he examined the contents of the flask.

Tilting his head to the side, and raising his head to look at the bottom of the flask, the look of confusion on his face only deepened.

I smiled when I saw this.

"Hein, you should be a little bit more careful with that."

"Huh? Why?"

"Well, it's because I wouldn't really want to play with the one thing that can cure your father."

The moment my words faded, much to my amusement, Hein's face drastically changed as his mouth hung open and his eyes opened widely.

However, what followed after was the sound of something hitting the ground as Hein unknowingly dropped the flask on the ground.

"Noooo!"

Clank—! Clank—!

With a loud sound, the flask bounced up and down on the ground as Hein's face drained of all color. Jumping down from his seat, he quickly caught onto the flask and held it in between his hands as though it was the most precious thing in the world.

"..."

Speechlessly staring at the scene from my seat, I honestly couldn't find the right words to say.

Glancing around, I found that I wasn't the only one who was speechless as almost everyone looked at Hein with the same look.

The first one to break the silence was Ava who covered her face with her hands.

"Hein, are you stupid? Didn't I literally tell you to sit down properly?"

"...Was caught off-guard, okay?"

Ava's face twitched when she heard his answer.

"What caught off-guard? I literally told you two times to sit down properly."

"What does the seating arrangement have to do with the fact that I was caught off-guard?"

"Yo—"

Staring at the two of them, I let out a sigh.

"Calm it you two."

Then, turning to look at Hein, I quickly said.

"For now, it's best if you put the flask inside your dimensional space."

Fortunately for him, the flask was made out of a special glass, and so it was extremely durable.

Even if it fell from the top of a building the glass wouldn't break.

"Yes, yes."

Repeatedly nodding his head, Hein quickly put the flask away.

Once he put the flask away, I let out another sigh, this time, it was out of relief.

Turning my attention back to Nola who had her tongue out as she tilted her body left and right while playing a game, a chuckle almost escaped from my mouth.

Waving my hand and removing the barrier around her, I put my hand over Nola's head and patted her head.

"Nola, it's time to go home. Close the game."

"Um."

Tubbing her eyes, Nola nodded her head. Putting the phone down, she extended her hands in my direction.

Smiling, I first took my phone back before picking her up by the armpits. Once I picked her up, I looked at the others in the room.

"Alright, I think I already gave you guys the general overview of the situation. I will be leaving now."

Turning around, I headed for the exit of the room. However, just as I was about to leave, I suddenly recalled something and my footsteps came to a halt.

"Right, before I leave, I want you guys to keep something in mind. Unless it's an emergency, please don't contact me for the next week or so."

"How come?"

Smallsnake curiously asked.

Glancing toward the ceiling of the room, I pursed my lips and replied.

"...I think I'm going on a holiday."

Chapter 466: Changes [2]

A white-haired figure suddenly materialized inside a dark hall where thirty or so figures appeared.

The surroundings fell silent, and all eyes fell on the white-haired man that materialized out of nowhere.

The sound of heavy breathing could be heard throughout the surroundings, but the increased breathing wasn't out of tiredness, no, it was out of fear.

A multitude of different emotions flashed on the faces of the people present.

Respect, awe, jealousy, fear, and even more fear.

Step—! Step—! Step—!

The white-haired man's footsteps echoed throughout the hall; it was the only sound that the people present could hear, perfectly synchronizing with the rhythm of their heartbeats.

Sitting atop a flight of stairs by the end of the hall was a gigantic and obscure black throne.

An eerie chill permeated throughout the hall as no one dared to speak a single word; they all looked towards the white-haired figure that was slowly walking towards the throne by the end of the room.

Each step the white-haired figure took was slow and steady, however, to those present, each step carried an unprecedented amount of pressure as some couldn't help but secretly swallow a mouthful of saliva.

Finally arriving at the throne, the white-haired figure slowly sat down on it.

Propping his arm up with the aid of the armrest of the throne, the white-haired figure, better known as the Demon King, rested the side of his cheek on his hand which was curled into a fist.

Without looking at the people in the room, he slowly closed his eyes.

***

The clouds covered the sky like a big black sheet, completely masking the light that was coming from the sun above the sky.

Nothing could be seen except a darkness that seemed to go on forever.

BOOOM—!

The darkness did not last for long, however. Thunderous explosions rang throughout the world as different colored lights began to spread throughout the sky.

BOOOM—! BOOOM—!

Smoke permeated throughout the world as the ground shook and black creatures fell from the sky like wingless birds, crashing onto the ground, and forming small craters around the area they fell.

Bang—!

Levitating in the sky like creatures of justice, and with light spreading out from behind them, a dozen or so figures stared at the area where the black creatures had fallen.

Slowly descending down toward the ground, a woman wearing a silver armor that shone brightly and gently wrapped around her figure finally opened her mouth.

"...Your race does not belong in this universe."

Her crisp and melodious voice rang throughout the world.

There was a mixture of displeasure and disgust in her voice as she looked toward a particular creature down below.

Twitch. Twitch.

Weakly turning around, the black creature turned his body over and looked toward the woman standing in the sky. With the light shining brightly from behind her, she looked like a goddess that had descended upon the mortal world.

"Cough...Cough..."

Coughing black blood down his body, the black creature laughed in deprecation. His blood-red eyes gazed upwards, towards the dark clouds covering the sky. Hanging down his neck was a simple silver necklace; attached to its end was a black box.

"You...you're...nothing but a bunch of hypocrites..."

He softly muttered after a while. Right as his words faded, the air froze before the whole world started to tremble. The silver necklace around his body danced up and down his chest.

"What did you say?"

The woman in the air spat as anger rose from deep within her voice. Staring at her from below, the black creature coughed.

"Cough..."

Supporting his body up with his hand that was constantly trembling, he stared at the sky.

"Y-ou speak as though we have committed some...cough...grave sin against you all, but what is so grave with us trying to s...survive?"

"Survive?"

The woman suddenly scoffed. Raising her hand, a bright yellow sphere resembling the sun morphed on the palm of her hand as bright yellow particles vividly appeared in the air, agglomerating towards the sphere.

"Does creating havoc on other planets justify your means? What about the billions of creatures you have killed to satiate your thirst? Have you ever cared for them?"

"Cared? Why should we care?... We are merely following our instincts to conquer and survive. You don't tell an animal how to behave, it is merely written in their biological structure."

Closing her eyes, the woman nodded her head.

"It's true that you are merely following your own instincts, and that is why we are following ours as well, eliminating a future threat that can shake the balance of the universe. An unwanted parasite as some might say."

"Ha...ha...an unwanted parasite..."

The black creature let out a chuckle before his face slowly became icy.

"What gives you the right to come here and judge us like you are some sort of god?"

Mustering every little bit of power inside of his body, the black creature finally stood up and glared at the woman in the sky.

"I had long seen this coming...I told everyone that you guys were not to be let alone...I told them that you were a bunch of creatures that would come in our path of survival...I told them to get rid of you before it was too late..."

Pausing, the black creature let out another laugh.

"Ha...aha...ha...they called me an idiot, a madman, and look what happened. Everyone is dead. Just like I had warned them...cough..."

Just as he managed to stabilize his footing, with another cough, black blood sprayed on the ground and he fell on one knee.

"Shit..."

The moment the creature fell to his knee, the orb that was forming in front of the woman's palm fully formed, and the sky was enveloped by an enormous glow. Lowering her head and staring at the black creature, the woman's words gently words fell down towards the world.

"Don't blame me for doing this for the sake of our people. Like you've said, we are merely doing this for our own survival."

"Yo—"

Before the black creature could say anything else, the bright orb finally descended down towards the ground. In an instant, his figure was enveloped by the orb, and it completely disappeared.

The only thing that remained intact with the silver necklace that hung from his neck. However, that too disappeared after a while.

What followed after was a bright light that wrapped around the whole world; similar to when the sun rose from the horizon.

BOOOOM—!

A terrifying explosion followed as the earth rose from the ground sending massive chunks of rocks the size of a mountain flying everywhere, completely destroying everything in sight.

Staring at the scene from above, the woman closed her eyes and turned to face the other creatures levitating in the air that were watching the scene with pure indifference on their faces.

"That was the last of them, what should we do now?" The woman asked.

"Let's..khrr...blow up the planet."

One of the creatures suggested.

Levitating in the air with an enormous armor warping around his bulky body, a nasal-like sound came out from the creature's mouth with each break he took.

"Khrr...khrr...ensure that no demon survives. We can't let those parasites continue to exist. Their existence is a threat to the universe."

Extending his hand, a huge hammer materialized in the creature's hand. Without waiting for the other's confirmation, he raised his hammer in the air.

Holding onto the hammer above his head for a couple of seconds and seeing that no one was stopping him, the creature let out a deep shout and swung the hammer down.

"Huaaarg!"

Dropping down to the ground at incredible speeds, the land cracked apart as the creature's feet landed on the ground. Following this, the hammer came into contact with the ground and the world froze over.

What followed after was the complete destruction of the planet as the lands, mountains, and everything tore apart.

***

Opening his eyes, the demon king's bright red pupils shone brightly as the air inside of the hall chilled considerably.

Recalling memories of the past, his face cold face twisted slightly, and a horrifying pressure bore down on the hall.

Gathered around him were the figureheads from the seven clans. A look of horror and respect flashed across their faces as they sensed the terrifying pressure coming from the demon King's body.

It didn't take too long for the Demon King to recollect himself as he slowly raised his head.

Glancing around the place, the Demon King's eyes swept over the bodies of each demon present. Every time his eyes paused on a figure, their bodies would unconsciously tremble.

Once his eyes swept on every figure present, he raised his hand in the air and waved it in the air.

C...crack.

The moment his hand fell down, a crack formed in the fabric of space. At the exact moment the crack appeared, the same scene from before he materialized in front of the hall was displayed in front of him, and everyone in the hall.

The scene where over thirty figures stood in the air, behind a large barrier.

Gazing at the scene for a brief moment, he finally opened his mouth.

"...Disappointing."

The moment he said those words, the hall shook uncontrollably. Before any of the demons present could speak up, he swiped his hand again.

C...crack. C...crack. C...crack.

Three more cracks began to form in the fabric of space, as depicted behind them were three different planets.

Gazing at the planets in front of him, the Demon King's cold voice once again rang throughout the hall once more.

"Kintuar, Lanet, and Polincet."

Tapping onto the armrest of the throne, the Demon King swept his gaze over the other demons present.

"How is the situation with these planets? Have you done as I've tasked?"

"Yes, your majesty!"

Stepping up, a lanky demon lowered his body and bowed down on the ground. The demon that was currently lying down on the ground was in fact a Duke-ranked demon and the head of the pride clan.

Yet, when faced with the Demon King in front of him, there was no semblance of any pride being in his body. In front of such a being, he couldn't dare muster any pride.

Not daring to look at him, the head of the pride clan started to speak.

"As you have requested, we have completely saturated the planets with demonic energy. There are no more creatures living inside of those planets apart from our brethren."

"I see..."

Nodding his head, the Demon King turned his attention back toward the planets in the distance.

Opening the palm of his hand and raising his arm toward the space cracks in front of him, the Demon King indifferently asked.

"The only people inside of the planets are our brethren?"

"Y..yes."

"...Okay."

The Demon King suddenly clenched his hand into a fist. Following this simple gesture, the planets that were being displayed behind the cracks suddenly trembled.

Then, as though they were in synch with each other, the planets started to rapidly expand as cracks started to form on the outer layers of the planets, revealing the bright red inner layers.

The expansion happened within an instant. Following the expansions, rocks began to shoot out throughout the space as a bright yellow cloud formed in the middle of the planet. That too was also expanding.

No sound accompanied the explosion due to the lack of air in space, however, the image of the planets exploding with just a casual gesture of the Demon King's hand became deeply imprinted in the heads of the demons present.

Opening the palm of his hand once again, the Demon King made a beckoning gesture.

Following his gesture, three luminous white orbs began to shoot out from the center of the explosion, all headed in the Demon King's direction.

SHOOOM—! SHOOOM—! SHOOOM—!

Passing through the space fabric, three white orbs suddenly materialized in front of the Demon King. Passing through the cracks, they all stopped on top of the Demon King's palm.

Glancing at the three orbs in front of him that resembled small white suns, the Demon King softly muttered.

"Planetary seeds..."

Following his words, he brought his palm towards his mouth and sucked the orbs into his mouth.

The instant the orbs entered his mouth, the Demon King's head recoiled back as a hissing sound rose from his mouth.

Rumble—! Rumble—!

The halls of the room shook uncontrollably and all the demons present in the room fell to the ground in a prostrating manner, completely unable to move.

The pressure did not persist for long as it disappeared as fast as it came. Opening his eyes and staring towards the ceiling of the hall, turbid air began to escape from the Demon King's mouth.

"Haa..."

Chapter 467: Concert [1]

Clank—!

Closing the door behind me and entering the apartment, I was greeted by my mother's cheerful voice.

"Welcome back you two."

"We're back."

Lowering my body, Nola hopped down on the ground. In her mouth was a small lollipop.

"Mama!"

Like the traitor that she was, she immediately run in our mother's direction.

"Oh, my sweet Nola."

Grabbing her from the armpits, my mother picked Nola up from the ground and cuddled with her.

Rubbing her cheek against Nola's, I could hear Nola's heartful giggle come from the distance.

"Are you jealous, Ren?"

My mother teasingly asked.

"Jealous?"

I shook my head and scoffed.

"I'm not jealous."

The edges of my mom's lips curled upwards.

"Aww, that's cute."

Putting Nola down, she proceeded to extend her hands in my direction.

"Come here, mama will also give you attention."

"...I'm good."

Taking off my shoes, and ignoring my mother, I proceeded to head for the living room.

Although I had my back turned on my mother, I could practically hear the sound of her heart shattering as I left.

This was a necessary evil, however.

The number of hugs and kisses that she had given me the past few days were enough to make me want to once again leave the human domain.

"Huh?"

Upon stepping into the living room, I was surprised to find a familiar figure sitting down.

Tilting my head, I spoke.

"What are you doing here?"

Tap. Tap. Tapping onto the screen of the tablet in her hand, Natasha casually glanced in my direction.

"Oh, you're back."

"...You didn't answer my question."

Sitting down on the opposite end of the sofa, I looked at Natasha with a skeptical look on my face.

Once again she ignored me.

"Aigooo, the technology has advanced so much in the fifteen years that I was asleep."

A look of frustration appeared on Natasha's face as she repeatedly tapped on the tablet in her hands.

'Looks like she is too busy trying to figure things out then to answer my question.'

After observing her for the last minute, I could more or less guess what was happening.

Ever since coming back from Issanor, Amanda had given her mother the room next to ours.

Since my mother was now no longer as busy with guild matters and Natasha had nothing else to do, they had both grown closer together. Hence why she was here.

"Freshly baked cookies coming up."

Entering the room holding onto a tray of freshly baked cookies was my mother.

The moment she entered the room, a sweet buttery scent permeated the room.

Catching a whiff of the scent, Natasha turned to look at my mother and pointed at the tablet.

"Samantha, help me out over here. How do you turn on the holographic function?"

"Oh, dear."

Putting the tray down on the table, my mother proceeded to sit down next to her.

Following her from behind was Nola who sat down on her lap. Leaning closer to Natasha, she began to explain.

"If you want to turn on the holographic function you need to press this button over here."

"This one?"

"Ye—"

Smack—!

A low-smacking sound resounded across the room.

Pointing her finger at Nola's hand which was reaching for the cookie, my mother scolded.

"No, Nola, you already had a lollipop, no more sweets for you."

"B..but.."

Taking her hand back, tears started to gather by the side of Nola's eyes.

However, Nola's tricks were futile in front of my mother. Her protests only served at making her voice sterner.

"No means no."

"...Huah!"

Before Nola could protest, a startled shout suddenly rang through the air as holographic images sprung in the air.

The one responsible for this, Natasha, jumped back in shock, almost dropping the tablet in the process.

Fortunately for her, my mother was quick to react. Extending her hand, she caught the falling tablet.

"Careful now."

She then proceeded to hand it back to Natasha.

"You should've seen this coming."

"...Thank you."

With a quick thank you, Natasha took the tablet back. Turning her head, she tried to hide her embarrassment.

Smack—!

Once again a low smacking sound resounded across the room as my mother raised her voice.

"Nola!"

Caught once again caught in the act, tears finally started to stream down Nola's cheek as she turned to look at me.

"Huaa, brother!"

"Ren, stay put."

Opening my mouth, I quickly shut it back as I suddenly felt my mother's glare. Biting my lips, I turned my head to look away from Nola.

'...Sorry, Nola. This is not someone I can defeat.'

The only thing I could do at the moment was secretly apologize inside of my mind.

"Haizz, Ren, you spoil your sister too much."

My mother's frustrated voice rang throughout the room. Hearing her words, I shook my head.

"....No, not so much."

"Oh really?"

"Yes."

Nodding my head, I gazed at her from the corner of my eyes.

"The spoiling only went as far as buying her candies. I never went overboard."

"Heh..."

My mother scoffed.

"Ren, don't think for a second that I'm a fool."

Lowering her head she pointed at the hairpin on Nola's head.

"I know just how much money you've spent on the hairpin on Nola's head."

Hearing her words, my face cringed and I turned to look at Nola.

The moment I did, I finally caught sight of Nola who was sitting on her lap with her hands and head hung low.

The look on her face reminded me of someone who had lost everything.

Their family, their friends, their homes, and everything that they held dear in their hearts. She looked like a husk of her former self.

'What a drama queen'

I thought.

Feigning ignorance to it, I tried to defend myself.

"That so-called hairpin is an automated artifact that will activate whenever Nola is in danger."

Although they were being protected 24/7 by Amanda's security, I took extra precautions to ensure Nola's safety.

The hairpin on Nola's head did in fact cost me a pretty penny, but it was a necessary purchase.

"Haaa...alright, what you said makes sense."

Letting out a sigh, my mother leaned back on the sofa. Caressing Nola's listless head, she proceeded to ask.

"By the way, do you have any plans for this week?"

"No, I'm on holiday."

"Oh? Then do you have any plans for what you're going to do on your holiday?"

Thinking for a bit, I shook my head.

"No, not yet."

Honestly, although I said that I was going on a holiday, I had zero ideas on how to do that.

For the past three years, I had been training and trying to survive every day that I had long forgotten how a holiday worked.

Kind of pathetic if I had to say.

At that moment, my mother suggested.

"Then how about you bring Nola to watch her favorite idol group? Kimbol?"

'Idol group? Kimbol?'

What in the world was that.

Before I could ask, Nola who had been listless the whole time sprang back into life as her body jerked up.

"Yeeeeaahh! Kimbol!"

Jumping down from our mother's lap, she ran up to me and clutched my leg.

Raising her head, she looked at me with a pleading look.

"...You will bring Nola, right?"

"Ugh."

Staring at Nola, My heart suddenly squeezed. Raising my head, I looked at my mother.

"Do you have any videos of this group?"

"Mhm, of course, I do."

Taking out her phone, and pressing onto the screen, my mother quickly loaded up a video of the idol group my sister loved.

"Have a look."

Pressing onto the screen of the phone, I saw five really beautiful girls dancing to the rhythm of a catchy song.

Staring at it for the next few seconds, I was left impressed by the girl's coordination and the song.

I could understand why Nola was so interested in it.

As I was watching, my mother started to speak.

"They're currently the most popular idol group out there and are quite the hot commodity around here. Going to be hard to find tickets, however, I don't think you will have a problem getting them if you pay a little extra."

I nodded at her words.

Money did speak more clearly than words.

"I don't kn—"

Just as I was about to push back the phone, my hand suddenly froze. That was because I suddenly saw Nola dancing to the rhythm of the music by the side of the table.

Lowering my head and staring at the video, I raised it again to see Nola matching the movements of the girls dancing in the video.

"We're going."

Handing the phone back to my mother, I quickly came to decision.

"Mother, you can count on me. I'm one hundred percent going there."

Even though I wasn't a big fan of idol groups, Nola's actions were enough to convince me to go.

"Will you really?"

I nodded.

Taking out my phone I proceeded to look at the prices for the show, and honestly, although they were quite expensive, they weren't something that could hurt my pockets.

"Hear that Nola? Brother will bring you to watch the concert!"

As she had been busy dancing to the music, Nola was only able to hear the news now. The moment she heard those words, her face instantly brightened.

"Waaaah!"

She quickly lunged in my direction and snuggled all over my legs.

"Thank you, brother!"

Patting her head, I replied with a smile.

"No worries. No worries."

"Mhh, now that we're at it, why don't you bring Amanda with you."

At that moment, Natasha suddenly suggested.

"Amanda?"

I tilted my head. That was quite the random suggestion.

"But isn't she busy with guild-related stuff?"

"It's exactly because of that that I am suggesting this."

Putting the tablet in her hand down, Natasha let out a tired sigh.

"Ever since coming back here, I rarely see my own daughter. All she does is work from morning till night. Just like you, she needs a break..."

Pausing, she looked at Nola.

"An while we're at it, I don't think Nola would mind, right Nola?"

Nola shook her head.

"No, Nola doesn't mind."

"Well, there you have it."

With a satisfied smile on her face, Natasha turned to look at me.

"Since Nola agreed, you won't have a problem with it, right?"

Lowering my head and staring at Nola, I nodded my head.

"...Yeah."

Actually, inviting Amanda was probably for the best. If an adult and a kid suddenly showed up for a pop show, it would just look weird.

Clapping her hands together, Natasha continued.

"That's great, the guild is nearby, how about you go visit Amanda and tell her in person. I already told her that you are on the way."

"...Alright."

Letting out a long sigh and pressing my hands on my tights, I slowly stood.

'Was planning on visiting her anyways, this works out for me.'

Mainly because Amanda was the one in charge of distributing the magic cards. Could use this chance to ask her about the progress of the situation.

As I stood up, I glanced toward Nola.

"Nola, will you come with me to see Amanda?"

"Y—"

Before she could reply, my mother quickly cut her off.

"No, Nola will stay here. It's already too late for her to go out. She needs to go to sleep."

"No!"

Nola protested. But it was all futile. Lifting her from the ground, my mother quickly restrained her.

"You're going to bed right now."

"Brother!"

"Sorry, Nola."

Once again, I could only apologize to Nola.

The mother had spoken, there was nothing else I could do about the situation.

Steeling my resolve, I turned around and left the house.

***

It was quite late in the evening and the entrance of the Demon Hunter guild was still flocking with people coming in and out of the building.

The distance between my apartment and the Demon Hunter's guild was only a ten minutes walk and thus, I was able to arrive at the entrance fairly quickly.

Entering the building through the front door, I headed for the main reception area.

The interior design of the place was fairly simple, however, it contained a strange elegance to it as the floor which was made out of marble perfectly reflected the lights coming from above.

The furniture was quite minimalistic in style, and there was a nice scent of lavender lingering in the air.

Arriving at the reception, I was greeted by a beautiful young lady.

"Hello, how may I help you?"

"Right, I've scheduled an appointment."

Tap. Tap.

The receptionist tapped on the keyboard of the computer.

"May I ask with whom?"

"Amanda Stern."

At the exact moment I said those words, the receptionist's finger paused.

After which, recollecting herself, she once again pressed on the keys of the keyboard.

"Give me a second."

Taking her hand away from the keyboard, she grabbed onto the phone that was beside her and quickly dialed a number.

The call went through in an instant.

"Yes, Miss Stern, there is someone here claiming to have made an appointment with you."

"Okay, yes, I will quickly ask."

Placing her hand over the phone, the receptionist turned to look at me.

"Sir, may I know your name?"

Casually glancing at the receptionist, a thought struck me as the edges of my lips curled upwards. I teasingly said.

"Tell her that I'm the most handsome guy she knows."

"Er..."

Caught off-guard by my sudden response, the receptionist froze on the spot.

I nudged her with my head.

"Don't worry, you won't get in trouble. Just tell her that."

"...Okay."

With a forced smile on her face, the receptionist took her hand away from the phone and did as I told her. I could read her thoughts from where I was standing. The reason she complied was because she was afraid of me being a bigshot that she couldn't offend.

"Ehmm...h-e claims to be the most ha-ndsome man you have ever seen."

Relaying the message, her voice trembled from time to time.

Just as she finished her sentence, the secretary's face squinted; clearly, she was scared of Amanda's answer.

However, contrary to her expectations she didn't get scolded as she turned to look at me with an astonished look.

"Yes, yes, okay, I will immediately bring him up."

Following this, she hung up the phone and looked at me with a look of shock.

It took her a bit to recollect herself, and when she did, she bowed her head.

"Miss Stern is waiting for you, Mr. Han Yufei."

Chapter 468: Concert [2]

[This is a godsent opportunity for us. With the mana density of the world rapidly increasing, our recruits will experience a faster rate of growth. Increasing the budget for rookie recruits should be our number one priority!]

[I disagree, I think we should approach this situation carefully. We still don't know anything about this phenomenon. In fact, I'm more worried about the dungeon overloads. If before there were no overloads due to the thin mana in the atmosphere, what about now that the density has increased? Our current priority is investing in the defensive budget.]

[I agree with this suggestion. If a dungeon overload truly happened, and the monsters don't die instantly, the consequences will be too much for us to handle. It's already bad enough that the guild leader isn't here, if something like this happened, scuse my words, we're fucked.]

[No, no, no you're wrong. This conservative thinking is wrong! We need to grasp the opportunity now! Train the youngsters for the future. We can use them to handle the dungeon overloads. It's a win-win situation! You guys are being too narrow minded!]

"Sigh."

Listening to the conversations happening in front of her, Amanda let out a long sigh.

Leaning back on her black chair as she gazed at the holographic projection in front of her.

At the moment the elders of the guild were discussing the measures the guild should take in response to the sudden increase in mana density.

This discussion had been taking place ever since the morning, and since then, there had been zero progress.

Zero.

Whenever an elder presented an approach, another one would quickly interject, and an argument would start.

This had persisted throughout the whole morning and had now become an endless cycle that tired Amanda to no end.

Really tired.

That being said, although she was only present out of formality, she did express her input from time to time, but the elders were simply too stubborn with their opinions.

They wouldn't listen to each other, let alone her.

[That doesn't work. The time it will take to train those recruits will be two to three years, can you guarantee that nothing will happen then?]

[Neither option is good. We should currently be focusing our strength on the production of magic cards. Once that hits, all those problems will no longer be a problem!]

"Haa..."

Letting out another sigh, Amanda raised her head and stared at the ceiling.

'I want to go home.'

She muttered inside of her mind.

Clank—!

Out of nowhere, the door suddenly burst open and an enraged Ren entered the room.

"This is bullshit, Amanda!"

Already expecting such a scene, pressing a blue button next to her, Amanda turned off the speaker of the call.

Lowering her head, she asked.

"What's wrong?"

Actually, she was merely pretending at the moment.

She knew exactly why he was angry.

"What do you mean, what's wrong?!"

Grabbing the guest chair and pulling it back, Ren exaggeratively sat down.

Leaning forward and pressing his finger on the table, he angrily spat.

"Mr. Han Yufei? Han Yufei?!"

"You came here for him too?"

Ren's finger paused.

"...Came for him too?"

"Mhm."

Amanda nodded her head with a stoic look.

"My secretary informed me not too long ago that he's coming. Should be here at any minute now."

"Bullshit!"

Standing up, Ren angrily smacked his hand on the table.

Pointing at himself, he spat.

"That was me!"

A frown emerged on Amanda's face.

"...Why would you be Han Yufei?"

Ren's mouth twitched. Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, he sat back down on the chair.

After he managed to calm down, he managed to say.

"Not once did I ever introduce myself as Han Yufei."

"How odd."

Tapping on the table, a thoughtful look appeared on Amanda's face.

"Could there have been a small misunderstanding? She did say the most handsome guy that I had ever seen, and that's Han Yufei. I thought that I made that clear to you back in Issanor."

The moment she said those words, Amanda watched as Ren's hands clench into fists.

"Ho, ho, ho."

His fake laugh rang throughout the room.

Raising her head and staring at his angered figure, the edges of Amanda's lips threatened to curl up.

'...Cute.'

She thought.

Amanda always found Ren's childish side cute.

Most of the time he tended to act mature, but he always had a childish side in him. One that she would see from time to time. No matter how much he tried to hide it, he couldn't.

Most notably was his petty side.

If there was one thing that Amanda noticed after having interacted with Ren long enough was that he was extremely petty.

That, and the fact that he was extremely insecure about his charm.

"Oy, oy are you listening to me?"

"Hm?"

Snapping out of her thoughts, Amanda saw as Ren snapped his fingers in front of her face.

Finally getting her attention, a displeased look flashed across his face as he leaned back on his chair.

"You weren't paying attention at all."

"Sorry."

Amanda quickly apologized.

Brushing her hair by her ear, she asked.

"What were you saying? ...Can you repeat it for me?"

"Fine."

Letting out a long and exaggerated sigh, Ren once again started to speak.

"As I was saying, my charm is currently <B-> rank. That is planet topp—"

"Pfff."

Unable to keep her composure anymore, Amanda suddenly bursts out laughing.

"Hahaha."

Holding onto her stomach, she burst out laughing like never before.

Like morning bells, her laughter rang throughout the whole room.

As she laughed, she couldn't help but find all of her stress vanish out of thin air as her line of sight fell onto Ren.

Truly, only with him could she ever laugh like this.

"Oy, what's so funny?"

Ren angrily spat through his clenched teeth.

"Something funny about what I said?"

Covering her mouth with her hand, Amanda shook her head.

"N...no, not-hing funny."

Her voice trembled slightly. Clearly, she was having a hard time trying to hold her laugh in check.

"Whatever."

Ren said as he glared at galred at Amadna.

Crossing his arms and leaning back on the chair, he changed the topic.

"Jokes aside, I came here for two things."

Returning to his usual expression, he raised two of his fingers.

"One, I'm here to get some information regarding the magic card situation. I want to know if you have any problems."

Lowering one of his fingers, he added.

"Two, I want to ask you if you're free anytime soon. I'm going to bring Nola to watch...ehm..."

Scratching the side of his head, Ren frowned.

"What was it called again? Karamel? Chocolate? Kimbual? Kimchi...err, it's an idol group."

"You mean Kimbol?"

"Ah, yes that!"

Snapping his fingers, Ren nodded. However, his face suddenly turned strange.

"Hold on, how do you know that? Are you also into idols?"

"...No, I'm not."

Amanda shook her head. Before Ren could follow up, she continued.

"I know because that's Nola's favorite idol group."

"Ah, right."

During Ren's absence, Amanda was the one who spent most of her time with Nola, and therefore, she naturally knew about Kimbol. Her favorite idol group.

During the time they would spend together, Nola would always play their music and dance to their tunes.

Secretly, Amanda recorded everything. Not just her dancing, but just her everyday silliness.

Whenever she felt tired or down she would quickly replay the videos to herself.

The videos of Nola reminded her of the childhood she never had, and seeing that she was able to bring a smile to Nola, made Amanda feel warm.

It would always bring a smile to her face.

She didn't want Nola to experience what she went through in the past.

"...Do you want to come with me and Nola one of these days?"

Ren suddenly suggested.

Lowering his head and pointing at the files of papers on her desk, Ren added.

"It looks like you're also in need of a holiday."

Raising her head and staring at the elders that were still speaking, Amanda bitterly smiled.

"Tell me about it..."

Ever since returning from Issanor, she had not once taken a holiday nor a weekend off.

Although the videos of Nola dancing had helped her cope with the stress, they were nearly not enough.

Amanda did not answer immediately.

Leaning back on her chair, she looked toward the ceiling of the room and thought.

'Maybe I should also take a break.'

Honestly, if she asked, Amanda didn't doubt that the elders would give her a couple of days off.

Especially since she had barely taken any ever since joining. In fact, some of them would probably encourage her to do it.

Lowering her head and staring at Ren, Amanda smiled. The thought of going with him and Nola made her strangely happy.

"Okay."

"Really?"

Hearing her response, Ren's eyes lit up as he stood up. Seeing how excited he was, Amanda couldn't help but once again think.

'Cute.'

Those thoughts did not last for long, however, as Ren's next words caused the smile on her face to freeze.

"I'll quickly call Kevin and tell him about the concert. He also deserves a nice rest. Oh, I should probably call Jin, Emma, and Melissa too..."

Just as he was about to call him, he paused and mumbled something underneath his breath.

"No, this won't do. I need to find a way to screw all of them over somehow, what if I tell them it's something important and make them suddenly show up at an idol concert without knowing..."

Ren chuckled.

"Hehe, bet they will never see that one coming..."

"Ah..."

Listening to his words, Amanda let out a strange sound.

She then proceeded to lower her head. She should've seen it coming. Of course, it wasn't just going to be the two of them and Nola.

"Alright, I've messaged everyone."

After a while, lowering his phone, Ren nodded his head with a satisfied look on his face.

"They will definitely be very surprised."

"..."

Speechlessly staring at Ren from her seat, Amanda didn't know what to say.

Turning her head to look away from Ren, she softly mumbled.

"Idiot..."

***

Roshfield household.

It had taken a while for Oliver to clean up the mess that his cousin had created in the house, however, with him now gone, he was able to get it back on track within a couple of weeks.

"Haaa, finally all of the complicated stuff is out of the way."

Moving a file of papers by the side of his desk, Oliver tiredly sighed. Taking out another set of papers, he pinched the middle of his brows.

"Request to use invest in the Kolan crypto coin? An investment of 80 million U?"

Reading through the papers, Oliver frowned. Then, after a while, he dismissed the paper.

"Dismissed, the risk is too high and we're low on funds."

Compared to the time that he had been the head of the household, the funds that he had managed to accumulate over the years had rapidly shrunk. Through terrible investments, bribery, and lavish spending, the money quickly dried up.

The funds which Oliver thought would've lasted over a century, had turned into something that could barely cover their expenditure for the next five years.

Once his thoughts paused there, Oliver's fists clenched tightly.

"I should've made sure he died a more painful death..."

Jasper's death had been too easy. He should've tortured him for all the trouble he had caused his daughter and the guild members.

"Fuck."

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.

To Tok—!

It was then that Oliver suddenly heard the sound of someone knocking on the door. Closing his eyes and sensing who it was, a smile appeared on Oliver's face.

"Come in."

Clank—!

Opening the door and quietly coming in was a girl with auburn-colored hair. She was none other than Emma.

Putting everything down, Oliver warmly smiled as he looked at his daughter.

"Emma, what brings you here this late at night?"

"Father."

Greeting her father with a simple nod, Emma closed the door behind her.

The smile on Oliver's face became bitter once he saw this.

He didn't know what happened, but ever since returning from Issanor, he found his daughter to be more reserved. She wasn't as cheerful as she was in the past.

'Is she sick?'

Oliver thought. However, he quickly dismissed such a thought.

No matter how he looked at her, she looked healthy. Maybe her complexion was a bit paler than usual, but that was about it.

It was then that a thought suddenly struck him.

'Could it be related to the boy that Ren was talking about?'

His brows furrowed.

If it was truly that, then it looked like he needed to have a talk with that boy.

Shaking his head to dismiss all those thoughts in his head, Oliver raised his head and looked at his daughter.

"Emma, if you have anything you wish to tell me, I'm all ears."

"Okay."

Emma nodded her head. Closing her eyes, and taking a deep breath, she stared straight into her father's eyes. Her next words caused the room too freeze over.

"Dad, I want you to give me permission to enter 'The fallen pit' dungeon."

Chapter 469: Concert [3]

"Emma Courtney Roshfield..."

The temperature of the room chilled considerably, as Oliver sat up straight.

Propping his elbow on his desk and covering the tip of his mouth with his finger, he coldly asked.

"Repeat the words that you've just said."

"I want to enter 'The fallen pit' dungeon."

Emma repeated with a resolute look on her face.

Despite being subjected to her father's enormous presence, not once did she leave her sight away from him.

Her decision was made and no one could change her mind.

Being her father, Olivier naturally knew just how stubborn his daughter was.

Therefore, he didn't try to change her mind. He simply wanted to understand why she would make such a request.

"Tell me why."

Leaning back on his chair, he crossed his arms.

"Tell me exactly why you want to enter that dungeon."

Staring at her father, Emma bit her lips as her eyes flashed with sadness.

Oliver did not miss this as he brought his body forward.

"...I want to become strong."

Emma earnestly replied with her back straight.

"I'm far too weak to be of help."

Oliver frowned at her words

"You're already <C+> rank at the age of twenty, and that is without having any resources. Now that I'm back you don't need to worry about any resources. I think you are worrying too much. You still have so much time to develop."

"That's not what I mean."

Emma cut her father off.

"Dad, I understand that you are trying to help me. However, I need this for myself."

The fact that Ren and Kevin had to give up on their rewards for her, made Emma realize just how much of a burden she was.

Had she not gotten injured, Ren would've most likely picked up the first place reward.

However, because of her situation, he had purposely given up on the tournament for Kevin to win it and give her the elven tear.

She obviously did not buy the whole 'I'm bored' excused that Ren used. Even if he was bored, why would he give up on such clear rewards?

Emma wasn't stupid, and honestly, she was both extremely thankful and sad about the situation.

Thankful for the fact that they would go to such lengths for her, and depressed by the idea that she was the reason why the two of them had to give up on their tournament rewards.

Right then, her father once again spoke.

"...Can I really not change your mind? You know just how dangerous that dungeon is?"

"I know."

Emma nodded her head, clenching her hands tightly.

"If I didn't know, I wouldn't have suggested it."

The fallen pit dungeon.

It was a <B> ranked dungeon owned by the Roshfield household.

It was one of the few dungeons that the Roshfield household closed from the eyes of the public.

The reason for this wasn't because it was dangerous. Although it was dangerous, in terms of danger, it was like any regular <B> ranked dungeon out there.

It wasn't anything worth worrying about.

However, there was a particular feature about it that made it off-limit to the public and members of the Roshfield household.

And that was the fact that once someone got in, they would only be able to come out once they managed to reduce the dungeon energy by half.

There was no time limit, and only once the dungeon energy was cut by half, through killing the monsters inside, would the dungeon once again open up.

No one knew why the dungeon was like that, however, that last factor alone was the reason why most people tended to avoid that dungeon.

In order for someone to kill half of the monsters inside of the dungeon, it would take them at least months at their fastest, and not only that, they needed to survive in that harsh environment for that period of time.

That dungeon was not a place anyone could just go in as they pleased.

"Are you sure Emma?"

Oliver stood up.

Walking out from behind his desk, he stopped in front of Emma, and both of their eyes met.

"..."

Neither one of the two spoke during the time.

This proceeded for the next minute before Oliver eventually closed his eyes.

"Alright...."

He then let out a long sigh.

"This is probably going to be irresponsible of me, but alright, I will do as you say, however, only for one condition..."

Opening his eyes once again, Oliver sternly said.

"You are not going to go inside of that dungeon before you reach <B-> rank and I personally train you for a while."

"I understand."

Emma nodded her head.

That was what she was planning from the very start. She wasn't going to be reckless again.

Only when she felt that she had an adequate shot at surviving did she plan on actually entering.

In the meantime, she was planning on using her free time to train.

Now that her father was back and so were the resources, she was planning on taking advantage of them.

'Want to see more chapters?' Please visit [ .C O M] Although she disliked the fact that she had to rely on her father to grow stronger, she wasn't stupid enough to reject them.

Since it was available to her, she would naturally take advantage of them.

"Good."

Oliver nodded his head in satisfaction.

Extending his hands and embracing Emma, he softly muttered next to her ears.

"Emma, although I had been missing for the past few years, I'm going to try my best to make it up to you and support your decisions."

Emma's body shook at his words.

Leaning her head against her father's chest, she nodded her head.

"Mhm."

***

Sunday night.

—Are you already there?

Amanda's voice rang from the speaker of the phone.

"Yup."

I nodded my head.

Glancing at Nola who was currently swinging my arm around and singing in excitement, I added.

"Nola and I are currently near the entrance of the stadium, we will wait there."

—...Okay.

She then proceeded to hang up.

Putting my phone away, I looked up toward the stadium in the distance.

Although it was late into the night, the temperature in Ashton city was quite warm.

That being said, even though it was warm, I was currently wearing a black hoodie.

Given what happened in the tournament, it was fair to say that I was quite recognizable at the moment.

Well, not if I used the mask.

If I didn't use the mask, no one would recognize me.

"It's quite loud."

I muttered as I stared at my surroundings.

Despite the concert still not having started, the surroundings were extremely noisy as a sea of people headed for the stadium in the distance.

Seeing just how crowded it was, I squeezed Nola's hand tightly.

"Nola, make sure you hold on tight, okay?"

"Um."

Nola replied with a soft hum.

Then, raising my hand, she started swinging it. I shook my head when I saw this.

'How nice must it be to be without worries.'

Following the people from behind and stopping in front of the stadium, I tensed my arm to stop Nola from swinging it.

"Alright, let's wait over here."

"Why?"

Nola questioned.

"Don't you want to wait for Amanda?"

"Yes!"

Nola's face brightened.

"I want sister!"

'How cute.'

I thought when I caught sight of her face.

Fortunately, we didn't have to wait for long for Amanda as I soon spotted her coming in our direction.

Actually, it wasn't really that hard to spot her.

The moment she appeared, she instantly attracted the attention of most of the people present.

With her hair tied behind her back and wearing a thin black shirt coupled with a small black skirt, Amanda looked really beautiful.

Imprinted on her shirt was the name of the idol group, Kimbol.

"Waahh, is she an idol?"

"So beautiful?"

"I think I've seen her before."

Wherever she walked, be it boy or girl they would stop and stare at her for a brief moment and comment on her looks.

'...Why isn't she covering her face?'

Knowing that this would happen, I told her to bring a hoodie or a mask but seemed like she didn't care too much about attracting too much attention.

Guess she was too used to it?

Ignoring the stares, Amanda's footsteps came to a pause.

Raising her head, she looked around the place. She was probably trying to look at us.

Letting Amanda know where we were was Nola who screamed out loud.

"Sister!"

Even though it was quite crowded and Nolas voice was quickly drowned out by the noises, Amanda was able to somehow hear Nola's words as her head snapped in our direction.

Her eyes lit up and she headed our way.

"Nola."

"Hehe."

Rather than greeting me first, the moment she arrived she bent down and gave Nola a hug causing her to giggle in happiness.

"Have you two hugged enough?"

The hug persisted for quite a bit, and it was only after I complained that they separated from each other.

Standing up, Amanda looked at me.

"You jealous?"

"Why would I be?"

I rolled my eyes, and once again took Nola's hand.

"Alright, let's get go—"

"Wait."

Amanda suddenly cut me off.

Raising her head, she looked around.

"What about the others?"

"Others?"

"Yes, didn't you tell me that Kevin and the others were also coming?"

"Ah."

Raising my hand, I smacked my forehead.

"About that, how should I put it..."

Scratching the bottom of my chin, I turned my head away from Amanda and mumbled in a soft voice. Hoping that she wouldn't be able to hear it.

"It was a lie."

"...A lie?"

Unfortunately, somehow, Amanda was able to hear my mumble.

I suddenly felt a mall tug coming from my shoulder as Amanda turned my body.

"What lies?"

She asked with her brows furrowed.

Seeing the slight annoyance in her face, the edges of my lips curled upward.

"I lied about the fact that others were coming."

"Huh??"

Amanda let go of my shoulder.

"You were the one who said that Han Yufei was more handsome than me."

"???"

Amanda's head tilted to the extreme.

Her brows which were already knit, furrowed even tighter as her face became slightly colder.

Squeezing Nola's hand, I dragged her to the entrance of the building.

"Well, let's get going, the show is about to start."

"You..."

Dragging Nola from behind, I moved away from Amanda who seemed to be speechless at the situation.

She had that coming.

To be honest, apart from the fact that I wanted to get back at her for what she did, I had another reason for doing what I did.

Primarily, I wanted to see what sort of reaction Amanda would make.

Ever since what happened back in Issanor, Amanda had become a lot more attentive to me, and although I wasn't the brightest when it came to the romance department, the idea that Amanda could possibly like me sprung inside of my mind.

Of course, this was only a farfetched assumption.

After all, she could've just been grateful for what I did.

Still, I wanted to test if she actually liked me or not, and thus, lied to her about the others coming.

And although brief, I did see Amanda look at me with annoyance back then.

Did that prove to me that she liked me? ...I still wasn't one hundred percent sure, but I now knew for sure that it could be a very real possibility.

"Tickets please."

Handing the tickets for the concert to the guard waiting at the entrance, I looked back.

There I saw Amanda headed our way with an angry look on her face.

'She's definitely angry.'

Although her expression was the same as usual; expressionless, the aura she was giving out clearly indicated to me that she was angry.

Our eyes soon met, and a smirk emerged on my lips.

"I'll see you inside."

I mouthed with my mouth before heading inside with Nola who was clueless about what exactly happened.

Chapter 470: Concert [4]

"Thank you all for coming to our show!"

Entering the main stage, were five girls all wearing cute dresses. They were the members of Kimbol.

At their appearance, the crowd erupted into cheers as they all started waving their glowsticks in the air.

"Whaaa!

Waving her glowsticks in the air, Nola mimicked the crowd as she cried out in excitement.

Grabbing onto her small legs, I raised my head and shouted. The way she was moving made it hard for me to keep ahold of her.

"Nola be careful."

"Whaaa!"

But it didn't seem as though she could hear me as she continued to shout alongside the crowd. I could only sigh at this.

'I guess I just have to be more careful.'

"Thank you, thank you."

Thanking the crowd was a girl with soft black hair and a very pretty face.

Her name was Sophia Ray and she was the leader of the group.

I knew this because throughout the whole journey to the stadium Nola had made me memorize the names of each of the girls in the group.

Flashing a stunning smile, Sophia winked at the crowd and got into position with her group

"Thank you all for coming today, we are very happy with your presence. Today, we will start with our first song, 'Tribunal', I hope you enjoy it."

The already boiling crowd became even more excited as they began to shout words of love.

"We love you Kimbol!"

"Thank you, Sophia!"

"We love you all."

Listening to the crowd's words, my face cringed a little.

To be honest, I wasn't the type of guy that loved this type of stuff. I was more into classical and calming music.

Sometimes I liked listening to different genres, but that was when I was in a mood to destroy something.

Glancing at Amanda who was standing next to me, I asked.

"Still angry at me?"

"...I'm over it."

To my surprise, Amanda shook her head.

"Oh?"

Tilting my head to get a better look at my face, I remained skeptical.

"...Are you really?"

"Yes."

Amanda once again nodded her head. I squinted my eyes when I saw this, however, I eventually shrugged it off.

Didn't really buy it, but there was nothing else I could do anyways.

What was done was done.

'A lot of women fall in love and chase empty dreams.'

'But I wanna take that to the head before I leave your side.'

'You make me happy, just being with you.'

'I fall in need of your love.'

It was then that the music started playing, and the girls beautiful voices started traveling throughout every corner of the arena grounds.

It had to be noted that the girls were currently not holding onto a microphone, and that was because the sound they were making was created through the vibration of the mana in the air.

It was sort of similar to Benjamin, the guy I wanted to recruit back at the Lock.

Through manipulating the mana in the air the singers were able to directly instill emotions into the viewer's heads, making the music seem more impactful.

The general person couldn't have noticed it, however, that was the general crowd.

With my strength nearing <A-> rank, such tricks could no longer fool me.

"You also noticed it right?"

"Yes."

Amanda also seemed to have noticed the same thing as she nodded her head and added.

"Their mana control is not bad."

"I agree."

For them to be able to do what they did, they without a doubt had trained a lot.

'When things get rough, love is all you need.'

'So let me shoulder your burden, love me right now.'

'And that you love her.'

'Like roses loves them over growing.'

The first song lasted for a total of five minutes, and throughout the whole performance, the dancers danced to the rhythm of the music in a very coordinated manner.

Following the first song, they began to sing a second, then a third, and soon they were on the eighth song.

By this point, I was already exhausted, yet, the crowd and Nola seemed more energized than before.

"Whhhhaaaaa!"

Fortunately, it didn't seem like I was the only one who felt this way as Amanda also seemed to be feeling the same as me.

I understood where she came from though.

Just like me, she wasn't someone that liked crowds a lot and wasn't really the energetic type too.

Leaning closer to her, I whispered in her ear.

"You also tired aren't you."

"!?"

Seemingly caught off-guard, Amanda's head recoiled back as she covered her ear with her hand. She glared at me.

"Y..you.."

"That was not on purpose."

Raising my hands, I immediately tried to defend myself.

"Don't blame me for this, the crowd is too loud."

"..."

Squinting her eyes, Amanda lowered her hand. Once she did so, I was able to see that her ear was slightly red.

I feigned ignorance to that. Pointing that out would do me no good.

"Don't do it again..."

Amanda said in a soft voice. Pursing her lips together, she added.

"...It tickles."

"You ticklish?"

My eyebrow raised at this new piece of information.

However, before I could follow up, I suddenly felt the attention of the whole crowd directed toward my general direction.

"Gentleman over there."

Following this, I suddenly heard a familiar voice from the distance.

Turning my head in the direction of where the voice came from, I finally realized why the voice sounded familiar.

It was because it belonged to none other than the lead singer Sophia Ray.

'Oh god.'

I inwardly groaned when I realized this.

Once I turned around and my eyes met with the lead singer, she proceeded to flash a smile in my direction.

The moment that happened, I felt multiple jealous gazes headed in my direction.

I then pointed my finger toward me.

"Me?"

Although it was quite clear that she was trying to talk to me, I just wanted to make sure I was really the one person she was addressing.

Her next words made me realize that I was.

"Yes, yes, you."

Taking a step forward, she looked at the top of my head and asked.

"Gentlemen over there, may I ask, is that your daughter over your head?"

"Daugther?"

Raising my head and seeing Nola, I finally understood why she had called for me.

'Ah, I see, she mistook Nola for my daughter.'

Understandable, my current face was that of an older man.

"Yes, yes, she's our daughter."

Before I could reply to her, I suddenly felt something soft grab my right arm and my heart nearly jumped out of my chest.

"h..Huh?!

Letting out a weird sound, my head snapped toward my right where I saw Amanda standing next to me with her face as red as a tomato.

She had a look of regret on her face, however, biting her lips and increasing the grip of my arm she continued with her story.

"T-the girl..is our daughter."

Opening my eyes wide, I looked at Amanda with a dumbfounded look.

My mouth opened and closed repeatedly.

"A-Amanda?"

In the end, those were all the words I could muster.

Despite that, Amanda did not answer and forcefully kept her eyes on the front.

From her expression, I could tell that she wanted to dig herself a hole.

Unaware of what was happening, putting on a brilliant smile, the leading signer turned her attention toward Nola.

"Oh, what a sweet couple you two are."

The lead singer complimented. She then bent down and asked.

"What's your name little girl?"

"Nola!"

Nola shouted back.

What shocked me the most about this was the fact that she did not bother correcting the misunderstanding.

"This..."

Honestly, from that point on, everything felt like a blur.

My mind was so out of it that before I knew it, I found Nola on the stage next to the singers.

'Nola, in the stage...'

"Huh? Nola!?"

Snapping out of it, my eyes opened widely.

Turning around and glancing at Amanda who had long let go of my arm, I pointed at Nola who was on the stage.

"Amanda, when did Nola get there?!"

Without turning her head and glancing at me from the corner of her eyes, Amanda replied.

"...Do you not remember?"

"No."

I shook my head before I lowered my head and asked.

"Whose fault do you think that is?"

"..."

Pursing her lips, Amanda turned her head away from me and said.

"Everything should be fine. They only asked for her to dance on the stage. They do it every show."

Massaging my forehead, I let out a sigh.

"Haaa..."

'Wasn't this supposed to be a holiday? ...Why do I feel more mentally tired than back when I was inside of the Monolith?'

Really.

"Hm?"

Just as I was about to come to terms with the situation, I suddenly caught sight of a familiar figure in the distance.

Once my eyes paused on the figure, my head recoiled back as my face turned strange.

"Huh?"

'What in the world is he doing here?'

"What's wrong?"

Seemingly sensing my shift in mood, Amanda asked. Glancing at her, I softly muttered.

'Want To See More Chapters?' Please visit [ .C o M] "Nothing big, I just found a familiar face. Wait here, and keep an eye on Nola."

"...What?"

Lowering my hoodie I took a step forward, however, recalling something, my feet came to a stop.

Turning my head, I handed Amanda my phone.

"Take a video of Nola on the stage. Make sure to capture everything."

Without waiting for Amanda to reply, I quickly headed in the direction of the familiar figure.

Unprecedented solemness clouded my face.

'This is a problem.'

Passing through the crowd with my hoodie covering my face, I soon arrived next to the figure.

Placing my hand on his shoulders, I pulled his shoulder.

"Oy, what in the world are you doing here?"

"Huh?"

Obviously startled by my sudden actions, the figure angrily turned his head in my direction.

"Who in the world are you?"

"Ha."

I let out a dry chuckle.

"Didn't think you would forget about your boss, Leopold?"

That's right.

The figure who I had caught sight of from the distance was none other than Leopold.

"Boss?"

A sudden look of realization flashed across Leopold's face the moment I said those words as his face mellowed out.

Then, turning his head, he avoided my line of sight as he dryly laughed.

"Ha, ha, what are you doing here?"

"That's what I wanted to ask. I never took you for someone who was a fanatic for idol groups."

Out of all the people that I knew, he was the last person that I would've guessed.

Letting out a long sigh, I patted him on the shoulder.

"Before anything else, I just wanted to say that I'm not angry, just confused by the fact that you are into idol groups."

Everyone had their hobbies, I wasn't one to judge.

Was just weirded out by the idea of someone like Leopold being into idol groups. Just didn't fit his image.

"Actually..."

Scratching the side of his neck, Leopold had an awkward look on his face.

"I'm actually here for my daughter."

"Daughter?"

Freezing on the spot, I had a sudden look of understanding.

"Ah right, I forgot you had a daughter."

Prior to recruiting him, I had looked through his profile and did in fact remember that he had a daughter.

Because Leopold never really talked about his past, I nearly forgot about it.

Now everything made more sense.

She was quite old if I remembered corrected. Looking around the place, I curiously asked.

"Where is your daughter?"

"Over there."

Raising his hand, Leopold pointed toward the distance.

"Where?"

Curious, I followed the direction of where he was pointing at.

"Huh?"

Blinking my eyes a couple of times, I looked at Leopold with an incredulous look on my face.

"I'm not seeing wrongly am I?"

"You're not."

Leopold shook his head. Turning his head to look at me, he said.

"That's my daughter right there. She even has the same surname as me. Ray."

My jaw dropped.

Chapter 471: Concert [5]

"Thank you all for coming, and we hope you enjoyed the show!"

Doing her signature pose, Sophia waved at the crowd causing them to cheer even more loudly.

Unfortunately for them, it was already the end of the show, and therefore, giving them one last goodbye, Sophia quickly headed back to the changing rooms with her group.

Upon entering the changing rooms, Sophia slumped down on her chair and let out a long and tired breath.

"Haaaa, I'm tired."

"Tell me about."

Slumping down on the chair next to her was Penelope, her other group member.

Taking a wet towel, she covered her eyes with it and leaned her head back.

"Ugh, my legs are hurting like crazy..."

"Same."

Sophia replied in agreement.

"...but, I'm used to it by now "

Raising the towel on her face and uncovering her eyes, Penelope skeptically looked at her.

"Stop pretending, I know that you're not tired at all. You are one of the star students at the Lock, you don't need to be humble."

Sophia merely smiled in response to Penelope's comment. She then added.

"Just because I'm a student of the Lock doesn't mean that I'm immune to tiredness."

"Yeah, yeah."

Penelope completely dismissed her comment. Sophia shook her head when she saw this.

In a way, what Penelope was correct.

Thanks to her training at the Lock that she was now able to keep her stamina in check during her performances.

She also wasn't wrong when she said that she was one of the star students at the Lock as she was in fact ranked in the top fifty in her year.

An achievement that was quite considerable.

"Say, I've always been meaning to ask..."

Putting the towel down, Penelope suddenly sat up straight and looked at Sophia.

A frown appeared on her delicate face.

"Is money still a problem? I know that the Lock costs a lot of money, but if you spend your time with us, won't you fall behind the others in your year?"

"It's fine."

Bending down and taking a similar wet towel, Sophia covered her eyes.

Feeling the cold towel on her face, Sophia smiled in pleasure.

"Money is not really a problem..."

This was a bit of a difficult topic for her.

The main reason why she was an idol in the first place was because of her family's past situation.

Although they lived comfortably, they weren't particularly rich.

At least not to the point of being able to pay the Lock's yearly tuition fee which was incredibly expensive.

Despite making 7 million U per year herself, she was still unable to pay the whole tuition fee.

Had it not been for her father, she probably wouldn't have been able to attend the Lock.

Thinking about her father, Sophia felt a mixture of different emotions.

She couldn't quite explain what happened, but one day while she was still a trainee for her idol group, she came home to find that her tuition for the Lock had already been paid in advance by him.

Before she could confront him about the situation, she found out that he had gone on a long trip.

A trip that lasted a whole two years.

During that time, Sophia panicked a lot as she thought that in order to pay for her tuition fees her father had decided to undertake some extremely dangerous job, and only recently did she finally receive a call from him.

Though relieved, she was still very angry at him.

How could he just leave her like that? Without any explanations and making her worried sick for the past two years?

Unknowingly, Sophia's teeth clenched and she secretly swore to herself.

'He said that he's coming to visit me today, when he comes I'll let him have a piece of me.'

"Hey Sophia, what did you think about the girl you brought on stage today? Wasn't she just adorable?"

It was then that she suddenly heard Penelope's excited voice.

Raising the towel in her head, she found Penelope's face a couple of inches away from her.

Sophia quickly moved her back.

"Wow, move back a little."

"Don't be like that, Sophia, here have a look."

Taking out her phone, Penelope showed Sophia an image of the girl that they had taken to the stage.

Staring at the photo, Penelope squealed in delight.

"Come on, you can't tell me that's not cute."

Staring at the photo, Sophia nodded her head.

"...Sure."

She couldn't deny it. The girl was indeed quite cute.

It was then that the other group members huddled up together and stared at the image of the little girl on Penelope's phone.

"Oh, isn't that the girl from today's performance."

"I didn't get to see because of all the lights, but she's quite the cute one, huh?"

"Oh my, how cute. Just look at her cheeks."

Instantly, a cheerful atmosphere prevaded over the room.

"Hey, Sophia, why don't you look excited? ...You perhaps thinking of a boy?"

Out of nowhere, one of the group members suddenly teased.

Glancing at the girl, Sophia bluntly replied.

"As if..."

"There she is, the ice queen is back."

Penelope commented from the side as she lowered her phone. Her lips curled into a smirk.

"Say, is there really no one you are interested in, Sophia? With your looks and popularity, I don't doubt the fact that you will be able to find a boyfriend easily."

"No thank you."

Sophia quickly rejected. She then added.

"I don't have time for things like that."

It wasn't that she didn't want a boyfriend, however, she just didn't have the time for one.

Setting aside her idol activities, she had to focus on her academy work.

She barely had any free time for herself, let alone a boyfriend.

...and.

Well.

'None of them are as good as him.'

Sophia muttered inside of her mind with a longing look on her face.

Actually, there was one guy that come to her mind when she thought about love, however, he was not someone that someone like her could reach.

He was someone that shone on a brighter and more important stage than she had ever performed in.

From the moment she had set her sight on him, Sophia found all of the boys near her dull and boring.

'It's too bad that he's not someone I can reach.'

Unfortunately, he was not someone that she could casually talk to.

Despite her idol status, their achievements were worlds apart from each other.

The only thing she could do was focus on herself and maybe hope that one day she could reach for him.

***

"We're almost there, Leopold."

Patting Leopold in the back, I urged him to continue forward.

At the moment we were currently headed backstage to meet Leopold's daughter, Sophia Ray, and the group leader of the idol group.

This revelation was a pleasant surprise since I could use this as an excuse to help Nola meet them and take photos with them.

'How convenient.' I thought.

However, there was one slight problem.

"What are you so nervous about?"

"Boss, give me a moment."

And that problem was none other than Leopold who looked extremely nervous at the prospect of meeting his own daughter.

This was understandable though.

He had not met her for almost two years, I'd also be nervous if I were in his shoes.

Click—! Click—!

Just then I suddenly heard a familiar clicking sound.

"Stop that!"

To no surprise, I found Leopold hunched up, trying to light up a cigarette.

Dashing in his direction, I snatched the lighter and cigarette from his mouth and pointed at Nola who was currently in Amanda's arms.

"There's a little girl over here, why in the world are you smoking?"

"Oh come on boss, you know that they aren't that bad."

Leopold looked at me with a pleading look.

Ignoring his pleas, I put the lighter and cigarette away.

"No means no, let's go."

"Haaiizzzz..."

With a long and exaggerated sigh, I managed to drag Leopold all the way toward the changing room of Kimbol.

Along the way we were stopped multiple times by security, however, prior to coming here, the manager had given Leopold a special card that enabled him private access, and thus, we were able to get through without too much trouble.

"On second thought, I don't want to go in."

The moment we arrived at the door, Leopold suddenly started to get cold feet.

"As if I'm going to let that stop me."

Grabbing him by the back of his shirt, I proceeded to knock on the door.

To Tok—!

Leopold's body instantly stiffened, and I finally let go of his shirt.

'This guy...'

Staring at him, I couldn't help but shake my head.

Never before had I seen Leopold so nervous. Even when he was fighting against a horde of demons, and duergars he didn't look that nervous.

It was a weird sight if I had to say.

Clank—!

It was only after a couple of seconds had passed that the door opened.

Peaking from the side of the door, was one of the members of the group.

'Evelyn was her name if I didn't remember wrongly?'

Wasn't really sure.

"Yes? How may I help you?"

"Hello, there."

Taking a step forward and flashing a brilliant smile, I patted Leopold's shoulder.

"This guy over here wants to meet his daughter."

Once those words left my mouth, Evylin's eyes lit up.

"Ah! You're Sophia's father!"

Swinging the door open, the insides of the changing room became visible for all of us to see.

From there, we instantly found multiple eyes staring in our direction. They were the other members of the group.

"Father?"

Just then, a familiar voice sounded from the other side of the room.

Leopold's already stiff body stiffened even more as he forced a smile.

"S..Sophia dear, it's been a while."

"It has indeed been a while."

Sophia's icily said as she looked at Leopold with cold eyes.

Well, that was at least how it looked on the surface.

I could tell from a glance that she was merely putting up a front. She definitely looked relieved to see her father.

Not that he could notice anything since at the moment he was merely a shadow of his normal self.

Before Leopold could say anything else, Sophia nudged her head in my direction.

"Who are those people behind you?"

"Ah."

Finally snapping out of it, Leopold turned to look in my direction.

Grabbing me by the shoulders, he dragged me forward.

"Sophia dear, let me introduce you. This guy over here is my boss."

"Your boss?"

With a skeptical look on her face, I suddenly felt Sophia's gaze stare at me from top to bottom.

This persisted for the next few seconds before she quickly lost interest in me.

She then proceeded to look in Amanda's and Nola's direction. However, halfway through her sentence, she suddenly stopped.

"What about t—oh, isn't that the girl from before?"

It wasn't just her that noticed this as all the other members also finally took notice of Nola as their eyes instantly brightened up.

"It's really her!"

"How cute!"

"Look at her cheeks."

They all instantly dashed in Nola's direction.

"Wai—"

Initially, afraid that Nola would be startled by their sudden actions, I tried to say something.

However, I quickly stopped the moment I found Nola giggling happily at them.

"Nevermind."

Actually, the one that seemed to be the most overwhelmed at the moment seemed to be Amanda.

"So, Mr, boss, I would like to ask you a few questions."

At that moment, I suddenly heard Sophia's voice coming from behind me.

With her legs and arms crossed, she looked at me with a semi-cold look on her face.

"Yes?"

"Please sit."

She pointed at the seat opposite her.

"Sure."

Smiling slightly, I did as she asked.

To be honest, I understood where she was coming from.

Out of nowhere, her father came back home with a lot of money and suddenly disappeared for a long time. Furthermore, he came back with a ton of money.

Given his previous job, and income, she would naturally be skeptical about what her father's job was.

I would've been as well.

Therefore, sitting down in my seat, I calmly smiled at her.

"Is there anything you would like to ask?"

"Mhm."

Nodding her head, Sophia's brows knit tightly. Biting her lips, she asked.

"Can you please tell me how much my father owes you?"

"Owes me?"

Taken aback, a strange look appeared on my face. Before I could reply, she continued.

"I may not have enough money now, but I swear I can pay you back in a couple of years an—"

"Hold on, hold on, hold on."

I quickly cut her off. I then looked at Leopold and said.

"I think there has been a misunderstanding here. Leopold doesn't owe me anything."

Hearing my words, Sophia had an unconvinced look on her face.

"...Is this true?"

She asked.

"Haaa..."

Seeing how skeptical she was being, I let out a long sigh.

"I guess I have no choice but to introduce myself properly."

I tapped my face which soon morphed into that of my regular self. Then, lowering my hoodie, I extended my hand in her direction.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Re—hm?"

Midway through my introduction, Sophie's eyes opened widely as her mouth opened and closed repeatedly.

"W...what!"

Chapter 472: Concert [6]

"W-what?"

Unknowingly Sophia's face started to become bright red.

"Hm? Are you okay?"

Noticing her slight change in demeanor, I tilted my head to the side.

There was something about her behavior.

It didn't seem like I was the only one who noticed this as Leopold worriedly placed his hand on Sophia's forehead.

"Sophia dear, are you okay?"

"S..stop."

Smacking Leopold's hand away, Sophia stuttered as she looked at me.

"It can't be...it..."

'Hold on…'

Meeting her gaze, I suddenly had a strange thought inside of my mind.

'That can't be...'

I quickly shook my head, trying to deny such a thought.

It just couldn't be…or rather, I wanted to not believe in the thought.

It was then that Sophia once again spoke up.

"Y..you're Ren Dover, right?"

As she spoke up, I managed to pick up a slight tremble in her voice.

Letting out a small sigh, I nodded my head.

'It looks like my hunch was right.'

"Yes, I am indeed him."

"Oh my god!"

Sophia's face instantly brightened up. Her face quickly snapped in Leopold's direction.

"Dad! Why didn't you tell me that he was your boss!"

"Huh?!"

Turning his head, Leopold looked at me with a look that said 'what is she on about?'

I shrugged my shoulders in response.

Although I already had an idea, I really wanted to deny it.

It was right then that Sophia suddenly lunged in my direction and grabbed both of my hands and said.

"I'm a huge fan!"

"What!?"

Finally, Leopold was able to understand what was happening. Turning his head, he looked at me with a betrayed and hurt look. His face then proceeded to contort.

'How is this my fault?"

I wanted to rebuke; however, before I even had the chance to do so, Sophia had already started speaking.

"I've watched and replayed all of your matches back at the conference, especially when you beat up that orc and that pretty boy."

A word suddenly caught my interest.

Raising my brow, I asked.

"Pretty boy?"

"Yes, yes, that Kevin guy. Although he looks pretty, he clearly was no match for you. All my friends say he's handsome, but honestly, you are way better looking. Oh, and the way you forfeited was so cool!"

For a split moment, I wanted to let her continue.

Just the fact that she was praising me over Kevin made me like her instantly.

However, knowing just how wrong the situation was, I quickly freed my hands and looked at Leopold. My hope was that he would try and stop his daughter, but...his response wasn't really what I had expected.

With his arms crossed, and with his head lowered, he nodded his head.

"…I have to agree with my daughter. You were pretty cool back there."

"Oy."

Now it was my face's turn to contort.

"What in the world is he doing? This should be the bit where you are supposed to deny!"

Leopold shook his head.

"Boss, I'm an honest man."

"Haaa…"

Not knowing how to react, I could only let out a sigh.

Sophia's sudden outburst seemed to have caught the attention of the other people present, as I was quickly surrounded by all the idol members.

"Oh my god! I remember you!"

"Kyyaaaa!"

"It's him!"

"I…."

Surrounded by the girls, I didn't know how to react as I looked in Amanda's direction in the hope of some help, however, all I was met with was a cold and apathetic look.

'You're enjoying this aren't you?'

Was what her face seemed to say. Or at least what I assumed it said as her expression was quite hard to read.

Especially since she was currently wearing a skin mask.

I had given it to her before because she simply attracted way too much attention due to her looks.

This was also why during the time the camera was pointed in our direction, no one took notice of her.

Had she not been wearing her mask, I could've guaranteed that all attention would've been drawn to her, instead of Nola. Well, at least for a bit.

In hindsight, bad move because had it not been for the mask, she would've never pulled her previous stunt.

"Mr. Dover, Mr. Dover."

"Wow."

Suddenly finding Sophia's face near mine, I finally snapped out of my thoughts as I moved my head away from her a little.

"Sorry."

Quickly apologizing, Sophia coughed.

"Keum…I read from reports that you were single and that you were only twenty years old…"

Turning her head slightly, she glanced in Nola's and Amanda's direction.

"That woman over there said that she was your daughter, but doesn't she look a little bit too old to be your daughter, unless…"

"The fact that Nola is our daughter is a lie."

I cut her off before she could finish her sentence. The moment I said those words, Sophia's face quickly brightened up.

"However..."

Picking this cue up, I quickly followed up by pointing in Amanda's direction.

"The fact that she is my girlfriend is not a lie."

"Hiip!"

At the exact moment I said those words, I suddenly heard a weird sound come from behind me.

Without needing to look, I could already imagine what face Amanda was making. However, this was something I had to do.

This was not out of pettiness, but because I didn't want Leopold's daughter to fall in love with me.

In short, I was using Amanda as my shield.

"Oh."

With a short nod, Sophia turned to look in Amanda's direction.

Tilting her head to the side, she smiled and asked.

"Is that true?"

Turning around, my eyes met with Amanda's.

After staring at each other for a brief moment and seemingly understanding each other, Amanda simply took off her mask revealing her features in front of everyone.

"Waaah! So beautiful!"

"Oh my god."

"I know her! She was also in the tournament!"

Instantly all of the girls from Kimbol apart from Sophia looked at Amanda with amazement.

Following this, they instantly gathered around her and tried to strike up a conversation with her.

On a good note, I managed to get rid of all the attention away from me, on a bad note, it seemed that Sophia had still not given up on me as she looked at me with a skeptical look on her face.

"Is she really your girlfriend?" She asked with her arms crossed.

"Well, sort of."

I nodded my head.

"Sort of?"

"Yeah, we started dating not too long ago. Our relationship is quite new."

I knew exactly what she was going to try at the moment.

If my guess wasn't wrong, she was probably going to say something along the lines of 'Prove it to me, prove to me that you two are in a relationship.' And then we would be forced to do something very uncomfortable.

Sorry, but no thank you.

This wasn't because I disliked Amanda or anything like that.

To be honest, with everything that happened today, the idea that Amanda liked me became more prominent.

However, even if that was true, I still was unsure about my feelings for her.

I mean sure, she was incredibly beautiful, kind, and more than anything else a calming person to stay with, but I had been too busy preoccupied with everything that had happened with the other entity.

I was afraid that my emotions were fake.

Simply put, I needed more time to figure things out.

"Hmmm…"

Squinting her eyes, Sophia looked at me with a skeptical look on her face. She was still unconvinced by my words.

Smiling at her, I stood up from my seat and looked at Leopold.

"Alright, it's getting late and Nola is getting sleepy. Guess it's time for us to go back. You stay and have fun with your daughter."

I needed to get out of here before things became too messy.

"Sure."

Leopold nodded his head.

Before I could turn around to the others, Leopold suddenly grabbed my shoulder.

"Ren, wait up."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Well…"

Licking his lips and looking around the room, Leopold scratched the side of his cheek before eventually saying.

"…about the cigarettes you too—"

"Nope."

I cut him off before he could finish his sentence.

There was no way in hell I was going to give him his cigarettes back. He was simply way too addicted.

"Instead of thinking about cigarettes, think about spending time with your daughter."

Tapping on my mask to change my face again, I grabbed Amanda's wrist and dragged her out of the place.

Before leaving, I made sure to say goodbye to the others.

"Have a good day, really enjoyed your performance…oh, and keep our appearance a secret."

Clank—!

Before they could even reply, I quickly closed the door behind me.

"Haaa…"

Finally out of the mess, I let out a long and tired sigh and lowered my body.

Glancing up to Amanda, I bitterly smiled.

"That was even more tiring than the show itself…"

"…"

I was met with no response.

"Amanda?"

Staring at Amanda and looking at her line of sight, I realized where the problem lay and quickly let go of her wrist.

"Sorry." I quickly apologized.

"No, it's okay."

Shaking her head, she smiled and looked at Nola who had her arms wrapped around her neck. A smile involuntarily appeared on my face when I saw this.

"Looks like she's tired."

She looked quite adorable at the moment.

"Come here, Nola."

Extending my hands, I tried to take Nola away from Amanda, however, she quickly refused and snuggled her head on Amanda's neck.

"Hmm, no."

"It's fine."

Amanda patted Nola's back.

"Let her be, I'm not uncomfortable."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"…Alright I guess."

Patting Nola's head, I scratched the back of my head and finally decided to head back home.

Looking back, although this experience was quite tiring, in a way, it was also quite a breath of fresh air.

It wasn't too bad.

***

A few hours later.

The ride back home after the concert was a quiet one. With the both of them understandably tired, neither spoke too much alongside the ride.

The moment they arrived at their apartments, Amanda quickly gave Nola back to Ren and bid each other goodbye before entering their apartments.

Clank—!

Opening the door to her apartment, to Amanda's surprise, she found that the lights were still on.

"Oh, you're back."

Greeting her was her mother who was currently sitting down on the sofa reading a book.

"I'm back."

Taking off her shoes, Amanda greeted her mother back.

"How was the concert?"

"...Good."

"I see."

Natasha nodded her head before closing the book in her hands.

Turning her head, and leaning her arm on the back of the sofa, she teasingly looked at Amanda.

"So, any progress with the boy?"

It was at that moment that Amanda's body stiffened.

Like a robot, Amanda turned her head to look at her mother.

"...Progress?"

"Ha, Amanda, even if I have been missing since you were five, don't think you can fool me. I know you like the boy."

Covering her mouth with her mouth, Natasha laughed.

"With your looks, I don't see any problems with him falling for you. hehe."

"Right..."

Nodding her head, Amanda decided to ignore her mother before heading for her room.

"Wait, Amanda, where are you going?! You still haven't told me ab—"

Clank—!

Shutting the door behind her, Amanda cut her mother off.

The moment she closed the door, she instantly jumped on her bed and covered her face with her pillow, and her body rolled all over the bed.

'W...what have I done!?'

Thinking back at what happened today, Amanda found her cheeks becoming warmer and warmer.

'She is our daughter.'

Recalling the embarrassing words she said in front of the thousands of people, Amanda couldn't help but clutch the bedsheets of her bed and swing her legs in the air.

"Mhhhh..."

A muffled shout rang in the air.

Fortunately for her, her shout was drowned by the pillow in front of her.

This didn't persist for long, however, as a frown soon appeared on her face.

Lifting her head, Amanda turned her body to face the ceiling of the room.

Recalling the time when Ren was surrounded by the girls...unknowingly, Amanda's grip on the bedsheets tightened.

She didn't really think too much back in the past because Ren tended to be low-key, however, now that his fight had been broadcasted throughout the whole human domain, everyone got to see how strong he was.

Not only that, but Ren was actually quite handsome himself, and added with what he did during the tournament...

Amanda suddenly sat up straight.

"Oh no..."

It was then and there that Amanda suddenly realized something.

'...Is Ren more popular than I thought?'

Chapter 473: Going back [1]

A maddening scribbling sound rang inside a dark room that was lit up by a pale yellow light coming from a small lamp sitting atop a large wooden desk.

Sat behind the desk was a male with long dark hair and green eyes. He was none other than Connal Rhinestone, Aaron's father.

His current state was a mess as his eyes bagged, his clothes were unkempt, and a heavy stench of alcohol permeated throughout the room.

"...H...how fucking dare they."

He muttered as his head slumped to the side of the table.

Bang—!

Standing up, he banged the table with his fist.

"Fuckers!"

He began to shout.

"How dare they do this to my son!? He is 876?! What bullshit is this!?"

As he screamed, his voice was filled with resentment.

The reason for this was because of the actions that the Union had taken after his son's death.

Instead of giving him his son's body back, the Union handed him to the Monolith and proclaimed him to be the wanted criminal 876.

The repercussions of such an announcement were extremely powerful, as not even a day after the announcement was made and huge protests began to parade beneath his guild as people started branding him and his guild members as 'Villains.' 'Murderers.' 'Supporters of evil.'

Their image was completely tarnished and the following day, many of the members proclaimed their resignation, and slowly one by one more and more members started to leave.

"Fuckk..."

Connal rolled his head on the table as his fist once again smashed against the table.

"What sort of bullshit was this? my son was 876? Impossible!"

Connal had already read about 876.

This was only natural, after all, the bounty on his head was huge, and it had indeed interested him in the past.

That being said, having read that, he knew exactly what it was impossible for Aaron to be 876.

It was clear that the Union was trying to frame his son in order to protect the actual 876, which was none other than the kid Ren Dover.

Connal would've been stupid to have not made that connection.

"Haaa..."

Slumping back down on his chair, Connel powerlessly looked toward the glass window of his office.

There he managed to catch city of the beautiful city that shone brightly in the night.

It was beautiful. Or that was at least how it used to look in the past.

However, now that his son was gone, everything started to become duller for him.

"A...Aaron."

A parent's worst nightmare was seeing their own son die before them.

Especially when it was broadcasted throughout the whole human domain.

Just recalling the image of his son being split into two, and his body laying down on the floor whilst everyone was cheering pained Connal's heart to no end.

He couldn't understand it.

"Why...why...why did this have to happen to my son?"

Connel mumbled repeatedly as he leaned forward on his desk and grabbed onto his head with both hands.

"What did we do to deserve all of this?"

Gulp—!

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Connel's eyes suddenly snapped open.

"Haa..haaa..."

His breathing started to become more laborious and sweat tricked down the side of his face.

Swallowing another mouthful of saliva, he leaned back and opened the drawer next to him.

Upon opening the drawer, Connel took out a small piece of paper shrouded by a mysterious black hue.

"...So you've made your mind."

It was at the exact moment that he took out the paper that a raspy voice suddenly sounded from the other side of the room.

Instead of being startled, Connel's eyes remained fixed on the paper in front of him.

Tracing his eyes alongside the paper, he soon raised his head and his eyes paused on a black spectral figure in the corner of the room.

His bright and red eyes shone in the darkness.

"You're here," Connel said.

"Ku ku ku."

A raspy laugh suddenly resounded throughout the room as the spectral figure took a step forward revealing the features of a black humanoid creature.

Staring at the contract in Connal's hands, he asked.

"How about it? Are you interested in signing the contract?"

"..."

Connel didn't answer immediately.

With his eyes still fixed on the creature before him, he opened his mouth and asked.

"Why should I sign a contract with you?...in terms of strength, you are only a Count ranked demon, while I'm <S+> ranked. Wouldn't I gain more if I signed a contract with another more powerful demon?"

"...You could."

Pacing around the room, and sitting on the table, the black humanoid creature suddenly smiled.

"Let me tell you a story."

"A story?"

Connel's brows knit. His voice suddenly deepened.

"I don't have time for stories."

"...But I'll bet you will wanna hear this one."

Ignoring Connel, the dark humanoid creature started to talk.

"There was once a demon. A young demon. He was just like any other demon out there. Purposeless. Just invading other planets and corrupting the mana of that world into demonic energy."

The demon suddenly licked his lips and leaned closer to Connel who was staring at him with a serious look.

As he leaned closer to Connel, the demon whispered.

"As you know, in order to survive, we must conquer planets and convert the mana into demonic energy. It's the way we can feed ourselves..."

"Wha—"

"Ah! Tatatata!"

Before Connel could speak, the demon placed his finger on his mouth and winked.

"Let me finish my story."

An intense pressure suddenly bore down on the room.

The pressure came from Connel's body, however, the demon simply shrugged it off as he continued.

"As I was saying, there was once this demon, he was young, and well, he was a demon. Just like any other demon out there he simply conquered planets after planets just to ensure his survival. His existence was, how should I say it?"

Placing his hand over his chin, a thoughtful look appeared on the demon's face as he crossed his legs.

"... Purposeless?"

Snapping his fingers, he looked at Connel.

"Yeah, that's right. Purposeless. That is the best way I could describe his existence."

"Asides from conquering planets and surviving, we have no purpose. Because of the Demon King, we can't do anything we want. How should I say it for you humans to understand...ah! It's like going to work twenty-four hours a day without a rest."

Pausing, the demon once again licked his lips.

"...Now, what do you think would happen if one day that demon got a purpose?"

Placing his hands on the desk, he leaned his face closer to Connel's.

"...What if suddenly out of nowhere that Demon got a purpose? ...Regardless of how big or small it was?"

"What do you think would happen?"

"You would try your best to do it..."

Connel instinctively answered before his body suddenly stiffened.

"Huh?"

Unknowingly, he had gotten swept by the demon's words.

A smile appeared on the demon's face when he saw this.

"Correct."

Moving away from the desk, the demon sat down on the chair opposite.

Raising his hand, he stared at his long and pointy nails.

"Now, what if I were to tell you that I'm merely a pawn? A small piece of a bigger board at play? What would you do if you were in the same position as me?"

Lowering his hand, the room suddenly chilled as the demon's smile faded. His shift in demeanor sent chills down Connel's body.

'W...why am I scared?... H..he's clearly weaker than me.'

Connel thought as he secretly swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Shifting his body back, Connel was just about to reply when the demon answered in an apathetic voice.

"You would obviously be the best fucking piece out there."

His glare pierced right through Connel's eyes, and the temperature dropped even more.

A deadly silence permeated the room as Connel and the demon stared at each other.

This persisted for a good demon before the demon smiled once again and leaned back on the chair.

"Sorry about that, I almost lost myself there."

Waving his hand over his face, he fanned himself. Glancing at Connel from the corner of his eyes, the smile on his face deepened.

"You're probably wondering why I'm saying this to you, right?"

"..."

Without saying anything, Connel nodded his head.

"What if I told you that alongside me, you were also one of the pieces? ...and what if I told you that what happened to your son was not a coincidence?"

"Wh...what."

Opening and closing his mouth, Connel looked at the demon in front of him with a lost look. His heart started to freeze.

'...Not a coincidence?'

"W..what are you talking about?"

"Hehhehee."

The demon suddenly laughed.

At the exact moment he laughed, Connel finally lost it and stood up.

"I've had enough of your crap, speak to me!"

Bang—!

Smacking his hand on the table, he glared at the demon in front of him. A tremendous hue suddenly sprang out from his body.

"Speak to me! What are you talking about!"

"Hhahahahhahah."

However, instead of an answer, he was met with even more laughter as the demon smacked the armrest of the chair repeatedly.

"You!"

Enraged, Connel raised his hand and a dagger suddenly appeared. He then raised it in the air, ready to slash down at any moment.

"Wait, hold on, stop, stop."

However, just as he was about to attack, the demon suddenly stopped and wiped the corner of his eyes.

Licking his lips, he looked at Connel who looked back at him and threatened.

"Speak or you will die."

Rather than looking worried, the demon seemed even more relaxed as he leaned back on his chair.

"What is there to explain? ...Didn't I already say it before? What happened to your son was not a coincidence?"

The pressure exuding from Connel further intensified.

"Who!?"

He shouted at the top of his lungs as a crazed look flashed across his face.

"Tell me who is responsible for this!"

"I can't."

The demon shook his head.

"Then die!"

Connel suddenly slashed in the direction of the demon. Since he wasn't going to answer, he was better off dead.

Bang—!

With a powerful blast, the entire area before him broke apart and dust rose in the air.

"Haaa..haaa...."

Breathing heavily, Connel stared in the direction of where he had attacked.

Although he had only used a small fraction of his strength, he was sure that he had killed the demon. After all, the strength gap between <A> and <S> rank was that big.

However, just when he thought that he had managed to kill him, an amused voice sounded from the back.

"Oh my, oh my."

"!"

Snapping his head in the direction of where the voice came from, to Connal's shock, he found the demon from before standing there with a transparent body.

"H..how!" Connal muttered incredulously.

He couldn't believe it. How could he still be alive!?

"It was a nice attempt."

Raising his hands in the air, the demon's spectral figure started to become less transparent before his figure once again returned to how it looked before.

Before Connel could snap out of it and once again attack, the demon spoke.

"Don't bother trying to kill me. This is merely a projection. A semi-tangible one. Why do you think I was able to bypass your security unnoticed? It's because I'm here, and yet not here at the same time."

Patting down his body, the demon walked back to where the chair used to be.

Lowering his head and seeing that it was no longer there, he made a troubled look.

"Well, look at what you've done! Now I can't even sit..."

Placing his hands over his hips, he let out a long sigh.

After a while, shaking his head, he walked up to Connel and placed his hand over his shoulder.

"What happened to your son was very unfortunate. I am truly sorry for what happened, but.."

The demon's voice suddenly became colder.

"Some things just needed to be done. He was an important factor in growing a bigger piece of the board, he was an unfortunate expandable that needed to be used to push the game forward. He was also someone that needed to be used in order to create this exact scenario. A scenario in which the two of us meet."

"In a way, you can say that our meeting isn't exactly fate."

Extending his hand, and tapping onto the sheet of paper on the table, the demon kept pushing.

"You want to find out the real culprit behind your son's death? ...Do you not want to avenge your son's death?"

"St..stop...stop speaking."

Hearing the demon's words, Connel's had trouble breathing. Each and every one of his words sounded really enticing to him.

...But, yet, at the same time, he knew that he would fall right into the demon's trap as soon as he agreed to his words.

"How will the world view you? Isn't Connel Rhinestone a coward who can't do anything because of the Union? Even if you do decide to take revenge and kill Kevin Voss, and the Union, and the one that framed your son as 876...will that be enough now that you know that there was someone else controlling everything behind the scenes?"

'Stop. Please stop speaking.'

He pleaded inside of his mind. However, the demon just kept pushing and pushing and pushing...

"Are you really just going to be satisfied knowing that the one responsible for destroying your life is still roaming out there, laughing and chatting with his friends, having a merry time.."

"Ah..ah.."

Thud—!

With a low thud, Connel suddenly kneeled on the ground.

"Ahhh...."

A deep twisted smile appeared on the demon's face once he saw this.

Grabbing onto the paper, he waved it in front of Connel as he whispered in a soft voice.

"Sign this contract if you want to take revenge on the one that caused your life to be a mess."

Chapter 474: Going back [2]

TRIIIING—! TRIIIING—!

Waking my groggy mind up was the sound of my phone ringing beside my bed.

Without moving, I extended my hand and touched the side of the bed until my finger tapped onto the screen of the phone and the call went through.

"Who is it?" I groggily asked.

—Ren, Jesus Christ. How much are you planning on sleeping?

Smallsnake's voice rang from the speaker of the phone.

"What time is it?"

Rather than checking for myself, I opted to ask Smallsnake.

—It's 12 in the afternoon.

"Huh?"

Raising my head, my head turned in the direction of my phone.

Leaning toward my phone, I looked at the time.

[Wednesday, 12 : 38 P.M.]

"Oh wow."

Slumping back down on the bed, I stared at the ceiling of the room. I had slept quite a bit.

—Ren, are you even listening to me?

Snapping me out of my thoughts was Smallsnake's voice. I could feel hints of frustration in it.

"What is it?" I lazily asked.

—Connal Rhinestone, the person that you've asked me to keep watch of has gone missing.

"Oh."

—Hm? How come you don't sound surprised at all?

"Because I'm not."

I replied in a flat and monotonous tone. Covering my eyes with my arm, I yawned.

"Huaaam."

"To be honest, I sort of expected this outcome from the very beginning."

I mumbled in a low voice. Low enough for Smallsnake to not hear.

—Hm? Did you say something?

"No."

I shook my head.

The reason why I had asked Smallsnake to take a watch of Connal was because I wanted to get rid of him before he got too troublesome, however, the preparations needed to take care of someone of that caliber were not simple.

I needed a lot of time, at least a couple of months, and that was something that I, unfortunately, did not have.

'Looks like some demon managed to strike...'

Given Connal's current state of mind, this was not surprising.

The man watched his son die in front of the whole human domain, and instead of feeling anything for him, they all cheered for Kevin.

Treating him as some sort of hero.

Not only that, after the deal that I made with Octavious, Aaron was framed as 876, and with all the stuff that the Union had put up, Aaron's guild naturally underwent turbulent times, falling into extremely chaotic times.

Though I did not know exactly what happened, all I did know was the fact that his father was taking blows after blows.

In just a couple of days, he watched as everything he built and worked hard for crumbled right in front of his eyes.

Had I been in Aaron's father's shoes, I too would find my mentality start to wane.

I wasn't the only one who had figured this out as the Union also knew of this and hence why they kept a close watch on him.

The Union was not stupid to the point of thinking that just because he was <S+> rank he would not succumb to the temptations of the demons. If they actually thought of it that way, then there would've been no hope for humanity.

Just because someone was strong didn't mean they were strong mentally.

If strength was correlated to mentality, then why was Kevin's mentality still so weak mentally? Why were there so many strong figures with strength above <S> rank in the Monolith?

With their strength, they shouldn't be able to succumb to their mental demons, right?

Unfortunately, that was wrong.

It was simply a naive way of thinking.

Someone's mentality was not built over strength, but a true real struggle.

...And this was not something that Aaron's dad had considering the fact that he had a similar upbringing to that of Aaron. A sheltered one.

Fortunately, although some of the Union's actions were questionable, they weren't arrogant to the point of thinking that someone like Connal would succumb to his demons.

Now, the real question was.

"Smallsnake, do you have any idea on how he managed to avoid your sight and the Unions?"

As far as I remembered, the Union was keeping a very tight watch on him.

Not only did Connal manage to escape from the Union's watch, but Smallsnake's as well.

—About this, actually, it looks like he had external help from somewhere. Also, the fact that a crack in the sky appeared made things a bit easier.

"I see."

I had a sudden look of enlightenment.

With the crack in the sky appearing, a lot of the focus was shifted away from Connal.

That being said, they still kept a tight watch on him.

Most likely, this was the Monolith's doing.

"Alright, I think I already have enough information to somewhat make a conclusion about what happened. I'll call you later Smallsnake."

Turning my body, I quickly turned off the call.

Sitting up straight on my bed, I let out another yawn and scratched my chest underneath my shirt.

Standing up, I headed for the bathroom. Upon entering the bathroom, the first thing I did was stare at myself in the mirror.

If I had to use two words to describe how I looked at the moment, then it would be 'a mess.'

My hair was all over the place, and I could even see some residual drool on the side of my cheek.

Let's just say it wasn't really the most pleasant of sights.

Splash—! Splash—!

Turning on the tap, I washed my face.

As I did so, I couldn't help but think back on the topic of Connal. To be honest, there was something about the situation that bugged me.

If I looked back on the past, from the fact that I didn't eliminate Aaron back at the dome to the Emma incident which resulted in Kevin publically killing Aaron, everything was linked together.

I mean, was the Emma incident truly only just there for the sake of hurting Kevin's mentality, or was there something deeper at play?

If there was one connecting factor between all of these events, then...

It would be the other entity inside of my body.

He was the driving factor between all of those events. Once I realized this, the gears of my mind started to quickly turn.

'This may be a farfetched theory, but what if this was all planned by him from the very beginning? What if aside from doing what he did to me, his other goal is to make Aaron's father a part of his plans?'

That would make sense.

Given Aaron's father's strength, he would without a doubt be a formidable asset to use. It would be stupid of him to not take advantage of the situation.

'Then, if this hypothesis is true, the demon in question could be Everblood...'

I had already come to a conclusion a while back that Everblood somehow had a link with the other entity inside of my mind.

Therefore, I had no trouble linking him with Aaron's father.

"Although quite farfetched, I believe that this sequence of events is part of some intricate plan that the other entity planned beforehand. Since I found Matthew at the Monolith back when I was there, it is safe to assume that Everblood also has a link there, and with the fact that the Monolith may have had a hand in this, possibly, Everblood is indeed involved...."

Clak—!

Closing the tap, I leaned both of my arms by the side of the sink and deeply stared at the mirror before me.

"Therefore, if my hunch is not wrong, at the moment, both Everblood and Connal are in the Monolith."

Honestly, I wasn't entirely too confident about this hypothesis, but, this was definitely worth taking into consideration.

I wasn't going to once again risk the idea of falling for the other entity's plan like before.

Call me paranoid, but after everything that happened to me, I wasn't going to discard any little piece of information I had.

"Alright, it's way too early for me to think about all of this complicated stuff."

Though I said that, it was in fact twelve in the afternoon.

Ruffling my hair, I proceeded to take a quick shower. After that, I got changed and finally got out of my room.

"Oh my, Ren was like that?"

"Yes, he was. Although he looks lazy, he actually is a very hard worker."

Nearing the living room area, I heard a couple of familiar voices.

'Who's talking smack about me?'

Squinting my eyes, I turned toward the living room area. The moment I entered the living room, I was left surprised by who the person in the house was.

"Miss. Longbern?"

"It's Donna."

Donna corrected before smiling at me.

"You're no longer my student Ren, you don't have to call me Miss. Longbern."

"Oh, right."

I scratched the back of my head.

"I did it out of habit."

"It's alright."

Tilting my head, I looked toward my mother before looking back at Donna.

"Are you here for..."

"No, I'm here for you."

Donna quickly cut me off before looking in my mother's direction.

Taking the hint, my mother stood up with a smile on her face.

"Okay, I'll leave the two of you to discuss. I'll go back to the kitchen to make some lunch"

"Thank you."

Donna thanked my mother with a grateful look on her face.

Clank—!

Soon the door closed and an awkward silence enveloped the room.

"Why don't you take a seat."

The first one to break the silence was Donna who looked at the seat opposite her.

"...Yeah."

Nodding my head, I did as she asked and sat down on the sofa.

As I sat down, I stared at Donna.

She looked exactly as she did in the past. Although only three short years had passed, during that time, instead of looking older, she looked even younger. Wearing a gray suit that perfectly outlined her body, Donna looked stunning.

Crossing my legs, I met Donna's eyes and asked.

"So, what is it that you wanted to talk about?"

Pursing her lips, Donna sat up straight.

"Ren, I would like to ask you a favor. Before you say anything else, I want to say that you can refuse this request and that I will totally be fine with it."

'A favor?'

The moment I heard her words, my eyes sharpened a little.

To be honest, I actually owed her and Monica quite a bit. For one, during the conference while I was negotiating with Octavious and my identity had been leaked, the two of them offered to leave the elven domain to protect my parents till I came back.

I also had to thank Douglas for that as he was the one that allowed this to happen as they were technically not supposed to leave.

Not only that, I also owed them for the Mask of Dolos.

The moment I revealed myself to the world and the mask appeared, the Union heads were able to make a small connection with the fact that it previously belonged to one of the criminals that Monica had captured.

Had it not been for Monica vouching for me and putting on her job on the line, who knows, perhaps the Union would've forced me to give them the mask.

"What's the request."

Crossing my arms, I calmly smiled at Donna.

Although I couldn't make her any promises, I was willing to listen to what she had to ask.

"Thank you."

With a grateful nod, Donna quickly cut to the point.

"Actually, ever since Douglas came back, we have been trying to find out all of the Monolith spies that are in the academy. We have managed to pick up several, however, we are unable to ascertain for sure since there is no concrete evidence. They have hidden their roots quite deeply."

"Ah."

Listening to her words, I was able to instantly get the gist of the situation.

Now that the Union and the Monolith were in a truce, if there was a better time to dig out spies it would be now since they couldn't exactly retaliate.

Given that the Monolith was an organization that was many times more powerful than the Lock, the fact that there were a couple of spies or two wasn't strange.

In fact, it would be weird for the Monolith to not have any spies.

"We've already asked Kevin for help, and we just need someone else to help us enroll at the Lock as an assistant professor for just a couple of months. Because of your fame, we will obviously give you a new identity and everything."

In the midst of my thoughts, Donna continued to speak.

However, halfway through her talk, a certain word caught my interest.

"Wait, did you just say Kevin?"

"Yes, he has also agreed to participate."

"Oh."

I nodded my head.

Things were starting to become a little bit more interesting. Still couldn't exactly say I was interested.

Before I could say anything else, Donna added.

"By the way, before you misunderstand, although I am asking you as a favor, I'm not asking you to do this for free. After talking to Douglas, we have agreed that upon completing the mission, he will give you access to the 'cube', the Lock's personal vault."

Right then and there, my interest finally started to peak.

Leaning my body forward, I asked.

"...Will I be able to pick anything from there?"

"Yes."

Donna nodded her head. A smile soon appeared on her face.

"Douglas said that you can pick whatever you want if you manage to accomplish the mission."

"I see.."

Leaning forward and picking one of the cookies on the table, Donna took a small bite of it and asked.

"What do you say? Will you come back to the Lock for a bit?"

Chapter 475: Going back [3]

"Hmmm..."

Sitting crossed-legged on the ground of my room, I thought back at Donna's proposal.

'We've already asked Kevin for help, and we just need someone else to help us enroll at the Lock as an assistant professor for just a couple of months.'

If I had to be honest, that was not a bad proposal.

Not only would I be granted access to the cube, which was the Lock's special vault filled with skills and manuals, but I could also use the chance to recruit some talented people to my group.

Furthermore, since the Monolith and the Union were still under a treaty, this was the perfect chance for me to consolidate my powers within the human domain.

Not only that, but the Lock did have some of the best training facilities, so that was another plus.

"Alright..."

Standing up from the ground, I stretched my body.

"Donna said that we can start as early as by next week, so I should use this chance to break through <A-> rank."

Touching my face, I shook my head.

'I really need to break through.'

I couldn't stand the thought of still not having hair on my face.

This was especially so since I wasn't planning on going to the Lock undercover.

Although Donna did offer me to go there undercover since she knew that I disliked attention, I in fact already had an idea of who some of the spies in the Lock were.

There was no need for me to hide. Furthermore, it was going to help me save a lot of trouble more than anything else.

The place was filled with a bunch of arrogant teenagers filled with hormones.

If I decided to go there undercover, I would without a doubt be put in a scenario where they would constantly challenge me out of nowhere.

And if I went there as my regular self, Ren Dover, the number of challenges I would receive would be close to zero.

After all, no one would be dumb enough to challenge someone who was <A-> rank and beat up an orc half to death in front of the whole world.

***

At the same time, in another room.

"So you're saying that you won't be available for the next couple of months?"

Pacing around the room, a frown emerged on Kevin's face. At the moment, he was currently on a call with Emma.

—Yes. I will be undergoing training with my dad during that time, so I won't be able to contact you for a bit.

Unconvinced, the frown on Kevin's face deepened.

However, it eventually receded.

Knowing just how stubborn Emma could be at times, he knew that he couldn't change her mind.

"Alright, I won't try to convince you otherwise. This is your life, and it's not something I can control. I just hope that you remain safe."

—Don't worry Kevin.

Emma reassured.

—Don't forget that my dad will be with me, I won't go through any danger.

"If you say so."

Hearing her words, Kevin did feel a little bit more relieved.

She was right.

Her father was someone whose strength was around <S> to <S+> rank. There was no way someone like him couldn't ensure her safety.

Perhaps he was overthinking.

—Alright Kevin, I have to go now. I will see you in a bit.

"See you."

Kevin bid Emma goodbye.

Du. Du. A repetitive beeping sound echoed in Kevin's ears, signaling to him that Emma had hung up the call.

Lowering his hand and putting the phone away, Kevin sat down on a chair nearby and closed his eyes.

"System."

He muttered out loud, prompting a virtual interface to appear in front of him.

Once the interface appeared in front of him, Kevin swiped his hand toward the right and skimmed to the quest section.

===

[Quest.]

Information : Stop the Demon King from consuming this planet.

Location : Cassaria.

Goal : Stop the demon corruption of the planet.

Rank : <A-> +

Requirement for transportation : <A> ranked core.

Total people : Three.

Reward : [Demon King Ascension + 1 year.] [Minor realm rank up.] [Synchronisation + 15%]

Penalty : [Demon King Ascension - 1 year.]

===

His eyes soon paused on a certain quest.

The quest was something new. It was something that had appeared at the exact moment when the crack in the sky appeared, and he got the message telling him that the Demon King was ascending over the next five years.

At first, he was shaken by the revelation, however, he was able to quickly calm down and think things through.

Since the message appeared the exact moment the crack in the sky appeared, he was fairly certain of the fact that the situation had to do with the Demon King.

Although he wasn't exactly sure about why exactly it happened, he knew that what was happening was definitely linked with the quest he got.

Perhaps, once he completed the quest he would finally know what exactly was happening to earth and come up with countermeasures for it.

Tucking his hand underneath his chin, Kevin muttered in thought.

"Hmmm, so I can bring two other people with me..."

Without needing to think much, Kevin already had an idea of who one of the people he would bring was.

It was Ren.

Who else but him? He was someone that already knew his secret. The secret about his system, and the fact that he could travel through different planets.

Furthermore, he was quite adept in these types of situations, and so, to Kevin, he was the most logical person to bring.

'But what about the other person?'

Crossing his arms, Kevin fell into thought.

However, regardless of how much he tried to think, he couldn't think of anyone else to bring.

TRIIING—! TRIIING—!

It was then that his phone suddenly rang.

Turning his head and glancing at the phone, Kevin found it to be Donna. He immediately picked it up.

"Hello?"

***

A week later. Monday, 6 A.M.

Staring at the mirror and moving my hand across my head which was now filled with hair thanks to the aid of a potion, I let out a satisfied, almost proud smile.

"Much better."

Without constantly wearing the mask, my face felt a lot less stuffy.

Having broken through to <A-> rank the past week, my hair could grow back again, and thus I immediately took a hair growth potion before heading to the barber to cut my hair which had regrown.

"Ren are you ready? You are going to be late?"

It was at that moment that I heard my mother's voice coming from the other end of the living room.

Taking another look at myself in the mirror, and fixing my black t-shirt and tie, I shouted.

"Coming."

Just as I was about to leave, I grabbed onto a pair of black thin-framed glasses and put them on.

Today was the day I was finally going to go back to the Lock as a professor, and thus wanted to look presentable.

Although I wasn't wearing a suit, I thought that this was enough.

"Oh my, look at how handsome my boy became."

My mother exclaimed the moment she saw me.

Following this, she dashed in my direction and patted my body from waist to shoulders.

"Just look at how muscular you have become, mhh, oh dear, this is not good."

My mother's face suddenly became serious.

Noticing this, my brows knit, "What's wrong?"

"Well..."

Placing her hand underneath her chin, my mother had a troubled look on her face.

"What is it?"

I asked with a bit of worry.

Looking up at me, my mother sighed.

"...Ren, I'm just afraid that the girls you will be teaching will fall for you with how handsome you have become, and you are already twenty. I don't want you to become a cri—"

"Stop right there."

I immediately cut my mother off.

Placing both of my hands on her shoulders, I sighed.

"Mom, let's not go there, okay?"

"But..."

"No, buts. I'm not there to play around, I am there to do a job."

Actually, that was a bit of a lie.

Although I indeed had an important job to do, my main task was to observe people and see who to tempt into recruiting.

"Well, alright..."

"Okay."

Giving my mother a quick hug, before she could react, I immediately left the house and headed for the bottom floor.

Clank—!

Just as I managed to get out of the house, I suddenly heard the sound of the door closing next to me. Turning my head, my eyes met with Amanda's.

The moment our eyes met, Amanda's eyes looked up at me from top to bottom.

"Going somewhere?" She asked, closing the door behind her.

"Yup, I'm going to work."

I replied back.

"Work?"

With a curious look, Amanda headed my way.

Even though it was quite dark, from where I was standing I could see that she was currently wearing a nice black business outfit that matched her hair and eye color.

In her right hand was a coffee cup.

"Is it related to the mercenary group that you were talking about before?"

Amanda asked as she took a sip of her coffee. She soon walked past me.

"No."

I shook my head as I followed Amanda and walked alongside her.

"I'm going to be working at the Lock as an assistant professor for a while."

"Hm?"

Halting her footsteps, Amanda almost spilled her drink.

"Wow, watch it."

Fortunately, I was able to react in time and grabbed her cup.

Before I could ask her if she was okay, her head snapped in my direction.

"You are going back to the Lock as an assistant professor?"

Scratching the side of my neck, I slowly nodded my head.

"...Yeah."

Because of how busy Amanda was, ever since the concert, I wasn't able to see her that much. And that was despite the fact that we now lived a couple of apartments apart.

Amanda's eyes squinted.

"I see..."

Quickly recomposing herself, she wordlessly headed for the elevator. She looked to be in deep thought.

Seeing the state that she was in, I lowered my head and glanced at the cup of coffee in my hand.

I quickly took a sip before following her from behind. I kind of needed that.

Arriving next to the elevator, I took another sip of the coffee before giving it back to Amanda.

"Here."

"Thanks."

Distracted by her own thoughts, Amanda took the cup from my hand and took a sip.

Ding—!

Soon the elevator arrived and the two of us got in.

***

7 A.M.

I came in front of a familiar-looking building. I thought that it was going to be a lot more crowded since it was about this time when the students would go to class. However, the only person I saw at the entrance was Kevin.

Wearing a more formal wear than me, Kevin rigidly stood next to the entrance of the campus.

"I should first greet everyone with a smile, then I...should tell them what...I practiced..."

Kevin stiffly mumbled to himself, and then noticed me.

His eyes instantly lit up.

"Ren."

"Hm"

I moved my head in acknowledgment.

"Why is everything so quiet today?"

"They are at an assembly. Douglas is making his first official speech ever since coming back."

"Ah."

Now everything was starting to make more sense.

Glancing around the place, I asked.

"...So, what are we supposed to do now?"

"We wait."

Kevin answered.

Turning his head and looking into the building, he followed up.

"Donna said that she will pick us up soon, so all we can do is wait for her to be done with her stuff."

"I see."

I had no problem with this arrangement.

Lifting my head up and staring at the enormous infrastructure before me, I felt a mixture of different emotions.

The emotions were mostly positive, but there were also negative ones. Especially when I recalled certain events that changed my life, such as the time at the dome when I was brought back into the Monolith and had to go through all of...that.

"Haaa..."

I let out a long braeth.

'Let's hope that nothing annoying hap... never mind, this sounds like I'm setting up a flag.'

Yeah.

Wasn't going to fall for that one.

Chapter 476: First day [1]

"Sure, yes, okay, we're coming."

Hanging up the phone, Kevin headed for the entrance of the academy.

I followed him from behind.

Glancing around the place, I curiously asked.

"Where are we going now?"

"Section B."

Kevin answered before he turned his head to glance my way.

"By the way, I forgot to compliment you about the glasses."

"Oh, these. "

Raising my hand, I pushed my glasses up a little.

"Wanted to look the part."

"...Kind of cringe."

"Says the guy who is wearing a suit."

I bluntly replied while pushing my hair back.

Actually, the reason why I was wearing the glasses wasn't actually because I wanted to look the part.

Well, a small part was. However, the main reason was something else.

Connected to the glasses was a small camera that Smallsnake and Ryan could see through.

From there, whenever I wanted to pick information about someone, they would quickly send me a brief overview of their information.

Was kind of handy.

"Wait is that..."

"It's them."

"It can't be..."

Along the way, some of the staff and students that were not in the auditorium managed to recognize us as I could hear faint whispering coming from their direction.

Some even went as far as taking out their phones and started taking pictures of us from the distance.

I feigned ignorance to that.

"We're here."

Walking for the next ten minutes, we soon stopped in front of a familiar rectangular infrastructure.

Even after having seen the building countless times in the past, I couldn't help but be amazed by the sheer size of the structure.

"Let's go."

Waving his hand toward the guard, Kevin and I entered the building and soon made it all the way toward Donna's office which was on the fifth floor of the structure.

To Tok—!

Kevin knocked on the door and Donna's voice echoed soon after.

"Come in."

"If you will excuse us."

Clank—!

"Welcome you two."

Upon entering the room, we were greeted by Donna who sat behind her desk. Kevin was the first to greet her.

"Hey. It's been a while, Donna."

"Mhm, it's nice seeing you again, Kevin. Did you have any trouble getting here?"

"Not at all."

"That's good."

As the two were talking, I glanced around the place. It had been a while since I had been in Donna's office and it still looked exactly as it did in the past. Small, and comfy.

"Ren?"

Snapping me out of it, I suddenly felt someone tap me on the shoulder. It was Kevin.

"What is it?"

"Are you not paying attention at all?"

Kevin rolled his eyes before nudging his head, in Donna's direction.

"She's saying hit to you."

Coming to a realization, I lowered my head and greeted Donna.

"Ah yes, good to see you again."

"It's good to see you two."

Donna replied with a smile, not minding my rudeness. She then pressed her hand on the table and passed two papers in our direction.

"I'll get straight to the point, I need you two to sign these."

As Donna passed the papers, a stern look appeared on Kevin's face.

"Mana contracts?"

"That's right."

Donna said as she placed two pens next to the papers.

"This is the academy policy. Each professor, be it an assistant, staff, or regular professor must sign a mana contract. This is for security reasons, I'm sure you know, right?"

"I see..."

Convinced by Donna's argument, Kevin sat down on a brown leather chair opposite Donna's desk and picked up a pen.

Just as he was about to sign, his hand came to a sudden pause.

"Hold on, if you guys do this, how come the academy still gets infiltrated?"

This was a valid question.

If the academy made everyone sign mana contracts, how was it possible for people to infiltrate the academy?

Well, I already knew the answer to that.

With a helpless smile on her face, Donna leaned back in her chair.

"This just tells you how deep-rooted the influence of the Monolith is."

Before she could follow up, I sat down next to Kevin and did a quick skim of the contract.

Once I made sure that there was nothing I was against, I signed it and put the pen down.

"Kevin, I'm sure you know this by now, but a mana contract is not exactly omnipotent."

Mana contracts, although useful, weren't exactly without flaws.

There were definitely ways for some people to escape its influence, although, the method was actually extremely complex and it required massive amounts of resources.

That and the fact that the user would find their lifespan shortening by a large degree due to the fact that their soul would get split in half in the process.

In short, it was not something that could be done easily, and the fact that the Monolith had managed to infiltrate the Lock despite all of this went to show how big of an organization they were.

"I guess you're right."

Lowering his head, Kevin signed the paper and put the pen down.

"I wasn't thinking straight. I barely signed more than one myself."

He then passed the contract back to Donna.

"Here you go."

"Thank you."

With a satisfied smile, Donna put the papers away.

A hologram was then projected in the air.

"Alright, I will give you a brief rundown on who the individuals you should keep a close watch should be."

A long list of professors began to show.

From low-ranked professors to high-ranked ones.

They all varied in gender, rank, and the level of suspicion that the Lock had of them.

'So they are the individuals that the Lock suspects of being part of the Monolith.'

I thought as I stared at the projection. There were quite a few familiar faces amongst the list of professors, however, I never really interacted with them much.

Not to the point of being surprised by what I was seeing.

Either way, after a quick skim, I was in fact able to spot a couple of figures whom I knew were in fact spies. I quickly memorized their names and positions.

'They can be of use to me.'

"Kevin, you will be a professor while Ren you will be an assistant professor."

Just then, snapping me out of my thoughts were Donna's words.

"Hmm? Kevin is a professor?"

Donna's lips curved upward, then nodded.

"Ren, you have not even finished your first year at the Lock. Even if you do have the qualifications to be a professor given your strength, unlike Kevin, you don't have a degree."

"Oh."

I moved my head a little.

Actually, I was happy with this arrangement. Since I was an assistant professor, it could only mean that I had less work to do.

"Looks like you don't have any issues with the arrangement."

Donna clapped her hands.

Raising her hand she once again turned her attention toward the holographic projection in front of her and started to brief Kevin and m, on all the individuals we had to be careful of.

"Okay, now that you two know what your roles are. I will now start giving you details on the people on the list."

...30 minutes later.

I left after Donna gave me a proper rundown on the situation, and what I was supposed to do in the next to months.

To summarize everything, all I needed to do was stick close to one of the targets and be their assistant.

***

Demon Hunter Guild.

"Young Miss? Young Miss?"

"Hm?"

Snapping Amanda out of her thoughts was her assistant, Maxwell.

With a worried look, he asked.

"Is everything alright, young miss?"

"Yeah."

Amanda replied in short. She then lowered her head and stared at the papers in front of her.

"What were we discussing?"

"We were discussing the launch of the magic cards system. We have currently mass-produced over a couple of millions of cards, and we're currently sold out in terms of pre-released booking. We're practically ready to launch them, however, what we need at the moment is confirmation to officially launch them."

"Ah, right."

Flipping through her notes, Amanda's eyes squinted. After a bit of thought, she replied.

"Let's start releasing the cards to the market by next week. Amp up security during the time, and make sure that nothing happens to the reserves. Make sure that nothing happens during the transition phase. We can't afford to have our cards robbed. Even if it costs a bit, use the money."

"Understood."

Maxwell replied with a nod.

Closing the folder, Amanda looked up.

"Is there anything else?"

"No."

Maxwell shook his head with a kind smile on his face.

His reaction caused Amanda to tilt her head.

"Is there something else you need from me?"

"No, no."

Shaking his head, Maxwell took his folder back. Lowering his body, he bit Amanda goodbye before leaving the room.

Clank—!

Silence descended in the room once Maxwell left the room.

Glancing at the door for a couple of seconds, Amanda grabbed her coffee and took a sip. After that, from the corner of her eyes, she glanced at her phone which was resting by the side of the desk.

Her eyes immediately squinted into slits.

Extending her hand, she turned her phone over.

At the exact moment she turned her phone over, displayed on it was the image of a girl taking a selfie with several people behind her.

Wearing a cute fluffy hat and with her fingers crossed together in a heart shape, the bottom of the image had the captions that said.

[Back at the Lock! I'm so excited!~]

Further beneath it was a string of hashtags.

[#BackHere #Awesome #Lock #NumberOneAcademy!]

What followed the hashtags was a string of comments.

1,983,097 likes.

Georgina Smith : You look amazing bae!

Evelyn1287 : Waaah, I am so jealous!

Connor : Please marry me, queen!

Manor97_98 : Not only are you an idol but you are also a student in the Lock? How perfect can someone get!?

"Tsk."

Amanda subconsciously clicked her tongue.

***

Thirty minutes before the lecture started.

"Good morning."

Entering a small private room, I greeted the professor I was supposed to be assisting.

Thomas D. Shurle was what he was called. According to Donna, he was one of the people that they suspected of being one of the spies for the Monolith.

"Hm?"

But as I entered the room, I was left surprised by the fact that there was no one present.

Not only that, but the whole room was a mess. With papers covering the whole room, it was quite hard for me to even walk.

"This place is a mess..."

I muttered to myself.

"...Oh, you're finally here."

"Who!?"

Startling me, I suddenly heard someone's voice coming from somewhere around the room.

"Over here."

Once again hearing his voice, My eyes soon locked toward a certain location in the room.

With the sound of paper falling to the side, a lanky male with a bowl cut, and black-framed glasses groggily got up. Raising his hand to fix his glasses, he gazed in my direction.

"You must be the assistant professor I was promised, right?"

"Y..yeah."

I replied with a forced smile.

'Is this guy really a professor?'

I thought to myself. He looked like a complete mess. Not only were his clothes wrinkled, but there was also a strange odor coming from him.

Patting his body down, and up. The professor turned to look at the clock by the side of the room.

"Oh, it looks like class is starting soon."

With a nonchalant loon on his face, he slowly stood up and stretched his body. Then, reaching out for his desk and grabbing a small folder, he got out of the classroom.

"..."

Speechless, I let out a long sigh.

"Haaa..."

'He just went up and left without even introducing himself or telling me what I'm supposed to do.'

From this very moment, I already knew that my short stay here would not be as relaxed as I thought it was going to be.

Slumping my shoulders, I followed the professor from behind.

"Professor wait up."

Catching up to the professor, I found myself in front of a large wooden door with the words [B-09] engraved on the side.

"Good that you're here."

Before I could figure out what was going on, the professor looked at me and pointed toward the classroom.

"Here's your first task as an assistant. Get everyone to stop talking."

Chapter 477: First day [2]

"Haaa..."

Leaning her head by her arm, Sophia lazily scrolled through her phone and checked her socials.

Scrolling through the many different posts, her fingers paused on a certain post.

It was an image of an individual looking toward the sky with a lost look.

[Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.]

"Ugh."

Her face started to cringe considerably.

'Why do people like this guy so much? I get that he's kind of handsome, but...ugh.'

The individual in the photo was quite handsome, however, the lines beneath it were quite cringy. What was worse were the comments beneath his post.

3,033,025 likes.

Coraline_Col : You look amazing! Way to go chap!

MuscleBeast4TheWin : You were spectacular at the tournament. Congrats on your victory.

Muzzy : Cool!

The poster was none other than Kevin Voss.

Being one of the most successful Lock graduates, coupled with his looks, Kevin almost had a cult-like following at the Lock, and outside.

He was pretty much a celebrity wherever he went, and from time to time he would post an update on social media that would garner tons of views and likes.

However, to Sophia, whenever he posted, all she could feel was utter cringe.

Especially when she would read the captions underneath his comment. She really couldn't understand why people would prefer him over Ren.

What was wrong with them?

"And here I thought that you weren't a fan of Kevin."

An arm suddenly struck from behind, grasping Sophia by the neck.

"Huii!"

Right as the arm hooked on her neck, Sophia's eyes opened widely as she tried to pull the arm away.

"Khh...Maria stop!"

However, regardless of how much strength she put in, she couldn't free herself from its grasp.

Soon face turned red and she was forced to tap on the arm in defeat.

"Ma..ria, I can't breath."

"Hahah, you know I'm just joking."

Finally letting go of Sophia's neck, a burly girl with short blonde hair and a tanned body slumped on the seat next to her.

Her name was Maria Lopez and despite her lazy and nonchalant look, she was fairly popular in the class for being one of the most beautiful girls in the school alongside Sophia.

If not for her fiery nature, she would've probably been a lot more popular. Not only that but she was also ranked amongst the top five in her year.

With her hands in her pockets and crossing her legs, she teasingly looked at Sophia.

"You previously told me that Kevin was just a pretty boy, and here you are, staring at him with drool on your mouth."

"Shut up."

Sophia rolled her eyes.

Putting the phone down, she seriously said.

"You already know that I don't like him at all."

"Then who do you like?"

Taking her hands away from her pockets, Maria gazed at one particular student at the front of the class.

She wasn't the only one in the classroom who had her gaze on him as a large majority of the girls in the classroom had their eyes on him.

With short brown hair, a chiseled jaw, and outstanding looks, he was Ethan Kodak, the number one ranked in the whole year.

Following Maria's line of sight, Sophia's face turned strange.

"Ethan?"

She then shook her head.

"No, no way, he has the worst temper of anyone that I have ever seen. He's even worse than you."

"You're right."

Maria thought with a nod.

Placing the palm of her hand on her neck, she glanced around the class before she started to scratch the back of her head.

"Say, what class do we have today?"

"Didn't you check?"

Sophia replied with a bit of annoyance in her voice. However, despite that, she quickly replied.

"It's [Psyon adaptability in combat and control]."

"Ah, shit."

Maria's head slumped back. Her eyes which used to shine with vigor quickly lost them as her body became listless.

"That class is so boring..."

She managed to utter after a while.

"...I don't want to go."

Raising her head, she looked at Sophia.

"Hey, can we skip?"

"No."

Sophia quickly shot her down. Rejected by Sophia, Maria powerlessly slumped down her chair.

"Muuu..."

Ignoring her and taking out her phone, Sophia started scrolling through her social media again.

Even though their class [Psyons adaptability in combat and control] was supposed to be one of their more important classes, because of the professor they had, almost no one in the class was able to learn anything.

The way the professor spoke was too monotonous and complex for most people to understand.

It had gotten to the point that almost no one paid attention to the class. Most of the time, the professor's voice would be drowned out by the chatter of the students in the class.

"I hope the academy does something about this."

Sophia muttered out loud, as her thumb scrolled down the screen of her phone.

"Ugh."

Once again she scrolled past Kevin's post, causing her face to cringe again.

Clank—!

It was then that the door suddenly sprung open.

The moment the door opened, no one in the classroom even bothered lifting their heads up to look at who had entered the classroom.

Even Sophia didn't bother to look.

"Keum..."

A subtle coughing sound echoed throughout the whole classroom. It was light, but it smoothly traveled through the ears of everyone present.

Despite that, no one still bothered to pay attention to the person that had entered the classroom.

"Haaa..."

Putting her phone away, Sophia slowly raised her head.

However, at the exact moment she raised her head, a tangible, almost frightening pressure bore down on almost everyone inside the classroom.

"Ugh?!"

"What's going on?"

"What is happening to me?"

Panic instantly descended upon the classroom, as everyone had difficulty moving or breathing.

Not everyone felt this way though, as a couple of individuals were able to keep their heads up. Sophia was one of them.

"Interesting."

An amused voice rang from next to Sophia as Maria sat up straight and stared at the person standing at the podium of the classroom.

One by one, everyone raised their heads, and what they were met with were two dull grey eyes hidden beneath some thin-framed glasses.

A chill ran down everyone's spine the moment their eyes met with the individual's eyes.

Wearing a black T-shirt and with both of his hands on the podium of the classroom, everyone finally realized that the person in front of them was not their professor, but in fact someone else.

Someone that almost everyone in the room was able to recognize.

The most mysterious and famous senior in their academy's history.

Ren Dover.

"Looks like everyone finally managed to calm down."

Upon seeing everyone calm down, cuffing the sleeves of his shirt, Ren's eyes slowly turned a deep shade of blue.

The pressure that reached down on everyone immediately stopped.

However, despite that, a deathly silence suffused the room.

"This was a lot more than I expected."

Breaking the silence was a sluggish and almost nonchalant voice. Entering the classroom, Thomas arrived before Ren and patted him on the shoulder.

"Thank you."

Twisting his head to look at everyone else, he started to introduce the individual who had just come into the classroom.

"Everyone, let me introduce to you, my new assistant professor. Ren Dover."

"Ah..."

The first one to let out a sound was Sophia who quickly covered her mouth with her hands.

Staring at Ren's figure in the middle of the room, her cheeks couldn't help but redden as her heart leaped out of her chest.

'It can't be! How is this possible? Could this be the best day of my life?'

Before she could open her mouth, the classroom erupted into noise as multiple eyes sparkled in excitement.

"Oh my god! He looks exactly the same as when he was on TV!"

"Senior what is your current rank!"

"Were you really bored?"

Subject to all of the stares in the classroom, Ren's face remained calm.

It was clear that he had expected such a reaction from the students, and was thus was able to keep his composure.

Raising his hand, everyone stopped talking.

"Thank you."

Ren thanked the classroom with a slight nod.

Glancing in the professor's direction, he started to introduce himself.

"Just like the professor previously said. I am here as an assistant professor, so please treat me as such. My name is Ren Dover, I am twenty and hope to be of help to you in the future. Regarding my personal life, I will refrain from answering."

Much to some's dismay, Ren drew a line between himself and everyone in the room.

Walking next to the professor, he wordlessly stood next to him.

"Well said."

Patting him on the shoulder, Thomas pinched the tip of the nose and pushed his glasses up. He then walked toward the podium where he finally began his lecture.

"As everyone already knows..."

***

The lecture went on to continue for the next two hours.

Listening to the lecture, my brows wrinkled and relaxed many times as I tried to comprehend the words that the professor was saying.

Even though I could more or less understand what he was saying, the choice of words that he was using made it extremely hard for me to follow, let alone the students who seemed bored out of their minds.

"When one conducts the mana in the air, at their resolve they can diverge the mana into different psyons, consequently resulting in the tint that they engender when assailing. The grander someone's authority over psyons, the more sumptuous the tint that revolves around them."

About halfway through the class, almost everyone stopped paying attention to his words as they all took out their phones and started doing whatever they wished to do.

Most shockingly was the fact that the professor didn't seem to mind this at all as he just continued to ramble and ramble throughout the whole lecture.

By the time the lecture was about to end, no one no longer paid any attention to the class as they all looked at the clock at the side of the class.

Seeing this, my eyes started to squint as I looked at the professor in front of me.

'I'm starting to understand why Donna is suspicious of him. Is he just a bad at expressing himself or is he a spy?'

At the moment he didn't string to me as a spy as he just seemed bad at expressing himself.

The reason why I believed this was because, for one, he wasn't one of the people in my memories that were a spy, and two, the contents of his lecture were actually correct.

He wasn't misleading the students or anything.

It was hard for me to follow along, but I did find myself surprised by his knowledge of some of the things he said, as even I had trouble understanding those areas.

That being said, just because my suspicions were lowered, didn't mean that he was completely off the hook.

I was still going to pay close attention to him.

"This is it for today's lecture."

It was then that the professor spoke up, marking the end of the lecture.

At the exact moment his words echoed throughout the room, everyone stood up from their seats and started to leave the classroom one by one.

Staring at the students that were leaving, a simple smile emerged on his face.

"For the next lecture that we will be holding tomorrow, we will go to Section G for a practical session. So please come with the adequate attire."

But it seemed as though he was talking to the air as everyone just ignored him and continued to0 leave the classroom.

Some did try to strike up a conversation with me, but I quickly rejected them. There was a time and place for that.

"Ren."

Just when I thought that there would be no one else would come to me, I unexpectedly heard the sound of a familiar voice coming from my right.

Right as I turned my head to see who it was, a groan escaped from my mouth.

'Oh, god.'

Chapter 478: Practical lesson [1]

'Oh god.'

The moment I turned my head and my eyes met with the person who had called out for me, a groan couldn't help but escape from my mouth.

"What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean? This is my classroom."

Placing her hands on her hips, Sophia pouted.

"I'm more offended by the fact that you didn't notice me at all."

"Mhhh."

I casually nodded.

Because my focus had been on the professor the entire time, I didn't notice Sophia at all.

Which would've been for the best since her appearance gave me a headache.

Pinching the middle of my brows, I asked.

"Anyways, what do you need from me?"

"How rude, I was just here to say hi to you."

"Okay, hello, now go away." I bluntly replied, while shooing her away with my hands.

However, it didn't seem like she managed to get the message as she took out her phone and shoved it in my face.

"So rude, anyways, I have something else to talk to you about. Please for the love of god stop this guy."

"Who?"

Moving my head back to get a better look at what she was showing, my eyes squinted.

"...What the."

My eyes dilated.

"Give me that."

Snatching the phone from her hand, I leaned my body closer to get a better look.

[Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.]

Shivers.

The exact moment my eyes paused on the image and I read the caption, my body started to shiver uncontrollably.

'Oh my god, Kevin...'

Raising my head, I handed the phone back to Sophia before muttering.

"He needs to be stopped."

"Right?"

Sophia took the phone back.

"Please do something about it."

Crossing my arms together, I nodded my head in agreement.

"I'm with you on this one."

What Kevin was posting was a menace to society. He needed to be stopped at all costs.

"Ehm, I'm sorry if I'm interrupting you two, but..."

It was then that I finally took notice of the other person beside Sophia.

Once my eyes paused on her, my brows creased a little.

Setting her looks aside, the first thing that surprised me about her was her aura. It was wild and powerful. If I had to make a guess, she was in the early stages of <C> rank.

Given that this was the second year, her achievements were quite outstanding.

Feeling her gaze all over me, before I could ask her purpose, she suddenly spoke up. Her eyes burned with fighting spirit.

"How strong are you?"

My brow raised.

"That's a bit of a random question."

However, taking note of the wild aura revolving around her, I instantly understood she was what some might call a 'battle junky.'

Scratching the side of my neck, I looked up for a moment.

"How strong I am? ...Well, did you not watch me during the tournament?"

"I did, I did."

The girl bobbed her head up and down.

"But you gave up before the tournament ended, and back then, you were only <B> ranked when you defeated that <A-> ranked orc. Although I can't tell what your strength is right now, I can tell that your strength is far above what it was back in the tournament, and I'm wondering exactly how strong you are at the moment."

Placing my hand beneath my chin, I murmured.

"Aha...good question."

Honestly, there was no real answer to this.

In terms of strength, I had long surpassed Kevin who was still <B> rank, or maybe <B+> rank, wasn't really sure at this point, but, even if he did breakthrough, he was no longer my match.

'In fact, I don't think there is anyone my age that can beat me.'

At least in the human domain.

Glancing in the girl's direction, I mysteriously smiled.

"Well, let's just say that I'm pretty strong."

Before she could start complaining, I turned around and waved my hand.

"Don't bother complaining. Even though I'm pretty strong, compared to the actual <S> rankers, I'm still nothing but a small fish inside of a bigger pond. I've still got a long way. Ask me that question once I reach the ranks."

Even though the achievement of being one of the strongest amongst my ages was something quite noteworthy, at the end of the day, it was really nothing worth celebrating.

What really mattered was becoming the strongest amongst the strongest, not the strongest amongst the weakest.

Lifting my glasses up, I proceeded to leave the classroom.

***

"Haa..."

With his shoulders slumped, Kevin let out a long and tired sigh.

'Thank god this is over."

He secretly thought to himself.

Today was his first day as an assistant professor, and it was quite frankly something that he wanted to forget.

He initially thought that it was going to be a breeze since he was teaching third years, which were a lot more sensible and mature compared to the first years, however, he had completely underestimated just how rampant teenagers were.

Even though no one dared to challenge him, they all bombarded him with a series of different questions, and basically, stopped him from teaching.

Thankfully, this was only his first day of teaching, so he didn't really need to get much done.

Still, he couldn't let things progress like this.

'I wonder if Ren had it better than me.'

Realistically speaking, he should've had a much harder time than him. Not only was he an assistant professor and he was teaching second years, but he was also fairly popular due to what happened back at the conference.

"Heh."

The thought of Ren having a harder time than himself made Kevin smile.

Taking out his phone, he sent him a quick message.

[How was your day?]

Not even a couple of seconds after he sent the message, he got a reply.

However, the message written wiped the smile off of Kevin's face.

[Don't talk to me.]

"Huh?"

Lowering his head, he typed back.

[What do you mean?]

Ren's response caused Kevin to freeze on the spot.

[Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.]

Kevin's mouth started to spasm, and he quickly typed back.

[I thought you told me that you don't go on social media. How did you find out about it? ...And also, what is wrong with it.]

However, right as he sent the message, he was surprised to find that his message couldn't go through. What followed after was a string of red text that said.

[The user has blocked you.]

Crack—!

Before he knew it, Kevin's screen started to crack.

***

"How nasty."

Shaking my head, I put my phone away.

No way in hell I was going to talk to him after what I saw. Even now, I wished I had never seen that.

'If only I could go back in time.'

"Haa..."

Letting out a long breath, I stopped in front of a familiar door.

To Tok—!

Knocking on the door once, I pulled the handle and entered the room.

Entering the room, I stopped right at the entrance. Although I wanted to enter the place, the state of the room prevented me from doing so.

.

"Professor, is there anything you need from me?"

Sitting by the other side of the desk, Professor Thomas leaned his back against the chair and rested his feet on the table. In his hands was a small tablet.

Hearing my voice, he casually gazed in my direction.

"Oh, you're here."

"Yes."

I politely replied back.

Glancing around the place, I asked.

"So is there something that you nee—"

But, not even a second after I started speaking, the professor spoke up. His next words caused my body to freeze on the spot.

"876."

Slowly my head turned in the direction of the professor, and our eyes met.

For a split moment, all I saw was my very self inside of his eyes. I saw myself inside of a dark and endless space.

An endless space filled with nothingness.

Ba…thump. Ba…thump.

Unknowingly, my heart started to speed up.

There was something about his eyes. Something about them that really set me off. They felt familiar.

Furthermore, how was it possible for him to know that I was 876? The Union had used all of its power to cover up every single trace of Aaron during the time I was at the Monolith.

Only a select few actually knew what happened.

Quickly recollecting myself, alarm bells rang inside of my head as I solemnly stared at Thomas who turned his head to look at his tablet again.

"What's your purpose?"

I asked. Secretly, I was channeling the mana inside of my body.

Gulp—!

I swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

"Hm?"

Just when I was about to attack, Professor Thomas turned his head in my direction. Once our eyes met, he slowly turned his tablet around.

"876? Do you not know him?"

"Uh?"

Lowering my head, I glanced at the tablet.

Displayed on the tablet screen was the image of a news article.

[Connal Rhinestone, father of Aaron Rhinestone, also known as 876, disappears. Could his disappearance have anything to do with what happened to his son? Should everyone be alert about his disappearance?]

Staring at the article, I stopped channeling the mana inside of my body and my mind became less alert.

'Ah, he was talking about that.'

Right, with Connel's disappearance, it wasn't strange for 876 to once again be the topic of the town.

Raising my head, and once again meeting Professor Thomas's eyes, I no longer gave the same feeling as before.

'Was I hallucinating?' I thought to myself.

Everything happened so fast that I wasn't able to process anything that happened. Was what I saw the fruit of my imagination?

I really couldn't tell.

"876, what a pitiful guy."

While I was in thought, Thomas once again started to speak.

Scrolling through his tablet, he shook his head.

"Although the Union didn't release too much information about this guy, I did hear that he was a failed experiment from the Monolith. For him to have escaped such a place, he must've suffered quite a lot."

"...Right."

I did suffer quite a bit.

Recalling the events of the past, my brows started to crease.

Unaware of what I was thinking, Professor Thomas, sat up straight and scrolled more.

"If you took about it, this 876 guy, he was quite unlucky."

"How so? Wasn't he a wanted fugitive that committed a lot of crimes? Why was he unlucky?"

I asked. Before I knew it, I was suddenly getting swept by his rhythm.

Lifting his head, Professor Thomas fixed his glasses.

"Well, you are right."

He then proceeded to put the tablet down.

"But don't you think that the reason he committed all the crimes he did was because of what he went through at the Monolith? I'm sure his mind was filled with demons."

"Demons?"

I leaned my head to the right and asked. What exactly was he on about?

"...Right, demons."

Raising his finger, he slowly pointed it toward the middle of his forehead.

Silence descended in the room.

My breathing stopped.

"The voices inside of our minds. The ones telling us what to do, no matter how right or wrong they are. The voices that we can't shut up no matter how much we try to shut up. The ones we try to ignore, but always come back..."

Like soft whispers, Thomas's voice entered my mind.

Each and every one of his words deeply resonated inside of my mind.

"The demons target our deepest fears, guilts, morals, and before you know it..."

Professor Thomas suddenly clapped his hands.

"Bam!"

The clap was soft, but they powerfully rang inside of my head like thunderclaps, snapping me out of whatever thoughts I was in.

"....You find yourself with your back against the wall. Unsure of what to do."

'What's going on?'

Staring at my hands which were filled with sweat, I lifted my head up and once again stared at Professor Thomas.

"...Why are you telling me this?"

"Why am I telling you this?"

Lowering his head, I manage to catch a glimpse of his eyes underneath his glasses.

With a simple smile on his face, he grabbed the tablet and put it away.

"Nothing really, I was just sharing my thoughts on the matter. This 876 guy, he has been quite the talk recently, you know?"

"...I see."

Closing my eyes and recollecting my breath, I turned to look at the door.

"Professor, wasn't there something that you needed from me?"

"Ah, yes."

Professor Thomas smacked the top of his forehead. Glancing around the room, he said.

"Can you help me clean up this mess?"

Chapter 479: Practical lesson [2]

Squeek—! Squeek—!

"Hold still."

Squeezing the syringe in his hands a couple of times, only till a clear liquid dropped from the body of the needle did Joseph let out a satisfied smile.

Licking his lips, he walked up to a burned body that was laying down on a rectangular metal plate; the man's hands and feet were bound by metallic latches.

Rolling his chair forward and arriving before the burned body, Joseph proceeded to put some gloves on.

Plack—! Plack—!

Glancing at the man laying down on the table, Joseph started to speak.

"I know that this is only our twelfth dosage of many, but trust me, what I'm doing is for your best."

Grabbing onto the man's shoulder which was filled with blisters, Joseph leaned his body closer and brought the syringe next to it.

"A perfect soldier is one that can perfectly blend with the world we are currently living in. One that can understand the human heart, yet at the same time, not have one. One that can watch the whole world burn before them, yet feel nothing from it."

Pressing his fingers on the man's arm, Joseph looked up.

"This might hurt a bit."

Squeek—!

He squeezed the tip of the syringe, and the liquid and 876's body started to spasm uncontrollably.

A rattling sound came out as a result of the latches binding 876, moving up and down. Taking the syringe out of 876's body, Joseph turned around.

"Don't hate me too much, 876. All I'm doing is breaking you so that one day you don't break."

***

"Uahgh!"

My eyes opened abruptly and my body shot up.

Lowering my head and staring at my bedsheets which were drenched in sweat, I forcefully opened and closed my eyes.

"Haa...Haaa...what was that?"

Clenching my teeth, I leaned back on the bed.

'Shit, just when I thought they had stopped...'

The nightmares about my time at the Monolith.

There used to be a time when I had nightmares every day. As time passed, the nightmares had become a lot less frequent.

Especially in Issanor.

Ever since I reunited with the others, I had thought that the nightmares had stopped.

The last time I had gotten a nightmare regarding my time at the Monolith was about half a year ago.

Just when I thought I had overcome my inner demons, the nightmare suddenly came again.

'Was it because of what the professor said yesterday?'

It could be.

Having him remind me of the incident and his talk about inner demons may have reignited the memories that I tried so hard to forget.

"Haaaa..."

Covering my face with the palm of my head, I let out a long breath.

Feeling the warm breath on my hand, I slowly got out of bed.

"What time is it?"

Taking my phone from the side of the bed, I looked at the time.

[Tuesday, 4 : 31 A.M.]

"It's still quite early."

Unlocking the phone, I sent Smallsnake a message.

[Smallsnake, when you see this, send me all of the information you know about Thomas D. Shurle, a professor staying in the academy. Don't care about the funds, or anything else, just find whatever you can find on him. Family situation, childhood, friends. Just anything. No matter how big or small the information is.]

I may just be paranoid, however, the situation yesterday really triggered something from deep within me.

Was what happened yesterday really a coincidence? I wasn't so sure.

Putting my phone back, I closed and opened my eyes.

'I should train.'

Seeing that I was no longer sleepy, sitting down crossed-legged on the ground, I closed my eyes and started to sense the psyons in the air.

As I've said before. Even though I was extremely strong amongst those my age, I was a far cry from those that I actually needed to worry about.

There was no time for me to think about the nightmares.

All I had to do was train, train, and train.

"Haaa..."

The moment I closed my eyes, I sensed millions of different colored particles roaming around me.

Thanks to the pill that I had taken back in Issanor, my perception of psyons drastically increased. If I had to make a guess, my perception was probably around the same as some <S-> rankers.

"Huuuuu...."

Taking a deep breath, my diaphragm moved up and the particles in the air started to move in a more orderly manner.

Slowly, the particles started to separate, and before long, only green particles started to roam around my body.

"Hm?"

Noticing something, my brow suddenly twitched.

Upon closer look, there weren't only green particles roaming around me.

There were in fact a couple of yellow-colored ones as well.

'Light psyons.'

At their appearance, my heart jumped up a little. That was because their presence only meant one thing.

I was close to understanding the fifth and final movement of the [Keiki style.]

***

8:30 A.M.

The sun shone brightly from the sky, enveloping the section G grounds.

Arriving at the grounds, the place was already packed with students. Everyone stood by the side of a small platform.

Walking next to me was Professor Thomas. Raising his glasses up, he calmly walked toward the middle of the grounds. Along the way, I saw him move a couple of students to the side to pass through.

"Looks like everyone is here."

Once he arrived, the chatter instantly stopped.

I was a bit surprised to see this, however, now that I thought about it, although the professor may not be good at explaining, perhaps the situation was different when put into practical use?

'Let's observe for now.'

Glancing at my watch, my brows knit slightly.

Just moments before I entered the academy, I received a message from Smallsnake. In his message was a small file.

Name : Thomas D. Shurle.

Age : 48

Family : Wife and two daughters.

.

Information : Graduated from Charleston Price Academy in the northern district of the human domain. At the age of thirty-nine, he managed to break through to <A+> rank where he stagnated till now. Unable to breakthrough to <S-> rank. He is a professional in mana and psyons control, and hence why he was selected by the Lock as a professor two years ago.

---Read more---

'Everything checks out...'

Taking my eyes away from my watch, I gazed in the direction of the professor who was currently displaying to the students how to coat their weapons with mana.

"First off, start off by diverging the mana in the air and call out for the preferred psyons. Once you have managed to select the desired psyons, fine-tune them to pursue the flow of your will..."

Observing him from where I was, he didn't look suspicious at all.

Furthermore, his background checked out. There was nothing strange about him, yet, something about yesterday's conversation really bugged me.

I couldn't really explain.

'Was it really just a coincidence?'

"Okay, now that I have demonstrated how to do it..."

At that moment, Thomas's voice rang out.

Pointing toward the area around him, he continued.

"I would like for everyone here to start practicing. Space yourselves out, and try coating your weapons with mana."

Turning around, he looked at me. This time, I felt nothing as I stared him in the eyes.

"Please watch over the other students. Help them if they have any troubles."

"Understood."

Taking my eyes away from him, I glanced at the students who had taken out their weapons and had started channeling their mana.

Instantly different colored hues started to appear on the bodies of the students. Some were brighter than the others, but generally, most were about equal in size.

Gazing at everyone around me, secretly, I channeled the mana inside of my body.

There wasn't a particular reason for this, but it was a habit I had developed back when I was in the forests. Just so that I would be prepared for any situation that arose.

"Interesting choice of weapon you have there."

Walking next to a familiar face, my gaze couldn't help but land on the brass knuckles in the individual's hands.

"Thank you."

Maria replied with a silly smile on her face. Taking a closer look at her, I couldn't help but think.

'She's ranked in the top five, huh?'

After returning home, the first thing I did was memorize the files of each individual in the class, and from there, I was able to find out that the girl next to Sophia was actually someone ranked so high.

Furthermore, her choice of weapon was quite unique.

Lowering my head, I pointed at her weapons which were glowing in a purplish-pink hue.

"Focus on the individual psyons in the air."

"Yes ."

With a quick nod, Maria's face quickly turned serious and her eyes closed.

I smiled in satisfaction when I saw this.

"Split them into the desired psyons before guiding them toward your weapon. If you don't split them, then you won't achieve anything."

Taking a deep breath, and listening to my words, the purplish color slowly started to become fainter and fainter, and before long, only the color pink enshrouded Maria's brass knuckles.

"Good. Now, try condensing the mana into your weapon."

"...Okay."

With an extremely serious look on her face, the pink hue around her brass knuckles started to slowly condense.

"Good, good."

Seeing her slowly condense her mana, I became more and more satisfied.

'There's a reason why she is ranked fifth in her year. Her talent is incredible. Not even I was like that in the past.'

Well, back then I had zero knowledge about mana, so it was understandable. Still, in terms of talent, Maria didn't lag behind the likes of Amanda and Emma.

Skak—!

"Ughh!"

Just then, right as the mana was about to condense around Maria's brass knuckles, it broke apart and Maria let out a sad wail.

"Damn, I failed."

Smiling, I patted her on the shoulder.

"It's alright, had you done it on your first try, I would've called you a monst—"

Before I could finish, a scream reverberated from the distance. Prompting me to turn my head.

"Haaaaa!"

Right as I turned my head, my eyes fixed on a student in the distance where I could see a rampant blue hue enshrouded his whole body.

With his sword raised in the air, he screamed.

"I...I can't control it!"

Everything happened so fast that the people near him were unable to react. Instantly, I activated 'Eyes of Chronos', and time slowed down.

Time started to slow down, and I was able to get a better view of what was happening.

Right then, my eyes instantly locked on the figures that were most likely to get hurt by the rampant individual. Of the individuals, I noticed that Sophia was one of them.

Once I locked my sight onto them, I slowed down the effects of 'Eyes of Chronos' and quickly came to a decision.

[Third movement of the Keiki style] : Void step

Touching the sheath of my sword; time that had slowed down for me once again sped up as my body shot in the direction perpendicular to where the student was about attack.

Within moments, I reappeared close to the student.

Unfortunately, because I had used the third movement, my blade was out of my sheath.

With only a split second of time, I quickly let go of the sword and twisted my body to the side.

Raising my hand and redirecting my mana toward it, my hand came into contact with the sharp end of the blade and time returned to normal.

Spurt—!

Blood spurted everywhere as I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my hand.

I couldn't redirect my mana to my fast enough and by the time the sword fell down on my hand blood had started pouring down my arm.

"Khhhh!"

A muffled groan escaped from my mouth as I tried to suppress my scream.

Grabbing onto the body of the blade, I forcefully lowered it and placed my hand on the other student's head. At the exact moment my hand touched his head, his body slumped down on the ground.

Thud—!

Once the student fell down, I finally let go of the sword.

"Haa...haa..."

Lowering my head and staring at the student on the ground, unknowingly, my head turned toward the professor of the class.

Was this also a coincidence?

Chapter 480: Practical lesson [3]

"Here you go, you are all patched up now."

Raising my hand which was now bandaged, I thanked the nurse.

"Thank you."

Thankfully I was able to coat my hand with some mana, otherwise, the extent of my injury would've been worse.

'...If only I was an orc.' I thought.

Unfortunately, because all of my mana was focused on my sword and feet, and given that everything happened in split second, by the time I touched the sword, my bare hand came into contact with the sword, hence the injury.

Had my skin been as tough as that of an orc, I may have been able to come off unscathed. Sadly it wasn't.

Unlike orcs, a human's body was not as though. Although it does become stronger with each rank, a real difference would only appear if someone practiced a body-based art, which was something I didn't have.

An example of this would be Han Yufei's art. An art that specialized in hardening the body, and making it tougher.

This incident right here hardened my resolve to get that art.

"It was no big deal."

The nurse smiled.

She had short brown hair, with a few wrinkles by the side of her eyes. Even though she was in the later stages of her life, she was still fairly beautiful in her own right.

Taking my hand, the bandaged one, and turning it around, the nurse reminded me.

"Your injury is nothing serious. It's just a small cut that should heal in about a day with the ointments I gave you. You can take a potion to heal it in an instant, but that would be a waste."

"Sure."

Taking my hand away from the nurse, I turned to look at the kid on the nearby bed.

He was the same kid that was responsible for this incident.

"How's his situation?" I asked.

"Hmmm."

The nurse's brows creased.

Standing up from her seat, she slowly walked up next to him and placed her hand on his forehead.

After a while, she responded.

"He doesn't seem to be injured on anything, but the mana inside of his body is still unstable. He should have no problem making a full recovery in a couple of days."

"I see."

This was a piece of good news.

However, despite that, I was not happy in the least. That was simply because I found the situation quite odd.

'Ricardo Mainz, seventeen years old, and ranked 1113. He is amongst the weakest in the class, and has a talent limit of D, which should now be C.'

That was the information I had on the student before me.

The more I looked through his information, the more I was sure that there was something fishy going on about the situation.

He just looked like the perfect target.

Given his low rank and talent, by simply exploiting his insecurities, I could see how the incident could've been deliberate.

"Where is the professor?"

Just then, raising my head and staring at the area around me, I suddenly realized that Professor Thomas was missing.

Turning my head, I questioningly looked at the nurse.

"Have you seen him somewhere? I swear he was just here a minute ago."

"Don't worry about him."

Taking her hand away from the student's forehead, the nurse went back to her seat.

"He's currently at the faculty center. He is going there to explain the situation to the higher-ups. He said that he will come back soon."

"Ah, okay."

This made sense.

Since he was the professor in charge and something happened during his watch, he naturally had to go and explain to the elders what happened.

Still, I was not too pleased with him.

Had it not been for my intervention, something bad would've happened. Just what in the world was he doing?

'I think I need to talk to Donna about him.'

Perhaps I may be overthinking and he was innocent, but I didn't want to take any risks.

The best course of action right now would be for me to talk to Donna and convince her to have him fired, which shouldn't be too hard considering that he wasn't really that good of a teacher.

"Alright, I guess it's also time for me to leave."

Standing up from my seat, I glanced at the student one more time.

Once I made sure that he was okay, I bid the nurse goodbye.

"Thank you for your help, I'll take my leave now."

"Have a good day."

"Mhm."

***

Section B, Donna's office.

To Tok—!

"Come in."

Upon knocking on Donna's office room, and hearing her voice, I opened the door and entered.

Putting the papers in her hand down, Donna gazed in my direction.

"What's going on Ren?"

"We need to talk about Professor Thomas."

Making myself at home, I proceeded to leisurely sit down on Donna's leather sofa.

Donna's brows creased when she saw this, but before she could complain, I started speaking.

"He needs to be fired."

"Hm?"

Caught off-guard by my words, Donna's hands came to a pause. Her face quickly became serious.

"Did you find evidence about his involvement with the Monolith?"

"No."

I shook my head.

"No concrete proof as of yet. However, he needs to be fired for the simple reason that he's a terrible professor."

"..."

Without saying anything, Donna's eyes deeply stared into mine. I looked back without blinking my eyes. This persisted for a bit before Donna eventually let out a long sigh.

"Haaa..."

Leaning back on her chair, Donna took out her tablet.

"Ren, I know what you're trying to say, however, if you don't have proof of his involvement in the Monolith, I can't really help you."

"What? Why?"

Leaning to the side and opening her drawer, she took out a contract and placed it on the table. She then pointed toward a certain section.

"Look at the wrongful discharge clause in the contract. We cannot terminate his contract unless we provide a justifiable reason."

"You do have a reason though."

Leaning my body forward I grabbed the contract and pulled it my way. After taking a closer look, I put it back down.

"Shouldn't the fact that he's not a very good teacher be a good enough reason to fire him."

"...I knew you were going to say that."

Putting her tablet down, a series of holographic images sprung in the air. On them was a series of different tables and charts.

"What's this?"

I curiously asked, as my eyes darted all over them.

"Hold on."

Raising her hand, Donna dragged a particular chart in front of her. Checking it for a bit, swiping her finger, the chart flew in my direction.

"Have a look."

Raising my hand, the chart stopped in front of me. Removing my glasses, my eyes squinted.

"This..."

Upon seeing the numbers on the chart, my eyes widened.

Lowering my head and staring at Donna who had a wry smile on my face, I blinked my eyes and once again stared at the chart.

'How is this possible?'

On the chart was the list of all the students in the second year, all classes included. What the graph depicted was the score the students got for the course [Psyons adaptability in combat and control], and most shockingly was the fact that the class with the highest median was Professor Thomas's class.

"H...how?"

I managed to mutter after a while.

Lifting my head and staring at Donna, I incredulously asked.

"Is the graph correct? How is it possible for his class to get such scores? I was there when he was teaching. He is a terrible professor."

"I also don't know."

Donna also sounded helpless about the situation as she turned off the tablet.

"Just like you, I've been to his lessons, and I can fully understand where you are coming from. However, the results speak for themselves."

"Shit..."

Covering my mouth with my hand, I leaned my body on the chair.

Once again staring at the chart, I noticed that there was a large disparity between the lower-ranked students in the class compared to the higher-ranked ones.

It was clear to me that the only reason why the median was so high was because of the higher-ranked students.

Placing my hand on the armrest, I softly muttered.

"If it's lik—"

Before I could finish my sentence, cutting me off was the sound of someone knocking on the door.

To Tok—!

Raising my head I looked at Donna. Turning her head, she opened her mouth.

"Come in."

Clank—!

At her voice, opening the door, a familiar figure entered the room. He was none other than Kevin. Once my eyes paused on him, I couldn't help but groan.

"Oh god."

"Oy."

A frown emerged on Kevin's face.

"What are you doing—!"

"Don't talk to me."

I quickly cut Kevin off before he could finish his sentence. I then looked at him with a face filled with disgust.

"For at least a week, I don't know you, I have never heard of you, and you have never heard of me. We are total strangers, ugh."

Just thinking about his post still sent shivers down my spine.

Alternating her head between Kevin and me, Donna leaned her head to the side and curiously asked.

"What is up with you two?"

Hearing her voice, my head snapped in her direction.

"You want to know what happened?"

"Wait, Ren..."

Ignoring Kevin and leaning my body to the side and taking my phone out from my pocket, I unlocked my screen and searched for Kevin's post.

Once I found it, I smacked my phone on the table.

"Donna, have a look."

"Sure."

Taking the phone, Donna looked at the screen. Her face quickly turned strange.

"Ah, mhhh, Kevin..."

"...Yes?"

Putting the phone down, Donna let out a long sigh. Raising her hand, she pointed it toward the door.

"Please get out of my office."

"What!? You too?"

Kevin protested as he raised his hands. Turning my head, and glancing in his direction, I nudged my head in the direction of the door.

"You heard her, get out."

"Wha—"

"Out!"

"Haa..."

Slumping his shoulders down, Kevin weakly turned his head before he shook his head and proceeded to make his way out.

Before he left, he managed to mutter a few last words which I ignored.

"Just you wait..."

Clank—!

The door soon closed and silence once again returned to the office. Taking my phone back and putting it in my pocket, I smiled in satisfaction.

"Now, where were we, ah! About Thomas, is there really no way we can fire him?"

Donna shook her head.

"Not without a probable clause."

"...Not without a probable clause, huh?"

Scratching my chin, I once again leaned on the chair. The gears inside of my head started to move.

"So as long as there is probable cause, he can be fired?"

"Yes."

"Alright."

Placing my hands on the armrests of the chair, I slowly stood up.

"Donna, grant me access to the camera systems."

If I looked hard enough, maybe, just maybe, I could find maybe figure out anything suspicious about him.

Donna furrowed her brows. Brushing her hair to the side, she questioned.

"The camera systems?"

"Yes."

Raising my right hand, I showed her my bandaged hand.

"Did you not hear about today's incident at the training grounds? The one where one student went berserk?"

Donna had a sudden look of understanding.

"...I see what you are trying to do."

Closing her eyes and thinking for a moment, Donna eventually nodded her head.

"Okay, there should be no problem with you using the camera system. If you find anything suspicious about Thomas you can report it to me."

"Thank you."

A smile finally appeared on my face.

"Rest assured Donna. Give me time and I will tell you if what happened was really a coincidence or not."

Even if Thomas was not involved, I had a nagging suspicion that this was an instigated incident.

Opening her drawer, Donna threw me a small card.

"Here you go."

Raising my hand, I caught the cards.

"Thanks."

Putting the card away, I quickly thanked Donna before making my way out of her office. However, just as I was about to leave, Donna suddenly said.

"Ren, be careful please."

My feet came to a pause. Turning around, I asked.

"What do you mean?"

Squinted her eyes a little, and Donna's gaze fell on me. After a while, she shook her head.

"I don't know. You just seem a little paranoid to me. I'd be careful if I were you."

Hearing her words, my brows furrowed.

'Am I really being paranoid? Hmm, maybe.'

But honestly, I didn't care. There was something about him that ticked me off. I just couldn't explain it.

Eventually, I nodded my head.

"Sure."

Chapter 481: l'm sorry [1]

Clank—!

Coming out of Donna's office, the first thing I saw was Kevin standing by the side with his phone in his hand.

He had a lonesome look on his face.

'You had it coming.' I thought before heading out.

Right as I had taken a couple of steps, Kevin called out for me.

"Ren, wait."

"..."

Without saying anything, my footsteps came to a halt.

"Ren, enough of the jokes, I need to talk to you."

Sensing that Kevin's tone was serious, I turned around.

"What is it?"

Putting the phone away, Kevin looked around. His gaze locked on the cameras of the place.

"Hmm, I don't think this is the right place for me to say. Actually, let's meet up on the weekend, outside of the Lock."

Seeing how mysterious he was being, my brows couldn't help but crease.

However, in the end, I nodded my head.

"Alright."

"Thanks."

Lowering his head, Kevin finally took notice of my hand.

"What happened to your hand?"

"Nothing."

Turning around, I raised my hand and bid Kevin goodbye. Even if I told him, he'd eventually find out.

"I'll see you around, I got things to do right now."

"...Okay."

Taking out the card that Donna had given me, I casually flipped it around my hand.

'This is probably going to be a long night.'

***

Lock, Informatory.

Clank—!

With the sound of the door opening, the nurse raised her head and looked at who had just come into the room.

"Oh, it's you, professor."

Upon setting her sight on the person that had entered the room, a smile appeared on her face. With his usual bowl-cut hair which was now in a bit of a mess and lanky body, Professor Thomas entered the room.

Glancing in the direction of the youth laying down on the bed, the nurse asked.

"You here to check up on him?"

"Yes."

Professor Thomas answered with a smile.

Turning his head, his eyes paused on the youth on the bed.

"How is his situation?" He asked.

"He is doing pretty well."

The nurse replied as she stood up. Walking beside Ricardo, the youth that was currently resting, she casually tapped him on the arm.

A subtle and faint blue hue enshrouded the tip of her finger as she tapped his arm.

"Ugh."

At the exact moment her hand pressed to his arms, with a small sound, Ricardo's eyes which were closed shut slowly started to open.

Blinking a couple of times and glancing toward his left and right, he groggily muttered.

"Where am I?"

"You're at the infirmary."

The nurse replied with a kind smile on her face.

"...The infirmary?"

It took a couple of seconds for Ricardo to recall the events prior to his appearance in the infirmary, and when he did, his face bleached completely.

"Ah...no..ah.."

Mumbling to himself, sweat started to drip by the side of his face as he sat up and started to stutter.

"T..the...the lesson! I...I...I"

Raising his head, his eyes finally paused on Professor Thomas. His mouth became dry.

"Professor," He weakly muttered.

"It's alright."

Sitting down on the bed, Professor Thomas's voice was calm.

"You don't have to worry about what happened today. Don't you remember what happened?"

Raising his hand, he placed it on Ricardo's shoulder. However, right as his hand touched his shoulder, Ricardo flinched back in fear.

"Ah."

Seeing Ricardo flinch, Thomas quickly took his hand away from his shoulder. Raising both hands in the air, he softly said.

"Don't worry, I'm not trying to hurt you."

Realizing what he had done, Ricardo apologized.

"I'm sorry professor."

"It's okay."

Understanding the current mental state of the student, Thomas scooched his body away from Ricardo.

In a calm manner, Professor Thomas started to explain to Ricardo what happened.

"Ricardo, if you are worried about what happened today, you don't have to. My assistant professor was able to resolve everything. No one was injured."

"...I...Is that so?"

Ricardo stuttered a little.

However, recalling the events prior to passing out, it indeed seemed to be that way. He secretly let out a sigh of relief.

"You should probably apologize to him after this."

Professor Thomas suddenly suggested, and Ricardo nodded his head in a daze. However, his following words sent chills down Ricardo's body.

"...Yes."

"Even though he was not exactly hurt a lot, he did get injured."

Snapping his head, he worriedly asked. His face became even paler.

"Injured!? He got injured?!"

"Ah, you don't have to worry."

Glancing at the nurse, Thomas slowly moved his body closer.

"His injuries are only on a surface level. They aren't much."

Despite his words, Ricardo was not in the slightest bit relieved. In fact, his body slowly started to tremble.

'He's not mad at me, right? He won't kill me because of what I have done? What if he targets my family? They already are suffering because of how expensive the school fees are, what if he targets them?'

Recalling just how ruthless Ren looked back in the videos he saw of him, Ricardo couldn't stop trembling. His teeth started to chatter.

"Hey, Ricardo are you okay?"

He was only able to snap out of it when he felt something touch his right hand. Lowering his head, he found professor Thomas looking at him with worry.

"What are you worrying about? Are you worrying that Ren will do anything to you?"

Richard silently nodded his head. In response, Thomas smiled.

"You don't have to worry about that. All you have to do is apologize..."

Thomas's voice slowed down a little. His voice deepened too.

"...All you have to do is apologize sincerely."

"...Yes."

Ricardo slowly nodded his head.

'Yes, I need to apologize. If I apologize properly, he might not go after my family right?'

Raising his head, his eyes met with Thomas's. As their eyes met, Thomas's head tilted slightly.

"You know what you have to do right?"

"Yes."

Ricardo replied.

With a satisfied look, Thomas stood up.

"That's great."

Placing his hand on Ricardo's shoulder, and seeing that he no longer flinched at his touch, Thomas's smile grew a little.

"If you have any worries you want to share with me or anything of the sort. You can come to me at any time. As your professor, I will always be there for you."

"...Okay," Ricardo slowly replied.

"Good."

Thomas pushed Ricardo's body down.

"Have some rest for now. I will be seeing you in class tomorrow."

Glancing at the nurse, Thomas waved his hand at her.

"I guess everything is sorted. It should be about time I leave."

"It was nice seeing you, Thomas."

Once again waving his hand, Thomas finally left the room. Staring at Thomas's back from the bed, Ricardo slowly turned his head and stared at the ceiling of the room.

"I need to apologize," He softly muttered.

***

Gulp—!

Chugging down a potion the size of a shot, I slurped in delight.

"Ahhhhh."

My head which was groggy instantly lightened up.

Staring at the potion in my hand, I muttered.

"Thank god for this."

The potion that I had currently consumed was something that Melissa had developed and was what I used in order to help my mind calm down and stabilize.

This was also the potion that I used in order to stop the negative thoughts inside of my mind from rising.

Immediately after each shot, all sorts of negative thoughts regarding my past would quickly disappear.

This was what helped me cope with my past.

It may not necessarily be a long-term solution, however, this was something I couldn't live without at the moment.

My mind was a very dark place. A place even I feared going into.

"Let's see."

Standing in the middle of a small room, and surrounded by a series of holographic images, I swiped my hand right.

At the exact moment my hand swiped to the right, the holographic images in front of me switched.

Following this, a series of different images appeared in front of me.

"Ricardo Mainz."

Glancing at them for a brief moment, I pressed on a certain profile, and the holographic images in front of me expanded.

"Good."

Currently, I was at the Lock's surveillance system. By selecting Ricardo's profile, I was able to gain access to all videos with his face in them.

Over a thousand hours of different footage presented itself before me.

My brows creased when I saw this. Crossing my arms, I shook my head.

"There's no way I have enough time to watch it all."

'Let's filter even more.'

After a bit of thought, I raised my hand and selected over twenty different profiles. Each belonging to the individuals the Lock suspected of being spies.

Of course, professor Thomas's profile was included in one of the profiles selected.

"This should do."

Upon selecting the profiles, I pressed the confirmation button and the holographic images slowly started to disappear once by one.

This persisted for a good minute before finally, the holograms stopped, and the thousands of hours of footage became tens of hours of footage.

This was still too much for me.

"Hmm, let's remove interactions when it is a lecture."

After a bit of thought, I once again filtered the footage. This time I chose to remove the lecture times since that was not what I was looking for.

What I was looking for was data that suggested to me that the incident that occurred not too long ago was instigated. What I wanted was one on one interactions.

Pressing the confirmation button, the holograms once again started to diminish.

It wasn't long before the footage finally stopped. To my delight, there was only an hour and a half worth of footage.

"Hhmmm?"

However, to my shock, I found out that the person who had interacted with Ricardo the most was in fact not Professor Thomas, but another professor.

Professor Jefferson.

Furthermore, he was actually one of the individuals I knew was actually a spy.

'Wait, so this actually has nothing to do with Professor Thomas?'

Filtering Professor Jefferson's data for a moment, I was only left with several minutes of interaction between Professor Thomas and Ricardo.

One of the interactions between him and Ricardo was at the training grounds where he gently moved him away, alongside multiple other individuals, in order to get to the middle of the square.

There was also another interaction at the nurse's office, because he had his back against the camera, I couldn't see his face properly, however, listening to their conversation, I found nothing that was suspicious at all.

[What are you worrying about? Are you worrying that Ren will do anything to you?]

[You don't have to worry about that. All you have to do is apologize...]

[...All you have to do is apologize sincerely.]

Most shockingly, Professor Thomas was asking Ricardo to apologize to me. This made me start to once question the validity of my suspicions.

'Maybe I'm overthinking things?'

Was I perhaps just being sensitive? ...At this point, I really had no idea, because other than that, the interactions that Professor Thomas had with Ricardo only amounted to either a few words or just simple greetings.

Nothing else.

"What the..."

Un-filtering the video footage, I quickly looked through Professor Jefferson's interactions with Ricardo, and from there was able to see that each time Ricardo met with Jefferson, he would come out always more depressed, or how should I say? Insecure?

From this moment on, I already knew who was responsible for this incident.

"Without a doubt, Ricardo is one of Jefferson's targets..."

But...

I still just couldn't accept the idea that I was overthinking things. Raising my hand, I unknowingly started to bite my nails.

"Ugh. I don't care."

Swiping my hand right and saving all the footage between Professor Jefferson and Ricardo, I proceeded to un-filter all the names in the system and pressed onto Professor Thomas's name.

Hundreds of hours of different footage appeared before me.

Gulp—!

Taking out another shot of Melissa's mental potion, I started to play the videos.

'Fuck it, I don't care. Even if I end up wasting all of these hours, as long as it helps me find something, then it's worth it.'

Chapter 482: l'm sorry [2]

"Nothing."

Despite having looked through the footage for the whole night, I saw nothing.

Even with Ryan's and Smallsnake's help, there was nothing in the footage that suggested that Professor Thomas was involved with anything.

"Haaa..."

"Am I really overthinking things? ...Or am I purposely being misled?'

Even though I had already taken this possibility into account a long time ago, the fact that this was all part of the plan of the other entity inside of my body never slipped away from my mind.

It was exactly because of this that I was being so paranoid.

If professor Thomas was a spy from the Monolith, then I would've not cared the least bit.

However, if this was something that 'he' had planned, then things were different.

Gulp—!

Taking another shot of the potion, my mind started to calm down.

'Honestly, at this point, the best option would be for me to get rid of him even if he's innocent. Even though it's unfair, this is the only thing I can do to calm my mind. Worst case, I can just give him enough money to live comfortably for his whole life.'

Couldn't take any more risks.

Letting out a long breath, I dragged my body to class.

'Let's me observe for a couple of days before coming up with a decision.'

Stopping right before the door of the classroom, I fixed my clothes and glasses.

Then, once I made sure that everything was fixed, I proceeded to enter the classroom.

Clank—!

Upon entering the classroom, I found that I was actually the last one to arrive.

Instantly the eyes of everyone present landed on me. Not minding the stares, and nodding once, I decided to sit down at the front of the classroom.

I actually didn't need to attend the lecture, however, I still decided to attend because of my paranoia.

"One's mana flow may be disjointed from the flow in the air, and as such…"

At the front of the classroom, the professor continued on with his lecture. Yet again, his lecture was filled with nonsense that I couldn't comprehend.

I wasn't the only one that felt this way as the students near me had bored looks on their faces. Glancing at them from the corner of my eyes, I couldn't help but laugh a bit.

'Kind of remind me of the time back then at the Lock.'

Back then, when I still thought that this world was still a novel, and knew nothing about current world affairs, I would also behave like them.

It felt kind of nostalgic.

"Huaaam…"

I let out a soft yawn.

Before I knew it, my eyes started to become heavier.

Was it perhaps because of the boring lecture or because I hadn't been sleeping properly for the past two days?...but slowly, my eyes started to close, and it wasn't long before my consciousness slipped.

*

"What in the world are you doing Sophia?"

"Shush, you'll wake him up. Move back a little. I haven't positioned myself well."

"Is this far enough?"

"Yeah, yeah, perfect. Lower your body a little. Get the lighting right."

"Ugh, why is this so complicated? The previous ten photos looked fine to me."

"Just shut up and do it."

'What's going on?'

Hearing a set of voices near me, my mind gradually cleared up and I slowly opened my eyes.

"Huh?"

Click—!

At the exact moment I opened my eyes, I heard a small clicking sound. Blinking my eyes a couple of times, much to my surprise, I found Sophia standing a couple of inches away from me with two of her fingers up in a peace sign.

Opposite her was Maria who held a phone in her hand.

Once my mind cleared up completely, my brows furrowed.

"What are you two doing?"

"Kya!"

Sophia jumped up in fright as she dashed behind Maria. Peeking from behind Maria, Sophia stuttered a little.

"Y…you're awake."

"You think?"

Raising my head and glancing around the classroom, I checked the time.

[9:32 A.M]

"It's already this late?"

'Did I sleep throughout the whole class?'

It was only after I checked the time that I finally realized that class had ended not too long ago.

Standing up from my seat, I grabbed onto my glasses and put them back on.

"Are you going to leave now?"

Sophia cautiously asked.

Glancing at her for a brief moment, I turned my gaze in the direction of the other seats and slowly nodded my head.

"Yeah."

At the moment the whole class was still full, as they still had another lecture going soon.

However, there were still ten minutes before that lecture started so I was okay for now.

"E…excuse me."

Just as I was about to leave, I felt a slight tug on my shirt.

Turning my head, I was surprised to find the student from yesterday's incident looking at me. Ricard Mainz.

Recalling the conversation he had with Thomas yesterday, a smile appeared on my face.

"How can I hel—"

"I'm sorry!"

Before I could finish my sentence, lowering his body, Ricardo suddenly apologized at the top of his lungs, attracting the attention of everyone in the room.

"..."

For a brief moment, I was unsure of how to react.

'What's going on?'

My slight hesitation proved to have given Ricardo the wrong message as his body started to tremble.

Bang—!

Getting down on his knees, he banged his head on the ground and screamed even more loudly.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please don't kill me! I swear it was just an accident!"

"...What?"

Feeling the gazes of everyone in the class directed in my direction and leaning my body forward, I grabbed him by the arm and stopped him from banging his head on the ground.

"Oy, what is up with you? Snapped out of it. I won't kill you."

"Hiiii! I'm sorry! I'm sorry."

Despite my attempts at understanding where his fear was coming from, I found Ricardo's face bleach more and more.

Seeing that the situation was turning out for the worst, I quickly came up with a solution.

"Hold still."

Grabbing him by the back of his hair, I pulled his head up and took out a small potion from my dimensional space.

"Huuuua!"

Ignoring his screams, I uncapped the potion and chugged it down his throat.

"Shut up and drink it."

The effects of the potion were almost instantaneous.

Almost immediately after he injested the potion his body stopped shivering and he started to calm down.

Once I saw this, I finally let go of his hair and he slumped back on the chair.

Silence enshrouded the room. Ignoring it, I lowered my head and stared at Ricardo from beneath my glasses.

"Have you finally calmed down?" I asked.

"Haa...haa..."

However, I was only met with the sound of his heavy breathing.

Just as I was about to speak to him again, a familiar voice rang from behind me.

"What's going on here?"

Having spent the whole night spying on him, I was immediately able to recognize the person.

I took a step to the side.

"Professor."

"Did something happen?"

With a slight nod, Professor Thomas walked headed in my direction. His eyes soon paused on Ricardo.

"What do we have here?"

Lowering his body, his voice became soft.

"Ricardo, is everything alright?"

At Professor Thomas's words, Ricardo's head twitched a little. Then, weakly lowering his head, his eyes paused on the professor.

"Ah...eh, professor?"

"Yes, yes, it's me."

Professor Thomas said with a smile on his face.

"Is everything alright?"

Raising his head, my eyes once again met with Ricardo's. After a while, he nodded his head.

"Ah...yes."

"I see. That's good."

Standing up, Professor Thomas patted him on the shoulder.

"You probably didn't get much sleep yesterday, did you? After everything that happened, right?"

"...Th..that's right."

Ricardo weakly nodded his head.

Professor Thomas turned his head to glance in my direction. Extending his hand, he passed me a small folder.

"Assistant, I'll go bring Thomas to the infirmary. Can you do me a favor? Go to my office and put these on my top shelf. I probably won't return to my office, so it's best if you do it for me."

"...Okay."

Taking the folder, my eyes began to squint a little.

Supporting Ricardo by the bottom of his armpit, professor Thomas slowly helped him up. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly paused and turned to look at me.

"You know the password to my office, right?"

"...No."

I shook my head.

"Ah."

Leaning his body closer a bit, he softly whispered.

"The code is 091."

'091?'

My brows knit.

The numbers sounded oddly familiar. However, I couldn't quite remember where I had heard of them.

"Do you remember the password?"

It was then that Professor Thomas's voice rang, and I snapped out of my thoughts. Staring in his direction, I slowly nodded my head.

"Yes, I know."

"That's good."

Turning around, professor Thomas lowly helped Ricardo out of the room.

"Be careful of your step."

"...Yes "

Staring at the two from behind, my eyes began to squint tightly.

***

At the same time, Han Clan.

Gathered inside a large hall were the respective members of the Han clan.

"Thank you all for coming here."

Standing in the middle of the hall was none other than Han Yufei. The current heir of the Han clan.

"Why have you called us here? Xiao Fei."

Seated amongst the seats was an elderly man with a long white beard. He was Han Ding Hui and he was the Grand Elder of the clan. There was kindness in his eyes as he stared at Han Yufei in the middle of the hall.

"Grand Elder, thank you for taking your time to meet me."

Han Yufei cupped his hands.

"No, problem, no problem."

Han Dinghui dismissively waved his hands. He was very happy with this nephew of his. He wouldn't mind taking some time to listen to whatever he had to say.

"Don't waste any more time. Tell us what you want."

It was then that a grumpy voice suddenly sounded from one of the elder seats. The voice belonged to Han Chen Yu. A fairly high-ranked elder.

Hearing his voice, another elder beside him nodded his head.

"We don't have all day, so get on with it."

"Yes."

Sensing the impatience in the elder's voice, Han Yufei smiled. He immediately went straight to the point.

"I would like to relieve myself of my duties as an heir for the next five years."

"..."

At the exact moment his words faded, the hall became deathly silent as no one dared to utter a single word.

Before anyone could blow their tops off, Han Yufei wisely continued.

"I believe that I have found the best opportunity for me to grow and I don't want to let go of this opportunity."

Raising his hand to stop anyone from voicing their objections, Han Yu Fei continued.

"I know what you are going to say, however, no, I don't believe that the clan can provide the same level of training. This may be a gamble that I'm taking, but I believe that if it pays off, the Han clan can emerge at the top amongst the four clans."

As he spoke, his eyes darted all over the room. From time to time, his eyes would stop on an elder.

"I want you all to trust me. If you give me this chance, I will not let you down."

Finally finished with what he wanted to say, Han Yu Fei looked at everyone in the hall and cupped his hands.

"Once again, please allow me to do this."

Right as his words faded, several elders stood up from their seats.

"This cann—"

"This is non—"

"Absolu—"

"Quiet!"

Before they could even finish their sentence, a booming voice echoed throughout the whole hall, shutting them up instantly.

Staring in the direction of the person that had spoken and seeing that it was none other than Han Dinghui, everyone stopped talking.

Once the hall quieted down, Han Dinghui sternly looked at Han Yufei.

"Your words, do you truly believe them?" Han Dinghui asked.

"Yes."

Han Yufei replied while raising his head and meeting the Grand Elder's eyes.

For a brief moment of time, time seemed to have stopped moving for Han Yufei as his gaze met with the Grand Elders.

However, as he thought back at Ren's fight, back at the conference, Han Yufei's teeth clenched and he continued to look at the Grand Elders' eyes.

'I want to be strong like him.' He thought.

Just the image of Ren beating the orc and Kevin so effortlessly ignited Han Yufei's spirit.

'Since you said that you can make me stronger, I will gamble on you.'

Han Yufei's and the Grand Elder's stare down persisted for a while before a soft smile appeared on Han Dinghui's face.

"Very well."

He eventually said. Closing his eyes, he started to caress his beard.

"You are still young. I won't stop you. With your talent, even if these five years end up being a waste, you should have no problem reaching the full potential of your talent."

Pausing for a second, he once again locked eyes with Han Yufei. His eyes became more serious.

"I may be allowing this, however, I hope you keep in mind that the clan's interest always comes first."

"Yes."

Han Yufei's back straightened.

"Good."

Han Dinghui let out a satisfied smile. Raising his hand to stop the others from speaking, he once again looked at Han Yufei.

"Is there anything else that you would like to say?"

"...Yes."

Scratching the back of his head, Han Yufei's tongue stuck out from his mouth a little. Swallowing a mouthful of saliva and staring at the Grand Elder once more, he softly said.

"I would like permission to give away the family art to one person."

Although his voice was soft, it powerfully rang through the ears of each of the elders present, and everyone's faces simultaneously froze.

"Wh..what?"

Chapter 483: lnteresting [1]

Beep—! Beep—!

[091]

Typing the codes on the side of the wall, the door of the office slowly started to open.

"Hmmm..."

With my eyes locked on the side of the door, my brows slowly started to squint.

'This number...'

There was something about the number that made me alert. Turning around and looking at the empty corridors of the classroom, I slowly entered the room.

Upon entering the room, my eyes locked on the professor's desk. Without further ado, I walked up to it and placed the folder he had given me on his desk.

"Haaa..."

Right as I placed the folder on his desk, glancing around the place, I let out a long breath as I thought about the state of the room the first time I came here.

Compared to the first time that I was here, it was now a lot cleaner.

Just recalling the state it was in and how many hours I had spent cleaning the place made me shake my head. It was quite frankly terrible.

"Anyhow..."

Turning my head, my eyes once again locked in the direction of the door.

'That number...'

There was definitely something about that number that made me apprehensive. Closing my eyes, I proceeded to use the chip inside my head to jump-start my memories.

They could potentially be just random numbers, however, it was never wrong to double-check.

"Ugh."

At the exact moment the chip activated, I felt a slight tingle in my brain.

'091...091...091...'

Instantly, upon activating the chip, my thoughts became a lot clearer as I started to look through all my memories in hopes of finding just where I had heard the number before.

It wasn't long before I finally figured it out, and when I did, my eyes snapped open.

"Ah! 091! I know who he is!"

Clank—!

It was then that at the exact moment I figured everything out that the door suddenly opened and a figure walked in. His deep voice echoed throughout the whole room.

"...So you've figured things out."

My head immediately snapped in the direction of the person who had come in. He was none other than Professor Thomas. My eyes instantly turned into slits.

Turning around, he closed the door behind him.

Gazing at him, I slowly opened my mouth.

"Professor, didn't you previously say that you wouldn't be coming back?"

"I did."

Professor Thomas nodded his head before slowly walking toward his desk. As he walked, I took a step to the side and allowed him to seat on his chair.

He had the same carefree look as he always had.

"..."

Without saying anything, I just gazed in his direction. After a while, interlocking his hands together, Thomas turned his head and our eyes met.

"It's been a while since we've last seen each other, 876."

Breathing out from my nose, my eyes closed for a brief moment.

'As expected, it's him. Professor Thomas is indeed 091."

My eyes opened up once again.

"...876? Isn't that the guy you were previously talking about back when I first met you?"

It was from that simple greeting that I was able to confirm my suspicions and that Professor Thomas was indeed 091.

I proceeded to sit down on the chair opposite.

Supporting my arm on the armrest of the chair, I crossed my legs and calmly observed Professor Thomas in front of me.

"How were you able to make yourself look like Professor Thomas? You don't seem to be wearing a skin mask, nor do I think you have an artifact that can help you do that."

Professor Thomas prior to entering the Lock was a real person.

That, I didn't doubt.

Since 091 had been an experimental soldier for a lot longer than me, I doubted the fact that he had been Professor Thomas for that long.

My doubts were soon clarified as Professor Thomas responded.

"I've had my facial and skeletal structure reshaped in order to mimic Thomas's."

"Hmm, that makes sense."

I leaned back on my chair and nodded my head.

Everything was starting to make more sense. Scratching the top of my nose, I continued.

"...After selecting someone that was soon going to be a professor, you decided to kill him and disguise yourself as him. Then, with the help of the Monolith, you were able to enter the Lock."

Even though the Lock's security was extremely tight, for an organization as massive as the Monolith, which was by far many times more powerful than the Lock, setting everything up and helping a couple of people infiltrate wasn't actually impossible.

Many people in the press complained that the Lock security was too lax, but they were quite frankly just ignorant.

Just because the Lock was the number one academy in the human domain, didn't mean they were impenetrable.

Didn't they understand that the Lock was going up against an organization many times more powerful than them?

"Correct."

091 nodded his head.

Silence once again descended in the room.

TRIING—! TRIING—!

Breaking the silence was the sound of my phone ringing.

Lowering my head, I glanced at my watch to check who the caller was. It was Kevin.

Before I could take my eyes away from my watch, 091 calmly opened his mouth.

"You can take it."

Wordlessly staring at Professor Thomas for a good minute, I decided to answer the call.

"Hello."

—Ren!

Kevin's voice sounded rather panicked from the other side of the speaker.

"What's going on?" I calmly asked.

—What do you mean what's going on? Have you not checked the news at all? Your name is all over the place. Everyone knows that you're 876. Not only that! Over ten professors at the Lock were found dead in their own rooms.

"Found dead in their rooms?"

—Their cause of death is suicide, and the time of their death is from 12 : 00 A.M. to early morning, during the exact time you were in the camera surveillance system. With the news of you being 876, some people are suggesting that you are the one responsible for their deaths.

Glancing toward Thomas, I thought.

'I see, so this is what you have been planning.'

The professors that had died were most likely the ones that the Monolith had under them, and had sacrificed in order to frame.

The whole mental game that Professor Thomas had been playing was to get me to become paranoid enough to the point that I would check the camera system so that he could enact the plan.

Since I was the only one that was in the camera system while the deaths happened, the most suspicious person would be me.

Furthermore, the whole Ricardo scenario was most likely also on purpose.

He was probably trying to show the class that there was something off about me. Further increasing the validity of the claims about me.

—...What do you mean oh?! This is b—

Du.Du. Before Kevin could continue, I hung up the call.

Without looking at 091, I swiped my phone up and opened the news tab. Upon opening the news tab, the first thing I saw was my image on the first page.

[Breaking news]

Recent revelations have been made that Ren Dover, the missing student from the Lock is in fact 876. Because of his excellent performance at the conference, he made a deal with the Union and framed Aaron Rhinestone.

---Read More---

Reading the article and looking through the evidence that was brought forward, I calmly nodded my head.

"I see what you guys are trying to do. You guys want to incite internal chaos."

Turning off the phone, I leaned back on the chair.

"Not a bad move."

It didn't take a genius to understand the intentions of the Monolith.

By publically letting the world know that I was 876, they were essentially trying to tarnish my reputation. Had it been in the past, it wouldn't have mattered.

However, at the moment I was one of humanity's 'hope.'

"That's correct."

Professor Thomas, 091, nodded his head. His impassive voice rang throughout every corner of the room.

"Once a person reaches a certain point, the way people look at you changes. The stronger you become, the more they expect you to do, and at some point, they start to rely on you. They no longer view you as someone like them, they start viewing you as someone that must protect them. Someone that is responsible for their lives."

Professor Thomas suddenly paused.

Lifting my head up, my eyes once again met his. The edges of his lips curled upward.

"...Now imagine what would happen if their 'hope', their 'reliance' turns out to be a by-product of the Monolith? What would the people start to think?" Professor Thomas said as his words deeply echoed throughout the room.

"Not only that. But what would happen when the public comes to learn that Monolith, the one organization that they trusted, would go as far as trade the lives of some innocent groups for the sake of preserving the life of a wanted criminal?

"They would suddenly become warier of them..." I answered back.

Closing my eyes. Just as I was about to open them again, Professor Thomas's voice once again rang.

"Even though I want to continue this chat, we no longer have any time."

At the exact moment he said those words, my eyes opened up. What I saw after, was Professor Thomas twisting his neck with his own hands.

Crack—!

The sounds of bones breaking deeply resounded throughout the room.

Thud—!

Following the bone-breaking sound, Professor Thomas lifelessly slumped down on the desk.

Once again, silence descended on the room.

"..."

A good minute passed since then. Throughout the whole minute, my eyes never left the dead body of the professor.

Once again leaning back on my chair, I opened my mouth.

"Just like I expected, this whole fiasco was created by you, no?"

"..."

I was met with no response.

However, I didn't mind this as I continued speaking.

"I wasn't too sure at first. However, the first clue that I got that you were up to something was about a couple of weeks ago, when something happened to Aaron's dad. Back then I thought, just what in the world were you planning? What sort of link would you create in order to make my life more difficult?"

Raising my hand, I caressed my chin.

"No matter how much I tried to think about it, I couldn't come up with anything. Perhaps you weren't involved with any of this, and perhaps you were simply just trying to plan for the future, however, that thought never left my mind."

Standing up from my seat, I glanced at Professor Thomas on the table. Moving his body and turning it to face me, I continued.

"This thought only increased the moment I first interacted with Professor Thomas. Once he talked about me by name back at the Monolith, and once our eyes met, that was the first moment I felt that you had something to do with the situation. It was then that multiple different possibilities formulated inside of my head."

"Of course, since you are someone that lives inside of me, and I'm not really sure whether can read my thoughts or not, I decided to play along. I decided to follow the flow of this scenario you were setting up. Just to confirm a little something I have always been curious about for a while."

Extending my hand and reaching out for the folder Professor Thomas had previously handed me, I took out a small recording device.

"...and after playing along for the past few days, I came up with one conclusion."

Putting the device away, I glanced toward the right side of the room where a familiar individual stood.

"You can't read my thoughts, can you?"

"..."

Without saying anything, and bounded by thick metallic chains on both arms and legs, the individual stared at the book library in front of him.

Raising his hand, he picked one of the books up from the library.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

The rattling sound of the chain hitting each other resounded throughout the whole room.

"Interesting..."

It was only after a while that he finally spoke up, and once he did, a smile crept up on his face.

***

A/N : Sorry for the delays in the chapters, but for the past week I have been quite sick. I thought I was getting better, however, it got really bad yesterday, and I'm still struggling to write today. I managed to finish one chapter. I will try my best to get another one done, but I can't promise anything.

Chapter 484: lnteresting [2]

"Interesting..."

Closing the book down, the same figure turned to look in my direction. Our eyes met.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

Taking a step forward, the rattling sound of the chains echoed throughout the room.

Staring at the chains from the corner of my eyes, I was left surprised by the fact that the chains were directly coming from the ground of the room.

Though confusing, I stopped paying attention to this detail as the other figure soon neared me.

Coming to a halt beside Professor Thomas, the other figure slowly raised his head, revealing two deep blue eyes. A slight smile tugged in between his lips.

"So you're telling me that from the very beginning you suspected that I had something to do with this situation?" He asked with an amused look on his face.

"...You can say so."

I calmly nodded my head and replied.

Glancing at Thomas for a brief second, I looked back up at the other Ren.

"Like I've said before, from the moment that something happened with Aaron's dad, I already suspected that something was going on, and the moment that I met Professor Thomas, my suspicions became even more glaring."

Tap. Tap. Tap. Lowering my hand, I began to tap on the armrest of the chair.

"It was right at the moment that Professor Thomas mentioned my name, 876, that I was able to somewhat gauge what you were planning. Of course, since there was the possibility of you possibly reading my mind, I decided to take countermeasures."

Raising my hand, I pressed my finger on the temple of my head.

"If you could've read my mind, then you could've easily been able to tell that I was merely playing along with you. Even though I was having most of my thought processes inside of my chip in order to hide them, you should've still been able to determine my intent."

Taking into account the possibility of Ren being able to read my mind, I decided to take some precautions.

Since whenever I used the chip, my thoughts happened within a fraction of a second, I had a sudden thought.

'What if I use the chip to hide my real thoughts?'

What if the chip was fast enough to hide my real thoughts from the other entity? ...and so that was exactly what I did.

Whenever I wanted to think about him, I just activated the chip.

In that split second that I activated the chip, I would quickly contemplate everything that was happening around me.

"Haaa..."

Letting out a long sigh, I shook my head.

"...Unfortunately, there is a glaring flaw with this method."

Raising my head, I met the other Ren's eyes.

"The flaw is that even though I might be able to hide from you exactly what I'm thinking, it's practically impossible for me to completely hide my thoughts. It just isn't."

Regardless of how fast I was thinking, if the other Ren was truly capable of reading my mind, he should've been able to pick up my intentions, regardless of how small they were.

Still, this was what I wanted to begin with.

I wanted him to find this out so that I could properly gauge whether he could read my mind or not.

However, it didn't seem like he could.

Had he done so, he would've found out that I had already made countermeasures for his plan. And thus, this only meant one thing.

"You can't read my mind..."

Pursing my lips, I asked.

"I'm right, aren't I?"

Though I said that, I wasn't exactly one hundred percent sure.

After all, with everything I went through with him, the possibility of me being purposely misled wasn't impossible.

"..."

Once again I was met with no response. Regardless, I continued.

"Anyhow, let's say that my hypothesis is correct and that you can't read my mind. How are you capable of always being a couple of steps ahead of me?"

Pausing, I glanced at the other Ren from the corner of my eyes.

"After thinking about it for quite a while, I came up with one conclusion."

I paused.

"...You know the future."

At the exact moment those words left my mouth, the temperature of the room chilled considerably

The edges of my lips curled upwards.

"If you think about it, that makes sense."

For him to have been able to plan the scenario with Angelica and Amanda's mother, there is simply no way you could've done that without knowing that I would end up being the elven domain and that the only way to cure her mother was through the Xurin fruit, which I so happened to have.

Also, the fact that he knew about the 'novel' world was probably the biggest clue regarding the possibility of him knowing the future.

"Since you know the future, it also gives me the idea that the memories inside of my head were in fact implanted by you."

The more I thought about it, the more plausible this possibility became.

Even though the memories inside of my mind were possibly fake, the fact that they were a representation of the future was undeniable.

For the other Ren to know about the future, and to be inside of my head, I could only think of one thing.

He was the one that had planted the memories inside of my head. Or at least, he knew who was the one responsible for this.

"Hmmm..."

Crossing my arms together, I licked my lips.

"You know, I've always been curious. Even if you don't answer, I'll still ask, but..."

Tap. Tap. Tap. The sound of my fingers tapping on the armrest of the chair echoed throughout the room.

"...Is Everblood working for you?"

Even though I already knew the answer, I wanted to get proper confirmation from the other Ren himself.

"You don't have to pretend otherwise, I'm—"

"Yes."

It was then that, cutting me off, the other Ren spoke up.

"Hm?"

My brow raised in surprise.

Didn't think he would answer so quickly.

"...so you finally decided to speak?"

I instantly sat up straight.

Thud—!

Grabbing Professor Thomas by the hair, the other Ren dragged him out of the chair and dumped his body on the ground. He then proceeded to sit down on the chair opposite.

My brows furrowed tightly.

'I only noticed it now, but he also touched the book before, right?'

It was at the exact moment that he grabbed Thomas's hair that I realized that he had also been able to touch the book from the bookshelf.

This made me realize something.

'...He is no longer just a projection.'

How did that happen?

Before I could open my mouth, the other Ren started to speak. His next words caused the frown on my face to deepen.

"...You don't have to be wary of Everblood."

"What do you mean?"

I leaned my body even more.

"You think I don't about the shit that he pulled?"

Interlocking his hands, the other Ren shook his head. His deep and detached voice rang across the room.

"What did I say before?"

My eyes began to squint.

'What is he on about?'

Staring into his deep blue eyes, I lowered my head slightly.

"There are a lot of things that you've sa—"

Just as I was about to finish my sentence, the other Ren quickly cut in.

"I'm not your enemy."

"Huh?"

I once again raised my head to meet his eyes.

"You're not my enemy?"

"Yes."

The other Ren nodded his head.

"Pft."

I immediately scoffed.

"You think I will believe that after everything that you've done to me? In fact..."

Extending my hand and tapping on my watch, I opened up the news article from before. The one about my identity being that of 876.

===

[Breaking news]

Recent revelations have been made that Ren Dover, the missing student from the Lock is in fact 876. Because of his excellent performance at the conference, he made a deal with the Union and framed Aaron Rhinestone.

---Read More---

===

"Does this look like something someone who is trying to help me would do?"

"..."

Wordlessly staring at my watch for a good couple of seconds, the other Ren took his eyes away from it.

"As I've said before, I'm not your enemy."

Once again, he repeated the same thing. I secretly clenched my fists underneath my table.

"Bullshit."

I irritably replied.

"What have you done to ever prove to me otherwise? All you've done is messed with my mind, and..."

Taking out a potion from my dimensional space, I smacked it on the table.

Plack—!

"Had it not been for these, I would've probably once again fallen for your scheme."

The potion was none other than the potion that Melissa had given me. Had it not been for that potion, I would've most likely fallen for Professor Thomas's mind games.

People said that the scariest enemies were ones that were strong, however, I begged to differ.

To me, the strongest and most dangerous enemies were ones that could read your thoughts and push the right buttons.

Just like Professor Thomas.

Had it not been for the potions Melissa had given me, and the fact that I knew that something was up, then perhaps, the outcome would've been much different.

"..."

Upon smacking the bottle on the table, a brief moment of silence ensued.

The silence was soon broken by the other Ren.

"...I'll repeat it one more time. I'm not your enemy. Be it me, or Everblood. We are not your enemies. You may not figure things out now, however, you will soon know."

Pausing, the other Ren stood up.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

Once again, the rattling sound of the chains hitting each other echoed throughout the room.

With his hands behind his back, the other Ren began to walk all the way toward the bookshelf of the room.

His feet soon came to a pause.

Lowering his head, he glanced at the chains binding his body.

"I don't have much time, so I will only say a couple more words..."

Clank.

Without a loud metallic sound, the lax chains suddenly straightened.

Ignoring them, the other Ren stared toward the window of the room. Or to be more precise, toward the sky.

"Use Monarch indifference."

"Huh?"

My head moved back.

"Why in the world would I use—"

"If you want strength, use Monarch's Indifference. So far, you've only used a small fraction of its powers."

Clank.

The chains suddenly started to exert more power. However, the other Ren simply ignored them.

"If things ever reach a point where you will die, use Monarch's Indifference. I will show you just how powerful you are..."

Clank. Clank.

Slowly, the other Ren's body started to get wrapped by the chains.

Soon his whole body was enveloped by them, and just as he was about to be dragged to the ground, he was able to utter a couple of more words.

"I'm impressed by the fact that you've been able to outplay me for once. However, don't get ahead of yourself. You are still not out of the waters just yet..."

Right as his words faded, his body disappeared and the door of the room flung open.

Clank—!

"Ren."

The first one to come into the room was Donna. Behind her were multiple different professors.

"Ren, I've been trying to conta—"

Entering the room, Donna's footsteps suddenly came to a halt.

Upon entering the room, her eyes locked on me for a brief moment before they paused on Professor Thomas's lifeless body close to me.

It took a bit of time for her to process the situation, and when she did, she looked at me and asked.

"What happened?"

***

A/N : Thank you very much for the nice comments. I've gotten considerably better and will return to writing very soon.

Chapter 485: Interesting [3]

"What is going on, Ren?"

Donna's voice echoed throughout the room.

"It's nothing."

I briefly replied as I turned to look at Professor Thomas's dead body on the floor.

"... It's nothing."

I repeated once more.

Before Donna could reply, I stood up from my seat. I then tapped on my bracelet and threw a small black object in her direction.

"Catch."

Extending her hand, Donna caught the object. It was the recording device that I had used before.

"What's this?" Donna curiously asked as she looked at the recording device.

"You'll find out later."

I replied while heading out of the room.

However, just as I came close to the exit of the room, my feet soon came to a halt.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Preventing me from getting out were a couple of Professors.

My brows creased.

"Move."

I seriously asked.

My words apparently were not appreciated by the professors who proceeded to glare at me even more fiercely.

"Who do you th—" The professor began to say.

"Do as he says." Donna interrupted the Professor. Staring at the recording device in her hand, she continued. "Let him go. He's not the type of guy to kill without reason. If he's really guilty, we'll naturally take him away, however, I doubt this is the case."

"Bu—"

"Enough." Donna raised her voice.

Turning her head to glance in the Professor's way, her eyes began to shine. The Professor instantly shut up.

Staring at the exchange, I couldn't help but think.

'What a useful power.'

To have the power to make someone instantly shut up.

I wished I had that.

'Wait, I do.'

I secretly facepalmed.

For a moment I almost forgot I had, 'The one.'

Snapping me out of my thoughts was Donna's voice as she harshly scolded the Professor trying to block my way.

"If you want to complain to someone, go and complain to Douglas. I'm sure he would've said the same thing."

Gritting his teeth, the Professor lowered his head.

"Understood." He replied in a rather weak voice before backing away.

"You can go, Ren," Donna said as she glanced my way.

"Mhm."

Glancing toward Donna's way, I secretly thanked her with a nod before leaving the room unobstructed.

As I left the room, I couldn't help but think back at the words the other Ren said to me.

'I'll repeat it one more time. I'm not your enemy. Be it me, or Everblood. We are not your enemies. You may not figure things out now, however, you will soon know.'

'If you want strength, use Monarch's Indifference. So far, you've only used a small fraction of its powers.'

"If I want strength, use Monarch's indifference, huh?"

Staring at the empty hall in front of me, I caressed the bottom of my chin.

"Interesting..."

***

A few hours passed since then.

—We've confirmed the recording that you've sent. You are in the clear. The others are still somewhat unconvinced, but Douglas shut the up for you.

"…That's good."

Ding—!

Entering the elevator, I pressed the button for the last floor of the building.

Soon the door closed.

"Is there anything else that you need to tell me?"

At the moment I was on a call with Donna.

After what happened at the Lock, I decided to head back home. However, because of all the people that were swarming the premise in order to find answers, it took me quite a while for me to get back home.

By the time I was back home, Donna had already finished talking with Douglas and the other members of the upper board of the Lock.

She was currently briefing me on the conversation they had.

—Yes, there's going to be a press conference tomorrow, and they want you to be there.

"I see…"

I pursed my lips.

—Ren, this is an opportunity for you to clear your name. I'm sure you've already seen the file that Monica sent you. With it, you should have no trouble getting your name cleared, and…haaa…

There was a brief pause in her sentence.

Though I wasn't certain, I faintly heard the sound of Donna sighing.

'Did something happen?' I wondered.

However, I soon understood exactly why she was sighing.

—Ren, please don't say something unnecessary. Please don't do something like what you did back at the Conference. You already have plenty of enemies, please don't try to antagonize the whole world.

"Oh…"

—That's not a good enough answer Ren.

"Right…" I half-heartedly replied.

This obviously only further increased Donna's worries as she raised her voice a bit.

—Ren!

Ding—!

The elevator bell suddenly rang and the doors opened.

Before Donna could voice out more complaints, I quickly bid farewell.

"Ah, Donna, I'm in an elevator, the signal is pretty bad, I'm afraid I'll have to leave you. It was nice talking to you, and thank Monica for me."

—Re-

Du. Du. The static sound that came at the end of each call rang in my ears.

"Sorry, Donna."

Putting my phone away, I shook my head.

'There's simply no way I'm letting go of such an opportunity…'

There were just so many things that I wanted to say to the people.

Walking down the corridor of the apartments, I soon stopped in front of my apartment and opened the door.

Clank—!

"I'm home."

Upon opening the door, I heard the sound of rushed footsteps heading for my way.

Following this, I was greeted by a few familiar faces.

"Ren!"

The first one to greet me was my mother who rushed in my direction.

Already prepared for this, I merely just let her hug me. Was too tired to put any resistance.

Within seconds, she appeared in front of me and embraced my whole body with her arms.

"Ren, I saw what happened on the news? What's going on? Is everything alright? You're not hurt, are you? What exactly happened? Oh my, you look quite pale, did you eat?"

Once she hugged me, I was instantly bombarded by an endless amount of questions.

'As expected...'

Mothers were always mothers.

Just as I was about to push her away, my dad appeared from behind and grabbed her by the back of her shirt.

"Samantha, stop asking questions, can't you see he's tired."

It was only after my father's words that my mother finally moved her head back and looked at me properly.

Her eyes squinted for a brief moment before her shoulders slumped down.

"Okay, fine…"

With a dejected look, she finally let go of me. However, just as she was about to let go, she suddenly remembered something and once again turned her head to face me.

This time her face was a lot more serious.

"Ren, please don't tell me you're going to leave us a..gain…"

There was a slight tremble in her voice following her last words. My brows furrowed a bit when I felt this.

Brushing her hair to the side, she lowered her head and continued, "I can understand that this situation is troublesome, but, I don't want you to go. You just re—"

Cutting her off, I raised my hand.

"Stop right there, mom."

Glancing behind her for a short moment, I looked back at her and reassured her.

"You don't have to worry about the situation. I've got things handled, although I might end up losing my job, I won't be running away anymore."

From the moment that I stepped back into the human domain, I had decided to never again be put in a similar situation.

And thus, despite my current circumstances, I wasn't planning on leaving the human domain anytime soon.

Plus.

It wasn't like I was actually helpless about the situation.

Raising my head, I looked at my mother dead in the eyes.

"I'll say this again mom, but you don't have to worry. I'm not leaving."

Letting out a visible sigh of relief, it didn't take long for my mother to return to her usual cheerful self.

"…okay."

Putting on a smile, she turned around.

"Since you have everything figured out, how about you join us in the living room."

"Aye."

Nodding my head and taking off my shoes, I headed for the living room of the house.

"Hmm?"

Right as I entered the living room, pausing for a second, I blinked a couple of times to make sure I wasn't seeing wrong.

Once I was certain that I wasn't seeing wrongly, I turned my head to look at my mother and pointed in Nola's direction.

"Why is Nola lying down like that?"

I did find it odd that Nola had not greeted me the moment I entered the house, however, from the looks of things weren't as simple as I thought.

With her face facing the ground, Nola laid on the ground with both her hands and legs spread apart.

Twitch. Twitch.

From time to time her body would start twitching.

'What in the world happened?'

I suddenly had an ominous premonition.

"That…"

A troubled look appeared on my mother's face as she turned to look toward the kitchen.

"About that—"

"The cookies are ready."

A soft voice echoed throughout the living room.

Turning my head in the direction of where the voice came from, I was surprised to see Amanda.

"Amanda?"

"You're here."

With a soft nod, Amanda placed the cookies on the table. A nice buttery scent lingered in the room.

Once she put the tray down, she cleaned her hands on the white apron she was wearing.

"I came here because I wanted to talk to you."

"Ah..."

Walking toward the cookies, I was left impressed by how good they looked.

Pointing at them, I glanced at Amanda and asked, "Did you make these?"

"Mhm."

Amanda once again nodded her head.

"Wow, I didn't know you could cook."

With how busy she was at her guild, I never thought she would have enough time to cook.

"I can't cook," Amanda shook her head. "Your mother thought me."

"Ah."

I nodded my head in understanding.

That made more sense.

Lowering my head, and glancing at the cookies, I extended my hand in the direction of the cookies.

"May I?"

"Yes."

Amanda replied. There was a visible twinkle in her eyes. It was clear to me that she wanted me to taste her cookies.

I smiled when I saw this.

Just as I was about to pick a cookie up, my mother suddenly spoke up.

"Ren…"

"Yes?"

My hand came to a halt. Glancing in her direction, I asked.

"What's wrong?"

"Ah…"

Opening her mouth, my mother eventually shook her head and sighed.

"You know what, nevermind."

My brows furrowed. However, considering that my mother always tended to act strangely, I didn't put much thought into it.

Picking one of the cookies up, I smelled it for a second before putting it in my mouth.

Crunch!

"Huh?"

It was at the exact moment that I took a bit of the cookie that everything started to make sense.

Staring at Nola who was still lifelessly lying on the ground, I proceeded to look at my mother who lowered her head.

"Is it good?"

"Cough…"

Letting out a muffled cough, I gazed at Amanda and forced a smile.

"Y…yes…cough!"

Weakly placing my hand on the table, I took a knee to the ground.

"Cough! Cough! It's…it's…grea..cough!, but…why is it…cough!..spicy!?"

I didn't know how it was possible, however, somehow, the cookies were spicy beyond compare.

"Spicy?"

Tilting her head, Amanda glanced at the cookie tray.

"Wait!"

I tried to stop her, however it was too late.

Extending her hand, Amanda took one of the cookies and took a bite of it.

Not even a second after she placed the cookie in her mouth, and her face became started to redden considerably.

Slowly her eyes started to water.

"H-how!?" Amanda mumbled in dismay as she stared at her hands which were currently shaking.

Chapter 486: Press Conference [1]

Click—! Click—! Click—!

The clicking sound of the camera's shutter echoed throughout a large auditorium filled to the brim with people.

"Do you have anything to say regarding the current allegations?"

"Are you really 876?"

"Why did you frame Aaron Rhinestone?"

"Is Aaron innocent?"

Standing in front of the seats were a series of reporters who asked an endless amount of questions.

All of their attention was currently drawn toward the center of the room, or to be more precisely, toward my direction as I sat behind a large table. A few inches away from my mouth was a small microphone.

Sitting beside me was Douglas.

"Seems like you're quite the popular one?" Douglas joked as a small smile hung on his lips.

Briefly glancing in his direction, I shrugged my shoulders

"Guess I am."

Nothing I could do about it.

My charm was just that high.

Douglas helplessly shook his head.

"...You never change."

"Eh."

I once again shrugged my shoulders.

Just as I was about to say something else, the room instantly quieted down.

"By the way—"

Clank—!

Following this, Octavious Hall entered the room. His entire presence enshrouded the whole room, making it hard for the reporters to muster any courage to speak.

Even I was overwhelmed by his presence for a brief moment.

'It looks like he's made a small breakthrough.'

My eyes narrowed.

I could feel it. He was a few years away from reaching <SSS-> rank.

Glancing around the room for a couple of seconds, Octavious soon moved towards the table in the middle of the room and proceeded to sit down next to Douglas.

Once he sat down, he crossed his arms and remained silent.

"..."

For a brief moment of time, silence ensued. His overwhelming aura made it hard for the reporters to keep themselves composed.

However, this did not last for long as the reporters soon jumped back up from their seats and started to ask questions.

"Octavius Hall, what have you got to say regarding the allegations thrown out?"

"Evidence points out that the leak is indeed true."

"Why is this happening?"

With all the attention drawn towards him, Octavious suddenly raised his hand and muttered.

"Quiet."

Though his voice was quiet, it traveled through the ears of everyone present and all the reporters suddenly found themselves seated in their seats with their backs drenched in sweat.

Snapping out of it, the reporters glanced at each other. From the looks on their faces, it felt as though they were all wondering the same thing.

'What in the world just happened?'

Ignoring the commotion, Octavious opened his mouth. The moment he opened his mouth, everyone's focus once again turned to him.

"I'm sure everyone here has questions regarding the current allegations thrown at us. Many of you are wondering what is going on, and whether they are true or not..."

Octavious suddenly paused. Closing his eyes for a brief moment, the temperature of the room dropped a couple of degrees.

Opening his eyes again, he once again opened his mouth.

"And the answer to that i—"

"It's true."

However, right as he was about to finish his sentence, I directly cut him off. From where I was seated, I could feel his gaze suddenly land on me.

Ignoring Octavious, and with a nonchalant look on my face, I lazily looked at the reporters in front of me.

"Most of the stuff that was leaked is true."

"..."

For a short moment of time, none of the reporters were able to utter a word as they all stared at me with a look filled with looks of shock.

Beside me, I could feel Octavious's energy fluctuate slightly. Not sure about Douglas as his energy remained calm.

Everyone was quick to recompose themselves, especially the reporters.

Instantly everyone stood up and fervently started to ask questions.

Click—! Click—! Click—!

The cameras started flashing as the reporters started speaking over each other.

"Did you just say that all the leaks were true?"

"Can you once again repeat your statement?"

"Are you saying that you're really 876? And that the stuff that was leaked was true?"

"Were the crimes reported by the Union really true?"

Because everyone was speaking over each other, it was hard to make out any of the questions they were asking.

Lowering my head, and massaging my forehead, I softly mumbled.

"....How annoying "

'How in the world am I supposed to answer the questions if you are all speaking at once?'

Feeling Douglas's gaze from my right side, he once again shook his head.

Turning his head to glance at the reporters, he lowered his hand.

"Quiet please."

As he said those words, a trace of mana extended out from his hand, and all the reporters stopped speaking. Once silence returned in the room, Douglas looked at all the reporters in the room.

"If anyone has any questions to ask, please do so in an orderly manner. If you all ask questions at the same time, it will be impossible for us to hear what you are trying to ask."

Pausing, Douglas's eyes squinted.

"Am I being clear?" He sternly asked.

"..."

All the reporters silently nodded their heads.

"Good."

With a satisfied smile, Douglas turned to look at me.

"You can continue."

"Thanks."

Thanking Douglas, I turned my attention back toward the reporters and cameras.

"I'll make this quick, so listen carefully."

***

At the same time, inside of a small private room.

[I'm sure everyone here has questions regarding the current allegations thrown at us. Many of you are wondering what is going on, and whether they are true or not.]

Seated on a small sofa, and staring at a holographic image in front of them, Donna leaned her body forward. Worry flashed across her eyes.

"What are you so worried about, Donna?"

Seated next to her was Monica.

Extending her hand, she grabbed a handful of popcorn and shoved them down her mouth.

"Munch...Munch...are you worried about what's going to happen to Ren? ...Munch, if so, you don't have to worry, I've already given him the files."

"That's not it."

Donna shook her head.

"That's not what I'm worried about."

"Oh? ..Munch."

Gulp—!

Swallowing the popcorn in her mouth. Monica turned to look at Donna.

"Then what are you worried about?"

"Haa..."

Sighing out loud, Donna covered her forehead.

"I'm worried about what Ren is going to say. You know very well his mouth is just as unfiltered as yours."

"Eyyy..."

Monica's eyes squinted at Donna's subtle diss.

Lowering her hand, she grabbed another handful of the popcorn.

"...I think you're overthinking things."

Halfway through her sentence, Monica stuffed her mouth with another handful of popcorn.

"Munch...Munch...It's not going to be that bad."

Turning to glance in Monica's way, Donna lowered her head and softly mumbled.

"I wish so too..."

She really did.

However, knowing Ren for how long she did, she knew that this could only be a pipe dream for her. Especially after her talk with him on the phone yesterday.

At the moment she could only wish that he wouldn't go overboard.

["I'll make this quick, so listen carefully."]

It was then that Ren's voice suddenly echoed through the speakers of the projection.

Turning their attention back toward the holographic projection, Monica and Donna suddenly noticed that the atmosphere around Ren had started to change. His previous nonchalant look was gone, and what replaced it was a serious one.

Seating a couple of seats beside him, Octavious Hall's brows furrowed.

"I want you all to understand one thing..."

Ren slowly said as his eyes remained fixed on the cameras in front of him.

"...I don't care about any of you."

Though soft, his words rang in the ears of everyone watching and listening like powerful thunderclaps inside of a raging storm.

Lowering his head, Ren's voice deepened.

"My performance at the Conference was for me, not for you."

"I am not your Hero, nor the 'hope' that many of you are making me out to be. If I had to put it bluntly, don't mistake my previous deeds as me trying to be your savior."

"As I've said before, I couldn't care any less about any of you."

Pointing his finger on the table, Ren leaned his body forward.

"You come here, demanding answers from me, as though I have suddenly betrayed all of your expectations and shit, hah."

Ren suddenly scoffed.

Raising his hand and brushing his hair back, he glanced at the camera and muttered.

"It makes me sick."

"..."

Silence.

As Ren's words echoed through the auditorium, absolute silence enveloped the area as no one dared to utter a single word.

Or rather.

They couldn't.

How could they answer Ren's sudden words? I

Be it Douglas, Octavious, or any of the reporters.

Everyone was just listening to Ren's words with a myriad of different expressions.

"Let me repeat this once again. I'm not your Hero, nor am I your hope. If you feel betrayed by the sudden revelations that I am 876, then tough luck, I quite frankly don't care about what you think."

"In the first place, it is you who put your expectations on me. Did I ever ask you to put your expectations on me?"

Ren shook his head.

"I didn't think so."

Pausing for a brief moment, Ren turned to glance in Octavious's direction. Meeting his eyes for a brief moment, he once again started to speak.

"The same cannot be said about the Union. They are an organization dedicated to protecting you. They are the ones you should be placing your hopes into."

Ren's eyes suddenly narrowed.

"However, just because they are an organization that is set to protect you, it doesn't mean that they also care about you."

Tapping on his watch, a black holographic image materialized in front of Ren.

Extending his hand he pressed on the holographic screen and a recording suddenly started to play.

[Despite the fact that 876 saved you, we really can't do anything about the situation. On one hand, sign a treaty to bring peace to the human domain and stop the Monolith from terrorizing the human domain for a few years and let us recuperate, and on the other hand sacrifice some unknown <D> rank talent that we know nothing about.]

As the recording played, everyone in the room was able to hear a conversation between two individuals. Both of whom were female.

[Yes, we are grateful for what he did, however, as the Union, we are set to prioritize the lives of the many over one. It might come back and bite us in the future, however, this is the type of organization we are.]

[———, what is done is done. Even though I have voted against the decision, the other heads all unanimously voted for 876 to be eliminated. In the end, he wasn't worth the sacrifice.]

The recordings lasted for a little over a minute, and once it reached its end, Ren tapped on his watch and turned off the holographic function.

"..."

The silence from before continued to prevail over the auditorium.

"This conversation was a conversation between two of the heads of the Union. I won't say their names, but you can probably figure out from their voices who they are."

As Ren was talking, he suddenly felt a small mana ripple spread from beside him. It didn't take a genius to understand who it belonged to.

Since they were in front of everyone, Ren knew that Octavious couldn't do anything.

Therefore, without mining Octavious, he continued.

"As you've all seen, this is how the Union thinks. They are an organization that won't think twice about sacrificing you if it leads to the 'better good' of humanity. No matter how much you've helped them in the past, if they believe you are not worth it, they won't think twice about throwing you away."

"In this case, they chose to sacrifice me..."

Turning his head, Ren gazed in Octavious's direction. Once their eyes met, a soft smile appeared on his face.

"...876."

Chapter 487: Press conference [2]

I felt a sudden sense of amusement rise from within me as I stared at Octavious.

Even though I couldn't tell at first, he really did look like Melissa from up close. Was that possibly the reason for my sudden sense of amusement?

I couldn't tell.

Turning my attention back toward the reporters, I continued.

"You people are probably unaware about what truly transpired before a bounty was put on my head, however, if I had to summarize what happened, I would say..."

Leaning my body a little, I placed my hand underneath my chin and looked upwards.

"Hmm, I guess you could say that I did what the Union couldn't do for quite a while, and that's actually doing some damage to the Monolith."

"..."

Silence.

Once again, despite of the words I just said, no one was able to say anything as they just continued staring at me with a dumb look on their face.

They were apparently still processing what I previously told them.

Regardless, I continued.

"To summarize what happened between me and the Union, it would be like this..."

Raising my hand, I pointed at myself.

"I, Ren Dover, dealt more damage to the Monolith than the Union ever had in their whole existence. The piece of recording you just listed was proof of that. Why else do you think the Monolith would be so adamant in using me as a counterparty for the Union to sign the truce? Just for the sake of it?"

I shook my head.

"No, it's cause I can actually do something about them, unlike the Union who can't seem to be able to do anything at this point."

Shaking my head, even more fiercely, I let out a sigh.

"Haa..."

Then, taking out a potion from my dimensional space, I quickly chugged it down.

"Hmm?"

As I was chugging the potion down, I suddenly had a thought.

'Shit, I'm starting to become like Melissa.'

Over the past week, I had been taking the potions as though they were water.

'I need to do something about this.'

I knew that this couldn't keep going in the future. I needed to find a way to completely dispel my mental traumas.

Plack—!

Smacking the potion on the table, I gazed at the reporters.

"That being said, the reason I'm telling all of you this is not because I want you people to realize just how shitty of an organization the Union is, no, that's far from it."

Raising my arm, I wiped the side of my mouth.

"Although I'm still pissed off about what the Union did to me, at the end of the day, I get their decision. Everyone has their priorities."

"Just like you people aren't my priority, my life isn't their priority. They are an organization designed to think the best for humanity, and back then, with all the information they had at their disposal, sacrificing me was the correct choice. Had I been in their position, I would've probably done the same."

The faces of the reporters changed when they heard my words, however, I merely shrugged my shoulders when I saw this.

As much as I wanted to antagonize the Union, I truly did think that their decision wasn't wrong.

There was simply no way for the Union to know that I had taken the [Seed of limit] in the past. Furthermore, they were also unaware of who I was exactly, during the time I saved Monica and the others.

I may hold some resentment for their decision, but, I wasn't so blinded by rage to not understand their perspective.

Though unfortunate, this was the cruel reality.

"Haaa..."

I let out a long sigh.

Supporting my chin with my arm which was propped up on the table, I gazed into the eyes of every reporter present.

"The same thing could be said to have happened to Aaron. Even though he isn't exactly guilty, he also isn't exactly innocent. I won't get into too much detail about what he's done, however, he was simply used as a scapegoat by the Union in order to let me come back to the human domain. If you compare me, to him, who by the time was already dead, selling him out was the most appropriate decision."

Lowering my head, I fiddled with the empty potion bottle in front of me.

"Don't get me wrong. Just because I'm bashing the Union a lot, it doesn't mean I'm against their methods. All I'm trying to do is let everyone know what type of organization the Union is..."

"An organization that won't think twice about sacrificing you for the benefit of humanity."

Pausing, I let go of the empty bottle in my hand. Raising my head, I closed my eyes for a brief moment before opening them again.

"Take this as a warning from someone who's been on the discarded side of the Union, if you want to survive in this world, you must prove your worth."

This was not a peaceful world.

It was a world where the strongest survived, and the weakest died. It may have not been apparent now, but, in the very near future, this would become more and more apparent to the people.

It was best to let the world realize this now before it was too late.

Leaning my body forward a little, I turned my head in the direction of one of the cameras recording.

"Prove to the Union that you aren't some expandable. Don't just start blaming the Union or every organization out there for your problems."

Raising my head, I glanced toward the ceiling of the room and asked.

"You have seen the crack in the sky, right?

Because my eyes were currently on the ceiling of the room, I wasn't able to see the reactions of the people present.

"If you have, then I will let you know more..."

However, from how quiet everyone was being, I knew that everyone's attention was currently drawn toward me.

"The crack will continue to expand. The mana density in the world will increase, and so will your talent cap. If previously you had your talent cap to blame for your inability to climb to the top, now you don't."

"You may have lower resources than some others, but so did some of the current high rankers. You don't want the Union to throw you away? Then you better get stronger, because, in a couple of years' time, the least of your worries aren't going to be the Union nor the Monolith, but it will be the third cataclysm."

At the exact moment, I mumbled the last words, the eyes of many individuals present in the room started to open widely.

Their previous silent and impassive expressions changed to that ones filled with shock, as some couldn't stop themselves from standing up.

Finally, ever since I started speaking, the reporters mustered the courage to speak up.

"Im...impossible..."

"It can't be..."

"You must be lying."

Voices filled with disbelief echoed throughout the room as the complexion of some of the reporters paled considerably.

I couldn't blame them though.

Everyone knew just how catastrophic a cataclysm was. Especially since the second cataclysm only happened eighty years ago.

Knowing that a third one might happen, people would obviously start fearing for the worst.

"Some of you might be thinking that all I'm saying is a load of crap, however, I just wanted to let you know that in the few years that I was missing, I was actually in the dwarven domain and the elven domain."

Turning my head, I glanced at Douglas who looked back at me. After a short pause, Douglas nodded his head.

"Isn't that right, Douglas?"

"Yes."

Instantly, murmurs started to spread throughout the auditorium as the reporters started talking amongst themselves.

Ignoring it, I continued to speak.

"As you all know, the other races have gone through what we're currently going through right now. So, listen well when I tell you this, get your shit together, because in a few years' time, this so-called momentary sense of peace that you are all enjoying will be gone, and what you will see will be the true beginning of the end."

If there was a better time to let the world know about what was about to come soon, now was the best time.

With the third cataclysm and the Demon King soon arriving, it was time for everyone to wake up from this false sense of peace that they were currently experiencing.

Even though I was planning on defeating the Demon King, the Demon King wasn't the only enemy out there.

There was an army of demons behind him.

If humanity kept progressing at this rate, when the time came that the Demon King arrived on earth, most of them would end up being dead-weight.

"Shit..."

Lowering my head and massaging my forehead, I let out a small curse.

'Even though I just told them that I wasn't going to be their hero, I am literally sounding like one.'

Letting out another sigh, I brought the microphone closer to me.

"I think I've said enough. Before any of you jump up to ask me any questions, I'll make it clear now, I've already said what I wanted to say, and I won't be answering any questions. Like I've said before, don't make me out as a Hero just for your sake, if you're looking for one, then I've got the perfect candidate for you."

Pausing, the edges of my lips curled upwards.

"...and that's Kevin Voss."

Covering my mouth with my hand, I had to once again pause as my shoulders trembled a little. For a brief moment, I almost laughed out loud.

Recomposing myself, I pushed the microphone back.

"Keum."

Raising my hand into a fist, I coughed slightly.

"As I was saying, if you're looking for a push—Keumm, someone to put your hopes into, then you can do that with Kevin. He's the type of guy that will care about random people that he doesn't know."

As I spoke, I made sure to emphasize the last part.

Simply put, I wanted to once again make it clear to everyone that I wouldn't get out of my way to save some random stranger's life if it meant that it could endanger my life.

Just wasn't me.

Once again staring at the reporters, I turned the microphone and stood up.

"I guess this is enough for me."

Glancing at Douglas who was next to me, I softly mumbled.

"I'll leave the next part to you."

"Sure," Douglas replied with a calm smile.

With a slight nod, I glanced in Ocatvious's direction for a brief moment before leaving.

His face was emotionless just as always, however, I could tell that inside he was very mad. Couldn't blame him, I did after all publically shame the Union in front of the whole world.

That being said, I didn't regret my words one bit.

And it wasn't like he could do anything about it. I may have just antagonized him and the half of the world, but I was confident enough to know that the Union wouldn't move regardless of what I did.

Monica, Douglas, Gervis, and perhaps even the elven queen.

Those were the individuals who Octavious knew were on my side. The Union simply had nothing to gain from attacking me or my family.

Furthermore, with me saying all of this publically, if anything did happen to me, the prime suspect would be the Union.

Their reputation was already bad as it was.

If they truly did try to silence me, their reputation would fall to a point where they would no longer be able to withstand the backlash.

"Heh..."

Leaving the auditorium, the edges of my lips curled upwards.

'This was satisfying...'

Chapter 488: Press Conference [3]

[No, it's cause I can actually do something about them, unlike the Union who can't seem to be able to do anything at this point.]

Staring at the projection in front of her, Monica munched on the popcorn in her mouth.

"...Munch, munch, I guess you were right Donna. His tongue really did go loose...Munch..."

There was a trace of amusement in her voice as she said those words. Clearly, she wasn't the least bit perturbed about the things that Ren had said on the projection.

"Munch...Heh, he even said that he doesn't care about anyone, hahaha...way to go Ren!"

Besides her, Donna was in total dismay as she covered her face with her arms.

"I knew it...I knew that this was going to happen..."

Gulp—!

Swallowing the popcorn in her mouth, Monica patted Donna on the back. Secretly, she was just trying to get rid of the grease on her hands.

"Calm down Donna, the one that should be most worried about the situation should be me. Unlike you, I'm actually working for the Union, not that I disagree with what he's saying, but..."

Lowering her hand, she grabbed another handful of popcorn.

"Well, what's done it's done. The moment I gave him the recording, I already knew that he was going to pull something like this."

Stopping her hand right before her mouth, Monica sighed.

"Actually, I'm probably going to be in a bit of trouble since Daphne didn't know I was recording her back then, but, well, I'm <SS-> ranked now."

Softly chuckling, Monica stuffed her mouth with another handful of popcorn.

"Munch...Munch...What they gonna do about it?"

Gazing at the projection in front of her for a good minute, Donna eventually gave up.

"...Well, alright."

'I knew that this was going to happen anyways.'

Though a small part of her prayed that Ren wouldn't pull something like this, thinking back at the words he said, Donna realized that perhaps this was for the best.

The crack in thy sky did indeed seem like a good indication that something big was about to happen.

If Ren's words served as a catalyst to help humanity realize in just how much of a predicament they were in, then what he said wasn't as bad as she was making it out to be.

There was only one problem.

And that was the backlash that Ren's words would create throughout the world. For a good while, Donna knew that the human domain would be in a lot of turmoil.

Turning her head to glance at Monica who was carefreely eating her popcorn, Donna softly mumbled.

"It looks like we're going to be very busy this month."

Because she had been so focused on the press conference, Monica was unable to hear Donna's mumbles.

"Hm?"

Turning her head, she asked.

"Did you say something, Donna?"

"No."

Staring at Monica for a good couple of seconds, Donna shook her head and sighed.

"Nothing, I didn't say anything."

***

[...and that's Kevin Voss.]

"Pftttttt"

Spitting toothpaste all over the mirror, Kevin's eyes opened widely.

Opening and closing his mouth like a fish stuck out of the water, Kevin almost dropped his phone on the ground.

He had only woken up ten minutes ago, and thus he did not have enough time to change as he was still in his boxers. The reason why he woke up so early was to watch Ren's press conference, however, mid-way through the press conference, Ren suddenly named dropped him.

How could Kevin not be shocked?

"Ren, what in th—"

[As I was saying, if you're looking for a pusho—Keumm, someone to put your hopes into, then you can do that with Kevin. He's the type of guy that will care about random people that he doesn't know.]

Not even halfway through his sentence and Ren's voice once again rang out from the speaker of his phone.

This time Kevin's body froze completely.

"Ah...Ah..."

'He was trying to say pushover, wasn't he?'

For a brief moment of time, Kevin was unable to formulate a sentence as he found himself having a hard time trying to comprehend what he had just heard.

Vein slowly started to protrude from the top of his forehead.

Crack—!

Before he knew it, a cracking sound rang throughout the room, finally snapping Kevin out of his thoughts.

Lowering his head to see what had happened, Kevin's face slowly started to turn red.

"Shit..."

Staring at this phone, a curse inevitably escaped from his mouth.

"That's my second phone this week!"

***

"The plan has failed..."

A deep voice echoed throughout the surroundings as an elderly man with turbid gray hair and wearing a dark gray robe gazed at a small projection in front of him.

Depicted in the projection was a youth with deep blue eyes and black hair.

Hatred flashed across the elderly man's eyes as he stared at the youth in the projection.

[Hmm, I guess you could say that I did what the Union couldn't do for quite a while, and that's actually doing some damage to the Monolith.]

The more he listened to the youth in the projection, the greater the hatred in the elderly man's eyes became.

Crack—! Crack—!

Unknowingly, the elderly man's knuckles started to crack as the mana around him started to turn rampant.

"Relax."

Just then, a raspy voice rang from behind Mo Jinhao. At the exact moment his words echoed, the mana around Mo Jinhao relaxed.

Without turning around, Mo Jinhao kept his gaze on the projection in front of him.

"...You said that to leave things up to you. Yet, it doesn't look like your plan succeeded."

"It did."

Refuting Mo Jinhao's words was the same raspy voice.

"If you're talking about 876's situation, then yes, the plan could be considered to be a failure, however, if you're talking about the plan in an objective manner, it did not fail. The Union has suffered considerably from this ordeal."

After deliberating over the matter, Mo Jinhao's eyes began to squint.

'Indeed, if we set 876 aside, the plan could be considered a success in its own way. It can't be considered a total failure.'

"We may have not achieved what we wanted with 876, however, the seeds of distrust against the Union have been planted. If we take advantage of this situation, we may be able to harvest a lot out of this situation." The same raspy voice from before continued speaking. "You just have to be patient and think long-term, there will be plenty of opportunities against 876. Especially if we manage to break down the natural order established in the human domain."

Crossing his arms, Mo Jinhao's face turned solemn as he deliberated over the words.

'His words aren't wrong. Because of the contract, we can't directly attack the Union or the human domain. However, just like the demon said, if we take advantage of this situation, we may be able to plant even more seeds of chaos in the human domain. Once that happens, getting to 876 should not be a problem.'

The Monolith's goal was to create as much discord as possible in the human domain.

This was so that they could break the natural established order, and recruit more people for their cause.

So far, although their plan did not succeed as much as Mo Jinhao wanted it to as he wanted nothing more than to break 876 into bits, the current situation was very favorable for them.

With it, they could plan for the future when the contract finally expired.

"Alright, I've come to a decision."

Raising his head, Mo Jinhao finally turned his head around where his eyes soon paused on a black humanoid figure sitting down on a small red couch with a wine cup in his hands.

Swirling the cup in his hand and bringing it toward his nose, the demon took a couple of sniffs of it.

"Ugh."

His face soon grimaced. Moving the cup away from himself, the demon's eyes squinted considerably as he moved his head to the side.

"I still don't understand how you humans can possibly like this sort of stuff."

Putting the cup down, the demon raised his head to look at Mo Jinhao. Their eyes soon met, and a smile emerged on his face.

"It looks like you've finally come to terms with reality."

"Yes."

Mo Jinhao nodded his head.

"We may have not been able to trouble 876 as much as we wanted, but we have indeed achieved our main objective."

Moving toward the projection, he quickly turned it off.

"I'll be leaving to talk to the leader. If you will excuse me."

Swinging his arm, Mo Jinhao's robe flung behind him as he directly headed for the exit of the door, leaving Everblood behind.

Clank—!

With a loud sound, the room door shut, and silence surrounded the room.

"Ku, ku, ku."

The silence was eventually broken by Everblood's amused laugh as his head moved back. With both arms on the back of the sofa, Everblood's raspy voice echoed across the empty space.

"Who would've thought that the plan we worked so hard for would fail like this?" He managed to utter amidst his laugh.

"It's better this way..."

It was then that an apathetic voice devoid of any emotion, sounded from beside Everblood as a figure appeared next to him.

"Better?"

Unperturbed by the figure's sudden appearance, Everblood tilted his head.

"You're saying that it's better like this?... Or are you saying that this was also planned by you?"

The figure closed his eyes.

"Who knows."

Leaning his body forward, the figure grabbed the wine cup on the table and sniffed the wine.

"Planned or not planned, if he was incapable of doing this much, it would only mean that he wasn't improving. Also..."

Bringing the glass cup to his mouth, the figure slowly took a small sip.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

A small rattling sound echoed throughout the room as the chains binding his hands clashed against each other.

"Haa..."

Upon taking a sip of the drink, a satisfied smile formed on his face.

"...The game wouldn't be fun if everything went as I wished."

"Hmmm."

Everblood's head moved back. The smile on his face deepened.

"Indeed, if he wasn't able to do this much, everything would simply be too boring. I may not understand what you're trying to do, but so far, I haven't been disappointed. This truly is fun..."

Clink—!

Placing the cup down, the figure crossed his legs. The room suddenly became tense, and the smile on Everblood's face quickly wiped.

"How is the situation going on your end?" The figure asked. His emotionless voice sent shivers down Everblood's spine.

"Everything is going just as planned," Everblood replied as his back unknowingly straightened. "Connel has inserted himself in the deeper ranks of the Monolith, and will soon break into the <SS-> rank."

"..."

Following Everblood's words, silence shrouded the room as the figure slowly closed his eyes.

It wasn't long before he eventually opened them.

"Good."

He slowly started to nod his head. In a slow manner, he turned his head to face Everblood, revealing his deep blue eyes.

"Don't forget why you're here. Don't stray away from it. Make sure you accomplish it."

"Yes."

Standing up, the figure walked toward the other side of the room, following him from behind were thick black chains.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

He eventually stopped in front of the door of the room.

Raising his hand and tracing his finger over the door of the room, the figure slowly closed his eyes and suddenly asked.

"What do you think makes destruction so beautiful?"

"It's—"

Before Everblood had a chance to reply, slowly opening his eyes, he softly mumbled.

"I'm not a very emotional guy. Some might argue that I have long lost my emotions, but...watching everything you've worked hard for destroying something that someone else worked just as hard for; It really does move my heart."

"Like I've said Ren. I'm not your enemy."

Chapter 489: Grasping the fifth movement [1]

[What do you think about the comments in the press conference? Will, there really be a third cataclysm?]

[I say that this is hearsay. All bullshit fabricated in order to shift our attention away from his crimes.]

[Then how would you explain the current phenomenon that just happened? The crack in the sky? It is undeniably there. We can't just turn a blind eye to it. Furthermore, there is evidence that proves that Ren Dover has really traveled to the other domains...]

Click—!

Turning off my phone, I put it away and continued to walk on the sidewalk of the street. I was currently outside of my house and the blazing sun in the sky made me feel extremely languid; I really didn't feel like doing anything.

Despite that, I still continued walking.

My current destination was the Demon Hunter guild. The reason for this was because Amanda granted me access to their top-end training facilities.

As matters currently stand, I couldn't go back to the Lock.

With everything that transpired over the last couple of days, I was put on administrative leave for a couple of days; Therefore, I had no choice but to go train at Amanda's guild.

Along the way, I couldn't help but think, 'I really should tell Smallsnake to invest more money in the headquarters...'

Just before the press conference, Amanda came to talk to me about the situation with the magic cards, and from the look of it, they will be launching in a couple of days' time.

With the money that would be coming in from their sales, I planned on creating my own state-of-the-art training facility back in the headquarters.

Not just for me, but for Smallsnake and the others.

"I think it's bullshit. Even if the mana density of the world increased, it will still be impossible for normal people like us to reach the top."

"Does that really matter? If the third cataclysm is coming, would you be better off at your current strength, or at a stronger level?"

"That's a big if."

"Still doesn't hurt to become stronger."

As I neared the guild, I was able to overhear the conversation of some of the people near me. Overhearing their conversations, I shook my head.

'Just as I expected, everyone is talking about the press conference.'

Public opinion about what I said at the press conference was divided into two.

On one side, many people supported what I said as they also agreed with many of my points, while on the other side, people completely despised me for it.

Not that I cared.

Like I've said before, I didn't really care about anyone else apart from a select few people. I was only one person after all.

"Halt! Because of security reasons, we can't allow anyone unknown to enter the guild. Please state your purpose."

Tall guards wearing black suits and sunglasses blocked my path right at the entrance of the guild.

Glancing toward my right and left, and seeing people going in and out of the building, I could already tell that they were targeting me. Evidently, they were alarmed by my strength.

Shaking my head, I brought out a black card from my dimensional space.

"Here you go."

'Did Amanda buff up the security because of the magic cards?'

If so, it was understandable. Given just how much money was involved in its launch, such measures were understandable.

Lifting his glasses up with one of his fingers, one of the bodyguards checked my card. Upon making sure that there was nothing wrong with it, he took a step to the side. The guard next to him followed suit.

"You may go in."

"Thank you."

Taking my card back, I nodded at the guards and entered the premise of the building.

Just like in the past, a nice lavender-like smell lingered in the air the moment I entered the building.

Glancing around me, I was surprised to find that the lobby of the guild was packed with people moving in and out of the building.

"It's a lot more crowded than usual, is something going on?"

Squinting my eyes and checking out the place for a bit, I eventually shrugged my shoulders.

"It's probably none of my business. Let's juts go train."

Taking one last look at the crowd at the guild lobby, I turned around and headed for the elevators in the distance.

***

At the same time, inside a white room that was the length of two Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

Splitting the air apart were three translucent blue energy beams.

In a matter of seconds, the arrows arrived all the way toward the other side of the room and crashed against multiple thick rectangular pillars.

Bang—!

A deafening sound spread out from the point of contact between the arrows and the pillars, and thin black smoke rose in the air.

"Hmmm."

Squinting her eyes and staring toward the distance, Amanda had an unsatisfied look on her face.

"What's wrong, young miss?"

Appearing beside her was her assistant, Maxwell, as he handed her a white towel.

Taking the towel, Amanda shook her head.

"I'm still too weak."

"Weak?"

Maxwell raised his brow.

"Correct me if I'm wrong young miss, but aren't you already nearing <B> rank? Considering your age, shouldn't that be an achievement to be proud of?"

"..."

Raising her bow and aiming at the target in the distance, Amanda pulled the bow string back. A blue translucent arrow materialized in between her fingers.

'Achievement to be proud of...'

Had it been in the past, then maybe. However, as she looked back at Ren, Kevin, and Jin who had all surpassed her, Amanda couldn't bring herself to feel any pride in her strength.

Also, Amanda did not doubt Ren's words back at the conference.

A third cataclysm will soon appear, and without a doubt, she was still far too weak to survive it. Her current level of strength was far from enough.

"I've still got a long way to go."

Xiu!

Once her words faded, Amanda once again released the string of her bow, and the arrow on her bow disappeared. The air in front of her distorted, and not even a split second after she released the bow, a thunderous explosion reverberated throughout the room.

Boom—!

Following the explosion, a gust of wind began to spread out, resulting in Amanda's hair flailing wildly.

Staring at the pillar in the distance, Amanda lowered her bow and turned to glance at Maxwell.

"Has he arrived yet?"

"Yes, he has," Maxwell replied with a short nod. His face slowly turned serious.

"I have told him to meet you at your office, however, he insisted on meeting you here. He appears to be in a bit of a rush."

"Okay."

Amanda put her bow away and untied her hair, letting them fall over her shoulders.

"It's better this way."

***

"Not bad..."

The room I was in looked to be about the size of a small football pitch. It was neither too big nor too small. The insides were completely empty, as the bright lights from above illuminated the white room.

"The room here is created with one of the hardest materials that we have available. It may not be one of our strongest rooms, but considering your strength, this should do just fine. You would need to be at least <S-> rank to leave a scratch on the room."

An attendant spoke aloud next to me.

She was giving me a brief overview of the training facility. From time to time I would nod at her words.

This was my first time here, and thus I needed to be briefed on the rules of the place.

The lady continued to talk for the next five minutes before she eventually finally left the room.

"Because you've selected the Self-training room, there is no equipment available for you to use. However, if you wish to use them, you can call me up and I will readily come to your assistance."

"Thank you."

"No problem."

Clank—!

The door closed and the place finally became quiet.

"Haaa..."

Raising my hand, I removed the mask from my face. Since I was now even more popular than before, I had no choice but to wear this wherever I went.

Not that I wasn't used to it by now.

"Huuu..."

Putting my mask away, and moving toward the middle of the room, I decided to sit crossed-legged.

Tapping on my bracelet, I took out my sword and placed it right in front of me.

Compared to the last time I had seen it, the sword was now quite a bit longer than before. Not by much, but enough to see a notable difference.

'Now that I think about it, I've still not tested the sword after breaking the first seal.'

According to Malvil, the first seal was supposed to break upon me reaching <A-> rank. Lowering my hand, I began to check the effects of the first seal.

[Seal 1 : The sword will allow the wielder to gather at a much faster rate than normal.

"This..."

Staring at the interface in front of me, I had to blink a couple of times to make sure that I wasn't seeing wrongly. Once I was sure that there was nothing with what I was seeing, my mouth dropped a little.

"This is amazing, isn't it?"

It may not look like an incredible skill at first, however, given my circumstances and sword art, this was nothing short of miraculous.

It was then that I had a sudden thought, "With this, wouldn't I be able to perform my movements even faster than before?"

It would take me a couple of seconds to gather enough mana to perform any of the movements of the Keiki style.

With this new skill, the time it took for me to gather enough mana to perform the skill would drastically decrease.

It was basically a game-changer.

Staring at the sword, my hand started to twitch. For a brief moment, I wanted to test out this new skill, however, I quickly stopped myself.

'This is not what I'm here for.'

There was a time and place for things.

"Huuuu..."

Taking a deep breath and closing my eyes, I cleared all distracting thoughts inside of my head and proceeded to feel the mana in the air.

'I've felt the sensation a couple of weeks ago, and now that the mana density of the mana in the air is denser, there should be no trouble for me to finally grasp the final...no, the fifth movement of the Keiki style

There were only five movements to the Keiki style. Beyond that, Grandmaster Keiki had never been able to grasp the sixth movement.

Some might say that the Keiki style was a complete art and that there were no possible movements beyond the fifth movement.

However, I begged to differ.

There was definitely a sixth movement. One that Grandmaster Keiki couldn't grasp throughout his entire life.

After practicing this art for as long as I did, I knew for a fact that the fifth limit was not the limit. There was definitely more to the sword art than it showed.

After grasping the fifth movement, my next goal was to grasp the sixth movement of the Keiki style.

"Haaa..."

Exhaling from my mouth, the psyons around me started to vibrate more and more. It wasn't long before only the green-colored psyons remained around me. From time to time, I would be able to see faint yellow-colored particles.

My eyes brightened when I saw them.

'Light psyons...'

The key element needed to grasp the fifth movement of the Keiki style.

Staring at the yellow-colored particles in the air, I focused all my attention on them. It wasn't long before more and more yellow-colored particles started to form around me.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Sweat started to trickle down the side of my face.

"Haaa..haa..."

My breathing started to become more laborious. However, I didn't care. Placing my hand on the ground and grabbing my sword, I stood up and proceeded to take a stance.

In the process, the light-colored particles around me started to gather in the direction of my sword.

A bright light soon started to form around the scabbard of my sword as more and more light-colored particles started to gather around the sword. It wasn't long before the light became even brighter and enveloped the entirety of the room.

Chapter 490: Grasping the fifth movement [2]

'To master the fifth and final movement, one must assimilate the light psyons in the air toward their sword.'

'The last movement is not something that anyone can pull off comfortably. It's a movement that does not need the body to do anything. Let the psyons do the work, and let the sword flow naturally.'

Recalling the words imprinted inside of my mind, I tried my best to keep myself focused as I gathered the light psyons toward me.

There wasn't much I knew about the fifth movement of the Keiki style.

However, from the little words and images inside of my head, I knew that it heavily relied on light psyons.

This was why at the moment, I had gathered all my focus toward the air, trying my best to agglomerate all the light psyons toward my sword.

The process was very slow, however, with due time, the sword in my hand started to become brighter and brighter.

Before I knew it, the glow coming out from the sword was so bright that it made it difficult for me to keep my eyes open.

"Khh..."

'Not yet.'

Trying my best to remain in this state, beads of sweat started to drip down the side of my face. It may have been because the room was quiet and that I was currently focused on trying to gather the light psyons in the air, but the dripping sound of the sweat hitting the ground deeply resonated inside of my head.

Drip. Drip.

The state of my mind was like that of a calm lake. Rippleless.

"Huuuuu..."

Uknowingly, the surroundings disappeared from my view, and all I saw was pitch-black darkness.

I couldn't exactly describe the state that I was in, however, at the moment, it felt as though I was one with the mana in the air.

My breathing stopped, and my hand started to move. Grasping the hilt of the sword, I slowly pulled away.

Click—!

A subtle clicking sound rang out, and the room flashed in white.

***

"Been a while."

Jin said as he entered the training grounds and nodded in Amanda's direction. Glancing around the place, he commented.

"Not bad..."

"Thank you."

Amanda replied as she handed Maxwell her towel.

Staring at Jin, her brows slowly started to crease.

"Why did you want to meet me here? My office would've been a more appropriate setting for our discussion."

"It would've been a waste of time."

"Hm?"

Amanda tilted her head. Obviously confused by Jin's answer. Before she could reply, Jin started to speak. A slight smile hung on his lips.

"I never took you for a scheming one, back then I didn't realize why you agreed to the deal so easily, now I know," Slowly, his eyes started to narrow. "...It's because of those magic cards."

"Ah."

Amanda thought back at the time when she made a deal with Jin.

Pre-Coference.

A slight smile emerged on her lips.

"Circumstances were different back then, you still benefitted from the deal."

"I guess you're right," Jin softly mumbled in an almost inaudible voice.

He couldn't deny her words, that said, if he had to be honest, looking at things now, the deal wasn't as good as he thought it was back in the past.

Secretly, he shook his head and cut straight to the chase.

"Amanda, the reason why I'm here is because we've located a big supply station near the outskirts of the Northen district. We're still monitoring the situation closely, but it looks like we need to join hands to complete this mission."

Listening to Jin's words, Amanda's brows creased a little as she fell into deep thought.

"Supply station?"

Raising her head to meet Jin's eyes, she asked.

"What do you need us to do exactly?"

"Nothing too straining."

"Elaborate."

"I just need a couple of <A> rankers to come and help us. We won't need <S> rankers, but just in case, I'll bring one from my side. You should also bring one form your side. Just in case something goes wrong."

After having analyzed the place thoroughly Jin found that this was the best probable formation needed to take care of the place.

Had it been the past, Jin would've never have collaborated with Amanda over this matter. However, as matters currently stood, Jin could not afford to bring out such a large force.

Ever since the crack in the sky appeared, all of the guild members had been allocated toward different portals in case a dungeon overload occured. Not only that, with the sudden increase in the mana in the air, many chose to use this time to break through to the next rank.

In other words, Jin's guild currently did not have enough personnel to handle this mission. Given their time constraint, he had no other choice to but to collaborate with Amanda.

"Hmmm."

With her hand under her chin, Amanda had a thoughtful look on her face.

Lowering her hand, she asked.

"Are you sure that we only need one <S> ranker?"

"Yes," Jin replied with a nod. "I'm confident that we won't need more than two <S> rankers."

In fact, Jin was fairly certain that he wouldn't need one <S> ranker. Bringing two was him already being cautious.

"I see."

Amanda extended her hand in Maxwell's direction.

"Maxwell, please hand me the files."

"As you wish."

Tapping on his ring, Maxwell took out a file of papers and handed it to Amanda.

"Thank you."

Thanking Maxwell, Amanda proceeded to look through the files. As she looked through her list, Amanda's lips pursed from time to time.

She didn't look at the files for too long as she soon closed the folder. Handing it back to Maxwell, she gazed in Jin's direction.

"I've just looked through the list of available members we have at the moment, and it looks like it's doa—"

Right then.

Just as she was about to finish her sentence. In the room next door, a thunderous explosion reverberated as the room Amanda and Jin were in shook, alarming the both of them.

BOOOM—!

For a split second of time, neither was able to react as they stared at each other. The first one to react was Amanda who quickly dashed out of the training room.

Di—! Di—!

Coming out of the training ground, Amanda was met with the blaring sound of the sirens ringing.

Following her from behind was Jin who looked around with a serious look on his face.

"What happened?"

"I don't know."

Amanda shook her head. Just like Jin, her gaze was extremely serious.

Her bow quickly materialized on her right hand.

"...We might be under attack." She softly muttered.

Glancing around the place, Amanda's gaze soon paused on one of the attendants rushing in the direction of where the explosion originated from.

Taking a step forward, Amanda stood in her way. Grabbing her by the shoulders, she asked.

"What's going on?"

"Hey, wha—Huh? Young Miss?"

Recognizing Amanda, the attendant flinched. Recomposing herself, she alarmly looked at a room in the distance.

"Ah. Ah, young miss, I...I don't know, but the data is saying that the explosion came from over there."

"There?"

Letting go of the attendant's shoulders, Amanda didn't waste any time and rushed in the direction of the room.

Stopping right in front of the door, Amanda channel the mana inside of her body. Just as she was about enter, she once again turned to look at the attendant.

"Do you know who entered the room?"

"Yes."

Nodding her head, the attendant took out a small card and handed it to Amanda.

"This is pass that the individual handed to us before entering the place."

"The pass?"

Taking the pass from the attendant's hands, Amanda's bow lowered. Her frown quickly relaxed and she let out a long sigh.

"Haaa..."

"What's going on?"

Jin asked as he noticed Amanda's sudden change in stance.

Turning her head to look at Jin, Amanda shook her head and put the card away.

"It's nothing."

Also putting her bow away, Amanda proceeded to open the door.

Clank—!

At the exact moment she opened the door, smoke started to spill out from the door, prompting Amanda to raise her hand and swiping it, creating a small wind funnel that cleared away the dust.

Her brows which had previously relaxed, once again furrowed.

"What's going on?"

Taking a step into the room, Amanda's feet came to an abrupt halt as her eyes paused toward a figure in the middle of the room.

Her eyes opened widely.

"Cough...Cough..."

With his back hunched on the ground, and holding onto what seemed to be his wrist, an individual coughed up blood on the ground.

"Khaaa..."

"Ren!"

Amanda instantly became alarmed as she rushed in his direction. Upon arriving next to him, she was able to get a better look at him, and worry flashed across her eyes.

Taking a knee, she took a couple of tissues from her dimensional space and wiped Ren's mouth which was covered in blood.

"What happened to you?" Amanda asked with a worried look.

His complexion at the moment was extremely pale, and not only that, lowering her head to glance in the direction of Ren's arm, she found that his right hand was broken.

A couple of meters away from his was his sword which was stained in blood.

"Cough...Cough..."

Ren once again started to cough up blood.

Snapping out of it and tapping on her necklace, Amanda took out a potion from her dimensional space and quickly fed to Ren.

"Here."

Because of Ren's current state in which he seemed to be completely out of it, Amanda brought it upon herself to chug the potion down his mouth. Because he was coughing up blood, he had most likely sustained serious internal injuries.

It was best to give him a potion now to make sure that his injuries wouldn't aggravate.

"Ugh."

"Drink it," Amanda said in a stern tone as she raised the potion up.

Opening his eyes and staring at Amanda, Ren raised his left hand and grabbed the potion. Amanda let go of the potion when she saw this.

Whilst this was happening, walking around the room, Jin walked toward the other end of the room.

Coming to a halt, his eyes traced over a large scar on the side of the wall.

The scar wasn't exactly deep. If he had to make an estimate, it would be around a quarter of a meter in depth, however, what was most shocking about it was the fact that it traced from one end to the other end of the wall.

Turning his head to glance in Ren's direction, his eyes paused on Ren's sword which was pointed in the direction of where the scar was. Turning his head back to gaze at the scar, he traced his finger over the scar.

Staring at his finger, Jin slowly opened his mouth.

"Amanda, just how durable is the room?"

"Hm?"

Snapping out of her daze, Amanda looked at Jin. She soon also noticed the scar on the wall.

"Huh?"

Her eyes darted back to Ren who was slowly starting get better. Alternating her gaze between Ren and the scar on the wall, Amanda had a sudden thought.

'It can't be...'

Amanda felt her mind blank.

With her eyes still locked on the scar all the way on the other end of the room, Amanda slowly stood up. Without looking back, she called out for her assistant.

"Maxwell?"

"Yes?"

"...Was the room in this state before?"

"This..."

Maxwell had a troubled look on his face as his gaze paused on the scar in the distance.

"I'm not exactly su—"

"It wasn't."

A female voice answered for Maxwell. It was the same attendant from before. Nodding her head, Amanda's head finally turned. Biting her lips, she looked toward the assistant.

"....Has the room been inspected before it was being used?"

Despite already knowing the answer, Amanda still asked.

It was just too hard for her to currently process what was happening. It wasn't rare for someone to bridge the gap between sub-ranks as there were many occasions in which such things happened.

Amanda just couldn't fathom how it was possible for someone who was <A-> rank to deal enough damange on the wall that only <S-> ranks could damage.

"No, it wasn't like that"

Opening her mouth, Amanda's eyes closed.

'He got stronger again...'

"Amanda, you didn't answer my question."

Snapping her out of her daze was Jin's voice.

"This..."

"How durable is this room?" Jin repeated.

Opening her mouth, Amanda closed it again and bit her lips. This persisted for a couple of seconds before she eventually answered.

"It should be <S-> rank."

Chapter 491: Going back to the black market [1]

'That was a lot more painful than I thought.'

Leaning by the wall of the room, I heavily gasped for air.

"Haa...haaa.."

My arm still hurt, but with the aid of the potion that Amanda had given me, I was slowly starting to feel better.

That being said.

"I don't think I can use the fifth movement at its full potential just yet..."

Injuries aside, it became apparent to me that there was still a small way to go for me before being able to use the fifth movement comfortably.

My body could still not withstand the full power of the attack.

If I had to make an estimate, then by the time I reached <S-> rank, I would have no problem executing it.

Wait.

Raising my head, my eyes lit up.

"There is actually a way..."

A way for me to use the fifth movement without breaking my body apart.

"Ugh."

Propping my body up with the aid of my arm, Amanda suddenly called out for me. She had a complicated look on her face as she stared at the scar in the distance.

"Ren."

"Yes?"

"Did you do this?"

"...Ah."

Staring into the distance, I finally noticed the long scar tracing across the wall. Not only that, but I was also able to see Jin.

Scratching the back of my head, a wry smile appeared on my face.

"How are you doing Jin? Been a while since I've seen you."

Let's just pretend that nothing happened.

"..."

With his back turned against me, Jin continued to trace his finger across the scar on the wall. He then eventually turned his head and met my eyes.

"How were you able to do this?"

"Well..."

Pursing my lips, and feeling everyone's eyes land on me, I knew that there was no point in feining ignorance. Thus, I just came clean.

"I was just practicing a technique of mine. Didn't think it would end up doing this much damage..."

Actually, I didn't think I would've even have able to pull the move on the first attempt. Even though it wasn't exactly complete, it was still the fifth movement.

Gazing at Amanda from the corner of my eyes, and turning my head to look at the scar again, I apologized.

"Sorry about the scar. If you want me to pa—"

"It's fine."

Amanda sighed.

"Next time choose a more appropriate room."

'Do you think I actually knew this was going to happen?'

No way in hell would I have expected the fifth movement to be so strong.

"...Alright. I will do so."

"Thank you."

Amanda softly nodded her head.

Then suddenly, Amanda's smartwatch vibrated. It was a message. Amanda glanced at her smartwatch, then looked back at the female assistant.

"Let the other know that the situation is resolved. There is no attack. It was just an incident."

"Yes."

The assistant's back straightened. She quickly rushed out of the room.

Staring at the assistant leaving the room, it finally dawned on me. What was Jin doing here? He wasn't the type of person that would go out of his way to meet Amanda unless it was something important.

"Mind if I ask, but what is Jin doing here?"

"Jin?"

Amanda glanced at Jin, and their eyes met. He gave her a short nod.

Pursing her lips, Amanda started to explain.

"He's here about a possible collaboration. Because of the crack in the sky, we're both currently short on staff."

"Collaboration?"

"Yes, we're trying to get rid of a supply station," Jin suddenly cut in. "You weren't here when this was happening, but recently, a new pill has started to spread throughout the human domain. We've currently found one of its bigger supply stations, and we're trying to get rid of it."

"Oh."

'Right, there was something about this in my memories.'

A lot of the future events may have changed, however, there were still some things that didn't change. For example this event.

It was an event that was supposed to happen in the 'novel', and it was an event where Jin and Amanda would suffer tremendous losses to their forces.

Not sure how that worked anymore.

Regardless, I decided to say my piece.

"If you two are talking about the supply station, in the northern district, Morfill street, then I suggest the two of you not to go."

Amanda and Jin looked at each other.

"If I'm not wrong, then the supply station you two are going to is a trap devised by the other guilds to bring you down."

Because the gap between the top two guilds and the other ones was widening, in order to reduce their influence and force, the other diamond-graded guilds decided to resort to dirty tactics in order to reduce their influence.

As such, they devised a trap to damanage a small elite force of both respective guilds.

There was a chance of me being wrong with all the events changing, but it was never wrong to be on the safe side.

"If I'm not wrong, the two of you will probably go with only a couple of <S> rankers and expect to bulldoze your way toward the supply station, right?"

Upon saying those words, the faces of Amanda and Jin changed. I felt a boost in confidence when I saw this. It really does seem like this is the event.

"Actually, if you're wondering how valid my words are, even I'm not too sure. However, it's best if you two become more alert during the mission. Who knows, things might truly end up as I said, and the both of you will suffer tremendous losses. I'm sure neither of you would want that."

There was a brief moment of silence after I said those words.

Breaking the silence, Amanda turned to look at Jin.

"What do you think?"

"Hmm."

Lifting his head up to glance my way, Jin took a deep breath.

"How sure are you about this?"

"Fifty percent? Maybe less?"

"Okay."

Jin nodded his head. He then turned to look at Amanda.

"If it's as Ren said, this can also be a good opportunity for the both of us."

"I agree."

Amanda replied in agreement. Placing his hand under his chin, Jin thought of something.

"Let's secretly bring more <S> rankers with us. If there truly is a trap, we can take this chance to find out who is against us and deal a blow against them."

"How many <S> rankers can Starlight guild bring?"

"...If we exclude my father and grandfather, I can bring an extra two."

"Demon Hunter can also do the same."

"I'll take my leave now."

Seeing that there was nothing else for me to say, I tactfully decided to leave. As much as I wanted to go with them, there were other things I needed to do.

"Huh, ah yes. Don't worry about the wall."

Amanda bid me goodbye. Jin did the same as he nodded his head, and I nodded back before leaving the room.

Clank—!

"That's on problem sorted."

With Amanda and Jin possibly avoiding a terrible scenario, my mind felt at ease.

That being said.

Coming to a halt in the middle of the hall, I realized something.

'Perhaps not everything has changed.'

Recently, I had been using my memories of the future less and less. The reason for this was because I no longer trusted them as much, and because of all the changes that I did.

However, if I looked back at it now, not all had changed.

'If that's the case, I should use this chance to study my notes of the future once again and get rid of any potential trouble before they come.'

This was a feasible idea.

Rather than just waiting for bad stuff to happen, it was better if I got rid of them before they happened.

Putting my mask back on my face, I continued walking.

"I better get to work."

***

A couple of days passed by in the blink of an eye, and it was now Saturday.

"This should be the place."

Stopping in front of a coffee shop, I entered the place, and a nice aromatic coffee smell invaded my nostrils.

Glancing around the place, I soon spotted a familiar figure sitting in the corner of the shop.

"Been a while, Kevin."

Lifting his head up to stare in my direction, Kevin's eyes began to squint as his face darkened.

"Ren."

"Yes, that's my name."

I sat down comfortably on the chair opposite.

Leaning back on the chair, I noticed that there was an iced latte in front of me already. Did Kevin ordered it for me before hand? How sweet of him.

"Thanks."

Thanking Kevin, I brought the latte to my lips and took a sip.

Feeling the refreshing taste of coffee in my mouth, I instantly felt a lot better.

"Nice..."

Putting the latter down I looked at Kevin.

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

I did find it odd that Kevin wanted to talk to me out of nowhere. At first, I thought it was because he was mad at me due to what I had said at the press conference, but looking at him now, it didn't seem like it.

"Haaa..."

Putting his own cup down, Kevin sighed.

Glancing around the place he waved his hand and erected an invisible sound barrier around us. Seeing his weird behavior, I became slightly alarmed. What exactly was he trying to do?

It was then that Kevin started to speak.

"Ren, I need your help."

"My help?"

"Yes."

Kevin's face hardened a little. He seemed unsure about what to say. This aroused my curiosity.

"Spit it out. What do you need my help with."

"It's like this..."

Eventually, Kevin started to recount to me all the details regarding his mission. Since he had already told me all of his secrets, Kevin didn't shy away from telling me the stuff that he wouldn't normally say, like the the fact that the mission was from the system, and stuff.

Regarding the talk, it was about how he had to go to a different planet, to the rewards he would get from completing it, and the fact that he could bring three people to the mission.

By the time he was done speaking, I had already gotten a good grasp of what the mission entailed too.

"...And so since you already know about my secret, I didn't think twice about telling you. The only problem is that I'm still unsure about the third person."

"You don't have to worry about that."

"Hm?"

Taking a sip of the latte, I smiled slightly.

"I already have an idea on who to bring."

"You do?" Kevin curiously asked.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Given the details of the mission you told me, there is only one possible person that we can bring."

"Who?"

Lowering my hand. I stared at Kevin in the most obvious manner.

"Who else but Jin?"

"Jin?"

"Yeah, in the first place, we need someone to reach <A-> rank before even considering the mission. If we take that criterion into account, and the fact that Jin is very good with stealth, he's the best option we have for our mission."

There was also Angelica, however, in this mission, she would probably be the worst person to bring along.

Since demons could sense demonic energy a lot more easily than mana, if I brought Angelica with me, our location would potentially be exposed.

Furthermore, I actually needed Angelica to stay behind because I had something important for her to do.

So she was a no go. Leaving the most likely candidate to be Jin.

"Considering that you still have a bit of time to break through to <A-> rank, it's safe to say that we still have a bit of time before the trip, right?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

Chugging down the latte in my hand, I stood up.

"If that's the case, I will take my leave now. I need to sort some stuff out. Regarding the trip, count me in."

It would serve as a good experience.

"Sure."

Raising my hand, I bid Kevin goodbye. Since there was still time before the trip, it was best for me to get everything that I wanted to get done, done now.

Chapter 492: Going back to the black market [2]

Clank—!

A clangorous metallic noise rang out as a large door closed shut behind, and darkness enveloped my vision.

Step. Step. Step.

Following this, a series of footsteps echoed throughout the dark place.

"Hey Smallsnake, does this place bring back memories?"

"It does."

"Good times, eh? Back then you were still a nobody and look at you now. Still a nobody"

"Do you seriously have to say it that way?"

Despite it being dark. I could vividly feel the annoyance in Smallsnake's voice.

"I do."

Pausing, I repeated.

"I really do."

That said.

Smallsnake's wasn't anyone particularly big back in my memories. He was the type of guy that helped from the shadows, so nothing much changed.

*Puff*

Right then, I suddenly heard a familiar puffing sound coming from next to me. Without needing to look, I already knew who the person was. Who else but Leopold?

*Puff*

"Been a while since I've been here."

"Do you have to smoke ever—hm?"

I suddenly paused. To make sure I didn't hear incorrectly, I turned my head and looked at a dimly lit orange circle that levitated in the air.

"You've been here before?"

"Yeah."

*Puff*

With another puff, the orange circle brightened for a brief instant and I was able to catch a glimpse of Leopold nodding his head.

"I've actually come here quite often in the past. In fact, I know someone that works here."

"Oh?"

Didn't think Leopold would have connections here. This was a pleasant surprise.

It was then that a deep voice suddenly echoed throughout the dark corridor.

"We're here."

Clank—!

Following this, our vision started to brighten up as another metallic door started to open, revealing a familiar scenery.

"Wow."

"Oh, waah."

"So this is the black market..."

Surprised sounds echoed from beside me as Ryan, Ava, and Hein stepped forward to get a better look at the place.

They were all wearing white masks and a black hood to hide their appearances, but I could still tell how excited they were.

I smiled when I saw just how excited they were.

But.

"Calm down for a bit. We're not here to mess around."

This was the sad reality of the matter.

The black market was filled with all sorts of interesting stuff and devices, but there was a time and place for everything.

And now was now the time.

"You guys can mess around after you are done with all the matters I've assigned to you. For now, follow me from behind."

Without waiting for them to reply, I proceeded to head deeper into the black market.

Along the way, I would spot a couple of very interesting artifacts and objects, but through the sheer power of my will, I was able to stop myself from looking at the items.

"We have a special artifact that no other stall sells!"

"Buy one get one free!"

"We have the cheapest prices!"

The loud voices of the stall owners rang throughout the air as a bustling atmosphere enshrouded the place.

"Wait up!"

Snapping me out of my daze, was a low shout.

Catching up from behind me, I heard Smallsnake's labored voice coming to me.

"Ren..haa...haaa..slow down a little. You're going too fast."

"...Alright."

I finally paused and looked behind me.

With both hands on his knees, Smallsnake caught his breath and looked up at me.

"Haaa..haa...Where are we going?"

Raising my head to stare at the others in the distance, I looked back at Smallsnake.

"We're going to dungeon seekers to meet an acquaintance."

"What do you mea—"

"You'll know when we'll get there."

Seeing that the others had caught up, I continued walking.

Compared to the first time I came here, the place looked about the same. However, the atmosphere around me felt different.

I couldn't quite explain it, but in the past, the black market felt a lot scarier than it was now.

Was it perhaps because I was stronger? This was most likely the answer.

"We're here."

Stopping in front of another large door, two tall guards stood in my way. They both emitted a powerful and overbearing pressure.

"Halt! This area is restricted for VIPs only."

Smiling beneath my mask, I handed the guards a card.

"Here you go."

As long as the card did not expire in the time I missed, it should still work. Hopefully.

Thankfully, my worries were unfounded. Scanning the card, the guard handed it back to me.

"I apologize for holding you back. You may enter."

He took a step to the side and opened the door for us.

Clank—!

"Thank you."

Without waiting any further I entered the door. Following me from behind were the others who looked around curiously.

The only one that seemed to be unfazed by the whole ordeal was Leopold, who nonchalantly smoked his cigarette.

Walking past the door, I was greeted by bright lights coming from the ceiling of the room. A red carpet blanketed the floor, whilst a young lady wearing a black suit greeted us by the side.

"Welcome, to Dungeon Seekers. Do you have an app—"

"You're here."

A rough voice cut the lady off.

Appearing in the distance was a male with blonde hair and a lazy look on his face. Just like in the past, his clothes were a mess and though not clear as he was still far, I could smell a faint scent of alcohol coming off of him.

"Thomas."

I greeted.

Thomas greeted with a teasing smile.

"Oh? So you remember me?"

"Of course."

"...and here I thought you completely forgot about me."

"I would never."

My head turned sideways when I said those words. If I had to be honest, I did in fact forget about him. Not that I did it on purpose, but stuff happened.

"I am sorry."

Thomas clicked his tongue and waved his hand.

"Whatever, whatever, so, what are you here for?"

"Actually, we're here to use the dungeons."

"Dungeons?"

Thomas paused for a moment. He then smacked his forehead.

"Right, right, what else would you be here for?"

Tilting his body, Thomas proceeded to look behind me.

"Who did you bring with y—huh?"

Halfway through his sentence, his smile suddenly froze. Noticing this, my brows started to crease. What happened?

"What are you doing here, Leopold?"

*Puff*

"Thomas?"

A look of pleasant surprise flashed across Leopold's face as his eyes met with Thomas's. Putting the cigarette in his mouth away, he smiled broadly.

"You've gotten promoted Thomas, congratulations!"

"Haha, what about you? Last time I checked you were working at a crappy mercenary group. What brings you here?"

What's going on?

I dumbfoundedly looked at Thomas and Leopold.

"You reek of alcohol. Looks like you still got your drinking problems."

"Eh, look whose talking. You seem to be an even bigger smoking addict than in the past."

Drinking problems? Smoking addict? What kind of conversation were they having?

"You two..."

Interrupting their talk, I coughed slightly. Instantly drawing their attention toward me.

"Keum, you two know each other?"

Staring at each other for a good minute, Leopold nodded.

"You can say so."

"Leopold and I graduated from the same academy."

Leopold hooked his arm around Thomas and stared at me.

"That aside, how do the two of you know each other?"

"This.."

Leopold turned his head sideways. I answered for him.

"He works for me."

"Works for you?"

"Yeah, for about three years now?"

"Two and a half."

Leopold corrected as he unhooked Thomas's arm from his shoulder.

"We've been together for about two and a half years."

"Yeah, that."

"Is that so..."

Crossing his arms together, Thomas glanced in Leopold's way and murmured something.

"He looks to be in a much better mood than in the past..."

His voice may have been soft, but I was able to hear it. It looks like he really cared for Leopold in his own way.

Snapping me out of my thoughts, Thomas suddenly clapped his hands.

"Alright, that's enough of that. So you're here to enter the dungeons, is that correct?"

"Correct."

I nodded my head and glanced toward the others.

"To be specific, we would like two dungeons."

"Two?"

"Yes. One for me and Angelica, and another for Hein, Leopold, and Ava."

Because of the dungeon limits, we couldn't exactly go into the same dungeon. This was a bit unfortunate, but then again, we weren't here to have fun and train.

I came here with a goal in mind.

"Do you already know the two dungeons that you want to go to?"

"Yes. For me and Angelica, Silent cliff, and for Hein, Ava, and Leopold, Desolate Mountains."

Thomas's brows creased. Then, he murmured in a barely audible whisper.

"Interesting choice of dungeons..."

"You can say that."

The dungeons I had selected weren't exactly special. They were respectively a <A> ranked dungeon, and a <B> ranked dungeon.

However, those were not the reason why I chose those dungeons.

The main reason I chose those dungeons was because of the danger that lay within them. Just like in the past, with Everblood, there were demons lurking inside the dungeons.

Their goal was simple.

It was to create dungeon overloads. And with the mana density increasing, I feared that in the near future, they would become a very common occurrence. No, they will become a common occurrence.

Therefore.

"There are no problems with the dungeons that we've selected, right?"

I decided to use this chance to get rid of a couple of future troubles whilst at the same time earning the black market's favor.

It was a win-win situation.

"No, there are no problems. I'll go get everything sorted out now."

Thomas patted Leopold's shoulder and turned back.

I asked Smallsnake who was standing next to me.

"You already know what to do, right?"

"Yes. I'll bring Ryan to my old job for a bit. I have to sort out a couple of things."

With a serious look, Smallsnake placed his head on top of Ryan and ruffled his hair.

"He should help me get my stuff done faster."

"Hey, stop it!"

Despite Ryan's complaints, Smallsnake continued.

Having stayed with each other for so long, it was only natural that their relationship had developed so much. Compared to the past, Smallsnake also seemed to be a bit more confident.

Not too much, though.

I couldn't allow that to happen.

A proud Smallsnake was not a Smallsnake I wanted to have.

Pui!

Just the thought made me want to spit.

"I've sorted everything, you can go now."

It was then that Thomas's voice rang from the distance.

"That was fast."

Taking one last look at Smallsnake and Ryan, I urged the others to follow from behind me.

"Alright, let's go."

*

WHIIIIIZ

"Ugh!"

Coming out of the portal behind me, I stumbled a couple of steps. I eventually stopped in front of an old tree and supported my body.

"Fucking portals..."

No matter how many times I tried to get used to the after-effects of portals. I just couldn't.

"Get over yourself."

An impassive voice rang a few meters away from me. It belonged to Angelica.

"You wouldn't get it."

Shaking my head, I let go of the three and raised my head to get a better look at the place.

"Just like the name suggested, we're near a cliff."

It wasn't quite apparent at first, however, once I raised my head and got a better look at my surroundings, I found out that we were currently at the bottom of an extremely steep and vertical cliff that stretched all the way to the ashen-colored sky.

If I had to make an estimate, it would be that the cliff was around 100 meters tall.

Around us were a multitude of dead trees. Furthermore, I could also hear the sound of raging water coming from nearby.

We were likely close to a river.

"Huuuu."

Inhaling the air, I smelt a putrescine smell like that of rotting flesh. It was anything but pleasant.

"Ugh."

Covering my nose with my fingers, I looked at Angelica. Her face was impassive as always, but if one played close attention to her nose, they would notice a slight twitch from time to time.

Turning around, I secretly smiled.

'Look at her pretending to not mind the smell.'

I shook my head. Some people were just too prideful for their own good.

"Let's get going. The faster we get this done, the faster we get to go back"

Chapter 493: Dungeon[1]

"Brrr, it's cold."

Coming out from the portal, Ava hugged her body as she started to shiver. What greeted her sight upon coming out from the portal was a vast flat land of white. Upon closer look, in the distance, she could see three majestic peaks reaching out for the sky.

'That should be where we should be going.'

Similarly emerging from the portal, Hein curiously looked around.

"Is it?"

Swooosh—!

A cold breeze suddenly blew, and Hein's hair and clothes blew back.

"Aren't you cold?"

Ava asked as she looked at Hein. He was currently wearing a white short-sleeved shirt that exposed his muscular arms, and body. The more she looked at him, the colder Ava felt.

"Cold?"

Hein raised his head to glance at his surroundings.

"...A bit?"

There was a trace of doubt in his voice, leaving Ava dumbfounded. What is he made of?

Ava shook her head. She shouldn't be surprised at this point. Everyone in the mercenary group was a weirdo. Herself included.

"Burp."

Not even a second after she came to that conclusion, Leopold came out of the portal. In his right hand was a bottle of whiskey.

"I'm starting to see how Thomas is addicted to this stuff."

Raising the bottle in his hands and taking down a big gulp of the drink, Leopold's cheeks flushed red.

"Haaaa..."

"This..."

Alternating her gaze between Leopold and Hein, Ava's legs started to weaken. Massaging her forehead, Ava took out her flute and blew on it.

Tootle too~

The moment her lips touched the flute, the mana around her started to distort as three red wolves materialized in front of her.

Without further ado, Ava hopped on top of one of the wolves and shouted.

"Let's get moving you two. We don't have much time."

Following her words, the wolf started to move. Hein and Leopold finally recollected themselves when they saw Ava move into the distance.

"Wait up!"

"Burp...we're riding wolves? Nice."

***

Click—!

With a subtle clicking sound, multiple heads wearing white masks dropped on the ground in front of me.

"That's fifteen for me."

The masks belonged to a species of monsters known as Soulmasks.

They were essentially a parasitic type of monster that was usually harmless when it wasn't attached to another monster. The key word here was 'attached'. Once they managed to attach themself to their prey, they would take control of their body and increase their power by a lot, making them an especially fearsome monster to face.

Crack—!

Walking up to one of the masks, I stabbed it right in the middle, resulting in the mask cracking into two.

"No core."

To my disappointment, I found no core inside of the mask. Another goal in entering the dungeon was actually a core.

If I didn't recall incorrectly, Kevin did say that he needed a <A> ranked core, which could be bought from the market, however, they were extremely expensive. If possible, I would prefer not to spend that much money.

That said.

Finding a core was easier said than done. Despite having killed many monsters in my life, not once have I ever found a core.

Bang—!

It was then that a powerful blast that shook the surroundings rang out. Multiple rocks fell down from beside me and a black deformed creature appeared a couple of meters away from me.

Taking a closer look at the creature, I found that it had its chest caved in with white smoke rising out from it.

In a flash, Angelica appeared in front of the creature. Extending her hand and digging into the creature's body, Angelica scavaged through the body of the creature before she took out a black orb.

"..."

For a good minute, I was unable to utter a single word as I stared at the orb in Angelica's hand.

Opening my mouth, I closed it and lowered my head. Standing up, I decided to distance myself away from Angelica. There were a lot of things that I wanted to say, but I refrained from doing so.

Right as I took a couple of steps to leave, Angelica's figure surfaced in front of me. Then, much to my surprise, she tossed the core toward me.

"Here."

"What's this?"

Coming to a stop, I looked at Angelica in surprise. Was she really giving the core to me?

"Are you sure you don't want it?"

I asked. Still surprised by the fact that she had given me the core.

"The core is useless to me. You can keep it."

"...You sure?"

Somehow, I found it hard to believe this. Even for demons cores were useful.

Throwing me an annoyed glance, Angelica impatiently extended her hand.

"If you don't want it, you can give it back to me."

"That would be rude of me Angelica."

I quickly put the core away.

"Since you're being so kind, I must gladly accept your gift."

As if I would let go of such a precious gift.

Angelica rolled her eyes. Clearly, she was unamused by my behavior, but I didn't care. So, I just decided to change the conversation.

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask, how long do you think it will take for you to break through to the next rank, Angelica?"

"How long?"

Angelica fell into thought.

"A year or less."

"That's shorter than I thought."

Actually, now that I thought about it, this made sense. Especially since Angelica enjoyed a lot of resources that she got from the Inferno raid.

Since the dwarves found the stuff from Inferno useless to them, Angelica enjoyed most of the good stuff. Her strength soared since then.

"It will be faster in the future."

"Oh? How so?"

I became intrigued by her words.

Angelica getting stronger was good news to me.

"...When the third cataclysm happens."

"Ah."

I waved my hand.

"Nevermind."

Shouldn't have asked.

No shit she was going to get stronger then.

By then, the mana in the air would start to be converted into demonic energy, resulting in a better environment for demons to thrive in.

Shaking my head, I looked upwards, towards the edge of the cliff in the very distance. We were currently not even halfway up, and the more we climbed, the harder the journey became with all the monsters coming our way.

Fortunately, there was a small rocky road, allowing us to move up more easily. That said, at a certain point of the journey, the road would eventually disappear, leaving us with no choice but to climb all the way up.

"Let's get going. We still have a long way to reach the top of the cliff."

"Alright."

***

At the same time.

"Is this the place you used to work at?"

"Yes."

Smallsnake and Ryan walked into a large secluded building, where a large, luxurious garden could be seen the moment they entered the place. The number of hidden cameras and anticrime magic in this place easily surpassed three digits.

"Welcome to Lost creepers, please follow me inside."

A middle-aged lady with nicely combed hair guided Smallsnake and Ryan inside.

The insides of the building had an elegant and refined décor which drastically contrasted the dull-looking exterior of the building.

Walking through the hallway, Ryan asked.

"How long did you work here for, Smallsnake?"

"About two months."

"Two months? That little?"

"Yeah..."

Smallsnake smiled. However, his smile was filled with bitterness.

"During the time I worked here, I barely got any consumers. It was a really tough time..."

Because his prices were so high, relative to some other more well-known brokers, almost no one used his services. He did in fact want to set the price lower, however, that wasn't something he could afford to do since he would've been in debt had he done so.

In fact, his prices were already the lowest he could possibly set them. Had he set them lower, he would've made a loss.

Given his circumstances, he couldn't afford to be in debt.

He was already having a hard time feeding himself, had he been in debt, he would've probably have had to sell one of his organs.

Lowering his head, Smallsnake whispered in an almost inaudible whisper. There were hints of gratefulness in his voice.

"...Had it not been for Ren, I'm sure I would've had a very hard time feeding myself."

He truly did owe Ren a lot.

And this was probably why he never complained about all the problems Ren threw at him.

"We're here."

At the woman's voice, Smallsnake snapped out of his daze.

What met his sight was a large and luxurious room. The way it was decorated reminded Smallsnake of a royal room with paintings and miniature statues placed around the place.

Smallsnake and Ryan weren't the only people present in the room as there were several other people waiting in line, behind a marble counter where a male with squared framed glasses sat.

"If you two wish to contact a broker directly, you may wait in line over here."

The middle-aged lady explained.

With a simple nod, Smallsnake thanked the lady.

"Thank you very much."

"You're welcome."

Smiling back, the lady tactfully left.

Once the lady left, Ryan tugged Smallsnake by the hem of his shirt.

"What do we do now? Do we wait in line?"

"No."

Smallsnake shook his head. Taking a step forward, he directly cut the line and headed toward the individual sitting behind the marble counter.

"So you're looking for information regarding the Interion Gui—"

The man suddenly stopped mid-sentence and raised his head. His eyes paused on the incoming Smallsnake.

"What are you doing? There is a line you must follow. Please go back before I call se—"

"Here."

Smallsnake placed a small card on the table.

"Hm?"

With a confused look, the male with black-framed glasses picked up the card. His face slowly started to change.

"Codename Smallsnake?"

"That's me."

Smallsnake nodded his head, smiling beneath his mask.

The male stood up and apologized to the person standing opposite him.

"Excuse me for a second."

He then turned around and rushed toward the back of the room.

Ryan looked at Smallsnake in confusion.

"Why is he reacting like that?"

Smallsnake smiled.

"You know when I told you that I worked here for two months?"

"...Yes."

"Well, that's only partly true. I've actually still continued to work for them."

After Smallsnake started to work for Ren, and he managed to stabilize his financial situation, he decided to once again work at his old job.

This time, however, he had the financial capabilities to operate at a loss, and therefore, that was exactly what he did. He operated at a loss in order to display his capabilities to the public and give rise to his name.

Recounting this to Ryan, Smallsnake raised his head with pride.

"..and so, you can say that I'm a pretty big shot around here."

"Does Ren know?"

It was then that Ryan suddenly posed a question.

"Huh..."

Smallsnake's hand suddenly froze. Scratching his mask, he shook his head.

"Not really. I started during the eight months that Ren was missing. By the time he came back we were forced to leave the human domain, and I've never had the chance to tell him."

This was actually half a lie.

In reality, he couldn't quite bring himself to tell Ren. The reason was because he actually didn't know how to tell Ren.

The whole reason why he continued to work here again was because he wanted to repay Ren for all the help he had given him in the past. Compared to the other members of the mercenary group, Smallsnake knew that he was quite lacking.

Simply put, Smallsnake didn't want to get left behind by the others who continued to grow at unprecedented speeds.

Unlike them, Smallsnake was not born talented. He was barely <F> rank at the moment, and he knew that even with the mana density around the world increasing, he stood no chance of catching up with the others.

He knew his limitations more than anyone else.

And so.

Instead of feeling down, Smallsnake brought it upon himself to increase his influence and connections to better help his mercenary group and friends.

'I may not be able to help in the frontlines, but I will without a doubt help from behind the scenes.'

"Oh."

Ryan had a sudden look of understanding.

"Smallsnake, it's nice to finally see you again."

It was then that a loud voice echoed throughout the room as a tall male with a robust body walked up to Smallsnake with a flattering smile. The noise inside of the room suddenly disappeared as everyone stared at the male who had just entered the room.

At the same time, both Ryan and Smallsnake turned their heads toward the robust male.

Tiptoeing slightly, Ryan asked.

"Who's that?"

Glancing at Ryan from the corner of his eyes, Smallsnake softly replied.

"He's the Vice-head of Lost creepers."

Chapter 494: Dungeon [2]

Spurt—!

Squeezing my hand, blood spurted out, and my clothes became soaked in blood.

"Hmmm..."

I frowned when I saw this.

Thud.

With a low thud, a creature resembling a large overgrown bird dropped dead to the ground. Kicking it with my foot to flip it around, I looked for a core.

Yet again, there was no core.

"Seriously, what is up with my luck stat?"

Was it perhaps broken? I wasn't sure.

"Kow! Kow!"

Snapping me out of my daze, a series of high-pitched whistling or piping notes echoed through the air, as multiple shadows headed in my direction.

"...Still haven't learned your lesson?"

Grabbing a handful of red cards from my dimensional space, I channeled my mana into them and threw them in the air.

At the same time that happened, I raised my hand and pointed in the direction of where I threw the magic cards. It was at that moment that three rings dashed out from behind me and covered the magic cards from all sides.

In that split second that the rings enveloped the cards, the cards started to ignite, releasing a raging ball of fire. But it was then that something peculiar happened.

Right as the fire began to expand, the rings around them slowly started to turn red, and the fire which was quickly expanding came to an abrupt halt.

All of this happened in a split second of time, and the result was a compact energy sphere reminiscent of a sun that was slowly starting to get compressed together.

"It worked."

Clenching my fists, I focused my attention on the shadows heading in my direction and directed the rings toward their direction.

In one swift movement, the miniature sun appeared before the creatures and I softly murmured.

"Ignite."

Booom—!

A thunderous explosion that shook the surroundings echoed throughout the air. A bright light enveloped the sky, and the air trembled.

The explosion was quick. It lasted for a total of a couple of seconds as the sky soon returned to its normal color, allowing me to see the aftermath of the explosion. Despite the explosion being short, in that brief moment of time it exploded, I could feel just how terrifying the energy it released was.

"Good enough..."

From there, I was able to see multiple charred creatures weakly levitating in the air.

Even though they were not dead, they were still heavily injured. I was satisfied with this.

In the first place, magic cards only had the power of a <C> ranked, maybe even <B> ranked spell.

I was currently inside of a <A> ranked dungeon, clearly indicating that the creatures I had been fighting were of that level.

Had I not thrown a stack of magic cards, I would've never been able to deal that much damage.

"Looks like it worked."

That said.

After realizing my weakness in long-ranged attacks, I came up with a new attacking method that enabled me to deal with long-raged creatures.

The technique was simple.

Ignite as many magic cards as possible, and use 'Elemental discharge' from my defensive art ring of vindication to contain the energy inside a small space to then release it all in one go, creating a tremendous explosion.

I murmured as I stared at the creatures in the sky.

"It may not be fully ready yet, but I'm not too far off from developing this new technique."

I then glanced at Angelica who was standing next to me.

"Angelica, do me a favor and finish them."

"Okay."

Extending her hand, black threads started to form around Angelica. Swiping her hand to the right, the creatures in the air suddenly stopped moving and dropped dead to the ground.

"Good job."

Moving up the narrow rocky road, I placed my hand underneath my chin and mused over my current technique.

"Just what should I do to increase the power?"

Clearly, although powerful it lacked a lot. Especially since it was an expensive move, and the mana expenditure was also high.

"I should talk to Melissa about reducing the mana expenditure even further..."

Along the way, we would encounter monsters attacking us from out of nowhere. Thankfully, I had Angelica with me. She dealt with most of the monsters for me. Easily at that.

This was understandable though.

Since dungeons were small pocket dimensions of the demon world, it was finally with demonic energy. She was like a fish inside of a pond.

"Stop."

Snapping me out of my thoughts, I suddenly felt a hand grab me by the shoulder.

"Huh?"

I let out a surprised sound.

Angelica's cold voice echoed from behind me.

"Are you trying to die?"

"Die?"

Lowering my head, it was then that I realized that I was one step away from falling down the cliff.

I swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

"Thanks."

"I won't save you next time."

"...Sure."

Secretly, I shook my head.

You don't really have that choice.

I die, you die.

Taking a step back, I raised my head and stared up.

"We're almost there."

Near the top of the cliff.

"Let's not waste any time."

Without further ado, I gripped the hard and cold rock in front of me and got myself ready to climb up.

"Wait."

Yet again, I was stopped by Angelica. What was it again?

"Did something happen again?"

Angelica slightly nodded. Raising her hand, she pointed it down.

"Look over there."

"Down?"

Following the area she was pointing at, I was surprised to find a couple of figures in the distance.

My brows furrowed.

"...This is troublesome."

Since this was a dungeon owned by the black market, it was made public to anyone who could afford to use it.

It wasn't strange that there were other people apart from us.

"What should we do now?"

Angelica asked. Her right hand was raised, and black threads revolved around it. She was ready to kill.

Grabbing her hand, I lowered her hand.

"Not yet."

"Why?"

Angelica was clearly unsatisfied with my attitude. Not caring the least bit, I took out a white mask and put it on my face.

"First off, put your mask back on. The same goes for your hood."

I didn't really have to do this since I was already wearing a different mask, but Angelica was a demon, and thus she had to cover herself. She did cast a spell on herself to blur out her appearance from the distance, but that wasn't enough.

At least, I didn't think it was enough.

Fortunately, as this dungeon was under the black market's control, we didn't have to worry about her demonic energy arousing suspicion.

"...Okay."

With a wave of her hand, a white mask appeared on Angelica's face. The mask only covered the top half of her face, and the hood covered her horns and body.

I did the same.

Touching my face to make sure the mask was in place, I once again glanced at the figures in the distance. Turning to Angelica, I reminded.

"Keep your guard alert. If my guess isn't wrong, they might be directly working under the demon here."

Death's in dungeons weren't uncommon. The cause of death could either be from humans or monsters.

Therefore, if something happened to us, the black market wouldn't bring itself to investigate our deaths.

"If my assumption isn't wrong. The reason they are moving now is because they noticed that we're aiming for the top of the cliff where the demon is."

Had we not aimed to go for the top, they would've most likely stayed hidden.

"If we kill them now, we might alert the demon at the top."

This was the last thing we wanted since I wanted to catch it off-guard.

"I understand."

Coming to an understanding, Angelica lowered her hand and the demonic energy revolving around her stopped.

Glancing at the group of people beneath us, she asked.

"What should we do now?"

I answered after pondering for a bit.

"Let's continue going up. If they are really working for the demon, then..."

My eyes began to narrow.

No longer looking back, I placed my hand on the hard rock and started to climb up the cliff.

"We'll get rid of them."

***

At the same time.

In an even more luxurious-looking room than before, that had a slightly modern touch to it, a robust man with curly orange hair and a mustache that curled at its end, sat behind a large table.

The man was none other than the Vice-leader of Lost seekers, Sebastian Wolfburg. A major figure that overlooked the entire black market.

Sitting opposite Smallsnake, Sebastian had an amiable smile on his face, one that left a good impression on anyone that saw him for the first time.

Extending his hand, he passed a small teacup in Smallsnake's direction.

"What brings you here, Smallsnake? Haven't seen you in quite a while. There are lots of people requesting your services."

"Thank you for your offer, but I must kindly refuse."

Smallsnake calmly answered. Caution flashed across his eyes as he spoke.

Smallsnake wasn't one to be fooled by appearances. He knew that the man's outer demeanor was just a facade to hide his real thoughts.

This was the black market. Everyone here was wearing a mask, both outwardly and inwardly.

Taking a small sip of the tea in front of him, Smallsnake calmly placed the teacup down and answered.

"The reason why I'm here is simple."

He paused and smacked his lips.

[Poison detection: Null]

A small voice rang inside of his head, and his face relaxed a little.

Raising his hand, he threw a stack of papers on the table.

"It's because I would like to make a deal."

"A deal?"

Sebastian retained the smile on his face.

Extending his hand, he dragged the papers his way.

"Had it been anyone else, I would've probably dismissed the proposal, but since it's you, I'll have a look. I trust in your capabilities."

Licking his finger, Sebastian turned the pages.

For a brief moment of time, silence descended on the hall. In the meantime, Smallsnake calmly sipped on the tea in his hand.

From the corner of his eyes, he was keeping track of the Vice-Leader's facial expression. He was planning his next set of actions depending on the facial expression Sebastian would make.

It wasn't long before he started noticing changes.

Slowly but surely, the sound of pages being turned at a faster rate began to echo throughout the room. The Vice-Leader's face finally started to change.

"This..."

He murmured softly. Smallsnake could feel an audible sense of shock coming from Sebastian's voice, prompting him to make a small smile. One that marked his victory.

'Got him.'

Secretly, he unclenched his fists which were sweating uncontrollably.

He may not have shown it outwardly, however, he was secretly sweating buckets.

"Hey."

Feeling a small tug on the corner of his suit, Smallsnake turned his head.

"Hm? What is it, Ryan?"

"Stop smiling."

"...Eh?"

Smallsnake tilted his head. Clearly confused by Ryan's words.

"What are you talking about?"

Leaning his body closer, Ryan whispered.

"Smallsnake, stop smiling. You look just like Ren."

"..."

The hand that was holding the teacup froze. The slight smile on his face quickly wiped.

"Better."

Ryan leaned back in his chair with a satisfied look.

"You can't pull off that look. It makes you look creepy."

"...Ah."

Opening and closing his mouth, Smallsnake couldn't find the right words to say. Did he really smile like Ren?

'Oh, god, it looks like I've been influenced too much by him...'

His head started to ache.

Unfortunately for him, with a loud sound, the Vice-Leader smacked the stack of papers on the table.

"Smallsnake."

His voice deepened. So much so that the room started to shake a bit.

With a solemn look, a far cry from his amiable one moments before, the Vice-Leader's eyes locked onto Smallsnake.

"...Tell me more about this deal. I'm interested."

Chapter 495: Dungeon [3]

"Haa...haaa..."

By the time I reached the top of the cliff, I was already starting to feel exhausted. It wasn't because the climb was hard. No, rather, that was the easiest part. The main problem was the constant attacks coming from the monsters in the sky.

"Kow!"

Jumping back and twisting my body in the air, my foot landed on a small ring, and I placed my hand on the sheath of the sword.

Click—!

What followed the low clicking sound was black blood that spilled toward the ground like heavy rain. Whilst this was happening, I twisted my body in the air.

"Huup!"

Placing my right leg on another ring, I propelled my body to the top of the cliff, and I rolled a couple of times.

"Haaa..."

With my back facing the ground, I took a few moments to collect my breath.

"I'm tired."

Getting up, I walked back and extended my hand toward Angelica who was still climbing up.

"Here."

My gesture seemed to have caught Angelica off-guard as she paused for a moment. After a while, she took my hand and helped herself up.

"...Thank you."

"No problem."

Letting go of Angelica's hand and massaging the back of my neck, I finally got a better view of my surroundings.

It was then that I finally spotted it.

"Looks like we're in the right place."

A large black castle at the very edge of the cliff. Above it was a large beacon that attracted the mana in the air, creating a large vortex; closely resembling a tornado.

'Seems like some part of the future is still intact.'

For the castle to be here, meant that not all of the future had changed. I was secretly relieved by this as it meant that I could still make some changes to it.

That aside.

Placing my hand over my forehead, I got a better look at the castle in the distance.

"It looks the same..."

The castle was almost identical to the castle where I first met Everblood, and it didn't bring me any good memories. Sometimes I wished I had never gone into that dungeon, but I knew that it wasn't something I could've controlled.

Leaning a bit, I looked beneath the cliff.

"Are they still following us?"

"No."

Angelica replied, also looking beneath the cliff.

"Strange…"

My brows creased.

"Was I perhaps wrong?"

Were the people really just some random people who had nothing to do with the matter? It was possible.

But I didn't think things were that simple.

"Angelica stay on high alert, there's a high chance we're going to get ambushed."

Regardless, I wasn't planning on letting my guard down.

"…yes."

"Alright, let's get going."

I turned to face the castle in the distance. Surrounding it, and behind it was a large expanse of dead trees, giving off a desolate and cold feeling. Compared to the bottom of the cliff, the trees were a lot denser, and taller, evoking a creepy and ghostly feeling.

If I had to make an estimate of how far the castle was, I would say it was about five kilometers in the distance.

It wasn't that far. In fact, it was quite close.

Even then.

"Let's approach slowly. There's most likely going to be a lot of traps ahead, so be careful."

If there was one thing I understood after looking at the forest, it was that it was the perfect place to create an ambush.

Especially the figures below. If my guess wasn't wrong. They had most likely taken a shortcut up and were waiting for me and Angelica.

Secretly, I started channeling the mana inside of my body.

"Let's go."

***

Three wolves sped into a vast canopy of white, leaving behind a sunken trail of imprints.

"Where do we need to go?"

Hein asked as he caught up to Ava. With the speed the wolf was going, added with the fiercely blowing wind, his hair shot back, making him look ridiculous.

Staring into the distance, Ava squinted her eyes.

"We're close."

Not even a second after her words faded, she tapped her right hand on the wolf's neck.

"Stop."

The wolf came to a halt and Ava hopped off.

Staring into the distance, her face had a tinge of solemness.

Similarly coming to a stop, Hein got off.

"Is this the place?"

"Yes."

Ava replied.

Out of precaution, Hein took out his shield which was still cocooned in a white cloth.

"Burp, we stopping?"

With a loud burp, Leopold also got off.

"Wow."

Getting off, he stumbled a couple of steps. Stabilizing his footsteps, he stared at the half-filled bottle in his hands.

"…This is a lot stronger than I thought."

He quickly put the bottle away. He was already warmed up enough, and it was no longer needed. Any more and he might actually get too drunk to fight.

Squinting her eyes, Ava adjusted the beanie in her head.

"It looks like we can only walk for now."

They were currently at the bottom of one of the mountains, and so, Ava realized that going up with the wolves was no longer a viable option.

Ava raised her flute and blew on it.

Tootle too~

A melodious tune rang in the air, and the wolfs disappeared.

Dropping her hand which was tightly clenching onto the flute, Ava proceeded to head up the mountains.

"Be careful you two, we're probably going to encounter a lot of monsters."

"Finally."

Hein murmured, unveiling his shield which was shining brightly.

"Burp…"

With another burp, Leopold wordlessly took out a gun-like device and rested it on his shoulder.

"This might help me sober up a little."

***

"Stop."

Extending my hand, I stopped Angelica from moving forward.

Squatting down a little, I squinted my eyes.

"There's something wrong with this place."

From the moment we entered the forest, I knew that there was something wrong with the place. If I had a choice, I wouldn't have entered the forest, but since it was the only way that led to the castle, I had no choice but to enter.

Anyhow, despite sensing that something was wrong with the place, I couldn't quite explain what was wrong.

I had been keeping my guard up the whole time, yet, I was unable to realize what was going on.

That was until now.

Staring at the area in front of me, I extended my hand forward and raised my finger in a particular direction.

"What are you doing?"

Angelica asked. Confused by my actions.

I answered in a low tone.

"…just checking something."

Closing my eyes and sensing the mana in the air, I stopped my finger at a particular point. Making sure that I wasn't sensing wrongly, I slowly moved my finger down.

Pluck—

Like the string of a guitar, a plucking sound reverberated throughout the air, It was then that I was finally able to catch a glimpse of an invisible string in the air. Not only one string but in fact a series of them, but, I was unfortunately unable to see where they were.

"As I expected…"

Pinching my fingers together, I felt a wet sensation. It was probably blood.

But.

I didn't have time to care about that.

Placing my hand on the sheath of my sword, I got ready to attack at any moment in time.

"Angelica, get ready, it looks like we're trapped."

Then, using my left hand and taking out three cards from my bracelet, I threw them in different directions. Left, right, and center.

It took about two seconds for the cards to ignite, and once they did, I was finally able to catch a glimpse of the area around me.

Just like the previous string from before, the area around us was filled with them.

Most shocking about this was the fact that Angelica and I didn't notice this at all. Upon closer look, I realized why.

Lowering my body, I pinched my fingers. Feeling a hard sensation on the tip of my fingers, I turned my fingers a bit to get a closer look.

"It's these fuckers…"

A small spider the size of a nail appeared in-between my fingers. In fact, it was probably even smaller than a nail.

"No wonder they managed to trap us undiscovered."

The spider's size made it hard for me to notice them. Our attention was focused elsewhere, resulting in this crappy situation.

Rustle—! Rustle—!

A rustling sound arose from the distance, and three figures showed up.

"There is someone here."

A rough and deep voice echoed out.

Following the sound, a bald and tall dark man appeared from behind a couple of trees. Wearing thick metallic armor, his footsteps sunk to the ground.

"Siphon, it looks like you're right."

A lanky man with long hair and green eyes emerged from behind the bald man. He had this vicious smile on his face, one resembling that of a snake targeting its prey.

"What do we have here?"

The third person was a female with red hair and a voluptuous body. Licking her lips, I felt her gaze scan me up and down.

"A pity…"

She murmured.

"A pity that you're wearing a mask."

Sensing her gaze, I felt disgusted. Still, I regained my composure and spoke inside of my head.

'Angelica, play along.'

I then fixed my clothes and straightened my back.

"I'll give you one option. Let us go."

"…"

At my words, the trio's faces froze.

Turning their heads to stare at each other, they soon began to laugh.

"Hahahaha."

"Hahah, we've got some feisty ones."

"Interesting…"

In the midst of their laughs, I heard Angelica's voice inside of my head.

[Let me kill then]

She was mad, wasn't she? I still shook my head.

'Calm down Angelica, like I told you, play along. If we kill then now, we're going to alert the demons inside.'

From where I was standing I could feel traces of demonic energy coming out of their bodies. They had without a doubt signed a contract with a demon.

It was only a hypothesis for now, but, since there were three people here, in all likelihood, there were three count-ranked demons inside of the castle.

This was a number I couldn't make light of. Even if Angelica was with me.

It was when I realized this that multiple different scenarios started to play inside of my head. Each was drastically different from the other.

Taking a step forward, the lanky individual's smile grew more savage.

"Why would you think we would let you go—"

"Shut up."

Raising my head, I activated 'The one' for a very brief moment. About a couple of seconds.

But that was enough.

The moment I activated the one, the trio stopped laughing and their faces finally changed. This was especially so for the lanky individual whose book shook uncontrollably.

Before they could recollect themselves, I took this opportunity to talk.

"...We know what you're doing here, let us go, we're on the same side."

Whilst talking, I tried to keep my voice deep and authoritative. I was trying to leave an impression on them. Naturally, I had reasons for this.

"Huh?"

The dark man raised his head and looked me in the eyes. Extreme caution flashed across his face.

From the corner of his eyes, he glanced at his teammates. This didn't escape my sight, and I knew exactly what he was planning on doing. He was probably signaling them to get ready to attack.

Recomposing himself, he asked.

"What do you mean we're on the same side?"

"Just like you've heard…"

Extending my hand in Angelica's direction, without any warning, I pulled down her hood, revealing her two horns. Once I took her hood down, Angelica's body flinched a little.

My actions had definitely caught her off-guard. Thankfully, she was still wearing a mask, somewhat masking her expression.

"Wha..."

Revealing Angelica's features, the atmosphere once again froze.

Smiling slightly, I repeated.

"...As I've said before, we're on the same side."

Chapter 496: Dungeon[4]

The bald man took a step back and stared at Angelica. Heavy solemness tinged his face.

"...On the same side?"

He asked in an uncertain tone.

"That's correct."

I nodded my head and spoke right away.

On the inside, I was trying to sort out my thoughts, but what I showed on the outside was an impassive face that held slight traces of contempt.

"We're on the same side. Let us go unless you want us to resort to force. You've clearly already felt our strength. The three of you are not our match."

This part may have been true.

But that was not what worried me. What worried me was the possible problems that the trio before me could pose.

They may be weaker than the demons, but they were all about the same rank as me. They were no easy opponents.

The bald man glanced back and forth between Angelica and me.

"Honestly, it's hard to believe the fact that you two are on our side."

"How so?"

"Isn't it obvious? What are the two of you doing here? We've received no reports of anyone coming. That is already the number one cause of concern."

"...And why should we announce our presence?"

I raised my chin up and looked down on the group.

Once again activating the effects of 'The one' to add impact to my voice, the trio's expressions stiffened.

"Do you not know who the demoness before you is?"

Subjected to such pressure, the trio was unable to answer.

Walking next to Angelica, I lowered my head and took a knee.

"This over here is Countess Angelica Von Doix, a directed descendant of the Lust Clan, and...kh...the Matriarch of a major Lust clan Sub-branch."

Midway through my sentence, I almost fumbled with my words. The cringe was too much for me to bear.

Unfortunately, I had no choice but to continue.

"Follow my example, and pay your respects to the Matriarch."

Following my cue, Angelica removed the mask from her face, revealing her appearance.

The trio stumbled a little bit. This action wasn't voluntary, but in fact due to the bloodline impression that came out from Angelica's body.

It had to be noted that Angelica was currently suppressing her bloodline.

She didn't want to alert the demons inside the castle.

Sweeping her gaze over the trio, Angelica closed her eyes and no longer looked at them. Her demeanor, coupled with her cold exterior gave her a noble aura. One reminiscent of that of an aristocrat from the old era.

I secretly raised my thumb.

'Great acting, Angelica!'

[Shut up.]

Angelica crossed her arms and replied in an irritated tone.

[I've played along with your little games, what do you need me to do now?]

Lowering my head, I touched the bottom of my chin. Staring at the trio that was slowly recovering from the shock, I shared my thoughts with Angelica.

'Listen up Angelica, after thinking for a bit, I came up with three different scenarios. The first scenario is the scenario where they believe in our story. A story in which you're a high-ranking demon assigned to overlook the dungeon for a bit and make sure that everything is working correctly. Their story is not bad, and there is a chance for them to buy it, but...'

I paused and shook my head. As I paused, I noticed Angelica looking at me with eyes asking for more. I did as she wished.

[But what?]

'The keyword is chance.'

[Chance?]

'Yeah.'

I sighed.

'This scenario can happen, but I don't think it will be very likely. The most likely scenario in my opinion is the second one, the scenario in which they eventually figure out that we're actually pretending to be on their side in order to infiltrate the facility.'

I was indeed tempered by the idea of infiltrating the place. However, that wasn't part of my plan currently.

It just wouldn't work in this scenario.

[What makes you think things will turn out this way?]

Angelica asked. There was a hint of doubt in her voice.

Resolving her doubts, I continued to explain. From the corner of my eyes, I kept track of the trio.

'Think about it, Angelica. Although the fact that you're a demon can add credibility to our lie, at the end of the day, once the three of them manage to recover from the scare we gave them, they are going to realize that we are frauds.'

Demons weren't stupid. They knew that they could have traitors in their midst.

Just because Angelica was a demon, there was no way they would instantly believe that she was on their side.

Especially when she showed up out of nowhere without any prior warnings.

They'd have to be very arrogant and self-confident to believe that.

'In all likelihood, the three of them will realize this soon, and bring us to the castle in the distance whilst pretending to have bought our story. Once we arrive at the castle, the three of them alongside the demons in the castle will come at us all at once and basically kill us.'

If I had to put it bluntly, we were screwed if this scenario happened.

[Sounds reasonable.]

Angelica replied with a short nod, but the middle of her brows was still tightly knit. She eventually voiced her concerns.

[If that's the case, what do we do now?]

I tilted my head and looked at her strangely.

'What do you mean what should we do? Isn't it obvious?'

I thought I had made my next course of action fairly obvious by now. Or maybe it was just me?

That aside.

It didn't seem like my blunt words were very appreciated by Angelica, whose expression darkened a little.

[Spit it out.]

She demanded in a cold tone.

I shrugged my shoulders.

'The answer is obvious. We play along.'

[...]

Angelica's face froze. A look of realization soon dawned on her.

[I understand.]

'I'm glad you do.'

I smiled in appreciation.

The goal was simple.

Let them lead the way toward the castle. Since the place was riddled with traps and all sorts of methods designed to hinder our way, I thought that by playing along we could get rid of most of those problems and conserve some energy.

So what if they knew that we were coming? In the first place, from the moment we entered the place they were probably already aware of our existence.

They just didn't know that Angelica was a demon.

A smile threatened to escape from my lips, but I tried my best to hide it. This was especially so since the trio had finally recollected themselves.

Glancing at each other, the three of them got on one knee. This was normal etiquette when meeting a titled demon.

"Pardon for our rudeness. We hope you will be lenient with us."

Without sparing them a glance, Angelica looked into the distance.

"There won't be a next time."

She then ordered.

"Bring me to where those bastards are. I would like to have a word with them."

Lifting their heads and staring at each other, their eyes flashed for a brief moment. This did not escape my line of sight. Once again, I became even more convinced about my conjectures.

Standing up, with an amiable smile on her face, the lady of the group raised her hand.

A peculiar scene happened following her action.

From the corner of my eyes, I was able to see a small lump of black-headed in the lady's direction. Because it was far, I couldn't quite see what it was. However, it wasn't long before I was able to tell what the lump of black was.

It was the spiders from before. All of them walked together in unison. My body flinched a little.

If there was a bug I hated with all my soul.

Then it would without be spiders.

Is she a beast tamer like Ava? I wondered.

"I apologize for the earlier disturbance."

Getting rid of the net that was around us, the lady smiled seductively my way. Alongside the smile was a small wink.

My body shivered uncontrollably.

"Shall we get going, handsome?"

What handsome? I'm wearing a mask.

"..."

Shaking my head, I kept an impassive exterior and ignored her. Taking a step forward, I followed her from behind.

Angelica did the same as she walked next to me.

Along the way, she suddenly asked.

[By the way, what about the third option?]

'That...'

I paused for a second.

'The third option is basically, them basically attack us on the spot.'

Probably the option that would've been the most troublesome of the others since we would've essentially been forced to bulldoze our way to the castle, and face off against multiple Count ranked demons. By the time we'd arrive, we'd be extremely low on mana.

The journey toward the castle was fairly unobstructed. Just as I had predicted, no monster came our way.

Because of how unobstructed our journey was, it didn't take long for us to finally reach the castle.

As the castle was too far for me to get a proper look, now that I was moving closer to it, I slowly started to realize how slick and well-designed the castle was. It was nothing compared to Everblood's which was a lot cruder.

Coming to a halt right at the entrance of the castle where a tremendously large door stood, the trio turned around. The first one to speak was the bald individual.

"We're here."

Pressing his hand on the large door of the castle, the ground started to shake and the door slowly started to open.

Rumble—! Rumble—!

"All you have to do now is follow me insi—"

I glanced in Angelica's way, and as though we were perfectly synchronized with each other, our eyes met.

'Angelica, now.'

Touching the sheath of my sword, a clicking sound rang out.

Click—!

Blood splurted out and a head rolled on the ground. In the meantime, Angelica raised her hand as black threads started to form beneath the feet of the other two.

"!"

"What the!"

Caught off-guard, the two were unable to react in time. Taking a step forward, Angelica's body reappeared a couple of inches away from the two.

Before they could even retaliate, placing her slender hand on the heads of the duo, the hue coming out from the duo's bodies started to head in Angelica's direction, resulting in their bodies to slowly starting to dry out.

The scene looked especially terrifying from behind.

Thud. Thud.

With two low thuds, the mummified bodies of the duo fell to the ground, and Angelica turned to glance at the enormous door.

"We're done here, should we enter?"

"...Wait."

Squinting my eyes, I bent down and observed the corpses in front of me. Raising my head to stare at the entrance of the castle, my eyes began to squint.

"I was wrong."

I slowly came to a realization.

"The three of them did not sign a contract with any of the demons inside of the building."

The goal of having them killed here was so that, apart from catching them off-guard, in the off-chance that any one of them was contracted with a demon inside, the demon would suffer tremendous damage upon their death.

If that happened, the next few steps would become a lot easier.

Unfortunately, it appeared as though I was wrong.

'Shit...'

Things became a lot more troublesome.

"What are you waiting for?"

Snapping me out of my daze, was Angelica's impatient voice. Raising my head to meet her line of sight, I let out an exasperated sigh.

"Coming."

Standing up, I followed Angelica into the castle.

Right as I was about to enter the castle, I suddenly felt a slight itch coming from the right side of my head. Raising my head, I scratched.

'How annoying...'

Chapter 497: Awakening [1]

"Angelica?"

Entering the castle, what met my sight was darkness. Tranquility encompassed the surroundings as the area around me was deathly silent.

What was most odd about the situation was that I couldn't see what was ahead of me.

It felt as though I was inside of a different dimension. One devoid of any sound and light.

"Angelica."

I called out again, my guard on full alert.

Yet again, I was met with no response. Closing my eyes, I came to a conclusion.

This situation was without a doubt something planned by the demons.

Step. Step. Step.

The clear and regular sound of footsteps echoed through the dark space. A gentle white glow coming out from my body illuminated the area around me.

Despite that, I still couldn't see anything.

"Odd..."

I came to a stop.

"There's no way the castle is this long."

For the past ten minutes, I had been walking in a straight line. Having seen the castle from the outside, I knew that it wasn't that long.

This only meant one thing.

"I'm inside of an illusion."

Or at least this was what I thought was the most probable scenario.

Licking my lips, I fell into thought. Eventually, I sat down crossed-legged and closed my eyes.

"Since this is an illusion, then there's no point in me moving."

The fact that I was in an illusion wasn't what worried me.

What really worried me at the moment was the condition of my real body. If this was an illusion what was actually happening to my real body?

That said.

"How am I supposed to get out of this situation?"

Illusions dealt with the mind, meaning that all the skills I learned except for two, were useless to me.

'Use Monarch indifference.'

'If you want strength, use Monarch's Indifference. So far, you've only used a small fraction of its powers.'

'However, don't get ahead of yourself. You are still not out of the waters just yet...'

Faint recollections of a conversation I had a while ago started to replay inside my mind.

Did you predict this? Was this what you meant when you said those words?

Swooosh—!

Out of nowhere, the scenery around me started to change.

"Huh?"

Caught off-guard, I stood up from my spot. It was then that I realized.

"It's starting..."

The real illusion was starting.

***

Jet black hair, deep blue eyes, and a height that was around 178 cm.

...Ren Dover.

That was the name of the human that made her suffer a humiliating defeat in the past.

He was also the man that had changed her life, and someone that Angelica couldn't quite describe in words.

Going from a Baron-ranked demon all the way to a Count-ranked demon in the span of a couple of years. An achievement that she wouldn't have been able to accomplish had it not been for him.

She could still visibly recall the moment when he promised her that he would help her grow stronger.

She didn't really believe him in the past, but circumstances forced her to sign the contract.

Who would've known that he would've managed to keep the promise? In fact, he had even exceeded her expectations by quite a large margin.

What shocked Angelica the most was not his strength that soared like a meteor, nor the elaborate schemes he would come up with from time to time, but it was his knowledge.

A knowledge so vast about the world that even shocked her. On such example of such knowledge, was the current circumstance. How was he able to tell that the demons were residing inside of this dungeon? Furthermore, he also seemed to know exactly what they were planning.

This wasn't something someone like Ren should've known.

It just didn't make sense to Angelica.

But.

There was something that even he didn't know about her...

Bang—!

A bright dark purple light flashed, illuminating a dark hall for a split second. What accompanied it was a loud explosion.

"Cough...cough..."

Stumbling a couple of steps, Angelica's hair scattered all over her face. And her chest heaved up and down unevenly.

"We've been looking for you all over the place, but we didn't think you would actually come to us."

A sinister voice echoed throughout the large and majestic hall of the castle.

By the side of the hall stood six black pillars that dimly lit the surroundings through a series of torches attached to their bodies.

Coming out from the shadows, was a black humanoid figure with long black hair that cascaded down his shoulders.

He wore formal attire reminiscent of the victorian era's clothing with a black top hat on his head, appearing close to the embodiment of elegance. An eye-catching appearance that left a powerful impact on whoever looked at him. On both hands, he wore white gloves, as a calm and noble aura filled with dignity spread out from his body.

With his eyes locked on Angelica, the edges of his lips curled upwards.

"Young miss, your mother is looking all over the place for you. I think it's about time you return to the main clan."

"My mother?"

"You heard correctly."

Clenching her teeth, Angelica bit her lips. Recomposing herself and throwing her hair back, she shook her head.

"That isn't possible."

The face of the demon before Angelica changed a little. The smile on his face lessened, and his eyes grew more sinister. This only happened for a split moment, however, as he quickly returned to his usual expression.

Turning his head, the demon's eyes locked on a figure in the distance.

"...Is it because of him?"

The figure was none other than Ren.

He was currently immobile with his eyes closed.

Surrounding him were two other demons that were in a similar state. The aura of the two demons surrounding Ren was around <A> rank; signifigying that they were both Count ranked demons.

Fortuantely, it didn't seem as though they could attack him.

"Is he the reason why you aren't returning to the main clan? ...Or are you afraid of the consequences that your

The demon in front of Angelica asked.

Angelica frowned. She then coldly spat.

"Think whatever you like..."

"Oh?"

The demon laughed a little. A terrifying pressure came out of his body, forcing Angelica to take a step back.

Angelica's countenance slowly started to change as graveness flashed across her eyes.

"Count Nubulus."

She muttered underneath her breath.

Once her words faded, the pressure coming out from the demon came to a stop. Surprise flashed across his face.

"So you still remember me?"

"...Yes."

Angelica slowly nodded her head.

Of course, she knew him.

How could she not know him? He was one of her guards back when she used to live in the main clan. The Lust clan.

Despite having risen so much in strength, Angelica still didn't think she could face him head-on.

Especially since he was on the verge of breaking through to Marquiss rank. She knew that she was not his match.

Raising his hand to adjust his gloves, Count Nebulus started to speak. His demenour was a lot more friendly than before.

"It's been a while since we've last seen each other, young miss."

He paused and scanned Angelica's body up and down. With a look filled with satisfaction, he started to nod his head.

"...But if I do have to say so myself, you've grown up beautifully. Not only that but from the fact alone that you've managed to reach Count rank, it is safe to assume that you've inherited your mother's genes."

There was genuine happiness in his voice.

The same couldn't be said for Angelica who glared in his direction.

"Don't mention her."

"Oh my."

Count Nubulus made a troubled look.

"Are you still angry at the fact that your mother sent you to a small sub-branch?"

Raising his head, Count Nebulus removed the top hat from his head.

"Youn miss, you have to understand that the reason she did that isn't because she hates you, but because of your failure in completing the mission that we've assigned to you. We spent a lot of resources trying to help you give you the opening back then, yet, you failed."

Count Nebulus paused. For a split second, Angelica felt his voice become extremely sinister and cold.

"...You needed to be punished for it."

Gulp—!

Angelica unknowingly swallowed a mouth of saliva, as she faltered a little. This did not go unnoticed by Count Nebulus who continued.

"I was originally very disappointed by your disappearance. So was your mother. However, from the looks of things, it seems as though I may have been overthinking a little. For you to reach such strength in such little time, I'm impressed."

Bending down on one knee, and placing the top hat beside him, Count Nubulus took his glove off revealing his hand that seemed to have been made out of jade, and extended it in Angelica's direction.

"Young miss, no, your excellency, would you do me the honors of coming back to the main clan?"

"Ah..."

Angelica's body froze.

Staring at the hand that was reaching out for her, Angelica felt a mixture of different emotions rise from deep within her.

But out of all the emotions, the one that was the most prevalent was sadness.

Acceptance.

This was something that Angelica craved ever since young. She wanted to be accepted by her mother, a figure that should only looked up to in the past.

Someone that Angelica wanted to be.

...But that was the past.

After everything that happened to her, she no longer felt the same sense of attachment and worship that she had for her mother.

Angelica held no ill feelings toward her mother for throwing her away in the past, but that didn't mean that she held any good feelings toward her as well.

Now that she was fully grown up, Angelica realized just how the world worked.

And it was because of this that she realized how lucky she was to have met Ren. Someone who did not treat her as an expandable that would throw her away the moment they made a mistake.

Therefore.

Lowering her head and gazing at Count Nebulus's hand that was reaching out for her, she shook her head.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot."

"You can't?"

Count Nebulus raised his head in shock. Lowering his hand, his previous gentlemanly demeanor started to crumble.

"Did I hear incorrectly? Did you just reject me?"

"Yes."

Angelica nodded his head. This time a lot more firmly.

Picking up the top hat from the ground and placing it back on his head, Count Nebulus slowly stood up. His face twisted sinisterly. Clearly, he still couldn't comprehend Angelica's decision.

"I don't understand."

He muttered softly. Meeting Angelica's gaze, he asked.

"...Why did you reject my offer?"

"You don't need to know."

Angelica replied in a cold tone.

Count Nebulus's eyes grew sharp.

"I understand."

Nodding his head, he slowly came to terms with the situation.

Turning his head to face the human in the distance, he asked.

"As long as I get rid of him, you will come back, right?"

Angelica's eyes opened. She quickly shouted.

"No!"

But it was already too late. By the time Angelica reacted, Count Nebulus was already upon Ren.

Raising his hand, his nails elongated and became sharp. Without a second thought, he swiped at Ren. He did not hold back in his attack, as the energy contained in his attack was enough to cause the room to shake.

"Die!"

He shouted in a bloodthirsty manner.

But.

It was then that something incredibly shocking happened.

Right as the claw was about to reach Ren, the atmosphere froze altogether. Be it the demons inside of the hall, Count Nebulus, or Angelica.

No one moved.

It wasn't that they didn't want to.

But they couldn't.

Before anyone could figure out what was going on, Ren's hair slowly started to change.

They slowly started to become white.

Chapter 498: Awakening [2]

Has the illusion started?

It was the only conclusion I could make as I gazed into the distance.

Carnage.

If I had to describe what I was seeing in one word, it would be 'carnage.'

Large cracks scattered throughout the scarlet-dyed sky. Coming out of them was a sea of creatures, all pushing each other, hungrily goggling at what was beneath them with an insatiable and malicious look.

Buildings started to crumble, as screams echoed everywhere.

The blaring and irritating sound of the sirens became drowned out by the frightening explosions that were happening around the city.

"This..."

What's going on?

Staring at the scene from the top of the building, I was left at a loss for words. An acrid smell permeated the area around me.

In the end, I managed to murmur.

"This place looks familiar..."

I had definitely seen this place before.

But because of its current state, I found it hard to tell where exactly it was.

Taking my eyes away from the city, I waved my hand in the air and realized that the temperature around me was scorchingly hot. Sweat trickled down the side of my face, and breathing started to become more difficult for me.

'What I powerful illusion.'

I thought.

Clenching and unclenching my fists, I was left shocked by how realistic everything around me felt. The thing that shocked me the most about the illusion was the fact that I could feel all my senses.

From my sense of touch, smell, sight, hearing, and taste.

Everything around me felt exactly as it did in the real world.

"Huuu..."

Fixing my gaze on the city below, I took a deep breath to clear my mind.

"Alright."

Once my mind was cleared, I took a step forward and my clothes and hair fluttered upwards. Reaching my ears was a loud rush of wind; similar to the static from blowing into a microphone which was also accompanied by a paper-like sound coming from my fluttering clothes.

Bang—!

Crashing against the groups, miniature fine miniature crevices formed on the area beneath my feet.

Brushing my clothes off, I took a look at my surroundings.

"How odd..."

People continued running around the city, desperately trying to cling to survival. Yet, no one seemed to have managed to notice my appearance.

It was then that I noticed a male with a short build running my way.

"Watch out!"

I warned.

Despite my words, the man continued to run. I became alarmed.

Can't he see me?

"Huh?"

The answer to my question was soon answered.

A split second after my words faded, the male passed through my body. As he passed my body, I turned my head to look at his disappearing back before I looked at my hands.

Lowering my body, I touched the ground. Feeling the rough and granulated road, my brows slowly knit together.

Slowly, I came to a conclusion.

"I can only touch things that are non-living."

To test this theory, I walked up to another pedestrian running, and just like the first time, he directly ran through my body.

This confirmed my theory.

I couldn't touch living beings.

"Where am I?"

Though odd, I decided to concern myself with other things. Looking around me, I tried to get a better idea of where I was.

For a second I almost forgot that I was inside of an illusion.

"Hm?"

It was then that I noticed something.

Carefully moving through the debris that littered the streets, I arrived at a small intersection.

"This place..."

[Avenue Street, 17N]

It was the name of a street that wasn't too far from my house. The one I used to live in before Amanda moved my parents.

Curious, I decided to have a look.

At the moment, I was still unclear about what the goal of the illusion was about, but I could tell that time here was slower than in reality.

The real goal of going to my old house was to figure out if there were any irregularities with this world.

Since I didn't have any clue regarding how to get out of this illusion, this was all I could do.

...and, I couldn't really explain it.

But.

I felt this odd inexplicable feeling inside of me that told me to go there. I grew more alert when I realized this.

Was this part of the illusion?

*

"It's been a while since I've been here."

It took me around five minutes to reach my old house, and when I gazed at it from beneath the footsteps, I felt a small part of me stir.

I may have not spent a lot of time in this house, but it still felt nostalgic to me.

If there was one thing that was different about this house than the one inside of my memories, it was the fact that a part of it was damaged.

Still, the damage wasn't to an extensive degree.

"What am I doing?"

Bitterly shaking my hand, I moved up the stairs and grabbed onto the metal handle of the door. Feeling the cool sensation of the knob, I twisted it and opened the door.

Clank—!

The same homey scent of the past.

The same wall that was littered with pictures of me and my family.

Without a doubt, this place was home.

Creak. Creak.

Taking a step forward, the wooden floor started to creak beneath my feet. This was typical of an old house. Especially one that seemed to have gone through rough times.

"It's the same."

Staring at the pictures on the walls, I realize that everything was the same as the last time I had seen them. The house was a bit worn out, and the windows were broken, but it was the same as it was in the past.

There was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Strange..."

How were the demons able to create such detailed illusion?

"Khhh..khhh.."

It was then that I heard a muffled sobbing sound coming from the distance. My head immediately snapped in that direction.

"Who?"

I instantly became alarmed.

Was this part of the illusion?

Raising the heels of my foot, I tiptoed my way toward where the sobbing sound was coming from. I wanted to be as quiet as possible.

Not sure if this was a good idea or not.

Stopping right before the door frame that led to the living room, I carefully tilted my body to catch a glimpse of what was happening.

"What..."

My body stiffened.

Catching a glimpse of what was behind the door frame, my body stopped moving.

"Mom...Dad...Nola..."

A frail and weak voice rang throughout the empty house.

Sitting on his knees, behind three familiar figures, a figure hunched over their bodies and wept uncontrollably. His body continuously trembled, and though hidden, his complexion looked especially pale and skinny.

It was clear that the figure had been morning for more than a day.

The scene looked truly heartwrenching.

'This is all an illusion.'

I, of course, managed to recognize the sobbing individual. Who could it be, but me?

Biting my lips, I turned my head.

Despite the fact that I knew that this was all an illusion, the images of my family lying down on the ground, dead, kept replaying inside of my mind.

A sharp and inexplicable pain coursed through my heart, forcing me to look away.

"Fuck..."

I eventually swore.

Clenching my teeth and fists, I calmed myself down.

'Get a hold of yourself! You're doing exactly what the demons want!'

As if I'd let them.

Slap—!

Slapping my face, I dispelled all distracting thoughts from my mind. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and proceeded to walk over my hunched-up figure.

After deliberating for a bit, I came to a conclusion.

'Since this is an illusion that is probably targeting my weak points, I should get rid of them in order to free myself.'

Extending my hand, a sword materialized on my palm. Firmly gripping the sword, I slowly started to unsheath it.

Once I unsheathed the sword, I stared at its sharp and glistening body which I could see my reflection in.

Staring at my reflection on the sword, I raised my sword.

"Huuu..."

I took another breath.

Exhaling slowly, I gradually flexed my muscles and prepared to slash down.

"Hold on..."

Coming to a halt, I felt a hand grasp my shoulder.

WIIIING—!

Out of pure reflex, I rapidly twisted my waist and slashed in the direction of where the voice came from.

But as I slashed down, my sword was met with no resistance as it simply slashed the air.

"Wow."

A surprised voice rang out.

Raising my head, my eyes soon met with a figure I was all too familiar with. Unexpectantly, despite having just slashed at me, the figure's attention was not drawn to me, but to the illusionary version of myself.

"What do you feel?"

He asked. His voice was the same as it always was. Emotionless and cold.

My brows furrowed.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb. I asked..."

Raising his hand, he pointed his finger in the direction of the illusionary version of myself.

"What do you think about what you're seeing. Do you feel anything at all?"

"I don't."

"...Oh?"

The other entity smiled.

"I don't believe you."

Before I had a chance to speak, he took a step forward and suddenly pressed his palm on my back.

"...How about you try feeling it for yourself."

"Wha—"

Before I even had the chance to reply, the world around me warped, and my consciousness slipped.

*

Pain.

An immeasurable pain that I couldn't describe consumed my entire body.

It was a different type of pain. One that was drastically different from the times I almost had my soul incinerated and my body burned to bits and experimented on.

It hit different, but it was a pain that I never wished anyone would bear.

"Haa... haaa..."

I found it hard to even breathe.

I couldn't quite open my mouth. Every action, be it breathing, thinking, or anything that required energy seemed strenuous at the moment.

Slowly, I placed my hand over my heart and clenched my clothes.

"It hurts..."

Opening my eyes, the faces of my parents, devoid of any sign of life appeared in my vision. The pain intensified.

"Haaaaa..."

I let out a heartwrenching cry.

The pain.

It was overwhelming. I wished for it to stop.

Amidst my cries, a voice echoed from behind me.

"It hurts doesn't it?"

I wanted to reply, but I couldn't. I could feel tears drip down from the side of my cheeks.

Regardless, he continued to speak.

"Losing the people you love so dearly, hurts doesn't it?"

Where was he getting at?

His enigmatic way of speaking irritated me.

"How would you feel if you felt the same pain you're experiencing now, over and over again? In an endless cycle that will never stop?"

I slowly turned my head, before finally getting a better look at the other entity.

It was then that I noticed it.

The other entity that I was all too familiar with looked at me with a smile on his face.

But his smile...

The smile on his face.

It wasn't normal. No, it was a heartwrenching smile. A smile that seemed to tell millions of words with just a single glance.

"Ah..."

I was finally able to open my mouth.

Stumbling back a bit, my eyes changed.

"It... can't be..."

The smile on the other figure lessened a little. With his eyes lowered, he opened his mouth.

"The pain you're experiencing. It's something I'm all too familiar with. It's something that I cannot get rid of, regardless of much I try to. But..."

He paused.

Raising his head, our eyes finally met.

"Unlike you, I experience this type of pain at a much higher level. Imagine watching your family, die, over and over again, and you can't do anything about it. No matter how many times you try to change the inevitable future, something happens and forces you to experience the same pain again. And again. And again. And again. And again."

His every word deeply resounded inside of my head. I could feel the sadness and detachment in his voice.

Somehow, it deeply resonated with something inside of me. Something that I wanted to reject with my whole being.

"At one point. When one experiences such pain, over and over again, what do you think will happen to that person?"

Stop it.

"Do you think they can move on? Move on and continue undergoing this endless cycle of torture, like nothing ever happened to them?"

Stop it, damn it.

"...Or do you think that they will inevitably start to lose all the traits that made them human? Lose a part of themselves? ...and only start to think about getting out of this endless cycle, even if it means sacrificing what they once held dear in the past."

Stop fucking speaking!

"When pushed to the limit, death looks like the most comforting place one wants to be..."

I endlessly shouted inside of my mind, but deep down I knew. I knew exactly what the figure was trying to hint at.

"Ren, do you know why I always say that I'm not your enemy?"

I didn't reply.

Inside, I already knew the answer.

"It's because I am you..."

"khh..."

I let out a muffled sound.

I felt my body weaken, and my head went blank.

I couldn't understand anything anymore.

The figure who I had thought to be my enemy, and whom I thought was trying to kill me at every chance he got, was actually me?

How did that make sense? I wanted to deny it, but...

Thinking about the past, everything was slowly starting to make sense. A blurry picture started to form inside of my mind.

Turning around, I looked back at my parents.

'Imagine watching your family, die, over and over again, and you can't do anything about it.'

'We are cursed.'

Slowly the pieces started to fall into place, and the picture started to become more and more vivid.

"Hm, it looks like we don't have much time. If this keeps going, you're going to die."

Lowering his body and hooking his arm around my neck, I heard his whisper in my ear.

In front of me, a small screen materialized. Displayed on it was my figure, and the opposite of me was another figure speedily heading in my direction.

It was then that I understood something. If I didn't do anything now, I was dead.

"...I've said this before."

His were were soft, but never before did they ring as powerfully in my head as they did now.

"Use Monarch's indifference."

Chapter 499: Awakening [3]

"Are you afraid that I will take over your body?"

His soft voice continued to ring inside of my head.

"Don't worry.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

I heard a familiar rattling sound.

"Even if I wanted to take over your body, with these chains binding me, there's no way for me to do that."

Clank!

Pulling his arm, the rattling stopped and a loud metallic ring echoed through the air.

"As you can see, no matter what I do, I will always be bound by the chains. I can't take over your body even if I wanted it to..."

I wanted to deny his words, but I knew.

I knew that he was telling the truth.

I couldn't explain it. But, I could tell that he wasn't lying about this.

Was it because he was me? ...or was this another mind trick? I no longer could tell.

"You can choose to not believe me, but you don't have time."

I gazed at the projection.

He was right. I didn't have much time.

Staring at the demon that was fast approaching me with his sharp nails aimed at my head, I knew that it was only a matter of seconds now.

"Use it."

Ren urged. His voice lowered into a whisper.

"Use Monarch's indifference. See it for yourself. Your true strength."

Closing my eyes, I bit the bottom of my lips. Opening them again, and staring at the nail that was only now a couple of inches away from my face...

My head began to lower.

Opening my mouth, I muttered.

"Monarch's indifference."

.....The world warped and the scenery changed.

Without even realizing it, I found myself inside the hall of the castle. I then turned my head and found everything around me revolved in slow motion.

'Eyes of Chronos.'

I realized that my skill was turned on. Not only that but so was 'The one.'

All of my skills were activated.

But most surprising was the fact that I could move in this slowed-down reality. It was an odd and inexplicable sensation that I couldn't describe in words.

My emotions. They were numb.

I couldn't feel anything.

But unlike in the past, I felt in control. It no longer felt like someone was controlling me. I was the one in control this time, not the other me.

I then raised my finger, and time-warped.

Cling—!

"I...Impossible."

A startled, and terrified voice reached my ears.

My eyes slowly blinked.

Turning my head to gaze at my finger, I noticed the sharp nail; reminiscent of a sharp sword, clinging onto it. A powerful wave of demonic energy vailed the body of the nail.

The pressure that was coming out of it was terrifying.

Or at least, it was supposed to...

Meeting his gaze, the only words I could mutter were.

"...You're weak."

I then waved my hand.

Bang—!

Like swatting a mosquito, the demon's body crashed against one of the pillars in the castle.

"Kaauauuuh!"

His agonized scream echoed throughout the place.

***

At the same time.

Levitating atop an open palm was a luminous orb of light that pulsated in an odd manner. Which each throb, the ball of light would release thick and powerful undulations of energy in the air.

The sheer energy contained within that small orb made one tremble with just a look.

"Planetary seed..."

A thick and majestic voice echoed in the air, as two scarlet-blood eyes gazed in the direction of the orb.

The key to his strength.

Without it, he would've never been able to become as strong as he currently was.

Closing his eyes to conceal his two scarlet blood eyes, the Demon King softly brought his hand toward his mouth and consumed the ball of light.

It was at the exact moment that he swallowed the planetary seed that the area around him started to tremble.

Rumble—! Rumble—!

A surge of majestic energy began to spring out from the Demon King's body, extending around the area he was in.

The shaking amplified as a result.

But the Demon King remained unfazed. With his eyes closed, a white hue began to circle around his body, covering it like a soft blanket.

"Haa..."

Opening his mouth, turbid air began to escape from his mouth, and the shaking stopped.

Opening his eyes, his two scarlet red eyes shone for a brief moment.

Bang—!

With a thunderous noise, the area in front of him exploded into bits.

Gazing at the area, the Demon King shook his head in dissatisfaction.

"...Not quite there yet."

Drumming his fingers over the armrest of the throne, the Demon King rested his cheek on the other hand which was propped up by the other armrest.

"Hm?"

It was then that the Demon King felt something.

Raising his head, the Demon King's eyes became sharp. Closing his eyes for a short moment, he opened them up again and his lips curled upwards.

"...So you've awakened."

He then swiped his hand, and a fissure formed in the space in front of me.

***

Overwhelming fear.

A sensation that was so dreadful that it made one feel insignificant.

Count Nebulous had only ever felt this type of emotion once in his life, and it was back when he met the Demon King for the first time in his life.

That was the day he understood what true fear was.

A glance.

That was all it took for him to choke on the spot, and almost pass out.

Just a single glance.

He felt his dignity, elegance, and everything that made him who he was stripped away from him. He thought that he would never experience such feelings again in his life.

Yet.

Yet.

'W...Why? Why is it..happening again?'

Two dull-grey eyes.

Eyes that seemed to look down on everything from a far-away and unreachable peak.

The color of their eyes was different, but the feeling was the same.

Dread.

Absolute dread.

That was all Count Nebulus felt at the moment.

Bang—!

He didn't know when...

But his vision blacked out for a split moment of time and he found his body crashing against one of the pillars of the castle.

"Kaauauuuh!"

In the end, that was all he was able to force out of his mouth.

A radiating and pulsating pain coursed through his back, forcing the air out of his body.

Stumbling down on the ground, with both knees and hands on the ground, his top hat fell in front of him.

'What's going on?'

Count Nebulus was unable to process what was happening.

Everything happened fast. Too fast for him to properly understand what had happened.

He slowly raised his head.

"Ah..."

He made a weak sound.

Tok. Tok.

The clear and regular sound of footsteps echoed out.

Count Nebulus watched.

He watched as the white-haired figure stopped in front of his two other clan members that were paralyzed on the spot. They had the same petrified and terrified look on their faces.

He could see their legs shaking.

It was clear that they wanted to run away, but they couldn't.

Without any prior warning, the white-haired figure raised both of his hands.

"No!"

Count Nebulus screamed, but it was too late.

Pressing his fingers on the forehead of each of the two demons, Count Nebulus watched as their eyes slowly turned white and their figures started to disintegrate in the air, scattering like fine dust.

Dead.

With just a simple touch of his finger, two Count-ranked demons died just like that.

How was that possible?

How could the human that looked to be a little weaker than he was so strong? Regret started to kick in.

'I should've killed him first.'

He thought that he was of no threat, but he was wrong.

He was the real threat.

"Ahhh...."

It was from that point on that Count Nebulus lost all of his will to fight.

'I can't win...'

He slowly started to accept his incoming death.

His prior feelings of dread weren't a fruit of his imagination. They were real.

Tok. Tok.

But.

Contrary to his expectations, the white-haired figure ignored him and proceeded to walk toward the very end of the room.

In the direction of a long flight of stairs blanketed in a carpet of red.

Count Nebulus watched as he slowly walked up the stairs in a slow and steady manner. The carped may have been able to drown out the tapping sound that arose with each footstep he took, but to Count Nebulous, each footstep he took, still powerfully echoed inside of his head.

Stopping in front of a machine, the white-haired figure once again extended his hand and touched it.

A similar scene began to play out.

Scattering like fine dust, the machine disintegrated into thin air. His white hair fluttered as a gentle wind suddenly blew, carrying the dust away.

'...Is this my chance?'

Staring at the exposed back of the white-haired figure, for a split second, Count Nebulus felt tempted to attack.

But before such thoughts could even develop into something concrete, the white-haired figure spoke up.

"Come out."

His detached voice echoed throughout the hall.

'Come out?'

Confused, Count Nebulus looked around. Was there someone else here?

He didn't have to wait for long to get an answer to that question.

The air suddenly started to tremble, and the space around them started to distort.

Cr..crack!

A sound akin to that of glass shattering spread out through the hall as the air fine miniature lines formed in the air.

But that was not all.

Crash—!

Splits second after the crack formed in the air, with a loud crashing noise, a pale white hand reached out from behind the crack.

Grasping on the side of the air, the arm pulled the air apart expanding the crack even further.

It wasn't long before a space that was the size of a regular person formed, and a foot reached out from behind the crack.

Tok.

The foot slowly touched the ground, but, to Count Nebulus, it felt like a thousand thunderbolts had struck inside of his head at the same time.

His body swayed as a result.

'Wh...what is happening?' He wondered as he looked up ahead with even more dread.

He wasn't the only one that felt this way, as from the corner of his eyes he saw Angelica stumble a couple of steps.

She was only able to remain standing thanks to the aid of one of the pillars of the hall.

Stepping out from the void, was a figure with white hair and scarlet red eyes. Wearing a thick black armor that spiked at the ends of the shoulders, and released a mystifying pressure that enshrouded the entire hall, a figure that resembled a human walked out.

"Ah...aha..."

'It can't be...'

With his eyes fixed on the figure in the distance, Count Nubulus found it hard to breathe or even raise his head as it subconsciously lowered.

No matter how much he wanted to raise it, he couldn't. There was this tangible and invisible pressure that prevented him from doing so.

He then started to lower his body in a prostrating manner.

Despite his incredible pride, Count Nebulus couldn't bring himself to raise his body. His blood shook, and he weakly turned his head to get a look at what was happening.

That was when he saw it.

Two figures standing on the opposite ends. A set of red eyes, and a set of blue eyes. Both stared at each other without saying a single word.

From that point on, time seemed to have stopped.

Chapter 500: Awakening [4]

Throughout his life and experiences, the Demon King found himself asking three questions.

'Why does the world reject my existence?'

'What is the meaning of my life?'

'Who am I?'

He was born a demon.

A race that needed to conquer planets in order to survive. They didn't really have a choice. In order to survive, demons needed demonic energy, and that could only be created through the conversion of the mana in the air.

That said.

There were only two things that the Demon King remembered about his childhood.

His name.

Jezebeth.

...And the fact that his race was universally hunted down by all the other races in the universe.

Everyone tended to call them a race that held no emotions, but this was far from the truth.

Demons were no different from the other races. It was true that they were a lot wilder than some of the other races, but that didn't mean that they were evil and had no emotions.

Evil was a subjective word.

There were always two sides to the same coin, and everyone seemed to have failed to realize this.

From a young age, Jezebeth never remembered staying in a single place at once.

Destruction.

Death.

Carnage.

Those were the only things he saw as he ran from planet to planet, trying to avoid being hunted down by the hands of the alliance.

Despite that, his scenery never changed.

He would always see death wherever he went.

But it wasn't the death of the inhabitants of the planet they were moving into. No, it was the death of his own race as they were mercilessly slaughtered down by the other races.

'Parasites.'

'God's mistake.'

'Why were you ever created? What purpose do you serve to this world?'

Wherever he went, he would repeatedly hear the same words being thrown at him.

Listening to the same insults over and over again, at one point he started to question himself.

'Why does the world reject my existence?'

That was when the first question arose.

Why did the world seem to reject his very existence to the core? What wrong did he ever commit?

...He had only been trying to survive.

Weren't the other races doing the same?

Weren't they also killing livestock in order to feed themselves? What was so wrong with what they were doing?

This happened back when he was still young.

...Skip a few years.

Nothing changed.

As he aimlessly ran from planet to planet in order to ensure his survival, the scenery that he saw since young never changed.

Destruction.

Death.

Carnage.

It was always the same scene. At some point, he had gotten used to the scene. But it was also when he got used to the scene that stopped and looked around himself for once.

It was from that moment that he realized something.

He was alone.

All of his family, friends, and demons that he had known throughout his years had long been killed, leaving him alone.

The only momento he had of his parents was a small black box that rested on his neck. He didn't know what it was exactly, but his parents told him to never let go of it and to put his demon core inside of it.

He was still young, and thus he obediently accepted their suggestion. He didn't know much, but supposedly, the box was very durable, and it could help him survive.

At least that was what his parents told him.

But.

As he grasped the silver box hanging on his neck and took a good long hard look at it Jezebeth felt nothing.

The box used to remind him of his times with his parents...

But it no longer did.

It was from that point that the second question arose.

'What is the meaning of my life?'

Was he just born to be hunted? Was this his meaning to life? Ever since young all he had been doing is running away. Running away from the alliance that was seeking to eradicate him.

He didn't remember anything else.

Was this all his life really amounted to?

...More time passed.

Throughout the years, Jezebeth kept asking himself the same two questions.

'Why does the world reject my existence?'

'What is the meaning of my life?'

Before he knew it, many years had passed and he suddenly found himself blankly staring at the sky.

Levitating in the sky like creatures of justice, and with light spreading out from behind them, a dozen or so figures stared at him from above.

Slowly descending down toward his direction was a woman wearing a silver armor that shone brightly and gently wrapped around her figure.

She was one of the members of the alliance that was created in order to exterminate the demons.

"...Your race does not belong in this universe."

Her crisp and melodious voice rang throughout the world.

Hearing her words, something within him snapped. 'Your race does not belong in this universe?' He had heard the same phrase over and over again.

He was sick of hearing it.

Why?

...Just why?

"Cough...Cough..."

Coughing black blood down his body, Jezebeth laughed in deprecation. His blood-red eyes gazed upwards, towards the dark clouds covering the sky. Hanging down his neck was a simple silver necklace; attached to its end was a black box.

It was his family momento.

"You...you're...nothing but a bunch of hypocrites..."

He managed to utter after struggling to find his words.

"What did you say?"

"Cough..."

"Y-ou speak as though we have committed some...cough...grave sin against you all, but what is so grave with us trying to s...survive?"

Knowing that his death was already set, Jezebeth no longer held back.

"What gives you the right to come here and judge us like you are some sort of god?"

He vented all his frustration at once.

In the last moments of his life, he wanted to let the people that had been hunting his race down know that they were simply just a bunch of hypocrites.

But it was all a futile attempt from his end.

"Don't blame me for doing this for the sake of our people. Like you've said, we are merely doing this for our own survival."

"Yo—"

Before he could say anything else, a bright orb descended down towards the ground. In an instant, his figure was enveloped by the orb, and his consciousness slipped.

He felt his body disintegrate.

Before he died, he caught sight of the box on his neck.

'In the end, I will die without knowing the answer to my two questions...'

Or so he thought.

He didn't know exactly what had happened, but just when he thought he had died, his eyes sprung open and he found his body floating into space.

"This..."

'I'm alive?'

Turning around and gazing around him, his eyes soon paused on a floating metallic scrap beside him.

"Is this the reason I survived?"

Compared to before, the box was no longer the same.

It was pretty much scraps at this point, but as Jezebeth grasped onto the box, unknowingly, a tear traced down the side of his cheek.

The emotions that he had long lost started to once again resurface.

"...W...why?"

He wondered out loud. Unfortunately, no sound came out of his mouth as he was in space.

But Jezebeth didn't care.

"...Why is this happening to me? What is the purpose of my life?"

Even though no sound came out, he continued to question his very own existence.

He couldn't understand. He couldn't understand his purpose.

'Why does the world reject my existence?'

'What is the meaning of my life?'

It was then that something happened.

A small ball of light the size of a small rock quickly headed his way. Before Jezebeth could have enough time to react and make out what was happening, the ball landed on his body, and his body arched backward.

"Ahhhhh!"

He let out an agonized scream.

The pain shot up his body like a raging fire. He cringed. It exploded in his head with a blinding whiteness. It made him dizzy. It made him reel. The pain was reminiscent of having his whole body burned into bits before being regenerated and burned again. Not only that, he felt an inexplicable and sharp pain in his brain.

The pain in his head was so strong that for a short moment of time he completely forgot about the other areas that were hurting as he clutched his head with both arms.

"Ahhhhh!"

He once again screamed as different images and information started to insert into his mind.

All of this lasted for a split second, but to Jezebeth it felt like an eternity.

"Haa...Haa..."

Once everything was over, Jezebeth's body floated in space. His chest heaved up and down unevenly, but the pain was gone.

A strange power enveloped his body. He couldn't quite explain what it was.

It took a while for him to calm down. Once he did, he slowly began to open his eyes, and his figure began to morph.

"The akashic records..."

He muttered in a soft tone.

There was a lot of new information inside of his mind. Most of it was hazy, but in that information, he was able to learn of the existence of a higher existence.

The Akashic records.

The entity that overlooked the entire universe.

And not only that, but he had also learned of something else. The bright white light that had just hit him was called a planetary seed, and it was in fact a small fragment of the akashic records.

Sorting out the information inside his mind and realizing a lot of new things, another question emerged in Jezebeth's mind.

'...Who am I?'

That was how the third question came to mind.

Unlike last time, however, he had finally found hope. A way for him to get the answers he so desperately sought.

Answers about his very own existence.

And it was none other than through breaking the limit and reaching the Akashic records.

It was from that point on that Jezebeth became the Demon King, and his curse began.

*

Opening his eyes again, what met Jezebeth's sight were two deep blue eyes. They were a familiar set of eyes.

Eyes that he had not seen in a long time.

As he gazed into them from where he was standing, the edges of Jebeth's lips curled.

'It's been a while...

There was a time when he once thought that no one would ever understand him. A time when he thought that he was alone in the universe.

But he was wrong.

There was in fact someone else out there that had the same lost look in his eyes as him. Someone that the Demon King could see himself in.

It was none other than the figure standing opposite of him.

Or so he thought.

The Demon King's forehead started to crease. He had finally noticed something. Opening his mouth, he eventually muttered.

"You're not him."

His voice echoed throughout the hall.

Ren's head tilted a little. His demeanor remained impassive and hard to read.

"...Not him?"

"Yes..."

The Demon King nodded.

The area around him started to fluctuate.

"You may look like him, but the look in your eyes..."

He paused and squinted his eyes a little. He once again carefully scrutinized Ren from his option, before eventually shaking his head.

"...You're eyes. They feel more alive. You're not him."

That lost look that was similar to his...

It was gone.

The person standing opposite him was not the person from his memories. He may look the same, but he wasn't him.

He started to grow disappointed.

***

Feeling the Demon King's gaze directed my way, I didn't feel anything.

His pressure was enormous.

Enough to make anyone cower with just a glance.

...But, to me, it didn't really feel like anything special.

"It looks like you've still not completely awoken yet."

The Demon King mumbled to himself.

His voice was extremely soft and had it not been for my now enhanced senses, I would've been unable to hear it.

His words may sound ambiguous, but I perfectly understood what he was referring to.

It was the future version of me.

"...What exactly are you looking for?"

I slowly asked.

What was the sudden reason for the Demon King's appearance? Since a dungeon was a pocket dimension inside of the demon realm, I understood how he was able to show up here.

But I could tell that the figure in front of me was just a clone. He was here, yet at the same time, actually not here.

"What am I looking for?"

The Demon King raised his head. He eventually shook it.

"I was looking for an old friend, but he isn't here."

His voice sounded rather disappointed. Even then, there was something about his sentence that threw me off.

At least internally. Outwardly, I kept an impassive look.

"...An old friend?"

I repeated slowly.

The Demon King nodded.

"You heard correctly."

He raised his hand and opened his palm to face my direction.

"...A pity."

He once again mumbled.

Rumble— Rumble—

The room suddenly started to quake, and torrential energy sprung out from the Demon King's body, merging toward the front of his palm, creating a black sphere.

The air distorted, and the black sphere disappeared from its spot.

It soon reappeared right in front of me.

Click—!

With a low clicking sound, the sphere split into two, crashing behind me.

Booom—! Booom—!

Smoke filled the air and the castle started to crumble.

With my eyes still locked on the Demon King, I waved my hand.

"Angelica, leave now."

Before she even had the chance to realize what was going on, her body was sent flying in the distance.

I had no choice.

With her here, I couldn't go all out.

From just that single exchange I had with the Demon King, I realized just how formidable of an opponent he was.

"Don't get distracted in the middle of a fight."

Not even a second after I sent Angelica away, a familiar face appeared in front of me. It all happened so fast. Without even giving me the chance to react, I felt something press against my abdomen and my view distorted.

Before I knew it, I found myself being flung in the air and the castle I was previously in became a small black dot.

"Puchi!"

A red trail of blood followed my movement.

Closing my eyes, I twisted my body and unsheathed my sword, and swung it toward my right.

Clang—!

A powerful ring reverberated throughout the air dispersing the ashen gray clouds in the air.

Opening my eyes again, I found the Demon King holding onto my sword with just his bare fingers.

I was left shocked by this.

Only internally though. Outwardly, I didn't show it as my face refused to change.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

What followed after that was the sound of something cracking. I didn't need to raise my head to realize what was happening.

The Dungeon was about to break.

My energy combined with the Demon King's was simply far too much for the dungeon to hold.

It was then that I suddenly heard a faint whisper in my right ear.

"You're movements, they're not as polished as his..."

His voice grew even more disappointed.

By the time I was able to process his words, something pressed against my back, and my vision warped.

BANG—!

Crashing against the ground, my vision turned black.

I didn't even have the time to groan.

A familiar iron taste clung to the back of my throat, but I held it in by swallowing.

Tok. Tok.

A crunchy and regular sound of footsteps echoed out.

Raising my head, I stared at the Demon King in the distance.

"Khhh..."

With a low groan, I placed my hand on my knee and supported my body up.

For a brief moment of time, neither one of us spoke.

"Disappointing."

But the silence was inevitably broken by the Demon King.

Shaking his head, he continued.

"You're weak. So much so that I'm starting to doubt whether you are him or not."

Without saying anything, I just listened.

"...And here I thought I could finally appease my curiosity. Did I waste this much energy to test an incomplete version of yourself?"

Taking a deep breath, I softly mumbled.

"Sorry."

"...Sorry?"

The Demon King repeated. The air around him started to stir, and I could feel his anger reach out to me.

"Did you..."

"Don't misunderstand."

I cut him off and finally stood up.

"You see..."

Raising my hand, I brushed my hair back and gazed at the Demon King.

"I'm still quite unfamiliar with this new power of mine. You were also right about me lacking experience, but..."

Staring at my hands, I clenched and unclenched my fists.

This power.

I couldn't really explain what it was and where it originated from, but it wasn't something the current me could fully control.

I needed time.

Time to properly get used to it.

"I'm slowly starting to get the hang of this."

My body was slowly getting accustomed to this.

"So bear with it until I get used to it."

Taking a step forward, my vision distorted and I appeared a couple of meters behind the Demon King.

Click—!

What followed my appearance was a low clicking sound as a white line formed in the air.

The Demon King's figure blurred, and he reappeared a couple of meters ahead of me.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Raising his thumb and tracing it over his cheek, the Demon King lowered his head and looked at his thumb.

He smiled.

"Interesting..."

Raising his hand and opening up his palm, he pressed it down.

Crack—!

A large fissure formed in the sky, and a gigantic black palm the size of the castle from before came smashing down in my direction with unprecedented speed and power.

Blinking my eyes once, I remained standing where I was.

Crash—!

Lifting my head up to gaze at the palm that was headed my way, my ears picked up a glass-shattering sound that echoed throughout the world as the palm headed my way.

In a fraction of a second, the palm was upon me. The closer it came to me, the slower time became for me.

Blinking once more, I raised my hand and tapped the air with my index finger.

Time warped and before I knew it, my finger was touching the middle of the palm, freezing it in place.

A horrifying energy started to circulate out from the point of contact between my finger and the palm in the air. Golden circles started to spread out, and the glass shattering sound became even more frequent.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

This persisted for a good couple of seconds before I lowered my hand and turned my head toward my right.

Once I turned, the palm in the air turned into a fine black powder that scattered in the air.

A fierce wind blew and my har scattered all over my face. On the other side, the same thing happened with the Demon King as he directly gazed at me with renowned interest.

With my right hand next to my face, I slowly clenched my hand into a fist.

Rumble—! Rumble—!

The area around me started to distort and the ground fiercely shook.

Placing my hand on the sheath of my sword, like a vacuum, the mana in the air started to agglomerate in my direction.

Positioning my body forward, my thumb pressed the hilt of my sword.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

Cracks started to form around the area the Demon King was standing on.

Click—!

A familiar clicking sound rang in the air, and a glass-shattering sound rang throughout the air. Replacing the cracks were a series of fissures where bright white lights shot out at tremendous speeds. Furthermore, the number of attacks couldn't be counted with one hand.

If I had to make an estimate, they numbered over a hundred.

Responding to the sudden attack, the Demon King simply waved his hand all the lights around him scattered, turning into bright white light particles.

But because the attacks were endless, he was forced to fend them off.

I took advantage of this and lightly pressed my foot on the ground before me.

My vision warped, and the palm of my hand pressed onto the Demon King's face.

Crash—!

With a loud crashing sound, I smashed the Demon King's face toward the ground. The ground started to shake, and a series of large pieces of rock the size of a regular car flew into the air.

With my hand still pressed onto his face, I clenched it tightly and raised his head before smashing it again against the ground.

Bang—!

Once again pieces of rock were sent flying in the air as the crater we were in deepened.

Unsatisfied, I repeated.

Bang—!

With each smash, the pit around me enlarged and deepened.

Bang—! Bang—!

Had it been the me of the past I would've probably have shouted something to vent out my emotions, but at the moment, as I smashed the Demon King's head against the hard ground, I felt empty.

I didn't really feel anything.

The same could be said for the Demon King who continued to stare at me through the gaps of my fingers with his scarlet red eyes.

Raising my hand one more time, I prepared to smash it one more time, but I soon stopped.

Eventually, I let go of his head.

"Why aren't you fighting back?"

I asked.

I didn't realize it at first, but it only became clear to me a few moments ago that the Demon King has not been fighting back.

"...Because there is no point."

Standing up, the Demon King patted his armor. He wasn't exactly in the best of shapes as his figure was slowly starting to turn transparent.

Staring at him from my spot, I moved my hand behind my back. Following that, my hand started to twitch uncontrollably.

I was at my limit.

"I don't see the need to fight against someone who has still not fully awakened yet. You may have gained a fraction of your former power, but you still haven't made it yours."

He turned his body away from me.

"Not only that but I didn't come here to fight you in the first place. I just wanted to check if you had awoken."

Extending his hand forward, the Demon King grasped the air and pulled away, creating a small black fissure.

"That said..."

He slowly took a step into the fissure.

"You're not half bad. We'll meet again soon enough. Once you've fully awakened."

Those were the last words he managed to say before his figure completely entered the fissure, and he disappeared.

Silence enveloped the surroundings.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

Amidst the silence, the resilient sound of something cracking continued to echo throughout the whole dungeon.

CRASH—!

What followed after it was a loud crashing sound and the dungeon collapsed.

***

A/N : We've done it! Chapter 500! As a man who keeps his word! The novel shall end here! (I'm kidding.)

Thank you very much for reaching this incredible milestone with me. To celebrate it, I made the chapter about double the size of a regular one.

I'm incredibly grateful for all of your support.

Thank you again.

Chapter 501: Thoughts [1]

Crack. Crack. Crack.

Gazing at the expanding cracks above me, I remained motionless.

I could feel my strength sap away from my body, and all my heightened senses returned to what they were before.

Not quite.

My strength was indeed shrinking, but it soon stopped at <A> rank.

"I've broken through..."

I muttered in a low tone.

Normally I would've been happy with this development, but at the moment, that was the furthest thing I was feeling.

All sorts of different thoughts emerged inside of my mind as I looked back at the fight I had not too long ago.

"Old friend, he said..."

I already understood this the first time, but...

The Demon King could also remember the things that had happened in the past. He is also a regressor, wasn't he? But how is that possible? ...and are there more regressors?

I wasn't sure anymore.

But if there was one thing I was sure of at the moment, it was that what the other me told me wasn't a lie.

Knowing this a lot of things that happened in the past started to make more sense.

But it also brought rise to more questions.

"What are you going to do now?"

It was then that a soft voice echoed beside me. The voice was very similar to mine.

Without turning back, I answered.

"I don't know."

With everything that had happened in the last couple of hours, my mind was in a bit of a mess.

Especially after learning the reality of the situation.

Lowering my head to stare at my hands, I opened my mouth.

"This strength..."

"It's not permanent."

The voice cut me off.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

Following the sound of footsteps was a rattling sound.

Coming to a stop beside me, a figure with white hair raised his head and stared at the expanding cracks in the distance.

He had a lost look in his eyes.

"That strength you just witnessed is only a fragment of my old strength, and it's not something that you should use carelessly. With your current body, I would say that you would only be able to use it for at most five seconds."

"Five seconds?"

But didn't I just use it for a lot longer than that?

"It's because I lent you a helping hand. But it was only a one-time thing."

"Mhh.."

My forehead creased. I didn't really understand what he was trying to say. But regardless, I nodded my head.

It was then the other me spoke up.

"Check your status window."

"My status window?"

"Yes, check it."

He insisted.

Though confused, I did as he asked. He was clearly trying to show me something.

'Status.'

===Status===

Name : Ren Dover

Rank : A

Strength : A

Agility : A +

Stamina : A -

Intelligence : A

Mana capacity : A -

Luck : A +

Charm : B +

--> Profession :

[Swordsmanship lvl.5]

The degree of understanding of the sword has evolved to the next level. User will find it easier to understand previously harder concepts.

Staring at my status screen, I didn't really notice anything different. Well, my stats were indeed higher, but that was it.

Raising my head, I spoke up.

"Is there something that I'm supposed to see?"

"Check your skills."

The other Ren replied.

My forehead creased even more. But I did as he asked.

--> Skills :

[[G] Monarch's indifference]

A skill that enables users to erase all emotions, and act as a supreme monarch that only calculates the best option regardless of circumstance.

[[D] The one]

A skill that enables the user to instill fear into the opponents' minds resulting in them feeling like they were standing before a sovereign that overlooked everything. The skill may work on individuals who are one rank higher than them, however, if the difference between the two parties is greater than two ranks, the skill effect diminishes.

[[A] Eyes of Chronos]

Upon using this skill, the user will be able to see everything in slow motion. The more mana is used, the slower the time will be in their eyes.

[[?] ????]

?????????????????????????????

Skill can only be used for five seconds. Cool down; three months.

"Huh?"

It was then that I finally noticed it.

A new skill.

"Why is there no name?"

I questioningly looked at the other me. Apart from a few sentences below, all I could see were question marks.

What was this?

"Is this—"

"It's as you think. It's what you've just used."

My brows furrowed.

Was kind of getting pissed by all of the interruptions, but I decided to let it go after I realized that I often did the same thing.

"I see."

I then calmly nodded my head.

It didn't take me long to accept the reality of the situation. Staring at my status window, I caressed my chin and pointed at a certain area.

"Why is the cooldown so long?"

Never before had I ever had a skill that had a cooldown. Let alone, one this long. Was it because I was still too weak to use it?

"It's exactly what you're thinking. You're still too weak. At least not now. Your mind and body can't control that strength. You will only die if you use that power carelessly."

"...Right."

This sort of made sense.

During that brief moment when my power was activated, I could feel that it was something that belonged to me yet at the same time didn't.

It would probably take me years to master that power.

"The stronger I become, the less the cooldown and more time I can use the skill, right?"

"That's right."

Crack. Crack.

The cracks in the sky started to expand even more rapidly.

[Ren.]

Just then, a voice entered my head. It was Angelica.

[Ren, can you hear me.]

She sounded rather panicked.

The edges of my lips curled upwards.

'I'm alright.'

So she wasn't as apathetic as she looked outwardly. Or was she just afraid that I would die eventually leading to her death...

Tsk.

[The dungeon is about to break, are you not going to leave?]

"Leave, huh?"

Fixing my eyes at the expanding cracks in the distance, I closed my eyes.

Feeling the cool breeze, I eventually shook my head.

'I won't be leaving.'

[What!?]

Angelica's voice raised a few pitches. I felt this even more as it was right inside of my head.

[You're not leaving? Do you have any idea what you're doing? If you stay here, you will be going to the Demon World! The Demon World!]

'I know...'

[If you know, why are you even doing this? It's suic...]

Angelica stopped herself mid-sentence. Clearly, she must've remembered the strength that I had previously displayed.

Well, I no longer had that strength anymore.

But she didn't need to know this.

'Do me a favor, Angelica. Tell my parents and the others that I will be going for a while. Not much, about half a year or a bit more, not really too sure, but I won't be gone for too long.'

[Half a year?]

'Yeah...'

[But how can you come back?]

I smiled and turned my head toward my right.

'Don't worry about it. I've got my means.'

I wasn't expecting this trip to be a long one.

Only about half a year if things went according to plan. But there were things I needed to get done now.

Leaving sucked, but this was probably for the best.

I needed some time to myself. Time to sort out my thoughts.

[I see...]

Fortunately, it didn't seem like Angelica was the type of person to insist. After I expressed my feelings about staying back in the dungeon, she didn't continue asking and just accepted the situation.

[You said half a year, correct?]

'That's right.'

If possible, I wanted to stay less, but who knows...

[...Okay. I will tell them this.]

'Thanks.'

[Hmph.]

Angelica snorted.

I could already paint a picture of her crossing her arms together and turning her head away to express her displeasure.

I almost laughed.

[I'll be leaving now. If you come a bit later, don't blame me for what your family does to you.]

'Alright, alright.'

Following her words, the connection between us cut, and the smile on my face faded.

After a while, I eventually murmured.

"A pity we're still not contracted."

Had we been contracted, I would've been able to talk to her even if I was in the human domain. Perhaps I could've even talked to my parents.

Almost felt tempted to stop her and sign a contract.

"You made the right decision."

Just then, Ren spoke. His next words shocked me quite a bit.

"I will use this half a year to train you."

"Train?"

Staring at him, our eyes met, and he calmly nodded his head.

"You must've felt it, haven't you? ...The difference between you and Jezebeth."

Opening my mouth, I eventually closed it.

I then lowered my head and secretly clenched my fist.

"Yes..."

Despite having his strength considerably reduced due to the fact that he had only sent his clone, I could still feel how big the gap between the two of us was.

Quite frankly, I wasn't sure if I could ever beat him even if I reached a similar level to him in the future.

"Don't worry."

Ren spoke. His voice was very calm. It felt as though this was within his estimation.

"You may not be able to beat him now, but you will definitely be able to beat him in the future. Especially if you have me training you."

Gazing at his eyes and seeing my reflection in them, I sighed.

"I understand..."

Looking up at the sky and massaging the back of my neck, my eyes became sharp.

"I'll say this right here and right now, but I don't trust you at all. Even if you're going to help me train and become stronger, don't expect me to become your dog."

If this was his goal in training me, then tough luck.

There was no way I was going to trust him that easily. This was especially so after I learned of his past, and everything that he had pulled on me in the past.

He may try to help me out, but that didn't mean that he was on my side.

I needed to keep this in mind.

"Heh."

Ren chuckled.

"It doesn't matter if you trust me or not. I don't really care. But don't worry. It is within my best interest if you get stronger, so don't think too much."

Squinting my eyes, I stared at the other me for a good minute.

I could tell that he was trying to use me for his goal, but so was I. If whatever he was doing was within my best interest, I didn't see the need to refuse.

Our relationship was one of mutual interest. As long as our actions held the best interest of each other, we were good.

I eventually nodded my head.

"...Alright."

Crash—!

It was then that a loud shattering sound reverberated throughout the whole dungeon, and everything started to fall apart.

***

A/N : Yes, there will be another chapter later.

Chapter 502: Thoughts[2]

Crack—!

A thin fissure materialized out of thin air.

Tok.

A calm and steady footstep echoed throughout a large hall. Two crimson-red eyes shone in the dark hall, as a semi-transparent white-haired figure stepped out of the thin fixture.

The fissure closed up, and the figure walked toward the end of the hall where a throne sat at the top of a flight of stairs.

Stopping next to the flight of stairs, the figure looked up.

It was then that his eyes met with another set of scarlet red eyes. Sitting on the throne with his legs crossed and the side of his face leaning on his arm which was propped up on the throne, the red-eyed figure looked down.

At the exact moment the two eyes met, the white-haired figure beneath the flight of stairs started to disintegrate as bright white lights started coming out from his body.

Slowly, the particles floated in the air and merged into a white ball that flew in the direction of the figure sitting on the throne.

Extending his hand and opening his palm, the white-haired figure sitting on the throne watched as the ball paused and levitated atop the palm of his hand.

He then stared at the orb for a good couple of seconds.

"Heh."

He smiled and squeezed his hand.

Rumble—!

Immediately after he squeezed his hand, the hall started to shake uncontrollably. This persisted for a good minute before the shaking came to an abrupt halt.

Just then, the moment he squeezed the white orb, memories, and images of what had transpired not too long ago began to replay inside of the Demon King's mind.

Leaning his head back, the white-haired figure muttered.

"Not bad."

For someone that had not remembered his past, this was indeed pretty good.

But.

"He's still too weak."

Jezebeth shook his head.

Although the figure was the same as he remembered in the past, he had still not reached the strength of his past.

"Old friend..."

Jezebeth laughed a bit.

This was a bit of a stretch from his end.

They couldn't quite be called friends, after all, their goals clashed. Had they not clashed, then perhaps they might've even joined hands.

Unfortunately, they were fated to stand on the opposite ends of each other.

Such was their fate.

"It's truly a pity..."

Waving his hand the air distorted and a small black portal formed in front of him. Squinting his eyes, he peered through the black portal.

From there, he was able to see a large planet in the distance.

"It's only a matter of time."

Jezebeth ended up mumbling after staring at the planet in the distance.

"...Five years."

Placing his hands on the side-arms of the chair, he gradually stood up.

"That's how long you have left. I hope you don't disappoint me the next time I see you. I can sense it. This will be our last game."

Extending his hand, powerful black energy sprung forth from his body and merged toward the palm of his hand.

Opening his mouth, the edges of his lips curled upwards as amusement flashed across his face.

"Boom."

Seconds after his words came out, cracks started to form on the surface of the planet.

Within seconds the cracks started to expand, before...

Bam.

They shot outwardly throughout the space, leaving nothing but a bright orange nebula.

***

"What do you mean Ren is gone?"

Smallsnake's exasperated voice rang inside a small luxurious room.

"First he breaks a dungeon, then he suddenly runs away without telling us where's he going, and expects us to be fine with the situation."

Pacing around the room, he threw his arms in the air.

"I'm sick of his shit! I'm sick of it!"

Gone was his usual demeanor as he continued ranting nonstop.

Not that anyone else paid him any particular attention. Smallsnake ranting about Ren wasn't exactly a rare sight.

"Do this do that, solve this, solve that, I'll be gone for a bit so take care of the others for me while I'm out."

He threw his middle finger in the air.

"You fucking bastard! Just wait until you come back!"

"...and what are you going to do when he comes back?"

It was then that Angelica's voice echoed throughout the room, and Smallsnake's feet came to a pause.

"What am I going to do?"

Smallsnake puffed his chest.

"I'm going to finally give Ren a reality check. Let him understand that he can't overwork people like me. There will come a day when they will rebel against his tyranny!"

"Oh?"

Angelica raised her brow. The corner of her lips curled upwards, albeit slightly. She was clearly enjoying the show.

"But I can already imagine what the conversation between the two of you will be like."

"Hm?"

Smallsnake tilted his head. Before he could even reply, Angelica started talking.

"Hey Ren, we need to have a t—"

"Shut up Smallsnake, take a seat."

"Okay."

Everyone in the room subconsciously nodded their heads. Be it Leopold, Ava, Ryan, or Hein, they all nodded their heads in agreement.

This was indeed how they would imagine Smallsnake's confrontation with Ren to go.

"Wha—"

"I'm right, aren't I? Stick-like human."

Smallsnake weakly turned to face Angelica.

Raising his hand, he lowered it.

"When are you going to stop calling me stick-like human?"

"...When I feel like it."

Angelica shrugged her shoulders and leaned back on her chair.

Her words caused Smallsnake's sudden inflated ego to quickly deflated as his shoulders slumped down.

"Hey..."

"What?"

Angelica snappily asked

"Nevermind..."

In the Smallsnake gave up and sat down in the corner of the room.

"No one likes me..."

He repeatedly mumbled to himself with a lost look on his face.

Angelica rolled her eyes.

He tended to do that from time to time. This was exactly why no one in the room paid him any particular attention.

Clank—!

It was then that the room burst open and a haggard figure walked in. With his shirt untucked and filled with beer stains, Thomas walked into the room. His haggard eyes scanned the room in search of someone.

But he was inevitably unable to find him.

"Where has that bastard run off to?"

He asked in a groggy and throaty voice.

"I should've known from the moment that he came here that he was going to give me more work," He mumbled in an almost inaudible voice.

*Puff*

Smoke rose in the air.

With both legs on a wooden tea table, Leopold casually glanced at Thomas.

"If you're asking for Ren, then tough luck, he went on a trip."

Thomas almost fell on the spot.

"A trip?"

*Puff*

Leopold took another puff and nodded.

"Yeah."

"Give me that shit."

Walking up to Leopold, Thomas snatched his cigarette and took a puff himself.

*Puff*

"Oy, Oy."

Leopold stood up in anger. Extending his hand he tried to snatch his cigarette back.

"Go back to your drinks you alcoholic."

Not that Thomas would allow it as he took a step back and avoided his arm.

"Eh? Says the smocking addict."

*Puff*

He took another puff.

Extending his hand and stopping Leopold from snatching the cigarette back, Thomas cut to the chase.

"Anyways, I'm not here to joke around."

At his words, the atmosphere in the room suddenly started to become more serious as everyone finally started paying attention to him.

*Puff*

Taking another puff, Thomas looked at Leopold's face scrunch up from the corner of his eyes, but he pretended to feign ignorance and kept a straight look.

"Ehem, anyway, I'm here to thank you on behalf of the black market. Had it not been for you guys, we would've never been able to find out the two demons residing in our dungeons."

Raising his hand, Thomas scratched the back of his head.

"Quite frankly, I'm embarrassed. Although we don't particularly pay too much attention to what happens within the dungeons, times have changed and dungeon overloads have become a real problem."

Pausing, Thomas tapped on the butt of the cigarette.

"Therefore, after a lot of consideration, we've decided to grant you all access to our treasury room. You can take whatever you want."

At that exact moment, his words faded, and everyone's eyes lit up, including Smallsnake who regained vitality.

Noticing the changes in everyone's expression, Thomas already started to express his regret.

"Ah, shit..."

Without a doubt, they were going to lose a lot of money today.

***

A few hours later.

"Oh, I see. Okay, yes, Alright, thank you for informing me."

Click—!

Hanging up the phone, Samantha turned around.

Sitting on the couch of the living room, Natasha raised her head and gazed at Samantha.

"Is something up?"

Samantha smiled. Her smile sent chills down Natasha's spine.

"Oh, no, nothing much."

She then proceeded to sit down on the sofa opposite her.

Covering her mouth with her hand, her eyes opened slightly.

"I've just heard something funny."

"Funny?"

Natasha carefully asked as she scooched her body back a little.

She didn't look like someone who had heard had something funny. Quite the contrary in fact. To Natasha, she looked like someone that was out for blood.

"Very."

Samantha lowered her hand and crossed her legs.

Still retaining the smile on her face, her face darkened. Or at least, that was how it seemed to Natasha.

"Apparently, my filial, handsome, kind, smart, son has decided to take a six-month vacation without any prior warning."

The smile on her face wiped.

"How sweet of him, right?"

"He what?"

This time, it was Natasha's turn to be surprised.

"He's going on a six-month vacation?"

"That's what his colleagues said."

Natasha leaned back on her chair.

"No wonder you're ma—"

"I'm not mad."

Samantha sharply cut.

Opening her mouth, just as she was about to say something, she closed her mouth and sighed.

"Okay, I'm a little bit mad."

Similarly leaning back on the sofa, Samantha shook her head.

"I'm sure Ren is doing this for a good reason. He's not the type of person that does something impulsively, but I really do wish that he would tell me this kind of stuff before he just goes on to disappear for a while like he usually does. This isn't even the first time."

Recalling all of the times that Ren disappeared out of nowhere, Samantha wanted to get mad, but in the end, she couldn't bring herself to.

He was her son, so she knew him best.

Therefore, she knew that whatever was happening right now, was very important for him.

He wasn't the type of person to leave without any real reason. She was just venting her frustrations at the fact that he didn't even say goodbye to them before leaving.

Now, how was she supposed to explain to Nola that he was going to leave for another six months?

Just the thought gave her a headache.

Clank—!

It was then that the living room's door opened.

"Speak of the devil. "

Samantha muttered.

"Mama!"

Following her words, Nola ran into the living room with a bright smile on her face.

Samantha smiled when she saw this. Extending her hands, she picked Nola up.

"Huaaa."

Nola happily giggled.

As this was happening, someone else entered the living room. It was Amanda.

Greeting her was Natasha.

"How was your day Amanda."

"Mhm."

Amanda casually nodded her head and sat down on the sofa. She then took out her phone, and scrolled through it with a serious look.

Her behavior surprised Natasha quite a bit as she couldn't help but worry.

"Is there something wrong, Amanda?"

"No."

Amanda flatly replied. Her eyes were currently fixed on a certain post. It was a post of two girls with a certain someone Amanda knew.

[Enjoying my time with our new professor!]

In the photo was a selfie of Ren happily sleeping with two beautiful girls, of which one was Sophia, with their hands doing the peace sign.

2,053,057 likes.

MrNettwerkSheep : Whaaa! He's so handsome!

7Clouds5 : Isn't that Ren Dover?

Kilin874 : Cool!

Her eyes squinted.

'He seems to be enjoying his time as a professor...'

She thought. But she eventually shook her head and sighed.

Actually, she could tell from the picture that the photo had been taken without his consent.

That said.

Whenever Amanda looked back at the photo, she would feel this weird sense of discomfort in her heart.

At first, she was confused about her feelings, but it didn't take long for her to realize what she was feeling.

It was jealousy.

There was no use denying her feelings anymore.

She liked Ren.

And quite a bit at that.

Therefore.

Whenever she would see pictures of him with another girl, Amanda would inevitably become jealous.

It just wasn't something that she could control anymore and wasn't something she was planning on controlling.

She realized that she could no longer remain as passive as in the past.

She needed to become more proactive.

"Oh, Amanda, have you not heard?"

It was then that she heard her mother's words. Amanda finally took her eyes away from her phone.

"Heard what?"

"That Ren's on a six-month vacation."

Like a sudden bombshell had been dropped on her, Amanda's face froze.

Natasha's face changed when she realized this as she murmured in a low voice, "Looks like she didn't know as well...'

It was then that she suddenly noticed a change in Amanda's countenance.

Natasha flinched slightly as she cautiously asked.

"...Amanda, sweetie, why are you smiling?"

"I'm smiling?"

Amanda placed her hand over her lips.

"..Yes."

Natasha nodded her head.

"Yes, you're smiling."

She was smiling. But that wasn't the scariest part.

The scariest part was the fact that she was smiling exactly like Samantha was not too long ago.

'Dangerous.'

Natasha thought as she scooched further back in her seat.

This was a very dangerous situation.

Chapter 503: White Death [1]

"How's the situation?"

A grating voice echoed throughout a small room that was dimly lit by a couple of candles that sat atop an old wooden table.

The voice belonged to Count Nukutan, the leader of the Avidity branch. One of the largest sub-branches of the greed clan residing in the demon world.

There were in total seven clans residing in the demon world, and they were all covered by a Duke-ranked demon. Only a select few could be members of the main clan. The rest would be thrown into different branches governed by the clan.

Each branch differed in strength, and in general, a clan had over twenty branches with two or three being their main branches.

The Avidity branch, being one of those three for the Greed clan.

A tense and somber atmosphere enveloped the room as Count Nukutan scanned the room.

Sitting beside him were multiple figures who looked back at him with respectful and subservient gazes.

"How is it possible that after all this time, you've still not caught him?"

His voice couldn't help but raise. There was visible frustration in his voice as he glared at everyone in the room.

About four months ago, out of nowhere, a figure appeared out of nowhere and started hunting different sub-branches.

Most shockingly was the fact that no one knew who the figure was.

The reason for this was because wherever he went, he would leave as fast as he came.

No.

This wasn't exactly right.

'The white death.'

Count Nukutan muttered underneath his breath.

That was his nickname. This was the nickname of the individual responsible for destroying several demon sub-branches.

No one knew exactly what he looked like, but to those that have managed to survive, they all said the same thing.

'Before everything happened, a bright white flash of light covered our vision and by the time we regained our vision, all we saw were the dead bodies of our comrades.'

Count Nukutan quite frankly did not believe these recounts at all.

They were most likely exaggerations made by those that survived in order to create an excuse for their failure and preserve that little pride of theirs.

Just the thought made Count Nukutan scoff.

"As if anyone would believe in your lies.."

That said.

The commotion that was created due to this was loud enough to alert the main clans. This was quite frankly terrible news for Count Nukutan.

If he was unable to get rid of this so-called 'White death,' and the main clan was forced to act, Count Nukutan may find his position be put in jeopardy.

And simply put, he didn't want that.

Just the thought caused his face to twist. Raising his head to meet the eyes of everyone present, a heavy pressure bore down on the room.

"I'll ask again, how is the situation regarding the white death?"

"Everything seems to be going just as planned."

Replying to him was another figure sitting next to him. There were hints of ridicule in his voice, but despite that, he still made sure to be respectful when addressing Count Nukutan.

"According to our predictions, 'he' should be here anytime soon. We've already sent out a unit to get rid of him. We won't make the same mistake as the other branches."

"That's good."

Count Nukutan nodded his head in satisfaction.

"This situation has been going on for too long. Let's get rid of this pest and get this over with."

Secretly he smiled.

Although the whole situation was annoying, it was also a great opportunity for him. If he managed to get rid of the 'White death' some unknown that had been terrorizing the demon realm for quite a while, he might even be able to get promoted to the main branch.

Just the thought made Count Nekutan salivate.

Reaching this conclusion, he stood up and started barking orders.

"Whatever you do, make sure you spend all—"

Bang—!

But before he could even finish his sentence, they heard the sound of a loud explosion echo from outside of the room they were in.

Everyone instantly became alarmed.

"He's already here."

That was a bit faster than Count Nukutan had expected. Nevertheless, it was still within the reasonable estimation.

Crossing his arms together, he smiled.

"Let's see how strong you are..."

Bang—! Bang—!

In a matter of seconds, the sound of explosions became closer and closer. Everyone in the room had stood up by now, and thick demonic energy lingered in the air.

"What's going on?"

Count Nukutan wondered as he stepped forward with a solemn look on his face. His eyes never left the entrance of the room.

The rate at which the explosions were getting closer was a lot faster than he anticipated. Did something go wrong?

It was then that...

Booom—!

With another explosion, the door burst apart, and smoke filled the air.

"The audacity!"

Count Nukutan became enraged.

"Attack!"

Without waiting to see who broke the door, Count Nukutan ordered everyone to attack.

He wasn't naive enough to just wait for the enemy to appear. From the moment the door opened, he had already ordered everyone to attack.

At his orders, everyone inside of the room woke up from their stupor and did as he asked. Raising their hands, or dashing toward the door, everyone attacked at the same time.

Frightening attacks shot toward the door one after another as the room started to quake, and the dust in the air thickened.

"Die you bastard!"

Count Nukutan screamed as he watched his subordinate's relentless attacks head toward the door. He, of course, didn't simply just watch.

Raising his hand, he sent out multiple attacks. He did not hold back in any of his attacks as powerful blasts of energy shot to the door.

Rumble—! Rumble—!

The combined attacks of multiple powerful demons caused the whole room to shake uncontrollably, and it wasn't long before the structure they were in started to crumble apart.

But none of the demons cared as they continued to attack.

This persisted for quite a bit before Count Nekutus raised his hand and shouted.

"Stop."

Almost simultaneously, everyone stopped attacking. Although he couldn't see as the raised dust was covering his vision, a satisfied smile emerged on Count Nukutan's face.

"This should do it."

He let out a long breath and finally relaxed his shoulders, but it was then that he heard a voice from behind him.

"You guys done?"

"Huh?"

By the time Count Nukutan realized what had happened, it was already too late as the last thing he heard was a subtle clicking sound.

Click—!

What came after the clicking sound was a white flash, and his vision turned upside down.

'Ah, I get it now...'

It was during the last moments of his life that he finally understood the meaning behind the nickname. But it was already too late for him as a hand reached out for his core, and crushed it into bits.

Crack—!

***

"Not bad, you're a lot faster than when you first arrived here."

"Right..."

Putting my sword away, I brushed my hair back.

The other me asked as he sat on one of the chairs in the room.

"How do you like your name?"

"Don't bother."

Just thinking about the ridiculous nickname the demons attached to me made me want to kill them even more.

I sort of got where they came from, but I would've rather have had a better nickname.

"Oh well, I can't have everything."

I was already pleased with my rate of growth.

Thinking back about the four months that I had spent here, I realized that I had indeed grown a lot. My rank may have not grown during the time that I was here, but everything other than that did.

Be it my mastery over my arts, or my experience, my growth had been quite frankly, terrifying.

I had never experienced such fast growth before, and this was none other thanks to, me.

Well, the future version of me.

As he knew me the best, he was probably the best teacher that I have ever had. His explanations were pretty much tailor-made for me, and during these short months, I found myself soaking up knowledge like never before.

It was quite frankly euphoric.

The feeling of vividly seeing your strength rise in such a short amount of time.

Crack—!

Clenching my fists, I broke the last demon core into bits. I did want to keep the cores with me, but that was actually quite dangerous since the demons could use them to track me. Even if they were stored in dimensional spaces.

Left with no choice, I could only break them.

Staring at my hand which was filled with remains of the core, I opened my mouth and asked.

"What next?"

"...Nothing."

The other me replied.

"Hm?"

I paused for a moment. I had a hard time processing what he was trying to say.

Did he just say nothing? I'm sure I didn't hear incorrectly. For someone that had been overworking me to the bone ever since I've been staying here, his words made no sense.

My head snapped in his direction.

"What do you mean nothing? Weren't you the one that told me that we would spend all of our time training and hunting down demons?"

"I did?"

"...Yeah."

My mouth twitched.

I didn't take myself for being someone that would forget something like that. He was definitely plotting something.

This did not go unnoticed by him, as he asked.

"What's with that look?"

"Spit it out. What are you planning me to do next?"

"Nothing."

Ren replied once more.

I tilted my head and questioningly looked at him.

"Really?"

I quite frankly couldn't bring myself to trust his words.

"Really.

Ren replied. He then paused and added.

"...At least for now."

"Heh, I knew it."

A laugh escaped from my lips.

There it was, the catch.

Caressing my chin for a bit, I thought for a moment before coming up with a conclusion.

"For the past few months, you've been having me attack a lot of demon Sub-branches with the excuse of it being training, but I know for a fact that the branches we've been attacking were not randomly chosen."

Pausing, my eyes squinted.

"You're aiming for something."

"Tsk."

It was then that the other me clicked his tongue.

"You're deduction is correct. The branches you've been targeting have been selected on purpose, and that's why I'm telling you that you should rest for the next couple of days."

A smile crept up on his face.

I instantly had an ominous premonition.

"After that, I'm not sure you'll be able to rest again for quite a bit."

Chapter 504: White Death [2]

Standing at the top of a small cliff, I looked at the pale red sky.

A pungent and chemical-like smell lingered in the air, prompting my nose to momentarily close up.

"Two more months, huh?"

With four months gone, there were only two months left for me in this place.

Actually, if possible, I preferred to go back earlier.

Surprisingly the Demon realm wasn't that much different compared to earth. Aside from the terrible smell, and the fact that the place was filled with demonic energy which made it harder for me to recover my mana, everything else was pretty much normal.

The landscapes, the time difference, and the gravity. It was pretty much the same as that of earth which surprised me quite a bit.

Ah, right, this place also had only one sun.

Lowering my head, I covered my mouth.

"Huaam, I'm tired."

During these four months, I didn't only just train, but I also spent the time sorting out the thoughts inside of my head.

It took me quite a bit, but I had pretty much come to terms with everything that had happened.

Despite the fact that I wanted to reject everything that I had learned with all my heart, I knew that it wouldn't do me any good.

And thus.

I decided to stop caring. Or should I say, I decided to move on and focus everything on getting stronger.

If the figure inside of my head was none other than my future self, then I decided to stop at nothing to stop that future.

That said.

Squatting down a little, I squinted my eyes and gazed into the distance.

"Looks like they've finally made their move…"

"Indeed."

Before I knew it, my other self had appeared next to me as he similarly looked into the distance.

"The greed clan have finally started to make their move against you."

"Figured as much."

With everything that I had done over the past couple of days, I wasn't surprised by this development.

Rather, I was in fact more shocked by how slow they were.

Sitting back down on the ground, I looked up at the sky.

"Hey, what exactly were you planning when you had me provoke the greed clan."

Knowing myself well, I knew that my other self had other plans in mind when telling me to destroy a series of sub-branches.

The real question was why would he want to do that?

"Weren't you looking for a way to save Amanda's father?"

Unexpectedly, I received an answer to my question. What surprised me the most was the contents of his words.

I instantly sat up straight.

"Wait, do you have an idea of where he is?"

There were three goals I had in mind when entering the demon realm.

Of those three goals, one of them was finding Amanda's father.

Over the last few months, although Amanda had tried to hide it as much as possible, I could tell that she was incredibly exhausted.

And not only that, the guild didn't seem to be faring well lately.

It had gotten to the point where Natasha had decided to come back and take the reigns of the situation. Not that she was of much help, but it still did relieve Amanda of her stress.

That said.

With Amanda's father being gone for as long as he was, it was inevitable for news to spread about this, resulting in the other clans becoming more rampant than ever.

If the situation continued like this, I was afraid that something terrible would happen to the Demons Hunter guild, and I simply couldn't allow for that to happen.

The downfall of the Demon Hunter guild would lead to catastrophic consequences.

Not only for me but for the human domain as a whole.

"Is Amanda's father trapped in the Greed clan?"

"No."

The other me shook his head.

Taking out a small branch he lowered his body and drew a large square, and divided it into seven disproportional sections.

"Let's just ignore the fact that the demon world is not squared and that this is not in any shape or form accurate, as you already know, there are seven clans in the demon world."

"Right..."

I nodded my head.

They were the Lust clan, Greed clan, Sloth clan, Wrath clan, Gluttony clan, Pride clan, and Envy clan.

Ren continued.

"You should also know that the clans don't get along with each other quite well, right?"

"Yeah."

It was as he said.

Despite working together, the clans weren't on friendly terms. In fact, their relationship was quite complex as there were a lot of hidden fights between them.

I had in fact witnessed a couple of them during my training in the demon realm.

If not for their fear of the Demon King, they would've long had started a war amongst each other.

Just went to show how powerful Jezebeth reign was.

In the meantime, the other me continued.

"There are three secret alliances between the clans. The lust clan and the sloth clan, the greed clan and the wrath clan, the pride clan and gluttony clan. These are the three alliances between the clans."

Ren paused and looked at me.

"Do you get it?"

Caressing my chin, I pondered over his words. It was then that I realized something.

"What about the clan of envy?"

Did he perhaps forget to mention it?

But that didn't seem to be the case as he shook his head.

"No, I didn't forget. The Envy clan is not in an alliance for one simple reason, and it's because they are the strongest and scariest out of the seven clans…"

Raising the stick, he pointed it towards the biggest block which was located at the bottom right corner of the large square.

"Amongst the clans, they are the strongest and scariest as they have the most number of Duke-ranked demons alongside Marquiss-ranked ones."

He then raised the stick and pointed it toward two smaller blocks that bordered the Envy clan block.

"These over here are the clan of Wrath and Greed. As they both border the Envy clan, they have no choice but to ally together."

The more I listened, the more everything started to make sense to me.

In short, most of the conflicts arose due to their bordering lands. The Lust clan and the Sloth clan both bordered the Greed and Wrath clan, resulting in minor skirmishes arising between the two, hence their alliance.

The same could be said for the Pride clan and the Gluttony clan as they bordered the Lust and Sloth clan.

Of course, this wasn't the only reason for their conflict, but it played a major part in it. This posed a question.

"Okay, so what's the goal in targeting the Greed clan?"

Was Amanda's father located there or something?

Putting the stick down, the other me answered. But his answer was unexpected.

"Nothing in particular, it could've been any other clan."

"Oh?"

I raised my brow and repeated.

"It could've been any other clan..."

"Yeah."

"I see..."

My mind started to race.

With all the information I had just learned, an idea started to formulate inside of my mind.

After a while, I asked.

"Where exactly is Amanda's father?"

"He's in the Pride clan."

"I see…"

The picture inside of my mind was starting to become clearer. It wasn't long before I finally understood what the other me was planning.

A long sigh escaped from my mouth.

"As expected of myself…"

I stood up and gazed into the distance.

"Alright, I already have an idea of what you want me to do to. Let' me start making preparations now."

With a smile on his face, the other me stood up.

"Seems like you've caught on. You have four days, better get started."

***

The next day.

"Finally found them."

Observing a couple of demons in the distance, I stood atop a large boulder that was the size of a large car.

The demons were currently about a couple of hundred meters away from me. Their strength wasn't anything worth looking at, but that wasn't the reason why I was targeting them.

Squinting my eyes and making sure they were indeed the demons I was looking for, I stood up, and channeled the mana inside of my body.

"Aim for their weak spots, and don't go all out."

Just then, I heard a voice coming from next to me.

Though my mind was in a state of pure concentration, I heeded his words and did exactly as he said and reduced the mana that I had gathered toward my sword.

"Huuuu..."

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

'I hope this works...'

Placing my hand over my sword, I pressed the hilt of my sword and a subtle clicking sound rang throughout the area I was in.

Click—!

Following the clicking sound, I abruptly opened my eyes and a bright light flashed across the area I was in. Despite that, I kept my eyes locked on the demons in the distance.

It was then that I was able to see it.

Crack. Crack.

Thin cracks formed around the area the demons were in, startling the two of them.

Not only that, but a couple of seconds after the cracks formed, with a shattering noise, two bright lights shot out and directly pierced through the skulls of the demons.

Their bodies quickly dropped to the ground.

"Haa...Haa..."

Gazing at the demons in the distance, my chest heaved up and down unevenly. After a while, I clenched my fists.

"I did it."

I finally used the fifth movement of the Keiki style without suffering any backlash.

The other me complemented.

"Not bad. Although your body still can't handle the full power of the fifth movement but reducing the force and mana you put into the attack, you're still able to use the attack without suffering any backlash."

Calmly walking toward the demons in the distance, he added.

"Your mana control has indeed improved a lot."

"...Thanks."

With a slight nod, I recomposed myself and followed him from behind.

We soon arrived before the demons.

Halting my feet a couple of meters away from them, I mumbled to myself.

"They are already regenerating."

As I had not destroyed their cores, the demons were still alive. But that was exactly what I was looking for.

Sitting down on the ground, I leaned back on one of the trees and patiently waited for the demons to heal.

Fortunately, I didn't have to wait for long.

By the time it took for me to recover a bit of mana, the two demons were already healed. Opening my eyes and carefully scanning their bodies, I watched as they looked back at me, not even daring to move a single inch of their bodies.

At the moment I was wearing a dark robe, and a mask, hiding the fact that I was a human.

"You two..."

When I finally opened my mouth, the two demons flinched. They were clearly still shaken up by my sudden attack from before.

I waved my hand.

"Don't worry, I won't kill the two of you. I just want to ask you two something."

With their eyes still locked on me, neither answered.

But I didn't mind this. A smile soon emerged on my lips.

"You two are in contact with your branch leader at the moment, aren't you?"

The countenance of the two demons changed drastically. I once again waved my hand. This time, I put some mana into it, and the two demons fell face flat on the ground unable to even lift a finger.

The smile on my face deepened a little.

"Don't worry you, I mean no harm."

Massaging the back of my neck, I stood up.

"If you're indeed in contact with your branch leader, just relay him a message for me."

Turning around, I paused.

"...Over the next few days, I will contact you again, and I will present you with a big opportunity. Whether you take it or not will depend on you."

Pressing my foot on the ground, I shot back into the forest.

Chapter 505: Chaos [1]

"Anything to report regarding the fly that has been running rampant recently?"

A deep voice echoed inside a small room. There were clear and visible hints of anger in his voice as the room quaked a bit.

The voice belonged to Marquis Kornivor, an executive sent by the Greed clan to handle the situation. Although sub-branches weren't particularly important, the loss of over ten of them was still felt by them.

Furthermore, with their pride, how could they allow such flies to continue to exist?

"This..."

Replaying to him was a demon whose body trembled.

"Regarding...the white death, we don't really..."

Crack—!

The sound of something shattering echoed throughout the room.

"Useless."

Opening his hand revealing fine black powder, Marquis Kornivor turned his attention toward another demon in the room.

The moment their eyes locked, the demon started to shake even more than the previous one.

Marquis Kornivor shook his head. Extending his hand, he asked.

"Send me a map of the branches that this fly has attacked."

"Y...yes!"

Stuttering a little, the demon took out a small map and handed it to Marquis Kornivor who took it and unfurled it on a small desk.

Scanning the map with his eyes, a minute eventually passed.

"Haa..."

Letting out a long sigh, he raised his head and stared at all the demons standing in the room. Every time his eyes would pause on a demon, they would start to shake uncontrollably.

"Bunch of cowards..."

He ended up muttering.

Raising his hand, he pointed toward a certain section of the map and declared.

"The fly will attack this branch next. Muffling."

His statement caused every demon in the room to open their eyes in shock.

Staring at each other, they all had the same question. How could he tell?

"It may not look like it at first, but the fly or white death is actually targeting all of the branches that are bordering with the Pride clan. In order to make it seem like his pattern is random, he also attacks those that are outside that range, but in general, it is safe to assume that this Muffling going to be his next target."

A look of sudden understanding appeared on the faces of the demons present as they looked at the map.

This was especially so for the higher-ups as they looked at each other with an embarrassed expression.

How could they have missed something like this?"

***

Over the next few days, I repeated the same thing over and over again. Find a demon, beat them up, and propose them the same deal to them.

Obviously, the words that I would say differed as they eventually started replying back to me.

It wasn't long before we were able to come up with a deal. Well, sort of.

Knowing just how the demons were, I never trusted them to hold the end of their deal, therefore, I never took their words seriously.

It would be nice if they did in fact keep their words, but that seemed unlikely.

As soon as I finished helping them, the first thing they would do would be targeting me.

"Well, it doesn't really matter anyway..."

Staring into the distance, a large red fort appeared in my vision. The fort's circumference was about a couple of kilometers in length, and its outer layers seemed to be made out of hard red sandstone. An eerie and chilling atmosphere enshrouded the whole fort as demons appeared to move to and fro at the entrance of the fort.

I muttered to myself as I lowered my hand.

"If we're going with the same pattern, that should be the last sub-branch I need to attack."

At first, I thought that I had been targeting the demon sub-branches at random patterns, however, as time passed and I realized who I was dealing with, I knew that the situation wasn't as simple as this.

Therefore, after contemplating the matter for a while, I realized that we had been indeed targeting the sub-branches at a set pattern.

It wasn't exactly clear at first, however, as I looked back at all the branches, I realized that we had been eliminating all of the sub-branches near the borders of the Pride clan.

If the demons weren't dumb enough, they would be able to predict my pattern and set up an ambush there.

Licking my lips and locking my eyes on the fort in the distance, my eyes began to squint.

"That sub-branch over there should be a trap."

A trap designed to capture me.

"Interesting..."

My lips couldn't help but curl at the thought.

'Acting predictable to know your opponent's movement.'

Not the easiest of tactics as it narrowed my choices by a lot, but it was sure as hell a damn effective one.

Crack—!

Cracking my neck, I loosened my joints and jumped up on the spot.

"Alright, this is going to be troublesome..."

***

Running through the thick vegetation of the demon world, I looked back from time to time.

"Fucking.."

A curse inevitably escaped from my mouth as I took a sharp turn to the right.

Bang—!

It was at that exact moment that a powerful energy blast shot in the direction of where I was, tearing a series of trees down.

"Damn it."

Taking another sharp turn, I let out another curse.

Bang—!

The ground beneath me tore apart as bits and pieces of dirt hit my back.

Turning my head once again, I was able to spot over a dozen demons heading in my direction, all of whom had bloodthirsty expressions on their faces. Not all that, but all of them were ranked from Viscount rank to Count rank.

Yup.

Just as I had expected, there indeed was an ambush in the fort.

Had it not been for the fact that I was using drifting steps coupled with Eyes of Chronos, I would've probably been unable to run for as long as I was.

Planting my foot toward my right, I abruptly changed my direction and dodged another attack.

WHIIIIIZ—!

"I'm starting to get tired..."

Using Eyes of Chronos and Drifting steps at the same time was quite taxing for me. I could feel my mana rapidly shrink.

Thankfully, I was almost at my destination.

Although it looked like I was cornered, I actually wasn't.

I had a goal in mind.

There was only a slight problem...

"Shit, I really can't fight back?"

"No."

A voice entered my ear.

"Shit."

Another curse escaped from my mouth. It came to my unfortunate attention that I could only act as bait at the moment.

The reason why I wanted to fight was so that I could reduce the numbers of some of the demons behind me as they were slowly starting to increase. It had gotten to the point where I was having a very hard time keeping up.

Bang—!

Another energy blast shot behind me. This one was a lot closer than the previous ones.

"Shit."

I cursed again and took another sharp turn.

"How much further do I need to run?"

I voiced out.

Sitting on top of a tree in the distance, I found my other self staring at me with a nonchalant look on his face. I further enhanced Eyes of Chronos and timed slowed down even more.

"Not much."

He answered.

Turning around to look into the distance, he squinted his eyes.

"Should be soon though. Just keep running straight."

"...Fine."

I glared up.

"Just so you know, if I die, you die too."

"Yes, I know."

The other me nodded his head and patted the tree branch he was sitting on.

"So make sure you don't die "

"Tsk."

Clicking my tongue, time started to speed up once more and I took another turn.

Bang—!

"Huh?"

Another terrifying explosion sounded behind me. This time, however, the explosion was a lot more powerful than any other explosion in the past.

It was so strong that I suddenly found myself losing my footing, and I stumbled a couple of steps.

This would've normally not mattered much, but because I was going so fast, I actually ended up crashing against a nearby tree and my face planted on the ground.

"Ukh."

My vision repeatedly changed as I rolled on the ground.

By the time I stopped rolling, what met my sight was the red sky.

"Well, fuck..."

I cursed at the sky. I didn't even bother getting up.

From beside me, I could hear my own disappointed voice.

"Useless."

I bitterly laughed.

Lifting my head up a little, I looked into the distance and sighed.

"It's not my fault a Marquiss ranked demon showed up out of nowhere."

It wasn't long before I ended up being completely surrounded by multiple demons. Scanning the demons around me, my eyes locked onto a particular demon.

'It's him.'

With a large muscular that was about three times the body of mine, stood a demon that emitted a radiating pressure that made it difficult for me to move.

The pressure coming off of him was so immense that I actually started to feel a little bit more concerned.

'He's definitely a Marquiss ranked demon.'

From a glance, I could tell that he wasn't an opponent that I could fight with my regular strength.

Not that I was planning on fighting him in the first place.

"Are you the white death?"

Opening his mouth, his deep voice shook the surrounding vegetation as I heard the rustling sound of the nearby leaves.

Supporting my body up, I nodded my head.

"You can say so."

Still didn't like the name though.

At my confirmation, the demon's eyes squinted. Feeling his gaze scrutinize me carefully, I remained motionless.

After a while, he opened his mouth.

"You don't look very panicked."

"Why should I be? You already caught me."

I shrugged my shoulders.

The demon's eyes squinted even more.

Nudging his head, a couple of demons disappeared from the spot.

'A careful one, I see.'

He may have looked like a hot-headed muscle-head, but it seemed like he was quite the opposite of what his appearance showed.

It reminded me of a certain phrase.

'Never judge a book by its cover.'

For a brief moment of time, silence enveloped the surroundings as I continued to stare at the demon in front of me. Neither one of us budged a muscle.

Rustle—! Rustle—!

A rustling sound soon broke the silence, and the demons from before showed up.

Walking up to the Marquiss ranked demon, they reported their findings.

"Nothing?"

A surprised look appeared on the Marquess-ranked demon as he heard their recounts. His forehead creased even more.

"Strange..."

He then turned to face me.

"You, what are you pl—"

Stopping himself mid-sentence, his face changed and he glared into the far distance. His large wings began to spread behind his back and a powerful energy fluctuation started to emit out of his body.

"It's a trap!"

Unfortunately, he had realized all of this too late.

By the time he had gotten ready to fight, multiple demons appeared out of thin air. All of them released a bloodthirsty aura. Furthermore, their numbers were significantly larger than theirs, making the atmosphere even tenser.

Out of all the demons that had shown up, there was one demon that stood out from them.

He was tall, about the size height as me, or maybe even taller. His eyes held a certain light, were they green or were they the eyes of a serpent? I couldn't tell from where I was standing.

The darkness was kind to his features, but somehow there was a brooding sense of evil coming from out of his body, sending subtle chills down my spine. He unfurled his wings, bat-like, and then he smiled in our general direction, revealing long fangs and sharp jagged teeth.

"Sloth clan, Marquis Atheora."

The demon from before muttered in a heavy voice. The area started to shake, as a torrential wave of demonic energy sprung forth from his body.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Hehe."

Marquis Atheora let out a throaty laugh and locked his eyes on the large demon.

"It's been a while, Marquis Kornivor."

Rumble—!

The shaking started to intensify as Marquis Kornivor's glare intensified. He then alternated his gaze between me and Count Atheora.

After a while, he started to show a look of understanding.

Taking a deep breath, he calmed down.

"I understand. This whole scenario was created by you in order to ambush us and deal minor damage to the Greed clan."

Raising his hands, Marquis Kornivor started to clap his hands.

Clap—!

Gradually the claps started getting louder.

Clap—! Clap—!

Before long, the claps started becoming so loud that the air started to tremble as visible shockwaves swept the air.

All the demons that were below Count rank found themselves having a hard time floating or standing as some even fell down to the ground.

"Interesting."

In the meantime, laying next to me with his arms behind his head, my other self stared at the scene with deep amusement in his eyes. He was completely unaffected by what was happening around me.

Staring at him for a good moment, I sighed. Secretly, I felt quite envious of myself. I wanted to enjoy the show as well.

It wasn't every day that you could watch a fight between two demon grounds.

But I sadly couldn't.

"Count Atheora are you sure you want to do this?"

Replacing the clapping sounds was a loud and unshakable voice that shook the vegetation.

The smile on Count Atheora's face deepened. He then raised his hand.

Slowly, he lowered his hand.

"Of course I am..."

At the exact moment his hand lowered, all the demons in the air dashed toward the ground at incredible speeds.

"Now do me a favor, and die."

Chapter 506: Chaos [2]

Bang—!

The air trembled, and two powerful forces clashed in the air.

High-pitched shrill cries echoed throughout the air as demonic energy began to envelop the surroundings.

BOOOM—!

A terrifying shockwave spread out in the air, dispersing the clouds in the air.

The two responsible for this were none other than Marquis Kornivor and Marquis Atheora. The two most powerful figures around. Facing each other in the sky, a frightening pressure bore down on the demons below.

Standing up from my spot, I distanced myself a little. However, just because there was a fight going on at the moment, it didn't mean that I was still in the clear.

Despite being high up in the sky, I could feel Marquis Kornivor's gaze from above. It was filled with malice and resentment.

Understandable though.

I was indeed the one who had lured him into a trap.

Unfortunately for me, Marquis Kornivor wasn't the only one looking at me. Marquis Atheora was also looking at me.

Since this was supposed to be a quick operation that wasn't supposed to be known by the other demons, he was most likely going to silence me once the fight was over.

Not that I didn't expect this.

"It doesn't really matter."

Placing my hand on the sheath of my sword, I stood still and watched the fight that was happening above.

'The first part is done...'

Turning my head, I secretly gazed into the distance.

"Now all I have to do is wait for the next part..."

BANG—!

It was then that I felt a frightening energy coming from the sky. Lifting my head, I realized that the two Marquis-ranked demons had finally begun fighting.

"Ukh..."

Their energy caused me to step a couple of steps back. It was so strong that I almost groaned as my internal organs shook from the residual energy released from their attacks.

Channeling my mana to stop the shaking, I cursed.

"Damn it, the difference between <S> ranks and <A> ranks is huge..."

Still.

Planting my foot on the ground, I took a deep breath and calmed my mind.

"Not yet..."

I softly muttered.

***

"Cards won't replace magicians!"

"They are taking our jobs!"

"Tyranny!"

"Magic cards are what's going to reverse our progress!"

"Shame on the Demon Hunter Guild or stealing our jobs!"

Holding onto signs and megaphones, people flocked beneath the Demon Hunter Guild as they started protesting.

As this was happening, a black car with tainted black windows quietly drove by. Sitting in the backseat of a car, a girl wearing a black suit stared at the crowd with an impassive look on her face, making it hard for anyone to judge what she was thinking.

Taking her eyes away from the people, she muttered.

"The situation has gotten worse lately..."

"Do you want me to do something about it, Young Miss?"

Answering her was the driver of the car. Maxwell, Amanda's assistant.

Taking another look at the people protesting beneath the building, Amanda thought for a while before nodding.

"Yes, get rid of everyone."

Her tone was firm.

It was about time they did something about the protests.

Her decision might result in a backlash to happen against her, but she was prepared for this.

If her estimates weren't wrong, more than half of the people protesting there were paid actors hired by the other guilds in order to put more pressure on her and the guild.

After the release of the magic cards a couple of months back, they instantly swept the market and sold out on the very first day which was well above her initial estimate.

In fact, even now there was far more demand than supply for the magic cards.

It had gotten to the point where she had to purchase a couple of more processing plants to make them.

That said.

Not all was positive.

With the success of the magic cards, a lot of new problems started to arise. One of them was the massive flood of complaints and protests coming from magicians who found the cards a threat to their profession.

Amanda did reassure them that magic cards could never replace magicians, but in the end, it only served to anger them even more, leaving Amanda helpless.

To make matters worse, the other diamond-graded guilds also found the newfound success of the magic cards a serious threat to them, resulting in them becoming even more brazen when trying to put pressure on her guild.

With news of her father's disappearance becoming more and more of a reality, they started to openly suppress the Demon Hunter guild.

Just the thought caused Amanda to clench her fist tightly.

"Fine..."

She ended up muttering underneath her breath.

Amanda wasn't the type of person that let something like this happen. Since they were looking out for her blood, she decided to finally make her move.

It took her a bit to plan everything out, but with all of the money she recently gained from the magic cards, Amanda was confident in her chances of dealing with the other diamond-graded guilds.

Not only that, she had already expected such a situation to arise from the moment she released the magic cards.

The situation looked helpless for her, but it really wasn't.

"Young Miss, we're here."

Snapping out of her thoughts, Amanda looked outside the car window.

It was then that she realized she was inside the parking garage of the guild. Brushing her hair behind her ear, she opened the car door and got out.

She then proceeded to head for the elevator in the distance.

Tok. Tok.

The calm sound of her heels hitting the ground echoed throughout the parking lot. Following her from behind was Maxwell.

"Maxwell..."

Amanda called out.

"Yes?"

Halting her footsteps in front of the elevator and pressing the button, Amanda's voice became icy.

"How are the preparations for the things I've requested."

"They are already done."

"I see..."

Ding—!

A low chime sounded and the elevator door opened. Taking a step forward, she entered the elevator.

With her back still against Maxwell, Amanda muttered.

"Proceed with everything that was planned. Make sure there are no mistakes."

Opening his mouth, Maxwell eventually nodded his head.

"Understood."

His eyes began to squint.

In the meantime, the elevator door started to close.

"You understand what the consequences of your actions will bring right, young miss?"

"I do."

Amanda softly replied. Her tone was very chilly.

"But I don't care. It seems like people have forgotten just how scary the number one guild in the human domain is. It's time we show them what happens when they provoke us."

A satisfied smile formed on Maxwell's face.

"Understood Young Miss. I will carry out your orders immediately."

"Good."

Amanda nodded her head in satisfaction.

Starting from today onwards, a couple of Diamond Graded guilds will cease to exist.

Turning his wrist to glance at his watch, Maxwell suddenly recalled something.

"That's right young miss, I forgot to mention this, but Melissa has scheduled an appointment for later on today."

"Melissa?"

Turning around, surprise flashed across Amanda's face. She eventually nodded her head.

"Alright, once she comes send her to my office directly."

Ding—!

Right as her words faded, another chime sounded and the elevator doors opened.

Taking another step, Amanda got out of the elevator. Her elegant figure quickly attracted the attention of everyone that was waiting outside the door.

***

"This should be the place..."

Lowering and raising his head to make sure that he wasn't in the wrong place, Han Yufei looked at the large warehouse in the distance.

Scratching the back of his head, he put his phone away and walked toward the entrance of the warehouse.

It took him a while to convince the elders to let him join Ren's team, and it took him even longer for him to make them agree on the trade he and Ren talked about.

Well, that part wasn't actually too hard.

From the moment that he mentioned that he was going to trade the family art with another five-start technique, all the elders stopped talking.

"Why was I even worried..."

Han Yufei could still recall their sparkling eyes to this day. He shook his head at the thought.

It seemed as though he had overthought things.

Stopping in front of the door of the warehouse, he glanced around the place. On the outside, the place didn't look like anything special as there were only a couple of flowers carelessly put out as decoration. But Han Yufei wasn't one to be fooled by outer appearance, as his eyes soon paused on the doorbell of the warehouse.

Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he eventually pressed the doorbell.

"Alright, here goes nothing."

Di Dong—!

***

BANG—!

As time passed, and the fight between the two Marquis-ranked demons continued, it wasn't long before one side started to gain the upper hand.

As this was an ambush, it quickly became clear as to who held the upper hand in the exchanges.

It was Marquis Atheora.

With more forces at his disposal than compared to Marquis Kornivus, the momentum of the battle was starting to shift in his direction.

"It's over..."

But after taking another closer look, I realized that the fight was already over.

BANG—!

Another powerful blast reverberated throughout the air as a black body shot down on the ground, resulting in an enormous crater appearing on the ground. Masking my vision was a small and dense cloud of dust.

Once the dust disappeared and I managed to get a good look at what was going on, I started to get ready.

"Give it up Marquis Kornivos. You're finished."

A haughty voice rang in the air.

With a smirk on his face, Marquis Atheora looked down on Marquis Kornivos as he struggled to get up from the crater.

Despite having won the fight, Marquis Atheora didn't exactly come out unscathed. A part of his right-wing was torn, and blood leaked out from his mouth.

Beating a Marquis-ranked demon wasn't something someone of the same rank could do so easily.

"Ukh..."

Letting out a low groan, Marquis Kornivor turned around to look at how the situation with the other demons was. It didn't take too long for him to understand they had lost.

Lifting his head, he glared at the sky.

"You know the consequences of your actions, right?"

"Consequences?"

Marquis Atheora laughed out loud.

"What do you think we've spent so much time preparing for? We've sealed the whole area, and have killed everyone you brought along with you. No one will find out anything."

"Yo—!"

"Die."

Before Marquis Kornivos could reply, Marquis Atheora raised his hand and shot a powerful energy his way.

BOOOOM—!

What followed the attack was a thunderous explosion that destroyed the nearby vegetation and some of the demons that were standing nearby.

Fortunately for me, I was quite far from the location of where the energy blast was, therefore, I came out unharmed.

By the time the sound of the explosion faded, and the dest clear, all that remained of the Marquis Kornivos was a small cracked core.

"You're still alive even after that, heh?"

Descending down to the ground, Marquis Atheora grabbed the core. The smile on his face twisted even more.

"Well, it doesn't matter."

Crack—!

Squeezing his hand, the core broke into millions of pieces. Just like that, a Marquis-ranked demon had died.

Staring at the scene from a couple of meters away, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

"Looks like it's my turn to move now."

Chapter 507: Chaos [3]

My next set of actions was quick.

As I was dealing with a Marquis-ranked demon, every little second mattered.

Taking out a stack of magic cards from my dimensional system, I injected them with my mana before throwing them in the air.

Swiping my hand, three rings formed around the igniting cards.

By the time the cards were about to fully ignite, the rigs turned red and a small ball of fire resembling a sun was contained in the middle of the rings.

"Go."

With a simple wave, the rings flew toward the sky.

"What's this?"

Catching sight of the ball of fire, Marquis Atheora reached his hand out. But it was already too late.

BOOOM—!

A large cloud of fire bloomed in the air and accompanying it was a thunderous explosion.

The fire receded after a couple of seconds, but it served its purpose.

"Anytime now..."

"You."

Feeling Marquis Atheora's gaze land on me, I raised my head and stared back at him.

Slowly descending to the ground, he looked back at the area where I threw my attack.

"What were you trying to do?"

"Testing something."

"...You seriously want me to believe that?"

Raising his head, he smelled the air. His face changed a little.

"This sensation..."

I felt his gaze pause on me, as he carefully scrutinized my body. After a while, his eyes opened up.

"You...You're not a demon."

'Ah, looks like the cat is out of the bag...'

In order to make it seem like I was a demon, I had placed a couple of cores inside of my body. By simply creating a thin coating of mana, I stopped the demons from regenerating, and in the process, created an effect that made it seem as though I had demonic energy inside of my body.

This was a trick that I learned from my other-self.

It was quite a useful one at that as it really helped me out quite a bit. Without it, I would've probably been found out in the first month.

Had it not been for my last attack that left some lingering mana in the air, Marquis Atheora would have never found out.

"A pity..."

I muttered underneath my breath.

"I don't know how you—"

Stopping himself mid-sentence, Marquis Atheora's head snapped toward the distance. It was then that he managed to spot several demons heading his way, coming from the northern side.

His face finally changed.

"This..."

Staring at him from below, I smiled from behind my mask.

"It looks like someone noticed all of the commotions you've caused."

Not quite.

From the moment that I decided to help him out, I knew that he was going to try to silence me. Even if he wasn't, I wasn't still going to go through with my plans.

...which were essentially the same as the first one. That is, act as bait and lure them into a trap.

With Marquis Atheora now injured, if there was a better time than to get rid of him, it would be now.

That said.

Even if he was injured, he wasn't someone that I could kill. Our rank difference was just too big.

I didn't need to kill him myself anyways.

And just like I had convinced him to ambush the Greed clan, I presented another clan with a similar situation.

From how the Sloth clan was planning on ambushing the Greed clan, and how they could use this opportunity to deal damage to them.

The fireball I just threw was a signal for them to move.

"You actually planned to backstab me from the very beginning..."

Snapping me out of it, I felt a malicious and terrifying glare directed in my direction. Without needing to look, I already knew who it belonged to.

But I didn't care as my direction my attention toward the opposite side, the southern area. This was only half of my plan.

"They should also be coming soon..."

But as I looked in the distance and I saw nothing, my forehead started to crease.

'Did I mismatch my timing?...or did they ignore my words?'

If so, this was going to be troublesome.

I suddenly felt a burst of aura coming from behind me.

"You..."

Marquis Atheora's voice shook the air, and the area around me started to twist. Turning around, I realized that Marquis Atheora was preparing to attack me.

'Shit...'

Feeling the terrifying aura that was directed in my direction, I once again turned to look into the distance. Yet again, I saw nothing.

Activating Eyes of Chronos, I started to assess the situation.

The chip inside of my head started to run at full throttle as I tried to figure out my next course of actions.

"Looks like Plan A is going to be a bust. Do I have no choice but to go with plan B?"

"You don't."

A familiar voice rang from beside me. As usual, it was the other me appearing from out of nowhere.

"What do you mean?"

"...Wait a little bit longer."

After a slight pause, his voice became colder.

"Keep in mind that using that power will only serve to alert Jezebeth of your appearance in the Demon Realm."

"...You're right."

Recalling Jezebeth's power, I became extremely apprehensive.

Back then he had only sent a clone to fight me. What if he showed up in his full form? Wouldn't I just die with a simple glance?

Just the thought made me extremely apprehensive about using my power.

In the midst of my thoughts, the other me continued speaking.

"Using the skill now will not be ideal. Later on, you might need to tap into that power in order to save Amanda's father. It's best if you save it for then. Not only that but it's best if fewer demons know about you being a human. If they are made aware of your presence, all clans will start hunting you down."

"...Sure, but the situation doesn't really look too good."

"You worry too much."

Raising his head, he stared into the distance. Unlike me, he could freely move in this slowed down space.

"Give it a couple of more minutes. If something doesn't happen by then, you can go ahead with plan B."

"...Alright."

Closing my eyes and deactivating Eyes of Chronos I raised my head and met Marquis Atheora's eyes.

My next set of actions all happened within a fraction of a second. Placing my hand on the sheath of my sword, I activated my sword's effect, and the mana inside of my body started to circulate at a faster rate.

At the same time, I activated 'The One.'

Because our rank difference was a bit more than one rank, it didn't have too much of an effect on Marquis Atheora as it only worked to distract him for a split second. But it was enough.

By the time he recovered from the effect, I had already gathered enough mana.

The third movement of the [Keiki style] : Void Step.

Click—!

My vision distorted, and a low clicking sound rang in the air. At the same time my vision started to distort, I saw Marquis Atheora's attack shoot in the direction of where I was previously standing.

Boooom—!

Within a split second, it arrived in the area that I was previously standing on.

Despite my extreme speed, I was unable to come out unscathed as I ended up crashing against multiple trees, and felt tremendous pain invade every part of my body.

Bang—!

"Ukhhh..."

That said.

I had survived.

"It hurts..."

Gritting my teeth, I lifted my body up a little. I had trouble moving as some of my bones were broken, but it was worth the pain.

I quickly chugged down a couple of potions.

By the time I recovered the demons in the distance had already arrived and had surrounded Marquis Atheora.

"Look who we have here. It looks like the information wasn't wrong."

A sadistic voice echoed throughout the air as another demon that bore striking resemblance to Marquis Atheora stepped up.

I didn't know exactly who he was, but I knew that he was an executive coming from the Gluttony clan. A clan that wasn't on good terms with the Sloth clan, the clan Marquis Atheora came from.

Having presented them with an opportunity to deal damage to the Sloth clan, they obviously did not refuse it and secretly sent an adequate force.

Wasn't exactly sure they would believe in my plan at first, but it wasn't exactly hard to confirm my words.

After I told them that the Sloth clan would make a move against the Greed clan, all they had to do was check for any movement, and from there, they were able to confirm my words.

Also, to them, this could be considered a minor conflict. It wasn't anything big.

That aside.

I didn't doubt that they had set countermeasures in the off-chance that this was also a trap, but it didn't concern me.

"Marquis Exion."

Marquis Atheora's voice was filled with spite as he said those words. With narrowed eyes, demonic energy rose from his body at an alarming rate.

"Sinc—"

Just as he was about to speak, Marquis Atheora stopped himself mid-sentence again. His face changed, and he looked behind him.

Marquis Atheora wasn't the only one that had a change in expression as Marquis Exion's face also changed.

Similarly staring into the distance, I smiled in relief.

"They're here..."

Reinforcements from the Wrath clan and the Greed clan.

***

Demon Hunter guild.

Inside a large office space, Melissa sat opposite Amanda.

"What did you want to talk about?"

Amanda asked in a soft tone.

Taking her eyes away from her nails, Melissa adjusted her glasses a bit.

She quickly cut to the chase.

"The Central Government seems to be planning on regulating the magic cards."

"Oh."

Amanda absentmindedly nodded her head.

Her reaction surprised Melissa quite a bit as she raised her brow and asked.

"Are you not surprised?"

"Not really."

Amanda shook her head.

"I already had an idea that this was going to happen."

Not only her but so did Ren.

Unlike the Union which dealt with Heroes and Villains, the Central government was another power that primarily focused on keeping order in the human domain.

They weren't as powerful as the Union in terms of raw strength, but some might even say that they were more powerful than them as even the Union could not discard their orders.

Melissa leaned back on her chair and crossed her arms.

"Since you know, this makes things a lot easier. Do you already have any countermeasures in place?"

"Sort of."

"...As in?"

"Here you go."

Unlocking the drawer next to her, Amanda passed a file to Melissa.

Sliding the file her way, Melissa looked through it.

Her furrowed brows slowly started to relax. After a while, she put the file back on the table and nodded her head.

"This might actually work."

Amanda smiled slightly.

"I spent a lot of time thinking about it. It will work."

There was confidence in her voice as she said those words.

She didn't spend her days at the office idly. After learning from the best for the past couple of years, Amanda knew about the political affairs of the world like the back of her hand.

A problem like this was not going to phase her.

Brushing her hand behind her ear, Amanda's eyes narrowed.

"If the Central Government truly wants to put their hands on the Magic Cards, they should prepare to lose a couple of limbs in the process."

"...You've changed."

Melissa said after a brief moment of silence.

A smile crept on her face.

"But I like it."

Chapter 508: Arena [1]

Minutes prior to ambushing the Greed clan, I sent a message to the Wrath clan.

In the message, I told them that the Sloth clan and the Gluttony clan were planning on secretly working together to ambush the Greed clan.

Although my words sounded sketchy, I provided them with the exact location of where the Ambush was going to happen and told them that they knew that they were planning an ambush against someone called 'The white death' and that it was all a ruse in order to make the Greed clan act, and use that opportunity to deal damage to them.

Since the Wrath clan was allied with the Greed clan, all they had to do was contact them and confirm the information that I told them.

Once they were able to confirm my words, the rest was pretty much self-explanatory.

While everyone was staring into the distance, I slowly stood up.

'I should probably take my leave...'

My plan was pretty much done.

If there was a time for me to leave, then it was now. With everyone still confused and startled by the sudden situation, I prepared to use this chance to leave.

Taking another look toward the sky, I sighed in relief.

"That was close..."

Fortunately for me, the plan somehow worked out. By exploiting the demon's desire to harm each other, I was able to create this scenario.

In any case, I had never been too worried about the plan failing. I had three more plans prepared just in case this one failed.

Not that I wanted it to fail, but I wasn't delusional. I never once thought that my plan couldn't fail.

I found myself doubting my plan a lot, but in the end, it seemed as though the demons had been at peace for too long to realize what had happened.

"Good for me."

Masking my presence as much as possible, I quietly left the area and headed toward the Pride Clan's territory.

My goal here had been achieved.

It was time for me to move to the next part.

***

After a while, inside a large forest.

"How long till we reach our destination?"

Halting for a bit, I rested my hand by the side of the tree.

It had been about half a day since I left the conflict, and by now, the sun was already starting to set.

Considering that I was under a time constraint, I knew that I could waste as little time as possible.

"We're almost there. About two hours."

"Two hours!?"

I groaned.

It had to be noted that when he meant two hours, it meant two hours of me running at full speed.

Not only that, but I also had to watch out for the monsters and demons in my way. If anything, that only served to make me even more tired.

"Hurry up, you don't have much time. Keep going straight."

"…Fine."

Recollecting my breath, I once again dashed forward.

"I can't waste time..."

I had a goal in mind when acting on the previous plan. Primarily, I wanted to turn the attention of the Pride clan away from their own territory.

Although the conflict was a minor one, it was still a conflict.

It could serve as a great excuse for the other clans to start conflicts with each other.

This was exactly what I wanted.

Still, I wasn't naive enough to think that they wouldn't notice that I had a hand at play in this conflict. But that was fine, by the time they realized what had happened, I would already have left the Demon Realm.

"Huup!"

Pressing my foot on the ground, I sped up even more.

***

Following the directions given to me by my other self, I continued running for the next two hours. To be more precise, it was actually three hours as I met a lot of demons and monsters along the way.

They weren't looking for me though.

Just as I had expected, the fight in the distance had caused enough chaos to attract the attention of the Pride clan.

This was exactly what I wanted.

"You can stop now."

Hearing a certain voice, my feet came to a stop.

Resting my hands on my knees, I took a couple of deep breaths. Sweat dripped from the side of my face.

"…Are we finally here?"

Looking around me, the only thing that met my sight were trees.

They weren't exactly normal trees though. They were quite tall, and their bark was quite dark. Most notable was the fact that the leaves were red.

As it was nighttime, it was actually quite hard for me to see what was ahead. Furthermore, an eerie silence enveloped the area around me, making it all the creepier.

Crunch. Crunch.

The only noise I heard was the crunching sound of my feet stepping on the ground.

Seeing that I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary in the area around me, I turned to look at my other-self.

"Is Amanda's father here?"

"Not quite."

He answered.

My brows furrowed.

"What do you mean?"

"We're close, but we will have to stop now. You might not like the sound of my next words."

Taking a step back, I instantly felt an ominous premonition.

"Spit it out."

Our eyes met.

For a brief moment, I saw my other self's lips curled upwards. It left as fast as it came and thus I became unsure of whether it was real or not.

'Did I just imagine that?'

His next words made me realize that I didn't see wrongly.

"...You're going to fight a demon and lose on purpose."

"Eh?"

I blinked my eyes a couple of times as I had difficulty trying to process what he was saying.

"Are you telling me to lose on purpose? And get captured by a demon?"

This…

Was he crazy or something?

'Never mind, he's always been crazy.'

Why in the world did I forget this?

I took a deep breath and sat down on the ground. I then leaned my back against one of the trees.

There was definitely more to the plan than he let out. I wasn't planning on dismissing it without properly understanding what he was trying to say.

"Kindly explain to me your plan."

"Sure."

In a rather calm manner, he started to explain.

Raising his hand, he pointed it toward the distance.

"Not far from here you will find Morian, one of the largest cities in the Pride clan territory. The city is quite big, about the size of Ashton city, and Amanda's father is located there."

"I see..."

I scratched the side of my cheek.

"But how does that have anything to do with me purposely losing to a demon?"

"Let me explain."

The other me leaned back on a tree. A small rattling sound accompanied his movement.

"To put it bluntly, you can't infiltrate Morian. It's impossible unless your strength is equal to a Duke-ranked demon."

"SS rank? That hard?"

"Yes."

His words surprised me quite a bit.

"Even if you can make it seem like you have demonic energy inside of your body thanks to the trick that I taught you, it can easily be discovered. It might work when someone isn't paying attention, but once you enter a city filled with demons, you won't make it a couple of steps before everyone finds out that you are an impostor."

"Right..."

My brows knit tightly.

His words once again made me realize just how dangerous the Demon Realm was. So far I had only been playing around with the weaker demons on the outskirts of the major cities.

My brows soon relaxed, and I asked.

"I get it. But what does that have to do with the fact that I have to lose to a demon? Are you thinking of having me infiltrate the place as a prisoner? But what makes you think the demon won't kill me?"

"You're not exactly wrong."

The other me spoke.

"I won't go on a long speech telling you exactly how the city function as that would be counterproductive. I will cut straight to the point, if you get caught by a demon, you will not be killed. In fact, they will try their best to keep you alive."

"Oh?"

I was once again left surprised by his words.

"Elaborate."

"Mhm."

The other me nodded.

"In a way, demons aren't that different from humans, or any other race with a shred of intelligence. At one point, all of them seek entertainment."

"Right..."

I was slowly starting to get an idea of what he was trying to say.

Lowering my head and placing my hand over my mouth, I softly mumbled.

"Are you saying that my appearance will serve as some form of entertainment for them, hence why they wouldn't kill me, but sell me off to make money?"

"Yes."

"I see..."

Once again covering my mouth with my hand, I had a sudden thought.

"Is that what happened with Amanda's dad? Is he currently inside of that city for the purpose of entertaining the demons?"

"That's right."

Clank. Clank. Clank.

Taking a couple of steps forward, the other me stopped in front of me.

"One of the biggest entertainments in Morian is their Arena. A place where captives from the other races are made to fight each other, and where Amanda's father is currently residing in."

"Ah."

I let out a small sound.

Everything finally started to make sense.

In short, in order to reach Amanda's father, I had to purposely lose to a demon so that they would sell me to the arena.

Since he said that infiltrating the city was impossible, it seemed like this was the only method that could work.

There was only one problem.

"Since you said that it's impossible to infiltrate the place, what makes you think I can escape from that place?"

"Don't worry about that."

The other me reassured.

"I wouldn't propose something so dangerous without coming up with countermeasures."

"Hmm."

My eyes squinted.

To be honest, over the pasts four months I had seen just how smart and calculative he was. Every one of his plans worked perfectly fine.

It may have to do with the fact that he perfectly understood the psychology of the demons, but not once have his plans ever failed.

I also didn't doubt that whatever he had planned would end up working out, but...

'I don't trust him.'

I just couldn't bring myself to trust him. Without fully understanding his intentions, I couldn't bring myself to trust him at all.

The only reason why I listened to what he had to say was because I knew that my death wasn't something that was within his interest.

It was the only thing that reassured me.

"You're doubting me?"

Hearing his words, I snapped out of it. Raising my head and meeting his eyes which seemed to be devoid of any emotions, I ended up nodding.

"I don't trust you at all."

"Good."

"...Good?"

"Let me give you a piece of advice."

He suddenly disappeared from his spot before reappearing on top of a tree branch.

"Always keep your guard up. In this life, you might never know who might end up betraying you out of nowhere. Only ever trust yourself."

My eyes narrowed.

I could tell from the tone of his voice that he was speaking from experience, but despite being the same person, we were fundamentally different.

Etching his words into my mind, I slowly stood up.

"I'll keep your words in mind."

I then turned around and headed deeper into the forest. It was time to get caught by a demon.

Chapter 509: Arena [2]

Bang—!

Crashing against a tree was a black humanoid figure. The bark of the three flew everywhere, and the figure rolled back a couple of meters.

Coming to a stop, the demon raised his head and glared in my direction.

"Uakh! How…dare you!"

"Just answer a few questions if you don't want to die."

Walking up to the demon, I placed my foot on top of his head and applied some pressure. His head came into contact with the ground.

"Khhh."

Using every ounce of his strength to raise his head, the demon glared my way, but I ignored him and lowered my body to meet his eyes. Along the way, I removed my foot which was pressed against his face.

He was only a Baron-ranked demon. Therefore, I wasn't too worried about him running away.

"Hmmm."

Taking out a black frit from my pocket, I presented it to the demon in front of me.

"I'll give you this if you start speaking."

The demon's face changed instantly the moment I took out the core. He was giving me a look filled with greed.

I secretly smirked when I saw this.

Having killed as many demons as I did, it was inevitable for me to pick up a couple of devil fruits. Since I had no use for them, I could use them as a good bargaining chip.

"If you want this core, you better answer my questions properly."

"...How should I believe you?"

The demon's voice was rather calm, but I could tell that this was merely a pretense. It was very subtle but there was a tremble in his voice as he spoke.

'He's scared.'

"How should you believe me?…Mhh."

I frowned underneath my mask.

After a while, I just shrugged my shoulders.

"You don't really have a choice either way. I can just kill you with a single slap. If you don't answer my questions I'll just go to another demon. Someone will eventually speak, it's not like the questions I'm about to ask are a secret…"

I slowly raised my hand.

The demon flinched when he saw this.

"I will speak! I will speak!"

He repeatedly shouted.

There was clear fear in his eyes as he said those words.

'Good…'

Lowering my hand, I deeply gazed into the demon's eyes.

"Alright, I'll make this simple. Tell me what you know about Morian."

Although what my other self said usually ended up being correct, I still didn't trust him.

Before making any moves, I wanted to assess the situation for myself.

My next set of actions would be based on the demon's answers.

"Marion?"

"That's right, tell me anything you know about it. Especially about the arena."

The demon's face changed a bit as he hesitated to speak. I pressed my hand to his throat when I saw this.

"I don't have much time, make it quick."

"Khh…yes."

Giving me a fearful nod, he slowly started to recount everything about the city. From its general layout, to who reigned supreme over there, and how heavily guarded it was.

He also told me which area to avoid, and what were the most crowded areas. I didn't really pay too much attention to this information.

I wasn't planning on infiltrating the city in the first place. All that interested me was the arena.

"…if you're planning to infiltrate the city, give up on the thought. That place is under the surveillance of two Dukes. You will never make it past the entrance without getting yourself killed by them."

"I see."

'Everything perfectly coincides with what he said.'

This reassured me a bit. Turning my attention back you the demon, I continued to ask.

"What about the arena, what do you know about it?"

"…the arena?"

For a brief moment of time, the demon's face changed. It went from a fearful look to one that was filled with excitement.

My forehead creased.

Before I could say anything, the demon quickly answered.

"The arena is the biggest entertainment you can find in Morian, it's the best place demons can go to enjoy themselves. Watching the other races fight and kill each other is the most entertaining thing one can watch. Demons from all over the demon realm come to Morian just to watch the fights and place their bets..."

As he spoke, the demon seemed to have completely forgotten about his predicament as the excitement in his voice only increased.

'This isn't that much different from fights on earth.'

His words reminded me of televised fights back on earth. Their system was pretty much the same.

"Most recently the arena has become an even bigger attraction! There's this new human that has not lost once! Each and every one of his fights amass—"

"Did you say human?"

I cut in.

I'm sure I didn't hear incorrectly. Could he be referring to Amanda's father?

Unaware of what I was thinking, the demon nodded his head.

"Yes, yes, he's incredibly strong, and everyone is already betting on how many matches he has left before he loses. I've personally bet on thirty. Even though his fights are impressive, he is slowly getting tired. I don't think he will last that long."

"Mhhhh..."

Lowering my head a bit, I asked.

"About this human, what is his strength like?"

The demon tilted his head. Pondering for a bit, he answered.

"He should be Marquis rank. Some even say that he's close to Duke rank, but no one really knows."

"I see…"

I nodded my head and slowly stood up.

'It's probably him.'

The fact that he was human and his strength was similar to that of Amanda's father before he left was a good indication to me that this was most probably the case.

"Is there anything else you would like to ask me?"

The demon asked.

Turning my attention back to the demon, I thought for a bit before replying.

"If by chance a demon caught a human, orc, or any other member of the race, what do they earn from handing them to the arena?"

"Eh?"

A strange look appeared on the demon's face as soon as I posed the question, but all it took was a quick glare to stop him from asking unnecessary questions.

I was still using the same as before. The one that used cores to make it seem as though I was a demon.

Due to our rank difference, the demon was unable to see through my disguise.

"If a demon manages to catch a member from the other race, they can give them to the arena and earn a cut from how much the member performs."

"Oh?"

'What an interesting system they got here…'

Instead of having them directly buy the people, they have them fight and give them a cut of how much they make along with their stay in the arena.

It wasn't a bad deal.

Especially considering that each event made quite a bit of money for them.

"Ehm…"

Snapping me out of my thoughts was the demon's voice. Lowering my head, I glanced at him.

"What is it?"

With a crude smile on his face, the demon asked.

"I've already told you everything, will you—"

Click—!

A subtle clicking sound rang through the air and the demon's face rapidly changed.

"Y…y…"

Ignoring him, I turned around and left the area. Although the demon was unable to mutter his last words, I already knew what he was trying to say.

'You lied...'

"Yes, I lied."

Not that I ever promised him to keep him alive.

*

Walking a bit further away from the area I was previously in, a figure appeared not too far from where I was.

"So, you satisfied?"

"I am."

I gave a short reply.

The information he had previously given me may have been right, but I just had to make sure for myself. This wasn't the first time that I had done this, but I just couldn't bring myself to truly trust him.

"What are you going to do now?"

He asked after a little bit. Raising my head to meet his eyes, I gave a brief reply.

"I'll carry on as we've previously discussed."

"Good."

My footsteps suddenly came to a stop. Tapping on my bracelet, I took out a small sphere that was about the size of an ant.

"I knew that it would eventually come in handy…"

Taking out all the most important items that I owned from my dimensional space, I put them inside of the small ball which was another dimensional space.

The space that it could store was incomparably smaller than compared to my bracelet, but this was the price one had to pay for such a small dimensional space.

"Done."

Storing all of my most important items inside of the dimensional space, I let out a satisfied smile and proceeded to head toward the city in the distance.

*

The city wasn't actually that far.

It was about a ten-minute walk from where I previously was. Throughout the journey, I had to make sure to be extra sneaky as demons and monsters lurked everywhere.

Fortunately for me, I didn't do what I did in the past for nothing. With the commotion my previous actions had caused, the perimeter outside of the city was less dense than it should've been.

"This is a good spot."

I stopped right as I was about a couple of kilometers away from the city.

I was currently standing on top of a large cliff, and from where I was I could see the city in the distance.

Staring at the city in the distance, I felt this weird sense of intimidation coming from it. Not only that, but I could vividly see demonic energy revolve around the city in the form of a black fog.

I had a hard time describing the city. It was large. Extremely large. Thick walls the height of a skyscraper covered the whole city, and at the top of the walls, I could catch glimpse of demons patrolling the area.

The walls were black, and I wasn't exactly sure of what they were made of, but they had this strange sense of intimidation that made one feel insignificant.

Because the walls were so tall, I couldn't quite see what was behind them, however, there was one building I could see, and the pressure that it gave off intimidated me, and that was despite the fact that I was still quite far from the city.

The building seemed to be located in the middle of the city, and it appeared to be a large pillar that expanded at the top.

"That's probably where the Duke-ranked demons reside…"

Other than that, what could it be?

"Let's get this done..."

Letting out a sigh, I looked around me. Then, taking out my spare sword, raised it and stabbed myself.

Spurt—!

Blood leaked down on the ground.

'It hurts…'

Suppressing the pain, I took a step forward and jumped down the cliff. As I jumped, I made sure to coat my body with a little bit of mana.

Thump—!

"Khh…"

Heavily crashing on the ground, I suppressed my groan once again.

'Shit…'

I cursed inside of my mind.

Dragging my body with my hand, I stopped right next to a tree. Leaning my back against it, I took heavy breaths and reached out for the white mask on my face.

Crack—!

I broke it into pieces. Dropping one side of the mask beside me, I put the other half on my face. Just enough to make it obvious that I was a human.

"This should do..."

"It would've been easier if you had just lost to a demon."

Just then, I heard a voice next to my ear.

"I'd rather do this…"

This worked just as well. There was no need for me to pretend to lose to a demon.

Just the thought repulsed me.

"Suit yourself."

"I will…"

Leaning my head back against the tree, I exhaled. My injuries were quite severe at the moment, and if not for the fact that I had coated my body with mana before the fall, I would've never survived.

Slowly, I closed my eyes and pretended to be passed out.

Chapter 510: Arena [3]

Loud cheers echoed throughout a large arena the size of two football stadiums. With seats filled to the brim, a sea of demons excitedly stared toward the center of the arena.

[Welcome to today's arena games!]

A seductive voice echoed throughout the whole arena. Following this, an alluring figure appeared in the middle of the stadium.

Glossy black hair, a voluptuous figure, and deep red eyes. The demoness's appearance brought forth even more cheers from the crowd.

Catching a whiff of the bloody scent lingering in the arena, the demoness licked her lips.

[Now, now.]

The demoness smiled. Facing the crowd, she gave them a wink.

[We're not here for me, but we're here for today's games. I'm sure you're all excited to see what we have in store today.]

Her words seemed to have instantly calmed the crowd down as the noise dropped to a comfortable level. There was still some noise, but it wasn't as loud as it was before.

[Thank you.]

The demoness thanked the crowd.

Turning around, she addressed the other side of the arena.

[For today's event, we have a little surprise for you all. We have found ourselves a new challenger, and he's a human!]

Her words instantly reignited the vigor in the crowd's faces.

"Another challenger?! A human at that? Does he also have the potential to become an Overlord?'"

"As if. There is only one Overlord. The current Overlord is far too strong for anyone to beat. I doubt he will be able to beat him even if he manages to become an Emperor-level contender."

"True...But what if?"

"This is going to be fun!"

Enjoying the vivaciousness of the crowd the demoness let the noise continue for a while. She eventually raised her hand, and everyone stopped speaking. Thanking them one more time, she continued.

[I will have to disappoint you all with one piece of news. The challenger will not be participating in the King's bracket, but he will be participating in the Duke bracket.]

The crowd instantly deflated upon hearing her words.

In order to ensure fairness in the games of the arena, there were several brackets that classified individuals according to their strengths. The King's bracket was the highest bracket, and it was where <S> ranked individuals fought.

The Duke bracket was a level lower, and that was where <A> ranked individuals fought.

After them, there was the Count bracket, Viscount, bracket, and so on...

It was a fairly organized system made to ensure 'fairness.'

[I see that many of you are discussing his potential. Don't be quick to get your hopes up. We still haven't seen him fight yet. Who knows...]

The demoness paused and stared at the crowd.

[....He might even become the next Emperor-level contender]

Everyone instantly stopped speaking as they held their breath as soon as they heard her words.

Within each bracket, there was a ranking. A ranking was gained through beating someone of a higher rank and taking their rank.

So if a rank thirty beat a rank twelve, the winner would become the new rank twelve while the loser would drop down all the way to rank thirty.

An Emperor-level contender was someone who had reached the number one rank in their respective bracket.

This meant that they had to be monsters amongst monsters.

Only the absolute top could achieve such rank.

[Can we finally get someone that can overthrow the current Emperor?]

The demoness continued to hype up the crowd with her words. And the results were showing, as the crowd started to become even livelier.

Seeing how excited the crowd had become, the demoness secretly smirked to herself.

Raising her hand, the arena quieted down once more.

[You know what, why stop at Emperor rank? What about...]

Before she could even finish her words, the atmosphere became incredibly tense as all the demon's stopped smiling.

[Overlord rank?]

The arena instantly erupted into noise.

The breathing of some of the demons in the stands started to become more laborious as their eyes sparkled with excitement.

'How simple-minded.'

She thought as she looked at the crowd. To be honest, she never believed any of the words she said.

What Overlord?

It was already hard enough for one to become an Emperor rank contender, Overlord?

A pipe dream.

'It's simply impossible.'

For one to become an Overlord they must first become an Emperor rank, and that was not something anyone could achieve.

That was something achieved by being the best in a bracket filled with thousands of blood-thirsty contenders.

How could some random human that appeared out of nowhere achieve such rank? She was merely following the standard script and trying to hype up this new contender.

Setting aside the difficulty of becoming an Emperor-level contender, the difficulty of becoming an Overlord-ranked contender was even higher!

There was only one Overlord-ranked contender, and it was a role that could only be gained through defeating the currently existing Overlord. Someone who had defeated the previous Overlord-level contender and had also defeated all of the other Emperor-level contenders at the time.

To make the fights fair, during the fight between the challenging Emperor rank and Overlord rank, both contestants would be suppressed to the same rank. That said, despite its fairness, nine times out of a hundred, the challenger would always end up losing.

They may have the same rank, but the skill gap was just that big.

Gazing at the crowd, the demoness's smile became even brighter.

'I hope he doesn't lose too badly. That said, he should be up against a weak contender, so the chances of him losing should be low.'

If he lost too badly, it would reflect badly on her as she spent all of this time trying to hype up the crowd.

'I'll see through this match whether this new contender really has the chance of becoming the new Overlord.'

[Enough with the introductions!]

The demoness suddenly raised her voice and the arena became quiet.

Extending her hand toward her right, she continued.

[On our right, we have a contestant that has come in not too long ago, he's an elf, and is currently ranked 773th in the Duke rank. Please welcome, Silver Wing!]

Following her words, a loud metallic sound reverberated throughout the arena as the tall gates by the end of the arena started to open.

Claka. Claka. Claka.

Coming from the other side of the gate was a blonde elf with a rather cold look on his face. His clothes appeared to be worn out, and his hair was a mess. Glaring black circled bagged beneath his eyes, and on his right hand was a small wooden staff.

As he came out, the cheers coming from the demons intensified.

"You better win you fucking elf! I've put all my savings on you!"

"Die you piece of shit!"

"Hahahaha."

All sorts of insults and slurs were thrown at the elf standing in the middle of the arena. The elf's expression did not change despite this. It was clear that he was already used to the atmosphere.

As he walked, he would leave small footprints on the sand-like floor.

[It looks like everyone is already excited!]

The demoness smiled brightly as she took her eyes away from the elf.

Extending her hand toward the left, she once again raised her voice.

[And finally, on our left side. The new contender that I've been talking about and that everyone has heard about. That's right, it's the human that we've recently found and is currently unranked. Please welcome our new contestant!]

As the new contestant had still not won any matches, he was still not given a name. He could only be referred to by 'new contestant' for the moment.

The stadium instantly quieted down.

Claka. Claka. Claka.

The only sound that echoed throughout the arena was the sound of the gates opening, and it was then that a figure slowly walked out.

Snowy white hair, deep blue eyes, and a detached look that made it hard for someone to read his emotions.

The moment he stepped into the arena, his very presence caused all of the demons that were about to say something to shut up.

All forms of noise ceased.

The arena was so quiet you could hear a pin drop

Tok. Tok.

The calm and steady sound of his footsteps echoed throughout the whole arena as everyone's attention was focused on him.

His feet soon came to halt.

Raising his head, he turned to look at the demoness. He didn't say any words, but his message was clear.

'Get on with it.'

[Ah.]

It was only then that the demoness came to her senses.

'What just happened?'

She couldn't quite explain what she had felt, but for a brief moment in time, she felt overwhelmed by the presence the contestant gave out.

It almost felt suffocating.

This was a first for her, and she had presented her fair share of matches.

'Was this a mistake?'

Taking another glance at the contestant and no longer feeling the same sensation, the demoness quickly came to that conclusion.

It had to be that.

She had seen all sorts of experts during her career. Therefore she was quite experienced. She had seen individuals much stronger than the human before her.

For her to not have felt as much pressure from them as compared to the human before her, who was much weaker than them, the demoness didn't know what to think.

In the end, she just decided to not believe it.

[Ehmm...]

Coughing slightly, the demoness looked toward her left and right. Directly in the direction of the two contestants.

In the meantime, the demons in the stand also recovered from what had happened previously and started to cheer even more loudly.

"Fight!"

"Kill that elf!"

"Kill that human!"

"Shit I should've bet more money!"

Seeing that everything was alright, the demoness raised her hand. The arena once again instantly quieted down.

Glancing at the crowd, she smiled and lowered her hand.

[You may fight!]

Bang—!

What followed her words was a loud banging sound. It was so fast and unexpected that she was unable to react in time.

All she felt was a short breeze that blew her hair and clothes back.

By the time the noise faded, the whole arena had quieted down. Weakly turning her head in the direction of where the sound came from, what met the demoness's sight were two deep blue eyes.

[Ah.]

She stumbled back one step.

'It wasn't my imagination.'

The pressure that she had previously felt wasn't fake. Lowering her head, she gazed at the elf from before. At the moment, his head was smashed against the ground, and his figure was unmoving.

Whether he was alive or not, she couldn't tell.

Gulp—!

Secretly swallowing a mouthful of saliva, she raised her hand.

[The...the winner of today's first match is our new contestant!]

After a brief moment of silence, the arena instantly erupted into loud cheers as they all eyed the white-haired figure below with glistening eyes.

"Amazing!"

"What a beautiful match!"

"He's got Emperor potential!"

***

While this was happening.

With his hands behind his back, a demon gazed at the arena from above. After a while, opening his mouth a deep and powerful voice echoed throughout the space.

"What information do you have regarding the new contestant?"

Appearing from behind him was another demon. From the way he carried himself, it was clear that his status was far below the other demons. He was his servant.

Taking a knee, he answered.

"Reporting to your excellency. We do not have a lot of information regarding the newcomer. All we know is that he was brought up by a Viscount ranked demon."

"A Viscount ranked demon?"

The demon frowned and shook his head.

"That's hard to believe. Considering his display of power, the likes of a Viscount-ranked demon should not be able to harm him. Is there something else in the report?"

"There is."

"Say it."

"In the report, it said that he was found in the outskirts of the city quite heavily injured. It appeared as though he had come out from a fight."

"...That makes more sense."

The demon closed his eyes. After a while, he addressed his servant.

"What is his cut?"

"About ten percent of the sales of his matches."

"I see..."

Opening his eyes again, he coldly ordered.

"Have him killed. Don't let others know about his existence."

"Understood."

The servant quickly disappeared from his spot, and silence descended on the platform.

Gazing at the white-haired human from above, the demon smiled.

"We might have found our next star..."

Chapter 511: Emperor rank [1]

Clank—!

Darkness enveloped my vision as the doors behind me closed shut.

Raising my hand, I snapped my fingers.

Snap—!

A small flame formed in front of me, illuminating what was ahead of me.

"Rather plain..."

Apart from a small bed that sat in the corner of the room, there was nothing else in the room. Not even a toilet.

Shaking my head, I proceeded to lay down on the bed. The bed was rather hard, but I made due. Beggars couldn't be choosers.

Beside me, the flame continued illuminating the place.

Raising my hand, I glanced at my wrist.

"They sure are confident."

I had originally thought that they would've taken my bracelet away, but that never happened. This surprised me quite a bit, but who was I to complain?

This perfectly worked in my favor.

Reaching my hand out, I slowly clenched it. I then opened my mouth and asked.

"...Are you sure Amanda's father is the Overlord?"

"Yes."

A voice echoed from near the door of the cell. I lowered my hand and frowned.

"I have no choice but to become an Emperor rank, don't I?"

"If you want to meet him, that's your only choice."

"I see..."

I nodded. Raising my head, I gazed in his direction.

There was something I was curious about.

"Apart from more resources, what's so good about being an Overlord rank?"

"Freedom."

He only replied with one word, but that was enough for me to understand everything. Sitting up straight, I asked.

"Are you saying that once someone reaches Overlord rank, they will be freed?"

"Not quite."

My other self shook his head.

Turning his head to gaze in the direction of the door, he replied.

"For an Overlord to gain freedom, they must first win against one of the ruling Dukes."

"Tsss..."

I took a cold breath of hair.

"Beat on of the ruling Dukes? I assume their strength will also be suppressed."

If not, how would anyone be able to win?

The other me nodded.

"It will be, but unlike the challengers, they won't wear any artifacts to suppress their strength."

"This..."

Wasn't this shady? What if they were about to lose? Considering their pride, it wouldn't be strange if they resorted to some petty trick.

"It's exactly as you think."

Confirming my words, the other me leaned his back against the wall.

"Freedom is merely some false hope given to ignite the fighting spirits of the contenders. They never planned on freeing them from the very beginning."

"As expected."

Letting out a long breath, I sighed.

"Don't worry too much. Just focus on reaching Emperor rank for now. All other things will come naturally."

"...Alright."

He was right. There was no time for me to dwell on these matters.

Right now my priority was to become an Emperor-level contender and get the chance to fight against Amanda's father, Edward Stern.

It was the only way I could get in contact with him.

"Ah, right."

In the midst of my thoughts, it was then that I suddenly recalled something.

Touching my hair, I plucked a couple of them and stared at them. Confirming that they were indeed white, I looked up at my other-self.

"Why is my hair white?"

As I had never looked at myself in the mirror in these past few months, it was only recently that I found out that my hair was white.

How did that happen?

It was then that my question was answered.

"It's a side effect of you using that power."

The answer didn't please me too much.

My eyes squinted.

"Does this mean that I will have permanent white hair?"

Not that I really cared, but I was already used to my black hair.

'If push comes to shove, I might as well dye them black.'

There was no way anyone would notice this...

Right?

"Ugh."

I groaned.

'What a pain.'

Glancing at me for a brief moment, he answered.

"It will turn back to normal eventually."

My eyes lit up a little.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Your hair is currently like that because of the trauma your body has suffered from using so much power. There is a reason why people have ranks. Bridging so many of them without a body that is capable of holding such power will inevitably lead to your body suffering damage>"

"That makes sense..."

Recalling the events of the past, I couldn't agree anymore with his words.

The strength that I previously held...

It was something beyond my realm of comprehension. For my body to hold such power, I couldn't understand how the only issue I suffered was just my change in hair color.

'Rather, I should be grateful that the only side effect I suffered was my hair becoming white, no?'

"Stop thinking about useless stuff. Get some rest, you will soon be fighting every day for the next few months."

"Right..."

Letting out a sigh, I nodded my head and laid back on the bed.

Closing my eyes, I slowly dozed off.

'It's going to be a busy week.'

***

Inside of a dark room.

A figure sat crossed-legged in the middle of the room. A tangible pressure rose in and out of the man's body as each breath he took caused the room to shake.

There was this wild aura around him that would make anyone quake in their boots.

"Huuu..."

Taking another deep breath, the figure slowly opened his eyes, revealing a pair of deep eyes that seemed to have experienced countless things.

There was a trace of insanity inside of those eyes, but it wasn't very apparent. It had still not overtaken his sanity.

"Please wait for me..."

He softly muttered. His voice was rather weak, but it was filled wh resolution.

"I'm close. I can feel it..."

Staring at his hands, a strong undulation of mana spread out.

Ruthlessness and bloodthirst flashed across the man's eyes as he slowly closed them.

"I will win no matter what."

***

Bang—!

With a crashing sound, a figure slammed against the side of the arena, and the crowd erupted into loud cheers.

"Yes, fuck him!"

"Screw him!"

"Hahhahahah!"

[And that makes it the twelfth victory in a row for our new contender whose overall rank is now in the thirties and has earned the nickname of 'White Reaper!']

'...Seriously?'

Listening to the demoness's words, I tried my best to keep a straight face. From white death to white reaper? What was up with them and the color white?

'It's going to be over soon anyway.'

Secretly sighing, I looked at my opponent who was still passed out on the ground.

For the past week or so, I had been fighting every day, and finally managed to earn my current rank.

Rank thirty.

'I finally did it...'

I was only a few ranks away from reaching the top ten. The only ranks that enabled someone to fight against the current Emperor level contender.

Only upon reaching the top ten of a bracket could someone fight against the current emperor.

There was not much known about him. The only thing I knew was that he was someone whose strength was extremely terrifying.

It was then that the demoness came to talk to me.

[White Reaper, who will your next challenger be? Are you going to repeat your previous streaks and challenge the highest contender you can fight?]

Gazing around the crowd for a brief moment, I slowly nodded my head.

"That's correct. My next opponent will be a top ten contender."

The moment those words left my mouth, the crowd erupted into loud cheers. The cheers were so loud that I felt the ground shake for a brief moment.

I ignored it.

'After I become top ten, I will quickly fight the Emperor and get everything done with...'

There was a twenty-rank limit on whoever I could challenge. This was purposely set up so that the Emperor-ranked contender wouldn't be challenged by just anyone.

For one to fight him, they must first earn the chance to do so.

I was no exception to that rule.

[As expected of the White Reaper. Once again choosing to fight the strongest contender possible!]

The demoness hyped up the crowd. Stopping a couple of meters away from me, she winked her eye in my direction.

I could feel subtle threads of demonic energy making their way in my direction when she did that, but I merely shrugged them off.

As if she could seduce me.

For a brief moment of time, the demoness showed a surprised look on her face. She seemed to be surprised by the fact that I was unaffected by her charm.

Wasn't strange though. I had plenty of time to train myself against such attacks. Donna was my instructor for a while after all.

Her charm was far stronger than hers.

With an awkward look on her face, the demoness turned to look at the crowd.

[Ehm…for those of you that don't know who his next opponent is, let me give you a brief introduction.]

Her next words were a brief introduction regarding my next opponent.

The current top ten fighter.

[Standing at feet in height, and with a powerful build like no one had seen before, we have 'The skull crusher!']

My mouth twitched ever so slightly.

'…They really need to work on their nicknames. I bet he's naked that because he crushes the skull of all opponents he faced'

[Just like White Reaper, Skull Crusher never once faced defeat, and not only that but every time he goes against an opponent his signature move is to kill them by breaking their skull!]

'…No kidding.'

If not for the fact that I didn't want to show my emotions, I would've probably face palmed right then and there.

The crowd became even lovelier at her words.

Why wouldn't they? After all, hearing of such a ruthless opponent, what demon wouldn't be excited.

[The fight will be held tomorrow, and whoever wins the fight be finally be eligible to fight against a top ten contender and gain the chance to fight against the current Emperor of the Duke ranked bracket!]

The crowd stirred even more. But it was at that moment that the demoness's face changed.

Turning her head to look my way, she softly said.

[White death. Although your achievements have been outstanding, I would like for you to keep something in mind. The top ten contenders are on a completely different leave than the contenders you have previously fought. You won't be able to beat them as easily as the people you've currently fought.]

Meeting the demoness's eyes, I blinked once and turned around.

"Thanks for the warning."

I half-heartedly replied.

A figure appeared next to me. Staring at the demoness behind me, he smiled.

"If only she knows you've been holding back till now."

"Who cares."

I replied as I slowly entered the gates in the distance.

"I'm saving my strength for when I fight against Edward."

My feet stopped briefly.

"…and maybe the current Emperor."

***

Gazing at the white-haired figure from above, an amused smile appeared on the demon's face.

"What an amusing human."

So far, the human had shown quite the striking performance by beating his opponents with only a couple of moves.

His performances were so overwhelming, that they reminded him of the past. Of the current Overlord.

He too came out of nowhere and destroyed every single opponent in just a couple of moves.

That said.

"Your excellency, excuse my rudeness. But what do you see in that human? Although I can agree that his performances have indeed been quite outstanding, so are the performances of all top ten rankers. They too showed similar performances in the past."

"...You may be right."

The demon calmly nodded his head.

"I've just been bored recently..."

"Bored?"

"Yes."

Taking his eyes away from the arena below, the demon turned around. With a large hood covering his features, the figure's features were hidden.

Even then.

A terrifying pressure was exerted out of the demon's body, making it hard for the servant to even lift his head.

Opening his mouth, his deep voice echoed throughout the platform.

"With Duke Adramalech leaving to check out the mess at the borders, I've found myself becoming quite bored..."

Pausing for a moment, the servant suddenly felt his body freeze as he dropped to the ground with both knees.

The demon's eyes flashed.

"...maybe it's time we switch the current Overlord."

***

A/N : Sorry for the delay. Timer didn't work.

Chapter 512: Emperor rank [2]

Clank—!

"Follow me."

Coming out of my cell, I followed a demon out.

Everything happened out of nowhere. I was just quietly relaxing in my cell, and before I knew it, a demon came to my room and called out for me.

I was quite clueless about where I was going, but I decided not to say anything and just followed along.

There was no point in asking questions that I would not get an answer to.

That, and...

The fact that I already had an idea of what was going on.

'This might actually be a good chance for me...'

Glancing toward my left and right, as I followed the guard, I realized that the security was fairly lax.

There didn't seem to be many demons patrolling the area, and to make matters even stranger was the fact that my mane wasn't sealed.

It had to be noted that the demon in front of me was ranked lower than me. If I wanted to, I could kill him with a simple slap.

Not that I had any plans on doing that since I had a goal in mind.

Finding Amanda's dad.

Furthermore, I was sure that the security-only looked lax. In reality, it was probably extremely tight. Had this not been the case, many of the prisoners would've long escaped.

Tok. Tok.

The steady and calm of our footsteps echoed throughout the corridors. The corridors were pretty badly maintained as I could see cracks everywhere. Not only that, but they were also quite narrow, forcing me to move sideways sometimes.

To make matters worse, lingering in the air was an old and stuffy smell.

"We're here."

Walking for who knows long, we soon stopped in front of a large metallic door. Standing beside the door were a couple of demons.

With a simple nod, the demon walked toward the door.

To Tok—!

He then proceeded to knock on the door.

For the first couple of seconds, he was met with no response. However, this did not last for long as the door soon started to open.

Clank—!

Once the door was half-opened, I was finally able to catch a glimpse of what was behind it.

A luxuriously decorated room that far contrasted the shabby room I was previously staying in. A nice red carpet blanked the floor, and all sorts of decorations appeared in the room. From sofas to paintings and other things that would make one drool at the sight.

'So this is how the top rankers live...'

Gazing at the room for a bit, my line of sight paused on a few individuals inside the room. After a quick look, I was able to assess that they were the top rankers of the Duke bracket.

It was hard not to notice them. The pressure that their bodies emitted was quite frightening. It was at a level where I needed to take them seriously if I wanted to win.

Not that I showed it outwardly as I kept a straight face and stepped into the room.

The moment I stepped into the room, I felt everyone's gazes pause on me, carefully scrutinizing every part of my body. Not bothered by them, I calmly walked toward where the sofas were and leisurely sat down.

Crossing my legs and leaning back, I opened my mouth.

"So..."

I looked at everyone in the room.

"What did you guys want to talk about?"

"..."

Silence.

No one in the room said a word as they continued to stare in my direction.

It was then that someone finally spoke up.

"This human seems to be quite cocky."

Standing just at about four feet in height with a long ginger beard was a dwarf. Raising his brow he took a step forward and calmly analyzed my body.

"Herr...Herr...not bad."

Extending his hand, he presented himself.

"I'm SteamPunk, Rank five in the bracket."

"White Reaper, Rank thirty in the bracket."

I shook his hand back. As I did, I suddenly smelt a foul order coming from the dwarf.

'His breath stinks.'

Moving my head back, I tried my best to not make any strange faces. His breath was simply atrocious.

"White Reaper."

It was then that a soft voice called out for me. Turning my head, I found an elven lady staring in my direction. She had a rather long scar tracing down her face, and I could feel hints of insanity in her eyes. Her hair was a mixture of gold and silver, and if not for her scar, she would've looked extremely beautiful.

I stared straight into her eyes.

"You are?"

"Rank two, Silvermoon."

She replied in a disinterested tone.

"...Do you know why we've called you here?"

"Somewhat."

I answered. She nodded her head. The other people in the room became even more apprehensive as the room became tense.

"If you know why we've called you, then what do you think? Will you join our group?"

I smiled.

'Group, huh?'

I had already been briefed by my other self about what this group was all about. It was essentially a group that 'Maintained ranks' by fixing matches.

The purpose of this was so that they could monopolize all the top ten spots, and support the current Emperor rank. In short, everyone here was his lackey.

Before I had a chance to respond, she took a step to the side and extended her hand.

"We've seen your potential, don't let it rot in this place. Only if you join a group like ours can you have the chance to become an Overlord-level contender."

Her words were filled with conviction and resoluteness. Had I not been warned beforehand, I might've even been tempted by her words.

"Oh..."

I gave her a half-hearted reply.

The face of the elf changed when she noticed the tone of my reply, and the room became even tenser.

"You don't seem excited by this. Do you by chance happen to know that once you become an Overlord-level contender you can gain freedom?"

"I do."

I nodded.

Of course, I did.

This was something that was told to me on the very first day that I was here. All participants were told this.

With them having a goal in mind, the games would be a lot more entertaining to watch.

"If you know, then why do you look so disinterested. Are you perhaps not keen on the idea of freedom, or..."

Her eyes squinted and a powerful pressure sprung out from her body before heading in my direction.

"...are you just not interested in joining us?"

Because her actions were sudden, I was caught off-guard a bit. Even then, I retained a passive and nonchalant look on my face.

Glancing around the room and seeing everyone staring at me with bloodthirsty looks, I leaned back on the sofa and calmly asked.

"What do you want me to do?"

The pressure coming out from SilverMoon instantly disappeared. A smile soon replaced her previous scowl.

"Much better."

She muttered in a satisfied tone. Clasping her hands together, she cut straight to the chase.

"Lose your next game."

"Hm?"

I leaned my head forward a little.

"Lose my next game?"

"That's correct."

Turning her head, her eyes paused on a certain individual standing not so far from where I was. Turning my head, my eyes paused on a towering figure.

'He's big...'

I had already noticed him from the moment that I had entered the room, but now that I took a closer look at him, there was this sense of dread coming out from his body that made one shiver.

In contrast to the others in the room, the bloodthirsty aura coming out of his body was far greater.

"Skull Crusher."

I mumbled underneath my breath. I would only have to be a fool to not have been able to recognize him.

The aura that was coming out of his body was simply terrifying. Even for me, it was quite pressurizing. It felt as though I was back in Issanor, in the presence of the orc's number one contender, Kimor.

Overhearing my words, the SilverMoon smiled.

"It looks like you've recognized him."

Walking next to the orc, she patted him on the shoulder.

"Rank ten, Skull Crusher. Your next opponent, and someone who you will lose to in the next round."

"I don't need this."

Slapping the elven lady's hand off, Skull Crusher glared in my direction.

"I don't need him to purposely lose in our next match. I can easily get rid of a fly like him."

"You may be right, but rules are rules."

She turned to look in my direction.

"...I'm telling you for your own good. If you're interested in ever becoming free, then this is your only chance."

Raising and lowering her head to scrutinize me carefully, her brows knit for a couple of seconds. She then warned.

"You seem quite strong, but like Skull Crusher said, any one of us in the room is enough to crush you. It is in your best interest to join us."

After a while, she extended her hand in my direction. Her face was filled with confidence when she said those words.

"So what do you say, will you join us?"

Staring at her extended branch, I softly muttered.

"Tempting..."

The elven lady's smile brightened.

"That great—"

Cutting her off, I smirked. The faces of everyone changed the moment I did so.

But I did not care.

Placing my hand on the sofa, I slowly stood up. Then, turning around, I waved my hand and made my way out of the room.

"Thank you for your offer, but I will have to refuse. As if I'd join a group of people that I will eventually have to discard in the near future."

Following my words, I headed out of the room.

Since contestants could only fight each other in the arena, I wasn't worried about them trying anything in the meantime.

Exiting the room, I nudged the demon that had brought me with my head.

"Let's go."

***

Clank—!

Once the door closed, a heavy silence descended on the room. Apart from the elven lady, none of the faces of the people in the room changed.

They didn't seem to particularly care.

"I see..."

SilverMoon darkly scanned the room. Turning her attention toward Skull Crusher, she coldly ordered.

"Make sure you let him know his place tomorrow. Take your time. Make him understand the consequences of his actions."

"Krrr...Krrr...I would've done this even if you hadn't told me."

Skull Crusher replied while clenching and unclenching his fists. A cruel and bloodthirsty smile hung on his lips.

"Good."

Taking a look at the other people in the room, she turned around and headed out of the room.

Clank—!

Closing the door behind her, she turned right and headed deeper down the corridor. Following her from behind was a demon.

Walking for the next couple of minutes, she eventually stopped in front of another door.

Tok—!

She knocked once.

The metallic echo of her knock reverberated throughout the corridor. A soft and gentle voice followed the knock.

"Come in."

"If you will excuse me."

Extending her hand, she opened the door.

Clank—!

Upon opening the door, she was presented with a similarly decorated room to the one that she was previously in.

However, if there was a difference between the two, it would have to be the fact that there was less furniture in this room.

Taking a couple of steps into the room, she soon stopped. It wasn't because she wanted to, but it was because she couldn't. Raising her head, her line of sight fell toward a figure that sat crossed-legged in the middle of the room with his bare back facing her. His silver hair descended down his back, and a terrifying pressure bore down on the area next to him.

After a brief moment of silence, the figure spoke.

"How did it go?"

"...He rejected the offer."

SilverMoon darkly said. Clenching her teeth, she added.

"He completely dismissed us. Treating us as a joke."

"Is that so?"

The figure in the middle of the room softly said. For a brief moment of time, the elven lady felt a cold chill run down her spine as she weakly nodded her head.

"Y...yes."

"I understand."

Lowering his hands, the figure slowly turned around. His eyes soon met SilverMoon's, and her body froze all over. A huge sense of dread that she had never felt before washed over her body.

"...You know what to do."

"Y...yes."

Chapter 513: Emperor rank [3]

"This will be a short fight."

Overlooking the arena from above, SilverMoon's eyes narrowed. All of the top Duke bracket competitors were standing beside her.

"That's good for Skull Crusher."

"Yeah."

"It was a given considering his strength. Although he's nothing much himself."

None seemed to be interested in the upcoming fight. There was an air of certainty about the fight, despite the fact that it hadn't even begun yet.

Who was going to win was already clear to them.

"Why do you even bother with that human, anyway?"

A lazy-looking figure languidly asked. His shoulder-length black hair spread across the sofa as he leaned back against the sofa and stared up at the ceiling with his yellow-colored eyes.

From his mouth, he took out a popsicle and looked at SilverMoon.

"I admit that he is strong, but Skull Crusher should be able to handle him."

"I know."

SilverMoon replied. Glancing back at the figure, she asked.

"You're also a human, what did you think of him?"

"Him?"

The figure leaned back once again on the sofa and crossed his arms behind his head as he gazed at the ceiling of the room.

"Huaaam."

He let out a yawn.

"He aight. Nothing special apart from his hair."

That was the last thing he said before he closed his eyes

"I see..."

SilverMoon nodded her head and once again turned to look at the arena below. However, this was merely a pretense. Her attention was secretly drawn to the human from earlier.

'Rank 3, Lightning Dragon.'

He was the individual that SilverMoon feared the most out of all the bracket contenders. His strength was quite unknown as he always ended an opponent within a couple of moves, but SilverMoon always felt this unsettling feeling whenever she saw him.

She couldn't explain it clearly, but there were times that she would fear him above the current Emperor.

Perhaps it was because her instincts had been honed over a long period of time, but she knew that the human sitting on the sofa was bad news.

Had it not been for his lazy personality, who knows...

He could've even been the current Emperor.

'What am I thinking?'

After shaking her head to clear her mind, SilverMoon returned her attention to the arena.

With the demoness already present and preparing to announce something, SilverMoon's eyes narrowed even further.

"The match is about to start."

Her words drew the attention of everyone in the room as they all gazed at the arena.

"Should we bet on how long the human will last against Skull Crusher?"

"Sounds fun."

"I want in."

***

In a calm manner, I got up from the bed and walked toward the cell door.

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah."

Nodding, I pressed my hand against the cell door and opened the door.

Clank—!

My ears were pricked up by the sound of several demons waiting on the other side of the door.

I didn't pay much attention to them since I was used to such scenes.

As he turned around and walked deeper into the tunnel, one of the demons ordered.

"Follow me."

"..."

Without saying anything, I followed him from behind. As for the other demons, they followed me from behind, trapping me completely. This was so that I wouldn't escape.

Not that I had any plans to do so.

At least not yet.

*

The loud cheers from the crowd inside the arena were the first thing I heard as I neared the arena.

The closer I grew to the arena, the louder their cheers became.

"I suggest you end the fight as soon as possible."

A familiar voice reached my ears. Glancing in his direction, I lowered my head and didn't answer.

'That's the plan.'

Since I had already antagonized the top ten rankers in my bracket, there was no need for me to keep formalities.

I had to end them quickly to save my energy for when I fought the Emperor. Someone who was most likely going to be extremely hard to fight.

"We're here."

Stopping in front of an enormous gate made out of metal, the demon turned to look at me.

"Get ready. Your fight will start any minute now."

As I lowered my head, I did not respond. I took a deep breath and concentrated on the noise coming from the arena grounds.

[And in the right corner, with an undefeated streak...]

Though faint, I could also hear the announcer's voice coming from the other side of the gates. It was the same voice I had been hearing over and over again for the past week or so.

[...Please welcome White Reaper!]

Clank—!

With a low rumble, the doors soon started to open.

Stepping forward, I entered the arena with my head raised.

"White Reaper!"

"Fuck him up!"

"Skull Crusher! Destroy him!"

From the moment I stepped into the arena, I could hear the loud cheers of the spectators. They were filled with energy and bloodthirstiness.

I paid them no mind.

That was because my current focus was directed toward the towering figure standing opposite of me.

"We meet again."

A large smile spread across Skull Crusher's face as he cracked his knuckles.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

"..."

Staring back at him, I didn't reply.

"Don't blame me for what will happen next. We clearly gave you a way out. I hope you last long enough for me to enjoy myself."

"Sure."

I lazily replied. The look on Skull Crusher's face changed when he realized I wasn't taking him seriously, but I didn't notice as I had my eyes on something else.

Appearing right behind Skull Crusher was my other-self. Due to the fact that no one could see him, his appearance did not attract any attention.

"Are you going to proceed as we planned?"

Meeting my gaze, he asked in a soft tone. In the midst of the loud cheers, I could clearly hear his voice.

I slowly nodded my head in his direction.

'Yes.'

[Are the two contestants ready?]

Just as I nodded, I felt the demoness's gaze pause on me. I glanced back at her and replied briefly.

"Yes."

[Skull Crusher?]

"Yes."

He also gave her a short reply.

With a simple nod, she raised her hand and the noise in the arena ceased. A slight smile hung on the demoness's face as she noticed this.

The arena grounds became tense as she held her hand in the air. At the exact moment the tension reached its climax, she finally lowered her hand.

[You may fight!]

After lowering her hand, she announced the start of the fight and I quickly activated one of my skills.

'The one.'

As soon as I activated 'The one,' everything came to a halt. Neither Skull Crusher nor Demoness dared move an inch.

At the same time, my other self slowly moved behind Skull Crusher.

With my eyes still locked on Skull Crusher, I remained standing. From the corner of my eyes, I kept my focus on my other-self.

Slowly he positioned himself behind Skull Crusher and extended his leg.

It was only then that I took a step forward.

Tok.

***

'What's going on?'

Looking into those dull gray eyes, Skull Crusher felt his muscles loosen as he couldn't muster any strength in them. He was paralyzed on the spot.

Suddenly, his body started shaking.

Lowering his head to glance at his hands, he muttered in a trembling tone.

"Is this fear?"

This was an emotion that he had not felt for quite a long time.

Actually, not quite.

He had recently felt this emotion not too long ago. Back when he met the current Emperor of the Duke bracket.

After having beaten so many contenders without losing a single match, he had grown ignorant and had challenged the current Emperor.

That was the biggest mistake of his life.

Had it not been for his mercy, he would've long died.

'I...impossible.'

But compared to the sense of dread he felt from the current emperor, the one coming from the small figure standing opposite him was even more fiercesome. He couldn't stop his legs from trembling.

'Is he even stronger than the emperor!? Impossible!'

The dull-grey gazes stared back at him once more as he raised his head.

"Ah..."

He let out a strange sound.

"What are you doing?!"

"Do something!"

"Fight! Kill him!"

"I will kill you!?"

In the midst of his struggle to find any energy to move, insults were hurled his way.

"You fat orc! Are you scared?"

"You useless pig!"

"My bet!"

It was then that the figure opposite him took a step forward.

Tok.

A calm and audible step reverberated throughout the arena. Because the demons in the stand were so far away from the arena, none of them could feel what Skull Crusher felt the moment he took a step.

That single step, although normal, carried a tremendous amount of pressure that almost caused his knees to buckle on the spot.

"What's this?!"

He shouted in an aggrieved tone.

"What is happening to me?"

How could he be scared of someone that was half the size he was?

Preposterous!

Mustering every little bit of strength and willpower in his body, he slapped his face.

Slap—!

When Skull Crusher slapped his face, a loud slapping noise echoed throughout the entire arena.

All forms of noise in the arena seized as all the demons stared at Skull Crusher with confused looks on their faces.

'What just happened?'

Everyone wondered at the same time. Snapping them out of it was Skull Crusher's loud voice.

"I don't know what sort of trickery you used to cause me to feel the way that I did before, but I won't fall for it again."

His body erupted in a terrifying hue of green. Glaring in White Reaper's direction, the muscles of his body doubled in size as his aura started to cover the whole arena.

He was going all out from the get-go.

"Yeah!"

"Fuck him up!"

"So he was using a trick! I knew something was up."

Skull Crusher's sudden actions reinvigorated the crowd as they stood up from their seats and cheered even more loudly.

Lowering his head, the human smirked.

"It's useless."

Taking another step forward, the dull color in his eyes darkened ever so slightly and the pressure Skull Crusher felt intensified immensely. His body felt as if it was being burdened by a huge mountain before, but now, it felt as if several mountains were pressing on him simultaneously.

He couldn't move.

"Ukah..!"

Holding onto his breath, Skull Crusher's face started to bleach as he struggled to lift a finger.

"W...what's this?"

He muttered in an incredulous tone.

Tok.

The calm sound of a footstep once again rang throughout the whole arena. Out of pure instinct, Skull Crusher took a step back.

"Huh?"

It was then that it happened. Right as he took a step back, he suddenly felt something hard and his vision lowered.

Thump—!

With a soft thump, he found himself on the ground. The noise coming from the crowd once again stopped.

"Eh..."

Confused he looked around him.

It was then that he noticed it. As he sat on the ground, every spectator in the stand was watching him intently.

He felt thousands upon thousands of eyes looking down on him from above. There was a clear judgmental look on their faces as their eyes were filled with ridicule and disgust.

"What the..."

A sudden dimming of his vision prevented him from finishing his sentence as a hand grasped his face.

"Sleep tightly."

Those were the last words he heard before his consciousness slipped.

Chapter 514: Emperor rank [4]

On one of the upper platforms overlooking the matches, a heavy, somber atmosphere prevailed.

SilverMoon stared at Skull Crusher who was passed out on the ground without saying a word. She was not aware of Skull Crusher's current condition, and quite frankly, she didn't care.

He had lost, and that was all that mattered to her. Regardless of whether he had died or not, she was no longer interested in it.

"Trash..."

She uttered in disgust.

The match itself had already ruined her mood. As a result, she decided to leave the room as she no longer felt the need to stay there.

Before leaving the room, she took one last glance at the arena below before murmuring.

'Petty tricks.'

Clank—!

The door closed shut and she disappeared.

As for the other top rankers in the room, they had mixed reactions.

While their reactions to the white-haired figure below were not as strong as SilverMoon's, they were still startled by what they had seen. Their eyes were now mixed with fear and apprehension.

For him to have beaten Skull Crusher so easily, they themselves couldn't do it.

It now became clear to them that whoever this newbie was, he was above their level.

Well, almost everyone.

"Hm? Has the fight ended?"

A lazy and groggy voice echoed out on the platform.

Blinking a couple of times, Lightning Dragon lifted his head to view the arena below. The loud cheers had woken him up from his nap.

"Huaam."

Yawning out loud, he lazily asked.

"Who won?"

"...Your fellow human member."

A deep voice answered his question. The voice belonged to an orc, and he was currently ranked fourth in the rankings.

Compared to Skull Crusher, he was shorter, but despite his height, he emitted an even more powerful aura compared to Skull Crusher.

"Human?"

Taking a closer look at the action below, Lighting Dragon squinted his eyes.

His gaze lingered on the white-haired figure in the midst of the arena grounds for a little over a couple of seconds.

"He looks familiar."

He muttered in a loud voice.

Upon hearing his words, everyone turned to look at one another.

In the past, his words would have seemed odd to them, but now that they were used to him, they didn't think too much of it.

To them, was someone that had a terrible memory.

Sort of.

His lack of memory was more indicative of a lack of care. His memory of everyone else present in the room was limited to the current emperor, and no one else.

The only people he remembered were those who were worth remembering, and it was clear to them that they weren't worth remembering. The same could be said for the white-haired figure below as Lightning Dragon still seemed to be unable to remember him.

"Yes, he's won."

The orc from before replied. His eyes flickered coldly as he looked at the human on the sofa. However, he didn't dare to move.

In his mind, there was no doubt that the human in front of him was frightening, and that he stood no chance against him. Even then, his attitude irritated him to no end.

For someone as prideful as him to be treated as nothing but air...

Crack.

The air rang with a cracking sound as he clenched his fist tightly.

"Huaaam …"

Taking a moment to cover his mouth with his hand, Lightning Dragon leaned back against the sofa, completely unaware of the orcs' thoughts.

"That's good for him…"

He then reached out for a long blue sheath in which a sword rested inside and grasped it with his left hand. Pulling it closer to his body, he closed his eyes.

"So tired."

Smacking his lips, he weakly muttered.

"Don't wake me up until the Emperor match starts."

As soon as he finished speaking, he immediately fell asleep.

The room quieted down.

***

To Tok—

"Come in."

Upon entering a room that looked familiar, SilverMoon lowered her head. In secret, she glanced toward the center of the room where a shirtless man with long silver hair stood.

The current Emperor, SilverStar.

The person that stood at the peak of the Duke bracket, and someone whom she served.

Taking a closer look at him to make sure that everything was alright, only then did she finally lower her head.

"Are you ready for your upcoming match?"

She asked. In spite of the fact that her voice sounded normal, it was tinged with anger.

This was naturally picked up by the figure standing in the middle of the room.

"Is there something up with you?"

He asked in a rather soft tone. Lifting her head, SilverMoon's tightly furrowed brows relaxed a little.

She eventually sighed.

"It's nothing big. Remember the human that rejected our offer?"

"…What about him?"

"He beat Skull Crusher. And it wasn't just a simple victory, but he completely won without even lifting a finger."

Her teeth clenched as she thought back to the fight.

'How dare you challenge our authority.'

"Without lifting a finger?"

Surprise flashed across SilverStar's face. But it came as fast as it left.

Glancing at SilverMoon, he slowly walked up to her.

To Tok.

The calm and steady sound of his footsteps echoed throughout the room.

Taking a moment to caress her cheek, he halted his steps in front of her. His thumb traced down the long scar that traced down her face, resulting in a faint blush to appear on her cheeks.

As he watched this, he smiled faintly.

"...It doesn't matter."

"What do you mean it doesn't matter? He's directly challenging your authority."

SilverMoon protested, but the Emperor shook his head.

"You know very well that my next match is against the Emperor of the King bracket, right?"

"Yes, I know."

SilverMoon nodded her head. This realization sent her heart racing.

Just a few minutes from now, the current Emperor, SilverStar, would go against the King bracket Emperor, DeathBringer.

Who would face off against the Overlord would be decided in this match.

Once he was able to beat him, he would finally be able to fight against the current Overlord. The only obstacle stopping him from reaching freedom.

"Ignore the human for now."

SilverStar took his hand away from her cheek. Her face was filled with reluctance when he did so, but she kept her tone calm.

"I understand. But are you really going to let him go like that?"

"No."

He replied.

Before he continued, his attention turned toward an ornate wooden closet not so far from where he was, where a white shirt was hanging. Walking up to it, he took the shirt out and put it on.

"There are many things that I have to attend to at the moment. So what if he managed to beat Skull Crusher? I can do that too. My real worry is the other human."

"You mean Lightning Dragon?"

"...Yes."

Buttoning the top part of his shirt, his eyes flashed coldly.

"As for that human, I will see how he will be able to run rampant like that once I become the Overlord."

"...Will you really be alright?"

SilverMoon asked. Worry returned to her voice.

Turning around, SilverStar smirked.

"You don't have to worry about me winning. That's a guarantee. I am absolute."

***

"I'm curious about something."

As I returned to my cell, I glanced at my other self and our eyes met. The look on his face suggested that he already knew what I was going to ask.

Regardless, I still asked.

"For how long can you have a tangible form?"

It had occurred to me a while ago, but sometimes my other self could manifest physically. Having always thought he was some sort of vision, I was somewhat surprised by this revelation.

I was quick to adjust though. Coming to terms with this fact, I decided to just accept it and use it to my advantage.

Just like what had currently just happened.

"About ten minutes."

My other self replied to my question. Looking back at him, I nodded.

"I see."

After closing my eyes and contemplating for a while, I had a sudden thought. Opening my eyes again, I asked.

"How far can you be from me?"

"...Not much."

"Around?"

"About five meters."

"I see."

This could serve as good information for me. Definitely planned to keep this in mind.

"What—"

"Enough about that, what are you planning to do next?"

In the middle of asking another question, my other self cut me off. Opening my mouth, I eventually shook my head.

'It isn't worth it.'

"I'm going to challenge the Emperor."

I eventually replied.

The only thing standing in my way in order to get to Amanda's father, the current Overlord was the Emperor.

The faster I got rid of him, the better things were for me.

"Although I know he'll be a tough opponent, I haven't gone all out myself yet."

"...You think so?"

I tilted my head while sitting up straight on my bed.

'That look...he definitely knows something.'

My eyes proceeded to squint tightly.

"You definitely know something. Spit it out. Tell me what I need to know."

"Heh."

My other self smiled slightly.

He murmured as he glanced at the door of the room.

"The current Emperor should be the least of your worries."

"...What are you talking about?"

I stood up from the bed. I could tell that he was about to say something important. And I wasn't wrong.

As he turned his head, he casually said.

"Lightning Dragon. He is someone who might even be stronger than the current you in the bracket. If you have to worry about anyone, it would be him."

"...What?"

Utmost seriousness flashed across my face as I stared at my other self.

"Might be even stronger than me?"

Although I never once thought that there weren't people stronger than me, it still came as a surprise for me to find someone this strong in the Duke rank bracket.

Taking a deep breath, I was able to calm myself down rather quickly.

"Why are you telling me this now?"

This was the first time that he had mentioned him ever since I had arrived here.

For what reason did he only tell me this piece of news now?

"The reason is simple."

Slowly, he turned his head to glance my way.

"It's because he is the key to helping you get out of this place."

Chapter 515: Emperor rank [5]

While everyone focused on the empty grounds below, the crowd cheered raucously throughout the arena.

Everyone's attention was focused on a certain demoness as she stood in the middle of the arena with a bright smile on her face.

Opening her mouth, she emitted a sweet, seductive voice that filled the arena.

[For today's match on our left side we have DeathBringer, the current Emperor of the King bracket.]

As she spoke, the gate on the left side opened, and a demon appeared from the other side of the arena.

Seeing bat wings splayed across his back and a frame so enormous that it even put some orcs to shame, the crowd became even more enthralled.

"Kill!"

"Destroy that elf!"

"You better make me something you traitor!"

As he stopped in the middle of the arena, he did not bother to look at the crowd. Despite being a demon, he had no sense of attachment toward them. Rather, he despised them with all his being.

As he lowered his head to examine his right hand, his eyes lingered on a small black bracelet.

'Suppressor.'

It was an artifact created by demons that suppressed the wearer's rank. He had no choice but to wear it since the fight was between two Emperor ranks of different brackets.

The more he stared at the bracelet, the bigger the scowl on his face became.

"How fucking dare they..."

Flap—

He flapped his wings once, casting a huge shadow on the ground. An evident display of might by him.

In response to his readiness, the demoness reached across the arena with her right hand. There was an air of excitement in the crowd as her sweet voice swept through the air.

[And on our right side we have SilverStar, the current Emperor of the Duke bracket, and the challenger!.]

Slowly, the gates on the right began to rise. Unlike DeathBringer, SilverStar was met with a lot of hostility.

"Die you eleven scum!"

"I can't wait for you to die!"

"You better die, I bet a lot of money on you."

This was to be expected. Given their pride, the demons would still rather support someone from their own race over someone from another race, regardless of whether that person was a prisoner of war or had committed a hideous crime like ingesting another demon's core.

As SilverStar walked slowly toward the center of the arena, he ignored the noise from the crowd. At this moment, the only thing that was in his mind was his opponent.

DeathBringer.

As soon as he was a few meters away from DeathBringer, his feet stopped. As he stood at the opposite end of DeathBringer, everyone could see their differences in size.

It felt as though an ant was fighting up against a large monster. Their difference was incomparable.

While those who bet on SilverStar regretted their decision, those who bet on DeathBringer secretly rejoiced. The difference in size was enough for most people to feel more secure about their choices.

[Are you two ready?]

In that moment, the voice of the demoness was heard. The arena grounds instantly became intense as everyone stopped speaking for a moment.

"Yes."

"…Yes."

The two contestants answered at the same time. A satisfied smile spread across the demoness' face as she raised her hand and lowered it.

[You may begin!]

In the aftermath of her words, the crowd became even more heated and shouted even louder.

"Yes!"

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Crack! Crack!

As the two figures scrutinized one another closely, cracks began to appear beneath their feet.

Both figures soon disappeared from their spot.

Booom—!

As the two figures disappeared and reappeared in front of each other, an explosive sound echoed throughout the arena. Their figures soon reappeared in the middle of the arena, and everyone was able to catch a glimpse of them.

As he sought SilverStar, the demon extended his arm in a clawed movement, directly aiming for his head. His attack was fast and fiercesome, leaving little time for SilverStar to react.

Even then, SilverStar was not an Emperor for nothing.

Raising his hand his wand pointed at the claw, and several magic circles formed at the tips of each nail, stopping them in place.

Well, at least for a couple of seconds as cracks soon started to form on the magic circles.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

Despite being able to deflect the attack, the circle's power was not sufficient to stop the claw from reaching SilverStar's head, as they broke apart and continued to head for SilverStar's head.

DeathBringer, however, had lost most of the momentum by the time this had happened, so SilverStar only had to tilt his head to dodge the attack.

And that was exactly what he did.

Swooosh—!

Avoiding the attack, SilverStar pushed his body back as a breeze blew and his hair scattered. With a simple wave of his hand, his hair tied back together behind his back.

Raising his wand, he aimed it at the demon. A large magic circle formed at the tip of the staff.

With an elegant tap of his staff, he muttered.

"Here."

His voice led to the magic circle transforming into a blue transparent energy beam that headed toward DeathBringer.

Staring at the incoming attack, DeathBringer snorted.

"Hmph."

Fully expanding his wing, a majestic black hue began to form out his body. The entire arena started to tremble.

His hand was then squeezed into a fist, and the beam headed toward him was directly dispersed in the air, much to the audience's surprise.

Dealing with SilverStar's attack, he quickly followed up with his own attack. Raising his hand that was clenched into a fist, he squeezed his back muscles and proceeded to throw a casual punch in SilverStar's direction.

Well, that was at least how it looked to the crowd. The opposite could be said for SilverStar who stared at it with an incredibly solemn look.

The punch that DeathBringer threw was anything but casual, and only SilverStar could sense the strength underlying it.

With his hand raised, three magic circles materialized next to him, forming a large shield around him. The punch soon came into contact with the attack.

Bang—!

With an enormous explosive sound, the shield started to ripple as SilverStar's gaze turned firm.

Crack.

Cracks slowly started to form on the outer shield. Trying to supplement the depleting mana of the shield with his own mana, SilverStar furrowed his brows tightly.

Crack.

Even then, the cracks continued to form on the shield. It wasn't long before a glass-shattering sound echoed out, and the first shield broke into pieces.

"Kh..."

With a weak groan, SilverStar took a step back and blood started to seep down his nose.

Gritting his teeth, he continued to persevere.

Crash—!

The second barrier collapsed, causing SilverStar's face to pale significantly.

But it was enough as a smile soon formed on his lips.

That was because after the second barrier collapsed, the attack finally ceased, leaving behind one last barrier. As SilverStar glanced at DeathBringer, he could hear the spectators' loud chants.

When SilverStar turned his head to look at the crowd, he could feel their malice-filled eyes and words wishing him nothing but death.

He was honestly sick of it.

This useless game where he had to fight other people for the sake of the demon's entertainment had become too much for him to stomach. It took all his willpower to keep a straight face.

Just the thought made him clench his teeth tightly. However, his anger disappeared as fast as it appeared. Taking a deep breath, he calmed down.

Raising his head he glanced toward one of the platforms. After a while, a soft smile appeared on his lips.

'I should start now.'

He raised the tip of his wand and a magic circle formed in front of him. In the meantime, DeathBringer had already rushed in his direction and was only a couple of meters away from him.

It was then that something happened.

The demonic energy that was emanating from DeathBringer's body suddenly halted, and a horrified look appeared on his face as he clenched his left hand.

This happened so fast that no one was able to notice it. But it was enough time for SilverStar who slowly smirked.

"Goodbye."

He muttered before Deathbringer's figure was enveloped by his spell. All the demons in the stand stopped moving and looked at one another as a bright wave of energy shot across the arena.

***

A moment after SilverStar released the spell, Lightning Dragon snapped his eyes open. His attention quickly turned toward the arena grounds below and he paused to observe DeathBringer. More specifically, the bracelet that was resting in his hand.

"Hmmm..."

As his eyes lingered on the bracelet that rested on Deathbringer, his eyes flashed in a certain hue before they returned to their regular yellow color.

"I see..."

He muttered as he turned his head to gaze in a certain direction. To be more precise, toward a specific platform in the distance.

His languid and lazy eyes sharpened for a brief moment.

Turning his attention back toward the arena, Lightning Dragon saw SilverStar standing in the middle of the arena with a cold look. On the ground opposite him was a simple bracelet, nothing else.

It was clear that in that short moment he had turned to look away, the battle had ended.

After a brief moment of silence, one by one the demons started to protest as they all found the situation ridiculous.

"Whhhaaa! What is this bullshit!"

"He cheated!"

"I will kill you!"

They weren't angered by SilverStar's performance, but rather, at how easily he had beaten the Emperor-rank contender of the King bracket.

What kind of sick joke was this?

For him to completely obliterate DeathBringer, the current Emperor rank of the King bracket, not everyone could accept such a result.

Lightning Dragon took a few minutes to contemplate the chaos before shrugging his shoulders.

"Meh."

Picking up the sword, he sat back on the sofa and closed his eyes. But just as he was about to sleep, he raised his head and glanced at a familiar figure, one that he couldn't quite remember the name of.

He only remembered the name of people whose names were worth remembering.

This character trait wasn't something that he did on purpose, but it was just the side-effect of his martial art.

"Hey."

Opening his mouth, his words instantly attracted everyone's attention.

Sensing his gaze pausing on her, SilverMoon stoically replied. But secretly, she was smirking to herself.

'Are you finally going to submit to us after seeing such a performance?'

"What is it?"

"Remind me again..."

Lowering his head to glance toward the arena, his eyes paused on the figure standing in the middle. Scratching his head, he furrowed his brows tightly.

"Who is he?"

***

Overlooking the arena from above, Duke Anozech lips twisted in a savage smile.

"What a wonderful performance."

"I'm glad it was to your liking."

Standing behind him was the same servant from before. His name was Keroch and he was a Marquis-ranked demon.

For the past few decades, he had been serving Duke Anozech as his right-hand man.

Everything that happened below was part of his arrangement.

Seeing the satisfied look on the Duke's face, Marquis Keroch felt satisfied.

Raising his head, he hesitated.

"Your excellency, regarding the Overlord match…"

"Proceed as we've arrangement."

Seemingly being able to read his thoughts, the Duke ordered.

Marquis Keroch lowered his head.

"As you wish your majesty. We will do as you have instructed."

Taking a bow, his figure disappeared from the spot, leaving the Duke by himself.

As he glanced at the arena below, the Duke's eyes remained fixed on SilverStar.

A figure popped into his mind, and he smiled.

"Time sure flies fast when you're surrounded by such fun…"

He then licked his lips.

"Sadly all fun must come to an end eventually. It's about time we switched the current Overlord."

Chapter 516: Edward Stern [1]

"He's going to be crucial for when we escape?"

My interest was immediately piqued when I heard his words.

In an attempt to quench my curiosity, I asked.

"Who exactly is he?"

But my other self simply shook his head.

"You will find out once you challenge him."

"Haaa..."

Closing my eyes, I let out a long sigh. As usual, he would always leave out the more important details for later.

What a terrible habit.

"...So I won't be fighting against the current emperor?"

"Not yet."

A narrow grin spread across my other self's face as he replied.

"If you were to fight him right now, you would only end up losing."

"Hmm...?"

Involuntarily, my brows furrowed as I tilted my head.

"You serious?"

"...Yeah."

Processing the information, my eyes closed.

'So another one who is stronger than me...'

Honestly, I was quite troubled by his apparent confidence in his prediction of my inevitable defeat against the present emperor.

It just didn't sit tight with me.

Was I just that competitive? Wasn't too sure.

"Huuu..."

With my eyes closed and letting out a short breath, I inquired about the current Emperor.

"For you to say what you said, the Emperor must be incredibly strong."

"...Sort of."

My other self replied.

In a tight brow furrow, I stared.

"Sort of? What do you mean?"

"He may be strong, but that isn't the reason why I am saying that you will lose against him if you two fought."

"...Continue."

Taking in more of what he was saying, my ears perked up. I had a feeling that his next words were going to be extremely important.

"The games are rigged. SilverStar, the current Emperor will be made the next Overlord in the next match."

"What?"

And I wasn't wrong as his follow up made my eyes shoot wide open.

"Hold on, what are you talking about? Doesn't Edward still have over thirty matches left before he gains freedom? Shouldn't he still be fine?"

"You're right."

My other self gave a short nod.

"But there are two main fundamental reasons for this action. The first reason you should already know."

"Yeah."

Edward still had over thirty matches left before he gained his 'freedom,' but to avoid making it appear rigged, he was purposely set to lose a bit before that.

Even then.

"Why this early?"

Regardless of how many matches he lost before hitting 100, I was fairly confident that nobody would find it strange.

So there must be another reason.

...and I didn't wait for long to know the answer.

"He's not far from breaking through to the next rank."

"...Huh?"

My head snapped in the direction of my other-self. Pricking my ears with my fingers to make sure I didn't hear incorrectly, I asked again.

"What did you say? Can you repeat that?"

"No."

But my other self just shook his head.

I shrugged my shoulders.

"...Whatever."

I had only asked because I wasn't sure I had heard wrongly. That didn't seem to be the case.

Massaging my forehead, I took a deep breath.

"I guess it makes more sense now."

Since the demons overlooking the place were both Dukes themselves, if Edward broke through, his strength would reach a similar level to theirs. This in itself was a threat to their authority, prompting them to act.

Scratching the bottom of my chin, I pondered out loud.

"So the reason why we created all that chaos before coming here was because we wanted to attract the attention of some of the upper echelon away from the arena. Correct?"

I glanced at my other self whose only reply was a brief glance.

But that was enough.

"If that's the case, it makes more sense for the current Duke to be rushing things..."

Clearly, the other Duke had left the territory based on the fact that the current Duke seemed to be rushing.

Had the two of them been together, Edward's rank up wouldn't have bothered them too much.

Since the entire city was now under the watchful eye of only one Duke-ranked demon, the appearance of someone of similar strength would put it at risk. Not only that but so would his life.

There was no way he would just sit by and watch something like this unfold. He was planning on having Edward killed before he ranked up.

In the midst of my pondering, I had a sudden thought.

"If they are so afraid of Edward, why not just kill him directly instead of making someone else do it?"

"...Do you even need to ask? Have you forgotten which clan we're in?"

My question was met with another question. Glancing at him for a second, I shook my head.

"Nevermind."

Right...

This was the pride clan. Of course, their pride wouldn't allow them to do that.

'Stupid.'

I thought as I clapped my hands together.

"Alright."

Taking a look at myself from the other side, I stretched my neck.

"I already have an idea of what I'm supposed to do."

Taking another glance in my direction, he disappeared from his spot without saying anything.

Having become accustomed to his actions, I tapped my bracelet and took out a piece of paper and a pen. Grasping the body of the pen tightly, I began writing on the paper.

The next few minutes flew by since I already knew what I wanted to write on the paper.

"...and done."

My tongue dipped out of my mouth as I put the pen away.

With the letter inside, I placed a couple of things in the small dimensional space the size of a small ball.

"This should be enough."

It wasn't until I was satisfied with what I had put in that I looked for the door and knocked.

'Thank god they didn't search me.'

To Tok—!

For a brief moment of time, I was met with no response. Fortunately, I did not have to wait for long as the door soon opened and a demon appeared opposite me.

My gaze was met by the demon's cold gaze. His croaky, brittle voice echoed in the air as he opened his mouth.

"What do you want?"

"...I would like to pay respect to the current Overlord."

"Ha?"

The Demon's face changed a little. In spite of this, he grumbled in a quiet whisper and nodded after some thought.

'This might be fun...'

My ears were able to pick up the whisper of his voice despite it being extremely quiet.

Though I was slightly apprehensive after hearing him speak, I decided to follow through with my plans anyway. As long as I managed to meet Edward, then everything was alright.

"Follow me."

"Okay."

Closing the door behind me, I followed the demon.

***

While staring at the ceiling of his room, Edward muttered something.

"How long has it been now?"

His eyes were out of focus, and his emotions were numb.

The four years he had spent in this hell hole were taking a toll on him.

But.

"Just a little bit more..."

He ended up muttering as he clenched his hands into a fist and a powerful aura erupted from his body.

The end was in sight.

There was only a little more struggle he had to endure before he could regain his freedom.

...Just a little bit more.

To Tok—!

A knock came on the door of his room and the aura coming out of his body dwindled quickly.

In an instant, Edward's face turned grim as he glanced at the door.

"What do you want?"

The echo of his deep voice filled the room.

An answer was provided after a while by a croaking voice. It was a voice Edward was all too familiar with. One that belonged to a demon.

"Someone is here to pay his respects."

"Send them back."

As he grimly replied, Edward wore a look of repulsion on his face.

This wasn't the first time that something like this had happened in the past. Due to his current position as the top dog in the arena, everyone wanted to curry favor with him, but he didn't pay any attention to them.

The fact that he knew better than to trust anyone here did not even compel him to glance at them or bother to listen to them.

The same could be said for the current situation.

But the demon behind the door seemed insistent.

"The person that wishes to meet you is a human."

"...a human?"

Edward paused for a moment.

Following a few moments of thought, he eventually shook his head.

"Send him away."

Humans weren't quite rare here. In fact, he had already seen multiple during his stay. It was initially his intention to meet them, but after a while, he knew better not to as they would come at him all vying to protect them or form some sort of alliance.

The only thing they wanted was for him to protect them, which was something he wasn't keen on doing.

His goal was not to babysit them but to gain freedom. Anything that would impede him from doing so was his enemy.

"Human says he has recently migrated from the human world to this one and asks for your advice."

Just then, Edward's head snapped upwards.

"Did you just say he came from the human world just recently?"

'Does that mean that he knows about the current situation with Amanda?'

While taking a few deep breaths to calm himself, his heartbeat unknowingly started to beat faster. Closing his eyes for a moment, he waved his hand.

"Let him in."

"As you wish."

Clank—!

It was a white-haired man with deep blue eyes who slowly emerged from behind the door as the demon's voice echoed through the space.

"I will be staying here to supervise the stay."

In a brief glance, Edward glanced at the demon before examining the white-haired figure.

The moment his eyes paused on the figure, Edward's brows twitched for a moment.

'He looks familiar.'

Though it had been quite a while since he had been in the human domain, he felt an odd sense of familiarity as he looked at the figure in front of him.

'Did I meet him somewhere before?'

He eventually shook his head and mumbled to himself.

"I don't think I'd forget someone that looks like him so easily..."

No matter how he tried to think, he couldn't quite recall where he had seen him.

White hair and deep blue eyes...

He would have remembered someone who looked like that had he met him in the past.

"Hello."

At that moment, the white-haired figure stopped and smiled at him.

"My name is White Reaper, and it is an honor to finally meet you. Mr. Overlord."

He then extended his hand in his direction.

Chapter 517: Edward Stern[2]

"Hmmm..."

Staring at the hand that reached out for him, Edward didn't immediately take it. Rather, he continued to carefully scrutinize the individual in front of him.

'He's not simple...'

That was the conclusion he came up with after carefully examining him.

As the Guildmaster of the first-ranked guild in the human domain, Edward had the ability to discern, with a glance, whether someone was more than what met the eye.

Raising his head, their eyes met.

"White Reaper, right?"

"...Yes, that's my name."

"What a peculiar name..."

Lowering his head, Edward's eyes paused on his extended hand.

At that moment, he was astonished to discover two small words written on his index finger.

[Play along]

Closing his eyes, Edward's face remained stoic. Although he was surprised, he knew better than to show his outer emotions. Taking his eyes away from the hand, he glanced at the individual in front of him.

Once their eyes met, the ends of the White Reaper's lips curled ever so slightly. Edward's head cocked slightly as he noted this.

'Alright, I'll play along...'

Was it perhaps because of the sense of familiarity he gave off? ...Or was it because of something else?

In the end, he decided to play along.

"...What do you want?"

There was a slight tremor in the room as he opened his mouth. He was acting as he normally did when someone tried to meet him.

Lowering his head to glance at his hand, he smacked it away. He then indifferently muttered.

Smack—!

"Be quick, I don't have much time."

"Ah...nothing special."

The smile on White Reaper's face stiffened a tad bit.

He then replaced it with a flattering one as he clasped his hands together.

"I...well, I just wanted to pay my respects to you."

"Respect?"

Edward's eyes squinted.

'What are you trying to get at?'

He couldn't quite understand what he was trying to get at. Regardless, he continued to act as he normally did.

Glancing at the demon waiting at the door, he ordered.

"Get him out of my sight."

"...Huh, what?"

White Reaper's face changed. Turning his head back to glance at the demon waiting at the door, he raised his hands.

"Hold on a second, I'm not done speaking."

Focusing his attention back toward Edward, he spoke in a rather rushed manner.

"Mr. Overlord, please hear me out."

There was clear panic on his face as he said those words. Of course, having seen what was written on his hand, Edward knew that he was acting.

'But what exactly is he trying to tell...ah'

It was then that he finally saw it. It disappeared as fast as it came, but Edward was able to see it.

A small black ball that was resting in the middle of his tongue.

'Is that a dimensional space?'

Taking note of the black ball, Edward already seemed to get an idea of what the individual wanted him to do.

"Did you not hear me?"

Edward pressed his hand in a downward motion.

A terrifying pressure pressed against White Reaper's body as Edward channeled his mana into the air, forcing him to fall to his knees.

Thud—!

Edward grimly glanced down at White Reaper who was lying on the ground.

"Did you not hear what I just said?"

"Ukh..."

Pressing his right hand on the ground, White Reaper forcefully raised his heaad to stare at Edward. There was clear hatred in his eyes as he stared at him.

Opening his mouth, he spoke through his gnashed teeth.

"You...I'm a human. Shouldn't you be helping me?"

"I should help you because you're a human?"

Edward scoffed and bent down until his eyes stood at the same level as White Reaper. Bringing his head closer, he softly muttered.

"Let me give you a reality check. Had you not been human, you would've already found yourself clo—!"

"Spu!"

In the midst of completing his sentence, White Reaper spat on his face.

Edward was quick to react. Right as White Reaper was about to spit, Edward noticed the movement of his jaw and brought his hand forward and blocked his mouth, stopping the spit from reaching his head.

As Edward secretly grasped the black ball that was hidden in the spit, he glared at White Reaper.

"You..."

He raised his hand and slapped White Reaper in the face. The movement was so fast that White Reaper was unable to react on time.

Bang—!

With a powerful crashing sound, White Reaper was sent crashing against the wall.

"Uaakkh!"

Letting out a pained groan, White Reapers' body slowly slid toward the ground.

"Take him away."

Edward ordered as he turned his body and no longer looked back at White Reaper.

"Keke."

Letting out a chuckle, the demon helped White Reaper up and dragged his body up. It had to be noted that, it was only after the conflict was over that the demon moved into action.

Clearly, he was expecting such a scene to occur from the very beginning.

"You bastard!"

On his way out, Edward could hear White Reaper's enraged shout.

"Mark my words, as soon as I become the next Emperor, I'll fucking kill you. I'll fucking kill you!"

But his words went deaf ears as Edward continued to ignore him.

Clank—!

The door eventually closed and silence returned to the room. Instead of immediately checking out the contents of the dimensional space, Edward put the orb away and continued to meditate in the middle of the room.

That said.

Right before putting the orb away, he was able to check what was inside of the dimensional space.

What he found was a piece of paper and a couple of other things...

Even though he wanted to check the contents immediately, he stopped himself from doing so.

There was no doubt in his mind that every move he made was being closely monitored by the demons.

Therefore, the only thing he could do was be patient.

***

"Akh, that hurt."

Dumped back into my room, I massaged my shoulder as I leaned my back against the wall.

"...Ugh, although I wanted him to hit me, he should've held back a bit."

Taking out a potion, I quickly ingested it. The pain in my shoulder slowly subsided.

"Haa..."

Letting out a relieved sigh, I stared at the ceiling of the room.

"If everything works out correctly, we should be able to escape soon, right?"

"Yes."

A voice answered as a figure appeared at the other end of the room.

"If Edward heeds your words, you will be able to escape soon."

Leaning my head against the wall, I muttered.

"Nice..."

I wanted nothing more than to get out of this place as fast as possible.

Taking my eyes away from the ceiling of the room, I recalled something.

"Hm, now that I think about it, shouldn't I be given a new room?"

Now that I had beaten Skull Crusher, I had rightfully become a top ten contender.

This meant that I would soon get a new room. One that was bigger and more comfortable than this room.

Kind of wanted it.

Massaging my chin, my eyes turned into narrow slits.

"There's only one problem..."

And that was the fact that the room was probably going to be monitored by the demons.

My brows furrowed at the thought.

"...I guess I should finish all my preparations now."

Standing up from my bed, I stretched my back and immediately got to work.

I had to make the most of my time if I wanted to escape within the next week.

***

At the same time.

Throughout a large office space, an amused voice echoed.

"Something like that happened?"

"Yes, your excellency."

Duke Anozech drummed his long and slender fingers on his desk while holding his hand over his mouth to hide the smile on his face.

"...What an interesting development."

He murmured after a while. With one knee to the ground, his servant noticed the Duke's interest and asked.

"Is there anything you would like me to do, your excellency?"

Duke Anozech glanced at his servant before responding.

"...Monitor him closely. In the off-chance that something goes wrong in the next match, we can make use of him to get rid of the current Overlord."

"As you wish."

The servant's figure slowly merged in the shadows as he placed his hand over his chest.

Silence returned to the room.

With his gaze lingering on the spot where his servant left, Duke Anozech took a deep breath.

A cold light flashed in his eyes when he opened them again.

"...This might be even better than I thought."

***

To Tok—!

Overhearing a loud knock at his door, Edward raised his head.

"What is it?"

"....Your match will begin in two hours."

Answering him was the demon that guarded the entrance to his room.

"Understood."

Replying to the demon, Edward calmly walked to his desk and sat down. He then took out a piece of paper from his dimensional space.

'I should have no problems looking at this now...'

Four days had passed since White Reaper's visit, and during those days, Edward had not once touched the things that were inside of the dimensional space that was given to him.

It was simply too risky to do it in an area that was most likely monitored.

Since then, he had been sitting down at his desk every day and picking up a piece of paper to write on.

In order to make the real paper look less suspicious, he decided to use this method. Taking a deep breath, he secretly took out the piece of paper from his dimensional space and placed it on the desk.

'Let's see what your intentions are...'

He could finally see what White Reaper was trying to tell him.

To : Edward Stern.

The moment Edward's eyes stopped on the first sentence of the letter, his hands shook and he almost lost his cool.

If not for his tough mentality, his face would've already changed.

Calming his unevenly beating heart, he proceeded to read the message.

You probably don't remember me, but we've met once before. Back then, my hair wasn't exactly white so that probably explains the reason why you didn't recognize me.

But that isn't really important at the moment.

The reason why I'm contacting you like this is simple. It's because I have to tell you something really important.

Your next match is rigged.

Pausing, Edward's brows furrowed tightly.

'Rigged? ...What is he talking about?'

He continued to read the letter.

I know what I'm saying sounds strange, but the competition is rigged. It doesn't matter how many matches you win, you won't be free again.

The demons use this strategy to make the 'show' more thrilling by making you fight with everything on the line. After all, who doesn't want freedom?

Anyhow.

During your next match, the demons intend to get rid of you by rigging the device that suppresses your rank. It will only be for a brief moment, but they will stop your mana flow to create an opening for your opponent.

Clenching his teeth, Edward tried his best to suppress his boiling rage that was threatening to come out any second now.

'...I should've known better.'

Clenching his teeth even harder, he continued to read the letter.

If you trust me, I will help you escape.

You may not know, but I know your daughter quite well. Furthermore, when I said that we've met before, that wasn't a lie.

Remember the proposal with the magic cards system?

...That was me.

'...Huh?'

Re-reading the sentence again, Edward had a hard time processing the information.

'How is this possible?'

From the moment the 'Magic cards' were mentioned, Edward had already figured out who White Reaper was, but it was exactly because he knew who he was that he was having a hard time grasping the information.

Ren Dover.

That was the name of the youth that had presented him with the Magic Cards concept a couple of years ago.

He had set quite a positive impression in his mind back then.

But that was all that impression amounted to. After all, he had met many such talented youths in the past.

As far as he was concerned, he was just a dime of a dozen.

But...

'...What happened to him?'

How did he become so strong in such little time? Last he recalled, he was nowhere near what it was now.

In just four years, he managed to climb all the way to where he was now? A rank that was near his?

Wasn't that a little bit too frightening?

Lowering his head, he continued to read the letter.

The reason why I'm telling you my identity is to make you trust me more.

I know that you have a lot of questions, but we don't really have the time. All I can say is that I can help you meet Amanda again.

All you have to do is follow my instructions...

And so...

For the last remaining time before his match, Edward carefully scrutinized the letter in his hand.

Chapter 518: Edward Stern [3]

Clank—!

A clamping sound echoed out when the two ends of the suppressor were connected together.

"Done."

Taking a step back, a Marquis-ranked demon carefully examined Edward. Currently, he was checking to see if the suppressor was working or not.

After observing him for a bit, he noted an evident decrease in pressure his body was giving out.

"It's working…"

This was a clear indication that the suppressor had worked.

Having achieved Edward's rank suppression, the demon walked away with a satisfied smile on his face, leaving Edward standing alone by the gateway leading to the area.

A couple of more words made their way through his mouth before he left.

"You know the procedure. Once your name is called up and the gates open, you go fight."

"Mhm."

With a slight nod, Edward turned to glance at the bracelet on his wrist.

"How odd…"

Clenching and unclenching his fist, it took him a bit to get used to the sensation of his strength dropping.

While this was not his first experience of having his rank suppressed, it still felt quite odd to him.

'I don't think I'll ever get used to this feeling.'

"Huuuu…"

Taking his eyes away from his bracelet, his focus shifted to the gate in the distance. The one that led to the arena.

Pricking his ears up, he could feel the loud cheers of the crowd.

As Edward breathed in deeply, his eyes flashed with a dangerous light as he thought back to his plan. Relaxing his clenched hand, he softly mumbled.

"...I'm ready."

***

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the arena, two figures stood apart.

An anxious voice echoed out. The voice belonged to none other than SilverMoon who looked at SilverStar with a worried look on her face.

"How sure are you that you will win this match?"

"Very sure."

SilverStar replied with a confident smile on his face.

While he knew he was up against a very strong opponent, he grew more confident as he felt the small device in his hand.

With the demons backing him up, he knew that he couldn't lose.

In a soothing tone, he fluttered his long silver eyelashes.

"Don't worry. There's no way I will lose."

"…But we still don't know much about our opponent."

"It doesn't matter."

SilverStar quickly interjected as he looked at SilverMoon.

"So what if we've never seen all of his skills? …My trump card is far stronger than any skill he can bring."

A device that could cut Edward's mana flow for a brief moment of time. What better reassurance could he have other than this?

With such a device in his hands, SilveStar felt his victory guaranteed.

Biting her lips, SilverMoon slowly nodded her head.

"…okay."

With a gentle stroke, SilverStar reassured her once more.

"Don't worry too much. It might look like I'm struggling at the beginning of the match, but that will be on purpose."

It was inevitable that he would need to start slowly in order to make the fight appear less rigged. If he won right off the bat, the spectators would clearly be able to tell that the match was rigged.

Despite this small handicap, SilverStar was confident in holding out in the beginning.

The Overlord may be strong, but so was he.

"King bracket Emperor, your match is about to begin."

It was then that a demon called out for him. Caressing SilverMoon's head one more time, a soft smile appeared on SilverStar's face.

"…Trust me, I will get the both of us out of this shithole."

***

[The match that everyone one of you has been waiting for is finally about to start!]

Winking at the audience, a slim figure appeared in the middle of the arena. In the vast arena, her sweet and seductive voice could be heard resonating throughout.

[Let's welcome the challenger to today's event, the Emperor of the Duke bracket, and the winner of the previous bout between him and the Emperor of the King bracket, Emperor SilverStar!]

Clank. Clank. Clank.

As the gates on the left side of the arena slowly pushed up, the rattling sound of chains being pulled echoed throughout the arena grounds.

Emerging from the other side of the arena was an elegant figure with long silver hair and a beautiful face that was devoid of any imperfections.

Entering the arena, the crowd instantly erupted into cheers.

"SilverStar!"

"Emperor!"

"Beat him!"

Ignoring the cheers, SilverStar walked steadily toward the center of the arena. The lofty way he carried himself as he walked toward the center of the arena gave the impression that he was arrogant as if he thought he was above those around him.

Upon stopping his feet, the demoness extended her hand toward the other side of the arena.

All forms of noise within the arena stopped. The demoness secretly smiled when she noticed this.

This was just how influential an Overlord was.

[On our right side, a figure who has climbed the ranks from the very bottom of the food chain to prove many of us wrong! He is someone everyone in this room knows and who, regardless of the circumstance, managed to triumph against his opponent. Please welcome the current Overlord, The Blood Prince!]

Clank. Clank. Clank.

Her words led the gates on the other side of the arena to slowly open, and an obscure figure appeared on the other side.

A haggard but handsome face, broad shoulders, and a presence that engulfed the whole arena.

Blood Prince, the current Overlord had finally taken a step into the arena grounds.

The arena instantly became tense.

Tok. Tok.

As everyone stared in his direction without saying a word, the steady sound of his footsteps resonated heavily in their ears.

Like clockwork, Edward's every step seemed to remind the audience of how little time SilverStar had left before his untimely death.

Tik. Tok. Tik. Tok.

Stopping right in front of SilverStar, Edward's gaze paused on him, and a stare-down ensued between the two of them as their eyes met.

In the end, the inevitable loser ended up being SilverStar who was unable to bear the pressure coming out of Edward's body, resulting in him lowering his head in defeat.

"Khhhh..."

Edward glanced at the bracelet on his wrist briefly as he turned his gaze away from SilverStar.

'I will make this quick…'

[Are you two ready?]

Once again, the demoness's voice echoed throughout the arena.

"Yes."

"…Yes."

Edward nodded first, followed by SilverStar who looked at him with a challenging look.

Edward promptly ignored it and took a couple of steps back. As soon as he got into position, he turned his attention to SilverStar, who was now standing leisurely on the opposite side of the arena.

SilverStar's relaxed and casual attitude made Edward even more apprehensive as he started to secretly channel all the mana inside of his body.

Extending his right hand to the side, a splendid long spear adorned with a few cores alongside the shaft of the spear appeared in his hands.

A bloodthirsty aura emanated from the spear, causing some of the weaker demons in the stand to tremble.

BloodBorne.

An <S> rank artifact that belonged to Edward and had accompanied him throughout his whole life.

Had it not been for this spear, he would've most likely not made it as far as he had. While he wasn't one to complain, he was surprised that they allowed him to fight with it, since it proved to be an extremely powerful weapon.

Suddenly, the demoness's voice echoed across the arena as she lowered her hand, marking the beginning of the fight.

[You may begin!]

Immediately after her words fell, Edward's mana that had been suppressed all the way down to <A+> rank sprung out of his body and enveloped the entire arena. Closing his eyes, he muttered under his breath.

"Come."

After the air's mana shrank, it accosted his spear, resulting in a long blood-red spear that was more than twice the size of the original. In addition, the strength emanating from it was far more compact and powerful than before.

It felt as though he was holding a completely different spear. Not only that, at the same time the mana agglomerated toward his spear, he proceeded to activate all of his skills at once.

[[B] Hyperflux]

For a short period of time following activation, the user will experience an increase in mana circulation.

[[B] SensoryEnhancement]

Upon activation, the user will find their senses enhanced to their utmost limits.

[[S] BloodExpulsion]

Upon activation, the user can target an individual and freeze their blood flow, impairing their mobility for a brief period of time.

There was no chance for anyone to react to the subsequent events, as everything happened so fast that time stood still.

WIIIING—! WIIIING—!

SilverStar's face changed dramatically as he felt his blood turn cold as thin white threads sprang from the ground and stabbed into his calves like sharp needles. The pain was negligent, but the effects were disastrous.

"Huh?!"

Once the threads entered SilverStar's body and his blood froze, Edward finally took a step forward. Grasping his spear with both hands, he thrust forward, veins bulging by the side of his head.

The thrust was neither too fast nor too slow.

The spear thrust only looked like a regular spear thrust, but all the spectators looked at the spear as though they were in a trance. They simply couldn't take their eyes away from it.

Each time they blinked, they would catch a glimpse of a blood-colored dragon entangling itself on the spear's body. When the dragon opened its jaws wide, exposing its sharp teeth, a sense of majesty emanated from the spear.

What happened next made the jaws of some of the spectators drop as a thunderous roar reverberated throughout the whole arena.

Roar—!

At the precise moment the dragon roared, a massive red wave of energy rushed toward SilverStar like an unstoppable tsunami.

Trying to raise his legs that were bound by the white threads, SilverStar clenched his teeth and screamed.

"Not like this! Not like this!"

His eyes became crazier and crazier with each second that passed.

Trying to clench his fist, he tried to use the device that was given to him by Duke Anozech, but it ended up being a futile effort. He was unable to move his body.

"No! No! No!!!"

Despite his struggle against the white threads that were blocking him from moving, his fight proved futile as the wave soon arrived and it rapidly engulfed his entire body, obliterating every trace of his existence.

"Haaaaa!!!"

At the last moment, just before his figure disappeared, everyone in the stands was able to pick up his anguished-filled scream.

Booom—!

Another thunderous explosion resonated throughout the arenas.

Rumble—! Rumble—!

As dust rose in the air, the whole arena began to shake as the attack collided with the side of the arena.

A while passed before the dust settled, and at that moment, the spectators dared not utter a word as they focused their attention on the arena's center.

It was at this point that everyone caught sight of Edward's imposing figure standing in the middle of the arena holding onto his spear.

Unknowingly, the spectators' gazes were drawn to him due to the majestic presence his body was giving out.

Across from him was a long scar extending to the other end of the arena as cracks curved along its sides.

Thump—!

Amidst the silence, rubble slowly fell down to the ground.

Reappearing in the middle of the arena, the demoness had a shocked expression on her face. Opening her mouth, she stuttered for a bit as she struggled to find the right words to say.

It was clear that she was still shaken by what had happened.

[A…and, the winn-er of today's march is…and still the Overlord of the arena! Overlord WorldBreaker!]

Her words marked the end of the match, and it was from there that the cheers finally returned.

"Whaaa!"

"BloodPrince!"

"Overlord!"

Chapter 519: Lightning Dragon [1]

"...This was out of my expectations."

Duke Anozech's face was tinged with solemnity as he gazed at the arena from one of the platforms.

Pondering over the events that had just transpired, his brows furrowed tightly.

"How odd..."

"What's odd about the situation, your excellency?"

Appearing from behind was his servant.

Without looking back, Duke Anozech replied.

"Have you ever seen the Blood Prince go all out from the beginning?"

Musing for a moment, the servant shook his head.

"No, it has never happened before."

"That's right, it has never happened before."

There had never been a time when the Blood Prince had started from the very beginning with such vigor.

To gauge his opponent's strength, he tended to always start slowly before ending it.

"Furthermore, he displayed several skills that he had never demonstrated before. Isn't the situation odd?"

"...It's as you say, your excellency."

As he listened to the Duke's reasoning, the servant became increasingly curious about the situation.

"Have there been any strange movements from the Blood Prince the last few days?"

Pondering for a moment, the servant shook his head.

"There haven't."

"Nothing at all?"

"...Hmm."

Lowering his head, the servant suddenly thought of something.

"Nothing concrete, but most recently, the Blood Prince has been spending his time either training or writing some things."

"Writing?"

The Duke's interest was piqued. Turning around, he asked.

"Tell me more about this writing."

"...As you wish."

Placing his hand over his chest and taking a knee to the ground, the servant started to explain.

"A couple of days ago, Blood Prince had started spending his time writing in his own room. He spends an average of an hour on each letter, and he has been writing them at the same time each day."

"Is there any knowledge of the contents of the thing he wrote?"

"Yes."

The servant nodded.

There were times when the Blood Prince would casually toss some of the letters away, and from there he was able to learn of its contents.

"...It appears to be letters addressed to his daughter that he misses."

"Hmmm."

Duke Anozech's eyes squinted.

Opening his mouth, he asked after a while.

"When did this start?"

The servant was quick with his reply.

"It started a bit after White Reaper's visit."

"...It started after meeting White Reaper, huh?"

Duke Anozech lowered his head and covered his mouth with his hand. He quickly came up with a hypothesis.

"Could his appearance have caused the Blood Prince to miss his daughter?"

In light of the fact that both of them were humans, the appearance of White Reaper may have triggered memories from the past to resurface in Blood Prince's mind. This may have resulted in his sudden actions.

Even then.

"Keep a close watch on the situation."

He quickly ordered.

Duke Anozech was cautious by nature. He would never let go of anything, no matter how ridiculous it sounded.

"...Is there anything else that you need to report to me?"

Thinking for a moment, the servant recalled something and answered.

"Yes."

***

At the same time.

"Nooooooo!"

An anguished scream echoed throughout a small platform that overlooked the arena from above.

SilverMoon collapsed to her knees and placed both hands on the glass. Her face turned pale as she gazed in the direction of where SilverStar used to stand.

"Arun...Arun...You..you told me that you were going to win..."

SilverMoon mumbled out SilverStar's real name in a frantic voice.

The relationship between the two was special. The two of them were in fact married to each other.

It was a relationship that started before they found themselves in this shithole.

Had it not been for that accident...

"Arun..A—"

"Shut up."

Her despair was interrupted by an irritated voice.

"...Ha?"

Weakly turning her head, her eyes paused on an individual who was lying on the couch with both of his eyes closed. His sleeping posture was rather weird as he seemed to be snuggling against his sword.

Opening her mouth, SilverMoon eventually managed to utter his name.

"L..Lightning dragon..."

"Yes, that's what they call me."

Opening his eye, he briefly glanced at her before closing his eye again.

"....Now shut up, I'm trying to get some sleep."

It took her a while to process his words, and when she did, her face quickly turned red in anger.

"H...how, da—"

"Did you not hear me?"

Cutting her off, Lightning Dragon's eyes snapped open revealing his two yellow-colored eyes. Raising his head to glance at SilverMoon, his eyes narrowed.

"I'm tired of your endless nagging. Do you expect me to give you sympathy?"

Carefully putting the sword down on the couch, Lightning Dragon slowly stood up.

Gazing toward a platform in the distance, he turned to look at SilverMoon again.

"You think I don't know what you did?"

Taking a single step forward, an overwhelming pressure bore down on the room.

Among the nine people in the room, not one of them was able to alleviate the pressure bearing down on them.

Not a single one of them.

Tok. Tok.

Taking a couple of more steps forward, Lightning Dragon's eyes shone with a brilliant yellow hue.

Trying frantically to open her mouth, SilverMoon's heartbeat quickened as she gazed into those eyes. Despite her best efforts, she was unable to summon the strength to speak.

...He was simply too terrifying.

"You think I don't know about the things SilverStar tried to pull during his fight?"

His next words caused her eyes to shoot wide open.

"H..how?"

"Heh."

The edges of LighningDragon's lips pulled into a slight grin.

Raising his hand to point at his eyes, he muttered.

"Nothing escapes my sight. I see everything."

"Hackkk...."

At the exact moment, those words left his mouth, his eyes shone in an even brighter hue of yellow as SilverMoon suddenly found herself grasping her neck with both hands.

Spit flew out of her mouth as she struggled to mouth a single word.

Raising her head, she turned to look at the other people in the room. Reaching out her hand, she begged for help.

"H..Help..."

But it was all futile.

Turning their heads, everyone in the room glanced away from her. SilverMoon's eyes opened wide when she saw this.

"After...all..I d..id for you?"

Everyone, apart from Lightning Dragon, was where they were because of her and SilverStar.

Yet.

The moment that SilverStar died, no one dared to spare her a glance. Upon realizing the harsh reality of the situation, SilverMoon's eyes dulled and she stopped speaking. The pressure that was bearing down on her had long stopped taking effect.

Lightning Dragon shook his head as he looked at the other people in the room.

"Spineless..."

He muttered under his breath as he turned around and headed back to the sofa. As he was walking back to the sofa, he managed to utter a couple of more words.

"...Do me a favor and shut up. I'm trying to sleep."

To Tok—!

But it was then that someone knocked on the door. Without waiting for anyone's permission, the door flung open and a couple of demons entered the room.

Lightning Dragon's feet came to a pause.

"What is it now?"

Lightning Dragon was really starting to get annoyed now.

It was one annoyance after another. When would they let him peaceful sleep?

Unaware of what had transpired moments prior, the demons scanned the place before focusing their attention on Lightning Dragon.

Once they managed to catch sight of him, a demon stepped up and announced.

"Lightning Dragon. You have been challenged to a match."

"A match?"

The frown on his face tightened.

"...Am I allowed to refuse?"

"You cannot."

Without saying anything, Lightning Dragon's face remained impassive. Opening his mouth, he asked.

"...Who is challenging me?"

"White Reaper."

***

"Looks like I didn't need to interfere."

I muttered as I gazed at Edward who was standing in the middle of the arena.

On the off-chance that something did go wrong, and Edward had not read the letter, I had planned on interfering with the match. Not directly, but through the usage of 'The one.'

It was an extremely risky plan, but I was fortunate enough to not use it.

Taking my eyes away from my arena, I glanced toward my right.

"...You already know what to do next."

"I do."

I nodded my head.

"I've already sent the application."

Moments before the match between Edward and SilverStar started, I had sent my own application to fight.

The target was Lightning Dragon.

"Before your fight starts, use this chance to break through to the next rank. If you don't, you'll have a hard time beating him."

My other self reminded me.

I waved my hand in annoyance.

"How am I supposed to do that when there is barely any mana here?"

It would've been understandable if I was back on earth where the mana was denser, however, I was currently in the demon world. A place that barely had any mana, if any.

"Not only that, but I've also broken through like five months ago. How do you expect me to breakthrough when I can barely feel the sensation telling me that I can breakthrough."

Whenever I was on the verge of breaking through, there would be this weird tingling sensation coursing down my body whenever I channeled the mana inside of my body.

At the moment, I didn't feel such a sensation.

Simply put, I was still a little bit away from reaching the next rank.

"Idiot."

"...What?"

My forehead creased.

Did I miss something?

"Don't tell me you forgot you're a top ten contender?"

"Ah."

I snapped my fingers.

"Right, I almost forgot about this "

Apart from a better room, top contenders would gain access to more resources.

That said.

"I don't think that will be enough for me to break through."

Although I wasn't exactly far from reaching the next rank, I was also not very close. For me to break through to <A+> rank, I needed something special.

"You're right, but did you forget about what we discussed a whole back?"

"...Right."

Raising my head, I massaged my forehead.

'There's that too...'

There was one reason why SilverStar wanted to create a group. It wasn't because he wanted to help the others, but because he wanted to gain their resources.

In exchange for a spot in the top ten, the contenders were to hand over to him a part of the resources they would get.

It was a simple deal.

Anyhow, now that he was dead, it meant that the resources he had kept with him were free for anyone to get.

"This is allowed, right?"

"It technically belongs to the current Overlord, but Duke-ranked resources shouldn't interest him, so he'll probably not care. That and the fact that the Overlord is Edward. He wouldn't mind if you take them."

"Alright."

I turned around and directly headed for the SilverStar's room.

Unsatisfied with my pace, my other self reminded me.

"You should hurry. You should arrive before she gets back. You will have the advantage then."

"Alright, alright."

*

"What are you doing?"

Arriving at SilverStar's room, I was blocked by two demons.

Staring at the demons, I answered.

"I'm here to collect his resources."

"Collect his resources?"

"Yeah. He's dead, so I will take his resources "

With confused looks on their faces, the two demons stared at each other. It was clear that the demons had no idea how to respond to the situation.

After a while, they both grinned and took a step to the side and opened the door.

"Okay."

Since the resources were useless to them, they didn't even think twice about taking them. Furthermore, I could tell from a glance what they were planning on doing.

They were probably going to let me take the resources before telling the current Overlord of what happened, and thus create a conflict between us.

Not only him but with the other top ten contenders.

But it didn't really matter to me.

In fact, this was exactly what I wanted.

I wanted people to think that my relationship with Edward was terrible. After all, this was the best way for me to catch the Duke's interest.

Regarding the others.

I frankly did not care.

"Thank you."

Taking a step forward, I entered the room.

Chapter 520: Lightning Dragon [2]

"Useless, useless, uselss..."

While browsing SilverStar's belongings, I found myself saddened by the fact that I was unable to locate any of the things that I was looking for.

I found the room to be fairly large, about as big as a tennis court, and it was quite beautifully decorated with all kinds of furniture. Plants, flowers, and other nature-related things dominated most of them.

But this was expected given his elven nature.

"Still nothing."

I muttered after moving one of the sofas to the side, and still not finding anything. I was honestly starting to get quite frustrated.

"He's a lot more cautious than I originally let him out to be."

In all fairness, I should've expected this from the very beginning. After all, given the current environment, who wouldn't?

"Guess I can only go for the second option."

Sitting down on one of the couches, I stopped searching and just relaxed. There was another and simpler way to get the resources.

...and it should present itself any minute now.

"What are you doing here?"

It was then that a familiar voice echoed inside the room as a silver-haired figure entered. There was a seething rage hidden within that voice as the man in the air rippled slightly.

Glancing in the direction of the silver figure, I gave her a simple nod.

"You're here."

"...You're here?"

SilverMoon's body froze for a split second as she cocked her head to the side. Clearly confused about my intentions.

"You were waiting for me?"

She asked.

To which I nodded.

"Yes, I was."

Well, sort of.

Musing for a moment, she asked.

"Have you reconsidered my previous offer?"

"No."

I shook my head.

Standing up from the sofa, I calmly walked in her direction.

"My intentions in coming here are simple."

Stopping in front of her, I extended my hand in her direction.

"Tell me where SilverStar's resources are."

Immediately after those words left my mouth, SilverMoon's eyes turned bloodshot. The mana in the air rippled, and her hair fluttered widely. Seeing how the situation was getting out of hand, I immediately cut her in the middle of her words.

"How dare y—"

"I can help you get rid of the Overlord."

For a moment, the mana coming from her body stopped and her eyes paused on me. Before she could do anything else, I took advantage of the moment and continued speaking.

"You've already seen what happened when SilverStar fought against the current Overlord. A total defeat."

SilverMoon's face twisted when I said those words. Regardless, I kept pushing.

"You know yourself that you are weaker than SilverStar, meaning that you have no chance of ever exacting revenge against the current Overlord."

The more I spoke, the more SilverMoon's face twisted.

Even then, she never once interrupted me. It was clear that she couldn't dispute any of the words that I was saying.

After glancing at her for a moment, I asked.

"You've probably already heard about what happened between the current Overlord, haven't you?"

"...Yes."

She nodded her head.

The mana that was coming out of her body had already receded back, and I was able to get a better look at her complexion.

She looked rather haggard as her hair was a mess, and her eyes had a lost look in them.

Her current appearance was a far cry from the confident and overbearing one from the past.

She was a shell of her former self.

But this was understandable. With SilverStar now dead, what was the point of escaping anymore?

Her previous goal was to regain freedom and escape with her husband, but now that he was dead, such an option was no longer feasible.

Her mental state was anything but stable.

Brushing her hair back, SilverMoon opened her mouth.

"I don't know a lot, but I heard that you were kicked out by the current Overlord."

"Indeed..."

Gnashing my teeth, I pretended to be enraged.

A wave of oppressive mana burst out from my body, forcing SilverMoon to take a step back in shock.

Bringing my face closer to her, I spat through my gnashed teeth.

"I only went to him to greet him since we were from the same race, but guess what? Not only was I kicked out of the room, but he even dared to spit on me...How fucking dare he!"

Crack. Crack.

I cracked my knuckles.

"Nice acting."

I heard from the side. Trying my best to keep my composure in check, I ignored the voice.

Taking a deep breath, the mana that was coming out of my body quickly receded.

There were two goals in my bringing out my mana. One, to show her that I truly held a grudge against the current overlord, and two...

Directly show her my strength.

Show her that I was worth investing in.

"My hatred for the current Overlord runs as deeply as yours, and I want nothing more than to just kill him as you do."

"...Is this the reason why you came to get his resources?"

There was a look of melancholy in her eyes as she thought back at SilverStar. Even then, her hatred for the Overlord ran quite deeply as her eyes regained some clarity.

Opening her mouth, I was able to see a trace of her former self.

"You have seen just how strong the Overlord is. What makes you think you can beat him? Someone whom my husband couldn't even win against."

Staring at her for a brief moment of time, I scoffed a little.

"...You don't really have a choice, do you?"

"What do you mean?"

SilverMoon's eyes narrowed.

I smirked slightly in response.

"Since you yourself are not confident in beating him, then who else but I can?"

SilverMoon's face changed when I said those words. After a while, she clenched her teeth and lowered her head.

She couldn't argue back with what I said.

I kept pushing.

"You should already know. I challenged Lightning Dragon for the next match. Whoever wins against us will become the next Emperor since you yourself don't seem to become the next Emperor."

As I talked, I continued to gauge SilverMoon's reaction. And the more I talked, the more I could see the despair in her face.

As I kept pushing, I couldn't help but think.

'What a vile strategy...'

Taking advantage of someone when they were at their lowest point, and exploiting them.

This was essentially what I was doing at the moment.

Not only that but in reality, this whole scenario had been designed to be this way from the very beginning.

I had created a point of connection between SilverMoon and me as a result of telling Edward about the situation regarding the rigged game.

With him winning and killing SilverStar, and given SilverMoon's relationship with SilverStar, it was only natural for such a scenario to occur.

A scenario where she was desperate for Edward's death.

However, she knew her limits, and so she could only despair at the thought of never being able to exact revenge against him

This was where I came in and used that connection to manipulate her into giving me the resources her husband had left behind.

By giving her hope, I was essentially exploiting her weakened mind.

It was honestly quite a vile strategy, but I didn't really care.

I was not a saint. And neither were they as they had also done such schemes in the past.

"....Give me the resources and I will prove to you that you've made the right choice."

I lowered my voice to a whisper.

"Give me the resources and I will avenge your husband."

***

The loud cheers of the crowd reverberated throughout the arena grounds as I stood in the middle of the arena grounds.

"Huuuu..."

Taking a deep breath, I felt the mana inside of my body.

'Thank god I managed to breakthrough...'

It was a race against time, but in the end, I was able to break through thanks to the resources left behind by SilverStar.

Some of the things he had would've actually been helpful for when I broke through to <S-> rank, but given the time constraint, I had no choice but to waste them for my breakthrough.

Slowly, I opened my eyes. At the exact moment, I opened my eyes, I was met with a pair of yellow pupils.

The moment I stared into those pupils I felt a cold chill run down my body.

'He's strong.'

All it took was a glance for me to understand that I was not facing someone ordinary.

Rather, for the first time in a long time, I finally felt a sense of dread coming out of my opponent. It felt as though I was facing my natural predator.

Hugging onto his sword as though it was a teddy bear, Lightning Dragon spared me a single glance before quickly losing interest in me.

My forehead creased when I saw this, but I didn't put much thought into it.

My mind was as calm as it had ever been.

[Are the two contestants ready?]

Suddenly, a familiar voice echoed throughout the entire arena, causing the crowd to become even louder.

Glancing at her for a brief moment of time, I gave her a simple nod.

"Yes."

"...Yes."

Lightning Dragon also nodded his head. His relaxed and somewhat lazy attitude was met with even more cheers by the crowd.

"Fuck him up Lightning Dragon."

"Let him know why you are ranked third!"

"The next Emperor."

In the midst of the crowd's cheers, Lightning Dragon finally opened his mouth.

"You shouldn't have challenged me."

"...Hmm?"

My brow raised.

Touching the sheath of my sword, I asked.

"Why's that?"

Raising his hand, he yawned.

"Huammm...because I'm sleepy."

I frowned when I heard his words.

Although they were vague, I knew what he was trying to imply.

'Because I'm sleepy, I plan on ending this fight quickly to go back to sleep.'

"...Is that so?"

Placing my hand over the sheath of my sword, I grinned.

"Then all I have to do is not make you sleepy, right?"

"Hm?"

Lowering his head, Lightning Dragons' eyes flashed. He then nodded his head.

"Yes, you can say so."

Squeezing the sword closer to his body, he languidly blinked his eyes.

"...But my eyes see everything."

"What doe—"

Before I could say anything else, the demoness' voice cut me off.

[...Both contestants, please get ready.]

With her hand raised, the crowd instantly stopped talking. A sense of tension filled the arena.

In the meantime, placing my hand on the sheath of my sword, I started to channel my mana.

Feeling her gaze land on me as she alternated her gaze between me and Lightning Dragon, the demoness soon lowered her hand.

[Fight!]

As soon as her words faded, I took a step forward and channeled all my mana toward my sword.

Click—!

The first movement of the [Keiki style] : Quick flash

A subtle clicking sound rang out, and the area around me was dyed in white.

From the get-go, I decided to use one of my strongest moves. The first movement of the Keiki style.

As I had not once used the Keiki style, I was planning on catching him off guard from the very start.

But...

Clank—!

"Huh?"

The next scene caused my blood to freeze as my heart rate spiked up.

Ba...thump! Ba...thump!

Right as my sword left my sheat, I was left stunned by a loud metallic sound that reverberated throughout the whole arena.

Blinking a couple of times, I slowly raised my head. Gazing at the tip of my sword, my mouth opened and closed multiple times.

"W...what?"

"...I told you didn't I?"

A grim voice echoed out.

Lowering his head to glance at the tip of my sword which had been stopped by the body of his sword that was tilted toward the right side of his body, his yellow eyes shone a brilliant yellow hue.

"I see everything."

Chapter 521: Liahtning Dragon [3]

Moments prior to the fight.

Casually coming out of his room, Edward made his way toward the arena. Along the way, he couldn't help but think about Ren.

'I'm curious about his strength...'

In spite of the fact that it had been four years since he last met him, he remembered him as a promising talent.

In comparison to Kevin Voss, he was not exactly a high-profile talent, but an incident caused his name to spread far and wide at the time.

Something about him defeating a demon or something...

"Looks like I've just arrived in time."

A loud cheer greeted Edward as he stepped into the arena.

After arriving at his designated platform and entering the room that overlooked the entire arena, he sat down on a sofa and made himself comfortable.

[On the left side, we have a familiar opponent. This is someone who has never lost a fight, and whose Duke ranking is third...]

The Demoness's loud voice echoed out of the arena as he sat down.

Following her announcement, the gates opened and a figure slowly came out. With semi-long black hair and deep yellow pupils that glowed with a strange light, Lightning Dragon slowly approached the arena's center.

His very presence caused the arena to quiet down for a couple of seconds.

Once his feet came to a stop, the demoness extended her hand toward the other side of the arena and announced.

Our right corner contains a figure that we've been waiting for eagerly. A newcomer who has already reached such heights in such a short period of time...]

"He's finally coming out."

Shifting his body forward, Edward sat upright.

His desire was to see how much this once youth had grown since he had last seen him.

When the gates of the arena slowly rose, a figure with deep blue eyes and white hair slowly emerged.

Just like Lightning Dragon, his entire presence caused the arena to quiet down.

Tok.Tok.

While his eyes remained fixed on the figure opposite him, Lightning Dragon, his calm and rhythmical footsteps echoed out loud.

While slowly approaching the center of the arena, he displayed indifference toward the cheers from the crowd, or anyone else.

At this moment, all of his attention was focused on his opponent.

"I like that..."

There was a slight curl on Edward's lips as he noted this.

The way he carried himself.

It was impressive.

Neither arrogant nor overbearing, but calm and focused. The perfect combination that made one stand apart from the masses.

"I wonder if Amanda is just as strong as him..."

Thinking about his daughter, Edward's face flashed with sadness. The thought of leaving her alone with all of his responsibilities pained his heart beyond measure.

If not for this shitty place, he would've long sought a way to return home, but this proved much more difficult than he had expected.

The demon world was just that scary.

"Just wait a little longer..."

Edward secretly clenched his fists.

[You may begin!]

The demoness' loud voice signaled the start of the match, jolting Edward out of his thoughts.

His eyes grew sharper as he shifted his attention back to the arena.

"Show me what you've got..."

The first to make his move was Ren. Placing his hand over the sheath of his blade, he quickly got into a stance as mana erupted from out of his body.

Click—!

What happened next was so fast that no one was able to react on time. Not even Edward as he had difficulty keeping track of what happened.

He only remembered hearing a faint clicking sound before a bright white light flashed and a metallic ring echoed.

Everything happened within the time it took for him to blink his eyes, and once his focus returned to the match, he found Ren's sword drawn from his sheat, aimed at Lightning Emperor's heart.

However, what was most shocking was the fact that Lightning Emperor had casually blocked the attack by tilting the body of the sword in his hand.

Edward's pupils dilated as his demeanor shifted.

"...He was able to react to that?"

He quickly sat up straight and paid close attention to the match.

While he had originally come here to get a peek at Ren, after having seen the first exchange, he discarded such thoughts and paid proper attention to the match.

He could no longer afford such leisure.

From Ren's lightning-fast attack that he could not properly see, to Lightning Dragon's ability to block such attacks.

He had severely underestimated both of them.

***

"...What an interesting pair."

Duke Anozech's flashed with interest as he gazed at the arena below. Specifically toward the two individuals who had just had their first exchange.

"This is the first time I've seen White Reaper use his sword, who would've known that he had hidden something like this."

The speed of his attack...

It was fast. Really fast. So much so that even Duke Anozech had a hard time fully seeing its course.

That said.

That was simply because he wasn't paying attention. Had he been paying attention, he would've been able to follow along.

"...But what's more impressive is Lightning Dragon. To be able to stop such attack."

The edges of Duke Anozech's lips curled into a sinister grin.

"How amusing."

"Your excellency."

It was then that his servant appeared out of nowhere.

Without turning around, Duke Anozech asked.

"What is it?"

"I've got a report for you."

"Say it."

"The Blood Prince is currently in one of the platforms, looking at the match."

"Oh?"

Duke Anozech's attention shifted toward his servant. The smile on his face grew wider.

"The Blood Prince has come to spectate this match?"

"That's correct."

"Hah..."

Raising his hand to caress his mouth, Duke Anozech's pondered for a moment.

'What a rare occasion...'

Although this wasn't the first time that the Blood Prince had spectated a match, it had been quite a while since he had done so.

'Does he know something that I don't?'

Turning around, Duke Anozech gazed in the direction of where the two contestants were.

Narrowing his eyes, he muttered out loud.

"Is he here for Lightning Dragon or White Reaper?"

***

"H...how is this possible?"

Still shaken by the fact that my attack had been blocked, I was unable to react to Lightning Dragon's counterattack.

Cracka! Cracka!

My muscles convulsed severely as lightning crackled in the air and penetrated deeply into my body.

"Ughhh!"

Clenching my teeth and suppressing the pain, I forcefully stomped my foot on the ground and distanced myself from him. I was fortunate to realize that Lightning Dragon had no interest in pursuing me.

Bang—!

"haa...haaa..."

In spite of my efforts to distance myself from Lightning Dragon, I cursed inwardly as my chest heaved up and down unevenly.

"Damn it..."

A look of incredulity crossed my face as I looked at Lightning Dragon.

'How in the world did he do it? How is it possible for him to stop my attack? Or was it a fluke?'

...I was still shaken by this by what had happened.

Sure, this wasn't exactly the first time that my attack had ever been stopped, but to do it so cleanly and calmly?

It had never happened to me before.

"Huu.."

I was quick to calm down. Knowing that I was in the middle of a battle, I didn't let my emotions get the best of me.

Rather, I became calmer.

'Let's test this one more time. See if it's a fluke or not.'

Channeling my mana, I decided to take it up a notch. Locking my eyes on Lightning Dragon who calmly stood in the middle of the arena without a care in the world, I calmly took a step forward and pressed my thumb against the hilt of my sword.

The third movement of the [Keiki style] : Void Step.

Click—!

A subtle clicking sound rang out and my vision warped. At the same time my vision warped, I activated 'Eyes of Chronos.'

'Let me get a better look and see how you managed to defend my attack...'

Within what felt like a couple of seconds, Lightning Dragon's figure appeared in front of me.

With my sword extended in his direction, I watched it as it neared his head. Ready to impale it at any second.

"Huh?"

But it was then that something shocking happened. It was shocking enough to make my blood turn cold.

With his eyes still focused in the distance, Lightning Dragon shifted the top part of the blade in the direction of where my sword was about to land. What was especially shocking about this situation was the speed at which he was doing it.

From my view, it looked as though time was flowing at a natural rate for him.

"What!?"

Clank—!

A dull metallic sound reverberated throughout the arena as my eyes opened wide in shock.

"H...how?"

Staring at the tip of my sword which was perfectly blocked by the body of his sword, I found myself unable to comprehend the situation.

How was it possible?

"Your sword art..."

Jolting me out of my stupor was Lightning Dragon's voice. Before I could even reply, thin bolts of lightning crackled around him.

Crackle! Crackle!

It wasn't long before the bolts of lightning converged on the end of my sword in sync, sending electricity coursing through my body.

I was instantly hit by a wave of dizziness as the muscles in my arms spasmed.

"Ukhhh..."

Clenching my teeth, I tried to suppress the pain. But it was then that Lightning Dragon made his move.

Extending his left hand, he opened up his palm and reached out for my head.

It was a simple movement. Neither slow nor hurried. However, this seemingly simple move caused the back of my hair to stand as my eyes opened widely.

'...I need to avoid this.'

That was all I thought as the hand reached closer to me.

A sense of impending doom gripped me tightly, forcing me to release all my mana. It was clear to me that I would lose the match if I let that hand touch me.

WIIIING—!

Forcing all my mana out of my body, I clenched my teeth and directed all my mana toward my sword.

"Kh..."

Gritting my teeth, my muscles bulged and the mass of the sword sharply rose. Before long, I found myself incapable of holding the sword and it quickly fell to the ground as its mass grew.

"Hm?"

At the same time this happened, Lightning Dragon's hand came to a pause. It wasn't too far away from my face, maybe a quarter of a meter, but after sensing what I was doing, he stopped whatever he was doing and glanced toward my sword.

My sword soon hit the ground, and a thunderous noise echoed out.

BANG—!

In the wake of the impact, a crater was formed on the ground, and granules of sand flew everywhere.

Quick to react, Lightning Dragon pressed his foot against the ground and distanced himself from me.

The situation was not as fortunate for me, as I lost my balance and fell forward.

But that was enough.

I had accomplished my goal, and that was to avoid his attack.

"Haaa...haaa..."

Pressing my left hand against the ground, I disrupted the flow of mana to my sword, and it quickly returned to its original mass.

"...He's strong isn't he?"

It was then that a voice echoed from behind. Without needing to look, I knew who it belonged to.

"Not only can he see your moves, but he can also keep up with them."

His voice seemed particularly serious as he spoke. However, what shocked me the most were his next words.

"...and he's someone whose talent isn't any weaker than Kevin's."

Chapter 522: Lightning Dragon [4]

'His talent isn't any weaker than Kevin's?'

The words he spoke resonated loudly within my head as I looked in the opposite direction. Where Lightning Dragon was currently standing.

"How is this possible?"

I wondered as I slowly got up.

My breath had evened out, but his words still left me stunned.

'How come I don't know anything about him?'

Was there something that caused someone so significant to disappear from my memory? ...or was he simply left out?

As I glanced at my other self briefly, I decided not to speak.

There was a time for everything, and right now, I was in the middle of a match. There was no point in wasting time on something I was most likely not going to get an answer to.

"Huuu..."

I took a deep breath.

Opening his mouth, my other self asked.

"Do you have a plan?"

I didn't answer.

Regardless, he continued to speak.

"Lend me your body and I will beat him for you."

"...No."

I shook my head before I started to channel all my mana toward my sword.

"I can do it myself."

Putting aside the fact that I didn't trust him, I wasn't going to rely on him for everything. How would I ever learn if that happened?

That.

...And the fact that I had an idea of how his eyes worked.

"Watch me."

As I extended my sword in the air, I drew a circle. Following this, a translucent yellow disc appeared before me.

Clenching my hand, the yellow disc slowly turned blue.

[Ring of Vindication] Elemental Discharge: Lightning Psyons.

My eyes locked on Lightning Dragon, who took a defensive stance as I gripped my sword and pressed my thumb against its hilt.

"Go."

Pointing in his direction, the disc shot in his direction.

In the meantime, I closed my eyes and pushed the sword's hilt upward.

Click—!

The third movement of the [Keiki style] : Void Step.

Once again, my vision warped and I appeared in front of Lightning Dragon. My vision slowed down as I activated Eyes of Chronos, and a familiar scene appeared before me. My eyes immediately looked toward his hand.

I was curious as to how he was able to move so fast.

'There must be someth...hm?'

It was then that I noticed something.

While staring at his hand, which seemed to be moving at the same rate as my sword, I noticed something peculiar.

...and it was the fact that I could see small blue threads spewing out of his hand as he tilted his sword to block my attack.

'Is this the reason for his speed?'

Though I wasn't sure, I made a mental note to myself.

'Here goes nothing...'

My sword suddenly slipped from my grasp just as I was about a few meters from him.

Reducing the effect of Eyes of Chronos, I pressed my foot against the ground and twisted my waist. Cracks formed on the area where I pressed my foot.

"Ugh."

In spite of my body's efforts, I kept pushing forward as the momentum of the attack carried me forward. Regardless, this was what I wanted as I clenched my hand into a fist.

Twisting my body at a one hundred and eighty-degree angle, I aimed the back of my fist toward the side of Lightning Dragon's face.

In the meantime, my sword which I had let go was still shooting in his direction.

With just a fraction of a second to spare, I was on my way to hitting Lightning Dragon in the head, while my sword was headed for his heart, which had been blocked by his tilted sword.

But it was then that something happened.

Right as my fist was about half a meter away from his face, Lightning Dragon's eyes suddenly shone a brilliant hue of yellow as his other hand quickly raised. Thin blue threads spewed out of his hand as his hand traveled at a speed that was faster than my fist.

'...I knew it.'

A smile crept up on my face once I saw this. Just as his arm started to move, the translucent blue ring that I threw before shifted slightly.

Shining a bright hue of blue for a quarter of a second, the blue threads coming out of Lightning Dragon's hand scattered, and his arm which was moving at an inhuman speed halted for a split second.

It may not have sounded like much, but it was enough for me.

Clank—!

After the back of my fist struck a soft surface, Lightning Dragon's body crashed into one of the walls as time reverted to its usual flow.

Bang—!

"Haa..ha..."

I gasped heavily as I rested my arms against my knees.

That move just now took about a tenth of all my mana. Additionally, since I used my head chip to supplement my attack, my mind was also fairly exhausted.

Still, I had achieved my purpose.

"...It worked."

It wasn't easy, but I had figured out the secret behind Dragon Emperor's 'All-seeing eyes.'

To call it all-seeing wasn't exactly correct.

Rather, the only thing they could do was detect the mana flow in the air. It was thanks to this that he was able to predict the movement of my sword. It only dawned on me after the first void step, as I noticed that his eyes didn't move during that attack.

But it wasn't just his eyes that were scary. No, rather, it was his inhumanly fast movements that him especially terrifying.

This added with his eyes made him a perfect counter for me.

That said.

"That isn't quite enough to stop me..."

Raising my head to stare in the opposite direction, I watched as a large cloud of dust shrouded the area in which Lightning Dragon had crashed.

The cheers from the crowd were at an all-time high as they all talked over each other.

Even then, I did not let this small victory get the best of me.

I wasn't naive enough to believe I had dealt enough damage to defeat Lightning Dragon.

...And I was soon proved correct as bolts of lightning materialized out of thin air, crashing against the ground.

Cracka! Cracka!

The arena instantly turned quiet.

Swooosh—!

A gentle breeze blew away the dust in the air, and a familiar figure could be seen standing in the distance.

Cracka! Cracka!

With lightning covering the area around him, Lightning Dragon gazed in my direction. Massaging his cheek, he slowly opened his mouth.

"You..."

His hair started to flutter wildly as the lightning around him crackled even more fiercely.

Cracka! Cracka!

"What's your name?"

He asked after a while.

Opening my mouth, it soon turned into a small grin.

"White Reaper,"

I answered as I lowered my head.

"Let's go with White Reaper for now."

"White Reaper..."

As he repeated the name under his breath, he nodded and stared at me again.

"...I will remember it."

He then took a step forward.

Half a second later, he appeared in front of me.

"Wh—"

Unable to react in time, I felt a hand press against my stomach as a terrifying force dug deeply into my body, sending it crashing all the way toward the other end of the arena.

Bang—!

My heart pounded as a powerful force crashed down on my back, knocking the wind out of me.

"Uakh!"

A groan inevitably escaped from my mouth as I fell to the ground with both knees and arms on the floor.

But that was not all.

After resurfacing in front of me, I was once again hit by a powerful force that sent my body flying all the way toward the other side of the arena.

Bang—!

"Shit…"

Once again falling to the ground, I grimaced in pain. But yet again, I was unable to gather myself as a shadow appeared next to me.

It was at that moment that I instantly activated 'The one' and snapped my head in his direction.

"Stop."

Locking eyes with me, his foot came to a stop. Quickly extending my hand, I grasped his ankle and squeezed tightly.

Cracka—!

A bone shattering sound echoed out. In spite of this, I was surprised to see that Lightning Dragon's face did not change when his ankle fractured.

Rather, it remained impassive as he kept his gaze in my direction. Jumping up with his other foot, he twisted his body in the air twisting his broken ankle even more, and his other foot came crashing down against the back of my head.

Everything happened so fast that I was unable to react on time.

Bang—!

My vision darkened and for a split second, I lost consciousness.

It was only brief, but at that moment I lost consciousness, I let go of Lightning Dragon's ankle and he finally distanced himself from me.

"Khhh…"

Pressing my right hand against the ground to lift my body up, my eyes fixed themselves on the blood that dripped down from my forehead.

"Fuck."

I cursed.

'He's really strong. Like really, really strong…'

Raising my head, I focused my attention on Lightning Dragon who quickly chugged down a potion. In a short time, his fractured and twisted ankle had started recovering in a visible manner.

Tapping my bracelet, I also chugged down a potion and my injuries started to heal.

"…Odd."

Standing back up, my forehead creased.

It was then that a figure appeared next to me. With his arms crossed, he closely examined Lightning Dragon.

He then opened his mouth.

"You felt it right? …He purposely let you heal yourself."

Glancing in his direction, I nodded my head.

"I did."

Squinting his eyes as he stared into the distance, he softly muttered.

"You better prepared yourself..."

"What?"

In the blink of an eye, his figure disappeared before I could ask him what he meant.

"...I should've known."

I secretly shook my head. My fault for expecting anything from him.

Breathing out, I calmed down and closed my eyes.

Opening my eyes again, my gaze was met with Lightning Dragon's. Sparks appeared all over his body as a powerful hue escaped from his body.

In his right hand was his sword.

In response, I stepped forward quickly, my eyes narrowing tightly. It had to be noted that in the entire match, Lightning Dragon had never used his sword.

For him to use it now...

It could only mean one thing.

He was starting to get serious.

"You…"

Staring in my direction, Lightning Dragon opened his mouth.

Staring back at him without replying, I pressed my hand against the side of my sword.

In spite of my actions, he didn't seem to grow wary as he continued talking.

"Your sword art..."

Pausing, I finally opened my mouth and asked.

"...What about my sword art?"

This was the second time he mentioned my sword art, did he know something about my sword art?

'Impossible.'

Immediately shaking my head, I put an end to such thoughts.

It was impossible.

"…"

Instead of answering, placing his sword by the side of his waist, he closed his eyes and my vision instantly darkened.

Everything around me disappeared as Lightning Dragon's figure was the only thing that remained. Whether it was the crowd or the noise coming from them, everything was gone.

Slowly, he took a stance and my heart stopped beating. Time seemed to have slowed down and my body shook.

"Th..hat stance…"

My pupils quickly dilated, and before I could say anything else, I heard a familiar clicking sound ring in the air.

Click—!

Chapter 523: Lightning Dragon [5]

My eyes opened widely as a subtle yet familiar clicking sound filled the air.

'I...mpossible!'

The thought flooded through my mind as I subconsciously activated my 'Eyes of Chronos' to slow down time.

My shock grew even more as I watched Lightning Dragon slowly unsheathe his sword and aim it at me. Despite time moving at a far slower rate than reality, Lightning Dragon's movement seemed smooth and completely unaffected by the rate at which time was flowing.

Thin blue threads spewed out from his hands and sword, as the sword fully unsheathed itself from the scabbard.

What was worse was the fact that all I could do at the moment was watch as the sword slowly aimed for my heart.

But ever so slightly, I was able to move and shift my body in a way that avoided my heart. Just barely.

Spurt!

A small hole appeared on the left side of my chest as time flowed at a natural rate. Following this, my body was pierced by an inexplicable sharp pain.

"Khh..."

Despite my best efforts to distance myself from him, as he again grasped his sword's sheath, Lightning Dragon continued to pursue me. With blood dripping down from my shoulder, I pressed my foot to the ground, and cracks formed beneath the area I stepped on.

"Fuck..."

I cursed underneath my breath as I once reactivated 'Eyes of Chronos' and carefully analyzed his every movement.

This time, I activated Eyes of Chronos to its fullest potential as time slowed down even more. As the seconds passed, it became increasingly difficult to see as the skill took a particular toll on my eyes. Regardless, I persevered through the pain.

Suppressing the pain, I paid close attention to his every movement.

'This stance, and movement, it is without a doubt the Keiki style...'

Using that information, I was able to confirm that it was indeed the Keiki style. It was clear from his movements and how he channeled his mana.

It was exactly how I did it.

'...but how is this possible?'

Upon realizing this fact, many questions emerged inside my mind.

Of such question, the main one was.

'Did Grandmaster Keiki give this sword art to anyone else other than me?'

If I thought about it, this made sense.

It wouldn't be surprising if Grandmaster Keiki had set up a similar place to the one I visited, considering that his main objective was to defeat the demons.

The more people that used his sword art, the higher the chances of us winning.

That being said, he wasn't stupid to the point of giving it to anyone.

If everyone had the Keiki style, chaos would inevitably ensue in the human domain.

In other words, doing so would be the same as giving nukes to just anyone.

There was a reason why most five-star sword manuals were kept hidden. It wasn't only for the sake of keeping it to themselves, but it was mostly to limit people from gaining access to them.

That and the fact that not just anyone could practice them.

'This must be it...'

After racking my brain over the matter, this was the only explanation I could think of for why Lightning Dragon knew the Keiki style.

"...You're wrong."

But it was at that moment that a figure appeared next to me.

With his eyes locked on Lightning Dragon in the distance, he softly muttered.

"Have a better look at him."

'...What?'

Was my analysis wrong?

Gazing back in the direction of where Lightning Dragon, I did as he told me and paid closer attention to his attack.

'It's the same.'

Nevertheless, I found nothing unusual about his attack. It was exactly the same as the regular Keiki style.

'Wait...'

But just then.

My eyes opened widely as I finally took note of something.

'His eyes.'

They were shining.

And when I laid my eyes upon them, I suddenly felt naked. It felt as though all of my secrets were laid bare for him to see.

' What the...'

Shifting my body once more, I deactivated 'Eyes of Chronos'.

Spurt—!

I felt a sharp pain coming from the right side of my shoulder.

"Ugh."

As I suppressed my groan, I returned my attention to Lightning Dragon's eyes.

"They are not shining..."

This...

When I thought back about what his eyes were capable of, it finally hit me.

'That's right, his eyes...'

As I raised my foot, I whipped it at Lightning Dragon's head in a swift whipping motion. This time, I didn't apply any mana to my leg as it was, just a simple kick.

Then, while I was doing that, I activated 'Eyes of Chronos' and closely observed his eyes. I wanted to see whether they shined or not.

Swooosh—!

With thin lightning bolts spewing out of his face, Lightning Dragon moved his head back and easily dodged my attack. He then followed up with his own palm strike that directly hit me in the chest, sending me crashing against the side of the arena.

Bang—!

Suddenly feeling a powerful force hit my back, I spat out saliva and my eyes rolled backward. Slowly, my body slid down the arena's side.

"Cough...Cough..."

Coughing a couple of times, I raised my head to stare in the opposite direction. It was then that my eyes locked with Lightning Dragon who didn't seem interested in pursuing me.

'His eyes didn't shine.'

At that moment that I kicked his head, his eyes didn't shine. This confirmed it. My theory as to why he was able to use the Keiki style.

'It's all thanks to those eyes.'

His eyes were unique. They allowed him to see the mana flow of an opponent. My initial lack of consideration made me grossly underestimate their power.

Lightning Dragon's eyes were not the only thing I had grossly underestimated. I had also underestimated him completely.

I would've never expected him to be able to mimic the Keiki style from just a couple of glances at my sword art. By mimicking its mana flow, coupled with his incredible speeds, he was able to create a version of the Keiki style that wasn't any different from the original one.

'No wonder I wasn't able to tell them apart...'

With the mana flow being the same, and the speed of his movements also being the same, it was practically impossible for me to tell them apart.

If he could do that with my sword style, could he also do it with other sword styles?

Chills down my spine as I thought of such a possibility.

'...Just what kind of monster is this guy?'

Being able to analyze my sword art in such a short period of time, I now understood why he compared his talent to Kevin's.

He was simply a monster.

Lightning Dragon's previously vibrant eyes returned to their usual languid state when I gazed at them.

Tilting his head a little, he lazily asked.

"Is this really all you got?... Or do you still have something up your sleeves? I'm starting to become bored."

Without answering him, I wiped the side of my mouth.

"...So?"

His impatient voice rang throughout the arena.

Gazing in his direction, the edges of my lips curled upwards a bit.

"Give me a second."

'...I've figured it out.'

The way to beat him.

Taking out a potion, I quickly chugged it. Lightning Dragons' brows furrowed when he saw this. Regardless, he didn't seem to have any intentions of stopping me as he just continued watching me from the same spot.

As my wounds slowly started to heal up, I started to stretch my neck and shoulders.

After that, I calmly walked toward the middle of the arena.

Tok. Tok.

As I walked through the quiet arena, the rhythmical sound of my footsteps echoed out loud.

I only stopped when I was a couple of meters away from him.

In the ensuing silence, neither of us said a word.

As if we were on cue with each other, we both placed our hands on the sheath of our sword.

Click. Click.

Two metallic clicking sounds echoed throughout the arena as two swords suddenly intersected in the air.

Clank.

The sand beneath us rose in the air as our swords intersected, scattering everywhere. Distancing ourselves, we repeated the same thing and our swords intersected once more.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

As both of our swords continued to intersect in the air at incredible speeds, a powerful metallic ring echoed in the air for a good minute before it was replaced by more clicking sounds.

***

"Incredible..."

Edward absentmindedly muttered as he gazed at the match.

As he enjoyed the fight to the fullest, he had long given up the idea of analyzing the two contestants.

Be it Lightning Dragon or Ren, the two of them were simply incredible to watch.

Click. Click.

With each clicking sound, the two figures would disappear before reappearing in front of each other, with their swords drawn out.

Their movements were so fast that Edward was simply unable to keep track of them.

Despite that, he could tell from just how to glance how deadly each of their strikes was. Not only did they contain unimaginable power, but the speed at which they moved was simply...

"Terrifying..."

That was all Edward could mutter at the moment as his face progressively hardened.

'If I were to fight against them...'

Staring at the two, for the first time in a long time, Edward didn't feel one hundred percent confident about his victory.

While he wasn't one hundred percent confident about his victory, that didn't mean he thought he would lose.

He just thought that there was a possibility of him losing, which had never happened to him before as he had always dominated his matches.

"Hm?"

Focusing his attention back toward the arena, Edward's eyebrows furrow tightly.

"...It looks like they are about to go all out."

Within a second of his words, two massive hues radiated from the bodies of both contestants, covering the entire arena.

Silence had reigned since the start of the match, with the crowd's eyes glued to the two people in the middle.

It was then that it happened.

Extending his sword forward, Ren suddenly drew a small circle in the air. Following this, once the circle formed, he extended his arms in the air, and ten rings materialized out of nowhere.

Clenching his fists, the rings suddenly turned blue. He then raised his hand and pointed it in the direction of Lightning Dragon. In response to this simple motion, the rings quickly shot toward Lightning Dragon.

Following that, he proceeded to place his hand on the sheath of his sword.

Crack. Crack.

Suddenly, a series of fissures started manifesting around Lightning Dragon as Edward stood up in shock.

"What the..."

On the other side, Lightning Dragon's eyes shone even brighter as his hand touched the sheath of his sword.

Pressing his foot forward, he took a stance and a surge of mana erupted out of his body.

Crack—! Crack—!

Though at a much slower rate than Ren's, fissures also started to form around Ren as tremendous energy started to spew out of the two figures.

At this point, no matter if it was Edward or the crowd, it was well known that the match had reached its climax and that the winner would be revealed after the final exchange between the two.

Staring at the two individuals in the middle of the arena, everyone held their breath in anticipation.

Who was going to win?

Chapter 524: Lightning Dragon [6]

"I'm bored."

Over the course of Lightning Dragon's short life, the same words had been repeated so many times that he had also gotten bored of saying them.

But he couldn't help it.

He had truly gotten bored.

'Prodigy.'

'Next Union head.'

'Humanity's hope.'

Originally known as Liam Nefeli, Lightning Dragon was once hailed as one of mankind's brightest prodigies.

In the past, he had attended the Lock, and that was where he gained his fame.

In spite of this, he had no pleasant memories of the place.

As a transfer student, he had great expectations when he first arrived at the Lock.

Why wouldn't he? It was supposed to be the number one academy in the human domain.

It was a world filled to the brim with huge prodigies who would one day become the backbone of mankind.

His first year at the Lock was probably the best year he had ever had. His constant drive to improve himself, along with his friendship, kept life from becoming monotonous.

As a matter of fact, he had also acquired a rival while at the Lock. An individual who pushed him forward and followed him from behind.

His name was...

What was it again? Givan? Gary? Gilbert?

Ah, it was such a long time ago that he had already forgotten.

But those were truly fun days for Liam.

It was probably the last time he had ever truly been happy.

Unfortunately, those days never really lasted long.

After his talent began to outshine everyone else's, his so-called 'friends' began to look at him differently.

It was no longer out of friendship, but out of greed.

'If he becomes the next of the Union he will support me in the future.'

'I should stay closer to him.'

'He will make a good connection.'

They didn't need to say anything for him to understand what they were thinking. Their faces said it all.

Life became duller from that point on.

Despite this, he continued to train hard, and his strength continued to rise at an alarming rate. It had gotten to the point where almost all the big guilds in the human domain were salivating over him.

He would constantly get secret offers from the top guilds or even the Union itself.

He naturally rejected them.

He wasn't interested in such things. Responsibilities weren't his thing.

They were boring.

That said.

In spite of losing a lot of his friends, Liam kept staying at the Lock because of his rival, or should he say, best friend?

Yeah...

That sounded about right.

Bests friend...

As far as he was concerned, he was the only one who hadn't given up on him.

…It was kind of fun.

But, that too inevitably came to an end as his rival soon stopped comparing himself to him and pushing himself like he once did.

He tried to remedy the situation by holding back a lot, but in the end, his friend and rival found out about his intentions and stopped talking to him altogether.

Whenever they met thereafter, he would greet him with a short nod and disappear into the distance.

It was from that point on that Liam's world became dyed in grey.

His life had become monotonous as nothing excited him anymore.

"How boring…"

The boring life continued until he found himself on a school excursion trip along with his classmates during his third year of lock.

It was supposed to be a typical school trip, but reality proved to be quite different as they were suddenly attacked by demons.

As it turned out, it wasn't just a random attack.

The attack seemed to target all Lock students. Or at least on the surface as the true target was him as several Marquis-ranked demons were dispatched during the operation.

In order to ensure the success of their plans, and stop any reinforcements from coming, the demons attacked several places simultaneously, including the Union.

As a precaution, the Lock had also put in place guards in case something like this happened, however, they too were stopped as the several Marquis ranked demons, including the Monolith members had arrived to stop them.

Everyone, including his rival, ran away the moment they spotted the demon.

The only one that didn't run away that day was Liam. At that moment, he didn't stay behind because he wanted to save his classmates nor because he want to be a hero; he was filled with inexplicable excitement for the first time in a long time as his dull gray world finally regained some color

As he stared at a powerful enemy, he felt an impending sense of doom.

So strong that it could kill him.

Yet, it also brought color to his dull gray world as he proceeded to attack the demon.

As he attacked the demon, his eyes shone and a smile spread across his face.

Finally, someone who he could go all out against!

People would've called him crazy for suddenly attacking a demon like that if they had been present, but Liam didn't mind. As far as he was concerned, he only wanted to fight against the demon in front of him. Nothing else mattered to him.

he wanted nothing more than to alleviate himself from the boredom that had been plaguing him for the past two years.

…but he was inevitably left disappointed that day.

Crash—!

Crashing against one of the trees, the demon raised his head and gazed in his direction. His eyes were clearly clouded with fear.

"You…you're stronger than what the reports have said!"

"…ah that. I was holding back a lot of my strength."

Scratching the back of his head as he stared at the Demon, Liam lazily put his sword away.

"How boring."

He ended up muttering as he stared at the demon in front of him.

"I guess I should finish this quickly."

It was at that moment.

"Wait, wait, did you just say that you were bored?"

Liam's brows furrowed, and his feet came to a stop.

"What about it?"

He asked.

Putting his back against the tree, the demon pondered for a moment before asking.

"Why are you bored?"

"Why am I bored?"

Lowering his head, Liam thought for a moment.

Thinking back about his past experiences, and lack of challenge in his life, he calmly answered.

"Because I'm too strong."

"Too strong?"

"At least for my age. And the older ones won't fight me because they don't want to hurt me. They think that I am too precious to harm..."

The fact that the guilds were all keeping a close eye on him also contributed to his boredom, as they prevented him from getting into any fights that could endanger his life. Had it not been for the demon's carefully thought out plan, they would've probably already been here, protecting him.

He understood their intentions, but their actions only served to increase his boredom.

…Honestly, he had gotten so bored that he had started questioning whether living was worth it.

It was then that.

"…All you want is excitement right?"

The demon asked him. Turning his head to look at him, Liam shook his head.

"I know what you're trying to do. I won't fall for it. I'm not going to sign a demon contract."

"I'm not asking you to sign a contract."

But it was then that the demon shook his head as he murmured in a barely audible tone. Still enough for Liam to hear.

"I'm not crazy enough to sign a contract with you."

"...Then what do you want?"

He took a step forward and raised his hand, prepared to kill the demon at any second.

Lifting his head up to stare at Liam, the demon quickly said.

"What if I tell you of a place where you can fight at your heart's content with your life on the line?"

Liam's hand came to a pause.

"…Speak."

A grin manifested across the demon's face as he quickly started to inform Liam about the arena located in the demon realm.

The more Liam heard, the more relaxed his hand became as an interest soon flashed across his face.

"…and the winner will become the Overlord of the arena."

"Interesting."

A thin smile spread across Liam's face as he thought back on the details of the arena.

Thinking for a bit, he asked.

"How do I go there?"

"…You must come with me to the demon realm."

Liam's brows furrowed when he heard this.

"How would I know that you aren't messing with me?"

It was at that moment.

Spurt!

The demon suddenly raised his hand and proceeded to pierce his stomach with his sharp nails. black blood spilled on the ground, and the demon slowly pulled out a pulsating orb.

He then proceeded to toss it in Liam's direction.

"Here you go."

Catching it, Liam looked at the demon in confusion.

"What's this?"

"It's my core."

The demon answered.

"With it, you control my life and death. Is this enough proof that I will keep my words?"

Staring at the orb for a couple of seconds, Liam nodded his head.

"Alright."

Spurt—

Out of nowhere, he cut off his arm and blood spilled everywhere.

His actions shocked the demon.

"You…what are you doing?"

Staring at the arm on the ground, Liam put the demon core away and proclaimed.

"From this day forth, Liam Nefeli is dead. He died during a fight against a demon trying to save his classmates."

Turning around, he proceeded to slash the demon's head.

His figure disappeared after that.

His disappearance would eventually lead to him becoming missing in action, and he would eventually be proclaimed as dead when they became unable to locate any clues about him regardless of the many years that had passed.

After that, Liam entered the demon world and that was how he entered the arena.

At first, he was excited. Meeting new opponents, and being able to fight them with his life on the line to his heart's content...

It felt as though he was back at the Lock!

But...

"Bored."

The excitement was short-lived as he suffered the same fate as in the past.

He had once again become too strong.

...The feeling of losing. He had long forgotten it, and his days in the arena slowly started to become duller and duller.

'Will I ever not be bored?'

After spending exactly four years in the arena, his world once again became gray as he no longer even cared about winning.

...Or so he thought.

Crack. Crack.

Staring at the cracks forming around him, Lightning Dragon found his heart beating at a much faster rate than usual.

Unknowingly, a smile spread across his face as he gazed at his opponent. White hair, deep blue eyes, and he also seemed to be younger than him...

His sword slowly slipped from its scabbard as he muttered under his breath.

"This... this is what I wanted...."

For the first time in a very long time, he had finally felt a feeling that he had long forgotten.

Excitement.

Ba..Thump...Ba...Thump!

As he felt the tremendous power revolving around him, the back of his hair suddenly stood and his heart raced. His opponent's attack was ready.

"This feeling of death..."

Feeling the power contained within his opponent's attack, Lightning Dragon's grip on the sword tightened. While closely observing his opponent's technique, his eyes began to strain as he concentrated on the flow of mana.

Drip. Drip.

As he poured all of his mana into them, blood started falling from beneath his eyes. But he didn't care, he didn't want to care.

Even if he died, he didn't want to miss this feeling.

...This thrill.

"Done."

It was then that he finally stopped pouring mana into his eyes as he slowly took a stance.

It took a bit, but he had finally memorized his opponent's mana flow and was ready to attack.

As he stared at his sword, he thought.

'What a powerful technique. It's a pity I will forget this later...'

Upon redirecting his mana the same way as his opponent was, Lightning Dragon slowly pulled away at the sword.

Crackle. Crackle.

A crackle of lightning began to spread around him as he slowly drew away from the sword.

It was then that something happened.

Crash.

An ear-shattering sound rang out as one of the distant rings shattered.

"Huh?"

While Lightning Dragon was preparing to fully pull away from his sword, he suddenly lost control over his lightning psyons. His arm came to an abrupt stop.

It was only for a brief moment, but that moment proved to be fatal.

"Shit..."

Gazing in the direction of the approaching rings, Lightning Dragon cursed.

But it was too late for him to do anything.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

In a flash, the fissures around him opened, and bright flashes of light shot toward him. Wherever he looked, he would find a bright light heading in his direction.

Crash. Crash.

When that happened, the discs in the distance shattered one after another, stopping him from using his lightning psyons.

Unable to use his lightning psyons, the only thing he could do was dully stand in the middle of the arena.

Staring at the incoming attacks, Lightning Dragon slowly lowered his hands and muttered.

"...This was a good fight."

Chapter 525: Deal [1]

"Why didn't you kill him?"

An eerie voice echoed across a small room.

With my head lowered, I replied.

"Did I have to kill him? ...If so, I do apologize for my actions."

In the two days since my fight with Lightning Dragon, I had essentially recovered from all of my wounds. Some parts of my body were still sore, but that was just about it.

Regarding where I was...

It was Duke Anozech's private area.

"No, you don't have to be sorry."

In the aftermath of my fight with Lightning Dragon, it seemed that I had finally caught the Duke's attention.

Which was something that I desired from the very beginning.

He was instrumental in my inevitable escape.

"...Rather, you did me a favor by not killing him."

Lifting my head slightly, I raised my brow.

My head lowered once more when I saw the look on his face.

"Is that so? …then I'm flattered."

"...I'm starting to like you more and more."

The Duke said. I could tell he was pleased by the sound of his voice.

A faint smile spread across my face as I thanked the Duke.

"Thank you."

'Keep thinking that...'

It was only out of courtesy that I thanked the Duke.

While it was obvious I had never planned on killing Lightning Dragon, I was okay with him misunderstanding my intent.

After all, who would refuse free goodwill?

A little while later, Duke Anozech spoke again.

"I've recently gotten a report that you've allied yourself with the second-ranked in the Duke bracket, with the goal of killing the current Overlord, is that right?"

As soon as I heard his words, I pretended to be shocked before quickly burying it.

'As expected, the arena is heavily monitored.'

"Don't worry, I won't do anything to you. It's not against the rules."

The Duke reassured, evidently acknowledging my reaction.

My head lowered further.

"Nothing truly escapes you, your excellency."

In spite of saying that, I was rather surprised.

For my chat with SilverMoon to be discovered so easily by the Duke. It made one wonder how deep their surveillance system was.

'I need to tread more carefully...'

My awareness of this only heightened my guard regarding my future plans.

That said, this wasn't something that I had not expected.

Rather, this worked in my favor.

The Duke's next words proved me correct.

"...Do you want to fight the next Overlord?"

Raising my head, I replied without any hints of hesitation.

"Yes."

In spite of my quick response, the Duke's face remained the same.

My hatred for Edward was always obvious, I never tried to hide it. As a result, the Duke probably didn't find it surprising that I wanted to fight him.

"Are you that eager to fight the Blood Prince?"

"I indeed am, your excellency."

"Hmm..."

Seemingly falling into deep thought, the Duke mused for a moment before he opened his mouth again and asked again.

"You've observed how the current Overlord fights, right?"

"Yes, I have."

"Then what do you think your chances of beating him are?"

I paused and thought.

After a while, I answered.

"About fifty percent. If he's hiding something, then more."

"Fifty percent, huh?"

Turning around, Duke Anozech interlocked his hands behind his back.

"...That's pretty high, don't you think?"

Instead of answering, I decided to pose the Duke a different question.

"Then what do you think, your excellency? What are the chances of me beating the current Overlord?"

"You?"

As the Duke fell into thought again, he raised three fingers in the air.

My brows creased when I saw them.

"Thirty percent?"

"....Thirty percent."

The Duke repeated in a dead-pan tone.

I proceeded to clench my teeth. In a way, it was made possible to see from the outside.

But I didn't say anything. I just continued staring at the three fingers in the air.

Lowering his hand, Duke Azenoch smiled.

"You think that I'm wrong?"

"Yes."

I nodded without hesitation.

"I think that your–"

"Stop."

A cold touch at the back of my neck interrupted my speech as the Duke's voice echoed throughout the room, stopping whatever was aimed at the back of my neck.

Cold sweat dripped down on my body as I felt the cold touch at the back of my neck.

'I would've probably died had it not been for the Duke...'

With the hair at the back of my neck still standing, I slowly turned my head.

It was then that I met eyes with another demon. His features were different compared to the Duke who looked more like a human. In a butler's attire, the demon behind me glared at me with blood red eyes.

"Watch how you speak to the Duke "

He warned, after slowly removing his hand from the back of my neck.

After that, he lowered his head to the Duke and apologized.

"I apologize for the inconvenience, your excellency."

"It's alright."

The Duke casually waved his hand before turning his attention back to me. Meanwhile, the demon quickly retreated from the spot where he had previously stood and quickly disappeared.

"Don't mind him."

Walking up to me, Duke Anozech's eyes lingered on the spot where his servant used to stand.

"Back to our discussion. I said that your chances of beating the Overlord are thirty percent, do you agree or not?"

"No."

I still shook my head.

"Hmm?"

The Duke's face changed a little.

But before he could say anything else, I continued.

"I still have a couple of cards up my sleeves."

Upon hearing those words, the Duke's face relaxed and a smile returned to his face.

"You still have a couple of cards up your sleeve?"

"That is correct."

"...How intriguing."

There was a brief pause in the conversation. After a while, Duke Anozech asked.

"How would you like to become the next Overlord?"

'Bingo.'

Showing a surprised look on my face, I kept my head lowered.

"...This, are you really sure?"

"Heh."

The Duke let out a short chuckle.

Walking toward his desk, he took out a small device from one of the drawers of his desk.

"I'll help you out."

He then proceeded to toss the device in my direction.

"Here."

"...Thank you."

Catching the device, I started to examine it.

'It looks like a small remote controller.'

With just a simple glance, I was able to tell what it was. It was the device that was supposed to stop the mana flow of the person wearing the 'Supressor'.

In an effort to appear clueless, I flipped it around repeatedly and closely examined it.

After a good minute of the same thing, lowering the hand that held the device, I looked at the Duke.

"Ehm, what's this."

The Duke smiled.

"That..."

Extending his hand, he proceeded to point at the device in my hand.

"...Is the device that will turn that thirty percent, into a one hundred percent."

"One hundred percent?"

Lowering my hand, I stared at the device in my hand with an absentminded look on my face.

Raising my head again, I asked.

"If I use this I will be able to win the match?"

"That is correct."

The Duke smiled.

"All you have to do is press that device in the most critical conditions, and the rest will be easy. Just make sure to take advantage of the situation."

"I see..."

With a simple nod, I put the device away.

The Duke's smile grew bigger when he saw this. As he asked, he had a satisfied look on his face.

"Is there anything you wish from me?"

"Excuse me?"

I raised my head to stare at the Duke.

He continued.

"It is only right that I reward you for your efforts. So tell me what you want?"

"...What I want?"

Lowering my head, I pretended to fall into deep thought.

In reality, I already knew what I wanted.

It was something that I had been aiming for from the very beginning after all.

I slowly opened my mouth.

"If I win..."

Lifting my head, I met the Duke's eyes.

"...I want to have a fight against you."

***

"Ugh.."

Waking his groggy mind up, Liam blinked a couple of times.

What met his sight was a familiar sight. It was the sight of his room's ceiling. One that he had seen for the past couple of years.

"Did I fall asleep?"

He managed to mutter after a while.

"What happened?"

In an attempt to recall what had happened, his mind went blank for a few minutes.

His eyes which were filled with vitality a moment ago started to become dull.

As he reflected on his blank memories, he made sure to clearly express his disappointment.

"...Are my memories acting up again?"

It was always like this.

Whenever something happened, regardless of how big or small it was, he would always end up forgetting the next day.

This was a consequence of the art he practiced. It was the price he paid in exchange for power, but he was slowly starting to regret his decision.

Ever since practicing it, his life had only gotten duller.

"I guess I probably fell aslee-hm?

Halting mid-sentence, it was then that his mind was suddenly flooded with memories.

His head recoiled back as his eyes opened widely.

"I can remember!"

He joyfully screamed out loud.

For the first time in a very long time, he could finally remember what had happened the previous day!

It was inevitable for him to become excited after realization.

After all, this had never happened to him before.

"Huuu..."

But he didn't let the excitement get the best of him.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, he carefully inspected his body as he opened and closed his eyes. An expression of wry relief appeared on his face after he realized he had not died.

"So I'm not dead, huh?"

It appeared as though his opponent had spared him during the last moment of the fight.

Sitting up straight, he proceeded to look at his hands as he once again muttered.

"I can remember..."

The fight, he could remember it.

This was the first time in a long time that Liam ever remembered one of his fights.

He could remember everything.

From how the fight panned out, to the feelings he felt throughout it.

Especially his loss...

"So this is how it feels to lose..."

During that moment, he clenched his clothes with one hand as he felt a sharp pain rise in his chest.

The corner of his lips pulled upwards as he muttered through his clenched teeth.

"...It's a pretty darn awful feeling."

This pain in his chest.

This sense of dissatisfaction and frustration.

He couldn't quite put how he felt into words, but...

"It was fun."

A relieved smile spread across his face.

The feeling that he believed he had long lost had finally risen up inside of his body for the first time in a long time, and before he knew it, he felt a warm sensation by the side of his cheeks.

"It's been so long..."

He mumbled before closing his eyes and clenching his teeth.

But...

"I don't like it."

It was only after he felt it again that Liam realized how painful losing was.

He didn't like it one bit. He finally started to remember the reason why he pursued strength so much in the past.

It was because of this bitter and cruel feeling.

And a feeling that only appeared whenever he lost.

"Fuck..."

Clenching his teeth, he leaned back on his bed and covered his eyes with his arm.

"...I really wanted to win."

Chapter 526: Deal[2]

"Your excellency, if I may ask…"

Taking a knee on the ground before Duke Azonech, the demon paused halfway through his sentence, waiting for the Duke's confirmation.

He got it soon enough.

"...You may ask."

"Thank you."

The servant thanked the Duke. Secretly, he tried his best to stop himself from smiling.

'As expected of the Duke, he does not suspect anything.'

In reality, he wasn't merely asking out of curiosity. He was asking so that he could report what was going to the other Duke.

It was a secret order that he had received before he had left.

By doing this, he was treading a thin line, but as soon as he remembered the rewards promised to him by the other Duke, all of his fear dissipated.

It was simply too tempting.

With his head lowered, he proceeded to ask something that he had been curious about.

"Why did you tell that human to keep the Overlord alive?"

It was well known that the current Overlord was close to breaking through to the next level. What the servant was curious about was why the Duke didn't have any intentions of killing him directly.

His question was answered not long after.

"It's because I'm planning on giving him a contract."

Upon hearing those words, the servant looked surprised.

But it soon replaced it with a look of understanding.

"….Understood your excellency."

Everything quickly puzzled itself together inside of the servant's mind as he made sure to remember everything.

The Duke's plan was rather simple. He was planning on taking the Blood Prince to his side. Everything was starting to make sense to the demon as he came up with one conclusion.

'He wants to be the sole owner of the arena.'

In spite of this, he immediately began to sweat profusely after coming to such a conclusion.

His command over the Blood Prince would inevitably give him more power than the other Duke thus forcing him to give him control over the arena.

As his thoughts paused there, the demon felt cold chills run down his spine.

'As expected of Duke Azenoch, ruthless as ever.'

Unfortunately for the Duke, what he didn't know was that the demon he shared this information with worked for the other Duke. He was simply crippling himself.

"Do you have any other questions to ask?"

Jolting him out of his thoughts was the Duke's voice that reverberated throughout the whole room.

Lowering his head further, the servant quickly shook his head.

"…No your excellency."

'This is enough. The Duke will certainly reward me after I tell him this.'

Thinking such thoughts, he tried his best to suppress his excitement.

"Good."

But it was then that a powerful force suddenly permeated the air, causing the servant to feel a rush of energy.

"Ughk."

With a pained groan, he suddenly found himself stuck on the ground, unable to lift his head due to the sheer pressure that was bearing down on him from above

"W…what?!"

As he had difficulty breathing, the servant murmured in distress.

"Wh..why aare you doing this to me?"

Responding to him, the Duke's cold voice echoed throughout the room.

"Did you think for a second that you would live after hearing what I said just now?"

The servant's eyes opened up.

'He knew!'

How was this possible? He had taken all possible precautions to hide this fact, how was it possible for the Duke to know this?

"Your excellency!"

He screamed.

"I won't tell anyone—"

"You've grown a little impudent recently,, haven't you? Asking me this and that, you think I don't know?"

The Duke's face sunk as the pressure coming out of his body rose even more. Rendering the servant helpless.

He could only lay down on the ground, like a helpless prey that had been caught by its predator.

Opening his mouth, he tried to beg his case. But it didn't seem as though the Duke was interested as he long stopped looking at him.

Regardless, the servant continued begging.

"Your…excellency, please, I can…exp—"

"Enough. I won't kill you now."

After hearing those words, the servant's face relaxed a bit.

But that didn't last for long as his face hardened completely not long after.

"If I kill you now, that bastard will find out that something is wrong…"

***

At the same time.

"This is not bad."

Gazing at the room in front of me, I looked around the place.

Among the many decorations in the room before me, it had a bed big enough for me to fit in, sofas, paintings, and all types of decorations.

This was my new room.

It should've been given to me before, but it was only now that they had decided to give it to me.

Quite the lazy bunch.

The first thing I did upon entering my room was head straight for the bed.

Of course, as I did, I made sure to keep note of every little detail of the room.

'This place is probably heavily surveilled, so I need to keep low for now.'

The leak in the conversation I had with SilverMoon not too long ago was confirmation of this.

Fortunately for me, I had done most of my preparations beforehand.

All I had to do was carry them out at the moment.

'Just a little bit more…'

Upon laying down on the bed and covering my eyes with my arm, I slowly started to relax.

It would have been normal for me to start training at this point, but since I had forced my way to <A+> rank, I needed time to stabilize my body.

One couldn't just force a breakthrough and expect their bodies to be okay with it. The only reason why I was mostly okay was because of my constitution which had changed due to the seed of limit.

Had it been anyone else, they would've been in a tougher spot.

As I relaxed on the bed with my arm covering my face, I thought of something.

'I should also be going to get my resources.'

A fundamental rule of the arena was that the winner would take all of the loser's possessions, including their resources. It essentially crippled the loser of the fight, but these were the rules.

On another note, despite taking other contestants' resources, I found most of them to be useless.

...and if I had to be honest, I really didn't hold any interest in any of their resources. Having just consumed some, my body couldn't keep up.

It would probably be quite a while since I would be able to use resources to once again break through.

"Oh well…"

I was still planning on collecting Lightning Dragon's resources. It wasn't because I wanted them, but because I wanted to meet him.

There were a couple of things that I needed to say to him.

A couple of very important things.

***

"Should I, or should I not?"

Biting his nails, Kevin gazed at the phone in his hands. He was currently in a tough predicament.

As he held the phone with one hand, staring at himself reflected on the screen, Kevin's thumb hovered over a small green button on the screen.

[You have to look through the rain to see the rainbow.]

"I have a feeling that things won't go well if I send this…"

Kevin began to fear each and every new post he sent as he recalled his past incident with Ren.

'Go away, don't talk to me, what is this cringe? Blocked.'

"Ugh."

Kevin let out a distressed sound.

"Damn it, Ren."

In the first place, he couldn't be blamed for sending his previous post.

Each time he posted something on the web, he would receive a lot of money.

Like a lot of money. At least a couple million U per post.

This was only to be expected. With the amount of fame he had due to his past achievements, he had a lot of followers. And they were growing each and every day.

He had almost reached a point where he had more followers than most high-profile celebrities.

And it was only natural for him to get sponsorship and endorsement deals from famous brands.

Given how much money resources cost him, it wasn't something he could give up so easily.

Furthermore, as he was always busy, rather than handling these sorts of things himself, he decided to hire someone to do it for him.

"Ugh."

Checking his post one more time, Kevin's face distorted.

[You have to look through the rain to see the rainbow.]

Especially with the new quote. He wasn't sure whether it would be good or not...

But, just thinking of Ren possibly coming back and making fun of him again…

"Yeah, let's not."

He quickly closed his phone and put it away. No matter how much money he was going to lose, he was not going to repeat the same mistake again.

Never.

As he raised his hand, he wiped away the corner of his eyes.

It was a bit itchy.

'My money...'

"Haaa..."

Letting out a long and exhausted sigh, Kevin waved his hand in the air.

A series of texts formed in front of him. Tracing his hand over the text, it soon paused on a specific mission.

"There doesn't seem to be a time limit, but I should hurry up..."

Lowering his hand, he fell into thought as he muttered.

"I've already broken through to <A- > rank, so all I have to do is wait for Ren to come back, but when exactly is that going to be?"

Had it not been for the people vouching for him, Kevin would have already gone out to look for him after almost five months of him going missing.

That said.

It wasn't like he had spent the past five months doing nothing.

In fact, Kevin had been busier than he had ever been in the past.

Especially with everything that was going on at the Union at the moment. In addition to diving into dungeons almost every day, he had also met several high-ranking demons along the way, forcing him to fight them with his life on the line.

They were pretty big incidents that were reported all over the human domain.

Several scars still adorned his body, reminding him of his experiences.

'I should probably have them healed before Emma comes back.'

Regarding Emma...

It had been quite some time since he last saw her and if it hadn't been for her father personally assuring him that she was fine, Kevin would've already panicked.

That wasn't exactly the only reason.

After having had a long conversation with her a while back, Kevin understood that whatever Emma was doing, it was for the sake of improving herself.

Although she didn't say it outright, Kevin knew that she didn't want to be seen as a burden, or some precious vase that needed to be protected by everyone.

She too had her own pride, and Kevin respected that.

"What time is it?"

Jolting himself out of his thoughts, Kevin suddenly checked the time, 6:30 A.M.

"...Shit, I'm late for class."

Hurrying out of his room, Kevin took his jacket and put it on.

In addition to him working with the Union, Kevin was in fact still a professor at the Lock. That had not changed.

He did get an offer to quit, but he had refused.

He actually quite enjoyed teaching.

Well...

For the most part.

Chapter 527: Overlord [1]

"This works better."

"Are you sure?"

"If you want to deal the most amount of damage, yes. This is the best way."

"Okay…"

Things seemed to be rather tense inside of a fairly sized office space, as two figures sat on opposite ends of each other.

"What about with this one? Would a guild war be more suitable, or should we cripple them financially?"

"Guild war? That sounds rather fun."

"…It might backfire."

"I don't think it will. You can just ask Kevin to help you out. I'm sure he wouldn't have a problem doing so. He's a pushover. Furthermore, you yourself told me that you had to have them gone."

"True…"

In this unusual atmosphere, the words that were being spoken between the two individuals would've sent waves around the human domain.

It was then that.

Knock. Knock.

The door suddenly knocked, and a deep voice echoed from the other side of the door.

"Young miss, may I come in?"

"Yes."

Amanda replied.

Following this, the door opened up and a young man in his thirties walked into the room.

He was Maxwell, Amanda's assistant.

The moment Amanda's eyes laid on him, she curiously asked.

"What brings you here?"

"…Nothing in particular young miss."

He curiously looked around the room before his eyes paused on the figure sitting next to Amanda.

Despite the slight twitch in his mouth as he paused to look at the figure, he quickly continued speaking.

"The elders wanted to know whether you have come up with a solution for our current predicament."

"About that…"

Amanda turned her head to glance at a girl who was sitting next to her. Other than Melissa, who else could it have been?

Only she would say such words. Well, there was Ren, but he wasn't exactly here.

Lifting her glasses up with her finger, Melissa didn't reply and scanned the map of Ashton city with her eyes.

Then, taking her gaze away from the map, she responded.

"Your best bet would be to financially cripple, Dongtan Guild, Ikarian Guild, and Snowstar Guild. In terms of finance, they are the weakest of the lot, and will go down without putting up much of a fight."

"I thought so too."

A nod followed Amanda's response as she pointed at two more guilds.

"Regarding these two guilds, Wraithless and GoldenCrow would be the best to announce a guild war against. They have the financial power, but are not as strong in terms of members."

"I agree, that's your best bet."

Melissa replied with a serious look. There was a glint of excitement in her eyes as she gazed at the map.

"...My only gripe with this is that they might hire external help to fight in the guild wars, that in itself will be a disadvantage."

"I agree."

Amanda's eyes narrowed. Her brows relaxed not long after.

"But I think this can work for our advantage."

"It might..."

In agreement, Melissa plucked lightly at her lips.

"Especially since they will be individuals that have never worked with each other before."

"Yes."

One of the most important factors for ensuring victory in a guild war was coordination and seamless collaboration between all participants.

It wasn't a 1v1 scenario. It was a large-scale battle that involved thousands and thousands of individuals.

By hiring external help, they would essentially be giving up control. In particular, this was more pronounced when one hired stronger support.

Consequently, the stronger they were, the more arrogant they were, making them harder to control.

And this was a serious problem when guilds hired external help.

They were, in other words, a double-edged sword.

"Hehehe…"

A sudden giggle escaped Melissa's lips.

'This is fun...'

Thinking about how many diamond-graded guilds might potentially fall from their plans, Melissa just couldn't help herself.

The money that would come from their victory...

A broad grin spread across her face.

In the meantime, turning her head, Amanda glanced her way. Her face turned odd.

She then asked.

"Why are you laughing?"

"…Nothing much."

Melissa waved it off. But the smile on her face said otherwise.

Eventually, under Amanda's gaze, Melissa came clean.

"Alright, I'm just laughing because this is fun."

"Fun?"

"Yeah."

Melissa's smile deepened. Adjusting the glasses on her face once more, she pressed one of the guilds on the map with her hands.

"Destroying guilds and all. This is a lot more entertaining than I originally thought. Kind of relives me from a lot of stress."

As a result of everything that had happened with the magic cards recently, Melissa was overworked and stressed beyond belief.

In the absence of Amanda's call, she probably would've spent the day in the lab doing the same repetitive tasks.

To put it simply, it was boring. It got so boring that Melissa increased her potions consumption during that time.

Fortunately, Amanda had called her.

It was nice to have a change of pace occasionally.

"...I see."

It took Amanda some time to reply. The look on her face as she gazed at Melissa was still odd.

Melissa's cocked her head a little.

"What's wrong?"

The way Amanda was staring at her made her feel weird.

'What's wrong with her.'

It was then that Amanda spoke. Her next words caused Melissa's face to harden.

"It's just that you reminded me of Ren when you were talking about destroying the guilds."

"Wha..t."

With her mouth agape, Melissa's body started to shake.

'Did she just say what I think she just said?'

Staring at the map in front of her, Melissa had a sudden urge to destroy even more.

'...I remind her of him?'

Hell no.

This was her worst nightmare.

Her eyes eventually narrowed tightly as her teeth clenched.

"...Out of all the people you had to compare me to, you chose him?"

"Sorry."

Amanda apologized. That said, she didn't seem to be sorry at all. Rather, she had a look filled with pity.

Melissa's fist clenched.

"Thanks for ruining my mood."

Slapping the table, Melissa took out a potion.

Gulp.

Carefully staring at it, there was an audible gulp in the room.

'Shit, I just took it out of habit.'

Clenching the potion tightly, Melissa grit her teeth as she forced herself to put the potion away.

She had promised herself to control her potions intake.

Standing up, she forced a smile.

"Amanda, if you ever plan on doing something as fun like this again, do call me. I will come in a heartbeat."

Turning around, Melissa glanced in Maxwell's way before heading for the door.

"Seriously?"

Along the way, she whispered in a barely audible voice. She was clearly still salty about Amanda's words.

"If it was someone who copied someone, it would have been him copying me. In the first place, I'm the one with the twisted personality..."

In spite of the whispers, Amanda still heard every one of her words.

'At least she knows...'

Scratching the side of her cheek, Amanda's eyes lingered toward the area Melissa previously stood. She then shook her head and glanced in Maxwell's way.

"You've heard everything, you can report this to the elders. Report to me whether they approve of my arrangements or not."

"Understood."

Maxwell bowed down politely.

As Maxwell was about to leave, he thought of something and called Amanda.

"Young Miss..."

"Yes?"

Scratching the tip of his nose, a faint smile spread across his face.

"I couldn't help but overhear the conversation between the two of you, and I just wanted to add something..."

Halfway through his sentence, Amanda's head cocked a little as her delicate brow raised.

"What is it?"

"...Both of you had the same look on your faces when I entered the room."

"Hm?"

Amanda's face stiffened.

But Maxwell had already left before she could ask him to elaborate.

Clank—

With the sound of the door closing, silence enveloped the room.

Caught off-guard, Amanda didn't know how to reply as she touched her lips and muttered.

"Did I really look like him?"

Honestly, she had mixed feelings about this.

Especially since this was one of his weirdest traits.

"Haaa…"

With a long, tired sigh, Amanda opened the drawer next to her and pulled out a small, glowing orb.

Leaning back in her chair, she gazed at the ceiling while whispering to herself.

"Father, how are you doing?"

***

[And the winner of this match is White Reaper who is now ineligible to fight against the current Overlord!]

Hearing the demoness's voice, I turned my gaze away from the crowd before staring at a figure in the distance. It was my opponent.

Upon making sure that he was done for, I proceeded to head back to my room.

As a result of beating Lightning Dragon and SilverMoon forfeiting, I became the Duke bracket's emperor. In addition, I had just defeated the King bracket's current emperor, qualifying me to fight the Overlord.

The Blood Prince.

The battle was hard-fought, but I inevitably became the winner. If I had to be honest, fighting against the King bracket Emperor was a lot easier than Lightning Dragon.

Lightning Dragon was just a force of nature.

The strength with which he had fought left me shaken even now.

Regardless, Lightning Dragon aside, it would soon be my turn to take on the current Overlord. Edward.

The plan was of course for me to win.

This was a must.

'Only by beating can I fight against the Duke…'

I knew better than anyone else that the Duke's rank would not be suppressed during the fight even though the Duke should theoretically have his rank suppressed.

"Congratulations on your victory."

Entering the arena tunnel, I was greeted by a familiar figure. It was Edward.

My eyes narrowed immediately as soon as I spotted him.

"What do you want?"

I asked in a rather cold voice. Of course, this was merely acting on my part.

With a shrug of his shoulders, Edward glanced my way.

"I was just congratulating you on your victory."

"Oh? You only care about that now? What about when I first visited you?"

A smirk slowly pulled on my lips.

"Don't tell me that you're only visiting me now because you're afraid."

Drawing closer, my voice deepened.

"Afraid of me possibly beating you?"

'Gotta say, I can probably make a good villain.'

I thought as I continued spewing third-rate villain quotes. For the sake of it, I threw whatever I could think of.

"Wash your neck."

Edward's face changed at my words.

"I only respect the strong. I don't respect cowardly people who want to leech off of me. That's why I kicked you out."

'He's not bad either...'

His quotes were rather cheesy, but this was exactly what I was aiming for as I spat toward my right.

"Courting death!"

Scoffing at him, I took a couple of steps forward before placing my hand over his shoulder.

Firmly gripping his shoulder, I hatefully spat.

"For your sake, when the two of us meet in the arena, you better lose. I don't want to kill you."

Just as I began to say the first part of the sentence, I made sure to apply more pressure to my index finger.

I was trying to convey to him the hidden meaning in my words.

'You better lose'

Smack—!

After smacking my hand away, Edward subtly nodded his head and glared at me coldly.

"Looks like I was mistaken about you."

Before I could say anything else, he directly turned around and left.

Seemingly having lost all interest in me.

"Just you wait…"

I spat through my gnashed teeth as I glared in Edward's direction.

Chapter 528: Overlord[2]

Inside the tunnel leading to the arena, a soft and groggy voice echoed.

"Are you ready?"

The voice came from SilverMoon, who was checking on me.

Her face had become quite sunken since the last time I had seen her, and she also didn't seem to be in the right state of mind. She was clearly still unable to cope with the loss of SilverStar.

She was essentially a dead woman walking.

The only reason she was here was to see my fight against Edward. The man that took her husband's life.

As I stepped away from her, I could hear the crowd's loud cheers behind me.

Without turning around, I replied.

"You don't have to worry about that. I will win the fight."

I wasn't lying about this.

I wasn't going to lose the fight.

In the wake of my meeting with Edward, it was now my turn to face him. There was already a palpable excitement in the crowd's cheers, which were getting louder by the minute.

The atmosphere around me was boiling.

In the meantime, SilverMoon, who was standing beside me, also sensed the weird atmosphere and took a step back.

"Okay. I've already helped you the best way I could. I hope you can keep your promise."

"You can count on that."

It was at that moment.

Clank—

The gates of the arena started to slowly open up revealing the vast arena in the distance. The crowd cheers intensified, and my shoulders relaxed.

'Here goes nothing.'

Taking a deep breath, I took a step into the arena.

***

'I don't know how to feel about this…'

Despite the passive face he wore, Edward's thoughts were complicated as he stood in the middle of the arena.

Having spoken with him yesterday, he understood what the outcome of today's match would be.

His inevitable loss.

But there were two problems with this.

One, he had to lose believably. Everything they had been working on would go up in smoke if he lost in an obvious manner.

But for this part, he wasn't too worried.

'Considering his strength, he does indeed have a chance of beating me. Especially if he has that device…'

His eyes paused on the bracelet in his hand. Ren would have an easier time winning if he had a device to turn off his suppressor.

Even than.

That wasn't what worried Edward.

'I'm still on the fence about this...'

What worried him was how trustworthy he was.

He had only met him once in his life, and he didn't know him well.

'Although he probably saved me from losing to SilverStar, I still don't trust him completely...'

Edward couldn't be blamed for this. Having spent as much time as he did in the arena and demon realm, he had long lost the ability to trust anyone easily.

Had Ren not revealed who he was, Edward would've probably ignored his words.

Furthermore, the strength he displayed really shocked him.

...And this was a point of concern for him.

'Just how much can a person change in such little time?'

He really was completely different from the person he had once met in the past.

Was he really someone he could trust?

'… but I don't really have a choice.'

A bitter smile spread across Edward's face as he thought of his other choices.

In light of his realization that the games were rigged, Edward knew that he could only play along with whatever he was planning. He was going to lose, either way, so he may as well just bet everything he had on the possibility that brought him the highest chance of escaping.

He simply didn't have a choice.

Clank.

In that moment, the gates on the other side of the arena opened and a familiar figure emerged.

An expression of calm, devoid of any emotions was accompanied by white hair and two eyes of deep blue color.

White Reaper, or Ren, finally came out to the arena.

The calm echo of his footsteps filled the entire arena as he walked toward him.

There was an immediate pause in everyone's gaze as he walked in Edward's direction. Heavy tension descended down the arena.

White Reaper's footsteps soon stopped in front of Edward, and their eyes met. Staring back into them, Edward slowly closed his eyes.

Whatever was around him, whether it was the crowd or the noise coming from them, immediately disappeared as soon as he closed his eyes.

At that very moment, in his mind, there was only an image of Ren standing opposite him.

He could also feel a faint presence standing next to him. In the moment, he was only focused on studying his opponent opposite him as no other sound entered his ears. He could also feel the presence of someone else, but he made sure to pay no mind to it. It was probably the demoness who always appeared at the beginning of the match.

Extending his hand, a blood-red spear materialized in his hands. A powerful red glow enveloped the spear as he tightly grasped it with both hands; all the mana inside of him bursting out like a broken dam.

Taking a deep breath, he slowly took a stance and opened his eyes again.

A moment later, his gaze met Ren's. While their eyes met, Ren similarly took a stance and placed his right hand over his sword's hilt.

A surge of powerful mana erupted from out of his body.

'Even if I do end up losing, I should do a good job at making it look like I put up a good fight…'

Edward thought to himself as he focused all of his mana toward the tip of his spear.

[You may fight!]

It was at that moment that the demoness's voice echoed out.

Edward was quick to take action. The moment he heard the demoness's voice, he took a step forward and mercilessly thrust his spear in Ren's direction.

From the spear, a blood-red wave resembling a small tsunami erupted, before quickly heading in Ren's direction.

Click

At the same time he stabbed his spear, he heard a subtle clicking sound coming from Ren's direction.

'Fast.'

Edward thought as he found Ren's sword already reaching out for him.

It was at that moment that Edward realized that his attack wouldn't make it before Ren's sword would reach him.

"Khh..."

Gritting his teeth, Edward twisted his torso and moved the spear shaft toward his right side.

Clank—

A loud metallic ring echoed throughout the whole arena as Ren's sword came into contact with Edward's spear.

From the point of contact between the two weapons, circular pressurized wind gales were released. Spreading out throughout the whole arena

But it was then that Ren did something completely out of Edward's expectations.

With his sword still pushing against Edward's spear, Ren's back arched and he punched out toward Edward's direction using his left hand.

'What in the...'

It was clear that Ren's actions confused Edward, who had originally thought that Ren was going to fight him with a sword, but despite his surprise, he reacted quickly by raising his free hand.

"Hm!?"

But right as he was about to move his arm, he felt something hard press against his arm. It was a small translucent ring.

'When did that get there?'

Edward's eyes open a little as he grit his teeth and exerted more force on his arm, finally breaking through the ring and placing his arm next to his face.

Bang—

Upon making contact with Ren's fist, Edward was pushed a couple of steps back.

Before he could stabilize his body, Ren had already reached him. Raising his fist, he punched out again.

As he punched, a thin green veil of mana covered his fist, allowing him to break through the sound barrier.

Bang—!

His fist was followed by several rings bursting from behind him as he struck out.

Unable to use his spear due to his awkward positioning, Edward could only use the shaft of his spear to block the punch. Edwards' movements were slightly hindered as four rings formed on each end of the spear precisely when he tried to block the attack.

"Khhh..."

It was only a slight hindrance, but it was enough for Ren to take advantage and land a clean hit on Edward.

Bang—!

The moment Ren's fist connected with Edward's face, Edward found his body getting pushed back.

'Again?'

But before his body could be pushed, he felt something press against his back. He didn't even need to look to understand what it was.

It was another darned ring.

Ren's figure appeared before him. More and more rings appeared from behind him, as they hovered around his fist.

Bang—! Bang—!

From that moment, all the crowd could do was watch as Ren's fist continuously punched Edward in every part of his body.

With everyone one of his actions getting blocked by one of his rings, Edward could only watch as Ren's fist continued to connect with his face and body.

Although they didn't particularly hurt too much, the damage was slowly starting to accumulate, and so was Edward's annoyance.

"Huupp!"

Letting out a short cry, a wave of powerful mana suddenly erupted from out of his body, completely enveloping the arena.

As a result of his sudden actions, Ren was forced to take a couple of steps back. Glaring in his direction, Edward massaged his right cheek.

Firmly gripping the shaft of the spear, Edward took a step forward and took a deep breath.

"Huuu..."

While calming down his mind, he focused on drawing the mana of his body toward the tip of his spear as a terrifying bloodlust surged from him, enveloping the arena.

The moment Edward released his bloodthirst, Ren's face turned extremely solemn. However, if one looked closely, they'd be able to notice a subtle smirk on his face.

He slowly took a stance and a powerful wave of mana also started to erupt out of his body. Although it wasn't as powerful and dense as Edward's, it was still noticeable to the crowd.

'You've got to be shitting me...'

Edward also noticed this as his shoulder's almost dropped on the spot. Of course, he could only curse inwardly as his face remained as serious as ever on the outside.

Grasping the shaft of his spear with all of his strength, Edward slowly trusted it in Ren's direction. His movements caused a large blood red funnel to form at the tip of his spear, sucking all the mana that was in the air.

There was a noticeable brightening of the glow surrounding the spear.

At the same time this was happening, Ren's face, which was as serious as it could have ever been, twitched as he pulled away at his sword.

Click.

Different lines formed in the air, and the ground began to split. Edward, who was standing not too far from Ren, felt needle-like stings start all over his body as the air around him distorted.Although the pain wasn't too intense, it still made his subsequent movements more difficult. Even so, he slowly released every ounce of mana he had accumulated inside his spear, and shot it towards Ren.

Just as all the mana inside his body was about to escape through his spear, he felt a bolt of electricity come from the right side of his hand, where the suppressor was, and he quickly lost contact with his mana.

Although Edward's slip of mana was only momentary, the result was disastrous, as he suddenly found this accumulated mana running rampant, resulting in his spear shaking uncontrollably.

In an instant, most of the mana he had accumulated for his spear dissipated, and a thunderous noise filled the arena.

Boom—!

Chapter 529: Overlord [3]

My eyes were glued to Edward's body, which was lying on the ground. In my ears, the noise from the crowd was drowned out.

During that moment, I had all my attention focused on Edward.

It wasn't until I saw his chest move that I finally relaxed.

He was still alive.

As he lay on the ground with his eyes wide open, staring at the red sky of the arena, his body was anything but fine.

Taking a deep breath and inwardly praying, I put the device back in my dimensional space and closed my eyes.

'I hope Amanda does not find out about this…'

If she found out I beat up her father...

Shivers ran down my spine.

'...Yeah, let's hope that does not happen.'

What Demon King?

She would probably finish me before that happened.

Well, I didn't think she would go that far, but I still didn't care to find out what would happen.

Keeping this secret under the grave was a sacred duty.

"Haa..."

I exhaled, and slowly opened my eyes.

As I opened my eyes again, I felt everyone's gaze pause on me. A pin-drop silence filled the arena grounds as none of the spectators spoke.

I then glanced toward the right. Nevertheless, I was surprised to find that the demoness had not appeared yet.

She was usually punctual.

'Where is she?'

I wondered to myself as I glanced around the place. It didn't take long for her to appear, as her figure appeared next to me shortly thereafter.

'Ah, there she is.'

Her eyes alternated between Edward and me as she hung open-mouthed. Eventually, she began to announce the match's result. The look on her face never changed as she spoke.

It was still filled with shock.

[…and the winner of the match is White Reaper, officially dethroning the Blood Prince from his Overlord position, and thereby becoming the new Overlord!]

It wasn't long before her words deeply echoed throughout the whole arena.

During a brief pause, the crowd and spectators digested the information before erupting into cheers.

The stadium started shaking as the cheers grew louder.

It was that loud.

My attention briefly focused on Edward's direction before I turned around and moved toward the metallic gates in the distance.

'My job is done, I should get prepared for the big event that is coming soon...'

It was about time I returned home.

***

"Not bad…"

Duke Azenoch's face was tinged with a faint curl as he watched White Reaper's figure slowly exit the arena.

The more he looked at him, the more pleased he became as he mumbled softly.

"He did not make the same mistake as the other one."

Recalling what had happened with SilverStar, the Duke shook his head with evident disappointment.

He was a good seedling. An obedient one.

It was unfortunate that he had failed his mission.

If only he hadn't been that useless.

"Well, this one isn't all too bad.."

While observing White Reaper from above, Duke Azonech's lips opened enough to reveal a set of yellow teeth.

"At a first glance, he looks pretty obedient..."

Of course, that was merely on the outside.

From that simple request he had asked, Duke Azonech had already come to the conclusion that he wasn't one that could be tamed.

"You wanted to challenge me?"

The smile on his face deepened as he slowly turned around.

"...A pity."

He muttered under his breath.

"What makes you willingly choose to kill yourself like that?"

Did he really believe that he could escape after seeing what he had done to Edward?

In spite of the fact that he could have lived a few more years, he became greedy and decided to challenge him directly.

What a terrible mistake on his part.

"A true pity that I have to kill him."

Wiping his mouth with his hand, he proceeded to head out of the room.

It was time for him to reap his rewards.

***

"It's time don't you think?"

Coming back to my room, the first thing that greeted me was my other-self.

Glancing around the place, I didn't answer. It wasn't that I didn't want to, but the place was definitely under surveillance.

Every one of my movements was being closely monitored, and given that I couldn't speak to him inside of my mind, I could only keep my mouth shut.

Fully aware of my circumstances, he continued speaking.

"Your next match won't be like all the other matches that you've experienced. You should be aware of this."

Meeting his line of sight, I subtly nodded my head.

'I know.'

Of course, I knew.

While my next opponent was just as skilled as Edward, he was actually coming at me with the intent of killing me, unlike Edward who came with a completely different mindset.

Furthermore, I was fully aware of the fact that he wasn't going to be honest with his rank as he would only pretend to wear a suppressor.

He had most likely planned on killing me during the fight. As if the Duke would ever let himself lose in front of his city.

That would be the biggest humiliation in his life.

"I admit, your skills are more than enough to fight against the Duke had he been suppressed. With everything that I've taught you over the past four months, this should be natural. Unfortunately...."

He paused mid-sentence, and silence enveloped the room.

I didn't need him to finish his sentence to understand what he was trying to imply.

It was then that he continued.

"...He won't be wearing a suppressor and if that's the case, you stand no chance at beating him. Your only choice is to lend me your body."

Staring in his direction, I didn't say anything.

Rather, my thoughts were quite complicated.

'I still don't trust him.'

I knew that despite helping me over the course of four months, he had done it for his own benefit.

He wasn't doing it for the sake of doing it.

I understood this point as I took advantage of this.

He also knew this.

But there was only a problem.

I was still unclear about his real motive.

Was it just to kill the demon king and get rid of his curse? But what exactly was this curse he was talking about?

Was it perhaps the fact that time would repeatedly loop for him, or was it something else?

I wasn't sure.

Whenever I tried asking him, he would always keep his lips tied.

His silence seemed forced.

It felt as though someone or something was stopping him from saying anything.

Were they perhaps the weird chains? This was most likely the case.

Regardless, putting all of these unanswered questions aside, I still didn't feel comfortable with the idea of him taking over my body.

"You're thinking too much. It'll be just like when you use Monarch's indifference. It won't make a difference."

The moment he said those words, I cocked my head forward and gave him a stare.

'...Back then I didn't know you were the one controlling me.'

Seemingly being able to understand my thoughts, he shrugged his shoulders.

"You still allowed me to control your body not too long ago, when we were in that dungeon. What difference does it make now?... Are you really that confident in defeating a Duke-ranked demon that could potentially use his power at any second without warning and kill you?"

As he stared deeply into my eyes, he paused for a brief moment before continuing.

"Let me tell you something. Regardless of how many times you want to die, or how many times you die, you will never die. That is your fate."

Drawing closer to me, his ice-cold eyes looked down at me.

"I'll repeat this again, I'm not interested in taking your body. But, it is within my best interest that you don't die, and..."

Extending his hand, he pointed his finger toward my chest.

"It is within your best interest if you don't die."

***

Clank. Clank. Clank.

Chains were being pulled inside a small cell, creating a loud rattling sound.

"Ukhh.."

After awakening from his groggy state, Edward glanced toward the other side of the cell and saw a figure standing there. Blinking a couple of times to get a better look at the figure hiding beneath the shadows of the room, his eyes sharpened.

Clenching his teeth, he hatefully spat.

"Duke Azonech."

"...It's been a while since we've seen each other."

A sinister voice replied back.

It was none other than Duke Azonech who smiled widely.

"You should already have an idea as to why I'm here."

"..."

Edward's eyes narrowed.

Of course, he knew why he was here.

It was the most obvious answer.

"You want to sign a demon contract with me?"

Why else would he still be alive if not for this reason?

"You're quick to catch on."

The Duke stretched out his hand and materialized a thin piece of paper that glowed a faint purple hue.

Flipping the paper around and gazing at its contents, he asked.

"I've heard that you've been missing your daughter quite a lot..."

Clank!

A strong chain-pulling sound echoed throughout the cell as Edward barred his teeth.

In a fit of rage, he shouted.

"Don't talk about my daughter!"

"Woah!"

Jokingly moving back, a teasing smile spread across Duke Azenoch's face as he raised both hands.

"How about you let me finish my sentence?"

"I don't care!"

Edward hatefully spat as he glared his way.

Duke Azenoch ignored him and went straight to the point.

"If you sign this contract, you will be a free man."

The moment those words escaped from the Duke's mouth, Edward stopped struggling.

With an incredulous look on his face, he gazed in the Duke's direction.

"What did you just say?"

"You heard me right the first time."

With a flick of his fingers, the contract flew in Edward's direction before magically stopping right in front of him.

"I'll soon be fighting against White Reaper. By the time it takes for me to beat him, I want to know your answer."

It was then that he turned around and proceeded to head out of the room. Leaving no room for Edward to talk.

Clank.

The door soon closed shut, and silence enveloped the room.

Gazing at the contract that was laying down on the ground, Edward's face pulled into a wry smile.

Recalling the events of the day prior, the corner of his lips twitched.

'He really did me dirty.'

For him to have attacked right as he was about to finish his own attack. Couldn't he have at least made it seem so not one-sided?

"Ukh..."

Just thinking about the fight caused Edward's face to darken a little.

'He said he knew Amanda, right?'

Somehow, Edward suddenly felt an ominous premonition.

He just couldn't explain what it was.

Chapter 530: Taking Control [1]

"Huu...huuu..."

My body rose and fell as I breathed in and out. With sweat trickling down my body, I slowly closed my eyes and continued doing the same motion. Alongside it, I made sure to carefully move the mana around my body.

"Are you ready?"

It was then that a voice echoed inside the room.

I promptly ignored the voice.

Lowering my body once more, I flexed my muscles and only stopped once my chest and nose touched the floor before moving.

My movement was very slow.

Slow to the point that my muscles started to sting with each movement.

"Haa..."

It was only after I completed the movement that I finally stood up. Taking a clean towel I cleaned my body.

'Warm's up done.'

Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank.

Detaching four large bracelets from my arms, I put them away.

Knock. Knock.

It was exactly at this moment that I heard a knocking sound coming from the other side of the room.

"Overlord, get ready. Your match is about to begin."

"Okay."

Massaging my shoulders, I leaned and stretched my neck.

"What's your choice?"

The same voice from before spoke. As I glanced in his direction, my eyes paused.

Eventually, I nodded my head and mumbled.

"Okay..."

"Good choice."

A smile began to spread on my other self's face.

'I'm starting to think that this was part of his plans...'

I was honestly still strongly opposed to the idea of having him take over my body, but after taking everything into consideration, and realizing that the Duke could use his true strength at any moment and kill me, I realized that I had no choice but to accept his offer.

'It sucks, but I'm still too inexperienced to face a Duke-ranked demon.'

Clank.

Jolting me out of my thoughts, the door to the room opened up revealing several figures standing behind.

As soon as the door fully opened, one of the demons asked.

"Are you ready?"

"...Yes."

Nodding my head, I took a step forward. Walking shoulder to shoulder with me was my other self.

With the same emotionless expression, he muttered.

"Be sure to pay close attention to everything I do. I will show you the true depth of your strength."

Without saying anything, I opened my mouth and softly mumbled.

"Monarch's indifference."

***

In spite of the fact that he had only been defeated a week ago, Lightning Dragon could not believe what he was seeing.

"The Duke against White reaper?"

Lightning Dragon was still having a hard time processing the information as he stepped onto one of the platforms overlooking the arena.

He already had a hard time figuring out how he had been able to beat the current overlord.

'He's strong yes, but from what I've seen, the Overlord should still be a bit stronger even if his rank is suppressed...'

Thanks to his eyes, Lightning Dragon was able to somewhat gauge how strong an opponent someone was.

Comparing White Reaper to the Blood Prince, there was still a bit of a gap between the two.

For him to have won that easily...

"As expected of the person who beat me."

He sure had many surprises up his sleeve. Particularly with regards to his upcoming battle with the Duke, which took the whole arena and city by storm.

For the first time in a very long time, the Duke was finally going to make an appearance.

The arena couldn't have been any fuller as it was packed to the brim.

It was at that moment.

[I'm sure everyone here has already heard of the event that's currently happening?]

The demoness finally made his appearance. The crowd instantly quieted down.

As the demons eagerly gazed at the arena below, the only sound heard was their rough breathing.

The atmosphere was heated, and all the demons wanted to do at the moment was catch a glimpse of the Duke.

A supreme being whom the arena and city were under the watchful eye of.

For him to finally make an appearance.

All the demons couldn't contain their excitement.

They wanted nothing else but to see him crush the current Overlord, White Reaper.

They didn't really have hard feelings against him…but he was the Duke. Of course, they would root for him.

Lightning Dragon's eyes squinted as he gazed at the audience. Their thoughts were so easy to read.

It was at that moment...

[Please let us welcome the Duke.]

As the gates at the far end of the arena slowly opened, the demoness's crisp and pleasant voice echoed throughout the entire arena.

From that point forward, everyone stopped breathing.

A lustrous set of black hair, two large horns that protruded from the side of his forehead, and a presence that instantly overtook the entire arena.

Duke Azonech stepped into the arena.

His every movement attracted the attention of all spectators and demons alike.

Tok. Tok.

The calm echo of his footsteps resounded throughout the whole arena.

It wasn't long before he stopped in the middle of the arena. There was a calm look on his face as he gazed toward the other end of the arena.

A brief moment of silence was followed by loud cheers, which shook the entire arena.

"Duke!"

"Duke Azenoch!"

"Beat him up!"

Those screaming for him at the top of their lungs sounded borderline fanatical. In spite of this, Duke Azenoch appeared to be enjoying the cheers as he basked in them calmly.

Soon, a faint curl began to spread across the Duke's face.

Meanwhile, at the top of one of the platforms.

"The device…"

Lightning Dragon's eyes opened wide as he gazed at the device that the Duke was wearing.

Channeling his mana toward his eyes, Lightning Dragon's eyes sharpened.

"It's not on."

Lightning Dragons' eyes were special. Not only could they allow him to detect the general flow of mana in the air, but they could also allow him to track down the general flow of energy in the air.

Whether it was mana, demonic energy, or aura, he could see through it all.

For him to not detect any energy coming out of the Duke's suppressor, he knew that it wasn't on.

Upon realizing this, he came up with one conclusion.

"He's planning on killing him..."

The Duke was planning on killing White Reaper.

Lightning Dragon's face changed completely once he learned of this as he pressed both hands on the window of the platform.

"Shit, I should've told him earlier..."

The main reason why Lightning Dragon never once chose to become the next Overlord was that he knew from the very beginning that the matches were fixed.

With his all-seeing eyes, this was only to be expected.

...Well, that and the fact that he was too lazy to even consider the idea of fighting over one hundred weak contestants.

If he wanted to escape, he could do it without the need to defeat the Duke, hence why he never saw the appeal.

Furthermore, he already knew from the very moment that he had heard the rules that it was practically impossible to escape from the arena.

I mean, what kind of Duke would ever put their reputation on the line in front of so many demons?

As if they would ever let themselves loose.

[And on the other side of the arena, we have his opponent. Someone whose rise could be described as nothing short of a miracle. Within a span of a single month, he managed to accomplish something that the contestants had never been able to accomplish in the past, and that is to fight against the current Duke! Welcome the current Overlord, White Reaper!]

Clank.

The moment her words faded, the gates on the other side of the arena slowly opened up revealing a familiar figure that everyone had seen in the past.

"hm?"

But the moment he appeared, Lightning Dragons' face hardened.

Opening and closing his mouth multiple times, a cold chill swept his body.

"What?"

When he raised his hand to touch his face, he felt a wet sensation. Unknowingly, his body started to tremble as he took a step back and mumbled.

"...Who is he?"

That...

That wasn't the White Reaper he had fought in the past.

He was someone else.

Someone much scarier...

***

There was a familiar smell of blood and ashenness, a familiar sight, a familiar noise...

Standing in the middle of the arena with Duke Azenoch opposite me, I was able to feel all my senses.

But I couldn't move my body.

"Like I've promised, here is your match."

"Thank you."

My mouth opened on its own.

It was the other me controlling my body.

[The contestants please get ready.]

The demoness's voice rang throughout the stadium. In response to her voice, my body moved a few steps back, stopping when I was about ten meters away from Duke Azenoch.

It was then that a voice entered my head.

'Make sure you memorize everything that I'm about to do. From my mana flow to everything that I do. Don't miss anything.'

Without answering the voice, I sharpened my focus and made sure to feel every sensation that was currently happening within my body. From mana flow to muscle movements.

Alternating her gaze between the Duke and me, the demoness asked.

[Are the two contestants ready?]

A heavy silence descended on the arena as the crowd stopped speaking.

Taking note of this silence, the demoness soon lowered her hand and announced the beginning of the fight.

[You may fight!]

Immediately following her words, Duke Azenoch disappeared.

'Watch carefully...'

At the same time, Duke Azenoch's figure moved, and my hand instinctively moved toward the right side of my head. Time slowed for a brief moment as my other self activated 'Eyes of Chronos'.

He would speed up and slow down the effects of the skill in short bursts.

This repeated five times before he deactivated the skill altogether. Time returned to its usual flow.

Bang–!

With a loud banging sound echoing throughout the arena, my right palm began to hurt.

'...H..how did he do that?'

Then from the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Duke Azonech. In the blink of an eye, his fist had already hurled toward my right temple.

However, that wasn't what surprised me.

What surprised me was how my other self was able to block such a fast attack. With the palm of his hand, he somehow managed to catch the fist.

"...Not bad."

I wasn't the only one surprised as the Duke also seemed surprised. With a flap of his wings, his figure disappeared once again.

With a casual glance, my other self took a step forward. He repeated the same thing he did in the past.

Swooosh–!

At the exact moment he stepped forward, Duke Azenoch's fist flew past. Once again missing.

Turning around to glance in the Duke's way, my other self started to speak.

'If there's something that you've been underutilizing, it's the...'

The moment he was about to complete his sentence, I felt my torso twist and I threw my fist behind me.

Bang–!

With a loud banging sound, I felt my fist connect to something. It took me a couple of seconds to realize what that something was. It was the Duke's head.

Tilting slightly as a result of the force of my fist, his expression dyed with absolute shock as his eyes opened widely.

This whole arena was in a state of pin-drop silence.

In spite of that, my other self completed the sentence without a care in the world.

'...chip inside of your head.'

Chapter 531: Taking Control [2]

'The chip inside of my head? …What is he talking about?'

I always used the chip inside of my head.

In the split second that 'Eyes of Chronos' was activated, I wouldn't have been able to think if it weren't for the chip.

Was there another function of the chip that I did not know about? ...If there was, I wasn't aware of it.

It was then that the other me spoke. My attention once again shifted.

'Pay attention one more time.'

With his words fading, the Duke's body stumbled backward.

This came as a result of the previous punch.

As he stabilized his body, there was no longer any look of shock on his face, and in its place was an impassive and unreadable expression.

In front of the silent audience, he attempted to keep a straight face.

His figure disappeared once more as he expanded his wings, casting a large shadow over the arena. This time, his movements were clearly different. It was a lot faster than before.

But…

Bang-!

The results were the same.

"Huaaakk!"

Casually elbowing the right side, the Duke's body reappeared. It was only a casual elbow, but it was that casual elbow that caused his eyes to widen and his stomach to cave in.

A glob of spittle flew towards my face, but my face remained unchanged.

'Did you manage to see?'

The echo of his voice reverberated throughout my mind.

Finding it difficult to digest what had happened, it took a while for me to answer back.

But I eventually did.

'…I have.'

While the answer was quite easy, it was the concept that I found difficult to grasp. Or even accept it as something that a human was remotely possible of achieving...

'Observe everything. From muscle movement to the direction that feet and bodies point, and eye movement. Connecting everything together...'

Lowering my hand, I pressed my thumb against the hilt of my sword.

The moment I did that, the Duke once again decided to move.

But…

Click-!

Shifting my body ever so slightly toward the right, a subtle clicking sound resonated throughout the arena.

Following the sound, the whole arena froze as the Duke's figure once again materialized in front of me.

A gaping hole appeared on the right side of his chest.

'...You will be able to predict their movements.'

Drip. Drip.

It was only the sound of blood dripping on the ground that echoed throughout the arena.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Trying to comprehend what had happened, the Duke's head rose and fell repeatedly as he stared at his right chest.

Throughout the silence, my mouth opened.

"…What a pity."

***

A fluke.

A simple and miraculous fluke.

'It's the only way to explain it…'

The Duke thought as he kept denying the reality that was presented before his eyes.

There was simply no way for someone whose rank was weaker than his to be able to hit him.

Impossible!

Although he was suppressed, he was still a Duke-ranked demon.

A Duke-ranked demon!

An existence that was supposed to stand at the apex of all worlds. A figure who had the ability to squash Counts with a simple wave of his hand.

…Or at least that was how things were supposed to be.

Drip. Drip.

But, as he heard the sound of his own blood dripping toward the ground, he started to question this notion.

'How is this possible?'

His only memory was moving one step before feeling a sharp pain on the right side of his body.

Raising his hand to cover his wound, Duke Azenoch raised his head.

"…!"

From that moment on, he could see all the stares coming from the participants above. They stared at him with obvious shock on their faces.

But that wasn't all.

While whispering among themselves, they also displayed a clear sense of disappointment.

"Is the Duke only this strong?"

"…Is he really weaker than that human?"

"He is playing around, right?"

They tried to be faint with their voices, but as the whispers grew, so did the noise, and their voices were heard by the Duke whose face twisted savagely.

'Shut up! How dare you!'

He wanted to shout at the top of his lungs toward the crowd. But out of sheer willpower, he managed to stop himself.

...The situation was still salvageable.

As he raised his head to stare at his opponent, the Duke stared deeply into his eyes.

'Huh?'

But the moment their eyes met, the Duke suddenly felt a chill run down his body as he subconsciously took a step back.

There was no avoiding the audience's observation, who became noisier as the performance progressed.

"Did you see that? The Duke took a step back.'

"Is the Duke actually scared?"

"…This is pathetic."

The Duke heard more and more voices inside of his head with each passing second. All he could hear were voices at this point.

But despite all of the voices against him, Duke Azenoch's focus was somewhere else.

Staring at his trembling arms, he stuttered.

'A…am I scared?'

That sensation he felt when he looked at him in the eyes...

Was it really a fluke? ..Or was he just imagining things?

When he glanced once again at White Reaper, the sensation he felt before vanished the moment his eyes met.

'…A fluke.'

The Duke thought to himself.

Yes.

It had to be a fluke.

How could someone that wasn't even Duke rank scare him?

Impossible.

'It's probably because of all the voices around me.'

There was simply no other explanation.

"Huuu…"

Taking a deep breath, Duke Azenoch calmed himself down. Drowning out the noise coming from the arena, he slowly started to channel his demonic energy.

'If Count rank doesn't work, I will just take it up a notch.'

Slowly adjusting his rank in an unnoticeable way, he took a step forward and his vision warped. Reappearing in front of White Reaper, he extended his hand and clawed his head.

Compared to before, his movements were incomparably faster.

Within a split second, his hand was already nearing White Reaper's head. It was so close, just a couple of inches away, but…

The Duke's face sank as White Reaper managed to avoid the attack by moving his head back by a narrow margin. Even so, he did manage to graze him just a little bit as a red line traced alongside his cheek.

Swoosh-!

Feeling something hurl at him from below, the Duke twisted his body. He too was able to avoid the attack.

At the same time he avoided the attack, he raised his head and proceeded to sweep his leg in a whipping motion, hurtling it towards White Reaper's head.

Bang-!

His leg was connected.

To the Duke's disappointment, his leg came into contact with his arm which was raised to block his head.

The Duke gritted his teeth and tried again.

"Huh?"

However, as he was trying to shift his body, the Duke suddenly found a hand grasping his foot. Without giving him a chance to react, an open palm came toward his head.

A sense of doom rose within the Duke's mind as he watched the hand reach out for his head.

Demonic energy erupted from his body as he twisted his body at a strange angle and swung his other foot toward his opponent's head with its back heel.

As he performed this movement, he made sure to keep his gaze focused on his opponent.

This led him to notice a slight change in White Reaper's expression, as his lips slowly curled into a grin and his left hand shot toward the side of his head.

'Fuck!'

By the time the Duke realized he had been baited into doing such a move, it was already too late.

Bang-!

With a loud banging sound, the Duke suddenly felt a hand grasp his other leg. Suddenly, he found himself being thrown up in the air before being thrown down with tremendous force.

Bang-!

Crashing into the ground, sand swept into the air as a crater formed beneath him. In addition, the Duke felt a great deal of pain running down his back as he struggled to open his mouth.

The impact was so powerful that he didn't even have time to groan.

"Again."

A voice echoed in his ears. By the time he realized what his words meant, his body had once again been flung toward the air.

Bang-!

***

"It's not him…"

After staring at the white-haired figure in the middle of the arena for a few moments, Lightning Dragon came to this conclusion.

'It can't be him.'

It was hard to describe the scene that he was seeing.

If he had to use a word, it would have to be a...

One-sided beat down.

Bang-! Bang-! Bang-!

An ear-piercing bang continued to reverberate throughout the arena. It was the sound created by White Reaper repeatedly flinging the Duke's body toward the ground.

How could Lightning Dragon think otherwise if that was all he heard and saw?

With each swing of his arms, the Duke's body would come crushing down toward the ground, deepening the already formed crater formed from the first impact.

The sight.

It was something that was being deeply engraved in the eyes of all spectators present as an immaculate silence enveloped the arena grounds.

But that wasn't what concerned Lightning Dragon.

His concern was that the White Reaper on stage wasn't the one he had fought.

'His mana control, it's completely different from when we fought. In addition, he moves a lot more efficiently than in the past. Every one of his movements seems to be perfectly calculated, and...hm?'

His thoughts paused for a second.

Leaning his body closer, his eyes opened widely as he pressed his hand on the window to get a better look at the fight.

'Wait…'

His eyes slowly started to enlarge.

"That…"

Opening and closing his mouth, his face paled as he came to a sudden realization.

'He's standing where he was at the beginning of the fight.'

No, rather, he was only one step ahead of where he previously stood.

This…

Who in the world was this?

Was he really the White Reaper he had once fought?

'Impossible.'

Lightning Dragon shook his head. The undeniable reality in front of him shook him to the core.

It was at that moment.

"Enough!"

He was jolted out of his thoughts by a powerful voice that swept across the entire arena. In response to the voice, a tremendous amount of energy suddenly erupted from the middle of the arena, throwing White Reaper's body back before his figure soon crashed into the other side of the arena.

Bang-!

All the spectators clung to their necks in an attempt to breathe under the suffocating pressure.

Duke Azenoch's body emerged from the deep crater.

His eyes were a deep shade of red, and his body was all dirtied up and messy.

Glaring in White Reaper's direction, the aura coming out of his body, slowly kept on increasing.

It didn't take long for a Duke-ranked pressure to emerge from his body. Some of the demons' bodies burst into pieces after his sudden aura release. It was that oppressive.

But he didn't seem to care as he slowly moved in the direction of where White Reaper crashed which was at the moment covered by a large cloud of dust.

With a wave of the Duke's hand, the dust swept and White Reaper's figure reappeared.

Swooosh-!

Sitting on the ground with his back up against the arena wall, White Reaper's head was lowered.

The Duke's body began to tingle with bloodlust as he stared at him.

He was going in for the kill.

However, what he didn't notice, along with the rest of the spectators in the arena apart from Lightning Dragon, was the upward pulling of the edges of White Reaper's lips.

Opening his mouth, he slowly mouthed something.

'Limit Breaker...'

Chapter 532: Taking Control [3]

Time stopped.

The world within my vision came to a halt.

From the crowd to the noise. The only thing that stood in front of me was Duke Azonech.

Carefully placing my hand on the ground, my body slowly stood up.

In parallel with this, Duke Azonech's face changed dramatically. In a mutter, he opened his mouth.

"…Y..you were hiding your strength?"

He slowly took a step back.

He appeared to be in shock and fear.

"Not really."

My mouth automatically opened and answered.

"That's impossible!"

In a state of trembling, he screamed.

"Do you really expect me to believe that you weren't hiding your strength?"

"...You call this hiding my strength?"

I suddenly felt a wave of disgust wash over my body as I sensed my other self's emotions.

I found my head slowly rising up.

My eyes soon met with the Duke's.

"Is it really worth hiding this little amount of strength?"

"Wh...what?"

While the two were conversing, I was secretly trying to grasp what was happening around me.

It had to be noted that currently, time was flowing at a much faster rate than reality. For the two of them to be able to converse properly...just how fast were they?

Not only that, the world around me. It looked different. Everything looked a lot more colorful as I was able to catch a glimpse of the mana in the air.

There wasn't much, in fact, there was barely any mana in the air, but it was still there.

Regardless, that wasn't what attracted most of my attention.

'...Limit Breaker?'

These words...

This was the first time I had ever heard of these words, and my curiosity about them was at an all-time high.

Unfortunately, I didn't have the luxury to ponder over those words as my head glanced around the frozen space, and I suddenly found my calves tensing up.

My mouth soon opened.

"My time is limited. This amount of strength will suffice for now."

Following those words, the tension within my legs disappeared. Within a split instant, I found the Duke's face right before me.

Swooosh-!

Bringing my fingers together, my hand thrust toward the Duke's throat in a lightning-fast manner.

However...

Unlike in the past, the Duke was able to react appropriately as he dodged my attack by moving his head to the side. It was by a narrow margin, but he was still able to dodge it.

After that, he counterattacked with his own palm, pressing it towards my abdomen.

Unfortunately for him, like an open book, his every move was clearly visible in the eyes of my other self.

With a casual slap of my left hand, his palm changed course.

Nevertheless, the Duke didn't give up, as he rotated his hand and demonic force burst out of his hand, forcing out a black beam that dangerously aimed at my head.

It still proved to be a futile effort in the end.

The only thing it took for my other self to avoid the attack was a simple movement of my head, having clearly read his movements ahead of time. The beam soon flew past the side of my ear, before piercing through the pale red clouds in the sky.

The Duke's face hardened when he saw this.

Clenching his teeth, he prepared to attack again, but in the blink of an eye, my hand had already reached out and grasped his arm.

Preventing him from doing whatever he was planning on doing.

Firmly grasping his hand, my mouth then opened.

"Give up."

My body twitched with annoyance as I felt my other's emotions run down my body.

The Duke's resistance clearly irritated him.

"It's funny how you think you can actually do something to me now that we're both in the same ranks again. You couldn't do anything when we were of the same rank before, yet you think a small power-up would make a difference?"

My fingers pressed against Duke Azenoch's arm as I squeezed his hand. The Duke's face changed, but my hand continued to squeeze before it compressed it completely and I was able to close my hand into a fist.

I could feel the bones of the demons crush inside the palm of my hands.

"Don't annoy me any further."

Pulling my hand back, the hand tore off of the Duke's body and blood began to slowly spill out.

My other self glanced at the torn-up hand for a brief moment before throwing it behind me, only to see it stop mid-air and fall down at the same pace time was really moving at.

The same could be said for the blood as it remained still in the air. Slowing moving in a downward manner.

"Huaak!"

Following my action, the Duke's face twisted savagely as he screamed out loud.

As he gazed toward me, a torrential wave of demonic energy burst out of his body, converging toward the top of his palm in the form of a small ball.

"H..how dare you!"

A tremendous force was pushed out as a result of his action.

But as though he could read his mind, with just a casual tap of his hand, the ball flew past my head.

When the ball flew past my head, I heard a voice speak inside of my head. The mana inside of my body started to circulate in an odd manner.

'I'll show you one more thing before I end him. Make sure you feel how I control the mana inside of your body.'

A sudden gesture of his raised his hand and I felt the mana in my body expand outwardly. Encompassing the entire arena.

The Duke despaired at the sight.

But, my emotions remained empty.

A gradual convergence of mana followed after this. Forming a thin yet durable veil that enveloped my entire body.

As armor puzzled itself around my body, it didn't take me long to figure out what was happening.

'...Mana agglomeration.'

I had seen this scene once before, back when Monica was fighting the elders at the Monolith. In the years since then, I had been deeply impressed with her gallant and powerful figure.

My already tremendous strength multiplied many times as the armor completely encased me.

My body was flooded with ecstasy.

'Hm?'

Immediately after that, my vision completely shifted without me even having a chance to rejoice at my newly gained power.

As opposed to before, I could only see a series of black blobs now. There were a couple of more colorful ones inside of the arena, but that was about it.

Additionally, I observed that some of the blobs were smaller than others, with the blob representing the Duke being the largest.

'What's this?'

I questioned as I tried to make out what was going on.

'That's not important, look properly.'

But my question remained unanswered as my other self spoke. Listening to his words, I sharpened my gaze and paid more attention to the blobs around me.

It was then...

'...Wait, what are the small circles in the middle of their bodies?'

Upon closer inspection, I observed small circular balls the size of tennis balls tucked within blobs. Additionally, they appeared to be distributed across different areas of each blob.

Then it hit me.

'Wait, don't tell me...'

'That's right. Those are their cores.'

'...How?'

My inner shock grew further upon learning of this. How was it possible for me to detect where the cores were?

Wasn't that something only Lightning Dragon's eyes could do?

Unless...

'It's not the same. I'm using a different method. It's up to you to figure out how I did it.'

Following his words, his attention quickly shifted back toward Duke Azenoch.

Quickly scanning the Duke's body, my eyes soon paused toward his right thigh. There was a visible paling in the Duke's face the moment he noticed my eyes pause on his thigh.

He burst into dark flames as demon energy erupted from his body. My hand touched the hilt of my sword in response.

When I touched the hilt of the sword, I felt my senses and strength enhance dramatically as I felt the armor around my body brighten up.

The fourth movement of the [Keiki style] : World splitter

A bright white light flashed.

It flashed for an instant before disappearing once more.

In the dim light, I could see the Duke's intact figure standing before me like a statue. A look of pure helplessness adorned his face, as his eyes widened up completely.

Walking up to him, my finger pressed against the top of his head as I extended my hand.

A simple tap on his forehead was all it took.

Following this simple movement, the Duke's body split into many different pieces that slowly started to expand away from his body.

Lowering my head, my eyes soon spotted a small black core that repeatedly pulsated.

Reaching out with my fingers, I grasped the core tightly. When I grasped the core, I felt a strange sensation run through my body as a foreign force tried to enter my body.

Nevertheless, my other self didn't seem bothered by it, simply waving it off as if it hadn't happened in the first place.

While feeling the sensation of the core running through my body, I thought to myself.

'Cold.'

The core was cold.

Very cold. It felt as though I was holding a ball of ice.

In that moment, my mouth opened and I muttered.

"Two seconds..."

Blood splattered all over the arena as the remains of the Duke's body lay on the ground.

Splat! Splat! Splat!

Silence.

A stunning silence enshrouded the whole arena as I felt all eyes pause on me. Even then, I could do nothing about it as I wasn't the one in control of my body.

Plack-!

Breaking the silence was a low-smacking sound as my other self casually tossed the core in my hand. Gazing at the spectators in the arena stands, he continued to silently play with the core in my hand.

Plack-! Plack-! Plack-!

It wasn't until he repeated the motion five more times that he finally stopped. Once he did, raising his head, he opened his mouth and muttered.

"So?... Is no one going to say anything?"

Chapter 533: Ransacking [1]

Crack. Crack. Crack.

A large black palm hurled down toward three figures emitting a powerful aura as cracks formed around a large blue planet.

"He's here!"

An orange glow enveloped the body of one of the figures, causing her to scream out in helplessness. As she raised her hand, she cast a translucent yellow barrier around herself and the two other figures beside her.

Her actions prompted the two other figures to release their own barriers as well.

Within seconds of the two releasing their barriers, the large hand came into contact with the first barrier. The outer barrier cracked immediately as the faces of the three individuals behind it paled significantly.

Seeing that the situation was critical, the three exerted even more power on the barrier.

When they tried exerting more power, their bodies glowed brighter.

Unfortunately, their struggle was futile.

Seconds after their hues expanded, the first barrier crumbled into thousands of pieces. After the first barrier, the second followed, and the third followed after that.

All three individuals were soon pressed down by the hand.

A look of helplessness flashed across their faces as their bodies were sent crashing down against the ground.

Bang—!

Immediately after the explosion, a large crater formed on the ground. After that, the sky began to split and a tear soon appeared.

Stepping out of the tear was a white-haired figure with scarlet-red eyes.

As his gaze seemed to encompass every existence within the world, his presence enveloped the entire planet.

Casually taking a glance at the three people below, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"...This will do."

Extending his right hand, fissures started to form around him.

Crack—! Crack—!

A horde of black humanoid creatures emerged from the fissures. It didn't take long for the sky to be overrun with demons as more demons emerged from the large fissures in the sky.

While looking at the sky in despair, the faces of the three people below the ground paled further. It was from that moment that they understood that their world was no longer theirs.

It had fallen into the hands of the demons.

It was at that moment, that a figure suddenly stepped out of the portal.

An all-powerful pressure bore down on the world the moment his figure emerged. It even rivaled that of Jezebeth. Of course, that was only applicable in this case as Jezebeth wasn't using his real body.

Nevertheless, it still spoke measure of his strength.

After scanning the area with his eyes, they soon came across Jezebeth. His back unknowingly straightened once his eyes paused on him. He quickly made his way toward him.

As he approached Jezebeth, all the demons beside him distanced themselves from him.

In a respectful tone, he bowed his head.

"Your Majesty."

"Mhm."

While Jezebeth scanned the world with his eyes, he nodded his head without paying attention to him. The demon didn't seem to mind this as he patiently waited for his orders.

His wait didn't last for long as Jezebeth soon opened his mouth.

"...I want this world corrupted within a year's time."

With those words, the Demon's face spread into a broad grin.

Looking down at the three figures below, his smile deepened as he took in their despairing looks.

Bowing down his body lightly, he responded.

"...Understood."

His reaction suggested that he took enormous pleasure in torturing his prey. Glancing at Jazebeth once more, he tried to dismiss himself.

"If there is anything else I can assist you with you—"

"Wait."

As the demon was about to leave, Jezebeth opened his mouth again. In an instant, the demon halted.

A respectful tone immediately emanated from his mouth.

"...Is there anything you need, your majesty?"

Looking into the distance, Jezebeth pondered for a moment as he fell deeply into his own thoughts. Then, from the corner of his eye, he glanced in the direction of the demon.

"Have you contracted with someone yet? A human to be exact?"

"...Contracted? Human?"

The demon cocked his head slightly and eventually nodded.

"I have your majesty."

"With who?"

"A human on earth."

"Is he an important figure there?"

The confusion on the demon's face grew. Nevertheless, he still answered. Who in the right minds would refuse to answer the questions of the Demon King?

Recalling his contractee, the demon thought back at the things he told him before nodding his head.

"He appears to be."

"I see..."

Jezebeth's brows furrowed. It was then that he suddenly twitched his face and grasped the side of his head, startling the demon.

"Your majesty?"

"...It's nothing."

Raising his hand to stop the demon from approaching him, Jezebeth's face changed slightly as he softly whispered.

"My memories are still not intact..."

Taking a deep breath to glance at the demon, he closed his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, he gazed deeply at the demon opposite.

His next words caused the demon's face to change.

"Tell your employee to pay special attention to those around him. There may be a cancer lurking within his organization. A cancer that will destroy everything that he's built up within a couple of seconds."

"What do you mean your majesty?"

"...It means exactly what I said. Make sure you tell this to your contractee."

Before the demon could reply, Jezebeth's face suddenly changed. A powerful wave of pressure suddenly escaped his body, causing all of the demons who had just arrived to hold their hands at their throats, trying to breathe.

Ignoring their struggle, Jezebeth's face progressively darkened before his lips pulled into a thin smile.

"You bastard. You already knew I was going to be here, weren't you?"

As his brows furrowed tightly, his smile quickly faded. Closing his eyes to sense something, it only took an instant for him to figure out exactly where he was.

As he pondered inside his mind, his brows tightened more once he realized where he was.

'...How troublesome.'

He thought inside his mind.

The distance.

It was quite far.

Had he been in his normal body, he wouldn't have had much trouble going to him directly, but he wasn't...

Nevertheless.

Glancing at the demons around him, his eyes paused on the demon closest to him.

"Keep the words that I've said to you in mind."

His gaze drifted to the other demons, and he began speaking loudly.

"Make sure you convert all of the mana in this world. You have one year's time."

Raising his hand, he swiped it toward the empty space in front of him.

Crack.

A fissure formed in front of him. A final glance at the demons behind him prompted him to step into the fissure.

Upon entering the fissure, his face darkened considerably.

"Let's see if we can meet each other again."

***

Bang—!

As my body entered a familiar room, a door crashed down loudly. Helplessly watching my own body walk into Duke Azenoch's office, I asked.

'What are you up to?'

Slowly, my body moved toward his desk and sat on his chair without answering.

In a casual gesture, he tossed a small pulsating orb into the air while placing both legs on the table.

Plack—! Plack—!

During his repeated tossing of the orb, a thin layer of mana coated its body. This was so that the Duke wouldn't be able to regenerate his body.

Indeed, the Duke had still not died yet.

His actions completely dumbfounded me as I asked.

'What are you doing?'

'...Waiting.'

After some time, he replied.

Hearing his voice, I asked another question. A rare sense of urgency rushed through my body as I thought about all the problems that were about to come soon.

From the other Duke to the Demon King.

The thought brought great anxiety to me.

'What are you waiting for?'

Plack—!

Grasping the ball with my hand, he remained silent for a couple of seconds before answering.

'...For the other Duke to come back.'

'The other Duke? Why?'

Casually glancing at the orb, the corner of his lips pulled a bit. Instead of answering, he replied with another question.

'Why do you think I would wait for the Duke in this kind of situation?'

As opposed to answering immediately, I began to ponder what he said. Given that he wasn't the type of person to act rashly and do something without a proper plan, he definitely must've thought of something.

...But what exactly was he planning?

'Ah.'

It was then that it finally hit me.

'You...you're planning on negotiating with the other Duke.'

'Pretty much.'

In response to his confirmation, I had a hard time finding the right words to say.

Despite not knowing much about the Duke's current affairs, there seemed to be a conflict between them. Having defeated Duke Azenoch and kept his core intact, he could now negotiate with the other Duke.

In exchange for the core, he would grant us access to the portal that would lead back to earth. Or something like that. Not sure about the details yet since he didn't divulge anything yet.

But I estimated that it was something along those lines.

Furthermore, given that his performance was seen by a lot of demons, the other Duke wouldn't act rashly.

Especially after the fight had only ended within two seconds.

There was no way the other Duke would try to provoke someone like that.

'It can work.'

But...

The more I thought about it, the more apprehensive I became.

'...it's an extremely risky plan.'

The plan sounded feasible, but it was also extremely dangerous. Not only because the skill was now on cooldown, but because the Demon King was also coming.

With him added to the mix, I didn't see how the plan would work out.

'Don't worry about the Demon King.

But as though he could read my thoughts, my other self replied.

'It will still take a while for him to come here so we're safe for now. With regards to the Duke...'

My eyes suddenly sharpened.

'He will have no choice but to agree to what I will propose to him.'

There was a sudden tightening of my grip on the orb. This did not last for long as after a while, loosening my grip, he put the orb away and proceeded to scan the room.

Putting my legs down, he started to stretch my neck.

I felt a sudden twitch on my lips as the edges slowly started to curl upwards.

"While we wait for him to come, let's have a look at the place."

Chapter 534: Ransacking [2]

Fwap—!

Tearing through the red clouds in the sky, a figure flew at high speed with a gentle flap of his wings.

In the course of his journey, he would repeatedly mumble two words.

"White Death…White Death…"

His face was strangely expressionless as he muttered those words.

"A white-haired human? What are the chances of me finding him…"

The figure flying in the sky was Duke Adramalech. The second Duke that overlooked the city of Morian. One of the largest cities in the Pride Clan's domain.

Currently, he was returning from a short trip near the outskirts of the Pride Clan's territory.

He was there to check the situation as a minor conflict arose during that time.

It wasn't a big conflict or anything like that. Nevertheless, that small conflict had enormous political implications.

This was simply because it allowed the participating clans to have a reasonable cause of conflict.

'It was an amusing sight to see…'

A smile spread across the Duke's face as he remembered the sight he had seen during his brief pause. Since the Pride clan had not been involved, all he had to do was enjoy the show that was unfolding before his eyes.

He certainly did. While he regretted having to return before the conflict ended, he nonetheless had to. It was revealed to him that there was something going on in Morian, and that he had to hurry back.

It was an emergency message, and therefore he wasn't aware of the detail. Nevertheless, since Duke Azenoch had still not contacted him, it meant that the situation wasn't that dire.

"I'm almost there."

Staring into the distance, he was soon able to see the outskirts of a large city. It was the city of Morian.

Keeping his wings extended, he slowly began to flap them, casting a shadow over the area below him.

Fwap—!

His body shot toward the city at tremendous speeds. In the midst of his actions, he had a sudden thought.

'...I haven't gotten a response from the spy I planted, did Azenoch figure something out?'

If that was the case, then things would become troublesome. Although they had been keeping their conflicts a secret, for him to suddenly kill his servant…

Halting his thoughts there, his face changed.

"Hm?"

With one more flap of his wings, his body picked up even more speed, and within a few seconds, he was already on the outskirts of the city.

As Duke Adramalech expanded his wings one more time and forced his body to halt mid-air, his gaze changed.

"What happened here? Why is the barrier activated?"

Slowly descending toward the ground, the Duke stared at the city encircled by a large purple barrier. The moment Duke Adramalech caught sight of the barrier, he knew that things were extremely serious.

Particularly since they were only activated in very dangerous situations. One that would even put Duke-ranked demons in trouble.

As he spotted the demon in the distance, Duke Adramalech appeared before him. Grabbing him by the shoulder, he asked.

"What's going on here?"

"H…h..his excellency!"

Duke Adramalech's sudden appearance startled the guard. Suddenly, his look was replaced with one of joy as he stared at the Duke.

"Your excellency! Thank god you're here! Thank god!"

'Since when has anyone been so happy to see me?'

They would usually either cower in fear or show a look of utmost respect. Throughout his life as a Duke, he had never witnessed such a reaction filled with joy.

'Just what is going on here?...Wait.'

The Duke's face contorted as he had a sudden thought. Demonic energy threatened to spill out from his body.

'...Don't tell me Azenoch has managed to force the Blood Prince into signing a contract with him.'

Duke Adramalech's face sank completely. The demons' next words, however, caused his face to freeze as he struggled to comprehend them.

"Duke Azenoch has died..."

"W.."

In an attempt to say something, he opened his mouth. Despite his best efforts, he couldn't find the right words to say.

The piece of news left him too confused to formulate a proper response.

But he wasn't a Duke for no reason.

Taking a moment to digest the information, he calmed himself and closed his eyes.

As he opened his eyes again and examined the barrier that was raised above the city, he concluded that the demon had been truthful.

'It looks like that bastard Azenoch has died for real. I can't even sense his presence.'

His face turned extremely solemn as demonic energy sprang out of his body. A while later, snapping his head in the direction of the demon, he coldly asked.

"Tell me exactly what happened."

"Yes, your excellency!"

After bowing down once, the demon began to recount everything that had happened. Especially about the man known as White Reaper. From how he became the overlord within a month to how the Duke suddenly agreed to fight him, and everything that happened in between...

The demon left nothing.

The more Duke Adramalech listened, the weirder his face became.

'How did something like this happen within such a short period of time that I was gone...'

"The fight lasted for a total of—"

"Stop for a moment."

In the midst of the demon's speech, he quickly cut him off. He then proceeded to pinch the middle of his brows.

"Do you mean to tell me that while I wasn't here, a new Overlord rose to power and managed to kill Azenoch?"

Taking a look at the Duke, the demon opened his mouth and nodded.

"That's exactly it, your excellency."

"Mhh…"

As his head snapped toward the arena in the distance, the Duke's brows tightened even more. In an attempt to sense a presence, he closed his eyes, but it proved fruitless as he didn't seem to be able to sense anyone.

Anyone of the Duke level.

'Did he perhaps escape?'

He quickly shook his head.

While his strength made it possible, the barrier surrounding the city would've been destroyed if he had chosen to escape. Accordingly, the Overlord appeared to still be in the city.

Taking a glance at the demon beside him, he expanded his wings. It was only a matter of time before his figure vanished from the spot as a result of his movements.

His destination.

The arena.

***

'What are you doing?'

While my body was still under his control, I watched as he walked around the room. Over time, I became increasingly irritated.

'Also, when am I going to get my body back?'

"Not yet."

'...What do you mean not yet?'

My heart sank.

As my other self casually placed his hand on the desk, he looked around. There was something he seemed to be looking for. Eventually, he replied.

"You can take control of the body anytime you want?"

'I can?'

"Yes."

He responded while still looking around the desk. His eyes soon paused on one of the drawers of the desk.

"...But you would end up suffering the after-effects of using the skill."

'After effects?'

There were after-effects of using the skill?

"You want to try them?"

My lips suddenly pulled into a thin smile. Before I could reply, my vision distorted slightly, and I found myself back in my own body. Or rather, I could now control it.

Clenching and unclenching my fist, I glanced around the place.

"...I don't feel anything."

Lowering my gaze to stare at my hands, and trying to feel every part of my body, I cocked my head a little.

"Is there really a—!"

Not even halfway through my sentence, I found my mouth frozen on the spot.

Pain.

That was the only thing that I could feel, as it came radiating in crashing waves that threaten to drown me with every breath.

Sometimes there was something else, it was a sharper more inexplicable pain, but it never lasted long before the other pain returned and everything went black.

"Haa..."

"Wake up."

I didn't know how long had passed, but by the time my consciousness returned, the pain had already left and my mouth opened to release a single breath.

It was then that my mouth opened by itself.

"So? ...Do you think you can withstand the pain?"

Pondering over my own thoughts, I didn't answer immediately. It was only after half a minute passed that I finally asked.

'...Do you not feel any pain?'

The pain that I had experienced.

I couldn't quite describe it in words. It was something that I had never experienced before.

Recalling all the types of pain that I had been through in the past, they seemed to be minimal to what I had just experienced.

It was a far more concentrated and radiating pain than the one that I had experienced when I broke the terms of the mana contract.

"Pain?"

Tilting my body slightly, he pulled on one of the drawers. In the meantime, his lips pulled into a soft smile.

"Every second, minute, and hour that I exist I go through a pain that is far worse than that. Do you think that something like this fazes me?"

Hearing his words, I didn't know what to say.

Flashbacks of the words he said in the past replayed inside of my mind. During the time when I saw my parents die before me in the illusion.

That time.

He had said something similar before.

In the end, I couldn't help but find myself asking.

'...Just what sort of past did you have?"

Sadly, he didn't seem to be keen on answering as he promptly ignored my words and continued to look through the drawer.

It was only after a while that he found a small black box about half the size of my hand. Grasping the box, my lips curled.

Casually tossing it in the air, before I could ask him what it was that I was holding, my mouth opened.

"This over here is the key to the arena treasury."

If I still had control over my body, my eyes would've opened up. It would've then been followed by a smile.

'...I'm already liking where this is going.'

"Don't rejoice too early."

Putting the box away, he slowly walked toward the door of the office.

"I can only take a few things. If we're planning on negotiating with the other Duke, we can't take too much..."

'Well, obviously.'

This was common sense.

If we took too much, then the Duke would just not bother negotiating with us, and considering that the skill was on cool down, we really couldn't afford to do this.

We couldn't be too greedy.

Greed was the best recipe for disaster.

Clank—!

Grasping the handle of the door, my arm pulled back and the door opened. Following this, I slowly walked out of Duke Azenoch's office.

"...Time to collect our rewards."

*

The location of the treasury wasn't that far. It was about a couple of minutes' walk from the Duke's office.

"Where is the treasury?"

"O...over there!"

Most comforting about the journey was the fact that the demons still inside the arena would shake and tremble whenever I walked, well, my other self. To add to that, they were also kind enough to tell us where exactly the treasury was.

"Looks like we're here."

Walking for a further couple of minutes and turning a couple of corridors, my feet soon came to a stop in front of a large metallic door.

At the moment, the place was empty as no guards stood in front of the door. Was it perhaps because of what happened or because this was the norm, I didn't know?

Regardless, since it worked in my favor, all I could do was secretly express my gratitude.

'Thank you.'

"Shut up."

Scanning the door, my eyes soon paused on a certain squared shape indentation. Softly smiling, and taking a couple of steps, my other self took out the small cube from before and placed it in the socket.

Rumble—!

Following his simple movement, a rumbling sound echoed out and the door slowly started to open.

Chapter 535: Ransacking [3]

If I had to describe the treasure with one word, then it would have to be messy.

As soon as I walked into the room, I saw piles of useless armor and weapons stacked together in a corner. From the way the items were stacked, whoever was in charge of the place had no care for the items as he just carelessly threw them into the room.

Regarding the room, the room was relatively spacious as it was about the size of half a football court. Not too big, but also not too small.

In spite of this, the place wasn't well maintained, with cracks forming on the walls and a rusty and moldy smell permeating the space.

'Do the demons not care about their own armory?'

I muttered as I stared at the place.

Answering me was my other self as my mouth opened.

"The demons don't care, it's just that most of the stuff here is useless for them since these are just scraps from some of the deceased contestants. They essentially take any useful item for themselves before throwing the stuff they can't use in this place."

'Then this isn't a Treasury. It's more like a dump.'

"In a way yes."

My head slowly nodded.

"...This is a dump for the demons, but an amazing place for anyone else."

Moving forward, my body bent down and picked up a certain book.

There were clear signs of aging and tears on the pages of the book. Further, the book's cover was dusty, so I couldn't see what it was. But from a single glance, I could tell that it was something that used to belong to a human.

I instantly knew what the book was.

Upon brushing away the dust, I saw the title and description of the book, confirming my suspicions.

'A martial manual...'

A four-starred one at that.

[★★★★ Iron Style]

Through a series of different techniques, the user can harden his body and acquire great offensive power.

While reading the skills description, I thought.

'This skill might fit well with Hein.'

Several months ago, Hein complained about his lack of offensive power. This skill seemed tailor-made for him.

I became increasingly convinced that the martial manual was written specifically for Hein as I thought about it. Through the hardening of the skin, the martial manual not only increased his offensive power but also strengthened his defense.

'If Hein used the skill, alongside his defensive capabilities...'

"Then he would become an unstoppable tank."

My other self finished my words for me.

Glancing at the martial manual for a brief moment, he put it inside of my bracelet.

Following this, he examined more items. Whether it was martial manuals, artifacts, herbs, or even skills, this place had everything.

Of course, not all of it was useful. In fact, most of the stuff present in the room was rather useless to me.

A half-hour after entering the place, my other self had pretty much sorted through everything and had taken whatever he could take, but considering that we had to negotiate with the Duke afterward, he didn't take everything.

In any case, he pretty much took all the martial manuals he could find.

Many manuals ranged from one to two stars, but there was the occasional three-star manual as well. Furthermore, he had found two more four-star manuals, but neither of them was useful to me, so I could express my regret secretly.

Still took them since I could either sell them or give them to the others.

It was at that moment.

"This is a nice bow."

Jolting me out of my thoughts was my other self as I suddenly felt my hand grasp something hard.

When I focused on the object my other self picked up, I realized it was a bow. Upon closer look, I couldn't help but agree with his assessment.

'...It really looks nice.'

The bow's frame seemed to have been constructed of long-lasting ash wood. Its string was made from what seemed to be great-quality monster hair, an extremely rare material around the human domain that could go up for eight-digit figures.

In addition to wrapping leather around the limbs, the points ended in curved claws giving it an eerie and menacing feeling. The handle was also wrapped in a dark and ominous skin decorated with carvings.

A large quiver made of rare hide accompanied the bow, appearing to be intended to be worn around the archer's belt. In addition to its aesthetics, the outer side was embellished with animal horns.

Truly giving it a sharp and menacing feeling.

"An <S> rank artifact. Not bad..."

[Kamulat's rage]

Rank : S

Bow carefully crafted through different

[Bloodlrage] - The more blood this bow spills, the sharper and faster each successive arrow becomes. Cooldown, 1 hour.

The description of the item made my lips curl into a thin smile.

After that, my other self quickly tossed the bow into my dimensional space and continued to look through the remaining items.

Regrettably, there wasn't anything else that interested me amongst the piles of items.

===

[[E] Flame domain]

Creates a domain made out of fire around the user.

===

[[G] Deafening]

Upon activation, it will temporarily deafen the selected target.

[[C] Levitation]

A brief moment of levity occurs when the skill is used.

There were also a couple of other skills, but none of them proved to be useful to me and were quickly discarded by my other-self.

Not that we had a choice.

Since skills were something that demons could also learn, they were much more valuable in the eyes of the Duke.

This was regardless of rank the skill was.

That, and the fact that I could tell my other self already had something in mind when looking around the place.

Not sure how I could explain it. But from the way he was carefully looking around the place in search of something, I knew that there was something important hidden there.

"Here it is."

Fortunately, I didn't have to wait for long to understand what he was looking for as he soon picked up another skill book from the ground.

At a first glance, it looked like any regular skill book out there, however, the moment I caught a glimpse of its description, I knew that this was anything but a regular skill book.

[[A] Dark Servant]

It will grant the user the ability to summon a shadow servant for an extended period of time. There will be a 50% resemblance between the Shadow servant and the user in terms of skills and strength. Cooldown period : 5 days.

'This...'

In spite of the skill description's simplicity, there were tremendous implications behind it. For a brief moment of time, I didn't know what to say as I just blankly stared at the skill description.

As I considered all the different things I could do with it, different scenarios continuously replayed in my head.

I slowly became more excited.

"This will do."

Jolting me out of my thoughts, my hand raised and touched the top of the book.

Following this, a bright white light enveloped the room, and a multitude of different scenes sprang inside my mind. Solidly implanting themselves in there.

This process didn't hurt one bit, but it still felt weird. It felt as though something was tickling at my brain.

"Haa..."

Once the weird sensation disappeared, opening my mouth, I exhaled. The skill book in my hand shattered into different bright lights before disappearing into the air.

"Let's try the skill."

Following this, my hand raised and the mana inside of my body started to circulate like crazy.

Within the span of a couple of seconds, about half of my mana disappeared.

As this was happening, I spotted a translucent black-figure emerge from the shadows in front of me as two bright yellow pupils stared in my general direction. Taking a closer look at the black figure, apart from its general frame, the figure didn't bear any semblance with me as it just looked like a shadow.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the black figure was currently holding a sword on the right side of its body.

Silence enveloped the room as the shadow's two bright yellow eyes stared in my direction.

It was at that moment that my mouth opened.

"First movement."

As soon as those words escaped my lips, the shadow servant quickly seized the sword's sheath and took a stance.

While this was happening, my body's mana drained at an alarming rate. Far more than I was comfortable with.

Click-!

Then, a familiar clicking sound rang out and a bright light flashed. After the bright light vanished, I felt a stinging sensation at the tip of my nose as the servant's sword paused right there.

I felt a wet sensation trickle down my nose. It was probably my blood.

Raising my finger, my other self pushed the sword away from my nose and nodded in satisfaction.

"...This will do for now."

After his words faded, the shadow servant dispersed. With his eyes lingering on the spot where the servant used to stand, my mouth opened.

"You've probably noticed from this slight demonstration, but you must be careful with this skill."

"As much as it grants you the ability to summon a servant of similar strength, each of his movements will deplete your mana. The same is true if it is destroyed after battle..."

After listening to what he had to say, regardless of how much I wanted to find a flaw in his argument, I knew that he was speaking facts.

Although the skill was strong, it also had flaws. While these weren't major flaws, it was basically a short-time usage skill that could only be used during short combat situations.

If I wanted to use the skill during prolonged battles, then it would only lead to my inevitable loss as the mana consumption was simply far too monstrous.

Glancing around the place, my other self opened his mouth once more.

"Remember—!"

Clank—!

But it was at that moment, that the door of the Treasury suddenly burst open as a figure showed up from behind it. A threatening pressure bore out from his body, quickly heading in my direction.

Closing my mouth, my head turned to casually look at the guest that had just arrived.

A wave of annoyance ran through my body as my head stared at the figure outside. My mouth soon opened.

"...I don't like to be interrupted when I'm talking."

Chapter 536: A good laugh [1]

It was only momentary.

But in that brief moment of time that Duke Adramalech laid eyes on the figure standing in the middle of the room, he suddenly felt an ominous chill run down his body.

This…

While it came and went as fast as it came, it had a profound impact on him, causing his guard to rise right away.

A nervous grin spread across his face as he examined him closely.

'White hair, blue eyes…human?'

Duke Adramalech's eyes widened at that moment. He then opened his mouth calmly.

"…You're white death."

His white hair, the fact that the events unfolded near the Pride clan's border, and his human status...

Duke Adramalech instantly came to this conclusion.

He was White Death.

Upon coming to this realization, his mind started to race as he also thought of something else.

"…If you're really white death, then everything makes sense."

In no time at all, he understood what had truly transpired at the border.

Raising his head, his eyes met with White Death's.

"Everything that happened in the border was something you did on purpose to divert my attention from the arena, so you could sneak in and do whatever you wanted..."

Glancing around the place, his brows knit.

"Was your goal to enter the treasury and take all of the stuff?"

His voice contained a trace of uncertainty.

Although the treasures in the treasury were valuable, they were not something that someone on a Duke level would desire.

In most cases, that kind of stuff would be too valuable to not be consumed immediately.

"That's not it..."

White Death's voice caught the Duke's attention, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"I don't care about what you've found out. I'll cut straight to the chase."

Extending his hand, a black sphere suddenly materialized in his hands. The Duke's countenance changed the moment his eyes laid on the sphere.

With only one glance, he was able to instantly recognize what the object was.

"...That's Duke Azonech's core."

'…So it was the truth. He really did kill Azenoch.'

White Death smiled at the sight.

"That's correct, I'll give you this in exchange for you helping me get out of this city and keeping everything under wraps."

Hearing his words, Duke Adramalech became even more guarded.

In fact, he was also actually a little bit worried.

'If rumors are true, and he indeed defeated Azonech in two seconds…'

His body shuddered.

The reason for his victory, whether Duke Azenoch had been caught off guard or underestimated him, did not change the fact that he had beat a Duke-ranked demon.

Someone whose strength rivaled him!

There was no way he was going to make the same mistake.

Staring at the orb, he warily opened his mouth.

"You want to propose a deal?"

"That's correct."

White death nodded. Extending the hand that was holding the core, he continued.

"I'll give you this, and in exchange, you will help me get out of this city, alongside two other people."

"Escape with two people?"

A frown appeared on the Duke's face as he listened to his words.

"…Given your strength, you shouldn't have a problem escaping."

"I wouldn't."

White Death shook his head.

"…But it would be a hassle. Let's exclude the barrier that is currently overlooking the entire city, if you and all the other demons come at me at once, I'll have a hard time escaping. Especially since I'm trying to protect a couple of people."

Pausing for a second, he added.

"Also, and the main reason, is because I want all the information about me sealed. I don't want other demons hunting me down while I'm trying to leave."

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Duke Adramlech calmly listened.

Throughout the entire time, his eyes would linger on the orb that he was holding.

'…It's not a bad deal.'

To be honest, the deal wasn't actually terrible.

It was famously known that the likes of Duke Azonech and him didn't get along well. This wasn't because they had an enmity from the past or anything that grand, it simply had to do with the fact that they both desired the entire city and arena for themselves.

It took a lot of resources for demons to rank up, and although the city and arena provided plenty of resources, it wasn't enough for two Dukes. Hence why the two of them never got along.

With him now gone, the entire city was now his to rule, and so were the resources.

Furthermore, if he managed to get ahold of the core…

Raising his head, he glanced around the treasury.

Noticing that a lot of the items that were previously here were missing, the frown on his face deepened.

"It seems like you took quite a lot of the items here. It would've been a—"

"Shut up."

Cutting the Duke off, White Death suddenly clenched the core.

"Im going to make this clear now. This is not a negotiation. It is either you agree with what I said, or I will take matters into my own hand."

His eyes slowly shifted from blue to grey.

"Don't mistake my proposal as a sign of weakness. Just like the other Duke, I can kill you if I wanted to. The only reason why I'm proposing the deal in the first place is because of all the problems that will arise from me not doing this. Choose carefully."

The look on Duke Adramalech's face sank as he listened to what he said.

Staring at the place on more time, he asked.

"What did you take?"

"You value your life less than the items that I took?"

"…Answer me."

Duke Adramalech's voice raised.

Demonic energy started leaking out of his body.

'He actually threatened me?'

Duke Adramalech's teeth clenched tightly.

Given the clan that he was in, the Pride clan, Duke Adramalech would never agree with a deal that was at least equal to or in favor of him.

Even if it ended up costing his life, he would never agree to a deal that was unfavorable to him.

'Impossible…'

Exactly at the moment when Duke Adramalech was about to blow up, he heard the words of White Death.

"All the martial manuals belonging to the humans, a couple of high ranked herbs, an S ranked artifact and an <A> ranked skill, Shadow servant. These are the items I took. The choice is up to you. Do you want to fight me over these items, and most likely die, or do you want to make a deal with me?"

The demonic energy that was threading to spill out of the Duke's body stopped. He slowly started to calm down.

Staring at White Death that was looking straight at him, he proceeded to look around the place.

He wasn't sure if he was telling the truth or not, nor did he know all of the items that were stored in the Treasury.

But..

'I can have all my servants check for me later.'

What was important at the moment was figuring out whether these items were worth agreeing to a deal or not.

After a while, glancing at White Death that was still looking at him, he ordered.

"I'll think about it. Follow me to my office."

He then turned around the left the treasure.

***

"What a mess…"

Walking through the corridors of the arena, Lightning Dragon shook his head.

Although everything looked to be the same as it was in the past. It was in fact, far from that.

There was this weird tension permeating throughout the whole arena, and all the demons were on high alert.

'…What I don't get is why White Reaper didn't choose to escape.'

It was only for a short moment, but the moment that he killed the Duke he could've escaped from the place.

Back then the barrier was still not erect, and he wouldn't have had trouble leaving the place.

However, such a thing was no longer possible now with the barrier intact.

To further add to that, Lightning Dragon also felt the presence of another powerful figure inside the arena. It was most probably the other Duke and the only person that could put up a fight against White Reaper.

Placing his hand underneath his chin, he mumbled out loud.

"Does he have some sort of goal in staying here?"

"I do."

In the moment those words left his mouth, a voice echoed from behind him, startling him.

"Huh!?"

Turning around, he was shocked to see White Reaper standing right behind him.

Staring into his eyes, Lightning Dragon quickly calmed down. With his forehead creased and his eyes focused on the figure opposite him, he eventually asked.

"…Which White Reaper am I talking to."

There was a subtle look of surprise on White Reaper's face when he heard his words, but it soon turned into a thin smile as he responded.

"The same one that fought against you."

"I see..:"

Carefully scrutinizing his body, he slowly nodded his head.

'From the way, the mana is flowing and his demeanor, it looks like he is telling the truth…'

His guard relaxed the moment he heard those words. He wasn't as wary of this version of White Reaper compared to the other one.

Just thinking of the other one made the back of his hair stand.

With his shoulders relaxed and glancing around the place, his brows knit for a bit. He found the fact that no demon had come for him quite odd, nevertheless, he still asked.

"What are you looking for?"

"You."

"Me?"

Lighting Dragon asked in surprise. Why was he looking for him?

White Reaper's next words answered his question.

"I need your help leaving the Demon Realm, and I know that you're the only one that knows of a way out…"

***

"…How long has it been since I've been here?"

Inside a dark cell room, a soft voice echoed out. It belonged to none other than Edward who was still locked up in the cell.

"Has he won?"

His soft voice once again echoed throughout the empty cell.

It had been a couple of days since he had been here, and he had been enduring every day in hopes of Ren accomplishing whatever he had planned.

He wasn't exactly sure if the plan had worked, however, he knew that something was up.

Especially since he had not seen a demon enter his cell over the last day.

Typically they would come to give him food or check up on him, but none of that happened

Had they perhaps given up on him and decided to just let him starve to death?

Edward highly doubted it. Especially since the contract was still beside him, and Duke Azonech had not heard his response.

…this could only mean one thing.

"Something big definitely happened above…"

Whether it was good or bad, he still didn't know. However, as he thought of the possibility of possibly escaping this place, a fire lit up inside of Edward's heart. Prompting him to keep enduring this lonely and silent place.

It was at that moment.

Clank—

The door cell finally opened up, and light began to spill into the room.

Edward's eyes reflexively squinted at the light. It took him a couple of seconds to adjust to the light, and once he did, he was finally able to catch a glimpse of the figure he so desperately wanted to see.

A little trembling appeared in his mouth as his pent-up emotions started to surface. In an attempt to suppress his emotions, he mumbled.

"…Took you long enough."

Chapter 537: A good laugh [2]

Hearing Edward's brittle voice that was pent up with all his emotions, I smiled softly.

"Sorry, I had to take a little detour."

Clank—! Clank—!

With my sword unsheathed, I hacked at the chains that bound him and freed his arms and legs.

Following the release of the chains, he started to fall down. In response, I lowered my body and pressed my hand on his shoulder, preventing his fall.

"Are you okay?"

"…yeah."

Glancing at me, Edward had a bitter look on his face.

"It's been a while since I've moved, and with my mana sealed for this long, my muscles just gave out."

"It's alright. I'll help you out for now."

Supporting Edward's body up, I helped him out of the room. On our way out, Edward opened his mouth and asked.

"…Did you do it?"

His voice sounded rather weak and frail. Glancing at him from the corner of my eyes, I nodded.

"Yeah."

When I recalled my other self's conversation with the Duke, there were times when I was afraid that the deal would've fallen apart.

Especially during that time, my other self had threatened him.

If there was one thing you learned at the Lock about demons, it was never to threaten a demon belonging to the Pride clan.

If he hadn't been wary of the rumors about my strength, I would've been afraid he would have just attacked me then and there.

Fortunately, my other self knew when to back down, and from there was able to make a deal with the Duke.

Thankfully, I didn't have to give anything up. Initially, the Duke was against the idea of me keeping my stuff, but considering what he would gain, he eventually relented.

It wasn't every day he would get a core belonging to a Duke-ranked demon. Furthermore, with multiple alibis pointing out the fact that I had killed him, he could consume it without worrying.

No Duke would refuse such a tempting offer.

Well, it wasn't like my other self gave him any choice to begin with.

"Took you a while."

While I was carrying Edward on my shoulders, appearing right in front of us was Lightning Dragon.

His appearance shocked Edward as he looked at me.

"What is he doing here?"

Nodding in Lightning Dragon's direction, I glanced at Edward.

"He's our ticket out of the Demon Realm."

"Our ticket out?"

"Yeah. He knows of a portal that can lead us back to earth."

Edward's face relaxed as soon as he heard those words. Staring in Lightning Dragon's direction, he nodded his head.

"I'll be in your care."

"Don't worry about it."

Waving his hand to brush him off, Lightning Dragon took a couple of black robes from his dimensional space and handed them to us.

"For now it's best if you wear this."

"Sure."

"Okay."

Simultaneously nodding our heads, Edward and I took the hoodies and put them on.

This was something that the Duke had ordered.

Since he was planning on consuming the core, he couldn't let it seem as though he was working with me.

If it did, his plans would instantly crumble. Well, that was unless he decided to kill all witnesses, and realistically speaking, that was a bit more of a hassle than doing things this way.

"So…"

In the midst of putting on the robe, I suddenly heard Edward's voice.

I turned my head to look his way. Did he need something?

His next words made my expression harden.

"…I've been meaning to ask this for quite a while, but what's your relationship with my daughter?"

"Ehm…"

Scratching the side of my cheek, I carefully answered.

"The both of us attended the same academy, so we can say we're classmates."

Honestly, it was a bit more complicated than that, but my gut told me to leave it as it was.

"I see.."

As Edward raised the hoodie to cover his face, he nodded his head.

He then patted me on the shoulder.

"I was just curious. No need to stiffen up."

After that, he walked up ahead.

Turning my head to stare at his back, I secretly sighed in relief.

During that brief moment, I felt an incredible pressure coming out of his body that I couldn't quite explain.

…and he wasn't even channeling his mana or anything of the sort.

'Overprotective dad…'

Shaking my head, I followed him from behind and caught up with Lightning Dragon who looked at me with a strange look on his face.

"What?"

"…You interested in his daughter?"

In a glare, I turned around and walked away.

"Put your hoodie on and let's go. We don't have much time."

*

"This way…"

Following Lightning Dragon, I, along with Edward and another figure, navigated dense vegetation.

Our current destination was the portal Lightning Dragon used to travel to the demon realm.

From the demon realm to earth, there was only one way to get there, and that was through portal devices they created. Not only that, but they also needed to have specific coordinates installed in them.

Despite the fact that dungeon desyncs could be used to access the demon realm, the same could not be said for demons.

The only way to enter a dungeon was through the portals that were set up on earth.

Lowering my hoodie, I stared at Lightning Dragon who was a little bit up ahead, and asked.

"How long do we have left till we arrive?"

"We're here."

Lightning Dragon abruptly halted his footsteps.

Also stopping, I curiously looked around the place. It soon dawned on me that we were in the middle of nowhere.

Lowering my head to glance at Lightning Dragon again, I asked.

"Where exactly is this portal?"

"Eh…"

Looking around the place, Lightning Dragon embarrassingly scratched the side of his neck.

Taking another look at his surroundings, a wry smile appeared on his face.

"…I forgot."

"Shit."

When I heard his words, I couldn't help but facepalm.

'I forgot about his crappy memory.'

'Are you seriously telling me that he is the key to escaping the demon realm?'

These words were of course directed to my other self who was the one that told me that Lightning Dragon was the only one that could help me escape this place.

"You don't remember?"

Suddenly, Edward's voice echoed throughout the forest. Sharing the same dumbfounded look, he asked.

"Didn't you say that you knew a way out?"

"I did."

Lightning Dragon, no, Liam nodded his head.

"I know that it's somewhere here."

With a frown on his face, he turned to look at the other figure that was with us.

"Do you perhaps know of a way to sense where the portal is?"

"...I can try."

In a look of disdain, the figure lowered his hood and displayed his horns before nodding his head and scanning the area.

"I can help out too."

Edward offered to lend a hand as he too started to look for the portal.

Leaning back on one of the threes, I shook my head.

'If only the Duke had his own portal…'

It was necessary to know the coordinates of the two locations in order to set up a portal. And since the Duke had never been to earth, we couldn't use his portal.

Secondly, Demonic energy was required in order to activate the portal, and since none of us could use it, the Duke had a demon accompany us.

It was part of the deal we struck.

"Haaa…"

I let out a long and tired sigh and stared at the sky. Although I wanted to help, my body was still aching from the side effect of the skill, and although the pain was a lot less than before, it was still there.

I could only hope they would find.

But...

Half an hour eventually passed, and the results remained the same. My mouth twitched.

'How useless.'

"Let me help out as well."

Scratching my back, I quickly scanned my surroundings. But upon realizing just how vast the place was, my face sank a little.

"This my take a wh—"

"I've found it!"

Just as I was about to start searching, I heard Liam's voice.

He then appeared in the distance holding a small circular device.

"You found it?"

With a look filled with relief and excitement, Edward walked up to him before looking at the demon.

"Can you activate it?"

"Yes."

Taking the device from Liam's hand, demonic energy suddenly sprang out from the demon's body as he started channeling it toward the portal-like device.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

Immediately after the demon channeled his demonic energy, thin black threads appeared in the air, and minuscule tearing sounds could be heard.

Within ten minutes, a black portal started to appear before us.

A significant amount of paleness appeared on the demon's face while the portal was forming. It was evident that it took him a lot of demonic energy to activate the portal. In the end, he struggled for a couple more minutes before he finally dropped it to the ground.

"Haaa…haa…haa…I'm done."

His rough breathing echoed throughout the forest. He looked exhausted.

"You've done a good job."

Walking up to the demon, I calmly patted my hand on his shoulders.

"I'm only doing this be—huak!"

Crack—

Suddenly, I stabbed the demon in his abdomen area and broke his core before he could finish his sentence.

"I'm the same. I'm also doing this for the Duke."

Even though I didn't want to do this, given the deal I made with the Duke, I had no choice.

No one could know about the fact that I struck a deal with the Duke.

This was part of the agreement we made.

It took the demon a few seconds to disintegrate after I cracked the core. But once he did, a breeze brushed past, scattering what remained of him in the air.

As I stared at the area where the demon died, I glanced toward the portal before turning my attention to the other two.

"Let's go. It's time to return."

***

Duke Adramalech's voice.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Drumming his fingers over his desk, Duke Adramalech stared at a small letter in front of him.

'An acquaintance of mine might come soon, give this to him if you meet him.'

"An acquaintance?"

Who was he talking about? Duke Adramalech had no idea.

But thinking back at the figure, the Duke decided to comply.

Although he couldn't feel any strength from him.

Especially one that could threaten him, whenever he thought back on his look, the Duke would sense a distinct sense of fear coming from him.

'He isn't simple…'

The Duke thought as he picked up the letter and wondered out loud.

"Just what in the world is he talking about?"

It was at that moment…

Cr…Crack—!

A huge tear suddenly materialized in the middle of the room, startling the Duke who stood up and shouted.

"Who!?"

"Calm down…"

Answering him was a calm voice.

Taking a step outside the portal, a white-haired figure appeared. As soon as he stepped out of the portal, the Duke prostrated himself.

This sudden movement wasn't out of his will, but it was simply his incidents acting for him. But it didn't take too long for him to figure out what had happened.

'Bloodline suppression...'

As a result of the suppression of the bloodline, the Duke was able to recognize the figure that had just entered instantly.

It was the Demon King.

"Your Majesty!"

He shouted as his body shook uncontrollably.

'What is his Majesty doing here!? Did he figure out what I have done? H..how is this possible?'

A feeling of fear overtook him, and he kept his head down, refusing to look at him. As the Duke's body continued to shake, the Demon King's next words almost caused the soul to leave his body.

"…Have you seen a human with blue eyes and white hair."

"!!"

"So?"

The Duke's mouth automatically opened as a powerful pressure bore down on his body. He didn't do this willingly, as he felt a strange power controlling him. Prompting him to reveal the truth only.

"Y…yes."

"Where is he?"

"Gone."

"Gone?"

"Y..yes. He..a..lready left, and only left one thing behind."

"He left something behind?"

Scanning the room, Jezebeth's eyes soon paused on a letter in the middle of the Duke's desk. Feeling a familiar aura, he asked.

"Is it that letter?"

"Y…yes. H..he said that I needed to give it to an acquaintance."

"Acquaintance?"

Curious, Jezebeth walked up to the desk and picked up the letter. Seeing the Demon King take the letter, the Duke shivered even more.

Rip—!

Taking apart the letter, Jezebeth unfolded it and read its contents.

Got bored waiting for you, so I took my leave.

Let's meet each other next time.

As Jezebeth stared at the letter, there was a brief moment of silence. Suddenly the room froze completely, and the Duke's breath stopped.

Not long after, the Demon King's back began to tremble. As soon as the Duk saw this, his face paled considerably.

'Oh no!'

"You..your majesty! Plea—"

"Hahahahahahaha."

But it was at that moment that the Duke suddenly heard the Demon Lord burst out in laughter, and the room trembled uncontrollably.

The Duke froze at the sight.

'…The Demon King can laugh?'

This…

The holy rulers of the demons and a figure that is believed to be as strong as a god was laughing?

Duke Adramalech couldn't believe his eyes as he gazed at him.

"Ahhahaha...Got bored of waiting for me? Were you even waiting for me in the first place?"

With another burst of laughter, the room shook even more fiercely. Witnessing this sight caused the Duke's mouth to repeatedly open and close.

He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

'...Is this the same person that entered the room not too long ago? Am I perhaps in the clear?'

Did the Demon King not catch his scheme to digest Duke Azonech's core?

"No, I did."

"!"

But it was at that moment that a soft whisper echoed in the Duke's head, startling him completely.

Before the Duke had a chance to say anything else, he felt a tap on his forehead and his body completely disintegrated.

With his gaze lingering in the direction of where the Duke once was, Jezebeth softly mumbled.

"Nice try..."

Then, crumbling the letter in his hand, he turned to look in a certain direction before muttering.

"…You never fail to amuse me. "

Chapter 538: Warmth [1]

"Bwergh!"

As I gripped the grass, I felt my stomach churn and it wasn't long before I found myself vomiting on the ground.

"Fucking port—Bwergh!"

Midway through my sentence, I once again puked on the ground as I felt a sudden wave of nausea wash over me.

'It's always like this with portals and just when I thought I had gotten over it…'

It had been quite a while since I had last puked from a portal. After recently thinking I had become accustomed to it, I was disappointed to discover that this was only my delusion.

In the midst of my puking spree, I suddenly heard the sound of someone puking close by.

"Bwergh!"

Upon turning my head slightly, I noticed Liam in a similar situation to mine. As a matter of fact, he appeared in a worse state than mine as his face was swollen and tears were streaming down his eyes.

"Damned port—Bwergh!"

I felt a great deal of sympathy for him after seeing how badly he was affected by the portal.

'Poor hi—'

"Bwegh!"

"You guys…"

A helpless voice echoed while Liam and I were puking. It belonged to none other than Edward. The only one that seemed unaffected by portal sickness.

"H…how can you still stand?"

I managed to get out a few words when I raised my head to gaze at him.

It had to be noted that portal sickness was a very real thing that people suffered from, and the longer the journey, the more prevalent this was.

It was weird for Edward to be unaffected by this.

With a shrug of his shoulders, Edward answered.

"I just have a stronger stomach than the two of you."

"Ugh."

I groaned.

After that, it took about five minutes for both Liam and I to finally recover from portal sickness.

Once I did, I finally stood up and looked around me. Currently, we were in a vast grassland. Immediately, my gaze was drawn to the mountains on the horizon, which were surrounded by a sea of trees. The sight was breathtaking.

Taking a glance at Liam, I asked.

"Where exactly are we?"

"I don't know."

His reply was quick. But immediately after that, my face changed a little.

"…Nevermind."

'Need to make a mental note to myself about his bad memory.'

Tapping on my bracelet, I took out my phone and checked the top bar to see if there was any signal. Fortunately, it seemed as though I was in luck.

"...Two bars. Good enough."

Ding—! Ding—! Ding—!

It was at that moment that my phone started chiming repeatedly as over a hundred different notifications came in at once. It was a bit overwhelming as my phone froze up.

Furthermore, most of the notifications were useless as they belonged to some apps or were just s.

I quickly discarded those.

Halfway through deleting them, I noticed that I also received plenty of messages from the others.

"Kevin sent me quite a few..."

===[Kevin Voss]==

Kevin : Where are you?

Kevin : Why did you suddenly leave without telling anyone?

Kevin : I swear...

Kevin : I've just broken through <A-> rank. If you don't inform me soon, I will have no choice but to leave without you.

Kevin : On a side note, does the quote "You have to look through the rain to see the rainbow." sound good?

===[Kevin Voss]==

I quickly discarded his messages. He lost me on the last message.

"Oh, I also received texts from my mom."

I quickly checked those.

===[Mom]==

Mom : My sweet boy. My favorite son. My son who I have barely seen over the last five years. I just came to learn about your little trip. One that would last for half a year. I'm totally fine with you going, but couldn't you have given your mother a little heads up? You know, because I'm your mother? You probably won't see this message for a while, so when you do, call me. If you don't…

===[Mom]==

The message ended there, but I felt a chill run down my spine as soon as I saw it.

Without hesitation, I glanced toward the others to make sure they weren't listening. As a sign of precaution, I moved a little bit further.

Immediately, I dialed my mother's number.

Ring—! Ring—!

—…

The call soon went through, but there was an empty silence behind it.

'…she's mad.'

Forcing a smile, I started to speak.

"Mom? It's me. Your favorite son. I'm back…?"

—…

I was once again met with silence. It was from that moment that I realized I was in deep shit.

"Mo—"

—…Are you okay?

Just as I was about to say something, my mother cut me off and spoke.

Hearing her voice, I sighed in relief.

"I'm fine. I just came back a couple of minutes ago, and…"

Lowering my head, I glanced at my body. Making sure that everything was still there, I continued.

"…it seems like all of my limbs are intact."

—That's good.

My mother replied in a rather flat and short tone. My brows furrowed a little when I noticed this.

Thinking of the worst, I felt my heart sink as my voice became rushed.

"…Is everything okay? Did something happen while I was gone? Don't tell me that something happened."

—No.

To my relief, it didn't seem to be the case as my mother continued.

—Nothing happened while you were gone. Everyone is fine.

"Is that so?"

—Yes.

Then what was the problem?

'Don't tell me she's giving me the silent treatment..'

While scratching the side of my neck, I decided that the best thing to do at the moment was to apologize.

"Listen, mom, I'm sorry for not telling you that I was going to leave, but back then, circumstances forced me to do this…"

The only reason I went to the demon realm was to sort out my head, not because I wanted to train and explore the place.

Despite not showing it outside, I was still suffering from my past experiences at the Monolith.

To cope with everything that was happening, I resorted to taking Melissa's potions.

Since then, everything was going well. Nightmares became less frequent, and I was able to sleep more comfortably. All in all, my life seemed to be normal. Potions were not a long-term solution, unfortunately.

Two months into the demon realm, they ceased to be useful, and two more months later, they stopped working altogether.

The nightmares began to return from that point on. In spite of this, they did not seem to affect me as much as they used to. This was to be expected, I had gone through ever harsher experiences since then, and my mind had hardened a little.

Even then, they still affected me from time to time.

'I really need to find a long-term solution for this problem…'

If not, I might one day end up losing it again as I did back in Issanor.

Raising my head to stare at the mountains in the distance, I continued to talk.

"I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that the place I went wasn't dangerous, but you should know very well that it is very darn hard to kill me. Some might even call me a cockroa—"

—I understand.

Cutting me off, I heard my mother's voice. I instantly stopped speaking the moment I heard her voice.

After a short pause, she continued.

—We'll have a talk once you get back home. For now, answer me this. Will you be back home on time for dinner?

"Dinner? Give me a second."

Lowering my head, I glanced at my watch and checked the time, 14:03.

Once I checked the time, I also checked my location through the GPS on my watch. Licking my lips, I did a quick scan of the map.

'We're not that far from Ashton city. In fact, we're pretty close to the Clayton ridge. If we take the train, we might be able to make it by six, two hours before dinner…'

Having confirmed that everything was in order, I responded to my mother.

"Yes, I should be able to make it back for dinner."

—Okay, I will make one extra meal. Natasha and Amanda will also be joining, so it won't really make a difference.

"Ah!"

The moment my mother mentioned Amanda and Natasha's names, I suddenly remembered something and turned my head to glance at Edward in the distance who was currently helping Liam recover from the portal sickness.

Turning my head back, I whispered.

"Mom, can you add another person?"

—Another person?

"Yeah. Don't worry about who it is, you will know once we arrive."

—…Okay.

Her voice sounded rather confused, but she still nevertheless complied.

"Thank you mom, I will come back home soon. I will see you later."

—Okay. See you soon.

Following her words, she hung up on me. Scratching the back of my head, I turned to look at Edward and Liam in the distance.

"Are you two done? Shall we go back home now?"

***

"Insidious Guild and RagingDragon Guilds have both filed for bankruptcy. Following their actions, we've received several letters from the Central Government telling us to stop. How should we proceed?"

"Ignore them. Continue as planned. Tell the Central government to stop meddling in our affairs. If this persists, we will no longer hold back, even if costs our guild to go under."

Amanda's threatening voice echoed throughout her office space as she glanced in Maxwell's direction.

Following their plan to take over all of the guilds that planned on harming her guild, the Central Government decided to interfere.

Although their actions were understandable, it was still disappointing. In light of the fact that her actions were destroying several Diamond-graded guilds, their actions didn't seem so unreasonable.

Not that Amanda cared.

"This is something we must do. We will look like pushovers if we listen to the Central Guild. It is unfortunate that several Diamond-graded guilds will go down as a result of our actions, but this is a result of their actions. Who told them to provoke us?"

While she was talking, her eye would repeatedly glance toward a pen holder that sat on the far end of her desk.

It was slightly tilted to the right.

'Just a little...'

In an effort to look like a proper guild representative, Amanda tried her best to not mind the slightly distorted pen holder...but it was hard. Really hard.

Her finger twitched underneath her desk.

"I agree with your assessment young miss. As the saying goes, if we give them an inch, they will take a mile. I will quickly share your—hm, is everything alright young miss?"

"Yes."

In response to Maxwell's words, Amanda straightened her back. Keeping her face straight, she glanced at Maxwell.

"Do exactly that. Please do tell the elders about the situation."

"…Okay."

With a rather confused look on his face, Maxwell eventually nodded his head and turned around.

'Now is my time...'

In the exact moment he turned around, Amanda reached for the far end of the desk and adjusted the pen holder.

A wave of relief washed over her body when she did this.

But…

"You really need to fix your habits, young miss…"

"Weren't you leaving?"

"I was…"

"…and?"

"Have a good day young miss."

With a satisfied smile, Maxwell left the office. Staring at his disappearing back, Amanda's eyes squinted.

'…He knows too much.'

Twiiing— Twiiing—

At the exact moment Maxwell left, Amanda's phone rang. Lowering her head, Amanda's back straightened once more.

It was a message from Samantha.

===[Samantha Dover]==

Samantha: Amanda dear, please join us for dinner today at 8 p.m. Your mother will also becoming and she will be sad if you don't come. Don't be late.

===[Samantha Dover]==

"The tone..."

A bitter smile appeared on Amanda's face as she read the message. From the tone of the message, it appeared as though this was not an invitation but an order.

"Haaa..."

Letting out a long and tired sigh, Amanda started to clear out her schedule.

"Might as well."

Chapter 539: Warmth [2]

Clank. Clank.

During the slow opening of the air train doors, a sweet voice lingered in the air.

[You have arrived at the station]

"We're here, let's go."

"Okay."

Standing up, Edward was the first one to head out of the train. Similarly standing up, I glanced at Liam who was sitting on the seat beside me.

"Are you going to be fine by yourself?"

"No problem."

My eyes squinted.

He nodded.

"...You sure?"

"Positive."

"Alright then."

With a casual shrug of my shoulders, I showed him my phone.

"In case you forget where you're supposed to be, you can still call my number. Well, that is of course unless you also forget that, in which case I won't be able to help you at all."

"I should be fine."

"If you say so."

Finishing my drink and putting it down on the table, I bid farewell to Liam and left the train.

"Alright, see you."

"Goodbye."

Beep. Beep.

Moments after I got off the train, I heard beeping sounds come from the train and the doors closed. A short time later, the train sped away.

It was then that Edward moved next to me and asked.

"Have any idea where he's going?"

"No clue at all. He just said that he had some stuff to do."

Right before we left the demon realm, I had proposed to him to join my mercenary group. On a good note, he accepted my offer, and we were soon going to meet each other again.

On a bad note, he said that he was only going to be a member in name, meaning that he would help whenever he was free.

Apparently, he didn't like being chained down by organizations as that was too boring for him.

I tried to convince him otherwise, but he didn't seem to budge and I eventually had to step back and accept his terms.

It was better than nothing.

"I guess I better get going now."

Jolting me out of my thoughts was Edward's voice. Turning around, I placed my hand over his shoulder.

"Where are you going?"

"...To my guild and meet my daughter?"

"Nope."

"Hm?"

Edward looked at me with a confused look.

Taking a closer look at him, I shook my head.

"Not like this you are."

"Ah..."

It wasn't until Edward felt my gaze that he realized what was wrong. It was the fact that he was dressed as a hobo at the moment.

While he was in the arena, his clothes were in good condition, but after being trapped in a prison for a few days, he grew a rough beard and he smelled. Additionally, his clothes showed signs of tearing due to the demon's treatment.

He was just unpresentable.

"It would be best if we got you something to change in before you meet your daughter."

'...and your wife as well.'

But I wasn't going to tell him this. Wanted to create a surprise for the two of them.

That said.

Suddenly, Edward's eyes locked on me, and I realized my tongue had slipped.

Would you please correct me if I heard you incorrectly, or did you just say we were going to meet my daughter in your apartment?"

"Keum...I meant my parents' house."

With a slight cough, I kept a straight face.

"Weren't you there during the meeting where I introduced magic cards?"

"...Yeah"

Edward's eyes squinted.

I continued.

"Well, considering just how much money was involved, I had asked Amanda to send some people to look after my parents and she moved them to stay next to her apartment. After that, Amanda and my mother got along well with each other, and sometimes she comes over for dinner..."

"I see..."

With a slight nod, Edward's face flashed with sadness. At a glance, I could tell what he was thinking.

'He must be thinking that she was lonely...'

Pressing my hands against his back, I pushed him forward.

"Enough with that look. Let's get you changed and show Amanda the best version of yourself, and not some hobo version..."

"Watch it."

"You can't deny reality."

Ignoring the stares coming from the people beside us, I somehow managed to bring Edward to a nearby retail shop to get him some decent clothes and a haircut.

That was how we spent the remaining two hours before dinner.

***

7:30 P.M.

Ding. Dong.

Samantha rushed to the door when the doorbell rang.

"...I'm sure it's Natasha."

Since Amanda was due to arrive a little later for guild business, Samantha assumed the person outside was Natasha. Only she would arrive so early.

Her instincts proved correct when she opened the door and found a familiar figure behind it.

With a bright smile on her face, Natasha greeted Samantha while holding a basket of goods.

"My apologies for intruding."

"Come on in."

A smile spread on Samantha's face as she took a step to the side.

"Make yourself at home."

"Thank you."

As Natasha handed Samantha the bag of goods, she slowly entered the room. Immediately after coming in, she was met with the sight of Nola playing with Ronald, her father.

Taking note of her appearance, Ronald greeted her with a nod.

She greeted back.

"Nice to see you."

"You too."

Immediately after greeting him, Natasha's eyes fell on Nola. Her face instantly melted.

"Nola! How have you been doing?"

"Sister Natasha!"

After escaping her father's grasp, Nola ran up to Natasha and hugged her, causing her face to melt even more as she patted her head.

"I am a sister, that's right...

With a broad smile on her face, Natasha put Nola down. Then, turning her head, she looked in Samantha's direction.

"Do you need any help?"

"Not thank you."

Walking toward the dinner table, she carefully placed seven plates. Natasha who was looking at her quickly took notice of this and asked.

"Seven plates? There are two extra plates."

"...It's deliberate."

Samantha answered. Her tone was rather chilly.

'Deliberate?'

Who could the other guests be?

"Ah!"

It was at that moment that she thought of something.

"Did he return?"

Samantha's hand paused the moment Natasha's words left her mouth. But after a while, with her usual smile, she continued to set the dishes in place.

"...Yeah, and he's apparently bringing an extra guest."

"An extra guest?"

Natasha curiously cocked her head.

"Did he say anything about who the guest is?"

"No clue."

Setting the last dish down, Samantha cleaned her hand with a small rag and headed back to the kitchen.

"You know him. He won't tell me anything anyway, so I guess we can only find out when he's coming."

"What a troublesome boy..."

Standing up, Natasha started to feel great sympathy for Amanda.

'Oh daughter of mine. I might not judge you for your tastes, but you are in for a tough battle ahead.'

...A man like Ren was hard to tame.

"I think it's best if I hel—"

Ding—! Dong—!

Halfway through her sentence, the door suddenly rang. Immediately after the door rang, leaning her head out of the kitchen, Samantha looked at Natasha.

"Natasha, would you mind getting the door?"

"Sure."

Raising her thumb, Natasha slowly walked up to the door. While she walked to the door, she thought to herself.

'Did he already arrive or is it Amanda?'

Either way, she would find out soon enough as she reached her hand out to grasp the door knob.

Clank—!

Opening the door, with a bright smile on her face, she welcomed the guests.

"Welcom—"

But halfway through her sentence, her face suddenly froze. After that, her face became significantly paler.

"Bu...but...h..how?"

***

Moments before.

"This is the place."

The moment Ren's voice echoed out, Edward's feet came to a pause. Staring at the door in front of him, he took a deep breath.

"...Is this where you live?"

"Yeah."

Ren nodded from the side. Robotically turning his head, he asked.

"Yo..ou nervous?"

There was a slight stutter in his voice as he spoke.

This caught Edward's direction as he stared in his general direction.

"...I want to ask you the same thing. You nervous?"

"Me?"

Ren instantly scoffed at his question.

"Ha...I'm..definitely not nervous at all. I'..ve gone up ag-ainst Duke-ranked demons, I-I am definitely not scared of my m..other...as iffff"

'Then why are you shaking?'

Edward almost blurted out as he saw Ren shaking even more fiercely. However, he decided against it. He probably had his own circumstances.

That said.

'I feel a bit better now.'

Witnessing Ren's state, Edward felt a lot calmer. Taking another deep breath, he extended his hand and pressed on the doorbell of the house. As he did, he made sure to smile.

Ding—! Dong—!

The doorbell chimed at the push of the button, and the sound of rushed footsteps echoed from behind the door.

Clank—!

Within moments, a stunning beauty emerged from behind the door; her hair falling gracefully down her shoulders and her eyes reflecting an innocence that seemed to abound. With a bright smile that seemed to light up the surroundings, she greeted.

"Welcom—"

Then, halfway through her sentence, Edward's gaze caught hers and the two of them froze in place.

As if time had frozen still, a deep silence prevailed over the area as the two of them stared at each other.

Neither believed what they were seeing.

"I..it can't be..."

The first to break the silence was Edward who repeatedly shook his head and took a step back.

"I..Impossible.."

As he struggled to find the right words to say, he felt a lump in his throat. The woman whose crystal eyes were now filled with tears stood by the door and Edward was overcome with a sharp pain in his heart.

"Ha..."

He grasped his clothes as he took another step back.

That woman...

There was no way he wouldn't recognize her.

She was the only woman who had left a deep imprint in his heart, and the woman who had also torn his heart apart.

Despite the fact that she looked like Amanda, Edward would not mistake her for her.

That was the depth of her imprint on his heart.

Throughout the years, he had never forgotten about her. She may have left abruptly, but Edward never forgot about her.

After all, he knew why she had left him.

...Of course, he knew.

He may have not been as powerful as he was now, but he still had his means, and when he learned the truth of the matter, he felt a little piece of him tear apart.

'In the end, despite all of my power, I couldn't do anything to stop what happened...'

Often mumbling to himself those words, he would isolate himself and focus on his work, neglecting Amanda.

The reality was that Edward had never been too busy in the past to support Amanda.

In fact, he did have time.

He felt a suffocating sensation every time he glanced at Amanda, as he recalled his past with Natasha and her actions. It was as if he were trapped in a room filled with water with only a small opening for air.

Despite his best efforts, he simply couldn't do it...

It was only later that he managed to come to terms with Natasha's sacrifice. Even then, the damage had already been done, and Amanda stopped expressing her emotions.

This sight...

It broke him.

Just what kind of father would allow his daughter to experience such a neglected childhood?

His decision to move on from the past began at that moment.

...At least that was how it was supposed to be.

When Edward stared at the figure in front of him, he felt a surge of emotions as his body trembled uncontrollably.

In an effort to quiet his trembling mouth, he bit his lip. Eventually, he managed to mutter something.

"Na..tasha, i..s that really you?"

"Ah..."

Hearing his voice, a tear trickled down Natasha's cheeks as both her hands were pressed against her mouth. As she struggled to speak, her choking sounds echoed throughout the apartment corridors.

A few moments later, she weakly nodded her head.

"Y...yes..."

Chapter 540: Warmth [3]

'…I should probably take my leave.'

As Edward and Natasha stood by the door in silence, I took this moment to finally enter my house.

Didn't want to get in between the reunion of the two.

As I stepped into the house, my body unknowingly began to relax. It was the same old corridor, the same old smell, the familiar voices in the distance, everything was the same as it had been before.

A thin smile spread across my face as I took out my shoes and placed them on the shoe rack.

Afterward, my shoulders stiffened a bit, but I still gathered the courage to walk into the living room.

It was now or never.

...and, just as I managed to gather my courage, a familiar figure emerged from the kitchen and met my gaze.

"Did something happen to Natasha? It's taking her—"

Both of our feet came to a stop as we stared at each other. At that moment, silence enveloped the corridors of the house as neither one of us spoke.

'She looks the same as always...'

As she wore a nice blue apron, my mother looked exactly as she did half a year ago with her blonde hair falling to the right side of her shoulders that perfectly complimented her blue eyes.

Her deep blue eyes, which bore a striking resemblance to mine, scrutinized my body carefully as a variety of emotions flashed across them.

I could definitely feel hints of anger coming from her, but above all else, I could feel the relief in them as she looked at me.

Breaking the uncomfortable silence, I waved my hand in the air and smiled awkwardly.

"I..it's been a while mom. How have you been?"

"…"

As she stared at me, I was only met with deep silence.

After a while, wiping her hands on her apron, she subtly nodded her head.

"You're back…"

Her voice sounded rather monotonous. I inwardly groaned when I heard the tone of her voice.

With her head raised, she nudged me.

"…What happened to your hair? Did you dye it? A new style?"

"Ehm…"

I started to scratch the back of my head.

'How should I explain this…'

I definitely couldn't tell her that this was a result of my body suffering a trauma due to accessing a power that was far above mine…

"Circumstances happened…"

In the end that was all that I could mutter. Although I could've lied about my circumstances, I decided against it and just decided to be vague.

My mother was a living lie detector. There was no point in lying.

"…Okay."

In the same apathetic manner as before, she turned to the kitchen. Before entering the kitchen, I was able to hear her last words.

"Go and take a shower. Dinner will be ready in half an hour."

Staring at her disappearing back, I raised my armpits and smelled them.

"Ugh…"

My head recoiled back as I thought.

'I really do stink.'

"Haa..."

Letting out an exhausted sigh, I proceeded to head for my room. But just before I did so, I stopped by in the living room to greet my father and Nola.

After turning right in the living room, I noticed the two sitting together on the sofa.

As Nola scooted close to dad, she pointed at the screen of the tablet he was holding. Her eyes were filled with curiosity.

"Why did he jump the fence?"

"Because it is quicker this way."

"But isn't that naughty?"

"Very naughty."

As I listened to their conversations, I couldn't help but smile.

"Aren't the two of you going to greet me?"

At that moment, both heads snapped in my direction, and we looked each other in the eye.

The first to react was Nola as she jumped out of the sofa with an excited look on her face.

"Broth—!"

But halfway through her sentence, as though she recalled something, the excitement on her face disappeared and she sat back on the sofa with her arms crossed.

"Hmph."

She then turned her head and snorted.

"W…what?"

The sight left me shocked as I felt something pierce my heart. Moving up to her, I poked her little arms.

"Nola? Nola?"

"Hmph!"

But no matter what I did, she would repeatedly turn her head and avoid making eye contact with me.

The sight of her reaction made me once again feel a piercing pain run through my heart as I started shaking her body.

"Hey, hey, Nola, it's me. Your big brother. I know my hair has changed but it's still me.."

"Hmph."

"Don't do this to me…"

As I circled around Nola in an attempt to meet her gaze, my father's voice echoed out.

"Just leave her be for now."

"...Okay."

In the end, worried that she might twist her neck, I decided to stop.

But the damage was already done as I gazed at my father in hopes of receiving some support.

"This is on you."

Unfortunately, he didn't seem too keen on helping me as he shook his head. Raising his head, he patted me on the shoulder.

"It's good that your back, but you best listen to your mother. Go and take a shower."

"…Alright."

With my shoulders slumped, I turned to glance at Nola. For a brief moment of time, our eyes met, but she quickly turned her head and crossed her arms.

"Hmph!"

"Ah…"

'No one loves me anymore.'

As I lowered my head, I headed to the bathroom to take a shower. Before that, I took a spare change of clothes.

Clank—

Closing the door behind me, I ended up muttering.

"I'm never doing this again…"

***

Edward lived over fifteen years believing that his wife had died protecting him and their daughter.

Fifteen years.

For a human, fifteen years was a frighteningly long time despite the increase in life expectancy.

He had long come to terms with his wife's death.

But…

Deeply staring into Natasha's eyes, Edward finally realized that she wasn't dead.

She was still alive, and she had just come back.

Seeing the tears that were dripping down her cheeks, a smile soon formed on his face.

"You look the same as the last time I've seen you…"

She truly did…

With her lustrous black hair, crystal clear eyes, and a look that would leave anyone speechless, she would be the envy of anyone who saw her.

It was the same as in the past.

Laying eyes on the woman in front of him, Edward was hit by a sudden wave of nostalgia as he couldn't help but think of the old days.

Back when he still had her.

He had thought that those days would've never ended.

Who would've known what the future held for them?

Had he known, he would've tried his best to stop whatever was going to happen. Alas, he knew that this was merely something he could only dream about and never accomplish.

"Y..you too."

As Natasha nodded her head, tears started streaming from her eyes.

"Yo..u also haven't changed."

"You think so?"

Staring at his clothes, Edward embarrassingly scratched the back of his head.

"I didn't know that you were going to be here. If I did, I would've opted for better clothes."

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Natasha's eyes fell on his clothes.

"I think they are fine as is."

Carefully taking a step forward, her hand trembled as she reached out for his top button.

"…But you forgot to button this one up."

While fixing his top button, neither of them blushed. They just felt it was natural. It was as if this were the way things were supposed to be.

"Done."

Once she was done, Natasha took a step back and weakly smiled.

"You look much better."

After staring at her for a couple of seconds, Edward realized they were in the middle of a corridor.

Thinking for a moment, Natasha looked behind her. Wiping her eyes, she looked back at Edward.

"Seeing as we still have some time before Amanda arrives, why don't I show you what your daughter has been up to?"

As soon as Amanda's name was mentioned, Edward's face changed and he lowered his head.

"…It's all my fault."

"It's alright."

Caressing his cheek with her hand, Natasha raised her voice.

"Samantha, I'll be going back to my room for a couple of minutes."

Several seconds later, Samantha replied.

"Don't worry about it. It will still take ten more minutes before dinner is ready. Take your time."

"Thank you."

Glancing in Edward's way, Natasha headed for her room.

"Come, I'll show you what your daughter has been up to all these years."

***

'I'm tired.'

Amanda thought as she pressed the elevator button. Immediately after pushing the elevator button, she felt a pushing sensation coming from beneath her teeth.

"I hope they will like this…"

Currently, she was holding a pie made by the guild's chef. Apparently, it was a rare delicacy that only a very few could taste as the milk came from a very rare breed of monster that could only be found in certain areas of the human domain.

Because Amanda wasn't much of an eater, she didn't know how good it was. In spite of this, she knew that Nola loved sweets and that this would probably score some points with her.

Thinking of Nola, Amanda smiled.

Ding—!

Upon reaching the top floor, the elevator chimed and the doors opened.

Knowing the place like the back of her hand, Amanda soon arrived in front of Ren's apartment and rang the bell.

Ding— Dong—

Immediately after she rang, the door opened and she was greeted by Samantha's large smile.

"Amanda, you're just in time."

"This is for you."

Smiling back at her, Amanda handed her the cake.

"What's this?"

Surprise flashed across Samantha's face as she stared at the cake.

"A cake? How sweet of you. Let me quickly put it in the fridge."

Extending her hands, she took the cake.

"What are you waiting for Amanda? Come in, make yourself at home."

"If you will excuse me…"

Entering the apartment, Amanda took off her heels and placed them on the shoe rack beside her. Just as she was about to close the shoe rack, she suddenly heard the sound of rushed footsteps heading her way.

"Sister!"

Before Amanda knew it, Nola had already arrived before her and lunged her body in her direction.

Any normal person would've been caught off guard by Nola's sudden actions. But Amanda wasn't.

Extending her hands, she quickly caught Nola.

"Nola!"

"Heheheh."

Snuggling in Amanda's chest, Nola giggled. Then, recalling something, Nola tugged at Amanda's clothing.

Leaving Amanda's embrace, Nola urged Amanda to follow her.

"Come!"

"Hm? You want me to follow you?"

"Un!"

Though confused, Amanda followed Nola all the way toward the other end of the house before stopping at a certain room.

'Isn't this Ren's room?'

Recognizing the room, Amanda looked at Nola in confusion.

"Why did you bring me here?"

Knock— knock—

Instead of answering her, Nola knocked on the door, much to Amanda's confusion.

Within two seconds of the door knocking, the door opened, revealing a topless figure whose lower body was covered by a towel, and droplets of water flowed down his nearly perfect body.

With his right hand holding onto a towel to dry his hair, he blinked a couple of times before asking.

"What is it?"

Amanda's body froze completely.

Chapter 541: Warmth [4]

"As expected, those bastards took advantage of my absence to lay their hands on my guild."

Several files and papers were projected on the holographic projection in front of Edward, whose deep voice echoed throughout the apartment.

The more he stared at them, the greater the frown on his face became.

"You don't have to worry too much."

Standing by his side, Natasha comforted him.

"Your daughter is a lot more capable than you think. She may not have handled everything perfectly, but she was still able to deal quite a severe blow to all of the guilds that tried to lay their hands on the Demon Hunter guild."

"I would say that she had done a fantastic job."

"...She really did."

The news of his daughter's accomplishments made Edward's face soften a bit.

As he gazed at all the things she had accomplished during her career, he felt great pride fill him.

Despite being just twenty years old, she was able to manage the guild without her father's support and prevent it from being devoured by other guilds.

His pride grew for every minute that passed.

'You truly have grown up so well...'

"Edward."

Jolting him out of his thoughts, Edward suddenly heard his wife's voice. Turning his head, he softly asked.

"...Yes?"

With an uncertain look on her face, Natasha thought for a moment before asking.

"You can choose not to answer this, but..."

"Weren't you supposed to be in the demon world? From what I've heard, you fell into some sort of scheme, and the dungeon you were in desync. How is it possible for you to have come back?"

Edward's face turned serious when he heard her words.

Pondering for a bit, he eventually nodded his head.

"There is no need to hide anything from you. Yes, I was indeed in the demon world."

"So it's true..."

Natasha's face was filled with worry as she looked at Edward.

"...But how were you able to escape? I heard that it's almost impossible for someone to come back to earth once they enter the demon world."

"About that."

After briefly covering his hand with his mouth, Edward looked at Natasha for a moment before finally telling her everything.

From how he had spent several years trying to find a way out, to one day finding himself inside the arena after getting injured in a big fight, and everything else that happened after.

The expression on Natasha's face changed when she heard Edward tell about his time with the demons. It became increasingly concerned.

"...Who would've thought that the fights were rigged. Had it not been for Ren who—"

"Wait, did you just say Ren?"

Cutting Edward off, Natasha's eyes opened up a little bit.

"Yes? You heard correctly."

Tilting his head, Edward looked at Natasha.

"Is there something wrong with him? Had it not been for Ren I would've never been able to escape the place."

After his confirmation, Natasha sat down on a couch with a deep and contemplative look on her face.

Finding her reaction strange, Edward sat next to her.

"What's wrong? Did something happen with Ren?"

"Yes..."

Natasha nodded her head.

Lifting her head up to stare at Edward, she softly mumbled.

"It was also because of him that I was able to get rid of the Mind breaker curse..."

"What?"

Immediately after hearing her words, Edward stood up as his eyes widened.

"Did I hear correctly? Did you just say that Ren was also the one that saved you?"

With a complicated look on her face, Natasha nodded her head.

"...Yes."

Thinking back at everything that had happened back in Issanor, Natasha's face softened up a little before muttering.

"He's a good man."

In an attempt to rebuke, Edward opened his mouth. However, as he thought about what had happened in the past, and what Ren had done for him, he eventually closed his mouth and nodded his head in agreement.

"...He is."

Standing up from her seat, Natasha checked her watch.

"Amanda should be here anytime soon. How about we go to dinner?"

"Okay."

***

Knock— knock—

Having just taken a shower, I opened my room door without too much thought after hearing someone knock. After all, I could only think of my mother knocking on my room door.

…but it was at the moment when I opened the door that I was greeted by a familiar face. A face that I had not seen for over the past half a year. It was Amanda.

It was at that moment that my mind blanked out as my eyes repeatedly blinked.

"You…"

It took Amanda's careful gaze to snap me out of it. With no trace of shyness, she carefully examined my body from head to toe.

I felt a little weird.

"Ehm, have you looked enough?"

The moment I said those words, Amanda snapped out of it and raised her head to look at me.

More specifically my hair as she asked.

"…What happened to your hair?"

After scratching my face, I glanced at Nola who had her head turned away from me. It was from that moment that everything started to click for me as I thought.

'…It was you.'

Was Nola going through her rebellion phase?

But wasn't that supposed to happen when they were in their teens? An early bloomer?

Ugh.

As I stared back at Amanda, I replied in the same way I had spoken to my mother.

"It's kind of complicated."

Vaguely.

"Complicated?"

Unconvinced, Amanda's eyes squinted. But she eventually relented and her face softened up a little.

"Never mind, I don't care if you don't tell me. As long as you're fine, I'm fine."

After that, her eyes paused on my body, prompting me to reflexively cover it. Staring at her, I asked.

"What are you doing?"

"…Your scars."

Pointing at the scars on my chest, Amanda's brows furrowed.

"There are quite a lot. A lot more than when I last saw you."

Even though she was trying to hide her emotions, I could tell from her glance that she was concerned.

I smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry about them. I'll get them healed once I get myself a potion. They aren't even that bad, mostly from training."

'...And from my fight against Lightning Dragon.'

That fight...

It really took everything I had to beat him.

"I see…"

Despite not being completely convinced by what I said, Amanda eventually nodded.

In her eyes, there was a trace of relief. But that didn't last long as a small hand reached out for her pants and tugged them.

It was Nola.

"Nola?"

Raising her small hand, Nola pointed in my direction.

"Sister. Remember the promise!"

"Ah!"

Covering her mouth with her hand, Amanda glanced in my direction. Following this, her face quickly became expressionless.

Or rather, it became quite cold.

Opening her mouth, she icily said.

"It's good that you're back."

"Hmph!"

Accompanying her words, was Nola's exaggerated snort as she turned her head.

For a split second, Amanda's lips trembled. This obviously didn't escape my sight as I leaned against the side of the door.

"If you want to pretend to be angry at me, at least try your best to not laugh."

"Sister!"

As she gazed at Amanda, Nola raised her voice.

Amanda's face quickly crumbled as she quickly apologized to Nola.

"...I'm sorry Nola, but I just can't do it. Why don't you forgive your brother already."

Glancing my way, she gave me a signal with her eyes. With one glance, I understood what she meant and pretended to look hurt.

At the same time, I did this, Amanda pointed in my direction.

"Nola, I don't think this is a very good game. Your brother is very sad that you aren't talking to him anymore. I think he may cry soon."

"…Cry?"

Turning her head to look at me, I secretly channeled some mana and pinched the side of my leg, causing my eyes to fill with tears.

"Oh no."

In an instant, Nola's face changed as she rushed to comfort me.

"Brother don't cry. Nola was only joking. I'm not angry."

"...You're not?"

I asked as I wiped my tears.

Nola repeatedly shook her head.

"No."

"Then give me a hug."

"Okay."

Extending my hands, I tightly held Nola in my arm as I slowly stood up. Feeling her squishy body in my arms, I felt a wave of pure bliss wash over me.

"There, there, don't cry brother."

Patting me on the head, Nola tried comforting me. Not that I cared as I was trying my best to stop myself from grinning.

But it seemed as though I had failed miserably at this as Amanda just shook her head when she looked at me.

I could only helplessly shrug my shoulders. Unfortunately, Nola's charm was that destructive.

Coddling Nola for the next few seconds, I suddenly realized something.

Staring at Amanda, I asked.

"Did you meet your mother yet?"

"Mom?"

Cocking her head a little, she looked at me with a confused look.

After a while, she shook her head.

"No."

My brows furrowed when I heard this. Putting Nola down, I grasped Amanda's wrist and brought her with me.

"Come with me for a second."

"Wait, Ren!"

Without putting any resistance, Amanda followed me from behind. She did call my name a couple of times, but I was too preoccupied looking for Edward to notice.

"Oh, here."

Upon hearing voices in the dining hall, I dragged Amanda along with me into the dining hall.

The moment we entered the place, all forms of noise ceased as I felt everyone's eyes pause on me.

"Hm? What's wrong?"

Why was everyone looking at me like that?

But it didn't take too long for me to understand what was wrong as the towel on top of my head fell to the ground.

Then, turning my head slightly, my eyes soon paused on Edward whose eyes were fixed in my general direction.

I instantly let go of Amanda's hand and took a step back.

"I know this looks weird, but please don't mis—"

As I was about to finish my sentence, Amanda's figure disappeared from beside me and reappeared in front of Edward.

As tears streamed down her cheeks, she tightly hugged his body.

"D…dad!"

***

At first, she was flustered.

Being dragged around by a half-naked Ren would obviously fluster everyone.

But.

From the moment that she stepped into the living room, all of those emotions ceased to exist as her eyes paused toward two figures happily conversing with each other at the end of the dining table.

It was as if her body and mind had frozen completely.

'...Is this a dream?'

Amanda wondered to herself as her eyes lingered in the direction of the two figures in the distance.

That sight.

It was a sight she had dreamed of since she was young, and something she never believed could ever happen...

'Mom, Dad?'

Their presence prompted the two figures to turn their heads, and their eyes met. As Amanda's eyes locked onto the man sitting next to her mother, she felt a bolt of electricity run down her body.

That figure...

The figure she had been longing day and night to see for the past three years.

"I know this looks weird, but please don't mis—"

Within seconds, her body moved on its own, and her body began lunging toward him.

"D…dad!"

In that moment, Amanda's face sank into the man's broad chest and she felt a familiar warmth.

A warmth she had long yearned for...

Chapter 542: Like [1]

This familiar warmth.

'It's real. It's not a dream.'

When Amanda looked into her father's eyes, tears began to trickle down her cheeks.

"It's okay."

Wiping the tear away from her cheek, Edward softly smiled at her.

"It's really me Amanda. I'm back."

"Ah."

Amanda let out a weak sound as she hugged her father even tighter. Trying her best to imprint the warmth inside of her mind.

A while later, Amanda opened her mouth. The frail sound of her voice echoed throughout the room.

"H..how...how are you here?"

How was it possible for her father to have returned from the demon world?

Many had told her that this was an impossible feat. Something that could never be accomplished due to how dangerous the territory was.

Many times she had wanted to go herself, but knowing how weak she was, she could only silently endure the pain and continue training until she became strong enough to go.

Yet...

Feeling her father's warmth, Amanda knew that he was right here with her.

This was not a dream.

Softly staring at Amanda, Edward opened his mouth to answer.

However...

"Ren Dover! Are you an exhibitionist!? Go and put some clothes this instant!"

He was stopped by Samantha's enraged shout.

Turning around, Amanda watched as Ren left the room with a crestfallen look on his face.

"You think I really did this on purpose? Also, it's not like I'm actually naked, people go to the beach all the time, it makes no difference if they see my chest..."

As he left, nearly everyone in the room heard his parting words.

"Heh..."

Edward chuckled slightly at that moment. With a confused look on her face, she turned her head to look at him.

"Do you two know each other?"

Letting go of him, she sat down on the seat next to him.

Glancing in her direction, Edward had a complicated look on his face as he nodded his head.

"...You wanted to know why I was able to get out of the demon world, right?"

"Yes."

Unknowingly, Amanda's heartbeat started racing as she nodded her head.

In her mind, she was already formulating a theory about what had happened.

The words her father said next confirmed her assumptions.

"It's because of him."

"He helped me escape from the demon realm."

'...As expected, it really was him.'

Instead of being surprised, Amanda's face turned complicated.

She had already formed an idea once her father appeared the same time he did, but being overwhelmed with emotions, she didn't think too much about the situation.

However, now that she had calmed down, she was able to understand exactly what had happened.

Lowering her head, Amanda glanced in the direction of where Ren used to stand, letting her face soften a little. The edges of her lips curled ever so slightly.

'You truly are...'

***

"This is very good."

With my fork in hand, I chewed my food politely.

Once I finished eating, I would wipe my mouth carefully with a napkin. I also made sure to keep my back straight and hold the fork properly.

I wasn't one to eat like this, however, at the moment I felt that I needed to do this.

For the sake of my life.

"Keumm...what delicacy this is."

'What is this weird thing?'

With a slight cough, I swallowed another mouthful. Along the way, I made sure to compliment the food. Regardless of whether it was good or not.

Unfortunately...

"Isn't that ginger you're eating? I don't think you like ginger, don't you?"

The dining hall echoed with my mother's voice.

My fork froze in place.

As I smacked my lips a couple of times in an attempt to get my taste buds to work, I finally tasted the food in my mouth, and from that moment, I had to do my best to stop my tears from falling.

'I fucked up..'

Lifting my head a little, my left eye twitched. Nevertheless, I still complemented.

"Amazing ginger mother. I don't know how you seasoned it, but I think I no longer dislike the taste of ginger."

"...I didn't do anything to it."

"Nothing? Then I must compliment you on how well you selected the ingredients. Truly ama—"

"I ordered them online."

Scratching the side of my head, I lowered my head and stopped speaking altogether.

I realized that the less I spoke, the better the situation for me would be.

...and it proved to be the right decision as the dinner continued smoothly after that.

The feeling lasted only a short time, as my mom's icy words echoed throughout the room.

"Is that so? So you met Ren in the demon realm?"

Feeling her intense gaze from the other side of the dining table, I lowered my head even further.

'Shit...'

But it seemed as though fate did not want me to do that as Edward continued talking.

"Yes, if not for your son, I would've never been able to escape from the demon world."

"Oh my, what a brave son I have."

With every word that came out of my mother's mouth, I felt as if a sharp knife was stabbing my heart.

'Please stop...'

Lifting my head I little, I pleaded with Edward to stop, but it didn't seem as though he got the message as he continued speaking.

"In fact, I even fought against your son back in the demon world."

At his words, the room froze completely as the eyes of several people in the room opened widely.

'So this is what your goal was!'

It was also at that moment that I realized that Edward was not feigning ignorance to my earlier signals, but was actually doing it on purpose.

"You two have fought?"

My mother asked with a rather surprised tone.

Feeling her gaze pause on me, I silently glared in Edward's direction.

'You better stop talking.'

But unfortunately, my words went to deaf ears as Edward continued speaking. Secretly glancing in Natasha's and Amanda's direction, he put on a hurt look.

"We have. Your son also beat me quite badly. I was punched multiple times in the face, and he also broke a lot of my bones. Haaa, if not for my sturdy body, your son could've killed me."

"Oh my!"

While he was speaking, I suddenly felt Amanda's gaze pause on me.

Turning my head, our eyes met.

She didn't say anything, but with a single glance, I could tell what she wanted to ask me.

'Is what he is saying true?'

"Ugh..."

Groaning slightly, I covered my face with my hand and slowly nodded my head.

Glaring at Edward, I was forced to interject.

"...I only did it for the sake of helping you."

A smile spread across Edward's face as he glanced at me.

"I didn't say you didn't."

The misunderstanding was finally clarified by Edward as he looked toward the others.

"In spite of Ren's actions, he did it to save me, so there's no need for you guys to think badly of him."

Hearing his words, my eyes began to squint.

'Just why is he acting this way...'

It somehow felt as though he was having some sort of vendetta against me.

But it didn't take too long for me to understand the reason for his sudden actions. Following his line of sight, I soon realized why.

'It's about what happened earlier...'

He had probably misunderstood the moment I came into the room.

At least that was what I thought it was.

"So in order to save you, Ren purposely beat you up? But aren't you supposed to be strong?"

Once again, my mother's words echoed.

The smile on Edward's face stiffened a little as he quickly explained.

"Back then I had my mana sealed and my rank dropped to the same level as Ren. Not only that, but Ren also had a device to stop my man—"

"Sounds an awful lot like you are making excuses for your loss."

In the middle of his sentence, Edward was interrupted by Natasha.

With a slight smile on her face, she glanced in Amanda's direction.

"There is no need to be embarrassed, we have all seen Ren's capabilities. It wouldn't be strange for you to lose to him, right Amanda?"

Alternating her gaze between me and Edward, Amanda eventually nodded her head.

"...Yes."

"Amanda?"

Edward pitifully looked at Amanda with a betrayed expression on his face. Despite his reactions, Amanda just ate the food calmly, seemingly unconcerned with his reaction.

She looked to be lost in her own thoughts.

...And just like that, the next couple of hours flew by.

By the time it was 10 P.M, everyone had already eaten their fill and my mother was already back in the kitchen, cleaning up the dishes.

"Huaamm.."

Letting out a long yawn, I stood up from my seat.

Glancing around the place and seeing everyone still busy doing their own thing, I decided to head for my room.

I was honestly quite tired.

Stretching my back a little, I walked toward my room. Along the way, I thought about the dinner. If I had to be honest, it was a lot more tiring than my half-year-long trip back to the demon realm.

In spite of the dangers there, I never felt so tense in my life.

Like a hawk, my mother watched every move I made with great attention. It felt as though any wrong move would spell the end of me.

'Remind me to never do this again...'

Shaking my head, I entered my room and headed for the balcony.

"Hm?"

Clank—!

The moment I opened the balcony door, I was left surprised by the sight of Amanda staring at the nightly sky as her figure basked underneath the moonlight, perfectly highlighting her soft and delicate features.

My feet came to an abrupt pause.

"...You're here."

Turning her head, Amanda glanced in my direction.

Staring back at her, I walked toward the balcony railings and proceeded to gaze at the city from the balcony.

A momentary silence followed as we both stared at the city below.

Breaking the silence, I turned my head to glance at her.

"You were waiting for me?"

"Mhm. I was."

Resting her head in her arms that were crossed on the balcony, Amanda slightly turned her head in my direction.

"I just put Nola to bed, and since the two rooms are connected, I decided to head for the balcony to enjoy the breeze."

"I see.."

Raising my hand, I scratched the side of my eye.

However, her next words caused my hand to freeze on the spot.

"Do you nee—"

"I like you, you know that."

As if time had stopped, everything around me faded away, and I could only see Amanda's figure at that moment.

"Wh—

"Shh.."

With a slight smile on her face, Amanda pressed her finger to my mouth.

"There is no need to pretend as though you don't know. I noticed this back when we were at the concert. I wasn't exactly sure back then, but I'm sure now. You know about my feelings for you."

Taking her finger away from my mouth, Amanda turned to glance at the city below.

Pressing her hands on the handrail, she leaned her body back.

"The only reason I'm telling you this is because I'm no longer going to hide the fact that I like you."

Though faint, a faint blush appeared on her cheeks as the smile on her face deepened a little.

"I tried. I really did try to stop these feelings from growing. Me with the guild, and you with your own stuff, it is really hard to pursue what we really want to do since we are forced to bear responsibilities that others can't, but..."

With a slight pause, Amanda turned her head to glance my way again.

"...You are making it really hard for me to not like you."

Chapter 543: Like [2]

'...You are making it really hard for me not to like you.'

Amanda's words echoed inside my mind like thunderbolts as my body stopped moving altogether.

Millions of different thoughts flashed inside of my mind as I struggled to speak.

This...

She knew that I knew all along?

A bitter smile soon spread across my face.

'...And here I thought I was doing a good job at trying to hide my feelings.'

As expected of Amanda, she was more perceptive than I thought.

I was unsure of what to say to her sudden confession as I stared at her. Although I knew that she liked me, I didn't take her for one to express her emotions so suddenly.

The Amanda I knew was supposed to be reserved and shy.

Not someone that would boldly confess like this.

'Just what happened during the time that I was in the demon world?'

Honestly, she had caught me off-guard.

"Ehm—"

"You don't have to answer me just yet."

Amanda let go of the railing before I could say anything else. As she turned away from me, she moved toward the balcony's sliding door.

"Sorry for dropping off something like that after you've just returned. I just...feel like I needed to say it. For my sake."

There was a short pause in her speech as she placed her hand on the slider door.

"...I guess I'm selfish in my own way, but if I never did this, I don't think you would've ever though about it."

In the midst of my racing mind, a strange feeling overpowered me.

"Once again, sorry fo—"

I didn't know when, but before I knew it, I had already taken a step forward and I found myself grasping her wrist.

"Wait."

"Huh?"

After my hand made contact with Amanda's, her body flinched and she turned to face me with a surprised expression.

Our faces weren't far.

About a few inches away from each other.

Gazing at her face which seemed to sparkle under the moonlight, I had a sudden thought.

'Was I always this indecisive?'

It didn't take long for me to come up with an answer to that question.

...Yeah.

I guess I was.

Thinking back, I really did have the tendency to overthink things.

But it couldn't be helped. I was someone that liked to have everything under control.

Just like in this case, were my emotions real, or were they a fruit of my other self's work?

To be honest, this was something that had been plaguing my mind for quite a while. I had long stopped thinking about it because I was busy with other stuff.

It only resurfaced recently when I went to the demon realm.

At the time, I didn't think about saving Amanda's father when I went to the demon world.

How could I have?

I had just come off from a fight against the demon king and found out about the secret of the entity residing inside of my body.

Edward was the last thing that was on my mind back then.

In addition to that, I saved Edward back then primarily because the situation back in the Demon Hunter Guild was complicated. It had to be noted that they were the ones protecting my parents, and if something bad happened to them, my family would be put in quite a bit of danger.

I wasn't really thinking too deeply about it.

...and maybe, just maybe, Amanda may have misunderstood my actions.

But.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly opened my mouth to speak.

"This weekend..."

I let go of her wrist as I stared deeply into her obsidian black eyes.

"...Are you free this weekend?"

***

Clank—!

Closing the door behind her, Amanda stood still while lowering her head.

This persisted for a good couple of minutes as she tried to let the events that transpired not too long ago sink into her mind.

'…It really happened, right?'

She thought to herself.

Ren had actually asked her out on a date right?

Within a moment, Amanda's cheeks became hot as her head made its way deeper into her bosom.

"It really did happen..."

Recalling his soft smile and warm eyes, Amanda knew that whatever happened back then wasn't a fruit of her imagination.

It had actually happened.

Knock—! Knock—!

It was at that moment that Amanda heard a knocking sound.

"Amanda? Are you okay?"

It was her father. Edward.

Placing both of her hands on her cheeks, Amanda hastily turned her head and pressed her hands on the door.

"…I'm okay."

She answered in an audible whisper.

"Is that so…"

Edward awkwardly said.

A weird silence followed his voice as neither of them spoke.

After a while, unable to bear the silence anymore, Edward spoke up.

"Amanda, can I come in?"

"No."

Putting more pressure on the doorside, Amanda shook her head furiously.

"Don't come in."

Despite feeling sorry for her father, she did not want anyone to see her right now. Let alone her father.

Although she couldn't see herself in the mirror, Amanda knew that her expression wasn't quite right at the moment. She didn't want to risk it.

"…Are you perhaps angry at me?"

Having misunderstood Amanda's words, Edward's voice fell.

Calming herself down, Amanda replied.

"I'm not."

"Then why?"

"Because I'm about to take a shower."

"Oh…"

Another moment of silence ensued as Edward seemed to struggle to find the right words to say.

He eventually backed off.

"Alright then, we still have a lot to discuss together. I'll see you tomorrow morning. Good night."

"Good night."

With her back pressed against the door, Amanda closely paid attention to the sound of his footsteps distancing themselves from her room.

It was only after she could no longer hear them that she finally calmed down.

Slowly, her feet slid down and she hid her face in between her knees.

"…I'm sorry."

She silently murmured as she thought back at her father's crestfallen voice.

But it really couldn't be helped.

She really couldn't bear to let anyone see her at the moment.

"This is hard…"

***

"Did I make a mistake?"

I repeatedly asked myself this question as I stared at the ceiling of my room.

In all honesty, everything since the events that transpired not too long ago still seems a little hard to believe.

'...I hope she isn't too mad with my answer.'

Thinking back, I neither agreed nor denied her confession.

Still, after removing all thoughts from my mind, I decided to give it a go.

I wanted to explore my feelings and see if I actually liked her.

There was indeed the possibility of my other self manipulating my feelings in order to create a weakness for me, but I honestly didn't think this was the case.

Amanda was strong.

In terms of talent, she was only lagging behind Kevin. Not only that, she wasn't someone that I needed to look after in case the situation turned bad.

She was someone that knew her responsibilities, and knew how to act upon them.

In contrast to being a burden, I thought of her as someone I could trust.

After a moment's pause in my thoughts, I muttered silently to myself.

"I think this might be for the best."

On another note, I really did need something to distract me from the things that were happening.

...and this was probably the best distraction out there.

"Is it really for the best?"

At that moment, a voice echoed beside me. My reaction was nonexistent since I had grown accustomed to hearing that voice.

While still staring toward the ceiling of my room, I replied.

"What do you know?"

I then turned my head to glance in his direction.

"If not for you, things wouldn't have been so complicated."

"If not for me you would've died many times over."

"That may be true, but…"

Sitting up straight on the bed, I leaned my body forward a little.

"I would've never found myself in those situations had it not been for your influence."

Clank. Clank.

Scratching his ear, the rattling sound of the chains binding his arms echoed out.

He had a rather nonchalant look on his face.

"Been curious about something...As someone who knows that their actions are controlled, you don't seem to be doing much."

"Am I not?"

Massaging the bottom of my chin, I shrugged my shoulders.

"I guess I just realized there is no need for me to do so."

"No need?"

"Yeah…"

Glancing his way, I just smiled at him.

There were many ways for someone to deal with a manipulator.

In most cases, it would be best to ignore what they say and do the opposite of what they advise, but in my case, where most of his suggestions aligned with my desires and goals, this was not an option.

Thus, I decided to opt for a different method.

"I see."

Nodding his head slowly, my other self calmly opened his mouth.

"So you still think that I'm your enemy?"

Shrugging my shoulders, I leaned back on my bed.

"Think what you like."

"Alright…"

With a casual nod of his head, the other me turned to look toward his body which was slowly starting to become transparent. The chains that were binding his body suddenly tightened, and a weird red hue started sprouting from them.

Clank!

This sudden phenomenon surprised me a bit as I had never seen it before.

"What's going on?"

"...I've overstayed my stay."

Staring at the chains which were binding his body, my other self turned to look in my direction.

Before he could say anything else, I started speaking.

"Let me guess, you've used too much energy after controlling my body."

"...Yes."

"As expected."

There was definitely a cost that he needed to bear when controlling my body and using that skill.

As a matter of fact, I also suspected there was more to the skill than it just being a simple power boost, but as he wouldn't tell me, I could only guess for now.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

Suddenly, more chains appeared from underneath the ground as they beckoned my otherself, who stared at them without showing any signs of panic.

Extending his hand, he let them bind his body completely.

His body gradually started to fall toward the ground from that moment on.

Within a few seconds, his head had already reached the ground, and with a simple smile on my face, I waved in his direction.

"...Have a nice trip."

Moments after my words faded, his body slowly sunk to the ground and disappeared.

With my eyes lingering on the spot where he disappeared, the smile on my face slowly faded away as I softly mumbled underneath my breath.

"Monarch's indifference."

Chapter 544: Soul [1]

"...A pity I couldn't stay up any longer."

Staring at the chains that were behind his arms and legs, the other Ren's face remained impassive.

While walking toward the distance, the rattling noise of the chains filled the darkness.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

The sound did not persist for long as his feet soon came to a pause.

An orb of white and black loomed before him in the dark space as he muttered.

"Not bad..."

As he extended his hand to touch the orb, a small gap appeared in the black threads surrounding the orb, allowing his hand to pass through briefly before he yanked out again.

A sizzling sound rang in the air as the other Ren gazed at his hand which had turned semi-transparent.

With his brows furrowed, he murmured.

"Almost."

"Almost what?"

A familiar voice suddenly echoed out, forcing Ren to turn his head abruptly.

His eyes were immediately drawn to a familiar figure.

"...Surprise?"

An ambiguous smile spread on the familiar figure's face as he stared at the white orb in the distance.

Pointing at it, he asked.

"So is this the secret that you've been keeping away from me?"

Calmly walking toward the white orb, Ren carefully inspected it as he walked around it.

Throughout the entire time, the other Ren didn't say anything as he just calmly observed him.

This persisted for a good minute before the other Ren eventually started to speak.

"...Did you plan this since the very beginning?"

The moment his words faded, Ren's feet came to a pause.

Turning his head to glance in his direction, Ren placed his hand underneath his chin.

"Planned?"

Caressing his chin, he thought for a moment before shaking his head.

"Not really. I was just testing something"

"Testing something?"

Carefully staring at Ren, the edges of the other Ren's lips curled a little.

"If my guess serves right, you purposely lent me your body so that you could test whether there were any drawbacks to it. That's quite the bold move..."

"It was."

Halting his feet in front of the white sphere, Ren carefully looked at it.

"It doesn't take a genius to understand that nothing is free in this world. For you to have gained access to such tremendous power, just a little body trauma wouldn't have been enough..."

Extending his hand, Ren carefully moved it toward the white sphere.

As his hand approached the sphere, the black threads revolving around it suddenly gained vitality and began wiggling.

Not minding it, he continued moving his hand forward.

"You definitely had some sort of goal planned when taking over my body, and I can finally see that it has something to do with this white orb."

His hand touched the black threads and the black threads quickly escaped away, revealing a clean white outer surface.

Following this, his hand slowly sunk in.

Throughout the whole time, the other Ren did nothing but stare at Ren doing whatever he was doing.

This didn't last for long as Ren slowly removed his hand from the orb.

With a complicated look on his face, he lowered his head and murmured.

"...It's just as I thought."

Raising his head to glance in the direction of where his other self stood, Ren's face sank a little.

"That white orb is my soul, isn't it?"

"...It is."

Without denying anything, the other Ren calmly looked toward the white orb and nodded his head.

"It's as you've guessed. That is indeed your soul."

Without showing any changes in his expression, Ren pointed at the black threads revolving around the white orb.

"...What about the black threads?"

"Them?"

Turning his head to stare at Ren, the other Ren calmly extended his arm.

Immediately after his actions, the black threads revolving around the white orb started moving like crazy, as they quickly tried to entrap the white orb.

"You can say that they are a backup plan."

"A backup plan?"

"Yeah..."

A calm nod from the other Ren preceded a sudden deepening in voice.

"A contingency plan in case you disappoint me."

"A contingency plan in case I disappoint you? Sounds like quite the plan..."

Rather than being surprised or angry at the other Ren's words, Ren just calmly stared at the white orb in front of him.

"I already have a pretty good idea of what you're trying to do. I'm glad everything worked out for the best and I found out about this now..."

Turning his head slightly, Ren just looked at the other Ren for a second before disappearing.

"I'll be seeing you soon."

His last words deeply echoed throughout the black void as the other Ren stared in his direction.

This persisted for a good minute before the other Ren turned to look at the white orb next to him.

"Whether you've figured it out now or later, it doesn't change the inevitable future..."

As he muttered, he raised his hand and forced the black threads around the white orb once again to go crazy.

"...Everything is still under my control."

***

"I knew it..."

Slowly rising from my bed, I opened my eyes again.

As I was still processing the information that I had just learned, my thoughts were rather scattered.

Regardless, I was soon able to sort them out inside of my head.

In the brief moment of time that I touched that white orb, I was able to finally tell how a lot of my thoughts and actions were being controlled by him.

Or least, how.

"It's through my soul..."

Despite not knowing much about souls, what I gathered during that short period of time in the black void was that the black threads surrounding my soul were things my other self planted to control my soul.

The more it corrupted, the more he was able to alter how I felt, how I acted, and basically what made me, me.

"I guess power never really does come for free..."

It was only a hypothesis for now, but...

When the other me took over my body through Monarch Indifference or through schemes such as the Angelica incident, his true goal was to damage my soul so that he could exert his influence on it.

I wasn't exactly sure what his end goal was, however, if there was one thing I knew at this moment, it was that I needed to find a way to heal my soul.

This was the only way I could ensure that I would be free from his influence.

I used to believe that someone's soul couldn't be healed. That, however, was based on memories in my head.

Knowing that my memories were purposely altered by him, I came to the realization that there was perhaps indeed a way for me to heal my soul. It was just that he purposely left it out since it would go against his wishes.

Coming to this conclusion, I knew exactly what to do at the moment.

Standing up from my bed, I took my phone out and scrolled through my contact list.

"Looks like I have to make a couple of calls."

***

The next day.

"Huaammm."

A yawn escaped from my mouth as I felt the morning breeze. As I stopped in front of a large gate and stared into the distance, a thin smile formed on my lips.

"Morning Professor Voss."

"Nice to see you too."

Leaning against the side of the entrance of the Lock, Kevin rolled his eyes. Under his eyes were glaring black circles, clearly showing his exhaustion. He was dressed in Lock's black professor uniform, which perfectly highlighted his bulked-up body.

Moving toward me, his face turned strange as he cocked his head a little.

"Did you dye your hair? You didn't strike me like the guy that would do that."

"Circumstances..."

Just like everyone else, I decided to be vague regarding the situation about my hair.

Despite Kevin already knowing about the entity inside of me, explaining everything was going to take a long time, so I brushed the subject aside.

"Let's set the topic of my hair aside, care to bring me to Douglas?"

"Alright, but don't forget to meet me after you're done. We still need to talk about the trip."

"Sure, sure."

Turning around, Kevin scratched the side of his head as he entered the gates of the Lock.

Letting out another yawn, I followed him from behind.

'I hope this helps me...'

Last night, after making a couple of calls, I was able to make an appointment with Douglas. Given his age and experience, I thought that he might have a clue with regard to something that could heal my soul.

After all, this was now my current top priority.

Further adding to that, I also was planning on making a trip to the Lock's Treasury, the cube.

Since I had accomplished the task they had given to me last time, it was only right that I took what was owed to me. If there was nothing that could help me with regard to souls, I still had a couple of things in mind that I really needed for myself.

One such example would be a cure for all the mental problems that I was currently having.

With potions no longer being as effective as they were in the past, I needed to find a solution right now.

Though I wasn't sure yet, I had a feeling that if I didn't keep this in check, I might end up losing myself again.

It was only just a hunch.

But I didn't want to risk it.

Chapter 545: Soul [2]

"Good morning professor."

"Morning Professor."

While we walked around the academy, we were greeted by students who were heading out for their classes. The students seemed unable to recognize me since my hair had changed, so most of their greetings were directed at Kevin.

This was good since I didn't want to be recognized at the moment.

That being said, the fact that my hair was white did attract quite a lot of attention as I felt multiple eyes pause on me whenever we went.

"How are we going to explain to Jin about the system and everything?"

It was while we were walking that Kevin spoke.

Staring at him, my brows knit.

"What are you talking about?"

"…Didn't you previously mention that we should bring Jin with us?"

"Oh, that."

Right, I did suggest to Kevin to bring Jin with us during the trip.

Although I wasn't sure how strong he was right now, he shouldn't be any weaker than Amanda, who was on the verge of breaking through to <A-> the last time I saw her, which was yesterday.

That said.

It would indeed be quite troublesome to explain to him about Kevin's system and everything. Unlike Kevin who believed most of the words I said, Jin wasn't one to be fooled easily.

As much as I hated to admit it, I was afraid my bullshitting skills would not work on him.

"Well, we can just not tell him anything.."

"Huh?"

Kevin's feet came to a sudden halt.

Turning his head to glance my way, he asked.

"What do you mean we don't have to tell him anything? He's currently working to take over as the next Guild master of the Starlight guild. If you want him to come with us, we should at least give him a proper reason to follow us."

Listening to his words, I slowly nodded my head.

"…You're right."

His words made sense.

Just like Amanda, Jin had a lot of responsibilities for himself. If we suddenly sprang the idea of going to another world to him without a proper explanation, he might end up refusing our offer.

Although I knew a couple of other people that could replace him, ideally I wanted Jin to be the one that came with us.

Considering his skill set, he was the most appropriate person to come with us.

"Hmm…"

Squinting my eyes, I asked.

"What is the time difference between here, and the place we're going?"

"Let me check."

Waving his hand in the air, Kevin carefully looked at the air in front of him.

To be honest, had it not been for the fact that I knew he had a system, I would've thought he had some mental problems as he tapped and swiped the air randomly.

It was quite a comical scene.

This persisted for a good couple of minutes before Kevin turned around and informed me.

"The time difference between here and there is about half of that of Immorra."

"So about five times?"

"Yeah."

'Five times, huh? This is a lot longer than I expected...'

Even though I didn't know how long I would be away, I didn't think it would be a good idea to take another long trip after just getting back.

I might end up suffering quite a bit before leaving.

'Mother aside, it is also quite a pity to leave earth.'

Presently, the best place to train was on earth.

Although time flowed slower on the planet that I was just about to go to, there was a major flaw in the place, and it was the fact that it lacked mana.

Just like the demon world, the place was filled with demonic energy.

Compared to earth whose mana density is increasing day by day, the time difference advantage would simply be negated by the fact that the mana there was thin. The same went for Immorra, which unfortunately also had little to no mana in the air.

Had the two plants had more mana, I would've without a doubt spent my time training over there.

'What a pity...'

While my thoughts paused there, I had a sudden thought as I opened my mouth and voiced it out.

"...Wait, if the time is five times slower, why don't we just kidnap Jin?"

"Huh?"

Kevin's face changed the moment those words escaped from my mouth. Snapping his head to look at me, he frowned.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't misunderstand…"

Raising my hands, I quickly explained to Kevin my thoughts.

"Since it will be troublesome to convince Jin and even tell him about your secrets, might as well just open the portal and send him in before he knows it. Coma back before his guild members notices something is wrong. It's not like this trip will be a long one."

A dumbfounded look crossed Kevin's face as he stared at me.

"…are you serious?"

"Just an option."

As I approached the enormous structure in the distance, I shrugged my shoulders.

The goal of the operation, from what he told me, was to prevent the mana on the planet from corrupting and becoming demonic.

If everything played out well, then I didn't see why we would need a lot of time to do it.

We just had to find the device that converted the mana and destroy it. Furthermore, since the system judged that the difficulty was around <A> it shouldn't be too hard for us to deal with it.

Who knows, perhaps I might even find a way to break through to <S-> rank. Though, I doubted it since it was actually hard to break through.

"Haaa…"

Thinking about breaking through to <S-> rank, I let out a long sigh.

Although I was closer to it than ever, it still felt as though I was quite far away from it:

'I'm probably still a year or two away from breaking thorough.'

Sounded slow, but by then I would be around 23 years old.

A 23/22 year old <S-> rank Hero.

The news would probably shake the whole domain as not even Monica, who was considered one of the greatest prodigies humanity had ever seen, had accomplished such feats.

'If I don't remember incorrectly, Monica reached it when she was just 25..'

For me to do it at 22/23, it would probably alarm a lot of people. As I imagined Monica's face once I beat her record, the edges of my lips curled.

"We're here."

Jolting me out of my thoughts was Kevin's voice as we stopped in front of a large wooden door.

"The headmaster is already waiting for you, so all you have to do is just knock on the door."

Glancing at the door for a second, Kevin soon turned around.

"About your proposal of kidnapping Jin, tell me more about it later. I've got classes to teach now. I'll see you later."

"Bye."

Waving Kevin goodbye, I turned to glance at the door in front of me.

Without wasting any time, I raised my hand and knocked on the door.

Knock. Knocks

"Come in."

Following my actions, a familiar aged voice echoed out from behind the door.

Without hesitation, I twisted the doorknob and entered the room.

Clank—

As soon as I opened the door, an old wooden smell filled the room, while sunlight filtered through the large window at the end.

Sitting in front of it, and behind a large worded desk was Douglas who slowly stood up and smiled in my direction.

"Haven't seen you in quite a while."

His aged and tranquil voice echoed throughout the room.

Extending his hand, he pointed at the leather chair in front of his desk.

"Have a seat for now. I heard you wanted to talk to me, what do you need?"

Smiling at him, I complied with his request and sat down on the chair.

Brushing my hair up, I thought for a moment before I decided to go straight to the point.

"I need a favor. Do you have anything that can heal the soul?"

Right as those words escaped from my mouth, Douglas's face changed as he asked.

"Did something happen to your soul?"

"Sort of."

I nodded my head before explaining.

"I sustained a bit of damage to my soul, and I need to find a way to heal it."

"Hmm…"

Massaging his long beard, a deep and contemplative look appeared on Douglas's face as he mused to himself.

His brows soon furrowed tightly.

"Something that can heal your soul, huh…"

Seconds passed, and soon minutes passed as the frown on Douglas's face deepened.

The longer time passed, the less hope I had that Douglas would find a way to heal me.

'Looks like I will have to ask someone else.'

Douglas wasn't the only person that I could ask with regards to possible news about something that could heal my soul.

There were other people I could ask. Of which, there was Kevin, and possibly even Gervis.

Though, making contact with him would prove to be quite difficult.

"Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like I can be of help, Ren."

It was then that Douglas shook his head in disappointment.

With a smile on my face, I waved my hand.

"It's okay, it—"

"But, I do know someone that can actually help you."

But halfway through my sentence, Douglas suddenly said something that immediately caught my interest.

"You know someone that can help?"

"Yes."

Douglas nodded his head before his face turned weird as he looked at me.

"You might not like it but if there is one guy that can help you, it's probably him."

Listening to his next words, I suddenly had a bad feeling. However, as I thought about how urgent the matter was, I reaffirmed my resolve.

"It's okay as long as he can help me, then I can do anything."

"You sure?"

"Sure."

"Don't tell me I didn't warn you."

A grin appeared on Douglas's face as he caressed his beard and leaned back on his chair.

"If you're looking for a way to heal your soul, then the individual you should contact is none other than Octavious Hall. The strongest human in the human domain."

"Ahh…"

A strange sound escaped from my mouth as my face hardened.

'Seriously?'

Chapter 546: One problem at a time [1]

"Ugh."

A groan escaped from my mouth as I thought about asking Octavious for help.

'Out of all individuals, it had to be him?'

Just my luck.

Glancing Douglas's way, I sighed before asking.

"…How sure are you that he can help?"

"I'm fairly confident."

Caressing his beard, Douglas's slowly said.

"He also seems to have had a problem with his soul, so if there is anyone you should ask, it should be him."

"Ugh."

Letting out another groan, I leaned back on the chair and sighed.

'It doesn't look like I have another option.'

Things had just turned a lot more problematic…

To be honest, I didn't really want to see him. However, because this was one of my top priorities at the moment, I really didn't have much choice.

Somehow, and someway, I had to meet him.

'This is the only way I can finally regain my memories before reincarnation, and dispel my other self's influence.'

Although just a hypothesis for now. After my soul healed completely, I believed all my memories of the future would disappear, and my old ones would reappear.

Not only that, but I would also know which feelings of mine were real and which ones were fake.

"I think I've answered your question. Do you need something else?"

Jolting me out of my thoughts was Douglas's voice. Turning to look at him, I thought for a moment before answering.

"…Remember how you told me you would allow me to take anything from the Cube?"

"Ahhh."

Douglas looked at me with a sudden look of understanding.

"I see what you're aiming for."

Taking a small tablet from his table, Douglas stroked his beard before pressing it to activate the hologram.

Following his actions, a series of different items present themselves before me. Extending his hand, Douglas smiled.

"Here is the catalog of what we have stored inside of the Cube, choose whatever you want."

Looking at Douglas, I squinted my eyes while studying the catalog.

"Am I allowed to pick an <S> ranked skill?"

"Hmm…"

In response to my gaze, the hand that caressed his beard froze slightly. With a rather complicated look on his face, he eventually nodded his head.

"…I did say that you could take anything you wanted, so I guess I should keep my word. Take whatever you want."

Pausing for a moment, his face became sterner.

"But let me remind you, Ren. You shouldn't choose a skill just because of its rank. Choose a skill that you need the most at the moment."

"Okay."

Firmly nodding my head, I started to scroll the catalog.

Just like Douglas said, I couldn't be too greedy. That said, now that I had his approval, I wasn't going to be courteous with my choice either.

Since I was allowed to take an <S> ranked skill, I wasn't going to shy away from it. If it proved to be useful, I was definitely going to take it.

Pressing the [Skill] section, I quickly got to work.

'Let's see…'

***

"Let's go."

In a slick suit, Edward calmly waited at the house's entrance for Amanda who was currently changing.

'This is it.'

Today was an important day. After leaving for four years, Edward was finally going to return to his guild.

There was no doubt that his appearance would shake the entire human domain.

Clank.

It was at this moment that the door to Amanda's room suddenly opened.

In a beautiful formal dress that accentuated her curves, Amanda walked towards her father.

With a smile on his face, Edward asked.

"Do you have everything ready?"

"Yes."

Amanda nodded her head with a serious look.

"Have fun you two."

From the other side of the apartment, a cheerful voice echoed as Natasha stared at them with a warm smile.

"Don't come back too late, I will get lonely."

"We won't."

Taking a step to the side, Edward opened the apartment door and allowed Amanda to leave first.

"Thank you."

As soon as she walked out, he waved at Natasha one more time before closing the door.

"I'll see you later."

"Don't come back too late!"

Clank—!

"Let's go."

After closing the door, he walked towards the elevator in the distance. In place of his former cheerful demeanor, he adopted an imposing one.

Now that he had left his apartment, he was no longer Edward Stern, but the guild master of the Demon Hunter guild. He had to adopt the right demeanor to suit his position.

This was especially so given the current situation at the Demon Hunter guild.

He had only been briefed a little bit by Natasha, but the more he heard the more displeased he was.

People seemed to have forgotten what made the Demon Hunter Guild the world's top guild.

'It's fine. I'll quickly make them understand once I return.'

Clenching his fist tightly, Edward entered the elevator with his daughter.

"Hm, dad?"

Snapping Edward out of his thoughts was Amanda's voice. Edward's face immediately softened.

"What is it, Amanda? You can ask me anything."

Lowering her head a little, Amanda asked in a rather hushed tone.

"I didn't really hear it properly yesterday, but how did you meet Ren?"

"Huh?"

Her words instantly caused Edward to feel an ominous premonition as he warily asked.

"Why are you asking about him?"

"…I'm just curious."

Amanda said as her face remained stoic.

Furrowing his brows tightly, Edward carefully looked at his daughter. Staring back at him, and seeing her stubbornness, he eventually relented and started talking to her about his experiences with Ren back in the Demon world.

"We met when I was inside of the arena. If I don't recall incorrectly, he went to meet me because…"

And so, Edward began to recount to Amanda his experience with Ren in the demon world throughout their trip to the guild.

From how he met him, to what happened after and how he saved him.

Throughout the entire time, Amanda had an attentive look on her face as she listened to every single one of his words.

Her eyes twinkled strangely as Edward spoke, but Edward wasn't sure what it meant, so he could only continue speaking.

That said, something about that twinkle irked him off.

"So are you saying that Ren managed to defeat a Duke-ranked demon?"

"I think so…"

Scratching the back of his neck, Edward furrowed his brows.

"When it happened, I was locked inside of a cell, so I don't know exactly what happened, but it appears as though he really did manage to do it."

"I see…"

Lowering her head, although brief, Edward saw Amanda's face flash with worry.

"Don—"

Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly heard a loud shout in the distance.

"Guild master!"

In the aftermath of the shout, Edward suddenly found himself the focus of everyone's attention as a large building appeared nearby.

Turning his eyes away from his daughter, Edward, and locking his sight towards the building in the distance, Edward muttered.

"Looks like we're here."

***

Clank—!

"Are you done?"

"Yeah."

Glancing Kevin's way, I nodded my head and headed his way.

"Did you just come back from choosing a skill?"

"Yup."

"What skill did you choose?"

"An <S> ranked one."

Kevin's face twitched.

"…You can do that?"

As I approached Kevin, I patted his shoulder.

"You're too humble Kevin. All you had to do was just ask."

"Ugh."

A distraught look appeared on Kevin's face as his shoulders slumped down.

Raising his head a little, he glanced my way and softly whispered.

"Let me see the skill you chose…"

"You sure?"

I asked as I turned to look his way.

A small change took place in Kevin's face as he took a step back. A look of heavy caution flashed across his face.

"I suddenly have a feeling that you're up to something. How about you just tell me what the skill is? You don't need to test it against me."

"Don't worry about it."

Extending my head toward his head, I softly smiled.

"Come, Kevin, let me show you my new skill."

"Hold up."

"Nope."

By the time Kevin could do anything, I had already pressed my hands against his head. It was at this point that my face became serious.

"Stop moving."

"How about no?"

Shrugging my shoulders, I replied.

"Because I'm about to use the skill. Don't blame me if something bad happened."

"Ugh."

Letting out a groan, Kevin's face twisted as he eventually gave in.

"Alright, fine."

"Good."

At that instant, I channeled my mana before he could regret his decision, and a faint hue started to sprout out of my hand as he watched.

Staring directly into Kevin's eyes, I solemnly said.

"It shouldn't hurt, but just in case, be prepared to experience some pain. Also, make sure to leave your mind unguarded."

"Leave my mind—huek!"

In the blink of an eye, I had already activated my skill, and Kevin's eyes went white as his body started spasming.

My expression changed a little when I saw this, but I continued to use the skill. It was too late for me to stop.

'This shouldn't be enough to kill him...'

There was no way, right?

Fortunately, my worries were unfounded. Kevin was much more durable than I thought as I soon let go of his head, and his eyes regained some clarity.

"Haaa…haaa…."

Supporting himself with his knees, his heavy breathing echoed throughout the corridor.

"You…"

As he raised his head, he glared at me as his voice grew groggy.

"What did you do to me?"

Instead of answering him, I squinted my eyes and carefully scrutinized his body.

"Oy, what did you do to m—"

Cutting him off, I asked.

"What's your name?"

"Huh?"

Raising his brows, Kevin looked at me strangely.

"What's my name? Why are you asking? shouldn't you already know?"

"Just answer it."

"…Okay?"

With an extremely confused look on his face, Kevin opened his mouth and answered.

"Cringe lord."

"Hmm…"

Placing my hand to cover my mouth, I tried my best to stop my body from trembling as I shook my head and murmured in disappointment.

"It looks like I've failed."

"You failed?"

"Yeah. My skill didn't work."

"Really?"

Cocking his head a little, Kevin's brows furrowed tightly.

"…This is the first time that I've ever heard of a skill not working. Are you really sure that it didn't work?"

"Just to make sure, what's your name?"

I asked again.

To which, Kevin answered immediately.

"Cringed Lord."

Pausing for a moment, his head snapped up to look at me.

"Wait, why are you even asking for my name?"

"Nope, doesn't seem like it worked."

Ignoring his words, I shook my head.

Then, turning around, I slumped my shoulders down and exaggeratedly sighed.

"I guess I still haven't gotten the hang of my new skill. I'll have to experiment with it more."

It was while I was talking that I finally felt a hand pat me on the shoulder. It was Kevin. He had a supportive smile on his face.

"It's alright Ren, maybe it actually worked and there is a slight delay. Only time will tell."

"Yeah."

Nodding my head, I gratefully looked at Kevin.

"Thank you, Cringe Lord."

Chapter 547: One problem at a time [2]

[[S] Memory manipulation]

That was the name of the <S> ranked skill I picked. As implied by the skill's name, the skill enabled me to alter the memories of the people whom I activated the skill against.

In the future, this skill would prove to be extremely useful as the possibilities were endless.

That being said, it wasn't without faults.

There were a couple of drawbacks to the skill. One such drawback was the large amount of mana consumption required to activate the skill.

It wasn't an <S> ranked skill for nothing.

The deeper the memories that I altered, the greater the mana consumption. In the same way, the more I changed, the more mana I consumed.

If it wasn't hard enough already, I could only alter the memories of those who were incapacitated or had their minds unguarded like Kevin not too long ago.

Still.

This was the perfect skill for me at the moment.

'If possible, I might be able to alter some of my memories from the time that I was back in the Monolith.'

In choosing this skill, my main goal was to solve all the mental issues I had been experiencing ever since I returned from the Monolith.

They had never stopped and had only gotten worse.

It was about time I finally did something to solve this issue, and this skill was probably the key.

That said, I did see a problem in this method.

'What if in the process of changing my memories, my personality also ends up changing?'

This was a very real problem since my experiences at the Monolith were the things that made me who I was today. Thankfull, I had a way to restore my memories, and therefore, could experiment a couple of times.

"That aside, I should probably call Melissa."

In memory of my earlier conversation with Douglas, I skimmed through my contacts until they paused on a particular profile.

[Melissa Hall]

"She might be able to help me make an arrangement with Octavious."

My chances of getting in touch with him by myself were rather slim considering our situation.

Thus, I had no other choice but to call her.

"Haaa..."

Letting out a long sigh, I pressed on the contact and called Melissa.

'I might regret this.'

***

'So bright...'

With her eyes squinting, Melissa had trouble keeping her eyes open while camera lights flashed before her and shutters clicked all around her.

Click. Click. Click.

'So annoying.'

Waving in front of her, Melissa forced herself to smile.

—We would like to once again congratulate Melissa Hall for her exemplary research on [Mana dissemination amongst beasts]. Thanks to her research, humanity has once again advanced several steps! As expected of her!

In the meantime, a loud voice echoed throughout the large auditorium as a man dressed in a black suit handed her a certificate. He was the president of the National Group of Science.

The largest scientific community in the human domain.

"Thank you."

With a bright smile, Melissa thanked the president, and reached out for the certificate.

'How much longer do I have to do this for?'

After taking the paper, Melissa glanced at it casually.

It is with great pleasure that I congratulate Melissa Hall for her outstanding capabilities in the field of research and development. Her outstanding achievements over the past year have earned her this award from the National Group of Science, and...

'How useless...'

Putting on a bright smile, Melissa hugged the certificate to her chest and bowed her head toward the cameras pointed at her.

Her actions were followed by the loud clapping sounds of the audience who stood up from their seats to congratulate her.

This persisted for ten minutes, before it was finally time for Melissa to finally leave the stage.

As she left, she made sure to bow her head one more time and thanked the President of the NGS. A bright smile adorned her face the entire time.

'Finally...'

Once Melissa left the stage, her smile vanished from her face. Waiting for her at the end of the stage was Rosie who immediately jumped at the opportunity to congratulate her. In her hands was a large stack of papers.

"Congratulation—"

"Take it."

Shoving the certificate to Rosie, Melissa moodily stormed off the venue.

"Wahh!"

Quickly losing her balance, Rosie quickly hooked her hand over the papers and supported the bottom with her thigh.

"Wait up!"

Hastily putting the certificate on top of the stack of papers, Rosie followed her from behind.

"Melissa, why are you leaving so early? I heard that there is an after part—"

"Not interested."

Melissa snapply replied.

As if she would want to participate in a party filled with perverted old men that leered at her with every chance they got.

"....But it is a great chance to make great connections."

"I don't need them. I have plenty already."

Upon turning the corner, Melissa entered the venue's lobby. As Melissa gazed around, her eyes soon landed on the enormous glass doors in the distance.

Soon, her eyes caught sight of the large car waiting outside and she started walking toward it immediately.

"Welcome young miss."

Upon exiting the building, a man dressed in black stepped out of the vehicle and opened the door for her. Melissa glanced at him briefly before entering the car and crossing her legs.

Clank—!

"Wait for me, young miss!"

Moments after she entered the car, entering from the other side was Rosie. She looked rather tired as she still held onto the large stacks of papers.

Briefly glancing at her, Melissa nudged her with her head.

"Get in, I don't have more time to waste."

"O..okay."

Carefully putting the papers beside her, Rosie put on her seatbelt.

Knock. Knock.

A knock on the glass door signaled the driver to start the car. Within a few seconds, the car had disappeared into the distance.

The next few minutes were spent in uncomfortable silence as Melissa stared at the ever-changing scenery outside of the car.

In the midst of the silence, on a sharp turn, one of the papers fell down toward Melissa's lap.

It was the certificate of today's achievement.

[NGS National Award Certificate]

With a clench of her teeth, Melissa crumbled the paper in her hand before throwing it away.

'Useless.'

That was all she thought as she stared at the reward. Rather than feeling any sense of accomplishment from it, all she felt was disgust.

"Young miss, I don't think you should throw away your reward."

Lowering her body, Rosie carefully picked up the certificate and unwrinkled it.

"There are many people out there that would be very envious of your reward."

"They can have it for all I care."

Melissa replied as she continued to stare at the ever-changing scenery outside. A low whisper escaped her lips as her eyes closed for a moment.

"...It's not like anyone else cares anyways."

To others, such achievements would've been their greatest accomplishments in their life, but to Melissa, it was just like any other reward out there.

One of many, and one that nobody else she knew cared about.

It would be more accurate to say that no one in her family knew she had won the award, and even if they did, they would most likely not even care.

The world was ruled by strength. In her family, science and technology were considered nothing but a waste of time.

Had it not been for her father's influence, Melissa would've probably already been thrown out of her house.

Even then, it wasn't as though her own parents liked her.

"I don't think it's a waste of time..."

Rosies' voice echoed inside the car. Finally unwrinkling the whole paper, she carefully placed it on top of the stack of papers.

"Just because your family doesn't accept the fact that you are a scientist, doesn't mean that there are people out there that don't accept you for who you—"

"Shut up."

Brushing her hair behind her ear, Melissa glared at Rosie from the corner of her eyes.

"Don't talk about them. You will only end up souring my already bad mood."

Opening her mouth, Rosie stared at Melissa for a good couple of seconds before she nodded her head.

"As you wish."

As the two sat in silence following her words, a tense atmosphere permeated the car.

Riiing—! Riiing—!

Breaking the silence was the sound of Melissa's phone ringing. Furrowing her brows, Melissa took out her phone and looked at the user ID.

[Ren Dover.]

"Oh fuck."

Unable to keep herself from swearing, Melissa's face twisted as she stared at the user ID. This was probably the last person that she wanted to talk to at the moment.

However, as she considered her options, she realized that ignoring Ren would only lead to him calling her through other means.

He was as persistent as a fly.

"Ugh."

With a groan, she picked up the phone.

"What is it?"

—Melissa. My favorite money-making machi...keum, I mean, Melissa! How have you been?

'He was about to say money-making machine, wasn't he?'

Clenching her phone tightly, Melissa forced a smile.

"I was doing great until you called me. Now I'm doing terribly. Thank you so much."

—You have my condolences.

"Alright, what is it? Spit it out, I don't have time to waste."

—Straight to the point. This is why I like you, Melissa.

"Shut up and speak."

While covering her hand with her face, Melissa tried to remain composed.

'You can do it, you can do it...'

—Okay, I need your help setting up a meeting with your dad.

'I can't do it, I can't do it...'

Firming her grip on the phone, it took all of her willpower to not open the window and thr it away.

Opening her mouth, she irritably asked.

"Tell me you're joking, right? Do you have any idea who my father is?"

—Yes, sadly I do. And that's why I'm asking you to help me set up a meeting with him. Disguise it as you have a meeting with him, but instead, it will be me who will go.

"That's the dumbes—"

Halfway through her sentence, Melissa's mouth stopped moving.

'Wait a second...'

It was at that moment that Melissa suddenly recalled something, and it was the fact that her father hated Ren with a passion.

'If I pretend to set up a meeting with my father, but instead have Ren go...'

Once her thoughts passed there, the edges of her lips curled upwards as her hand started trembling.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, Melissa asked.

"Is the meeting very important?"

—Yes, very.

Ren replied in a very serious tone.

"Haa..."

Letting out an exaggerated sigh, Melissa pretended to fall into deep thought before asking.

"What do I get in exchange for setting up a meeting between you and my father?"

—My eternal love?"

Melissa's mouth twitched.

'This fucker.'

"I'm hanging up."

—Wait! Wait!

It was then that Ren's rushed voice echoed from the speakers of the phone.

Pretending to be irritated, Melissa spoke.

"Make it quick, I don't have time for your jokes."

—Okay, Okay. Check your messages.

Ding! Ding!

Just as those words escaped his mouth, Melissa's phone rang twice. Surprised, Melissa lowered it and checked her messages.

She was soon able to see two attachments in the message sent to her by Ren.

Opening them up, her eyes opened widely.

"What the..."

Chapter 548: One problem at a time [3]

A/N : If you are curious, Melissa official illustration is out on discord.

***

Within the confines of a dark room, a sinister voice echoed.

—He is never wrong. Make sure you keep your guard up. Don't ever let anything happen to what you've built, or else I'll make sure to end you in the most painful way possible.

"Understood."

Malik Alshayatin nodded in agreement while standing behind an oval circle that hovered in the air before him.

"I will make sure to thoroughly search the Monolith."

—Make it quick. The faster you remove this liability, the better for you.

"Understood."

Malik Alshayatin, or better known as Hemlock Feyrer as Malik Alshayating was merely a title, once again nodded.

In response, the sinister voice grew a bit livelier. Its satisfaction was evident.

—As expected of my contractee. You are an obedient one.

In response to the praise, Hemlock merely lowered his head.

"Your highness, I have something to report."

—Speak.

"I am close to breaking through."

—Hmm, I figured that much. How long will it take for you to break through?

"Half a year to a year."

Hemlock answered as his voice grew deeper and his eyes turned a shade of red.

"…Around the same time when the contract with the Union ends."

When Hemlock thought about the Union, he suddenly felt a powerful force surge through his body.

'Humanity's traitors.'

He saw them as such. People who pretended to be doing this for humanity, when they were in fact doing the exact opposite.

They were the reason why humanity was on the verge of extinction.

—It sounds like you will achieve a breakthrough within the next year or two, huh? Then you better make sure you sort out all your problems in the Monolith now.

Squinting, Hemlock solemnly replied.

"Understood."

After his words, the black circular void appeared to slowly dissipate.

—You better not let me down.

Those were the last words Hemlock heard before the voice completely vanished. In the wake of that, Hemlock stood still and closed his eyes, enveloping the room in an eerie silence.

He remained in this state for half an hour before he opened his eyes and turned to face the door.

"Come in."

He spoke in a cold tone that echoed throughout the room. As the voice sounded, the door opened to reveal an obscure figure that hid behind the shadows of the room.

Clank—

"Leader."

Through the large windows at the end of the room, moonlight filtered into the room and illuminated the figure as it stepped into space.

"Everblood.".

Recognizing the figure that had just come in, Hemlock's eyes squinted.

'Could he be the cancer that his highness was talking about?'

While carefully examining the figure before him, Hemlock became uncertain.

Realistically speaking, it was unlikely that Everblood was the cancer within the organization.

Setting aside the fact that he was a demon, he had also made a lot of contributions to the Monolith.

Why would anyone who had made so many contributions to the Monolith be the cancer that his highness was talking about? Especially since he was tied down to the organization by a contract.

Did he not value his life?

'I should still not let my guard down.'

Regardless, despite how unlikely it seemed that Everblood was the cancer within the organization, Hemlock was not going to let his guard down.

With his eyes glued to Everblood, he spoke.

"What is the reason for your sudden visit?"

"I have something to report."

Everblood curtly replied. The very edges of his lips were curled upwards, giving Hemlock a rather unsettling feeling.

"Something to report? What is it?"

"We have a new <SS-> rank in our midst. He has broken through successfully."

"Oh?"

Raising his brows, Hemlock's body relaxed a little.

'Someone has broken through? This is good news'

"Who broke through?"

"It's Rhinestone."

"Oh..."

Hemlock's joy quickly dissipated.

'Wasn't he the same guy that was brought in by him?'

This…

Upon reflection, Everblood had gained an impressive amount of influence within the Monolith.

Even though he didn't have the authority of an elder, his authority within the organization was quite high.

The more he thought about it, the more concerned Hemlock became. It wasn't just Everblood that he was concerned about.

In his mind, Hemlock was considering all the Monolith members and who was the biggest threat at the moment.

"Leader?"

Jolting him out of his thoughts was Everblood's voice.

Turning his head to glance at him, Hemlock calmly nodded his head. A small smile spread across his face.

"That is good news. I will personally go and visit him in a while to congratulate him."

"I understand."

Nodding respectfully, Everblood lowered his head.

"If there is nothing else, I will—"

"Wait."

Putting his hand over Everblood's shoulder, Hemlock stopped him before he could leave. A confused look crossed Everblood's face as he turned his head.

"Yes?"

"…What is your goal?"

"Goal?"

The confusion on Everblood's face grew as he met Hemlock's gaze. With a nod of his head, Hemlock continued.

"I'm curious, do you have any aspirations? What do you wish to achieve in the Monolith?"

"What do I want to achieve in the Monolith?"

Furrowing his brows and falling into a state of contemplation, Everblood eventually shook his head.

"As a demon, we don't have the luxury of having any aspirations. I am only following orders."

'Following orders, huh?'

Hemlock stared deeply at Everblood as he listened to his words, seemingly trying to discern his true intentions.

"I see..:"

It was only after a while that he let go of Everblood's shoulders and nodded to himself.

"You are just following orders. That makes sense."

Indeed. For someone as weak as Everblood, he couldn't afford something like an aspiration.

At most, his desire was to climb the rankings.

"If I may be presumptuous, why are you asking me this?"

It was then that he heard Everblood's voice. In the moonlight that spilled from the glass window, Hemlock turned to glance at him and placed his hands behind his back. After that, he calmly walked toward the windows of the room.

As he paused in front of the window, the moonlight perfectly accentuated his otherworldly features.

Opening his mouth, he asked.

"Are you aware of why I became the leader of the Monolith?"

His voice echoed throughout the room.

Responding to him, Everblood shook his head.

"…No."

With his back still facing him, Hemlock lifted his head up to gaze at the moon.

After a short silence, he answered.

"...My aspiration is to save humanity."

In the wake of his words, Everblood's complexion changed slightly as a heavy silence engulfed the room.

"Pardon? Did you just say that you joined the Monolith because you wanted to save humanity?"

"...You didn't hear wrong."

With a shake of the head, Hemlock asked a question.

"In your opinion, what are the chances of humanity winning over demonkind?"

"Not even one percent."

Everblood's answer was rather direct, leaving no room for doubt. It prompted Hemlock's lips to curl upward.

"My thoughts are the same as yours."

Outstretching his hand toward the moon to block the moonlight, Hemlock slowly opened his mouth.

They may not understand what I'm doing, but they will soon realize that my actions are all performed for the sake of humanity not going extinct. They may call me a tyrant, but I don't care. My conscience is clear."

Magically, the moonlight dispersed as he clenched his hand.

"I can only open their eyes and make them realize that the only way for humanity to continue existing is to join hands with the demons. Fighting against the inevitable is futile. It will only lead to humanity's imminent extinction. What I'm doing is saving our race from extinction."

Hemlock's voice darkened after a short pause.

"While they may see me as a villain at the moment, they will proclaim me the savior of humanity in the future."

"...Your statement makes sense, leader."

With his gaze locked on Hemlock's back, Everblood's voice echoed throughout the room.

"Your actions are truly praiseworthy. Instead of letting humanity perish at the hands of the demons, you are trying your best to save them by making them join our cause. If that's not a hero, then what is?"

"I'm glad you understand me."

Turning his head around to stare at Everblood, Hemlock smiled.

I might not be recognized for what I'm doing now, but once humanity faces extinction, they will understand my actions. They will understand why I did what I did..."

***

[Breaking news : After disappearing for over four years, Edward Stern, the guild leader of the Demon Hunter Guild, makes a shocking appearance. Many have speculated that his disappearance had to do with some sort of accident, but we are now learning that he was simply on a journey to find a way to break through to <SS-> rank. Speculations have it that he is on the verge of breaking through to that level, making him the seventeenth <SS-> ranker…]

Click—

"This is problematic…"

Turning off the holographic device in front of him, Jin sat back on his chair. His brows tightly knit together as he fell into deep contemplation.

'He had to show up just when we were catching up to them…'

It had been quite a while since he had taken over Starlight guild, and although he hadn't done anything major yet, the guild was thriving more than ever.

It had gotten to the point where they finally managed to get close to the level of the Demon Hunter guild.

"In any case, I shouldn't worry too much. Grandpa is also not too far from breaking through to the next level. This is only a slight setback."

Pressing his hands against the desk, Jin slowly got up from his seat.

Stretching his back and neck, Jin took out his daggers. Caressing the body of the dagger, his eyes sharpened.

"I wonder how much stronger he got…"

It had been quite a while since Jin had last seen Ren. A year or so?

And despite all of his responsibilities, Jin had not once stopped training. Not only that, coupled with all the resources provided to him by the guild, Jin's rate of progress had drastically increased. Not long ago, he had finally managed to breakthrough to <A-> rank.

This was unfathomable for someone his age. In spite of that, Jin was not satisfied.

There was a simple reason for this, and it was the fact that he knew Ren was most likely still a notch or two above him.

He was a wall that Jin saw no hope in climbing over.

Yet…

In spite of all this, Jin didn't once find himself hopeless or depressed. Rather, it only reinvigorated his urge to train more.

'What matters isn't how fast one climbs, but who climbs the highest.'

Such was his thinking as he put his daggers down.

Riiing—!

"Hm?"

Just as he was about to leave for training, Jin suddenly heard the sound of his phone ringing. Pressing onto the table, a holographic image formed in front of him.

"What is it? I'm an—"

—Young Master, you have a guest. He is currently waiting in the guest room.

Cutting Jin off was a female voice. It was his assistant.

"A guest?"

Furrowing his brows, he swiped the holographic image to display the camera of the guest rooms.

Moments after he swiped his hand, his eyes opened up a little as he recognized the individual waiting in the guest room. It was none other than Ren.

'Speak of the devil.'

Turning his attention back to the holographic projection, Jin spoke up.

"Let him in."

Chapter 549: Martial Body [1]

"...So?"

Following Jin from behind, I looked around me. Even though I wasn't entirely certain where we were, a glance at the room told me we were in a training room.

Its design was reminiscent of Amanda's training room back in the Demon Hunter guild. Just a simple and clean white room.

With large windows on each side of the room, the space was about half the size of a football pitch, making it quite a large space to train.

"Take it."

As I stood there watching Jin, a sword suddenly swung in my direction. A curious look crossed my face as I instinctively grabbed the sword.

"What's going on?"

"Let's spar for a minute."

Jin replied as he took off his blazer and dropped it on the ground.

"Wha—"

Before I could even argue against him, his figure vanished, and an airborne metallic sound rang out as I swung my sword toward the right side of my body.

Clank—!

It was at that moment that Jin's figure reappeared. He wore a look of utter seriousness as his eyes fixed themselves on the point of contact between my sword and his daggers.

Staring at him, I asked.

"What are you doing?"

"...Getting a better understanding of our gap."

Hearing his words, I had a strange thought.

'Getting a better understanding of our gap? Does he think of me as his rival or something?'

What?

"Wai—"

Immediately following his words, and just as I was about to speak, his figure disappeared. In this instance, he appeared on the other side of my body. There was a noticeable difference in his speed this time. The speed was so fast that I was left shaken for a split second.

'Fast.'

To the naked eye, it appeared as if he had teleported.

Even so, the rank difference between Jin and me was quite big. It wasn't difficult for me to dodge his daggers as all it took was a simple movement of my head.

Swoosh—!

Still, feeling the sharpness and speed of the daggers, I immediately grew apprehensive.

'His mastery of daggers is insane...'

He probably had a greater master over me with the sword.

"Tsk."

A click of his tongue caused Jin's figure to disappear for the third time. In the midst of this movement, I noticed a sharp dagger head pointing straight at me.

Swooosh—!

But just like before, I was able to easily dodge his attack. Following the path of the dagger, my brows furrowed a little bit as I opened my mouth and asked.

"Are you satisfied?"

Instead of answering, Jin once again disappeared. This time, he reappeared right behind me as I felt the sharp tip of his dagger head for the back of my head.

'Dangerous...'

I thought as my eyes sharpened.

As opposed to his previous attacks, this one felt far more dangerous. In addition to its speed, it felt more terrifying because of its hidden power. It was akin to a move from an <A> rank individual.

As I rotated my body, I twisted the heel of my foot.

"Huh?!"

Upon turning my body, I was struck by a series of black threads that sprung forth from the ground, encircling my entire body and halting my movement.

'Shit.'

It was at this movement, that I finally realized the severity of my situation as Jin's dagger continued to head my way. All of this happened within a fraction of a second, and before I knew it, his dagger was only inches away from the back of my head.

Clenching my teeth, I muttered.

"Come out."

Within an instant of saying those words, I saw a black shadowy figure appear in front of me. Immediately after that, Jin's dagger struck its head, and half of the mana inside my body disappeared just like that.

Jin's face was flushed with surprise as she watched the shadowy figure disappear into thin air.

Taking advantage of the moment, I distanced myself from him by pressing my foot against the ground.

As I brushed my hair up, I complained.

"Oy, oy, you can't just pull such moves without even warning me."

There was a moment when I thought my head might fall off. Without a doubt, that was his strongest technique.

"Do your enemies warn you when they attack you?"

"...No."

"Then what's the problem?"

In my attempt to refute his words, I was only able to curse myself inwardly once I realized I was unable to do so.

'He has a point, damn it.'

"Although you have a point, you could also argue that I was here to meet a friend. Someone that I didn't think would attack me the moment they saw me."

"..."

Without saying anything, Jin put his daggers away.

I was left a bit surprised by his actions.

"Wait, didn't you want to spar? If you want, I can still go a couple of rounds."

"I'm good."

Jin answered as he picked up his jacket from the ground and put it on.

"I'm already satisfied with what I've seen."

Tilting my head to the side, I grew curious.

"I'm curious. What exactly did you see?"

"Our gap."

Jin indifferently answered as he slowly fixed his tie and shirt.

"...and?"

"And what?"

"Our gap, what did you see?"

Turning his head to glance at my eyes, though faint, the edges of his lips curled up a bit.

After that, he turned around and headed out of the training ground.

"Hey wait, you didn't answer."

From behind, I threw the sword on the ground and followed him. Yet, despite my persistent pestering, he continued to ignore me.

This continued all the way until we made it to his office.

"Are you seriously not going to answer me?"

Sitting down on his sofa and making myself at home, I glared in his direction.

"It would have been nice for you to at least tell me this much after you suddenly took me to a training ground and assaulted me out of nowhere."

After putting his gray blazer behind his chair, Jin sat down and asked.

"So, what is the purpose of your visit?"

"Are you just going to continue ignoring my words?"

"Yes."

Jin nodded his head.

"...Tsk."

Clicking my tongue, I leaned back on my chair and crossed my legs. Leaning my head against my hand, I went straight to the point.

"How long can you be away from the guild?"

"Hm?"

A confused look filled Jin's face as he tilted his head to look at me. After a while, he answered.

"It depends."

"Let's say, a month. Do you think your guild will let you leave for a month?"

"A month?"

With a thoughtful look on his face, Jin shook his head.

"A month would be too long. I'm currently handling a couple of important deals, so I won't be able to afford such a long break."

"What sort of deals are they?"

"Confidential."

"Mhh..."

Lowering my head while covering my mouth with my hand, I thought to myself.

'Should I just kidnap him?'

This seemed to be the best option at the moment. Although there were alternatives to Jin at the moment, it wasn't so much for his skills that I needed him, but it was more for his profession that would make things a lot easier for Kevin and me.

Snapping me out of his thoughts was Jin's voice as he asked.

"Why are you even asking me this?"

Lifting my head up a little, I honestly replied.

"Kevin and I will be going on an important mission, and we thought of bringing you with us."

"A mission?"

"Yeah."

I nodded my head.

"It's quite dangerous, however, it is also a great opportunity for us to train."

Deeply staring into my eyes, Jin didn't answer as his brows furrowed tightly. After a while, pressing onto the table, a series of holographic images appeared before him.

Scrolling through the contents, his hand eventually stopped on a particular file. The frown on his face deepened as he looked at the file.

Pinching his fingers to enlarge the file, Jin opened his mouth and asked.

"When exactly are you planning on going?"

"By the end of the week."

I replied.

Since I had a lot of things to do before leaving, I decided to leave with Kevin by the end of the week.

"Mhh..."

The frown on Jin's face deepened as he heard my words.

"For a month?"

"Not sure. It depends on how fast we can finish everything. It might even be less than that, to be honest. Could even be as fast as one day."

Scratching the side of his neck, Jin closed his eyes and pressed onto the holographic device to shut it down.

He then shook his head.

"I don't think I can go."

"How sure are you of this?"

"Fairly certain."

"I see..."

'Kidnapping it is.'

"Can I ask why?"

With a difficult look on his face, Jin answered.

"To answer truthfully, my grandpa is going to break through any time soon now, and I don't think I can afford to leave."

"Alright."

Massaging my forehead, I slowly nodded my head and stood up.

"...I won't force you to come. However, if you do change your mind, you can call me before the end of the week."

"Okay."

Jin replied with a nod.

Raising my head to wave in his direction, I headed out of his office.

"It was nice chatting with you, I'll see you later."

"Sure."

I then opened his office door and walked straight out.

Clank—!

***

Jin's eyes lingered in the direction of where Ren had left as a heavy silence descended in the room.

Only after a few moments did Jin let out a sigh.

"As expected, the gap between us is still huge..."

On the outside, it looked like he held the advantage throughout the fight, however, only Jin himself knew just how easily Ren had defended his attacks.

Even the casual manner in which he had defended his attacks gave Jin an indication of the distance between them. Additionally, the last attack he executed was one he devised to win any 1v1 match.

To have defended against it somehow, Ren...

'I guess I'll have to train harder.'

It was a harsh reality, and Jin could only adapt to it.

Tapping onto the holographic device, Jin got back to work. Scrolly through his emails, his eyes paused on a certain email before he shook his head and leaned back against his chair.

"What a pity."

Jin murmured as he covered his eyes with his arm.

It really was a pity that he couldn't go. The excuse about his grandfather was a lie. The reality was that Edward's sudden appearance alarmed him.

For all guilds in the human realm, his sudden appearance brought great turmoil, and Jin could already foretell the troubles that were to come in the near future.

The mere thought of it gave Jin a headache.

"It's, Haaa..."

'So annoying.'

***

A couple of hours later, Caissa headquarters.

"Use whatever means possible to check Jin's schedule. Report to me if he has anything important to do over the next month or so."

"Understood."

Faced directly with Smallsnake, I inquired about Jin's schedule for the month. Normally, this wouldn't have been possible, but I trusted Smallsnake and Ryan had the means to make it happen.

Particularly Ryan, who was now very adept at hacking systems.

As for Jin, his excuse about his grandfather almost breaking through was bullshit. There was no doubt about this.

Given everything that had happened, it was most likely that he was concerned about Edward's future actions now that he was back. Assuming that was the case, I could just tell Edward to not touch the Starlight guild and after that kidnap Jin without any problems.

"Is there anything else?"

A look at Smallsnake snapped me out of my thoughts.

Taking a moment to think, I shook my head at him.

"I'm good."

"Alright."

As Smallsnake stood from his seat, he waved his hand and left the office in a lazy manner.

"If you need anything from me, you can just ask me."

Clank—

It wasn't long after he left that a tranquil silence engulfed the place. Nevertheless, someone soon knocked on the door, interrupting the silence.

Knock. Knock.

"Come in."

In anticipation of who was about to arrive, a smile spread across my face.

Clank—!

"Excuse me."

On the other side of the door, a familiar figure appeared. In an instant, I recognized him. Why wouldn't I? Recruiting him had been on my mind for quite some time, and I knew that he was the key to improving my physique.

As I rose from my desk, I smiled.

"It's been some time since we last met, Han Yufei."

Chapter 550: Martial Body [2]

"So this is the martial manual?"

As I slowly opened the pages of the book in front of me, I stared carefully at the words on the pages. It was then that I noticed that it wasn't only filled with words, but images as well.

In each image was a depiction of a different stance.

[Body hardening] [Mind Spirit Connection] [Martial body]

Pointing at them, I raised my head to look at Han Yufei.

"I've already seen what martial body does, and I already have an idea of what body hardening is. What about Mind Spirit Connection? What is that?"

"Mind Spirit Connection?"

Leaning forward, Han Yufei pointed at a certain illustration that depicted a person sitting cross-legged with their arms linked together right towards the abdomen area.

"By mastering the martial manual, your mind will become more connected to your body. To sum it up in modern terms, it will improve your ability to connect with your brain, thereby enabling you to react more quickly."

"Ah, I see..."

Listening to his words, I came to a sudden understanding.

'In short, my reaction time will drastically increase once I reach a certain point of my mastery. That's pretty useful.'

This skill perfectly complemented Eyes of Chronos.

Even though it wouldn't solve my problem of being unable to move at the same rate as my eyes were seeing things, it could still prove to be a life-saving skill in the future.

"Not bad."

Flipping through the pages of the manual for the next minute, I eventually closed it.

"Alright. This is good."

It was exactly what I wanted. In fact, even better.

Putting the book away, I took out a key from my dimensional space and opened the drawer next to me.

Opening the drawer, I took out a small file. Taking out the file and scanning through its contents, I nodded in satisfaction.

'As expected of Smallsnake. He has done his task beautifully.'

Done checking the files, I slid the papers onto the desk. Toward Han Yufei who pointed at them and asked.

"This?"

"My other end of the deal."

"You mean..."

"Yeah."

With a nod of my head, I opened the file in front of Han Yufei.

"The location of the five-star sword art that I promised."

Han Yufei's eyes immediately widened after this as he dragged the file toward him. For the next couple of minutes, he carefully looked through the information on the files.

As time passed, the greater the surprise on his face.

"This is the place where the sword art is located?"

"It is."

I nodded my head.

"It's not exactly in the human domain, however, considering that the relationship between us and the other races has improved, you won't have to worry too much about secretly entering their territory."

The location where the Gravar style was located was actually in the Orcen domain.

A place that was located not far off from one of the four great cities.

"It is going to be quite difficult to collect."

Han Yufei muttered after a while as he continued to observe the files in front of him.

With a shrug of my shoulders, I replied.

"It's a five-star sword art. What do you expect?"

If five-star sword arts were so easy to get, everyone would have them.

'Actually, now that I think about it, collecting the Keiki style was quite easy.'

The same could be argued for the Levisha style...

The only thing that was hard about them was the fact that they were extremely hidden. Other than that, in terms of difficulty, they really weren't much.

Could this be a coincidence? I didn't know.

Regardless.

"Well, like I've said before, the relationship between us and the other races is much better. Furthermore, now that we have portals, it should pose no trouble for you to go there and come back within the day."

Had it been in the past, the task would've been incredibly hard.

Nevertheless, times had changed. We now had portals, and entering the Orcen territory was no longer stuff of the past.

"True..."

Han Yufei also seemed to have realized this as his brows relaxed.

Closing the paper down, he slowly stood up from his seat.

"I'll send this back to my clan. If we truly can find the five-star sword art, then I will have no problem agreeing to what you previously asked."

"Alright."

Leaning back on my chair, I faintly smiled.

"Just remember to not piss off the orcs on your way to collecting the sword art, and you should be fine."

"Will do."

Pressing his hands on the armrest of the chair, Han Yufei put the files away and stood up. After that, he cupped his fist in my direction.

"Many thanks for your help."

"No problem."

I replied while waving my hand.

The both of us had benefited from this deal, and the Gravar style was quite useless to me anyway.

"I will be taking my leave."

Cupping his hands one more time, Han Yufei turned around and headed for the door.

Staring at his back, I suddenly recalled something as my face changed.

"Wait."

I called out.

Halting his movements, Han Yufei slowly turned around. He had a rather confused look on his face.

In no way bothered by this, my face became extremely solemn.

"...Yes?"

Han Yufei asked as his face similarly turned serious. My sudden shift in demenour must have caught him off-guard.

"You..."

Deeply staring into his eyes, I opened my mouth and asked.

"How high is your charm?"

***

"Does anybody in the class know why one must coat their weapons with mana?"

Kevin's voice echoed throughout a large auditorium that was filled with over a hundred students who were all attentively listening to his lecture.

'This brings back memories...'

A smile would involuntarily plaster Kevin's face every time he reminded himself of his student days back in the past.

"Anyone?"

Scanning the classroom with his eyes, they soon paused toward a certain student. He had a rather thin frame, with an oval cut and circular thin-framed glasses.

"Jackson."

Kevin called out as he recognized him instantly.

How could he not when he was the brightest student in his class?

Although he wasn't as adept at physical training compared to the others, in terms of brains, he was a step ahead of the others.

"Ye...yes."

Upon rising from his seat, all eyes fell on the student who hid his face in front of the book in his hands. Opening his mouth, he started to speak with a slight stutter in his voice.

"T..o an..swer Professor Voss's question. Users coat their man—"

"Wait a second, wait a second."

Halfway through his sentence, Kevin couldn't help but interrupt him as his brows furrowed tightly.

Feeling Kevin's gaze paused on him, Jackson's face paled slightly.

"Eh? Ah?"

Taking a serious look at him, Kevin asked.

"What did you just call me?"

"...Eh?"

Jackson's face paled even more at the question as his hands started to shake. However, as he felt Kevin's stern gaze fall on him, he weakly opened his mouth and replied.

"I..it's Professor Voss."

"Professor Voss?"

The frown on Kevin's face deepened.

'Is that some sort of nickname that the students have created for me? But what exactly is a Voss?'

After a while, he shook his head. Turning his attention back to Jackson, Kevin signaled him to sit back down.

"Sit back down for now."

"Ye...yes!"

Following Kevin's instructions, Jackson quickly sat back down on his seat.

Once he sat down, Kevin's eyes swept toward all of the students before he raised his voice.

"I don't know if this is a common thing among you guys, but I would like it for all of you to refrain from making strange nicknames for me. I have a name."

Turning around, Kevin took a piece of chalk and walked toward the blackboard at the very end of the classroom. Something that was rarely used in this day and age.

'I may have been too nice to my students. So much so that they've started taking liberties with me. I need to quickly change this.'

When Kevin arrived at the blackboard, he scribbled something down.

Tap. Tap.

Once he was done writing, Kevin pointed at the board.

"Make sure you remember my name. It is not Voss, or whatever you guys have made up. It's Cringe Lord, or to be precise, Professor Lord."

Putting down the chalk, he looked at the students who all wore a dumbfounded expressions on their faces.

"Make sure you remember that."

***

The next day.

As the sun poured directly down on my body, I squinted my eyes and carefully surveyed my surroundings.

Then, lowering my head to glance at my watch and check the location, I muttered.

"If I'm not wrong, this should be the place."

Checking one more time to see that I was in the right place, I eventually let out a sigh of relief and sat down on one of the benches in the park that I was in.

Not so far from where I was sitting, I could hear the sound of water gushing echoing throughout the air as a fountain stood not far from where I was. The water glistened under the sunlight.

Riing—! Riing—!

It was at that moment that my phone vibrated inside of my pocket.

'Again?'

With a sigh, I took out my phone. Upon unlocking my phone, I was bombarded with a series of text messages and missed call logs.

===[Kevin Voss]===

Kevin : I will kill you!!!!!

[—You have missed a call—]

Kevin : Answer my calls you scum! I know what you did! You don't have to pretend that you don't know!

[—You have missed a call—]

[—You have missed a call—]

Kevin : Don't ignore me!

Kevin : You lied to me about the skill not working!

[—You have missed a call—]

Kevin : I swear to god. You will pay for what you did!!!

===[Kevin Voss]===

"What a drama queen."

Putting my phone away and turning off the ringer, I leaned back on the bench and relaxed.

Rather than laughing, my expression turned serious.

'As expected. For one to figure out whether their memories have been manipulated or not, the environment around them is very important.'

Leaving aside the fact that Kevin deserved this, I had another goal in changing his name.

I wanted to test the limits of this skill.

In order to determine whether the person under the influence of the skill would notice that their memories had been altered instead of rejecting reality wholeheartedly, I had Kevin be my lab rat.

Needless to say, the experiment proved successful.

'Instead of still believing that his name is Cringe Lord, once Kevin realized that things were wrong, he was able to quickly determine that his mind had been altered instead of denying reality...'

This was useful information, and...

Leaning back on my chair, the edges of my lips curled up a bit.

'As expected, this might be the skill that the other me used in order to alter my memories.'

I had a hunch when I selected it, but upon seeing the result of the experiment, this seemed more and more plausible.

"So beautiful."

"Is she a celebrity?"

"Wow."

Suddenly, jolted out of my thoughts, I saw a crowd gathering as people gazed into the distance. In their line of sight, I saw a familiar face.

A soft smile spread on my face once I recognized the figure.

"She's here..."

With a black skirt that nearly reached her knees paired with black leggings, and wearing a soft white turtleneck shirt to complement her glossy black hair tied in a ponytail behind her back, Amanda walked gracefully through the park grounds as her appearance caught everyone's attention.

This was especially so for the males who couldn't help but blush at her sight.

As Amanda halted her steps in the middle of the park, she took a moment to take in the surroundings. In addition to her quiet and collected demeanor, her manner further enhanced her image to those around her as some of the people around her unknowingly found their heads tilt toward her direction as they walked.

"...So beautiful."

"Who is she?"

But it was at that moment, that time seemed to have stopped for everyone around her gaze paused in my direction and a smile blossomed on her face. It was a smile that seemed to dazzle the whole world as everyone around her dropped whatever they were doing and just stared at her. Fully immersed in her smile.

Not long after, the crisp and pleasant sound of her voice echoed throughout the air.

"Ren."

Chapter 551: Date [1]

"Piece of shit"

In an act of anger, Kevin threw his phone all the way toward his bed before walking toward the room's glass windows.

Placing his hands on the window, he stared at the city beneath him.

"...This is the second time."

When he remembered what happened in Issanor, where he clapped in front of everyone, Kevin felt as if he wanted to burrow himself beneath the ground.

'I swear to god.'

"My name is Kevin, my name is Kevin, my name is Kevin..."

Kevin repeatedly muttered to himself as he leaned his body against the window.

In spite of knowing his name was Kevin, he was still not used to it. To him, it felt unnatural. In the presence of people calling him by that name, he would experience an odd sense of discomfort that he couldn't quite explain.

'I know my name is Kevin, but why do I hate being called that? Just what did Ren do to me?'

"My name is Kevin, my name is Kevin, my name is Kevin..."

Mumbling the name a couple of more times, Kevin eventually took his hands away from the window.

After that, he swiped his hand in the air.

'System.'

His attention was drawn to a small holographic table in front of him. Swiping his hand, his brows furrowed tightly.

"Harrison street?"

Displayed in front of him was a large map of Ashton city. Two red dots appeared on the map.

At the top of the red dots, two names were displayed.

"Why is he with Amanda?"

With a thoughtful look, Kevin pinched his fingers and zoomed the map closely. Upon confirming that Ren was with Amanda, his face grew curious.

'Could he be on a date?'

Additionally to its great restaurants and view, Harrison Street had a lively atmosphere. One that made it a great place to go on a date.

'I doubt this is the case.'

Kevin shook his head after a bit of thought. Ren didn't strike him as a guy that would spend time on such things.

He was probably there to do something important.

Pinching the map out, two more dots appeared on the map, and Kevin muttered.

"This is a pretty useful feature."

[Soul Linkage]

That was the name of the feature he was currently using. It wasn't a skill, but something that was integrated with the system he had.

By creating links with several individuals, Kevin was able to know their location at any time he wanted. That wasn't all. When facing an emergency situation, he could use the feature to teleport directly to them and vice-versa, by teleporting them to him.

Although the cooldown was extremely long, about half a year, it was a very useful feature that made Kevin feel a lot more relieved.

It really made him worry less about his friends.

Waving his hand, the screen in front of him vanished as he mumbled to himself.

"A pity that I can't register that many people."

Although it wasn't exactly a big problem, at the moment, he could only link his soul with five people.

But this was enough.

After all, he was only close to about five people.

"Setting that aside, I should probably get to work."

Scratching the back of his head and taking out an orb from his dimensional space, Kevin outstretched his hand toward the air.

Later on, the orb disappeared into thin air, and the room's mana started fluctuating.

[Would you like to set up a portal?]

A string of blue text suddenly appeared in his vision as Kevin shook his head.

"No, configure the coordinates for now."

Following his words, a whirl of mana swirled in the air as Kevin's hair and clothes fluttered.

***

At the same time.

"Hm?"

In response to the strange distortion in the space around him, Jezebeth slowly opened his eyes. There was a tight furrow of his brows as he stared toward the distance.

"This power..."

Raising his hand and sensing the familiar power coming from the distance, Jezebeth's eyes icily flashed as he became more certain.

"...It's the Akashic records."

The moment he came to such a realization, everything around him came to a still as he slowly stood up from his throne.

Unprecedented seriousness flashed across his face as he extended his palm toward where he felt the power coming from.

"Gone."

But just as he raised his hand, the sensation quickly disappeared. Lowering his hand, Jezebeth's face remained impassive as he continued to gaze into the far distance.

After a while, he softly muttered,

"His connection with the records has gotten stronger."

His voice loudly echoed throughout the space he was in. There was a deep hint of solemnity in Jezebeth's voice as he moved in the direction of the power he felt.

Halting his footsteps, Jezebeth once again raised his hand and stared at it. His hand was encircled by strange white thin threads.

The Akashic laws.

A power that he had managed to acquire after swallowing the planetary seeds, and the only power that could harm the records.

With each movement of his fingers, the faster the threads moved around his hand.

Slowly, he raised his head.

"It's a pity that you didn't use your powers for longer, Kevin. However..."

Squinting his eyes, his tone turned icy.

"...There won't be a next time."

***

[Configurating coordinat-[Error]-]

A string of red text suddenly formed in front of Kevin's vision as his brows furrowed tightly.

"What's going on?"

The sudden turn of events did not deter Kevin from losing his cool.

As this was not the first time something strange was happening to the system, he was able to quickly adjust himself to the sudden situation.

Nevertheless, he was still concerned.

'What exactly is going on?'

[Error]

[Error]

[Error]

As Kevin viewed the continuous stream of error messages, his frown tightened. In that moment, however, he was awoken by a new string of text. His brows immediately jumped up.

[Warning, there is an interference with the connection.]

[Warning, there is an interference with the connection.]

[Warning, there is an interference with the connection.]

"Interference with connection?"

His expression instantly changed to one of solemnity. It was clear to him that something serious was happening, despite not knowing what exactly was happening.

Ba..Thump! Ba..Thump!

In an instant, everything around him stopped and time seemed to have slowed down. An uncontrollable rush of adrenaline filled his body as his heart started to beat faster.

'What's going on?'

This sudden turn of events startled Kevin as he looked around him in alarm.

"Ukh!"

In the midst of this strange feeling, he suddenly felt his body get engulfed by a strange energy. Shortly after, the mana inside of his body quickly drained as his face paled.

Raising his hand, he shouted.

"Stop!"

In the wake of Kevin's words, his vision was colored with yet another string of messages. A sudden sense of doom loomed over Kevin as if a gigantic black hand was reaching for him as his heart tightened unconsciously.

Another string of text appeared.

[Disrupting connection]

[Error]

[Trying again]

[Error]

[Force shut down]

[Error]

[Trying again]

The error messages continued for about a minute before they finally disappeared.

Ba..Thump. Ba..Thump. Ba..Thump.

As sweat trickled down Kevin's face, the only sound he heard was the beating of his heart.

"Haa...Haa..."

A heavy gulp of air forced Kevin to get on his knees as his energy drained out.

"W..what just happened?"

It was difficult for him to explain, but he felt his connection with the system deteriorate for a short time.

This was something that had never happened to him before, and it was quite frankly worrisome to him.

Taking a deep breath, Kevin sat back down on the ground, trying to put his thoughts into order as he tried to sort out what had just happened.

'Throughout the process of configuring the coordinates of my destination planet, a strange force suddenly appeared and attacked me out of nowhere, sending the system into a frenzy. It seems that the force is somehow related to the system, though I'm not sure what it is...'

Upon further reflection, Kevin was only left with more questions as the frown on his face deepened.

"Should I tell this to Ren?"

Kevin suddenly thought.

"If there is one person that might know what's going on, it has to be him."

Although he was still angry at him, Kevin understood that the situation was very serious. Taking out his phone, he quickly sent him another message.

[I've got something serious to discuss. If you don't answer, I will directly go to you. I know where you are.]

***

"Should we go somewhere else?"

Uncomfortable with the stares of those around me, I scratched the side of my cheek and looked around.

The situation had quite frankly gotten out of hand.

Amanda was simply attracting too much attention. Fortunately, she seemed to have noticed this as well, for she nodded her head in agreement.

"Sure."

"Great, do you want to go to a cafe first?"

In spite of my nerves, I asked calmly.

Having never been on a date before, I had no idea what to expect, and my distorted memories were of no help whatsoever.

In fact, there were many times in my memories when I was rejected by girls, so if anything, they were only making me more nervous.

With a soft smile on her face, Amanda answered.

"I'm fine with anything."

Raising my brow, I turned my head slightly.

"...and what if I choose a really crappy place?"

"That's fine with me."

The expression on Amanda's face remained unchanged as she answered. Still the same simple smile that attracted the gazes of the people around us.

"I trust you."

She added.

"Haaa..."

As I studied her expression, I let out a long sigh.

Talking like that...

She was really making it hard for me.

"...When you put it like that."

Turning around, I waved my hand.

"Alright, alright, follow me. I know of a nice place that the both of us can go to. While we're at it, we can probably eat lunch there as well."

"Okay."

A brighter smile spread across Amanda's face as she walked beside me.

"Looking forward to it."

***

A/N : should be out in an hour or two. It is completed. Just need to edit.

Chapter 552: Date [2]

It was already late afternoon when we reached the cafe, and the sun was blazing down on us. The extreme heat made it difficult for the two of us to stay outside any longer.

Amanda and I walked into the cafe, wondering if the heat would stop anytime soon.

"So, Amanda, what are you going to order?"

"Just some coffee for now. I'm not hungry yet."

"I'll do the same.

As I browsed the menu, I decided to get a simple cold brew.

Much preferred that over an espresso. Especially given how hot it was outside.

Looking around the restaurant, I turned back to look at Amanda.

She was admiring the scenery outside the window with a smile of joy.

Thinking of something, I let out a bitter sigh. Then, I called out Amanda's name.

"Hey, Amanda."

Amanda turned around and faced me.

"Yes?"

"…I'll probably leave on another trip quite soon."

There was an immediate expression of obscurity on Amanda's face as she looked back at me.

"You're going on a trip after having just come back from one?"

With a bitter smile on my face, I nodded my head.

"Yeah, I have no choice."

"…Is it really important?"

"It is."

I nodded my head.

In view of the fact that completing this task would delay the demon king's ascension by a year, the mission was indeed critical..

After staring at me for what felt like an eternity, Amanda let out a sigh.

"…Thank you for telling me."

I wasn't exactly sure why, but I was relieved to see that she wasn't mad about me suddenly leaving again.

Closing down the menu in front of her, she asked.

"Have you told your mother?"

"Uh…"

My face instantly hardened.

Scratching my face, I turned my attention away from Amanda. Following my actions, I could hear an audible sigh coming from Amanda's side.

"You're planning on telling them that you're leaving right? If you leave once again without any warning, I don't think I'll be able to help you out of the situation."

"I know."

I stared at Amanda.

It did occur to me for a time that it would be better simply to leave without telling them, and hope to return in a day or two given the time difference, but...

Upon further thought, I realized that this was not a good idea.

Putting aside that lying to my parents again would be disrespectful to my parents, it would also be arrogant of me to think that I would only be able to spend a short time there.

Especially since this was quite a difficult mission to complete.

"I'll have a talk with them after I come back home."

"That's for the best."

In an effort to call for a waiter, Amanda raised her hand. Due to her appearance, her sudden actions instantly caught the attention of those around us, and a waiter soon approached our table with a bright smile on my face. Throughout the entire time, he completely ignored my existence.

"How can I help you?"

I was left speechless by this.

"By the way…"

Seeing my dumbfounded stare, Amanda ordered for me and changed the subject.

"I'm curious about something."

There was a slight stutter in her voice as she placed both of her hands on her thighs. In an barely audible tone, she brushed her hair behind her ear and spoke.

"...Did that Sophia girl contact you recently?"

In an effort to maintain her composure, she tried to keep a straight look. Unfortunately for her, the reddening of her ears was a dead giveaway to me as my lips curled.

'Is she jealous of Sophia?'

How cute.

Shaking my head, I replied.

"No, she hasn't contacted me since I left, but she probably already knows this."

Not that she would've been able to since I was away for the past six months and Leopold had probably told her that.

That being said, now that I was back, I wasn't as certain it would be the case again.

"Oh…so she will contact you now that you are back?"

Grumbling, Amanda stuck out her lips in a small pout. In an effort to make it not obvious that she was jealous, she decided to change the topic.

"Also, I may not be as strong as you are, but you could ask me to help you sometimes."

"No, that's…"

"I'll soon breakthrough to <A-> rank, I'm sure I can be of help."

Since when had Amanda been so talkative?

"I'm not asking you to bring me if you can't. I'm just suggesting that maybe you should ask me for help now and then. I've been training a lot, and I have a good reputation in my guild. I'm sure it can be helpful for you. Unlike her..."

Seeing her throwing a tantrum, I could only laugh silently.

This side of hers was really cute.

"Here is your order."

It was right at this moment that the server finally came with our orders.

Holding onto a circular black tray, he carefully placed our drinks in front of us.

"An espresso and a cold brew."

"Thank you."

"Thanks."

Taking the drink, I sipped it quickly. The feeling of refreshment spread throughout my entire body as my face relaxed.

'Not bad.'

"This?"

However, it was at that moment that I heard Amanda's confused voice. As I turned my head, I saw the waiter handing her a bouquet of flowers.

With a smile on his face, he announced.

"This over here is courtesy of the gentlemen sitting over there."

After that, he pointed away from her to where a handsome young man sat quietly spying on her from a distance. He had long black hair, accompanied by brown eyes that seemed to carry hints of wisdom and arrogance within. The clothes he was wearing seemed rather flashy as they all seemed to be from designer brands.

Once his eyes met Amanda's, his back became straight as a confident smile spread across his face.

'Oh god.'

Turning my head to face away from him, I took another sip of the coffee in my hand. As expected of Amanda, it was inevitable for her to attract the attention of some rich youth. She was simply that beautiful.

"So?"

But it was at that moment that I was met with Amanda's gaze.

I turned to glance at her.

"...So, what?"

She pointed at the flowers.

"Not going to say anything about them?"

"The flowers?"

I shook my head.

"Why should I? Are you going to take them?"

Was she expecting me to get jealous over some flowers?

As if.

Taking another sip of my cold brew, I leaned back on my chair. I soon cracked a smirk as I thought about something.

"…Just so you know, my charm is higher than Han Yufei's."

His charm was <B> rank. Mine was <B+>.

'I won.'

After taking a moment to process what I said, Amanda then rolled her eyes.

"...And how would you know that?"

"I've recruited him into my mercenary group."

"You…"

I could see Amanda staring blankly at me for at least two seconds, as she struggled to comprehend my words.

"Excuse me?"

Her thoughts were interrupted by the waiter pushing the flowers towards her.

"Will you take them?"

Before she turned to look at the flowers again, Amanda looked at me with a thoughtful look on her face.

"You really won't mind me taking the flowers?"

"Nope."

I answered while taking another sip of the coffee.

"It would be troublesome if you rejected the flowers. The guy will most likely bear a grudge or something, and things will get annoying…"

Just your typical stuff annoying stuff. It was better if she took the flowers.

While staring at me deeply for some time, Amanda nodded her head. Despite her quickness, her eyes flashed with disappointment, and my body tensed up a little.

"...Okay."

After that, she reached out to touch the flowers with her hand. A brightened expression spread across the face of the individual who sent her the flowers as he slowly rose up from his seat. He seemed to be ready to walk over at any minute.

When I saw this, my brows furrowed. A strange mixture of annoyance and something else washed over me as Amanda was about to reach the flower and the individual was about to walk over.

Even though I knew she was probably pretending to take the flowers at the moment, I felt a strange sense of discomfort as the image of her taking the flowers imprinted itself inside of my head.

In the blink of an eye, I had already reached out and grabbed Amanda's wrist before I had even realized what I was feeling. In just a few seconds, the server's face and the individual that was about to walk over changed.

But I didn't care.

"Wait."

"!!"

I called out, as Amanda turned to look at me with a stunned look on her face.

"Ren?"

Amanda called out. Her face is still stained with surprise.

Looking deeply into her eyes, I firmly gripped her wrist.

"On second thought, don't take the flowers."

"But..."

"I know what I said, and I'm sorry. Don't take the flowers."

I couldn't explain why I was doing this, but the thought of Amanda taking the flowers irked me.

'No, who am I fooling…'

I already knew what I was feeling, I just didn't want to admit it.

Neither of us spoke for the next couple of seconds as we just stared at one another.

After a few seconds, Amanda calmly nodded.

"Okay."

While she tried to hide it, there was a slight tremor in her voice as her pupils dilated and her lips twitched.

I could only bitterly sigh at her when I saw this.

With a calm look on her face, Amanda turned to look at the server and pushed the flowers away.

Extending her hand in my direction, she proceeded to speak.

"As you can see, I'm currently on a date with him..."

Turning around, her eyes paused on the male that was about to head our way and she raised her voice a little.

"Please tell him that I'm currently taken."

When the server heard her voice, an awkward look spread across his face as he gazed at the distant male consumer who looked back at him with a twisted look on his face.

A few seconds later, he stormed off the store, glaring in our direction. Leaving after him was the server who brought the banquet of flowers away with him.

While staring at them both, I sighed.

"Great, it looks like someone has been offended."

"...What are you afraid of?"

Amanda asked as she softly smiled in my direction.

Turning to look at her, I replied.

"I'm not afraid. I'm just saying that it's annoying."

It didn't take a genius to understand that he was soon going to come back with backup to annoy us.

'Ugh.'

Just the thought further irritated me.

Seemingly amused by my annoyance, Amanda reassured.

"Don't worry too much."

"How can I not? Trust me, I can bet all my money that this will happen."

Instead of answering, Amanda continued to smile.

"Well, whatever."

Finished with my rant, I leaned back on my chair and grabbed my drink.

"I'll deal with them when the time co—"

"Just so you know, I was going to refuse the flowers."

Rumbling one more time, I was cut off by a soft whisper. It was very faint, but I was able to hear it clearly. It was then that my hand, which had been holding the drink, suddenly stopped moving.

Lowering my hand to get a better look at her, Amanda's head lowered as she continued to whisper.

"...I was never planning on taking the flowers."

Opening my mouth for a moment, I soon closed it.

A smile spread across my face.

"I know."

Chapter 553: Date [3]

A small smile spread across Amanda's face as she sipped her coffee cautiously.

When it came to smiling, she didn't do it very often, but today...she just couldn't stop herself from doing it.

Particularly after what had just happened half an hour earlier.

'On second thought, don't take the flowers.'

Amanda's hand trembled as she recalled what Ren had said when he stopped her from taking the flowers.

Despite accepting the fact that she liked Ren, she didn't expect to feel so delighted when he expressed his jealousy as clearly as he did.

'He was definitely jealous.'

As observant as she was, Amanda could easily tell from a glance what Ren was feeling back then.

His furrowed brows, his firm grasp on her hand, his stern voice...

They were all obvious indications to Amanda, and her heart raced unknowingly.

"Hey, Amanda."

"Uh, ah?!"

Amanda's thoughts were jolted by Ren's voice.

In light of her current state of mind, she could not help but be startled as her hand shook and her coffee spilled resulting in a few coffee stains appearing on the tablecloth.

Leaning forward, Ren asked.

"Did I surprise you?"

"…A little."

Amanda honestly replied as she put the coffee down.

"Fortunately, you didn't seem to have spilled on yourself."

"Yes."

Amanda softly replied as her eyes were drawn to the small stains on the cloth.

There was a twitch in her hand.

'I can endure it.'

Taking her eyes away from the stains, she smiled.

"I was just too deep into my thoughts. It's nothing big."

While she spoke, Amanda tried not to glance at the stains, but her attention kept drifting toward them as she curled her toes.

Putting her arm over the stains, she pursed her lips.

In an instant, her shoulders relaxed and she felt better.

'I can do it.'

Breathing a sigh of relief, she looked at Ren.

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Ah, nothing."

With a shrug of his shoulders, Ren leaned back on his chair.

"I just wanted to know if you wanted to eat yet."

"...Eat?"

Rubbing her tummy, Amanda thought for a moment before she nodded her head.

"Sure."

She was indeed feeling a little hungry.

"Great."

Trying to attract the waiter's attention, Ren raised his hand.

In no time at all, the last waiter arrived. They were greeted by a different waiter than the previous one.

This was to be expected.

After what had happened, there was no way that the previous waiter would have the face to serve them again.

"How can I help you?"

With a bright smile on her face, the waiter greeted the two of them.

The first to order was Ren who picked up the menu and pointed his finger toward a certain item.

"Ehm, I would like to order th—"

Perhaps due to his excitement, while pointing at the menu, Ren's elbow came into contact with his cup and it spilled all over the table.

"Ah, crap."

Ren cursed out loud as he pushed his body back and avoided the liquid from falling all over his body.

His actions clearly startled the waitress as her body jerked back a bit.

It was only upon realizing what had happened that her face turned a little red from embarrassment.

With a wry smile on his face, Ren scratched the side of his ear and looked at the waitress.

"...Can we have the cloth changed?"

"Yes. Please wait a moment."

With a nod of her head, the watress turned around and left.

Staring at the departing waitress, Ren leaned back on his chair and grumbled.

"What luck."

"Thank you."

It was at that moment, however, that Amanda spoke. A warm feeling embraced her as she gazed toward Ren.

'You noticed, didn't you?'

Though she didn't say it aloud, she could clearly understand the intent behind his actions.

Turning his head to look at her, Ren shrugged.

"For what?"

As her smile grew brighter, Amanda shook her head.

"...Nothing. Just thank you."

***

"As expected of a feature from the system. It works flawlessly."

It only took Kevin a few seconds to find Ren after he followed the point on the map.

'Since you've been ignoring my calls, I've got no choice but to go to you. The same goes for Amanda.'

Despite being with Ren, she too ignored his calls as she seemed to have ignored his calls and messages. Forcing him to go directly to them.

Honestly speaking, Kevin had no interest in going to Ren directly.

It was quite a distance from where he was, and he wasn't particularly eager to see his face.

However, he was someone who knew his priorities, and his priorities currently urged him to take whatever happened not too long ago very seriously.

The impending sense of doom he felt before was still lingering before him,

"I have a bad feeling about this..."

Kevin rarely had bad feelings, but when he did, they all tended to come true. The feeling he just experienced was the clearest one he had experienced thus far.

As his thoughts paused there, he checked the map one more time. After that, he picked up his pace.

***

"Where is this?"

Scratching the side of his head, Liam looked at a small piece of paper in his hand. Written on it was an address.

[Ashton city Northern District, Phillion Street 097]

"This should be the place."

Liam checked his GPS. Upon confirming that he was indeed in the right place, he crumpled the paper in his hand.

After that, he stared at the enormous warehouse in the distance.

"This place looks kind of sketchy."

It appeared that the warehouse was the only building within a kilometer radius of the site. As an actual matter of fact, it was quite distant from the city, and Liam wouldn't have made the trip if he hadn't found the letter in his pocket telling him to go here.

That being said...

"Where exactly does the letter come from?"

It was on his way around the city that he found the letter in his pocket. If he had to be honest, he had completely forgotten about it and therefore had no clue as to whom had given it to him.

In spite of that, after deliberating over it for a couple of hours, he decided to head toward the location in the letter.

Surely, it must be something important.

"...I'm starting to regret my decision."

Carefully scrutinizing the warehouse in the distance, Liam was starting to feel that perhaps coming here was a mistake.

The warehouse looked rather abandoned, and badly maintained, with crevices on the side of the building, and spiderwebs covering the windows. In other words, it wasn't the most appealing building that one could see.

Lowering his head to once again glance at the crumpled paper in his hand, Liam eventually sighed and put the paper away.

"Whatever, since I'm already here, I might as well just go."

As he stepped forward, he began to walk toward the building. While silently murmuring to himself, he yawned loudly.

"...If it's a trap, I hope they are strong."

It would truly be a pity if the opponents were weak.

***

"Do you want to go here after?"

"This looks nice."

While waiting for our orders to arrive, I presented Amanda with different spots we could go to after eating lunch.

Although it was unbearably hot outside, there were still a lot of fun places to go to. One such example was the ice skating ring in a mall nearby.

Apparently, it was a popular location to go to. Especially with the heat outside.

"Hm, Ren."

It was while we were choosing our next location that I faintly heard Amanda's voice.

Raising my head to look at her, I asked.

"What is it?"

"...About the guy that we've offended."

Upon his mention, my mood soured a bit.

"What about him?"

"Have a look."

Flipping her phone around, Amanda showed me a photo. On it was the image of an individual who closely resembled the guy from before.

"Micheal Liverton, <C> rank Hero, and the rising start of the Starlight guild?"

Reading his description, my face turned strange. The same could be said for Amanda who leaned her body forward to get a better look at the image displayed on her phone.

At the moment, our faces were only a couple of inches apart. Since Amanda's focus was on the image on her phone, she didn't seem to have noticed this.

Pointing at the screen, she spoke.

"He has cleared several <C> ranked dungeons and is predicted to be a ranked Hero in the future? He seems to be as skilled as some of our most promising Heroes."

"...I guess."

The more I read, the more I was left impressed by the guy's resume.

It was pretty good.

That said, it wasn't anything impressive compared to the likes of Jin, Amanda, and the others. He was just a very talented human.

The likes of Kevin and the others had long left the human realm.

Still, for him to be a part of Jin's guild...

"Ren, your face."

"Hm?"

Distracting me out of my thoughts was Amanda as she shook her head when she looked at me.

Raising my hands to touch my face, I wondered.

"Is there something wrong with my face?"

"No."

Amanda shook her head once more before pointing her finger at my face.

"It's your expression."

Before I had a chance to understand what she was trying to say, she turned her phone around and I was finally able to catch a glimpse of myself.

"Ah."

From there I was able to notice the smirk on my face. Covering my mouth with my fist, I coughed.

"Keummm..enough of that"

Placing my hand over her phone, I lowered it and glanced at her from the side of my eye.

"...Pretend that you didn't see that."

"No point. You've done it more times than you can count."

"Eh? Really?"

"Yeah."

This...

How come I was only made aware of this fact now?

'Actually, never mind, Smallsnake has said the same thing multiple times in the past. I guess this is a bad habit of mine.'

"In any case, since he works for Jin, things will be much easier."

In fact, things wouldn't have escalated to this point had he been able to recognize Amanda and I.

Unfortunately, I was wearing black contact lenses at the time.

This, along with my white hair, only made me look like a Ren lookalike. Not the real thing.

The reason for this was because I didn't want to interact with people, and as far as I could tell, it worked like a charm as no one bothered me. the reason why no one was coming at me could also be because I lashed out at everyone during the press conference, but I honestly didn't care.

I hated attention anyways.

The same couldn't be said for Amanda, who was in fact a lot more famous than me.

However, with the individual in question being such a prolific hunter, he probably spent most of his time inside of dungeons and most likely didn't know who the both of us were.

"Excuse me."

In the midst of our discussion, the waiter finally arrived at our table with two plates of food.

Instantly a nice fragrance lingered in the air as Amanda leaned back in her seat.

Similarly leaning back, and catching a whiff of the smell coming from the food, I was forced to smack my lips together to stop myself from salivating.

As I stared at Amanda, her lips were pursed in a similar manner as mine.

My hand reached for the fork next to me.

"Shall we?"

"Mhm."

As she picked up the fork, Amanda nodded.

While we both were about to dig into our food, from the corner of my eye, I spotted a figure bursting into the restaurant.

Opening my mouth, I lowered my fork and smiled.

'Fuck.'

Chapter 554: Date [4]

"He's here."

As I stared toward the entrance of the building, I silently sighed to myself as I repositioned my fork on the table.

After turning her head, Amanda also caught sight of the individual, resulting in her eyebrows furrowing tightly.

"He came a lot faster than I expected."

"Yeah."

With a nod of my head, I met the individual's eyes. Immediately after meeting my eyes, I was met with his fierce glare.

After him, a couple of people with larger frames entered. Their appearance only served to give me a bigger headache.

'...I knew that this was going to happen.'

Squinting my eyes, I carefully scrutinized them.

"They appear to be <B> rank at best."

"Mhm."

The auras they emitted were not hard to detect since they did not attempt to hide them in the first place. In addition, they both wore black suits adorned with a familiar emblem.

After a careful look, I realized that the emblem belonged to the Starlight Guild.

It was then that I came to one conclusion.

"They are probably his designated bodyguards."

"They are."

Anyhow, even if they brought an <A> rank, I wouldn't be concerned. The same couldn't be said with <S> ranks as they would be quite troublesome to deal with, but it wasn't like they could actually get one.

Upon their arrival, all the eyes inside the restaurant shifted toward the three individuals as they approached our general direction.

When I turned to stare at Amanda, my smile became bitter.

"What did I tell you?"

Turning her head away from them, her lips curled.

"…So what are you going to do?"

"What else am I supposed to do?"

As I slowly stood up from my seat, I removed the napkin from my lap, ready to confront the people who were about to approach us.

'I'll just release a bit of my aura and get this over with.'

However…

"What business do you have with them?"

Out of nowhere, a familiar figure appeared, and two hands touched the shoulders of the bulky individuals, stopping them from moving.

Startled, they turned to look at the individual who had stopped them. As soon as they saw him, their faces bleached completely and their bodies trembled.

Meanwhile, with eyes wide open, I immediately recognized the figure as I called out.

"Kevin?"

A million questions rose inside my mind as our eyes met.

"What are you doing here?"

Since when was he here? …and how does he know that I'm here?

Was it a coincidence?

I discarded the notion as soon as I saw his glare. There was no doubt that he had come to me on purpose.

Before that.

"Who are you?!"

A loud shout echoed throughout the restaurant as Micheal glared at Kevin.

With a furrow of his brows, Kevin didn't answer immediately. Staring in my direction, he alternated his gaze between Amanda and I.

"….what are you guys doing?"

"We're having lunch."

I replied after meeting his gaze.

Nodding his head, Kevin's frown deepened. After that, he turned to look at the three individuals that were looking for trouble.

"Let me handle this for now. Once you're done with lunch, I'll just need ten minutes from you. I need to talk about something important."

"Okay."

I subconsciously replied as I stared at his serious expression.

The only time Kevin's seriousness was this severe was when something significant happened. And so I knew better than continue to ignore him.

"Hey yo—"

Without waiting for the guy to finish speaking, Kevin gripped Micheal's shoulder blade and he let out an agonized scream.

On the other hand, the bodyguards had stopped moving completely as their eyes focused on Amanda. Their already bleach-white faces blanched even more. Clearly, they had finally recognized Amanda who no longer had her back turned on them.

Silently staring at them for a moment, Amand raised her head to stare at Kevin who was dragging Micheal out of the store.

Pointing at him, Amanda asked the two bodyguards.

"Shouldn't you be helping him?"

"We..we apologize for his behavior."

Instead of following him, the two bodyguards bowed their heads in Amanda's direction.

Coldly staring at them for a couple of seconds, Amanda waved her hand.

"Leave."

"Th..thank you!"

After that, the two bodyguards quickly scurried out of the restaurant.

Scratching the side of my head, I turned to look at Amanda who seemed to be in a sour mood.

"...That was resolved a lot faster than I expected."

In truth, I had originally thought I'd have to do some annoying stuff, but things turned out much more smoothly than I expected.

"Now that I think about it, we really do have some bad luck."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean..."

Pausing, I glanced around the place.

Immediately after I glanced around the place, the heads of the people around the store quickly snapped away from our direction.

I wryly smiled.

"See, a lot of the people here recognize you. For that one guy to know who you are, it really is bad luck."

"...You're pretty famous too."

"Not with my hair and eyes."

"Hmm..."

Squinting her eyes to get a better look at me, Amanda picked the fork back up and softly muttered.

"Maybe."

***

"Mr. Voss. We deeply apologize for his behavior."

Quickly coming out of the restaurant the two bodyguards rushed up to Kevin and apologized profusely as they looked at Micheal on the floor, bloodied and bruised.

With a white cloth in hand, Kevin glanced in their direction briefly without replying.

On the outside, Kevin looked extremely serious and fierce. However, on the inside he was secretly regretting his actions.

'I may have gone overboard.'

He had only wanted to stop him for a moment, but the more he restrained him, the more he lashed out.

In the end, Kevin beat him up for good, and he was ashamed to say that he felt great relief from it as he imagined Ren being the guy he was beating up.

In any case.

Taking out of his phone, Kevin snapped a photo of the guy on the floor. After that, he quickly sent the image to Jin.

"I hope he won't get too mad at me."

[This guy yours?]

Riing—!

Not even a couple of seconds after he sent the message, and his phone suddenly started to ring.

With a bitter smile on his face, Kevin picked it up.

"...So?"

—What happened?

After a brief pause, Jin's solemn voice echoed through the speakers of Kevin's phone.

As soon as his words echoed out, the bodyguards' bodies trembled uncontrollably as they instantly recognized who the voice belonged to.

"Well..."

Brushing his hair up, Kevin started to recount to Jin exactly what had happened. He had already heard a bit from the individual himself, and connecting the dots together, he already had an idea of what had happened.

"In short, this guy annoyed Ren and Amanda."

—Huh?

Jin's voice voice sounded rather confused.

—Did you just say that he annoyed Ren and Amanda? What did he do?

"I'm not exactly sure myself. But it appears as though he tried to hit on Amanda while she was having lunch with Ren."

—He did?

"Yeah...

After another brief pause, Jin spoke up.

—Do me a favor and let them go for me.

"Sure, but what are you going to do with them?"

Kevin asked out of curiosity.

However, Jin's reply caught him off-guard as he almost tripped on the spot.

—What else am I going to do? I'm going to promote them.

"What? Did you not hear what I said?"

—It's exactly because I heard what you said that they deserve to be promoted.

Opening his mouth for a moment, Kevin soon closed it.

"Did Ren also piss you o—"

"Oy, if you have something to say about me, say it to my face."

Cutting Kevin off was Ren's voice as he headed in his direction.

Glancing at the individual on the ground, his eyes soon paused on Kevin's phone.

"Jin, is that you?"

He was met with no response.

"Give me that for a second."

Taking his phone from his hand, Ren spoke up.

"I know that you're still connected. You don't have to pretend like you're not."

—...What do you want?

It was then that Jin finally spoke and Ren smiled in satisfaction.

"Keum..."

Clearning his throat for a moment, Ren looked at Kevin before his eyes paused on the figure on the ground.

"Do you have time two days from now?

—Two days from now? What do you need?

"You free or not?"

In an attempt to avoid answering him, Ren pushed.

Somehow it worked as Jin started to check his schedule.

—Let me check.

"Sure."

Turning his head to face Kevin, Ren shrugged his shoulders.

Kevin instantly realized what he was trying to do and shook his head.

'Guess we're going with the kidnapping.'

—...I'm free.

It was at that moment that Jin's voice once again echoed through the speaker of the phone.

Looking back at Kevin, the smile on Ren's face widened.

"That's great, that's great..."

Ren repeatedly muttered out loud as he brought the phone closer to himself.

"Since you're free, I'll send you the address and location of a place in a bit. Make sure you don't come late."

—Wait, I didn't say that I was going to a—

Without waiting for Jin to finish replying, Ren hung up.

Then, turning to look at Kevin he tossed the phone in his direction.

"That's one problem solved."

Catching the phone, Kevin put it away and looked at the two bodyguards. Pointing at Micheal on the ground, he waved his hand.

"Take him."

Immediately after his words, the two bodyguards nodded their heads and grabbed him by the armpits and carried him away.

Staring at their departing figures, Kevin shook his head.

He almost felt bad for them. Especially since he knew that Jin was only joking when he said that he was going to promote them.

'Tough days will lay ahead of them...'

"What are you thinking about?"

Arriving next to him, Kevin felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Nevermind what I'm thinking, let's go somewhere more private to speak. I've got something important to say to you."

Feeling Ren's gaze on him, Kevin stared back.

After a while, Ren nodded his head.

"Alright, if that makes you feel better."

Chapter 555: Date [5]

"What did you want to talk about?"

Gazing into the distance from one of the park benches, I sat.

"Haa..."

The person next to me, Kevin, sighed and leaned back on the bench.

"You know, if you had answered my calls, I wouldn't have had to come all the way here."

"...I was kind of busy, you know?"

I replied whilst scratching the side of my neck. I actively chose not to use my phone while I was spending time with Amanda, as I thought that it would be rude of me to do so.

In addition, I was here to understand my feelings properly. Not to play around with my phone.

"...and, after sending me over a hundred messages just this morning, I wouldn't know if you sent me a message.

"Whose fault do you think that is?"

Kevin glared my way.

His eyebrows shot up as he suddenly recalled something.

"Now that you've reminded me, fix what you did."

"Right…"

Almost forgot that Kevin's memories were still altered.

"Empty your mind."

A gentle white hue enshrouded my hands as I extended them towards Kevin.

I was just about to touch Kevin's head when he backed away and warily glanced my way.

His reaction made me frown.

"What are you doing?"

"…I'm telling you now, you better not pull off another one of your jokes."

"I won't, I won't."

Waving my hand, I reached out to grab his head.

The only reason I even did what I did back then was because I wanted to confirm a couple of things regarding the skill.

If I used the skill too often, I would end up losing Kevin's trust.

"Relax a bit. If you do it like last time, you will suffer a bit of pain."

"I know."

In a harsh reply, Kevin closed his eyes.

After that, an intense white light illuminated the area we were in for several seconds. It came as fast as it went, but it was enough to attract the attention of the people around us who looked at us with strange looks.

'Figures…'

My grip on Kevin's head soon loosened, and he gradually opened his eyes.

"How are you feeling?"

I asked.

After pulling a small card from his wallet, Kevin glanced at me briefly before ignoring me and staring at it.

Similarly looking at the card in his hand, I recognized what the card was based on its color.

"Is that your ID card?"

I was met with no response.

As Kevin ignored me, his eyes swept left and right across the card. While he was scrutinizing the card, his face was filled with serious expressions.

"...everything seems to be in order."

It was only after a while that he finally put the card down and sighed in relief.

His reaction made me want to roll my eyes.

"Am I that untrustworthy?"

"Yes."

Kevin nodded his head. Not an ounce of doubt in his tone.

Stopping for a moment, he looked straight into my eyes before repeating.

"You are definitely the least trustworthy person that I know."

"Right..."

I should probably treat Kevin better.

Scratching the side of my head, I shook my head and checked the time.

'Five minutes already passed.'

"...whatever, please don't tell me that the only reason you called me here is because you wanted me to fix your memories."

"No."

A serious look crossed Kevin's face as he shook his head.

"Ren, there is a problem with the system."

"Huh?"

Upon hearing his words, I immediately tensed up.

A problem with the system? This was a lot more serious than I thought.

Crossing my arms together, I asked.

"What exactly happened?"

"Earlier today, I was trying to configure the coordinates of the planet we're about to go to, but the system suddenly stopped working as I got a string of error messages, and I even lost contact with the system for a moment..."

"For a moment, you lost connection with the system?"

Repeating his words, my brows knit even more.

Leaning my body forward, I covered my mouth with my hand as my brows furrowed tightly.

"...This is a lot more serious than I thought."

For Kevin to have lost connection with the system, there was only one thing that came to my mind.

Turning to face Kevin, I breathed out.

"Although I'm not sure, I believe that the Demon King has his eye on you, Kevin."

"The Demon King?"

Kevin's face tensed immediately when he heard my words.

His reaction was to be expected. After all, the Demon King was currently the most powerful individual in the entire universe.

For him to have targeted Kevin...

There was no doubt that he felt extremely wary.

"...How do you know this?"

Kevin suddenly asked as he turned to look at him.

With my gaze still locked toward the ground, I replied.

"It's just a hypothesis for now, but I believe the Demon King draws power from the same source as you."

"In what sense?"

"…As in that, it is closely related to the Akashic records."

Having thought deeply about what my other self had told me in the past, I came up with this theory.

In particular, from how he said that 'Kevin was the only person capable of killing the Demon King.'

That was the phrase that sparked this hypothesis.

"In the most likely scenario, the demon King noticed you opening the portal and intervened. Of course, we could assume that something happened to the records, and that's why you lost connection, but I honestly doubt that's what happened."

There was a brief moment of silence after my words as Kevin stared deeply at the park.

After a while, he asked.

"…If that's the case, does that mean that we can't finish the quest?"

"Mhh…"

Furrowing my brows, I leaned forward a bit.

This was more serious than I thought.

Only four years remained until the demon king descended, so if we couldn't complete the mission, we would be in serious trouble. Even with the mana density increasing by the day, it was simply not enough time.

"How about this..."

It was then that I suggested.

"...I will soon send you the address of my mercenary headquarters. Before we leave, we can run a few tests to see if anything goes wrong. If you feel you're losing connection with the system, I'll knock you out directly and disrupt the connection directly."

At this point, this was probably the best course of action.

This was especially true because of the fact that my warehouse was in the middle of nowhere and there was no way that anyone would notice that we were currently setting up a portal there.

Having said that, we've always planned on setting up the portal there. This was especially so because Smallsnake and the others were there. Their presence would definitely simplify things.

'This might work.'

Standing up from my seat and checking the time, I patted Kevin on the shoulder.

'Ten minutes on the dot.'

"Come to my place in a few days to see if there are any problems with the system. If there are, we might have to give up on the idea of going there."

"...Okay."

Similarly, Kevin stood up after nodding his head and exhaling deeply.

"I'll leave now. Have fun on your date."

Immediately after he said those words my head snapped in his direction, but by then, he had already disappeared from my sight.

As I squinted my eyes, I shrugged my shoulders and headed back to the restaurant.

"Guess he found out."

Whatever.

***

"What do you think? Will Nola like this?"

Meeting back with Amanda, we soon decided to take a stroll in the surroundings. From going to different shops to trying food on the street, we went to whatever was in the vicinity, and quite honestly, I really enjoyed my time.

So much so that in no time, it was already late into the night, and we were standing in front of a large candy shop.

Currently, my attention was drawn to a large lollipop about the size of Nola's head.

"That's too big."

Amanda commented as she looked at the lollipop.

"True…"

As I pictured Nola struggling to hold the lollipop in her hand, my interest in the treat was even more piqued.

"Don't think about it."

It seemed that Amanda could read my thoughts as she pressed her hand against my shoulder and pointed in a different direction.

Following her line of sight, I was able to catch a glimpse of a large teddy bear.

"A teddy bear?"

My eyes squinted.

My gaze shifted to Amanda, who kept her expressionless.

Taking a glance at me, she lowered her head.

"Why are you looking at me?"

"…Are you sure this is for Nola?"

The moment my words left my mouth, Amanda's head slowly turned as her right brow twitched.

'Bingo.'

A smile spread across my face as I shook my head.

'It's hard to believe she's someone who would be hard to understand when her expressions are so easy to understand.'

"Wait here for a moment, I'll go buy something for Nola."

"...Okay."

Amanda replied with a soft whisper as her eyes darted toward the teddy bear once more. She then turned her eyes away from the shop and looked elsewhere.

Entering the store, I walked up to the clerk. Looking back to see if Amanda was watching and confirming that she wasn't, I pointed at the teddy bears.

"Can I have two of them please?"

"The bears?"

"Yes."

"Understood."

Immediately after that, the cashier retrieved the teddy bears and handed them to me.

"That would be 80U"

"Here you go."

With a simple tap of my card, I paid the fee and put the bears inside of my dimensional space. After that, I headed out of the store.

Spotting Amanda sitting on one of the benches lit up by one of the street lights, I headed her way.

Similarly spotting me, she softly smiled and asked.

"Did you manage to get what the bears?"

"Yeah."

While sitting on the bench next to her, I leaned back and relaxed. Neither one of us spoke for the next minute as we both stared toward the stars in the sky.

Amanda broke the silence first.

"...I had fun today."

Turning to gaze her way, I didn't answer immediately.

When I reflected on everything that had happened to me over the past few years, and how rarely I had the opportunity to enjoy myself like this, a sad smile spread across my lips.

Slowly, I murmured.

"Me too..."

***

A/N : Sorry for the late update. I only realized just now that the timer was set for tomorrow.

Chapter 556: Date [6]

9 P.M.

As Amanda stared at the familiar building in the distance, her footsteps slowed. Matching her pace, Ren's footsteps also slowed.

They eventually stopped in front of the building.

"...We're here."

Amanda muttered softly as she raised her head up. Her face basking beneath the gentle moonlight.

In no time at all, it was already nighttime, and Amanda felt the whole day pass by in a blur.

'It was fun.'

She thought as she turned her head to gaze at Ren's profile.

While he may look different from how he once did, as she gazed in his direction, she could not help but feel her heart racing.

Amanda had never felt this way before, and it felt refreshing.

This was especially true after everything that had happened to her.

'Now that I think about it, all of this happiness is because of him, isn't it?'

From risking her life to save her mother, to saving her father from the demon world. After meeting him, Amanda's dark world began to lighten to the point that she didn't dread waking up in the morning like in the past.

She no longer had to wake up in an empty home with no one to greet her in the morning.

She no longer had to worry about her father's safety every day, and she no longer felt as empty as before.

'Truly...'

While he may not have done it specifically for her, he had changed her life for the better, and she was grateful for him.

Before she knew it, her mouth opened on its own.

"Thank you."

"...Thank you?"

Turning to look at her, Ren cocked his head a little.

"Are you thanking me for today?"

"No."

Meeting his gaze, Amanda shook her head before interlocking her hands behind her back.

Slowly, she took a step toward the building.

"...Thank you for everything."

For saving her mother.

For saving her father.

For brightening up her cold world.

For letting her meet new people who treat her with warmth.

...and for existing.

"Thank you."

"...Sure?"

Clearly confused, Ren tilted his head further. Then, recalling something, he tapped on his bracelet.

It was at that moment that a large teddy bear appeared in his hands.

There was an immediate pause in Amanda's steps.

"Isn't that Nola's bear?"

"Nope."

Shaking his head, Ren stepped forward and brought the bear toward her. A small grin spread across his face.

"You think I wouldn't notice your secret glances at the bear?"

"Uh..."

An embarrassed look flashed across Amanda's face as she felt her cheeks warm up a little.

'...Was I that obvious?'

"You were."

Ren's voice echoed out as he seemed to have read her mind. Amanda's cheek became even warmer as a result. She then turned her head to look away from him.

"Are you going to take it or not?"

But it was at that moment that she heard Ren's voice. Feeling the bear touch her body, Amanda turned her head slightly and softly bit her lips.

"My arms are starting to hurt. If you don't take it, I'll give two bears to Nola "

"I'll take it."

Unable to contain herself anymore, she snatched the bear from Ren's hands as he hugged it tightly.

Her simple yet innocent actions were clearly caught by Ren who unknowingly smiled.

Tapping onto his bracelet once more, he said.

"I've got something else for you."

Immediately after he said those words, Amanda suddenly felt a terrifying pressure coming from Ren as she was forced to take a step back.

"Ukh."

Her hair fluttered behind her as a strong gust of wind blew on her clothes.

Suddenly, Amanda caught sight of a small frame in Ren's hand amid a nebula-like black hue. She couldn't quite make out what it was due to the nebula-like hue. However, it wasn't long before the hue receded.

When she raised her hand to get a better look, her eyes opened wide in surprise.

"Isn't that a bow?"

"It is."

Ren replied as a powerful hue sprung out from his body, covering the black Nebula and forcing it to shrink.

Following his actions, everything around them once again returned to normal as Ren apologetically looked at her.

"Sorry, I didn't expect this to happen. It looks like the high mana density here has somehow excited the bow."

After testing the bow to ensure that it was not acting up anymore, Ren handed it to her.

"Here."

"For me?"

"Who else but you can use the bow?"

Upon hearing his confirmation, Amanda lowered her head to gaze at the bow.

"This bow..."

She was left astonished and shaken by the tremendous pressure the bow emanated when her eyes locked on it.

'That's at least <S> ranked.'

It had to be noted that even <S> ranked artifacts were very rare. Each one of them went for an astronomical amount of money. One such example was Monica's sword which sold for billions of U back at the auction.

They were so rare that even her guild only had a couple of them. And none of them were bows.

The value of the bow Ren was giving her was simply tremendous.

So much so that Amanda was starting to feel conflicted.

'Ever since I've met him, all he's done ish lep me while I..'

Gently biting her lips, Amanda secretly clenched her fist. Thinking of her past, she realized that she had never truly helped Ren the way that he helped her.

She was always on the receiving end. There were times when she had also helped him, but compared to what he did for her, they were negligible.

...and she hated that.

'I want to help him.'

Help him as he had helped her.

"I'll take it."

And that was exactly why she firmed her mind and decided to take the bow.

Amanda had no reason to reject the bow in the first place. If she took the bow, her power and usefulness to Ren would increase dramatically.

Rejecting her would do nobody any good.

She wasn't one who didn't see the bigger picture and refusing the bow simply because she felt she owed too much to Ren would come across as though she was insecure on her part.

If she wanted to be of help in any way shape or form, she had to take the bow, and she understood it.

'I'll use this bow to help Ren.'

Extending her hand, she soon came into contact with the bow.

"Ugh."

An explosive force erupted from the bow the moment Amanda touched it, forcing her to take a step back.

Regardless, gritting her teeth, she continue to press her hand against the bow as she firmed her grip on the grip of the bow.

Even then, the bow proved to be a lot harder to handle than she originally thought as her mana started to quickly deplete.

"Kh."

"Let me help a bit."

In the midst of her struggle, she heard a gentle voice from beside her. A short time after hearing the voice, the pressure on Amanda began to ease and the power erupting from the bow slowly receded.

After that, the wild aura coming from the bow quickly calmed down, and it wasn't long before Amanda was finally able to fully control the bow as she firmly held it in her hands.

With heavy breaths, she glanced in Ren's way from the corner of her eyes.

"T..thank you."

While she still struggled to properly control the bow as her rank was still not enough to properly wield it, she was now able to somewhat bear the pressure.

Taking a couple of deep breaths to catch her breath, Amanda suddenly felt Ren's grip loosen from her shoulder.

"How do you feel?"

"...Tired."

Amanda replied with a bitter look on her face.

She truly did not expect Ren to suddenly pull out such a strong bow, let alone give it to her.

Regardless, staring at the bow in her hands, Amanda felt a weird sense of closeness.

Looking at the bow's frame that seemed to blend perfectly with the night sky, she thought.

'So beautiful.'

Amanda finally had a chance to take a good look at the bow now that it had calmed down, and she became able to appreciate its true beauty.

There was a subtle yet majestic glow emanating from out of its beautifully carved frame that seemed to be meticulously carved by hand by a master.

In addition, its weight also seemed to perfectly balance in Amanda's hand. It felt as though it was handcrafted just for her.

It was an odd yet satisfying feeling.

'It's perfect.'

Amanda thought as she raised and lowered her hand.

The bow was without a question even better than her current bow. Nightfall, an <A> ranked bow that she had been wielding for the past couple of years.

Without a doubt, this bow was far superior to it in any way shape, or form.

"I'll make good use of it."

Amanda muttered as she firmed her grip on the bow.

"I'm glad you like it."

Ren replied with a smile. There were hints of relief as he scratched the back of his head.

"I didn't know if you would've liked it to be honest. Although it's an <S> ranked artifact it still looks kind of u—"

"No, it's perfect."

Cutting Ren off, Amanda raised her head to look at him. Deeply staring into his eyes, she put the bow away.

"Hey, Ren."

Amanda called out.

"Yes?"

"Leaned forward a bit."

"Hm?"

Ren looked at her with a confused look on his face. Nevertheless, he complied.

"What is i—"

The events that followed felt like a blur to Amanda. It all happened so fast that it took her a couple of seconds to realize what she had done, and when she realized what she had done, it was already too late, as Ren stared blankly at her.

To Amanda's surprise though, she neither felt flustered nor shy.

Staring at Ren, her smile softened and she turned around. Lowering her head she gently bit her lips before she murmured in a low whisper.

"Thank you."

Without looking back, she walked back into the building, leaving Ren standing outside with a blank expression.

***

Clank—!

"Welcome back Ren."

The sound of my mother's voice welcomed me into the apartment. But to be honest, at this very moment, everything just felt weird to me as I just merely greeted her with a nod.

I couldn't quite process everything around me as a weird feeling surged from within me. A feeling that I couldn't understand.

In the end, much to the confusion of my mother and Nola, I walked toward my room and shut the door behind me.

Clank—!

When I reached my bed, I sat down on it and just blankly stared at the ceiling of the room for what felt like a very long time.

My mind was a bit of a mess at the moment as I struggled to comprehend the events of today.

It was a fun day.

So much so that it felt as though time was flowing at a different speed than usual. It was a strange yet pleasant feeling.

Never before have I ever felt as relaxed as I did today. I thought that this feeling would continue till the date ended, but...

Slowly raising my hand to touch my lips, I softly murmured.

"...Soft."

Chapter 557: Error [1]

"Ren, are you listening to me?"

As I absentmindedly lifted and lowered the spoon in my hand, I heard a familiar voice tickle my ears.

"Ren!"

The voice grew louder with every passing second, and before I knew it, it was right next to my ear, startling me out of my daze.

"Ren Dover!"

"Huaa!"

I screamed as my hand reached out for the corner of the desk to stop myself from falling.

Unfortunately, my efforts proved futile as I inevitably still fell to the ground.

Bang—!

"Ugh."

With my butt feeling the cold hard ground, I slowly raised my head to see my mother's face looking down at me. She had a rather worried look on her face.

"Are you okay Ren? Did something happen?"

"No."

Pressing my hand against the ground and picking up the chair, I sat back down. Then, picking up the spoon, I took a mouthful of cereal and ate it.

"Ren?"

"Mh, I'm just..mhm, I've got a lot to think about..mh."

"Don't speak while you're chewing."

With a small rag in hand, my mother sat down next to me.

Supporting her chin with both hands, she leaned her body a bit.

"Be honest with me. I can tell that something happened. You can tell your mother, I'm all ears."

Lowering the spoon in my hand, I turned to face my mother.

My brows soon furrowed and I sighed.

'Fuck it.'

"...I'm going to leave again."

Immediately following those words, I closed my eyes expecting my mother to go bonkers.

But...

"Hm?"

To my surprise, I did not hear my mother lose it even after half a minute had passed.

Upon opening my eyes, I was surprised to see my mother smiling at me. The sight caused my brows to jump up.

"Mom?"

"See, it wasn't so hard to tell me was it?"

"...What?"

Opening and closing my mouth, my head tilted.

I was legitimately very confused at the moment.

"...Are you not angry at me for leaving again?"

"Angry?"

Cocking her head a little, her neat blonde hair gently fell over her shoulder. Plucking her lips a little, she asked.

"Why should I be angry?"

"...Ehm."

Raising my hand to scratch the back of my head, I didn't know how to respond.

'What's going on?'

This wasn't the reaction that I had expected from her. Was there something wrong with my mother?

Was she sick?

Worry instantly flashed across my face.

"Don't look at me like that."

With a frown on her face, my mother slowly stood up.

Taking the rug from the table, she walked toward the kitchen and placed it on the counter.

Throughout the entire time, neither one of us spoke as I waited for her to start speaking. In no time, she asked me a question.

"Ren, do you know why I was angry last time?"

"...It's because I didn't say anything before leaving."

"Right."

With a turn of her body, I met my mother's eyes. They looked an awful lot like mine.

"If you know that, then why do you think I'll get angry over you leaving? You're already an adult. What you do with your life is up to you. I can no longer control you like when you were a kid as your safety was my responsibility. It still is, but considering our circumstances, I can no longer protect you like when you were young."

A sad smile flashed across her face as she leaned her body a bit.

"That's why I'm never going to stop you from doing whatever you want to do. You are strong, and I've seen it..."

Pausing for a moment, my mother let out a gentle sigh.

"All I ask is for you to tell me when you're going on such dangerous trips. Just so that I don't have to worry about where you are all the time. You can do that for me, no?"

"...Okay."

Taking my eyes away from my mother and staring at the bowl of cereal in front of me, I slowly nodded my head.

"I'll do that."

As water flowed from the faucet in the kitchen, the sound of the water echoed throughout the room. While putting one of the plates in the sink, my mother suddenly asked.

"When are you leaving?"

My hand suddenly paused. Bitterly smiling, I answered.

"Most likely today."

Unfortunately, we couldn't push the trip any further and therefore had to go today.

'As a matter of fact, I probably shouldn't be here right now.'

There were also a lot of things that I needed to do in order to ensure that the trip was going to be successful. I had already contacted Smallsnake about the little stuff, and so that was fine for now.

The real problem was something else.

'Jin.'

The plan to kidnap him was still on full steam. But in order for that to work, there were some things that I needed to handle.

"Haa..."

A sigh escaped from my mouth.

Today was going to be a busy day.

As my mother replaced the plate in her hand with a new one, she placed the old one on a rack beside her.

"For how long are you going to be leaving?"

"I'm not too sure."

"I s—"

Clank—!

Exactly at that moment, the kitchen door opened and a familiar figure appeared. While rubbing her eyes with her little fists, Nola held a small teddy bear by its arm.

Still in her pajamas, Nola dragged the bear behind her and slowly walked toward the kitchen table, and helped herself up. It was clear that she was still sleepy as she took no notice of me who was sitting in front of her.

Smiling to myself, I got off my seat and sat down next to Nola.

"Sleepy?"

"Mhhh."

Raising my hand, I gently stroked Nola's head. In spite of this, she did not react as she simply lowered her head so that I could stroke her better.

'How cute.'

While thinking of something, I tapped my bracelet once. In the blink of an eye, a large teddy bear appeared in my hand.

"Hey, Nola."

"Mhh..."

"Look, look."

Urging the bear forward, I pushed it toward Nola. When the bear touched Nola, her mind cleared up a little and her eyes opened wide.

"Waah!"

She let out a startled shout.

A broad smile appeared on my face as soon as I noticed her reaction as I leaned my head to the side.

"How about it Nola? Do you like it?"

"Brother!"

In an instant, Nola's eyes glowed with excitement. Extending both hands, she jumped toward the bear and hugged it tightly.

A particularly amusing aspect of the situation was that the bear was almost twice Nola's size, making it appear as if she had vanished.

"Mhh..mhhh..mhh..mhh.."

Muffled sounds rang out as Nola hugged the bear tightly. The sounds persisted for a couple of seconds before they stopped.

"Nola?"

I called out as my brows furrowed.

'Why did she stop moving?'

Getting up from my seat, I circled around the bear to discover Nola's figure motionlessly hugging it.

"Hey, Nola."

I immediately became startled as I placed my hand on her back and shook her.

"Nola."

I was met with no response. Panic started to set in from there as I shook her even more fiercely.

"Hey Nola, Nola, Nol—"

"Booo!"

"Whoa!"

Startled, I took a couple of steps back and almost tripped on the ground. Raising my head, I was met with the sight of Nola extending her tongue in my direction.

"Hehehe."

Calming down and realizing that I had been fooled, I glared in Nola's direction.

"Do you seriously think that you can get away with what you've just pulled?"

"Kyya! No! Mother! Haha, hehehe, Nooo!"

I ticked Nola's sides.

Just like most children in the world, Nola was ticklish. In fact, she was especially ticklish. Just tickling her legs would send her crying with laughter.

"Hahaha, brother! Stop!...hhahaha..."

Out of mercy, I stopped after ten seconds. I wasn't cruel enough to punish her for too long.

"You better have learned your lesson."

"....Yes...sorry brother. I will...never do it again."

Nola muttered on top of the bear on the floor.

It was needless to say that she had learned her lesson as she was having a hard time breathing.

A triumphant look spread across my face when I stared at Nola. Lowering my head, our eyes met and Nola stuck her tongue out.

"Stinky brother."

"On second thought, let's go for another round."

"Kyaa! Noooo...ahahhahah!"

***

"Did something good happen to you?"

In the midst of putting her shoes on, Edward stared at his daughter. While her face was covered by her hair that was leaning forward, she was currently wearing a long black coat that reached all the way to her knees.

Shaking her head, Amanda replied.

"Nothing in particular."

"...Is that so?"

Squinting his eyes, Edward decided to let it go.

Turning his wrist, he checked the time. 9:17 A.M.

"Let's get going. We're about to be late."

"Okay."

Finally managing to put on her boots, Amanda brushed her hair behind her head. After that, she turned around to wave at Natasha who was staring at the both of them with a warm smile on her face.

"Have fun you two."

"What fun? We're going to work. How about you help out as well?"

Edward rebutted as he playfully glared at his wife.

"Have you missed me so much that you want me to work next to you?"

"I do."

Edward seriously replied.

With a wave of her hand, Natasha's cheeks blushed slightly.

"How smooth."

"But I wasn't joking."

"Oh, you—"

Clank—!

Hearing the sound of the door opening, Edward turned his head only to see Amanda leaving the house with a weird look on her face.

"Hey, Amanda, where are you going?"

"Work."

"Wait for me."

Bitterly smiling in Natasha's direction, he followed after Amanda.

Clank—!

"Hey, Amanda, you can't just leave like that."

Closing the door behind him, Edward followed Amanda from behind. Halting her feet for a moment, Amanda turned her head to look at her father.

"...And you can't just flirt in front of your daughter like that."

"Uh."

Speechless, Edward closed his mouth and stopped speaking. Awkwardly scratching the side of his neck, Edward came up with an excuse.

"Amanda, your father, and mother have not met after so many years, it's normal for them to—"

Clank—!

Cutting him off was the sound of one of the apartment doors opening. Turning his head, Edward spotted a familiar figure.

"Ren."

"Uhh.."

But contrary to Edward's expectations, Ren did not greet him back but just stared in Amanda's direction with a blank look on his face. Most shocking was Amanda's next course of action.

"Good morning."

Walking closer to him, she greeted.

Leaning her face closer to him, a mischievous grin spread across her face.

"Going to work?"

"Ehm...Yeah."

Ren replied with an odd look on his face. Though not exactly flustered, he didn't seem his usual calm self.

'Odd...'

Edward's eyes began to squint once he realized this. This was the first time that he had seen Ren lose his composure like this, and the cause seemed to be his daughter.

'Don't tell me.'

A sudden thought crossed his mind as he alternated his gaze between Amanda and Ren.

"You two..."

***

A/N : Next chap in an hour or two.

Chapter 558: Error [2]

"That..."

Feeling Edward's gaze on me and staring at Amanda who was closely staring at me, I was left speechless and silently glared in Amanda's direction.

'Do something.'

I urged her with my eyes.

Turning around, Amanda looked at her father.

"Yes?"

"Ehhh..."

Alternating his gaze between Amanda and I, Edward looked to be at a loss for words. He eventually managed to speak.

"A..are you trying to take revenge for what happened this morning?"

Unexpectedly, and much to my confusion, Edward talked about something else entirely.

I glanced at Amanda who gazed at me from the corner of her eyes, and brushed her hair behind her ear.

"You finally understand?"

"Ugh."

A difficult look appeared on Edward's face. Soon, his shoulders slumped.

"Alright, I'm sorry."

After that, he proceeded to walk all the way toward the elevator.

The sudden turn of events left me dumbfounded as I pointed in his direction.

"What's up with him?"

"...Nothing."

Amanda gazed at her father's back.

"Mh~"

Stretching her body a bit she hummed in joy.

"Let's just say I took a little revenge for what he did this morning."

"At my expense?"

Without answering, Amanda flashed a small smile.

Taking a small step forward, she followed her father toward the elevator.

"I'll see you soon."

She whispered as she got into the elevator. The elevator doors soon started to close, and the last thing I heard was Edward's faint whispering voice.

"Hey, Amanda, that was a prank, right? There's nothing really going on between you two, right?"

"Maybe?"

"Ey, Amanda. This is not f—"

Clank—!

***

"This should be all."

With a satisfied smile on his face, Kevin clapped his hands together. In front of him were two large bags filled to the brim with goods.

With a wave of his hands, the two bags magically disappeared.

After that, Kevin tapped the air with his finger. A translucent blue screen formed in front of him.

[Quest.]

Information : Stop the Demon King from consuming this planet.

Location : Cassaria.

Goal : Stop the demon corruption of the planet.

Rank : <A-> +

Requirement for transportation : <A> ranked core.

Total people : Three.

Reward : [Demon King Ascension + 1 year.] [Minor realm rank up.] [Synchronisation + 15%]

Penalty : [Demon King Ascension - 1 year.]

===

"...I hope I'm not too late."

He had been delaying this quest for quite a while now, and he was finally going to embark on this new trip.

"Phew."

He let out a sigh of relief.

"Fortunately, it doesn't look like the delay has caused the mission to become harder."

Kevin feared that his delay in the mission would've increased the mission's difficulty.

Fortunately, it turned out to be a needless worry since the system prompt remained the same.

"I better get going."

Turning his wrist to glance at his watch, Kevin headed out of the door.

"Ah, right."

When he was about to leave, his feet slowed. As he turned around, he glanced at a picture frame positioned on top of one of his desks.

There were two people in the picture. Both bear a striking resemblance to Kevin.

Moving to the picture frame, he slowly caressed it and his face softened.

"Mom, Dad, I'll be leaving for a bit now..."

The faint sound of his voice echoed through the room.

"...It's going to be a dangerous mission. One that might force me to leave this place for quite a long time, but strangely enough, I don't think there will be much trouble. I've got two reliable people coming with me..."

A faint smile spread across his face as he scratched the side of his nose.

"They both are weird in their own way, but I trust them, so...I'll be coming back soon."

Touching the frame, Kevin slowly closed his eyes.

"I hope you don't miss me too much while I'm gone."

***

"Haaa…"

After parking my car and getting out, I gazed at the distant warehouse.

Closing the car door and heading there, I sighed.

'What a headache.'

The mere thought of what had happened not too long ago caused my head to hurt.

Recalling Edward's last words, I involuntarily let out another sigh.

"He definitely suspects that something happened..."

This was going to be troublesome.

Beep—!

By pressing my hand against the wall, the metallic door that led to the warehouse automatically opened.

"Who are you guys again?"

I heard a familiar voice in the distance as I entered the warehouse. It was shortly after followed by more voices.

"Oh god."

"Just how bad must your memory be if you can't even remember what someone told you ten minutes ago?"

"Hein, do something."

"Me? What am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know, maybe try knocking your shield against his head. That should knock some sense into him."

"…But it'll get dirty."

As I was far, I couldn't quite understand what they were arguing about. But without a doubt, it was probably something annoying.

Walking toward the main lobby and opening the door, I spoke up.

"What's going on?"

My words immediately ended the argument, and everyone turned their attention to me.

"Ren!"

"You're finally here!"

"Finally!"

To my surprise, the moment I arrived, the rest of the group rushed toward me with bright looks on their faces. They looked like children who had just found their parents.

'What's going on?'

Their reaction instantly raised alarm bells inside my head. When had any one of them ever greeted me like this?

There was definitely something fishy about the situation.

"Ren I've been trying to contact you since last night. Why didn't you answer my calls?"

Smallsnake was the first to complain, looking rather haggard. Staring at him, my eyes flashed with pity.

'He must have gone through a lot.'

"Did you just pity me?"

"Just your imagination."

After taking out my phone and checking it, my brows raised slightly. This was because I had noticed that I had over 20 missing calls.

"Ah, you're right. You really did call me several times."

"You think?"

Smallsnake rubbed his forehead.

"I know that you're busy with a lot of stuff, but what do you think will happen during an emergency if you don't answer?"

Scratching the side of my head, I apologized.

"…You're right."

To be honest, I had never experienced stuff like this in the past as I always tended to check my phone.

Yesterday was the only exception, and for so much to happen on the exact day that I did not check my phone, I could only blame my bad luck.

Really.

"I'll make sure to pay close attention to your call next time."

After putting the phone away, I looked around the room. I wanted to see exactly what was causing Smallsnake to be so distressed.

My confusion grew as I looked around and saw nothing.

"Mhh, what is the emergency? Everything looks fin—"

My eyes locked in a certain direction halfway through my sentence, and I suddenly stopped speaking.

"Lightning Dragon?

It was there that I spotted a familiar face. With his long hair falling down his shoulder and signature yellow eyes, Lightning Dragon leaned against one of the tables.

Similarly spotting me, he greeted.

"Yo."

"…Yeah, I just arri—"

"Hold on."

I was cut off by Smallsnake, who alternated his gaze with Lightning Dragon and me.

It was then that he looked straight into my eyes.

"He actually remembers you?"

"Hm? Yeah."

What kind of question was that?

Of course he remembered me. It'd be weird if he didn't recognize me.

"Ah!"

But it was at that moment that I suddenly recalled something.

Raising my hand to cover my forehead, I gazed at the others and finally understood what was happening.

A wry smile spread across my face as I turned my attention back to Smallsnake.

"He has memory problems."

"No shit."

Smallsnake answered as he glared in my direction.

Shifting my head a little I silently muttered.

"...kind of rude."

"As if you were never rude..."

Smallsnake grumbled with his arms closed.

"I don't think you understand how much trouble he caused the moment he walked in."

"...I don't."

I wasn't exactly there to see it. However, Smallsnake's words sounded rather ominous as I suddenly felt an ominous promotion.

Glaring in lightning Dragon's direction, Smallsnake raised his voice.

"The first thing he did as soon as he came into the warehouse was attack us!"

"Attack you?"

I dumbfoundedly stared at Lightning Dragon.

'Seriously?'

"Yes! Not just me, but everyone else in here!"

'Oh god.

While staring in Lightning Dragon's direction, I couldn't help but feel a massive migraine coming my way.

Taking a deep breath, I looked at Smallsnake.

"Everyone seems to be fine at the moment. It was probably a short fight, right?"

"Do you see Leopold and Angelica anywhere?"

Smallsnake suddenly asked.

Glancing around the room, I shook my head.

"Now that I think about it, I don't see either of them."

"Obviously not! The two of them are injured upstairs. What's with the monster you brought?"

Smallsnake stared at Lightning Dragon with lingering fear in his eyes.

The same could be said for the remaining others in the room. He was clearly reminiscing the vents that happened not too long ago.

"Hm? What about Han Yufei?"

Then I noticed one person was missing. It was Han Yufei. "

"Him?"

Famously known as the babysitter of the group[, Smallsnake was quick to answer.

"He's gone to the place you told him to go. He should be back by noon."

"Ah, I see."

'He's a lot faster than I expected.'

After I gave him the Gravar-style location, he immediately rushed there without wasting a moment.

As expected of him. He was efficient.

Scratching the back of my head, my eyes became serious.

"How badly injured are Angelica and Leopold?"

"Fortunately, not by much."

Smallsnake sighed in relief.

"We were somehow able to calm him down after one of us shouted your name. From there we were able to figure one thing."

"Oh?"

My curiosity was piqued.

"What did you figure out?"

"...That everything is your fault."

"Oy."

"No need to deny the truth."

After staring at Smallsnake for a few seconds, I shook my head.

"...All right, fine."

It was indeed my fault. When I decided to have him come directly to me, I probably should have thought more carefully.

'Maybe I should've written in the letter 'Don't beat people up'. Not sure...'

"Let me handle the situation from now on."

In any case, I was glad the situation didn't escalate any further. Given Lightning Dragon's strength, he could've most likely beat everyone present apart from maybe Angelica who strangely seemed to have lost.

'I'll have to check up on that.'

After patting Smallsnake on the shoulder, I walked toward Lightning Dragon.

"Lightning Drago—."

"It's Liam."

Lightning Dragon suddenly interrupted me.

I was taken aback for a moment.

"Scuse me?"

"I'm Liam, not Lightning Dragon."

"Ah, right."

Indeed. Lightning Dragon was just a made-up nickname for the arena.

Now that he was no longer there, there was no need for me to call him by his nickname.

Stopping in front of him, I pointed toward myself.

"You remember me, right?"

"I do."

Liam's answer was fast and quick. Surprising me and the others in the room.

"That's great."

I nodded my head in satisfaction. I was glad he remembered me. Now things would be much easier.

Unfortunately, my joy was a bit premature, as his next words almost knocked me over.

"I do remember who you are, but I don't know why I'm here."

"...Seriously?"

"Yeah."

My lips smacked together.

I had already lost count of how many times I wanted to facepalm my face by now.

Turning around, I waved my hand at Liam and urged him to follow.

"Follow me for now. I'll tell you the details soon. I think I know of a way to solve your memory problems."

"...Ehh, okay."

Nodding his head, Liam complied and followed me into my office.

Just as I was about to leave the lobby, I turned to look at Smallsnake.

"Ah right, before I forget, a couple of people will come soon. Notify me when they come."

"Who is c—"

I had already left before Smallsnake could finish his words.

I was in a bit of a hurry. Solving Liam's memory problems was the current priority.

Chapter 559: Error [3]

"Relax your mind for a bit."

I pressed my hands against Liam's head and circulated the mana inside of my body.

"Make sure to leave your mind unguarded. If not, it will hurt quite a bit and I will not be able to do anything."

"Sure, but..."

Liam's confused voice echoed out as he slowly opened his closed eyes. Staring right into my eyes, his brows furrowed.

"...What exactly are we doing right now?"

'Shit, he's already forgotten.'

I smiled while cursing to myself inwardly.

"Just do as I say. You can trust me."

"...Oka—Huak!"

Liam's eyes suddenly jumped up in shock as the mana inside my body flowed out and activated my skill.

"Sorry, but this might hurt a bit."

I forcefully activated the skill in the midst of his speech.

Considering the current circumstances, this was the only option available to me.

Whenever I explained what I was going to do to him, he would end up forgetting. If this continued, it would be an irritating never-ending cycle.

Thus, I decided to just do it.

"Argh!"

Throughout the room, Liam's pained voice echoed as a white hue spread from my body before swiftly covering everything around me.

"Relax your mind."

I spoke through my gritted teeth.

"If you guard your mind, all it will do is increase the pain and make it hard for me to help you!"

In spite of his pain, Liam managed to hear my words and soon stopped struggling as his face relaxed.

I sighed in relief when I saw this.

'Thank god.'

Things could have been extremely complicated if he hadn't calmed down.

"Huuu..."

'Let's get this over with.'

I closed my eyes and focused my mind. Instantly, I was bombarded with thousands and thousands of images and scenarios. All of which were scattered apart.

The amount was so overwhelming that my brain almost fried on the spot. Thankfully, I had something to help me.

The chip.

With it going at full throttle inside of my mind I was able to sort out all of the different scenarios inside of my head, alleviating a lot of the burden on my brain.

During that time, I began to notice how the images broke apart with every passing second.

'Is this the reason why he's losing his memories?'

The moment I saw this strange phenomenon, I realized why Liam's memory was so poor. I wasn't exactly sure what it was, but something inside Liam's head kept destroying his memories.

'Let's see if I can do something about this.'

Forcing a quarter of the remaining mana out of my body, the white hue around me brightened up considerably.

It was during this time that Liam's memories stopped dissecting. Satisfaction washed over me once I saw this. But this wasn't all.

Looking through the memories and finding the corresponding pieces, I slowly brought them together and merged them.

And just like puzzle pieces, they slowly combined together.

'It worked!'

After observing for a few seconds, I noticed that the two pieces I connected were no longer disconnecting. My eyes lit up when I saw this.

It worked. My method worked.

There was now a way for me to fix Liam's memories.

Chugging down a mana potion the hue around my hand expanded.

'Alright, let's continue.'

"Keep your eyes closed and empty your mind."

Repeating the same process again, time eventually flew by. Before I knew it, thirty minutes had passed and droplets of sweat dripped down toward the ground forming a small pool of sweat.

"Haaa..Haaa.."

The sound of my heavy breathing echoed throughout the room as I struggled to concentrate.

'It's too much.'

I shook my head as my brows furrowed tightly.

In spite of the fact that I was being helped by the chip in my head, there were still too many memories and simply put, my mana was already almost exhausted.

'It looks like I have severely underestimated just how big his problem is...'

In addition to the insane amount of mana needed to complete this simple task, there were just too many memories to sort through.

Had it not been for the chip inside of my head, I would've already given up long ago.

"I can't."

I dropped to the ground as I removed my hands from Liam's head.

"Haa..Haa..."

While I was heavily breathing on the ground, Liam slowly opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times.

Surprise flashed across his face as he scanned the room.

I carefully lifted my head and stared in his direction.

"How do you feel?"

"...I've felt better."

Liam replied as he blinked his eyes.

Massaging my forehead, I decided to test him.

"Why are the two of us here?"

"To fix my memory problems?"

"Do you remember what you did before coming here?"

"Beat up your people."

My mouth twitched at his answer.

Nevertheless, I was satisfied with what I heard as I slowly sat up straight.

"It looks like your memory has improved."

"...It looks like it."

Liam quietly mumbled.

His reaction surprised me as I tilted my head.

"What's wrong? Is there something wrong?"

"No."

Liam shook his head as his brows furrowed.

"It's just that I can only recall a select few memories, not all."

"Ah."

Standing up to scratch my body, I reassured him.

"About that, I've only been able to partially restore some of your memories. It'll take a lot longer to completely restore all of your memories."

'If ever...'

I honestly doubted that I could ever fix his memory given the huge number of memories he had.

Not only that, but the source of his problem was still not resolved. He was still going to forget everything that was going to happen to him in the future.

That was not something that I was able to fix.

All I did was make it so some of the memories he experienced could not be forgotten.

'The problem is most likely due to the art that he practices...'

"If it's too much to ask, do you have a copy of the martial art you practice?"

"...Ehm."

Liam looked at me as he scratched the side of his face.

"To be honest, I don't remember."

"Figured."

I waved my hand as I took out a towel to brush away the accumulated sweat on my body.

"I'll have a look at it during our next session."

Pinching my soaked shirt, I proceeded to head out of the room. Now that the treatment was over, I needed to properly rest.

I was exhausted.

Clank—!

Upon opening the door, I was greeted by a familiar figure sitting on one of the sofas in the room. With a curious look on his face, he seemed to be looking around the place.

"Kevin."

I greeted him.

Immediately after I called out for him, his head turned to face me.

"Ren."

Taking a moment to look at me, he was taken aback.

"What happened to you?"

"Don't worry about it."

I sat down on one of the sofas and let out a long breath.

Wrapping my arms on top of the sofa, I stretched my body a bit.

"Let me rest for a bit. At least till our final guest arrives."

"Guest?"

"You'll know soon enough."

***

Han Clan.

As multiple figures sat on nicely carved wooden chairs by the side of the halls, a heavy silence engulfed the majestic clan's halls.

At this moment, all eyes were drawn toward the middle of the room where a figure stood. His sleek black hair was neatly pushed behind his head in a pomade style, his back was straight, and he was wearing traditional Chinese attire.

He was none other than Han Yufei.

"Have you found it?"

A deep voice echoed throughout the room. It belonged to none other than the figure sitting at the forefront of the room.

Han Gaye. Han Yufei's father, and current head of the Han clan.

Raising his head to meet his father's line of sight, Han Yufei proudly nodded his head as he extended both of his hands forward, revealing an old and worn-out brown book.

"It was as he promised. This truly is five-star sword art, Gravar style."

There was a deafening silence in the room as no one spoke. In the midst of the silence, the only sound that could be heard was the sound of the elder's heavy breathing.

All of whom were reverently staring at the book in Han Yufei's hand.

'As expected of a five-star sword art.'

Han Yufei thought as he scanned the room with his eyes.

A five-star sword art simply had that much appeal. All of the elders in the room could barely restrain themselves from rushing to him and grabbing the art.

In any case, as Han Yufei gazed at his father, he didn't move.

He was waiting for his father's next decision. And he didn't have to wait for long as his father soon opened his mouth and ordered.

"Make sure you practice the art well."

"Huh?"

"Ah!?"

"What?!"

But his next words came as a shock to everyone in attendance.

Immediately after everyone processed his words, they all stood up from their seats to protest.

"Quiet!"

But before they could do that, Han Gaye's voice thunderously reverberated throughout the room.

A tremendous pressure erupted from his body as he scanned the room with his eyes. His fierce gaze shook all of the elders out of their thoughts they soon lowered their heads in shame.

Taking a few moments to let the elders calm down, Han Gaye gazed in Han Yufei's direction.

"As you were the one who managed to find the sword art, you will be the first one to practice it. Under my name, Han Gaye, I pledge not to let anyone take your sword art from you until you have fully mastered it. Me included."

Standing up from his seat, Han Gaye's robe fell toward the ground. As his gaze swept toward the elders in the room, he continued.

"Remember this clearly. Our priority is the future of our clan, and Han Yufei is the only one in our clan that is qualified to practice this art. You are all too old."

While Han Gaye's words echoed once more, the faces of some of the elders turned bitter as they nodded their heads.

Taking note of their reactions, Han Yufei sighed in relief.

'I'm glad I talked to father about this.'

As he had already taken a small glimpse of the Gravar style, Han Yufei learned that only those who were below the age of twenty-five could learn this art. For anyone older than that, the result would only end up in their death.

Furthermore, even if someone practiced the art at the appropriate age, there was still a high mortality rate.

Simply put, the art was far too dangerous to share with the other members of the clan, and most of the people in the room understood this as the Gravar style was quite famous back then.

Even then, their reluctance was evident.

After discussing it for a bit, Han Yufei and his father decided to let him practice it first before letting the other have it.

Although his father wasn't exactly on board with the idea of having his son risk his life to practice sword art, Han Yufei was adamant and so he had no choice but to agree.

After all, the fate of the clan was riding on Han Yufei's shoulders.

They would be in big trouble if he failed to master the art.

"Are there any objections?"

While his father's voice deeply echoed throughout the room, Han Yufei focused his gaze on the book and silently clenched his teeth.

'I have to master this at all costs...'

For the fate of his clan who was currently under threat from the other clans, and for himself.

He had to do it.

***

In front of a large warehouse, a black sedan roared along with the sound of its engine.

With it being the middle of nowhere, the sound went unnoticed. When the car stopped in front of the warehouse parking lot, its door slowly rose, revealing a figure inside.

"When would you like me to pick you up, young master?"

"You can wait here for now. I don't think it will be long."

Jin stepped out of the car and placed his hand over its hood. His brows knitted as he gazed toward the distant warehouse.

'It looks pretty badly maintained.'

Taking a moment to study the warehouse in the distance, Jin was left confused. Taking out his phone and double-checking the location, his confusion only grew when he realized that he was in the right place.

'Are these really his headquarters?'

He couldn't believe it. For someone as wealthy as Ren to have this sort of place as his headquarters...

Just how much of a cheap skate was he?

"Well, whatever."

Putting his phone away, he tapped the car with his hand and headed to the building.

"Perhaps the internals of the buildings are better than the externals."

Chapter 560: Error [4]

"Have a cup of tea."

As I slid the teacup across the table, I smiled. With a skeptical look on his face, Jin sat opposite me.

Following that, he pointed to Kevin.

"What is he doing here?"

"You don't want me here?"

Kevin replied as he took a sip of the tea. He had a rather hurt look on his face.

Jin's eyes squinted as he stared at Kevin. He eventually shook his head.

"No, never mind."

After that, he extended his hand and grasped the teacup that I passed to him.

As he brought the cup to his mouth, he asked.

"So what have you called me here for?"

"Let's not get to that first. How about we catch up a bit first? There's no rush."

I replied as I took a sip of the tea in my hand.

What a delicious tea it was.

Furrowing his brows, Jin took a small sip of the tea

"But I am in a rush."

Smacking his lips together, he brought the cup away from his mouth and stared at it. His brows tightly knit against each other.

"What's wrong?"

I curiously asked.

Turning his head to look at me, Jin shook his head.

"Nothing, I just thought that the tea tasted weird."

"The tea tasted weird?"

When I turned my head to look at Kevin, he was looking back at me in a similar manner.

Taking another sip, Kevin looked at Jin.

"Strange, I don't notice anything weird with the tea."

Following his actions, I also took a sip of the drink.

"Me too."

After smacking my lips together, I looked at Jin.

"Perhaps it's just you."

"Mhh…maybe."

Taking another sip of the drink, Jin frowned again before putting the drink down.

"I don't like it."

"…A pity."

I also put the teacup down.

Brushing my hair back, I leaned back on the chair I was sitting on. As I pried my lips out, I asked.

"Anyways, did you think about my previous offer?"

"The one about going somewhere with you?"

"Yes."

I subtly nodded my head.

Since it had been some time since I had last offered him the deal, there was a chance that his decision had changed.

I prayed that this was the case.

"It's still a no."

However, Jin didn't seem to have changed his mind as he shook his head once more.

"If you had asked me another time, I might have been able to come, but I am currently extremely busy with clan-related matters."

"Is that so…"

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Tapping the armrest of my chair, I frowned.

"…Does this have anything to do with Edward's return?"

When those words left my mouth, Jin's expression changed a little.

'Bingo.'

I thought to myself as I took notice of his actions.

'As expected, he really is worried that Edward might do something.'

"…What if I can guarantee you that Edward will do nothing until your return? Will you consider my offer then?"

Jin raised his brow in surprise as he heard my words.

"Are youw saying you can stop Edwwward from d..oing anything while we're away?"

"Yes."

I firmly nodded my head.

Given the fact that I saved his life, I didn't doubt that he would listen to my simple request.

"Hmm…"

Jin's face turned serious as he covered his mouth with his hand.

For the next couple of seconds, he didn't say anything as he looked lost in his own thoughts.

Meanwhile, I looked at Kevin who was similarly looking at Jin.

He was clearly hoping that Jin would accept the proposal, but…

"I still cwan't."

Jin once again shook his head.

Placing both of his hands on the armrest of the chair, he helped himself up.

"There are a lwot of things that I need to handle at the moment. Even if you somehow are able to stop Edward from acting, I don twink that I will bweable to com—"

Jin's fumble became more prominent and it didn't take long for him to understand that something was wrong as his eyes opened wide.

His line of sight instantly fell toward the teacups.

"Y…you…"

As he took a knee to the ground, he placed both hands on his throat.

The look of shock and betrayal on his face as he lifted his head to stare at me was evident.

"How...cou..ld you d..o this to ..m..e?"

"My apologies, Jin."

Pressing my hands on the armrest of the chair, I also stood up.

I then pointed at Kevin.

"I would like to start by saying that this is all Kevin's idea."

"Oy."

Kevin reached out for my arm and glared at me.

Staring back at him, I relented.

"Alright, fine. It was my idea."

Jin remained silent throughout the entire time, glaring in our direction. If eyes could kill, I'd probably have died many times over by now.

My heart almost ached for him as I stared at him.

'What a poor soul.'

In an effort to meet his eye line, I lowered my body to meet his gaze.

"My sincere apologies, Jin, but since you kept refusing our offers, we were left with no other choice but to kinda...Keum, excuse me. I meant, give you a helping hand."

"Believe me, had there been another choice, I wouldn't have done something like this…"

'Maybe.'

Extending my hand, I patted Jin on the shoulder.

"Anyhow, sleep for now. By the time you wake up, you will be on a fun adventure with Kevin and I"

With a glare that was many times more intense than before, Jin mustered all of his strength to raise his hand before giving me the middle finger.

"Fuc..k you!"

Thump—!

Those were the last words Jin uttered before he passed out.

"...That was kind of rude."

Scratching the side of my head, I stood up to look at Kevin.

"Operation kidnapping Jin complete?"

"Just stop."

Pitifully staring at Jin who was passed out on the ground, Kevin sighed.

Crossing his arms together, he asked.

"What do we do now?"

"Go to his driver and tell him that Jin is going to stay with us for a while."

"What? Why me?"

I looked at him with an all-knowing look.

"Do you really need to think about it?"

If there was one person in the human domain that was thought of as a kind and humble hero, it was Kevin.

The driver might just believe him if he was the one telling him that Jin would stay with us for a while.

Of course, those weren't the only preparations I made.

Tapping onto my bracelet, I tossed Kevin a small UBS drive.

"Also, give the driver this, and tell them that it's from Jin."

"What's this?"

Catching the USB drive, Kevin skeptically looked at it.

Waving my hand, I urged him out of the room.

"Just do as I said. We don't have much time."

"…alright."

As Kevin clutched the device in his hand, he nodded his head and left the room.

"I'll go tell the driver now."

"Good."

Clank—!

A sudden silence filled the room as he closed the door behind him.

Silently mumbling to myself, I stared at Jin still on the floor.

"I better get to work."

***

It had been an hour since then, and we were standing in the middle of my private training grounds.

"It looks like you spent a lot of money on this place, right?"

Kevin asked as a dumbfounded look spread across his face.

"The place looks just as advanced as the training grounds as the Lock and the Union."

"Well, yeah. That's the whole purpose."

While staring around the training room, my heart started to bleed.

As I thought back to the amount of money I spent on this place, tears started to fall by the side of my eyes.

'I spent way too much money on this.'

Enough to make me want to regret my decision.

"...You really have too much money in your hands."

"Do me a favor and set up the portal for now. I would appreciate it if you didn't remind me of this."

I snapped at Kevin while pointing toward the middle of the training grounds where there was an empty space.

"Don't worry about something going wrong. I didn't spend so much money on this place for nothing. If something truly goes wrong, I'll knock you out and bring you out of the place."

"Alright, I trust you."

With a nod of his head, Kevin carefully walked toward the center of the training ground before stopping.

Thinking of something, he turned around to look at me again before pointing in my general direction.

"Is Jin going to be fine like that?"

"Him?"

As I glanced over my right shoulder to see Jin's passed out figure, I waved my hand.

"There is no need to worry about him. Set up the portal now and stop wasting time."

"Fine."

Turning around and nodding his head again, a dark green orb metalized in his hand out of nowhere.

It was the <A> rank core that was needed in order to set up the portal.

In a hurry, Kevin brought the orb forward before it vanished magically. An instant later, a white ball the size of a ping pong ball appeared in front of Kevin. Mana started to spiral toward the ping pong ball in the air, distorting the space around Kevin.

In no time at all, the mana in the air rushed toward Kevin before continuously circling the white ball.

Within a minute, the spiral had grown to twice Kevin's height, and a portal soon started to form. In the air, the mana density increased with every passing second, and by the time the portal formed, the mana density became extremely thick.

With sweat trickling down the side of his face, Kevin turned to look at me.

"Haaa.hhaa...D..one."

***

"A portal..."

Opening his eyes, Jezebeth gazed into the far distance. Peering through space with his eyes, his gaze on a particular planet.

Earth.

His brows furrowed as his eyes locked onto his planet. More specifically toward a thin white layer covering the planet.

Trying to peer through the space around Earth, Jezebeth's energy quickly dissipated.

"I'm still not strong enough..."

There was no change in expression as he realized this.

It was within his expectations. After all, he knew that it would still take him a few more years in order to break the last protective barrier protecting the earth, or more specifically, the layer designed to protect Kevin, the Akashic holder.

Nevertheless, just because Jezebeth couldn't kill him on earth, it didn't mean that he couldn't kill him elsewhere.

It was precisely because of this that his mind was extremely alert at this moment.

After all.

Kevin was planning to travel to another planet.

"Hm?"

While Jezebeth was focusing his gaze on earth, he suddenly noticed something. His brows jumped up in surprise.

"...Why do I sense five more points concentrated with Akashic laws?"

At this moment, Jezebeth realized something was amiss.

Although he couldn't see through the planet barrier, Jezebeth could tell from a glance that Kevin had used the Akashic powers to create five linkage points.

But exactly for what reason had he done that?

Jezebeth soon fell into a state of deep contemplation.

"I understand."

It didn't take long for Jezebeth to understand what was going on, and the expression on his face darkened.

"...This must be your backup plan."

With his hands raised to face the earth, Jezebeth closed his eyes slowly.

"This might set me back a bit, but..."

A crack began to appear in the space around him, and the world around him began to twist.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

"...It's worth it if it can help me kill you faster."

***

A/N : Next chap in a bit.

Chapter 561: Error [5]

As Kevin and I gazed at the portal, a homing sound reverberated throughout the room.

Kevin turned to look at me.

"Should we go?"

"Wait."

I shook my head as I deeply gazed at the portal in front of me.

"…Let's just wait a little bit."

There was something about the situation that did not sit well with me at the moment.

After covering my mouth with my hand and slipping into deep thought, I turned my gaze to Kevin.

"Are you noticing anything strange with the system?"

"Nope."

Kevin replied as he gazed at the air in front of him.

The frown on my face deepened.

'Am I overthinking things?'

Perhaps I was, but considering what Kevin told me before, I thought there was something amiss.

'If Jezebeth is truly responsible for Kevin's system malfunctioning, might he be waiting for something? ...or was the last time just a fluke, and he couldn't do anything at the time?'

My mind was filled with so many questions.

Unfortunately, in light of the limited amount of information I had at the moment, I was unable to discern the truth.

"Ugh, this is frustrating."

I muttered to myself while ruffling my hair into a mess.

'This sucks.'

I was really frustrated by the idea of not knowing what was happening. Besides that, I also felt a little apprehensive about the whole trip.

Kevin's whole speech about the system not working had raised alarm bells inside my mind.

"...So?"

Kevin's voice echoed from beside me.

Patting Jin's back, I turned to look at him before gazing at the portal again.

Observing the portal once more, I once again inquired.

"...Are you sure that there is nothing wrong with the system?"

"Doesn't look like it."

Kevin shook his head in response.

"...Alright."

In the end, I relented after a few seconds of observation and seeing that he was being completely honest.

"It might seem overly cautious of me, but we should both take some precautions just in case something goes wrong."

"As in?"

"As in we should wear this."

Taking out a couple of small devices from my dimensional space, I passed one to Kevin. It was a small black pin. One with golden engravings in it.

As he stared at the same device, Kevin wondered.

"What's this?"

Looking at Kevin, I placed the device on the right side of my shirt and did the same for Jin who was passed out on my shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Once I was done putting on the device, my face twisted slightly.

"...It's a one-time use <S> rank artifact."

"Huh?"

Surprise flashed across Kevin's face as he looked at me.

His face changed once more as he lowered his head to look at the device.

"Where did you get this?"

"I bought it."

I replied while trying my best to stop myself from making a weird face.

"Where else do you think I can find three <S> rank artifacts like these?"

"Dunno, a dungeon?"

"As if I have time for that."

The device that I gave Kevin and Jin was an <S> rank one-time use defensive artifact. In line with its name, it would stop working after a single activation.

Nevertheless, just because it was a one-time use device didn't mean that it was bad. After all, with it, I doubted even an <S> rank could one-shot me with it.

As a whole, I spent most of my magic card money on them. At the moment, my bank account was almost empty and my heart bled at the thought.

Regardless, I didn't regret it.

Especially after hearing about the problem with the system.

Better safe than sorry.

"Wear it for now. In case nothing happens on the trip, you can give it back to me."

"...Alright."

Kevin slowly nodded his head before leaving the device on his shirt.

Inhaling deeply, he turned to look at me before taking a step toward the portal.

"Then I will go first."

"Good luck."

"Thanks."

From behind, I carefully observed him with squinted eyes.

It wasn't my intention to enter the portal just yet. I wanted to wait and see if anything happened to Kevin first before anything else.

"Alright."

Without further ado, Kevin took a step into the portal and the mana in the air danced wildly. Observing him throughout the entire time, and seeing half of his body slowly entered the portal, I was pleasantly surprised to see his body disappear without any trouble.

'Good.'

I secretly sighed in relief when I saw this. The same could be said for Kevin who waved his hand in my direction.

"Looks like everything is good. I'll be going first. I'll meet you on the other side."

"Sure."

I nodded as Kevin's figure disappeared into the portal.

As he left, a gentle homing sound echoed throughout the room.

"Huuu…"

After taking a deep breath, I carefully studied the portal in front of me for a few more seconds. As soon as I confirmed that there was nothing wrong with it, I decided to move forward.

"It looks like the coast is clear."

Glancing at Jim who was slumped on my shoulders, I took a step forward and entered the portal.

"Here goes nothi—huh!?"

***

With his hand extended in a certain direction, Jezebeth slowly opened his eyes.

"It's time."

Locking onto the energy in the distance, Jezebeth slowly clenched his fist. Immediately after clenching his fist, he felt the portal in the distance begin to destabilize.

A powerful hue sprung out from his body as the space around him shattered completely and his hair blew back.

"...As if I'm going to let such an opportunity slip."

Following the five extended threads that were connecting with the Akashic laws, even more, power sprung out of Jezebeth's body as his face started to twist and his armor started to crack.

Cra..Crack—!

Immediately after his actions, Jezebeth outstretched his arms before joining them together.

Clenching his teeth tightly, he glared toward the distance.

"Since you can teleport back to earth thanks to the links you created, how about bringing them with you?"

As he uttered those words, the space around him collapsed, and waves of energy spread from his hands. Seconds later, the waves joined up together before shooting toward the earth.

As the waves reached Earth, they slowly reached out for the five connecting points and everything around Jezebeth calmed down.

"Khh..."

Letting out a short groan, Jezebeth's knees buckled as he stared toward the distant earth.

"Hm?"

Jezebeth touched his cheeks as he felt a moist sensation. A look at his finger revealed that it had become bloody.

Paying no mind to it, he turned his focus back on earth and a satisfied smile soon spread across his face.

"This will do for now..."

***

*Puff*

While Leopold held on to a large cigar, a wave of smoke diffused in the air. With both feet on the tea table in front of him, he turned to look at Smallsnake.

"Hey Smallsnake, what exactly is Ren planning on doing?"

"No idea."

Lifting his glasses up, Smallsnake placed a piece of paper on top of a large stack. A slight twitch appeared on his face as he lifted his glasses up.

As a result of all the time he spent working, Smallsnake now wore glasses, and he wasn't used to them yet.

"It's likely he's doing something crazy again. Just ignore him. You'll find your mental health will improve when you realize this."

"I see..."

*Puff*

Leopold took another puff of the cigar.

"Can you stop?"

Waving her hand over her nose, Ava glared in Leopold's direction as she entered the room. In addition to growing a few centimeters, her previously long hair was now cut to reach her shoulders.

"Why is it that every time I see you, you're smoking?"

*Puff*

"You wouldn't understand."

Leopold extended his hand which was holding onto the cigar.

"How about you try it yourself?"

"I'm good."

Ava snappily replied before turning to look at Smallsnake.

Walking up to him, she placed both hands on the desk and leaned her body forward.

"Anyways Smallsnake, we've got a problem."

"A problem?"

Taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes, Smallsnake looked at Ava.

"What's the problem?"

"It's He—"

Halfway through her sentence, Ava's eyes snapped open widely as her head jerked toward the faraway distance. Towards a certain room.

She wasn't the only one to react like this as Leopold dropped the cigar in his hand and stood up.

Taking note of their sudden reactions, Smallsnake grew alarmed.

"Hey, what's going on you tw—"

But before he could even finish his sentence, the room in the distance suddenly burst apart.

The last thing he heard was Ava's panicked voice as his vision soon turned dark.

"Run!

***

—Keeping up with the news. The stock of the Demon Hunters guild rose significantly over the past few days following Edward Stern's return. It has increased to a point where the overall value of the guild has more than doubled over the past few days. This is an unprecedented event...

Click—!

Turning off the radio, Han Yufei focused on the road in front of him.

[We will reach the destination in the next two minutes]

A sweet voice echoed throughout the car. Turning to glance at his GPS, Han Yufei tapped on the car screen and turned off the music that was playing in the background.

"Haaa..."

Focusing his attention back toward the road he let out a long sigh.

"Now that I've finally received my end of the deal, I have to uphold mine and sign the contract."

To be honest, Han Yufei's feelings were rather complicated at the moment.

He was excited about the upcoming future. After all, he did just acquire a new five-star sword art. The Gravar style at that. One of the most famous sword arts in the human domain.

...But it was exactly because of this that he felt his emotions become complicated.

While tapping onto the steering wheel of the car, he silently muttered to himself.

"...It is rumored that the Gravar style requires an inhuman level of pain to master. Only through such pain can they reshape their bodies and fully learn the sword art. However, through such a method, there is a very real possibility of death."

It was those words that gave rise to the complex feelings in Han Yufei's mind. And with the fate of his clan on his shoulders, Han Yufei felt a great deal of burden.

Even then, Han Yufei was prepared.

For whatever would allow him to grow stronger and faster, he was prepared for anything.

[You have arrived at your destination.]

Pressing onto the brake the car soon came to a stop.

Clank—!

Getting out of the car, Han Yufei gazed toward the building in the distance. Covering his face with his hand to block the sunlight, he silently muttered to himself.

"I still can't get used to the sight."

It truly was really ugly on the outside. Thankfully, having been inside, he knew that it was only like this on the exterior.

The exterior was much nicer.

"Hm?"

A slight fluctuation of the mana in the air caused Han Yufei's brows to knit as he approached the warehouse.

While it was only subtle, it instantly raised alarm bells inside Han Yufei's head as he became more cautious as a result.

'Is someone planning on attacking this place?'

The thought made him even more apprehensive as his eyes sharpened.

But just as he had taken a pose, another mana pulse shook the air. This time, it was a lot more powerful and fierce than before.

Han Yufei's head quickly snapped toward the source of the pulse, the warehouse, and his eyes immediately grew wide.

"What's going on—"

Before he could even finish his sentence, his world grew dark.

Chapter 562: Error [6]

"Give this to the guild master."

Extending her hand, Amanda handed Maxwell a stack of papers. Printed on them was a long list of names and guilds.

The list was essentially one Amanda made while her father was away. It was a report detailing all the schemes and problems that a few individuals had caused the guild during her tenure.

Additionally, it included a list of former guild members who are now looking to return.

As if she was going to let them return after leaving the guild.

"Understood."

A courteous smile spread across Maxwell's face as he took Amanda's list in his hands.

Taking a brief looking at the file, he soon closed it.

"I'll make sure to report this to the guild master. He will be pleased with the list."

"I hope so."

Amanda replied with a faint smile.

With a bow of the head, Maxwell bid Amanda goodbye and left the room.

"I'll be taking my leave now."

"Okay."

Clank—!

His departure left the room silent, leaving Amanda all alone deep in her own thoughts.

Drumming her fingers on the wooden desk, she turned around to stare at the scenery outside.

"He's probably already left, hasn't he?"

Although he may not have told her when exactly he was planning to leave for the trip he told her about, Amanda could make a rough estimate based on his personality that he had probably already left.

Just the thought made her shake her head as she bitterly smiled.

'That's just so like him.'

While he may have many mysteries, his personality was quite predictable once you got to know him well.

"…I wish I could leave here as well."

Amanda's lips quirked as she stared at the long stack of papers in front of her. An inescapable sigh escaped from her mouth as she thought of all the work that she had to do.

Over the past few years, she had honestly grown tired of all of the desk work she had to do. Not only were they boring, but they were also extremely time-consuming.

Furthermore, it also started affecting her real strength as despite never missing a training session, she could feel her skills stagnating.

"Oh, well."

Once again sighing to herself, Amanda turned to focus her attention back on the papers in front of her.

While it may have been a pity that she couldn't attend, she also had responsibilities of her own.

"Maybe another tim—!!!"

A bright white light engulfed Amanda's body as she cut her sentence off mid-sentence.

"What's going on?"

She stood up from her seat.

As Amanda stood there, a small crack appeared beside her. An instant later, a small wind gale blew her hair back, forcing her to back away.

"Khh.."

While holding both hands over her face, she tried to peer through the crack.

'Am I being attacked?''

She instantly grew alarmed at the sight as a bow materialized in her right hand. A powerful aura suddenly enshrouded the room as the bow appeared. It was none other than the <S> rank bow that Ren had given her.

Additionally, she attempted to press the emergency button to warn the other guild members of the attack.

In the midst of doing this, Amanda felt her body lean forward as she felt a powerful suction force appear from the crack in front of her. Her face twisted with horror.

"Ukh."

While clenching her teeth, Amanda looked right and left to see if she could find any support.

Unfortunately, there wasn't, as the suction force intensified with each passing second, forcing her toward the crack.

...and before she knew it, Amanda's body was suddenly tossed into the crack after she could no longer hold herself still.

It all happened so fast that she didn't even have the time to scream.

Bang— Bang— Bang—

In response to her disappearance into the crack, all the items in the air fell to the ground, bringing the office to a state of silence.

***

At the same time.

"…5mg of Acetelyx should be enough."

Squeezing the top of a pipette, Melissa carefully observed the transparent liquid that was dropping onto a small test tube in front of her. She was in a state of extreme concentration as she tried to moderate the liquid that was dripping down the pipette.

It wasn't long before the drop of liquid finally fell into the test tube seconds after the pipette was squeezed, and smoke started to rise immediately.

"Shit."

Melissa cursed out loud as she threw the pipette in her hand and snapped her head in Rosie's direction.

"Quickly, go get me a powerful alkali! I fucked up."

"Uh? Huh?"

Startled by Melissa's sudden outburst, Rosie didn't know how to reply as she just dumbly stood still.

This irritated Melissa to no end as her voice raised.

"Quick! What are you waiting for? Did you not hear what I just said? Bring me some powerful alkali! I need to neutralize the solution!"

"Ah! Yes!"

Immediately snapping out of her thoughts, Rosie left toward a different side of the laboratory to find the alkali she was looking for.

In the meantime, Melissa returned her attention to the test tube which was now engulfed by weird purple flames.

"Just great…"

She muttered in a dissatisfied tone.

"Another failure."

Her most recent project was developing a method to control wild animals. She had received a little something from Ren not too long ago, and she clearly wanted to put it to the test.

After all, whenever he gave her a theory, he often times proved to be right.

Sort of.

At least idea-wise. Most of the time it was just her filling in the blanks.

In fact, just the thought irritated Melissa to no end.

"Why does he always give me these incomplete details? You really dislike making my life easier don't you?"

Glaring at a set of papers beside her, Melissa pulled her glasses up and sighed.

"I really can't deal with him."

If there was one person she couldn't handle, it was Ren. And that irritated her to no end.

Extending her hand for the papers, Melissa's hand suddenly paused.

"Hm?"

Sensing something, her head snapped toward her right.

"What th—"

Before she could comprehend what was happening, her body vanished out of thin air. It all happened so fast that within a quick second she was gone.

For the next couple of seconds, a deep silence enveloped the lab.

The silence was soon broken by Rosie's voice as she rushed towards where she used to sit.

"I've got the Alkaline that you've requeste—"

Rosie was disappointed to find Melissa gone just after she had entered the room.

In a confused expression, she gazed around after lowering her hand that was holding onto a jug filled with the alkaline solution.

"Don't tell me that she's already left?"

Placing the jug on the table next to her, Rosie was left in dismay.

"…I'm not even surprised at this point."

***

"Hieuk" "Hieak!"

On a rocky terrain covered in red rocks and sand, two lizard-like creatures with sharp spikes protruding from their back were half the height of a human, walked on two legs, and reptile-like eyes, carefully scanned the surroundings.

They seemed to be looking for something.

"Hieuk" "Hieak!"

Communicating with one another, one of the creatures pointed toward a large rock in the distance.

Following his comrade's line of sight, the other creature cautiously headed toward where the rock was.

When the creature reached the rock, its spikes sharpened as a dark green liquid began to fall from its body.

Tsss— Tsss—

A hissing sound echoed in the air as the liquid touched the ground, forming a small and bottomless hole on the ground.

It was clear that it was some sort of extremely potent poisonous substance.

In an attempt to take a peek, the creature moved toward the right side of the rock, but...

SHIIIING—

A sharp silver blade swept through the air, cutting the creature's neck off as the creature turned to look behind the rock. It all happened so fast that the creature was unable to react to the sudden unexpected situation.

Thump—

With a low thump, the creature's body fell to the ground, lifeless.

Catching sight of what had happened in the distance, the other creature grew enraged and stuck its tongue out, letting out a shrill cry.

"Hieeeek!"

A young female with long auburn-colored hair emerged from the other side of the rock. Apathetically glancing at the creature in the distance, she held onto a short sword in her right hand.

Using her pinkie to pick her ear, she muttered before tossing her shortsword in the air.

"Noisy."

After tossing the short sword in the air, she twisted the heel of her foot and kicked the shortsword with the sole of the foot.

Bang—

"Hieek!"

Accompanied by a muffled sound, the shortsword shot in the direction of the creature, impaling it right in its chest area, sending it crashing into the distance.

"Huaaam…."

Yawning out loud, Emma glanced at the creature and muttered to herself.

"Who would've thought that I would be able to deal with them so easily."

Recalling the time when she used to struggle to handle such creatures, Emma felt a bit of shame.

In her defense, the creatures were both <B+> rank. Back then she was only around <B> rank.

Had she not spent over half a year in her family dungeon to accumulate experience she would've never been able to defeat them.

"This should be the last one."

When Emma approached the creature and picked up her shortsword from its body, the world around her began to distort.

She sighed in relief when she saw this.

'I guess it's time for me.'

Currently, she was inside her personal VR machine, not a dungeon. After just coming out of the dungeon a couple of days ago, she wanted to try out a virtual simulated scenario.

Staring at the time, [38H 29M 58S], it was fair to say that she had improved a lot.

Her excitement was suddenly interrupted by something unexpected.

"Hm?"

Amanda raised her head.

Exactly at the same time the world around her started distorting, she noticed cracks starting to form in the air around her.

"Huh? What's going on?"

Alarm bells instantly rang inside of Emma's face as she looked around her.

"What is hap—"

But before she could even finish her sentence, she suddenly felt a suction force envelope her body, and her consciousness slipped.

Chapter 563: Error [7]

Crac…Crack!

Over the expanse of a large grassland, a crack began to form in the very air, causing the grass beneath to bend down prostrately.

Crash—

After a short while, the air tore apart, and a large black portal appeared from thin air, spewing out the outline of a figure.

"Ugh!"

Upon impact with the ground, Kevin's body slid against the grass, tearing it to shreds.

Stumbling over repeatedly, he soon came to a stop.

"Pui!"

Laying down with his back facing the sky, he spat the grass in his mouth and silently murmured to himself.

"…That hurt."

After massaging his head and blinking a couple of times, Kevin's mind instantly came back to reality.

"Is this Cassaria?"

Taking a look around him, he found the scenery around him to be surprisingly normal.

The sky was clear and there was one sun in the sky. The grass was as green as it was on earth, and the air also felt as fresh as it did back on earth.

It looked no different from earth.

Furthermore…

"The gravity is also pretty much the same."

While jumping in the air, Kevin was surprised to discover that the feeling was similar to that of when he jumped back on earth. Simply put, the gravity here in Cassaria was almost the same.

"It's better if it's like this."

This was great news for him as it meant that his movements wouldn't be slowed down by gravity and he could fight in optimal conditions.

Wiping his forehead, Kevin turned to look at the portal that was behind him. Currently, it was merely fluctuating and showing no signs of change.

The situation clearly unnerved Kevin, who murmured inwardly.

"...Is he coming or not?"

Waiting for the next couple of minutes, Kevin's brows knit tightly.

"What's taking him so long?"

Approaching the portal, Kevin's frown tightened.

Taking a moment to pause in front of the portal, Kevin decided to wait for a bit longer.

'Did Jin perhaps wake up and is Ren now busy trying to knock him out?'

If so, it would make sense.

But...

"…Did something really happen?"

After ten more minutes went by without Ren and Jin showing up, Kevin became increasingly concerned.

To make matters worse, the portal suddenly started to twist and distort.

When Kevin saw this, he began to really worry.

"Hold on, what exactly is happening right now?"

The alarm on his face grew as he tapped in the air and muttered.

"System."

[Error]

[Error]

[Error]

[Error]

[Error]

Immediately after opening the system, he was met with a streak of long texts all saying the same thing.

"…Error?"

Not even a second after his words echoed out the portal in front of him started to fluctuate wildly before suddenly shrinking together and disappearing out of thin air.

"What the fuck is going on!?"

Kevin's heart tightened.

Waving his hand in the air, he quickly looked through the system mission.

But…

[Quest.]

Information : Stop the Demon King from consuming this planet.

Location : Cassaria.

Goal : Stop the demon corruption of the planet.

Rank : <S>

Requirement for transportation : <A> ranked core.

Total people : Three.

Reward : [Demon King Ascension + 1 year.] [Two minor realms rank up.] [Synchronisation + 25%]

Penalty : Death.

"What!?"

Kevin's eyes opened wide in shock.

"The mission rank increased to <S> rank?!"

'How is this possible!?'

Even though this wasn't the first time the difficulty of a mission had changed, it was the first time it had changed so abruptly without any warning. Furthermore, the difficulty of the mission was way above that of his level.

There was something extremely wrong with the mission.

Kevin was genuinely shocked at the moment as his mouth opened and closed repeatedly.

"Something terrible must have happened."

The impeding sense of doom he felt a few days ago once again was felt by Kevin as he paced around the area he was in.

His feet soon came to a pause as he recalled something.

'What about Ren and Jin? Did something happen to them?'

Kevin's heart sank the moment he thought about them.

In the event that something truly did happen to them, Kevin would not know how to react since he saw it as his fault for dragging them along.

"Please be fine."

After waving his hand again, he pressed the soul linkage interface on the system interface before him.

"Thank god I have this..."

Kevin silently murmured to himself as the system interface expanded to show him a large map.

As a result of this new feature, he was able to tell whether his friends were in danger or not

…and much to his luck, Kevin was able to see Ren's and Jin's name.

They appeared to be close to one another, but far from him.

"Phew."

Kevin sighed in relief once he saw this.

"It looks like they are on this planet as well."

Taking note of the fact that they were on the same planet as him, Kevin felt even more relieved.

However, his relief did not last for long as his face soon hardened.

"W..what?"

He was stunned to see another dot appear on the map as he stared at the interface.

"How?"

Almost immediately after, another dot appeared and shortly thereafter another followed. It didn't take long before Kevin was left in a state of utter shock.

Kevin's whole body started to tremble as his face paled.

Bringing the interface closer to the interface, his voice shook.

"H..how did they get here?"

***

Taking a moment to restore some of his lost stamina, Jezebeth steadied his body.

Drip— Drip—

While clenching his teeth together, he heard the sound of his blood dripping toward the ground. He paid it no mind.

Slowly he brought himself to the throne on the other side of the room and gracefully sat down.

"Haaa…"

A small groan escaped Jezebeth's lips as he slowly closed his eyes to rest.

"I didn't expect the backlash to be this strong."

Murmuring to himself, Jezebeth reopened his eyes.

Cra..Crack!

With a wave of his hand, a crack formed in the space in front of him, and a figure appeared on the other side. Because of how far he was, the features of the figure were obscure. Regardless, Jezebeth was still able to hear his voice clearly.

"Y..your majesty!?

The figure's surprised voice echoed.

"Magnus."

Jezebeth acknowledged him by calling his name.

"I apologize for my behavior. How may I be of service, your majesty."

Despite being surprised by the sudden call, the individual behind the voice quickly composed himself.

A faint smile spread across Jezebeth's face when he took notice of this as he slowly opened his mouth.

"Magnus, how many planets are on the verge of being completely contaminated?"

"As in nearly corrupted by demonic energy?"

"Yes."

"Give me a moment."

Even though Magnus, the demon summoned by Jezebeth, was surprised by his request, he immediately set to work.

In the next minute, the halls fell into silence as Jezebeth kept his eyes closed awaiting Magnus's words.

Jezebeth's intentions at the moment were simple.

His goal was to figure out which planet Kevin was on. While he was able to stop his backup plan, he wasn't aware of which planet he arrived on.

In any case, it didn't really matter as Jezebeth was quick to figure out his intentions.

'In order to set my plans back a bit, you are working to prevent one of the planets under my control from being completely corrupted, right?'

What other reason would he have to leave for another planet?

If there was one way to delay his inevitable rise then it was through stopping him from corrupting a planet.

Jezebeth wasn't stupid and he naturally understood what Kevin was trying to do. Of course, this was also a great chance for him to kill him.

Ultimately, only when Kevin died would he really be able to win this game he had been playing for so long.

"I've got the reports over here your majesty."

Disrupting Jezebeth out of his thoughts was the sound of Magnus's voice.

Leaning his head on his hand that was propped up on the armrest of the throne, Jezebeth opened his mouth.

"Speak."

"As you wish."

Following his order, Magnus started to speak.

"As of right now there are a total of fifty eight planets that are being corrupted. Of which, eight are on the verge of being completely corrupted, twenty one are a couple of years from being corrupted and the remainder are still half a decade away."

"Hm…"

Listening to the report, Jezebeth's eyes began to squint.

'…This is going to be more difficult than I thought.'

Realizing that looking through all fifty eight planets would take too much time, Jezebeth thought for a moment before ordering.

"Magnus…"

"Yes, your majesty!?"

Quick to respond, Magnus's voice raises a few pitches. He was evidently scared of displeasing Jezebeth.

Not minding his attitude, Jezebeth ordered.

"Send me an inquiry to all fifty eight planets, asking if there are any humans there. Especially if they had seen any of them arrive recently."

"Humans?"

Magnus's confused voice echoed out in the halls.

Jezebeth's brows knit as his voice deepened.

"Is there a problem with my request? Can you not do it?"

A powerful force suddenly sprang out from his body before spewing into the crack in front of him.

"Khh…no! Not.. at all!"

Struggling to speak, Magnus quickly tried to appease Jezebeth.

"Don..t worry…I can ge..t it done."

Deeply staring at the void, the pressure coming out of Jezebeth's body appeased.

"Make it quick, I don't have much time."

"U..understood."

Following his words, the void in front of Jezebeth distorted before disappearing.

Silence once again returned to the room as Jezebeth slowly closed his eyes.

He was trying to take this moment to recover from the wounds he previously sustained.

Admits the silence, opening his mouth, he silently mumbled.

"…Just you wait. I'll be coming very soon."

***

Darkness.

That was all I could see at the moment.

It was a familiar sight.

One that I had seen many times in the past...but compared to before it was different. This time, feeling the cold hard ground against my back, I knew that I was alive.

"Khh…I can't move my body."

I was currently paralyzed and unable to move my muscles.

"W..here am I?"

My mind was filled with many questions as I tried to figure out where I was, but as time passed and I struggled to move, I realized that the situation was a lot more dire than I initially thought.

This was especially so after I realized that my mana was sealed.

'Shit.'

My heart started to beat faster as my survival instincts started to kick in.

Drop—! Drip—!

At the moment, all I could hear was the repetitive sound of water dripping from the side of where I was laying.

Was I inside a room? I couldn't tell as all I could see at the moment was a pitch black darkness. I thought of calling out for someone, but upon further thought, I realized that it wasn't a wise idea.

Keeping quiet was the best course of action.

"I'm thirsty."

I mouthed to myself without making any noise as I moved my pinky, which was finally moving after a long time of trying.

Unfortunately…

"My bracelet…"

My eyes dilated as I tried to move my right hand, and it was there that I was shocked to realize that my bracelet was gone.

'Shit!'

The realization came as a sudden shock that left my mind blank for a few seconds.

I couldn't afford to lose the items inside of my dimensional space...

They were simply too precious!

'I have to calm down.'

The panic did not last for long as I clenched my teeth and forced myself to calm down.

I knew better than anyone that panicking in this situation was only going to be counterproductive.

"Huuu…"

Taking a deep breath and calming my nerves, I closed my eyes and summarised my current situation.

'Let's assess the situation for a moment. Currently, I'm inside an unknown place where my mana is sealed and my bracelet is missing. Furthermore, my entire body is paralyzed, making it difficult for me to move around...'

The more I thought about my situation, the more my face twisted. I was in a really crappy situation, wasn't I?

As I stared blankly into the darkness, I was quick to come to a decision.

'My priority right now should be to finally get my body to move.'

It would be impossible for me to figure out what was going on without a functioning body.

Thus...

Closing my eyes, I focused all of my attention on the muscles of my body.

'I guess it's time to practice my new martial art.'

Chapter 564: Dark room [1]

'How long has it been?'

I wondered to myself as I dully stared upwards.

By now, all I could see within my vision was empty darkness. Nevertheless, I continued to keep my focus on my body.

As long as I could move my body...

'The body strengthening method requires me to suffer quite a bit in order to practice it, and at the moment it is of no use to me. However, the very first part of the exercise does not require me to do anything of the sort, since all I need to do is feel my muscles in order to feel the nerve connections to my body which might actually be able to solve my paralyzing problem...'

Focusing my attention on the muscles of my body, I shut my eyes and thought about the martial manual Han Yufei had given me.

With the aid of the chip inside of my head, I was able to somewhat recall most of the most important points of the first technique, body hardening.

'This is my only hope.'

There was only one goal I had at the moment, and that was to move my body again.

Only that way could I figure out what was actually happening to me.

'Now that I think about it, what exactly happened?'

My memories were hazy since all I could recall at the moment was seeing the portal swallow me up with Jin. Everything was sort of a blur as, after that, I had no recollections of anything.

Actually, thinking about it, there was indeed something else.

'I do faintly remember having my body carried somewhere. Did I perhaps pass out during the incident and got taken prisoner by the demons?'

Suddenly, different scenarios began to appear in my mind as my heart slowly sank.

'If that's truly the case, it makes sense as to why I'm here and my mana is sealed.'

Not only that but to have also taken my dimensional space…

The situation was a lot more precarious than I had originally thought.

'What happened to Jin?'

When my thoughts paused there, I suddenly recalled that Jin was beside me right before everything happened, and my eyes immediately darted to my right and left.

I was only able to see darkness at the moment.

I didn't give up though.

As I closed my eyes, I tried to focus on my hearing to see if there was anyone else nearby.

'If I can hear his breathing…'

Drip— Drip—

After a few minutes, I realized I was all alone inside of this space as the only sound I could hear was the sound of the liquid dripping from the side of the room. Its rhythmical drops messed up my concentration several times as my face contorted.

Struggling to hear for the next minute, I eventually gave up.

'Fuck, just what in the world is happening?'

I became frustrated once again as I stopped whatever I was doing and concentrated on practicing the art Han Yufei had taught me.

An impending sense of danger washed over me.

***

"Ugh…"

Jin's mind was currently in a haze at the moment as he could hardly think straight. While his stomach churned, his head throbbed.

"...Where am I?"

His groggy and tired voice echoed out. Opening his eyes, all that he saw within his vision was darkness.

A darkness which he was able to quickly adjust himself to as he had long been accustomed to such darkness no thanks to his strict training.

"Hm?"

It was then that found that he was unable to move his body.

With wide open eyes, his mind immediately became alert. However, that did not last for long as his brows knit.

"Ren! Kevin!"

He shouted at the top of his lungs as he clenched his teeth tightly.

Jin felt boiling rage rise from within him as he remembered the events leading up to his awakening.

'Those bastards fucking drugged me, didn't they!?'

"What did you guys do to me!? Let me go this instant before I get mad!"

He once again shouted as he lied in his sentence.

He wasn't going to get mad if they didn't let him go as he was already mad.

'Just wait till I get out of here! I'll fucking kill you both!'

The loud shouts he let out were greeted with silence, as he felt his anger boiling over.

"Bastards!"

He shouted once more as the veins on his neck protruded and his face reddened. He could even feel some of his spit land on his face as he spat out those words.

But even then, he was met with no response...forcing Jin to calm down and stare at the darkness before him.

Blinking his eyes a couple of times, he took heavy breaths.

"Haaa...haa…"

'Just you wait you fuckers.'

Jin inwardly cursed as he finally calmed down and observed the area he was in.

Suddenly, Jin realized he was lying inside of what appeared to be a small, rocky room that was covered in some sort of strange moss.

By the corner, there was a small section where water dripped down.

Drip— Drip—

The rhythmical dropping sound of the water falling brought calmness to his mind.

With a knit of his brows, Jin wondered to himself.

'What's going on?'

"Huh? My mana?"

It was then that he suddenly took notice of the fact that there was no mana inside of his body. Closing his eyes to see if there was something wrong, he realized that he truly couldn't feel his mana and his heart quickened.

Further adding to that, he couldn't feel his dimensional ring on any of his fingers.

Alarm bells instantly rang inside of his mind.

This…

This seemed a little bit too strange for a prank that Kevin and Ren would pull. Maybe not for Ren, but knowing Kevin well, Jin knew that something was up with the situation.

He would never go as far as this.

It soon finally dawned on him that this perhaps have not been a prank.

Thus, closing his eyes he stopped speaking and focused all of his attention on his body.

'Whether this is a prank or not, the first thing I need to do is make my regain the senses of my body.'

***

'I can feel something.'

Feeling a small electric current flow through my body, my eyes lit up.

When I closed my eyes, I repeated the same thing and I felt my arm reconnect with me. It wasn't long before I could finally fully feel my senses grow back as I slowly raised my hand in the air.

I rejoiced inside of my mind as I waved my hand in front of me and felt the air on my face.

'It's working! I cant finally move my arm!'

A relieved smile spread across my face as I took notice of this fact.

"Thank god..."

I quietly murmured d to myself.

In the end, it took me a total of four hours to get my arm moving again, but instead of being annoyed by the thought, I was happy as I closed my eyes once again and repeated the same process for my other arm as well.

Hope rekindled inside of my mind as I focused all of my attention on the muscles of my body.

As long as there was progress...

"Ugh."

But the process was anything but easy as a weird tingling sensation circulated around my body, creating a wave of discomfort.

There wasn't anything painful about it, but I felt as though a thousand feathers were tingling all over my body, trying to disrupt my concentration.

'This sucks.'

I thought to myself as I fell in and out of concentration several times.

On a good note, my eyes were slowly adjusting to the darkness around me, enabling me to get a rough idea of where I was.

'It appears that I am in a small room. The size shouldn't be too big considering the sound coming from the water dripping from the side, even then…'

In the midst of my thoughts, I heard an unexpected rustic metallic sound coming from above.

Clank—!

"Ukh!"

Falling to the ground, I felt a weird mucus-like substance fall all over my body, startling me.

"What's this!?"

As I smelled the substance, my face contorted and my head recoiled.

'It smells like rotten eggs.'

My stomach churned at the smell and I almost felt myself throwing up at the moment.

But…

Clenching my teeth, I stopped breathing through my nose and continued to focus my attention on my body.

Something told me that the substance was supposed to be my food…

I really hope it wasn't.

***

"W..what is happening?"

Flustered, Kevin continued to stare at the interface in front of him as his attention was currently drawn to the dots on the map.

The shock Kevin was experiencing was palpable as he covered his mouth with his hand unable to utter a single word.

He just couldn't understand how everything had turned out to be this way.

"…J..ust how is it possible for everyone to be here?"

He really couldn't understand it. Unless he directly opened up a portal for them, it was practically impossible for them to be here. There was definitely something weird about the situation.

However, Kevin wasn't one to remain flustered for long as he soon calmed down.

Taking a deep breath, he analyzed the map in front of him.

"If I want to, I can teleport to anyone right now."

Given that his skill enabled him to teleport to anyone he wanted, Kevin was tempted to just teleport his way toward where Ren and Jin were.

However, he soon shook his head.

"The two of them don't seem to be in any danger at the moment as their vitals seem to be okay. If I recklessly teleport myself to them I may put the both of them and me in danger."

If he suddenly appeared out of nowhere during a fight, disrupting their concentration and resulting in injury, how would Kevin ever forgive himself?

It was at that moment that a dot appeared next to them, and Kevin's brows knit together.

"...it also looked like they were with Emma at the moment."

Sort of.

Jin's, Ren's, and Emma's dots were all moving in the same direction, making Kevin sigh in relief.

"It looks like Emma will be alright."

With Jin and Ren with her, Kevin didn't have to worry about her safety.

That being said.

His brows soon knit as he stared at the two other dots.

Amanda and Melissa.

Just like Jin and Ren, the two of them were quite close to each other.

They weren't exactly as close as Ren and Jin were, but they weren't exactly too far. Perhaps only a few kilometers away.

Unfortunately, as the map Kevin was using wasn't clear at all, he couldn't tell exactly how far they were.

Regardless, Kevin was quick to make a decision.

"I'll go meet up with Melissa and Amanda first."

The reason for his choice was simple. Melissa alone was weak, and although Amanda was quite strong herself, she used the bow, making her short-distance fighting rather weak.

"After I join up with them, I'll join up with Ren and Jin."

Making up his mind, and swiping his hand to the right to get rid of the interface in front of him, Kevin proceeded to head in their direction.

"First target, Melissa."

Chapter 565: Dark room [2]

'It's bright.'

Squinting, Melissa covered her face with her hand to block the light coming from above. It was really bright. Bright enough to make her eyes feel sore.

"Ugh."

Her mind was rather groggy at the moment and she wanted nothing more than to sleep at the moment.

She felt tired. Extremely so.

But…

"The fuck!?"

With a sharp snap of her eyelids, Melissa stirred out of her slumber.

After her mind sobered up a bit and she recalled the events leading up to her finding herself in this state, she immediately felt uneasy.

"Shit, where are my glasses?"

In search of her glasses, Melissa tapped the ground with her hands.

It was difficult for Melissa to see anything without her glasses, as everything around her was extremely blurry.

"Where are they?"

Touching around her and only feeling what felt like thick hard grass, Melissa's brows knit tightly.

"I knew it."

Melissa muttered to herself as her face twisted in displeasure.

"…I knew that I shouldn't have agreed with Ren's deal. Whenever I do something with him, I'm always hit with the worst of luck. Now I probably lost my glasses and will never find them ag—"

Right at that moment, Melissa felt something in her hand. Carefully touching it and recognizing its shape, she grabbed the item and put them on her face.

"Nevermind."

She mumbled to herself as she got up and took a look at her surroundings.

"Still doesn't change what I previo—huh?"

Melissa's jaw grew slack as gazed into the distance.

She was left in awe by what she saw as she struggled to comprehend the scene in front of her at that moment..

"…Where in the world am I?"

The scenery…

It looked like nothing like she had ever seen before.

A majestic forest of thick canopy trees bent at different angles covered the northwest part of the landscape. A vivid palette of rose, amber, and violet feathers shaped leaved replaced the regular looking ones to create a breathtaking spectacle.

The air was thin and easy to breathe as Melissa had no trouble breathing.

But…

"This is not earth."

Melissa was quick to guess that something was wrong with this place. It had no semblance of the earth she knew.

"How is this possible?"

Rather than being flustered, Melissa's eyes twinkled with an uncommon excitement.

"It can't be right?"

By tapping her bracelet, she took a tiny device out of her dimensional space and pressed the small button that sat atop of it.

Beep—! Beep—!

A beeping sound echoed out.

"61% nitrogen, and 30%% oxygen…"

Melissa's eyes opened wide in surprise as she read the measurements displayed on the machine. Her excitement soon reached an all-time high.

"Holy shit. I'm really on a different planet."

On earth, the percentage of nitrogen to exygen was around 78% to 21%. On rare occasions would it differ, but it was only by a small percentage. Compared to this place, the air was a lot more rich in oxygen.

This level of oxygen levels were the same as back when earth was in its infancy stages, and it could only mean one thing.

This place was filled with enormous bugs, and forest fires.

"Shit."

The thought made Melissa cringe. If there was one thing she despised the most, it was bugs...and the idea of possibly finding bugs that were the size of whales, made her face contort into weird angles.

Even then, putting that aside, Melissa was still excited about her current situation.

After all, if there where shes could collect data for her research, it was none other than this place! A place filled with prehistoric beasts.

"Wait a second..."

Malissa's excitement, however, didn't last long. Her eyebrows knitted together.

"Right, I might be on a different planet, but how exactly am I supposed to go back to earth now?"

She didn't even know how she got here in the first place. In fact, she was extremely confused as to why she suddenly appeared here out of nowhere.

She was quietly minding her own business in her lab when suddenly, out of nowhere, bam! She found herself stranded in this unknown place.

...Just what was going on?

"Hmm…"

Melissa's excitement faded as reality dawned on her. She pinched the middle of her brows in annoyance as she quietly mumbled to herself.

"I'm fucked, aren't I?"

***

Several kilometers away from Melissa, in a different location.

"What's that?"

Squinting, Amanda peered through the thick canopy of trees and glanced to the distance where she saw a tall black pyramid.

The moment Amanda saw the pyramid in the distance, her heart tightened as she felt a sense of existential doom. There was this suffocating feeling rising from the pyramid in the distance that set her off.

Suddenly, a bright purple light also shot into the sky as she stared at the top of the pyramid.

Slowly, the clouds in the sky darkened and the sky turned red.

"This phenomenon..."

Taking note of what was happening, Amanda tensed her legs and leapt up as she took her eyes off of the pyramid-like structure.

She landed perfectly on a taller branch of a larger tree. As she once again leaped toward the top of another branch, she eventually reached the top of the tree and was then able to see the pyramid in its entirety.

Observing the structure in the distance, Amanda quietly mumbled to herself.

"A mana compressor."

Previously, she wasn't quite sure what the pyramid was, but now that she could see it better, she was certain.

It was a mana compressor.

A large scaled mana compressor.

And a device used by demons to convert the mana in the air into demonic energy.

Looking into the distance, Amanda knew one thing for sure; the mana compressor in the distance wasn't just any mana compressor. It was one designed to completely swallow up planets.

From that point on she was able to figure something out.

"I'm not on earth."

In the event that a mana compressor of this size had been built on earth, humanity or other races would've discovered it long ago. It was simply impossible for it to be on earth, and she knew that.

The same could be said for the unfamiliar environment, as Amanda marvelled at the various plants and vegetation that she had never seen before.

'The size of the plants look to be far bigger than anything I've seen on earth...'

Amanda was quick to snap out of her thoughts as her attention was once again drawn toward the pyramid in the distance.

"...How did this happen?"

It all happened so abruptly that she had no idea how she found herself in such a situation.

At the moment, she was only here to get an idea of where she was. Little did she think she was on another planet.

...At least until now.

***

"I can finally move."

With the help of the rocky wall beside me, I supported my body as I stumbled weakly.

Clenching my hand as I felt something soft on the side of the wall. I ripped whatever it was from the wall and brought it closer to me.

"Is this moss?"

Squeezing my hand to feel the texture of the lump on my hand, I brought it closer to my nose and sniffed it.

"It smells like it…"

Not that I knew how moss smelled like.

As I dropped the moss on the ground, I turned my attention to the surroundings.

It was dark.

Looking around, I saw nothing but darkness.

"Huuuu..."

With a deep breath, I placed both hands on the wall and slowly began to move my legs in a sideways motion. At the moment, I was trying to figure out how big the room was.

As soon as my foot touched the corner of the room, I could approximate its size.

"Ten steps vertical, and twelve steps horizontal..."

It was neither too big nor too small. Just about the size of half a basketball court.

'I'm thirsty.'

Smacking my dry lops together, I moved toward the area where the liquid was dripping. The closer I got, the more pronounced the sound became.

Drip— Drip—

Gulp.

I swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

As of now, I had been here over a day and was extremely thirsty.

Smacking my lips together once more, I extended my hand in the direction of where the sound came from.

'Wait.'

I paused just as my finger was about to touch the unknown liquid.

Furrowing my brows, I swallowed what little left saliva I had inside of my mouth and bit my lips.

It was then that I had a sudden thought.

'What if the water is poisonous?'

For me to recklessly drink the water coming out from the side of the walls of a room that I had no idea about…

'Yeah, that would be really stupid and reckless of me.'

I knew I had no choice but to hold back despite the temptation.

Right now, the only thing I could do was try to find a way out of this dark room, whose purpose I knew nothing about.

Given that my visibility was unavailable, my choices were rather limits. Regardless, I was quick to come up with a plan.

'It's definitely risky, but it might just work.'

"Khh…"

Clenching my teeth tightly and taking a deep breath, I suddenly punched the wall with all my light.

Bang—

After punching the wall, I began to experience a terrifying pain emanating from my knuckles as tears started to form on the corner of my eyes.

'Fuck!'

I shouted inside of my mind as I closed my eyes and took a series of deep repeated short breaths.

"Huuu...huu..hu...huuuu..huu."

This weird breathing method continued for a couple of seconds before my eyes snapped open and I repeated the process again.

Bang—!

"Kayak!"

Upon punching the wall a second time, I heard a subtle cracking sound. In the most likely scenario, I had broken by knuckles. Even then, without any regard to the pain, I proceeded to once again punch the walls.

Bang—!

"Urgh!"

I screamed in pain as my lips began to bleed.

While it may appear that I have gone completely insane from the outside, I was currently practicing the [Body Hardening] technique.

Only through repeated pain could one shape their body to be made out of iron.

Realizing just how painful it was for one to practice the art, I also realized something else.

It was that the art was essentially the Gravar style, but a milder version of it.

'What a perfect fit for Han Yufei.'

I thought to myself as I thought of him.

For him to have reached that level of mastery in this martial manual, without a doubt he was an extreme masochist.

Unfortunately.

…I sort of was one too as I once again punched the wall with all my strength.

Bang—

"Khhh…fuck."

Cursing once again, I grit my teeth and opened up my fist. The pain inside of my body doubled and I almost screamed out in pain.

Drip—! Drip—!

Hearing the sound of my blood spilling on the ground, I bitterly smiled.

'At this rate, I might actually lose too much blood.'

It was already bad enough that I was dehydrated, but now that I was also losing blood, I knew that time was running out for me.

But…

'I have no choice.'

At the moment this was the only method I could use for me in order to escape this place.

Bang—!

Chapter 566: Dark room[3]

Jin carefully moved around the room, feeling the hard texture of the walls. At the moment, he was searching for anything that could help him escape.

He had no trouble seeing through the darkness, thanks to his extensive training in the darkness, and it was because of this that he also had no trouble moving around the small room.

In fact, he was almost like a fish inside of a pond.

"Hmm "

As he raised his head, he noticed a small hole above him.

He was instantly able to tell what it was as he looked down at his clothes which were covered in filth.

'Should I perhaps wait until when they open up again and take a chance from there?'

Jin thought to himself as he carefully observed the tube.

"That won't work."

He soon shook his head.

The whole was a bit too small for him to fit in and even if he managed to somehow deal damage to the person above, it would only serve to anger them which in this situation would prove fatal.

"...Just what am I supposed to do?"

Moving toward a certain section of the room, Jin placed his finger on a certain area of the wall where he felt a slightly wet sensation.

Without further ado, he brought it to his mouth and drank.

'I'm glad all of my training is paying off.'

Jin thought as he tasted the water in his mouth. From a glance, he could tell that it was water and not poison as it did not release any strange smell that he was familiar with.

Of course, that wasn't the only reason why Jin could tell it wasn't poisonous because there were several other clues that indicated to him that the liquid was drinkable.

One such example was the fact that it left no trace on the wall behind it as typically, with strong poisons, it would leave corrosive lines on the hard rock. Further adding onto that, the moss around it did not decay but seemed to rather thrive on it.

That alone was already an indication that it was unlikely that the liquid was poisonous. Regardless, Jin didn't really care as his body was immune to poisons.

With the amounts of poisons he had tasted in his lifelines, he wasn't afraid of any of them.

Given his profession, this was a must. What sort of assassin could not withstand poison?

This place.

...It was like the back of his house.

Bang—!

It was at that moment that Jin suddenly heard a muffled banging sound coming from the other side of the room he was in.

"Hm?"

He immediately became startled.

"What was that?"

Bringing his ear close to the wall, he tried to see if he could hear the sound again.

Bang—!

Once again Jin was able to hear the same muffled banging sound. It felt as though someone was punching the wall with full force.

'Are there other people here?'

Was he perhaps not the only one that was trapped in this place but there were in fact others too?

The thought suddenly reanimated his mind as he carefully placed both hands on the wall to better hear the sound.

Bang—!

Bang—!

Bang—!

Over the next few minutes, Kevin would continuously hear the same banging sound coming from the wall.

Keeping track of the intervals between each punch, Jin slowly took a step back.

"Eight seconds delay for every sound."

Sometimes a little bit less and sometimes a little bit more, but that was more or less the time interval between each punch.

Counting down from eight, Jin's brows furrowed.

"It stopped?"

Waiting another couple of seconds to see if the sound was going to appear again, he soon realized that whoever was the one responsible for making the sound had stopped.

"...This might be a gamble, but it's worth a shot."

Jin was quick to come up with a decision.

Clenching his hand into a fist, he pushed the wall as hard as he could.

Bang—!

***

"Akh."

Screaming out in pain, my knees buckled and I kneeled on both knees to the ground.

"Fuck! it hurts like hell."

Drip—! Drip—!

With blood dripping down on the ground, I heavily panted for breath as I closed my eyes and repeated the same breathing technique from before.

This was an essential thing that I needed to do.

It wouldn't matter how hard I pounded the wall if my breathing was incorrect as incorrect breathing would give me no benefits and would make everything that I had done senseless.

Gulp—!

Swallowing another mouthful of saliva, my head turned toward the direction of where the water dripping sound came from.

While licking the top and bottom of my lips, I forced myself to stop thinking about the water.

The more I thought about it, the thirstier I felt.

'Fuck.'

I once again cursed as I felt my mind go numb.

Just as I was about to despair over my circumstances, my ears pricked up a muffled banging sound coming from the right side.

Bang—!

"Hm?"

My head snapped in the direction of where the sound came from as I slowly stood up and walked toward the side of the wall.

Pressing my ear on the side of the wall, I tried to hear the sound again.

Bang—!

...and I wasn't left disappointed.

Exactly a couple of seconds after I pressed my ear against the side of the wall, I heard the same muffled sound coming from the distance.

My eyes lit up when I heard this.

"Is there someone close by?"

The joy did not last for long, however as I quickly grew a little apprehensive.

'What if the one that is making the noises is one of the people responsible for trapping me here and was just toying with me?'

This was a very real possibility that I couldn't exclude as my excitement dyed down a lot.

Bang—!

Even then.

Moving back from my spot, I tensed my back and once again punched the wall.

Bang—!

However improbable it was, this was my only hope at the moment. While I still had energy, I repeated the same breathing technique.

"Huuu..."

***

Bang—!

Smashing his fist against the wall, Jin merely frowned at the pain. With how sturdy his body was, he only received minor pain when punching the wall.

"One, two, three..."

Counting down to eight, Jin prepared to punch the wall once more, however, just as he was about to punch, he suddenly heard another muffled banging sound coming from the other side of the room.

Bang—!

A thin smile spread across his face as he heard the sound.

'It looks like he heard me.'

Thinking of something, Jin didn't immediately punch the wall like the last time he did. With a rather complex look on his face, he took a small stance and murmured to himself.

"...Hopefully whoever it is that's on the other side, they know morse code."

Then, without wasting a single second, he punched the wall in short and long time intervals.

Ba..Baang..Bang..Bang...

***

Ba..Baang..Bang..Bang...

"Hm?"

Right as my fist was about to hit the wall once again, my hand suddenly froze as my eyes opened wide.

"This pattern..."

Ban...Bang!..Baaa!..Bag...

I soon covered my mouth with my hand as the chip inside of my head started to run at full throttle.

It wasn't long before I realized something.

'It's Morse code.'

This type of long and short standardized sequence pattern...It closely resembled Morse code.

'Let's not get ahead of ourselves.'

I was currently on another planet. What were the chances of a demon knowing Morse code?

Unless...

Halting my thoughts there, I proceeded to listen to the wall.

Baaa...Bang!..Baaa!..Bag...

(Dark Room)

With the aid of the chip I was able to instantly make out the message, and my head snapped upwards.

"...Human."

This confirmed it.

Whoever was communicating with me at the moment was a human, and they were in a similar situation to mine.

I had no doubt about this as I crossed my arms together and fell into thought.

"It's most likely Jin."

I mumbled to myself after a while.

This was the conclusion I came up with after contemplating it for a while.

My train of thought wasn't complicated. Rather, it was simple.

We were currently on a planet where no humans should exist.

Confirming that the other person was human and that during the time the portal expanded Jin was resting on top of my shoulders, this was the only logical conclusion I could think of.

'There is no doubt that the person on the other side of the wall is Jin.'

I once again reaffirmed to myself.

It could also be Kevin, but at the time he seemed to have entered the portal without any problems, making the validity of this theory rather low.

The moment I realized that Jin was possibly the person behind the other room, the chip inside of my head started to run at full throttle once more.

I was currently trying to formulate a message.

Within seconds I was already done as my hand clenched into a fist.

"Here goes nothing."

Ba..Baaang.baaang..bang

(Jin?)

I stepped away from the wall after getting my message across. While I waited for an answer, my heart raced uncontrollably, and the pain in my knuckles became negligible.

If Jin was truly the person behind the wall, then there was perhaps some hope in this situation.

Ban…bang! Bang! Bang! Ba…

(Who are you?)

My eyes lit up.

"It's really him!"

Unable to contain my excitement I moved toward the wall and punched it again.

Bang! Baa…bang! Baang!

(It's me Ren!)

Ban! Baa…bang! Baa…!

(Is this a prank?)

"A prank?"

It took a moment for my mind to register what he was trying to say, and I quickly started sweating bullets.

"Shit...Shit.."

Bang! Baa…bang! Baang!

(Not a prank. Something went wrong. Believe me.)

Bang! Baa…

(Ok.)

"Thank go—Ugh."

It was at that moment that my vision suddenly grew blurry and I stumbled a couple of steps.

Pressing my hand against the wall, I felt a nauseating feeling wash over me as my knees buckled.

"Shit, I've lost too much blood."

It didn't take me a moment to understand what was happening to me as I felt the blood slip down from my knuckles.

Sliding down and leaning my back against the wall, I smacked my lips together.

"This is bad…"

Drip—! Drip—!

The dripping sound of the water in the distance never sounded as enticing as it did now...

Struggling to use my head, I weakly raised my hand up. Using the last bit of energy inside of my body, I banged my fist against the side of the wall.

Bang! Baa…bang! Baang! Bang! Baa…bang! Baang!

(Dark room. Water. Drinkable?)

This was all I could write in my current state.

But it should do.

Considering he had said he was also in a dark room, perhaps he knew whether the liquid flowing down the wall was drinkable...If he had one.

If not…

I could only risk it.

Bang! Baaa!

(Yes.)

It wasn't long before Jin's answer arrived, and my eyes rekindled with hope.

"Thank god…"

Then, as though my energy had returned to me, I clenched the wall and propped my body up before stumbling across the room.

"W..water."

I weakly mumbled to myself as I arrived at the wall.

Pressing my hand against that side of the wall, I stuck my tongue out.

"...Ah."

Chapter 567: Light [1]

As I leaned back against the wall, I rested my hand on my raised knee.

"…Things are a lot more complicated than I originally thought."

After conversing with Jin for the past couple of minutes, I realized that the situation was not as hopeless as I thought it was.

Firstly, the mush that was thrown at me a few hours ago was actually food, and Jin also got it at the same time as I did.

The reason why I knew it was food was because Jin said that it was edible. Likewise, the moss on the wall was apparently also edible.

It made me realize something.

'whoever trapped us here does not want to kill us. In fact, it seems as though they have plans for us…'

Had they actually not cared about us they would've already killed us by now.

For them to provide us with water and food…they defiantly had a use for us, and Jin also seemed to have understood this.

The real question was, what use did we have for them?

'Is this some kind of experiment where we are the experiments or are we more than just lab rats?'

Despite not knowing at the moment, I knew that I needed to put this on my priority list.

My future courses of action depended on this.

"Hmm…"

My brows furrowed suddenly in the middle of my thoughts.

"Now that I think about it, is it possible that other people got dragged into this planet as well?"

There was no explanation for Jin and I's sudden appearance. My last memory before appearing here was seeing the portal expand in front of me.

After that, my vision grew black and my consciousness slipped.

By the time I woke up, I found myself in this unfamiliar environment.

"Jezebeth..."

A name suddenly slipped out of my mouth. He was the person whom I thought was responsible for all of this.

This wasn't just a hunch, but my belief that he was responsible for hurling Jin and me into the portal was solid.

The real question was…

'Are there any others that got swept into the portal as a result of his actions?'

If so, then this was more serious than I thought.

Logically speaking, almost everyone in the mercenary group was strong.

The key word was almost.

In contrast to the others, Ryan and Smallsnake did not have any combat skills, and both were extremely weak as well. Around <F> and <G> rank respectively.

I could only fear for their lives if they suddenly became entangled in this world.

There was a reason why the mission was judged to be <A> rank.

"Shit."

This realization prompted me to get up from the ground. Taking a few deep breaths, I tried to calm myself down.

"There's no use thinking about this right now. All I can do at the moment is continue training."

It would be useless to think about the others at the moment since I was trapped here.

It would only serve to distract my mind.

Taking a stance, I massaged my knuckles while feeling the crust that formed over them.

"Although I'm not entirely sure if this is true, I believe that once I reach a certain stage I can break through the walls and reach Jin…Hopefully."

Bang—!

After that, I punched the wall with all my might.

***

"What in the world am I?"

A confused look appeared on Liam's face as he scanned his surroundings

In his hazy memory, he couldn't quite recall what had happened moments prior to showing up here, but the last thing he remembered was being in the same room as Ren as he helped him remember his memories.

"…So how did I get here?"

Liam furrowed his brows as he reached out to touch the leaf of the tree next to him.

"What a weird plant. Did earth ever have plants like this?"

In addition to its rhombic shape, the leaves on the plant were in a zigzag pattern, which Liam found particularly bizarre.

Scratching the back of his head, he reached out for one of the leaves and carefully touched them.

"Weird."

He muttered as he finally let go of the leaf.

Thousands of tiny glass-like needles were trying to puncture his skin as he felt the rough texture of the leaf. The toughness of Liam's skin prevented them from penetrating it, but it still nevertheless seemed strange.

Was there ever a plant like this on earth?

"...Am I in the demon world?"

But how was that possible? He clearly remembered leading Ren out of the demon world.

It was one of the memories that he had helped him recover during the session.

He quickly shook his head.

"Since it's impossible that I'm in the demon realm, I must still be on earth and probably got lost on my way back from that ugly looking warehouse."

The environment was indeed weird for the earth, but since Liam realized just how bad his memory was, he knew that the reason why felt this way was probably because he couldn't recall any of the plants and vegetation in front of him.

"Oh well."

With a shrug of his shoulders, he took out his phone.

"Eh?"

He was shocked to discover, however, that there was no signal on his phone.

"Just great."

He mumbled to himself as he put his phone away.

"Now what do I do?"

Taking a look to his left and right, Liam felt helpless in the current situation.

Without his phone, he was fucked.

"If only my mem—"

Halfway through his sentence, he saw a sudden movement toward his right side from the corner of his eye.

Rustle—!

A brown furry creature jumped from one of the bushes and headed toward Liam immediately after a rustling sound echoed out.

Throughout the entire time, Liam showed no reaction as he carefully observed the incoming creature.

With a simple movement of his hand, he reached out with his hand and grasped whatever was heading in his direction.

"Kyak!" "Kyak!"

A sound resembling a monkey's squeaking was heard from the distance.

"What's this?"

A curious look crossed Liam's face as he brought the creature closer to his face.

"Is this how a monkey should look like?"

There was no doubt that the creature in his hand was related to a monkey. Everything about it was the same, from its body to its fur.

The only problem was...

"Why does it have eight eyes? Since when have monkeys on earth gotten eight eyes?"

Liam's face only became more confused as the monkey in his hand squealed more loudly.

"Hyak!" "Hyak!" "Hyak!"

"Well, whatever."

Having lost interest in the monkey, Liam brought his other hand near its head.

"Since you attacked me first, don't blame me for what happens next."

Then, without any warning, Liam flicked his finger toward the monkey's head, causing blood to spill everywhere as the monkey's body vanished.

"How tiresome."

Clapping his hands together to get rid of the blood on his hands, Liam proceeded to look around him.

"Haaa…"

A long sigh was let out as he walked away from the scene.

"...I really do hope I find a city soon. I don't want to be stuck in a forest like all the other times in the past."

Although his memory was short, he could recall many instances in which he got lost inside forests.

What he was currently experiencing was a simple case of deja vu'

***

"I'm getting closer."

Continuing to stare at the map interface before him, Kevin jumped across different branches.

Due to the lack of detail on the map, he could only follow the dots to get closer to Melissa and Amanda.

This proved to be a task that was a lot more difficult than he had imagined as dangerous beasts lurked everywhere. In the event that he wasn't careful enough, he might just end up without a head.

"Haaa…haaa…It should be near here."

Standing on top of one of the branches, Kevin leaned forward and supported his body with his knees.

"Shit…this is a lot..haa..more tiring than I thought."

Having run for almost two days straight, Kevin was quite frankly exhausted.

Unfortunately for him, he really didn't have much of a choice.

He was on a different planet, not a city.

It took him an extraordinary amount of time just to get to Melissa.

"...Amanda also seems to have distanced herself quite a bit."

Taking note of Amanda's dot, Kevin could only sigh to himself before jumping down from the tree branch he was on.

Thud—

Softly landing on the ground, he scanned the surrounding in hopes of finding Melissa.

"According to the map, she should be here, and considering that it's never wrong sh—"

Stopping himself mid-sentence, Kevin's brows tightened as he noticed something weird.

Turning his head forward to the right, he felt a weird mana pulse coming from that direction. It was very subtle.

Subtle enough to make it hard for even someone of the <S> rank to notice. However, as Kevin was currently trying to find Melissa, he was able to quickly take note of the small pulse.

"What's this?"

Without thinking too much, Kevin took a step forward and headed to where he felt the pulse, and it was there that he suddenly felt an even weird sensation.

Halting his steps in front of a certain area, he reached out with his hand.

It was right at that moment that a ripple appeared in the middle of the air as the scenery in front of him started to distort and the scene changed.

"What the."

Kevin's mouth was left to hang open in shock as he stared at the scenery in front of him as he suddenly noticed a large white tent appear in front of him.

Most shocking was the fact that he could see Melissa joyfully humming something as she boiled something over a pot.

"This…"

Unable to find the right words to say, Kevin just dully stood on his spot.

***

Clank—!

Upon hearing a familiar sound, I immediately moved to the right side of the wall and avoided the strange goo that came out after the sound.

Splash—!

My stomach churned as I heard the strange sound that came from the goo hitting the ground.

Holding onto my stomach, my face grimaced as I mumbled.

"There's no way I'm eating that shit."

Although I knew from Jin that the food was edible, I still couldn't bring myself to eat it.

The smell alone was enough of a deterrent.

"Instead…"

Reaching out for the moss beside me, I pulled it out and brought it to my mouth.

"…I'd rather eat the moss."

Bang…ban…bang! BaBang!

(Spoiled.)

Making out the message sent out by Jin, My lips twitched.

Bang…ban…bang! BaBang..ba! Bang! Ban!.. Ban!

(Shut up.)

"How does he even know I didn't even eat it?"

Clicking my tongue, I sat crossed-legged on the ground.

"Alright, it's been about two to three days since I've been stuck in this place with Jin, and I still don't know the purpose of this place."

Every day, it was the same thing.

At a specific time, both of us would receive food and we would be left alone till then.

Just what sort of purpose did this room serve?

Also, if my theory of the others possibly coming to this planet just like Jin and I was true…

Were there other people in here?

"I really hope it isn't the case. I'm not sure an—"

Suddenly, just as I was about to finish my sentence, I heard a rock grinding sound coming from the right side of the room.

In an instant, light spilled from a small crack around the room and I felt my eyes sting like crazy.

"Kahk!"

Covering my eyes with my hand, I stumbled back and fell to the ground.

"Shit. The fuck is going on?"

Chapter 568: Light [2]

"I wonder what will happen when I combine the two together."

Melissa cheerfully hummed as she mixed a couple of herbs in a small pot.

The situation would've frightened any normal person, and they would've frantically tried to find an escape from this strange planet, but…

Melissa was different.

Her attachment to earth was quite frankly nonexistent. Neither she nor her family liked each other.

Her staff didn't like her, and she didn't like them.

…maybe there were her friends there, but could she really even call them friends? Maybe? Well, it didn't matter.

At the end of the day, what Melissa cared for the most was research.

The way she presented herself made it seem as though she was troubled with all the work she was doing, which was true. There was no doubt that she was overworked, but it did not mean, however, that she disliked what she was doing.

In fact, she loved it.

Trying new things and proving her father wrong was a lifelong passion of hers that she would never trade for anything else.

Just thinking of his salty face...

"Yeah, I love research~"

The fact that she found herself on a new planet, with its new vegetation and surroundings, only served to arouse her excitement.

Thinking about all the different combinations she could make by extracting the essence of the different plants around her…

"Mhmhm~ Isn't this the best?"

Stirring the pot in front of her, Melissa's smile grew wider.

Rustle—!

The sound of rustling caught Melissa's attention. Her head snapped to the direction where the sound originated.

The space surrounding her started to distort, allowing her to get a clear sight of what lay beyond the barrier she set up.

"Who's there!?"

She raised her voice and stood up. A series of different cards and spheres appeared in her hand.

Mana circulated from out of her body, covering the area around her.

'Shit, how is it possible for my barrier to have been found out?'

It must be noted that she set up an extremely high barrier. It was something she had paid a lot of money for since she was planning to leave the human realm to collect samples of different plants.

Who would've thought it would come in so handy. In any case, Melissa's expression turned extremely solemn as she understood that for someone or something to have already seen through its camouflage, that person was extremely skilled.

"Hold on."

It was at that moment that Melissa heard a familiar voice coming from the distance as she lowered her hands a little.

Right then, Melissa was able to catch a glimpse of a familiar figure who was looking at her strangely.

"Kevin?"

Spotting the figure, Melissa immediately recognized him.

Well, it wasn't that hard. There weren't that many people as handsome as him.

Maybe Jin.

…and definitely not Ren.

Although he did seem to have become a lot more handsome than in the past.

Not that Melissa would openly admit it.

A mere thought of the faces he would make if she admitted which facts made her stomach flip.

"Melissa, let me in."

Tapping onto the barrier revolving around her, Melissa watched as ripples formed around it.

Staring at Kevin, Melissa didn't answer immediately. Instead, she squinted her eyes and carefully observed him.

"Hmm…"

"Melissa?"

The frown on Melissa's face tightened when she heard him call her name.

"What's the nickname Ren uses whenever he talks with you

"Eh?"

A confused expression spread across Kevin's face as he looked at Melissa.

"What are you doing? And what does that have to do with anything."

"It has to do with a lot."

Melissa replied as her eyes sharpened.

"…So?"

Crossing her arms together, her foot began to tap on the ground.

Currently, she was testing if the person outside was really Kevin.

In spite of her excitement about her circumstance, she was not stupid enough to invite anyone who looked like Kevin.

Her guard never went down.

"If you don't answer me within the next minute, I'll keep you out."

Melissa grew impatient as she saw Kevin's struggling expression.

"Ugh."

Letting out a groan, Kevin's face grimaced as he eventually murmured something...

"P..pushhover.."

"Huh? I didn't hear it clearly."

Placing her hand behind her ear, Melissa leaned her body forward. Her hair fell toward her right shoulder.

Staring at Melissa, Kevin clenched his fists tightly before he glared in her direction and raised his voice.

"Pushover okay? Ren's nickname for me is pushover!"

"…Sounds about right."

Confirming that he was indeed Kevin, Melissa walked toward the cabin and pressed a button. Immediately after that, the barrier around her tent quickly started to disappear and Kevin was finally able to come in.

Coming out of her tent, Melissa carefully observed Kevin.

"So? Do you have any idea about what's going on?"

This was the answer that she wanted to know the most.

Although she didn't show it externally, she was actually quite happy with the fact that there was hope for her to return to earth.

How would she rub her new discoveries to her father if she wasn't able to return?

That was her biggest grip; with the whole situation, and now that it was solved, she was a lot more relaxed.

While Melissa was in the midst of her thoughts, scratching the back of his head, Kevin apologetically looked at Melissa.

"…About that."

Taking note of Kevin's sudden strange behavior, Melissa's head snapped to face him directly.

Kevin's wryly smiled when he saw this.

"About why you suddenly found yourself here, I think this might have to do with me."

***

Bang—

While stumbling on the floor, I felt an intense pain aimed at my back.

"What do you think you're doing with all the banging on the wall."

A sinister voice echoed out as I felt a kick on my ribs area and my body flew toward the other side of the room.

Bang—

"Ukh."

Letting out a groan, I heavily gasped for air. The pain…it was excruciating.

In spite of this, as I heavily breathed for air, I made sure to breathe in a certain way.

If I was going to get beat up, I may as well do it while training.

As I felt something hard smash against the side of my head, I bitterly smiled.

'I'm truly becoming more and more of a masochist.'

Bang—!

"Khhh."

"Do you really think that we are unaware you are communicating with the person next door? "Don't worry, we'll move you both immediately."

"Akh!"

Feeling something grasp my hair, I was suddenly dragged out of my room.

Although I kept my eyes closed, I still felt a burning sensation in my eyes as I was pulled by my hair out of the room.

It was painful, but compared to what I had experienced in the past, it wasn't anything worth complaining about as I was soon thrown back into a different room.

Thud—

I smashed against the hard ground.

"Be obedient and stay over here. If I see you pull any shit like that again, I'll kill you."

There was an echoing sound of rock grating coming from the hallway, and the doors immediately closed.

The most important thing was that the darkness returned and my eyes were once again opened.

Tears slowly fell on my cheeks. The sudden contact with the light had truly messed up my eyes.

In any case, this sudden scenario confirmed one thing for me.

"The person trapping me and Jin are demons."

Despite having my eyes closed the entire time and not looking at them directly, I could tell this much from two things.

The sharp nails I felt at the back of my head, and the fact that the person handling me was talking using demonic language.

The langue demons used.

Considering how important it was, it was only natural that I learned it and it was also thanks to this that I was able to live in the arena back in the demon world.

"Huuu…"

Taking a deep breath, I pressed my hand against the side of my ribs.

"Although I didn't think they would be this rough, I already knew that this was going to happen."

In any case, Jin and I knew that the people who had trapped us would soon make a move after all the noise that we were making.

Thankfully, it went all according to our calculations.

"…and now we wait."

Taking another deep breath, I started to repeat the breathing exercise that I memorized from Han Yufei.

***

Outside a room blocked by a small black door, a demon gazed toward the distance.

"Have you sorted him, Exilion?"

"I have."

Walking over to the other demon, a scowl spread across the face of the demon known as Exilion.

He, along with the other demon, Impedius, was in charge of guarding the rooms.

"Did he put any resistance?"

Impedius asked as he looked at Exilion.

"No."

Exilion shook his head in disappointment.

"It turns out he's a much tougher nut than I thought. It didn't matter how much I kicked or beat him, he didn't seem to respond."

"Same went for me"

Impedius said with evident disappointment in his voice.

When he recalled how barely he reacted when he dragged the human out of the room by his hair, he could only be disappointed.

Shaking his head, he raised his head to stare at Exilion.

"Has the leader contacted you yet?"

"No."

Exilion shook his head.

"They still don't know how humans got on this planet, but for now they said to treat them like any other laborer. Before they are sent to a labor camp, break their minds and make them obedient."

"Understood."

With a nod of his head, Impedius turned to stare at two different rooms in the distance.

Out of curiosity, he asked.

"How are the other three other humans fairing?"

Turning his head to also look in that direction, Exilion thought for a moment before replying.

"Two of them are doing fine, but the other human seems to be on the verge of death."

"Verge of death?"

"He may last a little longer, but I don't know. Unlike the others, he can't seem to get out of the paralysis."

Focusing his attention toward the far end, where a room sat, Impedius cracked a smile.

"Just as rumors said. Humans are fun creatures to break..."

Chapter 569: Meeting up [1]

Creak— Creak—

As footsteps rushed out, a creaking sound was heard coming from the wooden floor beneath.

A young teen clutching a small soup ran toward a bed in a rundown apartment as a sickly figure lay on it.

There were cracks on the walls, and there were spiderwebs on the corner of the house as dust filled the area. It was not a place where a child should be in.

"Have some soup mother."

Kneeling down, the youth's hand shook as he carefully placed the soup on the shelf beside the bed.

The youth was rather skinny and his complexion was rather pale, but his green eyes shone with ambition.

"M…mother."

Carefully touching the woman that was resting on the bed, the youth tried to wake her up.

The more he stared at her, the greater the pain and void in his heart became.

"B..Brian."

The woman finally awoke, revealing a pair of beautiful green eyes as she touched the youth's cheek.

As her sickly and skinny arm touched the youth's face, it barely remained there before falling weakly onto the bed.

Picking the arm back up, the youth placed it on his cheek.

A bright smile adorned his face.

"Mother, I've got good news for you."

A wave of excitement washed over the youth as he stared at his mother lying on the bed.

"I've finally got a job!"

The youth's voice raised as he thought of the job offer that he received not too long ago.

In a world that was primarily dominated by the strong, those that didn't have strength were not treated well.

Rather, they were considered to be the 'burden' of society as they contributed nothing to the crisis that enshrouded the world.

The youth who was staring at his mother was one of the unlucky few who was born without a talent.

Or rather, he had one, but it was only of the <G> rank level. Just like his mother.

Such talent was a curse in this world, as jobs were scarce. Who in their right minds would hire such talentless individuals?

People with great talents were the only ones able to land jobs since they were able to use their skills to complete tasks faster and more efficiently.

Farming? Why need farmers when you could have an awakened do the same tasks, faster and more efficiently?

Complex calculations? Just a simple skill and they would be able to do it faster and more efficiently.

A tough world greeted the mother and son duo, and they were just one of the many unfortunate ones.

That was until most recently.

"Listen here mom, I know that you're doubting me, but this job is clean. You can trust me!"

As he held tightly onto the sickly figure's hand, the youth thrust his face forward.

"…mom, the pay is really good and with it, I'll be able to finally pay for your medical bills! You will be healed"

Imagining his mother recovering and playing with him like in the good old days filled the youth with excitement.

"Mom, just watch me. I'll definitely cure you."

Feeling a clench of his hand, the youth looked toward his mother who looked back at him with a proud smile.

"I..believe you."

Her weak and frail voice echoed throughout the room.

Biting his lips, the youth squeezed her hand harder.

"Trust me."

***

"Ugh."

Powerless, a figure lay on the floor groaning in a dark room.

"H..help."

He murmured quietly as he struggled to move. Currently, his body was paralyzed and he couldn't move a single muscle. He could only just barely feel his right foot, but that was just about it.

He felt trapped inside of his one Body.

'I'm thirsty, I'm hungry.'

To make matters worse, it had been quite a while since he had last drank or eaten something.

His mind was blurry and he was going in and out of consciousness.

'...If only I was born with more talent.'

The individual thought in the midst of his despair.

One thing was clear to him, despite his lack of understanding of what led to the sudden situation.

Had he been stronger, he would've never found himself in this situation.

This paralysis he was experiencing would've never happened if he was stronger or even a little bit more talented…

Never!

Drip—! Drip—!

The dripping sound from the corner of the room served no purpose as it only heightened the individual's paranoia and sense of thirst.

His eyes slowly grew bloodshot.

"Akh."

While biting his lips until they bled, the individual moved his body with all his strength.

"W..water."

He desperately needed water at the moment. Without it, he was a goner.

"Ukh."

As veins bulged on the side of his face, the figure slowly pushed his body with his foot. The only part of his body that he could feel.

"I …will definitely make it."

***

"Alright, I'm done packing. Let's head back to earth."

Melissa patted her hands in satisfaction as she headed toward Kevin.

Kevin shook his head and stared into the distance.

"We aren't leaving him yet."

"Hm?"

Melissa tilted her head.

"Didn't you say before that it was your fault for bringing me here? You surely must know of a way to return?"

"I do."

Kevin replied while squinting his eyes and staring at the interface in front of him.

He was currently looking at Amanda.

'Amanda has been staying in the same spot for quite a while. Is she troubled with something? Or is she just resting?'

"Kevin?"

Startling Kevin out of his thought was Melissa's voice.

Turning his head, he was met with her annoyed face.

"Hm? What?"

"Did you not hear me?"

Taking a look at one of the plants in the distance, Melissa raised up her glasses.

"What are you thinking about? Are you telling me that there's no way back to earth?"

"Calm down for a second."

In an attempt to stop Melissa from talking, Kevin raised his hand and gazed in Amanda's general direction.

"There is a way to go back to earth. But there's a bit of a problem."

"I don't like the sound of this…"

Melissa's face hardened a little bit.

"Whenever I hear such words, I know there's incoming trouble."

Scratching the side of his check, Kevin meekly looked at Melissa before bitterly smiling.

'Right on.'

"It's not what you think Melissa. The problem isn't exactly big…"

"Not big?"

Melissa raised her brow.

Crossing her arms together she smiled.

"Please do tell me."

The smile she wore on the outside looked normal, but Kevin knew just how angry she was inside.

Her anger was understandable. For her to be suddenly dragged into a different planet out of nowhere...

Anyone else in her situation would react the way she did.

This was why Kevin didn't get angry or react.

Kevin struggled to find the right words to say as he gazed at Melissa. In the end, he came clean as he noticed Melissa's darkening expression.

"Basically, you weren't the only one dragged here. Amanda and the others have also been dragged here."

***

After the assault, three days passed, but nothing really changed.

Except for the fact that Jin and I weren't in opposite rooms anymore, the routine was pretty much the same.

Drink water, and bang the wall with my arms.

Wasn't exactly the most exciting routine, but it was better than doing nothing.

"Huuuu…"

As I sat cross-legged in the middle of the room, I took a deep breath and my chest heaved up and down rhythmically.

'I'm getting close.'

My arms were tingling, a sign that I was on the verge of reaching the next stage of my body art practice.

[Body Hardening]

Since I only used my arms and hands at the moment, those were the only areas that were hardening, but in any case, this was what I wanted since I could feel power surge from within me.

With enough practice, I could break down the wall with just one punch once I mastered the art.

It might take a while, but it was definitely possible.

…and that was all possible with my mana sealed.

"Huuuu…"

Taking another breath, I mumbled underneath my breath.

"Just a little bit more."

***

Crac..crack!

In a world where red dyed the skies, rotted vegetation, sparse water, and cracks tore the ground apart, a dark silhouette stepped into the middle of the void, tearing apart the space, and finally entered the planet.

Observing the planet from above, the figure fell slowly toward the ground.

"What a shit hole."

Landing on the ground, his presence spread throughout the planet and the ground beneath him trembled.

Immediately after, several demons rushed from a very far distance as the demon that had just arrived noted their approaching figures.

"Your royal highness, Magnus."

In front of the dark figure, the demons kneeled immediately. There were approximately two of them and both did not dare look up.

Briefly glancing at the demons, Magnus waved his hand.

"Rise up."

"Yes, your excellency."

Slowly, the demons rose to their feet. Standing up, they perspired from the sides of their faces as their backs remained straight.

Taking a look at the surroundings, Magnus monotonously asked.

"Have you seen any humans on this planet recently?"

"Humans?"

Suddenly faced with a question, the two demons turned to look at one another with confused looks.

Taking note of their reactions, Magnus immediately lost interest in them.

"…So you haven't."

"Eh, a—"

"Quiet."

Flicking his finger, the demon that was just about to speak disintegrated on the spot.

After that, the other demon's expression paled significantly as his back straightened further, and he stopped speaking altogether.

The fear in his eyes was evident as he looked at Magnus.

Meeting the demons' eyes, Magnus softly muttered.

"I don't like it when someone speaks when I don't give them permission to speak."

The demon immediately nodded his head.

With no regard for the other demon, Magnus sank into thought.

'This is the third planet where humans have not been found. While I don't know why his majesty is so fixated on a couple of humans, considering his personality, it must be about something extremely important.'

In Magnus's eyes, Jezebeth was like a god.

A figure that was beyond the realm of mortals, and was omnipotent.

Nothing could escape his eyes. And for him to pay this much attention to some humans, Magnus knew that he had to take this task extremely seriously.

'There's still a couple of planets missing. The closest one should be Illonia, while the closest one after that is Cassaria. I'll step into Illonia first before paying a visit to Cassaria. It shouldn't take too long."

Magnus nodded to himself as he planned his future course of action.

Taking a glance at the demon beside him, he waved dismissively.

"You have a good sense."

The space in front of him cracked immediately after he said those words.

Cra…crack!

Taking a step into the crack, his figure soon disappeared from the spot.

Chapter 570: Meeting up [2]

In the dense vegetation, Melissa noticed something ahead of her.

"Watch out."

As Melissa pushed Kevin behind her, she stomped on a plant in front of him. A strange pink gaseous substance was released into the air immediately after she did that.

A quick wave of her hand cleared it from Melissa's view.

"What was that?"

Kevin was startled by her sudden actions and asked what was going on. In fact, he was more surprised by the fact that she knew that the plant she stepped on could do that than anything else.

Melissa glanced at Kevin while patting her hands together.

"What do you think I've been doing while you were gone?"

"Eh…"

Having just recalled her boiling something over a pot and relaxing in her tent, Kevin wasn't sure what to say.

She clearly looked like she was having the time of her life with him.

Nevertheless, he chose to go with the answer he thought was correct.

"Checking the attributes of the plants?"

"Correct."

Melissa bent down and carefully picked up the small flower from the ground.

"I call this flower, pendulum mimosa, a flower with the capabilities to render one immobile and paralyze their muscles."

"Hm?"

Kevin looked at the flower in surprise.

"Exactly how strong are the properties of this flower?"

"Not that much."

Melissa replied as she tossed the flower away.

"It isn't exactly very potent, however, that's mostly because the concentration of the flower extract isn't very high. If I wanted to, I could create a paralysis effect that would be able to incapacitate even you."

"Me?"

Kevin's face turned strange as he stared at the flower. Several questions were running through his mind at the moment.

Especially after learning that the flower could paralyze him, an <A> rank hero.

'Can a little flower like that really paralyze me?'

He found it rather hard to believe if he had to be honest.

"Don't believe me?"

Taking note of Kevin's skeptical look, Melissa took out a small test tube from her dimensional space.

The liquid inside had a blood-red color.

"Well you're in luck Kevin, I've already tested this in the past and I have got a sample with me. How about you give it a go?"

"I'm good."

After stepping away from Melissa, Kevin jumped up into the air and landed on top of a branch. He a look of deep apprehension as he looked at Melissa.

"Let's say that I believe you. Just how much of the extract would you need to actually paralyze me?"

"Not much if your mana is sealed."

Putting the rest tube away, Melissa followed Kevin's example and jumped up on the tree branch.

Perfectly landing on it, she continued.

"As you know, the more one ranks up, the stronger their bodies become."

"Yes."

Kevin nodded his head.

His understanding of this concept was natural. Everyone who had attended the Lock knew it.

Each rank increase results in a stronger, more durable body. Of course, the human body was quite fragile compared to those of other races. Nevertheless, the fragility of human bodies didn't matter much to most humans since they could coat them with mana to mitigate it.

Their method was similar to that of the elves as they too had fragile bodies.

"How does that have anything to do with the poison?"

"It has a lot to do."

Melissa replied as she snappily looked at Kevin.

"The stronger one's body the more concentrated the extract needs to be. If someone like you takes the extract, it would take a lot of time for it to take effect simply because of how much mana your body has."

Pausing for a moment, Melissa took out another test tube from her dimensional space.

This time the liquid inside of it was of a strange blue color.

After testing, I learned that if you mix the extract with another extract of a plant I found, the Illuna Mallior, you can seal their mana and simultaneously paralyze their bodies for a long period of time.

Bringing the test tube in front of her, Melissa's eyes twinkled with excitement.

"The interesting thing about these two extracts is that they complement each other perfectly. As in, if the two extracts are mixed together, the strength of the mixture will increase enormously."

"What?"

Paying close attention to what Melissa was saying, Kevin found himself entranced by her words as he stopped moving altogether.

"What do you mean by what you've just said."

Putting the test tube away, Melissa briefly looked at Kevin.

"I meant what I meant. If the two mixtures are combined together, the properties of both will increase and someone will find their mana locked for a very long time. The same could be said for their muscles, but that can quickly be resolved if someone has a good body art, or connection to their muscles."

"I see…"

Kevin faintly nodded his head in understanding. Raising his head, he asked another question.

"What about the mana sealing method, is there a way to get rid of that?"

"No idea."

Melissa replied with a shrug of her shoulders, causing Kevin to stumble on the spot.

Taking note of this, Melissa looked at him with a strange look.

"What's wrong? Did I say something weird?"

"No, not really."

Kevin shook his head as he avoided looking into her eyes. Unfortunately for him, it only served to irritate Melissa more as she pressed her hand against his shoulder and turned him around.

"Out with it. Tell me exactly what's the problem."

"Haaa…"

Realizing that he had no way out, Kevin could only sigh out loud as his shoulders slumped.

"I was just surprised by the fact that you didn't know the cure for something like that when you're usually the type to know everything."

"Huh?"

Melissa's face turned strange as her eyes squinted and her mouth turned into a scowl.

"What do you take me for? Some sort of god? Why in the world do you think that I would know everything."

"I dunno."

Kevin shrugged his shoulders as he looked toward the distance.

"I just thought that you knew."

Melissa glared in Kevin's direction as her arms crossed.

"I'll let you know that I've been experimenting with all sorts of different plants. There was simply not enough time for me to properly test all of the plants on this planet yet. Especially when it only took you a day for you to find me."

Melissa suddenly paused there as her brows jumped up.

"Wait a second…"

Raising her head up to look at Kevin, Melissa calmly asked.

"Where are headed at the moment? Didn't you say something about finding Amanda?"

"Yeah, I did."

Kevin was quick to reply. But he was also quick to regret.

After saying these words, he covered his mouth with both hands as he looked at Melissa, who was looking at him with a strange yet disgusted expression.

I didn't pay much attention to this detail a while back, but now that I think about it, it's quite strange that you found me suddenly?... And now you tell me that you're looking for Amanda as though you know exactly where she is?"

Her eyes turned into slits.

"Kevin, don't tell me…"

***

"Stay behind me."

Angelica carefully surveyed her surroundings after pushing Ryan behind her.

While scanning the surroundings, she had her mind fully alert.

After appearing in this strange world for a couple of days, she was at a loss as to what to do next.

One silver lining about the situation was that she wasn't transported alone but with Ryan who was helping her heal her injuries from that weird human who had assaulted her not too long ago.

'He's strong.'

Recalling the short moments prior to when the two of them fought, Angelica found herself dreading their next encounter.

In spite of the fact that he didn't exactly beat her at the time, because he caught her off guard and she already had a weakened state due to a sudden situation, Angelica knew she had only a 50/50 chance of beating him.

In any case, she was currently stuck in some unknown place with Ryan and they were currently looking for a way out of the place.

"I see something."

It was right at that moment that Angelica was able to hear Ryan's voice.

Turning around, she softly asked.

"What did you find "

"Ehm…"

Ryan frowned as he zoomed in on the drone feed, revealing a small clearing inside a forest. From there, he could see several silhouettes running away from something.

When Ryan pinched his fingers on the screen, he was able to get a better view of the situation, and he recognized three familiar faces from there.

They were, Leopold, Hein, and Ava.

"It's the others!"

Immediately after recognizing them, Ryan jumped up in the air as he rushed toward Angelica.

"Angelica, Look! Look!"

"Wait a moment."

"Huek!"

Ryan choked on the shirt after Angelica grabbed him by the collar. Indifferent to Ryan's behavior, Angelica snatched the device in his hand and carefully examined it.

After that, she quickly dragged him behind her.

"Hey wait!"

In spite of Ryan's complaints, Angelica paid no attention to him as their bodies jumped in the air and shot toward the distance.

"Let's go. They look to be in trouble."

Chapter 571: Meeting up [3]

Rustle— Rustle—

Three figures were running through the dense forest. A group of three creatures twice their size followed them from behind.

"Hein do something!"

Ava shouted as she looked behind her. Confusion clouded her face.

After being thrown into an unknown location, Ava had no idea what to do. She was fortunate to be standing next to Hein and Leopold when she appeared in this new place.

Had it not been for them, she would've already lost her mind trying to figure out what was going on.

Having talked to them for a while, she discovered that they were also clueless about the sudden situation. To make matters worse, as they were planning on exploring the area to get a better idea of what was going on, three large <A>-ranked creatures attacked them.

"Shit!"

Cursing out loud, Ava caught a glimpse of the approaching creatures and picked up her pace.

Turning to look at Hein who was running next to her, she raised her voice.

"Do something!"

"What!?"

Hein snapped his head back to face Ava and shouted.

"What in the world do you expect me to do in this situation? They are much stronger than me! I'll get torn into millions of pieces if I try to block them. Also…"

Pausing mid-sentence, Hein's face twisted. He looked to be struggling to utter his next words.

Taking note of his expression, Ava's face turned serious.

"Also what?"

"…Also, my shield will get dirty."

The mere thought of what would happen to his shield when he faced the beasts behind him sent shivers down Hein's spine.

It could not happen!

"…"

Speechlessly staring at Hein, Ava didn't know how to respond. Rather, she was just disappointed in herself.

She should've seen the answer coming from miles away.

Ever since the dwarven domain, Hein had never stopped obsessing over the cleanliness of his shield.

Recalling all of the arguments and fights they had over this situation made Ava clench her fists in anger.

'Whoever turned Hein like this…just you wait.'

"Hey, you two wait up!"

Ava was jolted from her thoughts when she heard Leopold's tired voice. Ava almost tripped over her footsteps when she turned around.

Click— Click—

As Leopold attempted to light up the cigarette in his mouth, sparks flew in the air as Ava watched him run behind them with a cigarette in his mouth and a lighter nearby.

This…

At this moment, she couldn't quite comprehend what she was seeing.

The scene before her was just too baffling for her to understand.

In fact, a part of her wasn't even surprised…but to be trying to smoke while being chased by multiple <A> ranked creatures…

Only someone like Leopold would think of doing such things.

"Stop trying to smoke! It's no wonder that you can't keep up with us. Your lungs don't even work."

*puff*

Taking a small puff while smoke diffused in the air, Leopold glanced at Ava.

"My lungs are perfe-cough, cough."

As his footsteps slowed down, Leopold coughed uncontrollably as he choked on some of the smoke. In the meantime, Leopold's body twisted as he took out his gun from his dimensional space and shot it toward one of the creatures behind him.

Bang—

A powerful blasting sound echoed out as his body propelled backward, allowing him to distance himself from the creature. Unfortunately, the creature was unharmed by the sudden attack. Rather, it seemed even more enraged as its roar shook the vegetation around.

"Roooar!"

"…That was a close one."

Reloading his gun by channeling some of his mana into it, Leopold caught up with Ava and Hein.

*puff*

He then took another puff. Completely disregarding what had happened not too long ago.

"How about it, not bad right?"

"Don't even…"

Shaking her head, Ava increased her pace. At this moment, she wanted to do nothing with the two of them.

Booom—

From behind her, Ava heard what sounded like a large explosion. Likewise, Leopold and Hein turned their heads to stare at the source of the noise.

Their eyesight was obscured by a cloud of dust. The dust soon cleared, and when everyone finally saw what was happening, they were surprised to see a familiar figure standing atop the creature.

"Angelica!"

The excitement in Ava's voice was palpable as she ran up to her. There was finally someone with some common sense.

What was sad about the situation was that, that someone was a demon...

"Eh…"

Ava's footsteps slowed as she noticed a small figure hanging from Angelica's hand as she reached her.

'Is that Ryan?'

How could she describe his current condition? …He looked nothing like his usual self as his figure was incomparably pale and he looked to be on the verge of puking.

"You guys are also here."

Taking a light step off the creature's body and nodding toward Ava, Angelica let go of Ryan who fell to the ground and stopped moving.

"Do you have any idea of what's going on?"

"I don't."

Ava shook her head while describing to Angelica what she remembered before finding herself here. In the meantime, Leopold rushed in Ryan's direction and shook his body several times, hoping to wake him up.

"Hey, hey, you're too young to leave the world."

Ignoring Leopold, Ava continued.

"…After looking carefully at the surroundings, I've come to realize that we're most likely not on earth."

"You think so too?"

Knitting her brows, Angelica looked around her. Closing her eyes for a moment, she soon opened them up again and nodded her head.

"I can feel traces of demonic energy coming from the distance. If my guess is not wrong, there's a mana compressor in the distance that is trying to swallow up the whole planet."

Immediately after her words fell, the face of the people present changed. Everyone here was not stupid. They all understood what a mana compressor was.

It was because of this knowledge that they knew they were in a very dangerous place.

"What should we do now?"

Her gaze turned to Angelica as she asked. Ava subconsciously treated Angelica as the second in command whenever Ren or Smallsnake weren't around, as she was the strongest in the group and the one who had been following Ren the longest.

Her opinion was that she was the most trustworthy person present.

As Angelica pinched the middle of her brows, she hesitated before speaking.

"Our best bet is to go to the mana compressor at the moment. If it's exactly like I think it is, I believe that there's going to be a portal in there that we can use to go back to earth. Furthermore, I have reason to believe that Ren is also here on this planet, and if I were him, I would also go to the mana compressor."

Raising her head to look at the others, she continued.

"That's our best bet at the moment. What do you think?"

Sharing her thoughts with everyone, Ava and the others looked at each other before nodding their heads.

"We're okay with your decision."

Taking a moment to stare at the others and seeing them nod their heads, Angelica nodded her head.

"Alright, then that's the plan."

Without further ado, she turned around and prepared to head toward where the mana compressor was. However, just as he was about to move, she was stopped by Ava's

"Let's go—"

"Wait."

"Hm?"

Turning around, Angelica looked at Ava.

"What's wrong?"

Taking a moment to look at the others, Ava had a worried look on her face. Opening her mouth, she asked.

"Now that I think about it, where is Smallsnake?"

A dead silence followed after her words.

***

Through the narrow gap between the leaves of a large tree covered in leaves, two eyes quietly observed the enormous black pyramid in the distance.

Lowering her presence as much as possible, Amanda's brows furrowed tightly.

'My best bet to return to earth at the moment would be to infiltrate that place and somehow find a portal…'

Her best course of action at this point was without a doubt this. Sadly, it was also the riskiest.

However, she didn't have much of a choice. As she stood in a new world, knowing nothing about it, alone, the mana compressor in the distance looked like her only hope.

'From what I've observed, there are four gates in which one can enter the pyramid, and of those gates, there are five demons guarding each and every one of them.'

It was difficult for Amanda to determine their strength level, but from what she understood, they were all at least Count-ranked demons.

Something that would prove quite troublesome even for her at the moment.

"My best bet at the mo—"

Cutting her sentence short, Amanda suddenly felt a couple of presences coming from behind her as he body snapped backward and she drew her bow.

A translucent blue arrow formed on her bow.

Rustle— Rustle—

"Wow, wow, woooow."

Suddenly, Amanda saw familiar figures emerge from the threes behind her. Of the figures, she recognized one, Kevin, as she saw him approaching her holding his arms up.

Amanda didn't lower her guard as she continued to keep her bow raised.

"Kevin?"

"That's me."

Kevin replied with a bitter smile on his face.

"Why does it always turn out like this…"

He softly whispered in a quiet tone. Still not quite enough for Amanda not to hear.

"Amanda, believe me. It's me Ke—"

"What's the name that Ren always uses when calling you?"

Kevin was cut off by Amanda as she asked. The moment she said those words, Kevin's face hardened.

"…So?"

"Don't do this to me."

Placing her hand over Kevin's shoulder, Melissa softly murmured.

"You are what you are Kevin."

"Ugh."

There was an even greater distortion in Kevin's face. Fortunately for him, the small interaction he had with Melissa convinced Amanda that they were indeed Kevin and Melissa, so she lowered her bow.

Her shoulders relaxed as a result.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"Looking for you."

Melissa replied.

Her sudden reply caught Amanda off guard as she raised her brow.

"Looking for me? How did you know that I was here?"

"Ask him."

Kevin's smile only grew bitter as Melissa pointed at him.

As he waved his hand at Melissa, he pushed his body forward and cleared some leaves. Taking a look at the large pyramid like structure in the distance and staring at the air in front of him, his brows furrowed tightly.

"This is problematic…"

He quietly murmured.

Taking not of his sudden behavior, Amanda walked up to him and asked.

"What's wrong?"

"Shit…"

Looking back at Amanda, Kevin shook his head as his face turned extremely solemn.

"Jin, Ren, and Emma are all inside of the structure."

"Jin, Ren, Emma?"

Amanda and Melissa both looked at each other in surprise as their heads snapped toward the pyramid in the distance.

The fact that Kevin was blatantly avoiding the topic of how he knew everyone's location did not go unnoticed by Amanda who tactfully asked another question.

"What do you want to do?"

"Ehm."

Clenching on some of the leaves next to him, Kevin furrowed his brows tightly before quietly muttering.

"I'm not sure if it can work, but if you two place your hands on my shoulder, I might be able to teleport us to them. The real question is, who should I teleport to…"

Chapter 572: Meeting up [4]

"Huuuu…"

Inhaling deeply, I focused my attention on my muscles. Like a calm well, I immersed myself in my own mind as everything around me disappeared.

It was important for me to take note of the different nerves used throughout my body as I felt every twitch and movement.

"To harden my body completely, I must break the microfibres within my muscles and replace them with stronger ones."

It was just like building muscles.

A person's muscles become stronger and more durable by breaking the microfibers inside of them through exercise and building them again through recovery.

As for me, I intentionally destroyed the micro-givers according to Han Yufei's instructions in order to build them back up, stronger and more durable than before.

By carefully snapping a selected few micro fibers, one would find their body rapidly hardening.

This method had only one drawback, and that was that it required a high level of concentration.

I was fortunate to have a high level of concentration after all of my experiences.

"Huuu"

Taking another deep breath, I slowly opened my eyes.

"This is enough for now."

As I carefully helped myself up with the wall, I ignored the twitching happening all over my body. It was annoying, but at the same time, bearable.

"How long has it been?"

I murmured to myself as I glanced around the room. As there was no clock here, I estimated that about one week had passed since I arrived.

It may have been less or may have been more...I wasn't sure.

My brows knit at this realization.

"What's taking Kevin so long?"

Honestly, Kevin should have already figured out I was with Jin. As he was able to teleport to us, he should have already appeared in front of us by now.

While he may not know that I knew this, I was very aware of his stalking feature.

It was something that was within my memories. Yes, I knew not to trust my memories, but I realized that he had gained them after he managed to somehow find me when I was on a date with Amanda.

It was fairly obvious if I had to be honest. In any case, with that ability, he should've already gotten an idea of where Jin and I were.

I furrowed my brows even more.

"…What if he is hesitating thinking that his sudden appearance might put us in danger?"

Upon reflection, this made sense. Kevin might end up endangering me and himself if he showed up in a delicate situation.

If this was the case, his caution was understandable.

Aside from that, there were two other scenarios that I thought of as I pondered over Kevin's possible delay.

One, he was simply too far away from us and he didn't know about our current circumstances and judged us to be safe, or two, he was looking for the others that have also appeared on the planet.

But...

"I really hope this isn't the case."

The mere thought made my heart skip a beat

I could only fear for the lives of the others if they were also brought into this world. In contrast to Kevin, Jin, and me, the majority of them were unprepared for this world.

If they weren't ready, they could find themselves dying at any moment.

Especially Smallsnake and Ryan...I was really worried about the two.

"Fuck."

A curse escaped from my lips as I clenched my teeth.

'I need to get out of here faster!'

"Hm?"

Kriiiii—

My mind was jolted out of my thoughts when a grinding sound echoed out and the room's doors slowly opened. My eyes quickly closed as I noticed light spilling through the small gap in the door.

As a result of my previous experience, I was prepared this time as I also covered my eyes with my hand.

In any case, the sudden situation caught me off guard as I thought to myself.

'What's going on?'

My heart grew tense.

For the doors to suddenly open out of nowhere, there was definitely something up.

***

A little bit before.

As Exilion, one of the demons responsible for overseeing the rooms gazed at the black doors, he identified one room in particular.

A smile spread across his face as he stared at the room.

His expression caught Impedius' attention, and he asked

"Why are you smiling?"

"Ke ke."

A chuckle escaped from Exilion's face as he pointed toward the distance. Toward the door, he was previously gazing at.

"He's about to die."

"What?"

Slowly walking toward the door that Exilion was examining, Impedius examined it carefully with a surprised expression. His fingers touched the door for a while before letting go.

"You're right."

He then turned to face Exilion.

"What should we do? Should we let him die?"

"No."

The smile on Exilion's face widened as he shook his head.

Impedius was puzzled by his reaction, so he curiously asked him.

"So what should we do with him?" It's obvious that he's on the verge of death. Approximately two hours from now, he should die."

After taking a peek inside, Impedius spotted the individual who appeared to be lifeless lying on the ground. Besides being dehydrated, he also appeared to be starving.

He was practically useless.

To Impediuas, such an individual was not worth saving.

"Do you have any plans for him or something?"

"I do."

Exilion replied while walking next to him and carefully touching the door.

Taking his hand away from the door, he suddenly asked.

"What is our goal?"

"…To break the minds of the individuals and make them work for us so that the mana compressor continues working."

"Correct."

Exilion replied while he turned to gaze in the direction of the other rooms.

"That's how we usually do things. We break the minds of the prisoners and make them work for us, but what if…"

With a sudden pause, he turned to point at two different rooms.

"…what if the people that are imprisoned know each other?"

"...Then they might do anything possible in order to help each other. Especially when one of them is on the verge of dying."

Impedius finished the sentence as he suddenly understood what Exilion was trying to get at.

Covering his mouth with his hand, Impedius's back hunched forward.

"Haha."

A chuckle soon escaped from his lips as the smile on his face became sinister.

"So are you saying that we should use this human in order to motivate the other humans to work harder?"

"That's exactly it."

Matching his smile, the eyes of the two demons shined.

"Doesn't this sound fun?"

"It does, it really does."

Walking up to the nearest cell, Impedius placed his hand over the door.

"Let's start then."

"I like your attitude."

Walking up to another room, Exilion placed his hand over the door and a rock grinding sound echoed out.

Kriii—!

Kriii—!

Soon the doors started to open.

***

"What's going on?"

When Jin left the room, he simply blinked his eyes once or twice to adjust his eyes to the light.

By now, he had done this so many times that it had become second nature to him.

"Hm?"

As Jin surveyed the surroundings, he noticed two familiar figures walking out of rooms that seemed similar to the one where he was trapped in.

Jin wasn't one to get surprised often, and when he did, he didn't show it, but as he called out their names, his face couldn't help but change.

'Just what in the world is going on?'

"Emma? Han Yufei?"

"This voice, is that Jin?"

Emma called out as she covered her eyes with her hand.

"You're also here?"

"Jin?"

Unlike Emma, Han Yufei didn't cover his face with his hand, Nevertheless, he still had his eyes closed.

It was clear that they weren't able to adjust to the sudden shift in lighting like Jin was able to.

"Emma? Han Yufei?"

The sound of another familiar voice echoed in Jin's ears as his gaze snapped to the distance, where Ren stood with an incomparably grave expression on his face.

His eyes were of course also closed at the moment.

Though he didn't show it on the outside, Jin suddenly felt a sense of superiority as he gazed at Ren.

'I guess all that training ended up paying off.'

"This familiar voice, is that you Ren?"

Emma's voice echoed out once more.

Turning to gaze in Emma's general direction, Ren solemnly replied.

"Yes, it's me."

"Do you know why we're here?"

"…"

Ren didn't answer, instead, he turned to gaze toward his right. Where nobody stood.

"Han Yufei, how did you get here?"

"…I don't know."

Answering Ren's question, Han Yufei turned to face his general direction.

"All I saw was a bright light and I suddenly found myself trapped inside of a dark room."

"Shit."

The frown on Ren's face deepened as he cursed out loud.

"What's wrong?"

Emma quietly asked as she crossed her arms together. Her reaction honestly surprised Jin as he had originally expected her to throw a tantrum as soon as Ren ignored her. This was how things usually went with the two of them.

But much to his surprise, this didn't happen.

The fact that Emma didn't throw a fit really surprised Jin.

'She's changed.'

He quietly thought to himself.

Massaging his eyes repeatedly, Ren slowly opened his eyes. Well, at least attempted to as he soon closed them again.

"This is bad..."

He softly whispered as he continued to massage his eyes.

"...It looks like we're not the only ones who got teleported into this world."

***

'It was just as I feared.'

Trying to calm my nervous heart, I massaged my eyes and stood still as my eyes adjusted to the light.

'The fact that Emma and Han Yufei are both here confirms it…Jin, Kevin, and I weren't the only ones that go transported in this world.'

This was an obvious conclusion after taking note of their presence.

But...

What I really wanted to know at the moment about the situation was exactly who got teleported here.

'Last I recalled, Han Yufei wasn't in the mercenary house back when everything happened, and Emma…well, who knows what she was doing.'

It was certain, however, that she wasn't with us.

For her to have also shown up...

"There's something seriously off about the situation."

The ominous feeling inside of my heart only grew with time.

Massaging my eyes one more time, I slowly opened them.

"Ugh."

As soon as I opened them, a groan escaped my mouth, but I kept them open despite the pain.

This gave me a clearer understanding of what was around me and allowed me to see the others for the first time.

Except for Jin, all the others looked bad. Their clothes and hair were a mess. They had a healthy complexion, but it was still paler than usual, and a far cry from their past selves.

They didn't look terrible, but...

There was something else that caught my attention.

A particular room in the distance.

Seeing everyone outside their own rooms, and noticing there was only one room apart from mine where no one else stood, I felt an ominous feeling.

Slowly I walked up to the room.

'I hope it's just a random room..'

I thought to myself as I walked to the room.

...I seriously hoped it was that.

Chapter 573: Situation [1]

"This will do for now."

Brian carefully combed his hair and adjusted his clothes in front of the mirror. In addition to his white shirt, he wore a black pair of pants that seemed a bit too big for his body.

His shirt was slightly wrinkled, but given his current living conditions, it was all he could do.

It was still nevertheless a good look for him. He looked sharp.

"Haaa…"

As Brian exhaled, he leaned forward and placed both hands on the side of the sink.

Softly mumbling under his breath, he gazed at his reflection, particularly his green eyes.

"You can do it. You can defiantly do it, Brian!"

This was the first day of his new job, and he couldn't screw it up. Brian's resolve hardened as he thought about his mother's condition.

"I can definitely do it."

As Brian turned around, he slapped his cheeks and closed the faucet.

As he carefully opened the bathroom door, he felt his previous nervousness disappear completely.

Upon exiting the bathroom, Brian was greeted by a blast of cold air coming from the air conditioner of the building.

"You must be the newbie."

A young man in his mid-20s greeted him near the entrance to the bathroom. With long black hair that flowed down his shoulders, he had a face that mesmerized everyone who looked at him. Especially his eyes that made one fall into a trance with just a glimpse.

'Handsome.'

As he stared at the man in front of him for a moment, even Brian was mesmerized for a short couple of seconds.

"Eh..ah."

He fumbled with his words.

As he extended a hand, the man carefully scrutinized Brian's face.

"Nice to meet you, newbie."

A bright smile adorned his face.

"My name is Hemlock. Hemlock Feyner...and I'll be your supervisor."

***

"Smallsnake!" "Smallsnake!" "Smallsnake!"

Suddenly, he was awakened by a familiar voice. After slowly coming to his senses, Smallsnake spotted a familiar face.

'…Ren.'

He silently thought to himself as he struggled to open his mouth.

He could feel water dripping inside of his mouth as some of the water began spilling all over his face. He didn't know for how long this had been going, but he no longer felt as thirsty as before.

Even so, his body and mind remained numb.

"Smallsnake!" "Smallsnake!"

He heard Ren's voice calling out for him.

'Why is it him out of all people?'

When Smallsnake thought about how someone would hallucinate near death, he wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.

If there was a face that he didn't want to see when he was close to death, it would definitely be Ren's.

He had been traumatized enough by him.

"Smallsnake!" "Smallsnake!"

Smack—! Smack—!

Upon feeling his left and right cheeks sting, and after the dream cleared up a bit, he realized he had not been dreaming, and Ren had indeed been slapping him continuously.

Smack—! Smack—!

"S…stop!" "Stop!"

"You're awake!"

Smallsnake heard Ren's relieved voice as the slapping stopped.

"…Yeah."

Smallsnake similarly replied in a relieved voice, but for a different reason.

'Thank god the slapping stopped.'

They really hurt.

"Are you okay?"

"…Yeah."

The moment Smallsnake tried to move his body up, he realized he couldn't move a single muscle.

"Ugk."

A pained groan escaped from his lips as his mind blanked.

"Stay down."

A hand pressed down on his chest as Ren shook his head.

"You're still far too dehydrated to move. Fortunately, I've given you enough water to hydrate you, but your conditions are still terrible…"

Though Smallsnake couldn't see clearly, at the moment, he could see Ren's face turn bitter with worry.

'I guess he cares…'

He was somewhat happy to see this. Sometimes, Smallsnake really doubted that Ren cared for him, but seeing how worried he was for him, Smallsnake realized that he indeed cared.

He was just too much of an ass to show it.

A smile spread on his face as he turned his gaze away from Ren and he stared at the ceiling.

"..it's..b..ad, isn't it?"

It didn't take a genius to understand that his current condition was terrible.

From barely being able to move his body, to feel little to no energy.

Smallsnake could tell.

…He was on the verge of death.

'This sucks.'

Smallsnake uttered inside of his mind as his eyelids grew heavier.

'I don't want to die yet.'

There was still something that he wanted to do before dying. Something that he promised himself to accomplish no matter what.

He couldn't die just yet.

Yet…

His eyelids progressively became heavier. He didn't know what was happening, but the incoming darkness scared him.

The only thing he could see at the moment was Ren's blurry figure. He could also faintly hear something, but his mind was too out of it to properly process what he was trying to say.

In the end, darkness slowly overtook his vision and his consciousness slipped.

Fortunately for him, he was able to make out the last words that Ren had said to him.

"Have..a..rest."

Unknowingly, a faint curl spread on his lips before his mind slipped.

'Okay.'

***

"This is bad."

I carefully stood up as I stared at Smallsnake, who was passed out before me.

His current condition was quite frankly terrible. If something wasn't done soon, I couldn't guarantee his life.

"I need to do something about this qu—"

"It's just like you said, they know each other."

"What did I tell you?"

Suddenly, two sinister voices filled with malice echoed throughout the room as my head snapped back and I saw two demons standing behind the door of the room.

"Who goes there?"

I asked while taking a glimpse behind them. It was there that I caught sight of the others on the floor.

Seeing Jin and the others on the ground staring at me with their eyes open, I realized that they were probably responsible for beating me up and trapping us.

Rather than answering my question, one of the demons slowly walked in my direction.

"Oh, so you know demonic language?"

Similarly taking a step forward, I tried to shield Smallsnake away from the demons.

His current state was critical, and if anything happened at the moment, I feared that he would die.

'Shit.'

Just the thought made my heart palpitate with anxiety.

'No matter what, I can't let anything happen to Smallsnake.'

It wasn't just because his safety was my responsibility, but because he was one of the people I knew for the longest.

Even before Amanda, Kevin, and the others…

He had been with me through my highs and lows. I couldn't for the love of god let anything happen to him.

"I'm quite curious as to how you humans managed to get into this planet."

One of the two demons asked. He had a rather bulky figure and two large horns on his head that circled inwardly. The darkish red tone of his skin and the aura he exuded were similar to those of a Viscount ranked demon.

On normal occasions, such level of strength wasn't anything that I would take note of, but since my mana was currently sealed, it certainly felt like I was staring at a huge mountain.

"I'm also quite curious. Have the humans perhaps figured out a way to teleport to other planets? If so, that would truly be problematic."

The other demon spoke up. Unlike the bulky demon, he had a rather lanky build and his horns were sharp rather than curly like the other demon.

Nevertheless, he also exerted the strength that closely resembled a Viscount-ranked demon.

Posed with their questions, I didn't answer them, but rather carefully looked around my surroundings.

Opening my mouth, I asked a couple of questions.

"Where are we, and what do you want from us?"

My current priority was figuring out where we were before anything else.

I already had a little hunch, but I needed to make sure before anything else.

"Where we are?"

As the demons glanced at each other, they had strange looks on their faces. As they laughed silently to themselves, a smile cracked on their faces as they turned their attention back to Smallsnake, who was lying behind me.

"There's no need to be so impatient. You will see soon enough…You will see soon enough…"

***

"You can teleport?"

With wide-open eyes, Amanda and Melissa stared at Kevin.

"How come you never mentioned this before?"

Melissa asked as she leaned her body forward to get a better look at the giant pyramid in the distance.

As she pushed some of the leaves away from her face, she silently muttered.

"…and you're also saying that you know of a way to teleport to anyone you want?"

"That's correct."

"Does that include Amanda and I?"

"…Yeah."

Kevin scratched the back of his ear as he kept his gaze toward the front. At the moment, he was truthfully answering all of their questions.

He was really afraid of what they would do if they realized that he had a way to know where exactly they are located at any point in time.

Feeling Melissa's sharp gaze, Kevin stood motionless as he didn't dare utter a single word.

Taking another look at the pyramid in the distance, Melissa asked.

"Are you sure that Ren and the others are inside of that thing?"

"Sure."

Kevin confidently replied as he caught a glimpse of the system interface in front of him.

Massaging the bottom of her chin, Melissa's brows furrowed even more tightly.

"And are you sure that you can teleport to any of them at any point in time?"

"Yes."

Kevin once again confirmed.

However, recalling something, he added.

"I can only teleport once though. I can't teleport back out since there's a cool down for the skill."

"I see…"

Rather than being surprised by the sudden revelation, Melissa didn't show any reaction.

It was only after a while that she removed her hand from her chin and gravely nodded her head.

Putting on a pained expression, she let out a long sigh.

"Although I hate to say this, it looks like we have to make some sacrifices. It was nice knowing them for the time that we did—"

"We're going to Ren."

Cutting Melissa off, Amanda placed her hand on Kevin's shoulder and grabbed Melissa's hand.

Her sudden action surprised the both of them as they looked at Amanda with a baffled look.

But instead of caring about how they looked at her, Amanda sternly looked at Kevin and ordered.

"Get going, and stop wasting time."

Chapter 574: Situation[2]

"Hurry up Kevin, don't waste any more time."

The firm voice of Amanda echoed throughout the surrounding area as Melissa and Kevin stared at her, baffled.

'When was she ever like this?'

Simultaneously, they thought.

Ignoring their looks, Amanda urged.

"So?"

"Eh...ehm..."

In a state of shock, Kevin had no idea how to respond to Amanda's abrupt attitude shift.

He really had no idea...

"No."

When Kevin was about to say anything, Melissa covered her forehead with her hand and extended her other hand to cover his mouth.

In the distance, she glanced at the large pyramid and sighed.

"Going now would do more harm than good."

"What do you mean?"

Kevin and Amanda simultaneously looked at Melissa. They were both wondering what her words meant.

A second sigh escaped Melissa's lips as she stared at them both.

Bringing her arms towards the leaves and pulling them away, she glanced at the pyramid in the distance and asked.

"Kevin, you said that Ren and the others are currently inside of the mana compressor, right?"

"That's right."

Kevin nodded his head.

Bringing his arm out to push some leaves away, he also gazed at the nearby pyramid.

Beside him, Amanda leaned forward a bit to get a better look. In the meantime, Melissa continued to speak.

"Currently, my best guess is that Ren and the others are inside the building not because they infiltrated it, but rather because they are imprisoned there."

"But if it's Re—"

"Shut up."

Melissa extended her hand and stopped Kevin from interrupting her. Her glare and her stern voice were enough to stop Kevin from speaking as he nodded his head.

Massaging her chin, Melissa pondered for a bit before continuing.

"…Let me finish before you say some of your usual nonsense."

She brushed the side of her hair behind her ear.

"According to how mana compressors work, especially ones of this size, I would guess they are currently somewhere beneath the pyramid, trying to fuel the device."

As with any large machine, it consumed a lot of fuel when it was running, and Melissa estimated that the pyramid in the distance consumed a lot of energy.

Large enough that it needed a lot of cores and ores in order to fuel.

Her conclusion was that if Ren and the others were truly in the compressor, they would have gone into labor to fuel the compressor.

"We would not only bring trouble to ourselves, but we would also bring trouble to them if we left now."

Melissa shook her head, letting go of the leaves that soon returned to their usual position, blocking her view of the pyramid.

"I was only half joking when I previously said that they should be sacrificed. I mean, Emma and Jin are pretty important people. Their death would bring me quite a lot of trouble…"

Biting her nail, Melissa looked at Kevin and Amanda.

"In any case, you two have heard my analysis. You should now know better than to act rashly and teleport yourselves there."

Her stern words prompted Amanda and Kevin to nod their heads in understanding.

"Good."

Melissa patted her hands in satisfaction. Her face was adorned with a half smile.

Rustle—! Rustle—!

A rustling sound was heard at that moment, and Melissa noticed Amanda let go of Kevin's shoulder.

"What are you doing?"

"The obvious."

Amanda replied, prompting a frown to appear on Melissa's face.

"Sounds annoying."

"It's the only way."

She then disappeared from Kevin's and Melissa's sight.

Dumbly staring in Amanda's direction, Kevin turned to look at Melissa and asked.

"…Where is she going?"

"To get some information."

Melissa replied while she crossed her arms and sat down.

Turning around to look at Kevin, she shook her head.

"In order to gain a better understanding of the building's infrastructure and Ren's and the others' conditions, she'll probably abduct a demon."

It only took a simple glance from Melissa to understand Amanda's next set of actions.

Although she had let emotions get the best of her not too long ago, now that she had calmed down, she understood exactly what she needed to do.

Melissa was happy with that.

There couldn't be more than two idiots at the same time.

"Alright."

Finally understanding Melissa's point, Kevin turned back to look at the structure in the distance.

"I'll keep watch of the pyramid while Amanda takes care of the information gathering. This is so that I can react if anything outside my expectations happens."

"Alright."

Finally having sorted the situation out, Melissa took out a set of equipment from his dimensional space and carefully placed them in front of her.

Clasping her hands together, she smiled.

"Let's continue what we were doing."

***

"Earth?"

As Liam scratched his head, he looked at the large black miasmic pyramid in the distance. He could feel the thick demonic energy emanating from the large light above the structure from where he stood.

Standing on top of a peak overlooking the distance, he caught a glimpse of several demons guarding the pyramid's entrances.

"Demons…"

Taking note of the horns on their heads, Liam was able to instantly guess what the creatures were. They were demons.

"Where am I?"

He had previously thought that he was on earth, but as he stared at the demons and structure in the distance, Liam was starting to have second doubts.

Was he perhaps still in the demon world? But how could that be?

He remembered leaving with Renzzx

"How strange."

His yellow pupils lit with a yellow hue as the world around him zoomed, and the world around him shifted.

"The demons guarding the door appear to be Viscount ranked demons, and…"

Blinking a couple of times, a frown emerged on Liam's face.

"I can also feel the presence of a couple of Marquis ranked demons inside..a Duke too, but his aura feels strange…"

It looked rather lethargic in his eyes. Perhaps the demon was old?

Liam couldn't exactly tell, but from what he was seeing, it looked to be the case.

"How troublesome…how troublesome…"

Covering his face with his hand, a sword sheath materialized in his other hand.

"Attacking them now would truly be a stupid idea…a very stupid one…but…"

A glimmer of light appeared in his eyes and lightning cracked around him at that moment.

Crack—! Crackle—!

As he stepped forward, his body zoomed all the way to the pyramid's entrance.

"Who's there!?"

"Intruder!"

His sudden appearance startled the two demons guarding the place.

"Hey, hey, there's no need to be this panicked."

He raised both hands in the air as he muttered. However, his words did not seem to reach the demons' ears as demonic energy erupted from them.

When Liam saw this, his eyes twinkled with excitement.

"…Don't tell me I didn't warn you."

Click—!

In the air, a subtle clicking sound resounded as the heads of the two demons fell to the ground without him moving from the spot.

Thud. Thud.

Rolling towards Liam's feet, he kicked the head to the side and strolled into the gates of the building where a long and dark corridor met his sight.

"…Although it's not the same, this will do for now."

Liam muttered as he walked through the corridor and his bright yellow pupils shined in the midst of the darkness.

"It'll take a couple of tweaks, and might be different from what he showed me, but it'll get there eventually."

Humming to himself, Liam's figure soon disappeared into the building.

***

In the dense foliage, Amanda pondered.

'I was being too emotional.'

Amanda realized just how flawed her previous thinking was after hearing Melissa's comments.

She had let her emotions get the best of her. Even now, she wasn't exactly in the best state of mind.

She wanted nothing more than to rush in and help Ren and the others out, but as she thought back at Melissa's words, she could only force her emotions down.

'Now is not the time.'

Catching a glimpse of something in the distance, a bow materialized in her hand.

Immediately after that, she raised it and pulled its string.

Kacha!

Suddenly, a thin blue arrow shot towards the distance at incredible speeds before disappearing from sight.

The piercing sound in the air was just as if a sharp knife was running across a glass pane.

'Around <B> rank.'

She had felt something coming from that direction.

Rustle—! Rustle—!

Pushing aside the leaves coming from the trees, Amanda's feet soon came to a pause.

"Strange…"

She muttered as her eyes squinted.

Bending down on the ground and taking note of the ground that was burned due to her arrow, Amanda's delicate brows knit.

'My arrow definitely hit something.'

She was sure of this.

It wasn't well known, but Amanda had a special talent that enabled her to tell when her arrow had hit something.

Therefore, she was sure that she had hit something. The fact that it didn't leave anything behind could only mana one thing…

Rustle—!

Her head snapped back and her feet pressed against the ground lightly, enabling her to distance herself from the direction of where the sound came from.

Swooosh—!

It was at that moment that she felt a fierce wind blow against her, sending her hair scattering away as a sharp tip aimed for her face.

Amanda was quick to react. With her keen eyes that were honed to see the tiniest of details, she carefully avoided the sharp tips and raised her bow.

Rippling waves visible to the naked eye congealed in the air, as if light itself was twisting.

After that, three thick arrows formed on her bow.

Bang—!

A fierce blast suddenly shot out from one of the bushes as Amanda spotted a bright white light headed in her direction.

"Hein!"

"Ah fuck!"

After the blast, a bulky man emerged from one of the bushes holding a large shield hidden beneath a thin white cloth.

Not only that but following after him was another girl holding onto a flute in her right hand. She was currently sitting atop what seemed to be a large black wolf.

One that was the size of half an elephant.

"Awoooooo!"

The wolf's cry echoed throughout the forest.

'…They look familiar.'

Amanda took a step to the side and narrowly avoided the blast coming from her. The mana in her body slowly fluctuated as she got an even better look at the people surrounding them.

It was then…

"Wait!"

A crisp and pleasant voice echoed out loud as a stunning beauty with long black hair and two horns stepped out.

Instantly, Amanda's face changed as she recognized who the demon was.

"It's you…"

Chapter 575: Reuniting [1]

Amanda's face turned cold as she stared at the enchanting figure that was staring back at her from the distance.

'It's her.'

Amanda was able to recognize her with just a simple glimpse of her face.

How could she not? She was the demoness that had placed a curse on her mother, and the same demon that worked for Ren...and fooled her by transforming into a cat.

'Pudding.'

The sudden recollection of pudding resulted in a slight twitch of Amanda's hand. She managed to hide the twitch by bringing her hand behind her back.

Amanda's emotions were currently in disarray as she stared at Angelica.

She didn't exactly know how to react.

She still couldn't quite bring herself to forgive her.

"Huuuu…"

Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself down.

'I need to stop being emotional.'

Amanda's face became indifferent as she remembered what she had told herself previously.

After alternating between the others and realizing that they were the people Ren had once introduced, Amanda relaxed.

"It looks like you have also been transported into this world."

Her bow disappeared into thin air, and the mana in her body stopped flowing.

Following her actions, the others also relaxed.

*Puff*

With smoke diffusing in the air, Leopold suddenly spoke.

"…You are?"

"Amanda."

Amanda replied as she turned to look at Leopold. Taking a short glimpse of the cigarette in his hand, Amanda was at a loss for words.

She couldn't quite understand how one would smoke in these circumstances.

"Amanda, huh."

Tapping the butt of the cigarette, Leopold crossed his arms.

"Have we ever met before?"

"Yes…"

His question caught Amanda slightly off guard.

'Does he not remember that I went to his daughter's concert…'

Halting her thought process there, Amanda's eyes suddenly sharpened.

It was at that moment that she suddenly recalled that he was Sophia's father.

"We have met before? Is that so? Where ex—"

"In Henlour."

She interrupted him mid-sentence before turning to look at the others, pausing on Angelica at the end.

As opposed to greeting her, she immediately began asking her questions.

Amanda seemed rather distant, but it was merely because she didn't want to let her emotions get the best of her.

"Do you have any idea where we are? And how did you guys appear here?"

"…I was hoping you might know the answer to that."

Angelica replied while staring toward the surroundings.

She didn't seem to mind Amanda's distant attitude.

"The last thing I remember is being teleported in this place before meeting up with the others."

"Same for me."

Crossing her arms together, Amanda pondered for a bit before she turned around and suggested.

"Come with me for now."

"Come with you?"

The others exchanged glances as Amanda's sudden actions surprised them. Amanda ignored them and went deeper into the forest.

"If you guys are looking for Ren, I know where he is."

Her figure vanished into the forest after that.

***

"Ugh."

I groaned as I inhaled the thick pervasive sulfuric gas that was permeating the air and burning up my nose.

Additionally, my feet were burning as I walked barefoot over rocks that released steam in the air as a result of the heat.

Plop—! Plop—!

Magma bubble burst in the air from beside me as some of it landed on the surface of my clothes, burning my body and clothes.

"Huu…huuu…"

Taking a series of calculated breaths, I tried my best to ignore the pain and continued to match forwards.

'It's heavy.'

I could barely keep my knees from buckling as I carried two large boulders behind my back.

But…

'It's the only way.'

I turned to gaze toward the far distance where I caught sight of Smallsnake laying down on the ground with heavy sweat tricking down his pale face.

Beside him were a couple of smaller rocks.

"Shit."

I cursed as I noticed his condition.

My grip on the rocks behind me firmed as I accelerated and headed towards Smallsnake. His condition looked worse than ever.

Bang—!

Dropping the rocks behind me, I moved to where Smallsnake was laying. His complexion was extremely pale and his face was drenched in sweat.

"hey, hey, are you okay?"

Wiping the sweat on my forehead, I tried to get a better look at him, but he simply brushed my hand away.

"I'm…fine."

His weak voice echoed out.

I shook my head as I noticed the tremble in his voice.

"You're anything but fine."

Taking a deep breath, I looked at Smallsnake's rocks and my own. My eyes turned to Smallsnake as I slowly stood up and picked his rocks up.

"Wha.t are you do—"

"Shut up."

After slapping Smalllsnake in the back of his head and knocking him out, I picked up his body over my shoulder.

Then, moving back to my boulders, I bent my body and picked up my two boulders.

"Ughhh!!!"

A sharp pain coursed through my body as I slowly lifted the boulders off the ground. I could feel the muscles of my body tear apart as blood started to drip down from the side of my lips.

Ignoring the pain, I slowly moved my body forward one step at the stone.

Thump—! Thump—!

With each step I took the ground beneath me shook. A sizzling sound reverberated throughout the air as my sweat dripped to the ground and instantly evaporated.

"Huuu…huuu…huuu…"

Enduring the pain and heat, I breathed in the same manner that Han Yufei thought me and slowly continued to walk forward.

Despite the pain, I could feel my body slowly getting better over time. This was a result of all the training I did.

"I'm close."

After walking for the next ten minutes, I was able to spot a large cliff in the distance where a large black hole resided. Standing near the cliff were several demons, alongside different figures, ranging from orcs, elves, and dwarves.

Most notably, I also spotted a couple of familiar figures.

'Looks like they are already there.'

Gritting my teeth to the point where I thought they would shatter, I continued to head toward the hole.

"Faster!"

"Hurry up."

"Ahhh!!!"

Near the hole, I could hear the demons shouting louder, and it wasn't long before I spotted what looked like a massive graveyard, filled with thousands and thousands of corpses that littered all over the hot ground.

Had it not been for the sulfuric smell that permeated the surroundings, I would've already puked from the smell of the rotten corpses on the ground.

"Ugh."

Feeling the squishy and rotten sensation on my feet as I stepped over the corpses, my stomach churned.

But as I glanced at Smallsnake on my shoulders, I continued to persist and move forward.

I was almost there…

***

"What are you doing?"

Taking his eyes away from the pyramid, Kevin turned to look at Melissa who seemed to be busy doing something.

She seemed to be mixing a series of different colored mixtures.

"What am I doing?"

Pouring one test tube over the other and mixing two substances together, Melissa glanced at Kevin from the corner of her eyes.

"Did you forget our previous conversation?"

"…About the weird flowers, you were previously talking about?"

"Yeah."

Melissa nodded and shook the test tube. Slowly the mixture started to turn green.

Taking a careful look at it, she continued.

"I'm currently trying to decompose the effect of two different flowers I found and trying a series of new things. And…"

Uncapping the test tube, Melissa casually tossed the test tube toward the distance.

Coming into contact with the ground, the test tube shattered into pieces and the liquid spilled onto the ground. Immediately after that, the vegetation around where the test tube broke apart started to slowly disintegrate and decay.

"Nice."

A smile adorned Melissa's face as she stared at the effects of the mixture she threw.

Taking out a piece of paper from her dimensional space and a pen, she jotted down a couple of things.

"The mixture seems to contain strong corros—"

Rustle—! Rustle—!

A series of rustling noises echoed out and Melissa and Kevin stopped whatever they were doing and stood up. It appeared that multiple figures were heading in their direction based on the sound.

A sword materialized in Kevin's hand as he prepared himself for combat.

A familiar voice interrupted him just as he was about to channel his mana.

"It's me."

Coming out from one of the bushes was Amanda who was soon followed by a series of other familiar figures that Kevin was able to instantly recognize.

"It's you guys…"

Immediately, Kevin lowered his sword.

"...How?"

His state of mind was currently in a state of disarray as he couldn't understand what was happening in front of him.

'How is it possible that they are also here?'

It was already confusing to him how Emma, Amanda, Melissa, and the others were dragged into this world. He could only explain it by the link he had created with them, but...

'How did they get here as well?'

Kevin couldn't recall having set up a link with any of the people in front of him. How could they have shown up in this world as well?

'Just what in the world is going on?'

"So you are also here."

Jolting Kevin out of his thoughts, he spotted a familiar figure in the distance. It was none other than the demoness that worked with Ren.

"Angelica was it?"

Quick to calm down, Kevin looked at the other people and judged Angelica to be the leader of the group. Especially after taking a quick glance at the others.

*Puff*

"What are you doing?"

"… It's obviously a bit dirty."

"No, it's not?"

'Just what kind of people did Ren recruit?'

Shaking his head, Kevin was just about to walk up to Angelica when his head suddenly snapped back and his eyes paused on the large pyramid in the distance.

He wasn't the only one to react as both Amanda and Angelica also reacted and turned their gaze toward the pyramid in the distance.

Without saying anything, Kevin brushed the leaves to the side to get a better look at the pyramid. It was then that he spotted a shocking scene.

It was a scene where an individual that looked to be a human walked toward the entrance of the pyramid while decapitating the heads of the two demons guarding the entrance. Most shocking was the fact that he never moved from his spot the entire time.

"W…what?"

Kevin's eyes opened wide in shock.

While he was shocked by the idea of someone barging into the pyramid through the front door, he was most shocked by the sword art he used.

It was the same as Ren's…

"How?"

Kevin wasn't the only one startled by this as Amanda's eyes met Kevin's.

'What's going on?'

They both wondered at the same time.

"It's him…"

It was then that Angelica's voice echoed out.

Both Amanda and Kevin turned their head to gaze at her.

"You know him?"

Biting her lip and nodding bitterly, Angelica glanced at Kevin out of the corner of her eye.

"…Yeah."

With a squint of her eyes, she softly murmured.

"He is someone that Ren brought, and is someone that Ren said is even more...talented than him."

In spite of her soft voice, Amanda and Kevin felt her words ring powerfully inside their heads as they couldn't comprehend what she was saying.

More talented than Ren?

How was that possible? Ren was already on the verge of breaking through to <S-> rank by the age of 21-22, and was already so strong.

...and now he was saying that there was someone even more talented than him?

Staring at Angelica, Kevin couldn't help but ask again.

"…Is that true?"

"Yes."

Angelica nodded her head as her face turned complicated.

"I don't particularly agree with what he said since he is older and has the same rank, but as I've fought with him already, I can say that he's incredibly s—"

"Enough with the chit-chat."

Cutting Angelica off, Melissa placed her hand over Kevin's shoulder as she lifted her glasses up with her finger.

"You wanted to save Ren and the others, right?"

Squinting her eyes to look into the distance, Melissa clicked her tongue.

"…seriously? Why bother recruiting someone that recklessly goes into enemy territory and doesn't even bother killing them? Does this guy even know that demons have cores?"

Angelica and the others turned to face the pyramid following Melissa's words and noticed that the demons that had been decapitated were gradually regenerating.

Everyone's face turned weird when they noticed this. Especially Angelica who covered her face with her hand.

"…He most likely forgot this."

"Forgot? Seriously?"

Melissa's face cringed.

Shaking her head, she gripped Kevin's shoulder.

"I can't be bothered. Anyways, Kevin you better hurry up and teleport everyone to where Ren is. Once the demons regenerate, they will most likely alert the other demons and that will most likely be the best chance for us to fetch that sack of sh—keum…"

Halfway through her sentence, Melissa coughed and silently mumbled.

"Almost slipped…"

Unfortunately for her, almost everyone understood her words.

Pretending to be oblivious to this, Melissa patted Kevin on the shoulder.

"What are you waiting for? Hurry up."

Chapter 576: Reuniting [2]

"Kh...Huuu...huuu..."

My chest burned with every breath I took. The pain was unbearable. It almost felt as though I was breathing fire, but...

"Keep breathing."

The familiar voice and hand pressing against my back prompted me to keep breathing in the same manner as before.

It was hard.

Very hard.

In the process of dropping the boulders into the hole, I almost passed out from overexertion.

It would have been catastrophic if Han Yufei hadn't dragged me away and hidden me in a corner to help me. Fortunately, as this seemed to be a common scene, none of the demons took particular notice of me.

"...You're almost there."

Han Yufei's voice echoed out once more. Clenching my teeth, sweat dripped down from the side of my face as it sizzled on the steaming hot ground.

"Ugh."

Despite the pain, I persisted through the pain as I felt myself progressing. A slow but steady increase in strength and recovery was occurring in my muscles.

In spite of the fact that I had no mana inside my body, my body was slowly recovering.

It was nothing short of miraculous.

"Don't lose focus."

Han Yufei's voice once again echoed inside of my head as he helped me master the first stage of his family martial manual.

[Body Hardening.]

Compared to the other two sections, it sounded like the most lack-luster stage of his martial manual, but I begged to differ.

At the moment, I find it to be the most effective method.

There was a simple reason for this.

'With it, I might be able to increase the power and time of my last skill.'

Limit Breaker.

The most ominous skill that I had, but also my biggest reassurance.

With every use, I knew that I would have to follow my other self's arrangements, but I also knew that I would be able to live longer through this skill.

Especially since I was still quite weak compared to my enemies, and I ended up facing enemies that tended to be way above my rank nowadays.

"There are four phases to the [Body Hardening] method. Bronze body, Silver body, Gold body, and Diamond body. You've currently achieved the Bronze body, and you're close to achieving the Silver body. If you keep practicing as I told you, then you won't have any problems breaking through to the next level any time soon."

I slowly turned around as I felt Han Yufei's hand leave my body.

The sensation of cooling that was coursing through my body vanished at that moment.

'A pity...'

I thought as I slowly stood up and stretched my body.

"How's his condition?"

Crouching down next to Jin and Emma who were sitting not so far from where we were, I carefully examined Smallsnake's condition.

"He seems to be fine."

Emma replied as she examined his body carefully. Placing her finger over his wrist, she closed her eyes for several seconds.

"His heartbeat is a bit weak, and his complexion is a bit pale, but for now, he isn't in any danger. He is just exhausted."

"That's good."

I sighed in relief once I heard her words.

As I've said before, it was my responsibility to keep Smallsnake alive.

I couldn't forgive myself if anything happened to him.

"Let's get going."

Jin said as he stood up and looked toward the distance.

"The demons are coming. They won't like it if they see us doing nothing."

"...You're right."

As I looked into the distance, I saw several demons approaching in our general direction and picked up Smallsnake's body. I then placed him over my shoulders.

"...At least they're not overworking us."

Han Yufei commented as he stretched his shoulders.

I nodded slightly as I turned to face his direction.

"Yeah."

Surprisingly, for a labor camp, the demons were rather lax. Or rather, they weren't stupid to the point of overworking the people here.

We were allowed to have short breaks in order to recover our stamina. This was so that they could ensure maximum performance from the people working.

The breaks weren't long, about ten minutes long, but it was still nonetheless something.

As we sat on one of the rocks, some of the people from the other races were also taking short breaks and quietly eating some of the strange goo from before.

'...I guess all the deaths over here are mostly from suicide.'

I thought as I stepped over the corpses beneath me.

The rotten feeling still made my stomach churn, but I simply endured it and headed for the far end where the boulders were.

"Things would've been a lot easier if my mana wasn't blocked."

I muttered as I walked.

If my mana wasn't sealed, I would've been able to finish my task faster and more efficiently, but apparently, the ores inside of the boulders reacted negatively to any form of energy and hence why our mana was sealed.

Kind of bullshit, but it wasn't as though I could do anything about it.

"Haaa..."

Sighing deeply, I walked toward the rocks in the distance with Smallsnake on my shoulder.

"I really want to get out of here."

***

"Has everyone placed their hands on Kevin?"

Melissa impatiently looked at the others and checked whether they had placed their hands on Kevin. It was the necessary condition in order for the teleportation skill to work.

"Yes."

"Yup."

"Ready."

Upon confirming that everyone had placed their hands on Kevin, she patted his shoulder.

"Alright, do your thing."

Kevin's mouth twitched as he felt Melissa's pat.

In a soft voice, he whispered.

"...What am I, a dog?"

"Yes."

Melissa nodded, clearly overhearing his whisper.

Patting Kevin in the head again, she turned to look at the pyramid in the distance and urged.

"Now hurry up. We don't have much time."

"Fine, fine."

With a roll of his eyes, Kevin turned to face the pyramid and pressed the air. His actions caused the others to look at each other with a weird look on their faces. However, it didn't last for long as their vision soon blacked out and they felt a familiar sensation engulf their body.

Their bodies slowly disintegrated into particles, and they vanished from their spot.

***

Clank

What followed after the all too familiar rock grating sound was complete darkness as I found myself back in my room.

"Haaa...Haaa.."

My energy was dwindling as I breathed deeply. My body was completely exhausted and I barely felt any energy inside of my body.

"Shit."

I let out a curse while covering my face with my hand.

"Now is not the time to rest."

After ripping the shirt off my body, I sat cross-legged on the floor. Then I started breathing rhythmically, recalling Han Yufei's previous teachings.

There was a time for everything, and now was not the time for me to relax. I had to train.

'If I persevere through the exhaustion and pain, as Han Yufei said, my body will continue to improve, and I will soon be able to progress to the next phase of the [Body Hardening] method...'

Imagining how much stronger I would be after learning the skill excited me to no end as my eyes closed shut.

"Just you w—"

In that moment, a bright light flashed across the room, forcing me to add more strength to my eyelids that were keeping my eyes closed.

"Are we here?"

"Why is it so dark?"

"Because the lights are off?"

"Where is my cigarette?"

A series of familiar voices echoed after the bright light as darkness returned to the room.

"Huh?!"

My body jumped up in shock as I recognized the voices.

"...What in the world is going on here?"

***

"So you're saying that you haven't seen any humans here?"

Several demons prostrated themselves to the ground, not daring to look up, as a sinister voice reverberated across a vast expanse.

"Y…yes, your highness."

One of the demons replied as his body shook uncontrollably. It had to be noted that the demon was a Duke-ranked demon, and yet he was trembling like a newborn cub.

For him to fear the figure in front of him...it displayed just how powerful the figure was.

"So not on this planet as well…"

Observing a large pyramid-shaped structure in the distance, Magnus massaged the bottom of his chin.

'This marks another planet that has no humans inside…'

Thinking of his majesty's orders, Magnus couldn't help but doubt whether there truly were any humans on any of the mentioned planets, but as his faith in Jezebeth was high, he didn't question his orders.

'I have no choice but to continue to fulfill his orders.'

"I…is there anything else that you would like to know?"

The same demon from before spoke. Lowering his head and carefully scrutinizing the demon, Magnus showed a surprised look.

"Oh?"

A thin smile spread across his face.

"Normally, I don't like it when people talk without my permission, but since I'm in a good mood today, let's see what your next response is."

The surrounding area was enveloped in deathly silence as the demons began to tremble uncontrollably.

Especially the demon that had previously spoken as he felt the humongous presence coming out of Magnus, and heading in his direction.

A thick killing intent permeated through the air as Magnus's eyes shined with a red hue.

"I…I will try to answer to the best of my abilities."

The Duke ranked demon knew from that moment that his next words would decide his life or death as he swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

"Good."

Magnus nodded as he brought his hands behind his back.

"What clan are you from?"

All the demons present froze on the spot following his words. It was especially obvious on the Duke-ranked demon who trembled uncontrollably.

It was a simple question, yet the implications behind it were massive. It had to be noted that killing a demon of Duke rank from another clan was the equivalent of waging war against them.

Magnus was simply threading on a thin wire.

After slowly raising his head to gaze at Magnus, the demon replied.

"I...I'm from the clan of Pride."

"Pride clan?"

Magnus's brow raised.

"You from the Pride clan?"

A chuckle escaped from his lips as he shook his head. It wasn't long before his face twisted.

"Even though you know that you belong to my clan, you behave as if you have no shred of pride inside of your body..."

It became increasingly difficult to breathe as every word he spoke bore down on everything around him, forcing the demon to lower their heads even further.

"Pathetic."

With a swipe of his hand, the Duke-ranked demon turned into dust.

Turning his body to face the distance, Magnus's fingers flicked in the air and a fissure appeared in front of him.

"...Cassaria was it?"

Magnus slowly entered the fissure.

"I hope you won't disappoint me."

Chapter 577: Reuniting [3]

Bang—!

A powerful blast reverberated through a large room as a figure skidded back.

"Cough…cough…"

What followed after the blasting sound was a series of coughs as the dust in the air settled, revealing a figure with long black hair and yellow eyes.

"Cough...heee.."

Liam smiled as he wiped his mouth and noticed the smudge of blood on his thumb.

"That was pretty strong."

"What is another human doing here?"

An effeminate-looking humanoid with two curly horns floated in the air opposite Liam.

While levitating in the air, the demon licked his lips slowly as he gazed at Liam.

"Now that I'm getting a closer look at you, you're quite the handsome lad..."

"Uh?"

Shivers ran down Liam's body as he felt the gaze of the demon.

'What's going on?'

What prompted the shivers wasn't the demon's weird gaze, but something else...something deeper...it was his sixth sense. Something he had honed over countless battles and struggles.

At the moment, it was telling him that something was wrong with the situation.

His instinct was right as he felt a sharp whistling sound coming from his right cheek. It was there that Liam noticed the demon appearing right beside him.

It had only taken a short second for him to appear next to Liam and attack him.

'Fast…'

Liam thought as his eyes gleamed with a strange yellow hue and lightning began to crackle around his body.

Clang—!

A metallic ring echoed throughout the air as the demon's sharp nails came into contact with the sheath of Liam's sword that was only slightly tilted to the right.

Even then...

"Cough!"

Skidding several meters back, Liam coughed again. This time, blood came out of his mouth as his knee trembled and he was forced to stab his sword to the ground in order to stop himself from crashing against the nearby wall.

'…How powerful.'

Lifting his head up to gaze at the demon, Liam clenched and unclenched his fist as he placed the sheath of the sword next to his waist.

Massaging the side of his neck, he quietly mumbled to himself.

"As I thought, fighting against a Marquis ranked demon while I'm still <A+> rank, isn't suitable."

In the meantime, the demon was carefully observing Liam.

"You're pretty strong."

The demon commented.

Raising his head to stare at the demon, Liam lowered his heads

"Thank you."

"Keke."

The demon chuckled as the wings on his back folded together.

He then extended his hand.

"Continuing this fight is pointless. You're weaker than me, and you know that. It would be a pity to let such talent die, so…"

The demon's hand was suddenly enshrouded in a black hue as a scroll unexpectedly materialized on the top of his palm.

"…How about signing a co—"

"I'm good."

Liam cut the demon off before he could even finish speaking.

Taking a glance at the contract, he shook his head.

"I appreciate your offer, but I'd rather not sign a contract with a demon belonging to the Lust clan."

Tapping onto his dimensional space, an apple appeared in Liam's hand.

Crunch—!

When he bit into the apple, juice spilled on the ground as an echoing crunching sound was heard.

"You guys are rather..munch…weak…munch…I would much rather sign a contract with a d…munch…emon from the envy clan…munch…of course, that is only on the premise that I'm interested to sign one in the fir..much..st place…munch…but I'm not."

Licking his fingers after having devoured the apple in his hand, Liam stretched his neck.

"Good snack."

He then placed his hand on the sheath of his sword.

"Alright, I'm ready."

"Haha…"

After Liam finished his words, the demon let out a small laugh as he covered his face with the hand that was holding onto the contract.

"Hahahahhahahah."

The laugh soon turned into a full maniacal laugh as the demon pressed his stomach and hunched over. By the second, his laughter became louder, and a frown appeared on Liam's face.

"What's so funny?"

Liam asked with a confused tone.

Following his words, the demon stopped laughing and his face twisted.

"Your naivety."

Fwap—!

The back of his wings expanded rapidly and a terrifying aura suddenly sprang out from the demon's body as the room started to shake.

"To think that there would be someone stupid enough to reject my offer and choose to die like this."

His menacing pressure reached all the way toward Liam who felt his clothes and hair flutter.

Within a couple of seconds, the pressure had already expanded toward every inch and corner of the room as the demon's terrifying pressure continued to expand.

"I'll show you exactly what happens when someone rejects me!"

The figure vanished from the spot before reappearing right in front of Liam.

"Di—"

Click—!

A clicking sound echoed throughout the room.

Thump—!

Everything happened so fast that no one was able to react to the sudden changes. After that, with two loud thuds, a dissected body landed on the ground in front of Liam who picked his ear with his pinky.

"You talk too much."

He mumbled under his breath as he let the sword fall into its sheath. After that, he kicked the demon's body and flipped it around.

"H…how?"

It was there that he heard the demon's voice as he stared at Liam with eyes wide open. Given that his core had still not been shattered, he was still alive.

"How did I defeat you?"

Tilting his head, Liam brushed his hair back.

With a shrug of his shoulder,s he replied.

"Since I couldn't beat you when I was ranked <A+>, I just decided to rank up."

His words caused the demon's eyes to open even more.

Shrugging his shoulders once again, Liam's yellow eyes shined and he stabbed toward the demon's abdomen area.

Crack—!

A cracking sound echoed out and the demon's body slowly disintegrated into the air.

"Alright."

Stretching his shoulder a little, he turned around and headed toward the far end of the room where he was met with another dark corridor.

As he slowly walked in that direction, his footsteps halted and he lowered his head.

He suddenly recalled something.

"…Did I break the cores of the two demons that were standing outside?"

A frown emerged on his face as he deeply thought about the situation.

"Ugh."

But after wrapping his head over the matter and being unable to recall anything, he eventually ruffled his hair and continued to head deeper into the tunnel.

"Whatever, it'll be more fun this way. It'll help me test my new strength."

Now that he had broken through to <S-> rank, he felt a lot more powerful and he couldn't wait to test his new strength.

***

"Ehm…"

Blinking several times to make sure that I was hearing correctly, I picked my nose with my pinky. I just wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything wrong with my hearing.

'Am I that far gone after all that training?'

It may have been dark, but the small familiar light coming from what seemed to be a cigarette, and the smell…

"Leopold?"

I instinctively called out.

"Hey! Hey!"

*Puff*

"!!!"

Not expecting a reply, I flinched and took several steps back.

"What's going o—off."

Stopping mid-sentence, I felt something soft embrace me. My thought process halted for a short second.

"…I'm glad you're okay."

A faint whisper sounded near my ear, causing my body to shiver as a strange feeling enveloped me.

"What's happening? I can't see shit."

It was then that a familiar voice echoed and Amanda distanced herself from me.

Following that, my eyes reflexively closed as a bright light flooded the room.

"Ren."

A voice called out for me.

"Aye."

I could easily make out that the voice belonged to Kevin as I slowly opened my eyes and saw several figures standing in front of me.

"So many…"

Taking note of reverting that was present, I opened and closed my mouth, speechless.

'Just how many people got transported in this place?'

Kevin, Melissa, Ryan, Amanda, Angelica, Leopold, Hein, and Ava.

Excluding the others that were with me, practically almost everyone was here with me.

"How did this happen?"

I asked as I turned to look at Kevin who shook his head with a bitter smile.

"I also don't know."

"Hmmm…"

I lowered my head to ponder over the situation. But just as I was about to speak my thoughts, I heard Melissa's sour voice.

"Hm? This place is pretty fragile."

Knock—! Knock—!

Melissa turned to look at me as she knocked on the side of the wall.

"Although they aren't exactly weak, given your strength, you should've been able to easily break the walls. How come you didn't escape?"

Everybody moved to the wall and felt it for themselves as soon as they heard her words.

"You're right."

"It's true."

"This is indeed pretty weak."

Everyone turned to look at me as they confirmed her words.

I wryly smiled and extended my hand.

"It would've been easy for me had I been in my normal conditions, but as you can see, my mana is sealed. I can't really do anything right now."

"Let me see."

Grabbing me by the wrist, Melissa channeled her mana into my body as a hue came out of her body.

She then closed her eyes. In that moment, everyone's eyes were directed in her direction, trying to see what she was doing. I did feel an uncomfortable stare coming from a certain direction, but I promptly ignored it.

It was nothing big.

Seconds passed and Melissa eventually opened her eyes.

Her brows furrowed tightly.

"He's not lying."

Covering her mouth with her hand, she had a thoughtful look on her face before she turned my wrist and started patting my body all over.

"Woahh!"

Her sudden actions startled me as I tried to move my body back.

"Stop moving."

But grasping my wrist, Melissa stopped me from moving and continued patting my body all over. Her actions caught everyone off-guard. I took particular notice of Angelica's actions as she covered Ryan's eyes with her hands.

"Hey, what are you doing? I want to see?"

To make matters worse, the stare from before became more intense as the back of my neck suddenly turned cold.

'Give me a break.'

I thought to myself as Melissa's cold hands continued to pat me around the body. Had it not been for the fact that she was currently a lot stronger than me, I would've already pushed her back by now.

"Alright, let me check your blood."

Fortunately, her session of sexual harassment didn't last for long as she distanced herself away from me and took a small device from her dimensional space.

It may have not been too bright, but the moment Melissa took the device out, I was able to instantly catch sight of what seemed to be a sharp needle.

A bright smile adorned Melissa's face as she beckoned me to come to her.

"Come Ren. Let me test your blood."

"Ehmm..."

I took a step back as I took note of her expression.

"...Melissa, can we talk about this?"

Chapter 578: Start of the slaughter [1]

"It's as I thought."

Melissa stood up and walked in my direction.

When I saw her figure walk up to me, I backed up. I was a little apprehensive about her.

Recalling the earlier scenes that I wished to forget, I raised both hands and hugged my body.

"What do you want?"

"What's with that look? You think I'm going to assault you or something?"

"Yes."

I nodded my head.

"Yes."

I repeated to make sure she understood.

"Well, I'm not, so chill out."

Melissa rolled her eyes.

Taking out a chair, she sat close to me and showed me the device she used to test my blood.

Pointing toward a certain section, she spoke.

"Your blood seems to be contaminated by something extremely concentrated and powerful. It's probably why your mana is sealed."

Tilting the device in her hand, Melissa had a thoughtful look on her face. Taking off her glasses, Melissa switched them for another pair and tapped on their side.

There was a small red light that shot from the middle of the glasses and headed for the device in her hand.

Carefully examining the device in her hand, her face changed after a while.

"I see…"

She softly muttered as she put away the device and looked at me.

"…By chance, did you experience some sort of paralysis effect when you first appeared here?"

"Eh?"

Surprised, I looked at Melissa.

"How did you know?"

"It's as I suspected."

Instead of answering me, Melissa stood up from her seat and turned to look at Kevin.

"Remember what I mentioned to you before?"

"…Yeah."

Kevin nodded as he turned to look at me.

His brows furrowed tightly.

"Is it the same plants that you mentioned?"

"Sort of."

Taking two different plant samples out of her dimensional space, Melissa nodded.

"There seem to be other compounds mixed in his bloodstream, but in general, the two main ingredients are indeed the ones that I previously discovered."

"Can you heal him?"

Kevin asked.

As she stared at the device in her hand, Melissa shook her head.

"No, not yet. I'll need some time in order to figure out how to remove the effect of the mixture from his blood."

"What?"

As I alternated between Kevin and Melissa, I didn't quite understand what they were trying to do. However, seeing their serious faces, I knew they were trying to help me.

"How long do you need?"

Kevin asked, leaning against the side of the wall. His complexion was quite serious.

"Ehhh…"

Melissa scratched the back of her head and lifted her glasses.

"A couple of hours?"

She muttered after a couple of seconds.

Her words instantly prompted the others to look at each other with some concern in their eyes.

Their reactions caught me off-guard as I couldn't help but ask.

"A couple of hours doesn't seem like much, why the long faces?"

Were they afraid that the demons would find them?

'That's impossible.'

I shook my head.

At the moment, Melissa and the others had hidden any traces of themselves thanks to some weird gadget that they were wearing.

This was so that the demons wouldn't notice their sudden appearance in the room.

Further adding to that, they also seemed to have sealed a bit of their mana, so I doubted that the demons would even notice their appearance. The soundproof barrier that Kevin created also blocked sound from coming out, so there really shouldn't be any reason for them to be worried about time.

"If you need a couple of hours, then I don't think it will be much it a problem. The room doors won't open until—"

"That's not it."

Angelica suddenly cut in. Confused I turned to look at her, and it was then that I noticed her sour expression.

I immediately had an ominous premonition.

…and I was right to think so as her next words made my stomach churn.

"The reason we were forced to come here to you is because the human you last recruited decided to go into the mana compressor by himself and is probably fighting against all the demons on his own. I don't think it will be long before others recognize him and chaos will ensue."

"Shit."

I cursed out loud as I covered my face with my hand.

"It's Liam isn't it?"

Angelica did not have to clarify who the individual was since his actions made it clear to me.

It was without a doubt, Liam.

'This is exactly why I didn't want to bring Liam with me on this planet.'

Given his terrible memory and thirst for excitement, this was an expected outcome.

'I should've seen it coming.'

The moment I realized Smallsnake was here, I should've also realized that Liam would also appear here.

Standing beside me, Amanda asked.

"What do we do now?"

"I'm not too sure."

I silently muttered as my brows knit.

"Actually, this situation isn't terrible."

Suddenly, Kevin's voice rang out.

While silently mumbling to himself, he walked toward the room's door and gently touched it.

"Breaking through the door and getting free should be no problem for any of us. For now, before the alarms ring, we should wait here and try our best to get into our best conditions."

"Ah!"

Realization dawned on me as I immediately understood Kevin's intentions.

"You want to take advantage of the chaos to directly go to where the main operating board of the mana compressor is so that we can destroy it."

"Yes."

Kevin nodded as his fist gently touched the door of the room.

"Our priority should be destroying the mana compressor. Once we destroy it, I won't have trouble getting all of us away from this place."

'Right.'

For a moment I almost forgot our mission, which was to destroy the mana compressor. We didn't need to escape in the first place, rather, it was the complete opposite, we needed to destroy.

"Alright."

Nodding my head in understanding, I sat down on the ground and turned to look at Melissa who was busy sorting out her equipment.

"I agree with your plan. For now, I'll just wait for Melissa to do her thing. The faster she is, the better the situation."

Taking note of what I said, Melissa shifted her head slightly and glared at me.

"What am I? Your dog?"

"…You only just realized?"

I looked at her with a strange look.

"From the magic cards to all the theories I have given you…you should already know what you are by now."

"Hahaha."

Melissa covered her mouth as she laughed. The sound of her laughter echoed throughout the room and was extremely pleasing to the ear. Of course, only the sound was pleasant, the vibe was nothing short of pleasant.

Meanwhile, while Melissa laughed, Amanda appeared behind Melissa.

Standing up, Melissa pulled her sleeves up and furiously charged in my direction.

"I'll kill you!"

"Ah! Help! Attempted homicide!"

Seeing her charge at me like an enraged bull I stood and hid behind Kevin.

"Kevin, help me. I'm going to die if you don't do anything."

"Honestly, at this point, you deserve whatever is coming to you."

"Well, that's mean."

"Let go of me, Amanda!"

Amanda, who had already been expecting the situation, stood behind Melissa and held her by both armpits, stopping her charge.

"Let go! I won't kill him!"

In spite of Melissa's curses and shouts, she never let go.

"I promise I won't kill him! I'm only going to make him stop breathing, forever!"

'That's the same thing…'

I thought to myself as I rested my arm on Kevin's shoulder. Turning to glance at him, I softly whispered.

"She must be in her period…"

"Just stop."

***

Within the mana compressor's peak.

There was a greenish human figure sitting inside a relatively luxurious room. With long white hair falling behind his back, and wrinkles all over his face, Duke Ikiron slowly opened his eyes, revealing a set of red pupils that menacingly shone within the room.

"Huuuu…"

While exhaling, he expelled turbid air.

Lowering his head to stare at his wrinkled hands, a purplish dark hue manifested on his hands before quickly turning paler and disappearing.

"I don't have much time left."

Duke Ikiron stood up, folding his hand into a fist, revealing a lanky figure almost entirely composed of bones.

There was an obvious frailty to his figure as there was barely any skin on his body. Duke Ikinor shook his head as he stared at his figure in the mirror standing at the opposite end of the room.

"If only I had more time."

With a swipe of his hand. A black tunic with golden embroidery materialized on his body.

"…how unfortunate, had I not been forced to take care of this place, I may have been able to break through."

Having lived for over 500 years, Duke Ikiron was now on the verge of death.

His eminent death was due to natural causes. Living past his life expectancy, he didn't have much time left before he would close his eyes for good.

He could feel His strength disappearing with each day that passed, and right now, he wasn't even confident he could manifest the same strength he used to in the past.

"Huuu…"

Taking another deep breath, Duke Ikinor headed for his desk and sat down. There, his eyes paused on a small bracelet and a couple of rings.

Extending his hand, he held the items close to him and examined them. A black hue sprang forth from his hand as he tried to look through the items, but he soon shook his head.

"I can't seem to open them—"

Bang—!

The door of the room suddenly burst open.

"What's going on?"

Duke Ikinor abruptly stood up.

"How dare you barge into m—"

"We have an emergency!"

A demon rushed into the room. There was clear panic on his face as he searched for the Duke.

"An emergency?"

Duke Ikinor's rage quickly quelled. Especially after he noticed the panicked complexion of the demons that had just entered.

He quickly realized that something was going on.

"What's going on?"

"An intruder has infiltrated the premises!"

"…Huh?"

Duke Ikinor's head recoiled back in surprise.

"An intruder? Just one?"

"Yes."

The demon nodded, prompting Duke Ikinor's face to change once again.

"Just one? Is he trying to have himself killed?"

It had to be noted that there were thousands of demons inside the mana compressor, including him, a Duke ranked demon.

For someone to try to infiltrate the place, alone…he must either be extremely reckless, or strong.

…but as Duke Ikinor closed his eyes and tried to feel for any strong presence, he couldn't feel anyone that was remotely closed to the Duke ranked level.

This only meant one thing, the intruder was weaker than him.

"How bold…"

As he glared in a particular direction, a powerful aura suddenly erupted from his body.

"It looks like people have started thinking that I'm an easy target just because I'm close to my death..."

Turning to face the closest demon, the Duke ordered.

"Lock the entrances of the compressor. Sound the alarm, and get all the other demons alert. We don't want to suffer too many losses."

"Understood."

The demon replied with his back straight.

"Good."

Nodding his head, Duke Ikinor stepped forward and vanished from his spot.

"I'll see exactly who has the balls to mess with me."

Chapter 579: Mana recovery [2]

A/N : Title will be changed from [Start of the slaughter] to [Mana recovery.]

***

After pacing around and gazing at the doors to the rooms for a while, Exilion suddenly halted.

"Strange…"

He muttered as he walked toward one of the rooms and placed his hand on the door.

Sensing that there was only a person inside, he slowly let go.

"Nothing."

Not too long ago, he felt a strange fluctuation coming from that room, but he didn't see anything strange when he checked it out.

"...There's a good chance I'm overthinking this."

Folding his wings behind his back, Exilion continued to pace around the rooms. Another room soon caught his eye as he walked.

Walking up to it and placing his hand over it, a smile cracked on his face.

"It looks like he won't last for long."

Feeling the weak heartbeat of the human inside, Exilion knew that he was almost as good as dead.

"...Should I tell them of his death, or pretend he didn't die and tell them that they will only be able to see him at the end of the month once the work is completed...imagining the look on their faces when they realize they have been fooled...keke."

Exilion chuckled out loud.

The more he thought about the faces that humans would make when they learned that their comrade had died, the more his face twisted.

"What's so funny?"

Another voice echoed at that moment, and a demon slowly walked toward Exilion. He was Impedus. The other demon in charge of overlooking the cells.

"Nothing, nothing."

Waving his hand at Impedus, Exilion stopped smiling and leaned against the side of the wall.

"Judging from your reaction, I don't think it's nothing."

"Well, it's nothing big."

Knock—! Knock—!

As he knocked on the door next to him, Exilion gave him a brief overview of what he thought.

"He's about to die, and I was just thinking of how I could mess with the other humans."

"Oh?"

A smile cracked on Impedius's face as he showed an impressed look.

"You call that nothing? It sounds a lot more entertaining than the other things I'm doing."

"Keke. That's probably because you're soon going to be promoted. You don't have much time to think of these trivial matters as you used to in the past."

SHIIIING—!

A bright light appeared on Impedius' lower waist just as he was about to reply, and the two demons changed their faces.

'An emergency!'

They both simultaneously thought as Impedius took out a small black orb from his waist and casually crushed it in his hand.

Crack!

Moments after the orb was crushed, purple flames rose in the air, and a series of words manifested in front of the two demons.

[Intruder emergency! Reallocate the workers in the emergency vault.]

The demons stared at each other for a few seconds before rapidly rushing into action as they tried to figure out how to respond to the sudden message.

"Make it quick!"

After that, both demons went their separate ways and headed for a different door each and opened up the rooms.

Krrr—! Krrr—!

A rock grating sound echoed out loud as the rooms slowly started opening.

***

Plop—! Plop—!

Everyone focused their attention on the tools in front of Melissa as a bubbling sound echoed throughout the room.

"How much longer?"

I asked.

Removing the tube from the burner, Melissa shook the solution and glimpsed at me from the corner of her eyes.

"Half an hour at most. It might be faster if you stop speaking."

Focusing her attention back on the mixture, she silently whispered

"…You think it's easy to find a solution to your problem when I've only handled the plants for like a day? I know I'm a genius, but I'm no god."

'Well, she isn't wrong.'

Shaking my head, I sat down on the ground next to Amanda.

"How many days have passed since you arrived in this world?"

"…About a week."

Amanda replied with a look filled with concern.

Her concerns were understandable. Suddenly disappearing from the face of the human domain, her parents must be extremely worried about her condition.

"Eh…"

It was then that I suddenly had a thought. Turning to look at Amanda, I asked.

"You think they will think that you've come with me?"

"…No?"

Amanda shook her head. My thoughts were contradicted by her increased pitch at the end of her sentence.

"Ugh."

Thinking about Edward possibly busting my ass after we returned back to the human domain suddenly made me not want to go back anymore.

"I think it's best if you return before me. I don't think I'll be able to come back with you…"

Glancing at me, Amanda smiled and didn't say anything. My brows furrowed when I saw her reaction.

"Oy, why do I suddenly have a ba—"

Krrr—! Krrr—!

In that moment, I heard a familiar stone grating sound and the doors of the room suddenly opened, much to my and everyone else's shock.

"What's going on?"

Kevin was the first to react as he took out his sword and got into a stance.

Light began to spill into the room, but unlike before, I no longer needed to cover my eyes as my eyes were already adjusted to the light.

It wasn't long before the door opened, revealing the figure of a demon who stared into the room with eyes wide open.

"What's going on h—huek!"

SHIIIING—!

Kevin slashed his sword before the demon could complete his sentence, splitting his figure in half.

Thump—! Thump—!

Then, without wasting any time, Kevin extended his hand, engulfing the demon's figure in flames.

Soon enough, a core appeared on the floor and Kevin stepped on it.

Crack—!

"It looks like we don't have much time."

Lifting his head to stare into the distance, Kevin's figure vanished.

"Where are you going?"

I called out as I got out of the room.

"Who are you!?"

A shocked voice echoed in the distance right as I got out of the room.

SHIIING—!

At that point, I noticed Kevin dissecting another demon that appeared to be opening another door.

Crack—!

Stepping onto the core of the demon, Kevin wiped his forehead.

"Done."

"…That was fast."

Rushing to where Kevin was and staring toward the cracked core on the ground, my brows furrowed.

"You shouldn't have killed him."

"Ah?"

"You should've questioned him before killing him."

Bending down and pinching the shards of the core, I threw them back on the ground.

"Kevin, you should know better than anyone that we're currently in some unknown territory we have no idea. We can't just move around without any information."

"About that..."

"You don't have to worry about that."

Melissa cut in just as Kevin was about to say something.

"Hm?"

I turned to face her direction.

While still silently glaring in my direction, she tapped on her watch, displaying what seemed to be the structure of the mana compressor in holographic form.

"This may be a larger version of a mana compressor, but at the end of the day, it probably still functions the same as the smaller ones on earth, so…"

As Melissa tapped on the holograph and motioned with her hands, the mana compressor expanded before our eyes and she pointed to the second highest level of the pyramid.

"This is where we should be going."

"Is that where the main operating system is located?"

Amanda asked, to which Melissa nodded her head and pointed beneath the pyramid structure.

"We should currently be located at the bottom of the pyramid, meaning that we have to go up. Considering that the alarm just rang, the demons are on the move to catch that idiot that Ren brought."

"Hey."

"Shut up."

Melissa glared in my direction.

"Had it not been for that idiot, we would've come to you with a more solid plan, and things wouldn't be as difficult as now."

"…I can't argue against this."

She was right.

Had it not been for Liam, things would've indeed been a lot more organized.

In any case, beggars couldn't be choosers and now was not the time for us to argue.

"Guys, help me open the door."

Jolting me out of my thoughts was Kevin's voice as he pointed toward the other doors.

"Ah, right."

Turning to face the half-opened door, I glanced in Angelica's direction and asked.

"Angelica, can you do me a favor and open the door?"

"Me?"

"Yes, you're the only one here that can open the door since you have demonic energy."

Given that the doors could only be opened using demonic energy, Angelica was the only one that could open the doors.

We could technically break the wall apart with just our strength, but that wouldn't be appropriate as there was a risk of someone getting injured inside.

Our mana was sealed after all.

Furthermore…

"I believe that this is where Smallsnake is resting, so hurry up. The last time I left him, he wasn't in the best condition."

I felt some anxiety as I realized the door was half open and there was no reaction on the other side.

"Quick!"

The moment the others heard that Smallsnake was the one inside the room, their faces changed.

"Smallsnake is there?"

"So that's where he went."

"Is he okay?"

"Okay."

The same went for Angelica who hurriedly placed her hand on the side of the door and channeled her energy.

A black hue sprang out from her body and completely enshrouded the door.

Krrr—!

The doors began to open as a familiar rock grating sound echoed. Suddenly, everyone noticed a sickly figure lying on the ground. His breathing was extremely thin, and his complexion was extremely pale.

"Shit!"

I cursed out loud as I ran in his direction and called out for him.

"Smallsnake!" "Smallsnake!" "Smallsnake!"

Chapter 580: Mana recovery [3]

"Congratulations Brian."

There was a festive mood enveloping a small bar as two figures sat on stools and enjoyed their beers. There was an obvious contrast between the two figures: one was lanky and youthful, while the other was extremely handsome and more mature looking.

Nevertheless, the two seemed to be on good terms with each other.

The figures were Brian and Hemlock, his superior.

"You handled the situation skillfully and obtained connections despite not having any special powers. I can tell that you put a lot of effort into the negotiations."

"Thanks…Hicc…"

Brian thanked Hemlock as his face flushed. He was clearly drunk at the moment.

"Not a heavy drinker, eh?"

Taking a sip of the beer, Hemlock wiped the foam that had accumulated on the top of his lips. His actions instantly attracted the gaze of all the people around them.

Not minding the attention one bit, Hemlock put the beer down.

"Although we have done a good job today, we still have a lot to do. Don't get too complacent."

As a good supervisor, it was within his duty to remind Brian that he shouldn't let success get to his head.

"…Yeah."

Brain weekly nodded his head as he heard Hamlock's words. He was currently extremely intoxicated, and whether he had truly understood his words or not, Hemlock wasn't sure.

Nonetheless, Hemlock smiled.

"It really is a pity that someone as capable as you has such poor talent."

There was genuine pity in his voice as he spoke those words.

In the past half-year, Hemlock noticed a dramatic increase in his work efficiency; he could now find all the information he needed within a few seconds of asking Brian. He was that amazing.

Brian was thorough and especially fast. This was what made Hemlock like him so much.

If only he had been born with more talent...

"…a real pity."

While bringing the drink down, he stared through the bar's glass window at the city streets through which he could see white and red lights drift across the streets.

"How beautiful."

Hemlock mumbled silently.

His complexion changed as he clutched the drink in his hand. His brows furrowed tightly.

"…but it's truly a pity that this won't last for long."

"What do you mean?"

Brian asked as he overheard Hemlock's words.

Hemlock shook his head as he stared at Smallsnake who was trying his best to keep himself from passing out.

"Why do you think that it won't last?"

"Haaa…"

Exhaling, Hemlock raised his beer and took a sip.

Smacking his lips together, he asked.

"What is the rank of the strongest human at the moment?"

"<SS+> rank."

Brian answered.

Hemlock nodded his head in response.

"That's right. The current strongest human in the human domain is <SS+> rank…"

Hemlock lowered his hand and placed the beer on the counter.

"Do you know just how strong the Demon King is? Or the most powerful people outside of humanity are?"

"…Not sure."

Brian answered.

"Maybe around <SSS-> rank? We've caught up quite a lot with them."

"Heee…"

Hemlock scoffed out loud as he shook his head.

"If you really think that, then that's naive of you."

"Why?"

"...You might not know it since your education isn't the best and you're still quite young, but the Demon King sees *SSSS-> rank as nothing in his eyes. They are merely bugs he can squish with a snap of his fingers."

"Is that so?…Hicc!"

Brian's body jumped up and he hiccuped out loud.

Waving the drink in his hand, he almost fell off his chair.

"Watch out."

"Wahh!"

Hemlock extended his hand and blocked Smallsnake's chair.

"You've got to be more careful."

"Thank you."

Sobering up a little, Brian thanked Hemlock.

Hemlock's timely assistance prevented him from falling to the ground.

"No problem."

Hemlock downed his drink and wiped his lips.

"Refreshing."

He let out a satisfied sound.

Placing the drink back on the countertop he stood up from his stool.

"Alright, let's get going now."

"Wait, I'm not done."

Brian waved his drink which was still only half full.

Hemlock's looked at Brian with a strange look.

"You're going to pass out if you finish that drink."

"I'll be fine…hicc!"

Taking another sip of the drink, Brian switched the conversation.

"Back to what you were saying about the Demon King treating <SSS-> ranks as if they are nothing, doesn't that mean that we're basically screwed?"

Hemlock's complexion shifted as he heard Brian's words.

He quickly sat down back on the stool.

"…Do you think otherwise?"

"No."

Brian shook his head repeatedly.

"If it's exactly as you've said, then we truly are screwed. I don't know when the demon king will arrive back on earth, but if we continue progressing at this pace, then humanity will face inevitable extinction soon. Heck, it would even be better to join the demons. At least, this way we can stop humanity from going extinct."

"Yes, yes."

Hemlock's face brightened as he nodded his head.

"You also think so, right?"

"Well, yes."

Brian looked at Hemlock with a face that said 'isn't it obvious?'

"Haha."

Hemlock laughed a little as his shoulders relaxed and he whispered softly.

"I see that you also agree with me on this matter. Mayb—"

Thump—!

Just as Hemlock was about to finish his sentence, he heard a loud thump and it was then that he spotted Brian's head slumped over the table counter, completely passed out.

"I knew it."

With a shake of his head, Hemlock took out his wallet and placed a couple of bills on the counter. Then, grabbing Brian by the shoulder, he brought him out of the bar.

As he walked toward the exit of the bar, he turned his head to glance at Brian.

Opening his mouth, he silently mumbled.

"Maybe…just maybe…you will understand what I'm trying to do."

***

Drip—! Drip—!

Opening his eyes, Smallsnake woke up to a familiar sight and sound. Darkness and the dripping sound coming from the corner of the room.

"Haaa…haaa…"

Breathing in and out, Smallsnake felt extremely weak. Raising his hand to touch his forehead, he realized that it was boiling hot.

'Shit, I've got a fever.'

This familiar sensation that he had been feeling since childhood, without a doubt he had had a fever.

Wiping the sweat from the side of his face, Smallsnake carefully sat up straight.

"Haaa…haaa…"

As he heavily gulped for air, Smallsnake found the world around him spinning as he felt lightheaded.

"T..this is bad."

Not only was the world around him spinning, but his heart was also beating faster as he could hear it reverberate throughout the silent room.

Ba…thump! Ba…thump!

'Make it stop.'

It was honestly driving him crazy as he hunched over his knees and covered his head with his hands.

Soon his body began to shake and sweat dripped down his face all the way to the ground.

"I…it hurts."

While his teeth chattered, Smallsnake hugged his body even more tightly as the pain in his body increased.

Time flew by, and Smallsnake's condition started to worsen and his eyes started to become more and more hallow. As he gradually let go of his knees, he could no longer feel any energy inside of his body.

'Help. Someone help me.'

He couldn't even speak.

Krrr…krrrr…

Just then, in the midst of his despair, Smallsnake heard the sound of the doors opening, and bright light spilled through the narrow gaps.

The moment the light spilled in, Smallsnake instinctively closed his eyes.

'It hurts.'

He thought as dread started to encapsulate him. He knew that he couldn't work in the conditions that he was in, and he would only be a burden to Ren.

Once his thought paused there, Smallsnake had a sudden thought.

'Should I just give up?'

He was useless. Ever since coming here, Smallsnake had been unable to help Ren at all. It was then that he came to a realization, and that was that he was only dragging Ren and the others down.

His weak talent was holding the others down.

'…I knew it. I should just give up.'

Slowly the light that was spilling from the narrow gaps of the door started to dim as a soft smile spread across Smallsnake's face.

It was at that moment that Smallsnake could tell that he was close to dying.

Rather than being sad about it, he felt relieved.

'Maybe this is for the best.'

His death would allow Ren and the others to have an easier time for when they would escape. If that was the case, then Smallsnake felt no regrets.

…or rather, there was one, but he knew that it was now no longer possible for him to fulfill it.

"Haaa…"

Letting out a small sound, darkness slowly invaded Smallsnake's sight.

"Smallsnake!" "Smallsnake!" "Smallsnake!"

Just as the darkness was about to completely swallow his consciousness whole, Smallsnake heard a couple of familiar voices call out for him.

There was Ren, Angelica, Hein, Leopold, and Ryan…

'Ah, I hope they will be fine without me looking after them.'

Those wore his last thoughts before his conciseness slipped and darkness enveloped his vision.

"Smallsnake!!!!!"

Chapter 581: Mana recovery [4]

"Does anyone have potions? Quick!"

I panicked when I felt Smallsnake's body and his heartbeat weakening. Feeling his body which was extremely hot, I knew that the situation was extremely bad.

'Not today!'

Pressing my hands against his chest, I started to move my body up and down as I tried to get the blood running through his body.

I was currently waiting for someone to give me a potion. Only a potion could save Smallsnake.

"Quick!"

I shouted out loud as I noticed Smallsnake's condition worsening.

"Here."

Thankfully, Amanda was quick to react as she handed me what seemed to be a small potion.

As I was in a hurry, I didn't get a proper look at the potion, but feeling the texture of the bottle, I knew that it was a really expensive one. I was secretly thankful inside my heart.

Pressing my hand against Smallsnake's mouth and opening it up slightly, I gently poured the contents of the bottle into his mouth.

Watching as the liquid poured into his mouth, I could feel sweat trickling down from the side of my face.

"Please work..."

For the first time in my life, I felt genuine panic as I waited for the potion to take effect.

I wasn't the only one panicking, as Ryan shook Smallsnake's body and moved closer to him. Tears had started to gather from the corner of his eyes as he hugged Smallsnake's body tightly.

"Please don't die, please don't die, please don't die…"

His voice was rather frail, evident that he was also in a similar state to mine.

Behind him, the others were also showing similar reactions as they anxiously stared at Smallsnake's body on the ground.

"Done."

Throwing the now empty bottle away, I slumped back and gazed in Smallsnake's direction.

'Please work.'

I thought to myself as I suddenly felt something press against my forehead, wiping some of the sweat away.

"Thank you."

Upon noticing Amanda standing beside me, I thanked her for wiping away the sweat on my side of the face.

"…It'll be okay. You've already done everything you can for him. All you can do at this moment is hope that he recovers."

She quietly reassured me as I felt her soft hand grasp mine.

"Huuu…"

I wasn't sure whether it was because of her sudden actions, or her calm demenour, but I slowly also started to calm down as I gratefully looked at Amanda.

"Thank you."

I once again thanked her as I shifted my attention back to Smallsnake.

'She's right, I've already done whatever I could for Smallsnake. It will be up to him from this point forward.'

Given that the potion Amanda had given me was a highly ranked one, I expected its effects to be rather quick, but as minutes passed and Smallsnake's condition didn't improve, my complexion started to sour.

"Did it not work?"

I weakly mumbled out loud as my head lowered.

My hand grasped at my clothes as a familiar pain engulfed my chest.

I couldn't quite describe what I was feeling, but it felt as though all the energy had been taken away from my body.

"Shit…"

I cursed out loud, as I felt guilt creep up into my body.

'How could I have let this happen? I should've refused Kevin's offer once I realized that something wrong was going on with the system.'

Had I been more cautious, none of this would've happened.

If there was anyone to blame, it had to be me. Given all the experiences I had, I should've known better to be more prepared, but my sudden actions had prompted this mistake to happen.

I knew that I was being harsh on myself and that my faults lied elsewhere, but these thoughts never stopped appearing inside my mind. In fact, they were getting progressively worse as time passed.

"Smallsnake!"

But it was right then that Ryan's high-pitched voice rang in the room and my head snapped upwards.

"What happened?"

Immediately turning my attention toward Smallsnake, the first thing I noticed was his twitching eyelids.

"Move away."

Upon noticing this, I moved over to Smallsnake and placed my hand against his neck, and tried to feel his pulse.

"...It's working."

Noticing that his heartbeat was slowly becoming stronger by the second, all the previous pain that I had experienced dissipated and I felt a wave of relief enshroud my body as my shoulders relaxed and I slumped back on the ground.

"Thank god…thank god…"

I quietly mumbled to myself as the others also showed similar reactions to mine.

Especially Ryan who hugged his body and quietly wept.

Hugging onto his chest tightly, he murmured.

"Thank you..thank you…"

I felt a weird feeling as I stared at Ryan hugging Smallsnake's body.

'With everything that has happened, the two of them must have developed a really close bond.'

Just the look of utter pain on Ryan's face was an indication of how much he cared for Smallsnake.

It wasn't just him, but the others as well, and taking a moment to study the faces of everyone present did I finally realize just how much of an influence Smallsnake had on the lives of each and everyone in the mercenary group.

"Thank god…"

I mumbled again as I slowly stood up and headed out of the room.

"Where are you going?"

Kevin asked as he followed me from behind. Secretly wiping the corner of my eyes, I turned to look in his direction and beckoned Angelica to follow me.

"Although I want to spend more time with Smallsnake, I know that there isn't much time left. We should free the others now."

"...You're right."

Kevin nodded his head as his face turned resolute.

Pointing towards three particular rooms, I looked at Angelica.

"That's the room where Jin is located, that one is where Emma is located, and that's where Han Yufei is located. Do me a favor and open them up for me."

Shifting her gaze to face me, Angelica didn't say anything for a couple of seconds. Just as I was about to say something, she nodded her head.

"Okay."

After that, she headed toward Emma's room. The reason for this was Kevin who was standing next to it, waiting for Angelica to come to him. On the outside, he appeared to be patiently waiting for her, but as I noticed the hurried taps of his foot and his shifting eyes, I knew that he was anything but patient.

"As expected of him."

I shook my head as I imprinted the scene inside of my mind.

"…He never changes."

***

Drip—! Drip—!

"Huuu…1035…huuuu…1036…"

While sweat dripped down her face, Emma performed a series of push-ups.

Her auburn-colored hair, which now reached all the way toward her back, gently fell in front of her face, covering her eyes. Nonetheless, this did not stop her as she continued doing push-ups on the floor.

"1037…1038…"

Ever since she had appeared in this strange environment, Emma never once found herself out of place.

Rather, she felt a lot more relaxed than back when she was inside her family dungeon.

Compared to that place, this place was like heaven.

…and even though her mana was currently sealed, it didn't stop Emma from continuing to train her body.

'As dad said, the stronger one's body, the quicker their strength will rise.'

The principle was rather simple. The stronger and more well-trained a body was, the more mana it could withstand, hence the faster the rank up.

It was something that was quite well known, and even taught at the Lock.

In spite of that, no one really paid a lot of attention to this as a lot of time was also required to train the body, and the little improvement they would receive from a better body would easily be surpassed by those that only focused on ranking up normally.

That was also what Emma did in the past.

Just like most people around the world, Emma also believed that training the body was a waste of time, but as she continued to do push-ups and she felt her muscles contracting, Emma realized how naive her previous view was.

'It's like building a foundation for a building. The stronger the structure at the bottom is, the safer and more durable the building will be…'

Thinking this far, she lowered her body and continued her routine.

"Huu…1045…1046…hm?"

Kriii—!

Halfway through her push-up, Emma heard a familiar rock grating sound and stopped doing whatever she was doing.

"Isn't it a bit too early for them to open the door?"

Last she recalled, the door would open every day at a specific time. She had only just returned to her room, and now the door was opening up again?

What exactly was going on?

"Ugh…"

Slowly, light began to spill in, and Emma felt a wave of warm and humid air enter the room.

Not used to the light, Emma was forced to close her eyes.

"Emma!"

But it was right at that moment that she heard a familiar voice coming from the opposite end of the room.

She instantly recognized the voice. It was Kevin's. The person that she had been longing to see for a very long time.

'How long has it been since I last saw him?'

A year? Half a year?

Her single-minded focus on her strength had made her lose track of time.

The thought of how she had held back others in the past angered her beyond words, as she pushed herself every day in order to not be weak again.

Therefore, after finally hearing Kevin's voice once again after so long, her emotions were in a state of disarray.

But…

Rather than immediately jumping up with joy, her brows furrowed.

"Kevin?"

She spoke out loud.

"…It's me."

Kevin's voice echoed out once again.

Hearing the sound of footsteps heading her way, Melissa moved back a bit.

"Don't come near me."

"Eh?"

Kevin's surprised, and borderline hurt voice rang out as his feet came to a pause.

"What's wrong?"

Kevin asked with concern.

"Do you not want to see me?"

"No, not that."

Emma shook her head and massaged her eyes, trying to adjust them to the light.

In the end, in spite of her efforts, she was still forced to close them.

She needed more time.

"The reason why I'm telling you to back off is because I can't trust anything. Who can tell that you're an impostor and this is some sort of dream spell placed on me by one of the demons?"

"Ah."

Realization soon dawned upon Kevin, and he emitted a sound. He finally understood why Emma was behaving the way that she was.

"Alright, ask me anything that you want, I'll answer you and prove to you that I'm really Kevin."

"Okay

Emma nodded her head she lowered her head and thought to herself.

For the next couple of seconds, she didn't say anything as she carefully thought of her question.

'Something that only Kevin and a few people would know…'

"Ah!"

It didn't take long for her to finally come up with a question as her head snapped up.

"Figure it out?"

"Yes."

Emma nodded her head.

"Alright, ask away."

"Sure."

Taking a deep breath, she asked.

"What is the nickname that—"

"Oh for fucks sake!"

Her sentence was cut off by Kevin's loud curse.

Chapter 582: Fighting a Duke ranked demon [1]

Krrr—!

Opening his eyes, Jin turned to face the door. Slowly, he stood up as a frown emerged on his brows.

'Did something happen?'

He wondered to himself as the light began to spill into the room and the doors slowly started to open.

It didn't take long for the doors to open, and given that Jin had no trouble with the light as his eyes were instantly able to adjust themselves to the sudden shift in lighting, he was able to see who was behind the doors.

"Kevin?"

And he was surprised to see Kevin standing on the other side of the door. He had a rather gloomy look on his face at the moment.

"Hey."

Kevin lazily waved at Jin.

"How did you come here?"

Jin asked as he looked behind Kevin and noticed Ren and a couple of other familiar figures.

"Amanda? Emma?"

What was going on?

How come everyone was here? Something about the situation was off-putting.

Turning his head to gaze in Kevin's direction, he was met by his fierce glare.

"I know what you're about to ask, and so I'm telling you now to keep those thoughts to yourself."

Jin raised his brow.

"What did I do?"

Taken aback by Kevin's sudden aggressive stance, Jin looked toward the others who shook their heads.

'What happened to him?'

Not once had he ever seen Kevin this fierce.

The Kevin he knew was different. He was more naive and a bit of a pushover. What prompted the sudden change?

"Hurry up and get out."

Jolting Jin out of his thoughts was Ren's voice as he urged him to get out of the room.

Though not exactly pleased with Ren's tone, Jin did as he asked and walked out of the room.

It was then that he noticed that there were even more people waiting behind.

"What's going on?"

His confusion only grew as his eyes paused on them, and he turned to look at Ren.

"Are they?"

"It's a long story."

Ren waved his hand, signaling him to let go of the topic.

"We don't have much time to talk right now."

Turning to face the distance, he raised his voice.

"Are you done, Melissa?"

"Shut up."

He was met with a crisp voice. There was a noticeable annoyance in the voice as Jin immediately recognized whom the voice belonged to.

'Melissa.'

Jin thought.

His thoughts were rather complicated as he thought about her. He clearly remembered chasing after her in the past, but now that he had grown up, he found himself distancing from her.

'Do I still like her?'

Staring at Melissa's approaching figure, Jin eventually shook his head.

'It doesn't seem like it…'

His heart no longer seemed to beat like in the past whenever he saw her. Rather, it was as calm as a well.

Jin realized that perhaps his attraction to Melissa was superficial, as he was only interested in her because of her father's connections.

He had long been obsessed with making the Starlight guild the number one clan in the human domain, and there was no better way to accomplish that than by seducing Melissa, the daughter of the top hero.

Well, that was how he thought about it in the past. He no longer felt the same way.

'How disgusting…'

Thinking back at his past actions, Jin felt shame rise from deep within him as he avoided making contact with Melissa.

Thinking of his past actions, he no longer knew how to react to her comfortably.

"So? Have you figured out a way to get rid of the effects of the mana sealing effect?"

"Nope."

Melissa flatly replied to Ren's question.

"This is a task that's a lot more difficult than I previously thought. It might take longer than I originally thought."

Tapping on her glasses, she tilted her head and closely examined what looked like a test tube in her hands.

"What seems to be the problem?"

Ren asked as he moved beside her.

Raising her head, she dismissively looked at him.

"You wouldn't get it."

"Why?"

"Are you some sort of scientist?"

"…No."

"That's your answer."

"Still doesn't change the fact that I might be able to help."

"You?"

Melissa suddenly scoffed.

"Please do tell me how you are able to count the number of cells that are being attacked by the mixture and forcing your blood to stop carrying mana?"

Extending her hand, she handed Ren her glasses and the test tube.

"The glasses will be able to help you zoom into the blood cells and from there you can count yourself. See if you can do it quickly."

Crossing her arms, she no longer paid any attention to Ren who quietly put the glasses on and tapped onto them.

A bright light shot from the middle of the glasses, before scanning the whole test tube.

"It shouldn't be too hard…"

Ren quietly mumbled as he closely examined the test tube.

"Hm?"

While everyone was doing their thing, Jin suddenly took notice of Ren's eyes which suddenly dilated extremely fast. Aside from that, he also observed green veins coming out of his face as it began to redden.

He looked exactly like someone that was forcing blood into their head by force.

'What in the world is he doing?'

Jin wondered to himself as he closely examined Ren. His condition didn't last for long as he soon took the glasses off and handed Melissa the glasses back.

"Done?"

She stared at him with a small smirk on her face.

"As you can see, it's a lot more difficult to figure out than—"

"There's exactly, 8,097,564 different organisms attached to the red blood cells inside of the tube, of which, 3,672,972, are of blue color."

"Eh?"

A baffled look spread across Melissa's face as he looked at Ren with a strange look.

"You're kidding right?"

Incredulous, Melissa unfolded a small piece of paper from her dimensional space.

"…eh?"

Her face paled as she unfolded the paper and stared at its contents. She then robotically turned to look at Ren.

"H-how is this possible?"

She mumbled out loud as the paper in her hand fell to the ground. It was there that Jin was able to catch a glimpse of what was written.

Overall sample size = 4 mm

Estimate count per mm of blood = [2, 001, 300 2,356, 567 1,987,931 2,012,830]

Estimate count per 4mm of blood = 8,358, 628

.

.

.

'The numbers are close.'

Upon closer inspection and recalling Ren's numbers, Jin was surprised to find that they matched Melissa's estimates. At least, the ones that were written on the paper.

'Did he really calculate all of that in the little time that elapsed?'

But how was that possible?

It shouldn't be possible. Jin tried to convince himself.

…but as he took notice of Melissa's expression, he knew that Ren was probably right.

"Answer me, how did you figure this out? Did you take a peek at my list and come out with some random number that is close to it? I'll have you know that if it's a joke, it might make the situation worse."

"Don't worry about it."

Bending down, Ren picked up the paper and handed it back to Melissa.

He then pointed toward his head.

"You see, I've got a little something inside of my head. Finding something like this is like child's play for me, so you don't have to worry about whether I'm right or wrong, I wouldn't try to harm myself."

"Right…"

Still baffled by Ren's words, Melissa seemed at a loss for words. She rigidly moved her head and headed back toward one of the distance rooms.

Was it Ren's room?

Jin wasn't exactly sure, but it seemed like it.

"Give me two minutes, I'll have the solution ready for you then."

***

Bang—!

A figure crashed against the side of the wall, creating a small crater. The figure then slid down, and the dust in the air cleared, revealing Liam's features.

"Cough…s..strong."

Liam felt his whole body ache as a palpitating pressure completely enveloped his body, making his movements extremely rigid. He stared at the demon levitating opposite him.

'So this is how strong a Duke ranked demon is…wait, no.'

Slowly, he stood up, letting the pieces of rock that had been to him fall to the ground.

Squinting his eyes, he took a closer look at the demon and it was then that he noticed that his aura was rather weak.

Channeling his mana toward his eyes, everything became more clear to him as he opened his mouth and spoke.

"You're dying…"

A deep silence permeated throughout the room as the Duke ranked demon froze on the spot.

Soon, his face changed completely as he looked at the little remaining demons in the room. They weren't exactly strong, but that was beside the point.

News of his eventual death couldn't spread. It would only serve to incite the other demons to try to take over his position.

"What sort of nonsense are you saying!"

His powerful voice shook the surroundings, and the pressure bearing down on Liam increased.

"Ukh…"

His knees buckled as a groan escaped from his mouth.

Liam knew that he had hit the nail on the head and that he had successfully enraged the Duke ranked demon.

Nonetheless, perfectly knowing that he had angered him, Liam continued.

"You can try to hide it from the others, but you can't hide it from me. I see everything."

His eyes suddenly became brighter, and he took a step forward.

"Right about now, you should already be close to running out of demonic energy…"

"Shut up!"

With a flap of his wings, the demons vanished from the spot and arrived before Liam.

His speed was so fast that Liam was barely able to move his sword in a way that it protected his heart, the spot at which the demon was aiming for.

Clang—!

A metallic ring echoed in the air, and Liam's body was once again sent skidding all the way toward the distant wall before he crashed.

Bang—!

The impact knocked the wind out of Liam as he fell on both knees to the ground.

Clenching the ground with both hands, a smile spread across his face.

"…So fun."

Liam seemed to have taken no notice of the condition of his body. All he could think about at the moment was the strength of the attack that had just landed on him.

The prospect of meeting someone so powerful excited him to no end.

Especially since Liam realized something.

"He is beatable."

Rotating his shoulders, he once again stood up.

"Eh?"

But just as he stood up, he suddenly noticed that one of his legs was twisted at a weird angle. His leg was broken.

"Oh…oh…"

Within moments of realizing what had happened to his leg, the Duke ranked demon appeared next to him.

From that moment, time seemed to have slowed down for Liam as he caught sight of the Demon's sharp nail head straight for his eyes.

'Oh shit.'

Crisis suddenly rose from deep within him as lightning began to crackle all over his body and he moved his head. Trying to avoid the demon's claws.

'Eh?'

Just as he moved his head, he suddenly noticed the demon's hand following him, and the sense of doom increased significantly.

However, it was then that something happened. It all happened within seconds.

By the time the demon's claws were near Liam's face, Liam caught sight of what seemed to be a bright light and the demon's figure was instantly thrown back, before skidding a couple of meters back.

Click—!

What followed after the crash was a familiar clicking sound, coupled with a familiar voice.

"Looks like I'm not too late, no?"

Turning his head, Liam caught sight of a familiar figure. A thin smile spread across his face.

Sitting back down on the ground, he took out an apple and bit into it.

Crunch—!

"Just a little…"

Chapter 583: Fighting a Duke ranked demon [2]

"Looks like I'm not too late, no?"

Brushing my hair back, I moved to where Liam was. In my right hand was a small silver sword. It was a spare sword that Kevin had handed me before separating from me.

"Just a little…"

Liam's words left me speechless. Especially after he took out an apple and started to take bites out of it.

While he took a bite of the apple, the juices from it spilled all over his fingers before falling onto the ground.

I shook my head when I saw this.

"Here."

I handed him a potion.

"I don't need it."

"Hm?"

Catching the potion, Liam threw it back to me. His actions surprised me as I blinked a couple of times, unable to fully understand why he rejected the potion when he was clearly not in a good state.

Seemingly being able to read my thoughts, Liam raised his hand and showed me the apple.

"You see, this isn't a normal apple."

Standing up, his broken foot magically started to twist and squirm. Within the span of a couple of seconds, his leg had completely healed and he lightly jumped in the air.

"See? I'm fine."

Liam threw what remained of the apple on the floor and turned to gaze in the direction of where the demon was.

I did too.

"…Another intruder?"

Unfortunately, my surprise attack didn't seem to have had much of an impact on the demon, as he appeared to be completely unscathed.

The situation was made worse by his apparent anger, as his face twisted savagely and a powerful force enveloped the scene. Currently, we were standing in a small hall, with tall pillars supporting the ceiling.

A smoky and iron-like scent lingered in the air.

"Not bad…not bad…"

The demon spat through his clenched teeth as he alternated his gaze between Liam and I. Then, looking toward the other demons present in the room, he finally noticed something.

"Dead…"

The aura that was revolving around his body fluctuated slightly.

A thin smile spread across my face when I noticed this.

'I was right to kill the others first.'

It had been quite a bit since I had arrived here, and during the time that I was here, I spent my time killing all the demons that were in the room.

None of the demons in the room were that strong, but they still posed a liability that could cause trouble in the middle of the fight, which was why I decided to kill them before saving Liam.

'The others should also be attracting the attention of the other high-ranked demons…'

Furthermore, having separated from the others who went for the core of the mana compressor, I knew that they would attract the attention of a Marquis ranked demon, and in turn, stop any reinforcements from coming to the Duke's aid.

…Not that he really needed any since he was already a lot stronger than Liam and I.

"Where is everyone?"

My decision proved to be the correct one as the Duke ranked demon seemed taken aback by the sudden situation.

…and it was right at this moment that I exchanged glances with Liam.

'Let's go.'

We understood what our task was even before we spoke as mana erupted from my body and a dark shadow appeared beside me.

[Shadow Servant]

Taking a step forward, a black disc formed beneath my feet, and I propelled my body forward.

Crackle. Crackle.

At the same time, lighting crackled around Liam's body, and his figure vanished from the spot, before reappearing right in front of the Duke ranked demons

Extending his hand, he slashed toward the demon.

SHIIING—!

I, on the other hand, pressed my hand against the hilt of my sword.

First movement of the [Keiki style] : Quick slash.

Click—!

A bright white light followed a clicking sound as mine and Liam's attack landed simultaneously on the Duke ranked demon.

Clang—! Clang—!

But much to the disappointment of Liam and I, the only thing we heard after our attacks landed was a strong metallic sound.

Once the flash of light disappeared, I was shocked to see the Duke rank demon blocking both of our attacks with just an arm. Or, to be more precise, his bones, as he didn't seem to have any muscles in his body.

"What do you think you're doing?"

His sinister and aged voice echoed throughout the place as his red pupils glared in our direction.

A menacing and powerful pressure suddenly sprang out from his body, forcing the two of us back, as the wings on his back expanded, casting a large shadow over the area we were in.

Clenching his teeth, the Duke ranked demon didn't say anything and just flapped his wings once. His figure disappeared from the spot before reappearing right in front of me.

His speed was so fast that by the time I had activated Eyes of Chronos he was already a couple of inches away from my face, and closing the distance.

'Shit.'

I silently cursed to myself as my heart tightened and cold sweat dripped down my back.

'I should've known better not to challenge a Duke ranked demon in spite of the fact that it was already old, and almost dying.'

Even with its strength rapidly declining, the demon was still leagues above my level.

'Fucking Liam.'

Why in the world did he even think he could fight against a Duke ranked demon? He was worse than Kevin when it came to being a calamity magnet!

If I was careless for even one second, I could kiss goodbye to my life.

When I was trying to figure out the way out of the situation I found myself in, I noticed what looked like a sword tip heading for the Duke's head in the midst of my thoughts.

'Fast.'

I thought as I stared at the moving sword.

It had to be noted that currently, time was flowing a lot slower than it was supposed to be. For the sword to be moving at the pace that it was…it could only be described as incredibly fast.

When the sword was a couple of inches away from the demon's temple, I noticed the demon's eyes slowly moving towards where the sword was coming, and the demon's movements changed.

He was no longer aiming to hit me, but rather, he was now trying to defend himself from Liam's sudden attack. Apparently, it wasn't something he could ignore.

Unfortunately, Liam's attack proved to be too fast for the demon to stop, and it soon made contact with his temple and dug into it.

After deactivating [Eyes of Chronos], time returned to normal and I saw the demon's body crash into one of the stone pillars.

Bang—!

"Haaa…haaa…"

As that happened, Liam appeared next to me as he supported his body with both knees and heavily gulped for air.

'What just happened?'

I thought to myself as I stared in Liam's direction with eyes full of incredulity.

'Since when has Liam become so strong?'

The last time that I had fought him, our strength was rather similar, however, right at this moment, he seemed a lot stronger than he was since I had last fought him.

"You broke through?"

When I noticed the pressure coming from Liam's body, at that moment, I realized he was now <S-> rank.

Realization finally dawned on me, as I just speechlessly looked at him.

'Last I remember, only one week has passed. Did he break through in that short week that we were here?'

How monstrous.

"Haaa…haaa…yeah."

Liam nodded his head before placing his sword on the floor and facing the direction of where the demon crashed.

"Still, I don't think it is enough."

"Right…"

Also turning to face the distance, my face turned extremely solemn at the sight of the Duke ranked demon slowly standing up from the rubble.

Drip—! Drip—!

With black blood spilling from the side of his face, the Duke ranked demon extended his hand to touch his wound.

Staring at the blood in his hand, I was able to catch a glimpse of his pupils dilating.

"I'm actually losing?"

His voice, which was filled with incredulity and shock echoed throughout the surroundings.

"…I am really losing to two figures that are much weaker than me?"

Lowering his hand, the demon's eyes soon turned hollow and the room froze completely.

"This can't be happening…"

The demon mumbled as his voice turned strange, and a scent of death permeated the air.

Liam's face changed drastically when he saw this, as he hurriedly grabbed me by the shoulder and dragged me back.

"Shit!"

He cursed out loud as he threw my body toward the other end of the room, sending me crashing against one of the walls.

Bang—!

"Akh!"

A painful groan escaped from my mouth as a sharp pain engulfed my back. It felt as though all the bones on my back broke. It was only a feeling though, as my body was now a lot stronger than ever.

Thud—

Falling down on the floor, I raised my head and it was then that I caught sight of the demon robotically moving his head to gaze in Liam's direction.

Raising his hand, he simply swiped it in the air.

The only thing I saw after that was a pool of red blood as three huge claw marks appeared on Liam's chest, and blood spilled in the air.

Everything happened so fast that I was unable to react on time.

But it wasn't over.

Raising his hand again, the demon once again swiped in the air, and more blood started to spread in the air as Liam's body dropped to the ground on both knees.

Thud.

Liam didn't even have time to say anything, as he passed out on the ground with his head lowered.

Once Liam was no longer responsive, the demon turned to face my general direction, and I met his hollow eyes that were devoid of anything.

Ba…thump! Ba…thump!

My heart squeezed as the rhythmical sound of my heart beating echoed throughout my ears and sweat dripped down from my back.

Right at this very moment, I felt my life flash before my eyes.

Gulp—!

One wrong move and I was done for.

Chapter 584: Fighting a Duke ranked demon[3]

In a large and wide corridor, footsteps echoed.

"Do you think it was the right idea to just let him go like that?"

Kevin asked, while he turned to face Amanda who was running next to him. Before she could answer, he raised his sword and slashed toward his right.

SHIIIING!

"Huek!"

The body of a demon split in half.

"Yes."

Amanda nodded. Taking out her bow, she brought the string back as three arrows formed on the bow.

Clang—!

Letting go of the string, the arrows shot toward the distance and impaled three nearby demons.

"Since he's recovered his mana, he should have no trouble protecting himself, and…"

Lowering the bow in her hand, Amanda proceeded to head deeper into the corridor.

"…he's not exactly alone."

***

Ba…Thump! Ba…Thump!

Feeling the demon's hollow gaze pause on me, my heartbeat started to rapidly increase and my breathing also became more difficult.

My back began to sweat when the demon once again began to raise his hand.

'Well, shit…'

I thought to myself as the Duke ranked demon slowly brought his hand down.

But…

A figure materialized behind the demon as his hand was halfway down and attacked him from behind.

Spurt—!

The demon began spraying black blood on the ground, and I noticed an enchanting figure standing behind him.

Her hand was currently reaching out for the demon's orb that was now visible to the naked eye, through a gaping hole in his chest area.

"Took you long enough."

I muttered with a smile and supported my body up.

'Thank god our plan worked.'

It was clear from the moment I decided to save Liam that I would not be able to defeat a Duke ranked demon with my current capabilities. Even if it was weakened and I had Liam's help. I still saw no way to defeat it.

Thus.

I decided to have Angelica turn into a ring like usual, and dropped her toward one of the nearby pillars.

Through communication with Liam, I was able to get Liam to push the demon toward the pillar where Angelica sat so that we could sneak attack him.

That was our plan, and things should've ended there, but..

Bang—!

I suddenly saw Angelica's body being swung to the other side of the room, before crashing into one of the pillars as a loud banging sound echoed through the air.

A moment later, my body froze.

Drip—! Drip—!

Raising my head, all I saw was black blood spilling from the demon's chest as he held onto his core with his hand.

He then pushed it into his body, and his injuries started to heal rapidly.

'…how is this possible?'

I thought in shock.

Even after having his core exposed like that, he was able to move his body and force Angelica out of his way before hiding the core again.

Opening my eyes wide, I alternated my gaze between Liam and Angelica. They were currently both still alive, but I knew that it was only a matter of time before they died.

This was especially true for Liam who was bleeding profusely and a small pool of blood formed beneath him.

I knew that I had to act fast.

Fortunately, I also noticed that the demon wasn't in the best condition at the moment. He was currently in a weakened state as he was healing from his injuries.

Furthermore, I was also able to notice that the longer the time passed, the weaker his attacks became. I understood then that he was on the verge of death.

He had clearly been fighting using the last shreds of life energy inside of his body.

If I just waited, ten minutes? …or maybe less, then he would without a doubt die without me needing to do anything.

Unfortunately, I couldn't afford such luxury. Taking note of Angelica and Liam's condition, mana erupted from my body as I placed my hand on the sheath of my sword

"Now!"

I shouted as I turned to glance at my shadow servant.

Following my orders, the shadow servant pressed his hand against the hilt of a black sword, and the mana inside of my body started to rapidly deplete.

Click—

After which, the shadow servant's figure disappeared from the spot and reappeared right in front of the demon.

The third movement of the [Keiki style] : Void step.

Bang—!

Appearing right in front of the demon, the shadow servant stabbed his sword right where the demon's core was. Unfortunately, in spite of the extreme speed at which he appeared and attacked, the demon didn't seem to be the slightest bit startled as he just move a little back and avoided the attack.

After which, he raised his leg and kicked the shadow servant right in the abdomen area, completely severing the servant into two. He soon disappeared into thin air and the mana inside of my body rapidly halved.

"Ugh."

After letting out a small groan, I pressed my sword's hilt with my thumb and carefully took a stance.

'Good enough.'

I didn't really have anything in mind when I sent the shadow servant toward the demon, the goal was to stop it from healing and buy me enough time to accumulate enough mana to finally use my strongest move.

The last and most powerful movement to date.

The fifth movement of the [Keiki style] : Space splitter

Cr..crack…crack…

A bright white light suddenly enveloped the surroundings as the space around the Duke ranked demon started to crack apart.

All of this happened within the span of half a second, and it wasn't long before fissures formed next to the demon, and lights began to shoot out from them, heading toward the Duke ranked demon at incredible speeds.

"Huek!"

The light soon completely impaled the demon's body, and even more black blood started to spill on the floor.

The demon's helpless screams echoed out. Had the demon been in the right state of mind, and not as injured, he may have been able to easily avoid my attacks, but he wasn't, and it wasn't long before his figure started looking like a porcupine as a myriad of long white lights impaled his body completely.

Drip—! Drip—!

Under the demon's body, a black pool of blood formed, before the white lights impairing him scattered and he collapsed on the floor.

Taking advantage of this moment, I rapidly appeared before the demon and reached out for his core.

Crack—!

Not wanting to make the same mistake as Angelica, the moment I felt the core in my hand, I rapidly shattered it into pieces, and the demon's body stopped moving and scattered in the air in the form of fine black dust.

"Haaaa…."

Slumping back on my butt, I leaned back and heavily gulped for air.

My chest was burning, and I was currently feeling extremely lightheaded.

"This was a lot harder than I thought."

Despite all the preparations I had made in order to handle the Duke-ranked demon, it took everything I had to kill him. It also had to be noted that I had the assistance of both Liam and Angelica along the way.

'That was really close…'

I thought to myself. Quickly turning my body, I turned to gaze in Liam's direction and forced my body up.

"Ugh."

As I stumbled towards him, I reached my dimensional space, a feminine-looking ring, and took out the same potion I had previously given him.

Since my dimensional space was currently somewhere else, I could only borrow Amanda's.

"Drink it…"

Opening Liam's mouth, I forced the potion into his mouth. Compared to the time I fed Smallsnake, I was a lot harsher.

"Haaa…haa…"

Only once the potion emptied did I finally slump to the ground and stared at the ceiling.

Looking at the ceiling of the room, I suddenly heard footsteps heading my way.

I didn't need to look to know who they belonged to.

"Angelica, are you okay?"

"…Yeah."

Angelica replied while walking up to me. Soon her face came into my vision, and she spoke.

"We should get going. I believe the others are going to soon reach the core of the mana compressor."

"You're right."

Chugging down a potion, and feeling the mana inside of my body replenish, alongside the injuries of my body which were quickly healing, I weakly stood up and grabbed Liam's passed-out body before placing him on my shoulder.

"Cough…cough…Let's get going."

Taking a look around the room and seeing that there was nothing else left inside, I headed toward one of the nearby corridors.

'I want to get out of here as fast as possible.'

In spite of the fact that the Duke ranked demon here had already been killed, I still didn't feel safe.

The sense of crisis that I had been feeling ever since arriving here had not once disappeared, rather, it only increased with each passing second.

I didn't exactly know what brought rise to this strange feeling, but if there was one thing that I knew, it was that I needed to trust my feelings.

Whenever I chose to ignore them, something bad always tended to happen, and so…

"Let's hurry up."

Picking up my pace, I ran toward where the others were located.

'…I really do hope this is just a feeling.'

***

Cr...Crack.

A fissure formed in the middle of the sky, and a figure stepped out of it. When the figure appeared, the surroundings trembled as his presence enveloped everything that lay beneath him.

"Is this Cassaria?"

Taking a look at his surroundings, Magnus's eyes shifted in a certain direction.

"Hm?"

Sensing something, a smile formed on Magnus's face. Opening his mouth, he mumbled.

"Interesting."

After taking a step forward, his figure vanished.

Chapter 585: Destroying the compressor [1]

"Are we in the right place?"

Kevin asked as he stood behind what seemed to be a large metallic door that was at least fifteen meters in height.

The room they were in used to be heavily guarded by demons, but after fighting against them for the past half an hour or so, they were finally able to clear all the demons in their way and finally reach the doors that led to the mana compressor.

The room was rather large but was rather dark as there were no lights lighting up the surroundings. An iron-like smell, reminiscent of that of blood, lingered in the air.

"Let me check."

Turning her wrist and tapping on her watch, A holographic image appeared in front of Melissa.

Double checking with the image and looking around, she nodded her head.

"…It seems like it."

"Okay."

Kevin pressed his hand against the door, and mana erupted from his body.

He was currently trying to see if he could force his way through the door.

'As expected of an <S> ranked mission.'

Kevin thought while he was checking the door.

It took quite a while for Kevin to reach this place, and throughout the journey, he met a lot of Count ranked demons.

He didn't face a Marquis ranked demon just yet…but he knew that there was most likely going to be one soon, and the thought made him involuntary swallow a mouthful of saliva.

'Can I really defeat a Marquis ranked demon?'

He may not have been alone, as there were others with him, but with Ren and Angelica gone, Kevin didn't feel confident in defeating a Marquis ranked demon.

Especially since he was only <A-> rank.

It wasn't exactly impossible, but it sure as heck wasn't going to be something easy to achieve.

"It doesn't look like the door can be opened through force."

Taking his hand away from the door, Kevin looked toward the others with a complex look on his face.

"Then what should we do?"

Jin ask as he also placed his hand on the door.

When he confirmed that Kevin was telling the truth, he also removed his hand from the door.

"We wait for Ren."

Kevin replied while he sat on the ground, channeling the mana within himself.

"The door can only be opened through demonic energy, and since none of us here have any demonic energy, we have no choice but to wait for Ren."

"Thats a dangerous plan."

Melissa commented while pointing toward a couple of figures next to her. Particularly, she was pointing at Smallsnake that was currently still in a coma.

"He isn't exactly in the best of conditions at the moment. Although the potion has stabilized his conditions, who knows what might happen if we suddenly get ambushed by demons, which seems to be a very likely possibility."

"…You're right."

Kevin nodded his head slightly as he crossed his arms and fell into thought. It didn't take long for him to raise his hand and stand up.

"Let's not wait over here. Let's move somewhere else while we wait for Ren and th—watch out!"

Halfway through his sentence, Kevin suddenly felt a powerful force head for their general direction.

Without a second thought, he pushed his body forward and jumped toward where the attack came from.

Bang—!

A powerful blasting sound echoed out loud, and dust swept the surroundings.

"Kevin!"

Emma shouted out loud as she stared in the direction of where Kevin had jumped. Her face was filled with worry as she looked in that direction.

Fortunately, her worries proved groundless as the dust settled and she was soon able to see Kevin's figure standing tall with what appeared to be a translucent ball covering his body.

Crack!

Something that was resting on the top right of his shirt broke into pieces and fell onto the floor, but Kevin paid no mind to it as he glared toward a certain direction where he spotted a demon heading in their direction.

Tap. Tap.

The demon's calm and rhythmical footsteps echoed inside the ears of the people present as they felt their blood turn cold.

This was especially so for Kevin who felt the demon's sharp gaze pause on him.

'S..strong.'

Kevin inwardly thought; A powerful aura erupted from his body and he unsheathed his sword.

He wasn't the only one that reacted this way, as Amanda raised her bow, Emma raised her short swords, and Jin took out his daggers.

An incomparably solemn look spread across their faces as they gazed in the direction of where the demons was.

"It looks like a couple of humans sneaked out while something was going on, downstairs."

Wild demonic energy erupted from the demon's body as his sinister voice echoed through the air.

Alternating his gaze between Kevin and the others, a small smile spread across his face.

Especially after noticing Melissa, Hein, Ava, Smallsnake, and the others. Clearly, they were weaker compared to Kevin and the others.

"This is good."

The back of his wings expanded, casting a large shadow over the others.

His wings then flapped, and his figure appeared right in front of Melissa.

"How about I start with you."

"Fuck off."

Contrary to the demon's expectations, Melissa was quick to react. Casually flipping her middle finger at him, a transparent barrier formed in front of her, and the demon crashed against the barrier.

Bang—!

"What?"

An astonished look spread across the demon's face as he stared at the barrier which had not broken after his attack.

Immediately, Melissa's eyes met his, and she casually threw a couple of metallic cubes at the demon.

"I may be weak, but I'm fucking rich."

Boom—! Boom—!

Coming into contact with the demon, the squares rapidly expanded before exploding right in front of the demon, forcing him a couple of steps back.

"Khh…"

Skidding back for several meters, the demon lowered his arms and raised his head to glare in Melissa's direction.

Melissa's attack may have not exactly hurt him, but the humiliation he faced when he got pushed back by such low ranked creature…

It pissed him off!

SHIIIIING!

When he was about to retaliate against her, he suddenly heard the sound of air being split into two parts and realized that the sharp tip of a sword was heading his way.

Quick to react, the demon avoided the sword, but…

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

Just as he avoided the sword, three translucent arrows rapidly headed in his direction.

The power behind the attacks wasn't anything noteworthy, but they would still nonetheless hurt him if they landed, thus, the Marquis ranked demon was forced to dodge the attacks.

But…

Right as he tried to dodge the attacks, he suddenly noticed thin black threads springing out from the ground, trapping his body.

They weren't exactly strong, it only took the demon a split second to free himself from the threads, but that split second was enough to let the arrows reach him.

Bang—! Bang—! Bang—!

The demon was forced to block the attack with his arm and his body once again got pushed back several steps back. Just as he thought it was over, he suddenly felt a presence appear from behind him.

SHIIING—! SHIIING—!

It was none other than Emma who slashed the back of the demon. Her movements were extremely rapid, and once they made contact with the demon's back, blood began to spill out on the floor.

"Arkh!"

Pressing her feet against the demon's back, Emma managed to swiftly push herself back before softly landing on the ground.

SHIIIING—!

What followed after her attack was Kevin as he once again attacked, and the same pattern repeated again.

From a distance, it seemed as though the four of them were working perfectly together to deal damage to the demon, who seemed to be rendered increasingly helpless.

Their attacks were so quick and precise that whenever the demon tried to retaliate, one of them would change their patterns and disrupt whatever the demon was doing. It was really annoying.

"Aarghhh!"

The demon shouted out loud as a terrifying black hue sprang out from his body, sending Emma, Kevin, and Jin scattering away.

The black threads that were entrapping his body completely tore apart.

Turning his head to glare in Jin's direction, he extended his claws and flapped his wings.

"It's you!"

In a heartbeat, he was already in front of Jin, and before Jin even had any time to react, his figure was sent crashing against the wall.

Bang—!

"Jin!"

Kevin cried out as the red hue coming out from his sword rapidly expanded and he slashed toward the demon.

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

Right at the same time that he slashed, Amanda's arrows arrived before the demon and crashed against his body.

Contrary to the earlier scene, the demon did not dodge Amanda's attack and let the arrows pierce through his body.

Spurt—!

Black blood began to spill on the ground. Rapidly twisting his body, the demon raised his hand.

Clang—!

His arm collided with Kevin's sword and sparks flew in the air.

"Uek!"

In a flash, the demon reached out for Kevin's throat with his extended hand. His movements were lighting quick. Before Kevin could react, the demon's hand was already at his throat.

"I'm still here."

A second figure emerged from the side and aimed for the demon's hand as the hand grasped Kevin's throat. The figure was none other than Emma who swung both of her short swords.

"Noisy."

Already expecting Emma to show up, the demon raised his foot and aimed a kick toward her head.

Kacha!

With one fluid whipping movement, the demon's leg collided against Emma's head, and Kevin's eyes instantly turned bloodshot.

"Emmwa!"

He shouted through the narrow gap of the demon's hands that covered his mouth.

The hue around his body expanded even more rapidly as the veins on his body protruded. His terrifying glare was directed toward the demon.

"I'm fine."

A familiar voice suddenly interrupted Kevin's plans, and Emma appeared on the opposite side of where she used to be. Her shortswords aimed directly at the hand that was grasping Kevin by the throat.

Clang—

Another metallic sound rang out, but this time, as the demon had been caught off-guard, what accompanied the sound were traces of black blood as a long scar traced over the demon's arm and he finally let go of Kevin who took the opportunity to distance himself from the demon.

"Cough…cough…"

Once he covered enough distance, Kevin coughed repeatedly and supported his body with the aid of his sword that was stabbed on the ground.

"You okay?"

Emma's figure appeared beside him. Turning his head to face her direction, he stared at her face and it was then that he noticed that she was not paying attention to him. Now, her attention was focused on the demon standing opposite her.

'She's changed.'

In the past, whenever such a situation occurred, Emma would drop everything and check to see if everything was okay.

But unlike in the past, she now knew to not lose sight in the middle of the battlefield as her attention was still fully drawn toward the opponent.

'I'm a bit jealous…'

Taking note of all the attention the demon was taking from Emma, Kevin wiped the side of his mouth and slowly stood up.

"I'm good now. Thanks for helping me out."

Aiming his sword toward the demon, the red hue coming out from his body rapidly expanded and he softly murmured.

"Overdrive."

Chapter 586: Destroying the compressor [2]

"Shit, where am I supposed to go?"

Looking toward my right and left sides, my footsteps came to a halt as I scratched the back of my head.

Staring at the two different paths in front of me, I was stumped.

"Which way am I supposed to go?"

I turned to face Angelica who looked at me and shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know."

She answered. Her tone was rather flat.

Taking a look at Liam that was still slumped on my shoulder, I slapped the side of his cheeks.

"Oy, wake up and start being useful for once."

While he may have tried to hide it, when I turned my head to face him, I noticed a slight twitch in his eye and knew he had woken up.

He had already woken up and was probably embarrassed from the whole ordeal.

"Oy, wake up."

I slapped his cheeks with more force.

"Okay fine! Fine!"

Finally opening his eyes, Liam got off my shoulders and stretched his body a bit. For a short couple of seconds, I just quietly stared at him, waiting for him to say something.

But as time passed and he continued to say nothing, my brows furrowed and I raised my hand.

I was ready to slap him again. That might help him wake him up.

"Where do you want to go?"

A yellow hue sprang from Liam's eyes just as I was about to slap his face again.

I let out a sight when I saw this.

"I want you to help me find the location of where the core of the mana compressor is. It should be the place with the highest demonic energy and mana density."

Since a mana compressor essentially converted mana into demonic energy, there should be a place in the mana compressor where the mana was extremely dense.

That should be the place where the core of the compressor was located, and the place where the others were.

"Let me have a look."

When Liam nodded, his eyes shone with a brighter yellow hue, and his head started to move all over the place as he searched for the location I had pointed out.

Time flew by, and a minute soon passed.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Impatiently tapping my foot against the ground, I looked at Liam who seemed to still be having trouble looking for the core of the mana compressor.

"Find anything?"

"Nope."

Liam shook his head as his gaze paused in a particular direction.

"There seems to be a lot of places here where energy seems to be blocked. I've found several rooms on each layer that block any form of energy from coming in and out of the place. Since I can't tell whether the rooms are big or small, I can't really help you in finding the location that you're looking for. But if there's one thing that I'm sure about, is that the rooms probably are really important."

"I see…"

I lowered my head and crossed my arms together.

'This is more troublesome than I originally thought.'

While I promised the other group that I would quickly rejoin them once I was done helping Liam, after seeing how much time I had wasted, I realized that I had already broken my promise with them.

I shifted my attention back toward Liam.

"Alright, can you tell me exactly where the rooms that you said can't let energy escape are located?"

"Why?"

Liam asked as he cocked his head to the side.

I was quick to answer.

"Since you can't find the place, we are left with no choice but to look at each room individually. If there is one thing that I know, however, is that the place is located in the middle upper area of the structure, and if we cut out sev—"

"Wait a second."

Liam suddenly cut in.

Scratching the side of his head, he looked at me with a confused look.

"What's wrong?"

I asked as I noted his expression.

Did he not understand what I was trying to say? If so, then I really didn't have time to properly explain it to him since we were short on time, but…

"Ehm…"

While still scratching the side of his head, and allowing the hue in his eyes to recede, Liam suddenly opened his mouth and suggested.

"Instead of doing it that way, wouldn't it be easier if we just kidnapped a demon and force him to talk? I mean...since they live here, they surely must know, right?"

In an instant, my body froze. Slowly, as I opened and closed my mouth repeatedly, my eyes began to open wide.

I was genuinely at a loss for words at the moment as I ended up mumbling to myself out loud.

"…How could I have not thought about that?"

I realized today what it meant when some said the hardest problems had the easiest of solutions.

"Let's go."

Without second thoughts, I turned around and headed toward one of the tunnels.

"Liam, quickly tell me the location of the nearest demon!"

"How strong?"

"It doesn't matter…no actually, as long as it isn't a Duke ranked demon, then I'm fine with anything."

"Got it."

I came to regret my words later.

***

Light spilled from the sky, as the clouds looked sparse, allowing the azure blue sky to spread all the way to the horizon.

There were several figures standing beneath a tall glass skyscraper. An older figure received a small card from a skinny figure who appeared to be in his teens.

"Thank you very much, this is my business card and if you would like to contact me. I will be available at any time."

"Brian, huh?"

The elderly figure stared at the card with a little bit of interest in his eyes. That interest didn't last for long, however, as he soon pocketed the card.

"I'll make sure to contact you if anything happens."

"Thank you, and if you need any tips on hitting a golf ball properly, I'll be happy to help."

The skinny youthful figure lowered his body and thanked the elderly figure who burst out laughing.

"Hahahaha. How polite of you, im starting to like you more and more."

"Thank you. Thank you."

Brian meekly thanked the elderly figure as he scratched the back of his head.

Soon, he felt a hand pat him on the shoulder. Without raising his head, he knew that it was the elderly man.

"It's getting late. Lunch break is almost over, I'll make sure to call you if anything truly happens."

"Please do."

Waving his hand, the elderly figure left the premise with what seemed to be his colleagues.

A bright smile spread across the youth's face as he focused his attention on the figure's back.

This continued until their back finally disappeared. While still waiting in the same spot for several more minutes, Brian's smile soon faded.

"It hurts."

Massaging his mouth, the edges of his lips twitched.

"Not bad."

A familiar voice echoed inside of Brian's ears.

Without turning around, Brian already knew who the voice belonged to.

"Hemlock."

It wasn't just his voice that gave him away, but the stares that were directed in his direction were also a dead giveaway.

It was a scene that Brian was all too familiar with at the moment.

"I have to admit, you're incredibly Brian."

"How so?"

The two chatted as they walked through the busy streets of Ashton city.

"I'm just impressed by how you are able to quickly build up favourability with all the clients that we meet. Just how do you do it?"

"It's simple really."

Brian took out a small handkerchief and wiped the sweat on his forehead.

It was currently extremely hot outside, and unlike Hemlock, who could control mana, Brian couldn't and therefore couldn't exactly withstand the heat.

"...It's hot."

He waved his face with his hand.

Picking up his pace, he pulled out several files from the well-worn briefcase that he held in his right hand and handed them to Hemlock.

"What's this?"

"That's information regarding the client that we just met."

Brian pointed toward the top right section of the paper.

"In here, I've got listed the person's hobbies, behavior, likes, dislikes, and so on. Study them carefully for at least 100 hours before meeting the client, and everything will be smooth sailing from there."

"...You call this easy?"

Hemlock stared at Brian with a baffled look on his face.

Taking the papers back, Brian nodded his head.

"It is."

To build a good impression with someone, Brian would spend a substantial amount of time carefully examining the person he was supposed to work with. From their hobbies to the way they talked, where they were born, and everything...he needed to know everything before even thinking of talking to them.

It was his principle.

In this case, the client he was working with was called Igor Liviat, and he was currently one of the top heads of a famous guild in the human domain.

In fact, just the fact that he was able to even talk to him shocked Brian to no end, but as he knew that this job was what was helping him pay for his mother's treatment, he didn't ask any questions and continued to faithfully do his job.

It was better this way.

"Since I'm born with no talent, this is the only way I can make a living in this world. I have to put in countless hours in order to achieve something that someone with a skill can achieve in minutes. It's the sad reality."

A bitter smile spread across Brian's face.

Just as Hemlock was about to say something, Brian cut him off.

"I know what you're going to say, and I'll repeat it again. I don't have talent, I just work a lot harder than the others."

Putting the papers back in his briefcase, Brian turned his watch and picked up the pace.

"Now, onto the next client."

Chapter 587: Destroying the compressor [3]

Bang— Bang—

'What's going on?'

The sound of something crashing near Smallsnake awoke him from his slumber. With each passing second, the sound became more clear, and it wasn't long before his eyes were fully open.

Blinking his eyes several times, he thought to himself.

'Am I still alive?'

He could clearly remember being on the verge of dying not too long ago.

Did he die? …or was he still alive?

"Shit!"

Bang—!

Immediately after opening his eyes, he saw a figure being sent flying into the distance, before crashing heavily against what appeared to be a large metallic door.

A muffled sound accompanied the figure's crash.

"Kevin, how much longer do you need?"

A female voice shouted.

'Who is she?'

Squinting his eyes, Smallsnake's eyes paused on a female figure that he had never seen before in his life. She had long auburn-colored hair and seemed to be rather beautiful. The way that she moved across the black marble floor seemed extremely nimble, and so were her attacks that looked extremely sharp.

No, rather, she did seem familiar, but he just couldn't seem to recall who she was.

"Just buy me one more minute!"

Taking his eyes away from the female figure, Smallsnake's eyes finally paused on Kevin, and it was then that he noticed a large red hue coming out from his body.

The hue seemed to completely engulf the area they were in, making it extremely terrifying.

'What's going on?'

Blinking his eyes a couple of times, Smallsnake turned his head slightly and finally spotted what seemed to be a demon.

"Demon?"

His groggy mind sobered up and he tried to lift up his body.

"Smallsnake! You're awake!"

Feeling a hand press against his chest, Smallsnake was shocked to see a couple of familiar figures rush in his direction.

"You guys?"

"Smallsnake!"

Before he could speak anymore, he suddenly felt something hug his body tightly.

"Ryan?"

He was shocked to see that the person was Ryan who seemed to have tears streaming from the side of his eyes. As he raised his head, he saw Leopold, Ava, and Hein also staring at him. Their weapons were drawn out and formed a small circle around him.

They were clearly trying to protect him.

Taking a moment to process what was going on, a thin smile eventually spread across Smallsnake's face as he lowered his head back down and turned to stare at the ceiling.

"So I'm still alive, huh?"

He may not have been sure before, but now he knew...He knew that he was still alive.

A part of him felt great relief once he realized this.

But that didn't last long as he soon heard another crashing sound.

Bang—!

"Ukh, shit, hurry up!"

The voice seemed to belong to another familiar figure who was standing not so far from where she was.

She seemed to be standing behind what seemed to be a large transparent barrier.

"I don't think I'll be able to last much longer. The core I'm using is about to run out of energy. So hurry up Kevin! I don't want to die in this filth."

"A couple more seconds."

Kevin shouted while the red hue coming out from his body started to fluctuate wildly and the room shook alongside it.

The demon who had long noticed that Kevin was up to something, desperately tried to stop whatever he was doing, but regardless of much he tried, he would always get blocked by either the girl with the short swords, Jin, or Amanda.

"Ready!"

In the end, in spite of the demon's desperate attempts, he was unable to fully free himself from their attacks and Kevin was finally able to complete his attack.

Raising his sword behind his head, he took a step forward and appeared before the demon.

In that moment, Smallsnake felt as though time had frozen completely as the air around him solidified. The last thing Smallsnake saw was the look of utter terror on the demon's face as Kevin's attack came crashing down on him and a bright red light enveloped the entire room.

Booom—!

A terrifying explosion sounded out and Smallsnake was forced to close his eyes. In the aftermath of the explosion, Melissa took several steps back and her face paled as the barrier shook uncontrollably.

"Fucking hell..."

Smallsnake heard her curse coming from a meter away from him.

Tin. Tin. Tin.

Though faint, Smallsnake could also hear the sound of small rocks hitting against the barrier that was protecting the area around him.

This persisted for a couple of seconds before it finally stopped. Opening his eyes, Smallsnake was met with a large cloud of dust that soon settled down.

At this point, he could clearly see the aftermath of the attack and saw Kevin as well as the others struggling to breathe.

Their complexion was extremely pale, and their clothes were a mess. Nevertheless, they appeared to be relieved as Kevin held onto a small black orb in his hand.

"I…did it…"

Kevin weakly murmured as knelt down on the ground, and observed the core in his hand. Taking another breath, he squeezed his hand together and the core shattered into millions of pieces.

Crack—!

Seeing this, everyone sighed in relief and tried to regain some of their lost energy.

"That was much harder than I thought."

Kevin's voice echoed throughout the surroundings.

Patting his hand on his clothes, he cleaned the small pieces of the core he had in his hand.

"Although I knew that Marquis ranked demons were strong, I didn't think they would be this strong. For a moment, I thought I was going to die."

"Tell me about it."

Emma commented from a distance as she lay on the ground with both hands and legs spread apart. Not far from her were her two short swords.

"I don't think I'll be able to fight again. If another Marquis ranked demon comes, just know that I won't be able to help you. You're on your own."

"…and you think I'll be able to fight?"

Kevin joked as he slowly stood up and turned to face one of the distant corridors.

"Now all we have to do is wait for Ren and the others to come back. He told me that it might take a while, but I seriously think that if he takes too long, things will get quite troublesome for us."

Their stamina was currently almost depleted. The same went for their mana which was slowly recovering due to the aid of several potions.

Nevertheless, they weren't enough to completely heal him into top condition, and Kevin knew this. Especially since he was still suffering from the after-effects of having used Overdrive. At this moment, his whole body was twitching uncontrollably.

Since they were in no condition to fight, he hoped Ren would arrive before any demons could reach them.

Fortunately, his hopes were answered as not even a minute after he said those words, he was able to hear the sound of several footsteps heading their way.

"Is it this way?"

Furthermore, he could also hear Ren's voice. His complexion instantly brightened. The same could be said for the others as they slowly stood up.

But as they turned their heads, they were confronted with a scene that changed their complexion, making their faces harden.

"Just a little bit more forward."

"You know that I will kill you if you are playing tricks on me, right?"

"Spare me."

"I'll think about it if you don't lie."

Slowly emerging from the other side of the corridor, Ren held onto the back of the neck of a demon and dragged him across the floor. Coming from behind him were two other figures, but what was most shocking about the scene was not their appearance, but the demon that Ren was currently dragging with him.

"A Marquis ranked demon…"

Smallsnake murmured as he, alongside the others, felt the pressure coming out from the demon's body.

Recalling just how much they had struggled to defeat a Marquis ranked demon, and seeing just how Ren was handling one, Kevin and the others were left at a loss for words on how to react at the moment.

Wasn't it a little bit too unfair?

"Oh, so that's where you guys were."

Finally spotting the others, Ren's face brightened and he greeted them with a cheerful smile on his face.

"Have you resolved the situation?"

The first one to greet him was Kevin who seemed to have somewhat recovered from the strange scene that he saw.

"Yeah."

Turning his head, Ren patted Liam's shoulder.

"We somehow managed to defeat the demon he was fighting and finally managed to get back here."

"I see…"

Kevin nodded his head as he examined Liam who was standing next to Ren. He appeared quite lethargic at the moment as he cradled the sword in his body and kept opening and closing his eyes.

He seemed to be on the verge of sleeping.

Extending his hand, Kevin pointed toward the demon that was being held by the back of his neck by Ren.

"Is that the demon that you two were up against?"

He asked, while secretly swallowing a mouthful of saliva.

"This?"

As Ren looked at the demon, there was a brief silence in the room before he quickly waved his hand.

"Nah, no way. This is just a random demon that I picked up because I couldn't find a way to get to you guys. The demon that I fought against was way stronger than this one."

"Eh…"

Though he had already expected such an answer, the moment Ren's words echoed out, Kevin's shoulders slumped down and his head lowered.

"What's wrong?"

"..It's nothing."

Weakly waving his hand, Kevin pointed toward the door in the distance. He was clearly trying to change the topic.

"How about we open the door for now?"

Chapter 588: Broken pride [1]

"What should we do now?"

After finally opening the door that led to the core of the mana compressor, I curiously looked around the room.

The room we were in was rather spacious, about half the size of a football field. Over the room's black and earthy floor, which was covered by a thin white mist, were thick wires as thick as a tree trunk.

As I traced the wires, my gaze paused at a small altar where a white orb rested, where a thin white mist floated from the top of it. It was clear to me that the mist was most probably caused by the white orb. Further adding onto that, an individual paying close attention would also notice that the mana around it was extremely thick.

"That's probably the area where the mana gets converted into demonic energy."

Walking toward that area, Melissa carefully raised her hand to touch the mist.

The mist passed through her fingers as she turned her head toward us.

"If my guess isn't wrong, we should be destroying this area."

"Got it."

Listening to her words, Kevin walked up to where the white orb was and unsheathed his sword. He was rather decisive in following up on her instructions.

'I guess he must be eager to go back home.'

We were only a few steps away from returning home. All of us could return home as soon as the core broke, and he understood this.

A red hue began to erupt from his body as he slashed down.

Boom—!

A thunderous explosion reverberated throughout the surroundings once he slashed down. The mist scattered on the floor cleared away, and the room started to shake.

Crack.

Coming into contact with Kevin's sword, miniature threads started to form around the orb, slowly expanding like spiderwebs.

In the end, after the cracks spread, the orbs didn't completely break like Kevin had expected it to.

"This is tougher than it looks."

Wiping the sweat that had accumulated on his forehead, Kevin raised his sword again and prepared to unleash another attack.

'Strange…'

My brows furrowed tightly while he was doing that. My mind was filled with a strange feeling at the moment.

'Kevin previously said that this was an <A> ranked mission, and although it has now changed to <S> rank, why do I still feel like something is wrong?'

Firstly, for an <A> ranked mission, this was a bit too hard. Sure, the Duke ranked demon controlling the place was old and on the verge of dying, but he was still incredibly strong.

Further adding onto that, there were several Marquis ranked demons.

In no way should this mission be an <A> ranked one. The current <S> rating was a far more accurate estimate.

Yet…

I still felt that something was wrong.

For quite some time now, I had been feeling a sense of impending doom. As time went on, it only got worse, and I still couldn't understand where it was coming from.

I had already killed the Duke ranked demon, and so the largest threat was already gone...but for the feeling to still be here...

'We need to hurry up."

"Let me help."

Walking toward Kevin, I pulled my sword from its sheath. Feeling the thick grip of the sword, it felt a bit weird. This was to be expected though, as it wasn't my sword, I wasn't used to it.

In any case, whether I thought it was comfortable or not, didn't really matter. Right now, my priority was to go back home.

Raising the sword above my head, I slashed at the same time Kevin did.

Bang—!

More cracks began to form on the orb, while the surroundings shook even more fiercely. But in spite of the fact that I had exerted all of my strength to slash, the orb still didn't break.

"Liam, help out as well."

Knowing that it might take longer than I had anticipated to break down the orb, I enlisted Liam's help.

It would've been helpful to have Angelica's assistance, but she was currently observing the door for any demons approaching, so I could only give up.

"Me? Why?"

"Just hurry up and do it."

Bang—!

I once again slashed toward the orb. Once again, at full power.

Ba…thump! Ba…thump!

As I swung with even more speed and force, the sense of crisis in my heart only grew stronger. It was what kept me going, and attacking with even more force despite using all of my strength in each swing.

"Eh?"

Suddenly, Kevin's movements ceased.

Liam also stopped, and so did I.

My body started to shake after that.

"I knew it…"

What I had been feeling throughout the entire time…I knew that it wasn't just me overthinking things, but rather, it was my sixth sense telling me that something terrible was going to happen.

I knew it…and yet, I still failed to capitalize on this feeling before it was too late.

Slowly turning my head, I saw a demon leisurely standing in the distance with an amused expression on his face.

Beside me, Liam and Kevin also stared at the demon, and their bodies stopped completely as a suffocating pressure bore on all of us.

What I was feeling…it was hard to describe.

It felt like I was deep underwater with all the pressure of the water bearing down on me. Breathing was impossible, and the longer I stared at the demon, the deeper my body sank in the dark ocean.

Extending his hand in our direction, the demon smiled.

"Keep doing what you are doing, I won't harm you. There's no need to be scared."

The demon's voice sounded rather playful as his eyes swam all over us.

"I almost thought that his majesty could have been mistaken, but as expected of him. He knows everything."

As he extended his hand forward, my body, along with everyone else present in the room, levitated in the air before being pulled towards him.

I could only helplessly watch the others get dragged alongside me, as the mana inside of my body was once again sealed.

'Damnit! I should've waited more time before coming here.'

I inwardly cursed while I stared at my skill.

[Limit breaker.]

If there had been anything that could've helped me out of this situation, it was that, but given that I had used it in the demon world, its cool-down wasn't over, so I was totally helpless right now.

I could only helplessly watch as the demon moved my body in the air.

"What's with the scared looks? Didn't I already tell you that I won't be killing you?"

After dropping my body a few meters from himself, I landed upright on the ground.

Besides me, the others were else in a similar situation as we were lined up together.

Once everyone was dragged over, the demon's eyes swam all over our bodies. Then, with a soft and gentle smile on his face, the demon started to introduce himself.

"Pardon my rudeness, let me introduce myself. My name is Magnus, the Demon King's retainer..."

***

'I can't move…'

A tightly fitting tuxedo covered every part of his body, his black cascading hair falling gently to his shoulders, his pale and masculine face, moist cherry red lips, and large horns...

That was who the demon that stood before Melissa looked like as she had trouble moving her head, or even breathing.

'Shit…'

A sense of impending danger loomed over her as his eyes swept over her body, before moving to the others who seemed to be in a similar situation.

At this very moment, Melissa knew that they were all feeling the same thing.

Helplessness.

Just the strength and power that was coming out of the demon rendered her, and the others helpless.

He was strong.

Too strong.

How in the world were they ever going to get out of this seemingly impossible situation?

Ba...Thump! Ba...Thump!

The rhythmical sound of her heartbeat echoed in her ears.

"What's with these scared looks? I already told you, I'm not going to kill any of you."

The demon's voice sounded rather pleasant to Melissa's ears.

Compared to the other demons she met, she felt no malice in the demon's voice.

'That's bullshit.'

Nonetheless, Melissa could only scoff at the demon's words.

She in no way believed that the demon would do nothing to them.

"Don't believe me?"

The demon suddenly smiled.

Interlocking his hands behind his back, he calmly paced around them.

"I am here simply to report to his majesty about your presence on this planet not to kill you. Don't worry, I have already told him about everything, and he will be here shortly..."

'By his majesty, is he referring to the Demon King?'

As Melissa closely analyzed the demon's words, her face shifted and her body began to shake.

Her body began to shake unconsciously at this moment.

It had to be known that ever since she was born, like all children born in this era, they had all learned of the demon king.

The ruler of all demons, and the reason why the earth was in the state that it was.

Having been told that the Demon King was personally coming to see them, Melissa felt a deep rooted fear spill out of her chest as her complexion turned even paler and her heart raced.

She wasn't the only one who reacted this way, as many of the others also seemed to have lost a part of their soul when they heard of the sudden piece of news.

The only one that showed no notable change in expression was Ren, who kept his eyes on the demon in front of him.

"It might take a bit for him to arrive since he's far, so we have a little time in our hands while we wait for him…"

Lowering his head, Magnus pinched his chin and fell into thought.

From his serious expression, he seemed to be thinking about something important.

"Ah!"

Clapping his hands together once, Magnus's face brightened.

"I know what we can do. How about we play a game?"

The elegance and suaveness of his actions were evident in everything he did.

Sweeping his eyes towards everyone present, his eyes soon paused on Melissa, and their eyes met.

The instant their eyes met, Melissa felt her heart stop.

'No, no, not me …'

She silently pleased inside her heart. But her pleas ended up being fruitless as the demon calmly took a step in her direction.

"As you all should know, I'm a demon that belongs to the Pride clan. A clan that has pride in their blood, and just as much as we like strong and prideful individuals, we also love tearing their pride into bits…it is the greatest of joy for us..."

Melissa felt a hand press against her forehead as she tried to free herself from whatever was trapping her, but it seemed impossible since the demon's power seemed too strong.

"Now, now, I won't kill you."

The demon's gentle words fell into Melissa's ears. But instead of calming her down, they only served to make her panic even more as her face twisted.

'No!'

She screamed inside of her heart.

But her struggles were useless as the last thing she heard was the demon's words.

"I'm only just going to show your deepest secret to the others."

Everything went dark after that.

Chapter 589: Broken pride [2]

As I watched the demon place his hand against Melissa's hand, everyone's eyes turned white.

'What's going on?'

Their sudden actions startled me as I tried to understand what was going on, but before I knew it, my vision darkened and I was suddenly transported inside a dark space.

'Where am I? What's going on?'

Just like before, I couldn't move my body.

I felt completely trapped.

As I stared into the blackness before me while wondering about what was going on, I noticed that it had started to change, and it was not long before my surroundings started to change as well.

Suddenly, white tiles appeared in the air and shot toward the ground before they neatly positioned themselves together.

That wasn't all.

Also, desks began to form in the air before positioning themselves in what appeared to be a medium-sized room. About half the size of a standard living room.

Books, files, glass panels, and awards?

…one by one a room started to form and my height suddenly started to shrink.

I had many questions that I wanted to ask, but my body was immobile. The only thing I could do at the moment was just watch as a scene unfolded in front of me.

In just a few minutes, everything was set up, and by the time the last tile was placed on the floor, everything seemed to look gigantic.

'No, rather, it isn't the surroundings that are gigantic, but it's me.'

I came to this realization when I found that I was holding onto what seemed to be a small drawing that I couldn't quite understand. They looked like doodles, yet at the same time didn't.

'What happened to my hands?"

Most notable about the situation was the fact that the hands holding only the paper seemed to belong to a child.

Their size…

They weren't even a quarter of what my hands looked like.

They were quite frankly tiny.

The confusion within me only grew as time passed, but I didn't have much time to ponder over the matters as the door of the room suddenly opened.

Clank—!

'Eh?'

A familiar figure emerged from behind the door.

It only took several seconds for me to recognize the figure, and when I did, I was left in a state of shock.

'Octavious?'

He looked exactly the same as the Octavious I knew. But why was he here? What exactly was going on?

Amidst my shock at Octavious's sudden appearance, I realized that my body was shaking.

I felt a weird emotion surge from deep within. One that I couldn't quite describe.

What was it?

Excitement? Anxiety? Happiness?

I wasn't exactly sure.

Taking a timid step to the back, I hid the paper behind my back. All of the actions that occurred were not something that I could control, as the body moved on its own.

"Father."

Opening my mouth, what sounded like the voice of a little girl escaped from my mouth.

'Father? Octavious?'

It was at this moment that I finally realized that I was in what seemed to be Melissa's body, and the events that previously transpired before coming here started to flood my mind.

'Right, didn't the demon say something about breaking pride? Is this what he meant?'

When I realized that I was seeing her memories, I realized that perhaps everyone else was also seeing the same thing.

'…This is bad.'

I thought to myself as I tried to move the body in any way.

In an attempt to stop what was happening, I tried to come up with anything, but my efforts proved ineffective.

It was simply impossible.

What was even worse was the fact that I was forced to watch the entire thing as I couldn't close my eyes nor turn my body away.

"Father?"

The man's feet never stopped moving toward the desk that sat all the way across the room despite the girls' calls.

Once he arrived at his desk, pushing the chair back, Octavious sat down on the chair and started to look through a stack of papers. Completely disregarding the girl's existence.

In the meantime, my feet gingerly headed toward his desk. Coming to the side of the desk, and finally getting a glimpse of Octavious's side view, my head raised a little, until I was finally get a good look at Octavious's face.

Once again, I felt a weird feeling enshroud my body.

This time, I could make out what it wash

'Anticipation.'

The feeling that I was feeling right now was that of anticipation.

Anticipation of him noticing me.

...but that never happened as thirty minutes soon elapsed.

In the thirty or so minutes that passed, not once did Octavious ever turn to face me as I timidly stared at his serious features.

In that span of time, I could feel my feet start to hurt.

Before I knew it, my body took a step forward and my little hand clasped onto his trousers.

"Let go."

As my hand touched his trousers, Octavious's words echoed. Immediately, I let go of his trousers.

"What do you want?"

Finally getting his attention, he lowered his head to stare at me.

'Those eyes…they are the same as now.'

Closely observing his eyes, I realized he hadn't changed since this event happened all those years ago. They were still as hallow and lifeless as they were now.

"Um…"

Exerting more force onto the grip of the paper behind my back, my body shifted toward the right and left before I took out the paper and handed it to him.

"Here."

I felt hints of shyness coming from my body when I handed him the paper. Clearly, it meant a lot to the little girl.

"What's this?"

Taking a look at the paper, Octavious grabbed it and examined it for several seconds.

"A scribble?"

He asked.

My head immediately shook.

"No."

"No? Then what is this? Some sort of molecular structure."

"Yes."

A feeling of elation swept my body as my hands shyly twirled behind my back. A bright smile also spread across my face.

"Uncle Thompson told me that I just discovered something amazing and wanted me to show you."

"Oh."

Taking another look at the paper, Octavious quickly lost interest and crumbled the paper in his hand.

The smile on my face froze, and my eyes blinked a couple of times. It was only after Octavious tossed the paper in the trash that he everything finally sank into the little girl's mind as my head raised up.

"Don't disturb me with this nonsense again. Get out of my room."

Before I could even reply, Octavious waved his hand, and I felt my body shoot up in the air.

Clank—!

The door burst open and I shot toward the room's entrance.

Clank—!

With a loud sound, the door behind me closed shut and my body suddenly started to enlarge before I dropped to the ground.

"Haaa…haaa…"

Drip—! Drip—!

I gasped for air heavily as sweat dripped from my face and hair covered my vision while they scattered on the ground where I lay.

Every part of my body burned, and I could barely move my muscles, but…

"Again."

My hand moved toward the right and tightly clenched what seemed to be a long pole.

'A spear.'

I thought.

Feeling the grip of the pole, I used it to support my body up and it was then that I was able to see where I was exactly.

'A training room.'

At the moment, I was standing in a white room with wooden tiles at the bottom. The room was surrounded by large glass panels, and from there I could see the reflection of a familiar figure.

'…Is this really Melissa?'

She looked nothing like herself, with wet hair falling behind her back, no glasses, and sweat dripping down her face. It was as if she had become a completely new person.

Especially since the Melissa that I knew disliked exercising.

"How about it young miss? Should we stop for now?"

Right then, my eyesight focused on a female figure wearing a black suit standing opposite of her. She had short black hair, an oval-looking face, a small nose, and large eyes.

She was stunning.

As she pointed the tip of a long spear at me, her heroic and charming figure appeared especially impressive.

"You look exhausted, it's best if you don't continue training."

"No."

Melissa shook her head, as I felt the grasp of the spear tighten.

"We're not stopping until I pass out."

Taking a step forward, she charged to where the female combatant was and firmly thrust the spear in her direction.

Her movements were rather smooth and sharp. In no time they reached the lady standing on the opposite end, but…

A casual swipe of her hand deflected Melissa's attack and redirected it toward the ground.

"Sloppy."

The lady murmured before I felt a kick on the back of my leg and I dropped to the ground.

"Ugh."

A small groan escaped my lips as I fell to the ground. My body seemed to have lost all of its energy as I dropped several times to the ground as I tried to get up, but in spite of my best efforts, I couldn't get up.

"D..Damn it, not yet!"

"Give up young miss."

The lady from before spoke. Her words only served to incite a hidden anger that rushed out from within my body.

Glaring at the lady, I spat through my gnashed teeth.

"I said, only stop when I pass out!"

Her threatening aura seemed to have worked somewhat, as the lady stopped insisting that she'd give up and just let her do her thing.

"As you wish."

Taking a step forward, the servant disappeared from the spot before reappearing right in front of me. Her movements were lightning quick, and although I could react to them, my body couldn't, and was soon thrown all the way toward the other end of the training ground.

Crash—!

My body quickly crashed against the walls.

I had originally expected to feel some pain while I crashed against the wall, but to my surprise, I didn't.

It seemed as though we couldn't feel pain in this imaginary world.

Nonetheless, I may not be able to feel pain, but I could still feel what Melissa was feeling.

Frustration, anger, and resentment.

Drip—! Drip—!

With more sweat dripping from her forehead, I slowly raised my head and glared at the lady.

"Again!"

Chapter 590: Broken Pride [3]

Bang—!

I found myself flung all the way to the other side of the room once again as the training lady kicked me in the stomach.

This time, my body did not crash against the wall and continued to move. Once again, my body started to rapidly expand, and before I knew it, I found myself standing in front of what seemed to be a large auditorium.

"I would like to congratulate Melissa Hall on her outstanding achievements. Without her help and assistance, we would have never been able to achieve a breakthrough in our research."

'It's bright.'

While a middle aged man spoke beside me, I took note of the bright lights coming from the distance.

Click. Click.

The rapid clicking sound of the camera shutters echoed throughout, and a multitude of white lights flashed in the distance.

They were so bright that my eyes started to squint. I felt a wave of annoyance wash over me.

Nonetheless, a smile adorned my face.

"Thank you."

As I reached out for what seemed to be a small piece of paper, I looked at it briefly and brought it close to my body.

"It is an honor to have helped you."

"It is truly outstanding that you've managed to achieve all of this at the tender age of fifteen. Truly, you are a blessing to society."

"How kind of you."

My hand covered my mouth and I let out a fake laugh.

"…If only that was really true."

My mouth quietly murmured in the midst of the laughter.

The sound was so quiet that no one could hear it. The announcer beside her was the only one who thought he had heard something, but I was quick to deny everything.

"Hm? Did you say something?"

"No, I didn't."

My head started to shake.

"I see. Well, let's give another round of applause to Melissa Hall for her outstanding achievements."

After he said that, the crowd became rowdier and everyone began to clap even louder.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

"Thank you, thank you."

As she bowed her head repeatedly, Melissa secretly tried to catch a glimpse of the audience from the corner of her eyes. Looking at the crowd, I felt a sense of anticipation.

In spite of the bright lights, my eyes continued to scan the audience, in search of someone.

I didn't know exactly who, but he seemed to be important to Melissa. Especially after I realized what she was currently feeling.

However, as time passed and she didn't see anyone, the excitement cooled, and my eyes drooped.

I then felt a sting inside of my heart before my mouth opened and I murmured.

"It looks like I'll have to train more."

Following her words, the lights coming from the distance started to become brighter and brighter, and before I knew it, all that dyed my vision was the color white.

"What is your rank?"

By the time the bright lights faded, I found myself back in the office space from before. Octavious's office.

This time, unlike in the past, I was inside Melissa's older body.

Sitting opposite me was Octavious. He looked exactly the same as he did during the first part of Melissa's memory.

I bit my lips until they stung, then closed my eyes and looked directly into Octavious's.

"I've managed to come first rank in the theoretical department, and achieved an overall rank of second in the Lock ranks."

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Reclining against a large black leather chair, Octavious began tapping against the table.

His complexion darkened considerably and Melissa's heart tightened.

"Second?"

"Yes."

Melissa nodded her head. She may not be showing it on the outside, but her heart was currently beating uncontrollably. I could feel it.

There was also a mixture of anxiety and fear hidden deep within her as she continued to 'fearlessly' stare at Octavious.

Leaning his body forward and interlocking his hands together, Octavious asked.

"Who came first?"

My brows furrowed at the question, but I nonetheless answered.

"Some guy called Kevin Voss."

"Kevin Voss?"

Octaviuos's turbid eyes rippled slightly.

"He doesn't seem like someone famous. For him to have become the first in the rankings…I should've heard of someone this capable."

Covering his mouth with his hand, Octaviois fell into deep thought and no longer paid any attention to Melissa who clenched her teeth tightly.

Opening her mouth, she called out for him.

"Father."

"Huh? You're still here?"

When he spoke, my blood turned cold and my face hardened.

Meeting my eyes, Octavious had a rather disdainful look on his face.

"Do you expect me to praise you for your failure to achieve first rank?"

His words hit like a truck as the pain in my chest intensified.

"After all of the resources that I poured on you…you still fail to get into the top ranking of the Lock. Is that something that you should even be proud of? Be thankful that I'm not throwing you out in the streets for tarnishing my name and reputation."

With every one of the words that came out of Octavious's mouth, I felt the emotions running inside of my body becoming number and number.

Before I knew it, I was no longer inside of the office but back in the training ground.

But compared to last time, there was no strength inside of my body. Everything was just numb.

"What's wrong young miss?"

Raising my head, I was met with the fight of the same lady from before. She looked a little bit older than before, but just like in the past, she was still beautiful.

"Did something bad happen? You look out of it."

Moving closer to me, the lady tilted her head and placed her hand on my forehead.

"You don't seem to be having a fever. Maybe you've overexerted yourself."

Turning around, the trainer took a towel to wipe off the sweat on her body and then proceeded to shake her head.

"Let's call it quits for today. You're probably exhausted from all the training you do. I told you many times that training for more than twelve hours a day every day is not healthy. Just look at yourself now. You are clearly exhausted."

'Twelve hours? Every day?'

The trainers' words deeply resonated inside of my head as I struggled to digest her words.

Twelve hours…

It took a while for them to sink in, and when they did, I came to realize just how much Melissa had been working herself.

Although I was always busy, I did spend a lot of time training each day. My record was about seven hours a day, and during that session, I remembered being too exhausted to even move. It wasn't something that I was willing to do again.

Kevin also trained for a similar amount of time time. Perhaps even more as I did recall him saying something about training eight hours a day at one point.

Well, this was a long time ago.

Times had changed since then and he probably trained a little bit less.

In any case, that was beside the point. At this moment, I was still trying to process what was being shown before me, and...

…The scene once again changed.

***

Grand halls of the Demon King's palace.

Sat on his throne, Jezebeth rested with his eyes closed as the energy around him fluctuated wildly. Despite his pale complexion and weaker aura than in the past, his aura still inspired fear in anyone who saw him.

Time passed, and after an unknown period of time, his eyes opened.

"Huu..."

A small cloud of turbid air escaped from his mouth.

Opening his eyes, his two blood red eyes were revealed as they shone with a dangerous light. Staring toward the empty halls, Jezebeth opened his mouth and murmured.

"I took more damage than I previously thought."

The damage he sustained from breaking down the Akashic links a while back, was a lot more than Jezebeth had originally anticipated.

In fact, he estimated that it would take him at least half a year to fully recover from his injuries.

"This isn't very ideal."

For his plans...

This wasn't exactly good news.

"Hm?"

It was right at this moment that Jezebeth felt something, and his hand casually swept the air till a black portal formed in the air before him.

After which, a familiar voice echoed throughout the grand halls.

"Your majesty, I have found the humans that you were looking for. They are located on a planet called Cassaria in the Konkordia Galaxy. They are a lot more than I anticipated, but I won't have trouble holding them here. They are rather weak. I will be waiting for your arrival."

The message was rather short, only a couple of sentences, but it was enough to improve Jezebeth's mood considerably as he stood up from his throne.

"....It looks like my plan has worked."

Swiping his hand to get rid of the black portal, Jezebeth extended his hand and clenched the very air before him. Pulling it apart with his arm, a fissure formed in front of him, and he stepped into it.

"Finally, I am one step closer to my destiny."

Chapter 591: Taking a glimpse of 'his' hell [1]

"What a pitiful child."

My vision returned to what it was prior to the visions after the demon took his hand from Melissa's head.

I didn't know exactly how long had passed, but during the time where I was looking through Melissa's memories, it felt as if years had passed by...of course, I knew that it was only my imagination.

Thud—!

During the time that my vision returned, Melissa fell to the ground on both knees. Her complexion looked rather pale as what seemed to be tears flowed down the sides of her eyes.

I couldn't blame her.

Relieving what she was desperately trying to hide and forget, and knowing that the closest people she knew were also watching her deepest secrets...

'Shit.'

I could tell exactly what she was feeling.

Lowering his body, the demon stood at eye level with her.

Patting her head, he gently spoke to her.

"Your life is truly hard. You wanted to make your father proud throughout your entire childhood, but no matter what you did, he never satisfied you."

"Even when you excelled in a different field, he ignored you and only cared about your achievements in the combat field...yet, you had no talent for it, but you knew this..."

"Of course, you knew this. You're a smart child after all, am I right?"

Melissa's body trembled as the demon's gentle words echoed throughout. Slowly, she started to nod her head.

'Don't respond to him!'

I shouted inside of my head as I tried to move, and open my mouth, but it all proved to be fruitless.

I couldn't activate any of my skills, nor feel my mana.

I was desperate.

Melissa may not be aware at the moment, but the demon was definitely using some sort of skill at the moment. A skill that would severely weaken her mind the more she listened to him or spoke to him.

"Even though you trained for twelve hours every day, to the point of exhaustion, as a way to finally show your father the results of your achievements, he completely disregarded your achievements and treated you like trash...all because you couldn't take the first spot."

Extending his hand, the demon patted Melissa on the back.

"When your father dismissed you after you placed second, that was the turning point of your life, wasn't it? You stopped caring about him, or about anyone else's opinion, right? You felt free when you stopped caring, right? ...and why do you treat everyone so harshly? Is it because you don't trust anyone but yourself?"

With each question that the demon asked, the paler Melissa's complexion became, and it wasn't long before her eyes started to lose some clarity.

'Oh no.'

I instantly became alarmed when I saw this.

This pattern...

It was the same pattern that resulted in the creation of contractees. After thoroughly exposing the secrets and breaking their minds, demons used this exact scenario to convince their victims to sign a contract with them.

'Not good.'

Despite my best efforts, nothing changed and I remained in the same spot, shouting inside of my mind as I tried to struggle even harder.

"You look like someone prideful at a first glance, but in a way, that's just yourself trying to distance others from you so that you don't get hurt again, right? It's a pitiful life, the one that you live in."

The demon's eyes flashed with pity as he continued to pat Melissa on the back. Over time, her complexion worsened, and it wasn't long before her eyes became hollow and she lost her expression.

'Shit.'

I inwardly cursed inside of my mind when I saw this.

"How about you just gi—Oops."

Halfway through his sentence, the demon finally took notice of Melissa's condition and the smile on his face widened.

"It looks like I overdid things a little bit. I'm not supposed to break you just yet. His majesty might get mad at me if I do that."

Standing up and no longer paying any attention to Melissa, the demon calmly patted his clothes.

Then, once he confirmed that there was no dust on his clothes, he turned to glance at Melissa one last time.

"While I feel that your father's methods are harsh, he wasn't exactly wrong about you being talentless. It's a pity that I'm tempted to make you sign a contract with me, but you're simply untalented from my likes, plus..."

The demon's head suddenly turned and it was then that my eyes met with his.

"After looking through your memories, I've come to find quite a nice gem over here. One that I am very interested in making a contract with."

Calmly taking a couple of steps toward me, the demon soon reached where I was standing and stopped right before me.

Calmly analyzing my body, I was able to catch a glimpse of a strange twinkle in his eyes. While he analyzed my body with his eyes, I felt the back of my skin crawl.

"You're quite young, yet you seem to be extremely strong for someone your age. Not bad, not bad."

The more he looked, the more he seemed to be satisfied with me.

Taking his eyes away from me, he then turned his head and his eyes lingered on Liam's and Kevin's bodies for a bit.

"These other two seem to also be quite the talent. It's quite hard to choose between the three of you…so, how about we continue our little game?"

Turning his head to once again face my direction, the smile on his face became even more sinister and his hand raised toward my head.

'No!'

Staring at the enlargening shadow cast by the hand slowly approaching hand, from the corner of my eyes I stared at the others who were else looking at me.

My heart started to beat faster as deep anxiety started to permeate my body.

'Not my memories!'

I started to panic when I realized that the others would also see my memories.

'I can't let that happen!'

Anything but that!

The thought of all the things I had been trying to hide being revealed to them terrified me to the core.

Imagining how they would react to what I did in the past and everything that happened to me made my skin crawl. Especially after they would find out the truth about my life at the Lock, and how I viewed them in the past.

But I was helpless at the moment.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't resist the demon's hand as it soon reached out for my head and grasped it tightly.

"Sleep tight."

Everything when dark after that.

***

'Is it happening again?'

As Kevin walked past a paved driveway toward an area surrounded by iron gates and fences, he passed a small wooden chapel.

Just like before, with Melissa, he could not control his body as it slowly headed toward the back of the chapel.

'...Are these Ren's memories?'

Recalling what had happened before, and how the last memory he had was the demon grasping Ren's head, Kevin could make out what was going on at the moment. He felt a burning rage rush from deep within him as he thought of what the demon was doing.

'Bastard.'

Kevin's anger grew as he remembered Melissa's state a few seconds ago.

Remembering her helpless and broken state...Kevin felt his emotions run wild. He called it a game, but this felt like no game to Kevin at all.

'Eh?'

In the midst of his rage, Kevin suddenly found his mind turning blank as his body moved past the chapel and he was able to catch a glimpse of what lay behind it.

Cars lining the road, a black hearse, pallbearers carrying what seemed to be three different caskets, mourners seated in chairs or standing in a clump, a religious leader praying or reading passages of scripture, fresh flower arrangements, and several people dressed in black standing with their heads lowered.

'A graveyard?'

The sight left Kevin in a state of confusion, as the body continued to move forward.

Approaching the graveyard, Ren's movements were rather slow and unhurried. He seemed to be rather relaxed at the moment, as though the scene in the distance had nothing to do with him.

He was acting drastically different from the people in the distance who were mourning and crying.

'They look somewhat familiar...'

Kevin couldn't quite make out the features of the individuals in the distance, but as he paid attention to them, he felt that they were quite familiar to him. Rather, extremely familiar...

Unfortunately, he was unable to get a proper look at them as Ren's body moved toward where three carved headstones stood.

'...What's going on?'

It was at that moment that Kevin suddenly felt a heartwrenching pain engulf his entire being as Ren's feet came to a sudden stop and he grasped his chest with his hand. Soon his body started to tremble uncontrollably.

"N..not now."

Ren's voice echoed out as he took a step forward.

"Haaa..."

Each step that Ren took felt as though a piece of his entire heart was being ripped into pieces. It was suffocating.

The closer he got to the headstones, the harder it became for him to walk.

"Haaa...Haaa..."

As his breathing got harder, so did his vision, which became increasingly misty.

Staring at the tombstones in the distance, Kevin found that Ren's whole body was trembling.

He was becoming increasingly unable to bear the pain inside of his heart with each step he took as he had to force himself to stop several times...

'...What is this pain?'

Feeling the pain that Ren was going through, Kevin didn't know how to react. The pain hurt more than anything he had ever felt in his life.

Kevin felt an undefinable type of pain drain away at everything he knew as Ren's trembling body stopped in front of the headstones.

Right as he stopped in front of the headstones, Ren's body knelt on the ground and Kevin was finally able to see what was written on them. His heart stopped soon after.

'H...how...?

Imprinted on the gravestones were three names.

[Samantha Dover] [Donald Dover] [Nola Dover]

Chapter 592: Taking a glimpse of 'his' hell [2]

'…Aren't these the names of Ren's parents?'

Kevin had only met them a handful of times and didn't know them that well. The most vivid memory he had of them was seeing them cry at Ren's funeral.

The image of Ren's sister crying in front of his picture left a big impact on him.

'It's definitely their names, isn't it?'

He couldn't exactly remember them, but as he took note of their last names and the pain that was permeating through Ren's chest, Kevin could tell that they were his parents.

The real question was, why were their names imprinted on the tombstone before him?

'It doesn't make sense.'

Last Kevin recalled, they were still alive and well. He didn't remember hearing anything about Ren's parents ever passing away.

'How is this even possible…?'

Thud—!

Kevin's vision suddenly lowered as he fell to his knees and the scenery around him shifted.

It began with a soft whisper in the air that tickled the ear. A colorless pearl fell to the ground, landing perfectly on one of the blades of grass beneath the magically darkened sky.

Pitter.

The sound was like the glassy clinking of a champagne flute, clear and lifting.

Pitter. Pitter.

Accompanying the first drop was a second, and then a third, and within seconds, a heavy curtain of rain fell to the ground.

Phut. Phut. Phut.

The noise on the surface of Ren's clothes which were slowly getting drenched was like that of ripened nuts made when they hit the ground. It wasn't like the soft, clear, mellow drops that were hitting the grass; it was like baseballs being thrown against a net. Louder and fiercer.

Ren clutched his chest with one hand and grasped the tombstones in front of him with the other, oblivious to the cold caused by drenched clothes.

Pitter. Pitter.

The plummeting rain masked Ren's tears as he kept his head lowered and sobbed.

A fierce and sharp pain was invading Ren's chest as he slowly opened his mouth and muttered

"…N..not again."

In uttering those words, Kevin felt a pain that he had never experienced before, and he was struggling to keep his emotions in check as Ren's emotions slowly began to affect him.

Ren's words were followed by a shift in weather. It was sunny once again.

As the weather changed, Ren's position did not change as he grasped onto the tombstones in front of him. The cold that was previously embracing his body was gone, and his clothes magically dried.

This time, the pain was even worse than before. It was unbearable. To the point that one might go insane from it.

"Why…why…why…"

Kevin murmured through Ren's mouth. Ren's voice reflected his genuine helplessness.

...And it was precisely because he could hear the helplessness in his voice that Kevin wondered.

'Why is the weather changing? ...And why did he say not again?'

While he wondered to himself, the world around him continued to shift, but...

With time passing and Kevin staring at Ren's memories, he was shocked to realize that all the memories were basically the same; Ren mourning the loss of his family.

The only difference between the scenarios was perhaps the weather, the time, and the seasons. Other than that, nothing really changed.

It was the same funeral scenario being replayed in front of him, over and over again.

So Kevin thought until the scene changed again, and something suddenly occurred to him.

'The pain…'

...The excruciating pain that was permeating through his chest whenever Ren looked at the tombstones.

'It's milder than before...no, rather, my emotions are becoming more and more numb.'

When Kevin realized that Ren's emotions were changing, he focused all his attention on what he was feeling the entire time, and before he knew it, he was standing five meters away from the tombstones.

He was no longer kneeling like in the past.

Weather and season changed repeatedly in the background; sometimes it would snow, sometimes it would be sunny, and sometimes it would be late at night.

Amidst the changes in scenery, Kevin realized that the agonizing pain he was feeling had completely vanished, replaced by an absolute feeling of emptiness.

All he felt was nothing.

Not even a shred of emotion.

'How many times has the weather changed?'

Shifting his attention away from what he was feeling, Kevin realized that he had lost count of how many times the scenery had changed. He had been so absorbed trying to imprint what Ren was feeling inside of his mind, that he had long lost count of how many times the world around him had changed.

However, in spite of that, if there was one thing he was certain about, it was that the scenery changed more than a hundred times.

For one hundred times, Kevin watched as Ren attended his own family funeral over and over again.

'He's finally moving.'

At some point,, Ren finally moved his body that used to stare at the gravestones of his family members while his emotions numbed.

'…Eh?

Suddenly, Kevin was faced with a scene that was even more shocking as his mind froze over.

Especially after hearing a familiar voice and seeing a familiar face.

"What is wrong with you? Do you not feel anything?"

Slowly heading in his direction, was…

'Is that me?'

When Kevin saw a figure that looked strikingly like him, he was shocked. The only thing that was different about him was that he looked older than he did at present, but Kevin recognized him at once.

It was himself.

'But how is that possible?'

Kevin could not recall any of the things he was seeing. He never recalled attending a funeral in which Ren's family died...so why was he here?

"I've watched you just dumbly staring there without any sign of emotion on your face. I get that you are probably shocked by what happened, but it doesn't even look like you care at all about the fact that everyone's dead!"

Kevin suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs.

'What's going on?'

When Kevin looked at himself and saw the anger and sorrow on his face, he was once again confused.

Why was he reacting this way?

"Speak damn it!"

Grasping onto Ren's collars, Kevin felt his body shake as his other self shook his body in a fit of anger.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

Tears began to flow down his cheeks as he cursed.

His sudden actions startled Kevin. He was now starting to doubt whether this was really him as he simply couldn't understand why Kevin was reacting the way that he was.

"Do you seriously not feel anything when everyone has died?"

Letting go of Ren's clothes, Kevin pushed him backward. Stumbling a couple of steps back, Kevin watched as his other self dropped to the ground. Grasping the grass beneath him, his eyes were filled with sorrow.

"D..Did they really mean nothing to you?"

It was right as the other Kevin dropped to the ground that, Kevin caught a glimpse of what was behind him...and it was then that he saw what appeared to be even more tombstones.

The numbers were countless…

'N-o way…'

Reading the names engraved on the tombstones, Kevin felt his heart drop.

[Emma Roshfield] [Amanda Stern] [Jin Horton] [Melissa Hall]….

'Wh..hat is happening?'

The sudden appearance of the other's tombstones shook Kevin to the core as he didn't know how to react. Just what in the world was going on?

He didn't have much time to dwell on this as Kevin felt Ren's body patting himself on his clothes to wipe off any dirt that lay there. Slowly, he stood up.

Fixing his clothes, he directed his gaze toward Kevin who was kneeling on the ground.

Walking up to him, Ren slowly knelt to meet him in the eyes.

"Kevin."

He called out for him. His voice sounded rather cold; devoid of any emotions.

Heeding his call, Kevin slowly raised his head.

Placing his hand on his shoulders, Ren patted him on his shoulder.

"…You asked why I don't feel anything when I see that everyone we care about has died, right?"

"Ah, no. I…I just said that in the heat of the moment. I didn't really mean my wo—"

Before Kevin could finish his sentence, Ren brought his face near Kevin's ear and whispered.

"...Because I killed them."

"Wha—"

Crack—!

Before Kevin could react, Ren squeezed his hand over Kevin's neck, and a cracking sound echoed.

Thump.

With a low thump, Kevin's body lifelessly fell to the ground.

In the meantime, Ren slowly helped his body up and apathetically stared at Kevin's body before murmuring.

"Time to restart."

The scene around him shifted.

***

Bang—!

A fist casually swung to the right, and black blood sprayed everywhere. For the next second, a black orb floated in the air.

Crack—!

Reaching out for the core, Han Yufei shattered it in his hand.

Breaking the core into pieces, he looked ahead of him. He was currently in what seemed to be a large storage room.

The place was about half the size of a tennis field, and all sorts of equipment and devices seemed to be stored there.

While his gaze swept over the equipment, he took a moment to close his eyes and channel the mana inside of his body.

The entire room was enveloped in a small hue.

"This is not it as well."

After a few minutes, he opened his eyes again and shook his head.

He furrowed his brows tightly.

"…Where exactly is my stuff?"

At the moment, he was looking for his dimensional space alongside Ren's and the others.

This was his task.

As Han Yufei's dimensional space was one bound to his soul, he was the only one that could find where they were located. The only problem was that they seemed to be stored in a special container of sorts, blocking him from knowing exactly where it was unless he came close to it.

"I have already searched most of the lower floors, and I still can't seem to find it here. Maybe it's on the higher floors? I might end up meeting with the others…"

Ren and the others were currently on the second upper level, which was on the way.

Massaging his neck, Han Yufei unclenched his hand and black powder fell onto the ground. It was the powder that came as a result of the cracked core.

Massaging his fist, he looked at the room one last time before leaving.

"Alright, since there is nothing here, it's best if I leave."

Chapter 593: Taking a glimpse of 'his' hell [3]

'What did I just see?'

Kevin felt his heart grow cold.

'T...that can't be real, right? Re..n would never do that...'

He was in a state of complete denial. But, it was at this moment that he suddenly recalled his past flashbacks of what Ren had done with Emma, and it was from there that he was able to calm himself down.

'That's not the Ren I know. It's a different Ren.'

He repeatedly told himself. Recalling the conversation he had with Ren in the past and connecting everything with his visions, things were slowly starting to make sense.

'Why is it dark?'

Following his death, the scene once again shifted. This time, the world was dark. However, upon paying close attention, he could hear the sound of birds chirping in the distance.

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

'Birds? What's going on?'

Kevin could faintly feel the warm, gentle sunshine enveloping his whole body.

It was then that Ren opened his eyes and Kevin found himself inside a one-bedroom apartment.

Rubbing his eyes, he blinked a couple of times and once more looked at my strange surroundings.

'This place...'

It looked familiar. Kevin couldn't just quite remember where he had seen this room before.

The room was furnished with the basic necessities that comprised a clean white bed, an old wooden spacious desk, a tall wardrobe, and a small bathroom. It was neither too big nor too small, but it seemed to have all the necessary facilities one might need when living.

'...Just why is this so familiar to me?'

Kevin thought to himself as he continued to stare at the room. It was strange, but Kevin knew for sure that he had seen this room before.

...But no matter how much he tried to think about it, he couldn't exactly remember where he had seen it.

'How odd.'

Shifting his body, Kevin's head turned to face the nearby window.

Reflected on it was a familiar face.

Jet black hair

Pale white skin

Blue ocean-like eyes

It was Ren's face...but younger. A lot younger.

'What memory is this?'

Kevin wondered as Ren's body shifted and he pressed his foot on the ground to help his body up.

"...Another failure."

Ren muttered while he stood up, and headed for the nearby desk where he sat down.

Opening the drawer beside the desk, he took out a small notebook alongside a small pen.

Grasping the pen beside him, Ren's body froze for a small second. With his eyes locked onto the pen, he slowly brought it next to his neck.

Click—!

Pressing onto the top end of the pen, the sharp tip came out.

Ren gently pressed it against his neck. Slowly, he began to put more pressure.

'What is he doing?'

Kevin wondered as he felt the sharp tip of the pen press against Ren's neck. His actions didn't make sense to Kevin at all.

'Don't tell me that he's...'

"Haaa..."

Before Kevin could come up with an assumption, Ren let out a long sigh and lowered the hand that held onto the pen. The pressure on his neck disappeared.

Casually tossing the pen on the desk, Ren reclined on the chair and emptily stared at the white ceiling of the room.

Grasping his chest with his hand, he mumbled.

"...What's the point? It's not like anything will change."

Though his words were casual, they were enough to alarm Kevin who was watching everything.

At this point, no matter how much he tried to feel the emotions Ren was experiencing, he couldn't feel anything. He basically felt like an empty shell whose sole reason for living was something that Kevin was still unsure of...but from his earlier actions, Kevin had an inkling that perhaps, just maybe, Ren didn't really want to be alive.

It was as if something was stopping him from dying. Or maybe he was just overthinking.

...but as he thought back at the moment he pressed the pen against his neck, Kevin was left uncertain about his theory.

Leaning his body forward, Ren grasped the pen he had thrown on the table and opened the book.

He then began to write something.

[Conclusion of trial 209 : Upon killing everyone that Kevin held dear, he fell into a state of emotional turmoil. Assessing the situation, I decided to terminate the loop. Based on my calculations, the possibility of him defeating the Demon King was beneath 1%. It wasn't worth continuing.]

Reading through what Ren was writing, Kevin felt his blood freeze. Chills ran through his body as he had a hard time processing what Ren was writing.

'I..it can't be, right?'

Kevin wanted to remain in a state of denial, but...he knew that everything he was seeing was real.

There was no point in his denying anything. He had already figured everything out after connecting the dots from his vision...yet, a small part of him still wished that this was not true.

But he knew that it was only wishful thinking on his part.

This may not be the Ren he knew, but he was still nonetheless Ren. A stinging pain started to quickly spread across Kevin's heart.

'...Why? Just why?'

[Trial 210]

Circling those words with his pen, Ren continued to write more words.

[Goal : Kill anyone that Kevin was close to in the previous loop before he comes in contact with them in this loop. Same goes for my family. It's better if they die early.]

Right as the last words etched into the paper, the world started to shift, and a red sky enshrouded the world.

Rubble and debris appeared everywhere as corpses and limbs sprawled all over the ground.

Absolute silence enshrouded the world.

"Haa...haa..."

Kevin suddenly found himself standing on top of a broken building, as the sound of his rough breathing broke the silence that was enshrouding the world.

'Where am I?'

Kevin wondered to himself as he looked around him. It was also then that he noticed that his right hand was missing and a long scar was tracing down Ren's well-built body.

'...This scene. It looks familiar.'

Taking note of what he was seeing, Kevin suddenly had a feeling of Deja vu'.

Slowly, Ren began to lift his head and his eyes laid on a figure who had white hair and red eyes.

With black blood seeping down from his mouth, and his body laying down on a broken building, the figure blankly stared toward the sky as a cruel smile sprung up on his face.

"...It's no use, you won't be able to kill me."

His playful words rang throughout the world as he proceeded to raise his hand.

The moment he raised his hand, the world seemed to have come to a standstill as demonic energy gathered towards the palm of his hand, forming a small ball the size of a basketball.

"Stay put."

Before the black orb could fully form, Kevin felt his hand rise before he motioned downward with it.

Crack. Crack.

Under the red-eyed figure, cracks formed as the ground crushed against his body, resulting in a crater to form.

It didn't matter how powerful the impact was, the red-eyed figure was completely unfazed as he gazed in his direction.

The red-eyed figure's smile only deepened as their gazes met. Opening his mouth, he muttered.

"...Stop with your useless struggle. I've already won."

"Shut up."

Ren replied as the area around him pulverized into bits. The gravity around him started to warp, and the buildings in the distance crumbled.

Rumble. Rumble.

His power was overwhelming.

While Kevin suddenly felt his body turn, he was once again shocked to see a figure resembling himself standing in the distance, and it was right there that it finally hit Kevin.

'This scene...'

"Your turn."

With the palm of his hand motioned downwardly, Ren kept the other figure in check while he looked toward the other Kevin.

However, it was painfully obvious to Kevin that his power wasn't enough to contain the other figure for long as he felt his hand start to shake.

"What are you waiting for? End him."

Kevin felt Ren's mouth open once again as he urged his other self who was standing in the distance. His voice sounded a little bit more rushed this time.

Staring back at him, the other Kevin's lips trembled after glancing at the red-eyed figure and then looking at the world around him.

"I...is this the outcome that you wanted?"

"What are you talking about?"

Ren replied back. His brows furrowed tightly, and his voice became even colder.

Clenching his teeth, the other Kevin pointed towards the distance.

"Take a look at the world. It's completely destroyed! Almost all of humanity has been destroyed because of your actions, and yet, you don't seem to care!?"

As the other Kevin's fists clenched tightly, his voice rang throughout the world.

"For the sake of killing him! You decided to sacrifice the whole of humanity! What's the point of killing him when there's no one left? What's the fucking point!?"

Quietly listening to the other Kevin's words, Ren slowly opened his mouth to say something. Matching his mouth, Kevin spoke inside of his mind.

'Because I don't care.'

"...Because I don't care."

It was at this point that Kevin finally understood why felt a sense of Deja vu' before.

This scene...it was the same scene that he saw in his vision. He could clearly remember each word that was about to be said.

"You don't care?"

A powerful red hue suddenly erupted from Kevin's body. While the hue that sprang out of his body was very faint and almost invisible, the pressure it released was nothing to laugh at.

"You don't care about the fact that because of your actions humanity is on the verge of extinction?"

"What are you doing?"

Ren's dull voice echoed throughout.

The other Kevin pressed his palm to the space next to him and replied.

"Something that I should've done the moment I remembered everything."

Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank.

To Ren's shock, black chains suddenly sprung up from the ground and Kevin felt them clasp onto his limbs.

For the first time in a long time, Kevin felt Ren's face crack when he looked at the other Kevin who was looking back at him.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

Kevin raised his hand and felt his body try to move, but no matter how much force he applied, he couldn't move. A complete seal had been placed around his body's mana.

Realizing just how much of a predicament he was, his voice raised.

"What did you do to me!?"

Ignoring his words, the other Kevin turned to look at the other white figure who was watching the scene with an amused look on his face. Although he was also on the verge of death, there was a triumphant look on his face as he looked at Kevin and himself.

"...It looks like it's going to be another failure."

Clenching his teeth, the other Kevin proceeded to ignore the figure.

"khh..."

Stumbling forward, the hue around the other Kevin's body slowly started to fade as his figure paled.

Taking note of his sudden actions, for the first time in a while, Kevin suddenly started to feel emotions spring out inside of Ren's body as he opened his mouth and screamed.

"Kill him now, end this now! End it!!!! You know full well that you're the only one that can stop him! What are you waiting for!?"

'Desperation.'

That was what Kevin felt as he felt his mouth open and scream.

"It's always the same with you..."

Taking one more step forward, the other Kevin's feet came to a pause a couple of meters away from Ren. Their two eyes met.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

As he walked, Kevin felt the chains wrapping around his body become more and more numerous, before they completely wrapped his body.

Seeing that his words couldn't reach the other Kevin, Kevin realized that Ren had stopped shouting and the previous emotions that were erupting from within him completely disappeared.

Lowering his head and glaring in the other Kevin's direction, Kevin felt his mouth open.

"You think this will be enough to stop me?"

"I don't know."

The other Kevin shook his head.

"But we will find out soon. At least for now, you won't be able to do anything."

Spurt—!

Raising his hand, the other Kevin suddenly pierced right through his own chest. Instantly, blood leaked out of his body.

Staring at the other Kevin, Kevin felt his voice grow colder.

"How d—"

The moment Kevin's life slipped away, the world turned white and everything crumbled.

It wasn't long before darkness once again returned.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

Amidst the darkness, the only sound that echoed was the sound of chains rattling.

'What's going on now?'

Kevin wondered to himself as he gazed into the darkness before him. The darkness continued to persist for longer than Kevin could imagine as he soon began to lose track of time.

'...Why isn't anything happening?'

'Am I still in Ren's body?'

'How much time has passed?'

'Why aren't you moving Ren? Do something!'

In the course of time, Kevin gradually lost himself as the silence and darkness became unbearable. The more he thought, the crazier his mind became.

'...Please...please stop this.'

In no time at all, Kevin's rationality started to crumble. In particular, Ren's feelings were synchronizing with his own.

The world seemed so dark and lonely.

A little more time passed, and Kevin had long since stopped speaking as he just stared at the darkness along with Ren. As far as he was concerned, it was all he could do.

Bzzz... Bzzz...

A buzzing sound echoed amidst the silence, and Kevin felt Ren's head raise.

'A..n orb?'

Coming into his sight, Kevin spotted a white orb in the distance. His mind, which was on the verge of collapse, re-animated a bit as Kevin kept his eyes locked on the orb.

'What's that orb?'

Slowly, the orb approached their direction. Kevin didn't know how long passed, but it wasn't long before the orb stopped before them.

Taking a glimpse of the orb, Kevin was suddenly taken aback.

'There's something inside of the orb.'

It was faint, but Kevin was able to see something reflected on its surface. Trying to take a better look at it, he was soon shocked by the scene that he saw.

'Ren?'

It was once again Ren.

This time, however, he looked normal. Too normal.

He wasn't anything like the Ren he knew. At least, demenour-wise.

Slowly, he began to watch as Ren's life unfolded.

It first started with him attending the Lock. Sama class as he was, same seating...but the way he acted was different.

He sat alone in the corner, never speaking with anyone. As time passed, Kevin was surprised to discover that some events he knew never happened. There was one instance where Ren mumbled out loud the solution to one problem scientists were struggling with.

Something about mana poisoning in beasts.

...That scene never happened.

Slowly, the scenes began to change, and it wasn't long before the Hollberg incident arrived. An incident that Kevin clearly remembered.

'That's the incident where I got a proper look at Ren's powe—eh?'

His words were suddenly cut short when he saw Ren get stabbed in the heart by a black-clad figure attacking their mansion.

'Wh..at?''

Staring at Ren's body which was lifelessly laying on the ground, Kevin had trouble processing the scene.

Before he could say anything else, the image on the orb disappeared, and Ren suddenly opened his mouth.

"Ha..Ha...Ha..."

A hollow laugh escaped from his lips as his fair covered his face, blocking Kevin's vision.

"I knew it..."

Seconds after his laughter rang out, the orb glowed once more and the scene restarted.

"He...he...he..."

Ren once again laughed in a brittle manner. The laugh didn't last for long as he soon stopped laughing and he proceeded to gaze at the orb.

"I..is this what the chains are about? Trying to stop me from regaining my memories while you continue to struggle to defeat the demon king?"

Letting out another laugh, a rattling sound echoed out.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

"....As if I'd let you."

Slowly, Ren brought his hand toward the orb.

Closing his eyes, he softly mumbled.

"Memory manipulation."

Immediately after uttering those words, Kevin watched as black threads sprang up from the ground before covering the entire orb.

Chapter 594: Taking a glimpse of 'his' hell [4]

Coming out from beneath, the black threads gently wrapped around the white orb.

Opening his eyes, Kevin felt his mouth open.

"How should I start?"

Ren's voice echoed throughout the dark void.

After looking at the orb and seeing the reflection, Kevin felt his brow furrow as Ren fell into contemplation. He seemed to be thinking about the current circumstances.

"...Let's see if it's possible for me to completely replace my memories with his."

After uttering those words, Kevin watched as the black threads flung around like wild snakes and attempted to wrap around the orb as quickly as possible.

"Khh..."

Kevin let out a short groan as his hand pulled away from the orb.

Tsss.

What followed after was a sizzling sound. Lowering his head, Kevin caught sight of Ren staring at his hand which had become transparent.

Taking a moment to raise his head again, he gazed at the orb's reflection.

"Looks like I can't do that. Whatever Kevin put on me sealed some of my powers..."

Silence ensued after he uttered those words. After which, Kevin watched as Ren kept his gaze on the orb, and the same scenario from before replayed.

Time seemed to have passed by in the blink of an eye as the memories shifted, and it was now the fourth time that Kevin was staring at the same image of Ren standing up from his bed, in what seemed to be the Lock's dormitory.

"Hm?"

This time, a change to the scenario happened.

Ding Dong.

The door suddenly rang.

'What? Why did the bell suddenly ring?'

Taking aback by the sudden events, Kevin was unsure of how to react. Having watched the scenario well over four times, he had never seen this happen in teh past.

Kevin's attention was soon taken away by a subtle pull of his lips.

Opening his mouth, Kevin spoke through Ren's mouth.

"...As expected, you can't let this happen, can you? Without me, all hopes of defeating the demon king are null."

What followed after his words was the sudden appearance of a man in a blue jacket. He was holding onto a small box which Ren took and brought with him inside of the room.

After which, he looked through the contents and eventually pulled out an unfamiliar red book.

'That...'

Kevin instantly recognized the book in Ren's hands.

How could he not? It was the same book he had used back when Ren was in danger in the past.

"Oh? What an interesting book."

Focusing his attention back on the reflection, Kevin was able to see what was written in the book. It was his life.

'As expected, it's the same.'

...and it was from there that Kevin was able to confirm his suspicions.

Time moved forward, and now, with the aid of the book, Ren no longer died during the Hollberg incident as he did in the past. He managed to survive.

Kevin felt interest arise from within his body.

"Can this be enough to stop the loop?"

Kevin mumbled out loud through Ren's body.

But...

"Doesn't look like it."

Time passed, and Ren once again died. This time, he died during the inter-academy tournament. He made it a bit further, but he still died.

"...This won't do."

The same scene repeated itself once again. This time, the red book appeared in each scene.

Clank. Clank.

Reaching out for the orb once more, Kevin felt his mouth open as he muttered.

"I think I've got an idea of what I should do..."

Black threads once again started to form around the white orb upon reaching out for it.

This time, they were a lot less than before. Nevertheless, they were still many.

"A red book, huh? Is this the only thing, or have you left more?"

Kevin mumbled through Ren's mouth.

Locking his eyes onto the red book, the black threads gently wrapped around the white orb.

"...This might work."

Thinking of something, Kevin felt Ren's brows relax. After that, he stared at the reflection on the orb.

"Since you've received a book that outlines exactly what Kevin is doing, it stands to reason that his altered memories have to do with a book. How about an author entering his own book? This would reduce the possibility of you discovering that your memories have been tampered with, and I won't have trouble giving him the power of foresight..."

Trying to wrap around the orb, more black threads emerged from beneath it with each passing second. Soon, a black cacoon formed in front of Kevin's vision.

"Since I have only a limited amount of power, I can't add too many details to his memory. Nevertheless, it shouldn't be a problem. Right now, my priority is making sure that he does what I want, and that is...have Kevin kill the Demon King."

Removing his hand from the orb, Kevin felt his body take several steps back.

Carefully observing the orb, Kevin once again felt his mouth open.

"Trial one. Begin."

Following his words, the black threads revolving around the orb started to scatter and Kevin was once again able to see what was reflected inside of the orb.

'It's different.'

It was from this point that Kevin noticed that compared to the previous versions of the loops, Ren's actions were different.

Rather, they were far too different from that of the Ren he knew.

'...What is he doing?'

Going around places collecting all sorts of items, and interfering with certain events in the past such as the Hollberg incident, the inter academy tournament...Kevin watched as Ren slowly started to get more and more powerful.

Soon, his name became known by everyone in the world, and he was hailed as humanity's savior.

...Only for everything to go dark and the loop to restart out of nowhere.

'What happened?'

Kevin wondered to himself as he continued to gaze at the orb.

'Why did the loop suddenly restart? Ren was definitely extremely powerful.'

"Another failure."

Halting his thoughts, Kevin felt the top ends of his brows furrowed tightly.

While he opened his mouth, Ren's voice echoed throughout the dark space.

"...He got greedy, and his meddling resulted in Kevin becoming weak and eventually dying. A short oversight on my end."

'What?'

He placed his hand on the orb once again.

"Trial one, failure. Subject meddled too much resulting in Kevin and the others becoming too weak and inevitably leading to his death and their death."

Black threads once again rose from beneath the orb, wrapping around it.

"Trial two. I need to make a change in the subject's personality. If he is too smart or ambitious, he will derail from the plotline I have set up for him like the last trial. For that to happen, I decided to make some adjustments to his previous life personality."

"He will come from a world where magic does not exist, and is a total loser that is rejected by society. His only ambition will be to live a happy life and in order to do that, he must make sure that he thoroughly follows the plotline. Having him adopt this mindset, I will be able to better control his actions."

The more Kevin felt his mouth speak, the more the black threads that emerged from the ground.

Clank. Clank.

The rattling sound coming from the chains became more intense as time passed.

"But that's not enough. His actions for growth will inevitably lead to a change in the plotline. A pawn is necessary. One that would force him into the specific route that I want him to go..."

Clank! Clank!

The rattling sound coming from the chains became more and more powerful with each passing second. It was clear to Kevin that Ren was nearing his limit.

"Lastly, I need to ensure that he stays alive. Coming from a world without magic, he will be inexperienced and will have a high chance of dying. When the time comes, I need something to make him more decisive. The only thing that comes to m—!"

CLANK! CLANK!

Out of nowhere, the chains that were rattling shook with a wild force and Kevin felt his body get flung all the way back.

Letting go of the orb, the black threads that were wrapping around it, dissipated till only a few remained.

After which, the familiar scene began to replay on the white orb.

'It's once again different.'

Paying close attention, Kevin was once again shocked to see the scene change. However, if there was one thing that particularly caught his interest, it was that...

'He's much closer to the Ren that I know.'

The way he talked and moved.

He resembled a lot like the Ren that he knew well.

Slowly, Kevin watched as Ren left the academy and headed out for what seemed to be the black market. After that, he came into contact with what seemed to be a broker. Talking with him for a bit, he proceeded to head to a dungeon facility.

Clank. Clank.

And it was then that Kevin felt his body move once again.

Clank. Clank.

Followed by the rattling sound, Kevin felt his hand press against the orb.

"Red desolation."

He only said two words, but it was enough for Kevin to understand what they meant.

'That's the name of one of the <F> ranked dungeons on the list.'

Most shockingly, Kevin watched as Ren chose that exact dungeon.

There were sand dunes everywhere, and the land was cracked. Marching through the dungeon, Kevin watched as Ren fought against monsters and trained himself. It was only after a while that he spotted several people lying down on the ground in the desert.

They seemed to be a mercenary group.

In an attempt to help them, Kevin watched their bodies eventually start to convulse and they ended up dying.

'Mindbreaker curse.'

Familiar with the symptoms the mercenary group experienced, Kevin was able to tell with a glance how they died, and it was then that he came to the conclusion that there was a demon inside the dungeon.

Ren also came to the same conclusion, but before he could do anything about it, a sandstorm engulfed him. The only thing Kevin saw in the orb was an endless amount of sand.

Kevin was once again able to see what was happening only after Ren entered the eye of the storm. A massive castle appeared in the distance at that point.

'What is he doing?'

Shockingly, Kevin watched as Ren approached the castle and entered.

'Why did he enter the ca—"

"Good."

Cutting Kevin, he felt his mouth open as Ren's voice echoed.

'What good?'

His words caused Kevin to be even more confused.

Before he could even make out what was going on, Kevin spotted a black humanoid figure sitting on a throne. Staring at Ren with an amused look on his face, he began to toy with him. Ren did try to put on a struggle, but it only ended in enraging the demon more.

'This...make it stop.'

Unable to stand the scene, Kevin wanted to take his eyes away, but he physically couldn't. This wasn't his body.

In the end, Kevin could only watch as the demon toyed with Ren till he died and the loop restarted.

After that, the loop repeated once more, and Kevin watched the same thing happen again. Training in the dungeon and dying right after, repeat.

This was repeated five more times. Fortunately for Kevin, as this was a memory, he only saw short glimpses of them.

'Why aren't you doing anything?'

Regardless, he still couldn't stand seeing the same scene of Ren getting tortured over and over again.

'Do something!'

Just as Ren was once again about to die, Kevin finally felt his mouth open.

"...It took a total of five loops in order for me to recuperate some of the energy I lost, and memorize all of the demon's movements."

Placing his hand over the orb, more black threads shot into the air and wrapped around the orb.

Finally, Kevin saw something change.

"Target likes to play with his subjects. The key is to pretend you don't work anymore and attack his core right when he loses interest in you."

Exactly as he uttered those words, Kevin watched as the same scene unfolded. This time, however, he was shocked to see a change.

Halfway through the torture, Ren pretended to no longer move, and exactly as the demon lost interest, he put up a last-ditch effort and cracked the core.

'It's exactly as he said...'

The astonishment in Kevin's voice did not last for long as he once again felt his hand press against the orb.

CLANK. CLANK. CLANK. CLANK.

Right at that moment, Kevin was stunned to see the chains that were binding him shake even more fiercely than ever before.

It was right there, more sprang from beneath the ground, and clung onto his leg and arms.

Wrapping around his body, Ren was pulled away from the orb.

In any case, what was even more stunning to Kevin was the fact that he felt his lips curl a bit.

"I've succeeded."

Then, feeling his eyelids close, darkness enveloped his body.

"Aaahhhhhh!"

Kevin heard a bloodcurdling scream.

'What's going on?'

Opening them up again, Kevin found himself inside a dark room.

'...What is he doing here?'

Lying down on the ground before him was the same demon from before.

"Ahhhhh!"

He screamed in agony throughout the room as he desperately clung to each part of his body.

"Quiet."

Kevin felt his mouth open. In the instant that his words rang out, the demon that was lying down on the floor stopped speaking.

Raising his head, Kevin felt his eyes meet with the demon.

'This demon...he feels familiar.'

Upon getting a closer look at the demon, Kevin realized that he looked somewhat familiar. He knew that he was the same demon from the orb, but the familiarity actually came from somewhere else. He just couldn't exactly remember why.

In any case, he didn't have much time to dwell on this anymore as the demon's voice rang.

"It's you!"

Kevin watched the demon slash towards him with a bloodthirsty gaze. Sadly for the demon, his attack went right through Kevin and before he could react, Kevin felt his hand rise and he pressed his finger against his forehead.

The demon froze mid-air.

"I don't have much time to waste. I've already used most of the energy I had trying to get a small fraction of my soul to enter your body through your broken core."

Kevin watched as a white glow suddenly enveloped the finger that pressed against the demon.

"Count yourself lucky that I chose you."

"Ahhhhh!"

Right as his words faded, the demon let out another scream and his body arched backward.

'What did he do?'

Kevin wondered to himself as he watched the demon scream for the next minute.

For him to react like this...Ren was definitely doing something to him. Unfortunately, the only thing Kevin could do was watch. The memories didn't allow him to understand what Ren was thinking or doing. He had to figure everything out himself.

"Haaa...haaa..."

Once the screaming finally stopped, the demon dropped to the ground and heavily gasped for air. Throughout the entire time, Kevin's gaze never left the demon.

"Have you come to your senses?"

Kevin asked as his mouth opened.

Supporting his body with his arm, the demon raised his head to look up. It wasn't long before he began to smile.

"...Is what you showed me true?"

'Show? Did Ren show him something?'

Kevin wondered while he felt his head nod.

"It is."

"Ku,ku,ku,ku..."

Hunching his body over, the demon began to chuckle to himself. Helping his body up, he began to spread his wings.

Once again, his eyes met Kevin's.

"...This is fun. This is very fun."

"I knew you would say that."

Upon uttering those words, Kevin realized that his body was starting to become transparent.

Taking note of this sudden change, the demon asked.

"Is there anything you would like me to do?"

"Yes."

Kevin felt his head nod.

Once again pressing his hand against the demon's head, he slowly opened his mouth and began to speak.

"I want to test something. Go to the Lock, and kill me."

"Eh?"

'What?'

Both Kevin and the demon sounded stunned by Ren's sudden words.

Before the demon could say anything, Ren continued.

"I've left the last remnants of my power inside of your body. You should have no trouble infiltrating the Lock and getting to me."

The more he spoke, the fainter his voice became.

"...Remember. Go there with the intent to kill me. If someone shows up, don't be surprised."

Those were the last words Ren was able to utter before the world once again turned dark and Kevin found himself back in the dark void.

In front of him was the same white orb.

'Eh?'

Taking a look at what was displayed on the orb Kevin was instantly taken aback.

'...This scene.'

Once again, he felt a weird sense of Deja Vu.

Inside the same room from the past, lying on the cold floor with terror-stricken eyes was Ren. Standing on top of him was the same black humanoid figure from a couple of seconds ago.

With his hand raised, he prepared to kill Ren.

But...

Clank.

The door burst open right as the demon was about to kill Ren.

Coming from the other side of the room was a black haired youth with crimson red eyes.

'!!'

His sudden appearance startled Kevin as everything started to connect inside of his mind. But before he could think of anything else, his mouth opened.

"As expected. You weren't happy with what Kevin did, were you? You can't let me die anymore, can you?"

It was Ren.

His words sounded strange to Kevin, but at the same time, he had an inkling of what those words implied.

Feeling his hand extend one more time, Kevin touched the orb and Ren opened his mouth.

"...Took you long enough."

'Took you long enough.'

The demon inside of the orb mimicked Ren's words.

Raising its long skinny arm and pointing it towards Kevin, the black humanoid's figure smile widened.

"This is on you."

'Ku, ku, ku, this is on you.'

"Ukk!"

Grabbing Ren's figure on the floor by the neck, the sadistic smile on the black humanoid figure widened. Staring at Kevin who was on the opposite side, the grip of Ren's neck tightened.

"For your repeated failures in defeating the Demon King and making me go through these endless cycles...I am the sin you created."

'I am the sin you created.'

Licking his lips, the humanoid figure turned its attention back towards Ren and tightened the grip on his neck.

"Uek!"

"...I am the consequence of your actions."

'...I am the consequence of your actions.'

Glaring at the black humanoid figure, Kevin snapped out of it and screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Don't you d—!"

Spurt—!

But it was too late. Before Kevin could do anything, Ren's head exploded into millions of pieces.

"Nooooo!"

Kevin's blood-curling scream rang out.

Not long after, the world started crumbling down.

However, right before the world could completely crumble, the same raspy voice traveled through Kevin's ears.

"...Never forget. I am the one sin you will never get rid of unless you manage to do what you were created to do."

'…never forget…I am the one sin...you will never get rid of....'

Chapter 595: Taking a glimpse of 'his' hell [5]

"It looks like there's a limit to how much I can influence him with my sealed powers. At the rate that he's progressing, he will die early. Maybe if I find a way to weaken his soul temporarily, I will be able to have a greater influence on him..."

Upon muttering those words, Kevin watched as the black threads danced around the white orb and started to attack it.

After striking the orb, the threads bounced back, leaving it completely undamaged. The sight caused Kevin's brows to furrow.

"I don't seem to have enough power to damage his soul, so I'll have to find another way."

Feeling his hand pull away from the orb, Kevin felt his body take a step back. After that, he continued to stare at the orb for two more loops. He seemed to be paying particular attention to each and every one of the details in each loop.

"I see."

Right before the second loop started, Kevin once again felt his hand pull toward the orb.

"...I think I've found a way."

With the fade of his words, the loop repeated, and Kevin watched the same events unfold once more.

It was only after Ren woke up from the come after having fought with Everblood that Ren finally took action as Kevin felt his body move.

Taking a step forward and placing his hand on the orb, Kevin softly mumbled.

"Let's see if it works."

Black threads sprang from the ground, covering the entire orb. After that, just as he wished, while selecting the skills from the long list of skills in the black market, Ren eventually chose a particular skill. Picking it up from one of the bookshelves, he slowly began to turn the book around.

"A skill that enables users to erase all emotions, and act as a supreme monarch that only calculates the best option regardless of circumstance."

Mumbling those words, Kevin felt the chains that were binding his body rattle wildly. Clearly, Ren was trying to pull something.

Clank. Clank.

But Ren didn't care as he eventually closed his eyes, stopping Kevin from seeing anything.

Amidst the darkness, he was only able to hear two words.

They rang clearly inside his head.

"Monarch Indifference."

***

'I don't get it.'

'What's going on?'

'What am I seeing?'

'...Is what I'm seeing real?'

Amanda's mind was in a state of disarray as she watched the memories play out in front of her. It was difficult for her to comprehend what was happening.

At one moment she saw Ren standing in front of a funeral, mourning the death of his parents, while the next moment, she saw the weather change alongside the time and seasons.

Recalling the hand that reached out to grab Ren's head, Amanda knew that he was looking at his memories.

There was only one problem.

Ren's parents never died. She was especially sure of this. After all, she had been with them not too long ago, and she had gotten quite close to them.

Their death would've surely been known to her.

'...Ren must've somehow found a way to fake his memories.'

That was the only conclusion that Amanda could come up with upon further thinking. How else would it explain what she was seeing?

Other than this, she really couldn't think of anything else.

...Or so she thought.

'Because I killed them.'

'Conclusion of trial 209, upon killing everyone that Kevin held dear, he fell into a state of emotional turmoil. Assessing the situation, I decided to terminate the loop. Based on my calculations, the possibility of him defeating the Demon King was beneath 1%. It wasn't worth continuing.'

'Trial 210, goal, kill anyone that Kevin was close to in the previous loop before he comes in contact with them in this loop. Same goes for my family. It's better if they die early.'

Scenes began to replay in front of her, and the confidence she had in her previous theory started to dwindle.

'What's going on?'

Even more, questions began to emerge inside of her head. What she was seeing...was simply too much for her to understand.

The scene switched, and she was now in what seemed to be a world filled with devastation and ruin.

"I...is this the outcome that you wanted?"

"What are you talking about?"

"For the sake of killing him! You decided to sacrifice the whole of humanity! What's the point of killing him when there's no one left? What's the fucking point!?"

"...Because I don't care."

Amanda didn't understand a single thing about what was going on.

'Why is Kevin here? ...and what are they talking about?'

The way they talked...it just didn't make sense to Amanda.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

It was then that chains began to spring out of the ground, before binding the body she was in. What followed after was darkness.

A darkness that lasted long enough to make her mind go numb.

'What's that?'

While her mind slowly grew numb, a white orb appeared. Displayed on it was... Ren?

'No, that's not him.'

It didn't take more than a couple of seconds for Amanda to realize that whoever was in the white orb wasn't Ren. The Ren she knew, behaved and carried himself differently.

Nevertheless, trapped inside of the body, Amanda watched 'Ren's' life slowly unfold before her eyes.

The more she watched, the less the thoughts in her head were.

It didn't take long for her mind to grow completely numb, and she stopped processing what was happening before her altogether. She didn't understand anything, nor did she want to.

What she was seeing...was simply too much.

...That was all until one specific scene started to replay in front of her.

'This place.'

Closing her eyes once, she found herself in front of a large hall. Looking around the place, she spotted herself standing in the distance.

Opposite her was Elijah.

Slap. Slap. Slap.

Deep slaps resounded across the hall. Amanda couldn't feel the pain that came from the slap, but she didn't need to.

She could still vividly remember this scene. How could she not? This was the scene in which she first met Ren, and it was here that he left a deep impression on her.

Click

"Checkmate."

Everything unfolded exactly as she remembered. Pretending to faint from the slaps, Ren woke up and killed Elijah while he was injured from an all out attack from her.

Finally killing Elijah, he walked up next to her and he knocked her out.

Feeling her eyes close once more, she found herself in front of the same demon from one of the visions.

His name was something along the lines of Everblood.

Meeting his eyesight, he slowly bent down on one knee.

"Is there anything you would like for me to do?"

"Yes."

Amanda felt her head nod, as Ren's voice echoed.

"...Your task is simple. Find the Matriarch of the charm tribe, Angelica Von Droix, and give her a hint that I'm the one who killed her contracted, Elijah."

"Angelica?"

"That's correct."

Before the demon could ask any more questions, Amanda suddenly found herself standing in front of the white orb.

Her mind was currently in a weird state. Recalling the scenes from before, she couldn't exactly make out what was going on.

'What exactly is he trying to do?'

Everything didn't make sense to her. What she was seeing, and what was happening.

It didn't make sense!

No, rather, she understood. She just didn't want to come to terms with what she was seeing.

She just couldn't.

In order for her to accept what she was seeing, she would also have to accept that her meeting with Ren was premeditated...and she...

'No, it's not.'

A strange feeling engulfed her heart.

The feeling didn't last for long as her attention was soon caught by what was displayed on the white orb.

"Kukuku, it seems like nothing escapes your perception, Madam Matriarch, or would you prefer it if I called you Angelica Von Droix?"

Everblood spoke while staring at a figure that Amanda was able to instantly recognize.

'It's her...'

While her complexion was pale and her hair seemed to be a mess, Amanda could never forget the demoness in front of her. She was the one who cursed her mother after all.

"It seems like you have a death wish, Everblood..."

Standing over the opposite building, Amanda silently watched her interaction with Everblood.

In her heart, she understood just how important this scene was.

"Who? You better not be playing tricks on me..."

"Kukuku, no need to be so aggressive...Here."

Everblood threw her a black orb like object. It appeared to be a devil's fruit.

...But that didn't seem to be all.

"Listen here Matriarch...I may have a clue with regards to who is responsible for your little puppy's death."

Smiling widely, Everbood shook his head. Taking out a picture from out of thin air, Everblood lightly threw it in Angelica's direction.

Catching the picture with her hands, Angelica glanced at it. On it, a picture of a youth with jet-black hair and deep blue eyes appeared. In the picture, he was seen wearing a casual set of clothes, walking in a busy shopping district.

Glancing at Everblood, Angelica questioningly asked.

"Who is this?"

Smiling, Everblood didn't respond.

Feeling her eyes close once more, she found herself back in the dark space.

Scenes began to change, and before she knew it, feeling her eyes close one more time,

Opening her eyes, Amanda found herself calmly staring at several demons coming at her from all directions.

Moving his neck sideways, the hand of a demon brushed past his cheek.

Shua!

Feeling her body twist and catching a glimpse of the demon's solar plexus, Amanda felt Ren's body turn at a 45-degree angle as her elbow made contact with the demon.

Bam.

Connecting with the demon, a shockwave swept the surroundings. The demons that were heading her way, came to a sudden stop.

"Khaaah!"

Falling to the ground, the demon spit out blood on the ground while he held onto his chest area. His face was filled with agony.

Click.

Following a clicking sound, the demon died and Amanda watched as Ren fought against the other demons.

He was ruthless.

His every action seemed flawless. Fighting against the demons, Amanda could only stare in a trace as he got rid of them with ease. Every single one of his actions seemed to be calculated and precise. No demon escaped his sights.

Not long after, Amanda caught sight of Angelica in the distance. She seemed to be fighting against Kevin.

Taking out the red book, Amanda felt her body move somewhere, and it was then that she placed a gargoyle statue facing a certain direction.

What happened next was not within her realm of comprehension.

Watching Angelica dash toward her with a bloodthirsty expression, Amanda realized that her body remained on the same spot throughout the entire time. It was only when Angelica's body was a couple of meters away from her that she felt her hand raise and her fingers snapped.

Snap.

For a split second, Angelica's body stopped moving.

What happened next, Amanda couldn't understand. All she knew was that she heard a clicking sound, and bright white light permeated the surroundings.

By the time the light died down, Angelica was on the ground staring at her with stupefied eyes.

"Y-ou, how?"

Uncaring, Amanda felt her body stab right through Angelica's stomach area, extracting what seemed to be her core. After that, raising her hand, she swallowed the core, sending Angelica into a state of deep desperation.

"Be my piece..."

Those were the last words that Amanda heard before she found herself back in the dark world.

With her hand extended over the orb and staring at Angelica who was reflected in it, Amanda felt her mouth open.

"...Done."

Feeling a slight tug on her lips, Amanda felt her eyes deeply stare at the orb before her.

"With you, I have finally found a way to damage his soul. All that remains is to wait and see the fruits of my labor slowly ripen."

'Ah.'

At that moment, the truth that she so wanted to deny finally struck her.

Although Amanda desperately wanted to deny the truth, a piercing pain filled her heart at that moment.

'Is this why you were always so hesitant?'

The pain was so strong that everything that came after that vision felt like a blur to her. Each passing second that passed from that very moment felt like agony to her.

'I-t can't be right? T..ell me it's a lie...'

***

A figure stood in the middle of an empty void.

He was currently unmoving, and his head was lowered. An orb with black threads circling it appeared before him.

Like snakes, the black threads encircled the orb which was filled with cracks.

Behind him was another figure.

He looked exactly the same as him. The only difference was that hanging on his arms and legs were thick black chains.

Clank. Clank.

Moving closer to the figure, he broke the silence by speaking.

"So? ...What do you think?"

***

A/N : There will most likely be another chapter later.

Chapter 596: Taking a glimpse of 'his' hell [6]

"...How pathetic."

Two words that deeply resonated inside Jin's mind.

Staring at his figure which was currently being held by the throat, Jin had mixed feelings about the situation.

'I was supposed to die this day.'

Having seen through Ren's memories, Jin was confused.

Really confused.

He didn't understand a single thing that he was shown. His mind had grown numb at one point, but he was helpless.

He was forced to stare at the memories in spite of the fact that he didn't want to see them.

It wasn't something that he could control.

...To make matters worse. He didn't want to relieve this one scene which he tried his best to remove from his memories.

Jin thought of this day as the most humiliating day of his life.

Who would've thought that on this day, he was supposed to die? Jin had relieved all the different scenarios, and so he knew.

He knew that he was supposed to have died.

'...I didn't know that on that day, Ren saved my life.'

He had mixed feelings about the whole situation.

Slowly, Jin felt his eyes close, and before he knew it, he was back in the black space.

In front of him was a white orb.

With the palm of his hand pressing against it, JIn felt his body slowly move away from it.

Opening his mouth, Jin heard Ren's voice coming out.

"This should settle the matter. Whether he matures through this ordeal, or not, is up to him. Since his death will inevitably result in Kevin possibly regressing, it is best to keep him alive. At least this way, he will have a higher chance of surviving."

Listening to those words, Jin remained silent.

These last words were enough for him to understand everything. A bitter feeling arose within his heart.

'I..was just a pawn wasn't I?'

***

Melissa was a smart child.

She knew this, and everyone around her knew this. It wasn't something that needed to be told to others.

Her comprehensive abilities were something one would be envious of.

With just a glance, she would be able to analyze and deduce a situation.

It seemed as though nothing was out of her mind's grasp.

...At least that was how things were supposed to be.

'I don't get it.'

'I don't understand.'

'What's going on?'

Nothing made sense to her at the moment.

It wasn't too long ago that she was exposed to her life's memories. Being reminded of her failures sent Melissa into a numb state.

By the time she had recovered a bit, she found herself inside of another space, and it was then that she caught a glimpse of Ren's memories.

In that moment, Melissa's mind blanked as all sorts of memories started replaying in her head.

Ren went through a lot during that time.

No, rather, a lot of would be an understatement. She watched him go through what seemed to be hell.

Going through what he experienced, her heart quivered.

The same was for her mind which numbed considerably. Everything felt dull.

Especially when scenes of her and Ren appeared.

'...So all of the previous theories that Ren gave to me...were things that I had created?'

She originally did find it strange that Ren knew so many different theories, but it was only after she watched what was presented in front of her that she realized that all the theories he had given her, including the magic theory project.

'They are all things that I came up with.'

At least that was what she figured out from what she was being shown. She still understood nothing, but at the same time, had an inkling of what was going on.

'Ha...ha...'

She let out a hollow laugh.

'...I..I guess things make more sense now.'

***

'...That's me.'

Reflected in the white orb was the image of a young girl lying down in a pool of red blood. Emma was able to instantly recognize the figure and the environment.

It was her on one of the battle platforms in Issanor.

Her hand was pressed on the orb, and thin black threads revolved around it.

"Maybe this will give her a wake-up call."

Opening her mouth, Ren's words echoed out. His eyes locked on the figure that was in the middle of the platform, bleeding out.

"...I originally intended to kill you."

Emma didn't say anything while she listened to his words.

"Kevin relies too much on you, and you rely too much on him. If you die, then maybe Kevin will get his act together, but at the same time, I know that this won't work."

Every single one of the words that Ren spoke deeply resonated inside Emma's heart as she just quietly watched everything unfold.

His words...

They hurt Emma. Deeply. His words felt like sharp knives that were stabbing straight through her heart.

...It wasn't so much about the words he said.

It was more about one fact.

"So, I'll just use you to make Kevin stronger. Hopefully, you'll mature and you'll stop being a burden."

'I...Know.'

Truth sometimes hurts.

***

[Haaaa!]

[I want to die...I want to die...I want to die...]

Ren's words echoed throughout the dark space. Reflected on the orb was the image of himself cutting his own face with what seemed to be a sharp knife.

His whole body was covered in blisters, and his body was shaking uncontrollably.

Amanda's heart gripped with anxiety when she saw the scene.

His words...the look of desperation on his face shook her to the core. All the previous thoughts she had in her mind vanished on the spot.

'...It's not his fault. He's the true victim.'

It was at that moment that she realized something.

The Ren in the orb was the true victim.

...Her heart was currently messed up, and so was her mind. What she saw...she didn't think that she would ever be able to truly get over, but...if there was one thing she understood while she stared at Ren who was currently screaming in pain and threatening to kill himself.

...It was that he was the true victim of everything.

Having every single aspect of your life controlled, from emotions to decisions, Amanda was able to clearly understand just how much Ren went through, and she felt her heart grip.

[I...don't want to live...b..but...I really want to go home...]

Ren's weak voice echoed once more.

Amanda felt her heart tighten once more.

'I..I don't want to watch this anymore.'

His desperate calls...his cries...and the way that he was suffering. Amanda couldn't bring herself to watch anymore.

...Unfortunately, she didn't have much of a choice. Regardless of what she did, she was stuck watching everything.

'Please sto—'

Halfway through her sentence, she felt her mouth open. Ren's lonely voice echoed throughout the space.

"...I also want to die."

***

"So? ...What do you think?"

The chained figure asked as he moved behind Ren.

What followed after his words was a twisted silence.

"...What are your plans?"

Instead of answering the chained figure, Ren asked him a question. Currently, his expression was dull, making it hard to see what he was feeling.

"My plans?"

Closing his mouth, the chained figure stared at the white orb in front of Ren.

Silence enshrouded the surroundings as neither of the two figures in the dark space spoke.

"Are you going to take over my body?"

Breaking the silence was Ren's voice that echoed out loud.

Turning his head to stare at Ren, the chained figure merely tilted his head.

"Are you not angry?

Rather than answering, he asked a different question.

"...I must say, I'm surprised that you aren't acting out after having seen everything."

"Mad?"

A bitter smile spread across Ren's face.

After turning his body, his eyes met those of the chained figure. Something flashed across his eyes.

"Rather than being angry, I pity you. From the very beginning, I had already had an idea of what was going on. The clues were there...I was already prepared for everything that was to come, still..."

Raising his hand, Ren clenched onto his chest. There was a faint tremble in his voice.

"...To be h.onest...I..d.on't really know how to feel about this."

Lowering his head, Ren's voice turned into a whisper.

"My life has been merely an expression of your desire to end the loop. I feel like I've been living a lie my whole life, no..."

Ren shook his head. The bitterness in his voice only grew, and so did the pain in his chest.

"...let's be honest. My life is a lie."

Listening to his words, the chained figure didn't speak for quite a while.

It was only after a couple of seconds passed that he finally spoke.

"Not necessarily."

The chained figure spoke.

"A lot of the things that you were subjected to were under my guidance, but there were several instances when things did not go the way I planned them. Remember when you returned back to the Lock? Back then, you truly did surprise me."

"The original plan was to alienate you from society with the revelations of your past, but you seemed to have somehow managed to deduce everything, and somehow stopped it. On top of that, you were also able to figure out that I couldn't read your thoughts..."

"...That in itself is praiseworthy."

Once his words faded, he no longer said anything else and just silently stared at Ren who was slowly starting to lose his composure, and his previous dull look crumbled.

"Ha...ha, I don't really know what to say."

"I only did what must've been done."

The chained figure shook his head and turned to look at the white orb. Slowly, the cracks that were forming around it were expanding.

Cra...Crack.

A cracking sound echoed out. What followed after the first sound was the sound of another, and it wasn't long before the orb was covered with thin miniature crevices.

Neither of the two figures in the dark space moved while this was happening.

Opening his mouth again, Ren asked.

"So what next? What do you plan on doing?"

"Nothing."

The chained figure responded while absentmindedly gazing at the orb.

"...It's not time yet."

The chained figure eventually spoke out loud, while turning his body to face away from the white orb.

Overhearing his words, Ren turned around.

"Time for what?"

"...You'll know soon enough."

Taking a step forward, the rattling of the chains echoed out.

Clank. Clank.

Ren turned around and stared at the distancing chained figure, which slowly raised its hand and snapped its fingers.

"For now, let's break this illusion."

Snap.

With a snap of his fingers, the whole world started to crumble down.

***

A/N : There will be another chapter. I've already completed it. I'm just editing it.

Chapter 597: He is coming [1]

Snap.

All it took was a snap of 'his' fingers to see the world around me shatter.

Cracks appeared in the black void, and the pieces slowly fell to the ground, revealing a white background behind them. It was like broken glass.

Gazing toward the breaking void, I turned to focus my attention on the other me that was standing not so far from where I was.

In particular, my gaze fell toward the chains that were binding his body. A complicated look flashed across my eyes.

'What do I do now?'

I found myself questioning myself.

With everything that I saw…I…really found it hard. Hard to find the drive to move forward.

Everything just felt so fake to me at the moment. As if everything that I knew before had now become something that was unfamiliar.

Be it the people that I knew, or reality itself.

'Wha..t do I do?'

…I really didn't know.

Cra..cracks.

Behind me, a muffled sound echoed. It was reminiscent of the sound of sand rubbing against a hard surface.

Without needing to look, I knew that it was the white orb cracking behind me.

Crack. Crack.

Accompanying the cracking sound, I felt an unfamiliar energy enter every fiber of my body. It was slowly seeping into my body, making my muscles tremble.

Feeling the power that was entering my body, my emotions numbed.

How could they not...

It felt as if a little part of me was fading with each crack in the core.

'...I don't think have long.'

With every crack, I could feel my existence start to disappear. No, rather, I felt it merge with something else.

It was most likely the other part of me.

I wasn't exactly sure about how long it would take, but I had a feeling that it wouldn't take more than a couple of years.

By then, would the current me still exist?

I wasn't sure.

'..I..I guess I've lived my purpose.'

I couldn't say that my life was the most fulfilling, but I was definitely happy with what I had. Added all together, I only existed for four years.

'Ha..ha..four years.'

The thought suddenly made me laugh.

It hurt.

The laugh hurt.

Grasping onto my chest, I raised my head and stared at the cracking void.

The cracks fell, and my eyes closed.

Opening my eyes again, I found myself standing in the previous spot from before.

Taking a look at everyone around me, I came to realize that all of them had also snapped out of it.

Their complexions were rather pale, and they had a look filled with incredulity and shock.

That was until they slowly turned their heads to gaze in my direction.

Be it Amanda, Kevin, Jin, Smallsnake, and everyone else that was in the room…all of their eyes were directed toward my direction.

A myriad of different emotions flashed across their faces while they gazed at me.

Closing my eyes, I turned my head to stare away from them before re-opening them. I couldn't bear their gazes.

Despite only being brief, their gazes were devoid of animosity and hatred.

It was all I needed.

My eyes then landed on Magnus.

"...He seems to have also been affected."

At the moment, he was sitting on his knees, staring blankly at the ground. A blank look covered his face as his mouth trembled and he whispered.

"I…impossible."

I took a step forward.

Tap.

In that exact moment, pressing my foot against the ground, the echo of my foot touching the ground rang in the air, and I caught a glimpse of several people flinching.

My body was filled with a bitter feeling.

'…I can't blame them.'

Their reaction…

It wasn't something that was outside of my expectations. With everything that they saw, they were probably extremely scared of the other version of me.

The one that they didn't know.

"It's me."

'For now...'

I spoke in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear. I was letting them know that I was still me, and the other me had not taken over.

Fortunately, my words seemed to have alleviated some of the cautions in the eyes of the others as their shoulders relaxed.

Taking a deep breath, I continued to move toward where Magnus was.

It didn't take long for me to reach him. Pausing in front of him, I lowered my head and gazed at him.

He still had the same blank look on his face from before. Pausing in front of him, his whispers became more clear to me.

"I..it can't be…"

Ignoring his words, I reached out my hand and grasped his neck.

***

Belief.

'An acceptance that something exists or is true, especially one without proof.'

That was the definition of belief.

Everyone had their own beliefs. Some believed in things that others didn't, and the same went for others.

A primary source of belief was religion.

The belief and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal god or gods.

Many had a god that they worshipped and believed in.

Magnus was one such person.

His belief was in the Demon King.

Jezebeth.

He was his god and the person he worshipped.

His reverence was based on his belief that he was an omniscient and omnipotent being. All were under his control, and he was undefeatable.

There was nothing that could defeat him.

...Or at least that was what he thought.

Images began to sink into Magnus's mind, and his body shook.

"I..it can't be..."

He whispered in a tone filled with denial.

"..He...he can't have been defeated...it's impossible."

His whispers continued to echo throughout the room.

There was a sense of loss in Magnus's eyes.

Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance.

Those were the five stages of depression, and that was what Magnus was currently going through at the moment.

Except for the fact that there was no fifth stage for him.

'Acceptance.'

By now, this was impossible.

It was impossible for Magnus to accept what he saw.

The sight of his own 'belief', 'god', being defeated by someone else felt as if the world was collapsing around him.

What he was currently feeling, was akin to having their own existence denied.

It was like receiving proof that the god whom he had been worshipping was actually not as invincible as he thought he was.

Somewhat, he wasn't any different from Ren who was also going through a similar state. The only difference, however, was the fact that Ren was able to accept reality, unlike Magnus.

'The memories, they must be fake.'

The only thing Magnus could go through at the moment was an endless cycle of denial.

He was as desperately clinging onto that little hope that perhaps what he had seen was fake.

Deep down, he knew that what he saw was real, but he couldn't accept it.

'Impossible!'

Tap—!

Right in front of him, he heard the sound of soft footsteps echoing. When Magnus raised his head, he was met with a set of deep blue eyes.

A chill ran down Magnus's spine when their eyes met as he subconsciously moved back a bit.

It was very subtle, and almost no one caught sight of it, but this was a clear show of fear, and Ren didn't miss it.

"You saw it, didn't you?"

He asked while opening his mouth and reaching out for the back of his neck.

His body exerted a tremendous amount of pressure. In reality, the pressure wasn't anything too outstanding for someone of Magnus's rank. It was still powerful, but nothing that would've affected typically put Magnus in a difficult spot.

The only problem was that Magnus was not in the right state of mind.

At the moment, Magnus perceived the current Ren to be exactly like the figure in one of the visions. They didn't look exactly the same, but as their figures overlapped, Magnus felt terror rise from deep within his body.

"..N..No."

He reached his hand out and moved back. There was a clear look of terror in his eyes.

Magnus was overwhelmed by Ren's hand reaching for his neck. It felt like a giant palm that was coming down from the sky, tearing everything that was in its way apart just to reach out for him.

His body trembled even more.

He wanted to put resistance, but every time he did, images of the scene in which Ren defeated Jezebeeth replayed inside of his mind, and all thoughts of fighting back disappeared.

'Th..there's no way I can fight against someone that can defeat his majesty...'

That was all Magnus could think of at the moment.

...At the moment, he was nothing but a shell of his former prideful self.

His pride was completely shattered, and it didn't take long for Ren's hand to grasp his neck.

"Ah..ha..."

Feeling his neck get tugged upwards, Magnus felt his head lift and he was forced to meet Ren's eyes.

For a brief moment of time, neither one of them spoke as they stared at each other.

It was only for a brief moment, but to Magnus whose mind was currently a mess, it felt like an eternity had passed. Cold sweat dripped down his back, and he swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

He felt an impending sense of doom at the moment, but he couldn't muster any courage to do anything about it.

'H..He de...feated his majesty. I can't fight him...'

"Goodbye."

Crack—!

Those were the last words Magnus heard before he felt the back of his next get pressed together and his core cracked.

Just like that, a prince-ranked demon was defeated.

He didn't even put an ounce of resistance.

Swooosh—!

Scattering in the room was his body which had turned into fine black powder. With his eyes lingering toward the powder for a good couple of seconds, Ren turned around.

In that instant, he once again felt everyone's gazes directed in his direction. Despite their different looks, none of them seemed to want to distance themselves from him at the moment.

Nevertheless, there was this weird sense of estrangement lingering in the air. Breathing in the air, Ren felt weirdly suffocated by this weird sense.

Right as he was about to open his mouth to say something, his expression changed and he looked toward the sky.

Opening his mouth, he mumbled.

"...He's coming."

Chapter 598: He is coming [2]

'...I've been used.'

Coming out of the dream, Angelica didn't know how to look at Ren at the moment.

Realizing that she was merely someone that was purposely made to sign a contract with Ren with the purpose of damaging his soul, Angelica's emotions were in a state of disarray.

In a way, she felt betrayed, and at the same time, she didn't. From the very beginning, she had known that there was something secret about him.

From the way that he knew certain things, and the fight he previously had with the Demon King not too long ago.

She knew that he was hiding something.

...She just didn't know that it was this sort of secret.

'Who am I to judge?'

Angelica inwardly shook her head while she took her eyes away from him.

In reality, she had also been using him.

He was the reason for her outstanding growth and that was why she decided to stay with him. She realized that it would be hypocritical of her to not admit this much.

Nonetheless, she still couldn't get rid of the weird feeling that was taking over her body.

It was really uncomfortable.

Tap.

It was at that moment that Angelica heard the soft echo of a footstep.

Raising her head, she saw Ren appear in front of the demon responsible for all of this. At the moment, he seemed to have lost his soul as he mumbled to himself and continued to stare toward the ground.

Looking at him, Angelica knew exactly how he felt.

As a devout believer of the Demon King, Angelica knew that his world must've come crashing down on her when he saw Ren defeat him in one of his visions.

His reaction made even more sense of the fact that he was from the pride clan. With his pride now shattered, he was a husk of his former self.

Crack.

With just a squeeze of his hands, Angelica watched as Ren ended the life of a Prince-ranked demon.

Taking particular note of Ren's expression while he squeezed the demon's neck, Angelica began to lower her head.

Blinking her eyes a couple of times, and recalling the expression his face had while he squeezed the demon's neck, Angelica realized something.

'He's in pain.'

***

"…He's coming."

I muttered while I stared at the distant ceiling.

It wasn't very obvious, but I could feel Jezebeth's power coming my way. It wouldn't be long before he arrived here.

The tightening of my heart was proof of that.

Turning my head to look at the others, my eyes paused on Kevin. Our eyes met.

Looking back at me, he had a rather complicated look on his face.

Nevertheless, he nodded his head. He understood what my words meant.

"I can only bring three people with me."

"Bring Ryan, and Smallsnake with you."

"Okay."

Our conversation probably didn't make sense to the others, but what I wanted at the moment was for Kevin to leave this place as fast as possible.

The Demon King was about to come. He and the others weren't safe at the moment, and it was best if they left at the moment.

There was only one problem at the moment, and that was the fact that Kevin could only bring three people with him. It was something that both of us understood.

It was a good thing that Kevin wasn't the only option we had available in order to leave this place. Further down, there should be a portal that we could use to make our escape.

Nevertheless, it was best if Smallsnake and Ryan left with Kevin first, since it would take time for us to reach the portals and activate them.

Without them, it would make things more efficient for everyone.

"Make sure to tell me the coordinates of earth before you leave. We'll be stuck here if you don't."

"Yes."

Nodding his head, Kevin raised his palm to face the distance. His body began to take on a red hue.

"Wait."

Just as more and more energy began to gather toward Kevin, someone spoke up.

Turning my head, I spotted Smallsnake moving in my direction. My heart unconsciously sped up when I met his gaze.

I let out a sigh of relief not long after.

The way he looked at me was no different from how he looked at me back in the past.

Pausing a couple of steps in front of me, he spoke.

"Ren, wait a second."

"What is it?"

I asked, while my brows furrowed.

"I know what you are planning to do, and I don't think sending Ryan and I first will be a good idea."

"How so?"

I curiously asked while raising my brow.

Turning his head to stare at Ryan who was behind Angelica, Smallsnake sighed.

"Actually, if you're thinking of sending us away first because you think we're too weak, then it's the wrong decision."

Calmly listening to Smallsnake's words, I tried to understand what he was trying to say.

At the moment, his words didn't particularly make sense.

How was the decision of sending the two weakest people away, the wrong decision? What I was doing was obviously for their sake.

'I need to hurry up.'

As I brushed my hair back, I felt the sense of doom gripping my heart increase.

'He's close.'

The sense of urgency increased, while cold sweat dripped from the side of my face.

"Smallsnake, we really don't have much time to discuss this. Just tell me what you want to say."

"Okay."

With a solemn look on his face, Smallsnake hurriedly nodded his head.

"As I mentioned, sending Ryan and I away isn't the best solution. If there is anyone that can connect the coordinates faster and fine-tune the portal, it is us. Rather than slowing you down, we will make everything faster."

"Hmm…"

The frown on my face tightened after hearing his words.

'He has a point.'

I thought after a while activating 'Eyes of Chronos' to slow down time.

'Having been trained by Jomnuk in Henlour, Smallsnake and Ryan are probably very knowledgeable regarding this kind of stuff, and their assistance will certainly be of value...'

'No, rather, their assistance will definitely be useful, and perhaps even save me a lot of valuable time.'

I deactivated 'Eyes of Chronos', and looked at Smallsnake.

"Alright, we'll do as you say."

My decision was made within the span of a couple of seconds.

Lifting my head and staring at the others who were all looking at me, I took a deep breath.

Then, taking a step toward the exit of the room I started to speak.

"All of you probably have a lot of questions for me. Especially after what you've seen in the visions, but I've just figured it out myself. I'm just as clueless as all of you are."

Sort of.

Although I already had an idea of what was going on, I didn't know it was to this extent.

"It's not the right time to ask questions right now. Let's get out of this planet before we figure everything ou—"

Cutting myself mid-sentence, I turned to look toward the entrance of the door and it was there that I spotted a familiar figure.

It was Han Yufei. He had a rather confused look on his face at the moment.

"Have you managed to get the dimensional spaces?"

I asked.

In a moment of contemplation, Han Yufei turned his head and stared at the room before looking back at me.

"I have searched the lower levels, and I have found no evidence of dimensional spaces being there. However, I have released several different prisoners, and they should now be attracting the attention of some of the demons that are standing guard below..."

Pausing his sight on the room and staring at our clothes and bodies which were all roughed up, Han Yufei curiously asked.

"Been meaning to ask, did something happen while I was gone?"

'This is problematic.'

Covering my chin to ponder, I no longer paid any attention to Han Yufei.

The sudden revelation that he didn't have the dimensional spaces made my toes curl with anxiety.

'This is really bad. Should I just leave without my dimensional space?'

The search for dimensional spaces might end in my death, but at the same time, losing my dimensional space was almost like cutting my strength in half...There would be no way for me to end the loop or whatever was happening without my dimensional space.

Either way, I was screwed.

Scratching the side of my face in a rushed manner, I clenched my fists tightly and came up with a decision.

'Shit, I can't leave without my dimensional space. All my most important stuff is there. Without it, I'd be screwed.'

Quite literally screwed.

Setting aside my sword which was a progressively growing artifact, there were many other things inside of my dimensional space that I just couldn't get rid of.

Their loss would result in my losing a considerable amount of power.

'I need to go get them.'

I made my decision within a split second.

"Han Yufei, do you have any idea where the dimensional space is located?"

Since he's searched all of the bottom levels, he must've gotten an idea.

"Yes."

Han Yufei nodded his head.

"The dimensional spaces are located one floor above, right in the room above us. Since I've searched the whole place, I'm quite confident in my deduction."

"Alright."

I turned to face the exit without hesitation. Whether his words were true or not, I didn't have a choice at the moment.

As I was pressed for time, I didn't have the luxury of pondering over everything.

Once again turning to look at Kevin, I opened my mouth.

"Kevin, bring whoever you want back to earth, the others, follow Angelica."

My eyes paused on her.

If there was anyone that would know where the portal was located, it was her.

Meeting my line of sight, Angelica wordlessly stared at me for a couple of seconds before grabbing Ryan's hands and nodding her head.

"Understood."

Her soft voice reached my ears, prompting me to feel more relaxed.

"Kh."

But that didn't last for long as I suddenly felt my hand twitch, and pain engulf my body.

'Shit, it hurts.'

In that short moment when I killed Magnus, my strength soared up uncontrollably, however, it was only temporary.

My current body was still too weak to handle all of his powers.

Nevertheless, I could take consolation in the fact that my current body could withstand the power more easily than before.

In fact, though I wasn't exactly sure, I think I may have already broken to <S-> rank. Normally, I would've been happy with this piece of news, but at the moment, I think I may have lost such emotion.

With everything that had happened to me... happiness was no longer something that I could find.

'I can't waste any more time.'

Taking my attention away from my strength, I proceeded to make my way out of the room.

As I was about to leave, a hand pressed against my shoulder.

"Wait."

A soft and crisp voice echoed through my ear.

I didn't need to look to understand who the voice belonged. My heart tightened.

"Yes?"

I asked while hiding the expression on my face.

"We need to talk."

"Later, there isn't time for us to talk."

The demon king could come any minute now. There was no time to talk.

"I'm going to go and get a couple of things fir—"

"I'll come with you then."

My brows furrowed when I heard her words.

Turning around, and just as I was about to reject her, my facial features froze.

Blankly staring into her eyes and pursing my lips, I nodded my head.

"Alright, come with me."

"Thank you."

She softly whispered while tugging at the edge of my shirt.

Closing my eyes once, I turned around and left the room.

Chapter 599: He is coming [3]

Thump! Thump!

Two arrows fired from Amanda's bow and impaled two demons in the head, killing them instantly.

Lowering her bow, Amanda continued to silently follow Ren from behind.

A complicated look spread across her face.

'…I have to do this.'

The urgency in Ren's eyes told Amanda that the situation was very likely extremely serious and that now would not be the best time to speak with him, but Amanda also understood Ren really well.

…and knowing exactly how he was feeling at the moment, Amanda clearly understood that Ren had some ideas about possibly leaving the others behind and going on his own somewhere.

Though she wasn't exactly sure if her deduction was correct, she thought this was a very real possibility, which was why she wanted to speak with him now rather than later.

Nonetheless, she still held herself back from talking at the moment.

She would only do it when they arrived at their destination.

"We're here."

It didn't take long for Ren's footsteps to halt as he stopped in front of a large door.

Lowering her bow and walking next to him, Amanda scanned the doors

The door was about eight meters in height and seemed to be made out of some sort of heavy metal alloy.

There were carvings on the front of the door depicting some strange symbols and runes. They seemed rather foreign to her.

"This is most likely where the Duke ranked demon rested."

Ren's voice reached Amanda's ears. Putting his hand against the door and closing his eyes, silence enshrouded the surroundings.

A white hue began to spring out of his body, making Amanda shudder.

'He's gotten stronger.'

This was her initial thought as she felt his power.

She wasn't exactly certain, but it seemed to her that Ren had broken through.

'Again...'

Bam—

In the hall they were in, a loud banging sound, along with the quaking of the door, startled Amanda out of her thoughts.

Amanda's sight was obscured by dust rising from the ground.

As Amanda regained awareness of what was happening, she saw Ren standing in the same spot she had seen earlier. A low murmur escaped his lips as his brows furrowed tight.

"…It's tougher than I thought."

Once again raising, he placed it on the door.

As he pressed his hand against the door, the white hue that was emanating from his body became even more fierce, and another loud noise echoed.

Bang—!

This time, he seemed to have exerted even more power as the halls shook with even more force, sending Amanda off balance.

Fortunately, she was quick to recover and used her bow to keep herself balanced.

'That was close.'

A secret thought crossed her mind as she slowly stood up. Returning her attention to Ren, she watched the door slowly fall towards the ground, causing another loud noise.

Bang—

"Let's go."

Without waiting for Amanda, Ren rushed into the room.

Amanda followed him from behind.

***

"So you've made a friend. I'm happy for you Brian."

Laying down on a clean white bed, a middle aged lady held the hand of a youth who was looking at her with a thin smile on his face.

"Yes mom, I've been doing well so you don't have to worry about me. As you can see, I've been able to afford your hospital bills and the doctors said that you will have no trouble recuperating from your illness."

Bending down on one knee to the ground, Brian brought her hand toward his forehead as he whispered.

"…You'll finally be cured."

A smile spread across the woman's face as she heard her son's words.

"I'm really glad that you're happy."

Clank—

Suddenly, the doors of the room unlocked and a devilishly handsome figure entered the room as the son and mother were enjoying a heartwarming moment. He held a bouquet of flowers in his right hand.

Right as he entered the room, his footsteps came to a halt.

"…Looks like I'm disturbing something important."

Jolting Brian out of his moment, he raised his head and glared in Hemlock's direction.

"What are you doing here?"

"What? Didn't you tell me that I could visit?"

Taking off his long brown coat, the figure sat down on the sofa opposite Brian and his mother.

"Ah right."

Recalling something, he got off his seat and moved to where Brian's mother was resting.

Extending his hand, he gently placed the flowers next to Brian's mom and gently smiled.

"Nice to meet you, ma'am, I'm Brian's colleague. I hope you don't mind my presence."

"Oh my."

With a sweet smile on her face, Brian's mother grabbed the flowers and placed them beside her.

Turning to look at Brian, her smile became even sweeter. With a teasing tone, she spoke.

"Why didn't you tell me that your friend was this handsome?"

"Why would that matter?"

"It of course matters!"

She protested whole crossing her arms together.

"I haven't been able to go out for quite a while now, and I need something to entertain my eyes."

"Well, you can look at me for however long you want ma'am."

"Shut up."

"Brian, don't take this away from me."

"Mom…"

In between glaring at his mother and Hemlock, Brian rolled his eyes at Hemlock one more time before standing up and deciding to bid her goodbye.

"I think it's time for me to go, I'll contact you later mom. For now, it looks like I will need to go to work."

"Sure thing."

Aware of Brian's circumstances, Brian's mother waved goodbye to him and his friend.

"Have a good day at work the two of you. I hope everything goes well."

"Thank you ma'am, your words are really encouraging me to work ha—"

"Shut up."

"Hey."

Unable to stand Hemlock's look, Brian grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him out of the room.

Clank—

Closing the door behind him, Brian glared at Hemlock.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Visiting a friend's mother?"

"No, I get that, but what's with you flirting with my mother?"

"But I wasn't."

"He, you don't call that flirting?"

"Indeed, I was just socializing. Something you don't seem to be able to do."

Turning around, the smile on Hemlock's face slowly faded.

"Let's not talk about that for now, we've got something important to do today."

Brian's face similarly turned serious upon hearing those words.

"How's the pay?"

"Excellent."

"I'm in."

"I know."

Hemlock looked at Brian and shook his head. Hemlock knew he could count on Brian to participate as long as the pay was good.

He was just like that.

"Oh, right, I almost forgot. It's supposed to be an undercover mission, so you must use a nickname."

"Eh? That sounds bothersome."

"It's orders."

"Alright, then."

With a shrug of his shoulders, Brian thought for a moment before mumbling to himself.

"A nickname…what should I use?"

Turning his head to face Hemlock's direction, he asked.

"Have you thought of something?"

"I have."

"Oh? What is it?"

Turning his head to face Brain, Hemlock smiled before he muttered.

"Malik Alshayatin."

***

"Smallsnake!" "Smallsnake!" "Smallsnake!"

"Huh? Ah!"

A pat on the shoulder jolted Smallsnake out of his thoughts, and he turned to look at Ryan.

"Are you okay?"

He asked. There were notable hints of worry in his voice as he looked at him.

Taking note of this, Smallsnake smiled.

"I'm fine."

When he turned his head to look at the others, he pressed his hand against the wall and the mana in the air began to warp.

"I'm done."

He watched as the air began to swirl with mana as the portal next to him started to activate.

The mana in the air became thicker with each passing second. It was slowly starting to become more difficult for Smallsnake to breathe.

It didn't take long for the portal to fully form, about two minutes.

Watching the portal fully form, Smallsnake turned to gaze into the distance.

"He still hasn't come back yet…"

While he was worried, Smallsnake knew Ren was a capable individual, so, turning to face Ryan and the others, he began to speak.

"You guys go in first, I'll hold up the portal for now."

Because the portal needed someone to keep it functioning, Smallsnake had no choice but to wait for Ren to arrive before he could leave.

Lowering his head, he looked at Ryan.

"Ryan, since you're the weakest, you will enter first, and the others will follow his example after, understood?"

"Okay."

Though reluctant, Ryan nodded his head and proceeded to head for the portal.

Looking at him from behind were Angelica and the others with the exception of Ren, Amanda, Kevin, Melissa, and Emma.

Setting Amanda and Ren aside, the other three were busy destroying the core.

"Smallsnake."

Once again jolting Smallsnake out of his thoughts was Ryan's voice.

With his head turned and looking in his direction, Ryan looked at Smallsnake and softly mumbled.

"…Don't stay too long."

"Don't worry."

A smile spread across Smallsnake's mouth as he felt touched by Ryan's concern.

"I'll come back as soon as Ren comes back, okay?"

"Okay."

Ryan nodded his head, finally feeling a little relieved.

Then, turning his head, he directly entered the portal and disappeared.

Once his figure completely disappeared, Smallsnake turned to look at the others.

"Alright, next."

Chapter 600: He is coming [4]

Clank!

A dull metallic sound reverberated throughout the air.

Kevin clenched his teeth and swung his sword with everything he had as he beat the white core in front of him.

Though his mind was a mess at the moment, he continued to strike with everything he had as he realized that the situation was serious.

'Things don't make sense. Why is Ren the only one that is remembering his memories of each regression while I don't?'

Clank!

He struck the white core with his sword once more.

'There is definitely something that I'm missing, and I feel like I'll get my answer right after destroying this core and finishing the mission.'

Clank!

Kevin had an inkling that the next synchronization would make things much clearer for him, though it was only a gut feeling at the moment.

He just knew.

"Let me help."

Beside him, Emma took out her short swords and similarly started to hack at the white orb.

Clank!

Hitting the white core, the sound it emitted was a lot crispier than his as it rang in the air for a longer period of time.

"Put more force into it."."

Kevin murmured while he took a glance at Emma who took a couple of steps back as a result of the recoil from the first attack.

"...It's a lot tougher than I anticipated."

She murmured in embarrassment before returning to Kevin and hacking at the white core with her shortswords.

Cra...Crack.

While the two continued to attack the core, it wasn't long before fine miniature crevices and cracks started to form around it.

"We're almost there."

Emma's eyes lit up when she saw cracks appear on the core. The two of them had been at it for more than ten minutes, and thus she was rightfully excited.

The core or whatever the thing was, it was extremely durable. More than they had originally anticipated.

"Yes. We're almost there."

Nodding his head, Kevin continued to slash with all of his power. He never lost focus once.

With each passing second, the sense of doom engulfing his body became more intense, prompting him to attack with even more force.

The cracks on the core only served to make him want to attack it at an even faster speed.

Ba…Thump! Ba…Thump!

The sound of his heartbeat accompanied the sound of his sword smashing against the core.

He could feel it and hear it inside of his mind.

With each second that passed, the faster his heart sped up and the more anxiety Kevin felt.

'…He's coming.'

That was because he knew.

He knew that death itself was coming.

Unless he did something to the core now, the only thing that would await him was certain death in the future.

Cra..Crack!

More and more cracks began to appear on the core while he and Emma continued to hack at the core, and the more hurried their breathing became.

"We're almost there."

"Just a bit more..."

Crack!

In no time, pieces of the core began to fall to the side as the core slowly split. The scene was strangely reminiscent of a flower bloom. It was a beautiful sight to watch.

The eyes of everyone present lit up at the sight, especially Kevin who turned to face Emma and ordered.

"Emma, continue doing whatever you're doing, I'm about to open the portal."

His hand raised in the air, and a red hue erupted from his body, engulfing the room.

'...Thank god I remembered about the core.'

He had originally planned on leaving right as Ren left, but after realizing that the core was still intact, he took it upon himself to finish the job he was tasked to do.

After all, the delay of the demon king by one extra year was an extremely important goal.

Crash!

An audible glass-shattering noise followed, startling Kevin out of his thoughts.

A smile soon formed on his face.

'She did it.'

That was because he knew.

He knew that the core had finally shattered.

***

Bang—!

With a thunderous crash, the door came crashing down vertically toward the ground and a large room appeared in Amanda's vision.

Following Ren from behind, Amanda entered the room.

The room was about the size of a tennis court, neither too large nor too small. In the room, there were a number of decorations, of which there was a big desk, as well as a number of bookshelves, and several statues.

The decorations themselves didn't evoke any strong emotions in Amanda, but when she noticed the room's black walls and the golden chandelier that hung from the room's ceiling and softly lit the space, she began to feel a spooky, even menacing sense envelop her.

She didn't particularly feel comfortable in the room.

"Where is it?"

Ren immediately began looking through the desk after entering the room.

Looking at him from behind, Amanda didn't say anything and looked elsewhere. She was planning on helping him look for the dimensional spaces.

Four hands were better than two.

Clank—!

Opening one of the drawers, Amanda carefully looked at what was inside. Picking up an item that closely resembled a skull, she carefully placed it back and closed the drawer back.

Taking out a napkin from her dimensional space, she cleaned her hands before she turned to look at Ren.

"Your dimensional space is in the form of a bracelet, right?"

"Yes."

Ren replied while he looked through one of the desk drawers. His complexion was extremely somber and serious. The look of urgency in his eyes was clear for Amanda to see, dispelling any thoughts of bringing the topic up right now.

"...It's a black bracelet that can easily twist like leather ones. In fact, it is made to look like a leather bracelet. It's also not that thick, about the width of a small ruler."

"I see."

Taking a closer look at the room, Amanda nodded to herself as she searched for anything that matched Ren's description.

She looked through drawers, books, carpets, sofas, and whichever area she thought was possible, but as she continued to look, she was only left disappointed with the outcome.

'Not here too?'

Neatly placing one of the pillows on the sofa, Amanda tilted her head slightly before adjusting it properly. It was only after she was satisfied with the positioning that she felt her hand stop twitching.

"Phew."

Letting out a sigh of relief, she looked behind her to see what Ren was up to.

"I think I found them."

And it was right at the exact moment that she turned around that she saw Ren taking out what seemed to be a couple of small black rings.

Tapping onto them, Ren's eyes opened a little.

"This should be Jin's."

He mumbled out loud, prompting Amanda to drop whatever she was doing.

'There's no need to look anymore.'

Walking up to Ren, she asked.

"Are you sure that it's the one?"

"Yes."

Ren nodded while he quickly scanned the ring in his hand. Once he was confident that it was indeed JIn's, he stood up and looked through the other drawers.

"What are you doing?"

Amanda asked, confused by his actions. Since he found the dimensional space, shouldn't he be leaving?

"I'm still looking for mine. It wasn't with the others."

"Right."

Finally understanding what Ren was doing, silence enveloped the surroundings as neither of the two spoke.

The only sound that could be heard was the sound of Ren sliding the drawers of the desk. A complicated look appeared on Amanda's face as she took a look at him.

In the end, unable to hold herself back anymore, she blurted her thoughts out.

"Are you planning on leaving again right after we return?"

"..."

Ren's hand froze for a short second. His face, which was previously expressionless hardened.

Sliding the drawer open and taking out what seemed to be a ring, he calmly replied.

"What made you think that I'd be leaving?"

"Just a hunch."

"Oh."

Ren absentmindedly nodded his head.

Amanda's eyes squinted at his half-hearted reply. Although she wanted to say something, taking note of Ren's expression, she decided not to say anything and started helping him look through the desk.

She could clearly see from his expression that there was something he was worried about. Nevertheless, she also understood that the priority right now was looking for his items.

While Amanda walked next to him and helped him look through the items, raising his head slightly and meeting her eyes, he lowered his head again and pursed his lips.

While he was looking through the items, he softly whispered something.

"...It's best if you give up on me."

"Eh?"

Amana's hand came to a sudden top. Her heart sank when she heard his voice, in spite of it being very soft.

Taking a step back, Amanda felt her body turn cold. Despite that, she maintained her calm.

"W..hat are you saying?"

"I think I've made myself clear the first time?"

Ren said as his voice turned cold. Amanda experienced a sudden sharp pain in her chest as a result of his sudden change in tone.

"...Is it because of the memories? Are you afraid that I'm not going to—"

"It's not that!"

Ren cut Amanda off in a loud voice.

Amanda immediately shut her mouth at his outburst. The pain in her chest only intensified.

"Haa..."

With both hands pressed against the desk, Ren lowered his head and whispered.

"It's not because of that...It's really not."

Moving a couple of items around, Ren's expression crumbled a little.

Then, taking a look at Amanda from the corner of his eyes, his face softened a little before he murmured.

"The reason why I'm telling you to give up on me is because I don't have long left to live."

"...Ah?"

A soft sound escaped from Amanda's lips as she stared at Ren with her eyes wide open.

At this moment, to her, it felt as though the world around her was crumbling apart. Her body didn't even shake...staring at Ren, she was in a state of total paralysis, unable to comprehend his words.

"You've seen the figure inside of my memories, haven't you?"

The only thing she could hear while in her state was Ren's frail words.

"It shouldn't come as a surprise. H..e's the real me. I'm just a byproduct of his desire to end the loop and kill the demon king...I'm...n..not someone that was meant to exist in the first place."

Amanda's eyes slowly began to blink in response to the words he spoke. She was slowly coming out of her state of shock.

"...It is faint, but I can feel it. I'm slowly getting devoured by him. I don't know how much time I have left, but...I would say a couple of years at best."

A bitter and hollow laugh escaped Ren's lips.

"If you think about it, my existence only really amounts to four years...to dissap—"

As she leaned closer to Ren, she did not hesitate to take action. Turning his body around, her lips pressed against his and she interrupted him mid-sentence.

Amanda felt a jolting concoction of emotions run through her body as her lips touched his. It was a hard feeling to describe, but to her, it felt as though a million different emotions burst at once.

Unfortunately, the sensation was only short-lived. Fully understanding that they were pressed for time, Amanda quietly backed off.

"...I won't make the same mistake again."

Amanda quietly murmured while she looked at Ren.

"You expect me to forget all about you and just move on after everything that happened because you are going to disappear soon?"

Feelings didn't work like that.

They weren't something that could be discarded as one wished.

"If there's one thing that I learned from what happened to my father is that anything can happen when you least expect it. After everything that you've been through and all the times you've almost died or gone away to somewhere dangerous, did you seriously think that I wouldn't know the risk of liking someone like you?"

Amanda's voice was soft, yet powerful at the same time.

All of Amanda's feelings came pouring out at this moment as she stared at Ren who was standing opposite her.

"...If you only have a couple of years left to live, then...it only gives me more reason to stay with y—"

Opening her mouth again, she stopped herself mid-sentence.

Staring at Ren who was looking back at her, she lowered her head.

"I've spoken too much."

Turning around, a sad smile spread across her face.

"It's best if I leave. I'm taking too much of your time."

Without waiting for Ren to say anything, Amanda took a step forward and left the room, leaving Ren behind.

Once she left the room, turning around a corner, her feet came to a pause.

Pressing her back against the wall, her body suddenly started to tremble. The corner of Amanda's eyes began to water as she slid down the wall.

It was only after she was no longer in Ren's sight that her calm facade crumbled and all her pent up emotions came out. Regardless of how strong she was, the news of Ren's inevitable death made her heart feel as though it had been shredded into millions of pieces.

"I..."

Mumbling something, her lips trembled.

"I..can't.."

Her body continued to tremble as she clutched her chest, and tears began to pour down the side of her cheeks.

"W..why did things turn out this way?"

Chapter 601: He is coming [5]

"Ha…"

Softly touching my lips and staring at the door, I stopped for a moment to process everything that had happened before turning my attention back toward the desk. I didn't have much time to waste.

Even then, as I looked through the drawers, unknowingly, my heart which was previously heavy, lightened up somewhat.

'She really..'

Shaking my head, I opened another drawer, and it was then that my eyes paused on a certain item.

"Found it."

A quiet mutter escaped me.

After finding my bracelet behind one of the drawers, I channeled my mana into it and checked its contents.

Without a second thought, I left the room after making sure everything was there. Of course, right before leaving, I made sure to collect every single item that had previously caught my interest.

Ba...Thump Ba…Thump!

While moving, I could hear the slow, dragging beat of my heart, reminding me of the situation.

'…I don't have much time.'

The feeling was much clearer than before.

This sense of imminent doom and inevitable danger that I felt quite a while ago...it seemed closer than ever.

Without a second thought, I activated [Drifting steps] and hurried out of the place.

***

BOOM—!

An explosion erupted after the core was destroyed.

There was a jolt throughout the room, causing Melissa to almost fall over. It was fortunate for her that Kevin was beside her to help her stand.

"I've got you."

"Than—"

"Go."

"Ha?!"

Kevin pushed her inside the portal that had formed in front of him before she could finish her sentence.

'I'm sorry.'

Kevin secretly apologized inside his mind.

"Hm?"

Kevin turned his head to stare toward the top right corner of the ceiling. His expression quickly changed as his breathing became heavy.

"Emma quick!"

Rushing Emma in his direction, Kevin felt something grip his heart. His eyes were lined with anxiety

'He's here.'

He was borderline panicking.

"Coming!"

As she pressed her foot towards the ground, Emma appeared next to Kevin and entered the portal. Her speed was so fast that Kevin only caught a glimpse of her shadow.

Immediately after she entered the portal and disappeared, and Kevin followed her example.

Cra..Crack.

When Kevin entered the portal, and right as his vision was about to blur, he caught a glimpse of the scene behind him, and there he watched the air stir as a figure slowly emerged from a crack.

White hair, red eyes, and a black armor...

'It's him.'

Immediately recognizing the figure, Kevin's heart froze.

Turning his head, Kevin's eyes met with the figure and he felt his blood boil.

'...A pity.'

Those were the last words he could make out as his vision darkened.

***

Voom—!

The air rippled and the portal that was standing in the air shrunk.

A depressing silence enveloped the room shortly after the portal disappeared.

"Cough, cough..."

Interrupting the silence was a series of short coughs. Turning his head to stare in a particular direction, Jezebeth blinked his eyes slowly.

"...This was unexpected."

He quietly murmured while he looked toward the broken core before staring in a particular direction.

Tilting his head, Jezebeth wondered.

"How did they manage to defeat Magnus?"

For a Prince ranked demon to lose to several individuals that had not even reached <S-> rank...

"Did he perhaps interfere?"

A sudden thought crossed his mind, prompting a smile to form on his face.

"...Indeed. Only he can be responsible for this."

The more he thought about it, the more convinced Jezebeth was with his theory.

'The most likely explanation is that Magnus was playing around with everyone by showing their memories to them. This strategy most likely backfired since 'he' probably gave Magnus a glimpse of his true memories. My guess is that he most likely showed him an image of one of our most recent fights...'

The one in which he had lost.

This inevitably led to Magnus losing his mind, making it easier for him to eliminate him.

"Hahaha."

A laugh escaped from his lips as he covered his face with his hand.

"...As expected of him."

If there was anyone that could pull this kind of thing, it was 'him'. With a smile on his face, he lowered his head.

Extending his hand, he ripped the air in front of him, creating a small fissure.

"How about I ask him directly?"

***

"How long is he going to take?"

Smallsnake wondered out loud as he looked toward the entrance of the room.

It had been quite some time since Ren went to find his items, but he still hadn't returned, making Smallsnake worry.

Despite not knowing exactly what was happening, Smallsnake felt this incomparably heavy pressure bear down on him with every passing second. Especially after he recalled the short conversation Ren had with Kevin not too long ago.

The fact that Kevin and Ren were showing such worried looks was an indication that the situation was critical. And it was exactly because of this that Smallsnake couldn't help but worry.

After a few minutes, Smallsnake began to fidget with his fingers as he thought to himself.

'Don't tell me that something happened?..I hope not.'

This was a habit he tended to do whenever he was nervous.

BOOM—!

Right as he was about to greet him, a thunderous explosion reverberated throughout the entire infrastructure and the entire room shook.

"Kh…"

In that split moment, Smallsnake almost let go of the portal.

Fortunately, keeping his hand against the side of the wall, Smallsnake was able to stop himself from falling down.

The explosion lasted for a split second and so did the shaking.

"They must've broken the core of the building."

Understanding what had happened, the sense of urgency that Smallsnake previously felt became even more prominent as he felt the back of his hair stand.

That was because not long after he heard the explosion, he suddenly felt a terrifying feeling engulf his entire being.

Smallsnake swallowed hard as his knees started to shake.

"R..ren, you better hurry."

He quietly murmured.

Clank—!

Suddenly, Smallsnake heard a sound, and a figure appeared behind the door. As soon as he saw the figure, Smallsnake's eyes lit up.

"You're finally he—eh?"

Halfway through his sentence, he stopped himself. That was because he realized that the figure was not Ren. The figure looked too feminine to be Ren.

Walking past him, Amanda headed for the portal.

"He's coming soon."

'…Her eyes look kind of puffy.'

Smallsnake thought to himself as he looked at Amanda. Whatever the case, he remained silent and waited for her to enter the portal.

"Is he doing fine? Did you guys encounter anything along the way?"

"He's fine."

Amanda answered while moving toward the portal.

"...It just took more time than we expected to look for the items. He should arrive soon."

"Alright."

Smallsnake sighed in relief upon hearing her words.

After pressing his hand up against the wall and tapping several different buttons, the portal that was running started fluctuating, and the air became more charged with mana.

Waiting for a couple of seconds, and taking a look at the portal, only when the portal calmed down did Smallsnake take a step to the side.

"Alright, you can go in."

"Thank you."

Staring at the portal and nodding her head toward Smallsnake, Amanda walked in without hesitation.

"Make sure to keep the portal open for now, Ren will be coming any second now."

Before completely entering the portal, Smallsnake was able to hear Amanda's last words, prompting him to nod his head in agreement.

"Alright."

She had a point.

Although it would only take a couple of seconds to completely activate the portal, Smallsnake knew that in a situation where time mattered, those two seconds would make a difference.

Voom—!

Submerging into the portal, Amanda's figure disappeared and a ripple formed in the portal before the entire room became quiet.

With his hand against the side of the wall, time passed and sweat started to accumulate on the side of Smallsnake's head.

'Why is he still not here yet?'

Keeping the portal open wasn't exactly the easiest of tasks. Not so much because it required a lot of mana, but because of the high mana density around it. Had it been someone as strong as Ren, they wouldn't have felt it, but since Smallsnake was weak, the high mana density was too much for him to bear.

It felt like staying in a room that was filled to the brim with oxygen. Agonizing.

The pressure on Smallsnake's body increased with each passing second.

Had it not been for Amanda's reminder, he would've probably already let go.

'Hurry up.'

Clenching his teeth, the veins on Smallsnake's forehead started to protrude, and his knees started to buckle.

"What's taking so l—"

Boom—!

Before he could even finish his sentence another explosion rang out as Smallsnake caught sight of a figure smashing against the side of the room at incredible speeds.

Dust and debris flew in the air, masking Smallsnake's vision. Tearing them apart, Smallsnake was able to finally catch a glimpse of Ren who was rushing in his direction with a face filled with anxiety.

"Quick!"

He shouted at the top of his lungs while he headed in his direction.

"It's ready."

Smallsnake shouted back while taking a glimpse of the portal that was next to him.

Without saying a word Ren ran at full speed toward the portal. His figure was so fast that it left after images behind.

A tranquil voice suddenly echoed across the space.

"Got bored of waiting for you, so I took my leave. Let's meet each other next time."

The entire room froze over at the moment, and Ren's body jerked to a stop. Taking a look at him, Smallsnake was able to catch a glimpse of his expression.

'Wha...'

Tap.

The calm sound of a footstep echoed throughout the room.

Raising his head to stare in the direction of where the sound came from, Smallsnake caught a glimpse of a figure calmly heading in their direction.

He had snow-white hair that was somewhat similar to Ren's hair, an abyssal black armor that seemed to absorb all forms of light heading its direction, and fierce crimson eyes.

At that moment, Smallsnake stopped breathing. His chest constricted and a suffocating feeling settled inside of his body.

"Kahak!...Kahk!"

Bringing his hands toward his neck, he gagged several times as saliva dripped down from his mouth.

"Khak..."

Dropping down on two knees, he clenched his throat. A long line made out of saliva dripped down from his mouth.

'This can't be...'

Forcing himself to raise his head, Smallsnake once again felt his eyes pause on the figure that had just entered the room, and he choked with horror.

That was because he felt it.

He felt it very clearly.

Death was here.

Chapter 602: An option [1]

Fear.

An unpleasant and inescapable emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm.

It begins with your hair standing up. Next, your palms begin to sweat, and your body experiences a wave of nausea, making it difficult for you to comprehend what lies before you.

The world feels foggy. Everything that seemed so clear the previous moment becomes blurry, and in an instant, your entire body begins to tremble, and your heart beats so loudly inside of your head that it feels suffocating.

Fear starts off as an instinctive and primitive response designed to help us avoid dangerous situations.

…But what would happen when you're in a situation where you can't avoid this so called danger?

Helplessness.

That was what they would feel.

A wave of helplessness would wash over the individual as they find themselves in a situation where they could do nothing.

"Don't tell me you're planning on leaving right as I arrived?"

Jezebeth's words echoed inside of my ears, while the hair at the back of my neck stood up.

Fear was slowly starting to permeate my body.

"Haaa…haa…"

Unknowingly, my breathing became heavier.

As I slowly lifted my head up, my eyes met Jezebeth's, and my heart stopped for a moment.

'S..shit.'

I was overcome with a wave of helplessness as his presence completely enveloped my body, stopping me from moving at all.

"Hm?"

In the midst of my struggle, Jezebeth frowned.

Coming a little closer to me, he tilted his head a little.

"You…"

He pointed his slender finger in my direction, as his glaring red eyes scrutinized my body up and down.

My body felt completely naked as his eyes scanned it. It was as if he knew every secret inside my body.

Gradually, as he continued to stare at me, his eyes dropped and his head shook.

"…You're not him, again."

There were hints of disappointment in his voice as he turned his head to look away from me.

Right as he turned, I was able to hear his soft whisper.

"He would never make such an expression…"

Taking a step away from me, he looked around the room and continued to whisper to himself.

"This is strange…I'm sure I detected his presence before coming here. I don't think I'm wrong."

For the next couple of seconds, he didn't say anything and just quietly walked around the room with a pensive look on his face.

Coming to a sudden stop, he turned around to look at me.

Once again scanning my body, his brows jumped and a thin smile formed on his face.

"I see…"

Tap.

Taking a step closer to me, it didn't take long for him to arrive before me.

Extending his hand, my vision darkened as his plan covered my face.

I tried with all my might, staring at the hand that was snatching at my face, but it was all in vain; he stopped me without any effort on his part.

"Don't move. I'm trying to check something."

His voice loudly echoed inside of my ears.

As soon as his words vanished, I experienced an electric shock throughout my body. My body began to tense up in response to what he did, and my eyes rolled to the back of my head.

I wanted to scream, but it was all futile effort on my end as my mouth was sealed shut. No matter how much I struggled, I couldn't say anything.

"Mhh! Mhhhhh!"

The only thing that came out of my mouth were low muffled shouts.

"Ah, it makes sense now."

Taking his hand away from my head, Jezebeth once again turned away from me.

He had a satisfied look on his face.

"It's just like I predicted. You were the ones that resulted in Magnus's death, and it doesn't look like an accident either. As expected of you…"

Turning his body around, our eyes met. This time, his smile faded a little.

"You must be his fake copyright?"

I felt the restriction in my mouth stop once he said these words, but I didn't say anything and remained quiet.

Slowly, I began to calm down.

"Oh?"

Jezebeth's brow raised at the sudden turn of events.

"In a way, you're not that different from him. You can say that you bear striking resemblances to this demeanor at times. Even then…"

Jezebeth shook his head and slowly lifted his head. His face slowly turned rigid.

"…You've already served your purpose. How about you disappear and let the real you take over? I have no interest in playing around with a fake."

Although he spoke in a gentle manner, every word he spoke thundered in my head.

I experienced a sense of helplessness as a result. Even though it pained me to be reminded that I was a fraud, I was gradually accepting this fact. The fact that I was just a replacement.

I replied with a slow head shake.

"I'm good."

"You're good?"

Jezebeth mumbled while he looked at me with a strange look on his face.

"Ha."

Covering his face with his hand, he let out one single burst of dry laugh.

The laugh didn't last for long, as his complexion crumbled and his voice became deep.

"…You actually think you have an option?"

His crimson eyes flashed with a scarlet color that totally enveloped the room as he snapped his head to gaze at me, and a dreadful pressure descended upon the space.

"Khurk!"

I instantly dropped on both knees to the ground.

Clenching my throat with both hands, I slowly raised my head to look at Jezebeth.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

His slow and rhythmical footsteps echoed throughout the room before they paused in front of me.

It was right at that moment that the pressure bearing down on the room stopped.

"Khuak!"

Immediately after the pressure disappeared, my body reflexively gagged and a wave of vertigo hit me.

With both hands on the ground, I began to heavily gasp for air while a single string of saliva dripped to the ground.

"…My bad."

Right then, I heard Jezebeth's voice echo beside my ear.

"I almost forgot about how pathetically weak you are at the moment. For a moment, I thought that you were going to die."

Then, sitting crossed legged on the ground, Jezebeth placed both of his hands on the ends of his knees.

"…How about we have a talk? There are lots of things I want to say, and even though you might not be him, he should still be able to hear every single one of the words I say."

Raising his finger, my head snapped up.

"How should we start?"

Lowering his head and pondering for a bit, Jezebeth tapped his head and murmured.

"My memories still aren't intact you see, so I'm having a hard time remembering certain things. Don't mind me if I remember some things wrongly."

Casually raising his head, Jezebeth looked at me.

"…Setting that aside, it doesn't seem like you have much time till he takes over. I'll say a couple of years. Mhh, that sounds quite troublesome."

Jezebeth covered his mouth with one hand while extending the other toward me until his palm was directly in front of my face.

At that moment, I caught a whiff of death lingering in the air.

"What should I do? Should I just kill you before he takes over? There have been several instances when he's brought me quite a bit of trouble…"

His smooth speech echoed in my thoughts like many whispers, resembling the hissing sound that snakes produce.

"If I kill you right now, a lot of my problems would go away."

With every word he spoke, the stronger the hissing sound in my head became, sending me into this weird phase that made it hard for me to keep my focus. Everything around me felt so off balanced.

"…but I think I've got a better idea."

It was only after he removed the palm of his hand away from me that the hissing sound stopped and he appeared in my vision once more. He kept the same smile as before on his face.

'Why did he spare me?'

I thought to myself as I looked at Jezebeth before me. Although his looks were similar to that of a human, and the way he acted was also similar to how a human acted, I couldn't read his expression nor understand what he was thinking.

He was a complete enigma in my eyes.

…and that was what made him especially scary to me.

"Seeing the confused look on your face, you must be wondering why I did not kill you.

Seemingly being able to read my thoughts, I was jolted out of them by Jezebeth's voice.

Wearing the same thin smile on his face, he slowly stood up from his spot.

Then, he started to walk around me in circles. The sound of his soft footsteps echoed through my ears.

"The Akashic records are weakening. No, the Akashic records are already weakened."

Hearing his words, I swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Something within my body started to tremble as a result.

"You may not know this since you don't have the power of the Akashic laws, but with every regression, or time loop, the records weaken."

"It goes without saying that meddling with time isn't cheap regardless of what type of entity you are. Be it me, you...or the records, meddling with time doesn't come cheaply. Whatever the case, unlike me and you, the records don't use that much energy to reset the universe. Every reset is just a fraction of their power and thus the burden they face is rather low, but what if..."

Halting his footsteps, Jezebeth turned his head to look at me.

"…What if the loop happens over and over again? What if it happens so many times that the records slowly start to lose their powers like a fighter running out of stamina, and what if they get so desperate that they start to use even more of their powers to help the one they chose to kill me? The one who threatens their existence?"

Within my head, I could feel my heart beating loudly as he spoke.

His words…

My body began to experience a sudden feeling of dread as I began to comprehend what he was saying.

"Slowly, as the Akashic records weakened, and as regressions took place, I became aware of the previous regressions within my mind with each new regression that happened. The records could no longer expend any energy in trying to make me forget."

Raising his hand, a white glow enveloped Jezebeth's hand and his face twisted.

"This power…it's so addicting."

Even though he spoke in a low whisper, his words reverberated so powerfully inside the room that it felt as if the room itself was shaking.

Turning his attention toward me, the glow on Jezebeth's hand disappeared.

"Judging from your looks, you've already guessed it. This is the last loop. Once 'he' dies, the loop will no longer continue."

The vibrations inside my body grew more intense with each word he said, and my face began to twist in agony.

"So back to why I kept you alive..."

His whispering voice hissed loudly inside of my head, and my view of the surroundings started to twist.

Even then, I tried my best to keep myself from passing out.

I wanted to hear what he wanted to say. I wanted to know why he wasn't killing me. I wanted to know what was going inside of his head...and...and...

"...It's because I don't need to kill you."

My thoughts blanked, and my eyes blinked several times, unable to comprehend his words.

Amusement filled Jezebeth's face as his two glaring red eyes stared at me. No, he was staring at the other me.

"I am aware of your desires. You want to stop the loops. You want the suffering you've experienced to end, right? Then carry it out. Kill yourself right now. Put an end to your never-ending misery and...mmm, hold on."

Jezebeth halted himself mid-sentence.

Suddenly placing his hand over his mouth, he frowned.

"It doesn't look like you can kill yourself just yet. Not unless you devour him."

While he was pondering, it didn't take long for his brows to relax. The smile also returned to his face.

Staring in my direction, his smile became even more prominent.

"Actually, this might be even more fun…"

This time, I knew he was looking at me, not the other me.

"You want to live don't you?"

He suddenly asked while he looked straight into my eyes. Before I could even respond he continued.

"A part of you wants to die, while another wants to live…"

A small chuckle escaped Jezebeth's lips.

"How ironic...You're probably wondering how you'll find a way to escape the influence of your other self while he slowly devours you, and the other you are looking for a way to end me so that he can finally kill himself..."

The more he talked, the more his eyes glistened.

His next words made my heart stop.

"Kill 'him'."

Wiping away the smile on his face, Jezebeth's face turned incomparably serious, sending chills down my body.

Slowly, he raised his hand and pointed at me.

"Kill the 'Akashic holder' and all of this will stop. He dies, and the loop ends. The other you can die while leaving behind the body you are in behind, and you get to keep this body of yours. Doesn't that sound like a nice solution?"

"As for me? I get to save six years, and finally get ahold of the records."

After he finished speaking, a harrowing hush filled the space. The air was so fragile that one would have believed it would break. I opened my mouth, but then shut it when I felt his piercing red eyes glare at me, and my body violently trembled inside.

'This…'

I was shocked to realize that I couldn't refuse his words. I wanted to reject it, but as soon as I opened my mouth, nothing came out.

A smile once again cracked on Jezebeth's face when he looked at me.

"…It looks like you've made your decisio—"

"Kh."

Stopping Jezebeth mid-sentence was a soft sound coming from the distance.

Jezebeth's brows furrowed, and his head turned to look in the direction of where the sound came from.

My heart dropped as soon as his head turned.

A figure soared through the air and appeared in front of Jezebeth as he raised his finger and motioned it toward his direction. Right there, I caught sight of Smallsnake hovering in the air in front of him. He was just half awake right now.

Most likely, he had passed out from the previous pressure Jezebeth exerted.

Jezebeth's cold voice echoed in the air, causing it to tremble as she stared at Smallsnake levitating in midair.

"There was someone else in here? That's careless of me."

A sense of dread washed over me as I looked at Jezebeth who was staring at Smallsnake.

My attempts to move were thwarted by Jezebeth's pressure, which prevented me from moving.

I tried to activate all of my skills at the moment, especially the limit breaker skill, but it was useless. No matter how much I tried, nothing seemed to respond to my calls.

My desperation only grew with time, as I struggled even more.

'Take my body!'

'Didn't you want to take my body?'

My desperation reached the point where I started pleading with my other half, but it was futile. He didn't seem to respond to my calls.

"N..no.."

A few words managed to escape from my lips as I stared at Jezebeth.

"Hm?"

Overhearing my words, Jezebeth looked at me. No, rather, he was looking at my expression.

My heart stopped beating.

"Is this someone you know?"

He asked while alternating his gaze between Smallsnake and me.

"I see…"

He began to murmur in a low voice.

"If I kill him right now, there's a chance he might hate me, but...does it really matter? Once his other self takes over in a couple of years' time, he will kill himself, so I don't have to worry about him in the near future...plus, he heard things that he shouldn't have heard...it would be annoying if he stayed alive.."

With every word that he spoke, the dread inside of my body only increased. Shaking my head, I pleaded inside of my mind.

'Stop him...'

In the meantime, a thin smile spread across Smallsnake's face as he looked at me. The look on his face...

It was similar to that of someone who had accepted their fate.

I couldn't stand it.

I detested it!

I loathed it!

'No!'

"N..no…no, do—"

"Too late."

The next set of actions happened so quickly that I was unable to react at all.

Crack—!

With a twist of his fingers, the sound of bones breaking echoed throughout the room, and Smallsnake's figure squeezed together.

Thump—!

What followed after was a low thumping sound and a body fell to the ground.

My vision's colors began to dwindle at that same instant, and everything around me appeared to go numb.

My mouth slowly opened as my heart, which had been thumping frantically, stopped beating.

"Ah..."

Chapter 603: An option[2]

"Did you get the files?"

"Yes, I've got them."

Hemlock smiled back at Brian as he flashed a card in his direction. The card was in fact a small USB stick in disguise.

"Excellent."

As he looked around, he expressed his heartfelt praise. Observing the surroundings, his eyes were filled with vigilance and alertness.

"It would be a bit troublesome if the others caught us…not that it would be any problem for me, but I don't necessarily want the others to know of me yet..."

He murmured in a low voice.

Catching his whisper, Smallsnake asked.

"Did you say something?"

"No."

Hemlock shook his head while he continued to look around.

As of now, they were in a nice lobby filled with a lot of people who were walking around, each of whom was wearing a nice suit with hair that was neatly combed. In order to blend with them, Brian and Hemlock were also wearing similar attires, but Hemlock's looks were too much of a problem as they attracted everyone's attention wherever he went.

"Let's leave for now."

Hemlock rose from the sofa and headed toward the elevator, much to Brian's confusion.

"Why are we leaving right now? Don't we have to hand this USB stick?"

"Not yet."

Hemlock pressed the elevator button and a small circular yellow light flashed around the button.

Turning around, he looked at Brian.

"Brian, don't say anything for now. Let's find a quieter spot so I can talk to you."

"…Okay?"

Though confused, Brian nodded his head.

Though the situation looked sketchy, he trusted Hemlock and followed his instructions. It showed how much he trusted him.

"I knew you would understand…"

Hemlock quietly murmured with a smile.

Ding—!

With a low chime, the elevator door slowly opened and he took a step in. Brian followed him from behind.

After that, the elevator doors slowly began to close.

*

"So, what did you want to say to me?"

Taking Hemlock's gaze, Brian looked down at his glass cup filled with whiskey and ice before lowering it.

As Hemlock sipped his drink, which was the same as Brian's, he slowly put it on the wooden counter before him.

A tranquil atmosphere permeated the area they were in as dim light covered the area they were in.

"Brian.."

He muttered in a low tone while shaking the glass in his hand.

"Yes?"

Tilting his head a little, Brian was taken aback by his behavior.

'Is there something wrong with him?'

His current state…

How could Brian explain it? He seemed different from the usual person he knew.

"Did something happen, Hemlock?"

He asked, his voice tinged with a little worry.

Turning his head to stare at him, Hemlock smiled.

"No…"

He then shook his head and grabbed the drink from the top with all four fingers. Twirling it around, he quietly mumbled.

"…Everything is just fine."

"Then why do you seem so down?"

"Is that the impression you're getting from me?"

Squinting his eyes and taking note of his expression, Brian nodded his head.

"Yes, yes you do."

Hemlock's smile seemed rather fake at the moment, and his expression wasn't as relaxed as it was in the past.

There was definitely something up.

"Doesn't seem like anything can escape from your sight. As expected of someone like you."

"Have a look."

Hemlock tapped the air until a sheet of paper appeared in front of him, which he then slid across the table.

"What's this?"

Curious, Brian grabbed the piece of paper.

'What is he trying to show me?'

Brian thought to himself. The way Hemlock was behaving seemed a little too strange for him.

'Well, whatever, let me see what's on this paper.'

Shrugging his shoulders, he looked through the paper.

"Eh..."

A strange sound escaped from his mouth as he looked at the first sentence.

A loud pounding sound erupted from nowhere as Smallsnake felt it powerfully ring inside of his head.

"Wha..what's this?"

Gradually, his hands began to shake and his face began to crumble as he continued to read the page. Then, after reading for the next couple of seconds, Brian's neck robotically twisted to look at Hemlock, who was facing him with an expressionless look on his face.

"It..can't be, right?"

…at this very moment, Hemlock, whom Brian thought of as a very close friend and his only friend...started to look foreign to him.

From his smile to his expression and aura…he no longer looked like the same person Brain knew.

"What's with that look?"

Jolting Brian out of his thoughts was his voice. Out of reflex, Brian dropped the paper in his hand and he moved back a little.

"Y..you…"

His voice began to stutter.

Without saying a word, Hemlock stared at Brian without showing any signs of being offended.

It was only after he realized that Brian couldn't say anything that he started to speak.

"Brian."

He first started off by calling out his name.

As a result of his words, Brian stopped stuttering and proceeded to stare at him. The expression on his face was completely pale.

Shaking the glass in his hand, Hemlock looked toward the front.

"…Remember the conversation we had not too long ago, in this very bar?"

Brian immediately shook his head.

With a tilt of his head, Hemlock responded.

"I guess it makes sense for you to not remember in a way. You were pretty drunk that day…"

Taking a sip of the drink in his hand, Hemlock smacked his lips and raised his head to stare at the dim lights coming from above.

"There is no escaping the fact that mankind is on the verge of extinction. We are fated to go extinct, and that's the truth. No matter how hard we try, we will never succeed in winning this war. It's impossible. It's futile...It's suicide..."

Listening to Hemlock's words, Brian swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

His emotions were running wild inside of his body.

His surroundings felt numb, and Hemlock, whom he considered very important, suddenly seemed like a total stranger to him.

'…it's all because of this paper.'

Taking a glimpse of the paper from beside him, Brian's body shook.

'Why?'

"This is for your own good, Brian. I'm doing this to keep you from going extinct like all the other people of this world once 'he' arrives." It's only natural that you're confused about why I suddenly assigned you a demon contract, but trust me, I'm doing this to help you..."

Leaning his body forward a bit, Hemlock brought the paper to Brian's face.

Brian, you have a very high level of skill. Initially, I didn't think too much of you, but after working with you for the amount of time that we have, I realized that you are the one...You are the one that can help me save humanity and prevent them from going extinct. With your skills and my skills together, we can help change this world. Help them make the right decision..." "

Reaching out his hand toward Brian, Hemlock smiled at him.

"In my search for a demon that perfectly matches your abilities, I had to ask a lot of favors. It wasn't easy, but I understood just how important your skills are. Please take my hand. Take my hand and help me save this world from inevitable destruction and—"

"No."

Brian pushed the hand away before Hemlock could finish his sentence.

His expression froze at the rejection.

"Eh?"

"Did you seriously think that I would accept your offer?"

Brian looked at Hemlock with a face. His face filled with anger and sadness.

"It's great that you want to save humanity, but can you truly be regarded as a human once you sign a contract? Don't you lose sight of yourself when you're overwhelmed by all of your emotions which become more prominent as a result of your signature? If you lose the things that make you human, why even bother doing this?"

Hemlock's countenance twisted more and more with each word Brain spoke.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, he said.

"…But Brian, didn't you previously agree with me? Didn't you also say that this was the only thing that could save humanity? Didn—'"

"When?!"

Brian's voice raised.

"When did I ever say such nonsense before?!"

"Right here, a couple of weeks back! I thought that you of all people would understand what I'm trying to do!"

Hemlock also raised his voice as he smacked his cup against the wooden counter.

Bang!

The table broke in two, and Brian looked at Hemlock in shock.

"I..."

Alternating his gaze between Brian and the table, the expression on Hemlock's face soon turned completely expressionless, and he sat back down on the chair.

"Haa.."

Passing the paper back to Hemlock, Brian smiled in self deprecation.

"I should've known better. There's no way someone would be nice to me without having some sort of agenda against me..."

Standing up from his seat, he took his black coat and wore it.

"Don't ever contact me again."

Walking up to the bar owner, Brain paid for the broken table and drinks before he coldly looked at Hemlock and left the place. From how he didn't react when the table broke, Smallsnake knew that he was someone that was most probably working under Hemlock.

Once Brian left, Hemlock remained seated in the same spot for a long time.

"Haa…"

Eventually, he let out a long exhale and murmured.

"Im disappointed. Out of all people, I would've thought that you would understand me."

Covering his head with both hands and clenching his hair, Hemlock mumbled to himself.

"Why does no one understand what I'm trying to do? It's not like I'm doing anything bad…I'm only just trying to save humanity from going extinct…why is something like this so condemned by everyone? Are they just blinded by this false sense of security that the world is giving them?"

The more he spoke, the greater the insanity in Hemlock's eyes. A black-light flashed behind them.

"Right…that must be it. The only reason why people aren't agreeing with me is because they are too distracted with this false sense of security that is masking the real danger that is about to approach…they don't understand that death in this world is inevitable and that there is no hope for them in the future. They need to experience true helplessness before they understand…yeah, it must be that."

Covering his face with his hands, Hemlock suddenly thought of something.

"Right..right…this must be the only way…I'm sure he'll understand…"

Dropping the drink on the ground, Hemlock's figure disappeared from the spot.

*

While gazing into the window on her right, a lady sat up straight on the bed and cut some apples.

She had a rather peaceful look on her face.

"I hope Brian is doing well. He hasn't paid a visit in quite a while."

She pouted a little when she murmured those words.

Usually, Brian would visit her every day. There were times when he would not come, but he would never leave for as long as he did.

"Is it because I'm feeling better now? Does he think it's no longer worthwhile to visit me now that I'm feeling better?"

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became.

"What an unfilial child."

"That's not the case ma'am."

A voice suddenly echoed amidst her thoughts.

"Ahh!"

Laurenta, Brian's mother, screamed out in shock when she heard a voice coming from behind her. She was so startled that some of the apples fell on the bed sheets.

It wasn't until she saw who the individual was that she finally calmed down. She glared in his direction.

"Hemlock! Why must you scare me like that?"

"I apologize."

Hemlock lowered his head in apology.

"I didn't mean to startle you like that."

"Haa…"

Covering her chest with her hand, Laurenta waved her hand. Then, putting on a smile on her face, she grabbed an apple and handed it to Hemlock.

"Care for an apple? I've been spending my time cutting them all day waiting for Brian to arri—"

"No thank you."

Moving toward her direction a little, Hemlock suddenly pressed his hand against her mouth and nose and applied pressure. Her eyes opened up in shock.

"Mh..Mhhhh...mhhh!"

"Shhhh…"

Hushing her, Hemlock brought his body closer to her ear and whispered. Although his expression looked calm, there was a faint tremble in his hand.

"Don't think badly of me. I'm doing this for Brian. I'm doing this for him…"

Laurenta's eyes slowly started to close as she appeared to be able to understand his remarks. She may have wanted to say something, but it wasn't as if Hemlock would give her a chance to. Just as her eyes fully closed, a small tear fell down the side of her cheek.

Sooh her breathing stopped and so did her heart.

"Haaa…haaa…."

Taking his hand away from her mouth, Hemlock jumped back and gasped heavily for breath. With sweat dripping down the side of his face, he looked at Laurenta. Then, lowering his head to stare at his hands which were shaking, he mumbled to himself.

"I..I had to do it. It was the only way…I..it was the only way to make him understand..." "

Chapter 604: An option [3]

"hmmm…"

Jezebeth scowled as he fixed his gaze on Ren, who appeared to have lost his soul.

'…Is this really how he used to be?'

Overlapping his image with the image of the man he knew, Jezebeth only felt disgust.

"To think that the death of someone so insignificant was all it took to reduce you into this state…"

In reality, it most likely wasn't just that. He was currently in this mental condition as a result of discovering the genuine facts about his existence and the death of one his comrades.

The man he knew was someone that closely resembled him. Someone that would do anything to achieve his goals.

It was exactly because he was like this that Jezebeth liked him.

Unfortunately, this version of him that was before him was a far cry from the figure he remembered.

In any case, this didn't concern Jezebeth.

'Should I just kill him?'

In that split moment, he had the sudden urge to end him right here and there. In the first place, the only reason he was keeping him alive was to save himself some trouble as well as time, but it wasn't really necessary.

He had already won. All he needed to do was just wait six years and the Akashic records would be his.

...Just six years.

'No, now is not a good idea.'

It took quite a bit of willpower to stop himself from killing him.

Calming himself down, Jezebeth suddenly noticed that Ren was now glaring in his direction. A powerful and chilling pressure started to expand from out of his body. One that even made Jezebeth's spine tingle.

"Oh?"

His head tilted a little as the edges of his lips curled a little.

"Someone looks a little displeased."

A little would be an exaggeration. Currently, it looked as though wanted to eat him alive. That look…it was not bad.

'Too bad now is not the right time.'

Jezebeth thought while he shook his head.

Focusing his attention toward the portal in the distance, he motioned in the air with his fingers and Ren's figure slowly floated in the air. The previous pressure that was coming out from his body disappeared just like that.

The current Ren was nothing but a bug in his eyes.

"Regrettably, I don't have time to entertain your rage."

Motioning with his finger, Ren's body slowly headed in his direction. Coming to a stop in front of him, Jezebeth scratched his neck a little before his eyes squinted.

"Don't forget the advice I gave you earlier. Everything will vanish if you kill "him." You will have the option of either dying or living, depending on which of you chooses."

He spoke with a hushed voice and an icy tone. One that sounded like a thousands snakes were hissing at the same time in Ren's ears.

Extending his hand, he pressed it against Ren's forehead. A gentle glow enveloped the room.

Feeling Ren's soul, he mumbled.

"Four years."

Removing the palm of his hand away from Ren, Jezebeth took a step back.

Then, staring straight into Ren's eyes, he began to mutter.

"…That's how long it will take for your other self to completely fuse with your current self. If by that time the current you has still not killed the Akashic holder, the other part of you will take over and end both of your existences."

A ripple spread over the vicinity as Jezebeth extended his hand and tapped Ren's forehead with his finger.

After that, a black tattoo resembling a crown began to form on Ren's wrist. His face twisted in pain, but no sound escaped from his mouth as Jezebeth kept it sealed shut.

"I've injected a small quantity of my blood into your bloodstream just in case, in four years, something does occur and 'he' refuses to take control of your body or you two come to an agreement. When four years have gone and you haven't passed away, the curse I set in you will automatically come to fruition, and you will pass away in an instant."

Jezebeth wasn't someone that believed all his plans would work.

Just because he was setting Ren free, he understood just how much of a potential problem he could pose to him in the future.

If his plan didn't work out, then he would always have a couple of backup plans.

It was in his nature to be that cautious.

Nothing could stop him from achieving his goals.

"It's time for us to part. Don't forget about what we've talked about."

With a contented smile on his face, Jezebeth patted Ren on the cheek as Ren's body floated slowly towards the direction of the portal in the distance. Throughout the entire time, the only thing he could do was glare in his direction with an undisguisable hatred.

Jezebeth merely smiled when he saw his glare.

"Time is ticking and you don't have much time left. Whether you live or die, all will depend on your next course of actions."

Pressing his palm forward, Ren's body shot toward the portal that was already set up.

After that, his body completely disappeared. The last thing that Jezebeth saw was his terrifying glare that was filled with bloodlust. After that, a deep silence enveloped the room.

It was only after a couple of seconds passed that the silence was broken.

"…should I have just killed him?"

Once again, Jezebeth started to have second thoughts.

Thinking back at the glare, Jezebeth had an unsettling feeling.

He was starting to doubt himself a little. I mean, how could he not? He knew just how powerful Ren was.

He was someone who could stand on an equal level with him. There was no way he would treat him the same as the others.

"If I stop to think about it, my strategy ought to be foolproof." If he rejects my offer, "he" will seize control and commit suicide in four years. If, however, he does not commit suicide, the curse I cast upon him should finish the job for me. Additionally, as the akashic holder is the only person capable of killing me, there is no need to worry about him harming me in any way after he kills the Akashic holder. The truth is that I have won. Everything should be within my grasp, yet... why, do I still feel so uneasy?"

This feeling…

Jezebeth clenched his fists together.

'I don't like this.'

It was anything but pleasant for Jezebeth. For someone of his caliber to feel this type of emotion, it felt nothing short of irritating.

The prospect of something going unnoticed was unsettling, and right now even his backup plan didn't seem as secure as he had believed it to be.

"I need something else.."

He quietly murmured to himself.

It was then that he realized that he needed something else to completely feel in control of the situation.

Something that would truly be able to turn the tides of the events on the off-chance that something wrong happened, and his plan failed.

"Hmm…"

Standing in the middle of the room, while deeply contemplating the matter, Jezebeth scanned the room with his eyes.

It wasn't long before they paused in a certain direction. At that moment, a startling notion crossed his mind as his eyes shone a bright red hue. After a while, wearing a thin smile on his face, Jezebeth mumbled something.

"What if…"

***

"What's taking him so long?"

In a vast room full of scars and broken equipment, an immature, borderline childish voice resounded throughout the space.

Pacing around the room, Ryan looked at the portal with worry in his eyes.

It had been quite a while since he had left the planet and he had returned to earth.

Upon returning, he discovered his mercenary headquarters in a deplorable state. Nearly everything was damaged, and Ryan believed that the entire warehouse would have been lost in the annals of history if it weren't for the training grounds' solid walls.

On another note, he wasn't the only one who was back as everyone else was also back. Everyone apart from Kevin, Emma, and Melissa who seemed to have teleported somewhere else.

Not only that, Smallsnake, and Ren were also still not back.

"Did you say that Smallsnake was waiting at the portal when you got back?"

While Ryan was pacing the room, a loud, distinct voice resounded across the space. Angelica, who was speaking, turned to face Amanda who nodded in response to her query. She seemed rather uncomfortable talking to her, but she still remained quite courteous.

"Yes. Before I left, I remember seeing Smallsnake. I told him to keep the portal open for when Ren comes."

"I see…"

Angelica nodded her head.

Then, after a couple of seconds, she frowned and asked.

"Last I recalled, you were with Ren. Why didn't you go back with him?"

Amanda pursed her lips when she heard the question.

Lowering her head a little, she softly murmured.

"It's because I didn't want to hold him back."

Thanks to her long-range shooting, Amanda was able to help him get to the top level more quickly, but she soon realized that she would only be getting in the way from that point on and chose to leave.

…also, thinking back at the conversation she had with him, she couldn't stand to stay in that room anymore.

It felt too suffocating to her.

"The portal is reacting!"

Amanda was abruptly startled out of her thoughts by Ryan's yell as ripples started to develop on the portal across from them.

Everyone in the room instantly turned to focus their attention on the portal.

Ryan's face was especially excited as he looked toward the portal.

"Looks like they've made it in time."

He murmured in relief while a thin smile spread across his face.

Swooosh—!

In the fraction of a second that followed his words, a figure blasted out of the portal and fell to the ground in front of everyone.

Bang—!

"Cough…cough…"

Accompanying the crash was a series of coughs as everyone turned their attention to focus in the direction of where the figure crashed, only to see Ren's pale figure laying on the ground.

"It's Ren!"

"Ren."

When they noticed his condition, Ryan and the others yelled out in shock. None of them appeared to be acting any differently than they had in the past as if the recollections of the dreams they saw were simply fleeting images in their brains.

The first to move to him was Amanda who looked at him with worry in her eyes.

'Somethings wrong…'

And it was right when her eyes paused on his face that Amanda suddenly noticed something wrong with his expression.

If before she left, Ren looked lonely and broken, right now, he looked completely out of it as he looked toward the ceiling while murmuring something in the air.

His voice was so soft that barely anyone could hear it. Not even Amanda could hear it, and she was right next to him.

'What is he trying to say?'

Amanda leaned in close to hear what he was saying while adjusting her body position.

"S..small..snake…"

"Smallsnake?"

Only when she put her ear next to his mouth was she finally able to decipher what he was trying to say, and when she repeated those words aloud, the entire room instantly went utterly silent.

Especially Ryan who was looking toward the portal with anticipation.

Turning his head to look at Ren and noticing his expression, he took a small step back and let out a dry laugh.

"S..Smallsnake? W…where is Smallsnake?"

"…"

He was met with no response.

"Haha…"

Ryan laughed again, while he looked around toward the others. Snapping his head around, he looked around the room.

"Surely this is a joke…Smallsnake is somewhere here, hiding and trying to get back at me for all the p..problems that I have caused him…right?"

Gradually, taking note of everyone's expressions, Ryan's voice turned weaker, and his body started to tremble.

Moving toward where Ren was, he fell on both knees and grabbed him by the shirt.

Lifting his head up, Ryan's voice raised.

"R..ren…please tell me this is a joke… It has to be a joke!"

"I.."

Opening his mouth, Ren tried to answer, but he didn't need to finish his sentence for Ryan to understand what happened.

"No,no,no,no,no…"

Letting go of Ren's shirt, Ryan fell back on his butt and blankly looked toward the ceiling of the room.

"It..can't be…didn't he promise to come back..?"

Tears slowly began to fall down the side of his back as he tried his best to smile.

"H..he wouldn't just leave like that right? Haha…I…please?"

Chapter 605: Ah, l finally understand [1]

Pitter! Pitter!

The muffled sound of rain hitting against the window beside me, woke me up.

I groggily opened my eyes and glanced toward the window, where I was greeted by a gloomy scene. It was a dark and dreary sight, typical of any rainy day.

It perfectly synchronized with my mood.

[You have 37 missed calls]

When I finally had the opportunity to check my phone, I noticed several missed calls. They seemed to come from my parents, Amanda, Kevin, and the others. I ultimately didn't answer them back and just shut off my phone.

I wasn't in the mood to talk with anyone at the moment.

Everything felt like a dream to me at the moment. No, rather, a nightmare. One that I couldn't possibly escape from.

'What time is it?'

An unknown period of time passed while I lay on my bed just blankly staring at the ceiling of the room I was in.

Raising my hand and turning my wrist, I checked the time. I felt a sudden pang in my heart while I stared at the time. 16 : 39 P.M.

"...It's almost time, huh?"

I reluctantly got out of bed and stumbled toward the closet where I pulled out a set of black clothes. Grabbing onto the clothes, my hands shook.

It was almost time for Smallsnake's funeral to start.

A few days had passed since the incident, and those few days had been among the most difficult in my life. It was difficult to prepare a funeral for someone you had assumed would accompany you till the end and would always be around.

I...I just couldn't stomach it.

How?

Just where did things go wrong?

Why must things have turned out this way?

"What's this?"

Unknowingly, I felt something wet stream down from the side of my face.

"..Ah, shit."

I raised my hand and clenched my chest as a sharp, heartbreaking agony swept across my chest.

It hurt.

It really hurt.

I...I really didn't expect things to turn out this way. I...I really didn't.

***

Ryan looked toward the empty casket in the distance as he passed through the long aisle that was covered in a long red carpet and seemed to stretch for miles. It was probably shorter, but to him, it looked endless.

His footsteps felt heavy, and his eyes were rather blurry.

It still hadn't sunk into his mind.

...The fact that Smallsnake had left him.

The fatherly or brotherly figure he had been missing throughout his entire life was gone just like that.

"I..shouldn't be like this."

He mumbled to himself while he walked down the aisle.

'Fix your clothes, you look like a total mess like that.'

'Is that really how you want to look at my funeral?'

'At least wipe your tears.'

'What a mess, I thought I taught you better.'

A bitter smile formed on Ryan's face as he suddenly thought of his appearance. Raising his arm, he wiped his tears away.

'He would probably nag me if he saw me in this state.'

A hollow laugh escaped from his lips.

Moving toward the empty casket, another wave of sadness swept past Ryan who felt something grip his chest. Once again, he felt the corner of his eyes tear up, but as he thought of Smallsnake, he stopped himself.

'I mustn't show him that I'm crying.'

He may not have been here, but to Ryan, he was here.

He was always here.

Staring at the casket for a couple of good minutes, Ryan lowered his head. He then made his way to a seat and sat down.

The entire chapel was filled with familiar figures. Angelica, who was currently disguised as a cat, Ava, Hein, Leopold, Kevin, Amanda, Emma...all of Ren's friends and people that were previously on the other planet. All of them were mourning Smallsnake's death.

But...

There was only one person missing.

'Where is he?'

Looking around, Ryan tried to look for Ren. It didn't take long for him to spot his parents whom he had met once with Smallsnake...they were here...yet Ren wasn't.

Everyone was here apart from him.

'Why?'

Ryan wondered while he continuously looked for him.

'Why isn't he here?'

It didn't seem like he was the only one that was looking for him. Practically, almost everyone in the chapel was also looking for him.

...How could they not?

He was the one that was supposed to speak first. He was supposed to be the one guy that known him the longest.

So why wasn't he here?

Why? Out of all people, he should've been the first one here!

Why?

Why!!

Why!?

'D..does he not care?'

Ryan ultimately found herself thinking about the dream he had witnessed as a result of the demon's meddling.

'Does he really just think of us as just pawns?'

He never put much thought into it back when he was watching everything. In the first place, he didn't understand much of the content that was shown to him.

...It made no sense.

Nonetheless, if there was one thing he managed to pick up from the flashbacks, was Ren's mentality and the way he behaved.

He killed individuals without showing any remorse and treated everyone as though they were expandables that could be tossed at any time.

It didn't matter whether he knew them or not. If they were in the way of his goals, they were nothing but a roadblock that needed to be removed.

This was the Ren that Ryan saw in the visions, and this was also this behavior that made Ryan understand that the dream was probably a fake. The Ren he knew wasn't like this at all.

He wasn't.

Never.

...At least that was what he thought before.

But as time ticked, and everyone quietly sat down waiting for him to arrive, Ryan started to have second thoughts.

'No, no, no, it can't be.'

His emotions were gradually beginning to spiral downward in a negative direction, possibly as a result of the fact that he wasn't in the finest emotional state. No one could blame him for his thoughts.

As crazy and unlikely the probability of that Ren being the Ren he knew, Ryan just couldn't stop overlapping the two figures together...

'No, no..they are not the same people...'

The memory of Smallsnake conversing with Ren in the same way as before was the only thing keeping him from going further down. He was also the one that informed him that Ren wasn't that way.

It was Smallsnake's words that kept him from going down an even bigger downward spiral of thoughts.

"Keum."

Jolting Ryan out of his thoughts was a small cough. Raising his head up, he found Kevin standing at the altar.

"Why is he there?"

Ryan quietly mumbled while he looked at Kevin. He barely knew Smallsnake, what right did he have to stand there?

"I know that some of you are uncomfortable with my sudden appearance here, but..."

Lowering his head, Kevin turned his wrist and checked his watch.

"We're currently running late, and it doesn't seem like Ren is here yet. Since we can't afford to take the whole day, I can only start the—"

Clank—!

Right as Kevin began to speak, the doors slammed open abruptly. As soon as that happened, more than half of the audience turned to look in the direction of where the noise came from, and there they saw a ragged figure coming in slowly.

'Ren?'

Ryan thought as he spotted him from the distance.

He wasn't the only one that notice his appearance as the chapel was filled with murmurs and whispers.

Taking note of his glaring black circles, pale face, crooked tie, and wrinkled clothes, Ryan pursed his lips.

His appearance brought a small turmoil in the chapel as several figures rushed to him, only to be rejected by him who slowly walked toward the altar. His steps were rather slow, yet, seemed extremely firm.

Silently clenching his teeth, Ryan lowered his head.

He felt a deep sense of shame rise from deep within his chest.

'Right...it was stupid of me to think like that...'

Smallsnake's death probably hit Ren the hardest. He previously thought that he should've been the one who was supposed to be the saddest about his apparent death, but staring at Ren who had trouble walking, Ryan realized how immature his thinking was.

In truth, he was probably jealous.

To him, Smallsnake was like the father he never had. He was naggy, yes, and he hated it...but...but..

'W..why do I suddenly miss his nagging so much? Why...'

Pita!

A tear fell down from the corner of his eye.

'I...'

"Does this work?"

A groggy voice jolted Ryan out of his thoughts.

Raising his head, he spotted Ren standing behind the podium. In his hand was a small piece of paper.

Gathering the attention of everyone present, including Ryan's, he began to speak. At first, his voice seemed rather firm, but the more he spoke, the fainter his voice became.

"I would like to first extend my gratitude to all relatives, friends, and attendees that have come today to honor a great man, Smallsna...haha."

A hollow laugh suddenly escaped from Ren's lips.

"...This is much harder than I thought."

Crumbling the piece of paper in his hand, he leaned his body forward and looked at everyone present.

His sudden actions startled some of the people present.

"D..do you guys want to know something funny?"

Regardless, he didn't seem to care as he continued.

"..I've known Smallsnake for about four to five years. He's probably the first friend I've ever made in this world. He was also a person that I liked to joke around with...thinking back, I was probably really harsh on him. My jokes were extremely nasty. Back then, I didn't think too much of them. In the first place, I never thought that he would die. Just casual banter...I was probably really arrogant...but that's not the funny part...."

Turning his head to look at Smallsnake's image, Ren drummed his fingers on the image.

"Smallsnake, Smallsnake, Smallsnake.."

He mumbled his name repeatedly.

Covering his face with his hand, Ren's voice suddenly trembled. He seemed to be struggling with his words.

"...T-he really funny thing about all of this is that...I still don't know his name. From the first that I met him, I never once asked him for his name and just called him Smallsnake. Haha."

He let out another laugh.

"Pathetic, isn't it?"

His hands started to shake while the entire chapel was enveloped in silence. His words deeply resonated with the hearts of some of the people attending.

"...This isn't all...as a leader, Smallsnake's death can only be attributed to my own selfishness and..."

Ren bit his lips.

Unable to finish his sentence, Ren clenched the piece of paper in his hand even more tightly.

His hands started to shake uncontrollably as his head lowered.

While this was happening, no one said anything. There was a stifling silence inside the room.

One that felt really suffocating.

During the silence, most people had their heads lowered. Everyone apart from Ryan and a couple of others that kept their gaze on Ren...and it was because they kept their eyes on him that they suddenly noticed him looking in a certain direction.

Following his line of sight, Ryan realized that he was looking at Kevin who was also looking back at him.

Alternating his gaze between the two, Ryan suddenly noticed that Ren's body was shaking even more as his mouth opened and closed several times. His expression was heartwrenching.

In the end, Ren mouthed them since he was unable to utter them.

'...Please die?'

***

Volume [4] End - part 1/2.

The next volume will be the last volume of the book. The book is sadly coming to an end.

P.S. I will not be going on a break.

Chapter 606: Ah, l finally understand [2]

"Pathetic, isn't it?"

As I mumbled those words, I turned to face the people in the seats across from me.

My throat tightened as I felt the gazes of the people in the room.

Their gazes...

They felt rather suffocating. Especially when I met the gazes of Ryan and the others that were close to Smallsnake. I felt a deep sense of guilt when I saw the pained expression on their faces.

A part of me felt responsible for this mess.

It wasn't just that. As I spoke, memories of Smallsnake started to resurface inside my mind. Each and every one of them caused me to experience intense anguish.

Time stood at a standstill, and a great sense of wariness washed over me. Enough to give me the impression that my body had completely lost all of its vigor.

'...I look pretty pathetic, don't I?'

I lowered my head and stopped speaking.

I probably looked a far cry from how I usually acted, but I couldn't help it. Never did I expect a loss to impact me so much.

Unlike the other me, I still had emotions, and they weren't something I could just turn off with the flip of a switch.

I wish I could...

...I really wish I could.

I slowly raised my head and opened my mouth to speak. My eyes quietly swept the room in the process.

My gaze halted in a certain area just as I was about to speak.

My body began to tremble. A flood of emotions burst out from deep within my body while my eyes focused on a particular person in the distance.

He...

He looked just like me.

Black hair, blue eyes, and an indifferent look...it would be more appropriate to say that he was me.

He was standing near the rear of the room with shackles around his hands and feet. Everything around me started to vanish at that very moment, leaving only him to fill my field of vision.

Everything around me felt dark.

It seemed as though the world had ended and the two of us were the only people remaining in this world. Breathing and standing got a little more difficult, which intensified the feeling of unease that I felt.

'All of this...'

Blinking once, the world around me cleared up and I found myself inside the chapel again. He was still standing there.

His image continued to haunt me in my mind.

'...All of this is his fault.'

I quietly mumbled to myself.

Everything that was happening to me, and Smallsnake's death. It was all his fault.

I was sure of it.

Smallsnake's death was something he had planned.

At first, it didn't make sense to me, but by this point, I was positive. Smallsnake's death was planned by him. He had planned his demise with the sole purpose of inciting animosity between Jezebeth and I.

His actions didn't make sense to me, but I just knew...

I knew that everything was his fault. He was cursed, yes...but so was I.

He was my curse.

That's why.

Opening my mouth, I quietly mumbled.

'...Please die.'

***

The funeral lasted for over three hours.

At that time, several individuals walked up to the podium and shared their memories of Smallsnake.

A large majority of the attendees didn't quite know Smallsnake. They were mostly there to support those that were affected by his death.

In fact, the number of people that were actually close to him didn't number more than ten. It was sad.

...but what was sadder was the faces of those that were mourning his loss.

Watching everything unfold, Kevin understood something.

He understood just how much this individual known as 'Smallsnake' meant to the people around him.

Especially Ren who seemed to be in a terrible state.

But...

'Please die.'

Catching a glimpse of his words, Kevin found himself unable to continue paying attention to the funeral.

Recalling his expression as he said those words, and the direction he was looking at, Kevin felt numb.

'Was he talking about me?'

Why?

Why did Ren want him to die so badly?

Actually, Kevin understood why. He just didn't want to accept it.

The loops, the memories, they felt weird to Kevin. In a way, he looked like the bad guy. He was the guy that turned Ren the way that he was.

...But Kevin felt that something was missing.

In a way, his actions made sense to him.

If he was presented with a choice to restart the world when half of it was destroyed as a result of Ren's actions, he would make the same decision again.

In a sense, what Ren was going through was what he deserved to go through.

His actions...

They were no worse than the Demon King.

Kevin understood that...yet he couldn't bring himself to hate him. In a way, he felt sympathy for him.

Especially after understanding just how much pain he went through, and the reason for his actions.

Kevin had no doubt that he would behave the same way if put in the same situation as him.

Nonetheless, that wasn't the thing that bothered Kevin.

'...There's something missing.'

Something else was bothering him.

He wasn't exactly sure about what it was. For now, it was just a feeling, but at the same time, Kevin knew that there was more to this 'feeling' of his.

"Hey, it's time to go back."

Kevin looked toward Emma after sensing a pull at his arm. After briefly focusing his attention on her, he turned around and swept his gaze around the room. Soon his eyes paused on Ren who seemed to be with his parents.

After focusing on his figure for a few seconds, Kevin's eyes drooped. Then, turning around, he left the chapel.

"Let's go."

"You not going to talk to Ren?"

"...Not now."

Kevin quietly mumbled.

Pursing his lips, he repeated in a softer voice.

"Not now."

***

I followed the others back toward the headquarters right after the funeral.

There were a lot of things that needed to be sorted out in the absence of Smallsnake.

Clank—!

Opening the door of the warehouse, the first thing that greeted me was darkness. It was a rare sight.

Usually, I would be greeted by lights and Smallsnake's presence.

'You're finally here, Ren.'

'Shut up.'

'Fuck you.'

"Haha."

A short laugh escaped from my lips when I recalled our typical interactions.

Who would have imagined that such simple recollections would make me feel so bad?

"I'll go train."

"Me too."

We had just walked in when I heard numerous voices behind me.

I then saw Hein and Ava walk straight into the training rooms. Their expressions were more restrained than before. Their appearance conveyed a strong impression of determination and resolve.

Smallsnake's death seemed to have finally woken them up to the harsh reality of this world.

...But it wasn't just them that were affected.

"Here."

A hand extended toward me, and I felt something land on my hands. I lowered my head and found a crumbled up pack of cigarettes.

It was Leopold. I couldn't tell much from his expression, but his actions were enough to convey to me what he was feeling.

"...He always told me to stop smoking. I guess it's about time I took his advice."

He left right after that.

Following him from behind was Angelica who didn't say a single word. She was followed by Han Yufei and Liam, who simply left the room without saying a word, leaving Ryan and I standing in the hallway.

"You know..."

It was then that Ryan opened his mouth.

Turning my head, our eyes met.

"...You know, Smallsnake never hated you despite the way you treated him."

A great pang gripped my heart when I heard his words.

Thinking back to how I treated Smallsnake in the past, I felt great regret.

'If only I was nicer to him...'

His death made me realize just how much of an asshole I was.

...and it was exactly this realization that ate away at my consciousness as I felt deep remorse.

'If only...'

"There's no point regretting the past now."

Ryan muttered while he handed me a small black box.

I lowered my head and glanced at the box.

"What's this?"

"It's something Smallsnake told me to give to you in case something happened to him."

Shoving it at me, he followed the others, leaving me behind.

A stifling silence permeated the air as I stood rooted on the spot, staring at the small black box in my hand.

I already had an idea of what was inside the box, and it was precisely because I knew that I felt hesitant.

My lips trembled as I squeezed the package tightly into my palm.

"You really..."

***

End of Volume [4] Part 2/3.

There was originally only going to be two parts for the end of the volume, but it ended up being 6k words long, so I'll be cutting it to three parts.

Chapter 607: Ah, l finally understand [3]

Darkness engulfed Ashton's metropolis with the passing of the twelfth hour.

"Haaa..."

Melissa stared at the scenery outside and sighed. Her features were beautifully illuminated by the lights coming from above as she sat on a tiny stool.

"Ashton city looks a lot better at night, don't you think?"

"...Excuse me?"

The barista in front of her was taken aback. In spite of the current time in Ashton city, Melissa's orders were absolute, and he was thus forced to work at these hours.

"Y..yes, it indeed does look more beautiful."

"The beauty of the lights coming from the buildings is best appreciated at night.

They dispel the darkness brought on by the night."

"R..right."

The barista reluctantly nodded his head.

If he had to be completely honest, right now, all he wanted was to sleep. Additionally, he found Melissa's comments to be incomprehensible, which made the situation rather uncomfortable for him.

Regardless, a job was a job, and he could only put on a fake smile and nod his head.

"Pfff."

Melissa suddenly let out a small laugh as the cup in her hands loosely hung by the tips of her fingers.

"...Looks like you find my words boring."

The barista's face hardened. He had been caught red-handed.

Melissa laughed in self-depreciation when she saw his expression. She then waved her hand in his direction.

"Don't worry, you're not fired. I get it, I'm annoying."

Taking a sip of her drink, she smacked it against the counter.

"I'm one annoying bitch, so do me a favor. Give me another shot.

As she raised an eyebrow at the barista, a slight flush developed on the side of her cheeks. At this point, she was acting extremely differently from how she usually did. She was obviously inebriated, as evidenced by her flush and words.

"I don't think..."

"No point refusing. If you won't give it to me, I'll just get it myself."

Melissa stood up from her seat. Sweeping her eyes on the numerous bottles that stood behind the marble counter, her eyes paused toward a certain bottle.

"1987, Melionette? Sounds fancy."

Setting her eyes on the target, she tried to jump over the counter.

"Let's stop here."

A hand pressed against her shoulder before she could do that.

"Eh?"

Melissa turned her head.

"Emma? Amanda?"

It surprised her to see Emma and Amanda standing behind her. What were they doing here?

Emma ignored Melissa while she turned her head to look at Amanda.

"Looks like you were right, Amanda. She's acting exactly like you said she would."

"Mhm."

Amanda quietly nodded her head.

She was currently wearing a one-piece black dress that perfectly highlighted her physique. It was the same dress she wore at the funeral. The same was for Emma. It was clear from their attires that they didn't have time to change.

"What do you guys want?"

Melissa's eyes grew clearer as her thoughts started to slowly calm down.

"...How did you get in here?"

Emma flashed a black card.

Melissa's brows twitched when she saw the card. She could faintly recall giving one to Emma in the past when she was begging her for one.

Melissa gave her one out of pity. Naturally, she knew about her situation.

She was starting to regret that decision right now.

"What's with that look? You think we wouldn't know what you're thinking about after seeing the state you were in after we returned?"

Moving to the counter, Emma sat down on a stool. Then, looking at the barista, she pointed at the same bottle Melissa was previously looking at.

"1987, Melionette. A glass each."

"...Sure."

The barista nodded after taking a short glance at Amanda and Emma. They looked responsible.

"I thought you were going to stop me from drinking."

"Why would we?"

Emma asked while a small pill appeared in her hand.

She then handed it to Melissa.

"Not like I'm worried about getting a hangover with this."

"...Right."

Melissa weakly turned her head and sat on a stool beside Emma.

Amanda followed her example and sat next to her.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Silence permeated the room as the three women sat serenely next to one another. The stillness was allowed to linger since none of the three of them wanted to speak first.

"Your drinks."

The clicking sound of glasses being set down on the counter disturbed the silence.

Simultaneously, all three girls reached out for their respective glasses and took a sip.

The silence continued for the next minute.

"...You can laugh if you want."

The first one to speak was Melissa. Keeping her gaze on the display of drinks before her, she set her glass on the counter.

"You've seen my memories. You must find it amusing, I suppose. That Melissa Hall, who appears to be so powerful on the outside, really just wants her father's favor. and the only reason why she acts the way she does is because she has no expectations of others...It must be hilarious, truly..."

Melissa took the drink she set down on the counter and gulped it all in one go.

"Must be really funny..."

"Nah."

Emma set her glass down beside her.

Stretching her arms, she frowned.

"This is uncomfortably tight."

Grumbling to herself, she turned her attention back to Melissa. Scratching the side of her cheek, she mumbled.

"...To be honest, I kind of get how you feel."

Emma tapped the tip of the glass.

"I could kind of guess why you acted the way you did. It's not like I only knew you from the academy. Ever since we were little I would always see you try your best to please your father. At one point I was even jealous of you..."

"Jealous?"

Melissa shook her head.

"Please, as if anyone would be jealous of me."

"You'd be surprised actually. Not only is your father the strongest in the world, but you're also incredibly smart. There's many out there that don't have it as good as us."

"...Smart, huh?"

Melissa took off her glasses and wiped them with her clothes. Her eyes strained.

"If only that was actually useful in this day and age."

"You think too little of yourself."

Emma rolled her eyes.

"You might not realize it, but just your inventions alone have enabled civilization to rise to heights previously seen as unthinkable. One example of that is the magic card system. That invention alone has helped us advance in so many ways."

"If I were you, I'd simply put more emphasis on myself than on what other people think. It's what I've been doing, and it kind of works like a charm."

"That so?"

Melissa pursed her lips as she thought of Emma's words.

In a way, Melissa could see what Emma was trying to express, but she was still struggling to alter her way of thinking.

Her brows furrowed.

"I'll keep it in mind."

She then tapped on her ring and took out several potions from her dimensional space.

A complicated look spread across Melissa's face when she looked at the potions.

"What are those?"

Emma's curious voice reached her ears.

After staring at the potions for a moment, she spoke.

"...Something that I need to get rid of."

Having her memories exposed, seeing Ren's memories, and her talk with Emma...Melissa understood that she needed to change.

Though a bit late, it was time for her to grow up a little.

She realized that she could no longer be who she had been in the past, and getting rid of the potions was the first step in her transformation. Taking another look at the potions before her, Melissa swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

'It wouldn't hurt if I took another one...no, shit.'

"Take them."

Melissa pushed the potions in Emma's direction.

For a brief moment, she almost lost herself in the temptation.

"Eh...right."

Emma took the potions and put them away. Even though she was confused, she still complied. Then, she looked at Amanda.

"You've been quiet for quite a while now, Amanda. Isn't there something that you want to say?"

"Eh..ah!?!"

Amanda's body flinched when she heard Emma's voice. Her reaction startled the two girls who looked at Amanda with an odd look.

Just as she was about to say something, her hand twitched and her eyes darted toward a particular area on the counter. An area where there was a slight stain that came as a result of Melissa's careless drinking.

"Amanda?"

"Yes?"

Amanda's body flinched once again when she heard Emma's voice.

"Did you not hear what we were sayi...my god."

Emma facepalmed halfway through her sentence as she finally got the gist of the situation.

Using her arm, she wiped off the stain.

"You happy now?"

"For what?"

Amanda looked at Emma with a blank and expressionless look. She was clearly trying to feign ignorance of what just happened.

"You..."

***

Click—!

The big monitor in front of me turned on when I inserted the black box into the computer processor.

It was eerily quiet around me while a dim white light illuminated the area around me.

I moved the cursor till a message appeared on the display.

[Would you like to play the message]

[Yes] [No]

Dragging the cursor around the screen, my hand paused. I was starting to hesitate.

"Haaaa..."

I let out a nervous breath and tightened my grip on the mouse.

Click—!

I then pressed the top part of the mouse.

"Ehmm....how should I start this?"

A familiar voice echoed throughout the air once I pressed on the mouse, and I lowered my head.

Appearing on the screen was Smallsnake.

He was currently sitting in the same room I was sitting in. No, rather, it looked an awful lot less advanced than what it was at the moment. Clearly indicating that this video had been taken quite a while back.

"...Not really sure why I'm even making this video, to be honest. I don't think I'll ever be in a situation where I will have to go on a dangerous mission, but I guess you might never know what will happen in the future. Could just be a video log for me to relieve some of my stress, who knows?"

Turning his wrist, he checked the time on his watch.

"Well, since nothing particularly important happened just yet, I won't make this any longer than it has to be—"

"Smallsnake?"

A void suddenly interrupted. It sounded awfully familiar.

"Smallsnake where are you? Oy, Smallsnake!"

"Haa..."

Alternating his gaze between the distant door and the camera, Smallsnake sighed.

"Shit, looks like I'll have to cut this video short."

"Smallsnake!!!"

"I'm coming!!"

Extending his hand, the screen turned black.

"Hahahaha.."

A restrained laugh escaped from my lips while my arm covered my mouth and my body trembled. I felt a bundle of emotions rise from deep within my body.

'...I remember this.'

That day, I remember needing Smallsnake for something urgent. Was taken aback by his sharp response.

'I guess it makes sense now.'

"...Well it's been a while."

A new image formed on the screen.

Smallsnake showed up on the display. His physique appeared somewhat drab in comparison to the last time, and beneath his eyes were prominent black rings.

His voice also sounded croaky.

"Hmmm..."

Scratching his nose, Smallsnake leaned back on the chair and blankly looked toward the ceiling without saying anything.

"...So it's been about a month since you've disappeared."

From his words I understood that this video was recorded while I was in the Monolith.

"Many think that you're dead, but I know you're not. The fact that Angelica is still doing fine is proof of that....cause you know, the two of you have like..."

Smallsnake touched his two fingers together.

"...signed a contract with each other and stuff, so like...she would definitely know if you were alive or not and...what's the relationship between you two like? ...No, never mind...haaa...I can't do this...please come back, it's really hard doing this alone."

The screen went blank as Smallsnake leaned forward and tapped on the keyboard.

A new video began to play after that.

"You're a fucking asshole, you know that?!"

I was slightly taken aback by his sudden outburst.

"You see, I'm a human too. I've never had you not tell me to shut up after more than two phrases! The worst part is that I've become accustomed to it!"

Smallsnake smacked the desk.

"If before I used to complain whenever you tell me to shut up, I now accept it like it's a given! Not even that, Ryan has also started to pick a couple of things from you, and this is sadly one of the things! I can't do this anymore!"

"Hehehe...he.."

Leaning my head against my arm which was resting on the table, my body trembled as I tried to suppress my laugh. My other hand clenched at my chest which was hurting.

More and more videos began to replay, arousing all sorts of different emotions in me.

"Your sister is an angel. Should I open up a shrine for her? Remember when she said to apologize to me? Oh, god, the face you made....ahahhaha, you should've totally seen it."

"...Guess what, Angelica no longer calls me stick like human anymore! That's progress I tell you!"

"Wow, just wow. Did you seriously just go on a trip without us just like that? How irresponsible do you have to be?"

Laughter, anguish, sadness, grief, guilt...

Slowly the timer started to reach the end as the videos continued to play. A sense of dread filled me while my eyes tracked the timer.

'No...'

I didn't want it to end.

"Ehm..."

Smallsnake rubbed his head as he reclined in the chair. He looked much more serious than before.

Drumming his fingers on the table, his brows furrowed.

I wiped the corner of my eyes and sat up straight.

Slowly, Smallsnake raised his head and our eyes met. Or at least, that was what it felt like.

"....How should I start this?"

Smallsnake crossed his arms and leaned back on the chair.

Turning his head, he looked behind him. Bringing his arm over the top of the chair, he scanned the back of the room.

Making sure that there was no one there, he sat back down on the chair and sighed.

"Good thing that no one's here..."

He murmured in a barely audible tone.

Then, lifting his head, he stared at the camera.

"Thinking back at our trips to Henlour and Issanor, I realized something...life is really feeble, isn't it?"

"Having stayed in the human domain for as long as I did, I never truly realized just how bad the situation outside was. It's only after having experienced everything myself that I am once again reminded of how meaningless and feeble my life is."

Smallsnake lowered his head and stared at his shaking hands.

"...Honestly, I'm scared."

His voice turned a little weak. Just barely.

"You see, I'm not actually scared of dying. I've already come to terms with this idea from a very young age. I'm not really talented like you and the others, and so when the time truly comes, I'll probably die...hahah."

Letting out a small laugh, Smallsake bitterly laughed.

"I bet you'd curse at me when you see this. 'Shut up. The only way you can truly die is from being overworked.'"

Raising his shoulders wide, his voice deepened as he tried to impersonate me.

"Pff...There's no way I'd say that..."

"...Oh, please. You know yourself that I'm right."

"Hahah..."

I laughed out loud.

The pain in my chest only intensified.

I only stopped once I saw Smallsnake's face turn serious again.

"On a serious note, there's a reason why I'm scared of dying..."

Halfway through his sentence, his body started to shake a little.

"...As I've said before, it really isn't because I'm scared of death but...well..."

Smallsnake slowly raised his head and stared at the ceiling.

"It's because I have something to do. A goal you might say."

My body leaned forward to better hear his words. Meanwhile, I used my arms to wipe my eyes.

As if synchronized with me, he also wiped his eyes with his arm.

"In case you were wondering, my name is Brian. It's the name that my mother gave to me...and a name I slowly became unfamiliar with after her death. It wasn't a name I wanted anyone else to know, but after having stayed with you for as long as I did, I don't find the need to hide it from you."

Pressing both hands on the table, he slowly rose from his seat.

"My story really isn't that compelling, so I won't really dwell too much on it. If I had to break it down in simple words, it would be...my mother was killed by someone whom I thought of as a close friend...brother?"

Smallsnake's teeth clenched as he stared at the camera.

He then inhaled deeply, doing his best to hold back the anger and despair that were visible on his face. He closed his eyes and opened them again quickly.

"...There's not much I know about him, but his name is Hemlock. Currently, he goes by the name Malik Alshay—!"

Click—!

The video cut off halfway through his sentence. Nonetheless, I understood his words. However, that wasn't what interested me at the moment.

"No, no, no..."

I stood up from my seat and reached for the monitor.

My eyes were fixed on the small bar at the bottom of the video. It was currently filled.

I felt my heart sink at that moment.

Grasping the monitor with both hands, I clenched it tightly.

'Is that really all to the video?'

"No...It can't be..."

There had to be more. At least, that was what I hoped for.

But sadly, there wasn't.

...and, it was only then that it finally sank into my heart.

Smallsnake was dead.

***

Ding—! Ding—!

Synchronization complete

Kevin opened his eyes and saw a prompt appear in front of his vision. That wasn't all.

Mission reward: Minor rank up <A-> → <A+>

A burst of energy spread across his body, and Kevin felt the world around him spin. The muscles on his body became firmer, and his head became clearer.

He felt a sudden burst of euphoria in his body.

But in spite of all the changes that were happening around him, his gaze was locked toward the ceiling of his room.

Currently, his eyes were not very well-focused. He had a similar expression to someone who has just seen a ghost.

"Haha..."

A hollow laugh eventually escaped from his lips. Raising his hand to cover his face, he silently mumbled.

"Ah, I understand now..."

Thinking back at what he saw in the synchronization visions, a bitter and sad smile spread across his face.

"Everything finally makes sense."

The previous questions he had been asking himself...about why he couldn't defeat the demon king after all the loops, about Ren's regressions, about the Demon King and the Akashic records...

He finally had all the answers.

"Hahaha."

Another hollow laugh escaped from his lips.

"And here I thought Ren was the crazy one. Turns out, I'm way worse than he is...a lot worse..."

Kevin closed his eyes, the dazzling red of his crimson eyes glistened. His expression then slowly started to morph, before gradually becoming expressionless.

"I've already reached this point, there's no turning back anymore..."

***

End of volume [4]

Chapter 608: Two years [1]

The sky was slowly darkening as the sun proceeded to set. A misty orange layer began to envelop the sky.

This was typically the time when people would come back home from their jobs.

Today was different, however.

[Tri-annual Hero ranking assembly]

At the moment, everyone was tuned onto one specific event, whether they were watching it on their TVs or another available gadget.

The Hero ranking assembly.

The assembly that would determine the ranks of the top heroes of the world.

At first, it didn't seem all that great, but it was important to highlight that the central government would provide financial support as well as amazing chances for all of the top rankers. Not only that, but the fame attributed to becoming a ranker wasn't something to be taken lightly.

Large guilds would salivate at the prospect of hiring a ranker, and the resources made available to them would be substantially more than in the past.

If that wasn't all, those who made it to the top twenty in the rankings would also be given some form of legislative power.

An illustration of such power would be the ability to cast a vote while determining a crucial matter affecting humanity's future.

Essentially, the stronger you were, the more power you held.

"I wonder what rank Ren will get."

Amanda mumbled as she fixed her gaze on the TV on the wall across from her. The TV was rather enormous, taking almost half of the wall, and the images it showed were clear and of the highest possible quality. It had the effect of making one wonder if they were actually there if one wasn't paying attention.

Her hand reached to her right as she relaxed on a sofa. Toward a tiny bag of chips.

"Hm?"

Amanda felt a tiny hand reach out for her hand as soon as she took a chip.

"Brother is the best."

Nola commented while she took the chip from Amanda's hand, leaving her speechless.

"...He sure is."

A small and helpless smile spread across her face when she looked at Nola.

"Your brother will definetly get a high rank."

"What about first?"

"That's not possible, Nola."

Another voice echoed from the other side of the room. The voice belonged to none other than Samantha Dover, Ren and Nola's mom.

"You're brother has barely turned twenty four. There's no way he can rank first. It would already be a miracle if he ranked anywhere near the hundreds."

Samantha set a few plates on the modest wooden table in the living room and tilted her head to face Amanda.

"Actually, what rank is he?"

"…No idea."

Amanda shook her head.

Despite all the time she spent with Ren over the years, his rank was still an enigma to her. She knew it was high, but she didn't know just how high.

It wasn't something that came up in their conversations.

"It's starting."

A soft, deep voice echoed. Ren's father had just walked into the room. The moment that happened, the television screen went black, and Amanda saw her mother's reflection. She was currently seated next to Nola.

Meeting Amanda's gaze on the screen, she sadly said.

"I'm sure your dad will be devastated to know that you're more worried about Ren than him."

Amanda merely shrugged at her mother's words.

She already had an idea of what rank her father would get so she wasn't particularly interested. At least, not as much as she was interested in knowing what placement Ren would get.

She figured it would be in the early hundreds and perhaps even in the two digit figures, but knowing Ren, she knew that estimates were worthless.

He wasn't someone that could be predicted using common sense.

***

"The rankings are determined by taking into account a number of elements. Strength, accomplishments, and overall contributions to the growth and advancement of humanity."

In a spacious auditorium filled with round tables and benches, a firm, solemn voice resounded.

Rowan Kilimer, a representative of the Central government, took the stage in front of a tiny wooden podium while donning a pair of squared spectacles and a crisp grey suit.

His hair was well brushed back, and he had a rather solid frame with broad shoulders.

"The top individuals who are currently existing in the human realm have been ranked after taking the aforementioned aspects into account. This event aims to make the world aware of their accomplishments."

A large chandelier with brightly glistening lightbulbs in the shape of crystals vividly lit the area.

There were more than a thousand people seated on the chairs beneath the chandelier. Though it wasn't obvious at a glance, the pressure that came out from each one of the individuals present was terrifying.

Enough to make any regular person faint at the mere breath.

Near the back of the room, not too far from them and standing behind a transparent blue barrier, a number of figures silently moved the cameras to focus on the faces of numerous profiles while quietly coordinating with each other to get the best shot.

"Over a thousand different individuals are gathered today for the new ranking assignments. Some will find themselves dropping out of the rankings, while some others might find themselves entering the rankings for the first time in their lives."

Rowan raised his head and swept his gaze over the thousand of individuals present.

"With regard to the benefits of being a ranker, I won't go into great depth. Everyone present should already be familiar with this."

Rowan laid his arm on the wooden podium and turned to face the opposite direction.

Then, elevating his spectacles with the index finger of his other hand, he raised his hand and pointed to his right, where a large monitor was situated. It was necessary to mention that there was another monitor of comparable size on the opposite end, to the left.

"It will take some time until we get to the top twenty, so I'll start disclosing the lower rankings right away. For those that are called up, please remain seated on your chairs. There will not be speeches."

A picture suddenly showed on the two displays behind him as he pressed the right side of his glasses.

Depicted on the picture was the image of a burly man with red hair and fiery brows. Next to his name was a shining golden symbol [Top 500], with his name in white not too far from it.

"Elbert Bray, first time nominee. Congratulations for making it in the ranks."

The monitors behind switched and started to play short clips of the man known as Elbert Bray. On the monitors, the people attending were able to catch a glimpse of his skills from the short clips that were playing.

His fighting style was akin to that of orcs, where he would rip through anything in his path.

While everyone else's focus was on the monitors, the cameras were trained on Elbert Bray, who was seated at the rear of the room with his arms crossed. Although his back was straight and his face was expressionless, it was obvious from the slight curl of his lips that he was trying to hide his joy.

Nonetheless, no one would point this out. After all, he had just become a ranker. One of the most respected people in the world. Who would dare mess with such a figure?

'He's pretty good...'

Kevin quietly commented to himself while he stared at the video on the monitors.

Carefully analysing Elbert's movements, he was rather impressed.

'...Well, at least for someone of his level.'

Kevin took his eyes away from the monitors. Although he was impressed by his skills, that was all there was to it.

Just impressed.

Kevin's strength had increased significantly over the previous two years, and he no longer viewed someone in the top 500 as a challenge.

He wasn't being arrogant, but it was simply how things were. If he had to make an estimate, he was at least within the hundreds.

'Where is he?'

Kevin took his eyes away from Elbert and nonchalantly scanned the room with his eyes. They soon paused toward a certain individual sitting near the front.

'...I wonder why he's decided to come.'

He was none other than Ren.

His appearance surprised Kevin quite a bit. Never in his life did he expect Ren to attend a meeting such as this one. His displeasure for such events was quite well known by everyone that knew him. He never really tried to hide it.

Right as Kevin's eyes paused on his figure, his eyes squinted a little.

Crossing his arms together, he leaned back on his chair and carefully scrutinized him.

He looked to be in serious thought as an expressionless look adorned his face. He didn't seem to be amused by what he was seeing.

Rather, he seemed to be thinking deeply about something else. It was like his mind was not in the event.

At least, that was what Kevin could deduce from simply glancing at him. He had no idea if it was true or not.

He had a rather hard time figuring out Ren's thoughts. Especially in light of what happened two years ago.

He was no longer acting or behaving in the same manner as before. He was in some ways much nicer than before, but at the same time, a lot more reserved. He used to make crude jokes and remarks, but those days were over as he now no longer bothered doing so.

In a way, his change was sad, but necessary at the same time.

'...I'm also the same, aren't I?'

Kevin lowered his head and stared at his two hands which were resting on his knees.

That vision he saw...

It drastically changed his worldview. He could no longer see the world as he did in the past.

Wrinkles slowly started to form on his pants as he clenched them.

'...It was the only way.'

"Next up, Morland Jones of Hell's Cat Guild."

A new name was called out after Elbert's name was mentioned.

More and more names began to show up on the screen after that.

"Next up, Jessica Blane of Raging Fist Guild."

"Next up, Luke Runder of the Union."

.

.

.

A growing number of people approached the stage while Kevin was in the middle of his thoughts.

Rankings from the five hundred's to the two hundred's were beginning to emerge gradually. The majority of those in attendance made an effort to control their reactions, but it was inevitable that some would express their happiness and others their disappointment at their overall results.

"Next up, Donna Longbern of the Lock Academy."

Jolting Kevin out of his thoughts he heard a familiar name. Lifting his head, he spotted Donna seated on one of the seats near him.

She was wearing a stylish black one-piece outfit that suited her hair and accentuated her curves to perfection. Her eyes were complemented by a big purple necklace that dangled from her chest.

From the last time he saw her, she hadn't aged a single day. Raising his head to stare at the monitors, Kevin focused his attention on her highlights.

Compared to the ones he had seen three years ago, her highlights weren't much. It was clear that she had been focusing on school duties rather than making any achievements.

It was also why her ranking didn't increase by much. It was still nonetheless an increase, which was always good.

[Top 107]

The golden numbers hang beside her name.

When the cameras at the back of the room pointed at her, she gave a simple smile, and the people around her clapped.

Her moment only lasted for about a minute before a new name was called up.

"Next up..."

This continued for a little bit more until Kevin finally heard his name.

"Next up, Kevin Voss of the Union."

Kevin felt thousands of eyes pause on his body when his name was called out.

Not minding the eyes of the people present, he calmly smiled. The reactions of the people around him were something he expected.

He was already ranked in the top hundred while he was just 24 years old. A feat that was on par with Monica's, who at the same age had been classified roughly on the same level as him. No, rather, he had achieved the feat a year earlier than her. With the fact that she was no <SS-> ranked, Kevin's prospects were especially promising.

Enough to justify the enthralled reactions of those around him. Additionally, no one thought Kevin's position was unusual because his accomplishments were obvious to everyone. Unlike Ren, Kevin wasn't one that kept a low profile.

[Top 94]

The golden numbers appeared beside his name.

Another wave of applause enshrouded the auditorium.

"Next up..."

But just like Donna, his moment didn't last for long as a new name was called up, and with each new name that was called up, the louder the clapping became.

Kevin kept his gaze on Ren throughout the entire time.

He was genuinely curious about what his rankings would be.

[Top 60]

[Top 50]

[Top 40]

Time passed and more and more names began to be called up. There were hints of surprise on Kevin's face as he realized that Ren's name had still not been called out yet.

'...Looks like he's serious about this.'

His surprise didn't come from Ren's high ranking, but from the fact that he didn't hide his strength like in the past. Normally, he would've probably only shown a skill level that was near to his.

But for him to go this low...

There was clearly something he wanted from this.

[Top 30]

[Top 20]

Kevin's expression was very serious by the time the top 20th ranker was revealed.

He sat up straight on his chair.

'This might become troublesome.'

Kevin took a glance at the people in the auditorium. None of the people present currently knew what was about to happen, and Kevin could only imagine the effects that Ren's announcement would have on some of the people present.

Without a doubt, more than half of the people present would show their discontent.

Ren's age wasn't really a factor; rather, his lack of notoriety was the main reason. He only had one significant accomplishment—the conference—and that was all. His strength was unknown, his achievements were unknown, and his contributions to humanity were unknown.

His lack of presence would certainly cause quite a scene, and Kevin could feel it.

Nonetheless, he leaned back in his chair.

'I'm sure he must have something planned.'

In no way would Ren come here without any plans.

"Next up, Ren Dover of Caïssa mercenary guild."

Silence.

Just like Kevin predicted, the auditorium fell into a state of silence.

Immediately after that, everyone's gaze focused on one particular individual. Black hair, blue eyes....and a calm look on his face.

He turned his head and smiled as he sensed everyone's attention briefly focusing on him. His smile, well, appeared incredibly false, at least to Kevin.

As everyone turned to stare at one another with suspicious expressions on their faces, whispers resounded throughout the hall.

"What's going on?"

"I think I know him."

"Wait, isn't he 24 as well? Ranked 18? What's going on?"

With Ren's information displayed next to him, everyone's eyes grew wide when they learned of his age. The look of suspicion only increased.

Ren's accomplishments were simply too much for some of the individuals in attendance to comprehend, as their faces changed. If they could hardly accept the idea that Kevin was among the top 100, then Ren's rank was simply not something many of the people present could digest.

Regardless, no one dared to voice out their objections. They weren't exactly stupid.

There'd be no way the Central Government and the Union would allow something like this to happen without reason.

Nepotism? Bribery? Error?

There were multiple reasons that could've contributed to Ren's rank. But, his capabilities were not one that flashed in the minds of most people present.

It was just too monstrous of a feat for them to accept.

"Judging from your looks, it appears as though some of you are unsatisfied with his rank?"

"Hm?"

Kevin and a large portion of the audience were shocked to hear Rowan's voice echo across the entire auditorium.

This was the first time that he had not followed the script.

'What's going on?'

The sudden turn of events aroused Kevin's interest. His eyes once again paused on Ren. He had a faint inkling that this was orchestrated by him and someone else.

Rowan looked around the auditorium.

"Several elements are considered while deciding the rankings, and Mr. Dover over here meets the requirements to get the ranking that he has achieved. We can guarantee you that there has been no foul play when deciding the rankings."

His voice echoed loudly in a serious and harsh manner.

In spite of his words, a large majority of the people present still didn't seem convinced. None of them voiced their dissatisfaction, but their expression said everything.

'We don't trust you.'

Rowan's eyebrows furrowed when he noticed the atmosphere around the auditorium.

Just as he was about to say something, Ren, who was leaning his head against his arm, suddenly extended his hand and tapped the air.

Ding—!

The auditorium echoed with a crisp sound, reminiscent of two glasses clicking against each other, as ripples spread outwardly from Ren's fingertip. They spread throughout every corner of the auditorium in the time it took for the heart to beat.

The air began to fracture as an immense pressure began to settle over the entire region, making breathing more difficult. Sword rays progressively emerged from the air fractures in a slow manner, resulting in some of the audience members' faces to flash with horror.

Within the span of a couple of seconds, the entire hall was filled with sword rays that hovered the heads of everyone in the room like a guillotine waiting to be released.

Gulp—!

Gulps were audible throughout, and several of the attendees' cheeks became pale. Their reactions were enough to prove to the people present just how domineering Ren's actions were.

On another note, Ren didn't specifically target the individuals in the back, the ones recording everything, which was fortunate for them. However, they also had trouble breathing due to the intensely tense mood that pervaded the auditorium.

"I think that's enough."

A crisp voice rang in the air.

An orange veil blanketed the air after the voice echoed and the sword rays that hung in the air disappeared. The overbearing pressure that was pervading the air disappeared, and a short and beautiful figure appeared in the middle of the hall.

Silently glaring at Ren she placed both hands on her hips.

"That was a bit much, don't you think?"

"...I apologize."

Ren disinterestedly look at the people present before focusing his attention back on the monitors that hung on the walls.

Monica's eyes focused on Ren for a couple of seconds before she turned around and looked at Rowan who signaled to her that everything was alright.

Nodding her head, she disappeared from the spot and the air became breathable again.

It goes without saying that this only pertained to locations farther from Ren. The air was still very tense for those who were close to Ren.

Only a select few people, Kevin included, were able to maintain their composure.

At this very moment, Kevin's brows were furrowed tightly. Right now, Monica was on his mind.

Although she tried to hide it, Kevin caught sight of her palm trembling in the aftermath of the attack.

The thought made him squint his eyes.

'Were my eyes playing tricks or...'

Chapter 609: Two years [2]

'He's changed a lot since the last time I saw him.'

Donna quietly thought to herself as her gaze fixed on Ren who was seated a few tables ahead of her.

Even she felt pressured at the time he revealed his strength in front of everyone.

The power he displayed...

It was frightening.

'I knew he was talented, but I didn't think it was to this point.'

One could not come close to describing the rate of his progress. It was simply, frightening. To the point where both Monica and Kevin were left behind.

She was more shocked to find that not much time had elapsed since she had taught him at the Lock.

About six years.

In about that period of time, he had transformed from a typical <G> ranking student to someone whose strength had surpassed hers.

'How monstrous.'

She mumbled to herself once more.

In the past, she thought that Monica was the most talented human she knew, but it was clear to her that there was someone else that was above her.

It was none other than Ren.

'His strength isn't the only thing that changed about him, his demenour also seemed to have changed.'

When Donna looked at him more closely, she saw that he was different from how he had been in the past.

Around him, there was a somewhat melancholy vibe. One that left Donna feeling uneasy. It was sufficient to make her face turn grave.

'...Just what happened during the few years that I haven't seen him?'

He wasn't exactly cheerful, but he sure as heck wasn't like how he was now.

It kind of worried her a little.

'I should probably talk to him after this is over.'

Thus, she made her mind up to talk to him after the meeting was over. It had been a couple of years since they had come to contact with each other, might as well catch up a little.

***

Bang—!

My fist smashed against the side of the bathroom wall, and fine miniature crevices extended all the way toward the ceiling of the bathroom.

The meeting had ended a couple of minutes ago. As expected, Octavious ranked first, and Maximus who was previously ranked third was now ranked second.

But that wasn't what resulted in my rage.

"Rank 18? Seriously?! ...After all that hard work?"

I gritted my teeth as a burst of rage erupted from deep within my body.

I was upset with my slow improvement rather than my poor ranking. I had been working hard for the past two years. Really hard.

During that period, I went through a phase of relative strength increase, helped by the air's increasing mana density and the merging with the strength of my former self.

My efforts paid off, and I was able to advance to <S+> level in just two years. I was just a little shy of reaching <SS-> rank.

But...

"Too slow!"

I muttered through my clenched teeth.

Two years.

That was how much time I had left before my other self would take over or the curse that was in me would activate.

Two fucking years. That was how long I had to live.

The rate at which I was progressing was slow. Too fucking slow.

"...I miscalculated."

I didn't come to the meeting and exposed my strength on a whim. Rather, I did it with a goal in mind.

The meeting today was important to me for a certain purpose.

The Monolith and the Union's cease-fire was set to expire the following month, and I would only have a chance to influence the situation and participate if I had a high enough ranking.

I had previously anticipated that I would already be <SS-> rank by the time the meeting started, however, I had severely underestimated just how hard it was to break through to the next level.

In the end, I only ended up ranking 18th, which was far beneath the rank I wanted it to be.

Bang—!

"Damn it."

The thought sent me into another fit of rage.

I only stopped when I felt a wet sensation running down my nose. I saw a noticeable red stain on my hand when I wiped the area with my arm.

'Blood...'

My left arm spasmed a little and my vision blurred. This lasted for a good minute before stopping.

"Not again..."

I lowered my head and stared at my trembling hand.

"Fuck."

A curse silently left my mouth while more blood dropped down from my nose.

Wiping the blood with my arm, I raised my head to stare at my reflection.

"What's wrong, nervous?"

My ears picked up a recognizable voice as my reflection moved independently.

Slowly, my face sank.

"Huuuu…"

Taking another deep breath I was able to calm myself down and washed my face with some water.

My sudden outburst came as a result of his personality merging with mine.

It was starting to be increasingly difficult for me to contain my emotions.

"You not going to say anything?"

My hands paused on my face while water dripped down toward the sink. Slowly raising my head, I glared at the mirror, or to be more precise, my reflection.

Our eyes met.

"Are you still hung up on what happened to Smallsnake? Two years have already passed, move on. Why even bother with the Monolith?"

I closed the valve without saying anything. Only then did I open my mouth to speak.

"…If you expect me to give you my body after what you've done, you can only give up."

"Oh?"

The eyebrows of my reflection raised.

"Do you think I mind if I have to wait a few more years? The seal Jezebeth placed on you will put an end to things even if I don't take control of your body and do it myself. You've lost no matter what you do."

"Right..."

I gripped the side of the sink with all my strength.

Cra..crack…

Cracks slowly started to form on the porcelain sink.

"…About Smallsnake, what makes you so sure that I was the one behind it? It could just be you blaming me for your incompetence."

Hearing his words, my head slowly raised.

"You think I'm stupid?"

I asked while calmly staring at the mirror.

My voice became icier as I drew nearer to the mirror.

"Sure, I did have a fault in his death, but do you seriously think that I wouldn't know this was something you devised? I may be stupid at times, but I'm not mentally challenged."

I tightened the grip on the sink as I recalled the events of two years ago.

"I could sense it at the time...Jezebeth sustained damage. He may have not been a clone, but he wasn't exactly in top shape."

"Not only that, but his injuries worsened shortly after Kevin destroyed the core. Even if he didn't show it, I could tell. I may have not been able to defeat him, but I sure as heck would have been able to delay him...Enough to buy Smallsnake some time, had you lent me your strength."

Even now, the events that transpired back then haunted me.

Thinking of all the things I could've done to prevent such a situation from happening felt agonizing.

"Additionally, there is no way you could have overlooked Jezebeth's unexpected appearance. You aren't this negligent. His appearance was unquestionably something you wanted to occur."

"You were aware that he would show up, but despite this, you weren't concerned for my safety because you also knew that he was hurt. This shows that you had something planned and that something was Smallsnake's demise."

He may not have known that this was the last loop, but I sure as heck knew that he had enough power to confront Jezebeth.

Furthermore, from the enigmatic words he said after his memories stopped playing, I knew that he wasn't planning to end the loop just yet.

I raised my head to glare at the mirror.

"…You may not have set your targets on Smallsnake in particular, but without a doubt, you wanted someone involved to die."

Without saying anything, he just looked at me.

The silence persisted for a little bit before he opened his mouth to speak.

"You're right, I could've helped you and avoided his death. In a way, you can say that I did plan for this."

My heart tightened when I heard his words.

'I knew it.'

"As I never attempted to conceal it in the first place, there is no use in lying about it now. Jezebeth's imminent presence and everyone's appearance on the planet were things that I was aware would happen."

"Even if I may not be able to completely anticipate what will happen, major factors like that are indeed something that can be predicted, and from there, changing little things to make them go your way isn't exactly too hard. Why do you think you were able to see the memories for as long as you did? ...and why do you think you were even allowed to see them?

"But, I'm sure you know exactly why I did what I did, right?"

I ground my teeth.

Nonetheless, he continued speaking.

"You see, with that shaky resolve you had at the time, there was simply no way for you to defeat Jezebeth. Quite plainly, the likelihood that you would succeed in fighting him was dwindling as you began to stand still. My decisions were driven by need. Smallsnake had to perish in order to enhance your—"

Bam—!

I punched the mirror with all my force. The glass shattered and shards fell on the floor.

The reflection in the mirror vanished.

Looking around the room my breath felt heavy.

"I don't have time for this."

I then turned around and no longer bothered staring at the mirror, or the room which was half destroyed at this point.

The words my other self said did hold some weight. They weren't necessarily wrong. My resolve back then to defeat Jezebeth was half-hearted.

Back then it was merely out of necessity. Something that I needed to do for the sake of doing it and stopping the world from being destroyed.

Now, however, it was personal.

Jezebeth needed to die.

...and the same went with the other me.

They both needed to die, and in the two years I had left, I would make sure I would do everything that was within my powers to make sure it happened.

Ding—!

At that moment, my phone rang and I received a message.

My face softened when I took out my phone and checked the message.

[You need to work on your fake smile. (▀̿Ĺ̯▀̿ ̿)]

It was from Amanda.

"The hell..."

I almost burst out laughing when I saw the emoji she sent.

[It wasn't that bad, was it?]

I didn't think anyone would notice my fake smile. I seriously hoped it wasn't that bad.

[Image.jpg]

An image of me appeared on the screen.

Amanda's text came after.

[Yes, it was. Enough to make my toes curl in. ಠ_ಠ]

"Eh..."

I pinched the screen with my fingers to get a better look at myself.

'Shit, it really does look terrible.'

Actually, terrible wouldn't be enough to cover it.

In the picture she sent, it was glaringly obvious that my smile was fake. No wonder Amanda's toes curled in, the same was happening to me right now.

[Ugh, I guess you do have a point.]

[Right? (¬‿¬)]

"What's with the emojis?"

[Anyways, when are you coming back? Nola says she misses you. ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ]

[Give me an hour.]

I didn't think I would need any more time with that.

The only thing I needed to do was talk to Waylan and that was it.

[Okay. Nola said that she will be waiting for you. ( ͡°( ͡° ͜ʖ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ʖ ͡°) ͡°)]

"..."

[Aren't you having way too much fun with the emojis?]

[Am I? (͡ ͡° ͜ つ ͡͡°)]

[Yes, yes you are.]

[What are you going to do about it?(ง'̀-'́)ง ]

[(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻]

I sent an emoji of my own.

"Serves you right..."

I then turned off my phone and placed it in my pocket.

Shaking my head, I made my way out of the bathroom. Unknowingly, a thin smile spread across my face.

I guess not everything was as dark as it seemed...

Chapter 610: Two years [3]

"That actually hurt…"

Monica strolled into a small hallway softly muttering to herself.

Her feet eventually stopped moving. She lowered her head to examine her shaking hand before carefully clenching it.

"Didn't they tell him to go easy?"

His attack, or 'display of strength was a lot stronger than Monica had anticipated.

Everything was scripted.

At least, Ren's attack was supposed to be.

Monica knew from the very beginning that Ren was going to show off a little in order to silence the people. It had to be done so that the reputation of the Union and the Central government wouldn't plummet.

It was something that was discussed beforehand.

Ren had kept a far too low profile during the previous few years, which had led to his name losing favor with the general public. The incidents that occurred at the conference were still fresh in many people's minds, so they didn't quickly forget his name, but his lack of notable accomplishments or notoriety after that caused him to lose a lot of his previously obtained fame.

In a sense, his actions were necessary. They had to be done in order to quickly establish himself as a big name in the human domain.

"I'm sure everyone will remember his name now…"

Monica grimaced while she shook her hand.

"Fuck that hurts."

She murmured under her breath.

Ren's growth left even her speechless.

Despite the fact that she had a strong sense of competition, she had no desire to compete with Ren. No point in competing in a losing battle.

Without a doubt, he would overtake her sooner or later.

"Haaa...life is so unfair."

The thought made her shake her head.

"I kind of miss those days where Donna and I would beat him and Kevin senseless to help them progress. In just a few years he's already this strong It makes me feel old, and I'm only in my mid-thirties..."

Age was a sensitive topic for women, and Monica was no exception. She detested knowing that she was getting older.

"Well, at least I'm not as bad as Donna."

Mention her age to her, and you'd find yourself stuck on a wall before you know it.

Tucking her chin under her hand, Monica thought to herself.

'Thinking about Kevin, he sure has improved quite a lot too.;

Although not as much as Ren, still an impressive level of growth.

He was about <S> rank now.

Compared to Ren, it didn't sound all that spectacular, but it had to be remembered that "S" rankers typically never placed in the top 100. They were typically between 200 and 300.

Top 100 was solely intended for people who attained a S+ rank.

This alone demonstrated the numerous contributions he had made throughout the years. Additionally, despite the fact that he was still not quite there in terms of actual rank, his strength was also judged to be in the S+> range. That alone went to show how amazing of a talent he was.

"Sigh, I truly feel helpless when I think about the two of them."

Hanging her head low, Monica resumed her steps before she eventually stopped in front of a large wooden door.

[Vice-President of the Union]

Seeing the metal engravings on the door, Monica grasped the handle and opened the door. She then leisurely entered the office.

Clank—!

A spacious office, roughly the size of a tennis court, welcomed her. A person was seated at a sizable wooden desk near the room's end. He was conversing with someone at the time.

It took Monica one glance to identify who the individual was.

"Looks like you're already here, Ren."

Smiling, Monica closed the door behind her.

***

In the midst of my discussion with Waylan, the door behind me burst open, and Monica appeared.

"Looks like you're already here, Ren."

"Sure."

I lazily waved at her before I turned my attention back to Waylan.

"When is the meeting going to be held?"

"In less than a week's time."

Waylan replied in a stern tone, his eyes sparing Monica a single glance.

"I'll give you the details when the time comes, but you better not be late."

"I understand."

I quietly nodded his head.

Then, seemingly recalling something, I asked.

"How's the progress with regards to the alliance?"

Over the previous two years, I had not shown any interest in anything having to do with the outside world, so I was unaware of the current state of the alliance with the other races.

Now that I was planning on taking action, I was curious as to how things were progressing.

"It's slow, but there has been some progress."

Waylan replied in a somewhat helpless tone.

"Even though the other races seem keen to form an alliance with us, we're still negotiating a few minor things."

"Such as?"

"The amount of power and influence our votes will have when making important decisions, the exchange of technology and raw materials…just the boring stuff, you know?"

"It really does sound boring."

Monica commented while she sat down on the seat next to me.

She then reached forward and took a piece of candy out of a tiny glass dish that was laying on Waylan's desk.

Unwrapping the candy, she tapped on my shoulder and showed me her hand.

"You'll soon be able to attend such meetings, so allow me to offer you some advice. Pinch your hand in the area between your thumb and index finger. When you're about to nod off, it's a terrific method to wake you up."

"I see…"

I slowly nodded my head while he listened to Monica's random ramblings.

Waylan, on the other hand, only shook his head in frustration. It was obvious from the expression on his face that he was used to this.

"Alright, I better get going."

I stood up from my seat once I managed to hear everything that I wanted to hear.

At the exact moment I stood up, I felt Monica's gaze pause on me.

"You're already leaving?"

"Yeah."

I replied while turning around to face the door.

"I have an appointment after this, so I won't be able to stay here for long."

"Well, alright…"

Monica reclined back in her chair while placing a candy on her tongue.

"I guess I'll see you next week when you attend the meeting."

"Will do."

"Hold on a second Ren."

Waylan called out for me just as I was about to leave.

My feet came to a pause.

"Yes?"

"I almost forgot to mention this, but Octavious wants to talk to you one of these days. I'm not sure about what he wants to talk to you about, but it seems like it's about something the two of you had previously discussed."

My brows furrowed when I heard his words. I then nodded my head.

"Sure, tell him I'll meet him before the meeting in a week's time."

As soon as I finished speaking, I opened the door and left. I was going to be late if I didn't hurry.

***

Clank—!

Waylan speechlessly stood up as he gazed at Ren's departing back.

He continued to stand for a couple of seconds before he fell back on his chair and sighed.

"What am I? Their messenger?"

He grumbled to himself while clenching his hair with both hands.

Why couldn't Ren and Octavious just talk to each other like any other human being would? Why did he always have to be the messenger between the two of them?

This wasn't the first time it happened, as it had been a recurring thing for quite a while now.

To make matters worse, it wasn't as if he could do anything about the situation.

As the Union's Vice-President, he was responsible for meeting all of Octavious' and the heads' demands. It was basically his job whether he liked it or not.

The more he thought about it, the more powerless he felt.

"…Maybe I should just quit my job."

A soft whisper escaped his lips.

"Don't say that."

Monica spoke after overhearing his comment. She then handed him a candy.

"Here, have a candy. It'll help you alleviate your mood."

***

Clank—!

I looked to my left and right as I closed the door behind me before heading for the exit of the building.

It was about time I returned him.

…Or so I thought.

"You made me wait long enough."

A familiar voice echoed from behind, and my feet came to a pause.

I then slowly turned around

"Kevin."

"Been a while."

I swung around and feigned a smile when I spotted Kevin.

"How long has it been?"

"About a year or so? Wanted to meet you when we were at the ceremony, but well…I was a bit too busy."

"I know, I saw you."

Kevin's popularity far outstripped mine.

It was hard for me to not notice him when he was always the center of attention. A far cry from what I was.

Nevertheless, that was what I wanted, so I wasn't one to complain.

"So…"

Looking toward my right and left to check if there was anyone else present nearby, I slowly asked.

"Is there anything you wanted to say?"

"Hm?"

Kevin titled his head.

"We haven't seen each other for a year. Thought I'd catch up a bit. There's nothing I really want to talk about.

"Oh."

I casually replied as an awkward silence permeated the air.

Neither one of us talked for the next couple of seconds.

I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was, but there was some strange awkwardness and uneasiness that I couldn't quite shake.

I dismissed it by assuming that it was because we hadn't seen each other in a year or two as both of us were extremely busy.

"Ehm…how have you been?"

Kevin started, scratching the side of his face with an awkward-looking smile.

"I'm alright, just a bit annoyed."

"Annoyed?"

"Yeah, to be honest, I would've rather not revealed my strength."

The only reason I chose to reveal my strength was for the sake of getting a commanding position when dealing with the matters regarding the Monolith.

This was something that I couldn't give up on.

A look of understanding appeared on Kevin's face.

"As expected. You really did have something in mind when announcing your strength like that."

"Yeah, if not for that I would've just been like Jin."

Switching the conversation to Jin, Kevin's brows furrowed a bit.

"Speaking about him, I wonder why he didn't come here. With his strength the should have no trouble making it to the rankings, same for the guy in your group…the forgetful guy."

"You mean Liam?"

"Yeah, him."

Kevin snapped his finger in remembrance.

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Beats me, they must have their motives. Well, at least Jin, Liam just isn't interested in this kind of stuff."

The rankings weren't exactly accurate.

There were many people out there that didn't disclose their strengths, such as Liam and Jin in this case.

Had they disclosed their strength, they would've defiantly knocked a couple of people out of the rankings.

Especially Liam who was probably going to rank close to me.

'Now that I think about it, there's a chance he might rank higher than I did. Without a doubt, he has improved a lot over the last few years...'

I've been exercising like crazy for the past two years, in between spending time with my family and trying to find whatever way I could to find a way to cure my soul.

From exploring dungeons to engaging in combat with everyone in the mercenary group. Well, I do say everyone, but it was mostly just Liam and Angelica.

…and it was exactly because I sparred with Liam almost every day that I knew just how frightening his strength was at the moment.

At times, I wondered why the Akashic records didn't choose him instead of Kevin.

His talent was simply out of this world.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

I was jolted out of my thoughts by Kevin's voice.

Blinking a couple of times, I tilted my head.

"What do you mean?"

"You were looking at me weirdly just a second ago."

"Really?"

Must've done it unconsciously.

Kevin squinted his eyes for a moment before he shook his head.

"Nevermind that for now, I'll take my leave now. It was nice talk—"

"Wait a second."

I grabbed Kevin's shoulder before he prepared to leave. I suddenly remembered something.

"Hm?"

His face conveyed a faint indication of discomfort as he lowered his head to look at my palm pressing against his shoulder. I wasn't really sure whether it was just my imagination because it appeared and vanished as quickly as it came.

"Yeah?"

He asked, and I snapped out of it.

'Must have just been mind. Nothing unusual with how messed up it is at the moment.'

"…I need a favor."

I took a deep breath.

Then, meeting his eyes, I said.

"Help me set a portal for Immorra."

***

A/N : I feel compelled to write this since everyone has been asking and making random facts up as to why I'm not uploading.

The reason for the lack of updates is simple. I'm not currently at home. I don't have Wi-fi and so I can't really edit my chapters that need wi-fi for me to do.

I have not stopped writing, it's just that I can't edit (This takes me far longer than writing a chapter and I need connection since I use several writing tools), so when I get back, I'll just release all of the missing chapters in a big mass release.

Oh, and, I don't know where this rumor comes from, but I don't have a sister.

Chapter 611: l'm just visiting a friend [1]

Sixty to seventy years.

That much time has elapsed since my departure from Immorra.

It seemed like a lot of time, and in all honesty, it was.

At this time, the average lifespan of a human was 200–300 years.

Sixty to seventy years were approximately 1/3 of a human's lifespan. Obviously, that only applied to those who had mana within them. If they had no mana, then their life span would only equate to at most the early hundreds.

There were ways to extend one's life if one had no mana, but those strategies were sometimes far too expensive because they called for the acquisition of incredibly expensive and potent medical materials and potions.

In any case, even if it seemed like a lot of time, this wasn't a huge issue for an orc. Compared to humans, they lived much longer lives. For them, seventy years wasn't anything noteworthy.

Of course, that wasn't what I was worried about. The problem was the situation surrounding him.

'I don't believe Silug's strength has increased much because Immorra doesn't have a high aura density and there is still a conflict going on. He is most likely at least on the same level as me.'

Back then, the only reason Silug was able to break through to <S-> rank was because of the medical ingredients I had given him.

That was in the past, however.

With the state Immorra was in, I feared that his strength might've stagnated. Resources were that scarce.

'I shouldn't have held this off for as long as I did.'

This made me realize just how negligent I had been in the past.

…The situation was probably dire for the orcs at this moment.

Dire enough to not make me want to help them.

It sounded really troublesome, and if not for the fact that Angelica's life was on the line it Silug died, I would've already discarded the idea of saving him.

"How annoying."

I murmured to myself as my vision became slightly foggy.

My feet soon came to a halt.

Before I knew it, I was in front of my house door.

"Hm?"

Feeling something trickle down my nose, I quickly wiped it away with my hand. I didn't need to look to understand it was blood.

"Shit, not again."

I was forced to lean my hand against the side of the door as a wave of dizziness hit me. The world around me started to spin and I started to choke on the air.

"Khuak."

My body shook to the sides as my eyesight zoomed and unzoomed. My hold on the door handle was all that was preventing me from falling. The experience I was having reminded me of being stranded aboard a tiny wooden boat in the middle of the ocean with waves twice the side of me.

My stomach churned.

My breathing was labored, and it took a total of five minutes for the symptoms to subside. Even then, I didn't feel so good.

"Haaa…haa…"

Was it because I was overworking my body to the extreme or because the other me was slowly taking over, I wasn't sure, but…

"It's getting worse."

The frequency and duration of them were increasing, if there was anything I observed.

A thought occurred to me.

'I hope Melissa is done checking over my conditions.'

When the symptoms first appeared, I visited numerous medical professionals. None of them, though, appeared knowledgeable enough to understand what was happening inside of me right then.

This was why things had gotten as bad as they did.

Melissa was my sole ray of hope at the time. I had thrown my pride to the wind and sought her for assistance.

Surprisingly, she came, took a sample of my blood, and didn't seem to be against the concept of helping me as I thought she would have been. All I had to do was wait for the results to come back.

That being said, it was taking longer than I had anticipated. Not that I was one to complain.

The only thing that was a bit troublesome was the fact that she wasn't a doctor, but a man could only hope.

Ding— Dong—

I rang the doorbell to my house once I managed to calm myself down.

The sound of rushed footsteps echoed shortly after, and coming to greet me at the door was my mother.

Clank—

"Welcome back, Ren!"

"Yeah."

Receiving one of her usual hugs, I went into the room and took off my shoes. After that, I headed into the living room where I saw everyone already gathered.

The moment I entered the room, they all looked at me with strange faces.

"What?"

The way they were looking at me...

It was kind of weird.

'Ah, right.'

It took me an instant to realize why they were looking at me like that.

Bitterly smiling, I sat down on the sofa.

"I didn't do it because I wanted to. Circumstances made me have to act that way."

I didn't explain more than that since they wouldn't understand anyways. Fortunately, none of the people present seemed keen in asking for more as they greeted me and went back to their own thing.

"Want one?"

Nola offered me a chip once I sat down on the sofa.

I gladly took her up on the offer and ate the chip. Meanwhile, I rubbed Nola in the head with my head.

"Don't mind if I do."

"Mhm! Stop it."

To my shock, Nola stood up and glared at me.

"No!"

"Uh?"

Her reaction left me dumbfounded.

Why was she reacting like that?

"Look at what you've done. Now her hair is all messed up."

Amanda walked toward Nola and began to style her hair, which further confused me. It took a total of two minutes for her to fix Nola's hair.

"All done."

Amanda took out a small mirror and showed it to Nola.

She immediately smiled when she saw her own reflection.

"Happy?"

"Happy."

Nola happily nodded her head before sitting back down on the sofa. This time, she chose to sit on the other side, right next to Amanda and further away from me.

"If you want to blame someone, blame yourself."

Amanda shook her head and sat down next to me.

"I..."

'How was I supposed to know?'

"Here look."

Unexpectedly, Amanda leaned down and handed me her phone. She leaned so close to me that it wasn't long before I felt her head on my shoulder.

My eyes opened up a bit as I looked around me and whispered near her ear.

"Hey, you're leaning a bit too close."

"So?"

"Everyone is looking…"

Shifting her head up to look at me, she grinned.

"And?"

"Ugh."

Speechless, I opened and closed my mouth repeatedly. Eventually, I let out a long groan.

After "his" death, a lot of things changed throughout the course of the last two years. You'd think Amanda would have kept her distance from me throughout that period. I would have completely understood if she buried her affections for me after what she saw, but…

Applying more pressure on my arm, she murmured.

"Let them watch if they are interested."

"Haa…"

I could only sigh in exasperation.

'Right, in the end, this is my decision.'

Whether it was because I needed to come to terms with Smallsnake's death or because she stuck with me after finding out the truth, I eventually made the decision to accept her feelings.

'Not that our relationship changed that much.'

Although that was a rather significant jump for me, I eventually discovered that aside from Amanda acting more pampered than usual, our relationship hadn't actually changed all that much.

It was mainly because we were both busy with our own things, her with the guild, and me with the curse.

But that was all right. We were moving at our own pace, and that was all that mattered.

There was no need to rush things.

"Here, have a look."

Amanda nudged her phone in my direction.

"Oh, right."

Taking the phone from her hand, I looked at the screen.

[Rank 18 at the age of 24. Monster or a spy from the Monolith?]

[Ren Dover makes a shocking return. From the conference to…]

I handed the phone back to Amanda.

"Why are you showing me this?"

"Take a look at the pictures."

She pointed out while leaning her body closer.

"Oh."

It was only after she pointed it out to me that I realized that all the photos used in the articles were that of me with a fake smile on.

I let out a tired sigh.

"Out of all the pictures they could've used…"

"You can't really blame them. The screen turned black after a certain period of time."

Amanda's mom interjected in the middle. She had a rather amused smile on her face. I feigned ignorance to it..

"Screen turned black?"

"Yeah. At one point, the screen turned black. I think it was because of something you did."

"Right…"

And here I thought they had all seen what I did.

I guess I had used a bit too much strength.

'Well, it doesn't matter. I wanted to get the message across to the people in the hall, not them anyways.'

"I think that was for the best."

"Why's that?"

Natasha curiously asked.

Amanda answered her before I could answer.

"The fewer people get to see his real strength the better. Then again…"

Lifting her head slightly to meet my eyes, her lips curled.

"You didn't exactly show all your strength did you?"

'She knows me too well.'

I mysteriously smiled.

"Maybe? Who knows?"

Amanda lifted her head from my shoulder. After that, she scooched over to where Nola was. She was currently busy playing on Amanda's phone.

"Well, since you won't say anything, I'll just play with Nola."

"Hey, wait."

***

Clank—!

After locking the door behind him, Kevin turned on his apartment's lights. When the light flared and brightened the space, he experienced an odd feeling of loneliness after giving his apartment a careful inspection.

His apartment was rather big, enough for a whole family to comfortably live in. It had everything, from two bathrooms, four bedrooms, a living room, and a gym...yet at the same time felt extremely empty.

Taking a bottle of water from the fridge, Kevin sat down on one of his sofas in the living room and turned on the TV.

[To be honest, I'm quite frankly shocked by his achievements. For him to rank 18 at the age of 24, could this be a sign?]

[Carrol, I'm quite frankly still not really convinced by...]

"Looks like you've become the talk of the town, Ren."

Kevin lightly laughed as he looked at the news. He found the picture used on the screen especially funny.

It was so glaringly obvious that his smile was fake.

Ding—!

It was at this moment that his phone rang.

Kevin took out his phone and looked to see who the sender was.

[Hey, why aren't you answering me anymore?]

It was from Emma.

His smile slowly faded.

Clenching onto his phone, his hand started to shake. Biting his lips, he turned off the phone and leaned his head back against the sofa.

Blankly staring at the ceiling of the room for what felt like forever, he smiled in self-deprecation.

Kevin lowered his head and clenched his teeth.

Extending his hand, his hand started to glow in white color. His eyes flashed with loneliness when he looked at the white glow.

"In the end, this is the only way. Even if you end up hating me for forcing you into this situation...for making you remember all of your regressions...you're the only one that can do something about 'it'."

Kevin slowly clenched his hand.

"After all, a puppet can't fight against their master...'

Chapter 612: l'm just visiting a friend [2]

A new morning arrived.

As soon as I woke up, I washed up and had breakfast with my family. After that, I got changed and left the apartment. Not going to lie, the last part took me a little longer than expected due to some unforeseen circumstances. Nevertheless, I was still on time.

"Are you ready?"

I was greeted by Amanda when I arrived at the front of the flat. She looked quite vivacious with her long white skirt and a black turtleneck that hid her neck.

Upon seeing her, I apologized immediately.

"Sorry, Nola was giving me a hard time."

"What happened this time?"

"…She had a nightmare, and she didn't want to let go of me."

Amanda covered her mouth and laughed.

"That's adorable."

"Not when you're in a hurry."

"It's fine, let's go. I've got the driver waiting downstairs."

"Thanks…"

Thanking Amanda, my mood shifted. Not in a good way as I was reminded of my purpose.

'...It's been a while since I last paid a visit.'

To Smallsnake's grave.

About a year or so.

I just couldn't bear to go. It reminded me of my failure. My failure in saving someone that was dear to me.

...But I also knew that this couldn't go on anymore.

As I was getting ready to leave for Immorra, I thought I should pay him a visit. It was about time I moved on.

"It's alright."

I felt Amanda squeeze my hand as she looked up at me. Meeting her gaze, I felt my heart calm down a little as a smile spread across my face.

Then, squeezing her hand back, I leaned my body forward and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"You…"

"Thanks."

I let go of her hand and moved away toward the elevators. Pretending ignorance to her bewildered expression.

It was about time I got her back because of how cheeky she had been acting lately. I was satisfied with just seeing her reaction.

…and it was exactly because of this feeling that I was experiencing that my face turned somber.

'I can't lose this.'

This little joy in my life.

It was probably the only thing that was stopping me from losing it.

So…

I had to do everything to not lose it.

***

Amanda stared at Ren's parting back with her hand pressed against the side of her cheek.

'It's hot.'

She inwardly mumbled to herself while she felt the heat rise on both sides of her cheeks.

Ren's unexpected actions shook her more than she expected. Most likely because this was the first time he had ever taken the initiative.

Typically, it would always be her who initiated. She didn't blame him, however.

She was completely aware of his feelings and never attempted to force her emotions on him. Even though their progress was extremely slow, it was nonetheless still progress, and Amanda could see from Ren's behavior that he was gradually coming around to accepting her.

His actions were testimony to this, and her heart warmed up a little.

But...

Covering her mouth with her arm while her other hand touched her cheek, she stuttered.

"...b-but..but...It was just a peck."

***

Tap. Tap. Tap.

All sorts of tabs flashed across Ryan's screen as his fingers danced on the keyboard.

One had to wonder if Ryan was actually able to see what the tabs exhibited given how quickly they arrived and disappeared. Unexpectedly, it seemed like he could see them clearly.

Darting his eyes over the five monitors in front of him, Ryan's hand paused. Then, with a furrow of his brows, he mumbled under his breath.

"There seems to be an external generator that is powering up the system. If I disable the system, the generator will activate and the enemies will be alerted of our presence…how troublesome.."

Shifting his head to stare at one of the monitors, Ryan pressed his ear.

"It appears that I won't be able to assist you any longer, guys. They have a backup generator for their system. You must act quickly since the only thing I can assist you with is preventing any communication from leaking out."

[No problem]

A crisp voice echoed inside of his ear.

It belonged to Ava.

[Hein and I can handle this without a problem. I'll get back at you in ten minutes. We should be able to finish the mission by then]

"Got it."

The communication shut off after that.

Shifting his head back toward the main screen, Ryan took a pen from the side of his desk and signed something off.

"With this, we should be able to meet our monthly quota."

Being mercenaries, they unavoidably had to perform tasks from time to time. They were required by law to meet certain monthly targets in order to maintain their rank.

Since they were of the lowest rank in the past, it wasn't an issue before, but when their mercenary organization rose in status, they were required to accomplish missions each month to maintain the rank.

The perks that came with being a highly ranked mercenary group weren't something to be trifled with. It wasn't just the fame that came with it, but they were also granted priority to certain dungeons. That alone was a great incentive to rank up.

Regarding the missions, everyone in the group took turns, and at the moment, it was Hein and Ava's turn to complete the missions.

"With this mission complete, we can relax for another month."

Ryan dropped the pen on the table and reclined on his chair.

He then blankly stared at the ceiling.

"This job sure is tough…"

Inheriting his connections and role, Ryan tried his best to make up for his absence, but even after two years had passed, he was not as efficient as Smallsnake was.

It was only after he took over his role that he understood just how good Smallsnake was at his job.

'Let's not think about it.'

Ryan felt his chest tighten whenever he thought of Smallsnake.

Even after all this time had passed, he couldn't move on from what happened.

His death agonized him every day. Maybe because he was still a teenager, or maybe because Smallsnake meant so much to him, but every day, he would force himself to learn and improve his methods. It was the only thing that kept his mind busy.

Never again did he want such a situation to happen again.

Ding—!

Right then, Ryan received a message. It was from Ren.

[Tell the others to drop whatever they are doing. We are going to another planet in two days' time. I want everyone to be present.]

Ryan blinked a couple of times as heavy silence fell upon the room.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm down, but when he saw the words 'another planet' he couldn't stop himself from trembling.

…It brought rise to memories he wanted to forget with all of his might. Unknowingly, his foot started to shake in a nervous manner.

'Calm down Ryan.'

It took several seconds for him to quell his rough breathing, and even then, he could feel his heart beating uncontrollably inside of his chest.

"Huff…huff…"

Clenching his teeth, he brought his fingers to the phone.

[Okay.]

He sent a simple message. One that only contained a single word. And one that took all of his energy to send.

Ryan stood up from his seat once he sent the message.

He carefully raised his head to look at his mirror while resting both of his hands on the desk to support his body. He said, staring at his swollen eyes.

"…This can't go on, I need to move on."

***

"We're here."

I exited the black car and stretched my body. A familiar chapel appeared in the distance.

I closed my eyes while breathing in the air.

'Here I am.'

It had been a while since I had been here. Honestly, everything felt so familiar yet so unfamiliar at the same time.

I couldn't quite put how I was feeling into words, but…it wasn't a pleasant feeling.

It almost felt like it was eating away at the little sanity that I had left.

"The weather's nice today."

Amanda's voice reached my ears. From the tone of her voice, I could tell she understood how I was feeling and was trying to shift my thoughts to something else.

"...You're right."

Taking a deep breath, I slowly opened my eyes.

"The weather is indeed nice..."

Cloudless and azure blue. It was the best weather one could ask for.

Then, smiling slightly, I proceeded to head toward the cemetery.

Contrary to what movies portray, the cemetery was actually quite beautiful. In addition to its short green hills, the cemetery was surrounded by beautiful trees and flowers that livened up the place.

The fresh smell of cleanly cut grass permeated the air, as the sun brightly lit the surroundings.

A peaceful yet sad vibe enshrouded the area as I quietly walked around the cemetery with one direction in mind.

Yes, the setting was lovely, but that didn't lessen the sense of loss I experienced as I passed the tombs and saw the writings on the tombstones.

'Treasured husband, dad & grandad'

'Treasured wife.'

'Treasured daughter.'

It wasn't long before my heart started to feel heavy. The sense of loss I felt only intensified the more I looked around. I still nonetheless continued to move forward.

"Hm?"

Soon enough, my feet came to a stop. My brows furrowed.

"Isn't that Smallsnake's grave? ...Or am I remembering wrongly?"

I turned back to look at Amanda and pointed to a particular tomb.

"That is his grave."

She stopped right next to me and wrinkled her brows as well.

"I'm certain it is."

"...Is that so?"

When I heard her affirm it, I looked back toward the tomb. My gaze then fixed on a particular person in the distance, who from the looks of him appeared to be a guy.

He silently knelt on the ground without moving, his long black coat reaching all the way to his knees, and his long black hair covering his face. Although I didn't know who he was, I could tell from the texture of his coat that he was from an affluent background. Also, the way he continued to kneel on the ground without caring if the coat became soiled, made me think that perhaps he was someone who was quite close to Smallsnake in the past.

'Who is he?'

The only thing that confused me was the fact that I had no idea who he was. Realistically, speaking, anyone apart from a select few knew that Smallsnake was dead. The fact that there was someone else that I didn't know made me feel somewhat confused.

"Eh?"

Then, just as I was about to move, we briefly locked eyes as he gently raised his head and turned to face him.

My foot came to a sudden halt and my heart slowly started to sink.

The man...

Those devilishly handsome features that only Kevin and Jin could rival...

That tremendous pressure that made the hair at the back of my neck stand...

"It's him..."

I thought to myself as I swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Malik Alshayatin.

***

A/N : I'm just got back home. Regarding the mass release. I will be releasing 3 batches of 5. The first batch will be tomorrow, Saturday, the next one will be Monday, and the last one will be Wednesday. So, one every other day.

And yes, chapters will return at the regular rate starting tomorrow. 2 a day.

Chapter 613: l'm just visiting a friend [3]

Calm.

When Malik's eyes stopped on me and our eyes met, I felt completely at ease.

His pressure…

It was terrifying. More than I could've bargained for. Enough to make me feel suffocated with just a single breath.

'<SSS-> rank.'

Although it was unclear to those watching, I, who was close to achieving <SS-> rank, could discern from a quick glance what level he had attained.

The way the mana around him bent to his will…

The way the world seemed so focused on him…

And the pressure that closely resembled a couple of figures I had met in the past…

Without a single doubt, he had broken through to <SSS-> rank.

"Hm?"

Before I knew it, he was a couple of steps away from me.

"You must be Ren Dover…or should I say, 876?"

His voice echoed out. It sounded crisp and pleasant to the ear, yet, at the same time, felt extremely chilly.

Nevertheless, I didn't get shaken up by his voice or pressure. At this moment, it seemed as though the emotion known as 'fear' had completely dissipated from my body.

My head tilted slightly as I asked in a rather monotonous tone.

At this point, I was starting to doubt whether the one speaking was me or the other me.

"What are you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

As he said, Malik Alshayatin, or lesser known as Hemlock, took a step to the side and gestured in the direction of Smallsnake's grave.

"...I'm here to pay a visit to my friend."

His remarks would've normally have made me angry, but as I've said before, the emotion known as "anger" vanished from my body. His reply aroused no emotion from within me.

At this point, I realized that something was wrong, yet at the same time, had no time to understand what was going on.

"Friend? Last time I heard, you were the one responsible for killing his own mother? I'm sure no friend would actually do that."

"…So he's still hung up on that."

Hemlock quietly whispered to himself.

The whisper was low, but it was audible enough for me to hear. He then repeatedly pointed toward his chest.

"You see, it was only because I was his friend that I did what I did. I did it to make sure he understood...understood just how serious the situation is. In the end, I did everything for his benefit. I wished to show him the reality of the world!...and the death of his mother was the only way that I could open up his eyes. I wanted him to understand just how feeble human life is."

Without realizing it, my brows knit as I noticed signs of agony on his face.

'Why is he making such a face?'

I was starting to grow curious. What exactly was he trying to say?...and why did it seem like he genuinely felt that his actions were correct?

"What reality are you speaking of?"

Curiosity got the better of me in the end.

"He..."

Hemlock lowered his head and met my sight. He let out a tired sigh.

"...The reality that joining the demons is the only way for humanity to avoid extinction. We won't be able to protect ourselves in any other manner."

'What sort of nonsense is this.'

I wanted to blurt out loud these words, but as soon as my mouth opened, I realized that I couldn't.

My mind grew numb when this realization dawned on me.

Hemlock on the other hand seemed to have noticed my reaction and a thin smile formed on his face.

"It appears that you are aware of the seriousness of our situation. Your inability to refute my arguments suggests that you are aware that they are not mere heresy from a psychopath, as the others appear to make it out to be."

My hand started to clench.

But it wasn't out of anger, but rather, annoyance.

His words…

I had no means to correct them. After observing the various regressions that my body underwent, I realized that the demon king was an entity that was simply too strong to be beaten.

One might think that after multiple regressions defeating the demon king would be possible, but it didn't seem to be the case as both Kevin and I failed.

Even after hundreds of different regressions occurred, it always ended with the timeline resetting.

Had it been anyone else but me, they would've perceived Hemlock as an absolute psychopath, but for someone like me, who understood the truth…his words...they didn't sound that wrong. Rather, they sounded rather convincing.

…and that was worrying.

There was a sudden look of understanding on Hemlock's face.

"You appear to have met his majesty based on the expression on your face. You can't really grasp how hopeless the situation is until you actually meet him. It was from my short meeting with him that I understood just how dire our situation was."

It was Hemlock's words that snapped me out of my thoughts.

He was still rambling about the demon king and how powerful he was.

He didn't need to tell me to know this much. I already knew and experienced the helplessness that came with meeting him. Hence why I shifted the topic away to something else.

"How did you know that Smallsnake was dead?"

"Smallsnake?"

Hemlock blinked his eyes a couple of times. Seemingly unable to understand who Smallsnake was.

It was only after I pointed at his tomb that he understood who I was talking to.

"Oh, you mean Brian?"

"Right…"

Brian was indeed his name.

Hemlock slowly nodded his head. Turning around to look at Smallsnake's tomb, he sighed.

"Actually, I didn't know until last year. I was too busy trying to break through to notice that anything happened to him."

Brushing his hair to the side, he fixed his eyes on me.

"…But do you seriously think that Brian could actually hide away from me? Especially from someone like you whom we have been keeping a close eye on after it was revealed to us that you were 876?"

I stared back at him without saying anything.

Indeed, for someone as powerful as the Monolith, it wouldn't be strange for them to know my movements. Although I took a series of precautions to ensure that they didn't know all of my movements, it was inevitable for them to hold some information about me, such as who worked for me and stuff.

"I put a little lump of mana into his body just before we parted ways. There was no grand purpose behind it. It was so that I could find him as long as I was nearby. Just by feeling the mana, I would be able to get a general idea of where he was...It was also because of this that I knew that he was working in the black market.

Surprisingly, the answer I received was far off from what I assumed was the case.

"I never did anything to him over the past couple of years because I hoped that he would slowly start to understand me."

"I was planning on meeting him up again soon, but as I was too busy with several problems that occurred due to a certain someone…"

A slight pause ensued after he said those last words. From the way he was looking at me, I knew about what he was talking about.

He was definitely referring to the 876 incident. Who would have imagined the incident would have, in its own way, saved Smallsnake?

"He unexpectedly vanished from the human realm as soon as I was preparing to approach him again after solving all the issues that you caused, but no matter how hard I looked for him, I was unable to locate him. How astonished was I, do you know? I briefly believed that he had passed away before realizing that I was still connected to the mana I had left in his body."

"From there I realized that he was outside of the human domain, and waited. Waited for him to come back…"

Raising his hand to cover his face, Hemlock suddenly laughed.

"…And that's where more problems came up. I got totally played by Octavious when he sent me a fake corpse of what was supposed to be you."

He inched a little forward.

The pressure that came out of his body became extremely overbearing, sealing all my movements.

His low, deep and sinister voice reached for my ears.

"I'm not one to get angry easily...but...you...you've managed to anger me more times than I could've ever imagined. First, with all the troubles, you caused at our headquarters, then when you sent us the fake corpse in your place..and lastly..."

He slowly turned his head to face Smallsnake's grave.

"...and lastly, your inability to protect Brian."

The ground beneath cracked, forming a one inch deep circular crater.

I couldn't move my body while this was happening. It wasn't like back when Jezebeth sealed all parts of my body, but it felt as though over fifty trucks were weighing down on me.

It felt agonizing.

Nonetheless...

I mustered every bit of strength inside of my body and moved my finger. It was just a simple movement. A simple tap in the air with my index finger.

But it was that seemingly gentle tap that brought rise to an incredible scene.

An echoing hollow, clicking sound resembling two glasses tapping against each other echoed out, bringing forth four bright, yellow rings that stretched outward. After that, there were rifts in the atmosphere where vivid, yellow, tangible sword energies slowly emerged. In the space of a few seconds, Hemlock was consumed by over thirty sword energies. All aiming at him with their pointed tips.

Rumble—! Rumble—!

The air around us started to shake, and so did the surroundings. Leaves fell from the trees and the ground beneath us cracked even more.

"Not bad, not bad."

Hemlock was the first of the two of us to give up just as the situation was about to get out of hand. The tightness that had been encircling me dissipated as soon as he raised both of his hands in the air in a sign of retreat.

The sword energies in the air disappeared at the same time the pressure disappeared.

Fixing his clothes and coat, Hemlock calmly looked around him.

"...It would've been nice for us to continue our little bout, but it would be inappropriate for us to do it here. I may be the leader of the Monolith, but I'm not heartless."

He laughed to himself before he took a step forward and paused beside me. He then pressed his hand against my shoulder.

"Of course, the fact that we're still in a truce means that I can't touch you just yet, but..."

A smile slowly formed on his face and his eyes paused on Amanda who was standing behind me.

"...You should keep a good watch on those that are close to you. Let me remind you, the Monolith has eyes everywhere."

He gave my shoulder a light pat before walking away from the scene, leaving Amanda and I standing by ourselves in the cemetery, which was now in a mess.

The anger that I previously felt was gone slowly started to emerge from deep within my body, but I was able to suppress it.

I then slowly closed my eyes and clenched my fists.

'...I need to break through to <SS-> rank.'

Even though our exchange was brief, there was still a clear difference between Malik Alshayatin's skills and mine. I wouldn't be able to fight him unless I advanced to <SS-> rank, and even then, the likelihood of me winning was slim.

I couldn't waste any more time.

"Ren?"

I felt a sudden tap on my shoulder, and I snapped out of it. I didn't need to turn to know it was Amanda.

Taking a deep breath, I turned around.

"Are you okay?"

She asked, in a rather worried tone.

Staring deeply into her eyes, I shook my head and honestly answered her.

"No...no, I'm not."

Chapter 614: Returning to lmmorra [1]

The scenery outside of the window kept shifting as the car continued to move through the streets of Ashton city.

There was an unusual silence inside the car as it passed each street.

"Are you okay?"

The silence was only broken by Amanda's voice, which contained hints of worry.

"...If you're worried about my safety, you shouldn't be. I'm about to reach <S-> rank soon. I can hold my ow—"

"That's not it."

I cut her off before she could continue speaking.

I then turned my attention in her direction.

"Your safety isn't what is bothering me. I already know just how strong you are. There's no need for me to protect you."

Amanda was one of the last people that needed my protection.

With a big guild backing her up, and her father, who was now <SS-> rank helping her, she was safer than anyone else I knew.

Not only that, but her strength wasn't anything to scoff at. Even I would have trouble fighting against her if she started attacking me from a long distance.

She was the worst opponent for me.

"Then what are you worried about?"

"My strength."

I truthfully replied. Lowering my head to gaze at my hands, I quietly whispered.

"...I need more strength."

I was strong, yet so weak at the same time.

If only I could become stronger, faster...

Sadly, time wasn't on my side. With only two years left, I didn't see much hope in the dark tunnel that I was walking in.

Nonetheless, I still continued to walk. I had no choice but to.

"..."

Amanda didn't say anything after overhearing my words.

Her gaze was on me, but she didn't say anything. It seemed as though she understood my sentiments.

The last thing I heard from her throughout the ride back home was her soft whisper.

"Me too..."

***

Union tower, executive floor.

Octavious overlooked the entirety of Ashton city from the comfort of his own office. Glass windows that stretched from one end of the room to the other allowed him to see everything. From the streets below, the skyscrapers in the distance.

He stared at the city for what seemed like hours until he raised his head to stare at the large crack that was in the sky.

"...What am I missing?"

A low, monotonous voice echoed out.

Several years had passed since the crack in the sky appeared. During that time, Octavious watched as more and more people broke through to the next rank.

From Monica reaching the <SS-> rank at the age of thirty two, and several other known figures also breaking through their previous talent limits, Octavious knew that this was the best time to break through.

Humanity was in a state of prosperity!

Only one issue remained; in spite of all the time that had elapsed, he was still only at the <SS+> rank. Octavious was a patient man, and in a normal situation, he wouldn't have given a damn about how long it took for him to advance to the next rank.

However, the situation was different now.

"I can't feel it."

The sensation one would feel when they were close to reaching the next level. Octavious couldn't feel it.

This only meant one thing. He was still far from reaching the next rank.

"...What did I give up my emotions for?"

Octavius's languid eyes rippled as he stared at the azure blue sky. Traces of loneliness flashed across his turbid eyes.

Taking a deep breath, he turned around to face his desk.

It was then that his eyes paused on a certain frame. On the frame was a little girl with brown hair and green eyes.

Octavious lowered the frame with his hand to reveal several post-it notes in his handwriting. One he remembered writing a long time ago.

[Make sure to smile in front of children. Even if you lose your emotions, you should try your best to not let your own daughter down.]

[Try patting her on the head when she cries. It should appease her, if even for a little bit.]

[Give her milk when she cries.]

[I saw that candy makes children happy. Try giving them to her when she's crying.]

[Make sure to show her some affection even if you can't feel anything for her. It's the least you can do for giving up on your emotions in exchange for more power.]

He raised the frame back up to hide the post-it notes.

Even though he couldn't understand them, he felt like they were important. He just didn't know why.

"Soul...Soul...Soul..."

He mumbled to himself, taking out a large brown leather book from one of his drawers.

Placing it on his desk, he started to flip through it. He had an inkling that the reason why he couldn't break through had something to do with his soul.

***

The next day.

"Are you guys ready?"

We were currently standing in front of a large expanse of grass. Beside me was Kevin who had his hand extended outwardly.

The mana around him danced and fluctuated in a weird manner.

He was about to open the portal that led to Immorra.

"Since I have things to take care of at the Union, I won't be able to accompany you guys, but that shouldn't be a problem. When you people are finished, I'll visit just teleport to you guys and set up a portal."

"That will do."

I thankfully nodded my head in Kevin's direction.

The meeting time was supposed to be in seven human days, which was about seventy days in Immorra.

By then, Kevin would teleport to us and he would set up a portal. For obvious circumstances, Kevin couldn't come with us.

The him being too 'busy' was merely an excuse. The real reason he couldn't come was because his presence would definitely arouse Jezebeth's interest and in turn, raise the possibility of him appearing in Immorra which wasn't something I was keen on having.

"Are you ready?"

Kevin called out.

Turning my head to look at the others behind me, I nodded my head. Judging from their looks, they looked ready.

"Yes, we're ready."

"Okay."

Kevin's physique started to radiate a reddish glow. The color grew quickly this time, unlike the previous times he attempted to open the portals, before gently creating a net to enclose a white ball that formed in the middle of his palm.

"I've learned my lesson from last time."

Kevin started to speak.

"In order to avoid leaving any traces of me opening up the portal, I have found a way to use my mana alone instead of …"

He paused mid sentence and looked at the others.

After that, his eyes rested on me, and he no longer spoke any further. Nonetheless, I clearly understood what he was trying to say.

He was most likely trying to refer to the Akashic laws. A power only he and the demon king held.

"Get ready."

Extending his other hand, the free one, Kevin took out a large core from out of thin air.

He then crushed it with his hand.

Crack!

Like glass, the core shattered into millions of pieces and a glass shattering sound echoed.

Following that, a surge of magic erupted from the center and traveled toward the white sphere that was encircled by Kevin's crimson color, like furiously dancing snakes. A wormhole began to form, spiraling around the white core.

In the process, a gust of air was released and my hair and clothes fluttered wildly.

I ignored it and looked at the others.

Everyone was here.

Ava, Hein, Leopold, Liam, Han Yufei, Ryan, and Angelica.

Yes, Angleica too.

To my surprise, Angelica chose to remain with us despite the contract expiring a year ago.

In all honesty, I never expected her to remain with me after everything that happened, but at the same time, I sort of understood her.

After all, this was the only place she had left.

Her relationship with her clan must have suffered greatly as a result of what occurred a few years ago in the dungeon. She would have without a doubt get into trouble if she had gone back. After all, they did suffer tremendous losses back then.

Thus, it was within her best interest to make another contract with me.

Compared to the previous contract we signed, it wasn't any different. Perhaps there were fewer restrictions on her, but that was about it.

The time for the contract was set for two years, for obvious reasons, and she could not betray or think of betraying anyone in the group in the time period set. The same went for me.

Not that I thought she would actually betray us. But who knew, there was always a chance for everything. I at least knew this much.

"Are you guys ready?"

I asked while my eyes swept past everyone present.

All of them were currently wearing grave expressions on their faces and were paying close attention to the portal. Without them knowing, their faces had already begun to pale when they gazed at the gateway, even though they tried their best not to show it.

Evidently, they were reminded of what happened two years back.

I couldn't blame them.

I too felt a mix of emotions when I stared at the portal, but I was able to quickly squash emotions down once I saw that the portal was about to form.

"I'll go first."

I decided to step in first to make sure that nothing was wrong with the portal.

I looked at the others once more before turning to Kevin, who gave me a short nod. I reciprocated his slow head nod by doing the same.

After that, without looking back, I entered the portal right after.

Chapter 615: Returning to lmmorra [2]

"Huuu…"

When I emerged through the portal, I inhaled deeply. The teleportation had somewhat upset my stomach, as it had in the past, but I was able to bear it.

It was fortunate for me to know that the effects weren't as bad as the previous times.

Was it because of my strength increase? I wasn't sure, and I didn't care. At the moment, my mind was preoccupied with other things as I extended my hand.

"This sense of heaviness, yeah, it truly feels like I'm back in Immorra."

It only took me a single minute for me to know I was back in Immorra. The distinct gravity that came from this place was quite familiar to me.

It wasn't just that.

"The suns…"

Illuminating the sky wasn't just one sun, but another one, making it clear that I wasn't on earth. Apart from that, the land looked exactly like earth.

Well, that was how it was supposed to be, but...

"Why is the sky grey?"

It took me a moment to realize this, but the sky was of an ashen gray color.

Compared to the last time I had been here, the azure clear sky had completely changed.

Because there were no clouds in the sky, it was necessary to point out that the sky's color had not changed because a storm was brewing, but rather, it was the pigmentation itself that had changed.

"The demons must've corrupted the mana to the point where the sky has changed color."

Similar to every place I had gone before, especially those where a significant amount of the mana, or in this case, aura, in the air had been transformed into demonic energy, there were phenomena that would result in a shift in the surrounding environment.

In this case, the color of the sky had changed.

"Ugh."

A wailing voice from behind me startled me out of my thoughts. When I turned around, Hein was standing in the middle of the grass with his eyes closed and his legs extended widely in a horse stance position.

From the looks of things, he was trying to get adjusted to the sudden shift in gravity but was having trouble with it.

"Ugh, what in the world!"

Another figure appeared behind Hein, and they showed similar first time reactions to his.

As I got a better look, I could see that it was Ava, and she appeared to be having more difficulty adjusting to the gravity than Hein.

But this was to be expected. After all, Hein's physique was much stronger.

Not minding the two of them, I walked near them and waited for more people to show up.

Soon, Leopold, Han Yufei, and Liam showed up one by one. Leopold aside, Han Yufei and Liam were able to quickly adjust to the shift in gravity.

From the way they were moving, it didn't seem as though they were affected in the slightest.

Han Yufei because of his extremely sturdy body, and Liam...well, Liam because he was Liam.

There was no point in using common sense with him.

"It's only Angelica and Ryan left."

They were the only two that were missing.

Fortunately, the wait didn't last for long as the two of them appeared at the same time, with Angelica holding onto Ryan's hand. The faces of some of the people near us changed when the two of them appeared.

I shook my head when I saw this.

There was a very good reason why Ryan came with Angelica, despite the fact that he was no longer a child but a fully grown teen and their appearance were therefore somewhat perplexing.

"Ugh!"

As soon as the two of them landed on the grass, Ryan's face distorted with pain as he almost fell on the floor right then and there.

Had it not been for Angelica, he would most likely fallen hard on the ground with no way to stand up.

...and the reason why he couldn't come alone was because he was still, unfortunately, too weak for this place.

"Here, wear this."

It was good that I knew this and came prepared as I handed Ryan a small bracelet.

"What's this?"

Ryan questioned as he took the bracelet.

"It's nothing much."

I answered back while turning around to see how the others were faring.

"You can increase your strength with this simple artifact. You shouldn't have any trouble navigating this gravity with it. The only drawback is that it requires mana to activate, so utilize the potions I provided you before the trip, alright?"

"Alright."

Ryan obediently nodded his head and wore the bracelet.

Satisfied with him, I focused my attention on the others. The reason why I didn't give him the bracelet before was because I wanted to see if he could adjust to the gravity or not.

It was unfortunate that he couldn't.

After seeing that they had all adjusted to gravity, I turned to Angelica and asked.

"Which way should we go?"

Without saying anything, Angelica closed her eyes for a brief moment before delicately raising her hand to point toward the west.

"That way."

Nodding my head, I rushed the others to follow me.

"Alright, you heard her. Let's go."

I raised my pace, leaving the others to follow after me at an increased pace.

***

Ashton city, undisclosed location.

It took a total of ten minutes for everyone to finally enter the portal. By the time they all entered, Kevin felt his body grow tired.

Despite his strength, keeping a portal for as long as he did still took a heavy toll on him.

Staring in the direction of where the portal used to stand, Kevin, mumbled.

"...Now that he's gone I should be able to sort everything out without any problems."

The air around him began to tremble as he reached out to the right.

In contrast to the typical red glow that emanated from his arm, a white glow appeared in his palm.

Then, out of nothing, a book began to take shape in his hands.

The book was of a red color, and was extremely familiar.

Ren would instantly recognize it if he were present. It was the same book that had previously traveled with him and had assisted him in changing a number of crucial situations.

"...It's almost time."

Opening the book up, words started to form on the paper. Carefully reading through them, Kevin carefully closed the book in his hands after a while.

Then, taking one last look at the area where the portal was set up, he directly left the area.

***

From the sky, bits and pieces of red rained down.

Spurt—! Spurt—!

As the chunks fell to the ground, they splattered all over the ground, dying the grass red.

"…That's disgusting."

While this was happening, Hein took a step back and disgustingly stared at the ground.

He then turned to face Ava who was standing next to him.

"Couldn't you have, you know, done this in a cleaner manner?"

"I could've."

Ava answered, extending her hand to the sky, allowing for multiple eagle-like creatures to land.

Upon landing on her arm, she took out her flute and tapped the eagles on the head once. They instantly disappeared after that.

"…But I don't see the need to do this in a cleaner manner. Our priority right now is to get rid of anything that can give away our location."

She sounded rather cold, but no one seemed to take offense to her tone.

Ever since Smallsnake died, one by one, everyone changed.

Not a single person apart from Liam and Han Yufei who barely knew him wasn't affected by his death.

In a way, everyone became more serious and focused. The changes were great, and they were nice to see…but at the same time, the cost that came with the changes wasn't something that I could've ever have hoped to afford

"I've been wondering, Ren..."

It was then that I heard Leopold's voice from beside me.

Just like the others, he had also changed quite a bit. He no longer smoked. That was a real struggle for him to get past, but he was now a cigarette free man.

"What is it?"

I asked while paying attention to my surroundings.

"Your strength is about S+ rank, right?"

"Yes."

I quietly nodded while I extended my hand to push away one of the bushes in front of me.

It wasn't something that I hid from the others.

After all, I did spar with everyone in the group. Just as how they knew my strength, I knew theirs, and I was happy to say, that apart from Ryan, everyone was above <B> rank.

A praiseworthy result if I had to say so myself.

"Liam's strength is also about the same as yours, right?"

Leopold whispered while he quietly shifted his attention toward Liam who was walking not so far from where we were.

He had a rather lost and confused look on his face.

"…Yes."

My speed slowed down a little.

Wasn't sure where Leopold was getting at.

"If I remember correctly, you also said that the strongest people on this planet were Marquis rank…"

My feet came to a full stop.

"So why in the world are we going around moving so quiet—"

"Shhh…"

I put my finger on his mouth right before he could finish his sentence.

The reason for this was because I spotted several demons in the distance.

Everyone around me also stopped moving.

"It looks like several Viscount ranked demons."

Hein whispered.

Taking a closer look at the demons ahead, I relaxed and nodded my head.

"Hein is right, it's a couple of Viscount ranked demons."

Then, scanning the people around me, my eyes paused on Han Yufei and I ordered.

"Take care of it."

"Got it."

His figure disappeared as soon as he said those words.

After that, he appeared next to the two demons and crashed their heads against each other by pressing his hands against the back of their heads.

In total, it only took about ten seconds for Han Yufei to dispatch the two Viscoint ranked demons.

I was deeply impressed by his performance.

"Good job."

"Thanks."

We continued moving after that. Meanwhile, I recalled what I was previously talking about with Leopold.

"Leopold, Regarding your question."

I turned to look at Leopold.

"Although it is indeed true that I can probably wipe out this place with just Liam, you have to take into consideration that one wrong move can lead to our death."

What worried me the most wasn't meeting a demon that turned out to be stronger than I anticipated.

No, my worries lay with the fact that my actions could invoke Jezebeth's attention.

Quite frankly, I was still far from his level. I'd be squashed like a bug if he met me at this moment.

…and in no way would I ever allow that to happen.

I made a promise to myself that I was planning to keep.

I'd never be satisfied without knowing that I failed to kill him after what he did…never.

"Alright, if you say so."

Leopold dropped the conversation and followed the others deeper into the forest.

Squinting my eyes, I gazed toward the far distance.

Honestly, that wasn't the only reason why I didn't just go all out from the beginning.

That was because I was planning on using my time here to finally break through to <SS-> rank.

One week was equal to seventy days, and in spite of the low mana density around this place, I brought several things with me to aid my breakthrough. They cost a lot of money, but it was well worth the expenditure.

Ever since my meeting with Malik Alshayatin, I had made up my mind to do anything within my power to increase my strength.

It wasn't about revenge or anything like that. What came foremost before that was my survival, and I knew...I knew that with my current abilities, I couldn't guarantee my survival.

I needed to keep improving.

"…Although I'm not sure if this will work or not, it's better to give it a shot rather than doing nothing."

Taking a step forward, I followed the others into the forest.

Chapter 616: Returning to lmmorra [3]

A castle was perched alone atop a cliff, surrounded on all sides by tiny towns. It had been standing there for many centuries, heavily worn out from the times.

With some mismatched towers and asymmetrical designs, it had a fairly crude appearance. Even yet, it did not lessen the imposing impression it left.

But in contrast to its imposing exterior, it was completely empty inside.

In a large hall where large banners cascaded down the sides and a large throne sat at the far end, a meeting was taking place.

"...We've lost ground. The demons will reach the city within the next year."

The orc kneeled down on one foot.

"One year?"

A low, solemn voice filled the room.

"How long will our supplies last?"

"Five years. Supplies aren't a problem."

"...I see."

Silence descended on the room.

It was only after a while that the voice once again echoed.

"You may leave."

"...Understood, Chief."

Standing on two feet, the orc thumped his chest once and left the hall.

Silug kept his gaze locked on the orc until he left the hall. Once he left, only his presence and pressure filled the room.

"Forty years..."

Today marked the fortieth year that he had been the orcen chief. The path wasn't simple. He only succeeded in becoming chief by pure luck. Had it not been for that human that had helped him many years ago, none of this would've been possible.

He was then able to prevent the orcs from losing the conflict and forcing a stalemate with the demons.

Unfortunately, it didn't look like this deadlock would last much longer. The demons proved to be far too powerful for them to handle, and the orcs were overwhelmed by the lack of reinforcements, losing more than three-fourths of their forces during the course of the previous ten years.

"There might be a way."

Thump.

Silug pressed his foot against the hard ground.

Immediately, the hall trembled and a shockwave pulsed in an outward manner. Cracks began to form beneath the throne as Silug slowly stood up from the throne.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

The cracks quickly became larger, and the throne behind him began to slant into one of them. Soon after, a hole started to appear, and the throne sank into it.

Silug stepped toward the black hole where the chair fell and he similarly fell.

Thump.

His feet crashed against the earth as rocks raced past him after he fell directly down the hole for more than ten seconds.

"...It's dark."

His voice echoed throughout the dark space.

The only thing he could see at the moment was an endless darkness. Aside from that, he could also hear a faint rhythmic breathing coming from the distance.

Pressing his large foot against the ground, Silug extended his hand toward the right until he felt a rough surface.

Only then did he channel his aura and he pressed with much more force.

Rumble.

The room started to shake.

In the process, Silug's thick, and muscular arms erupted in a darkish green glow that snaked forth like several snakes and connected with the wall, gliding along the bricks and illuminating the surroundings.

It didn't take long for the darkness to disappear.

"Better."

Silug was left satisfied once the room was brightly lit and he was able to get a good look at his surroundings.

He wasn't satisfied for long as his face once again turned solemn once he turned around to face a certain direction.

There, a cell stood.

Thick metal bars with small gaps in between, a dense rotting smell, and long chains that were connected to the ground...

"...It has been a while, Omgolung."

Silug greeted when he faced the cell.

His slightly greener-than-dark eyes fixed on the chained figure inside the cell. His features were somewhat hidden by long white hair that covered his face and muscles that were only half as large as they had once been, but nonetheless, the figure still bore a striking resemblance to the figure he knew in the past.

He was none other than the previous orcen chief, Omgolung.

The only orc in Immorra who rivaled his strength, and the person whom he defeated in order to become the next chief in line. Someone who used stand at the peak of the planet.

"With the ongoing war, it has been hard for me to visit you."

The room fell silent for a moment.

Omgolung, whose head was hung low, slowly raised it till his eyes met Silugs's.

"...We're about to lose, aren't we?"

A croaky and deep voice echoed out from his mouth.

Silug's face changed upon hearing his words. Nonetheless, he nodded his head.

"We are."

He was honest with his reply.

There was no point in hiding anything.

"I see..."

Omgolung lowered his head, his tone fading a little.

Silug took this moment to speak.

"I need your help."

His words were straightforward, just like how orcs were. It was within their culture to go straight to the point instead of going at things in a roundabout manner.

Though prideful, they were never the ones that shied away from asking for help from each other.

It was this trait that made them extremely formidable.

"...My help?"

Omgolung once again raised his head, blinking his languid eyes.

"Asking for my help after all of these years have passed? What makes you think I will help you?"

"Because of the people."

Silug calmly replied. His tone contained unbounded confidence.

"We don't have any longer than a year before the demons arrive. If by then, nothing happens, we will go extinct from this planet. All of the orcs that have survived will die, and we will be nothing but rotting corpses and bones."

Silence once again descended on the room as Omolug quietly stared at Silug.

"...What if I betray you?"

The mood became very tense as a result of his words.

For the next moment, the two figures continued staring at each other without saying anything. They seemed to be gaging each other.

"So be it."

Silug's response didn't come long after that.

He then stepped forward and pressed both hands against the thick metal bars.

"What difference will one year make with now? So what if you betray me? I will die regardless of choices, if so, I will gladly gamble on this choice."

Cre...aaak

Pulling the bars apart with his arms, Silug's muscles began to bulge and a creaking sound echoed out.

It didn't take long for the bars to bend to the side, allowing Silug to step forward.

He arrived before Omgolung in no time.

Taking a deep breath, he knelt down on one knee and extended his hand.

"...Will you join my hand and help me avert this calamity and help our people live, or will you allow our people to die knowing that you could've helped?"

***

"The situation looks quite grim."

I stood atop a hill to overlook our surroundings when I heard Ava's voice coming from beside me.

With her hand extended, a bird gently paused on her arm.

Ava closed her eyes for a brief moment before reopening them and looking at me.

"The situation does not look good. Most of the land has already been overtaken by the demons. There doesn't seem to be any orcs in the vicinity."

"Is that so?"

I turned to look at Angelica.

"Do you feel anything?"

"Let me check."

Just like Ava did a moment ago, Angelica closed her eyes.

It didn't take long for her to open her eyes again.

"We shouldn't be too far off from Silug. I might be able to communicate with him if we get closer."

"Alright."

Angelica's words were enough to make me understand what our next courses of action were.

I stepped forward and fell down the cliff we were on.

There was no time to waste.

***

A whole different, far grander castle rose atop a little rocky cliff from the one where Silug lived. It was much larger and more impressive. Thin, long bridges that hung precariously in the air connected the castle's gates to a nearby mountain, with an endless abyss beneath.

Another meeting was taking place.

"How long will it take for your forces to reach the orcen stronghold, Azeroth."

A deep, and sinister voice resounded inside a large majestic hall.

Lined up in front of a large golden throne were several figures who knelt on the ground on one knee.

"...It will take no longer than a month."

Marquis Azeroth replied in a detached tone.

"Give me your orders and I will take the chance to eliminate the orcs."

"Mhh..."

The demon sat on the throne fell into deep thought.

"No, we will hold on from attacking for now."

They eventually shook their head.

"I've received orders from the higher demons that reinforcements will be coming soon. Big plans are ahead of this planet, and our time in this place is almost up."

"I understand."

Marquis Azeroth lowered his head and no longer pressed.

Secretly, he was unsatisfied.

They appeared to still be quite apprehensive about putting an end to the conflict despite being so close to victory. He was incredibly irritated by this, but as a marquis-ranked demon, he was powerless to say anything.

He may have been the strongest in the past, but this was no longer the case.

"Hm?"

Azeroth's head suddenly snapped in a certain direction as he felt something at that same instant. Something extremely familiar to him.

It didn't take long for his formerly serene visage, at least on the outside, to twist viciously as his jaws tightened hard.

'...You're finally here.'

The thief.

He was back!

Chapter 617: Kevin's Dilemma [1]

Two days have passed since Ren went to Immorra, nothing changed in Ashton city during that time.

Everything was just as calm as it had been for the past couple of years.

Of course, that was merely on the surface level.

Anyone in a high position knew that this was the calm before the storm.

…and it wasn't just any regular storm, but a large storm. One that would severely affect the conditions of the human domain in the near future.

That was due to the fact that the truce between the Union and the Monolith will expire in less than a month, ushering in the start of a new era. An era that was filled with conflict and death.

"Why are you so confident that they will declare war on us as soon as the truce is over?"

A gathering was taking place at the top of the Union tower.

Currently, all of the top tankers were present. Including Kevin, who stood beside Monica, and Donna, who was also present and standing beside him.

It was clear to see that they belonged to the same 'faction' inside of the Union. Monica's faction.

"It is not a matter of why anymore, Monica."

Daphne, the now third ranked hero spoke up.

She began to explain the situation to her.

"Over the past few years, we have observed that the Monolith has used this opportunity to consolidate their authority and influence. Their forces are stronger and more powerful than ever, and although it isn't confirmed, we can conclude from that, that there is a high chance of a war breaking out between the two of us. Also, have you not noticed Monica?"

Daphne paused while her eyes swept over everyone in the room.

"Have you not noticed how both the demons and the members of the Monolith have become so quiet right after that crack appeared in the air?"

Monica immediately became calm after hearing her remarks, sitting back in her chair and thinking to herself.

Before she could say anything else, Maximus spoke up.

"Regarding the crack, I think this will be useful for all of you to look at."

He then pressed his hand against the desk and a hologram appeared in the air.

The image of an elf appeared in the video. Everyone in the room was familiar with the video that was currently being displayed.

"A manifestation of the most recent cataclysm is the crack that has appeared in the atmosphere. The main objective of the crack is to fill the planet with as much mana as possible in order to open the door for monsters from the demon world to arrive."

"Previously, due to the planet's low mana density, dungeon creatures could not survive on the surface for very long. This isn't true, though, when there is a lot of mana in the world of humans. If it were to occur, monsters would be free to wander the earth, allowing the demons to start a blown out war against humanity."

Pressing his hand against the desk once more, Maximus ended the video.

Then, scanning the faces of everyone present in the room, he solemnly said.

"I'm sure most of you have already seen the video before. With more reports talking about dungeon overflows becoming more prominent and the monsters no longer dying like in the past as soon as they enter the earth, it is safe to assume that we don't have much longer before the third calamity hits."

"...It's just like Ren has stated in the past, during the press conference that almost everyone here is all too familiar with. The third calamity is no longer a question of 'if' it will come, but a matter of 'when' it will come."

The tension in the room rose at his words. Regardless, Maximus continued to say his piece.

"I don't exactly know when the third calamity will hit, but it is within the reasonable assumption that it will take no less than ten years, and during that time, the most appropriate thing for an organization that is linked with the demons would be to try their best to weaken humanity."

When they heard his comments, everyone's expression turned ugly. In a sense, everyone already knew this, but it wasn't until it was brought to their attention that they truly understood how serious the situation was.

The only one in the room whose face didn't change was in fact Kevin who kept his head lowered with his eyes closed.

He already knew all of this.

In fact, he knew more. The third cataclysm wasn't going to hit in ten years, but rather four years…or perhaps even two years considering a certain factor.

The situation was a lot more dire than the people inside the room knew. One couldn't begin to describe how helpless it was.

If that weren't enough, all the other organizations pitted against the three races—with the exception of Inferno, which Ren had largely cleared out—were going to start waging war against the respective races not long from now.

Regarding Inferno, it wasn't actually over just yet. Unfortunately, Inferno wasn't that easily defeated. There were a couple of remnants that survived, and might cause significant damage to the dwarves in the near future.

Not to the point of destruction, but enough to make them feel the pain.

"Next up, Octavious, how close are you from breaking through to <SSS-> rank?"

Maximus asked, shifting the conversation away from the situation on earth.

Everyone's eyes fell on Octavious once Maximum's words fell.

He, who sat at the far end of the round table, slowly opened his eyes. A terrifying and tanglible pressure emitted from his body once he opened his eyes.

Everyone held their breath while they waited for him to answer.

They were unfortunately left disappointed with his answer.

"I'm still not there yet."

Hearing his remarks caused everyone's hearts to clench. Even while no one was certain if Malik Alshayatin had attained the level of <SSS->, just the idea that there was a rumor of him doing so was enough to leave them feeling helpless in the face of the unexpected circumstance.

Coupled with the fact that he signed a contract with a demon, granting him more power than those that didn't have a contract, everyone felt their heart sink at the revelation.

"…are you at least close?"

Monica asked, clinging to the little hope they had regarding the situation.

Unfortunately, she did not get the answer she wanted.

"No, I'm not close."

The atmosphere became even more somber after he said these words.

For the following minutes, no one said anything as an uncomfortable silence swept the surroundings.

"Let's end the meeting now."

The meeting came to an end when Octaviois casually got up. He turned around and left the area without saying anything further.

Following his example, the others also stood up and left one by one.

Judging from the looks on the faces of some of the people present, it was clear that they were filled with anxiety regarding the future of the earth.

Even Monica was quite shaken after the meeting as she remained quiet throughout the walk back, something that was unusual of her.

"What are you doing Kevin?"

It was her words that brought Kevin out of his thoughts. Lowering his head to glance at Monica, he smiled.

"Nothing, I was just thinking about the situation."

That was a lie.

He was trying to recall a few faces at the moment. Although it didn't appear that way at first glance, this meeting was immensely detrimental to the Union. Especially in light of the fact that several top ranked heroes were invited to participate, and not just the heads.

It was from this meeting that several people made up their minds to betray the Union and join the Monolith.

Kevin's mind was preoccupied with trying to find ways to silently eliminate them.

He didn't even bother thinking about changing them, no, he much rather have them eliminated.

It was the fastest and most efficient way.

Kevin knew that this was a necessary step in order for him to raise the chances of beating the Monolith. Even then, he knew that they were merely the stepping stone to the real war.

"What are you going to do now, Kevin?"

Monica stopped and looked at Kevin.

Kevin gave her a simple smile and stopped as well.

"I still have something to do, so I won't be following you."

Monica narrowed her eyes and nodded.

"Alright, suit yourself. I've got stuff to do as well."

She then turned to look at Donna.

"You?"

"I'll go with you. I've got something to talk about with you."

"Oh...okay."

Waving goodbye to Kevin, the two disappeared in one of the corridors.

Making sure that their figures were completely gone, the smile on Kevin's face faded. He then made his way toward his office which was located on one of the bottom floors.

Clank.

Only when he was in his office that he finally relaxed.

"...I need to hurry."

He sat down on the edge of the desk and outstretched his hand.

On the palm of his hand, a red book started to progressively take shape. His palm began to glow white, encompassing the crimson book as it did so.

The book began to slowly become engulfed in a cacoon-like white light, which caused it to fall flat onto the top of his palm.

Then the pages started to turn.

In a state of complete calmness, Kevin kept his eyes on the book until a series of notification prompts appeared in front of him.

Time codex abosrption : [0%—[16%]———————100%]

Synchronisation = + 5%

He lost consciousness soon after.

Chapter 618: Kevin's dilemma [2] Synchronisation [5]

The world was shrouded in melancholy as ashy gray clouds filled the sky.

WIIIIIING!

A dazzling light burst forth in the middle of the vacant space and quickly spread everywhere. The gloomy clouds then parted under a terrible pressure that stretched toward the entire world.

A human figure with distinct facial characteristics was visible within the illumination. The air vibrated as a result of the pressure the figure was emitting.

Whoever the figure was, they were an absolute master.

Soon enough the brightness diminished and the human form within the brilliant light became more and more distinct. A black-clad male with two crimson-colored eyes finally emerged in the air as the light dimmed completely.

Taking a step back, the crimson-eyed figure looked towards the horizon with an uncharacteristically serious expression.

Riiip—!

It was then that a hand suddenly stretched out of thin air, grasping the sky, and tearing it apart as though it was tangible.

White hair, red-blood eyes, and fair skin...

Out of the darkness came a figure that appeared human. He appeared to be rather ordinary, but only someone with strength approaching the boundaries of the human limit could realize what a miserable existence he actually led. The power hidden in this weak looking body could wipe out the planet with a single wave of his palm. It was horrible.

Devastation was what the white-haired figure saw as he floated in the sky and cast a detached gaze downward. A world now on the point of extinction.

A smile formed on his face.

Then, lowering his head and staring at the crimson-eyed male below him, the white-haired individual's eyes rippled slightly.

The crimson-colored eyed male, Kevin, stared back, and silence enveloped the world.

While neither of the two figures spoke, a great deal of energy erupted from their respective bodies before they silently collided.

Everything below them crumbled as a powerful wave from their collision fanned out.

Finally, after an unknown period of time, Kevin opened his mouth.

"Jezebeth."

His soft voice traveled through every corner of the world. Yet, deep-seated hatred could be felt in his voice as he spoke.

Staring at Kevin below, Jezebeth closed his eyes slightly before the smile on his face deepened ever so slightly.

"How have you been? It's been a while since we've last seen each other."

"..."

Kevin didn't say anything in response; instead, the red hue surrounding his body became more intense.

The sword in his hand glowed in a majestic color and the world around him shook fiercely.

In spite of that, Jezebeth showed no change in his expression. Rather, he seemed even more relaxed as he watched Kevin glare in his direction.

"...You should already know by now that your efforts are futile, right?"

His words echoed throughout the globe.

Kevin's expression sank.

"Not only do you not have the strength to beat me, but you very well know what consequences my defeat will lead to, don't you?"

Jezebeth's body gently floated toward the ground.

"To the records, I'm cancer. Something that they weren't able to predict or find out until it was too late. By the time they discovered my presence, I was already reaching the peak of this world...."

His feet landed on the ground.

With both hands behind his back, Jezebeth leisurely strolled around.

Kevin could only watch him from the distance without doing anything.

"You might wonder, how is it possible for the records to have not detected my presence when they are supposed to be so powerful? ...Well, the answer is rather simple. The records aren't exactly a sentient being, rather, they are a primal source code of the universe that has basic cognitive abilities. Almost like an infant. It will only act when it finds its existence is under threat."

Jezebeth chuckled a little.

"...and that existence is none other than me."

A majestic white glow erupted from Jezebeth's body as he extended both of his hands.

Kevin fiercely stabbed his sword on the ground and held his ground as a gust of powerful wings swept past his body, sending his hair and clothes fluttering away.

The gale didn't last for long as it soon calmed down.

"And with regards to their reaction to finding the existence that is threatening them..."

Jezebeth met Kevin's eyes.

"That's where you came into play. Desperate to stop me from reaching them, the records created you. Everything that happened to you in the past, was all premeditated by the records."

"Stop talking."

Kevin mumbled while he clenched his teeth and glared at Jezebeth.

But in spite of that, he never once moved to fight Jezebeth. It wasn't that he couldn't, it was that he didn't want to.

"Want to know a funny coincidence? "

Jezebeth suddenly asked.

Kevin didn't respond.

"...Don't you think we have a lot of things in common? From our red eyes, our past, which is shockingly similar...with both our parents dying from a very young age, both from outsiders, leaving us orphaned...Do you really think it's a coincidence?"

Kevin didn't answer. He honestly didn't know, nor did he want to hear the answer, but it wasn't as if Jezebeth could read his thoughts. And even if he could, he would've probably still continued speaking.

His next words thunderously burst inside Kevin's head.

"Nothing is a coincidence. You were created by the records, and modeled after me. From your past to your unique features...you were modeled by the records to resemble me because you were created for the sole purpose of killing me...but..."

He tilted his head slightly as he looked at Kevin.

"...but I swear I could remember you having white hair in the past. What happened to your ha—"

"It's none of your concern, Jezebeth."

Kevin cut off in an aggressive manner.

"Oh?"

Jezebeth inched closer to Kevin, surprised by his reaction.

"Is there something you are hiding from me?"

He asked in a curious manner.

Kevin instinctively took a step back when he saw Jezebeth nearing him.

'Ah.'

His eyes opened wide when he realized what he had done.

But it was too late. Jezebeth noticed his reaction and smiled deeply.

"But I can tell..."

He inched even closer.

"...I can tell that you can't kill me. I don't know exactly why, but for some reason, I know that you are purposely not killing me despite having the power to do so."

Jezebeth's head tilted a little.

"Now...what I really want to know, is...why?"

"Why are you refusing to kill me?"

[Synchronisation complete] : +5%

A low chime rang inside Kevin's head and his eyes opened.

"Why am I refusing to kill you?"

Taking a deep breath, Kevin's crimson red eyes flashed with a cold light. Then, focusing his attention on the red book in his hand, he mumbled.

"...Because your death will destroy the universe."

***

Embarrassment.

That was how one would describe how Azeroth felt in the last couple of decades.

He felt utter embarrassment.

Ever since his castle had been infiltrated and he had lost track of the thieves who had stolen his possessions, Azeroth had become the butt of the jokes of the other Marquis ranked demons present in Immorra.

If that wasn't all.

During his fight against the orcen chief, he was suddenly ambushed out of nowhere by another orc who appeared to be of similar strength to his.

Although he had managed to escape back then, he had lost a major part of his territory on that day.

Defeated, and embarrassed, Azeroth became the laughingstock of the demons.

'...Bastard. I'll kill you when I find you.'

Since that day, not a single day has gone by that he hasn't reminded himself that he will exact justice on those who have mistreated him.

For years he had been biding his time, gathering his forces, and improving himself.

In those years, he had managed to remove several people who had mocked him in the past, including high ranking demons that were on the same level as him.

However...

He was never satisfied with their removal.

And there was a simple reason for that. The reason was that he knew. He knew who the main culprits were.

The people who had infiltrated his castle and robbed him of his possessions.

They were the ones who were responsible for all of his troubles. The orc too...

...and for over sixty years he had been waiting for those individuals to come back to this planet. There were several items in his possession that were connected to him by blood. If ever, the thieves who infiltrated his castle and robbed him of his possessions showed up in Immorra, he would know in an instant.

And he finally managed to sense his items again.

After sixty agonizing years...the thieves were back, and they were in the exact location where the orc was, proving to him that they were working together. Or at least, knew each other.

"Irgon!"

Azeroth suddenly shouted at top of his lungs while he walked across a long corridor that was blanketed with a red carpet.

Immediately after his words came out, a creature appeared out of nowhere.

"You have called?"

"I have."

Azeroth replied in a deadpan tone.

"Gather all of the forces. We're moving."

"Gather all of our forces!?"

Irgno's eyes shot wide open.

"But—"

"Shut up and do what I say."

Azeroth cut the demon with a glare. Clenching his teeth, he spat through his gnashed teeth.

"Prepare for war."

It was finally time for him to reveal his fangs after he had hidden for so long. So what if his actions resulted in the demon delegate to get angry at him, in his mind, there was nothing else but revenge.

Chapter 619: Submission [1]

If there was anything that changed during the two years I devoted to training, it was my combat approach.

Even while I continued to use the Keiki style as I had in the past, I was able to modify it in my own unique way.

I didn't need to grip my sword and hang on to the sheath like I had in the past.

The only thing I needed to do now was to gently tap my finger in the air.

When I sheathed and unsheathed my sword, the speed at which I could do so increased to the point where those of a high level could no longer see it with their unaided eyes. To those on the outside, it appeared as though I was simply pointing at my enemies and killing them, but in reality, I was actually doing the same movement as in the past, but a lot faster.

But it wasn't just that.

I was also able to tap into a new power.

Mana agglomeration.

Typically, one would form an armor when reaching this level. Sort of like Monica with her shining orange armor.

...I knew this because she tended to show this off quite often. Liam could also somewhat do it, although his armor was a bit strange.

How could I describe it? ...Let's just say that it is severely lacking in the defensive department with gaping holes everywhere.

In any case, it was different for me.

Unlike them, I never created an armor for myself. Rather, I came up with something else.

Mana aggregation functioned by physically bending the mana in the air to your will and controlling it in such a way that you could make it into a tangible material that could be used to cover the human body as armor.

I could now summon actual sword energy out of thin air by bending the mana in the air to my desire.

Due to my two-year research of the psyon composition in the air and the pill I took after returning from the conference, I was able to regulate my psyons to an extreme degree, which was necessary for my new technique.

In a way, I was confident in facing any opponent of the <S+> rank range without feeling the littlest of intimidation from them.

"Hm?"

I was jolted out of my thoughts by the presence of several shadows in the air. Squinting my eyes, I casually tapped the air.

Thump! Thump!

The two shadows fell from the sky after I pointed in their direction, revealing the figures of a couple of demons.

They crashed against the hard ground, sending dirt flying in the air.

At the moment, over ten different birds, each with a different size and strength, were circling the skies above us. I glanced at Ava as we walked silently side by side in their direction.

"Quick question Ava, how many beasts can you control at the same time at the moment."

"About forty."

Ava replied, leaving me impressed.

Forty beasts at the same time…that was practically a small army.

It looks like she has made a lot of progress over the past few years.

She was the only one I hadn't sparred with because she was out searching for monsters to tame, unlike the others who didn't need to do that.

It also explained why I didn't know how many beasts she could summon at the same time.

"You're rank is <B+>, right?"

"Right."

Ava nodded her head, and I fell into deep contemplation.

Eventually, my eyes paused on the flute that was in her hands.

"I see…so does that mean you're about to unlock the third seal of your flute."

"Mhm."

Ava confirmed.

"When I reach <A-> rank, I will be able to break the next seal and have the chance to take more beasts and help them improve faster."

There were hints of visible excitement in her voice when she said the last words. Clearly, she loved the idea of her and her pets becoming stronger.

With her being in my group, I was naturally pleased with this development.

"That's good, keep up th—"

I wasn't even able to finish when I heard someone's voice coming from the distance.

"Ren, I can see the fortress and castle in the distance. What should we do now?"

The voice belonged to none other than Ryan who seemed a lot more comfortable walking around. At least compared to when he first arrived here.

With my feet coming to a halt, I thought for a moment before shifting my attention toward Angelica.

"Call for him."

"Got it."

Wearing a solemn look on her face, Angelica closed her eyes.

***

At the same time, in the said castle.

The empty, yet grandiose halls within the castle were currently filled with several figures.

All of them were the highest ranking members of the orcen race left in Immorra.

Silug sat on a big throne at the opposite end of the room. The hall was completely or at least partially surrounded by his presence as another, slightly lesser presence also filled the hallways.

It belonged to none other than Omgolung, the previous orcen chief.

All of the orcen delegates attention was currently fixated on Omgolung, and the entire room was dead silent. The arrival of the former chief caused some people to express obvious happiness, shock, and sadness.

Nonetheless, it wasn't something they could vividly show as they all focused their attention back on Silug who quietly saw on the throne without saying anything.

"Khrrr…khrrr…"

His labored breathing resonated across the space, shaking it along with him.

"Prepare yourselves."

He finally spoke, allowing for his deep and coarse voice to echo throughout the entire room.

Pressing both of his hands on the side arms of the throne, he slowly stood up from his seat and scanned everyone in the hall with his eyes.

His physique exuded a deep green tint that heightened the tension already present in the space.

None of the orcs present dared to move a muscle as they all focused their attention on Silug who was about to speak.

His next words stirred the heart of everyone present.

"It's time for us to start another war. It is time for us to take the initiative and recapture some of the territories we have lost."

Shifting his attention toward Omgolung, Silug announced.

"Omgolung will lead the army going forward as its top general. He'll be running the army, and his words will count just as much as mine."

The entire hall stirred as they looked at Omgulong, a figure whom they used to follow in the past.

Sure, he was a lot skinnier and weaker than back then, but the presence he gave out did not lose out from the one Silug gave out.

They happily accepted Silug's orders.

"Yes."

All the representatives shouted in unison.

Silug was left satisfied when he saw this.

"That's good. I would like it for you all to prepare for war. Starting tomorrow we will officially go to—"

Silug stopped himself mid-sentence, and his face changed.

This obviously did not go unnoticed by the orcs who looked at each other and wondered what was going on.

It was unusual for Silug to behave this way.

Just as someone was about to voice out their concerns, Silug's deep voice echoed throughout the halls. His expression was unusually serious.

"We have guests. Someone go and receive them."

***

Ten minutes after sending a message to Silug, we headed toward the castle in the distance.

We didn't make it far before we were forced to stop.

"It looks extremely guarded."

At the base of the castle, hundreds of orcs appeared in my vision. A number of spartan stone homes could be seen behind them.

They seemed to be the first line of defense.

"What should we do now?"

Leopold asked while he gazed at the numerous orcs in the distance.

"...Please don't tell me that we have to directly break through their formation because I don't think—"

"We won't."

I cut Leopold out of his delusions.

Then, squinting my eyes, I scanned the distance.

"Just wait here for now. If my estimates aren't wrong, we will be escorted into the castle in a bit."

"Escorted?"

Leopold's face was filled with doubt as he looked at the orcs in the distance.

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

I couldn't blame Leopold for being doubtful.

I would likewise be skeptical after getting a good look at how menacing the orcs in the distance appeared.

Thankfully, we didn't have to wait for long as a group of orcs descended down the mountain. Their entire presence was a stark above the guards guarding the base, and in their immediate presence, the orcs all lowered their heads as a form of respect.

It was their presence that signaled to me that they were the guard that was meant to escort us to the top.

Hence, looking at the others, I nudged them with my head before directly heading to where the orcs were.

"Let's go."

Chapter 620: Submission [2]

"…It's been a while since we've last seen each other, I hope you haven't forgotten about me, Silug?"

I stood face to face with Silug in front of the castle's central square, which had an opening above that allowed one to glimpse the sky above.

Six years.

That was how much time had passed since we had last met each other.

Staring deeply into Silug's eyes, I started to reminisce about the time we met.

Back then, I was only at around <E> or <D> rank at the time. Silug was an existence that I could only look up to in those times.

I used to envy his strength.

Now…

Standing right in front of him and meeting his gaze, I felt his previous impression inside of my mind crumble.

He seemed less intimidating and impressive than he had in the past, which may have been due to the fact that I had to deal with more formidable opponents in the years that followed my trip to Immorra or simply because my strength had grown to the point where there were only a few people in the world that could pose a threat to me .

Regardless, that didn't matter to me at the moment. I had a goal to accomplish.

"I have not forgotten about you, human."

Silug's low and deep voice echoed. The surroundings shook ever so slightly at the tone of his voice

I nodded my head slightly when I heard his words.

Taking a glimpse at my surroundings and seeing the central square sorrounded by several orcs, I mentioned.

"So you still remember that you're working for me, right?"

The atmosphere froze over as soon as my words resounded in the air.

The orcs that were standing by the side all released their auras.

"How dare you?!"

"Who are you to speak to our chief like that?"

I ignored the enraged roads coming from the orcs and kept my gaze on Silug. My expression was extremely serious.

The tensions in the space rose to an all time high. It then all came crashing down when one of the orcs rushed toward me.

The charging orc was stopped in his tracks when Silug reached out his hand in his direction. The surroundings trembled as his thunderous voice reverberated throughout the area.

"Stop!"

'He has indeed improved.'

Taking note of the power hidden behind the voice, I silently praised.

Nonetheless, I knew that this was just a cheap trick used by him to intimidate me.

"Chief?"

The orc, and the ones around us looked at Silug with questionable looks.

Silug glanced at them for a short moment before focusing his attention back on me.

"I remember our deal."

"…Well isn't that great."

I clapped my hands.

Only to stop when I heard Silug speak once more.

"And..."

My eyes narrowed slightly.

Was he perhaps going to reject the deal?

His next words surprised me.

"..And I am not against it. Without your aid, I would've never been able to rise to my current position. It would be against my nature to repay your kindness with malice."

"Honest, I like it."

I guess I was worrying too much before.

Silug was really intending to keep his word.

"But…"

Or was he?

My eyes narrowed once more.

I continued to look Silug right in the eyes.

"But what?"

Seeing him struggling to say something, I kept an impassive look.

Actually, I already knew what he was going to say.

I was merely pretending to not know about his circumstances at the moment.

It became clear to me that Silug had his priorities elsewhere. The fact that the previous leader was here was a testament to this.

"…But I don't think I will be able to meet your conditions. For the sake of my people, I cannot leave this place."

"Is that so?"

'As expected, I got rejected.'

So far, things were going as I had predicted.

Thump—!

Silug suddenly knelt on one knee on the ground.

"I understand my errors, but my priorities lie elsewhere. If you are unwilling to accept my decision, I can only resort to a more violent approach?"

"…Are you threatening me?"

I asked while tilting my head to the side. Not once did I ever release my pressure and let him know of my real rank.

All I wanted to gauge at the moment was his sincerity, and so far, he seemed to be doing well.

'He'll be a useful addition for when the war starts.'

The goal was to take over the entire planet and have the orcs build their forces in the meantime.

When the third calamity strikes, I planned to create a portal for the orcs to go through and enter earth.

…and for that to happen, I needed Silug's complete loyalty.

Which was exactly what I was planning on getting a the moment.

"Hold this for me."

Unzipping my hoodie, I handed it to Angelica. Then, stretching my shoulders, I asked.

"Where should we do this?"

I went straight to the point.

By a more 'violent' approach, he was clearly pointing toward a fight. I avoided wasting time by chatting about frivolous topics and got right to the subject. Plus, I wasn't against this idea as I got myself ready.

"Here."

Silug replied while he focused his gaze on the other orcs present.

"Urkan bulum!"

He deeply shouted, in his own language. We were previously speaking in demonic language, which was the universal language for all races.

Right after his words faded, all of the orcs around us moved away, clearing the space for the two of us to fight.

'Should I use mana or not?'

Narrowing my eyes and staring at Silug, I eventually made up my mind.

'Let's not.'

I then took a stance.

'It's about time I tested just how strong my body became over the past two years…'

***

Silug stared at his adversary as he felt a range of emotions wash over him.

He was of course, grateful for the opportunity that the human before him had given him.

Without him, he would have likely continued to serve as one of the orcs' generals and perished along the way without anyone ever remebering him.

Even then, despite the fact that he felt grateful, Silug had his own priorities, and unfortunately, couldn't keep the part of his pledge he had made with the human.

'I will not kill him, and send him away as a token of apology.'

Silug couldn't quite tell the strength of the human before him. However, he could tell from a glance that he had undergone massive improvements.

He was definitely a lot stronger than he was when he first came here.

Even then, it wasn't anything that made Silug feel threatened.

Taking into consideration how much time elapsed, Silug had a rough estimate of Ren's strength.

'It should be at around <B> rank.'

A far cry from his strength which of the <S> rank.

Taking a position in the middle of the flat surface, Silug calmly observed his surroundings.

His eyes then fell on several individuals.

A tall man with yellow eyes, another human with curly black hair and monolid eyes, and the demoness he had signed a contract with a while back.

This was actually the first time he had actually met her in person, and her strength was indeed something to be wary of.

'They are strong.'

More so for the man who had yellow eyes. His entire presence was something that made the back of his hair stand. He was scary. Extremely scary.

Him aside, the pressure that the other two gave out was nothing to scoff at.

The other ones beside them also looked like decently strong humans, which surprised Silug quite a bit.

Shifting his attention back toward Ren, Silug silently praised inside of his heart.

'To have attracted so many talented and strong individuals by his side, he indeed is someone worth following…'

Alas, if only the circumstances weren't like this.

"Are you ready?"

Silug asked while jumping around on the spot.

"I'm ready."

Ren replied back while he took a rather lax stance.

'It's filled with openings.'

Silug thought when he stared at Ren.

With just a glance he could tell just how many openings there were.

With seventy years of fighting under his belt, he was able to easily tell this much.

'Let's make this quick.'

He thought to himself.

"Alright, come at me."

Silug suddenly heard Ren's words and paused for a moment.

He then took another look at him and was left surprised by how relaxed he seemed.

'…Why is he so confident?'

Instead of leaping to the conclusion that Ren was conceited, Silug immediately grew apprehensive.

Silug frequently encountered opponents who concealed their strength before a fight, which often lead to him underestimating them. He may have survived those ordeals in the past, but they also taught him a valuable lesson.

'Could he also be hiding his real strength?'

If so….

Crack.

As Silug's body started to take on a dark green color, the ground beneath him shattered.

Clenching his fist tightly, he twisted his torso and flexed his back muscles.

Once again focusing his attention on Ren, he pressed his foot against the ground and his vision blurred.

In a split second, he was already before Ren, and he immediately punched out.

Booom—!

A thunderous explosion rang in the air as massive shockwaves swept the surroundings.

The power of the attack was so great that some of the orcs and the human's followers had to retreat a short distance.

When they finally managed to turn their attention back to the battle, they noticed Silug gazing at Ren with bewildered eyes.

It didn't take long for them to take on a similar look. Especially when they saw how Silug's big fist was stopped by Ren's single finger.

"You…"

Chapter 621: Submission [3]

The area went completely still when it was revealed that I managed to stop the attack with one of my fingers.

"You…"

When Silug and the others turned to look at me, I could feel their shock. Everyone in the room was obviously astonished by how I was able to stop his attack with just a single finger—I would have also been astounded if I had been in their shoes.

It had to be noted that...it wasn't as 'effortless' as it seemed to be on the outside.

'I think I broke my finger.'

My body was strong.

Extremely strong at this point. Especially after I had been training in the martial body art that Han Yufei had given me.

The durability of my body was still considered inferior to that of an orc, which was much more resilient than my body could possibly be.

The only reason I was able to stop him was because I had cheated.

Sort of.

'…and just when I promised myself to no use mana.'

In the end, I was forced to use it. Silug's strength was far more terrifying than I had expected.

I was even starting to think that his strength was on par with that of Liam.

Well, that was at least what I managed to make out from this short exchange.

"Alright, let's go again."

Moving my finger away from his fist I took a couple of steps back.

'It hurts.'

I gestured for Silug to come my way with my other hand without showing any signs of pain on my face. In reality, I knew...I knew that my finger was definitely fucked.

Without saying anything, he nodded his head. Straightening his back and taking a deep breath, he extended his hand in the direction of the other orcs.

"Bring me my axe."

His loud voice causes the surroundings to shake.

His body was emitting an erratic, dark green color. I was astonished to see a crimson tint mixed within the green hue when I took a closer look at him. Taking note of this particular aspect, my eyes flinched wide a little.

'He's different from before.'

The aura around him…

How could it explain it? It was a lot different from before.

'Bloodlust.'

The cause of the change in demeanor became clear to me quickly. In the end, it came down to the fact that Silug's body was emitting a strong bloodlust.

It made me realize that he was finally taking this seriously.

'No, rather than being serious. He's betting his life on this.'

The way he was staring at me…

It gave me the impression that he saw me as one of his biggest foes, one with whom he intended to contend all the way until the end of his life.

'Interesting.'

I thought while I began stretching my legs and arms.

This might turn out a lot more difficult than I had originally anticipated.

'Well, for as long as I don't use mana that is…'

The story would be a lot different if I could use my mana. After all, with the aid of [Eyes of Chronos], I didn't fear getting hit by his attacks.

"Here you go, Chief."

An orc knelt down in front of Silug and handed him an item that was wrapped in a thick white cloth.

Grasping it with his arms, Silug brought it up and slowly unveiled the white cloth.

The air stirred with each unwrap of the cloth.

Silug posed me a question while he continued to unwrap the white cloth.

"Are you not going to take out your weapon?"

"Weapon?"

I lowered my head and stared at my waist where my sword usually was.

It wasn't there at the moment.

Thinking for a moment, I shook my head.

"No, I'm good for now."

I was here to test the limits of my body, not my skill with the sword.

"Are you sure?"

Silug questioned.

I confidently nodded my head back.

"Yes, I'm confident."

"Okay."

Silug removed the cover to show a single-sided, ancient, worn-out axe. It didn't appear to be anything noteworthy at first sight. However, as soon as the final piece of cloth was taken off, a menacing atmosphere swept through the square, and the scent of iron lingered in the air.

Catching a whiff of the smell, my brows knit.

'It smells like blood.'

For a weapon to have this sort of smell...It must've killed countless enemies.

Krr….

Tracing the axe on the ground; sparks flew in the air until Silug stopped and rested the top of his arm on the bottom end of the axe.

An oppressive and authoritative pressure slowly started to come out of his body.

"Are you ready, human?"

He asked while deeply gazing my way.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

[Body Hardening]

[Mind and Spirit connection]

My body began to tremble and I felt what felt like an electric current going through it as soon as I activated the two effects.

The sensation vanished as quickly as it had appeared, but just then, I noticed that my body's muscles were pulsing oddly. And if it wasn't odd enough, my body also experienced another strange sensation.

This one…

It was hard to explain, however, it felt as though I could control every single muscle inside of my body with just a thought.

It felt as though my mind and all the muscles inside of my body were one. I didn't even need to think before my muscles moved in the way that I wanted.

This was just about as close as I could describe the sensation that I was feeling. It wasn't something that could be explained with mere words.

Rather, its effect would be more noticeable during battle…which I was about to have.

"Alright, I'm ready."

I muttered under my breath as I took another breath.

Silug vanished from my eyesight exactly as my sentences ended. One could wonder how he was able to move at such speeds with such a big physique as his entire body disappeared from the spot.

'Swing to my left.'

Despite his speed, I was able to easily read his movement as I took a step to the side.

Boom—!

Exactly as I stepped to the side, Silug appeared in the same spot I was in before. He vertically swung his axe toward the ground.

The ground entirely crumbled beneath the orcs' full-scale assault, as one might anticipate, and a huge, thunderous sound reverberated across the area.

The sound was loud enough that anyone within a couple of kilometers could hear it.

That only applied to the others, however. I was currently in a state where everything around me was numb.

Sort of when I was in Monarch Indifference, but with my own body in control.

The loud noise didn't bother me in the least bit as Silug was the only thing that was in my vision.

'Take a step to the right, and back.'

Silug followed up with a vertical swing, which was once again easily avoided by me. I felt a little sting in my head when I dodged, but it wasn't anything to be concerned about.

It was probably the chip which was running at full throttle at the moment.

'Step to the right again and use your left hand to slap in a downward manner.'

Following the steps inside of my mind, I raised my left hand and blindly smacked the left side.

Smack.

Feeling a cold and flat surface on my hand, Silug's axe came hurtling toward the ground beside me.

Booom—!

There was another thunderous explosion.

Sparing it a glance, I turned my neck and avoided Silug's fist which came whistling against my head.

'That was close.'

I thought it was going to land for a brief moment. Thankfully, I was able to dodge, and this was all thanks to the [Mind and spirit connection] which boosted my reflexes to the utmost limit.

Swooosh—!

Just like that, Silug kept attacking with his axe while I continuously dodged all of his attacks without any effort.

"Are you not going to attack?"

Silug asked, swinging his axe one more time.

Booom—!

The ground quaked.

Halting his movements he glared in my direction.

"All you have been doing is dodging. Are you incapable of fighting back?"

"Right..."

He was right. I was so immersed in testing my new abilities that I had completely forgotten to attack.

"My apologies, I'll start attacking now."

Pressing my foot against the ground my vision distorted and Silug appeared right in front of me.

Tensing my back muscles, and gathering my strength, I punched with everything I got. In response to my attack, Silug tried to raise his axe.

"Uh?"

Unfortunately, by the time he attempted to raise his axe, four translucent rings had already formed on the axe's body, temporarily impeding his motions.

The amount of time was brief, but in a fight like this, every second counted. My punch smacked him square in the cheek as it raced toward his face.

Silug's face turned a forty five degree angle in the process. Shockingly, his body didn't move a single bit.

"Not bad..."

He muttered while he stared at me from the corner of his eyes and turned his head to face me once more.

"However, if that is the strength of your punches, I'm afraid you won't be able to win."

He raised his hands again and prepared to swing his axe at me again.

I could only sigh when I saw this.

'As expected, although my body's strength is a lot more formidable than it was in the past, it's still nothing to that of an orc.'

My previous punch...

Had it landed on a human or anyone else, it would've probably sent them crashing against the ground.

Unfortunately, I was facing an orc.

'Alright, let's end this.'

Realizing that there was no more point in continuing the bout, I waved my hand. A black and ghostly figure emerged from behind Silug like a shadow. Then, with a single kick toward his knee pit, Silug lost balance and his body came tumbling forward. Predicting where he would fall, I coated my leg with mana and kicked him in the head.

Thump—!

All of this happened within the span of a couple of seconds.

By the time everyone realized what was going on, the fight had already ended. Pressing my foot against Silug's stomach, I pointed my finger toward his forehead.

"You've fought well."

Chapter 622: Waiting [1]

"You've fought well."

Silug didn't know how to react after hearing those comments as he was left humiliated on the ground. He wanted to retaliate and say; 'It's not over.', but as his eyes paused on the finger that was aimed at his forehead, he involuntarily swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

'I will die.'

With just a glance he recognized the power hidden within that single gesture, and it was then that he relaxed his body.

He kept his head lowered for a little while longer.

"I..I've lost."

It took a while for the loss to finally register inside of his mind, and when he did, he felt extreme disappointment in himself.

'Who would've thought that the human would grow up to be so strong.'

He wasn't very knowledgeable about humans, however, he did know a couple of simple facts.

For example, he knew that humans lived a relatively short life, and he also knew that humans only just recently gained access to mana.

For them to develop so much…

It was truly frightening.

"Kill me."

After some while, Silug murmured feebly. Although he spoke in a low voice, everyone in the square could still hear him. When the orcs in the room heard his comments, their complexions transformed.

Only Ren remained indifferent to his words as he continued to stare at Silug.

Opening his mouth, he asked.

"Is the idea of working for me that repulsive to you? …Repulsive enough to make you want to kill yourself rather than accept my offer?"

"No."

Silug weakly shook his head while he looked at the other orcs present.

"…I just can't bear to part with them. For over sixty years I have fought with everyone here and treated them as my kin, my family. As the Chief of the tribe, it would only mean treason if I leave and let them die at the hands of the demons. Becoming the Chief comes with heavy responsibilities, and leaving them when they need me the most isn't one of them."

His voice raised as he clenched his teeth.

"That will not be something that I, Silug, will do!"

His loyalty was undying.

He would never let anything happen to his clan even if it resulted in him letting go of his pride and morals.

'…whatever it takes.'

"Interesting."

He was surprised to hear Ren's voice. Compared to before, it was a lot less serious.

Yet, right as Silug met his eyes once again, he felt a weird sense of intimidation coming from him.

He couldn't quite explain it, but the feeling was akin to having his whole body submerged inside a cold pool of water.

Mustering every bit of his strength, he asked Ren.

"What is interesting?"

"You."

Ren bent down on both knees and inched closer to Silug.

"Your power and strength are amazing. Just what I needed. You don't have to worry about your accommodation since you'll be staying with us—

"What about my tribe?"

Silug cut Ren mid sentence, prompting him to lower his head to stare at Silug.

"Hm?"

"What will happen to my tribe once I leave?"

"Your tribe?"

Ren tilted his head ever so slightly.

He then shrugged his shoulders.

"How should I know? They aren't my responsibility."

Silug's heart sank when he heard those words.

'As expected, he only cares about me.'

His actions were understandable as Silug understood his position well. However, that didn't mean he couldn't feel disappointed.

Sitting up straight he reached out for the axe that wasn't so far from him, but right as his hand was about to grab it, he felt the sole of a foot press down against his arm.

"...Do you really want to do that?"

His sight was met with Ren's questionable look.

Silug glared at him menacingly.

"I thought I already told you before. I will not be leaving my tribe. You either kill me today or leave!"

"Mhh…that does sound quite troublesome. You did sign a contract with Angelica, so killing you is off the table."

Ren's eyes squinted.

After a while, he sighed.

"Get us a couple of rooms to rest, I'll think about a solution later."

"Huh?"

Silug remained silent as a result of Ren's surprising words. He couldn't comprehend what was happening as all he could muster was a blank look.

It was only after Ren spoke again that he finally woke up from his daze.

"You deaf?"

"…You heard him."

Silug ordered as he turned his head to stare in the direction of where the other orcs were, awakening them from their daze.

"Get him and the other humans some rooms."

Supporting his body with his axe, Silug slowly stood up and looked at Ren. He had a complicated look on his face.

"I don't understand why you're doing this, but I hope you know that this gesture won't make me change my mind."

"Oh, I know."

Ren nodded his head while patting Silug on the shoulder once.

"You should get ready."

"Get ready?"

Silug snapped his head to stare in Ren's direction.

However, he was only met with an ambiguous look.

"You'll know soon enough."

After that, he turned around and walked away, with the others lagging behind. It goes without saying that a few orcs guided them during the procedure.

'Get ready? What is the human talking about?'

Silug felt an ominous premonition when he stared at Ren's departing back.

Although his words sounded suspicious, Silug didn't doubt that the human was on his side.

In the end, as he was linked to the demon through contract, his death would mean her possible death.

There was no way the human would take such a big risk.

This could only mean one thing…

Something big was heading their way. Possibly a war? Or something that was just as bad?

Silug was uncertain, but he wasn't one to hesitate. His years of experience had taught him a lot of things.

Turning his attention back toward the orcen delegates, he commanded.

"Everyone get ready for combat. Tell the other orcs to be wary. Activate all the defenses and equip your armor and weapons!"

All of the delegates, including Omgolung, were astonished by his order, but when they realized how serious Silug was, they promptly cooperated.

"Understood."

Immediately after that, they departed and started to get everything ready.

It didn't take long for the square to empty out, leaving Omgolung and Silug all alone.

"Was he the reason why you were able to become as strong as you are now and defeat me?"

"Yes."

Silug did not lie and nodded his head.

He slowly started to reveal everything that led to his rise to power.

"Had it not been for him I wouldn't have ever been able to defeat you."

"I see…"

Omgulong quietly nodded his head before asking another question.

"Let me ask you another question, why have you decided to prepare everyone for combat after a few of his words?"

"I have my reasons."

Silug provided an answer but held back some information. He was unable to directly inform him that he had made a deal with a demon, and thus was aware that they weren't his direct adversaries.

Although it wasn't exactly a secret that he did, as it was the reason why he had managed to sneak up on Count Azeroth, he preferred not to speak about the topic.

"I understand."

Thankfully, Omgolung was an understanding person.

It may have been due to all the time he had spent locked up, but his personality was now a lot calmer than in the past.

The same could be said for Silug who had grown wise over the years.

He was no longer the naive and power hungry orc from the past. The thirst for revenge had long disappeared from his mind. All he thought about at the moment was the well-being of his tribe.

In a way, he was starting to regret his past decisions.

"Get ready for battle, I have a feeling that something big is coming."

"Understood."

***

"What an interesting toy."

Playing with a small statue in my hand, I lay in what seemed to be a bed? To be honest, I wasn't exactly sure of what to make of the thing I was laying on.

More than a bed, it was more like a flat wooden bed frame with some sort of beast skin for a blanket.

It was anything but comfortable.

Still, I wasn't one to complain as this did not matter to me at the moment.

Tossing the statue in my hand and catching it again, I mumbled under my breath.

"I hope he will be fast."

Been a while since I had collected this statue. I knew it would come in handy.

Just this simple statue in my hand was enough to start the war between the demons and orcs again.

The reason was straightforward. I knew the demons were waiting for something after gathering some information from the ones I had tortured along the way.

This was why the orcs were still alive. Since my goal was to conquer the whole planet, I decided that it would be best if I initiated the war before the demons were ready for whatever they were planning.

I didn't want any unnecessary things to happen during my quest in conquering this planet.

...and it was fortunate for me to hear that an old 'acquaintance' of mine was still alive.

An 'acquaintance' that would help me a lot in the next couple of days.

Tossing the statue in my hand one more time, I snatched it from the air.

"Everything is going according to how I predicted...at least for now."

***

A/N : I am sorry for the delay in the chapters. In short, I spilled coffee on my laptop and lost some very important files. Fortunately, my chapters were already written in advance and were saved only once, but I had to spend the past week trying to get a new laptop and retrieving the files which I have lost. In any case, since my new laptop is still coming, I edited everything on my phone, which further delayed everything.

Chapter 623: Waiting [2]

Amanda sat in her office and looked through a series of documents.

Her focus was largely diverted by the significant materials in front of her. They detailed important information for her guild.

"This won't do…"

Her fine brows knit as she set one of the papers aside. She carefully took a document from her drawer, sat back in her chair, and muttered.

"This many?"

The data in front of her didn't make sense if compared to the document in her hand. The difference between the numbers she was seeing from the previous files with the ones that came from the document in her hands was staggering.

The number difference wasn't actually bad news, rather, it was fantastic news. The only problem was that she found it hard to believe.

"There's something I'm missing."

No matter how much she looked at the data, she couldn't make heads or tails of how it was possible for the numbers to differ so greatly.

In the end, she was forced to call her secretary, Maxwell.

"Maxwell, come to my office."

Within the span of a single minute of her calling him, he came knocking on her door.

Knock—!

"Come in."

"You called, young miss?"

"Yes, here."

She slid the paper across the table and asked.

"What's going on with this?"

"With what?"

Walking over to her desk, Maxwell politely smiled and looked at the paper Amanda was pointing at.

"Oh, this looks like the guild's status report. What's wrong with this?"

"Over here."

Amanda pointed toward a certain area on the paper with her finger.

"This doesn't make sense. It says that our guild has over 400 members in the <S> rank range. How come I'm only being made aware of it now? …and if I don't remember wrongly, we only had about 100 when I was in charge."

How could the number increase so much in the span of a single year?

Her father, perhaps? He may have contributed by recently breaking through to <SS->, but Amanda didn't believe this was enough to attract over three hundred <S> rankers.

There was definitely something suspicious about the situation.

"Can you please tell me what's going on?"

"Eh…"

Maxwell's face hardened a little.

With his eyes daring all over the figures, he lightly coughed and replied.

"…About this, you must ask your father. Not too long ago, he secured several big things which he made confidential. I'm afraid he's the only person that can answer this question. I don't think anyone else within the guild apart from a select few know."

"I see…"

Amanda's eyes narrowed for a moment. The distress on Maxwell's face was obvious to her, but she chose not to press the issue because he appeared adamant about keeping quiet.

'Something is wrong.'

"Alright, that will be all for today."

"T..thank you."

Maxwell stuttered slightly. He then bowed his head and left the room.

'There's something I'm missing.'

Amanda thought to herself as she fixed her sight on the door. The way Maxwell behaved was very suspicious. He was most likely forced to stay quiet due to her father.

But what exactly did he tell him...

"Ugh."

Suddenly groaning, Amanda hurriedly took off the chain around her neck. As soon as she did it, the mana in the space changed.

The mana only stabilized after a couple of minutes had passed, and only then was Amanda finally able to relax.

She looked at the jewelry set on the table next to her and murmured.

"That felt stuffy."

The reason why she felt so stuffy primarily had to do with the necklace which forcibly lowered her rank. On the outside, she was <A> rank, while secretly, she was already <S-> rank.

With her father now back, she was able to devote all of her time to increasing her rank, and this was the result.

At the moment, no one knew about her actual rank. Not even Ren.

There was a motive for her actions.

Amanda was a well-known person. She had exceptional talent, but she was also poised to lead the most successful guild in the human domain in the future. There were many people who harbored malicious thoughts against her.

Fully aware of how perilous her position was. she made the conscious decision to conceal her true rank from the public in order to surprise her opponents when incidents did occur.

There was only one problem with this.

"This might stay for a while…"

Raising her shirt and staring at the small red imprint on her skin, she sighed.

The artifact's use to stifle her rank came at a price; gradual heating. Nonetheless, there was a valid rationale for it and it did not simply heat up for no reason.

The object possessed great power. powerful enough to elude even the world's most powerful individuals. She didn't have to be concerned about anyone finding out that her rank was being held in check. Malik and Ren were the ideal examples of this because they both failed to notice the fact that her real rank was hidden.

"It's a small price to pay for safety."

She murmured as she extended her hand to grasp the necklace and gripped it in her palm.

***

"You may not know this but I've also graduated from the Lock, and I'm currently on my way to entering my second year in my guild. My father…"

A high-rise restaurant's ceiling was adorned with a brilliant chandelier that was covered in gold. Only a few people were sat across a few small, round tables that were covered in white linens, leaving the restaurant largely vacant.

Tranquil and melodic music played in the background while the tall glass cups shimmered in the chandelier's light.

The visitors could see the entire city of Ashton from above thanks to the large glass windows that stood on the exterior of the building.

'I want to go train.'

Jin thought to himself as he played with the napkin in his lap.

"I might be able to reach the same levels as you, but I don't think reaching the <S> rank level isn't impossible. Especially with the mana density increasing. There are many…"

A lovely girl was seated across from him. She garnered discreet attention from the servers and customers in the restaurant while wearing an exquisite blue dress that wonderfully highlighted her curved figure and gorgeous golden hair and crystal blue eyes.

Jin didn't feel repulsed when he looked at her, however, he also didn't feel attracted to her.

The only reason he was here was because his grandfather had forced him to be here.

Now already at the age of 24, his grandfather deemed it inappropriate for him to still remain single, and thus started setting up random blind dates for him.

That wasn't the only reason, however. Being the number two guild in the human domain, they obviously had information that wasn't known to the general population.

Of these information, they knew about the incoming war with the Monolith. And it was this piece of news that pushed his grandfather to set him up with dates.

In short, he was trying to sell his grandson out in exchange for allying with other guilds.

'I don't even know if I should be mad or disappointed at this.'

Jin thought while taking a sip of the wine in front of him.

All of the dates turned out to be beautiful women with amazing talents. Basically, one a million type of woman.

Unfortunately, Jin was not once ever impressed. It wasn't that he was impotent or that he didn't like girls, it mainly had to do with the fact that his priorities lay elsewhere.

He cared more about improving himself and the guild than actually going out on dates.

'Getting a girlfriend will only make me lose valuable time which I can use to train.'

He secretly clenched the cloth under his lap and put on a fake smile.

"Oh, is that so? That sounds so interesting."

"What does?"

The girl tilted her head, and Jin's face hardened.

"What you were talking about, of course."

Jin replied, trying to salvage the situation.

But it didn't seem to have worked as she tilted her head and asked.

"I've talked about a lot of things, which part exactly are you referring to."

'Well, shit.'

"Ehm…the part about you ranking twentieth is the Lock."

"Alright, I'm done."

The girl suddenly stood up much to Jin's confusion.

She then threw the napkin that sat on her lap on the table.

"Next time you want to go on a date with someone, at least have the courtesy of telling them that you don't want to attend. It will save everyone's time."

Finished with what she was saying, she reached out for the glass cup on the table.

"!"

When she went for the glass cup on the table, Jin reacted before she could. He quickly took hold of the cup and moved it away from her.

"Hmph!"

This resulted in her glaring at him before she stormed off.

Jin signed in relief when he saw this.

"Looks like you've learned your lessons from all the previous times, haven't you?"

An aged voice sounded from behind him.

Jin bitterly smiled as he turned to face the head waiter.

"After getting a drink thrown at me four times in a row, I'm bound to learn from my lessons."

"Hahaha."

The waiter laughed before he started to clean up the table.

"I'll relay to your grandfather that the date didn't work out."

"Please do so."

Jin stood up and sighed.

Fixing his clothes he turned his head to stare at the beautiful city below.

"…If only I didn't have to attend this crap."

***

Boom—!

A tremendous explosion that caused the entire structure to violently shake woke me up.

"...Looks like it started."

I muttered as I opened my eyes. Then, with a loud yawn, I got out of bed.

My back ached terribly at the moment.

'Damned bed.'

It'd be an insult to call it a bed.

Boom—!

The surroundings shook once more.

With my feet planted on the ground, I was able to remain composed. Changing my clothes, I got out of the small room I was staying in.

The room's wooden door seemed a bit shabby and fragile. I could tell with just a touch that anyone could enter the room with a light punch.

Secretly shaking my head, I opened the door and got out.

What met my sight upon going out of the room was a long and empty dark corridor.

'If I'm not wrong, the stairs are on this side…'

I was given a rough rundown of the general structure of the castle before being sent to my room. Hence, I knew approximately where to go at the moment.

"Hey, can you guys hear me?"

I brought my watch next to my mouth and spoke.

It wasn't long before I received a message back. It was from Ryan.

[Yes, we're all upstairs at the moment.]

"Everyone?"

[Yes, you're the only one that is missing.]

"That fast?"'

…and here I thought someone would get lost.

Prior to entering our rooms, I told everyone to head upstairs if anything happened. Who would've thought that they'd be this fast?

"Well, okay, I'll be there soon."

Tapping onto the watch and terminating the communication, I hastened my steps and headed upstairs.

A good show was about to ensue.

Couldn't for the love of god miss it.

Chapter 624: Waiting [3]

Inside the halls of the castle.

"How is the situation?"

"…It's not good."

An orc replied with a somber expression.

"Were you able to get a clear idea of how many enemies there are present?l

"The numbers appear too large for us to count."

"Okay."

Silug replied in a serious tone.

The halls quieted down after his words.

"Didn't you say that the demons would come at us in about a year's time? Why did they suddenly attack now? I've still not recovered my strength."

Omgolung asked from the side. Out of all the orcs present, he was the only one that Silug treated as an equal and wasn't afraid of voicing his concerns.

"Do you have any plans for how we should handle the situation?"

"I have a rough plan."

Silug replied in an apathetic tone.

He then got out of his chair. His body started to take on a green color, and a dreadful pressure started to radiate from him.

Sweeping his eyes over the orcs that were present in the room, he ordered.

"Call for the shaman to come to my room. In the meantime, everyone is to prepare for battle as we've practiced in the past."

"Yes!"

The orcs replied in unison by thumping their chests once. They left after that, leaving Omgolung and Silug all alone.

"…Is your plan to go to war and fight back?"

"No."

Silug shook his head before turning his attention toward Omgolung. He then pressed his finger on Omgolung's chest and replied.

"My plan is simple."

His deep green eyes stared straight into Omgolung's eyes.

"You are my plan."

***

"Wow, this is a much grander spectacle than I had ever expected in my life."

A sea of black was slowly moving toward us as I watched it from behind the castle walls. The numbers were so high that I felt my body turn a little cold.

'I'm glad I didn't choose to go there by myself.'

I could never defeat that many demons on my own, no matter how strong I was. The same as a typical human would with mosquitos. Even a regular human wouldn't have trouble smacking them if there were only a few of them; but, they would simply perish if they were surrounded by thousands of them.

"Mh, I only see four Marquis-ranked demons present. There doesn't seem to be anyone stronger than that."

Liam's disappointed voice echoed beside me.

He was staring off into the horizon, and as I turned to look at him, I saw that his eyes were burning with a yellow color.

Scratching the side of my face and turning to look at the horde of demons in the distance, I asked.

"No Duke ranked demon?"

"Doesn't seem like it…"

Liam's eyes stopped glowing, and his eyelids started to droop, showing clear signs of boredom.

"I'm bored. I thought we were going to face some formidable enemies, but in the end, it's just a bunch of weaklings."

"…You do know that you're in the same rank as them, right?"

Hein added as he stood beside him.

"Ah, right, I forgot."

Liam smacked himself on the forehead.

"I mean, isn't there anything you don't forget?"

"No, not really. Who are you, actually?"

Liam replied when he looked at Hein.

Hein threw his middle finger at him in response.

"Fuck you."

Having spent two years together, the two of them had grown familiar with each other.

Liam was at this moment joking. With my help, he was now able to remember everyone in the groups.

"Anyways, just because they are the same rank as me, it doesn't change the fact that they are weaklings. The energy fluctuating that their bodies are giving out isn't that strong."

Squinting his eyes for a moment and letting his eyes flow one more time, he mumbled.

"There is one guy over there that is half decent…but that's it, and even he isn't that much of a threat."

As he said those words, there was a clear sign of frustration in his voice.

Moving next to him, I patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry. They aren't real enemies. You'll have your fun later."

"Oh?"

Liam raised his brow and looked at me.

"You serious?"

"Yes, yes…"

Just like Liam said, the demons in front of us weren't anything special. I wasn't saying this because I was arrogant or anything like that, but at this point, even I could tell that their strength wasn't something that would pose a threat to me.

But I knew this from the beginning.

My goal in luring them here wasn't to fight them off or anything of the sort. It was to instigate a war between the orcs and the demons so that I could start the real war faster.

I only had seventy days at my disposal, and I couldn't just beat thousands of demons in that little time.

Excluding the fact that I wasn't delusional to the point where I thought I could beat hundreds of thousands of demons with just a group of eight people, I also didn't think I could make it to them on time.

We couldn't fly like the demons could... Liam and I could, although it wasn't particularly quick, and a lot of mana was used in the process. Given the distance we had to travel to reach them and the fact that they numbered in the hundreds of thousands, our only viable choice was to engage them in battle with the orcs.

In any case, with all the information I had gathered, I was able to learn a lot of things. One of them was the fact that Azeroth was still alive and doing quite well.

He was the key factor in my plan, and everything was going smoothly so far.

"By the way Ren…"

It was at this moment that I felt someone tug me on the shirt. I lowered my head and saw Ryan staring at me from below.

Although he was now 16 years old, he was still on the short side, forcing me to look down on him.

"Yea?"

"How did you know that the demon will come to attack us after this much time has passed? If I'm not wrong, over sixty years have passed since you last came, what makes you think he would still remember you?"

"Ah, that?"

Understanding what he was trying to ask, I replied.

"Simple really. Why do you think we are here?"

"To meet Silug?"

"Right."

I nodded my head.

"My goal was to meet Silug...but that's not the only reason why."

I had planned to come here for more than a year.

With my plan to take the entire planet for myself, I wouldn't just come here without any plans.

"There's another reason?"

Rather than answering I posed him a question.

"Why do you think I announced it in front of everyone that Silug is working under me?"

"There was a reason? Didn't you just do it to provoke him?"

"No."

I shook my head.

Although I did indeed provoke him into a fight, that wasn't the reason why I actually did what I did back then.

"Didn't you notice that there were other orcs present inside of the square when I met Silug?"

"Yes?"

Ryan slowly nodded his head.

"I remember that."

"Good. Given what you already know, you should be aware that the demons have placed spies inside this castle, and—"

"Oh! I get it!"

I was cut before I could finish my sentence.

Smacking his fist on his palm, Ryan's eyes brightened up.

"The reason why you revealed everything and provoked Silug publicly was because you wanted the demons to know that you were the one who helped Silug breakthrough to <S-> rank six years ago."

"...And since you were aware that they had spies in the castle, you neglected to have them taken out during the conflict; as a result, only the demon Silug killed reacted when the spies informed the other demons of what they had learned."

Ryan said everything in a single breath.

I nodded my head from time to time as he continued speaking.

"That's right. Also…"

I took out a small statue from my dimensional space and tossed to it Ryan.

"I used this statue that I picked back then to make the demon understand that the humans Silug was talking to were the same people that ransacked his castle. Only this way would I instigate him to come attack us."

"I see, I see… it all makes sense, but…"

Ryan stopped for a moment and raised his head.

"What about the other demons , why aren't they doing anything to stop them from coming?"

"Good question."

I turned to face the distance and placed my arm on the side of the wall.

"…They are probably aware of what is happening and are just waiting to see what happens. They are definetly not happy with the situation, but why do you think I beat Silug up quickly, and harshly? You know me, I'm not the type to 'show off' without any reason to do so."

I suddenly asked when I looked at Ryan.

"Since I knew that there was spies watching, wouldn't it be detrimental for me to suddenly show off my power and let the demons know that I'm strong?"

Ryan's brows furrowed as he fell into deep thought.

Seeing the state that he was in, I didn't say anything else and just continued to watch him.

I wanted him to understand things without the need for me to explain everything to him.

'…if it was 'him', he'd probably understand what I was planning on doing without me needing to lead him on.'

I felt a pang of sadness when I thought back on Smallsnake. Had it been him, he would've understood my intentions quickly.

"I got it."

Ryan's voice jolted me out of my thoughts.

"Go on."

Pinching the middle of his brows, he spoke.

"The reason why you exposed your strenght was so that the demons would be wary of you. In short, the reason why they aren't stopping the demons from coming here despite it being against their plans is because they want to see how strong you are. If you can beat Silug, then it is only natural that they become wary of you."

"That's right."

I patted Ryan on the head. I was very satisfied at the moment.

"That's exactly why I showed a glimpse of my abilities when fighting against Silug, and once we manage to defeat the incoming demons, the real ones will be coming. That's why…"

I raised my head to stare into the distance.

"…We have to win this battle in a way that will make the demons take action personally. Enough to make them stop whatever they are planning on doing and come to us."

Chapter 625: Start of the war [1]

It was approximately 2 A.M. in Ashton city.

Darkness had already engulfed the entire city, with the city lights being the only source of light amidst the dark world.

In a certain high rise building.

Ding—!

The elevator doors quietly opened revealing two crimson red eyes that shone in the darkness.

"What a mess..."

Kevin raised his hand to clean his blood-stained face as his hushed, chilly voice echoed around the room.

A dozen or so corpses were exposed behind him as he exited the elevator.

He was greeted by a silent, dim hallway with a sizable wooden door at the opposite end. Additionally, there was a marble reception desk just next to the door, but it was empty right now.

While he walked, the cameras that were pointed in different areas around the hall exploded before they could get within his range.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The sound of his rhythmic footsteps echoed inside the hallway.

He soon stopped in front of the door.

Knock—! Knock—!

He knocked on the door twice.

No one responded.

Knock—!

Kevin knocked on the door again.

"Huh? Who is it?"

A confused voice echoed from the other side of the door.

"Rowana? Why was I not notified of anyone coming here?"

"T..there shouldn't be anyone."

Kevin heard a female voice coming from the same room.

'Rowana. That must be the name of his secretary.'

Kevin thought to himself, reaching out for the door with his hand.

Then, with a flick of his wrist, he unlocked the door to reveal a posh office.

A large marble desk sat at the end of the office space with large windows that enabled one to overlook the city from above. There were tall bookshelves on the side of the room, all filled to the brim with books, in color order. The room's newly polished oak floor was covered with a rug, and the corner contained several stone statues.

The place looked extremely fancy, but that wasn't what took Kevin's attention.

At the moment, his eyes were drawn toward the half-naked women that stood beside a tall man with short brown hair and mean shaped brows. His clothes and hair were a mess, a clear indication of what had been happening moments prior to his arrival.

Both of them were staring at Kevin with startled, and shocked looks.

"What are you doing here?!"

Gathering his bearings, the tall man glared in Kevin's direction. His body started to glow in a yellow light.

It was right as their eyes met that the man's face changed.

"Wa...wait, I recognize you. You're Kevin Voss."

It didn't take much for the man to recognize Kevin. There was practically not a single person in the human domain that didn't know who he was.

He was that famous.

The man's shoulders relaxed when he recognized Kevin.

"May I ask you why you're here?"

He, alongside the woman that was next to him started to fix their clothes.

Kevin glanced at the two of them for a moment. He then raised his hand and swiped in the direction of where the woman was.

Thump—!

With just a single movement, the woman's head decapitated and fell to the ground.

"W..what are you doing!?"

It took a moment for the brown haired man to understand what had just happened as his mouth hung open.

"Y...y...you.."

The brown-haired man moved his head back up to look at Kevin while taking his eyes away from his secretary's head, which lay severed on the floor.

Opening and closing his mouth, he struggled to find the courage to say any words.

"...You think I don't know?"

It was Kevin's icy voice that broke the silence in the room.

A dark red glow formed behind him, slowly rising from behind him like an enormous wave.

"W..what are you talking about?"

The brown haired man stuttered and took a step back.

Taking a look at the dead secretary, Kevin didn't say anything and extended his hand toward his right side.

"Uek!"

With a clench of his hand, a muffled groan echoed out. A dark figure emerged in Kevin's hand.

"I applaud you for your effort in trying to sneak attack me, but I've long seen this coming."

He then turned his head to focus on the brown haired man whose face had paled considerably.

"It's a shame that things had to end this way."

"Wait, wait, wai—!"

Crack—!

A bone-breaking sound reverberated throughout the room and the demon's body lifelessly fell on Kevin's hand. Then, reaching out with his hand, Kevin pierced through the demon's right arm and took out a core.

"Nooo!"

The brown haired man screamed at the top of his lungs when he saw the core in Kevin's hand.

A powerful force surged from within his body and his figure appeared in front of Kevin.

He was so fast that it looked as if he had teleported.

Crash—!

Sadly, his speed was insufficient. With the hand that was free, Kevin flicked his fingers and struck the man with the brown hair square in the forehead, sending his body flying and shattering the glass window in the process.

Glass shards fell all over the room when the glass broke, some even whistling past Kevin's face.

Time seemed to slow down for Kevin as his eyes and the brown haired man's eyes locked in that little second when the glass broke and the man plummeted out the window.

In that short moment, Kevin was able to catch a glimpse of several emotions on the man's face. From hatred, to helplessness, and sadness...

Kevin was able to see it all.

Nonetheless.

Crack!

He crushed the core in his hand and the man's body twisted.

Time accelerated once more, and the man's silhouette vanished. Kevin then heard frantic shouts coming from below the structure, followed by a low thumping sound.

Thump!

Police sirens echoed not long after.

"How many does that make? Eight? Nine?...How many have I killed?"

Kevin walked toward the damaged window, unconcerned about what was going on below. He didn't stop until his feet were almost at the window's edge.

"Huuu.."

Kevin inhaled deeply as he caught a glimpse of Ashton city from above and let the image sink into his brain. He made sure to engrave every little detail of the city into his mind.

His figure slowly began to blend with the night before disappearing as he raised his head to look at the shining moon in the sky.

"...Stil not enough."

***

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The earth trembled as sharp, hefty weapons smacked against it.

Thousands upon thousands of orcs, standing in various legions of over 5000 orcs apiece, were the cause of the trembling. Their features were hidden by the worn-out metal armor that covered every inch of their bodies.

Their physical presence emanated a terrible pressure that was ominous in nature, enveloping the surroundings around them, and scaring any living organism that was within meters of their presence.

"Are you ready?"

A thunderous voice echoed across the plain, shutting any form of noise coming from the orcs.

All eyes focused on an orc standing at the forefront.

Just his presence alone was enough to make a legion tremble in fear, commanding the respect of the thousands of orcs present on the grass plain.

Large red runes with a reddish glow could be seen on the orc's naked body, which blended with the dark green color that emanated from him. The red runes would flash up like scalding hot lava with each and every breath Silug took, further raising his presence across the battlefield.

Silug scanned the entire battlefield with his huge axe lodged on the ground next to him.

A serious and solemn look spread across his face as he memorized the faces of all the orcs around him.

He could sense an ever-increasing presence behind him that threatened to force the combined pressure from all of the orcs together back, as it became stronger with each passing second.

The situation was rather grim, but he wasn't one to give up.

They had come so far and he wasn't one to give up until the end. Focusing his attention on a certain direction, he shouted.

"Load the weapons!"

Huge constructions began to wheel out into his sight, as the legions started to move around them.

Silug turned around to stare at the horde of demons that were slowly approaching his spot. He then focused his attention back on the weapons that were slowly being wheeled his way and he raised his hand.

"Stop!"

He shouted.

The structures stopped moving right as his words echoed.

"Load the weapons!"

Silug shouted soon after, and enormous boulders began to load on the structures. The boulders were so large that it took over a thousand orcs to carry them.

It was important to point out that the boulders weren't made of any regular old stone. Instead, they were made by combining a number of different materials, which produced projectiles that were extraordinarily thick and hard. They were strong enough to resist being broken by someone like Silug.

The weapons took two minutes to fully load in total, and by the time they were finished, the demons had already reached them.

Without wasting a single second, Silug glared at the approaching demons and shouted.

"Shoot!"

Rumble! Rumble!

The ground trembled after his orders and snap! The boulders disappeared from everyone's sight. What followed after were several sharp, whistling sounds.

Xiuuuuuuuuu! Xiuuuuuuuuu! Xiuuuuuuuuu!

Chapter 626: Start of the war [2]

Meteor-sized stones weighing thousands of pounds were thrown into the air, colliding with the approaching sea of black in the atmosphere.

As the enormous stones approached the dark sea composed of thousands and thousands of demons, a black tint emerged in the air, combining into a large transparent screen that served to block the incoming boulders.

Unfortunately for the demons, the boulders proved far more powerful than expected, smashing through the massive energy field and crashing into the demons, sending them tumbling against the ground.

Boom

The ground fiercely shook as more and more boulders came crashing against the ground.

It was uncertain how many demons a single rock killed, but there were over a hundred boulders being thrown at the same time, quickly slicing away at the dark sea of demons.

"Reload!"

Silug's booming voice echoed across the vast plain as his form stood towering in front of all the legions. The legions behind him worked together to replenish the catapults. They were extremely efficient in transporting and loading the rocks onto the catapult. By the time they threw a boulder, the next one would be ready within the next couple of minutes.

In spite of this...

"It's not enough."

Silug muttered to himself, his forehead tensely wrinkling. He was unsatisfied with how things were going. Looking at the approaching demon army, he knew he'd soon be compelled to abandon the catapults and fight on with his weapons.

The situation looked good now, but he knew that it was bound to change soon. They didn't have much time at their disposal.

"Halt!"

Silug lifted his hand and ordered the catapults to stop. The orcs came to a halt at his commands as they all dropped whatever they were doing and got back into formations. Silug nodded in approval when he observed this.

'Good.'

He was pleased with what he was seeing. He didn't waste the past few decades training the orcs for nothing.

"Get into fighting positions!"

Silug's voice boomed once more. The orcs followed his commands and got into fighting formations. Every group of four in the legions had a 'heavy orc'; orcs who wore massive and burly armor that weighed thousands of pounds. The intent behind this was to make it impossible for demons to lift them up in the air to then drop them on the ground.

They essentially served as tanks and bore the grunt of the demons' attack. It was this type of formation that helped the orcs survive until now.

'They are coming.'

The demons approached the orcs like a swarm of locusts. A real and formless pressure erupted from each demon's body, mixing and generating a frightening pressure that resembled a vast tsunami, eager to tear anything in its path apart.

Silug's runes flashed as he stared at the spectacle from afar, and his crimson tint spread and mingled with the green hue coming directly from his body. His muscles expanded and an overbearing force began to emerge from deep within his body.

"Get ready!"

His words echoed across the vast expanse of land, igniting the battle spirit of all the legions behind him and driving them to thump their weapons on the ground. The ground fiercely shook and the orcs brought their weapons forward.

Silug shifted his attention away from the legion behind him and instead concentrated on the vast sea of darkness that was drawing nearer. He thrust his foot forward and raised his enormous axe into the air. The pressure that was coming out from his body further increased, and an intimidating feeling rose from him.

One second...

Two seconds...

Three seconds...

Time appeared to slow down abruptly as Silug was able to obtain a better view of the demons that were rushing towards him with vicious and ravenous gazes. All looking thirsty for his flesh.

In particular, his attention was drawn toward a demon who was ahead of the others, directly aiming for him. The demon's might was palpable, on a par with his own, and immediately made him wary.

"Huuuu...."

Silug took a deep breath and shouted.

"Attack!"

He swung with his axe immediately after saying those words, and a horrifying force tumulled out of his axe, aiming straight for the approaching demon. The power that was contained within the attack was so great that several of the demons that were within the vicinity of the attack were instantly annihilated simply by being in close proximity to it. Even the demon that was on equal footing with Silug was able to sense how menacing Silug's onslaught was, and its expression altered.

It was unfortunately too late for the demon to dodge the attack as it was already upon him by the time it knew it. The speed of the attack was simply frightening.

In the end, the demon was compelled to confront the assault head-on, and as a result, a potent force began to flow out of its body. This force merged with the surrounding air before converging to form an enormous, pitch-black barrier.

Booom.

The attack crashed into the barrier erected by the demon, causing the surrounding area to tremble as a thundering noise rippled throughout the whole battlefield. It was this exact noise that marked the start of the war.

***

"...Are we just going to look at the war without doing anything?"

I heard Liam's voice enter my ears while I gazed at the ongoing war from the safety of the castle in the distance.

Sparing him a glance, I replied.

"Of course not."

"Why?"

"Because if the two of us act now, the other demons will learn of our strength and avoid immediately assaulting us. As I previously stated, we must entice the demons to come to us, and the only way to do so is to demonstrate a strength that is scary enough for them to feel pressured, while also presenting them with a circumstance in which coming to us is preferable to staying holed up in their castles. "

The concept wasn't hard.

My current goal was to have the demons come to us and have them stop doing whatever they are planning on doing. This alone would help us secure a small advantage and avoid getting us in a disadvantageous position.

However, that was easier said than done.

If I showed them strength that was much too frightening for them to handle, they would undoubtedly hole themselves up within their own castles and wait for whatever it was they were expecting to come. Worse, they may wind up reporting this to the higher demons, making the situation even worse than it needed to be. If that happened, our condition would become tremendously disadvantageous.

What I needed to do right now was help the orcs win the war in a reasonably convincing way. In a sense, this would make the demons feel intimidated by us and make them believe that striking us while we were recovering was the greatest option for them.

And for that to happen, the orcen side had to take a few losses, hence why I wasn't doing anything yet.

"...I don't understand."

Liam scratched the back of his head.

"You don't have to know."

I patted Liam on the shoulder and headed back into the castle.

On my way back inside I heard Angelica's voice.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to train. Call me back when it looks like the orcs are losing."

I left without waiting for them to reply.

My current priority was to train at the moment. I couldn't let myself lag behind because of everything that was happening.

'I mustn't forget what happened a while back.'

...With Malik.

"Uekkk!"

Just as I was about to enter my room, my head began to ache horribly and my vision became blurry. A wet sensation trickled down my nose, forcing me to lean against the side of the wall.

"Shit, not again."

I was having another attack.

"Akkk!"

I began to stumble on my steps. My vision grew increasingly more unstable and my breathing became rougher.

'Just what in the world is happening to me?'

These attacks...

They had been going on for months with no indication of stopping, becoming worse with each attack.

It hurt...It really hurt.

"Huuuur!"

As I got closer to the door that led to my room, I took a full breath in and held it for a moment before releasing it all at once. After that, I opened the door to my room, and hastily shut the door behind me before collapsing to the floor.

Thud.

"Khh..."

On the floor, my entire body began to convulse. Fortunately, this only lasted for a short period of time since I was able to restore control of my body after a handful of seconds. However, by the time I recovered, I caught sight of what appeared to be a couple of feet in front of me.

My eyes shot wide open.

"Who is it!?"

And I abruptly sat up, only to be left speechless by the fact that no one was present in the room.

'Was it just my imagination?'

Scanning the room with my eyes and finding that no one was around, I was left wondering whether everything was merely an illusion, but just as I was going to accept this thought, my hand rocketed toward my neck area.

"Huh?!"

I was left stunned by this sudden movement, but I was quick to react as my other hand shot up and grasped the wrist of my right hand.

"Fu...cker"

As I exerted all of my strength to get my other hand away from my neck, I saw that my hand had begun to shake. My other hand was only a few of inches away from my neck, and at that very moment, I could sense that my life was dangling by a thread.

Just one little push...

"Ugh!"

Crack!

After summoning all of my strength, a bone-crushing sound echoed and my hand jerked in the incorrect direction.

"Haa... haaa..."

Sweat began to drop down from the side of my face as I took deep breaths, trying my best to recover from the sudden situation.

'What was that?'

The pain that was engulfing my arm was not something that entirely bothered me, as I was already used to pain by this point. What bothered me the most was the fact that I had almost died.

"Fucker!"

My teeth gnashed together.

I wasn't stupid to the point of not understanding what had just happened. This... This was a warning. A warning that my other self just gave me; 'I'm slowly taking control of your body.'

This was the message my other self was trying to say to me.

Only by taking deep breaths was I able to calm the seething rage that was building from deep within my body. I then opened my eyes and cleared my mind of any other ideas while also ensuring that I was in full control of my body.

'Looks like the situation is clear for now...'

Ten minutes had passed since, and by then I was sure that I was in full control of my body. During that time, I was able to formulate an opinion regarding the attacks.

'Could the attacks have been caused by my other self attempting to take over my body?'

Now that I thought about it, this indeed seemed like a plausible explanation. I immediately grew warier.

I slapped the side of my cheeks.

'Shit.'

"Now is not the time to worry about this."

Ignoring the fact that my hand was broken, I took out several crystal orbs from my dimensional space. The room, which was thin on mana, started to fluctuate.

"I need to focus on what's important right now, and that is improving my strength..."

With the mana in this world lacking, one might find it difficult to have their strength rise. There was one way to bypass this problem...albeit, it was something that only the richest of people could afford to do.

...and that was by directly absorbing the mana inside of cores.

Yes, the same cores that were extremely expensive and rarely dropped from monsters.

In my hand was the same exact core, of the <S> rank. It cost me a pretty penny, and the way I was using it was a total waste of its usage, but...

"I have no choice. This is the only way I can attain a source of mana in a world where mana is lacking. "

Inside the core was a concentrated mass of mana that could be used to train upon smashing it. This method was highly inefficient because mana didn't just stay in the atmosphere forever as it tended to be absorbed by everything in its area, but it was the only alternative I had, and it was just about enough for me.

"Alright."

I took another long breath while observing the core in my hand before ultimately crushing it in the palm of my hand.

Crack!

A surge of mana exploded from the core, spilling from the small cracks that formed around the core, totally engulfing the room.

I quickly closed my eyes and absorbed all of the mana in the air.

Chapter 627: Start of the war [3]

Monolith headquarters.

Hemlock silently peered beneath the building from the broad window of the room in a lovely area at the top of the headquarters that had been restored throughout the years following the incident in the past.

The one involving a certain numbered individual...

The room he was in was quite spacious, roughly the size of a dining hall. There was a wide red carpet covering the floor, and several paintings were hung along the walls on either side of the room.

With his hands behind his back, Hemlock quietly spoke in an audible tone.

"Jinhao, do you think I'm crazy?"

"Crazy?"

Sat on a black sofa in the middle of the room was Mo Jinhao. The Vice-leader of the Monolith.

His drowsy grey eyes, which were completely devoid of any pupils, flickered as he rested his body back against the sofa.

"What suddenly brought up this topic? Did something happen? "

"No, nothing at all."

Hemlock shook his head before he turned his body around.

"It's just that I went to see an old buddy of mine, and while I was there, I started to reflect on the choices I've made in the past, but in the end, no matter how much I think about it, I can't see myself being wrong. What I'm doing right now...is the only thing that has any chance of saving the human race. This must have been one of the motivations for you to join the Monolith, right?"

"No?"

Mo Jinhao shook his head while looking at Hemlock.

"The sole reason I decided to become a member of the Monolith was because I desired to continue living. I do not share the same concern you have for the welfare of other people. They can all die for all I care."

"I see…"

Hemlock quietly nodded to himself as he listened to Mo Jinhao's words.

"…So you joined the Monolith because you wanted to survive?"

Reasonable.

After all, there was no other way to survive in this harsh world other than to join the demons.

The people of this world were much too stupid to recognize the harsh reality that was standing right in front of them, despite the fact that it was right before their noses.

Shaking his head once more, Hemlock changed the topic.

"How are the preparations for the war?"

"We're almost ready."

Mo Jinhao replied.

"All of our <S> rankers and the elderly are ready for combat. I've also managed to heal myself from the injuries that I sustained a few years back…"

Mo Jinhao clenched his fists into a ball and spat through his gnashed teeth.

"…I can't wait to see 876 again. For what he did in the past, You'll see how brutal his death will be."

The air in the room fluctuated.

"876?"

Hemlock's eyes suddenly jumped up a little. Focusing his attention on Jinhao he said.

"Talking about him, I've already met him back when I was visiting my friend."

"You did?!"

Mo Jinhao jumped up from the sofa.

As a result of his actions, Hemlock lowered his hand in a move to convey to him that he should calm down.

"Calm down, calm down, I didn't do anything to him. We are still in a truce, there's no way I can touch him at the moment."

"I understand."

Mo Jinhao replied as his face calmed down.

However, it was precisely at this time when Hemlock cocked his head to the side and examined Mo Jinhao's body in great detail.

"Yes?"

"Mhhh…"

Hemlock scratched the bottom of his chin without replying.

He then mumbled.

"…If you really want to get your revenge on 876, you might have a tougher time than you think, at the moment he's not the same as he was in th—"

Knock—!

There was a sudden knock on the door.

"Leader, I have an urgent message."

A terrified and frantic voice sounded right after. Meeting his gaze with Mo Jinhao's, they both simultaneously redirected their sights to the door.

"Come in."

Mo Jinhao responded in Hemlock's place, and the door opened to display the features of a young man with short black hair and a lanky figure.

He was currently perspiring heavily from the side of his face while clinging to a stack of papers that he was carrying in his hands. His face became noticeably paler the instant he walked into the room and his gaze settled on Jinhao and Hemlock.

He then lowered his head and reported.

"Emergency report! It has been revealed that a number of contracted individuals have passed away for no apparent reason. After conducting additional studies, we discovered that the demons they had a contract with have since been eliminated, which is the likely cause of their deaths. After looking through the database, it has been determined that the demons who have vanished are the same ones who were accountable for converting the Union members during the most recent gathering that they had."

The young man said everything in a single breath.

When he finished and raised his head, he was startled to discover that Jinahao's and Hemlock's expressions were more grave than anyone else's could possibly be.

"You may leave."

Before he could say anything else, with a single wave of Jinhao's hand, the young man was thrown out of the room.

When the doors were finally locked, there was an immediate increase in the level of tension within the room.

"We have a spy within our ranks."

Mo Jinhao was the first one to speak, as he expressed his opinion.

"I believe so too."

Hemlock gave a nod of approval as he waved his hand and shifted the papers that were lying on the floor in his direction. He then continued to remain quiet while the documents floated up to his hand and were examined by him before he finally spoke again.

"With the targets being so specific, and with the deaths of the demons that were supposed to not be known by anyone, it is reasonable to assume that there is a spy among us..."

The tension in the room rose as Hemlock's brows started to furrow even more.

At this same instant, he had a startling flashback to the words that his "highness" had said to him a couple of years ago, and as a result, his demeanor changed.

He issued a command by tapping on his watch.

"Someone call for Everblood. I would like to meet him."

[Understood.]

He got a reply not long after he sent the message.

Mo Jinhao, who was silently sitting back in his chair, inquired.

"Why did you ask Everblood to come here?"

"I have my reasons."

Hemlock replied without saying anything else.

In the end, seeing how adamant Hemlock was at not speaking, Jinhao could only give up.

Knock—!

It wasn't long until someone knocked on the door again, and a raspy voice echoed.

"Have you called for me?"

"Come in."

Hemlock gestured him with his hand.

As soon as the door was opened, a humanoid entity in black entered the space. The demon, in contrast to everyone else who came into the presence of both Jinhao and Hemlock, seemed to take their presence in stride as he made himself at home.

"What have you called me here for?"

He asked while he sat on the sofa opposite to Jinhao.

His relaxed attitude caused Jinhao to frown. He nevertheless remained quiet. There was a hierarchy, and the demons were always ahead of their contractors in terms of importance.

It was the sad reality for those who decided to join the demons.

It was fortunate to know that Hemlock didn't seem to mind Everblood's attitude as he asked.

"Recent reports have indicated that a considerable number of the spies operating in the human domain have vanished. I was wondering whether you were aware of what was going on there seeing as you are a demon and you are in charge of watching over that area."

Hemlock was straightforward with his question as he directly asked Everblood the crux of the problem.

"I do."

And so was Everblood, who promptly nodded his head.

Jinhao and Hemlock took a minute to comprehend Everblood's remarks, and when they did, they were surprised.

"You do?"

Never did they expect him to reveal it so easily.

"I do, and I was just about to come to you to inform you of the situation."

Everblood drummed his fingers on the armrest of the sofa.

Hemlock who was watching him from the side took a couple of steps forward.

"Jinhao and I were speculating that there is a spy within our mid—"

"It's not that."

Everblood cut Hemlock mid sentence.

"The real culprit behind everything that is happening has nothing to do with a spy. Rather, the answer is much simpler than you think. "

With a small pause, Everblood mumbled.

"Oh?"

Hemlock raised his brow. He was now curious.

"Who might this culprit be?"

Hemlock calmly asked.

Everblood responded in a direct manner while leaning back in his chair and giving him a sideways glance.

"The culprit behind everything is none other than Kevin Voss."

***

Clank—

Everblood had been inside the executive room for two hours at this point. Nobody outside the room knew what they were talking about during that period, but judging from how eerie silent and tense the environment was outside the room, it was most likely very sensitive information that they were discussing.

Everblood emerged from the chamber on his own just when the clock indicated that two hours had gone. As he came out, there was no one else behind him.

As he exited the chamber, he was greeted with the sight of a lengthy corridor that was only a few feet wide. As he moved forward another step, a figure materialized next to him. Chains were dangling from the arms and legs of the figure in question.

"It's almost time…"

A hoarse and cold voice echoed throughout the halls.

In spite of how loud the voice was, the only one who could hear the voice was Everblood.

He promptly replied inside of his mind.

'Only a few weeks left until the truce ends. All of the arrangements over the past few years have been made.'

"That's good."

Replied the figure that walked beside him while the long set of chains hanging from his arms and legs scraped the ground behind him.

"My goal may have changed, and I won't be able to take over my body for a bit, but that no longer matters..."

The voice became colder, sending shivers down Everblood's spine.

"…As long as Kevin dies, everything will be solved."

'Don't worry, I'll make sure to get the job done.'

Everblood responded in his consciousness as his feet came to a halt in front of a specific room. The door opened with a flick of his wrist, and he entered alongside the enigmatic person.

Greeting Everblood upon entering the room was a sight that made him smile.

'…With everything we've prepared, I have no doubt in our chances of completing our goal.'

Chapter 628: A glimpse of the records [1]

The sky was filled with a brilliant and enormous orange sun. The size of the sun was so enormous that it appeared to fill up half of the sky, turning the blue sky a muted orange color as a result.

A little table in white was perched on top of a vibrant patch of foliage. Jezebeth observed the landscape in front of him while he relaxed on a small chair.

"Human tea isn't too bad."

He held a small teacup in his hand. One that was opaque black in color and only filled halfway with a transparent green substance.

Jezebeth refilled his cup with more tea as he observed the calm and peaceful setting that had descended upon the surrounding places.

"Isn't this nice?"

Jezebeth muttered something under his breath as he removed the teacup from his grasp and placed it on the table.

The scenery before him was stunning.

Jezebeth felt this location to be very calming due to the presence of the enormous mountains in the distance that extended all the way to the clouds and the birds that could be heard chirping all around him.

A pleasant breeze was blowing through his body as he looked off into the distance and saw large trees that towered over the landscape.

Everything felt so peaceful and tranquil...

Especially when compared to the demon world, which felt rather stuffy for him.

Jezebeth, while silently mumbling to himself, picked up the teacup with his hand once again and crossed his legs.

"It pains me to know that I will soon have to bring about the destruction of this world. If it had been feasible, I would have kept it, but unfortunately, in order for me to do what I set out to do, I have no choice but to destroy this planet. "

He let out a sad sigh when he said those words.

After putting the teacup down once more, Jezebeth lifted his head to take in the orange-tinged blue sky and the enormous sun that was hanging in the sky.

Grasping his chin with his hand, he mumbled to himself.

"…This should be the third last planet that I need to destroy before seizing all of the fragments, right?"

There was a trace of uncertainty in his voice as he said these words.

As a result of the fact that his memories had not yet been completely restored, he was unsure of the actual number of worlds that remained in his path of destruction. Three was his current estimate, but it could definitely be more than that.

It was necessary to point out that there were a great number of planets in the universe, and that it was not possible for him to destroy them all. The only type of planets he was interested in finding were the ones that concealed the planetary seed, also referred to as Akashic fragments.

They were his main source of strength and the key that would lead him to the Akashic records.

He was close.

He was practically on the cusp of achieving his objective. He had never been this close to actually getting his hands on the records in his entire life, but at the same time, he had an exceedingly dreadful foreboding that kept him alert at all times.

"…Just why can't he kill me?"

Jezebeth realized one thing after recovering part of his memories after consuming additional fragments; Kevin was refusing to kill him. For whatever reason, he seemed adamant about keeping him alive.

....And it was for this exact reason that made Jezebeth felt uneasy.

"What exactly are you planning? …and what exactly am I missing?"

No matter how hard he tried to understand what was going on, he just couldn't get his head around it.

"Could it perhaps be connected to him?"

Jezebeth had a sudden thought while he drummed his fingers over the table.

By 'him', he was referring to Ren.

Thinking about him, Jezebeth also felt that he was abnormal. Although he wasn't exactly sure, he knew that he had a connection with Kevin.

The two of them…

"Could Ren perhaps be someone that Kevin chose to have me killed?"

A hypothesis formed inside of his mind. However, he readily shook his head after a thought.

It was unlikely.

Jezebeth had an inkling that all of this was related to the records. They were probably the reason why Kevin refused to kill him.

"It may be far fetched, but what if…"

Jezebeth furrowed his brows.

"...but what if the records have plans to do something significant once I'm no longer around? Due to the fact that I have taken control of so many of their fragments, it's possible that they have become apprehensive of me and maybe every creature in the universe. Do they have some kind of plan in mind that only Kevin knows? One frightening enough to leave Kevin with no choice but to continue regressing over and over again... Is this why he is refusing to kill me?"

Jezebeth sipped the tea till it was entirely empty.

"But if that was true, what does Ren have to do with this equation?"

Jezebeth's brows furrowed.

A sudden thought occurred to him and his brows jumped up a little.

"…wait, what if Kevin's goal is to fight the records?"

Jezebeth tilted his head a little. All sorts of ideas started to flood his mind at that moment.

"Since he is both the fruit and the product of the records, it is safe to presume that he cannot harm them in any manner possible. What if Ren was his solution to the problems? What would happen if he surreptitiously transferred his power over the regressions such that one day he would end up killing me and..."

Jezebeth's hand froze once his thoughts paused there

"It can't be... Kevin wouldn't be this crazy, right?"

To undergo so many regressions and have Ren go through so much torture...

A heavy silence descended across the area around him as Jezebeth fully submerged himself in his thoughts.

It wasn't long before he broke out in an unexpected fit of laughter.

"Pfttt..."

Jezebeth's roaring laughter resounded across the world as he shattered the teacup in his hand.

"Hahahahahah."

Rumble—! Rumble—!

The earth unexpectantly began to rumble and shake at the echo of his laughter. The ground began to fracture, and the mountains began to crumble. Suddenly, lava erupted from the depths of the globe and splattered against the expansive plains that comprised the world. In the space of just a few seconds, the world that had been so tranquil moments prior was transformed into a place filled with destruction.

...and all of this came as a result of one man's laugh.

Jezebeth, having last achieved some level of composure, restrained his laughter.

"What an absurd hypothesis."

He thought aloud while he took a look at the surroundings which were in complete ruin.

It was a very absurd hypothesis that didn't quite make sense, yet made sense at the same time.

He had never stopped to consider how it was possible for a human being with no connections to the records to become so powerful. After all, the record set a limit for the world for a reason.

It wasn't done for the sake of doing it, but rather as a precaution to prevent anyone from ever reaching a level that threatened their existence.

It was really strange to think that another human being except Kevin could get to this point.

"It can also explain why Ren has white hair while Kevin doesn't."

He did indeed find it weird that Kevin, who used to have white hair in the past, suddenly had black hair.

Was it a strange coincidence, or was there more to it?

Jezebeth was curious to know.

"…Well, that's too bad."

Jezebeth muttered while he looked at the planet.

Whatever was happening to the planet was bound to happen anyway. He felt no pity for the inhabitants of the planet that had died during his fit of laughter.

"Alright, let's wrap this up."

Jezebeth stood up from his seat and waved his hand.

The end of the world came as a direct result of his seemingly insignificant movement. As the ground continued to press together and lava continued to push its way up from beneath the ground, it was only a matter of time before the world burst.

Before the planet imploded, Jezebeth had already vanished into the vastness of space. When he appeared in the space beyond the planet, he held out his hand and beckoned.

"Come over here."

A white seed like object flew toward the palm of his hand right after. Grasping it with his hand, he smile and brought it to his face.

"Haaaa…"

A trail of white flew from the seed and made its way into Jezebeth's mouth. The scene was reminiscent of someone sucking a specter-like substance.

"Hm?"

At the very moment that he ingested the seed, Jezebeth sensed that his vision was beginning to warp, and the world around him began to turn utterly white.

Booom! Booom!

Massive libraries chock full of books suddenly descended from above and spread out in a never-ending spiral around him, encompassing every region of his vision.

A single blink from Jezebeth allowed his eyes to focus on a golden light off in the distance.

It was at that point that he became aware of a golden book that was lying open in the far distance. It had a golden sheen all around it, and he started to hear muffled mutterings and whispers inside his head.

As if in a trance, Jezebeth outstretched his hand. He could feel his heart beating powerfully inside of his head.

"The records…"

He mumbled under his breath.

The scene before him didn't last long, as the world around him warped and Jezebeth found himself back in the same place as he was before.

It took him a while for him to get out of his trance, and his face changed alongside his breathing.

"…I was so close."

He desperately mumbled.

He was so close to the records.

He could still feel the book which was only a couple of inches away from his fingerprints.

"Haaa…haaa…"

He grabbed his face with both hands while his body moved up and down.

Everything that was in his immediate area began to fall apart at the same time as his short white hair began to grow longer in tandem with his strength.

Like a maniac, he continued to mumble.

"Just a little…Just a little…"

***

"Huaaaa!!!"

My eyes opened abruptly and I took a rough gulp of air.

I sat up straight and looked about at my surroundings, which were currently covered in fine black powder.

Then, closing my eyes once, I sighed in disappointment.

"Nothing yet."

My little session was still not enough for me to break through to the next rank.

There was a slight hiccup in the process, but it didn't affect my training in the least.

Booom—!

The surroundings shook again and I stood up from my spot.

Stretching my body a little, I took a deep breath and headed out of the room. Of course, I didn't forget to take a potion in order to heal my broken hand.

"Enough time has passed, it's about time I ended this."

Both sides should've lost enough of their forces. Just enough to give reason for the other demons to attack after this wave is done.

Chapter 629: End of first battle [1]

"Cough…cough!"

I coughed several times before finally reaching the castle's upper levels. When I opened the doors that led to the top of the castle, I saw the others standing in the same place I had left them, solemnly and heavily looking into the distance.

"How is the situation?"

I asked.

After sparing me a glance, Leopold commented.

"...Not good."

He was the only one who bothered to acknowledge me when everyone else was too busy observing the situation in the distance.

Boom—! Boom—!

The ground continued to shake, and anyone who paid close attention could hear the agonizing screams of the orcs as they struggled for their lives.

Seeing the scene, I asked Leopold.

"How many losses have the orcs sustained?"

"They've lost a couple of legions, and are barely holding on."

It was Angelica who spoke this time.

"The orc's line of defense will break soon. I was just about to call you, but it's good that you came here in time."

She added, her eyes squinting and locked in the distance.

"Mhm."

I nodded my head slowly and moved towards the edges of the wall.

From my vantage point, which allowed me to survey the entirety of the battleground, I could see how dire the situation was. Indeed, it was exactly as Angelica was describing it.

At this point, the orcs were just about managing to hang on. The only reason they were able to survive at the moment was because of Silug and Omgolung, who stood at the front and repelled the Marquis ranked demons.

If not for them, the situation would have been extremely precarious, if not hopeless altogether, and every single orc would have perished.

"Is it our time to finally make a move?"

Liam's voice, which was tinged with excitement, echoed beside me. Sparing him a glance, I shook my head.

"There is no 'our' in this situation. The only one that will move is me."

"Huh?!"

Everyone looked at me with surprised expressions when I said that. Before they could air their grievances, I added.

"I know you guys want to fight, but now is not the time. The only one that the demons are wary of, right now, is me. You guys will fight, but you aren't allowed to display a strength that is greater than half of your actual strength."

As soon as those words left my mouth, everyone's expression took a sharp turn for the worse. This was especially true for Liam, who appeared to have completely lost his soul.

As expected of a battle maniac. I didn't doubt he would've reacted this way in the slightest.

"Don't worry, you will have plenty of time later to show off your skills. For now, please do as I say. It's the best way to end this farce as quickly as possible."

Once I had complete control of the world, there were a lot of things that I wanted to accomplish. Among these things, one of my goals was to move my headquarters here.

With the human domain soon to be engulfed in a war, it was no longer as safe as it was in the past.

By conquering this planet and with time flowing at a faster rate than on earth, secretly building my forces for when the demon king arrives was the most adequate approach.

'I can even have my parents come here for the sake of safety. Who knows, in the near future I might even be able to build a city...ah, I'm getting too far ahead of myself.'

Moving my thoughts away from my ambitions which were spiraling out of proportion, I looked in Ryan's direction.

"Ryan, please head downstairs and get ready to work."

"Got it."

Ryan nodded his head once his eyes met mine. He immediately headed downstairs after he heard my voice.

Following him from behind was Angelica, who was now essentially acting as his bodyguard.

"…So we just hold back in the fight?"

Hein asked while he placed his hand over the fortifications, ready to jump down at any minute.

I massaged my chin when I looked at Hein.

'It won't be a problem if it's him...'

I swept my gaze over the others and ordered.

"...Everyone apart from Hein has to hold themselves back. You can go all out if you want."

He was a tanker anyways. He might attract some attention, but it wouldn't be to the level where the others would be wary.

"Oh right, Han Yufei, you shouldn't use the Gravar style at all if you can. If you do that, you'll end up getting way too much attention."

If there was one person that would stand out the most, it'd have to be Han Yufei.

When it came to socializing, he was the most reserved member of the group; however, this only applied to non-combat situations. His power was unrivaled in the heat of battle, especially when it came to encounters of this magnitude.

In a situation where there were a lot of enemies, he might even be a lot more useful than I could ever be...and combined with his other body art...

'Let's not think about it…'

The thought aroused a lot of jealousy. It was only after I took a peek at the Gravar style that I realized how devastating it was.

"Alright, let's go."

After pressing my hand against the walls of the castle, I jumped down and started running toward the vast battlefield.

The others followed right after me from behind.

***

Boom—

In the center of the battlefield, where the leaders of both sides were engaged in combat, enormous energy blasts shot back and forth between the two camps, obliterating everything that was within their vicinity. Be it allies or enemies, nothing was spared.

It was a brutal sight to anyone that watched it.

"Where is he hiding?! Where are you holding the thieves!!"

In the midst of the mayhem, a voice that was both frantic and angry could be heard. It belonged to none other than Azeroth, whose fingers collided with Silug's enormous axe, pushing him several steps back.

It was clear from this exchange that Silug was a notch weaker than Azeroth.

"Khhh…"

As he slid across the ground, Silug groaned in pain and glared in Azeroth's general direction. He remained silent throughout their conflict, much to the annoyance of Azeroth, who responded by attacking with an even greater level of ferocity.

"Do you not know how much I've waited for this moment!? Do you have any idea for how long I've planned this? My target used to be just you, but now that I've found out the truth, I'll make sure to eliminate everyone involved in your little schemes! "

A potent force erupted from within Azeroth's body, and at the same time, his body flashed through the air before materializing next to Silug.

Because of how quickly he moved, by the time Silug was able to react, Azeroth was already by his torso and had his hand positioned directly in Silug's abdominal region.

Bam—!

A tremendous force erupted from Azeroth's palm, and Silug's body was hurled all the way back, slamming into the ground as it did so.

Boom—!

A deep crater formed in the area in which he crashed, and the area around him turned silent as the orcs within the vicinity all stopped doing whatever they were doing for a moment. With their leader down, the orc's morale fell drastically.

"Ukhh.."

Silug opened his eyes to stare at the ashen gray sky in the distance. At that moment, he had very limited control over his body. It seemed as though every single part of his body had been completely crushed, and he had a hard time moving around because of it.

"No..t yet."

Silug tried to force himself up. Hearing the muffled and desperate cries of his kin, he used whatever was left inside of him to force himself up.

...Even if he ended up dying today, he was only going to leave after he killed Azeroth.

'At least him...;

"Stay down."

But just as he was about to move, he felt a hand press against his shoulder, and his body fell back.

"Uh?"

Silug recognized the voice right away. With a turn of his head, he discovered the same human who had previously saved him, standing next to him.

'When did he get here?'

Silug wondered in shock.

"Don't worry about it. I'll take it as that you owe me one again. "

Ren disappeared from Silug's vision right after he said those words.

"You!"

Within a minute of his disappearance, Silug heard the furious rantings of Azeroth's voice. His piercing screech could be heard all the way across the battlefield.

The earth began to shake, and off in the distance, two enormous forces collided with each other.

"Ukh."

In order for Silug to get a clearer picture of the situation, he mustered every ounce of strength he possessed and forced his body to climb out of the crater.

As soon as he emerged from the crater, he was overcome with astonishment at the sights that greeted him.

"Aah..."

***

"...Let's give them a good show, shall we?"

Azeroth heard a few faint words in his ears before being flung into the air. Soon after, he heard a sharp whistling noise.

WHIIIZ!

The side of his face prickled sharply as a wet sensation trickled down his cheek.

"Uek."

The wings on Azeroth abruptly expanded, and his body came to a stop in mid-air as it did so. After finally getting his bearings, he was able to get a better look at the person who was to blame for all of this.

Jet black hair, deep blue eyes...

"You.."

Azeroth's teeth were clenched tightly together. This was the first time he saw the 'thief' who had ruined his life many years before, and the boiling rage that he had suppressed for all of those years was about to erupt in a single moment.

It took him everything to stop himself from rushing toward his opponent. He was angry, but not stupid.

He could tell with just a glance that his opponent was strong, and recklessly charging at him would only result in his imminent loss.

'I'll have plenty of time to torture him after I beat him.'

The wigs behind his back began to rapidly expand, casting a large shadow on the ground beneath. His overwhelming pressure began to draw out of his body before rushing in the direction of his opponent.

When confronted with the terrifying pressure, Ren casually swept his gaze across the battlefield and mumbled something under his breath with a very serious expression.

His voice was soft. While it was faint enough that no one could possibly hear it, Azeroth was still able to pick up on what was being said.

"How should I do this? ...Should I just let him hit me first and then attack, or should I just pretend to get hurt?"

Chapter 630: End of first battle [2]

I was in a real dilemma at the moment.

Azeroth's rank was approximately <S> rank. It was an impressive rank, but for me, who was one rank ahead of him, his pressure wasn't anything that made me feel 'threatened'.

With all my skills and sword art, he couldn't kill me unless I let him hit me.

Not only that, but my current goal was to make it appear as if the battle had been hard fought.

That meant figuring out how to keep my strength in check while also displaying something good enough for the other demons to believe that getting rid of me now, rather than later, was the best option.

"How should I do this? ...Should I just let him hit me first and then attack, or should I just pretend to get hurt?"

Unknowingly, I began to blurt out my thoughts. Azeroth's glare made me notice this as his figure vanished and reappeared in front of me.

Unlike some of the opponents that I faced in the past, he wasn't one to talk much as he directly attacked after hearing my provocative words.

He was so quick that it appeared as if he had teleported to me.

Clang—!

I easily parried his blow by extending my sword to the right, where it collided with his sharp claws and produced a deafening metallic ring that reverberated through the air.

"Uek!"

I let out a loud 'groan' and moved back a couple of steps in the air.

"Pretend to be hurt? With this strength? "

Azeroth's furious voice reverberated throughout the air, and his figure vanished once more. The next instant, he was standing right next to me again.

"Pathetic!"

Swooosh—!

As his claws came hurtling toward my face, I felt a wind that was both chilly and acerbic blow past me.

In that split second, I saw a few strands of my hair softly fly in front of my vision, and at the same time, I felt a sharp sting on the area directly below my right eye.

Azeroth's figure materialized not long after.

"You dodged that?"

He asked in a tone that suggested he was somewhat surprised. In the meantime, I reached up to touch my face and felt a wet sensation on my palm.

'Blood...'

His last attack had caused me to bleed.

'This is much harder than I thought.'

Not engaging in conflict with him, but rather making the fight seem closer than it actually was. I would have been in a bit of trouble if the chip hadn't told me where to move in order to get grazed.

'He's coming again.'

I felt a sudden surge of demonic energy coming from opposite me. Without a doubt, Azeroth was pissed.

Once more, his form vanished and then reappeared in front of my very eyes. This time around, he was moving even more quickly than he had in the past. It wasn't just by a little bit; rather, it was by a quite significant margin.

'Right eye.'

At the precise instant that he vanished from view, I cocked my head to the left. His lanky arm materialized in the exact position where my head had been before.

Azeroth's eyes widened in surprise. He seemed to want to scream 'How?' but I never gave him time to think about it as I pressed my hand against his chest and pushed.

Booom—!

After I focused some of my mana into my palm, his body was propelled backward at high speeds, only coming to a stop after eight rings formed behind him.

"Huek!"

His back arched backward, and he let out a painful groan. Shortly after that, pointing my finger in his direction, four more rings formed. All four pressing down on his wings.

I motioned downward with my hand, and his body collided with the ground.

Booom—!

A massive crater formed beneath me.

"Haaa....Haaa..."

Obviously, I had to make it look as though I was having a tough time. What better way than by breathing heavily?

'...My life would've been so much easier if I paid more attention to the chip inside of my head.'

Meanwhile, I secretly regretted my decision to only learn to use the chip in the past couple of years.

It was only because of the chip inside my head that I was able to accomplish all of this.

Based on the direction in which Azeroth's eyes were looking, the path that his body was shifting toward, and the hand that he was raising, I was able to figure out where exactly he was going to try to attack and easily predict his movements.

It was a lifesaver.

'Let's finish this.'

After a casual sweep of the battlefield, I noticed that the other three Marquis-ranked demons were fighting against Silug and the other orcen chief, still unaware of what had happened.

My body began to levitate downwards.

After making contact with the ground, I came to a halt in front of Azeroth, who was being restrained by more than twenty distinct rings at the moment.

'Will twenty rings do?'

After watching Azeroth for a while and noticing the rings shaking, I finally shook my head and pressed my hand down in the air. A total of five additional rings materialized in the air and began to press against his body.

The shaking came to a stop.

"Khhh..."

I could hear Azeroth's groan echo as he struggled with all his might to break free from the hold, but it was a futile effort on his part.

He was stuck to the ground after using the second effect of [Ring of Vindication], gravity manipulation.

He might have been able to escape if there had only been a couple of rings on his body, but with over twenty-five rings on his body, it was impossible.

"You!...You!...You!"

Unable to get out of the restraints, Azeroth glared at me.

I cast a brief glance toward the distance, where Silug and Omgolug were, and there I saw them working together to stop the Marquis-ranked demons who had noticed what was going on with Azeroth.

It was at this moment that I realized that I needed to hurry, thus...

I lowered my body a little and whispered to Azeroth.

"Just know that I'm grateful for the help you've lent me in the past. Had it not been for you, I would've never been able to be as strong as I am today..."

When I said those words, I pressed my hand down, and the ground beneath me cracked. Azeroth's body buckled under the strain, and his core shattered with a flick of my finger.

Just like that, Azeroth died, and the surroundings came to a standstill.

SHIIIING.

I drew my sword from my waist, unconcerned about the reactions of those around me. Then, pressing my foot against the ground, I propelled my body forward and began attacking all of the other demons.

'...This much should do."

***

Observing the entirety of the battlefield from a gigantic orb were several demons.

The demons' attention seemed to waver between the gigantic orb that stood in the middle of the room and the figure that stood at the far end of the room as an eerie and menacing stillness spread throughout the halls that they were in.

At this point, it was fairly obvious that the war had come to an end, with the orcs emerging victorious as a result.

At that precise instant, everyone's attention was drawn towards a particular figure with black hair and blue eyes that reaped through the hordes of demons inside the gigantic orb.

He was like a god of death, stomping and slaying all the demons that were in his immediate vicinity. His face was quite pale, which was a clear indication that he was growing increasingly tired. However, with the assistance of Silug and Omgulong, he was able to continue reaping through the lives of the demons.

"…It's all that human's fault."

The silence was broken by a demon. Almost immediately, he began to point the finger of blame for their defeat in the direction of the mysterious human who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Despite the fact that the war was never planned out to begin with and that the army that left was only a small portion of the real army they had, the demons that were present still held an increasing resentment for the human that was in the orb.

"Had it not been for him, Azeroth and the others should have been able to emerge victorious."

"Yeah, yeah, it's all that humans' fault."

"If he didn't join in, we would've been able to annihilate all of the orcs in one go."

As more and more demons joined in on the discussion, the room, which had been relatively quiet before, quickly became noisy.

Tap.

At that precise second, a distinct low-pitched noise could be heard reverberating throughout the entire hall. Immediately after that, a terrifying energy started spreading stealthily throughout the entire corridor, and it immediately rendered the mouths of every demon that was there, shut.

"Prepare yourselves for battle."

The figure rose from the throne, and a solemn tone could be heard reverberating throughout the hall as he spoke. Everyone in the room suddenly adopted a solemn bearing and looked at one another while maintaining an expression of grave concern.

A demon with deep red eyes, long black hair, two large horns, and an elegant bearing stepped forward while grasping a wooden cane in his right hand.

"Azeroth's sacrifice was not in vain. With this, I'm able to grasp the relative strength of the human that stepped forward. Have all the armies prepare for battle, I will personally take action. "

The moment it was revealed that 'he' would personally take action, the entirety of the room went into an eerie silence.

Stepping down a small flight of stairs, the demon issued another order.

"Instruct the demons that are fighting to continue fighting. Tell them that if they run away, I will personally ensure that they meet their end."

His command caused the numerous demons that were present to become perplexed. Why did he not have the demons retreat, and join them later? Why must they continue fighting? Wouldn't that just lead to their death? Was he perhaps still bearing a grudge for going out without his orders?

Although they were all perplexed, none of the demons had the courage to express their bewilderment. This was how terrifying the demon that stood in front of them was.

Sweeping a glance at the demon delegates, the demon's brows furrowed. A chilling pressure spread throughout the entirety of the hall.

"...What are you waiting for?"

"Yes!"

One by one, the demons disappeared from their spots, and it wasn't long before everyone was gone. Leaving only one person behind.

Casting a gaze on the orb and focusing his attention on the human that was displayed on it, the demon mumbled.

"How did humans manage to enter this planet? Should I relay this to his majesty? "

***

SHIIIING!

Two demons' necks were severed by my blade as it sliced through them. I reached out with the palm of my hand to grab their cores, and I crushed them between the fingers of my extended hand.

"...I think this is about enough."

As I pressed my foot against the ground, the edges of my vision began to blur, and I realized that I was several kilometers away from the battlefield.

I could hear the sound of metal clashing in the distance, along with the pitiful shrieks of the demons who were being swatted away like flies by the orcs, who seemed to have been reinvigorated by the deaths of the leading demons.

'I think I showed just about enough strength.'

When I noticed that some of the demons were deliberately moving away from me, I decided it was time to leave the battlefield.

After putting my sword away and ensuring that everything was in order, I made my way back toward the castle.

When I turned around to head back toward the castle, I found that there were no obstacles in my way. I was already back in the building within five minutes, and from there, I headed toward the lower levels of the castle.

"I wonder if Ryan is already done."

I mouthed my thoughts out loud as I descended a flight of stairs. After I descended to the lower levels, I proceeded forward until I came to an old wooden door.

I grasped the old metal handle and opened the door.

"How long will it take?"

"Not too long, give it an hour."

"...Okay."

It was there that I was met with the sight of Angelica and Ryan talking to each other while large metallic wires and panels appeared all over the place.

Their heads snapped in my direction as soon as they noticed the door opening.

I greeted them while dabbing away some of the blood that was on my body.

"Looks like you guys are having a hard time."

Chapter 631: Reinforcements [1]

Within a tranquil region of the human domain.

The grass swayed in response to the passage of a light breeze, with its movement consistent with the direction in which the wind was blowing. At this very instant, the air abruptly began to warp, and a number of little footprints appeared on top of the grass.

"So this is the human domain?"

A rough and groggy voice sounded.

Randur, who was looking at the enormous metropolis in the distance, was the one who spoke. Night had fallen on Ashton city, and the bright city lights were visible from where he suddenly appeared, making it all the prettier.

"It doesn't look too bad."

Another voice sounded from behind him.

"...Although it looks more beautiful than efficient. From just a glance, you can tell that the defensive system is filled with flaws."

"You're right, Jomnuk."

Randur caressed his beard.

He took a minute to etch the scene of the city in the distance, and then he materialized a small round object from thin air.

"Let's see. We should be in the right location. "

Randur took his sight away from the item and looked around him.

"...But I don't see anyone. Are they perhaps late? Weren't we supposed to meet here?"

His brow furrowed a little.

It was essential to emphasize that Randur was not a patient person in any way. As a matter of fact, his patience was notoriously short, and all of the more senior dwarves were well aware of this trait of his.

A while ago, back when Ren was in the dwarven domain, he was successful in deceiving the majority of elders in the congress due, in no small part, to the fact that he possessed this particular character trait.

"If it weren't for the fact that I owe him one and that he promised to show me something interesting, I never would have come here."

Randur reacted angrily by crossing his arms and harrumphing.

Jomnuk and the many other dwarves who were standing behind him were not the least bit taken aback by his antics. When they found out that the guy who was scheduled to receive them was running late, they had more or less anticipated that he would behave in this manner.

"I'm sorry I'm late."

At the very moment that Randur was about to throw another tantrum, a hushed voice echoed from some distance, and a man dressed in black with two crimson red eyes appeared from behind a tree.

He was none other than Kevin.

In the instant that the eyes of the dwarves fell on him, they immediately stopped talking. Observing him from afar, Randur's eyes furrowed. Meanwhile, Kevin continued to head in their direction with a friendly smile on his face.

"I apologize for my tardiness. I wasn't made aware of the exact location where you would show up. The only reason why I was able to find you was because of the fluctuation that came from the portal that you guys came out of. "

Kevin scratched his head in embarrassment. Then, sweeping his eyes toward the other dwarves, he secretly counted inside his head.

'Eighteen dwarves, what exactly are you planning on doing, Ren?'

It had been on Ren's orders that he was instructed to come here on the fourth day that he left for Immora to pick up several people, among them there were a handful of prominent figures from the dwarven domain. Jomnuk and Randur. Despite the fact that he wasn't quite clear on Ren's objectives, he went ahead and promised to assist him.

There were also several other instructions that he had left with him, which he was planning on carrying out after he was finished with the current task.

'...This isn't the first time that I'm following Ren's arrangements.'

A bitter smile crossed his face when his thoughts paused there. The smile faded not long after, but it soon re-emerged on his face. After casting his eyes over the other dwarves, he took a few steps to the side and motioned for them to come with him.

"Please come with me for now. I'll lead you to the location. "

"Let's go."

Randur gave Kevin a quick glance before waving his hand at the other dwarves. Kevin sighed in relief when he saw the dwarves moving. Turning his back on them, he started to lead them toward the location that Ren had told him to lead them to.

'Oh, right, I'm also supposed to tell the others.'

Recalling something, Kevin lowered his head to check his watch, he tapped the screen and dialed a number.

Beeep. Beeep.

***

Demon Hunter Guild, uppermost floor.

"Amanda, where will you be going for the next couple of days? ...and why are you refusing to go with the bodyguards I assigned to you? You are only <A> rank, and with how popular you are, I'm afraid that something might happen to you."

The anxious tone of Edward's voice could be heard across his office. Amanda sat opposite him with her legs crossed.

"Don't worry dad, I'll be going on a short trip, and it won't take too long. "

"What trip? Is it dangerous? "

"...Maybe?"

There was a tinge of uncertainty in her tone.

If Amanda had to be honest, she wasn't sure. She was just given a brief overview of what she needed to do and what was in store for her in the upcoming days.

'It shouldn't be anything too dangerous, but I can't guarantee that something won't go wrong.'

Those were the exact words Ren had told her when giving her a brief rundown of the situation.

"Is there any way I can change your mind about going alone?"

Her father's voice took her out of her thoughts.

Amanda shook her head as she cast a glance his way.

"No...I'm sorry, but I've been told that I can't bring anyone with me, but don't worry. I'll be fine. "

This was true. Nobody else but her and a few other individuals knew about the operation that was being carried out, as it was conducted in a manner that was exceedingly covert. Leaking even the smallest piece of information about the operation might result in catastrophic consequences.

This was especially true in the event that the knowledge was obtained by demons or someone connected to them.

"I'll take my leave now, dad."

Amanda stood up from her seat and checked her watch.

"I won't be able to talk to you for the next couple of days, so please don't worry. Even if it takes longer, don't worry. I'll be fine. I'm with Ren."

"...Okay."

Edward relented after seeing just how stubborn Amanda was being. Taking a sip of the cip of whisky that sat beside him, he commented quietly.

"Have a safe trip, and make sure to protect your body at all costs. You might never know what that beast will do."

By 'beast', he was referring to Ren.

As Amanda listened to her father's comments, she couldn't help but roll her eyes. Ever since the event that date a few years back, in which she went missing for more than a week, Edward had become particularly overprotective of her.

When Ren went to him to apologize for what happened, Edward was infuriated. Despite that, it led to nothing as he never did anything. Although Edward was angry, he was understanding and knew that Ren wasn't actually at fault in the situation.

Nonetheless, he still developed a little 'grudge' as one might say. One that became more evident when the two of them started dating. It wasn't anything big, more like petty remarks here and there, similar to the ones he just blurted out a couple of moments ago.

Amanda honestly found his reactions funny, especially when they made Ren's expression change. She liked seeing all the different types of expressions Ren made...

They were cute.

This was probably why she never told him to stop.

'I'm bad.'

Riing. Riing.

The moment she was about to leave her father's office, her phone began to ring, interrupting her train of thought. She pulled out her phone, checked the caller ID, and saw that it was Kevin.

Before opening the door and walking out, she gave a quick glance in the direction of her father and waved her hand.

"I'm leaving."

She softly whispered.

Clank.

The door closed behind her.

She then picked up the phone after leaving his office.

"Yes?"

"Are you ready?"

Kevin's soft voice echoed into her ears after she spoke.

Amanda nodded her head.

"Yes, I'm ready."

"Alright, come to the location that I sent to your phone. Make sure to be here in less than an hour."

"Understood."

Amanda's face turned solemn.

She then posed a question.

"Who else is coming with me?"

"Several people."

Kevin ambiguously replied.

Amanda's brows furrowed.

"Anyone that I know in particular?"

"Jin, Melissa, and...Emma."

There was a slight pause during the mention of the last name.

Amanda's brow raised.

"They're coming too?"

"Yes, Ren requested their help too. I didn't think they would accept his request at first, but they surprisingly all readily agreed to help."

"I see..."

Amanda lowered her head and massaged her chin. She had a thought.

"What about you? Are you coming?"

"...No, I won't be."

"You aren't?"

Amanda was a bit surprised by his answer.

Kevin followed up not long after.

"I can't leave at the moment. With the impending war, my absence will be quickly noticed by the executives of the Union."

"Ah, right."

She almost forgot that he was someone from the Union.

His explanation did make sense.

"Also..."

Kevin paused for a moment and the line went quiet.

'Did I lose signal?'

Amanda looked at the phone display after the line continued to remain quiet for the next half a minute. Once she made sure that the connection was still on, she called for his name.

"Kevin?"

"...There are several things that I need to do during those four days."

His voice echoed not long after.

Amanda opened her mouth but no words came out. She let out a long exhale shortly after.

"I understand. I won't force you to come. I'll be arriving shortly. Please wait for me. "

"Alright."

Amanda hung up the phone shortly after.

But she stood rooted on the spot for a couple of minutes following the call.

'There is something wrong with Kevin...'

Amanda thought to herself. She had a keen awareness of the world around her and the people. Her past had contributed to the formation of this aspect of her personality. She was able to deduce a number of things from someone's statements by paying close attention to what they were saying and by carefully analyzing the tone of their voices, alongside the contents of their words.

Most notably, she was able to pick up the pause right before he said Emma's name.

'Is something going on with their relationship?'

Could that possibly explain why he sounded so glum while he was on the phone talking to her? Amanda was currently juggling a lot of thoughts in her head.

"It is unfortunate, but this is none of my business."

After some time had passed, she decided to let it go. If it was true that it had something to do with his relationship with Emma, then she had no business interfering. She wouldn't like it if others butted in her relationship with Ren.

"I better get going."

Amanda put the phone away and made her way toward the bottom floor of the guild. Along the way, she had a thought.

'I should still pay close attention to the situation in case I'm wrong.'

Chapter 632: Reinforcements [2]

'This place hasn't changed since the last time that I've been here.'

It was shit as usual.

Jin moved in the direction of an old and dilapidated warehouse that was off in the distance. It was a building that he was acquainted with as he had been there in the past. Ren's mercenary group headquarters.

He didn't have the fondest of memories of the place as it reminded him of the incident that happened a while back. When he was kidnapped against his will by Kevin and Ren.

'Those bastards.'

Even now, as he reflected on the occurrences that took place a long time ago, he felt an unsettling rage rising up from the depths of his being. It took a few deep breaths before he became calm again.

'Let's calm down for now. Ren isn't even here at the moment. There is no point in getting angry about something that happened in the past.'

Despite what he said, he never relaxed his clenched teeth as he moved closer and closer to the warehouse's entrance. He was clearly still upset about what had happened in the past.

In any case, this wasn't the reason why he was at the warehouse at the moment; he was there for a completely different reason.

'Another planet, huh?'

Ren extended his invitation to travel to another planet yet again. This time, he did not resort to another kidnapping...or at least, he did not attempt the same thing again, and even if he did, Jin did not intend to fall for the same trick again.

Regardless, after hearing Ren's offer, Jin was about to deny his request once more. However, just as he was about to refuse, he realized something.

'Isn't this the best opportunity to skip out on all the dates that grandfather is planning on having me attend?'

If he left for another planet...

Wouldn't he be able to skip the dates that were planned for him?

It was at that moment that he stopped hesitating and readily accepted the offer. To him, anything was better than attending those blind dates.

'Yes, please.'

He arrived at the entrance of the warehouse and rang the doorbell.

Clank!

"You're here."

It wasn't long before the door opened and Jin came face to face with Kevin.

"Mhm."

Jin greeted Kevin with a simple nod and entered the warehouse.

'What a sharp contrast.'

The stark contrast between the outside and inside of the warehouse never ceased to amaze Jin. Almost as soon as he walked through the door, he had the impression that he had been transported to an entirely new location.

From the furnishings and fittings, as well to the rooms themselves, everything seemed to be made with the most up-to-date and high-priced technologies and materials. The equipment in the training room was even better than the best spots at his guild, which was saying something.

To tell you the truth, Jin was currently experiencing feelings of jealousy.

'Just where in the world did Ren get all of this money from?'

If he had to make an estimate, all of this would cost at least several billion of U to make.

'Since when has Ren been so rich?'

Jin wondered to himself as he kept looking around with amazement. It wasn't long before they stopped in front of a small metallic door. Coming to a halt, Kevin turned around and seriously said.

"What you're about to see, make sure to keep it a secret, alright?"

"...Okay."

Jin nodded his head upon seeing how serious Kevin looked.

Kevin's face softened when he saw Jin nod. After that, he grabbed the door handle and opened the door with a little bit of force.

"Alright, let's go in."

"Uh?"

Jin let out a strange sound at the exact moment Kevin opened the door, and he was able to get a good look at what was behind the door.

Dwarves.

What met his sight upon opening the door were dwarves.

It wasn't just one of them, but there were more than a dozen of them, and they were all currently moving around a room that was the same size as a tennis pitch, connecting some strange wires to what appeared to be a large portal.

The room was painted entirely in white, and it was crawling with dwarves who were busy moving around and connecting various devices located all over the space.

Jin rigidly turned his head to look at Kevin.

"...Are they setting up a portal?"

"They are."

Kevin nodded his head.

"You see, even though my skill enables me to set up a portal, it still has a cool down that I have to respect. It may have decreased over the years as my strength has grown, but I simply can't teleport that many people with me at once, so I found that setting up a portal was the best option. Plus, with the dwarves here, teleporting across planets shouldn't be a problem."

"Okay..."

Jin nodded his head while he stared at the dwarves, who were hard at work. He then asked something else.

"Will they also be coming with us?"

"Us?"

Kevin looked at him with a strange look.

He then shook his head.

"I don't know if you've been made aware of this, but I won't be coming with you guys. I still have a lot of things to do at the Union."

"Right."

Jin nodded his head in understanding.

His excuse made sense. Unlike him, who worked for an independent guild run by his family, Kevin worked for the Union and was directly responsible for stopping the Monolith.

Given the current situation, it made sense for him to not have time to come with them.

"What about them?"

"The dwarves?"

"Yeah, the dwarves. Why exactly are they coming with us?"

Jin crossed his arms together while his eyes swept over the dwarves that were hard at work. His eyes carefully scanned the dwarves before him.

He then looked at Kevin with a confused look.

"Is Ren going to a planet that used to belong to the dwarves?"

"I don't know."

Kevin shrugged his shoulders with a smile.

"All I know is that Ren invited them personally and that they agreed to his request. If you want to know more, you have to ask Ren yourself when you meet him. At the moment, they're setting up the portal that you and the others will use. "

"I see..."

Jin quietly mumbled.

It wasn't long before he spotted a couple of familiar figures standing at the far end of the room.

'Melissa, Amanda, and Emma?'

He instantly recognized them and was surprised to see them there.

"Are they also coming?"

"Yes."

Kevin nodded his head slightly. At the same time, Emma's face turned to face him, and their eyes met. Neither one of them spoke before Emma cast her angry gaze away from him.

'It looks like they're having a fight.'

Jin easily picked this up but chose to remain silent. It was none of his business, and it wasn't exactly the first time that this happened. The fact that Melissa didn't seem to think anything of it was also proof of this.

'Now that I think about it, why is Melissa also here?'

Never did he expect her to come here. She wasn't the type of person to come to this type of stuff.

Seemingly able to read Jin's thoughts, Kevin spoke.

"Melissa is trying to create something new, but she's missing a few ingredients that she can't find in the human domain. She wants to try her luck on Immorra, the planet you'll be visiting."

"Oh."

Jin finally came to an understanding.

'If it's like that, then it makes sense.'

"What about you? Why are you going to Immorra?"

Kevin suddenly asked him a question just as he was about to greet the two of them.

Jin's face hardened, and his body froze completely.

"...I want to train."

It was fortunate that he was quick to react, as he quickly devised a plausible excuse.

At this point, the words, 'I want to train' had become synonymous with him.

"Oh, that makes sense."

Kevin didn't think too much of his excuse and headed toward a couple of dwarfs in the distance. With nothing else to do, Jin followed him from behind.

"Hey, humans!"

A loud burly voice suddenly echoed throughout the entire room.

When Jin turned to see who was speaking, his gaze was drawn to a particular dwarf in the distance.

'He's strong.'

Jin could tell he was extremely powerful just by looking at him. Not only that, but he seemed to exude a commanding presence that made everyone around him easily obey his commands.

Even Jin felt extremely pressured by his presence.

"Is there anything, Randur?"

The only one that seemed completely unaffected was Kevin as he kept his smile and asked.

"...Or is everything already sorted?"

"Yes, we're all sorted."

Randur moved to the side of the portal and pressed a button on one of the keyboards that were attached to the panels that were connected to it.

As soon as he pressed on the key, the mana that was already present in the atmosphere began to stir, and the portal began to function.

"The portal is all set up. Get ready, we're about to leave."

Chapter 633: Reinforcements [3]

As soon as Ryan pressed a few of the buttons on the control panel, the portal that he had constructed began to behave in a peculiar way.

There was a rustling in the air, and on the control panel, there were suddenly rows upon rows of data that appeared with each second that passed.

The information that was written on the panels was incomprehensible to me. Even with the chip in my head, I couldn't make heads or tails of what was written on them. The same couldn't be said for Rayn, who looked through the data in a composed manner and typed a variety of different codes at the speed at which they were appearing.

Ta!

With the sudden press of a key, Ryan urged us back.

"...The portal is connected. Take a couple of steps back. "

"Sure."

I complied with his request and moved a couple of steps back.

After not even a fraction of a second had passed since I had taken a step back, the portal started violently trembling, and an eerie whistling sound that was reminiscent of that of the wind blowing inside of a storm started to reverberate throughout the room.

Rata! Rata! Rata!

The large metallic portal began to shake, as did the room, which had already been shaking slightly before this occurred.

"Okay, the connection is established!"

The loud reverberation of Ryan's voice occurred at the precise moment when the shaking started to become more intense.

He pressed another key and everything went deathly quiet. The shaking stopped, and so did all the noise.

Ryan hurriedly moved toward where the portal was with a large core in the palm of his hand.

"Ready?"

He asked whilst looking at both Angelica and I.

Meeting Angelica's eyes, we both nodded our heads as we quietly observed from a distance.

"Ready."

"Ready. "

"Okay."

Ryan shattered the core in his hand and a wave of mana exploded in the air. The scene looked similar to a large explosion of colors as the mana instantly started to spread throughout the entire room.

Well...at least, attempted to.

When Ryan placed his hand on the edge of the portal, the mana that was previously unrestrictedly moving through the room abruptly came to a stop. Then, much like a magnet, it began to draw closer and closer to the center of the portal.

"Done."

Ryan wiped the sweat that had accumulated on his forehead and moved toward where we were.

"What do we do now?"

I curiously asked while paying attention to the portal that was slowly starting to form.

"We just wait."

"How long?"

"Not much, just a minute."

...and just as he said, by the time a minute passed, the portal fully formed. A green light lit up at the top of the portal and figures began to appear one by one in the room we were in.

"It's working..."

I could hear Ryan's faint whisper coming from beside me as my attention was drawn toward the figures that appeared one by one inside the room.

"...I'm glad that I was able to be of help."

Ryan quietly mumbled.

I ruffled his hair a bit when I heard the last few words.

"You've always been helpfu—"

"Here's a couple of figures I haven't seen in a while."

I was cut mid-sentence by a rough voice. A thin smile formed on my face as I focused my attention on the source of the sound.

"Jomnuk, Randur, it has been a while."

"What an interesting place this is."

They had already lost interest in me by the time they caught a glimpse of the room we were in.

I didn't mind this at all as I stepped forward and gave them a brief rundown of where we were. I had previously omitted this information for security measures.

"We're currently on a planet called Immorra. It was an old orcen planet which was mainly used for agriculture."

"Immorra..."

Randur massaged his beard upon hearing the name of the planet.

His eyes lit up after a while, and he slapped his thigh.

"Ha! I know this place! "

"You do?"

Jomnuk couldn't contain his surprise at the fact that Randur seemed to know where we were as his head snapped in his direction.

I too was surprised as my focus shifted toward him.

"How do you know?"

"Hehe."

Randur held his belly and laughed.

"I spend most of my time studying, as opposed to you, who spends most of his time playing with nonsense. I remember coming across the description of this planet a couple of years ago."

"Oh? Enlighten me. "

Jomnuk's brow arched upward.

Randur smirked in contempt.

"If I don't remember wrong, this planet wasn't just any regular planet, but was actually the biggest agricultural planet among the seven orcen planets of the past."

"In the age before the orcs were conquered by the demons, there used to be seven main orcen planets, which were Nostrolia, Pestraolia, Onnosie, Alides, Chaipra, Giumia, Zohatis. All these planets held great strategic importance, and were where the main forces of the orcs resided, but..."

Randur raised his finger in the air as he looked at Jomnuk.

"Despite how important all of the planets were, their importance was nothing in comparison to that of Immorra, the planet we're currently on."

"In fact, one might even argue that the main reason why the orcs lost the war was precisely because of the loss of this planet! Had they not lost this planet, they might've been able to repel the demons back!"

During the time that Randur was talking, he walked around the room. As he touched the walls of the room, a shine began to appear in his eyes.

"...Not only is this location ideal for cultivating medical plants that possess aura-like properties, but it is also crammed to the gills with incredibly rare ores and minerals! This place is a goldmine, damn it!"

He slapped his thigh in excitement before he looked at me.

"Why in the world didn't you tell me about this before? If you told me about this place earlier, we could've already extracted tons and tons of metal, which would've been extremely useful for us in the upcoming war. "

I apologetically shook my head.

"...Sorry, but I wasn't exactly free since the time we last saw each other. A lot happened, and this just flew off my mind."

This was the sad reality of things.

With everything going on in my life, I never realized how important Immorra was. I couldn't be fully blamed for this because portal technology had only recently advanced to the point where it could connect to places that were thousands of miles away.

...and the dwarves' generosity in imparting a great deal of the technical expertise that they possessed was a significant factor in making this accomplishment possible.

In any case, I could have come here with just Kevin, but it would have been impossible to bring the others. There was a limit to his power.

"Anyway, we should take things easy for now. A war is still ongoing at the moment. "

"A war?"

Jomnuk and Randur took a moment to look at each other. They then peered their sights toward the far end of the room.

Their brows simultaneously furrowed.

"You're right, but it seems to be coming to an end."

Randur was the first to speak after he took his eyes away from the wall.

I replied shortly after.

"This is, unfortunately, only the first wave. The 'dummy' wave, I presume. The real one will come soon. "

The frown on Randur's face deepened.

"Ren, you do know that Jomnuk and I can't stay for long. With Inferno showing signs of movement, I'm afraid that we will have to return before the war erupts, so we can't really help y..."

"Don't worry about it."

I dismissively waved my hand at Randur.

"I didn't call you guys to help me with the war. I've only called you here to help me set up the portal and help me out with a couple of other things."

I glanced toward the other dwarves that were slowly appearing one by one inside the room.

"There are many things that I want to construct here, and I can only do it with your help."

First and foremost, I intended to rebuild the entire castle over here. With the war approaching, it required a more effective defensive system, and this worn down castle was just not going to cut it.

Following that, I intended to relocate my headquarters, and the dwarves were the best at constructing an adequate defensive system with all of the latest technology. For example, I needed a place that could efficiently produce mana in which I could train.

The lack of mana in Immorra's atmosphere was easily felt, as my strength had slowed significantly since arriving here.

It was fortunate that I had brought several cores with me, but despite my wealth, I wasn't wealthy enough to carelessly consume cores in exchange for mana.

In any case, the dwarves knew how to build rooms that could channel mana from the core more efficiently, allowing me to train in an environment similar to that of Earth. With time passing faster here, it would later prove to be a huge advantage for me.

"Obviously, I'm not asking you guys to do this for free. As I've already informed you before, I'll present you guys with a great opportunity in exchange for you guys helping me construct a couple of things, and don't you think I've managed to keep my word?"

"You have."

Randur sincerely nodded his head.

"I'll have to admit, this place will indeed benefit us a lot. Since we are people of our word, we will do as you request. "

"Great."

I smiled in relief once I heard Randur's words.

I was relieved to hear that.

Boom!

The room began to shake violently again, and several people lost their balance in the process. My mouth opened as I turned to look at the room's ceiling.

"Regarding the war, you can leave it to me. Plus..."

My mouth stopped, as a few familiar figures appeared from out of thin air.

"...My main reinforcements are already here."

***

A/N : If you see any mistakes, please point them out to me. I'm still editing through my phone sadly.

Chapter 634: City plan [1]

"You guys are finally here."

I approached the familiar figures who appeared from the portal. They were none other than Emma, Melissa, Jin and Amanda.

"Where exactly are we?"

Emma was the first person to speak, and she did so while she curiously looking around the room.

"I barely feel any mana in the air. There are some traces of demonic energy...but there's also a trace of something else...but I'm not exactly sure about what it is."

"It's aura, and we're currently on a planet called Immorra."

I replied, giving them a brief introduction of the planet we were on.

"This was an old Orcen planet that was primarily concerned with agriculture and farming. Because there are many beasts on this planet, most of the food that orcs used to eat come from here."

"When you say agriculture, do they still do that?"

Melissa inquired, raising her glasses with a finger. As I shifted my gaze to her, I shook my head.

"To be honest, I don't know. I will have to ask Silug. He might have an idea of what you're looking for."

Melissa approached me before I told her about Immorra with a detailed request on a specific property she desired from a plant. I didn't know of any plants with the same properties as the ones she requested at the time, but when I was reminded of my trip to Immorra, I told her that if she came with me, she might be able to find what she was looking for.

To be honest, the chances were slim, but it was better than nothing.

Nonetheeless, to my astonishment, she readily agreed, which explained why she was here in the first place.

Booom!

The building started to shake once more, startling everyone present.

I looked up toward the ceiling before looking back at the others.

"There's a war going on upstairs at the moment, if you're curious as to why the building suddenly shook. It's almost coming to an end, so you don't have to worry too much. What you do have to worry about, is the next war. That one is going to be a tough one."

Not only would there be a significantly greater number of demons than there were at the moment, but their overall force would also be greater with even more Marquis ranked demons showing up. #

Also...

I had a sneaking suspicion that at least a demon of the Duke rank was going to show up, but I couldn't say for certain that this was the case. Silug was the one who broke the news to me, but even he wasn't entirely sure about the information he shared.

If this turned out to be the case, then I had no choice but to take everything more seriously. The gap between <S+> and <SS-> was much wider than anyone one might think.

With my current set of skills, I could pose a threat to someone of that rank. That, however, was dependent on my opponent. It was nearly impossible for me to propose a fight if they were ranked higher than simply <SS->.

'I need to quickly break through. '

Once again, I was reminded of how urgently I needed to break through.

"Here."

A soft voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

I turned my head to see Amanda handing me a small black ring.

My eyes lit up when I saw the ring.

"Oh, right."

I grasped the ring from Amanda's hand and tossed it to Randur.

"Randur, catch."

"Huh, what?"

Unprepared, the ring fumbled in his hands. It wasn't until he was finally able to get his hand on the ring that he breathed a sigh of relief and glared at me.

"What in the world are you doing?"

I didn't respond and simply motioned with my head.

"How about you check what's inside before you complain?"

Randur's brow furrowed.

Nevertheless, he acted in accordance with my request and examined the contents of the ring. Soon after that, he turned his head to look at me, and his eyebrows immediately began to arch upward.

"This is definitely a lot of stuff. Just what in the world are you trying to have built? "

"...A lot of things."

I smiled at him.

"I want to first have this castle reinforced with some defensive artifacts, and at the same time want you to help me set up a mana chamber where I can train. With the things inside of the ring, it shouldn't be a problem for you guys to be able to build that stuff. Am I wrong? "

"No."

Randur shook his head.

After that, he passed the ring on to Jomnuk, who was engaged in some light conversation with the other dwarfs that were present.

"What do we have here?"

Jomnuk took the ring from Randur's hand.

When he checked the contents of the ring, he exhibited a response that was comparable to that of Randur's.

"Interesting. This is a lot of stuff. More than one would actually need to build the things that you've requested. Clearly, you're planning something else."

Jomnuk tossed the ring in my direction and looked back at Randur.

"How much time do we have?"

"If we take into consideration that time here flows ten times faster, twenty days. Within twenty days, we
can try to build everything that he requested us to build. In the meantime, I'll send a couple of dwares to check out the sorrounding mountains and see the best area to mine."

Randur replied after he took out a stopwatch from his dimensional sapce.

He quickly got to work after that.

After giving commands to the other dwarves in the room, the atmosphere in the room abruptly changed, becoming much livelier as an assortment of tools suddenly materialized out of nowhere and filled the entire space.

I nodded in satisfaction when I saw just how efficient the dwarves were.

'It might take a while, but if things go smoothly, it won't be long before I manage to build enough forces to combact against Jezebeth.'

My fists secretly clenched when I thought of Jezebeth.

The scene of him killing Smallsnake in front of my eyes was still deeply imprinted into my mind. There was nothing that was going to stop me from killing him.

Nothing at all.

"What should we be doing?"

It was Jin's voice that snapped me out of my thoughts.

Once I turned my head to look at him and the others, I motioned to them with my hand.

"Don't worry about that, I've got a couple of rooms prepared for you guys. Just make yourself comfortable for the next couple of days. It would be best if you guys got a good idea of the internal structure of the castle. It will prove a lot more useful than you guys think. "

I grasped the door handle and pushed the door back.

Just I was about to leave, I remembered something and turned back to look at them.

"...Oh, right."

I massaged my chin and thought.

'I almost forgot that they're supposed to be here in secret. Should I have Silug shut down a certain part of the castle so that no one apart from me and the others can't enter? '

***

Ashton city, Cassia headquarters.

The room became eerily quiet after everyone entered the portal.

Kevin was the only one left, and he swept his gaze across the room before settling on one of the panels in the distance.

It contained Immorra's coordinates, courtesy of him who shared it to the dwarves.

'I better get going. I'll be seeing Ren in a couple of days anyway. '

He was going to teleport to Immorra as soon as he was finished with his business. There were a couple of things that he needed to do there.

Other than that, his workload over the next couple of days would be anything but small.

Among the things he needed to do for the Union, he needed to kill a couple of more individuals as well as all of the secret branches set up by the Monolith.

He had to do this in order to ensure that the war would be won without any hiccups.

Kevin cast his gaze around the room.

In that time, his eyes paused on all the cameras that were present in the room. Secretly channeling the mana inside of his body, the cameras stopped working and he extended his hand forward where a red book formed.

He opened the book and read through its contents.

'Almost there.'

He closed the book, and a bright white light quickly engulfed the room. The white light spread throughout the room before merging with Kevin.

Time codex abosrption : [0%———[35%]————100%]

A notification prompt appeared in his vision.

Kevin paid no mind to it as he waved his hand and dismissed it.

Then, casting another gaze at the room, he stopped channeling his mana and the cameras returned to
normal.

"Alright, since Ren is busy, I better get going as well. Monica is probably going to nag at me if I come late."

Kevin grumbled aloud while his shoulders slumped down in defeat.

Just as he was about to reach the door, Kevin's feet came to a sudden halt and his face changed a little.

[Ding!]

[Ding!]

[Ding!]

His vision was suddenly filled with a plethora of different notification prompts, which served to alert him. However, it wasn't long before a more substantial notification materialized in front of him, and at that moment, a chilly light flashed in his eyes.

[The time remnant has set his sights on you.]

The side of Kevin's cheeks began to clench as he concentrated his eyes on the notification prompt that was in front of him.

'...So you're finally going to make a move.'

He had almost forgotten about it because he had been silent for so long, but now that the truce was finally coming to an end and Ren was still in control of his body, the other Ren planned on taking matters into his own hands and acting independently.

Kevin secretly smiled to himself.

'So be it, I think it's about time the two of us finally met after such a long time. '

Chapter 635: City plan [2]

Bang—!

Sparks flew through the air as Hein easily deflected the demon's attack with his shield. He then brought the shield near his shoulder and smashed his body against the demon, sending it tumbling toward the ground.

"Haaa!"

[Iron lance]

After delivering the initial blow, he followed it up by penetrating the demon with his extended hand, which had a thin gray hue extending forward in the form of a pointy spear.

Spurt—!

Black blood spilled all over Hein's body in the process, dying his clothes and shield a black color.

His hand continued to penetrate deeply into the demon's body until finally coming to a stop when he felt something hard.

Exerting a little more force, a glass shattering sound echoed.

Crash—!

'Thank god I'm no longer in my old phase.'

His mouth twitched when he saw the state his shield was in. It was completely dyed in black.

Had it been the past him, he would've immediately freaked out at the thought of his shield getting dirty, but it no longer bothered him as much. It still did...but just not as much as it did in the past.

"Haaa...haaa.."

'This is tiring.'

Hein's breathing was rough.

He had slain so many demons that he had lost count, and as he lifted his head to look ahead, he groaned audibly.

"Just how many are there?"

...The number seemed endless.

"Hein, pay attention!"

He was suddenly startled by the sudden sound of Leopold's voice coming from behind him.

Suddenly, an energy blast shot past his cheek and exploded a couple of meters in front of him where a demon was standing.

Boom—!

Hein turned to look back.

"Thanks."

"Don't lose focus in the middle of battle."

Ava approached him from behind. She was currently sitting on a large gray wolf.

The wolf was about double Hein's height, towering over most of the orcs on the battlefield. There was also an intimidating presence exuding from its body, alerting the many demons around them.

Seeing her approaching, Hein instinctively slammed his shield towards his right side, resulting in the instantaneous death of a demon that tried to sneak up on him.

"Alright, alright."

Hein nodded his head dismissively.

A few seconds later, he stepped on the dead demon's body, destroying its core directly.

"I was just thinking about how long we'll have to fight. From the looks of things, we'll still be fighting demons for a long time."

"You're not wrong."

Leopold commented from the side as he rested his shotgun on his shoulder. With his free hand, he cut a demon's body in half.

"...But you don't have to worry too much."

He pointed toward the distance.

"The war is going to end a lot sooner than you think."

Booom—!

As soon as he finished speaking, the ground began violently shaking, and Hein could hear the agonized cries of the demons off in the distance. When he turned his head to look at what was going on, he was astounded to see the orc chief slashing his axe through more than a dozen demons.

In every place where his axe cut, demon parts fell and black rain began to fall.

"Wow."

Hein muttered in amazement.

The ferocious and imposing manner in which he dispatched the demons as though he were trimming some weed left a deep impression in Hein's mind.

"Who is he?"

Lian's voice echoed beside him at the moment.

"That over there is an orc, Liam. He is currently fighting against demons. "

Hein explained when he realized that Liam was standing next to him. He made sure to sound as comprehensible as possible.

"..."

Liam looked at him with a look filled with disgust.

"What's with that look? ...Don't tell me that you've forgotten about orcs and demons. "

"Who are you again?"

"..."

It was Hein's turn to go silent.

"You know, I th—"

Just as he was about to say something back, Leopold's energy beam once again brushed past his cheek, killing a demon behind him.

Booom!

Hein glared at Leopold.

"Can you not do that?"

"Then pay more attention to your surroundings."

Leopold shrugged his shoulders.

"Guys focus, let's finish this quickly. I want to go back and get changed."

Ava's voice echoed, and a large shadow fell across everyone's faces as her wolf leaped forward and bit into a couple of demons.

"Fighting while holding back is boring, so let's finish this as fast as possible."

She disappeared into the distance after that.

Taking a look at the others beside him, Hein rushed in the direction of where she went.

"Hey wait for me! You're supposed to stay behind me. I'm a tank for a reason!"

***

I felt Randur's gaze pause on me as I surveyed the battlefield from the top of the castle.

"Is the orc going to be alright with all the modifications you are going to make to the castle?"

"It should be fine."

I reassured him.

"It won't matter. Since it will help out with the war, I'm sure he's going to be fine with it."

The changes that I was going to bring to the castle would not only benefit me but Silug as well. Not only that but after having saved his life not too long ago, there was no way Silug would disagree with what I was doing.

'He might be surprised initially by the appearance of the dwarves, but I'm sure he's going to be understanding.'

"Well, if you say so. How do you want us to modify the castle? "

"For now, I want you guys to focus on making the mana chamber."

My priority at the moment was breaking through to <SS-> rank. Although I was uncertain, I had a feeling that the stronger I became, the harder it would be for the other me to take over my body.

Having said that, given his original strength, I was beginning to wonder if my efforts had been in vain.

After some consideration, I realized that the only way for me to escape the influence of my other self was to reach a level comparable to his. Although I wasn't sure what his true strength was, I knew it wasn't something I couldn't attain in the span of two years.

...It was simply impossible.

'Still, I can't just give up.'

Even if one day he might end up taking over, I didn't want to have any regrets.

By the time my life reached an end, I wanted to at least accomplish everything that I had set out to do...or lay a foundation for that.

Just like my plan with Immorra.

"After you're done setting up the mana chamber, I want you to help me set up some defensive measures for when the next wave comes."

"What about after the war?"

Jomnuk walked over to us.

Peering down the castle which sat atop a large hill, I thought for a moment before replying.

"There's a lot of things that I want to get done here after the war is done. By the time you two return and sort out the problems with Inferno, how about sending more dwarves here to help me set up a city?"

"A city?"

Both Randur and Jomnuk looked at me with surprised looks.

I silently nodded my head.

"I'm going to contact the elven queen not long after the war ends, and also have her help me out with this project. The end goal is to turn this planet into a trump card for when the third cataclysm arrives. "

My ambitions for this planet were big.

Very big.

I had initially just wanted to turn this planet into one where I would have the orcs slowly raise an army for when the third cataclysm arrived, but I realized that this planet had a lot more potential than that.

It had the potential to become a trump card that could turn things around during the third cataclysm if used correctly.

Not only would it also bring me an endless source of income, but it would also allow me to build a better relationship with the other races...

The more I thought about it, the more excited I became.

"Your plan sounds great and all, but how can you make sure that the information about this planet does not get leaked?"

Pouring cold water on my ambitions was Randur.

I sighed out loud when I heard his words.

"...That's what I'm trying to figure out at the moment."

Jezebeth could destroy this planet with just a swipe of his hand if he came to know about its existence. For my ambition to be fulfilled, I needed to be extremely careful.

Careful enough to not allow any information about this planet to leak to him.

"We should first start by setting up a large barrier that blocks all sort of information with the outside word. One that is similar to the one in Henlour."

Jomnuk suddenly suggested

I turned my head to look at him.

"Is that possible?"

"It is."

He nodded his head and added.

"It will cost a bit, but it won't be a problem for you since we'd also benefit quite a lot by establishing a city over here. This way, we can process all the ores here instead of back in Henlour. It will drastically reduce the chances of us getting discovered as well."

"Yeah."

I agreed with what he said.

If they were to process the ores back in Henlour, the spies from Inferno would without a doubt notice something odd, compromising the whole situation.

"The only problem I see with the idea is the mana problem. Even if you manage to destroy the compressor that is pumping demonic energy into the air, this planet has barely any mana in it. Mana chambers only work in small rooms, and trying to fill a whole city with mana isn't feasible..."

"It's fine."

I waved my hand.

"The city doesn't need to be filled with mana. A couple of mana chambers will do. This place will mainly be a place where the orcs can build their forces while you guys develop technology and mine for the ores."

With this planet's main source of energy being aura, I knew that it was impossible for me to use this place to train for a long extended period of time.

It sucked since the time flow difference would be of big help for me, but as they all said; Beggars can't be choosers.

"Alright, Jomnuk and I will start working on the framework of the city. We'll get back to you soon."

Randur tapped me in the thigh. Well, at least that area...

Laughing out loud, he waved his hand.

"We'll be going back now, I'll let you know if we need anything."

"..yeah."

My head shook when I saw Randur leave while laughing.

'At this point, I'm not even surprised.'

Chapter 636: Change of focus [1]

"Was this all planned by you!?"

A booming voice could be heard reverberating in every nook and cranny of the castle.

"Was the demon attack something that you planned?"

I was confronted by Silug, who cast a menacing glare in my direction as we stood face to face with each other. Neither one of us backed down from our spot.

It had been two days since I had left the battlefield, and by this point, the vast majority of the demons that had been there had been eradicated.

Up until Silug's return, things were running smoothly...

Of course, that was until he returned.

When he got back, everything went into disarray, and he immediately began yelling at me. His voice was so loud that the surrounding areas shook.

"Do you think I'm stupid?! You think I wouldn't know?!"

He shouted once more, the surroundings shaking at the loudness of his voice.

He tapped my chest as he extended his thick arm, pushing my body back a bit.

"I know that you brought the demons to us...and you purposely didn't interfere in the war until a good number of my people had died. You purposely let them die for whatever your goal is!"

Silug continued to shout in an angry manner.

I looked at the people that were in the same room as me for a moment and then brought my attention back to Silug.

My brows furrowed.

"Calm down for a moment."

I said in a soft tone. Soft enough so that only the two of us could hear.

"If you shout so loudly, everyone is going to hear you."

"As if I care?! How can I calm down when so many of my people have died?!"

Silug's voice only raised when he heard my words.

I furrowed my brows when I noticed this. I glanced at his exposed stomach and made a quick decision.

Bang!

I threw a punch at Silug's stomach with all of my strength. His body suddenly gave way, and he went tumbling to the ground, landing on both knees.

"Keuk!"

The moment he hit the floor, there was a deafening silence throughout the room, followed by the other orcs in the room becoming enraged and making an attempt to attack me.

"What are you doing!?"

"Protect the Chief!"

"...Quiet down for a moment."

I extended my right hand and flicked the air. Ripples formed, and the air boomed.

"Keuek!"

"Kakh!"

The orcs were pushed back and collapsed to the ground. I didn't use much strength. Just about enough to knock them to the ground, but not enough to knock them out or kill them. That was never my intention, to begin with.

"Keep your people in check while I'm talking."

I glared at Silug from above.

After that, I extended my arm to grab his head, and I brought his face in close proximity to mine.

"First things first, don't speak so loudly when you're close to me. It hurts my fucking ears."

My ears were still throbbing from all of Silug's screaming.

It was very annoying. Especially since I could hear a faint ringing sound inside my head.

"Secondly..."

I lowered my tone.

"What makes you think I actually care about your people? They aren't my responsibility in the first place. You don't have much of a choice if you want to win a war, even if it costs the lives of your people. Sacrifices need to be made."

A war wasn't won without any sacrifices.

Although it was true that I purposely let some orcs die in order to accomplish my plans, the orcs weren't my people. I wasn't merciful enough to save them all.

When looking at the bigger picture, it was sometimes necessary to make sacrifices. Similar to what the Union did to me in the past when they offered me a sacrifice in order to negotiate a ceasefire with the Monolith.

I was pissed back then, and rightfully so...but that didn't mean that I didn't understand where they were coming from. In fact, I understood their intentions all too well, and it was exactly because of that that I never planned on destroying the Union.

I was angry, but not irrational.

"Remember this, the only ones that I have to take care of, are the people that are in my group. You're one of them, and that's why I saved you back then, but don't think for a moment that my help will extend toward the other orcs."

I extended my hand and pushed my finger toward his chest.

"They are your responsibility, not mine. Whatever happens to them, it's on you, not me."

I let go of Silug's head and pushed him back.

"Next time you want to complain about something, remember the words that I said to you."

Then, I turned to look at all the people present in the room. Glaring at them, I raised my hand and flicked my finger again.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The orcs who had been slowly standing up fell back to the ground, unconscious. Ava and the others were the only ones who were spared. I turned to face them and nudged the door with my head.

"Do me a favor and leave the room for now. I need to take care of a couple of things. "

"Alright."

"Got it."

After I had finished speaking, they exited the room, and silence swept the place.

***

"Get ready."

A low, sinister voice reverberated throughout the halls of a large castle.

"The troops are ready. We're are ready to depart at any time."

A demon replied while kneeling down on one knee.

Suriol lowered his head to glance at the demon before nodding his head.

"Mhm."

'This is the perfect time to strike.'

The truth of the matter was that he was disobeying the orders that he had been given initially. At first, it wasn't in the plans for him to fight against the orcs. The sole reason they were supposed to be kept alive was so that they could be turned into contractees.

This was the past, however. Upon seeing the strength of the human that appeared out of nowhere, Suriol felt a sense of danger. He needed to remove the threat as soon as possible.

"We're departing in the next hour. Make sure to have everyone ready."

His mind was connected to the spies. Everything that had happened in the orcen territory was seen by him, and he knew that the human and Silug were having an internal dispute.

If there was a best time to strike, it would be now.

Sweeping his gaze over all of the demons that were present in the hall, Suriol's voice turned ice cold.

"...I will kill anyone that is late."

"Yes sir."

The demon hastily nodded his head, clearly afraid of Suriol.

"Good."

Suriol nodded his head in satisfaction.

The demon that had been standing before him vanished, and he was left standing all by himself in the halls of the castle.

Tap. Tap.

The rhythmical sound of his footsteps echoed as he stopped in front of a large glass window.

"Not bad."

He couldn't help but crack a grin as he looked out the window and took in the sight of an unending sea of darkness that covered the entirety of the surroundings. A terrifying and gloomy atmosphere loomed over the surroundings, sending chills down his spine.

***

"Are you alright?"

I extended my hand toward Silug, who was still kneeling on the ground with both knees together.

Silug shot me a look and grabbed my hand, helping himself up.

"…You didn't hold back on your punch, did you?"

"You can't blame me. It would look more realistic that way, plus.."

I helped Silug up with my hand.

'God he's heavy.'

"Aren't you an orc? Isn't your body supposed to be strong? A punch like that shouldn't really be too much for you anyways."

"It still hurt."

Silug grumbled while he rubbed his abdomen area.

"You'll be fine."

I nonchalantly waved in his direction.

Although I did in fact punch him with everything that I had, it was a little too much for Silug to still be complaining about it. He was an orcen chief for god's sake.

"Anyway, I think we've got the message through."

Everything that just happened was an act. Obviously, I wanted the demons to see that the situation
was not that good inside of the orc camp, with me fighting with Silug. Serve as a motivation to make them come faster.

Prior to this, I had Ava and the others relay the message to Silug to act this way.

It wasn't necessary, but with just how big the war was going to be, every little thing mattered, and something like this couldn't be overlooked.

"What do we do now?"

Silug asked, no longer showing any signs of pain from the previous attack.

Shifting my attention towards him, I spoke.

"For the time being, it would be ideal if you could set up some sort of reconnaissance to keep us updated on the situation with the demons. As things stand, we must be wary of every move they make if we are to win this war."

"I got it."

Silug thoughtfully nodded his head. After discussing a few more things with me, he left the room.

"Haaa…"

I let out a long sigh once Silug left the room.

'Finally ...Shit.'

My hand trembled, and I clenched my teeth. The pain I had been suppressing since the beginning was finally releasing itself, and I was gradually losing control of my body.

A bitter smile spread across my now pale face.

"At least, I was able to hold this in until he left...Ugh."

Chapter 637: Change of focus [2]

"It's been a while since I've last seen you smile."

Amanda approached me after I came out of the room. Her face was unusually serious.

I turned to look at her while cocking my head.

"You think so?"

I never really noticed myself if I had to be honest...but it wasn't as though I was surprised by this development. There wasn't much to smile about.

Also, having had another attack just a couple of minutes ago, I couldn't really bring myself to smile.

"Here."

Amanda placed her hands on the edges of my lips and pulled them upwards.

"Much better."

She returned a smile herself.

Her smile was stunning. Enough to make anyone fall into a daze with just a glance. Well, anyone but me. I was pretty much used to her smiles by now. Well, for the most part. I wasn't exactly totally immune.

"Wwwamhat are you doing?"

It was hard to speak when she had her hands on my lips, pulling them up.

"Helping you smile."

"...What dwoes that have anything to do with the situation?"

"It doesn't."

Amanda let go of my lips.

"It's just that you look a lot better if you smiled a little more often."

Cocking my head even further, I eventually nodded my head.

"Well, sure, I'll try to smile more."

This wasn't too hard of a request. Not like smiling was that hard.

I smiled.

"Happy?"

"For what?"

"I'm smiling, aren't I?"

Amanda's brows furrowed.

"...No?"

"Hm?"

Amanda's reaction took me back.

"What are you talking about?"

Was she playing a prank on me? I could clearly feel myself smiling.

"Are you playing around with me?"

Amanda asked, inching closer to me.

I shook my head.

"That was what I was about to ask you."

Amanda's face hardened.

Her reaction took me aback.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"Here."

Rather than answering me, she took out a pocket mirror and handed it to me.

I took it from her hand and looked at it.

"...No way."

Reflected on it was my face.

Jet black hair, deep blue eyes...at first glance, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with it.

At first glance, though.

Upon closer inspection, I realized something.

'Why am I not smiling?'

My expression...

It was stiff.

Although I felt myself smiling, I did not have a smile on my face.

'Just what in the...'

I closed the pocket mirror and handed it back to Amanda.

"Thanks."

"Ren, what's going on?"

Amanda took the pocket mirror back and looked at me with a worried look.

I waved my hand in reassurance.

"It's nothing to worry about. Just a little side-effect of practicing a certain art. I will be able to smile soon."

...That was a lie.

Most likely, this came as a result of the previous attack I had.

'For now, it's better if I just play this off as something like a side-effect of an art I'm practicing.'

"If you say so..."

Amanda nodded her head, her face still filled with doubt and concern. Obviously, she didn't buy my excuse, but as expected of her, she didn't push for an answer.

"You hungry?"

I rubbed my stomach and attempted to change the conversation.

"A bit."

"How about we go eat then?"

"I wouldn't mind that."

"Great."

I stretched my back a bit and gestured to Amanda with my hand.

"Come, let's go eat."

"Mhm."

***

Because of the light breeze that was blowing across the grassland, the blades of grass that previously stood upright bent in a prostrating fashion.

Three figures flashed across the grassy field as their feet left behind shallow footprints. They moved in such a covert manner that they left no trace of their presence.

"How much longer do we have to move?"

There were a total of three shadows, and one of them was Melissa. Her breathing had become labored as she worked hard to keep up with Jin and Emma.

"...Slow the fuck down! I'm going to die at the rate we're going!"

It wasn't until she started swearing that Jin and Emma finally slowed down and gave her some time to recover.

"Haa..haa..haaa...have some mercy. I'm about to die over here."

She quickly fell back on the grass and supported her body with her extended hands.

The first one to complain was Emma, who grumbled.

"You can't really blame us for going too fast. You were the one that insisted on following us."

"That's because I didn't know you guys were going to run for five hours straight!"

Melissa had a hard time breathing as her hands leaned on her knees and she took deep breaths to try and steady herself. The two were moving at such a rapid pace that it was impossible for her to keep up with them. Despite the fact that she wasn't exactly a weak person herself—with her current rank being at <B>—she was still a lot weaker than the two of them who were in the <S> rank range.

She was exhausted, and if not for them finally stopping, she would've already started puking on the ground.

'Fuck, I should've never agreed to follow them.'

Melissa held onto her stomach and slumped back on the grass.

Her goal was clear, find the herb that she wanted. Following Jin and Emma seemed to be the best option, but that proved to be a grave mistake on her end.

Raising her head to stare at both Emma and Jin, Melissa stared at the dark sky and waved her hand.

"Take a rest you two, I won't be able to move for at least ten minutes. You might as well rest as well."

"But I'm fine. Not tired at all. "

"Me too."

Emma and Jin responded as they exchanged glances for a moment. Melissa clenched her teeth tightly.

'...Am I out of shape?'

She lightly pinched her stomach and then lowered her head and allowed her hair to fall to the side of her face. Pondering over something, she asked.

"By the way, are you sure we're going in the right direction?"

"Positive."

Jin answered while he looked toward the distance.

"According to the orcs, this is the direction of where the demons should be co-uh?"

Jin's speech halted.

It was then that his eyes suddenly squinted, and his expression changed. He quickly turned around and his figure vanished from the spot.

"Hide, quick!"

"Wha-"

"No time for that."

After grabbing Melissa by the arm and yanking her away, Emma turned around and followed Jin from behind. They saw a large boulder off in the distance and hid behind it.

Immediately after that, Jin stepped forward. Pressing his foot into the ground, Melissa felt a slight fluctuation in the air. His sudden actions aroused her curiosity as she looked around, wondering what he had done.

But just as she was about to say something, she noticed something in the far distance. Her mouth instantly shut and her expression mimicked that of Jin and Emma.

"...Well, shit."

***

"Everything is ready."

I met up with Randur after I received a direct message from him.

We were standing in front of a circular room surrounded by four thick metal pillars on one of the castle's lower levels. The room was filled with an eerie humming sound, and each of the four metallic pillars had some strange glowing runes on the sides.

I could feel thin threads of mana covering my fingertips when I extended my hand. The feeling reminded me of the numbness that occured when one's hand falls asleep.

"This is amazing."

I quietly mumbled in amazement as I looked at the structure in front of me.

"So this is a mana chamber?"

"It indeed is."

Jomnuk walked from the rear while carrying a towel covered in black stains.

He wiped his hands and patted one of the large metallic pillars.

"There are a total of four pillars, as is evident. These pillars convert the mana that has been imprisoned within the core, and then slowly release it within the chamber. Compared to simply shattering the core to release the mana it contains, the chamber will gradually release the mana at a rate that can be calmly absorbed."

"This will make things a lot easier for you and anyone that wishes to enter. Not only is it more efficient, but you will be able to stay for longer periods of time without needing to switch the cores."

He moved toward a panel situated toward the side of the room.

"Also, since everyone's rate of absorption is different, you can adjust the mana release rate based on someone's rank. For you, it would be around <S+> rank..."

He pressed one of the keys in front of the panel.

The space vibrated slightly while an oozing mechanical sound reverberated throughout the air. The runes that surrounded the pillars began emitting a brighter glow, and there was a discernible thickening of the air within the chamber.

'Amazing...'

"Alright, try it out."

Jomnuk gestured at me with his hand.

I stared at him for a moment before nodding my head and complying.

"Hm?"

As soon as I stepped foot inside the room, I was taken aback by the sudden reemergence of a sensation that was very familiar to me but which I had not experienced in a bit, well, at least not to this extent. Unknowingly, the pores on my body started to open up, and I began eagerly sucking in the mana that was floating around in the air.

"This is incredible."

I turned my head to look at Jomnuk and Randur, who were smiling at me with proud smirks on their faces.

"What did I tell you?"

Randur began tapping at his chest.

"Just leave things to us and we'll get things done."

"Right."

I nodded my head at their words.

In less than a week after I made the request, they had already constructed a mana chamber that I could use for my training. The speed was astonishingly quick, which was incredibly helpful for me at this very moment. Especially with the shadow of the impending war hanging over our heads.

"Huuuu..."

My body jerked with excitement, and as it did so, murky air came out of my mouth. Clearly, the abundant mana that was all around me had begun to stimulate the pores on my body.

I bitterly looked at Randur and Jomnuk, who grinned wryly at each other as they exchanged glances.

Randur was the first one to speak as he waved his hand and bid me goodbye.

"We will leave you alone. Our time is almost up, so we'll take care of a few things and return to say goodbye."

"Alright. Let me know when you guys will be leaving."

"Sure thing."

"Good luck with your breakthrough."

I waved them goodbye and sat down on the ground. Taking another deep breath, I closed my eyes and focused on the mana around me.

Everything around me gradually became still, and millions of different colored particles appeared within my vision. Their presence triggered something in my mind, causing the muscles on my body to twitch.

I felt a wave of rare excitement wash over me.

'I can feel it...I can definitely break through to <SS-> rank soon.'

Chapter 638: Change of focus [3]

"We will be taking our leave, human."

Randur spoke out while Jomnuk stood by his side as they both stood behind the mana chamber.

It had been almost twenty days since the two of them had arrived on this planet, and unfortunately for them, it was now time for them to depart.

This news did not make them happy.

They would have remained on the planet had it not been for the situation in Henlour. However, their high positions made it impossible for them to stay, which was regrettable.

"Jomnuk and I will be the only individuals departing. As promised, the other dwarves will be staying here with you, and as previously mentioned, we will deactivate the portal and only reactivate it when we return."

"This is just a little precaution that we will take in order to ensure that the planet remains hidden. Of course, if you want to open it again, you can simply ask Ryan as he has the key to activate the portal."

Even though the dwarves who had come here were people whom both of them had put their full faith in, it was never a bad idea to be on the side of caution. It was always the person that you trusted the most that betrayed you.

As a result, Jomnuk and Randur arrived at the realization that it would be wise to close the portal upon coming out of the portal.

"In any case, even without Ryan, you did mention that you had another way out, so I won't say anything further."

Randur tapped on the large metallic door that separated him from Ren, who was still inside.

"I wish you luck with your breakthrough."

"Thank you."

Ren's voice could finally be heard from the other side of the door.

Randur returned a smile.

"Don't mention it."

He turned around after that.

Jomnuk followed him close from behind.

"We'll come back in at most a month...human time, which is around a year here? Ten months?"

Randur's brows furrowed, and he murmured to himself.

"Well, it shouldn't be a war that lasts too long. In any case, by the time we get back, everything should have been taken care of. Hopefully, the foundation of the city will already be built by then."

"...I honestly doubt Ren will need any more than half a year to completely finish the demons."

Jomnuk commented from the side.

He, too, was engaged in serious reflection regarding the issue with the demons. Due to the fact that this planet presented the dwarves with a wealth of opportunities, he was understandably anxious about the matter.

"Don't worry about it. If he manages to break through, the war should be a breeze."

"I guess you have a point."

Jomnuk finally nodded his head.

Even though he wasn't as strong as Randur and he wasn't a specialist in combat, he had certain artifacts that could help him gauge just how strong Ren was, and after briefly using them to measure Ren's strength, he knew that Randur's words contained some truth in them.

That being said…

"I have a feeling that things are a bit more complicated than what they seem to be on the surface."

It wasn't just a feeling because his artifact picked up a powerful fluctuation coming from a distance; however, because it was so far away, Jomnuk couldn't be certain about the validity of his assumption.

Upon hearing his words, Randur's expression changed to one of grave concern.

"How sure are you about this?"

"Not very."

Jomnuk shook his head before giving him a rough rundown of what he had found.

"...I see, that makes sense."

"So what should we do?"

"Nothing, we have to go back for the time being. It is up to the human to figure out what the next step in the process is. We have finished our part, and it is now time for us to go."

"Well, alright..."

Jomnuk bowed his head and then indicated his understanding with a nod.

"I guess you have a point. It ought not to be too much for him to handle. Especially considering the large number of fresh faces he had brought in. Their strength wasn't half bad, that's for sure."

"Yes."

Randur gave a subdued nod before turning his attention toward a specific corridor. Jomnuk followed him quietly from behind. It wasn't long before the two returned back to earth.

***

"The demons are coming, I can feel their presence."

Silug opened his eyes and began walking off into the distance. As he rose from his seat, he wore an expression of unparalleled gravity.

He had never before in his life felt the same level of dread as he did at the moment. Not even when he was standing at the frontlines of the war that had occurred a few days back.

He had the distinct impression that death itself was drawing nearer to him in the distance at the moment.

Wherever it passed, it would only leave desolation behind.

"Are you ready?"

Omgolung stepped beside him and asked.

Silug spared him a glance.

"No."

He shook his head.

He then grimly and candidly shared his viewpoint on the matter with Omgolung, who at the time had his thick arms crossed over each other and was staring off into the distance.

"If my estimates are correct, we won't last longer than a single day. We are at that much of a disadvantage in this war. Excluding the food supplies, the sheer numbers of our enemies are what worries me..."

A sudden thought occurred to Omgolung as he turned to look at Silug.

"What about the human, can't he help? If it's him..."

"That's with the human included."

Silug poured cold water on Omgolung as he cut him off.

In spite of the fact that he was aware that Ren was a capable individual, at the end of the day, based on what he observed, he was stronger than him, but not significantly stronger than him. At least not to the point where Silug felt completely hopeless.

Although he did completely subdue him and display a great deal of strength during the first war, Silug believed that this was not sufficient.

He was aware that the foe that was approaching might not be significantly more powerful than Ren...but that was irrelevant to the discussion at hand. What difference would it make if he were the strongest individual in the battlefield if he were facing off against millions of demons? Even an elephant would die at the hands of millions of ants.

"Get ready for battle."

After taking one final look in the direction of the horizon, Silug turned around and entered the castle once more.

Just as he was about to enter, he didn't forget to say a few more words to Omgolung who was still quietly staring into the horizon.

"This may be our last war...but we should at least make it count. Don't die in vain."

His presence gradually faded away into the background of the castle.

***

"Ukh..."

A groan escaped from my mouth as I felt a sweet sensation rise from the back of my throat.

'Fuck, this is much harder than I originally thought.'

Breaking through to <SS-> rank was a harder task than I had originally anticipated. Despite the plentiful mana that was around me, for some unknown reason, my body refused to rank up.

Typically, there would be this weird tingling feeling running through my body when I felt that I was about to break through. At least, the natural way.

Wasn't so much so this way when someone took a herb to increase their rank. In any case, I currently didn't feel anything at all which was strange.

'I swear I felt the sensation not too long ago. What's going on?'

Ten minutes...

Twenty minutes...

One hour...

Two hours...

No matter how much time passed, the sensation that I was expecting never came.

'What is wrong?'

I knew that I was close to breaking through to <SS-> rank. The fact that I could already agglomerate man in solid form was a testament to that.

Yet...there was something that I was still missing.

'But what exactly am I missing?'

No matter how much I wracked my brain over the matte, I just couldn't seem to come up with a solution to the problem.

Boom!

Suddenly, the room began to shake, and I could hear an explosion going off in the distance. Instantaneously, I was aware that the war had already begun, and the sense of urgency that I had previously been experiencing only intensified.

'Fuck...this can't go on.'

The longer I procrastinated, the worse the circumstances were going to become when I finally went back outside.

Despite the fact that I had faith that Hein and the others would deal a significant amount of damage to the demons, I couldn't help but feel that it might just not be enough.

The demons were simply too numerous, and...

'What if there is a demon that is much stronger than is known? ...One that could even cause problems for Liam?'

Realistically speaking, with Liam around, there shouldn't be any problems in the war.

He was strong.

As a matter of fact, he was most likely just as strong as I was. His presence provided me with a sense of comfort and safety; however, what if, in the unlikeliest of scenarios, the demon that was watching over the other demons was something that not even he was able to hand?

'That would be really bad.'

As I worked harder to collect the mana that was all around me, the sense of urgency that had been building up inside of me intensified a further notch.

"Ugh."

I could feel my head starting to spin as my heart started to beat at a faster and faster rate, and before I knew it, sweat started running down the side of my face.

"Fuck it."

When I swept my hand in front of me, a variety of medicinal plants and potions materialized before my eyes.

'I can't let that happen...I must break through, no matter what.'

I reached out and grabbed one of the herbs, and then I chewed on it.

'Since I can't break through naturally, I might as well force it...'

As soon as I took a bite of the herb, I felt a surge of energy throughout my body, and the throbbing in my veins intensified. I clenched my teeth and braced myself for the inevitable agony that was about to befall me.

...This was not going to be a smooth breakthrough.

In fact, it was most likely going to be a very painful one.

Chapter 639: War [1]

"They're here."

Hein cast his gaze off into the far off horizon, then turned his attention to the people standing next to him. Everyone was here, from Ryan to Han Yufei. Apart from Ren, everyone that was part of the mercenary group was present.

A solemn air pervaded the area around him, and he could feel his hand clenching the shield in his hand even more tightly.

"A-are you sure you guys can handle this?"

As Ryan gazed into the distance, he struggled to find the right words to say. The color of his face began to fade, and he moved backward without meaning to.

"Alt..hough Ren did say that the next wave would be a lot harder...I didn't think it would be this much harder..."

"I get you."

Hein murmured something quietly as he turned his head and looked off into the distance, where he could see the entire landscape turning completely dark.

The longer time passed, the more evident it became that a sense of impending doom emanated from the distant sea of darkness that stretched all the way toward the horizon and didn't seem to end.

'What's this smell?'

Sniffing with his nose, Hein was able to detect the putrid odor of dead and rotting flesh coming from all of the orcs that had been killed in the previous war and were still being kept in the area where they had died.

It made his stomach churn, and just as he was about to turn his head away, Leopold spoke.

"We can no longer be as relaxed as we were in the previous battle."

Ava nodded her head in agreement as she quietly mumbled something else under her breath.

"...I hope I won't have to sacrifice any of my pets."

Her voice was audible enough for Hein to hear. He shook his head upon hearing her words.

Realistically speaking, her wish was impossible. The number of demons in the distance numbered more than a million.

With only about a hundred thousand orcs on their side, the battle was a very disadvantaged one.

'The only way I can see ourselves winning is if Ren, Liam, and the others can make a difference. '

The reality was that the strongest beings typically won wars. The wars fought by the lower-ranking beings were not as significant as those waged by the superior beings.

Each one of the higher beings could wipe out thousands of lower ranked beings with just a swipe of their hands. It was very important that they made a difference.

"Hey, Liam."

Hein suddenly called out.

Liam turned back to look at him once he heard his name.

"What is it?"

"...Do you feel any strong presence coming from the demons in the distance?"

Liam had a special power.

One that provided him with the ability to gauge an individual's level of power with just a single glance. Although Liam gave off the impression of being a very reckless person on the outside, the only reason he was able to be reckless was because of this broken ability of his.

He had a complete understanding of the power level of his adversary, so he was able to judge when to fight and when to retreat. Although it was indeed true that he was a battle maniac, there was a good reason why he was still alive up to this point in time.

...and it sure as hell wasn't because he was simply 'lucky'.

For the most part that is.

"I do feel a lot of strong presence."

Liam said. To Hein's surprise, Liam's voice was extremely solemn at the moment, which was quite unusual for him because he typically sounded bored.

In fact, he also detected a hint of excitement in his voice. Clearly, the situation had tickled his battle spirit.

"There are multiple Marquis ranked demons that I can see with just a glance."

"How many?"

"About twenty-seven of them."

"Tss..."

Hein took a breath of cold air.

The mood instantly shifted and became incredibly heavy as soon as his words came out.

"Twenty seven!?"

Ryan shouted in shock as he woke up from his daze.

His expression was incredibly pale at the moment.

'We might be screwed...'

Hein felt his hand tremble a little as he looked at Ryan. His reaction...he understood it. Counting Liam, Angelica, Silug, Omgulong, Ren, Jin, and possibly, Han Yufei, they were at a massive disadvantage when it came to those who could put up a fight against Marquis ranked demons.

To make matters worse, Liam's next words caused everyone's faces to freeze.

"There also seems to be a Duke ranked demon hidden at the far end..."

Liam's eyes squinted, and the yellow hue that was emanating from his eyes became brighter. It wasn't long before his face became extremely serious.

"...It also doesn't look like a regular Duke ranked demon. I'm afraid he's someone that is in the late stages of his rank. He...He isn't someone that I can defeat with my current abilities."

"Haha."

Hein let out a nervous laugh as he stared into the distance.

For the first time in a while, he finally felt hopeless as his knees started to weaken a little.

'...I might actually die today.'

The demons were now closer than ever, and the pressure coming from them was even more apparent. It was tremendous.

"Haaa..."

Hein let out a long sigh and lowered his head.

'I guess I'll be seeing you soon, Smallsnake.'

Hein put on a brave face and took a deep breath, slapping the sides of his cheeks and making a loud clapping sound that startled everyone around him.

"Fuck it!"

He cursed out loud.

"There's no point thinking negatively. At the moment, with all the training that we did over the past two years, there's nothing that will say that we will lose. I also doubt Ren would send us here without knowing about the situation. Let's just try our best not to die, alright?"

"Who said anything about giving up?"

Hein suddenly felt Liam's disgusted look.

He turned his gaze toward the distance and added.

"I never once said that the war wasn't winnable. I was ju...haaa....this is so fun."

Liam moaned halfway through his sentence.

Everyone silently took a step away from him. Not that he cared as he continued to stare into the distance and slowly unsheathed his sword.

"The more I think about it, the more excited I am getting. Finally, I don't have to hold back...I want to see just how strong I've become."

Clank. Clank. Clank.

At this precise moment, a deafening metallic rattling reverberated throughout the air as the castle's gates began to lower and large catapults began to move out into the surrounding area. Diverse types of orcs, numbering in the tens of thousands, were stationed close to the catapults and slowly pulled it forward.

Their massive frames instantly attracted the attention of Hein and the others.

"They are using those things again, it's no use. Although they are strong, it takes way too much time to reload those things. By the time the demons arrive, the orc's formation will be in disarray. "

Leopold mumbled as he leaned his body forward, gazing at the large catapults moving down the hill.

'He has a point.'

Hein quietly nodded his head when he heard Leopold's comments.

The weakness of the catapults was glaringly obvious to him. At least from what he saw in the first battle.

Not only did they require an excessive amount of time to reload, but they also disrupted the momentum of the orcs, who were forced to reposition themselves in order as each reload displaced them from their formation.

A lot of precious time was wasted as a result of this problem.

"That's not necessarily the case."

Ryan shook his head once he heard Leopold's comments.

Everyone turned their attention toward him, who calmly pointed at the catapults.

"Why don't you guys look closely? Do those things look like normal catapults to you?"

His words caused everyone's pupils to constrict as they concentrated more intently on the catapults. It was at that moment that the eyes of a few of the people who were present opened wide in shock.

"That..."

Ryan nodded his head and explained, fully expecting their reactions.

"Yes, the dwarves have made adjustments to the catapults, so there is no need for anyone to be concerned about the current predicament. According to what I've gathered, the amount of time it takes to reload the catapults has been cut down significantly, and their weight has also been drastically reduced."

He suddenly puffed up his chest a little.

"...and this is no thanks to my master, Jomnuk."

'Thank god.'

Hein sighed in relief upon hearing Ryan's words. He had almost forgotten about the dwarves.

Hein had been unable to see what the dwarves were doing because he had been training with the others; however, when he thought about Henlour and how intelligent the dwarves were, everything started to make sense to him.

With their help, the situation wasn't as hopeless as he thought it was.

"Is that the only thing that they built?"

He suddenly heard Han Yufei's voice.

Ryan glanced at him briefly and replied.

"No, there are still a couple of other things that they've built. For example, the walls of the castle have been reinforced, and the same can be said for the equipment that the orcs are wearing."

Ryan pointed toward the orcs in the distance, who were marching forward with the catapults at their sides.

"If you look closely at what they are wearing, you will notice that their armor and weapons are brand new. In recent days, the dwarves have smelted and crafted a new batch of armor that is significantly stronger and more durable than the ones they previously wore. Compared to the past, their combat effectiveness has increased significantly. "

"That makes sense..."

Hein nodded while placing his hand over the fortification.

It was as Ryan said. The armor and weapons that the orcs were wearing did indeed look newer compared to the ones they previously used.

'With it, they should be able to last longer, but...'

"Haaaa..."

Hein sighed as he took another look toward the distance.

There were simply way too many demons for him to count. He was beginning to doubt the effectiveness of this equipment change.

'From the looks of things, the equipment change is not going to cut it. Realistically speaking, the outcome of the war will most likely depend on Liam or Ren.'

The two strongest of the group.

....If they somehow managed to defeat all of the Marquis ranked demons and the Duke ranked demon, then perhaps there was a chance for them to win the war.

'But that's only if Ren is here...'

Turning around and seeing that Ren was still not present, Hein grimly shook his head. Last he heard, he was trying to break through to the next rank.

It was both good and bad news.

Taking another look at the demons in the distance, Hein's grip over the fortification increased.

"...I hope he can make it in time...or we're fucked."

Chapter 640: War [2]

The demon's higher army was made up of one Duke-ranked demon, twenty-seven Marquis-ranked demons, and five hundred Count-ranked demons.

It was a force that should've easily wiped out anything that was on the planet.

They would have conquered the entire planet long ago had the demon's ultimate goal not been to make all orcs their contractees.

Suriol, the Duke-ranked demon in charge of overseeing this planet, was currently floating at the tail end of the army. Behind him were the twenty seven Marquis ranked demons delegates, while the Count ranked demons were at the very front, leading the legion of demons.

"Duke, we have almost arrived."

One of the demon delegates spoke.

Suriol came to a stop in the air and gazed into the distance.

"Hmmm..."

His brows furrowed tightly.

Likewise, the demon delegates came to a halt and turned their heads to look at one another. They found the manner in which Soriol was behaving to be rather peculiar.

"Is there anything that you are displeased with, Duke?"

The demon that had spoken before asked.

Suriol shook his head.

"No."

The demons took a breath of relief.

Suriol was notorious for his impatient and tyrannical nature. One wrong move and they would find themselves dead without knowing how they had died.

His next words, however, brought heavy tension into the air.

"...I just get the distinct impression that there are several powerful figures off in the distance, which the scout report didn't make me aware of at all. If the error was only by a factor of one, I could possibly have let things go; however, for some reason, I get the impression that the number of powerful figures is much greater than what is reported...why is that?"

The demon delegates broke into a cold sweat as they stared into the distance.

Even though he didn't make any outward displays of his anger and didn't say anything to indicate it, everyone understood that Suriol was incredibly angry at that very moment.

He was the sort of demon who was happiest when he was in complete control of everything, so the fact that this chain of events had clearly gone in the opposite direction of what he preferred was very frustrating to him.

For there to be variables that he hadn't thought of...he was clearly displeased.

"How is this possible? ...I'm sure our spies would've noticed if there was someone of that caliber in there."

One of the demons spoke up in shock.

"That's right, if there were this many strong people and we cou..."

The demon stopped halfway through his sentence.

In his sight was Suriol's raised hand, an indication for him to stop speaking.

"Stop speaking for now. I'll let this slide since this isn't too much of a problem."

All the demons sighed in relief when they heard his words.

"...Depending on how well you do in the war, I'll decide whether to kill you or not."

Once he uttered those words, the faces of the demon delegates hardened. All of them swallowed a mouthful of saliva as they exchanged glances.

Clearly, the threat from Suriol had worked as their gazes turned sharp. Especially when they were looking at the castle and the orcen army in the distance.

"What do you want us to do, Duke?"

"Nothing for now. From the looks of things, it appears as though our enemies are aware of the fact that we've implanted spies in their midst."

Suriol dampened the enthusiasm of the group. He gazed at the vast army in front of him with a dispassionate and icy expression.

"Let the weaker demons fight for the time being; there is no immediate need for us to join the conflict. Observe the situation from where you are and intervene if you notice anything out of place. If not, remain put while I take care of the orcen leader..."

Suriol's wings slowly started to expand.

After pressing his foot into the air, he vanished from his previous location and materialized at the very top of the demon army.

Fwap.

As he spread his magnificent wings even further in the air, he produced a massive shadow on the ground below. As he looked around the castle, his eyes eventually settled on a specific individual inside the structure.

Silug.

"There you are, orcen chief..."

His croaky and sinister voice rang through the air like a gentle whisper.

He extended his hand, and all of a sudden, a powerful force erupted from within him. It shot straight toward Silug in a ruthless manner, moving at extreme speeds.

The power behind the attack was so great that the surroundings began to warp, and as a result, several hundred demons fell from the sky and smashed into the ground. This was all caused by the residual demonic energy that was left over from that one single attack.

"Move away!!"

Silug, who was subjected to such a terrifying attack, could only watch helplessly from below as it dove at terrifying speeds in his direction.

With just a glance, he could tell that he could do nothing against the attack as it was simply far above his level.

Even the orcs that were next to him felt completely hopeless.

Despite this, not a single one of them surrendered as they synchronized the raising of their weapons and prepared to defend their lives at all costs.

"Roooooooar!"

The surrounding walls were shaken by the tremendous roar that Silug let out. He brandished his enormous axe and readied himself to launch an assault with all of his strength. He thrust his head back to glare at Soriol and shouted with everything he had in him.

"Even if I die today, I won't die until I at least injure you severely!"

As he pounded his foot against the ground, the ground beneath him began to crack, and the green hue that was emanating from his body began to rapidly expand in the air.

It then mingled with the red hue that was emanating from the runes that were attached to his body, giving it a hue that was a darker shade of yellow.

Crac...k. Crack! Cra...ck!

As he continued to pound his foot against the ground, the ground beneath him continued to crack and it wasn't long before a crater formed beneath his feet.

"Haaaa!"

As he yelled at the top of his lungs once more, a frightening energy started to appear at the very edge of his axe. At this point, the attack that Soriol had launched against him was only a few meters away, threatening to erase his existence within the next second.

"Excuse me!"

A silhouetted figure suddenly materialized in front of Silug just as he was about to cut with his axe.

Everything happened so quickly that he was barely able to react to it.

Boooooom-!

...The last thing that Silug heard was a terrifying explosive sound as the dust in the air rose in the air, masking Silug's vision as well as the vision of those around him.

"What the..Ukhh!?"

Silug felt his body skid several meters back due to the aftermath of the attack.

In spite of that, his mind never stopped thinking about the figure that appeared before him just as Soriol's attack was about to hit him.

'What happened?'

It took a few seconds for the dust to settle, and by the time it was completely settled, what Silug saw was a set of long hair that swayed lazily in the air.

A human-like figure that was grasping a long and thick sword with one hand, blue lightning crackling all around his body, and two majestic yellow eyes that glowed a resounding yellow hue stood in front of Silug as smoke swept past his body.

If that wasn't enough, his clothes and his figure both appeared to be in pristine condition despite the powerful explosion that had occurred several seconds prior.

The sight...

It became deeply imprinted inside Silug's mind.

'Strong...'

***

At the other end of the battlefield.

A soft whisper rang in the air.

"Get ready?"

Jin slowly got out of his hiding spot and fixed his gaze in a certain direction.

"...This is going to be a lot more difficult than I had anticipated."

With just one glance at the number of demons that were in the air, Jin felt his complexion change.

Having secretly followed the demons from behind and having relayed to the orcs their position, Jin had more than enough time to see just how dreadful the situation was, and honestly...

'It's beyond dreadful...'

It was impossible for them to deal with the sheer number of demons, and if that wasn't bad enough, there were also more than twenty Marquis-ranked demons, along with one that appeared to be a step above that.

"I am with you on this one."

Emma also stepped out from the hiding spot and nodded her head.

"From the looks of things, the situation doesn't look good at all. One mistake and we might find ourselves meeting in the afterlife."

"...Don't count me in."

Melissa's voice echoed from behind.

She was peeking from behind a tree.

"I'm just here for the herbs. If you guys die, I won't be there to collect your bodies. "

"If we die, you won't have anybody to recover in the first place."

Emma rebutted.

Melissa quietly nodded to herself.

"Good point."

"Quiet for a moment."

Jin hushed the two of them as he brought his finger to his mouth and crouched a little.

As Jin continued to stare off into the distance like a stealthy hunter looking for his prey, the atmosphere around him fell into complete and utter silence for the next couple of minutes.

He was currently looking for an opening in the back formation of the demons where the Marquis ranked demons were located. With his current strength, it was possible for him to deal with one Marquis ranked demon. Perhaps even two...but that was just about it.

Of course...this only applied to situations where he was fighting against them one on one.

...If it was through an ambush.

Now that was a completely different thing.

'Got it.'

It wasn't long before Jin's eyes became animated.

"The Duke ranked demon has left, now is our chance."

As soon as she finished speaking those words, Jin's form disappeared into the darkness. A chilly glint flashed across his pupils as his eyes fixed on a specific Marquis ranked demon that was floating in the air above him.

'...I wonder how many Marquis ranked demons I can kill before getting noticed.'

Chapter 641: War [3]

"Looks like that's my cue."

The last thing Han Yufei heard was Liam's voice as he landed softly on the ground after leaping past the fortifications. In less than a second, a terrifying energy swept through the area and headed toward the lower levels of the castle.

Because the energy was so powerful, Han Yufei found that it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to breathe.

The only thing that he could do while that was happening was just watch as the energy came smashing against the lower floors, right where Liam landed.

Boom—!

Following the deafening sound of the explosion, thick dust billowed into the air and obscured Han Yufei's and everyone else's vision.

As soon as the dust settled down, Han Yufei was once again able to catch a glimpse of Liam, who appeared to be unharmed for the most part.

His gaze and the demon above met, and in that instant, time came to a standstill.

His figure disappeared after that, reappearing right in front of the demon that had produced the terrifying attack and he slashed with his sword.

Clang—!

A droning, metallic sound reverberated through the space above, and it continued to do so for a few seconds. The two of them immediately began to fight one another as powerful shockwaves erupted into the atmosphere.

While this was happening, the demons that were previously standing still finally decided to move.

The orcs responded in kind as they brandished their weapons and roared.

"Roooar!!"

"Hekk!"

"Haaaargh!"

As a direct result of their movements, meteor-like objects of enormous proportions began to shoot in the air, heading toward the demons in the distance, signaling the beginning of the war.

Instantly, agonized and pained screams started to engulf the entire battlefield. In this case, the screams were mostly from the demons that were taken down by the enormous boulders which were launched from the catapults at the front of the castle.

Thousands upon thousands of demons would get swept up by that single attack from the catapult.

However, despite the fact that a great number of demons were being killed with each attack, a new row of them would appear from behind them, replacing the previous row, and continuing their advance.

Their numbers seemed endless.

'This is not good.'

Han Yufei muttered inwardly as he gazed toward the distance.

Despite everything that the orcs were doing in trying to get rid of as many demons as possible, it was evident that their efforts were futile as the number of demons approaching their direction was simply far too many.

Compared to the orcen army, the demons were at least 20x their size. The battle wasn't one that had much hope of victory from the very beginning.

Nonetheless…

"I guess it's our turn to finally let loose."

Han Yufei suddenly heard Hein's voice coming from beside him.

Clank!

He brought his fists together violently, which resulted in a droning, metallic noise being produced.

Ava, who was standing next to him, played a few notes on her flute in a casual manner.

Tootle too~

What followed after her simple actions was a scene that left Han Yufei and the others in awe.

'No matter how many times I see this, I'll never get used to it.'

It was simply not something that could be explained with a single word as four enormous mammoth-like creatures appeared beneath the castle.

Beside them stood a number of enormous wolves that were at least twice as tall as a typical human being, and standing behind them were large creatures that resembled armadillos but had spikes on their tough backs and possessed a fierce and menacing appearance that would make anyone's hair stand.

If that wasn't enough, above them were large birds that flew around them and circled around them.

In total, there were about twenty or forty plus creatures standing in front of the castle. Their rank and presence were all incredibly strong.

'A one man army.'

That was what Ava was.

She was a one man army.

Tootle too~

With yet another flute blow, the beasts became enraged and charged the approaching demons.

"What's this?!"

"Beasts!"

"What's happ-huek!"

Wherever they went, demons would be swept away as the mammoth-like creatures at the front destroyed everything in their way, acting as the path clearers, while the armadillos at the back, cleaned everything that was left behind, with the wolves supporting the mammoth from the sides with their fast speeds and sharp claws.

The coordination between the beasts was flawless and impeccable, getting rid of hundreds of demons at the time.

Ava's impact wasn't any weaker than an <S-> ranked individual.

Hein, who was obviously slower than them, trailed them from behind, slowly lagging behind with the passing of time. His figure was rather pitiful.

Even then, Han Yufei didn't think much of it.

He knew just how terrifying the current Hein was if he actually tried.

"I should also start my attack."

When Han Yufei saw that everyone else had already moved ahead of him and was attacking the demons, he was no longer able to contain himself and he leaped down from the fortification.

Upon landing, the only thing that met his sight was rotting flesh and cracked cores that closely resembled broken shards. There was nothing else. This was obviously the fallout from what Hein and the others had left behind.

SHIIIIING!

He extended his hand toward his right and a large sword that was double his size appeared in his hand.

The sword did not have a particularly pleasing appearance; rather, it resembled a sharp bone that had been shaped into a large broadsword. Because it was not an artifact, the power that emanated from it did not appear to be particularly impressive.

It was, in fact, just a bone…but not just a regular bone.

"Huuu…"

Hein Yufei took a deep breath.

[Martial Body]

The veins in his muscles began to protrude as his muscles began to swell. His strength increased significantly, and steam began to slowly escape his body.

His presence started to attract the attention of the distant demons, but if that wasn't all…

Boom—!

When he took a single step forward, the previously enlarged muscles in his body contracted to the point where he became leaner. Han Yufei effortlessly raised the large sword in his hand with one hand while creating a crater beneath him with a single step.

Contrary to what one might believe, practicing the Gravar style did not make one larger. No, rather, it made them leaner.

The whole point of the Gravar style was to compress all of the muscles within the body for greater explosiveness. The focus was on muscle density. The denser the muscles, the more explosive you were with your attacks.

...and currently, Han Yufei's muscles were contracted to the point he felt his body overflow with power.

"Huuuuu....!"

By the time the sword was raised above his head, over a hundred demons had already reached him.

Completely unfazed by the demon's appearance, Han Yufei muttered a single word.

"Collapse."

He then slashed down with the sword.

His vision distorted momentarily, and all of the demons in his vicinity vanished. Even the typical black rain that would come out from a massacre did not appear, as everything simply vanished from around him.

The scene was so shocking that it felt as though nothing had happened.

If not for the long scar that traced for over a kilometer and was several meters in depth, one might've believed that nothing really had happened.

...But something did really happen.

"Huuuu!!!"

Han Yufei exhaled as the tip of his sword touched the ground.

Staring into the distance, he murmured.

"For a regular slash, this wasn't bad..."

***

Amanda used one hand to grab hold of the necklace that was draped around her neck, and she used the other hand to maintain her hold on the bow. As long as she wore the artifact, she was able to sense a warming sensation rising from the area just above her chest.

'… it's time that I remove this.'

Even though she was hesitant, Amanda was aware that the time had come for her to stop concealing her abilities. She carefully unhooked the necklace from her neck.

Almost immediately, she noticed that her strength was shifting, and she also noticed that her hair was beginning to flutter as the mana in the air began to warp.

The whole process took no longer than five seconds, and by the time she was done, she felt her strength rise all the way to <S-> rank.

The feeling...

It was completely different from before, as she felt all of her senses become enhanced while her control over the mana became significantly easier.

In the same manner, as Jin, Amanda made it a point to make full use of all of the resources that were at her disposal. In contrast to Jin, who refused to use the skills and arts for reasons such as his pride, Amanda, in the past, refused to take on such powerful skills because she felt that the guild needed it more than she did.

She had a tendency to prioritize the guild matters over her own interests at times, and if her father hadn't pointed this out to her, she would never have realized.

In any case, even without this realization, Amanda would've changed her ways. Particularly with what happened to her father and on that 'planet'.

In the end, the thing that she took away from all of these experiences was the realization that she was still far too weak and that she needed to work on becoming stronger.

…Hence why she started to prioritize her own self interests and decided to become a little bit more selfish.

At the end of the day, one needed to have a little bit of selfishness in order to get what one desired.

'There's a lot of demons.'

Staring into the distance, Amanda's brows furrowed.

From where she was, she could see the members of Ren's group completely dominating the lower levels of the tower.

Wherever they went, demons would be killed. Their presence completely took over the lower levels, but…

'It's not enough.'

From where she was, Amanda could see that there were simply way too many demons to deal with at the same time.

Despite the fact that they were dealing with them at an alarming rate, it was still far from enough.

Amanda knew that she had to do something. Hence, she slowly took a stance and raised her bow.

"Huuu..."

She inhaled deeply, closed her eyes for a fleeting instant, and focused on the mana that was housed within her body before drawing her bow.

A soft glow began to envelop her entire body at the same time that a blue translucent arrow began to form on her bow.

Opening her eyes once more, she shifted her gaze toward the far distance, where the demon army was before mumbling something under her breath.

"Count-ranked, agility-type, ambush-type..."

[[S] Target Lock] : Non-combat ability that allows the user to filter and select specific targets based on user-defined criteria. The greater the number of targets selected, the heavier the mana consumption.

The skill's activation altered her view as everything started to change right before her very eyes and over a hundred different red dots appeared in her vision. All of which were targets that perfectly fit the criteria that she had selected beforehand.

A thin smile formed on her face when she saw all of the targets. Her back arched backward and she released the string of her bow.

Instantly, the arrow in her bow disappeared into the sky.

The speed at which it flew was so fast that it released a small shockwave.

While the arrow kept rising in the air, Amanda lowered her head and once again turned her attention toward the battlefield.

She lowered her bow and waited for a couple of seconds before murmuring something under her breath.

"Boom."

It was then that it happened.

A rain of blue arrows shot at terrifying speeds toward the ground like the heavy rain of a storm.

Each perfectly aimed for the demon that she had previously selected, leaving nothing but death behind.

Chapter 642: War [4]

As Liam lifted his head to gaze into the sky, where he saw a magnificent figure floating, he mused to himself.

'How powerful...'

Not even Ren would be able to put this kind of pressure on him. At the very least, based on how he felt during his battles with him.

Both he and Ren never engaged in a full-scale conflict with one another.

They had reached a point where their strength would cause the destruction of everything in their vicinity. Their training room, which was built using the most durable equipment available to human kind, could no longer withstand the full brunt of their attacks, preventing the two of them from ever going all out.

That being said, Liam had his eyes, and from there he could measure the force hidden within an individual.

'I'm afraid he's even stronger than Ren. '

...and not by a small margin.

The entirety of the battleground was shrouded in darkness as Liam's vision started to distort at the presence of the demon in front of him.

Ba...Thump! Ba...Thump!

Liam could feel his heart beating at his throat as he continued to stare at the enemy before him.

It also seemed that the demon had taken notice of Liam's presence as he lowered his head and murmured.

"Who are you?"

Liam was able to hear the demon's voice clearly despite the chaos that was occurring on the battlefield.

They sounded to him like soft, sinister whispers.

Thin blue threads began to crackle around his body, while his eyes took on a yellowish hue. His vision became distorted as everything turned black, leaving behind only white whisps in his vision.

Each wisp varied in size, with the spot where the previous demon stood being the largest and covering his entire field of vision with a brilliant white hue.

'... Amazing.'

Liam thought while staring at the demon. He could feel the back of his neck rise as a result of the power emanating from him.

Nonetheless, he wasn't scared.

He had seen his fair share of powerful demons throughout his life, and the demon in front of him was no different from those he had previously encountered.

'Plus, no one can be compared to him...'

The prince ranked the demon he had met on the previous planet. The one planet that took away Smallsnake's life...

When compared to him, the demon that stood in front of him was nothing to write home about.

He was still extremely powerful, but not to the point where it left him helpless like the Prince ranked demon.

'I want to see just how much stronger I've become.'

Liam started removing his sword from its scabbard in a methodical and careful manner as if his face turned extremely serious. His vision gradually returned to normal, and the crackling sound made by the thin white lightning bolts became even more intense.

Almost immediately after that, Liam's vision started to blur, and the next thing he knew, he was suddenly standing in front of the demon.

Clank!

He only threw a straightforward slash, but the demon was able to easily parry it away with his hand.

The demon cocked his head slightly before launching his own attack, which was directed directly toward Liam's neck and came at a sharp angle.

'Fast!'

Liam thought to himself.

Nevertheless, he had already seen it coming as a white line formed in his blackened line of sight that came as a result of him activating the power of his eyes, and he cocked his head to the side, easily avoiding the demon's attack, much to the surprise of the demon.

The lightning that was circling Liam's body crackled even more fiercely, and he slashed once more in the direction of the demon's body.

SHIIING!

The second attack he launched was significantly swifter and more powerful than the first one he had thrown, and it once more left the demon in a state of bewilderment.

Clang!

When Liam's sword made contact with the demon's hands, a powerful metallic ring reverberated through the atmosphere, and pressurized wind gales shot out from the point of contact between the two.

The demon was pushed back, and Liam once again attacked him.

***

Booom! Booom!

In the background, muffled sounds of explosions could be heard. The attacks were so ferocious and loud that the mana chamber shook as a result of their aftershocks.

"Ukh..."

I grit my teeth and suppressed the groan that was about to escape from my mouth.

'Fuck...fuck...fuck...'

My entire body seemed to be twitching uncontrollably as I felt a searing heat rising from the depths of my body. As the pores on my body completely opened up and eagerly absorbed the mana in the air, a whirlpool began to form around me in the process.

My consumption of the herb brought about these effects. It wasn't one that helped me break through specifically but rather helped me increase the rate at which I could absorb the mana that was in the air around me.

Because I had consumed an excessive amount of herbs in an effort to progress, I was no longer able to keep up with such a method and was instead limited to using this method in order to 'force' myself into the next rank.

It hurt...

It fucking hurt...but I could feel myself progressing. Slowly but steadily, I was starting to feel a subtle tingling sensation near the center of my chest.

"A...almost..."

***

Clang!

The human's sword was once again stopped by Suriol's sharp nails.

'...He is pretty powerful.'

Suriol thought as he gazed at the human before him. At this very moment, he felt his sword graze his sharp nails.

Krrrr!

The sound that came as a result of the grinding wasn't anything too pleasant.

Nonetheless, Suriol ignored it and focused his attention on the human's sword. He raised his pinky and tapped the sword's body for an instant. Then, with a low grunt, he flapped his wings and pushed the human far away from him.

"Ukh!"

The human flew several meters back before stopping. The hue that was coming out of his eyes glowed an even brighter shade of yellow.

"You are one strange human."

Suriol mumbled all of a sudden as he lowered both of his arms.

The human's face hardened for a moment. Most probably out of confusion.

Suriol continued.

"I don't exactly know what your power is, but it seems like you can move your body at speeds which leave even someone like me speechless, and..."

Suriol's eyes narrowed as his head bobbed up and down while he studied the human carefully.

More specifically, his eyes.

"It seems like your eyes are a bit special, I wond--"

He wasn't even able to finish his sentence before he felt a light breeze brush past him and the human appeared behind him. As if expecting his appearance, Suriol merely turned his head and cocked his head a little where a sharp sword shot past.

"...An impatient one, I see."

A leisurely smile spread across his face as he interlocked his hands behind his back.

He took a step back and spoke.

"Do you want to know something?"

The human's sword once again came whistling past his body. This time, Suriol was unable to dodge and he found a part of his wing get torned up a little.

"...Speak less, fight more. I'm starting to get bored."

The human's voice echoed inside Suriol's ears. True to his words, he really did sound bored from the tone of his voice.

Suriol's face stiffened for a moment before he smiled once again.

"Very well then."

He clapped his hands once and continued what he was saying.

"What was I about to say?....Hmm, ah! Right, I was about to tell you which clan I belong to."

Suriol skilfully avoided the human's sword as the smile on his face turned rather sinister and he licked his lips.

"I belong to the Clan of Envy..."

Immediately after he said those words, he tapped the air.

"Huh?"

The human exclaimed in surprise following Suriol's actions as he turned his sword. His body came to a sudden stop while Suriol's smile deepened even further.

"Let's see...let's see...let's see."

He extended his hand forward and clenched his hand. All of a sudden, the human's sword shattered and purple particles scattered in the air, falling gently against the human's body.

All of this happened so fast that by the time he realized what had happened, it was already too late.

Suriol slowly approached the human and asked.

"Now...shall we see exactly who you envy?"

***

'What's going on?"

Liam looked at the demon standing in front of him with confusion. He remembered fighting against him when all of a sudden, his sword shattered and a series of purple dots landed on his body.

He did try to avoid them, but it was already too late by the time he realized what had happened.

'Strangely, I don't feel weird.'

Whatever the dots were, they didn't seem to be that dangerous.

Yet, as he gazed in the demon's direction, and more specifically, at his wide smile, Liam had an ominous premonition...and it wasn't long before his premonition became true, as the demon suddenly laughed out loud.

"...This was a lot easier than I had expected."

As soon as his laughter ceased, he turned his attention to Liam.

"Alright, let's see the result of my work."

All of a sudden, under Liam's gaze, the demon started to morph. His skull started to wiggle, and so did the bones in his body. The whole transformation was rather grotesque, as blood started leaking out and a foul smell pervaded the air.

The scene...

It was reminiscent of something one would only see in horror movies. It was disgusting. Especially the foul smell that was lingering in the air.

It was anything but pleasant.

'I should probably attack him now...'

As Liam continued to stare at the demon in front of him, he reflected on the situation.

If he attacked right now, he would almost certainly come out on top... that is, unless it was some kind of trick or trap.

...but it didn't look like it to Liam.

Far from it actually as the demon truly looked vulnerable at the moment. Liam felt his hand twitch as another sword appeared in his hand.

'If I attack him now, he will get injured for sure.'

He probably wouldn't die...but he would definitely get injured.

Liam's foot pressed forward.

"Ugh.."

Just as he was about to step again, he stopped himself.

"Nevermind, that wouldn't be fun."

He suddenly let out a yawn.

Scratching the back of his head, Liam shook his head in disappointment.

"Who am I kidding? This is the first time in a while that I can have some fun, and I'm not about to throw it away."

Stupid.

Liam's found the whole situation stupid. Sure, his decision was also stupid, but he quite frankly didn't care.

If he attacked his opponent now and dealt him some damage, he would without a doubt have a chance at beating him...but he chose not to do so.

Reason?

...Because it wasn't fun.

Then again, stupid as it was, this was Liam's nature, and he perfectly understood how stupid his decision was. Not that he cared.

Why should he care in the first place?

His sole purpose for living was to fight against strong opponents. Remove that from the equation, and he would just be an empty shell.

In the first place, didn't he leave the human domain and go to the demon realm because he was bored?

What was the point of living if there was no purpose?

'Since I can't fight against Ren all the time and we're both limited to our environment, it would truly be a waste for me to throw such an opportunity away.'

Truly.

"...Well, this is unexpected."

A familiar voice woke Liam up from his slight daze. His brows immediately furrowed upon hearing the demon's voice.

"Huh?"

Lifting his head up, Liam was left stunned by what he saw.

Deep blue eyes, black hair, rather buff yet lean body...

'What's going on?'

Slowly opening his mouth, he called out.

"Ren?"

Chapter 643: War [5]

'Is he sharper than I let out, or is he just stupid?"

Suriol pondered to himself as he gazed at the human standing not so far from him. In the previous few moments, right when he was morphing his body, he sensed a slight murderous intent coming from the human.

He thought that he would attack him.

If there was a time when he was most vulnerable, it would indeed be during his transformation, so Suriol found it surprising that he didn't attack him.

'Did he sense something?'

In truth, the human would have most likely suffered severe injuries or even died had he chosen to attack.

The fact that he didn't do anything had in itself saved his life.

Suriol was not so dimwitted as to allow the human to take advantage of such a glaring weakness in his defenses.

He was obviously prepared.

'This new body isn't too bad…'

Suriol shifted his attention toward his new body.

He repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fists before raising his head to look at the human who was staring back at him with a look filled with surprise.

The grin that was already on his face grew wider.

"This is the existence you envy?"

He asked while moving around in this new body of his.

Suriol was a member of the Envy clan. A Duke ranked one at that. What made the clan of envy the strongest of the other clans was the unique power a certain part of their members had.

Evny, Lust, Gluttony, Pride, Greed, Wrath, and Sloth; Each clan represented a sin, and with it, they were born with an innate power that was only unique to their clan, and that perfectly matched their sin.

In Suriol's case, his power was that of someone who, by looking through the memories of their adversary, could flawlessly imitate the person that their adversary envied.

In this case, it was the form that he had just copied.

It took a total of ten seconds for Suriol to get used to the new body, and when he did, he felt everything become clear as information started to flood his mind.

They were a bit scattered as there seemed to be something wrong with the person's memories, but they were enough for Suriol to absorb and assimilate with himself.

"…He is indeed a person worth envying."

He extended his hand, at which point a sword composed of tangible demonic energy materialized.

Suriol slowly assumed his position as he locked eyes with the human standing opposite him.

"Let us see the power of the human that you envy, shall we?"

Click—!

***

"Fuck off!"

Hein let out a resounding roar as his shield collided with a nearby demon, knocking the demon to the ground with a loud crash.

The next thing that he did was stomp on the demon's head with his foot.

Crack.

After hearing a familiar cracking sound, he dashed forward, where he was followed by the simultaneous assault of five demons.

Booom—!

Hein did not move from his position and instead fixed his gaze on the demons that were in front of him. The moment their eyes locked, both of them took on more vicious and bloodthirsty expressions.

"Huek!"

"Kuak!"

Hein extended his hand and swiped in a horizontal manner.

There was a pileup on the ground of several severed heads due to the result of his actions. Hein manipulated the flame psyons in the air with the flick of his finger, and as a result, the demons' bodies burned to a crisp, exposing five unblemished cores.

He didn't think twice about destroying them as he stomped on them with his foot.

Bang!

"Ukh…"

Hein suddenly groaned as a demon appeared from his right side and attacked him. He was, fortunately, able to block the attack with just his body.

'There's so many.'

Not even a second after killing five demons, and ten more were at him. The numbers…

They seemed endless.

"Fuck this shit."

He let out a resounding shout as he pounded his shield against the ground with one single large movement.

"Huaaa!"

Boom—!

The ground began to fracture, and a powerful shockwave propagated outward, forcing the demons that were around him to spread apart. Hein took advantage of the opportunity that presented itself in that split second by pressing his foot against the ground and propelling his body in the direction of the demon that was closest to him.

"Huek!

His shield slashed the demon into two. Without taking a single break, he twisted his body and the head of a nearby demon detached, falling to the ground. As the blood continued to pool on his shield, it didn't take long before it turned black in color.

With no time to care about the cores, Hein crushed the head of the demon with his foot and kicked toward his right.

Like a whip, his foot smacked against a demon's neck, sending it crashing against the ground.

Be it fist, foot, shield, head…Hein used everything that he had at his disposal to kill the demons around him.

'Looks like learning from Han Yufei wasn't that bad of an idea after all.'

His current fighting ability came as a result of Han Yufei teaching him martial arts.

Hein had the realization quite some time ago that merely defending himself was not going to be sufficient. He needed to find ways to deal with his opponent, which was why he had asked Han Yufei for assistance; Han Yufei was happy to assist him in exchange for something similar.

'Now that I think of it, this isn't nearly as bad as my time with Han Yufei…'

He shuddered involuntarily at the memory of his battles with Han Yufei.

It was bearable at first, but the guy…

He was inhuman at this point. Hein feared him more than Liam and Ren.

Initially, he was manageable; however, after practicing some strange art, he became impossible to fight against. Not only would the training grounds be left in shambles, but the manner in which he fought left absolutely no room for Hein to take a breath at any point in time.

Hein was powerless to stop Han Yufei from his endless onslaught; all he could do was brace himself and wait for his stamina to run out. However, this never seemed to happen throughout their spars as Han Yufei never seemed to run out of stamina.

He was quite simply, a monster.

'Still, it's all thanks to him that I have improved so much.'

Hein bitterly smiled and took a deep breath. Eying the demons in front of him, his eyes sharpened and his shield started to glow.

[Steel domain]

The glow around his shield became brighter, and it wasn't long before the shield split into five different sized pieces.

They began hovering around him, and while Hein grunted once, the shields began to grow in size with the assistance of Hein's mana, which was attached to the shield's side in the form of a translucent tangible material.

It wasn't long before he had five hovering shields, centered by a part of his previous shield.

'Down.'

Hein gestured with his fingers, and the shields bowed with their apexes facing outward. All of this transpired in a fraction of a second, and with a twist of his hands, the shields began to encircle his body with increasing velocity.

He then extended his hand forward and the radius around him expanded.

"Heek!"

"Hueak!"

Black rain started pouring shortly after as agonized screams accompanied the rain.

The scene was extremely gruesome, with limbs flying everywhere around Hein. However, he didn't have time to care about this as he could feel his mana dwindling at an alarming rate. It was depleting so fast that he couldn't even process the disgust he was feeling in his stomach.

'This is a lot more exhausting than I thought…'

Hein started to grit his teeth.

At the rate he was going, he didn't see how he could survive for more than twenty minutes. It sounded like a lot of time, but in reality, it was practically nothing in comparison to a war that would probably last quite a long time.

…If that wasn't all.

Boooom—!

Hein was taken aback by an expected explosion, during which he felt a powerful force blast against his shield, and he was forced to retreat.

"Urkk!"

The shields that were rotating around Hein fell to the ground in a helpless manner as he skidded back several meters.

Spurt—

Feeling a sweet sensation down his throat, Hein suddenly found himself spitting blood.

"Fuck, shit."

He wiped his lips and slowly raised his head up, at which point he was confronted with the sight of a demon looking in his direction. Hein could tell with just a glance that the demon in front of him was no regular demon.

All the demons that were previously attacking him had long stopped attacking him and had shifted their attention away.

"What do we have here?"

A sinister whisper echoed in the air.

"Huuu…huuu…"

In response to the demon's gaze, Hein noticed a change in the rhythm of his breathing.

'Marquis…'

Shivers ran down Hein's body. The rank of the demon became apparent in his mind, and his body shuddered even more fiercely.

He could barely raise his head as the demon scrutinized his body carefully.

"…You shouldn't have stood out so much."

His eerie and sinister voice once again echoed inside Hein's head.

"Had you not stood out so much, I would've never have found you."

The voice suddenly sounded a lot closer.

Unbeknownst to Hein, the demon was already a couple of meters away from him.

'Fast…'

Hein thought as he swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

He wasn't even able to tell how the demon had gotten so close to him. Hein's complexion paled and his body abruptly twisted in the direction of where the voice came.

…But it was unfortunately too late.

"Aaakh!"

He felt a powerful force press against his abdomen and his body flew several meters back until he crashed against the ground.

Bang—!

"Fuck…"

Hein cursed out loud as he felt every part of his body ache.

He slowly lifted his head up to stare at the demon that was slowly approaching his direction. No, slow was an understatement.

By the time Hein blinked, he was already upon him.

With his extended hand, he ruthlessly swiped at Hein's face, trying to end his life in an instant.

"Khhh…"

Hein felt his life flash across his eyes as he stared at the approaching claws.

The claws soon reached Hein.

'Noooo!'

Clang—!

Chapter 644: War [6]

It all should've ended with a swipe of my hand…

That was what, Mercurion, a Marquis ranked demon thought as he swiped down at the human before him.

He had a rather strong body.

One that was difficult to break with a single attack and that required quite a bit of strength, in spite of him being a rank lower. Even so, it should not have been impossible for Mercurion to overcome.

In the end, orcs had a similar level of toughness and he was easily able to kill them.

Clang—!

Mercurion was taken aback when he felt his claws strike something solid and felt a vibration emanating from his hand as a result of the impact.

"What's going on?"

He wondered aloud as he lowered his head to look at the human.

At this precise moment, Marcurion was astounded to see that the human's body had turned completely black, and thin yellow lines began to appear around the human's body.

They glowed a faint tint of yellow and brought rise to an indescribable sense of oppression.

'What's going on?'

Mercurion stared in disbelief as he sensed that something was off about the situation.

Bang—!

Before he could even begin to make sense of what was happening, he felt a strong force envelop his entire body as he was pushed several meters backward.

"Hyak!"

***

"Haaa…haaa…"

'It hurts!'

As Hein laboriously gulped for air, he was suddenly overcome with excruciating pain throughout his entire body.

Particularly, he was able to feel the throbbing and searing pain in his veins, making it hard for him to even utter a couple of words.

Nonetheless, with the pain came an indescribable amount of power.

"Aaaakhhh…"

Hein yelled out in agony as the muscles in his right hand began to twitch in an uncontrollable manner.

He was starting to lose focus and his vision was starting to blur.

The pain was that intense.

'Damn it ...I didn't expect to use this so early into the war.'

Hein muttered a curse under his breath as the shaking in his right knee and the growing darkness in his vision continued.

'Remember Hein, don't ever use it unless you're in danger. Since you are only learning about the body part, using it will result in excruciating pain that will make you want to commit suicide.

Hein started recalling a few words Han Yufei had told him in the past.

'Not only that, since you haven't fully mastered it yet, the pain will be even worse than I can describe...remember, don't ever use the Gravar style unless your life is really in danger.'

"Haha...I should've listened to him."

Hein let out a strained laugh.

The Gravar style.

Yes, what Hein was currently using at the moment was the Gravar style.

Well, at least a small part of it.

He couldn't actually learn the Graver style since he didn't use the sword and it didn't fit his fighting style. However, with Han Yufei's permission, he was able to learn a small part of it.

The part that focused on the body.

"Ughhh..."

The throbbing only got worse with time.

'...I don't have much time.'

The twenty minutes he previously had had now turned to a couple of minutes.

Hein was aware that he was in a difficult situation; however, when confronted by a demon with the rank of Marquis, he knew that he could not show any restraint at all.

Boom!

With just a single step, the ground beneath him tore into shreds and his vision distorted. Before he knew it, he was in front of the Marquis ranked demon. He raised his arm and, curling his hand into a fist, he punched with all he had.

His movements were so fast that when he threw a fist, the demon could do nothing but stay firm on his spot as he crossed his arms together to block the attack.

"Heukk!"

As a result of Hein's attack, the demon was forced to retreat several meters in the opposite direction. When he finally came to a stop, he had a look of complete and utter surprise on his face.

"H..how "

He wondered aloud while maintaining a blank expression on his face. However, before he could even begin to comprehend what was taking place, Hein appeared in front of him once more and delivered another powerful punch.

Bang!

Hein's attacks were relentless. He didn't even leave a single moment for the demon to catch his breath. His fighting style perfectly resembled Han Yufei's. Relentless and destructive.

The only difference was that Hein was slowly losing strength with each second that passed.

Nonetheless, it was enough for him to deal severe damage to the demon.

Booom!

Hein smashed the demon's head against the ground with his hand while his right foot pinned the demon's body to the ground.

"Hiek!"

When the demon crashed into the ground, he let out a pitiful screech and his eyes widened in shock as he stared at the ground in disbelief.

'How...how is this possible?'

Hein was able to tell what the demon was thinking simply by observing the expression on his face as he mounted the demon's body and began to punch the demon with everything he had.

Bang!

One punch.

Bang!

A second punch..

Bang!

A third punch...

As the demon's head was smacked to one side and then the other, the pace of the punches began to quicken and eventually reached a frenetic state. The blows were so powerful that the demon couldn't even scream as his eyes rolled back into his head and blood flew everywhere.

"Khhh..."

'This should be enough.'

When Hein had already delivered his fifteenth punch within a span of two seconds, he could feel his body on fire and realized that he needed to put an end to the situation at this very instant.

He had to put an end to things right away if he wanted any chance of surviving this and making it out alive.

He raised his hand and made preparations to put an end to everything right at this very moment.

"...Huh?"

His hand frozen in mid-air as he was about to swing it.

Hein blinked once, and during that brief moment, his eyes came into contact with those of the demon. It came as a complete shock to Hein when the demon's eyes, which had previously been red, suddenly turned yellow.

At the same time, Hein felt his entire body suddenly become lethargic.

"A..are you feeling tired?"

The demon opened his mouth and his voice quietly entered Hein's head in a low whisper.

The corners of Hein's eyes began to droop, and the hand that was still in the air appeared to be on the verge of falling at any moment.

"You've had your fun with me already, haven't you? I think it's enough, don't you think?"

The demon's voice continued to ring inside of Hein's head like multiple whispers.

'Right...I'm indeed tired.'

Hein murmured inwardly as he heard the demon's voice.

The demon's eyes began to shine with an even greater brilliance, and Hein's hand, which had been raised earlier, began to slowly lower itself.

"I know that you have used a lot of energy, how about you go to sleep? I think you deserve some sleep after everything that you did..."

The demon's voice gradually became softer over the course of the conversation, and Hein didn't even notice when his eyelids began to close before it was too late.

'Right...he is right... '

The demon's words made sense in his mind.

At this point, his strength and stamina were almost entirely depleted. As a matter of fact, his mental clarity had already begun to diminish well before this moment. He hadn't been able to think clearly in quite some time, and the voice of the demon completely resonated with what he was experiencing on the inside.

Not only that, but he somehow felt even more tired when the demon's eyes turned yellow.

"...How about you take a small nap, I think you deserve it."

"I...agree.."

Hein mumbled something as he eventually nodded his head and closed his eyes before collapsing next to the demon with a soft thud.

Thud-!

***

"Haaa..."

Mercurion exhaled deeply as he felt the weight of the human being lifted off of his body. The glow that had been in his eyes vanished, and as soon as it did, he jerked his head around to glare at the human that had been beating on him from above just a moment ago.

"How embarrassing."

He quietly mumbled.

For a Marquis ranked demon like him to suffer such an embarrassing beat down, he felt various emotions.

Shame, anger, resentment...

'This human is dangerous.'

He slowly stood up and looked at the human who was passed out on the ground.

Mercurion was a member of the Sloth clan, and he had a lingering fear that if he hadn't been able to use his abilities at the precise moment that he did, it could have been him lying on the ground instead of the human.

Naturally, the idea that he was going to die never entered his head at any point in time.

He was a Marquis ranked demon while his opponent wasn't. Despite his sudden rise in strength, it still wasn't enough to deal with the large gap in rank the two of them had.

Sure, he did get beaten down on the ground, but that was all part of his plan. He just needed to find the opportune time to use his powers and render his opponent immobile through the usage of his powers.

...and he succeeded.

"Let's get rid of him."

Mercurion glanced at the battlefield around him and decided to kill the human in front of him.

His next set of actions was rather quick. Raising his foot, he stomped toward the human's head.

"...huh?"

...or at least tried to.

The moment his foot was about to crush the human's skull into a pulp, it suddenly froze in the middle of the air, preventing it from doing its intended damage.

'What's going on?'

Mercurion slowly turned his head, and as he did so, his eyes fell upon a beguiling figure that had two large horns growing out of her head. Her eyes had a rosy gleam that shone brightly.

"If you don't mind, how about letting him go?"

Her seductive voice echoed throughout the air as she slowly made her way toward Mercurion.

"...What?"

Mercurion gave a single blink of his eye as he caught a glimpse of the demon approaching him from behind. When he felt something out of the ordinary, his heart began to race, but he was unable to move, and all he could feel was his head slowly nodding.

"How sweet of you."

The demoness murmured something in his ear in a low voice. Before Mercurion could even realize what was happening, she was already standing in front of him.

Leaning her head closer to his ear once again, she whispered something else.

"...Now that we're at it, why don't you do me another favor?"

Mercurion experienced chills down his back as he listened to her words, but it seemed as though his body was frozen in place and he was unable to move at all.

The demoness tilted her head to the side and smiled seductively in his direction. She lowered her voice and cocked her head slightly as she spoke.

"Why don't you die?"

Everything turned black after that.

Chapter 645: War [7]

Jin leaped into the air as he snuck toward five Marquis-ranked demons who were a little farther away from the other Marquis-ranked demons who had made the decision to advance a little in order to scope the war.

Some of them had even actively joined the war, trying to balance the situation as Ren's members were wreaking havoc at the very front. Their very presence was tilting the balance of the war as they massacred hundreds of demons at a time.

'I should also play a role.'

With his rank being <S-> rank, Jin now had the ability to fly as he skipped through the air in a secretive manner.

Nearing the demons, he activated his first skill.

[Absolute stealth [B]] : The user can completely conceal their breathing, heartbeat, and noise, as well as their physical form upon activating this skill.

Over the years, Jin had acquired many different skills. Most of them came from his guild. At times as a reward for all of his accomplishments, and at other times as a gift from his parents and grandfather.

He used to be very hesitant about taking skills in the past as he wanted to prove to the others that he didn't need the guild in order to be the best, but as he grew up, and he thought back on his previous thoughts, he could only shake his head and lament about how stupid and naive his thoughts were.

'If you are born with an advantage, use it.'

He was born with a golden spoon ever since he was little.

Perhaps because of others' jealousy and how they claimed that the only reason he was strong was because of his grandfather and all of the potions he was fed as a child, Jin began to believe their words, giving rise to his edgy teen phase where he would think of everyone as his enemy.

He had long grown past that phase.

He now knew better than anyone that the only opinion that mattered was his. It was his life, not theirs. What right did they have to say anything about his life?

Just the thought of how he had been manipulated in the past brought rise to a hidden anger within him.

'Fortunately, I realized it early.'

All he needed was one wake up call to learn of this, and from there, Jin decided to use the one advantage he had over the others and acquire the best skills he could through his guild.

Not only that, but he also learned the best arts that the guild had to offer.

Of course, he only learned those that would benefit him, and he didn't just learn all of the arts for the sake of learning them.

'If only I could've practiced everything earlier.'

Just thinking back at all the time he had wasted with his worthless pride gave rise to a high sense of disappointment in himself.

'What a waste.'

"Fuuu..."

His body emerged from behind a Marquis ranked demon.

There were a total of five Marquis ranked demons scattered around him, and none of them took notice of his presence.

Appearing from behind the demon, Jin's eyes changed as five different red shooting targets appeared in his vision.

[Axiom Lock [S]] : The user gains the ability to see through the opponent's axis, pivots, and center of gravity, granting them a significant advantage in combat.

As he fiddled with the two daggers in his hands, a circular domain started to spread out from his body, until it began to encircle the area around him as well as the Marquis ranked demon.

[Domain of silence [A]] : Constructs a domain around the user that prevents all noise from escaping.

The domain was invisible.

Only Jin had the ability to see it expand from out of his body, and encircling the area around him and the demon.

The next set of actions all happened in a flash.

With his eyes darting all over the targets, Jin's hands flashed, and the dagger in his hand pierced right through every single spot marked in his vision.

The demon screamed out loud, but no noise came out of his mouth. If that wasn't enough, by the time Jin was done attacking the Marquis ranked demon, the demon found himself unable to move as the ligaments of both his arms and legs had been torn.

A long line spread across his neck, and his wings had been cut.

The last thing the demon felt was a hand piercing through his head. After that, everything went dark.

'That's one.'

Jin silently murmured to himself as his eyes narrowed.

Killing this demon was the easiest part. The hardest part was what followed after.

After all, although he had the skills that granted him the ability to kill someone silently, it did not camouflage his kill. Within the next two seconds, one of the demons near him would definitely notice that something was wrong and warn the others.

Thus...

Jin's figure suddenly appeared in front of another demon after briefly disappearing. This time, he decided not to use his A-ranked skill, domain of silence, and instead just attacked with his right hand, which was holding a sharp dagger in it.

On the other hand, his other hand, which was empty, was extended toward the left side. His hand gradually took on a shadowy appearance as a dark haze began to envelop it.

Thin threads started to shoot from the tip of his hand, aiming toward two nearby Marquis ranked demons.

All of this happened within the short two second span that he had given himself.

By the time the demons realized that something was wrong, the threads had already reached them and had locked onto their respective necks like sharp daggers.

Jin was hugging a demon from behind while pressing a dagger against his neck. On the other hand, his left hand which was extended toward the two other Marquis ranked demons had thin black threads that encircled their necks.

Three out of four of the remaining demons were locked under his control within that short period of time, and by the time the fourth demon turned around to see what was going on, he was met with the sight of Jin's cold eyes.

Spurt! Spurt! Spurt!

A fountain of black blood began to spray in the air as the demon stared at Jin with a look of absolute dread.

"W..what?"

What was happening before the demon's eyes seemed impossible. It was completely beyond his common sense.

...he had just turned around to look at the battle at the front, only to be shocked to see that his comrades had all been incapacitated.

All of this happened so fast that he had been unable to react at all.

'H...how...'

The demon thought to himself as he moved back a little. His eyes were filled with absolute horror and dread.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Three muffled sounds echoed beneath as Jin dropped the bodies of the demons onto the ground.

In his hand were three perfectly shaped cores, which disappeared with a flick of his finger.

Just like that, Jin had gotten rid of four Marquis ranked demons.

What was happening right now was no coincidence.

This was the product of Jin's hard work.

He understood just how big the gap between him and Ren was. His goal used to be to chase after him, but he realized that that was stupid.

Fundamentally, Ren was not him.

Ren was a swordsman, and Jin was more of an assassin. The weapons they used were different, and so was the way they fought.

It was upon this realization that everything became clear to Jin.

'I'll just focus on improving what I'm good at instead of trying to catch up to Ren.'

He might not be the best swordsman around, but he sure as hell was going to be the strongest assassin there was.

...and the fact that he could kill four Marquis ranked demons when his strength was the same as theirs was a testament to just how strong he had gotten over the years.

***

"He's pretty good."

Emma murmured as she looked toward the sky where Jin was.

Currently, he was face to face with a Marquis ranked demon. She witnessed, alongside Melissa, him dispatch four Marquis ranked demons in a matter of a minute.

His strength had honestly left her stunned.

'...I wonder just how much effort he must've put in over the years to become this strong.'

Without a doubt, Jin's talent wasn't the only thing that had led to him becoming this strong. She knew better than anyone that effort and dedication were the necessary requirements for one to become strong.

A bitter smile spread across her face as she thought about the effort she put in.

"Haha, I wonder if my efforts are still not enough?"

The reason why she wanted to become strong was so that she wouldn't be a burden for Kevin...but it didn't seem like he appreciated her efforts as he seemed to have put some distance from her over the last few years.

She didn't realize why at first, and the thought saddened her, but upon further reflection, she realized that it was most likely because he still found her a burden and that he was most probably putting on a distance with her so that she wouldn't get hurt.

Well...at least that was what she forced herself to think.

After all, there was no way Kevin would abandon her...right?

"Oy, wake up."

"Ouch!"

A slap at the back of her head was what snapped her out of her thoughts.

She hastily turned her head and glared in Melissa's direction.

"What was that for?"

"Huh?"

Melissa looked at her with a look that said, 'Are you seriously asking me something so obvious?', while she pointed at the battlefield.

"Falling into a daze when there's a war going on? Did you get hurt before coming here?"

"Ah..."

Emma put on an embarrassed look.

She lowered her head and whispered.

"You're right."

"No shit I'm right."

Ruthless as ever, Melissa didn't hold her punches as she continued to rant.

"I get that you're having some relationship troubles, but there is a time for everything, and now is not the time to think about this type of stuff."

"How did you-"

"It doesn't matter how I know. The device I set up around us isn't going to last forever. The core is already running out of energy, so you better get ready to fight soon."

Melissa took out several flasks from her dimensional space. All of which had different colored substances hidden inside.

She opened one and handed it to Emma.

"Here drink this, it will help you fight better."

"What's this?"

Emma asked out of curiosity.

Melissa shoved it at her and answered.

"Just drink it. I'm not going to poison you."

"...Alright then."

Emma drank the potion under Melissa's gaze.

"Huh?"

She felt a sudden burst of strength.

Her eyes opened wide in shock as she gazed at Melissa.

"Thi.."

"Don't ask questions. You wouldn't understand even if I told you what I did."

She tossed several different colored cards in Emma's direction. After which, she crouched down on the ground and tapped onto a small device set up on the ground.

"Get ready, in the next few seconds we will be assaulted from all sides. Make sure you don't die."

"Wai-"

Melissa tapped onto the device before Emma could finish her sentence and all of a sudden, she felt thousands of different eyes pause on her body.

Chills ran down her body.

"Fuck, Melissa!"

***

As the shaking in the room became more intense and my heart began to twitch, I let out a scream.

"Uaaakk!"

At the same time, the room began to shake even more fiercely. This was especially true for the pillars, which were shaking so violently that it appeared as though they could topple over at any moment.

Bang!

'Not yet!'

I pounded the ground with my fist and clenched my teeth tightly.

I shut my eyes and concentrated on the mana that was entering my body. I continued to control its movements within my body in order to make sure that everything was operating as it should. A single mistake and I was fucked.

'!!!'

When I shut my eyes to examine the state of my body, I was delighted to reach the conclusion that I was only a few seconds away from breaking through.

Immediately after I realized this, my eyes snapped open and I hastily chewed on another herb.

"Huaaak!"

As if scalding lava was traveling through my veins, my body jerked up and I let out a heartwrenching scream. The scream was so loud that it drowned out the sound of the explosions coming from the war, and it wasn't long before I suddenly heard a cracking sound inside of the room.

Cr..ack!

Everything changed after that.

Chapter 646: War [8]

'The situation is not looking good.'

Angelica's expression was one of gloom as she stooped down to examine Hein, who was lying unconscious on the ground at that moment.

'Luckily, he seems fine, but he is completely spent at the moment.'

She sighed in relief when she realized that Hein was fine and slowly stood up and scanned her surroundings.

The area surrounding her was completely empty, as a circle formed in her vicinity as any demons that entered her radius abruptly turned around and charged the other demons in the area with blank looks on their faces.

"What are you doing?! We're on the same si-huak!"

"Traitor!"

This was all thanks to her power that allowed her to control the weaker ranked demons.

"Report to me your situation."

Angelica raised her wrist and whispered something.

It wasn't long before she received several replies.

[Uek, I'm not holding out too well. I've lost eight of my pets already, and I'm being pushed back at the moment!]

The first one to reply was Ava, and it sounded as though she rushed when she spoke. Her manner of speaking made it abundantly clear that the circumstances surrounding her were dismal.

[I'm with Ryan at the moment, and I'm helping out from above, but the demons have already infiltrated a small par-hak!]

Leopold's audio was cut off in the middle, and Angelica's brows furrowed.

'What happened?'

A crisp voice echoed after Liam's voice. It belonged to none other than Amanda who kept shooting her arrows in the sky, killing hundreds of demons at the time.

[I'm fine for now, but I'm slowly running out of mana. I've been targeted by a few demons so my mana is depleting rapidly.]

[I'm also fine...but I'm currently fighting against five Marquis ranked demons, so I don't think I'll be fine for much longer.]

The response from Han Yufei arrived much later than the one from Amanda, and when it did, Angelica lowered her wrist and furrowed her brows.

Raising her head she looked at Liam who was in the sky and her expression turned even grimmer.

'...This is not good.'

It was at this precise moment that she became aware of the fact that the war's equilibrium was on the verge of tipping. If they waited just a few more minutes, they would all be in some very serious trouble.

Her heart unknowingly quickened.

***

Click!

The all too familiar clicking sound echoed inside of Liam's head as he felt something sharp brush past his skin. With just a blink of his eyes, he cocked his head to the right and narrowly avoided the Duke ranked demon's sword.

"You dodged that?"

A look of surprise appeared on the demon's face.

Liam chose not to respond and instead focused his attention on the Duke-ranked demon standing in front of him.

His current appearance was identical to Ren's in every way. From the structure of his body, his hair, and his eyes. He was a carbon copy of Ren in every possible way imaginable. To such an extent that Liam had the impression that he was currently in a fight with Ren.

There was only one problem...

'This...it's not fun.'

He had already fought with Ren dozens of times before. He knew almost everything about Ren's fighting style. It was effortless for him to counter his usual fast movements.

It seemed as though things were getting easier for him, even though he was in a situation that should have been getting harder.

"I don't like this."

Unknowingly, he was voicing out his displeasure aloud.

The Duke ranked demon paused.

"You don't like this?"

"I...I don't."

Liam shook his head with a clear look of displeasure on his face.

"Do you have any idea how many times in the past I've faced off against Ren? It's to the point where I can't even keep track of it all anymore!"

Actually, it was more like he forgot, but he wasn't going to say that.

"I have almost completely committed all of his movements and attacks to memory at this point. Do you seriously believe that if you were to become him, it would make things more difficult for me?"

As Liam clenched his teeth and focused his attention on the fake Ren, lightning began to crackle around his body.

"... Unfortunately, that's the furthest thing from the truth."

He tapped his sword, producing a similar clicking sound. The Duke-level demon was barely able to parry the attack with a sword swing. Despite this, he was nonetheless pushed back.

Liam pursued after him.

"See, what you're doing isn't even that impressive. I can do that too!"

If Ren had been present and witnessed the scene, he would have likely shook his head in dismay.

'Since when did my sword art become as common as a cabbage?'

For there to be two people who were using something similar to the Keiki style...

Ren would have unquestionably begun reevaluating his life decisions.

Even though theirs were imitations and not identical, the fact that they were able to imitate it to that degree would've left one speechless.

Click!

As Liam appeared directly in front of the Duke-ranked demon, the lightning crackling around his arm intensified, as did his movements. If he was fast before, he was now impossibly fast.

Clank!

He slashed down with everything he got, forcing the Duke ranked demon back again.

'Not enough!'

The crackling sound of lightning that was occurring all around Liam's body became even louder. His form, which had been visible just moments before, disappeared into the background, leaving behind only two pupils that shone with a brilliant yellow hue.

The bolts of lightning danced wildly behind him, and it wasn't long before they seemed to take the shape of a gigantic blue dragon.

The second movement of the [Ivorian style] : Lightning Dragon.

The dragon lunged forward, opening its mouth wide before biting in the direction of the Duke ranked demon. The force with which the attack came was extremely devastating, and it was sufficient to cause the complexion of the Duke-ranked demon to change as several hundreds of blue rings appeared right in front of him.

[Ring of vindication], elemental discharge, lightning.

The dragon, which had previously been the size of an airplane, shrunk considerably when it saw the circles for the first time, and it wasn't long before it disappeared completely.

The Duke ranked demon smiled when he saw the dragon disappear.

His smile didn't last very long because all of a sudden he felt the hair on the back of his head standing up. Shortly after that, he began to hear the echo of a chilly voice next to his ear.

"You'd think I'd fall for something like this?"

Liam extended his hand in the direction of the demon's head.

His movement was simple, as he only extended his hand, but it was enough to startle the demon because the speed at which he was moving was simply mind-boggling. Even he, a Duke-ranked demon on the verge of reaching the Prince rank, was struggling with his speed.

That alone signified just how fast Liam's movements were.

Sadly, the unfortunate reality was that the demon wasn't just a Duke ranked demon in name.

At precisely the moment when Liam's hand was about to come into contact with the back of his head, the space around Liam began to crack, and what appeared to be the pointed tips of actual swords began to materialize all around him.

"Shit."

Liam cursed to himself as he stopped whatever he was doing.

After that, different white lines started to appear in his field of vision. This was immediately followed by his yellow pupils shining with a greater yellow hue.

He then took a single look around him and was able to skilfully sidestep the white lines that were headed in the direction of his body.

Unfortunately, the number of white lines was simply far too many for him to completely avoid.

Spurt! Spurt!

Left shoulder, and right thigh.

He felt something sharp in those areas. Blinking once, his vision returned to normal and it was there that he realized that his whole body was covered in blood.

He was clearly injured.

"Are you bored now?"

The voice of the Duke-ranked demon could be heard coming from the direction of his far right. Instead of turning, Liam lowered his head.

"Not talking?"

The demon seemed to have misunderstood Liam's silence for confirmation, as he didn't attack again. Instead, he slowly approached Liam who was floating in the air with a serious look on his face.

"What are you thinking about?"

The demon was already in front of Liam before he knew it. Secretly, the area around Liam had started to become enveloped by a darkish domain which was slowly isolating the two of them.

With a calm look on his face, he carefully scrutinized Liam's body.

"Say..."

Instead of attacking immediately, his figure morphed back to its original form. He no longer looked like Ren. In his mind, the battle was over.

With the domain established, it was impossible for him to die.

"...What do you think about signing a contract with me?"

The demon's eyes shone once again, and Liam felt his body grow lethargic once more as his head was filled with soft whispers.

A contract appeared in the demon's hands.

"Sign the contract."

The demon swept his eyes across the battlefield and smiled.

"Sign the contract and-huh?"

The demon came to a halt in the middle of his sentence as he abruptly turned his head to look toward the distance, where he sensed a significant shift in the surrounding environment.

He wasn't the only one to notice the abrupt change in the environment as the entire battlefield came to a sudden halt.

Almost immediately after that, a massive yellow column shot straight up into the sky. Instantaneously, a terrifying suffocating pressure engulfed everyone in the battlefield.

Nearly everyone could feel their breathing becoming more labored, with the exception of the demon that was standing in front of Liam. At the same time, the pupils of several demons in the distance began to contract.

"This power..."

The demon gazed off into the distance while maintaining an expression of utter disbelief on his face. In contrast to everyone else present, he had an uncanny ability to gauge the intensity of the pressure that was emanating from the distance.

"That ..."

Liam weakly turned his head to look in the direction of where the pillar was coming from.

A smile spread across his face as he glanced in the demon's direction and mumbled.

"...That is the existence that I envy. "

***

''I did it...'

After suffering for who knew how long...I had finally broken through.

A refreshing feeling enveloped my entire body as I slowly stood up from my spot.

When I opened my eyes to look around, I was left stunned by what was within my vision.

'So many psyons...'

There must have been over a million distinct particles of varying hues that suddenly materialized all around me. These particles touched my body and moved around it in response to each and every movement I made.

I was able to see the psyons move away from my hand as I raised it, and it looked almost exactly like I was moving my hand through the water. It was very interesting.

'Now isn't the time for me to get fascinated with this type of stuff.'

I raised my head to stare toward the distance and it was there that my brows furrowed.

"Luckily, I didn't take too long to break through."

My vision suddenly became distorted as I took a casual step forward. With that one step, I was suddenly standing outside the walls of the castle. My gaze traveled across the battlefield, and it was not long before it was drawn to a particular demon off in the distance.

'Is that Liam?'

Next to him was a familiar figure. It was none other than Liam.

My brows furrowed even more tightly when I saw in just what state he was in. They didn't stay knit for long, as they soon relaxed.

'What an idiot...'

I muttered to myself quietly as I worked very hard to suppress the urge to shake my head. At first glance, I was able to tell that he had challenged the Duke-ranked demon on purpose because this opponent was the most powerful one on the battlefield.

Little did he know that the so called Duke ranked demon was on the verge of breaking through to the rank of Prince.

'Actually, he probably knew, but he still didn't care.'

This fact alone made it harder for me to stop myself from shaking my head.

'Even though I fixed most of his memories, why can't he act normal for once.'

This was giving me a headache.

Actually, realistically speaking, he was the only one that could've stopped the Duke ranked demon for as long as he did. Rather than being an idiot, he was the one that pretty much prevented the war from ending early.

I was just being too sensitive since he always tended to pull this type of crap.

Blinking once, I found myself standing next to Liam and the demon.

I calmly opened my mouth and said something after lowering my head to cast a fleeting glance in Liam's direction.

"Let me handle things for now."

***

Mass release 1/2.

Chapter 647: Ren's return [1]

"Wait, Ren. I can still fight. I still haven't used my trump card."

"It doesn't matter. You already had your chance, and honestly..."

Ren didn't even bother to look at Liam before he shot him.

"Even if you were to successfully defeat him, the cost would be too great for you to bear. Please return to the castle and allow me to handle the current situation."

"Tsk."

After making a clicking sound with his tongue, Liam sheathed his sword, and the hue that had been swirling around his body began to fade.

When he looked into Ren's eyes, he found that he could not bring himself to disobey his orders. The things that he said weren't totally off base.

Even though there was a slim chance that he could triumph over the demon that stood in front of him, the price that he would have to pay to defeat that demon would be far too high for him to stomach. In spite of the fact that he often acted on impulse, he was not exactly wishing to die just yet.

There were a great number of other goals in his mind that he wanted to accomplish before dying. Dying to some unknown Duke ranked demon wasn't on the list.

'...Like fighting the Demon King.'

The one demon that was said to be unbeatable.

Now, dying against him would indeed be fun.

"Fine, but just this time. There won't be a next time."

His body then fell to the ground, and he disappeared immediately after.

In the sky, Ren and the Suriol stared at each other. Ren's eyes appeared rather icy, in contrast to Suriol's, which shone with a watchful intensity.

Opening his mouth, Suriol asked.

"Did you just breakthrough?"

"...I thought that was obvious enough."

Ren cast a casual glance in the direction of the castle, which was located behind him.

He didn't feel the need to lie about his most recent breakthrough. To him, it wasn't going to change the outcome of the fight regardless.

Additionally, the phenomenon that his breakthrough had brought into existence ought to have already been a dead giveaway at that point. Clearly, Suriol was just asking to waste time and get a better read on his strength.

"I see..."

Duke Suriol closed his eyes once.

His wings quickly grew larger, and a powerful force erupted from his body, heading in the direction of Ren like an unstoppable tsunami.

When confronted with such intense pressure, Ren simply extended his hand forward and swiped to his right, which allowed him to effortlessly slice through the assault as though it was made out of paper.

"...Not bad."

The unassuming actions taken by Ren caused Suriol's expression to become solemn.

Even at that point, Suriol maintained a relatively relaxed posture.

"...How about we step it up a notch?"

The second part of his sentence echoed inside Ren's ear from the back as Ren felt the presence of someone standing right behind him. To his surprise, he could still see Duke Soriol's figure standing in the spot where he had previously stood.

It was obvious that he moved at such a rapid pace that he left behind discernible afterimages of himself.

Despite this, Ren was able to respond in time as five rings materialized directly behind him, forming a stack that stopped Duke Suriol's impending attack.

Crack!

The attack was slowed down as a result of four out of the five rings shattering completely. The final ring also shattered, but by the time it did, Ren had already moved a considerable distance away from where he had been standing before.

His actions surprised Duke Suriol who looked at Ren with a surprised look.

"So you've also dodged that?"

His laid-back demeanor remained consistent the entire time, but his smile was slowly receding.

When he moved his hand in front of him, the space in front of him shattered, and his hand disappeared, only to reappear in a flash right next to Ren as the void next to him shattered like broken glass.

"Khh.."

The sudden unexpected action taken by Suriol caught Ren off guard as he was unable to deflect the blow in time, and as a consequence, he sustained an injury on the back of his neck from which blood began to pour.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Duke Soriol continued to attack Ren, resulting in cuts appearing all over Ren's body.

Within a very brief amount of time, Ren's body had already become covered in cuts, and blood had started to leak out of the various wounds and onto the ground.

Duke Suriol beamed with satisfaction as he took in Ren's predicament and then began speaking.

"It's useless; just because you've advanced to the next level does not mean you can fight on equal grounds with me. It was over 150 years ago that I was promoted to the Duke rank. Even if you had managed to stabilize the mana within your body, you would not have been able to fight me as our strengths still differed by a large margin."

In other races, Duke Suriol's rank was roughly equivalent to an <SS+>.

Compared to Ren, who had just broken through to <SS-> rank, there was still a significant gap in their abilities, and this was what he was attempting to convey to Ren, who was struggling to avoid his attacks.

If all of that wasn't bad enough, Ren's level of experience paled in comparison to that of Duke Suriol, who had lived for over 500 years. In his head, there wasn't much of a fight left to be had.

Although he was initially surprised by Ren's appearance, the 'surprise' was where it ended.

'I'll make sure to torture you a bit more for everything you've done over the past few months. All of my discarded plans and subordinates...'

As he continued to attack, Duke Soriol experienced a sudden outburst of rage as his attacks grew increasingly vicious. Ren, who could barely avoid his attacks, began to bleed even more blood.

Everyone on the ground was able to see Ren's lonesome figure floating above them as their hearts began to sink.

The gap between Duke Soriol and Ren...

Everyone who was looking up from below could make out every detail perfectly. Instantaneously, the morale of the demons grew stronger, whereas the orcs' morale became weaker.

The conflict on the battlefield below took a new direction as the demons' attacks started to become more fierce while those on the orc side started to become less intense.

They were all beginning to feel hopeless about the outcome of the war...

***

"Huakk!!"

After being shot in the head with an arrow, a demon toppled to the ground, sending it crashing down hard against a pack of other demons that were fighting beneath the orcen castle.

It was at that moment that another arrow formed with a flick of Amanda's bowstring. This arrow was perfectly aimed at the exposed core of the demon, and when it was suddenly released, the arrow shattered the demon's core into millions of different pieces.

If that wasn't enough, with another flick of her finger, the arrow exploded, and a large explosion resounded throughout the air, completely disintegrating the demons that were beside the fallen demon.

Booom!

"Another few down..."

'How many does that make?'

Amanda had long lost count of how many demons she had killed at this point. The only thing she could feel was her dwindling mana and the searing pain on her fingertips.

"It's bleeding."

Her mouth twitched when she noticed that her fingers were bleeding. Evidently, all that shooting had injured her finger.

Normally, she wouldn't have a problem because she could simply take out a potion to heal her wounds...unfortunately, the situation didn't allow her to do so as her hand continued to flick her bow strings as demons appeared from all sides.

Wherever she looked, a new demon appeared, and thus she was forced to swiftly move and twist her body in a way that granted her the ability to lock sight with the demons that were attacking her.

It was fortunate that she had her skill [Target Lock [S]] activated, as its functions were rather close to an aim bot. She didn't even really need to aim properly to kill a demon with such skill.

The only downside was the large amount of mana that the skill consumed.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

As demons continued to descend from the top of the castle and attempt to attack Amanda, her body continued to leap into the air and twist. Her bow let loose three arrows that flew at horrifying speeds. One after the other, the arrows pierced the skulls of three demons, causing them to fall to the ground with great force.

"Haaa...haaa..."

Amanda gently touched down on the ground, and then she channeled her mana in such a way that it formed two sharp, mana-based ends at the tail ends of her bow. After that, she twisted her heel and turned around.

Spurt! Spurt! Spurt!

As the sky began to rain an increasing number of corpses, a dark bloody rain threatened to soak all of her clothing, greatly alarming Amanda.

Fortunately, the blood never spilled on her clothes as a thin layer of mana covered her body.

...as if a clean freak like her would ever want her clothes dirty by blood.

"Haa...haa..."

'I can't last much longer.'

As she felt her vision begin to warp slightly, she immediately severed the head of another demon by cutting it off with the sharp end of her bow as if it were a sword.

The thin layer of mana around her body was starting to dwindle, and she could feel her breathing becoming rougher with each passing second.

It had been at least eight hours since she had begun to fight, and it was unavoidable for her to eventually start losing stamina as a result. Instead, the fact that she could fight for as long as she did until now is already an extremely impressive feat in and of itself.

Even so, everyone had a limit, and Amanda had just about reached hers.

Xiu!

Another arrow flew from her bow, and it impaled two demons on its way through their skulls. When she felt another presence behind her, she turned around and flicked her finger once more. However, as soon as she turned around, she was horrified to see that eight demons were diving toward her at extreme speeds.

'Oh no!'

At this precise moment, Amanda became fully aware that she was in a precarious situation. When she flicked her hand, an arrow materialized in the middle of her bow. However, as she pulled the string, she realized that the arrow was fading in and out of existence.

A definitive demonstration that there was insufficient mana to continue sustaining it.

She was suddenly overcome with a sense of impending doom as the demons sneaked up on her without her even realizing it.

Amanda clenched her teeth together, causing the arrow that was in her bow to vanish, and then she took a stance, getting ready to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the demons.

"Die human scum!"

In the split second, before she came face to face with the demons, she was able to make out a muttering of profanity coming from the direction of the demons as they closed in on her.

It was obvious that she had garnered the resentment of the demons, especially after the fact that she was responsible for the deaths of so many of their fellow soldiers.

Amanda took a few steps forward and braced herself for battle against the demons, showing no sign of the slightest bit of fear.

"Come!...huh?"

Just as Amanda's bow was about to make contact with the demon's sharp nails, her entire body froze up.

Boom!

In the next instant, the eight demons obliterated right before Amanda's very eyes as blood spilled all over he clothes.

"Huh..."

Amanda stood there in a daze as she looked toward her right, where she saw a familiar figure standing not so far from her with his fist pointed in her general direction.

The figure was none other than Han Yufei.

Chapter 648: Ren's return [2]

Amanda's eyes lit up the moment they caught sight of Han Yufei, and the moment that happened, she finally let go of her tension and knelt on the ground on one knee.

"Haaa...haa...thank you."

Amanda muttered a few words of gratitude as her body slowly started to twitch from exhaustion.

Without a second thought, she took out several potions that Melissa had given her and gulped them down in one go.

As soon as she downed the potions, she started to feel a warm sensation that spread throughout her entire body, and the wounds on her fingers and other parts of her body started to slowly heal.

In case that wasn't enough, her mana and stamina were also beginning to return to normal, and little by little, a small flush began to spread across her previously pale face.

'...How strong.'

Amanda was surprised to see how potent the effects of the potions were.

Considering that she was the young mistress of the most powerful guild in the human domain, it did not come as a surprise to know that she had taken a lot of potions in her life; she naturally possessed an accurate understanding of the potency of the effects produced by these standard potions.

However, when compared to the potions that Amanda had just consumed, which had been given to her by Melissa, she realized that there was a vast difference between the two.

As a matter of fact, she had the impression that she was now able to fight once more.

'Incredible.'

This discovery astounded her as she slowly stood up.

"Are you okay?"

It was then that Han Yufei walked over.

Amanda nodded her head as she turned her head to look at him.

"I'm fine now, thank you."

Things would have been much more difficult for her if it hadn't been for his prompt intervention.

"That's great."

Han Yufei refocused his attention on the demons that were approaching the castle from below. Just as he was about to take a step forward and was about to once again engage in combat with the demons, his foot came to a halt and he slowly turned around, as if remembering something.

With a visible shudder of his body, he looked at Amanda with a pitiful look on his face.

"H..hey.."

His voice quivered slightly.

'What's going on?'

Amanda was taken aback by his unexpected actions, and she stared at him with a perplexed expression on her face. What, exactly, was it that caused him to react in such a manner?

Amanda didn't have to wait very long before she figured out the answer to that question; however, after she heard his subsequent words, she was left at a complete loss for words.

"...Can you do me a favor and stop telling him that his charm is lower than mine? It..s been causing a lot of problems."

Amanda's eyes blinked a couple of times as she tried to process his words.

The moment she did so, she became aware that her hand was covering her mouth, and before she even realized what was happening, she had already started giggling uncontrollably.

"P..please..."

***

'He's weaker than the human that I previously fought.'

While staring at Ren, who was covered in blood and had been severely beaten, this was the realization that came to Suriol.

Ren was in a terrible state, but what was even worse was that he didn't put up even the slightest bit of resistance when he was being attacked, which made the situation even worse for him.

'…Is he really the human in the memories?'

When Suriol recalled the memories of the previous human he had been fighting, he had the distinct impression that something was wrong with the memories he received.

He wasn't supposed to be this weak.

Despite the fact that Suriol was aware of Ren's weaknesses due to the memories he had acquired from Liam, things should not have been this simple.

Something was amiss, so he instinctively stopped attacking and retreated, his eyes brimming with alertness. Obviously, he did not forget to leave a mark on the human's body before he left.

"What sort of game are you playing at?"

Suriol asked as he scanned the human in front of him.

After taking a second look, he was unable to detect any menacing power emanating from the human... Despite this, he continued to listen to his gut instincts, which told him to retreat.

There was something really odd about the human…

"What game am I playing at?"

And shortly thereafter, the human slowly raised his head. When their eyes met, the human brushed back his hair.

At the moment, he sported an expression that could be described as both indifferent and icy, giving off the impression that he did not possess any emotion. Things became especially alarming when his eyes started to become a hollow gray color.

"I'm not playing any games. I'm merely just trying to adjust myself to this new rank…"

He extended both hands to his sides while mumbling something to himself.

"...It isn't every day that one experiences such a drastic rise in power."

The sky started to dim as a direct result of his direct actions.

A powerful hue began to envelop Ren's body as the sky began to show signs of cracking and tearing.

At the same time, his <SS-> rank strength erupted from his body.

"What's this?"

After being startled, Suriol looked around him with a confused expression on his face. The power that was slowly enveloping the battlefield was very intimidating, to say the least. Enough to cause even Suriol to feel some sort of strain.

However, if that wasn't all...

"Martial body."

The weight that was pressing down on Suriol became significantly heavier by that light murmur coming from Ren's mouth as Suriol's expression finally changed.

On the other hand, Ren's body began to undergo transformations as his muscles began to swell, his veins ruptured, and his rank steadily increased.

Within an instant, Ren's rank shot up from <SS-> rank all the way toward <SS> rank.

'I…it can't be…'

Gulp—!

Suriol involuntarily swallowed a mouthful of saliva as he moved back.

Ren's power increased to a dangerously high level for an unknown reason.

Suriol felt pressure build from all of his sides as his eyes met with Ren's who was standing in front of him.

'No, I can't let things continue like this!'

Suriol's expression hardened as he became aware of how dire the situation was, and a terrifying energy began to emanate from his body at the same time. In his mind, he tried to reassure himself.

'There is no need for alarm. Since I possess the previous human's memories, I should be able to anticipate his movements.'

He scanned his surroundings and recalled something.

'If I'm not wrong, soon enough sword energies will come crashing down toward me at incredible speeds…I should get out of here as fast as possible.'

After taking in his surroundings, Suriol came to a conclusion very quickly. He furiously glared in the direction of his opponent while rapidly expanding the wings on his back. Then, with a flap of his wings, his body zoomed in Ren's direction.

'If I head to where he is, he will be forced to stop whatever he is doing. After all, there's no way he can attack himself, right?'

His body accelerated through the air as he approached Ren swiftly.

When Suriol finally came face to face with Ren, just as he had predicted, he watched him furrow his brows and then abort his attack entirely. Clearly, he had realized Suriol's intention.

"Hahahha, I bet you didn't see this coming!"

Suriol revealed a crazy smile after successfully stopping Ren's attack.

SHIIING!

As he slashed at the human that was in front of him, he didn't squander even a single second of the valuable extra time that he had bought for himself and attacked with everything he had.

Unfortunately, Ren was able to avoid his attack with just a small step backward.

Suriol's heart sank, but it wasn't long before it calmed down again.

'That's right, I still have that…'

His special power.

The one that allowed him to gain an advantage over his opponent.

After one more beat of his wings, his body lurched backward, and he came to a stop in the middle of the air.

'This should be far enough.'

"Oh? Are you going to do something?"

"!!!"

Suriol was startled by a sudden whisper in his ear. When he turned around and saw Ren standing directly behind him, his expression changed drastically.

'What!?'

Before he could even begin to comprehend how Ren had appeared behind him, he had to repeatedly close and reopen his eyes. Only then was he able to start making sense of what had happened.

He didn't give it a second thought before hurriedly twisting his body and slashing in Ren's direction.

Clang—!

Ren's sword, which Suriol had not realized had been removed from its sheath, deftly blocked his claws as they attempted to cut him in half.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Shockwaves propagated throughout the atmosphere as the two engaged in a duel in midair, with Suriol attempting an attack and Ren defending himself with a simple turn of his sword.

It also had to be noted that Ren had only been using one hand throughout the entire exchange. It was clear to those spectating that he was the one who was at an advantage at the moment.

'What's going on?'

Suriol wondered to himself as he continued to attack.

'I'm a Duke ranked demon that is on the verge of breaking through to the Prince rank. He's merely a human that has just broken through to Duke rank…I should be having the upper hand!'

What was going on!? Things didn't make sense at all!

Clank—!

When his sword and Suriol's nails collided, the result was a sonic boom in the form of a pressurized wind gale that spread out across the sky.

"Hyak!"

In the aftermath of the assault, Suriol discovered that he had been pushed back by several meters. He raised his head to look at Ren, who seemed rather composed and calm.

As a result of the exchange, he had also taken a few steps back. As a matter of fact, it appeared that he had retreated a few steps further than Suriol.

This was a resounding demonstration that Suriol's strength was indeed superior to that of Ren, and it was at this very moment that Suriol came to a sudden realization.

'It's his technique.'

At this precise moment, Suriol had the epiphany that Ren's strategy or technique, whichever it was, was the thing that was enabling him to engage evenly in head-to-head combat with him.

Currently, Ren's whole body was riddled with wounds and he looked to be in a sorry state, but…

'Why do I feel pressured?'

Just his gaze alone made Suriol feel uncomfortable. He was unsure of exactly what he had done before, but the end result was that his rank was now only marginally inferior to his own and he was fighting evenly with him. Perhaps even winning.

'No, no, this can't be happening!?'

"I'll give you two choices..."

Ren's emotionless voice rang inside Suriol's head cutting his thoughts away.

Suriol forcefully calmed himself down and calmly asked.

"What are the… two choices?"

"We stop this meaningless fight and you submit to me."

'As expected.'

Suriol's teeth clenched when he heard Ren's words. He had long estimated that this was what Ren was going to say.

The only reason he had asked was because he wanted to buy himself some time to use his skill. The one that allowed him to duplicate his opponent's point of envy.

At this moment, he realized that this was the only way for him to salvage the situation.

'Almost there.'

He raised his head to look at Ren.

"…What is the other choice?"

"Heee…"

Ren scoffed as his eyes began to dull and an incomparably powerful pressure began to erupt from his body.

"If you choose to attack, I'll kill you."

'Kill me?'

Suriol was left stunned by Ren's answer.

Letting the answer sink into his mind, he suddenly burst out laughing.

"Hahaha, has all that power gotten into your head? Do you actually think you can defeat me with the power you showed?"

He was strong, that was certain, but for him to actually kill him?

"Ha, You've gone completely crazy. All that power has gotten into your head."

"I guess?"

Ren responded in a sluggish manner while bringing his hand forward and repeatedly clenching and unclenching his hand.

"Honestly…having just broken through to this new rank and feeling all the power that comes with it…I would find it quite saddening if you were to choose to submit to me. After all, I do want to have some fun as well."

":..You sound quite confident in yourself."

Suriol gritted his teeth in a covert manner. Suddenly, a purple hue erupted from out of his body, and his figure began to transform.

"So that's your choice…"

A soft smile soon began to spread on Ren's lips as he extended his hand.

"I couldn't have asked for anything better."

When he closed his fist, the surrounding air suddenly became icy. Shortly after that, the sky began to twist and cracks formed all over the sky. Bright yellow swords began to emerge from the cracks in the sky, with their tips all pointed in Suriol's direction.

"Let's see…"

Ren lowered his head to look at Suriol's, and as he did so, he slowly pressed his hand down, causing the swords that were floating in the air to plummet to the ground like a torrential downpour of death.

"What's going on?"

"What's that?"

The ongoing conflict below was slowed down as everyone turned their attention to the sky in order to observe the phenomenon that was taking place in the atmosphere as an insurmountable pressure bore down over a large radius that encompassed several kilometers.

The very instant that they saw the enormous swords raining down from the heavens, many people felt a tightening in their chests as they swallowed mouthfuls of saliva and focused their attention on the two individuals that stood in the sky.

At this moment, everyone knew that the outcome of the conflict between the two would dictate the real winner of the war.

Instantly everyone stopped whatever they were doing and focused their attention on the conflict above.

Chapter 649: Ren's return[3]

As soon as the swords started to fall down toward the ground, the world started to shake as an overwhelming force began pushing down toward the ground.

"Come, let me see how much more you can entertain me."

With an expression that suggested he was looking down on the world, Ren continued to press his hand downward as more and more swords appeared from the void and extended toward the world.

Mana agglomoration; Sky rapture.

This was the name of the move that Ren was utilizing at that very moment.

It was a skill that was exclusive to him and was not a component of the Keiki style. Ren was now able to exert control over all of the psyons that were located within a few kilometers of him as a result of his successful establishment of a stronger connection with the psyons that were present in the atmosphere.

When compared to before, he was on a completely different level right now, at least from a realistic standpoint. He had improved his strength to such a degree that the Keiki style was no longer as useful or significant as it had been in the past.

It was necessary to point out that Ren's current strength had already surpassed that of Grandmaster Keiki when he was in his prime.

The Keiki style, despite the fact that it was still somewhat useful, was not something that he would consider using very frequently anymore.

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

As they descended from the void, the tangible sword energies that were as thick and long as a tree all focused their attention on Suriol, who was floating in the air slightly below Ren.

His figure, which had been undergoing a transformation earlier, had already finished morphing and resumed an appearance that was eerily similar to Ren's.

The expression on Suriol's face, which had become identical to that of Ren's, changed to one of bewilderment.

"What's going on?"

He looked up at the sky with shock.

"...The figure that you envy is none other than yourself? How is this possible?"

As soon as Suriol realized that he had transformed back into the previous form he had taken, his heart went through a period of extreme upheaval.

As he processed this information, he was stunned to discover that Ren envied himself the most.

How was this possible?

'No, wait?'

His eyes widened in surprise as he took a moment to process the information stored in his memory.

"Ah, I see...""

Suriol finally cracked a smile as his body once again underwent some changes.

His hair began to change from black to white in a gradual manner as his once blue eyes underwent a change as well, gradually transitioning to a grayish color, and his face lost all expression as it became expressionless.

Suddenly, from deep within Suriol's body, a strange power surged out. At the same time, all kinds of different memories surfaced within his mind, and everything around him lost its color.

As he lifted his head to stare at the incoming sword attacks, his head cocked ever-so-slightly, and he slowly raised his hand above his head.

The sky beneath him ripped into shreds as various black colored swords warped beneath him in a threatening manner as the air around him stirred.

In the time it took for more than a hundred swords to materialize in the space beneath him, the swords that were coming from Ren had already begun to draw closer to him.

"...This should do."

The sword energies that were buried beneath Suriol rose into the air with a single motion of his hand and were precisely directed toward the oncoming storm of swords.

The two attacks quickly collided with one another, and the world slowly started to lose its color.

At the same time that an eerie silence engulfed the entire planet, visible circular pulses that changed color from red to gray and back to red began to spread out across the entire surface of the world.

It was then that it happened.

Booom! Booom! Booom!

The aftermath of the conflict between the two powers resulted in the sky being filled with the deafening sounds of explosion after explosion, while the land beneath it was ripped to pieces and mountains were leveled.

"Get out of the way!"

"Run!"

As a result of the two attacks, the demons and orcs that remained on the ground were quickly ripped to pieces, which caused widespread panic and chaos.

Everyone who was standing there retreated quickly and looked for somewhere to take cover.

As the residual energy from the clash above continued to spread throughout the entirety of the battlefield, no one was safe, whether they were enemies or allies, as many died in a matter of seconds.

It was fortunate that orcs were born with powerful bodies and were not as affected as the demons, who were completely annihilated, their cores included. Nonetheless, the number of orcs seriously injured as a result of their clash was nothing short of small.

It didn't take long for the chaos to calm down, but by the time the lingering energy from Ren and Suriol's exchange had dissipated, the world was already in a state of complete devastation.

The ground beneath them was completely leveled, and thick cracks appeared on the ground beneath them. Further adding to that, all of the vegetation that stood beneath had been completely eradicated.

"Ahh..."

"Ugh..help."

Only the sound of orcs and demons wailing in agony and pleading for assistance could be heard throughout the world.

Unfortunately, no one came to their aid as everyone was focused on the two figures in the air that bore a striking resemblance to one another.

"...I think I just found something very interesting."

Suriol spoke while floating gently in the air and gazed at his new body with awe and fear.

He then gently raised his head to stare at Ren in the sky.

"Who would've thought that there was another part of you."

After catching a glimpse of his memories, Suriol came to know about the other Ren's existence, and with the fact that Ren had experienced his power first hand, Suriol was able to assimilate with the memories of the other Ren extremely well.

It would not be incorrect to say that he was in an entirely different league than he was in the past. The current Ren, who had previously bothered him, no longer appeared as threatening.

Meeting Ren's line of sight, Suriol smiled.

"...I guess it's my turn to say to you to keep me entertained. I hope you last for enough time to appease me."

Suriol gently pointed his finger in Ren's direction.

At that precise instant, sword energy materialized right in front of Ren's head.

Seemingly able to read Suriol's intentions, when the sword suddenly appeared in front of him, it did not present any difficulties for him. Instead, he flicked his hand forward and scattered the energy in front of him.

That being said, a troubled frown soon appeared on his face as he stared at Suriol with a vigilant look.

Ren understood that the situation had turned for the worst, and it wasn't long before the situation turned from worse to dire as Suriol appeared right in front of him with his hand extended toward his face.

Ren was taken aback by his speed, which was on par with teleportation, and as his vision began to be obscured by the approaching hand that was inching closer to his face, he felt his movements become sluggish.

'Not good!'

At that precise moment, Ren became fully aware of the fact that he would die the moment Suriol's hand touched his face as the space around him started to distort and his figure began to fade.

"Nice try."

Despite this, Suriol made a slow turn to the right and advanced his hand in such a way that it appeared as though he could perfectly read his movements. Because of the rapidity of his movements, those who were observing from below were unable to make out what was taking place.

Nonetheless, their confusion was short-lived as they witnessed a figure plummet to the ground at breakneck speed.

Booom!

The earth was torn apart by a subsequent explosion, and a sizable crater was produced on the surface of the ground. After the dust had settled, standing in the middle of the crater was Ren as blood dripped from the side of his mouth.

He wiped the blood in the corner of his mouth and stared toward the sky where Suriol was standing. At the moment, he was looking at his body with wonder as a smile slowly pulled on his face.

"What fascinating power..."

He murmured in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear.

Suriol's attention shifted in Ren's direction and he soon chuckled.

"How about I present you with the same offer that you previously gave me?"

He poked fun at him while his smile gradually expanded into a broad grin.

Word for word, he started to repeat the words that Ren had previously told him.

"I'll give you two choices..."

"We stop this meaningless fight and you submit to me."

"If you choose to attack, I'll kill you."

Ren's expression remained as emotionless as ever as he continued to stare at Suriol. At this precise moment, his body was riddled with wounds, and his body repeatedly twitched.

Those who were observing the scene could plainly see that Ren was at his wit's end, whereas Suriol appeared to be in a significantly better state.

The many people who were watching felt a tightening in their chests, which brought Suriol even more joy; he took in their expression with ecstasy as the grin on his face twisted all the way toward his eyes.

"How about it? Are you willing to submit to me?"

Suriol continued to tease with a broad grin on his face.

Ren, on the other hand, maintained his expressionless gaze fixed upon Suriol while he continued to stare at him in complete silence.

"Huuu..."

It did not take long before his eyes gradually closed, and the hue that had been revolving around his body began to shrink toward his body.

The world came to a sudden standstill as a gentle breeze caused Ren's clothes to flutter.

Ren's silence brought the entire world to a silence as everyone's focus turned on him. His next words would decide the outcome of the war.

The silence continued for what seemed to be an eternity as a stifling and suffocating atmosphere permeated every corner of Immorra.

"So?"

Suriol questioned as he cautiously stared at Ren, who was calmly standing on the surface of the crater.

"Why aren't you answering?"

Hearing Suriol's words, Ren's eyes gradually opened, and he shook his head.

"I'm good."

Shortly after that, a tremendous power erupted from his body, causing the entire world to shake. Simultaneously, a pillar of light emerged from Ren's body and tore through the dark clouds that were above him in the sky.

Pointing his finger in Suriol's direction, Ren mumbled.

"It may still be too early for me to use this move, but I'll give it a go."

Chapter 650: Ren's return [4]

I focused my attention on Suriol, who was currently emanating an inexplicable power from his body as he stood in the sky.

While I had my attention fixed on Suriol, I felt an immediate and significant shift take place within my body. Unbeknownst to me, a hazy tinge began to emanate from my body, and simultaneously, a sizable tear formed directly above my head.

Cra...crack!

What I was about to do now wasn't something I had ever done before, nor was I confident in performing.

In fact, I was currently taking a significant risk.

There were five distinct movements that comprised the Keiki style. Each movement was distinct from the previous one, and the level of complexity steadily increased from one to the next as the sequence progressed.

Prior to his passing, Grandmaster Keiki had only completed the fifth movement. That was his very last movement.

In the past, I had mentioned the possibility of there being a sixth movement to the Keiki style. One that Grandmaster Keiki, who had long since passed away, had not been able to find before his eventual death.

Over the course of the past few years, I had done everything in my power to try to feel that final sixth movement, but I could never, for the life of me, feel myself unearthing that movement.

I tried everything I could think of, but it was all to no avail.

It seemed as though it wasn't something I could perform with my set of skills.

I was still far too weak to sense it.

Of course, that was until I caught a glimpse of it.

'The memories of my other self is what is making this possible.'

It was during that brief period of time that I was able to witness the full extent of my other self's power, and it was from there that I caught a glimpse of the sixth movement.

There were many other things that I saw back then, but the sixth movement was the thing that stuck with me during that time.

I didn't really understand it back then, as I was still too weak, but things were different now.

Now that I had broken through to <SS-> rank, as if all the pieces of the puzzle had been placed in the right order, it finally clicked inside of my mind and an image appeared within my darkened mind.

It was a single sword.

One bright and tangible sword that had a translucent sheen to it and appeared to hold some kind of unexplained power. One that appeared to be capable of turning the world on its axis with a single blow.

It was a sword with unfathomable power.

Still...

I could sense that the sword was not something that I could still wield with the strength that I possessed at this time.

It seemed so close, yet so far...

...I wanted to spend more time dwelling over that sword and study it better before using it, but, as I stared at Suriol who was currently taking the same fighting style as the other me, I knew that this was the only shot I had at victory.

'I can only beat him this way.'

The other me was simply too strong.

He was a being that I didn't think I could ever match up with in my entire life.

'Maybe, this weird sword is the only way that I can beat him.'

Suriol's ability only expanded toward what my body experienced while my other self took over.

Even though he had most likely caught a glimpse of the sixth movement from my recollections, it was impossible for him to perform because it was not something that could be accomplished with a mere glance.

If he had absorbed the memories of my alternate self, it would have been possible, but he had absorbed my memories, and I had no real knowledge of it.

Nonetheless, his fighting experience and his movements were the same as my alternate self. Thus, I knew that something that performing the sixth movement was the only way for me to win.

As I carefully pointed my finger in Suriol's direction, the image of the sword that had been floating around in my head started to become clearer, and the tear that had been standing directly above me started to gradually expand.

As a yellow tip began to surface from behind the crack, the vegetation that was located outside of the area of the land that had been leveled began to sway in the direction of the tip as if it had been attracted to it.

"What is this? ...No, wait, what are you doing?!"

Suriol's shocked voice could be heard from above as he stared at the large tip of the sword protruding from the small crack that had just appeared directly above my head.

Instantaneously, he attempted to attack me, but the pressure from the sword above me completely obliterated any and all attacks that were headed in my direction.

"No, what's going on!?"

As waves of energy began to spread throughout the entire world, the clouds in the sky began to separate, and a domineering aura began to descend upon the world.

As time went on, a sword began to emerge from the fissure, and the pressure that was squeezing the world to its very core gradually became more intense.

"Pfftt..."

I coughed up a mouthful of blood at the exact moment that the tip of the sword emerged from the crack and revealed a portion of its translucent body.

My body shook erratically while I tried to remain standing on the ground, and the sword flickered in and out of existence.

Suriol, who was bracing himself for my sudden attack had a sudden change in expression as the look of fright on his face quickly faded and he regained his composure.

"...So that's what it was, your body can't keep up with whatever you're trying to do."

I could feel the relief in his voice as he said those words. Clearly, he had been given a fright by my sudden actions.

"Alright then, I'll take your actions as a refusal of my previous offer."

Following that, he gradually extended his hand and opened the palm of his hand. A pitch-black spherical ball began to form directly in front of his palm as the world around him began to gradually lose its color.

As if the world around him was merging with him, everything within his immediate surroundings began to warp as an energy that was on a level comparable to the tip of the sword began to spread across the world.

Cracka! Cracka!

The sky began to crackle with lightning as the ground below was set ablaze, and the demons that were trying to aid their fallen comrades beneath scurried away as quickly as they could.

'...This is worse than I had expected.'

I cursed when I realized just how powerful the move that Suriol was about to perform was.

In addition to this realization, it dawned on me just how powerful the move that I was attempting to perform actually was. I could hear a small cracking sound coming from the bones in my body while at the same time that I could also feel the muscle fibers in my body steadily snapping.

'Actually, it isn't about the strength of the move, but my knowledge of it.'

At that very moment, I was attempting to carry out a move that I had never practiced before and with which I had only recently become acquainted with.

I was essentially trying to run without knowing how to walk.

I was out of my mind for even trying this move, but...

"Khh... t-his is the only way."

It was the only way for me to win this fight.

Because of this, I chose to disregard the stress that my body was going through and instead maintain a singular concentration on the sword that was forming directly above my head.

Unknowingly, my body began to levitate in the air as my feet no longer touched the ground.

"Khhh..."

Rumble! Rumble!

The world shook as two energies secretly clashed against each other, causing my head to swell with heat and every part of my body to throb with agonizing pain.

"Haaa..haaa..."

As the pain that I was experiencing left me gasping for air and my eyes began to sting, tears began to form in the corners of my eyes.

My life, which had been tormented by nothing but pain, was once again subjected to inhuman like pain as blood poured down my wounds, and the tip that was hanging above my head finally revealed its body in all of its majesties as two gigantic ripples spread out in the sky, destroying everything within the immediate surroundings.

As I moved my hand forward in a gentle motion, the wounds on the rest of my body began to stretch, and the bones in my hand began to shatter.

Yet, as I glared at Suriol who was gazing back at me with a maniacal look, I clenched my teeth and continued to press forward.

"Fucking, go!"

At my shout, half of the sword poked out from the crack as the world around me lost its color and everything distorted.

***

"This is my last warning, human! Give up and submit, and I will spare you. If you choose to attack, I will kill you and all the humans that you brought with you!"

As he stared at the blade that was aimed squarely at him, Suriol's eyes narrowed and hardened into a fierce glare.

Suriol felt a chill run down his spine as he stared at the tip of the sword that was aimed in his direction. At the same time, he furiously circled the demonic energy that was contained within his body as he prepared to unleash his most powerful move.

'Death.'

That was what came into Suriol's mind as he stared at the enormous sword that stood in front of him.

Just by giving it a simple look, he was able to sense a penetrating force directed toward himself. At the same time, he unknowingly swallowed a mouthful of saliva out of anxiety.

'How can he unleash such an attack?'

Suriol thought to himself as he furiously continued to circulate the demonic energy inside of his body.

The purple-black sphere that was floating in front of his palm began to grow in size over the course of a short period of time, and it wasn't long before it ballooned up to the size of a small sun.

The power that was emanating from his attack was just as menacing as the one that Ren was preparing to unleash.

"Pfftt..."

Nevertheless, just like Ren, the move that Suriol performed took a significant toll on his body, as evidenced by the fact that he spewed a mouthful of blood and staggered around in the air as his eyes turned white for a brief moment.

Crack!

Suriol's right peck made a subtle cracking sound at the exact moment he spat out a mouthful of blood.

His eyes widened as the sound reached his ears, and his face stiffened in horror.

"No!!!!!"

Suddenly, Suriol let out a piercing scream as he stared at his hand, which was covered in his own blood.

"No! No! No!"

Suriol continued to scream in his air as his eyes became completely bloodshot while he glared at Ren with obvious intent to kill him. It appeared as though he had completely lost control of his mind.

"How dare you! It's all your fault!"

Prince rank.

The highest rank that a demon could achieve outside of the King rank, which was considered to be impossible to achieve, with only one precedent in the past.

Jezebeth, the current Demon King.

Attaining a higher rank automatically confers a higher status, and once one reaches the Prince rank, they have achieved the highest status possible.

One could be forgiven for assuming that demons holding ranks lower than prince/princess, such as a duke, also enjoyed a high status. That was accurate the majority of the time; however, there were a few exceptions.

One of the exceptions to this rule was the clan that the demon belonged to; the more powerful the clan, the greater the number of Duke-ranked demons that lived within it. The more common Duke ranked demons were, the lower the position they held within the clan.

Another exception was if the demon had committed a crime, such as eating the core of another demon.

Suriol, who belonged to the most powerful clan, the clan of envy, and who had previously consumed multiple demon cores in an effort to break through to the Duke rank, was sadly one who fell into this category.

All of this stemmed from his desperation to reach Duke rank back in the past.

It was this sin of his that led to him being trapped in such a run down planet known as Immorra, and it was also his Duke rank strength that prevented the demons from directly killing him.

Despite this, after more than sixty years of living on this planet, Suriol's greatest desire was to depart from this location once and for all.

All he needed to do to get out of this place was to break through to Prince rank.

Once he broke through to Prince rank, there would be no one to stop him.

He was close. So very close.

Yet...

'Crack'

A simple cracking sound was all he heard, but it was the sound that signaled the end of his hopes and dreams as the Prince rank, which he had been so close to attaining just a few moments earlier, suddenly moved out of his reach.

When Suriol's demonic energy began to spiral out of control and his eyes began to bleed black blood, the sphere in front of him condensed and the world around him twisted.

In all honesty, it was only natural for Suriol to lose his mind. After all, it had taken him more than a century to get to this point.

Who wouldn't react the same way if they were put in the same position as him?

As Suriol pushed his hand forward with great force and sent the ball toward Ren's location, he wore a look of insanity on his face. At the same time, the wings that were located behind his back rapidly expanded.

"Ahhhhhhh!"

Suriol let out another crazed scream as he ferociously glared in Ren's direction.

"Die! Die! Die! Die!"

In response to Suriol's sudden outburst, Ren remained calm as he tried his best to suppress the agonizing pain and the constant fractures that appeared all over the bones in his body.

The moment that he heard Suriol's roar, and felt the attack head his way, Ren's body had already reached a point where almost every bone of his body had fractured and the muscles on the upper part of his body had raptured.

"D..damn it."

Unfortunately, when Suriol launched his attack, the sword that was hovering above his head was still only half exposed, and he was well aware that he had long since reached the point where he could go no further.

"Agkhhh!"

Consequently, with another scream, Ren pushed his hand forward, and the tear from which the sword was emerging slowly closed, thereby severing the sword in half and leaving behind an exposed portion of the other half.

Still, it was enough.

Ren extended his hand while tightly clenching his teeth together at the same time. He then raised his head to stare at the oncoming assault, and while doing so, he murmured in a low tone.

"Go!"

As soon as he finished speaking those words, the sword that had been hovering above his head vanished in an instant, and the world was immediately engulfed in an eerie silence as all living beings on the planet held their breath in anxiety.

As everything came to a sudden halt, Ren's sword reappeared in front of the purplish black sphere, its tip gently touching the edge of the spherical ball of energy as it did so.

After that, the entire world became completely gray as gentle ripples spread outward from the point of contact between the two attacks. These ripples added to and subtracted from the world's coloration with each succeeding ripple, twisting the world's visual from gray to normal in a repeating fashion.

This went on for what seemed like an eternity until all of a sudden, a gigantic red cloud appeared in the sky.

It was like something out of a nightmare.

BOOOOM!

A terrifying explosion that sounded like it was going to break the world in half reverberated all over the world.

Ren's vision turned black and the world trembled.

Chapter 651: Unrivaled [1]

"Unbelievable. What kind of sword is that? ...I can feel my body trembling all over."

Liam stared at the fight that was happening in the distance with a light breath. His eyes were shining an ominous yellow hue as his body shook.

Unlike the others that were next to him, he could see everything, and it was exactly because he could see everything that his body shuddered.

'So...strong.'

The power that was radiating from the distance was unbelievably powerful, and Liam couldn't take his eyes away from the scene that was unfolding right before his very eyes. It was as if he was in a trace.

"Looks like they are about to attack, get back!"

It was Leopold's voice that brought Liam back to reality as he caught sight of the gigantic half sword that was raised above Ren's head and continued to move forward.

"Watch out!"

Liam and the others were quite far from where Ren stood. At least several dozen kilometers away from him, yet, the residual energy that was coming out from the fight that was happening between the two was strong enough to send the people standing above the castle flying back.

Raising his hand and positioning his body forward, Liam's clothes fiercely flapped as his gaze continued to linger toward the fight in the distance.

"...Is this the power of an <SS> ranked individual?"

Liam could never have imagined in his wildest dreams that Ren would experience such a dramatic increase in power simply by moving up a single rank.

As his eyes began to sparkle, he could feel his heart beating furiously.

He was very excited.

The power that Ren exhibited excited him to no end.

"Maybe...I should also breakthrough."

Liam was seriously contemplating whether or not to break through to the next rank, taking into account the likelihood that he could do so if he so desired.

It was inevitable that it would still be a few months before he was able to successfully breakthrough, as he was still not exactly there yet.

However, the primary reason for this was that breaking through had never been his primary objective as he had focused on improving his martial arts instead of his rank.

Liam, however, was unable to keep his composure as he stared at Ren's figure as he floated through the air like some sort of war god.

'I want to break through.'

It was at this point that he finally came to a decision, and he chose to spend the next couple of months working his way up to the next rank.

'...I can't wait.'

"Watch it!"

Once more, Leopold's frantic voice echoed out loud as another surge of power spread throughout every inch of the land in the vicinity of the castle and the surroundings began to shake.

An even more ferocious gust of wind ripped through their vicinity as Angelica grabbed hold of Ryan to prevent him from getting hit by the airborne debris that carried large boulders and rocks.

"Ahhh!"

"Watch it."

Immorra trembled.

A sudden and enormous shadow appeared all over the world as a gigantic, purplish-black energy sphere that looked like it could have replaced the sun suddenly descended toward where Ren was standing.

Under everyone's anxious gazes, they saw a black figure slowly raise his head as he pressed his hand forward in the direction of the large sphere. The half finished sword that was hovering above his head suddenly disappeared as the world suddenly turned quiet.

In that brief moment, Ren's eyes were lifeless, like a god that was overlooking the entire world.

When Liam looked into Ren's lifeless eyes, he had the unsettling sensation that he was staring straight into the abyss of his own death. It was frightening.

It was then that it happened.

As everything came to a sudden halt, Ren's sword reappeared in front of the purplish black sphere, its tip gently touching the edge of the spherical ball of energy as it did so.

The world then turned completely gray as soft ripples spread from the point of contact between the two attacks, adding and removing color from the world with each subsequent ripple.

This went on for what seemed like an eternity until all of a sudden, a gigantic red cloud appeared in the sky. It was like something out of a nightmare. At the same time, a terrifying explosion that sounded like it was going to break the world in half reverberated all over the world.

BOOOOM!

As if the world was crumbling, the deafening explosion spread throughout the entire land as the world distorted and everything started crumbling down.

"Fuck! This is too much!"

"Fuck, Ren!"

"Shit!"

The people who were standing atop the castle became terrified as they hurled a string of curses and thrust their hands forward to form a massive shield that encompassed the entire castle structure.

Even so, as more and more people put their hands up and tried to thicken the defensive system of the castle, the expressions of the many people present didn't look too good as they knew that it would probably not be enough to mitigate the power that came from the aftermath of the attacks.

...and they were right.

Everything took place in a split second, but the moment the barrier was erected, the residual energy that had been left over from the attack suddenly erupted and traveled all the way to the castle, where it collided head-on with the barrier that had been erected by the others.

As soon as the residual energy made contact with the shield, everyone, including Jin, Emma, Amanda, Angelica, Han Yufei, Leopold, and the rest of them, spat out blood at the same time that their faces instantly turned a sickly white color.

"Shit, what kind of power is this?!"

Jin let out a loud curse as he covered his mouth with his hand, and blood dripped through the spaces between his fingers as he did so. The rest of the people weren't faring much better either; their bodies were violently trembling, and blood leaked from their noses and mouths.

At this precise instant, Jin, who had his hand pressing against the barrier, jerked his head back and looked at Liam with bloodshot eyes.

"You! What are you doing? Help out!"

"Oh, right."

After being called out, Liam was finally able to pull himself together and get a grip on the situation. As he looked at the barrier that was trembling, he waved his hand, and mana erupted from the tips of his fingers.

Instantaneously, the barrier that had been violently shaking a few moments ago stopped shaking altogether, and as things began to steady themselves, it also began to thicken up.

Everyone looked at Liam with baffled looks on their faces as Jin's mouth quivered.

"Y..you, if you could've done that from the beginning, why didn't you?"

"...I was too absorbed with the fight that I forgot."

Indeed, the fight had taken all of his attention. So much so that he only protected himself and forgot about the others.

Fortunately, he was able to remedy the situation in time and managed to successfully support the barrier.

Jin was left speechless by his reply. Before he could say anything else, the world stopped shaking and everything settled.

Everything in front of the castle was obscured by a massive dust cloud that blanketed the entire planet.

At that precise instant, all of the individuals stopped channeling their mana, and the barrier that had been covering the castle began to gradually vanish.

With a swipe of Liam's hand, the dust in the air vanished as a gust of wind blew and scattered everything away, revealing the state of the battlefield.

"Hiss..."

When everyone looked at the land, they all took a deep breath as they saw that it had been completely ripped apart and shredded.

The area around the castle had been completely stripped of all vegetation, and all that was left was a scorched landscape that looked very similar to the surface of the moon or Mars.

It was a total wasteland.

Everyone could feel a slight heat radiating from the ground, and there was a lingering smell of sulfur in the air. Steam was rising up from the ground at the same time, twisting the view of the land ever so slightly.

In spite of this, nobody seemed to care as they all looked off into the distance, where a figure sat atop a rock covered in blood and with wounds all over his body. His hands were propped up on his raised knees, and his dark hair was pushed forward as they covered his eyes.

If one looked carefully, one could see steam beginning to rise from his body, which was exposed through the gaps in his tattered clothes.

Under him was the mangled carcass of a demon, which had been ripped in two, exposing its core, which was fractured in several places.

At this precise instant, everyone felt their breath leave their bodies as the image of Ren etched itself firmly into the consciousness of each and every person present.

It then slowly sunk into their mind.

On this very day, Ren conquered Immorra.

Chapter 652: Unrivaled [2]

Amidst the charred remains of the world, Ren stood still and looked around him with a lost expression on his face. His vision was obscured by the rising smog from the depths of the earth, which obscured the ruined landscape that surrounded him.

The surrounding surface had been stripped of all vegetation for some time now, and what was once a vast grassland filled with vegetation had been reduced to nothing more than a rocky surface that was covered in blood and the remains of various body parts.

Ren lowered his head to examine his trembling, bloody hands.

'Sh..hit, I've overworked myself.'

He struggled to take a breath and could hardly move his body as a searing pain spread throughout his entire body. He was helpless. His vision was hazy, and the only thing he could make out in his nose was a potent burning odor.

"Ukh.."

Ren fought through his discomfort as he extracted a number of potions from his dimensional space and promptly ingested all of them at once.

Tsss! Tsss!

His wounds started to feel better after a while, and he even managed to crack a smile. Even so, the severity of his wounds was such that it would take a considerable amount of time for him to fully recover.

"Haaa..."

Nonetheless, Ren was aware that a significant portion of the discomfort that he had been feeling was gradually disappearing.

As he finally began to loosen the tension in his brows, a pleasantly warm feeling spread throughout his entire body.

It wasn't long before he regained the ability to move his body, and his vision began to improve as well.

At that precise instant, his gaze paused in a particular direction, where he could see a large army of demons looking at him with great caution.

"Haha...I guess my job is still not done."

As Ren slowly stood up and turned his gaze toward the demon army in the distance, the look on his face became more worn and weathered.

He knew that he couldn't rest just yet.

Snap—!

Once he snapped his fingers, a powerful shockwave spread across the entire battlefield, attracting the attention of all demons and orcs.

After Ren had finally been successful in getting everyone's attention on the battlefield, he paused for a moment to look around him before slowly levitating in the air.

Resting on his extended hand was a large purplish core that glistened under the now exposed suns.

"…As you can see, I've defeated your leader."

When Ren spoke, he did so in a manner that suggested he was unfazed and unruffled, but as soon as those words left his mouth, the entire battleground fell silent.

"I'm sure you can tell from its size and energy that this is not a regular core…"

No matter the distance, Ren's voice could be heard in the ears of everyone present.

As they raised their heads to look up at the sky, they were confronted by the formidable figure of Ren, who was standing in the sky and watching over the entire battlefield with eyes that seemed to see through everything.

At that point, the focus of everyone's attention shifted to the sizable core that was sitting in his palm. As quickly as it had begun, a heavy tension descended upon the battlefield as the demons froze in place.

Ren, unperturbed by their gazes, turned his head to look below him and then opened his mouth once more.

"Let all the Marquis and Count ranked demons that have survived come to me."

The many demons that were there heard his words echo loudly and clearly inside their own heads.

This was especially true for the Marquis and Count ranked demons that were still present on the battlefield, as the pressure that Ren was putting off caused them to begin sweating profusely.

His words didn't sound like a request but rather an order that they couldn't dare hope to refuse.

"So?"

At the same time that his gaze was fixed on a number of different people, a potent force erupted from his body.

"I know where you are, so there is no point in hiding. Come to me while I'm being nice."

Swooosh! Swooosh! Swooosh!

Finally, the demons with the rank of Marquis and Count reacted, and they all rushed in Ren's direction with terrified expressions on their faces.

It didn't take long before Ren was surrounded by more than one hundred distinct demons, nine of which were ranked as Marquis, and the rest were ranked as Count.

Those who had been oblivious to the situation up until that point were profoundly affected by the sight of his solitary figure standing in the middle of the air while being surrounded by a large number of demons.

Just as things were starting to get back to normal, Ren made a small turn of his head and pointed his finger in a particular direction.

Thump!

A demon came tumbling down from the heavens and smashed into the ground below it. The expressions of the many demons that surrounded him underwent a radical transformation, and they all wore looks of nervousness on their faces.

They didn't even understand how the demon had died!

"Looks like everyone is here:"

Ren kept his composure as his eyes swam toward the demons that surrounded him with his gaze.

While he was tossing the core in his hand and catching it repeatedly as though it was a toy, several figures suddenly appeared behind him.

They were none other than Angelica, Jin, and Han Yufei.

"Here you go."

They each tossed him several cores.

Ren nodded his head in contentment as he snatched them up with his hand and then hurled the cores into the air, where they quickly morphed into a number of different demons. What was shocking was the fact that each and every one of them held the rank of marquis.

Even though their aura was noticeably weaker than that of a typical Marquis-ranked demon, one could still get the impression that they were quite formidable.

"W..what's going on?"

"I thought I had died."

They appeared perplexed by the unexpected turn of events, as evidenced by the fact that they all turned around and looked around them. Their bodies froze completely the moment they saw Ren standing in front of them with the core in his hand.

At that point, their expressions hardened as they finally understood what sort of situation they were in.

"This will do, for now, thank you."

Ren thanked Angelica and the others before looking back at the demons around him.

Once again tossing the core in his hand and catching it, he started speaking.

"I'll give you guys the same offer that I've given this guy…Submit to me, or…"

Narrowing his eyes, Ren's voice deepened.

"Come at me all at once."

As he spoke, the already tense atmosphere became even tenser, and the demons cautiously stared at one another.

'Come at him all at once?'

There were a total of fifteen demons with the rank of marquis and approximately two hundred demons with the rank of count... If they were to launch a full-scale assault on him at the same time, would they have a fighting chance against the human that stood in front of them?

As they exchanged glances and secretly communicated with one another, every demon in the room entertained a variety of different thoughts.

It was right at this moment that one of the demons spoke up.

"…If we choose to submit to you, what do we have to do?"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and gave Ren's calm gaze their full attention.

As he remained silent for a brief period of time, the atmosphere around him became filled with an eerie stillness. As he opened his mouth, he turned his attention to the millions of demons that were below him.

"There seems to be a lot of demons present. What do you say we reduce the numbers to a manageable level?"

Hiss~

All the demons drew a cold breath.

The meaning of Ren's words was crystal clear. To demonstrate their submission, they were required to murder and massacre their own kind.

As the demons who were present mulled over whether or not they should accept the offer presented to them by Ren, their minds raced through a wide variety of possible plans and ideas.

Soon enough, a minute had passed, and not a single demon had still accepted his offer.

"Still not answering?"

Ren extended his hand toward a nearby demon and grasped it as he furrowed his brows.

"Heak! N-!"

Almost immediately after that, the demon vanished.

The demons that were present didn't even have time to react before they found out that a Marquis ranked demon had been wiped off the face of the planet.

"I don't have a lot of time. Quickly make your decision before I decide to kill all of you."

Ruthless.

In the eyes of the demon, the human in front of them was extremely ruthless. He did not hesitate to use a Marquis-ranked demon as an example for them.

He was nothing short of ruthless.

Swooosh! Swooosh!

His methods seemed to have stimulated something within the demon's mind, as evidenced by the fact that it caused them to shoot down from the sky and begin attacking the lower ranked demons below.

"Haik!"

"What are you doing?!"

"What's going on?"

A bloodbath began to break out, and Ren was there to witness it all as he languidly gazed at the demons with a look that seemed to be detached from reality

Opening his mouth, he reminded.

"I'll kill anyone that tries to escape."

"…I see everything."

***

"Are you not concerned that they are merely pretending to be on your side? What if they try to relay what happened to the demons outside of this planet?"

I heard Jin's voice coming from behind me.

Sparing him a glance, I replied.

"Don't worry too much. I came prepared beforehand."

I took out a small device from my dimensional space and showed it to Jin.

"This device over here will allow me to determine whether any of the demons are trying to communicate with the outside world. It's something that the dwarves have given me."

"Oh."

Jin nodded his head in understanding.

Then, scanning the device carefully, he asked.

"How confident are you in making sure that it works?"

"Fairly."

The apparatus in question was something that Randur and Jomnuk had bestowed on me. Since they assured me that it would work, I naturally believed them.

'Worst case scenario I might end up having to throw away this planet.'

It would be a shame, but in the end, there were probably plenty of other planets in the universe. It shouldn't be too difficult to locate another one of these. The one and only drawback was that it would require a significant amount of work in order to properly set up.

"Let's go back for now."

I moved back toward the castle once I spared the demons one last glance.

My body was at its limits and in spite of the potions I had consumed, I knew that I only had minutes to spare before I would pass out on the spot.

It appeared to me that it would take at least a couple of hours before the demons and the orcs finally eliminated the majority of the weaker demons.

If we're being realistic, I wanted to keep all the demons on this planet and put them to work for me, but I was also aware of the times when an individual needed to rein in their greed.

Too many demons and the situation would no longer be manageable. The Marquis and Count ranked demons were enough for now.

'Also, I need to think of a way to stop them from betraying me.'

Although one of the ways to make the demons work for me was to have them sign mana contracts, unfortunately, there were far too many demons for me to be able to control all of them.

It wasn't something I could afford even with all the capital that I had.

They were, after all, highly ranked demons. Had they been lower ranked demons, I would've been able to somewhat manage it, but they weren't.

'Fear won't work in the long run, especially since Jezebeth is scarier than I am...I could try swallowing their cores, but there are just too many demons, and I can't have them follow me back to earth...'

In the midst of my thoughts, my feet softly landed on the walls of the castle, and at that moment, a number of figures rushed toward me.

"You're finally back."

Amanda, who appeared to be sickly, was the first person to welcome me as she gave me a soft hug. When I saw how disheveled she looked, I got a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach.

While in her embrace, I gently brushed her hair beside her ear and smiled.

"How is it?"

"How is what?"

Amanda raised her head and looked at me in a daze.

I stared straight into her eyes and softly replied.

"…My smile."

Chapter 653: Moving forward [1]

"Do me a favor and watch over the demons while I go back and rest for a bit."

I said as I gazed at the others who were staring at me with different expressions on their faces.

My vision was all messed up, and my mind was cloudy. It took everything I had in order to keep from passing out right there on the spot.

Even though I had taken several potions and my body was slowly healing, the actions I had taken in a few moments ago had used up what little energy I had left in my body, and I was now barely clinging to my consciousness by a thread.

The only reason why I was still hanging on was because I didn't want to show the demons any weakness.

Who knew what would happen if they saw me pass out on the spot?

"I got it."

Thankfully, the others were able to understand what I was trying to convey, and they all nodded their heads while maintaining a serious expressions.

I smiled in relief when I saw this.

"Great."

"Let me go with you."

Amanda offered me a helping hand as she walked next to me and opened the door that led to the insides of the castle.

"...Thank you."

I struggled to express my gratitude as my legs felt like lead and my vision wobbled.

'Not yet.'

I clenched my teeth and forcefully moved my legs tower the door.

On the surface, I sustained the solemn look that I had after defeating Suriol, but internally, I was experiencing excruciating pain that was radiating through every part of my body.

From the corner of my distorted vision, I could see Amanda biting her lips in concern as she observed my struggle. However, as if she understood my thoughts, she turned her head away and pretended to be unaware of my struggle.

I was thankful for that and mustering every little bit of my willpower I finally walked into the castle.

Clank!

It wasn't until I heard the sound of the door closing behind me that I breathed a sigh of relief.

'...Thank god I made it.'

My body went limp and my vision turned black after that. Just as I was expecting to hit the stairs in front of me, I felt something soft slowly embrace me as I heard a soft whisper inside of my ears.

"Thank you for your hard work."

***

A week later.

"Almost everything has been sorted."

Silug's loud voice echoed out loud as he entered a large hall where a number of figures were seated behind a large oval table made of wood. His gaze was drawn in particular to the individual who was seated at the head of the table.

He appeared to be rather uninterested in what was going on as he rested his head on his arm which was propped up on the table.

Sparing Silug a short glance, he asked.

"Have all the weaker demons been eliminated?"

"Most have, yes."

Silug replied in a solemn tone.

Silug felt an overwhelming sense of reverence and awe as he stared at the figure that was seated at the very end of the table.

Silug had previously believed that the war was going to mark the end of the orcs, but his presence alone had single-handedly brought an end to the conflict.

'I never expected that weak human to become so strong...'

Silug was absolutely convinced by Ren's capabilities.

The orcs respected the strong and Ren in Silug's eyes was extremely strong.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

As the silence continued to reign throughout the hall, Ren started making light tapping motions with his finger on the wooden table.

"…What about the Count and Marquis ranked demons, what are they doing?"

"Regarding them, they are presently awaiting your instructions outside."

Silug responded once more, his voice containing even more hints of awe.

'His decision to have the demons fight amongst themselves is truly worthy of my respect.'

In essence, by attacking their own kind, they had betrayed their own race. Of course, this was under Ren's threat, but to the demons, this didn't really make a difference.

Despite the circumstances, the fact that they went against their own kind was unquestionable.

If the other demons found out about this, there was no question that they would look down on them and scorn them. It was a brilliant move on Ren's part to have them kill members of their own kind, as it would make Ren's plans to have them join his side much simpler.

After all, if they had nowhere else to go besides staying with Ren who could show them some benefits, it was inevitable that they would accept to be under his authority.

"Since they have been waiting for me, it is only right that I speak to them. Let them in Silug."

"As you wish."

Silug carefully nodded his head.

Silug behaved like a subordinate in front of Ren despite the fact that he was an orc chief who took great pride in his position.

It had to be said that Ren's performance over the past few months had truly earned his respect.

Silug turned around and exited the hall, calling for the demons to enter.

***

'I want to go back.'

The fact that there was so little mana in this world was giving me a headache. Having recently achieved <SS-> rank, the one thing I required most was mana, but this world was lacking in that particular resource.

It was also important to emphasize the fact that my injuries were still quite severe and that even sitting still caused me a great deal of pain.

My body required mana in order to recover, but there was a distinct lack of mana in the air, so my recovery time was significantly longer than it ought to have been.

Despite the fact that I had a mana chamber at my disposal, it was far from enough to satisfy me, as I had depleted the majority of my mana during the fight.

In addition, considering how difficult and time-consuming it was for me to activate a mana chamber in order to completely replenish my mana supply, my head started to throb intensively.

'How troublesome…'

It truly was.

"Something on your mind, Ren?"

I suddenly heard Ryan's voice coming from my right.

When I raised my head to look at Ryan, I was startled to notice that everyone was looking at me at the moment.

I slouched down on the table and responded in a lazy manner.

"Nothing much, I was just thinking that I want to go back to earth. Kind of tired of this planet."

After exchanging looks with the others, Ryan shrugged his shoulders.

"Sorry to break it to you, but we still have a lot of things to figure out before going back to earth. Firstly, the arrangements regarding the city that you're planning on building, then the demons that—"

"I know, I know…"

I let out a deep sigh as I leaned my head back over the table and waved my hand around in an uninterested manner.

"Ahhh, I want a break."

"Don't we all."

Melissa commented from the side.

Lifting my head slightly, I asked.

"Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Nope."

Melissa shook her head. In spite of the fact that she appeared unruffled, there was evidence of disappointment written all over her face.

My brows furrowed and a thought occurred to me.

"Hmmm…I remember that there was a treasury in Azeroth's castle where there were a lot of herbs. In fact, now that we've conquered the whole planet, there's a lot of treasure that we have to collect."

When I thought about all of the treasures that were in the demon's possession, I noticed that I was finally starting to feel energy enter my body again.

I couldn't help but feel excited when I thought about all of the treasures that were going to end up in my possession.

'Just when I thought I was going to be poor once again from this city project.'

I stood up from my seat and looked at the others.

"Alright, le—"

Clank!

It was precisely at this instant that the doors of the hall suddenly flung open, and a number of individuals entered the space.

I turned my focus away from the others and toward the demons that had just entered the hall. All expressions on my face quickly vanished.

"Just in time."

'Since they are all high ranking demons, they should know which place has the most treasures and where it's located.'

The thought caused my eyes to sharpen, and without intending to, I let out some of my aura, which had the effect of repressing the demons that were present.

"I've brought them as you've requested."

Silug's voice was cracking as he attempted to speak. I didn't bother to look at him, but I did nod my head before sitting back down in my chair.

"Thank you."

While idly resting my head over my hand that was propped up on the table, I swept my gaze over the various demons that were present.

A silent atmosphere pervaded the area as none of the demons dared to speak.

I shifted my focus to Silug and inquired.

"Tell me how many demons each one of them has killed."

"Yes."

Silug nodded his head and took out a scroll.

Evidently, he was prepared.

"Marquis Rantark, 23,491 demons, Marquis Ivasof, 27, 872, Marquis…"

I listened to Silug's list, alternating my gaze between the demons whose names were being mentioned.

They all had a look of submission and defeat plastered across their faces at the moment.

'They sure did a lot of work.'

It may have taken a long time, but they certainly eliminated a large number of demons.

'I guess they care more about their skin than their own kin.'

With a shrug of the shoulders, I slowly rose from my seat and extended my hand.

"Count Easkrion, 1,478 demo—"

"Thank you, Silug."

I began speaking as I directed my attention toward the demons that were in front of me.

"Alright, I'm satisfied with what I'm hearing. It seems like you've all obediently accomplished the task that I've assigned you. I'm very happy."

I clapped my hands once and proceeded to head for the door of the hall.

"Here's your next task…"

I stopped as I approached the entrance to the hall. I then mumbled something in a voice that was loud enough for everyone to hear without turning around.

"Reveal to me the locations of all treasuries located on this planet."

"...when I mean all, I mean all."

My eyes narrowed as I rapped on the side of the door, and I let out a whiff of my aura.

"I've already shown you mercy once. Make sure to treasure your life."

I immediately left the hall after that.

'This should be enough.'

Chapter 654: Moving forward [2]

According to the information that was provided to me by the demons, there were a total of eight treasuries situated across the surface of this planet.

'It's possible that there are more, but that's all the information that the demons shared with me. It remains to be seen in the future whether or not that is the truth or not.'

"Is this the main castle?"

I came to a halt to look into the distance, where an enormous and eerie black castle appeared in my vision.

A gentle breeze that persisted in the air caused several slender bridges, which were connected to large rocky and steep cliffs, to sway lazily in the air.

The bridges established a connection between the cliffs and the castle, which was perched in the middle of a rocky pillar that was surrounded on all sides by nothing but emptiness. Its imposing structure and design filled me with admiration.

It was nothing short of a structural masterpiece.

'...Fortunately, I can now fly. If not for that fact, I would've had trouble crossing those bridges.'

The thought of crossing those thin bridges that connected to the castle sent shivers down my spine. The scenery was not for the faint of heart.

Turning to look at the demon beside me, I nudged with my head.

"Alright, bring me in."

"Yes."

With a flap of his wings, the demon flew in the air and went straight for the castle. Staring at his figure from where I stood, I turned to look at Amanda beside me. A complicated look appeared on my face.

"...You won't have trouble getting over there, will you?"

"No."

Amanda gently shook her head before she removed a small necklace from her neck and put it away. A powerful energy fluctuation spread across the area we were in and her body started to gently levitate.

I grew bitter when I saw this scene.

"Why did you hide the fact that you've broken through to <S-> rank?"

To be honest, it came as a shock to me to know that she had already broken to <S-> rank before I knew it. I only found out recently, and it came to me as a great surprise.

"Come, let's get going."

Amanda's soft voice echoed inside my head. I shook my head and gently floated in the air. I followed her after that.

The distance between the cliff and the castle wasn't too far. It took us just about five minutes to get there.

"It's bigger than I thought."

It wasn't until my feet were firmly planted on the ground that I realized how massive the castle really was. The height of the castle, which was well over five hundred feet, was comparable to that of a typical skyscraper.

The entire area around the castle was shrouded in a black mist, making the castle look extremely eerie.

The demon from earlier was there, and he was waiting for Amanda and me in front of a large and imposing door.

"Please follow me."

The demon appeared reluctant to look directly at me, as evidenced by the way he bowed his head. Exchanging glances with Amanda, we both entered the premise of the castle.

The exterior appearance of the castle was strikingly different from the appearance of the interior of the castle, which featured extremely high ceilings, luxurious decorations, paintings, and statues that gave the impression that the space was extremely clean and well organized.

'Sort of reminds me of my mercenary headquarters.'

I had lost count of the number of times I had been insulted because of its outward presentation.

"We're here."

Before I knew it, we had arrived in front of a massive metal gate that reached all the way to the top of the building.

The surface of the metal door appeared to be engraved with a number of different symbols and runes that were unknown to me and based on the material that was used, I could more or less tell that I couldn't force my way through the door using brute force.

"This makes things a little bit complicated..."

'I had come with the intention of just breaking through the door and plundering whatever was on the other side, but seeing how thick the gate seems to be, I don't think this is an option anymore...'

I turned to look at the demon that had led us here.

"How do you open the door?"

"Eh?"

The demon looked at me with a confused look.

My eyes narrowed, and I pointed at the large gate in front of me.

"Did you not hear me? How do I open the gate?"

"This..."

The demon showed a troubled look as he looked toward his right and left. In the end, realizing that there was no one present, he trembled slightly as he lowered his head and mumbled.

"This servant doesn't know...only the previous leader knows how to open the door. My ranking is far too low to kno-"

"That's enough."

I raised my hand to stop the demon from speaking.

Sparing him a glance, I turned to focus my attention back on the large gate.

'His words make sense. He is only a Count ranked demon, there's no way he'd know how to open the door.'

Fortunately, I wasn't completely unprepared as I slowly took out a small orb from my dimensional space.

"This..."

The air around the room instantly started to quiver as a burst of demonic energy exploded into the air, making the demon fall to his knees.

He wasn't the only one affected as Amanda's face paled considerably as she stumbled a couple of steps back.

Ignoring the commotion going on around me, I calmly observed the orb that was in my hands.

"I'm glad I didn't kill you."

I then brought the orb to my mouth, much to Amanda's shock.

"Ren you...!"

"Don't worry."

I reassured her and put the orb inside my mouth before swallowing.

Gulp-!

'Been a while since I've done this...'

"Ukh."

As I swallowed the orb, tears formed in the corner of my eyes, and I felt a tightening in the back of my throat. Grabbing a bottle of water from my dimension space, I chugged it down in one swift motion, making it easier for the orb to move down my throat.

"Haaaa..."

Fully swallowing the orb inside of my mouth, I massaged my throat for a bit.

'It hurts...'

"You okay?"

Amanda approached me as she bent down to look at me from below.

Massaging my throat, I nodded.

"I'm fine. It just hurts a little. "

I then coughed a couple of times before finally calming down.

After that, I took a deep breath and muttered.

"Come out."

"Ren?"

My sudden words seemed to have confused Amanda as she cocked her head to the side and looked at me with a confused look.

I gave her a slight nod to indicate that everything was fine, and then I channeled some of my mana and directed it toward the core that was still present within my body.

As soon as I directed my mana toward the core, the core began to shake, and it didn't take long before it began to pulse inside my body.

Opening my mouth, I once again spoke.

"I said come out."

This time my tone was a lot deeper than before.

Just as Amanda was about to speak again, the air around us started to stir and a figure slowly formed in front of me.

"Hiiek!"

The sudden appearance of the figure prompted the count-ranked demon to shriek in terror and retreat a few paces.

Extending his hand, he muttered in a trembling voice.

"Y...your Dukeship!"

A subtle smile formed on my face as I stared at the figure that had morphed before me.

Opening my mouth, I greeted him.

"It's been a while."

***

Monolith headquarters.

Hemlock's gaze passed through the glass panels of his office and stared into the distance. For an unknown period of time, he continued to stare into the distance without saying or doing anything.

It was only after someone entered the room that he finally moved.

"How are the preparations?"

"Everything is going smoothly."

Mo Jinhao made himself at home as he sat down on one of the leather couches of the office.

Leaning his hand against the side of the couch, his brows furrowed.

"...Actually, not everything is proceeding smoothly. A mysterious entity has eliminated all of our spies operating in Ashton city."

Hemlock showed no reaction at Jinhao's words.

He then nodded his head slowly.

"I understand. What about the other cities?"

"Everything is going smoothly there."

"I see..."

Hemlock once again nodded his head as he turned his head to gaze into the distance and mumbled something.

"From this alone, we can assume that whoever is responsible for the killings of our spies is someone from Ashton city."

"Ha?"

"Whoever is responsible for all of this is from Ashton city."

Hemlock repeated after seeing Jinhao's confused look.

"Ah, right."

Mo Jinhao agreed with the assessment as he nodded his head.

Interlocking his hands behind his back, Hemlock asked.

"Is there anything else that is known about the entity? Is it just one person? Multiple people? ...How does he fight?"

"From what we've gathered, the entity seems to be someone who uses the sword. This isn't one hundred percent confirmed as he eliminates all of his victims after killing them. However, since the people he's killing are contractees, after contacting the demons who were contracted with them, we've managed to figure out that he seems to be someone who uses the sword."

"Sword user..."

Hemlock mumbled under his breath.

"What's on the list of the individuals he has killed? "

Mo Jinhao's brows furrowed.

Extending his hand, a journal materialized in his hands.

Carefully opening the book, he read through the contents before answering.

"So far, most of the individuals killed are high ranking members of the Union. There are a couple of low ranking members who are also on the list."

Hemlock tapped his thumb against his hand.

Falling into deep contemplation, his brows relaxed for a moment and he asked one more question.

"What is the Union's reaction to what is happening?"

"Nothing."

Mo Jinhao replied as his eyes narrowed.

"...In fact, the Union seems to be covering up whatever is happening. From the looks of it, they are either working with the person responsible for this or don't want to let the public know about the fact that they are riddled with spies."

"Right..."

Hemlock finally turned around and looked at Mo Jinhao. He then started to share his conclusions.

"From the list, we can gather that he's killed a couple of <S> ranked individuals. From this alone, we can determine that the culprit is someone of that rank. This makes things much easier for us to narrow down since there aren't many <S> rankers in Ashton city."

"He also seems to be a sword user, which further narrows down our search to at most a couple of hundred individuals. However, seeing how he has managed to kill so many <S> rankers, it is likely that he is a ranked Hero. This once again narrows our search significantly. "

"If we also take into account the possibility of the Union possibly having a hand with this, it only leaves me with a couple of individuals in my mind."

Listening to Hemlock's words, Mo Jinhao's back straightened.

His face turned extremely serious.

"Do share."

Closing his eyes for a brief moment, Hemlock's face turned extremely cold.

"Taking into account everything that we know so far, several people come to mind. However, if I had to make a rough guess, I would say that the culprit is either 876, Ren Dover, or...Kevin Voss."s

Chapter 655: Moving forward [3]

"Kevin Voss, 876?"

As soon as he heard those two names, Mo Jinhao's demeanor immediately changed to a gloomy one. This was especially so after hearing 876's name.

Mo Jinhao still couldn't hide the shame that he had suffered at his hand in spite of the many years that had passed since the events that led them to sign a truce with the Union.

"Are you saying that the ones that are responsible for all of this are either one of these two?"

Mo Jinhao's voice turned ferocious as he gazed at Hemlock's back.

The burning anger that he had been hiding deeply came rushing out all at once. Hemlock turned around before he could say anything else.

"Calm down. It's still a hypothesis, and even so, I believe that the one that is most likely the culprit is Kevin, not 876."

"Uh?"

Mo Jinhao tilted his head when he heard Hemlock's words.

"Why do you think so?"

"By now, we both know 876's real identity. Ren Dover, right?"

"Correct."

Mo Jinhao calmly nodded his head as his face turned expressionless.

The rage that had just a few seconds ago been bubbling to the surface of his body had already subsided and retreated to the depths of his being once more.

Hemlock secretly nodded his head when he saw this.

It was this particular trait of Jinhao that made him an especially scary individual. He was someone capable of holding a grudge for a very long time without losing sight of himself. A very important trait for someone so high up in an organization.

"According to the information we have, Ren Dover is the rightful successor of the Keiki style, and based on the reports you've shown me regarding the demons whose contractors have been killed, the demons' injuries do not indicate that their attacker was a practitioner of an incredibly fast sword art."

"At least, from what I've figured, the demons did not experience a sharp, singular pain, a trait that symbolizes the essence of the Keiki style. Furthermore, with someone who is now ranked 18, killing a bunch of <S> rankers should be a trivial thing."

Hemlock perfectly laid out his train of thoughts to Jinhao who further questioned.

"So you think it's because of this that it isn't 876?"

"Not quite."

Hemlock shook his head.

"876 may be employing a different art on purpose in an effort to erase his traces."

"That makes sense."

Mo Jinhao's body relaxed further onto the sofa he was sitting on as he asked.

"...If that's the case, why do you think that it's more likely Kevin Voss who is the culprit?"

"Simple, really."

The tips of Hemlock's mouth curled into a thin smile the moment the question reached his ears.

"According to my knowledge, Ren is a close friend of Kevin Voss. If I were in his position, I would have known that by concealing the Keiki style, Kevin Voss would become a target of suspicion, putting him in danger."

"If Ren was as good a friend to him as the reports claim, he would never do this; therefore, I am more inclined to believe that Kevin Voss is the true perpetrator."

"What you said makes sense."

Mo Jinhao's brows relaxed after hearing Hemlock's train of thought.

'As expected of him, he isn't the leader for no reason.'

Jinhao gained a better understanding of the situation after hearing his assessment. There were still a few things that did not make sense, but compared to his previous hypothesis, this one seemed the most plausible.

"If that's the case how should we pr━"

Knock━! Knock━!

A soft knock on the door abruptly cut him off in the middle of his sentence. Both his and Hemlock's heads turned to look in the direction of the entrance to the room, wondering as to who had knocked on the door.

A voice that was croaky and raspy rang in their heads not long after that.

"Pardon my intrusion, but I have something to report."

Jinhao's complexion changed the moment he heard the voice while Hemlock's remained serene.

Casting Jinhao a glance, he waved his hand in the direction of the door as it flung open revealing the features of a demon.

"Is there anything you need, Everblood?"

"I do. I do."

Everblood entered the room slowly and greeted Jinhao, who promptly ignored him. Smiling, he walked up to Hemlock, seemingly unbothered by his Jinhao's attitude, and cracked a twisted grin that reached the corners of his eyes.

"...I've got a very interesting idea, do you want to hear it?"

***

Suriol's expression was that of defeat as he stared at the human standing before him.

He never in his life expected to lose so badly to a human, and not only that, but he also never expected to have his core imprisoned inside of the human.

With just a single thought, he could end his life in an instant.

Even so, Suriol had the pride of a demon. He wasn't going to let the human walk all over him just because his life was in his hands. He wasn't like the other traitorous bastards who would do anything for the sake of their lives, even if it meant killing their own people.

"What do you need, human?"

He inquired in a chilly tone as he looked at the human.

Staring back at him, the human opened his mouth and replied.

"Firstly, I have a name. It's Ren. I would much appreciate it if you referred to me using that name."

When Suriol heard the human's voice, the pupils in his eyes began to constrict ever so slightly.

His thoughts were consumed by nothing but rage. Suriol's face twisted with rage as he recalled the fact that the human before him had completely dashed any hopes he had of rising to the rank of Prince.

'...So what if he can kill me on the spot? When the time comes and he lowers his guard, I'll use this chance to kill him.'

In Suriol's mind, his life was already over.

For as long as he could kill Ren, Suriol was satisfied.

Ren, on the other hand, didn't appear to care about his thoughts as he pointed in the direction of the gate that was standing in front of him.

"The reason I called you is because I want your help. Tell me how to open this door."

"This is…"

Suriol didn't realize he was back in his own castle until Ren pointed it out to him. To be more specific, he was standing next to his treasury.

"Ah, I see."

He only needed a quick glance to quickly understand the situation. As he tried to think of something, a plethora of different ideas rushed through his head all at once.

"You want to enter the treasury, don't you?"

"Isn't that obvious?"

Ren replied with a calm look. When their eyes met, Suriol felt a chill run down his body, and behind his closed lips, he clenched his teeth in a show of defiance.

It appeared as though the human had figured out whatever it was that he was intending to do just by giving him a single glance.

.

'Since he knows, I might as well say it.'

Suriol gritted his teeth and decided to speak up.

"If I tell yo—"

"No."

He was cut off before he could even finish his sentence.

Staring at him with an all knowing look, Ren spoke up.

"I will not grant you freedom if that's what you're asking. Even if I make you sign a contract that will stop you from taking revenge on me, it would honestly be a waste to lose someone as strong as you."

Ren stepped toward Suriol.

Suddenly, just as Suriol was about to retreat, he was paralyzed by a terrifying pressure that was pressing down on his body and preventing him from moving in any way.

The pressure didn't come from Ren's strength; rather, it was coming from the core inside of Ren's body. It was becoming increasingly clear to Suriol that Ren had concentrated his mana directly on his one and only weakness, which was the reason for the pressure.

Suriol was rendered completely helpless as a result of this, and all he could do was watch as Ren did whatever he pleased with him. Soon, Ren's hand paused on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you."

To his good fortune, Ren didn't appear to be planning on killing him, as evidenced by the fact that he still hadn't killed him yet.

"…Although I'm not entirely interested in having you join my mercenary group, what I am interested in is in having someone manage the planet for me. I could have Silug do it, but he doesn't really have a knack for this type of stuff."

"Uh?"

The expression on Suriol's face froze for an instant as he slowly raised it to look at Ren.

"What do you mean, manage the planet?"

"It's as it is implied."

Ren let go of Suriol's shoulder before shifting his attention back toward the large door.

"...while I am away, I require someone to manage the planet. This means ensuring that everything is running smoothly and the demons are unaware of what is happening. Ensure that nothing leaks out during the process, and for that, I need a person who knows the planet like the back of their hand."

Ren slowly turned his head to gaze at Suriol.

"I'm sure you know better than me who's the most fitting person for this position, right?"

"What makes you think that I will accept?"

Suriol asked while staring back at Ren.

Taking note of the calm and confident look on the human's face, Suriol 's face was rather complicated.

'What makes him think that I will accept his offer?'

He could not comprehend where the humans' confidence originated from. Did he seriously believe that he would voluntarily become his slave?

He was a Duke ranked demon.

A being that stood at the top of the food chain. What made him think that he would willingly bow himself down, and submit to him?

Furthermore, he was the one that dashed his hopes of ever becoming a Prince rank demon.

'Preposterous'

Was all Suriol thought as he glared at Ren with a ferocious expression.

"My answer is still a no."

"Haa..."

Suriol watched as Ren let out a troubled sigh and rested his hands on his hips in an akimbo position.

"...How troublesome, how troublesome."

He started to mumble under his breath in a voice audible enough for everyone to hear. Suriol's face gradually bleached as he heard Ren's words.

"Should I just feed him to Angelica? ...She might just be able to break through to Duke rank if I give her his core. But I don't know if she will accept it, I do remember her saying that she dislikes this type of stuff. Then, should I just kill him and be done with everything? or should I just use the core to buy the loyalty of one of the demons here? Hmmm..."

Chapter 656: Treasury [1]

I was in a bit of a pinch if I had to be honest.

I was now attempting to persuade Suriol, whom I had already defeated, to submit to me and watch over the planet while I returned to earth.

There was no need to explain why I needed someone to keep an eye on the planet while I was away.

Aside from being powerful, they needed to be familiar with the ins and outs of the planet, but most importantly, they needed to hold a certain amount of authority within the demons. This was because I needed someone to prevent the demons who resided outside of this planet from having any suspicions about what was going on on this planet.

My top priority was to conceal the existence of this planet, and the only person who could fulfill all of my requirements was Suriol.

There was only one problem.

'This might be a lot harder than I originally anticipated.'

When I felt Suriol's menacing glare turn toward me, I knew it would be much more difficult than I had anticipated to persuade him to do my bidding.

"Should I just feed him to Angelica? ...She might just be able to break through to Duke rank if I give her his core. But I don't know if she will accept it, I do remember her saying that she dislikes this type of stuff. Then, should I just kill him and be done with everything? or should I just use the core to buy the loyalty of one of the demons here? Hmmm..."

I started speaking nonsense while staring at his reaction from the periphery of my vision. It was subtle, but there was definitely a visible paling in his skin tone the more I spoke.

It was from here that I understood that he didn't exactly want to die.

I thus racked my brain and tried to think of something that might convince him to join me.

In all honesty, I had no idea what to say or do at that point in time to persuade him of anything. I felt completely helpless.

That aside, it was also necessary to acknowledge the fact that the other me had never before completely conquered Immorra in the past.

It was also one of the main reasons that led me to want to conquer this planet.

The fact that I was able to learn the truth about my life while being shown the memories of my other self may seem like a curse to some people, but I beg to differ.

The ability to access his memories was essential to my success in defeating him, and there was a very straightforward explanation for why this was the case.

'I know now exactly what he went through and all the paths he has not taken.'

If I wanted to have a better chance of defeating him, I would have to take routes that he had not previously taken. At this point, only the unexpected could beat him, and the complete control of Immorra was my first starting point toward accomplishing this goal.

'However, he has already pillaged all of Immorra's treasures, which is another reason why I need Suriol on my side to open the treasury.'

Due to the fact that my memories were rather hazy, I was unable to say for certain what was hidden behind the treasury; however, I was certain that there was definitely good stuff concealed behind it.

Another reason why I needed to keep Suriol alive.

In light of the aforementioned, how was I supposed to persuade him to support my cause? No matter how much I wracked my brain over the situation, I just couldn't come up with a way to convince him to join my side.

In spite of the many suggestions I made I was only met with a single glare from him.

'Just what am I supposed to do?'

"...Would he be satisfied with the core of a Prince ranked demon?"

I inadvertently spoke out loud while in the midst of my thoughts.

Would he really be satisfied with a core of Prince ranked demon?

"About the core..."

'But what if he's like Angelica and doesn't use this type of method to grow?'

Things would indeed be very troublesome if that was the case as I really didn't think that I had anything else to offer to him aside from that.

"The core..."

"You can talk to me."

"About the core, if you can..."

A few voices sounded in the air whilst I was in the midst of my thoughts.

'Judging from how prideful he is, it is very unlikely that he will accept the offer, but what if he accepts it? Should I just as--"

"Deal."

"Huh? uh?"

The actions of Suriol, which consisted of shaking Amanda's hand to indicate his agreement, jolted me out of my thoughts and caused me to look around. When I noticed their actions and inquired about them, my face contorted into a confused expression.

"What's going on here? What deal? What happened?"

Why were the two of them shaking their hands, and what was this thing about a deal?

A big question mark appeared at the top of my head as I looked around me in confusion. Amanda quickly clarified what had transpired for me, so my confusion did not persist for an excessively long period of time.

"I agreed on a deal with Suriol over here. If you manage to give him a Prince ranked core over the next five years, he said that he will agree to whatever request that you have."

"That's it?"

My eyes darted back and forth between Amanda and Surion as I tried to make sense of what was going on.

Was all I needed to do really offer him a Prince ranked core?

'Okay, I'll admit that it isn't exactly an easy task; rather, it'll probably be one of the most difficult tasks that I will ever have to complete.'

The task was something that the vast majority of people would consider impossible, but...

'It shouldn't be a problem if the time frame is five years. Let alone five years, I barely have two years left to live before I die.'

My goal was Jezebeth. If I couldn't defeat Prince ranked demons in the future, what was the point of even targeting Jezebeth?

I had to be able to do this much if I ever wanted to have a shot at killing Jezebeth.

"Are you sure that's all you need?"

I had to double check with Suriol to see that I hadn't misunderstood anything. I only relaxed when I saw him nod his head in agreement and say, "Yes, that's all I need. If you can promise me that you will give me a Prince ranked core in the next five years, I will have no qualms with doing whatever you ask me to do."

"Alright, deal."

I didn't think twice before agreeing with the deal.

I had no problem with it, and he didn't either, so I took a mana contract out of my dimensional space and scribbled down the terms of the agreement in front of everyone while they watched. I knew that the deal was done at that point.

It didn't take me long to write down all of the rules that had to be followed after signing the agreement.

After I had finished, I turned the contract over to Suriol, and he gave it a quick read before giving his approval.

"I have no problem with it."

As soon as he gave his confirmation, the contract burst into a brilliant golden light, and simultaneously, the area around it began to illuminate. The contract then took flight before pausing right before everyone's heads and exploded into dazzling lights that scattered all over Suriol and I.

At that precise moment, I experienced a peculiar tightening in my chest as the restrictions of the mana contract began to take effect within my body.

Suriol seemed to undergo a similar situation as his face stiffened for a moment.

Shortly after that, his expression returned to normal, and in accordance with our agreement, he did not hesitate before turning around and placing his hand over the large gate.

The moment Suriol's hand came into contact with the door, sparkling lights began to swirl around it. Simultaneously, the surroundings began to shake, and the doors began to part from one another.

Rumble━! Rumble━!

While protecting my eyes with my hand, the gates suddenly parted with a deafening rumbling sound, and another brilliant light shot out from behind the gates.

The brilliant light was only there for a short while before it quickly faded away. After lowering my arm and blinking my eyes a few times, I slowly opened my eyes and was astounded by what I saw.

Suriol stood beside the gate, his gaze fixed on the treasury.

"As per the agreement, here's the treasury."

***

.

.

.

[[A] Mirage cloak]

[[B] Permeation]

Ding━!

━Do you wish to purchase the following items?

"Purchase."

As Kevin calmly closed his eyes, a plethora of information began to flood his mind. At the same time, a brilliant light shot out from Kevin's body, illuminating the area around him.

With the passage of time, the light gradually dimmed. Only when the light completely faded did Kevin finally open his eyes and crack a satisfied smile.

"...I'm almost there."

He swiped his hand forward, and the panel that stood before him vanished into thin air.

Kevin turned his wrist to check his watch.

"What time is it? 5 am?"

Kevin's face changed when he realized that it was already 5 a.m., so he immediately headed to bed and laid himself there.

'Shit, I got so absorbed with completing the task that I completely forgot that I have to go to Immorra tomorrow. I better get some sleep now.'

Kevin had been concentrating hard on completing the system tasks over the course of the past few days in order to earn enough points to buy the skills that he desired.

He had been considering purchasing the skills for a little more than two years, but it wasn't until now that he had finally amassed enough system points to make the purchase possible.

There was a specific reason as to why he needed those two specific skills. Only with them would he be able to accomplish his goal.

Kevin was planning on doing something big.

Something extremely big. Big enough to completely shake the foundations of the human domain. In a good way of course.

'After I return from Immorra and collect 'that', I will be all ready.'

There was a reason for why Kevin was so adamant about going to Immorra. His plan was almost ready, but there was one last thing he needed that he knew he could only get there; only once he had it, would he be completely prepared.

'Everything will be ready once I come back from Immorra. Only by completing my plan will I be able to increase the chances of Ren killing Jezebeth.'

Kevin secretly clenched his fists as he slowly closed his eyes.

"...I better get some sleep. I just hope that everything goes smoothly."

Chapter 657: Treasury [2]

It had to be said that the treasury was extremely impressive.

The room was about the size of a tennis court, and it was lit up by pink crystals that had been embedded into the walls. The room contained a multitude of marble racks, in which a wide variety of items were stored.

Weapons, herbs, skill books, and a variety of other items worth millions of U laid on top of the racks as I had to take a breath to cool myself down.

'Jackpot.'

I was able to sort out my money problems with just one trip.

For the most part, at least.

In all likelihood, constructing a city would call for resources that were currently well beyond my reach, and it was possible that the value contained in this treasury wouldn't come close to covering the cost of building the entire city or even accomplishing one-quarter of what I had envisioned.

Nevertheless, despite this, it was still a step in the right direction.

"How about we split up? You can go look for whatever you want, while I'll go have a look around as well."

"Sure."

After everything was said and done, Amanda and I got down to business and immediately began searching through the sizable treasury that stood before us.

"Oh, right, make sure you write a log of the items that are stored here."

I mentioned to Amanda just as we were about to separate.

"Okay."

"Good."

I headed to the furthest marble on the right.

"Looks like it's all herbs."

When I finally got to the farthest rack, I was disappointed to see that it was packed with a wide variety of plants for which I had no idea what the appropriate application would be.

"Melissa might like this."

I pulled out my phone and snapped a picture of every plant on the rack before me.

The process of photographing each plant took a total of five minutes, and when I was finished, I swept my hand through the air and gathered everything that was stacked on the racks into my dimensional space.

'Alright, next rack.'

Each rack was quite lengthy. Each rack measured approximately fifteen meters in length and featured three distinct rows in total.

The number of items that could be stored in each rack was nothing short of little; explaining why my expression crumbled when I discovered that the next rack contained even more plants.

'...Looks like I chose the wrong side.'

I let out a low grunt and took a photo of each plant individually.

"Hm?"

It was when I reached the lower level that I suddenly found my hand pausing as I noticed a small flask hidden behind one of the plants.

I moved the plants out of the way so that I could get a better look at the flask, which appeared to be made out of some sort of unique glass and held a dark blue liquid within it. The flask was not very large; it was approximately the size of a fingernail, and it had a tiny black lid at the very top.

A small panel appeared in my vision when I reached out to grab it.

"What's this?"

[Poison of the Medheives]

Rank : S

Description : A slow-acting poison that enters the system and severs all mana connections in the human body, eventually causing death. The poison may take some time to take effect, but once it does, not even an <SSS-> ranked user will be spared. It is insoluble in any liquid and extremely corrosive.

"Hiss..."

I drew a cold breath when I read the description of the small flask in my hand.

"This..."

I was without a doubt holding onto a very scary poison.

"For it to even have an effect on <SSS> ranked individuals...I can't even begin to imagine what it will do to me if I take it."

I shuddered at the idea of someone trying to poison me with this poison.

"Fortunately, or should I say, unfortunately, it's insoluble and corrosive, meaning that it is probably impossible to mix this poison in foods and drinks."

'A bit of a pity.'

If only it could have been combined with both food and liquid, then it most certainly would have been a very scary tool.

"Still, it isn't exactly useless. If I coat this poison with my sword and use the Keiki style, I will without a doubt be able to poison anyone that I want."

Of course, this was granted that I injured them and they lived past fighting against me.

'Whatever, I'll think of better uses later. For now, I better look at the other stuff that's here.'

I put the flask in my dimensional space before focusing my attention on the other racks that were near me.

I had to say, looking for treasures was indeed very fun.

"Wheeeooo."

I whistled aloud when I paused my line of sight on two specific skills while scanning the numerous skill books that laid before my very eyes.

'It has to be these two.'

『[B] Mana scan』

A skill that grants the user to send out a pulse of mana and detect nearby beings and objects that contain mana.

『[S] Chains of salvation』

Grants the user the ability to condense the mana in the air and create a dense network of chains that can bind a specific target within their field of vision. The skill has a maximum range of five kilometers.

There were more than one hundred different skill books stacked in the racks in front of me, and if I had to be completely honest, I was extremely tempted into learning all of the skills.

However, when I thought about the city project that I was planning, I restrained myself and decided to take out the ones that I really needed, which were the two skills that I was holding in my hand at the moment.

"The rest can be kept inside of the city treasure to be given to those who will benefit the most from the skills."

Them getting stronger was the same as me getting stronger, so I had no qualms about giving the skills away.

"Alright, next section."

After I was finished organizing the skills and saving them all to my phone, I moved on to the next section, which was where the weapons were being kept and began looking through them.

This section was less exciting than the skill section since I wasn't really in need of any weapons.

Nonetheless, just because I didn't need anything didn't mean the others didn't either.

[Shield of Korak]

Rank : S

Description : Made from a combination of Ivariol and Sukian, this shield is extremely durable. The shield is extremely light, yet sturdy, and can easily deflect the attacks of <S> rank opponents. Each time a successful attack lands on the shield, mana is drained in proportion to the attack's strength. It is possible to block an opponent's attack whose rank is higher than the holder if the holder has enough mana.

Skill : Shield wall; grants the ability to increase the surface area of the shield. Limit is twenty meters in length.

"This will definitely be useful for Hein."

My eyes were instantly drawn toward a large grey shield.

The shield's exterior appearance made me think of the shell of a turtle; however, in contrast to a turtle's shell, the shield took on more of a pentagonal shape and was very lightweight.

I immediately put the shield away and continued to look at the other items in the treasury.

The minutes turned into hours, and before I knew it, three hours had gone by. During that time period of time, I explored every part of the treasury, took whatever treasures I desired, and kept detailed logs of everything that was found there.

In addition to that, I took a few treasures that I believed would be of use to the others, but apart from that, I didn't find anything that particularly piqued my interest.

It didn't really matter to me as I was very happy with the two new skills that I had just picked up.

Furthermore, I had reached a point where I didn't need as much external help as I had in the past.

Herbs would no longer be of use to me as the ones that could actually help me barely existed, and weapons...

Well, there didn't need to be anything said about my sword, which had finally been completely unlocked and reached the <SS> rank.

[Shattered moon] : This ability enables the user to shatter the sword into a hundred pieces that can be used in any way the user desires and can be controlled through the user's will. The sword can be restored to its original state.

'Now that I think about it, I still haven't tried my ability yet.'

I lowered my head to glance at my sword which was resting on the side of my hip. It had been quite a while since I had last used my sword directly.

I now had knowledge of mana agglomeration and no longer relied on the Keiki style to the same extent that I did in the past; it's unavoidable that I stop using my sword to the same extent that I did in the past.

'That said, things might be different now.'

I thrust my hand forward as a bright white glow suddenly began to emanate from the interior of my scabbard.

It began to shake not long after, and then gradually, my sword was freed from its scabbard and slowly floated up.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

The moment the blade's body was fully uncovered after being concealed within the scabbard, it shattered into a hundred separate pieces.

Like satellites, a hundred different sharp shards floated around my body.

When I clenched my hand, the shards moved in a fluid manner and formed a long silver line that reminded me of a snake. This line joined together with my floating hilt to form what appeared to be my old sword.

"Nothing seems out of the ordinary."

I let out a satisfied smile when I played with m sword and realized that it felt the same as it did in the past.

I then lowered my sword to face the front and focused my attention on the sword in my hand.

The moment my hand made contact with my sword, a bright white glow erupted from my palm, and a sound like metal breaking apart resounded throughout the area.

After that, the sword shattered into a hundred different pieces once more as they began to move forward, forming a long line of shards that were spaced a couple of centimeters apart.

As I casually swung my sword through the air, a disjointed and puzzled version of my sword that was several times longer than my previous sword suddenly appeared in front of me.

Swoosh!

In one swift motion, the sword cut through the air making a nice whistling sound.

"Great."

I exclaimed in excitement as I continued to swing the sword in the air and adjusted the length of the sword from time to time by changing the distance at which the shards were separated.

"This is definitely useful."

The mana required to use this skill was a lot less than when I used mana agglomeration. This alone was enough to tempt me into once again using my sword.

"What are you doing?"

A soft voice jolted me out of my thoughts, and I turned to see Amanda staring at me from behind one of the marble racks.

At that precise instant, the shards reassembled themselves, and my sword reverted to its normal appearance.

"Me? I'm just trying my sword's new skill."

I lifted it up and showed it to her.

Chapter 658: Demon Transformation [1]

"Nope, this doesn't work as well."

Melissa ruffled her hair and tossed a test tube into a nearby bin before shifting her focus to a test tube rack that contained five additional test tubes that were arranged in an orderly fashion.

As she carefully examined each test tube, she leaned her body forward and strained her eyes in order to see more clearly.

"...Looks like these ones are also failures."

Melissa observed the test tubes for five minutes before shaking her head in disappointment.

Her body then slumped down on the chair behind her as she rolled across the floor. Tucking her chin under her hand she mused.

'I am lacking something. Even after experimenting with the new herbs that grow on this planet, I am still unable to locate the herb with the desired properties.'

Melissa was the only person who remained in the castle while the others went to the treasuries of this planet and looted everything there was to loot.

Melissa conducted research and experiments with the plants that she had gathered over the course of her time on the planet while the others were in the process of exploring the treasuries.

She had access to a wide variety of plants and herbs, but as she investigated their properties, she discovered that the vast majority of them possessed qualities that she did not find desirable.

At least, for the project, she was currently working on.

Worse, the herbs the others brought back from the treasuries proved useless to her, as evidenced by the failed test tubes in front of her.

"...Is this trip going to be in vain?"

Melissa sighed in disappointment as she shook her head once more.

Just as she was about to stand up from her chair, the door to the lab opened and a familiar figure walked in.

"How's the research going?"

The person was none other than Ren who had just returned from his trip to the treasury.

"Same as before."

"As in?"

"As in nothing happened."

Melissa didn't even glance at Ren as she continued to sit on her seat and blankly stared at the test tubes in front of her.

It was only after she felt Ren's presence beside her that she continued speaking.

"Are you here to give me the plants and herbs that you've collected from the treasury?"

"Yes, how smart."

Ren waved his hand in the air and tossed a small ring in Melissa's direction.

Grabbing the ring, Melissa finally looked up at Ren and smirked.

"What's this? You finally decided to propose to me?"

"You wish."

"No, not really."

Ren's mouth visibly twitched, and Melissa chuckled softly before gripping the ring in her hand.

"Thanks."

She stood up from her seat and walked toward the table that held the test tubes. Propping her body on the table with body hands she opened her palm and gazed at the ring in her hand before mumbling.

"I hope there's something useful here."

"Don't worry."

Ren reassured her from behind as the sound of his footsteps drifted away from her.

"The plants found within the ring are without a doubt among the best on the planet. If you can't find it there, I doubt you'll be able to find the herb you're looking for anywhere else on the planet."

"Alright."

Melissa once again gripped the ring tightly and let out a long, tired breath.

"I'll try my best to see if I can make do with what you've given me. If I can't find it here, then don't expect me to go to another planet to find the right herb."

"Aye, there should be no problem."

Ren's voice grew louder as he approached the end of the room and came to a halt at the door. He gave her another look before saying, "Just do your best. If you can truly solve the mana poisoning issue, we'll have another trump card in our hands."

Clank!

The door closed and silence returned to the room.

"Haa..."

The silence was broken by Melissa's sigh as she fiddled with the ring in her hands. A thin smile formed on her face as she gazed at the ring in her hand and looked through the contents.

"I guess I still have a lot of work to do."

***

The days continued to pass, and during that time there were discernible changes in the area surrounding the castle.

"Faster, we don't have much time!"

"No, not there!"

"That's wrong!"

The changes were accompanied by loud shouts that came from the dwarves that stood atop the castle walls and barked orders at the demons and orcs that were working tirelessly each day and night as they moved large boulders with their bare hands.

The boulders contained precious ores and came directly from the mine that was located not so far away from the castle.

When the boulders arrived at a specific area beneath the hill where the castle stood, they were deposited near a massive furnace that was at least five times the height of a typical orc and processed the ores into metals that would later be used by the dwarven engineers who stationed themselves in various areas around the outline of the city and constructed strange equipment.

"What are they doing?"

The sound of Jin's voice rang from behind me as I stood atop the castle walls and observed the operation below me. At the same time, a gentle breeze ruffled my clothes and pushed my hair back.

"They're building a camouflage system that will cover the entire city."

I responded without turning my head back.

"Are you trying to hide the city?"

"Yes."

I calmly nodded my head.

"I received a warning from Suriol that the demons are most likely suspecting that something is up with the planet."

"You think so?"

"I don't think, I'm sure."

My eyes squinted as my attention shifted toward the large structures the dwarves were building. My mood turned solemn.

"In the lead up to the war, Suriol divulged our potentially suspicious activities to the demons. According to what Suriol has said, he has remained in communication with them ever since and has regularly updated them on all of his discoveries. Back then, there weren't any problems at all, but..."

"You've defeated Suriol and communication between him and the demons got cut."

Jin instantly understood what I was trying to say as he cut in.

I finally turned my head to gaze at him before nodding my head.

"Yeah, so there's a high chance that they might send some demons over this planet to scout the situation."

The camouflage system was of the utmost priority at the moment.

Without it, most of the plans I had for this planet would go down the drain.

"Even if we have Suriol tell them that the situation is under control, it is likely that they will still send demons to investigate the planet."

"If they find that most of the demons have been exterminated and a large portion of the land has been leveled, they will understand what has happened and most likely alert Jezebeth."

"If that were to happen, then I would most likely have to say goodbye to this planet."

This was not something that I wanted as I had already invested an astronomical amount of resources in the city that was currently being built around the castle.

Fortunately, I had come prepared and had already anticipated this sort of scenario from the start.

Jin cut me off before I could say anything.

"Alright, I get your plan. I also finally understand why you told me to trash the treasuries."

As he looked off into the distance, Jin's lips began to curl upward. A light breeze was blowing past his body, and as it did so, it caused his hair to flutter in the air, revealing his emerald green eyes that sparkled like jewels and his chiseled jawline.

'Handsome bastard.'

I momentarily felt jealous.

...Only momentarily.

"Since there's no chance of stopping the demons from scouting the planet, you're just going to make it seem like the demons lost and that we escaped right after defeating the demons and looting the planet whole. Plus, with the fact that the demons don't care about the ores of the planet, they will probably abandon this planet."

"That's exactly it."

A faint smile spread across my lips as I couldn't help myself from complimenting him.

"You've become sharper."

He understood everything without me needing to go into heavy detail.

Jin had truly become a lot sharper than he was in the past. Was this a result of all of the experience he had accumulated managing such a big guild?

Most likely so.

"Thanks."

Jin leaned forward and placed his hands on the battlement's embrasure.

Taking in the scenery in front of his eyes, he suddenly asked.

"Have you thought of a name for the city?"

"A name?"

His words left me stunned as I blinked my eyes a couple of times.

'That's right, I have been so busy with everything that I completely forgot the fact that the city has no name.'

"Hmmm."

I started musing to myself as I thought of a possible name that I could name the city.

My head remained blank for the next five minutes as nothing came to my mind.

"Can't think of a name?"

"...No, not yet "

I shook my head after musing over the matter for a couple of more minutes.

My head was completely blank as I tried to think of all the possible names that I could give the city.

I did consider naming it something along the lines of Hope City; however, after giving it some more thought, I realized that if I tried to name it that, I would probably get smacked by the others.

There was also Cassia city, but the very thought caused me to grimace, so yeah, I really couldn't come up with anything.

In the end, I could only helplessly look at Jin.

"What are you looking at me for?"

"Do you have any suggestions?"

"Suggestions?"

Jin thoughtfully tucked his hand under his chin as he looked at the sky and leaned back against the battlement.

A smirk eventually formed on his face as he walked past me and patted me on the shoulder.

"This shouldn't be something that you should be asking me. It's best if you come up with it yourself."

"Huh?"

I leaned my head back as I gazed at Jin.

"What are you on about?"

"Are you going to ask for my suggestion for a name for your kid when the time comes?"

"Aahh?"

Jin waved his hand before he went back into the castle.

I gazed at his back in confusion as my eyes blinked repeatedly.

'...What a strange way to say that you can't think of a name.'

Chapter 659: Demon Transformation [2]

'A name...what sort of name should the city have?'

During the time that I spent wandering around aimlessly in the winding corridors of the castle and deeply ruminating over the topics that I had just recently been discussing with Jin, I found myself stopping in front of a wooden door.

"That was fast."

I had arrived at my next destination before I knew it.

Reaching out for the doorknob, I yanked the door open.

"You're here."

I was greeted by the sight of Angelica sitting at the far end of the room with a couple more people.

Silug, and Suriol.

"Yeah."

I closed the door behind me and walked into the room. Finding a sofa to sit on, I sat down and shifted my attention back to Angelica.

"What did you call me for?"

"I'm going to cancel the contract with Silug."

Angelica went straight to the point and told me her intentions.

My brows jumped up at her words.

"You what?"

"I'm going to cancel the contract with Silug."

Angelica repeated in a serious tone.

My brows furrowed when I took note of her tone as I leaned forward a bit.

"Can you tell me why you want to break the contract with Silug?"

"Because there's no longer a need for the two of us to be contracted anymore."

"Ah."

Indeed, now that I thought about it, Angelica and Silug no longer needed to be contracted together.

With Immorra conquered and with me no longer fearing Silug's betrayal, there was no need to keep him contracted with Angelica.

'Plus, I think the reason she doesn't want to be chained by him anymore is because she's now stronger than he is.'

He was essentially of no use to her anymore.

Plus, if he died or anything happened to him, Angelica would be the one to bear the brunt of his death.

It became clear to me that she no longer wanted to bear such a liability.

"Sure, I don't see why you shouldn't break the contract."

I gave her the go ahead.

That being said, she didn't really need to ask me for the contract break. Our relationship was different from that of the past. I trusted that she wouldn't betray me, so I didn't think there was a need for her to ask for my permission.

Still, the fact that she asked for my permission showed that she respected my opinion.

"What are you doing here?"

My attention then shifted toward Suriol who was standing a bit further away from Angelica and watching everything quietly.

Turning his head to look at me, he replied.

"I've come to assist her with the termination of the contract. Since they are both willing to break the contract, and since it is written in the contract that if both parties come to a mutual agreement to annul the contract, breaking the contract should not present any difficulties at all."

"My sole purpose in being here is to guarantee that everything proceeds in an orderly fashion. When one of the parties unexpectedly withdraws their consent to the annulment, there is a small chance that both parties will suffer a backlash as a result of this action. I'm here to make sure this doesn't happen."

He responded curtly and extremely formally which threw me back a bit. For a moment I thought he was a butler.

Before I could ask him anything else, he shifted his focus to Angelica, who nodded her head back at him with a solemn expression.

"I'm ready."

"Take out your contract."

Suddenly, a contract flew through the air after Angelica waved her hand in the air. It landed directly in front of her and Silug, who were facing each other but standing on opposite sides of the room.

'Neither party will harm the other during the duration of the contract.'

'Neither party will compel the other to do something they do not wish to do.'

Sitting down from where I was, I curiously examined the scroll containing words written in a demon tongue.

I had seen it before, but it had been a while, so I had forgotten what was written on the paper.

Regardless, my focus was suddenly drawn away from the scroll and back to Angelica and Silug, who were glowing with a dark purple color that slowly spread throughout the entire room.

"...A pity."

I raised my hand in the air to touch the demonic energy that was lingering in the air to see if I could control it, but I was disappointed to discover that it simply passed through my body, unlike psyons, which circulated like water around my body.

In contrast to psyons, demonic particles had a much greater thickness and moved at a much slower pace. However, despite their diminutive size, they were significantly bigger than psyons.

Their difference was the same as that between tennis balls and golf balls.

"We're done."

The process of breaching the contract as a whole didn't take very long as it was over before I knew it.

The demonic energy that had been seeping into Silug's body began to dissipate almost immediately after the contract was broken, and at the same time, a slight deflation occurred in his muscles.

"Fortunately, you didn't consume any devil fruits or things that could've caused your bloodline to thicken up. You won't suffer any backlash from this, although your strength has decreased a tiny bit."

The words spoken by Suriol caused Silug's face to become more gloomy as he stared at his shrunken muscles while the aura that surrounded his body writhed.

"Don't worry too much."

I went up to him with a warm smile on my face and extended a hand to pat him on the shoulder. I tried to reassure him while keeping an eye on Suriol, who was standing there expressionless.

The more I looked at him, the more he reminded me of a butler.

"I just reaped a bountiful harvest from the demon treasury, so you don't need to worry about regaining your strength."

As expected, the moment those words came out of my mouth, Suriol's face twitched.

I laughed to myself as I reflected on all the gains I had made in the treasury. There were a large number of strange herbs that I knew would be useful for Silug.

Upon giving him the herbs I acquired, there was no question that there would be a significant shift in his level of strength.

'By the time I come back, he'll most probably be <SS> ranked, or even higher.'

I didn't even need to consider how frightening Silug and the other orcs would become now that we've reclaimed the planet and gained access to numerous resources.

It appeared that I was not the only one who was excited, as Silug's expression also became animated.

"Is what you've said true?"

"Why wouldn't it?"

I retreated a bit to put some distance between Silug and I.

"I have no reason to lie in this situation. In addition, you should know how many herbs the demons must have stored in their vaults. Since I have no use for them, I see no reason why I shouldn't give them to you."

"Thank you."

Silug showed his appreciation by bending his head in a respectful manner.

'Now should be the time.'

I gazed at Silug with a serious expression on my face. I then waved my hand in the air and passed down a scroll to Silug.

"If you're thankful, sign it."

"What's this?"

"A mana contract. Although I said that I would give you the herbs, there is a condition for it."

Silug unfolded the contract and slowly read the contents, which were written in demonic language.

I continued speaking while he carefully read the contents.

"The condition is that you sign the contract and become my ally. When the time comes, I will need you, and your people to help me fight a large war against the demons. It will be a terrifying war, and I will need all the resources I can muster to fight it. You included. I under━"

"Okay."

Silug grabbed the contract and infused his aura into it, cutting me off in the middle of my sentence. The scroll that he held in his hand suddenly glowed and broke apart into thousands of particles as it shattered through the air.

The particles slowly floated toward mine and Silug's directions, and I felt another connection established inside of my body.

I looked at Silug with a surprised look.

"Why did you sign the contract so fast?"

He didn't even properly read through the terms that were written in the contract before signing it.

'I know orcs are rash, but isn't this a bit excessive?'

"Without you, none of us would've been alive until now. I would be more than glad to become your ally."

I was stunned by Silug's words.

A thin smile soon formed on my lips as I patted Silug on the shoulder.

"You're right I did."

'Looks like I didn't make the wrong choice in coming here.'

I was now a little bit closer to my plans. With the city slowly building and the orcs in my command, everything that needed to be done was finally done.

As I looked around and stretched my back, I looked at Angelica and said, "I guess we're done here. Looks like we will be going back to earth soon."

"Yes."

Angelica gave her standard icy reply as she sat down and closed her eyes shortly after. She projected the air of someone who did not wish to have their calm disturbed.

I shrugged my shoulders and prepared to get out of the room.

Right as I was about to exit the room, I unexpectedly heard Suriol's voice calling out for me.

"Wait."

My feet came to a pause, and I turned around.

"Is there anything?"

"...Yes."

Suriol looked at me from the other end of the room. Crossing his arms together, he drummed his fingers over his right arm and asked.

"Regarding the Prince ranked core, how long do you think it will take you to get it?"

'So it's about that.'

Somewhat expecting his question, I replied.

"No less more than four earth years, so at most forty years, and at best, fifteen years."

Suriol closed his eyes and proceeded to lower his head before mumbling in a soft voice.

"Okay, I think can wait."

"Hm?"

When I looked over at Suriol, I cocked my head to the side.

"Are you perhaps in a rush?"

"...I'm losing my strength."

Suriol's murmur reached my ear and my eyes sharpened.

'Losing strength?'

Could it perhaps have anything to do with his core? His next words instantly shed light on the matter.

"My core took greater damage than I anticipated during our battle. I fear that I will die if I do not receive a Prince ranked core within the next decade."

"Hmm."

As soon as my mood changed for the worse, my brows immediately knitted together into a tight frown.

'This is a bit problematic.'

A decade...that was about a year on earth. Would I really be able to defeat a Prince ranked demon in a year's time?

...I didn't think so.

I could put up a decent fight against one, but killing it? I really wasn't sure. It was all going to depend on what I did in the future, but as of right now, I was seriously skeptical about whether or not this was even remotely possible.

I raised my head to look at Suriol.

"Is there a way to buy more time? From the way I see things, defeating a Prince ranked demon within a decade seems a bit unrealistic."

The look on Suriol's face darkened, and he dipped his head in a manner that suggested he had accepted the reality of his situation.

My expression was just as dark as his.

'Damn it.'

Considering that a contract was binding us at the moment, if he were to pass away before I was even able to give him the Prince ranked core, I would suffer from the backlash of not completing the contract.

Although I did include a clause in the contract that stated it would be null and void in the event that one of the parties passed away due to circumstances that were unrelated to the other, the fact that I was the one who broke his core meant that this issue was in fact connected to me.

'Great, just great.'

While I waited for Suriol to respond, all I could do was mutter a silent curse at myself.

Just as the mood turned completely gloomy, Angelica opened her eyes and broke the silence. Her expression turned extremely complicated.

"There is a way."

Chapter 660: Demon Transformation [3]

"There's a way?"

I abruptly turned my head to stare at Angelica, who was sitting on the sofa in an elegant manner with both hands resting on her thighs.

Her purple dress accentuated her great curves while her glossy black hair gently cascaded down one side of her shoulders.

With a complicated look on her face, and without answering, she looked at Suriol.

"You already know the answer, don't you."

"..."

Suriol lowered his head without answering.

I took notice of his action and alternated my gaze between the two of them.

"What's going on?"

Was there something that I was missing?

Adjusting her posture, Angelica let out a long sigh before speaking.

"There is one way to save him, and that's to sign a contract with him."

"Huh?"

Her words stunned me. Sign a contract with him? How does that make sense?

"As your strength increases, so does his, thereby repairing a portion of the damage to his core. This is how demonic contracts typically operate, as a contractee's increase in strength also benefits the contractor."

Angelica answered my worries before I could even ask.

I instantly understood her words.

'Right, it's as she says. As the two are connected, the progress of the contractee will directly affect the demon's rank. If so, it makes sense that my increased strength will aid Suriol in recovering from some of his wounds.'

After getting a better grasp of the situation, I decided to keep my mouth shut, and the rest of the room followed my lead and fell into a deathly silence.

Silug, who was still present inside the room, had a clueless expression on his face as he aimlessly wandered around the space with his eyes.

I opened my mouth again and broke the silence.

"...This contract, do we have to do it?"

Honestly, I wasn't in favor of signing a contract.

The only real benefit I would receive from signing a contract with Suriol was a temporary increase in strength, but other than that, there was no other advantage. In point of fact, it was harmful to a greater extent than anything else.

Not only would demonic energy seep into my body and cloud my already muddled mind, but there was a chance that I would be in serious trouble if the others on earth discovered my secret.

Especially by the people from the Union, as they would most likely brand me as a traitor.

"Is there really no other way?"

I asked as I gazed at Angelica and Suriol.

"Not really."

Angelica shook her head upon meeting my line of sight.

"Unless you have a devil fruit that is extremely pure, there is really nothing else that can save him. This is the only possibility that I can think of."

'Do I really have no choice?'

My mood turned gloomy when I looked at Suriol, who pursed his lips and gazed at the floor. He looked to be in deep thought.

'Is signing the contract really worth all the trouble?'

I honestly didn't think so. Although my strength would indeed sour to a new level, it would actually weaken if I were to fight against demons.

Bloodline suppression was a real thing.

Certainly, it would be advantageous in my battle against the Monolith, but the risk far outweighed the benefits.

I apologetically looked at Angelica.

"Sorry, it looks like I mi―"

"There is another way."

I was cut off by Suriol who raised his head and gazed at me directly in the eyes.

Angelica turned her head to look at him, and a frown began to form on her normally delicate brows.

"What are you talking about?"

As she spoke in a cautious manner, her expression became very grave.

Suriol spared her a glance before speaking.

"Bloodline transfusion."

Bam!

Angelica got up from her seat in an unexpectedly abrupt manner, which caused the couch behind her to spin back a couple of meters.

"Are you crazy?!"

A look of shock dyed her face while she gazed at Suriol and raised her voice.

"What are you trying to do? Are you trying to have him killed?"

'Have me killed?'

As the atmosphere in the room grew increasingly tense, her aura began to radiate with increasing intensity.

I was perplexed by what was taking place, so I moved in front of Angelica in an effort to calm her down.

"Calm down for a moment, I'd like to hear his proposal. Who knows, there is a possibility that this could work."

"It won't work."

Angelica bluntly replied, glaring at Suriol.

Her blunt answer aroused my curiosity as I asked.

"Why not?"

Why was she so against this method? Was there something wrong with it?

I got my answer shortly after.

"Blood transfusion, like the name suggests, is a process in which one mixes their blood with demon blood."

"What?"

I was left stunned by her words.

Angelica continued.

"It is considered taboo because the demon will suffer severe injuries from the transfusion. In many instances, the demon will die shortly after transfusing their blood with the recipient, and, unlike demonic contracts, the recipient will not be bound to the demon whose blood they have received."

"It's something that the current Demon Lord has banned completely. If he becomes aware of anyone performing this technique, they will have their entire bloodline exterminated."

I finally understood why Angelica was reacting the way that she had.

"What happens to the recipient when they have the demonic bloodline in their body?"

"They will go crazy."

Angelica replied in a straightforward manner.

"With the contract not acting as a medium to mitigate the purity of the bloodline, transfusing a demon's blood will lead you to lose your mind. All of your innermost desires will be pushed to the limit, and you won't be able to think properly."

"Really?"

I turned my head to look at Suriol who had remained silent the whole time.

Was he so desperate to suggest something so reckless to me?

"No."

He unexpectedly shook his head when he looked at Angelica.

"Although what she said is true, it only applies when a large amount of blood is transfused rapidly. If you do it gradually and stabilize your mind during the process, your likelihood of losing your mind will be drastically reduced."

"Ridiculous."

Angelica scoffed as her eyes turned icy.

"Tell the truth, you're only suggesting this strategy because you're desperate for a Prince ranked core. In the short term, he may be able to maintain his sanity, and his strength will increase dramatically, even more than he would by signing a contract, but there is a high likelihood that he will completely lose his mind not long after."

"Not if his mind is strong."

"Bullshit."

'Did she say my strength would rise dramatically?'

I fell into deep thought while Suriol and Angelica bickered with each other in the background.

Something about Angelica's words caught my attention, and I couldn't get it out of my mind for some reason.

I eventually asked aloud.

"Will transfusing my blood with that of a demon really increase my strength drastically?"

Suriol and Angelica simultaneously stopped talking when they heard my words.

Angelica's facial expression changed again as she stared at me with a stern expression.

"Ren...don't tell me that you're seriously considering this."

"Answer my question first. Will this method help me increase my strength? "

This was the thing that I wanted to know the most.

Fortunately, Suriol answered my question shortly after.

"It will. Not just by a little bit, but by quite a lot. If you're lucky, you might even be able to transform."

"Transform?"

My interest was piqued once more as my eyes focused on Suriol.

Nodding his head, he continued.

"Yes, if you successfully merge with a bloodline of Marquis or higher, you will be able to transform partially into a demon. We call this transformation, Demon Transformation and in this form, you will not be suppressed by a demon's blood unless it is from a demon of a higher rank, unlike contractees, who are suppressed by any bloodline. Not only that, but you will also be able to manipulate demonic energy."

"Oh?"

My interest started to grow the more Suriol spoke.

"Your strength will soar once more as a result of this change. Let's just say that if you had been able to transform, the fight between us wouldn't have been as close as it was."

"Even though what he said is accurate, if you were to fight a demon with a purer bloodline than yours, you would likely be at a disadvantage. Your odds of defeating a Prince level demon will decrease."

Angelica quickly cut in, but Suriol rebuked not long after.

"That's true, but you can simply make your bloodline purer. If you mix your blood with demonic blood you will be able to consume devil fruits and demon cores to purify your bloodline. By the time your bloodline reaches the Prince rank, fighting against someone of that level will be a breeze for you."

"Do you really think it's so easy to find devil fruits that can help him? His goal isn't a measly Prince ranked demon, it's the Demon King. Do you really think his bloodline will be pure enough to fight against the demon King?"

"He might as well go to the world tree and pick the devil fruits himself and eat them all if he ever wants to have a bloodline pure enough to not get suppressed by the Demon King."

"What did you just say?"

My head raised up as my eyes shot wide up.

"Uh?"

My abrupt actions caught Angelica off guard as she looked at me with a confused look.

"Say what again?"

"The part where you spoke about the world tree."

"That? ...If you want to have a bloodline pure enough not to be suppressed by the Demon King, you might as well go to the world tree and pick the devil fruits yourself?"

"Bingo!"

My eyes became animated and my fingers snapped.

While the two of them were bickering, I was paying close attention to what they were saying. In fact, although tempting, I was planning on rejecting the blood transfusion offer.

The reason was exactly as Angelica stated.

With the bloodline transfusion method, against higher ranked demons, I would be put at a disadvantage.

It wasn't that much different from signing a contract, apart from the transformation thing.

Considering that I wanted to kill Jezebeth, it was clear that this option was a no go.

...Of course, that was until I heard the last part of Angelica's sentence.

'Yes, if I really get access to the devil fruit that grows in the world tree, I would without a doubt be able to purify my bloodline to the King rank. If that happens, I will without a doubt have another ace up my sleeve!'

I made my decision within an instant

Raising my head, I directly looked at Suriol and ignored Angelica.

"About this bloodline transfusion, tell me more about it."

***

"Just made in time."

Kevin scanned the panel in front of him and sighed in relief.

Destination : Immorra

Would you like to teleport : [Y] [N]

Kevin licked his chapped lips and then looked at his ring to make sure he had brought everything he needed. The check was completed rather quickly, and he turned his attention to his watch at that point.

After he brushed his other hand across the watch, a transparent white sphere materialized all the way around the watch.

'Tomorrow will be an extremely important day. There's no way I'll miss it.'

Kevin took his eyes away from the watch and turned them back toward the panel.

Without hesitation, he pressed the [Y] and his body started to disintegrate on the spot.

Chapter 661: Return [1]

"What in the world happened while I wasn't here?"

After Kevin teleported back to Immorra and saw what appeared to be an entirely flat land, he was at a loss for words and remained there for some time.

'...What exactly happened here?'

There was a smoky odor that lingered in the air, and the area of land in front of him was completely charred and devoid of any and all vegetation. The sky continued to be covered in ominous clouds, and a sense of gloom pervaded the entire planet.

The view that greeted Kevin when he arrived in Immorra was completely different from what he saw when he first arrived in Immorra.

"Did Ren do this?"

This was the first thought that crossed Kevin's mind when he saw the scorched land.

"Haa."

After releasing a long sigh, he reached into his dimensional space and pulled out a small communication device. He quickly activated it.

―Oh, looks like someone has finally decided to show up.

A familiar voice echoed from the speaker of the communication device.

Kevin's lips slightly curled.

"I'm guessing that you're the one responsible for this mess."

―Smart one you are.

"I know I am."

Kevin secretly rolled his eyes.

"Alright, come and get me. We don't have much time."

―Sure, sure, send me your location.

"I already did."

―Oh, right. Give me a sec.

As soon as those words were spoken, Kevin was hit with a gust of wind, and his clothes and hair began to flutter. A figure soon appeared in front of him.

"That was fast."

"Glad you're impressed."

Ren and Kevin exchanged a simple hug before Ren handed him a brown bracelet.

"What's this?"

"Put it on."

"...Okay."

Kevin obeyed Ren's instructions and put on the bracelet as he had been told. Soon after he had fastened the bracelet around his wrist, Kevin noticed a change in the surrounding area, which caused him to jump in surprise.

"Ho!"

"Relax."

Ren gave the tiniest smile as he turned his attention to the horizon, where he gazed at what appeared to be a large city encircled by a transparent yellow dome.

"The bracelet you are wearing enables you to see the city. A large camouflage system currently surrounds the city. This is to prevent the demons from discovering what is happening, and only with the bracelet can one see the city."

"...What?"

The shock on Kevin's face only grew the more Ren spoke as his mouth hung open.

'City? Camouflage system?'

What's going on?

As Kevin turned his attention back toward the city, he found that he was unable to utter a single word. He was beyond speechless.

In particular, he was drawn to the appearance of a particular structure.

The structure was surrounded entirely by glass and was designed to look like a large rectangle that jutted upward into the air. It was situated on the very edge of the cliff, and it wasn't particularly tall—there were no more than twenty floors—but Kevin could tell at first glance that it had been constructed with some very advanced technology.

Perhaps even beyond that of the human domain.

'The changes in the lower levels are just as shocking.'

Kevin observed, as orcs moved throughout the entirety of the lower levels carrying heavy rocks, that a large frame of what appeared to be extremely large walls was gradually beginning to take shape around the areas where the camouflage dome rose up.

The walls encompassed only a relatively small area of land, a radius of approximately twenty kilometers extending outward from the hill on which the large structure was located.

From where he stood, he could see buildings slowly being built at the bottom, as well as the frameworks of the houses.

Because they were only skeletons and frames, he couldn't see what the houses looked like, but from a glance, he could tell they were more earthern and modern in style.

"Crazy…"

Kevin muttered something under his breath as he watched everything take place right in front of his eyes. The scene that was unfolding in front of him was nothing short of incredible, even for someone like him.

"It's cool isn't it?"

Ren's voice echoed beside his ear, and Kevin nodded his head.

"…It sure is."

"You might not believe me, but I've built all of this in the span of about fifteen days."

"Oh."

Kevin gave a calm nod, giving no indication that he was surprised. He didn't have any reason to be surprised because he understood how all of this could have been built in such a short amount of time.

"The orcs must be efficient workers."

"Sort of."

Ren scratched the back of his head.

"However, it is not actually this quick because of them alone. The dwarves are incredibly useful and make them much more efficient workers."

They were the actual cogs that made this machine work.

Ren silently whispered under his breath as he took in the scenery.

"I see…"

Kevin muttered silently as he nodded his head.

Ren's explanation made sense. The dwarves were indeed smart and efficient when it came to this type of stuff.

"Had it not been for them, all of this would've only been possible in a few decade's time."

Ren added while Kevin simply nodded his head.

"Yes, I get it."

He then turned to face Ren.

"Enough about the dwarves, what else have you added to this place?"

"I'm glad you asked."

Ren leisurely walked forward with his hands behind his back. Kevin walked beside him.

"Because we don't have a large enough dwarven workforce at the moment, we can't take on too much work right now. The orcs are typically in charge of building the walls and constructing the structure, while dwarves are in charge of the planning and organization of everything."

'As it should be.'

Kevin inwardly mumbled.

There was no way that the orcs, who were significantly stronger than the dwarves, could expect the dwarves to be able to carry the heavy materials and rocks as they did.

"Because I had warned them about the project in advance, we were able to bring enough equipment and materials, which accelerated the construction of the city. Oh, and I plan on calling the elves soon."

"The elves?"

Kevin's feet suddenly came to a pause while he looked at Ren.

"Why would you call the elves?"

Kevin had nothing against the elves, but from a glance he could tell that there was a fundamental problem with this place.

Jezebeth.

He was the problem. With just a swipe of his hand, he could annihilate the entire planet.

At this moment, the only reason why Jezebeth hadn't found him was because he had used a unique skill to conceal the fact that he had used the Akashic laws to teleport to where Ren was.

But that was besides the point.

"If you plan on having the elves come to this planet, you should expect the probability of demonic spies possibly coming here and revealing everything to him. That in itself will jeopardise everything."

"Don't worry about that."

Ren patted him on the shoulder in a reassuring manner.

"I have already taken that into consideration, and I have devised a few solutions that can be implemented in the short term. In addition, I have a solution that can be implemented in the long term as well, but it could take some time."

Kevin's eyes narrowed, but he eventually nodded his head.

"Well fine, since you seem to know what you're doing, I won't say much anymore, but..."

His head cocked a little as he pondered.

Actually, there was something he was still confused about.

"Why do you need the elves' help? Realistically speaking, they won't be able to build much with construction and stuff and —ah!"

Kevin's expression stiffened halfway through his words.

He turned to look at Ren.

"Don't tell me…"

Ren smiled back at him and nodded.

"It's exactly as you're thinking. I'm planning on having them create mana and place it within the city."

***

Creation, destruction, foundation.

Those were the three fundamental components that made up the world.

Without creation, there would be no destruction, and without foundation, there would be no creation.

The general consensus between the three races was that the dwarves represented creation, the orcs represented destruction, and the elves represented foundation.

They, who knew how to manipulate mana better than anyone else, also knew how to create it.

It was something that only they, beings that were closest to mana, knew how to do.

Issanor, Elven domain.

"What have you called me for, Randur?"

A sweet and crisp voice reverberated throughout an empty hall.

The voice belonged to none other than Maylin, the elven queen.

—Nice hearing from you too.

A harsh voice could be heard throughout the hall as Randur's face suddenly materialized in front of Maylin, appearing through a small circular gap that stood in the air. It was essentially a face time call.

Maylin gave a contented grin and crossed her legs as soon as she heard Randur's voice.

"Why have you suddenly called me out of the blue? This is very unusual of you."

—Actually, I have something important to talk to you about.

Randur's face suddenly turned serious, and so did Maylin's.

Her delicate brows came closer together, and her back became more upright.

"What is it?"

—You know the human that helped us back in Henlour?

"Human that helped you?"

Maylin pondered for a while before an image appeared in her mind.

'Could he be talking about…'

"You mean Ren?"

Maylin's mouth opened instinctively as she said a name.

Randur showed a surprised look.

—Oh, so you do know him.

'So, it's indeed him…'

"Yes, I do."

Maylin nodded her head.

"He has also helped me out in the past."

—You too?

Randur suddenly burst out laughing.

—Hahahaha, what a strange coincidence.

His laugh subsided shortly after and he stroked his long beard.

—Well that makes things easier for me.

"Go on. I don't have that much time."

—Does it have anything to do with the Fallen?

Maylin felt her head hurt when the word 'Fallen' was mentioned. They, like Inferno, Monolith, and Gobra, were the demonic organizations for which those that signed a contract with a demon resided.

In this case, Fallen was the respective organization for the elves.

"...yes, so please be quick with it. I don't want to think about them right now."

Maylin massaged her forehead.

"If it's not anything important, I'll just end this meeting."

—Haha, I can reassure you that I won't be wasting your time with this meeting. Rather, you will be thanking me once this is over.

"Oh?"

Maylin raised her head. She was starting to feel curious now.

For what reason did Randur seem so confident?

As soon as Randur noticed the interested expression on Maylin's face, he broke into a broad grin. He stopped dancing around the issue and came clean with the information.

—Ren has recently gained access to an old orcen planet which is filled with natural resources, and we are planning on building a city on it. It's a city that will not have any contact with the outside world, and that will only be revealed once the third cataclysm comes forth.

"Another planet…secret from outside world…resources…"

Maylin mumbled the key points to herself as her eyes widened with surprise.

"Is this true?"

Just in case, she wanted to ask again. Simply put, what Randur told her was hard to believe.

Especially since it was believed that most habitable planets had already been taken by the demons long ago.

Randur energetically nodded his head once he heard her words.

—It's true, I've seen it with my very own two eyes.

"Hisss…"

Maylin drew a cold breath upon hearing his confirmation.

Closing her eyes, she was quickly able to recompose herself as she asked.

"Let me guess, you want me to send some elves in secret in order to add mana to the world?"

It didn't take long for Maylin to understand what Randur was trying to ask of her.

With her experience, she was able to analyze this much.

She quickly shook her head.

"I apologize, but that will not be possible. Excluding the threat posed by the Fallen, we cannot inject mana into something of planet-sized proportions. It's just too m—"

—Who said anything about planet?

Randur stopped her mid sentence.

—We don't need to have mana cover the whole planet. What we need is for it to just envelope the city. That shouldn't be too hard, should it?

"That…"

Maylin furrowed her brows and lowered her head as she contemplated.

'Indeed, if it's just a city, inserting mana shouldn't be too hard, but it would be costly…'

As if he could read her thoughts, Randur spoke.

—If you're worried about cost, don't worry about it. This place is extremely rich in nutrients. If you manage to insert mana, I guarantee you that you will be able to grow anything that you want.

"Anything?"

Maylin slowly raised her head and stared deeply into Randur's eyes.

While maintaining eye contact with her, he gave a slight nod of the head and gradually lowered his voice.

—…Anything.

Chapter 662: Return [2]

"Here you go, do you have what I requested?"

Kevin slid a thin red book over to me at my desk, and then sat back down on the couch behind him.

After scribbling a few things on the piece of paper in front of me, I turned my head ever-so-slightly to look at him and waved my hand over a certain spot on my desk. A thin transparent flask materialized on the table.

I then dragged the book over to my side and casually opened it.

After browsing the pages of the book, I put the book away and smiled to myself in contentment.

"Thanks."

"It's no big deal."

Kevin took the flask and similarly smiled in contentment.

Putting it away, he shifted his attention back to me.

"...Are you not curious as to why I would need this poison?"

"Nope."

I shook my head and rubbed my nose.

While I readjusted my glasses, I tinkered with the pen that was already in my hand before beginning to write once more.

There were a lot of things that I needed to take care of, and I barely had any free time to spare.

Especially considering that I was just about to return back on planet earth. I wanted everything to be perfect before I returned.

Nothing could be overlooked.

"I'm going to kill Malik Alshayatin."

Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to concentrate on my work as I took my glasses off in a collected manner and laid them out on my desk.

"What are you smoking, and can you tell me who your dealer is?"

I asked, clasping my hands together and staring intently at Kevin.

Kill Malik Alshayatin?

Yeah, right. Kevin was without a doubt out of his mind.

Malik Alshayatin was someone who had just broken through the <SSS-> rank. How could a measly <S+> ranker ever hope to kill him?

Heck, even I was certain that I would die if I fought against Malik Alshayatin.

I may have been successful in beating a Duke-ranked demon that was close to advancing to the Prince rank; however, the key word there was "verge."

The gap between <SS+> and <SSS-> was as wide as an <F-> rank to an <A> rank.

It was simply put suicide.

I worriedly looked at Kevin as I set my pen down and put my glasses back on.

"Why do you want to kill yourself? Are you not satisfied with your current life? Are you depressed? Tell me, I'm here for you."

"Fuck off."

"That's a bit harsh."

I pretended to look hurt at Kevin's harsh remarks.

"Here I am, worried for your life, and all I get is a fuck you. Wow, I'm about to cry."

Kevin rolled his eyes as he crossed his legs and glared at me.

"Are you done? I'm being serious here."

"Me too."

Kevin's mouth twitched and black lines appeared on his forehead.

I gave in when I saw that he was about to erupt in anger.

"Fine, let me hear your plan."

"Thank you."

Kevin's expression returned to its usual calm, and for a brief moment, I thought I was the one being duped by him.

It left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.

"You know about the meeting that will take place right after you return, right?"

"Of course I do."

The assembly.

A significant event in which the fifty highest-ranked individuals in the human domain formed an alliance to combat the Monolith.

In contrast to the Monolith, which functioned as a single cohesive entity, the forces that comprised the human domain were dispersed, with the Union serving as the most powerful of the various organizations.

In spite of this, when contrasted with the strength of the Monolith, their power was still inferior.

The only reason the Monolith did not launch a full-scale invasion on the human domain was because the human domain did not only consist of the Union. If push came to shove and all the powerful forces joined together, the Monolith would face a competitor that was equally as powerful as it was.

The purpose of this assembly was to create such an alliance. An alliance that was strong enough to go head to head against the Monolith.

It was also a meeting that I was supposed to attend.

"During the event, Malik Alshayatin will make an appearance."

"..."

Kevin's words caused my eyes to sharpen.

'As expected, he recovered his memories of the past.'

This wasn't something that he would know unless he recovered his memories.

Opening my mouth, I asked.

"You're the one responsible for killing all of the Monolith spies, aren't you?"

I already knew the answer, yet I was still waiting for him to directly confirm it to me.

There could be no one else but he could be capable of killing the Monolith spies. After all, he could directly bypass the laws of the contract.

"I am."

Kevin calmly nodded his head, his fingers drumming over the armrest of the sofa.

"By now, they most likely have an idea that it is either one of us that is responsible for the killing of the spies."

My mouth twitched when I heard his words.

'Shit, I didn't do anything this time and for some reason, they are suspecting me.'

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Taking note of my gloomy expression, an amused smile formed on Kevin's lips.

"It couldn't be helped. There aren't too many swordsmen in the top one hundred. It is inevitable that they will suspect that it's either one of us."

"Fuck, couldn't you have changed your weapon? Also, why would they suspect us when the contract says that we can't attack them?"

"It isn't so easy to kill rankers without my main weapon, and you're not part of the Union so you can technically kill them."

Kevin helplessly shrugged his shoulders while I gnashed my teeth in annoyance.

"Useless."

"Hey, now. You've pulled similar stunts on me a million other times in the past. Don't act like you're completely innocent."

"..."

My mouth instantly shut.

Indeed, Kevin was correct; in the past, I had engaged in activities very much like those he described.

"Alright, fine. Get to the point. What exactly are you going to do during the assembly?"

"As you know, I am not going to be participating in the assembly."

"Yeah."

Kevin wasn't in the top fifty so he wasn't invited to the assembly. Plus, since he was part of the Union, he didn't really need to attend.

"Actually, that's on purpose."

"I figured that much."

It is fair to say that it was a little strange to see Kevin's rank fall short of the top fifty.

Given his overdrive and his signature Levisha style, there probably wouldn't have been much of an issue for him to reach the top fifty.

In light of the fact that some of the spies planted by the Monolith had vanished, I had a sneaking suspicion that he was plotting something.

As I continued to look at Kevin, I had a sudden thought pop into my head.

"Don't tell me that you're planning on killing Malik Alshayatin during the time that the assembly is running?"

"During the assembly, Malik Alshayatin will send a projection of himself in an attempt to infiltrate the minds of those in attendance. His original plan was to have the spies attack and injure numerous people, but since there are no longer any spies, he will likely come after you."

Kevin's voice was extremely serious.

My brow furrowed tightly as I listened to what he had to say.

"What do you think he's planning on doing?"

"He will most probably use some sort of mind technique on you and the people present. I'm telling you now in advance in order to prepare you for what is to come. "

"I see..."

I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms across my chest.

Lowering my head, I looked at Kevin.

"What about you? How are you planning on killing him?"

"The projection."

Kevin bluntly replied.

"In order for Malik Alshayatin to project himself in front of the assembly, he will need to leave the Monolith and hide in a safe location near the assembly, and I know precisely where that location is."

"Ah, I understand."

As soon as Kevin made that statement, a picture began to take shape in my head.

My face immediately turned strange.

"So you want to take the opportunity when Malik Alshayatin is hiding to directly sneak into his safe space and catch him off guard? Are you seriously not on something?"

Even if there was no one guarding him, Hemlock was a bonafide <SS-> ranker.

It was inconceivable that someone of Kevin's rank could sneak up on the leader of the Monolith. Even if he was ambushed secretly, there was no way in hell that I would have believed he wouldn't use mana to protect his body.

"...No offense, but even if he doesn't have defenses, it would be impossible for someone of your rank to inflict some damage to him, most likely, he will have some form of mana shield around his body to block all attempts at sneak attacks."

"Don't worry about that."

Kevin reassured, leaning back on the chair with a relaxed attitude.

"I have already meticulously planned everything. Now that you have provided me with the final piece of equipment that I required, I am confident in my ability to take action against him."

I considered saying something, so I opened my mouth to do so. However, right before I was going to say something, I closed my mouth and clenched my fist.

"Nevermind, since you're so confident, I won't say anything. Do as you wish."

The expression that Kevin was giving me caused me to hold my tongue and refrain from speaking.

He had long since made up his mind, and the reason he was divulging all of this information to me was not so that he could take my advice into consideration; rather, he wanted to reveal to me what he intended to do in the future, and was perhaps wanting for me to cooperate with him.

In the end, I could only relent and ask, "What do you want me to do?"

"I'm glad you've caught on."

Kevin began to explain to me a portion of his plan while maintaining a smile on his face.

Oddly enough, he didn't say everything and only provided me with a brief rundown of what I needed to do, but I wasn't all that curious anyway, so it didn't bother me too much.

As long as he could get it done, a lot of my problems would disappear.

Hence why I made sure to pay close attention to all of his words.

"Your primary duty is simple. Stall. Make sure that you stall for as much time as possible during the time that he shows up. Get Malik Alshayating's focus to direct itself toward you so that his defenses lower. Once you have accomplished this, I will take care of the remainder."

Stall?

That sounded rather simple.

"Is that all you really need me to do?"

"Yes."

Kevin gave a thoughtful nod.

After looking into his eyes intently and noticing the seriousness in them, I eventually brought my eyes to a close and let out a long, drawn out sigh.

"Alright then. I will do as you wish."

Chapter 663: Return[3]

"Are you guys ready?"

Kevin looked around the room and then asked.

Presently, Ren, Melissa, Amanda, Jin, and the other members of Ren's mercenary group were all standing in front of him.

They were currently making preparations to return to earth, but because the portal had been deactivated for safety reasons, they could only do so with Kevin's assistance.

"We should be."

Ren spoke, glancing around to ensure that everyone was present.

"Although I would have liked to remain here, I have something to do in the human domain, so everyone can only follow me back."

"Mhm."

Kevin nodded his head silently when he heard Ren's words.

The difference in time flow, while beneficial, also presented some challenges, and so should be viewed as having an equal amount of potential disadvantages as advantages.

Particularly so if one was from Earth or a human being.

'With time flowing slower here, one might find themselves aging rapidly.'

In spite of the fact that Ren and Kevin only differed in age by a matter of a couple of months, the fact that Ren had spent some time in Immorra meant that he could now be considered to be older than Kevin.

The same went for Emma and the others.

It was strange to think about the fact that they were now technically older than he was, despite technically being younger.

'What a mess.'

The point that was being made was that spending an excessive amount of time in Immorra was not necessarily a good thing. They were effectively running the risk of aging at a rate that was significantly faster than average humans on earth.

In the time it took for one year to pass on earth, ten years would have been up and running in Immorra.

It was because of this particular factor that no one present ever entertained the idea of concealing members of their family or close social circle here.

"Since everyone is ready, I'm going to start the portal."

Currently, he could feel eyes glaring at the back of his head, but he pretended not to notice.

Taking his mind away from the matter, Kevin took out a core from his dimensional space and crushed it in his hand.

A scene that was all too familiar to Kevin began to materialize in front of everyone as the mana from the core began to disperse into the room.

This resulted in the unavoidable thickening of the air, through which strands of mana could be observed floating.

After a short period of time, a white ball materialized in the middle of the room, and the mana that had been dispersed throughout the space began to swirl around it. After exactly one minute had passed, a portal formed in front of everyone.

The room became deafeningly quiet when the portal appeared.

"…I never get tired of seeing this."

Ren mumbled in surprise, blinking his eyes a couple of times, seemingly trying to imprint the scene inside of his mind.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Let's get going."

***

The moment I emerged from the portal, the first thing I did was check on the state of the headquarters.

Given the number of procedures that dwarves had performed in this location, I dreaded the worst.

Messy floor? Broken furniture? Torn couches? ...was what I expected to see the moment I set foot in my headquarters, but...

"You know what? "It doesn't look half bad…"

I was pleasantly surprised to find the room in pristine condition.

Even though there were a lot of wires sprawled all over the floor, it wasn't nearly as cluttered as I had anticipated it to be. It was clear that the dwarves had cleaned up after themselves.

"Ugh, my stomach."

"It's bright."

"We're back."

As I continued to look around, one by one, people began to appear from the portal that was behind me.

Because Kevin was familiar with the precise coordinates of my warehouse, he was able to teleport us here.

In the end, Kevin was the very last person to emerge from the portal after a total of ten minutes had elapsed since the opening of the portal.

"Are you sure it's okay to leave the dwarves there unsupervised?"

I was able to make out Kevin's voice as he emerged from the portal.

"Don't worry about it."

I waved my hand at him.

"Unlike us, the dwarves have a much bigger life span. Our absence won't hurt them much, plus, I've got Silug taking care of the matter."

He was dependable enough to handle such insignificant concerns on his own.

Furthermore, with Suriol around and contracted to me, there was nothing that I had to fear.

He would make direct contact with me through the dwarves if something was up.

"I think it's time for me to go back. I'll have to get ready for the assembly."

Sadly, there was no time for me to rest.

I knew that I needed to get back home quickly because the assembly was going to start in approximately two hours, and it would take at least fifteen minutes for me to get back home.

As the truce between the Union and the Monolith was set to expire in fourteen days, fighting between the two sides was unavoidable.

'No, this isn't even just about the Union anymore.'

It came down to the Monolith versus the entirety of the human domain.

Douglas, along with a great number of other important figures who had never been seen before, would emerge from their hiding places at this time in order to fight the Monolith.

...All of this was unavoidable. It was especially so since Jezebeth had set a decree to conquer earth as soon as possible.

The war was inevitable.

"Ren…"

My assumptions led me to believe that the Monolith most likely already had a Mana compressor operational by this point in time. But not just any mana compressor; rather, one that operated on a massive scale.

one that was enormous enough to completely drain the mana of the earth and transform it into demonic energy.

Its appearance would signal the beginning of the end.

"Ren."

With demonic energy permeating every part of the world and dungeon desyncs occurring at an increasing rate, it was reasonable to assume that the human domain will be confronted with a terrifying catastrophe that they would struggle to handle, and...

"Ren!"

When I turned around, I saw Amanda standing behind me with her mouth closed and her jaw set in a stony expression. She was staring at me silently.

I knew from this expression that I was in trouble.

"Yea?"

"You...nevermind."

Amanda sighed and shook her head.

She then brushed her hair behind her ear before handing me her phone.

"Your mom just called. She wants to speak to you."

"Huh?"

As I looked at the phone that Amanda was holding, my face began to change in an odd way.

Call me?

Why couldn't she just call me on my phone?

"Yes?"

—Ren.

My mother's familiar voice echoed from the speaker of the phone.

"What is it, mom? Why did you call Amanda, and how did you know that I was back?"

—That's because Amanda sent me a message.

"Oh, did she?"

I glared at Amanda from the side.

She ignored me and fiddled with her hair. My mouth twitched.

'Is this how you're going to be?'

Fine.

"Is there anything that you would like from me, mom?"

—Yes, actually. Edward, Amanda's father has contacted me and told me to tell you that he will be leaving in an hour and a half, so you better hurry home or he'll leave you.

"Ugh."

I groaned out loud.

Did he seriously tell my mom to tell me something like this? Couldn't he have just messaged me? It's not like my phone won't receive the message when I return to earth.

'This man is becoming pettier and pettier.'

"Alright, I'll be there shortly."

—Okay, I'll wait for you. Please get home safely.

"Sure."

The call ended after that.

I extended my hand and handed Amanda the phone. After staring at her for a moment, I sighed and slouched my shoulders.

"Let's go. I'll deal with you later."

"Sure."

We left shortly after that. Of course, before leaving, I made sure to tell the others to get prepared for what was to come.

The next year or so was going to be a hard one.

***

Cygnus A, Galaxy.

A figure sat down in a gracious manner on the grass of a remote, verdant planet as he focused intently on the towering mountains in the distance that tore through the large clouds in the sky. A gentle breeze passed over his body.

The figure was none other than Jezebeth, who mumbled.

"...How nice would it be to live here."

The tone of his voice was tinged with melancholy, while his eyes were transfixed on the serene landscape before him.

The landscape was among the most beautiful he had ever seen. The grass was luxuriantly green, the trees were dense and healthy, the sky was azure blue, the air was crisp, and the nearby river was flawlessly clear.

Most importantly, it was quiet. There was only the sound of nature flowing through Jezebeth's ears as he peacefully sat on the patch of grass.

Extending his hand, Jezebeth stared at his hand and mumbled.

"I'm tired."

Conquering planets, destroying worlds, killing races, Jezebeth was tired of all of it.

It was something he had done for as long as he could recall, and he had grown tired of it. He desired to spend as much time as possible admiring the view before him and basking in the warm sunlight coming from the sun in the sky.

He didn't want to leave this place.

He really didn't.

Nonetheless, Jezebeth knew that he couldn't stop.

He had a goal.

The Akashic records.

Before then, everything was secondary. Jezebeth knew that he was nearing the end of his solitary, thorn-filled journey.

He was finally going to get the answers he so desperately wanted.

The answers to his existence.

"Just a little bit more."

Jezebeth knew that he only had to endure a little bit more before he could finally enjoy this scene to his heart's content.

Everything that he had planned had been put into motion, and now that he had dealt with his primary obstacle, Jezebeth felt as though he was closer than he had ever been to achieving his objective.

So long as nothing deviated from his vision, the records were as good as his.

Jezebeth's surroundings were suddenly hit with a gust of wind at the same time that a skinny figure suddenly materialized and sat on the patch of grass next to him.

The focus of Jezebeth's eyes never left the surroundings far off in the distance, in spite of the figures' sudden appearance.

The world was engulfed in a peaceful silence as neither of the two spoke.

Chapter 664: The Assembly [1]

"Your tie is crooked."

"Don't worry about it, I'll fix it later."

"What fix it later? We are approaching the meeting location. People will give you strange looks if you enter with a tie like that."

"They'll look at me weirdly even if my tie isn't like this, father-in-law."

"What did you just call me?"

"Oops."

I covered my mouth as I stepped out of the back seat of a black SUV. Edward exited the vehicle on the opposite side, glaring daggers in my direction.

His face slowly turned pale.

"Don't tell me..."

"Oh, yes. It's exactly what you're thinking."

I seriously nodded my head, brows interlocked tightly together.

Edward's face underwent such a drastic change the moment those words escaped my lips. So much so that it reminded me of the painting 'The Scream'.

I tell you, they looked identical.

"No, no, no, not Amanda..."

He began mumbling unintelligible words while covering his face with both hands.

I nodded my head once more when I observed Edward's condition.

'This will get him to stop nagging at me.'

He hadn't stopped nagging me ever since I got home; it was a constant yapping in my ears. I'd had enough of it. In the end, I didn't even get a chance to rest before being forced to attend the assembly right away.

This was the least I could do to make him shut up.

"Well, whatever."

After shrugging my shoulders, I moved in the direction of a large cube-shaped building that looked to be about the size of a stadium.

The skin of the building was clad in a shiny silver metal, and it featured some kind of design elements in the form of multiple cavities that shrunk the building making it seem like it was made out of glass.

The moonlight that was hanging in the sky reflected off of the clean surface of the building, while the area around the building was covered by large fences that were patrolled by several individuals dressed in black.

I was able to determine that they were all at least <A> rank or above from their aura alone.

I would not have been able to determine their rank in the normal course of events due to the fact that they had concealed it; however, I had progressed to the point where I was able to do so based on the psyons that were fluctuating around their body.

Having reached the <SS-> rank, I could now see psyons extremely clearly. The same could be said for the rank of the people around me.

That being said, this was something limited to me.

Sort of.

To possess this type of ability, a person's psyon control must reach an unimaginable level of mastery, and the only reason why I was able to reach this level was none other than the godly pill that I had received from the elves back in Issanor.

That pill alone had boosted my psyons reception to a level far beyond what I was capable of.

As a matter of fact...

"Congratulations in advance Edward."

"...What?"

Edward cocked his head in response to my words. I approached one of the guards and handed him my ticket.

"Well, since you're trying to hide it, I won't say much, but you sure hid it well."

"Ha?"

The look of bewilderment that was on Edward's face grew. I smiled at him slightly before drawing two SS's in the air.

"Wh..a? Yo.! How?!"

As expected, Edward's expression shifted once more as he looked at me in disbelief.

When I saw his reaction, a very slight upward movement occurred in the corner of my lips.

'Even if you're trying to hide it, I can easily see that you're about to break through.'

Within a month's time, he was without a doubt going to break through to <SS-> rank.

Nothing could escape my eyes.

We were fortunate to have invites with us; Edward and I were able to enter the building without any difficulty.

It was also because of them that Edward didn't cause a scene and I was able to enter the building without any problem.

The interior of the building was equally as impressive as the exterior, with a red carpet extending across the floor, paintings hanging on white walls, crystal chandeliers, and a marble reception area.

On the surface, the location appeared to be no different than any other building that belonged to a sizable corporation; however, this was the furthest thing from the truth, as was made clear the moment that Edward and I entered the elevator and reached the ground floor.

Ding―!

The door to the elevator opened with a soft chime, and we were ushered into a cramped hallway that was paneled entirely in metal.

The faint echo of our footsteps resounded all the way down the hallway until we came to a stop in front of a substantial wooden door.

When we made a move to open the door, a small compartment opened up and multiple laser beams shot down in our direction, enveloping our bodies entirely.

I turned to glance at Edward.

"This should be the security system, right?"

"Correct."

The scan only took a few minutes, at which point the compartment closed up, the wooden door opened automatically, and we could faintly make out the sound of people speaking coming from the other end of the room.

The two of us walked in without giving it a second thought, and almost immediately afterward, there was an unexplainable hush in the room as a number of sets of eyes turned in our direction.

I paid no attention to the attention I was receiving as my eyes lingered on a familiar figure and I approached her.

"You look bored."

"Uh, ah?"

Monica wiped the drool away from the corner of her mouth as she raised her head, which had been resting on her arms, and looked up at me. It took her two blinks before she finally understood who I was, at which point her eyes brightened.

"Ah, you're finally here."

She patted the black leather seat next to her.

"Come, have a seat."

"Sure."

I complied with Monica's request and sat down on the seat. As soon as I sat down, my attention was drawn to the large oval desk that extended from one end of the room to the other, followed by the people seated at the table.

In an instant, my eyes sharpened and I registered the faces of everyone present inside of my mind.

'Seth Colon, Ivana Krala, Morgan Roseman, Newman Jordan...'

Figures that I had only seen in magazines and whom I had heard of at the Lock. The remaining force of the human domain, and the <SS-> rankers that didn't work for the Union.

Douglas was also present, but he seemed to be talking to someone important at the moment, and he had still not noticed me yet.

Monica was mumbling about a few things that I was unaware of while we were both sitting there, and I would occasionally respond to her with occasional nods and hums.

"So like Donna said this, and like I was like..."

"Yeah. Um. Very nice."

It was only a fleeting moment, but the instant that my eyes passed over the few individuals I pointed out, I felt a strange sense of oppression coming from them, which caused me to knit my eyebrows in thought.

This sensation lasted only a split second, but it left a deep impression on me.

'They are much stronger than I originally anticipated.'

Everyone my eyes paused on, aside from Monica, had already broken through to <SS> rank and were on their way to breaking through to <SS+>, with Newman and Morgan already there.

I felt more reassured when I took note of this fact.

The situation wasn't as hopeless as I had originally anticipated. Especially since this meeting was happening far before the few memories I had stored inside of my mind.

"Quiet for a moment."

I was jolted out of my thoughts by an unexpected voice, which also sparked an unexpected wave of tension that quickly spread throughout the room, bringing the room to a hush.

Everyone who had been standing sat down on one of the leather seats, solemn and serious expressions plastered on their faces.

When I turned to look in the direction that the sound was coming from, I was taken aback to see Octavious sitting at the head of the table with his hands interlocked in front of him in a triangle position.

My pupils constricted slightly.

'When did he get there?'

That speed...

"I've figured that I have finally got your attention."

Octavious continued to speak, oblivious to my shock. While he spoke, the tension that permeated the room did not subside but rather, intensified.

"I'm not one that likes to waste time on pleasantries, so I will get straight to the point."

"Today, I have two significant announcements. Both will be crucial to the advancement of humanity in the years to come."

At this point, there was a noticeable deepening of Octavious's voice. It became evident to everyone in the room that he was about to say something very important.

"Approximately one week from now, as most of you are aware, the truce between us and the Monolith will expire. Doesn't it go without saying what this will entail for everyone present?"

No one said anything.

It was clear that everyone knew what was about to come.

The inevitable war between the human domain and the Monolith. A war that will most likely kill millions of lives.

"Immediate priority must be placed on preventing the spread of panic during times of war. The Union has already taken steps to construct multiple bunkers in each city to protect its citizens, and it is of the utmost importance that no spies are present during evacuations."

"This will likely be the most difficult challenge the Union will face, and it is highly likely that we will not be able to identify all spies hidden within the human domain. We simply lack the essential resources...which brings me to my main point."

Octavious's head slowly began to rise, his eyes pausing on the few figures whom I had previously laid eyes on.

Newman, Morgan, Ivana...

"An alliance."

Octavious blinked a little longer than normal, his finger tapping on his other hand.

" ...If we want to make this work, the only way is through an alliance."

My eyes closed and I leaned back on my chair the moment those words escaped from Octavious's eyes.

'Should be about time.'

...Exactly on cue, as I closed my eyes, a sudden scream echoed throughout the room, and one of the attendees jumped to his feet and clutched his throat.

His struggle went on for a few more seconds, during which time his body contorted in an unnatural manner, making it appear as though he was possessed, and the veins on his neck protruded externally.

"Aaakh!"

Black blood spat out from his mouth, and his body collapsed shortly after. Black vein lines started to appear on his pale face in a slow manner.

Thud―!

As everyone in the room stared at the body with an extraordinary amount of gravity, the room fell completely silent.

The only people who remained calm were the top 10 rankers, and even they weren't entirely composed.

The silence continued for a few seconds longer, and then, just as someone was about to approach the corpse, the body contorted and, with his right hand slamming against the ground, the corpse raised its head to reveal the features of a hideous creature.

The creature had a pale face with black veins scattered all over its surface, black eyes, disheveled hair, and broken teeth; it was nothing short of a creature straight out of a horror movie.

If not for its weak mana fluctuations, one might've already killed it by now.

"Khuak! Khuak! Khuak!"

A dark substance began to spew out from the creature's body as it slowly began to rise while it was simultaneously opening and closing its mouth.

The creature's body continued to contort as it slowly stood up, and, ignoring everyone else in the room, it made its way to the chair it had previously occupied and sat down.

It was at that moment that the creature's face underwent further changes, as its jaw moved, its hair grew longer, and its eyes became clearer.

Slowly, the features of an otherworldly handsome man became apparent to all in attendance.

"It can't be!?"

"H..how is this possible?"

When the features became more distinguishable, there was a discernible paling in the faces of the many people who were in attendance.

Malik Alshayatin appeared to be smiling as he slowly raised his head while touching his jaw and moving it to the left and right sides of his face.

"So...what have I missed?"

Chapter 665: The Assembly [2]

'Now that's what you call an entrance.'

An eerie silence filled the entire space. No one dared to budge even an inch in Malik Alshayat's presence.

Malik Alshayatin was able to instill fear in the minds of those present in the room simply by making his presence known; as a result, he was in a position to seize control of the situation.

All of the individuals who were present were at the very highest levels of the human domain, and yet, none dared to look at him in the eyes.

This went to show how scary of an individual he was.

It was reassuring to learn that the top ten rankers were not the least bit anxious, with Octavious appearing to be the most composed of the bunch.

He slowly raised his right hand to call everyone's attention to himself so that he could speak.

"Calm down, he's not actually here. It's just a projection. "

"Sharp as always, Octavious."

Malik Alshayatin's gaze continued to be unruffled as it traveled from one person to the next among those in attendance.

He appeared to be smiling only slightly as he slouched back in his chair and mumbled something.

"Don't worry too much about me, you can continue with your meeting. I'm just here to listen. Treat me as if I don't exist."

"We can't do that."

For the first time in my life, Octavious appeared to be a proper leading figure as he interacted calmly with Hemlock.

He looked extremely composed and serious.

His calmness was directly transmitted to the others, who appeared to have calmed down as a result of his poise.

It was possible that he was just as shocked as the other people in the room, or that he really didn't care. However, I was aware that if the most powerful person in the room became nervous, the rest of the group would also become nervous.

His composure was able to calm everyone present.

'Oh right, now that I think about it, don't I have to meet him later?'

I indeed recalled the fact that I was supposed to meet him right after this meeting was over.

We needed to talk about a couple of important things.

"...That's a pity. It looks like I'm not wanted here."

Hemlock lowered his head, his expression crestfallen.

I shook my head when I saw him.

He was clearly having fun.

It was most impressive that he managed to infiltrate this location, but in retrospect, given his strength, which was in a league of its own, and the fact that Kevin had planned this, it wasn't all that surprising.

At least for me.

The same could not be said for the others, who cautiously eyed each other out of fear that one of them was being watched by another spy who was hiding among them.

This was the kind of response that Hemlock hoped to provoke with his appearance.

He wanted to make everyone paranoid. Make it seem as though he had his hands in everything, and make everyone feel hopeless.

Well, at least that was how it was supposed to be.

"Don't worry, there's no other spy."

I spoke up.

At that very moment, all of the heads that were present in the room immediately turned to look in my general direction.

I let out a soft yawn while I lazily sat in my chair.

"...If there were any other spies, they'd be with the other spies. Dead."

The room fell completely silent once more, only for it to be broken by Hemlock's voice.

"So it was really you."

I felt Hemlock's gaze pause on me and I looked back at him. With a casual nod of my head, I waved my hand at him.

"Fancy seeing you again."

At that precise instant, I could feel the air turning chilly as the focus of everyone's eyes in the room intensified.

'Huh? Why are they reacting like that?'

At first, I was taken aback, but after some consideration, I realized what was wrong; I appeared a little suspicious.

I started by clearing my throat before attempting to clarify the situation.

"I really hope that you have forgiven me for what I did to the Monolith the last time I was there. If you do, please let me know. In all seriousness, I did not intend to cause as much damage as I actually did."

When those words left my mouth, Hemlock's expression remained the same; however, the others' expressions changed significantly as they finally recalled the fact that I was 876.

At this point, virtually everyone was aware of what I had done at the Monolith and how I had destroyed a significant portion of their headquarters.

When I said almost everyone, I was referring to the highest rankers specifically. The majority of the population was still unaware of what had actually taken place.

The truth of the matter was that the Union and other rankers within the human domain, just like the Monolith had for the Union, had spies working for them within the Monolith. Finding out information about me wasn't all that difficult.

...and just like that, the misunderstanding was quickly resolved.

Or at least, that was how it was supposed to be. Unfortunately, with a thin smile forming on his face, Hemlock spoke up.

"The past is the past, and I have long since forgotten about the issue. In any case, it is also nice to see you again after meeting you a few weeks back; I assume you are doing well?"

'Should've seen it coming.'

It was evident that he was attempting to plant some doubts about me in the minds of those in attendance. I had no intention of letting him.

In any case, I had one job to do at the moment, and that was to stall time for whatever Kevin was planning on doing, so I might as well enjoy myself while I was at it.

Not like I was in any danger.

I brushed my hair back and lazily replied.

"Honestly, it was quite bothersome. I was just there to visit the grave of a dear friend of mine when you suddenly showed up. Very annoying if I had to be honest. I already know of two people whose charm nearly rivals mine, a third and we have a problem."

"That's unfortunate to hear."

"What's more unfortunate is the fact that you're here. And here I thought I managed to kill all of the spies that you've managed to plant into the Union, looks like I have overlooked some spies."

This was a lie.

I wasn't the one that got rid of the spies of the Monolith.

This was Kevin, but that was irrelevant. I was attempting to anger Hemlock by claiming credit for the accomplishment.

Get some reaction from him and gain some time, but...

To my surprise, Hemlock appeared as composed as ever, as if he cared nothing about the spies that Kevin had eliminated. Well, in this case, me.

At that moment, my brows furrowed tightly and I had a sudden ominous premonition.

'...Am I overlooking something important?'

***

At the top of a tall skyscraper.

The moon hung in the sky, illuminating the skyscraper's top, where a shadowy figure stood. As red and white lines streaked across the city, a picturesque scene formed.

Kevin inhaled deeply, his focus on the towering structure that stood directly across from him.

"Everything is ready."

His eyes contained an uncommon callousness, and his voice was especially chilling.

Kevin raised his hand to his chest and clenched it tightly, feeling his heartbeat which was racing incredibly quickly.

Staring at the building opposite him, he felt nervous.

In his mind, there was no moment that was as important as this. Failure would only lead to the demise of humanity.

Kevin knew that he couldn't fail.

He had to accomplish his goal.

'I've already made the necessary preparations, there's no need for me to be nervous. '

Kevin's personality underwent some shifts as his lost memories began to trickle back into his consciousness one by one.

It was also because of this that in spite of how he was feeling, he was able to keep his cool and not let his emotions get the best of him.

He swiped the air in one single motion, and a panel formed in front of him.

[[A] Mirage cloak]

A skill that allows the user to conceal all traces of their presence and aura from those around them. Time limit; ten minutes.

[[S] Permeation]

Ability that enables the user to avoid or get around physical obstacles by directly passing through them.

The two new skills that he had recently purchased from the system shop suddenly appeared before his eyes and he activated them. His presence disappeared completely, and his figure became transparent.

In addition, he extracted from his dimensional space a small flask containing a small dagger.

[Poison of the Medheives]

Rank : S

Description : A slow-acting poison that enters the system and severs all mana connections in the human body, eventually causing death. The poison may take some time to take effect, but once it does, not even an <SSS-> ranked user will be spared. It is insoluble in any liquid and extremely corrosive.

[Nillinham Dagger]

Rank : SS

Description : A throwable dagger with the unique ability to sever any form of energy, whether it be demonic energy, aura, or mana. It is possible to kill someone of a higher rank if caught off guard. Resilience; Three times.

Kevin removed the cork from the flask and poured the liquid over the dagger before storing the flask away.

The dagger in Kevin's hand was something he had acquired by utilizing his newly acquired memories.

It was his trump card and the item that gave him the confidence in completing what he was about to do.

"I'm ready."

[Overdrive.]

As a result of Kevin activating Overdrive, his muscles grew larger and his veins became more prominent throughout his body. His rank up came about very quickly, and he eventually reached the <SS-> rank.

He didn't waste a single second following his rank up.

After taking a step forward, his body reappeared in front of the opposite building's window and entered the glass without incident. Nearly as if he were a ghost.

[Permeation.]

If that wasn't enough, his figure completely disappeared right after entering the building as his other skill [Mirage Cloak] was activated.

After navigating his way through the building's rooms, Kevin found himself inside a cramped apartment.

To anyone looking in from the outside, it didn't appear that there was anything wrong with the apartment; there were pictures hanging on the walls, the television was on, and toys were strewn all over the wooden floor of the place. It looked like any regular household.

However, Kevin knew that this was fake.

After making his way through the walls of the apartment, Kevin quickly found himself inside a room of a medium size that was completely empty and was dimly lit by a small lantern that hung from the ceiling of the room.

Kevin's attention was drawn to the figure seated in the room's center. Black hair with a glossy sheen, facial features that would shame anyone, and an aura that made him appear immortal.

With his back exposed, Malik Alshayatin appeared in Kevin's vision.

Kevin was completely immobile, his eyes glued to the figure of Malik Alshayatin. His eyes closed for an unnaturally long time before reopening.

His eyes glowed crimson red, and he flicked his wrist once. A low whistling sound reverberated throughout the room as the air tore apart.

Everything transpired so rapidly that Kevin was barely able to perceive it. During the brief time that Kevin was concentrating on Malik Alshayatin's back, a thin film of mana appeared on Malik Alshayatin's back at the moment the dagger reached him.

It cut straight through it.

Thud―!

The dagger pierced Malik Alshayatin's back directly, and he cried out in agony as blood splattered everywhere.

"Huak!"

Confirming that the dagger had pierced his back directly, Kevin finally revealed his figure, his face ice-cold.

"The dagger has already pierced through your heart. Even if you somehow manage to survive, I've poisoned the dagger. It will gradually drain your mana until you run out and die. It's over."

As he turned his head slowly to look at Kevin, Malik Alshayatin's face was extremely pale.

Kevin knelt in front of him as Hemlock intermittently opened and closed his eyes and struggled to speak.

Deeply gazing into his eyes, Kevin's crimson red eyes shone brightly.

"Your biggest mistake w―"

The expression on Kevin's face froze up about the middle of his sentence, and Malik Alshayatin's face began to change.

It wasn't long before Kevin saw a familiar face materialize in front of his very eyes, and when he did, his face became noticeably more rigid.

"W...what?"

Chapter 666: The Assembly [3]

'Why is it taking Kevin so long?'

During my conversation with Malik Alshayatin, in which I was trying to buy as much time as possible, I sneaked a look at the time on my watch.

Ten minutes had already passed since Hemlock had appeared, and nothing had happened.

'Did something go wrong with the operation?'

Kevin was supposed to be on his way to killing Malik Alshayatin, who was hiding not so far from where we were at the time, according to what I knew about the situation.

He was the only one who knew the precise location; I wasn't even sure of it myself.

Given that Hemlock was still seated at the oval table alongside everyone else, it was clear that Kevin had not yet made his move.

'Is it possible that he ran into some problems, and it's taking him more time than it is supposed to?'

This was the most likely possibility.

Kevin, in my opinion, was in no real danger at any point.

Malik Alshayatin would have already vanished by now had he found out that Kevin had attacked him, and taking into consideration the fact that Kevin was solely performing this action based on his memories, there was no way that Hemlock could know what was coming for him.

It was simply impossible.

'I guess I'll just stall for a bit more time. '

It wasn't that I really minded, but I was rapidly running out of topics to discuss in order to kill time. Octavious, to my great relief, came to my aid in the nick of time.

For some inexplicable reason, it felt to me as though he was in on the whole situation.

'I'm imagining things, right?'

"Is there anything you hope to accomplish by remaining here? I'm certain that you didn't just show up to listen to our conversation. If you truly desired to hear what we had to say, you would not have divulged your identity so early."

"As expected of the strongest human, you're very perceptive."

Hemlock clapped twice, his back lying on the leather chair.

"Initially, I intended to come here to confuse the minds of everyone present. I wanted you guys to question yourselves and perhaps convert a few of you to our side, but I changed my mind.

Hemlock gave me a friendly smile as he slowly turned his head in my direction and looked at me. As the ominous foreboding, I was experiencing became clearer, I felt shivers run down my entire body.

"...But I changed my mind. Not too long ago, a small bird told me something, and let's just say I discovered something even more entertaining."

The instant he said those words, my pupils constricted violently. Specifically, when he uttered the phrase "little bird," the puzzle pieces in my mind began to fall into place, and my breathing became rougher.

I muttered two words without hesitation in my mind.

"Monarch's Indifference."

My vision turned black.

***

The exact length of time that I was unconscious was a mystery to me, but the instant that I regained consciousness, I found myself standing in front of a pitch-black void.

One that I was all too familiar with.

After making a right turn, I walked in that direction without giving it much thought.

With every step that I took, I had the sensation of something warm enveloping my entire body. In a short amount of time, the pleasant warmth morphed into something intolerable as a searing pain began to spread across all of my skin.

But it didn't matter to me; I kept moving forward regardless, not paying the slightest bit of attention to the pain.

This little pain was incomparable to the pain that my mind and body went through every day.

My dogged determination paid off, and it wasn't long before I spotted a tiny white orb about the size of a star way off in the distance. The orb grew steadily more expansive as I proceeded forward with my journey.

I had no idea how far I had to travel before I would reach the orb, but as soon as I got within a few feet of it, I could see that it was covered in thin black threads that had seeped into the white surface of the orb and was riddled with a variety of cracks.

A person who looked an awful lot like me was standing not too far away from the orb and staring at it with a blank and dull expression.

I started walking in his direction and stopped when I was in the same space as him.

When I turned my head to look at the orb as well, I noticed that it was reflecting images. In particular, I could see Kevin's face which was staring into the orb.

The whiteness of Kevin's face was accentuated by the fact that his body was shivering and his lips quivered.

Closing my eyes, I spoke up.

"As expected, it was you, wasn't it?"

I spoke in a calm manner.

The reason why Hemlock was so calm and why Kevin had been held up for so long. This was all a scheme my other self had planned in order to kill Kevin.

In spite of my composure, I was aware of a searing rage permeating each and every part of my body.

The other version of myself slowly turned his head and looked at me with the same expressionless gaze he had always worn.

"You should be thankful to me."

At that very moment, every fiber of my being wanted to let out a shout, but I restrained myself.

I had long since concluded that shouting would only give the impression that I was losing control of the situation and would contribute absolutely nothing to anything.

The only thing I could do was keep my composure and reason through everything that was happening.

I had to rid my mind of the pointless emotions clouding my judgment to effectively find a solution to the problem.

"If Kevin dies, you will be able to live, and I will be able to have my wish of dying fulfilled. Two birds with one stone."

"What's the point of staying alive if I'm going to die regardless?"

What was the point of surviving if, in the end, I was still going to die at Jezebeth's hands?

"Consider yourself lucky that you will live a few years longer than expected."

"Very kind of you."

I responded sarcastically while anxiously staring at the orb in front of me.

In my view, Kevin's face was directly facing the orb, and it appeared for a moment that he was staring at me.

My mind stirred when that thought occurred to me, but when I looked beside me and saw the other me still calmly looking at the orb, I became unsure of what I saw.

'What's going on?'

***

Kevin's voice shook as he knelt on the ground while holding a thin body in his arm.

"E..Emma?"

Kevin yelled her name once, and as he did so, tears began to form in the inner corners of his eyes, and he began to lose his ability to focus.

His face, which was extremely pale, looked at Emma's with a look of despondency plastered all over it as he gazed at her.

While her eyes were absently gazing upward, he tenderly stroked her cheek.

"Shit, shit...after all that I did to distance myself from you...shit."

Her breathing was very shallow, which indicated that she was still alive. However, it was abundantly clear that she did not have a lot of time left to live.

Because Kevin had struck her right in the heart and because the poison had left a clear imprint in her body, there was no chance that she could survive.

The thought caused Kevin's mind to become disorganized, as evidenced by his paler-than-usual face and the churning of his stomach.

The tears that began to form in the creases of his eyes moved more quickly down his cheeks, and it appeared as though the world was losing its color to him as they did so.

"H..How is this possible?"

As Kevin brought Emma's body closer to his in an embrace, he mumbled something out loud.

"Where is Malik Alshayatin? Why are you here? ...what's going on?"

In addition to being extremely pale, he also appeared to be extremely lost.

"It's impossible for him to know that I'm doing this...Impossible."

There was no one else besides Ren who was aware of what he had in store for the future. It was supposed to be a sneak attack, and it was something that he had done before in his memories, so he felt confident about it.

"Just where did I go w--"

"Ku...k..."

The expression on Kevin's face suddenly changed, and he turned his attention to Emma, who appeared to be trying to communicate with him.

"What? Are you trying to say something?"

Emma's body began to tremble in Kevin's arms, and just as he was wondering what was wrong with her, he felt a sudden, severe pain in his lower abdomen.

"Pftt.."

He spat out a mouthful of fresh blood and looked at Emma with a bewildered expression.

"W..what? Why?"

"Ku,ku, ku..."

His shock was met with a menacing laugh, and Kevin watched as Emma's body began to transform into that of a humanoid creature with a black appearance that he was all too familiar with.

On top of that, the environment started crumbling apart, and large metal pillars materialized in each of the room's four corners. His surroundings changed and he found himself trapped in what seemed to be a large cage.

A rosy vaporous substance was seen emanating straight from the pillars and filling the entire room with its presence. As soon as Kevin saw the gas, his pupils began to constrict, and he took a few unsteady steps backward.

"Cough, cough...hallucinogen."

It took some time, but he eventually realized that he had walked right into a trap.

As he stumbled around on the ground and looked for something to support himself with, he covered his mouth with his hand but blood began to leak out through the spaces between his fingers.

The blood dropped all over the ground as he tried to find some stability.

His vision was blurry, and he could barely feel anything in his body.

The dagger may not have struck him directly in the heart, but the poison he had used to coat it was currently seeping through his blood, rendering the mana in his body extremely difficult to control.

"...I bet you didn't see that one coming."

In the midst of his struggle, a sinister voice reached his ears. Kevin barely had time to look up before he noticed the demon known as Everblood slowly approaching him.

Everblood pulled his head back slightly and moved his face closer to Kevin as he came to a stop a few steps away from him.

His mouth was twisted into a twisted smile that reached all the way to the corners of his eyes.

"As expected of him, this is fun...so very fun..."

He swung his hand downward while extending it into the air, revealing his pointed nails that shone brightly under the lights.

"...Now be a good boy and die."

Chapter 667: Scary [1]

The void was enveloped in a chilly stillness.

I couldn't help but feel a little uneasy as I stared at the white orb that was in front of me and took in everything.

After seeing Everblood appear and Kevin get stabbed by the same dagger he used to 'kill' Malik Alshayatin, I felt an overwhelming urge to hurry over and give him a helping hand.

But...

Despite everything that was happening, I did not take any action.

My mind kept going back to the look Kevin had given me earlier; it wouldn't leave my thoughts, no matter how hard I tried.

I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I had the distinct impression that he was staring right at me during that brief moment our eyes met.

Was it just me? ...or was he really looking at me? If so, how was it possible?

'It couldn't be that, right?'

When I caught a glimpse of the other version of myself on the edge of my field of vision, I immediately had an implausible thought cross my mind.

'No, it can't be.'

I quickly discarded the thought. Just the idea made my spine tingle.

There was no way Kevin was capable of making such a plan.

Simply no way.

"You seem rather calm, watching your friend die before your own eyes."

The sound of my own voice snapped me out of my thoughts, and I turned my head to look at my other self, whose gaze was still loitering all over the orb that was in front of us.

There was an unwavering serenity in his gaze as he watched Kevin's condition deteriorate before his eyes in a painfully slow manner.

I shook my head.

"What am I meant to do? You tell me. Kevin is currently too far away for me to reach, and I am unaware of his precise location. By the time I reach his location, he will likely already be dead, so what am I supposed to do?"

"Then why did you come here? ...Out of desperation to know whose responsible for his death?"

My lips pursed, and I didn't say anything else, my eyes turning back toward the giant white orb.

Everblood had his hand raised and was about to slash out at Kevin, whose body had become completely limp, and his eyes had lost all clarity at this very moment.

My fists clenched together when I saw Kevin's helpless figure.

Although I did have a plan for rescuing Kevin from the predicament, the image of his face kept playing over and over in my head. It dispelled all previous thoughts and forced me to continue watching the scene unfold.

'Damn it, I hope I'm not imagining things.'

My teeth clenched tightly.

"Everblood, abort!"

I was momentarily startled out of my thoughts by a sudden shout, and when I turned around, I was astounded to see the other version of myself staring at the orb with a solemn expression on his face.

"It's too late."

The void that the other me and I were in was suddenly shaken by a voice, and Kevin, who had been lifeless just a few seconds earlier, abruptly raised his hand and grabbed hold of Everblood's face with his hand.

A mysterious white haze erupted from his hand and engulfed every part of Everblood's body.

His crimson-red eyes shone with an intense crimson hue, and the void shook fiercely.

"What's going on?"

It felt as though I was in the epicenter of an earthquake as I stumbled a couple of steps while attempting to get a proper foothold.

On the other hand, the other version of me was able to maintain a secure foothold. Throughout the entire time, his gaze was directed in Kevin's direction.

'He can make such a face?'

I was immediately taken aback by the expression he was making.

How should I describe it?

It was twisted.

Extremely twisted.

It was as if I was staring into the eyes of a living embodiment of hatred and malice.

Clank! Clank! Clank!

A dull metallic clanking sound reverberated throughout the void, and the area around the other me began to agitate.

'It's as I feared.'

The idea that I had previously written off resurfaced in my mind. The instant chains began forming in the area around the other me, and I turned to look at Kevin with a perplexed expression.

"He's changed."

At this point, I realized that the Kevin before me was not the same Kevin that I had known or that had appeared in my memories.

He was a different Kevin.

A version of Kevin that my other self had never encountered.

"Arghhh!"

The void shook, and the other version of me fought against the chains that attacked him like vicious snakes, shackling his arms and legs and pulling him backward.

"There's no use struggling."

I went over to the other version of myself, which was struggling furiously against the chains.

"Shut up!"

I knew that the chains wouldn't be able to get rid of him and that they were only strengthening the seal that was binding him, but when I looked at the pure desperation and hatred on his face, I knew that whatever was going to happen to him next wasn't going to be anything but pleasant.

He was probably going to go through another form of torture, but there was nothing I could nor wanted to do.

He was me, but I didn't care about him.

If possible, please die.

"No, no, no!"

As his body was dragged back into the void and his eyes turned blood red, I could clearly feel the helplessness and madness that was tinted in his voice.

This was the sound of a broken man.

A man who had been through more sh*t than anyone else but who was once again compelled to live under the torments of the binds that were cursing him.

The real me.

Tak!

My last glimpse was of his hand, which appeared to be reaching out from the depths of the void in an attempt to seize hold of something that would release it from its shackles.

Unfortunately, he was unable to find whatever it was that he was looking for, and he vanished into thin air almost immediately after that, bringing the place into an immediate hush.

"Your real target had never been Malik Alshayatin, was it?"

I broke the silence almost immediately after it arrived, gazing deeply at the white orb in front of me.

At that moment, Kevin's eyes directly met mine, and he nodded his head.

"Yeah..."

"As expected."

I lowered my head in thought.

Taking a deep breath, I tried to make sense of everything that had just happened, and my heart dropped for some reason.

"For you to have predicted that my other self would've tried to interfere with your plan to kill him and bait him into a trap designed to directly seal him..."

How did he know that the other me was going to show up? How did he know that he would suggest such a plan? This had never happened in the past, so how was he able to predict this?

'It doesn't make sense.'

The questions inside of my head were endless.

I couldn't make heads or tails of what was happening, and my head was throbbing.

'How? How? How? How? How?'

That was all I could think of at the moment. So many questions, yet not a single answer.

I paused and looked up.

"Who are you?"

***

Mirrored over Everblood's pupils were two shiny pupils that glowed a crimson-red hue.

When confronted with such a gaze, Everblood felt a shiver run directly through his body. Despite this, he was helpless.

He was completely at the mercy of Kevin, whose eyes were piercing through his very being.

He seemed to be communicating with someone at the moment, but he couldn't make out who he was talking to. The connection with Ren had already disappeared, and he was in no way strong enough to fight against the current Kevin.

He was basically a sitting duck.

There was nothing he could do.

Yet, for some reason, Everblood was not in the least bit scared.

Everblood showed no emotion, possibly because he knew his life was about to end or because he found the prospect of Ren's momentary defeat amusing, but he did not put any resistance.

Within a minute's time, Kevin brought his head back and his eyes regained some clarity.

He stared directly at Everblood who smiled.

"Have you finished?"

"..."

Kevin didn't answer, and Everblood let out a strained laugh.

"Kuek, kuk, ke..."

"This is good. This is good."

He extended his hands in a way that made it seem as though he wanted to hug Kevin. As he smiled savagely, a sudden spray of dark blood covered Kevin's entire face and his face was covered in blood.

"Pfttt!"

Everblood became aware of something penetrating his body, and it wasn't long before Kevin extracted his core from inside of him.

Everblood's last memory was of Kevin's icy voice as he flicked his wrist, causing a small device connected to the core to explode.

"Something isn't a surprise when you know it's going to happen."

'I...know...'

Everblood smiled, and the world around him quaked.

Boom―!

***

A powerful explosion ripped through the building's lower levels, causing structural damage to the structure's foundation.

The building began to lean to one side, and the pieces of furniture were thrown so far that they shattered against the windows, falling into the streets below that had already fallen into a panic.

Kevin remained in the same position that he had been in before and continued to stare at Everblood's face with a face that was devoid of any expression whatsoever.

No one could tell what he was thinking at the moment. Upon closer inspection, blood started leaking out from the side of his lips.

He raised his hand to wipe the blood away.

'It's over.'

At that very moment, he was experiencing a diverse range of emotions all at once. He experienced both some relief and sadness at the same time.

Relief from his plan working out, and sadness for something entirely different...

He lowered his head and slowly pulled out the dagger that had been embedded in his lower abdomen.

Shortly after, he drank a potion, and his injuries slowly started to heal.

'There's not much time left.'

Boom―! Boom―! Boom―!

As the structure Kevin was in completely caved in, explosions could be heard going off outside and could be felt throughout the entire city.

Kevin had long expected this to happen once he killed Everblood, and he had purposely allowed this to happen.

There was only one reason for this.

Everblood was bound by a mana contract. The one that dictated the truce between the Union and the Monolith.

This was in contrast to Kevin, who, because he wielded the powers of the Akashic laws, was not bound by mana contracts.

Everblood's actions constituted a direct violation of the mana contract, and despite the fact that this breach wouldn't exactly do a lot of damage to the Monolith because it was done individually by someone who acted contrary to the wishes of the Monolith, the damage still existed.

The contract was fair, stating that if there was a breach of the contract, the Monolith would suffer damage that was equal to five times the amount of damage that the human domain experienced.

Everblood was not a spy, and he was not coerced into committing such crimes by Kevin; therefore, the Monolith would directly bear the full brunt of his actions, which was Kevin's intention from the very beginning.

That being said, Kevin wasn't heartless enough to kill all the innocent people for the sake of his plan.

Since the contract stipulated that the Monolith would sustain five times the damage inflicted by the breach, Kevin only needed the people to be injured and not directly killed, so he made preparations beforehand.

"Cough."

The color left Kevin's face abruptly, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

At this point in time, the building had already begun its descent toward the ground, and just prior to the building's complete collapse, Kevin disappeared into thin air.

Boom―!

Chapter 668: Scary [2]

"Are you here to kill time, or do you intend to declare war on us directly?"

"I wonder about that..."

"Don't feign ignorance."

It was the sound of Octavious and Hemlock's voices that roused me awake.

When I opened my eyes, I noticed that the scene was continuing to unfold exactly as it had been when I had closed them.

I lowered my head to check the time.

'Only two minutes have passed.'

I was surprised to see that not much time had passed since I had activated Monarch's Indifference and that the scene had not changed much since I had left.

'You'll find out in due time.'

These were the words that Kevin told me before ending the connection.

What did they mean? ...I didn't know. There were so many questions that I had, yet at the same time, had no one to answer them.

Whatever was happening was fucked up.

All this secrecy bullshit, I was fucking tired of it.

'In the end, I'm still probably not strong enough.'

I silently clenched my fist under the table. All it took was a deep breath to calm my nerves down.

There was something else that needed my immediate attention at the moment.

"I don't get it; why are you people willing to throw away your lives in such a reckless way? Do you have any idea how formidable the Demon King really is? Do you honestly believe that you have even the smallest chance of beating him?"

"What I'm doing is for the good of humanity, which you guys are unwilling to acknowledge. I have already spoken with the Demon King, and he has promised me that if we choose to submit to him, he will provide us with a land where we can survive in the future."

"Why must we waste so many lives when the solution is right in front of us? Are you really willing to let our race go extinct?"

The air resounded with Hemlock's voice. His voice had a peculiar allure that briefly hypnotized me, but I was able to quickly shake off the effect and my gaze fell on Octavious.

For some reason, Octavious was strangely calm.

Even stranger was the fact that he appeared to be quietly listening to Hemlock's voice without any hints of rage or impatience.

The Octavious that I was familiar with would have almost certainly put an end to Hemlock's life right then and there; however, for some inexplicable reason, he had remained perfectly still the entire time.

For some strange reason, it appeared as if they were both stalling for time.

'It can't be right?'

Another ridiculous notion occurred to me, and I turned my attention to the direction in which Octavious was sitting.

'What exactly are you planning?'

"You seem to be waiting for something."

"I am―"

Hemlock's words were interrupted in the middle of his sentence. The expressions of the other people in the room began to shift at the same time that the muffled sound of explosions began to reverberate in the far distance.

"What's going on?"

"What's happening?"

The room didn't descend into chaos as one might have anticipated it would as a result of the unexpected situation; however, it was obvious that the people present weren't exactly unaffected by the situation, all taking out their phones to check what was going on.

Unfortunately for them, the whole place was sealed; no one was able to communicate with the outside world for the moment.

"Everyone, please relax. There is no cause for concern. I will provide everyone present with an explanation at a later time."

Yet again, he was able to calm the whole situation down.

If it weren't for Octavious's voice, there was a good chance that some people would have already exited the building to see what was going on.

With the same listless expression as before, he turned his head to look at Hemlock, who was seated on his chair with a blank expression on his face.

"I believe that you have been tricked."

Hemlocks' right eyebrow twitched slightly in response to Octaviuos' voice.

"I believe so too."

Hemlock nodded his head in agreement. In spite of the fact that he appeared to be calm on the surface, I could sense the anger that was emanating from his voice.

Clearly, he had not expected Everblood to go as far as blowing up half of the city.

The repercussions of his actions weren't going to be very pleasurable.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

While Hemlock's finger drummed over the wooden desk, his gaze lingered over me for a brief moment, and then he suddenly dropped his head on the table.

Thud―!

Everyone in the room was taken aback by his abrupt action, and when they turned to look at him, they discovered to their shock that his figure had already disintegrated all over the table.

"He's left."

Monica's voice echoed beside me.

Following her voice, the entire room erupted in murmurs. From the sudden appearance of Hemlock to the explosions that echoed outside, a great deal transpired in the span of a few minutes, and it was unavoidable that everyone would be a little unnerved by what was occurring due to the rapidity with which it all occurred.

"What do you think the explosions were?"

Monica asked, her head raised to look up at me.

I glanced at her from the corner of my eyes and shrugged my shoulders.

"How should I know? Just like you, I've been trapped in this room the entire time, if you want to ask someone, he's your best shot at finding out what is going on."

I nudged in Octavious's direction with my head and Monica's head turned to gaze in his direction.

At the moment, she wasn't the only one that was looking up at him. From a glance, I could count more than ten of the people in the room already staring in his general direction, and the numbers steadily grew as time passed.

The atmosphere in the room grew increasingly tense, and before long, everyone's attention was drawn in Octavious's direction.

"Octavious, you must know something about the situation, don't you?"

Douglas, who sat in the chair directly to his left, was the first person to comment. A smattering of solemnity could be seen in his eyes at times when he gazed in Octavious's way.

"You've said before that you would give us an explanation of what is going on. I'm sure you haven't forgotten what you said, right?"

This time, a muscular man with fiery red hair and bushy eyebrows spoke. With his arms crossed and wearing a tight black suit, his basketball-sized muscles were accentuated by his attire, which seemed to be a size too small for him.

The mere fact that he was a head taller than the majority of the room's occupants made him extremely intimidating. In fact, he appeared quite comical seated in his chair, which was obviously too small for him.

Newman Jordan, the new 7th ranker.

His presence was extremely oppressive, with the people around him put in a somewhat difficult spot.

He was one of the few that didn't seem to be intimidated by Hemlock, his gaze remaining firm throughout the entire time.

What was odd was the fact that he didn't do or say anything. Then again, he was probably wary of Hemlock, who was the strongest human in existence.

"Calm down; I have already stated that I will provide you with an explanation, and I will. I am a man of my word."

Octavious raised his hand, and the room fell into an immediate hush.

Interlocking his fingers together, Octavious began to talk.

"I've already stated that I wanted to discuss two topics with you guys before we were abruptly interrupted by... you already know who."

"It was something about an alliance, wasn't it?"

Ivana Krala was the one to speak this time.

Leaning back in her chair with her legs crossed and her glossy red hair falling over her shoulder, Ivana's disposition seemed wild and unrestrained. She was currently donning a one-piece black dress that accentuated her great bodyline and muscular figure.

Her lips were fuller than average, and the color of her pupils, which were yellow like Liam's, added to the allure of her otherwise lovely face.

What made her stand out from the others were, in fact, her pupils, which were horizontal, like a reptile's.

Leaning forward on her extended elbow, she smiled, exposing her pearly white teeth.

"Let me guess, for the next ten minutes you will brief us on how the alliance is going to work before finally getting to the main point..."

Ivan's finger tapped on the table once.

"...and that is you want to be the leader of this so called alliance, am I correct?"

'As expected of her, she really doesn't give a single fuck about anything.'

There wasn't much that I knew about Ivana other than the fact that her personality was wild. She was one of the few <SS> rankers that didn't like to operate a guild and preferred to roam the world outside the human domain.

In any event, she possessed the power to support her personality. There wasn't much anyone could do about her.

"You're half correct."

Octavious didn't seem to be the least bit offended by her words.

He was once again shockingly calm.

"Only half?"

Ivana's brow raised, and Octavious nodded.

"Yes, you're correct about the first part. The one about me going through the details of the alliance. "

"...If that's the case, I got the part about you wanting to be the leader of this alliance, wrong?"

"Correct."

Octavious nodded, and everyone in the room showed surprised expressions.

I too, was somewhat shocked by this revelation.

'What's going on?'

I did say that Octavious's personality was different from what is typical because he was unusually calm, but the fact that he flat-out refused to take on the role of the leader of the alliance was an excessively dramatic shift in his behavior.

In all of my memories, he became the leader of the alliance.

Everyone was aware of the fact that he enjoyed a position of authority due to his personality that thirsted for power.

He hated anyone that challenged his position; hence his dislike for me.

The Union was supposed to be an organization with seven heads, and each head was supposed to hold the same amount of power as the other heads, but everyone knew that this description was extremely inaccurate.

Octavious was the one who truly held power within the Union, and most high rankers knew this.

The fact that he didn't want to be the leader of the alliance seemed too out of character for him.

I wasn't the only one who thought this way, as the majority of people in the room appeared to partially concur with my thoughts.

'This doesn't have anything to do with Kevin, right?'

I had a sudden thought while I reached out for the glass of water positioned on the desk in front of me and took a sip.

"Although it is true that I do not wish to be the alliance leader, there is a very simple reason for this, and that's because I already have in mind a perfect person for the job. I can vouch for his strength and abilities, and I will assist him in the initial stages of his adjustment as alliance leader if need be, and..."

In the background, Octavious's voice smoothly echoed in the air.

"...The person whom I wish to be the alliance leader is Kevin Voss."

"Pffttttt!"

I spat out my drink.

Chapter 669: scary [3]

"Pfttt…"

I spat the water that was in my mouth, and I felt multiple eyes pause in my general direction.

I looked at Octavious without paying any attention to the attention that was being directed toward me and set the glass back on the table. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't hearing wrongly.

"What did you just say?"

"You've heard me already. I won't repeat myself."

"No, no, it's because I heard what you said that I'm asking this."

What in the world was going on?

I was completely taken aback by the unexpected disclosure, despite the fact that I had already had a hunch that this might happen.

The clues were there, I just didn't want to believe them.

How on earth did Kevin manage to sway the opinion of such a stubborn individual to side with him?

"Kevin Voss…Kevin Voss… isn't he that little handsome fellow that I see in the billboards all the time?"

Ivana turned her attention to Octavious; the interest in her eyes was clear to see.

Octavious merely spared her a glance before answering.

"I can vouch for his capabilities. He will make a great leader if you choose to elect him as one."

"Where is he at the moment?"

Ivana looked around the room, pausing briefly to take in each of the individuals who were present in the room.

"He's not here."

Maximus, Gilbert's father and the current second-ranked hero, spoke up.

His head was bowed and his arms were crossed as he sat to the right of Octavious. Raising his head slowly, he looked at Octavious and mumbled.

"His rank is not within the top fifty and so he is unqualified to be here."

"Not even in the top fifty?"

The expression on Ivana's face and the manner in which she carried herself completely shifted, and her eyes started to lose focus.

"If he isn't even in the top fifty, what qualifies him to be the alliance leader? If someone wants to be my leader, they have to be at least stronger than me. Since he's not here, it means that there is no need for us to discuss this any further. I'm not interested."

Ivana relaxed her shoulders and closed her eyes as she reclined further back in her chair.

Her expression utterly displaying the absence of any interest in the topic that had been discussed earlier.

"One doesn't have to be the strongest to be the leader."

Octavious rebuked her in a collected and level-headed manner. Unfortunately, it appeared as though his words had the opposite effect on the people who were present, as they all appeared to be staring at him in an odd manner.

'Is be okay?'

Although no one said it out loud, this was the thought that was clearly plastered all over their faces.

I couldn't blame them. The way Octavious was acting was extremely out of character. It was as if, all of a sudden, your tough, no-bullshit teacher became friendly out of nowhere.

It sent shivers down my spine.

"You… are you actually Octavious?"

My attention was brought back to the room by Monica, who asked the one question that had been preoccupying the thoughts of each and every person in the room.

Octavious frowned as his eyes travelled around the room and took in the expressions of everyone present.

"There is nothing wrong with me."

He answered flatly.

Extending his hand, he pressed the table in front of him.

Since you guys don't believe me, I'll demonstrate exactly what Kevin is capable of doing.

In the space directly in front of him, a holographic screen appeared to float. On it, images of buildings collapsing of their own accord while smoke spread through the air were shown.

Everyone was immediately startled by what they were seeing.

"What's going on?"

"Is this what is happening right now?"

As everyone in the room stared at the holographic display, they did so with a mixture of shock and bewilderment. Was this what the sound from before was?

Octavius brought his hand up and pinched the holographic screen, which resulted in the image becoming magnified.

"Have a closer look."

The image magnified, and everyone was able to get a distinct view of what was taking place beneath the debris of the collapsed buildings.

People could be seen writhing on the ground with wounds all over their bodies, wailing for assistance, and desperately looking through the rubble.

Confusion continued to spread throughout the room as the moment progressed.

Staring at each other, everyone wondered; what exactly is going on, and why was Octavious so fascinated by the pictures of the suffering people?

Once more, everyone began to question whether or not this truly was the Octavious that they were familiar with.

"What is currently happening is something that Kevin planned."

The following words he spoke caused the entire room to fall into complete silence. The pupils of some of the people in the room suddenly dilated.

Before they could say anything else, Octavious continued to speak.

Because this piece of information has not been disclosed to anyone but a select few, some of you might not be aware of this, but Kevin possesses the ability to completely be unaffected by mana contracts.

This means that his actions will not compromise us in any way.

When some of the people in attendance heard these words, they immediately displayed a startlingly different expression than before.

"Are you serious?"

"How is this possible? How can someone be immune to mana contracts?"

"...What does that have anything to do with the situation."

As soon as people started talking over one another, the room immediately descended into chaos.

I sat quietly in my seat while this was going on, and crossed my arms together. Throughout the entire time, I didn't say anything and just remained quiet.

Because I was, to some extent, already familiar with Kevin's circumstances, I was not the least bit taken aback by the information that was revealed.

The same could not be said for the other individuals, who began to speak over one another.

'It doesn't seem like much, but if I gave it some more thought, I'm realizing just how significant of an advantage this is...'

Especially considering that the ceasefire would still be in effect for a week.

There was still an abundance of time available to inflict significant damage on the Monolith without suffering any repercussions in return.

"Don't tell me this ability of his is what prompted you to recommend him as the leader of the alliance?"

Maximus, spoke up, his face dark. Clearly, he wasn't all too pleased with the sudden development.

"No."

Octavious shook his head, and he pointed at the holographic screen.

"It's because he has caused the most damage to the Monolith and has the best chance of defeating them. Take a look at all of the injured; do you see any dead?"

Everyone's attention was drawn back to the holographic image, and it was there that they noticed a thin layer of blood-red film covering the bodies of those who had been injured.

This was the first time that anyone had noticed the film covering the bodies of those who had been injured, and they were rightfully taken aback.

Octavious quickly cleared their doubts.

"Some of you may have wondered why Kevin is currently absent, and the explanation is simple. It's not because he isn't strong enough, but because there is something else that needs his immediate attention."

"During our meeting, he went out of his way to have the Monolith detonate some of the strategically-placed bombs they had placed throughout the city."

"Due to his knowledge of the bombs' precise locations, he was able to keep everyone safe while inflicting substantial contract-related damage on the Monolith by detonating the bombs and keeping the citizens safe. If that's not the end..."

Octavius's head turned and paused on me.

"Kevin Voss is the real mastermind behind the elimination of all Union-infiltrated spies. Ren was merely covering for him so that Kevin could continue his operation with as much time as possible. Isn't that the case?"

"Yeah."

I nodded my head, all sorts of complicated thoughts crossing my mind.

'It appears that Kevin has convinced Octavious to join his side. I have no idea how, but things are beginning to make sense.'

It was clear that someone was trying to hide the fact that the spies, who had previously held high-ranking positions in the Union, had been killed.

When I found out about the deaths for the first time, the first thing that came to my mind was that the Union was responsible for covering them up because they did not want to create any panic among the general population.

Nevertheless, it was now abundantly clear to me that Octavious was the one who was behind it all, and it was all in an effort to help Kevin.

'What divine treasure did Kevin offer Octavious in order for him to be so submissive to him? ...Couldn't he have shared it with me?'

I really wanted to know.

"Are you claiming that you intentionally injured innocent civilians in order to cause a breach of contract and severely harm a small force of the Monolith?"

The sound of Douglas's voice jolted me out of my reverie, and when I turned my head to look at him, I was taken aback by how dark his voice was. Something that I cannot recall ever seeing from him in the past.

Not only was he not the only one with such an expression, but a number of other members who were considered to be more righteous also wore identical expressions.

"I did what needed to be done. No one died, and everyone who is injured will be properly compensated by the Union."

"And risked the lives of innocent people?"

Douglas smacked his hand against the table and raised his voice.

"You know very well that you can't pull this shit! If this gets out, the backlash alone will not be something we can bear!"

"They aren't dead, are they? Isn't that what matters?"

"What?"

Douglas looked at Octavious with an incredulous look. Just as he was about to say something, he was stopped by Octavious's raised hand.

"Stop."

Octavious shifted his attention toward the other members present and started speaking.

"I would like to end this meeting on this note. I have already said what I wanted to say, and in the upcoming vote that will decide the leader of the alliance, if you choose to join, you should take into consideration voting for Kevin Voss."

Pressing his hands against the side of the desk and standing up, Octavious murmured.

"I have done everything that I needed to do. It will be up to you whether you vote for him or not. When the time comes, you will know why this is the right decision."

His figure disappeared right after that, and the room turned quiet.

Just like that, the assembly ended.

Chapter 670: The warmth of the night [1]

The next day.

"Phew, looks like this is the last of it."

I took a moment to admire the view from my brand-new apartment while I wiped the sweat that had accumulated on my forehead.

'I guess moving out was the right call.'

From where I was standing, I could see the city in all its glory, and the view was simply stunning. There was nothing to complain about.

After returning from the assembly and discussing it with Amanda, I decided to vacate my previous apartment and move into a new one.

This was a must as I was about to perform a dangerous operation on myself.

With that being said, when I said "move out," I simply relocated to the vacant apartment next door.

There was no problem because Amanda owned the entire building.

"Alright, I guess I should get started."

I flapped my tank top, creating a small wind that pushed up my chin and refreshed me.

After that, I went to the beige couch that was perched atop a grey furry carpet in the centre of the room.

I sat down on the couch and took a pair of glasses from my dimensional space and put them on.

It had to be noted that these were special glasses and weren't normal glasses. My eyes were perfect, and I didn't need to have glasses in order to see.

There was a glass table directly across from me, and I swiped my hand over it.

Three books materialized on top of the table the moment I swiped my hand. The books were of three different colours: red, blue, and green.

Engraved on the front covers of each book were two words.

[Keiki style]

[Gravar style]

[Levisha style]

"Who would've thought that I would one day take my time to learn all three of the techniques."

I bitterly thought while I opened the first page of the Levisha style and tapped my glasses, which immediately scanned and copied the information that was displayed in front of me, highlighting the key points in front of me at the same time.

Getting my hands on the Levisha style wasn't actually that hard for me. All I did was exchange the poison flask I found in Immorra for it.

Kevin didn't seem to mind anyway.

The Gravar style, on the other hand, was a bit easier. As part of the contract, I was to be given a copy of the Gravar style, and that was how I had access to it.

Under the terms of the contract, I was not permitted to teach the method to anyone else; that said, I had no intention of teaching it to anyone else in the first place, so everything turned out fine.

"Now... how do I go about this?"

As I had previously mentioned, the Keiki style was no longer useful for me to the same extent it was in the past.

I had already long surpassed its predecessor, and the same could be said for the Levisha and Gravar style.

But that was beside the point.

Developing my very own signature sword style was at the top of my to-do list right now.

I wanted one that was exclusive to me and no one else... and the first step for me to take to accomplish that was to conduct an accurate analysis of the three strongest sword manuals known to mankind.

I intended to combine the various aspects of each sword style—speed, power, and style—into one and create the most powerful and complete sword style out there.

'For that to happen, I need to completely memorize every single detail of these books.'

I tapped on my glasses again, and with a serious expression, I began to examine and break down every single thing that was written in the manuals.

*

"They say that time flies when one is deeply immersed in something. I guess they weren't exactly lying."

I stood up to look at the clock that hung on the right side of my new apartment, 8 P.M.

Seven hours had passed before I knew it and it was already time for dinner. Rubbing my stomach a couple of times, I leaned back on the couch and blankly stared at the white ceiling of the room.

"What should I have for dinner?"

The one drawback of moving away from my parents was that I was no longer able to rely on my mother to provide me with warm meals, instead, I was responsible for preparing my own food.

I wasn't a bad cook, but cleaning was a big hassle.

'Actually, I suppose I could stop by their place and get something to eat from there.'

I shook my head after deliberating over the matter for the next couple of seconds.

It would not be a wise decision to show up unannounced and demand food.

"Whatever, I'll just order something."

I pulled out my phone and began browsing the delivery app in the app's menu. My finger scrolled down the page a few times before stopping, and my brows knitted together in a frown as I was suddenly brought to remember something.

A miniature tube that was filled with a dark liquid materialized in front of my eyes when I tapped my bracelet once.

"I almost forgot about this..."

'Suriol's blood.'

I analyzed the liquid in front of me with seriousness.

It had been some time since I had received his blood, and I recalled how he had described the process involving the gradual incorporation of demon blood into my blood.

I knew the steps by heart.

Incorporating demon blood into my body would not only make me more powerful, but it would also give me access to a skill known as "Demon Transformation," which would give me power beyond anything I could have imagined.

...however, this did not come without a cost, as there was a very real possibility that I could lose my mind as a consequence of my actions.

My hands shook a little when I stared at the tube in front of me.

'Should I, or should I not?'

I was desperate.

Desperate to not be involved with the schemes of the other me, Kevin, Jezebeth, the Akashic Records, or whomever it may be...

I didn't want to be a piece in whatever grand game of chess they were playing.

I...just wanted to be free, you know?

"Heh, who knows, me taking the demon blood might just as well be something that one of them has planned."

I covered my mouth with my hand and bit my palm.

Fuck...

I removed the cap from the test tube, and then carefully transferred the liquid into a cup that was sitting on the table nearby.

Click!

"Hu?"

I was startled to see Amanda enter my apartment after a sudden clicking sound and I quickly retrieved my hand away and stored the test tube in my dimensional space.

"What are you doing here?"

"Hm?"

Amanda cocked her head when she spotted me and place her thin brown jacket on the hanger at the entrance of the room.

She then took off her boots.

"Weren't you the one who told me to come?"

"I did?"

"...Don't tell me you forgot."

Amanda covered her forehead with her hand. Her face was filled with helplessness, and I lowered my head in embarrassment.

'Now that I think about it, I do recall telling her yesterday something of the sort.'

I rubbed my palms together and leaned back on my sofa.

"I didn't forget. My thoughts were somewhat jumbled because of all the studying that I was doing."

"Is that so?"

Amanda approached me as she tied her hair into a ponytail.

Her slender neck became exposed the moment she attempted to tie her ponytail behind her head, giving me a sight to behold.

Accentuating the curves of her body was her outfit, which was composed of a black turtleneck that was neatly tucked inside of her blue jeans.

With her legs on the side of the couch, she sat next to me. A thin purple hairband hung in between her lips.

Amanda suddenly smiled seductively upon noticing that I was looking at her.

"Like what you're seeing?"

She asked, removing the hairband from her mouth and tying the hair behind her back.

I nodded my head.

"Yes...Yes, I do."

It would be a lie if I said no.

Amanda's expression froze when she heard me agree.

"Eh?"

"What is it?"

I asked, curious about the sudden shift in her expression.

To my shock, I watched as Amanda placed her hand over my head and looked at me with a worried expression.

***

"What are you doing?"

"Making sure you're not sick."

"What? What makes you think that I'm sick?"

Amanda ignored Ren and continued to check the temperature of his head.

She sighed in relief when she saw that the temperature was normal.

"It looks like you really don't have a fever."

"What got into you?"

Amanda locked eyes with Ren, and she deeply stared into his eyes. She didn't hear it wrong, right?

Did the stone hearted idiot actually fall for her charms for once?

Two years.

She had been trying for two years to become more intimate with him, only to see Ren erect a barrier and keep their relationship the way that it always was.

At times, she wondered if they really were in a relationship or if Ren truly did like her.

Was she not attractive in her eyes? Does he prefer girls that are like Melissa? More mature ones?

Her mind raced with all kinds of strange ideas over the course of the two years they were together.

It was embarrassing to think about, but she couldn't help but doubt herself in front of Ren, who didn't seem to be moved at all despite her efforts to advance their relationship.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Ah, nothing."

When Amanda saw Ren wave his hand in front of her face, she instinctively jerked her head backwards.

Her reaction caused Ren to be even more confused.

"What's gotten into you?"

"Nothing..."

Amanda's eyes darted around in panic, pausing on a small cup on the table that contained a strange black liquid. It look like coffee at first, but that was only at first...

In the instant her eyes paused on the blood, her face changed.

"Ah, that."

Ren's face also changed when he noticed what Amanda was looking at, and before he could say anything, Amanda had already stood up.

"Enough."

She could tell at a glance that the object in her hands was dangerous as she detected faint demonic vibrations emanating from the liquid within the cup.

"You're planning on doing something dangerous again, aren't you?"

Amanda didn't need to look at Ren to come to this conclusion.

She knew him like the back of her hand, and it was obvious to her that he was planning on ingesting whatever this liquid was.

When Amanda stared at the cup, she experienced a wide range of emotions, including resentment and sadness.

She had a momentary urge to throw it and destroy it, but she restrained herself because she knew that Ren was very important to Ren.

Biting her lower lip, she sat the cup back down on the table and stared at Ren.

"Ahh! What are you doing?"

Her mind emptied of all thoughts, and the next thing she knew, she was on top of Ren. She was looking down at him.

Amanda found it particularly amusing to see the shocked expression on his face, and her heart started racing.

"What are you doing?"

Ren asked, his eyes slowly recovering from the shock, and he supported his upper part of his body up.

Ignoring Ren, Amanda slowly took off her turtle neck, exposing her body, and softly responded.

"Something that I should've done a long time ago."

Her lips and his lips met.

Chapter 671: The warmth of the night[2]

"Hew."

Resting her head on her arms, Emma let out a deep sigh.

[Emma, training will start tomorrow at 5:00 A.M. in the morning. Make sure that you're not late.]

Emma caught glimpse of a message sent by her dad.

Ever since she reunited with her father, she had spent most of her time training with him. There was no better teacher for her than him.

"If only there was a way for me to become stronger faster..."

Nowadays, she felt sour just thinking of Kevin. Every time she tried to initiate a conversation with him, he would do everything in his power to avoid it and then quickly flee the scene. Whether it was in Immorra, human domain, Union...he would always dodge her.

"Tsk, what's gotten into him?"

After only a few short years, Emma was unable to fathom how Kevin could have undergone such a dramatic transformation.

During their time together at the academy, she had the impression that their relationship was doing well, and she didn't believe that she had done anything that could have caused tension between them...

"So what exactly is up with him?"

Emma ruffled her hair in annoyance.

"...If only I could be more like Melissa."

For the first time in her life, Emma experienced feelings of envy toward Melissa's seeming apathy toward everything. If she were more like her, then none of the problems that she was currently going through would be a problem for her.

She would just brush them off with a look of annoyance on her face.

'Don't want to talk to me? Cool, me too. Now go. I have other things to do.'

She could already imagine the sort of things Melissa would say had she been in a similar situation to hers.

"Hmph, you know what? Fuck him!"

A determined expression appeared on Emma's face as she smacked the table. She had grown tired of waiting around for Kevin to come back to her and talk to her. She decided that going forward, she would have nothing more to do with Kevin.

She had made up her mind.

"Even if Kevin comes back to me all beat up and injured and begs me to help him, I'll just ignore him! Hmph, see if that will make you regret your decision!"

She made a vow to herself.

One that she planned on keeping, regardless of what was going to happen next!

Crash━!

"Hait!"

Emma was startled when the sudden echoing of a crashing sound occurred, which prompted her to spring from her seat in response and caused her heart to palpitate out of her chest.

Her head snapped immediately back, and she was taken aback to see Kevin kneeling down on the ground with both hands on the ground, his complexion looking very pale.

"Kevin?! What's going on?"

She immediately rushed to him, completely forgetting what she had been thinking moments ago.

"Pfttt.."

"Kevin!"

The sight of Kevin spitting blood out of his mouth caused her facial expression to become even tenser.

It appeared as though he was having trouble focusing his eyes, and he was breathing in a very labored manner.

Raising his head, his eyes met her and he smiled at her.

Thud━!

His body fell to the ground after that, and he passed out.

"Kevin!"

***

It was dark.

Kevin was engulfed in darkness and suffered from multiple bouts of pain as he floated in and out of consciousness.

After regaining consciousness for a split second, he would feel a searing pain that persisted all over his body, which would cause him to fall back into a state of unconsciousness once more.

Before he even realized what was happening, he felt a twitch in his eyelids, and then very slowly, his eyes opened.

"...Where am I?"

Kevin mumbled, adjusting his focus with a few blinks of his eyes and taking in a fuller picture of his surroundings.

It seemed as though he was in a room that was fairly large, with walls that were a faded light pink colour, a large TV screen in the middle of the room, as well as a sizable desk and chair. The room, which was adorned with flowers, exuded the soothing scent of lavender throughout its entirety.

"Hm?"

When Kevin looked down and felt something heavy resting on his legs, he finally realized where he was and his face stiffened.

"Emma..."

Faint recollections of what had transpired a few hours prior resurfaced in Kevin's mind and he let out another groan as he grasped the side of his waist, which was now bandaged.

'Ukh, everything worked out...'

Indeed, his plan had worked... but it wasn't without consequences.

Kevin had sustained serious injuries.

"Ukh."

He let out another groan.

'...Grave isn't even enough to cover the extent of my injuries. Still, it was worth it.'

All along, he had never planned on killing Malik Alshayatin. His goal was to seal off the other Ren.

Kevin knew that he was going to be the biggest thorn in his plan.

He had intentionally lied to Ren about the plan; there was a good chance that the other him would discover the situation through him.

It was a way for him to lure the other Ren, in case he was able to see exactly what Ren was doing.

―●

'Law #3: Conceal Your Intentions. '

Keep those around you uncertain and vague by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no idea what you're planning, they won't be able to prepare the defense. Guide them far enough in another direction, shroud them in a smokescreen, and by the time they discover your designs, it will be too late.

―●

"Cough...Cough..."

Kevin violently coughed, a bitter, iron-like sensation tingling his tastebuds. His chest violently ached, and Kevin felt his arms tremble with pain.

"Hmm...Kevin?"

Kevin's body froze upon hearing the one voice he didn't want to hear.

He slowly lowered his head to see Emma looking back at him with a sleepy face. It was obvious that she had not slept the entire time while she was taking care of him.

All sorts of complicated thoughts flashed across his eyes as he gazed at Emma.

In all honesty, it had never been his intention to go to her.

It's just that at the time, the repercussions of his actions were a lot more powerful than he had initially anticipated, and she was the first person he thought of when he was trying to look for someone to help him.

It had never been his intention to go to her, but the situation had led him to her, and now that he was face to face with her, he wasn't sure what to say.

His silence prompted Emma to furrow her brows as she glared at him.

"Don't you have anything to say to me?"

She inquired while pulling her head away from her arms and rising to her feet. She looked down at Kevin, who was lying on her bed with his back against the wooden frame of the bed.

Raising his head to meet her line of sight, Kevin felt something stuck in his throat.

...There were many things that he wanted to say to her.

A lot of things.

The current her, the previous her, and all the other versions of her. The list was endless, and he hadn't been distancing himself for the reason she was thinking of.

He didn't think of her as a burden, nor did he ever. Be it past, present, or future, Kevin had only ever loved one girl, and it was Emma.

...but be it, past, present, or future, Kevin had only suffered heartbreak, and so had she.

Their story was never meant to be a happy one.

The moment Kevin learned about his past, he knew what he had to do. This was the last ever regression.

The last one.

That was it.

Turning back time was no longer possible.

The Akashic records had reached a point where they could no longer sustain a time renewal, and regardless of what happened next, time reversal was no longer something that this universe could withstand.

It would simply disintegrate together with the records and everything else that existed within the universe.

His passing would no longer cause time to roll back, but that was precisely what Kevin had been hoping to achieve all along.

There was a good explanation for why he was unable to prevail over Jezebeth at any point during the numerous regressions.

It wasn't because he couldn't...but because he wouldn't.

This may have been the last regression, but it was also the one opportunity he had to set everything straight.

Every time renewal would result in the records exhausting a power of their powers.

A single renewal wouldn't have much of an impact on the records, but what if it happened multiple times? What if it occurred tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of times?

By then, wouldn't the records reach a point where they could no longer sustain a regression?

Wouldn't the records reach a point where they became so weak that perhaps a mortal being could actually reach them?

"Kevin, are you even listening to me?"

Emma's voice brought Kevin out of his thoughts, and his head snapped toward her direction.

The sight of her tears streaming down her cheeks immediately startled him, and he extended his hand forward, trying to wipe away her tears.

"Huh? Why are you crying?"

"Don't touch me."

Smack―!

Emma smacked his hand away and turned around, using her arm to wipe away at her tears.

"I don't understand what has suddenly gotten into you...but at the very least, I think I deserve an explanation. If you don't like me anymore, or if you found someone else...then just tell me. Why must you keep me in the dark and m..ake me suffer so much?"

Emma's shoulders trembled, and she started to choke on her words.

"...It hurts, you know?"

Kevin's head lowered when he saw the state that Emma was in, his arms resting over his legs.

He opened his mouth and said, "My ending...it's not going to be a good one."

"Huh?"

Emma turned around. Tears were still streaming down her cheeks, but more than anything, there was a confused look on her face.

"What are you talking about?"

Kevin smiled at her.

He gave her the saddest smile he had ever given her and repeated himself.

"...From the moment I was born, my ending was already set in stone."

He slowly raised himself up and out of the bed. A sharp pain pierced his abdomen area, but he ignored it and got up.

He inched closer to Emma and slowly lifted her chin with his finger.

"I am distancing myself from you not because I find you burdensome or because I have found someone else. Even if I had a million lives, I don't believe I'll ever fall for another person..."

Kevin suddenly laughed.

Even though he laughed normally, there was an underlying sadness contained in his laughter.

"The only reason why I am distancing myself from you is that I know that my ending isn't going to be a happy one."

He slowly brought his head forward and murmured.

"Maybe...this is what I deserve for what I have done, or maybe I was just born this way, but staying with me won't make you happy."

He continued to move his head forward and it wasn't long before his lips touched something soft.

'I am cursed.'

Chapter 672: The warmth do the night[3]

My eyelids were partially closed when suddenly I was jolted awake by a bright light that penetrated the spaces between them.

My thoughts were all over the place, and all of a sudden, memories from the previous night began to flood back into my consciousness.

My eyes opened as I was gently embraced by a warm sensation coming from the right side of my body. It was extremely soft, and for a moment, I was almost tempted to close my eyes and go back to sleep.

A familiar ceiling appeared within my immediate vision, and I knew that I was inside my room.

Laying on my bed…Amanda was beside me.

Her eyes were closed, and the covers were pulled up to her chin. Her arm was positioned so that it was leaning over me, and she had a firm grip on my waist.

She was sound asleep.

'So it really happened…'

I turned my body so that it faced Amanda and looked directly at her face. Glossy cherry lips, smooth skin that was completely free of any blemishes, and glossy black hair that fell in a sleek manner and covered her face.

"How cute."

As her hair continued to fall in her face, I couldn't help but laugh when I noticed that it would occasionally cause her nose to twitch and her mouth to pout.

My hand moved forward unconsciously and smoothed her hair behind her ear as I admired her beauty at that very moment.

My heartfelt oddly at peace while I faced her, and if possible, I wanted to stay like this for as long as possible.

It was so nice.

"Hm."

Amanda gradually opened her eyes, clearly startled awake by my actions.

She appeared to be somewhat groggy and had to blink a couple of times to get a better understanding of what was going on. Her eyes quickly regained their clarity, and a faint blush began to spread across her cheeks.

"Morning."

She muttered shyly, with a small smile on her face.

I answered her back with a smile.

"Morning."

The light filtered through the window, slowly illuminating the room; enveloping our bodies with warmth.

How nice was it to wake up like this?

This felt so peaceful.

"What time is it?"

Amanda lifted her body slowly as she raised her arm to support the bedsheets that were covering her body.

I leaned back on the bed and yawned.

"Huaaam..too early. I barely slept last night."

Amanda glared at me, and I shrugged my shoulders.

"Whose fault do you think it is?"

Amanda rolled her eyes and got out of bed. Our clothes were scattered all over the floor in a messy fashion, giving a perfect represenation of the events of last night.

Getting out of bed, she dragged the bedsheets with her and my body shivered.

"Oy, the bedsheets!"

"Don't complain."

Amanda merely spared me a glance before taking the bedsheets with her.

My teeth chattered, and I hugged my body.

"Why are you taking the bedsheets with you?! I've already seen everything that is there to see. What are you being shy about?!"

"The less you see something, the more you desire it."

Amanda's rebuttal instantly made me shut up, and I sighed.

"Alright, fine, whatever."

To be honest, I doubted the validity of those words. There was simply no way I would ever get bored of what I had seen last night.

Never...

"Get changed. We're going to be late."

"Alright, alright…"

I let out another sigh, and then I sat up straight, picked up the clothes that were lying on the ground, and started putting them on in a slow manner.

Due to the events that transpired in the Assembly, I was unable to speak with Octavious, and as a result, we came to the conclusion that the best time for us to meet would be today.

Thinking about Octavious, my thoughts were rather complicated.

I was still confused about how a man with such a fixed mindset could have undergone such a dramatic transformation so quickly. What in the world did Kevin do to cause him to transform into this different person?

I was genuinely curious.

"I'm done."

"Already?"

The second time Amanda entered the room, she was dressed differently than the first time. This time, she was wearing a sleek white one-piece suit that accentuated the natural curves of her body.

Her long hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, and she exuded an enticing fragrance from head to toe.

She looked more mature.

In the midst of me admiring her beauty, she walked up to the drawer beside my bed and took out the pair of glasses that were resting there.

It took a moment for me to register what was going on, and I complained.

"Wait, aren't those my glasses?"

"They are."

Amanda teased, putting on her glasses and heading to the living room, more specifically the kitchen.

"Hold on, wait up."

Hastily putting on my clothes, I rushed to her. Panic engulfed every part of my body.

Flashes of memories resurfaced inside my mind, and my complexion paled.

"Wait, don't tell me that you're planning on making breakfast?"

"How did you know?"

As expected, Amanda's expression changed to one of bewilderment when she realized that I was aware of her intention to prepare breakfast.

Amanda's brows furrowed, and she examined my clothing for a moment before shaking her head and cutting me off before I could say anything else.

"This won't do. You should go and change your clothes. You can't go like this. I'll make breakfast while you change."

The tone of her voice was stern, and so was her face.

When I saw her expression, I realized that complaining about it would be a pointless use of my time. As a result, I went to the bathroom, took a shower, and then changed into more appropriate attire before going back to the living room.

To tell you the truth, ever since Amanda had baked her cookies for me the last time, I had not eaten any of her food, and I wasn't looking forward to it at all.

If the previous experience with the cookies hadn't made it abundantly clear, then I didn't know what could.

'This morning is going to start off rough for sure, that much is certain.'

With a Pepto Bismol at hand, I headed for breakfast, where I saw perfectly cooked sunny side eggs with some bacon.

I was immediately on guard, and I approached the chair as if it were the most formidable foe I had ever faced or would ever face.

Jezebeth who?

Not even Jezebeth placed me under such pressure.

As expected, this was no normal egg, was it?

The more perfect it looked on the outside, the warier of it I became.

"What are you doing? Eat quickly so the food doesn't become cold. We still have to leave in fifteen minutes."

"Ah..yeah."

I responded, and as I did so, sweat began to form on either side of my hands. At the same time, I began praying to whichever god was out there.

After slicing the bacon with the fork, which I had just grabbed, I brought it to my mouth. At this point, I had already reconciled my feelings about the situation, and I took a bite of the bacon, expecting it to be the last one I would take for a while.

"Hmm?"

After taking a few bites of the bacon, I was astonished to discover that it didn't actually have a taste that was all that unpleasant. In point of fact, I had already consumed the entire thing before I realized it, and I had already made my way to the eggs, which turned out to be surprisingly airy.

I looked at Amanda with a sceptical eye.

"What happened? Did you order breakfast before I was done changing?"

"Since when have deliveries become so fast?"

"…You could've bought it yesterday and reheated it."

"Then how does that explain the dishes over there?"

"Hm…"

My brows furrowed to their fullest capacity as I looked at the dishes, which were indisputable proof that she had actually prepared the meal.

It took me a while to process the information, and when I did, I looked at Amanda with an incredulous look.

"It's not spicy!"

"Ah?"

Amanda cocked her head, her eyes narrowing into slits.

She eventually shook her head.

"…I didn't have to deal with cinnamon this time, so yeah."

"So you're saying that if you had cinnamon, you would've made it spic—"

I was forcefully fed a mouthful of food by Amanda, who looked at me with a cold smile.

"Less talking and more eating."

"…fine."

I retracted the fork from my mouth and carried on eating. After everything was said and done, the breakfast turned out to be quite delicious, and I felt very content after eating it.

By the time I was done eating, Amanda had already eaten her breakfast and had gone to put her shoes on.

I didn't waste any time cleaning the table before making my way to the front door, where Amanda was patiently waiting for me.

I got out of the apartment, took my jacket with me, and locked the door behind me as I went.

There was not a single flaw to be found with my current morning. I awoke with a smile, enjoyed a delicious breakfast, and felt more energized than I had in a very long time.

Only that... At the precise moment that I emerged from the room, another figure emerged from his apartment at the opposite end of the corridor, and our eyes met.

The surroundings froze, and neither one of us moved.

The last thing I remember hearing was Amanda's low murmur.

"The scream."

My head subconsciously nodded.

***

"Not a bad office."

I found a nice leather sofa, sat down, and adjusted the pillows until I was completely at ease. At that moment, I was located in Octavios's office, which was located on the top floor of the Union Tower.

I had to say, the view up here was amazing. I could see the entirety of Ashton City from where I sat.

There didn't need to be anything said about how nice the view was.

Currently, Octavious was sitting behind his desk with an expressionless look on his face. He was most probably waiting for me to finish looking around.

"Keum.."

I cleared my throat and leaned back on the chair. Without sparing a single second, I asked the one thing that had been bugging me from quite a while back.

"What did Kevin offer in order to have you become so ob━"

"The chance to break through to <SSS-> rank."

Octavious cut me mid-sentence, and my mouth hung open.

"The what?"

I had to blink my eyes a couple of times in order to ensure that I wasn't hearing incorrectly.

He just said the chance to break through to <SSS-> rank, right?

"Are you serious?"

"Yes "

Octavious nodded, clearly not trying to hide anything from me. I became even more shocked when I heard Octavious's confirmation.

'No way, did Kevin really do that?'

Everything started making sense to me, and when it did, I couldn't help but be amazed by Kevin's capabilities.

It was necessary to take note of the fact that advancing past the SSS rank was extremely difficult, borderline impossible.

The closer one became to the powers of the records, the more restrictions were set on them. There was a reason why there were so few <SSS-> rankers in the world, and it was because the Akashic Records didn't want there to be that many in the first place.

No, it was more accurate to say that it never even wanted an existence of that level to exist within its realm to begin with.

...and it was precisely because of this reason that it was almost impossible for someone to break through to <SSS-> rank.

The fact that Kevin was somehow able to grant this ability to Octavious showed that his means were extremely deep.

'If I didn't already know how to breakthrough, I would have been in the same position as Octavious and would've most likely needed to ask for his assistance.'

"So in exchange for granting you the ability to break through to the next rank, you've decided to help him become the alliance leader?"

"That's correct."

"I see...huh?"

I stopped myself mid-sentence and looked up at Octavious.

"Hold on, why are you telling me this?"

It was very strange that he ultimately divulged all of the information without me threatening or coercing him to do so in order to get him to talk.

In fact, there was something extremely fishy about the situation...

'There's definitely a reason for why he's telling me this.'

...I didn't have to wait long to understand

"Kevin informed me that I was permitted to share this information with you. He also instructed me to tell you to vote for him in the upcoming elections for alliance leader. Oh, and he also inquired as to whether your mercenary group will join the alliance or not."

"Ehmm..."

I was honestly a little taken aback by the sudden request, but I eventually shook my head.

"I can vote for Kevin to become the leader of the alliance, but my mercenary guild will not join. I have other plans for them, and we don't really work well with others, so it may be for the best that they are separated."

"I understand."

Octavious nodded in a calm manner, seemingly having already expected such results.

My brows furrowed when I saw this.

'Did Kevin predict this far as well?'

My hands clenched for a moment before I relaxed them.

'I wonder what's going on with Kevin's head these days.'

The more time that goes by, the more unfamiliar he seems to me in my thoughts. Without a doubt, the Kevin that I knew was no more, with the current Kevin being the real version of himself.

...Almost like me.

I shifted my attention back toward Octavious and asked.

"Is there anything else that you would like to tell me?"

"No."

Octavious shook his head, his expression carrying the same indifference as in the past.

"Very well, then..."

I stood up from my seat and turned to head for the exit of the room. Now that everything was done, I could finally carry out everything that I had been planning for a long time.

'I guess I've got to go back to the headquarters.'

Chapter 673: The beginning of the end [1]

[Day 5]

"Where's everyone?"

I was taken aback to discover that the lobby of the mercenary headquarters was completely deserted. At any given time, there would typically be at least one or two of the guys lounging about on the sofas.

"Guess everyone's busy."

I eventually shrugged my shoulders.

When I thought about the upcoming event, it made perfect sense. Indeed, I had given a significant amount of work to each of them.

Without much consideration, I made my way to Ryan's room. Among all the people present, he was most likely the only one who knew where the others were.

They were probably in the building, but the place was quite big, and since I needed to check up on Ryan, I decided to just ask him since he most probably had eyes on the entire place.

Clank—!

After making my way to Ryan's room and opening the door, I discovered Ryan hunched over with his back arched and his feet crossed on the chair as he was looking at more than fifty monitors in front of him.

Displayed on the monitors were the different areas of Ashton city.

"Oh, you're back."

Ryan was quickly made aware of my presence, and after giving me a passing glance, he returned his focus to the screens.

He most likely was aware that I was heading to him long ago and was just being casual about it.

I approached him and placed my hand on the chair he was sitting on.

"How's the situation?"

"They haven't made any movements yet. Not notable ones…at least."

"This is in Ashton city?"

"Yes, same for the other cities. Still no major movement."

"Okay."

I nodded my head, struggling to keep up with Ryan, who looked at all the monitors in front of him without any trouble.

In fact, every two seconds, the screens would switch and new areas would appear on the monitors.

While this happened, Ryan would write a couple of notes on a small book that rested next to his keyboard before switching the screens again.

He kept doing this for all the fifty screens in front of him, and my head started to throb at the sight.

"I'll leave you to it."

I gave the back of the chair a light pat before turning around. When I was on the verge of leaving, I suddenly recalled the purpose of my visit here and asked.

"By the way, do you have any idea where the others are? I didn't see anyone in the lob—"

"Training room."

Ryan responded before I could even finish my sentence. I pursed my lips and nodded my head.

"Alright, good luck with your job."

It appeared as though Ryan was too preoccupied with what he was doing. It was to the point where he did not care about me at all.

It didn't really bother me, as I knew his role in the upcoming war was going to be very important.

I had a lot of things planned out for the upcoming events, and Ryan was going to play a significant part in all of them.

'Well, everyone will.'

I had not chosen my members randomly. They were all selected with this event in mind, and it was time for me to finally bear the fruit of their nurturing.

Bang—!

As I got closer to the training room, the first thing that I heard was a loud crashing sound, followed by what I took to be Hein's voice.

"Huak! Take it easy! I'm not made of diamo—huak!

Bang—!

'What's going on here?'

When I first walked into the training room, I didn't know what to make of the events that were taking place there.

Han Yufei, who was standing opposite Hein and who was all beaten up and full of bruises, continued to punch him relentlessly while he begged for mercy.

Behind Hein was Leopold, who had a pack of gums in his hand and was cheering for Han Yufei.

"Go! Go! Beat up him!"

"You! You're supposed to be on my side—huak!"

"Oh, right."

I honestly didn't know how to respond to the sudden situation.

Letting out a long and extended sigh, my eyes drifted toward a young girl who sat at the back of the room, and I made my way toward her.

"How long has this been going for?"

"About the last three hours."

Ava responded, holding her hand up and staring at the numerous small birds that were resting there.

Beside her were also multiple cats and mouses, snuggling around her body.

The sight surprised me, and I pointed at them. She answered before I could even ask.

"It's a lot easier for me to control animals that have not been too impacted by the mana in the air."

"I see…and how many can you control?"

"If you're not talking about beasts affected by mana, which are currently at fifty, then about a thousand."

She answered, raising her head and looking up at me.

My eyes jumped up in surprise.

"A thousand? That many?"

"Mhm. I could probably push it to a couple hundred more, but that would drain my mana instantly."

Ava mused to herself, lowering her head and massaging her chin.

"I've also completed what you've asked me to do and set up multiple stations around the city just like you've asked. I also already coordinated myself with Ryan, so if anything happens, he will be the first to let you know."

"Perfect."

I smiled in satisfaction. Ava's progress was a lot faster than I had expected. Everything so far was flowing in accordance with what I had envisioned.

Ryan acted as the eyes and Ava as the ears.

With Ryan's access to all of the cameras in the city, as well as Ava's network of animals scattered throughout the city, I had complete control over what was going on in Ashton City.

Be it those that were on my side, or those that weren't.

Nothing could escape my sight and ears.

"Alright, keep up the good work."

Satisfied with the progress, I stood up and decided to head out of the training room. Just before leaving, I scanned the room and asked.

"By the way, I don't see Liam anywhere. Do you have any idea where he is?"

Ava cocked her head to the side to look at me, then tapped on the face of her watch and shut her eyes before responding.

"He's roaming Ashton city. He's currently in the Northern district, Govian Park. I think he's lost."

"Okay…"

'Well, there you go.'

The effectiveness of the information network that I had established. She was able to provide me with precise information regarding Liam's location in a matter of seconds.

A satisfied smile spread across my face, and I headed out of the room.

Even though I could still hear Hein's helpless screams in the background, I didn't pay them any attention. My mind was preoccupied with other thoughts.

'Now that the information network has been completely set up and I've got eyes on the entirety of Ashton city…It's time that I push up my next plans.'

I had a grand total of five days left before the human domain would all of a sudden face a catastrophe that had never been seen before.

During those five days, I intended to finish putting everything in place before handing over responsibility for the rest to Kevin.

…because from that point on, I will begin the process of developing a new sword art and incorporating the demonic bloodline into my body.

Only then would I be able to reach a point where I could fight toe to toe against Malik Alshayatin.

"Ren."

As I emerged from the training room, the first thing I noticed was Angelica making her way in my direction.

She had a rather serious expression on her face, and my face changed when I noticed this.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"No, not really."

Angelica shook her head.

After that, she reached out her hand, at which point a dark radiance emanated from her and covered her entire arm. I was taken aback by her behaviour at first, but then I understood exactly what it was that she was attempting to let me see.

"You're about to break through to Duke rank?"

"Correct."

Angelica nodded her head, retrieving her hand and lowering it.

"I've been close to breaking through for quite a while now, but I haven't had the opportunity to do so."

"…and you've found that opportunity?"

"No."

Angelica shook her head, a complicated look flashing across her face as she explained.

"I'm speaking with you because I have not yet discovered that opportunity. It appears that the demonic energy on earth is too weak for me to be of any help to me."

"Right…"

Indeed, earth was the last planet that the demons had set foot on, and the demonic energy was at a drastically lower level than that of Immorra and the other planets that had been conquered.

Angelica was facing a similar situation to what I was facing when I was back in Immorra, trying to break through.

"Do you not have enough devil fruits or something?"

"No."

Angelica shook her head once more.

"Not of the level that can help me break through to the Duke rank."

My brows knit.

Her problem was indeed a big one. Her breaking through to Duke rank would be an enormous boost to our overall power. If possible, I wanted to help her break through as soon as possible.

When I turned my attention back to her, I could see that she was in her own thoughts.

'Looks like my days are going to become harder.'

I sighed internally as I came to the realization that she most likely already had a solution in mind, one that it was highly likely that I would not like. I then asked.

"You seem to have an idea in mind, mind sharing it with me?"

"…I plan on returning to the Demon realm."

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment to process the information.

'As expected…'

To be honest, I had a feeling that she would say something like this. Opening my eyes again and looking at her, I nodded my head.

"Do you know how to get there? Will you be able to go there unnoticed? I remember that your family is quite important there... There shouldn't be any problems, right?"

Angelica's eyes dulled, and she looked at me strangely.

"What's with all the questions, are you my mom?"

I scratched my cheek in embarrassment.

"Well, I don't want anything to happen to any of you. It's not like I can help it…"

"Pft…"

Angelica let out a strange sound and immediately followed it up by covering her mouth with her hand.

My eyes immediately squinted.

"Did you just laugh?"

"…You're imagining things."

Angelica feigned ignorance, and turned her head slightly.

This obviously didn't escape my line of sight.

"No, I really don't think so."

That was without a doubt a laugh.

Yet, Angelica kept her face straight as she looked at me. In the need, I could only relent at her indifference.

I waved my hand and gestured for her to leave.

"Alright, go…go, just make sure to come back in three months. That's most likely when I'll finally start to make my move. I'd like it if you were there during that time."

"Okay."

Angelica nodded her head and turned around.

"I'll be leaving in five days, once the dungeons will start to overload I'll use the chance to go back. I'll help as much as I can before that."

"Alright, thanks."

After that, Angelica left, and the environment around me became very quiet. Before I went into my private room, I raised my hand and took out a veil that was filled with a dark liquid.

Complicated thoughts flashed before my eyes when I stared at the vial.

'I guess I should also get ready.'

These were going to be three long months.

Chapter 674: The beginning of the end [2]

Rustle—!

Kevin pushed the sheets to the side of the bed before slowly getting out of bed and putting on his clothes. During the time that he spent changing his clothes, he could make out the sound of Emma's faint breathing behind him.

After donning his pants and shirt, he made his way slowly towards the window of the room and stared out at the clear sky.

It was still very early in the morning, and the sun was just beginning its ascent over the horizon; an orange tint covering the lower ends of the world.

All sorts of complicated thoughts flashed across Kevin's mind as he gazed at the sky.

The world…

It was filled with an utter sense of tranquillity and silence.

'If only this can last for longer...'

Kevin was aware that this state of calm wouldn't last for very long and that the world would once again descend into anarchy in a matter of time.

"I guess I should get started."

Taking his eyes away from the horizon, he quickly turned his attention back to Emma and sat down on her desk. Taking out a pen, he began writing on the paper before folding it neatly and placing it in a small envelope that vanished at the flick of his finger.

"That's one done."

The moment the envelope left, he wrote a new one and repeated the same process.

Kevin kept doing the same thing over and over, and it wasn't until he heard Emma's voice that he finally stopped.

"What are you doing?"

Kevin broke into a smile when he felt someone or something gently embrace him from behind.

"I'm only working on a few things. It won't take me long to complete. Just give me an hour."

"Mhm, sure…"

Emma let go of Kevin and headed out of the room.

Crack—!

The instant that she left the room, Kevin's smile vanished, and the pen that he was holding snapped in half.

"…I fucked up."

***

[Day 4]

The streets of Ashton city were bustling with activity as the sun blazed brilliantly in the sky above. Ivana was out and about in the city when her appearance attracted the attention of pedestrians near her.

She was currently concealing her face with a pair of large sunglasses, but the fact that she had long red hair and was tall was not something she could hide. As a result, those who were walking next to her were naturally drawn to her appearance.

'I wonder how long this sight will last.'

Ivana pondered to herself as she came to a stop in front of a massive building that rose up toward the sky.

The joyful expressions on people's faces, the large crowds of people walking around the city without any clue about what was happening...

Ivana was aware that the scene she was seeing would not be preserved for a very long time.

After the election of a new leader for the alliance, which would take place within the next two days, the sirens would be activated, and everyone would in turn be directed toward the bunkers that have been prepared by the Union.

Ivana took off her glasses, showing off her stunning eyes and face. Then, without giving it a second thought, she went ahead and entered the building.

"Let's sort out the situation with my guild first."

As soon as she stepped foot inside the building, virtually everyone's attention was drawn to her, and an eerie silence spread throughout the area.

Ivana raised her eyebrows when she sensed that everyone in the building was staring at her.

"What's wrong? Has everyone forgotten how I look?"

Her voice broke them out of their daze, and everyone finally reacted.

"The Guildmaster is back."

"The Guildmaster!"

Ivana's entrance into the building elicited a range of responses from the individuals on the building's first floor; the majority of those individuals displayed a sense of pleasant surprise as their predominant expression.

There were obviously some people who were unable to hide their displeasure, and despite the fact that they did their best to hide their reactions, Ivana noticed them and made a mental note of them right away.

Nothing could escape her sight.

"Guildmaster! You're finally back!"

A stocky man ran up to her and wiped the sweat that had accumulated on his forehead. He stopped and looked at her as if he had just seen the saviour of the world.

"Thank God you're back! The guild has been in shambles since your departure, and everyone has been wondering when you would return."

The name of the plump man was Chris, and he held the position of Vice-guild Leader of the Red Cross guild, which was the guild that Ivana had founded.

Given her free-spirited personality, tt wasn't out of the ordinary for her to vanish for more than a couple of months to pursue her own interests, leaving Chris to be responsible for all of the guild's responsibilities.

A month of her absence wasn't typically that difficult, but...

She had been missing for over two years!

Ivana had been absent from the guild for over two years! Two fucking years, and it was this absence that contributed to the general chaos that prevailed there as result of her absence. Even though he was capable, Chris wasn't exactly a very powerful person.

He had never been treated with respect and was worn down to the marrow of his bones! He had already planned to resign the following month, but after finally seeing the guild master return, all of those thoughts vanished and he started having second thoughts.

...Maybe, just maybe things were going to get better now.

"Stop complaining."

Ivana shot Chris a glare before brushing her hair behind her ear and looking around the place. Crossing her arms together, she tapped on the upper side of her right arm.

"I'm finally back from my hunt, where I was able to acquire numerous valuable items. During my absence, it seems that the guild has not been doing so well. I'm a little disappointed, but I knew your capabilities were limited from the moment I took you in."

Ivan lowered her head and gazed at Chris while reassuring him.

"Don't worry. I won't be leaving any time so—"

She cut off her sentence abruptly as a white letter materialized in front of her, floating before her eyes, startling the people in the lobby.

"What's this?"

Ivana's brows furrowed the moment she saw the letter, and as she reached out to grab it, a curious expression appeared on her face.

After opening it and reading through its contents, she suddenly raised both of her eyebrows, and it wasn't long before a dangerous smile appeared on her face.

"Interesting."

Ivana made a motion with her hand, and the letter caught fire in midair.

Without looking at Chris, she vanished from her spot. Not before saying a couple of more words.

"I take it back; I'll be back later."

"Wait..what, no!"

Chris's face turned white, and he kneeled down on the ground in front of where she previously stood. His countenance was etched with a look of utter despondency as he tapped onto his clothes.

'…My resignation letter…where is it?'

***

Starlight Guild, Jin's office.

Jin was seated at his usual desk, compiling the documents that his grandfather had assigned to him.

Since his return from Immorra, which came about as a result of him wanting to run away from his grandfather's blind date arrangements, he had been blindsided by a truckload of work that came as a result of his grandfather's ire.

The only thing that had been able to appease his grandfather's wrath was the news that he had advanced to the S rank. His grandfather's anger was then channelled toward his father, who, unfortunately, ended up playing the role of the scapegoat.

The sound of Jin's pen scribbling echoed in the room, and his eyes began to wander across the many papers that were in front of him.

He let out a long sigh when he noticed the stack of papers on his desk.

"I should've never have come back…"

He had a great deal of pleasure engaging in combat with the demons that lived in Immorra, in spite of its dangers. That was a great deal more entertaining than whatever it was that he was doing at the moment.

"Hm?"

Jin was startled when a letter materialized out of nowhere in front of him, and his brows briefly jumped.

He reached out with his hand to take hold of the letter, and then he opened it.

His expression gradually changed as he read the letter, and he reclined in his chair. Covering his eyes with his arm, he murmured.

"This is crazy…"

***

Certain letters resembling those received by Ivana and Jin began to appear in front of individuals throughout the human domain. All of whom wielded considerable power within the domain of humans.

Donna, Monica, Douglas, Maximum… No one was exempt, as everyone received the same white letter.

When they each read the letter, they showed a variety of responses, but in general, none of them seemed to be displeased with whatever was written in the letter.

Inside a white room that was covered in darkness.

Ren sat in the middle of the room with his legs crossed, sweat dripping down his back, and his hair drenched to the fullest extent possible.

His diaphragm was constantly moving in an ascending and descending motion with each breath he took.

At first glance, it did not appear as though there was anything wrong with Ren; however, when a white letter that had a tinge of golden colour appeared in front of him, lighting the area around him, his features became more distinguishable.

There were black veins visible all over his face, black scales on his arms that were slowly building over his skin, and two small husks that were beginning to form on the top of his head.

Ren looked like a far cry from how he normally looked.

"What's this?"

At the very moment that the letter materialized in front of Ren, the scales that covered his body vanished, along with the husk and the veins.

Within the space of a few seconds, he looked exactly the same as he normally did, with the exception of his complexion, which was extremely pale.

"Haaa…haaa…"

His breathing was laborious and he was resting on the ground on all four.

It took him at least five minutes to regain his composure before he turned his attention back to the letter that had suddenly materialized in front of him.

He grabbed onto the letter and opened it.

[You know what to do.]

The letter was only five words long, but Ren knew exactly who had written it, and his brows furrowed in annoyance as he read it.

"…Fine."

Ren crumpled the letter in his hand before discarding it and grabbing a towel to wipe the sweat from his body.

After that, he sat back down on the ground and murmured to himself while keeping both of his legs crossed.

"Monarch's Indifference."

Chapter 675: The beginning of the end [3]

[Day 3]

Monolith headquarters.

In a grand hall dimly lit by a large chandelier, twenty people sat on ten golden thrones set along the sides of the hall, with a large empty throne at the end of the corridor.

The throne was jet black in colour and was significantly larger than the golden thrones that were present in the room. It was clear to whom the throne belonged to.

There were approximately twenty people in the room, and they all looked at each other with expressions that conveyed cold calculation and hostility.

"Is everyone here?"

Mo Jinhao, who was seated on the throne that was adjacent to the one that was situated in the centre of the room, was the first person to speak as his grey eyes swept over the entirety of the room.

He crossed his legs and rested his arms over his legs.

"Everyone should already know why we have gathered today, no?"

"…when is the leader coming?"

Nobody in the room seemed interested in what Mo Jinhao had to say as they all went about their business. It was clear from the get go that Mo Jinhao's authority wasn't high enough to influence the people that were present in the hall.

Each person who was there in the hall had the same level of power as one of the seven heads of the Union, and yet they were all distinctly different from one another in terms of their power and what they specialized in.

The only person who responded was a man positioned on the golden throne opposite him. He had a warm smile spread across his face as he spoke.

Objectively speaking, he was handsome. He had sharp, nicely structured facial features that made him look like a celebrity. That was until one paused toward his eyes, which seemed to be devoid of any emotion, and weren't smiling, unlike his face.

Clementine Manual, an <SS> ranker of the Monolith, and one of the elders part of the Monolith council.

His empty gaze gave him a heavy atmosphere.

"We are aware of why we are present. Just that we have many tasks to complete in preparation for what is to come. Not all of us have the time to waste here discussing irrelevant details that we already know."

"It is not useless."

Mo Jinhao answered, his voice devoid of any emotion, and the room became even tenser.

"Please, stop it you two."

It was at this moment that another voice spoke up.

The voice belonged to a woman with long, glossy brown hair, and strong brows who sat on the opposite end of the Clementine. The thinness of her dress revealed her cleavage, and the fact that she was leaning against the armrest of the throne exposed her legs, which were crossed together.

"The leader is on his way, and we don't want the place to turn nasty before he arrives, do we?"

Her words had a peculiar allure to them, and as a result, both Clementine and Mo Jinhao were compelled to stop talking and take a step back in an unusual manner.

This wasn't done out of fear, but rather out of an abundance of caution. Miranda Black, another one of the elders in the Monolith Council, and <SS> ranker. She was also arguably the second most powerful person in the room.

Her powers didn't lay in her appearance, but rather, her formidable power which granted her the ability to control the mind of someone that was within close proximity of hers.

If caught unaware, even one of the elders of the council would find themselves brainwashed and taken control by her.

'The puppet master'

Was the nickname given to her, and she without a doubt deserved her name.

"You know what we should care about more?"

Miranda's eyes grew colder as her hand drummed against the throne's armrest. She looked around the room at the other twenty or so people before responding coldly.

"...We should think about how to deal with the little rat that slaughtered all the spies I had painstakingly raised. Do you realize how difficult it is to raise puppets of that calibre?"

The air around her started to become denser, and her hair slowly raised up.

As Miranda's hair began to twist, it began to fall in random directions across her face. The door unexpectedly opened just as she was about to say something else, and Hemlock walked straight in.

As soon as he came into view, there was a sudden and total hush that spread throughout the room, and each of the twenty senior citizens who were there bowed their heads.

None dared to raise it, apart from Mo Jinhao.

When they raised their heads again, Hemlock was already sitting on the large throne with his hand propped up on the arm chair of the throne, which caused the bottom of his chin to be elevated slightly.

"I see that all of you have already made yourself comfortable."

***

Idalism; the unrealistic aim for perfection.

The unwillingness to compromise over something for the sake of maintaining perfection, and what the Union was in Hemlock's eyes.

An idealistic organization that was unwilling to do whatever it took to save humanity.

But that was fine, there was a reason why the Monolith existed. If the Union was unwilling to take the steps necessary to save humanity, then it would be Hemlock's job to do the things that they couldn't do.

Everyone in the room felt a chill run down their spine as Hemlock's eyes icily swept across the group of approximately twenty people who were present.

The room remained silent until Hemlock took his gaze away and closed his eyes.

"Most of you already know by now what happened a little while back, during the Assembly."

As soon as those words left Hemlock's mouth, the atmosphere immediately began to become extremely tense.

No one dared to utter a single word, allowing for Hemlock to continue talking.

"Upon reflection, this was my fault. Some might say it was a mistake, but it wasn't all that bad. In fact, I had anticipated that something similar would transpire. The forces we lost are not insignificant, but with this small purge, we have managed to increase our forces' hatred for the human domain."

What Everblood had done was by no means small.

In fact, the damage that the Monolith sustained was quite heavy. Hemlock was only downplaying the damage over here, and it was a very good reason.

"Setting that topic aside, has everyone one of you had the surgery done?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Yes."

Everyone answered, almost unanimously.

When Hemlock saw that everyone had nodded their heads, there was a look of obvious contentment on his face. Hemlock made the decision to increase their investment in the chips after the chips were shown to be successful with test subject 876, also known as Ren Dover.

The result was a chip that was many times more powerful than the old prototype, which was currently implanted in the heads of almost all of the Monolith executives, including the lower ranked warriors.

This chip alone gave Hemlock the confidence to win the war, and it was also what made Everblood's stunt so painful because many of the soldiers who died had the chip in their heads.

"Although I do find the chip quite useful now that I have it, is it really necessary for all of us to have it implanted into us?"

A dark burly man asked. Rowan Khaalnd scratched the back of his bald head while sitting with his arms crossed and his legs spread apart. His expression conveyed a hint of dissatisfaction.

The air around him was extremely oppressive.

Hemlock gazed at him and smiled.

"Of course, shouldn't we all take advantage of every little advantage that is available to us? If someone gives you power, why refuse it?"

"..I guess."

Rowan eventually calmed down and leaned back in his chair.

Rowan stopped making a scene and just closed his eyes instead of arguing with Hemlock. This may have been because he was afraid of Hemlock and didn't want to anger him, or it may have been because he had some inkling that what Hemlock had to say had some truth to it.

No one really knew, nor were they interested in knowing.

Opening his eyes again, Rowan tried to change the topic.

"What about you, leader? Do you also have a chip?"

"Of course. Like I said, I would never refuse any power that is given to me?"

As a matter of fact, Hemlock had implanted a chip inside of his head in the same manner as the others had. His chip, on the other hand, was unique in comparison to theirs.

Given that the chip installed in 876's head was only a beta prototype, there was no self detonating function installed within it in case the subject refused to obey orders.

There was a tracking device, but that was about it.

After all the money that he had invested in the development of the chip, Hemlock had managed to get someone to install a self detonating device that would kill anyone within the vicinity of the chip.

The power that was hidden behind the detonating device was devastating, and it was something that Hemlock had secretly done in order to have a better control over the entire organization.

No one could go against him.

He wasn't an idealistic man. Hemlock had no principles, and for him, the perfect method was the one that would give him the ability to accomplish his goal.

Regarding those that developed the chip…

'It was a bit unfortunate, but it had to be done.'

Apart from him and a few other people, no one could know about this little secret of his, which would serve as a weapon of last resort.

'I hope it doesn't have to come this far…'

After all, Hemlock wasn't crazy. He definitely wasn't.

He was the future saviour of humanity.

He was someone who was going to prevent the extinction of the human race. There was no way someone like him could be crazy?

'That's right, I'm not crazy. Everyone else just isn't smart enough to understand what I'm doing. It is time that I brought them back to their senses and showed them just how cruel reality is."

Hemlock abruptly stood up and turned to face the Monolith's council members. The air around him began to rumble, and a pall of tension descended into the room, making it difficult for everyone to breathe.

Dark scales began to form around Hemlock's cheeks and arms as wings sprouted from behind him, and his demonic bloodline began to suppress that of everyone else present.

"We have four more days before the truce ends. I want everyone to get ready before then and do as originally planned. Make sure to not kill any human. Our priority is converting as many humans on our side. Not kill them."

This idealistic world that others were living in….

He was going to crush it.

Chapter 676: The beginning of the end [4]

[Day 2]

Within the human domain, there were a total of one hundred and fifteen diamond-graded guilds.

One must have at least one member of the <S> rank or higher in their guild in order to be eligible for the Diamond rank in the guild rankings.

It was difficult to start a guild, and most of the time, it was much easier and more worthwhile to join an existing guild rather than attempt to start your own.

The explanation for this was very straightforward.

Because resources had to be divided up within a guild, and because one needed a significant number of resources in order to advance to the next rank, the higher they were ranked, forming a guild was really not worth the effort that it took.

The fact that there were only one hundred and fifteen diamond-graded guilds despite there being over a thousand different S rankers alive was sufficient evidence to demonstrate how challenging it was to establish a guild.

Having said that, those individuals who were successful in establishing a guild had an undeniable influence within the human domain. It was an unquestionable fact.

If one were to have control of all of the diamond graded guilds within the human domain, then it wasn't far off to say that they pretty much had total control of the entire human domain.

...and it was precisely this point that elevated the position of the Alliance head to a high level of significance.

Whoever held that position would become the overlord of the human domain.

Within the grand auditorium of the Union Tower.

People dressed in suits gathered together and quietly took their seats on one of the seats that faced the center stage, which was illuminated in a bright manner by the lights that were coming from the four corners of the room.

As I walked into the auditorium with Amanda by my side, I looked around the room until I spotted a couple of people I recognized, and then I headed in their direction.

"It looks like you guys have come early."

I initiated the conversation as I sat down next to Melissa, who was scrolling through her phone. Beside her were Jin and Emma.

"Oh, you guys are here too."

Melissa acknowledged my presence for a short moment before shifting her attention to her phone.

Beside her, Emma was waving at Amanda in a happy manner. I was slightly taken aback by her happy appearance.

'Did something happen to her?'

Last I recalled, during our time in Immorra, there was always this gloomy atmosphere revolving around her.

I wasn't exactly sure about her situation, but I knew that it probably had something to do with Kevin.

It was surprising to see that she had somehow recovered.

"What are you doing here?"

Jin inquired with his head cocked slightly forward as Melissa's body partially obstructed his view.

"From what I've heard, you're not planning on joining the alliance. I'm surprised they even let you in here."

"I'm just accompanying her."

I pointed at Amanda, who was sitting next to me.

Indeed, this meeting wasn't something that I was supposed to attend. Since I didn't have any plans to join this alliance, I was naturally not invited to attend the meeting, which was supposed to be for 'members only.'

'Good thing my girlfriend is part of one of the biggest guilds, and she's also part of this.'

Had it not been for Amanda, I most probably would've been unable to attend today's meeting.

To be honest, the alliance was an extremely beneficial thing for all of the major guilds as well as the smaller ones.

When fully established, the Union will throw open its doors to anyone and everyone that was part of the alliance, distributing all of the resources available.

In addition, given the current state of the world, it was unavoidable that everyone would decide to work together rather than on their own.

In all likelihood, I would have joined this alliance if it weren't for the fact that I had other things planned for my mercenary group.

'A bit of a pity, but things are more comfortable this way, plus...'

My eyes squinted as I looked at the center stage of the auditorium, all sorts of complicated thoughts racing through my mind.

The reporters had already taken their positions along the sides of the auditorium, with their cameras aimed in the direction of the podium that was located in the middle of the stage.

The location was already packed with people, and a large number of reporters were huddled around some of the more well-known guild masters, conducting interviews with them.

I shifted my attention away from them and looked at Melissa. There was something that I was curious about.

"Did you manage to find the right herb?"

"Huh?"

Melissa looked at me, her brows locked in a subtle frown. At first, I assumed that she was angry; however, upon further thought, I realized that she naturally looked annoyed.

"You talking about the herb for the mana poisoning problem?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, that..."

Amanda lowered her head and focused her attention back on her phone. With her finger darting all over the screen and pressing the screen in several places, she passed me her phone.

"I've pretty much almost finished with it. I still need to run a few tests before handing it to the central government to get it approved."

"Oh..."

I nodded, looking at the phone and trying my best to understand what was written on it. My interest didn't last for very long, and I handed the phone back.

"Good job."

I understood nothing if I had to be honest.

It looked like just a bunch of data that was stuck together and compiled for the sake of it.

I'd thought that my acting was fairly good, but apparently, it didn't seem like it, as Melissa was quick to notice, and she immediately called me out.

"...You didn't understand anything, did you?"

"A bit."

'Like maybe one percent?'

I inwardly muttered. Obviously, I didn't say this out loud, and it didn't appear that I needed to because Melissa appeared to have read my expression with a single glance.

"One percent isn't much."

"What are you?"

"Your expression says it all."

Melissa shifted her attention back to her phone screen. Just subtly, I could make out a slight curl of her lips, and my mouth twitched.

As I was getting ready to say something, all of a sudden, the lights in the auditorium went out, with the exception of the ones that were pointing toward the center stage.

Standing behind the podium was Octavious. He was currently dressed in a black suit that showed off the broadness of his shoulders and his overall great physique.

His presence took up the entirety of the space, and all eyes were drawn to him.

At this precise time, the attention of people all over the world was focused on the screen of their televisions, their mobile devices, or any other medium that was readily available to them.

It was announced that this meeting would have a significant impact on the future of the human domain, and with all of the major guilds in attendance, no one was unaware of this event.

Almost every living human being was paying attention to what was happening today.

"Thank you all for gathering here today."

Octavious started to speak, and his voice could be heard throughout the entire auditorium as he rested his hands on the side of the podium.

His face was as expressionless as it always was, and there was a sense of oppression that surrounded him.

Nonetheless, it was this oppressive air that inexplicably emanated from his body that made those watching keep their eyes glued to the screen.

"In today's gathering, we will be announcing a very important piece of news. One that is about the current situation of the human domain, and the changes that will be taking place in the following couple of days."

A gentle hush fell upon the place as the eyes and ears of the people attending were drawn toward Octavious at the center of the stage.

While Octavious was fixating his gaze intently on the cameras that were pointing in his direction, he did not squander a single second and promptly informed the entire world of the calamity that was about to befall the human domain.

"In two days' time, the human domain will face another unprecedented calamity. The truce between the Monolith and the Union will come to an end, and an all out war will start between the human domain and the Monolith."

As his voice subtly reached the ears of all of the individuals who were watching, the atmosphere within the auditorium became tense.

Regardless of this, nobody uttered a single word within the auditorium. The vast majority of those in attendance were already aware of what was taking place and were, at least to some degree, ready for what was still to come.

'Without a doubt, a lot of people must already be in a state of panic.'

I thought to myself while quietly observing the reactions of those in attendance which were surprisingly tame.

The same could not be said for those who were watching the current events, as this was the first time the news had been shared with the rest of the world.

One could easily imagine the level of mayhem that was taking place outside of the building in.

Fortunately, the Union wasn't completely unprepared and had already dispatched a lot of its members to keep the situation under control.

Octavious continued with his speech.

"The reason I'm standing here today is to share with you what the Union and all the major guilds have decided to do in response to the current situation."

Octavious continued to speak regardless of whether or not people were still paying attention to the broadcast.

"The establishment of a new organization within the human domain will be the first significant change to be implemented. This organization will be the pillar upon which the human domain will stand, and it will be a collaboration between the Union and the major guilds of the human domain."

"The Union will no longer be the sole governing entity in the human domain; rather, this newly established organization will assume that role. The organization's mission will be to ensure the safety of the populace and halt the Monolith's assault on the human domain, and..."

Octavious's line of discourse came to an abrupt halt as he looked around the room, taking careful note of the individuals present as well as the cameras that were aimed in his general direction.

His voice suddenly started to deepen.

"Following the completion of a voting process that involved all the major guilds and rankers, a new leader for this recently founded organization has already been elected, and I will now present him to you."

Everyone held their breath at this moment.

It was finally time for the new alliance head to be announced. Would it be Octavius, or would it be someone else entirely?

The answers to their questions were answered soon enough, as Octavious announced.

"I'd like to introduce the world to the new alliance head. Kevin Voss."

Under the bright lights of the auditorium, a figure with a white coat draped over his shoulders and a large red broadsword in hand ascended the stage as the soft sound of his footsteps reverberated throughout the room.

His gait was neither hurried nor slow, and each step he took seemed to reverberate in the minds of all those present.

After coming to a halt in front of the podium, Kevin slowly brought his broadsword down to the ground and lightly tapped it against the surface of the ground.

Tap.

His head slowly raised, exposing his crimson red eyes that gleamed under the sharp lights of the stage.

Chapter 677: The beginning of the end [5]

In the moment that Kevin's name was announced, I reclined in my chair and remained quiet.

'Looks like you've succeeded.

What was taking place didn't take me by surprise at all. On the contrary, I knew from the very beginning that this particular outcome would occur.

It was because I knew what would happen that I decided to attend this meeting.

To see Kevin get crowned as the alliance leader right before my very eyes and become the most powerful person in the human domain.

The notion of Kevin becoming the most influential person in the human domain was somewhat perplexing, but I also realized that this presented me with a fantastic opportunity.

An opportunity that I couldn't miss.

"I thank those that have voted for me and given me the chance to become the Alliance leader."

Kevin started his speech, and all eyes fell on him.

***

'It's bright.'

Kevin reflected internally as he spoke into the microphone in front of him.

Because of the bright lights that were pointed in his direction from the far corner of the room, Kevin was unable to clearly see the expressions on the faces of those who were around him.

The only thing he saw was four white balls of light that shone directly at him and were surrounded by darkness. It gave him the impression that he was the only person on stage.

He didn't know exactly how they were reacting to his sudden appearance, but this didn't bother him as long as he continued to speak.

"The outcome of the vote has given me a lot of reason to celebrate. Of course, I won't exactly do that now, but I'll do so later, that's for sure."

Kevin smiled, and the tense auditorium was suddenly filled with a few muffled giggles here and there.

His smile faded not long after, and his expression shifted to a more serious one.

"Because of my previous successes, some of you should be familiar with my name already, and you should also be aware of where I am currently ranked. I am not the strongest person in the room, no, I'm not. I'm far from that."

Kevin lowered his head for a moment, and the place fell silent.

In spite of the bright lights that were obstructing his vision, Kevin could visibly feel all the eyes of the people within the auditorium drawn toward him.

"There are many other heroes that are a lot stronger than me at the moment. One such example is Ocavious Hall, the current Head of the Union, and the strongest person in the human domain. Although I'm not exactly weak, I'm still quite a few levels below people like him. That said, I am of the belief that power shouldn't be the main deciding factor for one to be a leader."

"Although desirable, I do believe that I am the best choice to lead the human domain to safety and prevent it from falling into the hands of the Monolith and the demons."

"What I'm saying now may sound like bullshit, but I don't care. I think it is best if I show you all just what I am capable of rather than just saying what I will do in the upcoming months and years."

When Kevin pressed the table in front of him, an image began to materialize all of a sudden.

"With that, all said and done, I will now get to the main point of this meeting."

The projection showed something that appeared to be a domed structure of unimaginable size, layered with a wide variety of different materials, and labelled with a variety of different descriptors.

"This structure is referred to as the bunker. The sole purpose of this structure is to ensure the safety of citizens in the event of an emergency, such as this one. The underground structure is equipped with the most effective defensive mechanism available."

"The structure will remain impenetrable unless an <SS> ranker arrives, and in the event of an emergency, a lower level within the bunker will contain portals that citizens can use to travel to a safe, yet unknown location."

Kevin raised his hands and pinched the air, which enlarged the image.

The moment he pinched the image, everyone was able to see the massive proportions of the bunker for the first time.

It was enormous, to the point that some people might compare its dimensions to those of a city, with the centre containing shops and even a large garden, as well as all the facilities that one might need to feel like they were at him.

There were many more layers, but because the projection only displayed one side of the structure, people were unable to see precisely what was inside the 'bunker'.

Nonetheless, one could easily tell that it was equipped with a lot of things.

"Each bunker will be able to host one hundred thousand people and will be safely protected by multiple rankers."

"In order for the bunker not to feel like a prison, it is outfitted with high-tech equipment, such as virtual reality and a system that can replicate the sky, to perfectly replicate the conditions of the outside world. In addition, we have made it our mission to make you feel as if nothing has changed and to ensure your happiness during your stay."

The image vanished after Kevin swiped his hand over it. His previously serious face became even more so, and he stared intently at the cameras before him.

He wanted the inauguration to be broadcast everywhere for a specific reason, and that reason was because of what he was about to announce next.

"Now, you all must have some sort of idea for why I'm telling you this, and you're right. It's exactly as you think. We want you all to enter the bunker, and stay there until the war is over. This is to ensure your safety and allow us to concentrate on fighting the approaching forces."

The sound of Kevin's voice became more resonant as his body leaned over the podium.

"This is not a request, but an order. As the new alliance leader, it is within my powers to make sure that all of you are safe, and thus..."

Kevin moved away from the podium, broadsword in hand. With his gaze directed at the cameras in front of him, as well as his eyes sweeping over the figures that were seated in the auditorium, he announced.

His voice loudly resounded across the entire space.

"I hereby order all citizens to evacuate to the bunkers immediately. This is an order, not a request. The alliance will personally find you and drag you to the bunkers if you do not report within the following days."

Kevin's eyes flashed a dangerous gleam as he gazed at the cameras.

"I repeat, this is not a request, but an order."

***

The meeting was adjourned shortly after Kevin announced his new order requiring those incapable of combat to immediately report to the bunker.

Thankfully, those in attendance already had some idea of what was going to be announced and didn't fall into panic.

The same could not be said for the outside world, which had fallen into a state of chaos.

[The tyranny of the new alliance leader.]

[Who is Kevin Voss?]

[From zero to hero, the story of Kevin Voss, the new alliance leader.]

[Forcing the citizens into a prison while misrepresenting it as a safe haven. The new alliance leader reveals himself to be the next tyrannical ruler.]

I walked out of the auditorium while holding my phone in my hand and checked out all of the articles that were being published about him.

Let's just say that the comments regarding Kevin weren't exactly the nicest.

No, rather, they were butchering him.

Many of the citizens were voicing their outrage at the sudden restriction of their freedom, while others were expressing their dissatisfaction with the new system that had been put in place without their knowledge.

All in all, it was a total mess.

"Ren, where are you going?"

I only stopped looking when I heard Amanda's voice behind me.

Turning around, I thought for a moment, before catching a glimpse of Kevin in the distance and saying, "I'm going to go talk to Kevin for a bit. Wait for me in the car...Oh, and tell Melissa to update me on the situation later."

"Okay."

Amanda didn't say much after that and proceeded to head out of the building.

I didn't waste any time and headed straight toward Kevin, who was presently encircled by a number of reporters.

The fact that he towered over the reporters and required them to balance precariously on the tips of their toes in order to speak with him was quite entertaining.

"What do you have to say about the situation?"

"What do you think about the public outcry over the new decree?"

"Are you a tyrant like the people are saying, you are?"

He was assaulted with questions ranging across a wide variety of topics. Even though the majority of them were extremely impolite and malicious, Kevin managed to keep a friendly smile on his face.

"I have nothing to say for the moment. If you want to get a response from me, please contact my secretary later. I will be taking my leave now."

After that, he managed to force his way out of that, and his figure subsequently vanished into thin air.

I smiled as I caught a glimpse of the psyons floating through the air and stared at the region that contained a slight disturbance.

My vision began to blur, and when I came to, I was standing on what appeared to be the roof of the building.

"*****************"

As soon as I walked onto the roof, I was startled to hear someone throw a bunch of curses, and when I turned around, I saw Kevin holding onto a cigarette in his hand and staring at me with a startled look.

"You scared me!"

He sighed in relief when he saw that it was me.

Shortly after that, he lit up the cigarette with his finger and blew a puff.

*Puff*

"I never knew that you were one to smoke."

"One can always start."

Kevin replied, and I leaned against the edge of the room.

*Puff*

"What do you need from me?"

Kevin asked after taking another puff.

I crossed my hands together and looked at the darkened sky.

"That was pretty tyrannical of you, not going to lie."

"One must do what is necessary. I care little about how others perceive me. In order to win a war, you cannot please everyone."

"I don't disagree with that."

It was as Kevin said. Trying to please everyone in a time of crisis would always lead to catastrophe.

A good leader was one who would take a decision that the vast majority would dislike in order to ensure a better future.

'Too bad those leaders usually only get appreciated once they are no longer with us.'

"...So, why did you come here?"

"Well, I had something that I wanted to ask you, but..."

I caressed the back of my neck and gazed at the moon that stood in the sky.

"...I think I'll ask you another time. I think I'm still not ready to hear the answer."

"Alright."

Kevin threw his cigarette to the ground and stepped on it. He appeared to have an idea of what I wanted to ask based on his expression but remained silent.

"When the time comes, I'll tell you myself."

Chapter 678: The beginning of the end [6]

Kevin overlooked the entirety of Ashton city from the comfort of his new office.

The office was about the same size as a tennis court; it was large and spacious, and the decor consisted of a few shelves with books, a large wooden desk, and a couple of chairs.

The floor was covered with a fluffy gray carpet, and the large windows that were located at the far end of the room enabled light to travel through the room and illuminate the office space.

The office was sparsely decorated, nonetheless, this was how Kevin preferred things to be.

With his hand behind his back, Kevin's face remained expressionless as he gazed at the city below.

Sky that was clear blue, clouds that were fluffy white, and buildings that shone brightly under the light of the sun.

Everything looked perfect. At least on the outside.

At that very moment, the city was completely deserted, and the streets were totally devoid of any presence whatsoever.

Having initiated the evacuation call, it was only natural that the city would end up in this state.

The criticism that he got for his decree was significant. The vast majority of people now referred to him as a tyrant, and they believed that the world would end with him as the leader.

Even though he was the target of numerous different kinds of curses, Kevin was no longer affected by such things. His emotions were as hard as ice.

Kevin blinked his eyes once, and the scene in front of his eyes suddenly shifted.

The sky turned red, the buildings in front of him collapsed, and smoke filled the air as the situation rapidly deteriorated. Kevin could still detect the lingering scent of blood in the air, and in the distance, he could make out the muffled screams of those who were in despair.

It appeared to be a completely different city than it had been just a couple of moments earlier.

Kevin slowly clenched his teeth as he watched the city revert back to its normal state after another blink of his eyes.

His mind was gradually beginning to fill with recollections of the past, and he noticed that a reddish hue was beginning to radiate outward from his body.

A blue panel manifested in front him.

Synchronisation : 79%

"The rate of synchronization is increasing."

Kevin murmured, his brows furrowing into a tight frown.

Kevin would experience random flashbacks of his past just like what had happened a couple of seconds ago, and each time he did, his power would spike, albeit ever so slightly.

Normally, one would be happy with the sudden power boost. Even if slightly, any power boost at his level was considered significant.

It was just that...

The memories were of a past that he had long wanted to forget. They were like a curse, eating away at his sanity.

Every time he saw them, he felt a part of him relive the times when it had happened, and he noticed that his feelings were gradually fading as a result.

The greater the synchronization, the greater the power, and the less certain he was about who he was becoming.

'I'm Kevin Voss...I'm Kevin Voss...'

Many times, he had to remind himself of who he was. There were times when he would look around and realize that he had been doing nothing but staring blankly at the world for a considerable amount of time.

"Ukh"

Kevin covered his head with his hand and groaned out loud.

A sudden, severe pain shot through his head, making it difficult for him to stand; he had to lean on the bookshelf next to him for support. The pain made it difficult for him to think clearly.

"…I finally understand why I've decided to slowly spread my memories over time."

Kevin realized, the more he thought about it, that the reason why the recovery of his memories were done in batches was because it was highly likely that his mind would be unable to handle everything that had happened to him.

It was possible that his previous self had devised the defense mechanism in order to protect himself from potential danger that was to come with him learning of his past.

Protect himself from the overload of memories that depicted all of his failures and deaths.

Knock—! Knock—

After being startled out of his thoughts by a succession of knocks, Emma eventually entered the room.

She was currently dressed in a suit, which was quite an unusual sight, and her hair, which had now reached the point where it reached her tailbone, was now tied in a pony tail behind her head.

With a stack of papers in her hand, she asked.

"Have you adjusted to your new positions?"

"More or less."

Kevin answered, watching as she moved toward the desk where she dropped the stack of papers.

"According to the reports, there are still a lot of people that are refusing to go to the bunkers. They said that they would rather stay in their homes, what should we do?"

"Force them into the bunker. Whatever means possible, do it."

Kevin replied to her in a flat tone, and his eyes grew colder.

There had always been at least one person who, whether in the present day or in the past, refused to leave their homes because they believed that they were safer there.

That wasn't the only case, as some people did not leave simply because of the emotional attachments that they had with their place, but Kevin wasn't trying to put everyone in the bunker because he wanted to keep them safe.

Even though it was a contributing factor, Kevin's primary motivation for wanting to move everyone outside of the city was due to his perception of them as being a burden on him and the alliance.

Because they were in the way, it was clear that Kevin would have a lot of trouble, and the only way to deal with that was by having everyone locked away for the war.

Because he was already aware of the outcome of the situation if he had allowed them to remain, he made the difficult choice to order everyone to report to the bunkers immediately.

He simply could not allow anything to divert his attention away from the primary task at hand.

"Are you sure about your choice? It might cause a lot of backlash with the people."

Emma's voice brought Kevin out of his thoughts. She had a rather worried look on her face at the moment.

He slowly nodded his head.

"That's fine. I can take the backlash. It doesn't really matter to me."

Within the alliance, there was barely anyone that could oppose him.

Most of the guild masters and even the Union old heads supported him, there was no way anyone would be able to say anything about his decision.

At the moment, within the human domain, his words were law.

Nothing could go against him, and it was precisely because of this that he had planned so much.

"Well, okay. I trust you, so I'll tell the others about your orders."

"Thank you."

Kevin nodded his head, and shifted his attention back toward the empty streets below him.

Lowering his head to stare at his watch, he mumbled.

"Twelve hours left…"

***

"Are you certain we do not need to visit the bunkers? According to what I've read, the new leader of the alliance has apparently issued a decree making travel there mandatory."

"Yes I'm sure."

I reassured my mother, who was currently holding Nola in her arms while quietly sitting in the backseat of my car.

Nola was currently occupied with a game that was being played on my phone, and she appeared to be completely oblivious to the impending danger that was about to befall the human domain.

…and honestly, I would've liked it if it was kept this way.

The less she knew, the better.

"Where are you taking us?"

My father's voice echoed from beside me, and I calmly responded.

"I'm taking you guys to a safe place. You don't have to worry. Regarding the decree, it's fine, I know Kevin, he won't do anything to you guys."

Even though Kevin had changed, fundamentally he was the same guy.

He had become a lot more ruthless, but that was about it.

He still acted normally around me, and that was all I really needed from him.

"We're here."

Following the appearance of a sizable structure in our field of view, I carefully pulled into the driveway, parked the car, and then exited the vehicle.

"Ren, are you sure that this place will keep us safe?"

My father asked, staring at the building with a look filled with skepticism.

"I concur with your dad. Despite its distance from the city, this location does not appear very secure. I am concerned that it will not be as secure as the Alliance provided bunkers. You know that we don't really mind staying there. I saw the place, and it looks quite nice."

"Don't worry about that."

I reassured them both before proceeding to the building that served as the headquarters for my mercenary organization.

'I never get tired of everyone's reaction to the building.'

It always tended to be the same, with people dismissing it for looking worn down and badly maintained on the outside.

If only they had known that what was in front of them was, in all actuality, an impregnable fortress that had its roots deeply planted within the human realm.

"Alright, just follow me. I'll show you guys soon enough that you guys don't have to worry about anything."

I quickly typed in the password as soon as I arrived at the entrance to the warehouse, and then I unlocked the door.

After which, I opened it and gestured for my parents to go in.

"Don't be too surprised when you guys come in. Just know that your son has been very successful."

Chapter 679: The beginning of the end [7]

Black market.

"Make sure you keep a good watch of the gates. I have a bad feeling about this."

Thomas muttered something under his breath as he stepped on the cigarette that he had just flicked out of his hand. At the moment, he was situated in a large room that was crammed with monitors.

He was currently perched on the second level, holding onto nothing but a metal railing, and below him were hundreds of workers who were diligently looking through the many monitors that displayed varying images of portals.

"I hope the reports aren't wrong…"

Thomas bit his nails out of nervousness.

In a message that he had received not too long ago from an unknown sender, he was informed that there was a chance that the dungeons would overload the moment that the cease-fire between the Union and the Monolith would be lifted.

If that were really the case, then dungeon seekers would end up in deep trouble as they managed hundreds of different dungeons.

They simply did not have the manpower to manage all the dungeons that could possibly overload at any given time.

Thankfully, the dungeons were located far away from the main headquarters.

Thomas would have already packed up his things and left if it hadn't been for that circumstance. If the dungeons had been located inside, the black market almost certainly would have come to an end.

Fortunately, they weren't.

"How long until the truce ends?"

Thomas asked, his voice unable to mask the anxiety within.

"Ten seconds."

A voice replied from below, and the room became incredibly tense.

"9"

The countdown started.

"8"

"7"

"6"

"5"

Thomas's palms began to perspire as he tightened his hold on the metal handrails, and his grip became increasingly more forceful.

When he tried to swallow a mouthful of saliva, he realized that he couldn't as it felt as though something was stuck in his throat.

The countdown continued.

"4"

"3"

"2"

"1"

"0"

When the countdown reached zero, the room went completely silent, and no one spoke a word while their eyes were all fixed on the monitors that were located at the front of the room.

Time slowly passed, and the portals that were displayed on the monitors remained still.

As everyone in the room kept their attention focused on the monitors, the level of tension within the space reached an all-time high. With the fact that everybody was holding their breath, there was no sound at all, not even the sound of people breathing.

'Was the information wrong?'

Around the minute mark, Thomas started to wonder if the information that he had been given was reliable.

Although it was 'anonymous' in reality, almost everyone knew that it was from the current alliance leader.

Kevin Voss.

'No, for someone who has managed to make all the other top rankers of the world bow their heads toward him, there's no doubt that he is capable, th—'

"What's going on!?"

"Screen down! Screen down!"

He wasn't even able to finish his thoughts before one of the monitors suddenly turned black.

Tak— Tak—

"My screen is also down!"

"Screen down"

Over thirty screens went blank within the span of time it took one person to finish a glass of water, and the entire space took on an expression of stunned panic as a result.

People stood up and ran around the room in an effort to get a better look at the portals or make contact with the individuals who were tasked with protecting them.

"Did you manage to get in contact with someone? Is there any response?!"

Naturally, Thomas was one of those people who was running around the location in an attempt to gain a better understanding of the situation.

There were over thirty different cameras that malfunctioned, and more were still breaking down every minute.

It was abundantly clear that the information was accurate and that it was exactly as Thomas had feared it would be.

The dungeons were overloading.

"Load the backup cameras! Get the drones up so that we can get a better view! Quick! Quick!"

Thomas kept barking orders as he jumped down the railing and shoved one of the workers to the side.

As he stared at the empty monitor in front of him, he pulled out the keyboard and began typing all kinds of different codes. Soon after, green text began to fill the monitor screens in front of him.

Tak—

It didn't take him more than a minute to fill the entire page with green text, and when he finally managed to press the "enter" button, the text began to move at an increasingly rapid pace.

It wasn't long before the screen began to flash and images began to appear.

"Dear god…"

The instant that Thomas was able to get a visual on the screen, his hands began to shake, and his mouth fell open in shock.

Next to him, an increasing number of screens began to display similar images, in which tens of thousands upon tens of thousands of monsters frantically ran out of the portal, slaying anything that was in their path.

Ecosystems were wiped out along with the landscapes and trees that were uprooted in the process.

What was happening was nothing short of the start of the apocalypse.

***

Whoo— Whoo—

The piercing wail of the sirens reverberated throughout the entire city of Ashton, which was at this point completely devoid of any inhabitants.

There was not a single soul in the city, and the city was eerily quiet.

The same events transpired in each of the other cities that were part of the human domain. Whether it was Dromeda city, Park city, or any of the other great cities, they all displayed the same kinds of scenes.

In fact, the cities weren't actually completely deserted.

People were seen walking around the streets, some of them clad in heavy metal armour, while others sported black suits, sun glasses, and carried papers in their hands.

They were agents of the Central Government and people who had volunteered to stay behind in order to maintain the city's safety.

"Only those with a rank of <C> or higher, as decreed by the alliance's leader, are permitted to remain on the streets. Please evacuate to the bunkers if your rank is lower than <C>."

A voice that was uninterestingly monotonous reverberated. It was the property of a man with a long, snub-nosed face, black hair reaching his shoulders, and brown eyes.

He was currently lounging about on a little chair, with one arm propped up against the table so that it supported the side of his face.

In front of him was a miniature clipboard on which a number of guidelines had been written.

Two people approached the man with the long nose and stood in front of him with eager expressions on their faces.

"What if I want to help out with miscellaneous stuff? I'm sure I can be of use. Even if I'm not strong, I'm very capable when it comes to that type of stuff."

"Me too. We will have you know that we're both Lock graduates. We definitely know what we're doing."

The man with the long nose let out a sigh as he lowered the clipper that he was holding.

The manner in which he carried himself made it abundantly clear that he was unhappy to be in this location. Having said that, the moment he heard the words "Lock graduates," he couldn't bring himself to let them go, and considering their age, it wasn't exactly fair to say that they weren't talented.

Thus, he decided to hear them out.

"Alright then, what are your names?"

"Ram Johnson, and Leo Smith."

Ram answered. He had lost a significant amount of weight in comparison to when he was at the lock, and his body was now at a point where it could be described as being quite muscular.

This made him appear to be quite attractive, as evidenced by the fact that the gazes of some of the people in the vicinity were lingering over his body.

"Ram, and Leon? Okay."

The man with the long nose wrote their names down on the clipper and then pointed toward the rear where a large tent stood.

"Since you guys still don't meet the criteria, you'll have to hang out with us agents; it's all good, though; we were running low on hands, so you guys came at the perfect time."

The man with the long nose stood up and proceeded to the interior of the tent, where he gave Ram and Leo a couple of tasks, to which they both nodded their heads in agreement and attended to.

"Just take note and register what's inside of all of these boxes. There's important artifacts that we will later give out to the towers when the situation calls for it. All of them cost a pretty penny, so be careful with them."

"Understood."

"Sure."

After giving a nod of approval, the man with the long nose exited the tent, leaving Ram and Leon to fend for themselves.

The two of them stood there in silence for a while, and then Leon spoke up.

"I guess we should start working."

"Yeah?"

Ram responded with a slight nod before moving toward one of the boxes, opening it, and looking through its contents.

Ram was taken aback when he first opened the box and discovered a variety of priceless artifacts contained within.

When his eyes fell on them, he couldn't help but voice his thoughts out loud.

"Don't you think it's a bit irresponsible of them to leave the two of us to handle everything? Aren't they afraid we're spies?"

"Maybe?"

Leo responded while he rummaged through the box in front of him and cautiously removed the artifacts that were kept inside.

"To be honest, they probably have some sort of way to tell if we're spies or not. I'm not entirely sure of how, but I don't think they're that careless."

"Oh, I see…"

Ram nodded, quietly getting back to work. For the next ten minutes, neither one of the two talked. It was then that Ram out one of the boxes away and looked at Leon.

"Say, have you gotten in touch with Ren?"

"Ren?"

After a brief pause, Leon set the box down. He shook his head as he raised his head to look at the small lamp that was placed at the very top of the tent.

"He's one of the strongest people in the human domain right now. He's probably too busy to meet with us."

"Haha, yeah. He's probably way too busy handling all the important stuff. I can already imagine him cursing out loud at all the work he has to do."

"He probably is."

After laughing, Ram turned his attention back to the boxes and continued to look at them. When he was on the verge of moving to the next box, the room began to shake, and Leon and Ram exchanged glances with each other.

Rumble—

They immediately stopped whatever it was that they were doing and dashed outside of the tent, where they found the man with the long nose from earlier.

"What's going on? Did something happen?"

They immediately began to question him, but when they did so and received no response, the two of them raised their heads to the sky.

It was at that moment that they saw a large pillar of light shoot toward the sky in the distance, piercing right through it and sending out powerful pulses of energy into the air.

Cra…crack!

Those who were there were taken aback when they heard a cracking sound and noticed that the tear in the sky had begun to grow.

This was the beginning of the end.

Chapter 680: Thank you[1]

As predicted, when the countdown reached zero, the world descended into chaos as dungeons began to overload and monsters entered the human world.

The Monolith then turned on the mana compressor, which caused the tear in the sky to grow and sucked in the incoming mana, turning it into demonic energy, and making the monsters go even wilder.

Domick square, Ashton city.

"Will you be fine?"

I asked while looking at Angelica, who was facing the other way from me.

At that moment, we were perched on the roof of a structure, and we gazed off into the not-too-distant horizon, where a massive portal was located.

While we were talking, thousands upon thousands of monsters poured out of the portal, wreaking havoc on everything that was in their immediate vicinity.

To everyone's relief, there were already multiple heroes stationed near the portal, and things seemed to be holding steady for the time being.

Having said that, we required that portal right now in order to get Angelica back into the demon realm.

"No problem."

Angelica responded while calmly looking at the portal in the distance.

"If you manage to distract everyone for a moment, I will have no trouble entering the portal."

"Well, okay…"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"If that's what you want, I can easily do that for you."

Distracting everyone was as easy as me lifting my hand, literally.

Plus, with the cameras shut off thanks to Ryan, I didn't need to worry about the others seeing the full scale of my strength.

It wasn't time just yet.

"So are you ready?"

"I am."

Angelica nodded solemnly and gazed into the distance with a complicated look.

"You can start."

"Okay."

I did not waste any time and immediately thrust my hand downward after raising it into the air. The ground began to tremble almost instantly as a result of my actions, and the area around the portal also began to shake.

The area around the portal began to fill with cracks, and suddenly hundreds of sword energies appeared out of nowhere.

Then, as if rain had fallen upon the land, the sword energies shot toward the beasts that were rampaging next to the portal at alarming rates.

The wails of the monsters could be heard throughout the entirety of the city as blood spilled into the air and the city fell into an eerie state of silence.

In that moment, all eyes gathered on me, and I gently mumbled.

"Go."

Angelica vanished from the spot beside me, and I clenched my hand into a fist.

The rain of sword energies shot toward the ground at a faster rate, and at the same time, a large cloud of dust began to diffuse in the air, which obscured everyone's vision.

From where I was standing, I could see the members of the alliance becoming frantic as they scrambled to find cover all over the place.

They were unaware that I could manipulate my power to steer clear of them at all times, which meant that they did not need to be concerned about being put in jeopardy.

[I'm at the portal. I will be going in now]

Angelica's voice echoed inside my ears, and a faint curl spread across my lips.

"Alright, good luck. I'll see you in three months. If you aren't back by then, I'll make a quick trip over there."

[Yes.]

That was virtually the last thing I heard from Angelica before I was no longer able to communicate with her.

At that moment, I stopped channeling my mana and turned around.

'I guess my job is done for now.'

***

"What did you say?"

As Kevin looked at Emma, who was standing in front of him with an expression that was very similar to his own, he felt a dull ache in his head.

She repeated.

We've received reports of someone appearing out of nowhere and killing most of the monsters emerging from one of the main dungeons in Domick square. No one has been hurt and there is no camera footage of the incident, but..."

"Yeah, I know. It's definitely what you're thinking."

Kevin set a few documents to the side and massaged his head.

"I…should've seen this coming."

Ren's actions seemed simple on the outside, but they were anything but simple.

Even though Kevin was aware that Ren probably had something to do and that he had a good reason for doing what he did, but...

What Ren did may appear to an outsider to be a direct challenge to Kevin's authority.

Even though Ren wasn't part of the alliance, the portal was under the jurisdiction of the alliance.

What he had done was essentially trespass on the properties of another organization, and Kevin could already tell that he would soon enough get a bunch of messages from the other alliance members expressing their dissatisfaction with him for his actions.

"Ugh."

The more he thought about it, the more his head throbbed.

"...He did it on purpose."

***

Outskirts of Dromeda city.

The icy gaze of Mo Jinhao continued to fixate on the enormous city off in the distance.

The sky above the city was covered by a translucent holographic blue dome.

The dome served as a defensive structure for the entire city, covering it entirely and preventing any wild animals from entering the area. It wasn't only limited to the animals, but members of the Monolith as well.

Had it not been for the translucent dome that was protecting the entire city, the place would've long crumbled under all of the beast attacks.

"How are the preparations proceeding?"

Mo Jinhao asked, and two figures appeared behind him within an instant.

Both of them were concealed behind large white masks that covered their entire faces.

In spite of the fact that the figures' faces were obscured, it was still possible to make out that they did not have any expressions on their faces.

The manner in which they carried themselves was extremely disciplined, and they looked no different from puppets.

They were most likely updated versions of the super soldier plan that the Monolith had been working on for years.

"Reporting, the defensive mechanism behind the dome is more secure than originally anticipated. It is as if someone already knew what we were planning beforehand and made the proper arrangements. Original tasks cannot be carried out. Chance of failure is estimated to be above 50%"

After hearing one of the two figures speak, Mo Jinhao's expression took a turn for the worse.

Since a few months prior to the end of the truce, things had gone awry for him and the Monolith.

From the spies, to what happened with Evervlood, and now this…

It was as if someone was watching their every move, and predicting everything that they were doing.

Considering all the plans they had made beforehand, this was particularly irritating.

They would have most likely already taken control of a quarter of the human domain if it weren't for the defeats they suffered along the way.

"It looks like I will have to contact the leader."

Mo Jinhao quickly came to the conclusion that things couldn't continue in this manner, so he decided to give Malik Alshayatin a call in the hopes of gaining a better understanding of how to proceed.

—Is there something wrong?

The line connected shortly after and Mo Jinhao heard Hemlock's voice.

He quickly reported his findings to him.

"Several difficulties exist. It appears that the alliance, or whatever their little organization is called, has arrived prepared and has already made the necessary arrangements to sabotage our original plans."

—That does indeed sound a little problematic.

Hemlock replied in a soft tone.

In spite of the news he received, he didn't seem to be that affected by it.

Rather, based on the tone of his voice, Mo Jinhao had a sneaking suspicion that he already knew that this would occur.

Was he perhaps overthinking things?

Mo Jinhao wasn't sure. Despite the many years he had spent with Hemlock, he had never been able to discern his thoughts.

He perpetually exuded an air of mystery that made it difficult for those who were around him to gain an accurate understanding of what he was thinking at any given moment.

…and it was exactly this trait of his that made him especially terrifying to the elders of the Monolith.

"What do you suggest that I do? Conquering Dromeda city is extremely important if we want to get to Ashton city."

The human domain was structured as such; four great cities, and the capital city, Ashton city right in the middle of the four.

The purpose of the four great cities was simple. Act as a last defensive line for Ashton city.

If the Monolith wanted to bring their full force to Ashton city, they first needed to conquer the other four great cities. Only then could they send their full force there.

Because Ashton city had all of its portals closed, the only way to get inside was to go through the other four great cities, each of which had also locked all of its portals.

There was no other way in because constructing a portal that could transport thousands upon thousands of people at once was impossible without drawing unnecessary attention to the structure.

—The others are facing a similar situation to yours. Since that's the case, it is best if you go directly in yourself and sneak a couple of the soldiers with you.

"Sneak in?"

Mo Jinhao's brows furrowed.

Even though he was confident that he wouldn't have any trouble sneaking into the city given his strength, he didn't understand how that would be of any use given that he would undoubtedly be caught if he came close enough to the operating system of the shield that surrounded the city.

Hemlock answered his question shortly after.

—Have one of the soldiers carry a bomb and have him detonate the entire building where the shield system is located.

"What?"

Jinhao was taken aback by Hemlock's sudden proposal.

He quickly shook his head.

"That's impossible. The Alliance will quickly be able to tell that something is wrong. Even if I somehow manage to sneak everyone in, it will be impossible to detonate the space unless someone creates a distraction, but we both know that I can't do that as I will most likely die…"

—Don't worry.

Hemlock reassured, his tone calm as ever.

—I've already thought things through. You don't have to worry about anything. Just trust me, and do what I told you to do. If you follow the steps correctly, you will be able to accomplish the mission without any problems.

"But…"

—Trust me.

Hemlock repeated, and Jinhao eventually relented, relaxing his shoulders a bit.

"Alright, I'll do as you say. I'll infiltrate the city and sneak the soldiers into the defensive structure."

There was a reason why Hemlock was the leader.

He was a very capable individual who managed to achieve what he set out to achieve. There was no need to doubt him.

All he had to do was follow his order. That was his job.

—That's all I wanted.

"…Alright."

Mo Jinhao disconnected his call with Hemlock and once again focused his attention on the city in the distance.

Taking a deep breath, his cold and languid grey eyes became a little more animated as he muttered.

"I'm sure the leader has already thought of everything. All I have to do is just follow the orders."

Just have to follow the orders…

Chapter 681: Thank you [2]

Dromeda City was very large and well-protected by nature, being one of the four great cities. There were many platinum ranked guilds among the more than thirty Diamond graded ones that were present in the city.

On the perimeters of the city.

Mo Jinhao stood right in front of the enormous translucent blue dome that covered the entire city.

His hand was already outstretched and touching the barrier, and a tingling sensation lingered in his arm as his hand came into contact with the barrier.

When viewed from the outside, the location that Mo Jinhao was in appeared to be entirely unremarkable, and there was no indication that anything unusual was taking place there.

Mo Jinhao had, in point of fact, disguised himself at the time in order to avoid drawing attention to himself from those who were watching through the cameras.

In addition to this, by utilizing his strength, he was able to completely avoid being detected by the sensors that were located all around the shield.

'This would've been a lot easier had it just been me.'

In addition to Mo Jinhao, there were two other people present. At this moment, he was attempting to assist them in infiltrating the city walls, seeing as how they could not do so on their own.

As a result of him channeling the mana that was contained within his body, the space around him began to undulate very slightly. To the point where the changes could be seen with the naked eye, but not to the point where the sensors could pick them up.

When Mo Jinhao saw this, he let out a sigh of relief and continued to direct his mana toward the part of his arm that was making contact with the barrier.

The barrier started to widen within a matter of seconds, and it wasn't long before a hole that was big enough for three people to fit through appeared.

Mo Jinhao did not squander a single second and immediately dove into the hole, accompanied by the two other people he was with at the time.

They were able to infiltrate the city, and the portal shut down behind them.

'The security is a lot tighter than I had originally anticipated.'

Mo Jinhao thought while beads of cold sweat gathered on his forehead and palms. Within the range of his immediate vision, he could see and sense the presence of over a hundred powerful people who were monitoring the area.

If he weren't one of the most powerful members of humanity, it was likely that he would've been apprehended the moment that he entered the place.

Fortunately, he was strong enough to prevent this.

'The failure of our plans is not surprising. This city is virtually impenetrable unless you are one of the world's top-ranked individuals... I cannot even conceive of the defensive systems' complexity. Given the tight security around the city's outskirts, it is extremely unlikely that even I will be able to enter the main operating area of the defensive system.'

As Mo Jinhao thought about the plan that Malik Alshayatin had explained to him, he began to have second thoughts about it once more.

At this very moment, he was beginning to have doubts about his leader, despite the fact that ever since he had entered the Monolith, he had never once questioned his orders.

Just how was he supposed to destroy the defensive system with just three people?

Despite the fact that it appeared to be impossible, he was left with no other option. After he had successfully infiltrated the location, the one and only thing left for him to do at this point was to carry on with the mission.

It was too late to turn back.

—I've infiltrated the city. I am now making my way toward the defensive system.

Mo Jinhao reported his situation through his voice.

It was, of course, through a text message, and even though there was a barrier there that blocked all signals, he was still able to send the message thanks to the advanced technology that was contained within the Monolith watches.

This technology granted them the ability to communicate with each other regardless of whether or not a dampening system had been set up.

This was primarily the result of the Chrystal that had been incorporated into the watches, as this was what gave them their incredible ability.

Dromeda city was vast, about half the size of Ashton city.

The streets appeared to be deserted, with very few people visible anywhere in the area. This was obviously excluding the heroes and mercenaries who were patrolling the area.

Besides them, there was no one else in the city.

The primary parliamentary building, which was situated in the geographic center of the city, was where the defense system was housed. It was appropriately the most heavily guarded location in the entire city, and the defensive system was located right under the building.

It didn't take long for Mo Jinhao to arrive at the destination.

'This should be the right place.'

Jinhao was able to confirm that he had arrived at the correct location when he came to a stop in the distance and saw a large white dome building that was surrounded by powerful presences.

Taking refuge in one of the nearby buildings, Jinhao took out his watch and contacted Hemlock.

—I've arrived at my destination. How should I proceed now?

[How far are you from the defensive system?]

—About three hundred meters give or take.

[Are the other two people I told you to bring with you there?]

—Yes.

When Jinhao responded, he did so while pausing his gaze momentarily on the two soldiers who were stationed at the opposite end of the room with their backs straight.

[That's good.]

Hemlock replied, clearly satisfied with Mo Jinhao's achievements.

[The remainder of your mission will be less difficult. One of the two soldiers with you currently possesses a device that is capable of destroying the entire building. The strength of the device is comparable to the assault we suffered at the hands of 876 several years ago. If you are able to detonate this device, it will not be difficult to disable the defensive system.]

Hemlock's brows furrowed even more tightly.

—That makes sense, but he must fall within a certain range for it to work. In order for the explosion to impact the defensive system, he must be approximately fifty meters away. At the moment, I can only afford a distance of 300 meters. Any closer than that, and I'll get exposed.

If everything were as simple as Hemlock was making it sound like it was, then Mo Jinhao would have already gone to the parliament and dropped the bomb on them personally.

Unfortunately, things weren't that easy.

Even with his disguise, the moment he stepped foot past the 250-meter mark, someone would immediately be able to tell about his presence and assault him.

If that were to happen that he was as good as dead.

Although he may be strong, he was not strong enough to eliminate over a hundred different <S> rankers and a couple of <SS> rankers at the same time.

He would simply be delusional if he thought that way.

Hemlock messaged him within the next few seconds.

[Don't worry, you don't have to do anything from this point on. Just let one of the two people you brought along with you go. He will naturally know what he has to do. All you have to do at this moment is stay in the same place that you are without moving a single muscle.]

—Is that really all I need to do?

Mo Jinhao was somewhat skeptical of what Hemlock was saying.

Regardless of how much he thought about it, he couldn't think of a way for how someone who was only <B> rank to be able to infiltrate the parliament, but in the end, he could only relent and comply with Hemlock's orders.

"Go, do whatever you're supposed to do."

Strengthening the camouflage on the invidiual's body, Mo Jinhao let him go and he disappeared shortly after that.

Five minutes eventually passed, and he soon received another message.

[I've just received word that the soldier is already in position. Is the other one with you?]

—Yes.

Jinhao replied, sparing a glance toward the other soldier that had remained.

[Very well, then…]

All of a sudden, Mo Jinhao felt an ominous premonition rise from the depths of his body, and just as he turned his head, his eyes shot wide open and his face trembled.

Standing opposite him was the same soldier from before. What was different from before, however, was his head, which had now started to bloat considerably.

"Noooo!"

Mo Jinhao let out a terrified scream as he frantically channeled all of the mana that was contained within his body.

Time slowed down in his vision, and Mo Jinhao tried to stop the soldier.

Unfortunately, all of this occurred within the span of a couple of seconds, and before Mo Jinhao could even react, the soldier's head exploded into bits, and the building that they were in collapsed while the sound of a massive explosion echoed throughout the city.

Booom—!

The explosion caused the building to collapse, and the city was shaken to its core.

At that very moment, the camouflage that was on Jinhao began to fade, and he became aware of multiple powerful gazes pausing on him.

Ding—!

A low chime echoed on his watch, and Jinhao slowly lowered his head.

[I thank you for your services. Your sacrifice will not be forgotten]

The moment he saw the message, his entire face turned pitch black, and power began to surge throughout his entire body.

The area around him shook, and there was a rustling in the air.

"How dare you!"

Mo Jinhao screamed at the top of his lungs.

It was unfortunate that his actions attracted the attention of all of the powerful figures within the city as flashes appeared in the sky.

It wasn't long before over a hundred different figures appeared in the air above Jinhao.

His presence drew the attention of all of the higher-ranking officials within Dromeda city due to the potency of the aura that encircled his body and radiated outward from it.

By now, Jinhao had already lost all train of thought as rage fuelled every part of his body.

Perhaps, had Jinhao been a normal person, he would have been able to calm himself down. He was, however, not a normal person.

He was someone who had made a deal with a demon, and as a result, the moment he found out that he had been used as a sacrificial pawn, he completely lost it.

"How dare you! How dare you! How dare you!"

As the world around him crumbled, he eventually fixed his attention on a handful of figures floating in the air. He didn't give it a second thought before he raised his hand and started attacking.

"Die! Die! Die!"

"How dare you betray me! You deserve to die! You all deserve to die!"

A huge battle took place shortly after that.

Chapter 682: Thank you [3]

During the time that Mo Jinhao was going on his rampage, the soldier who had left a few minutes earlier was making his way toward the parliament.

8092 was the assigned number of the subject, and just like all the other super soldiers of the program, he did not have an ounce of emotions as they were the first things that were stripped away from him.

8092 casually walked in the direction of the dome-shaped structure that was in his line of sight while holding onto a small black rectangular cube.

Because everyone's attention was currently being directed toward the conflict that was taking place further away, he didn't have to worry about anyone spotting him at the moment.

Even if there was someone who remained behind to guard the parliament and the defensive system, it was highly likely that their attention was focused on the fight that was taking place in the distance.

Because of the nature of Mo Jinhao's power, it was obvious that he was extremely dangerous, and one could not afford to divert their attention to anything else given the circumstances.

In addition, nobody in their right mind would ever believe that the Monolith would go to the extent of using one of their most powerful people as bait, making 8092's objective that much simpler.

This was exactly what the leader had been aiming for from the very start.

He intended to lure Mo Jinhao into a trap so that 8092 would rush the parliament while everyone else was preoccupied with the fight. This would allow him to detonate the explosive that had been prepared.

The plan….it was a good one.

By the time that 8092 arrived one hundred meters away from the parliament, he already knew that his mission had been accomplished and he activated the box in his hands.

Beep—!

The moment the box was switched on, the area as a whole went completely silent, and the attention of those who were watching over the area finally turned toward him.

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

Box in hand, 8092 watched as the world around him twisted and everything within his vision disintegrated.

Boom—!

The last thing that he heard was a powerful explosion that tore through the sky, and the world began to shake.

***

[Boom—!]

Hemlock stood and watched as the city of Dromeda was consumed in flames and a terrifying explosion resounded throughout the air from the comfort of his throne.

The hazy blue dome that was rotating around the city started to show signs of wear and tear, and within the space of one minute, the wall that was encircling the city began to fall apart.

"Rooooar!"

"Rooooooar!"

Immediately after the explosion, a series of roars echoed in the air, and the city was suddenly besieged by a horde of ravenous beasts, which consisted of hundreds of different species that had been lurking on the outskirts of the settlement for some time.

The explosion had most likely attracted their attention.

One could still see Mo Jinhao fighting against the many rankers of the place inside the city, and over the course of time, he was gradually becoming more and more suppressed by them.

His hair was disheveled, and his face was extremely twisted.

[I'll kill you! I'll kill you!]

Hemlock was still able to make out the sound of his curses in the air as he continued to shout with all of his might.

"Noisy."

Hemlock murmured under his breath, his interest quickly fading.

After what seemed like no time at all, the beasts made their way over to their side of the conflict, and even more blood was shed.

"Roooooar!"

"Rooooooar!"

The situation quickly descended into anarchy, and Hemlock, while sitting comfortably on his throne, observed in complete composure as the city descended into such a state.

Hemlock's gaze paused on the seat beside him as the faint sound of his breathing resounded throughout the hall, which was now completely empty.

Leaning back on his throne, he murmured.

"It had to be done…"

The Monolith certainly felt a great loss after the passing of a powerful figure such as Mo Jinhao. However, it turned out to be a deal that was well worth the risk.

They had over twenty different <SS> rankers within the Monolith. Sacrificing one in order to take over another city wasn't such a bad deal in Hemlock's mind.

Rather, he found it to be a steal.

"I'm thankful for the king."

To be honest, Hemlock wouldn't have gone to such extremes had it not been for the words that the king had shared with him.

'Whatever you're planning, discard it and make a new one. Be as extreme and unpredictable as possible.'

He was confused at first, but Hemlock now understood the meaning behind those words.

Hemlock soon realized that the king had anticipated that the new head of the alliance, Kevin Voss, would be aware of his plans to take over the defensive system, and had consequently devised countermeasures for it.

He was implying that this was the one and only way to take control of the city when he told him to take things to the "extreme."

In the end, it came down to him sacrificing one of his closest allies, but Hemlock didn't feel much of anything about it. In fact, he didn't feel anything at all.

Hemlock was a goal driven man.

He did not care about the means that he needed to take in order to achieve the objectives that he set for himself.

Whatever it took to achieve his objectives, even if it meant sacrificing millions of humans or eliminating one of his most powerful executives, he was prepared to do whatever it took to succeed.

This was who he was.

",,,It should just be about time."

Hemlock returned his focus to the screen, where Mo Jinhao and the other members of the alliance were engaged in combat.

It was obvious by this point that Mo Jinhao was on his last leg, and he had already reached his point of exhaustion. All around him was a heap of dead heroes, each of whom held a significant amount of fame.

The number of dead bodies was in the dozens, and there was approximately the same number of people standing in front of Mo Jinhao at the moment.

[Haa…Haaa…Ho..w dare you betray me..]

Mo Jinhao mumbled a couple of faint words.

Hemlock was able to make out his mumbled words even though he was kneeling on the ground and breathing heavily. His frame was emaciated and delicate looking.

Closing his eyes, Hemlock took out a small remote control and murmured.

"Your sacrifice was not in vain."

In response to his words, Hemlock pressed down on the remote control, and as a result, Mo Jinhao's head began to swell. The expressions of the people around him shifted, but by that point, it was too late.

By the time they had raised a shield in front of them, Mo Jinhao's face had inflated like a balloon, and a terrifying explosion resounded.

Boom—!

Everything in the neighborhood was leveled, and a dozen or so more heroes fell victim to the surprise assault.

When the dust settled, approximately fifteen of the roughly thirty people who had been standing in the air prior to that point had fallen to the ground, and approximately two thirds of those individuals were injured.

On the other hand, Mo Jinhao's body had already completely disappeared from the face of the earth.

'That's Dromeda City done.'

Click—!

After that, Hemlock disconnected everyone from the communication network and turned his attention to the other cities.

At the precise instant that he turned his attention to the other cities, he received a series of messages on his communication device, and he read each and every one of them in turn as he slowly moved his focus from one city to the next.

[I am in position, how should I proceed?]

[I am at the location that you told me to go to, what should I do now?]

[What are your next orders? I'm already in position.]

The text belonged to three other executive figures within the Monolith. Pressing the controller in his hands, three different screens appeared in front of Hemlock as his gaze fixed on the bodies of the individuals.

'Don't blame me too much for what I'm about to do… '

Pity flashed across his eyes as he brought the watch closer to himself, and he murmured in an emotionless voice.

"I thank you for your services. Your sacrifice will not be forgotten."

He pressed the remote's button three times, and the last thing he was able to see of them was a startling transformation in their facial expression, which was accompanied by the sound of three significant explosions.

The screens went dark, and there was a deathly stillness throughout the hall where he was sitting.

Within the quiet void, Hemlock closed his eyes and leaned his head against the throne.

"…With that, the four great cities are no more."

Chapter 683: A month [1]

Ding—! Ding—!

The ringing on Kevin's phone didn't stop, and soon he was bombarded with messages.

There were multiple people making attempts to get in touch with him, and each of their reports included new developments on the situation outside.

Kevin continued to work on the files that were in front of him while he sat in his chair and ignored the calls that came in.

It wasn't until Emma hurriedly entered the room that he finally looked up and took his eyes away from the papers in front of him.

"What is it?"

"What do you mean what is it?"

Emma stared at him with a look of complete and utter bewilderment on her face. She approached him and slammed the tablet she was holding down on the table in front of her.

"Did you not receive the reports? All the four great cities have been taken over!"

Emma exclaimed.

"It hasn't even been a couple of days, and yet, we've already lost so much ground! By now, everyone has already started doubting your capabilities."

"Let them."

Kevin replied, his voice sounding unconcerned.

His reaction made Emma extremely confused.

"What's going on? Why are not worried about what is happening?"

Setting the pen down, Kevin reclined on his chair.

"Emma, if there is one thing that you don't have to worry about, it's my position as the alliance leader."

Kevin didn't become the alliance leader for no reason.

He had provided each of the top executives with benefits that were enticing enough for them to support him in the election.

No one would be able to remove him from his position unless they were on the verge of complete collapse.

No one.

"No one will be able to take it away from me for the time being. What is occurring is beyond the expectations of everyone present. Who would have imagined that the Monolith would sacrifice four of its most senior executives in order to conquer the four cities?"

This was outside any realm of Kevin's imagination.

Never before had he witnessed the Monolith give up four pillars of their forces in exchange for the control of a few major cities.

It had taken him by surprise, and it brought to his attention the fact that someone had assisted Malik Alshayatin in some way.

Most likely, it was Jezebeth.

"What do you propose we do at the moment, Kevin?"

Emma asked. She was currently sitting on the sofa opposite him, unwrapping a piece of hard candy that she had taken from his desk earlier in the conversation.

She placed the candy in her mouth and asked.

"We have been inundated with requests for assistance coming from people living in other great cities who are part of the alliance. They are claiming that a large number of beasts have already begun attacking the city and that they are unable to defend themselves against the onslaught alone. How many additional troops do you recommend we send?"

"None."

Kevin flatly replied.

Emma was so surprised by his response that she nearly choked on the candy that was in her mouth.

"Cough! Cough! Ch..what?

"You've already heard me. I have no plans to send any reinforcements. I intend to instruct everyone to return to Ashton city."

"What!?"

After hearing what Kevin had to say, Emma got to her feet, completely astonished by what she had just heard.

"Are you seriously telling me to give up those cities? What about the citizens that are hiding in the bunkers? What will you do with them?"

"Don't worry about them."

Kevin gently drummed his fingers over the wooden desk.

"The Monolith's goal isn't to kill the citizens. It's to convert them to join their side. For now, they are quite safe and the Monolith will likely not touch them."

Kevin more or less understood Malik Alshayatin's motives.

His objective was to save as many individuals as he could while still preserving humanity. Even though he was the type of person who would be willing to exterminate millions of people in order to accomplish what he wanted, this did not mean that he desired to kill millions of people.

He would not kill millions of people unless it was absolutely necessary to accomplish his goals, which, as of right now, were not.

Before Hemlock attempted to win the citizens over to his cause, it was highly likely that he would keep them safe until the Alliance was completely wiped out.

Kevin had every reason to believe that the citizens would not be in danger because Hemlock could not win over the people unless he first succeeded in vanquishing their last remaining source of hope.

The Alliance.

"The bunkers are not as simple to breach as one might think. It will take them some time before they are able to enter, and by that point, a significant amount of time will have been lost. They are most likely going to leave them alone until a winner is determined."

If this was the case, then there was no need to have any of them evacuated.

"In addition, if necessary, they can utilize the portals installed on the lower levels of the bunker. Since the dampening system that surrounds the cities has been taken down entirely, they should have no difficulty evacuating."

Kevin waved his hand at Emma.

"Do not worry excessively about them. Our current priority is to consolidate our forces in order to slow their advance."

The more spread out their forces was, the easier it would be for the Monolith to advance.

Kevin understood this perfectly, and hence why he immediately made the call to have everyone retreat.

Although his decision would indeed be quite controversial, he didn't care.

For as long as he could slow down their advancement, then they were all good. After all, Kevin was only just biding his time.

This was only the start of the war. A single loss wouldn't decide the end of the war.

What mattered the most right now was that Ashton city was safe.

As long as Ashton city remained as is, then everything would be fine.

"Do me a favor, Emma."

Kevin looked up at Emma.

"What is it?"

She asked, seemingly afraid of what his next words would be.

Her fears would be revealed true not long after as he announced.

"All residents of the great cities must return to Ashton city within the next month. Leave the individuals in the bunkers and return. Those who refuse to comply will be severely punished. Make sure you say everything word for word. "

"This…"

After listening to what Kevin had to say, Emma's expression became very complex. She had the intention of speaking her mind, but in the end, she restrained herself and kept her mouth shut.

She perfectly understood that there was no point in trying to change his mind.

Once Kevin's mind was set, there was no use trying to change it.

"Alright, I'll have everything done by the afternoon. I'll see you later."

"Thank you."

Emma left the room shortly after that, and the room fell into a state of silence.

At that precise instant, Kevin's face contorted into an agonized expression, and he reached for the side of his abdomen in an effort to alleviate the excruciating pain.

"Ukhh…"

'I don't have much time left.'

***

Days passed since the fall of the great cities, and during that time, under Kevin's orders, all the major forces were forced to evacuate back to Ashton city.

As a result of their decisions, the alliance received a great deal of criticism and discontent from the general public, which constantly received news of what was happening in the outside world.

However, with the support of the Union and the most powerful guilds in the city, they were able to quickly put an end to the growing discontent within the human domain.

With each passing day, the greater the image of Kevin as a tyrant became in the minds of those in the human domain.

A month later, Hollberg.

Following the destruction of the four major cities, the smaller cities that comprised the human domain were also gradually consumed by the forces of the Monolith, which arrived just as quickly as they had left.

Whenever they would arrive in a new city, they would scavenge everything and leave nothing behind.

The once-glorious city of Hollberg was now deserted and a shadow of its former self; it lacked any of the vitality that had made it such a desirable location.

"Everything is clear. It doesn't look like there is anyone left behind."

A man dressed in all black murmured something to his watch, which he had brought up to his mouth.

It was important to point out that just because the man was dressed in a black suit, that did not mean that he worked for the central government.

Rather, he was a member of the Monolith's reconnaissance team and was responsible for ensuring that nothing suspicious was occurring in the cities they had conquered.

After all, it would only take one sneak attack to reverse the favorable situation.

━Understood. Great job. You can go ahead and install the mana compressor in a safe location. Make sure that no one apart from you knows where it is located.

"Understood."

A voice extended out from the speaker of the watch, and the man who was dressed black nodded his head in response.

"I will do as ordered."

He ended the call after that and lowered his hand. Shortly after that, he proceeded to make his way toward the deeper ends of the city.

Unbeknownst to him, a small rat crawled out from among the debris that had formerly belonged to one of the buildings and emerged a few meters away from where he was standing.

Within its shiny red eyes, were the perfect reflection of the man in black.

Chapter 684: A month [2]

Caissa headquarters.

"Everything is going as Ren has predicted."

Ryan mumbled something under his breath as he bit his nails and studied the monitors that were situated in front of him. Ava was standing next to him at the time, and she gave a slight nod as a bird perched on her arm.

"In approximately one week, the forces of the Monolith will make their way to Ashton city. As Ren had predicted, they began their assault on us by first destroying the four cities at the edge of the human domain. They will almost certainly make a brief stop on the outskirts of the city before attempting to breach the city's defenses."

"I agree…"

Ryan kept gnawing on his fingernails as he moved the pointer of his mouse around the screen and gazed at the deserted streets of Ashton city. In particular, his gaze was drawn toward a few distinct buildings, and he turned his head to inquire about something.

"Have you already set everything up?"

"Yes. Everything has been arranged. All we have to do is wait for Ren to give us the go ahead before moving."

"How long do you think that will take?"

"Probably two more months."

Ava truthfully answered.

"He did mention in advance that he would be extremely busy over the course of the next three months. One month has already passed, and there are still two more months to go. Because Angelica is not here with us either, we are unable to proceed with our plans just yet."

"So are we just going to stay here and do nothing while the Monolith attacks next week?"

Leopold's voice could be heard as he walked into the monitor room with his daughter Sophia following closely behind.

She waved her hand lightly at the two, who waved back at her.

All of the members' families were escorted to the headquarters in order to ensure their own personal safety.

Hein's parents and siblings, Ava's family, Ryan's mom, Leopold's daughter, and so on…

This place had basically become the home of all the members' families. Fortunately, the warehouse was big enough to house everyone without any problems.

"Yes, for now, that is."

Ryan replied to Leopold without looking at him. He had already seen him coming a few seconds ago so he wasn't exactly surprised.

"What are we supposed to do in the meantime, then?"

Leopold made himself comfortable on one of the sofas at the back of the room. Ava, staring at him, turned to Sophia and responded.

"I guess you should enjoy your time with your family. Ren did say that after he finishes whatever he's doing, we won't have time to spend with our families for quite some time, so make the most of the time you have with them."

The expression on Leopold's face subtly shifted as he leaned his head down to gaze at his daughter. In the end, he gave a respectful nod of his head and answered.

"Well, okay. If you guys put it that way, then I will do my best to enjoy my time with her. "

***

Within a dark void.

Swoosh—! Swooosh—!

Ren could be seen practicing a series of sword moves as his sword danced through space, leaving a faint moonlight-like trace behind.

Swooosh—! Swoooosh—!

His movements had an ethereal quality to them, and with each new set of moves he would perform, his moves would become increasingly precise and potent.

Another person could be seen standing not too far away from where he was. The figure was restrained by a number of chains, and it just stood there and stared expressionlessly at Ren as he worked on the sequence of moves in the void by himself.

An eerie silence enveloped the space.

This went on for a considerable amount of time until finally, Ren stopped what he was doing and looked at the other Ren. Sweat dripped from every corner of his body.

"What do you think? This is what I've come up with so far."

"…"

The figure continued to stare at Ren without uttering a word, displaying no facial expression.

Ren appeared unconcerned as he sat down on the ground and dropped the sword beside him, which vanished into thin air.

Extending his hand, a green book appeared in his hand.

"The Levisha style is a sword art that thrives primarily on style and power increases across multiple moves. The more move sets one executes, the more precise and potent their attacks become. It is said that a person's body would sustain so much damage during the final movements that they would die instantly..."

Ren uttered the words out loud while his eyes continued to move slowly over the pages of the book he was holding in his hand.

After reading the following few passages, he discarded the book and picked up a new one to continue reading.

Extending his hand, a new colored book appeared in his hand.

"The Gravar style is a sword art that primarily thrives on perfecting the human body in order to release the latent and raw power that is within the muscles of the human body. The harsher the conditions that their bodies undertake, the more powerful they will become. It is said that upon reaching the final level of the Gravar style, one can directly tear the space with just their fists…"

When Ren had finished reading the description of the two sword arts, he eventually set that book aside and took out one more.

"The Keiki style…"

He hadn't even opened the book before he burst out laughing and tossed it to the side of the room. He cocked his head back and looked up at the pitch-black abyss that loomed over him as he leaned back in his chair.

'Who would've thought that there would be such a great space to train here?'

Ren slowly turned his head to the side and looked at his other self.

"You've been quiet for quite a while, now, haven't you? It's been about a month since I decided to practice over here, and yet, not once did I ever hear you speak during the time that I started my training…"

Ren rose to his feet and moved in the direction of the figure that was restrained in chains. His feet eventually came to a stop in front of him, and he continued speaking even as he did so.

"Do you know why I decided to train over here, instead of outside? It's very obvious that training outside of here would be more efficient given all of the equipment that is available to me, but I chose against, it. Do you know why?"

The other Ren continued to stare emotionlessly at the space. His face looked completely dead, and Ren's words seemingly passed through his head without ever reaching him.

Ren didn't seem to mind this as he continued speaking.

"The reason why I decide to train here is because I need you."

He brought his head forward and whispered in his ear.

"…Only with your help will I be able to create a new sword art and reach the next level."

***

Demon Realm.

As soon as Angelica entered the demonic realm, she felt something within her shatter, and her body eagerly absorbed the residual demonic energy in the air.

She no longer experienced the suffocating sensation that she had whenever she remained on earth, and instead, she felt a wave of ecstasy wash over her body.

She recalled Leopold saying that once he quit smoking, breathing became a lot easier and less painful. If she had to give an example that best described how she was feeling, she would use Leopold's words to describe her situation.

"I think I'll be able to break through now."

Angelica reached out with the palm of her hand, and the residual demonic energy in the surrounding air moved in tandem with her motion, eventually amassing at her fingertips as she opened her palm.

Her eyes flashed, and she slowly clenched her hands into fists.

The demonic energy that was floating through the air suddenly rushed toward where she was standing and began to gather on the surface of her skin.

She was suddenly hit by a powerful wave of energy that erupted from her body, and as it did so, the world around her began to warp and distort.

"Yes…at this rate I might be able to break through faster than I originally anticipated."

When Angelica realized how plentiful the demonic energy was in the demon realm, she felt an even greater surge of excitement.

She had a hunch that by the time the deadline of three months had passed, she would already have her Duke rank stabilized.

'I should stop wasting time.'

Angelica wasted no time after realizing that this was a golden opportunity. She turned around and decided to find a secluded area to advance to the next rank.

After breaking into the Duke rank, she planned to pay a visit to her clan.

There were still a few things that were left unfinished there that needed to be completed by her. As soon as those were resolved, she would actually be able to return without any additional concerns.

Who knows, perhaps she would even be able to grant Ren a very nice opportunity.

After all, he was the one who helped her ascend the ranks and become a duke. When she got home, her mother would unquestionably be happy to learn of her achievements.

Her mother was a difficult person, but she wasn't an unreasonable demon. When the time was right, she would probably reward Ren for helping her get to the point where she was.

Perhaps, she might even join his side.

Though unlikely, nothing was impossible.

Chapter 685: The chosen one [1]

"Cough…Cough…"

Kevin's coughing fit started right in the middle of him organizing the stack of papers that were sitting in front of him.

While he was protecting his mouth with his hand, he became aware of a wet feeling in his hand. When he looked up at his hand, he noticed that blood was dripping down the spaces between his fingers.

He quickly removed his hand from his mouth.

'It looks like this is a lot more severe than I had originally thought.'

This was the price that Kevin needed to pay in order to seal an entity that stood at the very pinnacle of the world, or, to be more accurate, the universe.

It should come as no surprise that sealing such a person would result in significant drawbacks and injuries; Kevin was suffering as a direct consequence of his actions.

He had long known that something like this would've happened, and he didn't regret his actions.

"Pftt.."

Another mouthful of blood came out of his mouth, and his complexion became noticeably paler. He noticed that his vision was becoming distorted, and his right hand started shaking.

The symptoms only lasted for a couple of minutes before Kevin was able to recover with the assistance of a potion that he had placed by his side.

It was something that he had prepared earlier in anticipation of something like this happening.

"Cough…thank god I didn't have to fight over the past month."

One of the reasons he remained in his office the entire time was due to his injuries. He was in no way qualified to fight anyone at the moment.

At the moment, unless he was pushed to go all out, even a newly promoted <S-> rank could beat him.

"Ukh."

Kevin let out another groan and then covered his forehead with his arm.

After regaining his composure with a few long, slow breaths, he was finally able to refocus his attention on the documents that were spread out on the desk in front of him.

As he reached for his pen to put his signature on the papers, he suddenly became aware that the world around him was beginning to warp severely.

"Ha? What's going on?"

The unexpected turn of events immediately took Kevin by surprise, and he looked around in bewilderment.

The background of his room began to fade as a new background began to reappear behind him.

Before Kevin realized what was happening, he found himself suddenly standing in the middle of a green patch of grass, in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere, with large towering mountains in the distance, clear blue skies, and all sorts of large trees in the distance.

"This is not earth."

Kevin realized rather quickly that wherever he was, it was not on earth.

Simply observing the size of the trees and the general absence of human influence was sufficient for him to come to the conclusion that he was not on Earth.

Wherever he was, the environment was simply way too pristine to be Earth.

"You're finally here."

It was at this time that a voice resounded inside of the world, and Kevin's head immediately snapped backward as he spotted a figure with long white hair and crimson red eyes happily sitting on the grass, gazing into the distance with a contented smile on his face.

"Jezebeth…"

Kevin's face went ice cold as soon as he recognized the person who was sitting on the patch of grass.

Before he could say anything, Jezebeth spoke.

"I merely used the connection between our two powers. Although I'm talking to you, this is merely a projection. If you try to hurt me, nothing will happen...the same goes for me."

Jezebeth made a pause and fixed her gaze on Kevin for a brief period of time before turning his attention back to the breathtaking panorama and murmuring.

"…Not that you would even be capable of doing anything to me."

"You don't need to tell me this much."

Jezebeth's provocation didn't faze Kevin one bit as he kept his composure and didn't react in any way.

This came as quite a surprise to Jezebeth, but he quickly grasped the crux of the situation and cracked a small smile.

"It appears that you, too, have regained a portion of your memory. What wonderful news! Another of my old acquaintances has resurfaced. The world isn't as lonely as I thought it was."

Jezebeth gestured for Kevin to join him and sit down next to him while patting the patch of grass that was next to him.

Unfortunately, Jezebeth was promptly rejected by him, and Kevin continued to stand in the same place while staring at Jezebeth with a chilly look in his eyes.

"Why did you bring me here?"

Jezebeth idly cocked his head to the side and gazed over at Kevin.

He examined Kevin's body with his eyes, moving his head up and down as he did so, and it wasn't long before the furrows between his brows became arched in surprise.

"You…"

"You haven't answered my question. What did you bring me here for?"

Kevin cut Jezebeth before he could say anything else.

Taking a moment to sort his thoughts out, Jezebeth replied.

"If it's not too much trouble, I just wanted to know the answers to a few questions. Moreover, I am quite lonely. To alleviate my boredom, I wanted to see if anyone was willing to accompany me."

As he looked down at Jezebeth with his arms crossed, Kevin didn't even make an effort to acknowledge the last part of the sentence he had just said.

"What is it that you want to know?"

"It's simple really…"

Jezebeth slowly stood up from the ground, and he made his way toward where Kevin was standing.

On the other hand, Kevin did not move from his position and watched as Jezebeth approached him.

Because this was an illusion, Kevin did not experience any physical pressure coming from Jezebeth's body; however, the moment that Kevin's gaze met Jezebeth's, he felt a suffocating sensation engulf his entire body, making it difficult for him to stare at Jezebeth directly.

'This body is still too weak.'

Instantaneously, Kevin began to accuse his body of being the cause of such a reaction. If it had been a fully synchronized version of him, then this kind of pressure would not have had any effect on him at all.

However, as he had still not fully synchronized, his body couldn't help but react to Jezebeth's extraordinary presence, apart from his mind.

"Among the questions, I considered asking you, the ones that have stuck with me the most are probably the ones you wouldn't bother answering, as is the case with the last ones. Nevertheless, I will continue to try my luck..."

Jezebeth paused, his eyes perfectly synching with Kevin's.

"If my guess is correct, you avoided killing me on purpose during previous regressions despite having the capability to do so, is that correct?"

"What makes you think that?"

Kevin asked, somewhat surprised by the question.

Who would've thought that he had figured out this much already?

"I'm not stupid, am I?"

Jezebeth replied with a smile.

"I already have an idea, so hear me out."

The grin that was already present on Jezebeth's face grew noticeably larger as he carried on with his speech.

"So...let's say that the reason you always lost to me wasn't because you were unable to beat me, but rather because you had some other goal in mind other than beating me."

"I can only think of a few potential answers off the top of my head, but the one that has been lingering in my mind the most is the one that I consider to be the most ridiculous, while at the same time being the one that I believe to be the answer that is most likely to be the correct one."

The smile on Jezebeth's face started to recede, and his eyes also started to dim.

"The reason you never wanted to beat me was not because you weren't capable of beating me, but rather because you had another target in mind... the records, wasn't it?"

"..."

Kevin felt his throat get stuck with something as Jezebeth exposed all of his thoughts directly.

A tiny chuckle escaped from Jezebeth's lips the moment that he realized that he had hit the nail on the head.

"I see…Although you haven't directly confirmed it yet, I can already tell from a glance that you've pretty much confirmed my assumptions, and now that I understand your goals, I'm also starting to get a better idea of what you've been planning for the past few regressions. Haha, and here I thought I was the crazy one."

Jezebeth took an unexpected step forward and moved to where Kevin was standing before lightly poking him in the chest with his finger.

His finger obviously passed through his body, but Jezebeth seemed to pay no mind to this as his eyes were fixed on Kevin.

"…and here I thought I was a ruthless guy. Compared to you, I'm a lot tamer, aren't I?"

Chapter 686: The chosen one [2]

"Uwa! Uwa!"

A newborn infant's cries reverberated in the background as two gentle hands wrapped around the small frame of its body in an attempt to soothe its cries.

"Hush, Kevin, don't cry. Mommy's with you."

'Is this what it feels like to be a newborn human?'

Kevin's crimson eyes stared at his two small hands that were reaching out, grasping the air above him for some unknown reason.

In the instant that Kevin was born, he already knew his mission.

From the moment he felt the gentle embrace of his mother's warm hands as she wrapped them around his body and surrounded him with warmth, he was aware of the purpose behind his existence as well as the mission that he had to complete.

'Defeat Jezebeth.'

The cancer that the records were afraid of. The one singular entity that was disrupting the balance of the universe.

…That was his sole and only purpose for existing.

"Why is his hair white, and why are his eyes red?"

Kevin, who had just been born, heard his parents' shocked and bewildered voices as they drifted gently in and out of his field of hearing.

When he looked up, he saw the faces of two people, one male and one female, looking down at him with curiosity.

'These must be the people who have birthed me.'

Kevin pondered as he observed the two humans, who were staring at him with confused expressions. They had relatively delicate facial features, but their clothing appeared unremarkable, and they appeared somewhat filthy.

From what Kevin could gather, their names were Margaret and Johnathan. At least, that was what they seemed to call each other.

In spite of their filthy appearances, they had friendly expressions, and the sight of their smiles was not displeasing to the eyes. At least to Kevin, but he didn't seem to care all that much about it.

In his mind, these were the two beings that would help him gain a foothold in this world before he could finally mature and leave on his own.

He didn't have any particular attachment to them.

"The DNA test says that it is our child; maybe he was just born with some strange illness or something along those lines? ...I'm not entirely sure."

The man on the left, who appeared to be his father, was seen tenderly caressing the woman, who was described as having brown eyes and long black hair.

Her features were soft, and Kevin couldn't quite put his finger on what it was that made her smile so compelling.

Nor did he care to understand.

"But if there is one thing that I'm sure about..."

As Kevin's father leaned in to give him a kiss on the cheek, the top of Kevin's head dampened.

"...it's that he's our son."

***

"I'm sure it was an accident. He definitely didn't do it on purpose."

Kevin stood by and watched as his mother pleaded in front of three people.

The subject of everyone's attention right now was a young child who stood in the middle of the other two adults and appeared to have tears forming in his eyes.

"An accident?"

A round woman with curly yellow hair and an angry and repulsed expression on her face pointed an accusatory finger at her young child while raising her voice.

"How are you going to explain this?"

Her finger touched the child's eye, which was currently black.

"Your delinquent child punched my child for no apparent reason! How can you explain to me the black eye on his face?"

"That..."

Margeret looked at the eye for a moment, and she turned to look at Kevin. Biting her lips, she asked.

"Kevin, did you do this?"

"..."

Kevin remained silent and simply looked at her the whole time.

He had never actually punched the child in the first place. It was another bigger kid, but the victim decided to lie and shift the blame for the attack onto Kevin out of fear for the bigger kid.

Kevin could tell right away that saying anything would be pointless; it would probably go to death's ears.

The people here weren't looking for the real culprit but for someone to blame the situation to.

With Kevin being the preferred target due to his background.

In addition, because this establishment was in a rather poor condition, there were no cameras to provide evidence to support his claim.

Talking was a waste of energy.

"See, your child isn't even denying it!"

The woman yelled and pointed angrily at Margaret, whose face suddenly turned pale.

"He...he didn't even say anything. How can you just―"

"Oh, stop it! We both know your autistic son did it!"

As soon as the word "autistic" was mentioned, Margaret's face immediately froze, and she began to bite her lips more forcefully while murmuring in a voice that was only audible enough for Kevin to hear.

"My son is not autistic..."

"How are you going to make up for what your son did?"

The woman continued to bother Margeret until she finally looked up and slowly stood up. She took a deep breath and turned her head to smile at Kevin.

Her smile was an attempt to convey the words, 'Everything is fine; I'll handle this,' but it looked more forced than anything to Kevin, who simply stared at her emotionlessly.

"How much?"

"How much what?"

The woman asked, crossing her arms. Margaret repeated herself, pulling out a small, worn-out purple pouch.

"...How much are the hospital fees. I will...pay."

She took several bills from her wallet, her hand attempting to remain steady. Despite her efforts, they still shook slightly.

Before uttering a price, the woman deliberated for a short while, during which she stole a quick glance at the cash that was being removed from the wallet and raised five of her fingers.

"500U. I'll let this matter slide if you give me 500U."

"5..500U"

Margaret's hand stiffened, and her face became increasingly pale.

After taking a few deep breaths, she looked at Kevin once more before reaching into her wallet, pulling out a banknote, and slowly passing it to the other woman, who quickly snatched it away from her hands.

"I'll take that."

At long last, the lady cracked a grin of contentment. It was clear to Kevin that this was the woman's real goal from the very beginning and that they had just been scammed.

"I'll let matters slide this time."

After giving Kevin one final menacing glance, the woman turned around and walked away with her son, leaving Kevin and his mother standing together in the empty corridor.

'Why is she doing this?'

Kevin questioned this as he looked at his mother with a puzzled expression on his face.

Sincerely, he did not comprehend the reason why her mother would go to such great lengths for him.

She was not required to pay the money. The worst-case scenario was that he would be expelled from kindergarten, but it wasn't a big deal because what he was learning was useless.

In addition, he avoided them on purpose so they wouldn't become too attached, as he didn't care about them, but for some reason, they refused to ignore him.

'Why is that?'

Kevin wondered.

"C..ome, let's go Kevin"

Kevin was dragged out of the corridor by the hand and led to the building's exterior, where a man dressed in rather soiled clothes and a bright green construction uniform appeared, running up to them.

He had a rather anxious look on his face as he rushed toward their side.

"How was it…is there anything wrong with Kevin?"

"No, nothing at all...I've managed to sort out the situation."

Margeret said with a forced smile on her face.

She looked at her husband and mumbled.

"Judging from your clothes, you must've directly rushed from work. Will you be fine?"

"Eh...sort of. I told my boss that there was an emergency with Kevin. He's understanding. At most he will deduct my pay, but that's fine."

Johnatan took off his bright yellow hat and scratched the top of his head before putting it back on and adjusting his clothes.

"Honestly, I'm glad that I wasn't there on time. Hehe, I think the situation would've been worse had they seen the clothes that I'm wearing. Those kids might even end up bullying Kevin for it."

"You're right…"

Kevin's mother nodded, and a warm smile appeared on her face. Tugging Kevin by the hand, she nudged with her hand.

"Alright, how about we go bac—"

It was then that it happened.

The world began to twist around them, and the ground beneath them visibly shook.

Beep―! Beep―! Beep―!

The sky turned from an azure color to a red color, and the alarms of the cars around them started to go off uncontrollably.

"What's going on?"

"What's happening?"

After the sudden shaking of the ground, the first thing the couple did was bring Kevin into their embrace.

At the same time, they looked around with looks of confusion and anxiety etched across their faces.

A rusty smell suddenly permeated the air, and Kevin's eyes dilated slightly.

"It's the demons."

Kevin spoke, his voice monotonous and his crimson eyes gleaming under the moonlight. His parents showed startled looks the moment Kevin spoke as they both snapped their heads to look at him.

"What did you say?"

"Demons? What are you talking about?"

Kevin didn't answer and continued to stare at the sky with an emotionless look.

"Kyaaaa!"

The answers to their questions came to them quickly in the form of a dark humanoid creature that appeared in the air and a red ecliptical sun that shone down upon the world and caused enormous flames to emerge.

Screams of terror resounded throughout the atmosphere as buildings started to crumble right before their very eyes.

"Haaaaa!!"

"Someone help me!"

Rumble―!

The environment was in complete anarchy—flames that seemed to burn endlessly consumed everything that was within sight, and buildings continued to collapse.

What had been a normal, peaceful day in a small village located not too far away from Ashton city turned into a scene straight out of hell.

Within the span of a couple of minutes, the world crumbled apart, and all hell broke loose.

Fwuap―! Fwuap―!

Huge creatures with enormous wings and sinister smiles stood in the air and arrogantly watched as some humans set fire to everything below them.

The scene that unfolded below them exemplified hopelessness in its purest form.

Kevin was dragged by his parents through the streets of the village in a solemn and hushed manner as they ran along the crumbling roads and hellish flames.

"Huff...huff...Honey, quick, over here!"

Turning left from a building, Johnathan gestured with his hand.

Soon after that, the couple saw a modest house off in the distance, and they made their way there as quickly as they could.

Crash―!

Jonathan used his foot to forcefully break through a wooden door that led to the small house, and then he immediately hid inside the house after he had done so.

After setting Kevin down, Johnathan put his finger on his mouth and looked at Kevin with a serious expression on his face.

"Huff...huff...Make sure you don't make a sound"

"There is no p—"

"Shhhh, please...just remain quiet here, okay?"

The woman whispered while she placed her hand over Kevin's mouth and fought back the tears that were streaming down her cheeks.

"Please don't make a sound..."

As Kevin watched the solemn expressions on his parents' faces, he merely closed his eyes and maintained his silence while cradled in his mother's embrace.

After that, there was complete and utter silence throughout the neighborhood for the subsequent five minutes.

'What pointless actions.'

Kevin wanted to tell them that staying here would only prove fatal, but seeing that they were refusing to listen to him, he just remained put.

He didn't particularly feel anything out of the situation.

...The silence did not last for long.

Booom—!

A jarring explosion occurred in the neighborhood of the house where they were all together, startling everyone.

The aftereffects of the shock caused the windows of the house to shatter, which led to the destruction of a better part of the house.

"Get down!"

Covering both Kevin and his wife with his body, Jonathan dove down.

"khhhh...ahhhh"

A steady buzzing sound started up in everyone's ears a few seconds after the explosion went off, and it continued for some time after that.

"Ugh...Kh..."

It was a groan that brought Kevin back as he looked up to see his father having a difficult time standing up, his back covered in blood with large glass shards impaled on his body.

"H-oney"

Margaret, trembling and aware of the situation, couldn't help but cover her mouth in shock and grief.

She gently caressed her husband's cheeks as hot tears streamed down her cheeks, trying not to make a sound.

"It's okay I-"

Just as Johnathan was about to reassure his wife that he was okay, the sound of approaching footsteps startled them.

Cruch—! Cruch—!

He didn't think twice and shoved his wife away as he yelled, "Quickly run! I'll hold him back!" with his eyes widening despite the back pain he was experiencing.

"No! Johnathan!"

Margaret attempted to protest with a distressed expression, but she was immediately shoved by Johnatan, whose eyes were now bloodshot.

"Quick! Go!"

After a moment of hesitation, she ran out of the house with Kevin in her arms without looking back.

"kukuku, what have we got here?"

Soon after the woman and the child left, appearing from the other side of the door, a young man with long blonde hair appeared.

"Die, you bastard!"

Johnathan screamed as he shouted while staring intently at the young man and displaying a thick red hue all around his body.

He may not have been talented, but he was still capable of using mana.

*

Clank—!

Margaret searched for a place to hide upon entering a new residence and quickly discovered a small trapdoor.

"yes"

Clank—!

She was shocked to discover, upon opening the trap door, that the space beneath it could only accommodate one small child.

However, instead of despair, a look of relief appeared on the woman's face.

With a look of determination, she placed Kevin inside the small compartment.

"Get in here.."

She pointed at the small gap.

"Here, hide over here. No matter what you hear, don't make a sound...please."

Margeret suddenly bit her lips as she tenderly looked at Kevin.

"...I will now go help your dad...I don't know if I will be back, but...could you say a couple of words to me?"

"…"

Staring at his mother, Kevin's eyes remained unperturbed, and he continued to remain quiet despite her request. Tears welled up on Margaret's face as blood started to spill from the bottom of her lip, and she looked down.

In a low voice, she murmured.

"It's okay, I understand...Thank you...and I love you"

Clank—!

Immediately after closing the trapdoor, Kevin's vision became dim.

A couple of minutes after the trapdoor was shut, he heard muffled explosions not far from where he was.

Though unsure, he could also make out the faint sound of a woman's scream.

He wasn't exactly sure if it belonged to his mother or not...but he didn't really put much thought into it as he closed his eyes and hid his presence.

'It looks like they have served their purposes.'

Boom—! Boom—!

This went on for a few more minutes before it finally came to an end. Shortly after that, there was a complete and total absence of sound in the surrounding area.

Kevin crept out of the location he was in after an undetermined amount of time had passed, and he did so in a quiet manner.

The dead body of his mother was the first thing he noticed when he emerged from the building. Her eyes were wide open, and so was her mouth.

From a glance, Kevin could tell that she had run out of the building and screamed her lungs out to attract the attention of the demons away from him.

'Why?'

Kevin wondered.

He truly didn't understand why she would sacrifice her life for him.

The same was true for his father, who showed a similar reaction when he foolishly dove into the arms of a demon.

'Could this be the records?'

Kevin had a sudden thought and soon came to the conclusion that their foolish actions must've been due to the records.

If not, why would anyone try to do something as foolish as sacrificing their own life for someone else?

Ding—!

Suddenly, a low chime echoed in his ears, and a blue panel appeared in front of him.

System activating

—[13%]—————

Loading

It was at this moment that Kevin's feet came to a pause, and he murmured.

"...It's here."

Chapter 687: The chosen one [3]

Bang—!

A figure crashed against a series of buildings, sending them crumbling to the ground.

With another muffled blast, the figure crashed against the ground, and a crater formed around the area around him.

Following the dispersal of the debris and subsequent clearing of the area, Kevin's haggard figure appeared to be seen standing in the midst of the debris.

His clothing was ripped, and he appeared to have a gaping wound in his chest.

His red eyes gleamed under the red, apocalyptic sun that hung in the sky, matching its intensity.

"How pitifully weak..."

A figure with white hair descended from the sky above him in a slow and collected manner. His presence loomed over the world, and his towering figure oppressed anything within its sights.

He looked no different than a god that had descended upon the mortal world, as his every movement caused the world to shake.

"I'm rather disappointed."

Jezebeth spoke while maintaining eye contact with Kevin, who was standing below him.

His icy stare was filled with what could only be described as disappointment, and he raised his hand.

Palm facing Kevin, he mumbled.

"…If you're really all the records have planned in order to stop me, then I really am disappointed."

Booom—!

The world tore apart, and Kevin's vision grew black.

***

"Come, eat your soup, Kevin."

Kevin's ears rang with the sound of a familiar voice as he looked down and took a quick glance at the meal that was in front of him.

It was a straightforward yellow clear soup mixed with a few different vegetables ranging from carrots, broccoli, and the like.

'It's bland, and the nutritional value is low…'

Kevin thought as he brought the soup to his mouth.

The taste of the soup was extremely bland, and it never seemed to fill him, even though he was once again five years old.

The only reason he never grumbled was because he understood that this was the best his caretakers had to offer.

A simple vegetable soup.

Kevin, in all candor, did not comprehend why the records would assign him to such inept caretakers; however, he was not programmed to question the system's decision-making.

The only thing he needed to do was follow orders.

But…

"Why do you take care of me?"

There was still a lingering sense of curiosity in his heart, and he just couldn't help but bring himself to ask his caretaker the one question that had been in his mind ever since his first life.

Why would such a creature risk so much in taking care of him when they couldn't even take care of themselves?

Wouldn't it be more appropriate for them if they just abandoned him and lived for themselves?

If that were the case, then they wouldn't be experiencing nearly as much suffering as they were right now.

On the contrary, their quality of life for them would significantly improve.

He was nothing but a burden, and Kevin wouldn't really think anything of it if they got rid of him. He knew that he was nothing but a nuisance to them.

All in all, it was the most logical decision.

"Why do I take care of you?"

Kevin caught a fleeting glimpse of his mother looking at him with a friendly grin on her face as she turned her head and lightly winked her eye.

Moving toward where he was, she kneeled down slightly and caressed his cheek.

"I'm your mother; why wouldn't I take care of you?"

"Are I not a burden?"

Kevin asked, his face expressionless.

His mother's expression changed to one of surprise as she listened to his words, and then she smiled broadly and pulled him closer to her.

"Burden? Why would you ever be a burden. My life has never been more fulfilled now that you're with me. I'm sure your father thinks the same."

Feeling the soft and warm embrace of his mother, Kevin didn't say anything more.

He was more confused than before.

The sound of his mother's voice was what broke him out of his reverie as she suddenly squeezed him more tightly in her embrace.

"Oh, right! You spoke! It's such a rare occasion that I didn't even notice it!"

Her sudden burst of excitement once again made Kevin confused.

'Why is she showing such a reaction for such a trivial thing?'

Humans…

They were creatures far more confusing than he thought.

***

Ding—!

System configured

100%

Time passed, and the same scenes from the first life repeated themselves. The demons came, and his parents died trying to protect him.

Kevin crouched down and stared at the lifeless body of his mother while he prodded her flesh with his finger.

"Why?"

As Kevin's mind replayed the events that had taken place in the subsequent minutes and seconds, he became even more perplexed.

"Kevin, move!"

He could still clearly remember his mother pushing him to the side in an effort to protect him from a demon, but she ended up being the one who was killed.

Before his eyes, he witnessed the dismemberment of his mother, followed by his father dragging him away and hiding him in the same place as his previous life.

"I said that you didn't have to take care of me. Why did you do something so foolish?"

Kevin asked, poking at the dead carcass of his mother.

His father, who was not too far away from where he stood, was completely mangled, and he was no longer recognizable.

Kevin sat on the ground and stared at his mother and father for an undetermined amount of time while they lay dead on the ground.

Somehow, his heart felt emptier than usual.

He usually felt like this, but for some strange reason, he felt even emptier.

'Why is that?'

When additional support arrived, he was whisked away from the area and placed in an orphanage before he even had a chance to realize a day had passed.

After that point, life returned to how it had been before, and Kevin's progress in strength continued at a steady pace as the years went by.

*

Twenty five years later.

Once again, Kevin found himself standing in front of Jezebeth.

His expressionless face was the same as it had been in the past.

However, when compared to his previous life, Kevin was much more powerful in this one.

It wasn't just by a little bit; it was by quite a large margin.

In this life, he was able to become even more powerful than he had been in his previous life by combining the knowledge he gained from his previous life with the system given to him by the records.

He also received instruction from the most skilled instructors, which contributed to his increased confidence.

Simply put, he could swat his former self in just a couple of moves. He had improved that much.

"We look eerily familiar, don't we?"

Jezebeth's voice rang throughout the world, his eyes glossing over his body. With a raised eyebrow, he asked.

"…You couldn't possibl—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Kevin's hand was already raised, and a white hue began to emerge from it. It covered the entire world around him, and Jezebeths' face changed.

Kevin launched his attack not long after that, and a powerful wave of energy headed in Jezebeth's direction.

"Akashic laws…"

The expression of shock on Jezebeth's face didn't last for very long. Instead, he appeared to have realized something, as evidenced by the appearance of a faint smile on his face.

"I see...so you're the missing piece that I need in order to get to the records."

His hand raised, and Kevin's attack was instantly slashed in half, two deep lines forming on the land behind him.

"Hmm, not bad…"

Jezebeth muttered something under his breath as he looked at his hand, which was quivering and bleeding very slightly.

Lowering his head to stare at Kevin, he smiled ever so slightly.

"I have to say, you're definitely strong. Strong enough to fight against me, but…"

Jezebeth shook his head.

The world seemed to suddenly distort itself and lose its color with the sudden raise of his hand.

Crack! Crack!

The sky began to fracture, and everything beneath Jezebeth began to collapse. The world's oceans began to rise, the ground began to tear apart, and everything in the vicinity was obliterated into nothingness.

In an instant, nearly half of the world's human population was annihilated, and seven enormous fissures formed in the sky.

Within those fissures, seven powerful figures emerged, and behind them, tens of thousands of other powerful figures appeared. The world came to a sudden standstill, and the crimson sky started to darken.

Stepping forward, one of the seven powerful figures placed their hand on their chest and announced.

"The Wrath clan makes their presence."

Like a sonic wave, his voice boomed throughout the world. Glasses shattered at the sound of his voice, and the air around him trembled.

Not wanting to be outdone, those behind him stepped forward and introduced themselves individually.

"The Pride clan makes their presence."

"The Sloth clan makes their presence."

"The Lust clan makes their presence."

"The Gluttony clan makes their presence."

"The Greed clan makes their presence."

"The Envy clan makes their presence."

The seven patriarchs of the seven major clans had made their appearance, followed closely by thousands upon thousands of demons belonging to each and every one of the clans.

Each and every one of them had expressions on their faces that were filled with obedience and submission.

"…Do you understand now?"

Jezebeth gazed at Kevin, his eyes gleaming with a dangerous red hue.

Kevin simply stared back at him without making any kind of facial expression.

Underneath, his muscles were tensed, and sweat had started to accumulate in the palm of his hands.

Simply being in their presence was almost identical to being in Jezebeth's, and Kevin felt as though his entire body was becoming immobilized.

"You're strong, I will give you that, but in the end, that's all you are. Even if I don't finish you myself, my kin will do it for me."

Interlocking his hands behind his back, Jezebeth slowly turned around.

Raising one of his hands in the sky and staring at the large army of demons, he quietly mumbled.

"Get rid of him."

...and with that order, the seven patriarchs moved at once, followed by the thousands of demons behind them.

A terrifying battle ensued shortly after that.

One that was sadly not in Kevin's favour.

Just like in his last life, he once again died.

Chapter 688: The chosen one [4]

Kevin's head was filled with a constant ringing sound, and he was just staring at the wooden table in front of him with no expression on his face.

He had a silver spoon in his tiny hands, which he was holding onto very tightly.

'I failed again…'

Kevin mumbled to himself, his eyes gradually losing focus.

In contrast to the first time, this time, he was defeated before even having the opportunity to engage in a meaningful conflict with Jezebeth.

It turned out that he was not even powerful enough to defeat the army of demons that were at his disposal, let alone him, who was even more powerful than them.

'Where did I go wrong? What am I missing?'

He did everything that the system told him.

He did the missions and took advantage of the opportunities from his past life…he did everything yet still failed to accomplish his mission.

Just what was he missing?

"Here's your food."

The sound of his mother's voice jolted Kevin out of his reverie and brought him back to the present.

When he raised his head, he saw her staring at him with the same friendly smile that he was so used to by this point.

Placed in front of him was the same bland soup that she used to make for him in his past life.

It was her signature soup, and one that she would start making as soon as he became five years old, which he had just reached not too long ago.

Just a single look was enough to take his appetite away.

Nonetheless, he still decided to eat it. As long as he got his nutrition in, he was fine.

Slowly, Kevin took a mouthful of the soup and had a taste of it.

"Hm?"

When Kevin looked over at his mother, who was also looking at him intently, he noticed that his brows had suddenly arched a little bit.

"Is there anything wrong?"

Kevin didn't answer her.

Instead, he blinked his eyes a couple of times. He lowered the spoon and took another mouthful.

He wanted to double check.

"…It's good."

Kevin mumbled aloud, savoring the flavor of the soup in his mouth.

As soon as he said those words, his mother immediately displayed a look on her face that indicated she was surprised; however, Kevin didn't put much thought into it as he continued to eat the soup.

'Why does the soup taste better?'

For some odd reason, the bland soup that his mother made him wasn't as bland as it had been in the past.

Why was that?

"I'm glad you like the soup."

Kevin was startled when he felt a warm hand caress the top of his head, and he looked up to see his mother looking back at him with the same smile she always wore.

Her hands were large and rough, unbefitting of her graceful and frail looks.

With just a glance, Kevin could see that they were filled with calluses and cuts.

It was obvious that these were the hands of someone who had been through a lot of adversity throughout their entire life.

Kevin knew this better than anyone.

After all, those hands looked no different than his after practicing with his sword for years on end.

Another thing that Kevin observed about his mother was that whenever he was around her, she never appeared to be eating anything.

She never did anything other than sit in the opposite chair from him and watch him eat the food.

He never really put much thought into it in the past.

…But it was indeed strange. Maybe she also didn't like the soup?

Kevin cocked his head to the side a little and pushed the bowl of soup forward. Toward his mother.

His actions confused her as she asked.

"Hm? What's this?"

"Eat it."

Kevin pointed at the bowl, and his mother blinked a couple of times, clearly confused by his actions.

She eventually shook her head and smiled.

"I've already eaten, you can—"

"Lies."

Kevin cut her off.

He knew beforehand that she had not eaten yet. He had been observing her since early in the morning.

His mother's job was to collect garbage outside.

In the sweltering heat, she would push a shopping cart that weighed at least three times as much as she did and walk for a couple of kilometers for a payment of approximately 10 U. The cart was filled with trash, and she would sort the trash as she went.

It was a grueling job that was looked down upon by most people, but it was also the only job she knew to do.

Sometimes she would get less than what she worked for, but she never seemed to complain.

...She was a tough and tenacious woman.

One that Kevin had been observing her the whole time, and he knew that she hadn't eaten yet.

Margaret gave a quiet sigh and mumbled something to herself.

"Despite not speaking much, you're a sharp one. Sometimes I wonder if you're really five…"

Taking another look at Kevin, she stood up and headed back to the kitchen.

"Don't worry, and just eat your meal. I'm not hungry."

'Liar.'

Kevin inwardly mumbled.

She had been staring at his soup with great concentration just a few minutes ago.

Even though it was obvious that she was coveting his soup, she still turned it down when it was offered to her.

Why was that?

Kevin asked himself, once again confused by the way his mother behaved.

He really didn't understand why she would go to such lengths to help a small burden like himself.

Staring at the clear soup in front of him and seeing his reflection, Kevin put the spoon in and took another bite.

'It's cold…'

Yet…so warm.

***

Time continued to pass, and Kevin spent most of his time observing his parents.

While Johnathan's father went to the construction site to help build the new high rise buildings in the inner city, his mother, Margaret, would always leave early in the morning to collect the trash outside.

The total amount of pay that they received between the two of them was only 30 U per day, which was just about enough to get by each day.

It was also because of this that Margaret decided to go somewhere else to collect trash.

Outside of a shopping mall in the inner districts of the city.

"I'm sorry that I have to drag you along with me, Kevin, but I won't take too long. You can just stand there quietly and wait for me to finish work."

Kevin nodded his head without saying anything.

He did nothing more than take a seat on the staircase of the mall and watch his mother labor through the scorching heat of the day.

Sweat dripped down the side of her face as she used a pair of worn-out gloves to collect trash from the trash cans placed around the mall.

Despite the many stares she received from shoppers in the shopping mall, she continued to work diligently, occasionally flashing him a smile.

It was her smile that caused Kevin to tilt his head further as he had a sudden thought.

'Dangerous.'

For a fleeting moment, he thought that the smile was dangerous to himself.

For the past few regressions, he had never really cared to look at his 'caretakers' and just single mindedly pursued his own goals…but it was at this moment, during his third regression, that he started to have different thoughts in his mind.

…He just thought that maybe, just maybe, they didn't need to die like they did in the past.

Maybe, he could help them survive that calamity that was to come...

'No, they will be a burden.'

It was only a fleeting thought, however, as he quickly discarded the notion right away.

Thinking further, they would serve as nothing but burdens if he let them live.

He had a clear goal, and he couldn't let anything distract him away from it.

His eyes drifted away from his mother not long after, and his eyes paused on the busy streets in front of him.

Kevin was confronted by a bustling crowd of people entering and exiting the large shopping center.

He observed people walking with smiles on their faces and children playing with their parents with joy.

Shortly thereafter, Kevin's eyes shifted away from their image and lingered on a small purple banknote on the street.

'50 U'

It was a 50 U banknote.

In Kevin's mind, a trivial banknote.

He was so accustomed to dealing with millions of U at the time during his previous two regressions that the note appeared to be nothing more than loose change to him.

However, as his eyes wandered back to his mother and how hard she was working for only 10U a day, Kevin's body moved in the direction of the banknote.

"What are you doing?"

Kevin was about to reach for the bill when a bald and imposing man grabbed him by the hand. He regarded Kevin with a ferocious glare plastered across his face.

"That's mine, kid. What do you think you're doing?"

"…"

Kevin didn't answer the man and just continued to emotionlessly stare at him.

'Should I just kill him? No, that will attract too much unwanted attention at the moment.'

At that moment, Kevin rejected the notion of killing the burly man.

If he revealed his power in such a crowded street, he would attract unwelcome attention and may find himself in a situation he would find rather troublesome.

After all, killing was prohibited.

"What's wrong? Are you mute?"

Kevin felt a couple of taps on the cheeks as the man pulled him up by the arm.

Kevin's eyes gleamed with a dangerous gleam, and just as he was about to say something, a pair of frail hands grabbed the burly man by the arm.

"That's my child; please let go!"

The voice, which shook ever so slightly, and seemed rather frail, caused the large man to immediately turned his attention to Margaret and then to the garments she was wearing, more specifically, her gloves which were holding onto his clothes.

"Ukh!"

The expression on his face shifted abruptly, and he pushed her away with a slap.

"Don't touch me with those filthy gloves!"

He dropped Kevin shortly after, as he started patting the arm in which he had been touched.

The look of utter disgust on his face became deeply etched in Kevin's mind.

Just as Kevin was about to do something, he felt something embrace him from above, and it was at that moment that he realized that his mother had already come to him and was hugging him very tightly.

Her scared yet calm voice echoed inside his ears.

"I'm sorry. My child didn't have any intentions. Is there any way we can repay you?"

"Repay me?"

The bald man looked at his shirt and looked back at her.

"Buy me a new shirt."

"O..okay, how much is that?"

With a quivering voice, Margeret took out a small purse from her pocket, her hands trembling. The scene looked oddly familiar to Kevin, who was observing.

"500U"

"5..00U?"

As soon as Margaret heard those words, the color of her face immediately began to fade, and she looked up in utter disbelief.

"What? 500U is nothing? Why are you making it seem like it's the end of the world for you?"

"Ah..well, 500U is a lot.."

"…You should've thought twice before dirtying my clothes with those hands."

When the burly man took the next step, Kevin's mother suddenly felt like she needed to hold on to Kevin even more tightly, and it was exactly what she did as wrapped her hands around him and squeezed more tightly.

For some odd reason, Kevin didn't feel any discomfort and only had one thought in mind…

'Warm.'

His mother's embrace felt so warm.

Why was that?

...Kevin wanted to understand what he was feeling, and it was at this moment that he realized something.

'Do they really have to die?'

Chapter 689: The chosen one [5]

"What, what has gotten into you?"

Margaret looked at Kevin with a helpless expression. Johnatan, who was standing beside her, also wore a similar expression.

"Kevin, you know that we need to work, right? If we can't work, we won't be able to pay our bills and continue living in this house."

Standing in front of the door of the house and blocking the two of them from leaving was Kevin, who still wore the same expressionless look on his face.

If there was one thing that was different about him, however, was that his eyes weren't as detached from reality like in the past.

Of course, this wasn't a change that Kevin was aware of as he currently stood in front of the door and stopped the two of them from leaving.

"Do not go to work today."

"...Can you tell us why?"

Rather than being angry at Kevin's behavior, the two of them bent down and caressed his head.

Kevin's face didn't change at their touch, and he repeated.

"Do not go outside today."

"Yes, we understand that you don't want us to go outside today. But is there a reason?"

Margaret asked, her face completely calm and devoid of any frustration.

The same was true for Johnatan, who sat on the ground outside the small apartment and curiously looked at Kevin.

Seeing that he had gotten their attention, Kevin didn't say anything and hugged Margaret by the neck, startling her completely.

It wasn't just her that was startled; his father, Jonathan, was also startled and also somewhat jealous.

Both of them looked at each other with bewildered expressions.

Their reactions were understandable. After all, this was the very first time in his life that Kevin showed any glimmer of affection toward the two of them, and they were naturally taken aback.

'They might listen to me if I do this...'

On the other hand, Kevin had different thoughts, as the sole reason for hugging them was to manipulate them into listening to his request.

Since he couldn't reveal to them the exact reason why they couldn't go to work today, he could only try this method, which, in all fairness, seemed to be working quite well as the two of them started hesitating about going to work.

Of course, Kevin knew that this wasn't enough for him to convince them completely.

It was hence why he reached out for his pocket and took out a 50 U banknote.

"...I found this outside."

Contrary to Kevin's expectations, the faces of the couple changed completely the moment he took out the banknote and immediately asked.

"Where did you get that from, Kevin?"

"Don't tell me that you stole it, Kevin? You know that stealing is bad, right? Although our financial situation is not good, we would rather starve than steal."

Under the barrage of questions, Kevin merely cocked his head and answered.

"I didn't steal it."

It was actually a lie. This note was, in fact, the same note from the bald guy from a while back.

When everything was said and done, and his mother handed him the money, Kevin secretly found the man and killed him, taking away all of his possessions.

For some strange reason, Kevin felt a weird emotion while he looked for the man.

It wasn't an emotion he was familiar with, but he recalled thinking that a quick death wouldn't be enough for him.

Why exactly he was feeling that way, Kevin was still unsure...but if there was one thing he was sure about, it was that the man needed to at least know who had killed him.

...and it was exactly what Kevin did once he found him.

He could still visibly recall the look of horror on the man's face as he pleaded for his life.

Unfortunately for him, Kevin didn't care at all and killed him.

In the last moments before his death, Kevin looked at him with the same expression that he had previously shown.

One of utter disgust.

"Then where did you get this from?"

Jonathan asked, his tone sounding a lot calmer than it initially was.

Lifting his head to stare at his father, Kevin answered.

"I picked it up from the ground."

This wasn't necessarily a lie. He had indeed picked up the note from the ground.

"...Are you lying to me, Kevin?"

"No."

Kevin shook his head, his face completely expressionless.

For the next minute, the two stared at each other without saying anything before Jonathan eventually sighed and stood up.

"Alright then. I trust my son. Since he is going this far to stop us from leaving, I guess I won't go to work today. Let me go give my boss a call today."

Scratching the back of his head, he left the room and went back into the house, leaving Kevin alone with his mother, who was staring back at him.

She eventually flashed a warm smile and caressed him on the head.

"Very well, Kevin. We won't go to work today."

Kevin watched as his mother stood up and headed for the kitchen. Pulling down her sleeves, she murmured aloud.

"Alright then, since we have time, I might as well make my usual soup."

"..."

For a fleeting moment, Kevin started to regret his actions. It was only a fleeting moment, however.

At the moment, he didn't want either one of his parents to die. At least, not until he understood the emotions that he was feeling.

For quite a while, they had been bugging him, and he wanted nothing more than to understand them, for they may be able to, in some way, help him defeat Jezebeth.

Turning around to stare at the wooden door of the house, Kevin thought to himself.

'Since the incident happens quite far from here, they should be safe for now.'

Back then, it happened while he was coming back from kindergarten, which was quite far from his house.

It was close to his father's job, which was why they chose to bring him there, but the distance from his house was still a couple of kilometers away.

Last he recalled, this area wasn't affected by the demon attack since it was further away from the inner city.

...At least, that was what Kevin thought.

Bang―! Bang―!

"Run! Bring Kevin somewhere safe! I'll ho―Akhhh!"

Watching his father get engulfed by flames as his body burned to a crisp right before his very eyes and feeling an arm wrap around his waist, dragging him away from his house, which was rapidly getting engulfed by the flames, Kevin felt the world around him move in slow motion as his brain stopped working for a moment.

"Shhh....Kevin, hide in here. Make sure you don't make any sound, okay?"

Clank―!

...Same scene but a different scenario.

By the time Kevin regained clarity over his mind, he was standing in front of the corpse of his mother and what little remained of his father.

He just blankly stood in front of them for who knew how long, and something warm trickled down the side of his right cheek.

Raising his hand to touch his cheek, he found that his finger had been stained by one singular tear.

Staring at his finger, Kevin mumbled.

"Why?"

***

"You want to leave the village for a day?"

It was Kevin's fourth regression, and once again, he was presented with the same scenario as in the past.

Just like his previous regressions, he died at the hands of Jezebeth. This time, however, he was able to survive the onslaught of all the demons.

Unfortunately, by the time he had killed all of them, he was already exhausted, and all it took was a single finger for Jezebeth to get rid of him.

Time rewinded, and Kevin found himself back in the past once more.

This time, he decided to approach things differently.

Thinking about his parents and how they died in his previous regressions, Kevin decided to approach things differently...he wanted to understand what he felt during his previous regression.

It was something that had been haunting him for his entire third life, and he was desperate to know the answer.

This time, Kevin decided to go directly out of the city.

By going out of the city, they would easily be able to avoid the demons.

Although Kevin was strong for his age, he was still a lot weaker than the demons. Had it not been for that, he would've done something himself about the demons.

"Why do you want to go out of the village? Is there something that's going on?"

"I want to go out. I've never been out."

Kevin flatly answered and pulled the same stunt as he did in his past life. He took out the banknote and flashed it before their eyes.

Similarly to his last life, the two of them looked startled at first when he pulled out the banknote but were able to quickly calm themselves down shortly after.

In the end, Kevin was able to achieve his goal, and his parents decided to bring him out of the city for half a day.

At this moment, they were all seated inside a large green bus.

The fare ticket for the three of them was 5U each, and in total, they spent 15U for the three of them.

Kevin gazed at the ever changing scenery outside of his window.

Reflected on the window was himself. His gaze fell on his own emotionless eyes that stared back at him, and time seem to slowly pass.

"Do you like what you see?"

It was his mother's voice that brought him out of his thoughts.

When Kevin turned his head to look at her, rather than answering her question, he asked something of his own.

"Why did you listen to my request?"

This was something that Kevin wanted to understand.

Although he had pulled out 50 U in order to convince them, he knew fairly well that they could've still chosen to go to work and delayed the trip to another day.

What he wanted to understand was why?

Why were they doing so much for him? It was really the records, wasn't it?

"Why did we listen to your request?"

Margaret seemed rather surprised by the sudden question. Meeting Kevin's line of sight, she smiled softly, and Kevin felt her hand caress his head once more.

By now, he had grown accustomed to this gesture of hers.

"Love is when one puts the needs of someone else before their own. Putting your needs above mine, is how I show you that I love you. Isn't that what every mother should do?"

'Love? Putting the needs of someone else before their own?'

Kevin blinked his eyes a couple of times, finding it difficult to understand exactly what she was trying to convey.

At the same time, Kevin felt that he got closer to the answer that he had been seeking, only that...

Creaaaaaa― Booom―!

Out of nowhere, the bus swerved toward the right before flipping over its head. Glass shattered, and the bus continued to roll on itself five more times.

By the time the bus stopped rolling, silence swept the surroundings, and Kevin looked around him, his ears ringing constantly.

"Mother? Father?"

The first thing that Kevin did when the situation stabilized was to look for his parents. Only for him to be shocked to see them lying on the ground without a single breath.

Kevin didn't need to look to understand that they were dead...

Throb!

When Kevin looked at the bodies of his mother and father, for some reason, he had the sensation that something heavy was pressing down on his chest.

...It hurt.

But before anything else, why did they die again?

At the same time, he also recalled the scene in which the man exported them 500 U, an eerely similar number to the one exported by the woman in the kindergarten in his first regression.

Was it a coincidence?

Chapter 690: The chosen one [6]

'Why did it happen again?'

While sitting on the curb in front of the bus with a perplexed expression on his face, Kevin mused to himself about the situation.

Why did they die again?

He did everything that he was supposed to do.

He didn't go toward the inner city and lead his parents away from home, yet, they still died.

This time by a road accident.

The demons weren't even responsible for their deaths.

Kevin's gaze lifted toward the clouds in the sky. Staring at the clouds that were moving ever so slowly in the sky, he had a sudden thought.

'...I wanted to spend more time with them.'

***

Bang―!

"Watch out, Kevin!"

Once more, Kevin watched as his parents threw their bodies over to protect him. This time, their bodies were completely severed in half, and blood spilt all over Kevin.

The expressions of helplessness and anguish that they displayed just prior to passing away left an indelible mark on his mind as he could only watch them die in front of him.

Crash―!

"Get behind me, Kevin!"

Booom―!

"Ahhhh!"

Unbeknownst to him, the same events kept happening over and over again with each and every one of his regressions.

Before Kevin even realized it, he had reached his twentieth regression, and for the twentieth time, both of his parents had passed away right before his very eyes.

This time, it was due to an explosion that occurred outside of the city.

'...Why?'

Kevin never managed to muster the required strength to come to the aid of his mother and father, no matter how many times he tried. Each time, they would suffer a horrible death, and he would be left all by himself once more.

The heaviness in his heart, which had been barely noticeable at first, became increasingly obvious with each and every one of his regressions, and it intensified with the passing of his parents in all of the regressions.

Over the course of those twenty regressions, he would have an immeasurably better chance of defeating Jezebeth, but despite his best efforts, he continued to fall short in every single one of his endeavours.

Kevin understood that it was only a matter of time before he could beat Jezebeth.

Be it one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand, one hundred thousand, or a million regressions...

Kevin had all the time in the world to accumulate experience and become stronger.

Jezebeth was still ahead of him by quite a lot, but Kevin knew that his time would come very soon.

...In those times, with each regression, he would spend more and more time with his parents. By the time the twentieth regression happened, he had spent at least a century of his life with them.

He pretty much knew them like the back of his hand.

...and it was because of this that he found it more difficult to part ways with them every five years since his birth.

After each of their deaths, he would experience a sharp pain, and the colour that had been slowly developing in his vision would slowly fade away.

This cruel cycle would continue indefinitely, with no means of stopping.

It was their fate.

"Ahhhh! I'm over here, you bastards! Come and get me if you can!"

"Don't forget about me! Go away!"

As Kevin watched his parents yell and scream at the top of their lungs, doing their best to divert the attention of the demon away from him, Kevin's chest began to feel as if it were being crushed under an enormous weight.

'Why? ...Why?'

He repeatedly wondered inside of his mind, his eyes drawn toward the scenes in the distance.

'Love is when one puts the needs of someone else before their own. Putting your needs above mine is how I show you that I love you. Isn't that what every mother should do?'

The words that Kevin's mother had told him during his fourth regression rang in Kevin's head, even though they were barely audible.

Tears began to form in the corners of his eyes, trickling down the side of his cheek before softly landing on the hard ground beneath him.

...and it was during this time that he finally better understood the meaning of his mother's words.

Extending his hand forward toward where his parents were, Kevin murmured.

"Don't go..."

Don't leave me.

*

Many years later.

Ashton City, Lock Library

Kevin's hand came to a stop near a particular word as he paged through a book about human emotions.

Loneliness; the state of being alone and feeling sad about it. Loneliness causes people to feel empty, alone, and unwanted. People who are lonely often crave human contact, but their state of mind makes it more difficult to form connections with other people.

A candle cast a dim light on the area around him, and he traced his finger across the definition that was in front of him with a light touch.

For some reason, he felt that the words strangely resonated with him.

He didn't quite get it, but ever since the passing of his parents, he had the impression that the world, which seemed already to be devoid of meaning to him, had taken on an even more hollow quality.

His goal had always been to better understand the sensations he was feeling.

By now, he was about 600 years old if one counted all of the regressions.

Over the course of all that time, the sensation of emptiness that was eating away at his body gradually became worse, to the point where every breath felt suffocating.

It was also why he was now in the library.

It was so that he could better understand what he was feeling and find an answer to it.

Kevin flipped the book over and looked at the cover of the book.

[R.W. Johnson's guide to human emotion]

'It was a mistake for the records to have birthed me as a human.'

Kevin thought, staring at the book in front of him and gently placing his hand over it.

The root of all of his problems at the moment was his identity. The identity of a human. A social being that thrived on what was known as emotions.

Initially, Kevin believed that he would never be forced to deal with such pointless issues; however, as more time passed and regressions took place, Kevin realized that he was not an exception to the natural biological system of the being known as a human.

He was aware that the fleeting sensations that he experienced in the immediate aftermath of the passing of his parents were classified as emotions.

...and he understood that he could not run away from them.

Regardless of how much he might try to distance himself from the world or ignore whatever was happening around him, like the death of his parents or his own death, the biological system that he was born with was directly influencing his own thoughts and actions.

It was this realization that made Kevin realize that he could no longer ignore the issue at hand.

He had to better understand this so called thing known as emotion.

Clank―!

Kevin got out of his chair and grabbed the book that was on the table in front of him.

"Hm?"

He was on the verge of turning around to return the book when he suddenly became aware of a faint light off in the distance.

'There was someone else here?'

It was approximately three in the morning, and it was very strange to see someone still in the library at that time.

Especially when considering that exam season has already passed.

Kevin, upon turning around, saw a young, skinny man with jet-black hair covering the front of his face.

His face was currently glued to a large book, and beside him was a stack of books.

[Demon anatomy]

[What to watch out for from a demon]

[Incurable curses and what is known about them]

Kevin unknowingly found himself staring at the books that were piled up in front of the young man.

In spite of the fact that his hair was covering his face, it was obvious that the young man was showing signs of anxiety, given the rapidity with which he was turning the pages of the books and the low mutterings that he was making.

"Mind breaker curse... Mind breaker curse... where is it? ...where is it? ...There must be a way ...There has to be a way... I..."

"Are you looking for the cure to the mind breaker curse."

Kevin asked, stopping in front of the young man and startling him out of his seat.

"Eh, ah!"

Clank―!

The seat in front of him fell back and hit the floor, resulting in a deafening crash. It was a good thing the librarian wasn't around because nothing good would've come of it.

However, the young man's expression changed dramatically the moment his eyes landed on Kevin, nearly unable to hide his shock.

"You...you're Kevin Voss."

"You know me?"

"...Of course I know you. We're in the same class, and you're the first ranked in our year."

"Oh."

Kevin nodded his head in understanding. To be honest, he had never paid much attention to those in his class, so he was unaware of who the youth in front of him was.

After all, this was the first time that he had actually gone to the Lock, despite his past regressions.

He had never felt the need to go to the Lock in the past, which is why he had never gone there.

However, after observing that his previous strategies were unsuccessful, he made the decision to use this opportunity to try something new and different.

"...Did I perhaps bother you? Is this why you came to me?"

The young man carefully picked up the chair and rearranged it in its original position.

He never made a single attempt to meet Kevin's line of sight and instead kept his gaze lowered, acting almost submissively in front of him.

Kevin's reaction to his actions was to tilt his head slightly, as he was perplexed as to why exactly he would behave in the manner in which he did; however, his focus eventually returned to the books that were laid out on the table.

He pointed at them.

"You were mumbling something about the mind-breaker curse... are you trying to find a cure for it?"

"Ehp!"

The young man flinched the moment he heard Kevin's words.

Ignoring his odd behaviour, Kevin already had an idea of what was going on and bluntly stated.

"There is no way for you to cure whoever you're trying to cure. The cure cannot be found on earth."

"There's a cure?"

The young man inched closer to Kevin while slightly parting his hair and revealing a pair of deep blue eyes.

"...Yes, but not on earth."

"That's enough for me."

The young man scratched the side of his neck, revealing a few red scars and crusts in the process. It was obvious that the young man had been scratching the same area repeatedly, over and over again, in the past.

His subsequent actions, which included moving around, were even more peculiar after that. As he fixed his gaze on Kevin, the anxiety that was already visible on his face became even more pronounced.

At the same time, his hands, which were hidden beneath the blue cardigan that he was wearing, grabbed Kevin by the shoulder.

"You... what is the name of the cure? Tell me... I... "

"Let go of me."

Kevin grabbed the young man's hands, which had been pressing against his shoulders, and pulled them away from him while staring him down with a chilly expression.

"What's the point of me telling you this piece of information? Even if you do know, you're never going to be able to get it. Give u―"

"No...no, no...you don't understand... I need to know... I need to know..."

Kevin was in the middle of a sentence when he was interrupted by the young man who made his desperation obvious.

Kevin quickly realized that there was no point in attempting to reason with the young man who stood in front of him.

"I..if you tell me... I will help you with anything you ask me to... please."

Just as Kevin was about to refuse him again, he had a sudden thought. Feeling the book in his hand, he looked at the young man in front of him and asked.

"You... what's your name?"

"My name?"

The young man looked up, exposing his deep blue eyes and frail face. Opening his mouth, he mumbled.

"Ren... It's Ren...Dover..."

Chapter 691: The chosen one [7]

"Are my words bringing back memories to you?"

It was Jezebeth's words that coaxed Kevin out of his thoughts and back into the present. When he raised his head, he looked directly into Jezebeth's eyes.

"How much do you know?"

Kevin asked, his eyes losing focus every so slightly.

"Not much."

Jezebeth replied, walking around the patch of grass he was on.

"My recollections are rather disorganized. Only fragments of the past remain in my memory. Many times, I recall beating you. I recall the various methods I used to defeat you...but I do not recall the exact events that transpired."

Jezebeth's feet came to a sudden pause, and his head turned.

"...Of course, this is due to the fact that I have not yet amassed every fragment. Once I've collected each and every one of them, I'll naturally remember everything."

"I see..."

Kevin blankly stared at Jezebeth and slowly closed his eyes. No one knew what was on his mind at the moment.

Slowly, he opened his eyes and stared directly at Jezebeth.

"...So the reason why you called for me is just for this?"

"No, no, no."

Jezebeth waved his hands in the air.

Even though his actions were a little over the top, Kevin felt uneasy around him.

Jezebeth exuded an air of calm and self-assurance, which gave the impression that he had everything under control at all times...and Kevin's countless regressions had proven that this was the case the majority of the time.

Of course, things were different this time.

Jezebeth continued.

"Not really the reason I called you here. I've just been wondering. If the records are your enemy, why don't you just work with me? ... Why don't you just allow me to consume the earth and access the records? I can put an end to them for you. If that is your objective."

Kevin merely smiled at Jezebeth before lowering his head and murmuring.

"...You wouldn't understand."

"What wouldn't I understand?"

Jezebeth asked, the smile on his face fading.

"Tell me precisely what I would not comprehend. From what I can tell, your objective is the records. The same applies to me. If we work together, we will easily be able to get to the records. Once we reach them, I will assist you in defeating them. What wouldn't I understand?"

"Heh..."

Kevin let out a soft chuckle, and Jezebeth's face became expressionless.

"You think I'm capable of beating the records? Me? The being that was created by the records?"

Kevin shook his head and waved his hand in the air as the world around him began to disintegrate slightly.

The mountains, the clear blue sky, the mountains...it seemed as though everything was beginning to shatter like glass, including Jezebeth, who did not move from the spot where he was standing.

"Since you've already figured out almost everything. I'm sure you know that it's not possible for me to fight the records. You should know full well that I was born to obey the records, and regardless of whatever happens, that will never change."

It was common knowledge that a puppet couldn't fight its own master.

Regardless of whether Kevin hated the records or wanted to fight them, it was impossible for him to do that.

It was against his very nature, and betrayal would only lead to the destruction of his existence.

"...I can't defeat what controls me, and I know that you know that."

Kevin retracted his hand briefly before turning around and raising it once more. A dazzling white glow materialized on his arm and completely enveloped it.

"This was all that I needed to know to prove my hypothesis."

However, just as he was about to completely shatter the illusion he was in, he heard a couple of faint words coming from Jezebeth's direction.

Kevin redirected his attention toward him and began to formulate his response. However, just as he was about to open his mouth to respond, his eyes stopped on a spot right behind Jezebeth, and for a split second, his face tensed.

"Wha―"

Jezebeth smiled at Kevin as he extended his hand in front of him and then slowly closed it into a fist.

"There's no need to be shocked. I'm sure 'he' will be even more shocked than you, but that doesn't matter. Our time together is over, and I found out everything that I wanted to know."

Crash―!

Before Kevin could even finish his sentence, the world around him shattered into a million pieces.

"You better take care of your body. It'd be a pity if you died before I even made it to earth."

Kevin was only able to hear those words for a moment before he was whisked away and found himself back in his office.

"Cough...Cough...Cough..."

It was at that point that he once more began violently coughing, and blood once more began to spill all over the floor, splattering all over the gray carpet beneath him.

As the excruciating pain that had been radiating through his chest continued to intensify, he had no choice but to get down on one knee and support himself by placing his arm over the wooden desk that was next to him.

'Shit...'

He was suffering from the consequences of his decision to use the Akashic laws, despite the state that his body was in.

Nearly half of Kevin's organs had failed, and if it weren't for the thin layer of mana that was still circulating through his body and into those organs, Kevin would have died right there and then.

"Blergh."

Coughing eventually led to him vomiting, and the floor was soon splattered with even more blood. The world began to spin, and Kevin's vision gradually darkened.

Thankfully, Kevin was able to hang on to the last bit of sanity he had and managed to keep his balance before collapsing to the ground with his back resting against the wooden frame of his desk.

Lowering his head, Kevin's vision spun, and his eyes drifted toward his hands, which were trembling uncontrollably.

'...I don't have much time left.'

***

The aftermath of the conflict that took place between Suriol and Ren was not a pretty sight. The sky was pitch black, and the surface lands were demolished; large swaths of the ground were pitted with craters and radiated with residual demonic energy.

The decaying bodies of the fallen soldiers were still lying on the ground, where they had been left, even though it had been weeks since the battle had ended.

A rancid and sulfurous odor persisted in the air, permeating a significant portion of Immorra's landscape, which was currently dead silent.

Not a single living creature was in sight.

C..crack―!

The tranquility and silence of the world were abruptly shattered in one of the secluded parts of Immorra by a disruption in the sky, which was followed by the sudden appearance of a gate in the middle of the iky.

It was from this gate that two demons emerged.

Their auras―which completely engulfed the region that encircled them―created a further imbalance in the world as the demonic energy in the air suddenly started to shift in their direction.

As one of the demons surveyed the surface of the world, a voice that was both raspy and ominous reverberated through the air.

"...What happened over here?"

"It appears that a major battle has broken out."

"Big would be an understatement."

The demonic beings touched down softly on the surface of the scorched earth.

The moment their feet touched the ground, one of the demons knelt down on one knee and ran his long, slender finger along the surface of the scorched earth.

The demon pinched a piece of earth and brought it close to his nose in order to catch a whiff of it.

Sniff. Sniff.

After catching a whiff of the earth, the granulated earth fell from his fingers, and the demon slowly stood up.

"According to the residual demonic energy that is still present on the ground, the battle took place about two weeks ago, which is roughly the same time that we stopped communicating with Duke Suriol. The one in charge of overseeing this small planet."

"...From the looks of things, the battle ended in the orcs' favour. Or, more like, they both were killed."

The other demon muttered, his brows slowly contorting into a deep frown as he wondered.

"How is that possible?"

They naturally went through the motions of reading the report about the condition of Immorra before coming here.

According to what they knew, it was absolutely impossible for the orcs to triumph over the demons in battle.

Their forces were too few, and they had no Duke ranked prospects.

"It's obvious. They had someone to help them."

The other demon replied, his voice turning more sinister and his eyes gleaming with a dangerous light.

"This is not something that the orcs are even remotely capable of accomplishing. They were successful in obtaining assistance from a third party in some inexplicable way."

After lowering himself once more to the ground and picking up some dirt from the ground while allowing it to run down his fingers, the demon briefly closed his eyes, and his voice deepened.

"I can feel the presence of some residual mana within the soil...it's faint, but the power contained within is immeasurable...I can definitely see how a Duke Suriol would lose to it...."

The demon's eyes opened very gradually as he watched the last grain of earth fall from his fingers.

Before issuing a command in a chilly tone, he looked at the other demon and slowly combed his long, pink hair behind his head.

"Report the findings to the lord. I'll take a look around the world. I'll trace the mana around the world and see where he has been. I have a feeling that I'll find something very interesting soon enough."

Fwap―!

The demon's wings suddenly spread out behind his back, casting a significant shadow over the region directly in front of him.

The next instant, with the beat of his wings, a sound that sounded similar to a flap of the bedsheet echoed, and the ground beneath him began to split apart.

An afterimage of the demon was left behind.

It was a process that took several seconds, but eventually the afterimage of the demon dissapeared, leaving nothing in its wake...and the world turned silent.

Chapter 692: Melandoir [1]

"All the mana compressors have been placed as you have ordered. We are now waiting for the next set of instructions."

Hemlock appeared emotionless as he sat on his throne and stared ahead.

His attention was drawn to the empty space in front of him, where a black circular sphere was displaying a number of different scenarios simultaneously.

The space around him warped, and he opened his mouth.

"Have you done as I've asked? While you were installing the mana compressors, have you been vigilant for any creatures or animals that may have been hiding nearby?"

"Yes."

A black man with a fierce scar running through his face responded to the question while kneeling on one knee and wearing all black.

"We have, as you've suggested, pretended not to notice them. What should we now do? Should we alter the placement of the mana compressors?"

"No."

Hemlock shook his head.

His gaze began to wander in the direction of the mana compressors that were depicted in the void projections that were in front of him.

"Keep the mana compressors as they are, and don't let the little animals die. Make sure to be oblivious to them."

"As you wish."

The reply came from the individual dressed in all black, and then he vanished from the scene, exiting the grand hall, which was at that time occupied by sixteen different people.

Everyone was looking wearily at Hemlock, whose expression did not change at all despite the extremely solemn and chilly atmosphere that permeated every inch of the hall.

Without waiting for anyone to say anything, Hemlock opened his mouth to speak.

"I'd like an elder to make their way to each of the mana compressors. Alliance members will likely soon make their way to the mana compressors with the intention of destroying them. I would like for you to ambush them when they are least expecting it."

"..."

"..."

His words were met with silence, and the temperature in the room suddenly dropped to an extremely low level.

Hemlock, who had become aware of the palpable lack of conversation in the space, looked around at the various occupants of the room without making a sound.

"...I understand that you are all wary after what happened not too long ago, but I assure you. It will not happen again. Their sacrifices were for a greater cause."

Once again, the hall fell into silence.

Hemlock's eyes sharpened at the sight, and he slowly stood up.

His gaze lingered over each and every one of the figures that were currently seated on their respective thrones, and as it did so, a potent aura started to emerge from his body.

He opened his mouth again.

This time, his tone was a lot more threatening.

"I'll rephrase myself. I will spare your life if you make yourself useful and listen to my orders..."

As his aura continued to expand, the pressure that was already permeating the room started to expand as well, making it increasingly difficult to breathe for those who were present.

"...So long as the Monolith finds you useful, you should anticipate being spared. Mo Jinhao and his companions had long served their cause and were no longer of any use. You can count your blessings in retrospect. I could have chosen any one of you to sacrifice yourself for the cause...but I didn't. Why, you ask?"

Hemlock licked his lips slightly.

"The answer is rather simple. It's because you were lucky enough to still be useful for the cause."

If the tension in the room had been relatively low when they had entered, it was now at an all-time high as absolute silence prevailed throughout the expansive halls of the Monolith.

Fearing that they would incur Hemlock's wrath, no one dared to utter a single word, let alone breathe loudly.

At this very moment, the fate of their lives was in his hands.

They had only recently discovered that the chip that had been implanted in their heads contained a potent explosive device that would kill them instantly.

'I knew that there was something with the chip from the very beginning.'

Clementine Manual, one of the elders of the Monolith, muttered to himself, his gaze coldly lingering over Hemlock's body.

Regarding the chip in their heads, not having it was really not an option for them.

They were instructed by the demons with whom they were contracted to obey Hemlock's every command without uttering a single word about it.

Clearly, this was something that was far beyond their control.

If not even the demons they had contracts with could do anything, it was obvious that someone with an unfathomable amount of power was controlling everything from behind.

The only thing they could do at the moment was lower their heads and follow orders.

...They had no choice but to.

***

"How's it going?"

As soon as I emerged from my own training room, the first thing I did was make my way to Ryan's room, where everyone was congregating and staring at the large screens in the front.

On the screen, there were a number of strange objects that appeared to be funnelling the mana in the air and causing some kind of dense black fog to be released into the atmosphere.

"Looks like you guys have located all of the mana compressors."

Familiar with the objects and was able to recognize them immediately.

"You're finally out."

Ryan unenthusiastically said, his face a couple of inches away from the screens.

"Don't lean in too closely. It's bad for your eyes."

Ava said, standing beside him with an arm outstretched and a couple of birds perched on top.

Ryan turned around and pointed at his eyes.

"It's fine. I've already had surgery on my eyes. They won't get any worse by the blue light."

"...You do you."

Ava rolled her eyes and cocked her head ever-so-slightly as one of the birds moved up her arm and chirped inside her ear.

Her expression quickly changed, and she looked at me.

"Approximately eight mana compressors are concealed within the outskirts of Ashton City, slowly releasing demonic energy into the atmosphere. If this continues, the entire city will become engulfed in demonic energy, and the Monolith's forces will have an advantage when they invade the city."

"Hmm..."

While I was listening to her report, the brows between my eyes began to furrow slightly.

'This is getting troublesome'

The fact that contractees were able to simultaneously wield demonic energy and mana was the primary factor that made them so scary to face.

The spread of demonic energy into the atmosphere would give the forces of the Monolith a significant boost in strength, which would put the alliance in a disadvantageous position.

"We need to get rid of the compressors as soon as possible. If they stay, it is highly likely that they will cause trouble further down the lines."

It was a stroke of good fortune that, with Ryan and Ava's assistance, I had eyes over the majority of the human domain.

Because they were both working for me, I was able to keep an eye on everything at all times, and as a result, I knew the exact location of each mana compressor.

"Are you suggesting that we get ready? I'm sure Liam would love to have a go."

Leopold, who had been silent up until this point, finally opened his mouth.

He was sitting on the sofa at the end of the room with his legs crossed.

"I'm not saying this for his sake, but for Hein's sake. I haven't seen that guy without a black eye ever since we returned from Immorra. I'm sort of feeling for him."

"...And whose fault do you think this is?"

Ava's brow raised, glancing at him from the corner of her eyes.

"You have no right to talk when you're one of the reasons why he is in the state that he is."

"Keum...I stopped...I stopped..."

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Leopold looked away from Ava.

The sight caused me to shake my head, and just as I was about to say something, Ryan's voice reverberated through the room.

"I'd hold off on the operation for now. I have a bad feeling about this."

"What do you mean?"

I turned to look at Ryan, and I moved a little bit closer to him.

I observed Ryan's expression, which revealed that he was currently frowning deeply as he stared intently at the screens in front of him.

More specifically, the area around the mana compressors.

"Things seem to be a little bit too easy. Take a look at the screens."

He pointed at the screens with his finger.

"As you probably already know, we are currently observing the movements of the Monolith through the cameras installed in the animals that Ava controls. Although I don't believe the Monolith will care much about a few rats and birds scurrying about, the fact that none of them did anything or even noticed the animals despite being in such a restricted area is somewhat suspicious..."

"Hmm...you have a point."

I rubbed the bottom of my chin, deeply contemplating over Ryan's words.

Indeed, if things were as Ryan said, then the situation was certainly suspicious. Was the Monolith perhaps trying to set up a trap?

Creating the illusion that they were unaware that we were watching them and then luring us into the area before springing an ambush on us with a powerful force?

If that were really the case, then it would be extremely dangerous.

There was just one thing that made me question whether this was really the case.

My head turned to face Ava's direction.

"How many people are aware of your abilities? Apart from Issanor, I don't think anyone should be aware of your new skills, right?"

"Apart from you guys, no one else should know."

Ava answered, her voice exuding confidence.

I shifted my attention back to the monitors and mumbled.

"...Then maybe we're just overthinking things?"

"I hope so."

Ryan replied, reclining in his chair and closing his eyes.

Opening them up again, he mumbled.

"It might just be me overthinking things, but I don't want to take any risks. If things truly turned out to be this way, then I fear that..."

Everyone in the room understood what Ryan was trying to convey even before he finished his sentence, and the atmosphere quickly became tense as a result.

"You guys don't have to worry too much."

I patted Ryan's chair, looking at everyone in the room.

With the edges of my lips curling slightly, my voice softened.

"We won't personally be going to the mana compressors. As I've said before, we won't move for at least a couple more months."

I removed my hand from the chair's top before making my way out of the room.

"Ryan, go tell this information to Kevin. Tell him about your findings, and also tell him about this being a possible trap."

"...Are you sure?"

"Yeah, our job is to just stay put for now. Like I've said before, enjoy your time with your family while it lasts."

I reached out and grabbed the door handle, and then I carefully retracted it.

"Keep up the good work."

Clank―!

The door behind me closed, and my feet came to a sudden stop.

Standing a few centimetres from the door, I raised my hand and smiled bitterly while staring at it.

'If not for the fact that I'm in no state to fight, I would've certainly loved to go directly.'

What the others did not know was that my strength had dropped all the way from <SS-> rank to <S> in the previous month as I attempted to adapt to the demonic blood within my body.

Obviously, this was not permanent, as I had sealed off portions of my body to prevent myself from going insane from the demonic blood that was running rampant inside of my body.

I could unseal the seals whenever I wanted, but I couldn't guarantee my own sanity if that were to happen.

This was why I needed to wait three months before moving.

"Haa...maybe, I was a bit too impulsive with my decision."

I silently shook my head before heading back to the training room.

For now, all I could do was train and try my best to control the demonic blood inside of my body.

It was all I could do at this moment...

Chapter 693: Melandoir [2]

"Ukh."

The moment that I turned away from the others and moved myself to another room, my whole body started to shake, and my vision twisted.

Everything around me became a crimson colour, and I felt a weird itch pulse from the area in the middle of my chest.

All sorts of different emotions started to surface in my mind, and the muscles on my face twitched uncontrollably.

Although I couldn't see myself in the mirror, I was sure that I was smiling, frowning, crying, and displaying all sorts of faces.

"Kh...This is a lot more difficult than I thought."

This was one of the side effects of assimilating demonic blood into my body.

I was no longer a human but a half-demon of sorts. As such, I was experiencing the cravings that the demons had.

That wasn't the only change that I saw.

In my field of vision, the psyons in the air kept disappearing and reappearing, and in their place were thin black orbs that were drawn in my direction.

It was none other than demonic energy.

'It's starting...'

Before I took the blood and began to assimilate with it, both Suriol and Angelica forewarned me about the first obstacle I would face.

'Mind erosion'

The stage at which a person will feel an increase in the intensity of all of their feelings.

Be it happiness, sadness, or anger...all emotions would see a significant boost, and only by passing this first hurdle would one know that they were able to merge their blood with demonic blood.

"Huuuu..."

I took a deep breath, and the seals that I had placed inside my body started to glow.

My face immediately returned to its normal state, and the demonic blood that had been raging inside of me immediately calmed down.

'I'm glad I placed the seals inside of my body.'

I had not yet progressed beyond the beginning stages of mind erosion. At this moment, my mind was still clear.

I knew that my mind was not in a state to take in such a significant quantity of demonic energy, which was why I had placed the seals inside of my body.

Even without the influence of demonic energy, I was only a hair's breadth away from losing all semblance of rationality.

The seals weren't there to help me absorb the demonic energy but rather to protect me.

"...I need to carefully think about my next steps of action."

I leaned against the wall of the room.

Having my rank drop back to <S> rank wasn't exactly desirable.

Although I could get my normal strength back, there was a high risk that the demonic blood contained in me would go rampant, and I would end up going crazy.

This wasn't something that I wanted.

If that were to truly happen, then I would be as good as dead, as my consciousness would pretty much disappear.

'I need to find a way to suppress my desires while keeping my strength in check.'

The question was, how?

How exactly would I find a way to keep my head clear at all times while under the influence of the demonic energy inside of my body?

If absorbing demonic blood was the price to pay for power, then I was more than willing to make the same decision again despite the fact that I was already aware that doing so would cause me to face a great deal of difficulty in the future.

There were now fewer than two years left until the seal that Jezebeth placed inside my body would break, resulting in my death.

Since I wasn't planning on killing Kevin and the other me was sealed, the only thing I could do at the moment was waiting for my inevitable death.

...But I wasn't satisfied with this.

Despite the fact that I had reconciled the fact that my life would come to an end at some point, I desired to do so on my own terms.

Not determined by someone else, especially not the very being that took the life of Smallsnake.

Even if I did end up dying, he had to die with me.

'Well, preferably, I don't want to die.'

*

"What are you planning on doing next?"

Amanda and I were currently riding in the car together. It turned out that she had come all the way out from the main office to pick me up in her car.

Naturally, she was not the one behind the wheel; a designated driver who was a member of the Demon Hunter guild was the one driving.

It was a perk of being the daughter of the largest guild in the human domain, and all I was doing was sponging off of her success.

Although I had the financial means to pay for my own driver and I was familiar with the road, I chose to exploit Amanda for transportation rather than hire my own.

It just hit differently.

"...To be honest, I'm not too sure."

My gaze was transfixed by the constantly shifting landscape that could be seen through the window.

I had a clear idea of what I wanted to do, but I was stumped as to how I could actually achieve that one objective.

The other version of myself was useless because it refused to communicate with me in any way, shape, or form, and the memories that were contained within my head were no longer as trustworthy as they once were.

...Not that they had anything on what I wanted.

After all, the path I was taking was one that the other me had never taken.

From the creation of a new art that was entirely mine to the fact that I was gradually injecting demonic blood into my body... The path I was taking was fraught with danger, and it was one that no one had ever taken before.

Some might say that I was crazy and that I had lost my mind...and they were probably right.

But I had no choice.

It was either do this or wait for my death, which is expected to occur within the next year and a half.

"Have you tried contacting Kevin?"

"Him?"

I turned my head to look at Amanda.

"Why would he--"

I stopped halfway through my sentence.

My eyes slowly widened as a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

'The current Kevin isn't the Kevin that I know.'

The previous iteration of Kevin had a reputation for being a pushover and a justice-obsessed fanatic, but the current Kevin was not like that at all.

He underwent a total transformation in every aspect.

In the past, I had no trouble understanding what he was thinking about.

It was as if he were an open book.

...but all of that had changed ever since two years ago.

He was no longer someone I could use to my advantage by manipulating or deceiving him into lending me a hand.

The current iteration of Kevin was someone about whom I had no prior knowledge, and I found it difficult to get a read on him.

In a way, he was like a complete stranger to me.

I wasn't going to tell a lie and pretend that our relationship was exactly the same as it had been in the past, but it was undeniably still present.

Perhaps...

Perhaps he does, in fact, have some information that could be of use to me.

"Amanda, you're a genius."

"...I am?"

"Mhm."

I surprised Amanda by leaning my body toward where she was and kissing her directly, which resulted in her dropping the tablet that she was holding and her eyes opening very wide.

Her fists hit me on the shoulders as her eyes darted toward the front driver.

A smirk spread across my face when I noticed her action and pushed her down.

"!!"

Her face paled completely, and I looked down at her, tracing my thumb over the side of my lips.

"Would you look at how the tables have turned..."

***

Ding―!

Kevin was startled out of his activity when his phone made a low-pitched chime and rang.

"Who is it?"

Kevin owned two phones.

A private one that was for those that were close to him, and a working one that was made for his current job, the alliance leader.

Noting that the phone that rang was his private one, Kevin reached out with his hand and turned the phone.

[Ren : Kevin, do you have time? I have something that I want to discuss with you. It's rather important, so if possible, I'd like it if it were jn ykur office.]

Kevin's brows furrowed slightly upon reading the message.

Auto correct had clearly failed in the last part of the message, but he was nonetheless able to understand what he was trying to convey.

'He wants to talk to me about something important?'

Spelling aside, Kevin found the situation to be rather unexpected.

He knew that he would eventually get in touch with Ren, but he hadn't anticipated that it would happen so quickly.

What exactly did he want to talk about?

Was he still unsettled about the changes he underwent, or was it for something entirely different?

Kevin briefly played with his phone before turning his attention to the calendar on his desk and bringing it close to him.

"First, I need to check if I have time to meet him."

The past few weeks had been quite busy, and he wasn't exactly looking for Emma to reprimand him for postponing a meeting.

He thus decided to see if he could fit an hour or so into the upcoming days.

"Oh, looks like I can do that for tomorrow."

With a stroke of luck, he was able to find a nice slot for tomorrow.

He didn't think twice about replying to Ren's message as his fingers glided across his phone screen.

[Kevin : I'm free tomorrow for thirty minutes, starting from 14:35. Take it or leave it. The next time I'll be free will be in two weeks.]

Ding―!

[Ren : Take it.]

He didn't have to wait long for a reply, as he got it within an instant after sending the message.

Reading the message, he set the phone down and picked up his work phone.

"Emma, do me a favour. Make sure that no one bothers me tomorrow at 14:35. Ren will be coming to discuss something with me..."

Chapter 694: Melandoir [3]

Knock―! Knock―!

"Come in."

After hearing a knock on the door, Kevin turned his head to look up as Ren entered the study.

The moment that Kevin laid eyes on Ren, a peculiar expression emerged on his face.

Ignoring the look that Kevin was giving him, with his eyes curiously wandering around the room, Ren sat on one of the sofas and crossed his legs.

"Making yourself feel at home?"

"...It's a nice place "

Ren replied, his eyes still wandering around the room

Unable to remain silent, Kevin opened his mouth to speak. How could he not when Ren entered the room with an enormous black eye?

"...What happened to your e―"

"Don't speak about it."

Ren cut him off, his bottom lip twitching.

"I fell down the stairs."

"Oh."

Kevin nodded, pretending to fall for his bullshit.

'As if someone would believe an <S> ranker can fall down the stairs.'

Dropping his pen on the table and leaning back in his chair, he crossed his arms together and asked.

"What did you want to talk to me about? You are well aware of how hectic my schedule has become since I took over as leader of the Alliance. I have at most thirty minutes to talk with you."

"...Right, you're indeed a busy man."

Ren withdrew his gaze from the surrounding area and turned his attention back to Kevin.

After pausing for a brief period of reflection, he opened his mouth and began to speak.

"I'll be frank with you. I need your help."

"With what?"

"Information."

"Oh?"

Kevin raised his brow, curious as to what Ren's request would be.

'Information...What exactly does he want to know?'

It was an unusual occurrence for Ren to request information from him. He was typically the guy that knew it all.

It shows how desperate he must have been for him to even consider asking him for information.

After all, he had the memories of hundreds of different regressions.

"Shoot, I'm all ears. What is it that you want to know?"

As long as Ren did not ask for any private or confidential information that he was unable to disclose, Kevin didn't see why he wouldn't help Ren.

After all, he was still his best friend.

"Rather than telling you, I'll show you."

Ren shifted his weight back in the chair before suddenly raising his arm.

At this precise instant, the room began to tremble ever-so-slightly, and dark scales began to develop on

"Huh?"

Kevin abruptly sat up straight.

His eyes immediately widened, and his previously unruffled expression underwent a dramatic transformation.

"This..."

On the surface of Ren's skin, a dark colour began to emerge, pulsating with such intensity that it spread to every nook and cranny of the room.

With each passing second that Ren continued, the pressure that was already present in the room became even more intense, and Kevin, who could no longer take it, stood up.

"What have you done, Ren?!"

Kevin's eyes were wide open and were concentrating on Ren's arm, which had become completely covered in black scales at that point.

As soon as Kevin yelled, the phenomenon that was occurring around the room came to an end, and the demonic energy that had been lingering in the air vanished.

At the same time, the scales that were on Ren's arm began to slowly recede back.

Ren lowered his arm and looked up at Kevin, his smile bitter.

"...I don't think I need to explain myself. You should already be aware of what I've done."

"You..."

Kevin was at a loss for words as he looked at Ren. He was honestly speechless.

In spite of having recovered most of his memories, and despite thinking that he had seen it all, Ren did not fail him in bringing him a surprise.

Slumping down on his chair, the chair slid a couple of centimetres back, and Kevin raised his head to look at the ceiling before covering his eyes with his arm.

"...I can't believe you would do something as crazy as mixing demonic blood within your body...what in the world made you think that that was a good idea?"

Kevin muttered in a low tone, his voice still filled with utter disbelief.

He was having trouble trying to make heads or tails of the situation.

"I didn't have much of a choice."

Ren, on the other hand, appeared comparatively calm, anticipating Kevin's response from the very beginning and leaning back in his chair.

"You know...when one only has two more years to live, they tend to do things that they would normally not do for the sake of preventing their inevitable death...well, at least for me, it's mostly like that."

Kevin opened up his palm and peered at Ren from the gap in his fingers.

"I've already resigned myself to die one day...I just wanted to die after I accomplished what I wanted to accomplish...and for that, I needed strength."

Ren leaned in close to Kevin as he looked at him intently, and his tone of voice became very serious.

"Kevin, I need your help. I know that you're not the same Kevin that I know ...but fundamentally, you're still him. I know that you have a way to help me. At least, tell me of a way that can help me stop myself from getting corrupted by the side effects of the demonic blood inside my body."

Kevin lowered his arm and repositioned his body so that his back was straight.

His eyes focused deeply on Ren's as they looked at each other for the next couple of seconds.

"Haaa..."

Kevin eventually let out a long sigh and once again reclined in his chair as he mumbled to himself.

"...I can't believe I'm doing this."

"Thank you."

"You shouldn't thank me just yet."

Kevin snapped, looking back at Ren, who had a satisfied smile on his face. Kevin's mouth twitched when he saw that.

'I didn't even say anything, and yet you're already showing me such an expression."

It simply demonstrated that, despite his transformation, Ren continued to put her faith in him. Kevin was genuinely confused about how he should feel, but eventually, he came to terms with the situation and opened his mouth.

"Melendoir."

He said in a low tone.

Ren looked back at him with a serious expression.

"What did you say?"

"I said Melendoir."

Kevin repeated himself.

"If you want to know of a way to help you with the problems you're currently facing, then your answer is Melendoir. It is the place that holds the solution to your problems."

"Is it a different planet?"

Ren asked, cautiously.

"It is..."

Kevin nodded his head.

"...and it's not just a regular planet like Immorra. This is one of the biggest planets within our universe and the planet that used to be the centre of the elven world."

"Don't tell me..."

Ren's eyes gradually opened, and he began to form an impression of the kind of planet Kevin was referring to.

"Yeah..."

Slowly, Kevin nodded his head and continued.

"Melendoir. The planet where the world tree resides, and the place where devil fruits are harvested."

***

Clank―!

I left Kevin's office, closing the door behind me.

I'll help you go there if you need. However, you'll have to provide me with an <A> rank core, and I can only let you stay there for at most a month. The time difference there is one day here is five days there, and you can bring at most three more people with you. Contact me when you're ready.

Thinking of the last words Kevin said, my brows gradually furrowed.

'I can bring a maximum of three people and can only stay at most five months there, which is about one month here...'

Five months definitely sounded like a lot...but considering the importance of the planet, it was very obvious that five months would actually not be enough for me.

There would be, without a doubt, more than one Prince/Princess ranked demon on the planet, and given my strength, I knew that I was still no match for them...

'Who should I call?'

It was very clear to me that I required the assistance of other people in order to succeed. If it were just me, I might have had some trouble.

It wasn't so much that I lacked the necessary strength; rather, it was because I was aware that I couldn't handle everything by myself.

At least things wouldn't be as slow if I had a couple of people helping me.

After all, time was of the essence for me.

"I definitely can't call the others since I've tasked them with some important things to take care of for when the Monolith actually attacks Ashton city..."

If I decided to bring anyone from the mercenary group along with me, it would only serve to stop all of those preparations, as the majority of them had not yet been fully completed yet.

"Who should I call...Who should I call..."

"Are you done with your meeting with Kevin?"

My head snapped up abruptly, and I was brought out of my musings by the sound of a voice that was familiar to me.

"Oh, it's you..."

"Wow, what an enthusiastic greeting."

Emma smirked, walking toward the reception desk and sitting on it.

My brow raised, and I looked back at Kevin's office.

"You've decided to become his secretary?"

"Yup."

Emma gave a nod, then leaned her body back and retrieved a couple of documents from the desk she was sitting on while she was doing so.

Taking note of her cheerful actions, my brows furrowed ever so slightly.

'I did notice this during the time when Kevin was elected as the head of the alliance, but it seems like he and Emma have patched things up...'

Good for him.

"So, how is life as his secretary?"

"Well, it's not too bad."

Emma slowly hopped off the desk and waved the papers toward her face.

After that, she moved cautiously toward the door that led to Kevin's office, which was where I came from.

"It's a lot of work, but the pay's good, so who am I to complain?"

"Wait, aren't you rich? Why would you even care about the pay?"

Emma's steps came to a sudden stop, and she gave me a long sidelong glance.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"No, nothing. I just didn't think you would care much about money now that your situation has been settled."

"Heh..."

Emma snorted, once again moving towards Kevin's office,

"It's exactly because I went through that situation that I realized how important money is. Even if my uncle is no longer here, I'll still save money just to avoid a situation like that again."

"Oh, I see..."

I nodded my head, enlightened.

"...So basically, you have PTSD."

Tak―!

As soon as I let those words escape my mouth, Emma stumbled on her heels and came dangerously close to hitting her head against the door.

I immediately turned around and left before she could utter any complaints.

Kevin sent me a lengthy message a long time after I had left, in which he expressed his regret at having helped me and his anger as my actions caused him a great deal of torment.

I only laughed and left him on read.

I may or may not have done that on purpose...

Chapter 695: Melandoir [4]

"Are you fine with going with me? Is your father okay with it?"

"There should be no problem..."

Amanda delicately carried the dishes over to the expansive table, which was elegantly adorned with a nice cloth that featured a floral pattern in shades of purple.

"Going where?"

Speak of the devil.

Edward appeared out of nowhere behind the two of us like a hawk before we could even finish setting the table with the dishes.

Amanda calmly looked at him.

"We're going on a short trip."

"Where exactly?"

"I'm not sure myself."

Amanda shrugged, and Edward looked at me.

I looked back at him and also shrugged.

"Don't look at me. My lips are sealed."

"...Is it dangerous?"

"Very."

I seriously nodded my head, and Edward's face slowly darkened.

Taking note of his darkening face, I quickly added.

"If you're worried about her safety, you shouldn't be. I'm also going with her. With me there, nothing's going to happen to her."

"...That makes me even more worried."

Edward commented, prompting my brows to furrow.

"I'm stronger than you."

"Are you now?"

Edward moved forward, crackling his fist in front of me.

Not wanting to be outdone, I also took a step forward. Natasha, however, intervened between the two of us and smiled at Edward before I had the chance to take any action.

"Now, now...how about you stop causing trouble. The whole reason we're having this dinner is because they'll be leaving soon. Let's be honest now; staying in the human domain is not really that safe either."

"But I'm here. I can protect―"

Edward grumbled, but he cut himself off in the middle of his sentence. After observing that Natasha's face was becoming darker, he decided to keep his mouth shut and take a seat.

The top executives of the Demon Hunter guild had their own opulent apartment built within the territory of the guild, which we were currently occupying.

Edward did not decide to live in the mercenary headquarters as my parents did, as he was capable of providing for his own safety and because he was responsible for running a guild.

"Stop fighting, you two; the food is ready."

My mother emerged from the kitchen carrying what appeared to be a large hot tray that held a large chicken. On the tray was also something that looked like a large knife.

"We're here to see Amanda and Ren off before they leave; let's not sour the mood."

She was very careful as she placed the chicken on the table and patted her hands on the apron that she was wearing.

"Are you fine with them leaving for so long?"

Edward asked, seated opposite my mother.

"I am certainly not happy, but it's not like I can stop him. For as long as he tells me that he's leaving, then I'm mostly fine with it."

"Well...fine."

Edward sat back in his chair and relaxed while pouring a glass of wine for himself.

After he had finished filling his cup, he looked over at my father, who had sneakily taken a seat at the table next to my mother, and he extended the wine glass to him.

"Do you want some?"

"No, thank you."

My father politely refused with a smile on his face.

Before Edward could insist, I chimed in.

"He can't take alcohol."

"Huh?"

Edward looked stunned for a moment as he pointed at the bottle in his hand.

"But this is wine. I'm sure he won't get drunk off of this..."

"You'll be surprised..."

I cast a sidelong glance in the direction of my father but paid no attention to the change in expression that appeared on his face and continued.

"He can even get drunk off of beer. It won't ma―"

"Ren."

I stopped speaking the moment that I heard my father's voice.

Without looking at him, I picked up my fork and leaned toward where the chicken was, trying to get a piece of it.

At the same time, I tried to change the topic.

'I spoke too much.'

"This chicken looks very ni―"

Slap―!

"Ow."

I wasn't even close to getting to the chicken when someone smacked me in the hand.

It turned out that my own mother was to blame, and she gave me a stern look in response.

"Who told you to go ahead and eat first? Wait for everyone to sit down first before taking the food."

"But―"

"No buts. I didn't raise you to be this rude. Now that we're at it, you'll be the last one to eat."

"Pfttt..."

The instant I heard a laugh coming from my right side, my face darkened, and my head snapped in that direction immediately afterwards.

The only problem was that Amanda had a blank expression on her face as she sat quietly with her posture correct and her eyes focused on the food.

She was clearly feigning ignorance.

"You thought it was funny, didn't you?"

I asked, leaning closer to her. My eyes squinting.

"No."

Amanda looked back at me, her face expressionless.

My eyes furrowed tightly.

"You think I wouldn't be able to hear your laugh?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Amanda continued to feign ignorance, and my eyes turned into thin slits.

"I see... I see..."

I slowly nodded my head and took my eyes away from her.

'So be it. Pretend that you don't know. I'll see how you deal with you later.'

As if I would let something like this slide.

There was also the matter regarding the black eye that I needed to pay her back for. Well, that was mainly my fault...but I wasn't going to let that slide.

"Come, Nola, sit next to your brother."

Nola, who was preoccupied with her phone when she arrived, was the last person to take a seat at the table.

At this point, I had no choice but to admit that she was a full-fledged addict. It seemed like every time I saw her; she had her face buried in her phone.

...But I couldn't really blame her.

Her addiction was understandable, given that she did not have any friends with whom she could play in light of our current circumstances.

'I probably would've been no different from her had I been in her circumstances.'

In any case, she was apparently raising a 'pet', and she needed to take care of it constantly.

"Noooo, ma! noo!"

Nola immediately began to object when our mother took the phone away from her hands.

"We're about to have dinner. I'll give the phone back to you later."

"No, but I didn't feed Ren yet."

"Hm?"

I turned my head to look at Nola. What did she mean by feeding Ren?

Was she afraid that I would not get anything to eat since I would be the last one to eat?

I could feel the edges of my lips curl upward.

'How sweet of her.'

"You can feed him later. Eat first."

"No, bu―"

"No buts!"

The moment my mother raised her voice, Nola's mood immediately took a turn for the worse, and she stomped her way over to the seat next to mine, grumbling the whole way.

'Why does this scene look familiar?'

For some odd reason, it reminded me of the scene that occurred a couple of minutes ago with the chicken and me.

...I was probably overthinking things.

With a large pouty face, Nola fiddled with the utensils in front of her.

'Cute.'

Her current appearance was nothing short of cute.

Leaning my body over to her, I smiled.

"Nola, you don't have to worry about feeding me. There will definitely be food for me later. Though I do appreciate the fact that you're thinking about me."

I patted her gently on the head, only to have my hand shoved back a little.

Nola gave me a sulky look while muttering to herself and crossing her arms in front of her chest. Her appearance was nothing short of adorable.

"Who wants to feed you?"

"What do you mean? Didn't you just say that you wanted to feed me?"

"No?"

Nola looked at me, confused.

I looked back at her, also confused.

"No, I think I clearly remember you saying that you wanted to feed me."

"No?"

Nola shook her head, her expression even more confused than before.

"Wait, what? Did I mishear?"

"She was referring to her pet.. its name is Ren."

I heard my mother's voice coming from across me before I could say anything else.

"Eh..."

"Pfttt.."

My face froze, and I heard another muffled laugh coming from beside me.

My lips twitched ever so slightly, and I moved away from Nola.

'It looks like she finally reached her rebellious phase.'

Nola changed.

She was no longer the sweet little sister of the past.

The thought that Nola was no longer the same adorable little girl who had been so attached to me in the past caused an immense amount of pain in my chest.

In the midst of my despair, I didn't forget to look at Amanda, who was beside me.

"...Don't think for a second that I didn't notice your laugh."

"..."

She possessed the same expressionless look that she had previously displayed throughout all of our interactions.

She then cocked her head to the side to look at me, her fine brow raising slightly.

"Yes?"

"Hahaha."

I laughed.

Of course, it wasn't a laugh out of joy but one filled with spite.

'This...I'm definitely remembering this...'

***

Alliance headquarters, Monday.

"Huaam...hurry up, I've got a lot of work to do."

Kevin yawned while his eyes wandered about the room, finally pausing on Ren and a couple of other people.

He shifted his attention to Ren.

"How did you manage to convince them to follow you?"

"Well..."

Ren scratched the inside of his cheek before looking behind him, specifically in the direction of Jin and Melissa, who both wore similar expressions.

In short, they weren't very pleased.

"Keum."

Ren coughed, immediately shifting the topic of conversation away.

"So, are you ready? Cus I'm ready to go, and so are the others. Let's just go."

He waved his hand and tossed a small yellow orb in Kevin's direction.

Catching it with his hand, Kevin looked at it and secretly sighed.

"Alright, I'll start the portal. You guys get ready."

Kevin already knew beforehand that Ren had bribed Jin's grandfather and used some sort of bribe to convince the likes of Jin and Melissa to follow him.

'He's probably regretting his past decisions about kidnapping Jin...'

By now, he would probably know that making him come was as easy as convincing his grandfather, which wasn't all that hard.

Still. it was no longer any of his business anymore.

"Get ready."

Kevin gave a heads up to the others present before he crushed the orb in his hand, and a familiar scene materialized in front of all of them.

The mana in the room started to become more concentrated, and thin threads of various colours began to form in the space directly in front of him.

Within the space of a minute, the threads came together to form a massive portal that loomed over the expansive room that they were in.

Making sure that everything was working properly and the coordinates to the portal were indeed set to Melandoir, Kevin took a step back and looked at the others, extending his hand.

"My job is done; your turn."

Chapter 696: Ka Mankut [1]

Wam―!

In the final moments before everyone left for Melendoir, the smile on Kevin's face slowly receded as he watched Jin's back slowly merge and enter the portal.

After Jin's figure disappeared, the portal gradually began to contract, and an eerie stillness began to spread throughout the space that Kevin was occupying at the time.

He did not move from his spot and maintained his gaze on the same spot where the portal had previously stood.

His eyes gradually closed, and the mana around him froze completely.

After what seemed like an interminable amount of time, Kevin finally opened his mouth and mumbled something.

"This is for the best. It looks like things are working in my favour."

Licking his lips, Kevin opened his eyes and turned around. Without so much as to say another word, he quietly left the room.

Clank―!

***

Melandoir, Hoag's Object Galaxy.

Crunch―!

As soon as I stepped into Melendoir, the very first thing that I was able to hear was the gentle crunching sound that was made by my foot as it pressed against the dirt beneath my feet.

My entire body had a heaviness to it that suggested the gravity of this world was significantly stronger than that of earth, but it wasn't really anything that hampered my ability to move about freely.

Perhaps it was because I had reached a point in my life where even ten times the normal gravity of the earth didn't seem to have much of an effect on me or because of something else entirely, but I felt no sense of real discomfort, which was all that mattered.

"Huuuuu..."

My hearing, smell, and taste gradually started to come back, and when I opened my eyes, I was greeted by the sight of a vast land that was covered by a red sky.

It seemed as though the grass in this location was even greener than in some of the earth's most scenic locations, and the large, towering trees were spread out across the landscape in such a way that they filled every available space in my field of vision.

"Quite different from what I imagined..."

In the beginning, I had anticipated coming across a location that was more analogous to the demon world―which I had once visited―but instead of receiving a world that was comparable to that one, I was shown a world that was absolutely breathtaking.

Was it possibly due to the fact that this location was formerly the primary world in which the elves lived?

...I wasn't sure.

"Haaa..."

I was about to turn around to look at the others when, all of a sudden, both of my feet came to a stop, and I closed both of my eyes.

Within a split second, I felt every pore of my body open up, and just like when I arrived back on earth from Immorra, the demonic energy that was present in the air quickly rushed toward me, sending me into a wave of extreme ecstasy.

As the demonic blood that was contained within my system started to move in a more fluid manner, I felt every single pore of my body start to relax.

"Haaa..."

I let out a long and relaxed breath, feeling oddly refreshed.

"Heph!"

I was startled out of my reverie by a loud, throaty sound, and when I turned around, I was shocked to see Amanda, Jin, and Melissa staring at me with pale looks while holding onto their throats with one hand while opening and closing their mouths repeatedly.

Almost like a fish that was out of the water, desperately trying to take in oxygen.

"...It looks like the demonic energy is too dense for you guys."

With a single glance, I discovered the source of the problem. It was the fact that the air was devoid of any mana and only contained demonic energy.

Unlike the demonic world, which actually had a bit of mana, albeit almost none existent, this place, shockingly, had a single trace of mana, as the demonic energy here was many times thicker than that of the demonic world, which resulted in the suffocating sensation that the others were feeling.

It was also important to note that there was almost no mana in the atmosphere of Immorra; however, in contrast to demonic energy, aura was not as corrosive, which was why the others were able to remain on the planet without experiencing any difficulties.

...but now that I wasn't in Immorra, I was presented with a new issue.

One that I, fortunately, had the solution to.

"I didn't think I would have to do this, but it seems like we have no choice."

With a complicated look on my face, I extended my hand, where three contracts appeared, and I handed them to the others.

"Here, sign this. If you sign it, you won't have any problem with the demonic energy that is in the air."

Despair-stricken, the others snatched the contracts from my hands and unfolded them carefully.

I didn't move from where I was standing; I just kept staring at their faces as they went through a remarkable transformation right in front of my very eyes.

I spoke before they could say anything else.

"Just sign it. It's a complicated story, but let's just say that I have demonic blood running in my body and can now make demon contracts."

Raising my hand, I pointed at the contracts and continued.

"If you read the contracts, the time that it will be in effect will be one month, earthen time. You don't have to worry about it being permanent."

"You could've definitely told us this before coming here..."

Melissa gave me a death glare with her eyes, which gave the impression that she was planning to devour me alive.

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Just sign it. I wasn't aware that the demonic energy here would be so thick that there would not be a single shred of mana here. I'm not omnipotent. I don't know everything."

After a brief pause, during which I fixed my eyes on Melissa, I lowered my head and mumbled in a tone that was barely audible for anyone to hear.

"...Trust me, if not for the situation calling for it, I definitely wouldn't give you the contract. Although you've calmed down a lot over the recent years...I can already imagine just how moody you will be once you sign the contract. Hot water is definitely not going to be enough..."

"Pftt..."

My head snapped in the direction of the muffled laugh, and as I did so, I noticed Jin quickly turn his head away.

My eyes squinted.

'He definitely heard what I said.'

Who else but the assassin with the specialized hearing sense?

"Ukh...fine."

Fortunately, Melissa did not hear, and after giving me one last dirty look, she signed the contract.

Jin and Amanda followed her example shortly after.

Immediately after they gave their approval of the contract, the document visibly shook for a split second before disappearing from their hands, and I felt three links being formed inside of my body at the same time.

After that, the demonic energy that was in the air started to slowly enter their bodies, and everyone's facial expression changed to one of displeasure.

I quickly reassured.

"Stick with it. It won't hurt for much longer. Just bear with it for now. It should pass within the next hour or so."

"Ugh, easier said than done. It feels as though I'm being licked all over by a dog."

I cocked my head in response to Melissa's mumbled complaint.

Did you actually get that impression? My recollection of that was quite a bit different from what she was describing.

'Eh, who cares.'

I shrugged my shoulders and sat down, crossed legged, on the ground.

Following my example, the others did the same, and I closed my eyes and started to beckon the demonic energy in the air to move in my direction.

Gradually, the space around us became extremely quiet.

*

Two hours later.

"Done."

The gentle sound of Melissa's voice snapped me out of my meditative state just as quickly as I had entered it.

When I finally opened my eyes, I saw that she wasn't the only one who was finished; Amanda and Jin had also finished what they were doing as well.

At first glance, they appeared to be the same as they had been in the past; however, if one were to pay close attention, one would notice that the demonic energy in the air was gradually moving toward their bodies.

It was a clear indication that the contract signing was successful.

"It looks like everyone is done."

I similarly stood up and patted my clothes clean.

Then, tapping on my bracelet, I took out a large map and opened it.

"Is that the map of this planet?"

Amanda spoke to me while she was standing next to me, having sneaked her way over to where I was standing without my noticing.

Looking at her, I nodded my head.

"Yeah, Kevin gave it to me before coming here."

"Has he already been here before?"

"Beats me."

I shrugged my shoulders and feigned ignorance.

I wasn't exactly able to share with her the information that Kevin possessed a system that included an in-built map of every single planet in the universe.

"Oh, I see..."

Amanda didn't seem too disappointed with my answer, as she just merely looked at the map with me.

It wasn't long before I heard Jin's voice echo beside me.

"Since you have the map, where are we going?"

"Ka Mankut."

I replied slowly, turning my head to look at him.

"The capital city of this planet and the city where the world tree resides."

Chapter 697: Ka Mankut [2]

Ka Mankut.

Within the confines of Melandoir lies a city that resides next to the world tree. It was once a prosperous and magnificent city that belonged to the elves; some even contend that it was the most powerful planet within the Hoag Galaxy, located approximately 600 million light years from the Milky Way Galaxy.

The city was primarily known for being next to the world tree, a colossal tree that bore special fruits every year and granted the elves unrivalled sensitivity to the mana in the air.

[Astra year - 1T08]

On this date, the planet that was once hailed as the most powerful planet in Hoag's Galaxy was conquered, and the world tree became corrupted, bearing fruits of something known as the devil fruit, a fruit that granted demons the magical property of purifying their bloodlines and the ability to surpass their natural bloodline limit.

From then on, demons became an unstoppable force in the universe, and galaxies trembled at the mere mention of their names.

*

The journey toward Ka Mankut was fairly unobstructed, and rightfully so.

Aside from the fact that we were humans, there was nothing else that particularly stood out about us, with the possible exception of our ranks.

In spite of this, the fact that we were all now capable of absorbing demonic energy was sufficient to prevent the nearby forces from becoming interested in us.

Not that they would pay any attention to us, to begin with.

Given that we had a map that was only partially detailed, navigating around such locations proved to be as easy as breathing, and other than the fact that it increased the amount of time it took for us to reach Ka Mankut, there was absolutely nothing that could be faulted about the situation.

Two days after arriving on the planet.

"We're near."

After coming to a complete stop and clearing the area in front of me of any vegetation, I reached into my dimensional space and extracted a few black hoods, which I then passed out to the others.

"Wear this for now. Although it is highly likely that we're not the only humans on this planet―granted that there probably used to exist a planet similar to earth in this galaxy―It is still best if we wear this to hide our faces. You might never know what happens."

In this world, one could find more than just demons.

It was widely known that this planet was one of the most significant in the known Galaxy, and there are likely to be a great number of contractees living on the planet.

As a result, it wouldn't be all that surprising if the four of us were able to move freely about the city without being bothered by anyone.

However, I knew that it was best to remain on the side of caution.

I knew too little about this planet to take any risks.

"Make sure that your face is covered enough that people don't see it. We wouldn't want trouble coming our way the moment we step into the city."

"Alright, alright."

Melissa snatched the robe from my hands, annoyance evident on her face.

Sadly, it seemed as though the effect of the contract was taking place, and Melissa was returning to her old self.

I couldn't say I was very pleased.

"..."

"Give it here."

Jin and Amanda were also not excluded from the effects of the contract; Jin's words became cruder, and Amanda became even quieter.

With a sigh, I also put on the hood.

'This trip is going to be longer than I expected.'

As soon as I was certain that it covered every part of my face, I turned around to check on the others to ensure that they, too, were wearing the robe.

"Let's get going."

After confirming that they were prepared, I pulled down the hood a little further and headed in the direction of the city marked on the map.

We only had to travel a short distance to reach our destination—about two kilometres—and by the time the thicket of trees began to thin out, we could already make out the silhouette of a sizable city in the distance.

We all came to a stop the moment that the city became visible for everyone to see.

"This is not what I expected..."

"What sort of design is that?"

"It looks like we've gone back in time."

Like Jin stated. As soon as I was able to make out the silhouette of the city in the distance, I had the unmistakable impression that we had travelled through time.

If one were to try to describe the appearance of the city, one might say that it had more of a medieval feel to it, despite the fact that there were no massive walls surrounding the entire city.

"Are those carriages?"

"They are..."

Because of Melissa's mutterings, I turned my attention to the large path that led toward the city, and I noticed that there were indeed carriages heading toward the enormous city in the distance.

Of course, they weren't carried by horses because the monsters that carried them were much scarier and larger than horses could ever be... but it was still strange to see carriages moving about on the pathways.

If that had already impressed me, when I turned to look at the city in the distance, I was left even more bewildered.

Richly hued walls, colours, and engravings adorned the walls, arches, and pillars of many buildings, lending them a medieval appearance.

I could see from a distance that some of the doors' arches were carved with zigzags and adorned with animal faces, while the pillars' heads were carved with scalloped curves.

Those were the smaller structures, while the larger structures were constructed as cathedrals with steeply pitched roofs or dome shaped roofs.

"What do we do? Should we go in?"

"Yeah."

I nodded my head at Amanda's words, snapping out of my short lived reverie.

"Let's go in for now. We will have all the time we want to admire the city. For now, let's go in and familiarize ourselves with the place."

What was important at the moment was to gain as much information as possible by roaming the city.

Everything else came later.

"Let's go."

Making sure that my hoodie was lowered all the way, I headed for the main path that led to the city in the distance.

The others followed me from behind.

***

Alliance headquarters, Earth.

"How should we proceed from this moment forth?"

Octavius asked, standing in front of Kevin's desk with an expressionless look on his face.

His eyes were currently looking down on Kevin, who was quietly sitting on his desk, pen in hand, and scribbling through a series of documents.

Silence filtered through the room after Octavious's question, and at the exact moment that Octavious's brows started to furrow, Kevin set the pen down and looked up.

"This is our next course of action."

He slid one of the papers across the table.

Extending his hand, Octavious picked up the paper and slowly read through it.

Upon reading the document, his expression slid into a serious one, and he cast a sidelong glance in Kevin's direction.

"How accurate is this information?"

"Fairly accurate."

Kevin reassured, reclining on his chair, his expression calm.

"Those are the locations in which the mana compressors are located. Please inform the members of the alliance to gear up and get ready to fight."

"...What should the grade of those that will be deployed be?"

Octavious asked, setting the paper down, his face grim.

"For now, a couple of <S> rankers per team will do. There are a total of eight mana compressors... so a specialized team with multiple <S> rankers will do."

"I understand."

Octavious gradually nodded his head, not refusing Kevin's order.

"I'll quickly inform the others of your decision."

"Thank you."

No longer leaning against his chair, Kevin interlocked his hands in front of him and rested his chin on top.

His expression never once changed throughout the whole time, which was somewhat unsettling for Octavious, who decided to take this opportunity to excuse himself and leave.

"If there is nothing else that you need me for, I will go and seclude myself."

"Finally about to reach <SSS-> rank?"

"Not quite, but with your help, I should be able to reach it in less than three months."

"That's good to hear."

Kevin smiled happily, his eyes sliding into thin crescents, further unsettling Octavious, who had now reached for the door of the room.

"Okay then, I will now take my leave. If you need anything from me, just tell one of my assistants. I will try my best to do whatever is assigned to me...Alliance leader."

"Alright then."

Kevin stood up and gave Octavious a slight wave of his hand as he was leaving the room. Octavious acknowledged Kevin's gesture and then opened the door.

Clank―!

When the sound of the door closing faded, so did the smile on Kevin's face. He was currently exhibiting a demeanour that was far different than a couple of minutes ago, almost as if he were a completely different person.

Lowering his head to glance at the stack of papers before him, Kevin set the one that he had given to Octavious aside and took out another one and gently placed it in front of him.

To; Kevin.

From; Ren.

The location of the mana compressors is as indicated in the map that I sent you. There is no need to doubt the accuracy of the information since I had Ava directly use her skill to find their location. If you want to get rid of them or have an idea of where they are, you know where to look.

However, after thinking about it for a bit, I would advise against sending anyone to the locations. Although I'm unsure, I have a feeling that it might just be a trap.

It is unlikely since the extent of Ava's ability is not known, and putting the two and two together is hard, but I do think that it's something that should be taken into consideration.

In fact, if this is really a trap, then it is highly likely that they have set up multiple executives in each station, which would actually bring rise to a great opportunity that you can exploit by directly attacking the Monolith headquarters, which would be more exposed than usual. In any case, the decision is up to you.

I wish you the best of luck.

Ren.

Chapter 698: Quest [1]

The pungent odour of alcohol lingered in the air, permeating every corner of the small tavern filled with demons who were seated at round wooden tables and drinking what appeared to be potent alcoholic beverages.

"There ain' nuthing better than some sweet alcohol afte' sum heavy work!"

"Ye bet."

Demons weren't the only creatures that resided in the tavern, as dwarves―or, more accurately, duegars―sat around the round tables, chatting and singing loudly.

In one of the tables near the far ends of the tavern.

"What have you guys found out?"

I asked, looking at the others in front of me.

As soon as we arrived in the city, the very first thing that we did was break up into smaller groups in order to investigate the situation independently.

Information was key in order for us to better adapt ourselves to this foreign world.

Following our initial parting, we don't go more than a couple of hours before we find ourselves back at the same tavern where we'd agreed to meet.

Right now, we were now sharing our findings.

"Should I start first?"

Jin was the first one to speak, crossing his legs and leaning back on his chair.

Though his face was covered by the hood, I could more or less guess that he was currently frowning.

"I'm sure the majority of you already know this, but from what I've gathered, the city is governed by four major superpowers. According to what I've learned, they are referred to as the seven Royal houses, and each is led by a Prince/Princess ranked demon. Each royal house represents a different clan, such as Envy, Sloth, Lust, and so on..."

Jin halted, then brought his hand up to his mouth and began massaging what appeared to be his chin.

"I couldn't learn too much given that this is sensitive information, but...from the looks of it, there is an obvious power struggle between each Royal house. Nothing needs to be said about why they're fighting, as most of you are probably aware of why right?"

"Yeah."

I nodded my head.

The answer to that question was kind of obvious.

The houses were engaged in a fierce competition for their share of the devil fruits that were harvested from the world tree.

Each year, the world tree would distribute a limited quantity of its fruits, each of which contained varying degrees of purity, with the purer ones being the most limited.

Due to the fact that they were restricted, they were considered scarce resources, which was ultimately what led to the emergence of the conflicts.

All of the houses were fighting for the opportunity to have more devil fruits.

After all, devil fruits mean more power.

"Each year, the seven houses will compete with each other in order to determine who gets the best harvest. The event seems to be called the 'World's Decree', and it is where all major powers within the planet compete for the chance of increasing their shares over the demonic fruits."

Jin continued, crossing his arms together.

"From what I know, for the past three years, the Royal House of Envy has been the house that monopolized the fruits, bearing the grudge of the other houses. From the looks of it, their monopoly will not last much longer, with this year probably being the most brutal of all the showdowns.

The fact that there were seven houses in Ka Mankut was not a coincidence. It was something that Jezebeth had ordered a while back.

Even though I didn't know exactly what he was thinking, it was obvious that he didn't want one house to have a complete monopoly over the fruits of the world tree.

It was highly likely that he was attempting to stimulate competition, and of course, with seven houses that were roughly equivalent in power, a monopoly of resources couldn't exactly exist because the other six houses could decide to collaborate in order to prevent the house with the most power from emerging victorious.

"That's about it. This is what I found out in the past two hours that I was roaming the city."

"My turn now?"

Melissa spoke, her voice unusually grumpy.

"Since he's already talked about the main powers, I'll just share the other stuff that I learned."

Rummaging through her pockets, she tossed three coins on the table and spoke. There weren't many, with what seemed to be about five, in a mix of bronze and silver.

"In the city, the main currency known as the Xariz, which isn't too difficult to understand. Take a look at the coins."

Melissa pointed at the coins she threw on the table.

Before I could say anything, Melissa snapped.

"No, I didn't steal them. I just sold a couple of things that I collected on our way here."

Even though I couldn't see what she was doing, I could tell that she was probably rolling her eyes behind the hood, and I quickly clamped my mouth shut in response.

'As expected, demonic energy and Melissa are a bad combination.'

"The Xariz are divided into four coins. Xur, Rum, Mor, and Jor."

Melissa tapped each coin with her finger.

"As you can see, each is different in size, and so is their value. Although the names are complicated, and it seems like the system is complicated, it really isn't. The Xur is about..."

Melissa tilted her head a little, thinking for a moment before blurting.

"10U? ...I think it's more or less that."

Her voice was a little uncertain at first, but the confusion didn't last for long as she continued.

"The coin isn't really that hard to remember since it's just a bronze coin, while the Rum is silver and worth about 1000U, and the Mor is worth about 100,000U, with the coin being gold in colour. Lastly, there is the Jor, which is worth about a million U, and has a platinum colour? ...I haven't really checked. But apparently, the names of the coins are in some sort of elven dialect, with Xur meaning bronze. Not sure about the rest, but I wouldn't be surprised if they meant silver, gold, and platinum. "

"A million U coin..."

I mumbled under my breath, finding the concept rather strange.

It seemed rather peculiar to me that demons were still employing the use of coins, especially when one considers the fact that on Earth, coins have all but vanished from circulation due to the widespread adoption of credit and debit cards in recent decades.

Drumming my fingers―which were covered by a black glove in order to hide my human hands―over the table, I fell into thought for a moment.

To summarize everything, the currency of this place was known as the Xariz and it consisted of four coins, the Xur, Rum, Mor and Jor;

Xur - 10U

Rum - 1000U

Mor - 100,000 U

Jor - 1,000,000 U

Raising my head, I looked at Melissa.

"Just how much money have you managed to collect so far?"

"Not much."

Melissa responded while searching through her pockets and tossing a couple of additional coins into the air. All of which were bronze.

"About ten Xur, and two Rum."

"So that would be about...Ehm, 2100U?"

"Yeah."

Melissa yawned and leaned back while mumbling something.

"It's just about enough to cover our living expenses for a week."

"I see..."

Indeed, the money would definitely help us cover the fees for where we would sleep for just about a week. However, it was, of course, in one of the poorer districts.

Slowly, I turned to look at Amanda.

"What about you? What did you find out?"

"Every month, there's an important auction in the city. Apparently, they sell a lot of good items there, some of which might even be useful to you. However, the price for each item starts with at least five Jor."

"Ehh..."

I scratched the lower end of my jaw and mumbled.

"I did hear about that, and although I would love to attend, we're currently low on funds, which would basically make it impossible for us to attend...at least for now."

Rummaging through my pocket, I took out a leaflet and placed it on the table.

=== [Mass event quest]===

Quest assigner : Duchess Pertinol.

Reward : The reward will depend on the contribution, with at least 5 Mor guaranteed for each participant.

Minimum requirement : Marquis rank.

Description : Request to aid Duchess Pertinol in taming the Abyssal Mammoth, a Duke-ranked monster. The minimum rank required to participate is Marquis, and the quest takes place on the 300th planetary revolution. The task entails assisting Duchess Pertinol in bringing down and taming the Abyssal Mammoth, whose approximate strength is close to that of a Prince. The rewards will be determined by the contributions made throughout the quest. If the Duchess is pleased with the performance, several Jor could be rewarded.

Passing the leaflets to the others, I softly said.

"This will be the best opportunity for us to gain a proper foothold in this city, as well as gain some money for the auction."

I paused and lowered my voice.

"Who knows, maybe...just maybe, we might even be able to put on a performance that may gain the interest of this so called Duke."

From what I understood about the quest, this one was going to involve a lot of people, with many signing up to get the chance to show off their skills to Duchess Pertinol, one of the higher ranked demons within the city, who resided in one of the Royal houses.

"From what I've gathered, this Duke Pertinol is someone that belongs to the house of Sloth. I wasn't able to gather much, but from what I know, she seems to be the daughter of the Sloth house, and having just broken through to Duke rank, she seems to want to tame the Abyssal Mammoth, which, from what I've gathered, seem to be a large elephant like creature that is as big as one of the buildings in the city..."

The request itself wasn't actually hard. If push comes to shove, I could probably do it by myself.

However, given the state that I was in, I knew that I would be put in a precarious situation if I decided to fight against the creature, as the seals would break and the demonic energy that I was stopping from reaching my head would finally reach my head and corrode my mind.

I looked at the others, who were carefully looking through the quest paper.

"In short, we will all participate in the quest with the goal of making money and building a potential relationship with this so called Duchess."

"Wait, why do we need to build a relationship with the Duchess?"

Jin asked, genuinely curious.

Looking back at him, I asked.

"Why wouldn't we?"

There was not a single rule that said that I needed to make enemies with all the demons here.

After all, making friends was a lot less tiresome than making enemies...

Chapter 699: Quest [2]

The room was beautifully illuminated by a glittering chandelier placed in the middle of the ceiling.

Click―!

The handle on the door to the room clicked as it was opened, and a moment later, a tall, graceful figure dressed in black clothing that were rather revealing entered the room, casting about.

Priscilla Pertinol didn't look around as she quietly walked toward the far end of the room, where a large window stood.

Arriving at the window, by her side, was a massive, 10-foot-tall glass pane that was gently tilted toward the side of the wall.

Reflected in the mirror was a graceful figure with long pink hair that reached the ends of her back, stopping right above her waistline. Two thin horns protruded from the top of her forehead, separating her hair and leaving her unable to hide her pristine looks that seemed to make any man drool.

Her face was carefully composed in an almost-statuesque placidity, absent even of the slightest emotion as her red eyes gazed past through the window.

"How many people have decided to sign up for the task?"

In the moment that she opened her mouth, the area behind her warped, and a black figure appeared out of thin air, with one knee to the ground and a respectful expression.

"We've received several applicants so far."

"A rough estimate."

"About a hundred or so."

Priscilla's delicate brows furrowed ever so slightly, unable to disguise her annoyance.

"This little?"

"Yes...it appears as though the other houses have put up similar quests."

"I see."

Priscilla gave a curt nod, the hint of a frown on her lips indicating that she did not appreciate having her hand forced in this manner.

"Looks like they caught on to my intentions."

"It appears so..."

The servant answered, his head lowering and his voice becoming quieter.

"What do you plan on doing? Will you still proceed?"

"..."

Silence filled the room as Priscilla contemplated. Originally, she had anticipated having more than a thousand different participants join her on this quest.

It wasn't just about her fame and good looks that attracted people to join her mission; it was also the fact that the monetary reward was high.

It was definitely high enough to attract the attention of the masses.

Her goal was obviously not taming the Abyssal Mammoth, which, although difficult, wasn't impossible for her to beat. Her goal was to recruit as many talented people to her side in order to aid her with the incoming fruit harvesting event―World Decree―that would soon take place, but...

Who would've thought that the other demons would see through her intentions and perform similar mass recruitment quests?

'It appears as though there is a spy within my faction.'

There was no change in Priscilla's facial features as she peered at her servant through the corners of her eyes.

The servant, who was quietly kneeling on one knee, suddenly felt a powerful pressure bear down on his body for a split second before finding it disappear into thin air, and what followed was Priscilla's voice as she ordered.

"Disappear from my sight."

"Understood."

With the fade of his words, his figure quietly melted into the background of the room, leaving Priscilla by herself.

Tak. Tak.

The rhythmic echo of Priscilla's heels reverberated throughout the room as she walked toward the chair of her desk and donned a fur-trimmed black cape.

After hooking it around her shoulders and flapping it open with a light swing of her arm, the cape followed her as she walked toward the far end of the room, where she opened the large wooden door and then exited the building.

"...I'll have to make do with what I have for now."

***

"Are you sure that they won't find us?"

Jin inquired while carefully examining our surrounding environment, his eyes darting toward his right and left.

Because of the way he was holding his hands at the edges of his hood, trying to pull it down as far as he could, he didn't look much different from someone who had completely lost their mind.

'It seems like the demonic energy has also started to affect him.'

"Haa..."

I sighed to myself, placing my hand over his shoulder, and shook my head.

"Don't worry. Look, we're not the only group wearing hoods. If you look carefully, apart from a few, most people here are also wearing hoods."

There were a lot of people surrounding us as we stood in the middle of a large plaza. One look was enough to tell that the vast majority of them were demons, but a closer inspection revealed that there were also orcs and members of other races interspersed among them.

Of course, I was only referring to the people I could see.

As I was mentioning to Jin, there were quite a few other people who had the same plan as us and were concealing their identities by donning hoods that were very similar to the ones we were wearing.

This made us stand out even less as we perfectly blended with the crowd.

"You're right..."

Jin eventually became calmer after becoming aware of the other hooded figures that were surrounding us and-

"Has everyone gathered?"

A clear and distinct voice reverberated through the room, reaching the minds of each and every one of the people who were present.

The voice wasn't particularly loud, but it effortlessly made its way into the heads of everyone present, and there was a slight alteration in the expression on my face as a result.

'What fine control of demonic energy.'

It was almost on the level of my control with psyons.

Tak.

A graceful figure materialized on the balcony of a white building that stood adjacent to the plaza, and with the tap of her heel, she drew the attention of those who were present.

In the instant she appeared, the faces of many people present changed, unable to hide their infatuated gazes.

'This is dangerous.'

The aura that was emanating from the demon was comparable to that of Suriol, an individual who had been close to achieving the rank of prince and was the same individual who had come close to defeating me some time ago.

'If the two of us fight, I might be able to win...but the price will definitely not be small.'

Just the fact that she wasn't even one of the strongest demons in this city made me aware of just how dangerous the place I was in was.

My guard increased a notch as I took a small step back.

"Hm..."

At precisely the same time, I became aware of a second figure that was erecting itself behind her. He was also a demon, and he was dressed in what appeared to be heavy armour.

He was standing behind her while maintaining a calm and emotionless expression.

"Since you've all gathered here, you should all be aware of what I request of you."

When Duchess Priscilla spoke, her words once more floated through my mind like the mellow tunes produced by a string instrument being plucked.

"I won't go into heavy detail since all of you must already be aware of what I want to achieve. We will be departing in the next hour, so if you have any business that you wish to ask me about, do so now. I have no interest in waiting for those that are not prepared."

For the next few minutes, the plaza fell into a state of silence as no one raised their hand to ask any questions.

Seeing this, the duchess shifted her gaze away from the people who were standing in the plaza, and then she turned back into the large mansion.

As she did so, she gave the crowd one final glance.

"Since nobody has anything to ask, I will go and get myself prepared."

Her figure disappeared shortly after, and the plaza bustled with noise.

Slowly closing my eyes, I softly mumbled.

"Get ready. We're about to leave."

*

The minutes ticked by in a flash, and precisely when an hour had passed, the Duchess materialized once more on the highest point of the balcony.

This time around, she was clad in a form-fitting, slender-framed armour that accentuated her already well-developed curves and fit her body like a glove.

"Follow me along. I will not wait for those that can't keep up."

Despite the little interactions I had with this Duchess, I sort of had an understanding of her.

She was a no-bullshit person.

Someone who didn't like to repeat herself and wanted others to work efficiently.

She kind of reminded me of Donna, but she was even more uptight than her.

'Ugh, the more I think about it, the more accurate I find this comparison to be...'

Despite the fact that it was far too soon to pass judgment, this was the conclusion that I reached based on the brief amount of time that I was able to see her.

'Although I did say that I wanted to befriend her, that's on the premise that she isn't one of the demons that would backstab me at any moment. I must gain a deeper understanding of her before deciding whether I should work with her or not.'

By then, my mind was already made up, and I followed her from behind.

We exited the city, and I followed closely behind her as we ran for what seemed like a couple of hours before we finally came to a stop in front of an enormous cave.

"We're here."

She turned to face the others and drew a slim sword from her waist as she slowly fixed her gaze on the at least one hundred-meter-high cave that stood behind her.

She then pointed it at the cave and coldly shouted.

"Get ready; we will start immediately."

Chapter 700: Quest [3]

As soon as we stepped foot inside the cavern, we were met with an onslaught of hostile creatures from every direction. They were all ranked at approximately <A> rank, and they came charging at us in large numbers.

The monsters ranged from large rodent-like creatures to large bats that screeched loudly, causing some people to cover their ears in order to protect them.

"Hieeek!"

There would be an occasional <S> ranked beast, but they weren't anything threatening, given our numbers.

Clank—! Clank—!

"Awhooo!"

"Awhooooel!"

The howls of the beasts that were killed by the mercenaries who had been hired by the duchess who stood at the very front of the assault echoed through the air, along with the sound of metal clashing against hard objects.

Sparks flew in the air, and a rusty smell started to linger in the air.

'She's stronger than Suriol.'

At the moment, my attention was directed toward the front, where the Duchess stood.

Her movements were so fluid and graceful, and her sword cut through the monsters like they were made of butter, severing them into two halves each time it passed through one.

If she hadn't been conserving her strength for the Abyss Mammoth, none of the monsters would have made it to us, as she easily could have gotten rid of all of them on her own.

Xiu! Xiu!

Amanda's arrows ripped through the bodies of the monsters in the distance in a matter of seconds, slicing through the air as if they were bullets and, at the same time, remaining silent.

She was like a silent reaper, reaping through the lives of the monsters without making the slightest of sounds.

If there were a competition to determine who had the highest kill count, the winner would most likely be Amanda, as she was able to kill a monster every half a second on average.

Wherever her arrows went, a monster would die.

Even though many people were reserving their strength for the Abyssal Mammoth, her performance was still noteworthy as it drew the attention of the Duchess, which was what we had intended from the very beginning.

"Are you not going to make your move?"

I turned my head to look at Jin, who was keeping a low profile as he walked alongside me.

After a couple of seconds of silence, during which he continued to keep his attention fixed on the monsters in front of him, he murmured something to himself under his breath.

"Annoying."

"Wh—"

Before I could even finish my sentence, dozens of different monsters were impaled by spikes that rose from the ground.

Pfttt—!

Blood splattered, and the beasts fell to the ground, lifeless.

I blinked a couple of times in order to make sure that I was seeing right.

I wasn't the only one surprised by Jin's power, as I noticed the Duchess casting a glance our way.

Her expression didn't change, but it was clear that we had now been locked into her sights.

'That aside, I really need to find a way to clear their minds. It feels like everyone has suddenly entered their period.'

Somehow, unlike them, I was able to withstand the side effects of the demonic energy due to my strength, but even so, it was just barely enough, and hence why I was forced to come here.

However, in the case of the others, they were truly reacting badly to the demonic energy.

I don't even think I remember Amanda ever being this quiet.

She never was this quiet, even when we were in the Lock, and the fact that she has barely spoken to me at all over the past few days was something that I found to be quite unsettling.

Truly…

***

Spurt—!

"There's a lot more of these pests than I thought."

Priscilla mumbled to herself as she slashed her small sword through the air, easily cutting through one of the monsters that lunged at her from beneath the ground.

Falling to the ground with a light thud, she turned around where a burly demon wearing a large metallic armour stood.

"Uncle, how far are we from the Abyssal Mammoth?"

"We shouldn't be too far, Duchess."

The burly demon answered, his voice curt and somewhat distant.

"Mhm."

The Duchess, who was already accustomed to her uncles' demeanour, refrained from making any further comments and instead turned her attention back to the candidates who were eliminating the monsters that she let pass through.

She turned her attention once more toward the demon, whom she addressed as "uncle."

"Have you found anyone interesting?"

"A couple…"

He responded while casting a fleeting glance toward a few of the mercenaries who were fighting behind them.

"To this point, their abilities are adequate at best. Even though it won't be enough by the time we face the Abyssal Mammoth, their accomplishments aren't without praiseworthiness. In order for me to come to an accurate conclusion regarding their performance, I will need to see how they perform later along the lines."

"I understand."

Priscilla gave her uncle's assessment of the hired mercenaries a tacit approval by giving him a knowing nod.

With the actions of the other houses, it was no longer a secret that she was trying to use this opportunity to rope some demons toward her side.

Everyone who was present at the time believed that she was using the Abyssal Mammoth as a means by which to test their qualifications, which, while not entirely accurate, did have some truthful aspects to it.

However, because of this, Priscilla knew that some of the mercenaries were still holding back some of their strength.

This was the reason why she hasn't focused too much of her attention on the mercenaries up until this point.

Of course, the way some performed still inevitably captured her attention, and not just hers.

Priscilla was able to see that some of the demons were also focusing their attention on them; however, the demons' attention did not contain the least bit of goodwill.

When she realized this, she turned around to head deeper into the cave, a faint smile spreading across her face.

"…I wonder how they'll handle this."

In order for them to join her faction, they had to demonstrate, at the very least, the ability to deal with a couple of jealous demons.

Priscilla was curious to see who exactly could show her a good show.

***

"Hey guys…I think I'd be best if we calmed down for a bit. Although I was never against standing out, there's a limit. We're standing out way too much."

In a figurative sense, Jin and Amanda were like weapons of mass slaughter, as they were able to kill dozens of demons with every one of their movements.

Their performance was so good that it attracted the attention of most of the demons present.

They weren't much at first, but they were starting to become quite burdensome by now.

"So what if we attract attention?"

Melissa muttered something under her breath as she watched Jin and Amanda wreak havoc on the lives of the many monsters that were coming their way.

"Stop being a pussy. If some jealous demon comes, just slap him up a bit and let them know their place. Shouldn't you be capable of at least this much?"

They continued to attack the monsters with bloodthirsty expressions on their faces, completely ignoring my words, which led me to believe that not a single one of them understood the objectives I was trying to accomplish.

'Oh god, this is worse than I thought.'

It became painfully obvious to me that the demonic energy was quickly eroding their minds, and my heart jumped a little.

I knew that they were still safe for now, but what about in five months?

Will they retain any semblance of rationality at all by then, or will it be too late?

'I need to find the solution quickly.'

I had severely underestimated the density of the demonic energy on this planet.

"You know what? Go crazy. Do whatever you want. I don't care anymore."

I waved my hand, sighing.

' As long as I manage to strike a deal with the Duchess, standing out might not be too bad. I just hope the other houses won't start trying to recruit us...'

That's where things would truly become troublesome.

*

To my relief, the events did not play out in the manner in which I had originally anticipated them to, as there was no demon that appeared to cause us any trouble for us.

It may have been because of the strength that we displayed, or it may have been because they were trying to save their strength in order to fight the Abyssal Mammoth, but regardless of the reason, it definitely worked in our favour.

Five hours into the raid.

After making a sharp turn, we found ourselves suddenly exposed to a tall opening, which was accompanied by the echoing sound of water splashing.

Instantaneously, everyone came to a complete stop and took a cautious look in the direction of where the sound came from, where they could just about make out the silhouette of a large creature lounging in what appeared to be a small lake.

'Follow me quietly.'

Following the Duchess's instructions, everyone moved stealthily from behind, and it was at that precise moment that everyone was able to get a look at the enormous creature.

A massive shadow was cast over the area where we were standing, and an oppressive energy permeated the air, making it difficult to breathe.

The shadow was cast by something that towered over at least half the height of the top end of the cave, which was no shorter than a skyscraper,

In order to get a good look at the creature, given its sheer size, I had to crane my neck all the way back in order to see it properly, and as if that weren't enough...

Rumble—! Rumble—!

My heart skipped a beat whenever it moved, as every single one of its movements caused the entire cavern to shake.

'This is definitely more than I signed up for...'

No, it actually was, and it was exactly because of this that I was starting to regret my decision.

...And what made things even worse was the sudden piercing sound of something splitting through the air as a silver object streaked through the air, impaling itself deeply into the creature's eyes.

Everyone froze, and the expression on my face completely hardened, and I robotically turned my head to look beside me, where Amanda was standing with a satisfied smile on her face.

"Good."

Chapter 701: Abyssal Mammoth [1]

"Whooooo!"

The Abyssal Mammoth raised its tusk into the air and let out a ferocious cry, much like the way a trumpet would sound. Simultaneously, its body raised up on its two legs―exposing its fluffy underbelly in the process—with its legs smashing down against the ground when coming down.

Rumble! Rumble!

The cave began to shake as a result of the mammoth's violent movements, and the color of the mammoth's eyes shifted to an ominous crimson hue.

"Not good; it's agitated!"

"The cave will collapse at this rate!"

Confronted with an unexpected circumstance, the demons began to panic a little. However, the panic didn't last too long. After all, they were all seasoned veterans.

It didn't take long before the order was restored, and immediately after, every demon began forming formations and barking orders at each other.

"Aim for the underbelly! That's its weak point!"

"Make sure you don't kill it!"

"Coming!"

Boom―!

The cave began to shake once more, and the combatants on both sides—the mammoth and the demons—engaged in a struggle with one another.

'This is worse than I anticipated..."

As I turned my head to look at Amanda, I heaved a sigh of exasperation and gazed at her with a frown.

It wasn't just her; everybody else was affected by it as well. They were getting to the point where they were a real pain to deal with.

...but I couldn't really blame them, to be honest. It was my choice to bring them along, and I was aware from the very beginning that the more mana, or demonic energy, they used, the more their minds became corrupted by the demonic energy.

It was also the reason why I avoided using my powers as much as possible.

Really...

If there was anyone to blame, it was me.

Xiu―! Xiuuuu―!

"Whoooooo!"

Amanda's arrows tore through the air as she continued to shoot in the direction of the mammoth. They rode through the air like silver bullets, arriving at the beast in a matter of seconds.

Ca―! Clank!

Unfortunately, when they collided with the mammoth's hide this time, unlike her first attempt, the arrows were deflected away and sent careening aimlessly toward the ground.

I wasn't surprised by this.

After all, there was a significant gap in the level of strength that existed between the Mammoth and Amanda. The simple fact that she had been successful in obtaining a hit in the first place was mind-boggling in itself.

Of course, it would have never occurred if it had not been caught off guard. But that was the whole point.

"Are you not going to make a move?"

Melissa asked, observing the battlefield from beside me.

"From the looks of things, it will take quite a while for them to get rid of the beast. If you were to help out, I'd help save some time."

"I guess..."

I nodded, agreeing with her statement.

Still, I didn't move from my position and continued to observe from the back. My eyes currently focused on the Duchess.

"...But you could make the same argument for the Duchess. If she were to make a move, things would turn for the better."

'After all, she's as strong as the normal me.'

I chose to omit the last part.

***

Clank―!

"Whooooo!"

Sparks flew into the air as weapons and claws struck against the hard fur of the mammoth, which further enraged it and caused it to trash around with more ferocity.

The cave began to shake even more violently, and the stalactites that hung above the ceiling of the cave began to fall like sharp projectiles toward the ground beneath.

The icicle-shaped formations—which, given the dense nature of the rock that was used to construct the cave, held an incredible amount of weight—came hurtling down toward a series of demons, impaling their bodies from above.

"Argh!"

"Watch out!"

The sight was not a pretty one as dark blood spattered all over the cavern, and the demons didn't even get a chance to scream before getting impaled.

With some luck, some managed to survive due to the fact that their cores were not damaged, but those were in the minority.

Simply put, the sheer size of the stalactites made sure that no demon survived, smashing their cores alongside their bodies.

"How many demons have fallen so far?"

Priscilla asked, overlooking the entire battlefield from a safe corner of the battlefield.

Her gaze continued to linger over the mammoth as her eyes her glare became colder with each passing second.

"So far, we've lost about ten Marquis ranked demons, with several already heavily injured."

Her uncle replied, seemingly prepared for the question beforehand.

"Ten already?"

A frown appeared on Priscilla's pristine features as her brows momentarily moved up.

...This was more than she had anticipated.

"If I may add..." Her uncle spoke, his voice brimming with caution. "I believe that the reason for the losses is due to none other than the premature shot that was made at the very beginning. Had it not been for—"

"Enough!"

Priscilla cut, her expression remaining the same. The same couldn't be said for her voice as a bone-chilling coldness accompanied her next words.

"Don't forget our objective. We're not here to coddle them into defeating the beast. We're here to test them. If it were up to me, I'd have killed the beast a while back. I don't need them to be here."

It might've been troublesome, but the beast was truly nothing for her to be wary of. Sure, if she were alone, it'd prove to be an annoying foe for her...but she wasn't alone, was she?

Her answer was enough to appease her uncle for a brief moment.

...Only a brief moment as he once again opened his mouth.

"Yes, I know, but—"

"Did the shot miss?"

Priscilla cut her uncle again; this time, her gaze focused on the hooded figure that had shot the mammoth in the eye.

The Duchess has made it a point to keep a close eye on the individual ever since they engaged the mammoth with their shot.

It wasn't out of spite or annoyance. It was more out of interest.

Priscilla preferred courageous people to cowards. The hooded's figure style was to her liking.

Of course, although she liked courageous soldiers, it didn't mean she liked reckless ones. Had the individual missed, it would've been a whole different story.

"Since they didn't miss their shot, they did nothing wrong. For those who died...they were merely not good enough."

At their level, a soldier had to adapt to any situation that was presented to them.

With one eye lost, they had gained a good advantage. It was now up to them to exploit that advantage and seal the deal.

"Aim for its right side! At its belly! That's its weak point!"

It was a loud shout coming from the distance that once again caught Priscilla's attention as she slowly turned her head.

'Another hooded figure?'

It came as a surprise to her when she noticed that the person who had yelled was donning a black hood, the same kind of hood as the one that belonged to the person who had fired the first shot.

It was obvious that the voice belonged to a woman based on how clear it was, and the instructions that she was giving seemed to be directed toward another hooded figure who had managed to get on the right side of the beast in some miraculous way.

"Attack its right side, you fuckwit! That's where the mammoth's blind side is!"

Her words were rather harsh too...

Priscilla watched as the figure leisurely approached the beast, walked up to it, and then made its way underneath it in the most relaxed way possible.

Perhaps it was due to the chaos, or the figure's skills, or perhaps both, but much to her surprise, he stood right beneath the mammoth's belly and...

SHAAA!

With a straightforward but magnificent thrust of their dagger, they slashed directly at the beast's belly, creating a deep gash from which thick, red blood gushed out.

It might've been just her imagination, but for a split second, everything came to a sudden stop.

'...What?'

Priscilla watched as the battlefield came to a sudden stop as both sides tried to process what had just happened.

"Whooooooo!"

It was the loud and agonized wail of the beast that woke everyone up from their stupor as blood began to pour out of the deep gash that had formed under its belly, dying the floor in red.

It may not have been a crippling injury, but the injury was undoubtedly excruciating, especially as the savagery of the beast increased and the cave started to shake with such intensity that one might think that it was going to collapse at any minute.

Rumble—! Rumble—!

No, it was definitely going to collapse at this rate, and Priscilla's right brow raised at the realization.

'Not good, if the cave collapses it will be quite troublesome...'

"Duchess, isn't it about time that we interfere? The situation is not good right now. If the cave collapses, we'll risk losing everyone."

It wasn't just her; her uncle came to the same conclusion as he expressed his concerns about the current situation, which wasn't good.

"Let alone the demons that were currently fighting the beast; even we would have trouble coming out unscathed if the cave were to collapse."

Her uncle continued his expression hardening by the second.

"No, not yet."

Priscilla shook her head, remaining in the same spot she was in. Her gaze, however, was currently drawn toward a specific area.

...toward a specific hooded group, or, to be precise, an individual.

For some strange reason, Priscilla felt something weird about him. She couldn't quite explain it, but... it made her spine tingle.

At the moment, she couldn't care less about the situation around her as her gaze was firmly stuck in the hodded's figure direction.

'...I can't sense anything.'

The more her gaze lingered in their direction, the more she was surprised to realize that she couldn't sense anything from them.

It baffled her.

She could count on one hand the people that could hide their presence from her.

Typically, and in most cases, it was because whoever she was observing had some great skill that made it hard to see how much demonic energy was entering their bodies; however, in some other cases...

...rare cases.

It was because of another reason.

An obvious, yet undesirable one.

'It can't be that, can it...?'

"Hm?"

It was with the sudden sharpening of her gaze that she noticed that the hooded figure had turned its head to meet hers.

Priscilla did not flinch when their gazes met, and although the hooded figure's concealed features prevented her from seeing their face, she was still able to make out two striking deep blue eyes that seemed to see through her very.

Now... If she didn't as much as flinch before, she did so now as her arms uncrossed and her mouth parted open.

'It shouldn't be...'

Chapter 702: Abyssal Mammoth [2]

'We've got her full attention...'

From afar, I was being viciously glared at by a certain someone. Or at least, that was how it felt as I turned my head away from the duchess and inwardly cursed to myself.

'I knew it...'

Considering what the others were doing, it was inevitable that it would happen, but... why is she staring at me?

What did I even do to prompt her attention?

I didn't even act once.

I didn't do anything special; I just sat still and watched the others go about their business. There was nothing I did that would make her pay attention to me instead of the other things going on around us.

'Is it perhaps my charm?'

...Hm, that did sound rather probable, but it had to be noted that I was currently wearing a hood, making this possibility invalid for the time being.

'Well, whatever.'

I shrugged my shoulders.

My interest only lasted until that point, at which point I turned my attention back to the enormous beast off in the distance.

'...More than anything, I'm surprised by Jin's skills.'

It was surprising that he was able to sneak under the mammoth without being spotted.

The gap between the two parties was wide, and for him to somehow be able to sneak right under it and deal some damage was nothing to make light of.

'I suppose that in exchange for their sanity, they were able to acquire a nice boost in their abilities...'

It was the only plausible explanation for the current situation.

"Whooooo!"

Clank! Clank!

The mammoth and the demons were locked in a fierce struggle; their bodies tangled together as they fought for dominance.

Sparks flew, and the cave echoed with the sounds of their roars and snarls. The air was thick with the scent of blood.

Demons tore at the mammoth with their claws and teeth, looking for a vulnerable spot in its thick hide to exploit. In retaliation, the mammoth delivered a devastating blow with its trunk and tusks, which sent the demons flying across the cavern.

Rumble! Rumble!

The battle raged on, with neither side willing to give up.

The demons were driven by their desire for destruction, while the mammoth fought desperately to rid itself of the little flies that were invading its domain.

As the battle raged on, it seemed as though the outcome was certain. With Jin and Amanda's help in injuring the beast, everything pointed to the demon's side, but...

...slowly but surely, the mammoth's superior strength began to show in the desperate situation.

Swooosh!

The mammoth's strikes were becoming more powerful by the second, wearing down the majority of the demons, and with a raging sound, the trunk of the mammoth began flailing around with more force.

"Whooooo!"

One by one, the demons fell. This went on until only a handful remained.

"Huak!"

"H-elp!"

A demon who had crashed nearby extended its hand toward me. Begging for help. Staring at the demon, I flicked my finger, and their figure turned into dust.

"...This has turned rather problematic."

Although I had somewhat expected this outcome, it still surprised me to see just how powerful the mammoth was.

Slowly, I turned my head and focused my eyes on the Duchess, whose pretty face was contorted as she gazed at the faraway beast with an unusually solemn expression.

"...And you're telling me that she wants to tame this beast?"

For the love of god, was she out of her mind?

How in the world was she supposed to tame that monster?

'And here I thought Melissa was the only cra-"

"Oy!"

My face scrunched up at the sudden pain that I felt on the side of my abdomen. When I turned my head, I was met with Melissa's glare.

"What was that for?"

"...I just felt like you were insulting me."

"Huh?"

My heart froze.

Was she some sort of esper?

"So you poked me because you felt like I insulted you?"

"No."

Melissa shook her head and turned to observe the conflict in the distance.

"...I did it because you said it out loud."

"Huh? I did?"

Well, that was unexpected.

Was I so engrossed in my own thoughts that I accidentally spoke out loud? Were the whispers that I constantly heard throughout the day finally getting to me?

I felt relieved hearing her answer. So long as she wasn't an esper.

"Damn, for a moment, I thought you were an esper."

"...So you really were speaking badly about me."

My entire body tensed up, and Melissa's head turned away from the battlefield.

The way her head turned caused mine to do the same thing, and as our eyes met, neither one of us spoke for a good minute.

"Ah..."

"Ah."

Well, fuck.

***

"I've seen enough."

Priscilla took her eyes away from the mammoth in the distance.

Her primary objective was to observe the people in the cave and determine whether or not any of them would make good candidates for her faction. Despite the fact that the vast majority of the demons that were there were rather underwhelming, she did observe a few that showed promise.

In particular, a specific hooded group.

Out of all the individuals present, they were the ones that captured her attention the most.

Appearing behind her was her uncle.

"Would you like for me to take action?"

"No, I can handle this myself."

Dismissing her uncle, Priscilla took a step forward, and her entire body started to glow with a pink hue.

After that, an armor began to form around her body, perfectly adhering to her body and highlighting every inch of it as it did so.

As her pink hair moved behind her head in a fluttering motion, a silver rapier materialized on her left hand. She grasped it tightly.

Priscilla's figure became blurry as she continued to stare at the battlefield, which was becoming more bloody by the second. She then appeared directly above the mammoth.

Her movements were so quick that even the mammoth had trouble keeping up with them. A beautiful silver curve arced through the air and then sank straight into the mammoth's hide.

Blood splattered in the air, and the mammoth let out an anguished wail.

"Awooo!"

Rumble! Rumble!

The trashing intensified, and the cave shook even more violently. As several stalactites fell from above and collided with the demons below, more demons died. It was unnecessary to describe the resulting damage.

"N..nooo!"

"He-help!"

The mammoth paid no attention to the events taking place around it; instead, it was completely fixated on Priscilla, who was looking down at it from above. Her red eyes were emotionless and unmoving.

As they stood face to face, neither of the two behemoths made a sound. Quietly, the two observed one another. The only sound that could be heard was the agonized cries of the demons.

Then...

As if in sync with each other, the mammoth raised both of its tusks in the air, and Priscilla's figure blurred.

Clank!

She materialized immediately next to the mammoth and thrust her rapier in its direction. Targeting the eyes of the beast with pinpoint accuracy.

Her actions were lightning fast and coldly calculated. directing one's attack squarely at an area that had already been damaged. As long as her rapier smashed through the eye, the fight would effectively be over.

...Of course, things weren't as simple as thrusting into the beast's eye. It wasn't a Duke ranked beast for no reason.

At the precise moment when Priscilla's rapier was about to make contact with one of the beast's eyes, the animal suddenly thrust its tusks in Priscilla's direction with a swift movement of its neck.

The action took place at such a breakneck speed that the only thing that onlookers were able to make out was a figure hurtling through the cavern at an incredible rate of speed.

Crash―!

"Uakh!"

Priscilla groaned as she was flung against the cavern wall. When she collided with the wall, her pink hair fell onto her face, concealing her attractive features.

Her crimson eyes glowed with a menacing red gleam as she glared at the mammoth on the opposite end, who was faring much worse than she. Its trunk dangled as fresh blood poured from a large open wound on its upper surface.

The mammoth wailed mournfully, showcasing just how much pain it was going through.

Steadily taking a step forward, Priscilla smoothed out her hair before shifting her attention back to the mammoth a fair distance away from her.

"Had this one not wanted to keep you as a pet, you would've been devoured by me already."

She scowled. Her hostile tone conveyed unfathomable murderous intent. Injecting demonic energy into her rapier, a pink glow formed, gently coating the blade of the rapier.

Taking a step forward, she eyed the beast in the distance and slashed.

The cut was rather straightforward. It appeared unimpressive to those around her. Those with keen eyes, however, thought otherwise. Several couldn't even help but take a step back due to the terror that they'd witnessed in that one simple slash.

...but more than anyone.

The one individual that felt the terror of that slash the most was none other than the mammoth, who could only stare blankly at the attack that approached its direction.

The only thing it could do was stare.

Stare at what seemed to be the end.

Spurt―!

Blood splattered everywhere across the rugged ground. Dying the rocks in a crimson shade.

Thump―!

The ground shook, and the mammoth fell to the ground. Silence returned to the cave as everyone's focus was on Priscilla, who slowly sheathed her rapier. Ignoring the stares, and with her gaze still lingering over the mammoth, she calmly fixed her hair and made her way toward the beast.

"Thank the heavens that I'm in a good mood."

Priscilla murmured. She soon approached the mammoth on the ground, which was seemingly on its dying breath.

WHIIING―!

"Huh?"

It happened all too suddenly. Just as she was about to get near the beast, something tore through the air at unimaginable speeds. It was so fast that she didn't even have time to realize what was happening. In that brief moment, however, her eyes caught a glimpse of something sharp making its way toward the upper parts of her brows.

'An ambush!'

The realization came a tad too late. She realized that by the time she'd managed to get her rapier out, it would already be too late. The speed at which the attack was coming wasn't something that any regular Marquis ranked demon could handle.

'It's too late...' She thought, clenching her teeth and preparing to concentrate her demonic energy toward her core.

She had several life-preserving means.

"Akh!"

Bam―!

Unexpectedly, just as she was about to shift her concentration to her core, she felt a massive force hit her in the head, and her body was propelled backward. At the same time, she witnessed the sight of a silver streak pass through the area she'd previously been in.

Her eyes widened, and it was then that she saw what seemed to be a black spike standing in the area she had been in. It was all torn up, but she knew...

She knew that it was what had saved her.

Chapter 703: Duke Ukhan [1]

"Good job, Jin."

"No problem."

The black spike in the distance slowly retreated into the ground.

I sighed in relief when I saw the Duchess avoid the ambush. I had noticed that something was happening around me during the time that she was dealing with the mammoth. It was for this reason that I didn't participate in the event.

When I realized what was happening, I had Jin and the others stop and had them shift their attention toward the Duchess. If there was anyone who would be the target of an ambush here, it'd be her.

The decision proved to be the correct one, as Jin was able to save her in the nick of time.

Staring at the situation, my mind began to race, and I looked at Jin. I then placed my hand over his shoulder and looked at him seriously.

"Jin."

"What?"

He turned to look at me. His eyes filled with vigilance.

'Am I that untrustworthy?'

I was a bit hurt by his gaze, but I shook it off and looked toward the distance.

"If something does happen in a bit, don't do anything."

"What do you mean?"

"Just don't struggle."

"What?"

"You'll know what I mean soon..."

Without waiting for him to understand my words, I moved further away from him and moved toward where Melissa and Amanda were.

He'll understand soon enough.

"...That was a close one."

Melissa commented, adjusting her glasses beneath the hood.

"If Jin was a little bit slower in his actions she probably would've died... Not gonna lie, that would've been pretty funny."

"No, not really."

I shook my head.

Even though she might have been hurt badly, it was very unlikely that she would have died. Also, did she say it would've been funny?

Demonified Melissa was really twisted...

"I'm sure she had some contingency plans in place for situations like this. Someone of her rank wouldn't die so easily."

"...I guess."

Melissa quickly lost interest and shifted her attention toward the direction from which the ambush came from. An undulation of demonic energy was quickly felt not long after, and a step echoed in the cave.

"Not bad, not bad."

Long black hair with a silky texture, red eyes, tanned skin, and a muscular physique. A figure wearing dragon-patterned robes materialized from the shadows. As soon as his presence became known, the cave's atmosphere became extremely gloomy.

It wasn't long before two more figures appeared behind him. Both wore heavy armor and carried an extremely overbearing aura.

"So it was you! Ukhan!"

The entire cavern could hear Priscilla's voice. Pink hair fluttering behind her, she glared at the demons while standing with her rapier unsheathed.

"You actually tried to ambush me?! Are you out of your mind?"

"My, my."

There was no visible change in the man's facial expression as he calmly advanced. The two demons following him in silence were like shadows, quietly following along without making a single sound.

His lips curled as he cast a circumspect look at the cave.

"You know damn well that I can't kill you. What's the point of getting so worked up?"

"Bullshit!"

"How crude."

The demon's face was contemptuous. His gaze swept over the remaining individuals in the cave.

Including myself and the others.

He then continued.

"Watch your words. Someone of your stature shouldn't be mingling and playing around with these rats. You're far better than this."

"..."

"Doesn't he just remind you of the old Jin?"

Melissa massaged her face while casting a distant glance at Jin. When I looked at her, I opened my mouth but was unable to speak. It hurt, but I found myself agreeing with her.

"...I think Jin is a little less annoying."

"You're one to speak. You didn't have him pester you every day in the beginning."

"Uh... Right."

Right. Compared to me, she truly did have worse. After all, Jin did have a thing for her.

"I kind of get shivers thinking about it. Just what did he see in you..."

"...I ask myself the same question."

Her reply left me stunned for a moment.

Did I hear correctly, or did she actually agree with me?

"Are you sick?"

'Did the demonic energy completely fry her brain?'

It seemed to be the case.

"I'm just self-aware."

Melissa's shoulders twitched, and her gaze shifted toward me.

"I spend almost all of my time in the lab. Why would you think I wouldn't be aware of the fact that I'm not exactly the best dating material?"

"So that's where you think the problem is?"

'You're self-aware, my ass.' I felt my face loosen up. 'It seems like she believes that her busy schedule, as opposed to her personality, is the source of the issue.'

This clarified a lot of things.

'Basically, she's delusional.'

"For some reason, I have the sudden urge to punch you."

Melissa cracked her fists, and I stepped sideways. Turning my attention away, I shifted my gaze toward the situation, which had since heated up.

...Maybe she was lying about not being an esper.

Standing over the mammoth, which was losing blood, with his hands behind his back, Ukhan's lips curled into a cruel smile as he turned to face Priscilla.

"So all of this for this little beast?"

The way he scrutinized the mammoth was akin to someone looking at a bug. It should be noted that this beast was at the pinnacle of this planet. For him to look at it with such disdain... It was clear that he was no ordinary character.

...Not that it really mattered to me, as I just sat back and enjoyed the show from where I stood.

"First, you tried to ambush me, and now you're trying to target my prey?"

The killing intent that Priscilla was emitting had taken on an almost corporeal form―slowly extending toward the vast area surrounding her.

"Hostile much?"

Yet, in the presence of such killing intent, Ukhan didn't so much as flinch. Rather, his smile only grew bigger, and his gaze returned to the mammoth.

I felt Melissa's gaze.

"Despite looking so tough, she isn't actually really doing anything."

"Well, yeah."

I took note of the two demons standing behind Ukhan and then looked back at Melissa.

"The two demons behind him are not to be trifled with. She probably knows that, hence why she's only threatening him."

"I figured that much."

"Then why did you ask?"

Melissa shrugged.

"I figured her status was high. But from the looks of things, she's getting utterly suppressed by whoever just came."

'She has a point.'

From the very moment the demon made its appearance, none of the demons present uttered a single word, while all Priscilla could do was utter empty threats. It was clear that whoever the demon was, he wasn't someone to be trifled with.

"Come now, Priscilla. I'm not here to make enemies. Rather, I'm here to help you."

"Help me?"

Priscilla's face distorted. Clearly, she did not believe in whatever he was saying.

"What nonse―"

Spurt―!

It all happened within the span of a couple of seconds. With a single swipe of his hand, blood spurted all over the cave, and the mammoth's head sagged toward the ground. Priscilla's face froze, and the entire cave became silent.

"You..."

A muffled growl quickly shattered the silence. It came from Priscilla, whose hair was now swaying in the air, and her aura flared up dangerously.

It quickly became abundantly clear to everyone present that her sanity was on the verge of breaking.

***

Just like Ren assumed. Priscilla's reasoning was indeed on the verge of snapping at the moment. She had never in her life felt so humiliated. Moreover, in front of the individuals she was attempting to recruit!

"Duke Ukhan!"

Several demons trembled in response to her voice as they sensed the malice contained in those two words. Naturally, this did not apply to Duke Ukhan, who greeted it with the same relaxed smile from the moment he arrived.

"What's wrong? Why do you seem so angry?"

Priscilla's teeth clenched even more tightly, and her eyes darted toward the two guards that were standing behind him.

'If only...'

The sole reason she hadn't sliced off his neck already was because of the two guards that were standing behind the Duke. They, too, were Duke ranked demons, but as opposed to Ukhan, who had reached the Duke rank with the aid of resources, they were fully fledged Duke ranked demons.

Serving under his father, the current Patriarch of the clan of Envy, Prince Devot, and one of the seven Prince ranked demons.

"Are you angry that I killed the mammoth? Were you perhaps trying to make it into a mount?"

The expression on Ukhan's face changed. He almost seemed apologetic at the moment. Looking at the mammoth that was lying down next to him, he seemed genuinely remorseful.

Of course, that look could fool others, but not Priscilla. She knew all too well with whom she was dealing with.

"Cut the crap."

She spat.

"Tell me what you're really here for."

Her hand gripped the hilt of her sword more tightly. She could feel the hilt tremble with the increased pressure. It was taking all of her not to strike Ukhan.

'I just have to wait until he gets back... I just have to wait...'

Right when she got ambushed, she ordered her uncle to sneak out and call for reinforcements. With his abilities, going unnoticed by them didn't prove to be hard. The only problem was whether he could get them to her on time.

Her teeth gnashed even harder.

"Nothing much. I was just curious about what you were doing..."

Duke Ukhan smiled, showcasing his pearly white teeth. Priscilla felt her stomach churn in disgust at his smile.

"Since I was in the neighborhood, I also decided to help. I heard the Abyssal Mammoth's gall bladder makes for a great poisonous substance. Since you seemed to be struggling, I decided to help you out."

An obvious lie. While it was true that the Abyssal Mammoth's gall bladder served as a great poison, the fact that she had publicized her expedition made it impossible for her to use the poison. If anyone was poisoned by it, she would be held entirely responsible.

Furthermore, it was an easily detectable poison. Other than covering up killings, it was useless.

"Here, take it."

When Ukhan swiped at the mammoth's stomach, a large incision appeared, and he reached into it. Then, after removing the gall bladder, he tossed it toward Priscilla while laughing.

Twak!

The bladder fell right beside her.

'...A few more minutes... A few more minutes...'

It took Priscilla everything she had at the time to refrain from lashing out at him. She could sense that her line of reasoning was weakening by the second. The people around her also noticed this as they distanced themselves from her. Scared of the possible aftermath of her actions.

"Now that that is done..."

Satisfied, Duke Ukhan turned his head, and his eyes locked onto a figure. With the same grin on his face, he extended his hand toward a hooded figure, and they flew into his grasp.

"Uakh!"

The hooded figure let out a painful groan as his neck was grasped by his thin fingers. Duke Ukhan's voice grew menacing as he regarded the hooded figure intently.

"Now then, how should I deal with this little pest? You should know the consequences of kicking a noble, right?"

Chapter 704: Duke Ukhan [2]

Duke Ukhan licked his lips as he grasped the hooded figure by the throat. Raising his hand, he reached out for the hood and lowered it.

When he did so, something unexpected caught his attention.

"Interesting..."

His voice bordered on amusement and annoyance.

Presented in front of him was what seemed to be a male wearing a white mask. It covered his entire face, only exposing his blonde hair.

The Duke opened his mouth and made sure his voice was loud enough for everyone to hear.

"I wonder what gave you the confidence to attack a noble in front of everyone?"

While everyone present was a 'noble', the term could also signify a purer bloodline as compared to the others, with the seven houses placing more emphasis on them.

At this very moment, Duke Ukhan was using this pretext to find trouble with the person who had just saved Priscilla.

Had it not been for him...

"Tsk."

He clicked his tongue and grasped more tightly.

"Ukh."

"What are you doing?"

Priscilla was unable to maintain her silence at this very moment. She did not know the hooded figure, but he had indeed saved her life moments earlier. She was not the type to repay a debt with ungratefulness.

"Let him go."

She took a step forward. This time, her words were not empty threats, and she was truly determined to take action. While she may not have died, he had indeed saved her a lot of trouble. If she did not save him, she'd look like someone who didn't care about those on her side.

Duke Ukhan looked at her.

"What's this? I'm sure he hit you. Why are you defending him? Does your pride only amount to this much?"

"It does."

She smiled, and her eyes turned hazy.

"I'm from the Sloth clan. What do I need pride for?"

"Hah."

The Duke lightly laughed at her words.

"You set a very bad example, Duchess..."

As he tightened his hold on the individual wearing the mask, ruthlessness began to spread across his eyes at that very instant. He was prepared to break his neck.

Priscilla's face quickly changed when she noticed this, and her figure blurred.

"Don't you dare!"

"Sorry, bu―"

Grip

The Duke was about to clench his fist when he was suddenly grabbed by the wrist by an unseen hand.

"Let's settle this peacefully."

A calm voice sounded not long after.

"Uh?"

At that very instant, the entire vibe shifted, and everyone's attention turned to the one responsible for all of this.

It was another hooded figure.

"Insolent!"

A loud shout echoed within the perimeter of the cave.

Almost immediately after that, the guards that were standing behind the Duke moved. Within a split second, they stood behind the masked figure with their weapons drawn and ready to attack at any moment.

"Wait."

They were stopped before they could take action.

Looking at the hooded figure, Duke Ukhan's eyes glossed over their body.

'How did he get near me without me noticing? Furthermore, my guards too... He only looks to be a Marquis ranked individual.'

Different thoughts crossed the Duke's mind at that moment. Opening his mouth, he asked.

"Who are you?"

"His friend. "

He answered, his tone of voice was just as composed as it had been before. Despite the fact that his face was hidden, the duke could feel the figure smiling beneath.

It irritated him.

"Hm?"

When he was about to say something, the guards in front of him began to twitch, and the Duke in front of him raised his head. Staring into the distance, all trace of expression vanished from his face, and he quickly let go of his grip.

The two bodyguards quickly appeared behind him, and the duke cast a wary glance toward the entrance of the cave before turning his attention back to the hooded man and snatching his hand away from his grip.

"Haaugh...haaa...haaa..."

With a low sounding thump, the masked man fell to the ground and heavily gasped for air.

"You're really lucky."

The Duke disappeared without elaborating any further, but everyone who'd heard his words clearly understood what they meant. This was especially true for Priscilla, who had a deep understanding of his character.

She cast a glance into the distance and sighed in relief.

'Fortunately, the reinforcements arrived on time...'

She couldn't dare guess what would've happened had they arrived a tad bit later.

Fixing her hair, she stared at the hooded duo before walking up toward the one that had appeared before the Duke. He seemed to be the leader.

Arriving before him, she stopped and said,

"Let's have a talk."

***

On an enormous tract of land covered in vegetation, three figures appeared. It was none other than Duke Ukhan himself, accompanied by two of his bodyguards.

The Duke's expression remained unfazed as he touched down on the plush grass. There was no sign of emotion on his face, and it appeared as though he was deep in his own thoughts.

He appeared harmless, but the guards behind him shuddered at the sight.

He eventually brought himself back under control by taking a few deep breaths. After that, he smiled as he faced his two guards.

"You two know what to do, right?"

It was a simple question, but the two guards immediately understood what he meant. They quickly nodded their heads.

"Find everything you can about the people in the cave and kill them if you can. Leave their bodies exposed, and don't bother covering them up. Let the world understand what it means to ally with the wrong people."

He paused, and his eyes flickered with a dangerous light.

"...For those that you can't deal with, send me a report. I'll personally get rid of them myself. If there is a time to act, it's now. Especially since the Patriarchs are away dealing with the World Decree matters."

He raised his head and looked at the two guards. A dangerous and oppressive aura erupted from his body.

Cocking his head, he smiled.

"Understood?"

The two nodded without saying a word and disappeared from the spot.

His gaze lingered over the spot where the two guards vanished before shifting to the distance. In the direction of the cave where he just came from.

Opening his mouth, his voice sounded especially chilling.

"…For the house of envy, all variables need to be eliminated."

***

My head feels like a cloud.

It's like it's floating, yet at the same time sinking.

I can't really explain it.

The past few years have numbed me completely.

Sometimes, I hear voices.

In my sleep, when I eat, when I walk, when I think.

It goes on and on and on.

Not sure when was the last time that I slept properly.

...I want to be normal again.

***

"Sorry for my tardiness; I had to deliver a letter. You don't mind, do you?"

"No, have some tea."

A demon dressed in butler attire stood behind me as an emerald green substance poured into a teacup that was in front of me.

Closely examining it, I determined that it was safe for consumption.

Shifting my attention away from the cup, I looked ahead to where the Duchess sat. In her hand was the same cup of tea, and she took a small sip.

"I'd like to finally thank you for what happened today."

She started. The butler next to me removed the teapot from the table and performed a single bow before departing.

As I looked at her, I reached for the cup of tea and took a sip from it. My tongue was flooded with a wave of bitterness, and the sensation almost caused my face to change. But I didn't let it show on the surface. I knew my manners.

I set the tea cup down.

"It's nothing worth mentioning."

Following the events of the cave, my group was graciously escorted to the Duchess's mansion. At that moment, everyone was standing behind me. For some strange reason, they didn't bother sitting.

The Duchess sat her teacup down.

"It may be nothing worth mentioning to you, but you still saved my life. I'd like to express my gratitude at the very least."

"Oh? In what way?"

I caressed my chin and pretended to fall in deep thought.

"...I'm a bit low on money."

I cast a glance in her direction from the corner of my eye.

Making money was the primary objective right from the start, so I didn't waste any time and simply told her what I wanted.

A bit shameless, but I didn't care.

"Pretty straightforward, aren't you?"

"I indeed am."

I smiled. She probably didn't see it, as the hood still covered my features.

"How much do you want?"

"How much can you give me?"

"Twenty Jor."

"Is your life only worth that much?"

"Fifty."

"One hundred."

I raised the cup and brought it to my lips. I didn't take a sip. I was just pretending to. It tasted horrible, but I had to look the part.

"Hmm."

The Duchess's brows furrowed for a moment. Eventually, she nodded her head.

"Alright, I can do that."

Her words brought a smile to my face.

'Would you look at that? My money problem is now solved.'

"Great."

I stood up and rubbed my hands.

"Alright then. Since we've solved the compensation problem, I think I'd like to go back and have a rest."

I turned around to look at the others and prepared to leave.

"Wait."

Only to have the Duchess call out for me. Somewhat expecting this, I turned to look at her.

"Is there a problem?"

"None."

She shook her head and pointed at the seat.

"Sit down for a bit. I'd like to discuss a few matters with you… human."

My heart sank the moment I heard her words, but I didn't show it outwardly. Sitting back down, I leaned back on the wooden framed sofa and asked.

"What makes you think I'm human?"

"Simple, really."

The duchess smiled. It was one that would leave many stunned, but it had no effect on me. After all, I had Amanda.

She pointed at the cup.

"If you were a dwarf, you'd have rejected the drink. They tend to prefer alcoholic beverages. If you were an orc, you'd have drunk it all in one go, assuming you'd accept it. Since you didn't do either, I came to the idea that you were neither. It then left me with two possibilities. Human or elf."

She took a slow sip from the cup before smiling.

"If you know elves very well, you'd know that they have a special etiquette when drinking. They'd hold the handle with their left hand and pinch with two fingers."

"...both of which you didn't do."

Listening to her, I was rather taken aback.

'There's such a thing?'

It seemed like I was slightly careless.

"Although not obvious, it easily gave away the fact that you didn't belong to any of those races."

"What about demon? Couldn't I just be a demon?"

Priscilla smiled again.

"If you were a demon, your bloodline would've been purer. We can easily tell if someone is contracted. It was never an option, to begin with."

"I see."

I thoughtfully nodded my head. Her words made sense. Sort of.

'...How troublesome.'

I sighed to myself and looked at her.

"Alright then, let's just say that you're right, and I'm a human. What about it?"

"You don't know?"

The duchess looked at me with an odd look, and I started to have a bad feeling.

"Know what?"

I asked, my eyes squinting. Was there some sort of unexpected development I was unaware of or something?

"It looks like you really don't know."

The duchess shook her head, and my brows furrowed.

Before I could say anything else, she spoke.

"Recently, there's been a decree sent down by his majesty. If we were to come into contact with any human, we are to report the issue immediately..."

Prolonging her last few words, her eyes glossed over me, seemingly awaiting my response. Closing my eyes for a moment, I almost laughed.

"So that's what you were thinking about..."

Extending my hand, black scales flickered in and out of existence over my arms.

Taking a deep breath, I let go of everything.

The seals that were within my body, the demonic energy that was coursing through my body, and the power I had concealed for a long time. It was a power that was well beyond what I held during my fight back in Immorra.

Like a volcano, everything erupted at once, and the world around me lost its color. I stared at the Duchess, whose expression was rapidly changing, and I opened my mouth.

"There seems to be a misunderstanding..."

Chapter 705: Nectar [1]

The room's atmosphere became oppressive, suffocating all those within.

The butler on the side and another demon present in the room brandished their weapons and pointed them toward the human seated opposite the Duchess.

Under the pressure that surrounded them, perspiration began to form on the sides of their faces. This was despite the fact that they were all within the Duke realm.

Priscilla wasn't in a much better state, and her eyes shook under the tremendous pressure.

"P-prince rank…h.how is this possible?"

There was an undisguised shock in her voice. Never did she imagine that the hooded figure would turn out to be a Prince ranked entity. An entity that stood at the very peak of existence.

'No, although it's close to Prince rank, it's still just a little bit off...'

It was still far superior to her strength.

A bone-chilling voice echoed throughout the room as his mouth parted open.

"…Your misunderstanding started from the very moment you thought I cared about such matters."

Hearing the voice, shivers ran down her back. The gaze with which he looked at her made her feel insignificant.

Just a couple of words from him, and everything changed. Originally, she was planning on using the information to have him join her side. In her eyes, he was an existence that she could make use of.

Plus, since they had already settled their debt, they owed each other nothing.

...It was a pity that she had kicked an iron plate.

He wasn't someone who could be controlled. Priscilla came to understand this the hard way.

She took a deep breath while gripping the armrest of her chair tightly. By the second breath, her gaze became calm again, and she met his eyes.

"Alright, then. Let me hear what you're here for."

She accepted the situation rather quickly. She didn't have much of a choice. With her grandfather, not present due to the matters regarding the World Decree, she had no way to get out of the situation.

She'd gain nothing from fighting against them.

"Good. It looks like you're easy to talk to."

The human smiled. The tension that had been suffocating the room dissipated almost as rapidly as it had arisen, and as soon as it did, she experienced an immediate sense of relief.

He then crossed his legs.

"I won't waste much of your time. I want to cooperate with you."

"Cooperate?"

"Yes. Cooperate."

He put further emphasis on the word 'cooperate', as if trying to show that he wasn't trying to take advantage of her.

'Tsk, let's hear this out.'

Of course, Priscilla didn't really put much thought into his words. She was a demon, and she naturally understood that there was no such thing as true 'cooperation'. One side always tended to lose out, and given what had happened before, she didn't believe for one second that he was actually going to propose a fair deal.

"The cooperation is rather simple."

The man grasped the edges of his hood, slowly lowering it to reveal his face. Jet black hair, deep blue eyes, and pale skin. In that moment, Priscilla finally managed to see what lay behind the hood.

'As expected, he's a human.'

Though she was already aware, it didn't take away from her shock. It was almost unheard of for a human to be this powerful.

He continued.

"…In exchange for helping you, I want you to help me."

"Helping me?

Priscilla had to take a moment to digest his words. An odd look then spread across her face.

"…Helping me? How exactly are you planning on helping me?"

While he had the strength similar to that of a Prince ranked demon, he was by no means capable of fighting against seven other Prince ranked demons. He was strong but not strong enough.

"Don't worry about my means."

The man smiled. It was a smile that exuded self-assurance, and for some reason that Priscilla was unable to explain, she found herself drawn to it.

Somewhat.

Even though she found his confidence to be rather infectious, she was not the type of person to actually fall for such nonsense.

She drew her hands together in front of her and leaned forward, pressing her elbows against her thighs while keeping her hands interlocked.

"Let's say I believe you. What exactly do you need from me?"

"Nectar."

It was a simple word. Yet, the moment that those words escaped from his mouth, Priscilla's face underwent a subtle change.

'...As expected.'

"Nectar? You're not thinking of the same nectar that I'm thinking of, right?"

"What other nectar is there?"

"…This fucking."

A curse escaped her mouth, and she let slip her true personality. She leaned against the sofa, covering her face with her hand, and looked away.

She probed a little bit further.

"How much do you need?"

"Enough for four people."

"…Aooo."

Priscilla had never in her entire life imagined that she would be capable of producing such a sound. However, at that precise moment, she let out a sound that was eerily reminiscent of a dog's howl.

Had she been in her normal state of mind, she would've been too embarrassed to speak. But she wasn't.

"You might as well rob me at this point! Do you have any idea just how much you're asking for?!"

Spit came out of her mouth at the beginning of each of her sentences, and at some point, she had stood up from her seat.

"I'd have understood if it was for one person, but three more people? Just fucking rob me already!"

Nectar.

Or, to be more precise―World Nectar―was something that was almost as rare as the purest devil fruit that could be harvested from the world tree.

Even though it didn't have the same effects as the devil fruit, it still had the amazing ability to make one's mind clear.

It didn't sound like much, but such material was extremely valuable to demons, whose actions were always influenced by their impulses.

The man slowly closed his eyes, oblivious to Priscilla's yelling in the room. He didn't finally open them up again until five minutes had passed and Priscilla had finally calmed down.

"Are you done?"

He inquired, his tone a little flat.

Priscilla frowned, but upon opening her mouth, she closed it back again and sat down. She was indeed done.

"Good."

A smile formed on the man's face. His smile made Priscilla feel mildly irritated, but she somehow managed to suppress her inner feelings.

He continued.

"While I do know the importance of the Nectar, I'm also very well aware of how much the upcoming batch of devil fruits are worth."

Their eyes met, and Priscilla felt her breath stop for a moment.

"I'll provide you the opportunity to be one step above the rest, and in exchange, you give me some nectar. What part of the deal doesn't sound unfair?"

"That, but…"

"But, what?"

"But."

Priscilla found herself unable to refute. Muttering another 'but' her mouth promptly shut, and her back sank into the sofa.

'If… and if his words are true, then it might really be worth a shot.'

The World Nectar was indeed rare, but it wasn't as though she didn't have it. In fact, she had more than enough to appease him...

It was just that she was rather afraid of what her grandfather might do if he were to learn of her actions.

'He won't kill me, will he?'

Maybe it was best if she found a way to protect her core. In case something happened...

Another problem was whether he had the capability of achieving what he had promised to do.

What if he failed and the others learned of her plot?

A risk.

It is unquestionable that she would take a significant risk if she were to accept the terms. One in which she was unsure whether or not the risk was worth it.

But did she even have a choice, to begin with?

"You…"

She raised her head and stared deeply into his eyes. When their eyes met, the thing that surprised her the most was that she did not observe any change in his eyes from the beginning to the end of their deal.

He was calm. Strangely calm. Was it confidence? …or was he just pretending to be confident?

"What is it?

He asked.

"…How can you guarantee me that you're not going to screw me over?"

"Heh."

As if already expecting the answer, a hazy smile formed on the man's face.

Then, with a flick of his finger, a scroll appeared in his hand, which he unfurled slowly before passing onto her.

"Here. Take it."

'A mana contract.'

Priscilla's face suddenly took on a very obvious frowning expression. Instantaneously, she recognized what he was holding, and without giving it much thought, she took it from him and began to read it.

She first read the entire contract, which took her about ten minutes, and then she read it again, which took her about twenty more minutes. Given her attention to detail, it was essential that she read it more than once.

"Upon the signing of this contract, the two parties will swear not to betray each other..."

She slowly started to recite the contents of the contract.

"From the moment the contract is signed, both parties will disclose how many entities are aware of the existence of the contract and the other party."

She was well aware of how unreliable mana contracts were.

A loophole could have been created with nothing more complicated than some simple wording changes. Because this was such an important transaction, she had to be extremely careful, as the slightest mistake could have disastrous consequences.

"From the moment the contract is signed, both parties will be unable to disclose in any shape or form any information regarding the transaction that occurred between both parties..."

Finally, after reading the passage for the fourth time, she set it back down on the table and muttered.

"…I can accept the terms."

"Find any loopholes?"

'What an annoying human.'

Priscilla found it hard to contain herself at the moment. The amused look on the human's face annoyed her to no end. Especially when it seemed to say, 'I know you found nothing because there was nothing, to begin with.'

Secretly balling her fist, her face blossomed into a smile.

"I want to add a condition."

"Condition?"

Finally, and for the love of all demons, a change finally occurred on the face of the man sitting opposite her. With his brows knitting together, his voice started to deepen.

"Let's hear it then. What's your condition?"

"It's nothing much."

Raising her hand, Priscilla's gaze shifted, stopping directly before a familiar cloaked figure. It was the one that had saved her back then.

With her smile enlarging by the second, her head cocked a little.

"Let him stay with me for a bit."

Chapter 706: Nectar [2]

'I'm sorry, but it looks like you'll have to be sacrificed.'

If possible, I would have shed a few tears at this time. However, I was a man, and men don't cry.

"Okay. You can take him."

I felt a potent glare at the back of my head, but I disregarded it. Certain sacrifices were required for the greater good, and Jin was that one sacrifice.

Priscilla's expression changed to one of surprise the moment I gave in and agreed. She looked at Jin first, then at me, with an open mouth as she alternated her gaze back and forth between us.

"You're agreeing?"

"Why not?"

"Eh?"

"What's with you?"

She displayed a surprisingly wide range of expressions today, especially for a demon of her stature. The poise that she displayed in the very beginning had long since vanished, and what I saw in front of me was nothing more than a misguided child.

'Come to think of it, if you push her buttons correctly, Angelica isn't that much different.'

Were all demons like this?

"I'm fine with giving him to you. Of course, I won't be fine with it if you're planning on doing something bad to him."

Her objective was not hard to discern at all. She most likely was dissatisfied with the mana contract, and as a result, she wanted to keep Jin close to her in order to maintain some degree of leverage for herself.

When viewed from her perspective, her choice was one that was entirely rational. Although the mana contract was a good way to establish a certain level of "trust," it was never a bad idea to have additional leverage.

Plus, I actually wanted Jin to stay behind as well. Just like she wanted to monitor us, I also wanted to monitor her. It went both ways.

"…You are one strange human."

A smile blossomed on my face. It was rather twisted, but it still counted as one.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

*

"For now, just as agreed. I will give you a small portion of what is promised to you."

The Duchess handed me a miniature sized wooden box. The container wasn't particularly large—it was roughly the size of a notebook—and it had a very light feel to it when handled.

After opening a small wooden case, a sweet, honey-like odor permeated the entire space, and I caught a glimpse of a small bottle containing a thick black liquid inside it.

Within a few short moments after catching a whiff of the honey-like scent, the blood in my body began to circulate rapidly, and my hands instinctively reached for the bottle.

'Finally...'

"Hmmm."

Opening the lid, I gave it a good whiff.

It was good.

"How is it?"

"It'll do."

I closed the lid and nodded in satisfaction. This was exactly what I needed.

"As per our agreement, I will now help you with your problem."

"Tell me if there is anything you would like from me."

After rising from my seat, I turned to look at the others. They were all staring at me. After a brief pause for thought, I turned my attention once more to the Duchess.

"Now that you mention it, that Duke guy…what was his name?"

"Ukhan."

"Ukhan, huh..."

I recalled his words and asked.

"Yeah, him. Didn't he say something about the gall bladder being a potent poison for you demons?"

"It is…"

Priscilla's eyes became constricted as she listened to my words, indicating that she had an implicit understanding of the question that I was about to ask.

I gave her a friendly smile before walking over to her. The moment I took a step forward, her expression changed, and the two guards who were standing behind her tensed up.

"Don't worry, I mean no harm. Let me just…"

I reached out with my hand.

"…touch your head."

***

Within the confines of an elegantly decorated room, a soothing melody lingered in the air. Duke Ukhan maintained his poise as he sipped from a murky black drink while seated in the center on a chair covered in gold plating.

"Reporting."

Two silhouettes materialized at his back. The Duke continued to enjoy the drink without so much as casting a glance in their direction.

It seemed to be to his taste.

"As requested, we've eliminated most of the requested targets. The only ones we were unable to deal with were the ones that saved the Duchess. With regards to their backgrounds, aside from the fact that they've been in the city for a little over a day now, not much is known about them."

One guard paused, and the other guard continued.

"One of the four appears to be a long-range fighter, while the other appears to be a close-range fighter who specializes in speed and the arts of the dagger. Regarding the other two, we weren't able to gather much."

"They are currently residing within the Duchess's estate and are currently under her protection. It is possible to get rid of them, but it would take a few sacrifices."

"We've currently stationed a couple of spies to monitor their movements. If you give the command, we can go ahead and eliminate them."

While he was listening to the report that was given to him by one of his servants, the Duke's expression did not shift in the least bit. Quietly listening, he nodded his head subtly and lowered his cup.

He looked down into it at the murky liquid that was contained there and then raised his head.

"There's no need."

He had given this a lot of thought, but he ultimately decided that it would not be worthwhile to give up several capable spies in order to get rid of a couple of annoyances.

Furthermore, he already had a general understanding of those 'annoyances' when he interacted with them in the cave and wasn't necessarily worried. They were nothing but flies in his eyes.

'If it comes down to it, I'll just get rid of them. They aren't anything to worry about.'

If the circumstances had been different and the Duchess's reinforcements had arrived just a tad bit later, he could already picture their skulls exploding right in front of his very eyes.

He carefully set the teacup he was holding down on the table before rising to his feet. He then moved toward the glass window that was located on the right side of the room.

Interlocking his hands behind his back, he admired the scenery in front of him.

"Keep an eye on them and report back to me whenever there is a new development regarding their situation. There are more important issues at hand right now, and it would be unproductive to focus our attention on a couple of bugs at this moment."

He licked his lips.

"We'll have plenty of time for that lat—"

"I beg to disagree."

A gentle whisper echoed in the room, startling the Duke.

"Who!"

The duke was taken aback when, as soon as he turned around, the first thing he noticed was the sight of his two guards lying face down on the ground. Passed out.

More importantly, sitting on the seat opposite him was a familiar, cloaked figure.

"Do you mind?"

He made a fleeting gesture toward the teapot. Then, as if he were in his own home, he poured himself some liquid from a cup and brought it closer to his mouth before drinking from it.

"Ukh."

He spat out the drink immediately after tasting it.

"What is this crap?"

There may have been a hood covering his features, but he seemed genuinely offended by the taste of the drink.

"Ukh… this is no worse than dirt. What is up with you demons and drinks? Do you only know how to drink dirt?"

Duke Ukhan sat calmly opposite him on the sofa. His appearance may have initially startled him, but he soon recovered his composure.

Picking up his old teacup, he placed it in his mouth.

"Not bad."

He murmured, feeling genuinely impressed.

"The tea?"

"...Not only did you manage to sneak in here without me noticing, but you also managed to knock out two of my guards at the same time. You must have some exceptional stealth ability."

Duke Ukhan regained his composure after attributing the figure's sudden entrance and action to his extraordinary stealth-like abilities.

'He seems to be in the middle stages of Marquis.'

This was what the Duke perceived on the surface. However, given the manner in which he had dispatched his guards, he was not so naive as to believe that this was an accurate representation of his true strength.

'Most likely, he's about the same level as me. I'll have to approach this ca—'

"Puu… I know what you're thinking. Don't bother."

After spitting out one of the cookies, the hooded man wiped his mouth and smacked his lips.

"Uagh… This is worse than the tea."

It wasn't until after he swished some water around in his mouth that he finally turned his attention back to the Duke. When he did so, the Duke, who was still uncertain, had the sensation that he was smiling, and he felt a hand rapidly approach his direction.

"How dare you!?"

Bang—!

The chair collapsed, and the Duke lunged forward. His sharp claws were pointed squarely in the direction of the man's face.

"Calm down, will you."

"Uh?"

The Duke suddenly felt weak all over his body, and just as his claws were about to reach out, he stumbled forward.

'This…'

In an instant, he recognized where this power belonged, and his heart dropped.

'Sloth.'

This lethargy...

This was definitely power that belonged to the Sloth clan.

But it was too late.

Unable to retaliate, the Duke felt a hand grasp his neck tightly.

"Ukh."

The Duke tried to resist, but in that fleeting moment, he felt a tremendous power radiate from the hooded figure. His eyes opened wide in surprise the moment he felt the power. It made him feel insignificant.

He had only ever felt this much power from his father...

Just who was the one hidden behind the hood?

"H-ho..w?"

"What's the point in asking?"

The hooded man looked down on him, seemingly finding the situation amusing.

"...Doesn't this situation remind you of something?"

The man laughed

"You held him like this back in the cave. Isn't it ironic that you're now in the same position?"

When he raised his other hand, a dark substance came into the Duke's view. Observing the substance in his hand, the Duke suddenly had a horrifying intuition, and his eyes widened in astonishment.

However, under 'his' grasp, all he could do was stare as the substance was slowly brought to his mouth and forcefully shoved.

"Drink. You won't die."

Everything turned black shortly after.

"...At least not yet."

Chapter 707: Silent night [1]

"Huaaam. I'm so bored."

Monica yawned as she stretched her limbs while leaning against a plain white wall. There were a couple of other people not too far away from her, all minding their own business.

All of the people present were extremely renowned individuals. They were the special group gathered in secret outside of everyone's knowledge.

"Feeling bored already, Monica?"

An aged voice sounded, and Monica's expression changed. With a stiff smile, she looked to her side.

"Ha… D-Douglas? Fancy seeing you here?"

"Fancy seeing me here? Shouldn't you already be aware that I was going to be here?"

"Oh.. ah, right."

Monica smacked her fist and stuck her tongue out.

"Seems like I'm getting older. My memory is giving away."

"Your brain is the only thing that's giving away."

Another voice interjected.

This time around, Monica reacted in a manner that was entirely different. She whirled around and glared in the direction of the source of the voice as if she were staring at her worst enemy.

"Old witch, what are you on about?"

"Old witch?"

The voice was taken aback for a moment. But before long, Donna had worked herself up into a rage and was staring angrily at Monica. If there was one thing that she detested more than anything else, it was when other people brought up her age.

"Don't tell me you're still angry at me for what happened a week ago?"

"I'm glad you know."

Monica grumbled while still glaring at Donna.

With a bitter smile, Douglas looked at Donna and mouthed.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing, really." Donna looked back at him and murmured. "I just told her that even if she wore high heels, she'd still be the smallest person attending, so there'd be no point in buying them."

"Bitch!"

Monica shouted, glaring even more fiercely at Donna.

"So what if I'm still the shortest?! It's all about my neck! If I'm a tad bit taller, I won't have to strain my neck to talk to everyone!"

"Oh, that makes sense."

Donna found it hard to refute Monica's comment. It indeed seemed rather straining for the neck.

Looking at Monica, she apologized.

"Alright, I'm sorry. Please forgive me."

"Hmph."

Monica gave Donna a side glance. Attempting to suppress her grin, twitches appeared on her lips.

It took her a week to think of this explanation, but it was unquestionably time well spent. Seeing Donna, who was far too proud of herself, apologize lifted her mood to an unprecedented high.

The reality was that Donna was spot on from the very beginning and that she had indeed wanted to wear the shoes to look taller. At least she didn't want to be the shortest person present.

But when she was called out last week by her, she found herself unable to refute and pretended to be angry to buy herself time to regain her face.

"I'll forgive you this once."

Monica sagely nodded at Donna and reminded.

"I hope there won't be a next time."

"Alright."

"…You two never change."

Douglas gave a kind smile. His smile softened as recollections of the past began to emerge within his mind, and he began to look back on things with a fonder perspective.

Even after so much time passed, the two of them were the same as ever. It was gratifying to see.

…but for how long could this continue?

Looking around him and sweeping his eyes over the people present in the room, Douglas took note of the air of solemnity that was lingering throughout the room.

Everyone in the room knew that the following mission would be crucial and that many people would be sacrificed in the process. Many of those here will probably never come back, and everyone understood this.

This was war, after all.

…It was just a pity. Truly.

Ci Clank—!

When the door to the room opened, a figure walked in, and everyone's attention immediately focused on him. Almost instantaneously, there was a shift in mood, and it became even more somber.

Deep dark hair, crimson red eyes, wide shoulders, and a black suit. Kevin didn't even bother to look at anyone before he started talking as he was making his way toward the center of the room.

"Since everyone's here. I'll start the briefing."

Tapping onto the large white table in the middle of the room, a holographic map appeared before everyone.

Several dots appeared within a certain spot in the human domain.

Staring at them for a moment, Kevin looked at the others. His face expressionless.

"Listen to everything that I say carefully, as I won't repeat it again."

His cold and monotonous voice swept across the room.

"If you listen to what I tell you. Tomorrow... the Monolith will cease to exist."

***

Swoop—!

Softly landing on top of a stone balcony, I stared at the window on the opposite end and tried to knock. However, just as I was about to knock, my hand trembled and my lips twitched.

Voices started to flood my mind, and scales started to form on my body.

'Why are you still struggling? There's two years left before you die; why don't you just give up and enjoy your life before you pass on?'

'It's easy to feel alone, but it's easier to feel alone. Aren't you alone?'

'Just let go...'

"huuu..."

I had to take a deep breath to calm myself down. The scales diminished at the same time.

I was already used to the voices.

Knock—! Knock—!

"What took you so long?"

Greeting me was Melissa. Grumbling, she opened the balcony window, and I entered.

Covering my mouth, I yawned.

"I wanted to enjoy some of the demon delicacies."

"And?"

"They were awful."

My lips smacked together when I said the last few words. Thinking back at the taste of the tea and cookies, I found myself unable to stop my face from contorting.

They were really terrible.

"Anyway, the concoction seemed to work. Have you prepared the rest?"

I sat on a nearby stool.

On the large table that was directly across from me were a number of test tubes, each of which contained a dark substance.

"Yeah."

Melissa took out one of the test tubes and shook it.

"The concentration is higher than the one I previously gave you. It should be able to kill anyone around Duke rank if ingested."

"Nice."

When I looked at the test tubes, I couldn't help but crack a grin. They were made by utilizing the gall bladder of the Abyssal Mammoth. Melissa and the Duchess worked together to create a potent poison that, when consumed, was capable of killing someone in the Duke realm.

...Of course, just because it could kill a Duke ranked demon didn't mean that the poison was very useful.

Despite it being a powerful poison, it only worked upon ingestion and could not be sneaked into food or drinks due to how potent it was. Due to its potency, it was easily detectable by just about anyone.

The only way it worked was through forceful feeding or some other extremely complicated method.

Because it didn't immediately shatter one's core, it didn't immediately alert the others to the fact that someone had died, so while it wasn't exactly useful, it still served a purpose.

"Here's five. This should be enough. I've diluted the farthest one on the right as you've requested."

Melissa slipped five of these test tubes into my hands, and I thanked her.

"Thanks."

I gave them a cursory glance before thinking about the information that the Duchess had provided to me.

'There are seven major powers within Ka Mankhut. Each belongs to one of the respective major clans. The most powerful clan is obviously the clan of envy, which also happens to be Ukhan's clan. For the past three World Decrees, they have been the ones that have hogged the most benefits.'

'Among the clans, apart from the seven Princes that run the place, there are seven successors. Two of the seven are Duke Ukhan and me.'

After giving Melissa one final look, my vision began to blur, and I suddenly found myself outside of the mansion.

"Ukhg."

The moment I stepped out of the mansion, my head started to throb intensely, and a groan escaped from my mouth.

"Hugh...haaa..haa..."

I grasped my chest and gasped heavily for air.

...I was finally suffering the consequences of letting go of my seals.

"Ugkh..."

I laid down on the grass and looked up. The whispers in my head were becoming stronger by the second, but I paid them no mind.

The night sky was filled with stars that shone brilliantly against a backdrop of indigo. In the background, I could hear crickets chirping and leaves gently rustling in the breeze. I felt the warmth of the grass on my feet as a cool night breeze blew through the trees.

The night brought a strange tranquility that I rarely encountered in my daily life back on earth and was a complete contrast to the voices in my head. I took a deep breath and engraved the scenery into my mind.

"Ukh... w-here is it...?"

I reached into my dimensional space and pulled out a miniature bottle, which I then studied for approximately one minute. To be more specific, the dark substance that was housed inside of it.

I did not give it a second thought as I quickly removed the cap and emptied the contents of the container into my mouth.

Almost instantaneously after the substance entered my mouth, I felt something penetrate deeply into my mind, and everything began to clear up. It was as if the fog in my mind had started to clear up.

The soft whispers that echoed at the back of my mind, the impulsive and intrusive thoughts I struggled to suppress, and the bad memories that haunted me every single day...

Just like that.

Everything became quieter, and I stood there for a moment, unable to comprehend this new normalcy.

Was this how it felt to be normal?

…It was a feeling I had long forgotten.

"Huh..hu…"

My chest trembled when I took a deep breath.

Shifting my gaze toward the tube in my hands, I clenched it, shattering it in my hands.

"It looks like it was the right decision."

The nectar was truly the one thing that I needed. Everything that had been plaguing me for the past few years was being suppressed, and for once… for once I was feeling normal again.

"Alright."

I calmly gazed at the estate behind me and stood up. One dose was not enough; I needed more. If I wanted to become normal again... I needed more.

To my great relief, I was able to persuade the duchess that the others required the nectar, despite the fact that this was not actually the case.

"Let's get to work then."

Chapter 708: Silent night [2]

[I'm at the location.]

The abandoned structure far off in the distance captured and held Monica's attention for some time. A fleeting expression of solemnity passed through her eyes as she knelt down and did the best she could to hide her presence.

'...This is it.'

This was the place that she was designated after the meeting a day prior.

In just a few short moments, a battle would erupt, and many would die. Her presence was not yet known to the enemy, and she was only supposed to show up once the enemy showed up in full.

If they didn't show up, she wouldn't either.

Closing her eyes, she inwardly prayed.

'Hopefully...'

***

"Monica is in position."

Donna looked to her left, where a beautiful woman with green hair stood. She was none other than 48th <S> ranked hero, Amber Rose.

Not far from them was another group of lower ranked members scouting the area ahead. They were the main force in charge of the operation. On the other hand, Amber and she were merely there to ensure that nothing occurred to them. Somewhat like bodyguards in disguise.

Their presence shouldn't be out of the Monolith's calculation.

"That's good."

Amber responded, her tone sounding rather low. It was her attempt at hiding her nervousness.

"Don't worry."

Her nervousness didn't slip past Donna. She placed her hand on her shoulder and reassured.

"We've got the upper hand. We may be walking towards a trap, but the fact that we know that should already be enough of an indication that we aren't going there without a plan. Have faith in the Alliance Master."

"You're right."

Amber took a deep breath and stabilized her heartbeat.

She looked at Donna and asked.

"...Is he trustworthy?"

"The Alliance leader?"

"Yeah..."

Amber bit her bottom lip.

"He seems rather young, and there's not much that I know about him. It'd be a lie if I said I wasn't worried."

"..."

Donna wordlessly stared at Amber.

'Is he trustworthy?'

Donna's mind was just now starting to wrap around how far Kevin had come in such a short amount of time compared to when they first met. From having a rank of around a <D> to now being on par with her.

...Then there was Ren as well. Nothing needed to be said about his accomplishments, which surprisingly overshadowed Kevin's already absurd ones.

'Now that I think about it... what kind of monsters did I train? Is my teaching that effective?'

She shuddered at the thought.

Perhaps she was a way better instructor than she had expected.

"We're here."

Amber's voice brought her out of her delusions. Raising her head, Donna's eyes focused on an enormous beacon that was deeply etched in the ground with four clamps by its side.

An invisible beam shot out from the beacon, directly shooting into the sky and absorbing the mana around it, releasing small threads of black.

"Mana Compressor."

The main target of their excursion. As long as they destroyed it, their mission would be considered completed.

It was just that...

[Scouting Report. There appear to be no adversaries.]

...It was completely deserted.

There was no one in sight.

"I feel several presences beneath the ground. There's more than twenty."

Hearing Amber's murmur, Donna found her body tensing. A subtle hue spread from her amethyst colored eyes.

"Can you tell their rank?"

"No."

Amber shook her head with a tense look. With thin vines secretly spreading from her fingertips, she furrowed her brows tightly.

"...However, I can feel several threatening auras. About seven of them to be exact. "

"That many?"

The unexpected revelation left Donna completely taken aback. The Monolith seemed better prepared than they had initially anticipated.

Amber retracted her vines from the ground and cast a solemn look in Donna's direction.

"What do we do now?"

"I don't know."

Donna bit her lips while staring at the attack force ahead of her. They were currently pretending to scout the location while, in reality, they were just waiting for their orders.

Donna briefly furrowed her brows as she turned to face Amber. She finally took a deep breath, and then her eyes grew sharp.

"Do you know the exact location of all those that are lying in ambush?"

"More or less."

It wasn't entirely clear to her whether or not she had tracked down all of the individuals hiding in the ambush. Her vines might not have been able to extend to the spot where a being with a higher rank was possibly hiding.

She looked at Donna.

"So what do you want me to do?"

"Start a direct attack."

Donna responded in a stern manner. Her amethyst colored eyes shone brighter than before, slowly extending to the area around her.

"Since we know their location and that they're waiting for us. It's best if we attack directly to have the initiative."

She looked down at her watch.

"I'll let the combat team know."

"Got it."

Amber tore her gaze away from Donna and fixed it on the opposing combat force that was off in the distance. Seeing their bodies tense, she knew that they'd received the direct orders from Donna, and the vines that were coming out from her fingertips started to thicken.

Closing her eyes, Amber carefully sensed the auras of her opponents. She couldn't help but feel rather tense at the moment. The feedback she was receiving through the vines led her to believe that there were a significant number of powerful adversaries lurking in the distance.

'I hope I didn't miss anyone...'

Making sure she was locked on all the auras, she looked directly at Donna.

"I'm ready."

Donna lowered her hand and fixed her gaze toward the distance. Her amethyst eyes exploded with color.

"Okay, get them out."

"You got it."

Amber, obediently carrying out Donna's instructions, channeled all of her mana into the vines, which burst forth from the ground and hurled toward the targets.

Rumble―! Rumble―!

The ground began to shake violently, and out of the ground came thick vines that were about the size of three tree trunks. The very tip of them was extremely sharp, and following their appearance, several figures emerged from the ground.

"We have been discovered!"

"Engage with the enem―"

They were the Monolith forces.

"Stop."

The sound of Donna's voice quietly spread across the entire battlefield, and the figures that emerged from the ground froze on the spot.

Click―!

The ground clicked at her step, and she brushed her black hair back.

As she opened her eyes wide, the world took on a purplish hue, and her voice took on an extremely alluring quality.

"Do me a favor and quietly die."

They were just a couple of words, but the moment they spread, the eyes of many shook.

A few of the weaker individuals found themselves tempted by her voice, and they brought their weapons directly toward their throats.

Blood trickled down the side of their neck.

Boom―! Boom―!

In the meantime, the assault force and Amber attacked with everything they got. Blood sprayed all over the ground as limbs fell to the ground.

Boom―!

The sound of explosions reverberated throughout, drowning out the cries of desperation coming from those who had fallen.

In the space of just a few seconds, more than half of those who emerged were gone, leaving behind only those that held a considerable amount of power. As they looked at Donna, whose eyes shone brightly as she looked back at them, their faces bleached.

"Why are you still here?"

Her sweet voice lingered in the air, halting their movements. It was only for a moment, but it was sufficient for Amber to intervene as thick vines sprouted behind them like spears and targeted their backs.

"How dare you!?"

At that precise moment, a high-pitched shriek resounded throughout the space, and a potent aura engulfed the entire region.

Both Donna and Amber found themselves propelled a great distance away, slamming into the far-off structures as they went.

Boom―!

"Ukh."

While trying to regain her composure, Donna let out a muffled groan. Her vision was obscured by dust and debris which came as a result of her crash.

After the dust had settled and she was able to see further ahead, she caught a glimpse of an elderly woman with a cane in her hand standing in the air.

Her presence took over the entire battlefield.

"I,it's that old witch…"

Donna muttered while wiping the side of her mouth.

She instantly recognized the old lady. She was one of the elders of the Monolith and an <SS> ranked entity.

Just the pressure alone made it difficult for her to stand.

"It looks like I've underestimated the lot of you."

Her gaze moved from one person to the next across the battlefield. Soon after that, she tapped the top of her cane into the air, and a circular ring of pressurized energy radiated outward from it, encircling the entire area.

The pressure that Donna was exposed to increased dramatically and she found herself coughing up blood.

"Pfttt."

Her chest hurt and she could no longer keep her head high up.

…but she didn't need to.

Swooosh―!

A whistling sound arose in the air and a terrifying explosion reverberated in the air.

Boom―!

Shortly after, a high pitched voice echoed, and Donna cracked a grin... only for it to freeze shortly after.

"Old Witch number two, it's about time you showed yourself!"

Old Witch number two?

***

Alliance Headquarters.

Ding―!

[We have engaged with the enemy]

Ding―!

[We have engaged with the enemy]

Ding―!

[We have engaged with the enemy]

Kevin fixated his gaze on his watch, which was ringing nonstop due to the overwhelming number of notifications flooding the interface. His expression didn't change at the sight of the notification.

He tapped onto his watch and disabled his notifications.

Shortly after that, he stood up from his seat, pressing his hands against the surface of his desk as he did so. At the same time, he reached for his grey blazer and slung it over his shoulders.

As he slowly clenched and unclenched his fists, he slowly extended his hand forward, and a viscous white light suddenly burst forth from his hand.

As he looked at his hands, his face contorted into an expression that suggested he was struggling to make sense of something. Or maybe, come to terms with it.

"Almost there…"

After a brief shut of his eyes, his figure became hazy and then vanished from the spot.

"…Just a little bit more."

Chapter 709: Silent night [3]

"Has he always been like that?"

The Duchess inquired as she turned her head and faced the window of the room she was in, admiring the view outside.

Sitting opposite from her was Jin. Similarly looking at the window, he inwardly sighed.

"Yeah…"

They were currently talking about Ren.

He may have changed a little over the years, but thinking back at all the times he had been with him, he couldn't find a way to deny her words.

"Must've been tough."

"Tell me about it."

Thankfully, the Duchess was quite hospitable. Else he really would've been cursing Ren till the end of his life.

He reached out for his pocket and took out a cigarette.

…It was a habit he picked up due to all the stress he'd been facing recently. It wasn't harmful to him anyways, so it didn't really matter.

"What's that?"

"This?"

He lifted the cigarette.

"Yeah."

The Duchess nodded, her eyes carrying a hint of interest.

After noticing how interested the Duchess was, he lifted his index finger to light the cigarette and then took a brief drag from it.

*Puff*

The Duchess's gaze followed the smoke that raised in the air.

"It's called a cigarette, and it's something that helps me manage my stress."

"…There's such a thing?"

"Mhm"

He took another puff before handing the Duchess his pack.

"Want to have a go?"

"Can I?"

"Yeah. Go ahead."

She reached out with caution. Sliding the cigarette out with the tips of her slim fingers, she brought it in close to her mouth and placed it in between her lips before taking it out.

For a good minute, she examined it with wonder.

"What do I do now?"

"Light the tip."

He pointed at the white side.

A blue flame flickered over the Duchess's finger.

Alternating her gaze between Jin and the stick, she brought the finger close to the tip.

"Like this?"

"Yuh."

The cigarette lit, and an orange ring formed.

"Bring it to your mouth and inhale."

Jin explained before she could ask further.

"…Okay."

Doing as Jin instructed, she brought the cigarette to her mouth and took a puff.

Only that…

"Cough! Cough!"

Her entire face turned bright red, and she began coughing in an uncontrollable manner.

Curses soon started to fly out from her mouth.

"Ha! You lied to m—Cough! Cough!"

She started coughing even more violently.

"Hahah."

Jin, who was having trouble keeping his composure, let out a muffled chuckle. He already knew that this was going to happen.

"The fuck are you laughing at?"

Only that her subsequent change in expression and her words left him speechless.

"Did you trick me on purpose, bastard?"

'…Is this really her?'

While he had seen glimpses before when she was talking with Ren, now that he was directly interacting with her, he found her new behavior to be a stark contrast from the one from before.

Was she hiding her true personality?

"Oy!? Are you dead or something? Cant you fucking hear me?"

…She looked no different than a gangster.

With a twitch of his lips, Jin maintained his composure.

"You didn't inhale it properly. Try again, but this time try inhaling with your lungs."

"You better not be playing with me."

She glared at him fiercely. Then, bringing the cigarette close to her mouth, she tried again.

Her chest heaved up, and Jin turned his head. They were quite big.

*Puff*

The Duchess's exhalations caused a cloud of smoke to float in the air, and Jin could very clearly hear her letting out a series of muffled coughs. Nevertheless, it was a marked improvement over the first attempt she had made.

"Cough… it burns a bit."

She massaged her chest while staring at the cigarette. Then, bringing it to her mouth, she took another puff.

She continued to draw on the cigarette in this manner for an ensuing couple of minutes, up until the point where there was nothing left.

"What do I do with this?"

She showed the butt.

Jin looked at it before casting his gaze away.

"Throw it away."

"Mhm."

With a light flick, it disappeared out of thin air.

The Duchess then extended her hand in Jin's direction.

"What?"

Jin looked at her strangely. He somewhat had an idea of what she wanted but found himself rather taken aback when he thought about it.

It couldn't be, right?

"…"

She didn't reply and bobbed her hand a little.

Pursing his lips, Jin took out a cigarette and placed it on her hand. She glanced at it for a moment before looking back at Jin.

"More?"

Now, this…

He took another cigarette and placed it on her hand.

This time, she didn't even bother looking at her hand before directly staring at Jin. Her gaze and expression were clear. She wanted the whole box.

Opening his mouth for the first time in a long time, Jin was left speechless. Was this seriously the same girl from before?

'Ah, whatever.'

After weighing the pros and cons, he shook his head and placed the pack in her hand, which she graciously took.

"Very generous of you."

'Motherf—'

***

[Meet me at the Red Peak, Duke Velmout. I'd like to discuss with you about a possible partnership.

Priscilla—]

"Interesting."

A demon muttered while staring at the letter in his hand.

While he stood there wearing a flawless black suit and holding a clear glass that was filled with a crimson liquid, his long black hair reached the back of his attire.

With his back leaning against the stone edge of the balcony, he twirled his cup.

"So she finally couldn't wait any longer…"

A smirk formed on the demon's face. Seemingly already having predicted such a situation.

The stunt that Duke Ukhan had played on her earlier in the day had already made its way to his ears, so the letter did not come as a surprise to him when he received it.

Had he been in her portion, he too would've resorted to an alliance. After all, by that point, the only thing on his mind would be revenge rather than the benefits coming from the World Decree.

This was extremely advantageous for him as it would mean he could leverage as much as he could from Priscilla, granted that he would help her get revenge which was also within his interest since Duke Ukhan was also a major competitor.

…It was essentially two birds with one stone.

"Alright, then."

With a flick of his finger, the letter vanished into thin air, and he returned to his mansion.

Fixing his suit, he mumbled with a smile.

"Let's see just how much I can squeeze from her."

*

"Master, are you sure it's not a trap?"

"It's possible."

Duke Velmout smiled at his bodyguard's question. He answered before the guard could ask any further.

"I've already set up several backup procedures. If something does happen, it'll reveal that I was headed to a meeting to meet with Priscilla, plus…"

He paused and looked at the guard.

"With the two of us here, what could possibly go wrong? In all of Ka Mankhut, I can barely count the number of people that can deal with us without making a scene. If there really is an ambush, then the aftermath of our fight wouldn't go unnoticed. Especially since this is the red peak."

The distance between the main city and the red peak wasn't all that great. It was not very wooded and did not have any particularly large boulders or trees. It was not the kind of location one would normally choose for an ambush.

"You don't have to worry too much. I doubt anyone would be so bold as to make a move against us. I've also confirmed that the letter is indeed from the Duchess, so it's even more unlikely for this to be an ambush considering her personality."

Priscilla was famous for her cautious personality. She tended to think a lot before acting, and practically everyone understood this about her.

It was exactly because of this that Velmout was relaxed.

"…That maybe so, but I still have a bad feeling."

The guard warily looked around him. For some reason, ever since they'd stepped foot onto the peak, he felt as though someone had been watching them from afar.

He couldn't quite explain it, but it sent chills down his spine.

"You worry too much."

Unfortunately, it seemed as though he was the only one feeling this way as the Duke didn't even seem to be the least bit concerned about the situation.

Being one of the few successors of their house, and a Duke ranked demon, he deemed himself as invincible. As though nothing could hurt him.

…It was a dangerous train of thought.

"Duke, how about you let me scout ahead."

The guard offered, still not feeling relieved about the current situation.

He wanted to scout ahead and make sure it was just a feeling. He couldn't afford to let anything happen to Duke Velmout.

He was a successor after all.

"You worry too much."

The Duke dismissed him with a wave of his hand.

"Like I said, I've made the—"

"Yes, so it's best if you don't repeat yourself."

A voice cut the Duke off.

All of a sudden, the two of them froze on the spot.

Thump—!

Before either one of the two could even say anything, a figure materialized in front of the Duke and grasped him by the head.

The Duke let out a pained cry.

"Huak!"

"Let go of him!"

Seeing the Duke in danger, the guard quickly drew his weapon. It was a long silver sword.

Raising it up, he prepared to slash it at the figure, but before he could even do that, the figure looked at him and slashed in the air with his finger.

"Quiet."

"Ukh!"

'Why is the world spinning?'

For some strange reason, the moment the figure swiped his hand, everything turned upside down for the guard and he lost control of his body.

Thump—!

'Ah…'

It was only after he saw the ground that he realized he'd been decapitated. While he wasn't dead, he was also unable to do anything.

"Who are you!? What do you think you're doing?!

He could only watch on as the Duke he was meant to protect squirmed under his firm grasp and a white light pulsed into his head.

"You talk too much."

That was the last thing he heard before he found his core shatter. He didn't understand when it happened, as it all happened in a flash, but within moments of his head decapitating, something pierced his core and it shattered.

Chapter 710: Unfolding of events [1]

Thump—!

"Done."

I patted my hands while a body fell flat on the ground in front of me. Taking out one of the tubes Melissa had given me moments prior, I opened the Duke's mouth and poured the contents into his throat.

"Ukhah!"

His body jerked immediately after pouring the substance into his mouth, seemingly rejecting its existence.

...But I didn't care and forced the contents in.

His complexion gradually began to fade away, becoming paler by the second, while at the same time, scales began to form on his skin, and black veins began to emerge.

"It looks like it's working."

The poison did indeed look rather effective.

'My body is a lot sorer than I thought.'

Stretching my back, I felt every part of me ache.

'I guess this is a consequence of ingesting the Duchess's blood.'

It was only after I swallowed a bit of her blood that I was able to acquire a Sloth-related ability. Because I didn't take much of it, it wasn't very strong, rather, it was pretty weak, but it was still there.

Furthermore, it was only because I had the Nectar that I even dared to swallow her blood. Had it not been for that, I probably would've never done such a daring thing.

'It was worth it though.'

I refrained from giving the demon a further glance and instead turned to look to my right, where I saw a lovely figure standing with her bow held low in her left hand.

I thanked her.

"Thanks."

"Mhm."

Amanda did nothing more than give a slight nod of her head before walking forward and retrieving the arrow that had pierced the core of the guard.

Putting her arrow away, she looked at me.

"Do you think the demons will be aware that something happened now that he's dead?"

"Don't worry about it."

I reassured her and looked at the Duke beside me.

"Unlike the Duke over here, the guard doesn't have any contractees. His death will not cause any commotion."

According to what the Duchess told me, it was forbidden for the guards to enter into contracts with other beings. I didn't have a crystal clear understanding of the reasoning behind this action, but I knew the Duchess wouldn't intentionally mislead me about something of this nature.

Thus, I just went ahead and killed them. It saved me from using all of the gallbladder.

Lifting my head to stare at the moon hanging in the sky, I turned around.

"Let's go. We still got a lot of work to do. We only have tonight to act."

***

Duchess Klove, Duke Rhimenhart, Duke Givon, and Duke Ansandricth.

These were the names of the four remaining successors. All of them were at the beginner Duke realm and were rather respected.

Before I left the mansion, the Duchess presented me with a comprehensive booklet that contained all of the information she possessed regarding them.

Their habits, the environment in which they live, the people with whom they associated with, and much more...

They seemed like a lively bunch.

Unfortunately…

On this very bright, the four of them took their last breath.

"That makes it the last of them."

Thump—!

A demon fell before my feet, and I wiped the sweat that had accumulated on my forehead.

I had to struggle through it, but after a few hours of hard work, I was able to get everything that needed to be done, done.

"Thankfully, the night here last almost three times more than earth, else I wouldn't have been able to finish by dawn…"

Shifting my gaze toward the horizon, a bright yellow glow began to tint the sky, and what appeared to be an orange sphere began to rise into the air.

The operation lasted approximately one and a half days, all of which took place during the same night cycle.

Such unusually long nights initially struck me as odd, but I very quickly adjusted to the new schedule. I was used to not sleeping.

"Are you also done?"

I looked at Amanda.

Staring back at me, she nodded her head.

"Yes."

"That's great."

I stretched my back and yawned.

"Let's go back then. I need to catch up on some good sleep."

I was worn out, and after everything was said and done, all of the preparations were finished. All I needed to do was wait.

Wait for everything to piece itself together.

'By the time I wake up, I'll know if the plan worked or not.'

"Hm?"

At the very moment that I was about to leave, I felt a warm and gentle grasp on my hand. After looking down, I could see a soft hand grasping mine. Raising my head a little, I found Amanda quietly staring toward the distance without making a single sound.

I smiled at her actions.

"Let's go."

I guess she could still be cute while under the influence of demonic energy.

***

[Ambush at Point Z has failed. The enemy seemed prepared. Requesting backup.]

[Ambush at Point X has failed. The enemy seemed prepared. Requesting backup.]

[Ambush at Point U has failed. The enemy seemed prepared. Requesting backup.]

Hemlock's device was inundated with a tidal wave of notifications, all of which came in the form of an alarm signal.

The continuous notifications were the only sound that rang within the confines of the now empty hall.

Staring at the message, cracks formed on Hemlock's calm face.

'What's going on?'

It came as a bit of a surprise to him that the Alliance had discovered the trap that they had laid.

It was something that they had meticulously prepared in order to take advantage of the ability that one of 876's companions had.

The one to control animals.

That wasn't what surprised him the most, though.

He was taken aback by the fact that they were aware, in some way, that they had elder-ranked individuals hiding close to the mana compressors.

Such information wasn't something they should've been aware of.

"A traitor?"

It was the only explanation he could think of. Other than someone betraying him, how could such information be leaked?

'This makes things rather problematic…'

Hemlock found the situation rather annoying. He had set up a lot of plans, and he had even sacrificed several high ranking members in order to achieve his goals… and yet, someone chose to betray him?

Just who could it be?

"It's definitely not the other high members since I'd know thanks to the chip in their head."

Every single action and motion that they took was tracked by the chip. Be it when they ate, slept, or went to the bathroom... the chip knew it all.

In addition, they each had a specific team that was constantly monitoring everything that they were seeing and hearing. Furthermore, he had made it so that if he died, all the chips would simultaneously explode.

It'd be stupid of them to try anything against him.

It was also because of this that Hemlock was reasonably confident that it wasn't them.

"Just who…"

"Don't dwell on it for too long."

A crisp voice sounded within the empty space of the hall, startling Hemlock.

When he raised his head to stare in the direction of where the voice came from, he was surprised to see two crimson red eyes staring back at him. His figure was cloaked by the darkness of the hall, but Hemlock recognized him immediately.

"It's you?"

"Surprised?"

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The rhythmic echo of his steps reverberated throughout the empty hall, and shortly thereafter, Kevin made his way beneath the seat that Hemlock was occupying.

For a moment, neither of them spoke, allowing the silence to permeate the entire room.

The two were carefully studying one another.

…The silence didn't last for long, however. Soon, Kevin broke it.

"You're rather ruthless, aren't you? Killing your own high ranking members in order to conquer the great cities fast."

"I did what needed to be done."

Hemlock replied, his gaze never leaving Kevin's.

"It worked, didn't it?"

"…It sure did."

Kevin took a few moments to survey his surroundings before settling down in one of the hall's empty seats.

He made himself comfortable.

"It caught me off-guard a little bit. I didn't expect you to use such a method. It was rather refreshing."

"How did you get here?"

Hemlock questioned in an icy tone. How was it that he was able to approach the Monolith without attracting anyone's attention along the way?

Additionally, in order to prevent the others from discovering the location of the headquarters, they moved it without anyone else's knowledge.

It was no longer in the same place it was in the past, and only he and a few others knew the exact location of the Monolith.

Was it the spy again?

"There's no spy."

His thoughts were broken by Kevin's words.

Looking up at him, Hemlock frowned.

"Then how did you get here? Even if you were an <SSS-> ranked, you'd still be noticed by the system in place."

A special dome surrounded the headquarters. It would detect any movement and wasn't something that anyone below <SSS-> rank, let alone lower, could bypass.

It was a technology directly given to him by the demons.

"Did you find a flaw with the system, or did someone let you in?"

"Neither."

He answered, prompting Hemlock's frown to deepen.

"Then what gave you the confidence to come here with your meager strength?"

"Meagre?

Kevin looked at him oddly. Pressing his hands against the armrest and slowly lifting himself up, he took a deep breath.

Turbid air slowly diffused into the air.

He extended his hand, and a sword materialized in it. At the same time, the world around Hemlock began to gradually lose both color and sound.

After that, a suffocating pressure permeated the entirety of the hall, and cracks started to surface on the pillars that were supporting it.

Hemlock's pupils drew wider as he sensed the power leaving Kevin, and he followed Kevin's lead by standing up.

"H-how is this possible?"

The power he was feeling…

"Stop overthinking."

Deeply staring at him, Kevin's mouth parted open.

"I'm at a realm that the likes of you will never be able to achieve in one lifetime."

He slashed his sword, and the space collapsed.

Chapter 711: Unfolding of events [2]

Booom—!

Large portions of the hall collapsed inwardly, crashing against the ground beneath them as the sound of a significant explosion reverberated through the air.

Boom—! Boom—!

The hall continued to shake, and dust continued to fly into the air, creating a veil that obscured what was taking place behind it.

In the midst of the veil, bright white lights flashed while muffled explosions accompanied them.

Each impact was felt throughout the entire headquarters, as buildings collapsed and the dome protecting the facility continuously flickered. Cracks soon started to form, and alarms started to ring.

This didn't last for long, however.

Silence soon returned to the headquarters in the aftermath of the short conflict.

A great number of figures were seen lying on the ground as they took their final breaths, and those that were still alive did not even dare to move an inch.

They were helpless in the face of the overwhelming power that radiated from the hall, and they dared not even consider the events that had transpired there. Whatever had taken place was beyond their comprehension.

Within the destroyed hall.

"Uakh…h-how is this possible?"

Hemlock had a difficult time catching his breath. He looked up at two crimson red eyes that shone menacingly against the dark backdrop of the hall as a hand clenched tightly around his throat.

"How are… you this s-strong?"

It made no sense. It was impossible!

'This can't be real. How is this possible!?'

He, who had just broken through <SSS-> rank was supposed to be the strongest human in existence.

Apart from Octavious, there shouldn't be anyone else that could pose a threat against him, so…

How?

How was this possible?

"I-t makes no sense!"

"Of course, it doesn't."

The mute sound of Kevin's voice gradually made its way to him. Shivers ran down Hemlock's spine as he noticed his calm gaze pause on him.

He continued.

"The sacrifice and pain I underwent to get to where I am isn't something that the likes of you can ever hope to understand."

His power wasn't something he had acquired over the course of a couple of decades.

Far from it.

It was a skill he had acquired through a million distinct regressions. Throughout the centuries, he died over and over again. Endlessly.

To the point where death was merely a number to him.

All of it was for this one moment.

"Be glad you got to live as long as you did. If not because I allowed it, you wouldn't have lived as long as you did."

Had he not recovered his memories and power this late, he would have long since killed him. What he was doing now was something he should've done a while back but didn't.

...It was the last thing that he needed to do.

"Ukh!"

Kevin tightened his grip on his neck, staring deeply into Hemlock's eyes, which shook with what appeared to be... fear.

He still seemed to be able to get a few words out.

"W-why are you doing this?"

He wasn't asking why he was trying to kill him. He already understood why.

What he wanted to comprehend was the reason why Kevin would attempt to conceal their strength and only act now.

What benefit would such action bring him?

"Don't worry about such a trivial matter."

Kevin replied in a soft manner, further tightening his grip on his neck. Once again staring deeply into his eyes, his gaze softened for a moment.

"You know, your approach wasn't crazy... Had it been another time, maybe you would've been able to accomplish what you set out to do. Perhaps humanity wouldn't really go into extinction like you wanted, but—"

Crack—!

Hemlock's body limped over Kevin's hand as the sound of bones breaking reverberated throughout the space.

"...it directly conflicts against my interests, and for that, you have to die."

Just like that, the leader of the Monolith, and an <SSS-> ranked entity, died.

Thump—!

Kevin threw his body to the side, and as he did so, his limp trembled, and he quickly brought his hand up to cover his mouth.

"Pffff."

Immediately, blood began to spurt over his hand as his face began to turn pale, and he fell to the ground on both knees.

Bu..thump! Bu..thump! Bu..thump!

As he struggled to breathe and move, he was almost able to feel his heart thumping against the back of his throat. He felt a sense of powerlessness wash over his body, and he fell to the ground while in excruciating pain.

"Ugh…a

He moaned out in agony, unable to overcome the pain that he was experiencing. Every single second seemed like an eternity to him, and the pain in his chest increased with every breath he took.

It felt as though he was being burned alive.

Clutching his shirt tightly, he rolled around and supported his body up.

"Pffff."

Even more blood came up in his vomit, and his arm was nearly rendered completely limp. It took everything that he had in him to prevent himself from passing out at that precise moment.

He couldn't allow himself to pass out.

Not yet.

"I…I don't have much time left."

***

Human Domain.

The ominous clattering of metal could be heard all along the derelict streets and buildings that were falling apart.

Clank—! Clank—!

There was a fierce battle going on between the members of the alliance and the members of the Monolith. There was blood everywhere on the ground, and significant casualties were sustained by both sides.

The ground was covered in severed limbs and blood, and one could faintly hear the screams of desperation coming from those who had managed to survive.

Elsewhere, up above in the sky.

Boom—!

"Just die already, you old witch number two!"

A high-pitched voice echoed through the air. It belonged to a girl with orange hair who was covered in orange armor. The armor complimented her body perfectly and covered all areas of her body. Not leaving a single spot exposed.

She glared at the elderly woman who was standing in the opposite direction from her, and as she did so, a soft hue floated out of the corner of her eyes.

"Y-ou…"

The elderly woman shot Monica an angry look. Her white hair was all over her face, and her clothes were in pretty bad shape.

"How? How did you know?"

She wasn't supposed to be here...

This was meant to be a trap set up for them in order to eliminate their forces. How was it possible for someone of Monica's stature to show up? She wasn't supposed to be here! She was supposed to be guarding Ashton City!

It didn't make sense!

Why would they take such a risk?

'Did…did he betray us?'

A faint memory of what happened a little while back resurfaced in her mind.

The woman's body came to a halt in midair after she had an abrupt realization about something. It was the only explanation she could come up with at the moment, and her eyes grew startlingly large as she uttered it.

"Don't tell me…"

Beeep—! Beeep—! Beeep—!

The woman's expression morphed dramatically as an alarming beeping sound suddenly reverberated throughout the space.

"Damn it! Damn it! Noo—!"

She barely had time to finish what she was saying before her body began to rapidly expand, and...

Booooooom—!

The sky was suddenly illuminated by a blinding light, which was accompanied by a deafening boom that seemed to travel in waves and shook the entire landscape.

The force of the explosion was so strong that it lifted the ground from underneath it, resulting in a mushroom cloud of ash, rubble, and smoke filling the sky, which in turn made the day appear darker.

Wind and heat rushed outward from the explosion site, igniting everything in its path and destroying it. A desolate landscape was left behind after the explosion as a result of the shockwave that traveled for miles after that.

The explosion was followed by an eerie silence, followed by what was comparable to the cracking sound of a shell.

Craa Crak–!

With her forward hand, the shield that surrounded Monica shattered into pieces. Scattering in the air into millions of particles.

"Haaa…haaa…"

Her complexion was extremely pale, and her orange hair was in a tangled mess all over her head. The once orange armor that she had been wearing was now riddled with cracks, and her body swayed as it swayed through the air.

"T-his is much more than I expected…"

Never in her life did she believe that the blast would be this powerful. She lucked out in that she had been given prior warning and was consequently somewhat ready. Regardless, she had a much more limited understanding of the situation than she had originally thought.

"Cough… cough…"

She coughed several times before looking down. Her eyes soon calmed down.

Cra Crack—!

A cracking sound reverberated from below, and the energy shield that had been protecting a group of people broke apart at the same time as she looked over.

Monica gently landed beside them, and moved to the somewhat pale Donna.

"I'm glad you guys are alright."

"Y,yeah…"

Donna gave a small nod, and her gaze shifted toward the town that had been completely leveled.

Lowering her head to look at the device in her hand, she felt secretly relieved.

Never before had she felt death so close…

"I'm glad we came prepared."

"Tell me about it…"

Amber stammered her way over to join in on the conversation. Her complexion was almost as white as paper, and her hair was a complete mess.

"You think the other squads are also safe?"

"I don't know."

Monica shook her head. She raised her wrist and looked at her watch.

"You've seen just how powerful the explosion was… had we not been ready…"

She didn't finish her sentence, but both Donna and Amber understood the meaning of her words.

They came really close to death.

Ding—!

Exactly at that moment, a clear sound came out of nowhere, and everyone's attention immediately went to the watch.

"It's from Kev—no, I mean the Alliance leader. It looks like an image.

Monica corrected herself and swiped up.

As soon as the image appeared, everyone stopped moving and stared at it in silence. The atmosphere froze completely.

"I,is this a joke?"

Monica stuttered as she looked at the picture in front of her, appearing to be in a state of complete disbelief. It wasn't just her; Donna and Amber also struggled to keep their composure as their eyes shook in disbelief.

"H,how?"

"This isn't possible..."

Contained within the image was a familiar figure laying on the ground, lifeless.

A single message could be found underneath it. However, the very moment that they read the message, their hearts stopped.

[Done.]

Chapter 712: Unfolding of events [3]

"What's going on in here?"

When I got back from my trip, I was greeted by a thick cloud of smoke.

"Did the mansion catch fire?"

…but how was that possible?

Looking at Amanda, both of us made a dash for the main hall in an attempt to locate the source of the smoke.

Arriving at the large wooden door, I smacked it open.

Clank—!

"What's going on in h—eh?"

In the middle of my sentence, I had to pause in order to rub both of my eyes. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't interpreting what I was seeing incorrectly.

'I'm not high, am I?'

"I'm almost out human. Give me another pack."

"I've already given you two."

"What about it? Can't you see that I'm already almost done?"

"Smoking harms."

Bang—!

"Damn it human! Don't fucking test me!"

"Test you for what? You haven't even paid me anything for the packs!"

"Ah, so it was about the money! Why didn't you say so? I'll reward you handsomely for another pack, so hurry up and give it to me."

"No. I only have one left, and that's for me."

"Damn you human!"

Bang—!

The table fell apart, and the Duchess got to her feet immediately. The anger visible on her face was accompanied by a heaving motion in her chest.

In her mouth was a half lit cigarette.

"Didn't you just say that you'd sell it to me? You a swindler?"

"When did I say I was ever going to sell it to you? I just pointed out the fact that you took two packs from me for free."

"Bastard!"

She cursed again.

"Do you have any idea as to who I am?"

"I don't care."

"I'll fight you!"

'What in the world happened during the time Amanda and I were out?'

I pinched the middle of my brows.

The room was a complete disaster, and the scattered pieces of what appeared to be chairs, in conjunction with the conversation that I had overheard, helped me get an understanding of what was happening.

...It's just that I found it hard to believe.

'I can't believe this is what I return to...'

Before stepping in between the two of them, I let out an internal sigh. Despite how entertaining it was, I had no choice but to put an end to this.

There were more important things at hand.

"Bastard, are you going to sell it to me or not?"

"No."

"You fuck—"

"Let's stop this for a moment."

'Ah, maybe I shouldn't have interfered.'

After being suddenly glared at by the two of them, I was at a loss of what to make out of the situation. It was, if anything, a fairly burdensome situation.

I still raised my hands and tried to calm them down.

"Relax for now. I more or else understand the problem. When I have time, I'll get you as many packs as you want."

Thankfully, it appeared that the solution was fairly straightforward. Everything would get back to normal as long as the Duchess was pleased with the outcome.

"Really?"

The Duchess's eyes lit up and she became noticeably less angry as a result. As soon as I saw this, I let out a sigh of relief and glanced over at Jin for a split second.

'Since when did he start smoking?'

It caught me off guard, but I quickly shoved the thought to the back of my mind and focused my attention back on the Duchess.

"Cigarettes, aside. I've already completed what I set out to do."

"Huh?"

When the Duchess heard what I had to say, her expression changed to one of surprise.

"You've finished already? This quick?"

"Yeah, I've already completed everything on my end."

The Duchess looked at me with a suspicious expression on her face. She then took the finished cigarette out of her mouth and flicked it in Jin's direction before replacing it.

This caused him to narrow his eyes at her, but if anything, this was the response that she had hoped for, thus her expression changed to a happy one.

Clearing her throat, she looked back at me.

"Don't get me wrong, it's not like I don't believe you. It's just that I still didn't receive any news from my side, so I find it rather hard to believe you."

"That's understandable."

I smiled, but I didn't go into further detail. Whether or not I took the time to explain it to her, she would eventually figure it out on her own, regardless.

"Alright then. Onto the next step."

I happily clapped my hands and stared at the Duchess.

When I extended my hand in her direction, she immediately retreated one step.

"What are you doing?"

"Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you, we've already signed a contract."

My words didn't seem to hold any effect on the Duchess as she still stepped back.

"Even so, what are you doing? Why do you want to suddenly touch me?"

"You'll soon find out. Don't worry about it."

"Sto—hgkh."

Channeling my demonic energy and mana, the Duchess froze on the spot, and my hand soon came into contact with her head. After a moment, a bright white glow appeared on my fingertips, and I activated [Memory Manipulation].

My vision suddenly became hazy, and what appeared to be millions upon millions of spheres of varying hues filled the space in front of my eyes.

I glanced through them very quickly before reaching out with my hand and having several of them fly in the direction in which I was standing.

"This is it."

After seizing one of the orbs and inspecting the contents contained within, I channeled my mana, causing a layer of dark threads to begin covering the orb, which I then tossed to the side.

"Next."

Over the next few minutes, I looked around for any orbs that might have contained recollections of the others and myself, and I covered them before discarding them.

When I was finished, there were one hundred pitch-black spheres floating around me. I had long since lost track of time and was thus unaware of how long I had been doing this.

I had to erase any memory she had of the others and myself completely from her mind. It was something that needed to be done in order to make sure that everything worked perfectly, and it was imperative that it be done.

…I needed a genuine reaction.

"This should be all."

When I waved my hand, the spheres moved away from each other and dispersed. With another wave of my hand, my vision shifted, and I suddenly found myself back in the hall.

Thump—!

Priscilla's body fell next to me. Jin was able to grab hold of her just in time and place her safely on the ground.

After gazing at her for a brief moment, he turned his attention back to me.

"What did you do?"

I looked at him strangely.

"You worried about her?"

"No."

"Then..."

"Just answer."

I sighed and waved my hand.

"Don't worry about it. I just made her forget about us for now. I'll return her memories later."

"I see."

Jin nodded, then picked up the blunt that had been left on the ground. He flicked his hand, and it vanished into thin air.

"I assume you also want to erase all evidence of us ever coming into contact with her, right?"

I smiled at Jin.

"You sure pick things up fast."

As I looked around, I pointed out all of the blunts that had been thrown around. There were quite a lot of them.

'Just how much did the two smoke?'

"Get rid of all of them."

"What about the mess?"

He pointed at the broken chairs and tables.

"Good question…"

After pondering for a moment, I eventually waved my hand.

"Leave it be. When she wakes up, she'll come to think that she did it out of rage over what happened today with Duke Ukhan."

Normally, I would have thought that this was a poor attempt at an explanation, but after catching a glimpse of the real her, I had a sneaking suspicion that she was indeed the type of demon to do this.

Jin seemed to think the same as he nodded his head in understanding.

"Ah, fair. It indeed seems plausible."

He soon found himself chuckling while looking around him.

The corner of my lips twisted upwards.

It was rare to see Jin act like this. He usually tended to be extremely serious.

"You seem to get along with her quite well."

"You think?"

Moving one of the tables, Jin picked up a blunt and showed it to me.

"She gets along with this more than me."

"Right…"

My brows furrowed the moment I looked at the blunt.

"You know… it's best if you stop smoking."

"Why? It's not like it can kill me."

"Right…"

'Indeed, in this day and age, smoking does not kill.'

The problem was that about half of my memories were completely fabricated, and despite my best efforts, I was unable to fully differentiate between those memories and the real world.

Thus, I felt a natural sense of rejection toward smoking.

It was just nasty.

"Do whatever. Just don't smoke next to me."

I relented in the end. It was ultimately his decision to smoke, and I had no real influence over his behavior in that regard.

'I should start dealing with the rest.'

I stared out the window. Toward the sun, which didn't seem to have moved more than an inch since I had last seen it.

Turning around, I headed for the door.

"Where are you going?"

Jin's voice echoed from behind.

I answered without looking back at him.

"She's not the only person that knows about our existence."

Aside from her, there were a number of other demons who were aware of our existence, which was something that I couldn't allow for this to work.

I had to remove their memories as well.

I was, thankfully, already prepared.

'According to the Duchess, there aren't many who know of my existence. Just five, so just a couple of hours worth of work.'

In accordance with one of the terms of the agreement, she was required to disclose to me the names of everyone who was aware of my existence.

It was a clause I had placed in the contract just for this.

[From the moment the contract is signed, both parties will disclose how many entities are aware of the existence of the contract and the other party.]

'It's nice to be prepared.'

I smiled in satisfaction while lazily stretching my shoulder.

Clank—!

I opened the door and left the hall.

"Just a bit more."

...A bit more before I could finally rest.

Chapter 713: Unfolding of events [4]

The next day.

"Ukh."

As soon as Priscilla opened her eyes, she was hit with a severe headache. It was excruciatingly painful, and for a good minute, she was forced to do nothing more than lean against her couch.

"What happened over here?"

While she was massaging her forehead, she noticed that her room was in utter disarray, with every piece of furniture in shattered pieces.

"Ugh."

She blinked several times, trying to recall all the information.

"Ah, right, it's about that fucker…"

Faint memories started to enter her mind, and she soon came to the conclusion that this came as a result of her rage toward Duke Ukhan.

Her memory was still hazy, but the more she thought about it, the more convinced she was.

It wasn't the first time that something like this had happened…

"Bastard."

She muttered an expletive as she recalled what had transpired in the cave the day prior. It was difficult to put into words exactly how irritated she was at this very moment.

"I should have someone clean up this mess."

Throwing one last glance at her surroundings, Priscilla gradually stood up.

She ruffled her hair and started walking toward the door, but just as she took the first step toward it, the door suddenly burst open and one of her servants walked in.

"Duchess!"

His tone of voice carried an air of panic, which caused her pretty features to contort into a frown.

"What is it?"

"It's…"

The servant took a deep breath just as a look that could be interpreted as fear crossed his eyes. The manner in which he carried himself piqued Priscilla's interest even further.

"That."

The servant stumbled over his words as if he was having trouble articulating a sentence. His actions annoyed Priscilla.

She glared at him.

"What is it? Spit it out before I get annoyed."

She had no idea what was causing it, but for some unexplainable reason, she found herself becoming irritated by everything at the moment. Be it her servant, the smell that lingered in the air, and the sunlight filtering through the windows.

Even when facing the servant, whom she usually treated with courtesy, she found herself unable to hide her true self. The words coming out of her mouth were rather crude.

'What's going on with me this morning?'

She smacked her lips. It felt as though she was missing something.

"It's…"

The servant kept stuttering, but it wasn't long before he gathered his composure and was finally able to utter a few words.

"...the patriarch is present and would like to speak with you."

The words of the servant echoed in her mind like a clap of thunder. Her mind went completely blank.

"Ah?"

It was at this point that Priscilla finally understood why the servant was behaving the way that he was.

***

To Tok—!

Priscilla rapped on the heavy wooden door in a submissive manner. As she dipped her head, she dared not look directly out the door.

The door induced in her an unexplainable feeling of suffocation.

She waited for what seemed to be hours until a voice finally sounded from the other side.

"Come in."

Something eerie and powerful was housed within the speaker's voice, making her blood boil as a result. It was so suffocating that she felt paralyzed and unable to move until a few seconds after the voice had ceased to be heard.

"If you'll excuse me."

She did not linger and immediately opened the door. Almost immediately after that, she was presented with the sight of a sizable office area.

The entire room was illuminated by two large windows and a large chandelier that hung above the ceiling.

But the person seated in the middle of the room was the thing that drew her attention. A demon with long, pinkish straight hair, red eyes that glowed brightly, a black suit, and extremely handsome features.

He sat behind the desk in a relaxed manner, quietly writing over a couple of papers.

Priscilla's anxiety was only exacerbated by the unnatural serenity that he exuded, which, despite giving the impression that he was not dangerous, only served to heighten her concern about him.

She bowed her head and greeted.

"Greetings grandfather."

"You're here."

The strange feeling of oppression that had lingered in his words faded away, and in its place was a voice that was calm and clear.

He stared directly at Priscilla, his gaze hazy.

"Something big has happened."

"Yes?"

Priscilla was taken aback by his words, and she immediately pulled herself together and stood up straight.

She immediately thought of a possibility.

"Has the meeting with the World Decree gone badly?"

With the World Decree soon coming up, her grandfather, the Patriarch, had set out to meet the other Patriarchs in order to discuss the terms of the event.

It had been about a month since she'd last seen him. Had something gone wrong with the meeting?

Were the other houses planning on joining together against them, or was the house of envy up to something again?

"It's not what you're thinking."

The Patriarch swiftly put an end to her train of thought. When she looked up, she was taken aback to see a rare frown appear on his face. Something that she'd only witnessed a couple of times in her life.

At that very moment, she had the sudden realization that the situation was a great deal more serious than she had anticipated.

'If grandfather shows such face, I'm afraid that things are a lot worse than I expected…'

Her heart dropped at the thought, and she kept her mouth shut, waiting for her grandfather's instructions.

This didn't take long, as he soon spoke. The contents of his words stunned her completely.

"Something very big happened last night. On a scale large enough to alarm all of the Patriarchs."

"…"

Priscilla experienced a brief pause in her breathing. She was just starting to get a grasp on how dire the situation really was.

While she was already somewhat prepared, things were far more serious than she had originally anticipated, and she already thought things were serious.

…but for some reason, Priscilla felt something was amiss with the current situation.

'Why is grandfather looking at me like that?'

His gaze was odd in a number of ways. She was at a loss for words, but she tried her best to keep her composure. Whatever it was, she would just follow his instructions.

His next words shed some light on the situation.

"…I had originally come here expecting the worst. However, seeing that you're still safe here, it seems like we've fallen for a scheme."

"A scheme?"

"Mhm."

With a nod of his head, the Patriarch stood up from his seat and waved his hand.

"There's no time to explain. You'll get a better understanding of the situation soon."

After hearing his words, Priscilla's surroundings began to change and become more drawn out. Everything around her started to stretch and distort.

It was an odd sight, and she sensed that something powerful was pulling her body in a certain direction.

It wasn't long before everything began to take an unexpected twist, and before she knew it, the landscape had shifted.

She was now standing inside a magnificent, enormous, and awe-inspiring room.

'Huh? Why are we here?'

She had been there a few times before, and she found that she instantly recognized the location upon arrival.

'Rotteinhart Hall.'

The holiest site on the entire planet and the location of the most important gatherings presided over by the patriarchs of the seven houses.

After entering the hall, she cast her gaze in every direction. Two magnificent marble columns that reached almost all the way to the ceiling stood to her left and right, respectively.

The passageways, which were adorned with sumptuous velvet curtains and ornate gilded mirrors, extended off into the distance in either direction, while the center of the room was a swirl of activity; A grand chandelier hung suspended from the center of the ceiling, throwing a brilliant cascade of sparkles from hundreds of suspended crystals across the entire space.

A grand staircase swept down from the balcony above, leading to a stage that was set up at the edge of the room.

Had it not been for the sudden appearance of several people at the moment, she would've taken more time to admire the place.

Swoosh—! Swoosh—!

Priscilla found herself choking back a mouthful of saliva as the once-vacant hall quickly began to fill up with people. She lowered quietly, unable to muster the courage to look upward, feeling the pressure from those who emerged.

She recognized the demons that had just arrived.

How could she not?

As soon as she saw them, she was overcome with a feeling that was similar to the one she had experienced when she was with her grandfather. It was suffocating.

"Is everyone over here?"

Soon after, she heard a solemn voice reach her ear. The voice was rather soft, but the moment it was heard, the whole hall trembled.

She shivered even more fiercely. Especially when she felt the gaze linger on her body for a few seconds.

For a brief moment, she felt her life flash before her eyes. To her great relief, her grandfather took immediate action and put an end to whatever was going on.

"Mind your manners. That does not appear to be a friendly way to greet a successor."

"Hmph."

The demon withdrew his gaze briefly before turning and proceeding further into the hall.

His next words were rather ambiguous, but they contained a certain hint of a threat that left Priscilla wondering just what in the world had happened.

"We've got a lot to discuss. I hope I get a clear explanation for what has happened."

Chapter 714: Culprit [1]

Approximately fifty feet beneath the grand hall was a separate space.

Typically, discussions between the parties would be held above the surface, in the main hall. Only rarely would the lower level ever be used.

...and when this occurred, it almost always indicated that something of an extremely grave nature had taken place.

The atmosphere of the bunker was cold and tense. Ten people surrounded a large oval-shaped table that was lit by a single spotlight that shone down on the table's center point.

The tension in the room was almost palpable.

Everyone's attention was directed toward a demon who was dressed in a long black robe and a hood and stood at the opposite end of the table.

He was, Prince Devot. The current Patriarch of the House of Envy.

He silently surveyed the room with a look of contempt. As the others looked back at him expressionlessly.

Behind Prince Devot was another demon, similarly adorning a black hood to cover its features. The demon seemed somewhat out of it, as they held onto the chair to support themselves.

In spite of that, their gaze was currently focused on Priscilla, who was standing behind her grandfather.

Their gaze wasn't a friendly one.

Prince Devot spoke again.

"Judging from how there's only ten of us, the situation is a lot more serious than anticipated."

His voice resounded throughout the room as soft, repeated whispers that uncomfortably tickled the ears of those present.

It caused Priscilla a great of discomfort, but all she could do was remain standing in silence.

"More serious than anticipated?"

One of the seated demons spoke, his voice bordering on amusement. Similarly, there was another figure standing behind him, but compared to the one standing behind Prince Devot, he wasn't wearing a hood, and everyone was able to see the state he was in.

…It wasn't good.

His skin was as white as paper, and he could hardly keep his eyes open. He appeared to be in a lot of pain. It was likely that he would have collapsed to the ground had it not been for the thin white film that was covering his body.

It also seemed like he was being forced to stay awake.

Another demon glared at the demon that spoke.

"Is there something funny about the situation, Prince Arian?"

"I do, I do… Prince Serling."

Prince Arian covered his mouth to hide his smile while addressing Prince Serling.

"You may not find it amusing, but it's nothing short of amusing to me."

Unable to hold it in anymore, he started cackling out loud.

"Kekeke, I never would've expected to..Kek…see a day where you all look so troubled. Such amusement…"

His laughter lasted for a couple of minutes, during which time none of the demons displayed any reaction to the behavior he was displaying. It was as if they were already used to it.

"Are you done laughing?"

Eventually, another demon spoke. He was a burly looking demon with muscles the size of melons. Briefly glancing at Prince Arian, he looked toward Prince Valling of the House of Sloth and paused his gaze on Priscilla.

His eyes immediately narrowed.

Catching his gaze, Prince Valling called out.

"Is something the matter, Prince Aton? You seem to be looking at my successor an awful lot. She's pretty, right?"

A smile lingered on Prince Valling's face as he addressed Prince Aton. He didn't seem too bothered by the fact that everyone was now looking in his direction.

…or to be more precise, Priscilla.

He maintained the same cool demeanor he had been displaying up until this point as he looked around at the others and mocked.

"Is something the matter? Have you all been charmed by her beauty?"

"Charm?"

A voice that was both mellow and crystalline floated through the air. Instantaneously, the two demons who were standing behind Prince Devot and Prince Arian fell into a daze.

Both of them were instantly brought back to themselves by a wave of Prince Devot's hand, and he then turned to address the person who was responsible for the little stunt.

"This isn't the time for your little jokes, Princess Rhan."

With long black hair and a face that could not be described as anything but the word 'beautiful', Princess Rhan, the head of the Charm House, covered her mouth and laughed.

Her laughter was like the sound of pearls being clinked together. It was crisp and pleasant to the ears.

"My, I was just trying to respond to the comment made by Prince Valling. While the young lady is indeed beautiful, she still has a long way to go before reaching the point where she can charm everyone in the room."

Removing her hand from her mouth, the smile on her face disappeared and her eyes squinted.

"…What I want to know, however, is why she is totally fine?"

Almost immediately, everyone turned to look at Priscilla, who looked around in confusion.

"Are you implying that she shouldn't be fine?"

Directly staring at her, Prince Valling's voice lowered.

Rhan looked at him, unamused. Her eyes extremely narrow.

"Don't pretend like you didn't understand my words."

She cast her gaze in all directions. To be more specific, toward the vacant seats behind a few of the Princes.

"Something happened last night while we were having our meeting, and out of everyone present, your successor is the only one that is completely unharmed."

Her normally soft tone suddenly took on an iciness as she turned her head.

"…Is that a coincidence?"

"Are you implying that I'm the one responsible for all of this?"

The smile that had been plastered across Prince Valling's face vanished, and he looked around at the other demons coldly.

"I was with all of you for the past month. Do you really think I have the ability to go undetected by the lot of you?"

"That's not it."

Prince Serling interjected. He was a rather lanky demon with short green hair and the head of the Pride House.

"We know that it's impossible for you to have done it by yourself…"

He didn't finish the sentence, but the meaning was crystal clear as everyone's focus once again shifted toward Priscilla who shuddered at their gaze.

She felt everything turn on her at that moment.

'Wh-at's going on?'

Priscilla's mind was a complete mess.

It all happened so quickly that before she knew it, she had been indirectly accused of killing four Dukes and severely injuring two others.

How had everything turned out this way? She had no recollection of this ever happening.

She was being set up.

"So you're saying that Priscilla is the one responsible for all of this?"

Prince Valling looked behind him, taking a good look at her. He soon shook his head.

"That's impossible. I'm well aware of her capabilities."

He leaned forward and carefully looked at everyone. Seeing their eyes, he knew that their accusations had some ground behind them.

"I'm sure you guys wouldn't be accusing her without any evidence. Get to the point. Tell me exactly what made you think she's the one behind this."

"It looks like you've finally caught on."

Prince Arian beamed a grin. After that, he looked at Prince Devot, who nodded in response, and then both of them turned around to look behind them where two demons stood.

Prince Arian spoke.

"While the plan did indeed work and she—oops, I meant the culprit—was somehow able to kill four successors, they were unable to complete their jobs. Two of them still managed to survive."

Everyone's attention shifted toward the two Dukes.

Sadly, the only one that seemed to be in a state to move or talk was Duke Ukhan, who lowered his hood to display his pale face. He was currently glaring at Priscilla.

"You didn't think I'd make it, did you?"

"What?"

Priscilla looked all around her, utterly bewildered by the events unfolding in front of her.

She had the urge to scream out that this was all a setup and that she wasn't responsible for any of it, but she knew that whatever she said, no one would listen to her and that her words would be ignored.

She had no choice but to remain still and helplessly gaze upon her grandfather, who showed no sign of being shaken by the allegations.

He turned his attention squarely on Ukhan, who was staring at Priscilla with a look that was filled with killing intent.

He didn't seem to be acting.

Opening his mouth, Prince Valling asked.

"What makes you sure that she's the one who did it? Did you see her do it?"

As soon as he started speaking, a wisp of his power erupted, and it exerted pressure on the Duke, whose face became even paler.

Even so, he kept glaring at Priscilla.

"S-he's the one who did it! I still remember the one who did this to me. He was working with her back during the time we were in the cave! ...H,his power belonged to the House of Sloth!"

"Oh?"

Prince Valling's brown raised.

"So you're saying that the one who did it wasn't Priscilla, but another person?"

"Y-yes, but—"

"I don't think you need to elaborate any further."

Prince Valling cut and shifted his attention toward the others.

"You've heard him, haven't you? Priscilla clearly was not the one who did this. Until you catch the one that is actually responsible for killing your successors, this is merely speculation on his end."

"I knew you'd say this."

Prince Arian smiled. He then looked behind him, toward his successor. The smile on his face grew with amusement.

"…Did you forget that he's not the only one that survived?"

Chapter 715: Culprit [2]

"You see, for once, I agree with you. It's just that…"

Prince Arian paused, with his arms crossed and a thoughtful look.

With a sideways look, he gazed at his successor. Duke Velmout.

"…Prior to the accident. This little successor of mine, Velmout, set up several backup plans in case the situation turned south. Do you know what I found out?"

A smile formed on his face.

When he extended his hand, a tremor went through the air, and soon after, letters began to form in front of him. They dyed the air a crimson color.

[Patriarch, if you observe this message, it indicates that something has occurred. The most likely perpetrator is Duchess Priscilla of the Sloth clan. I'm en route to meet her at the moment.]

The hall immediately turned silent, and Prince Arian looked behind him. Toward Duke Velmout.

"I was a bit surprised when I saw this message, but I was even more surprised when I saw that he was still alive. For some miraculous reason, he managed to survive. Just by a hair breath though."

He licked his lips.

"A brief talk with him, and I was able to confirm that he had indeed been attacked by the little Duchess. This time, he didn't say it was a cloaked figure... but her. Her alone."

He turned his gaze to look at Priscilla. The smile on his face seemed somewhat uncomfortable to her, and she felt her heart drop.

"I..I…"

Her lips moved, but she was unable to utter a single sound even as her mouth parted open.

'What's happening? Why is this happening? I didn't do anything…'

No matter how much she wanted to argue, under such evidence, she knew that her situation was extremely grim.

If that wasn't all…

"If that's not enough evidence for you, Prince Valling, I've got more information for you…"

Princess Rhan started. A body suddenly materialized in front of her as she waved her hand. It belonged to a male, whose features were extremely pristine, and somewhat feminine.

The only issue was that he was completely lifeless, with not even a trace of breath left in his body.

After gazing at him for a brief period of time, the Princess extended her hand and pierced his body directly in the abdominal region, subsequently extracting a small orb from the wound.

"Take a look at his core."

She held out her hand to show the core. It was comparable in size to a marble.

"You all already know what's wrong with this, don't you?"

The Princess's eyes traveled around the room, taking in each and every person there. Her expression didn't shift much as she pinched the marble in her hand. At first glance, it appeared from the lack of emotion on her face as she fiddled with the core that she did not care very much that her successor had died.

Despite this, everyone could sense that she was harboring deep-seated resentment. She was just very good at hiding it.

"Abyssal Mammoth Bile. Only with such means can you perfectly mask the death of someone."

She drew out each word in a slow and concise manner.

While fiddling with the core she was holding in her hand, she looked around at the other players and asked.

"Was it the same for you?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Yes."

Her inquiry was met with a number of affirmative responses, after which the Princess pulled out a flyer.

=== [Mass event quest]===

Quest assigner : Duchess Pertinol.

Reward : The reward will depend on the contribution, with at least 5 Mor guaranteed for each participant.

Minimum requirement : Marquis rank.

Description : Request to aid Duchess Pertinol in taming the Abyssal Mammoth, a Duke-ranked monster. The minimum rank required to participate is Marquis, and the quest takes place on the 300th planetary revolution. The task entails assisting Duchess Pertinol in bringing down and taming the Abyssal Mammoth, whose approximate strength is close to that of a Prince. The rewards will be determined by the contributions made throughout the quest. If the Duchess is pleased with the performance, several Jor could be rewarded.

"What a strange coincidence, no?"

The Princess's gaze was now fully directed toward Priscilla, who trembled at the sight of the flyer.

'…It's over.'

Indeed, the moment she took out the flyer, everyone looked at her with a convinced look.

If the previous evidence wasn't sufficient to prove she was the one responsible, then this new evidence was more than enough to make that case.

"Very bold of you, Valling. I didn't know you were the type to scheme like this."

Prince Aton hurled, looking at Villian with an appalled expression.

Next to him, Prince Serling clenched his fist.

"I'm sure you're well aware of the consequences that are going to befall you in a short moment, right? Prince Valling?"

Confronted with such words, the Prince's expression did not change. He looked to be completely unfazed. As if he was unaware of the circumstances in which he found himself.

After turning around, he gazed directly at Priscilla, who returned his gaze with a look of her own.

Opening his mouth, his calm voice traveled through the ears of everyone present.

"Did you do it?"

When he spoke to the Duchess, there was not the slightest indication of irritation or anger in his tone. It appeared as though he was asking her a simple and trivial question.

The manner in which he carried himself made everyone frown, but nobody said a word about it. They were interested in knowing in great detail what it was that he intended to do.

If not for the fact that they knew his personality well, they would've already attacked him.

Was this his last desperate attempt at trying to salvage the situation?

"N-no."

A crisp stutter.

Priscilla shook her head and denied the accusation while she looked at her grandfather.

Gazing at his red eyes that seemed to be as calm as a well, she couldn't tell exactly what he was thinking, but she could only hope he would help her.

…He was her only hope. Her only hope at getting out of this situation.

After maintaining eye contact with her for a few more seconds, he turned his head around to face the opposite direction. She only caught a fleeting glimpse of it, but Priscilla thought she saw a smile on his face.

She wasn't certain about it, but his subsequent words caused her to exhale a sigh of relief.

"There. It looks like she wasn't the culprit."

He had not abandoned her.

"It seems like you've become delusional. Are you trying to protect her, or is this part of your scheme?"

As the Princess's demeanor shifted, the room's atmosphere underwent a radical transformation.

Her previously expressionless face had completely changed, and her gaze turned fierce. She was now at the point where she was finally beginning to show her anger.

"You should be well aware of what will happen now, right?"

"…and what is that?"

"Are you pretending that you don't know? …Or are you just trying to delay the inevitable?"

"No, not at all."

Prince Valling shook his head, showing no sign of being bothered in the least by the words that were being hurled in his direction.

The utter calmness and confidence in his voice somewhat managed to calm the Princess, who snorted and sat back down.

It was already a miracle that none of the other elders had exploded into a rage as a result of what had occurred, but despite their lack of action, it was clear that they were experiencing feelings that went beyond those of the Princess.

They were probably doing their best to hold themselves back. They were saving it for when the time came for them to finally make a move.

If there was something that everyone was aware of, it was that no matter what transpired during this meeting, by the time it was over, there would be only six houses left standing.

They had time to spare...

"Isn't it weird?"

Prince Valling, suddenly asked, his collected tone reverberating through the entire space.

Staring at him, none of the other demons showed much of a reaction.

...Well, none aside from Prince Arian, whose face carried a hint of a smile. His thoughts were hard to read. It had always been like this.

"What's weird, if I may ask?"

Valling spared him a glance before answering.

"Everything. Everything about the situation is weird."

"…Is this really the best you can come up with to save yourself?"

Prince Serling spat. Unlike the others, he wasn't as patient.

He was growing increasingly irritated, and he soon began to speak more loudly. A thin layer of darkness began to form around his body at the same time, spreading across the area around him.

"I've had enough of your bullshit! Either come clean, or I'll personally make you!"

"Calm down."

Prince Valling didn't seem disturbed in spite of the clear threat. Rather, he grew even calmer.

Surveying the area around him, he looked at everyone present in the room before asking. "I'll ask again. Don't you all think that the situation is too perfect?"

He continued before anyone else could speak.

"From the bile to the messages to the fact that she is the only one unharmed... Isn't it a bit too obvious?"

He looked toward Priscilla.

"I've known her for quite a long time, and I've personally taught her. If we were to really plan all of this, we wouldn't make such obvious mistakes. It's so intricately set up to point toward us that it just feels unnatural..." "

"…Is this really your argument?"

Prince Serling looked at him with a distorted look. He slapped the table and glared.

"That's the flimsiest of excuses! Own up to your actions! You weren't careless, you were just fucking stupid!"

As he looked around, his face turned bright red with anger.

"Look around you! Do you really think any one of us will be—"

"But I do."

A hushed voice interrupted Serling at that precise moment. When he turned his head, he was taken aback to see Prince Arin grinning and staring at Valling.

His next word causes the entire room to turn quiet.

"…Not only do I believe him, but I also think that he's not the culprit."

Chapter 716: Culprit [3]

The words spoken by Prince Arian brought about complete and utter silence in the room. It was so quiet that one might have been able to hear a pin drop.

The focus of everyone's attention quickly shifted to him, and all he did was smile in response to it. He had long anticipated that his words would elicit such a reaction. And he was all for it.

"Is this some sort of joke to you?"

Prince Aton raised his voice and looked intently at Arian. It was common knowledge that Arian took pleasure in pulling such stunts.

It wouldn't come as a surprise to find out that he may have been pulling one of his typical pranks at the moment.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be the case this time. Rather than looking at them, Prince Arian looked behind him, where Velmout stood.

Although he was barely holding on, he was still conscious. This was enough for Prince Arian, who started speaking.

"...I found something rather interesting last night while I was trying to save him."

As the Duke extended his hand toward him, his body shot in his direction, only stopping when it was a few centimeters away from him.

Turning his head, Arian looked at the others with a hint of a smile in his eyes.

"It almost slipped past me. Had it not been for my strength, I would've probably missed it, but..."

Suddenly, a dark glow materialized on the Prince's hand and encased Velmout like a cacoon. At the same time, the Duke's limbs shot up and straightened out in an unnatural manner.

"Khg. Uhk."

Velmout let out a series of groans that could only be described as wretched and agonized, but the Prince paid them no attention and continued with whatever it was he was doing.

The procedure was completed in a little under two minutes. When Prince Arian withdrew his hand, the Duke helplessly fell to the ground. Unconcerned, he extended his hand to the others, revealing a thin silver thread.

"What's this?"

"What in the world?"

Immediately, everyone's pupils shrank.

Seeing their reactions, Arian smiled in delight. He had been waiting for this moment ever since the start of the meeting.

The only reason he hadn't revealed it to them from the very beginning was because he wanted to see their reactions, and seeing exactly how they were reacting, he knew that it was all worth it.

"I'm sure all of you understand what this means, right?"

Bringing the thread forth, he casually threw it on the table before looking down at Duke Velmout. While he had lost consciousness, his core was still intact. He'd just need a couple of days to fully recover. His situation wasn't serious.

It was only through sheer good fortune that he was able to find it. He happened upon the thread completely by accident. It was during the time that he was tending to Velmout's wounds.

Without his Prince level strength, discovering the thread would have been nearly impossible. It was so small and well-concealed that it might have escaped his notice if it had not been situated near one of his major veins. One could say that his luck was rather good.

When he looked at Velmout again, any trace of a smile that had previously been on his face vanished completely.

The thread was an obvious giveaway of what had happened.

'Someone tried to tamper with his memories.'

Such skill, while uncommon, wasn't unheard of. This thread that contained faint demonic fluctuations was the best evidence of it.

"Someone tampered with his memories."

A voice abruptly spoke, sharing the same thought as Prince Arian, who turned to face the speaker. It was none other than Prince Valling, who appeared as composed as he'd been previously.

It was his calmness that bothered Prince Arian, but he decided to let it go for now as he nodded his head in agreement.

"You're right. It's very likely that someone has tampered with his memories. Such power is extremely rare, but once the source is removed, one can easily identify it as such."

With a nod of the head, his focus shifted to Duke Ukhan and Priscilla. Before continuing, he interlaced his hands and drummed his fingers over his interlocked hands.

"He probably isn't the only one that's been affected..."

Following his words, all but Prince Devot turned to face Priscilla. Even Prince Valling turned around to face her.

Feeling countless gazes fall toward her, Priscilla almost felt her breath stop. Thankfully, in contrast to before, their gazes were not menacing, and this was the reason why she was able to maintain some semblance of composure.

Looking around her, she looked at her grandfather. Staring at each other for a couple of seconds, he extended his hand in her direction.

"Don't move."

"Wait."

Before her grandfather's hand reached her, a voice interjected. It belonged to none other than the Princess who stood up and walked up to her.

She looked at Valling.

"Let me do the test. We can't have you manipulate the results."

"Go ahead. "

As cool and collected as ever, he took his hand back and sat still in his chair.

Princess Rhan didn't want to make things too difficult for him, and so she immediately turned her head to face Priscilla, who stared back at her.

"Relax your mind."

She did not put up any resistance, and a force ended up enveloping her entire body. The force penetrated deep into her body, and all of a sudden, her body straightened itself out as she slowly felt herself being lifted into the air.

"Hmh."

It was painful, but she was somewhat able to suppress her groan. It felt as though countless needles had punctured her body and traveled through her veins. It was extremely uncomfortable.

Thankfully, the process lasted no longer than a couple of seconds, and it wasn't long before she felt the Princess let go of her. Immediately after she recovered, she noticed that the entire room was quiet.

When she looked up, she saw that everyone's attention was concentrated on the thin thread that was floating above the Princess's palm.

She fiddled with it for a few seconds before tossing it to Prince Valling, who caught it, and then turned her attention to Prince Arian.

"It looks like your guesses weren't wrong."

Prince Valling's expression didn't change much, but Priscilla could tell from the way he was reacting to the unexpected information that he was taken aback in some way. It was clear that he had not planned for such an occurrence.

"Hmmmm."

Prince Arian crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, musing to himself. Not until some time later did he look at Prince Devot. There was no trace of a smile in his eyes as he gazed at him.

Understanding the meaning of his gaze, Prince Devot turned around to look at Duke Ukhan.

"Let me."

Prince Aton offered himself up. Standing up, he walked toward the Duke and carried out a similar procedure. It didn't take long before a glow appeared all around the Duke's body, and shortly after that, his body began to fall to the ground.

The expression on Prince Aton's face did not change as he withdrew his hand from Duke; however, when he extended his hand again, subtle changes appeared as nothing appeared on it.

...This was enough for everyone to understand something.

Prince Devot and Duke Ukhan found themselves the center of everyone's attention all of a sudden, as Priscilla and Prince Vallian now found themselves thrust into the background.

Their expressions were anything but friendly.

"Surely this isn't a coincidence, right?"

Prince Serling's gaze was fixed intently in the direction of Prince Devot as he posed the question.

Prince Devot remained silent as he calmly absorbed their gazes. With the hood covering his face, no one could discern his expression.

"In light of the upcoming World Decree, I'm not surprised that something like this happened. It all makes sense now that I think about it."

Prince Arian did the honor of speaking, his voice finding hints of amusement once more. He looked toward Prince Devot.

"Having won the previous three world decrees, you are well aware that this world decree will be detrimental to you if we join forces to stop you. Since you don't want that to happen, you've devised a plan to eliminate all the successors and blame the house of Sloth in the process."

"Killing a successor is the same as creating internal problems, as infighting will start in order to determine the next successor. Typically, succession takes a lot of years to nurture, and during that time, you'd be the only winner. While Ukhan is indeed injured, unlike Velmout behind me, his injuries seem a lot lighter. That couldn't be a coincidence, right?"

Prince Arian smiled.

"The more I consider it, the more I realize that you are the greatest winner among us all."

With the house of Sloth eliminated, the House of Envy would indeed be the biggest winner.

A succession war usually took place over the course of many years and cut down on a lot of resources and personnel in the process. By the time the next world Decree occurred, everyone's forces would have been drastically reduced, except for Prince Devot's.

"...How ruthless."

Prince Arian couldn't help but comment as the smile on his face dissipated.

"You are truly unlucky. If I hadn't discovered the thread, then your plan would have actually been successful. You left Velmout alive in order to obtain an alibi in order to shift the blame to the Duchess..."

Prince Arian's eyes narrowed.

"From the gallbladder to her being unharmed while the others were, to the letters..."

The plan was slowly starting to unravel before his eyes.

"Duke Ukhan purposely instigated the Duchess into a conflict with him. The purpose behind it was to anger her and give reason to the others to believe that she'd want to form a partnership with them."

"Then, once the others took the bait, he'd kill them off individually while also using the gall bladder to hide how they died. Of course, hiding wasn't the only intent..."

"N..no."

Duke Ukhan spoke up all of a sudden. He was still recovering from the sudden intervention, but he managed to utter a few words.

"It's...a scheme... I'm innocent..."

No one paid any attention to him. His words were meaningless to them.

Prince Arian's words continued.

"In the process, he purposely left Velmout alive, just barely, before altering his memories so that he could make for the perfect alibi. When all is said and done, he also injured himself, which in turn would make things more suspicious towards the Duchess's side."

His eyes narrowed as they shifted toward Priscilla.

"The flaw in all of this came down to the fact that, as Prince Valling suggested, everything was too flawless. It was too perfect... Even without my findings, I would've probably assumed that something was framing the Duchess."

The hall turned quiet. Thereafter, they all turned to look at Prince Devot.

"Do you have anything to say?"

Chapter 717: Settling Down [1]

"What did you do!?"

Kevin was met with a hysterical voice the moment he returned from his office.

"This is no laughing matter!"

'My head hurts.'

The moment he heard Emma's voice, Kevin felt his head throb. This was the last thing he'd wanted to experience after having just killed Hemlock, otherwise known as Malik Alshayatin.

"Hello? Are you listening to me?"

"Ugh."

He secretly groaned, trying his best to keep his head sane.

"Did you really defeat him, or did you photoshop the picture? No, in the first place, how did you even manage to defeat him? You're nowhere near his level of strength. It doesn't make sense. Are you hiding something from me?"

She was like a machine gun. He was unable to keep up with the rate at which the words were coming out of her mouth as she continued to speak.

At some point, Kevin started to question whether Emma was a human.

"Can you please slow down for a second?"

For his own sanity, he had to stop her. And thankfully, she stopped.

"Are you finally going to answer my questions?"

"No."

A flat out refusal.

Before she could continue speaking, he added.

"…Not now. I'll tell you later. Can you leave me alone for now? I need some time for myself."

"…"

Emma didn't say anything but just stared at him. Her eyes pierced through him. Soon sensing something, her expression changed a little.

She opened her mouth and carefully asked.

"…Are you okay?"

Looking up at her, Kevin closed his eyes before shaking his head.

"You think I would after fighting against Malik Alshayatin?"

"Right…"

Emma shook her head and took out several potions from her storage space.

"These are the highest grade potions I could find in the market. Make good use of them. They are rather expensive."

Staring at the potions, Kevin was stunned.

He recognized them immediately. How could he not? Calling them rather expensive, was an understatement.

The potions before him cost just about as much as an <S> ranked artifact, and were nothing to scoff at.

"When did yo—"

"Knowing you, I'd figure you'd end up injured at some point, so I came prepared."

Emma was already by the door when she spoke. Throwing him a glance, she opened the door and slipped past it before closing it.

In the process, she managed to utter a couple of words.

"Get well soon."

Clank—!

Silence returned to the room the moment Emma left the room.

Kevin didn't say a word the whole time he was there; he just sat there quietly and looked at the various potions that were in front of him.

His hands trembled and he covered his face with his hands.

Drip—!

A drop of the clear liquid soon made its way toward the table, where it stained one of the papers that were scattered across it.

A frail voice followed after it.

"I-if only it'd work…"

***

"I will send you back to the estate for now. I will join you later."

"Yes…"

Priscilla nodded her head absentmindedly. She was somewhat out of it.

At one point, she was persecuted by everyone, and she saw her life flash before her very eyes. She thought it was over then... and yet, for some strange reason, everything turned around, and it turned out she was the victim of Duke Ukhan's elaborate scheme.

It was a very ambitious and vicious one, but in the end, due to what was described as a 'stroke of luck', his plan had been found out.

"Duchess."

'If not for Prince Arian…"

Who knew what would've happened? The truth was that she would almost certainly have been murdered on the spot, and the Sloth house would have been destroyed.

"Duchess!"

"Uh? Ah?"

Priscilla was startled by the sudden mention of her name. When she looked around her, she found a familiar figure standing before her.

"Duchess, is everything alright?"

It was her servant. Looking around, she was surprised to see that she was back in her own estate.

She was in such a daze that she didn't really realize that her grandfather had already sent her back. From the moment that everyone turned their focus on Prince Devot, her memory turned hazy. She was in too much shock to pay attention to what happened next.

She was just glad that she wasn't dead.

"Duchess?"

"Ah, yes, everything is alright. You can go now, I need some time alone."

Waving at her servant, she dismissed him and turned toward her room.

Clank—!

"Has everything been sorted?"

She had just walked into the room and shut the door when she was startled to hear a voice whispering from behind her. It startled the living daylights out of her.

"Wh—!"

"Shhh."

A hand grasped her face before she could utter a single word. Her eyes widened in horror.

'I couldn't react at all…'

She, a Duchess, was unable to react at the hand… it instantly became clear to her that she was facing an extremely powerful individual.

one who was almost certainly stronger than she...

Opening her mouth, she managed to utter a few words.

"Wha..t do y—"

"Didn't I tell you to be quiet?"

But the man immediately silenced her. His voice powerfully reverberated inside her ear, and shortly thereafter, a white glow materialized in his hand and traveled directly into her. It all happened so fast that she could only watch as her world turned white.

"Yo..u"

Her eyes widened in horror at that moment. She wanted to struggle, but for some reason, she found herself unable to do so.

'Not like this… fucking…'

Desperation soon started to surface within her mind, and her vision soon turned black. The last thing she caught sight of before darkness overtook her vision was a pair of deep blue eyes.

…They seemed familiar.

***

Thump—!

The Duchess's body limply fell to the ground before my very eyes.

Staring at her body, I stretched my body and yawned.

"What perfect timing…"

By the time I was done sleeping, she was already back. What convenient timing.

As I looked around her room, I quickly located a chair and made myself comfortable there. It wasn't going to be long before she came to her senses again.

'Judging from the fact that she's still here, it seems like everything worked out perfectly.'

Sitting down on the chair, I made myself comfortable while crossing my legs together and leaning my cheek over my fist.

"Umh."

Hearing the Duchess moan, I smiled.

'I wonder what kind of reaction she'll give me?'

From initially believing she was about to be duped by another person's scheme to eventually realizing there was never any such scheme in the first place.

She would, for sure, show a nice reaction, right?

"Uh? W..what's going on?"

Hearing her voice, I smiled.

"Welcome back, Duchess."

"!"£$%^&*() *&^%$ £$%^& (*&^%"

'Ah, it's best if I bleep that out of my mind.'

There were far too many colorful words floating around for me to take note of all of them, some that I'd never heard of before, but at the very least, I was able to get the response that I was looking for.

"*&^%$ (*&^%$£—"

"Are you done?"

As much as I wanted to continue hearing her curses, I decided to stop her.

…My feelings were starting to hurt.

"Y-ou!"

Heavily gasping for air, she repeatedly pointed at me with a red face.

I shook my head when I looked at her.

"Is this how you thank me for all I've done for you?"

Setting everything up was not easy. Just a little bit of carelessness, and everything would've failed.

It took several minutes, but eventually, the Duchess was able to calm down. She stared at me for a good minute, seemingly unsure of what to say.

When I saw how she was reacting, I decided to break the silence.

"Do you want me to explain what I did?"

"No."

She shook her head.

"…I already understand what you did."

"That's good."

I smiled. This saved me quite a bit of time. Removing my cheek from my fist and sitting up, I took one of the seats beside me and pushed it out.

"Have a seat."

"…"

Throwing me a glare that seemed to say 'why are you acting like that when this is my room?', the Duchess eventually resigned herself and took a seat.

I waited for her to collect herself before speaking.

"I've held my end of the deal; shouldn't it be your turn to do so as well?"

"…"

She still didn't say anything. She just quietly stared at me for a good minute. Thankfully, it didn't last long enough for me to feel uncomfortable, as she soon nodded her head.

"Very well."

A look of resignation crossed her face. She looked like she wanted to say a lot of things but eventually gave up.

She stood up from her seat.

"I'll have someone deliver your end of the deal."

"About that."

I stopped her from leaving.

"If possible, I'd like for you to give it to me personally. It's best that fewer people know about me."

"Very well."

She didn't seem to be that annoyed by my sudden request as she nodded her head.

"…You're very cautious."

"I have to be."

While I was indeed a lot stronger than her, and most other Dukes with the aid of the demonic blood inside of me, I was still far from being strong enough to match up against the Patriarchs of the houses.

I wasn't that delusional.

In the first place, I wouldn't have resorted to such schemes had I been strong enough.

'I'd probably just have killed them on the spot or threatened them if that was the case...'

Sadly, I was still not in the same realm as them and could only opt for such action.

"Is there anything else you need from me?"

The Duchess's crisp voice brought me out of my thoughts. Raising my head to look at her, I nodded my head.

"Yes, actually."

Chapter 718: Settling Down [2]

"Tsk."

Coming out of the Duchess's room, I clicked my tongue.

'I tried at least.'

Lowering my head, I looked at the three other tubes in my hand before putting them away.

Moments prior, I tried to negotiate for a devil fruit, but I was flat out rejected by her.

In the end, all I could do was leave with my head lowered.

'I can't be too impatient.'

I could've negotiated for a devil fruit before, but the Nectar was far more important to me. While I wasn't completely healed, I felt far more refreshed than I had in a very long time.

I even had a very good night's sleep for once.

Plus…

'It's not like there won't be an opportunity later.'

"You're back?"

"Yeah."

As I made my way back to our residence after secretly escaping the estate, I was greeted by the sight of Melissa tinkering with an odd substance. Nothing unusual.

Already used to this, I found a chair not so far from her and took a seat.

"Have you found what you've been looking for?"

"Not really."

Melissa shook the test tube in front of her and quietly observed it.

Though faint, I caught sight of a couple of bubbles on top.

…Just what sort of potion was she making?

"When are we going to leave?"

"When the time comes."

The only way back was through Kevin, so until the designated time, we'd be stuck here for a bit more.

"Thankfully, I'm already finished with what I needed to do, so I guess we can take it easy until the time is right if that's okay with you?"

"That's fine with me."

Melissa nodded her head without a change in expression.

It seems like she was enjoying her stay here.

"That's great."

I stood up from the seat.

"Since we have time, it's best we make the most out of it. We've got plenty of time."

I had originally assumed that we'd only have about five months on our trip over here. While it wasn't long, it wasn't short.

However, I only realized later that I had grossly underestimated something over here, and that was the fact that one day here wasn't actually the same as one day back on earth.

The length of a day on this world was significantly different from that on earth; consequently, the amount of time we had over here was significantly greater than the five months we had originally intended to stay for.

"It's perfect."

With how grim the situation back on Earth was, I originally thought there wasn't enough time, but given the time I had, maybe… just maybe—by the time I returned, I'd be strong enough to defeat Hemlock.

I made a motion with my hand and pulled out several bottles, each of which contained a substance I was familiar with, then I took several deep breaths.

"…I can only try."

While I might not be able to rank up due to the lack of mana in the air... I no longer relied on mana alone. I could use my time to train with my newfound power.

Demonic energy.

***

The bedroom was tastefully decorated, lit up by the bright moon that hung high in the night sky. There was complete silence in the room as the white curtains that led to the balcony ballooned outward like the sails of a ship and moved in an odd wavelike pattern as the breeze blew through them.

"Pftt…"

A sudden laughter broke the silence in the room.

Recalling the face the human made when she rejected his request, Priscilla found herself unable to hold her laughter back.

'He deserves it for not telling me he'd erase my memories…'

She was still bitter about it. Even though she did comprehend the reason he acted in the manner that he did, it would have been nice if he had informed her of it in advance.

Nonetheless, the past was the past, and what was done was already done.

She had made the right bet in the end.

'Thankfully, he was on my side.'

She shuddered at the thought of being on the opposite side of him.

Not only was his strength extremely terrifying, but so were his schemes.

All it took him was a single day. In a single day, he managed to do what she had deemed to be impossible.

When one looked at it from the sloth house point of view, then they were the biggest winners.

With the other houses busy with the succession war, and the House of Envy being the main target of everyone, the House of Sloth was the one that gained the most from the whole ordeal.

Not only did they not lose any of their forces, but they were also the house with the greatest advantage during the upcoming World Decree.

Unlike the others, they weren't infighting.

"The more I think about it, the scarier this is…"

The fact that he had managed to fool seven Prince ranked entities was enough to prove just how scary of an individual he was.

"Huh."

Priscilla exhaled and gazed at the moon outside. She then brought two fingers to her mouth.

"Huh?"

…Only to realize that she had nothing in her hand. Immediately her face changed.

"Shit, I forgot to ask the other human for another pack."

***

A figure restrained by chains hung in the air. The world around him was devoid of any light as darkness restrained every inch of his body.

He had a lifeless look on his face and the only movement that could be seen was the very slight contraction of his diaphragm.

A figure appeared before him.

"It's been a while."

His features were strikingly similar to that of the chained man. No, rather, they were identical.

It was none other than Ren.

Staring at his other self, who showed no reaction to his appearance, Ren calmly sat down in front of him.

He didn't say anything and just stared at him for an unknown period of time.

…It was as though he was trying to check if he was still alive or dead.

He eventually let out a sigh and spoke up.

"Until when are you going to be like this?"

"…"

He received no response. Nonetheless, he continued.

"I know you want to die, but is that really all there is to it? Do you have no goals that you want to achieve before dying… like, perhaps killing Jezebeth for good?"

"…"

"Is it because there's something wrong with your mind?"

Extending his hand, several tubes appeared.

Looking straight ahead, he asked.

"I have something that may potentially help you. I won't ask anything in return, but... if it truly helps you and your sanity returns, will you listen to my request?..."

Once again he was met with no response.

'Is this not enough?'

Ren took a look at the tubes he was holding in his hands. Even though he couldn't be absolutely certain, he had the impression that if he presented this to his other self, he might be able to help him in a way.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like it enticed him.

Or so he thought…

Ren felt a sudden twitch in his body, and as he did so, he watched as his other self began to move very slowly, and he raised his head up.

Their eyes met, and soon, his dry lips parted open.

"It won't work."

His voice was frail, almost feeble, but Ren managed to hear it.

"…Will it really not work?"

"I've tried it before."

He responded in a dull manner, staring at Ren in an expressionless manner while doing so.

"…I'm far too broken to be fixed."

Ren frowned.

He was cut before he could say anything.

"I'm fundamentally already broken. I'm not something that can be fixed, and I understand that… I have long understood this, but I just want to be thrown away as all broken things should."

The frown on Ren's face deepened when he heard his words.

They weren't pleasant.

…and it finally made him realize that there really was no way out for him.

His feeble and cracked voice continued to echo within the void.

"Death is cold, Ren… You and I both know it. To me, however…"

"...It's the warmest thing I could ever hope for…"

Ren bit his lower lips when he heard his words.

Looking up at him, he asked one last question.

"Do you have any fears?"

This was a question he already knew the answer to, but he just wanted to ask anyways, and as expected, he wasn't surprised by the answer.

"Fear? I've no such emotion…"

He paused.

"No, that's a lie. I do have a fear... And that's the fear of not being able to die. I'm currently relieving my fear every day. And that's all on you."

"I understand."

Ren put the test tubes away and turned around. He vanished from the void without saying anything else. It was at this moment that Ren gave up on his other self.

There was no other way for him.

…and even if there was, it wasn't something that he could do.

Chapter 719: Settling Down [3]

A gentle breeze blew past, scattering the leaves of the nearby trees that made up the vast majority of the land.

The trees had enormous trunks, and their gnarled, twisted branches stretched up to the sky, intertwining with one another to form a canopy of green. .

There was a stillness in the air that resonated with the silence that lingered throughout, and the forest floor was like a damp carpet of leaves and earth that stretched endlessly.

It was an ever-changing place, filled with life and movement that constantly changed throughout the day; birds hopping from branch to branch, rabbits nibbling on an unsuspecting tuft of grass, and the occasional distant rustle from some unknown creature lurking in the shadows. .

All of a sudden…

Thump—! Thump—!

Repeated muffled thumps disturbed the stillness around the forest.

Thump—!

A black metal spike suddenly sprouted from the ground, shattering one of the trees in half.

It wasn't long after that when twelve more spikes erupted from the ground below, bringing down every tree in the immediate area with them.

It wasn't only the trees that shattered, but everything within the vicinity was also shredded apart.

A figure soon emerged from beneath the ground.

Extending his hand forward, the black spikes that stuck out from the ground slowly shrank back and merged with his hand.

"Almost there…"

Jin muttered while retracting his hand.

Although he hated to admit it, ever since he contracted with Ren and gained access to demonic energy, his control over the black threads improved by a large leap.

…and this was only a month into the trip.

By the end of the five months, things might be completely different…

"Not bad."

A voice sounded from behind, startling Jin whose head snapped back.

The moment he turned, he saw a figure leaning against a tree not so far away from him.

She waved her hand.

"It's been a while. You're a lot more handsome than I expected."

"It's you…"

He immediately recognized the figure. It was the Duchess.

Her appearance immediately made him wary as the thin threads that had receded into his hand suddenly started to cover his hand once more.

"What are you doing here?"

"Is this how you humans greet each other when they see an acquaintance?"

The Duchess stepped forward, exposing her beautiful face and pink hair that curled at the ends.

"…or is it that you're wary of me?"

"Yes, I'm wary of you."

Jin didn't deny it.

Although he had indeed interacted with her for a bit back in the estate, it didn't mean that he had lowered his guard against her.

It was very much still there, and the fact that she had found him when he had come here to train caused him to be even more cautious.

"How did you find me?"

He had left to train by himself. Apart from Ren, no one else knew where he was.

Actually, not even Ren knew where he was. He probably only had a general idea.

The Duchess crossed her arms and smiled at him,

"Where do you think you are?"

Jin frowned. He seemed to understand something.

"…You have an artifact that allows you to spot me?"

"Close."

Priscilla took another step forward. Extending her hand, she revealed a white orb.

"I can't really spot you, but this artifact will allow me to scout certain areas from above. With all the commotion you were making, it wasn't that hard to spot you."

"I see…"

Jin had a general understanding of the situation.

He looked back at her.

"So, what do you want from me?"

The Duchess suddenly smiled, her eyes carefully scanning Jin's body.

Her lips soon parted open.

"…You should already have an i—"

"Then no."

Jin cut her abruptly. It wasn't hard to guess what she wanted.

"I already told you, I don't have any more to give you."

There was no change in the Duchess's expression despite Jin's rejection. She remained strangely calm.

Jin wasn't fooled in the least bit by her demeanor. He had already seen her true nature.

"That's fine. I'm not asking you to give them to me for free. I can p—"

"Not selling."

"Motherfucker!"

The Duchess's expression crumbled, and Jin secretly smiled.

'As expected…'

She was quite easy to anger.

"I've come all the way here to greet you and ask you to sell me those sticks, and yet you don't even bother listening to my offer. Am I a joke to you?"

'Not a joke, but a very amusing demon.'

Jin obviously kept those thoughts to himself and didn't say them out loud.

Although he was enjoying himself, he didn't have a death wish.

"It's not that I don't want to sell it to you, it's just that I've run out."

He raised both hands in the air.

"If you want more, then you'd have to wait until I go back to earth."

"Earth?"

Priscilla's face calmed down the moment she heard the unfamiliar yet familiar word.

"Is that where you come from?"

'Oops.'

A slip of tongue.

He turned his head and looked at one of the broken trees.

"Hm? What happened to trees?"

"…"

The Duchess stared at Jin speechlessly. Looking around, she found herself unable to say anything.

Turning his head, Jin eventually resigned himself. Tapping on his ring, two cigarettes appeared, and he handed her one.

"Alright, have one."

"Oh?"

The Duchess's eyes lit up.

She didn't even hesitate and went ahead to grab the cigarettes.

"I said one."

Jin retrieved his hand when he saw her attempt to take both cigarettes. He immediately placed one in his mouth.

What an arrogant demon.

"Tsk."

The Duchess clicked her tongue and snatched the cigarette.

Placing it in between her two lips, she flicked her finger, and it soon lit up.

*Puff*

The scent of smoke lingered in the air as it slowly diffused into the air.

Lowering her hand, the Duchess exhaled.

"…I needed that."

"Busy?"

Jin asked, taking a small puff of his cigarette while leaning against a tree.

The Duchess looked at him and nodded.

"Very. After what your friend, leader, or whatever he is pulled his stunt, a lot of things changed. Although most of them have been good, it's still a lot of work. I only just barely managed to get myself some free time."

"I can understand."

Jin somewhat understood her predicament.

Back on earth, with his guild, he too was burdened with a great deal of responsibility. Sometimes, all he needed to do was take some time off and relax by himself.

It was also why he started smoking. It helped him relax a lot.

He probably wouldn't have picked it up if it weren't for the fact that he was in such good shape. Also, given that it didn't hurt him in any way, he reasoned that it was a pleasant way to unwind.

"Say…"

The Duchess suddenly spoke up, and he turned to look at her.

"…how long are you planning on staying in this planet?"

"About four more months."

"That little?"

"Not up to me, so there's not much that I can do."

"I see."

The Duchess thoughtfully nodded her head before taking another puff of her cigarette.

She looked at the slowly diffusing smoke in the air.

"Do you know there's a bounty on your heads? From his majesty himself?"

"Yeah."

It was mentioned in the discussion that took place inside the mansion a few weeks back.

"What about it?"

The Duchess looked at him strangely.

"…Are you not afraid that I'd backstab you and report you to his majesty?"

"…"

Jin didn't answer immediately. Taking a puff of his cigarette, he lowered his hand and exhaled.

"You can try."

"Hm?"

The Duchess raised her brow. She carefully studied Jin's face before speaking.

"I don't know whether you're bluffing, or actually serious."

"Think of it as you want."

Tapping the tip of the cigarette, Jin showed no change in expression.

"If you didn't figure out his intention in helping you, then you must be pretty stupid."

"What'd you say?"

Priscilla furrowed her brows.

Jin didn't mind and asked.

"Do you really think he didn't think things through when helping you?"

"What do you—"

Jin rolled his eyes. It really did seem like she didn't think things through when signing the contract.

"The moment he helped you, was the same moment he roped you into his side. Regardless of whether you report him or not, you've directly benefited from him. Whether you like it or not, you've unofficially allied yourself with him."

Jin, as the heir to his guild, found himself in a variety of similar situations. Naturally, he grasped the concept of what Ren was trying to accomplish with his actions.

Although he had asked for a heavy price for his cooperation, he didn't push it as much as he could have.

If he wanted to, he probably could've asked for a devil fruit, but he didn't.

… The reason for this was because he had intended to provide assistance to them right from the start. This was especially the case after he found out that the Patriarch was away.

He probably would've seen through his intentions.

"Let's say the Demon King forgives you for working with him, what about the other demons? Do you really think they'll treat you the same after learning you've worked with the enemy to cause chaos with the other houses and benefit from it?"

Jin flicked the cigarette in his hand and stomped on it.

"Whether you like it or not, you're now on the same ship as us. Although your grandfather didn't say anything, I'm sure he knows that something is up. I suggest you talk with him before 'he' meets him directly. In fact, your patriarch probably knows about our meeting."

After that, he didn't really say much more. It wasn't necessary for him to. With just one glance in her direction, he was able to deduce that she had just now realized the gravity of the situation she found herself in.

"I'll look forward to our cooperation."

His voice didn't seem to be directed toward her. To whom it was meant to, it wasn't really hard to guess.

He disappeared after that, leaving the Duchess dully standing in the forest.

She eventually covered her face and cursed.

"Shiiiiiit…"

Chapter 720: Settling down [4]

'…I should've thought things more thoroughly.'

Priscilla masticated her lower lip as she reflected on something. At the time, she was so intimidated by his power that she readily agreed to work with him without giving it further thought.

What choice did she have?

In the end, things turned out exactly as he had said, and she directly benefited from his help.

She didn't think much after that. She thought that their collaboration was over…

She didn't become aware of the nature of the circumstance in which she found herself until after she had a conversation with the other human.

"Shit."

She let out another curse.

Her footsteps eventually came to a halt in front of a substantial wooden door. It was a door that she had been to numerous times before.

To Tok—!

She knocked on the door once.

"Come in."

As if expecting her, she heard her grandfather's voice and she pushed the door open.

Clank—

She didn't say anything and kept her head lowered. She just waited for her grandfather to say something.

"What have you come here for?"

She didn't have to wait long to hear his voice.

Raising her head, she bit her lips once more.

Just as she was about to say something, her grandfather's words rang.

"Have you come here regarding what happened a month ago?"

She raised her head in surprise.

How did he know?

"Hum."

Setting his pen down, Prince Valling smiled.

"You think I wouldn't know? It was very obvious from the start that something must've happened since I know very well of your capabilities."

He continued.

"Although you are powerful, in no way are you capable of defeating seven Duke ranked demons. Especially by yourself…"

He lowered his head, eyeing her directly.

"…If our secret forces were used, I'd know."

Priscilla lowered her head. Indeed, the other houses might not suspect a thing because everything was directly pinned pointed toward Duke Ukhan, but her grandfather must have suspected that something was up because the Gall Bladder that she brought back with her was missing.

Since her uncle must've previously reported that they had brought one back, when he realized it was no longer there and everyone seemed to have completely forgotten about it, he must've realized that their memories had also been tampered with.

Plus…

The fact that a sizeable amount of nectar had vanished was a significant indication that something had transpired.

It really wasn't that hard for him to suspect that something had happened.

Thankfully, things worked out in their favor.

"At first I suspected that the other party acted on their own since your memory also got distorted, but…"

He retrieved a mirror from one of his drawers and turned it toward her.

'I'll look forward to our cooperation.'

That petty bastard.

Hearing the familiar voice, Priscilla knew that she was busted.

'As expected…'

Her grandfather already knew everything. She still had so much to learn.

"…What do you think I should do?"

She raised her head in surprise.

Unexpectedly, instead of getting angry at her, he asked for her opinion.

"You-re not angry?"

He smiled, putting the mirror back in the drawer.

"That'll depend on your answer. If you can give me a satisfactory answer, then I won't be mad, but if you don't…"

Her grandfather's eyes suddenly blackened.

All of a sudden the pressure inside the room started to increase dramatically, and Priscilla found herself unable to take a breath.

…Compared to the human, this pressure was far worse. On a level that made it seem as though the pressure given out by the human was insignificant.

The only thing she felt was pure dread at the moment.

He didn't need to continue the sentence for her to understand what he meant to say.

Thankfully, the pressure didn't last for long, and she was soon able to catch her breath.

"Hap…haaap…"

She felt sweat run down the side of her face as she clutched her chest and clenched her fists.

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, she recollected herself and raised her head to meet her grandfathers.

He looked back at her. His gaze and expression were as calm as they had always been.

…It was this feature that made him so terrifying to her.

"We have two options."

Priscilla started to speak. She had already thought about the situation on her way back to the estate. Thus, she wasn't completely unprepared.

"The first option is the obvious option. We report everything to his majesty. In doing so, we'd have to disclose everything that had happened, and gain his protection."

She paused and looked at her grandfather.

"…Unfortunately, the moment we disclose the information, the other demons will probably become aware of what happened, whether it gets leaked by the humans, or eventually found out due to the actions of the Demon King, it is highly likely that what happened will spread."

She originally thought this wasn't going to happen. Especially since they had signed the mana contract and agreed to keep silent regarding their cooperation.

Unfortunately…

Once again, opening up the contract and reading its contents, she realized something.

[From the moment the contract is signed, both parties will be unable to disclose in any shape or form any information regarding the transaction that occurred between both parties.]

'I've been duped.'

She never thought there'd be a loophole. Especially considering how thoroughly she had looked through the contract, but when she thought back on it, she could recall a few of his words.

'Sorry for my tardiness; I had to deliver a letter. You don't mind, do you?'

If this wasn't a hint, what was? He had purposely said it back then for her to eventually realize when the time came.

The foresight he had made her shudder, and she realized that she was truly helpless.

As soon as the other demons learned about what had occurred, they would begin to be shunned and targeted by them. Irrespective of whether or not they were tricked or not.

The fact that they had collaborated with an individual who was regarded as an enemy and remained silent throughout this entire process was sufficient justification for them to look for trouble and target their resources.

"We could set up a trap, and lure the human to us and capture him, but…"

She didn't dare think any further. She'd already witnessed first hand the human's capabilities.

He was crafty and powerful. He wasn't someone who'd fall for their scheme.

"I understand."

Thankfully, her grandfather seemed to have understood something.

"Explain to me the second option."

"Okay."

Priscilla complied.

"…The second option is to buy their silence and secretly work with them."

It was a simple solution, and probably what the other party hoped to achieve.

All they'd have to do was pay an appropriate price to keep them silent about their deal and have some sort of cooperation with them.

That was probably what he was looking for the most.

"While it is indeed risky, so long as no one finds out, we'd have no problem; it's just that…"

She stopped speaking there. She didn't need to continue, as her grandfather understood what her words meant.

…There'd come a time where they'd have to choose which side to pick.

When the time came, it would determine the fate of their house.

"I've heard enough."

Her grandfather said as he picked up one of his pens and placed it in a holder next to the others in his collection.

Priscilla didn't dare speak at that moment. She waited for her grandfather's instructions.

Hopefully, her answers were to his satisfaction.

"If you were to choose an option, which one would you choose?"

"…"

At the sudden question, Priscilla remained silent.

About this…

She already had an answer. She was just afraid it was the wrong answer.

Nevertheless, feeling her grandfather's gaze, she could only swallow her saliva and brace herself.

"Option two."

"Why's that?"

"Because it is the safest option for us. As long as we pay enough to keep them silent, we won't have to worry about getting exposed. In the meantime, we can soak up the benefits that we've gained from him and secretly grow our powers while the others are fighting against each other. Once we've gained enough power…"

She didn't finish her sentence, but ruthlessness flashed across her eyes.

The main problem stemmed from the others learning of their deal and turning their attention towards them.

…But what if they got rid of them?

"Oh?"

Her words appeared to have taken her grandfather by surprise, as his normally placid face broke into a faint grin at the end of what she said.

"So you're saying we shouldn't join a side?"

"No. That's impossible."

Priscilla shook her head.

"Realistically speaking, once we've sorted everything out, we shouldn't have a problem joining his majesty's side, it's just that… do you think he will let us off?"

The Demon King wasn't the ruler of all demons just because of his strength.

No, the reason why he was so terrifying was because he could see through everything.

What they've done…

He'd probably see through it at a glance the moment they told him. If things went well, they wouldn't be punished, but if they didn't…

Priscilla clenched her teeth.

'Damn it, we've been duped real hard.'

"That's enough for now."

Thankfully, her grandfather seemed to be satisfied with her answers as he didn't show any signs of anger.

He then drummed his fingers over the table.

Turning his head to face the window, he smiled.

"Let's not do anything for now. I'm sure he'll come to us soon. We'll decide then…"

Chapter 721: Shock [1]

An oppressive silence filled the air, disturbed only by the occasional trickle of water and the distant echo of a bat's wings in flight.

The temperature was cool and clammy, like a dank veil of the eternal night had settled over the passage. The only beacon of relief came from the entrance, through which a bright beam of sunlight occasionally shone, illuminating pockets of mineral deposits that sparkled like stars in the night sky.

The cave was a dark, damp abyss.

It seemed to stretch on into eternity, filled with oppressive shadows and the occasional glimmer of a distant light source.

Rock walls surrounded the path, hard and smooth with years of sedimentary deposits, providing a tight and narrow passageway.

All of a sudden…

Cla Clank—!

The sound of metal clamping together reverberated, scattering all other sounds.

Seated in the middle of the cave, black scales started to appear on the surface of a male figure. They covered his whole body and only stopped at his cheeks.

Fwap—!

Suddenly, two enormous bat like wings emerged from his back and extended all the way to the opposite end of the cave.

Rumble—! Rumble—!

The power that erupted from the figure, who slowly opened its eyes to reveal two crimson red eyes, caused the cave to violently shake, and it appeared that it was on the verge of collapsing.

Bringing his hand forth, and closely examining his long finger and sharp nails, a smile formed.

"Finally…"

His voice cracked, and the rumbling around him stopped.

As he closed his eyes, the scales on his body and his wings began to retract. The two red eyes morphed into blue ones over the course of a few minutes, and the figure shrunk by several inches.

The process was rather fast, and once it was over, the power that seemed to overflow from his body, completely disappeared. It was as if it never had been there to begin with.

"I've finally managed to completely assimilate the blood into me."

Ren mumbled, observing his hands which had now returned to normal.

Lowering his hands, he took a deep breath before looking around him.

"How long have I been here for?"

He wasn't sure. He had lost track of time while trying to assimilate the blood and the Nectar. The only pity was that he was still <SS-> ranked.

Due to the lack of mana in the air, he made no substantial advancements in that area. With that being said, his overall power was significantly higher than it had been in the past.

Perhaps he might even be able to escape against a Patriarch...

'Since the others haven't disturbed me, I shouldn't have exceeded four months.'

Since he needed to get back to earth and still had one more thing to finish, it would be inconvenient for him to stay there for any longer than that.

'They should've realized by now, right?'

Ren suppressed his urge to smile. Thinking back at what he'd done, he couldn't help but shake his head.

If he continued like this, those around him would start having trust issues.

Cracking his back and neck, Ren stretched his body and made his way toward the entrance of the cave.

"Alright then, let's get this over with.'

***

Sloth Estate, Prince Valling's office.

It had been about three months since his discussion with his granddaughter, Priscilla, and about four months since the accident.

During that time, many things changed.

As expected, the moment the World Decree happened, they came out the biggest winners. It wasn't even by a small margin. It was convincingly so.

Everyone was able to take part in the harvest, with the exception of the Patriarchs, and those who were successful in gathering their share received it.

Usually, it'd be the House of Envy that would come out with the biggest gain, but this year was different.

Under the suppression of the other houses, they were barely able to scrape up one fruit.

The other houses weren't much better off. Due to all the infighting, many tried sabotaging each other in order to get credit and lead the succession war.

It didn't need to be said about their harvest.

In the end, under his granddaughter's leadership, the house of Sloth emerged with the biggest gain of all.

Best of all, none of the other houses said anything since they all understood that, had it not been for that stroke of 'luck', on Prince Arian's side, they would've been the biggest losers.

Because of this, and the fact that they didn't have time to be jealous, everything went smoothly.

"…How long are you planning on watching?"

Prince Valling calmly set his pen down and looked up.

Not long after, a figure appeared from out of thin air and pointed toward the seat opposite him.

"Do you mind?"

"Go ahead."

"Thank you very much."

It was a simple exchange. A friendly one.

Pushing the chair back, Ren sat down.

He looked around the place, before turning his attention back to Prince Valling who looked back at him with a calm expression. There were hints of curiosity in his gaze.

"You don't seem surprised?"

He asked.

"Should I be?"

"No."

Ren smiled and shook his head.

"I've made my intentions pretty obvious. Of course, you wouldn't be surprised."

He leaned back on the chair and drummed his fingers over the wooden armrest.

"I'll cut straight to the chase; have you come up with a decision?"

"No."

Prince Valling shook his head.

Still calmly observing Ren, he tapped once at the table.

"…I needed to see you once before coming up with a decision?"

"Oh?"

Ren raised his brow.

"And are you satisfied with what you saw?"

"Maybe."

The Prince mysteriously smiled. His calm demeanor made it hard for Ren to discern his real intentions.

…Not that he cared.

"Well, it doesn't really matter to me. There'll eventually come a time when you will have to make that decision, and luckily for you, that time is not here yet."

If there was one thing that Ren was aware of, it was the fact that he was not even close to being an appropriate piece to gamble on.

Especially when the other side was the Demon King, the one being that stood at the pinnacle of the universe.

…Of course, that was only for now.

"The reason why I came here is not because I want you to choose sides. I just want to negotiate with you. So—"

"I can't offer you more than one devil fruit for your silence. We've gained quite a lot from the World Decree, but I still can't offer you more than that... I hope you can understand."

"…"

Ren felt at a loss for words. Prince Valling was more straightforward than he had originally anticipated.

…Not that he disliked that.

Rather, he quite liked that. It saved him a lot of time.

He smiled from ear to ear.

"I wasn't going to ask you for more."

"Then it looks like we have a deal."

Prince Valling smiled. Extending his hand, a scroll appeared in his hand.

It was a mana contract.

"I prepared this beforehand. You can have a look at it yourself."

'He's come prepared. As expected, it isn't easy to fool someone like him.'

Priscilla was enough of a warning.

Smiling, Ren took the scroll and read through its contents. In the meantime, he heard the Prince's voice in the background. It was tinged with amusement.

"Have a look and see if there are any loopholes."

"Of course."

Ren didn't appear to be bothered by his words and read the contents with great attention. Because he was simulating all possible outcomes through the chip in his head, it took him approximately ten minutes to complete each line.

Only when he was satisfied with it, would he go to the next line and repeat the same process.

Overall, it took about 2 hours for Ren to read just about 12 lines. Throughout the entire time, the Prince didn't interrupt him and answered any question that he had.

The process was rather smooth.

"Alright, then."

Feeling content with what he heard, he signed the contract.

A glow appeared, and a mana contract between the two parties began to take shape. Because the contract was of the highest possible quality, the instant that it was activated, Ren experienced a heavy feeling in his heart.

"Looks like we have a deal."

As soon as Prince Valling saw the contract floating through the air, he opened a drawer in his desk and took out a small box, which he promptly gave to Ren.

"Here's my end of the deal."

"Thank you very much."

After retrieving the box, Ren cracked it open only a little bit. After looking through the narrow opening, he was content with what he saw and decided to close the opening.

He was very satisfied with what he saw. The trip was worth it.

"I heard you will be leaving soon?"

Prince Valling's voice echoed once more.

Raising his head, Ren put the box away and nodded his head.

"Yes, I'll be leaving in less than a few days. It's about time that I go back."

"I see."

The Prince nodded his head with a smile.

Turning his head, he gazed toward the window, his thoughts unknown.

"When the time comes that the two of us meet again, I hope you won't disappoint me."

Ren didn't say anything. His smile said it all.

Standing up, his figure quickly vanished into thin air.

A few words lingered after his departure.

"…Let's hope I'll meet your expectations then."

Chapter 722: Shock [2]

Thump—!

A silver steak tore through the air and directly pierced through one of the targets that were located some distance away.

"…One more."

If one looked closely, one'd notice that next to the arrow, were several other arrows.

They were all distance just about the same distance from each other and covered each one of the rings above the bull's eyes mark.

The only spot left was the bullseye.

So long as she got that, she'd get the perfect score…

Khhhh—!

Amanda drew her bow.

It was a big bow. Significantly heavier than any bow she had ever used before in her life. It was also a great deal more powerful than the majority of them, with the exception of her current bow.

A gentle breeze flew past the area around her, bending the grass ever so slightly.

She didn't pay attention to her surroundings.

Her sole focus was the target in front of her. More specifically, the bullseye. The only area that she didn't fill yet.

…Her OCD was flaring up. She needed to hit the target and fill the empty spot.

She couldn't afford to miss.

"Huuuh."

She inhaled deeply and focused on bringing calm to her mind. As time passed, everything that was once moving around her became completely still, and the only thing that she could see was the target.

The wind blew once more, scattering her hair lightly.

She paid it no mind.

She was waiting for the breeze to subside.

The wait didn't last for long. The surrounding turned still, and her fingers raised.

The arrow was about to leave the string. It was just an inch away…

Clank—!

"Amanda are you here?"

Someone suddenly entered, and Amanda's concentration broke.

Thump—!

A whistling sound arose.

The arrow flew through the air at a tremendous speed and struck the target dead on.

Only that…

It didn't hit the bullseye.

Amanda blankly stared at her bow before looking back at the target.

"Oh, it looks like you're training."

Ren, who had just walked in, turned his attention to the target, totally oblivious to what he had just done. A storm was brewing.

"Looks like you've improved a lot."

He was rather impressed.

"Anyways, I'm here to tell you that we're about to leave soon. We need to leave in a couple of hours since it'll take us a while to get to the right plac—"

Bang—!

Amanda abruptly smashed her bow against the ground.

"Damn it! Fuck!"

She let out a string of curses before turning her gaze to Ren, who looked at her with a combination of utter dread and horrified fascination.

He took several steps back.

"Let's talk about this…"

***

Crunch—!

Juices flowed down her chin. Throwing the apple in her hand and catching it again, Priscilla soon took another bite.

"…"

She glanced at Jin who was meditating not so far from the tree branch she was sitting on.

Crunch—!

Hearing the crunch for the nth time, Jin's left eye twitched.

He opened his eyes and cast her a glance.

"…Aren't you supposed to be busy?"

"I am."

Priscilla said, taking another bite of the apple and further irritating Jin.

"If you're busy, then why are you still here?"

"Can't I be?"

Crunch—!

The apple was rather juicy.

"You're doing this on purpose…"

Jin's expression started to change. Lowering his head, he glanced at the area around her.

…It had over a dozen apple cores.

"Huh."

He had to take a breath.

It had been roughly five months since he had arrived on this planet, and the one thing he deeply regretted doing was giving the Duchess her first taste of a cigarette.

Ever since that day, she hadn't stopped hounding him.

At first, she probably came for just the cigarettes, but lately… it seemed like she just likes to make his life more difficult.

He sighed when he thought that far.

'Thank god I'm about to leave. If not, I don't know for how long I'll be able to handle this…'

His patience was running thin. Well, whatever patience he had since he couldn't even beat her to begin with.

"Want an apple?"

The Duchess offered only for Jin to wave his hand and refuse.

"I'm good."

"You afraid I poisoned it?"

"Yes."

"How rude."

The Duchess hopped off the tree branch and moved toward Jin. Her every movement exuded boundless charm, but it had no effect on him at all.

She stopped a couple of inches away from him.

"Have you finally thought of a price?"

"Again with that?"

Jin stood up from his spot and covered his face with his hand.

"I told you, I'm not selling anything. If you want some, come to earth. If not, be on your way; I'm going to go back now."

He patted his body and prepared to leave, surprising the Duchess.

"You're leaving?"

"Yes. My time here is over."

Jin nodded, feeling a bit relieved that the trip over here was finally over.

He had learned and improved quite a lot here. Especially with the demonic energy lingering in his body, which increased his perception over his mana control, but…

As good as it was, he wanted it out of his system as fast as possible.

It was a bit too much for him to handle…

"Why is it only now that I learn that you're leaving?"

The Duchess didn't seem to take the news of his sudden departure very well.

"We've known each other for the past four months, I think I deserve to know."

"Did you, now?"

All he could recall was her bothering him for the past four months.

If it wasn't the annoying sound of apples being bitten or the constant nagging about selling her the cigarettes, she'd find a new way to find trouble for him.

…He was really looking forward to leaving.

Throwing her one last look, he waved his hand.

"I hope we don't see each other again."

He disappeared after that, leaving Priscilla utterly astonished.

"This… t,this…"

She found her teeth clenching very hard against each other as she muttered through her clenched teeth.

"Ungrateful bastard."

Was this his idea of a goodbye?

What a heartless human. Especially after helping him so much over the last four months.

Had it not been for her, he would've never been able to control his demonic energy as well as he did.

She was the main reason he had improved so much.

"See if I see you ag—"

She stopped halfway through her sentence. Turning her head, she caught a glimpse of a small box, and her mouth curled up.

"It looks like you have some conscience."

Looking around, she moved up to it and picked it up.

It was rather light.

"I didn't take him for the shy type. He's kind of cu—"

She stopped halfway.

"…"

Opening the box, she realized there was nothing inside.

Her face twisted like never before.

"You fucking human!!!!!"

***

"Pftt."

"What's wrong with you?

We were currently gathered and prepared to return to earth. From time to time, Jin would let out an occasional chuckle, which he failed to hide in spite of his attempts.

I looked at Melissa.

"Do you have something to do with this?"

"No? Why are you even looking at me?"

"Hmm."

I didn't even bother looking at Amanda. She had no sense of humor, so it probably wasn't her.

"I finally get it…"

Jin murmured, turning his gaze toward me.

I suddenly grew curious.

"What did you get?"

"I get why you always tease Kevin."

"Huh?"

I was caught off guard by his words. What was he on about? Did the demonic energy finally consume his head?

Me, tease Kevin?

I'd never do that...

"Hehe."

He didn't elaborate any further and just laughed.

His behavior made me even more curious, but seeing that we didn't have much time left, I decided to let it go.

'I'll just ask him when we return.'

What was most important at the moment was returning.

Thinking back at what would await me back on earth, my mood sobered up.

'I hope Kevin was able to stabilize the situation.'

My strength increased a lot over the past few months. While I wasn't entirely confident, I was sure that I could now at the very least put up a fight against Hemlock.

With Kevin's and Octavious's help, beating him wasn't impossible.

"Let's go."

I turned to look at the others before heading out of the city.

It was a short trip, but it was well worth it.

*

It took us several days to return to the gathering spot.

By the time we arrived, we found a familiar patch of land and waited there.

"According to Kevin, the portal should open today…"

That was on the premise that nothing happened to him, but I doubted it.

He was strong enough to last more than a month.

Swoosh—!

…and thankfully, he did.

As soon as the portal materialized in front of us, I let out a sigh of relief.

"Huh."

I took a few slow, deep breaths and steeled myself for the sights that awaited me on the other side.

Hopefully, I wasn't too late…

"Let's get going."

I entered shortly after that.

Chapter 723: Goodbye [1]

"Huh?"

"W-what?"

"Am I seeing things?"

The astonishment that we felt the instant that we set foot back on earth could not be adequately described using any words at all. I was so shocked that the after effects of the portal seemed like nothing to me.

Greeting us at the portal was Kevin. Everything seemed normal from that point. He was currently wearing a nice suit, which I had to say, made him look rather dashing.

I wasn't jealous.

That said…

"What did you do?"

As I emerged from the training area, I was taken aback to see that the headquarters was packed to the gills with individuals.

If that wasn't surprising enough, I couldn't believe how many people there were outside. When I looked out the window at the street below, I couldn't believe how crowded it was.

…It was as if the war had never started in the first place.

I was baffled, and so were the others.

'What happened in the time we were in Melandoir?'

"Surprised?"

Kevin looked at us with a smirk, leading us up toward his office.

"I won't hold you guys up for long. I just need to brief you on the situation, and you can all be on your way."

"Good morning, Alliance head."

"Have a safe day, Alliance head."

The manner in which people greeted Kevin on our way to his office was by far the most perplexing thing that I noticed.

Their eyes… they were filled with reverence.

My brows immediately furrowed when I saw this.

…I slowly started to get an idea of what had happened, and I felt my heart drop for some reason.

Everything seemed to be too good to be true.

"Come, relax in my office for a bit."

As we entered Kevin's office, he graciously offered us a few drinks before taking a seat in one of the chairs there.

"What happened?"

Jin was the first one to speak, asking the question that was lingering in the minds of everyone present.

I just quietly observed Kevin from my seat.

The more looked at him, the more I felt that things were off.

Nonetheless, I still quietly listened to the conversation. I could just be overthinking things, though I doubted it.

"We got lucky, and we managed to defeat all of the high ranking members of the Monolith. Of course, we didn't completely rid of the entire organization, as some went into hiding, but we were able to deal a large glow to them."

Kevin looked at me and smiled.

"It was no thanks to your help."

'What is he on about?'

Everyone looked at me, and Kevin elaborated.

"Had it not been for your letter before you left, we would've fallen for their trap. Thankfully, we managed to turn the situation around and reverse the trap by sending all of our high ranking members out. It was a risk, but it paid off."

He spoke in such a nonchalant tone that it made it seem as though he had dealt with a trivial matter.

Still, that didn't explain everything. I understood how he defeated the elders, but what about Hemlock?

He was the type of guy to die despite falling for an ambush.

Thinking there, I looked at Kevin to ask, but…

"What about Mal—"

"What's up with you guys? Why do I feel demonic energy all over your body?"

I was interrupted by Kevin, who stood up and looked at us with a frown. After he waved his hand once, a shadowy radiance began to emanate from each person's body.

He turned his head to look at me.

"Seriously?"

He wasn't impressed.

I shrugged.

"I had no choice. The demonic energy was far too thick over there. I wouldn't have made them sign a contract if they could've handled it."

"Haaa…"

Kevin let out a long sigh.

"This is rather troubling."

He grumbled.

"You do know that while we won the war, the situation is still rather sensitive? I understand you, since everyone knows you and they probably can't beat you, but then?"

Kevin alternated his gaze between Melissa, Jin, and Amanda.

"Let alone their positions, they can't even hide their demonic energy properly. It's practically leaking out of their bodies. Thankfully, you're with me, and even if the others noticed, they wouldn't have said anything."

"Is that so?"

Perhaps it's because I became accustomed to the other world, but I honestly didn't even notice that they were leaking demonic energy.

Melissa looked at her arms and frowned. She then turned to look at me.

"Get rid of it."

I was speechless.

"…You do know I can't just get rid of it at the snap of my fingers, right?"

She had signed a contract. The demonic energy would linger until the contract expired.

"Don't worry though, since I already knew when we were going to come back, the contracts will expire in a few hours, so you won't have to wait for long."

Actually, if there was anyone who was looking forward to the expiration of the contract more than I was, it was going to be me.

…this whole experience traumatized me in ways that I thought weren't possible.

Never again will I offer contracts to others.

Especially the lot of them…

"Alright then. Since we've got all of this sorted, I'll have you guys rest in the rooms I have prepared for you."

Kevin stood up and pressed the phone on his desk.

"Once the contract expires and you get over the side effects, you're free to go."

Clank—

"You called me?"

Almost immediately after that, Emma burst into the room in an abrupt manner. As she looked around and noticed us, a change came over her expression.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"It's a long story."

Kevin said with a smile. Fixing his tie, he fell back into his chair and lazily turned.

"Arrange the lot of them in a room. Don't bother asking any questions, they probably won't answer."

"Uhh."

A worried expression appeared on Emma's face. As she turned her head, her gaze eventually fell on Amanda, and she let out a sigh at that point.

"Alright then. Come with me for now."

She turned around and left. Standing up, everyone but me followed her.

I waved at them before they could ask anything.

"Don't mind me, I still have something to talk to with Kevin."

Emma's feet came to a sudden pause and she turned to look at Kevin.

"It's alright."

He waved at her, and she nodded. She never once bothered to glance in my direction throughout the entire time.

I didn't even need to think of why she was acting the way that she was. Just a look in Kevin's direction, and I knew she was still holding a grudge against me.

…How petty.

Clank—!

The door closed, and silence reigned over the office space.

Kevin eventually got to his feet and moved to the large window that was behind him. There, he turned his attention to Ashton City.

"Want some tea?"

"Only now do you offer?"

He had all the time before to offer, and only when the two of us were alone did he offer?

Kevin laughed a bit.

"Tea's expensive."

"…Did you gamble all your money away?"

"No."

"Then…?"

"Emma."

It was a short answer. But then everything became clear to me, and I stopped talking.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"No, I understand."

"Stop looking at me like that…"

"No, I get it. Don't worry. I'm not pitying you."

"Your looks say otherwise."

"Does it?"

…and here I thought I was keeping a very good poker face.

What a shame.

"…"

The room fell back into its customary state of silence. Although it wasn't awkward, the situation was definitely tense.

In the end, I was the one who broke the silence.

"…You don't expect me to believe in the same bullshit you fed the others, right? What did you actually do?"

I knew Kevin… or I thought I did after some point.

He wasn't someone capable of defeating Malik Alshayatin. Even with Octavious's help.

…The whole situation was rather fishy.

"Heh."

Kevin chuckled to himself.

I frowned.

"What's so funny?"

There was nothing funny about what I said.

"I may have fooled the others, but I certainly can't fool you."

Kevin turned around and smiled.

…It was a sincere smile.

"Say, would you mind coming with me somewhere? I'd like to show you something."

Chapter 724: Goodbye [2]

"Where are we?"

When I turned my head to look around, I noticed what appeared to be the ruins of a city. The buildings were in shambles, and the pavement was pitted and broken all over town.

It wasn't surprising to find a city in such a state given the recent conflict that had taken place; however, in contrast to the other cities, this city appeared to have been in its current condition for a considerable amount of time.

A good indicator of this was the moss and other plant life that had taken up residence in the cracks of a number of the buildings.

Walking around the street, Kevin didn't say anything. He just looked around the place with a reminiscent look.

I didn't know for how long we continued to walk for, but we soon stopped in front of a house.

Well, what seemed to be the remains of. Half of the house was completely gone.

"This is where I used to live back when I was a child."

Kevin finally spoke, his gaze never leaving the house.

"My mom makes very good soup. I would've loved for you to have tried it at least once. I tried replicating her recipe, but it just doesn't taste the same. I don't know what it is…"

There was a warm smile on his face as he spoke.

I didn't say anything and just quietly listened to what he had to say.

"My dad would always come home late. Probably because we lived far from where he worked… rent problems, you know. We weren't very wealthy. Not that our life wasn't bad…"

He continued to ramble on about his parents. What he remembered about them, how they looked, what they liked, what they disliked…

I just quietly listened on. This was the first time I'd ever heard him talk about his parents.

He usually avoided talking about them. It's not that I never brought them up; rather, whenever they were brought up, his face would take on a different expression. It was one that told me to stop asking.

"You know…"

Kevin turned around and our eyes locked.

"This dawned on me quite some time ago, but... When you have nothing, the only thing you can do is gain, but when you have everything, all you can do is lose... It is funny how things turned out to be exactly like that for the both of us."

His words made me frown. I didn't really understand what he meant.

'Can only lose when you have everything?'

Was he perhaps talking about the other me? …Then, what did he mean by 'when you have nothing, you can only gain.'? Was he perhaps referring to himself?

"Human emotions sure are complex…"

After taking a few steps forward, Kevin eventually entered the house. When he walked on it, the wooden floor made a creaking sound.

I quietly followed behind him. His words were rather surprising, but I didn't say anything and just continued to listen.

…I was finally starting to learn about the real Kevin.

"…I didn't really understand them at first. It took quite a while for me to understand them. Probably several centuries. I'm not really sure anymore. It doesn't really matter though."

He traced his finger over a certain wooden table.

"Like I said, you can only gain when you have nothing. During those centuries, I only gained. Gained a new understanding of what emotions are. Love, sadness, anger… I've experienced them all."

He lowered his hand and placed his palm over the wooden desk.

"No matter how strong I became, no matter how many times I tried to stop the fate that would befall the people that made me understand what emotions were… all I'd get was the inevitable ending…"

He took a deep breath.

"…Their death"

His fist slowly curled.

"Regardless of what I did, or tried to do, one way or another, they would die. The more I witnessed it, the more suffocating life became… It hurt."

He smiled.

"You probably understand best the pain of losing someone you hold dear. It's not easy… Especially if you know it's coming and can't do anything about it…"

I closed my eyes. Flashbacks started to resurface in my mind.

Memories that I tried not to think about resurfaced, and something pricked at my chest.

"That helplessness is probably what drove me to finally understand a new emotion. Rage."

Kevin's fist was fully clenched.

"I wanted the one responsible for all of this to suffer. I wanted them to feel what I felt. I wanted them to disappear from this world… I wanted a lot of things."

His hand relaxed, slowly opening up.

"It's just that, I knew it was impossible."

Raising his head, he looked at me. His smile was bitter. Extremely so.

"…There's no way I can go against what created me. It's just not possibl—"

Kevin stopped himself midsentence. I was startled not long after that when I noticed a line of blood running down the side of his mouth. He staggered a couple of steps as his eyes opened widely.

"Kevin!"

My eyes opened up and I moved toward him.

"I'm fine."

Only to be stopped by Kevin who raised his hand.

"What do you mean you're fine? You clearly—"

"T, trust me."

His voice was weak and carried a hint of pleading in it.

Staring at him, I clenched my teeth.

"Thank you."

He returned me a smile before weakly sitting down on a chair next to the table.

"I don't really have much time to explain everything. I don't h,have to anyway. You'll eventually understand. You're smart anyway. I'm sure you'll come to understand with—No, I'm sure you already have an idea."

Kevin grimaced as he rubbed some blood off his chin and looked at me while shaking his head in bitterness.

"There's not much that I need to say. I'm sure you already have an idea of what's going on."

"…"

I didn't reply. His words held some truth. While I was indeed confused by everything he said, I had a general idea of what was going on, and where his story would leave up to.

"Hah..ha.."

Kevin's chest trembled as he leaned back against the chair and admired the house. There was a serene smile on his face at the moment.

…For some reason, I couldn't muster myself to say anything at the moment. Too afraid of breaking the peace that Kevin was basking in.

"I,I've lived a long time. Spent countless years just for this moment… Sacrificed many things to have this work… and made many people suffer in the process."

Closing his eyes, he smiled.

"…I got a lot of things that I don't deserve or are too good for me. Even if I try to distance myself away from them, they keep sticking to me like glue… heh…I'm no good guy… but hey, who is? It's all a matter of perspective… Be it you, me, Hemlock, or Jezebeth… one of us is the bad guy in their story..:"

His voice became softer and softer with each passing second. His eyes were becoming increasingly blurry, and his skin tone was visibly deteriorating.

"I,I've killed people whom I never wanted to kill... I still did it, and paid a price for it..."

His state was alarming me.

"H, hey Kevin…"

He continued.

"I was angry. I wanted to destroy 'it'… and at the same time, run away from it. I was scared of what I was gaining. The more I gained, the more it hurt."

"…Unlike you, who slowly started to lose, I continued to gain… the pain got worse with time, and I couldn't stop it… I wanted it to stop, but couldn't…"

He weakly raised his head.

"Remember, Ren. From this moment forth, nothing will be the same. Everything will change, and you'll be at the center of it. All the dots will start to connect and whether you wish to die, or destroy the records it's up to you. I'd l,love it if you did… After all, it would all be in vain if you didn't… I've already done what I've set myself to do…"

The smile that had been on Kevin's face for a while started to fade away as time went on, but just as it was about to disappear entirely, he managed to coerce it into the form of a smirk.

"…S-still think I'm a push—"

He never got to finish his sentence. By the time he forced a smile, his heart had already stopped.

"…"

I didn't know how long I just stood there. Staring at Kevin, who was quietly resting in the chair with a tranquil look.

He looked to be sleeping.

And he was. It's just that... It was the type of sleep where one wouldn't wake up afterward.

"H,hah."

My chest trembled.

Raising my hand, I clenched my clothes. A familiar pain resurfaced within me.

…My eyes started to sting, but nothing came out of them.

I forced everything back.

I had no intention of letting anything slip. I had already vowed to myself ever since Smallsnake's passing that I would never again demonstrate any sign of weakness again.

…Maybe once everything was over.

Maybe then I could afford to be weak.

Already, I had a sneaking suspicion that this would turn out to be the case... Even so, despite the fact that I had some kind of mental preparation for this, it hurt a lot more than I had anticipated.

It fucking sucked.

Slowly, everyone was leaving me. I knew from the beginning that deaths were common... I just didn't expect Kevin to be one of them...

Still, I forced a smile.

"Right, you wanted to know if you were still a pushover?"

I walked up to him. I knew he couldn't hear me, but I still spoke.

Extending my hand, I closed his eyes.

"Heh, well… Regardless of whether you've gained your memories or not, you'll always be a pushove—huh?"

Suddenly, Kevin's entire body started to tremble violently. It exploded into a million particles, which quickly began to swirl inside my head before I even had the opportunity to process what was taking place.

"Wh—!"

Everything turned black after that.

Chapter 725: Goodbye [3]

The sun rose slowly in the east, its rays piercing through the morning mist like spears of light.

As it climbed higher in the sky, it transformed the dark world into a vibrant tapestry of colors, painting the clouds with fiery oranges, pinks, and yellows.

In a quaint, cozy chapel nestled in a peaceful cemetery, soft instrumental music played in the background.

The center was occupied by three baskets. There were also three portraits placed next to them. Three people: a man in his middle years, a young woman, and a young girl.

…They all wore bright smiles on their faces.

Sat on one of the wooden benches of the chapel, a young man gazed at the pictures. His shoulders trembled.

There weren't many people in the chapel. Just three people. It was rather quiet.

The only sound that could be heard was the mumbled cries that were eventually made audible by the young man who was at the front.

Seated two rows behind, Kevin quietly stared at Ren who mournfully cried.

'In the end, they still died…'

Despite his meddling, and giving Ren the Xurin fruit, his family still died.

This world wasn't a kind one.

Just like his parents, there wasn't much he could do. Nothing could change the inevitable faith that awaited them.

There wasn't much emotion on Kevin's face as he gazed at Ren. He could somewhat understand what he was feeling, but it wasn't to a high degree.

…He was still trying to understand.

Understand what he was feeling and what others were feeling.

He was slowly getting there, but it would still take some time.

After propping himself up with his hand on the wooden bench, he stood up on his own. While staring at Ren as he sobbed, he straightened his clothes and then left.

He had seen enough.

***

"What would you do if you had the power to reverse back time? …Even if in the end, your effort will be for naught…"

It was a simple question. A question he had asked out of simple curiosity. There wasn't much of a meaning behind it.

Nonetheless, the answer he got was an unexpected one.

"I'd spend every second of it thinking that it would be my last."

"…Do you not have higher aspirations? Like perhaps wanting to be the strongest?"

"With my talent?"

He scoffed.

"Regardless of how much I try, I'll always stop once I reach my limit. If I can reverse time… then I'll just make sure every day is my last. I'll make the most of it."

'Make the most of it…'

Kevin started to ponder over those words.

He eventually shook his head. That wasn't the answer he was looking for.

Turning his head, he stared at Ren.

"What if… every time you died, time would rewind and you'd witness everything happen over and over again… how would you feel then?"

"…I don't know."

Ren gazed up at the sky.

"I'd probably be happy at first. Grateful, even… But maybe, at some point, I think I'll lose my mind. I'd probably end up cursing the one who did this to me like crazy."

"You think so?"

"Yeah… There might be new happy times, but in the end, I'd still be watching my family die… I don't know if I can bear through the pain again… "

"But wouldn't you see them again once you die?"

"So what? All their memories of me will be gone."

Ren tilted his head back.

"They might be the same people, but in the end, everything we've gone through will be different… they will be them, but not the same them… if that even makes sense."

"Is that so…"

Kevin lowered his head and appeared to be deeply ruminating over Ren's words.

He couldn't quite understand.

It didn't surprise him though. He would only get to interact with his parents as a baby. Their behavior was generally the same, and he never really did anything much with them considering their circumstances.

…It would've been nice to see how they'd react to his current success.

Too bad it wasn't possible.

"Still, if the opportunity presented itself to you, would you take it?"

"As in being able to go back in time?"

Ren turned his head and looked at him strangely.

Oddly enough, Kevin nodded his head seriously and sighed.

"Well, yeah…"

"Even if you end up losing your mind in the process?"

"Even if I end up losing my mind in the process…"

Ren repeated absentmindedly. He was probably trying to imagine such a future.

"I see."

Kevin slowly stood up and patted Ren on the shoulder.

"You know, you might beat yourself up for having such a low talent, but in reality, you're one of the few blessed ones…"

"Huh?"

Ren gave him an astonished look, but Kevin merely smiled and didn't elaborate.

There were some things that were just better left unsaid.

***

"The more time passes, the more I realize just how dangerous this is."

Kevin looked at his hand thoughtfully. It was shaking all over. He suddenly had a few hot streaks run down his cheeks, and he felt something prickle at his chest.

… When he finally realized the true dangers that came with understanding the meaning behind what he was feeling, it was already too late for him to do anything about it.

He'd give anything to make himself stop learning. It brought far too much pain.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

No matter what he did, he couldn't get rid of them. Even if he erased his memories, they'd still be there.

It was too late.

He had become a human.

"Y,you.. w,hy?"

Turning his head, Kevin's gaze paused on a girl with short, auburn colored hair. She was pretty. Extremely so.

In spite of this, she appeared to be staring at him with the most menacing gaze he had ever seen her display ever since he had known her.

Her eyes were filled with betrayal, hurt, sadness, and loathing...

None of them were good.

Kevin felt his heart prick even more. He managed to mumble something as he bent his head forward and stared at the body that was lying beneath him.

"I,it had to be done…"

Extending his hand, a yellow orb flew out from the corpse and entered his palm.

He disappeared after that. Not before hearing her anguished cry.

"I'll kill you!!!!!"

'It had to be done.'

Repeating the phrase to himself, Kevin eventually found himself standing in front of a modest looking home.

Knock—!

He knocked on the door once, and a figure soon opened the door.

"Kevin?"

It was Ren.

Kevin smiled when he saw Ren.

Opening his mouth, he asked.

"What would you do if you had the power to reverse back time?"

"That again?"

Ren rolled his eyes and stepped aside to allow Kevin in. But Kevin didn't move from his spot.

He just stared at Ren with an extremely serious face.

Ren's brows knit at the sight.

"…Are you okay?"

"Just answer."

Kevin sharply said while hiding his right hand behind his back. It was trembling.

"What are yo—"

"Answer me."

He looked behind and added.

"There's not much time."

Ren frowned and once again looked at Kevin. In the end, although confused, he nodded his head.

"Not sure where you're coming from, but I guess so."

He didn't appear to have given the question a great deal of thought before responding. Had he known the implications those words had, he probably would've put more thought into them.

But...

His life wasn't anything special anyways. It was rather cold actually…

As strange as it was, the only friend he had was Kevin. He didn't have any other friends. His salary was nothing to write home about because he worked as a night guard for a platinum-ranked guild.

A mediocre salary, an empty house, and no social life… He really didn't have anything he could be proud of.

So yeah, if he really did have a chance to turn back time, he'd take it.

Regardless of the price he had to pay.

"That's the answer that I wanted to hear."

Kevin cracked a smile, and his head reached for Ren's face.

"What are—"

Before Ren could figure out what was going on, the hand grabbed him by the face, and a bright white light went straight through his face.

Thereafter, his figure completely disappeared, and Kevin's face turned completely white.

Kevin smiled the moment Ren disappeared.

He might no longer remember him from this point forward, but he was sure they were going to meet again. He would make sure that happened.

"Ukh!"

As his body began to shake, Kevin toppled over onto his knee. Even though he was extremely weak at the moment, he managed to force himself to stand up, and his expression changed to one of indifference as he did so.

He turned around and calmly gazed toward the sky which was completely dark.

Wobble—!

It wasn't long before the space fluctuated and an eye soon appeared in the sky.

As soon as the eye came into view, there was complete silence across the globe, and time stood still. Everything came to a halt: the cars, the clocks, and the people who were moving.

The world was suddenly surrounded by an aura of antiquity as the eye gazed toward Kevin, who stared back at it without making even the slightest expression.

"What have you done?"

An ancient voice could be heard resonating across the surface of the entire planet. The voice caused everything, including Kevin, to shake, but no one else in the world heard it.

He fearlessly stared at the eye in the sky.

"I'm merely following my mission."

"At the expense of a protector?"

"Yes."

Kevin answered in a flat tone.

"I will do anything necessary to accomplish my mission, even if it means absorbing the power of you Protectors."

Following Kevin's words, the air became very still, and an eye in the sky cast a profound gaze down upon him.

It carefully looked at him and scanned him to see if there was anything out of the ordinary.

The process didn't last long. At most a minute passed before the eye slowly lost interest.

The eye closed gradually, and the changes that had been visible in the sky vanished as it did so. After that, everything returned to its usual state, and the cars and clocks started moving again as usual. The people did as well.

"Pfftttt…"

The only one who wasn't fine was Kevin, who spat a mouthful of blood and fell forward.

Lowering his head and gazing at his bloody hand, he gritted his teeth as hatred flashed across his vision.

"Soon…"

He mumbled.

Chapter 726: Goodbye [4]

'This will do.'

As Kevin peered into the distance, he appeared content with what he saw. Since "that" day, he had experienced a few setbacks, but today he was at last prepared to move things forward to the next level.

'It's not that far from the main city, and it should be pretty hard to find unless you know the place.'

All in all, this place was perfect.

Looking around him, Kevin eventually let out a long breath.

"Huuu…"

Shortly after that, his eyes became sharper, and the rest of his body began to glow with a mysterious cream color. It spread throughout the entirety of the cave.

When he put his hand out in front of him, the cream like hue that had been circling his body began to move toward his hand, forming a white orb.

Kevin's face paled considerably at the appearance of the white orb, and the black dye that was covering his hair faded, revealing a set of white hair that flickered from white to black before finally settling toward black.

"Pftt…"

Blood spurted forth from his mouth, and the orb gradually condensed into the palm of his hand.

Thud—!

Taking a knee, his chest trembled and more blood spurted toward the ground.

As he continued to clench his fist, the light emanating from his body gradually dimmed, and the room reverted back to its previous state of complete darkness.

However, the darkness began to lift as soon as a glimmer of light began to flicker from the orb he held in his hand.

Kevin gazed at it with complicated emotions.

"There's no turning back."

A portion of his power was contained within the orb that he held in his hand. As soon as he removed it from his body, he experienced an overwhelming sense of weakness, and he was aware that, without it, it would be impossible for him to defeat Jezebeth.

He was also aware that without it, his life would slowly drain with each regression. He was essentially killing himself.

Still…

He had to do it.

"Uakh."

Kevin clenched his teeth and brought the orb forth.

Throwing a punch, a small hole formed on the ground, and Kevin placed the orb inside.

He slowly covered the orb by scooping the ground around it. This lasted until the light disappeared entirely, at which point the cave was plunged back into darkness.

"Hu..huh…"

Feeling his chest tremble, Kevin leaned against one end of the cave and gazed toward where he planted the orb.

It was dark and quiet.

The only sound he could hear would come from the occasional drop from the side of the cave.

It was oddly peaceful.

Something he'd doubt he'd ever feel after today.

The path he chose… it was one of suicide.

He couldn't see the light at the end of the path he had chosen, and he knew it was a path that would lead to endless suffering.

Both to him, and 'he'.

…but he had no choice.

It was the only way.

Did he feel guilty?

No.

He only just recently came to understand human emotions and how to be a human.

His actions were those of selfishness, and he understood that.

He was only human after all…

"Heh."

A soft chuckle escaped from his lips.

"No use regretting."

He closed his eyes, and the ground started to tremble.

Rumble—!

It didn't last long, and soon he could hear a faint rustling sound as a faint light penetrated the narrow gap in between his eyelids. Soon after that, he opened his eyes.

He opened his eyes, and his vision became clouded with the sight of a large and towering tree.

Most notably, his gaze fell toward the top of the tree where a small fruit rested.

A smile crept up on his pale face.

"This will do."

***

"H,hey, you're finally here!"

"Yeah…"

Kevin's words came out stuttering as he attempted to wave at Ren, who had just entered the room. At the moment, he was feeling a little tipsy.

"I didn't know someone as powerful as you could get drunk."

"Well, it's strong."

Kevin motioned with the bottle he was holding while also tapping the couch next to him.

"Come sit."

Though his face carried a frown, Ren shook his head and sat down.

He soon smiled.

"It's rare for the two of us to gather these days. I guess I can drink a little."

"Pftt."

Kevin laughed.

"As if you're busy. Compared to you who's living the life in luxury, I'm getting overworked to the point where I'm forced to drink in order to make myself forget that I'm this busy."

Ren cringed at his words.

"I retract my previous statement."

"You better."

Kevin took another sip.

"Haaa…"

He wiped his lips.

"That did it."

And passed the drink toward Ren.

"Want some?"

"Maybe not."

"Well, suit yourself."

Unbothered by the refusal, Kevin took several gulps of the bottle.

He continued to drink for the next several minutes.

"Hick!"

It got to the point where he started to hiccup, and Ren finally took the bottle away from him.

"Alright, stop it."

"Ugh, no."

Kevin groaned and struggled to take the bottle back. In the end, he failed.

"Asshole."

He glared at Ren.

Ren rolled his eyes as he opened the bottle and poured the liquid directly in front of Kevin, who was staring at him with an even more intense glare. Kevin was visibly annoyed.

"That cost a lot you know?"

"Are you poor?"

"That doesn't change things!"

Ren smiled but didn't say anything else. From then on, neither one of the two talked as they just sat back and stared toward the empty space in front of them.

"You know…"

Ren was the first one to speak.

"…I'm a bit envious of your talent."

Kevin raised his head and looked at Ren.

"Don't get me wrong, although I'm envious, that's as far as it goes. I know very well just how much you have to go through because of your talent and the amount of responsibility you have to bear because of it…"

He sighed and lowered his head.

"Even so… I guess you can say that I hate myself for being so weak."

Ren lowered his head to stare at his hands.

"Because of my abilities... I am powerless to prevent the passing of those I hold dear in front of my eyes; I can only watch as they die before my eyes without being able to do anything..."

He closed his eyes.

"…The feeling sucks."

Hearing Ren speak, Kevin merely listened and didn't say anything.

It was only after he was done speaking that he finally opened his mouth.

"Actually… the talent you seem to envy is not as great as you think…"

Kevin smiled bitterly.

"It seems like you're already aware, but once you have a certain degree of power, regardless of whether you want it or not, people will place their expectations on you… I never asked for it. It was forced upon me, and it is taxing... I just wanted to be normal for once…"

Kevin lowered his head. Closing his eyes, he exhaled while murmuring in a low voice.

"…If only I hadn't taken that damn seed."

"Seed?"

Despite saying it in a whisper, Ren still overheard it.

"Why are you talking about seeds?"

The moment Ren asked him the question, Kevin's face hardened, but not long after, while staring at him out of the corner of his eye, he bit his lips and sighed.

"I might as well tell you since it's already happened, and I trust you…"

Tapping his feet on the ground, Kevin interlocked his hands together.

"A long while ago… back in our lock days, during a certain expedition in the Clayton ridge, I stumbled across a certain cave."

Kevin's brows furrowed.

"I think it was in the third highest peak of the ridge… I'm not too sure. During the expedition, Jin and I stumbled across a certain cave. In there we found a fruit. It glowed a mysterious color, and while I was observing it, Jin went ahead before me and took the fruit."

He laughed a little.

"I didn't even have enough time to understand what was going on before he ate the fruit and left. I can still remember the face he made after he ate the fruit… I'm sure you'd easily imagine it."

"Yeah…"

Ren nodded a little.

It really wasn't hard to imagine what expression Jin had after stealing the fruit in front of Kevin.

"As I was saying… I didn't have a chance to process what was going on before Jin left the cave. I was baffled then, but what could I do? He already ate the fruit, only leaving behind a certain seed…"

It was at this point that Kevin frowned.

"That seed… It wasn't normal."

He looked up toward Ren, who was staring intently at him.

He continued.

"It was weird… it made no sense, and it honestly was not much use to me, but…"

Kevin suddenly frowned and muttered softly.

"…it removed my talent limiter."

Chapter 727: Goodbye [5]

'He's gone.'

Kevin slightly raised his head, which was previously resting against his arms. Blinking his eyes, he found that it was already morning.

Thinking back at the things he revealed to Ren, Kevin's face slowly started to become complicated.

"With that, everything should be done…"

Thinking about what 'he'd' have to go through because of him, Kevin felt something prick at his consciousness.

He slowly closed his eyes and bit his lips.

'At the very least, he'll have a chance to keep everyone he cares about alive... Something I'll never have a chance to do.'

He felt jealous, but at the same time, he felt glad.

'If it can atone for what I did…'

He smiled and shook his head. He was just making excuses to make himself feel better for what he did.

Dragging one of the few people he was close to into his selfish agenda…

If possible, he'd have chosen someone else to receive his power. Someone more powerful and more talented, maybe…

Unfortunately, that wasn't an option.

It could only have been him.

"It's funny how he complains about his talent when it's the exact thing that's saving him…"

Taking one last look at the room he was in, he placed two of his fingers over his forehead.

A white glow suddenly spread from them, enveloping the room in its entirety.

His hair gradually began to stand on end, and as it did so, it vacillated between black and white before resolving itself to black.

Several screens flickered within his vision shortly after that.

Synchronisation : [—————————[100%]]

Synchronisation : [———————[75%]———]

Synchronisation : [—————[50%]—————]

Synchronisation : [———[25%]———————]

Synchronisation : [[0%]———————————]

*

*

*

"Uwa! Uwa!"

A newborn infant's cries reverberated in the background as two gentle hands wrapped around the small frame of its body in an attempt to soothe its cries.

"Hush, Kevin, don't cry. Mommy's with you."

***

"Your turn."

"What are you waiting for, End him."

A figure with white hair spoke up. This time around, the tone of his voice was a little bit more hurried sounding.

Turning his head to glance in the red-eyed figure's direction and then looking toward his surroundings, Kevin's lips trembled.

"I...is this the outcome that you wanted?"

"What are you talking about?"

The white-haired figure replied back. His brows furrowed tightly, and his voice became even colder.

Clenching his teeth, Kevin pointed in the distance.

"Take a look at the world. It's completely destroyed! Almost all of humanity has been destroyed because of your actions, and yet, you don't seem to care!?"

Kevin's voice rang powerfully throughout the world as his fists clenched tightly.

He didn't mean any of the words he said. It was merely an act.

He had done far worse in the past.

"For the sake of killing him! You decided to sacrifice the whole of humanity! What's the point of killing him when there's no one left? What's the fucking point!?"

Quietly listening to Kevin's words, the gray-eyed figure answered.

"...Because I don't care."

"You don't care?"

Kevin felt his chest prick at those words. Especially when he looked at the state his friend was in.

He had watched him lose everything over and over again for the past few centuries. He also witnessed him grow stronger and stronger each year.

The speed at which he progressed far surpassed his expectations. So much so that he was on the verge of exceeding his peak...

He was happy, but he was also troubled.

'It's too early... I have no choice...'

A powerful red hue suddenly sprang out of Kevin's body. The hue that sprang out of his body was very faint and almost invisible, but the pressure that came out of it was nothing to scoff at.

"You don't care about the fact that, because of your actions, humanity is on the verge of extinction?"

He continued with his acting.

"What are you doing?"

Ignoring his words, the gray-eyed figure dully asked.

Raising the palm of his hand, Kevin pressed his hand onto the space next to him and replied.

"Something that I should've done the moment I remembered everything."

Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank.

Right as his words faded, much to the shock of the gray-eyed figure, black chains suddenly sprang out from the ground beneath him, clasping onto his legs and arms.

Finally, for the first time in a while, the gray-eyed figure's face crumbled apart as he looked at Kevin who was staring back at him.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

Raising his hand, the gray-eyed figure tried to move his body, but regardless of how much force he applied, he couldn't move it at all. The mana inside his body had been sealed completely.

Realizing just how much of a predicament he was in, his voice rose.

"What did you do to me!?"

Ignoring his words, Kevin turned to look at the other white figure, who was watching the scene with an amused look on his face. Although he was also on the verge of death, there was a triumphant look on his face as he looked at Kevin and the gray-eyed figure.

Kevin took his eyes away from him not long after.

"khh..."

Stumbling forward, he could feel his vitality slowly leaving his body. The hue around his body slowly started to fade as Kevin's figure paled.

"Kill him now, end this now! End it!!!! You know full well that you're the only one who can stop him! What are you waiting for!?"

Again, the gray-eyed figure's words echoed loudly as he looked at Kevin with a fierce glare. A look similar to one of desperation flashed across his face as he shouted those words.

Taking one more step forward, Kevin's feet came to a pause a couple of meters away from the gray-eyed figure.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

As he walked, the chains wrapping around the gray-eyed figure became more numerous as his whole body stopped moving.

Seeing that his words couldn't reach Kevin, the gray-eyed figure stopped shouting. His face, which was originally cold, dulled completely.

Lowering his head and glaring in Kevin's direction, the gray-eyed figure stared monotonously.

"You think this will be enough to stop me?"

"I don't know."

Kevin shook his head.

While he shook his head, Kevin knew that he couldn't stop him. He didn't care. He never meant to stop him in the first place.

He was just setting up the stage for him...

"But we will find out soon. At least for now, you won't be able to do anything."

Spurt—!

Raising his hand, Kevin suddenly pierced right through his own chest. Instantly, blood leaked out of his body.

He felt a pain that was all too familiar course through his body. One that he had experienced countless times before. At first, it wasn't something he looked forward to... but at some point, the discomfort... it became something that he looked forward to...

Staring at Kevin, the grey-eyed figure's eyes grew colder.

"How d—"

The moment Kevin's life slipped away, the world turned white, and everything crumbled.

***

In the pitch black world.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The chains that were shackling Ren began to show signs of wear and tear. His head began to gradually rise, and he looked down at the chains that were shackling him before turning his attention to the distance, where a figure was taking shape.

He had a smile on his face as he gazed at him.

"It's been a while."

His voice was soft, but they reached Ren without a problem.

He moved toward him.

"You probably despise me, don't you?"

"..."

He didn't get an answer, nor did he expect to get any. He already knew the answer at heart.

He pointed at the chains that were binding him.

"You're going to be free soon."

The only reason the chains were there was because he was progressing too fast. Now that he had done everything that he had set out to do, the chains were no longer needed.

They would soon disappear.

Kevin drummed his fingers over his chest and took a deep breath.

"I'm going to disappear soon... Honestly, I don't want to die. I never really wanted to, but I have no choice but to die... I'm fine with it though."

His lips moved to the side.

"I never got to enjoy my life very much... Whenever I thought I was enjoying something, I'd soon realize that it'd soon disappear before my eyes. Regardless of what I did, they were bound to suffer... My parents, Emma, you... "

Kevin laughed a little while scratching the side of his face.

"I don't know. I guess it makes sense. I was born to defeat Jezebeth, not to be happy... "

He sighed while looking up.

His lips trembled, and he looked toward Ren.

"I've watched as everyone that I was ever close to look at me with eyes that revealed nothing but hatred at some point in my life... I've been scorned and spat at by those that I love the most, and the funny thing is that I can't even feel any sympathy toward myself... The things I did..."

Kevin shook his head and stopped speaking.

"T,this is probably the last time the two of us will ever see each other... I didn't come here to apologize to you... Whatever I say will probably only make you hate me more... Although I'm used to being hated, scorned at... I don't really want my last moments to be like that... haha, well... I guess maybe that's a bit too late..."

He took a deep breath and extended his hand. His finger soon touched Ren's forehead, and images entered his mind.

"...I just hope that you will change your mind after seeing this. Ren... the other one... he... he can't do this alone. His creation was out of my expectations honestly... I was honestly baffled by what you did, but I guess this isn't the first time that you surprised me..."

The process didn't last long, and once he moved his finger away, his body turned transparent.

Finally, Ren looked at him properly. His hazy eyes regained some clarity, and it was there that he saw Kevin stare at him with a forced smile.

The corners of his eyes were wet, but he'd repeatedly raise his head to hide the fact.

Once their eyes met, Kevin's smile grew deeper.

Despite all the words he said and the forced smile, he was happy.

He'd been hated and scorned by all those he cared about... But he didn't mind that. Thinking of their possible future, he only felt relief.

Everyone was a bad guy in another one's story, and he was the bad guy in many of those.

He didn't mind that. Good, bad... he didn't care.

He just did what he felt was right.

His smile relaxed.

"Goodbye"

His form shattered into innumerable fragments, and the void fell back into its previous state of utter silence.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

The chains binding Ren slowly broke apart, and he fell to the ground.

Ren struggled to lift his head slightly. His eyes were drawn to the spot where Kevin had been standing, and he raised his head to look up.

He soon felt something warm streak past the side of his cheek.

***

Next Arc - Revelation Arc - Approximately 100 more chaps before end.

Chapter 728: A world where 'we' don't exist [1]

It was white.

My vision was white.

It remained like that for quite a while. I wasn't sure for how long, though. Time seemed inconsequential at the moment as I basked in a strange warmth.

It enveloped every part of my body, pouring into me and tickling every part of me.

…It felt oddly good.

The feeling didn't last for long. Soon, my vision warped and my senses started to return.

It wasn't long before I felt something bump against me and I heard the sound of engines roaring in the distance.

"What are you doing, asshole?"

"Huh?"

When I turned around to look around me, I was taken aback to find that I was standing in the middle of a crosswalk. People moved past me with annoyed and threatening looks.

"What are you standing there like an idiot? Move the fuck away."

I was pushed once again.

When I turned to look, I saw a young girl glaring at me before she disappeared into the crowd.

After frowning for a while, I ultimately made the decision to cross over to the other side of the road. Even though I wasn't entirely clear on the reason why I was standing in the middle of the road, I should know better than to just remain standing there.

After making it to the end of the road without incident, I stopped for a second to take a look at my surroundings.

'What's going on?'

Everything looked and felt so…

Different.

"Is it just me?"

I could see children running around with happy expressions on their faces, and adults walking alongside them with smiles plastered on their faces as they went about their business.

It was as though the war that they'd just gone through had never happened.

'Are they that happy that the war is over?'

The scenery wasn't bad. I quite liked it. It was quite peaceful, and unknowingly, I cracked a smile.

"Kevin did a good job."

All that I was seeing was thanks to his sacrifice.

My smile slowly receded as I thought about him.

'If only he was sti-'

"hm?"

Realizing something, I looked up at the sky, and a curse slipped past my mouth.

"The fuck?"

I gave it a few blinks to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me. Confirming that I was indeed seeing correctly, I lowered my head and glanced at the air around me.

It contained little to no psyons.

"W,what?"

I felt my heart stop for a moment.

If that wasn't all...

The massive crack that used to hang in the sky was also gone. As if it never existed in the first place.

"Hold on a second, what the hell is going on?"

Looking around and finding an empty bench, I sat down and massaged my head.

When I extended my hand, a faint glow materialized all the way around it. The glow was not particularly bright, and it covered only the exterior of my hand; however, the moment it did so, I noticed that everyone around me was staring at me with surprised looks on their faces.

"An awakener!"

"He can use mana!"

"Ha?"

As I looked around at everyone's faces, which were glowing brightly at the sight of my powers, confusion continued to grow within me.

…I was already used to such stares.

I was somewhat well-known, but as I looked around, I noticed that everyone had their smartphones out and was taking pictures of me. This made me even more aware that there was something wrong with the situation.

Especially since their focus wasn't on me, but on the faint glow in my hand...

"Are you a newly licensed hero? Did you already sign up for a guild?"

A guy wearing a suit and sunglasses approached me. He seemed rather fit, and his aura was close to <C> rank. Probably <D+> rank.

For some reason, the moment he arrived, the people around him moved and looked at him with even more reverence than they previously did toward me.

'Is he famous?'

I stealthily gave him a closer look and, after determining that he was not a person I had seen before, I gave a covert shrug.

'Must be some sort of celebrity, I guess.'

I didn't really pay attention to anything outside of what I cared about. I was famous, but not to the point where everyone knew me, unlike Kevin.

"My, my, I didn't expect to see a talented young man over here."

His eyes under the sunglasses seemed to be glowing as he looked at me.

He handed me a diamond card.

"Pleasure to meet you; I'll cut straight to the chase. I would like to recruit you to our guild."

There was visible pride in his voice as he said those words.

I was amused, but I still took the card.

[Dominion Scott : Head Scout of Green Claw Guild]

Playing with the card, I looked at him and pointed at myself.

"Don't you know me?"

While I didn't expect everyone to know me, I didn't expect someone who seemed to be working in the guild business to be unaware of who I was.

I wasn't being arrogant; I was just aware of the fact that I was quite well known within the Guilding industry.

Especially since I was so highly ranked within the Hero ranking.

"Hm?"

The man cocked his head with a confused look.

"Should I know you?"

I was taken aback, and my brows furrowed.

'Does he really not know who I am? Perhaps he's new to the business?'

That probably was the answer.

Smiling, I handed him the card.

"Never mind. Thank you for the offer, but I'll have to reject it."

"You're rejecting?"

It was the man's turn to frown as he stared at the card in my hand. Raising his head, he looked at me deeply before his voice lowered.

"Are you already with some other guild?"

"…No?"

I had my own mercenary group. What guild?

"Are you perhaps from the Union?"

"No?"

The hell was with the questions?

"Are you per-"

"Look man, I'm not with anyone. If you'll excuse me, I'll take my leave."

His behavior was beginning to annoy me, and I couldn't stand it any longer. As a result, I shoved the card back at him and got ready to leave to head back to the headquarters.

Only that...

"I'm talking. Who told you to leave?"

A hand pressed against my shoulder. There was quite a bit of force put into it, but it wasn't as if it was very painful.

"Haha."

I let out a laugh.

'It's been a while since I've met someone this arrogant…'

I cocked my head to the side and looked at the man before focusing my attention on the hand that was pressing against my shoulder.

I smiled.

"It's in your best interest if you were to let go."

"Hey, kid. I've been treating you pretty nicely. I'd appreciate it if you took a look at the offer once more."

The man lowered his head, exposing his eyes under his sunglasses. As a bright yellow glow began to emanate from his body, the complexion of the people in the area around us began to change.

Looking around me, I frowned.

"Do you seriously not know me?"

I already knew the answer, but I had to make sure. For some reason, I felt that there was something off about the situation.

"Heh."

The man laughed, and the yellow glow around his body started to expand.

"Kid, do you think that just because you've awakened your powers you're some sort of bigshot? Let me tell you, your powers mean not-hm!!!"

"Alright shut up."

I pressed my hand against his mouth and clenched his head tightly. Instantaneously, the yellow glow that had been enveloping him vanished, and his face turned completely white.

After lowering my head and taking a quick glance at the business card that he had given to me earlier but that had since fallen to the ground, I bent over and picked it up.

I looked at the guild name, which was imprinted on the card.

"Green Claw Guild, huh?"

Never heard of it before.

I was a bit surprised. I had never heard of this diamond ranked guild before. I assumed I knew the names of most of the diamon graded guilds because there weren't many of them... but from the looks of it, my memory was starting to fail.

'No, that's impossible.'

Was this perhaps a new guild that made great contributions to the war and was thus promoted as a result?

…If so, I'd explain why everyone seemed to be looking up to someone who was ranked so low.

'How should I deal with this?'

As I turned my attention back to the man, who was by this time wriggling around in my grasp, I felt my head throb with annoyance.

"Hm!! Hmm!"

His once-pale face had taken on a purplish hue, and he stared at me with a terrified expression.

I heaved a sigh and released my grip on him as I reflected on my earlier discoveries and noticed the terrified expressions on the faces of the people around me.

'I don't have time to deal with this crap at the moment.'

"Cough, cough!"

The moment I released him, he started coughing violently.

"Y,you.. y,you…"

He seemed to want to say something to me, but I ignored him and headed out. There were more important things that I needed to take care of.

Although he looked like a chained villain, I wasn't too bothered. Staring at the card in my hand, it slowly burned and disappeared.

'Perhaps, I'll pay the guild a visit later…'

Chapter 729: A world where 'we' don't exist [2]

'How dare he! That bastard!'

Dominon's jaw clenched tightly as he inched his way up from the ground while grinding his teeth. After glaring at the people around him for what seemed like an eternity and then watching them leave one by one, he massaged his jaw.

… In that brief instant he felt the hand seize his jaw; he thought his face would explode.

'How is he so strong?'

He didn't even have time to react before he felt his hand grasp his jaw.

…He felt helpless at that moment. No matter how hard he struggled, he was unable to free himself from that grasp.

For a moment, he thought he was going to die.

Dominion, ever since he joined the Green Claw Guild, never imagined there would be a day when he would find himself in a position where he would find himself completely helpless and disrespected like that.

From the first moment he saw the young man, he had the impression that he was powerful; however, he had never before thought that he was powerful to that extent... It was highly likely that he was an emerging face in the industry.

'But how come I don't remember seeing news about him?'

That was what confused Dominion the most regarding the circumstances. If he was so powerful, how come he'd never heard of him?

"Could he have used some sort of trick? …Or is he someone who's hiding his power?"

…It wasn't unheard of.

He grit his teeth.

"Regardless, of whether you've hidden your power or not, you've messed with the wrong person."

He was going to make the youth understand that letting go was the worst decision he could have possibly made.

Dominion continued to massage his jaw and took out his phone. He soon dialed a number.

"I wonder what face he'll make once he sees the Guild Leader in person..."

His eyes flashed with ferocity.

***

"What's going on here?"

I came to a halt in front of a plot of land on which there was a sizable warehouse. Nothing was left inside, and the building looked to be completely deserted.

My brows furrowed even further as I walked around the location and double checked to make sure there really was nothing there.

I stopped once I was certain that the place was completely abandoned.

"The hell is going on?"

From the thin mana in the air to the guild recruiter who didn't seem to know me, to the warehouse where my headquarters were supposed to be…

It finally became extremely clear to me that something was extremely wrong with the situation.

"Huuu."

I had to take a deep breath to calm myself down.

'Just what did you do, Kevin?'

When I thought back to the scene where his body abruptly disintegrated into fragments and entered my body, I realized that whatever was happening to me was a direct result of whatever he had done moments prior to his death.

…I just needed to understand what he'd done.

'Let me try checking home.'

The scene around me warped, and I appeared before a tall building.

It was a familiar building. One that I had been to many times before in the past.

"At least this looks the same."

I headed toward the entrance of the building but soon came to a stop.

"Huh?"

…Again, another change.

Usually, there'd be a couple of guards in front of the residence. It was the same as now, but…

'Why are they so weak?'

The guards that stood at the entrance of the building were rather weak. They were at best <E> ranked. Usually, whenever I came into the place, they'd be at around <B> rank.

My conviction that something was off with the circumstances grew stronger as time went on. After taking another breath, I proceeded toward the front door of the building.

"Please state your purpose."

The guards stopped me at the entrance of the building. I wasn't surprised, as this tended to happen often. Even when everything was 'normal'.

I flashed them a card.

"I live here."

The moment I took out the card, the guards looked at each other and frowned.

"You have the wrong building, sir."

"…"

My expression didn't change at their rejection. I somewhat expected this to happen.

After casting a brief glance in their direction, I moved forward and proceeded to enter the building. It wasn't until I walked into the building that the security guards regained their composure and started looking around in a daze.

"What happened?"

"What were we doing just now?"

With my abilities, overhearing their words was rather easy. Not that I cared as my vision warped once more and I appeared in front of my apartment.

Tap.

I tapped the card against the door, but nothing happened.

"Strange. Why isn't the card working?"

Everything about the whole situation was strange.

From everything that had happened before, to now this. Just what in the world was going on?

It was when I was in the midst of my thoughts that I heard a voice coming from behind me.

"Do you need some help?"

It was a familiar voice, and I turned around. Seeing a familiar figure, I finally smiled in relief.

"Natasha, there you ar-"

I stopped myself mid-sentence. Cocking my head a little, my eyes squinted.

"What's up with you? Did you age or something?"

Natasha, being Amanda's mother was an extremely beautiful woman. Despite being in the forties, she looked like she was in her twenties, but…

The woman who was standing in front of me did not appear to be the same Natasha that I knew. Her skin was marked with a number of wrinkles, and although she was still quite beautiful, it was a stark contrast to the Natasha that I knew.

Was something wrong with my eyes?

"Excuse me?"

Natasha seemed rather taken aback by my words as she proceeded to touch her face.

Only after a while did she proceed to glare at me.

"Who are you, and why do you know my name?"

"Huh?"

Her words shook me.

Before I had time to process them, she continued speaking. Her words were more threatening.

"Did you hear me or not? What are you doing here, and why are you standing in front of my daughter's apartment? Are you a stalker?"

"What, no?"

I looked at Natasha, utterly baffled.

Stalker? Me?

"Is this some sort of joke?"

"Joke?"

The moment Natasha pulled out her phone and started dialing a number, her glare intensified.

Someone soon picked up.

[Madam, what's going on?]

With my hearing, I was able to hear everything.

Crossing her arms, Natasha glared at me once again before speaking.

"What are you doing? Why have you allowed a stranger into the apartment?"

[A stranger?]

"Yes, a stranger. Send security right now and kick him out of the building!"

[Wh-]

She hung up before the person could speak further.

Putting the phone away, she continued to glare at me.

"I don't know who you are, but you better hope that this is some sort of misunderstanding. I'm sure you're aware that this building belongs to the Angel Wing Guild, so I don't know what gave you the balls to come all the way here knowing that."

"Angel what guild?... What?"

Angel Wing Guild? The fuck was that?

Seeing the look on my face, Natasha seemed to become more irritated.

"Hm? Are you unaware of the Angel Wing Guild?"

"You're not joking, right?"

"…Ehm, not really."

I rubbed the back of my head with my finger and looked in the direction of the elevator. I could make out a number of groups of security personnel hurriedly running in our direction.

Others were making their way up the stairs, while others had taken the elevator. There were even some of them waiting outside the window on the lower level.

"Looks like you're already aware of what's going to happen next."

Natasha smiled.

"Obediently stay here with me until the guards come, and I'll make sure they won't treat you badly in the guild chambers."

Her words, although threatening, had no effect on me.

She was someone I knew well, and honestly, I couldn't really bring myself to feel any threat from her.

Still…

"This is so messed up."

I massaged my head.

Everything was so messed up. None of it made sense.

Just what in the world did Kevin do?

Ding―!

The door to the elevator opened, and a number of security personnel stepped out. As I turned my attention toward them, a small frown formed on my face.

…The highest ranked amongst them was <D+> rank.

They were pitifully weak.

"Surrender yourself now!"

They encircled me from all sides and pointed their weapons in my direction. A very slight pressure forced its way out of their bodies and moved toward me.

…It felt like a gentle breeze.

"How did you get here, and what is your purpose?"

The captain shouted.

He was someone that I was familiar with as I had seen him several times in the past, but to my shock, he was the <D+> ranked guy.

Last I checked, he was supposed to be in the <B+> range...

"My head."

I massaged it once again.

It was starting to hurt a lot.

"I repeat, state your purpose!"

The captain yelled once more, and this time his voice contained undertones of mana, causing the air to stir a little.

Lifting my head to stare at him, I sighed before looking at Natasha.

'They really don't seem to know me.'

The look in their eyes said it all.

'What do I do?'

Looking at everyone around me, I inwardly sighed and apologized.

"I apologize for the inconvenience."

My vision then warped.

***

"What's going on?! Where did he go?"

Natasha looked toward the guards in panic. She thought she had trapped him, yet, at the moment it took for her eyes to blink, he was gone...

"This…"

As they looked at each other in a seemingly bewildered manner, the security guards appeared to be just as confused as she was. What brought them back from it was their captain's loud yell.

"Drop whatever you're doing! Search every nook and cranny of this building, and bring that man to me at this moment!"

"Yes, sir!"

The guards saluted and dispersed.

Following that, the captain walked toward Natasha.

"Madam, are you okay?"

"Yes."

She nodded her head while looking around with her eyes. She was a bit panicked.

For him to disappear as he wished... He was no simple character.

Thinking about the fact that he was standing right in front of her daughter's room, Natasha found herself growing nervous.

She looked at the captain.

"Captain, do you have any idea of where he went?"

"I.. I'm sorry madam."

He shook his head, and Natasha bit her lips.

'How did he do it?'

How did he manage to escape the sight of so many guards? It made no sense.

Her heart started to beat faster.

"Okay, Captain, I won't take more of your time. Please try to find the young man."

"Understood!"

His loud voice reverberated throughout the corridor, and he soon disappeared from Natasha's sight.

Natasha bit her lips again as she watched his back disappear around the corner. Taking out her phone, she scrolled through her contacts and soon pressed a certain number.

The phone rang a couple of times before the call went through.

Ding―!

Natasha spoke.

"Honey."

Chapter 730: A world where 'we' don't exist [3]

Sunlight filtered through the canopy of trees, gently bathing my body and enveloping it with a thin layer of warmth.

The birds chirped, and a gentle breeze lingered in the air.

It felt nice outside, but as I sat down on a wooden bench in a familiar park, everything around me seemed so intrusive.

"I want it, mom!"

"No, that's enough sweets for today."

"Umhhhh!"

My gaze never left the pair of mother and daughter in the distance. They were quite close to me. About a hundred meters.

…Yet, they never felt so distant before.

"Nola, you better behave. I already told you that you can't have any more candy for today."

"Why!?"

"Because I said so."

I couldn't help but crack a smile as I watched the two of them argue from a distance. It was a sight that had been seen plenty of times before. One to which I have been accustomed for a considerable amount of time.

"Is there something that you need, young man?"

Apparently noticing my gaze, the woman turned her head to look at me.

She looked the same, maybe a bit older than in my memories.

I smiled at the two.

"No, don't mind me. You guys just remind me of my family."

"Oh."

The woman flashed me a smile before patting Nola on the head.

"Is your sister as naughty as her?"

Lowering my head to look at Nola, I laughed.

"…You can say so. Perhaps even naughtier."

"You must have it tough then."

The woman spoke with sympathy before taking Nola's hand. She was currently glaring daggers at me, and I couldn't help but laugh once more.

"It's getting late. We have to go. It was nice knowing you."

"It was nice knowing you too."

I murmured while staring at their departing backs.

I didn't have to wait for very long before I lost sight of the two of them, and when that happened, I leaned back against the bench that I was sitting on.

"This is fucked."

The whole situation was fucked.

"Why did you do this, Kevin?"

I had an idea at first, but it only became clear to me after a while.

…This was not the world I lived in.

This was a world where Kevin and I never existed.

'No, rather. It's more accurate to say that this is a world where the Demon King never existed.'

While mana existed, gates and dungeons didn't. The Monolith also didn't exist, and no one had ever heard of the demons.

Dwarves and the other races too.

The geography was also very different from what I remembered, with Ashton city still existing but the four great cities having disappeared from the world's map and being replaced by many other major cities all over the world.

That wasn't all.

The overall strength of the people here was drastically lower than in the world that I was used to. In this world, the highest power was <A+>

It was none other than Octavius who held such power, but despite my best efforts, I was unable to find any humor in this situation.

This world…

It made no sense to me.

"May I take a seat?"

"Huh, yeah, sure."

I scooched to the side a little and allowed the person to sit next to me.

Covering my face with my arm, I took a deep breath.

'Just what is your purpose in sending me to this world? There must be a reason… and how do I go back? Reverse it?'

There was no way Kevin did all of this without a reason. There must've been one, but just what was that reason?

"Are you perhaps wondering why you've been sent here?"

A voice pricked my ears, and my body tensed. The voice… It was somewhat familiar. I just couldn't quite remember to whom it belonged to.

I slowly lowered my arm and looked toward my right. Immediately, my breath stopped, and my mouth opened and closed several times.

It was a face that I'd never forget.

One that belonged to a guy whom I used to regard as my best friend. The same one that I had killed a long time ago.

"M,matthew?"

***

Angel Wing Guild.

Edward had a serious look on his face as he looked at the screen in front of him. Two other men were standing behind him, and both of them were also staring intently at the screen before Edward.

The room was incredibly tense at the moment.

No one uttered a single word as everyone gazed in the direction of the screen in front of them.

On it, the events that had taken place in the past were played over and over again. It showed a young person with short black hair, and deep blue eyes, looking around before disappearing.

It had been about the twelfth time that Edward watched, and yet, he couldn't understand how that youth managed to disappear from the spot.

Was it some sort of skill?

…but how was that possible?

Skills were practically impossible to get, and those that did have it were the most authoritative individuals in the entire world.

Even he had to sacrifice a hefty sum to acquire a single skill.

"It must be some sort of trick."

One of the men behind Edward uttered. He had long gray hair and a thick beard.

"If he really did have a skill, then I'm sure we would've known about it. There's no way our information network would miss someone like him."

"I agree."

The other male nodded. He had a fairly large stomach, dark hair that was beginning to thin out toward the back of his head, and wore a pair of thin round glasses.

"He must've used some sort of trick to escape from the detection of the captain. Since he boldly entered the place, I'm sure he must've had some sort of preparations."

"Yeah."

"Hmm."

Edward frowned when he heard their analysis.

Normally, he'd agree with them. It was practically impossible for someone that young to know a skill and yet be unknown to them...

Because there were only a finite number of skills in the world, as the most powerful Guild in the world, they would undoubtedly be the first to learn of any newly discovered skills in the world, so how could they have missed the appearance of such a skill?

'Unless he's someone that has been secretly groomed by a superpower.'

The possibility made him frown, and he turned his head.

"Do you guys have anything on his identity?"

"No."

The older man shook his head.

"I've tried checking his face with the database, but I got nothing. No family history, no DNA, no date of birth, nothing… It's as if he doesn't exist."

"Hmm."

Edward's frown deepened further at the news.

…The possibility was starting to seem more plausible.

"Is there absolutely nothing on him?"

"Actually, there is something."

The plump man spoke, taking out a tablet and passing it on.

"After checking the cameras and the base system, we were able to find a video of him."

"Oh?"

Edward raised his brow with a hint of joy.

After tapping on the tablet, a video soon began to replay, and as it did, the hint of joy that had been on his face slowly started to fade, giving way to an extremely serious expression.

"Who is the other man in the video?"

He seemed rather familiar.

"He goes by the name of Dominion Scott, and he works for the Green Claw Guild."

Edward paused, and his brow raised once more.

"That Green Claw Guild?"

"Yes. That Green Claw."

"Hmm."

Edward interlocked his hands together, and his frown deepened.

Edward took another look at the video and was surprised to see how easily he had taken the man down. This made him realize that the situation was more serious than he had originally thought it would be.

He took a deep breath.

"As much as I hate those guys from the Green Claw Guild, I want you to contact them immediately. Tell them that we're willing to cooperate with them in finding this youth."

"You want to contact them?"

The plump man looked at Edward strangely.

"Why do we have to contact them? Can't we just do it ourselves?"

"No."

Edward shook his head and shifted his attention back toward the display.

"Since we both have the same target, it's best if we cooperate. We might be the number one guild, but that doesn't mean we're omnipotent. If we join hands with them, we might be able to find him faster."

His goal was to find the man.

Nothing else.

He didn't care if he had to work with someone else to find him.

"...Understood."

The two nodded immediately and thereafter left the room in haste.

Silence reigned over the office space as Edward traced his finger over the tablet and continued to replay the video.

The more he watched, the greater his frown became. The young man was without a doubt strong. To what extent? He wasn't sure.

However, that didn't matter.

Although he hadn't done anything to Natasha, just the fact that he had gone to his daughter's apartment and claimed it as his own alarmed him.

He couldn't let such a dangerous man continue to roam the streets.

Not when he was possibly aiming for his daughter.

To Tok―!

A knock was suddenly heard from the other side of the room.

It soon opened to reveal the features of a young woman with glossy black hair and a well developed body, with her abdomen revealed in her two-piece outfit that consisted of a short black shirt and a leather skirt.

Her face was cold, but at the same time, it carried a gentleness within it.

Moving toward Edward, she asked.

"Did you call me, father?"

Chapter 731: A world where 'we' don't exist [4]

Green Claw Guild.

Inside of a large meeting room.

A large oval table made of wood hosted a number of people who were seated nearby. As everyone looked at the big screen near the room's entrance, their auras spread through the whole room.

On the monitor was a short video depicting an incident.

The video didn't last for long. It was about a couple of minutes long, and it soon ended. Once it did, silence filtered throughout the entirety of the room.

Everyone's attention then shifted toward a certain individual.

"This video has been circulating all over the internet. Do you have an answer for this, Dominion?"

A deep voice echoed out into the room. It belonged to the current Guild master of the Green Clawn Guild.

Jerome Nox.

<B> ranked, and ranked within the top 100 of the Hero rankings.

He was a man in his mid-fifties with short green hair and a bulky body.

His face, although expressionless, contained boundless anger as he gazed at Dominion, who shivered under it.

"T,that…"

He stuttered under the gaze. However, he was soon able to muster up enough courage to speak.

"…I was caught off guard. He used some sort of trick, I-"

"Enough."

Jerome cut.

"That's now what I want from you."

Jerome threatened as Dominion found himself unable to breathe as Jerome's aura pressed on him.

He continued.

"What I want from you is an answer on how we can mend this situation. Currently, we've become a laughing stock among the other guilds because of this one incident. How are we supposed to mend our reputation?"

"This.."

Dominon looked around.

He looked at Jerome and swallowed out a mouthful of saliva before opening his mouth carefully.

"A,although he's powerful, he's not as strong as you. If you allow me to deal with the situation, I can find a way to mend the situation…"

Back then, although for a short period of time, he felt the youth's strength.

…It wasn't as domineering as his guild master.

He wasn't exactly sure how strong he was, but the guild master was unquestionably above him in terms of power. He was certain that he would be able to handle him.

Ding―!

It was all of a sudden that a subtle ringing noise spread throughout the room.

The focus of everyone's attention shifted to Jerome, who grimaced and pulled out his phone. As he read the notification that had appeared, his expression changed from one of annoyance to one of surprise as he began to smile.

Putting the phone away, he looked toward the others.

"It looks like we won't have to deal with this alone."

***

There weren't many things that utterly shocked me. Even when I found myself in a new world where everyone didn't know me and everything was different, I was able to retain my calm and calmly process what was happening.

I was perhaps alarmed, but I wasn't shocked.

I thought that with all that I had seen, there wouldn't be many things that would bring forth such emotion.

Yet…

Staring at the youth in front of me, I couldn't help but feel shocked.

"M,matthew?"

The fact that he was alive wasn't what shocked me. That seemed fairly normal considering that this was a different world.

What shocked me was the fact that he seemed to know me and what was happening around me.

He flashed me a smile.

"Are you that shocked to see me?"

He seemed to be enjoying my reaction, as he laughed a little.

"You probably wondering why I know you and why I seem to know about your circumstances, right?"

I didn't say anything.

I couldn't say anything. Opening my mouth, I found myself struggling to find my words.

Eventually, I nodded my head.

"There's really nothing much to it."

Matthew leaned back against the bench and gazed toward the distant sun. He didn't look for too long, as his eyes soon squinted.

In that short moment, I was beginning to calm down and come to terms with the situation. His next words, however, caught me completely off-guard.

"…I've long known that you were going to come. Kevin told me a long time ago."

"..."

I paused, trying to process his words.

It was a rather slow process since the words didn't seem to register in my hand.

When I did process them, however, I almost got up from my seat.

"What?!"

Thankfully, I remained seated and didn't cause a scene. Despite that, I still found it hard to contain myself.

"Did you just say Kevin told you a long time ago?"

How was that possible?

…Did the two even know each other?

"You must be confused."

Matthew smiled in amusement. It was very clear that he was enjoying my shock, but his smile soon faded.

He looked around him.

"You're wondering why I know Kevin and what is currently happening to you, right? You probably already figured out that this world isn't the same world that you lived in, and that there must've been a reason why you were sent here…"

"Yeah."

Right on.

That was exactly what I wanted to figure out.

Although Matthew's appearance shocked me, I was soon able to calm down. Right now, I was intently listening to what Matthew had to say.

"I'll start off simple."

Matthew licked his lips as a complicated look flashed across his features.

"…From the very beginning, I've been working with Kevin."

My eyes opened wide.

"You call that simple?"

Before I could say anything, Matthew continued.

"Don't get me wrong. What I did to your parents and signing a contract with a demon… That was all me. When I say I've been working with Kevin from the very beginning, I mean from several regressions back."

His smile grew bitter.

"As you're very well aware, once a contracted demon dies, their host will also similarly die. Only on a rare chance will they survive... and that's extremely rare... from the moment that Everblood killed the demon I was contracted with, I was supposed to die… Yet, I survived. Do you want to know why?"

"…"

I nodded without saying a word.

Indeed, looking back at it now, Matthew wasn't supposed to have lived as long as he did. He was supposed to have died along with the contracted demon.

"While Everblood thought back then that I had survived due to that one small chance... reality was that I only kept on living due to Kevin's interference."

"At the time, I didn't know he had interfered before, but during that one brief moment where I was supposed to die in one of the timelines, he restored my memories, and from there, I was able to learn about our past…"

The smile on his face grew more bitter.

"The things I did to you… The brief moments where my head became clear and I learned of my actions… The regret that I felt during each death of mine… It all came crashing down on me at that moment, and he finally appeared before me."

He closed his eyes.

"We had a brief conversation. It wasn't that long, and I'm not sure how long ago it was... but from what I remember, he told me that there would come a day where I'd need to explain to you the contents of our conversation, but that the time wasn't right yet..."

"He told me that the day wouldn't be too long and that for now, all I had to do was just follow Everblood and report to him everything that he was doing. In a way, I guess you can say that I was spying on Everblood while also checking up on you when the time came that you entered the Monolith."

His eyes soon opened, and he looked at me with clear eyes.

"I don't know how many times I've died under your blade ever since then, but I guess you can say that I deserved it for what I did to you, although you really never were gentle with me when you killed me."

His eyes suddenly squinted, and his face grew bitter.

"…Getting stabbed in the chest really isn't the most pleasant of experience."

"How was I supposed to know?"

I scratched the side of my cheek.

Back then, all I wanted to do was survive. I didn't really care about whether he suffered or not during his death.

Matthew looked at me with disgust.

"Didn't you hear me say, 'If there's a next time, do it more gently?'. I didn't just say it because I was dying. I said it because I literally meant it."

"Eh?"

So that's what it was about?

Back then, I didn't really think much when he said those words. I thought they were just a few short words he said to make light of his death… but it seemed like that wasn't the case.

"My memories were wiped. I really didn't know."

"I'm just messing. Don't take my words seriously."

Matthew laughed a bit before finally standing up from the bench.

He proceeded to stretch his back before looking at me.

"You must be wondering why you were sent here, right? While I also don't exactly know the reason, I was told to show you several things."

Matthew suddenly paused as he looked at me.

"Ah, right. If you were worried about going back, don't be. After everything is done, you'll be able to go back to where you belong. You can say that this is a small trip you have to take in order to get a better understanding of why Kevin did what he did..."

He smiled.

"...He really did sacrifice a lot."

Chapter 732: Death Sentence [1]

"The world looks peaceful, doesn't it?"

While I trailed Matthew from behind, I looked around at everything that was going on around me. The world, as he pointed out, was quite different from the world that I lived in.

People running around with smiles, no gates or demons to worry about…

It was extremely peaceful. Enough to make me jealous.

'Is this how the world would've been if Jezebeth and the demons never existed?'

It was rather good.

"You think too much."

Matthew smirked as he looked at me.

"True, the world looks peaceful, but that's merely what you're perceiving on the surface. Reality is, the world is a lot less idealistic than you'd imagine."

He continued forth, and I followed from behind him. He didn't elaborate further, but he seemed to be hinting at something.

I honestly didn't understand his words. When I looked around me and saw the world, which appeared to be in much better shape than the war-torn world that I was a part of, I had a hard time believing that this world could be as terrible as he hinted at.

'Merely what you're perceiving on the surface…'

Was he hinting that something big was happening in the shadows?

"We're nearly here."

The first thing that caught my eye in the distance was a familiar skyscraper. It was a building that I had frequented in the past, and its appearance in this world was identical to how it appeared in the world that I belonged to.

'The Union Tower.'

"We want justice!"

I heard faint chants in the distance.

'At least, that part of the Union Tower didn't change.'

Be it my world or this world, there'd always be a couple of people protesting there.

The further we went, the louder they got, and it wasn't long before I had a better grasp of what they were yelling.

My expression changed a little.

"Life imprisonment!"

"Sentence those criminals to the death!"

"Kill them!"

Hearing the contents of their words, my brows slowly furrowed, and I looked toward Matthew.

"What's going on?"

Were some big time criminals being persecuted?

The reaction seemed rather extreme.

"You'll see."

Matthew merely smiled at my question and continued moving forward.

Even though his secrecy was driving me a bit crazy, I decided to follow him closely and no longer said a word. I was a patient man.

"Kill those traitors!"

"Have them hanged in the streets and make an example of them!"

"Murderers!"

Before long, I stood before a large group of people carrying signs and speakers, shouting toward the Union Tower.

They shouted all sorts of profanities while waving the banners in the sky.

"We want justice!"

"We want justice!"

"We want justice!"

Their chants spread throughout every nook and cranny of the square beneath the Union Tower. It was so loud that it was starting to grow uncomfortable.

"We're here."

Matthew stopped right next to the crowd and stared at the large tower in front.

I stopped beside him.

"…Is this what you were trying to show me?"

The riot?

Was there something special about it?

Matthew smiled.

"Just wait a couple of minutes. You'll get an idea soon enough."

"Okay."

I turned to stare at the crowd in hopes of getting any clues, but there didn't seem to be anything as they all just mindlessly screamed toward the tower.

Thankfully, I didn't have to wait too long to see a change happening.

"Someone is finally out!"

"Judgment will finally prevail!"

"Justice!"

The doors to the tower opened with a deliberate pace, revealing a stoic figure with languid eyes. The effect of his power was immediate, and everyone in the square became silent as it spread throughout the area.

'…He's still the same.'

Be it this world, or the other world. Octavious was still Octavious.

He never changed.

"A verdict has been made."

His calm voice reached the ears of everyone present.

Absolute silence filled the surroundings as everyone held their breath.

After observing their demeanor, my interest in the matter increased, and I couldn't help but keep staring at Octavious.

'Let's see what this verdict is about.'

He soon continued.

"After going through all of the evidence, and a lot of discussions, we, the Union, have come to the conclusion that the following three individuals are guilty of the following crimes."

The moment he extended his hand, three pictures materialized next to him, and my entire face went completely still.

"Attempted Genocide. Extortion at the highest level. Murder. Kidnapping…"

The list went on, but I had no time to focus on it as all the noise drowned out from my head.

With my gaze directed toward the three individuals depicted in the images presented by Octavious, I felt my mind go completely blank.

"H,how is this possible?"

It didn't make sense.

"Toshimoto Keiki, also known as Grandmaster Keiki, sole creator of the Keiki style, and a former honorary member of the Union…"

"Aaron Levisha, also known as Grandmaster Levisha, sole creator of Levisha style, and a former honorary member of the Union…"

"Roman Gravcar, also known as Grandmaster Gravar, sole creator of Graver style, and a former honorary member of the Union…"

Reciting their names slowly, Octavious turned his head to stare at the images next to him before loudly announcing.

"From this day forth, I hereby declare that the three of them will be sentenced to… death!"

"Waaahhh!"

"Wooooooohhh!"

The stillness that had been engulfing the square was suddenly shattered as the sound of cheers reverberated throughout. People were comforting one another by crying and hugging while they screamed in happiness.

Some even fainted from joy, while others started praising the Union endlessly.

My stomach began to churn at the sight, and I looked over at Matthew, who smiled at me like he understood what I was going through.

"Do you still think that everything looks peaceful?"

Swallowing my saliva, I slowly shook my head. I was still trying to process what had just happened, but it finally dawned on me that something seriously messed up was happening somewhere in this world.

How could the people who were deemed to be the Heroes of my world suddenly become such hated criminals?

…Whatever it was that was happening, was definitely something that Kevin wanted me to understand.

"What am I supposed to do now?"

I looked at Matthew cluelessly. The sudden revelation baffled me and left me clueless as to what to do.

Everything felt so foreign to me.

"Should I rescue the three of them?"

I looked toward the images of the three Grandmasters in the distance. Saving them shouldn't be too hard.

The problem was what I'd have to do after.

What exactly was I supposed to do after rescuing them?

Would rescuing them give me clues with regards to how to get back to my world and get a better understanding of what Kevin was trying to show me?

...Was he perhaps hinting at something? Were the deaths of the three Grandmasters in my world not caused by the demons?

I swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

'Why can't he just tell me everything instead of showing me all of this?'

"Not yet."

Matthew turned away from me and started to walk away from the square.

I quickly followed him from behind.

"Wait up."

As I moved away from the area, the volume of the noise began to decrease, but I could still occasionally make out the honks of several cars as their passengers celebrated the unexpected news.

Ashton city was basking in a festive mood.

I didn't know how to feel as I looked around. Although I had never met the three grandmasters, apart from Keiki's remnant soul, I owed the three of them a lot.

A lot of my success was attributed to the three of them, and seeing them in this situation made me feel rather complicated.

'I'm sure he knows something.'

I stared at Matthew's back.

He didn't speak much, and just quietly showed me the way.

For some reason, I had a feeling that he was being mysterious on purpose. As if he had a grudge against me.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll know soon enough."

"This again?"

I was starting to get annoyed with all of these answers, but what could I do? He was the only person that I could rely on at the moment.

He was the key to getting back to my world as well as understanding the main principle behind this world.

For now, I could only suck it up and do as he said.

"We're here."

Thankfully, we didn't have to walk around for very long. We were soon standing in front of a large white building.

"Is this the place?"

I carefully observed it.

The building was rather large and square in shape. It wasn't very tall, but it seemed very populated as a lot of people walked in and out of the structure.

Looking around, my eyes soon fell toward a certain sign at the very top, and my mouth twitched.

The moment I saw the words imprinted at the top of the building, I almost wanted to turn back and get as far away from the place as possible.

[Hall Pharmaceuticals]

"Really?"

Chapter 733: Death Sentence [2]

The circumstances surrounding the three Grandmasters became widely known throughout the entirety of the world. Everyone, whether they were children or adults, was in some way presented with the news.

It was that viral.

Almost everyone…

"Shit, I fucked up again."

Melissa readjusted her glasses while clicking her tongue in annoyance. In front of her were a few test tubes that were releasing a gas that had no discernible odor.

She looked at Rosie.

"How many failed samples does that make?"

"About a hundred."

"The cost?"

"Over one hundred million U."

"I see…"

Melissa gave a subdued nod of her head as her hand made its way toward her chest, and she clenched her clothes. Her heart was hurting.

"What's our current budget?"

"We're almost out."

"I see…"

Melissa proceeded to sit down on a nearby stool.

She couldn't feel her legs.

With quivering lips, she weakly looked toward Rosie.

"Say… how much do you think I'd get if I sold my body?"

"You what?"

The expression on Rosie's face went through a series of abrupt changes as she was rendered speechless.

"Useless."

Melissa turned her head away from her and continued to gaze at the test tubes in front of her. She was close. She could feel it.

'So long as I get the formula right…'

"Tsk."

She clicked her tongue once more and took out her phone.

The first thing that she did was look over her research funds and determine the precise amount that was still available to her.

[3,563,000U]

Her lips quivered at the sum.

"M,maybe I should really sell my body."

Ding―!

At that precise moment, her phone started to ring. Melissa picked up the phone while frowning and responded to the call.

"Yes?"

[Mrs. Hall, there's a guest that wants to meet you downstairs.]

"Does he have an appointment?"

[No.]

"Then kick him out."

She hung up the phone shortly after that.

Massaging her head, she leaned her elbow against the table.

"I think I should start by cutting down the staff."

She'd already told them beforehand not to disturb her with trivial matters. The fact that they called her for something as useless as that annoyed her.

"…I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Her ears were startled by a sudden whisper, and she leaped to her feet in surprise.

"Huh?! Who the fuck are you?!"

As soon as she turned around, she saw a young man with dark hair and blue eyes. He appeared to be about her age and had a smile on his face.

For some reason, Melissa found herself annoyed. Why was she feeling so aggravated by the smile that was plastered on his face?

It made no sense since she'd never seen him before. Having said that, she did not have time to ruminate on it as she immediately stood up and moved backward.

An artifact quickly appeared in her hand and she pointed it in his direction.

"Who are you, and how did you get here?"

***

This was worth it.

It had been quite a long time since I'd seen Melissa this panicked, and I couldn't help but feel some sort of sense of accomplishment from it.

'I should've recorded it…'

"I'll ask you again, who the fuck are you?!"

Melissa's voice brought me back to reality. Looking at her, I raised both hands.

"Let's calm down for a good minute. I mean no har… don't look at me like that."

"Seriously?"

Melissa's face said it all. It was as if she was staring at an idiot.

"Do you actually expect me to believe your words when you suddenly broke into my lab without anyone knowing?"

"Ehm."

I scratched the back of my head.

She had a point.

"Okay, fair enough, but I truly don't mean any harm. If I did, I would've already done something to you by now."

"Good point."

Melissa lowered the artifact in her hand. It resembled a gun, but it was far from one. It didn't have any bullets and curved at weird angles.

She looked behind me and pointed.

"What did you do to her?"

I turned around to look at her assistant, who was standing behind me. She appeared to be completely motionless and without any expression at the moment. When I looked at her, memories from the past came flooding back to me, and my heart chilled.

"Don't worry about her, she's fine."

"She doesn't look fine."

"She's fine."

I could release her if I wanted to, but I wasn't going to.

It may have been a long time ago, but I wasn't one to forget the past. Even if they belonged to another world.

Who was she to make fun of my name?!

"Haa.."

Melissa sighed before sitting down.

"Fucking hell."

As usual, she threw out a curse, and I smiled.

"Are you finally willing to listen to me?"

She threw a glare at me.

"Do I have a choice?"

"You do."

I nodded in a serious manner.

"If I do, then I don-"

"It's just that you need to ask my permission for the choice."

"…"

Her glare grew more terrifying, but I paid no mind to it. I was seriously enjoying myself at the moment.

Finding a stool, I sat down.

"Alright, let's get down to business."

To be honest, I had no idea why I was currently talking to Melissa nor had any idea why I was proposing a deal with her.

However, according to Matthew, if I wanted to find out more about the current situation, then I had no choice but to interact with her.

"From what I've heard, you seem to lack money, right?"

"Yes."

Melissa sighed while raising her glasses a little.

"I'm impressed by your stalking skills."

I smiled and paid no mind to her comments. Demonic Melissa was worse than her.

"I'll keep this short. I'll give you several important recipes and formulas in exchange for a small percentage of the profits."

"How much is a little?"

"Like five percent."

"That little?"

Melissa seemed rather surprised by the offer, and to be honest, I would be too, but it didn't really matter to me.

I was in no need of money.

The opportunity to engage further with her was the sole factor in my decision to accept a share of the profits. If it turned out that she was one of the clues I needed to get out of here, then doing this was necessary.

I looked at her.

"You seem to trust my words quite a bit."

"No?"

She threw me the same look as before. My mouth twitched a little.

"Since I have no choice, then I might as well accept your words. Let me make this clear, I don't trust you at all."

"Fair enough."

She made a good point.

I massaged my forehead a bit, then stood up and walked towards her.

"What are you doing?"

Melissa immediately stood up and moved back.

I rolled my eyes at her actions.

"Don't worry, I already have a girlfriend."

"…That doesn't mean shit."

She covered her body with her arms.

"…"

I ignored her and extended my finger toward her head. She tried to resist, but how could she? The gap in our strength was astronomical.

When my finger finally made contact with her forehead, she immediately lost consciousness. After that, a flood of information poured into my head as I shared several of my memories with her. They were the ones containing the recipes and potions I'd promised her.

'That should do it.'

I took my finger away from her head and tried to absorb the information that I had managed to get from her memories.

'It might take a while for me to absorb everything.'

Sitting down, I crossed my arms and went through each of them carefully. The chip inside my head quickly got to work, and over a thousand different bubbles flashed within my head.

My head throbbed, but I remained composed.

I had no idea how long I had been like this, but I soon heard Melissa's startled voice coming from in front of me, and my eyes opened.

"Is the information you've given me real?"

Her eyes had a strange glow in them as she gazed at me.

It was now my turn to take a step back.

"It is…"

"Are you fucking kidding me? Where have you been my whole life?!"

Her eyes glowed even more. She was practically salivating at this point, and I felt the back of my head tingle.

I took a couple more steps back.

"Let's have some boundaries."

"Fuck off."

Rolling her eyes, she turned away from me and dashed toward a certain section of her lab. When I saw that, I let out a sigh of relief, but my mood quickly changed for the worse.

'I think I have an idea of what the clue is…'

My face twisted a little at the thought.

My feelings were all over the place as I watched Melissa, who was smiling and laughing as she happily took out her notes and flipped through them. If my guess was correct, then…

"This is bad."

I let out a soft breath and turned toward the entrance of the lab.

When I saw that Melissa was completely focused on what she was doing, I knew there was no point in trying to talk to her anymore. I accomplished the purpose of my visit regardless.

'I really hope I'm overthinking things...'

As I approached the door, I reached out to grab the handle; however, just as I was about to do so, the door unexpectedly opened, and I saw a familiar face appear in the space before me.

The figure froze in place as soon as it caught sight of me, but not long after that, his haughty voice resounded out loud while a murderous aura emanated from his body.

"Who are you?"

Chapter 734: The Pen [1]

For a brief moment, I shut my eyes in an effort to permanently etch the scene in front of me into my memory.

I had to.

Never again did I expect to see this sight again.

An arrogant voice once again echoed out loud.

"Did you not hear me? Who are you? What are you doing here? What's your relationship with Melissa?"

My lips trembled.

I was struggling. I really was.

I found myself fighting an uphill battle to maintain my composure as I looked at the man in front of me. His glare was strong, and the arrogance in his demeanor was clear.

'It has been so long...'

…I was almost starting to get emotional.

"Are you deaf? Did you not hear me?"

He had a firm grip on the collar of my shirt. As he tightened his hold on me, his emerald eyes cast a menacing glare in my general direction.

I felt my body get lifted off the ground, but I did nothing.

"Tell me! What's your relationship with Melissa!?"

Once more, my lips were quivering, and I raised my head in an attempt to conceal the expression on my face.

'This is too much…'

I was almost starting to feel thankful for Kevin.

"Answer me!"

He raised his fist and tried to punch me.

I finally came to and cocked my head to the side just in time to avoid getting punched in the face by his fist.

"Huh?"

The fact that I was able to avoid being hit by his fist appeared to startle him, as his face went blank for a brief moment. The sight made me grin, and I pressed my hands against his forearms.

I only applied a little pressure.

"Aghh."

Instantaneously, a distorted expression appeared on his face, and I gently yanked his arms away from my collar. It was honestly effortless.

"Le-let go!"

He glared at me with a distorted look.

"Do you know who I am?"

"Yes, I do."

I nodded my head. Of course, I knew who he was.

"Then I suggest you let go and scram away from Melissa!"

"That's not possible."

I shook my head with a serious expression. His face distorted further, but I didn't mind as I simply enjoyed his reaction.

It had been so long since I had seen this version of Jin, and I just couldn't help myself.

Leaning closer, I softly whispered into his ear.

"You see, the two of us have a special relationship."

Special in the fact that we were business partners, but obviously, I omitted that part.

…and I was glad I did, as Jin's face bleached completely as horror flashed across his face.

"What did you say!?"

My lips trembled once again.

I had to take a deep breath in order to keep my composure.

"You've heard me correctly the first time."

After tapping on his chest, his entire body froze while I composed myself and adjusted my clothing. I reached out and patted Jin on the shoulder as I turned my head to look in the direction of Melissa, who was completely oblivious to what was taking place.

"I suggest you give up. It's for your own good."

She's a lost cause.

Aside from her work, I never saw her show any interest in anything romance related. The Jin in my world understood this long ago and seemed to have given up on her.

…I didn't want this version of Jin to suffer for his whole life.

"I'll kill you-huh? Hu!? W,what are you doing!?"

Thinking about how pitiful his life would be, I unknowingly found myself hugging him. I was just as startled as Jin was by my actions, but once again, thinking about his love life, I found myself hugging him even tighter.

"Let go of me! What are you doing!? I,I like Melissa. My heart is already tak-"

"Let me stop you right there."

I let go of Jin and stepped back.

Patting him on the shoulder, I seriously looked at him.

"For your information, I have a girlfriend. I was just hugging you out of pity. I have no interest in you."

***

A number of people emerged from the shadows of an impressive building to extend their greetings to a number of people coming in their direction. Both sides exuded an imposing aura that did not lose out to the other.

"Hoho, who would've thought someone as esteemed as you would contact me first."

Jerome boisterously laughed as he went to greet Edward Stern. The Guild master of the Angel Wing Guild.

He extended his hand.

"Do you know just how surprised I was by your text message? The Guild Leader of the largest Guild on earth suddenly said that he wanted to work with me… Ah, what an honor."

Hearing his words, which were obviously tinged with sarcasm, Edward's face underwent no change as he extended his hand forth and shook it.

"It is indeed your honor."

Jerome's face stiffened, but he soon smiled again.

"Not very humble, are we?"

"Why would I be?"

Edward looked at him with squinted eyes, a formless pressure coming out of his body.

"Am I supposed to pretend to be humble? I'm merely stating the facts. It is indeed your honor to meet me."

In spite of Jerome's best efforts to conceal it, the rage that was building up on his face was obvious even as he tightened his grip.

"Indeed, you are the Guild Master of the number one Guild. What's the point of being humble when you're merely stating the truth?"

"I'm glad you noted this."

Edward finally let go of his hand and Jerome did the same.

The two sides separated, and Edward looked around.

"Should we get down to business?"

"Please."

Jerome extended his hand and invited Edward and his entourage into the building.

"Oh?"

Just then, his eyes caught sight of a certain figure, and his smile widened.

"Could this be your daughter?"

He deeply gazed at the young girl who stood behind Edward. She was a beauty without a doubt. Jerome was not sure that he had ever seen a woman who was as beautiful as she was in his life, and he believed that his wife was the most attractive person in the world.

Furthermore, judging from her aura, she was without a doubt extremely talented.

The more he looked at her, the more he liked her.

"This is indeed my daughter."

Edward stepped forward, blocking Jerome's sight.

As he looked down on him, the intangible pressure that had been emanating from his body just a few moments earlier grew to an even greater intensity.

"Is there a problem?"

"No, no."

Jerome shook his hands.

"I was just very surprised to see how talented your daughter is. Not only is she beautiful, but she's also very talented. I'm a very envious man."

He turned around and stared at a young man who seemed utterly enthralled by the young girl's appearance.

He had long green hair and thick brows, both of which contributed to his overall attractive appearance. He had a body that was rather well built, and the most notable feature about him was the color of his eyes; they were emerald, and they seemed to sparkle alongside his hair.

"Kyle."

"Huh? Father?"

It was only after Jerome called out for him that he snapped out of it.

Jerome beckoned him with his hand.

"Come here, I'd like to introduce you to someone."

Looking at where his father was, Kyle immediately became excited and rushed forward.

After stopping next to his father, he continued to stare fixedly at the young woman who was standing behind Edward. It was a shame that she didn't pay any attention to him at all.

Jerome started to introduce him.

"This over here is my son. Kyle. He's just recently turned twenty five and is about to break through to <C> rank."

He drew out the last few words on purpose as his face flashed with pride.

It had to be known that reaching <C> rank at such an age was almost unheard of. Typically, one would be in their mid thirties before ever achieving such a rank... If they were even capable of achieving it.

It went without saying that his talent was unparalleled.

Even Edward was unable to conceal his surprise as he was forced to cast a few glances in his direction multiple times. Jerome's eyes were clearly drawn to this particular detail as he guffawed broadly.

"What do you think?"

"Pretty good."

Edward honestly said, taking his eyes away from the youth.

"It's good to know your son is this talented. I'm sure he'll make a good addition to your guild in the future. With that being said, let's get down to business. I don't have much time to spare."

He departed shortly after that, no longer paying any attention to the youth.

His daughter trailed closely behind him while maintaining her expressionless face. She didn't even give his son a sideways glance. A stark contrast to him, who couldn't stop gawking at her.

"Y,you're right."

Seeing Edward leave, Jerome's fist silently clenched, but he was able to force a smile.

"Let's get going then."

He proceeded to lead them into the building.

Coldness flashed across his eyes as he led them into the building.

'Let's see how long you can be arrogant for.'

***

"How did it go?"

"I managed to find the clue."

As I was leaving the building, I saw Matthew walking in the opposite direction. When I thought about what I had been able to piece together from Melissa's recollections, I realized that my mind wasn't exactly in the right place.

…I hoped that I was wrong.

I really did.

"Judging from your expression, it looks like you really do have an idea."

Matthew happily smiled while leaning against the side of the building. Lifting his head to stare at the sky, his gaze soon shifted toward my direction.

"Since you've found the clue, then I guess my job for now is done."

"You're leaving?"

Already? Was this all that he wanted to show me?

Matthew moved away from the wall.

"My job is done. I've done what I needed to do. Everything else is up to you. We'll meet once more later, so don't miss me too much."

My brows furrowed, but they soon relaxed.

When I considered the tidbits of information that I had been able to assemble, it really did seem like I didn't need his help anymore.

I now had a distinct clue as to what path I needed to take in order to get out of here.

"Alright, then."

I exhaled while looking up at the sky.

"Thank y-"

I wasn't even able to thank him when I realized that he was already gone.

After taking a quick glance in all directions and confirming that I was, in fact, alone, I gave a sarcastic grin and shook my head.

"How rude."

Chapter 735: The Pen [2]

The Union gave the name 'The Pen' to their incarceration facility. Because the prison was home to some of the most dangerous criminals ever known to humanity, it required the most stringent level of control and security.

Any one of the people who were locked up had the potential to pose a significant risk to both the national and international security of several countries.

Because of the obvious dangers involved, the location of the facility was kept a secret, and only a select few individuals were aware of its precise whereabouts.

"This should be the place…"

I count myself among the fortunate few in that I was one of those who knew where the location was. The fact that the location was identical to the one in my original world made things a lot easier for me.

Despite the fact that the two worlds were very similar to one another, with demons and other races no longer invading the planet, the geography of the entire world was very different from the world that I was familiar with.

The first cataclysm still took place as a result of mana unexpectedly making its way into the world, and Ashton City was also constructed in the same location as it was in my world, but those were the only similarities I could think of when it came to the two worlds.

Everything else was practically different.

"I guess this too isn't too different."

I wasn't really shocked by it, though. After all, it was constructed into Mount Everest itself. The mountain that was once deemed the tallest in the world.

It was no longer the tallest, but due to its remote location and harsh climate, it was the ideal place to confine the most dangerous criminals.

"Let's see."

As I gazed at the mountain that was on the other side of me, an icy wind blew through my clothes. It was a little chilly, but I was able to tolerate it.

The most annoying part was the thinning oxygen, but I could also bear that to some extent.

"There it is."

I cracked a smile after finally locating the entrance to the facility. It was very well hidden, and if not for the fact that I was someone whose strength far surpassed that of what this world's greatest held, I probably would've had a harder time finding it.

'Let's get this over quickly.'

My vision began to blur, and the next thing I knew, I was standing in front of a massive metal door located deep within the mountain.

"Who are you!?"

"Enemy alert!"

Two soldiers were waiting for me when I arrived, and as soon as they saw me, they pulled out their weapons and began yelling as loudly as they could.

After I gave them a quick glance, the two of them froze, and I continued on in a leisurely manner toward the large metallic door.

The door disintegrated into a fine powder as I lightly pressed my hand against it, revealing the expansive facility that was hidden behind it.

"Sorry for the intrusion."

I made my way into the building while giving a curt nod to the two security guards, who were staring at me with frozen expressions.

***

Pen, control facility.

A woman with long, glossy black hair, red eyes, and a straight posture stood with her fierce gaze fixed on the many monitors that were in front of her.

Those around her didn't dare utter a single word or even breathe.

They weren't equipped to deal with the kind of pressure that the woman was putting off; it was just too much for them. Every second felt like an eternity for them.

Hero rank 17, Mia Jannice.

Regarded as one of the most powerful women in the world, she wasn't someone to be trifled with. If it weren't for the fact that she had to stand and watch over 'The Pen', there was a good chance that she would have been placed higher on the heroes list.

What was most terrifying about her was her strict and serious disposition.

She treated everything with the utmost seriousness, and she punished any mistakes, regardless of how serious or minor they were, in the most severe way possible.

At the moment…

[Intruder Alert!] [Intruder Alert!] [Intruder Alert!]

The monitors started to flash red, and the room completely froze.

"Turn on the camera feeds."

It was Mia's calm voice that helped everyone get over their initial shock as a large holographic screen appeared in front of them.

At this precise instant, all of the people present were able to catch a glimpse of a young man with jet-black hair and deep blue eyes moving leisurely around the facility.

"Mrs. Jannie, the target is currently in Segment A, approaching Segment B!"

"I can see that."

Mia's expression remained unchanged as she continued to stare at the holographic display that had been placed in front of her. Her tone remained exactly the same as it had been before. Calm and collected.

It was as if nothing had happened.

"Can we get a read on his rank?"

The facility was outfitted with a number of different pieces of equipment, all of which were designed to determine the ranks of those that passed through it. It was an efficient method for rooting out anyone who attempted to infiltrate the facility while cloaked in a false identity.

"Negative, the equipment seems to be-Target has breached Segment B! I repeat, the target has breached Segment B!"

He wasn't able to finish his sentence before his face bleached.

Everyone held their breath and waited for her order.

They didn't have to wait for long, as Mia softly closed her eyes before turning around.

"I'll handle this matter. Stay put and report the situation to me. I more or less have an idea of what his strength is. I will be back shortly."

Everyone rejoiced at her words and finally calmed down.

With her taking action, they no longer needed to worry about the situation. Even Octavious, the strongest man in the world, would need to think twice before dealing with her.

What could an unknown intruder do?

***

"Is this the right way?"

I turned to look to the right, where I noticed a large 'B' etched into the side of the wall. This was the very first time I'd ever been in here, and to be perfectly honest, I had no idea where I was.

"Excuse me, do you know where the highest security area is?"

"Surrender yourself!"

The people here seemed rather rude, too.

Just then, I felt a powerful shockwave coming from behind me, and I saw a large sword heading my way.

I lifted my finger, and the blade stopped.

Clank!

"H…how is this possible?"

The man who wielded the blade spoke, his voice tinged with shock.

"Just stay still."

Lifting my finger, his body floated towards me, and I pressed my finger against his head.

My head began to hurt as a deluge of memories began to rush into my consciousness. Thankfully, I had the chip implanted in my brain, and I was thus able to quickly organize the memories in my mind.

"Section G…"

That was where I needed to go.

I finally let go of the man and pursed my lips before turning to look at my surroundings.

'I should be in Section B at the moment... That's a bit far from where I need to be...'

I gave my surroundings a second look and went over the memories stored in my head. Raising my foot, I stomped the ground.

Rumble―!

My surroundings began to shake, and a large hole formed beneath my feet. Without giving it much thought, I took a step forward and promptly fell into the hole.

Thump!

I wasn't sure how long I was in free fall, but it wasn't long before my feet touched the ground again, and when they did, I found myself inside a very isolated facility that was covered in metal all around.

…It sort of reminded me of the time I was in the Monolith.

"This should be Section F"

I figured it out from the large 'F' that was imprinted on the side of the walls.

The place was divided into sections that ranged from A to G, with G being the lowest and most secure area. From my memories, Section G was placed right next to Section F, which meant that I was very close.

"It should be this way."

I pulverized a portion of the wall by pressing my hand against one of its sides. During the course of the process, a number of guards came my way and attempted to stop me; however, I was able to overcome their resistance without too much difficulty.

I didn't even need to lift a finger to deal with them.

"This should be it."

I soon stopped in front of a large door.

Behind it was Section G.

I was about to put my hand on the door when I heard a woman's voice coming from behind me. At that moment, I felt as though the weight of the world had been placed upon my entire body.

"Stop, don't move another muscle."

"Oh?"

Feeling the extra weight that I was carrying, my brow raised, and I turned to look toward the culprit.

It was none other than a woman with long black hair and red eyes. She was rather attractive, but her disposition seemed extremely chilly.

'From the memories of the guard, she should be the main guard of this place… Hero rank 17? She's ranked even higher than me…'

That won't do...

"I suggest you surrender yourself right now. If you do so, I will not be forced to kill you."

I smiled.

"You seem to be rather confident in your power?"

"Should I not be?"

She said calmly while her black hair started to flutter and my body became even heavier.

"You're not someone who can deal with me."

Her hand extended forward, and the surrounding metal scrunched up together. The entire room trembled, and the pressure that she was exhibiting increased even more.

'Gravitational power?'

I looked around me in awe. Such power was quite rare.

"So?"

I heard her voice once again.

"...Are you going to surrender?"

Opening my mouth, I soon closed it and found myself smiling.

Chapter 736: The Pen [3]

The aperture in the cell was so small that very little light could pass through it. It was eerily quiet and pitch black. He had no idea how long he had been locked up for. He had long stopped keeping track.

He just felt numb.

Thinking about his wife and daughter, he felt his heart get torn into pieces.

He was innocent. He didn't do anything, but for some reason, he was framed. It wasn't just him; Levisha and Gravar were put in the same circumstances as him.

… They had been wondering why, but the only response they got was a list of charges. Each worse than the other.

The looks of scorn and the contempt he received from the guards were something he'd never experienced in his whole life.

'Why are they doing this to me?'

Toshimoto's head slowly raised as he gazed up at the pitch-black ceiling above him with a blank expression on his face.

He felt so empty…

Rumble!

Suddenly, he heard a muffled rumbling sound coming from a distance, and he lowered his head to look in that direction.

"What's going on?"

He wondered, weakly raising himself and moving toward the door.

Rumble!

Another muffled rumble reverberated. This time, it was a lot closer, and Toshimoto was able to make it out clearly.

'Did something happen in the facility?'

He felt his heart beat quicker.

Rumble!

The rumbling was getting louder and louder with each passing second, and it wasn't long before it reached his direction; he could feel the entire room shaking as it happened.

"This power?"

It felt terrifying and oppressive.

"Mia?"

He was able to instantly recognize it due to the heaviness of it. What was more terrifying was the fact that it was getting weaker and weaker by the second.

'Is she fighting against someone?'

It soon became clear to him that something major was happening. An attack perhaps? He wasn't sure… but for it to require Mia's personal intervention... It had to be extremely serious.

Booom!

The terrifying sound of an explosion came from nowhere, and at the same time, the door of the cell was violently blown open.

Toshimoto had to quickly cover his eyes with his arm in order to protect himself from the sudden influx of light that filled the room.

"Argh!"

He still nonetheless felt his eyes sting.

"W,what is happening?"

In spite of the pain, Toshimoto forced himself to open his eyes and see what was going on.

It was there that he caught sight of two deep blue eyes staring at him. With a smile on his face, he greeted.

"It's very nice to meet you… Uhm, Master?"

***

Master? Benefactor?

Was that the right way to address him? Technically speaking, he wasn't the same person as the one from my world, but at the same time… he was?

Or was he not?

'Ugh, this is so confusing.'

I felt a headache thinking of how to address him. In the end, I still came to the decision that it was appropriate to address him as master.

It was a form of respect for everything that his martial manual had granted me. Without it, I wouldn't have been what I was today.

"Y,you, who are you?"

He looked different from the Keiki that I knew.

Compared to the remnant soul I had met back then, he looked much older and more malnourished. The skin on his face was also quite pale, and he appeared to have trouble standing up straight.

"Let's leave the questions for later. Let me help you get out of here first."

I offered him my hand, which he glanced at with caution. I smiled at that.

"I understand your caution, but you really have no choice but to take my hand. It's either you take my hand or you stay here and go through the death sentence."

Grandmaster Keiki's face changed before he eventually nodded his head.

"You're right."

His sudden calmness and composure in dealing with the unexpected matter was rather surprising, but how should I put this... As expected of my master?

He took the initiative and grabbed hold of my hand. It was at that point that I directed my mana into his body, and finally, his frail body started to transform.

His previously pale face became flushed with red, his posture began to straighten, and his muscles began to fill.

Within seconds, he looked like a completely different person.

"This…"

He seemed startled by the sudden changes, but I merely smiled at him and let go.

"That will do for now. Let's go."

Rumble!

I had just turned around when I felt a strong force heading in my direction, and I furrowed my brows.

"…How annoying."

As I moved my hand forward, a figure slammed into the nearby wall, leaving behind a sizable impression.

"Cough… Cough…"

Several coughs came after that, and I found myself on the other end of two glaring red eyes.

"I,impossible."

She weakly muttered while trying her best to get out of the deformation on the wall.

I rolled my eyes and turned to look at Grandmaster Keiki.

"What's wrong?"

The way he looked at me was akin to that of someone looking at a ghost.

"T,that… How?"

"Don't worry about it."

I gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder before turning my attention to the other two prison cells. After pointing at them, the doors suddenly blasted open, revealing two elderly men in poor health. One's stature was larger than the other, while another seemed rather handsome, and I instantly knew who they were.

'Grandmaster Levisha, Grandmaster Gravar.'

I signaled to them with my finger, and they both sped in my direction. When they arrived, I pressed my hand against each of their chests.

Instantaneously, a similar scene from before replayed, and the two of them began to heal very quickly, and not long after that, they became filled with vitality.

"What's going on?"

"What's happening?"

After opening their eyes, both of them stared at themselves in disbelief for a moment before turning their attention back to me. As soon as they laid eyes on me, I smiled warmly and offered them a greeting.

"It's an honor to meet you."

The two of them looked at each other before shifting their attention toward Grandmaster Keiki, who shook his head.

Seeing just how apprehensive the three of them were, I didn't bother saying anything.

Had I been in their situation, I'd have reacted the same as them.

"Ukh… Cough…"

I had just finished speaking when I was startled by a series of coughs coming from behind me. Turning around, I saw Mia standing there. My eyes opened in surprise.

'She's quite tenacious.'

"Y…you, what are you doing?"

"Can't you see?"

I thought it was fairly obvious from the start.

She glared at me more fiercely and took a step forward. Her hair was all over her face, and blood was dripping down the side of her mouth and down the back of her head.

"D,don't you da-pftt"

She spat a mouthful of blood halfway through her sentence and took a knee.

I was honestly impressed by her willpower. Had it been anyone else, they would've already given up by now.

'I wonder just how strong she would've been in my world had she survived…'

The fact that she was not a person who I knew very well led me to believe that during the second cataclysm, a demon had most likely been the cause of her death.

It was a pity since she was so talented.

"Alright then, let's get going."

I turned my gaze away from her and looked up. Just as I was about to make a move, I heard Grandmaster Keiki's voice.

"Wait."

"Hm?"

I stopped whatever I was doing and looked at him.

He stared straight into my eyes with a serious look.

"Are you really on our side?"

Even though his question appeared to be rather straightforward, he and the two other grandmasters became tense the moment he asked it. They were still extremely vigilant.

I calmly looked at the three of them.

"If I wasn't on your side, I wouldn't have bothered coming here."

Grandmaster Keiki closed his eyes for a short time and then turned around to look behind me. He looked toward Mia.

"…Then, if you're really on our side. Take her with you."

"Huh?"

His words surprised me as I turned to look behind me, where Mia was. She was looking at me with a fierce glare, and I looked back toward Grandmaster Keiki.

An idea suddenly popped up in my mind.

"…Is she on your side?"

"Yes."

He nodded.

"Without her, we would've probably been in even worse shape. You can say that the only reason we're still alive is because of her."

My eyes squinted. Last I recall, they were in pretty bad shape. Did she brainwash them into thinking that she was on their side?

As if he could read my mind, he continued.

"They were planning on having us chained up for every moment of our stay over there. She was the one who opposed it. Almost risking her career over it."

"Risking her career?"

I looked at her strangely.

Before I could say anything else, Grandmaster Levisha spoke.

"The forces behind our imprisonment are far stronger than you think. Just that simple action was a big risk for her."

"I see…"

I came to a sudden understanding.

"Very well then. Let's get out of here then."

Bringing another person out wasn't really a problem.

With a wave of my hand, my vision warped.

Chapter 737: The dangers that lurk in the shadows [1]

"H,how is this possible?"

Toshimoto's last memory was of the young man waving his hand before the surroundings around him abruptly changed and he found himself in front of a large abandoned warehouse.

His mind blanked at the sight.

When he came to, his eyes bulged in shock.

'This is impossible!'

When he looked around him and realized that he wasn't hallucinating, his initial shock quickly escalated into complete disbelief.

He wasn't the only one who was shocked.

Levisha, Gravar, and Mia all appeared to be in a state of extreme shock as they took in their surroundings alongside him.

Everyone's attention was drawn to the young man, who appeared to be no more than thirty years old and was casually making his way toward the warehouse as if what he'd done was nothing worth taking note of.

"Was that space distortion?"

Mia asked in a grave tone as she felt the ground, making sure it was real. Once she was sure they were indeed standing on real ground, she found herself swallowing a mouthful of saliva.

"…Did he use some sort of artifact?"

It was the only thing that could have explained such a phenomenon. Even Octavius, who was the strongest human in existence, was unable to accomplish such feats.

He could, at most, run extremely fast.

"Octavious once said that once one reaches the <S> rank, they can fly… but that's as far as it goes. Space distortion shouldn't be possible…"

Grandmaster Gravar suddenly said and everyone held their breath.

This was especially so for Grandmaster Keiki who was still recovering from the sudden shock of finding himself in another location.

Mia took a deep breath and stood up.

"Although he's strong. Very strong. It is impossible for anyone to cross over the boundaries of <S> rank, let alone higher. It is most likely that he's used some sort of artifact to get us over here."

Everyone nodded their heads.

It was the only explanation that they were willing to accept at the moment.

"Are you guys coming or not?"

As soon as they heard his voice, the others glanced at one another before heading in the direction of the abandoned warehouse.

After the initial shock of the previous accident subsided, the look on their faces gradually transformed into one of renewed seriousness.

Whatever the case was, they couldn't run away. The only thing that they could do was wait and try to figure out what the man's objective was in bringing them out.

"Let's go."

Under Grandmaster Keiki's lead, the three of them entered the warehouse.

***

It was riddled with cracks and spiderwebs, but it would still do.

"Make yourselves comfortable."

I pointed to a few sofas that I had just positioned a moment earlier. I could have probably selected a better location to speak to them, but out of habit, I came to this place. I guess I was more attached to it than I originally thought.

…I was starting to miss my headquarters.

"You guys don't have to be so tense."

After noticing how tense everyone was, I made an effort to smile in order to help ease the tension. This approach did not appear to be very successful, as the four of them appeared to be even more vigilant.

I shook my head bitterly and leaned against the sofa.

"Alright, let's just get down to business first."

I felt my smile disappear.

"What happened to you guys? Why have you been locked up and charged with such serious crimes?"

Never once did I entertain the possibility that they were in fact responsible for the crimes that they were accused of. Despite the fact that this was a different world, the fact that all three of them were violent criminals in this world made things seem rather suspicious.

'Now that I think about it, how did the three Grandmasters die in my world?'

There were no real records in my world. Some speculated it was the demons, but now that I thought about it carefully if that was really the case, why did the three Grandmasters hide their graves?

Just so that only a select few could find them?

Last I recalled, I remembered him saying he was hiding it from the prying eyes of those greedy bastards.

Was the answer as simple as that, or was there perhaps a link between what was happening now and what had happened to them in my world?

The sudden thought made my heart rate quicken.

'It's not impossible…'

I once again looked at the four of them.

"Don't worry, I know it might not look like it, but I'm on your side. You can say that I owe each and every one of you a debt of gratitude."

The three of them looked at each other once they heard my words. They didn't really seem to believe me.

"I guess I have no choice but to show you."

I eased myself out of my seat while simultaneously extending my arm. My sword materialized out of thin air as I tightly gripped it in my hand, and I slid it along the side of my waist in one smooth motion.

'I miss this feeling.'

It had been a while since I touched my sword.

I stared at Grandmaster Keiki in the eye.

"Watch carefully."

Click―!

The first movement of the [Keiki Style] : Quick flash

A subtle clicking sound rang in the air.

"!!!"

A startling transformation took place in Keiki's demeanor in response to the soft click that came from my hilt. It wasn't just him; the others also showed similar expressions.

I wasn't done.

My entire body began to tense up as I placed both of my hands on the hilt of my sword, and I could feel the muscles in my arms and shoulders expanding.

"I,impossible."

Grandmaster's Gravar changed even more after seeing this.

I took a step forward.

Rumble!

A single step on my part caused the warehouse to vibrate. As a result of the building's advanced age, several of the wooden frames located at the top fell to the floor.

Seeing this, I decided to stop, and my muscles returned to their normal state not long after that.

'This place is in a worse state than I thought... and here I was holding back quite a lot already.'

I sat back down after putting my sword away.

"Don't bother asking me how I learned it. Just know that I am on your side."

I couldn't explain to them that I came from a different world and that I had learned the arts from digging through their 'graves'. That made no sense. Nevertheless, what I showed them should be enough to appease them.

"H,how? How did you do it? I never taught anyone the Gravar style…"

"Same."

Grandmaster Keiki nodded absentmindedly from the side.

Seeing how the two of them were, I could only shake my head.

"Don't worry about it. Just know that I am not against you. If I really was, then I'd have already spread your sword arts everywhere."

The three sobered up after my words and straightened their posture.

The first one to speak was Grandmaster Levisha.

"You seem to know both of their sword arts, what about mine?"

"About that…"

I scratched the back of my head.

"…I don't actually know your sword art."

I was not even remotely interested in learning it, so I never persuaded Kevin to teach me it.

The same was true for the Gravar style, which I learned not out of choice but rather out of necessity. Even though it wasn't the complete Gravar style, what I learned still held the essence of it.

If I wanted, I could probably learn it.

"Don't worry. Just because I don't know the Levisha style, it doesn't mean that I won't be helping you. Like I said before, I owe the three of you a lot of debt. Just think of me as someone who wants to repay what is owed."

In spite of what I said, all three of them continued to exhibit skepticism. I didn't blame them, but soon enough, the three of them accepted the situation.

"Do we even have a choice but to trust you?"

Grandmaster Keiki sighed.

"…Regardless of whether we're wary of you or not, the reality is that the three of us are wanted people on a death sentence. We have no choice but to trust you."

Grandmaster Keiki slowly closed his eyes and nodded his head firmly.

"Alright, ask me anything you want. I will try to answer whatever question you have to the best of my ability."

He looked toward the other two, no, three, before continuing.

"I'm sure the other three feel the same."

Everyone nodded shortly after that, and I smiled.

"I'm glad to hear that."

When I finally saw them come to terms with the situation, I let out a sigh of relief. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I stood up and started walking in their direction.

"Since you guys are willing to cooperate, this will make things easier for all of us."

I stopped a few meters away from them and bent down a little.

"Don't be too wary of what I'm about to do next. Just relax your mind and let me do the rest. I promise that I won't hurt you. I'm just trying to save up time…"

My finger pressed against one of their foreheads.

Chapter 738: The dangers that lurk in the shadows [2]

[Agh! Someone help me!]

[M, monster!]

[Help me!]

The room was filled with the sound of people screaming in anguish. They originated from a specific video that was projected onto a screen, and showed an image of a young man with glossy black hair and deep blue eyes taking care of a series of guards in an effortless manner.

The expression on Octavious' face remained the same as he sat in front of the holographic projection. His eyes were as listless and hazy as they had always been.

It was as if the happenings in the projection were of no interest to him.

[Would you like to replay the video?]

The video soon came to an end, and silence filtered across the dimly lit room.

The next couple of minutes were spent with Octavious's gaze intently fixed on the projection. It wasn't until a subtle shaking began in the room that he finally showed any kind of reaction, and he got up out of his chair.

Swoosh―!

The entire room became tinged with white, and all of a sudden, a tremendous amount of pressure filled the space. The pressure began to have an effect on Octavious's face, and for the first time in a while, his eyes began to show visible signs of change.

He slightly lowered his head.

"How may I be of service?"

His tone was composed, but there was a hint of fear hidden deeply within his words.

[I trusted that you would've accomplished the mission without a problem. What has happened?]

An ancient, and deep voice reverberated throughout the room.

[There is a purpose behind why I have bestowed upon you the power that you currently possess. Because you haven't let me down in any way up to this point, you are still alive. That, however... is being tested at the moment...]

As Octavious listened to the voice, he could feel sweat running down the side of his face.

He hurriedly lowered his head further.

"I apologize for the situation."

[…Find the culprit behind the incident and make sure to eliminate them. I do not wish to expose myself.]

"I understand."

Octavious nodded his head, and knelt down on one knee. He then placed his hand over his chest.

"I will carry out the task to the utmost, Protector of the Seat of Diligence."

[I really hope that you won't let me down. There is no "next time" in this scenario.]

Soon after that, the voice got quieter and quieter until it was gone completely, leaving Octavious alone in the room. While he rested both arms against the table, a trickle of sweat continued to run down the sides of his cheeks. Heavy was his breath.

"…I must find the culprit."

As he slowly tightened his grip on his fist, his eyes clouded once more, and his face went back to its usual expression of indifference.

After making some adjustments to his suit, he turned around and quickly exited the room.

He was going to personally take action.

***

"It's as I expected…"

I took a moment to compose myself by drawing a deep breath, and then I sat myself down on the sofa. As I tried to organize the thoughts and images floating around in my head, I noticed that the noise that was occurring around me began to recede.

'Fuck.'

I was unable to maintain my composure after processing the information. I learned very little from the memories, but by combining them with what I already knew, I was able to form a hypothesis, which left me in a state of complete disbelief.

I raised my head to stare at the three grandmasters before me.

'…If I'm not wrong, the main reason why they're being targeted is because they are too talented.'

Even though I wasn't absolutely certain of this hypothesis at the time, I had a strong intuition that this was almost certainly the case. From what I gleaned from their recollections, I was able to deduce that Octavious was the one who was ultimately to blame for everything that happened.

Be it this world, or my world, he was the strongest person in the human domain.

…Most surprisingly, however, was the fact that he still learned the martial manual or skill that made him the way he was.

He was like that back when I saw him at the Union Tower, and thinking back at the memories that I saw from Melissa and seeing that they were practically the same as the ones from my world, another hypothesis formed inside of my mind.

'I need more information. I can't be too sure just yet.'

I quickly shook my head and dispersed it.

If the hypothesis proved to be correct, then I wouldn't know how to react.

It was too much…

"Huuuu…"

I took another deep breath.

It was then that I heard Grandmaster Keiki's voice.

"…Did you find anything?"

Lowering my head, I looked at him and soon nodded my head.

"Yeah. I think I have an idea of what's going on. I just am not one hundred percent sure yet. However, from what I've gathered, you have indeed been targeted, and the reason is possibly because you are all too powerful."

"That damn bastard, Octavious! Power has gotten to his head!"

Grandmaster Gravar cursed out loud while gnashing his teeth in anger.

"Ever since that child changed, he's been eying the three of us. I knew that something was wrong from the very beginning. He must feel threatened by our power."

"That may not necessarily be the case."

My fingers drummed over the armrest of the chair I was leaning on.

"While Octavious is definitely responsible for what happened to you guys, the motive behind it is definitely not because he feels threatened by your power."

My impression of Octavious was that he was the type of person who strived for excellence in everything he did. He was a man of great pragmatism and was the type of person who enjoyed having control over the circumstances surrounding him.

If I hadn't known otherwise, I probably would have assumed that he was to blame for the deaths of the three grandmasters who lived in my world. However, I knew that wasn't possible considering that he wasn't yet powerful enough to deal with them back when they were still in power.

Fortunately, I knew… and was thus aware of the fact that there was something else at play over here.

'If the deaths of the three grandmasters in my world were really not due to the demons, then I'm afraid there's some sort of higher power hidden within both worlds, controlling everything…'

I could only think of one such power.

'A pity that I still don't have enough evidence to prove my hypothesis.'

I got out of my seat, bracing my hands against the edge of the couch as I did so, and stood up. After that, I turned my attention to the three grandmasters.

"I need to ask the three of you a favor."

The three straightened their backs. Grandmaster Levisha spoke.

"Tell us. If it's something that we can do, then we will try our best to help you."

Seeing the looks in their eyes, I knew that they meant their words.

It was just that…

I scratched the side of my cheek.

"…Anything?"

"Anything."

The three of them nodded with firm looks.

Licking my lips, I shot my shot.

"Then… Can you guys teach me your arts?"

The faces of the three froze altogether.

***

Amanda sat in the back of the SUV and didn't pay any attention to what was going on around her. A lengthy silver sword rested in her hand, and she hugged it to herself in front of her. The way she was holding it made it seem as though it was her most prized possession.

"Excuse me."

She was aware of a voice coming from the front, but she chose to disregard it. At this very moment, all she was thinking about was the task at hand.

"Mrs. Stern, I would like to talk about the upcoming mission."

When Amanda finally opened her eyes, she noticed a young man with green hair seated in front of her. As soon as she opened her eyes, his gaze gleamed, and Amanda felt mildly annoyed by it.

She didn't show it.

"What is it that you'd like to talk about?"

"About what we should do once we meet the man."

The young man with the emerald hair, Kyle, pulled out his tablet while maintaining a solemn expression. He stopped on a particular video while he was scrolling through the tablet's content.

"From the looks of it, the target seems to be pretty young. About our age. He shouldn't be too strong."

A calm smile spread across Kyle's face as he analyzed the video.

"If there's an off-chance that we do end up meeting him. Then you can leave everything to me. You won't need to move a single muscle."

Looking at how confident he was, Amanda frowned but didn't say anything else.

She stared at the video for a good minute, during which time she took good note of the man that was reflected in it. After that, she diverted her attention elsewhere and once again closed her eyes.

She was certain that he wouldn't be able to handle it.

"If you feel like you can handle him yourself, then be my guest."

She warned him.

"You've got i―"

Ding―!

A sudden ring interrupted Kyle. Similarly hearing a notification on her watch, Amanda lowered her head and gazed at her watch.

[Target spotted. Please make your way toward them. Reinforcements will be there with you shortly.]

Chapter 739: The dangers that lurk in the shadows [3]

I anticipated it would be difficult to convince the three to teach me their arts. I expected to have to make a sacrifice in order to get them to comply, so I was pleasantly surprised to learn that they were willing to teach me their arts without anything in return on my part.

"Are you sure you guys want to teach me, a complete stranger, your arts?"

I emphasized the stranger part.

Five Star Martial manuals were a big deal. The more people knew about them, the worse they became, as they would be dissected to find their weaknesses and flaws; consequently, few people shared them.

Even though I had some familiarity with their arts, particularly the Keiki style, the core of it was quite different from the real Keiki style.

My Keiki style, and Grandmaster Keiki's [Keiki style] were similar yet different. After all, the only thing he handed down to me was knowledge, and when it came to martial arts manuals, knowledge wasn't everything.

"It's fine. If not for you, we would've died without having spread any of our arts to the world yet. We thought we had some time before we could pass them down to those we deemed worth it, but…"

Grandmaster Keiki lowered his head with a frown. Grandmaster Levisha finished the sentence for him.

"…but we ended up in the situation that we're in."

Grandmaster Gravar nodded his head.

"Moreover, based on what I observed earlier, you could have directly forced us to teach you the arts, but you didn't. In addition to your knowledge of Toshimoto's art style, which I have no idea how you acquired, you also seemed to be knowledgeable regarding the Gravar style, and so you are definitely talented enough to learn our arts."

Martial Manuals. Especially for four stars and above, learning requires a certain level of talent. He was trying to hint at the fact that I had the necessary talent to learn their arts due to how I was able to learn the Keiki style.

I felt a little embarrassed hearing their words.

"My talent is not bad, I guess."

"…"

The three looked at me with strange faces, and I turned my head away from them. Their gazes were rather uncomfortable.

"Alright, I'll start first."

Grandmaster Keiki stepped up. He looked at me with an interested look.

"I won't ask you how you've come to learn of my art style, but I'm curious about something."

"Ask away."

"You…"

His eyes narrowed.

"…Just how much of the Keiki style have you learned? Up to what movement?"

"Ah…"

I pursed my lips. After musing for a minute, I went ahead and told him the truth.

"Up to most of the sixth movement."

"Sixth movement, I s..."

Grandmaster Keiki's face froze, and his body stiffened. His eyes widened, and his face twitched repeatedly.

"The sixth movement?"

Two hands grasped the sides of my shoulders as Grandmaster Keiki's face inched closer to mine.

"Hold on a minute."

I moved my head away with how close his face was getting.

"How did you learn the sixth movement? No, as a matter of fact, how did you even learn the fifth movement? Even I myself have barely even grasped that… That's impossible. Are you lying to me?"

"Toshimoto, is everything okay?"

"What's wrong with you?"

Levisha and Gravar looked at him strangely. Seemingly not understanding why he was behaving like that. It was only after he turned around and explained that they finally understood. Both showed similar shocked reactions.

"Is this even possible?"

"How is it possible for him to reach the sixth movement when even you haven't created it yet?"

Grandmaster Keiki looked at them and shook his head.

"It's definitely possible. You two should know better than anyone that this is possible."

He shifted his gaze to me once again.

"Young man..."

His gaze turned complicated. However, as if he had made up his mind, he continued.

"...If possible, can you teach me the sixth movement?"

"Ehm."

Grandmaster Keiki's sudden request left me at a loss for words. How did it go from me asking for them to teach me to me teaching them?

After thinking for a moment, I shook my head.

"No, I'm sorry."

Grandmaster Keiki showed a disappointed look. He didn't press further.

"I understand. You probably don't want-"

"That's not it."

I cut him off before he could misunderstand the reason for my rejection.

"I didn't reject you because I didn't want to teach you. The reason why I can't teach you is because you're not yet at a level where you can use it."

Even at the moment, I could barely use the final movement of the Keiki style. It would be a bit of an exaggeration to say that I had completed the sixth movement. In point of fact, I only mastered about half of it, and the primary reason for that was because of my strength.

If someone like Grandmaster Keiki were to learn it, he'd explode on the spot. He was simply too weak.

"Not yet at a level where I can learn it?"

Grandmaster Keiki looked at me with a confused look. I smiled at him and didn't elaborate.

"You might not believe me now, but you'll possibly come to understand why I said what I said now."

I clapped my hands and looked at the three grandmasters.

"Anyways, that aside, we don't have much time. If possible, I'd like to start learning already."

A few guests were going to be arriving any moment now. I wanted to maximize the time that I had with the grandmasters to learn their arts.

Only that way would I get a better idea of how to develop my very own Martial Manual.

***

Mia sat outside in a daze. Her eyes were currently drawn toward four people. They were diligently practicing all sorts of movements and styles in the distance. Although she could hear what they were saying if she wanted to, she restrained herself from doing so.

She was not the type of person who would blatantly steal from other people. Furthermore, since she didn't use a sword, it wouldn't have been very helpful for her anyway.

'I wonder what his real strength is...'

Her gaze shifted toward the young man in the middle of the three Grandmasters. His whole presence was shrouded in a mist.

She couldn't see through him.

She fought with everything she had, but she was ultimately rendered completely helpless by his strength. Even Octavious was unable to give her such a feeling... and he was the strongest human within the human domain.

'It couldn't be that he really...'

There was only one explanation for all of this, but she just couldn't find herself believing it. There was a reason why the <S> rank was deemed to be unachievable.

It wasn't because there wasn't enough mana or resources available; neither of those factors played a role. The fact that there was no higher level was ultimately the deciding factor in this situation.

Typically, when breaking through to the next rank, one would feel a barrier that they'd need to break to reach that next level.

...There was no such thing for <A+> rank.

The barrier didn't exist. It was as if the world had put a limiter on that one barrier.

There had been many in the past who had the potential to reach such a rank—the three Grandmasters being prime examples. In the end, however, they all ended up failing.

Many of those who were talented enough to cross the barrier met tragic ends, with some suddenly killing themselves at certain points.

It was strange.

Whenever there was someone who was talented or had the potential to surpass the <A+> rank and reach the next level, they'd mysteriously die or get sick.

It made no sense, and it was exactly for this reason that Mia helped out the three Grandmasters.

She had the impression that something was taking place unseen by the world, preventing people from progressing to the next level.

The fact that she was met with such a significant amount of opposition after attempting to assist the three Grandmasters provided further evidence in support of her hypothesis, and it became her objective to determine what was going on.

Something sinister was lurking beneath the shadows, and it had clawed its way toward every powerful organization.

Slowly, her gaze paused toward the young man in the distance.

"If he truly reached 'that' rank... then he might be able to help us figure out what's going on with the world and what's trying to stop us from breaking through to the next level...'

She could only hope that was the case.

"Hm?"

All of a sudden, she sensed something, and her gaze turned toward the faraway distance. With her senses, she was able to see very far and thus caught a glimpse of several large black SUVs speeding in their direction.

Mia had a sneaking suspicion that they were not coming with the best of intentions, given the speed at which they were moving in their direction.

The young man's words served to further firm her thoughts.

"Ah, they came faster than expected."

Before Mia could say anything, she felt her vision warp.

Chapter 740: Conflict [1]

[Squadron 5 is currently headed to the target's location. They will arrive at the destination shortly.]

Edward glanced at the notification that appeared on his watch before turning his attention to the person operating the vehicle.

"Head toward the same location as Squadron 5." He paused and added. "Pick up the pace, please."

As a result of his words, the car picked up speed. Almost immediately after that, Edward heard a voice coming from beside him.

"What's the rush?"

It belonged to none other than Jerome, who at that very moment was occupying the seat next to him.

"Let the children take care of the problem. They ought to be able to handle the situation with that young man between the two of them. It'll be a good experience for the two of them."

"It's still best if we hurry up."

As he spoke, Edward's pupils contracted slightly. He was not a fool. He was able to figure out what Jerome was planning to do, and it didn't sit well with him in the least bit.

Not that he was worried about Amanda falling for someone like him. Only someone who could match his looks and strength could hope of courting her.

"You might never know what can happen. With the two of us there, I can rest assured about their safety."

"Heh."

Jerome smirked.

"With my son and the elders, there's no problem even if the—"

Ding—!

A sudden notification appeared on both of their watches at the same time, which caused his sentence to be cut off abruptly.

The two frowned immediately and gazed toward their watches. There was a video in it, and they both watched it.

Staring at the video, their eyes widened as the color left their faces and they began to bleach. Right away, Jerome got to his feet and started hounding the driver.

"Hurry the fuck up! Speed up the vehicle! Now! Hurry up!"

"But—"

"Don't care about breaking any laws; just hurry up!"

"Y…yes, sir!"

The driver stepped on the gas, and the car began traveling through the neighborhood at a frighteningly rapid rate. In the meantime, while Jerome was yelling out orders, Edward was twiddling his fingers nervously while staring at the notification that appeared on his watch.

He was reading the message that was attached to the video.

Attention to all Guild leaders. If you find any clues regarding this person, contact the Union immediately. Target is extremely dangerous, and requires the full force of a Diamond Graded guild to handle.

Suspected Powers : Spacial movement type skill.

Estimated Power : A rank

***

The land appeared to be mostly uninhabited. The only things that were visible on the land were a sizable storage facility and a young man. It appeared as though he had been expecting their arrival based on the way he was looking at them.

However, immediately after they exited their vehicles, a small change occurred in his expression, and Amanda felt his gaze pause on her.

Her brows furrowed at the sight. Yet another one…

Even though she was accustomed to being stared at in this manner, she found it to be rather irritating. In spite of this, she shrugged it off and continued moving forward.

According to her father's instructions, they had to stop him until they managed to get there.

"Let me handle this."

Kyle extended his hand just as she was about to take a step forward, preventing her from taking the step.

He looked at her with a calm smile.

"Let me handle this matter. Just stay there and relax. This matter is related to my guild, so if possible, allow me to handle this."

Amanda furrowed her brows but ultimately chose not to argue with him despite her frustration.

"What if you can't handle it?"

She had learned from her father that the man standing in front of them was powerful. He appeared to be the same age as them, and based on appearances, he appeared to have a similar level of strength.

She couldn't actually gauge his strength, though.

Kyle looked at the man and smiled.

"He looks to be about the same as us, and I'm confident that no one apart from you is able to beat me."

Amanda was left standing there with a blank expression on her face as she watched him confidently striding toward where the man was.

The more time she spent with him, the more irritated she became. He was simply too arrogant.

That being said, she could see several elders following from behind him.

If things did go bad, they'd be able to help him.

***

I was honestly taken aback when I saw Amanda show up. I somewhat expected the guys from the Green whatever guild to show up… I had since called it—orchestrated it, but not necessarily Amanda.

'I assume this is probably Edward's doing.'

It made perfect sense when you considered how overprotective he was. It was likely that he wanted to deal with me due to my sudden appearance at his place of residence without prior notice, after which I vanished without anyone being able to tell anything.

I could only bitterly shake my head.

"I should've seen this coming…"

She appeared to have almost precisely the same appearance as she did in my world. She was every bit as stunning as I had remembered. There were some distinctions, but nothing of significant importance.

It was mainly in the way she dressed. Compared to the Amanda I knew, she dressed in more casual, emo like clothes?

If that were even close to describing them. She was dressed head to toe in black, and while that color did look good on her, it was a little excessive.

"Where are you looking at?"

A green haired kid made his way toward me. Behind him were a couple of elderly people. Their strength seemed to be <B+> rank, nearing <A->.

They could be considered very powerful in this world.

"Who are you?"

This was the first time I had ever come across this man in my life. It's highly likely that he had already passed away in my previous world, either before he was born or somewhere in the middle of his life.

I honestly didn't care. His gaze was annoying.

"I've been told that you have no idea about our guild. At first, I didn't believe it, but seeing you now, I can see that they weren't lying. You're truly ignorant."

He retrieved something that looked like a spear from out of thin. Soon after, he began to expel a significant amount of energy from his body.

My face changed when I felt his power—it was just barely at <C> rank.

For some reason, the young man mistook my gaze, and he looked even prouder than before.

"How—"

"Shut up. I'm getting a headache just from thinking about what you're going to say next."

Thump—!

I waved my hand, and shortly after that, his body crumpled to the ground. The two elders who were standing behind him stared at me in disbelief.

"Don't worry, I didn't kill him."

I waved my hand once more, and the two collided with the ground in a forceful manner.

Bang—!

Since they had their uses, I didn't bother killing time. I also wasn't one who took pleasure in mindlessly killing people.

I shifted my gaze toward the direction of Amanda's entourage.

Thump—! Thump—!

A mere breath's worth of my genuine aura was all that was necessary to send each of them tumbling to the ground on their bellies. I was a bit gentler with them than those of the Green whatever guild.

"What did you do?"

As was to be anticipated from Amanda. In spite of being confronted with such a scenario, she maintained her composure and even managed to retrieve her weapon.

Just that…

"Since when do you use a sword?"

She looked at me with a frown.

"What does that matter to you?"

"No, well…"

I scratched the top of my head absentmindedly. I could tell that she had put a good deal of practice into using the sword by observing her posture and the way in which she wielded it. I could also see the calluses on her hands...

'Perhaps she also had a talent for a sword?'

Interesting.

"Come, let me see how strong you are."

I signaled to her with my hand, and she responded immediately with a powerful chop in the direction of my shoulder.

'Nevermind, she's not very talented.'

Because of the strength disparity between us, I was able to easily see each of her moves and based on those moves alone, I was able to easily tell that she had no talent for the sword.

Her movements seemed stiff—as if she memorized them from a book—and her eyes seemed to be looking in a whole different direction than the sword.

'It's like her brain is moving faster than her body…'

Clink—!

I gave her a sharp tap on the side of the blade, and she staggered backward. When I tried to provoke her once more, she responded with another attack. It was a bit sharper than the previous one, but that was it...

Clink—! Clink—!

The same thing happened over and over again. Gradually, however, her movements started to get a little bit smoother.

Just a bit...

Clank—!

I got a hold of the blade with one hand, at which point she stopped in front of me.

I shook my head and looked at her with worry.

"I'm sorry, but this isn't going to work."

She looked at me with an expressionless look. She stomped her feet on the ground repeatedly as she attempted to retrieve the blade, but no matter how hard she tried, she was unable to get it to budge.

I continued.

"You're not fitted for the sword."

After hearing my words, her entire body went limp, and the icy expression on her face vanished. What took its place was one that was filled with rage.

'Hm?'

My mind was boggled by the abrupt shift in her expression. Especially given the fact that I'd never before witnessed her look at me in such a way.

'It looks like I've hit a sore spot.'

I was just about to elaborate on my point when I became aware of a forceful voice coming from a considerable distance away. My mouth started to twitch as I realized how familiar it was.

"Get away from her!"

Chapter 741: Conflict [2]

After sensing a powerful force being directed toward me from the right side of my body, I quickly retreated away from Amanda.

Just enough to avoid the sharp end of what looked to be a spear?

It was difficult for me to tell as I sensed yet another powerful blast heading in the direction of my back. By taking a side step, I was able to avoid the blast and obtain a better understanding of who was attacking me.

"You dodged that?"

It was Edward and another man I didn't know of. Almost certainly the Guild Master of the Green Paw or whichever guild it was.

"K,Kyle, what happened!"

It wasn't until this very moment that the Guildmaster took notice of the guy I dealt with earlier, and he dashed in his direction.

'So Kyle was his name…'

"Amanda, are you okay? Is everything alright? are you fine?"

Edward did the same and rushed toward Amanda while warily looking at me.

"Im fine… Im okay."

Only after he made sure that she was fine did he finally sigh in relief.

"I'm glad that you're okay."

Once more, he turned his head to look at me, and I could tell that the expression in his eyes was not one of friendliness.

I scratched the back of my head.

'What am I supposed to do?'

I should be allowed to beat him up, right? …I'm not going to lie, I'm very tempted.

Back in my world, there were many instances in which I was on the receiving end of a loss, and I'm not going to lie: there were times when I was almost tempted to fight with him directly...

"You! What have you done to my Kyle!?"

At that precise moment, I was looking to my right when I noticed a furious shout coming from that direction.

After that, I saw a flash of something green across my vision, and then the man from before materialized in front of my eyes. His eyes had a brilliant scarlet color to them.

"I will make you p—ukh!"

Before he could complete his statement, I interrupted him. I already knew what he would say, so I decided to cut him off before he could finish speaking.

"You must be the Guild master of the Green Paw Guild, right?"

"Hm! Hmmmm!"

He struggled under my grasp. I could feel him exert a strength that was akin to the peak of <A> rank, almost <A+>.

It wasn't bad, but to me, who was <SS->, almost <SS>, it really wasn't anything worth taking note of.

I looked straight at him in the eye.

"You know, you came a little later than I originally planned."

He persisted in struggling against my hold on him. I wrinkled my brows and tapped my finger over his body, and he went limp immediately.

He looked at me with complete disbelief.

"As I was saying…"

I carried on while casting a glance at Edward, who flinched ever-so-slightly and was now approaching Amanda. My brow twitched.

"…Why do you think you were even able to locate me if I didn't purposely show it off for you fools to find me? ...Do you really think I can't hide away from the lot of you if I wanted to?"

He continued to stare. He was struggling less.

"No. The reason why I even bothered letting you know of my location is because I needed you guys."

This world was vast. Far bigger than the world that I belonged to.

I knew from the moment that I arrived in this world that I would require the assistance of some kind of higher power in order to successfully navigate through it.

While I wasn't completely unaware of my circumstances back then when I slapped that little man from the Green Paw guild, I already had an idea that he would soon be bringing his guild to me. A chain villain was not to be underestimated.

It was also why I wasn't surprised by their appearance.

I squinted my eyes and firmed my grip on his throat.

"You don't want to die, do you?"

He shook his head. It took a bit, but he finally calmed down.

His skin was red, turning purple―most probably due to how hard I was holding―and he had difficulty making eye contact with me.

I wasn't unfamiliar with this type of gaze.

"That's good."

I finally let go of his throat.

"Cough! Cough!"

And he started to cough uncontrollably. I remained standing over him until he managed to calm himself down.

Only then did I speak again.

"From this moment forth, your Green Paw Guild will listen to my commands. If you so much as oppose me, I'll annihilate your entire guild."

***

'The information is wrong… Extremely wrong.'

Edward felt his heart pounding wildly at his throat as he attempted to maintain composure.

He started at the young man before him with dread.

Initially, he believed he could deal with him... Edward was one of the top experts in the world, but as soon as he witnessed Jerome being treated like a child, he abandoned such aspirations. The sight before him shattered all common sense he had.

He was only a bit more powerful than Jerome, and he didn't think he could defeat Jerome as easily as the younger man did...

He had a sudden thought.

'He couldn't have reached…'

He gave an exasperated sigh and shook his head, putting an end to the ridiculous notion before it had even a chance to form. He didn't want to believe in such nonsense.

It was impossible

All he could think of at the moment was how to get Amanda out of there safely.

He quietly looked at his daughter. Her gaze was fixed on the young man, painted with what seemed to be hatred and disbelief.

She seemed to be just as startled by his strength as he was.

"Amanda."

Edward called out, and she looked up at him.

His eyes turned complicated when he looked at her. He took a deep breath and clenched his teeth.

"In a minute, I'll go over to him and fight it out. Do your best to escape in the meantime and—"

"Seriously?"

Edward felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end as a voice pricked his ear. Instinctively, he whirled around and punched in the direction of the voice.

Boom—!

A large shockwave swept the surrounding area, and Amanda's clothes fluttered.

When the wind died down, Edward watched as a hand slowly and gently closed around his fist. He slowly turned his head upward and saw the same man who had been staring at him earlier with a troubled expression on his face.

"Did you really have to hit me like that?"

His gaze appeared to be apologetic, and he quickly released his grip on the fist, much to Edward's astonishment.

Letting out a long sigh, he raised both hands.

"Believe me or not, I'm not against you guys. How about we settle this peacefully?"

Edward stared off into the distance at the other members of the Green Claw Guild before turning his attention back to the young man. He nodded his head.

"…I was just about to suggest the same thing."

"…"

The man pinched the middle of his brows.

"Alright, I'll start off by saying that what happened back in the residence was a misunderstanding."

He looked toward Amanda.

"I didn't mean to go to her apartment."

Edward looked at him oddly. He didn't believe him one bit.

As if he could read his thoughts, the young man elaborated.

"If I really wanted to do something, do you think you could've stopped me?"

As soon as Edward opened his mouth to respond, he realized he had nothing to say. As a matter of fact, the young man probably could have accomplished whatever it was that he intended to do to them if he had really been intent on doing it.

He was at a level of strength where only a select few could stop him.

When he thought about everything that had happened up to this point, Edward felt a little more at ease. It's possible that there was a genuine misunderstanding.

He turned his head to look at the young man, but instead, the young man turned away from him and looked elsewhere. His expression appeared somewhat serious.

Following his gaze and seeing that he was staring at nothing, Edward become confused.

"Is there som—"

"You can come out now. Your presence is fairly obvious."

Following his voice, the area in the distance began to distort, and shortly thereafter, a man emerged from it.

Edward's eyes opened widely at the sight of the man. He recognized him immediately.

"Octavious? When did you get here?"

Indeed, the man was Octavious. At this moment, he was looking directly at the young man, and he didn't even bother to turn his head to look at Edward.

"After observing your prowess, it appears that I've overlooked something of great significance. My original plan was to retrieve the three Grandmasters and place you under lockdown, but it looks like I'll have to make some changes to my plans..."

"Oh?"

The young man displayed a curious expression and gestured with his hand in the air. Almost immediately after that, a sizable barrier began to envelop the area around them, completely surrounding them within its confines as it did so.

Octavious stared at the barrier that had enveloped them and his eyes rippled.

As he closed his eyes, the world around him began to shake, and a formidable and limitless pressure began to emerge from within his body. As he continued to close his eyes, the sensation became increasingly intense.

"T,this…"

Under the weight of the pressure, Edward took a few precautionary steps back and looked off into the distance in disbelief.

His astonishment only grew when he unexpectedly witnessed Octavious take a step into the air and begin to levitate upwards. Because of the way that his back blended in with the sun in the sky, he appeared to be an immortal that had descended upon the world. .

"I, impossible!"

At the sight of it, he felt an uncontrollable acceleration in the beating of his heart. It wasn't just him; Amanda and Jerome both looked at Octavious with eyes that were filled with complete and utter shock.

"I.. I..."

Jerome, who found himself unable to tear his gaze away from Octavious as he stood in the air, was the first one to speak.

In his eyes, he looked no different from a god.

"S…S rank…"

He managed to mutter before passing out.

Chapter 742: Octavious Hall [1]

'Aren't they overreacting a little?'

The way the three of them were looking at Octavious was rather odd. It was as if they were staring at some sort of god.

'I wonder what reaction they'll have when I do the same...'

I was just about to do that when I suddenly stopped and my eyes opened wide.

'Why does his body possess the Akashic Laws… and why can I feel them?'

My gaze was fixed on the murky white substance that was enveloping Octavious. It gave me a very familiar feeling.

Boom—!

I put very little pressure on the ground as the area beneath me began to collapse into a crater. When I looked up, Octavious was staring at me with a blank expression on his face.

The strength he was exerting was indeed <S-> rank, but the most shocking part was the white mist that was covering his body.

It made his power soar all the way toward <S+> rank.

Boom—!

He wasn't a man of many words.

Arching his back, he threw a fist my way, splitting the air in the process. I took a look down at his approaching fist, and then I punched out with the same level of strength as he had.

…I needed to get a better grasp of his strength and the white mist that was covering his body. I had a feeling that I was about to unearth a very big secret.

The aftermath of our two fists colliding was anything but beautiful. The warehouse collapsed, completely destroying the ground beneath it.

Octavious showed a surprised look at the fact that I was able to block the attack and threw another fist. I retaliated in kind.

Booom—!

I took a few steps back and stared at my hand, which was covered in a cloudy white substance. For some reason, in that collusion, small parts of it entered my body.

'This power…'

I wasn't wrong. This was indeed the Akashic law, and my eyes couldn't help but widen at the realization.

'Why does Octavious have this sort of power? …Shouldn't it just be Kevin who can wield such power?'

The more I reflected on it, the more concerned I became about the situation. Things were going in a direction that was completely outside my expectations.

"Is this really all you have?"

Octavious's voice rang from behind me, and I felt a powerful blow land on the right side of my abdomen. Shortly after, my vision blurred, and I seemed to have crashed against the remains of the warehouse.

Despite that, I was in no major pain. If anything, my heart hurt after seeing the state that my warehouse was in.

I slowly stood up and patted my body clean.

'Damned bastard.'

***

The sounds of explosions continued to echo from a great distance away. The ground began to shake, and the air began to twist. The entire plain was thrown into disarray just from the aftershocks caused by the collision between the two.

If not for the barrier that surrounded the place, Edward was afraid that their conflict would implicate the nearby city.

"Never in my life did I believe that someone could reach <S> rank…"

The shock that Edward was going through right now was unlike any other he had experienced in the past.

Before his eyes, he was gazing at two 'beings' who had surpassed what was deemed to be possible.

"I understand Octavious… but someone else?"

If there was anyone that could've reached such rank, Edward believed it would be Octavious.

He could accept that…

But how come there was someone else who was capable of achieving such power? Moreover, he looked to be the same as his daughter.

'Do people who reach such rank grow younger?'

It was the only explanation he could think of.

Boom—!

"Amanda, come here!"

After hearing the sound of another explosion, Edward moved quickly toward Amanda in order to shield her from the aftereffects of the collision between the two.

"Ugh."

He let out a groan and took several steps back.

"This is too much…"

Concerned, he cast a worried glance around the place. There were still people there from the Green Claw Guild laying on the ground in addition to the members of his guild.

He was afraid that they'd be implicated in the conflict between the two.

He grit his teeth and looked at Amanda.

"For now, help me collect all of our members and place them in the furthest part of the barrier."

"What about you?"

Amanda asked, her voice tinged with worry.

"Don't worry about me."

Edward reassured, caressing her head. Looking toward the battlefield in the distance, he murmured.

"If I'm careful, I should be able to survive…"

***

I felt a light breeze brush past me, and then I saw a fist coming closer to my face. I ducked my head to the side and sidestepped the punch that was coming my way.

After that, I gently pressed my hand against his stomach, and his entire body shot off into the distance.

I didn't bother following up as I once again focused my attention on my hand. The opaque white substance that had been surrounding it before was even thicker. When I clenched and unclenched my fist, I could feel that I had some degree of control over the power.

'Why is that?'

Was this something that Kevin had planned for me?

Somehow, as I stared at the newfound power, I felt that the more I fought against Octavious, the more I could grasp it.

I turned my head to look at Octavious before taking a step forward. I was in front of him in a matter of seconds, at which point I threw a gentle punch in his general direction.

Boom—!

He counterattacked with his own punch, but in the end, he was the one who was pushed back several steps.

'There it is!'

When Octavious and I parted ways, that was when I noticed a thin white thread moving away from him and linking toward me.

'Fascinating...'

Unaware of what was happening, Octavious's face, which had been expressionless up until that point, became a little more surprised, and his eyes became a little clearer.

"How are you this powerful? This shouldn't be possible? I… I thought they told me there was no one else capable of fighting against me…"

In response to his words, I wrinkled my brows. I was making slow but steady progress toward a better comprehension of the mystery that Kevin wanted me to solve.

"Who is this they?"

I asked while standing squarely in front of him once more. As soon as he saw me, his foot came flying toward my face, but I was easily able to avoid it while lightly kicking his foot and causing him to stagger back several steps.

'It seems like the more I touch him, the more I can control this Akashic law?'

As we fought, I was dumbfounded by the fact that I was gradually absorbing the hazy white that was enveloping Octavious and that he also appeared to be displaying an increasing number of emotions at the same time...

Was this a link? Was the hazy white liquid the reason why he couldn't display emotions?

Boom—!

I continued to punch, kick, or even headbutt. I used every part of my body to fight him, and my assumptions soon turned out to be correct.

With each punch, kick, slap, and headbutt I delivered... his power began to dwindle while the opaque white substance I was able to control began to grow. Not only that, Ovtavious's eyes began to become progressively clearer.

It was as if he was starting to become normal again… If that made any sense?

Boom—!

"How are you this strong!? It shouldn't be possible?!"

Octavious shouted with a shocked expression. Long gone was his apathetic and calm look. What replaced it was a man who was filled with emotions.

It was at this moment that I came to get a better understanding of what was going on, and my expression turned grim.

Easily dodging his fist, I extended my hand forward and grasped his shoulder. I thought I heard a small cracking sound, but it was probably just my ears. I ignored his contorting face and closed my eyes.

"Hm?"

While I was carefully sensing the Akashic Laws that were revolving around his body, I soon noticed a small white orb in the middle of his body and tried to absorb it. The orb seemed to be thick in Akashic laws.

"What are you doing?!"

I paid no attention to Octavious's shouts and instead kept my attention on the small ball that was located inside of his body. My expression, on the other hand, changed as time went on, and I quickly released my grip on his body.

"Oh sh—!

Booom—!

My body was struck by a powerful force, and as a result, I was propelled a great distance away. Crashing against the ground, I felt several of my bones break as my body spasmed on the ground.

"Ukh"

This time l truly felt it.

The pain was terrible, but I was already used to the pain. It was one of my many friends.

I deliberately shut my eyes and took a long, deep breath before slowly raising my body so that I could look into the distance.

In there, I was able to catch a glimpse of Octavious laying on the ground, unconscious. His entire body was trembling, and I forced myself to stand.

I inched my way closer and closer in his general direction. Because of what just happened, I was able to verify something.

"Ukh."

I let out a small groan while stumbling forward.

'The power Octavious wields…'

I gritted my teeth and forced myself to come to a stop in front of him. After I had fallen to my knees, I reached forward with both hands and grabbed his head.

'…It's the same as Kevin's.'

A white glow dyed my vision.

Chapter 743: Octavious Hall [2]

She was beautiful.

More so than anyone I'd ever seen in my life.

She was someone whom I couldn't take my eyes away from.

She was the love of my life.

My everything…

***

"What do you think? I think it looks quite nice?"

The air seemed to echo with a soft but endearing voice. It belonged to a beautiful young lady in her early twenties, whose brown hair waved at the ends. Her features were flawless, and her face was soft.

She was beautiful. Extremely so.

"It looks awful."

A man muttered. He recoiled in horror at the sight of the room, which was dominated by the color pink throughout. He cast his gaze in her direction.

"You took this too far."

"Oh, please."

She rolled her eyes while casting a glance toward her belly. It was slightly bulging.

"Since you're training all the time, I took it upon myself to decorate the room. If you're unsatisfied, then you should've spent more time with us."

"Ugh."

After groaning, the man sighed and sat down on a nearby stool. As he continued to survey the surroundings, he eventually gave up and lowered his head.

"You're right. I guess this is the price I have to pay for being busy…"

"Ey."

The woman glared.

"You're making it sound as if it looks terrible. You know, I've put a lot of effort into this place."

"Oh, sure, sure."

The man raised his hands in resignation.

"You're right, and I'm wrong."

The woman smiled. Extremely pleased with the man's words.

"It's good that you know.

***

I was satisfied with my life.

Happy with it.

Every day I would wake up happier than the next.

Life was perfect.

I loved it.

I thought it'd last until my last days.

I could still envision my future back then.

It was beautiful.

So, so beautiful.

Every day I'd wake up with joy just thinking about that future.

I was naïve.

***

The surrounding walls were almost entirely dominated by the color white There was a lingering smell of stale alcohol in the atmosphere, and in the background, there was a faint rhythmical beeping sound.

A husked figure lay on a small bed within the room. There were metal tubes connected to her chest, and there were thinner tubes made of plastic connected to the veins in her arms.

Her lips were dry, and her eyes were hollow.

A hand grasped her hand tightly. It belonged to a young man. He looked at her with distraught eyes.

"…She took her first steps today. I wasn't there, but I got a video of it."

He took out his phone and played the video.

A cute girl with her hair pulled back into a ponytail and sporting a cute little frown was seen approaching the camera. She had just taken two steps when she tripped and fell forward, at which point she began crying.

The husky figure slowly turned her head to look at the video.

"Haha."

The man laughed, finding the little girl cute.

"She looks just like you. Even her frown is the same…"

He covered his mouth with his hand and rubbed it. His eyes started to redden a little, but he didn't show it.

At long last, a response came from the woman. Even though it was only slight, Octavious noticed that the corners of her mouth turned upwards slightly.

Before he knew it, something warm began to run down the side of his cheek, and he squeezed her hand even more tightly.

"You think she's cute too, right? Haha, of course, she is. She looks just like you, so get better…"

He pursed his lips.

"Get better so that we can finally be together and live like a family as we've always dreamed of… Okay?"

Near the end of the sentence, his voice began to crack, and warmth continued to trickle down the side of his cheeks.

***

She was still beautiful to me.

Even when she was like that.

In my eyes, she was the most beautiful person in the world.

Nothing could take that beauty away from her.

So…

Why did she have to leave me?

Why did the world take her away from me?

***

"Uwaaa! Uwaaa!"

The wail of a child could be heard all throughout. They went on and on and on, stopping only when the child became tired.

Octavious lay on the sofa, his gaze directed toward the ceiling of the room. It was pink. A color he hated.

"Hu..huh."

His chest trembled as he took a breath.

He turned his attention to the right, where a glass pane stood, and looked at his own reflection in the pane. His eyes were sunken in, his hair was a mess, and his clothes were a mess as well.

'Who is he?'

Octavious found himself questioning the look of the man that was reflected on the glass. Was that supposed to be him? He looked nothing like him.

'That's not me.'

He tore his gaze away from the mirror, adamant in his belief that he was merely seeing things.

"Uwaaa! Uwaaa!"

Right then, the child began to cry again, and Octavious turned his gaze toward the small girl who was laying on the white crib opposite him.

'She's probably hungry, right?'

It was the only thing that could explain why she was crying. Octavious blinked a few times before leaning his head against the sofa and turning his attention to the bottle of milk that was sitting next to him.

After pondering for a while, he chose to leave it where it was and continued to listen to the child's cries.

"Uwaaa! Uwaaa! "

The cries continued and stopped in cycles. Sometimes they'd go for hours, sometimes for minutes, before stopping...

Octavious spent his time listening to them with his eyes closed.

It was the only sound that filled his empty heart.

The only sound that reassured him that he wasn't alone.

***

Losing my emotions…

It wasn't purely just for the sake of power.

I just wanted to forget. Numb myself from the pain.

They call me strong.

The strongest human.

If only that was the case.

…I'm not strong.

I'm just a coward.

***

[Ashton City Community Orphanage.]

Octavious stared at the sign in front of him. It belonged to a small chapel, and he could hear the sound of children playing in the background. They seemed rather happy. In his hands was a small girl that was quietly resting with her thumb in her mouth.

His lips trembled as he gazed at the orphanage in front of him.

When he lowered his hand to gaze at the young girl in his arms, he found himself torn.

'This is for the best...'

He didn't want to, but he knew this was the best decision he could take.

He was a danger to her.

For her, he couldn't allow himself to be near her. He wanted to love her with all of his heart, but... he was too broken to love her.

He didn't deserve her.

"Huh...huh.."

His chest trembled once more as he gazed at the orphanage in the distance. Closing his eyes, he firmed himself to move forward.

Just that...

"Dada?"

His feet came to a sudden stop as a sweet voice called out for him.

Octavious felt his entire body freeze at that moment and he lowered his gaze to meet two innocent eyes looking directly at him.

They were so pure...

"Dada?"

She called out again, her little hands reaching out for his face.

Octavious's lips trembled and he slowly brought his head toward her. Her hands soon touched his cheeks and she let out a series of soft giggles.

"Uhum"

Octavious let out a soft whimper as he heard her laugh.

He suddenly found that his legs were frozen and the orphanage in the distance was a lot further than he had originally thought.

Throb.

His chest throbbed and soon something trickled the side of his lips, dying bits of the ground in red.

"Hi, hi, hi."

The young girl continued to laugh as she pulled his hair and played with his face.

'Please stop.'

The more she did that, the greater the pain that Octavious felt.

His resolve was starting to wane.

'No, I can't allow that...'

He grit his teeth.

The orphanage inched closer. It was no longer as unreachable as it was before.

He was a danger to her.

He couldn't allow her to stay with him.

"Come, Melissa, be obedient."

With a wave of his hand, the little girl, Melissa closed her eyes and fell asleep. Feeling her rhythmical breath, Octavious took a deep breath and turned his gaze toward the orphanage once more.

He gently kissed her on the head before moving forward.

"Hello, is there anything that I can help you?"

Meeting him at the entrance of the building was a nun holding onto a small broom. She had a soft smile on her face and seemed rather friendly. When her gaze landed on the little girl in his hands, she came to an understanding.

"You want to leave her here in the orphanage?"

Octavious swallowed before nodding his head.

"Y,yes."

"Oh, my."

The nun looked quite troubled. Just before she could say anything else, Octavious took out a black card and handed it to her.

"There's over a dozen million U in the card. Please take it."

The nun looked surprised when she saw the card.

Looking back at Octavious, she asked.

"You seem rather wealthy, why are you leaving her here?"

Octavious smiled at her but didn't answer. He pushed the card forward.

"Please..."

The nurse stared at the card for a moment before setting the broom to the side. She then headed toward the entrance of the orphanage. Octavious felt his heart drop when he saw this, but just as he was about to turn and leave, he heard her voice calling for him.

"If you don't mind, why don't you follow me into the orphanage? I'm sure you'd want to see the place before sending your daughter here, right?"

Octavious's eyes lit up when he heard her voice and quickly followed her in.

"Thank you. Thank you."

The chapel was rather small, with wooden benches on the side and stained glass all over. The place was dimly lit and its center was a small statue.

It was a man holding onto a book.

"Who is that man?"

For some reason, Octavious felt drawn toward the statue in the middle. He felt entranced by it.

"That?"

The nun smiled and walked up to the statue.

She moved to its side and looked at Octavious.

"This is our protector."

"Protector?"

"Indeed."

The nun smiled warmly.

"He is the one that grants us strength. He is the one that grants us food. He is the one that grants us... Protection."

"Wh―"

Before Octavious could say anything else, the world around him suddenly turned white.

Chapter 744: Octavious Hall [3]

"Huuu.."

I took a deep breath. As I moved away from Octavious, who was lying down on the ground in front of me, I experienced a range of conflicting feelings.

'This is as far as I can extract…'

I was only able to retrieve a limited number of memories from his mind before my abilities started to fall apart and I was ejected from his consciousness. It was the first time that something like that had occurred, and I must admit that it caught me off, guard.

That being said, I had seen enough.

'The orb must be a defensive mechanism to stop anyone from prying any deeper. A pity it stops right when things were getting spicy...'

It was the only explanation that I could think of at the moment.

Thinking back about his memories, I wasn't sure how to react…

'I somewhat expected this after seeing Melissa's memories… but this runs deeper than I originally thought.'

I finally found the answer to a lot of the questions that had been plaguing me for quite a while.

'…So this is why Kevin sent me over here.'

It was to make me realize that there was another power within the world that was controlling everything from the shadows.

While I wasn't completely sure of its purpose, from what I'd witnessed, it appeared as though its goal was to eliminate and stop all those that had certain levels of talent, leaving only Octavious to reign at the top… someone whom they had full control of.

'The real question is… who is the one controlling everything?'

It had something to do with the records… that I knew, but I wasn't sure if it was the records themselves.

'Protector of the Seat of Diligence? Was that what he said?'

"Hmm."

My brows furrowed as I pondered over the memories I'd witnessed. It was then that I heard a slight groan coming from beneath me.

"Ukh."

Octavious slowly opened his eyes, and our gaze met. Staring at him, I extended my hand and thin white threads forced themselves out from his body before moving toward my direction and entering the palm of my hand.

With each passing second, Octavious's eyes became clearer and clearer, and once I reached the point where I could no longer take in any more of the white thread, his eyes turned completely clear.

"Ah... I..."

He started mumbling incomprehensible things while looking around him in a confused state.

His face was pale and he seemed to be displaying all sorts of different emotions at the moment. He was a far cry from the Octavious that I knew.

Compared to the stoic and powerful man that I knew, the man that was before me was a frail shell of what he once was.

He seemed broken…

I bent down to meet his line of sight.

"How about it? Have you come to your old self?"

***

It felt like a long dream.

A long and hazy dream he could only witness but not be a part of. The memories were faint, and he felt comfortable in them.

He felt powerful.

Almost invincible, and best of all, he felt numb.

So numb that he managed to forget all the pain that had haunted him for a very long time. He felt great.

That… however did not last for long.

It all came crashing down at one point. He wasn't sure when, but that comfortable dream started to crumble right before his very eyes, revealing to him the truth that lay behind that sweet and beautiful dream.

A nightmare.

"Huh…ah, what's going on?"

His memory was fragmented, but he could more or less come to an understanding of what had happened not long after.

"This… Ah…"

He lowered his head to stare at his hands. His lips were dry, and his body was weak. He felt pain all over… and most importantly, he felt his chest ache once more.

Waves of different emotions came crashing down on him all at once as different images appeared within his vision displaying all the things he'd done during that one long dream.

There were many of them, and all of them were of him doing inexplicable things.

Killing, blackmailing, kidnapping...

"Ha…ahh…"

The more he witnessed, the more he felt that he was suffocating. It was as if he were in the deepest part of the ocean, surrounded by water, pressuring him from all sides.

It made breathing impossible.

"How about it? Have you come to your old self?"

It was a soft voice that brought him back out of those depts and he raised his head. It was there that he caught a glimpse of two deep blue eyes staring directly at him.

Though fragmented, Octavious had an idea of who he was.

…He was the man that had pulled him out of his dream.

"Y,you…"

Octavious struggled to find his words. He tried, but every part of him hurt. He wanted to say something, but he couldn't.

As if noticing that, Octavious felt the two eyes drift away from him.

"It seems like the after-effects of our fight were a bit stronger than I thought. Have a rest for now."

Darkness overtook Octavious's vision.

***

'I wanted to ask him a few questions, but it looks like I'll have to do that later.'

I sighed and moved my eyes away from Octavious. He was in no state to talk at the moment.

Massaging my chin, I waved my hand and four people appeared before me. The moment they appeared, they stared at me with incredulous eyes.

I smiled.

"How was it? Did you enjoy the sight?"

The four continued to stare at me without saying a word. The way they looked at me felt rather uncomfortable, but I somewhat expected this.

What I showed them was a power that far surpassed this world. To them, I looked no different than a monster.

'Would they believe me if I told them that they had a similar level of strength in my world?'

I shook my head and shifted my attention toward the distance where I could see Amanda and Edward in the distance. He seemed rather haggard at the moment with a pile of people behind him.

He was most probably protecting them from the aftershocks of our fight.

"Oh, right."

Thinking about how much strength I used, I felt apologetic and waved my hand once more. The barrier that was surrounding us disappeared, revealing several cars behind. They were in pristine shape.

I looked toward the four beside me.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions, but let's go for now. There are a few things I still need to figure out."

I looked toward Octavious.

"…and I still need to talk to him."

*

"W,where would you like to go?"

The driver stuttered as he gazed at me through the front mirror. I turned to look at the haggard Edward beside me.

"Is it okay if we go to your guild?"

He looked at me and blinked several times. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he didn't want to go, but after he swallowed his saliva, he gave the driver the signal to go ahead and leave.

"Yes. Let's go to my guild..."

It was only after his confirmation that the card picked up the pace and sped through the streets. Several cars trailed us from behind.

The car was rather quiet during our journey, but I paid no mind to it.

At the moment, I was preoccupied with a different, and more problematic matter.

Tok.

"Tsk."

Octavius's head smacked against my shoulder and I pushed him away. This was the third time it happened and I was starting to get annoyed.

'He's annoying even when passed out.'

I pushed his head toward the other side.

"Ehm."

It was at this moment that I heard Edward's voice and I turned to look at him. He seemed to have composed himself a bit.

"Yes?"

"Do you mind if I ask the reason why you want to go out guild?"

"There's no deep meaning about it."

I reassured and looked at Octavious.

"I just need a quiet place to interrogate him."

I was only able to extract the memories he had before gaining his power. Anything after that was completely sealed, and even with my power, I couldn't pry it open… nor was I keen on prying it open.

Just thinking about the small explosion that had occurred a while back, I knew better than to touch whatever was sealed within his body. I may have been caught off guard, but it was definitely not something I could touch lightly.

The only thing I could do was hope that Octavious had recovered enough to answer my questions.

'Since I have removed some of the laws that were surrounding his body, I should be able to get some answers, right?'

I wasn't sure, but I could only hope.

Tok.

My mouth twitched and my head snapped toward my right.

"Huh, why do you keep… huh!? No, fuck he's drooling!"

Chapter 745: Emotionally Immature [1]

The Fallen Angel, Wing? Whatever the guild's name was―it was the same as the Demon Hunter Guild in terms of layout. I felt at home the moment that I entered the guild, baffling Edward.

In the lower grounds of the Guild.

"Wake up, you've had enough sleep."

I pressed my hand against Octavious's head and channeled my mana into him. He was currently bound on a chair opposite me, and his body jerked the moment my mana entered his body.

"Huh? …w,where am I?"

He looked around in confusion before his eyes settled over me.

"It's you."

Somehow he was able to recognize me in an instant.

That was a good start.

"Yes, it's me… Whatever that means, and if possible, I'd like it if you calmed down a little."

I wouldn't want him to pass out again.

"Your head should be a little clearer. You should be able to think for yourself for once…"

While I didn't know much, from what I was able to figure out regarding the power that was circulating within Octavius's system was that it was slowly consuming his emotions and essentially turning him into some form of emotionless warrior.

Sort of like a robot with diluted emotions.

I looked at him and reassured.

"If you're worried about suffering a potential backlash, don't be. With me here, nothing will happen to you. I've also already caught a glimpse of your memories, and have an understanding of what happened, but…"

I paused.

"…There's still some things that I'm unclear about and hence why I'm currently with you."

Silence filtered across the room following my words, and I continued to gaze at Octavious who was similarly looking back at me.

While I wasn't capable of reading his mind, I didn't need to. His face said it all.

"You've done a lot of fucked up shit under the influence of the power you wielded. I'm not sure how bad since the only one who knows this best is you… but that's not what I care about at the moment. What I care about at the moment is figuring out who was it that made you the way that you were and what was the purpose behind giving you the power."

It wasn't clear to me before, but it was clear to me now.

If I wanted to get back to my own world, I had to figure out who the one controlling everything from the shadows was.

'Once I figure out who it is that is responsible for all of this, I'll finally be able to get back. I'm sure of it."

I looked at Octavious. He was the key to helping me determine who was responsible for everything.

"Cough… Cough…"

He coughed several times. Clearly, he was still quite injured from our earlier conflict, but I didn't care. I wanted answers.

"Y,you… how are you so strong?"

The question he posed wasn't what I wanted to hear and my brows furrowed.

"Don't worry about that for now. Answer my question first. Who is the one behind you, and why did you do the things that you did?"

"I…"

Octavious opened his mouth before lowering his head.

"…I don't know."

I knew he wasn't lying from how helpless he looked.

"You don't know? What don't you know? Who is the one behind the matter, or what the purpose behind your power was?"

"…I don't know who is the one behind my power."

He answered after a short struggle and cast his gaze on me.

"You say you have seen my memories… you should know that he's never shown himself to me. Even while I was under his power, I never got to catch a glimpse of his looks… All I know is his title."

"Protector of the Seat of Diligence."

I finished the sentence for him.

This 'title' was one of the things that stood out the most in his memories.

'Protector of the Seat of Diligence… sounds eerily similar to one of the seven virtues… seven deadly sins…'

My brows furrowed.

'It couldn't be right?'

"Alright, I believe you in the fact that you don't know who this protector is, but you should at least be aware of what his purpose in giving you power was, right? Can't you tell me what he's ordered you to do over the past few years?"

"That…"

Octavious's eyes flashed with complex emotions. Organizing his thoughts, he eventually answered.

"…I don't remember much. However, from what I recall, my mission was simple. That is to make sure that I stood at the top of the world."

My brow raised.

"That's it?"

"Yes."

Octavious nodded his head.

"That's it."

He added.

"My goal was that simple. It was to remain at the top of the world, and eliminate anyone that comes close to my power."

I bit my shirt and pondered before asking.

"Is this the reason why you had the three Grandmasters imprisoned and sentenced to death?"

"Yes. They were growing too powerful. They were the closest to reaching the next level, and I was ordered to eliminate them."

"So that's not the first time you've done something like this."

"It's not."

Octavious shook his head, and I lowered my head.

"I've also been tasked with keeping watch on those that show particularly strong talent. My job is to make it so that they don't develop to their full potential."

"I see…"

'It's as I suspected.'

Pondering over his words, a lot of things started to make sense. Thinking back at my world, and recalling how the three Grandmasters had all fallen during their peaks…

'It looks like their deaths had nothing to do with the demons.'

From the looks of it, the one responsible for their death was probably the higher power that lurked within this world.

Perhaps the reason they were killed so early was because things were moving at a faster rate than they were now...

"ha ha."

I suddenly found myself laughing, catching Octavious off-guard.

"Is there something funny?"

"No, no. Don't mind me. I suddenly thought of something absurd."

I covered my face as an absurd thought crossed my mind.

'While this world is indeed a lot more peaceful than the one I belong to, it's just as bad as the one I belong to if one looks carefully. While not many people are aware, they're merely a bunch of sheep inside of a large herd. If not for the demons…'

I laughed again.

One could argue that the demons were the ones that gave humans a chance at freedom.

"Did I say something funny?"

"No, I told you it's something else."

I looked back at Octavious and stood up from my seat.

"Thank you, I think I got a better understanding of what I'm up against. I'll take my leave now."

"Wait."

I was stopped before I could leave.

"Yes?"

I looked at Octavious who pursed his lips. His eyes shook a little and his head lowered. He seemed to be struggling to find the right words, and I think I saw something that closely resembled fear in his gaze.

...I found myself stopping at that.

"C,can you do me a favour?"

***

"Humm, Humm."

Melissa was in a good mood. To the point that she began humming while she was arranging the items on the table in front of her. This was an extremely uncommon occurrence, and if anyone who knew her were to witness it, they would be astounded beyond belief.

"Lalala, ulululu."

It had to be said. She was not the greatest of singers. In fact, she was rather terrible. So much so that Rosie, who was still frozen in place in the distance, started to fear for the glass around the lab.

It was shaking.

"Dadum, pulum, katum, Chika!"

Melissa drummed her fingers over the desk. With the influx of information inside her mind, she felt invincible at the moment.

Instantaneously, all of the obstacles that had been preventing her from making further progress in her research were gone, and from that point on, she was able to conduct experiments without encountering any problems.

So smooth was her life in the lab that she herself was baffled by the results. She was on cloud nine at the moment.

"Money, money, money, in the rich girl's world~"

The glass began to shake even more, and Rosie's face became increasingly pale. She started fearing for the worst.

Ding―!

It was a blessing that the bell at the lab's entrance suddenly rang at that precise moment as Melissa immediately stopped singing. It didn't take long for a frown to appear on her face, but the thought of all the money she was going to have soon was enough to convince her to go ahead and open the door.

"Since I'm in a good mood today, I'll let this one slide."

When she reached the entrance, she pressed her hand against the side of the door. Her expression froze as soon as she caught a glimpse of the man who was standing on the other side of the door.

Her mood instantly sunk after that and her expression turned gloomy.

"It's nice that you haven't forgotten about me, father."

Chapter 746: Emotionally Immature [2]

Even after he heard his daughter speak in a cool, detached way, Octavious' face didn't change. He had long since expected such a reaction.

Everything became clear once the power he wielded was no longer with him.

When Melissa looked at him, he was able to tell just by looking at her expression what kinds of feelings were going through her mind at that very moment.

They were expressions he'd seen many times in his life. He wasn't unfamiliar with them.

"May I come in?"

He asked, looking around and frowning at the sight of the frozen girl in the distance. Why was she like that?

"Why do you have to come in?"

It appeared as though Melissa did not want him to enter, as she blocked his path. Octavious lowered his head and fixed his gaze on her.

She looked the same as 'she' did when 'she' was younger. Perhaps she was even more beautiful.

'Her angry look is also the same…'

A long-forgotten pain began to reappear in his chest, and his expression nearly collapsed. He was able to retain it after a fierce struggle, and after looking around, he returned his gaze to Melissa.

"I need to talk to you."

***

His voice was calm and soft, but the manner in which he spoke made Melissa feel as though she could not refuse, and she moved to the side in reluctance.

"Make it quick."

She had no desire to interact with the man in front of her, but what could she do? Kick him out? The world's strongest human?

'Pft, as if that stubborn bastard would even bother listening to my demands.'

Melissa could only resign herself to the situation and lead him toward her private lab where there was no one. It was in a bit of a mess at the moment, but she didn't care in the least bit. Since he came so abruptly, she had no time to clean it, and even if he had made an appointment, she wouldn't have cared.

He was a stranger that shared the same blood as her in her eyes.

Clank―!

She closed the door behind her and turned to look toward her father. She wanted to get this done quickly.

"Out with it, what is it that you wan―!"

Feeling a rough hand against her cheek, Melissa froze halfway through her sentence. Her eyes soon opened wide as she looked at the man standing opposite her in shock.

"What are you doing!??"

She smacked the hand away and moved several steps back. With her sleeve, she rubbed her cheek and glared at the man.

"I know that you're my father, but who gave you permission to t―"

"You look exactly like her."

She froze after hearing his voice. It wasn't so much the contents of his voice that made her freeze, but the softness of his voice.

Never before did she hear him speak to her with such tenderness...

When she looked up at him, she was even more shocked to see her usually expressionless father staring at her with an expression that was different from its usual self.

He seemed to be in... pain?

"She looked exactly like you when she was younger."

He may not have directly stated who the 'she' he was referring to was, but Melissa had an idea of whom he was referring to, and as she observed him, a lump formed in her throat.

She had no idea how to react at the moment.

'My stomach is starting to hurt.'

In her twenty plus years of life, this was the first time that her father had talked about her mother, and she could vividly see the emotions in his eyes.

He looked… frail.

Melissa took off her glasses and pinched the middle of her brows.

"What are you trying to achieve over here? Do you seriously expect something from me? You don't have to pretend to be like this, if you want something, just ask away. I'll see if I can help you?"

She sat on a nearby stool and bit onto her nails.

The way he was behaving was giving her anxiety.

Emotions made her cringe.

The neglect she faced during her younger years made her emotionally immature. She wasn't capable of understanding emotions properly, and anything related to them made her cringe.

It was for this reason that she buried herself in her research and avoided people. It wasn't so much that she hated them, but she was incapable of interacting with them.

Emotions repulsed her and gave her anxiety.

She scratched the side of her neck.

'Fuck, I want this to stop.'

Octavious's current behavior was akin to torture for her.

***

Octavious smiled at her words and similarly sat down on one of the nearby stools. He covered his mouth with his hand while leaning his shoulder against the table.

There were many things that he wanted to say to her now that he had finally managed to regain clarity over his own head, however, as he looked at his daughter who was seated opposite him, Octavious found himself unable to say anything.

He couldn't recall everything, but the few tid bits that he managed to remember were no pleasant memories.

Thinking of how he had treated his daughter for the past few years… the disappointment in her face, the times he saw her cry, and the times she tried to meet his expectations only for him to disregard her efforts…

He felt his heart squeeze.

"I've failed as a father."

He unconsciously blurted out loud.

Melissa's body stiffened at his words and she looked at him with a baffled look.

Octavious smiled, it was a forced one. Every time he looked at his daughter, he felt himself drowning in even more pain, but he bore with it.

This was the price he had to pay for his actions.

"Your mother's death…" He took a deep breath. "It affected me in more ways than you can imagine. She was my everything. I was happy back then. In more ways than you could imagine. It felt as though I had everything in my life…"

A soft smile unconsciously spread across his face as he thought back at those moments in the past.

He was truly happy back then.

"She was everything that I could ever ask for in a partner. Caring, funny… annoying."

He let out a soft chuckle at the last part, and he felt something toward the corner of his eyes. He slowly lowered his head to gaze at Melissa who was staring at him with a scrunched-up face.

His gaze softened.

"You couldn't imagine just how happy I was when I heard of the news that she was pregnant… I was happy, really happy..."

Alongside the day he decided to marry her, that was singlehandedly the best day of his life.

"Just the thought of starting a family excited me. Every day I would wake up thinking about the future… Life was perfect."

His chest slowly moved up, and the smile that had spread across his face slowly subsided.

"…The moment I lost her was the moment that I lost myself."

Octavious didn't even bother looking at her. He couldn't find the courage to look at her. He was just laying out what was bottled up within him.

She deserved to hear the truth. For everything that he'd put her through.

"Many have hailed me as the strongest human in existence, some sort of talent that has never been seen before…"

Octavious shook his head.

"It's a lie… all of it."

***

The more she listened, the more Melissa found her face contorting.

'What is he doing, why is he saying all of this… and why now?'

Whatever he was trying to do, it was too late. Yet… Why did it feel as though someone was stabbing straight through her heart?

For some reason, his words were piercing her.

She didn't feel comfortable.

She wanted to leave but found herself unable to. Staring at her father who, for the first time in her life, seemed to be displaying emotions, she found herself rooted in her seat.

She clenched her teeth.

'Ah, fuck, this sucks.'

She wanted to throw up at this moment. She could feel it in her stomach. With each passing second, the feeling was getting clearer and clearer.

She covered her mouth with her hand while her foot repeatedly tapped against the ground. She felt suffocated.

"She was everything that I could ever ask for in a partner. Caring, funny… annoying."

'Make this end quicker…'

She didn't know when, but she soon felt an iron-like taste in her mouth. Thinking at how her lips were stinging, she associated it with her lips bleeding.

"Just the thought of starting a family excited me. Every day I would wake up thinking about the future… Life was perfect."

Scratching the side of her neck, she soon started to notice that her hands were sliding against something wet, and when she looked, she realized it was her own blood.

'Make this stop, I hate this… I hate this… stop...'

"Melissa."

Hearing her name being called, Melissa raised her head. It was there that she found her father staring at her with a smile.

It was a forced one, and droplets were streaming down the side of his cheeks.

"I'm sorry."

"Bluerrghh!"

She threw up.

Chapter 747: Figuring things out [1]

Swoosh-! Swoosh-!

A sword streaked through the air, cutting through it in a swift manner and giving rise to a whistling sound. Sweat trickled toward the ground, quickly evaporating the moment it touched it.

Swoosh―!

Amanda swung her sword again.

'You're not fitted for the sword.'

Her grip on the hilt tightened, and she found herself swinging with even more force as her teeth clenched tightly.

'Bastard.'

She wanted to refute his comments. They were denying her efforts and the blood, sweat, and tears she shed to get where she was.

It was denying her efforts.

Every time she thought back at his face and the condescending look he gave her as he said those words, Amanda found herself hating him more and more.

…It's just that.

'What if his words are true?'

She stopped swinging the sword and lowered her hand.

What if, the words he said weren't a lie and were the truth?

'But how's that possible? There's no one within my age group who is as strong as me. There's no way what he said is true…'

She was trying to convince herself, but thinking about the strength that he displayed, Amanda found herself starting to doubt herself even more.

She looked at the sword in her hand.

'Perhaps…'

Clank―!

The door to the training ground suddenly opened, and when Amanda turned her head to see who had entered, her face crumbled.

It was him.

***

'Someone looks a bit hostile.'

I could feel Amanda's glare from the other end of the room. She didn't look all too pleased with my presence.

"What are you doing here? This training ground is occupied."

"Oh, I know."

I nodded my head and continued to move forward. Amanda was dressed in a form-fitting uniform that accentuated her curves beautifully, and she had her hair pulled back into a ponytail.

However, even though she looked very alluring at the moment, the thing that caught my attention was the sword that she was holding in her hand.

"You still haven't changed your weapon?"

I was hit by a more powerful glare.

"Who are you to tell me what I should do, and what I shouldn't do?"

"Haha."

I found myself laughing at her tone.

She was being incredibly cute at the moment.

"Is there something funny?"

If looks could kill, I'd probably be dead a million times over.

…Sadly, looks couldn't kill.

'Hmm, maybe when my charm levels up… That'd be interesting.'

"No, don't mind me. I just think that your reaction is quite cute."

I extended my hand, and my sword appeared in my hand.

Amanda frowned at my words and took several steps back. She had a sudden look of understanding.

"Is this how it is? Did you purposely say that I'm not fitted to the sword so that I would develop some sort of interest in you?"

She looked at me in disgust.

"If that's your goal, then I suggest you give up. I have no interest in a squid looking man like you."

"Uh?"

I found myself freezing on the spot.

"Oh? Did I hit the spot? Were you actually trying to use this chance to flirt with me?"

The level of disgust on her face increased, but I didn't care. At that moment, I felt something within me snap.

'D,did she just call me a squid looking man?'

"Ah."

I found myself grasping for my chest as I felt something prick it.

It hurt.

Me? A squid looking man?

'No, no, no… I'm sure she's just saying this because she's angry with me.'

Yeah, it had to be that.

It could only be that.

"Huu…"

I took a deep breath and recovered my composure.

'Alright, let's not fall for her taunts. She's clearly just angry.'

I smiled at her and removed my sword from my sheath. Amanda's eyes narrowed when I did so, and she took several steps back.

"What are you doing? Were you so hurt by my words that you now want to silence me?"

My mouth twitched, and I shook my head.

"You're misunderstanding. I'm not trying to do anything of the sort. I'm just going to spar with you and let you understand why I said what I said."

I took another deep breath.

"I didn't say what I said back then just to insult you or flirt with you… The reason why I said what I said is because I truly do think that you're not fitted with the sword."

While she may not realize it just yet since she was too weak, the moment that she broke into <A-> rank, she would definitely come to realize the flaws within her swordsmanship, and by then, it would be far too late for her to fix.

She may not be the same Amanda from my world―her current personality being a dead giveaway—or perhaps not even be real, but I felt compelled to correct her at the moment.

'Actually, come to think of it. Who was it that told her to use the sword?'

It was definitely odd that Edward didn't notice the flaws in Amanda's swordsmanship, but thinking that he wasn't yet <S-> rank, I could only attribute it to the fact that he was simply not yet strong enough to tell.

"Let's be serious for a moment. Show me what you've got."

I urged her on by pointing my sword in her direction. She didn't seem convinced regarding the spar, so I pushed further.

"Come, you're about to spar against someone who's far more powerful than the strongest man in this world. I'm sure you can set aside some misgivings to learn from me, or…"

I purposely stopped while narrowing my eyes at her.

"…are you afraid that my words are right?"

That seemed to have done the trick. Instantly, Amanda unsheathed her sword and aimed it at me.

Her face was as cold as ice.

"Fine."

She stepped toward me and swung at me.

'Tsk, as expected. She's really not talented with the sword.'

It was the second time that I sparred with her, and it became even clearer to me that this wasn't it.

Clank—!

"Too obvious."

I slapped the side of the blade, making Amanda lose her balance. Landing softly on the ground, she punched me again.

Clank—!

"Too wide."

Clank—!

"…Your movements are wrong."

Clank—!

"Oof, even my grandma is more flexible than you. Your movements are way too rigid!"

Clank—!

"Really?"

I grew more and more disappointed as time went on, yet at the same time, I found myself enjoying every bit of the time I was spending with her.

It was really fun.

I soon lost track of time. It could've been an hour, two hours, or even more, but we just continued to spar on and on and on. It was only after Amanda was completely gassed that we finally stopped.

"Haa…haaa…"

Her heavy breaths echoed throughout the training grounds. Though faint, I could see that the edges of her mouth were curled.

'She must've enjoyed herself. I'm glad.'

I sat down next to her. No matter how different she was from my Amanda, she was still her.

"Convinced yet?"

"Nope."

She shook her head. Unlike before, her tone wasn't as venomous.

I massaged my forehead.

"Ugh, you're really stubborn."

"Get used to it."

"Haha."

I laughed. She was quite the character.

'Maybe when I come back, I can share my memories with Amanda. I wonder how she'll react?'

I grinned when I thought that far.

"Hey."

"Hm."

I turned to look at her.

"What is it?"

"Why are you smiling like that? Are you thinking about someone?"

"Oh?"

I raised my brow. How did she know?

When I looked at her, I soon found myself smiling.

"Yes, I was indeed thinking about someone else."

Her eyes narrowed, but she soon turned her head away.

"I see."

"Are you curious as to who I was thinking about?"

"No."

Amanda shook her head and stood up.

"Who you think about is none of my business."

"Is that so?"

I also stood up and stretched my back. At the same time, I put my sword away.

"Well, if you were curious, I was just thinking about my girlfriend."

Amanda stiffened on the spot, and I found myself smirking.

"Ho, ho? What's this? Why are you reacting like that? Are you perhaps embarrassed that you realized that I wasn't flirting with you?

"Like what?"

Amanda looked at me calmly. She stared at me coldly, and answered.

"I was just surprised by how someone that looks like you managed to get himself a girlfriend."

"Oy."

I glared at her. She really knew how to hit my sore spots.

"I'll have you know th—"

Clank—!

It was all of a sudden, the door of the training room opened, and a familiar figure walked in. She had short auburn hair, and her face was as exquisite as Amanda's.

"Amanda, there you are. Where were you? I was trying to rea—"

She stopped halfway through her sentence and looked at me.

She opened her eyes wide, and pointed at me.

"That.. that… who is he? Your bo—"

"No."

Amanda cut her off before she could finish her sentence.

"He's just someone who I was sparring with."

"Oh."

Emma nodded, not entirely convinced.

"Were you sparring the whole time?"

"Yeah."

"What for?"

"He said that I'm not fit for the sword."

"What?!"

Emma opened her eyes wide and looked at me.

"Are you serious? Did he actually say that?"

"Yeah."

Amanda nodded her head.

"He seems to think the opposite of your dad."

'Hm? Is she talking about Waylan?'

Was he the one who suggested Amanda was a better fit for the sword?

"Ugh."

Emma shook her head.

"And what's the result? Was he right, or was my dad right?"

Amanda smiled while she looked at me.

"Well, I don't know yet. So far, I still don't believe him yet, but we can only ask Oliver later."

I blinked twice.

'Oliver? Who's Oliver?

Chapter 748: Figuring things out [2]

'I'm sure I heard Oliver… Did I hear wrongly?'

I didn't think so.

"Eh, my dad's been kind of busy lately. I haven't even seen him around these past few days."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, but it's not like it rarely happens. It's been like this since I last remember… I'm sure you understand me."

"Yeah."

"Ehm…"

I interrupted the conversation between the two. Scratching the side of my cheek, I altered my gaze between Amanda and Emma before finally settling on Emma.

"What did you say that your father's name was?"

Emma looked at me strangely.

"You don't know who my father is… ?" She paused and furrowed her brows. "No, never mind. It's not like he's some sort of big shot celebrity. Why should I expect everyone to know his name?"

"His name is Oliver."

Amanda answered for her, and I found myself blinking several times again.

"Oliver?"

"Yes."

Only after Amanda confirmed it once more was I finally convinced that I didn't hear incorrectly.

'Oliver? Why is his name different?'

This wasn't the name that I knew of.

I looked at Emma.

"By chance, do you know of anyone that goes by the name Waylan?"

Perhaps he was still called Waylan, but went by a different name in front of people? It wasn't impossible.

…Or so I thought.

"Waylan? No, I've never heard of him before."

Emma looked at Amanda.

"Do you know what he's talking about?"

"No."

"I see."

I had no choice but to give up when I saw that neither of the two knew who Waylan was.

'I guess it makes sense in some way.'

Even though everyone I interacted with in this world had the same name as the ones in my world, it wasn't impossible for some others to have names that were different.

After all, this was a different world, and its history was completely different. The fact that their names were the same was the odd part.

'Well, whatever.'

I shrugged the thought off. It didn't seem like a big deal.

Ding―!

Right then, I received a notification on my watch. I smiled when I looked at it.

'They're faster than I expected.'

[Ashton City Community Orphanage―Middlestone Street 56.

―Read More]

***

During the time that I was able to catch a glimpse of Octavious's memories, the orphanage was the one thing that stood out to me the most.

That was as far as Octavious's memories led me, but that was enough.

"Sir, we will be arriving shortly."

"Mhm."

The view from the window of the car revealed a run-down neighborhood. There were no towering structures, and most of the homes were on the modest side.

After what I did to the Green Paw Guild, I felt as if my life suddenly became simpler. In addition to having an excellent information network, they also provided me with a personal driver.

It was no thanks to them that I was able to find the orphanage this quickly.

"We have arrived."

The car stopped, and the driver got out. Coming around, he opened the door for me.

"The orphanage is up ahead."

He pointed at a certain chapel off in the distance with his finger. It was uncannily similar to the way it appeared in the memories I saw. It was probably a little bit more rundown, but other than that, it was pretty much the same.

"Would you like for me to wait for you here?"

"That's okay."

While calmly observing the distant chapel, I shook my head. From the exterior, nothing seemed amiss. It looked perfectly normal.

It was as if this was just a regular chapel...

"You can leave; I can go back on my own."

Sending the driver on his way, I fixed my clothes and moved toward the chapel. Secretly, I started to channel my mana and demonic energy.

If what I saw in Octavious's memories was true, then whoever this Protector was… they weren't something that I could make light of.

"Welcome to the orphanage; how may I be of assistance?"

Greeting me was a nun. She was a different nun than the one from Octavious's memories. She seemed rather young, and what particularly struck me were her deep blue eyes.

I greeted her politely.

"I just wanted to take a look. You see, my wife and I have been thinking of adopting…"

"Ah."

The nun's eyes lit up, and she smiled brightly.

"Why if that isn't great news?"

She led me toward the chapel.

"Come with me inside for a moment. I will contact the head nun and let you see the children."

"Thank you."

Creak―!

The wooden door creaked as the nun pushed it open, revealing a dark interior lit only by the flickering flames of a few candles.

The air was heavy with the scent of incense and decay.

When my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, I looked around to notice the pews were draped in tattering black cloth and the walls were adorned with faded paintings that were no longer discernible. There was something unsettling about the paintings, but I couldn't quite make out what it was.

'There it is.'

At the center of the chapel stood a familiar statue. Its marble surface was chipped and stained. Clearly from the wear of time.

My feet came to a stop, and I stared at the statue from where I stood.

'It looks normal.'

The statue was… just a statue. Observing it from where I was, there didn't seem to be anything odd about it.

'I thought I'd be able to notice something since I can now control a bit of the laws, but…'

It didn't seem to be the case.

"Are you interested in the statue?"

I heard a distant voice. When I looked up, I saw an elderly nun making her way toward the statue.

I squinted my eyes at her presence.

'She seems familiar.'

She made a favorable first impression on me. Something about being in her presence was soothing, and it made me want to put my faith in what she had to say.

…but it was that sort of impression that made me warier of her.

Still, I didn't outwardly display my wariness and merely smiled at her.

"I am indeed interested in the statue."

I took a few steps forward, and curiously looked at the statue while pinching my chin.

"I've been to many churches in my life, and I've never seen such a statue before. I was just wondering who the statue is depicting."

"A question I'm very used to." The nun smiled, caressing the statue next to her. "Our chapel doesn't belong to a religious branch. You can say that this statue does not depict a god."

"Hm?"

I cocked my head.

"That's rather interesting."

A chapel was a place of worship. If they weren't worshipping a god, what were they worshipping?

"Did you say that you were interested in taking a child for adoption?"

I was momentarily thrown off by the nun's unexpected question, but recalling what I had said to the other nun at the entrance, I nodded my head.

"Yes, my wife and I are looking to adopt."

"Is that so?"

The nun smiled, and I found myself frowning. For some reason, it felt as though I was being seen through at this very moment.

I hadn't experienced anything like it in a very long time, and it wasn't a pleasant sensation by any stretch of the imagination. Especially ever since I reached the strength that I currently possess.

"Is there something wrong?"

Her smile was unsettling.

'Why am I getting creeped out with someone that has no shred of mana in them?'

"There's nothing wrong." The nun shook her head. "It's just that we don't appreciate it when someone lies."

"Hm?"

I raised my brow.

"Lie?"

"Mhm."

The nun nodded her head. She then gently caressed the statue.

"Protector has already revealed everything to me. You're not here for the children. You're here for him, aren't you?"

"…"

I didn't like how things were playing out.

"Haa..."

I sighed while shaking my head.

'I shouldn't be surprised. I'm sure whoever was controlling Octavious must've seen what I did to him."

Think thus far, I let out a long breath and nodded my head.

"You're right. I did indeed come to meet this Protector of yours. I'm not really looking to adopt children."

I decided to come clean. There was no point in lying anyway. What I needed to do now was figure out who this damned Protector was so that I could finally go back to my own world.

"That's much better."

The nun clasped her hands together. She seemed genuinely pleased by my words and moved away from the statue.

"What would you like to know about the Protector?"

"Hm?"

Her words caught me off guard.

"Am I not going to meet him?"

"Meet him?"

The nun's eyes squinted at my words.

"You wish to meet the Protector?"

"I thought I made that pretty clear."

"That is not possible."

The nun shook her head, her eyes closing into thin slits.

"The Protector isn't someone you can meet as you, please. They have far more important tasks at hand than meeting with the likes of you."

Even after everything that I did to Octavious and the power I displayed, this so called Protector refuses to meet me?

'As if I believe that.'

"Tasks? Like what tasks?"

"Keeping balance."

The nun replied, her tone reverent.

"The Protector is in charge of keeping the balance in this world."

"Balance?"

I almost laughed at her words.

"Is keeping balance the same as eliminating those who have talent?"

This became pretty obvious to me after I heard what Octavious had to say. What this so called 'Protector' did was nothing short of cleansing those who had a certain level of talent and accomplishments.

"Yes."

The nun nodded, admitting everything rather quickly.

I was taken aback.

'She's not even going to deny it?'

"That is indeed one of the many roles of the Protector."

"There are more roles?"

"Indeed."

The nun replied.

"The Protector is also in charge of blessing the world."

"Wait…" I had a sudden thought, and my eyes opened up. "When you mean by blessing, you can't be saying―"

"It is indeed as you're thinking."

The nun cut me off before I could finish.

"You and the people of this world should be thankful to the Protector. If it weren't for the Protector, your world would've never gotten into contact with mana."

Chapter 749: Figuring things out [3]

It first started with the first cataclysm.

A shift in tectonic plates all over earth. Moving countries from where they previously were, and producing tsunamis and earthquakes in the process. By the end of the first cataclysm, the world map changed completely creating one supercontinent.

Many hypothesized that the first cataclysm occurred so the earth could acclimate to the mana that would soon enter the planet.

It made sense, and I also believed it was the case.

I was wrong.

"So you're telling me the first cataclysm wasn't something that occurred naturally but was instead done by this so called Protector?"

"The First Cataclysm, as the world named it as such, was the day that the Protector blessed this world with his presence." The nun looked at the statue with reverence. "His mere presence brought change to this world."

"What?"

The more she spoke, the more confused I become. Despite that, I somewhat understood some of her words.

'Is she implying that the first cataclysm happened because he came to this world?'

…How powerful was that?

"Mana was a gift that the Protector bestowed upon us from the goodness of their heart." The nun paused, looking at me with a clear smile. "Since they bestowed upon us this power, it is only fitting that the Protect decides who should keep the power and who shan't. Am I right?"

'I think I've heard enough.'

What she said… It was enough to make me understand what was going on.

"Why did the protector 'bless' us with mana?"

If they were too afraid of us getting too much power, why even give us the power in the first place?

It made no sense.

"The motives of the Protector aren't things that the likes of us can understand."

The nun replied.

"We must appreciate what they have already blessed us with."

"Right."

I found myself tearing my gaze away from her and focusing it on the statue.

'Is this what you were trying to show me, Kevin? This so called Protector?'

While I wasn't sure about the specifics behind this so called 'blessing', I knew for a fact that it had something to do with the records.

The clues were there. The Laws in Octavious's body, Matthew's words, the Nun's words… Everything linked to the Records.

Whoever this protector was… they were most likely with the Records, perhaps even their creation.

"This Protector of yours…"

I looked at the nun. There was something else I was curious about.

"…Do they have a name?"

Protector of the seat of Diligence. That was more of a title than a name.

'I'm sure, whoever this Protector is, they must have a name, right? ... Or do they just go by titles?'

"Name?"

The nurse looked at me incredulously.

"How would the likes of me know? The true name of the Protector is not something we can know. Only Protectors can know the name of other Protectors."

"There are others?"

This… how should I say… I somewhat expected it.

'It looks like my earlier hunch wasn't wrong.'

Perhaps the term 'Diligence' was truly the same Diligence as the one in the seven virtues.

'Wouldn't this mean there are six other of these so called Protectors around?'

I found myself frowning at the thought. One was already scary enough… six more? I could only shudder at the thought.

Creak―!

The wooden door of the chapel creaked, and I broke free from my thoughts. When I raised my head, my eyes paused on a certain figure.

'He looks familiar.'

That was the first thing I thought when my gaze paused on him.

It was so dimly lit that I was unable to get a good look at who had just entered, but the moment I laid my eyes on them, I felt a sense of familiarity.

"Ah, if it isn't our most esteemed benefactor."

I was surprised by the nun's words as I turned to see her rushing toward the man who had just entered the chapel.

Following her back, I heard a certain voice, and my breath stopped.

"Sister Viviana. It's nice to see you again."

"If it isn't little Oliver. It's so nice that you visit us despite being so busy."

"It's what I must do."

"Are these gifts for us?"

"It's just a little something I picked up while coming here. Don't mind it too much."

"Why aren't you kind, Oliver."

'Oliver? Waylan?'

I now understood why I felt that he looked familiar. Upon casting a closer look at him, the man that stood before the nun was indeed Waylan. He looked exactly the same as I remembered… uncannily so.

"Oh, how rare. It looks like you have visitors today."

Finally taking notice of me, Oliver smiled and waved his hand at me. I smiled back and waved at him.

"It's nice to meet you."

"What have you come into this rundown place for?"

He walked up to me while looking around the chapel.

"It isn't often that I come to visit, but it's usually just me and sister Viviana. I've never seen anyone else here… You can say it's a breath of fresh air."

"Is that so?"

The way he carried himself and his speech was the same as the Waylan that I knew.

"Mhm. I've been coming here for the past two decades, and you're the first person I've seen come into this orphanage."

"Past two decades?"

I looked at Waylan in surprise.

'He's been coming here for the past decade?'

"Oh, yes. He's such a lovely young man. Each time he comes, he always brings gifts for us and the children."

The nun―sister Viviana―patted Waylan on the shoulder.

"We would've been in quite a lot of trouble if it weren't for him. I must say, he really is a sweetheart."

"You flatter me too much."

Waylan scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

I pursed my lips at the sight. There was something unsettling about the current situation, but I couldn't tell what it was.

The more I observed Waylan, the more I felt that there was nothing wrong with him. He was indeed 'normal', in the sense that his body did not contain Akashic Laws… but the very fact that he was here was alarming.

"If I may ask…"

I scratched the side of my neck while keeping my eyes focused on Waylan.

"…What is the reason you're here? How did you find this orphanage?"

"That's a question I'd like to ask you, instead."

Waylan smiled as he put the gifts he brought toward the nearby bench.

"This isn't a very well known orphanage. There are many out there, and I'm surprised you managed to find this one."

"Technology advances quite fast."

I chuckled a little.

"It wasn't really that hard to find. Plus, you can say that I came here for a purpose."

"He came for the Protector."

Sister Viviana suddenly said, happily taking the gifts that were resting on the bench.

"The Protector?"

Waylan looked at me strangely before looking toward the statue behind me.

"Don't tell me you actually believe the story behind the Protector?"

"Hm, who knows." I smiled at Waylan. "It's a fascinating story, I'll give her that."

"It indeed is."

Waylan smiled and tidied his clothes. He then checked his watch.

"Oh, it looks like my time is up. I have to leave now. My daughter will nag me if I'm late today. She seems adamant about making sure I came home today. Something about helping a friend of hers."

"You're leaving already?"

Sister Viviana looked rather saddened by that fact, but that was as far as it went. She didn't try to convince him to stay.

"Mhm. You know how Emma can be when she's angry… "

"That's true."

Sister Viviana giggled.

"Say hi to her for me."

"Will do."

He proceeded to put on a light brown coat before turning his attention toward me.

"Well, it was nice meeting you young man. I hope you enjoy your stay here."

"Thank you."

I smiled and waved at him. After that, I watched him peacefully leave the orphanage.

"What a poor man."

Just then, I heard Sister Viviana's voice. I turned to look at her.

"Poor man?"

What was she trying to imply?

"Uhm, if you would mind."

She passed me some of the gifts and I took them. After that, I followed her into the deeper ends of the chambers.

"Oliver… That child… Do you know why he always comes here?"

"No."

I shook my head. I was honestly clueless in that regard.

Sister Viviana stopped in front of a wooden door and opened it to reveal a small room. Walking in, she set some of the gifts down.

"Uh… I'm getting quite old for this."

She stretched her back with both hands on her sides. At the same time, she looked at the room with a gentle smile.

"This Orphanage once was quite popular. It wasn't as run down as it is now, and it was all thanks to Juliana…"

While listening to her words, I set the gifts down.

"Juliana?"

"His wife."

My brows jumped a little.

"His wife used to work here?"

"Indeed."

Sister Viviana nodded her head.

"You can say that she's the only reason he's still been coming here after all these years… A pity that Emma doesn't want to come here, I quite miss the little girl."

"Right."

I could more or less understand why Emma refused to come here. Given her character, she probably didn't want to be reminded of her mother every time that she came here.

I knew her well enough to tell this much…

"It really is a pity… She was such a lovely girl. She looked so much like Juliana…"

There was clear regret on Sister Viviana's face as she said those words. It became clear to me that she was close to Emma's mother.

I looked around the place.

"I think it's about time I leave. I'm satisfied with what I've learned."

"Ah, is that so. That's a pity."

Sister Viviana reluctantly said, placing her hand over her cheek.

"…I wanted to show you the children."

"Maybe next time."

I smiled at her.

"Next time it is."

She opened the door for me and we both went out.

"Young man, just a reminder before you leave."

Hearing her voice, I turned to her.

"Don't let yourself be led astray. Choose the right side."

Chapter 750: Figuring things out [4]

"Don't let yourself be led astray. Choose the right side… Don't let yourself be led astray. Choose the right side… Don't let yourself be led astray. Choose the right side... Hah."

I laughed when I thought back on those words.

'Was she threatening me?'

It sure as hell sounded like one. It didn't matter much to me anyway. Whether it was a threat or not, I already knew which side I was on.

There was no need for her to remind me.

Walking around the empty streets in front of me, I mused back on the words Sister Viviana told me. There was quite a bit of information that I learned.

"So Waylan's wife used to work at the orphanage, huh…"

But most importantly, I came to learn of a very strange fact.

The fact that Waylan's wife formerly held a position at this orphanage was interesting. It clarified why he continued to come here after such a long time, but what remained unclear to me was whether or not they were connected to the so-called Protector.

'A pity I don't really know much about Waylan.'

Emma was the only person he ever mentioned in any of his conversations. Other than that, I didn't really know that much about him.

In addition to that, it wasn't really within my rights to inquire about his wife or his past at all. It wasn't any of my business.

'Things are different now, though.'

When my thoughts paused thus far, I took out my phone and dialed a number.

―How can I help you?

I smiled the moment I heard the voice coming from the speaker of the phone.

It was very polite. A stark contrast to how it was a while back.

"It's nice to hear your voice again, Jerome. I have to say, you've done a good job so far."

―Haha, it is only right that I do this much.

The smile on my face grew larger when I heard his words.

'I did the right thing by getting them on my side.'

They saved me a lot of trouble.

―Ehm… Is there a reason why you've called me?

"Hm, yes."

I paused and looked behind me, at where the orphanage was. Although it was quite a distance away from where I was standing, I was still able to make out the details.

Thinking about my time over there, the smile I previously had on my face faded.

"Search everything regarding the orphanage I sent you previously... Ashton City Community Orphanage."

As if the instruction wasn't clear enough, I repeated the full name of the orphanage.

I felt as though I was close. Close to finding what Kevin was trying to show me, and closer to finding the key to the identity of this Protector.

So long as I figured out what was up with this orphanage and who this Protector was…

'I'll finally be able to get out of here.'

"Tell me the date of its founding, its founders, how it was twenty years ago, just any information that you can find about them. Useless or not useless. I want everything."

I paused.

"Don't miss anything. Regardless of how trivial it is. It's very important that I know everything about the place."

***

The Roshfield family had a rather sizable main residence. The home could be considered one of the largest in the city with more than ten bedrooms, twelve bathrooms, and a total floor space of more than 76,000 square feet.

Inside the mansion, beside a large oval wooden table.

"Hear this, dad."

Emma pointed her fork at her father while still chewing on her food with her mouth open.

"Chew with your mouth closed."

"Shut up."

Amanda sat next to her, chewing her food with her mouth closed and only consuming small portions of the food in front of her.

She was considerably more refined than Emma, and if there was one thing she couldn't stand about Emma, it was the fact that she chewed with her mouth open.

She hated the sound.

"Why are you always hounding me about that?"

"Because it's disgusting."

Emma rolled her eyes.

"Whatever."

Having said that, she complied with Amanda's request and started eating her food with her mouth close.

Swallowing her food, she looked at her father and continued.

"As I was saying… believe it or not, someone actually said that Amanda is not fitted for the sword."

"Oh?"

Oliver's brows raised, and he looked at Amanda.

"Is what she said true?"

Amanda nodded her head but did not respond. After chewing and swallowing her food, she wiped her mouth with her napkin, and then she finally spoke.

"Yes, it's true."

"That's rather surprising."

Oliver sliced the piece of steak in front of him.

"…Did anything come out of that statement?"

"No, not really."

Emma answered for Amanda.

"Amanda said she still doesn't believe him. That's also the reason why I brought her here today."

Oliver smiled while bringing the slice of steak to his mouth.

"You wanted to confirm with me whether I agreed with that statement or not?"

Chewing on the steak, he cleaned his mouth with the napkin on his lap.

"Then you don't need to mind those words, Amanda. Do what you feel is right. Back then, I said you were fitted for the sword because I believe that you are indeed talented in that aspect… Your results have shown me that my words are right. You're indeed quite talented for the sword if you consider your progress."

If someone had to rank people based on rank, then Amanda could be considered at the top of the human race. She alongside a couple of others.

Jin Horton and Emma being examples.

"You've gotten to where you are with the sword, and if you were to change now, you'd have to start all over again…"

He paused and put the fork down.

"…It's not worth it."

***

The night's breeze, which was rather brisk, blew her hair in all directions, scattering it all over her face. Amanda supported herself by placing her hands on a metal handrail and raising her eyes to the moon in the distance.

It brought peace to her mind.

'It's not worth it.'

Amanda gave the words that Oliver had shared with her during the meal a lot of careful thought.

'You've gotten to where you are with the sword, and if you were to change now, you'd have to start all over again…'

"His words make sense."

The more she mused on those words, the more she felt that they were right.

As he said, if she were to truly change her weapon, then she'd have to start all over again. By then, everyone she had left behind would catch up to her.

She wasn't too sure if that was the right move.

"What to do…"

The decision should've been an obvious one. However, when she thought about who had said those words, Amanda couldn't help but find herself hesitating.

If his strength was similar to hers… then she might've scoffed at him. However, this wasn't the case.

She was unable to fathom the depths of his true powers. She had no chance of ever catching up to him, and Oliver, the one who told her to use the sword, had no chance of defeating him either.

It was only logical that she listened to him.

"But which weapon should I change to?"

That... he never specified.

All she could remember was him telling her that she wasn't fitted for the sword. He never actually elaborated on his words…

"Ugh."

Amanda found herself massaging her head.

Thinking about him, whose name she still didn't know, she felt her head throb.

That being said…

Thinking at the time she'd spent today, training with 'him'. She unconsciously felt her lips curl.

"I guess… it wasn't bad."

Chapter 751: Figuring things out [5]

"What odd power."

Drawing my attention was the white, viscous film that was coating my hand. The power felt rather gentle, and I sensed no rejection from it.

At a glance, one wouldn't be able to tell that this power I held was something that far surpassed mana in terms of power.

"Too bad I don't have a good grasp on it."

The most I could do with it at the moment was just move it around my hand, albeit extremely slowly.

I attempted to channel it, but, unlike the mana that flowed freely around my body, the Akashic laws proved to be much more difficult to manipulate than I had anticipated.

If mana was like water, then the Akashic laws were like peanut butter. It just refused to move forward.

'Even demonic energy is a lot easier to control than this.'

I extended my other hand and watched as a black film covered my other hand. The process was smooth, and the black film moved around my hand in a smooth manner.

"Hm."

It was right when I was playing with the demonic energy inside of my body that I noticed something.

"What's this?"

As I brought my right and left hands closer together, I was surprised to feel a sense of opposition coming from the two powers.

It was rather weak, but it was there for sure.

'Are the two of them rejecting each other?'

I pressed both hands together and closed my eyes to feel whatever was going on.

It wasn't long before I felt something, and I opened my eyes in surprise.

'Indeed, it looks like the two powers are rejecting each other.'

It was very faint, but I could feel it.

"Inter—huh!?"

I stopped halfway and hurriedly looked toward my palms. It was there that I noticed the demonic energy pushing back the Akashic laws.

"What's going on?"

I immediately grew intrigued and channeled more demonic energy into my right palm.

Gradually, I watched as the demonic energy pushed the Akashic laws around more and more.

'What in the...'

The phenomenon fascinated me, and I understood why this was happening. Compared to the laws, the demonic energy was a lot denser.

There wasn't a lot of Akashic Laws in my body, as compared to demonic energy, and I had a sudden thought.

'What if I use demonic energy to help me move the laws better around my body?'

The concept piqued my interest, and I did not squander any time before putting it into action.

The results were immediate. The moment that I started channeling the demonic energy inside of my body, the Akashic laws started to move against it. Almost in repulsion, and suddenly, I felt myself getting more and more familiar with this new power.

I had the urge to release the power at that very moment, but when I thought about a particular possibility, I dismissed the idea.

I didn't want to blow this place up by accident.

"Huuu…"

I stopped channeling my demonic energy and took a deep breath.

'If only I had a little bit more…'

The laws that I had in my body… they were still a little too thin for me to control properly. While I indeed found a solution with the demonic energy, it was a little taxing.

"I think that'll do for today."

It was more important for me to get more familiar with it before using it again.

So to avoid any problems.

'Now…'

I slowly stood up from the ground. I was currently in a high end training ground—courtesy of the Green Paw Guild.

I figured this was the best place to train. Due to my unfamiliarity with this new ability, I determined that this was the best location to train in case something went wrong.

If something truly did happen, I wouldn't really feel guilty about it.

"Huaaam."

Covering my mouth, I stretched my back.

Ding—!

A sudden notification stopped me, and I turned to look at my watch. When I pressed the message, I noticed it contained a file.

[ACCO.txt]

'They are truly a lot more efficient than I gave them credit for.'

I tapped on the file, and several files appeared on my watch. I carefully read through them, not missing a single sentence.

"Huh."

Going through each and every one of the files didn't take me very long at all. About an hour, and by the time I was finished, I wasn't sure how to react.

There was a lot more information than I expected.

I felt complicated, but…

"I think I know how to get back now."

***

It was a delightful day in Ashton city. The sun hung in the sky, illuminating all that was beneath, and a gentle breeze accompanied the light.

In a certain park.

"You're quite a hard man to find."

My gaze fell on a certain man. On one of the park benches, he was scattering bread crumbs towards a small flock of pigeons.

Bobbing their heads up and down, they wrestled and tackled each other to get to the crumbs.

"Have you found the answer that you were looking for?"

"More or less."

I sat down on the same bench.

"May I?"

"Go ahead."

Seeing how he was enjoying himself while feeding the pigeons, I decided to give it a try myself.

I scooped up a few of the crumbs and flung them in the direction of the birds. By the time it took me to blink, the crumbs were already gone.

"It's rather calming, eh?"

"You call this calming?"

I handed him the bag back. This wasn't for me.

"Not a fan?"

Matthew took the bag and then continued to feed the pigeons. It looked like he was having a good time.

"What are you going to do next?"

He asked while keeping his eyes on the pigeons.

I took a moment to muse over my thoughts before leaning back on the bench.

"Although I've found a clue, I don't know whether it's the right clue. I'd have to check back to my world to check the validity of it."

"Mhm."

Matthew threw a handful of crumbs to the pigeons. His expression was rather hard to read.

"Does that mean that you want to go back?"

"I can go back?"

I was surprised by the sudden revelation. Could I finally go back to my own world?

"You can go back."

Matthew repeated, reassuring me that I didn't hear incorrectly. I immediately found myself getting excited at the words.

'No, wait.'

But I was quick to calm myself down.

'While I do want to go back home, it's still too early…'

Thinking about a few things, I found myself calming down considerably. There were still a couple of things I needed to get done here.

"So? Do you want to go back?"

Hearing Matthew's voice, I turned to face him. I found myself pursing my lips.

"…How long can I stay in this world?"

"You want to stay?"

Matthew appeared quite surprised by my words, as he raised his eyebrows and stopped feeding the pigeons.

Loosening his hand, the crumbs fell through the gap between his fingers.

"Why do you want to stay? I thought you wanted to go back... I want to remind you that the people here are not the same people you know. This world… It's not your world, nor is it real."

"Well…"

I smiled and stared at my hand.

"…Real or not real, it doesn't really matter to me. While the people of this world are so much weaker than those of my world, there's still a lot that I can learn from them."

The three Grandmasters.

They were indeed a lot weaker than I currently was. That being said, in the few short instances where I had the pleasure of learning from them, I understood that their mastery over the sword was far greater than mine.

There was so much that I could learn from them, and leaving such an opportunity behind did indeed feel like a pity.

"That is, of course, granted by the fact that the time I spend here is faster than my world. If time flows the same, then I guess I have no choice but to go back."

The war with the Monolith might've been over, but that was merely the start of the true war that was about to come.

I couldn't afford to waste time.

"You don't have to worry about that."

Matthew smiled.

"Kevin has already made the necessary preparations. If you want to stay, you can stay… Just that I don't know for how long you can stay for."

He raised his head to stare at the sky.

"Perhaps a couple of days? A week? …Perhaps even a month, I'm not sure, but when the time comes, I'm sure you'll know."

"That's… enough."

Honestly, it was a bit less than I wanted, but it was just about enough. I knew from the very beginning that I was merely a 'visitor' of this world and that I'd soon leave it.

"Well, that's great."

Matthew patted his hands and stood up.

"Once you're done, you can find me again. I'll be in this park."

"Got it."

Nodding my head, I watched him leave and heaved a long sigh.

"I guess I should make do with the time I have."

For I knew that the moment I returned to my world, it'd be the same moment I entered hell.

Chapter 752: A world where 'he' doesn't exist [1]

As my sword tore through the air in front of me, I noticed a trickle of sweat running down the side of my face.

It had been a while since I practiced with the sword, and I sort of missed this feeling. The discomfort, which I subjected myself to on a regular basis in order to improve my strength, was not something I particularly enjoyed. I much preferred this to that.

Swoosh—!

It had also been a while since I started sweating during my training.

Swoosh—! Swoosh–!

"I think that's enough for today."

A voice called out from the back, and I stopped.

I turned my head, and as I did so, my eyes stopped on Grandmaster Keiki, who was coming in my direction. He was grinning to himself in a relaxed manner.

"You've been training like crazy for the past few days; I think you should take some time to rest."

He tossed me a towel, and I grabbed it.

I wiped my face and stabbed the sword into the ground.

"You see, I don't really have much time left here."

Matthew's words weren't clear before, but I could feel them now. I had the distinct impression that I did not have a lot of time left to enjoy life in this world.

"I want to learn as much as possible before leaving."

He didn't exist in my world, sadly. If there was a time when I could learn from him, then it was now.

I couldn't afford to waste a single second.

"You're leaving? Where to?"

The news appeared to take Grandmaster Keiki by quite a bit of surprise. It seemed as though he hadn't expected my sudden departure.

'He looks better.'

When I looked at him, he appeared to be in much better shape than when I had first found him, and that made me smile.

"I'm going back home."

"You don't live in Ashton City?"

Thinking of my world, I shook my head.

"No… I live quite far away from here."

A place only I could reach.

"Oh."

Grandmaster Keiki nodded his head reluctantly.

"That is unfortunate. I really wish that you could have spent some time with my family. If only I could, I'd be happy to put you in touch with them, but..."

He shrugged his shoulders.

"It's alright. I appreciate the gesture."

I wiped the side of my face with the towel.

The situation of the three Grandmasters was still a little sensitive. It wasn't so much that Octavious didn't want to absolve them of their wrongdoings; rather, it was more that he found it difficult to persuade the general public of their crimes.

At the same time, the Protector also existed. If he could do it, then it was going to be a long and slow process.

One that may take months or maybe even years, and sadly, during that time, they wouldn't be able to visit their families.

Seeing his grim look, I shifted the conversation away from his family.

"Anyways, is there something else you suggest I take note of when practicing?"

"Oh."

Grandmaster Keiki's eyes finally lit up, and he soon nodded his head.

"Yes, as I've confirmed to you on multiple occasions over the course of the past week. You are going to need to keep practicing the fundamentals over and over again. Please don't get the wrong idea; they are not bad. Rather, your fundamentals are already at a level that most people won't ever reach in their lifetime, but..."

He paused for a moment.

"..It's just that it's the only thing you haven't mastered. As opposed to the movements, which you seem to have quite the hang of, your basics are the only thing that you don't have a solid grasp on. Just stick to them, and you'll find yourself improving."

Extending his hand, he retrieved the sword from the ground and slashed it.

Swoosh—!

"Just slash, and slash, and slash. That's really all there is to it. Keep slashing until you feel as if it's second nature to you. Once you get that done, everything will become much easier for you."

He handed the sword back to me.

"I see…"

I took the sword from his hand and stared at it.

'Just slash, and slash, and slash?'

That sounded easy enough. It wasn't impossible.

"Anything else?"

"No."

He shook his head.

"That is the extent of the complexity involved. If you can just keep what I told you in mind, you'll be able to make significant progress in no time. The same can be said for the two other forms of swordplay. The Gravar and Levisha styles. Even though there are some key differences, they are all based on the same principles. You won't have trouble getting the hang of them when you solidify your fundamentals."

"I understand."

I threw the towel to the ground and took a stance.

'So he's saying that if I keep training my fundamentals, then learning the other two sword arts should also be easier.. not just the Keiki style.'

That… made a lot of sense, and I found myself wanting to face palm.

'Because I was so rushed to increase my power so much, I neglected to train my fundamentals as much as I should've...'

Although they weren't terrible—in fact, they were quite good—they weren't perfect, and at this point, perfection was what I needed the most.

I paused for a moment and smiled bitterly.

'Actually, more than me neglecting them, it has more to do with the fact that I have only lived in this world for about eight years...'

Had I had more time, then I was sure my fundamentals would've been perfect.

A pity I didn't.

Swoosh—!

I slashed the sword once more.

***

Thump—!

Something tore through the air and landed with a thud on a small target approximately one hundred meters away from the location where the source of the noise originated.

Staring at the target in the distance, Amanda frowned.

"Am I really talented in this?"

She had a very clear view of the target, even though it was far away. It was currently riddled with arrows, but none of them hit the target in the bullseye mark.

She had been attempting to hit the target for a week and had yet to succeed.

It felt rather depressing to her.

This was hard.

"Huh."

She took a deep breath.

Honestly, she was really doubting the validity of his words. No matter how much she thought about it, she didn't feel suited for the bow.

'It's still too early.'

She took another deep breath and calmed herself down.

After getting a feel for the bow in her hand, she gave the string a very light pull. As a direct result of this, her gaze became fixated on the object in the far distance.

She could see it quite clearly. This wasn't a surprise to her.

She had always had good eyesight.

But that didn't mean anything when she couldn't even hit the target in the first place.

Creak—

The bow creaked slightly as she pulled the string. Feeling the wind around her, she waited. Waited for the perfect moment for her to let go of the string.

The moment came sooner than she thought. Feeling the air around her still, Amanda let go of the string.

Thump—!

Amanda was able to see everything that had transpired in that instant, despite the fact that not even a second had passed since she let go of the string.

It was as if time had slowed down and all she could see was the arrow.

She watched as it tore through the air, slicing through it in the most delicate way possible, before finally coming to rest against the yellow mark in the distance.

"…"

Staring at her arrow that had pierced through the target, Amanda felt her mind go blank for a moment.

She blinked her eyes several times as she tried to make sense of what had just occurred in her head. When she finally succeeded, her face became flushed with excitement, and she leaped into the air.

"Yeasss!"

She had never experienced anything like the rush she felt when she realized she had finally hit the target; it was so exhilarating that she could feel the heat rising in her cheeks.

This feeling was awesome.

"It looks like you've made some progress."

It was at this moment that she heard a certain voice, and her initial excitement died down.

Calming herself, she turned around to face the voice.

"When did you get here?"

"Just now."

He seemed rather laid back as he stared at the target in the distance.

"I'm rather impressed. In just a week, you've managed to improve so much."

He had a look on his face that seemed to say, 'I told you so.'

It irritated Amanda for some reason, and her initial excitement wore down.

"What did you come here for?"

"To check on your progress and to say goodbye."

Amanda was stunned to the point that she couldn't move from where she was standing, as if she had been hit by lightning.

"Say Goodbye? You're leaving?"

"Mhm. I have to leave."

Amanda felt her mouth go dry, but she soon nodded her head.

"I understand. You must miss your family."

"I do."

He happily smiled. Amanda had never before witnessed him smiling in such a way, and to be completely honest, the sight of it caused her to temporarily lose her breath.

'I guess… he doesn't look like a squid when he smiles like that.'

Not that she would admit to him.

"When will you be leaving?"

Amanda set her bow down and wiped her sweat with a clean white towel.

"Soon."

He answered while following the bow with his eyes.

"How soon?"

"I'm not entirely sure."

He raised his head and looked up toward the ceiling… or something distant. Amanda couldn't quite make out what it was.

She eventually let out a long breath.

"If you're leaving so soon, why don't you have dinner with us? I'm sure my dad and my mom both want to apologize to you for what happened a while back and…"

'The same goes for me.'

She found herself unable to utter those words, but it didn't seem as though she needed to. Following his gaze, she could tell he could see right through her, and he soon smiled.

"Sure, why not?"

"Great, I'll tell my dad."

Amanda happily smiled at his words. For some reason, she felt excited by the idea. I guess, in a way... she was thankful for what he'd done for her.

Sadly, what she didn't know was that he'd agreed knowing that it wasn't possible.

C..Crack.

The world froze over, and cracks appeared within the space surrounding the two.

After that, everything shattered as though it were made of broken glass, and the world turned white.

Chapter 753: A world where 'he' doesn't exist [2]

The color white dyed my vision once more.

The world around me shattered into a million pieces, and I found myself standing on a clear floor. As I bent my head forward, I was able to see my own reflection.

"It seems like you've run out of time."

The voice…

I tilted my head to the side in order to get a better look at Matthew, who had seemingly materialized out of thin air. He was smiling at me.

"Did you manage to learn what you were looking to learn?"

"Sort of."

The time was brief, but I was somehow able to improve myself. It wasn't as much as I'd hoped I would improve, but it was better than nothing.

"That's good to hear."

Matthew mumbled, staring at the white world around him with a complicated look.

"Then it looks like my mission is completed. I wanted to meet you at the park because I liked the view there, but I guess that isn't possible anymore..."

He raised his head up and sighed.

"Well, that's that. I guess... You can say that I'm now officially dead."

The smile that spread across his face when he said those words seemed rather forced. I couldn't tell since his head was turned.

"When you mean, officially dead―"

"It means what it means."

Matthew looked at me.

"The only reason I was in this world, to begin with was to wait for you. My real body… well, you should already be aware of what happened to it."

My mind started going back to the incident that took place at the Monolith, and as it did so, I found myself closing my eyes.

"This world…"

He continued.

"It was nice. It was peaceful. It was everything that I thought Ashton City would be like if the demons never existed. I've lived in this place long enough to say that I was happy."

I opened my eyes again to stare at him.

Thinking about his words, I found myself asking.

"Do you really think that world is one where the demons don't exist?"

The history of the world suggested as much. The fact that Kevin didn't exist in that world was also an indicator that the Demon King―Jezebeth, had never existed… yet, for some reason, I couldn't get something out of my mind.

"If the demons never existed, why don't I exist? Why have I never been born in that world?"

There were no records about me, despite of how hard I looked for them.

Ren Dover didn't exist in that world, and I didn't know why.

"About that…"

Matthew scratched the side of his head.

"I'm not sure either, to be honest. I assume it's because two Rens can't exist in the same world, or for some other reason like that, but I don't know, nor will I ever know... I just know that Kevin wanted to show you something, and I hope you've found your answer."

"I have."

I found myself nodding.

"Although I'm not entirely sure about the validity of what I found, once I return, I'll be able to confirm everything."

"Then I can only wish you the best of luck."

Matthew smiled and extended both hands to the side.

I looked at him strangely.

"…Don't tell me that you want me to hu―"

"No."

He cut me off, laughing almost.

"Like I've said before, make sure you're gentle this time. It might be the very last time I experience pain again, but… I still wish for it to be something that I don't have to go through."

"Hm?"

A sword appeared the moment his words faded. When I raised my head to look at him, I found him smiling at me.

"Come on, I didn't take you for someone who's indecisive. Get this over with. Let me finally have some rest."

"I…"

I found myself at a loss for words, but I soon took a deep breath.

"Alright."

I gripped my sword tightly and moved forward. I only came to a stop when I was a few meters away from Matthew and placed my blade against his neck.

"Make sure it doesn't hurt."

He reminded me, making me laugh a little.

"I'll try."

"Ah right..."

He seemed to recall something.

As he scratched the side of his face, it appeared as though he was at a loss for the appropriate words to say. After some time, he gave his head a slight shake and then looked directly at me.

"I'm sorry."

Slash―!

***

"Alliance Master."

I could hear faint words echo in the background of my mind.

They were rather faint.

"Alliance Master."

With time, they grew louder and louder.

"Ren!"

"Huh?"

That was, until I became aware that my body was shaking and my head had jerked forward. When I opened my eyes, I was immediately surrounded by bright light, and my eyes stung.

"What's going on? Where am I?"

When I turned my attention to my surroundings, I noticed that I was in the middle of a sizable office. In front of me was a wooden table where papers were scattered, and behind it was a rather large window.

"Have you finally woken up?"

"Ryan?"

To my surprise, I found Ryan standing in front of me. He was attired in a gray suit that was completely unfit for him. It was ridiculously oversized, and he hadn't even bothered to tie his tie correctly.

"What are you doing here, and where are we?"

I massaged my forehead and looked up.

"Actually, as a matter of fact. If I don't recall wrongly, you called me… Alliance Master?"

"Are you okay?"

Instead of an answer, I received a worried look.

Looking around the place, Ryan retrieved a small bottle from his ring and passed it to me.

"Take this potion. It looks like you've been overworking yourself."

"…"

I stared at the potion for a moment before taking it.

Perhaps he was right.

The taste of the potion was rather bitter, and I noticed that it helped clear up some of the fog in my head. A shame about the flavor, because if it hadn't been so astringent, I would have plowed through it in a single sitting.

"Feeling better?"

"A little bit."

Didn't really make a difference but at the very least I felt more alert.

"So…"

I looked around me without saying anything. The office space… it looked similar to Kevin's, but it was also different.

There were several pictures in front of mine. All of which seemed to be drawings that Nola had gifted me a while back?

There were also pictures of my parents and Amanda?

The more I observed the more confused I became.

"…Ryan, where are we exactly?"

"Hm?"

Ryan looked at me weirdly once again.

Seeing the worried look on his face, I spoke before he had the chance to.

"Just answer me."

"…Alliance Headquarters."

"Alliance Headquarters… I see."

I massage the bottom part of my mouth.

"…and I'm the Alliance Master, right?"

"Ren, are you sure you're alright?"

"Just answer me."

"…Yes. If you were curious, then yes, you are indeed the Alliance Master."

"…"

I felt my head throb even harder.

'What happened while I was gone?'

Lowering my head and staring at my watch, I realized that not even a single day had passed since Kevin's passing.

This confused me even more.

"Ryan."

"Yes?"

"I'm curious about something."

"The location of the nearest hospital?"

"Can you stop it with that?"

I glared at Ryan, and he lowered his head.

Taking a deep breath, I finished what was left of the potion.

"Kevin… What happened to Kevin?"

I had a bad premonition when I asked that question. For some reason, I felt that the recent incident wasn't the only thing that Kevin had done.

…and Ryan's next words served to prove my hunch.

"Kevin? Who's Kevin?"

"Ha…"

I smiled.

'As expected…'

My hunch was indeed correct. What he showed me wasn't the only thing he had done.

'From the looks of it, he appears to have erased himself from everyone's memories.'

"Do you need some information on someone called Kevin? What's their last name?"

"No, never mind that."

I waved Ryan off and took out my phone.

'He's not even in my contacts.'

Looking through it, I realized that Kevin was no longer in my contacts. Opening my social media, I also realized that he was gone from there and that there was not a single mention of him on the web.

I was an avid follower of Kevin's social media, so I knew better than anyone that he was gone.

It was as if he had completely vanished from the world.

'Fuck.'

I turned my phone off and leaned back in my chair.

Nothing.

There was nothing left of him.

'Without a doubt, this should be my world…'

While all records of him had disappeared, I knew that this was the world I belonged to. It was just that Kevin's previous achievements had been given to certain others.

History was practically the same.

'Why did he… no, I can tell why.'

It didn't take a scientist to figure out his intentions. He, as awkward as he was, didn't want those to whom he was close to suffering because of him.

He didn't want them to cry over him. He knew that his death would prevent some from ever moving on, and he didn't want that.

"Heh."

In a way, he wasn't that different from me.

If I were put in a similar situation to him, I probably would've made the same choice as him.

He really was… a pushover.

"Ren, is there something that you'd like for me to do? If not… I'd like to return to pla―work."

Ryan's voice broke me out of my thoughts and pretending not to have heard his final words, I nodded my head.

"Yes, actually. I'd like for you to do several things for me."

Chapter 754: Protector of the Seat of Diligence [1]

'I kind of understand why those in power always like to have a window behind their office.'

I felt my shoulders drop and my body loosen up as I stood at the window and looked down at Ashton City.

Staring at the city that was once again filled with people, I found myself relaxing. The view… It wasn't so different from the world I just came from.

"Haa..."

I inevitably let out a sigh. Even though the view was beautiful, I couldn't help but feel a rush of a variety of different emotions whenever I thought about the one responsible for making this whole thing possible.

'Are you really finding that everyone is forgetting about you, Kevin?'

It rubbed me the wrong way a little bit that everyone was going about their day, celebrating the peace, and yet they had no idea who it was that made it this way. What irritated me the most was the fact that I was getting all of the credits that were supposed to belong to Kevin.

Things weren't supposed to go this way...

I unknowingly found myself clenching my fist tightly. If… If there was a way to make everyone remember… I'd do it.

Ding―!

[Here's the information you've asked me to look for. I don't think I've missed anything out. If that's not enough, give me a message and I'll see what I can do.]

"As expected, Ryan's the best."

The message was attached to a small file, and when I opened it, I discovered that it contained a great deal of information along with a number of pictures. They were incredibly detailed and contained all the information I could possibly want.

He was indeed someone whom I personally recruited.

'...If only Smallsnake was still here.'

I felt my mood plummet thinking about him. If there was anyone else who was good at getting information, it'd be him.

To Tok―!

It was then that someone knocked on the door.

"Come in."

I sat myself back down in my chair.

"Did you call for me?"

A lethargic figure walked in. After entering the office, he took a quick survey of his surroundings before finding a seat in one of the chairs that were directly across from mine.

"Liam, It's nice to see that you were able to get here without a problem."

"Huh?"

He cocked his head to the side, confused.

"Was there supposed to be a problem?"

"…You say this when you can't even remember where the mercenary headquarters are."

Liam blinked a couple of times before leaning back on the chair.

"We had a mercenary headquarters?"

"…"

I pressed my hand against my forehead. As expected of Liam.

"Anyways…"

I rubbed both of my hands while taking a closer look at Liam. There was something I needed to check.

Perhaps taken aback by how long I was looking for or by my gaze, Liam sat up straight.

"Is something wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"

I didn't answer and continued to observe him. The longer I looked at him, the more certain I became of my assumption, and I noticed that my mood became more serious as a result.

'As expected… It really was the case...'

"Ren?"

"Hm?"

It wasn't until that point that I finally became aware that Liam was standing in front of me, waving his hand in front of my face, that I snapped out of it.

"What are you doing?"

"No… I thought there was something wrong with you since you weren't responding."

"I'm fine. Sit back down."

I waved at him and leaned back on my chair. After he had taken a seat, I rubbed the underside of my chin and lightly tapped my finger against the surface of the desk.

'The more I think about it, the more it makes perfect sense...'

"Liam."

I called out his name.

He cocked his head.

"Yes?"

"…I think I may have found the reason for your memory problems."

Upon hearing my words, Liam's eyes widened quite a bit, and before he could respond, I extended my hand in front of me, and all of a sudden, a white substance coated my hand.

'I should've realized it long before.'

"Stay still. Let me see the extent of the Laws that are placed within your body."

***

Swoosh―!

On a training ground that was otherwise empty, Emma practiced her swordplay with two short swords. Whenever she swung her blade, strands of her hair would fly into the air and land on her face, where they would become affixed to her skin due to the sweat that had accumulated.

She wasn't sure for how long she'd been at it, but it was only when she was completely gassed out that she finally stopped.

"Haaa…haaa…"

Her chest burned with each breath.

'I feel empty.'

For some inexplicable reason, Emma felt empty. She had no idea why she was unable to shake this feeling, but it had been plaguing her for the past few days, and she couldn't figure out how to get rid of it.

"Ha…What..haa… is wrong with me?"

The more she thought about that emptiness, the more she felt it turn into something else.

Pain?

She wasn't sure.

It was either that or something else. She just couldn't figure out what was bothering her.

"Fuck. I hate this."

Staring at her short swords, she stood up and resumed practice. It was the only thing that helped her ease her mind away from that empty feeling.

Swoosh―! Swoosh―!

Her short swords pierced through the air as her figure danced across the training grounds. Wherever she went, the sound of wind slicing accompanied her every movement.

She was fast, extremely so. Leaving behind afterimages of herself as she stabbed, slashed, and pierced through the air. Holding her breath, she increased the pace continuously. Her lungs were burning and her muscles were aching, but she continued.

She was in a state where the pain was what helped her relieve that 'feeling'. She looked forward for the pain.

This only lasted for five minutes, however…

Clank―!

Dropping both her weapons to the floor, Emma grabbed her shirt and wiped her face.

"Just what is wrong with me?"

She found herself unable to focus on her training. Whenever she tried, that feeling would resurface again, distracting her from her practice.

Drip―!

Feeling something drip down her cheek, Emma froze for a moment. Something stabbed her in the chest, and she found herself clenching her shirt.

"Why am I like this?"

What was going on with her? What was happening to her? Why was she like this?

"Fuck it."

Unable to find an answer, she kicked her swords away and headed for her room. She had enough training.

*

Following a speedy shower, Emma proceeded to detangle her hair while sitting in front of a sizable mirror. As she looked at her own reflection, she noticed that the empty feeling she was feeling was starting to dissipate.

"What was that?"

She wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or not by the fact that the feeling had gone away, but as she stared at herself in the mirror, she was startled to find that several tears were streaming down her cheeks.

"W,what's going on?!"

She stood up, wiping her tears with her sleeves.

"Why am I suddenly crying out of nowhere?"

Rubbing her eyes with her hand, she continued to wipe away the tears that were falling.

"Fuck."

Cursing out loud, Emma put the brush away and headed down the stairs of her house.

The house was rather empty, and by the time she took the last step toward the ground floor, she heard the sound of the door ringing.

Tong―!

"Is it dad?"

Surprised, she went ahead and opened the door.

"Huh?"

What surprised her, however, was a sight completely different than she had expected. Standing in front of her was someone she knew all too well―not just her, perhaps the whole world―and raising his hand, he waved at her.

"Hi."

It was Ren.

***

I apologize for the lack of updates. I just recently flew back to Italy from Dubai, and found myself dead tired. I know I'm 8 chaps behind, and you don't have to worry. I will try to make up for them.

On another note, because time here is 3 hours behind Dubai, i might change the update time to 8pm Italian time since I barely have enough time in the morning due to my classes―which is the main thing that's taking up my time.

I apologize again, and will try to make it up asap.

Chapter 755: Protector of the Seat of Diligence [2]

The world was eerily quiet. The sky was a brilliant shade of blue, and there was a sense of calm permeating every part of the world.

The grass that covered the surface of the land leaned over as a light breeze moved past it, ruffling the hair of a particular figure that quietly sat over the grass.

While he was sitting on the grass, his figure seemed to melt into the background, giving the impression that he was a part of the natural world.

He had always enjoyed this type of atmosphere. It reminded him of his home world when everything was still peaceful and he was just a child.

Only in such worlds would he feel a sense of peace.

It was unfortunate that he didn't get to enjoy such sense for very long when all of a sudden...

"Hm?"

His figure shook, and his eyes gradually opened to reveal two crimson pupils. At the mere opening of his eyelids, the world around him gradually lost its color and appeared to come to a halt.

Turning his head, his gaze peered through the world, coming to a stop in a certain direction.

"The curse…"

His little mumble caused the surroundings to shake, and he gradually stood up. Lowering his head to stare at his hands, his white brows came together tightly as his usually calm expression stilled completely.

"…It's gone."

Rumble―! Rumble―!

It had been a while since Jezebeth felt his composure falter. However, as he felt the link between him and Ren disappear, he knew that the curse he had placed on his body a while back had been removed.

"How is this possible?"

He wasn't one to let emotions get the best of him, but at the moment, Jezebeth found himself experiencing such emotions as his chest slowly heaved up.

"This shouldn't be possible. I've made sure that the cu―"

He stopped himself mid-sentence.

As he opened his eyes, his vision sharpened as he peered through the space he was in, focusing on a planet in the far distance. It was an azure colored planet he was all too familiar with.

His eyes gradually opened up in shock.

"He's gone?"

Jezebeth remained immobile, dumbfounded by the sudden occurrence, as his hair was blown forward by a second breeze.

"Why… Why can't I sense Kevin?"

Jezebeth closed his eyes and tried to sense Kevin's presence. As someone who also wielded the power of the laws, Jezebeth could sense him anytime he wanted. It was also why Kevin never really went away from Earth.

If he did, Jezebeth would know.

Unfortunately, he also had the means to return to Earth before he could ever reach him. Otherwise, he would have finished him off by now.

"Gone."

Jezebeth reopened his eyes and was taken aback by the abrupt situation. No matter how hard he looked, Kevin was nowhere to be found.

"How… is this possible?"

Was he somehow able to find a way to hide away from him? That… it was the only thing that could explain the current situation.

"No…"

It was right when Jezebeth felt that he had gotten an idea of what had happened that his body turned stiff.

"Why… Why can I suddenly feel him?"

He couldn't feel Kevin, but he could feel Ren...

How was this possible?

A certain thought suddenly occurred in his mind, and his face finally showed signs of change.

"Ha... hah…"

He was in such a state of shock that he soon found himself chuckling. Covering his mouth with his hand, he bent over slightly.

"This… don't tell me he actually… I was right, wasn't I?"

The more he thought about it, the more the realization of the matter hit him. He already had a hunch beforehand, but it had never been clear.

Now, however… He was sure.

Kevin had transferred his powers over to Ren.

"Hahaha…to think he'd go that far…"

Jezebeth continued to laugh. His laugh was neither loud nor quiet, but it spread through every inch of the world, and birds scattered away into the air.

"I can't believe he'd do that…"

Jezebeth's mind was filled with complex emotions as he stopped laughing. He was neither angry nor pleased with the current circumstance. In fact, he felt rather… sad.

His already lonely life had just gotten lonelier.

"A pity… I wanted to at least say goodbye to him."

Although they were never friends and always at each other's throats, Jezebeth never despised him.

He understood his motives and never really took his actions to heart. At the end of the day, they were just two people who had conflicting interests.

That was all there was to it…

"It… really is a pity."

Jezebeth stared blankly at the sky before him. For some inexplicable reason, he found it to be less colorful than he'd previously thought. Perhaps, this was a perfect reflection of his own state of mind.

Clink―! Clink―! Clink―!

As he extended his hand forward, a number of metallic fragments appeared in his grasp, and Jezebeth stared at them with a complicated look.

Everyone he knew was slowly leaving, and these shards were the only things left of his parents. It had saved his life a while back. Back when the Protectors tried to cleanse his race.

Had it not been for these shards… he probably would've never been alive. One could say that the only reason his race had ever gotten a chance to rise was because of these shards that once made up a small cube.

To this day, he had no idea where this cube came from, and the only thing he knew about it was that it had once fallen from the sky, landing directly over where his parents were.

…At least, that was what he had been told.

He had been too young back then. He wasn't entirely sure of the origins of the cube, but he didn't really care…

'I'll find out once I get my hands on the records.'

The Records…

All answers were within the records. So long as he got his hands on them… He'll get all the answers he's ever hoped for.

"Soon."

He clenched his hand, and the shards disappeared into thin air.

He took a few deep breaths as he kept his gaze fixed on the planet in the far distance. In the next breath, a small portal opened up from beside him, and a small figure walked out of it.

"What is it?"

His tone didn't sound very respectful. Rather, it was anything but respectful, but Jezebeth didn't mind. In fact, he rather liked the way he spoke to him.

Jezebeth stared toward the sky.

"How long have we known each other?"

"…About two earth years?"

The figure replied, his tone sounding somewhat confused by the sudden question.

"What's with the question?"

"Just curious."

Jezebeth replied with a smile.

'Two years… huh…'

Time seemed to fly a lot faster than he had originally thought. He felt a little lonely at Kevin's death, but… he wasn't completely alone. There had been someone keeping him company for the past few years, and he didn't quite dislike his company.

In fact, he rather enjoyed it.

…A pity that they had only known each other for a meager two years.

"Is there something else that you need from me? You didn't call me just to ask me how long we've known each other, right?"

The man's tone of voice contained a hint of exasperation in it, and Jezebeth found himself laughing in response.

I suppose that he finally understood 'his' gaze to some extent back then.

"No… It's just that…" Jezebeth shook his head and continued to stare at the sky. A smile soon formed on his lips. "…It looks like you'll get your wish granted sooner than I originally anticipated."

"Huh?"

Jezebeth extended his hand forward, and the planet began to shake violently.

Rumble―!

The ground broke apart, and molten rock erupted from cracks and fissures in the planet's crust. The clouds in the sky began to disperse, and the elevation of the mountains increased.

Rumble―! Rumble―!The world underwent drastic changes within the space of a few seconds, and it didn't take long before the calm and serene scenery that had been there moments before vanished.

Jezebeth slowly brought his hand to a close as he stared at the landscape with compassionate eyes, and then...

Everything vanished into thin air.

The world turned completely dark, and silence reigned over Jezebeth's surroundings.

In the distance, one could see white specks scattered all over the darkness while a bright orb stood before Jezebeth.

Staring at it, he took a deep breath. He had a rather complicated look on his face at the moment.

"I didn't think the time would come so soon…"

He motioned with his hand, and the orb moved toward him.

"…I thought I had a bit more time to enjoy this scenery, but this is good enough. With him gone… Everything's changed."

Gently stopping over Jezebeth's palm, a powerful wave spread from the orb's body. It scattered across the surroundings, distorting the space he was in.

All it took was a simple wave of Jezebeth's hand to make the distortion disappear.

He turned to look toward his right.

"Are you alright?"

"…Ah, yes."

"That's good."

Jezebeth flashed a grin as he moved the orb closer to his mouth and then proceeded to swallow it. The instant that the orb made contact with his tongue, the surrounding area came to a complete and utter standstill, and Jezebeth's skin began to radiate a dazzling white light from its surface.

After Jezebeth had closed his eyes, the light faded away, having initially illuminated a large portion of the space that encompassed him.

…At that moment, Jezebeth's hair grew by an inch, and the muscles all throughout his body expanded ever-so-slightly. An ethereal aura encircled his entire being.

Opening his eyes again, the crimson that had been present in his pupils began to fade away, and a coloration with a distinct purplish-red hue took its place.

"Haaa…"

Turbid air escaped from his mouth as he exhaled.

Staring toward his right and left hands, he finally let out a satisfied smile.

"I've finally done it…"

He slowly clenched and unclenched his fist. He felt a tremendous power run down his body.

Turning his head to the left, he took another deep breath.

"I am… complete."

His eyes glowed with a brilliant hue that illuminated a considerable portion of his surrounding area. A fissure quickly manifested itself in the region directly in front of him, revealing the image of a planet.

It was completely green, and a white barrier surrounded the world.

Jezebeth took a step through the opening while he kept his gaze fixed on the planet. But just as he moved, he recalled something and turned around while motioning with his hand.

"Come, Brian."

He smiled in the calmest of ways.

"...Come see for yourself why they call me the Demon King"

Chapter 756: Protector of the Seat of Diligence [3]

"What are you doing over here?"

Emma's voice was laced with a hint of confusion as she looked at me standing at her doorstep.

I knew it was a strange move on my part, showing up unannounced at her house, but I had my reasons. I peeked through the door and pointed towards the interior, hoping she wouldn't turn me away.

"May I come in?"

The strangeness in Emma's expression became more prominent, but after thinking for a while, she stepped to the side, letting me in.

"Well, sure, I guess. It's not like I can stop you anyways."

"Thanks."

I grinned, relieved that things were flowing more smoothly than I had expected.

As I stepped into her living room, I took in the surroundings. The hall was cozy, with warm lighting and a plush sofa. But my eyes were drawn to the tall chandelier hanging from the ceiling, sparkling in the soft light.

For a moment, I thought that I felt something. I was sure of it.

I must have been staring at it for too long because Emma's voice broke through my thoughts.

"So, care to tell me why you're here?"

Clank!

She closed the door behind her and crossed her arms.

"I'm just…" I paused, looking around the place until my eyes fell on the chandelier once again. Sensing something, I smiled. "…you can say that I'm here to meet your father."

"My dad?"

Emma's eyes widened in surprise.

"Do you have an appointment with him or something?"

"Well… You can say so, I guess."

I didn't have an appointment with him, but I had a feeling that he would be willing to meet with me.

Emma's expression was a mix of confusion and curiosity, and she tightened her robe around her waist, a sign that she was becoming more guarded.

"That makes sense."

She muttered, looking around the room as if trying to spot her father.

"I'm not sure where he is now, so I guess you can wa―"

"There's no need for that."

I cut Emma off, and she looked at me with a confused expression.

"Huh?"

Once again, my gaze drifted toward the chandelier, and I smiled.

"There's no need for me to wait. He's already here."

***

"Huaaa..."

Jezebeth's chest heaved up the moment he stepped into the planet. The fresh air of the world filled his lungs, and a smile spread across his features as he took in the vast vegetation that surrounded him.

"Hm?"

His breath caught in his throat as he looked around him, taking in the thousands of elves that were gathered, their bows drawn and exuding an incredible pressure that upset the air around them and caused them to distort.

"Haha."

Jezebeth recognized them immediately.

They were the last remaining elites of the elves―those that hadn't gone to earth―with their job to guard over the demon world that connected to this world.

Jezebeth felt a wave of nostalgia wash over him as he gazed at the familiar faces before him.

He had missed them dearly.

Addressing the crowd, his lips curled ever so slightly.

"It looks like you all caught on to my presence?"

The elves remained silent, their gazes fixed on Jezebeth.

"Demon King."

Suddenly, an ancient voice spread across the world, and the space distorted open. An elderly female figure walked out from the void, followed by a younger female elven figure.

The younger one was rather handsome, with crystal-clear blue eyes and long silver hair. Surrounding her body was a silver armor that shone under the sun that hung in the sky.

The presence of the two instantly took over the previous pressure emitted by the thousands of elves and focused it on Jezebeth.

It was a pity that Jezebeth showed no reaction to the pressure he was subjected to.

Staring at the two, Jezebeth smiled. It had been a long time. He missed them.

Placing his hand over his chest, Jezebeth elegantly bowed his head.

"It is an honor to meet you again, Protector of the Seat of Patience… Protector of the Seat of Charity."

Raising his head, he grinned, exposing his pearly white teeth, and continued.

"I've missed the two of you so… so much."

The air stilled at his words, and the two elves stared at Jezebeth from above. Their gazes were still, and there was no apparent change in them.

In spite of that, one could feel their demeanor slowly shift as a white glow started to surface from within their bodies.

The elderly elf raised her hand and brought it down.

"Attack."

Swoosh―! Swoosh―! Heeding her words, the elves surrounding Jezebeth all let go of their bows, and over a thousand different arrows shot in his direction.

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

The power contained within each arrow was strong enough to distort the space in front of them, and it wasn't long before they all appeared before Jezebeth, who remained calm despite the situation.

Extending his hand, the arrows came to a sudden stop.

"Now... now..."

His gaze never left the two figures in the air as his hand gently moved, and the arrows slowly turned away.

"It isn't that bad of an attempt, to be honest."

A white glow similar to the two figures above surfaced within his hand as the arrows that were pointing at him all turned to face the opposite direction.

"Now…"

Jezebeth let out a satisfied smile when all the arrows turned, and his head cocked to the side. With his eyes on the two protectors, a light breeze brushed past him, scattering his hair forward.

Feeling the power surfacing his body, the faces of the two protectors changed, but it was already too late.

"…Watch as I exterminate all of your forces while all you can do is watch."

Snap―!

It was just a snap.

A single snap was all it took.

At that moment, the arrows disappeared from the spot, and red rained across the plain, basking Jezebeth underneath it.

"Haaa… It's been many years since I've felt like this… I guess I missed it…"

Extending his hand and letting himself get basked in the red, Jezebeth took another deep breath.

He relished the smell of blood that lingered over the air.

Cra― Crack!

Waving his hand, the world behind him distorted, and several portals appeared behind him.

The portals were black and twisted, and the very air around them seemed to be infused with demonic energy.

From behind the portals, several demons emerged, each releasing an incredible aura that filled the air with ominous energy.

The demons knelt before Jezebeth, their heads bowed in deference to their leader.

"We greet his majesty."

"We greet his majesty."

"We greet his majesty."

Jezebeth paid no mind to their words as his gaze continued to lock toward the Protectors above.

Gradually, more and more elves appeared from out of the trees, bows, and staffs drawn. They formed a formidable line, determined to protect themselves from him and his army.

"Yeah... this is how it should be..."

It wasn't long before he was faced with a number that was drastically above the one from before, and a gradual smile formed on his face as he took in the view.

The thought of what came after their death made his blood boil, and as he opened his mouth, he directed his voice toward the demons behind him.

"Kill anyone that puts resistance. Take in those that are willing to surrender."

His words were like a call to arms, and the demons eagerly obeyed. With a fierce battle cry, they charged toward the elven army, their demonic power unleashed in a fury of fire and brimstone.

"Within the next few weeks, I want this place cleaned."

Those were the last words he said before appearing right before the two Protectors. His gaze fell on the woman wearing the silver armor, and he happily smiled at her.

She was someone he'd never forget.

"…Your race does not belong to in this universe, was it? ...An unwanted Parasite? Their existence is a threat to the universe?"

He nodded his head, a smirk forming on his lips.

"I guess you were right."

***

I walked down the dimly lit hallway, the soft glow of the flickering light illuminating my path.

As I approached Waylan's door, I found that my legs were becoming heavier the closer I was to the door.

Secretly, I hoped that whatever I was assuming wasn't true and that I was simply making a mistake, but...

To Tok―!

I knocked on the door.

"Come in."

It was only after his confirmation that I finally walked into the office.

"If you'll pardon my intrusion."

Pushing the door open, I stepped inside the office, the familiar scent of old books and paper hitting me.

Looking around the room, it seemed like a rather normal office with a classical desk in the middle, a large window behind him, and pictures of… Emma around.

'Yup, very normal indeed.'

"What brings you here, Ren?"

Waylan stood up from his seat and greeted me. He seemed rather pleased by my appearance as he had a large smile on his face.

"It's nothing much."

I greeted him back with a smile and shook his hand. I then found myself a seat in front of him.

Making myself comfortable, I took a good look at him. At a glance, there was nothing abnormal about him.

He looked like the Waylan that I knew, the man who had been with me in the dwarven domain and the man whom I risked and entrusted my life with back at the inferno headquarters.

"Nothing much? Does that mean you've just come to visit me for the sake of visiting?"

Waylan made himself comfortable in his chair and similarly leaned back.

"I didn't think someone as busy as you would have the time to visit me out of nowhere."

"Hahaha…"

I laughed while scratching the back of my head, the tension in my body slowly easing.

I wasn't actually busy.

To be honest, although I was the current Alliance Head, I pretty much designated all of my work to Ryan and Octavious.

They were the ones that actually did most of the work. All I needed to do was sign some papers and show my face once in a while.

'I guess I now know the reason why Kevin became an Alliance Head…'

"There are times when one needs a break. I had so much work lately that I needed to take a breather, and since Kevin's not here, I decided to visit you."

I held my breath as I muttered those words. I pleaded with every inch of my body that he'd answer differently from what I assumed he would, and...

"Ah."

Waylan nodded his head in understanding, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

"That makes sense. Kevin doesn't have it easy either, does he? I must say, he's probably having a harder time than you with all the Alliance stuff and all…"

My heart sank, and I leaned further back onto the chair.

My mind flashed back to the events that had led to Kevin's disappearance and what came after. Everything pieced itself together, and I let out a soft breath.

So...

"Funny that you mention Kevin…"

I pursed my lips and stared him directly in the eyes.

"Thing is… he doesn't really exist in this world anymore. So how is it that you still know about him?"

Chapter 757: Protector of the seat of Diligence [4]

The moment those words escaped from my mouth, the very air around the room chilled entirely, and as I sat in front of Waylan, I found myself blinking for a longer time than I usually would have.

There was something nagging at the back of my mind, and for a moment, I hesitated to voice my thoughts, unsure of whether I was overthinking or not.

But as I studied Waylan's expression, the nagging feeling persisted within me, urging me to speak up.

I cleared my throat, breaking the silence between us.

"You know, Waylan, I've been thinking."

I said slowly, my voice laced with uncertainty.

"I couldn't help but wonder if there's more to Kevin's memory wipe than just sparing everyone the pain of his passing."

I thought I knew Kevin well, but after thinking about everything that had happened, I realized that I actually knew almost nothing about him.

The Kevin I knew was a lie.

...and thus, it made me question whether he truly erased everyone's memories to spare them from being hurt by his death.

Perhaps it was true to some extent, I felt that there was more to it than just that...

Waylan's eyes flickered with a hint of surprise before he lowered his gaze, his hand coming to rest on the wooden table between us.

"What do you mean?"

He asked, his voice neutral.

I blinked slowly once more, deliberating over the words that I was about to say.

"It's just that... apart from me, no one else should know about Kevin. And yet, somehow, you do."

I watched Waylan's hand tense slightly at my words, but he remained silent, listening intently.

I leaned forward, my eyes locked on his.

"So, how is it that you know?"

I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

"How is it that you don't know about his death and the changes he's made while I do?"

For a moment, Waylan's hand hovered uncertainly over the table, his expression unreadable. But then, he let out a soft chuckle, his features relaxing into a smile.

"Heh, so it's true then..."

he said, more to himself than to me.

His casual demeanor intrigued me, and I found myself studying him more closely, searching for any hint of deception or guilt.

"What have you figured out?"

I asked, unable to hide the curiosity in my voice.

Waylan looked up at me, his eyes glinting with amusement.

"Why did you suspect me? I thought I had done quite a good job up until this point..."

Despite his attempt at nonchalance, I sensed a hint of unease in his voice. Clearly, he wasn't as unaffected as he tried to play himself out to be.

"You shouldn't have suspected a thing... Everything was perfect... There should've been nothing to indicate you at all of the matter..."

He mumbled to himself as if to reassure himself more than me.

"...and yet, I did."

I replied calmly, my eyes never leaving his.

"There was a certain nun that I met a little while back, and she told me something intriguing..."

Waylan's eyebrows furrowed slightly, and I could see a flicker of confusion pass over his face.

"What did she tell you?"

He asked, his voice laced with curiosity.

"Only a Protector knows the name of another Protector."

I repeated her exact words, watching as Waylan's expression slowly changed, his eyes widening in realization.

"Only a Protector knows the name of another Protector?"

He echoed, almost to himself.

I nodded, pursing my lips.

"Indeed..."

I silently mumbled to myself before looking back at him.

"I didn't really notice it at first, to be honest. To me, there was nothing really wrong with your name. I called you that, and everyone called you that."

It was how it was supposed to be. How I thought it was supposed to be.

But I guess I thought wrongly.

We sat in silence, each lost in our own thoughts. But then, Waylan spoke up, his voice hesitant.

"But things have changed recently, haven't they? You found something?"

I looked up at him, my gaze steady.

"Yes, they have."

In my perspective, that was his name, and that was all there was to it.

Things, however, changed recently.

"It's funny, at first I thought it was because history was different. It wouldn't be surprising if some things were different... It made perfect sense if you thought about it. Why would there be no change when history is the same?"

"…It made sense and I had no faults with it. Even after everything that I saw, I still didn't feel that there was something wrong with your name… the same was for when I came back."

I looked straight into Waylan's eyes.

"When I came back, everything was the same as before. Your name was what I thought it was, there didn't seem to be any change, and I felt my suspicions die down… That was until I remembered something."

'Only a Protector knows the name of another Protector.'

Even after I left, the nun's words kept sticking in my mind. I wasn't sure why, but I felt that those words were of extreme importance to me.

I leaned back against my chair.

"It was a farfetched thought, but… what if… and I mean what if… for some strange reason that I don't know… I have the power of a Protector?"

It was wild thought, but thinking about Kevin… I had the sudden thought that perhaps, the name shift in the other world wasn't necessarily a historical flaw.

Then… If I took the nun's words to mind, wouldn't it mean that from my perspective, only I would know his true name?

What if, my mind automatically translated how everyone was referring to him, and how I was referring to him?

What if the entire time I had been calling him Oliver without me knowing?

Was it all a matter of perspective?

"You see…"

I looked at Waylan with a complicated look. Drumming my fingers over the armrest of the chair, I silently sighed.

While I did come here hoping that I was wrong, I had already confirmed things beforehand and was just clinging to the little hope that never existed, to begin with.

"…There's this skill that I have. It's a very nice skill, and it's called Memory Manipulation."

Probably one of my favorite skills.

"It's a skill that enables me to alter and see the memories of others. Judging from how you're looking at me, you seem to have an understanding of where I'm getting at, right?"

Wyalan kept staring at me with an impassive look on his face.

I continued.

"It allows me to see things from another one's perspective rather than just mine."

I let out a long sigh.

"It was a bit of a farfetched thought, and I hoped I was wrong… I really did."

My head lowered in disappointment.

"But it turns out I wasn't wrong after all. It turns out that my hunch was correct… and you really are Oliver Roshfield in the mind of others."

I was baffled at first. Perhaps even shocked, but as I went through the other's memories, I came to realize that my hunch was true.

From everyone's perspective, he was Oliver Roshfield.

Only in my perspective was he Waylan Roshfield, and it only dawned upon me once I carefully looked through their memories and paid attention to every little detail in them. That was when I realized that they were calling him Oliver.

If that wasn't enough proof, I tried something different.

I called out Waylan's name before them and used memory manipulation shortly after to see if there were any changes.

Shockingly enough, peering through their memories, my heart sank the moment I realized that the word that came out of my mouth was not Waylan, but Oliver.

"Haaa…"

I let out another sigh when I thought about what I had recently found. The realization had taken a toll on me mentally as it made me realize a lot of things.

From the very moment I met Waylan, I thought he was someone I could trust. Someone I could work with… but it turns out it was merely wishful thinking on my part.

Waylan was merely a mask.

…A mask to hide something deeper.

"I'm rather impressed."

He said all of a sudden, his voice taking on a monotone quality.

"Impressed that you've managed to figure all of this out. But more than anything, I'm impressed at 'him.'"

His name didn't need to be mentioned for me to understand to whom he was referring to.

"You see..."

Waylan continued, his voice growing more powerful with each passing moment.

"We Protectors don't have the same powers as him. Our roles are completely different. We are in charge of keeping balance, while his job was to eliminate our biggest threat. It's only natural that his powers are different from ours."

As he spoke, I watched in seriousness as Waylan's skin began to deform, and his hair started falling out. A bright light enveloped his body, and I could feel the power radiating off of him, suffocating me in its intensity.

"He was unique."

Waylan said, his voice growing quieter.

"We… don't have the ability to leap back in time and retain our memories like him. That's something only he has the privilege of having… he was unique. An existence we put our faith into, and yet…"

Waylan paused, and the bright light enveloping his body magnified. It was so bright that I couldn't even see his figure.

He continued.

"…he chose to betray us. The ones who created him and given him his life."

The light slowly faded, revealing a blond-haired man with starry eyes and a long scar that ran across his forehead and down the side of his face. He exuded a pressure that was almost suffocating, but I refused to back down.

"I,it looks like you've finally shown yourself."

I wasn't intimidated by the pressure in the least bit. The pressure was strong, but as a thin white film coated my body and the faint outlines of golden letters appeared around it, the pressure around me started to fade.

"Hm?"

Waylan raised his brow the moment the white film appeared on my body, and his face became colder.

"The laws… He truly did betray us."

I wasn't sure if he was angry or not, but his expression showed no signs of such. The light that had covered his body soon disappeared, and the pressure that was enveloping the entire room also disappeared.

All of a sudden, the entire room turned quiet as an eerie calmness pervaded it.

…Of course, I knew this was merely the calm before the storm.

At that moment, Waylan stared at me for close to a minute before he closed his eyes and opened them up again.

"Do you know why we do what we do?"

Chapter 758: Protector of the seat of Diligence [5]

As I sat in the dimly lit room with Waylan, I couldn't help but feel a growing sense of curiosity about his role as a 'Protector.' I had always struggled to comprehend their roles and the motivations behind their actions.

It had been gnawing at me for quite a while now.

Waylan was calm and collected, and he seemed to know everything there was to know about the Records, the universe, and our place in it.

I eventually shook my head.

"No, I do not know why you do the things that you do."

"So he hasn't told you…"

Waylan calmly nodded his head.

I frowned in response to what he said, but I did not move from where I was sitting.

He continued.

"The universe… you can say that it was something that was created by the Records. It's their body, and we are both creations of the Records."

This portion was one that I had a general comprehension of. Despite this, it did not clarify for me what the records' objective was in engaging in all of this activity with creating the Protectors and keeping this so called 'balance'.

Perhaps seeing the confusion on my face, Waylan shifted his posture and changed his wording.

"Think of it like human anatomy. The universe is the Record's body, and we are the components that make up their body."

The things that he said got me nodding my head in agreement. In all honesty, this made much more sense.

"A body is composed of millions of distinct cells and bacteria that work together to keep it functioning. Cells generate energy, and the body grows gradually over time..."

"In light of the aforementioned, because the human body contains such a vast quantity of cells and bacteria, something is bound to occur sooner or later, right?"

I pursed my lips. Somewhat starting to get where he was coming from.

"If there is a virus or some cells begin to multiply too rapidly, the human body will attempt, on its own, to find ways to correct the problem. One such route could be accomplished by deploying white blood cells... antibodies..."

While I listened to him speak, I kept my eyes closed. Even though I couldn't see my face, I could tell that it was getting more and more ugly with each passing second.

"Are you trying to imply that you, Protectors are the antibodies of this system?"

"You catch on pretty quickly."

Waylan happily smiled.

"Our job is to maintain a healthy equilibrium. To put it another way, we are here to ensure that all of the processes taking place within the body run smoothly. We get rid of anything that even has the remotest possibility of being hazardous. We respond to things that might be harmful to us in the same way that your body does when it encounters potentially harmful things."

"But what does that have to do with the fact that you're the ones who introduced mana to this world?"

Why even give us the means to grow strong to that extent if they were so afraid of us developing into potentially harmful substances?

Waylan gave me a glance for a split second before questioning me about something.

"How do you think the Records grow?"

It was a straightforward inquiry; however, at that very moment, I began to gain a better understanding of everything, and my lips went dry.

"Do you believe that we decided to give powers to you and every other being in the universe so that we could play a game with you? Do you honestly believe that we even want to get rid of you in the first place?"

Waylan shook his head.

"No, no, no. Because you are the source of our power, we have no choice but to bestow mana upon you. You are, as I've already mentioned, merely a part of a much larger network. It is our responsibility as Protectors to see to it that you do not develop into someone who could pose a threat, just like your body does with everything within it."

Waylan paused and stared at me expressionlessly.

"…You need to know your place."

The very air chilled at his last words, and I stared straight at him, unable to utter a single word back.

I was at a loss as to whether I should be laughing or getting angry.

As a matter of fact, making comparisons to the human body has helped me get a better understanding of what was going on, but at the same time, it demonstrated to me just how insignificant I was when compared to the overall scheme of things.

'Well… not so much anymore.'

I was no longer as insignificant as I used to be.

Wayaln's voice reached my ears once more.

"You come here… arrogantly thinking that you've found some big secret. Reality is… it doesn't matter if you found the secret or not."

He slowly stood up from his seat.

"We… Never cared for that. You were never a threat to us from the very beginning, and even if that 'traitor' has helped you achieve your current level of s―"

At that precise moment, he halted his speech, and it was at that point that a smile crossed my face.

He probably felt it.

"Did you really think I'd come here knowing of your strength?"

When I went to pay a visit to the chapel in that world, it was immediately abundantly clear to me that I was not a match for a Protector. Even with all of my abilities and skills, I was able to see that there was no way that I could overcome the gap that existed between the two of us.

That was before, however…

"Since you know that Kevin has betrayed you… you should be aware that there'd be no way he'd let me come to you knowing just how powerful you guys are. right?"

I came to understand this not long before coming here. But the point of sending me to that world wasn't just to help me understand what was going on behind the scenes; it was actually to help me assimilate his powers.

My strength underwent a transition before my very eyes as his power worked its way into my system slowly but surely. The process was smooth and harmless, and gradually I witnessed my power undergo changes that I never thought were possible.

The thin barrier that separated me from the next big level shattered, and I broke through to <SSS-> in one go.

As I fixed my attention on Waylan, the corners of my eyes began to scrunch up.

"While I'm not entirely confident in defeating you if we were to fight, I might not necessarily lose either…"

As soon as I stepped foot inside his office, it was abundantly clear to me that the Protector of the Seat of Diligence was someone on an entirely different level than anyone else I had ever encountered in my life, but… I already knew this beforehand, and I was prepared for it.

Ba.. Thump! Ba… Thump!

When I stood in front of him, I could actually feel the beating of my heart in my chest, but I forcefully calmed it down with a single breath.

"Must we fight?"

Waylan, contrary to what I had anticipated, exhibited an air of calm composure. He did not give any indication that he was unhappy with either my actions or my words while he was staring at me from where he was.

"Do the two of us really have to fight? Did you not hear my words?"

"I did."

I listened to every single one of his words carefully.

"If you did pay attention to what I said, then you ought to understand where you stand in this situation. You are just a single, insignificant part of a much larger system. We... are not the villains in this situation. You are."

"Pftt."

I almost laughed out loud at his words.

"Does it really matter whether something is bad or good? When exactly did anyone decide that I was either the hero or the villain? I've never had any interest in such nonsense... Kevin has never been interested in such nonsense... My previous version of myself was never interested in such nonsense... and not even Jezebeth gives a crap about such nonsense..."

It was all a matter of perspective. Regardless of how one looked at it, each one of us was the bad guy in their view.

"There's no real bad guy over here. There are merely a bunch of entities with conflicting interests. Like a business… the last one standing wins, and you shouldn't be naïve enough to put on a narrative of us being the bad guys when you're equally the same in my view."

Finally, Waylan's expression started to change. His brows slowly brought themselves together, making the scar that traced along his face more hideous.

That, however, didn't last for long, as he soon calmed down.

"I see… I didn't think you looked at things that way. So our interests don't align," he nodded with a pensive look on his face. "Very well, since they don't align, let's make them align. Work with us."

He soon extended his hand my way.

"With your powers, you are more than qualified to work with us. Join our mission. Become a Protector and help us keep the balance of the Universe. If something truly does happen to the Records, the Universe itself will be in danger."

He smiled at me.

"You say our interests don't align, but they do. If you kill me, then one of the few that can stop 'him' will disappear. We are not your enemy… He is our enemy, and if you desire anything after everything is said and done, the Records will grant it to you. All you have to do is join us."

At that precise moment, a dazzling white glow began to envelop Waylan's hand, and its profound resonance reverberated throughout the entire room.

'Join them, huh?'

I stared at the hand for a short moment.

The offer was honestly a bit tempting. With his aid, defeating Jezebeth would indeed be easier.

In fact, it would make things a lot easier… Sadly, I knew it was impossible.

Tearing my eyes away from the hand, I smiled.

"Taking into consideration what you did to your wife after you realized she was no longer of any use to you, it doesn't appear that working with you would be the best option, does it?"

Chapter 759: Protector of the seat of Diligence [6]

The tension in the room was palpable, thick enough to cut through with a knife. Waylan's smile vanished in an instant, leaving behind a stoic expression devoid of any emotion.

His clear eyes began to cloud over, and in just a matter of seconds, they turned pitch black. But upon closer inspection, they were much more than just a dark void.

As I gazed into his eyes, I could see the reflection of the entire cosmos staring back at me.

The swirling galaxies, the shining stars, and the infinite expanse of space were all contained within Waylan's eyes.

"Is this your answer?"

Waylan's voice boomed across the room, carrying with it an ancient quality that made the powers within my body tremble.

I felt a sudden pressure crash onto me, and I struggled to keep my footing. Despite the weight bearing down on me, I refused to falter and stood my ground.

"Even after I conceded and allowed you to work with us, you still choose to work against us?"

Waylan's gaze was cold and unforgiving, and I knew that I was in deep trouble.

"Arrogant."

He spat, and the cosmos within his eyes began to expand, slowly creeping up the walls of the room.

I watched in seriousness as the stars and galaxies began to envelop everything around me, slowly but surely.

Even in the face of such overwhelming power, I remained composed/

"Arrogant, huh?"

I managed to gasp out, struggling against the immense pressure that threatened to crush me.

"Would knowing that I'd get disposed of after serving my usefulness count as me being arrogant? …Rather, instead of arrogant, shouldn't you be saying something along the lines of self-aware?"

I was no fool.

The information that Ryan had sent me coincided with everything that I had managed to figure out myself, and I knew that Waylan wasn't someone who'd spare someone that had lived up to their usefulness.

He couldn't fool me, and I knew that he needed to die, regardless of whether he'd eliminate me after.

'He needs to die regardless.'

I thought to myself, my resolve hardening with each passing second. His existence was something that needed to be eliminated to have any chance at the third cataclysm that was soon going to come.

"Self-Aware?"

Waylan looked at me with a calm expression, musing over my words very carefully. It wasn't long before he shook his head.

"You're the last thing from self-aware. If you were self-aware, you'd know which side to join."

The world around me began to distort and warp, and suddenly, I found myself in a cosmic background filled with stars and planets in the distance.

I looked around in wonder, marveling at the beauty and grandeur of it all. I felt weightless as if I was standing on nothing at all. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before, and I couldn't help but be in awe of the spectacle before me.

"Are you surprised?"

Waylan's voice cut through my reverie, pulling me back to reality. I turned to face him, nodding my head in amazement.

"Yes, I'm surprised. Where have you brought me?"

Although I had seen how he had managed to send me here, I never felt a thing, unlike when I was with portals. It was somewhat baffling.

"I'm surprised that you can't tell where we are considering that you have 'his' power, but that isn't important."

Waylan's gaze pierced through me, and the white glow that emanated from his body grew even brighter.

"What important is your answer."

He slowly reached his hand toward me.

"Will you join me, or not?"

***

Boom―!

The reverberations of the explosions could be felt all over the world. The ground began to shake, and the mountains were pushed down to the ground. The entire area was filled with the sound of screams of agony, and there was a constant flow of blood.

Gates of enormous magnitude were scattered across the cloudless azure sky, and hordes of dark humanoid creatures rushed out of them as quickly as they could.

"Kill them! Don't spare any of them!"

"Arkhh!"

All of those who emerged had a crazed and bloodthirsty look on their faces as they flew toward the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of elves who were standing on the ground behind the trees with their bows drawn and their staffs raised.

WIIIIIING--! Spells and arrows flew in the air, impaling many of the demons that were rushing their way, but that proved to be futile.

No matter how many were cut down or impaled, a significant number of them regenerated in the blink of an eye and continued to charge at the humans. Even if they succeeded in killing themselves, new demons would appear from behind and take the place of the ones that had been killed.

The screams that were heard throughout the area gradually became higher pitched, and it wasn't long before the elves began to suffer casualties.

In the distance.

"What a pitiful sight."

The expression of indifference that was plastered across Jezebeth's face was not consistent with the compassionate words that came out of his mouth.

"It's such a shame that so many have to die today… A pity, a real pity."

He shook his head in disappointment.

Not so far from him were two elven figures. An elderly one and a younger one, both wearing shiny silver armor.

They stared at Jezebeth without moving.

Noticing their gaze, Jezebeth turned his gaze and smiled at them.

"The deaths that are taking place over there don't appear to be having much of an effect on the two of you at all. Is this how things normally work with you Protectors?... Do you only care about maintaining balance and disregard those who have no use for you?"

His words were met with silence, but Jezebeth was unconcerned by this development. He was enjoying the present very much.

He had dreamt of this day for a very long time, and although he had seen this scene many times in the past... He knew... that this was the very last time he'd see this scene ever again.

It was for this reason that he was rather chatty today.

"I know the two of you are waiting for reinforcements… thinking that the five other Protectors will come to your aid soon enough, but…"

Jezebeth cocked his head to the side and peered off into the distance. His expression remained one of contentment as his eyes became fixated on a particular scene off in the distance.

"Well, never mind five… Four, I guess."

Jezebeth's eyes lit up with something as he kept looking at the scene in the distance, but he eventually shook his head and tore his gaze away from the sight.

"Not yet… It's still a bit too soon."

A mumble escaped his mouth before he turned his attention back to the other two Protectors. While he had both hands behind his back, his hair was blowing in front of him, and his eyes, which had a purplish-red tint to them, began to glow all of a sudden.

Swoosh!

Instantaneously, the two Guardians started to move, and their silhouettes began to blend in with the surrounding area. They vanished for a moment and then reappeared right in front of him.

The silver-armored elf, who had his rapier drawn and pointed toward his neck, showed no sign of holding back as the slash shattered the area that it passed through.

WIIIIIING―!! The force behind that one slash made everything in the far distance appear to be of insignificant size, and at the same time, the carefree expression that had been on Jezebeth's face vanished.

If that wasn't all, the elderly elf appeared behind Jezebeth with a large magic circle―the size of a car―appearing above her staff. A terrifying fluctuation burst forth from the magic circle, spreading across the nearby areas and shattering everything that was within the vicinity.

BOOOOM―!!

Even though they were quite a distance away from the main battlefield in the distance, the aftershock of that attack was still sufficient to reach certain areas of the space, killing anyone who had the misfortune to be in their range.

With a powerful slash at the front and a powerful spell at the back, Jezebeth's situation was rather serious. Only that… his previous serious expression vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and a smile soon formed on his face.

"Enough."

Everything stopped.

Even though it was only a single word, the moment it was spoken, both of the Protectors' bodies came to a stop. Jezebeth's body soon began to radiate a dazzling white light, accompanied by golden runes and words that floated around him.

The light was so intense that the elves who were far away were instantly rendered unable to see because of its glare.

…The same couldn't be said for the demons, as they seemed completely unaffected by the radiance.

"Uagkh!"

"Ukh!"

As the demons continued their murderous rampage, more blood splattered against the air.

Jezebeth tilted his head to the side and looked off into the distance while maintaining a contented grin on his face.

"That's good."

It was only after he was satisfied with what he saw that he shifted his attention back toward the Protectors and waved his hand. The space around them distorted, and they reappeared in the vastness of space.

The once-vibrant planet has long since disappeared. It was gone, and in its place was an eerie silence and a chill that went straight to the bone.

"I feel like this place is better suited for the three of us."

Jezebeth looked at the two with a calm smile.

"If we were to join in on the fun with them, we would be implicating our forces, and that would be a real shame..."

While Jezebeth spoke, the two Protectors quickly broke free from the binds that were changing their bodies. It wasn't too hard since the force that was restricting their body wasn't too strong.

"We… should've made sure you had died back then…"

The elderly elven lady spoke. Her eyes, which had been a bright blue, started to cloud over and eventually darkened completely. The situation was the same for the second Protector.

Both of their scalps became completely golden, and the skin on their bodies began to peel off in patches. An ethereal glow materialized over their bodies, and a terrifying pressure erupted from the combined mass of the two of them at the same time.

Jezebeth was pushed back a couple of spaces as a result of the pressure, which was intense enough.

He still carried a smile on his face as he gazed at the two of them.

"I don't disagree with you."

Jezebeth nodded his head with a smile.

"Had you killed me back then… then perhaps the two of you could've lived."

Chapter 760: Fighting a Protector [1]

"I'm afraid I'll have to refuse once more."

I refused firmly, meeting Waylan's piercing gaze with a calm demeanor.

His face contorted, and I braced myself for the inevitable surge of power that was about to emanate from him.

Sure enough, the space around us began to distort, and the air crackled with energy. I could feel the pressure building up, suffocating me, until Waylan finally extended his hand in my direction.

"Very well. I guess there's no need for you to remain. Allow me to take your powers away."

I felt a strong force suddenly seize my entire body and drag me in the direction he was facing. The force that was surrounding my body caused my bones to crack, and my face began to distort under the pressure.

In spite of that…

"I'm good."

A white film suddenly erupted from within my body and covered every square inch of my skin, shattering the force that was encircling me at the time.

Golden runes and words floated around me at the same time, and I finally caught my breath again.

"Hm?"

My sudden actions seemed to surprise Waylan as he looked at me strangely.

I did not pay any attention to the expression on his face, and I quickly moved away from the area I was in. At the same time, I directed the demonic energy that was coursing through me all over my body, and I could feel my body beginning to transform.

Cr― Crack! I couldn't quite make out what was going on, but when scales started to form across my hands, and two wings started to shoot out from my back, I knew that the transformation had been successful.

That very moment, I felt my body burst with incredible power.

"How unpleasant."

Waylan's expression changed to one of abject revulsion as he witnessed my transformation. The manner in which he looked at me shifted even further, and he extended his hand to face my direction.

WOOOONG―! A colossal hand materialized out of nowhere in the form of a large projection, reaching around him and making its way in my direction.

'…It looks like I've underestimated him.'

I came prepared… I believed that I did, but as I watched the enormous hand coming toward me, I realized that I had grossly misjudged the power of a Protector.

Despite that…

"Ugh."

I reached out with my hand and took hold of my sword. As I continued to look at the enormous hand, I inhaled deeply and noticed that my body was undergoing yet another shift.

My muscles were rapidly expanding, and I felt a tremendous amount of energy rising up from the depths of my being.

"Huh."

The incredible pain that came along with the expansion of my muscles caused me to take a deep breath and hold it.

'It's fine… I'm already used to pain… this isn't anything new…'

In the time that it took for me to get ready, the hand was already in close proximity to me, and I felt as though I had stopped breathing.

…The power was not something I could thread lightly against.

The fourth movement of the [Keiki Style] : World Splitter.

Click―!

Following a subtle clicking sound, the hand came to a sudden stop in front of me… just a few inches away from my nose, and I felt sweat trickle down the side of my face.

Nevertheless, it came to a stop, and after a short while, the hand shattered right in front of my eyes in the form of golden particles, at which point I was finally able to see Waylan once more.

He had a surprised look on his face at the moment.

"Haa…ha… haa…hhaaa…"

On the other hand, I was having a tough time with it. My chest was on fire, and the pain in my muscles was excruciating.

The toll that my body took just to stop that one attack was anything but pleasant.

As I focused my attention on the serene figure of Waylan off in the distance, I cursed under my breath.

"Sh..hhaaa…it…haaa"

That…

That took everything I had.

Combining the [Keiki style] and the [Gravar Style] together, I was able to unleash an attack that was far more powerful than what I'd normally be able to release, but… the mana consumption… it was far too great.

"Haa… Haaa…"

I clenched my teeth, which resulted in a stream of liquid gushing into my body. Instantaneously, both the rhythm of my breath and the mana that circulated throughout my body returned to normal.

'…Good thing I have several potions prepared.'

It never hurt to be prepared beforehand.

"I'm surprised you managed to stop that."

Waylan did not immediately launch another attack after the previous one. At this point in time, he seemed more interested in my abilities than anything else.

"Are you absolutely certain that you don't want to join us? You may currently be weak, but there is no doubt that you will eventually develop the same level of power as us, the Protectors."

"Again, with that?"

While I brought my sword closer to my body, I cast a glance in Waylan's direction. Channeling the mana within my body, the pain that was already present in my muscles became even worse.

"Didn't I already tell you that I'm not interested? Why don't you understand that no means no?"

I stepped forward and slashed.

Clink―!

The slash was rendered ineffective as it stopped mere inches from Waylan's face as a small barrier appeared in front of him, but I had anticipated as much from the outset.

Clink―! Clink―! After the initial slash, I proceeded with another slash and then another slash after that. I was able to sense an increase in both the speed and power of my attacks as I continued to string them together one after the other.

"This is…"

When Waylan saw the movement of my sword, his face changed for some unexplainable reason, and the space around him warped.

My blade missed because of his actions, but I continued.

Clink―! Clink―!

It all took place in the space of a few seconds, and by the time I had reached the thirty-first movement, the space around Waylan had already begun to show visible cracks.

'Almost…'

I clenched my teeth when I saw this.

…I could feel at the moment that I was only a few slashes away from breaking apart his first line of defense.

I was close… so close…

Bank―!

"Huh?!"

My blade came to a sudden stop.

Immediately after that, Waylan's hand appeared from behind the barrier and grabbed hold of my blade. His face, which had shown only minute shifts in appearance since the last time we spoke, had become horribly distorted.

"This… This sword art…"

As his chest heaved up and down in an uneven manner, he appeared to be having difficulty finding the appropriate words to express himself.

As he stared at the blade, there was no longer any trace of the tranquility and clarity that had previously been in his eyes; instead, he appeared to be consumed by nothing but rage.

'Oh, shit.'

I attempted to pull my sword the moment he reached out for it, but it was as if an invisible force had wrapped itself around it, and I was unable to move it at all.

As soon as his hand got a hold of the sword, his face contorted into an incredibly repulsive expression. He gently stroked his face with his other hand, following the line of the scar on his face as he did so, and then…

"…I'm sure of it."

He looked away from the sword and turned to look at me.

I attempted to apply a greater amount of force, but after observing that the sword would not budge, I quickly gave up. I was making an effort to conserve my mana, and I didn't want to throw away my mana by attempting to regain control of my sword.

"Sure of what?"

I asked, calming down a bit and taking note of his abnormal state.

Waylan's eyes cleared up a bit.

"This is the same sword art that that old guy used…"

"The what?"

"…The same one that scarred my face."

He repeated this while pressing his palm firmly against the blade of the sword. Because of how firmly he held onto it, the sword began to creak under the pressure.

"Huh?"

I looked at him strangely.

'The same one that scarred my face?'

I did wonder where the scar came from, but it actually came from Grandmaster Levisha?

'Right, but… doesn't he know that this sword art also belongs to Kevin?'

"I thought I'd gotten rid of all three of them…"

Waylan looked at me.

"…yet, for some reason, you were able to acquire all three of their sword arts. How is this possible?"

Because of the increased pressure that was emanating from Waylan's body, I found it increasingly difficult to maintain a firm grip on my sword.

In any case, his words astounded me.

'He seems shocked by the fact that I possess all three sword arts… I'm sure he already knew about the Keiki style, and shouldn't he also know about the Levisha style? It's not like Kevin hi―'

I had a sudden epiphany, and everything clicked into place after that. I clenched my hands around my sword even more tightly and turned my attention back to Waylan.

"I think you should already be aware of the answer, shouldn't you?"

Waylan's expression froze, and his eyes soon regained their calmness.

"Indeed."

He nodded his head and gazed back at me.

"I indeed already know the answer… I was just momentarily surprised by an old memory of mine clouding my judgment. I apologize."

The moment I opened my mouth to respond, I was startled by the sensation of something pressing against my stomach.

BANG―!

"Akh!"

I didn't know what happened from that point on as I felt myself lose grip of my sword. I then felt my body shoot in the opposite direction, and my organs shatter.

My vision blackened shortly after that.

Chapter 761: Fighting a Protector [2]

Crack. Crack. Crack.

The sound of shattered glass filled the air, and I felt my body being propelled backward.

My consciousness slowly returned as I took in the chaos surrounding me. Cracks ran through the space, like veins coursing with energy, and in a matter of moments, the entire world shattered.

The cosmic background shattered alongside it.

I was falling, plummeting towards what looked like Ashton City. I tried to stop myself before I collided with the buildings, but I was too late. I barely managed to slow my fall and ended up crashing onto the roof of a tall building.

BANG―!

"Pfttt."

I coughed, covering my mouth as blood trickled down my fingers. The pain was overwhelming, and my body trembled with every breath.

But I knew what to do. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a vial of potion, quickly shattering it inside my mouth. The healing properties of the potion, combined with the demonic energy that was coursing down my body, sped up my recovery. The pain slowly subsided, and my injuries began to heal.

But it wasn't enough. Not nearly fast enough.

"You're still alive after that?"

Waylan's voice came from above, it sounded ancient and it came from all directions. I looked up to see him hovering in the air, not far from where I was.

I backed away, my hand instinctively reaching for my sword, but it wasn't there.

"You're just as much of a cockroach as he is..."

Waylan frowned.

"...It annoys me."

He extended his hand, and the world flipped upside down. Suddenly, Ashton City was above me, and I was falling again.

"Uh? Ah?!"

I tried to right myself, but it was no use.

Waylan pushed his palm forward, and a projection of a hand headed towards me.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

The air around it shattered like glass, and I crossed my arms to shield myself. But the palm moved too fast for me to react, and I was propelled backward once again.

"Akh!"

When I regained my bearings, Ashton City was nowhere in sight. I was standing in the middle of the sky. I tried to move, but the pain was unbearable. I felt like every bone in my body was broken.

"My ribs... and definitely my hip."

I grimaced in pain, clenching my teeth. But even as I endured the agony, my body started to heal, aided by the demonic energy that was coursing through me.

"Still alive?"

Waylan's voice was taunting. Suddenly, he appeared behind me, and I turned to face him, my body still wracked with pain.

"...You really are a cockroach."

He extended his hand once again, and the world flipped back to normal, and Ashton City appeared right beneath me. But something was off.

I felt disoriented like I was standing in two places at once.

Looking up and down, I saw two Ashton Cities, identical in every way. Both were above and beneath me.

"W...what?"

My sense of direction was lost, and I felt like I was spinning out of control.

Suddenly, his voice reverberated through my surroundings.

"This is a space I created. Within this space, I am akin to what the Records are to the Universe. I can control everything from space to time itself."

The space around me cracked, and another palm headed my way.

This time, I was somewhat prepared, and I brought my wings forward, creating a small shield in front of me. But even with the shield, I was still thrown backward, the impact jarring my body.

"Freeze."

Waylan's words fell, and my body froze at his command. I couldn't move, couldn't even blink and what covered my vision were golden runes and words that clamped against my skin.

"Huh?!"

Waylan appeared right in front of me, his starry eyes reflecting the world I was in, and I watched as the two Cities above and beneath me started to press toward my direction.

Rumble―! The space shook fiercely as the two cities moved together and I swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

"Like I said..."

Waylan repeated, his tone growing more insistent.

"Within this world, I am akin to the Records. Stop resisting."

I could feel his power bearing down on me, crushing my entire body into a pulp. But I refused to give in. I refused to let that happen... not after everything that 'he' did for me to get to this point.

Staring out at the approaching cities, I clenched my teeth, and a white glow formed around my body. It was a last ditch effort, a desperate attempt to take back control. And it worked.

Suddenly, I was able to regain control over my body. The golden runes and words that had clamped at my body shattered.

My hand shot out, and my sword, which I had previously lost, appeared in my grasp. Waylan's expression twisted in shock as I slashed forward with all the remaining energy that I had.

Swoosh!

"It's futil―"

He started to say, but I cut him off.

"Freeze."

The command was simple but powerful. The moment I spoke those words, my voice changed, imbued with an ancient feel to it and golden runes manifested around Waylan, clamping at his body as they had previously done to me.

Waylan froze on the spot, unable to move.

Seeing that a chance had presented itself, I pressed forward.

WIIIIIIING―! The blade streaked past his body, slashing directly at his chest. A golden liquid spurted out from his body as he stumbled backward.

"Uh?"

He looked at me with a shocked expression, and I half-smiled. But it was a weak smile. I was too weak to bring myself to smile fully.

"You seem to…haaa.. have forgotten that…huuhh…you're not the only one who can wield the laws…"

I gasped, channeling the laws within my body once more. The bones of my body creaked and were engulfed by pain, but I clenched my teeth and bore through it.

I raised my hand up, and the two approaching cities stopped dead in their tracks. It was just in time to see the two pointed tips of the Union Tower stop just a few meters close to me.

"Haaa..haaa…."

I panted, my breath ragged. I lost my breath the moment the two cities stopped, and I almost fainted on the spot. But I knew I couldn't give up. Not yet.

'…not yet.'

I bit my tongue until I tasted iron, forcing myself to stay awake.

Gulp―! I took several potions, but they proved to no longer be effective. What I used wasn't mana, but the Akashic Laws. It wasn't something that potions could replenish.

As I raised my head to stare at Waylan, who was glaring at me with his hideous face, I found myself cringing.

Most notably at the sight of the cut that was rapidly healing. His power was immense, and I could sense it fluctuating in his body.

'This is… bad.'

I thought to myself, swallowing a mouthful of saliva.

***

[In a different part of the Universe]

"How long do you think the other Protectors will take? Will they come fast enough to save the two of you?"

Jezebeth gazed at the two Protectors standing in front of him in a relaxed manner. The conditions that they were in at the time were nothing short of pitiful.

With their armor broken and the glow on their bodies dim, they seemed to be on the verge of dying.

Jezebeth's condition, on the other hand, was in a significantly better state than theirs was. Even though his armor was covered in cracks and his hair was a mess, his condition was still noticeably better than that of the two Protectors.

The Protector of the Seat of Charity muttered under her breath, "This...bastard," as she moved back a little. She was previously the elderly-looking elf, and as she turned towards her left ― where the Protector of the Seat of Patience was ― she found herself clenching her teeth tightly.

…She was in an equally bad condition.

"Kamhala."

The Protector of the Seat of Charity uttered her name, and Kamhala―the Protector of the Seat of Patience―looked back at her. There were faint runes flickering in between her eyes.

When they looked at one another, the runes that were flickering in between Kamhala's eyes began to glow brightly and became more visible, spreading across the area that the two were in.

When Kamhala moved both of her hands forward, a crack appeared in the space around her.

Crack. Crack.

Cracks spread like broken glass across the space around them, and Kamhala's face turned pale as more and more of these cracks appeared across the space.

Even so…

"Haa."

She let out a muffled cry, and the space shattered like broken glass.

Crash―! The landscape abruptly changed, and they found themselves standing in front of a massive sun that was considerably more expansive than the planet they had been on before.

The heat that was emanating from the sun caused the space around them to warp, and on multiple occasions, bubbles of fire erupted from the sun and came dangerously close to hitting them.

"A nice change of scenery."

Jezebeth made a remark as he observed his surroundings with interest. It didn't appear as though he was taking the unexpected turn of events very seriously.

He looked at the sun with further interest.

"This sun does indeed look like a good source of energy."

Soon after, his head lifted, and he turned to stare at the Protector of the Seat of Charity.

As was to be expected, the instant that he looked at her, he saw her drawing energy from the sun as a thread of orange began to envelop her body and her power began to increase.

This was a sight he had seen many times before and thus wasn't surprised by it in the least bit. Now that he had managed to acquire all of the fragments, he could more or less recall his memories from the past regressions and thus knew exactly what to expect at the moment.

His gaze was constantly shifting between the two Protectors. Both of their wounds began to mend rapidly, and simultaneously, they began to experience a rise in their overall power.

Even though Jezebeth began to feel threatened by them, he did not move from his position and instead allowed them to carry on with whatever they were doing.

From the very moment he decided to attack, he made up his mind one thing.

…He was going to take things slowly.

Chapter 762: Fighting a Protector [3]

From the moment the scenery around me changed, and I found myself back in Ashton City, I came to the realization that I wasn't transported out into the nothingness of space like I previously thought I was.

Instead, it seemed like I was placed inside a different dimension created by Waylan, governed by the Laws.

His words confirmed it shortly afterward.

Despite my lack of knowledge about the inner workings of this space I was in, I realized that the only way to properly fight back was through the laws themselves.

...and I did.

I summoned a part of the laws that I had, and I successfully managed to stop him. I was successful in injuring him, but it came at a cost.

'I'm already gassed out.'

My body was practically shaking as I struggled to channel the energy inside of me.

I thought I had prepared enough, but it was clear that I wasn't prepared for what was to come.

I was already gassed out, and my energy was rapidly depleting.

"You…"

Waylan noticed the injury in his body, and his expression changed. At first, he seemed mad, but for some reason, he kept his cool, and the injury slowly started to recede. I frowned as I realized that what I had done wasn't enough.

But Waylan spoke.

"That was a very good attempt."

His nonchalant voice reverberated through the air, and it was followed by a violent thrust of wind that headed my way.

WIIIIIING―! The world around me bent, and I saw the tips of a skyscraper heading straight for me. I narrowly dodged it and shifted my attention to the approaching fist.

It grew larger in my vision by the second, and before I knew it, it was just an inch away from my nose. I summoned all the strength I had left and opened my mouth.

"Stop."

Golden runes and words popped out from the space around the fist and clamped onto them. The fist stopped in its tracks and started trembling.

"Ugh."

I could feel my body weaken at the usage of the Laws, but I clenched my teeth and pushed through the pain.

Swoosh―! I took advantage of the little time I bought to move to the side and avoid the fist. I followed up with my own kick, aimed directly at Waylan's neck.

But it felt like I hit hard metal, and I felt an intense pain coming directly from my shin.

Despite the pain, I managed to push Waylan back. I grabbed my sword and took a deep breath. I knew what I had to do next. I summoned all the energy I had left and prepared for the third movement of the [Keiki Style]: Void Step.

My vision blurred, and I reappeared in front of Waylan. I heard a familiar clicking sound as my sword hit something, and Waylan's body shot back even further.

"Haaa... haa..."

I was panting heavily, but I gritted my teeth and repeated the same movement.

The third movement of the [Keiki Style]: Void Step.

I could feel my mana rapidly deteriorating with each movement, but I persevered and continued.

The third movement of the [Keiki Style]: Void Step.

The third movement of the [Keiki Style]: Void Step.

The third movement of the [Keiki Style]: Void Step.

With each attack, I appeared in front of Waylan, determined to take him down. I tried to inflict as much damage as possible on him by employing anything at my disposal, whether it was my sword or any part of my body.

The slightest movement felt like it would bring on excruciating pain, and I could feel my muscles tearing as a result of the enormous strain that was being placed on my body.

However, with the assistance of the demonic energy that was residing within my body, I was able to push through the pain and keep attacking with everything that I had.

'Yeah... the pain is nothing... I'm far too used to this...'

Pain was the one thing I was capable of enduring, and with that knowledge in mind, I continued to put forth as much strain on my body as I possibly could.

WIIING―!

The space in front of me crumbled, and Waylan's body shot into the distance.

As I pressed my hand against the empty space next to me, the mana that was normally stored within my body began to drain at an alarming rate, and I came dangerously close to passing out right then and there.

However, I gritted my teeth and persevered through the excruciating pain as a barely perceptible ripple began to spread across the surface of the sky.

"What are you trying to do?"

My ears picked up Waylan's voice coming from my right, and when I turned my head to look in that direction, I could see him standing a few meters away from me.

The moment he appeared, my heart sank, and before I had even a chance to react, I felt something press against my chest, and I crashed into the city below.

BANG―!

The pain traveled throughout my back, and I found it difficult to breathe as a result of the sheer impact of the collision.

"Aph!"

It wasn't until I took a loud gulp of air that I noticed the darkness that had begun to creep into the peripheries of my vision, beginning to fade away.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Waylan's voice sounded from above, and when I looked up, I saw him hovering in the area above me. His back was turned to the backdrop of Ashton City, which was inching closer and closer to him.

"Like I've said before. Everything that is within this area is under my direct control. Put an end to whatever futile sense of resistance you have, and just…"

When he opened his hand, his body phased, and I saw the skyline of Ashton City come into view and head my way at incredible speeds.

The most notable thing was the tip of the Union Tower, which was aimed my way directly.

Lying in the middle of the road, I watched as the tip of the tower inched its way closer to me. Clenching my teeth, I used everything that was left in me to force myself up and press my hand against my sword.

Click―!

At that precise moment, all of my strength left me, and I felt as though my legs were going to give out from under me; however, I was still able to accomplish what I set out to do.

Crash―!

Following a soft clicking sound, the area in front of me began to collapse, and the Ashton City that was heading my way collapsed into fine shards, revealing a cloudless blue sky where Waylan was standing behind.

His starry eyes were directed at me, and an unfathomable pressure bore down on me.

Thump!

My legs gave out under the strain, and I fell to the ground, unable to hold on any longer.

"Pftt."

I tried to stop whatever was trying to escape my mouth by covering it with my hand, but it was too late, and when I looked down, I saw streaks of my own blood on the ground beneath me.

"It's over."

When I looked up at Waylan, I saw that he was staring at me with a look of complete disinterest, and his voice seemed to be coming from everywhere at once. It was as if he were dealing with a relatively insignificant bug.

I couldn't help but laugh when he looked at me, and after I took my hand away from my mouth, I leaned back against the ground and stared at him.

"Have you finally given up?"

His voice reached my ears once more.

"What makes you think that?"

"…So you haven't?"

"Hmm."

I cocked my head to the side and smiled faintly, staring at the faint ripple next to him. The one that I had planted moments before falling back into the city.

"I guess not."

Rumble―! Rumble―! Almost immediately after uttering those words, the space around Waylan began to twist and turn, and a large sword projection emerged from a crack that had formed in the space next to him.

The sudden situation surprised Waylan, who looked at the sword in shock, but it was already too late.

The sword emerged from the fissure in a very gradual manner, exposing approximately three quarters of its body, and the space showed signs of breaking apart.

"Sixth movement."

I mustered the strength to utter a few words as I extended my hand to cover both the sword and the figure of Waylan.

Almost immediately after that, everything came crashing down, and a deafening sound spread throughout the area around me.

WOOOOOOOOONG―!

The sixth movement…

A movement that I had been trying to perfect for a very long time.

I was close, yet still far from reaching the end of it. I thought I managed to grasp it, but it was only three quarters of it, but it was enough.

Still... it was the best that I had.

My most powerful move, and sure enough, the power I felt from it sent shivers down my spine, and as I exploded in front of me.

BANG―! BANG―!

The aftermath of the attack sent me flying and stumbling across the ground until I finally came to a stop next to a building.

Crash―! As I slammed into the building, I felt completely immobile. I no longer felt any energy within my body, and the darkness that had begun to seep into my vision a few moments prior began to expand, slowly consuming my entire vision.

"Di…d I do it?"

I wondered to myself, trying to see the result of my attack in the distance. But it was clear that I wouldn't be able to see it as my vision started to darken completely.

That was until I heard a certain voice.

A void that I never thought I'd hear again…

"No."

My vision immediately cleared upon hearing that voice.

"You didn't do it."

Chapter 763: Fighting a Protector [4]

Listening to the familiar, yet unfamiliar voice, my mind blanked for a moment. When I turned my head, it blanked completely.

A figure sat crossed-legged next to me.

"How…"

I opened my mouth to speak, but the words died in my throat when I noticed the missing chains on his body. His expressionless face gave nothing away, and I couldn't read any emotions in it.

I felt a shock wave through me at the realization of what this could mean.

'…What is going on?'

"Kevin's dead."

His voice carried a sense of indifference to it. I noticed that he blinked his eyes a few times while he was staring off into the distance. That was when I also turned my head and saw Waylan standing in the distance.

My heart sank to the lowest depths imaginable.

"So that was the case…"

He seemed to have understood something. The extent… I didn't know, but that didn't matter. When I stared at him and remembered his goal, I moved away from him.

"W,what are you doing?"

It seemed as though my actions had taken him by surprise, but I didn't give a damn as I slowly stood up.

I tried to, but…

Thump!

The moment I attempted to, I immediately collapsed to the ground. There, I became aware that the majority of my bones were broken, and that many of my muscles had also been torn.

"What do you think you're doing? You're in no state to be moving at the moment."

I warily looked at him and took a deep breath.

"…D,do you really think I'd welcome you with open arms or something? Especially when I know exactly what you want to achieve?"

He was me, yet at the same time he wasn't… While it did look like he was on my side, he wasn't. Our interests were drastically different, and I knew he was as much of a threat as Waylan… if not more.

"Ah."

He seemed to have realized my thoughts, as not long after he nodded his head.

"Understandable."

As he slowly stood up while pressing his hands against the ground, I retreated a few meters in the opposite direction, dragging my body with the little strength I had in my hands.

'He might be free but he can't harm me yet…'

The only way he could harm me was by possessing my body and attempting suicide from there. The fact that he had not yet done so indicated that he was not yet a threat to me.

At least… I hoped that was the case.

"What are you trying to do?"

I asked him while turning my head to look at the distance. It was faint, but I could feel Waylan approaching my direction.

'Damn it.'

I tightened my teeth. I did everything in my power to kill him, but I was ultimately unsuccessful. Rather, it did not appear that I was even close to killing him… was this the limit of my current powers? Despite everything that Kevin did?

That… it was frustrating.

"You don't need to be wary."

I almost scoffed at his words. With everything that he had done to me… the words he said to me, did he really think I'd actually not be wary of him?

His cold and empathetic gaze fell on me.

"…If I really wanted to do something to you at the moment, I'd have already done it by now."

I frowned at his words, but at the same time, musing over them, I realized that what he said made sense. If he really did want to do something to me, with the chains gone, it wouldn't be that hard.

Rather, the fact that he was talking to me at the moment suggested that he had something to talk about.

While my body was still tense, I did lower my guard a little.

"I'll hear you out."

He cocked his head.

"Hear me out?"

I raised my brow.

"Did you appear because you wanted to say something to me?"

"No."

He shook his head, confusing me.

"Then what are you here for?"

"Simple really."

He raised his head to look into the distance. I followed his gaze, and it was there that I noticed he was looking in Waylan's direction.

"You want to―huh?"

When I lowered my head to look at him again, I was shocked to see that he was gone. Before I could even figure out where he was, I heard a quiet voice coming from right next to me.

"…It's as you think."

I felt a palm press against my shoulder, and I started to panic.

"What do you think you're doing!?"

But before I even had a chance to resist, I heard his voice inside my head, and my vision turned black.

"Lend me our body."

***

"This... this..."

Waylan couldn't believe his injuries were not healing as quickly as he expected them to. In fact, they didn't seem to be healing at all.

The realization filled him with anger, and he clenched his teeth tightly.

"This is impossible!"

He placed his hand over the area where his other arm used to be, feeling the rage build up from deep within his body. The pain was unbearable, and it only added fuel to the fire of his already intense emotions.

'I should've killed him back then.'

Waylan thought in anger.

He regretted not taking care of the problem when he first met him. Back then, he was still so weak and could have killed him with a single snap of his fingers. But his main goal was Douglas, so he had to bide his time.

On many occasions, he debated whether to kill him or not, but just when he made up his mind, he noticed a certain mark on his body and gave up all ideas.

Instead, he quickly befriended him and tried to help him in all the ways he could possibly think of. Since he was marked, it meant that he was an important person.

But who would have thought that the one who put the mark on him was the same person who had betrayed them?

"That... traitor."

Waylan growled, his teeth clenched in anger.

Thinking about the traitor only fueled his anger even further. He had screwed everything they had been working for, and he was the reason why all of this was happening. If not for him, none of this would have happened.

"I need to kill him."

Waylan muttered through gritted teeth.

As he gave up on his arm which was not healing, he shifted his focus in the direction of where he had last seen Ren.

By his estimates, Ren should be on the verge of dying.

With a wave of his hand, the space in front of him shattered, and he appeared above a certain area.

When he looked down, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"Uh?"

Ren seemed to be in much better shape than he had originally anticipated. Contrary to his expectations, his injuries had healed, and he seemed to be stronger than ever.

"What happened to him?"

Waylan wondered aloud, unable to understand how he was still doing so well.

The most noticeable change, however, was the coloration of his eyes and hair. They were gray and white, respectively. Observing him from above, he also noticed his gaze and demeanor were completely different than before.

Taking one last deep look at him, he no longer paid any mind to the changes anymore.

Such a change in his eyes and hair wasn't something he particularly felt threatened by. The only thing that made him wary was the calmness in his gaze. I

It felt a little unsettling, but Waylan quickly dispelled such a feeling away.

He was a Protector, a being chosen by the records to uphold the balance of the Universe. Why would he feel threatened by such a small existence?

But then, a voice reached his mind, interrupting his thoughts.

"You're finally here."

Ren's voice echoed in his mind.

When Waylan raised his head up, he saw Ren standing right before him.

His dull gray eyes directly locked onto him, regarding his entire existence in the same manner in which he previously looked at him.

Waylan was still able to maintain his calm as he took his time to observe the man before him.

"You were waiting for me?"

Waylan asked, surprised.

"I was."

Ren replied calmly.

The calmness in his voice unsettled Waylan even further. He frowned and spoke.

"I already know that the only reason you're still standing is because of the potions you've been taking. However, don't think-"

"Quiet."

Ren interrupted him coldly.

Waylan felt his mouth shut completely, and golden runes clamped themselves on his cheek and mouth.

Ren observed him with interest.

"What interesting power…"

He lowered his head to gaze at his hand. A white, black, and green glow surfaced within his body and his brows furrowed.

"What mess."

He remarked as he continued to stare at the powers that were circling around him. When he finally tore his gaze away from them, he looked at Waylan in a relaxed manner.

"Still…"

Waylan broke free of the shackles that were restraining him and moved very far away from him. He had to move quite a distance, but he was still able to hear his final words.

"…It should be about enough."

Chapter 764: Fighting a Protector [5]

Ren's body… it was a complete mess. There were far too many distinct powers, and the demonic laws and Akashic laws were exhibiting signs of repulsion toward one another.

Ren was unfamiliar, yet familiar, with the Akashic Laws.

They… they were the laws that had been binding at this body for the past few centuries. He never wielded them before, but the moment he used them, it felt as though it was second nature to him.

Not to mention the golden runes and words that were circling around his body...

With just one look, it seemed as though he could decipher their meaning with just a look, and as he stared at his hands, which were coated in a white substance, he turned his attention back toward Waylan and pressed his palm forward.

Boom―!

"Futile."

Waylan dislodged the palm with a swift whack, causing it to splinter and fly off into the horizon. Following that, he launched a counterattack by pressing his own palm down.

A gigantic hand suddenly materialized above Ren's head and made an attempt to squish him from on high. Ren took a measured look at the situation before removing his sword from its sheath.

He merely pressed the tip of his sword up, and the palm came to rest directly above him.

WOOOONG―! From the intersection of the two forces, where they met in the middle, a tremendous wind erupted. It was powerful enough to push the two back a few meters in response.

Waylan's eyes shone.

'He's different from before.'

Waylan thought, regaining his footing.

The degree of control over the power that he displayed wasn't the same as the one he showed before. There was something completely different about him for some unexplained reason, and the manner in which he carried himself was even more unsettling.

"Are you really the same, Ren?"

The surprised Waylan asked.

The more he examined him, the more convinced he became that there was something peculiar about him. It appeared as though he was going up against a completely different entity than before.

But how was that possible?

"You give off a different feeling from before…"

Waylan squinted his eyes.

"I'm not sure what it is, but it now explains to me why you were so confident a little earlier. Was this power of yours what gave you the confidence to challenge me?"

Swoosh―!

A splintering occurred in the space around Ren, and an invisible shot toward his leg.

Ren, who was taken aback by the sudden attack, attempted to evade it but was just a fraction of a second too late.

Spurt―! The blow went all the way through his leg, causing a massive amount of bleeding.

Staring at his leg, Ren showed no change in expression.

'I couldn't even feel it.'

Darkness seeped into Ren's eyes, and the demonic energy that had been building up inside of his body suddenly erupted, covering his entire leg and erupting from his body in the form of scales that covered the wound completely.

Once the wound was covered, he flapped his wings once and appeared right before Waylan.

He made a single thrust with his sword.

"Better."

Waylan was able to avoid the slashing attack. He then countered with a blow from his own fist, which caused the air around it to twist and turn like a whirlwind.

'Dangerous.'

Ren thought at the sight of the approaching fist.

The power that was hidden behind that punch was not something that he could take lightly at any point. He was able to sense that Waylan had packed a lot of power into that seemingly simple fist aimed directly at his chest.

He crossed his arms in front of his chest and…

Boom―!

A deafening roar filled the area as though an explosion had occurred. As a result of the impact, Ren rolled away like a ball and flew for several hundred meters in the air.

As the initial target of the attack, Ren's crossed wrists were severely trembling as a result of the blow. He had done this to prevent the punch from reaching his main body, and while he did indeed succeed, it came with a lot of pain.

Feeling the pain in his body, his eyes turned somewhat serious.

'He's not that much weaker than Jezebeth…'

He had never faced off against a Protector before, and he didn't know very much about them at all. At this point, all he was doing was testing the waters with them.

In a way, since he knew so little about them, he deemed the current fight just as troublesome as the ones he had with Jezebeth in the past.

In any case, Waylan's fist did not appear to be a typical fist to him, based on what he was able to observe. It was endowed with the laws, and his control and influence over them were astounding, to say the least.

It had been a very long time since Ren had perceived a threat from a person or entity that was not the Demon King.

Crack! Crack!

His shattered wrist began to mend as a shadowy glow began to form around his entire body.

Even though Ren's body was a chaotic mess because of all of the powers that his body possessed, if one had proper control over the powers within it, they'd be an unstoppable force.

It took his wrist no more than a couple of seconds to return to its normal state, but by the time it did, Waylan had already moved ahead of him.

"Healed enough?"

Waylan aimed his kick at his neck. During the kick, the wind seemed to be tearing itself apart, and it left a trail of white in its wake.

After Ren tapped his sword, there was a faint clicking sound that emanated from it.

Click―!

Waylan's body twisted just before Ren felt his sword make contact with it, as if he could sense Ren's intentions.

Much to Ren's surprise, he felt his sword make contact with nothing.

'I missed?'

This was such an unfamiliar feeling—only Jezebeth had ever done this before.

Before Ren even had a chance to respond, Waylan aimed a kick toward his stomach.

Swooosh―! Ren was able to avoid it by a narrow margin as his body similarly twisted and an opening appeared. He tried to capitalize on the opportunity to launch his own attack and counterattack. Reaching down with his hand, he tried to reach the hilt of his sword with his hand.

At the same time, looking up, Ren's gaze fixed on Waylan's temple.

That was his target.

Bang—!

Waylan's foot redirected itself into the air and kicked down. It was right at the moment when Ren's hand was about to press the hilt of the sword, and after the kick hit his hand in just the right spot, Ren's hand redirected itself away from the sword.

Waylan disappeared from Ren's view shortly after that and reappeared a couple of meters away.

He then made a fist with his free hand and extended it in front of him.

WIIIIIIIING—! At that moment, the area around Ren began to warp. A gigantic projection of a hand materialized right beneath where he was standing, and it gripped him in the middle of its palm.

The projection began to gradually contract with him in the center as golden runes adhered to his legs, pinning him to the spot and securing him there.

At the same time he did that, he appeared right beneath Ren and punched him out.

"Whatever you've done, the results are the same. You are far too weak to fight against a Protector."

Waylan had the distinct impression that victory was within his reach. About a quarter of the laws he had left in his body was consumed by these series of attacks he had just performed, and he was confident that not even the Demon King would be able to defend against such an attack without taking damage... let alone someone who wasn't even close to his level.

"I've heard that line many times before."

Contrary to his belief, Ren didn't seem to be in any distress after being subjected to the two attacks. He stared at his hand, where a white glow formed and golden runes floated out. As the runes moved in his hand in a fluid manner, he redirected his gaze toward his sword.

He slowly unsheathed it.

Pak! Pak! Pak! Pak!

The moment he did so, the sword shattered into thousands of fragments, which then formed a ring around him and began to revolve around him. The white glow in his hand moved towards the fragments, and then they all shot out away from him.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The fragments shattered through the air and slammed into the two opposing forces that were moving toward Ren. The moment that the two forces came into contact with one another, the air would twist and the projection would turn fainter.

The process was reasonably quick, and in a matter of seconds, the hand that was closing in on Ren from beneath vanished entirely. The same could be said for the fist as it similarly vanished.

All that came to Ren was a strong wind that blew his hair up.

"Come back."

The shattered pieces suddenly flew in his direction and reassembled themselves onto his sword, restoring it to its original complete state.

Pak! Pak! Pak! Pak!

"This is…"

Waylan's expression turned grim at the sight of his two attacks getting blocked. He had not expected such an outcome. Especially since he had gone quite seriously in that attack.

BANG—! The two clashed once more. Waylan's fist met Ren's sword, and the two bounced back. The more Waylan fought, the more he felt his pride hurt.

Looking at Ren, his mouth parted open.

"You're definitely not Ren."

He wasn't exactly sure of it before, but he was sure of it now.

…The man that was standing before him was a completely different entity from the Ren that he knew.

"That's where you're wrong."

Ren shook his head and fixed his gaze on Waylan as he did so. After opening his mouth, his icy words rained down on the area around them.

"I… am indeed Ren."

Chapter 765: Fighting a Protector [6]

"You're Ren?"

Waylan's eyes appeared to be squinting.

He examined Ren very carefully from top to bottom, and he had doubts about what he was saying. Even though he did look like Ren, the energy he was putting off was completely different... not to mention the fact that he appeared to be significantly stronger than he was before.

There was definitely something off about him. He just couldn't quite place his finger on it.

"I find that hard to believe."

"That's not something that I care about."

In response to Waylan's display of skepticism, Ren did not show any interest in defending himself.

In fact, he had no real interest in anything.

…He just wanted to get this done with already.

"What an annoying response."

The anger that was building up on Waylan's face manifested itself in the form of a rigid expression, and he rushed over to Ren. To protect himself, Ren quickly drew his sword from its sheath. At the same time, he directed the laws toward the body of the sword, covering it with them.

Only that…

The moment Waylan's hand came into contact with the sword, the laws shattered.

'This?'

Waylan smiled at it.

"Did you think you'd be able to control the laws better than me? Someone who's wielded them for centuries?"

Ren's brows furrowed slightly. This was proving to be more troublesome than he had anticipated.

Bang―!

Ren's body flew several meters back. When his body stabilized, Waylan appeared right behind him and pushed his only hand toward Ren's back. The space where his hand traveled fractured into several pieces.

"Whatever change you've gone through, it's far from enough."

As soon as the palm made contact with Ren's back, his body shot off into the distance once more.

While Ren's body was flailing about like a rag doll, there was no discernible expression on his face; however, there was noticeable blood streaking down the side of his mouth.

'Predictable.'

While in mid-air, Ren suddenly twisted his body and slashed behind him.

Clank―!

Waylan's body appeared as he blocked the attack, and Ren finally stabilized himself.

Extending his finger forward, the space around Waylan cracked apart, and golden streaks of tangible sword energy pierced at him like a porcupine.

They came at him in all directions and at speeds that left one unable to react.

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

However, just as they were about to pierce his body, they came to an abrupt halt.

Waylan broke into a grin as he took a closer look at the sword energies that surrounded him.

"How int―"

His face froze into a stone-like expression as his head shot up, and he looked at Ren.

WOOONG―! At this precise instant, a powerful ripple spread across the area they were in, shattering the space around them into a number of separate fragments.

The space had deteriorated to such an extent that one could actually make out Waylan's office behind it.

Cr― Crack!

As quickly as it could, the space made several attempts to fix itself, but as soon as the large sword appeared above Ren's head, it was unable to do anything other than continue to shatter and rebuild itself.

'It's that move again.'

Waylan immediately recognized the move as his eyes moved toward the hand that was no longer on his body. His internal laws surged to the surface in the form of golden runes, and a massive shield materialized in front of him.

At the same time, Ren's cold gaze paused on Waylan.

"It's been a while since I've fought someone of this level. It seems like I'm still a bit rusty."

The massive sword that was behind him continued to take shape and grow both more distinct and more substantial with each passing second.

Shhhh―!

Ren drew his primary sword from its sheath as the second sword began to materialize behind him.

Pak! Pak! Pak! Pak!

The sword shattered into thousands of pieces, all of which became completely detached from one another as they rose up a few meters from each other. The blade that Ren held in his hand grew in size as a thin layer of white film connected the shards of the broken sword from piece to piece, creating a larger sword.

While staring at the white film covering his main sword, a sudden thought crossed Ren's mind.

'It's risky… If all goes bad, I might die…'

Those thoughts lasted seconds, and he put them into action.

'Sounds good.'

So what if he died? Wasn't that his goal to begin with?

The outer white layer of the sword was obscured by a dark film that emerged from within Ren's body and covered it.

It was demonic energy.

Within minutes of making its appearance, the white film began to wiggle, and a destructive power that was on par with the enormous sword in the background began to spread.

'I,impossible!'

Waylan watched everything that was taking place with a horrified expression on his face.

The process of building up took only a few seconds in total.

His original strategy was to defend the attack and then launch a counterattack shortly after when he was exhausted; however, he immediately abandoned that notion.

'I can't wait for him to attack.'

It was an obvious decision.

His body suddenly materialized in front of Ren, and the barrier that had been forming in front of him vanished. His eyes gave off a dazzling white light.

As he arched his back, he did not withhold anything. He clenched his fist tightly, gathered all the strength he could muster, and then punched out.

"Don't push your luck."

Crack. Crack.

Everything shattered.

As soon as he released his grip on his fist, the space around him began to shatter, and the background of his office became more distinct.

The paintings and pictures that were hung on the wall began to tremble, even if only very slightly, and the entire office began to shake.

WOOOONG―! The fist was aimed directly at Ren's face, and held nothing back. The sword behind him had only formed halfway, and he seemed to still be struggling to control his main sword, which was alternating between white and black.

Taking note of this, Waylan held his breath in anticipation, but…

"Right, I knew this would happen."

Ren's eyes, which had been fixated on the sword, moved away from it as he changed his focus.

At that precise moment, the area around him began to warp, and the vacant gray pupils in his eyes concentrated on the punch that was drawing near. His expression remained unchanged despite the fact that the fist was drawing closer to his face.

"Move."

Just one word in total.

It was only one word, but as soon as he muttered it, golden runes appeared from the area around the fist and clamped onto it like a rope that pulled to the left, and the trajectory of the punch altered if ever so slightly.

When Waylan saw this, his eyes widened, and just as he was about to take control of the laws, he felt something touch his forehead, and when he looked up he saw two dull gray pupils staring back at him.

All of a sudden, everything came to a sudden standstill.

"A... ah... how?"

With his finger placed right on Waylan's forehead, a ripple spread from the point of contact, which expanded all throughout the pocket space.

"You fell for it."

The sword behind him disappeared, and so did the two energies around it.

'H,how.'

It was so fast that Waylan wasn't even able to react. And in that brief moment, time seemed to have stopped. Locking his eyes against the emotionless looking Ren, Waylan watched as Ren's mouth parted open, and he muttered.

"Boom."

Boom―! Waylan's body vanished from view and then reemerged far off in the distance, slamming into one of the buildings.

BANG―

"Huak."

He let out a pained groan.

The moment he slammed into the buildings in the distance, the surrounding area began to flicker, and the background of the office became increasingly distinct.

"Fool."

Ren murmured as he materialized directly in front of Waylan, who was pinned up against the wall of the building. Both his hair and the Akashic Laws on his body were a mess, and his face was extremely pale.

On the other hand, while Ren was also not in the most optimal of shapes, his condition was a lot better.

Cak. Cak. Cak. Cak.

Stepping onto the ground, Ren's wings and the scales that covered his body began to retract in unison. He shrank to human size, regaining his human appearance in the process.

He casually walked toward Waylan, who weakly raised his head.

"Y,you can't do this."

Ren stopped in front of him and looked down at him with his eyes.

The gaze felt oddly familiar to Waylan, who suddenly recalled.

It was the same gaze at which he looked at Ren just before their fight started, and it was there that Waylan understood something.

In his eyes, he was insignificant.

"Why can't I do this?"

The calmness in his voice made Waylan's face grow pale.

"I,if you kill me… J,jezebeth will come. I… I am the last barrier that is preventing him to come…"

"Oh."

Ren had a sudden understanding, and his hand pressed against Waylan's face.

"Original last words."

Crunch―! His hand squeezed, and Waylan's face crushed under his hand. Even though there was a damp feeling all over his hand, Ren didn't appear to be bothered by it as he observed something peculiar.

"Is this how it is?"

As soon as he let go of Waylan's body, the scenery around him began to crumble, and he was suddenly back in the office.

Ren didn't care in the least bit, as his eyes were focused on Waylan's body. There was a yellow orb levitating over his body, and he felt a familiar feeling coming from it.

"Hmm."

He, of course, knew what the orb was. He had seen it, and his eyes squinted.

"What's done is done."

He took his eyes away from it and turned his head away. His gaze settled over a sizable mirror by the side of the office.

He calmly walked toward the mirror and looked at himself.

…It had been a while since he'd last seen himself, and he'd almost forgotten that his hair and eyes were different from how they were back then.

"Khh."

He was unaware of the amount of time that had passed since he stood in front of the mirror; however, as he maintained his focus on the mirror, he suddenly noticed that both of his hands were resting on his throat.

Squeezing.

"Khh…"

The hold became increasingly tighter with each passing second, and even though he did not alter his expression in any way, he could clearly see the color fading away from his face.

He felt tempted.

Tempted to end it all at this moment.

This was his chance to finally accomplish his long awaited wish.

He was just one squeeze away, but…

"Not yet."

He let go of his throat. With his gaze still fixed on the mirror, he repeated.

"…not yet."

Chapter 766: War in Idoania [1]

"Khhuakk.. auhk"

"It's futile."

Jezebeth beamed as he gazed at the Protector, who was in his grasp. The look of utter disbelief and despair on their faces brought nothing more than joy to Jezebeth, who wanted to savor the moment for as long as possible.

…There was once upon a time when he looked at them with the same gaze.

They reminded him of his past self.

"Hm?"

Shhhh―! He suddenly became aware of a powerful force moving in his direction from the right. Jezebeth didn't even bother to look at the attack and instead simply raised his hand in response to it.

Clank―!

The blade came to a stop on Jezebeth's hand, and dark blood dripped from his palm. Even though it hurt a little, Jezebeth didn't pay the slightest bit of attention to the discomfort.

He just wanted to take in their expressions.

…He couldn't get enough of them.

"Come now. Don't struggle anymore when the results are already set in stone."

He secured his grip on the sword and pulled it with his hand.

"Akh."

As the second Protector fell forward, he reached out with his free hand and grabbed hold of her neck, firmly securing it in his hand.

"Ah… Now, this… this is a sight I would die for."

Two Protectors… and they were both in his grasp.

Rumble―!

Just as he was savoring the view, the space around him began to warp, and four massive fissures appeared.

The massive sun that was facing him shrank, and within the cracks that were created, four figures materialized.

There were two orcs and two dwarves in the group.

Jezebeth experienced a tremendous amount of pressure almost immediately after they made their appearance. Greater than what the two Protectors he was holding in his hand had previously given him, and almost caused him to lose his hold on them.

"Demon King."

The space filled with the sound of a voice that was both ancient and ethereal. It belonged to one of the Orcen Protectors.

The sight of him made Jezebeth smile even more, and his head lowered.

"Ah, if it isn't the Protector of the Seat of Patience."

Ignoring Jezebeth's words, the Protector's icy gaze passed over Jezebeth before pausing on the two Protectors that he was holding in his grasp. His brows were drawn together, and the tone of his voice conveyed obvious dissatisfaction.

"Let them go."

"Oh."

As the eyes of the two Protectors in his hand changed, Jezebeth's expression shifted to one of obvious dissatisfaction.

…The despair and horror that were previously clouding their faces were gone.

'What pity.'

He nodded his head.

"Okay."

Crack. Crack.

He exerted pressure with his hands, and the bodies of the two Protectors vanished from within his grasp as they disintegrated into yellow particles that floated in the space in front of him, leaving two yellow orbs in their place.

"Come."

The two yellow orbs materialized in his hand as he extended his thin finger, and he observed them in a composed manner.

"I wonder what this does…"

He had always been curious about it, but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't figure out what it was that they did.

He attempted to absorb them, but they were not something that he could absorb, which was unfortunate given that the power that was concealed within them was something that could have helped him become more powerful.

'Oh, well. I might as well give this to my subordinates.'

Even though he was unable to absorb them, that did not mean they were useless to him.

With the faint golden runes surrounding the orbs, if one was capable enough and studied them properly, they'd be able to come to a subtle understanding of the laws.

If his subordinates managed to learn a bit about the laws, then…

'But is two enough?'

There were seven clans and only two orbs… clearly, there weren't enough yet…

He lifted his head and looked up at the other Protectors, whose expressions had become distorted after the deaths of the previous two Protectors.

The atmosphere began to shift, and as a result, the skin on their bodies began to peel off. A tidal wave of power gushed forth from each of their bodies, and the space started to fluctuate wildly.

"You'll pay for that."

Each one of them muttered in unison. Their voices in sync with one another.

"Oh."

Jezebeth nodded disinterestedly. He'd heard it many times before.

He shook his head and stared at the four Protectors while he stuffed the two yellow orbs into his pocket.

"Come then… I need those yellow orbs of yours."

***

[Planet Idoania]

This verdant paradise was the planet where the elite elven force had decided to settle in. It was a strategic point, strategically positioned to hold back the demons and Jezebeth from reaching planet Earth.

The planet was blessed with lush forests, rolling hills, and crystalline rivers that sparkled in the sunlight. It was a breathtaking sight, a world that could make even the most stoic of individuals stop in awe.

The sky was a deep shade of blue, without a single cloud in sight, and the air was perfumed with the scent of wildflowers and fresh grass. It was an idyllic paradise, where the soft breeze carried the songs of the birds and the rustle of the leaves.

But this paradise was not meant to last.

Rumble―! Rumble―! The ground shook, and the sky dimmed. The refreshing scent of flowers faded, replaced by a repulsive, iron-like scent that slowly took over the entire planet.

Dark substances splashed and stained the verdant grass as limbs followed suit.

"Huak!"

"Ehk!"

Agonized screams reverberated through the air, and the ground shattered at every instance.

A full-fledged war had taken over the entirety of the planet.

In the midst of this chaos, Angelica stood her ground.

She was surrounded by three elven warriors, who seemed to be struggling to contain her.

Her eyes glowed mysteriously, and her brows furrowed at the sight of a silver streak heading her way.

Xiu!

Angelica quickly moved her head to avoid the arrow, and just in time, she caught a glimpse of the arrow.

Demonic energy sprang forth from her body, and just as she was about to retaliate, she sensed multiple attacks coming her way from all sides.

"Tsk."

She clicked her tongue and stopped whatever she was doing.

She brought her hand forward, and a small barrier formed in front of her.

It was of translucent color and rather thick. The arrows came, and like the sound of someone tapping on a glass, the barrier rippled.

But that was it.

Tik. Tik. Tik.

"That's it?"

Angelica cast her gaze over the elven warriors who stared at her barrier with a dumbfounded look.

She gave them a nonchalant look before waving her hand once.

"Hey wha―huak!"

As if tranced, one of the elven warriors turned around and stabbed his comrade.

Blood spurted out, and the atmosphere froze. The elf snapped out of it and gazed at the scene with shock.

"What just happened?"

He muttered, his eyes wide with disbelief.

Puchi!

An arrow pierced him through his chest before he could figure out what had happened.

His face froze, and he stared at the arrow impaled on his body with a look filled with disbelief. His figure fell to the ground shortly after, and Angelica's gaze shifted toward the furthest elven warrior.

Thump!

In her eyes, he was the most troublesome one.

'How should I handle this?'

Her gaze landed on the other elf, and thinking for a moment, a smile crept up on her pretty features. Twirling her body toward the elven warrior in the distance, Angelica charmingly smiled.

"He―"

That smile, however, didn't last for long as it soon froze. She witnessed the elven warrior suddenly fall over from the tree branch they were standing on, and a head slowly rolled in her direction.

Puchi!

Shortly after, she heard a sound coming from behind her, and her expression froze over.

When she turned around, a demon appeared in her vision.

He had short black hair and green eyes. His face was rather charming, and with two large wings and scales all over his body; he gave off a rather imposing presence.

"What are you doing?"

Angelica couldn't help but feel a sense of disgust as she took in the demon's appearance.

His messy hair, crooked smile, and lackadaisical demeanor seemed to rub her the wrong way. If anything, his nonchalant attitude seemed to irritate her even further, making her face frost over.

"Hey, there."

"What do you want?"

She snapped.

The demon merely smiled, his expression friendly and almost innocent. But Angelica wasn't fooled. She could see the manipulative glint in his eyes, the way he seemed to be enjoying her discomfort.

"Nothing much."

He said, shrugging his shoulders.

"I'm just lending you a hand."

"I don't need your help."

Angelica replied, her voice dripping with venom.

"You can go and help yourself out."

"Now, now, Angelica."

The demon chided.

"Is that any way to treat your future fiancé?"

Angelica's teeth ground together at his words.

The very thought of being betrothed to this demon made her want to gag. She had come to the demon world to train, to become stronger, not to be tied down in some political marriage.

"It hasn't been decided yet."

The demon's smile didn't falter.

"True, but the decision will be made shortly after this war. I hope you're prepared."

"I'm not."

Angelica snorted, turning away from the demon. She had no interest in her family's politics nor in the matter of producing an heir.

Fwoop!

As she flapped her wings and took to the air, she couldn't help but feel a sense of frustration.

She had come to the demon world with a purpose, to become stronger and hone her skills. And she had been making progress; she was certain of it.

But now, with the looming threat of a political marriage hanging over her head, she couldn't help but feel as though she had been pulled back into the very world she had been trying to escape.

Angelica gritted her teeth, feeling a surge of anger rising up within her.

As she flew further away from the demon, her mind couldn't help but drift back to the past, to a time when things had been simpler. When she had been able to focus solely on her training and nothing else. It seemed like a lifetime ago, even though it had only been a few months.

"Sigh."

Angelica sighed, knowing that she couldn't dwell on the past.

She had to focus on the present and on the task at hand. She was still far from reaching the Duke rank, but she was making progress, slowly but surely.

'If only...'

She bit her lip, a sense of frustration building within her.

If only she didn't have to deal with all this political nonsense, she could devote all of her time and energy to her training.

Chapter 767: War in Idoania [2]

In the skies above Idoania.

"You don't seem to be worried about what's going on."

A demon spoke. His attention was drawn to the three elven figures that were positioned directly in front of him.

There were also six additional demons standing next to him.

The figures that stood in the sky each possessed a distinctive trait that set them apart from one another.

Despite the fact that they were doing nothing, their presence completely overpowered those below.

They…

They were something that only the Demon King could subdue.

Their presence was unlike that of any other Prince-ranked demon, and all it took was a simple look from them to send one cowering away.

They were the seven heads of the Demon Clans.

Patriarch of the Clan of Envy ― Prince Murdock.

Patriarch of the Clan of Wrath ― Prince Konjak.

Patriarch of the Clan of Sloth ― Prince Letvia.

Patriarch of the Clan of Pride ― Prince Andria.

Patriarch of the Clan of Greed ― Prince Solbaken.

Matriarch of the Clan of Lust ― Princess Lillith.

Matriarch of the Clan of Gluttony ― Princess Adephagia.

"Are you perhaps just confident in yourselves, or…"

Lifting his head up toward the sky, Prince Murdock cracked a smile.

"…Are you perhaps waiting for reinforcements to arrive?"

As he spoke, the air around the elven leaders became still, and you could see cracks appearing on their faces.

The trio of elven figures included an elderly man with a long beard and a wooden staff, in addition to two younger elven figures. Both male and female, in separate instances.

They gazed at the seven demon heads with incomparable seriousness.

"You think that we're afraid of you?"

The elderly elven man spoke. He was the Chief Elder of the elves and his power was near the peak of <SSS+> rank.

Even so…

As he faced the seven leaders of the Demon Clans, he couldn't help but feel as though he was being suffocated. As though something was clamping at his throat and clenching tightly at his airways, preventing any air from passing through.

The situation was the same for the two other elves who struggled to keep themselves composed.

They…

They were clearly not a match for them.

They were not the only ones who grasped this concept. The seven heads were well aware of this fact and gave off the impression that they were delighted with the present situation.

"You aren't afraid of us?"

Prince Murdock spoke, his voice sounding like the whispers of a snake.

The faces of the elven leaders changed the moment he spoke in such a tone, and a trace of fear flashed across their eyes.

They were well aware of who he was.

It was highly likely that he was the strongest of all the people present, and If there was a justification for why the Clan of Envy was considered to be the strongest of all the demon clans, it was solely because of this one particular demon.

A mere couple of words from him and the air around them distorted.

His gaze fell on the Chief Elder, and his eyes were filled with ridicule.

"…Your expression says otherwise."

He said, extending his slender finger and pressing it against the air.

Immediately, the air around them stilled, and the expressions of the three elven figures changed drastically. They felt as if a weight was pressing down on them, suffocating them.

"Shall we see the extent of your fear?"

Swoosh―!

"Hm?"

A demon materialized right behind him just as he was about to press his hand against the air.

Prince Murdock stopped himself, and he looked at the demon that had just appeared.

"Is something the matter?"

He didn't look displeased by the sudden interruption.

"Yes."

The demon replied, casting a glance at the six other heads and the elven heads in the distance before moving toward Prince Murdock.

As he got closer to him, he uttered something in a low whisper, which caused Prince Murdock's brows to furrow. Pondering for a moment, Prince Murdock relayed the information to the other heads via telepathy after casting a glance in their direction.

"Do as you fit."

Prince Konjak, the head of the Pride clan, replied with a disinterested look. In contrast to Prince Murdock, who was a rather handsome figure, he was a burly demon with sideburns. His hair was short, and he sported a single horn.

"Let the strategist handle the matter."

It was a woman's voice, and it came straight from Princess Adephagia, the Head of the Gluttony Clan.

Her form was enormous, even more so than that of Prince Konjak, whose stature towered over those of the other characters, and her eyes, which were obscured by her puffed-up cheeks, were difficult to see.

She was similarly displaying an expression of disinterest, and all she did was cast a glance at Prince Murdock before continuing.

"This isn't a matter that needs our attention. Let the strategist handle the matter. He hasn't failed us so far, and his majesty seems to put a lot of trust in him, so let him handle the matter."

"…Is their opinion the same as what you are thinking?"

Prince Murdock took a look at the heads next to him. He could feel their gaze on him, and he saw them nod at him, which caused his eyes to flash.

"I see…"

He nodded his head and returned his gaze toward the demon that had relayed the message. He was a Prince ranked demon, but he was no different than a bug in his eyes.

"…You've heard them. Inform them and the strategist of the situation. He should be able to handle the situation."

"Understood."

The demon displayed a humble bow while flapping his wings. His form quickly vanished from sight as it dissolved into the atmosphere and became indistinguishable from it.

Despite his disappearance, Prince Murdock was easily able to follow him with his gaze.

'Let the strategist handle the matter, huh?'

Before turning his attention back to the elven leaders, his eyes suddenly lit up with something that no one could identify.

He then smiled at them and nodded his head as his gaze turned back to the elven leaders.

"Sorry for that," he said, a smirk playing on his lips. "It looks like the reinforcements that you've been waiting for have finally arrived."

Not a moment after his words faded, a crack formed in the distance.

Cr..Crack―!

***

It was a magnificent building crafted from silks of a variety of vibrant colors and adorned with intricate gold embroidery. The spacious interior was softly illuminated by flickering torches, which cast a warm glow over the opulent furnishings that were contained within.

"We're currently pushing back the elves, so it's only right that we send more forces to clean them up before the reinforcements arrive!"

"We won't have time! By the time they come, it'll already be too late to pull them back!"

The centerpiece of the tent was a hulking oak table that had been buffed to a mirror-like sheen and was surrounded by an assortment of elaborately carved chairs.

On the table was a map of the region that had been spread out with various flags and symbols placed on it to indicate where the troops had been moving and where the strategic locations were.

It was currently surrounded by several demons who seemed to be in deep discussion.

"I'm telling you, we should attack now and not waste time! Kill them before they get a chance to reverse things!"

"That'll put us in a bad position."

The walls of the tent were adorned with seven different types of tapestries, and nearby were shelves that were stocked with leather-bound books and old scrolls.

There was a cozy, woodsy aroma in the air, thanks to a small brazier in the far corner of the room. There was also a silver tray of refreshments sitting on a nearby side table, which featured a variety of unusual fruits, cheeses, and wines.

A diminutive figure with black hair that reached the shoulders and a white mask sat at the far end of the table.

The figure's sharp gaze moved quickly between the map and the various demons that were present in the room. It wasn't the white mask that was on his face that was most striking about him; rather, it was the deep green eyes that shone through behind the mask.

None of those around him had the courage to look the man in the eyes.

There was something off about them, and it seemed as though he could see right through them whenever his gaze was directed in their direction.

The mood was tense, and the person seated at the end of the table drew the attention of everyone's gaze at various points throughout the conversation.

He seemed to be deep in thought.

The tent became increasingly silent as time passed, and eventually, the only sounds that could be heard were the scraping of quills on parchment and the wails of those that fell on the battlefield far off into the distance.

The figure finally opened his mouth.

"…So you're saying that reinforcements from the orcs and dwarves will be coming shortly?"

"Yes, strategist."

One of the demons that were present in the room responded.

It turned out that he was the same Prince-ranked demon who had communicated the news to the leaders of the Clan, and he was actually one of the bodyguards who had been assigned to the strategist.

"Hmm…"

The unexpected news caused the strategist's frown to deepen. In spite of this, he did not seem very anxious about the news.

He sat down and calmly tapped his finger over the wooden table while at the same time carefully examining the map that was in front of him.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

With each tap of his finger, a peculiar unease began to spread throughout the room. In the midst of the silence in the room, the tapping continued and gradually picked up speed, increasing the unease in the room.

Tap.Tap.Tap.Tap.Tap.Tap.Tap.

"There's not enough information yet."

When his finger finally came to a stop, something caught the strategist's attention, and his eyes flashed. Raising himself to his feet, he turned to look at the other demons before turning his gaze away from them.

He then proceeded to move toward the opening of the tent, where he eventually stopped.

Everyone followed his movements without saying a single word.

When he opened the tent, allowing a small gap between the two pieces of fabric, bright sunlight entered the tent and illuminated it. At the same time, the strategist emerged from the tent and raised his head to look far into the horizon.

Cr…Crack!

His attention was immediately drawn to five enormous cracks in the sky that continued to grow larger with each passing second.

The entirety of the battlefield came to a standstill, and the strategist proceeded to slowly place his hand over his mask and remove it, thereby revealing his flawlessly white skin and human face.

His eyes narrowed as he stared into the distance at the fractures, and he mumbled something to himself.

"They're slower than I predicted…"

Chapter 768: Changes on earth [1]

Cr…Crack! Crack!

It was a sight unlike any other.

The sky, once a serene blue, was now cracking and breaking apart, revealing a jagged, gaping chasm that seemed to stretch from horizon to horizon.

The edges of the crack glowed with an ethereal light as if searing heat emanated from the depths of the celestial rupture.

"What's going on?"

Whispered someone in the crowd.

"The sky… It's…"

Stuttered another.

As the people stood there, frozen in awe, strange things began to happen.

Rustle―! Rustle―!

The crack pulsed and writhed, and one could hear a sound like the rustling of wings or the whispering of ghosts. And then, from the depths of the crack, something emerged - something huge and tangible… almost like a wave.

"H,hey…"

Leon punched Ram, who was beside him. His gaze was currently drawn toward the crack in the sky.

It was expanding by the second.

"I'm not seeing this, right?"

Ram shook his head, secretly taking a big gulp. There was something unsettling about the situation, and his lips trembled.

"You.. you have any idea of what's happening?"

"N,no."

Leon shook his head.

"I think it's best if― "

Just as he was about to finish his sentence, the crack exploded into bits, and the wave that formed above came crashing down from the sky.

Crash―!

The wave was so powerful that it sent the people scattering in all directions. Accompanying the wave were screams of terror which resounded throughout. Pieces of the sky fell directly down to earth, and everyone fell into a state of panic.

"Oh, shit!"

Leon muttered, staring at the approaching wave. He wanted to run, but he couldn't. The wave was too fast and too large for him to avoid. By the time a second had gone by, the wave was already upon him, and he reflexively closed his eyes, thinking this would be his last.

Wooosh―! But just as he closed his eyes, he felt a passing breeze, and the mana inside of his body boiled.

It was like a furnace had been lit inside him, and he could feel the power coursing through his veins.

"Huh?"

When he opened his eyes again, he was shocked to see that he was still alive.

'I didn't die? What's going on?'

He looked around him, checking to see if Ram was still fine.

To his surprise, the screams of terror had completely died down, and when he looked around, he saw everyone with the same surprised expressions.

"What happened?"

Leon overheard Ram's absentminded mutterings, and he turned his head toward him. He observed him closely but found that nothing was strange with him.

The same went for Ram, who observed Leon just as closely. Just as the two were about to open their mouths, their eyes bulged simultaneously. It was as if they noticed it at the same time.

"The…"

The two of them quickly closed their eyes and felt the mana in the air. Moments after closing their eyes, they both opened them up again in shock.

Staring at each other, their mouths turned agape.

"I,I'm not tripping, am I?"

Ram's voice was barely above a whisper.

"No… You're not tripping."

Leon shook his head at Ram's words, his face filled with shock. Looking around and seeing the shocked expression on several other individuals, his mouth slowly opened.

"…The mana in the air definitely became many times denser than before."

***

"Ugh."

I was aware of everything that was going on the entire time. I was there, so I not only saw everything that took place, but I also saw the final moments.

For a fleeting instant, the thought crossed my mind that this might be the end for me. There was nothing that stopped him from ending it all when I no longer had control over my body.

During that moment, I really thought it'd be it for me… I thought that everything that I worked for would come crashing down at that moment, so…

'Why? …Why did you not go through with it?'

I could not shake the question from my mind. I was extremely curious as to what had caused such a shift in attitude, given that I had previously attempted everything to change his mind.

…What was it that made him change his mind?

Was it Kevin?

Was he the one responsible for the sudden change…?

"Ugh."

I let out another groan as I felt the tips of my fingers and attempted to prop up the rest of my body from the ground.

The entirety of my body hurt, and I was so stiff that I could hardly move. I knew that several of my bones had been fractured, and despite the fact that I had just consumed a potion, I also knew that I would still require some additional time to recuperate completely.

"Fuck."

In spite of the excruciating pain, I was able to force myself toward the nearest wall and lean my back against it. I forced myself to take a few deep breaths in order to overcome the excruciating pain that was permeating my entire body.

…It was painful, but I was well versed with pain.

Something of this magnitude did not bother me nearly as much as it would have quite some time ago when I was still at the Lock.

'It isn't too bad…'

I started by looking around the room. It was in a state that was still acceptable. It looked like a few paintings and some papers had been knocked over, but other than that, there wasn't much damage.

It just looked like a light breeze had come through the room, knocking the insignificant stuff down.

Despite that…

"What is this?"

My attention was drawn to a particular yellow orb that floated in midair above the wooden floor. Although I was quite a distance away from it and found that I was unable to move closer to it, as I observed it, I got the impression that I was already familiar with it.

Familiar golden runes and words floated around the orb, and I found myself unable to tear my gaze away from it.

…For some strange reason, it resonated with something within my body, and I stretched my hand toward it.

"Come."

I uttered subconsciously as if I were in a trance. What was shocking, however, was the fact that the orb listened to my words.

The orb responded to my command as if it were a sentient being and moved in my direction, drifting closer to me. Before coming to a halt, it hovered just a hair's breadth above the palm of my hand.

A gentle pulse swept through the air, and I let out another breath.

I didn't know when, but that breath was soon followed by another, and I was soon breathing heavily.

'This orb…'

There was something about the orb…

I couldn't place what was causing it, but I noticed that my vision was becoming increasingly blurry, and I couldn't take my eyes off the runes and words that were surrounding the orb... I wasn't certain if I was hearing correctly or not at that moment, but I noticed gentle whispers lingering in the air, and I slowly brought my hand to a close.

Swoosh―! Immediately after my hand came to a close, another gentle golden pulse radiated through the air, sweeping through every corner of the room and spreading outwardly, reaching areas around the room I was in.

"This."

At that precise moment, both my eyes suddenly became crystal clear, and a surge of power rushed through my body, filling every nook and cranny of it.

...The wounds that had formed inside of my body started to heal at an alarming rate, and before I knew it, I had fully recovered. In addition to that, I felt a rapid expansion of the laws that were within my body.

If before the ratio between demonic energy and laws were uneven, now… now the laws were almost on equal terms with the demonic energy in terms of quantity.

"Ukh."

That… The two energies within my body started to compete with one another, so although it was a positive development, it also turned out to be quite a troublesome matter.

To keep the two energies from clashing against one another, I had to concentrate extremely hard, and despite my best efforts, it was taking a significant toll on my body.

"Shit."

I let out a curse through my clenched teeth.

… This presented quite a challenge, but as if that weren't enough, all of a sudden, I became aware of a distinct cracking sound emanating from further away, and I cocked my head in that direction.

"It's starting."

The sight that appeared before me was beyond anything I could have possibly imagined. Despite this, rather than being shocked, I was more surprised by what I saw. I had a premonition that the moment I killed Waylan, something similar to this was going to take place.

...I made the decision not to work with him due to this factor as well. Before we turned against each other, the two of us could have easily used each other to defeat Jezebeth. The fact that this was taking place right now was the reason why I did not choose to go with such an option.

Swoosh!

The sky began to tear apart, and I felt a lingering breeze brush past my body. It invigorated each and every part of my body, and I could feel the mana within my body beginning to boil.

Even though it wasn't happening very quickly, the mana that was contained within me began to grow and become more fluid.

"This is…" I smiled at the feeling. It was exactly as I thought. "…Good."

Clank―!

"Dad, what's goin…huh? What are you doing on the ground? Where's my dad?"

Right at that moment, the door flung open, and in walked Emma. It wasn't until she saw that I was the only one in the room that her panic subsided, and she stopped looking around the room.

"Ah."

When I felt her gaze on me, I opened my mouth to respond, but I found that I was unable to say anything. I gave it one more shot, this time taking a deep breath to calm myself down, but I got the same result.

…There was something stopping me from speaking.

"What's wrong with you?"

Emma asked, noticing the abnormality in me.

Before I met her gaze, I forced a mouthful of saliva down my throat. I bit the inside of my lower lip and then cast my eyes downward before closing them.

'This is going to be troublesome…'

"He went out to check out the situation."

Chapter 769: Changes on earth [2]

[Ashton City Community Orphanage]

The dimly lit candles within the chapel flickered continuously, casting an eerie glow over the interior.

The alternating orange and black hues of the room created an unsettling atmosphere, one that was heightened by the silence within.

The only sound that could be heard was the gentle whistling of the wind outside, which seemed to creep in through the cracks and crevices of the old building.

Clank―!

As the minutes ticked by, the silence was suddenly broken by a loud clank. A certain door within the chapel burst open, and a nun rushed out from it.

"Oh, no,no,no... no..."

She had a panicked expression on her face, her eyes wide with fear.

"No… no, how can it be?"

There was a certain madness in her face as she muttered to herself in a voice barely above a whisper. Her words were barely coherent, as if she were speaking to someone who wasn't there.

"It must be a mistake."

The nun's pace quickened as she moved across the chapel, her feet making little noise on the stone floor.

"No... no... no..."

Her gaze was fixed on a certain statue, and as she drew closer, her expression grew even more desperate. With trembling hands, she clasped her hands together and fell to her knees.

Thump!

"Protector."

She whispered, her voice barely audible.

Her eyes burned with reverence as she looked up at the statue, which towered over her from above.

The statue was her faith, the embodiment of all that she held sacred. And yet, just moments before, she had felt her faith shaken.

She wasn't sure why, but the feeling had been so strong that she couldn't ignore it.

Believing that she had sinned in some way, she rushed toward the statue in order to amend her mistake.

Crack―! It was right when she was about to pray that a sharp sound shattered the quiet of the chapel.

The nun's gaze shot to the statue, her eyes widening in horror.

Cracks had formed on the outer shell of the statue, spiderwebbing out in all directions. The sight froze the nun, whose expression paled considerably.

"P..Protector," she whispered, her hoarse voice echoing within the empty chapel. Her eyes shook slightly as she felt her throat become dry, all semblance of energy leaving her aged body.

Crack! Crack!

More cracks formed on the statue, further shocking the nun, who simply gazed at the statue in utter shock.

She found herself unable to move, and by the time a minute had passed, the statue was littered with cracks.

"I..it can't be..."

With each crack that formed on the statue, the more the nun's expression changed. It was as if the statue were a living being, and the nun could sense its pain.

Wobble.

"No!"

She cried out, rushing toward the statue. She could feel that it was soon going to fall.

"No!"

She hugged the statue, trying her best to stop it from falling. She was desperate. The statue represented her faith, her beliefs, and her very being. If it broke apart, so would she.

She couldn't allow it to happen!

But...

"N,no!"

C...Crack―! It was a crack like the many others that had littered the statue, but once this crack formed, the entire structure of the statue collapsed.

"No!!"

Rumble―!

Over a thousand different pieces crumbled down, unable to remain in a single form anymore.

"Nooooo!"

The nun screamed, watching the statue before her eyes collapse.

What was even worse was the fact that the many pieces of rock directly crashed onto her, burying her beneath the rubble. Her scream didn't last for long, and silence returned to the chapel.

The only part of the nun that wasn't buried was her hand, which was outstretched to the side as if pleading for help.

One that would never come.

'Ohm' 'Ohm' 'Ohm'

Several blue orbs appeared following the collapse of the statue. They were the size of a marble, and they levitated right above where the statue used to be.

As the blue orbs hovered above the shattered remains of the statue, their glow illuminated the chapel, casting an eerie light on the walls and pews.

The orbs pulsed with otherworldly energy as if they were alive and searching for something.

Suddenly, the orbs began to spin around each other, their blue light intensifying with each rotation. They moved faster and faster, creating a vortex of energy that crackled with the wind.

The air in the chapel grew thick with tension, as if something significant was about to happen.

The nun's body lay buried under the rubble, but even in death, she seemed to be aware of the strange events unfolding around her.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

With a final burst of light, the orbs shot away from the statue, streaking through the air like shooting stars. They passed through the walls of the chapel as if they were not there, disappearing into the night.

The moment the orbs vanished, the chapel was plunged into silence once more.

Swoosh―! The candles flickered and went out, leaving the chapel shrouded in blackness.

But the darkness was not the only thing that engulfed the chapel. As the orbs disappeared, a deep rumbling sound filled the air, and the ground beneath the chapel began to shake violently.

Rumble―! Rumble―! The clanking sound echoed through the chapel once more, growing louder and more insistent. The walls began to crack and crumble, and the pews were tossed about like twigs in a storm.

The roof of the chapel began to cave in, and debris rained down upon the shattered remains of the statue.

Crash―!

The chapel collapsed.

***

[Union Tower, Top floor]

Octavious sat in his high-backed chair, looking calm and serene as he flipped through the papers that lay scattered in front of him.

Flip―! Flip―!

His long, slender fingers delicately turned the pages as he studied each one with a languid gaze. There was no hint of expression on his face, and his features remained blank as he sifted through the documents.

"Hm?"

Suddenly, his brows furrowed as he sensed something out of place. His eyes, usually calm and hazy, flicked toward the window behind him, and his expression shifted slightly.

Rising to his feet, he approached the window and looked out at the sky. A large crack had appeared, and it was rapidly expanding.

"What's going on?"

Octavious murmured to himself, his voice low and unusually grave.

He stepped closer to the window, peering at it intently as he tried to discern what was happening. But before he could get any closer, the crack widened even further, revealing a shocking sight.

A tangible wave of… mana?

Octavious felt his body freeze in place as the wave crashed down around him.

It was as though he was standing on the shore of the ocean, watching as a powerful wave came crashing down on the sand.

But this was different.

The wave seemed to be unable to affect the surroundings, appearing more like a projection than anything else.

Swoosh―!

The mana splashed everywhere, washing over the earth like a giant wave.

Octavious felt his own mana levels surge, increasing rapidly and without warning. He could feel himself getting closer and closer to the threshold of <SSS->, just one step away from the pinnacle of power.

But then, out of nowhere, a blue orb appeared in front of him.

WIIIIIIIIIIIING―! It hurtled towards him with a speed that he couldn't react to, and before he could even attempt to dodge, it slammed into his forehead with a jarring impact.

"Ukh."

Octavious grunted, his head recoiling backward as he tried to process what had just happened.

As he hung in the air, the space around him began to shift and fluctuate wildly.

Memories flooded his mind, and a pain that he thought he had long since buried started to resurface in his chest.

"Haaaa... Haaaa..."

He gasped for air, his breath coming in ragged gasps as he tried to keep his composure.

Suddenly, his eyes cleared, and forgotten feelings began to rise up within him. His expression changed rapidly, alternating between a smile, a frown, and tears that threatened to spill down his cheeks.

In just a few seconds, he went through a myriad of emotions before finally settling on a smile that was accompanied by tears.

He gazed at his hands, feeling a sense of exhilaration that he had never experienced before.

All of sudden, his body trembled, and so did his mouth as he silently mumbled to himself.

"I...I'm free."

***

[Apartment ― 1576]

"Hmm."

Currently, Liam's expression was utterly solemn. If anyone saw the expression on Liam's face, they would be utterly astounded, as they had never before witnessed such uncommon gravity from him.

"Hmmmm."

His brows knit together even more tightly, and he tightened his jaw. It seemed as though the more time that went by, the more serious his expression became.

"Hmmmmmmmmm."

The scowl on his face transformed into a troubled one as he massaged his forehead. A massive door made of metal was there in front of him.

The source of his problem—a miniature keypad that one would use to enter their passcode located on the handle of the door.

"Should I… just destroy it?"

He felt tempted.

Lowering his hand, he stared at his hand, which was vibrating constantly. Moving the hand closer to the door, it passed through it for just an inch before he stopped himself.

"Maybe not."

It had been close to three hours since he stood outside of his apartment, and no matter how many times he pressed the code, the door would not open for him. This presented a bit of a problem for him since he needed to use the restroom.

"What useless piece of paper."

The fact that he had the keycode written down in his wallet was the most vexing aspect of the matter. Yet, for some strange reason, it didn't seem to be working.

"Is the door faulty?"

There could be no other explanation.

It had to be that.

"I think it's best if I call someone."

He rummaged through his pocket in an attempt to find his phone. When he went to retrieve his phone, the furrows between his brows deepened further.

"Is this my phone?"

It was a pink phone covered in a variety of different sized heart stickers. At first glance, it didn't seem like his phone; however, he could not quite remember how his phone looked.

Perhaps… he had been in a phase when he bought the phone?

"It's not… too bad."

He convinced himself that it wasn't as bad as it looked. Rather, the more he looked at it, the more he found himself liking it, and he soon convinced himself it was indeed his phone.

He tapped the screen.

"Now…"

The moment he caught a glimpse of the wallpaper on the phone, his face stiffened on the spot. It was a photograph of Ren's back.

"The fuck?"

His entire body began to shake, and he came dangerously close to hurling the phone across the room. He was now confident that whatever he was holding wasn't his phone.

Swoosh―!

"Who's phone is th―akh!"

Right when he was trying to determine what to do with the phone, a bluish orb materialized out of thin air and stabbed Liam in the head. Almost instantaneously after that, his head jerked back, and he stumbled forward a few steps.

"Ukh…W,what was that?"

He came to a stop just as his back was turned to the wall, and he looked around him in disbelief. Did someone sneak up on him unexpectedly?

"Huh?"

Suddenly, as he looked at the phone while blinking his eyes a few times and staring at it, memories came flooding back into his head.

He finally knew who this phone belonged to.

It belonged to Leopold's daughter.

Not only that…

"That's the wrong apartment."

He also realized he was in the wrong apartment. It wasn't the one in front of him that belonged to him; rather, it was the one that was two doors down from it.

"I see…"

He put the phone back and walked toward his apartment, but just as he had taken a couple of steps, he froze on the spot.

"Hold on a second."

His eyes opened wide, and his head snapped up.

"…My memories?"

Chapter 770: Changes on earth [3]

"What? Really? That fu…"

With what was happening outside at the moment, it wasn't hard to convince Emma that her father had gone out to check on the situation.

"Aih… why did he just leave without telling me anything? He hasn't changed at all…"

She grumbled several times, but in the end, she gave up and accepted the situation.

It was good that she did.

As I listened to her mutter and groan about her father's sudden disappearance, I felt a pang of guilt rise up inside of me.

It wasn't so much from the fact that I... or the other me, had killed Waylan, but rather from the fact that now the two people whom she cared for the most had both passed away.

Her life…

It was really pitiful when one thought about it.

'Should I tell her the truth later, or should I just change her memories?'

I didn't think the second option was feasible.

Whether or not I made an effort to conceal the information from her, she was going to find out about her father's disappearance in one way or another.

'How should I tell her the news?'

That was the biggest problem.

I couldn't just tell her that her father was someone known as the Protector of the Seat of Diligence and was the one responsible for the deaths of millions of humans.

He was also the same person who murdered her mother once he realized she was no longer of any use to him, and the only reason he kept her close to him was because of her talent, which was worth nurturing.

'She always did seem to lag a bit behind the others… I guess he must've slowed down her path forward on purpose.'

"Ugh."

I groaned and ruffled my hair.

The situation was more troublesome than I anticipated.

'If only Kevin was here…'

He was the one who was good at handling these types of matters.

"What are you going to do now?"

Overhearing Emma's voice, I turned to look at her. Her expression seemed to have recovered, and her eyes were on me.

I pursed my lips.

"I think I'll go back. I got what I wanted already."

"Oh, I see."

Emma nodded her head.

"Do you want me to follow you out?"

"No, it's okay."

I shook my head, refusing her offer. To be honest, I'd rather not interact with her at the moment. I found myself struggling to think of how to break the news of her father's passing to her.

In the end, I chose to leave and think of the solution later.

'I'm sure I can think of a way…'

My expectations weren't very high.

"Alright then. I won't see you out."

We parted ways not long after that, Emma and I both. After reappearing right in front of her mansion, I turned around and looked back at it while sighing.

This really was...

Troublesome.

***

"You're back?"

When I got back home, the first person I saw was Amanda. She seemed happy to see me. She had her hair pulled back into a ponytail and wore a nice apron.

Seeing her like this brought a nice change.

Especially after what I just went through.

"Are you cooking something?"

"Mhm."

Amanda nodded her head. Though her expression didn't give it away, I could tell that she seemed rather excited.

I knew her long enough to know how she felt, despite not showing it outwardly.

That being said…

"You don't seem to be surprised by what happened outside."

"Oh, that?"

Amanda's body paused.

When she turned her head, her head cocked a little.

"I was shocked at first, and I tried to call you several times, but you didn't answer."

"You did?"

I took out my phone and noticed several missed calls. I smiled wryly at the sight.

This was my bad.

"What happened after that?"

"Nothing much."

With a little shrug of her shoulders, Amanda patted her hand on her apron.

"I figured you were busy since you're the Alliance head."

"That's fair."

"hum."

After going into the kitchen, Amanda returned with a large cake in her hands. It was not very big, about the size of a football, and it appeared to be piled high with whipped cream.

My eyes lit up at the sight, and I sat down on the sofa.

I liked cakes.

Rubbing my hands together, I leaned back on the sofa. Pondering over something, I turned my attention back toward Amanda.

"Still, that doesn't explain why you don't seem surprised by it."

"Well…I've seen far more shocking things."

Amanda looked at me and smiled.

"When I noticed that what was happening was harmless and the mana density increased, I went back to making the cake…"

She suddenly pursed her lips, and her brows furrowed.

"…I almost burned it because of it."

She seemed rather resentful at that fact.

"Oh."

I nodded my head and took a small slice of the cake.

The taste was rather good. She had come a long way from the times when she would add far too much cinnamon to her food.

It was very sweet…

"You've improv―"

I stopped halfway through my sentence. Looking at Amanda's plate, which was filled to the brim with cake, my mouth twitched.

This girl...

Noticing my gaze, Amanda brought her spoon to my mouth.

"You want some?"

"…I'm good. I still have my own piece."

"Oh."

Amanda looked at my plate and frowned.

"Is that enough for you?"

"You don't think?"

My size was what someone would call normal. In comparison to hers, which practically filled the entire plate, it looked like nothing.

Just when did she turn into such a glutton, and where did all of that food go?

When I looked at Amanda, she seemed to be as fit as ever. Rather, it seemed that she had lost a little bit of weight.

'What's going on?'

"Hold up."

"Hm?"

Amanda extended her hand toward my mouth and pressed her finger against the side of my lips. She brought her finger, which was now filled with cream, to her mouth after tracing it down the side of my lips.

I looked at her in complete bewilderment, and as if she could read my mind, Amanda frowned and reprimanded me.

"Eat your food. It's rude to look at others while eating."

"Haa… alright."

Letting out a sigh, I took a bite of the cake.

For some reason, it tasted a lot more bitter.

***

"Do you resent me?"

It was a question that came abruptly, and I had a hard time processing it.

I had just hopped on to visit my family and saw my dad sitting on the sofa with the lights turned off. Apparently, Nola and Mom had gone outside together.

"I don't get… what you mean. Resent you? Why would I ever resent you?"

I sat myself down on the sofa and looked directly into my father's eyes.

He stared back at me, and despite my best efforts, I couldn't quite make out what he was thinking.

He was one of the few people I could never find myself able to read.

"I'm sure you know this, but I find it very hard to express myself. It's something I've been trying to work on for quite a long time, and despite my efforts, I still struggle with it."

I quietly listened to my father's words. Indeed, he wasn't one to express his emotions often. He was sort of like how Amanda was at first.

Perhaps it was because of him that I felt so comfortable around her.

"I know… and I don't think there's anything wrong with that."

He didn't need to express himself for me to understand that he cared for me. His actions spoke louder than his words.

The fact that they were willing to shoulder such debts just for me to enter the Lock was enough to make me understand.

"… I'm glad you feel that way. I may not express it, but I am truly happy with who you have become. I'm a little embarrassed that I wasn't able to do better, but when I say that I'm proud of what you've achieved, I mean it."

He silently smiled, and rummaging through his pocket, he took out a certain something and handed it to me.

"What's this?"

"Happy birthday."

"Uh?"

I looked up in surprise.

"Birthday?"

Today was my birthday?

Wait, was that why Amanda made a cake today?

Click―

The lights turned on, and a few faces I was familiar with showed up all of a sudden.

"Happy birthday!"

***

―Following the Strategist's orders, members of the Lust Clan will be heading in the Dwarven Portal's direction. To reiterate, members of the Lust clan should travel in the northwestern direction toward where Dwarven Portal is located.

A raspy voice echoed within the mind of every demon within the Idoania.

'Head toward the dwarven Portal?'

Spurt―! Tearing her gaze away from the elf in front of her, who slumped shortly after, Angelica's head raised up.

She scowled when she heard the command, but when she turned her head and saw everyone else in her clan flying in the air and listening to the command, she had no choice but to do the same.

'How odd.'

Angelica's brows furrowed as she observed her clansmen moving about without making a great deal of commotion.

It was the first time she had seen members of her clan be this obedient, and she could only speculate that it was because of this so-called "Strategist."

To be completely honest, she did not know very much about him. She only knew two things about him: one, that he was someone whom the Demon King had personally recruited, and two, that their record was impeccable, with not a single loss under their name.

Not only that, but some rumors had it that even the Clan Chiefs respected him. This was not something that she could ignore, and it baffled Angelica.

The fact that he had built his reputation over the course of a few years was the most surprising aspect of this matter. It served as further evidence of the formidable nature of the person who acted as this strategist.

'I should try to report this to Ren when I return.'

She had a great deal of information that she needed to impart to him. During her time in the clan, she became embroiled in a number of political disputes and came to learn a lot of things.

If not for the war, things would've been…

'Should I be happy or annoyed by the war?'

She was a demon… but after coming back home, she was more than certain that her decision to join Ren was the right one.

"There you are."

Angelica turned around just as she heard a voice coming from behind her. When she turned her head, she was confronted by the person she had hoped to avoid seeing the most.

"Why are you following me?"

"Didn't I tell you before?"

"The answer is no."

Angelica's facial expression distorted.

She was becoming more and more annoyed by his antics.

It was obvious that all he cared about was the position he'd gain after 'marrying' her due to the influence her mother held, and Angelica understood this... The fact that he didn't even try to conceal his intentions was what made Angelica loathe him even further.

"It's fine if you refuse. In the end, it's not up to yo―"

WHOOOOOOOM―! The area around the two of them distorted, and at the same instant, both of them came to a stop. When she looked up ahead, she saw a crack form in the air above her that slowly expanded to reveal over ten different dwarves wearing large suits that towered over her figure.

They were all holding a device in their hands, and it was pointed in their direction. The air began to warp right at the very tip of the device, and Angelica's expression changed drastically.

"Ah...!?"

WIIIING―! WIIIIING―!

Ten large beams headed her way.

"Shit."

Chapter 771: Changes on earth [4]

[Alliance Headquarters]

―There's a sudden situation. This is the perfect time to strike the demons.

―I have just been informed that our forces and the demons in Idoania have engaged in full-scale warfare against one another. Even though there have been no requests for additional support, the situation appears to be rather grim. The Demon King is currently engaged in combat with the Leaders of our race.

―The mana on this planet also seemed to have drastically increased. Do you have any idea of what happened, Ren?

"One at a time, please…"

I massaged my head while I stared at the three projections in front of me. They were Gervis, Maylin, and Brutus. The heads of the three races on Earth.

The three of them had different facial expressions at the moment and were talking over one another, but I roughly understood what had occurred.

I looked at Maylin.

"So you're saying a war broke out on this planet called Idoania and that the Demon King is currently fighting against all of your race leaders?"

―That's correct.

Maylin, who was hidden behind the holographic projection, nodded her head. After staring at her for what seemed like an eternity, I eventually leaned against the back of my chair.

I had a sudden thought.

"There are seven Protectors, but as far as I can tell, there is only one on Earth. If I'm not mistaken, then it seems highly likely that the race leaders of the three different races are the other Protectors... right?'

It was a possibility.

If not, why would Jezebeth opt to move to them before heading down to earth? The more I thought about it, the more obvious it seemed.

… In the same manner, as on Earth, the Protectors kept a close eye on the three other races in order to ensure that they remained in their proper place.

Clean up and oppress those who have talent.

Their surveillance wasn't something that was exclusive to human beings alone, but it did affect the other races as well...

It was also abundantly clear that the Protectors placed a higher priority on the other races than they did on us, as evidenced by the fact that there was only one Protector watching over us as opposed to the two others for each race.

Not that I blamed them.

After all, mana was something that humans had only very recently begun to interact with. In addition, our population was noticeably lower than theirs.

It only made sense.

I turned to look at Gervis.

"Yes, the mana in the atmosphere did indeed become a lot denser. I don't know why, but I've received several reports from our side that many have broken through because of it."

―Oh? Is Octavious one of them?

"Yes."

I replied with a short nod.

Not even a day after my other self killed Waylan, a large phenomenon swept over the city, and Octavious broke through to <SSS-> rank.

The news of his breakthrough was met with a great deal of enthusiasm, and some news articles even suggested that he ought to take the reins as leader of the alliance in light of his recent success.

If only they knew...

"He's broken through to the next rank, and so have several other people. What about you?"

―Same for us.

Gervis heartily laughed.

―With Inferno gone, everything has been going quite smoothly for us. After the mana density rose, almost all of us experienced a large increase in our powers. Although I don't know what brought about this change, I'm all in for it.

"That's nice to hear."

I gave him a friendly smile before turning my attention to Brutus. Even though he was hidden behind a projection, I was still able to feel his breath from where I was seated.

With his sharp eyes focused on me, I sighed.

"You want to take advantage of this opportunity to attack the demons?"

―Yes. The residual demonic energy in the atmosphere has become noticeably less potent as a result of the significant increase in mana density that has recently taken place. Even though we orcs didn't go through any of what you humans did, we didn't lose any strength, in contrast to the demons. If we take advantage of this opportunity, we will be able to eradicate all of the demons at once.

"Hmmm."

His words had some reason behind them.

If there were ever a better time to launch an assault, that time would be now. Not only did a good number of us become stronger, but because the mana was so concentrated, the demons were put in a position where they were at a disadvantage.

Especially since the mana compressors needed to be tuned in order to convert the denser mana that had entered the atmosphere.

There was only one problem with this situation.

I looked toward the three of them, who were looking at me with expectant eyes. It seemed like they had already discussed the matter beforehand and were only waiting for my decision.

I massaged the bottom of my chin and muttered my thoughts.

"We just came off a pretty big war, and if we suddenly get into another war right now, the people will start to riot… The situation is rather sensitive."

Even though I couldn't say for certain that this was the case, it was safe to assume that the general populace would be anything but pleased with the news that another war was going to be declared.

I was already able to picture all of the articles that would be written about me, calling me a war-hungry tyrant and other such things...

Not that I cared.

I've seen much worse things said about me in the media, and I've become somewhat desensitized to it all.

As a matter of fact, I found them to be rather humorous. The vast majority of the time, all I would do to have a good laugh would be look at the news.

―Ren, we know that you've just gone through a war and that you're currently recuperating and mourning the losses, but this isn't an opportunity that can be wasted. There's no better time to strike now, and honestly, since we're the ones attacking, it shouldn't matter whether the citizens are happy or not. They won't be affected by all of this.

In response to Gervis's statement, I tilted my head back to take a look at the other two. From the looks on their faces, it appeared as though they were all on the same page.

I realized that I was the only one who held a contrasting viewpoint, and I adjusted the position of my chair accordingly.

My office was completely silent for a brief period of time, as no one spoke at any point. I turned on the chip in my head and rapidly drummed my fingers across the surface of the wooden desk.

Well over a hundred distinct scenarios began playing over and over again in my head, and I went through each and every one of them very carefully, analyzing the benefits and drawbacks of each one.

As the leader of the Alliance, I had many things to consider, and knowing the scope of the attack, I knew I couldn't go alone with my mercenary unit.

It went without saying that I needed to bring most of the human domain's forces.

What I needed to take into consideration was…

Who should be left behind to defend the domain in the event that the demons decide to launch an assault when the situation deteriorates?

Who to bring alongside me?

Whether there was a trap set up by the demons.

What the citizens would think of the situation and how to calm down the panic and riots that may ensue from the decision.

When it came time to make a decision, there were a lot of factors that I needed to take into consideration, and just thinking about all of those factors made my head throb in pain.

Thankfully, with the aid of the chip, I was soon able to come up with a decision.

"Haa…"

I let out a long breath.

'I can already tell that this is going to be a pain in the ass…'

But what wasn't? At this point, everything was a pain in the ass. Literally.

―So, have you made your decision?

Maylin's pearl like voice reverberated through my office, and I looked at her. Staring at her for a good couple of seconds, I nodded my head.

"Yeah."

I stood up from my seat.

"…Let's get ready for war."

***

"Here."

"What's this?"

Raising my head to stare at Ryan, my gaze fell on the small bottle he placed over my desk.

Ryan abruptly entered the room and placed a small bottle on my table as I was preparing a series of documents regarding the upcoming war for a general assembly with all the rankers present.

"This is the thing you asked me to analyze and replicate. With a little help from Melissa, we were able to alter its properties a bit."

"Uh?"

Faint recollections of a conversation I had a while back started to surface in my mind, and my eyes lit up.

"Isn't this…"

"Yup."

Ryan smiled.

"It's the serum used to create the supersoldiers from the Monolith. I figured you'd want to know about this."

"You're damn right."

I picked up the bottle and carefully examined the liquid contained within. It was clear and resembled water, and as I shook the bottle from side to side, I observed how the liquid mirrored my movements and moved in tandem with the movement of the bottle.

'Rather smooth.'

Unlike the serum I took, which was rather viscous, this substance was rather smooth.

"How are the effects?"

"Pretty good. If you inject it into someone, they'll follow your commands, but in a limited manner since it takes several dosages to completely take control over them."

Recalling something, Ryan's brows jumped up.

"Ah, right. They also apparently work on demons and those from the other races."

"Good."

Pleased with what I was hearing, I slid the potion over the desk.

Ryan looked at me with a confused look.

"Hm? Don't you want it? I worked quite hard for it."

"I'm good."

I shook my head while carefully observing the serum.

While it was indeed good, I had no use for it. [Memory Manipulation] was just as good, if not better.

"You keep it. I'm sure it'll come in handy… eventually."

"Eh… sure."

With a skeptical look, Ryan took the serum away. With some hesitation, he looked at me again before slowly putting it away.

"Are you sure you don't want it?"

"Sure."

"…Okay then."

After storing the serum, Ryan placed another object on the desk. It resembled a tooth, and I was taken aback.

"This is?"

With a proud smile, Ryan nudged the tooth forward with his finger.

"A dimensional space."

"Ah?"

Upon closer inspection, it was indeed a dimensional space. Fiddling with it, I was surprised to see that the space within it was quite large.

"What is this for?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

Ryan placed the dimensional space directly in his mouth and clenched his teeth multiple times. The sound of his teeth grinding together rang throughout the room.

"An emergency dimensional space. You know… just in case something happens."

"Oh…"

That…

It was actually quite a neat invention. Scanning him with my eyes, I really couldn't detect the dimensional space inside of him. That was rather surprising.

'If I had back in my Monolith days…'

I could only sigh while thinking about the past.

"Not bad."

It really was a useful tool.

"Is there anything else that you want to report to me?"

"Ah, yes."

Ryan suddenly smacked his hand on his forehead.

"The assembly is full, and you're going to be late if you stay here any longer."

I abruptly stood up from my seat.

"You fu―"

Chapter 772: Invading the demon domain [1]

"I know it's sudden, but this is the best time to strike."

The Demon Domain was the largest of the five domains that inhabited the surface of the planet.

Although the human domain wasn't particularly small, the fact that mountains made up the majority of its land made it possible to argue that it was the smallest.

There were several large known cities within the Demon Domain, Ramlot, Plintus, Kumza, and Hamsala.

According to the information that I obtained from the others, that location served as the primary residence for the principal leaders of the demons.

It would appear that each of them was protected by a Prince ranked demon, and the strength of their armies was nothing to scoff at.

In fact, the full extent of their forces wasn't fully known by the three races, hence why ample preparation needed to be made beforehand.

"Currently, we have been assigned the task of invading the city of Plintus."

I paused, taking in all of the looks that were being directed in my direction.

The auditorium was packed, and countless gazes were fixed on me.

The aura that each one of them contained was nothing to scoff at, with the lowest level being <S> rank.

I would estimate that there were at least several thousand individuals in the auditorium. All of whom were looking at me with intense stares.

They were the strongest people that remained, and their gazes didn't seem all that pleased with the sudden announcement.

Having anticipated such a reaction, I did not mind their hostile expression and continued.

"Sattalite imaging has been blocked due to the barrier that presides over the city, but from estimates, it's about the size of Ashton City. Several of the spies that we have planted have confirmed this with me, and a large mana compressor resides in the middle of the City. Our goal is to get rid of it."

I paused, staring at the map in front of me carefully.

"…So long as we manage to get rid of the mana compressor, then our mission can be said to be done."

I then discarded the map and turned my attention to the audience.

"So..."

That was honestly all that I needed to say. What was important was how they would take in what I had said.

"…"

"…"

What I was met with was absolute silence.

I could tell from their expressions that they had numerous questions for me, so I nodded my head in response.

"If you have any questions, you can raise your hand, and I'll do my best at an―"

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

My mouth twitched, and a wave of hands rose before I could finish my sentence.

'This might take a lot more time than I anticipated…'

***

"You had a hard time."

"You think?"

I had the urge to give Ryan a swift smack on the crown of his head. Especially considering the fact that he was grinning like a fool and appeared to take pleasure in my misfortune while he did so.

What happened to the obedient Ryan that I once used to know?

'Tsk, teens.'

"I don't get why you seem to be enjoying yourself. You should know that your workload just quadrupled because of what we're going to do."

"Ukh."

Ryan's face fell at my words.

It was now my turn to smirk.

"Not laughing anymore, are you?"

"No… like, Ren… You know I'll die at this rate?"

"You won't."

I shook my head.

"You're a teen. At an age where sleep won't matter, so just work for me."

At his age, I used to only sleep six hours a day. and now… I slept three.

'Hmm, maybe he's having it too easy?'

"No, you've got that part wrong. It's because I'm a teen that I need to sleep! I'm still growing."

"You forgot what day and age we're in? Just drink a couple of potions, and you'll be fine."

"No… Ren, you can't do this to me."

"Smallsnake could do it, so why can't you?"

"…My workload is even greater than what he had back then! Have mercy!"

"No."

I shook my head and made my way toward the exit of the auditorium. I was obviously joking about letting him do all the work by himself.

It was a lot of work, and while he could probably do it by himself, I didn't want him to die early. I planned on getting a few people to help him out.

'I wonder if he'll be happy to know that he's soon going to be the boss of someone…'

My mind flashed to a picture of him grinning broadly from ear to ear, but I forced the image out of my head as quickly as it had entered it.

It wasn't something worth remembering.

'Well, at least I'm glad my worries were unfounded.'

All in all, although most people were dismayed by the sudden news of a new war, they all somehow managed to understand where I was coming from.

The demons were a big threat, and since this was the best time to attack them, most of them agreed, albeit unwillingly.

"Ren, get ready."

Approaching the exit, I heard Ryan's words, and I braced myself.

I put my hand on the door handle and opened it, and as soon as I did, I saw a flash of light before my eyes.

Click. Click. Click.

The clicking sound of camera shutters reverberated throughout, and I found myself surrounded by reporters.

"Alliance Head, can you please explain to us the situation?"

"What's going on Alliance Head? Are we going to another war when we just finished one?"

"Alliance Head, don't you think the time is a bit too premature? We still haven't recovered from the losses of the war with the Monolith; what makes you think that we are ready for another war?"

"Alliance Head!"

"Alliance Head!"

I was immediately bombarded with more than a dozen questions, and dozens of reporters crowded the area I was in, shoving their microphones toward my mouth in an attempt to get a response from me.

My expression changed to one of displeasure, and I found myself coughing once.

"Cough."

The shutters stopped, and so did the questions. Everyone looked at me with frozen expressions, and I silently let out a sigh.

Moving closer to one of the mikes, I spoke.

"I know you are all curious about the upcoming war, but don't be. While it is true that this war is going to be even harder than the one against the Monolith, you should all also know that we're all a lot stronger than before."

A formal answer. One benefitting the Alliance Head.

I had trained for this for the past few days.

"With the mana density increasing exponentially, our forces have become stronger and so have our allies. The demons, on the other hand, have gotten weaker. If there's a better time to attack the demons, then it is now."

I looked directly at one of the cameras pointed at me.

There were a lot of things that I wanted to say at that moment, but when I gazed at the cameras, I realized that any of the words I'd say would not have any impact on what the people would think.

Thus…

I only said two words.

"So troublesome."

Unfortunately…

They ended up being the wrong words as I revealed my inner thoughts.

Smack!

It was faint, but I definitely heard Ryan smacking his forehead with his hand.

***

[I will relay the information to them. Don't worry.]

The room was dark; the only source of light was a single flickering candle on the table in the center of the room.

Its weak light cast eerie shadows on the walls, and the air was thick with the scent of smoke and something else, something rotten.

The plush chairs that surrounded the table were empty, and the room was silent, save for the occasional creaking of the old wooden floorboards.

Swoosh! Swoosh! The silence was broken by the sound of something brushing against the curtains that covered the windows.

Suddenly, several figures appeared within the room, each one taking a seat at the table, eyeing the others grimly.

They were all dressed in dark, hooded robes that concealed their identities, and their eyes glowed with a red light.

There was a mix of emotions in the room: anger, greed, and a sense of power that only came from those belonging to different clans.

Thud.

Time ticked by, and by the time the tenth figure appeared, the meeting commenced. A tall and imposing figure dressed in black stood at the head of the table.

"It looks like we're all here."

He said in a deep, rumbling voice.

"I'm sure you all know why I've decided to gather all of you here today."

The other demons leaned forward, their eyes glittering in the dim light.

"As you all are probably aware of," the demon continued, "those cowards have decided to launch an attack against us. Judging from how they are preparing, they will all each attack one of the main cities and will be coming at us at full force."

The demon's gaze suddenly turned fierce.

"We don't want that, do we?"

There were murmurs of agreement around the table as each demon nodded its head in agreement.

None of them wanted to be invaded, especially in a situation where the demonic energy was thinner.

"We must be careful."

The demon went on.

"We must each be willing to make sacrifices, to put aside our individual ambitions in service of a greater cause. But I believe that there's an opportunity hidden within this crisis."

The demon suddenly smiled, revealing a set of pearly teeth.

"…I've just received news that reinforcements will come to aid us soon. So long as we can hold out for a bit, we can get rid of all four races at once."

The demons' eyes widened at this news, and a sense of excitement and anticipation filled the air.

"But we must be careful. We cannot let our guard down, even for a moment. These attacks will be brutal, and we must be prepared for anything."

The demons nodded their heads in agreement, and the room fell silent once again.

The only sound was the flickering of the candle on the table, casting its weak light on the demons' faces.

"In light of that fact, not all hope is lost. I've actually procured a nice artifact from the higher demons... A very interesting one at that..."

Everyone leaned forward, grimly waiting for his next words, and they didn't disappoint as their faces twisted with smiles filled with malice.

The meeting went on for the next couple of hours until it soon came to a close, and as it did, the demons rose from their seats, each one disappearing into the shadows.

Their disappearance left the room empty once again, save for the single candle, its light flickering in the darkness.

Chapter 773: Invading the demon domain [2]

[Planet Idoania]

Boom―!

The sound of metal clashing against the ground reverberated through the battlefield as Angelica panted heavily.

She stared at the bulky figure lying beneath her, trying to catch her breath.

"Haa..hha… This is too much…"

She tirelessly muttered to herself.

Angelica's eyes shot up as she saw over a dozen other dwarves approaching her.

Her face paled at the sight, knowing that she was outnumbered and outmatched.

She was only a Maquis ranked demon, and while it was considered strong, it wasn't anything noteworthy in the grand scheme of the battlefield. She had already taken over a couple of dozen dwarves, but she was almost out of energy at the moment.

"Fuck."

Her grip tightened around her weapon as she prepared to face her adversaries, but she knew that it was only a matter of time before she would be overwhelmed.

She was barely holding on.

Booom―! A beam of light headed in her direction.

It was so fast that she had a hard time avoiding it.

"Ahhhhghh."

The impact of the beam was so powerful that half of her arm blew off at that moment, causing her to let out a frustrated cry and glare at the dwarf responsible for her injury.

With a pale face, her arm wiggled and slowly regenerated itself.

"Shit..."

Angelica cursed under her breath as she looked around and noticed that she was surrounded.

'Where did all that arrogance go from before?'

When she looked down, and her gaze paused on her so called prospective 'fiance', she could only sigh in disgust.

He had only lasted a couple of minutes before dying.

She knew that she was in deep trouble, and her expression crumbled.

"So much for this strategist being great."

She thought to herself.

They had clearly fallen into a trap intricately set up by the dwarves.

When she looked around and noticed that the situation was like this for the other demons too, she knew that it wasn't just her that had fallen for the scheme.

It was clear to her that the strategist was at fault for this predicament.

"Fuck it, whatever."

She could only curse another time, knowing that there was no use cursing the strategist's incompetence at this point.

Staring at the dwarves that were surrounding her and loading their artifacts, she channeled all of the demonic energy within her body.

Her eyes started to glow a red hue as she prepared to make her last stand.

"Put down your weapons."

Her soft voice echoed within the surroundings and traveled through the ears of each and one of the dwarves in front of her.

For a split second, the dwarves' movements halted, and Angelica took advantage of that moment.

Fwap―! She flapped her wings and made a dash upward, the only area that wasn't covered.

But unfortunately, the dwarves' reaction was a tad bit faster than she had anticipated.

Just as her wings flapped, a huge net was cast above her, trapping her completely.

Angelica tried to pass through the net, but it proved to be an impossible task as the net stretched and absorbed her attack.

"No, shit!!!"

She let out a frustrated cry, finally feeling despair. She knew at this moment that there was no way out for her.

"Shoot her!"

The dwarves yelled, aiming their weapons at her.

'It's over.'

Angelica stared at the barrel of the artifacts, knowing that it was over for her.

She didn't close her eyes and simply stared at the artifact, wanting to see what would kill her.

WOOOM―!

The beam shot and approached Angelica, and there was only one thought in her mind.

'It looks like the sun.'

Bright and large...

It wasn't such a bad sight.

Darkness completely overtook her vision shortly after, but…

"Hu?"

For some strange reason, she felt no pain, and light soon returned to her vision. Her vision hadn't yet fully cleared, but what she managed to catch a glimpse of upon opening her eyes was a flock of pink hair.

'Reinforcements?'

***

Swoosh! Swoosh!

The dense and lush canopy of towering trees overhead created a natural fortress, blocking out most of the sunlight and casting a murky green light that filtered through the twisted branches.

The air was thick with the sweet scent of decay and damp earth.

"Follow closely."

The forest floor was a tangled mess of roots, vines, and fallen leaves that crunch and rustle underfoot.

Squish!

The ground was soft and spongy, and it felt as though every step was filled with danger, sinking into the mire beneath.

"Keep moving; we're almost there. Make sure to hide your presence as best as you can."

In the distance, the twisted silhouettes of gnarled trees clawed at the sky, their blackened limbs reaching out like skeletal fingers.

The dense foliage and underbrush made it nearly impossible to see more than a few feet in any direction, adding to the sense of disorientation and claustrophobia.

"This is the right way, right?"

"It is, but just keep moving for now."

As we moved deeper into the forest, the trees grew thicker and closer together until their trunks were so close that you could reach out and touch them.

"Stop here for a moment."

I raised my hand, and everyone stopped at my signal.

Immediately, everything turned silent.

The silence was deafening, and the only sounds I could hear were the occasional rustle of leaves under a breeze that lingered in the air.

The stillness was oppressive, and I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched.

'They're probably using an artifact.'

It was the only explanation since I could feel it with my senses. There was no one near us at the moment.

"Take this chance to rest, I'll get in contact with the other teams."

Following that, I brought my watch to my mouth and spoke.

"What's the current situation? Have you all reached your spot?"

―Affirmative. We're currently waiting for orders.

―Not yet; we'll be there soon.

―We have just arrived.

―We see the spot; we're almost there. A couple of minutes at most.

A wave of messages reached my ears, and I nodded my head comfortably. Everything so far was proceeding smoothly.

'This is good.'

Although everything was going smoothly so far, I didn't let my guard down. With the unsettling feeling that I was being watched, I knew that the demons weren't completely unaware of our movements.

In fact, they most probably already knew where we were and were planning on counter-attacking.

Not that I'd let them…

"Stay put where you are. Keep your guard up."

I reminded the others on my watch before shifting my attention toward my group. It was a rather small group comprised of Amanda, Jin, Emma, and Liam.

I thought about bringing Melissa, but considering the gravity of the situation, I decided to leave her in Ashton City, which… well, she was all in for.

The thought made me sigh, and I turned to look at the others behind me.

Their expression was rather normal, but I could tell that Emma was nervous.

Compared to the others, she was practically the weakest and not by a close margin.

I tore my gaze away from her and looked at the group.

"Let's go sneak into the city and do a proper check of the city before we decide to attack."

I paused and looked toward the distance, where I could see the faint outline of a city. It was currently masked by the fog, but I could feel it from where I stood.

"…Once we infiltrate the city and do a proper check of the place, we'll find a way to let the others in. It's important that everyone is careful during the task."

I was very careful to put an emphasis on the final point.

Inadvertently, I gave Liam a glance, but then I realized that there was no point in doing so because he was no longer the Liam I knew from the past.

Even though he was just as lethargic as he had been in the past, he was a lot more alert now and didn't forget anything that was said to him.

I double checked with everyone to make sure that we were all on the same page before turning around and heading for the city.

"Let's go."

***

"Hahahaha."

The sound of laughter echoed throughout the dimly lit room as the representatives of the demons in the Demon Domain gathered in a single room.

Prince Plintus―the one in charge of the city Plintus―sat behind a large wooden desk, his features illuminated by the soft glow of the candles that flickered around the room.

His piercing gaze was fixed on a small orb that rested in the center of the table, and a wide smile spread across his face as he listened to the voice replaying within it.

[Let's go sneak into the city and do a proper check of the city before we decide to attack.]

[…Once we infiltrate the city and do a proper check of the place, we'll find a way to let the others in. It's important that everyone is careful during the task.]

The air around the room was jovial, a stark contrast to the tension and fear that had permeated it just a day ago when the demons received the news of the sudden invasion.

But now, with Prince Plintus in possession of the powerful artifact given to them by the major heads, the demons felt a newfound sense of confidence.

"Prince Plintus, it looks like things will be easy for you."

One of the demons remarked, grinning from ear to ear.

"The humans won't know what hit them."

Prince Plintus chuckled, a deep rumble emanating from his chest.

"Now, now..."

He fiddled with the orb in his hand.

"How do the humans say?... Don't count the chickens before they hatch? I won't rejoice until they're dead, but..."

He trailed off, unable to hide the gleeful expression on his face.

Another demon laughed.

He was a rather lanky demon, and a dreadful aura surrounded them. He was Prince Kuzma, and just like Prince Plintus, he was in charge of one of the four major cities.

Kuzma City.

With his gaze fixed on a small orb in the middle of the table, he laughed again.

"It's not just the artifact. The humans are truly just... They're practically inviting us in."

He leaned back in his chair, his eyes fixed on the orb in the center of the table.

"I didn't take them to be this careless."

Prince Plintus nodded in agreement, his mind already working out the details of their plan.

"Let me guess..."

Prince Kuzma interrupted before he could speak.

"Now that you know what their plan is, you're going to allow them in and then set up a trap, right?"

"Was I so obvious?"

Prince Plintus laughed, the sound ringing out like a bell in the otherwise silent room.

"It looks like I'm easy to see through."

"How can we not when your expression says it all."

As the conversation continued, Prince Plintus couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement building within him.

'Yes, this is it.'

With the humans taken care of, he would be able to reinforce the other demons and take care of all the other races at once.

The possibilities were endless, and he relished the thought of expanding his power and influence even further.

"I wonder who I should help after getting rid of the humans."

He mused to himself, pressing his hands against the wooden table.

"Who will benefit me the most?"

The other demons continued to chatter amongst themselves, but Prince Plintus barely heard them.

His mind was consumed with thoughts of the future and the power he would wield once the humans were gone.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

He leaned back in his chair, his fingers drumming against the table as he plotted and schemed, already looking forward to the day when he would emerge victorious. As if that was already a certainty to him.

Chapter 774: Invading the demon domain [3]

"We're here."

When I shut my eyes, I was able to perceive the barrier that blocked my path to the city that was directly in front of me, despite it being invisible from view.

Ohm―! I reached out my hand in front of me and stopped when I came into contact with something hard and smooth.

I was able to catch a glimpse of a tiny ripple that was forming around the area that I touched, and the ripple, to my relief, stopped moving a couple of meters away from where my hand touched.

"It's pretty strong."

Even though I hadn't put it to the test, I had a hunch that not even someone with an <SSS-> rank could break through the barrier in a single attack.

However, I couldn't say for certain since I hadn't tested it yet.

That being said…

Swoosh―!

When I shut my eyes and concentrated on a specific energy within my body, a dark hue centered over the palm of my hand, and I brought it forward in a slow, methodical manner.

…Nothing said that I needed to break the entire structure.

WOOOM―! After the thin film that was surrounding the city was cut cleanly through by my hand, I slowly brought my hand back down.

In that short moment, a small cut appeared on the barrier before me.

It was small, but it was still there.

'I can cut it.'

There was also a fair amount of resistance coming from the barrier, but it was nothing that I was unable to handle in any way. The only issue was that it was a rather slow process, as that single cut took quite a few seconds.

When I turned around to look at the others, I was taken aback to see that they had already surrounded me and were attentively observing the area around us.

'That's good.'

I smiled at the sight.

I had just been considering telling them to cover for me, but it didn't appear as though they required any kind of reminder.

With my back secured, I returned my focus to the barrier in front of me, and I brought my hand up.

'This'll take a couple of minutes.'

***

"The humans have started to breach the city; what should we do, your highness?"

"Nothing for now."

On top of a large structure, Prince Plintus was looking in a specific direction as he stood there gazing outward.

Even though it wasn't obvious, and there didn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary happening, the Prince smiled as he lowered his head and stared at the orb that he held in his hand.

Everything was going according to plan.

"Don't alert the demons patrolling of what's going on. We don't want to startle our guests into thinking this is a trap before it's too late."

"Understood."

The demon is next to the Prince replied. Thinking of something, he suddenly asked.

"Your Highness, what about the other humans?"

"Which ones?"

"The human groups that are surrounding the city outside. What should we do with them?"

"Nothing yet."

The images within the orb shifted, and Prince Plintus's eyes squinted at what was replayed inside of it.

There were several large groups of humans outside and were all waiting for orders to attack.

They were currently hiding their identities with hoods, and although he was unsure of who they were, he wasn't particularly concerned with their identities.

He already had a general comprehension of the forces that comprised the Human Domain, and he was aware that the most difficult opponent was the kid with the blue eyes who was attempting to enter and assist them in infiltrating his city.

Just that…

'They'll never get that chance.'

The Prince smiled and fiddled with the core once more.

He was starting to get addicted to it.

His gaze eventually came to rest on the human who was tampering with the barrier. Particularly the dark film that was covering his entire body.

His gaze changed at the sight.

'I didn't think we'd have a traitor in our midst.'

It was clear to him that a demon had betrayed them and had formed a contract with him. Prince Plinuts wasn't sure who the demon responsible was, but he wasn't pleased by the revelation.

'I'll torture the information out of him once I capture him.'

In his mind, the five of them were already in his grasp.

What mattered at the moment was finding out who the demon that had betrayed them was and how he should get the information out of them once he captured them.

"Get the forces ready to ambush them. As soon as they settle, we'll attack all at once."

Prince Plintus commanded, tearing his gaze away from the orb.

"…Make sure you keep the one with the blue eyes alive. Kill the others if need be."

Fwap!

Flapping his wings once, his figure disappeared.

***

"We're in."

After what seemed like an eternity, I was finally able to carve out a space that was almost big enough to accommodate a single individual.

"Haaa… ahh… well, that'll do."

Beads of sweat trickled down the side of my cheek, and I tried to catch my breath.

…The process was a lot more tiring than I originally anticipated.

"Here."

As I was regaining my strength, I felt a coarse fabric on my face. I didn't need to look to understand what was happening because I immediately recognized the voice.

"Thanks."

"Um."

After putting away the towel, I noticed Amanda's nose crease ever-so-slightly as she looked at the towel in her hand.

I could tell from a glance that she was somewhat repulsed by the sweat from the towel, but it surprised me that she didn't throw it away as she normally would have done in this situation.

Rather, it appeared that after only a few brief seconds, she had returned to her normal self and put the towel away, which was somewhat surprising to me.

That neat freak of all people?

'Can I call that progress?'

I silently laughed to myself before turning serious once more.

Glancing at the others once and meeting their gaze, I nodded my head. Only when all of them reciprocated did I finally enter the barrier.

"Follow me."

Stepping through the barrier, I was brought into a whole new world.

The sky was shrouded in thick clouds that blocked out the sun, casting a perpetual gloom over the entire area.

The buildings were tall and imposing, made of dark stone and wrought iron. They were lit by flickering gas lamps that cast long shadows across the streets.

"It looks like just as I've imagined them to be…"

I mumbled, looking around me in both awe and surprise.

The streets themselves were narrow and winding, filled with twisting alleys and dark corners where one could barely see the end.

The people who lived here seemed to be a mix of humans and demons, with the demons holding the upper hand in this city.

At a glance, everything seemed normal.

No…

There was a bit of unrest.

Most probably from the imminent war that was about to come to them. I was quite certain that they were already aware that we were coming.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Within seconds of appearing in the city, Jin, Amanda, and the others appeared behind me. They too seemed rather impressed by the city that lay before their eyes, but that didn't last for long as I managed to gather their attention once more.

"We've already talked about what we're supposed to do beforehand."

I turned my head to stare in the distance where an enormous building stood.

It loomed over the surrounding landscape like no other building, its twisted spires reaching toward the sky as if to claw at the very fabric of reality itself.

Blackened stone, etched with unholy sigils, made up the bulk of its construction, while jagged obsidian spikes jutted out at irregular intervals, forming an imposing barrier against any would-be intruders.

My eyes squinted at the sight of the building.

'Now that I look at it, it's far more impressive than the Union Tower.'

The mere sight of the building felt intimidating. Most important, however, was the bright light that shot up from the tip of the building.

"Mana Compressor."

Jin's muttering reached my ears.

I nodded my head without looking at him.

That was our current target, and so long as we managed to destroy it, we'd be able to destroy the barrier that was surrounding the city.

As it was directly fueled by the demonic energy derived from the mana in the air, as soon as it vanished, the barrier would lose its fuel source and collapse. When this happened, those waiting outside would be able to directly attack the city.

"Is everyone here?"

I did a double take on everyone, and only once I was sure that everyone was present did I let out a short breath and move toward the structure.

Just before leaving, my feet paused, and I reminded.

"Make sure you hide your presence as much as possible. It's important that we reach the tower without getting caught."

So long as we didn't get caught…

I silently licked my lips.

Nothing else needed to be said.

Chapter 775: Trap [1]

As I drew closer to the tower, a palpable sense of oppression filled the air. Whispers, hisses, and eerie moans could be heard emanating from within, and the very ground seemed to pulse with demonic energy.

It didn't bother me very much since my blood was mixed with demon blood. Rather, I felt quite comfortable.

…The same couldn't be said for the others.

"Are you guys okay? We can take a rest if you want. It's not like we have to rush directly."

Their conditions were quite worrying.

It wasn't so much for Jin and Amanda, who were somewhat accustomed to the demonic energy due to their experience in Ka Mankhut, but the same couldn't be said for Emma.

Her complexion was rather pale, and her breath was stagnant.

The only one that seemed to be completely fine was Liam.

I wasn't surprised, though.

He had spent quite a few years in the demon realm, where the demonic energy was as thick as it could be.

Compared to what he had experienced back then, this was child's play.

"I.. I'm good."

Emma muttered, looking around and clenching her teeth.

Judging from her expression, I could tell that she had realized that she was the only one struggling and was just trying not to be a burden.

"You know, if you're worried about being a burden, then don't be. You'd be a burden if you carried on right now and got tired later when it truly matters."

As if her inner thoughts were exposed, Emma's face changed, and her mouth closed.

She looked around for a moment and sat down.

"Alright, I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

Thankfully, she wasn't stubborn about the matter and sat down.

I unknowingly smiled when I saw that and turned my attention back toward the tower that was only a couple of kilometers away from us.

The journey to the tower so far was unobstructed.

Although there were a few guards patrolling the area, it wasn't something that posed any trouble for us.

Aside from Liam and I, everyone else was around <S+> rank.

We were amongst the strongest in the human domain, and thus only someone of the Duke rank would actually have a chance at finding us.

…and with me here, avoiding Duke ranked demons was rather easy. Thus, our journey to the tower was nothing short of easy.

"Do you have a way to get into the tower?"

Jin's words reached my ears, and I turned to look at him. Calmly staring at the tower in the distance, I patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry; it shouldn't be too much of a problem."

I turned to look at Emma. Her complexion was slowly recovering, and with Amanda by her side, she seemed to be in high spirits.

"…So long as we reach the tower, we'll easily be able to enter."

That was the goal.

***

"They've almost reached the tower."

Prince Plintus stood atop a tall building; his sharp gaze fixated on the orb in his hand.

Around him stood a group of powerful demons, their ranks ranging from Duke to Marquis.

Though their presence was not as overwhelming as the Prince's, their strength could not be ignored. They were the elite forces of the city, and they had been following the movements of a group of humans for quite a while.

As they watched the humans approach the tower, the demons couldn't help but chuckle. In their eyes, the humans were like rats walking into a trap.

"Prince, how about we attack now?"

One of the demons, Duke Kammela, suggested while staring at the orb.

His aura was faintly similar to the Prince's, but it was clear that he was still on the verge of breaking through to Prince rank.

But Prince Plintus shook his head, a small frown creasing his features. He knew that attacking now would be too hasty.

Instead, he had a plan.

Lowering the orb, he turned his gaze to the tower.

His eyes flickered as he considered the situation.

Lowering the security of the tower was a risky move, but he knew it was the best way to ambush the humans. The moment they entered, they'd be able to block them from all sides and stop them from escaping.

Even if they had some sort of trump cards in their pockets, they wouldn't be able to use them once they entered the tower due to the highly sophisticated safety devices that had been installed.

That being said... it also stored certain items and artifacts that were rather fragile. It'd be a real pity if those broke.

'No, rather than pity... it'd be a real pain...'

Prince Plintus's nose wrinkled in thought as he contemplated his next move.

"Lower the security of the tower," he said finally. "Let them enter."

The demons were taken aback by the sudden suggestion.

They knew the artifacts inside the tower were incredibly sensitive and valuable. If something were to happen to them, it could be devastating for the city.

"Prince, you need to reconsider! You, of all people, should know just how important the tower is! If something were to go wrong, the consequence would be catastrophic!"

Duke Kammela voiced his concerns, but Prince Plintus silenced him with a single glance.

"Ukh."

The Duke felt a tremendous pressure wash over him, and he instantly quieted down. The pressure he was subjected to made him unable to speak, and a realization dawned on him.

Even if he were to reach Prince rank, he would be no match for Prince Plintus.

Fiddling with the orb in his hand, Prince Plintus continued.

"I understand your concerns, but there's no better place to ambush them than the tower. It'll be impossible for them to get out once they're in."

The demons exchanged hesitant glances, unsure of whether to trust the Prince's plan. But they knew that Prince Plintus was a cunning demon, and they ultimately decided to follow his lead.

They also somewhat agreed with him. It was just that the consequences of their failure made them a little hesitant.

"Understood."

As the sun continued to set, the group of demons moved towards the tower, ready to carry out Prince Plintus's plan.

The humans were about to step into a trap, and there was nothing they could do to stop it.

All they needed to do was close the trap that they had so intricately set up.

***

"Have you recovered enough?"

"Yeah, I'm good now."

Seeing Emma's complexion return to normal, I breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look at the others.

'It looks like it was a good idea to take a rest.'

Though they didn't show it, they also seemed to have benefited from the break, as their eyes seemed more clear.

Without further ado, I tore my gaze away from them and once again shifted my attention toward the enormous tower in the distance. Licking my lips, I pressed my foot forward and rushed toward it.

Swoosh.

As I had done previously, I positioned myself at the very front and looked around to see if there were any Duke ranked demons nearby.

'There seems to be a couple of Duke ranked demons not far from here.'

Whenever I spotted them, I'd alter the direction we were going to avoid them.

While I somewhat believed that there was a high chance we could avoid their detection, I didn't want to risk things.

I decided to be on the cautious side and avoided their range of detection.

Our trip was significantly slowed down as a result of this, but given that we weren't in a particularly urgent race against the clock, we were able to accommodate delays of this magnitude.

…and we soon arrived near the gate. It took us about an hour to reach it from the spot where we took a rest, but it was well worth it.

"What should we do now?"

Liam asked, appearing right next to me. I didn't respond to him immediately and focused my attention on the gate in the distance. It was fairly large and was currently guarded by several Marquis ranked demons.

'I think that's the best option…'

I massaged my chin and continued to observe the demons that stood next to the gate. Although they were Marquis ranked demons, they weren't very strong. At most around <S- > rank, and thus weren't a big problem.

The problem was inside, as I could feel the presence of a particularly powerful entity. They were Duke ranked, and although they weren't a threat to me, I knew that killing them quietly was not a real option.

That said…

"The strategy is straightforward: once inside, we will hunt down and destroy the demons as quickly as we can. Our objective is to get rid of the mana compressor. As long as we are successful in destroying that, the barrier will vanish, and we will be able to begin our assault."

I seriously looked at the others.

"Ideally, I want to do this as quietly as possible, but if something goes wrong, I'll attract their attention, and you guys destroy the mana compressor…"

My eyes wandered to Liam, and I stopped there. If there was someone I trusted with taking care of their safety, it was him. So long as he was there, I didn't feel worried.

After all, his talent was absurd. He had already reached <SS> rank, and the craziest thing was that he had no cheat to help him get there.

Well… he himself was a cheat.

While I was massaging my hands, I stole a quick glance at the others before turning my attention once again to the demons that were off in the distance.

My vision soon blurred.

"Let's go."

Chapter 776: Trap [2]

"They have started their attack."

Duke Kammala's voice reached the Prince's ears, and his eyes came to a gradual close. His thoughts were unknown, and everyone's attention focused on him.

The humans had made a dash for the tower, and they were now all waiting for the Prince's orders.

"Should we…?"

"No, not yet."

The Prince shook his head, putting the orb away.

Now that he knew where they were, he no longer needed to pay them any attention. The orb consumed quite a bit of demonic energy, and he needed to conserve it as much as possible.

Even though their opponents were trapped, they weren't individuals they could make light of. Each and every one of them was strong. Especially the boy called Ren.

He was very dangerous.

With that being said...

"Get into positions. We will start out attacks soon."

He wasn't scared of him.

Although Ren was strong, so was he. He was rather confident in his strength and didn't think he'd lose out to that human.

In fact, he was confident he could beat him even without the need to ambush him.

Last he'd heard, the human wasn't even Prince ranked yet.

'Still, it's best to be careful. You might never know what might happen.'

Though Prince Plintus was confident, he wasn't one to let confidence get the best of him.

He was a meticulous individual and wasn't one that let anything slip his mind.

Thinking of something, he took the orb once again and injected demonic energy into it. Instantly, images appeared on the orb, and he flipped through them.

"Good, it looks like they are still there."

What he was currently looking at were the human forces that were waiting outside of the city. He wanted to see if they were making any strange movements, but it looks like he had worried too much.

They were still there doing nothing.

"Good."

He put the orb away, casting one of his worries away. After that, he returned his attention back toward the tower and smiled.

"I think enough time has already passed; how about we greet our guests?"

His words immediately stirred the minds of the demons, and they all smiled.

Following this, their wings expanded, and they disappeared from the spot they were in, reappearing right in front of the tower.

"Have the others block the other entrances and get ready to set up the mana disruptors."

Prince Plintus ordered.

"Understood."

There were a lot of things he had planned out for this moment.

Since he was dealing with tough opponents, he made sure to spare nothing for the current trap. From mana disruptors to all sorts of artifacts that could impede their movements and attack them from the distance… he spared nothing.

So long as he managed to defeat them… the war was as good as over.

Perhaps, he could even be rewarded by his majesty… if that was the case…

'Hehe.'

Prince Plintus laughed to himself before casting a glance toward the demons behind him.

"Wait for me here. Once I give out the signal, you can come in."

He didn't wait for their replies and made his way into the tower.

His steps were leisurely, unbefitting of someone that was about to ambush someone, and when he passed the gate and looked at the broken shards that laid on the ground―remnants of the cores of guards―his expression crumbled a little.

'Useless.'

They were supposed to be special elites that they had trained arduously over the years, but for them to die such deaths… he could only feel disgusted.

A pity that they had gone up against a powerful foe.

'A small sacrifice to pay for the greater good.'

It didn't take long for his expression to return to normal, and he entered the tower.

The insides of the tower were dimly lit by torches that rested by the side of the dark walls, and following a narrow corridor was a magnificent hall.

Unlike the corridor, it was well lit by the enormous black windows that stood above and the large torches that hung beside the enormous black pillars that supported the structure.

A red carpet enveloped the entire floor, and what stood out the most about the room was the throne that sat in the middle of the hall.

It was made out of obsidian and was adorned with rubies and emeralds that gleamed menacingly under the lighting of the hall.

It was a throne Prince Plintus was all too familiar with… After all, it belonged to him.

At the moment, however, it was occupied by a certain someone.

With his legs lazily resting on the armrest of the throne and his cheek supported by his fist, he fiddled with a small black orb in his hand. Beside him were four other humans, and Prince Plintus's feet came to a sudden pause.

His nose wrinkled at the sight.

"You finally came?"

A leisurely voice reverberated through the hall, and Prince Plintus's body stiffened. He had a bad feeling about the situation.

Without thinking, he took out the orb and channeled his demonic energy into it.

Images surfaced within the sphere, and he quickly looked through them. Seconds passed, and hundreds of images flashed across the orb.

It wasn't long before Prince Plintus's expression relaxed, and he put the orb away.

"For a moment there, I thought you had me fooled."

Prince Plintus's gaze fell on the human that sat on the throne.

From how leisurely his expression had been, he had mistakenly assumed that he had done something, but when he checked with the orb, he found that everything was still as it was before.

The humans were outside of the city, and his forces were blocking every entrance.

"It looks like you've figured out the situation that you're in?"

Prince Plintus smiled.

It was a smile that hid the nervousness that had previously been displayed and one that was filled with rage.

He had made a fool of himself.

"Hmm."

He calmly observed the human that was still leisurely lying down on his throne. From his expression, he didn't seem quite to understand the situation he was in…

'That's fine.'

Prince Plintus's smile grew, and his hand raised.

Rumble―! Rumble―! The hall shook, and the air started to twist. Immediately, the mana that lingered in the air vanished out of thin air, sucked by a small vortex above the room.

The expression of the humans opposite him changed, and Prince Plintus looked even more pleased.

If that wasn't all…

Swoosh! Swoosh!

One after another, demons started to appear beside him. Their entire aura covered the room, and the room trembled even more.

There were over a hundred demons present in the room, and their presence overwhelmed the ones that belonged to the humans opposite him.

…Even Ren, the one that gave off the strongest presence.

The sight pleased the Prince as his smile grew even wider, and his gaze fell on Ren.

"Do you finally understand what situation you're in? …How is it?"

The Prince looked at the demons around him.

"…Are you impressed by what you're seeing?"

"…"

The human didn't answer.

He just looked at the demons with an expressionless look. He was still lying down on his seat, but to Prince Plintus, his silence meant a lot of words.

"You didn't expect to be fooled into a trap, did you? From the very moment that you arrived here, I knew your every movement. For someone that's supposed to lead the humans, you're quite careless."

How was it that someone who was known to be meticulous and careful did not suspect a thing when coming into the city and noticed just how easy it was to infiltrate the place?

The fact disappointed the Prince to no end, as he thought he'd be smarter than this.

"Although your plan to destroy the mana compressor isn't unreasonable, do you really think you would've made it this far if it wasn't for us making this easier for you?"

He laughed.

"…You fool, the only reason you even made it this far is because we let you!"

It was his laugh that set off a chain reaction of laughter from the other demons, who all laughed in response.

"Fools, we knew everything from the start."

"hahaha, these fools. Only now do they realize that we were watching their every movement from the start?"

"They believed they were clever, but in reality, they are nothing more than rats falling for our traps."

The entire hall was filled with waves of laughter and ridicule as it spread throughout the room. Demons continued to make fun of the situation while the Prince stood back and smiled broadly as he watched the show.

But just as he was about to speak again, a soft voice echoed within the ears of everyone present.

"…I fell for your trap?"

Cr..Crack!

He clenched his hand, and the orb in his hand shattered.

Instantaneously, a deluge of mana engulfed the space, and it immediately began to congregate in the area close to him.

WOOOM―! In a matter of seconds, thin threads of mana began to twirl and twist in front of everyone's eyes, and it wasn't long before something that eerily resembled a portal appeared.

The space twisted, and then, much to the surprise of all the demons who were there, a portal appeared in the region that was adjacent to him.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

On top of that, one figure after another began to materialize from it, making the situation even direr.

They were figures they were all familiar with, and the expressions of the demons present changed for the worse.

This was especially so for Prince Plintus, who looked as if he had swallowed a bug.

A crushing pressure that was many times more powerful than what the demons let out permeated the hall, which had previously been filled with laughter and ridicule from earlier in the day.

"Th.. that…"

After taking a step back, Prince Plintus was startled to find that he was unable to continue forward. When he turned around, he saw that he was standing with his back against one of the pillars in the hallway.

"Thank you very much."

A whisper made its way into his ear, sending shivers down his body. Before he had a chance to say anything else, the whisper reached his ear once more.

"…Thank you for being so easy to predict."

Chapter 777: Trap [3]

Following Kevin's death, a lot of things changed.

I was able to gain access to all of Kevin's powers; I was promoted to the role of Alliance Head, and I learned the truth about what was going on behind the scenes.

In tandem with that, my rank improved, and although I did not inherit his system, I did obtain access to the abilities that he had previously possessed.

...and one of these abilities was the ability to create portals that connected to different planets.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Figures continued to appear beside me.

People like Octavious, Monica, Donna, Douglas, and Ivana—basically the most powerful people in the human domain—were among those I knew very well and counted among them.

"Wow, these are a lot of demons."

"Ho, ho."

"You really did bring us to a nice show."

The plan was rather simple.

Create a portal―> Send everyone to Immorra―> Infiltrate the city ―> Open the portal ―> Kill the demons ―> Go home.

It was a fairly simple plan.

One that didn't take a genius to understand. That being said, it wasn't as easy as it sounded.

If I had to be completely truthful, I would say that sneaking into the city was the most difficult part of the mission. Even though I was quite powerful, snaking past over a couple of dozen demons with the rank of Duke and one demon with the rank of Prince was a task that was challenging for even me to complete.

I wasn't entirely confident I could do it, but…

What if the demons were aware of my every move and made it their mission to make things simpler for me and the others?

What if I purposely set up dummies outside, masked as the forces of the human domain, and tricked them into letting us into the city and their main tower so that they could trap us?

…If that were the case, wouldn't everything be solved?

"Thank you very much."

I whispered gratefully, looking at the Prince ranked demon in the distance. His complexion was rather pale, and the sight made me smile.

"…Thank you for being easy to predict."

***

It should not have been surprising that, out of the trillions of lives that existed in the universe, a few of those lives would have been born with incredible potential.

One that was far superior to that of their contemporaries and elevated them above the rest.

In fact, it would be more surprising if such individuals didn't exist. Regardless of race, there would always be a few who were born above the others.

A 'special' one.

It was how the universe worked… and it was something it knew very well, hence the existence of the Protectors.

They were the antibodies of the universe, with their sole role being to eliminate or stunt the growth of these so called 'special ones'.

…For 13.7 billion years, the Protectors had been faithfully carrying out their job.

They infiltrated many races and secretly took control of them.

Whenever one such 'special one' appeared, they'd do their best to stunt their growth, and if nothing worked, they'd eliminate them.

Just like a brain couldn't control everything that was going on inside, the same was true for the Records. The Records, despite all their power, couldn't control what was within the universe. The races that lived within and the 'special ones' that appeared.

It was the responsibility of the Protectors to make sure that everything ran smoothly, and if a particular race displayed an excessive amount of potential or upset the equilibrium that they had created, they'd do everything in their power to eradicate it.

Such was what happened to the demon race many years ago.

…or so how things were supposed to have happened.

BOOM―!

A figure flew across the space, bits of metal trailing the area in which they flew. Judging from the intricate runes that were in the shards of metal, they seemed to belong to a piece of armor that had now been torn into shreds.

Finally stabilizing its body, the figure was revealed to be a bulky, golden-haired, gold-eyed male. He was one such Protector.

"H-how."

As the Protector looked off into the distance, where a figure with white hair stood, his voice conveyed an obvious sense of distress. He watched as the white haired figure—Jezebeth—held another figure in his hand.

It was another Protector.

His grip was tight around the Protector's neck as it drooped over his hand and held it firmly in place.

"How?"

Jezebeth's cold and leisurely voice reverberated through the space, mimicking the Protector's voice.

Crack!

His hand, which was firmly placed by the throat of the other Protector suddenly tightened, and a golden orb quickly materialized in his grip as golden dust flew in the space around him.

Putting it away, Jezebeth turned his head to meet the Protector's gaze.

"Protector of the Seat of Chastity."

Jezebeth called out his title, and the Protector moved back. His face was pale, and he was still in shock at the current situation.

Just then… he had witnessed the complete and utter annihilation of five other Protectors, with him being the last of them.

He, who was supposed to stand within the pinnacle of the universe, watched as his compatriots were killed one by one by the one whom they had allowed to get away many years ago.

…Their biggest mistake.

"You're shocked, aren't you?"

Before he knew it, Jezebeth had appeared before him. He was so fast that he couldn't even react on time, and with the injuries he had sustained, he could only watch as his hand firmly grasped against his throat.

"Kugh."

The scene seemed eerily similar to one that he had just seen a few moments earlier.

"How is it possible for me to be alive? How is it possible when all seven of you have personally shown up to eliminate us all?"

Jezebeth muttered the questions that had been lingering in his mind ever since.

Truly… he couldn't understand. How was it possible for him to still be alive? Even so… back then, he was someone insignificant.

Even if he did survive, he shouldn't have grown to this point.

"Have a look at this."

Right then, Jezebeth extended his other hand, and a number of shards of metal materialized. They were surrounded by a faint eternal aura, and Jezebeth's expression gradually softened as a result.

"You want to know how I managed to survive? …It's because of this. This is what helped me survive, and allowed me to be here today."

He slowly clenched his hand, feeling the rough texture of the shards.

"The sole reason I'm still alive is because of them, and if not for them, I wouldn't be who I am today… Everything started with this cube, but what came after is what truly made all of this happen."

Although the cube was the initial spark that set in motion the series of events that led to his ascent to power, his success was primarily due to the fact that he happened upon the planetary seed.

Because of that, he was able to mature into the person he was today and assist the demons in regaining their former glory, which would not have been possible without it.

…A string of events was what allowed everything to occur.

One could argue it was fate or a string of coincidences, but Jezebeth didn't care.

He had only one goal in mind.

Everything else was secondary.

"Do you want to know why seven clans exist within us demons?"

Jezebeth's expressionless gaze turned to the Protector. The force at which Jezebeth held his throat tightened, preventing the Protector from speaking.

"A lot of people wonder if it has anything to do with the powers that they possess. It bears a striking resemblance to their representative sin, but despite the fact that this conclusion is in large part accurate, it is not the reason why their clan is named as such."

Jezebeth gave a little shake of the head and then raised his head to look at the planet in the distance. The clarity in his eyes began to cloud, and a look of reflection appeared on his face.

"…What you've done to me," he started, "I remember all of it. From how you massacred my clansmen, my loved ones, and everyone that I care for… I remember all of it."

Perhaps unconsciously or consciously, his grip on the Protector's throat tightened even further. It was so tight that the Protector found himself unable to groan.

"Not a single day has passed that I don't remember what you've done to my people, and there hasn't been a single day where I haven't thought about it."

His gaze started to clear up at that moment.

"I thought… I thought that what you did should be remembered by every one of us Demons. Just like how humans keep all records of those who have heavily sinned in the past, I etched your sins into the Demon Clans. For each of your Virtue, I named a corresponding Sin."

Jezebeth's eyes gradually shifted to focus on the Protector, who was staring back at him with a shaky gaze that spread throughout his body.

"You've guessed it."

He smiled.

"The Clans were made with the purpose of eliminating you Protectors. They're a reminder of what you've created, and while it's a pity that you couldn't witness their true power, you should rejoice at the fact that the Records will soon bear witness to their might."

Crack!

Like that―with the clench of his hand―the last Protector died.

From this point forward, the Protectors were no more.

Brilliant particles flew into the space around Jezebeth, and his gaze followed them as they drifted away from him. Raising his hand, he wiped the corner of his mouth, where a black liquid trickled.

He looked at it for a brief moment before turning his head to face the distance. Toward a familiar planet. One where a special person resided.

A smile appeared on his face not long after.

"…Just wait a little longer. I'll be there soon."

Chapter 778: Taking Over [1]

Time seemed to pass in seconds.

By the time it took for everyone to emerge from the portal, the battle had already begun, and both sides clashed with incredible brutality. Mana pulsated in the air, and all sorts of colors flashed across the room.

WOOOM―!

The clear winner was clear to see from the very beginning.

While the demons were indeed numerous, their numbers were far smaller than those of the humans that had emerged out of thin air. They had more Duke ranked demons, but when put against over a thousand <S> ranks… They were nothing.

Boom―!

The hall shook, and screams of agony echoed throughout. Blood splattered everywhere, and the tower began to tremble uncontrollably shortly thereafter.

Rumble―! Rumble―!

"Oh no."

"This is bad…"

Demons were the first to notice the condition of the tower, and their complexions changed instantly upon noticing the change that was happening.

Prince Plintus was among them, but I pressed my hand against his shoulder before he could even move.

"Let's stay here and have a look, shall we?"

His head turned to face me, and I returned it with a smile. It was nice to see such a strong demon look so panicked.

"…Let the others settle the matters. How about the two of us have a nice long cha―"

Swoosh!

A fist hurled my way before I could finish my sentence. The air around it twisted, and my hair blew back a little.

Staring at the approaching fist, my brows furrowed.

'How rude.'

I didn't even get the chance to finish my sentence…

Smack!

Before the fist could reach me, I smacked his forearm, redirecting the fist away from me, at which point he flapped his wings once, vanished from the location he was in, and reappeared at the opposite end of the hall.

"Uh? Where is he going?"

The most surprising thing was the fact that he vanished yet again, making me think that he had just run away from the fight, and the sight made my frown even deeper.

'Ah, right. He must be going there.'

But as soon as I looked around and realized the circumstances, my frown lines began to smooth out again.

'It's not hard to see that we're winning.'

With each second passing, a demon would fall. The situation was dire for them, and with the overwhelming numbers we had, the battle was as good as over.

…What really mattered, however, was suffering the least amount of losses possible.

The human domain simply could not afford to lose any of its forces in light of the impending Third Cataclysm. In particular, because the demons that were approaching were in a category that was far superior to the demons we were currently up against.

"It's good that they're being careful."

Tearing my gaze away from them, I returned my gaze to where the Prince ranked demon had disappeared.

If there was one threat, it was him.

So long as I was successful in eliminating him, the war would be considered officially won.

"Alright then."

I stretched my limbs and pursed my lips.

"Let's see exactly what you're up to."

***

Prince Plintus was in a state of panic as he made his way through the corridors.

"Haaa.... akh.. haa..."

Sweat streamed down his face, and his breathing grew increasingly labored.

The more he walked, the heavier his legs felt, and the corridor before him seemed to stretch endlessly.

'Damn it.'

He cursed under his breath, moving as fast as he could while flapping his wings to propel himself forward, his figure blurring and reappearing in the far distance.

A black halo surrounded his body, completely masking his entire presence so that no one could follow him. The Prince was confident in his cloaking skills. Even someone of the same level as him would be unable to find him.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

'How has this happened?'

It only dawned on him at this moment that he had fallen for a trap.

He initially thought that he was leading the way into the trap, but things had taken a turn for the worst.

'That power... how is it possible?

But what was most shocking about the situation was the human's ability.

The one to create portals…

That... it shouldn't be something that he could wield.

Even he, a Prince ranked demon, was unable to achieve such a feat, and as far as he knew, there was no skill that could grant one such ability.

…So, how?

How was it possible?

"Huff... huff..."

Despite being caught off-guard, the Prince had not given up.

He had prepared for this scenario, a scenario he never thought he would have to put into action. He had no choice but to resort to this method.

The repercussions of using such a method were grave. The city he had built with so much effort would crumble before his very eyes.

He didn't want that. Especially since he had put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into building it into what it was today.

He constructed it with His majesty in mind... for when the time came that he would, at last, arrive on Earth.

But, because of one single occurrence, despite the fact that he had done everything in his power to make the city one of the best there was, he had to force himself to watch it fall apart right in front of his eyes.

The thought tore his heart to pieces, but he took comfort in the fact that he would finally be able to kill the human, and everything would make itself up.

'Yes... so long as I can kill him... this price is fine...'

The Prince repeated this thought in his mind, convincing himself that the price was worth it.

He passed through a corridor and came to an abrupt halt before a large beacon.

A bright light flooded out from it and shot toward a narrow hole atop the ceiling. The demonic energy around the beacon was incredibly dense, and Prince Plintus felt reinvigorated.

He knew that the sudden increase in mana density had taken a toll on him and all the other demons in the city.

If not for it, they wouldn't have been suffering so much.

Prince Plintus gazed at the beacon with complicated eyes, knowing that he had no choice.

He closed his eyes and extended his hand.

WOOOM―! Demonic energy burst out from his hand and enveloped the entire beacon.

Suddenly, the demonic energy that lingered in the air twisted dangerously and shot toward the beacon at incredible speeds.

Within the span of a couple of seconds, more and more demonic energy started to enter the beacon, and before long, the beacon started to shake, leaving behind several creaking sounds.

Claka! Claka! Claka!

The Prince took a deep breath, staring at the unstable beacon.

His eyes trembled at the energy contained within it, and his complexion paled.

"Ukh... this will definitely do..."

He clenched his teeth and poured more demonic energy into the beacon.

"It's almost ready."

Prince Plintus spat through his clenched teeth. Seeing just how unstable the mana compressor in front of him was, he knew that he was close to destabilizing it.

Claka! Claka! Claka!

The beacon started to tremble even more, its sides smacking against the left and right side. The Prince knew that he was close to destabilizing it.

So long as he destabilized it, he would be able to create a Dungeon that would soon desync. By then, a connection with the demon world would be created, and monsters would pour in.

Their situation would quickly reverse.

It was a bold move, one that would bring disastrous consequences to his city, but he had no choice.

It was the only way.

"Ah, so that's where it is."

Suddenly, a gentle whisper made its way toward the Prince's ear, and his entire body stiffened.

He wasn't even sure when it had happened, but he soon felt a hand press against the side of his shoulder, and the Prince's head robotically turned.

"H... how!?"

To his horror, the one person he absolutely did not want to see was standing right next to him, staring at the mana compressor with a look of interest.

Without so much as a glance, Ren's mouth parted open. His voice reaching his ears despite the chaos that was happening before them.

"This is the second time."

He slowly turned his head to face him, and their gazes intersected with one another.

"…Why are you so predictable?"

Chapter 779: Taking Over [2]

I took my time finding Prince Plintus.

It would be difficult for anyone, including myself, to see through his disguises, given how adept he was at cloaking himself... In fact, standing in front of him and looking at him, I realized that I was being overly confident in my abilities.

There was no way I could find him with my abilities.

'Thankfully, I'm always prepared.'

Just prior to that, downstairs, when Prince Plintus was still in shock over the situation, I made the most of the opportunity to arrive in front of him and press my hand against his shoulder. I could have sneaked up on him back then and attacked him, but I decided to go with a different strategy instead.

…Leaving a mark on his body.

It was never my intention to kill him; rather, the goal was to locate the mana compressor and destroy it.

I had the opportunity to carry it out after I had Prince Plintus killed, but I chose not to. In all candor, it would have required twice as much time, and in times of war, time was of the essence.

I knew, perhaps more than anyone else, that each and every second was important, which was why I chose to proceed in this manner.

With the Akashic Laws in my command, everything was easy. Placing a thin thread around his body, I was able to find him regardless of his cloaking skills.

In my eyes, he was no different than a moving target.

"Let me guess…"

I focused my attention on the mana compressor that was right in front of me. It was violently shaking, and the demonic energy in the immediate area around me was in a state of disarray.

With a glance, I was able to determine what it was that he was attempting to accomplish.

My gaze moved toward Prince Plintus.

"…You're trying to destabilize the mana compressor to create a portal and then desync it?"

'Looks like I'm right.'

I smiled at the Prince's expression. That was enough for me to know that I was right.

"That's not a bad plan, to be honest."

I felt mildly impressed by his attempt.

If he had actually constructed a dungeon and then desynced it, then the situation would certainly reverse the way he had hoped it would.

Our current advantage does not come from the individual power of a select few but rather from the strength of our numbers. In terms of their individual power, the demons were significantly more powerful than we were.

They had far more Duke ranked demons than we did for <SS> ranks. The same couldn't be said for Marquis ranked demons and <S> ranked users.

Our advantage lay there, with over a thousand of them currently in the hall.

…They were the reason for our high chances of victory, and if not for them, then the ambush would've never worked, to begin with.

That being said, Prince Plintus had grossly miscalculated something.

"Not bad.. Not bad…"

I took a step back. Away from the mana compressor and interlocked my hands behind my back.

"Wh..what?"

I smiled at the Prince's expression. He seemed utterly dumbfounded by my actions, and I couldn't really blame him if I had to be honest. With that being said… I didn't really care and continued to observe the mana compressor.

"What are you doing?"

Exactly at that moment, I found myself frowning and looking over at Prince Plintus. I gave him a gentle nudge with my head before turning my attention back to the mana compressor.

"Weren't you trying to create a dungeon? Go, I'm giving you the chance to do it. I promise I won't do a single thing while you inject demonic energy into it…"

At that very moment, the Prince wore a look that could only be described as wonderful. If I could have gotten a few pictures of it, I definitely would have, but I didn't want to push my luck too much.

If he snapped, things would turn rather troublesome.

Nevertheless, in spite of what I said, Prince Plintus continued to stand in the same place he had been. It was as if he no longer cared to create a dungeon as he had initially intended.

"Uh? Come on? Why aren't—"

His actions irritated me, and just as I was about to say something else, I felt something being thrown in my direction. It was the tip of a very sharp nail.

Swoosh—!

"Wow."

I narrowly avoided it and took several steps back.

I didn't even have time to properly stabilize my footing before the Prince started to attack me again. He came at me with such speed that it made it difficult for me to dodge.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

His attacks were relentless and extremely ruthless, aiming for my most sensitive organs. His movements were extremely fast, and if not for [Eyes of Chronos] and the chip inside of my mind, I would've had a hard time dodging them.

'It looks like he's trying to stall for time and wait for the mana compressor to explode… Well, that's one way of doing things…'

I didn't know whether to be impressed or disappointed by his actions, but as I stared at the incoming sharp nail, I twisted my foot on the ground and avoided the attack. Then, I raised my foot and smashed it against the other hand he was using to attack me.

Clank—!

I stumbled a couple of steps, barely keeping my face from changing. That… his arm was a lot harder than I originally anticipated.

Fwap—!

Out of nowhere, his figure blurred, and I felt someone appear behind me. His movements were so fast that even [Eyes of Chronos] was barely able to keep up with it. Despite that, I was still able to see it somewhat… it was just enough to let me know what had happened, and I ducked down.

Swoosh—!

A large hand materialized out of thin air in the location where my head had been moments earlier. It reached out like it was going to grab something, but all it could do was grab air. I twisted my body, and a sword appeared in my hand.

Click—!

A familiar clicking sound rang out, and a figure hurled all the way back into one of the walls in the distance.

BOOM—! After his figure slammed into the wall, I took a few deep breaths and regained my composure. Everything took place in a split second, and despite the many advantages I possessed, I was having a hard time keeping up with him.

He… He was weaker than Waylan, and not by a small margin, but he was still extremely strong. He wasn't someone I could take lightly.

'It looks like I still need to get used to my newfound power.'

In terms of rank, I was a little lower, and as I had only recently gotten to where I was now, I was a little unfamiliar with how to use the power I had.

It was only logical that I wasn't accustomed to my power as some of my body reacted faster than my brain did… a problem which used to be on reverse previously.

'Still, it's not like I'm using my full power yet.'

I still hadn't used my demonic transformation or the Akashic Laws. One could say that I was going easy on Prince Plintus, and I guess it was true… but considering that my goal was to let the mana compressor desync, I didn't need to go all out.

'There's no better time then to get used to my powers than now.'

If one of the reasons why I was having a hard time getting accustomed to my powers was the lack of experience I had with them, then there was no better time than now to gain that experience.

Swoosh―!

Just as the dust began to settle, Prince Plintus materialized on the right side of my body. When he came at me with his claws, I was about to duck out of the way when I noticed several small spherical energy beams on the tips of his fingers.

'Oh, shit!'

When I first saw them, my eyes widened, and instead of ducking, I pulled my sword from its sheath. At that moment, I could feel my muscles tensing up, and I brought my sword parallel to my body, and his claws landed perfectly against my sword at that angle.

BANG―! The point of contact between my sword and his claws generated waves of circular pressure that spread outward in all directions.

Letting out a short groan, I stumbled a couple of steps back.

"Ugkh."

I only came to a stop when my back was against the side of a wall, stopping me from moving further back. Just as I was about to collect myself, I became aware of something approaching from my right side, and at that precise moment, my gaze stopped on the mana compressor.

Creak. Creak. Creak. Creak. Creak.

The body of the compressor began to develop cracks, and it began to tremble back and forth between the two extremes. The light that had emerged from the cracks was blindingly bright and white.

I was about to move away from the cracks that had formed on the side of the compressor when all of a sudden, Prince Plintus materialized in front of me.

"Where are you going?"

A gleeful smile was plastered across his face, despite the manic expression that he was sporting.

"Didn't you want to see what would happen when the mana compressor exploded? Here, I'll let you see."

In a motion that rendered it impossible for me to react, he pressed his hands against my shoulders and held my body firmly against the side of the wall.

My expression changed at that moment, and Prince Plintus shouted.

"Watch!"

BOOOOOM―!

Immediately after that, there was a terrifying explosion, and everything around me turned white.

Chapter 780: Taking Over [3]

If one were to use a word to describe how the situation beneath the tower was, it'd be 'slaughter'. The large hall of the tower was filled with blood, and the agonized screams of the demons could be heard continuously ringing out from within the space.

"Akh!"

"Aurgkh!"

What was supposed to be a trap in which they would find their way to slay the current leader of humanity instead turned out to be a slaughter for the demons.

Things weren't supposed to be this way.

Spurt―!

"Akh! No!"

Cracka! Cracka!

Sparks of electricity were seen flying through the air, and blood was seen accompanying each spark. The next thing that appeared after the sparks were a couple of yellow streaks.

They came forth immediately from Liam's eyes as they surveyed the entirety of the battlefield in front of him. There was something distinctively different about him today...

Whenever his gaze settled, a number of demons would fall from the sky and, not long after, turn into powder. It seemed as though his form was constantly fading into and reappearing in front of a demon before reverting back to a blurry state.

When he moved through an area, blood would spatter, and a demon would be killed.

…He was like a god of death, and he garnered the attention of those around him.

"Who is he?"

"…Have you seen him somewhere before?"

"Since when did we have someone this strong and yet not know anything about them?"

Within the hall, conversations began to take place as everyone's attention was drawn to Liam, who was sneaking his way through the demons and dispatching them in a matter of moments.

Because of the uproar his actions caused, even Octavious and the highest-ranking officers of what was formerly the Union took notice of what was going on.

"Why have I never heard of him?"

Even Octavious was taken aback by the scene that unfolded in front of his very eyes. At first glance, he was able to tell that the man before him was not an ordinary person but rather someone whose rank had reached the <SS> rank.

…Having just recovered his feelings and retained most of his memories, Octavious was shocked to know that he had no clue as to who the young man was.

"Where did such a monster appear from?"

Even though everyone else was talking about him, the individual in question, Liam, seemed to be thinking about something entirely different.

'I can see it.'

Sparks flew all around the area that he was in as his eyes performed a low scan of the area that he was in. His vision began to blur, and he suddenly found himself standing in front of another demon.

He brandished his sword and swept his eyes across the demon's body before settling on a specific location, which he then stabbed directly in the middle of.

"Arkgh!"

Spurt―!

The speed with which he moved was so great that the demon did not even have the opportunity to respond before it was immediately reduced to powder.

However, the thing that surprised everyone the most about the scenario was that right after Liam defeated one demon, his body twisted, and he suddenly found himself standing in front of another demon.

The same thing repeated itself, and his body turned into dust.

'This…'

Liam just stood there, staring into space, as the demon in front of him disintegrated into powder. The unexpected turn of events completely caught him off guard, and everything appeared strange to him.

…This was the first time he had ever felt this way, and he couldn't quite explain it.

Whenever he raised his head, he'd see the demons… but what especially took most of his attention were the thin blue projections that would appear beside them.

The projections were an exact copy of them; the only difference was in where they were placed.

When a demon ran, their projection would appear just a little bit ahead of them, and when they flew, their projection would appear just a little bit ahead of where they were going.

That was fine… but what was most shocking were the projections that were in a completely different position from where the demons were headed.

Liam was initially confused about it, but once he saw the demons turn their bodies and move directly into the same position as where the projection was, he finally understood what was going on.

'…I can predict their movements.'

It was a rather simple conclusion. One that seemed to be the most logical given the situation, and yet… Liam found himself unable to process it properly.

It baffled him.

When he turned his head to look around, he noticed that time had slowed down and blue projections had appeared in front of everyone.

The world started to turn gray, and he noticed that the mana in his body was quickly depleting. Because of how quickly it happened, by the time a couple of seconds had passed, more than half of his mana had been depleted.

But that didn't matter to him.

The only thing that mattered to him was whether or not what he was seeing was true, and as soon as he stopped channeling his mana and saw everyone move in the direction of their respective projection, his mind blanked.

'It…It's true…'

He wasn't imagining things... It turned out that he could accurately predict everyone's movements, and the revelation stunned him. At that precise moment, more than a dozen questions popped into his head.

'How is this possible? Since when did I gain such an ability? Is this something that belongs to my art? Is this because I suddenly gained my memories again? Is this my true potential?'

"Ugh."

Liam groaned, massaging his head.

He felt his head throb, but at the same time, he felt his heart palpitate with an unusual form of excitement... one that he'd only felt a couple of times in the recent past.

The most recent one occurred when he was facing off against Ren in the Demon Realm.

He was absolutely ecstatic, and the sparks that were already flying around his body began to crackle and pop with even greater intensity as he relished on the sensation that he hadn't anticipated he would feel again so soon.

Cracka. Cracka. Cracka.

As he gradually removed his sword from its sheath, a powerful force emanated from it, and everyone's attention turned toward him once more.

He grinned.

"Come."

***

"What's up with Liam?"

Hein looked into the distance in shock. Even though he had always been aware for a very long time that Liam was powerful, the events that were taking place right now puzzled him to a much greater degree.

'Has he been holding back in training?'

He, who had trained with him over the past few years, was baffled by what Liam was currently showing. He had originally thought he knew his strength, but looking at him now, dancing around the demons, he felt his whole world collapse.

Bang―!

Right at that moment, something incredibly heavy slammed into his shield. The force of the impact caused his entire body to shake, but he did not move even an inch from where he was standing.

"Focus."

Han Yufei's voice rang from behind him. Following this, Hein heard a whistling sound, and a fist hurled past his ear.

"Hey, watch it!"

Hein hastily moved his head to the side and covered his right ear.

"Fuck, that hurts."

"Stop being a crybaby."

Ava's voice echoed just a few meters ahead, and Heins' face turned bitter. When he turned his head to look at her, he noticed that she was surrounded by more than a dozen distinct animals. All of which were displaying a rather threatening aura.

These beasts ranged in size from large elephants with multiple tusks to lions and tigers that were only half the size of those elephants.

If there was someone else who was attracting just as much attention as Liam, it'd be her. She alone was managing over a dozen different demons, and not only was she not getting pushed back, but she was even killing them.

BANG―!

"Ugh"

As yet another strong force struck his shield, Hein let out a brief groan as the force caused the shield to vibrate violently. He cocked his head to the side and glared angrily in the direction of the aggressor.

It originated from a demoness who ranked in the Marquiss range and sported a massive broadsword in her hands.

Heins' face turned a bit strange at the sight.

How should he say this? She and the sword looked completely incompatible. Not only was it twice as big as she was, but it also looked like it was too heavy for her.

…Or so it seemed.

BANG―! Raising the broadsword again, it smacked once more against his shield. The trembling spread throughout Hein's entire body, and he came dangerously close to retreating.

It was a relief that, as a result of all of his training, he was now able to stop himself from moving, and despite the fact that his entire body hurt, he was able to persevere despite the discomfort.

"I think it's enough. I can go all out now."

When Hein looked around and saw that there was no one else behind him, he sighed in relief. Now that everyone was gone and he no longer needed to tank, he decided to launch an all-out attack, but just as he was about to do so, the entire room shook violently.

Rumble―! Rumble―!

"Hm? What's going on?"

While Hein was able to keep his balance, a great number of other people were unable to do so, and as a result, several people fell.

Hein instinctively raised his head and looked upward after sensing a particular kind of energy emanating from above him.

He wasn't the only one, as many of the stronger people did the same.

"What's goi―"

BOOOM―!

He never got to finish that sentence.

Chapter 781: Taking Over [4]

"Kuku..hahahaha."

Prince Plintus… I'd say he had lost it completely.

His maniacal laugh reverberated throughout the entire area that the two of us were in as his hands pressed even more firmly on my shoulders, pinning me into place.

When he turned his head, the spot where the mana compressor had been, came into his field of vision, and his gaze lingered there for a moment.

It had only been a few moments ago when it had blown up into pieces, and as a direct result of the explosion, the entire building had begun to shake.

A sizable portal could be seen hovering over the location that formerly housed the mana compressor before it was destroyed.

WOOOM―! The area around the portal began to warp, and the demonic energy that had been released into the atmosphere as a consequence of the explosion of the mana compressor began to rush in the direction of the portal, which was at the same time beginning to grow in size.

"Have a look! Take a look at what you've done!"

Prince Plintus seemed to be entranced by what he was seeing.

He no longer seemed as calm and collected as the first time I saw him, and from what I was seeing, he had completely lost it.

His eyes were the best evidence of this as they were rather hazy.

"This… because of what you've done… this is because you pushed me to this point… if you had just obediently let yourself fall in my hands… none of this would've happened."

'He's completely lost it…'

After what seemed like an eternity, Prince Plintus turned his head, and our gazes once again locked. His eyes, which appeared to be even cloudier than they had been before, turned red and bloodshot.

"Come, witness! Witness the consequences of your actions! Witness how everyone that you care about and the forces of the human domain are wip―"

"This is the third time."

Unable to take it anymore, I spoke up.

Raising my head, I directly stared into his eyes.

"…This is the third time."

I repeated, feeling more annoyed than before. As I turned my head and stared at the hands that were gripping my shoulders, I decided to channel my demonic energy, and scales began to cover my face.

Claka! Claka! Claka!

My muscles bulged as a result, and my power started to increase drastically. If before, Prince Plintus was letting out more energy than me… then now, we were about even. No, I could tell. I had the edge at the moment.

My unexpected actions appeared to have alarmed the Prince, as evidenced by the sudden opening of his eyes.

"You… you, what are you doing?"

"First, things first."

I paid no attention to him as I placed both of my hands on his forearms and began to apply pressure.

"Ukah!"

The moment I applied pressure, the Prince let out a piercing scream, and his head jerked in the opposite direction.

"This is not enough?"

After noticing that his hands were still firmly placed against my shoulders, I increased the amount of force that I was applying, and the Prince finally released my shoulders.

"Uakkah!"

The sound that came out of his mouth after I applied some pressure over his arm brought to mind the sound of a chicken being strangled or something similar.

I didn't have much time to pay attention to the sound he was making, nor was I interested.

Swoosh―! Swoosh―!!

"Arkh!"

"Keuk!"

The portal that was only a few meters away from it was currently diverting all of my attention, especially as monsters started to emerge from it.

Even though they weren't very powerful, I could tell at a glance that they were just one of the thousands more that were about to make their way into the tower from the portal.

"Hahahaha, it's already happening. Now that the portal is open, you can't stop it! You're scr―"

"It's the fourth time."

Crack―!!

His hands broke as a result of the additional pressure I applied to his forearms.

"Hhaaaa!"

The Prince let out another agonized cry. He struggled under my grasp, seemingly trying his best to get out of it, but it was a futile attempt.

Not only was I a lot stronger than I used to be, but because he had used up a lot of his demonic energy trying to open the portal, he was a lot weaker than he was when he was in the height of his power.

I was the one who had the advantage.

If I had to make an educated guess about his power right now, I would say that he was roughly on par with Octavious in terms of his ability.

…He wasn't a threat.

"You speak a lot of nonsense."

I spoke, staring directly at the Prince in my hands. His face was pale, and he had a fierce expression on his face.

If looks could kill, I'd be dead more than a dozen times already.

Unfortunately, however, looks couldn't kill quite as easily as one would think, and I found his glare to be nothing short of amusing.

"You think that the situation is dire?"

When I turned my head back to look at the portal, the corners of my mouth turned up into a smile.

"Naïve."

I shook my head, soon letting go of his forearms.

"You…"

The moment I let go of his hands, the Prince looked at me in shock. I made use of that opportunity to move my hand forward toward his lower abdomen and gently place it there. My hand was covered in a white film, and the speed at which it moved increased a thousand times over.

It was so fast that he had no time to react.

…I went all out.

Spurt―!

"Ukh!"

Blood spurted out, and his eyes opened widely.

When he turned his head to look at me, he had a look on his face that conveyed complete and utter surprise.

He seemed unable to comprehend what had just taken place, but I didn't bother to explain it to him because I quickly retrieved his core.

Thump! His body began to sag, and the soles of his feet began to char and smoke before turning into black ambers that rose in the air.

He was in terrible shape.

While his eyes continued to be fixed on me, I fidgeted with the core in my hand.

"There's something that you seem to have completely misunderstood about the matter."

I looked back at the Prince, who seemed to be struggling to understand what I was trying to say.

'He at most has a minute left before he disappears.'

Even though his core had not been damaged, now that it was outside of his body, it would quickly disintegrate, and he would not regain consciousness until a new body had been formed.

This was something that Angelica had mentioned to me a while ago, and I decided to put this information to use by heading in the direction of the portal that was gradually growing larger right in front of my eyes.

The Prince's eyes tracked my every move as I moved around.

"Woooh!"

"Huaaagh!"

After casting a single glance, all of the monsters that had been materializing in front of the gate vanished, and I came to a stop in front of the dungeon.

As I slowly extended my hand in front of me, a bright white glow began to appear on it.

The white glow suddenly erupted into a shower of golden runes and scribbles, which then began to descend like chains in front of me and head toward the portal.

WOOOM―! The gate, which only seconds before had appeared to be reasonably stable, began to shake uncontrollably almost immediately.

Right when yet another monster was about to appear, the gate disintegrated into dust, and the opening began to contract.

"You see this?"

I turned my head to stare at Prince Plintus, whose gaze was fixed on me with a look of utter disbelief.

His already pale face turned a shade paler, and his entire body trembled.

As he struggled to comprehend what had transpired, the ambers that were rising from beneath his body and consuming what was there grew even more numerous, almost covering his entire body.

"I… I…"

His mouth opened a couple of times, seemingly trying to say something, but he seemed to be struggling to do so as nothing came out of his mouth.

Even so, I knew exactly what he wanted to say, and I smiled as a result.

"Impossible?"

I almost laughed, turning my gaze toward the laws that were moving around my palm.

It was moving a lot more smoothly than it had in the past, and I had significantly improved my control over it compared to the first time that I had used them.

"Dungeons… Gates… Skills… Everything originates from one source."

There were many types of forces in the world, but only one trumped all of them.

The Akashic Laws.

They were the origin of all power and the driving force behind everything.

Everything, including Mana and Demonic Energy, originated from the Laws, and despite the fact that Demonic Energy was antagonistic toward the Laws, it was still a force that originated from them.

The only reason Demonic Energy was so rejected was most likely due to Jezebeth and his actions.

…It was the only thing I could think of to explain the situation.

Glancing at the Prince, I continued to speak.

"…Not many can wield this power. It's not something that's meant to be wielded by anyone and probably shouldn't… Even so."

I brought my hand toward the portal and slowly clenched it.

SHOOOM―! The golden runes that were encircling the portal started to shrink, and the portal quickly shrank down and transformed into a small ball of energy.

As the air around it became chaotically twisted from the mana that was erupting from it, I beckoned it with my hand and brought it to my mouth.

Gulp!

I swallowed the orb and muttered.

"…To those that wield it, they can do anything."

Chapter 782: Situation in Kuzma [1]

[Planet Idoania.]

'What's going on?'

Angelica was completely taken aback as she looked at the flock of pink hair that was in front of her.

The moment they came into view, the entire battleground came to a complete stop, and several of the dwarves that had been surrounding her suddenly fell to the ground.

Once Angelica was able to get a better glimpse of the figure that had come to rescue her, she was stunned to see a demoness with a beauty unlike any other.

Her crimson eyes gave off a mystifying pink glow, and wherever her gaze fell, the dwarves would stop moving suddenly and slam into the ground.

Almost as if they had suddenly fallen asleep.

It… It was a one sided slaughter.

'Who is she?'

Angelica was astonished by the demoness's appearance, as she had previously believed she was doomed.

With all those dwarves surrounding her, she was truly helpless, and yet, just when she was about to die, a demoness she didn't know came to her rescue.

"What are you doing? Are you not going to help me?"

Angelica was jolted awake by a pearly and sweet voice, and when she looked up, she saw the demoness glaring at her with a look that was unbefitting of her voice.

She looked like those gangsters she saw on TV back on earth.

'This… is this how she normally is?'

Angelica was somewhat perplexed by her behavior, but through it all, she managed to nod her head. After taking a step forward, her wings spread out, and she flew closer to her.

Her eyes started to shine as well, and her voice amplified.

"Stop moving for a second."

As was the case previously, the dwarves in the area stopped moving the moment Angelica's voice rang out.

And it was only for a split second, but that was enough for the pink-haired demoness who took advantage of that opening to take out a single rapier from her storage space and cut it horizontally.

Clank! Clank! Clank!

Sparks flew, and cracks formed on the dwarven armor. Several of them flew back and crashed against the ground, tearing apart the land and trees beneath them.

"Tsk."

When the pink-haired demon realized that her attack hadn't completely eliminated the targets, she made a clicking sound with her tongue and turned her attention to Angelica.

"Hey, you."

She called out, her voice sounding rather irritated.

Angelica pursed her lips when she felt her gaze pause over her.

She didn't show any outward signs of her anxiety and instead calmly looked back at her, despite the fact that she was feeling quite anxious for some reason, most likely because of the disparity in the strength of their abilities.

"Yes?"

The pink haired demoness frowned at her calmness, but her brows soon relaxed.

She began talking after taking a look at her surroundings and determining that there was still some time left before the dwarves launched their next assault.

"It looks like the strategist's words were right."

"Strategist?"

Her words immediately caught Angelica's attention.

'Why did she mention the strategist? Was he the one that sent her here? …Or is there something that I don't know going on?'

Overhearing her words, the pink-haired demoness looked at her.

"Right, you don't know."

"Right, you don't know," Priscilla said, flocking her hair to the side but keeping quiet. Angelica's interest was piqued even more, and she pursed her lips again.

'Why isn't she saying anything? …Is there truly something that I'm unaware of?'

It certainly appeared to be the case based on her response. She had just gotten to the point where she was about to say something when she was cut off.

"Don't look at me like that, I won't tell you anything. You can figure it out later."

"…"

Angelica was forced to keep quiet after realizing that she had read her thoughts. She could only keep them to herself.

It seemed as though she was adamant about not saying anything, so she refrained from testing her luck.

The pinked hair demoness seemed to appreciate this gesture as she smiled.

"By the way…"

She turned her head to look at the dwarves who were approaching from behind her, and she used her thumb to point in their direction.

"Should we do something about them?"

"Ah, yes."

Angelica nodded her head, her mind clearing up from the previous thoughts.

A smile formed on the pink-haired demoness.

"Prisicilla."

"Excuse me?"

"My name…"

The pink haired demoness turned her head to look at Angelica.

"…My name is Priscilla."

***

"Provide me with a comprehensive update of the current situation," commanded a deep voice from within the tent. The assembled demons immediately raised their heads and rushed to present several parchments of paper to the strategist, who calmly perused the contents.

"S,strategist."

One of the demons approached, stuttering. Bending down on one knee, he passed the parchment with both hands.

"Please have a look."

"Hm."

A hand moved forward and grasped the parchment.

Placing it over the desk in front of him, the strategist looked through it, his green eyes calmly scanning through the contents of the parchment.

Though concealed, the demons sensed a smile from the strategist, whose subsequent words revealed satisfaction with the progress made.

"Good. It looks like things are progressing as I've anticipated."

"Ah, yes," a demon started flattering, "it was a genius move to use the Lust clan as bait to lure the dwarves. With those little bastards being the perfect counter for them, they would've obviously targeted them. Having the Sloth Clan wait in ambush was a great idea. With that, we managed to deal a devastating blow to the dwarven forces."

"Mhm."

The strategist calmly nodded his head.

He didn't pay much attention to the demon's words. All he did was repeat stuff he already knew. Rather, he found it to be quite annoying.

Sort of reminded him of a certain kid he knew in the past.

He was a lot smarter than the demon next to him, though.

"How is the situation with the elven forces?"

"Like you've suggested, the Clan of Envy and Pride is handling that matter. They seem to be on the brink of winning."

Another demon answered.

He was an older looking one, and unlike the other demons, he didn't try to flatter the strategist.

Walking up toward the strategist, he placed his long and skinny finger over the parchment and mumbled.

"The Orcs are also not doing any better, with the three remaining clans taking care of them. From my conservative estimates, the war should be over within the next week or month."

"I think so too."

The strategist nodded his head in agreement.

The war.

It was as good as over.

The demon forces were simply far too overwhelming for them to handle and more than a war, it was more of a slaughter.

The strategist's brows furrowed when he thought thus far, and his eyes trembled. Even so, he forced himself to keep composed.

"Have you reminded our forces not to kill if they surrender?"

He turned his head to look at the elderly looking demon.

"We need to replenish the forces that we've lost."

"Don't worry about that."

The elderly looking demon smiled.

"We're not that stupid. Everyone who is willing to surrender will be taken in and forced to sign a contract with us. We've already recruited tens of thousands by now."

"That's… good."

The strategist nodded his head once more.

His voice faltered a little, but it was barely noticeable.

"You don't seem pleased by the news?"

"Huh?!"

Just then, a voice whispered inside the tent, startling everyone present.

The strategist's head hastily turned toward the direction where the voice came from, and immediately after, he heard loud thumping sounds resound throughout the tent.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

"These lowly subjects greet your majesty, the Demon King."

Jezebeth paid no mind to the demons and kept his gaze focused on the strategist. He had a knowing smile on his face.

"What? You also don't seem too pleased to see me…"

"You think?"

Rather than being cordial and respectful like the other demons, the strategist merely rolled his eyes and turned his gaze away from Jezebeth. Witnessing the scene, the demons within the room didn't dare breathe and hastily lowered their heads.

They were scared out of their wits at the moment. How could the strategist behave like this in front of his majesty!?

Was he trying to die or something?

Yet… Contrary to their expectations, Jezebeth showed no signs of anger and calmly moved toward one of the seats inside the tents.

With his arms over his thighs, he sat down on one of the chairs and let out a long breath. When he felt everyone's eyes pause on him, he waved his hand dismissively.

"Carry on with what you're doing. I'm just taking a break."

Chapter 783: Situation in Kuzma [2]

"…Should I say, as expected?"

As I descended from the top of the tower and made my way toward the hall where the main battle was taking place, I was surprised to see that the battle had essentially come to an end on this side.

I wasn't the only one aware that the battle was over.

The demons knew it too, and…

Boom―!

"Argkh!"

Coming down, I could see that there were still some demons that were actively attempting to fight their way out of the tower; however, just as this was supposed to be a prison that was supposed to trap me and the others, it had instead become a prison for all of the demons that were present.

No one could get out, and more blood splattered all over the ground.

"Ren, you're finally here."

A voice called out for me, spotting my arrival. When I turned my head to see who had called out for me, I realized it was Edward.

"How's the situation?"

I asked, curiously looking around. At first glance, it appeared as though we had won by a landslide; however, when I looked down and saw some of the blood that had been spilled on the floor, I realized that this victory wasn't without its flaws.

…We had sustained some losses.

"Don't worry about it."

As if reading my expression and thoughts, Edward patted me on the shoulder.

"Don't beat yourself up because of the losses. Although it is a fact that some of us were killed, from the very beginning, everyone who participated was aware that death was a possibility. Nobody will blame you; on the contrary, most are quite grateful for everything you've done."

After a moment's pause, a grin broke out unexpectedly on his face.

"We… we have won."

He muttered in a low voice.

His words were filled with unmasked joy, and when I looked around and observed the facial expressions of those who were currently fighting, I realized that he wasn't the only one who was feeling pleased with the way things were going.

"You may not understand this very well since you're young, but…"

Edward continued.

"This victory means a great deal more to people my age than you probably realize at this point in time. In contrast to the world in which you were born, the one in which I and the other people of my age live was not nearly as tranquil as the world in which you were raised."

"Our land and our people were subjected to constant destruction at the hands of demons. I've seen the killings and massacres more times than you could possibly imagine… and so have the others."

Edward brought his hand forward, which caused the mana that was all around him to congregate, and a beam shot out from the tip of his finger.

"Akh!"

The beam landed directly on top of a demon that was attempting to sneak out from behind one of the humans.

"You beat me to it."

I was about to do the same thing, but Edward's response was a little bit faster than mine.

"It's fine."

He patted my shoulder once again.

"I know this may not mean much to you, but it really means a lot to us older folks, and for that, you don't have to feel guilty about their death… I'm sure the lot of them are happy knowing that they finally managed to get their revenge."

"Is that so…"

I muttered absentmindedly.

I understood what Edward was trying to say.

I really did, but at the same time, I couldn't bring myself to be happy.

'I guess being a leader has a lot more responsibility than I give it credit for…'

Despite the fact that I did not have any feelings of guilt in connection with their passing, I was not happy about it.

In a roundabout way, their deaths were my responsibility, and it wasn't exactly the most pleasant thing in the world to realize that I was the reason why they were no longer among us.

…It was kind of a bummer and just the thought of what I'd have to say to their families once all of this was over made my stomach turn.

"Haaa…"

But this was life…

Taking a deep breath, I looked up and let out another breath.

'I'd be a hypocrite if I felt guilty about all of this.'

This wasn't the first time that I had done something similar; in fact, it wasn't even the second time.

When I was in Immorra, there were times when I commanded the orcs to fight against the demons and other times when I used the dwarves to fight against Inferno.

When we were in that situation, I made a number of choices that ended up leading to the deaths of members of both the dwarven and the orcish armies.

Some were even deliberate in order to make sure that the plan was successful, and as a result, I was more aware than anyone else that I was being a hypocrite.

It didn't really matter, though.

I had long since come to the realization that I was a hypocrite, and despite this realization, I found that it did not affect my sleep very much.

There were other things that were keeping me from doing that.

'Human emotions sure are complicated.'

I let out another sigh and turned away from the battlefield.

"I'm done on my part."

Suddenly, a figure materialized in front of me. I didn't even need to look up because I immediately recognized his voice.

"It's good to know that you're already finished, Octavious."

It was none other than Octavious, who, unlike before, seemed to have a completely different demeanor.

Even after a few weeks had passed since his recuperation, I was still not accustomed to his new personality.

It wasn't just me who was experiencing these emotions; in fact, everyone else did as well.

On numerous occasions, I was left completely speechless after receiving multiple calls and messages inquiring about Octavious' well-being and asking if anything was wrong.

'Just how bad was his image before he recovered?'

The number of questions and messages I received provided a sufficient amount of information to answer my question.

"What are we going to do now?"

The question from Octavious jolted me out of my thoughts, and I found myself looking up at him.

After turning around, I looked at the others who were slaying the last of the demons, and I couldn't help but break into a grin.

"About that…"

I bent my head forward and looked down at the ground below me. I raised one foot, focused all of my mana into it, and then quickly stomped down on the ground with it.

"…We're going to hunt for treasure."

My foot came into contact with the floor of the hall.

Booom―!

The ground began to collapse.

***

The demon treasury was a grand hall with towering pillars adorned in gold and silver and vast vaulted ceilings that seemed to stretch endlessly upward.

The air was thick with the scent of incense, and the floor was made of polished black marble that reflected the flickering torchlight from the walls.

At the center of the hall stood a massive circular dais, upon which rested a colossal black iron chest that seemed to pulse with an otherworldly energy.

The chest was carved with intricate runes and symbols of power and was so large that a dozen fully grown demons could stand upon it without crowding.

On the walls of the hall were niches and alcoves, each containing a glittering hoard of wealth and treasures.

Golden chalices encrusted with rubies and sapphires, piles of silver coins stacked high as mountains, and jewel-encrusted crowns and scepters adorned with the bones of high-grade beasts.

It was a location that was only accessible to a hand full of people, and not many people were aware of its existence.

At that moment…

Rumble! Rumble!

The ceiling violently shook, and the metallic clicking sound produced by the coins striking each other resounded throughout the treasury.

Boom―!

A large hole appeared above the ceiling, and several figures jumped down from above.

Swoosh!

"Ho,ho."

Ren's eyes glistened as he looked around the treasury. He wasn't the only one, as the people who came down with him showed similar reactions.

"This… They are a lot richer than I expected."

Overhearing Liam's muttering, Ren looked at him strangely.

"You've been to the Demon Realm; you should know better about just how wealthy the demons are. Why do you look so surprised? I thought your memories had recovered."

"No, it's just that…"

Liam's face turned complicated, but he soon let out a sigh.

"...looking back, the only thing I can really remember from that time is all of the fights I got into. Because I was never interested in them or their wealth, I never gave it much thought or consideration. So I really don't know anything."

"Fair enough."

After giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder, Ren then turned his attention to the enormous chest off in the distance. At the sight, for some unexplainable reason, his heart began to race, and he found that his feet began to move on their own.

Stopping right in front of the chest, he swallowed a mouthful of saliva and placed his hand over the chest.

A majestic black hue flowed out of the chest and crashed against him.

Almost instantly, Ren's figure jolted, but he kept his hand on the chest the entire time, and he opened it very slowly.

Creak!

As he took a closer look at what was concealed within the chest, a broad grin spread across his features.

"Now this…"

Chapter 784: Situation in Kuzma [3]

[Demon Domain, Kuzma City]

"Attack!"

"Charge forward!"

"Raise your shields and charge!"

The orcs charged forward, their roars echoing through the air as they attempted to breach the demon city.

Rumble! Rumble!

The sound of their footsteps reverberated across the ground as they ran toward the towering walls. The walls themselves were fortified with layers of thick stone, with towers and battlements dotting the top, bristling with weapons and soldiers.

The orcs brandished their weapons - crude axes, spears, and swords - and began pounding against the walls with all their might.

Clank! Clank!

The sound of metal on stone rang out as they smashed their weapons against the unyielding surface, hoping to make a crack in the demon's defenses.

The demons atop the wall retaliated with volleys of different spells and arrows, raining down on the orcs like a deadly hailstorm. The twang of bowstrings mixed with the screams of dying orcs as they fell to the ground below, their bodies broken and lifeless.

"Argh!"

"Akh!"

"Continue to charge!"

But the orcs were undeterred, their sheer numbers giving them unrelenting momentum as they continued to throw themselves against the walls, stepping over their fallen comrades.

"Charge!"

They had no regard for their own safety, only a fierce determination to break through the defenses and conquer the city.

As the battle raged on, the orcs tried everything in their power to breach the city's walls.

They brought forward battering rams, hoping to smash through the gates, but the demons were ready for them.

The rams were met with a rain of flaming arrows, igniting the wooden frames and sending them crashing to the ground.

Boom―! Boom―! The walls of the city shook every time the orcs rammed against them, but as if they were made out of the sturdiest of materials, they didn't budge an inch.

"Continu-ahgh!"

The orcs continued to ram the walls, but it proved to be a futile endeavor.

Not only were they unable to break through the walls, but with each passing second, they suffered an increasing number of casualties as well.

"Khhh…khhh… This is not good."

Brutus muttered, overlooking the entire battlefield from afar.

He wielded a massive war axe in the palm of his hand. Because it was so heavy, the ground beneath the axe began to slope downward.

Brutus took his time as he brought the axe up to rest on his shoulders, all the while keeping his eyes fixed on the walls off in the distance.

"Commander…"

Right then, a voice rang next to his ears. When he turned his head, his eyes focused on a lanky Orcen warrior.

"What is it… strategist."

"About that…"

The strategist caressed his hands and glanced at the walls in the distance.

Right as he realized how serious the circumstance was, he turned his attention back to Brutus and shared his thoughts with him.

"If possible, could you do something about the…"

"That's impossible."

He was abruptly refused before he even had a chance to state the nature of his request. The face of the strategist turned pale, and just as he was about to continue speaking, he was abruptly cut off in the middle of his sentence.

"But why!? If you-"

"I said that's impossible."

Brutus shook his head once more, his gaze turning ferocious.

The strategist immediately flinched at the gaze and hastily lowered his head.

He knew that he was out of line…

"Do you think I want to stand here and do nothing?"

Brutus said all of a sudden, and the strategist raised his head.

"Yes?"

"Strategist, you should know me better than anyone by now. Do you really think I'm someone who would just stand idly and do nothing while my brethren suffer?"

"N,no."

The strategist shook his head, processing those words extremely carefully.

"…Then you should know that if I'm not acting, it's not because I don't want to, but because something is preventing me from acting."

"Preventing you?"

The strategist at last gave off the impression of having comprehended something, and he hurriedly turned his head to look at the city off in the distance.

"Is there something that's preventing you from moving? … Could it be."

A sudden thought occurred to the strategist, and his expression paled.

"That's correct."

Brutus smiled to himself as he nodded his head, content that the strategist had finally grasped the concept behind his passivity.

"…If I were to act right now, I'd attract the attention of the Prince Kuzma. If that were to happen, and the two of us were to fight, what do you think would happen to the battlefield?"

A battle between Brutus and Prince Kuzma… not only would the after effects of their battle reach the entire battlefield, but the losses that would be sustained because of it would be immense. Far greater than what it was at the moment.

"I… I didn't think of that."

The strategist hung his head in embarrassment.

He was given the title of strategist for this conflict; however, in reality, he was not nearly as intelligent as the strategist who represented the other races. He was head and shoulders above those of his own race, but when measured against the others, he came up short.

Something like this… he should've seen through it from the very beginning.

He had failed as a strategist.

"It's alright."

Right then, Brutus patted him on the shoulder. Although he maintained a fierce expression, the level of ferocity in it was noticeably less intense.

"The situation is still not impossible for us to reverse."

"You mean…"

The eyes of the strategist lit up with excitement, and he quickly raised his head. He was met with Brutus's slight nod.

"Yes, there's a way for us to win the war. It's not completely over."

The words spoken by Brutus stoked the fire that was already present in the mind of the strategist, and he immediately began running through all of the various possibilities in his head.

After a short while, he raised his head in surprise.

There was also a noticeable shock and unwillingness to it.

"Commander!"

"You've figured it out? If you did, go ahead and carry out the plan."

When Brutus looked at him with a knowing look, the strategist's expression changed into something strange.

In the end, he let out a sigh.

"…I understand."

The strategist spun around with his shoulders hunched and walked briskly in the direction of one of the tents that they had erected in advance.

Brutus's expression underwent a change immediately after the strategist turned around and left.

He inhaled deeply before murmuring something to himself in a low voice.

"This is the only way…"

***

[Demon Domain, Plintus City]

"Have you managed to take away everything?"

When I looked around and noticed that the once-full treasury was now completely bare, I felt rather satisfied.

Even though almost half of the resources we gathered couldn't be used by us because they were infused with demonic energy, we still collected all of them, and while it was true that most of them couldn't use the items laced with demonic energy, it wasn't true for me.

'…I guess it wasn't a bad idea to ingest demonic blood.'

With the Nectar partially solving my mental problems, I was now able to handle the demonic energy a lot more smoothly, and with that, I was also able to steadily use the demon fruits and resources that I got from the demons without worrying about the repercussions.

I still had to be careful, though.

Just because most of my mental problems were solved by the Nectar, I wasn't unaffected by the effects of the devil's fruits.

I only had one portion left of the Nectar, and all it did was clear up what problems that I already had.

After eating another piece of demon fruit, the problems with the voices and the metal would come back.

The Nectar was not something that counteracted their effect in its entirety; rather, it only counteracted the effect that was already present. In the event that something came up later, it wouldn't be able to do anything.

'It's like if I stab myself. A potion will heal me of all the problems, but if I keep stabbing myself, then the problems will just come back.'

The Nectar was, in a way, just a partial solution to the bigger problem.

And unfortunately, unlike potions, I had a finite supply of it.

"Still, I've made good progress."

My strength was increasing all the time, and with the arrival of this fresh supply of resources, I was confident that it would continue to rise even further.

Jezebeth's level…

While I still wasn't close, I felt myself growing closer to it.

He wasn't a wall that I couldn't see the end of anymore.

…Given a bit more time, I knew that I had a good shot at fighting against him.

―Ren, there's something.

My ear suddenly filled with the sound of Ryan's voice, and I immediately lowered my head to check on my watch.

Raising my wrist, I spoke.

"What's going on?"

―It's best if I show you.

His enigmatic words confused me even more, and my curiosity started to pique.

All of a sudden, my wrist trembled.

"Huh?"

Ding―!

And a notification suddenly popped up on my screen. Looking at the message that had appeared on my wrist, my eyes opened up in surprise.

[Official Request for Backup.]

Chapter 785: Situation in Kuzma [4]

[Demon Domain, Kuzma City]

The demons stood idly by as the orc horde marched closer and closer to their city, a ferocious and bloodthirsty light glowing in their eyes the whole time.

"Careful! Stay behind the barriers, and don't move!"

"Keep attacking from where you are!"

The orcs were an intimidating sight, with their muscular bodies covered in thick, matted fur and their jaws lined with two long, pointed tusks. Each orc wielded a massive weapon, swinging it with deadly accuracy as they charged at the walls of the city.

Boom―! Boom―! The ground shook with the force of the orcs' approach, and the demons watched with a mixture of amusement and disgust.

They had long known that the orcs were planning an attack on their city, but they had not expected them to come so soon or so aggressively.

They had done everything in their power to prepare their defenses, but the orcs' strategy turned out to be significantly more aggressive than they had anticipated.

Despite the surprise attack, the demons were not afraid.

They knew that they possessed powers that the orcs could never hope to match.

They could sense the fear and uncertainty in the orc army, and they relished the opportunity to turn their own tactics against them.

One of the demons, a tall, lanky creature with pointed ears and an elongated snout, spoke to the others.

"Everything is proceeding smoothly."

He said, his voice low and menacing.

He was Prince Kuzma, the current head of Kuzma City, and the one responsible for overseeing the battle.

"From the looks of things, we'll soon be having a nice feast."

Kuzma's gaze was currently drawn toward Brutus, the orc leader. He knew that if Brutus so much as made a move, it could turn the tide of the battle.

Therefore, he was keeping a good watch on him.

"Get ready to attack," Kuzma commanded. "I'll keep their leader in check. Make sure to kill as many orcs as possible in the meantime."

"Understood!"

The other demons nodded their agreement and began to channel their energy, unleashing a barrage of spells toward the orcs below.

Woom―! Woom―!

The orcs faltered, their weapons clanging uselessly against the barrier that the demons had erected around the city. Kuzma gestured to his fellow demons, indicating that it was time to launch their attack.

"Attack them directly!"

He shouted.

"Send the close combatants out!"

After letting out a bloodthirsty roar, the demons emerged from the walls and swooped down on the orcs with such ferocity that it left them dazed and confused.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

They fought with fluid grace, their movements almost too quick for the eye to follow. They came upon the orcs like a swarm of bees.

"Akh!"

"Argh!"

The orcs were caught off guard by the unexpected attack and faltered back, their ranks decimating as a result.

"Keep in position! Keep in position!"

"Attack!"

"Help!"

"Arggghhh!"

The commands faded alongside the sound of the battle that was ensuing between the demons and orcs.

Chaos crept its way onto the battlefield.

***

It was a known fact that each race had its own pride.

This was especially so for the three races; the dwarves, the elves, and the orcs.

It was because I knew this that I was shocked by the message request that I received from Brutus. It had honestly caught me off guard, and while I was surprised, I immediately left Plintus City.

'The distance between Kuzma City and Plintus is about 1000 km, so it shouldn't take me more than an hour to get there.'

Even though I could go a lot faster and cut the time down to five minutes, I needed to save up my mana in order to complete the task.

Given the scale of the war, I couldn't show up there completely drained.

'It's not like I have a choice.'

Swoosh!

I sped through the rotten land.

The trees were withered, and the air was thick with a sulfur scent.

This occurred as a result of the lingering demonic energy in the area. It stunted the growth of all living organisms within and actually caused them to regress and turn back to whatever they were at the moment.

"Hmm.. wait, what if?"

Right then, my feet came to a sudden halt.

I had a sudden thought, and my expression changed a little.

"…They should be fine even if I arrived a little later, right?"

***

"We've sent the request for backup. He said that he would be coming."

"He?"

Brutus glanced at the strategist, who hurriedly nodded his head.

"I'm referring to the human leader, Ren."

"Just him?"

"That…"

The strategist frowned but then proceeded to shake his head.

"I doubt it. I believe he will be coming with the human forces. Given the distance, he should arrive here in about an hour."

"An hour?"

Brutus frowned, and the strategist added.

"If he doesn't show up in the next five to ten minutes, then he'll most likely show up in an hour."

"Hmm."

Brutus pondered over the strategist's words before coming to a sudden understanding.

"I understand."

After that, he turned his attention once more toward the distant battlefield.

But just as he turned, his expression abruptly changed. The previous stalemate that was between the demons and orcs was completely shattered as demons came pouring down from above.

"Arrrgh!"

"Help!"

"Ahhhh!"

What he was witnessing before his eyes was nothing short of a slaughter as orc after orc collapsed and their limbs flew through the air in all directions. Their cries of agony were amplified and delivered directly to his ears, and Brutus's expression became grim.

Rumble!

The impact of his axe striking the ground next to him resulted in the formation of a shallow depression in the area where it had made contact.

"C,commander?!"

His unexpected actions startled the strategist, who retreated a few paces; however, Brutus's knees bent, and his calves bulged, exposing a long and thick vein.

Realizing what was about to happen, the strategist hurriedly spoke up.

"Commander, no!"

…but it was too late.

Booom!

The air split apart, and a sonic boom echoed in the air.

Brutus's bulky figure flew into the air and came shooting right toward the city in the distance.

Right in front of the wall that surrounded the city's outskirts, he materialized with his axe raised high above his shoulder, and his muscles puffed out to their fullest extent.

Aura erupted from his body at the same time that his enormous mouth gaped open, and he let out a harrowing roar.

"Aarghh!"

The air around him distorted, and the space around him started to lose color.

His actions gathered the attention of everyone beneath, and the force contained within that axe made several people spit mouthfuls of blood, their internal organs heavily damaged.

"I knew you'd be coming."

Right then, a raspy voice reverberated through the air, and a lanky demon appeared right in front of Brutus.

The instant he appeared, the pressure that had been suffocating the battlefield was immediately relieved, and as a result, a great number of those who had been lying on the ground were able to maintain their lives.

Despite this, when the demons looked up, their expressions could not help but change as they took in the disparity in size between the two forces in the air.

One was huge, while the other was… tiny.

They seemed to be two people from different worlds.

"Prince Kuzma!"

The loud roar that Brutus let out roused everyone from their stupor, and his axe came slashing down toward Prince Kuzma.

The air around the axe whistled as it tore through the air at unbelievable speeds.

BOOOOM―! A horrifying explosion ripped through the entire battlefield, rupturing the eardrums of those who were standing beneath it and driving a number of orcs and demons fleeing in all directions.

After the collision, it was unclear how many individuals were able to survive, but it was reasonable to assume that the vast majority of them didn't.

The aftermath of the collision left a cloud of dust, which eventually settled, revealing an unscathed Prince Kuzma standing in front of Brutus.

This revelation left everyone in shock.

He was clenching Brutus's enormous axe with both hands while he stood with his arms raised above his head.

"Khhh… This is rather heavy, don't you think?"

The Prince's entire body, including his face, was trembling, and he had a pale complexion.

The same could not be said about Brutus, however, as his muscles puffed out and he applied an even greater amount of force.

Brutus let out a furious roar and pushed down further.

"Argghhhh!"

Slowly, Prince Kuzma's figure started to move down…

When they saw him, the hearts of many demons dropped, but Prince Kuzma suddenly cracked a smile, and that was enough to make everyone understand that something was up.

"Now!"

Prince Kuzma shouted all of a sudden, and the air around Brutus stirred. Immediately after that, more than a dozen demons of the Duke rank materialized around them, and Brutus's expression changed.

"You coward!"

With a distorted look, he tried to move his axe away, but when he tried to, he realized that Prince Kuzma was holding onto it very tightly.

He laughed out loud.

"Hehehehehehe. You fool. I knew someone as simple-minded as you would act the way that you did the moment things started to turn south."

He turned to look toward the demons surrounding Brutus and shouted.

"What are you waiting for?"

The Prince glared at the demons around him while desperately clinging to the sides of Brutus's axe with his hands.

"Now! Attack! Kill him for me!"

Chapter 786: Situation in Kuzma [5]

"You coward!"

As a surge of anger rose within him, Brutus spat out the words.

He knew he was in trouble.

As the other orcs were busy fighting their own battles, he was left to defend himself against the onslaught of demons coming at him from all sides.

"Hahahaha."

Prince Kuzma chuckled while maintaining a firm grip on the axe. Brutus was rendered helpless as a dark hue emanated from the Prince's body, securing the axe and preventing it from moving.

"You're just trying to cover up your own stupidity by calling me a coward, so stop it."

Prince Kuzma retorted while clenching his teeth and making a fierce effort to keep the axe under control.

"Arghhhhhhhh!"

Brutus put forth every effort he could muster in an effort to pry the Prince's grip off of the axe, but it was too late. Over a dozen demonic creatures materialized in an instant next to him and began to pounce on him from all directions.

Even though Brutus was a seasoned warrior and knew how to handle himself in battle, the sheer number of demons that were attacking him was too much for him to handle alone.

"Damn, you!"

Swooosh―!

After letting go of the axe, he swung his massive fist with all of his strength, attempting to ward off the demons, but they continued to advance toward him.

Bang―! Bang―!

Brutus was knocked off balance in the air and was unable to regain his footing after being struck by demons coming from all directions.

"Argh!!!"

He felt nothing but frustration at the situation as he wildly swung his fist in the air, only to suddenly receive several blows on his body, sending him staggering back.

Bang―!

"Huak!"

Brutus let out a groan as he felt the impact of the demon's attack on his body.

'This can't go on.'

He understood that he needed to devise a different strategy, and he needed to do so quickly.

Looking around, Brutus's expression fell.

There were simply far too many demons for him to face, and he knew he had to think fast.

"Argghhhh!"

He let out a rage-filled roar as his entire body charged toward the closest demon to him.

In spite of his size and the fact that he wasn't particularly skilled at plotting, he was a quick thinker when it came to fighting.

Without giving it much thought, he made the snap decision to concentrate his efforts on eliminating the larger, more powerful demons first, with the expectation that this would weaken the others and provide him with an opportunity to fight back.

Brutus ignored the smaller demons that were following close behind him and charged straight for the largest demon that he could see.

So long as he caught them off-guard, he'd be able to kill them in one shot.

Swoosh―!

He swung his fist with all of his strength, and the air whistled around his fist as it aimed at the demon.

Unfortunately, the demon was too quick for him and managed to avoid his attack.

Brutus stumbled, and the other demons took advantage of the opening to attack him once again. He felt their claws ripping at his flesh and their teeth biting into his skin.

"Akhhhhh."

Despite the pain, Brutus refused to give up.

He refused to let the pain stop him from continuing to fight, and he continued to swing his fists wildly through the air, trying to hit anything he could.

He was well aware that, in order to win this fight, he would need to employ some strategic thinking.

Bang―!

"Argh! Damn, it!!"

As he fought, he noticed something peculiar.

As his movements slowed down and he became more passive, a sudden sharpness appeared in his forest-green eyes.

"Attack! He's almost out of gas!"

"Attack!"

Bang―! Bang―! The demon's assaults became even more relentless, and more wounds began to appear on his body as a result. In spite of this, his gaze never wavered, and he continued to look in all directions.

'The way they're attacking...'

When he looked at the demons, he noticed that they appeared to be working together in some sort of coordinated manner.

At first glance, they seemed to be attacking him from all sorts of angles in an effort to wear him out.

However, when he examined their behavior in great detail, he noticed that each of their steps followed a particular routine.

And that's when it clicked.

'This is it.'

He had finally found a vulnerability that he could take advantage of.

Brutus withdrew a step and watched the demons' movements more carefully as he shielded his body with his arms.

'Now!'

He recognized a window of opportunity and pounced on it, dispatching one demon after another with surgical precision and unrelenting ferocity.

Bang―! Bang―!

"Arrgghhhh!"

"Watch out!"

Brutus' abrupt change in strategy caught the demons off guard. They didn't expect him to be so quick on his feet and so nimble in his movements and were understandably starting to get pushed back.

They tried to regain their composure and formation, but…

They reacted a fraction of a second too late, and Brutus was already standing in the gap that had been created.

When he saw the terrified expression on the demons' faces, a bright light flashed in his eyes, and just as his fist was about to land on him, a soft voice began to whisper in his mind.

"You fell for it again."

"Huh?"

BOOOOM―!

Brutus felt a powerful force land in the middle of his abdomen, and at the same time, he heard a cracking sound and felt his body propelled into the distance, eventually crashing against the hard ground with a powerful force.

The force of the impact was so strong that he didn't even get the chance to groan as the air was quickly sucked out of him.

The cracking sound he previously heard… probably came from the several bones he shattered during the attack.

"Ugh."

When he finally groaned, Brutus was so weak that he could hardly move his body.

He felt incredibly heavy, and everything hurt, but he didn't give up.

That wasn't nearly enough to make him surrender.

Closing his eyes, a dark green hue sprouted out from his body, and his injuries started to recover.

If there was one thing that set orcs apart from every other race, it was the fact that they were able to manipulate aura.

It was a source of power that was unlike any other, providing them with a great deal of energy and allowing them to recover from their injuries in a short amount of time.

Because of this, people tended to view them as a race that was always ready for battle.

And they weren't wrong as he prepared to stand up.

"Oh? It looks like you're still alive… As expected of your orcs. You're quite sturdy."

Unfortunately, it was impossible for Prince Kuzma to give Brutus the time he needed to fully recover.

Suddenly materializing right next to him, the Prince stretched out his slender hand and attempted to grab Brutus by the face.

"Khhh…"

Brutus clenched his teeth in anticipation of the hand that was coming closer. He was on the verge of doing something when, all of a sudden, a voice resounded somewhere close to where they were.

"I've been watching for quite a while now, and I think it's about time that I make my move."

Shortly after, a figure materialized right in front of Brutus, and Prince Kuzma's figure blurred, retreating into the air.

"Who are you?!"

His eyes warily swept over the newcomer.

He was a human with short black hair and deep blue eyes. A formidable aura concealed itself within his body, causing the Prince to be even warier.

"I'm sorry for the disturbance."

He started with an apology.

It looked sincere in the Prince's eyes, and yet, for some reason, he felt as though he was being looked down upon.

There was something unsettling about his gaze, but the Prince couldn't quite explain what it was that he found so unsettling about it.

"Answer my question; what are you doing here?"

The Prince asked again, but he was once again ignored. He was just about to explode when he suddenly recalled something, and his eyes opened widely.

'Blue eyes, human, black hair…'

"I,impossible!"

He muttered, stuttering.

"How are you here? Aren't you supposed to be in Plintus? What's going on? Why…"

He stopped himself in the middle of his sentence, and his eyes shook.

"It... It can't be."

"Oh, yes, it can."

Ren smiled, shifting his attention away from the Prince and looking at Brutus, whose condition was stabilizing.

He sighed in relief when he saw that.

In all honesty, he had been surveying the entirety of the battlefield for a considerable amount of time.

On numerous occasions, he had the opportunity to intervene, but he chose not to.

The reason for this was that he needed to get a few things set up, but after seeing how Brutus was doing, he had no choice but to go and help him out of his predicament.

'…Just when I was about to finish.'

Ren silently clicked his tongue while extending his hand toward Brutus.

"Can you get up?"

"…"

Brutus's gaze fell on his hand before falling onto him. He looked around and soon frowned.

"I don't feel any other presence here… Are the reinforcements still coming? Did you come by yourself?"

"Reinforcements?"

Ren looked taken aback before he had a look of understanding.

He pointed at himself.

"Ah, that… Well, you can say that I did come by myself. I left the others back in Plintus, considering the urgency of the situation. But rest a―"

As his words fell, the expressions of everyone present froze, most noticeably that of Brutus, whose face became extremely gloomy, almost to the point of collapsing.

"You what?"

He cut off Ren before he could finish his sentence.

"Wa―"

"You came by yourself?"

All of a sudden, Prince Kuzma's voice echoed, and Ren saw several figures appear around them. With a look that seemed filled with relief, Prince Kuzma glared at Ren.

"...and here I was under the impression that you were supposed to be more intelligent than the orcs. It seems that I have greatly exaggerated my expectations of your capabilities. It's obvious that your power got the better of you."

A formidable force erupted from within his body. The same was true for the demons that were standing next to him, and the air began to twist.

WOOOOM―!

"Since you didn't bring reinforcements, all send you off with that orc."

"Wait a second."

Ren spoke up out of the blue while maintaining an odd expression. After taking in his surroundings, he turned to face Prince Kuzma.

"Who said I didn't bring reinforcements?"

Ren glanced at Brutus with the side of his eyes.

"…I was just about to say that I did have them before I was interrupted." "

Rumble―! Rumble―! Rumble―!

All of a sudden, the land shook.

Chapter 787: Immorra's might [1]

Things weren't peaceful in Immorra.

A storm was brewing.

"Whoo!" "Whoo!"

Clank. Clank.

The blaring of horns mixed with the clanging of metal echoed throughout the air.

Thousands of brutish creatures prepared to march through a swirling ball of energy that was slowly expanding at the center of a flattened piece of land. It was a portal, a gateway to a world beyond their own.

The orcs were decked out in full battle gear, with crude weapons and shields strapped to their massive frames.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

Their armor clinked and clanked as they moved, and the ground beneath them shook with each step they took.

The air crackled with demonic energy, and the portal itself shimmered with a sickly blue light pulsing with an otherworldly power.

At the head of the army stood a certain orc, Silug, his massive frame covered in scars and adorned with trophies from battles won.

He was completely different from how he was many years back, and his strength received a massive boost due to the resources he managed to plunder from the demons.

It wasn't just him that had changed.

So had the majority of the orcs in Immorra, with their population rapidly rising and their environment slowly recovering.

They had been able to significantly increase their overall force, and it was all thanks to something that had occurred a few years back.

"Stop!"

Silug's eyes shone with a ferocious fervor as he barked orders to his troops and urged them to refrain from entering the unknown world that was located on the other side of the portal.

"Get into positions!"

He roared, his voice carrying over the din of the army.

The orcs scrambled to obey, arranging themselves into formation as the portal grew wider, revealing glimpses of the other side—a barren wasteland of twisted, blackened trees and jagged mountains.

"Why have you gathered all of our forces? Has something happened?"

Asked Omgolung, the previous Orcen Chief.

He stood beside Silug, confusion etched into his face.

"You'll know soon enough."

Silug replied, his answer as cryptic as ever.

"Get ready to charge the moment we step into the portal!"

He bellowed, his voice ringing out across the army.

Rumble! Rumble!

The ground shook beneath their feet as the portal grew wider.

"Karum!"

Silug raised his greatsword high, letting out a deafening roar that echoed across the army. Omgolung, who was beside him, similarly raised his weapon and chanted.

"Karum!"

The orcs responded with a mighty shout, their voices blending into a thunderous war cry. With one final surge of energy, the portal burst open, engulfing the army in a blinding flash of blue light.

"Karum! Karum! Karum!"

With another roar, the orcs charged forward, their weapons held aloft as they stepped into the swirling blue portal. Right behind them, massive artillery that towered over hundreds of meters followed them from behind, making its way toward the portal.

Rumble―! Rumble―!

The ground shook beneath their feet as they made the journey to the other side, their bodies jolted by the sudden displacement.

When they emerged on the other side, they found themselves in a world unlike any they had ever seen.

The air was thick with the stench of brimstone, and the ground writhed beneath their feet. In the distance, they could see a towering black city, surrounded by thick and tall walls, each guarded by legions of demons and monsters.

"Yes, this is it..."

Silug grinned savagely, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

This was the moment he had been waiting for—the chance to prove his worth to the human that had granted him what he currently had. And with his army at his back, he was ready to conquer them all.

"Karum!"

He shouted once more, raising his greatsword high and pointing it toward the distant city. His eyes gleamed with a dangerous light, and a powerful force erupted from his body.

"Get ready to charge!"

"Karum! Karum! Karum!"

Not wanting to be outdone by Silug, the other orcs chanted, clashing their weapons against the ground.

Rumble―!

The world around them shook, and Silug's voice echoed once more.

"Charge!"

The orcs charged forward, brandishing their weapons in a threatening manner as they approached the far-off city. The ground shook violently beneath them, and the thunderous sound of their footsteps filled the air around them.

On this day, the previously unknown forces of Immorra made their long-awaited debut before the eyes of the entire world.

***

Rumble―! Rumble―!

The ground shook ferociously.

"What's going on?"

"What's happening?"

"That… why is the ground shaking?"

When I looked around and saw the bewildered expressions on the demons' faces, I couldn't help but smile to myself in private.

After giving it some thought, I came to the conclusion that there was no better time to demonstrate the power of the force that was contained within Immorra than right now.

Rumble―! Rumble―!

The ground shook, and the chants coming from the orcs in the distance grew louder and louder with each passing second. This time, when I turned my head to look in the direction from which the orcs were approaching, I found that I couldn't help but break into a genuine smile.

Right before my very eyes was what I had been working hard for.

What I had been trying to achieve for a very long time.

It was a beautiful sight.

"Orcs?!"

"What's going on?"

"There was another army?"

Hearing the baffled cries of the demons, I suppressed my smile and turned around. However, just as I did so, I caught a fleeting glimpse of Brutus's expression, which was nothing short of shocked.

… It was the first time that I had seen his expression change to such a great degree, and if the circumstances hadn't been as they were, I would have paid more attention to the changes he was showing.

Swooosh!

An intense whistling sound appeared out of nowhere in the air, and at the same time, an enormous boulder that was roughly the size of a truck crashed into the distant barrier surrounding Kuzma City.

BOOOOM―!

The barrier began to ripple, and a number of demons were forced to retreat.

"Akh!"

"Haiik!"

If that wasn't all…

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! A number of boulders took to the air and flew through the air before plowing into the barriers with an incredible amount of force, producing additional ripples along the side of the barrier.

Cr…Crack―!

Following the collision of the boulders with the barrier, the boulders shattered, releasing a green substance that spread throughout the surrounding area and melted everything that was beneath it.

"Arghhh!"

"Ukkahh!"

From where I was standing, I was able to hear the agonized screams of the demons as the orcs took advantage of the opportunity to exact their revenge on them, who, in contrast to the demons, were completely unaffected by the substance that was splattering from the boulders.

"Attack!"

"Attack!!"

Rumble―! Rumble―!

The entire battle began to shift as soon as the unexpected reinforcements arrived, and it was now the turn of the demons to suffer heavy casualties as dark blood spilled all over the ground and the cries began to come from the demons.

"Karum!" "Karum!" "Karum!"

While the boulders continued to smash into the barrier, the orc army had already made its way beneath the city's walls.

Waving their weapons above their heads, they joined the fight and immediately began slicing their way through the thousands of demons that were standing outside the barrier.

From how things were before for the orcs, it had now suddenly turned into a one-sided slaughter for them.

Slicing and killing tens of demons every second.

"Damn! Damn, it! Damn, you!"

Just then, I heard a high pitched voice echo in the air as I heard the flap of a wing. Immediately, Prince Kuzma's figure disappeared from the spot, reappearing right above where the battle was most intense.

As he extended his hand, the demonic energy in the air began to congregate toward his palm.

WOOOM―! The air began to twist, and a terrifying pressure forced its way out of his body. Everyone on the battlefield stopped what they were doing and looked up as the battle that had been going on at full force suddenly stopped.

Everyone turned their attention to Prince Kuzma as his gaze traveled across the land to where the orcs had taken control.

"How… How…"

He was having trouble finding the words to express how he felt as his chest began to heave. It was as plain as the nose on my face that he was fuming with rage at that very moment.

"…How dare you!?"

When he finally managed to spit out his words, an enormous sphere appeared at the end of his palm, and my expression changed.

'Not good… He's completely lost it.'

The power that the sphere held was beyond what the barrier could possibly hold.

When I looked at the city, I knew that it wouldn't be able to resist the attack, and it became clear to me that he no longer cared about his forces.

…What he wanted was to kill everyone present.

"It's best if I inte―"

"Allow me."

A hand pressed against my shoulder, and when I turned my head, I was surprised to see Brutus standing next to me. With his gaze directed toward the Prince, he closed his eyes and looked at me once more.

"Let me handle this matter…"

I prepared to respond, but just as I was about to do so, he opened his mouth again, this time in a pleasing tone, and I quickly closed my mouth again.

"…Please."

Chapter 788: Immorra's might [2]

"Go ahead."

I averted my eyes from the Prince-ranked demon and took a few steps to the side.

"He's all yours."

When I saw Brutus swallow his pride and ask me for a chance to fight, despite the fact that I wanted to participate in the action, I decided to take a step back instead.

Because of the nature of our partnership, I didn't want to put unnecessary strain on our alliance over something like this.

In addition, I was aware that orcs had their own sense of pride, and I imagined that he must still be resentful toward the Prince for what he had done just a few moments earlier when he had ambushed him.

They were very proud of their power and had a deep-seated hatred for those who plotted or engaged in underhanded practices.

"Cough."

I suddenly felt like coughing.

Not sure why…

"Thank you."

Brutus gave me a single nod of his head, and then quickly turned his attention back to Prince Kuzma who was standing above us.

Cra…Crack―!

His calf muscles contracted, as did the muscles on his upper body, and like a bullet, his figure shot through the air and materialized next to the Prince ranked demon.

Swooosh!

A whistling sound swept through the air, and a pressurized wind force swept through the area beneath.

My clothes flapped, and my hair became a mess.

Booom―!

His fist came hurtling toward Prince Kuzma, who had long since forgotten his presence, and the two of them began to clash in the air above me.

'I don't think there will be any problems from here on out.'

Seeing how the situation was, I turned my gaze away from them and shifted my attention toward the dozen or so demons that were surrounding me.

I smiled at them.

"Hi, I-"

"Attack him together!"

Swoosh! Swoosh!

I didn't even get a chance to finish my sentence before they all pounced on me together. My brows furrowed, and time slowed down at that moment.

'One, two, three… twelve?'

I made a mental tally of each and every one of the demons that were coming closer to me. They all seemed to be in the Duke rank―although some of them were on the weaker side―and they were all reaching out with their claws for me.

Even so, they were not a threat in my eyes, as their figures moved at a snail's pace within my vision.

Suddenly, a thought popped into my head, and as I continued to look at them, I scrunched up my eyes.

'Should I just kill them?'

That'd be the most logical answer, but…

'Hm, I think sparing them can have its use.'

There were a lot of things I could do with their cores, and I was also short on manpower back in Immorra.

This was a perfect opportunity for me to find some new workers.

They could be great additions if tamed properly.

'I guess the decision is made.'

Making up my mind rather quickly, I placed my hand against the sheath of the sword. A white film covered my palm, allowing it to move through the slowed-down space at the same speed at which my brain was processing things, and I positioned my thumb directly beneath the hilt.

I quickly scanned the demons that were in front of me and measured the angles at which they were coming from before slightly increasing the amount of pressure that was being applied by my thumb over the hilt of my sword.

Click―!

A familiar clicking sound echoed within my head as time returned to normal and over a dozen heads came rolling on the ground in front of me.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

"Did I overdo it?"

I had to squint my eyes a couple of times to get used to the scene that was in front of me.

Although I had seen my fair share of gore, what lay before my eyes was still not pleasing to the eye.

"Let's get this over with."

Trying my best to keep myself composed, I moved toward their bodies and collected all of their cores.

"That should be all of them."

The procedure was completed in a relatively short amount of time, and once I had collected all twelve of them, the demons disintegrated into dust, and I inserted the cores into my bracelet.

"That's that done."

I patted my hand in satisfaction. With them gone, a major force of the demons was gone, and what was left were merely the left overs.

C..crack…

The sudden cracking sound was a testament to my thoughts.

When I turned my head to look in the direction from which the sound was coming from, I noticed that a large crack had formed on the barrier that was surrounding the entire city.

'It's starting…'

Cr..crack!

Its size grew by the second, and within a couple of seconds, the entire barrier shattered like glass. Fragments of the barrier fell from above and crashed against the ground beneath.

Crash―!

"Attack!"

"Attack!"

"Kill as many demons as you can!"

As the orcs charged headlong into the city with all of their strength, their deafening shrieks reverberated through the air like thunder.

"Akkkhh!"

"Arghh!"

Clank! Clank!

As the two opposing forces collided with one another, sparks erupted into the air, and dark blood splattered into the air.

"Good… It looks like my investment in Immorra wasn't for nothing."

If there was one thing that stood out as a significant disadvantage for orcs, it would have to be the fact that they did not make use of mana.

In spite of the fact that their use of aura gave them a distinct advantage over the other races in terms of their physical prowess, one of the most significant drawbacks of their use of aura was the fact that it was a rather uncommon source of power in a universe that was predominately made up of mana.

Keeping this in mind, I turned my attention to the rotting remains of the orcs that were scattered across the ground.

'If not for the lack of Aura on earth… the orcs wouldn't be in the state that they are now.'

The only reason the orcs were in a situation where they requested backup was because they lacked aura.

Orcs, in contrast to the other races, stopped progressing the moment they arrived on Earth; as a direct consequence of this, a great deal of their forces were now noticeably weaker than they had been in the past.

This was in stark contrast to the other races, which were able to grow in the time they spent on Earth.

Since we were now allies, I wanted the best for them since we were soon going to be fighting against Jezebeth.

I didn't want to see them in such a state.

…It was a pity, but there was nothing I could do about the situation. At least, that was what I thought in the past.

'Looks like I'll soon have to reveal to the orcs about Immorra.'

There was no way I'd be able to explain the sudden appearance of Silug and the others without telling them about Immorra.

In fact, they probably already knew about the planet but were rather clueless about its current state.

"That's that."

Patting my hands once more, I stretched my back and shifted my attention toward the city walls in the distance.

"Let's end this as quickly as possible."

Casting a quick glance in Brutus's and Prince Kuzma's direction, I made my way toward the city.

As they were fighting among themselves, I made the decision to take advantage of the situation and eliminate as many demons as possible.

While I didn't really care about the lives of the orcs that belonged to Brutus… I did care for the ones that belonged to Immorra.

It took a lot of resources to nurture just a single one of them, and I didn't want my investment to go down the drain like that.

"Now, now…"

I licked my lips.

"…Who should I kill first?"

***

"We've looted everything. There's nothing left in the treasury."

"Got it."

Ta.Ta.Ta.

Ryan's fingers danced across his keyboard.

Lazily leaning his back against one of the pillars of the treasury, he sorted out all of the inventory that they had just received and divided them into many categories.

He'd normally be fine with this type of job since it was a lot easier than what he usually did, but when taking into account that the sheer number of items that came from the treasury numbered in the five digits, Ryan's already large dark circles, started to expand and the energy drained from out of his body.

"I hate my job."

"Listen to yourself. If someone passed by, they'd think you were a middle aged man in your mid-life crisis."

A rough voice commented, and Leopold soon appeared in front of Ryan.

He had a beer in his hand, and his expression seemed rather relaxed.

"Easy for you to say. You're not the one who's handling all of these boring tasks."

"I'm not talented in that regard."

"Ugh."

Ryan ruffled his hair.

He had previously been very proud of his smarts, but ever since meeting Ren, he started to believe that his genius was more of a curse than a blessing.

It seemed like to him, talent equaled greater workload.

"It's alright Ryan."

Ryan felt a hand press against his shoulder. When he turned around, he found Hein staring at him with a friendly smile.

"Don't beat yourself too much. I, out of all people, know just how much you're struggling, and I feel your pain…"

"H,Hein."

Ryan felt tears build up in the corner of his eyes.

Out of all people, he hadn't expected Hein to sympathize with him

…He felt touched.

"Don't worry about a thing."

Hein patted him once more.

His subsequent words, however, prompted Ryan's smile to freeze, and all the previous goodwill he felt for him disappeared into thin air.

"…Ren just told me that there's going to be more treasure to loot in another city, so there's no time to rest. Chop! Chop! Let's get to work!"

"You fu― "

Chapter 789: Immorra's might [3]

Brutus and Prince Kuzma stood facing each other, their eyes locked in a deadly stare.

The air around them crackled with tension as the two of them prepared to engage in battle.

Brutus gripped his massive battle axe tightly, feeling the weight of it in his hand as he eyed the demon warily.

He had thankfully managed to recover his axe moments prior, and without it, things would've been extremely difficult for him.

Fwap!

The Prince spread its wings wide, revealing its imposing height and lanky build. Its eyes glinted with an eerie light, and its lips twisted into a wicked grin.

"I have to admit, I severely underestimated you, Brutus."

Prince Kuzma sneered.

"But that's still far from enough. You'd be delusional if you thought that my city would fall to the likes of you orcs."

Brutus said nothing, but he felt a surge of anger rising within him.

He was already aware of how insidious and scummy demons were, but having experienced them firsthand, he could barely keep his emotions in check.

He knew that the battle ahead would be a difficult one, but he was determined to let him pay the price of trampling all over his honor.

"Khhhaar!"

Without warning, the orc charged forward with a fearsome roar, his axe held high above his head.

Prince Kuzma watched him approach with a look of amusement on his face.

"Don't think that because I previously didn't fight you head on that I'm weaker than you!"

Clank!

A pressurized wind gale formed from the point of contact between the two powerful beings as they fought each other in a fierce battle that resulted in a shower of sparks and a thunderous clash of their weapons.

The loud sound of their clashes was heard all across the land.

BOOOM―! Staggering back a few steps, Brutus felt a rush of adrenaline coursing through his veins.

Swoosh!

He swung his axe with all his might, but Prince Kuzma was too quick, dodging the blow and counterattacking with a flurry of claws that were as hard as his axe.

Clank―!

"Ukh."

Brutus barely managed to block the demon's strikes with his arms, which creaked under the force of the onslaught.

"I noticed this before, but your skin is a lot tougher than I thought!"

Prince Kuzma taunted, his voice dripping with contempt.

Brutus gritted his teeth, his jaw clenching in anger.

He growled.

"You talk too much."

Clank―!

He swung his axe down, and sparks flew in the air.

Claaaank―!

As the battle raged on, the two exchanged blows with savage intensity. Their weapons clashed and rang out, sending showers of sparks flying in all directions.

"Argh!"

Brutus swung his axe again, this time aiming for the Prince's midsection. The Prince was able to evade the blow, but not before Brutus managed to graze his arm.

"Ahkkkh!"

The Prince roared in pain, his black blood spilling onto the ground. Touching the ground, the land where his blood fell melted.

"Y... you..."

Enraged, Prince Kuzma unleashed a powerful blast of demonic energy. The attack was swift and powerful, sending Brutus flying across the battlefield.

Boom―!

Brutus crashed to the ground; his armor dented, and his bones ached.

As he struggled to stand up, Prince Kuzma approached him, his eyes blazing with fury.

He snarled.

"You should have stayed down when you had the chance, Brutus."

Brutus rose to his feet, clutching his battle axe tightly.

"Again..."

He growled.

"You talk too much."

The demon laughed in a cold and chilling manner.

"So be it."

Clank―!

And so the battle continued, with Brutus and Prince Kuzma locked in a deadly struggle that seemed to go on forever.

But just as the situation between the two of them appeared to be steadily heading toward a stalemate, a sudden cracking sound echoed from the distance, and the two of them came to a halt for a brief moment.

Prince Kuzma's expression quickly fell, and Brutus's brightened.

C..Craack!

On the barrier that surrounded the city, cracks had begun to appear and were gradually growing wider with each passing second, intertwining with each other like the thin threads of a spiderweb.

As tens of thousands upon tens of thousands of orcs lined up outside the barrier with their shields and weapons drawn, the demons that stood behind the barrier revealed terrified expressions.

"Karum!"

Their war cries reverberated throughout the land, and a formidable power erupted from within their own bodies.

Craack!

Another crack formed on the barrier, and the expression of the demons grew worse.

Brutus took his gaze away from the barrier and looked back at Prince Kuzma, who seemed to be distracted at the moment.

He didn't miss his chance.

"Keep your eyes on the battle."

"Wh―"

Swoosh!

His axe was hurled in the Prince's way, and it wasn't until the axe was only a few centimeters away from him that Prince Kuzma realized the demon's precarious situation.

"Eh, ah!?"

In his panic, he turned around and brought his wings in front of him.

BOOM―! The force of the impact hurled his body toward the ground, where it slammed into the surface and created a sizable crater.

Boom―!

Brutus was quick to follow up with his attack as his feet came crashing against the ground, and he ran toward where Prince Kuzma had crashed into.

The ground shook with each one of his steps, and when he finally materialized in front of the bewildered Prince, he raised his axe once more and slashed down at him.

Swoosh!

The air tore itself apart and twisted itself around the axe, which shone with a dark green color.

The sheer force that was applied to the axe was unlike anything else, and at the same time, Prince Kuzma's expression changed drastically, and demonic energy erupted out of his body and covered every inch of it.

But it was too late.

BOOOM―!

As the axe came crashing to the ground, a cacophony of cracking sounds resounded throughout the room.

Brutus didn't need to see it to know what had just happened as Prince Kuzma's body flattened to the ground.

Be it his wings, his legs, or his arms… They were all broken, and like a broken toy, Prince Kuzma lay on the ground with all of his limbs facing different directions.

"Uhhh."

He heaved a heavy breath of air as a thin layer of demonic energy encircled his body and began to slowly heal his wounds; however, it was already far too late for him.

Rumble―!

After taking only one step, Brutus reached the Prince and was able to look down on him.

Before the Prince of Kuzma saw him raise his axe once more, the icy look that he gave him left a profound impression on his mind.

"N… no."

He tried to struggle, but couldn't.

It was far too late.

Swoosh!

The axe came crashing down, and just as it was about to land directly over his core and kill him instantly, a thin hand emerged from beneath the axe.

Smack!

With a loud smack, the hand grabbed the axe and pulled it away from the Prince's body.

Brutus' eyes widened as the axe came to an abrupt halt, and he looked down at it. As did Prince Kuzma, who stared in disbelief at the individual who had just intervened.

"What are you doing?"

Brutus growled, staring at Ren, who had just appeared from out of nowhere and interfered with his battle.

It would be a lie to say that he wasn't angry at the moment…

In fact, he was furious, but thinking about how he had conceded moments prior, he managed to keep his anger in check.

"Wait a moment."

Ren spoke, his hand letting go of the axe.

As soon as he let go of his axe, he looked down at the palm of his hand, which had reddened considerably for a few seconds before turning his attention back to Brutus.

"Can you do me a favor and spare him?"

"Spare him?"

Brutus's expression didn't change, but the land around him cracked. He was on the verge of exploding.

"Are y-"

"Don't misunderstand."

Ren waved his right hand while extending his left hand toward the Prince and piercing right through his chest area with it.

Spurt―!

"Y… you?"

He pulled his hand back to reveal a dark orb underneath the black blood that had been oozing all over it.

"What I need is this."

Brutus's brows furrowed.

"Demon core?"

"Yes."

Ren nodded his head, staring at the city in the distance.

"I will explain it to you later, but I promised a certain someone something, and the price is this core. You can even say that you owe them as well."

"Owe them?"

"Yes."

Ren nodded his head and pointed at the Orc army in the distance.

"The one I'm giving the core to was a massive help over the years in helping them develop to where they are now. You can say that the only reason they were even able to pose a threat to the demons was because of their influence."

"…"

Brutus didn't say anything and just stared at the orb in Ren's hand, but his brows soon relaxed, and he lowered his axe.

Taking one last look at Ren, he turned around and moved toward the battlefield in the distance.

"Do as you wish."

Those were the last words he said before he disappeared into the distance.

Staring at his fading back, I sighed and pocketed the core into my dimensional space.

"Well, that's that… It's good that it ended on a good note."

I had feared he'd reject me, but thankfully he didn't.

I wasn't sure what I'd have done had he done so.

Chapter 790: Immorra's might [4]

Kuzma City was once thought to be impregnable.

Its towering walls were fortified with powerful wards and guarded by legions of fierce demons. But all of that changed when the orcs launched their surprise attack.

At first, the demons were caught off guard.

They had grown complacent in their belief that their city was invincible and started to grow careless when they saw the situation turn in their favor.

They thought victory was within their grasp when... all of a sudden, an army of orcs appeared from out of nowhere, carrying heavy artillery with them.

That was when the situation started to turn.

As the orcs surged forward, their war cries echoing through the streets, the demons quickly rallied to defend their walls.

As soon as the orcs made their initial assault, the demon immediately began to cast spells and shoot arrows at them, using the full extent of their power.

Boom―! Boom―!

"Attack!"

"Attack!"

But the orcs were not deterred.

They charged forward, stepping on their fallen comrades bodies with their weapons raised high, and crashed into the demon defenders.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

The battle was fierce and brutal.

Demons and orcs clashed in the narrow streets, fighting tooth and nail for every inch of ground. The air was thick with the scent of blood and the sound of clashing steel.

Despite their resistance, the demons were slowly being pushed back.

The orcs were simply too numerous, and their strength and ferocity were unmatched. The demons fought with all their might, but it soon became clear that they were fighting a losing battle.

With most of their most powerful members outside of the city, what happened inside was nothing short of a slaughter, with Silug leading the charge and hacking at the demons with unmatchable might.

"Charge! Kill!!"

"Karum! Karum!"

The orcs roared their battle cry, charging forward with renewed vigor. The demons tried to hold their ground, but it was no use. They were outnumbered and outmatched. They fought with all their might, but it was a losing battle.

"Retreat!"

"Go back!"

The demons understood that their only chance of survival was to flee and try to regroup. They started to retreat while engaging in a desperate rearguard action in an attempt to buy their troops some time so that they could organize themselves.

They hoped that they would be able to turn the tide of the battle if they could just hold out long enough.

...But it was a futile effort.

"Attack! Don't give them any breathing space!"

The orcs were unrelenting in their assault, exerting all of their strength to further their advantage. They broke through the city's last lines of defense and charged straight into the downtown area of the city.

"Kill any demon that you see! Don't spare anyone!"

Silug's orders reverberated throughout the entire battlefield, and all the orcs responded in unison. Even those that belonged to Brutus' army.

Although brief, Silug had won the hearts of most of the orcs present. His presence was unlike any other, and so was his strength.

He was obviously much weaker than Brutus, but his commanding skills were on a level all their own, as evidenced by the fact that he was able to infiltrate and destroy the city in a relatively short amount of time.

What was even more impressive was the blind belief that the Orc army that came with him had.

They would obediently comply with his instructions without skipping a beat, regardless of what he said.

And it was because they worked together in such harmony that they were able to make such rapid and significant advancements.

It earned the admiration of many of the orcs present.

"Approach the tower!"

Silug brandished his hefty sword and pointed in the direction of the massive tower that stood in the middle of the city.

"So long as we take over the tower, we will take over the city!"

He bellowed loudly, his voice reaching every corner of the city.

"Charge!"

Rumble―! Rumble―!

***

"Looks like the war is as good as over."

After putting the core away, I moved closer to Brutus, who was standing on top of the city walls and observing the city below from his vantage point.

The focus of his attention was currently on...

'It's probably silug, I think.'

To ensure that I wasn't misinterpreting what I was seeing, I kept switching my gaze between him and the direction in which he was looking. Just as I was about to check for the fourth time, Brutus' mouth opened up.

"Who is he? Why have I never heard about someone like him before?"

The expression on his face at the moment revealed some signs of confusion, particularly around his large eyes, which were squinting.

It appeared as though he was making an effort to jog his memory about whether or not they had seen Silug in the past.

"Don't bother; you have never met him before."

I similarly turned my gaze to look at Silug.

He had completely taken command of the entire army, and despite the fact that he was not the most powerful orc within the army, none of the orcs appeared to be resisting his orders.

Rather, they seemed to be following them dutifully.

The sight made me smile. He had grown a lot since the last time that I had seen him… It was always reassuring to see an ally grow stronger.

"The reason you've never met him before is because he doesn't come from earth."

I spoke, feeling a burning gaze on the right side of my cheek.

"Not from earth?"

The look on Brutus' face changed, and he revealed an expression of surprise. As I look at him, I can't help but nod my head.

There was no point in hiding it anyway.

"Yeah, so are the other orcs that have come with him. They are all not from earth."

If Brutus's expression previously was that of mild surprise, his expression at the moment was filled with shock. I wanted to laugh at this moment, but I managed to hold myself back. Feeling the intensity of this gaze deepen, I explained to him.

"They come from a planet called Immorra."

"!!"

I hadn't known Brutus for a long time, but from the brief interactions I had with him, he was the type of orc that never showed changes in his expressions, and yet, today, at this moment, I was seeing all sorts of expressions from him.

It was mildly amusing, yet at the same time, I understood where he came from.

"How… how is this possible?"

His words were accompanied by a slight shaking of the mouth, and his eyes moved back to the orcs, who were creeping closer and closer to the city in the distance.

"It's because of me."

I decided to tell him the truth. There was no longer any reason for me to keep it a secret, and I also believed that telling him would be for the best.

"You?"

"Yeah."

I nodded my head.

"…I have recently learned a skill that enables me to open portals to other planets. It costs quite a bit to use… several <SS> ranked cores, but it allows me to open the portals and have people come out of them."

"Khhh…khhhh…"

The effort it took Brutus to breathe became noticeable. I was on the verge of losing it at this very moment, but I managed to keep it together.

"I know, I know. Don't worry."

I turned toward him and patted him on the shoulder.

"After this is over, I'll allow you to come with me to Immorra. I think you'll quite like the environment there."

If there was one thing that this war enabled me to understand, it was that the orcs were not meant to stay on earth. They were not able to make use of the sudden influx of mana to their advantage, in contrast to the dwarves and elves, who thrived off of mana.

It was exactly like the demons, and it dawned on me that their powers had been regressing because of it.

Before I came here, I gave the situation some thought, and after some deliberation, I settled on the conclusion that all of the orcs should be brought to Immorra.

…Since they were my allies, I needed to take care of them properly.

With the imminent Third Cataclysm, I needed everyone to be at their best. I couldn't afford to have the orcs become dead weight.

The battle wasn't just between me and Jezebeth.

It was also between the four races and the demons.

I couldn't do this alone and needed help.

Therefore, I needed to ensure that they were strong enough to go up against what was coming.

"Whoooo!"

Then the blaring sound of a horn filled the air, and I turned my head. When I looked in the direction the sound was coming from and saw that Silug was the one blowing the horn, I smiled and turned to face Brutus.

"Seems like the war is over."

Chapter 791: The new Immorra [1]

[Demon Domain, Ramlot City]

As the elves and the demon army fought each other, the air was thick with the stench of brimstone, and the sound of steel clashing filled the atmosphere.

Clank―! Clank―!

The smoke from the burning buildings obscured the view of the night sky above Ramlot City, and the cries of the injured could be heard echoing through the city streets.

The elves had been driven to the outskirts of the city, and their numbers were continuing to decrease with each hour that passed.

But they held on.

The demons were on their last remaining leg and were merely holding on at the moment. The war had been raging on for a while now, and the elves had dominated throughout.

They were able to break through the barrier that was protecting the city using the power of their spells and the sharpness of their arrows, which allowed them to kill the demons that were hiding behind the barrier.

Xiu! Xiu!

It was a situation that the demons hadn't anticipated, and as a result, they were forced to come out and face the elven forces head on.

"Attack!"

"Don't let those bastard―Akh!!"

Unfortunately for them, it turned out to be a cunningly planned ambush by the elves, who hid themselves behind the dead trees and meticulously dismantled their army.

"Go!"

"Don't care about them! Charge forward!"

The circumstances had deteriorated to such a point that the demons had no choice but to launch an all-out assault and square off against the elven forces outside of the protection of their own city walls.

"Keep shooting. Maintain your distance from them."

Xiu! Xiu!

That was exactly what the elves had been hoping for the entire time, so they dispatched a small group of their elite forces into the city while they defended the outside of the city from a distance.

While it was true that they suffered a lot of casualties due to the large number of demons that emerged from the city, it wasn't something that they couldn't handle.

They kept luring the demons away from the city, thereby killing them one by one and dwindling their numbers.

"Regroup!"

"Get into formation."

Once they were a fair distance away from the demon city, all semblance of order fell apart in the demon army, and chaos ensued.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

The elves took advantage of the situation and attacked with even more ferocity than they had done before, and the demon army started to dwindle at a faster rate.

…It was slowly turning into a massacre as the land dyed black in their blood.

"It looks like the war will be over soon."

Maylin mumbled something as she surveyed the entire battleground from her vantage point high above. Her eyes were as unmoving as a well, and she held a demon core in the palm of her hand.

It belonged to the Prince ranked demon that was in the city.

They had been at each other's throats from the moment the war began, and ultimately, it was she who emerged victorious from the conflict.

It wasn't a walk in the park, but neither was it a particularly challenging fight.

Her strength increased significantly as a direct result of the significant rise in mana levels in the atmosphere, which brought it back to the levels it had on her home planet.

―How is the situation with you?

Mylin's response came after she heard a harsh voice in her ear.

"I'm almost done over here. How about you?"

―We're almost done on our side as well. What about you, Brutus? Ren?

Gervis's question was met with silence, and Maylin frowned.

'Did something happen?'

What they were currently communicating with was a device that came directly from the dwarves and allowed them to communicate with each other wherever they were.

Unlike a communication device, it didn't need to be taken out to speak, and one only had to think to speak through it.

It wasn't intrusive, and so the fact that there was no response made Maylin and Gervis think that something had gone wrong.

However, these concerns did not last for very long, as they were soon relieved to hear a familiar voice ringing in their heads.

―Sorry about that. Everything's good. I took over Plintus a while back, but I had to go over to help Brutus. The situation has just calmed down, so we are all good now.

'Help out Brutus?'

Maylin seemed rather surprised by Ren's words.

'That brute asked for help?'

She had known Brutus for a considerable amount of time, and she was also very knowledgeable about the orcs. They were a very proud race, and as a result, they were not the kind of people to ask for assistance unless the situation called for it.

The fact that they asked for assistance must have been a sign that the circumstances they were in were extremely precarious.

Thankfully, it appeared from what Ren had said that the situation had been resolved, and there were no longer any issues.

She sighed in relief.

"Do you need any help? We're almost done on our side too, and so if you―"

―It's alright, thank you. We're done here too. There's no need to send help.

"You're done?"

Maylin was legitimately surprised by Ren's words.

'Didn't he just say that he had taken over Plintus City? How did he have the time to take over two cities?'

It was already hard enough for them to take over the city they were in… and yet, he was telling them he had conquered two?

Was Brutus's situation not as bad as he made it out to be?

―I'll explain it to you guys later; I have to go now. Contact me once you're done taking over your city. I have some things I need to handle with Brutus. Come to these sets of coordinates once you're done. You'll know then.

The communication turned off shortly after that, leaving Maylin standing there speechless.

"This boy…"

Maylin firmed her mind at that moment.

She was going to have a nice talk with Natasha.

***

"It looks like the situation is good on their side."

I informed Brutus of the news, and he responded with an unruffled nod of his head. He then pointed at his own head.

"I know, I can hear."

"Oh, right."

I smiled and didn't say anything else. We all had the same communication device, so he heard everything.

Sensing something, my gaze fell in a certain direction. There, I spotted a familiar orc making his way toward me.

"My lord."

Thump!

Silug knelt on one knee in front of me. Following his example, another orc knelt down on one knee, and before I knew it, a wave of orcs knelt down right before me.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Not all of the orcs kneeled, with the orcs that belonged to Brutus' army appearing to be confused by their actions. Ignoring them, the edges of my lips began to quiver as I stared at the swarm of orcs kneeling in front of me.

I could feel Brutus's stinging gaze from beside me, and my mouth twitched once more.

"What are you doing?"

"Paying my respect."

Silug answered as if it were the most obvious of answers.

"The only reason we are even alive today is because of you. It is only right that we follow your lead…"

Silug paused.

"…or is it that you don't want us?"

Staring at Silug, I rolled my eyes. He was currently staring at me with puppy eyes and looked like a puppy that had just lost its owner. The scene was pretty funny, but I just couldn't bring myself to laugh in light of the circumstances at hand.

Where was the fierce orc leader that was commanding the entire army moments prior? Where did he go?

"Don't look at me like that."

I let out a sigh.

"If I didn't need you guys, I wouldn't have called for your help over here, would I?"

I had invested so much into Immorra.

There was no way that I could ever give up on them like that.

What I saw today was a testament to my investment, and although in the past I had some reservations about keeping them for the long term, after seeing what I saw today, it was impossible for me to part with them.

They were simply far too useful for me to give up on.

"Oh."

After hearing my words, Silug's demeanor immediately shifted, and a gleam appeared in his eyes. Or at least, that was what I thought I saw.

"Thank you so much for your grace!"

"Thank you so much for your grace!"

"Thank you so much for your grace!"

The orcs behind him repeated out loud, and I turned my head away from them.

…This was too much.

"Alright, let's not dwell on this matter anymore."

I quickly tried to shift the topic away from the current situation and looked at the city. Seeing that there were no more demons left and that it was completely empty at the moment, I commanded.

"Plunder everything that is in the city as quickly as you can. Take care not to forget anything, and then turn back in the direction from which you came. You should bring the rest of the orcs with you. They'll be coming back with you to Immorra, so it's important you get along well."

"Roooar!"

After hearing my words, the orcs applauded very loudly, and I turned to look at Brutus.

"Follow me; it's time I show you your new home."

Chapter 792: The new Immorra [2]

I knew that whatever lay ahead would be a stark contrast to how I had left it back then. But nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to witness.

"Holy fuck."

The words escaped my lips before I could even think to stop them. I couldn't think of anything to say, so I turned to look at Brutus, who was standing next to me and noticed that he had the same expression as I had.

Or at least, thought I had.

"What is this?"

He asked, his voice filled with what could only be described as shock.

Knowing that I wasn't the only one feeling this sense of shock, I grinned.

'It's nice to know that I'm not shocked just because I'm biased.'

I pressed my hand against his shoulder and took in the view in front of me.

"This, my friend, is Immorra."

While muttering those words, my breath caught in my throat, and my heart started racing. Although I had just recently communicated with Silug and had even made the others go to Immorra, I never actually went there myself.

I hadn't stepped foot in the place yet.

This was the first time in a very long time that I had visited this place, and the sheer magnitude of everything that was in front of me was so overwhelming that I could not help but stare in disbelief.

'The barrier looks sturdy as well.'

A shimmering energy barrier that radiated an otherworldly hue encircled the city. When I reached out with my hand to touch it, a faint ripple spread throughout.

'It can definitely hold out well against a Duke rank.'

I wasn't too sure about Prince Rank.

I had to test it.

'Still, what's more impressive is the city…'

The towering skyscrapers that stood at the heart of Immorra were sleek and shiny, their surfaces reflecting the neon lights that illuminated the streets below.

But it wasn't just the buildings that caught my eye.

The streets were bustling with activity, with orcs, elves, and dwarves all going about their business. I watched in amazement as they moved about their day, their lives intertwined in a way that I had never seen before.

And then there were the trees.

'...My god.'

They encircled some of the buildings, and some were just as tall as the skyscrapers themselves. Their leaves rustled gently in the breeze, and I couldn't help but marvel at the sight.

Further into the city, the buildings became taller and more imposing, their architecture a testament to the ingenuity of the city's engineers and designers.

'This really the same place?'

I couldn't help but marvel at the sheer scale of it all.

But it wasn't just the buildings that impressed me.

The most striking feature of the city was the imposing city walls that encircled it. Made of reinforced steel and towering high into the sky, the walls were rather imposing.

"This is definitely a nice improvement over what they were before..."

I couldn't help but feel a sense of security as I gazed up at them, knowing that they were protecting the city from any potential threats.

And then, as if to further solidify the fact that this was no longer the same Immorra of my memories…

I felt it.

"Mana"

It was thin, but it was there.

Layers of it lingered in the air, and I could feel its power coursing through me. And then, as if that wasn't enough, I caught sight of several psyons floating in the air above me.

"They actually did it."

I muttered to myself, in awe of what I was witnessing.

A while back, Jomnuk told me that the elves knew of a way to create mana.

I hadn't put much thought into it at the time, but now I realize just how significant this was.

The fact that they had managed to create a city that was alive with mana was beyond what I had expected, and it filled me with a sense of wonder.

"It's still on the thin side, but it's here..."

I whispered to myself, unable to tear my gaze away from the city before me.

For a moment, I was lost in my thoughts, my mind racing with all of the possibilities that this city held.

And then, as if to snap me out of my reverie, I heard the soft flap of a pair of wings.

"Y,you're finally here."

"Suriol."

When I turned my gaze, my eyes paused on a familiar demon, and my eyes opened up a bit. As soon as I looked at the demon in front of me, the shock that I had previously felt from the city vanished almost instantly.

The state in which he was in.

It… It wasn't good.

He appeared to be very shriveled, and even standing in front of me appeared to be a challenge for him. When I looked at him, a variety of conflicting feelings flooded over me, and I decided to approach him.

"It looks like you've had it rough."

He gave me a sour smile but didn't say a word. It seemed like speaking was too much of a hurdle for him in his present state. He eyed me with some trepidation.

"H.. have you?"

"Don't worry."

I patted him on the shoulder and looked at the city.

"You've done a good job. It's right that you get what I promised you. Here."

When I removed the core that belonged to Prince Kuzma, Suriol's expression changed immediately and became more upbeat.

"T,thank you!"

He took the core from my hand and hastily brought it to his mouth.

A change took place almost instantaneously, and the atmosphere all around us became thick with demonic energy.

It didn't take long for Suriol's emaciated body to start making a full recovery, and his eyes, which only a few moments ago appeared to be cloudy, made a speedy recovery.

During the time that this was going on, I whirled around to face Brutus. His eyes flashed me an expression of sudden comprehension, and he nodded his head in my direction.

I nodded back.

'It looks like there won't be any problems.'

Good.

"Hahahaha."

A boisterous and cheerful laugh brought me back, and when I turned my head, I witnessed Suriol jumping up and down with joy, laughing like a maniac.

"…"

It was a sight that made it difficult for me to find the right words to describe it, and even Brutus was rendered speechless by his behavior.

But the demon in question didn't seem to care as he flapped his wings and flew into the air.

Swoosh!

His speed was extremely fast, and not only did he seem to be a lot faster than the last time that I fought him, but it also seemed as though his strength had undergone a significant transformation.

"Oh? Congratulations on your breakthrough."

I broke into a grin as soon as I realized what had taken place, and Suriol materialized in front of me not long after. His demeanor as a whole had altered, but the sparkle in his eyes was just as strong as before.

"Thank you…"

His gaze…

He almost seemed touched at the moment, and I found that rather amusing to see.

"For a very long time, I've been attempting to work my way up to the Prince rank... I tried all sorts of methods to get there, but none of them were successful."

Duke, no, Prince Suriol stared right at me as he continued.

"I had almost given up hope when I was brought to this planet to look out over it, but who could have predicted that I would eventually be able to get there after nearly dying?"

"What can I say? The diligent get rewarded."

Just before I sent Silug and his army to earth, I had a conversation with him, and during that conversation, he informed me of all of the contributions that Suriol had made.

He detailed to me how Suriol had taken charge of the administrative matters of the city and handled everything to the greatest possible extent.

'Who would've thought it was by this much?'

Initially, I didn't give it much thought and just wanted to thank him for his hard work, but after I saw the condition of the city, I realized that the reward I had given him was probably not enough after what he had done to the city.

I was honestly extremely pleased with the result.

"I'm very pleased with your work. Keep up the good work, and I'll think of giving you another reward."

I flashed Prince Plintus's core at him, and Suriol's expression hardened.

"You… you have another one?"

I smiled at him.

"Just do as you're told."

"O,okay."

Silug nodded with a stiff face.

'Good.'

I didn't just flash him the core for the sake of making him work harder.

It was also a warning to him.

A warning that Prince ranked demons were not something that I couldn't handle anymore. I believed he was going to be faithful to me, but several events that transpired in my life taught me not to put too much faith in anyone besides a select few.

If any.

"Ah, right!"

Suriol pounded his closed fist against the surface of his open palm as if suddenly recalling something important.

"What is it?"

I asked, curious about his sudden behavior.

Looking at me, Suriols' wings expanded.

"Wait here for a moment. I've got something to report."

Swoosh!

His figure disappeared from where he was standing, and the area around me turned quiet. Staring in the direction of where he was headed, I turned around to look at Brutus.

"So, what do you think?"

"About the demon?"

"No, the city."

"…It's good."

Brutus spoke quietly after a short pause.

Although he had a neutral expression on his face, I could tell from the sparkle in his eyes that he found the city to be more enjoyable than he was letting on.

I couldn't help but grin at that, and my lips were just about to move when Suriol made his way back into view.

"I'm back."

"This?"

When I turned my head, I was shocked to see him holding a demon in his hands. Suriol brought him forward.

"I caught him snooping a while back and was wondering about what we should do with him? As I did not know what to do with him in your absence, I kept him alive, but now that you are present, I await your instructions."

Chapter 793: The new Immorra [3]

"Where are we going?"

"I'm not sure; I'm just following the coordinates that Ren sent me."

Ryan muttered something under his breath as he stared at his watch and double-checked to make sure he was heading in the right direction.

Behind him were all of the forces that belonged to the human domain, and they were all following him stealthily while wearing simple smiles on their faces.

It was obvious that they were pleased with how the war had turned out for them, having suffered relatively few casualties.

"Did Ren send you the coordinates to the portal?"

"Yup."

Ryan responded, casting Ava a fleeting glance before returning his attention to the watch on his wrist.

His footsteps picked up their pace as he realized that he was only a few kilometers away from the spot indicated on the watch.

As he moved ahead, his eyes took on a certain glint as they looked ahead. It wasn't just him; everyone had the same look in their eyes as they followed him from behind.

Everyone couldn't wait to go back to Immorra.

The fact that they were getting ready to go to war prevented any of them from being able to carefully admire the city, but in the brief time that they were able to stay there, they were awestruck by the splendor of the city.

Even though the amount of mana over there was much lower than in Ashton City, the city was a lot cleaner and better put together when compared to Ashton City.

"We've arrived."

Ryan's body came to a startling halt all of a sudden, and as soon as he raised his head to look around, his mind blanked.

"What's going on?"

He wasn't the only one that reacted like that, as everyone looked in the distance in what seemed to be shock.

Rumble! Rumble!

Orcs in the tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands, stood in front of a portal that was about the size of a small house.

Their presence was dreadful, and the pressure that was exerted was unlike anything that any of them had ever experienced before.

At the head of the orcs stood a white orc with a large scar running down his face. Upon detecting their approach, he turned his head and approached them.

"Silug."

Ryan called out in a leisurely manner.

"Little human."

Ryan's expression could not help but freeze for a moment when Silug greeted him. Thankfully, he recovered quickly. This was not the first time he had referred to him in this manner.

That being said, he wasn't pleased with the nickname that he had given him.

He wasn't little anymore.

'You're lucky that I have a lot of patience…'

Threatening him inside of his mind, Ryan opened his mouth to ask.

"What are you guys doing over here?"

"My lord has called for us."

"My lord? …You mean Ren?"

"Yes."

Silug nodded his head in agreement, and Ryan's expression changed.

He came to a sudden realization.

'So that's why he didn't call for us.'

"I see; he must've called you to handle the orc problem."

"Yes."

Silug nodded once again, and Ryan massaged the bottom of his chin. He appeared to be considering something as he cast his gaze over the distant portal.

"Since that's done, what are you waiting here for?"

"The Lord has told us to wait for certain guests."

"Gue―"

Swoosh!

Before he could even finish his sentence, the surrounding trees began to rustle, and figures emerged from behind them. Their steps were light, and their silver hair perfectly reflected the moonlight that illuminated the night sky.

It was the elves.

Creak. Creak.

If that wasn't enough, soon afterward, mechanical sounds began to ring throughout the vast plot of land, and figures wearing bulky armor and artifacts began to appear from above the skies and gently land on the ground below them.

In a matter of seconds, the land became filled with more and more dwarves, and within a short minute of Ryan's words, the land was completely filled with those from the tree races.

Ryan's mouth hung open at that moment.

"You… Don't tell me he plans on bringing everyone over to Immorra?"

"How did you know?"

Ryan closed his mouth, and his head throbbed.

Just what was Ren planning?

***

"Hmm… They're a lot quicker than I anticipated."

Thump!

As I pulled my hand away from a certain demon's head, its body collapsed in front of my very eyes.

When I turned around, I was greeted by the sight of Suriol standing outside the room, where he had been waiting for me.

"Have you found anything out?"

"Yes."

I gave a satisfied nod while gently stroking the top of my chin and pondering over the new information that I had received through the demon's memories.

'It looks like the demons have noticed that something is amiss with Immorra and were asked to investigate the matter. For now, he was the only demon that made a move, but from the memories, the demon seems to think that there will soon be more demons coming over to the planet.'

That wasn't good news.

If Jezebeth were to come to learn of what I was doing in Immorra, everything would go up in flames.

'…I think I don't have to worry too much, though.'

The most recent information I had indicated that the demons were currently engaged in a war with the three primary forces representing the other races.

Because Jezebeth was most likely fighting against the Protectors, he most likely did not have time to check on how things were progressing on my side.

In fact... by the time the conflict was resolved over there, he would probably just shift his attention directly to Earth.

When I realized that there was nothing significant to be concerned about, the tension in my brows finally began to ease.

"Yeah, there's nothing to worry about."

I reassured myself.

Wooom!"

Right at that moment, the barrier of the city began to wobble, and a number of terrifying presences began to make their way into the city.

"Uh?… Ah, nevermind."

At first, I was taken aback, but as I sensed more carefully, I realized that the presence belonged to some people that I was already familiar with, and as a result, I was able to relax.

I looked at Suriol.

"Let's go greet our guests."

***

"This is…"

There was a momentary change in Maylin's expression.

The moment her eyes landed on the city that lay in front of her, she found herself overcome with emotion.

The city was a mix of different architectural designs. From orcen architecture to human architecture, dwarven architecture, and elven architecture, it had all of them, and they seamlessly blended together to create the city that was before them.

It was nothing short of beautiful, and even Gervis seemed to be impressed by the city in front of their eyes.

"I heard from Randur and Jomnuk that they were working on a large project, but I didn't think it was something of this caliber... I'm honestly baffled."

"Mhm."

Maylin nodded her head in agreement.

She, too, was extremely impressed by what she was seeing.

Since Ren had asked for her assistance quite some time ago, and she had dispatched a number of elves to assist with the project, she had previously believed that she knew a little bit about this place; however, she had never imagined that the city would be of this scale and that it would be so...

So well organized.

"What do you guys think?"

Their ears picked up a familiar voice, and then a figure appeared in front of them. He regarded them with interest while wearing a sloppy grin.

"Hurr… Hurr… Come her"

Ren was forced to retreat in fear as Gervis immediately pounced on him in an attempt to hug him, and he covered the front half of his body as he did so.

There was visible fear in his eyes as he looked at Gervis. More specifically, his head, which was level with a certain part of his body.

"Ah, no!"

He extended one of his hands forward.

"Do not even bother trying! You're about half as tall as I am. Are you trying to prevent me from starting a family?"

"Eh."

Gervis froze on the spot, and his beard trembled. Understanding the meaning of Ren's words, he pointed his thick fingers at Ren while his face went through a series of different expressions.

"Y… you, is this how you greet your ally!?"

He was practically yelling, which drew the attention of everyone who was following closely behind them.

"Watch yourself."

It was only after Maylin's reminder that he came to, and he raised his fist to cough.

"Cough… I accidentally turned on my speaker. If you'll excuse me."

Everyone behind him quickly turned their heads away from him as he cast an inconspicuous glare in their direction.

He nodded his head in satisfaction when he saw them cower under his gaze.

"My bad… my bad…"

Be it Ren or Maylin; the two were at a loss for words. The first one to recover was Ren, who took a step back and moved his hands away from his groin.

"Alright, enough with the jokes."

The smile returned to his face, and he nudged them with his head.

"Come, let's go. I'll bring you guys over to the city. I'm sure we have a lot to discuss at the moment."

He turned around and headed toward the city.

Maylin and Gervis exchanged glances for a split second while staring at the back of his head. After that, they nodded their heads and began to follow him from behind.

"Yes."

Chapter 794: The new Immorra [4]

"So, what do you think?"

I asked while keeping an eye on Maylin, Gervis, and Brutus.

Inside the main headquarters, which was located in the middle of the city, we were currently seated in front of a large wooden table.

The room was fairly large, and there was a pleasant breeze that continued to blow throughout it.

I felt rather comfortable here.

"What do you want us to say?"

Maylin's expression was one of bitterness as she looked at me. Moving her hair behind her ear as she leaned back in her chair before eventually smiling.

"I'm not going to lie, it's great…"

She paused, as if that wasn't enough.

"…It's beyond impressive."

"I'm glad you think so."

I felt my ego go up at that moment. It took a long breath for me to suppress my rising ego, and my expression turned serious.

"Enough about the city. I'm actually here to talk about something serious."

Hearing the solemnity in my tone, the atmosphere in the room immediately shifted, and the three of them sat up straight.

Seeing that I now had their full attention, I started to speak.

"First things first, you should all be aware of what's currently happening outside of this planet, right?"

The expressions of the three turned grim at my words.

"How could we not know? We've already been briefed by the other forces. The situation is quite dire for them."

Maylin commented, her expression beyond serious. When I turned my head to look at the others, I noticed that they all wore the same expression on their faces, and that's when I realized that their forces weren't doing any better than hers.

"We…"

Gervis started.

"…Don't think they'll last any longer than a couple more days."

His words increased the tension within the room, and my expression changed in response. Although I somewhat expected this situation to occur, it transpired much more quickly than I anticipated.

"Huuu…"

I took a deep breath.

'This is much worse than I expected.'

… If the forces were only able to hold out for a couple of days, then it just goes to show how powerful the demons really were.

Although I was certain that the demons had suffered losses in this war, they were still a major force at the moment, and the situation was rather grim.

'It also looks like Jezebeth has won against the Protectors…'

The very thought of it made my heart race.

I had already fought against one, and I could hardly keep up with them in the fight that followed.

It was the other me who ultimately killed him, and the thought that Jezebeth was able to get rid of six of them made my heart shudder.

It appeared as though the distance between the two of us, which I had thought was getting smaller, had all of a sudden become even greater.

"Shit."

Unable to hold back, I let out a soft curse.

As I continued to mull over the various opportunities, I took a deep breath and raised my head to look at the others in the room.

"I'll be frank."

I shared what I concluded.

"According to what we can tell from the current state of affairs, the Third Cataclysm will fall upon Earth in at most six months. That's if they're being generous to us."

At the very least, one year of Earth time would be all the demon army needed to recover from the war fully.

'Since the time difference between Earth and the planet where the war is taking place is only 1:2, then it's safe to assume they will be here within half a year.'

By the time they fully recovered, Jezebeth would unquestionably open a portal and dispatch his armies to the surface of the earth.

When that happened...

"What should we do?"

At this point, the others realized how dire the situation was, and their expressions deteriorated. Thankfully, none of them lost their cool, and everyone was able to maintain their composure.

I pondered for a moment before finally proposing.

"It's not like the situation is completely out of hand."

Everyone's gaze fell on me.

Before they could even voice out their opinions, I continued.

"…You've seen this place. You've seen Immorra, and you should know that the time here flows ten times faster than that of Earth."

Everyone's mouth came to a stop.

I continued.

"The city… it's not exactly the biggest of sizes, but it's large enough to sustain all four races."

I had planned all of this beforehand.

In preparation for a potential migration, I tasked the dwarves with designing skyscrapers that would be capable of housing tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of people.

In addition to that, I had constructed a place underground where people could go to seek refuge. Even though I wasn't exactly sure how many people could stay in this place, I did know for a fact that it would be good enough to hold all four races.

What remained of the humans and other races on earth was just about enough to fill the city.

'Since the overall population of earth shrunk so much, unlike the billions in the past, it's safe to assume that the city is big enough to hold everyone in... I'm glad I planned in advance.'

"Even though the city is still in its infant stages, I believe that it is almost ready to allow people to move in. There is a possibility that it will become quite crowded, but it shouldn't be too much of a problem."

I turned to look at Maylin.

"Also, if we use all of the resources we have, it isn't impossible to replicate the environment that we have on earth."

It was no longer necessary to hoard resources, given the impending arrival of the Third Cataclysm. If there was ever a time when we were required to make use of them, that time had to be right now.

"If we put all of the cores that we've gathered to use, I have no doubt that we'll be able to bring the total amount of mana in this city up to four times what it is right now. In fact, it's entirely possible that we can have the mana density within the city match that of Earth."

I alternated my gaze between Gervis and Brutus.

"But that's not all. In this world, a half year is equivalent to about five years, so we can use this time to upgrade the artifacts and equipment that all of our armies have at their disposal. Moreover, we can also make the most of this opportunity by learning how to cooperate with one another."

Even though I wasn't present during the war between the demons and the three races in Idoania, I was still able to say with absolute certainty that the three races, had they been cooperating more closely with one another, wouldn't have been pushed as much as they had been now.

They would have been able to significantly increase their power and possibly hold out for even longer had they been able to figure out how to consolidate their armies and coordinate with each other in a way that would make their attacks more efficient by working on the strengths and weaknesses of each race.

"It is absolutely necessary for us to make the most of the remaining time we have in order to gain as much strength as we possibly can."

I leaned my body forward on the table.

"I understand that it will be difficult for you guys to give up all of the resources that you have hoarded for yourselves, but at this point, there is no longer a need to be concerned about the future. There will be no future if you keep the situation as is."

Laying out everything that I had been thinking for a while, I was practically out of breath.

"This plan of yours…"

Maylin began speaking.

She appeared to be in deep thought, and her gaze landed on me.

"What about the humans? Will they also come here?"

"Yes."

I readily nodded my head.

"I haven't told them yet, and they probably won't be happy with the decision, but it has to be done."

Earth… as much as it was our home planet, had to be evacuated.

Sending them to Immorra was the only way to save as many lives as possible in light of the impending Third Cataclysm, and considering how dangerous it was for them to be there at the moment, it was the only option available.

"I won't be forcing those who don't want to go, though."

I made it a point to emphasize the very last point.

Even though I had a genuine concern for the people, I was prepared to grant their wish to stay on earth if it was in their best interest to stay there.

It was their choice, and I wasn't going to force anyone.

"Hmm."

Once more, there was complete silence in the room. Everyone had entered a state of profound reflection, and the only sound that could be heard was the sound of their own breathing.

'I've said what I wanted to say, so I guess it's up to them.'

There was nothing else that I needed to say, and I was simply waiting for their answer.

I didn't have to wait for very long for their answer, as the three of them turned their heads to face me after looking at each other, apparently coming to a decision together.

Their mouths soon parted open, and they mouthed their decision to me.

Chapter 795: The final hurdle [1]

The situation in Idonea was anything but favorable for the three races.

The demons were relentless in their pursuit, and although those of the three races did their best to hold on, the situation started to deteriorate for them quickly, and their side began to suffer an increasing number of casualties as the war continued.

"Retreat!"

The situation got so bad that the three races were forced into a retreat.

Although the demons' numerical strength was not superior to theirs... They were significantly less well organized than them, and each of their strategies appeared to be easily seen through by them.

In the main camp of the three races.

The dimly lit hall was filled with the sounds of heated discussion as representatives of the three factions gathered to discuss the ongoing war with the demons.

"We can't go on like this."

The elves, with their lithe frames and pointed ears, stood alongside the orcs, their muscular builds and fearsome visages contrasting sharply with the elegant elves.

"Khh… I agree. We can't go on like this."

The dwarves, short and stout with thick beards, sat at the head of the table, their stone faces betraying nothing of their thoughts. They quietly listened to the conversation between the elven and orcen representatives.

One of them abruptly stood up and smacked the table.

Smack!

"Of course, we can't go on like this! All you brutes focus on is individual battles, and don't think about the greater picture!"

"Khh...Khh... We are not cowards like you, dwarves. We don't retreat the first moment something goes wrong."

"That's exactly why we're losing!"

"Calm down; that's only a small part of the problem. Reality is that the demons are stronger than us."

One of the elves said, finally intervening in the discussion.

"Blaming our individual shortcomings at the moment will bring nothing good to the war. We have to change the discussion to a more productive one."

"Even so..."

The discussion was tense, with each faction accusing the others of failing to do their part in the war effort.

"As things stand, what we need to do at the moment is minimize our losses."

As the debate wore on, it became clear to the three races that the current situation couldn't go on.

With each passing second that they spent here discussing, more and more casualties were starting to pile up, and every second mattered.

"It's not about minimizing the losses."

One of the elven representatives spoke up.

She was beautiful, with silky silver hair that contained streaks of gold. She was the calmest of them all, and her eyes scanned those in the room.

"Minimizing the losses is important, but that's not the main problem that we need to solve."

She spoke, her voice ringing inside of the room like a bell. Her next words brought the entire room into a state of gloom.

"…What we need to do at the moment is find a way to deal with the strategist."

With a grim look on his face, one of the dwarven representatives spoke.

"You think we haven't tried that? We've already tried multiple times to send assassins to kill him, but whoever this strategist is, they have multiple Duke ranked, and even a Prince ranked demon protecting them… It's not something that we can achieve without sacrificing a major part of our force. It's simply impossible."

The room fell into silence again.

None could open their mouth to argue with what he said, and it was this reality that made the mood even gloomier.

"Then… what do we do?"

An elf finally spoke.

"The elders are fighting against the leaders of the demons, and the leaders are up against the Demon King. We still know nothing about the situation, but from the last time we spoke, we―"

The elf never got to finish that sentence.

At that exact moment, while he was still speaking, everyone's expression froze, and a ringing noise echoed within their minds.

The reactions varied, but at that moment, everyone stood up from their seats, faces paled.

"Quickly! Tell everyone to retreat!"

"Retreat right now!"

"Have everyone evacuate to the emergency portals in this instant!"

"Send the injured first!"

"The elders have lost!"

***

"Reporting, the―"

Entering the strategist's tent, the messenger was casually reporting the situation outside when their expression immediately froze. Not long after, their entire body trembled, and the demon prostrated itself to the ground.

"Y,your highness."

He greeted Jezebeth, not daring to look up at all. He even held his breath, afraid of somehow getting on his bad side for breathing too rapidly or loudly.

"Continue."

A soft voice reached him, enveloping every part of his body and jerking his body up from the ground.

The messenger was not even able to react to what had happened when he found himself standing a couple of meters away from the strategist, who was wearing a white mask and staring at him with his deep green eyes.

"What's the current situation?"

"Ah, right."

The messenger quickly recollected himself and reported.

"The seven heads have fought against the strongest members of the other races. The Patriarchs of the Pride clan and Greed clan have both sustained injuries, but they aren't extremely serious. They will need a bit of time to fully recover."

The advisor's brows furrowed upon listening to the message.

'Two of the Patriarchs have sustained injuries?'

Well, this… This was outside of his expectations.

Initially, he thought they'd have been able to get rid of them without suffering much, but he underestimated the tenacity of the leaders from the three races.

"Currently, the forces of the three races are set to be retreating from the battlefield. They are barely holding on, and the war is as good as over."

"I see."

The strategist nodded his head, absorbing the information slowly. It was only after a couple of minutes had passed that he raised his head.

"You can leave."

He dismissed the messenger and proceeded to sit back down in his chair.

Making himself comfortable, he cast a small glance in the direction of Jezebeth, who was seated not so far from where he was.

He had his eyes closed, and his lips were slightly curled at its ends.

'The war is as good as over, huh?'

The strategist had mixed thoughts about those words. Casting his gaze away from Jezebeth, he bitterly shook his head.

To be honest, the war had been over ever since quite a while back.

From the moment that Jezebeth was back, he knew that the most powerful members of the three races had been disposed of and that the war had ended at that moment.

What was left behind were merely the scraps of civilizations that were set to be doomed.

'…Is this what he wanted to show me?'

The strategist secretly clenched his fist underneath the desk. It had been quite a while since he had been with him, and he had learned a lot about him.

He understood that what was happening to him was a short preview of what was to come later.

…He was probably sending him a warning.

"What do you suggest we do, strategist?"

"Eh, ah?"

A voice brought the strategist away from his thoughts, and his head raised up in confusion. When he looked around, and he saw everyone's gaze focus on him, he recollected himself and cleared his throat.

"Finish the―"

"Leave them be."

A certain voice cut the advisor off.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

In unison, everyone's heads turned in the direction of where the voice came from, and soon, everyone's gaze was on Jezebeth.

He had a simple smile on his face at the moment and didn't seem to mind the stares that were coming his way.

He explained.

"They will open up a portal that will connect them to Earth. That's where they are planning on retreating."

A look of understanding appeared on the faces of those present.

"They plan to join with the remaining forces that are still alive and hold the forth from there. If we attack now, we're bound to sustain enormous losses, so just let them enter the portal."

"Wouldn't that be disadvantageous for us?"

The strategist suddenly asked, unable to understand Jezebeth's motives. He soon felt his gaze on him, and their eyes met.

"You're not wrong." Jezebeth nodded his head. "Getting rid of them now would indeed be a good option, but you guys seem to be forgetting something."

Jezebeth's eyes scanned the room.

"The real enemies aren't the ones over here, but the ones over there. Allowing them to retreat is more beneficial than you can imagine… In fact, it's within our best interest if they all retreat and enter earth."

Jezebeth's wors brought confusion to the room as everyone looked at each other, unable to understand what he was trying to say.

This went for most of those present, but there was one exception.

"Wait..."

It was at that moment that the strategist's eyes opened wide, and Jezbeth's smile deepened.

"…don't tell me."

Chapter 796: The final hurdle [2]

―Let them retreat; it's an order.

A raspy voice made its way inside the minds of the demons on the battlefield.

Immediately, all of the demons came to a halt and looked at each other in bewilderment.

They wanted to double check that they hadn't heard something wrong, and as soon as they realized that they hadn't, they looked around in complete and utter shock.

"Let them retreat?"

Angelica behaved exactly the same as the other demons when she suddenly stopped in the middle of the air and looked around her in bewilderment.

The message…

It didn't make sense.

"Why would you order us to retreat when we're so close to securing victory?"

The orders made no sense to her and probably to almost every other demon out there.

"The fuck is going on?"

At that moment, she heard an irritated voice from beside her.

As she turned her head, she observed a familiar demon. She appeared perplexed and irritated by the current situation.

Angelica had already grown accustomed to her behavior despite having only known her for a short period of time.

"Hey, do you have any idea of what's going on?"

Priscilla asked her, gently flapping her wings once and appearing within her proximity.

"I'm not sure."

Angelica shook her head.

She was similarly perplexed about the situation at hand, and it was likely the case for all the demons around them.

―Every demon is now ordered to return to the logistical area. His Majesty would like to grant everyone a few words.

All it took were two words, and all of the bewilderment that had been visible on the demons' faces vanished, and in its place was a look of complete and utter excitement.

"His Majesty would like to share a few words with us?"

All of the demons' confusion and discontentment regarding the orders vanished in an instant, and they dashed toward the logistical area, which was situated at the very back of the battleground.

There was a palpable excitement in the air, and even those who were injured did their best to make it back to the logistical area.

This was how much weight the Demon King's name carried among the demons.

He was akin to a god to them, and no one dared to be disrespectful toward him. He was, after all, the demon that had revived their race.

If it weren't for him, the demons never would have evolved into such a powerful race as they have today.

In all likelihood, they would've most probably been bottom feeders had it not been for him. Hunted by the other races for their mana devouring abilities.

"The Demon King wants to part us with a few words?"

Angelica's ears picked up Priscilla's mutter, and she turned her head to look at her.

"Do you despise his majesty?"

Angelica questioned her after observing her reaction and noticing that she did not appear to be as enthusiastic as the other demons.

"Despise His Majesty?"

Priscilla raised her head and looked at her as if she was out of her mind.

"Why would I hate His Majesty? What gave you such thoughts?"

"No, well… You don't seem to be particularly excited at the prospect of getting to meet him in a bit and listening to his words."

"I could say the same thing about you?"

Priscilla pointed out. Indeed, just like her, Angelica didn't show much of a reaction to the news and remained in the air with her.

She shook her head.

"I'm sorry. I guess you have a point."

"No shit."

Priscilla did not chew her words and instead cocked her head to the side to take another look at the fleeing army.

She wanted nothing more than to keep pursuing them, and her eyes were filled with reluctance, but after thinking about the contents of the message, she had no choice but to give up.

"Let's go; are you coming?"

She glanced at Angelica, who appeared to still be floating in place. Her expression was rather icy and difficult to interpret, but Priscilla caught a glimpse of something...

It left as fast as it came, but it didn't escape Priscilla's eyes.

"I'm coming."

Nonetheless, Angelica played it cool and decided to follow after her. After that, both of them spread their wings, and the outline of their bodies became less clear.

*

The logistical area was starting to become packed.

It had only been an hour since the message was broadcast, and in what felt like minutes, the entire land was swiftly submerged in a sea of demons.

The land was completely silent.

And the fact that no one uttered a single sound throughout the entirety of the event made the strangeness of the circumstance even more pronounced.

The focus of everyone's attention was drawn to a particular tent located off in the distance.

It was the strategist's tent, and while it didn't seem like it at first, everyone was sure that his majesty was in that tent.

"Such presence."

Angelica and Priscilla were two of the very last people to arrive, and by the time they did so, the location was already very close to being completely occupied.

They maintained their silence along with the rest of the demons and continued to fix their gaze on the tent that was located further away.

They were having a hard time keeping their eyes open because of the intense pressure that was coming from inside the tent...

This fact alone was sufficient to serve as an indication to the demons that were present as to who was present within the tent, and as a result, the breath of a good number of the demons became labored.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Everyone stopped breathing as one figure after another materialized right next to the tent in that very instant.

Particularly when they noticed the facial expressions of a couple of the demons that had appeared before the tent.

It was anything but pleasant at the moment.

"It's the seven patriarchs."

Someone muttered in a low voice, recognizing them immediately.

He wasn't the only one who recognized them, as nearly everyone within the plot of land had an idea of who they were, and if that wasn't enough, the pressure emanating from their bodies told them exactly what kind of beings stood before them.

Angelica was no exception as her gaze fixed on one of the demons ahead.

Her gaze was anything but pleasant.

Swoosh!

The door to the tent suddenly opened, and everyone's attention immediately focused on the tent.

The first person to emerge from the tent was a lanky demon who was dressed in a black robe. Their posture was stooped, and they appeared to have an unimaginably pale expression.

He wasn't the only one who appeared to be in this state.

Another figure soon emerged, and it appeared to be in a similar state to the first demon who emerged from the tent.

As the minutes ticked by, one demon after another emerged from the tent. When the timer hit five minutes, a man wearing a white mask emerged from the encampment.

"It's the strategist!"

"The strategist."

His entrance caused a commotion among the army, and everyone turned their attention to him with great interest as the commotion spread.

This was probably the first time that many of the demons had ever seen the strategist in person.

The white mask, which was something he was known for wearing, was the only thing that allowed them to identify him so quickly.

It was all thanks to that that they were able to recognize him.

'Why does he look familiar?'

Angelica's expression became somewhat different while everyone else was preoccupied with talking about the strategist.

When her eyes laid on him, she felt something stir from within her.

His build, his hair, and most importantly, his eyes… they felt awfully familiar and reminded her of a certain someone.

That…

He was someone she couldn't forget even now, and she didn't realize how important they were until after they were gone.

'No, that's impossible.'

Angelica shook her head, casting her gaze away from the strategist.

Pent up emotions that she kept hidden within her started to swell up, and she was reminded of a certain painful memory.

One that she didn't want to relieve.

"…Are you that moved by the strategist?"

"Pardon?"

Angelica looked at Priscilla with a confused look.

"Did the strategist move you or something? …or is it the prospect of meeting his majesty?"

"What are you talking about?"

Angelica's brows furrowed, but just as she was about to speak again, Priscilla pointed at her cheek.

You're telling me that you haven't been noticing the tear on your cheek?"

"Uh, ah?"

Angelica flusteredly touched her cheek.

Feeling something wet, her face stiffened, and her gaze fell back on Priscilla.

She didn't know what to say.

"It's okay."

Priscilla turned her gaze away from her.

"You don't need to look at me like that. If you look around, you aren't the only one that is acting this way. There are many other demons that are moved…"

"No, it―"

"Don't worry. I won't judge you."

Angelica didn't know how to respond.

She wanted to say something, but she knew that Priscilla's mind was already made up, so she decided against it and turned her gaze back toward the strategist.

She pursed her lips as she continued to look, and she noticed that their figures were becoming more entwined.

'What is wrong with me?'

She silently muttered, trying her best to keep herself from losing composure again. Thankfully, a sudden wave of whispers helped her out.

"His Majesty is coming!"

"It's His Majesty! He's here!"

"…Lord Jezebeth!"

The Demon King had made his appearance.

Chapter 797: The final hurdle [3]

"We've come a long way, everyone…"

Jezebeth stared at the sea of demons that stood before him. They numbered in the millions, and they all looked at him with fervent eyes.

The sight made Jezebeth smile.

'Who'd have thought that our race, which was on the verge of extinction a few centuries ago, is now the most dominant of all races.'

The sight…

It moved him, and the smile on his face deepened if ever so slightly.

"A lot of you are probably confused… perhaps even annoyed by the sudden orders, but I want to make something clear."

Jezebeth paused and looked down at all of the demons present.

"The order… It was something that I had passed down. It was a decision that I made, and not something that was made on the fly."

Jezebeth's soft vice traveled through the ears of each of the demons present.

It gently vibrated within their minds, and almost seemed to bewitch some of the demons as their eyes turned hazy and their bodies swayed.

"If you are dissatisfied with the orders, you can voice out your complaints now. I'm all ears."

Jezebeth stopped and looked at the army of demons in front of him. He waited for someone to speak up, but none dared.

The place was incredibly quiet, and all the demons looked at him with the same eyes as before.

"So it seems like no one here is dissatisfied…"

He didn't know whether to be happy or disappointed with this news.

He would've loved to have seen a few demons oppose him. Show him that they were different from the others, but he was disappointed to know that such demons didn't exist.

'I expected too much.'

Hiding his disappointment, Jezebeth raised his head up and looked at the demons in front of him once more.

"Now that I got out of the way, I am happy to announce that the war is officially over," Jezebeth continued before the other demons could cheer, "but! ..and I mean but! The real war hasn't even started yet so don't be too quick to rejoice."

As if pouring cold water on them, all of the demons that were previously showing excited expressions revealed disappointed ones.

Jezebeth continued.

"What we have dealt with at the moment is merely a taste. A taste of the true war that is about to come to us…"

What everyone had currently experienced was merely the prelude to the true war that was about to come.

Their forces were strong, and Jezebeth was confident in his chances of victory, but… that was before he came to learn of Kevin's action.

At the moment, he was uncertain.

He was uncertain about the imminent future.

What he previously thought was certain was no longer certain, and at the moment, all preparations seemed for naught.

That being said, there was actually one certainty… And that this was truly the last regression.

Having collected all of the Akashic fragments, he was certain and knew that whoever won between the two of them would be the ultimate winner.

With the Protectors gone, there was nothing stopping him from getting to the records.

No… In fact, there was someone.

There was a certain someone who held the key to getting to the records.

He was someone who he was very familiar with, and the one entity that he could truly claim to fear.

He was the only person to have ever beaten him, and probably his greatest opponent.

'I'm afraid that things won't be so simple anymore now that Kevin has given him all of his powers...'

Just thinking of him made his core palpitate, and his gaze shifted toward his right. He felt himself relax, and his face loosened.

'That's right, I'm not completely unprepared.'

There was still a little something that he had…

"Get ready. We will soon depart."

He gazed at the army of demons in front of him and turned around.

"…Victory or defeat will dictate whether we will be the only race that exists within the universe."

***

"You're planning on migrating everyone here?!"

It was Octavius's voice that rang loudly inside my office. It was just the two of us at the moment, and he looked at me with a look that seemed to suggest I was crazy.

"I'm not crazy."

"Like hell, you aren't."

"That's kind of rude."

"Laying out the truth doesn't make me rude."

"Oh yeah, it does."

"Then you're delusional."

"There you go being rude again… Is this how you treat your savior?"

This went on between Octavious and me for who knows how many more minutes, or hours.

I had lost count.

"Come on, you know best that I'm making the right decision."

Even though I could see where he was coming from, I still don't think my choice was that illogical.

When one stopped to think about it, it was obvious that this made perfect sense, and I had no doubt that Octavious was aware of this on some level.

That being said…

'I really can't get used to this new Octavious.'

I was completely at a loss for words.

He was displaying a great deal more emotion than he ever had in the past, and some of the things he was saying and doing with his face were quite unsettling.

'I want the old Octavious back.'

As much as I despised the old Octavious, he was incredibly rational and never let his emotions get the better of him.

A stark contrast to the current Octavious, who appeared to be on an emotional high, if one could put it that way.

'It's not like it's a bad thing, but in situations like these… it's really annoying.'

"Are you, honestly, not concerned about the blowback that is going to be directed toward you in the near future? Do you realize that the majority of people will be angry with you because of the decision you make? Do you have absolutely no interest whatsoever in the potential protests that will take place?"

"Calm down for a moment and listen to me."

I let out a sigh and pinched the middle of my brows.

Thankfully, my words seemed to have reached his ears, and he soon calmed down.

I continued.

"To begin, I will not be forcing anyone into going to Immorra."

I already stated this to Maylin and the others.

"Everyone is free to decide for themselves whether they want to come here or not. It would be a different story if I forced them, but since I'm not going to do that, I'm confident that there won't be any protests... and if it turns out that some do exist, I'll have to reevaluate my perspective on where we stand as a species."

Nobody would be that stupid, right?

"They should know better than anyone that a war is about to come, and what I am doing is merely providing them with a safe haven to help them avoid this war and not die a useless death."

Another reason was that I didn't want them to be a burden on me, but I kept that to myself.

For those who chose to remain, I decided to let them be, and if they were in danger, I would place them at the bottom of my priority list of the things that I needed to care about.

I couldn't allow them to become a burden to me.

"Okay, I get it."

Octavious sat in front of me, calming down at last.

His expression returned to normal for the first time in a while, and he fell into deep thought.

'Normal' was a bit of an overstatement since this was supposed to be his normal self.

"Alright."

He eventually said, raising his head to meet my line of sight. Rubbing his chin, he leaned back on the chair and asked.

"If… and I mean if… we're going to do this, how much do you need?"

"How much?"

"As in cores."

"Oh."

My brows furrowed.

Indeed, in order for me to open a portal, I needed to use a core as a source of energy. I remember telling him this piece of information beforehand.

'If an <S> ranked core is enough for tens of thousands of people, then… If I am to take into consideration that I am probably going to migrate over millions…'

My expression turned grim.

"Most probably several <SS> ranked cores."

I sighed, feeling a little part of my heart ache.

It was such a big expenditure, and with it, I'd probably be able to add even more mana to the city, but I still felt my heart ache.

Those were a lot of cores…

If not for the fact that they were a necessary expenditure, I would've probably used them for something else.

"S,several?"

Octavious's limps trembled at my words, but he eventually managed to calm himself down.

"I understand."

He stood himself up with the assistance of the chair's armrests and then turned his attention to the door of the room.

He walked toward it at a slow pace.

"I,I'll tell them of your decision through a press conference I'll arrange soon. The media will soon make an announcement throughout the entire domain…"

His feet came to a stop right before the door.

"Do you really think there won't be any backlash?"

"I'm certain."

If there was one thing I was confident in, it was this.

"Okay then."

Octavious placed his hand against the doorknob, and just as he was about to twist it, he turned around again.

"By the way…"

He paused.

"…What's the name of the city?"

"The name of the city?"

I opened my mouth, and just as I was about to speak, my mouth closed.

Thinking for a moment, my lips curled.

It was a cringe-worthy name, but as I imagined how 'he' would've reacted had he still been alive, I found myself laughing silently to myself.

Almost like an inside joke, and the thought was what made me go through with the decision.

Perhaps, deep inside of me, I prayed on the thought that one day he'd see what I had built and curse at me for what I had named it.

I'd always laugh whenever I thought of the improbable possibility. Nonetheless, it was this single idea that inspired me to name the city as such.

"...Voss City."

I looked at Octavious and repeated.

This time more slowly.

"The name of the city… It's Voss City."

Chapter 798: The great migration [1]

[He gives the impression that we have a choice, but if the vast majority of the population abandons us, what are we supposed to do to make a living? Because no one is working anymore, nothing will work, and we will simply be forced to relocate along with everyone else.]

[I have every right to be angry. Why do we have to abandon our current lives? I understand that there will soon be a war, but what would be the point of fleeing? In the event that they end up losing, the next thing that will come under attack will be this new "safe haven." It's such an idiotic thing to do.]

[Whose choice was it to appoint him as the Head of the Alliance? Since Octavious is the most capable, he ought to be the one to take charge of everything... He was a significantly more capable leader than Ren ever was or ever will be.]

Click―!

"Huuu."

I turned off the screen and took a deep breath. It took every bit of strength I had not to rip the TV in half and start yelling curses.

'Do you really think there won't be any backlash?'

'I'm certain.'

My words were starting to haunt me.

When I thought about the words that I had said to Octavious with such confidence some time ago, I felt the anger that I had been attempting to stifle rise up once more, and I almost threw a fit.

'Fuck, and here I had hopes people were a lot smarter.'

I had given them too much credit.

'I now understand how presidents, or whoever is in charge, feel when they are in office.'

No matter what they did, they were going to get criticized, and the majority of the time, the people who were criticizing them probably didn't even have a complete understanding of what was happening and were just imitating the voices in their ears.

"Ignorance at its best, I guess."

I leaned back against my chair.

In a way, what they said wasn't completely faultless. The economy and society that had been established would collapse as a result of everyone migrating, leaving those who were left behind to fend for themselves.

I kind of knew this beforehand.

It was not difficult to foresee the effects that a massive migration would have on the economy and the functioning of society, but it was a necessary step for humanity.

If they did not migrate, the casualties that would come from the Third Cataclysm would simply be too disastrous.

You could say that I was aware of the repercussions that would come with the migration, but I chose not to act on them.

It was so that I'd indirectly force them to go to Immorra.

"Shit, am I becoming a politician?"

Oh no.

To Tok―!

A knock brought me out of my delusions, and Amanda entered the room. Her previously relaxed face became contorted as she surveyed the room.

"It's a mess."

"That…"

I looked around me and shut my mouth before I could even retort. There was a lot of clutter in the room, and there was nothing I could say to persuade her otherwise.

With papers strewn everywhere and sofa cushions thrown about in the room, I gave up resisting before putting up a fight.

"Come, I'm ready."

I stood up and extended both of my arms.

"?"

Amanda's head cocked to the side; visible confusion etched on her face.

"Ready for what?"

"…For the punishment."

"What punishment?"

Amanda took a step back and wearily looked at me.

"Why would I punish you? You're a grown adult, and I'm not your mother. You should know better and take care of your surroundings without the need for me to tell you."

That…

That hurt a lot more than I thought.

"Oh."

I lifelessly sat down in my seat.

"What are you getting all grumpy for?"

Amanda moved behind me, placing her hands over my shoulders and gently kneading them. It felt rather good as I leaned back and relaxed.

Okay…

I guess I could forgive her.

Not that I was mad at her, to begin with.

"How's the migration going?"

I asked Amanda while closing my eyes.

Her soothing voice reached my ears as I basked in the relaxing feeling.

'I needed this.'

"So far, everything has been going without a hitch. Those who come from the same districts are being moved over one at a time, and according to Ryan's calculations, the process should be finished in about a week's time."

"A week's time?"

Hmm, that was faster than I expected. I'd originally thought I'd take a month, but apparently, I had severely underestimated how well organized the Alliance was.

With their help, everything was sorted out rather quickly.

"Do you have a list of how many chose to remain on earth?"

"Mhm."

Amanda nodded her head and removed her hands from my shoulders. I instantly felt that something was missing, but I kept it all to myself.

She leaned against the desk.

"Surprisingly, there aren't a lot of people that are choosing to stay behind. The majority of those who have chosen to remain are elderly people and people who feel a strong connection to the land and the homes they have lived in all their lives."

"I see."

This was in line with what I had anticipated, but it was reassuring to learn that the number of people who decided to stay put was relatively low.

I'd make things a lot simpler and less difficult for myself.

"What about the situation with the demons? Have you cleaned them all up?"

"About that…"

Amanda's expression changed a little.

She looked rather troubled.

"What is it? Did something happen? Spit it out?"

"No, well…"

Amanda sighed and looked at me.

"It's Emma. She's taken charge of the operation at your orders, but she seems adamant about talking with you at the moment. She's been calling me nonstop for the past few days, and I'm not really sure what I should do…"

Listening to her words, I turned my head away from Amanda.

'Well, shit.'

I didn't need Amanda to clarify further what Emma wanted to talk to me about. It was probably the whereabouts of her father.

Waylan…

I had long seen this coming and had been delaying it for as long as possible.

I… even after all of this time, struggled to think of ways to explain to her what had happened to her father, and while telling her the truth was something that I needed to do, I found it rather hard to do so.

How was I going to tell her that her father wasn't the person she thought he was?

'If only Kevin was still here…'

"Well? What should I tell her?"

Amanda's voice brought me back, and I pursed my lips.

Phone in hand, she looked at me.

"If you want, I can message her right now. I'm not exactly sure since I'm not with her, but I've been getting reports that she's rather restless these days. I think… you should talk to her."

"I know…"

I sighed and leaned back against the chair.

"For now, tell Emma to focus on her mission. Regarding her father, tell her that he's on a very important mission. A secretive one, and that he won't be able to meet her for a while. I'll fill her in on the details later."

"…Okay."

Amanda's thumb quickly moved across the screen of her phone, and she quickly sent the message. She then looked at me while putting the phone away.

"What really happened to her father?"

"Huh?"

I raised my brow.

"What do you mean?"

"Ren…"

Amanda sighed.

"…For how long do you think we've known each other for? You may be able to fool others because your poker face makes it difficult to read your expressions, but you can't fool me. I've spent enough time with you to know what you're thinking."

"Oh."

I scooted my chair back while warily looking at Amanda.

"You're clearly hiding something about Oliver, and while I won't force you to tell me, I can tell at a glance that he's not on some sort of secret mission."

The room fell into a state of silence after her words.

I honestly didn't know what to say at this moment, I was being completely seen through by Amanda.

'Somehow… I don't feel bitter about it.'

I'd normally feel uncomfortable if someone read through my intentions, but the same wasn't true for Amanda. I somehow felt a bit better, and my shoulders seemed to relax.

"I really can't beat you."

I sighed while shaking my head.

She truly was…

"Here."

"Thank you."

Amanda presented me with a glass of water, and I took a sip. Feeling the coolness in my mouth, I opened my mouth but then closed it again.

Turning my head to look at her, I had a sudden thought.

I smiled.

"Hey, Amanda."

"Yes?"

She looked at me, her brows slowly coming together. The sight made me smile even more as I suddenly stood up and moved toward her.

She scooted back into the desk.

"What are you doing? …We're in your office."

Her voice grew more timid by the second, and by the time I was a few inches away, it was as quiet as a mosquito buzz.

"Don't worry."

I gently caressed her hair and moved my head toward her ear.

I whispered.

"…Get your mind out of the gutter."

A white glow formed on my hand, and I touched her forehead. It was time for her to see everything that I went through in that world.

Chapter 799: The great migration [2]

The memories swept through her consciousness like a tsunami, penetrating every nook and cranny of her mind and taking control of everything that was contained therein.

Amanda felt as though her world was spinning as a series of images began to pop into her head.

She wasn't sure how long she had been standing there, but when she came to, she noticed that the sun had already started to set.

"You've finally digested the memories?"

It was from behind her that she heard a voice that she knew all too well.

She sat herself down on his chair without even bothering to look at him and tried to digest everything that had been thrown at her.

She propped her elbows against the table and massaged her forehead.

"The memories…"

Her head throbbed.

"…Are they real?"

"Why wouldn't they be?"

Ren appeared right in front of her.

He looked at her with a smug expression on his face, and the corners of his lips were slightly upturned.

The expression on his face...

She was genuinely irritated by it, but as she thought back on the memories that were flooding her mind, she found that she couldn't bring herself to complain about it.

She…

Was that really her?

"Hehehe."

Ren laughed in the most irritating manner and sat down on the desk.

"What do you think?"

He moved his body in closer proximity to her, and his eyes narrowed as he did so. At the same time, the smile that had been partially visible on his face gradually vanished, and what replaced it was an extremely serious expression.

"Squid-like person?"

His voice was calm, but Amanda could feel the hidden anger within it.

His ego had been hurt.

"I didn't know you thought of me like that, Amanda… I'm honestly quite hurt."

He continued on.

There was a look of expectation in his eyes as if he wanted her to correct what her other self had said, but Amanda didn't give him that benefit.

When she raised her head, she purposely squinted her eyes and cocked her head.

"I guess you…"

She stopped herself mid-sentence and shook her head.

"…No, never mind. You don't look like a squid."

"Wait, hold on. You think I'm deaf? You clearly were about to say something."

Ren's expression changed for the worse, and he leaned his body forward. He seemed rather desperate at the moment, and Amanda's lips trembled.

She was having a hard time keeping herself composed.

'It's too easy.'

As impressive as Ren was, he was the simplest person to read.

She knew him like the back of her hand, and pressing his buttons wasn't something that she found difficult.

With that said…

'Was that really me?'

Amanda tried to conceal her expression by covering her face with her hands.

Despite not being able to view her own memories, she had seen enough from Ren's perspective to find herself secretly squealing at her own behavior.

Would that really be how she would've turned out if the Demon King had never existed?

It made her shiver.

"Hey, Amanda. Why aren't you answering? Com―"

Lifting her head up, she leaned her body forward and pressed her lips against Rens. He stopped talking immediately after that, and his expression blanked.

Pursing her lips, Amanda sat back down on the chair.

"You've worked hard."

***

"I've got six orbs with me, and there's seven of you present."

Jezebeth looked at the seven demons that were standing right in front of him while six white orbs floated atop his palm.

The demons' presence was unlike any other, and their expressions contained nothing but reverence for him.

They were the seven clan heads.

"My lord, we will accept any decision that you make."

With a subtle bow of his head, Prince Murdock, the head of the Clan of Envy, spoke.

"I do not know what those orbs are, but if you are giving them to us, they must be of significant value."

His words reflected the thoughts of the other heads.

"Hmm, I guess you can say so."

The yellow orbs around Jezebeth cycled atop his palm.

"They are indeed rather precious. So much so that you might even find your strengths increasing…"

All breathing stopped the moment those words escaped from his mouth.

The seven demons' expressions changed when they learned that receiving the yellow orbs would increase their strength.

At their current level, increasing their strength was nearly impossible, and almost everyone was stuck in the same rank for a considerable amount of time.

The fact that the orbs could increase their strength...

Eyeing the orbs in Jezebeth's palm, intense greed flashed across the eyes of all seven heads.

'As expected .'

The sight made Jezebeth smile.

He had long known that his words would elicit such a response from them.

"Since you're all reacting like this, it must mean that all of you want the orbs, don't you?"

The heads all nodded their heads at once, and Jezebeth laughed.

"Alright then, since I only have six and I don't want to pick favorites, I'll do a little something to make all of you happy."

He extended his finger forward, and golden runes flashed in the air, enveloping the entire room in a white glow.

The white glow agglomerated toward the tip of his finger, forming a small white orb that was of similar size to the yellow orbs.

"This should be enough."

Once the orb formed, Jezebeth looked at the seven demons and waved his hand forward.

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

The orbs were fired directly at the seven demons, and before they could react, their heads rolled back, and the room turned white.

***

[Human Domain, Ashton City.]

"Please maintain order. Don't rush forward; we will call you one at a time!"

The air was laced with tension as the crowds gathered around the portal, waiting for their turn to step through and embark on a journey to a new world.

Excitement and anxiety hung palpably in the air as people whispered amongst themselves, unsure of what awaited them on the other side.

Some families were dressed in their finest clothes as if this were the start of a grand adventure, while others wore practical and sturdy outfits meant for travel.

All of them clutched their belongings tightly, double-checking that they hadn't forgotten anything. The promise of a new life was too great to risk leaving anything behind.

"They promised us shelter, right?"

A woman asked her husband, her voice trembling with nervousness.

"Yes," he replied, trying to hide his own uncertainty. "They said that they would guarantee us shelter and food."

"Are there any pictures of the place?"

Another man asked, his voice laced with curiosity.

"Yes, I already sent it to you on the chat."

His friend responded, pulling out his phone to show the group.

The portal itself was a towering structure, gleaming in the sunlight. It pulsed with a soft, blue light that spread across the surrounding land.

The hum of the portal's energy was almost deafening, causing many to clutch their ears.

"Your ID, please."

An official called out, bringing everyone back to the present moment.

Officials greeted each group as they came forward, checked their identification, and provided them with instructions for the journey ahead.

"Here you go, officer."

A man said, handing over his identification papers. The officer scrutinized the documents, checking and double-checking the information.

"Mhm, everything checks out. You can go."

The officer finally said, waving them forward.

There was a sense of anticipation and nervousness in the air.

No one knew exactly what to expect on the other side of the portal. Some had seen the pictures of a lush, verdant world that seemed unlike any other, while others whispered of danger and uncertainty.

This was to be expected.

After all, this was a completely different world, and there was barely anything they knew about the planet. The only thing they knew for certain was that this was their only chance for a better life.

Woom!

The portal activated, and the first group stepped through.

A hush fell over the crowd as they disappeared from sight, and there was a moment of tense silence as everyone waited to see if the portal would malfunction.

Woom!

And then, with a soft hum, the portal activated again, and another group stepped forward to take their turn.

"Next!"

The officers called out, and the crowds shuffled forward.

Like that, more and more people began to move forward, and the crowd of people that numbered in the thousands slowly started to dwindle. The sun, which had previously hung in the sky, started to fall, and night started to approach.

There were still people lining up behind the portal, and amongst them was a certain family of three.

"Come, Nola. We have to hurry, or we'll be late."

"Okay, Mom."

Nola put her phone away and followed behind her mother.

There were only a couple of people left in the line in front of them, and they were soon going to be called up next.

"Mom, is Ren coming with us?"

"Ren?"

Samantha placed her hand over her cheek. Her face looked troubled, and a soft voice answered for her.

"Ren is busy. He said that he'll come when he has time later."

"Oh."

Nola dispiritedly nodded her head.

It'd be a lie if she said she wasn't disappointed.

It had been quite a long time since she had seen her brother, and while she understood that he was extremely busy handling matters with the Alliance, she would've really appreciated it if he would occasionally come to meet her.

With how hectic life had been over the past few years, she hadn't had the time to attend school, and she had no friends.

The only people she talked to were her father and mother, and… they were boring.

So boring!

"What are you thinking so hard about?"

A hand reached out for her shoulder all of a sudden.

Nola noticed a change in her parents' expression when she raised her head, and when she turned around, she saw a familiar face.

One that she hadn't seen in quite a long time.

For some reason, her eyes stung, and she found herself unable to contain herself. She instantly threw herself in his direction, going in for a tight hug.

"B, brother!?"

"Ho!?"

Ren was obviously taken aback by Nola's actions, but that was only for a short moment as his face quickly melted, and he hugged her back.

"My, my, my… so you finally miss your brother?"

A stupid smile hung on his lips, and he continued to squeeze Nola's little body, which was locked tightly in his embrace.

"Okay, Nola. You can let go now."

This went on for quite a while, and she eventually had to be pulled away by Samantha.

"Ren, do something as well!"

"What, why?"

Ren looked at her with an aggrieved look, pulling Nola even more tightly into his embrace and turning his body away from her.

Ba… Thump!

He felt his heart throb for some reason, but the feeling dissipated as fast as it came.

"We're just hugging each other. Don't interrupt our moment."

"Aiii… Stop making a scene. You've been hugging for the past five minutes. We're up next, so get her off your body."

"Tsk."

Ren silently clicked his tongue and didn't outwardly show his displeasure.

He had no death wish.

"Nola, you can let go now. If you don't let go, Mom will get the two of us into trouble."

"Mhm, okay."

Nola let go obediently and rubbed her eyes.

"That's good."

He patted her head and cast a glance at the portal in the distance.

"Be a good girl and listen to Mom and Dad. While the city is safe, don't do anything stupid while you're there. If you behave well, I'll give you a nice surprise."

"Okay."

Nola obediently nodded her head once again, carefully listening to Ren's words. Such behavior made him smile even more, and his expression almost crumbled.

Standing up, he looked at his parents and hugged the two of them.

Ba… Thump!

Once again, his heart throbbed, and he felt his legs tremble a little.

'What's going on with me?'

The feeling came and went quickly, but it left an impression on him as he tried to check if something was wrong with his body.

However, when he saw that everything was normal, he could only shrug his shoulders.

'Maybe it's cause I won't see them for quite a while.'

It probably was that.

"Have a safe trip."

Chapter 800: The great migration [3]

"It's becoming quieter in here."

I glanced around the empty streets of Ashton City, feeling a sense of desolation settle within me.

It was eerily quiet as if the very air had been sucked out of the city. The once-bustling metropolis had been reduced to a ghost town, with the population dwindling day by day.

The aftermath of the war with the Monolith had taken its toll on the city, and the current migration had made the situation return to what it once was.

"Haa..."

I sighed, my gaze drifting toward the portal that stood before me. Jin was standing in front of it, flanked by a few familiar figures - Emma, Amanda, and Melissa.

I couldn't help but feel a twinge of envy at the thought of their impending departure. They were leaving for Immorra... A place I worked so hard to develop and make into the best place to live in...

I really wanted to go.

"Why aren't you coming with us?"

Jin's voice interrupted my thoughts, and I turned to face him.

"I've got a few things that I need to do over here, and I can't go there."

I replied, my tone neutral. It was only half the truth, but I couldn't reveal the real reason why I couldn't accompany them to Immorra.

Jezebeth was still out there, somewhere, and he was relentless in his pursuit of me. His ability to track me down made it impossible for me to stay in one place for too long.

This was especially so after I gained Kevin's power.

If I were to go to Immorra, there was a high chance that he would find out my whereabouts and hunt me down.

I couldn't risk putting Amanda and the others in danger, which left me with no choice but to stay behind and keep Jezebeth's attention diverted from them.

"When will you be coming?"

Emma's voice rang, and I smiled at her.

"I will probably not be coming for long. Perhaps once every week, and I'll stay at most for a couple of days over there... You see, there's a lot of things that I need to do here, and I can't stay there for very long."

Emma looked at Amanda, her skepticism apparent. I knew she didn't believe me, but I couldn't blame her.

I really was hiding something.

"Only once a week?"

Emma's voice was tinged with confusion, and I felt a pang of guilt in my chest when she looked at Amanda.

"...And you're okay with this? You do know that we'll be gone for about five years. Are you okay with only seeing him once every couple of months?"

Amanda shook her head, her expression normal.

"No...but I understand where he's coming from, so I can only accept the situation."

I felt a surge of gratitude toward Amanda.

As expected of her... She really was understanding.

"Uhh...okay," Emma said, looking defeated. "You do whatever you want. I won't interfere in your matters."

With that, she turned and handed her identification to one of the guards who stood watch over the portal. The check wasn't very long, but it felt like an eternity. I watched as Emma, Amanda, and Jin stepped through the portal, disappearing from sight.

"See you in a week, then."

"Bye."

"Have a safe trip."

I murmured, waving my hand in farewell.

As they vanished from view, a sense of loneliness settled within me. The thought of being alone in Ashton City for the next half a year was somewhat daunting, but I knew I had to keep going.

I had a mission to fulfill, and I couldn't let anything get in the way of that.

"Huuu."

Taking a deep breath, I turned and walked away from the portal, the sound of my footsteps echoing through the deserted streets.

There was work to be done.

***

'Just what are you planning?'

Jin stood there, quietly staring at Ren.

He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was about Ren that made him feel so uneasy. Was it the way he was looking at them now, or was it something deeper?

Whatever it was, it had been gnawing at Jin for some time now, and he couldn't help but feel like he was missing something important.

He stood there for what felt like an eternity, lost in thought.

Ren said nothing, just watching him with a patient expression. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Jin turned around and started walking toward the portal.

He didn't look back, not wanting to see Ren's face again.

As he walked, Jin couldn't help but feel a sense of frustration.

It was as if he were walking into a safe haven meant just for him. He wasn't the only one who felt this way, either. Everyone's expression was somewhat similar as if they were all heading towards an uncertain future.

In the end, it all came down to the fact that they were all still too weak.

While they were strong, they were still far from strong enough to be of any help to Ren. He was carrying the entire burden by himself and trying to keep them protected at the same time.

It was a heavy burden to bear, and Jin didn't envy him for it.

"I don't like it..."

Jin muttered to himself, his voice barely audible over the sound of his footsteps.

He didn't want to feel like a burden, and when he looked around and stared at the others, he could see that they were having similar thoughts as him.

The portal hummed and shimmered as they approached it, and Jin couldn't help but feel a sense of commitment.

'I've got five years... Five years to become stronger... five years to become useful...'

Woom! Woom!

His vision warped, and he appeared in the middle of a large city.

At a glance, it reminded him of Ashton City, but it was at the same time different. The towering trees, the other races, and the thinned out mana… it was similar but different.

Jin looked around, taking in his surroundings.

The city was bustling with activity as people of all races went about their business. It was a vibrant, lively place, but Jin couldn't shake off a certain feeling.

He reminded himself of how Ren looked before he left, and the scenery before him didn't look as lively as it once did.

"Should we go to our residences?"

Right then, he heard Melissa's voice, and he turned to look at her. She looked absolutely normal at the moment. Perhaps, out of everyone, she was the one that seemed the calmest, and when Jin thought about it, he wasn't surprised.

She had always been like this.

Placing his hand inside his pocket and fiddling with a certain box, he retrieved a cigarette and placed it in his mouth.

*Puff*

He took a deep drag, feeling the smoke fill his lungs.

For a moment, he closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation. A certain demoness appeared within his mind at the moment, and he felt the edges of his lips curl up at that moment.

'I wonder how she's doing at the moment?'

If she saw him again like this, would she throw a fit, or would she try to steal his cigarettes?

"He."

He involuntarily chuckled and shook his head.

Arrogant Demoness.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw Melissa looking at him with a curious expression.

"Since when did you start smoking?"

She asked, pointing at the cigarette.

Jin smiled faintly.

"It's just a habit," he said, taking another drag. "It helps me relax."

"Oh, I see."

Melissa nodded, her interest in the topic quickly waning. She surveyed the city that surrounded them and pointed in a certain direction.

"Should we go to our residences?"

Jin considered it for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah, we should. I need to rest a little."

He took another drag from his cigarette before flicking it away.

"Lead the way."

"Uh? Lead the way? You speak as if I know the way…"

"Ah… right."

***

"You still haven't left yet?"

Ashton City may have been desolate, but not everyone had left. Coming into my office was a face I thought I wouldn't see for quite a while.

"Not yet; I still have something that I want to talk to you about."

"Well… okay."

I didn't have much to do anyway, so I sat on my chair and pointed at the seat opposite me.

"Have a seat for now, Octavious."

"Thank you."

He sat himself down and looked around the room with a curious look.

"Making yourself comfortable?"

"Well, it's not like there's a point in going back home anymore."

With everyone gone, I didn't feel the need to go back home, so I installed a bed in my own office.

Was a bit weird, but it was functional.

"Well, alright."

Octavious's gaze did not linger too long on my bed, and he assumed a solemn expression.

"So… What is it that you want to talk to me about?"

For him to come to me after everyone had gone... He must definitely have something serious to talk about.

It certainly piqued my curiosity.

"About that…"

After a moment of hesitation, Octavious exhaled and explained everything to me.

'Uh?'

Hearing what he had to say, I was left at a loss for words as my body stiffened. The contents of his words…

They weren't something I'd expect to ever come out from his mouth.

"Are you sure?"

I asked, my tone taking an extremely serious note.

Leaning his body forward, Octavious nodded his head, and when I looked at his eyes, I knew that he had made up his mind on the matter.

My hand trembled for a moment, but I eventually nodded my head.

"Okay… I'll help you, and…"

I paused for a moment and looked straight into his eyes.

"Make sure you make these five years count."

"You don't have to tell me that…"

Octavious answered, a smile finally lingering over his features.

It was a smile I had never seen him make before, and it radiated serenity. It was as if he come to peace with something.

I found myself unable to look at him, and my head lowered.

Chapter 801: Alone on earth [1]

'I hope he saw the message.'

Reminding myself of a certain demon with pink hair, I shook my head. My preparations were almost done.

All I needed were the conditions.

"Huuuh."

I looked around me while taking a deep breath.

The silence was deafening.

It was the only thing that filled the air. No sound of cars passing by or people chatting in the distance.

It was just me, standing there in the middle of an empty street.

I looked around, taking in the desolate landscape. The buildings were empty, and the only thing the occasional sound of a cart moving would reach my ears. It probably came from the little people that chose to remain back on Earth.

While there weren't many, their numbers weren't little.

Chirp! Chirp!

"I guess I'm not entirely alone."

I bitterly smiled at the thought. Apart from the few people that chose to remain, the animals were still here.

"You look pitiful."

A sudden voice brought me out of my thoughts, and when I turned my head, I was startled to see a familiar figure that bore a striking resemblance to myself, standing in the middle of the road.

His gaze indifferently fell on me.

"Why are you wondering aimlessly like that?"

"I was just looking at my surroundings."

I made up an excuse on the spot. To be honest, I actually was wandering around aimlessly, but I didn't want to admit it.

Not to him, at least.

"Should you be looking at your surroundings given the situation that you're in?"

"…No."

I shook my head.

Given that I only had half a year, and I wasn't even close to Jezebeth's level, I probably shouldn't have been roaming around the streets like I was doing now.

"You think you can beat Jezebeth with your current mentality?"

"Why are you grilling me all of a sudden?"

From the moment he appeared, he started asking me question after question. What was he doing? When did he suddenly start to care?

"Shouldn't you be hiding in some corner, muttering how you want to die and that I'm stopping you from doing that?"

I glanced at his hands and feet, which were no longer bound by chains.

"Let me tell you this, I am no longer stopping you from achieving what you wanted to achieve. Do whatever you want."

I was honestly a bit ticked off.

For the past years, he'd been manipulating me and cursing me. Many times, I tried to change his mind and help him out, and yet, all he did was spit on me and ignore me.

Understanding where he was coming from, I never paid much attention to his behavior, but now that he was finally free and could achieve his long awaited wish, he suddenly didn't want to?

What was this guy up to?

"…"

Remaining silent, he kept his gaze on me. Just as I was about to say something else, he opened his mouth and spoke.

"You're a petty man."

"…"

My left eye twitched. I visibly felt it twitch.

"You do know we're the same person, right?"

"No."

He shook his head.

"The two of us aren't the same," he continued, "What we've experienced and what we've been through… we're completely different people at this point. You may look like me, and you may sound like me, but you're not me."

"So I'm just an inferior copy of you?"

"No."

He shook his head once more, his gaze settling over my body. Although I was uncertain, for a moment, I felt his lips curl.

"…You're the most perfect version of me."

***

Maylin stood next to Gervis and Brutus. They overlooked the city from the building they were in, and their expression quickly turned solemn.

"What do you think? Do you think you can do it?"

Gervis asked, his hands placed on the glass pane. Unlike the other two, he had to move a little closer in order to get a better view of the city. It was a bit annoying, but he was already used to it by this point.

"It's not impossible."

Maylin muttered, tearing her gaze away from the city. Extending her hand, three marble sized cores of different hues appeared in her hand, and her expression became pained.

<SSS> ranked cores.

They were her most prized possessions.

The amount of mana that a single core contained was absurd and a lot could be achieved with them.

They were something that had been handed down to her by the other elven forces, and she had never gotten the chance to use them since they were far too valuable for her to use. That was until now…

"I will begin the operation."

Maylin took a deep breath, moving away from the glass pane and making her way toward a certain section of the building.

As they approached the door to the room, a faint hum could be heard emanating from within.

Gervis and Maylin exchanged a glance before she reached out to grasp the handle.

With a gentle push, the door swung open, revealing a dimly lit space that was packed to the brim with electronic equipment.

Or at least, that was what they seemed to be.

The first thing that caught their attention was the wires - thick, black, and snaking across the floor in a chaotic mess. They seemed to converge towards a central point, where a large device sat, humming softly in the dim light.

A faint glow emanated from it, casting an otherworldly sheen over everything in the room.

The device was surrounded by a veritable forest of screens and projections. Holographic images flickered and danced in the air, forming intricate patterns that roamed in the air.

"It looks like you've put quite a lot of work on the device."

Mayling commented, observing the piece of machinery in front of her. She was rather surprised by the structure.

While she was already aware of what the dwarves had built, she didn't think it was to this scale.

It made her feel rather complicated, but at the same time, she felt relief.

"Come here."

At Gervis's call, she moved toward one of the projections.

"Is this where I put them?"

Maylin pointed toward a small slot on the machinery. It was a smooth concave dent and matched the size of the orb in her hand.

"Yes."

Gervis nodded, his fingers dancing across the piece of machinery in front of him.

Beep―! Beep―!

Once his fingers moved, the machinery came to life, and the entire room trembled.

Lights flickered in and out of the room, and the roaring sound of an engine reverberated throughout. It startled Maylin, who took a step back and looked at the machine with even more wonder.

"Place the core on the slot."

It was only after she heard Gervis's words that she snapped out of it and did as she was told.

Taking a closer step toward the machine, she took out one of the <SSS> ranked cores and placed it on the slot.

WOOOOM―! Coming into contact with the core, the machine trembled, and a terrifying pressure suddenly bore down on the entire room.

Cr… Crack.

The floor of the room started to crack at the pressure, and the building seemed to be on the verge of shaking.

Thankfully, Brutus was there.

BANG―!

Lightly stopping his foot on the ground, the building stopped shaking, and the pressure that was coming out from the core suddenly subsided and re-entered the core.

Gervis shot him a grateful look and turned his attention back to the device in front of him.

There was a long bar in front of him. It was slowly filling up, and right when it filled up, he pressed a certain button.

With a smile, he mumbled.

"Mana extraction complete. Time to send the mana out."

WOOOOM―!

The building did indeed start shaking at his point.

***

The bustling Metropolis of Voss city, which had just started to be a place of constant activity, with people rushing to and fro as they went about their daily business, underwent strange changes on this day.

It started with a faint tremor that rippled through the ground, almost imperceptible at first.

But as the seconds ticked by, it grew stronger and stronger until it felt as though the very earth was shaking beneath their feet.

Rumble―! Rumble―!

The first sign that something was wrong came when the barrier that encircled the entire city began to wobble.

At first, it was just a faint ripple, but soon it was shaking so violently that people were knocked off their feet.

The once-sturdy barrier was now like a flimsy sheet of paper, barely holding on against the immense pressure that seemed to be bearing down upon it.

"Aha!?"

"W,what's going on?"

Panic quickly set in as people began to realize the gravity of the situation. It was understandable - after all, they had been told the barrier was supposed to be extremely sturdy, and nothing should be able to get through it.

Amidst the chaos, questions flew through the air like so many panicked birds.

"What's going on?"

"Are we under attack?"

No one seemed to have the answers, and fear began to spread like a contagion through the crowds.

Thankfully, the panic was somewhat contained.

With no alarms ringing and no visible signs of danger, people began to calm down and take stock of the situation. And when a certain few didn't seem to be concerned about the shaking barrier, it served to calm down the rest of the populace somewhat.

But even as people tried to make sense of what was happening, something strange began to occur.

The mana in some people's bodies began to boil, almost as if reacting to the seismic tremors that were rocking the city. It was an unusual sensation and one that left people feeling confused and disoriented.

Swoosh!

As the trembling continued, a sudden breeze blew past, carrying with it an almost tangible wave of mana.

The air around them thickened considerably, the mana that had previously been thin and insubstantial now thickening and coalescing into something much more tangible.

And as the ground continued to shake, it was clear that something truly momentous was happening―something that would change the course of Voss City's history forever.

Chapter 802: Alone on earth [2]

Time flew by.

It was unclear to me how much time had passed, but I was aware that there was not much longer to go before Jezebeth would show up here on earth.

Had it been before, by now, I would've been palpitating with fear over the prospect of Jezebeth coming, but at the moment, I was rather calm.

Nervousness stems from one's lack of confidence. If one wasn't confident in what they were up against, that'd be when one would start to feel nerevousness.

More than anything, I didn't have the time to even think about those matters.

"Your entire body is a mess. I don't understand why you'd let so many different types of energies roam inside of your body?"

I was currently being scolded, if one might call it that.

"When you made the decision to allow so many energies to enter your body, did the thought 'more is better' cross your mind?"

"No."

I shook my head, keeping my head low at the same time.

"…I just wanted to use methods that you wouldn't be able to predict or be familiar with."

The room fell into an abrupt silence as a result of my words, and when I looked up, I saw my own love in his eyes.

His face was as indifferent as it always had been, but for some reason, he had a look that seemed to be looking down on me.

"I'll have to praise you for that."

To my surprise, I was complimented rather than reprimanded.

It came as a bit of a surprise to me given that, ever since he began helping me, all he ever did was criticize everything that I did.

It brought to mind instances when we had been together in the Demon Realm. Back then, he used to treat me the same way that he did now.

He was a harsh teacher, but he was the best teacher I could ever ask for.

There was no one else who understood me better than he did.

"On more than one occasion, I found myself rather taken aback by the actions that you took. It's true that some of them were incredibly dimwitted, but there were also some that were admirable... having said that..."

He looked at me dead on in the eyes.

"The key word here is 'some', and that's on rare occasions. Do you really think I haven't tried everything in my pursuit of power? You think that I've never taken the path that you're currently undertaking? Scrap that nonsensical thought from you mind. Whatever you tried, I've tried it before…"

He pointed at his head with his index finger.

"…You've only caught a glimpse of my hell. Not the entirety of it."

"…"

I pursed my lips and didn't say anything at his words.

Deep down, I knew that he was right.

If there was anyone who knew the best path, it had to be him.

"It was as simple as following the story's plotline. I made it so that the only thing you'd be able to concentrate on is following the plot line, and yet... like a complete moron, you chose to deviate from the plot line that I designed for you to take advantage of."

I wasn't completely certain, but I thought I detected a hint of irritation in the tone of my other self's voice.

Clearly, he was dissatisfied with the choices that I made in the past.

I scratched the back of my head.

"Well… to be honest, I had to discard the plotline. The butterfly effect was getting out of hand, and…"

"Was it, though?"

I was stopped mid sentence and I felt a cold gaze fall on my face. I turned to look at him, and he continued.

"Did you really think the situation was getting out of hand?"

He cocked his head a little, staring intently in my direction.

"In my book, there is no such thing as things getting out of control. Everything is in my control, and what you think of as a butterfly effect, I've already factored in a long time ago... You should've just been obedient and followed the plotline like I programmed you to…"

"Eh…"

I smiled at him.

"Things worked out in the end, didn't they?"

"They only worked out because I made them work out."

His gaze stinged, and I turned my head away from him.

"It would have been much simpler if you had followed the plotline. You would have probably suffered less, and you would be even stronger than you are now..."

"Perhaps so... Even then, I don't regret my decision."

I muttered under my breath.

There were a lot of choices that I made, and I regretted none of them. Sure, in the end, those choices ended up being accounted for by him, but it helped me get out of that mentality that this world was merely just a failed novel that I wrote.

That…

It was probably the most important thing for me.

"It's good that you don't regret your decisions. If you had, I'd be rather disappointed in you."

Turning his head to look toward the sky, the other me looked back at me and pointed at the sword in my hand.

"We don't have much time. Start practicing again. So long as you carry out my plan, we'll be able to win this."

"Got it."

Sighing, I unsheathed the sword and got into a stance.

Taking a deep breath, I slashed.

Swoosh―!

***

Jezebeth sat upon his throne, his eyes closed in contemplation.

He could sense that the time was drawing nearer and closer.

While he was seated on his throne, his entire body would shake from time to time. He was unable to hold it in any longer; he wanted nothing more than to travel to earth and put an end to something that had been going on for many decades.

Rustle―!

Suddenly, the flap of a tent interrupted his thoughts, and Jezebeth's eyes slowly opened, revealing his crimson-colored pupils, which were stained with a purplish hue.

Turning his head, his gaze rested upon the demon who had entered the room.

The demon recoiled in fear at the sight of him and quickly bowed his head in submission.

"Your majesty, we're ready."

The demon said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Jezebeth's lips curled into a smile.

"Are the Seven Patriarchs ready?"

"Yes, your majesty."

The demon replied.

"Good. Let us go."

With both hands resting on the armrest of his chair, Jezebeth helped himself up and stood up from his seat. His figure towered over the demon's, and he shivered even more.

Without another word, Jezebeth strode out of the tent and onto the field.

As he moved, separate components of his armor suddenly materialized from thin air and began to attach themselves to his body.

Rustle!

There, he was greeted with the sight of an army of demons kneeling down in front of him. They numbered in the millions and covered the large plot of land that stood before his very eyes.

"We greet his majesty."

The demons chanted in unison.

Jezebeth nodded in acknowledgement, his eyes scanning the assembled forces.

He noted the Seven Patriarchs, their presence imposing and formidable, and felt satisfied. They weren't as strong as him, but they were strong in their own right.

He could also feel a certain something coming out of their bodies, and his confidence soared.

"It looks like everyone is ready."

He said, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Slowly, his gaze fell on a certain someone beside him; he wore a white mask and had his gaze directed away from him. Jezebeth smiled at him before turning his attention back to the Seven Patriarchs.

"Get the pillars ready."

He ordered.

It was a straightforward instruction, but at the precise moment when he uttered those words, the Seven Patriarchs' eyes lit up with enthusiasm, and they smiled widely, exposing their sparkling white teeth.

"Understood, your majesty."

They replied in unison.

Their figures vanished from the spot with a soft beat of their wings.

Jezebeth's eyes lingered for a moment over the location where they had just been standing before he tore his attention away from it and started staring into the distance.

He closed his eyes, and a white glow spread from his body.

'Hmm, let's see how far they've gone.'

After a brief period of time spent with his eyes closed, during which he took in a keen awareness of the world beyond, he eventually opened them once more.

"It looks like they have almost made it to earth..."

He murmured to himself.

As he moved his hand forward, a bright white glow suddenly engulfed his entire body and spread outward toward the legion of demons that were present.

The area around them quickly became riddled with fissures that rapidly expanded in the air.

Cra...Crack!

The fissure grew wider with each passing second, and in less than a minute, more than ten distinct portals materialized somewhere inside the expansive land. They were the height of a mountain and reached all the way up to the sky above.

With a satisfied look, Jezebeth opened his mouth and softly spoke.

"Prepare for war."

***

"It's starting."

Angelica muttered, staring at the enormous portals before her. Looking around her, she secretly swallowed a mouthful of saliva and did her best to hide her nervousness.

At this very moment, there were a number of demons belonging to her clan surrounding her, and they all regarded her with suspicion... It was abundantly clear that she wasn't particularly welcome.

Even so…

The fact that they did not take any action against her reflected very highly on the standing her mother had.

"Get ready. We will soon be departing to earth."

A demon spoke beside her. Angelica didn't even bother looking to see who it was. It was one of her mother's servants.

'It's fine…'

She kept herself composed, a smile tugging on her mouth shortly after.

'I've already finished my preparations.'

"March forward!"

A thunderous voice resounded throughout, and the demons hastened to get to the portal in the distance. Angelica followed in their footsteps and launched herself toward the portal after her wings expanded.

Like that…

The Third Cataclysm began.

Chapter 803: The Third Cataclysm [1]

[Earth]

The blue sky above seemed to shimmer and vibrate. The clouds parted, and then suddenly the sky began to crack, like a fragile pane of glass that was subjected to too much stress.

C... crack―!

The first fracture appeared, jagged and rough-edged, and then another, and another, until the sky was a spiderweb of broken blue glass.

From within the cracks, shapes began to emerge, strange and distorted, like figures from another dimension breaking through into this one.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Figures materialized into the sky, one after another. Their faces were pallid and drawn, their eyes sunken and haunted. They stumbled out of the cracks, their bodies haggard and trembling.

"We're here!"

One of them cried out, a note of relief in his voice.

"We've made it."

Another echoed, sounding more exhausted than triumphant.

After their emergence, more and more figures began to materialize from the fissure in the sky, eventually filling the entirety of the sky with their respective numbers.

The sky above them had stopped cracking, but it remained a deep, unsettling shade of blue, like a bruise on the face of the world.

Swoosh!

As the last of the survivors emerged from the portal, they took stock of their surroundings.

They were standing on top of what appeared to be a city, albeit one with peculiar building styles. The buildings were long and rectangular in shape, and the majority of their surfaces were covered in glass.

Other than that, it was eerily silent.

There were no sounds of life or movement, no signs of civilization or activity.

"Are we in the right place?"

"This is Earth?"

The survivors gathered together, their faces etched with fatigue and anxiety.

They were well aware that they had cheated death by a razor's edge and that it was only a matter of time before it caught up with them; at the moment, they were merely attempting to cling onto their last hope with the remaining forces on earth.

Soon...

Soon, the demons were going to come, and only one ending crossed their minds.

The survivors could feel it in their bones—a deep, primal fear that made their hearts race and their palms sweat.

"What's going on here? Where are all the humans?"

One of the elven figures said. Their eyes swept the area around them, and as they extended their mana in an effort to detect the presence of any form of life, they were surprised to discover that there was nobody in the immediate area.

Confused and shocked, one of the elven elders voiced out their confusion.

"Why is it like this?"

"That's because I've made it like this."

A soft voice echoed, and everyone turned their heads to see a human with short black hair and deep blue eyes.

His gaze was calm and he appeared not far from where they were.

"Who are you?"

One of the dwarven representatives asked, her voice filled with caution. She was a short dwarven elder with dreadlocks.

"Shouldn't that be a question I'm supposed to ask?"

The human replied, his voice neither humble nor overbearing, but with a certain authority that made it difficult for them to rebut.

An elven elder stepped out.

He seemed rather amicable.

"We apologize for the inconvenience. We have heard that you humans have signed an alliance with our races, and we've come here as reinforcements."

The human's brow raised, and although his expression didn't change much, the way he looked at them made it seem as though he was seeing right through them. He didn't say anything after that and merely nodded his head.

"I see, so you're the reinforcements…"

He said with no sincerity in his words.

Perhaps there was, but his expression and voice were rather monotone. It was hard to get a good grasp on him.

"We're in a rush for time. The demons are coming. Where is everyone?"

An impatient orc suddenly opened his mouth and glared at the human who was standing off in the distance.

They had just escaped from the demon's clutches, and yet, the moment they arrived on Earth, they found out that there was no one and that they were being looked down upon by a single human.

His pride couldn't allow it!

"Listen up, human. You either tell us where the other humans and members are or―"

"Or what?"

A soft voice whispered behind his ear, and the orc's entire body turned stiff. He robotically turned his head, and his heart dropped at the sight of the human that had appeared without him even noticing.

"How?"

He stammered.

He wasn't the only one shocked. The other members of the three races were also in disbelief. No one was able to catch a glimpse of how the human had moved.

The human extended his hand and placed it on the orc's shoulder. His cold gaze fell on him, and for a short moment, he didn't say anything. Even so, for the orc, that one short moment felt like an eternity, and his entire body started to tremble.

"Quite unruly for a bunch of fugitives."

His words made the air tense as everyone looked at him with distorted expressions.

"You think I don't know you're not reinforcements? Look at yourselves. Do you look like reinforcements?"

His expression didn't change, but each one of his words struck the hearts of those present.

"Know your place."

He said, and those three words powerfully rang in the minds of the three races that had arrived.

The human no longer paid them any attention and turned his head away from them to stare at the sky.

"Do you seriously think you managed to escape because of your abilities?"

He suddenly asked, gathering the attention toward him once again.

"What do you mean?"

One of the dwarven delegates asked.

"We just barely managed to escape from the demons. In fact, a lot of our forces fell in order to let us escape. If there's one thing I'm sure about, it's that our escape was not a mere coincidence."

"Heh."

The human's eyes locked with the dwarven delegate's, his gaze heavy with what could only be described as pity. The dwarf furrowed his brows in response, sensing the disdain that was emanating from the human's every word.

The same went for the others.

Before any of them could utter a sound, the human spoke up.

"You're wrong on every level."

He stated, his voice cutting through the tense silence. The human shook his head, his eyes trained upwards as if looking for something.

"You didn't escape because of your own efforts."

He continued, his voice laced with indifference.

"You managed to escape because they let you."

"What did you say!?"

The delegates from the three races exchanged glances, their faces twisting in anger. His words left a bitter taste in their mouths.

If that wasn't bad enough, the human wasn't finished yet.

"I don't even need to look at you to understand why you've lost so miserably."

He spat out, his words sharp as a blade.

"You're a mess. Each and every one of you is selfish and prideful, and while you're trying your best to hide it, I can see that you all carry a certain contempt toward each other."

The delegates remained silent, but their eyes betrayed the frustration they felt.

It was true that there had been a clear divide between the three races, even before the war had broken out.

But they had always thought that they were united in their goal to defeat the demons.

The human's voice rose in pitch, his annoyance becoming more palpable by the second.

"Your commands are a mess, and everything about you is a mess. In short, you guys are nothing but a messy burden that will only lower our chances of survival. What gives you the right to come here, demanding anything?"

"How dare you!"

"Do you know what we've gone through the past few decades!? Do you know the only reason Earth is still here is because of us?"

The delegates were starting to lose their patience, but the human didn't seem to care.

"Naïve."

He cut through their words, his words like a whip cracking through the air.

"Look at how easily they defeated you, do you really think you're the reason why Earth is still here? In the first place, the reason why you managed to escape is not because of you, but because the demons let you. And the sole reason for that is quite obvious. They want you to weaken us with your disorganization."

The human turned his head to the sky, a smirk forming on his lips.

"Isn't that right... Jezebeth?"

Rumble―! Rumble―!

A deep, thunderous rumble echoed through the air, and the mana around them began to shift and distort. The ground shook beneath their feet as an imposing figure emerged from the sky.

The being's figure seemed to blend in with the world around him, and his long white hair fluttered in the wind. His eyes glowed with an otherworldly light, and his presence alone was enough to make everyone tremble.

He was none other than Jezebeth.

The Demon King.

"Indeed.."

Jezebeth spoke, his voice like thunder.

"As expected of you… You saw right through my intentions."

Chapter 804: The Third Cataclysm [2]

"I've been told that multiple times."

Ren replied in a soft voice, his gaze fixed on Jezebeth. The two of them stared at each other for an unknown period of time. This was until Jezebeth finally cracked a smile, and the mood seemed to relax a little.

"It's been a while since we've last seen each other, how have you been?"

"I've been better."

"Something annoying happened?"

"…You think?"

Ren cocked his head, his gaze pointing right at him.

"Oh, no, " Jezebeth looked dismayed, "you couldn't be talking about me, right?"

"What made you think that?"

There was an undisguised sarcasm in Ren's words, and Jezebeth looked even more dismayed. Of course, he was merely pretending, but to those that were watching, the scene left them utterly terrified.

'Who is he? How is he able to talk to the Demon King like that?'

As the two conversed, an unsettling feeling permeated the air, leaving onlookers with a sense of insignificance. It was almost as if they were mere cogs in a larger machine, manipulated and directed by the pair.

"Hm?"

Right then, Jezebeth's brows raised, and he looked around him. Shortly after that, surprise filled his expression, and he looked back toward Ren, stunned.

"What's this? Why is Earth suddenly so empty?"

"They've gone somewhere."

Ren replied without going much into detail. He just quietly stood there looking at Jezebeth. Such behavior caused Jezebeth to furrow his brows as his eyes soon came to a close and his mind filtered through all the different planets within the universe.

'Nothing?'

He was stunned to notice that he did not find a single trace of the human forces.

"How interesting."

His eyes opened up again, and they landed on Ren. Yet again, he had shown him a surprise. How many times has it been by now?

He truly was…

"You've hidden them pretty well."

Jezebeth complemented.

There weren't many beings that could hide something from him, not even the Protectors, and yet the human who stood before him was capable of such a feat.

A thought suddenly occurred to Jezebeth.

"Could it be that you've killed them a―"

"You previously called me smart. Do you think I'd do something that stupid?"

His sentence was promptly cut off by Ren's voice, and Jezebeth closed his mouth.

"You're right."

'Indeed, things wouldn't be fun if things were this simple.'

The smile returned to his face. Just as he was about to speak, Ren's voice cut through the air.

"What about you? I don't see your forces anywhere. Where are they?"

"About that."

Jezebeth looked behind him, and the smile on his face widened.

"They're just about to be here…"

Woom! Woom! Woom!

Seconds after his words faded, a strange sensation rippled through the very fabric of the world.

It started as a low hum, barely perceptible at first, but quickly grew into a powerful vibration that shook the earth to its core.

Rumble! Rumble!

The seas themselves seemed to come alive, surging and churning with a furious intensity that sent massive waves crashing against the shore.

The very earth itself seemed to shift and heave, with deep, jagged cracks forming on its surface. And as if in response to some unseen force, the towering mountains rose up from their foundations, their peaks piercing the sky above.

"What's going on?"

The changes didn't go unnoticed by Ren who looked around with alarm.

This…

This was something that was well beyond his understanding.

It was then that the sky suddenly grew dark, as if something was blocking the sun.

The clouds parted and swirled apart, revealing a strange sight. Seven enormous pillars, each one of immense radius, hovered in the air, casting a shadow over everything below.

For several moments, the pillars remained suspended in mid-air as if defying gravity itself. The intricate runes etched into their surfaces glowed with an otherworldly light, each one containing a unique array of colors that seemed to shift and change with each passing second.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Then, without warning, the pillars began to plummet toward the earth, hurtling toward the ground with an unstoppable force.

Boom! Boom!

The impact was deafening, with the Earth shaking and quivering with the force of the collision.

Everything in their path was leveled and reduced to rubble and dust in an instant.

Once the dust began to settle, the pillars remained standing, their intricate runes still glowing with an ethereal light.

The air around them shimmered and crackled with demonic energy; a feeling of doom quietly permeated over the surrounding land, and Jezebeth's smile grew at the sight.

"What do you think?"

He asked, his gaze landing over on Ren.

Unfortunately for him, the sudden situation didn't seem to fluster Ren very much, surprising Jezebeth quite a bit.

'Judging from the aura he's giving off, he should still be the new Ren, yet, for some reason… he's reminding me of his other self…"

"Is this some sort of trick?"

Ren's words brought him out of his thoughts, and he smiled at him.

"I wouldn't call this a trick or anything."

He cast his gaze over the seven pillars that covered the ends of the world. They were his pride and joy and something he had been saving up for this very moment.

"You know… You may think you've achieved something by hiding everyone away from me, but you've grossly underestimated the extent of my powers, Ren."

Jezebeth suddenly brought his hand next to him.

"Just because I can't tell where they are, doesn't mean I can't bring them to me."

With a smile on his face, he snapped his fingers.

Snap―!

"I may not be able to sense them, but if they contain mana and aura… they can't escape from me."

The world around Ren turned completely white, and everything within his vicinity disappeared.

The world around him started to shift once more, and grass appeared beneath his feet.

The sky became blue once more, and trees started to sprout from the ground.

A gentle breeze blew past, and a white table appeared not so far from where he was. Beside the table were two chairs and a set of tea cups materialized on top of the table. Steam rose from within the tea cups as a murky liquid poured itself in.

Jezebeth appeared shortly after that, sitting himself down on one of the seats. Extending his hand, he gestured toward the seat opposite him.

"Have a seat."

"…"

Ren didn't utter a single word, but his feet moved on their own, and he sat down in one of the chairs.

Extending his hand, Jezebeth grabbed one of the tea cups and took a gentle sip. Smacking his lips, he showed a satisfied look.

"Have a try. It's quite good. It's something I've gotten from Lemlok, a planet from a distant galaxy. I've been saving it up for this day."

"…"

Ren stared at the teacup for a moment, then brought his hand forward and similarly took a sip of the tea.

The taste…

It wasn't too bad.

"You know," Jezebeth started to speak, leaning his back against the chair and fixing his gaze toward the sky, "I've had a similar conversation with the other you in the past. I still remember the conversation the two of us had back then… it's been stuck with me for quite a while, and it truly is a pity that the two of us could never work together since our interests conflicted."

Jezebeth paused and took another sip of his tea.

"That being said…"

He put the teacup down and stared at him.

"…Now that the one I'm facing is not him, perhaps I can change your mind."

With a smile on his face, Jezebeth's body turned, and he waved his hand in the air.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

A succession of rectangular projections emerged in the air, one after the other. Over the course of a few seconds, the number of them increased to well over a hundred, and Ren's attention shifted to face them.

It was much to his surprise that he caught sight of people he was familiar with inside of them.

All of them were standing in different environments, some together, some not, and were currently standing in front of a large horde of monsters and demons.

"This right here…" Jezebeth spoke, "Is the beginning of the end. Welcome to the world within the Pillars."

Chapter 805: The Third Cataclysm [3]

Things were quiet in Immorra. As they had been for quite a while now.

The time for the impending war was about to come.

Everyone was sure of it, as they had been warned beforehand. The city streets of Immorra were filled with a palpable sense of unease, and individuals clad in armor were seen roaming the area.

"Are you ready? The portal should be opening anytime now."

Emma turned to Amanda, who had been keeping a low profile while standing next to her. She was standing still, staring silently over the vast area of land that was in front of her while her bow was firmly held in her hand.

How long had it been since she'd last seen him?

He had promised her he'd visit every week, which was about ten weeks in here, but…

'Liar.'

He had only come once in the past and never returned since.

She was obviously aware that he was most likely busy and that he did not have the time to visit, or perhaps there were other circumstances that prevented him from returning, but even so...

She still couldn't help but feel a little indignant over the situation.

It had been years since she had last seen him, and she missed him.

"Don't worry, we'll meet him soon enough. When we get there, you can scold him or beat him to your heart's content however you see fit."

"Mhm."

Amanda nodded her head at Emma's words.

Indeed, she was going to be seeing him soon…

She wasn't sure whether she'd beat him, or scold him like Emma was saying, but she was certainly not going to let this slide once everything was over.

"It looks like the two of you are ready."

Right then, Jin appeared in the distance.

He was wearing a black coat and had his hands in his pockets as he walked calmly toward them. A cigarette was wedged between his lips, and as he inhaled, smoke drifted out into the air.

Pinching the cigarette with his fingers, Jin let out a puff and flicked it away.

"Are the two of you ready?"

"We've prepared as much as we could've."

Emma responded while her hand softly caressed the hilts of her short swords that were resting on her hips.

"I've made quite some progress, but… well, I'm not exactly where I want to be."

"Oh."

Jin nodded his head and turned his head to look at Amanda.

"What about you?"

"Same."

She answered, biting her lips.

Her progress over the last five years has been nothing short of phenomenal.

Counting the time she spent in Immorra, she was about 28 this year, and in that time, she managed to go all the way to <S+> rank.

Her progress was staggering.

She was at the same level as Monica was when she was her age, which was an accomplishment that was once thought to be nearly impossible to achieve.

Having said that, the mana at the moment was quite a bit denser than it was back then, making her progress a lot faster than before, but despite this, she was unquestionably a level above those who were the same age as her.

In fact, she felt close to reaching <SS-> rank too.

She was just a step away from it, and she could feel it.

But that was where the problem lay.

Her age.

She…

She was still too young, and with that, she knew that she was still not good enough to be considered someone strong enough to leave a mark on the war.

Simply put, she was not satisfied with what she had achieved.

She wanted more.

"There are more people coming."

One by one, more and more people started to fill the land. There were a lot of familiar faces. Ones that Amanda knew very well and was familiar with.

"It looks like everyone has improved a lot, especially the orcs."

Pointed out by Emma, Amanda's eyes squinted, and her gaze fell on a group of orcs in the distance.

She was taken aback by the pressure that was emanating from their bodies. It was completely different from anything else she had ever experienced.

'It's true; they've improved a lot.'

…and not just by a small margin.

"It appears like this place truly was useful for their improvement."

Jin remarked, seemingly impressed by what he saw.

After the orcs had made their appearance, it was the turn of the dwarves, and they roared while wearing cumbersome suits that covered their entire bodies like some kind of futuristic mech.

With each step that they took, an imprint would be left behind on the ground, and while they were holding onto large artifacts that resembled guns, they began to assemble in the area that surrounded them slowly.

The elves were the very last to arrive, and in place of their customary ornate attire, they wore leather armor with intricate purple rune decorations that intermittently appeared and vanished.

"It looks like every—"

Emma was never given the opportunity to complete her sentence.

'Uh? Eh?'

At precisely the moment that Amanda's attention was drawn to the elves, the world abruptly began to spin and went completely white.

She didn't have much of an idea what was going on, but she didn't have much time to think about it as her entire body started to spin.

"Huuaaa"

Thump!

Before she realized it, she felt her body land on something hard, and she took a deep breath. Instantly, her lungs filled up with air, and her mind cleared up once again.

After she came to, she noticed that her body had begun to sink. She reached her hand behind her to pull herself up, and as she did so, she felt a rough texture, and her hand began to sink as well.

"Uh? Where am I?"

When she looked around, she was stunned to see that she was in a desert like landscape.

Sand dunes dominated her peripheral vision, and a blood-red sun hung in the sky above her. The sky was a dark gray color, and the air was very dry.

She was surrounded by sand.

"What's going on?"

As she looked around her in disbelief, a plethora of questions started to run through her head. Despite all the questions she had, she managed to keep her composure and slowly help herself up.

When she looked around, she saw that she was the only one present in the desolate world.

…Or so she thought.

"Hm, there's someone else over there?"

She hesitated.

With her sharp eyes, she was able to catch a glimpse of a figure in the distance.

They had human features and appeared to be wandering around without a destination. They appeared to be a male, but their face was old and wrinkled, and their eyes were sunken in... as if they hadn't eaten anything for a very considerable amount of time.

He had both hands on the ground, and his back was hunched as he took hesitant steps forward while wandering around aimlessly.

He seemed desperate for help.

'Could it be a trap?'

Amanda pondered while she kept her gaze fixed on the person off in the distance.

He wasn't very strong, but she never evaluated someone based on how strong they appeared on the surface.

She had learned her lesson the hard way.

Answers were what she needed at the moment, and the human over there might have been able to give her the answers that she was looking for, but after giving the matter some thought for a while, Amanda shook her head and decided against approaching the human.

'It's too risky.'

In this unfamiliar world, Amanda knew better than to trust anyone.

The only one she could trust was herself, and thus, turning her gaze away from the human, she ran in the opposite direction.

One way or another, she was going to find her answers.

Swoosh!

As her form faded into the distance, the surrounding area went back to its previous state of utter silence.

A split second after Amanda's figure vanished, the human who Amanda had been looking at before halted, and his eyes landed on the spot where Amanda had gone.

Crack. Crack.

A series of cracking sounds erupted out of nowhere, and the figure suddenly began to mutate, transforming into the appearance of a tall and menacing demon.

"Hmm, and here I thought my disguise was perfect."

His words seemed to carry some sense of disappointment; however, the smile that was on his face made it seem otherwise.

"She's quite the sharp one."

He commented again, turning his gaze away from her and looking around him and feeling the thousands of different lives around him.

The smile on his face depended, and the world around him started to twist.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swooosh!

The demon didn't even bother to turn around to look at the over a thousand figures that had suddenly materialized behind him before issuing his command.

"Go on…"

He softly said.

"…have all the fun that you want."

With a broad smile, he continued.

"Welcome them to the Pillar of Wrath."

Chapter 806: Choice [1]

Ren sat in front of the projections, and as he looked at them, his gaze moved around to the various projections next to him.

The words "The Pillar of Wrath?" escaped his lips as faint recollections of what had transpired moments before began to resurface within his mind. Slowly but surely, he pieced together the puzzle and came to a sudden understanding.

'So that's what those things were.'

Ren found himself confronted with Jezebeth's sly smile as he turned his head. Jezebeth's gaze seemed to be shifting between the projections and Ren as if he was trying to gauge his reaction to the matter.

"What do you think?"

Jezebeth asked, his tone light but his eyes serious.

Ren frowned, pondering over the situation. It was clear that Jezebeth had a plan and that he had been working towards it for some time.

"It looks like you've already gotten an idea of the situation."

Jezebeth commented, clearly amused by his hesitation. He then began to explain, his words flowing smoothly.

"Like I said before… you can hide them from me, but you can't stop me from bringing them to me. Over the years, my mastery over the laws has progressed to the point where I can finally feel the records."

Jezebeth stretched out his hand as if trying to grasp something that was just out of reach.

"I can feel them," he murmured. "They are so close, yet so far, and..."

Lowering his head, Ren felt Jezebeth's gaze. The intensity of his gaze made him feel uncomfortable.

"You're the last step in helping me reach that goal."

Jezebeth muttered, his words slow and deliberate.

So long as he killed Ren and absorbed all of his powers, he'd finally be able to take that last step and get his hands on the records.

With the Protectors gone and all the fragments collected, he was the last hurdle that stood in his way of reaching his goal.

He, needed to die.

"The Pillars are something I've designed over the past few regressions. I've spent quite a lot of time developing them. What they do is rather simple; they create a pocket dimension where all demons inside find their abilities amplified."

Jezebethe pointed at the projections with his long and slender hand.

"As you've seen, there are seven pillars in total. Each representing one of the sins and amplifying their abilities to the point where even I shudder at the results… "

Jezebeth's smile widened, and he leaned back in his chair. Taking a sip of the tea, he gazed at Ren with a relaxed expression.

"How long do you think they'll be able to survive in such a place? One hour? Two hours? Three hours? A day? A week? Or maybe even a month? …Do you really think they have the ability to defeat them?"

Jezebeth's disappointment was compounded by the fact that Ren's expression did not change as he looked at the projections in front of him.

This was not what Jezebeth had in mind when imagining the current situation.

"You know…"

He set the teacup down.

"The more I talk to you, the more I feel like I'm talking to him. I guess, in the time since we last saw each other, he must've done quite a bit in order to make you the way that you are… I have to say, I'm impressed."

Jezebeth's eyes suddenly squinted.

"Even so… I'd like for you to hear my proposal."

There was something about Jezebeth's voice that changed all of a sudden. Though faint, an echo lingered in his voice, and the surroundings turned still.

"With Kevin gone, you no longer need to kill me."

If in the past Ren had no choice but to defeat Jezebeth in order to free himself from his unfortunate circumstances, this time around, things were very different.

Ren no longer needed to kill Jezebeth in order to liberate himself from his suffering.

"You should be well aware of what my goal is by now. I want the Records, and I will do anything in my power to get them."

Jezebeth turned his head to look at Ren.

"…It's a bit of a pity, but in order for that to happen, I need you to die."

There were no emotions in his words as he gazed at Ren. The situation was simple. In order for him to get to the Records, he needed to get his hands on the remaining powers that lingered inside of Ren.

So long as he gained access to those powers, he'd finally get his hands on the records and, in a way, control the entire universe. Controlling the universe wasn't exactly his goal, but it was an added touch.

That being said…

In order for him to gain access to those powers, Ren had to die.

It was the only way.

"As long as you die, I'll be able to figure out the answers that I seek and finally be set free from this long game of ours."

Jezebeth turned his head toward the projections that were surrounding them.

There were several thousand images on them, and each one was more eerie than the one before it. They portrayed a number of humans and members of other races engaged in a ferocious battle against legions of demons and monsters belonging to the Demon Realm.

They were armed with swords and shields, but the otherworldly creatures that were surrounding them were more powerful than their weapons could ever hope to be.

… It didn't look like they'd last for very long.

Jezebeth tore his gaze away from the projections and once again looked at Ren.

"Here comes the deal..."

Bringing his hand up, he pointed directly at Ren.

"Kill yourself and give me your powers, and in exchange, I will end this all at once."

Jezebeth smacked his lips together.

"I won't hurt any of them, not even one of them. If you kill yourself right now, in this very moment, I promise that I won't hurt any of those humans, and in fact, I'll do everything in my power to make their lives as comfortable as possible."

"…"

Jezebeth's words didn't have much of an effect on Ren.

Quietly picking up the teacup from the table, he calmly drank it and cast an indifferent glance in Jezebeth's direction.

'Not enough?'

Ren's behavior somewhat astounded Jezebeth, but he wasn't entirely surprised. He had always been like this, and he was somewhat used to it.

Even so…

He was prepared.

"It looks like this is not enough to convince you."

All of a sudden, Jezebeth turned his head and stretched his hand forward. The world around him started to warp, and all of a sudden, a thin figure emerged from it. Their frame was small, and they were currently wearing a white mask.

The thing that initially drew Ren's attention was a pair of striking green eyes. All of a sudden, Ren's shoulder trembled, and Jezebeth didn't miss that.

He smiled a little.

"Why don't you take off your mask and show him who you are?"

Following Jezebeth's instructions, the figure that stood in front of Ren slowly brought their hands closer to their face.

With a deliberate, almost theatrical movement, they removed their mask, revealing the features of a young man with black hair and piercing green eyes.

The figure stood there for a moment, silently watching Ren as their gazes met. There was a palpable tension in the air, as if both men were waiting for the other to make a move.

Ren's expression, which had previously been unperturbed, finally began to show signs of change. His body trembled all of a sudden, betraying the emotions that he had been trying so hard to conceal.

"Hi, Ren."

Smallsnake finally spoke, and Ren's body stopped trembling. He closed his eyes and remained seated where he was, completely motionless.

"Looks like you're still trying to keep yourself composed."

Jezebeth was beyond impressed by the composure Ren was showing before him.

From his family and friends who were trapped in the pillars to the one person he had previously believed had died... If Jezebeth had been in Ren's position, he believed he would have been unable to maintain his composure.

He was very impressed…

But that was just as far as things went.

"Ukh."

Stretching his hand, Smallsnake's body flew in his direction, and his hand grasped at his throat.

Smallsnake let out a visible groan, and his expression distorted in pain. It seemed like he wanted to say a lot of things at the moment, but Jezebeth prevented him from doing so.

Jezebeth looked at Ren, whose eyes were still closed.

"I don't think I have to spell things out for you. Choose. Kill yourself, or he will die. Not just him, the others will die alongside that stupid decision of yours."

His words did not sound like a threat but rather like a command, and immediately after that, Jezebeth's expression changed from one of leisure to one of utter seriousness.

It was a cold gaze that was drastically different from how he usually was.

"I'm tired of playing these games. It's time the two of us ended this... so choose. Choose how you wish for our game to end."

Swoosh! Swoosh!

As soon as he finished speaking, a strong wind swept through the area, causing the grass and trees to sway violently. Ren's expression was concealed by his hair, which whirled wildly around his face.

"There's a misunderstanding here."

Ren's words suddenly resounded throughout the area around them. The world around him began to lose its color, and the pigmentation that had been present in his hair began to vanish.

Ren slowly raised his head and opened his eyes, exposing a pair of crimson pupils as he did so. They were strikingly similar to Jezebeth's pupils.

"...Your misunderstanding began the moment you thought you were speaking to the kind-hearted Ren. Your initial hunch was correct."

He turned to look at Smallsnake and the projections.

"What happens to them… It's none of my concern."

Chapter 807: Choice [2]

Rumble―! Rumble―!

As Ren rose from his seat, the world began to exhibit signs of collapse. His eyes alternated between crimson and dull gray as his black hair gradually turned white.

"You… what?"

Jezebeth, also stunned by the abrupt change, rose from his seat and stared at Ren with an expression of bewilderment.

"Why are you here? How is this…"

He fumbled over his words as he stared directly at Ren. None of it made sense to him at the moment.

He was certain from the moment he sat down with him that he wasn't conversing with the Ren he knew but rather with the other version of him. The inferior version of him.

He wasn't supposed to be here.

With Kevin gone, nothing prevented him from vanishing without a trace.

So…

So why was he still here?

"What have you done? Where is…"

It was unusual for Jezebeth to be this flustered, but the sudden situation made it difficult for him to articulate himself appropriately. His mind was flooded with various questions, making it difficult for him to complete a sentence.

"Aha…"

But he wasn't the demon race's leader for nothing. After a brief moment of fluster, he regained his composure, and his gaze grew extremely icy.

"Answer me this…"

He looked around him.

"…If you're the one that's here, does that mean that you've absorbed the other version of you? Does he still even exist?"

Jezebeth made sure to look directly at Ren when asking the question. He wanted to know the answer. No, he needed to know the answer.

There was something unsettling about the situation, and he didn't like the feeling.

"Does he still exist?"

Ren's mouth eventually opened, with a trace of a rare smile appearing on it.

"…You'll see soon enough."

That wasn't the answer Jezebeth wanted.

***

"Welcome to the Pillar of Gluttony."

A majestic voice echoed in the air, stretching endlessly and reaching the ears of all those within its range.

"What's going on?"

"Where am I?"

When the people who had just materialized in this world turned their heads toward the sky, the direction from which they perceived the voice to have originated, they did so with expressions of bewilderment on their faces.

"What is this place... and what's going on?"

"This... weren't we just in Immorra? When did we get here?"

A fiery orange ball hung low on the horizon, and it cast long shadows that were twisted in all directions across the wasteland.

Within the confines of the Pillar of Gluttony was a world that was desolate and uninhabitable, with scorched and cracked ground stretching out for miles in all directions.

The atmosphere was thick with a crimson haze that made it difficult to see beyond the horizon and gave everything an eerie glow.

The few trees that were left stood starkly against the sky, their leaves having withered and fallen off for quite some time.

Swoosh―! Swoosh―!

Groups of demons and monsters emerged from beneath several rocky hills.Their twisted and gnarled forms writhed in the dim light of the red sun, casting eerie shadows across the jagged terrain.

Leading the group was a towering demon, its blackened skin rippling with muscles as it wielded a jagged, fiery sword. Its eyes gleamed with a dangerous light, and its snarling maw dripped with saliva as it surveyed the surrounding landscape.

Beside the demon, a pack of wretched wolf like beasts skittered out of the hill, their sharp claws and jagged teeth bared in hunger. Their fur was matted and oily, and their eyes glowed with crimson light as they hungrily scanned the land beneath them.

Following them, a group of winged fiends took to the air, their leathery wings casting shadows as they soared overhead.

"Creaak!"

"Creaaak!"

Their screeches filled the air, and their eyes glittered at the sight of the people beneath them as several demons appeared beside them.

The hills trembled as the leading demon shouted and raised his sword.

"Attack!"

"Watch out!"

A newcomer yelled out as he swung his sword at the first demon that lunged at him.

"I will kill yo―uh?"

But just as he swung, he noticed something strange.

Swoosh―! His sword cut through the air at a speed that a person with normal vision could see. It seemed as though it were moving in slow motion the whole time.

"Whhhaaaat?"

Everything started to move in slow motion for him, and the weight of his eyelids grew increasingly heavy. His physical strength suddenly vanished, and he staggered forward ineffectually as a result.

Crrrrr―!

It was faint, but right before he drew his last breath, he felt his stomach rumble.

Thump!

He wasn't the only one like this. Many others tried to draw their weapons, but for some reason, they felt the task becoming increasingly arduous.

It was as if their entire body had lost all energy, and what replaced it was an insatiable hunger.

Spurt―! Spurt―! Spurt―!

Blood gushed out onto the ground as the demons tore their bodies in two using their claws and mutilated everything else in the area.

As blood continued to pool in the parched land, it didn't take long for the situation to start turning into a one sided massacre.

"Heelp!"

Spurt―!

Cried a panicked voice, only for them to die shortly after. A hand emerging from the other side of their body.

Clank―!

Not all hope was lost, however.

"Ukh."

Some were still able to react despite the dire circumstances and were able to halt the demons' advance.

In particular, a group of three—one human, one elf, and an orc—huddled together in one of the corners of the land.

Even though the situation affected everyone in the group, they were able to defend themselves against the demon's attacks thanks to the orc, who tanked all of the hits.

Clank―!!

"Khhh…"

The orc, who was positioned in the front, took a deep breath as he continued to absorb the onslaught of attacks coming from four demons.

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

Arrows flew in a whirlwind behind him, impaling the demons that were in front of him, and the orc charged to the right, where three large hounds were attacking.

If it wasn't already obvious, demons weren't the only creatures that appeared in this unknown world.

There were also monsters present, and they made their presence known rather quickly.

"Huaar!"

They were roughly the same size as the orc, and as soon as they attacked, they completely overpowered the orc with their sharp claws and teeth.

"Argh."

The orc was bitten on the shoulder by one of the hounds, and green blood spurted out onto the ground. As if that wasn't bad enough, the other two hounds went for the orc's legs, and a crunching sound resounded throughout the area.

Cr..Crack!

The orc fell on one knee with a "Thump!", and desperation flashed across his features.

"Uarkhh!"

When one of the hounds opened its mouth, the orc saw his own blood dripping from its massive teeth.

He fixed his eyes intently on the scene, trying to make an impression of what he believed would be his final view. However, just at that moment, something zipped by him, and a number of "Thump's" resounded through the air.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

"Huh? What happened?"

The orc was taken aback to find a human being standing in front of him when he came to his senses. He had a sword slung over his shoulder, and his long, dark hair fell down his back as he rubbed his stomach.

"Why do I feel so hungry all of a sudden? …Hm, I'm usually never this hungry, but I feel hungrier today than usual… how weird…"

The group of four quickly regained their composure after overhearing his mutterings.

The four of them immediately took out several potions, and their injuries healed. They were about to express their gratitude when they were startled to see that the pupils in his eyes had suddenly dilated and turned a piercing shade of yellow.

His eyes narrowed, and a sly grin formed on the corners of his mouth.

"Hm... I sense a powerful presence nearby... Stronger than me."

The man said, licking his lips in what seemed to be anticipation.

"Perhaps it's the big boss? But it seems like they're already engaged in a battle with several other strong opponents. Is it really my place to intervene?"

The group of four exchanged a worried glance.

This human didn't seem entirely sane.

The man appeared momentarily absorbed in thought as he scratched the back of his head with a troubled expression. Then, he abruptly smacked his palm with his fist and spoke with a determined tone.

"Screw it, I'm going in."

He unsheathed his sword.

"It's not every day I get to face someone so strong. I'll first ask them politely, and if they refuse, I'll just knock them out... It's not every day you get to fight someone so strong."

He declared, nodding his head confidently.

Swoosh―!!

Without another word, the human's form blurred, and he disappeared from sight, leaving the four battle-weary warriors standing there in stunned silence.

They exchanged another look, then silently decided it was best not to get involved with someone who had clearly lost his mind.

As the group of four moved on to continue their battle, they couldn't help but wonder if he truly would do what he said he would do.

There was no way he was that crazy, right?

Chapter 808: The Seven Pillars [1]

"Haaa… Haa…"

Within the confines of a large forest, the echo of two rough breaths could be heard. They belonged to none other than Hein and Ava, and they had been running for what seemed like an eternity at that point.

Their lungs burned, their legs ached, and their hearts pounded so loudly that it was a wonder the creatures chasing them hadn't heard.

"Over here!"

They found themselves in the middle of a thick forest, with the trees towering high above them and their leaves obscuring the majority of the sunlight. They had a hard time seeing where they were going, but they dared not slow down.

"This wa-no, shit! This way!"

The intense fight that they had only moments before evaded left visible damage on Hein's armor in the form of cracks and dents.

Ava's clothes were torn and bloodied, her hair a tangled mess. They were both exhausted, but they knew they couldn't stop yet.

"Shit... there's too many..."

Hein muttered, his breath coming out in ragged gasps.

"Where the fuck are we?"

Ava cursed under her breath, her legs feeling like they were made of lead.

Rustle! Rustle!

The sound of leaves rustling in the wind froze them in their tracks. They turned to see more than a dozen creatures emerging from the underbrush, their eyes blazing with an insatiable hunger. Ava and Hein's expressions crumbled at that moment.

"Shit, they're already here. Hurry and run; I'll hold back their first attack!"

Hein shouted, his voice laced with desperation.

Clank―! Clank―! Clank―!

In spite of his anxiety, he took a step forward, and as he did so, his shield broke up into nine separate pieces and floated in front of him.

A translucent green field connected each individual section of the shield, and the result was the formation of a rectangular barrier that covered a large portion of the land in front of him.

Boom―! Boom―!

"Urkghh!"

When the creatures first began their assault, the shield shook violently. Hein could taste something sweet at the very back of his throat, but he gritted his teeth and retracted his shield away.

The pieces found their way back to him and pieced themselves together again.

"Let's go."

Hein immediately changed course and made a beeline for the woods without wasting a single second of time. Although Ava was already quite a ways ahead, he was able to catch up to her in no time at all.

"Rooar!"

"Huarrr!"

"Khiek!"

The creatures chased after them, their snarls and roars echoing through the forest. It was a relentless pursuit, and despite their best efforts, Ava and Hein were struggling to keep ahead.

"Haa... haaa... This is too much."

Ava complained, running forward with all of her might.

They had been at it for several hours, and despite the fact that they had a number of potions available to them, she found that her strength was waning rather rapidly.

Ava was beginning to worry about whether or not they'd be able to emerge from the forest alive. The creatures did not show any sign of stopping their pursuit.

Hein, too, was starting to feel the weight of their situation.

They had managed to fend off the first wave of attacks, but they knew that more creatures were lurking in the shadows, waiting to strike.

That wasn't all... What truly made the situation difficult for them was the strange scent that lingered in the air.

For some reason, they found their breaths become heavier and heavier because of it.

"We have to keep going."

Hein said, his voice low so as not to attract any attention.

"We have to get out of the forest. Whatever is here, we have to get away from it. We're fucked if we don't get out of here."

Ava nodded, determination written all over her face. Together, they pushed on through the dense forest, their feet pounding against the ground as they ran for their lives.

"Ava…haaa… can you not use your flute at all?"

"You think I'd here r―"

Ava halted herself in the middle of her sentence, and her feet began to gradually slow down until they came to a complete stop.

"Uh? Why are yo―"

The same was true for Hein, who looked ahead and found that his already pale face had become even paler.

Licking his lips, which had gone dry, he turned to look at Ava.

"We're fucked, aren't we?"

Ava smiled and nodded her head as she looked up ahead, where there were at least a dozen and possibly even more demons. She then covertly swallowed her saliva.

"Yeah…"

She agreed, her eyes wandering over the beasts that the demons were sitting on.

They looked like large wolves, but unlike them, they looked far more menacing and were a lot larger. They had sharp, long teeth and claws, and their fur was a dark, matted gray or black. Their eyes were yellow and glowing, making them intimidating to look at.

They weren't exactly the best looking wolves, but… they sure as hell looked menacing to her.

"…We're totally fucked."

"You're fine."

Just then, a soft voice reached their ears, and the two of them froze on the spot. Upon recognizing to whom the voice belonged, both of their heads jerked abruptly to the side, and their eyes widened in surprise.

The color returned to their previously pale faces, and the expressions on their faces became brighter.

"Angelica!"

"Angelica!"

"It looks like the two of you have improved a lot."

Standing behind them with a thin smile on her face, Angelica gazed at the two of them. It had been a while since she had last seen them, and the two of them looked stronger than the last time she'd seen them.

"…We had a lot of time to improve."

Hein scratched the back of his head, finally letting his breath out as he did so. He wasn't quite able to sense Angelica's strength, but he could tell that she was stronger than the last time he had seen her.

Most importantly, she was unquestionably more powerful than the demons that were pursuing them.

"Young Matriarch?"

The demons that had surrounded them came to an abrupt halt and looked at Angelica with bewildered expressions on their faces.

"Young Matriarch?"

Ava and Hein exchanged looks with one another after hearing Angelica's title. They had a lot of questions in their minds at the moment, but they decided to voice them out later.

They were in no condition to talk.

"Stay back, you two."

But just as the two were getting ready to fight, Angelica quickly intervened and stopped them in their tracks by stepping forward. She stared at the demons that were in front of her, and a perplexed expression briefly crossed her face.

"Haa…"

Letting out a sigh, she extended her hand forward.

Almost instantly, demonic energy erupted from her entire body and engulfed the space that they were in.

"Young Matriarch?"

"What are you doing, Young Matriarch!?"

The demons were left in a state of shock as a result of Angelica's actions, and just as they were beginning to understand what had just taken place, Angelica bowed her head and apologized.

"I'm sorry, but I gave up on that title long ago."

Cr..Crack!

The space around the demons fractured, and before the demons even had a chance to defend themselves, the space swallowed them whole, and their figures vanished entirely.

"…"

The moment they disappeared, the area fell into a hush, and when Angelica turned her head to look around, she saw Hein and Ava staring at her in disbelief.

"You…"

Hein was the first one to speak, and as he did so, his gaze kept alternating back and forth between her hand and the location where the demons had previously been standing.

"…When did you get so strong?"

The power that she displayed to them at that moment shocked them to the core.

After spending five years in Immorra, they had originally believed that they would be closer to Angelica's power, but that didn't appear to be the case at all.

In fact, it seems as though she had surpassed them in every possible way in just a few short years.

Just what had happened?

"You're thinking too much. I've not improved as much as you think. In fact, your progress is a lot greater than mine."

Angelica smiled, taking in their reactions. When she reached out her hand, two floating contracts appeared in front of her, and she gave one to Ava and the other to Hein.

"Here, take them."

"What's this?"

"Devil Contracts."

Angelica replied, her tone clear and direct. Before Hein and Ava could voice their shock, she continued.

"I'm sure you're already aware of it, but the place in which you currently find yourself places limitations on your abilities."

The world contained within the Pillars was almost entirely devoid of mana and entirely brimming with demonic energy. As a result, it was extremely difficult for beings that couldn't control demonic energy to restore their mana after it had been depleted.

"It's rather surprising to me that the two of you have been able to hold out this long, but it's obvious from the way the two of you are looking at the moment that you're struggling to keep it together."

Their faces and breaths said it all.

Had she not arrived in the time that she did, she was afraid the two of them would not have made it, and perhaps even…

She didn't dare think of such a scenario.

It was fortunate that, due to her position, she was able to observe what was taking place inside the tower, and as a result, she was able to find them rather quickly.

"You're inside of what is called the Pillar of Lust, and inside of it, our powers are enhanced. The reason why it seems like I've improved so much is because of the properties of the pillars, and if you two sign the contract, you will no longer be held back by the constraints of the pillar."

She lowered her head and stared at the two contracts, a smile forming on her cold face.

"As a matter of fact, the two of you will find your strength increasing once you sign the contract, so…"

Angelica handed the two of them the contract.

"…Sign them."

Chapter 809: The Seven Pillars [2]

'What is he planning?'

When Jezebeth looked at Ren, his eyes narrowed as he tried to comprehend the motivation behind Ren's continued opposition to him.

As opposed to before, the very air around him changed, and the world around him started to collapse.

It was only thanks to Jezebeth that it remained intact.

The tension in the air was palpable, and Jezebeth's crimson eyes flickered dangerously.

"Is this really your decision?"

He asked, his voice low and dangerous.

Ren's expression remained unchanged, and Jezebeth's frustration grew.

"Do you understand the consequences of your actions?"

He threatened, gesturing toward the projections that surrounded them. Each frame held a different individual, and Jezebeth could see humans and members of the three races.

Their situation…

It wasn't good. In fact, it was terrible, and each second, hundreds if not thousands of individuals died at the hands of the demons.

It was a slaughter.

"If you choose to fight me, by the time our fight is over, everyone will be dead. Your friends, your lover... your family. Everyone will die! Do you really wish for that to happen?"

Jezebeth expected Ren to flinch, to hesitate, to show some sort of emotion. But Ren just continued to stare at him with that same unnerving gaze.

"Even now, as we speak, people are dying!?"

Jezebeth continued, his voice rising with his frustration.

"You don't seem to care about their lives, but what's the point of all of this? If you don't care about them, why do you even bother fighting against me?"

The question hung in the air, unanswered, and Jezebeth's anger simmered. Why was Ren doing this? Was it to spite him? For what reason? Were all of his preparations for nothing!?

"Why!?"

SWOOOSH―! He bellowed, the sound echoing through the room and causing the projections to flicker.

"…Why?"

Finally, Ren spoke. His voice was quiet, but it carried an air of finality that made Jezebeth's face stiffen.

"The reason is simple."

Ren said, his gaze shifting toward the projections.

"My job is to kill you. As for the others..."

The space around one of the projections distorted, and Jezebeth realized too late what was happening. Smallsnake, who was only a few meters away from him, disappeared, and Jezebeth turned to look at Ren, who was looking at him with a smile on his face.

"That's a job for another person."

His voice gently spread across the space, and Jezebeth felt his entire body tremble.

"You..."

Jezebeth's voice trailed off as he looked at Ren, his anger boiling over.

To be honest, if he wanted to, he could've probably stopped Smallsnake from leaving, but he decided that it wasn't worth it. He could tell from Ren's eyes that he really didn't care whether he lived or died, and keeping him was pointless.

The same was true for the people who were dying within the projections.

He could tell at a glance that they were of no concern to him at the moment.

"You really..."

Jezebeth clenched his teeth, his lips curling into an annoyed smile.

"Piss me off."

***

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Thick raindrops pounded against the deserted streets, collecting into small pools along the streets. They reflected the dim light that filtered through the thick clouds in the sky.

The sky was grey and overcast, casting a gloomy and eerie atmosphere over the empty town.

"Where is this place?"

I wondered, looking around me and finding a tiny deserted town nestled on the coastline of what seemed to be an island.

Splash! Splash!

The waves hit the coastline with a relentless force, crashing against the rocks and sending sprays of salty water into the air.

The sound of the waves was deafening, a constant roar that echoed throughout the surrounding landscape. As each wave approached the shore, it rose up, building in size and intensity before crashing down with a thunderous boom.

"Hmm."

I frowned at the sight in front of me.

Upon closer observation, the town in the distance seemed to be made of human architecture, and it looked abandoned and forgotten, with overgrown weeds and moss covering the once well-maintained buildings.

'I've never seen such a place on earth… where in the world is this place?'

"Splash!" I took a step forward, my foot splashing against one of the puddles, ripples forming outwardly on the surface of the water.

When I looked down at the puddle, I gazed at my reflection. My entire body was dark, almost shadow-like, and while I could see my features, there was no color in me.

Suddenly, a screen appeared in front of me, and I looked at it with a mixture of complex emotions.

'It's been a while since I've last used this skill. Who would've thought it could've been used this way…'

[[A] Dark Servant] - It will grant the user the ability to summon a shadow servant for an extended period of time. There will be 50% resemblance between the shadow servant and the user in terms of skill and strength. Cooldown period: 5 days.

I tore my gaze away from my status window. Indeed, just before Jezebeth appeared, I switched my body with the other me and became what I was now.

It felt rather uncomfortable moving in this body, but at the same time, I didn't feel any strangeness from it. I practiced fighting with this body several times, and there was no problem with it.

I could perform just as well as without this body, and in fact, I was a bit stronger than my usual self.

That… That was just how big the difference between the other me and me was. Just 50% of his strength was about the same as my current strength.

'It's not all too bad.'

There was something that was unaccounted for in the skill. The fact that I gained my other selves skills while retaining my own.

With the two combined, my power rose even further.

"Huuu."

I took a deep breath, scanning the world around me. When I closed my eyes, I expanded my mana outwardly and tried to feel for any life that was in the vicinity.

The island was rather big, and it took me quite a lot of mana to get a proper view of the entire island. Only when I got a good feeling of the entire island did I open my eyes and let out a deep breath.

"If I'm not wrong, this should be the Pillar of Envy."

I didn't know much about these pillars, but the conversation between the other me and Jezebeth was transmitted inside of my mind, and I came to understand that this was a world within those enormous pillars that crashed against earth not too long ago.

"How troublesome..."

Out of all pillars, I had to enter the hardest one…

Even so, I wasn't discouraged. My task was to help as many people as possible and reduce the casualties on our side.

Beating all the heads of the Demon Clans was impossible for us yet. There were a couple of things I had set up beforehand, but I wasn't too confident of them working out... perhaps so, but that didn't really matter in the grand scope of things.

I could fight against one head, but I couldn't fight against all seven. Even if I wanted to fight against one of them, by the time our fight was done, almost all of those on our side would have perished.

"What I need to do right now is stall for as much time as possible. Be it by saving people or getting the attention of all the big-shot demons in here... I have to stall enough time for the other me to kill Jezebeth."

So long as he managed to kill him, everything would come to an end.

Everything was in the other me's hands, and I could only pray that he'd be able to beat Jezebeth.

He hadn't told me what his plan was, but he reassured me that all I needed to do was save those I wanted to save. He would take care of the rest.

The only problem, however, was the fact that I couldn't use the laws. Since our powers were directly connected, if I used the laws, I'd be directly affecting his fight against Jezebeth.

In fact, just me being here was severely affecting his fight as Dark Servant took a lot of mana.

"Huuu."

Thinking of the situation, I took another deep breath.

"For now, I'll start with those on this Pillar. Once I'm done, I'll go to the other Pillars…"

Taking a step forward, my vision blurred, and my surroundings changed.

Chapter 810: Numb [1]

Splash! Splash!

My feet eventually came to a stop on a rocky surface, and as they did so, waves crashed against the firm surface of the rocks, spraying saltwater all over me. It was refreshing, and yet, it made me more alert.

As I looked around, I noticed that there were a few people off in the distance. They were encircled by a number of demons and monsters, and with just one look, I could tell that their situation was quite precarious.

"I'll give them a hand."

When I stretched out my hand, the demons that were surrounding the group instantly disappeared, leaving them stunned.

I didn't linger any longer and quickly moved away from the location, continuing my journey further into the interior of the island.

Every time I had the opportunity, I would wipe out all of the demons that were within my line of sight. There were quite a few of them, and the last time I counted them, I discovered that their total number exceeded the tens of thousands.

As I made my way through the island, I couldn't help but think about the world. Why was the location like this? Why did the landscape look like something that came from Earth, and why an island?

"There are a lot of demons..."

I muttered to myself, closing my eyes and feeling the demons that were within the island.

"And if that isn't bad enough, I can sense over a thousand demons that are ranked from Count rank and above... This..."

The odds were overwhelming.

Even I was not confident in handling so many demons, and this was just one pillar... I could only shudder at the number of demons within the other pillars.

Despite the overwhelming odds, I refused to give up.

"This should be a good spot."

I stopped on a large patch of land and waved my hand. A white barrier formed around me, sealing everything around me.

"I've moved far enough... I shouldn't get noticed even if I use this skill now."

As I swept my hand in front of me, a map of some sort materialized in front of me. There were a few red dots on it, and on top of each one was a name. It was Soul Linkage, one of the skills that used to belong to Kevin.

I was able to learn about this ability after gaining access to his powers, and I put it to use right away.

With Soul Linkage, I could find out how everyone was doing and where they were. It was an extremely useful skill that would help me locate those who were in danger and provide them with the help they needed.

I couldn't use it carelessly because of the possibility that it would attract the attention of one of the heads with how unusual the laws were; as a result, I had to look for an ideal location where I could use it before I could do so.

It was also for this reason that I only killed the demons that were within my line of sight. I wanted to check Soul Linkage as fast as possible.

"Let's see if there's anyone that's nea―"

I froze mid-sentence as my gaze paused on a few dots on the screen in front of me.

Ba…Thump! Ba…Thump!

"No... why? What?"

My heart pounded out of my chest, and my body stiffened.

"W… what? How? Didn't he say…"

Ba…Thump! Ba…Thump!

I muttered under my breath.

I acted before I even realized. Channelling the Laws within my body without any restraint for them, my vision blurred, and I disappeared into the shadows.

"No... no... no..."

***

"Get back!"

A deep voice echoed through the dense forest, bouncing off the trees and rocks as three figures emerged from the foliage.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

A man, a woman, and a teenage girl ran frantically away from a hulking, menacing figure that was making its way toward them with calculated ease.

"Ronald, get back here! You're not a match for it!"

Samantha screamed in terror, her voice cracking with emotion, as she watched her husband take a defensive stance with a sword in his hand.

"So what!?"

Ronald's face was usually stoic, but now he showed rare signs of emotion as he pointed his sword at the looming demon. His body stood firmly before his wife and daughter, his eyes blazing with determination.

"I'll hold them back for now; you try to find a way to contact Ren… As long as you contact him, you'll be fine… just…"

Ronald's words trailed off as he struggled to catch his breath.

The demon in front of him exerted a pressure unlike any other, and he felt troubled by it. His sword arm shook with the effort of holding it steady, and even standing was hard for him at that moment.

But even in his weakened state, he was not going to let anything happen to the people he cared about. Not on his watch.

'At least, this way, I'll prove that I'm not useless...'

It was ever since Ren's stunning growth that Ronald felt it.

His own uselessness.

Ever since Ren came to power, he realized just how much of a burden he was to his own son, and it had been eating him up almost every day.

Even so...

He kept it hidden to himself and did everything he could to keep his family safe. Just like now. What he was doing... it was for them.

He had to do it.

It was his duty as a father.

"Go!"

"No, Ronald…"

Samantha's voice was barely above a whisper as tears streamed down her face. She had known her husband for quite some time now, and in all those years that the two of them had spent together, his back had never felt so large…

"M,mom…"

Nola's voice trembled as she clung to her mother's side, her eyes wide with fear.

Samantha's heart clenched at the sight of her daughter's scared expression. She grabbed Nola's hand tightly, knowing that they had to get out of there as soon as possible.

"Let's go, Nola. We don't have time; we have to run."

Samantha's voice was strained with emotion as she tried to remain calm for her daughter's sake.

"But… but dad."

Nola's voice was barely above a whisper, her eyes fixed on her father's back as he faced off against the demon.

"I know, sweetie. But we have to trust that he knows what he's doing."

Samantha tried to keep her voice steady, even as her heart was pounding in her chest.

With a heavy heart, Samantha pulled Nola along with her as they made their way deeper into the forest. Tears streamed down the side of her face as she forced herself not to look back, not to see what was happening to her husband.

"R,Ren will take care of it. We… we just have to run for now. We'll see him again very s―"

BANG―! Before she could finish her sentence, the forest shook with a loud, thunderous crash. The ground beneath their feet trembled, and Samantha stumbled, nearly falling to the ground.

"Wha-what was that?"

Nola's voice was shaking with fear as she clung to her mother's hand tightly.

Samantha's heart was pounding in her chest as she looked in the direction of the noise. And then she saw it.

A large tree, taller than any other tree in the forest, had been split in half by an unseen force. The sound had come from the impact of the tree as it crashed to the ground, sending shockwaves throughout the area.

And then she saw him. Her husband lay crumpled next to the fallen tree, his sword lying just out of reach.

"No… No… no…"

Samantha's heart felt like it was being ripped out of her chest as she fell to her knees. Beside her, Nola was in no better state as tears streamed down her cheeks, her gaze fixed on her father who lay on the ground, lifeless.

"D,dad…"

She called out. She was met with no response, and her entire body started to shake. What she was experiencing… it wasn't something that she had ever experienced before, and her entire chest ached.

A lot of memories came flooding in at that moment, and her eyes blurred.

Thump!

But she didn't have the time to mourn. Just then, she was awoken by a rough step, and when she turned her head, her gaze fell on the large, burly demon that was responsible for all of this.

Her gaze burned with hatred at the sight of the demon, but at the same time, it burned with fear as she fell back and retreated.

"Mom!"

Nola called out for her mother, but when she turned her gaze, she found her staring at her own hands and muttering some words.

"No… you can't leave…"

She didn't even notice that the demon was upon her, and Nola's heart despaired.

"No, mom, no!"

She screamed, rushing to her side, but she was slow. Unlike her demon, she had only recently started to feel her mana, and thus, by the time the demon raised its hand, she had only taken one step.

"No!!"

Nola screamed in despair, her gaze fixed on the large hand that was approaching her mother. Her despair grew even further at the sight, and just as she thought her mother was also about to leave her, a crack formed above the demon's head, and a black hand came grasping from above.

It clenched the demon's head tightly and smacked it against the ground with frightening power.

Crash!

The entire earth shook, and a figure emerged shortly after. Despite being entirely black, Nola recognized it immediately, and tears welled up in her eyes.

"B,brother!"

Chapter 811: Numb [2]

Drip! Drip! Drip!

"It can't be… no…"

"Uwaaaa!"

Incomprehensible mutterings, a loud wail, and the sounds of rain dripping against the ground.

All of it reached my ears, and yet at the same time didn't.

Standing where I was, my mind was blank. I couldn't think of anything, and the noise around me came from one ear and left from another.

I was numb, so numb… Staring at the figure that lay before me, I didn't know how to react.

'He's dead…'

I tried to check up on him moments prior, but his heart and breath had stopped. There was nothing I could do at the moment, and it was this sense of helplessness that made me numb.

Why? …why did it have to happen again? Why did someone else have to leave me? Especially my father, of all people… the one person I was supposed to protect?

I closed my eyes, the rain still trickling down my face. Images of the past flashed in my mind, moments that I had shared with my father.

'Is this how he felt?'

At last, I was able to understand the constant agony that the other version of me had to endure on a consistent basis, and I noticed that something was beginning to eat away at my chest.

"Haa… uhaaa…"

Breathing was becoming incredibly difficult at the moment, and if not for me being used to this, I would've already lost it at this point.

'Not yet… I can't show weakness just yet…'

I held back everything that was threatening to come out at that moment and kept it to myself.

There would be a time later when I could show weakness… The time wasn't now.

Not yet, at least…

The rain continued to pour down, drenching my clothes and making me feel cold. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of raindrops hitting the ground.

"B,brother."

It was upon hearing Nola's voice that I turned around. The pain that I was feeling further intensified when I caught her gaze, and I raised my head to look up.

She had grown up since I had last seen her. With the time she spent in Immorra, she was now 14 years old… a teen. She had grown into a beautiful young girl and was no longer the little girl that I used to know.

Unlike before, she was aware of what was happening, and I couldn't bring myself to look at her.

"B,brother."

She called out again, but I didn't respond. I didn't want to face her. To see the look of sadness and confusion on her face.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

The silence was deafening, the only sound being the raindrops hitting the ground. It was as if the world had stopped for a moment, frozen in time.

"Hiek… b,brother… answer me…"

The rain masked her soft whimpers, and my heart ached at the thought. I really wanted to go to her at the moment and give her a hug, but I stopped myself.

Now was not the time…

'Not yet.'

I couldn't mourn just yet.

Not when I still didn't have the time to mourn Kevin's death.

"Huuu."

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. It was hard, but this wasn't the first time I lost someone important to me. I had already readied myself beforehand and was somewhat prepared.

Even so…

It hurt like hell.

"Nola, mom..."

I called out to my family, my voice trembling as I struggled to contain my emotions.

The weight of my father's death hung heavily over me, threatening to crush me under its enormity.

As I turned to face them, I could feel their eyes upon me, their concern palpable in the air. I knew I had to be strong. To keep it together for my own sake. But when I saw the sadness etched on their faces, my composure wavered.

"Uhh."

I took a deep breath and pointed towards a small house in the distance, my heart aching at the thought of leaving them behind. But I had no choice.

"For now, the two of you go over there. Bring...bring dad's body with you."

I said, my voice shaking slightly.

Nola's eyes widened in shock as she spoke up, her voice thick with emotion.

"You're leaving?"

I nodded, unable to meet her gaze.

"I want to stay with you too, but...I can't. There are things I need to do, and I can't afford to waste time here."

The words left a bitter taste in my mouth, and I regretted them almost immediately. Nola's reaction was swift and fierce, her grief and anger boiling over.

"Dad just died, damn it!"

She cried, her voice growing louder and more desperate with each passing moment.

"Did you seriously say that staying here with Dad is a waste of time?! What's wrong with you?"

"No... wait..."

I flinched at her words. This wasn't what I had meant, but how could I explain that to her in the midst of her pain?

"Nola, calm down."

My mother intervened, trying to diffuse the situation.

But she was beyond reason, her emotions raw and unbridled.

"No! Mom, why are you taking his side?! Did you not hear what he said? He thinks being with us is a waste of his time!!"

"Stop it! That's not what he meant, and you know it!"

She said strongly, her arms wrapping around Nola's trembling form.

"So what did he mean!?"

Nola demanded, her eyes flashing with fury.

I met my mother's gaze, silently pleading for her to handle the situation. She nodded her head, a subtle signal that she was with me.

"Stop; let's listen to your brother. We're only a burden to him now."

"No, fuck you! Damn it! Let me go, Mom!"

Nola trashed under my mother's arms, but she was perfectly restrained by her, and she continued to glare at me.

"Fine, go!"

Nola finally relented, unable to escape from our mother's grasp. The tears that streamed down from her eyes were masked by the gentle raindrops in the sky.

"I… I…"

Nola's body limped over in our mother's arms, and she finally wailed.

"Uwaaaa! Daaaad! Whyyy!?"

I averted my gaze from her while simultaneously biting my lower lip and turning my head to look in a particular direction. My vision began to blur, and the next thing I knew, I was floating on top of the vast sea that encircled the island.

Silence returned to my surroundings, and when I thought back at what just happened, I started to hyperventilate.

"Haa…haaa..haaaaa…"

'Not yet.'

I had to force myself once again, but unlike before, it proved to be a much harder task. The pain… it was a lot harder to mask than I thought.

"Fuck!"

Cursing out loud made the situation a bit better, but it was not enough. I needed to vent… I needed to let out what was built up in me, and slowly, the pain that I was feeling turned into something else.

Rage…

It was a rage unlike any other, and right then, as if something within me snapped, the world around me turned completely gray, and I felt endlessly calm.

Extending my hand in a certain direction, the waves beneath me quaked and the sky rumbled.

Rumble! Rumble!

I quickly brought my hand down as the projection of a massive sword soon materialized on the surface of the sky.

***

"Do you see it?"

Jezebeth's voice loudly echoed within the space the two of them were in. His gaze was currently fixed on a certain projection.

Nothing escaped from his grasp, and he was able to see everything that was happening within the pillars.

"What happened is a consequence of your decision!"

Jezebeth wanted to see a reaction from Ren, but even as his own father died, he showed no such reaction. It frustrated Jezebeth to no end, and he knew that the man in front of him was not someone who would be influenced by such tricks.

"Haa… it looks like I've severely underestimated how the situation is."

He scratched the back of his head, annoyed.

"Hm?"

Just then, he noticed something trickling down the side of Ren's mouth. It was blood. Jezebeth's eyes widened in surprise at the sight.

"Oh?"

A smile finally returned to his face.

"Perhaps… you really are affected."

"You think too much."

Ren responded coldly, unsheathing his sword and pointing it at Jezebeth.

Rumble―! Rumble―!

The void between them trembled as Ren stepped forward, appearing in front of Jezebeth in a single stride.

Turning his attention back to the projections, Ren caught sight of something that elicited a rare smile.

"Welcome to my world."

Whether his words were meant for Jezebeth, only he knew.

***

[Pillar of Envy]

A particular spot within the pillars served as a slumbering area for the patriarchs. From within that room, they were able to keep an eye on everything that was going on inside the pillar, and if something out of the ordinary occurred, they would immediately take action.

"It doesn't look like I'll have to make a move."

Prince Murdock, the Patriarch of the Clan of Envy, muttered something under his breath as he continued to stare at the projections in front of him.

He was content with the circumstances at hand, and as he watched the demons slaughter members of the four races, a smile broke out on his face.

It was a pleasant sight.

"What a nice sight."

There was nothing that brought him more satisfaction than watching members of his race brutally murder members of the other races.

He had only been a child when his majesty had risen to power, but in those days, he had seen how the situation was back then.

It was the complete opposite of now, and the demons were the ones being hunted.

He could still remember the time when he was forced to flee because of the other races. They had struggled, clawed their way to where they were now, and were now reaping the benefits of their hard work.

"Soon…"

He silently muttered.

"Soon we'll be the only race that remains within the universe."

...and when that occurred, he would at long last be able to feel a sense of reassurance over his fallen comrades who had fallen at the hands of those who belonged to other races.

Rumble―! Rumble―!

"Ha?"

But just as things appeared to be running smoothly, he was startled by a sudden tremor. The area on top of him was suddenly enveloped in pressure, and his expression changed to reflect the gravity of the situation.

"Who in the wo―"

BOOOM―! The ceiling collapsed above him, allowing water to fall into the room above him.

While looking up, Prince Murdock paid no attention to what was going on around him. It was then that he caught sight of a shadowy figure standing in the sky and staring down at him with an expression that he could only describe as complete indifference.

"I… found you."

He whispered in a low tone, his voice devoid of any emotion.

Chapter 812: Prince Murdock [1]

Drip! Drip!

The rain continued to fall steadily, each droplet creating a ripple as it collided with the surface of the water.

It was a dreary and ominous atmosphere that surrounded the two figures standing at the edge of the water. Their stillness only added to the sense of foreboding.

Prince Murdock's warily stared at the figure before his eyes.

He had never encountered anyone like this before. The stranger's appearance was shrouded in darkness, making it difficult for Murdock to discern any distinguishing features.

However, the sheer power emanating from the figure was palpable, sending chills down Murdock's spine.

Despite his wariness, Murdock stood his ground, his expression stoic as he faced the shadowy figure. He spoke in a measured tone, trying to keep his composure.

"What are you?"

His voice was firm, but there was a hint of trepidation underlying his words.

"..."

The figure remained silent, its dark form seemingly immobile.

"Not much of a talker, are we?"

Murdock continued to scrutinize the figure, trying to glean any information he could from its appearance. The stranger appeared to be human in build, but there was all he could make out.

"I've never heard of a human as strong as you, nor―"

Drip!

He was interrupted by the subtle sound of a raindrop hitting the water, which resounded through the air unlike any of the other drops around him. "Swoosh!" In that split second, the shadowy figure vanished from where it was standing.

"Uh?!"

Swoosh―

Murdock's eyes widened in surprise as he felt a sudden force against his cheek. He stumbled backward, narrowly dodging a swift punch aimed at his face.

"Rather hurried, aren't we?"

Murdock quipped, trying to regain his composure. As he distanced himself from the shadowy figure, Murdock noticed a cold glint reflecting off a blade being unsheathed.

The realization hit him like a ton of bricks, but it was too late. Murdock's gaze met with the figure's, and time seemed to come to a standstill.

The only sound was the raindrops falling around them.

Drip!

SHIIIING―! In that moment, Murdock watched in horror as his arm was sliced clean off by the blade. The pain was intense, and he could feel warm blood gushing out of the wound.

Spurt―!

Black blood spurted out, staining the water and adding to the eerie atmosphere. Murdock could barely comprehend what had just happened. He looked up at the shadowy figure, whose features were still obscured by the darkness.

"Arghhh!"

He eventually succumbed to the agony and let out an agonized scream as a result. He glared at the figure in the shadows while clutching his right hand, and he flapped his wing once.

The outline of his figure became fuzzy, and then he materialized in front of him.

His arm, which had disappeared earlier, reappeared, and he reached out his hand with the intention of hitting the shadowy figure in the head.

Swoosh―!

Unfortunately, he passed directly through his body, and when he turned around, he saw him standing a few hundred meters away with his sword again pointed at him.

'Fast.'

That was all Prince Murdock could think about at that moment.

Staring at the tip of the sword that was pointed at him, he was just about to take a step forward when he suddenly twisted his body.

SHIIIIIING―! Right then, a silver streak flew past the area that he was previously in, and when he turned his head, he caught a glimpse of the space behind him.

It was cracked.

'So that's how it is.'

He murmured to himself as he analyzed the movement.

All it took was a glimpse for him to understand what had happened, and he instantly calmed down. He had faced many skilled opponents before, and he knew that the key to victory was to remain calm and focused.

"Your mastery o―"

He started to say, but his expression shifted mid-sentence, and he moved his body to the right, narrowly avoiding the tip of the blade that brushed past his cheek.

A smile crept up on his face as he glanced at the passing blade. Now that he understood how it worked, he wasn't as worried as before. However, he knew that he couldn't let his guard down.

SHIIIIIING―!

That said, the attacks were relentless, coming at him from all sides. Just as another blade passed by his body, he flapped his wings and appeared before the shadowy figure. With his hand outstretched, he aimed his claws at his face.

Swoosh―!

Unfortunately for him, the figure ducked down and counterattacked with a punch, aimed directly at his abdominal area.

Prince Murdock knew that he had to act quickly if he wanted to avoid the blow.

"Hup!"

Right as the fist was about to make its way toward his stomach, Prince Murdock twisted his body, and the fist grazed past his back.

Boom―! Boom―!

The aftermath of their fight fractured the water beneath them, and thunder began to crackle from the sky above.

Kracka! Kracka!

Boom―!

Finally landing a fist against the shadowy figure, he flapped his wings and appeared right behind him. He didn't waste a second and kicked him down with his leg.

Splash―!

The figure crashed against the water, diving deep under it. Prince Murdock followed him down, his figure plummeting into the water beneath, and with one quick scan of the surroundings, he managed to spot him.

With the aid of his wings, he appeared right in front of the shadowy figure and clenched at his throat with his hand, pushing him further down under the water.

The water around them distorted as the two plummeted down from above at high speeds and bubbles followed their trails.

Boom―!

The two of them crashed deep under the ocean, sand spilling around the area they were in. When the sand settled, Prince Murdock's figure was revealed, standing above the shadowy figure with his hand at his throat.

He had the upper hand now, and he knew it.

"Tell me…"

He spoke, holding tightly onto his neck. He could snap it at any second.

Despite the situation he was in, the shadowy figure looked at him with a calm look, seemingly unbothered by the predicament he was in.

This left the Prince unsettled, but he brushed it toward the back of his head as he had many questions he wanted answered.

"Who are you? What race are you from? Wh―"

Cruch―!

The Prince was in the middle of a sentence when he heard a crunching sound and felt intense pain. When he looked down, he saw that a portion of his hand had been bitten off, and his expression quickly morphed.

"Arghhh!"

He screamed, bubbles rising from his mouth, and finally let go of his throat. The shadowy figure quickly appeared behind the Prince, and his fist connected against the Prince's back.

Boom―!

The impact reverberated through the water as the Prince was thrown back, crashing against a couple of rocks in the distance. The rocks shattered upon impact, sending several fish scattering out of the area.

The shadowy figure appeared before the Prince once more, brandishing a sword in hand and pointing it back at him.

'Shit.'

The Prince muttered under his breath, his pupils dilating as he realized the gravity of the situation.

SHIIIING―! The shadowy figure struck again with a force and speed that took the Prince by surprise.

The Prince tried to dodge, but it was too late. He felt a searing pain in his hand as one of his fingers was severed, and black blood diffused into the water.

The Prince was in shock. 'How is this possible?' he wondered.

SHIIIING―!

The figure struck again, and the Prince barely managed to evade the attack.

He flapped his wings and disappeared from where he was, leaving a long line across the space where he was a moment before.

'I didn't see wrongly…'

He muttered under his breath.

'This is serious.'

The realization hit him hard ― his opponent's attacks were getting stronger and faster.

The Prince swallowed hard, his eyes fixed on the shadowy figure. He felt his core palpitate as he realized the extent of his opponent's power.

He knew he had to take this seriously.

Fwooom!

The water trembled as demonic energy suddenly rose from the Prince's body, enveloping the area around him. His black hair fluttered under the water, and his gaze turned utterly calm.

He studied the figure standing opposite him, closed his eyes for a moment, and then re-opened them. When he did, he caught sight of a familiar back and he opened up his palm and reached out for the back.

'I got you… '

He thought, but unfortunately, the figure reacted in time. With that said, the Prince's movements were faster.

His finger just barely managed to touch its back before the figure shot up like a rocket, leaving the water behind.

The Prince closed his eyes again, and when he opened them, he was right above the water, directly on top of the shadowy figure hurtling towards him.

He didn't think much after that and raised his hand. In one simple motion, he clawed down and the shadowy figure split into three pieces.

Swooosh―!

The sound of the strike echoed through the air as the pieces fell into the water with a subtle splash.

"A pity."

Muttered the Prince, staring at the dissected pieces of the shadowy figure.

His breath was steady, and the fight had only lasted for a couple of minutes, but in the short period of time, the Prince experienced a sensation that he had never felt in a very long time, with the exception of the times he met with His Majesty.

'Fear'

He had come dangerously close to losing this battle, and if not for that last movement of his, he would've found himself in a precarious situation.

Drip! Drip!

The only sound that remained was the sound of the rain beside him, occasionally muffled by the thunder in the distance.

Tearing his gaze away from the water, the Prince frowned as he muttered to himself, "I should report this to his majest―"

He was interrupted mid-sentence as he sensed a presence behind him. His head snapped behind, and his eyes opened widely as his pupils constricted.

"H,how?!"

The Prince exclaimed.

For the first time in a very long time, the Prince lost his composure as he looked at the shadowy figure that stood in the air behind him.

The air around him chilled, and the shadowy figure finally opened his mouth, his voice echoing ominously through the air.

"Give up...I can't die."

Chapter 813: Prince Murdock [2]

"Cut my throat, slash my body, cut my limbs… I can't die."

Dark Servant was a skill that consisted in creating a body made out of pure mana. Being a skill, so long as there was mana supplying the skill, the Dark Servant was technically invincible.

Unless the user ran out of mana, or the mana was directly cut off, there was simply no way to kill Ren.

…but that was the thing.

Ren's body was being sustained by his other self, a fact that weighed heavily on him.

Each time he died, he took the mana from the other him who was fighting against Jezebeth. He was invincible, but at the same time, his actions held a considerable weight on the outcome of the real fight that was taking place.

As Ren stood there, his body slowly regenerating, his thoughts raced.

He knew that he couldn't allow himself to die again like before. While he couldn't see how the situation between his other self and Jezebeth was unfolding, he knew that his death could have made the situation a lot more difficult for his other self.

"Hmm."

Ren's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the Prince's voice.

"So you can't be killed, huh?"

The Prince's words gently traveled through the air, reaching Ren's ears. When Ren looked down, he was met with a smile.

"You can't die, but can you kill me?"

The Prince asked. The smile on his face deepened as he looked around him. He no longer looked as lost as he did before.

"I can tell that you're here to get me, but will you really be able to kill me? I've already got a grasp of your strength. Just like I can't kill you...you can't kill me. I'm sure you can tell that too."

The Prince looked up, his gaze meeting with Rens once more.

"So that gives rise to the question. What are you doing here? Are you perhaps trying to stall for time? Perhaps keep me in check while others are―"

"Stall for time?"

Ren's cold words echoed within the air, cutting the Prince's words. Raising his head and letting the raindrop fall on his face, his mouth parted open.

"Keep you in check?"

He muttered again; the water beneath him split apart, and water particles flew in the air.

The space around him started to distort massively as his figure suddenly vanished from the spot, reappearing right before the Patriarch of the Envy Clan.

Appearing right in front of him with his sword pointed at Prince Murdock's brows, Ren's face distorted to an unbearable degree, and his voice raised.

"Why?!"

Rumble―! Rumble―!

The world around him started to lose color, and his body flickered with a white light as demonic energy and mana sprouted out of his body.

The entire world seemed to come to a sudden standstill as the raindrops around him stopped, and his figure started to change. Right then, the projection of a huge sword appeared from within the space itself, coming out in a rapid manner until its full body was revealed.

Woom! Woom!

The world fluctuated at the power held within the sword, and Prince Murdock's expression crumbled.

"T, this power..."

Standing right beneath the sword, Ren coldly gazed at Prince Murdock.

His entire body was hazy, and the mana inside his body was depleting at a faster rate than it was replenishing, but even so, for the first time ever, Ren had managed to use the sixth movement as a whole.

The result was a power that was far beyond what he had ever expected.

Clenching his hand tightly, his figure became even hazier, but he didn't care as black threads floated out from his body and merged against the sword in the sky. The pressure that came out of it further intensified, and the pillar shook.

Rumble―! Rumble―!

The rumbling didn't last for long as Ren's hand soon relaxed, and the world turned completely quiet.

.

.

.

Opening his mouth, Ren muttered.

"Fall."

***

"Hmm, what's wrong? "

Ren and Jezebeth faced each other, the tension thick between them. Jezebeth's figure suddenly appeared before Ren.

The calm smile on Jezebeth's face belied the power that emanated from him.

With a quick motion, Jezebeth touched his forehead, and Ren was hurled through the air, crashing through an invisible film that shattered like glass and revealing a verdant green world behind.

Boom―!

The verdant green world that appeared was peaceful and serene, but it was short-lived as Ren crashed into the ground, shattering trees and creating a large crater.

Jezebeth looked down at Ren with a cocked head, studying him carefully.

"At first, I was taken aback by his appearance in the pillars, but now that I look at you…" he said, his arms extending out as he chuckled. "…I think you've shot yourself in the foot. Not only is your mana rapidly depleting, but it looks like you're injured as well."

Ren slowly stood up, feeling the effects of the battle taking its toll on him. His entire body was sluggish, and the mana inside of his body was depleting at an alarming rate.

He understood that he didn't have much time left.

But he didn't show any sign of emotion, even as Jezebeth extended his arms and taunted him.

"And here I am, completely unharmed and yet to use my full strength. From the looks of things, I was worried for nothing."

Jezebeth may have sounded confident, but in reality, he was cautious.

How could he not be?

He knew Ren better than anyone else and had died at his hands countless times.

He was the only one in the universe who could actually make him fear something, and whatever was happening at the moment was just a smokescreen.

'I wonder what you're planning.'

Jezebeth knew that Ren had something planned, but he didn't know what it was. That uncertainty was what made him fear Ren.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Ren didn't waste any time as he pointed his sword at Jezebeth, shattering the space around him and revealing hundreds of swords that stabbed at him. But Jezebeth was too quick, shattering the swords with a wave of his hand before freezing the space around Ren.

With a single step, Jezebeth appeared before Ren, but this time, his finger passed right through Ren's figure, which turned out to be an afterimage of himself.

"You sure run fast."

Jezebeth commented with a smile before knocking on the air to his right with the back of his fist.

Bang―!

The space shattered, and Ren was sent hurtling toward the ground once again, crashing into the verdant world below. Jezebeth approached Ren once more, his calm gaze looking down at him.

"Stop playing around. I know very well this isn't the full extent of your power. Is this some sort of ploy? Perhaps…"

Jezebeth didn't finish his sentence as he thought of something, his expression turning frosty.

"Ah... right, you couldn't be stalling for time, could you?"

He struck his palm toward Ren, unleashing a force that shattered the space around it and revealed a different world entirely. The impact of the strike was beyond what the world could take, and the sound of the explosion echoed in the air.

BOOM―!

Ren was hit in the abdomen and sent flying once more.

This time, the sound of shattering glass filled the air, and invisible shards floated in the space around them. Within the shards were reflections of the verdant green world they were previously in, but behind them lay a whole new world, one that was drastically different from the previous one.

The land was covered in red, and magma covered a major part of it, distorting the air with its heat.

BOOM―!

Ren crashed next to one of the volcanoes in the world, and Jezebeth stopped to observe him carefully. Despite the beatings he had taken, Ren's figure remained largely unharmed.

He had noticed during the last two attacks that just when his attacks were about to land, he'd move his body slightly back in order to reduce the impact of his attacks.

'What are you planning?'

Jezebeth thought, his gaze unable to read through Rens.

The quieter he was, and the more advantage he had, the more unsettled Jezebeth became.

"You…"

Clenching his teeth, Jezebeth glared at Ren, and he extended his hand forward. A terrifying energy surrounded his entire body at that moment, and he no longer held back.

Bending his body back, he appeared in front of Ren and punched with everything he had.

"…are seriously annoying."

WOOOM―!

His fist flew forward, and right as it was about to hit Ren cleanly in the face, with a swift dodge to the side, he pressed his palm against his forearm, redirecting Jezebeth's fist toward the ground.

BOOM―!

The impact was deafening, causing the ground to shake and sending shockwaves through the air.

Everything tore apart the moment that his fist hit the ground, and just as Jezebeth was about to attack once more, a knee appeared within his vision. It grew with each passing second and soon hit him cleanly in the nose.

BANG―!

"Uhk."

Jezebeth stumbled back several steps.

When he finally stopped, he lowered his head to stare at Ren, who was looking at him from the distance.

"Hm?"

He wiped his nose with his arm, feeling a wet substance on the back of his hand. A dark liquid stained his skin.

It took no time for him to realize what the substance was, and he felt his lips curl at the sight.

"Good... good..."

He pressed his foot forward, appearing right before Ren.

"...It looks like you're finally taking things seriously."

Chapter 814: Prince Murdock [3]

[Pillar of Envy]

WOOOM―!

The moment the gigantic sword appeared in the air, the structure of the Pillar shook. The waters crashed against each other, and waves the size of skyscrapers started to form.

Kracka! Kracka!

Lightning came pouring down from the sky, and the rain stopped moving.

"What's this?!"

Prince Murdock's expression changed dramatically at the sight of the sword, and his entire body started to morph at that moment. His wings expanded, his skin changed―scales forming on top of it, and his entire body became larger.

Long gone was the elegant demon from before as what replaced it was a hulking figure whose presence towered just like the sword in the sky.

Kracka.

A lightning came down, and Ren and Prince Murdock gazed at each other. The world was quiet at that moment, and just as everything seemed peaceful, Ren's mouth parted open.

"Fall."

.

.

.

"What's that!?"

It started with a distant rumble, barely noticeable at first.

But as it grew louder, those within the island realized that something was terribly wrong.

They looked out to sea and saw an enormous wall of water rising higher and higher, heading straight towards them.

At that moment, silence swept over the entire world. All of those within the pillar were unable to stop themselves from looking at the commotion, and their gazes paused on the large wall of water that surrounded the entire island.

They also noticed the two that were responsible for all of this, and their body stiffened right then.

WOOOM―!

Suddenly, a massive sword projection materialized in the sky, glowing with an eerie, pulsating light. It hung there, suspended for a few moments, before starting to descend towards the earth with terrifying speed.

The sword was enormous, easily as long as a city block, and it blazed with an otherworldly energy that made the air around it crackle with electricity.

As it fell, it sliced through clouds and stars alike, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

Everyone halted their breaths as they looked at the sky, which had become empty almost instantly. Prince Murdock had not attacked yet, but his aura had already pressed on everyone's heart like a mountain.

Rumble! Rumble!

When the sword started to fall, the entire Pillar shook, and the waves came hurling toward the land like enormous tsunamis.

Panic set in as the realization of what was about to happen hit them.

Many backed away from the shore, but there was nowhere to go. The wave was too large, too powerful.

SPLASH―! Within moments, it crashed onto the shore, sending water and debris flying in all directions.

Wherever the water swept, only disaster was left behind as the house and trees disappeared quickly.

"Move back!"

"Retreat, quickly!"

Letting go of whatever they were doing, everyone retreated further into the island. Those who could, flew in the sky, but such individuals numbered far less than those that couldn't, and the water continued to flood the entire island, slowly submerging it.

Drip. Drip.

Rain continued to pour down from the sky, and anguished cries reverberated through the air.

"Is this your trump card?"

Prince Murdock shouted, turning his gaze away from the island. He could hear the anguished screams of his soldiers and those from the three races.

While he wasn't one to sympathize with the death of his soldiers, he was shocked to find out that the human in front of him was even more ruthless than him…

In order to defeat him, he spared nothing and even put his own people in danger.

That…

Even the Prince found himself impressed by such ruthlessness. Not that he had very long to be impressed as the sword slowly started to make its way toward him.

WOOOM―! The space around the sword distorted, and so did Prince Murdock's expression. Glaring at the large sword that was headed his way, a wave of demonic energy burst forth from his body, enveloping half of the island.

The waves which were crashing on the people came to a sudden stop, and the demons beneath suddenly stopped moving.

It all happened within an instant, but the demons that stopped moving suddenly started to shrivel up like mummies before falling down to the ground lifeless.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Such scenes happened throughout the entire island, and before long, thousands of demons fell to the ground, lifeless. In the meantime, the power that surrounded Prince Murdock increased, and his body bulged even further.

Clenching his teeth tightly, Prince Murdock glared at the approaching sword and concentrated all of his power on his right hand.

All of this happened within the span of a few seconds, and just as the sword was about a few inches away from his face, he brought his hand forward, and his hand reached for the sword.

Wooom!

Coming into contact with the sword, the entire space around him shattered, and the sword hummed with a deadly light.

"Uakh!"

Blood leaked out from the Prince's orifices, and his body was pushed back onto the ground. He let out several agonized shouts as his right hand continued to grasp onto the sword.

His complexion paled by the second, and it became progressively worse by the second. But despite the change in his complexion, the sword did slow down quite a lot.

Even more shocking was that with each passing second, it slowed down even further, and it wasn't long before it completely stopped.

"Haaa…haaa…"

Sword in hand, Prince Murdock let out several gasps, but his face was unable to hide the hint of glee he felt as he raised his head weakly to stare at Ren.

"I,is this your st―"

"Boom."

A soft voice drifted into his ears and his expression froze.

Before he could understand the meaning of those words, the world around him turned white, and a defeating explosion reverberated throughout the world.

***

Boom―!

Jezebeth hurled back, his feet planted against the volcanic ground. Lowering his head, he looked up at Ren and smiled.

At the same time, he moved his hands behind his back. He was trying to hide the fact that they were currently trembling.

"Are you finally taking things seriously?"

In contrast to before, when he was just beating Ren up, he had finally started to throw attacks of his own. While they had no major effect on him, they still did hurt quite a bit.

Even so…

Jezebeth didn't think for one second this was the full extent of his powers.

Swoosh―!

Taking a step forward, he caught sight of Ren's back, and he thrust his palm toward it. It was a quick and precise attack that left Ren with no room to dodge, but just as he thought the attack had landed, he was disappointed to see that it had hit nothing but air.

Swoosh―!

His figure disappeared like the drift of the wind.

Turning his head, he caught sight of Ren standing a few meters away from him, and he smiled in annoyance.

"You sure know how to avoid me."

There had been a lot of dodging from Ren in this fight of theirs.

'You're definitely planning something, aren't you? Stalling for time? Just what is that you're trying to do...?'

His intentions became obvious to Jezebeth, who was used to fighting against him. In their many fights, never had their fights been this one-sided.

He knew himself and Ren too well to understand that there was something up about the situation.

"I don't know wha―"

"Pfttt."

It was an unexpected turn of events that caught Jezebeth off-guard. In a big way as his expression loosened for a moment.

A moment prior, the tension in the air was thick as Jezebeth readied himself for another attack from Ren. But as he moved to strike, Ren's complexion suddenly changed, and he clutched his hand to his mouth.

Jezebeth watched in shock as blood trickled from Ren's fingers, staining the ground beneath them.

It was a strange sight, one that he had only seen on a couple of occasions.

"Since when did you become so weak?"

This was strange…

Ren was usually strong and composed, always one step ahead of him. But now, he seemed to be barely holding on.

If not for the fact that he knew him well, he would've thought that this was the result of his attacks.

'Just what sort of game are you playing?'

Was this some sort of ploy from him again? ...or was there something more to the sudden situation?

Jezebeth squinted his eyes, unable to hide his expression.

Perhaps he had grown paranoid due to the many times he had fallen under his schemes, but Jezebeth couldn't quite brush off the feeling that something was wrong.

Rumble―! Rumble―!

It was then that it happened.

A faint tremor hit the ground, and Jezebeth blinked his eyes a couple of times.

"Hm?"

He closed his eyes and tried to feel for the source of the tremor.

'Strange... why do I f―?!'

Hastily raising his head, hundreds of projections depicting the happenings of the pillars appeared before his eyes, and his gaze fell on a gigantic sword that appeared in one of those very projections.

It was long and stretched all the way up in the sky, its tip aimed at a certain demon within the projection.

The moment Jezebeth gazed at the sword, his head snapped downwards, and his eyes met with Rens.

"How can he..."

The power that he felt from that sword. How was it possible for a clone to be able to do that?

"Don't look so surprised…

For the very first time in a while, Ren's lips curled, and Jezebeth's stomach churned.

Pointing his sword right at Jezebeth, he mumbled.

"...We've only just gotten started."

Chapter 815: Prince Murdock [4]

"Surprised? Just gotten started?"

Jezebeth mumbled Ren's words over and over again while covering his mouth with his hand. As his whole body shook, his posture became increasingly hunched over.

"Kh…khh…k.."

The words were so unexpected that he couldn't help but burst out laughing.

His laughter started out as a series of muffled cries, but it quickly grew into something more. It wasn't a boisterous laugh, but it had a depth to it that reverberated throughout the world.

By the time he was done laughing, tears had formed in the corners of his eyes.

"Now this…"

He wiped the tears from his eyes, fixing his gaze on Ren.

"This is the way things ought to play out. And here I was getting concerned that everything was going a little too smoothly for me."

Jezebeth felt genuinely relieved.

The scariest thing was the unknown. Something that Ren specialized in.

What wasn't scary was the known, and now that he knew what Ren's plan was, he no longer felt as wary as before.

Having said that, he didn't let his guard down.

Turning his head to stare at the projections, Jezebeth smiled.

"So this is your plan?"

Within one of the projections, the only thing he could see was the color white, and although he couldn't exactly tell what was going on inside, he already had an idea.

"Hmm."

He smiled while pondering.

"It isn't a bad plan, but…"

Turning his head to look at Ren, he shook his head.

"Never mind, I'm sure you've already worked everything out in your head. Your years of experience should have prepared you to recognize certain facts by now. I suppose the only thing I can do is try to move things along more quickly."

Clenching his fist, the air around Jezebeth trembled. Staring directly at Ren, he punched out.

WOOOM―!

It didn't matter where his fist went; the space around it would shatter, and a whole new world would reflect in the broken pieces of space. This time, it was a snow-covered plain with rocky outcrops.

***

Drizzle. Drizzle.

Water drizzled down from the sky once the whiteness of the world faded. An utter silence encompassed the world, only broken by the muffled drizzle from above.

"Still alive?"

A certain voice broke the silence. Slowly descending from the sky, Ren's gaze paused on a small figure laying beneath the ocean floor. Over half of his body was torn, and his eyes were completely white.

Stepping onto the surface of the water, he bent his body slightly. He calmly studied the demon beneath, his gaze fixed on his white eyes.

He was still alive, but his condition wasn't good.

He was barely holding onto his own life.

'So this is how strong the sixth movement is…'

Ren inwardly muttered, staring at his hands, which had become transparent. For the first time he could remember, he had finally used the sixth movement, and the power contained within it was something that was well beyond his expectations.

No…

To say this was beyond his expectations was a lie.

He had seen what it could do against the Protector and thus could tell exactly how powerful it was.

Splash―!

Submerging himself into the water, Ren sank down until he stood right above Prince Murdock. He was just about to end things when, all of a sudden, Prince Murdock's gaze cleared, and his hand sharply reached for his neck.

Swoosh―!

"Hm?"

Ren was able to take a step back just in time to avoid the unexpected attack.

"You're still fine?"

Ren was taken aback the most by the sight of Prince Murdock standing before him with his entire body completely restored to health.

He felt his heart sink.

Swoosh―!

What surprised him the most was the fact that Prince Murdock seemed completely unresponsive. As though something had taken over his body.

"Uh…?!"

Just as Ren was beginning to wonder what it was, his entire body suddenly froze in place, and golden runes and words began to form around him and then wrap themselves around his body, immobilizing him.

When he looked up, he was astounded to see a fine white film covering the body of the Prince.

"Wait… this…"

The power of the laws.

He recognized the runes and the golden words the very instant that they made their appearance.

"How is this…?"

Ren fell into a state of utter shock.

Many questions flooded his mind at the moment, but he had no time to dwell on them as two sharp claws made their way toward him.

Swoosh―!

The water tore apart, and in its place was a long trail of bubbles.

Clamped by the laws, Ren had a hard time moving his body, and just as the claws were about to reach his face, he clenched his teeth and cursed.

"Fuck it."

A white glow that was eerily similar to the Prince's emanated from his entire body, and at the same time, golden runes materialized on the arm of the Prince, holding it in place.

The golden runes that were encircling Ren's body shattered, and his body, which was already transparent, became even more see-through.

Gritting his teeth, Ren felt something inside of him tear apart and felt the connection between him and Dark Servant wane.

As a result, his movements froze for a fraction of a second, but he was able to maintain his composure and press his palm against the Prince's abdomen.

As soon as his palm touched the Prince's abdomen, golden runes appeared all over his body, and he vanished from the spot, careening off into the distance and crashing into a number of distant rocks.

Thump!

Ren was just about to follow him when he suddenly noticed that he couldn't move.

When he looked down, he was stunned to discover that his legs had completely vanished, and he fell face first against the sand beneath him.

Supporting himself with his hands, Ren was just able to support himself.

"Not… yet…"

He could tell that the connection between him and his other self had significantly weakened as a result of his actions, and he came perilously close to actually passing away, but he was powerless to stop himself.

There was something inside of him that had snapped completely, and within his vision, the only thing that existed was the Prince.

He needed to die.

"Ukh."

He pushed himself up by pressing his hand against the sand, and his legs slowly began to reappear.

As he stumbled forward, he eventually arrived before the Prince.

Smack―!

Bending down on one knee, he slapped him on the face a couple of times.

That didn't do much, as the Prince didn't seem to wake up.

'He's completely out of it.'

Ren mused, distancing himself from the demon.

That was…

"Ukah."

Until Prince Murdock's eyes finally gained clarity, and he audibly gasped while submerged in water.

Ren's head turned to face him, and their gazes met.

"Y…y,you…"

He was immediately met with the terrified gaze of the demon. With his hands behind him, the Prince tried to back away from him.

It was a futile attempt as his back touched the rock behind him.

Seeing such a powerful demon, who was once hailed as one of the strongest existences beneath Jezebeth and the Protectors, cowering right in front of his eyes, Ren found an inexplicable feeling in that expression.

Taking a step toward him, he caught up to him rather quickly, and his hand grasped at his throat.

"Y,you… what are you doing?! You had the chance to kill me, so why didn't you? Are you trying to play with me?"

The demon was in a state of panic. Long gone was his calm and collected gaze from before. What replaced it was one of utter fear and indignation.

"What are you trying to ach―"

"Quiet."

Ren's words cut through his, and Prince Murdock found himself unable to utter a single word. Grasping tightly at his neck, Ren brought his face near his, and he softly whispered.

"There's only one reason I'm still keeping you alive."

He muttered silently, his eyes hazy.

"…It's because you don't deserve to die so easily. You need to suffer a bit."

Bang―!

He smashed the Prince's head against the bedrock beneath. With the same haze in his eyes, he brought his head up and…

Bang―!

He smashed it against the ground once more.

Bang―!

And again.

Bang―!

And again.

Bang―!

He smashed relentlessly.

The surface of the water shook with each smash, and like a machine, he continued for what seemed like an eternity.

Only stopping when the Prince's face was completely mangled, and he let out soft, pleading whispers.

"Huu."

Letting out a breath, bubbles flew out of Ren's mouth. Closing his eyes, he gazed upwards toward the surface of the water and then looked back down at Prince Murdock.

'I've wasted too much time already.'

He clenched his fist hard. So hard that veins protrude from them. Nonetheless, it served no purpose in calming his current mind.

He needed more…

He needed to vent even more.

Thus.

He reached out for the Prince's core.

Spurt―!

Black blood spilled out into the ocean the moment he removed the core, and after calmly observing it for a good couple of minutes, he clenched his hand.

Cr..Crack!

The orb shattered into thousands of pieces, scattering into the water. In that brief moment, Ren caught his own reflection on one of the shards that belonged to the core.

He wasn't able to look at himself for very long as the water he was in started to rumble.

Rumble―! Rumble―!

No, the structure as a whole was trembling, not just the water. Initially, the trembling was faint, but it grew stronger with each passing second. A couple of seconds later, the entire structure was violently swaying.

Ren didn't need to look outside to know what was currently happening.

"Hm?"

He was just about to leave when he caught sight of a certain yellow orb levitating over the Prince's disappearing body.

Feeling the power contained within it, he reached out for it. At the same time, the Prince's body crumbled and turned into a black orb that Ren put away.

WOOOM―!

Almost immediately after he reached for the yellow orb, his entire body began to tremble, his previously transparent form began to solidify, and power began to surge within him.

His mastery of the Laws began to advance at an alarming rate, and golden runes began to encircle his body.

The transformation lasted only a few seconds, and when it was complete, Ren's entire demeanor changed. He seemed to have blended in with the world completely.

Waving his hand forward, he appeared in front of a small house and entered it.

In there, he could see what remained of his family, and he closed his eyes.

"Let's go."

His voice drifted into the room, and he felt two sets of eyes focus on him. Without looking at them, he waved his hand, and the scenery before them changed.

They materialized above the island. There, they could see tens of thousands of demons fleeing in terror, as well as members of the four races.

Ren's gaze was fixed on the demons and monsters that were squirming on the island, and after a few seconds of staring at them, he swept his hand through the air, causing a significant portion of them to vanish.

Most of the ones that died were just about Baron rank, if not lower. He didn't even need to move to kill them.

The same couldn't be said for the more powerful demons who were able to survive the attack. Of course, Ren didn't care.

He only killed the weaker ones in order to make things easier for those of the Alliance.

Rumble―! Rumble―!

The entire structure of the pillar continued to shake. The shaking became progressively worse, and within a minute of it starting, the land started to shake even more violently, and the island soon started to split apart.

The island was gradually submerged as water began to make its way onto it in a slow but steady process.

The waves carried any debris that was left over from the buildings that had been destroyed due to the battles that had taken place above.

Cr…Crack!

Soon after, cracks began to appear in the sky, and just as the water was about to reach those that had managed to survive, the sky completely shattered into fragments.

Crash―!

Almost immediately, everyone's vision changed, and when Ren's vision returned to normal, he found himself outside of the Pillar.

He then watched as the structure cracked and crumbled downward in a rapid manner.

Boom―!

A wave of dust flew into the air at that moment as Ren slowly closed his eyes.

"…That's one."

He muttered silently.

Chapter 816: One at a time [1]

[Pillar of Sloth]

Swoosh!

'Four demons...'

Jin muttered, emerging behind a couple of trees, his daggers at the ready.

"I found him!"

"He's over here!"

The demons surrounding him snarled and bared their teeth, their eyes glowing with malevolence.

Jin had followed these demons for quite a bit, and knowing that the world he was in was infested with demons, he lured them to one of the more deserted islands that were floating in the sky.

The sky around him was black, and the nebulae of all colors filled the sky.

He could see several planets in the distance, some even larger than the sun back on Earth. It was a world, unlike anything he had ever seen before.

The demon's charged at him, and Jin held onto his daggers more tightly.

With a cold expression on his face, he charged at the closest demon, his daggers glinting under the colorful nebulae in the sky.

"Uerk!"

The demon snarled and lunged at him, but Jin was too quick. He dodged the attack and plunged his daggers into the demon's chest.

Spurt―!

"Argghhh!"

The demon howled in pain before disappearing into a cloud of black smoke.

Jin's dagger had plunged perfectly at its core, killing it in an instant. But Jin had no time to celebrate.

"I've got him!"

The other demons were closing in on him, their claws and teeth glinting in the darkness.

Clank―!

Jin spun around, his daggers flashing through the air as he parried and countered the demons' attacks.

He moved with fluid grace, his movements precise and deadly.

Clank! Clank!

Despite their superior numbers, the demons were no match for Jin's skills. Despite being on the same rank, they were simply no match for him, and one by one, they fell to his daggers, disappearing in a puff of smoke as their bodies disintegrated.

Thump!

"Uakh!"

Finally, the last demon lay dead at Jin's feet.

"Huuu..."

He breathed a sigh of relief, his heart racing with adrenaline.

It wasn't a hard fight, but it was definitely a tiring one. Nonetheless, he had won, and that was all that mattered.

With a satisfied smile, he sheathed his daggers and walked toward the edge of the floating island.

Gazing down at it and seeing the thousands of islands that littered the world he was in, Jin touched his forehead and muttered.

"What am I supposed to do?"

Thrust into this unknown world, the only thing he knew was that he was in something called the 'Pillar of Sloth.'

He wasn't quite sure what he was, but as he blinked his eyes a couple of times, he found himself rather sleepy.

It was good that he was trained in keeping himself awake in situations such as these.

Pinching the gap between his thumb and index finger, he flinched a little but he felt refreshed.

'I guess all that training paid off.'

The feeling of sleepiness and tiredness he was currently experiencing wasn't something he was unaccustomed to.

There'd be times he'd force himself to train under such a state, and he had grown used to it over the years of sleepless training.

He was by no means comfortable, but he could bear it.

Placing his hand in his pants, he fiddled with a small box before he took out a cigarette and placed it in between his lips.

Touching the tip of it, the cigarette lit up and he took a small drag.

"Now then… Where should I g―"

Swoosh―!

Right then, a figure flew from beneath the floating island and landed a few hundred meters away from him. Jin's head snapped back, and he instantly became alert.

But just as he was about to take his daggers out, a familiar voice echoed in his ears, and Jin's entire complexion changed.

"I found you!"

It was a flock of pink hair that gave it away, and his face paled at the sight.

'Oh, no '

It was the arrogant demoness.

"What are you doing here?"

While he tried, he did his best to hide his cigarette behind his back, but it proved to be a futile attempt on his end as Priscilla's eyes followed his hands.

"You think I can't see what you're doing?"

Priscilla's gaze frosted not so far from him.

"I know you can see what I did, but I thought you'd take the hint."

"Give it here."

"Why should I?"

"Where do you think you are?"

"Fine."

Jin was rather quick to give up.

Thinking about the situation he was in, he could only give up. Rummaging through his dimensional space, he handed her a pack of cigarettes and sighed.

"Here."

"That's a good boy."

Priscilla took the pack with a smile on her face. Opening it, she quickly lit up one of the cigarettes and took a small drag.

*Puff*

Smoke bloomed in the air as her face relaxed and a smile blossomed on her face.

Her smile stunned Jin, and he thought to himself, 'What a deceiving smile.' If only she looked as beautiful on the inside as she did on the outside.

Those thoughts crossed him for only a short moment before he made them disappear from his body.

He didn't have a death wish.

Taking a look at her from the side, Jin similarly took a drag before asking.

"How did you find me?"

Logically speaking, it shouldn't have been easy.

He had moved around the world for a bit and it was littered with floating islands, some larger than others.

The world was vast, and while he did know that this was the Pillar of Sloth, it still didn't make sense to him how she was able to find him.

Was she some sort of stalker?

"Remember the time back in Mankhut?"

Priscilla suddenly spoke, and Jin nodded his head.

"Yeah."

How could he forget? It was only a little while ago that it happened. It also brought a lot of unpleasant memories.

"Well, remember how I was able to find you back there?"

"Oh."

Jin came to a sudden understanding.

"So you used the same method as back then? I thought it had something to do with the location being in your own area."

"Yeah, that's true."

Priscilla nodded her head, and turning her head she took out a small box from the air. With a smile on her face, she showed it to Jin.

"One of the perks of the artifact is that I can find anyone so long as I have something that used to belong to them… Do you remember this?"

"…"

Jin took his eyes away from her hand, or more specifically the box. He of course remembered what the box was, and his expression twitched.

How could he forget?

"I see, so that's how you were able to find me."

Arrogant stalking demon.

"You got that right."

Priscilla smiled, squeezing the box in her hand very tightly.

"I hope you don't think ill of me because of what I did."

"I do though."

She squeezed the box even more tightly, but Jin's expression didn't change.

"You better take care of those. I'm not going to give you any more."

"Oh, shit!"

Priscilla's face drastically changed when she realized what she had done, and she immediately loosened her grip on the box.

"Ah... you fuck. This is all your fault!"

"Uh?"

Jin was stunned.

"Of course, it's your fault! You're the one who pushed my buttons when I clearly came here with good intentions!"

"Do you expect me to think better of you for stalking me?"

"Stalking you?"

The box had practically disintegrated at this point.

"Bold of you to assume that. I'm only here for the sticks, not you."

"Oh."

Jin nodded. He had already figured from the moment her eyes fell on his cigarette the moment she had arrived.

"Like I said, I'm not giving you any more."

"What ar... ah!????"

Priscilla screeched loudly as she looked at her hands. Numerous curses flew from out of her mouth and she glared at Jin.

"Yo―

"Here."

Jin handed her a new pack before she blew her top off. He realized he'd rather sacrifice his pack instead of listening to her rants.

"Well... I guess I can forgive you."

Priscilla was quick to change the topic, flicking her cigarette away and replacing it with a new one. Jin's mouth twitched at the sight, but he remained silent.

"I'm not going to lie, another reason why I came to find you is because you're attracting quite a lot of attention."

She eyed him with her eyes.

"…You've gotten considerably stronger ever since the last time that I met you "

"I've done my fair share of training."

Jin casually replied, flicking his cigarette away.

He hadn't spent his five years in Immorra for nothing. He had trained relentlessly every day and managed to improve himself in every single aspect in that time.

It was only recently that it happened, but he had managed to breakthrough to <SS-> rank and was now able to deal with almost every single demon that came his way.

The only ones that he couldn't handle were the Prince ranked demons, but they weren't something he planned on fighting against.

Frowning, he looked at Priscilla.

"You didn't come here just to tell me that, did you?"

"No."

Priscilla shook her head.

Turning her head left and right, she moved closer to Jin and waved her hand in the air. The air around the two of them started to twist and the scenery in front of them changed.

Before Jin knew it, he was standing on a large patch of land that seemed to expand over thousands of kilometers.

Boom―!

Almost immediately after they arrived, the sound of an explosion rang in the air, and when Jin turned his attention in the direction of where the sound came from, he was shocked to see a large scale war taking place.

The land was torn, and the air was twisted with mana and demonic energy.

He could see corpses everywhere, and the magical residue of the attacks still lingered in the air.

He turned to look at Priscilla.

"Why did you bring me here?"

"I need something from you."

Priscilla answered truthfully. Taking out another cigarette and taking a quick drag, her voice turned softer.

"We may not exactly be on the same side, but that doesn't mean that we can't use each other to achieve the same goal."

She slowly turned her head to look at Jin and their eyes met.

"Help me kill the Pillar Master."

Chapter 817: One at a time [2]

"Help you kill the Pillar Master?"

Jin asked, utterly dumbfounded by Priscilla's words.

Did she want him to die that much?

Although he wasn't fully aware of what a Pillar Master was, just by the name he already had some ideas.

"Is it because I don't want to give you the cigarettes? Does it warrant such hate?"

"That's not it."

Priscilla rolled her eyes.

"I didn't say you should kill the Pillar Master. You're far from strong enough from being able to kill them."

This much was obvious.

Jin was barely in the Duke realm, and she was also stronger than him.

Furthermore, the Pillar Master was someone who had already reached the peak of Prince rank. There was no way he'd even come close to doing any damage to them.

"What I'm counting on is for you to buy some time."

"Huh?"

Jin looked even more dumbfounded. Before he could say anything else, Priscilla pointed at the battle in the distance.

"I don't need you to do anything to the Pillar Master. What I need you to do at the moment is join the battle over there."

Following Priscilla's finger, Jin looked at the battle that was happening on the island.

He caught sight of a few familiar figures, of which was a large orc he had gotten to known quite well in Immorra, and several other thousands of troops.

Brutus.

He was barely holding on at the moment with several Prince ranked demons attacking him from all sides.

At a glance, it was clear that the demons were at an advantage. With the aid of monsters and beasts, it was almost a massacre.

They were just barely holding on at the moment, and the only reason why they were still alive was because of Brutus.

"Join the battle over there and make sure you stall for as long as possible. So long as you don't lose, it'll all be alright "

Frowning, Jin mused for a while.

"What do you get out of this? Last I recall, I don't remember you saying that you want to join Ren's side… You also explicitly said you weren't on our side."

"Yet."

Priscilla cut.

Turning her head to look at Jin, she smiled slyly.

"I'm not on your side yet…"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Mhm, who knows?"

Priscilla mysteriously smiled, her gaze fixed on the fight that was happening in the distance.

'Just what is she thinking?'

Jin thought as she stared at her from the side. The more time he spent with her, the more Jin realized that the arrogant stalking demoness was not as simple as she looked.

Tearing her gaze away from the fight, she looked back at him.

"Let's say we're waiting for a little something. So long as he keeps his end of the deal, we might just come to your side."

"Huh?"

Her words left Jin confused, but after thinking for a while, a certain crossed him and he looked enlightened.

Extending his hands, two daggers appeared and he pointed them at the battle in the distance.

"I just have to keep the hanging for longer, right?"

"Yup."

Priscilla nodded.

"…You just have to keep them alive for a little longer."

She repeated in a slow manner, and Jin clenched on his dagger more tightly.

"Got it."

Without further ado, black threads sprouted from the ground and his figure started to melt alongside them. However, just as he was about to leave, a hand pressed against his shoulder.

"Wait a minute."

"Huh?"

Confused, Jin turned his head, and when he did, his expression crumbled.

"Give it."

***

[Pillar of Lust]

"Come this way."

Angelica called to Hein and Ava as she led them outside of the forest. They followed closely behind her, curious about where she was taking them.

As they stepped out of the forest, they were met with a breathtaking sight that left them speechless. Their gazes paused on the landscape ahead of them, taking in the grandeur of the sight.

"Is that a mountain?"

Ava asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Hein could only nod in agreement, his eyes still locked on the towering peak in the distance.

"That… It's rather big."

Hein eventually said, his eyes losing slight focus.

The first thing that struck them was the sheer size of the mountain.

It towered high into the sky and seemed almost impossibly steep. The slopes were covered in dense forests, misty clouds, and glistening ice and snow, depending on which part of the mountain they looked at.

The sun was just beginning to set behind the mountain, casting a warm golden glow over the landscape.

The colors of the mountain shifted and changed with the light, from deep greens and blues to warm oranges and yellows.

As they stood there, taking in the sight before them, a sense of peace and wonder washed over them. It was a sight that they never thought was possible, and if not for Angelica's voice, they would've spent more time admiring it.

"Don't look at the mountain for too long."

Angelica said, breaking the silence.

"If you look at it for too long, you might never know how you died."

They tore their gazes away from the mountain, their eyes opening up in shock. Even so, the image of the majestic peak remained etched in their minds.

Only once Angelica's voice sounded again did such thoughts disappear.

"The mountain is a trap. Its main job is to hypnotize people into going there where they'll eventually get ambushed and killed."

Hein and Ava's hearts grew cold the moment she said those words and they quickly snapped out of it.

They hurriedly lowered their heads and calmed their minds down.

"Don't worry though."

Angelica looked back at them with a smile.

"…Since you've already signed a contract, you shouldn't be in too much trouble. You wouldn't have been able to snap out of it with just my voice had you not signed it. Plus, they won't attack you even if you were to go to the mountain."

"Couldn't you have told us that earlier?"

Ava complained immediately, glaring at Angelica. Secretly, she sighed in relief.

"What's the fun in that."

Angelica teased, her lips curling upwards. Such a reaction evoked surprised looks from both Hein and Ava who looked at her weirdly.

"How odd…"

Hein muttered, pinching the bottom of his chin.

"It's been a while since we've last seen you, but you seem a lot livelier than before."

"Mhm."

Ava agreed.

There was something different about Angelica compared to how she was in the past. While it wasn't that big of a difference, she was without a doubt livelier, and that surprised the two of them given that she was usually rather cold.

Especially after Smallsnake's death.

"Did something good happen while you were away from us?"

"Hmm.."

Angelica pondered, looking up at the sky. Her shoulders visibly relaxed at that moment, and her gaze shifted back to them.

"I guess you can say that I realized just how much better you guys are compared to the people back in my clan."

Her words were light, but there was a certain heaviness to them that made Ava and Hein both look at each other.

They could tell the situation was a lot more complicated than that, but they didn't probe any further and nodded their heads.

"So, what do we do now?"

Ava asked, shifting the topic of conversation away.

"I don't know."

Angelica truthfully answered. With a complicated look on her face, she turned her head and looked toward the large mountain in the distance.

"I… I really don't know."

She repeated once more.

"Realistically speaking, there is a way to get out of the pillar. It's rather simple actually, and that's to defeat the Pillar Master…"

She paused for a moment and took a deep breath.

"…The problem is that none of us are strong enough to even come close to the Pillar Master. I don't even know if Ren is strong enough… maybe he is, but I'm not sure. I don't know how strong he is now, but I'm sure he's gotten a lot stronger than when I last saw him. Still, I don't know if that's enough."

Angelica's expression turned grim at that moment. She knew the strength of the Pillar Master all too well.

Of course, she knew…

She was, after all, her own mother.

"So long as the Pillar Master is alive, we are stuck here, and we can only hope for a miracle to happen."

A miracle was truly the only thing that they could hope for.

She had witnessed first how just how the demons had completely overtaken the other races back in Idoania. It wasn't even a fight, it was just a massacre, and what was happening at the moment was no different.

Perhaps, it was even worse now that everyone was within the Pillars.

"I think tha―"

Rustle―! Rustle―!

Right at that moment, a faint rustling sounded in the distance and Angelica's mouth stopped moving. Immediately everyone became alert and they turned to gaze in the direction of where the sound was coming from.

Weapons drawn, they waited for a couple of seconds before a figure soon came out.

At that moment, Angelica's pupils constricted and her gaze frosted.

Appearing from behind the bushes was a rather small figure with long black hair and a white mask. Most striking however were his deep green eyes that fixed themselves on Angelica, Hein, and Ava.

Gazing at his eyes, the three of them felt a certain intensity from them that intimidated them, and for a moment, neither part party moved.

Breaking the silence was Angelica whose mouth parted open as she muttered one word.

"Strategist."

Chapter 818: One at a time [3]

Crash―!

Smallsnake wasn't sure what had happened. Just moments prior, he was under Jezebeth's grasp, and seconds later, he found himself in a large forest.

Blinking his eyes a couple of times, his mind regained some clarity, and he looked around him.

"Where is this?"

Looking at the unfamiliar environment, Smallsnake wasn't sure exactly where he was. The only thing he knew was that he wasn't anywhere near where Ren and Jezebeth were.

'Did he purposely send me here?'

He could still remember his last moments. It happened in an instant, but he understood that the one responsible for all of this was Ren.

…The other Ren.

Where exactly was the Ren he knew?

"Ugh."

With a sigh, he reached into his dimensional space and pulled out a white mask. It had been a while since he had worn it, but he knew that it was necessary if he wanted to blend in with the demons.

As he stared at the mask, he couldn't help but think about the past two years that he had spent with Jezebeth.

It had been a challenging experience, but it had also taught him a lot. Despite the fear and hatred that he had initially felt towards Jezebeth, he had come to understand him better and even found him tolerable.

While he looked terrifying on the outside, he wasn't as scary as Smallsnake originally thought him to be.

He was just… committed.

In his eyes, he only had one goal, and he was the type of person to do anything to achieve that goal, even using underhanded methods.

He seemed rather desperate, and that was when Smallsnake understood he wasn't too different from Ren.

"Haaa… Still, it's been a while since I felt like this…"

Bending down and resting both of his arms on his knees, Smallsnake caught his breath.

After two agonizing years, he was finally free. He felt a mixture of different emotions, and they all came so suddenly that he found himself unable to process them all.

He had a place to return, and that had been his goal since the very beginning.

From the very beginning, his actions had one goal. To get back home. Even if it resulted in him helping out the demons in the process.

At the same time that he helped them, he was also helping himself. Honing his skills and getting a better understanding of how the demons operated.

He made a name for himself, and the mask in his hand represented his status. His achievements.

His capabilities.

It represented who he was now, and it was something he held very dearly.

Slowly, Smallsnake placed the mask over his face, and he took a calm breath. Looking around the forest, he calmly stood up and, without further ado, headed toward the right side.

He could feel a few presences coming from there.

*

'…The problem is that none of us are strong enough to even come close to the Pillar Master. I don't even know if Ren is strong enough… maybe he is, but I'm not sure.'

'So long as the Pillar Master is alive, we are stuck here, and we can only hope for a miracle to happen.'

It was a set of familiar voices. Moving around the forest, Smallsnake's feet came to a sudden halt when he heard a set of familiar words.

He… He wasn't sure if it was them, but at the moment, he felt his breath stop.

Ba...Thump! Ba...Thump!

His heart quivered at the possibility.

Rustle―! Rustle―!

Coming out of the forest, his gaze was immediately drawn toward a group of three, and his entire body stiffened.

He recognized them immediately.

They looked exactly as they had since he had last seen them. No, upon closer look, he realized they looked more mature than he had last seen them.

The sight of them left him rather empty.

Two years… suddenly felt a lot longer than he thought.

'It… It really is them.'

A wave of memories flooded his mind at that very moment, and his body trembled. He had longed for this very moment for a very long time.

He…

He had dreamed many times and replayed this moment in his mind just as many times.

There were many things that he wanted to say at this very moment, but as he stared at them, he found himself unable to utter a single one of the things he wanted to say to them.

He was just stuck there… unable to utter a single thing, and soon, his eyes met with the rest.

Contrary to his expectations, he was met with Angelica's hostile gaze as her icy words echoed through the air.

"Strategist."

***

Angelica stepped in front of Hein and Ava, her eyes warily staring at the man in front of them.

Even though the two of them seemed to be confused as to who the person in front of them was, Angelica knew him all too well and how frightening he was.

Standing in front of him, he seemed completely harmless… He reminded her of a certain someone, and the idea made her hate him even more.

'Don't let his looks fool you, Angelica!'

She had to remind herself several times that he was someone else. Someone far more dangerous and cruel.

Her sharp gaze surveyed the surroundings, looking for any demons.

Every time she had the opportunity to see him, he was always accompanied by multiple guards. The majority of them were powerful, and she feared that such guards were currently roaming around them.

Although she was strong, she wasn't arrogant to the point where she believed herself to be the strongest.

She was still far from reaching the top.

'It looks like everything is clear.'

Calming herself down, Angelica's body relaxed, and so did her expression. After a thorough check, she was under the impression that he was alone.

'There's no need to engage in a fight with him yet. I'll see how this plays out.'

Though she didn't think for one second she could fool him, she did think she could buy herself some time to think of a more plausible excuse.

"What brings you here, ad―"

But just as she had opened her mouth, her entire body stiffened, as did Hein's and Ava's. Mouths agape, they stared at the strategist, who slowly removed his mask to reveal a face the three of them were all too familiar with.

With a soft smile on his face, he opened his mouth and greeted.

"…It's been a while, guys."

The voice…. They were all too familiar with it.

How could they forget it when they had been nagged by that very same voice a thousand times over in the past?

'Clean up after yourself!'

'Don't throw your clothes on the ground after exercising!'

'Who do you think I am, your babysitter?'

A flood of bottled up emotions almost burst forth out of Ava and Hein, but they were held back by Angelica, who pushed them back.

"Don't be fooled!"

She shouted, her gaze looking extremely fierce.

"Remember where you are! This is a trap! Don't get fooled by him!"

Angelica refused to acknowledge it, despite the fact that he resembled him visually, sounded like him, and everything pointed to the fact that it was him.

'It's not him!'

A certain something boiled inside of her at the moment as she glared at him.

"I've long heard of your tactics. You may be able to fool them, but you can't fool me. You're not him!"

She shouted through her gnashed teeth, and a terrifying presence burst out of her body, enveloping Smallsnake's body and sending him crashing against one of the nearby trees.

Crash―!

The tree shattered apart, and Smallsnake's body staggered against the ground before crashing against a large tree in the distance. Angelica's attack was so fast and abrupt that he didn't even have time to react.

Not that he would've been able to react in the first place.

"Angelica!"

"Angelica, wait!"

Her actions startled Ava and Hein, who tried to hold her back at that very moment.

"Let go."

She coldly uttered, her gaze extremely frosty. Avan and Hein were taken aback by Angelica's sudden shift in demeanor as they unconsciously let go of her.

In the many years that they had known her, this was the first time that they had seen such spine chilling coldness from her.

Her voice turned softer after she realized the tone she was speaking in.

"Like I said, don't be fooled by what you're seeing. You're dealing with someone extremely dangerous. Don't let your guard down. He's most likely trying to lower our guards with his tricks… he's a very dangerous person."

She knew better than anyone just how crafty this so called 'strategist' was.

She had only seen him a few times, but she had heard stories about him, so she knew it was impossible for him to be Smallsnake.

He was cruel and merciless. Killing thousands and sacrificing others for his plans.

The Smallsnake in her memories was no such person.

"Ugh."

A soft groan echoed from the distance, and Angelica's cold gaze fell on the strategist, who let out a pained groan.

Weakly moving his body, he sat up straight and leaned against one of the trees. A bitter expression appeared on his face.

He muttered in a pained voice.

"Y,you really didn't hold back…"

"Shut up."

Angelica appeared right before him and grabbed his throat.

"Akh."

The strategist let out another groan, but his eyes never wavered. Looking down at Angelica, who was fiercely glaring at him, he continued to smile.

"W,what's up with… you and R…Ren always telling me to s,hut up?"

Upon hearing his words, Angelica's expression changed, and she loosened her grip.

"A,re you finally getting it?"

Smallsnake questioned after successfully inhaling some air.

"Ah…"

He gasped for air.

"It's me."

"No… no…"

Angelica shook her head, refusing to believe him. Biting her lips, she looked back at him and studied his face. He looked exactly how she remembered him… perhaps his hair was a little longer, but it was him… but how? How was this possible?

She refused to believe this.

"Prove it… Prove to me that you're him."

"Prove?"

"Yes," Angelica softly nodded, "What's your name?"

Smallsnake blinked his eyes a couple of times, and his gaze turned soft.

"Brian," he quietly muttered, "my name is Brian."

Drip!

"Angelica?!"

It was subtle, but as soon as he uttered his name aloud, a wave of emotions swept over the stone cold demoness and a warm tear rolled down her cheek.

For the first time in a very long time.

Angelica let her emotions get the best of her.

Chapter 819: One at a time [4]

"It's not your fault, Ren."

My mother's words echoed in my mind as I surveyed my surroundings. I had returned to Ashton City, and I wasn't alone.

All those who had been in the tower with me were also brought out, along with others.

"Ren, it's not—"

My mother began to say once more. As if I hadn't heard her the first time.

"I know."

I interrupted her, my mind numb and thoughts scattered.

Despite everything that had happened, I remained rational and surprisingly calm, unlike what I expected.

Everything became clear to me: what I had to do and what I had to achieve.

"I know it's not my fault."

I said calmly, looking at my mother. From behind her, I glanced at Nola, who averted her gaze from me. I could tell that she was no longer mad at me and had calmed down considerably.

Still, in light of what happened, the mood between the two of us was rather awkward, and she seemed to be struggling to find the right words to say to me.

Her attempts didn't escape my eyes. But I chose to ignore them. For now.

I closed my eyes, then opened them again and directed my focus toward the nearest pillar.

Until this moment, I hadn't had the chance to really take in the tower's details. It was majestic, its intricate patterns and designs radiating a sense of mystery and wonder.

It made me wonder just how exactly Jezebeth had been able to build such a structure, but the thoughts disappeared as fast as they came.

'It's a pity I can't teleport directly into them.'

There was something blocking me from using Soul Linkage. I tried teleporting inside the pillars, but it proved to be a fruitless endeavor.

It seemed as though I was still not adept enough in my control over the laws to surpass whatever was blocking me from entering the pillars.

"If you know it's not your fault, then..."

My thoughts were interrupted by my mother's words.

"I'm going to make those responsible pay."

I declared calmly, maintaining eye contact with her. Before she even had the chance to say any more words, I waved my hand, and they both disappeared from my sight, along with my father's body.

It became quiet again.

"Now then."

I blinked, and the scenery before me changed.

I now stood in front of the pillar.

I clenched my fist tightly, focusing my energy and channeling the laws within my body.

Booom—!

A deafening boom resounded as my fist connected with the tower, sending ripples of energy throughout the world.

***

Crash—!

The space shattered, and Jezebeth appeared in front of Ren, his fist hurling right at his face.

Ren was able to avoid the attack by cocking his head to the side, and then he immediately launched a counterattack of his own.

Boom—!

The atmosphere would shake whenever the two of them engaged in combat, and at the moment, in the snowy plain they were in, the snow beneath them tore apart, exposing a patch of dark rock.

Boom—!

Ren's feet came crashing against the rock, creating a small crater beneath.

"You can try to hide it, but you can't fool me."

Suddenly, Jezebeth's voice resounded through the atmosphere, and his figure materialized directly above Ren.

With a gentle flutter, his hair scattered forward.

"Your decision to split yourself will prove costly for you. I can tell that your mana is rapidly depleting by the second. You don't have much time left…"

"That's fine."

Ren replied in a calm voice, his head raised and his eyes gazing deeply at Jezebeth.

There wasn't much of a change in his expression, but there was something about it that left Jezebeth restless.

It felt as if everything was under his control…

'Is there more to what he's already shown me?'

He wouldn't be surprised if he did, and just as he was about to say something, his entire body stiffened, and a small projection appeared in front of his eyes, depicting the happenings of one of the pillars.

"You… this…"

As he turned his head to look at Ren, the expression on his face changed into one of complete and utter shock.

Finally, Ren's lips curled.

"Surprised?"

Ren murmured as he cleaned his tattered and torn clothes.

"You didn't think for a second that he was capable enough of getting rid of your little babies? Let alone absorb the power that you tried giving them?"

Ren's words pierced Jezebeth's mind, and he secretly clenched his fist.

Rumble—! Rumble—!

The entire world started to tremble at that moment, and Jezebeth's gaze started to twist.

This response amused Ren as he suddenly materialized in front of him.

"What was it again?"

He asked, his calm voice echoing throughout the space.

"You called him soft hearted, but looking at you… you're not that different from him, aren't you?"

Boom—!

Jezebeth's entire body jerked backward when Ren's fist connected with his chest.

"You pose yourself as this ultimate ruler, but in reality, you're nothing but a soft hearted demon that wants an answer to some philosophical question that would probably go along the lines of… you were a mistake that was never meant to happen. You shouldn't have ever been born. You're like cancer that has grown too powerful to control…"

Each and every one of Ren's words echoed loudly within Jezebeth's head as he clenched his fist more tightly.

While he wanted to refute Ren's words, for some reason, he couldn't. It was as if… deep down, he knew that he was right.

That perhaps… his existence and his entire race's existence were one mistake that was never meant to happen.

Swoosh—!

Ren appeared directly behind Jezebeth and punched him in the back with the same force as before, causing Jezebeth's back to bend in the opposite direction.

Jezebeth was unable to react due to the rapidity of the events, and his body soon collided with the ground.

Boom—!

Snow was hurled into the air, and Ren appeared directly above the area where Jezebeth had been thrown.

"To think that someone like you, who has lived even longer than me, still feels something at the death of their subordinates. Honestly…"

Ren paused; his eyes wandered off into the distance, and he slowly turned his body. There, he spotted Jezebeth's outline.

Somehow, he was able to move all the way there without him noticing.

"…It's pathetic."

Swoosh—!!

A breeze blew past, and Jezebeth quietly remained where he was, his gaze fixed on Ren.

"Are you finished?"

Jezebeth asked, his voice sounding awfully calm.

Something about his words brought a sudden chill to the already chilly weather, and everything around them stopped still.

"Why do you… haaa…"

Jezebeth covered his face halfway through his sentence as he let out a short sigh.

"Why do you always…"

He was unable to finish his sentence again. This time, he let out a small laugh as his face slowly started to twist.

"Why do you always get in my way?"

Finally, he was able to complete his sentence, and by then, his expression had distorted beyond recognition. In contrast to his usual serenity, his expression was unusually twisted, and the world trembled before his power.

Rumble—! Rumble—!

"Why do you… resist me? I put everything, and I mean everything, into this, and yet… you, who doesn't even care about whether you live or die, still try to block my way?"

Jezebeth cocked his head.

"Why?"

He clenched his teeth.

"I am so close… Every time I'm so close to achieving my objective, someone is there to thwart me... why? Why is it this way?"

Raising his head, he frigidly glared at Ren and shouted.

"Why!?"

WOOOOM—!

At that instant, his power erupted from out of his body, and the mountains in the distance shook. Avalanches formed, and a white mist covered the entire plain.

"I just want answers… I'm not asking for much. I spent millions of years just for this one moment, and yet, when I'm closer than I have ever been in my life, it suddenly happens that it wasn't as close as I previously thought."

Jezebeth could see the end of the long tunnel he had walked through.

It was within arm's reach, but when he extended his hand to reach the tunnel, he discovered that the tunnel suddenly grew longer and the distance, which he had previously believed to be insignificant, became infinitely longer.

The feeling…

It left an awful taste in his mouth, and he couldn't stomach it.

His long repressed emotions burst out at that moment, and he let everything out.

"You say that I'm soft hearted… Maybe so, but it's because I'm not a coward."

He raised his head to stare directly at Ren.

"I don't run from the pain… from failure, and from everything that is against me because, trust me, what you've been through, I've been through it as well!"

His words echoed loudly throughout the entire plain.

He had to scratch and claw his way to where he was right now. The power he had, and everything that he had achieved…

He didn't magically become powerful out of nowhere.

No, he had to put up a fight to get where he was, and the price he paid for it wasn't a simple one.

He had lost everything.

Everything that he had ever cared for in the process of getting to where he was.

Ren may have gone through a lot, but so had he!

His race had been on the verge of extinction, and if not for him, they would've long since been erased.

He watched his parents die in front of his very eyes, and instead of mourning their loss or simply erasing his pain by removing his own emotions like a certain someone, he carried that weight to fuel himself forward.

"The difference between the two of us, Ren… is that I don't run away from pain. I embrace it and let it fuel me. I'm no coward like you!"

Rumble—! Rumble—!

The world quaked even more fiercely at his words as Jezebeth stared at Ren, who was quietly looking back at him.

Soon, Ren's mouth parted open, and a few words echoed quietly through the space.

"Tell me something that I don't know. I've long since known that I'm a coward, a failure… and funnily enough, it has never made my nights worse. There were other things keeping me from sleeping, and as you say, I may be a coward, but…"

Pressing his finger onto the space in front of him, a ripple formed in the air in front of him.

"…I'm a very strong one."

Boom—!

Chapter 820: One at a time [5]

[Pillar of Wrath]

How long had it been since she had gotten stranded over here?

Staring at the massive dunes ahead of her, she smacked her dry lips.

She had lost count.

The desert was scorched by the red sun hanging in the sky, and her feet sank into the sand beneath her.

"Uek!"

Swoosh—!

On occasion, scorpions twice her size would ambush her from beneath the ground, launching themselves at her at high speeds.

Xiu! Xiu!

If not for her fast reactions, she would've found herself in a difficult situation more times than she could count.

Thump! Thump!

As she twisted her body and pulled on her bowstring, the enormous scorpions lifelessly fell in front of her.

'I've lost count of the number of scorpions I've killed so far.'

Amanda pondered while staring at the scorpion's corpse at her feet. It was entirely clad in red armor, which glistened beneath the red sun that hung in the sky.

By her estimates, their power was comparable to that of a Marquis ranked demon, and its large pincer dripped a black liquid that liquefied the sand when it touched it.

Tzzzz. Tzzzz.

Amanda drew a small bottle from her bag and placed it beneath the pincer to collect the liquid that was leaking from it.

'This might be useful for later.'

She had already collected several samples along the way, and she would repeat the procedure each time she killed a scorpion. To her delight, the poison was quite effective against the demons. She had already tested it on multiple demons and was ecstatic with the results.

It was just that… she didn't feel comfortable carrying that much poison with her. Especially since the bottle she would put it in would sizzle at the touch.

Clank—!

Amanda tucked away her flask, which was now half-filled with a black, viscous substance, with a satisfied expression.

While she wasn't comfortable with the idea of carrying that much poison with her, as long as it was in her dimensional space, she felt that it wasn't a big deal.

She just didn't want it to explode on her the moment she took it out.

"Now then…"

She turned her gaze to stare into the distance.

Her delicate brows furrowed, and she pondered over her next location.

She was honestly clueless at the moment.

She was merely just going along on her own whims and was just going around the desert in hopes of finding someone she was familiar with, but that proved to be a harder task than she had anticipated as those that she did meet were either dead or demons.

It was truly a bothersome sight.

She may be used to seeing dead bodies by now, but it was still an uncomfortable sight.

"Hm?"

Immediately thereafter, Amanda's ears perked up, and she stopped abruptly. She wasn't sure at first, but she believed she had felt a muffled explosion sound emanating from her right side.

Booom—!

She wasn't wrong. It was quiet, but she could still sense the muffled sound of the explosion, and her eyes jumped up with a little excitement.

'Finally.'

Sound meant that there were people fighting in the distance, which meant that there was a chance that she'd find someone she knew.

Without wasting a single second, she drew her bow, planted her foot in the sand, and dashed across the sand at incredible speeds.

Swoosh—!

It took her only a few seconds to cover hundreds of kilometers, and after what seemed like a minute of running, she arrived in front of a rather large dune.

Boom—! Boom—!

Upon her arrival, she was certain that something was happening.

The muffled sounds transformed into the full-fledged sound of explosions ripping through the air above her.

"What in the…"

When Amanda reached the top of the dune, she was astounded by the view that greeted her.

BOOOOM—!

"Arghhh!"

"huak!"

It was a bloody sight.

Two parties engaged in a conflict that was bloodier than anything she had ever witnessed, with limbs flying everywhere and red and black intertwined on the surface of the sand, staining it with their colors.

BOOOOM—!

The explosions were as loud as ever, and Amanda's gaze fell on the plot of land in the faraway distance.

She unknowingly swallowed a mouthful of saliva as she gazed over the horizon, where tens of thousands upon tens of thousands of red armors glistened beneath the red sun that hung in the sky.

She recognized those armors in an instant, but if that wasn't enough…

"Aaakghh!"

"H..help!"

Screams of terror and agony echoed through the air as thousands of scorpions covered the land and thousands of demons roamed the sky.

If Amanda had one way to describe the current situation, it'd have to be a complete and utter disaster…

She was able to see thousands of forces that belonged to the alliance. They were steadily losing ground by the second, and they were engaged in a fierce battle to prevent themselves from retreating even further.

The situation was nothing short of precarious.

"Aren't they…"

Amanda's eyes narrowed, and she focused her gaze on a group of individuals in the distance. She was able to identify them without any difficulty, and her demeanor abruptly became very solemn.

'I need to help them.'

Their situation… it was anything but good.

Although they still seemed to be able to hold on for a while, she knew that they needed help urgently.

Thus, without further ado, she took a deep breath and clenched her bow tightly.

Even though she was still quite far away from where the main battle was taking place, the distance was sufficient for her. She grabbed onto her bow, curved her back in the opposite direction, and pulled on the string as she did so.

While she was channeling her mana, a potent hue emanated from her body.

"There's someone over here!"

"Get her!"

This hue caught the attention of several demons who were located a safe distance away, but she did not pay any attention to them.

Her attention was fixed on what lay in front of her, and as she pulled the string further back, her eyes became perfectly focused on the targets.

"Huuu…"

Exhaling, she let go of the string.

Thunk!

And with a noise that was eerily similar to bones cracking, the string became taut, and a translucent blue arrow shot through the air.

Swoosh—!

The speed of the arrow was neither fast nor slow.

It was about average, with the majority of the demons below being able to detect it.

There were some demons below that tried to interfere with the path of the arrow, and some of them even tried to intercept it; however, those who belonged to the four races used whatever means they had available to stop them.

They could tell at a glance that that was no regular arrow.

It took a few seconds for the arrow to reach its highest point, and just as it was about to fall back down onto the ground, Amanda's eyes widened, and her mouth parted open as a faint word escaped from her lips.

"Split."

The arrow stopped moving in midair almost as soon as the word left her mouth, and shortly after that, a terrifying glow engulfed the entire world from above.

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

Like rain, thousands upon thousands of arrows streaked down from above at terrifying speeds.

The demons became vigilant, but it was already far too late.

As soon as they became aware of what was happening, the arrows came hurtling down in a series of whistles, impaling hundreds of demons at once and killing a significant portion of them in the process.

"Akah!"

"Huak!"

"Kehe!"

Screams of agony reverberated through the air as demons fell to the ground with resounding thumps.

Clink! Clink! Clink!

It was unfortunate that the same could not be said for scorpions. Unlike the demons, their body armor was able to deflect some of the arrows that were falling upon them.

In spite of their armor, however, a number of scorpions sustained severe wounds during the sudden rain of arrows, and their march slowed considerably, allowing the members of the Alliance to catch their breath.

The battle, which seemed so one sided moments prior, suddenly changed, and it was all thanks to one single arrow.

While they had not gained the upper hand or evened the score, they had gained significant breathing room.

"Retreat! Organize yourselves!"

"Use this chance to re-organize the positions! Quick!"

Those of the four races quickly retreated and formed solid formations after seizing that brief opportunity.

In the meantime, Amanda had already left the spot she was previously standing on when she shot the arrow.

She knew all too well that she had attracted a lot of attention and that she was currently the number one target of the demons.

Even so, she was proud of what she had achieved.

"Amanda, quick, over here!"

It was a soft voice that ushered her in a certain direction, and when she turned her head, she managed to spot a familiar flock of orange hair, and her expression softened a little.

"Monica."

"Quick."

Monica urged her, waving her hand at her urgently while looking behind her with a sense of urgency.

Seeing how serious she was, Amanda rushed to her side without delay. As soon as she arrived in front of her, she noticed the presence of numerous terrifying energies in the vicinity, and her face paled.

"Quick, we don't have much time. Thanks for buying us time."

"Mhm."

Amanda followed Monica from behind, and that was also when she spotted Donna, and Douglas not so far from her.

The two of them seemed to be waiting for them, and when they showed up, Donna immediately greeted her.

"It's good that you're here. We need your help."

"Tell me what I need to do."

Amanda nodded her head seriously, her expression as cold as a rock.

"Just support us."

Monica answered, her gaze fixed on the distance.

"We're currently trying to hold the main forces of the demons back and stop them from getting to the others. We were struggling a bit before, but with your help, we should be able to last for longer. "

"I se—!"

Just as Amanda was about to speak, a demonic figure emerged from beneath one of the dunes in the distance, and almost all of them turned their heads at once, their heart at their throat.

The demon had short black hair and a large horn protruding from his head. He had a rather large build and carried a heavy sword behind his back.

Thump!

Stepping right above the dune, the atmosphere changed almost immediately, and Amanda choked on whatever words she was trying to say moments earlier.

That…

That was not an existence she could provoke.

When she turned her head, it was to her dismay to realize that the three of them were showing similar reactions to hers.

One of true fear.

"That…"

Monica opened her mouth, her lips trembling.

"We're fucked, aren't we?"

Chapter 821: Wrath [1]

"It looks like another talented one has arrived."

His gaze landed on a human girl with long, glossy black hair and thin lips. By demon standards, she could be considered quite beautiful, though the Prince had no interest in her.

There were other things that piqued his interest, and that was not one of them.

The fact that her powers affected a large area was one of the things that piqued his interest and was something he could not allow to continue.

She needed to be disposed of before she became a serious problem for his plan.

In fact, everyone who belonged in the group she was in need to be taken care of.

"Let's see."

His eyes swept over the three women before pausing on the elderly man. He was the strongest of the group by far. His strength was comparable to that of a young Prince, and he posed the greatest threat.

He was not a significant threat to him, but he could still affect his plans, so he had to be dealt with first.

Swoosh—!

Prince Konjak was a decisive individual. The moment he figured out what he needed to do, he set himself into motion.

Taking a step forward, he appeared right before the group.

"Humans."

He called out in a soft voice. His sudden appearance startled them, but not significantly. They appeared to have somewhat anticipated his imminent arrival.

This was good…

"There's no need to panic. I mean no harm… as of yet."

The Prince's voice was amicable.

With a calm smile on his face, he addressed the four people in front of him.

"If possible, I would like to avoid killing you all. You are all incredibly talented in your own right, and it would be a shame to kill you all, so I am here to propose an offer officially. One, I'm sure you won't be able to refuse."

Bringing his hand forward, three contracts appeared in his hand.

"I'm certain I don't have to explain to you all what these are, so how about it? Will you join my side? …I really don't want to kill such talented people."

While he brought the contract forward, the others gazed at the contracts before turning to face him. The shortest of them, the woman with orange hair, spoke with a frown on her face.

"I don't think you've done the proper math."

She turned to look behind her.

"There are four of us, but only three contracts. Do you seriously believe you will be able to recruit all of us if you cannot even count?"

"About that…"

The Prince smiled.

"It wasn't a mistake."

"What?"

"There's no mistake in the number of contracts that I'm offering."

The Prince repeated himself, his gaze falling on the elderly man.

"In the end, I've decided to offer three contracts to the three of you, excluding him. He is already past his prime and has reached his limit. I have no use for a person whose limit only amounts to this much. There are many other demons with more talent than him that I can recruit."

Demons lived for a very long time.

Much more than humans did, and the human in front of him seemed to at most have fifty years left in his lifespan.

It wasn't short, but it certainly wasn't very much by demon standards.

Furthermore, he had reached the peak of what his powers could reach.

Simply put, he wasn't worth nurturing or bringing to his side. He had many other subordinates that were of his caliber, if not even better than he was.

"Don't worry, humans."

Seeing a noticeable change in the human's expressions, the Prince spoke up.

"I won't kill him. I can tell you care for him, so I'll keep him alive. Though he's useless, he's still quite strong. Perhaps I'll have him serve as some instructor or cleaner for—"

Boom—!

Before the Prince could finish his sentence, he was attacked by a terrifying force. The force was powerful, shattering everything nearby, but the Prince effortlessly repelled it by raising his hand to block it.

In the corner of his eyes, he could see a faint reflection of himself on the blade that had struck him.

"Hasty, aren't we?"

The Prince's gaze fell on the human girl with orange hair.

Her expression was menacing, and a strong surge of mana emanated from her sword, which was held by the Prince's two fingers.

"You're not bad."

The Prince commented, feeling the power contained within the sword.

"However…"

Flick!

With one flick of his finger, the sword shut up, and he appeared before the orange haired girl. With his hand pressed against her abdomen, he mumbled.

"I don't like it when I'm interrupted."

Boom—!

Her body flew off into the distance, colliding with one of the closest dunes with a muffled thud, and sand flew into the air.

Since he hadn't gone all out, she was most probably still alive.

Woom—! Woom—!

"Oh, my."

Immediately after her body was flung, the Prince was confronted by a series of formidable forces, which he also handled with ease.

Waving his hand, an arrow, a whip, and a complex spell stopped in front of him.

The Prince's brows furrowed as he shifted his gaze toward the perpetrators while observing each of the attacks in front of him.

Xiu!

He was about to speak when the space behind him began to tremble, and the arrow that had been floating in front of him vanished, only to reappear behind him.

"Uh?"

Just as he was about to react to the unexpected situation, a figure appeared next to him.

It was the orange-haired girl whom he had thrown not too long ago.

Swoosh—!

Her blade slashed through the air at a rate considerably faster than she had previously demonstrated. Upon seeing her, the prince frowned and veered off to the side, narrowly escaping the arrow that had appeared beside him.

Although it didn't pose a threat to him, catching the arrow dead-on would still hurt.

"Your struggle is meaningless."

Touching the side of the blade that was heading his way, the blade's direction changed, and the orange haired girl stumbled forward.

Twamp!

"Akh!"

The Prince took advantage of the opportunity and kicked her in the stomach, sending her flying through the air.

Just as he believed it was over, he felt a gentle force beside him, and an amethyst hue surrounded him.

"Stop it."

That hue stopped dead in its tracks before it could even touch him. His eyes wandered toward the woman with purple eyes, and he shook his head.

"I don't understand. I offered you a good deal; why won't you take it?"

The deal was rather good.

In exchange for sparing them, they were going to work for him. In his life, he had never mistreated his subordinates and had given them a lot of benefits.

What these humans in front of him were doing was, to say the least, stupid.

…and the Prince didn't like stupid subordinates.

His earlier enthusiasm for them quickly dissipated, and his eye flashed with ferocity.

"You know what? Nevermind. I'm no longer interested in taking the lot of you as my subordinates."

The devil contracts that floated in the air beside him dispersed into thousands of particles, and the Prince's terrifying power began to emerge.

He brought his hand forward and opened his palm. The very air around him came to a sudden standstill, and demonic energy burst out of his body, encircling the entire area around them.

"Since that's the case, I no longer have the need to keep you alive. Say goodbye to—huh?"

Rumble—! Rumble—!

Cutting the Prince off, the entire pillar began to shake violently. Not only slightly, but the entirety of the structure shook, and as a consequence, several dunes dispersed in all directions.

"What's going on?!"

The Prince was obviously startled by the situation, as evidenced by the serious expression on his face as he looked skyward.

'For something like this to happen… is it his majesty? No, but he can directly go in… just who in the world…'

He didn't have to wait for long to get an answer.

Cr…Crack—!

The sky above cracked at that moment, and within seconds of that happening, a glass shattering sound spread throughout every inch of the world, revealing a large fissure that covered the entire sky.

At that moment, everyone stopped whatever they were doing and raised their heads to look at the sky.

Toward the large fissure that had appeared above.

"What's happening?"

"W,what is that…"

It was only natural that panic and shock spread across the world.

What lay beyond the fissure was a far-off blue sky, which stood in stark contrast to the sky that existed within the world that was contained within the Pillar.

That, however, wasn't what drew the attention of those beneath.

"Look!"

"There's someone coming out from the fissure!?"

Indeed, what appeared to be a hazy black figure emerged from within the gap in the sky, slowly floating in the air as if it were levitating.

Because of his presence, the entire atmosphere of the world shifted, and many people found that they were unable to breathe or look up at the sky at that particular moment.

There was something eerie about the figure…

Something unexplainable and extremely chilling.

He didn't do anything unusual; he just floated there in the air and did nothing but look down at the world. But for some reason, anyone who looked at him could only feel the onset of their own death.

He…

He didn't seem too different from death itself.

"Who do I have the pleasure of meeting."

In front of the figure, Prince Konjak materialized out of thin air. He was unafraid, in contrast to the other people there. Even though the hazy figure gave off a frightening amount of energy, the Prince had complete faith in his own physical prowess.

He didn't think he would lose.

"Is there anything that you wish from me?"

Prince Konjak asked politely.

His expression was one of happiness, and he appeared calm and collected in general. It was obvious that this was merely a pretense, as his body was tense.

It was indeed true that he held some confidence in his strength, but that didn't mean he would come out of the fight unscathed.

There was a high chance he could get crippled as a result of the fight, and if he could, he'd love to avoid such a scenario at all costs.

"Are you someone sent by his ma—"

"I'm not."

The figure eventually spoke, and his quiet voice reverberated throughout the area where the two of them were.

Rumble—!

A tremor ran through the sky, and out of nowhere, a sword materialized in his hand.

Tip pointed at the Prince; the figure opened his mouth again.

"I only need one thing."

He said, his cold voice drifting in the space like soft whispers.

"…For you to die."

SHIIING—!

As his words faded, the world around Prince Konjak began to turn upside down. Soon after, he caught a glimpse of what appeared to be his body, and he wondered to himself.

'…Is that my body?'

Chapter 822: Wrath [2]

It all happened so fast that Prince Konjak was unable to react in time. Before he knew it, the world turned upside down and he caught a glimpse of his body.

At first, he was confused, but he soon came to a sudden understanding of what had transpired, and his body quickly shattered into the air.

"Haa...haa…"

As he vigorously gulped for air, the region directly below his neck began to wiggle, and a new body materialized. The transformation took place almost instantly, and Prince Konjak had no trouble getting around in his new body once it was complete.

'That was close.'

Clenching and unclenching his fist several times, Prince Konjak finally sighed in relief.

Everything seemed to be working properly.

'It's good that he didn't hit my core.'

Had that been the case… he probably wouldn't still be alive.

"…You lived."

A voice laced with what seemed to be pity drifted in the air, and Prince Konjak raised his head. His expression twisted at the sight of the figure above him, and he channeled all of his demonic energy.

"Count yourself unlucky."

Prince Konjak muttered as the demonic energy around him became tangible.

In a matter of seconds, a domain of demonic energy formed around his body. Once it expanded and reached a certain range, at the clench of the Prince's fist, the domain contracted, entering the Prince's body.

His body began to expand at an alarming rate, and his figure began to tower over the landscape, casting a shadow on the ground below.

"You had one chance to kill me…"

His tone became more profound, and the amount of energy he radiated became ten times stronger. The world was completely taken over by his presence, and the space around him warped and distorted.

"…but you failed, and therefore your one and only chance disappeared."

He clenched his fist and shifted his weight to the back of his body. As he concentrated as much demonic power as he could into his fist, the air around it burst into fragments, and he ground his teeth together.

"Now…"

Releasing all of the energy that was contained within his fist, he thrust his fist forward while shouting.

"Die!"

BOOOM—!

***

'I missed… what a pity.'

There I went and wasted my one and only chance to get rid of him quickly.

Normally, I'd be bummed out, but at the moment, I didn't particularly feel like that. In fact, I would've probably been more disappointed if he had died that fast.

I wouldn't be disappointed if he died because he was too weak; rather, I'd be disappointed because his death would've been too fast.

I wanted to take my time.

I wanted them… to understand how they had died.

"Die!"

Vooom—!

A fist headed my way. It was fast and powerful. So much so that the space around the fist shattered, and the air stilled.

I felt the area around me lock, halting my movements. Golden runes and words appeared in my vision and encircled my entire body.

'As expected, he too knows how to control the laws…'

If that wasn't bad enough, the fist was extremely fast.

Even with [Eyes of Chronos] active, the fist that was thrown at me moved at an unfathomable speed, and as it approached, it grew steadily larger in the field of my vision.

I knew from a single glance that if the fist made contact with me, I would die, but I did not feel fear.

Staring at the fist, I waited for it to arrive before my very eyes before finally making a move.

Channeling the laws within my body, the golden runes and words floating around me shattered, and I brought my hand forward.

Pak!

The fist made contact with my palm, and a loud smacking sound reverberated through the air as pressurized wind waves spread outward from the point of contact between my palm and his fist.

My hair fluttered lightly.

"Mh."

The impact was so powerful that I was pushed back several meters, and the sand beneath us disappeared entirely, revealing dense bedrock.

I wasn't going to lie and say that the force didn't hurt me, but I did feel my entire body tremble in the aftermath of the attack, and even though I wasn't in my actual body, I could still feel the pain of the impact.

It was painful, but it wasn't anything close to the pain my main body was sustaining.

"You... that power..."

A surprised voice brought my attention back, and when I looked at the Prince, he looked back at me with a startled gaze.

He seemed genuinely surprised by the fact that I was able to use the laws as his eyes shook fiercely. But he was quick to regain his composure.

Fwap—

Flapping his wings, he appeared before me, and my vision blurred.

By the time my vision returned, my gaze fell on his exposed back, and I reached my palm toward his back.

Pak!

It was unfortunate that his reaction was so quick.

My palm was about to reach for his back when his body suddenly twisted, and my palm once again came into contact with his fist.

The force of the impact caused my body to jerk back again, and my arm to shake as a result of the force of the impact.

The trembling lasted several seconds before it stopped and my arm returned to normal.

However, I knew that had this been my real body, my bones would've shattered by now. It was a good thing that I wasn't in my physical body, but at the same time, I knew that my actions were undermining my other self.

Every time I healed, an enormous amount of mana would be consumed.

I couldn't let this continue.

Voom—!

Once more, a fist came hurling in my direction.

This time, unlike the previous times, I didn't counter attack, and instead retreated.

My entire body shook as I pressed my foot against the air, and when the shaking stopped, I found myself several hundred meters away from where I had been.

After that, I unsheathed my sword from the sheath and aimed it at the Prince while pointing it forward.

Almost instantly, the area around the Prince began to shatter, and a number of sword streaks appeared all around him.

"Argh!"

Unfortunately, my attacks disintegrated as soon as they touched his body. Despite this, I was not unhappy with the outcome.

This was just the start…

Pressing my foot against the air once more, I distanced myself once more and pointed my sword his way. The process was the same as before, but unlike before, the sword streaks were faster and more powerful than the previous ones.

"Argh!!"

While they didn't reach him once more, they managed to come closer than in the previous attacks.

Pressing my foot again, my vision blurred, and I arrived before the Prince's back. Pointing my sword at him, the space around him shattered once more, and more and more sword streaks headed in his direction.

The attacks were relentless, and they grew by the second.

The mana inside of my body drained rapidly with each attack, but at the same time, I started gaining more ground.

This…

What I was doing right now was a result of my hard work.

Combining all three arts together, I managed to create the perfect sword art.

I didn't have a name for it yet, but…

'It isn't too different from a sword domain.'

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

With a sword projection slicing through the air and aimed directly at him, I seized the opportunity to approach him.

Since the projections had become so strong that he could no longer ignore them, I seized the opportunity to attack.

As my muscles grew larger, the structure of my body changed as I clenched my fist. Simultaneously, power coursed through my entire body, and I punched his abdomen with everything I had.

With a sudden blurring of my vision, I found myself standing right in front of him, and the sword streaks bent around my body as they continued to head toward him.

Vooom—!

"Coward!"

My actions didn't go unnoticed by the Prince who was busy dealing with the sword projections. He turned his head, and our gazes met, but he was helpless.

Due to the increasing speed and power of the sword projections, he was unable to react in time to my sudden appearance.…and this was what I was waiting for.

When I clenched my fist, the space around it shattered, and I aimed my fist toward his abdomen, releasing all the energy that I had accumulated.

That was where I could feel the core was.

Fwap—!! However, just as my fist was about to come into contact with his abdominal area, a pair of wings appeared out of nowhere, blocking my fist.

BOOM—!

I felt my fist connect with his wings, and the Prince's body flew back, slamming into several black dunes in the distance.

I stared at my fist as sand flew up into the air in the aftermath of the attack.

'He blocked that…'

I was a bit surprised by the fact that he had managed to block my attack, but at the same time, it made me understand why he was one of the seven heads of the clans.

He was, without a doubt, strong.

VOOOM—!

The powerful force that suddenly came from behind me was the best evidence of that.

'It seems like that wasn't enough to hurt him properly.'

Twisting my body, I clenched my fist once more and punched out in the direction of where the force was coming from.

Boom—!

The sky twisted around us, and my entire body shook. As soon as my eyes landed on the demon in front of me, I assumed a gloomy expression.

His expression was calm, and a strange flame circulated around his entire body, unlike before. His eyes had become entirely crimson, and the power emanating from his body was unlike anything he had ever shown before.

'He's even stronger…'

Suddenly, a tremendous amount of pressure began to bear down on me from all sides, and that's when I became certain.

Without a doubt…

He had gotten stronger.

Chapter 823: Wrath [3]

Boom—!

My entire being writhed in agony as my back collided with the ground. I previously thought that falling into the sand wouldn't hurt, but I was dead wrong on that assumption.

It hurt like hell.

'That's right; how come I only realized it now?'

I came to a sudden realization.

VOOOM—! While keeping an eye on the approaching punch, I twisted my body to the side and just managed to avoid getting hit by it. It was just by a hair's breadth, but I was still able to avoid the incoming attack.

I was lucky enough to react on time.

BOOOM—!

My eardrums shattered as a result of the impact between the Prince's fist and the sand next to me. With no sound reaching my ears, all I could hear was a constant ringing noise.

If that wasn't bad enough, the aftermath of his fist sent me flying in the opposite direction.

With that said, I understood the reasoning behind the Prince's sudden increase in strength.

'…This is the Pillar of Wrath. It only makes sense that he becomes stronger the angrier he is.'

Swoosh—!

As I twisted my body in the air, a fist materialized in the area I was previously in, and my eyes landed on a long, muscular red arm.

I tried to cut it with my sword, but it disappeared before I could even move my sword, and a powerful force hit me from above.

Boom—!

"Ukh."

I once again crashed against the ground and let out a soft groan. By now, my whole body ached, and the ring in my head only grew louder.

I tried to pull myself up by pressing my hand against the sand, but just as I moved, something grabbed the back of my head and pushed me down against the sand.

BANG—!

"Ukh."

From the moment the Prince changed, the fight had been one sided.

I tried fighting back, but no matter what I did, he was already before me. He was relentless. He kept attacking me before I even had the chance to breathe or properly distance myself.

As if that weren't bad enough, he grew more powerful with each attack, and the injuries in my body started to accumulate.

Inevitably, the mana within my body drained at astounding rates, and my body began to lose color.

Boom—!

Narrowly avoiding his fist and rolling to the side, I pressed my hands against the sand from above my head and pushed my body up.

Twisting my body, I kicked toward the back of his neck.

Pak—!

Just as my kick was about to connect with his neck, he raised his hand, and it struck his forearm.

BANG—! The moment my leg connected, the sand around us shattered, and pressurized wind waves spread outward from the point of contact. My hair fluttered, and in that split second, our eyes met.

Compared to the first time that I had seen him, he was different.

His entire body was now red, and a tangible, dark red hue of demonic energy circulated around him. It was denser and thicker than it had ever been.

His crimson eyes shone with a menacing hue that spread out from them, and his entire body towered over mine.

The subsequent events transpired so rapidly that by the time I reacted, it was too late.

Swoosh—!

Moving his arm down, I felt his hand grasp my leg.

My body streaked through the air shortly after that as he pulled my body toward his direction, and I saw an elbow quickly approaching.

Even with [Eyes of Chronos], I was helpless by the speed at which his elbow was coming, and the only thing I could do was bring my arms forward and block the attack.

Boom—!

My arms disappeared.

That was the best way I could describe what I saw. It all happened so fast that the moment that I brought my hands forward to defend against his elbow, my arms, which were covering my head, disappeared.

The elbow stopped, but an unbearable pain coursed through my body. It was so painful that I was unable to even groan.

The only thing I could do was clench my teeth and remind myself that the current pain was nothing compared to what I had endured previously.

That this pain wasn't real and that it was just in my mind.

'I've been through worse.'

It may or may not have worked, but I didn't have much time to contemplate this as his elbow dropped once more.

"Nope."

My arms, which had vanished moments earlier, reappeared. In that instant, nearly half of my mana vanished, and my entire body turned a hazy grey color.

Bringing my hands forward, I held onto his elbow with both hands and exerted as much strength as possible.

The elbow stopped, and in one quick motion, I cut off my right leg, which was still being held by the Prince.

"Ukh."

Once more, I felt a sudden wave of pain, but I kept reminding myself that this wasn't the worst I had ever felt.

That it was all just an illusion.

Swoosh!

After depleting a lot of my mana, my leg returned, and I heavily gasped for air.

"Haaa…"

Unfortunately for me, I didn't have much time to think as the Prince was once again on me. Thrusting his fist forward, his figure appeared behind me, and I could only duck down, barely dodging his fist.

Swoosh!

The space above me shattered, and I felt the laws bind me all over as golden runes and words emerged from the ground beneath me.

"Shatter."

It was good that his mastery over the laws was far inferior to mine, and I was easily able to break the shackle.

That being said, I was certain that the Prince already knew this beforehand. It was clear from the get-go that his actions were merely an attempt to slow me down… and it worked.

Right as I shattered the laws, his fist was already right on my head.

"Stop."

I mouthed, channeling the laws into my voice. The space around the fist distorted as golden runes appeared in front of me, and a small fissure appeared before the fist. That wasn't the only fissure that appeared; another also appeared behind him.

The fist, which was previously headed my way, warped and reappeared from the fissure that had appeared behind him, crashing directly at his back.

BOOM—! The Prince's entire body shot away from where I was, and finally, I was able to take a breather.

"Haa… Haaa…"

Sweat trickled down the side of my face at that moment as I rested my hands against my knees.

"Shit."

I was trying my best to refrain from using the laws, but I had no choice this time. Had I not used the laws, I would've probably lost.

"Fuck."

Cursing once more, I turned my head to stare at the Prince of Wrath. He had just gotten up, and he seemed to be relatively fine, but I knew from a glance that wasn't the case.

The attack had an effect on him.

'I'm afraid that I'll have to use the laws this time… Things will become quite troublesome if I don't.'

It became quite obvious to me that he was stronger than me. Perhaps if the two of us were outside the pillar, I would've had an easier time. Within the Pillar, demons were immeasurably more powerful than they were in normal circumstances.

That much was already obvious.

Perhaps we were on equal terms when outside, but inside, we weren't, and it became very clear to me.

Swoosh—!

The fact that he reappeared in front of me without my being able to detect him demonstrated just how powerful he was within the pillar.

In fact, he had gotten even stronger than a few moments prior.

"Stop."

Once again, putting the laws into my voice, the Prince's body came to a sudden stop behind me. Golden runes clamped all over his body.

My body turned hazy at that moment, and I almost collapsed from exhaustion, but I clenched my teeth and bore through the exhaustion.

I could see a faint glow emanating from the Prince's body as I turned to stare at him. It was the Akashic laws that shattered the shackles on his body, allowing him to break free from the restraints that I had set up.

I didn't think much from that point forward.

Extending my hand, I pressed my finger against his forehead, and his entire body flew back once more.

"Stop."

He only flew back for a couple of meters before coming to a sudden stop again. Similarly to before, golden runes floated around the area he was in, clamping at his body from all sides.

"Cough… Cough…"

I nearly lost my balance in the sand after coughing several times, but I persisted and continued to move. My feet felt like lead, and the fact that they sank into the sand with every step did not help matters.

"You.. really…"

Arriving before the Prince again, I almost vomited, but I held it in and pressed my hand against his face. Just as I was about to touch his face, his entire body began to tremble, and I became nearly translucent.

"Ukgh."

I groaned out loud, attempting not to pass out from the pain.

"Stop resisting."

Soon, my hand came into contact with his face, and I clenched my teeth extremely tightly. Closing my eyes, I felt a soft yellow orb inside his body. It was an energy that I was all too familiar with, and I beckoned it toward me.

"Come to me."

Chapter 824: Wrath [4]

"I,is that Ren?"

Overhearing Donna's shocked mutter, Amanda turned her head and stared at the fight that was happening above them.

BOOM—!

Dunes shattered, and the very air the two were in showed signs of cracking. It was clear as day that the two of them were on a completely different level than anybody else present.

"Since when did he become so strong?"

Amanda couldn't blame them for looking so shocked.

She, too, was shocked by Ren's power. She had originally thought she had a grasp of what his power was, but it seemed like she had underestimated him severely.

'…and here I thought I could catch up to him in the past five years.'

She had trained hard.

Extremely hard in the past few years.

It was all with the goal of getting closer to him in strength. She thought that she had somewhat bridged the gap that existed between the two of them, but she had grossly underestimated just how monstrous Ren was.

'But why does he look like that?'

There was something odd about Ren's appearance… he was completely black, and his expression was somewhat dull.

She couldn't quite understand what was going on with him, but seeing how he was handling that monster of a demon, she assumed that he was using some sort of skill.

One that she wasn't aware of.

Boom—!

"Ren!"

Amanda was startled by the sight of him crashing against a nearby dune. With sand spilling in the air, her vision of him became obscured.

She immediately became worried, and just as she was about to rush up to him, she stopped herself and bit her lips.

"No... I can't."

'If I go now, I'll only make things more difficult for him.'

Staring at Donna and Monica, who were about to stop her, she calmed herself down and lowered her head.

"I know; you don't have to stop me. I'm not going."

It quickly became apparent that this was the extent of her powers.

At the moment, she could only watch Ren getting beat up by that monstrous demon, who seemed to have suddenly gotten a lot stronger.

Boom—! Boom—!

The fight continued, and the situation started to deteriorate quickly.

If Amanda had to describe the fight in a few words, it'd be 'one-sided'. Ren… He was getting manhandled by the Prince, who seemed to be toying with him.

'He was just doing fine before... Why did things suddenly change?'

She had witnessed Ren have the upper hand in the beginning, but out of nowhere, things started to turn for the worst suddenly.

It soon became clear to her and everyone else that the Prince was becoming stronger with each moment the two of them fought.

"Hup."

On many occasions, Amanda had to cover her mouth with the brutality of what was happening.

Especially when she witnessed his arms disappear out of nowhere.

She believed the battle was over after that, but to her surprise, he regrew his arms and launched a counterattack.

"Just… what in the world did he do during the time we didn't see each other?"

Monica's words attracted Amanda's attention, and her head subconsciously nodded.

Indeed…

What had happened during the time when they hadn't seen each other?

"Hey, look!"

Monica's words reverberated in the air once more, but Amanda didn't need to be told why she spoke; she understood shortly after.

With Ren's hand against the demon's head, a sudden change happened in the fight.

***

"Uhhhh."

A familiar sensation washed over me the moment my hand came into contact with the Prince's head. I felt the pores on my body open up as an indescribable power started to filter into my body.

My mind relaxed at that moment as I absorbed all of that power, and slowly, I started to feel an increase in the laws within my body.

Almost instantly, my connections with the laws grew stronger, and a sensation that was all too familiar washed over me.

I started to feel reinvigorated, and everything became clear once more.

"Argh!"

The Prince's face contorted the moment I started to absorb the laws in his body, and his expression was filled with nothing but shock.

"H.. how..."

I didn't let him continue his sentence as I continued to absorb the laws within him.

Despite that, the flames that were revolving around the Prince's body started to increase as the air around us distorted.

Feeling the heat radiating from his body, my brows creased, but I endured the pain and continued to absorb the akashic laws within his body.

"Stay put."

As I injected the power of the laws into my own body, the space around the Prince warped and distorted, and his body froze perfectly still.

I took that chance to increase my grip on his head further and further push the laws toward me.

When I touched his head with my hand, the laws began to flow into me more easily than they ever had before, and within a few seconds of making contact, I had taken in the majority of the laws that were contained within his body.

'That should just about do.'

Seeing that I couldn't contain his body anymore, I quickly let go, and the Prince's body disappeared from my vision, reappearing a couple of hundred meters away from me.

"Ha…haa… You…"

He looked at me, both startled and incensed. Touching his body all over, he glared at me.

"W,what have you done to me?"

"Nothing much."

I answered, lowering my head to stare at my hands, which were covered in murky white light. As compared to before, the laws within my body were thicker, and I could control them even more smoothly.

My strength was rapidly increasing at the same time, but not all was well. Staring at my hands, which were flickering, I knew that the skill [Dark Servant] had become more unstable.

This was a consequence of obtaining and using such power.

'I need to refrain from using the laws as much as possible.'

If I continued to use them, there was a high chance the skill would deactivate, and all would end up for naught.

I couldn't allow that to happen.

"You… how are you able to control the same power as his majesty?"

Overhearing the demon's words, I raised my head and looked up at him. Seeing the confused look on his face, I shook my head.

"If I were to explain it to you, it would take too long, so…"

Squinting my eyes, I brought my sword forward and pointed it at him.

"Let's finish this."

Boom—!

The space around the Prince shattered as a sword projection, double the size of what it usually was, appeared from within the space itself, hurling at the demon at incredible speeds.

"Arkgh!"

The Prince, unlike in the past, was no longer able to cope with it and displayed a defensive posture by crossing his arms.

BANG—!

After coming into contact with the sword, his entire body took off in the opposite direction.

"Not bad."

I mumbled, staring at the sword projection.

It was clear that the power of my attack had increased, and now I was no longer at a disadvantage.

Staring at the Prince, whose body crashed against one of the distant dunes, I brought my sword forward and pointed it once again in his direction. The space around him shattered, and several similar-sized swords appeared from the space itself.

"Crumble."

Bringing my sword down, the projections quickly impaled the area where the Prince was, and I heard a muffled cry in the distance.

"Uakh!"

'Good.'

Seeing that I had done some damage, I pressed my foot against the sand, and my vision blurred. Before I knew it, I was standing right above the dune, and the Prince's body came into my sight.

How should I put it?

'He's sustained more injuries than I thought.'

His entire body was riddled with holes, and his expression was extremely distorted.

Despite that, he still seemed to be alive, and in fact, his power seemed to have increased even further, which made me furrow my brows even more deeply.

'Just what is the limit of his strength?'

It was annoying that his strength kept increasing the more we fought, and that made things rather difficult for me to deal with.

'How should I handle this?'

I briefly glanced at a few people in the distance, and my brows furrowed even further.

'…Is that the only way?'

Swoosh—!

"Hm?"

My attention was drawn to a gentle breeze, and in response, I rotated my body while floating in the air. Suddenly, from somewhere within the space itself, a hand materialized and clamped down on the spot where I had been standing.

"Stop dodging."

The Prince's voice echoed next to my ear, and a large hand grasped my shoulder.

Cr…Crack!

I felt something crack, and the right side of my body disappeared. It all happened so fast and abruptly that I wasn't even able to react.

"You're... in my domain. So long as we're in here, I'll keep getting stronger and stronger. Whatever you do, it's futile. I'm invincible in here."

A powerful aura burst forth from out of his body, and the entire space around me locked.

Even with the sudden increase in my strength, I found it difficult to move, and I was once again forced to use the powers of the law to get out of the restricted space.

"No, you don't."

My body was flung away once more as a powerful force appeared behind me before I even had the chance to escape.

BANG—! BANG—!

Before finally sinking into one of the dunes, I felt my body strike multiple sand dunes and bounce off of them.

"Ukh."

Every part of my body ached at the moment, and when I looked up, I caught sight of the Prince's body levitating in the air.

The red sun hung right behind him, enveloping him entirely, and he looked like some sort of deity.

"He…"

I wasn't sure of what to make of the sight, and before I knew it, the Prince was already upon me.

"What are you blankly staring at"

His soft voice echoed within my ears as he clenched my throat with his hand. Closing my eyes for a moment, I raised both of my hands and placed them against my head.

"It's over."

I twisted my neck and my vision darkened.

Crack—!

Chapter 825: Wrath [5]

'You're in my domain. So long as we're in here, I'll keep getting stronger and stronger. Whatever you do, it's futile.'

The clues were always there.

It was just that such an option wasn't really feasible. If the pillar crumbled, what would happen to those who were within the pillar?

It was a question that had plagued my mind since the very beginning and stopped me from doing the obvious.

That… however, only crossed my mind at the very beginning.

Reminding myself of what had happened to my family because of my indecisiveness and realizing that I had no other option, I realized what I needed to do.

It was as if something had snapped within me, and such questions stopped bothering me.

All I cared about at the moment was winning.

I wanted nothing more than to kill and satiate the numbness I was feeling.

'That's right. Who cares about what happens next… I'll solve nothing if I keep pondering over these matters... I can always deal with the aftermath of my actions later.'

Thus, I didn't think twice before channeling the laws within my body.

Boom—!

Crashing against the dunes beneath, I injected the laws beneath the ground as golden runes and words sank into the sand beneath before moving to another dune and repeating the process.

"Stop dodging."

A hand came and grasped at my throat.

When I looked up, I saw the Prince of Wrath staring menacingly at me with his crimson pupils.

His power was a lot higher than it was before, and it only kept increasing as the fight went on. I was no longer his match, but that was of no concern to me.

'I think that's enough.'

Cr...Crack!

Raising both of my hands, I twisted my neck, and my vision grew dark.

A sharp pain spread across my neck, sizzling down my back like a web of electricity.

My mana, along with the laws, depleted rapidly, and the tightness that I felt in my throat disappeared.

I wasn't exactly sure what had happened next. I couldn't really see or feel anything. It was just… dark and silent.

Eerily silent.

I wasn't sure how long it had been like that, but the sensation didn't last very long at all. My vision quickly returned, and I found that I was standing in the clouds.

The normal sky.

The one that belonged to Earth.

What remained of the pillar and the surrounding debris were scattered beneath me. They dispersed themselves across the land, wreaking havoc on the echo systems that were buried below.

It wasn't a pretty sight, but that was of no concern to me at the moment. Raising my head, my gaze paused on the Prince of Wrath.

Finally, I smiled.

"It seems like you can no longer continue."

The dark red hue that had been enveloping his body had completely vanished, and his body had shrunk back to its original size.

His strength, while still considerably strong, was a far cry from what it was before.

He no longer appeared as menacing as he once did. In fact, without the constraints of the Pillar weighing me down, I discovered that I was becoming more powerful than before.

"Y.. you… you maniac."

The Prince said, his words trembling.

"You would really risk the lives of all those that were within the tower just to kill me? Do… aren't you…"

"Don't bother finishing what you wanted to say."

Taking a step forward, my vision warped, and the Prince appeared right in front of my eyes. Sword in hand, I pointed it straight at his brows.

Clank—!

Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, he was able to react to my movements. But it was to be expected.

Even without the pillar supporting him, he was still considered to be one of the most powerful beings in the known universe.

Still…

"Things need to come to an end."

My hand shook as a searing pain engulfed every part of my body as I extended it forward.

"Stop."

When I spoke, my voice sounded hoarse, but that was the last thing on my mind as the Prince's body came to a sudden stop in front of me.

I took that moment to point my sword at him, and the space around him shattered, revealing over a dozen sword projections that shot in his direction from every angle.

This time…

This time they managed to land.

"Argh!"

Over a dozen sword projections materialized all over his body as he let out an agonized scream, spraying black blood everywhere.

I had aimed them precisely so that they would all become lodged in his joints, stopping his every movement.

Taking a step forward, I arrived before the Prince once more.

Staring at him, whose teeth were clenched and saliva was dripping down the side of his mouth, I didn't particularly feel anything.

If anything, my mind was even number as I reached out to grasp his head.

"You… y,you! What are you doing!?"

He tried to speak, but I wasn't interested in anything that he had to say.

Reaching out with my hand, I grasped onto his head, and through the gap of my fingers, our eyes met.

There were a lot of things that I wanted to say to him at the moment, but when I tried to speak, I stopped myself.

I didn't have time for such nonsense. I needed to end things quickly.

And so I did.

"Goodbye."

Swoosh—!

As if a sudden breeze flew past, the Prince's body scattered in the wind, revealing a small core that levitated in the air. Alongside it was a pitch-black orb that materialized as a consequence of the ambers in the Prince's body coming together to form a single mass.

It was my doing, and it had its uses as I brought it to my mouth and ingested it.

After that, I reached out for the core with my hand and calmly observed it.

It pulsed with a faint demonic energy that twisted the air around it, and the demonic blood that was within my body pulsed and writhed in response to the power that was hidden within the core.

Wrapping the core with the laws, I put the core away and finally took a deep breath.

'It looks like I've overdone things.'

When I observed my body and saw that a lot of the wounds I sustained weren't healing, I knew that I had gone too far.

Using the laws with this body was simply… a recipe for disaster.

Simply put, this body was not fit to hold the laws.

But what choice did I have? I was desperate.

"Ren."

A sudden voice broke me out of my thoughts, and when I turned my head, I caught sight of a few familiar figures.

'It seems like they've made it out alive without a problem.'

I breathed in relief when I saw that. Destroying the Pillar was a reckless move, but I didn't do so without a plan.

Having injected a portion of the laws within my body, I was able to preserve the structure of the pocket world.

Hopefully, everyone inside was still alive. I could only hope they were.

"Ren, are you alright? What happened to you?"

The first one to come was obviously Amanda.

She had a worried look on her face as she scanned my body from top to bottom, and on any normal occasion, I would've smiled at her, but I found myself unable to at the moment.

"I'm alright."

The only thing I could do at the moment was reassure her that everything was alright.

"You… do you really expect me to believe you when you can't even look at me?"

'Sharp as always.'

I turned to look at her, and our gazes met. For a brief moment, neither one of us talked as we just kept staring at each other, but eventually, she tore her eyes away from me. She seemed dissatisfied, but at the same time, her focus turned to our surroundings.

"What… what do we do now?"

When I turned my head to look, I felt my brows furrow at the sight.

Where the pillar once stood, all that remained were the ruins of the world within the pillar. There were several space distortions around the ruins, and I closed my eyes.

Opening them up again, I looked at the familiar faces that I hadn't seen in quite a while.

"Donna, Douglas, Monica."

"We got it."

There was no need for the four of us to exchange any words at that moment.

With just a glance, they understood what I wanted from them, and without saying anything else, the three of them darted toward the space distortions that littered the area.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Their figures disappeared into them shortly after, and silence once again reigned over the surroundings.

"What are you going to do now?"

It was Amanda's voice that broke the silence, and I turned my head to stare at the nearest pillar.

It was quite far, with it barely visible, and yellow runes appeared all over the pillar. Even so, it was the nearest pillar and, thus, my next target.

I pointed at it.

"We go there."

"We?"

Amanda seemed rather surprised by my words.

I could tell by her facial expression that she had not anticipated my invitation to accompany me.

Reality was that I actually didn't want her to come with me, but I knew her well enough to know just how stubborn she was. Without a doubt, she was going to insist on bringing her with me, and a lot of time would be wasted trying to convince her otherwise.

Thus, I just decided to bring her along with me and avoid a lot of trouble.

Plus…

'She's improved quite a lot. It's fair to say that she can help me out when the situation arises.'

"Why? You don't want to go?"

"N,no… I want to!"

Amanda answered, flustered. I felt a sudden itch when staring at her expression, but that disappeared as quickly as it came.

Turning my attention back toward the distant pillar, I squinted my eyes.

"If I'm not wrong…"

I carefully studied the runes surrounding the pillar.

"…our next target is the Pillar of Sloth."

Chapter 826: Is this enough? [1]

[Pillar of Sloth]

SHIIING—!

Silently coming from beneath the ground, Jin appeared behind a demon, and with his daggers crossed behind the demon's neck, a head rolled on the ground.

Thump!

Thin black threads emerged from the ground, enveloping the entire head before crushing it into a pulp and revealing a black core.

After the core was uncovered, the threads eventually worked their way toward it, and wrapped all over it, shattering the core at once.

Like that, a Duke ranked demon died.

"Haa…"

After releasing a soft breath, dark threads emerged from the ground and grappled onto his legs, pulling him beneath the ground, and his figure disappeared into the ground.

Boom—!

Shortly after his figure merged with the ground, a foot stomped in the area he was in, forming a large crater.

"He's gone!"

A demon huffed, looking around with a menacing glare.

It had only been a couple of minutes since he had made his appearance, but from the moment he had appeared, the situation started to turn more chaotic.

The great advantage that they had built was slowly starting to crumble, and the other races were starting to recompose themselves

"Where has he gone!? Damn, hiding bastard!"

The demon cursed and trashed, looking everywhere for any traces of the human that had appeared from out of nowhere.

It was right when he fixed his gaze in a particular direction that he suddenly felt a chill coming down his back and a voice whispering into his ears.

"I'm not hiding anywhere."

"You—!"

Swoosh—!

He swung his claws directly behind him, but to his great dismay, he saw that his claws hit nothing. Instead, thin black threads emerged from underneath the ground and slowly grappled and latched onto his hands, halting his movement.

"This! What is this!?"

The demon tried to rid himself of the threads that were gripped onto his arms, but as he pulled, he found that they didn't budge a single inch and merely stretched a little bit.

If that wasn't bad enough, more and more threads appeared from beneath the ground, encircling his legs and wings.

No matter how much the demon tried to struggle, more and more threads emerged from the ground beneath, sealing his movements.

The process moved along rather quickly, and before the demon even realized what was happening, the dark threads had encased every part of his body, with the exception of his head, which protruded from the cocoon.

"Release me!"

The demon tried to struggle, but it was a futile effort.

Appearing behind him, Jin casually looked at him from top to bottom before bending over and stabbing at his calf.

"There it is."

Spurt—!

Black blood sprayed all over the ground as Jin's eyes shone at the sight of a particular object inside the calf.

As Jin retrieved a black core, the demon's face changed drastically, but it was already too late.

Cr…Crack!

Squeezing the core into his hand, it shattered into thousands of pieces, and the demon's body dissolved into the air. The threads that were cocooning him loosened, and they obediently returned to the ground.

"Huu."

Having dealt with another powerful demon, Jin took a deep breath.

'It really isn't easy to deal with such strong demons.'

While he made it look easy, it was anything but easy. Nearly half of his mana was depleted, and he had only killed one of the numerous powerful demons roaming the battlefield.

There was still a lot of work that he needed to do.

Gulp—!

Drinking a potion, his figure once again melted against the ground, and he headed for his next target.

***

The Pillar Master of the Sloth Clan was Prince Letvia. He was a demon with long pinkish hair—a trait belonging to the higher demons within the clan—and his features were extremely pleasant to the eyes.

Behind him were several demons. All of whom were Prince ranked.

"Hmm. It looks like we've found ourselves a rather talented human."

Prince Letvia commented, his gaze falling on a certain human boy with short blond hair and deep green eyes in the middle of the battlefield ahead.

The way he danced around the other demons and harvested their core without getting noticed…

He was, without a doubt, talented.

'It almost makes me want to take him.'

Thought the Prince, silently licking his lips and feeling a certain greed.

It wasn't a secret, but the demons weren't exactly going all out against those of the three races.

While their goal was to win the war, they had another goal.

Convert as many as they possibly could.

This order…

It was not something that they desired but rather something that His Majesty desired. He insisted that they make an effort to grow their forces even more by converting those who surrendered in battle.

Many of the demons were confused by the order, but none disobeyed.

There was no questioning His Majesty in their minds.

Many had tried, and the results were anything but pleasant.

There was nothing that could escape his gaze, and all they could do was obey his orders.

"What do you suggest we do with the little human? Does anyone want him?"

Prince Letvia questioned as he cocked his head to the side to take a look at the Prince-ranked demons that were still present. There were more than a dozen of them, and for some time they had been standing off in the distance and watching the battleground.

They had been playing a certain game from the very beginning, one that consisted of choosing a certain target to bring over to their side.

While they did enjoy killing, they had all agreed that letting such talented individuals rot would be a waste.

Especially when they could be useful if there was a conflict with another clan.

They'd make good cannon fodder or perhaps even main soldiers.

Eventually, his gaze fell on a particular demon. Out of all the demons, he seemed to be the one who showed some interest.

"Are you interested?"

"…I indeed am."

The demon answered, his voice sounding extremely calm. Such behavior pleased the Prince, who nodded his head.

"What's your name?"

"Valling."

The demon answered curtly, stepping forward a couple of steps and stopping right in front of Prince Letvia.

"Valling is it?"

The Prince looked down and heavily scrutinized him. This was the first time seeing him, and he seemed to be rather talented. His age and the rank he had achieved were testaments to that.

Even though this was the first time he had actually seen him, he was familiar with the demon's name.

He had made quite a name for himself in Ka Mankut, and it had even reached his ears. Especially lately when he heard about the situation over there and how he had managed to gain an upper hand over the other clans.

Because he had to deal with so many things and demons on a daily basis, only the most important topics would make it to his ears.

The fact that he had heard about him was a testament to how well he had done over there.

"Good… good…"

The more the Prince observed him, the more pleased he was with what he was seeing.

His strength was adequate and fairly strong.

However, it wasn't his strength that impressed him the most; rather, it was the manner in which he carried himself.

Such calmness was rare to see these days, and he was extremely pleased to know that there was someone like this in his clan.

"For now…"

Prince Letvia's gaze didn't linger over Valling for very long as he returned his gaze to stare at the battlefield ahead.

His gaze paused over several entities before he ordered.

"…Since you've all selected your targets, capture the targets you've selected and meet here at once."

"Yes."

The Prince's words brought a certain eagerness upon all the demons present, and they all disappeared from where they stood, appearing on all sides of the battlefield.

The same was true for Prince Valling, who appeared right above a deserted patch of land.

WOOOM—! Extending his hand, he distorted the space, and Jin's figure appeared. Turning his head, the two's eyes met, and Jin's expression stiffened.

"I found you."

With a smile, Prince Valling beckoned with his hand, and Jin's body floated into the sky. He tried to struggle, but it was no use. There was a huge difference in strength between him and Prince Valling.

"Stop struggling, I won't kill you."

Prince Valling said, his gaze calmly glossing over Jin's body. After studying him for quite a bit, he showed a satisfied look.

"For a human… you're rather talented."

A rare compliment. Those who knew him knew that he wasn't one to dish out a lot of compliments. The fact that he had complimented Jin went to show that he was truly impressed by his talent.

Sadly, his compliment was only met with a glare as Jin tried to struggle. It was of no use, however. Jin was simply far too weak to oppose someone like a Prince ranked demon.

"Come, be obedient."

Beckoning with his hand, Prince Valling returned to where he previously was and greeted Prince Letvia.

"I've accomplished my mission."

"Good job."

Prince Letvia complimented, his gaze falling over Jin and showing a satisfied look.

"You've got a good seedling."

"I think so too."

Their conversation didn't last long, as they merely shared small pleasantries.

Swoosh—! Swoosh—!

Demons began to reappear one at a time, and each one of them had one particular person in their grasp as they emerged from the shadows.

Prince Letvia beamed with contentment as the situation on the battlefield began to shift once more.

"Very good."

He nodded his head and turned to look at his subordinates behind him. More specifically, the people they brought, and he nodded his head once more.

He couldn't be more satisfied with the choices that they brought.

They had all chosen good seedlings.

"Now then…"

He returned his gaze toward his subordinates.

"Since you've all taken your share, it's time you get them to j—"

The Prince's words were cut short.

Rumble—! Rumble—!

The pillar began to tremble all of a sudden, and the Prince's expression crumbled.

"What's going on?"

Chapter 827: Is this enough? [2]

Rumble—! Rumble—!

The cosmos began violently trembling, and the nebulae visible in the space above the islands began to warp and enlarge at an accelerated rate.

Everyone within the Pillar became startled at the unexpected development, and they immediately stopped whatever they were doing and looked up. Toward the source of the chaos.

'What's happening?'

The most concerned was Prince Letvia who looked up with a serious expression.

Unlike the others, he was the most familiar with the structure of the pillar, and for it to shake this much, it was obvious that someone was breaching it from the outside.

'How is it possible for someone to be outside? Didn't his majesty…'

A sudden thought crossed the Prince, and his pupils constricted. He quickly shook his head, dispelling such a thought from his mind.

'No, it's impossible. There must be another explanation.'

Perhaps His Majesty had made a mistake…

If that was even possible?

However, the more the Prince contemplated it, the more he came to the conclusion that such a scenario was extremely improbable.

He refused to acknowledge such a scenario.

Rumble—! Rumble—!

The world that was contained within the pillar continued to shake, and Prince Letvia began to feel an increasing amount of unease regarding the unexpected circumstance.

Such nervousness, however, didn't last for very long, as his eyes became sharp moments later. His shoulders quickly relaxed, and power started to course through his body.

'Worst comes, I'll deal with it.'

He looked around him and could feel the power that was coursing through his body. As he did so, his body began to float upward gently, and he looked behind him, where a number of other demons were.

"Follow me; we're going to be greeting a guest."

His voice was soft, but it had a certain tone to it that made the demons behind him unable to refute his words as they floated up and followed him from behind.

Cr…crack!

Not even a second after, his words faded, and the space above cracked.

The crack in the sky began to widen, exposing a blue sky, and light began to pour through it, enveloping everything that was below it.

Shortly after, two figures emerged from behind the azure-colored sky. A hazy black figure and what appeared to be a human woman.

Appearing from behind the crack, they immediately attracted the attention of all those within, and everyone's gaze fell on them.

"Who do we have the honor of meeting?"

Meeting them, Prince Letvia placed his hand over his chest and bowed ever so slightly.

His polite actions attracted the attention of those around him as they turned to look at the two guests with renowned interest.

Even without taking into account the fact that they were able to create a crack in the pillar, the fact that the Prince was treating them with such respect indicated that they were not typical people.

"…"

It was unfortunate that the new party didn't answer as their gaze wandered around the world.

Wherever his eyes paused, the area would come to a sudden standstill as a tangible pressure enveloped the area. If it wasn't clear before, it became certain now.

Whoever or whatever the hazy figure was, they carried an immense amount of power that was out of their reach.

'Strange…'

While this was happening, the Prince was also observing them.

The first thing he noticed was that the human woman was weak. She seems to have the power of a Duke ranked demon. Perhaps even less.

The same couldn't be said for the hazy figure. Unlike her, he actually felt a threat coming from him, and his expression stiffened at the thought as something crossed his mind.

If he appeared from the outside...

Wouldn't that mean?

'It can't be that… no, no, how is this possible? There's no way His Majesty would be unaware of such an existence… it's simply impossible!'

He once again forced himself to dispel such dangerous thoughts from his mind.

"Is there anything that I can help you with? Why have you come here?"

If possible, the Prince wanted to resolve this peacefully. Just standing before them…

Regardless of who or what they were, the Prince sensed an immense pressure bearing down on him. He wasn't particularly afraid of the power, but he did want to avoid engaging in combat with such a powerful adversary if it was at all possible.

"Is this enough?"

All of a sudden, the hazy figure spoke, and Prince Letvia froze. His words weren't directed toward him.

So...

"Eh?"

Who was he talking to? Enough? What was enough?

While Prince Letvia was confused, the shadowy figure slowly extended his palm, and two orbs appeared in his palm.

"This!"

He recognized the orbs in an instant, and his pupils constricted rapidly the moment he caught sight of them as chills ran through his body.

"How is this possible!?"

He couldn't believe what he was seeing at this moment.

He had to blink several times to ensure that he wasn't hallucinating, and when he realized that what he was seeing was real, his entire body stiffened.

"That… "

He raised his head to stare at the shadowy figure.

"How is this possible?! How would his majesty allow for someone like y—Euekh!"

Spurt—!

The Prince was never able to complete his sentence.

In the middle of it, he saw a certain hand piercing through his chest and dark blood dripping down toward the ground below him.

He was horrified by the sight.

"Y..you…"

When Prince Letvia turned his head to stare at the culprit, he was shocked to see that the one responsible was someone with whom he was familiar.

"W..why…?"

Too bad for the Prince, the culprit's gaze had never been directed at him but at the shadowy figure that stood in the sky.

Or, more specifically, the orbs in his hand.

"That's more than enough."

It was there that the Prince understood what had happened, and his entire expression started to distort.

'Traitor!'

If there was one thing the demons hated more than anything, it was someone who betrayed their own race, and a powerful force started to come out of his body.

WOOOM—! He may have been injured, but he was far from dead. If he wanted to, he could still drag everyone down with him.

"Stop."

Unfortunately, before he could even think of doing anything, an ancient voice reverberated through the air, and time stood still all around the Prince.

His body came to a halt in the middle of nowhere as golden runes floated through the air and clamped at his body.

"H-huh?"

Unable to move, the Prince was shocked to realize that the power entrapping him was something he was familiar with. One he'd just recently gotten his hands on, and something he deemed the pinnacle of all powers.

"How?"

Once again, more questions emerged in his mind as the situation turned once more. Sadly, they were questions he'd never get to know the answers of.

"Be glad that you didn't suffer like the others did."

A hand reached out for his face, grasping his head entirely. Prince Letvia wanted to resit, but under the restraint he was under, he was helpless. Given time and without injuries, he would've been able to escape, but alas, the situation made it impossible for him to do so.

"Ehk."

Feeling a rough hand grasp his face, the Prince's vision grew dark. After that, a certain force within him escaped out of his body and began making its way slowly toward the hand that was grasping his face.

'No…'

He wanted to scream. Get away from the grasp, but it was no use.

'It's over.'

Never had he imagined that he, who stood at the peak of the universe, would die such a death.

Truly…

***

"Haa…"

It was a familiar feeling. A feeling I had relieved twice by now, and I couldn't stop liking it. It felt refreshing, and my power steadily rose once more.

"Uehk… ekh…"

The Prince's cries rang before me, and when I lowered my head to stare at him, our eyes met.

Once our eyes met, I blinked my eyes once.

He looked pitiful. Very pitiful.

'I also wouldn't be pleased if I died such a death…'

The thought of dying such a meaningless death at the hands of someone that you don't even know, and in a matter of a few seconds...

It truly was pitiful, but that was what made it worth it.

Staring at his face, which was unable to conceal his emotions, I felt my emotions churn as I clenched my fists even tighter and heard the air crackle with a certain cracking sound.

Cr… Crack!

Staring deeply into the Prince's eyes, I nodded my head before pulling with my hand.

Spurt—!

As I pulled his head away from his body, revealing a black core, blood immediately splattered all over me. Throwing his lifeless head away, I immediately grasped his core and squeezed it.

Crack!

The Prince's body immediately faded after that, and silence reigned over the area around me.

Two orbs appeared before me, one yellow and one black, forming from the residue of the Prince's body. I wasted no time and absorbed them both, relishing in the sensations they brought upon me.

"Haaa..."

Taking in the sights around me, I took a deep breath before shifting my attention back toward Prince Valling.

His hand continued to drip with the blood of the Prince as he looked at me with a calm expression.

"You've made the right decision."

"It looks like I have."

Prince Valling answered with a smile, his gaze lingering over where Prince Letvia had previously been standing.

It took defeating two Pillar Masters to convince him to join my side, but it was worth it.

Thanks to his help, I was able to deal with one of the Pillars a lot more easily than I anticipated. There were still four more to go, but at the very least, I knew that I could carry one for a little longer.

This was good.

"Now then…"

I shifted my attention toward the other demons that were remaining.

They stood where they were in utter shock, seemingly unable to understand what had happened. Perhaps they did but refused to acknowledge it.

That didn't matter to me.

Extending my hand forward, I channeled all of my mana.

Rumble—! Rumble—!

"…let's start by getting rid of the rest."

Chapter 828: Is this enough? [3]

Rumble—! Rumble—!

Everything started to crumble the moment Prince Letvia was defeated. The scene didn't go unnoticed by those beneath, as almost everyone was able to catch a glimpse of what had happened.

"D..did we…"

"The Prince?"

It had all happened so fast that the demons beneath were unable to understand what had happened completely.

"You traitor!"

A scream suddenly spread across the sky.

"Bastard!"

"How dare you betray our race!"

It was only after they heard an enraged shout in the air that they snapped out of it and focused their attention on a particular demon with long pink hair.

It was none other than Prince Valling who took the scorn and hatred of the demons with a calm expression. Such expressions were the norm for him.

There wasn't much that could unsettle someone like him.

Beside him was the same hazy figure that killed Prince Letvia.

Underneath, on the main floating island, Jin tore his gaze away from Ren and looked to his right, where a demoness he was all too familiar with appeared.

She was looking at the scene above with an incomparably serious expression.

"Are you sure about your decision?"

"Mhm."

Priscilla nodded her head, tearing her gaze away from the scene and shifting her attention to Jin.

"It certainly wasn't easy, but…"

A bitter smile spread across her features.

"…We didn't have much of a choice."

Thinking back at what had happened a while ago, she could only bitterly shake her head. It truly was… not much of a choice from their end.

Aside from what had happened with them in Ka Mankhut, their positions were awfully obvious within the Sloth clan, and while they didn't dislike their position, they still wanted more.

They were ambitious and had always dreamed of reaching a higher position.

Since a chance presented itself, they chose to take it.

They were not so foolish as to take the risk without first having some evidence to show them that it was a risk that would be worth taking.

It was for this very reason that they had demanded that the human show proof before coming to the decision to join his side.

The two cores belonging to the Pillar Masters… That was enough proof for them to take the gamble and join his side.

'Now then…'

She secretly sighed to herself, staring once again at the shadowy figure in the sky.

'…We've placed our bets. We can now only hope that our gamble pays off.'

"You've made a good choice."

A voice brought Priscilla out of her thoughts, and when she turned her head, her gaze fell on two emerald coloured eyes.

"Oh? Is this your way of comforting me?"

"No? Why would I?"

Jin took a step back, seemingly almost disgusted by her comment. For a moment, Priscilla thought about all sorts of things, many of which weren't very nice, but she managed to hold herself back.

'He's my supplier of sticks… I can't ruin our relationship just yet…'

So long as she managed to get those sticks…

"On the premise that we're allies, I won't do anything to you, but…"

Glancing at him from the corner of her eye, she extended her hand and opened up her palm. Moving her fingers, she nudged at him.

"…"

Staring at her hand, Jin stood there blankly, unable to find the right words to say. He was utterly speechless.

'Has she become an addict?'

It seemed to be the case.

'Is it the nicotine? Is that what it is?'

Frowning, all sorts of thoughts started to cross Jin's mind, and silence reigned over the area they were in.

Perhaps...

Nicotine was the key to defeating all of the demons.

Various thoughts crossed Jin's mind as plans started to formulate in his mind.

'Just where am I going to get all that nicotine from?'

Rumbe—! Rumble—!

His thoughts, however, were broken by the sudden shaking of the pillar as the world around them started to crumble. As the floating islands around them began to collapse, water began to seep into the area beneath them.

The ground beneath them began to fracture, and the island began to rock back and forth in the space all around them.

"What's happening?"

"What's going on?"

Jin and Priscilla were both confused and when they looked up, they were shocked to see massive cracks forming all over the cosmic skies of the world.

C..Crack…!

Behind the cracks, light filtered through.

Once the cracks became larger, an azure coloured sky became more visible to the two of them, and soon, everything came crashing down at once.

Crash—!

After hearing a sound that was reminiscent of a glass breaking, the world around them began to disintegrate, and they saw only white.

Their bodies, which were standing on the island, suddenly lightened, and the two of them felt their bodies disappear into thin air.

While they weren't completely aware of what was going on, if there was one thing they understood, it was that the Pillar of Sloth had crumbled.

***

Clank! Clank! Clank!

The world around me crumbled and returned to how it was supposed to be. Clouds littered the sky, and light filtered through from the sun in the sky.

"What do we do now?"

It was Amanda's voice that brought me out of my thoughts, and I pondered for a moment before shifting my focus toward the nearest pillar.

"To the next Pillar."

"Just like that?"

"Is there anything else that we need to do?"

I only had one goal.

Eliminate all of the pillars and absorb all of the Akashic Laws from the demons. It wasn't an easy task, but having already dealt with three of the Pillars, things were starting to become easier.

Especially since my strength was increasing.

"What about those that came out from the Pillar?"

Amanda drew my attention to the ground, and when I turned to look, I saw a number of residual pocket dimensions from which people emerged.

As time went on, more and more people emerged into the open, and before long, the entire region was teeming with demonic beings as well as people belonging to the four races.

Thankfully, at the moment, it was just the two of us outside. Prince Valling and the other demons weren't out, but I knew that they'd be out soon enough.

"Hmmm."

Observing those that were coming out, I turned to look toward my left, and it was then that I noticed that there were several fights ongoing in the distance.

'Is this from the other Pillars?'

Indeed, if I thought about it, apart from killing the leaders, I hadn't dealt with the remaining demons. It wasn't that I didn't want to, but I had no time for them. Such a thing was… troublesome.

"Oh wait."

It was at that moment that I realized something and turned my head to look at Amanda. She looked back at me, and I nodded my head.

"That might work."

"What might work?"

"Here."

I didn't answer her and extended my hand toward her.

Opening up my palm, I focused on the laws within my body and closed my eyes. Visualizing an image inside of my mind, I opened my eyes again and gathered all of the energy toward my palm, where slowly an orb floated.

"What's this?"

"Just watch."

As I kept my attention fixed on the orb I held in my hand, within a very short period of time, its form began to shift and change. My body ached and flickered at the fact that I was using the laws, but I endured the pain and continued to channel it.

Eventually, the orb extended into a thin line of moderate thickness.

"This is…"

Amanda seemed to finally be getting an idea of what I was making as her eyes opened wide, and I clenched my fist.

"D,done."

I managed to mutter through my clenched teeth, bringing my hand toward her and passing over a small, translucent white arrow.

"Wha—?"

"Take it."

"B—"

"Just take it."

Amanda reached out with her hand, and the arrow moved over to her hand and floated on top of it. Her face lit up as a result of the faint glow coming from the arrow in her hand. I would've smiled had it been before, but I was in no mood to smile and nudged her with my head toward the demons in the distance.

"What are you waiting for?"

"Ah, okay."

Getting the hint, Amanda's face turned serious, and she brought her bow out.

"How many can you hit?"

"I'll try to get as many as I can."

"Mhm. Just shoot the arrow, and let's leave after that. For those that survive, I'm sure our allies can deal with them."

The sad reality was that I couldn't save everyone. I could only do my best to help them as much as I could, and this was part of that help.

Whether they lived or died… It was something that wasn't within my immediate concern at the moment.

Perhaps it would've been previously, but after what I saw…

I no longer cared as much.

What mattered at the moment was victory.

Creaaak!

Amanda's back slowly arched as she placed the arrow on the string, and as she did so, a tremendous amount of power began to radiate from her body.

Her sudden burst of power attracted the attention of the demons that were coming out from below, but it was too late.

Right when the string of her bow touched the corner of her mouth, Amanda let go of the string, and the arrow disappeared from the bow.

Xiu!

The sky above tore, and all of a sudden, the surroundings turned quiet.

When I turned my head to look around me, I was met with over a dozen demons. They had probably just noticed us after coming out of the pocket dimension, and all of them were of the Prince and Duke rank.

The power they radiated was extremely powerful, but…

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

It suddenly started to rain.

Chapter 829: Pillar of Greed [1]

"I don't see anything. The mist is far too thick."

Ryan muttered as he extended his hand, where a small device gently floated back into the palm of his hand. The device was compact, roughly the size of a rubric's cube, and it featured complex circuitry all around its body.

"I've tried using the heat sensor in the drone, but that also doesn't seem to work. The fog seems to be hiding everything that is inside."

"What about sounds?"

An older voice echoed. It belonged to Leopold, who was standing beside him with a pack of gum in his hands.

Bringing his hand toward his mouth, he started chewing on the gums.

"Hav..mhm.. the drones look for any sounds that are coming from beneath…munch… that would probably do the trick."

"I've tried."

Ryan shook his head.

"It blocks everything. From sunlight to all electromagnetic waves and sounds. We're on our own."

"Well… that sucks."

Leopold muttered, leaning back against one of the rocks behind him. He wasn't in a very good mood at the moment. Suddenly transported in such a world, he was lucky to have found Ryan close to him, but the same thing couldn't be said for his daughter, for whom he had no idea where she was.

'…I hope she's okay.'

Such thoughts crossed his mind as he gazed ahead, where he saw a young girl standing, waving her hand at him.

She looked exactly like his daughter but was merely an illusion.

"Dad, what are you doing over there? Hurry up."

She sounded just like her, too.

'I'm glad Ryan's with me.'

He could only shudder at the thought of what would've happened had Ryan not been here with him.

It was thanks to him that he was able to realize that it was all an illusion, and if not for him, he would've probably fallen into whatever trap was being laid out.

Right now, he could only hope that she was fine, even if he knew that the situation they were in was rather dire.

"So… what do we do now?"

Leopold asked, raising his head slightly to look at Ryan, who seemed to be in deep thought. And indeed, he was, as he looked through his devices and eventually settled for a small flag.

"What's that?"

"Wait."

Moving around the flag, Ryan touched the pole, and it suddenly started to flutter. Almost immediately after that, the mist that had been surrounding them began to recede, even if only very slightly.

"I guess that works."

A smile finally appeared on Ryan's face as he picked up the flag. Moving toward Leopold, he waved it at him.

"Come closer to me. So long as you're close to the flag, you won't have to worry about the fog around us. This should make our lives a lot easier."

"You're right."

Leopold sighed in relief and moved toward where Ryan was. As soon as he came within range of the flag, the image of his daughter vanished, and he let out a sigh of relief.

It was starting to get to him.

"It looks like you were right."

"Of course I am."

Ryan rolled his eyes.

"Who do you think I am?"

"Cocky, aren't we?"

"And rightfully so."

"Fair enough―"

Just then, Leopold stopped speaking, and so did Ryan, whose smile disappeared from his face. The two of them sharply looked around them, and it wasn't long before they heard faint rustling sounds coming from the area around them.

Rustle―! Rustle―!

Immediately, over ten black figures appeared around them and surrounded them. Both Ryan and Leopold's faces fell in response to what they saw, and Leopold spit out the gums that he had been chewing on.

Pu!

"Well… fuck."

***

Her vision was obscured, and the only thing she could hear was the rhythmical sound of her footsteps crunching against the soul beneath her feet.

"What's going on?"

Emma wondered, looking around her and spotting the large, crooked trees around her.

She had a very difficult time seeing because of the mist that blanketed everything around her, and she could only see a couple of meters in front of her at most.

It had been quite a while since she appeared here, and despite the time she spent, she still hadn't figured out what was going on.

'Where am I supposed to go?'

Before continuing forward, she slashed with her short sword, leaving a faint mark on one of the trees beside her.

"I'm back…"

It wasn't until she realized that she had returned to the same spot as before that she finally came to a stop. The most convincing piece of evidence for that was the cut on the tree that was beside her.

Frustrated, she stomped her foot on the ground.

"Damn it! What is this plac—!"

She never got to finish that sentence. Just as she was about to finish it, her pupils constricted, and her back bent backward

Swoosh—!

A black claw appeared in the area she previously was in, and in one swift movement, Emma juggled her short swords in her hand and crossed them right on the demon's head that had appeared out of nowhere.

"I got you."

A smile crept up on her face as she looked at the demon above her.

Finally, after who knows how long, she managed to trick the demon into coming out.

Ever since she arrived at the spot, she had the distinct impression that someone was following her around and watching her every movement. It was faint, but she believed that her hunch was correct.

Since she wasn't certain of where they were because of the fog, she decided to play along and lure them to her. It was a risky move, but one that paid out massively.

"If you answer my questions, I won't kill you."

Her words were so icy that they sent shivers down the back of the demon, which slowly nodded its head in response.

"Good."

Emma brought the short swords closer to the demon's neck. A faint pulse indicated that the core was right next to the blade of her short sword. One movement from her, and the demon would die.

"Where am I? What is this Pillar of Greed? How do I get out?"

"Get out?"

The demon all of a sudden froze before turning its head toward Emma.

"You want to get out?"

"Isn't that obvious?"

Frowning, Emma brought the ends of her short swords even closer to the demon's neck, and a faint black line appeared on the demon's neck.

"Ku…"

Emma was taken aback when, all of a sudden, the demon's body began to tremble and it broke out in an uncontrollable fit of laughter.

"You want to get out? …kuahahahha."

"What's so funny."

She pressed her short swords even more deeply into the demon's neck, but it did not stop laughing; in fact, the demon found the situation to be even more amusing.

Just as Emma was about to kill the demon, the demon stopped and turned to look at Emma.

"There is no escaping from the Pillar of Greed. From the moment you stepped in, you've become our prey. The only escape for you… is through dea—!"

Spurt—!

A head rolled under Emma's feet, and the body soon disappeared into thin air. Having dealt with the core, the demon died instantly.

"That was a waste of time."

It was disappointing to know that her efforts to bait the demon were for naught. Well, not entirely.

"A hunting ground for demons, huh?"

That was the only thing she managed to make out of the conservation. Wasn't very much, but she understood a bit more about the situation.

"It looks like I'm not the only one here."

That was great news for her. She had originally thought she was alone, but from the looks of things, it wasn't the case.

'Good, if I can find someone that I know, then the chances of surviving are higher.'

Two was always better than one—or at least for her.

Turning her head to look left and right, she pressed her foot against the ground and darted off into the distance.

With a goal in mind, she knew exactly what she needed to do.

*

The world within the Pillar of Greed was vast.

Emma didn't know for how long she ran, but as she moved around the fog, in hopes of finding a clearer patch of land, she ended up stumbling into what seemed to be a large waterfall.

Splash—! Splash—!

With the fog covering her vision, she couldn't see it properly, but she could hear it all right.

It was unquestionably a waterfall due to the extremely loud sound of water being thrown back and forth in the distance. From the sound, it didn't seem too far from her.

Without a second thought, she headed for it.

'The waterfall can serve as a good checking point given the fog.'

With no sight, the only thing they could rely on was hearing, and the waterfall was the perfect stop.

Therefore, she didn't hesitate and just ran for the waterfall.

"What the…"

However, what she saw when she was close to the waterfall astounded her.

An enormous skull was carved into the rock face of a mountain of considerable size. Its mouth was wide open, displaying its numerous large teeth, and murky red water dripped from its exposed mouth, heading toward what appeared to be a bottomless pit.

"What in the…"

The sight left Emma utterly speechless, as she didn't know what to do at the moment.

'What is this place?'

She truly couldn't fathom what it was, and just as she was having second thoughts, a hand pressed against her shoulder, and a voice that felt familiar to her echoed in her ears.

"Go."

"Huh?"

Emma's head slowly turned, and her gaze interlocked with a man with black hair and crimson-red eyes. He looked incredibly handsome, and when her gaze met his, she felt her heart stop for a reason.

For some reason... he seemed familiar to her, strangely so, and yet, her mind blanked whenever she tried to recall his face.

She couldn't. No matter how hard she tried.

Her mouth trembled.

"W-who are you?"

Chapter 830: Pillar of Greed [2]

Emma couldn't explain it in words, but the moment her gaze fell on the man that stood behind her, she found herself unable to speak.

It was as if something was stuck at her throat, preventing her from speaking, and the empty feeling that she had been feeling for quite some time suddenly started to resurface once again.

It drained her completely.

"Y..you… Who are you?"

She stumbled several steps back, staring at the smiling figure that seemed all too familiar to her, yet, at the same time, distant.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't recall him at all.

It was just blank.

Her mind was completely blank.

'J..just what is happening? Who is he? Why do I feel this way?!'

Her mind was a total mess, and she could barely think properly.

The more she glanced at the figure, the more her mind became a mess, and she continued to step back.

It wasn't out of fear, but due to the weird feeling that was eating at her chest.

"Ah.. haa…"

Something trickled down the side of her cheeks as she held onto her head with both hands.

"That... who, just...?"

"Emma, calm down. It's me."

"Don't!"

He tried to reach out for her, but he was quickly stopped by Emma, who slapped his hand away from her.

She glared at him fiercely.

"...Don't take a single step toward me; stay where you are!"

At this point, she was at the point where she was practically screaming, and the pain in her head was starting to grow worse.

She didn't know what was going on at that moment, but sudden images started to flash within her mind, and her head started to throb even more fiercely.

Her hand reached for her shirt, and she gripped it tightly.

'J,just what is happening?'

The longer the situation dragged on, the more she found herself wavering.

"No."

Clenching her teeth, Emma gripped her short swords at her hips and, in one swift motion, pointed them toward the man that was standing opposite her.

"You…"

Mana started to flow out of her body as power started to radiate from her. Glancing at the fog that was surrounding her, she had a sudden idea.

"I get it now."

It was the only explanation that she could think of at the moment.

That was the only thing that could explain her sudden panic attack and reaction to the unfamiliar man that she had never seen before in her life.

"You… You must be a manifestation of whatever this fog is."

She didn't speak further after that.

With both short swords in hand, she pressed her foot against the ground, and her figure appeared before the man.

She was quick. It took no time for her to arrive before him, and she slashed with her short swords.

Swoosh―!

A pity that her weapon completely passed through the man who kept smiling at her.

"I knew it!"

Emma shouted, feeling relieved that her swords had passed through the man. Without a doubt, it proved her assumption, and she managed to calm down.

'It's an illusion.'

She reassured herself.

Yet, for some reason, deep down, she felt a little disappointed at the thought.

"Why did you swing at me? Let's relax for a second..."

He said while looking down at her, his smile looking extremely sincere. It was such a gaze that made the empty feeling in Emma's heart grow, and she clenched her teeth.

"Shut up!"

She shouted, swinging her other short sword.

Even though he was only a projection, the very fact that he was there unnerved her. He had to disappear. For her own sake.

Swoosh!

Yet again, it passed through his body, but Emma didn't care.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

One swing after another, she kept on swinging. Her attacks would keep passing through his body, and he seemed relatively unharmed by whatever she was doing, but Emma just couldn't stop herself.

She needed to vent at the moment, and each of her swings started to become progressively faster and stronger.

Boom—!

So much so that the land beneath them tore apart, and the fog moved away for a brief moment.

"Huh?"

The thing that prompted Emma to stop was the fact that the figure remained where it was despite the disappearance of the fog, and her feet came to a sudden halt.

"Haaa..haaa… haaa.."

Her breath was extremely labored, and sweat trickled down the side of her face, but her gaze never wavered away from the figure as she continued to look at him.

"You… why.. who are you?"

There were many things that she wanted to ask at that moment, but that was all she could manage to utter. She didn't know what to do at the moment, and all she could do was stare at him.

Stare at him in hopes of him knowing something.

Something that could explain the emptiness that she had been feeling for the past few years.

She had believed that she had been able to subdue it, but at this very moment, it reemerged more powerfully than it had ever been, and she desired nothing more than to understand why this was the case.

Just what was this emptiness, and why did it grow stronger at the sight of him?

"My name is Kevin."

It was just a name.

A simple name.

Yet…

The moment he uttered those words, as if something within her snapped, a flood of memories started to resurface within her mind, and her mind blanked entirely for a moment.

Thud—!

She soon fell to her knees, and a blank look appeared on her face.

"W..wha..how… wha?"

Her words were incomprehensible, and she appeared to have a look on her face that suggested she had just seen a ghost.

Her mind…

It wasn't in the right state, as she kept repeating herself.

"H..K..evin? How?"

Memories continued to flood her mind, and something within her seemed to come close to snapping.

Swoosh—!

It was right then that 'Kevin' appeared right behind her. She didn't seem to notice him as her face remained blank, seemingly completely lost.

"Who would've thought."

Kevin's voice suddenly changed to a raspy one, and his figure started to fade, revealing the features of an elderly demon with a long white goatee and a tuxedo.

The cane, which he held in his right hand and used to assist him in maintaining his balance, sank into the earth beneath.

His gaze was currently drawn toward Emma, and his eyes flashed with interest.

"Who would've thought…"

He muttered, his voice as soft as a whisper.

"…Who would've thought that her body contained traces of the power that his majesty had given me."

***

While handing over the body of a young human girl with brown hair that reached her shoulders, Prince Solbaken issued an order to one of the demons that stood next to him.

"Take special care of her."

"Understood."

A lanky demon came up behind the Prince and grabbed the girl out of his hands before whisking her away from his line of sight.

Staring at her figure, the Prince's head cocked a little.

'I need to report this to his majesty later.'

The fact that she had traces of the power that His Majesty had given him was a cause for concern.

It wasn't exactly powerful, but there were traces of it, and that was also when he realized that her memories had been tampered with.

He wasn't too sure who was responsible for the seal, but what concerned him the most was the power that was used to seal her memories.

From what he could tell… the individual who had been responsible for placing the seal on her body was extremely strong. Perhaps even stronger than him, but even knowing that, the Prince wasn't scared.

"I too can control the powers."

With his hands behind his back, the Prince set his cane to the side and moved forward.

Tap. Tap.

His calm steps echoed within the cave, and after walking for a couple of minutes, he stood by the edge of a large opening.

With a bright light in the distance, he moved forward, and he was able to see what lay beyond the light.

"Not bad."

A smile appeared on his face the moment he was able to see what was going on as he stood above a large cave opening.

What attracted his attention was the large rune in the middle of the cavern that emitted a bright red light, and several people had been strategically positioned within the rune at various points.

They were sitting in a cross-legged position, and their entire bodies had a husky appearance.

As if they had been sucked out of everything in their bodies.

"Over here!"

"Place them over here!"

"We've captured another one."

Through an opening beneath the cave, demons continued to move forward.

They carried humans, orcs, elves, and dwarves and replaced them on the large rune in the middle of the cave that glowed brighter with each passing second.

"It looks like everything is proceeding smoothly."

The Prince was more than satisfied with what he was seeing.

If there was a reason why he wasn't scared of the entity responsible for placing a seal on the human girl, it was because of the rune in the middle.

So long as he managed to absorb the power that was building up within it, he feared no one. Not even His Majesty.

That was, of course, on the premise that he was within the Pillar and had a grudge against His Majesty, which he didn't.

He held nothing but respect and admiration for him.

"Good… good…"

Nodding to himself a couple of times, the Prince tore his gaze away from the rune and made his way back to where he came from.

He had seen enough.

'It should take no longer than a couple of hours at most… by then…"

He couldn't stop himself from smiling at that point.

Chapter 831: Beg me [1]

The color blue dominated the world within the Pillar of Pride.

A hazy, dark blue mist covered the entire landscape, with small peaks sprouting from beneath the mist.

The world seemed tranquil, but within the blue mist, all sorts of colorful lights flashed from within.

They carried different hues, and they flashed continuously. It wasn't until the mist suddenly split apart to reveal several figures that the tranquility that lay within the world broke apart.

"Aarrrgh!"

A loud shout reverberated through the air, and a powerful wave of mana burst forth from Octavious's hand.

It directly shot toward a demon in front of him, and shortly after, the demon's figure disintegrated into nothing.

"..."

Silence returned to the world after that, and just as Octavious felt himself relax, an urgent voice rang from behind him.

"Behind you!"

Boom—!

He didn't have enough time to react, and before he knew it, a powerful force blasted past his back, and he found himself hurling forward, eventually crashing against the hard ground beneath.

"Akh."

Octavious groaned in pain, using both hands to help himself up.

SHIIING—! SHIIING—!

He could hear the sound of fighting behind him, and he just barely stopped himself from collapsing again. The force of the impact was a lot stronger than he had anticipated.

'I'm glad Gervis is with me.'

Who would've thought he'd have such thoughts? While he wasn't the same Octavious as in the past, he remembered everything that had happened in the past and didn't think he would work well with Gervis.

He was wrong.

"Oy! Are ya helping me or not?"

Gervis's voice broke him out of his thoughts, and Octavious disappeared from the spot, reappearing right in front of another demon. With his fist clenched, he threw a fist in the demon's direction, and a powerful blast reverberated through the air.

Boom—!

The demon's body hurled back several meters after the contact, and Octavious moved to where Gervis was.

SHIIING—! SHIIING—!

Wearing his armor, Gervis was currently dealing with two Prince ranked demons at once, and even though he seemed to be having a hard time, Octavious could tell he wasn't disadvantaged in the least.

With his large gun like device and powerful shield that activated whenever a demon appeared, he wasn't prone to sneak attacks, making things a lot easier for him.

His maneuverability was a bit questionable, but it wasn't anything to be worried about, considering the defensive mechanism installed in his suit.

Booom—!

Arriving before one of the demons hounding Gervis, Octavious thrust his fist forward, and just by a few inches, he managed to hit the demon in the abdominal area.

"Ueakh!"

Sensing the demon scattering away with an agonized scream, Octavious retrieved his fist.

"Octavious!"

At the same time, the demon crumbled into dust, Gervis' eyes sharpened, and the ray gun in his hand flickered with a green light as a powerful wave of mana sprouted in the air.

It was a process that took several seconds, and under normal circumstances, it would have been difficult to pull off this move; however, he wasn't alone in this endeavor.

Clank—! Clank—!

With Octavious helping him, Gervis had no trouble gathering up the mana required to charge the weapon, and his weapon flickered even more wildly as a large hue enveloped the area they were in.

The residual mana coming out of the gun killed all the weaker demons around them, leaving behind only the powerful ones who warily stared at Gervis's weapon.

Many tried to interfere with his gathering process, but with Octavious next to him, it was of no use.

"Now!"

Gervis shouted, and Octavious disappeared from where he was.

WHIIIING—! Almost immediately after that, an enormously powerful beam shot out of the gun in the direction of the demon, who was unable to react in time and was struck head-on as a result.

Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, the attack passed through every demon that it had a chance of meeting, and wherever it passed, it left nothing behind.

This included the mist that parted along the path of the beam, finally revealing what looked to be a forest with trees that seemed to tower in the hundreds of meters.

There were some demons that managed to dodge, but they were in the minority, as most of them died instantly from the beam.

"Shit."

Seeing that he hadn't killed all of the demons, Gervis cursed and reloaded his weapon before hastily pointing it toward his right side.

He felt something dangerous coming from there.

WHIIING—!

Unfortunately, his attack missed completely.

"Careful!"

Right as he was getting ready to reload his gun again, a loud shout echoed behind him, and that was when Octavious appeared.

BOOOM—! A powerful force erupted from behind Gervis as Octavious's fist clashed against another first, and circular pressurized wind rings spread from the point of contact between the two attacks.

"Ukh!"

The wind was so powerful that Gervis was forced to take several steps back.

When he finally managed to stabilize himself, he was surprised to see Octavious standing before him with a rough breath.

"Ha... ha...haa... That..."

In spite of his labored breathing, he appeared to be completely unharmed, which was not the case for the demon, who looked exhausted.

Gervis wasn't one to waste time. Since the opportunity presented itself, he didn't waste a single second and pointed his gun toward the demon in front of him.

His movements were swift, and pressing the trigger, a beam composed of mana shot directly toward the demon, who was only barely able to dodge the attack.

Spurt—!

Still, it did manage to graze the demon, and that was all that Octavious needed. After materializing behind the demon, he pressed his hand against the creature's back and directed all of his mana into its back.

Wooom—!

A terrifying wave of mana swept across the surroundings, and the demon's body vanished into thin air, leaving behind a dark core in the air.

Without hesitation, Octavious reached out for the core. He had just firmly grasped it in his hand when, all of a sudden, he felt a subtle breeze, and his entire body lightened.

Swoosh—!

"Uh?!"

"I'll have to ask you to stop. He's a rather dear subordinate of mine. I wouldn't want him to die such a pathetic death."

A voice that seemed to harmonize with the surroundings suddenly echoed, and Octavious's entire body stiffened on the spot.

'What happened? Why can't I move?'

It was much to his horror that Octavious realized that he couldn't move a single finger of his body.

"I'll be taking this."

His heart dropped the moment he felt his hand lighten up, but at the same time, he was able to catch a glimpse of what the one responsible looked like, and his expression hardened.

'He…'

The first thing that hit him was the overwhelming presence he gave out.

Standing before him, Octavious was reminded of his helpless days with the Protectors and how strong they were.

He had always thought that the only one who could ever reach the same level as the Protectors was the demon king, but it seemed like he had made a grave mistake.

The demon that stood before his very eyes was one such existence, and despair filled every inch of Octavious's body.

All of a sudden, a black hue sprouted out from the demon, and the core in its hand started to shake. Shortly thereafter, the core jumped out of its hands, and a demon materialized from it.

"I apologize for my incompetence, Prince Andria."

The demon apologized with their head lowered. One could tell from the tone of their voice that they truly felt remorseful about the situation.

"You were indeed quite incompetent."

Prince Andria nodded his head. He indeed found his subordinate to be quite incompetent. The fact that they had almost died at the hands of two inferior creatures...

"...I'll deal with you later; we have more important things at hand."

Prince Andria turned his head to stare at Gervis and Octavious. Under his direct scrutiny, the two of them suddenly found themselves unable to breathe as a terrifying pressure bore down on them from all sides.

"Quite the prideful duo. Not bad..."

A strange praise, and the Prince's mouth curled, if ever so slightly.

"I'll make it quick, then."

He extended his hand to reveal two contracts that floated atop of his palm.

"Sign this, and join my side. How about it?"

The way the Prince worded his words made it seem as though they had a choice, but Gervis and Octavious both knew that they had no such option.

Either they accepted or they died.

"Heh."

In the end, Gervis laughed.

"Yer said it best not long ago, right?"

He turned to look at Octavious, who turned his head to meet his gaze.

"If yer know we're prideful, yer should already be aware of our answers, right, Octavious?"

Opening his mouth, Octavious looked at the contract in the Prince's hand and Gervis. He eventually closed his mouth and smiled.

"You're rig—!!"

BANG—! Octavious never got to finish his words. Rigth as he was about to finish his sentence, a terrifying power erupted from the area beneath him and clamped at the back of his neck.

"Octavious!?"

The sudden situation startled Gervis, who quickly drew his weapon, but it was a tad too late. Before Gervis could even fire his weapon, Octavious found his body hurling toward Prince Adrian's direction, and a fist soon came into contact with his chest.

BANG—!

"Uakh!"

It was a pain unlike any other, and Octavious felt his chest cave in at the force of the impact. If that wasn't bad enough, the Prince's grip on his neck didn't loosen, and a knee came hurling at his abdominal area, hitting him cleanly there.

BANG—!

"Akghhh!"

Spit and what seemed to be blood spilled out of his mouth as his back hunched. For a moment, he felt his heart stop and his vision blur.

WIIIIING—! Thankfully, just as things were starting to get worse, a powerful force erupted from above, and he felt the grip over the back of his neck loosen, and his body hurl toward the ground beneath.

BOOOOM—!

Crashing against the ground beneath him, the corner of his eyes started to darken, and so did his consciousness, which was on the verge of slipping.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The last thing he heard was the sound of a couple of soft footsteps that stopped right before him.

"Beg me."

Chapter 832: Beg me [2]

'When you're going through a lot in your childhood, and it seems like everything is against you... you're bound to think negatively of everything.'

If that was how one would summarize Melissa's life in a nutshell, it'd be that.

Melissa's childhood was completely devoid of any meaningful experiences, in contrast to the experiences of other children who were able to see their parents every day, eat with them every day, and play with them every day.

Her world was nothing but bleak, and eventually, it morphed her into who she was today.

A negative person.

Everything that she came across, she viewed in a negative manner, and she couldn't help herself.

The only thing she cared about was herself, as that was the only person she trusted. She had been alone throughout a major part of her life; who else could she trust but herself?

It was just how she was, and she had come to terms with her personality.

Yet…

At this moment, staring at the figure that lay before her very eyes, her expression was complicated.

It was the first time that she had seen him in this state.

She had dreamed of this very moment many times.

She frequently daydreamed about the time when she would be able to look down on her father, pleading for her help while he was laying on the ground beneath her.

The situation…

It was just like in her dreams, except for one part.

"What are you waiting for?"

Melissa said coldly, her eyes paused on her father's figure. She wasn't sure why exactly she was acting the way that she was, but that was of no concern to her at the moment.

Her mind was clear.

"Ask for my help. Beg me, and I'll consider it."

Her tone was cold and, at the same time, carried a certain arrogance to it.

She wanted nothing more than to have this man beg in front of her. Nothing would satisfy her more than seeing him grovel before her with his head bowed and pleading for something. Anything.

Finally, she could show him that she was just fine without him.

Yet…

"Why aren't you saying anything? Do you not want to live?"

He remained silent and merely looked at her without saying anything else. His eyes were clear as he sat there with his back propped up against a tree.

"Come on? What are you waiting for? Beg me!"

As Melissa's mind became increasingly obscured by a particular sensation that penetrated deeper and deeper into her bones, so did her voice, which became increasingly agitated.

"Tell me that you want my help, and I'll gladly help you!"

At this very moment, Melissa was venting all of the animosity that she had built up over the years toward her father.

For treating her like the shit that she was and neglecting her for the shit that she was.

She desired the sense of accomplishment that would come from seeing the man groveling at her feet after everything that he had done to her.

She…

She needed that satisfaction.

Nevertheless, she still found herself sneakily retrieving her potions from her dimensional storage space.

She wasn't so self-centered that she'd kill the one and only chance they had of getting out of this place, despite the fact that she wanted to make the man in front of her beg as badly as she could.

Whatever was eating up her mind, it didn't completely destroy her rationality.

"Her—"

Just as she was about to hand out the potions, she was stopped by him.

"No, I don't need it."

"What?"

When she looked at him, Melissa's mouth suddenly went dry. For some reason, she couldn't help herself from saying anything as he slowly stood up, albeit weakly.

"Ukh."

He seemed to be struggling quite a lot, but for some reason, he stubbornly forced himself to stand.

"Let me—"

"No."

Melissa offered to help, but she flat out refused.

This pissed her off, but in the end, she remained quiet. His gaze made it hard for her to say anything. Her mouth would go dry whenever she tried to speak.

"What is it? What are you trying to do?"

She eventually managed to ask, her arms crossed in front of her.

From the corner of her eyes, she could see lights flashing above, and thus she didn't understand why he was still wasting her time with her.

Thump—!

"Huh?!"

What happened next utterly stumped her, as her entire body stiffened.

"W,what are you doing!?"

Melissa was left completely flustered for the very first time in a very long time as she fumbled her way through finding the right words to say.

But when she turned her head, she soon stopped struggling.

With his head resting against her shoulder, Octavious stared right at her.

He… he looked in utter peace at the moment, and for the first time in a very long time, she felt true emotions in his eyes.

Before she could open her mouth to say anything, Octavious closed his eyes, and his figure disappeared.

"As much as you think I didn't, I've always been proud of what you've achieved… even when it looked like I didn't care."

His words were like lightning bolts to Melissa's ears as her figure froze on the spot. When she snapped out of it, she realized he was long gone, and her head snapped upwards.

"Hey wait!?"

Melissa tried to call out for him, but it was already too late. A bright light flashed in the sky, and the battle above became even more intense.

***

Boom—!

"Arkh… shit!"

As Gervis slammed violently against the ground, he let out a loud curse. The force of the impact made his entire body hurt, and he had a hard time breathing as a result of how badly he had been knocked around.

"Cough… cough…"

Coughing several times, he looked up at the sky, and his expression changed. When the figure of a demon slowly descended from above, he felt a dryness in his throat.

"I thought… I thought I was strong, but…"

Gervis, who stood atop the dwarven realm, experienced an overwhelming sense of helplessness as he stared at Prince Andria from below.

He was just at a level he could never hope to achieve in his entire life. What made him despair even further was the thought that there were six more monsters just like him roaming across the world.

"…They truly are monsters amongst monsters."

The feeling just one gave him was one of utter despair, and he could only look up with indignity.

Such was the gap between them.

"What do you say about joining me?"

The Prince once again offered. An offer that Gervis had already spat on before and one he'd spit on again.

"I'm good."

WOOOM—!

Forcing himself up, Gervis loaded his weapon and fired right at Prince Adrian. The force of the attack made the air around it twist, and an explosion rang in the air.

BANG—!

The blow struck the Prince directly in the middle of his body, and a colorful blue cloud began to billow into the air above. It came as a result of the residual mana from the attack.

"D… did I get him?"

Gervis muttered in hope, staring at the blue cloud that started to settle down.

"Ah…"

Gervis's expression froze moments later.

"Im… impossible…"

It came as a great shock to him when the residual mana was finally gone and he realized that the Prince was, in fact, still alive, and the fact that the Prince seemed to have suffered little to no harm from his attack only made the situation more terrifying for Gervis, who struggled to keep himself composed.

"That… wasn't too bad."

Overhearing the demon's words from above, Gervis felt his skin grow cold. They sounded like soft and enticing whispers that crept right into his mind, affecting his composure.

"Was that the best you could do?"

Swoosh—!

He had no idea when the prince materialized in front of him, but all it took was a single blink of his eyelids to find him standing before him.

"You!"

Gervis was quick to react and attempted to quickly pull his gun and aim it at the Prince, but just as he touched his weapon, a hand came pressing upon it from above.

"At, at, at…"

A long, slender hand grasped Gervis's weapon, and as its fingers gently coiled around it, he was unable to move it at all.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Why the struggle when you know fully well that you can't even beat me?"

The Prince's words continued to echo within Gervis's mind, almost as if trying to tempt him into giving up.

On multiple occasions, Gervis found himself almost giving in to the temptations, but through sheer power, he was able to stop himself from falling for them.

"Ho, ho?"

Such tenacity astounded the Prince who found him even more pleasing to the eyes.

"Such Pride… ah, I really am starting to like you."

Indeed, the more Gervis struggled, the more Prince Andria found him pleasing to the eyes. If before he was merely testing the waters, he was now sure.

He wanted him on his side.

"What's the point in struggling? Just sign the contract and join my side. Don't throw away your life like tha—"

Pu!

Halfway through his sentence, the Prince felt something wet smack against the side of his cheek, and his entire expression froze.

Raising his hand and wiping at his cheek, his expression morphed dramatically, and when he looked down at Gervis who was looking at him with a smile. Power started to flood out of his body as he found himself unable to hold back anymore.

"T..this is a little gesture I learned from the humans…"

Especially when Gervis raised his hand and threw a middle finger at him.

"Fuck you."

"Fine then."

"Ukah!"

Grabbing Gervis by the throat, the Prince raised his hand and exposed his sharp nails toward it.

"Di—"

Swoosh—!

Just as his nails were about to pierce Gervis's throat, he felt something from behind him, and when he turned, he was surprised to see a certain figure.

It was the human from before.

"Hm? Aren't you the human from before? You didn't run away?"

That surprised him a little. Another good seedling.

"Are you here to save your little friend?"

"Uakh!"

His grip on Gervis's throat tightened, and Gervis groaned. Unexpectedly, however, just as he was about to open his mouth again, the human spoke.

"I… I wish to sign the contract with you."

Chapter 833: Beg me [3]

'As much as you think I didn't, I've always been proud of what you've achieved… even when it looked like I didn't care.'

There was truth in the words he said to her. It may not have looked like it, but he had always been proud of what she had achieved.

He may not have shown it because of his circumstances, but he was proud. He had always been.

The feeling only grew stronger when he could feel himself again. He couldn't have been more pleased with her accomplishments, and the fact that she handled everything on her own made him even prouder.

He was glad she was doing well.

Well… for the most part.

He knew that he couldn't go back in time and undo the harm that his neglect had caused her.

When he thought about her past and how his actions had harmed her, he felt an overwhelming sense of guilt wash over him. She had been through a lot in her life.

Especially for someone her age. Growing up without a family… she must've truly been lonely.

He had never sought forgiveness or expected to receive it.

It stung, and now that he knew how to feel emotions again, his life was filled with nothing but pain.

Strangely enough, he didn't hate it.

Compared to the times when he felt nothing but numbness, this was much better.

He at least… felt something.

It hurt, but at the same time, he felt better than ever. His mind had never been clearer, and staring at the Prince before him, he had already made up his mind.

When he looked down, he could still see her looking up at him from below, and he found himself smiling.

'Yeah… this is how it should be.'

"Hm? Aren't you the human from before? You didn't run away?"

The Prince seemed rather surprised by his sudden appearance. Gervis too, but for another reason.

"You… what are you doing?"

The way Gervis looked at him changed, but Octavious paid him no mind and continued to gaze at Prince Adrian.

"I would like to make a contract with you."

The glare that Gervis was casting became even more intense, but the Prince stopped him from saying anything by waving his hand at him and smacking him toward the ground.

Bang—!

He then proceeded to look at Octavious.

"So you'd like to form a contract with me, huh?"

Prince Adrian studied Octavious from top to bottom. At first glance, he wasn't too bad. A tad bit worse than the dwarf, but overall, he wasn't too bad.

To have reached his rank while being a human was a testament to his talent and his gaze… he quite liked it.

Prince Andrian extended his hand, where a contract appeared.

"Very well, since you're interested in signing a contract, I won't stop you."

He offered it without much thought. He was good enough to join his side.

"Thank you."

Octavious nodded his head, staring at the contract in front of him.

"D… don't you dare."

From the side, he could hear Gervis's muffled words, but he paid no attention to them and grabbed the contract in front of him.

WOOOM—! It erupted with demonic energy as soon as his hand touched it, engulfing him from head to toe.

Despite the fact that he had not yet signed the contract, he was already able to sense the force that emanated from it. It was very powerful. More powerful than he could have ever conceived of being.

"Go on, sign it."

The Prince's words echoed close to him, sounding like soft whispers and tempting him even further.

Octavious fixed his eyes on the contract in front of him for a moment before putting it down and turning his attention to Prince Adrian.

He smiled softly at him.

Riiiiip!

And with one swift movement, he tore the contract in half, completely freezing the atmosphere.

The Prince's expression froze with the atmosphere, and he looked at Octavious in utter bafflement.

That was when Octavious chose to speak.

"I didn't say I wanted to sign the contract because I wanted to sign the contract. I only said it because I wanted to get close enough to you to do this…"

Octavious extended his hand and revealed a white orb. Golden runes emanated from the orb as they rotated like satellites around it in a clockwise motion.

"Wait… that power…"

The Prince's expression changed drastically the moment the orb appeared, and Octavious smiled.

"Yes. It's exactly what you think it is."

Crack!

After he shattered the orb that he was holding in his hand, the entire world became white, and golden runes flooded their surroundings, completely enveloping the Prince in their entirety.

"Wait! How is this possible!?"

Although the Prince attempted to put up a fight as his own golden runes emerged from his body, his efforts were fruitless. The golden runes whirled around him at a speed that was even greater than the one he was starting to produce, and they wrapped themselves tightly all over his body.

"How da…mhm…mhhhh."

His entire figure froze on the spot, and the surroundings turned quiet from that point on. The golden runes kept wrapping and circling around his body, stopping him from doing anything.

Still, if one paid close attention, the golden runes around his body dimmed considerably with each passing second.

It was clear that even though the Prince was trapped, his predicament would not last for very long.

"Huu."

As soon as Octavious used the orb, his entire body began to shrink, and he had a hard time maintaining his balance.

From a man who was in the prime of his life, he slowly turned into a frail and old man. Such was the consequence of using the laws that didn't belong to you.

But that didn't matter to Octavious as he weakly moved toward the Prince. He weakly placed his hand over the Prince's shoulder and looked down.

That was when his gaze paused on a certain girl who was looking back at him.

He smiled at her.

'This is how it should be.'

He had been a terrible father then, and a terrible father now. Perhaps he was never meant to be a father to begin with.

Or perhaps he just wasn't ready to be one.

Still.

Staring at Melissa for one last time. Octavious really did see her figure overlap with someone he used to know, and something trickled down the side of his cheek.

'They… truly are alike…'

It was too bad Melissa had never gotten to meet her. His vision warped with images of them as a happy family. As a family that they never were, and the thought ached him even more.

Cr… Crack!

Octavious was deep in thought when he was startled out of his musings by a loud cracking sound. When he looked up, he saw that the golden runes that had encircled the Prince were beginning to disintegrate, which meant that the Prince would soon be free once more.

Realizing that he didn't have much time left, he looked at Melissa once more, engraving her face into his mind before silently nodding at her.

"Goodbye."

'I love you.'

He was only able to utter the first word. He found himself unable to say the last three. He didn't feel like he had the right to say such words to her, and shortly after that, the world turned completely dark.

Not before hearing the sound of his own body exploding.

BOOOOOOOOOOM—!

***

[Earth]

"Kill!"

"Charge out and kill all those bastards!"

As the demons charged out from the pocket spaces that remained over the broken pillars, the sky darkened, and a sound like thunder rumbled through the air.

Rumble—! Rumble—!

"Arkgh!"

"Akh!"

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

Suddenly, a shower of arrows began to rain down from the skies, striking the demonic horde with deadly precision. Each arrow contained a certain golden rune, and their tips glimmered with an otherworldly light.

The demons howled in fury as they were struck down one by one, but their numbers seemed endless.

Even as the arrows continued to rain down upon them, the demons fought on, driven by their large numbers and their hunger for victory.

The members of the alliance who were standing on the ground looked up in awe and wonder at the incredible scene that was playing out in front of their eyes.

When they saw how the arrows were bending away from them, they realized that they didn't have to worry about getting hit by them as they charged forward in the battle.

"Charge!"

"Attack the demons!"

All of this unfolded right before my very eyes as I turned to look at Amanda next to me. Her complexion was extremely pale, and sweat trickled down her forehead.

"Are you alright?"

"No…"

Amanda shook her head at my question. She began to show signs of aging right in front of my very eyes not long after that, but as soon as I pressed my hand against her shoulder, she was able to quickly return to her normal self.

Such was the toll that the laws took on the human body.

Coating her body with the laws, her complexion gradually returned to normal.

"What… what was that power?"

Amanda wondered, looking at me from the side. I was just about to answer her when I suddenly felt something and turned to look toward a distant pillar.

A faint projection appeared in front of me. It was Soul Linkage, and there I was able to get an idea of what had happened in that Pillar.

'He really… did it, huh?'

I closed my eyes for a moment.

With Melissa being one of the people I put the link on, I knew exactly why he did what he did. It was because she was there.

I was somewhat prepared for what was to come because... I was the one who gave him a small portion of the laws.

It was back during the time when everyone was about to migrate to Immorra, and he came to me asking for them.

I knew in that instant what exactly he was planning… but I didn't stop him.

The decision he took was one he had taken long before this day, and had only now put into action.

I didn't really know how to feel at the moment.

"What happened?"

"It's… well, I have to go."

The opportunity presented itself, and I knew that I had to move.

I opened my eyes again and looked at Amanda. When I looked at her, I had a sudden thought, and I found myself frowning at the thought.

It was a dangerous idea, but what if…?

Chapter 834: Beg me [4]

It all happened so quickly, but when she felt 'his' gaze fall on her for just a split second, time seemed to come to an abrupt halt, and so did her world.

His expression was the same as usual—a little aged. Perhaps a little different, but it wasn't so different from how it had always been.

Yet, for some reason, in that moment, it felt as though that simple gaze told her a thousand words.

He nodded at her and said something.

She couldn't quite make out what those words were.

That was because she knew exactly what he was going to do, and in that moment, her mind blanked.

Her usually brilliant mind blanked, and she dully stood on the ground, staring up toward the sky, which was soon enveloped by a brilliant white light that came directly from her father's body. It enveloped the sky in its entirety.

BOOOM—!

That was the last thing she saw before a terrifying explosion covered the sky, and she was hurled a great distance away from the scene.

BANG—!

She collided with a tree, and if it weren't for the protective shield that materialized around her just as she was about to make contact with the tree, she likely would have sustained significant injuries.

"Ugh."

With a groan, she forced herself to look up, and that was when she realized that the mist that had blanketed the sky previously had completely disappeared.

Her mind, which seemed stained with something moments prior, seemed to clear up.

But none of that concerned her at the moment. What she was concerned about was something else, and she hastily looked around in the sky for any signs of 'him'.

But no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't find him. In fact, she couldn't see anything, and her legs started to go numb.

That was until a hand pressed against her shoulder and a familiar voice reached her ear.

"…He's gone."

"W..what?"

When she turned her head, she caught sight of a hazy, almost transparent figure.

"Who are you?"

She thought he sounded familiar, but the way he looked… was that really who she thought he was?

"It's me."

His voice was hoarse, almost feeble, but when he turned his head and their eyes met, Melissa understood that it was really him.

"What are you doing here? How did you get here? Were you here originally?"

"No."

He shook his head and stared into the distance. Toward a spot where she couldn't see.

"Are you really fine?"

"…"

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

She just felt… empty.

And she didn't know why.

She just did, and found everything hard to process.

"I… I don't know."

She was eventually able to mutter those words. Taking out her glasses, her vision started to blur, and she found herself unable to see what was ahead anymore.

In all honesty, she could've had her eyesight fixed a long time ago.

Be it a potion or surgery, she could've. She was rich and was smart enough to produce a potion that could fix her eyesight.

She just didn't want to.

There were times when her blurred vision would stop her from feeling people's gazes on her and give her peace of mind.

There was no one around her at the moment apart from Ren, but even so, she didn't want to keep her glasses on.

She… Didn't want to see what was above her anymore.

***

'She's surprisingly calm.'

The thought crossed my mind when I stared at Melissa beside me. At least, that was what I was able to perceive from her on the outside.

Whether she was truly calm, I wasn't too sure, but I didn't have time to care.

My entire body was writhing, and the pain that was permeating every part of me was making it difficult for me to maintain any semblance of sanity.

'It's good that he made things easier for me.'

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

Especially since I was in no state to properly fight at the moment.

There was something that I had to do before coming here, and that took almost everything from me. But it was worth it.

Swoosh—!

With the sudden blurring of my vision, I appeared before a certain area in the sky and looked around me. That was until my attention was eventually drawn to a dark spot in the sky. It was writhing in the air, and the skeleton of a figure was gradually beginning to take shape as it did so.

I didn't waste a second and arrived before it.

"It looks like I've arrived on time."

I pressed my hand against the blob, and the moment I made contact with it, I felt a soothing energy spread throughout my entire body from head to toe.

My body, which was briefly disappearing and then reappearing, started to take shape again, and the excruciating pain that had been pulsating through every part of me started to subside.

It was a scene that I had experienced a couple of times already, and my comprehension of the laws started to increase at the same time.

The more I was able to comprehend, the more I found myself able to use Kevin's old powers.

It was also thanks to that that I was able to get into the Pillar without destroying it from the outside. It still took a little toll on me, but it was a necessary struggle.

"You… who are you?"

While I was enjoying the warm sensation, I heard a certain voice, and when I looked down, I saw that the blob had transformed into a demon.

His expression was anything but friendly, and the power that radiated from his body was also nothing to scoff at. With that being said…

"Should you really be talking to me when you're in that state?"

I placed the palm of my hand against the demon's shoulder, and immediately he froze in place. Golden runes whirled all around the area where the Prince and I were standing and wrapped themselves tightly around his body.

My breath left my body, and I found myself struggling to keep my composure. In spite of this, I cast my gaze off into the horizon and nodded my head.

WOOOOOOOM—! A blue light headed our way and enveloped the entirety of my vision. A powerful force soon enveloped the area that the demon and I were in, and everything turned silent.

I wasn't sure for how long things were like that, but when my sight returned, I found myself standing in the middle of the air with two black orbs levitating in front of me.

It took a while for it to sink in, but pain unlike anything I'd ever felt before started to cover every inch of my body.

"Haaaa…. haaa…."

I struggled to keep my breath in check and had to take several large gulps of air in the process. It was for a short moment, but the pain that came upon the complete destruction of my body almost made me faint from the pain.

Ever since the war had started, the only thing I felt was pain, and I was starting to wonder, just when exactly was I going to get used to this pain?

I wanted to get used to this pain.

"Are yer alright?"

It was Gervis's voice that broke me out of my thoughts, and when I turned to look at him, I shook my head.

"No."

The pain I was experiencing wasn't something I could describe with words. I was anything but okay.

Still.

I was still hanging there.

"Is… is it over?"

Gervis asked, looking at the two orbs in the sky. I shook my head again and extended my hand to where the orbs were floating.

"It's not over until the core over here is destroyed."

I was able to feel the demonic energy that was pulsating from the core as soon as I got a hold of it and held it in my grasp. The other orb, on the other hand, softly moved toward my mouth, and I quietly ingested its content.

Once more, I was engulfed in a whole world of pain, but I bore with it.

It was a lot lighter than the other pain I felt.

Crash—!

Only once I finally managed to ingest all of the contents within the orb did I finally clench my hand and smash the core in my hand.

Rumble—! Rumble—!

The entire Pillar began to shake almost instantly after that, and the world contained within it showed signs of collapse.

I turned to look at Gervis for a brief moment before looking down at Melissa below.

"Do me a favor and bring her out with you la—"

I had to stop myself mid-sentence. All of a sudden, a projection appeared right before my very eyes, and all it took was one glance to understand what had happened.

My heart sank.

"I'm sorry."

"Wait, wha—"

Those were the only two words I was able to utter before waving my hand and disappearing from the spot.

Chapter 835: Ryan's mind [1]

[Pillar of Greed]

It was dark and damp. A musty smell of damp earth and rocks filled Ryan's nostrils as his eyes slowly opened up.

Blinking a couple of times, he noticed that he couldn't quite see very far. The dim lighting around him made it difficult to see beyond a few meters. When he reached out with his hand, he felt a rough and uneven surface.

'A cave?'

That was the first thought that crossed his mind as he felt the sides of the walls.

Drip. Drip.

The sound of dripping water echoed in all directions in the space he was in, further reaffirming his original assumption.

"Hm?"

Right when he tried to move, he noticed that his feet were bound to something and that the little mana inside of his body had been completely sealed.

"Shit."

Letting out a curse, he squinted his eyes and noticed a small bracelet on his ankles.

They were firmly clamped at his ankles and were rather thick. About the size of his forearms and made it impossible for him to move properly.

'This is bad.'

He knew instantly that the situation was not good.

It was also at that moment that he recalled what had led to his sudden appearance over here, and his expression changed.

"Leopold?"

He called out, hoping to receive some sort of answer, but it was much to his dismay that he realized that he was the only person inside the cave.

"Crap."

Ryan started to worry a little.

Although Leopold was stronger than him, he didn't know what was currently happening and was understandably worried.

That being said…

"Huu."

All it took was a single breath for Ryan to calm himself down. He had been on many dangerous missions in the past, and this wasn't any different.

After calming himself down, Ryan closed his eyes and started to ponder over his options.

While he wasn't like Ren and didn't have a chip inside of his brain, he was still a genius in his own right.

Several different scenarios popped up in his mind, and it wasn't long before a plan formulated inside of his mind.

'Hmm, I guess that could work.'

He opened his eyes. Unlike before, his gaze was calm, and no longer was he nervous like a few moments prior.

"Now then…"

Fiddling his tongue around his teeth, his tongue settled over the furthest tooth on his bottom right side, and his expression cringed a little.

Cr… Crack!

With a low snapping sound, his tooth came undone and fell directly onto the ground. The process was rather quick, but it still hurt a little.

Turning his head to stare at the tooth in front of him, Ryan moved his body forward a little, and he picked the tooth with his tongue.

'Who would've thought I'd have to use this? It's good that I came prepared.'

Although his mana was sealed, he had installed a mechanism within the tooth that enabled him to access the contents without the need to use mana.

Tik! Tik!

It took him about twenty seconds, and within that time, the tooth had completely changed into a tiny black box. Tapping onto it with his tongue, Ryan was able to catch a glimpse of a myriad of different items.

'I guess Ren's nagging wasn't useless.'

He had originally made this for Ren, but he had also made one for himself and the others. He never would've thought he'd need to use it, but as luck would have it, he indeed found himself in a situation where he needed to use it.

Even though his main dimensional space was taken and he was stripped of all his possessions, he wasn't necessarily as hopeless as he would've been.

Click!

"Easier than I thought."

After disabling the bracelet that was on his ankle using one of the items in his dimensional space and making sure that it didn't trigger the alarm, Ryan finally let out a sigh of relief.

"That was nerve-wracking."

As composed as he was, he had been nervous the entire time.

One wrong move, and everything would go up in the air. Since he valued his life, during the process he found himself sweating more than he had ever done during an intense workout.

Thankfully, everything worked out, and nothing happened.

That was what mattered the most, and he pressed his hands against the ground, helping himself up.

'I wonder how they designed the bracelet.'

Taking the bracelet out, Rayn started to study it. He understood that knowing the mechanism behind it was extremely important for his next course of action, and so he spared no second to study it.

'I wonder what this circuit does? Is this the one that connects to the mana disruptor, or is it...'

And so, even though time was tight, Ryan spent the next couple of hours just staring blankly at the bracelet in his hands.

He imprinted every circuit within his mind, and he forced himself to understand everything that was going on inside of the artifact.

"Hmmm "

Once he was done stretching his body, he took out a small artifact from his dimensional space. It was the same shotgun like artifact that belonged to Leopold.

He may or may not have stolen it from him.

Not that it mattered since he had several spare ones.

"Haa.. what a waste of a core."

Retrieving a small core from his dimensional space, he placed it over the artifact and activated it.

A gentle glow formed on the artifact in his hand.

"This will do."

Given the disparity in strength between him and Leopold, it was a given that he had to use a core to supplement the use of the artifact.

He would never be able to make use of the artifact if it weren't for the core.

'This way.'

With his mana restored, he could now see better within the darkness, and that was when he noticed a small opening that was sealed by an iron door.

Approaching it carefully, Ryan peaked through the small gap above, and that was when he caught sight of two demons standing guard.

'They look rather strong.'

He couldn't exactly tell, but they were certainly stronger than him. Not as strong as Leopold, though. He could at least say this much.

'That's good.'

Had they been stronger than him, then the situation would've been a lot more difficult.

Ryan shifted his focus to the iron door while sticking his tongue out and bent over to place a small device over the top of it. The device's eight legs appeared to be clamping down on the metallic door in a manner that was eerily reminiscent of a spider.

Cl..Click!

Pressing the buttons and trying to make the least sound possible, the gadget activated, and the eight legs clamped harder on the metallic door.

Each of the legs emitted a minuscule red light from its base, and this light began to revolve around the device in a clockwise direction.

A small red circle formed on the iron door shortly after, and once the legs rotated twice, Ryan put the gadget away.

'Looks like they haven't noticed.'

Since the machine was designed to be extremely quiet and unnoticeable, Ryan was able to create a small opening on the door without being noticed by the demons.

So long as he gave it a light knock, it would fall, and an opening would appear.

Standing up, he looked toward the two guards from the opening above, and he knocked at the door once. He didn't bother ducking down and just stared at them from the small opening above.

Tok!

"Hu?"

Even though it was a soft knock, it was enough to immediately draw the attention of the two demons who were standing guard. Both of their heads snapped around to look in his direction.

"What was that?"

"Hey, look."

They soon took notice of Ryan whose eyes were fixed on the two demons.

"He can move? How is this possible? Did the band malfunction?"

The demons seemed rather shocked by the fact that Ryan was able to move and get to where they were, but that shock didn't last for long as the two approached the opening.

"You... how did you g—"

The demon never got to finish that sentence.

Clank!

Right as the two approached the door, Ryan knocked on the area where the gadget had previously been placed, and a piece of the door fell.

In that split second, he positioned the shotgun so that it covered the gap that had appeared and pulled the trigger on it with his left hand.

Bang—!

"Akgh!"

"Erkh!"

The power that the shotgun held proved to be a little too much for the two demons, who were blasted into pieces as multiple holes appeared on their bodies.

'Oh wow."

Even Ryan was astounded by the shot's power, but he didn't let it affect him and pushed the door open to let himself out.

Clank!

Shortly after that, he moved toward the two demons and retrieved another gadget from his dimensional space.

The gadget was merely a small pen that he used to scan the bodies of the two demons before retrieving their cores.

"I hope this works."

Click—

Clicking on the top of the pen, Ryan felt a small vibration coming from the pen.

It continued to vibrate for the next couple of seconds before stopping, and when it did, a small light burst forth from the top, enveloping Ryan completely and changing his whole structure.

In a matter of seconds, his skin turned dark and his body became taller.

Two horns emerged from the top of his head, and shortly after that, two wings materialized on his back.

Taking out a mirror, Ryan looked at himself and nodded in satisfaction.

"Good."

What he had done was merely create a hologram that overlapped with his figure, enabling him to look like a demon.

Although it was not the most suitable approach that he could take, given the circumstances, it was the most appropriate approach.

Placing the pen in his pocket, Ryan put one of the demon cores away and crushed the other one.

Woom—!

A wave of demonic energy burst forth shortly after crushing the core, and beckoning it with his hand, the demonic energy started to move and coat Ryan's body. Instantly, his body started to emit the aura of one of the demons he took down.

While it closely resembled the demon's aura, it wasn't the same. There were subtle differences.

If one paid close attention, they'd notice that the demonic energy that was coating his body was thinning by the second, but that didn't really matter to Ryan.

He wasn't planning on staying for much longer.

"Now then…"

Clank!

With everything in check, he closed the door behind him and rubbed his hands. He didn't even bother hiding his traces; he just left.

"…to find Leopold."

Chapter 836: Ryan's mind [2]

The internal structure of the underground cavern was massive. Ryan couldn't count the handful of times he had taken the wrong path and headed toward a dead end.

It was starting to get to him.

"Not this one either."

Staring at probably what seemed to be like the tenth dead end, Ryan sighed in frustration and glanced at his phone.

There was a single red dot displayed on the screen, and that was where Ryan was currently headed to.

That was where Leopold was being held, and while he knew the exact direction of where he was, finding him was starting to prove to be a more difficult task than he had anticipated.

In a maze, just knowing where someone was, wasn't enough.

'If only he was somewhere more open.'

The fact that he was inside a massive underground network made it hard for Ryan to find the correct path, but he wasn't completely hopeless.

When he reached a new one, his phone would trace his steps so that he could see exactly where he was going and the places he had been in the past. Although he did run into a lot of dead ends, this helped him stay on track and stopped him from going to the same places twice.

He was steadily making progress, but still...

"Ugh."

Ryan groaned out loud.

'This is so frustrating.'

Time was of the essence, and he was wasting a lot of time finding the right path.

When he looked at his body, the demonic energy that had been encircling him had practically disappeared, and he no longer felt like a demon.

If he were to meet a demon, he'd instantly be found out.

'How annoying.'

The situation was anything but pleasant.

Despite that, Ryan could only grit his teeth and take out another demon core. This one belonged to the second demon he killed.

Crack!

Crushing it in the palm of his hand, he repeated the process from before and once again trekked on.

'No point in complaining… If I don't hurry up, things might turn for the worst. I need to hurry up.'

*

'Bingo.'

Ryan didn't know for how long he had walked, but after a couple more dead ends, he finally found the correct route, and he was shortly exposed to a large opening that was filled with thousands of metallic doors.

He was still quite a distance away from it, but he was able to see everything properly with the aid of a certain device.

'Well… shit…'

Ryan's face fell the moment he noticed the numerous doors.

Unlike his cell, the area was far more secure, with thousands of different demons patrolling the area. They all emitted intimidating auras, and Ryan knew that even Leopold was no match for them.

If he were to be caught by them…

He could only shudder at the thought.

'It's fine… It's fine… I can do this.'

Ryan had already thought things through before, and what he was seeing was within his calculations. Scanning around, his eyes paused on a certain door in the distance, and taking a deep breath, he remained where he was.

He didn't feel that the time was ripe yet and remained where he was for the next couple of hours.

Ryan wasn't idle for those couple of hours. During that time, he made a concerted effort to eavesdrop on the conversations that were taking place and to assimilate all of the information that he was learning from those around him.

The endeavor proved extremely useful as he started to get a better idea of how the system over here worked, and what exactly was going on.

While he wasn't aware of the reason they were gathering prisoners, he knew that none of them were going to be kept there for long as he'd see demons routinely approaching the cell doors and taking out the 'prisoners'.

The rest of what he heard was rather useless, but that didn't concern him as he had heard enough.

He was prepared to make a move.

'I still have some demonic energy covering me, so I should be fine.'

After confirming that the demonic energy that surrounded his body was still stable, he nodded his head with an unwavering determination.

He was ready.

Tap.

The moment his foot stepped into the area, he felt countless eyes fall on him, and his entire back was drenched.

Even so, with a stoic face, he continued to move toward where Leopold was being held. He ignored the gazes and continued forward.

'This seems to be work—'

"Stop there for a second."

A loud voice interrupted his thoughts, and Ryan's body froze on the spot. When he turned his head, he almost fell to his knees. Towering over him was a large demon with a bulky build and a mustache.

His presence was overwhelming, and Ryan had a hard time keeping himself from passing out under his enormous presence.

He understood at that moment that he wasn't dealing with just any regular demon but someone that seemed to be high up in position.

"Y,yes?"

He asked, his composure almost faltering.

"What are you doing over here?"

A direct question. One which Ryan already had an answer to.

"I'm coming here from another sector, and I need to meet one of the 'sources' that we've recently placed."

'Sources' was one of the terminologies that Ryan picked up while listening in on the demons for the past hour.

While he wasn't sure of what they meant, he knew that the term referred to those that were taken in by the demons.

"Which one?"

Under the scrutinizing gaze of the demon, Ryan could only lower his head and point toward Leopold's gaze.

"Door 9862? …Hm, last I recall, that's where a human resides. Is that the right place?"

Lifting his head, Ryan cautiously nodded his head, trying not to seem too eager.

"Yes, that's exactly where I need to be."

"Hmm, okay then."

Surprisingly, the demon was quick to agree and stepped to the side.

"Since you have work to do, I won't disturb you any further. When you go there, you can just tell them the reason why you're visiting, and they'll let you in. I hope your findings are successful."

"Thank you."

Ryan felt rather relieved that things went so smoothly. Things would've been troublesome if the demon had noticed that something was wrong.

Thankfully, he didn't.

'Okay, this is good.'

Fixing his gaze over the door where Leopold resided, Ryan took a deep breath and proceeded forward.

At the same time he moved, he touched his wrist and tapped on it once.

***

"Keep an eye on him; don't make a move yet."

The commander said expressionlessly.

When he turned his head, his gaze fixed on a 'demon' moving toward door 9862.

From the moment that he appeared, he knew that he didn't belong in this sector.

Even if we ignore the fact that demons of its rank wouldn't show up in such a location, the fact that the demonic energy that covered its body was rather faint was a great indicator that whoever this "demon" was, they were merely pretending to be something else.

The only reason the commander hadn't stopped the demon right then and there was because he wanted to see what he wanted to do.

Their goal.

Since he could tell at a glance what the intruder's strength was, the commander wasn't particularly worried about the 'demon' escaping from him.

Just in case, he signaled to the other demons to keep a close watch on him. If the pretender tried to do anything, he'd have them killed in an instant.

"Now then…"

Crossing his arms together, he quietly observed the pretender while glancing at the demons in the vicinity and signaling them to get ready.

"…I wonder what they're up to."

The game of the mouse had begun.

***

"Understood. You may enter."

Clank—!

Entering Leopold's room was surprisingly easy for Ryan. He didn't even have to say much to convince them to open the door for him and let him in.

'Are they just stupid or overconfident with themselves?'

Or was it that his disguise was just that good?

Hmm, that seemed like the most plausible answer.

"Leopold."

Entering the cell, the first thing Ryan did was call out for Leopold. Much to his relief, upon entering the cell, he spotted him instantly and rushed toward him.

He… he was faring much better than he originally thought.

"Are you alright?"

"You're already here?"

Fiddling with a familiar bracelet, Leopold nodded at him. His hair was unkept, but other than that, he seemed to be doing fine.

In fact, he looked even better than when the two of them first appeared in this strange world.

"I was just about to go out to look for you, but it looks like you beat me to it."

"Liar."

Ryan immediately called him out for his lies.

While he indeed had the capability to do so, given that he had given him a similar tooth-like dimensional space, Leopold was by no means the type of person who would proactively look for someone.

Chances were that he was most likely waiting for him to show up.

And that…

That annoyed him.

"Hurry up, we don't have much time left."

Tearing his gaze away from him, Ryan turned his attention toward the door. His brows furrowed, and he let out a long breath before looking back at Leopold.

"You have the thing, right?"

Staring back at him, Leopold took out a pack of gum and tossed one in his mouth.

"If you mean 'that', then… yea..mhm.. h."

Chapter 837: Ryan's mind [3]

[They're coming out; what shall we do, commander?]

A voice transmitted into the commander's mind. The commander didn't answer immediately and pondered over the matter.

'It's safe to assume that the pretender's goal is to save whoever is inside cell 9862. From the information, it seems to be a moderately strong human.'

The original goal of keeping the pretender alive was to see what their motive was.

The commander already had an idea beforehand and thus wasn't very surprised with what he found out.

He was a bit disappointed, however…

"A pitiful attempt."

It was honestly a pathetic attempt. The commander had expected much more, but it seemed like he was just being too cautious.

He never thought someone would show up in such an obvious manner. He thought that there was something more to their terrible disguise, but it seemed that… that was it.

"The moment they come out, apprehend them immediately. I no longer have any interest in the matter."

Finally answering the communication, the commander turned around and left to patrol a different area.

He was no longer interested in whatever was happening over here. Whatever interest he previously held had long been extinguished.

"Ah."

His feet came to a sudden pause, recalling something.

"…Don't kill them. Keep them alive."

The commander had a change of heart about the standard protocol that dictated that those who tried to infiltrate would get killed on the spot.

Killing them was far too light of a punishment.

"We need to set an example for those who misbehave."

***

"Surrender yourselves, and we'll consider keeping your lives."

The moment Leopold and Ryan left the room, demons surrounded them on all sides.

They didn't even get the chance to do anything before a terrifying pressure locked onto them and stopped them in their tracks.

"Eh…"

The most confused one was Leopold, who turned his head to look at Ryan. His face was rather pale.

"You… I thought you didn't get followed."

"…I, impossible, my disguise.. it was perfect."

Ryan's face appeared completely pale at this moment, giving off the impression that he was more than just flustered.

Looking around at the demons around him, the holographic outline around his body flickered in and out before revealing his true body, and his face paled even further.

"Oh, no.."

"So that's what it was."

Ryan's sudden appearance made the demon realize something, and they all smiled.

"You were looking to save your comrade, weren't you?"

One of the demons said, his voice filled with light amusement.

"You should've worked harder on your disguise. The commander saw through it at first glance. I bet you went in all smug thinking about how stupid we were when, in reality, you were merely walking in on a trap that we've set up for you."

The demon's words were rather harsh, and Ryan's expression trembled. Most likely from embarrassment, Leopold thought.

"W,what are you going to do with us now?"

Ryan asked in a quivering voice.

He tried to step back, but his movements were impaired by the force that was enveloping their bodies.

The only thing he could do was stay rooted on the spot and wait for the demons to do something.

He was helpless… utterly helpless.

"Don't worry."

One of the demons reassured.

"You're in luck. Under the commander's orders, you are not to be killed. The two of you…"

The demon alternated his gaze between Leopold and Ryan.

"…will not be killed for now. In fact, you'll be moved to another cell where we can ensure that you don't pull another similar stunt like the one you just pulled. As a matter of fact, how exactly did you manage to escape from your cell?"

The demon turned his gaze to look at Ryan, whose expression grew even paler. His entire body trembled, and he seemed to be on the verge of crying.

Such scene was found to be utterly amusing by the demons.

"I… I…"

He stuttered over his words, and the demons found the scene extremely amusing.

"Oh? Are you that scared?"

A demon approached him and patted him on the shoulder. Bringing his head closer, he whispered close to his ear.

"Don't worry, we won't kill you fast. We'll make sure to make it as slow as possible so the two of you can live for a longer period of time."

"Ah.. ah.."

Ryan's body started to tremble even further, and tears finally streamed down the side of his face.

"Hahahah, he's crying!"

The scene left the demons utterly amused, as they couldn't help but laugh out loud amongst each other.

"Where did all the guts from before go? Why are you crying right now?"

Teasing him, the demons placed a new bracelet over Ryan's and Leopold's wrists, and the mana inside of their bodies instantly vanished. Then, the demons placed the two of them on their shoulders and carried them like a sack of potatoes.

"While we carry them to the other quarters, check the room carefully. Make sure they haven't tampered with the room."

"Understood."

In minutes, they were already far away from the cell that Leopold was previously held in.

It was just the right distance.

"It's been a while since I've had such a hearty belly laugh. Kid, considering that you've brightened my day, I think we'll take it easy on you from here on out. Am nice, aren't I?"

The demon once again tried to tease Ryan, but contrary to what he had expected, he was met with a calm smile.

"Is that so?"

"Hm?"

A response like that caused the demon to immediately frown, but before he even had the chance to figure out why the human was suddenly smiling, the demon noticed that the human's lips were beginning to part.

"This should be far enough."

Booom—! Booom—!

Within a fraction of a second of Ryan uttering those words, there were not one but two horrifyingly large explosions heard reverberating through the cave system.

The force that was released during those explosions was so intense that the entirety of the cave system shook, and a massive fire erupted from the ground, engulfing each and every passageway within the cave.

Spurt! Spurt!

Ryan and Leopold both reacted at the same time to the explosions. They suddenly produced a couple of daggers from nowhere and stabbed the demon that was carrying them in the neck.

"Argggh!"

With an agonized scream, the demon that held Ryan fell to the ground and covered its neck with both hands.

Black blood leaked down from the gap between his fingers, and he let out a terrifying wail.

While this happened, Ryan and Leopold dashed toward the remaining demons and pointed their guns at them.

They both shot at the same time.

Bang—! Bang—!

"Arkhh!"

In contrast to Leopold, Ryan needed to use a sizeable core before each use of the gun. Upon destroying the core, the weapon would go off, and a demon would fall.

He was a lot slower than Leopold at killing the demons around them, but he was still doing a good job, and by the time five seconds had passed, almost all of the demons had their cores shattered.

"haaa.. haaa… that was tough."

With both hands on his knees, Ryan tried to catch his breath. This had proven to be a lot more difficult than he had anticipated, but…

'My plan has worked.'

From the very beginning, Ryan knew that there was no way that they wouldn't find out about his disguise. There were simply too many flaws in the disguise, and he knew better than to expect anything from it.

Having said that, the fact that the disguise was terrible did not mean that it was completely useless.

After evaluating all of his options, Ryan decided to use the situation to his advantage. Since his goal from the very beginning was to get to Leopold, he didn't care if he was found out in the process.

Like Ren had told him before, 'The more predictable you seem, the more predictable their movements are.'

His words didn't make much sense to him back then, but now… he fully understood them.

'If I move in an obvious and predictable manner, then I can narrow down what move my opponent will make and start planning from there…'

Since Ryan had made it obvious that he was a demon in disguise, he knew that the demons would let him go for a little bit in hopes of understanding what he was plotting, and as soon as they realized his purpose, they made their move and closed down on him.

It was on purpose that he allowed himself to be captured by the demons; his tears were merely a distraction designed to prevent the demons from interrogating him about the circumstances leading up to the situation.

Like how he had managed to get all the way there.

"Looks like the traps we've set up worked beautifully."

"Uh, ah…"

It was Leopold's voice that brought him out of his thoughts, and pursing his lips, Ryan smiled.

"…Yeah."

Taking out a potion and downing it, Ryan turned his attention back toward where they came from.

"Let's go. We still aren't done yet."

Chapter 838: Ryan's mind [4]

Boom—! Boom—!

It was the sound of two massive explosions that reverberated from two opposite ends that startled the commander out of his mood as his head immediately snapped upwards.

"What happened?"

He had just left the premises to go inspect the other areas when, all of a sudden, two massive explosions happened.

The commander was able to deduce from the degree to which the environment was shaken that the explosions were not something to be taken lightly, and his expression changed to one of grave concern.

[Commander! Commander! There's an emergency!]

A panicked voice reached his ears. Trying his best to remain calm, the commander spoke.

"Report to me what's going on."

[Two explosions happened. One in the lower quarter, where the lower end prisoners are trapped, and one in the higher quarter. Star Unit 5.]

"Star Unit 5…?"

[Make the demons check the room.]

Overhearing the exact location of where the explosions had occurred, the commander's frown deepened, and all of a sudden, his face stiffened.

"It can't be…"

Pinching his chin, his foot unknowingly began to tap against the ground, and he quickly tried to contact the soldiers that were in charge of carrying the two prisoners.

"Star Unit 5 – Delta Squad, please communicate with me."

[…]

"Star Unit 5 – Delta Squad, please communicate with me. One quick word is enough. I need confirmation of your vitality status."

[…]

"Star Unit 5 – Delta Squad, please communicate with me…"

[…]

It was much to his disappointment that none of them answered, and the commander knew that something was wrong.

"Communicating with all available squads within Star Unit 5... Communicating with all available squads within Star Unit 5… Communicating with all available squads within Star Unit 5..."

.

[Star Unit 5 – Alpha squad reporting...]

.

[Star Unit 5 – Beta squad reporting...]

.

[Star Unit 5 – Gamma squad reporting...]

.

[Star Unit 5 – Delta squad reporting...]

.

Repeating the same command three times, he received several replies back, and he quickly issued an order.

"The targets are the two human prisoners from before. Go chase after them. I will be assisting y—"

"There's no need for that."

All of a sudden, a gentle voice rang in his ears, and the commander's body stiffened. When he turned his head, the commander was shocked to see someone he was all too familiar with, and he immediately felt terrified.

"Y… Your Highness!"

Thump!

Without wasting a single second, he flopped to the ground and lowered his head. He didn't dare look up. Afraid of the impending consequences.

"Mhhh, stand up."

Prince Solbaken gestured with his hand, and the commander felt a force envelope his body, lifting his body up from the ground. Throughout the entire time, the commander couldn't move a single muscle in his body.

"Tell me…"

Prince Solbaken looked him straight in the eyes.

"…What exactly is going on at the moment?"

***

"Hey… hey… where are we going? That's the wrong way!"

"No, it's not."

Ryan shouted, running forward with everything that he had.

'The explosions have just gone off, and there shouldn't be many that survived them. Even if they did, they're probably injured or stunned by what happened… this is a good opportunity.'

Ryan's plan didn't just consist of setting up two explosions. If that were really the case, then it was a terrible plan.

Sure, he'd be able to take some of the focus away from him for a short moment, but once everything settled down, a hunt would ensue, and he was sure he'd be caught in an instant.

He knew this from the get-go and thus knew that such a simple plan wasn't feasible.

If he wanted to escape with Leopold, he had to think of another plan.

Thankfully, he was prepared.

"Over there!"

Returning to the spot where Leopold was previously held, Ryan's attention focused on the many doors around him. Just like he predicted, there were barely any demons around, and with Leopold behind him, Ryan wasn't worried about his safety just yet.

Cl… Click!

Arriving before one of the doors, Ryan placed the spider-like gadget over the door and activated it.

"Wooom!" A tiny red circle materialized on the door, and with a light tap, a gap appeared on the door where he could insert his hand and open the door.

Entering the cell, Ryan immediately spotted a figure on the floor, and he rushed toward them.

Without wasting a single second, he located the bracelet that was on their wrist and tore it apart. Shortly after that, he took out a potion and placed it on the ground.

"Wait… don't tell me…"

Right when he turned around, he found a baffled Leopold standing behind him.

Ryan grinned at him.

"It's exactly what you're thinking."

He reassured him.

Tearing his eyes away from Leopold, Ryan rushed toward the door and moved to the next door beside them.

Continuing in this manner, he repeated the same process, which resulted in the gradual and steady release of an increasing number of prisoners who had been confined within the cave system.

***

"Hmm…"

All she could see was darkness, and it enveloped every part of her vision.

Moving her body, she found that it was extremely heavy. Blinking her eyes a couple of times, she tried to move but found herself unable to.

Whatever was binding her body, it made it impossible for her to move.

Thump!

She didn't struggle for long and soon leaned back against the hard ground.

Her mind was an utter mess. She began to experience flashbacks of images and memories, and the more she recalled, the more disorganized her thoughts became.

"Ah."

For some reason, the memories that flooded her mind didn't seem to merge within her. She could see that the memories and images seemed to belong to her, but at the same time… didn't.

It was hard to explain, but to her, it was more like she was seeing someone else's memories.

Someone that seemed to be her.

Relieving moments and events that she couldn't remember properly. It felt rather uncomfortable, but with time, some memories started to merge with her.

"K..kevin…"

She was eventually able to mutter a single name, but once she did, she found an inexplicable pain piercing right at her chest, and her eyes became moist

'Who is he… why does he keep appearing in my memories… and why… why do I miss him so much?'

Emma was on the verge of losing it. The more she thought about him, the more her chest would tighten.

She wanted it to stop but couldn't.

One after another, memories started to resurface in his mind, and her chest clenched even more tightly.

She didn't like the feeling at all.

"Ugh."

Letting out a groan, she moved her body to the side, but just as she did, she suddenly felt a sudden tremor on the ground.

Rumble—

It was faint and almost imperceptible, and the only reason she even felt it was because she was quite highly ranked herself.

Had it been someone else, they would've probably not noticed it.

Her mind, which was previously a mess, started to clear up a little as she finally managed to find something to distract her.

Extending her hand, she placed it against the ground and tried to feel for another tremor. She didn't have to wait for very long.

Rumble—

'Something's happening outside.'

Once again feeling a slight tremor on the ground, Emma realized that something was happening somewhere outside of where she was confined.

'Are the demons fighting against the alliance?'

That was the only explanation she could think of. Although her mind was messed up due to the memories that continued to flood her mind, she was still able to think properly, and she soon also recalled how she had ended up here.

'It… it was a fake…'

She also recalled what had happened moments prior to appearing over here, and her expression once again became complicated.

'Kevin…'

For some reason, this name seemed to trigger something within her.

Even before she was abducted, someone who called themselves Kevin and resembled the person in her memories appeared in front of her and messed up her emotions.

Whatever the unbearable feeling she was experiencing, Emma understood one thing.

That was… so long as she understood who Kevin was, everything would stop.

Why did he appear in those memories, and why did his face evoke such emotions in her?

So long as she understood that, her mind would once again become clear, and she would return to normal.

At first, she wanted to avoid finding out the answers to the questions. Run away from it.

But with time, she understood that she couldn't run away from it. Regardless of what she did, it would keep haunting her from behind and keep chasing her, clawing at whatever sanity she had left.

For her own sake, she needed to find the answer.

Boom—!

"Hm?"

The muffled sound of an explosion in the distance awoke Emma from her thoughts, and when she turned her head, she noticed that the explosions were becoming more and more frequent, quietly moving in her direction.

BANG—! She didn't have to wait long for the explosions to reach her side; shortly thereafter, a loud explosion rang out in the area she was in, and light immediately began to penetrate into the area she was in.

The sudden burst of light made her squint in pain, but despite the pain, she was able to catch a glimpse of a particular figure, and her eyes opened slightly.

"You…"

She called out with her voice, and the figure stopped before her. Though she couldn't see well, she could tell that their eyes had met, and that was when Emma got a better look at the figure.

Surprisingly, she seemed to have seen them before, and her mouth parted open.

"…aren't you…?"

Chapter 839: Chaos [1]

Everything was going smoothly. Going in and out of the cells, Ryan managed to help as many prisoners as possible. Furthermore, with Leopold backing him up from behind, he was able to move rather freely.

Not only that, but the prisoners that he had rescued proved to also be a big help, as they instantly spread chaos within the cave system.

"Did you really have to take all my potions as well?"

Rushing toward another cell, Ryan overheard Leopold's grumble.

If he could, he would've rolled his eyes at him.

"You think I have a choice? I've already used all of mine."

Boom—! Boom—!

The muffled sound of explosions rang everywhere, and just as Ryan opened up another cell to free another prisoner, he was surprised to see a familiar figure.

"You're Emma."

He recognized her in an instant. It wasn't very hard.

There weren't many people out there that were as pretty as her, and furthermore, with her being one of the few people that were close to Ren, he naturally did some research on her.

Currently, she was lying down on the ground with a pale expression. Her lips seemed to be quivering, and her gaze seemed to be fixed on him.

She didn't look to be in the best of conditions, but at least, her mind seemed clear. Judging from her expression, she seemed to have recognized him too.

Bang—!

"Ryan, hurry up!"

It was Leopold's voice that broke him out of his thoughts, and Ryan snapped out of it and got to work.

"Ah, right, sorry!"

Bending over, he looked at the bracelet that was on her ankle and made quick work of it.

Click!

Removing it wasn't hard. He already had a general understanding of how the mechanism worked thanks to the hours he had put in before escaping, and he was thus able to remove it rather quickly.

"Here, drink this."

He handed Emma one of his potions, and she quietly took it. Moments after ingesting the potions, Emma's complexion cleared up, and she was soon able to stand up without a problem.

"Thank you."

"Don't worry about it."

Ryan waved his hand at her and looked back at Leopold.

Bang—! Bang—!

He was currently shooting one demon after another as sweat trickled down the side of his face. He was just barely holding on at the moment.

"Do you have any spare weapons?"

Right at that moment, he heard Emma's words, and when he turned his head to look at her, his eyes lit up.

'That's right, she's with us right now!'

Unlike the two of them, Emma was a bonafide <S+> ranker. If there was anyone who could fight the demons outside, it'd be her!

Without wasting a single second, Ryan looked through his dimensional space and retrieved a sword from it.

It wasn't exactly her weapon of choice, as he knew she used short swords, but that was all he had prepared.

"Here, I have a sword."

"A sword?"

Frowning, Emma took the sword and casually swung it in the air.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Her movements were quick, and with each swing, the air would tear apart, and a faint whistling sound would emerge.

'Next time, I should just pack all the weapons I can find.'

Hopefully, he'd never have to use the secret dimensional space again, but… no one really knew what lay ahead in the future, so it was best to be prepared.

"This'll do I guess."

Satisfied with the sword, Emma shifted her attention toward the demons that were attacking Leopold, and her figure soon disappeared from the spot.

Shortly after, she appeared before the demons and slashed her sword once.

Thump!

Heads came rolling down, and everything ended in a matter of seconds.

"Not bad."

Ryan was able to overhear Emma's mutterings as she slashed her sword to the ground, causing the blood that had been coating it to splatter all over the ground.

Leopold, standing next to her, looked at her with his mouth wide open. Alternating his gaze between his firearm and her sword, he lowered his firearm and tossed a few gums in his mouth.

"I'm too old for this shit."

Once again, Ryan was able to overhear their mutterings, and he shook his head.

"So… what do we do now?"

"I'm not too sure."

Ryan answered Emma.

Quite frankly, his goal was to create as much chaos as possible so that the two of them could escape, however, now that Emma was with them, he was no longer as worried as before.

She was strong… extremely strong.

So much so that he no longer feared for their safety as much as before, and could take things a lot more calmly.

'Well, perhaps it's best if we don't take things lightly.'

It was best to be as cautious as possible, as the incident he had caused may have attracted the attention of demons of a higher rank.

No, the incident without a doubt had attracted the attention of the higher ranked demons.

It was crucial that they be careful.

"Hmm… I really can't think of anything we can do at the moment."

Pondering over his options, Ryan's gaze eventually settled on a couple of demons not so far from where they were, and an idea popped into his mind.

'That might work...'

He turned to look at Emma.

"Can you paralyze them and bring them to this room? If we want to have a better idea of what we need to do next, then we need information."

"You're right."

Nodding her head in agreement, Emma's gaze turned toward the demons that Ryan pointed at and disappeared from the spot. She returned shortly after and threw them both on the ground.

Thump! Thump!

"…"

Ryan was rendered speechless upon seeing the demons thrown to the ground like rag dolls, but he kept his thoughts to himself and bent down to face the demons.

"If you want to live, give us a map of the cave system."

"…"

His question was met with no response, but Ryan didn't care and continued to ask questions.

"Where exactly are we?"

"…"

"Where is the exit?"

"…"

"What are you demons planning? Why are you capturing so many people?"

Ryan kept peppering the demons with questions, one at a time, but they never responded to any of them. They were adamant about maintaining their silence the entire time.

"Ryan."

"What is it?"

Hearing his name called, Ryan raised his head. When he did, he saw Emma looking at the door of the room, and he understood what she was trying to hint at.

"Alright."

Supporting himself with his hands over his knees, Ryan slowly sat up and let out a long sigh.

"Things could've been so much easier if the two of you had answered our questions, but I guess I should've seen this coming."

Extending his hand, three bracelets appeared in his hand, and he handed them to Emma, and Leopold before putting them on himself.

"Wear this for now and seal your mana. I've got a better idea."

Click! Click!

Leopold and Emma fully trusted Ryan and did as he told them. Nodding at them, he took their weapons back and put them in his dimensional space before turning his attention back toward the demons in front of him.

"Now then."

He smiled, taking a couple of syringes from his dimensional space.

'Who would've thought I'd ever get to use these…'

While he did develop them out of interest, he never really thought he'd use them in his life.

'Funny how life can be sometimes.'

He had once offered the serum to Ren, but he rejected it and told him to use it for himself.

Who would've thought they'd come in handy so soon?

"What are you doing?"

"You'll see."

Walking toward the demons, Ryan bent down and placed the syringe by their necks. Because Emma had done a considerable job taking care of them, Ryan was able to inject them with the serum without any problem.

"Uekah!"

"Akgh!"

The moment Ryan injected the serum into their bodies, the demons started to convulse rapidly as their eyes turned completely white and saliva started to leak out of their bodies.

Thankfully, they weren't like this for very long and soon calmed down.

There was, however, a noticeable difference between them. If their eyes were clear before, they were now rather dull, and they didn't seem to be very responsive.

"Looks like it worked."

Putting the empty syringes back, Ryan walked toward the two demons and placed his hand over their shoulders.

"Stand up."

He ordered, and the two demons stood up. There wasn't even a hint of hesitation in their movements, and Ryan smiled at the sight.

"Good… good…"

He patted them on the shoulder.

'Good, it looks like they are following commands rather well. I was worried they wouldn't listen to me since I didn't have much time to experiment with the substance, but it looks like I worried too much.'

Bang—!

A loud explosion rang in the distance, and Ryan snapped out of his thoughts. Staring at the two demons, his eyes sharpened, and he commanded.

"For now, lead us out of the cell. The three of us are prisoners that you've managed to recapture."

"…"

"…"

Ryan moved behind the two demons and followed their every move as they advanced without uttering a single word.

"What?"

When he turned his head to look at Emma and Leopold, he was surprised by the looks the two of them were giving him.

It… was rather uncomfortable.

Especially when Emma looked at Leopold and said, "You see the resemblance, don't you? Remind me not to ever let children near that guy."

"Yes… Yes I will…"

Their conversation was just as confusing.

Chapter 840: Chaos [2]

"Lead us toward the exit."

Ryan issued the command to the demons, his voice calm and collected despite the chaos that surrounded them.

It was an unusual situation, to say the least. The demons, previously doing everything in their power to resist him, were moving in unison as they followed his orders to the word. They were no different than puppets at the moment.

Bang—!

The muffled sound of explosions rang in the distance as screams echoed everywhere.

In the midst of the madness that had overtaken the underground system, it seemed that no one was paying them any attention.

This was good…

'Everything is moving smoothly.'

Their current situation was rather delicate, and just one single mistake would cost them their lives. Having exhausted all of his means, Ryan could only hope that everything flowed smoothly.

'Yeah… it's going to work… I should have already accounted for everything.'

As they moved forward, Ryan found himself growing increasingly confident in his plan.

He had expected the demons to be suspicious of their group, but it seemed that his strategy was working even better than he had hoped.

Emma's presence was proving to be an unexpected boon.

The demons seemed to be more focused on the chaos around them than on the group of humans that were following them.

It wasn't long before they found themselves moving through a labyrinth of tunnels.

Ryan couldn't help but feel a sense of awe at the sheer scale of the underground system.

He had always known that it was vast, but seeing it firsthand was a different experience altogether.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

"Over here!"

"Move!"

As they moved through the tunnels, they saw demons rushing past them, heading toward the areas that they had previously been in. But the demons paid them little attention; their gaze was focused solely on the task at hand.

'It seems like the prisoners are making things difficult for them... good.'

The group continued on for what felt like hours.

Ryan had lost track of time, and he wasn't sure how much longer they could keep up the pace. But then, in the distance, he saw a faint glimmer of light.

His heart skipped a beat as he realized that they were nearing their destination.

As they approached the opening, the demons in front of them came to a sudden stop. Ryan hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to do. But then he understood. The area ahead was where he needed to go.

He turned to the demons and spoke softly, his voice barely above a whisper.

"The exit is over there, isn't it?"

The demons didn't reply, but their nodding heads confirmed what he had suspected.

Ryan felt a surge of excitement as he realized that they had made it. When he turned his head, he saw that both Emma and Leopold were looking at him.

"Let's be careful when going there. We might never know if there are any demons guarding, plus…"

Frowning, Ryan moved to where Emma and Leopold were and removed their bracelets.

"…What lies ahead might not necessarily be the exit, so it's best if we're careful."

Click! Click!

After removing the bands, Leopold and Emma felt their mana return, and Ryan returned their weapons to them. At the same time, he handed them a couple of tools to conceal their presence so that they wouldn't be found out later on.

The process was rather fast, and they soon turned to face the glimmering light in the distance. There was an apparent nervousness in their gazes at the moment.

Even though they were strong, they knew that they were far from being the strongest in their surroundings. They still had to tread carefully.

"Let's go."

Extending his hand and crushing the cores of the two demons that had brought them here, the demons disappeared into dust, and Ryan followed Emma from behind.

Each step was light, and the closer they got to the opening, the more nervous Ryan became.

'It's going to be fine... I've been through worse...'

He could practically feel his own heart beat out of his chest at the moment, and soon, they all passed through the light.

"What the…"

The moment they passed through the opening, everyone was shocked by what they were seeing.

They had emerged into a large, cavernous space with a high ceiling that seemed to stretch up into the darkness. The walls were rough and jagged, and the floor was littered with debris.

But the most disturbing thing was the rune that had been intricately set up in the center of the room. It was massive, stretching for several meters in every direction, and it glowed with an eerie, pulsating light.

Sitting around the rune were several members of the alliance, and the three of them could vividly see the mana in their bodies get sucked dry out of them, turning them into skinny husks that would soon fall down and be replaced by new members every minute.

The entire thing was gruesome, and Ryan's face turned green.

'Sh..shit..'

He felt a chill run down his spine, as if he had stumbled upon something that he was not meant to see.

He took a step back, his mind racing with questions and fear.

Emma and Leopold were similarly shocked, their eyes wide with shock as they looked upon the scene. They had to cover their mouths in order not to make any sound, but it was too late.

As soon as they arrived, Ryan and Emma realized that they had underestimated the demons that lay beneath them.

Despite their careful planning, they were instantly detected by the numerous demons that lurked in the shadows. Countless pairs of glowing eyes stared up at them, making their skin crawl with fear.

"Shit."

Ryan cursed under his breath as his body tensed up with a sudden chill.

They had tried their best to remain cautious, but it seemed like their efforts had been in vain. All the tools they had used to conceal themselves had failed, and now they were caught in the demons' sights.

"So be it."

Emma said grimly, drawing her sword and jumping down into the fray.

"Emma!?"

Startled, Ryan called out for her, but it was already too late.

Swoosh!

Blade drawn, her blade flashed in the dim light, and Ryan watched as she jumped down and began hacking at the runes beneath them, with each blow releasing a burst of mana.

BOOM—!

"Arkgh!"

"Argh.. catch her!"

Caught off-guard, a few of the demons fell to her blade, but it wasn't long before she was surrounded on all sides.

Spurt—!

"Since we're screwed anyway, we might as well do as much damage as possible!"

Emma shouted from beneath as she continued to slash at the runes.

Ryan knew that he needed to help her, but he also knew that he wasn't strong enough. He watched in horror as several powerful demons approached her, realizing that she was no match for them.

'Shit, I need to do something...'

Ryan's heart pounded in his chest as he watched Emma struggle against the demons. She fought valiantly, but it was all for naught.

She was easily overpowered and eventually crashed against the wall beneath them.

BANG—!

"Ugh!"

Ryan started to bite his nails out of nervousness and rummaged through his dimensional space for anything that could.

"I... I..."

"That's enough."

But before he could do anything, he felt a hand press against his shoulder, and his entire body froze on the spot.

The same was true for the demons below, who stopped in their tracks.

"You guys have caused quite a problem for me."

A soft voice boomed out, and Ryan felt something claw into his body. When he turned his head, his eyes caught sight of a particularly sinister-looking demon.

"Ha..hah..."

His presence was unlike any of the other demons Ryan had seen before, and he struggled to breathe.

He exuded a sense of power and malevolence that made Ryan's skin crawl. The demon seemed to be smiling, but when his gaze fell upon the runes beneath them, his expression turned sinister.

"I see... You guys must be the reason for all of the chaos that has ensued... right?"

The demon spoke, his voice sounding like soft, tempting whispers that almost made Ryan agree with him.

Biting his lips until they bled, Ryan forced himself out of the trance. He could feel the demon's grip tightening on his shoulder, and he knew that he had to act fast.

Spurt—!

But before he could even do anything, his vision clouded with red, and when he turned to see the source, he found Leopold staring at him with wide eyes.

"Uh.. eh?"

Their gazes lingered for a moment, and Leopold lowered his head to look at the gaping wound on his chest. Blood leaked everywhere, and his gun fell to the ground.

Tak. Tak.

Raising his head back up to stare at Ryan, he cocked his head.

"Y...y..."

He never got to finish that sentence. Staring at Ryan one more time, Leopold fell over the edge and against the hard surface beneath.

Thump!

"L,leopold!"

Watching Leopold fall to the ground, Ryan shouted at the top of his lungs, but it was already too late.

"Human child... "

A soft whisper reached Ryan's mind.

"...You need to understand that there are consequences one has to pay for their actions."

'Ah.. wha... wha...'

Ryan was barely able to think at that moment. He was still reeling from the shock of watching Leopold's death. The image of Leopold's body falling down the edge kept replaying in his mind, and he felt a sense of overwhelming blankness.

"Indeed."

It was then that he heard a soft, chilling voice that broke through the fog in his mind.

A hand appeared from the space itself and grabbed onto the head of the demon beside Ryan, crushing him against the wall.

Boom-!

The impact was deafening, and a black foot slowly stepped out of the void to reveal a familiar figure.

Ryan's eyes widened in shock as he realized who it was, but his words stopped the moment he heard his voice and his entire body trembled.

A bone-chilling coldness pervaded every part of his body, as he felt a primal fear he never felt before in his life.

Unknowingly, he took a step back.

Away from the figure he knew.

"...One should indeed pay for their actions."

Chapter 841: Chaos [3]

In most cases, the protagonist of a story would appear right at the moment when something terrible was about to occur to their loved ones or friends. And just in the nick of time, he'd save them.

It always ended up like that…

So, why?

Bang—!

Why did that never happen to me?

Bang—!

Why was it that I always arrived a tad bit too late?

Bang—!

Just a fraction…

If only I had arrived a couple of seconds earlier…

just a few seconds…

Bang—!

"Why couldn't you wait a few more seconds?"

My hand moved on its own. I just pulled it back and repeatedly smashed it against the wall of the cave.

Debris and dust flew everywhere, but I didn't care and just continued to smash the demon's head against the side of the cave.

In the meantime, power started to flood my body as the laws within it started to increase. I started to use that very same power that was flooding my body.

I wasn't supposed to use them…

Every part of my body was tearing apart at the usage of the laws, but I didn't care…

It was because I kept holding back that such situations were happening, and I couldn't forgive myself for it.

At the same time, I couldn't forgive them.

They were just as guilty as I was, and they needed to die.

As a result, I made the decision to stop holding back and use everything that I had, even if it meant risking my body.

Everything…

Thump—!

Only when there were no more walls did I finally stop and throw the demon to the ground.

"You… why didn't you wait for a few more seconds?"

I stepped forward and lowered my head. Staring straight at the demon, my already numb mind became an even number, and whatever color was left of the world started to fade.

"Tell, me… why?"

***

Helplessness.

The feeling or state of being unable to do anything to help yourself or anyone else. It was a word and an expression that Prince Solbaken had heard many times in his life.

Over the course of his life, he had been exposed to a number of situations in which he had seen other people give in to the sensation of helplessness, and he had become accustomed to it.

To the point where he even found a peculiar sense of satisfaction in it.

On many occasions, just to see that very same expression, he did everything within his power to make their lives miserable and make them beg him for forgiveness.

The funny thing was…

They had never done anything wrong to him.

He simply delighted in seeing the various expressions on their faces and soon became addicted to receiving such reactions from his prey.

Yes… their prey, as they were nothing but his prey.

There was a reason why he didn't kill the human child immediately, and it was precisely so that he could see that very expression on his face…

Oh, and he did get that look.

In that brief moment, shivers ran down the Prince's spine as he gazed at the young boy who showed such an expression.

'I want more… I want to see more…'

That one brief instance was enough to make the Prince want to kill the young boy's other companion, but…

"Indeed…"

Bang—!

Out of nowhere, a dark figure materialized in front of the Prince, their extended hand lashing out and grasping his face.

Bang—!

The Prince felt his head crash against something hard, and he groaned in pain, disoriented.

"Euakh!"

"...One should indeed pay for their actions."

The figure spoke, their voice cold and dull.

Panic surged through the Prince as he realized he was at the mercy of an unknown assailant, and he tried to resist.

"You fu—ahk!"

Bang—!

His head was slammed against the solid rock of the cave once more, the pain searing through him.

The rock was extremely dense, and the force of the impact knocked the wind out of him.

The Prince's heart raced as he tried to struggle, but the grip on his face only tightened, and he felt a strange suction force drawing the energy from his body, draining the power that his majesty had bestowed upon him.

"I-impossible!"

The Prince gasped, his mind racing with questions.

'How can this bastard possess such power? Did His Majesty bestow similar powers upon someone else?'

The Prince's fear deepened as he felt the foreign energy within his body dissipating alarmingly with each successive blow.

"N,n..no!"

Bang—!

Another impact against the cave wall and the Prince's panic intensified.

He was helpless, unable to break free from the assailant's grip or prevent the loss of his powers. His head throbbed with pain, and he struggled to maintain his composure.

Bang—!

The Prince's head was slammed against the wall once more, but this time, the grip on his face loosened, and he stumbled to the hard ground, coughing and gasping for breath.

"Keugh... Cough.. kahh...!"

The assailant's presence loomed over him, and he raised his head slowly, his gaze meeting theirs.

"Ha... haa... haaa... haaaa... Haaaaa..."

The Prince's breathing became more labored, and he felt a sense of helplessness washing over him. It was the first time he had experienced such vulnerability, unable to do anything as someone stood above him, looking down on him with a cold, unfeeling gaze.

The Prince's hands moved back, his body trembling as he tried to push himself away from the figure.

His mind raced with fear and uncertainty, as he realized the gravity of the situation. He was defenseless, stripped of his powers, and at the mercy of his unknown assailant.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The soft sound of a footstep echoed through the cave, and the figure's shadow cast over the Prince. He swallowed hard, his eyes fixed on the figure's cold gaze. His breathing grew shallower, and his chest tightened with fear.

'So this is how it feels...'

The Prince thought, his mind a whirlwind of emotions.

He had always been the one in control... the one with power and authority. But now, he was reduced to such a sorry state by this unknown figure... unable to do anything but watch as his fate hung in the balance.

Helplessness...

Something that he had never thought he'd feel engulfed him, and the Prince's heart clenched in fear.

"Y.. you.. who are you?"

He struggled to find a way out, but his mind was foggy and his body weakened. He was at the mercy of the unknown assailant, and the reality of his vulnerability hit him hard.

"..."

The figure remained silent, their cold gaze never leaving the Prince. The tension in the air was palpable, and the Prince's thoughts raced as he tried to devise a plan to regain control of the situation.

But his mind was blank, and his body felt heavy with exhaustion.

"Ha.. ha.."

The Prince's breathing grew shallower, and his vision blurred. He tried to summon his inner strength, to fight back against the overwhelming sense of helplessness that threatened to consume him.

And it was right at that moment that he recalled something.

"That's right… Why didn't I think of that?" Prince Solbaken muttered to himself as he recalled the true purpose of collecting those who had entered the pillar.

Power...

The purpose of collecting them was so that he could fuel his power...

Despite the setback from what had happened moments before, he had still managed to collect enough.

Vooom—!

With a sudden burst of energy, the Prince pressed his hands against the ground, and a darkish green hue began to emanate from his body.

Rumble—! Rumble—!

The surroundings trembled as rumbling echoes filled the cavern.

Stalactites above them fell to the ground, shattering upon impact, and green runes spread across every surface. It wasn't just the cavern that was shaking, but the entire pillar itself.

The runes appeared on the trees, the rocks, the ground, and everything else that covered the entire world within the pillar.

Power surged into the Prince's body.

"It's working."

Prince Solbaken grinned with delight as he felt the power flowing into his body. It was more than he had anticipated, though slightly less than he wanted.

Nevertheless, it was enough to fuel his plans. His previously helpless expression morphed into one of twisted satisfaction.

"Yes, this is good."

He murmured silently, his voice filled with what seemed to be happiness.

"It's a little less than I wanted, but this is enough… yeah, this is more than enough."

Power continued to flow into the Prince's body, and his physical form started to change.

His body inflated, and his power surged dramatically. The cave, which had seemed on the verge of collapse, finally gave way, as walls cracked and everything fell apart.

Cr... Crack!

Boom—! Boom—!

Prince Solbaken exuded a terrifying aura as his expression twisted with newfound power.

"Yo—"

But before he could utter another word, a single command stopped him in his tracks.

"Stop."

It was just one word—a single word—but the impact was immense.

Time seemed to freeze at that moment, and the space around the Prince twisted as a familiar force chained him down.

"Uh? ...This..."

The Prince tried to struggle to break free, but his efforts were in vain. He could only watch in horror as a figure approached him from above, two eyes looking down at him with such indifference that it made him feel utterly insignificant.

"No…"

The Prince muttered, realizing the gravity of the situation. He was completely at the mercy of this unknown figure.

But how?

How was this possible?

He was someone who stood at the pinnacle... so how... how was it possible for him to lose this miserably?

How!?

Tap.

The sound of a single step echoed in the frozen world, and the Prince's body tensed.

He looked up to see the figure reaching out with a hand, which soon passed through his body, retrieving his core.

The process was quick, but in the Prince's eyes, it felt like an eternity.

'No… not like this…'

Alas… it was too late. Without so much as sparing him a glance, he clenched his fist, and the core shattered apart.

Crack!

Everything turned dark after that.

During the end of his life, all Prince Solbaken felt was helplessness.

Chapter 842: Chaos [4]

"Haa… haa…"

I could barely hold my breath at the moment. Something seared through my chest as what remained of the core crumbled from my hands and reached the floor beneath me.

Pain gulfed my entire being as I stretched my hand which was flickering in and out of existence.

The toll that the laws had taken on this body was quite large, and each second felt more agonizing than the other.

"I… haa… haa… I need to go…"

There wasn't much time left. I could tell with just a glance that my time in this body was almost up, and that it would soon shatter.

But that was fine.

There were only two remaining Pillar Masters.

Just two more…

All I needed to do was get rid of them. So long as I did, my goal was accomplished.

'No… there's still one more thing left.'

"Huuu."

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Indeed, there was still something else that I needed to do after getting rid of the Pillar Masters.

Something far more important, and more meaningful to me.

…and for that.

C… Crack!

A crack formed on the space in front of me as the Pillar started to shake simultaneously.

Rumble—! Rumble—!

Using all of my power, the very air inside of the Pillar started to twist, and the shaking grew more intense. At the same time, the crack in front of me started to expand, and I turned my head.

It was there that my gaze met with Ryan's. The two of us looked at each other for a couple of seconds before I nodded at him, and mouthed.

'Take care of what happens next.'

"Wh… where do you think you're going!?"

I felt something grasp at my arm just as I was about to leave. When I turned my head, I found myself staring at Emma.

Her eyes were burning with a certain something that forced me to stay rooted on the spot.

"Tell… me…"

Every word that came out of her mouth seemed to be a struggle for her. She had a pale complexion and appeared to be on the verge of passing out, but even as she was clinging to me, her bloodshot eyes were focused intently on me.

"I know you know…"

She started, her voice hoarse.

"Y…you've been keeping a lot of things from me, and while I never asked you because I respected you, and what you've been trying to do… I… I can't take it anymore. I'm losing my mind, and…" Emma ruffled her hair, her voice turning feeble, "I…I need answers. I can't take it anymore."

"…"

I stared at her without saying anything. I couldn't do it, and just as I was about to say something, she interrupted me with a question that stopped me in my tracks.

"Who… who is Kevin?"

She ruffled her hair once more.

"I… he keeps appearing inside of my head, and I… I just can't take it anymore. It feels like I know him… It feels like he should be someone important to me, but why… why can't I remember him?"

Her voice was laced with desperation, and when she looked up at me, she bit her lips until they bled.

"You know… don't you? Not only that… you also know what happened to my father, don't you? Why won't you tell me? P… Please tell me."

Rumble—! Rumble—!

In the background, the Pillar continued to shake, and everything around us was crumbling. Even so, despite everything that was happening, I continued to stare at Emma, and I eventually let out a sigh.

"Cat's out of the bag… I guess."

I didn't want to do this. Not now, and not in this situation. I wanted to tell her after everything was done and the situation wasn't precarious, but seeing the state in which she was, I knew that such an option didn't exist.

"Stay still."

When I extended my finger forward and pressed it against her brows, I could feel the strength leaving my body. But I bore through it and imparted everything that she needed to know.

'Done.'

The process didn't take too long, and I didn't linger to see her reaction. Stepping into the crack beside me, my vision blurred.

'I hope I didn't make a mistake…'

***

"Take care of what happens next?"

Those were the words that Ryan managed to interpret from Ren before he left. His mind was still in a mess, but he was somewhat able to calm himself down.

Rumble—! Rumble—!

The Pillar continued to shake, and everything around him started to crumble and fall apart.

Without saying anything, Ryan turned his head, and his gaze paused on two figures on the ground. They were Emma—who passed out shortly after Ren left—and Leopold, respectively.

Unlike Emma, the area around Leopold was covered in a pool of red. The blood had since stopped, but Ryan just couldn't bring himself to look at the scene for too long.

Boom—!

The ceiling started to fall apart, and the demons around them went into panic. Without saying much else, Ryan picked up Emma and then walked to where Leopold was.

With each step he took, his heart grew heavier.

This was… the second person he had lost whom was close to him. The pain that he once thought he wouldn't experience again started to resurface, and he brought his arm to his face, wiping away at whatever was falling.

Biting his lips, he moved next to Leopold and pressed his hand against his chest.

Bang—! Bang—!

A blue barrier formed around the three of them, and right as the shield formed, the cave's ceiling crumbled, burying the three of them together.

The world within the Pillar collapsed after that.

***

[Earth.]

"Careful, there's still a lot of demons. We may have the upper hand, but I'm not sure for how long."

Monica's face tinged with worry as she gazed at her horizon where thousands upon thousand of demons were. Alongside them were a legion of monsters that bore they fags at them.

The scene would leave anyone tingling with fear, and had the scene happened in the past, then perhaps so. Unfortunately, things were different now.

Everyone had witness the fall of several Pillars, and morale couldn't be any higher.

Clank—! Clank—!

Hues of all colours flashed across the sky as the land crumbled, and blood spilled in the air. Leading the charge were Brutus, Gervis, and Monica who left nothing but devastation in their wake.

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

"Argh! It… It's the harbinger of rain!"

"The harbinger of rain!"

"Kill her!"

If there was one individual that left the greatest impact within the battlefield, it was none other than Amanda. She wasn't as strong as Gervis, Brutus, and Monica, but her every actions were met with nothing but fear.

Her arrows rained down from the sky like a storm, killing hundreds of demons at once. Her pinpoint accuracy, and power left the demons in despair, and thus a nickname was created after her.

'The harbinger of rain.'

A nickname that perfectly suited her style.

The bringer of rain…

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

"Argh!"

"Akhhh!"

"S..Stop her!"

More and more arrows continued to rain down from the sky, killing many of the weaker demons ahead. Many demons tried to attack her directly, but it was a futile effort on their end.

"Silly, you've chosen the wrong target. You're supposed to kill the one next to you."

"Ah… yes, I, I apologize."

Spurt—!

"Argh! Traitor!"

Scenes in which demons turned against their comrades started to appear within the area around Amanda as a purplish hue swept the surrounding. The source originated from Donna whose eyes glowed brightly, and her sweet voice travelled across the surroundings.

"Careful of the one behind you! He's trying to backstab you!"

"Ah!? How dare you!"

"Wh…Wha—"

Spurt—!

"You think you could get me you shitty traitor!?"

Boom—!

Donna wasn't the only one near Amanda. Pressing his foot against the ground, black threads burst from the point where the foot pressed, and shot in every direction, impaling all the demons around.

Spurt—! Spurt—!

Black blood rained down from the sky, and Jin's figure blended against the ground, reappearing on the other side of the field, dagger in hand and aimed at one of the many demons around them.

"Argh!"

Spurt—!

Removing his dagger away from the demon's back, Jin looked around him and frowned.

"There's too many, we need more backup!"

While he and Donna were doing a good job, they were still massively disadvantaged. They were only two people, and while their individual power was extremely strong, their stamina and mana wasn't infinite.

At the moment, they were really struggling.

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

The same went for Amanda who didn't even have the time to wipe off the sweat that had accumulated on the side of her face.

Stretching the bowstring, she released arrow after arrow. She was like a machine, and despite the blood that was leaking from her finger, she continued to shoot.

…But just like Jin and Donna, her stamina and mana wasn't infinite. She needed breathing space, and potions weren't going to cut out for her.

'This can't go on.'

Understanding just how precarious her situation was, Amanda was about to resort to one of the trump card when all of a sudden…

Booom—!

"Amanda! You're safe!"

A thrilled voice echoed across the space as two people came rushing in Amanda's direction, killing all of the demons that were in their way. When Amanda turned her head, her expression also brightened.

"Mom, dad."

Despite seeing her parents, she was still able to keep herself relatively calm. The same couldn't be said for them as the pounced her immediately.

"You're safe… thank god… I didn't know what had happened, I just found myself in this weird world with your mom… I panicked when I saw you, thinking that something…haa… thankfully, you're safe."

Of course, the one that was the most worried was her dad who embraced her tightly. So tightly that she struggled to breathe, but thankfully, he didn't hug her for very long.

Letting go, Edward looked around before asking.

"Where is Re—"

Rumble—! Rumble—!

Not even halfway through his sentence, and a muffled explosion reverberated from the distance. The sound came from quite far, but they were still able to hear it, and soon, they witnessed one of the Pillars crumble in the distance.

"That… is that him?"

The subtle pain in her dad's voice was almost comical, but Amanda didn't have much time to pay attention to it as she once again stretched her string and shot her arrows.

Xiu!

"Yes."

She still had time to reply to them as she shot arrow after arrow.

"I see."

Nodding his head, Edward turned his attention toward the demons and monsters around them. Stretching his shoulder, he clapped his hand once.

Boom—!

A large shockwave spread across his surroundings, sending some of the demons recoiling back. Extending his hand, a large spear appeared in his hand, and the world around them started to dye in a crimson colour.

"Let me help out."

Stretching his back, he clenched the spear tightly.

"You might not know this… but there was a time I was called the Blood Prince."

Arching his back, he threw the spear with all his might.

Boom—!

A sound akin to a bomb exploding echoed out loud, and the spear shot forward at neck breaking speeds, tearing everything in its path apart. Black blood rained down on the sky, and the air around Edward twisted.

Extending his hand, a brand new spear appeared, and he once again stretched his back.

"Let's see…"

His gaze swept across the field and settled over the nearest demons. He repeated the same motion as before an the sound of an explosion echoed in the air.

Boom—!

Over a hundred demons disappeared at that point, and a new spear once again appeared in his grasp.

He grinned.

"…Looks like I'm not as rusty as I thought I was."

Chapter 843: Until my body breaks [1]

"Why are you still struggling?"

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

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

Splash—!

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

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

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

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

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

"Have you seen enough?"

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

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

His expression was anything but good at the moment.

"You really…"

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

His gaze was a mix of complicated emotions.

"…didn't hold back, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Isn't it obvious?"

Swiping his hand, hundreds of projections appeared in the air.

Jezebeth pointed at them.

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

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

He didn't particularly feel happy, realizing that only two of his seven patriarchs were alive. In fact, the realization hit him more than he had anticipated as his fist slowly came to a close.

"Haa..."

One simple breath was all that was necessary for him to rid himself of any of the unfavorable emotions that he was experiencing.

Raising his head, his face turned expressionless, and the very air around him started to change to a more tranquil one.

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

He was sure of it this time.

Everything that had happened was within Ren's anticipation.

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

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

He thought he had gotten an idea before, but the more he watched, the more confused he became.

Just what was he planning? What was he waiting for…?

"I'm still surprised at the fact that you're willing to drive your other self to this point in order to achieve your goals… but looking at you, I can see that you don't particularly care about what happens to him."

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

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

"…It's as if you're driving him to his death, no…" Jezebeth corrected himself, "You are driving him to his death, aren't you?"

The eyes of the two met at that moment, and Ren's expression remained unchanged.

Jezebeth continued.

"You... You were aware from the very beginning that his mindset was still not quite there yet… and in order to perfect it, you chose to sacrifice one of the people he was close with. I don't know how, but I have a feeling that his death was something you planned."

It had to be.

"It's something you did in order to make his goal clearer and rid of all the unecessary thoughts that were clouding his mind."

The more he thought about it, the more Jezebeth felt that he was right.

Ren… the other version of him.

He was someone who tended to overcomplicate things.

If the incident with his father hadn't happened, it's likely that he would have started fighting against one of the Patriarchs after getting a better idea of their power and attempting to stabilize the situation over the entirety of the world within the Pillar.

Such method was indeed good, but it consumed a lot of time, which they didn't have.

What surprised Jezebeth the most, however, was the fact that Ren could absorb the laws that he had given to his subordinates.

The one that belonged to the Protectors, and it was at that moment that everything clicked in his mind.

"It's clear that you knew that it was impossible for him to kill all of the Seven Patriarchs unless he was this way… Your goal is to absorb everything that he managed to collect? You drove him into a corner so that he'd reach this point, and—"

"That's enough."

Ren spoke, cutting Jezebeth off in the middle of his sentence.

With his gaze fixed on him, Ren quietly stared at him for a good couple of seconds and eventually nodded his head.

"What are you nodding for? Are my words correct?"

"Partially."

Ren didn't deny it.

Indeed, some of the things that Jezebeth had pointed out were indeed true. That being said, not all of them were true, and he didn't bother correcting him.

There was no point in correcting him.

"I figured you'd come to this conclusion after a while. I'm a bit disappointed that you figured it out a bit later than I thought you would, but you didn't let me down in the end."

"Haha."

Jezebeth laughed lightly.

"That attitude of yours… It used to piss me off a lot in the past. Funny thing is… it still does."

"That's a pity."

"Mhm. Indeed…"

With a light smile, Jezebeth raised his hand and pointed at Ren. After that, the water snake that had been winding itself around his body suddenly twisted and launched itself in Ren's direction at an incredible rate of speed.

Staring at the incoming attack, Ren extended his hand and prepared to defend against it. But just as he had started to channel his mana, the space around him cracked.

Cr… Crack!

Four identical cracks appeared on his right and left sides.

Clank! Clank! Clank!

Chains burst out of the cracks and immediately clamped against his wrist, completely incapacitating him.

Because of how quickly everything transpired, Ren did not even have enough time to react; however, even if he had, he still would not have been able to easily shatter the chains as he could see the laws that were imbued in them.

BOOOM—! As the water serpent slammed into his chest, his figure was catapulted into the water below.

Splash!

His vision was clouded with bubbles, and just as his back touched the ocean floor, a hand grabbed him around the neck.

It glowed in white, and the chains that were binding his body tightened all of a sudden. Pain coursed through every part of Ren's body as they pulled at his limbs from all sides.

Despite that, there was not much of a change in Ren's expression. Such pain was trivial to him. Let alone losing his arms and legs, he wouldn't have even cared if his entire body was burned to a crisp.

"Still holding on—Argh!"

Ren took a bite out of Jezebeth's hand, and as he did so, a sweet flavor that seemed vaguely familiar entered his mouth.

'I guess I can learn a thing or two from him...'

Thinking of how his other self had dealt with the Prince of Envy, Ren imitated him and bit into Jezebeth's hand.

He was doubtful at first, but it seemed to work out better than he had imagined.

Crunch—!

He could feel Jezebeth's bones shattering upon closing his mouth, and by channeling the laws inside of his body, he was able to somewhat loosen the chains that were binding his body.

Bang—!

Ren was finally able to move his body in the appropriate manner, and he punched Jezebeth in the stomach area. This was despite the fact that the chains were still clamped on his body.

Unfortunately, his attack was blocked by Jezebeth, who raised his knee and counterattacked with a fist of his own.

Boom—!

The attack landed directly on Ren's face, and his body was sent crashing down to the ocean floor, where it collided with a glass film that shattered when he touched it.

Crash—!

At this point, the environment around Ren underwent yet another transformation.

BANG—! Crashing against the ground, Ren felt almost all of his bones break, and he lay on the ground, unable to move. The chains clamping on him tightened once more, making it impossible for him to move.

When he looked up, his gaze paused on the azure blue sky and sun that hung above. On the side of his vision, he could see towering buildings, and when he looked around, he realized he was in the middle of a city.

Yet again, the scenery had changed.

Chapter 844: Until my body breaks [2]

Ren lay on the ground, his body bruised and battered, unable to move. He felt weak and with the chains sucking the mana out of his, his breath came in ragged gasps. Then, a soft voice echoed throughout, piercing through the haze of pain.

"You're strong, Ren, but you've gravely miscalculated the amount of time it would take for him to gather toward all seven pillars..."

The voice said, and he strained to listen, turning his head towards the source.

There, standing before the sun, was a figure that cast a brilliant glow. Ren squinted against the blinding light, trying to make out Jezebeth's figure that was hidden behind the glowing light of the sun.

He looked powerful at this moment…

More powerful than he had ever seen him in the past.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

Ren strained with every last ounce of his strength, extending his hand towards Jezebeth and tearing at the chains in his way.

As he covered his figure with his hand, his vision darkened, and he no longer needed to squint. Simultaneously, he sensed an immense power gathering above him, the air trembling with its intensity.

Ren was prepared for it.

He gazed at the chains binding him, briefly closing his eyes, and then slowly clenched his hand.

Chains... he wasn't unfamiliar with them. He had been bound by them for a very long time, especially ones that had been imbued with the laws.

They were like an extension of his body by this point, and they didn't bother him very much.

When he opened his eyes again, sunlight filtered through his fingers as his extended hand, which was aimed above his face, came to a close.

Cr...Crack!

With a resounding crack, the space around Jezebeth shattered like a broken mirror, revealing his figure, frozen, and standing behind the fractured barrier.

"If someone has miscalculated, it's you... Jezebeth."

Ren muttered in a low tone, his eyes fixed on the chains still clinging to his hand. He clenched both fists, and the chains disintegrated into tiny particles, followed by the chains that bound his feet.

Ren reached for a potion, slowly rising to his feet and patting down his clothes.

"As I said before..."

His vision suddenly blurred, and he reappeared in front of Jezebeth, who was trapped behind the shattered glass, seemingly frozen.

"...You only got a fraction of your deductions correct."

Ren pressed his hand forward, shattering the space around Jezebeth, and his figure vanished into nothingness.

Crash—! What followed was utter and complete silence as a gentle breeze blew past, scattering Ren's hair slightly.

"..."

Ren stood motionless, staring at the spot where Jezebeth used to be before suddenly bringing his hand over to his mouth.

"Pftt."

A dark red substance filtered past the narrow gaps of his fingers as his face became incomparably pale. Although his expression had no change, his entire figure was trembling.

Clearly, what he had just done had taken a huge toll on his body.

A testament to this was the fact that he soon felt his body plummet to the streets beneath, crashing down on them and breaking a few cars along the way.

BANG—!

"Haaa… haaa…"

Breathing heavily, Ren stared at the distant sun with a blank look.

Almost every fiber of his muscles was torn, and his bones were on the verge of breaking apart. The extent of his injuries was so severe that Ren didn't even bother taking out a potion to heal himself.

He knew that it'd be of no use to him.

'I,I guess this is… the extent of this body…'

On any normal occasion, he would've been able to last a lot longer. In fact, he would've perhaps even been able to beat him, but…

The current situation was different.

He wasn't at his full strength.

The other him was still lurking around the pillars, collecting the remnants of the Protectors, and fighting against the Seven Demon Heads.

In order to ensure that he could fight against them, Ren had to restrict the amount of mana he could use. It put him at a severe disadvantage and made things a lot more difficult for him.

But that was fine…

This was the path that he had chosen.

"Haaaa…"

Taking another deep breath, Ren stared at the sky and closed his eyes.

For now…

All he could do was wait.

He had done enough.

Cr— Crash!

The space around him collapsed.

***

WOOOM—!

Coming out of the dimensional space, Ryan stumbled a couple of steps forward until he fell to his knees.

Feeling the hard ground beneath, he looked up at the sky and stared at the distant sun.

The blue sky… It was a familiar sight. When he looked around him and saw the crumbled buildings, his eyes started to clear up.

"Finally… we're back."

His emotions were complicated at the moment. He wasn't sure how to feel.

He was partly glad that he was back, but as the images of what had happened before continued to flash in his mind, he found himself struggling to keep himself composed as his hands slowly came to a close.

"D-damn it."

If only… if only he was more talented in combat instead of intellect.

He was so close to him, and yet all he could do was watch as he died right before his eyes.

He couldn't even do a thing!

The same was for Smallsnake.

If only…

"Haaa… now's not the time"

Taking one big breath, Ryan forced himself to calm down. He was no longer a teenager. He could no longer dwell on such matters as he did in the past.

He had to keep himself focused on the goal at hand.

Mourning came later.

Rumble—! Rumble—!

Hearing the muffled rumbling coming from the distance, he was reminded of what he needed to do, and he quickly sobered up.

"Nothing's changed."

The only thing that changed was the location of where the war was taking place.

'I need to get into contact with the others.'

Taking out his phone, Ryan was just about to send a message to the others and verify who was there, when, all of a sudden, he stopped.

WOOOM—!

Thump—! Thump—!

Overhearing two thumps from behind, Ryan turned his head to see Emma appear from the dimensional crack. She had awakened not too long after the Pillar had collapsed, and despite his offer to assist her, she had declined his help.

Next to her was Leopold's body.

"H..help me."

Emma tiredly called out for him as she heavily gulped for air, her face extremely pale.

"Ah… yes."

Helping himself up, Ryan moved toward Emma and offered her a couple of potions.

"Drink these; it should help you heal up."

Handing over the potions, he didn't even bother looking at Emma.

She was lying next to Leopold's body, and he didn't want to be reminded of his failure.

Not again.

"Don't… you have any more?"

"I didn't give you enough?"

Frowning, Ryan finally looked at Emma. At a glance, she seemed to have recovered somewhat, and she still had several potions at hand.

"It doesn't look like you need any, so wh—"

"Not me, idiot."

Emma cut, pointing at Leopold.

"Him."

"Ah?"

***

[Pillar of Glutony]

'This can't be happening...'

Han Yufei was known for his unwavering composure in even the most tumultuous of situations.

He had faced numerous challenges and crises throughout his life, but none of them had ever fazed him quite like the scene that played out before him at this very moment.

As he gazed into the distance, his heart pounded in his chest and his palms grew sweaty, betraying the control he had so carefully cultivated over the years.

"He's absolutely insane."

Han Yufei muttered under his breath, his voice barely audible over the cacophony of explosions that echoed through the air.

"He's lost his mind!"

Despite his attempts to remain calm, Han Yufei found himself caught in the grip of an overwhelming sense of dread.

His eyes were fixed on the distant figures engaged in combat, their movements blurred by the sheer intensity of their struggle.

As he strained to see through the haze of dust and smoke, Han Yufei's gaze fell upon the Pillar Master of Gluttony, a fearsome demoness whose immense power sent shockwaves rippling through the earth itself.

Booom—! Booom—!

Despite her plump and seemingly innocuous appearance, there was no mistaking the lethal force that radiated from her being.

As she unleashed a barrage of devastating attacks, the very land beneath her feet trembled and cracked, unable to withstand the full force of her fury.

Rumble! Rumble!

Han Yufei could see the devastation wrought by her power, the shattered remains of the land and trees were strewn about like so much debris.

For a moment, Han Yufei felt a pang of despair. How could anyone hope to stand against such a force? And yet, at the very moment, two such figures were fighting against her.

They were none other than Maylin, the elven queen, and Liam...

Yes, Liam...

"What the fuck is he doing!?"

The realization hit him like a ton of bricks, and Han Yufei lost his composure.

He knew Liam very well by now, and if there was something he understood, it was that he was a total maniac.

At a glance, he could tell that he had chosen to deliberately challenge the Pillar Master. Even if he was weaker than her!

"Damn it, Liam!"

Booom—!

"Ukh."

Another explosion shook the ground beneath his feet, sending Han Yufei stumbling backward.

He struggled to maintain his balance, his mind racing with thoughts regarding Liam's safety, but when he looked up and saw several powerful demons appear nearby, he knew that he had to worry about something else.

"Fuck it."

He cursed, throwing one last glance at Liam while taking out his broadsword.

"I'll cover for you just this time."

Clenching onto his broadsword, his entire figure doubled in size, and his power suddenly exploded. Without wasting a single second, the ground cracked underneath his foot, and he slashed with his sword once.

Swoosh—!

Chapter 845: Until my body breaks [3]

"Oof."

Liam felt his arm go numb as something struck them. He was barely able to react in time, and he felt himself being thrown toward the ground at an alarmingly rapid rate. The speed at which he was traveling was terrifying.

Boom—!

Just before he touched the ground, lightning crackled around him, and he was just barely able to twist his body and position himself in a way that helped him land on his feet rather than on his back.

Bang—!

The ground began to crack beneath him, and rocks began to fly past him.

'That was close.'

He thought, looking up at the bulky figure that the Pillar Mater of the House of Gluttony was.

After only a few encounters with her, he realized that he was no match for her. Without a doubt, she was one of the most powerful individuals he had ever faced.

Even so…

Bringing his hand toward his shirt, Liam clenched it and felt the beat of his heart.

Ba...Thump! Ba...Thump!

It was beating wildly.

Cracka. Cracka.

As lightning exploded all around him, he could feel excitement coursing through his entire body, and his grip on his sword became increasingly firm.

Boom—!

Another explosion went off above him, and the elven queen suddenly materialized directly above the Pillar Master. She had a complicated magic circle materialize on the top of her palm at the same time.

It glowed a green hue.

The surroundings started to twist, and long and thick vines erupted out of the magic circle, flooding the surroundings. The momentum carried all the way toward Princess Adephagia, who gazed at it with a serious expression.

She, too, couldn't take it lightly.

The attack was strong, and even Liam felt troubled by it.

But just as he thought the attack would land, Princess Adephagia suddenly opened her mouth.

WOOOOM—! As if there were a powerful vacuum inside of her mouth, the vines abruptly changed their direction and headed directly for her mouth as she swallowed them all at once.

"…"

The scene left Liam stunned. The sight... It most definitely wasn't the most pleasing to look at.

He was only able to concentrate on the scene for a short period of time before he became aware that the power that emanated from the Princess's body was beginning to increase.

"Not bad."

The Princess muttered, her gaze turning toward Liam.

'Not good!'

Craka! Cracka!

Immediately, Liam's expression changed as the lightning around him crackled even more fiercely, and he took two steps to the side.

BOOOM—! He had just moved when, all of a sudden, the area where he had been standing exploded into smithereens, leaving nothing behind.

Cold sweat trickled down Liam's face as he gazed in the direction of where he previously stood before looking up at the Princess, who was looking back at him with cold eyes.

"You were able to dodge that?"

Her voice, though soft, echoed powerfully in Liam's ear.

Upon hearing her voice, Liam's expression changed, and he pressed his hand against his sword, ready to attack.

"Wait."

A figure suddenly materialized beside him and put her hand on his shoulder just as he was about to make a move. It was Maylin.

"Don't attack."

Because of his eyes, Liam was aware in advance who it was that had arrived beside him, and as a result, he was not surprised by her sudden appearance.

Turning his head, he asked.

"Why?"

"Because you're not strong enough."

When the elven queen extended her hand in front of her, a magical circle materialized once more. This time, it was a lot more complicated than the previous one, and the power that gathered toward it was immense.

Unsurprisingly, the Princess maintained her position in the air, where she was, and opened her mouth as if she were waiting for the oncoming assault.

Such a reaction didn't go unnoticed by Liam.

"What are you doing? Haven't you noticed that she can absorb your energy?"

Liam pointed out while looking at Maylin with a strange expression.

It should've been obvious from the first time Princess Adephagia did it, so why was she doing it again? Did she really think that a more powerful attack was going to make a difference?

"I know."

Thankfully, it didn't seem like Maylin was unaware of this.

"Then…"

"I'm just buying time."

"For?"

"For you."

She answered as if it were the most obvious.

"Huh?"

Liam was taken aback by her words, and he looked at her with an even stranger gaze.

She explained further.

"You'll only be a hindrance if you're here. I'll attack her, and you can take that chance to leave. I'll buy you as much time as possible, so the moment I attack, you go!"

"Oh."

Liam nodded his head, completely misinterpreting her words.

'So she wants me to leave, and attack her from upfront… thankfully, she's not stupid.'

"I see."

"It's good that you understand."

Misunderstanding Liam's nods, Maylin smiled, and the magic circle before her burst with power and headed directly for the demoness who was still hovering in the air above.

WOOOOOM—! Princess Adephagia, upon realizing that the attack was headed in her direction, opened her mouth, and the attack ended up landing directly in her mouth, inflating her body.

"Go!"

Immediately after she attacked, Maylin pushed Liam from the back, and lightning started to crackle around him.

Cracka! Cracka!

His figure blurred on the spot and disappeared completely.

He was so fast that even Maylin was unable to tell where he had gone. When she managed to spot him again, her expression changed dramatically.

"This bastard!"

Appearing right behind the demoness, Liam thrust his sword at her.

The space around the sword cracked and twisted, and a powerful hue suddenly burst forth from the sword.

The power of that attack was unlike any he had ever thrown, and the Princess, who was halfway through digesting the force of Maylin's attack, could only turn her body to dodge the attack.

Spurt!

Unfortunately, Liam's sword was still able to land on her body, and a large gash appeared on the side of her abdomen. Black blood leaked down, and the Princess's expression twisted.

Not that Liam cared, as lightning crackled around him, and he appeared right behind her, sword thrust directly at her left side.

—Her core is in her left armpit.

He telepathically said to Maylin while thrusting his sword at her armpit. He wasn't as lucky as before.

Unfortunately for him, the moment he appeared behind her, the very air around him started to twist, and his sword bent to the side and his attack completely missed the Princess's body.

"huh? ...I missed?"

As soon as it became clear that his attack was going to miss, the demoness turned around and reached out with her hand to grab hold of his neck.

Thankfully, Liam was able to react in time and dodge her large hand, but he wasn't lucky enough to dodge her leg, which hit him directly by the side of his abdomen.

Bang—!

"Ukh."

He fell back a few paces, but before he even had a chance to catch his breath, as if something were sucking him in, he felt his body move, and before he knew it, he was standing in front of the Princess once more.

"Ah, shit."

Seeing her approaching hand, Liam inwardly cursed.

Even so, he wasn't necessarily panicking. Exactly when her hand was about to reach for his throat, Maylin appeared right behind her, with a magic circle already formed.

The power contained within that magic circle was nothing to laugh at as the entire space trembled, and even the Princess was unable to ignore it as her attention shifted away from Liam.

Smack!

When Liam tried to knock the Princess' hand away, he found that his entire body was being flung back, and he ended up crashing into the ground below.

BANG—!

"Ukh."

It was painful, but he didn't sustain any serious injuries.

"Uh?"

What caught his attention was a large shadow cast over the area he was in, and when he looked up, he was shocked to see the Princess's figure.

She was big before, but now…

Thump!

The land quaked at her step as her figure towered over it.

She was so big that Maylin, who stood in the sky, looked like an insignificant bug.

Rumble! Rumble!

The world within the pillar quaked at her presence, and an enormous power erupted from out of the Princess's body. It enveloped the entire land, before gathering back toward her.

With her eyes trained on the elven queen, she extended her large and bulky hand and flicked at Maylin, who was just barely able to dodge.

BOOM—!

The force of that one flick was enough to generate a pressurized wind streak that tore through the air and destroyed everything that was in its line of sight.

"Oh… shit…"

The sight made Liam tremble. Not out of fear but out of pure excitement as he hastily stood up and smacked his foot against the ground.

"Oy, Oy! Don't forget that I'm still here!"

Shouting at the top of his lungs, he appeared right before the Princess and aimed his sword at her eye.

He was fast. Extremely so, and by the time the Princess found him, he was already before her eye.

Clank!

Unfortunately, she was able to close her eye in time, and Liam's blade was knocked back. He fell onto the bridge of her nose.

"Ah, shit..."

Maybe it wasn't the best idea to shout...

Realizing the predicament he was in, Liam cursed, and a large shadow cast over the area he was in. Scratching the back of his head, Liam watched as a large hand came right at him.

The speed wasn't anything he couldn't deal with, but a strange suction-like force bounded him where he was, and all he could do was stare at the incoming hand that was approaching him.

"Well, fuck."

Realizing that he couldn't dodge, Liam sighed and sat down cross-legged.

"Mhh, maybe I should've gone for the—"

Smack—

Chapter 846: Until my body breaks [4]

"Shit!"

Maylin's eyes widened the moment she witnessed the hand come down to crush the human's body.

Although she didn't want to believe it, Maylin knew that it was impossible for the human to dodge the attack, and in the last moment, she saw him give up and sit down cross-legged on the bridge of the Princess's nose.

Then…

As if swatting a bug, the Princess's large hand came smacking down against her face.

Smack—!

Shockwaves spread across the land as a result of that smack, sending all the nearby people scattering into the distance.

Maylin included as her body flung into the air several times. When she stabilized herself, a curse slipped from her mouth.

"Shit. Damn it!"

'Damn it, I had already warned him before hand that this was dangerous… why did he have to go ahead and kill himself like that?!'

Maylin was understandably angry at the situation.

It was never easy to see such a talented individual die, and the fact that this could've all been avoided made her even angrier.

'What am I going to do when he comes and finds out that his comrade has died?'

Staring at the Princess who towered over her, Maylin felt helpless by the enormous power gap between the two of them, but she could only grit her teeth and channel all of the mana inside of her body.

Knowing of just how wide the gap between the two of them was, Maylin could only use her most powerful move.

One after another, green magic circles appeared behind her.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The land beneath started to tremble, and out of nowhere, thick vines that numbered in the hundreds sprouted out and made their way toward Maylin.

The speed at which the vines were moving was extremely fast, and upon reaching her, they twisted and bent around her body.

Glowing with a yellow light, power started to filtrate Maylin's body as her silver hair fluttered forward and runes appeared all over her body.

Power that was unlike any other surface within every corner of her body. Letting go of Maylin, the vines around her turned around and pointed directly at the Princess whose attention was now focused on her.

"What powerful energy."

Princess Adephagia muttered, her deep voice rumbling throughout the rotten land.

She seemed rather impressed… perhaps even salivating at the power as she brought her arm to her mouth to wipe the saliva that leaked down from the corner of her mouth.

One after another, magic circles appeared at the tips of the vines that were pointed at the Princess, who once again swallowed a mouthful of saliva at the sight.

"A lot of energy…"

The sight of her thirsting after her attack made Maylin frown, but she didn't let that get into her head, and within the span of half a second, the energy that had gathered at the tip of the vines burst forth and covered the entire land in green.

Grass and flowers germinated all over the land, and the once dry world seemed to come to life for a brief moment.

Maylin's hair fluttered upward, and she pointed her hand at the Princess.

"Go."

Her soft voice echoed throughout the land for a brief moment, and the power she had gathered burst forth and headed directly for the Princess with unbelievable might and momentum.

The world seemed to come to a sudden stop at her attack, and even the Princess seemed to be rather taken aback by the power of the attack.

"That's... more than I thought..."

Despite that, she didn't seem to be scared in the least bit. In fact, she seemed even more excited as she pressed her foot forward and opened her mouth widely.

Ooom—!

A humming sound came forth from her mouth, and Maylin's attack started to twist in the air before directing itself toward the Princess's mouth.

WOOOOM—! The attack soon reached her mouth, and when it did so, the Princess was forced to take several steps back.

Thump! Thump!

With every step that she took, the terrain beneath her began to crumble, and all of a sudden, her cheeks began to swell up to an enormous size.

Her cheeks had swollen to such an extent that she resembled a hamster that had overindulged in seeds and nuts.

"Haaa.. haaa…"

During this time, Maylins's figure gradually descended toward the ground as she struggled to maintain her breath. Her expression was completely pale, and she struggled to keep herself from vomiting.

"I… I…"

She could barely formulate a single word, and when she looked in the distance, her gaze seemed to fog up out of tiredness.

Despite all of this, she forced herself to look in the distance, and that was when, to her horror, she witnessed the Princess slowly coming to a halt and closing her mouth as she sucked her attack in one go.

Her cheeks squirmed for a couple of seconds before the power that was contained within them calmed down, and Maylin's heart dropped.

"I,impossible…"

She wasn't sure how to feel at that moment. It felt as though the entire world had crumbled before her very eyes, and something sweet lingered at the back of her throat.

"Pftt."

Unable to hold back, she spat a mouthful of blood, and her already pale face paled even further.

"Damn…"

Maylin felt indignant at the situation. She thought she had grown stronger over the past five years… strong enough to perhaps fight against one of the seven heads of the demons—but how wrong she was.

They… They were monsters amongst monsters, and they weren't something that the likes of her could even deal with.

"Cough. Cough."

Coughing several times, she raised her head in resignation, but just as she thought everything was over, her expression changed.

"W.. what? H,how?"

Her expression was unable to betray the utter shock she was feeling at the moment. With her gaze directed at the Princess, she watched as a figure appeared right next to her open eye, and thrust his sword at it.

It all happened so fast that she barely had time to process it, but she didn't need to.

Moments after witnessing the scene, black blood spurted into the air as a muffled wail echoed in the air.

"Mhhhhhh!"

The Princess's head flayed from left to right as the figure that stood atop her eyes clung onto the bridge of her nose with dear life.

The power that she was trying to suppress inside of her mouth once again became wild, and her cheeks trembled.

Instantly, the situation reversed, and Myalin found herself staring at the scene in the distance with her mouth wide open.

"H… how is he still alive?"

***

'Hmm, that works too, I guess…'

Clinging on the bridge of the Princess's nose, Liam found his vision blocked by his hair, which fluttered in front of him and hindered his sight.

He didn't particularly mind since he didn't need his sight, but at the same time, he felt that it was a pity that he couldn't see the expression that the Princess was making.

'Ahhhh… how sad.'

It was a gamble, but it paid off in the end. Just before the hand was about to smack him, he used the move that he had been trying to perfect over the course of the last five years.

Crackle! Crackle! Crackle!

Liam was able to directly phase through objects as if he were a ghost by vibrating every inch of his body.

The move was extremely risky since just a single mistake could cost him his life, but at the same time, it worked perfectly, and he was able to pass through her hand and narrowly avoid death.

Furthermore, he would've died anyway, so he didn't really have an option and just took the risk of using the move.

'It's good that it worked out in the end.'

After giving the demoness the impression that he had died, he didn't attack immediately and bode his time for the right time to attack.

When he saw Maylin's attack, he understood when that moment was, and he struck right when the opportunity was ripe.

In the end, his gamble paid off, and the Princess found herself in a rather unfavorable situation.

Rumble! Rumble!

"Hmmmmmm!"

The princess continued to trash around in pain as she covered her eye with her hand.

Because he was right on the top of the bridge of her nose, she couldn't see him, and thus was able to avoid getting smacked again by her.

Of course, he knew that he didn't have that much time left.

"Hmm, but now, what…"

He… he had pretty much exhausted all of his means, and for the first time, he was unsure of what to do.

Sure… he had dealt significant damage to her, and if she lost completely control of the energy in her mouth, she'd get heavily injured, but that was where the problem lay… how was he supposed to make the energy inside her mouth go crazy?

What was he supposed to do next?

"Is this your doing?"

All of a sudden, a voice reached Liam's ears, and when he turned his head, he was surprised to see Ren standing next to him, completely unphased by what was happening around them.

Well... he sounded like Ren, and his outline looked like Ren, but he was a bit weird...

Opening his mouth, Liam tried to say something, but he eventually nodded his head and smiled.

"Oh, hey Ren. How have you been?"

I guess Liam now knew what he had to do next.

Chapter 847: Until my body breaks [5]

Coming into the Pillar of Gluttony, I expected things to be rather serious, but I was surprised to see that the situation wasn't as dire as I expected it to be.

In fact, the situation was a lot more advantageous then I thought it to be.

"Is this your doing?"

I turned to look at Liam who was hanging on the bridge of the Princess's nose. He seemed battered, and tired, but the moment our eyes met, his expression relaxed a little.

"Oh, hey Ren. How have you been?"

"You did a good job."

Ignoring his light hearted greeting, I lowered my head to stare at the cheeks of the Princess which were currently inflated. I could feel a certain energy from within, and when I turned my gaze away, I locked my eyes on a certain figure in the distance.

'It must be her doing.'

There was only one person that was capable of producing such pure and powerful energy.

Although Liam was strong, he wasn't at this level just yet. It could only be her.

"I see… I think I understand what's going on."

Rumble! Rumble!

At the same time I realized what was happening, the Princess trashed around and destroyed everything that her feet stepped onto to. Gradually, however, she was able to somewhat stabilize the injury that she sustained in her eye, and the energy inside of her started to calm down.

"We can't be having that."

If there was anything that I couldn't allow, it was that, and as my vision blurred, my feet touched something soft.

I was standing right on top of her cheek, and the moment I appeared over there, I felt two eyes lock on me.

When I turned my head, our gazes met, and I lowered my hand and pressed it against her cheek.

Her expression changed drastically at that point, but it was already too late.

Exerting a lot the mana inside of me, her cheeks started to inflate even further, and the energy that she was trying to keep in check became even wilder.

Rumble! Rumble!

"Hmmmmm!"

Her trashing increased, and it became hard for me to keep myself steady as a result. A large shadow cast behind me, and I knew exactly what she was trying to do. Thus, frowning, I opened my mouth and imbued my voice with the laws.

"Stop."

Her body stopped at my words and her expression changed once more. Golden runes and words clamped her hand above me, and covered every inch of her body.

"Mhhh… mhhhhhmm…"

She seemed to be saying something, but I honestly couldn't understand a single word that she said.

Not that I cared as I continued to imbued her cheeks with mana.

Within a matter of seconds, her cheeks swelled even further, and their size grew to such an extent that her entire face became red.

The cheeks were puffed up to such an extent that I could see the skin on her cheeks tearing.

"Don't move."

Whenever she was about to free herself from my restraints, I'd speak again.

Whenever I did so, my body would start to flicker in and out of existence and accompanying it was an agonizing pain, but I resisted through the pain and continued to inject mana into her cheeks.

As I continued to inject more of the laws that were contained within my body into hers, the golden runes that surrounded her body began to flicker continuously.

"Mhh!!!! Mhhhhmmmhhh!!"

Her muffled screams rang throughout, but I paid them no attention and continued to work.

With time, the tear around her cheek deepened, and blood started to leak down her cheeks.

When I looked back, I was met with two eyes that were glaring hatred in my direction.

I stared at them for a short moment, and savored the gaze before pressing my foot against her cheek and finding myself standing right in front of Liam once again.

"Let's go."

I reached out my hand, which Liam gladly took, and pressed my foot against her skin once more.

We appeared quite a fair distance away from her, and when I looked around and saw that the place was safe, I snapped my fingers.

BAAAAAAAAAAAANG—!

It was an explosion unlike any other.

The moment I snapped my fingers, the Princess's body inflated rapidly, and her cheeks finally burst apart.

Black blood rained from the sky, and pieces of flesh fell all over the land.

At the same time, a wave of concentrated energy burst out from that direction, shredding everything that was within its path.

Extending my hand and erecting a barrier around the two of us, we were able to avoid getting injured from the residual energy.

I frowned when I felt the energy. It was quite overbearing, and if not for my strength, I'd have difficulty handling it.

'I can't believe she was able to suppress this much energy inside of her.'

She wasn't one of the seven clan heads without a reason. She as indeed extremely powerful.

"Stay here for now, I'll finish up things."

Dropping off Liam, my vision blurred once more and what appeared in my vision was an enormous crater that seemed to stretch very deeply.

Frowning, I flicked my finger and a small light entered the hole. Shortly after, my brows relaxed and I nodded my head.

'As expected, she didn't die just yet.'

Motioning with my fingers, a body burst out from the hole, and I clapped my hands once.

Clap!

A small barrier erected around the body once I clapped my hands. Just in case, I tapped onto the barrier and a small white ripple formed, creating a second layer.

'Just in case.'

Gazing at the body before me, I relaxed when I saw that the Princess had fainted. While her cheeks had burst, they were slowly healing, as her fleshed wiggled and overlapped against each other.

The sight was quite gruesome.

Her eyelids trembled, and I could tell that she was about to wake up.

Noticing this, I knew that I couldn't waste any time and stretched my hand which passed through the two layers and reached out for her face.

'I'll make this quick.'

Closing my eyes, I felt the laws that were contained within her body and channeled them toward me. Almost instantly, a wave of warmth entered my body and I found myself relaxing as the laws within my body started to increase.

The feeling was pleasant, almost intoxicating.

If not for the fact that I had felt this sensation before, I'd have fallen into a deeper sense of depravity, but I held my focus and transferred all of her laws into body.

"Uagk."

At the same time that I retrieved all of the laws, I felt a sharp pain course through all parts of my body, and I almost fainted from the pain right then and there.

The fact that I wasn't able to suppress the pain was a testament to how painful it was, and I almost cried out from the pain.

It took every last bit of me to suppress my scream as I gritted my teeth with everything I had, and my body flickered wildly at that point.

Cr… Crack!

Unsurprisingly, cracks started to appear on all parts of my body, and the pain became even more unbearable.

My body was failing.

"Ukgh."

'No… not yet… not now...!'

I knew exactly what was happening to me at the moment. This was a consequence of using the laws too much with this unfit body.

I had been warned beforehand about the consequences of using the laws wit this body, but I chose to ignore such warning.

I was now paying the consequences of ignoring such word, but not once did I start regretting my decision to use the laws.

I just did what I had to do, and even if the pain was unbearable, I calmly accepted it knowing that there was something else eating up at me that made the pain that I was bearing… somewhat bearable.

"Huuu.."

'Not yet.'

Taking a deep breath, I shifted my attention back toward the Princess and extended my hand once more.

Reaching out for my hand, I could see that it was trembling, rather fiercely at that. I was struggling quite a bit at the moment, but clenching my teeth I moved my hand toward her left armpit.

I could feel the core over there, but just as I was about to reach her armpit, her eyes fluttered open and our two eyes met.

My heart, which had somewhat steadied, suddenly started to beat wildly, and I swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

….I …I stood no chance against her at my current state.

My lips went dry as our gazes met, and her eyes which were somewhat blurry started to regain some clarity.

'Now!'

Spurt—!

Clenching my teeth, I used all of my remaining strength, and pierced right at the left armpit area. At the same time that happened, clarity returned to the Princess's eyes and her mouth parted open.

"You bastard How da—"

Crack!

It was too late.

Before she could even finish her sentence, I crushed the core in my hand and her figure froze on the spot. Her expression changed drastically at that point, but it was already too late.

Shortly after, her figure turned into dust which disappeared into thin air.

Thump!

At the same time that happened, unable to keep my legs steady my body fell down, and I blankly stared at the sky.

"Haaa… haaa… almost… almost there…

Just one more. Just one more...

Chapter 848: Meeting him again [1]

Deep within the vast expanse of the cosmos, a place isolated by the nothingness of space, there was a sudden stir.

The surroundings trembled and quaked as if struggling to contain a force beyond measure. And then, with a sudden shattering of the void, a crack appeared.

Cr… Crack!

Jezebeth emerged from behind the fissure, his form wreathed in a hue of otherworldly energy.

He gazed out at the myriad stars that peppered the infinite expanse, his expression one of both wonder and seriousness.

Taking in the sights around him, Jezebeth's eyes widened in confusion as he beheld the countless stars twinkling in the distance.

He stood there for a moment, taking in the beauty of it all, unsure of what had happened, before his expression changed, and his demeanor became more serious.

"So that's how it is."

He muttered under his breath, a glint of understanding in his eyes.

In an instant, scenes started to replay inside his mind, and excitement rose from deep within him.

He pressed his hand against his chest, feeling his core pulsating faster as he reveled in his realization.

'I'm sure of it... he's on his last breath...'

Whatever happened to him was a last ditch attempt by Ren to buy himself time and delay whatever he was planning.

A pity that he no longer had time.

He felt it during the last moments... He was done for. The laws within Ren's body were almost faint, and his power was weaker than it had ever been.

Victory seemed inevitable, but…

"It's still not over yet. Only once Ren dies will everything finally be over."

Despite his elation, Jezebeth managed to maintain his composure, knowing that the battle was not yet won.

He closed his eyes and breathed in the chill of the void, letting the energy of the cosmos seep into his very being.

It was a heady sensation, like standing at the edge of a precipice and looking out at the endless horizon. But despite the rush of excitement that pulsed through him, he knew that he had to remain focused.

So he opened his eyes once more and gazed out at the stars with newfound clarity.

"You've run out of time, Ren. I'm sure of it."

Having understood the motive behind Ren's last actions, Jezebeth knew that the ending was within sight.

A viscous white hue emerged from deep within his body and burst out of him.

His eyes soon fixed on a certain planet in the far cosmos, and he pressed a hand against his chest, feeling the steady beat of his core. It was a reminder of his mortality, of the fact that even he had not yet grasped the ultimate power he was chasing after.

It was a feeling he had felt many times, and at the same time, he knew this was the last time he'd feel it.

So long as he absorbed the records, he'd no longer be a mortal.

Cr— Crack!

With a sudden burst of energy, another crack appeared in the space before him. Without hesitation, Jezebeth stepped forward, his form engulfed in a pulsing aura of laws.

He vanished through the tear, leaving behind nothing but the faint echo of his voice.

"You can't delay the inevitable."

***

"So that's your choice... Angelica."

A soft, yet alluring voice whispered throughout.

Sat upon her throne, inside of a large hall, her beauty was a striking contrast to the ominous atmosphere around the hall.

Her skin was the color of moonlit silver, with dark, swirling patterns that seemed to shift and move like smoke. Her hair, a deep black, cascaded down her back in loose waves.

Her eyes were the color of molten gold, and they glinted with an otherworldly fire.

"I can't say I didn't see this coming."

What she saw... she had long seen coming. It wasn't surprising to her. What surprised her was something different.

"So the strategist is a human, huh... ?"

The fire within her eyes glinted a different shade as she fell into her own thoughts and leaned back against her throne that was carved from black obsidian, and it seemed to pulse with an ominous energy.

The hall around her was vast and cavernous, with towering pillars that disappeared into the shadows above.

The air was thick with the scent of incense and the distant echoes of the demons within the hall.

As she sat upon her throne, the demoness radiated a quiet power.

Her long, slender fingers rested on the armrests of her throne, and her gaze was fixed on some distant point beyond the walls of the hall.

Her lips were set in a faint smile, as if she had witnessed something that brought amusement to herself.

Despite her beauty, there was a coldness to her that chilled the very air around her.

Her presence was both alluring and terrifying, drawing anyone to her with a magnetic pull that they could not resist.

And yet, those who gazed into her eyes could see the darkness that lurked within, a darkness that threatened to consume all those who dared to draw too close.

She was none other than Lillith Von Doix, the Pillar Master of the House of Lust, and Angelica's mother.

"...It really is a pity."

Tearing her gaze away from the distance, she closed her eyes, and silence returned to the grand halls.

Raising her hand, she snapped her fingers.

"Bring her to me."

***

"It's… It's really nice to have you back, Smallsnake."

Hein could barely keep his emotions in check as he looked at Smallsnake in front of him. Although he had changed over the years, he still looked like the Smallsnake he knew.

"Just wait until Ryan finds out that you're still alive… He'll probably be the most excited."

While everyone missed Smallsnake, the one he was closest to was Ryan. He was also the one who had been hit the hardest by his death, and while he did not show it, he was still heavily impacted by it.

He was still young back then…

"Ryan…"

Muttering under his breath, Smallsnake lowered his head and touched his chin.

"How is he doing?"

"He's doing great. He's… he's grown a lot during the time that you weren't here. In fact, almost everyone has grown a lot during the time that you weren't with us. Funnily enough, Leopold stopped smok—"

"We can continue our talk later."

Perhaps because he was excited about suddenly finding out that Smallsnake was still alive again, Hein started to talk a lot.

He had to be stopped by Angelica, whose words coldly cut through his.

When he turned his head to look at her, he could see that her expression was as cold as it had always been, but…

He could also tell that it was merely an act.

She was probably holding herself back from showing her emotions.

"We don't have time to catch up at the moment. Although I've tried my best to keep them from prying onto us, I can tell that we've been spotted."

The air instantly froze at her words, and everyone turned to look at her.

"We've been spotted? What do you mean by that?"

"It's as I said, Ava."

Turning her head to stare into the distance, her lips twitched, and she lowered her head.

"We've been surrounded."

Rustle—! Rustle—!

Shortly after her words faded, over ten powerful auras exploded out from the bushes, surrounding them.

Hein, and the others were immediately startled by their sudden appearance and drew their weapons.

"Don't resist. It's no use."

Only after hearing Angelica's words did they lower their weapons. They didn't need to be reminded by Angelica to understand that they were unevenly matched at the moment.

One wrong move, and they could very well be meeting their ends…

"Young Miss."

The atmosphere froze once more at the words that came out of one of the demons' mouths. Ava and Hein already had an idea and thus weren't shocked, but the same couldn't be said for Smallsnake, who was taken aback by the situation.

"I'll explain later."

Angelica only left a couple of words before taking a step forward.

"What are you doing here?"

"We've come under Her Highness's orders to bring you back."

"Just me?"

"No."

The demon shook his head, and cast a glance in their direction.

Angelica smirked at the sight.

"Heh… I figured she'd be like that."

There was clear disappointment in Angelica's expression as she heard those words, but she seemed to have already expected such an answer and was quick to recover her usually cold expression.

"Alright."

She nodded her head, and looked at the demons around her.

"Bring us to her…"

She stopped halfway through, and glared at those surrounding her.

"…May I remind you not to overstep your boundaries. If you so much as harm a hair to them, I'll make sure you guys pay a price adequate to your actions."

Her words didn't bring much of a change in the expressions of the demons, but when Hein paid closer attention, he noticed that their stances straightened up a little.

'Just how high up is her mother?'

That was the same question that arose in the minds of everyone present. None dared to ask, as they remained silent throughout the entire time.

"Follow us, we will escort you to her Highness."

"Okay. "

Following that, they followed Angelica from behind as she followed the demons in front of her. They were reluctant to do so, but seeing that they had no other choice, they could only obediently follow Angelica from behind.

It was the only thing that they could do…

***

"Eh... that's a bit grand..."

Hein couldn't believe his eyes as he stared at the colossal mountain that lay ahead of him.

He had assumed that they would fly to their destination, given the fact that every one of them was above Marquis rank and thus could fly.

However, much to his surprise, they were made to walk all the way toward the towering peak that loomed in the distance.

As they trudged along, Hein couldn't help but marvel at the sheer size of the mountain.

Its peak disappeared into the clouds, and its slopes were covered in a thick blanket of snow. The air grew colder with each step they took, and Hein wrapped his cloak tighter around himself, shivering slightly in the biting chill.

"Huuu..."

Each of his breaths grew misty, and his shoes sank under the tall snow.

After what felt like hours of walking, they finally reached the foot of the mountain.

Hein's breath hitched as he looked up and saw a magnificent structure etched into the side of the mountain. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before.

The structure stood tall and majestic, with intricate carvings and sculptures adorning its walls.

The stone used to build it seemed to shimmer with an otherworldly glow, and Hein couldn't help but be in awe of its grandeur. The walls of the structure were adorned with large sculptures of fearsome demons, their eyes seeming to follow Hein's every move.

Hein noticed several demons standing atop the walls, keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings. Their imposing presence sent a shiver down his spine. Several of them were above his strength, and he wondered if he could fend them off if they fought.

'Probably not.'

The demons wore elaborate armor, and their eyes glowed with an eerie red hue, making them appear even more menacing.

As they approached the entrance of the structure, Hein couldn't help but feel a sense of trepidation mixed with curiosity.

He wondered what lay inside this mysterious mountain fortress. The doors were massive, made of solid iron, and adorned with intricate engravings that seemed to glow a mysterious hue.

"Open the door!"

Clank—

The demons accompanying Hein raised their hands, and the doors creaked open slowly, revealing a grand hall inside.

Hein's eyes widened in amazement as he stepped into the vast chamber.

The walls were lined with tapestries depicting scenes of battles and conquests, and the ceiling soared high above, adorned with an elaborate mural depicting the history of the demon realm.

At the far end of the hall, Hein caught a glimpse of what appeared to be an obsidian throne, adorned with gemstones that glittered with an otherworldly light.

As he approached, he realized that the throne was occupied by an alluring figure, clad in regal attire and exuding an aura of power.

Her head was currently resting against her fist, allowing her black hair to cascade down the side of her shoulder.

The moment they entered, her eyes flicked open, and her gaze paused on Angelica. A faint smile spread across her features as her mouth parted open.

"What have you been up to, my good daughter?"

Chapter 849: Meeting him again [2]

There was something about her voice that made it hard for those who were listening to it to keep their heads straight.

It was as if a fog suddenly appeared within their minds, making it hard for them to think or even move properly.

Thankfully, Ava and Hein had signed a contract with Angelica beforehand and were thus only slightly affected.

The same couldn't be said for Smallsnake, who found himself sinking in this cloudy state, unable to move at all.

"Would you stop it with your stupid tricks?"

It was only after Angelica intervened that he was able to snap out of whatever state he was in, and the moment he snapped out of it, cold sweat ran down his back.

'That… That was dangerous… I guess I can now understand why everyone reacted like that...'

This wasn't the first time that he had come into contact with the Patriarch of the Lust Clan, but before, he had always been with Jezebeth and thus never experienced such a sensation from her.

He had always been confused as to why, whenever she appeared, those around her would glare at her while some demons by her side would cock their heads from side to side like buffoons.

Only now did he understand.

"Oh, my… Is that how you speak to your mother?"

There was a look of sadness on the Princess's face as she looked at Angelica.

If not for the fact that he had seen a couple of her antics back when he was with Jezebeth, Smallsnake would've fallen for her acting.

Still, he was utterly shocked by the sudden revelation regarding Angelica's mother.

'She's the daughter of a Princess ranked entity… one of the seven heads at that?'

Smallsnake wasn't too sure how to react at the moment. The sudden piece of news left him utterly dumbfounded, and he couldn't help but cast a few glances at the mother-daughter pair.

'And just when I thought I saw everything…'

Well, they did both look beautiful. So there was a bit of resemblance...

"I exerted a lot of my force to have you come to me, and the moment that you see me, you start shouting at me…? I feel rather sad, Angelica."

Lowering her head, she looked pitiful, and many of the demons around her started to show signs of concern.

Even Smallsnake felt a slight impulse, but he pinched his arms and forced himself out of such a state.

'Keep focus… Keep fucus…'

They were at a disadvantage at the moment. Be it in power or numbers. Even if they wanted to, they'd be unable to escape, and it made Smallsnake wonder just what Angelica was planning.

He had a few means of his own to get out of the situation if it went for the worst, but he chose to keep them under wraps and let everything play out in front of him.

"Are you still in the mood to play around?"

Once again, Angelica's words were merciless and cut right at her mother's words. The Princess didn't seem offended by her actions and smiled even more seductively.

"Rebellious, aren't we?"

"Quite…"

"At least you acknowledge it."

"A lot better than a certain someone."

"My, my… when did you start learning to speak this way to your mother?"

"From the moment that you kicked me out."

"Mhhh… That was because of your mistake. It had nothing to do with us."

"Hee.."

Angelica laughed while covering her forehead with her hand.

"I knew you'd say that…"

It was clear to everyone present that the relationship between Angelica and her mother was anything but good.

Angelica didn't even bother hiding her disgust for her mother, as her words were laced with venom.

"In the end, it's always my fault, and never your fault, right?"

"Wasn't that obvious enough?"

Princess Lillith spoke, her gaze lingering over everyone present.

There was something about her gaze that unsettled Smallsnake, but as weak as he was, he could only take it.

Soon her gaze fell on him, and Smallsnake felt his skin crawl.

"Mhm, I'm rather surprised that you're here. I didn't know that you were acquainted with my daughter… in fact, from the looks of things, you guys are a lot closer than I anticipated."

"We've worked together in the past. We've known each other for a few years."

Angelica replied before Smallsnake could.

Seeing that Angelica had spoken for him, Smallsnake closed his mouth and remained quiet. It was good that she spoke for him.

He didn't really want to talk at the moment.

"Oh? You two have known each other for a few years? I take it that he was also working for the same human you're working for, right?"

Angelica didn't respond to the question, but her silence was enough confirmation for her mother, who nodded her head slightly.

She looked back at Smallsnake.

"For His Majesty to also covet his subordinates… I assume that this human is rather talented."

Brushing her hair behind her ear, she sat up properly on the throne and crossed her legs. Her gaze fell on Ava and Hein.

"I suppose they are also his subordinates…"

With a squint of her eyes, Ava and Hein's bodies froze on the spot, and their eyes widened.

"What are you doing?"

They only recovered after Angelica spoke and broke off whatever was clawing at them. That… didn't seem to please her mother, who suddenly frowned.

The air in the hall changed drastically at that point.

"You've been acting rather impudent for a while, my good daughter."

Her words were soft, but the moment they came out, the entire room froze. A formless pressure spread throughout every inch of the room, and Smallsnake found himself unable to move at all.

How many times has it been now?

The same went for the others that went stiff on the spot.

The only one that was fine was Angelica, but even she seemed to be struggling at the moment as her face paled and sweat trickled down her forehead.

She continued to glare at her mother.

"I've been acting impudent?"

She managed to utter a few words through her gnashed teeth.

"Haa… what's funnier is the fact that you still have the gall to call yourself my mo—"

Smack—!

It all happened so fast, and Smallsnake wasn't able to see what had happened, but halfway through her sentence, Smallsnake heard a low smacking sound, and Angelica's body appeared on one of the pillars of the hall.

Bang—!

Appearing on the spot where Angelica had been, Smallsnake caught sight of Princess Lillith, and his pupils dilated.

Especially when his gaze fell on Angelica.

"Cough… Cough…"

Coughing several times, she looked up and smirked at her mother.

"You didn't hold back, did you, mother?"

Angelica's speech became more drawn out as she approached the final word, as if she wanted to emphasize its significance even more.

It was obvious that she was trying to taunt her mother, and she was successful in doing so.

Swoosh!

Appearing right in front of her, the Princess looked down on her from above with her cold eyes.

"You've been quite rebellious since you've returned. I let you be since I figured you'd come around, but it seems like some harsh disciplining may be required."

Grabbing Angelica by her hair, the Princess flung her toward the next pillar.

Bang—!

Angelica's body slammed into the pillar as she struggled to resist the strength of her mother, and she let out a painful groan as she did so.

"Ukh."

Swoosh!

She didn't even have time to recover before her mother appeared before her once again and smacked her head against the pillar.

Bang—!

"Don't resent me too much."

She said, smacking her face with her palm.

"I'm only doing what's best for you, my good d—"

Pu—!

"F,fuck you, bitch."

A sudden spit that was mixed with black blood flew to the Princess's face, and her entire expression froze at that moment. It wasn't just her that froze; practically everyone in the room felt something dreadful slowly rise from the Princess' body.

Moving her fingers to her cheek, and sliding them off. The Princess looked at her finger, and her expression, which seemed unusually calm, started to distort heavily.

Rumble—! Rumble—!

The entire room started to tremble, and before long, the Princess' gaze fell on Angelica. The way she looked at her was no longer the same as it was before.

"I see how it is."

She nodded her head repeatedly, seemingly coming to a sudden understanding.

"I get it now."

She nodded once more.

"I don't know what went through my mind. Since when did I ever have a daughter?"

Spurt—!

Chapter 850: Meeting him again [3]

"Akhhh!"

Feeling something stab her in the abdominal area, Angelica let out a sharp wail. The pain was unbearable, and when she looked up, she was met with two mercilessly cold eyes that seemed to disregard her completely.

Such gaze…

They weren't something she was unfamiliar with. This was how she had been looked at throughout her entire life.

'Yes… This is how it should be.'

It was only now that she felt comfortable looking back at her mother.

What she was seeing was the mother she grew up seeing.

"You've finally shown your real self."

"Still talking?"

"Akgh."

Feeling something pull at her hair, Angelica felt her body rise from the spot, and her expression distorted out of pain. Still, she tried her best to keep her gaze locked on her mother.

"The… kh… only reason you even bothered 'caring' about me is because everyone else died, right?"

In reality, Angelica wasn't the only one that her mother had given birth to. She used to have seven other siblings, all of whom were more talented than her.

The key word was 'used to'.

They were no longer here.

"The only reason… you even cared about me in the first place is because I'm the only one left, right?"

Her word seemed to have struck a chord with her mother, as Angelica suddenly found herself smacked against one of the pillars once again.

Bang—!

She felt the wind get knocked out of her, and an intense pain radiated to her chest. Even so, she didn't let it show on her face as she continued.

"You're desperate… You're clearly aware that the other elders are trying to covet your position, and without a succ—"

Bang—!

She was once again smacked against the pillar. This time, with more force, the pillar crumbled down.

Rumble—!

Dust rose within the sturdy halls, and Angelica finally felt her mother let go of her. When everything settled, Angelica struggled to raise her head, but when she did, she was met with two eyes that seemed to disregard her completely, and an open palm slowly reached out for her.

"Since you don't wish to keep your life, then I don't see why there's a need for you to keep it."

Something dreadful suddenly manifested on the palm and was directed right at Angelica. In that short instant, Angelica understood that her life was coming to an end, and she closed her eyes.

Instead of feeling sad, she felt rather liberated.

She had finally managed to say what she wanted to say to her. Although she wouldn't get to live much longer, she knew that 'he' would settle everything for her soon.

The energy approached her and slowly crept into her body. Angelica slowly felt her existence crumble apart, but just as she was about to lose consciousness, she managed to hear a couple of faint words from the distance.

"Stop."

It was a voice she was familiar with, and when she opened her eyes, she saw Smallsnake staring at them with an expressionless look.

His current demeanor was a stark contrast to how he usually was, and it reminded Angelica of the time when she first saw him as the strategist.

He looked like a completely different person.

"Strategist?"

The power that was seeping into her body stopped at his voice, and her mother turned her head.

"Why are you meddling in my matters? You should know that even if His Majesty treasures you… you can't change my decisions."

"That's not it."

Smallsnake shook his head, confusing everyone that was within the halls.

The Princess moved her hand away from Angelica and looked at him with a serious expression.

"Oh? Then what is it?"

"It's not that I don't want you to kill her, but the moment that you kill her, the Lust clan will fall into chaos."

He looked at Angelica.

"I'm sure you're a lot smarter than that, Princess Lilith. I know you understand perfectly what will happen if she were to die at this moment. Can you really keep all of the elders from revolting against you after her death? Can you really stop them from coveting your seat of honor? I'm not speaking to you as her acquaintance; I'm speaking to you as the Demon King's Strategist."

All of a sudden, his voice deepened, and while there was no power in it, his words felt very commanding. Almost as if there was no rebuttal.

"If you kill her, then that's the same as seeding chaos within the Clan of Lust, and I can't be having that at this very moment. Not when his Majesty is about to complete his long and cherished goal."

His eyes suddenly squinted, and his voice deepened.

"What do you think will happen when his Majesty comes to learn of your actions later?"

"Is that a threat?"

Princess Lilith's gaze turned ferocious at his words. The room started to tremble as power seeped out of her body and she headed toward Smallsnake.

But even under such pressure, he didn't waver in the slightest and stared at her with a calm gaze.

At the moment… in Angelica's and everyone else's eyes, he looked powerful.

"It is a threat."

He said as his hair fell on top of his face.

"I thought that was obvious enough."

"Ha…"

One could tell at a glance that the Princess was beyond furious at the moment. Her expressions kept changing, and the power that radiated out of her body undulated with a certain ferocity that made it difficult for those within to withstand.

She eventually managed to calm herself down and nod her head.

"Very well."

Taking a deep breath, all of the power that was radiating from her body calmed down, and the entire hall quieted down.

"Since the strategist has spoken, I'll do as they've asked, but…"

The hall quieted down at her 'but' and everyone held their breath. Turning her head, Princess Lillith, looked at Angelica.

"…I'll let her live, but on the condition that her core gets crippled and she births at least one successor for my lineage."

She turned to look at Smallsnake and smiled.

"That sounds fair, doesn't it?"

"That…"

Opening his mouth, Smallsnake seemed unsure of how to respond. Angelica's expression distorted at that moment.

She'd rather die than be crippled and give birth to a successor.

"I won't compromise any further. You choose which option. Either she dies, or I cripple her and have her make me a successor."

From the tone of her voice, everyone understood that there was no more compromising. Neither option was good, and Angelica gritted her teeth.

"Don—"

Her words stopped halfway as the room trembled and everyone felt something akin to dread.

Cr… Crack!

Right then, a crack suddenly appeared, and a hazy black figure walked out of it.

Tap.

The soft echo of its foot echoed within the hall, and almost everyone within the hall turned to look in the direction of where the figure was.

The entire room fell silent.

"..."

The eyes of a few people lit up the moment the figure came in, and a dreadful aura suddenly enveloped every part of the hall.

It was so overbearing that it even made Princess Lilith wear a cautious look.

'Ren…'

Although he looked different than he usually did, Angelica recognized him immediately and breathed in relief.

With him here, maybe… maybe things could be resolved.

***

Every part of me hurt, and I could feel my body barely hanging in there. Despite that, I transported myself directly to where Angelica and the others were.

I couldn't allow another situation to occur, and thus, even if it broke my body, I chose to teleport myself to them.

'I'll let her live, but on the condition that her core gets crippled and she births at least one successor for my lineage.'

Coming into the room, I heard faint voices.

'That sounds fair, doesn't it?'

'I won't compromise any further. You choose which option. Either she dies, or I cripple her and have her make me a successor.'

The content of the words being spoken gave me an idea of what was happening, and scanning the entire room, my gaze eventually paused on a certain demoness.

She was beautiful. Devastatingly so, but I wasn't entranced by her beauty. What attracted my attention was the power that radiated from her body.

I knew who she was in an instant, and my mouth parted open.

"How about we choose option three?"

"…and that is?"

The Princess asked, power radiating from her body. She was surprisingly calm when faced with my sudden appearance.

Not that it mattered.

She had to at least have this certain level of composure to be one of the Seven Heads.

In response to her, I pointed at her, and the space around her started to constrict. Golden runes and words materialized all over her and clamped at her from all sides.

The golden runes and words were significantly larger and more numerous than they had been during the first battle I had with Prince Murdock, and they proved to be harder to remove than back then.

My body started to tear at that point, but I bore through the pain and clenched my teeth. I couldn't permit myself to exhibit any sign of weakness.

Not yet.

"You die, and I take everyone with me."

The laws within my body escaped and the world around us started to coat in white.

"Uh?! What's this?"

Right after the space around Princess Lillith started to constrict, her entire body turned rigid.

Her entire expression changed the moment she felt her space restricted, and with one look, I could tell she was even more shocked by the power that was binding her.

"You… how…"

Such reaction… It wasn't the first time I saw it. Rather, all six other demons showed similar looks when I exposed the laws within my body.

"Since you won—"

I was just about to attack when, all of a sudden, the words that were about to come out of my mouth stopped.

"Wh… what?"

A certain figure caught my attention, and I felt my lips quiver.

'No… it can't be… I must be seeing things…'

I blinked my eyes once, but he was still there.

I blinked again.

He was still there.

I blinked once again... and he was still there.

"Ah?"

No matter how many times I blinked, he was still there, and our gazes met.

I… I wasn't sure how to react at the moment. The numbness I felt just moments prior started to disappear, and when I turned to look at Angelica, Ava, and Hein, I knew that I wasn't seeing things.

I hoped I wasn't, and as my lips pursed, I took a deep breath and called out.

"…Smallsnake?"

Time seemed to have suddenly frozen, and what broke it was his sudden smile as he nodded his head.

"Yes?"

Chapter 851: So similar, yet so different [1]

[Ashton city, Earth.]

Whiiish—!

Coming out of the pocket dimension, Liam and Han Yufei were rather disoriented. The sudden change in environment confused them for a moment, and the fact that they hadn't been back on earth for over five years didn't help with the situation.

"Are we back?"

"It looks like it."

The familiar city streets, the pillars in the faraway distance, the serene blue sky… they were truly back.

Not that they had seen the Pillars before...

Liam sighed in relief, but he didn't get to enjoy the relief for very long. All of a sudden, the ground trembled, and one of the skyscrapers near them collapsed.

BOOOM—! Something crashed against several of the buildings as they collapsed.

They were taken aback when, after turning their heads to look at the structures, they noticed a familiar figure off in the distance.

Liam was able to identify them in an instant, as evidenced by the sudden yellow glow that emanated from his eyes, and he quickly disappeared from the spot.

"Hey, wait for me!"

Appearing right above the skyscraper, Liam could hear Han Yufei's voice in the far distance, but he didn't particularly care and cocked his head.

"Do you need help?"

Bang—!

Crashing against the wall, Emma looked up and glared at Liam.

"What do you t—Akh!"

KWAAANG—! Crossing her daggers, she barely managed to block the demon's claw. Groaning, she nudged her head several times. As if trying to tell Liam to get on with it.

Cracka! Cracka!

Good thing that Liam got the message, and lightning crackled around him.

The demon that was on top of Emma immediately froze on the spot, and Liam appeared behind it. He slashed his hand across the demon's thigh as his eyes took on a yellowish tinge and began to shine even more brightly than before.

That's where he felt the core was.

"Huek!"

That was about it for the demon. Just one move from Liam was all it took, and its entire body turned to dust.

"Thank… haaa.. you."

Catching her breath, Emma sighed in relief.

Upon closer observation, Liam realized that Emma's complexion was rather bad. Her face was pale, and her head was covered in sweat.

Thinking about the demon that he had just defeated, his expression turned strange.

"You were struggling with just that?"

Actually, now that he took a closer look at her, she seemed different from how she normally was. He hadn't spent much time with her, so he wasn't too sure, but… she seemed a little wilder.

If that made any sense.

"Do… hhaaa… do you really think that's the only… haaa.. demon that I was up against?"

Catching her breath, she pointed toward the distance, and that was when Liam finally noticed. A street littered with demon corpses.

It was a sight to behold, and his mouth instantly shut.

"That's fair enough."

"No shit…. Haa… I'm fucking tired."

Well, he could tell. The fact that speaking made her this tired was a great testament to that.

"Want a potion?"

He offered her a potion as an apology, but she rejected him right away.

"I'm good."

"Well, suit yourself."

Putting the potion away, Han Yufei suddenly appeared beside them. With his broadsword on his back, he gazed at the streets hidden behind the skyscraper and put up a thumbs up.

"Wow, impressive."

"Thank you."

Emma thanked him politely, taking out one of her own potions and gulping it down. Her chest started to level at that point, and her breath returned.

Just as she was about to speak, Liam's expression suddenly changed, and his head snapped upwards, toward the sky.

"What's wrong?"

Suddenly noticing the shift in Liam's expression, Han Yufei and Emma looked at him.

He didn't respond to them and continued to stare at the sky for a good couple of seconds before his eyes suddenly shone with a brilliant hue of yellow that enveloped the entire surroundings.

"Liam?"

His action startled both of them, but his subsequent words startled them even more.

"Do you have any way to contact the others…"

His voice, which always seemed lazy and lethargic, had an unusual seriousness to it that made both Han Yufei and Emma look at each other in confusion.

They nonetheless thought about his words, and Han Yufei was the first one to answer.

"Ryan… he knows of a way to contact everyone."

"Okay."

Liam nodded his head.

"Contact him and tell him that he is coming."

"He?"

"Yeah… he."

***

WOOOM—!

"…"

No one said a word upon coming out of the dimensional pocket. Be it Angelica, Hein, Ava, or Smallsnake.

They all just stared quietly at the world around them without saying a word.

What they'd wittinesses inside of the Pillar…

"Are you…"

Ava was the one who eventually broke the silence as she turned to face Angelica. She was quietly staring at the ground, her thoughts unknown.

Everyone turned their attention toward Angelica, following her words, and sensing the attention she was being given, Angelica raised her head.

"I'm fine."

She was. At least, that was what she tried to make herself believe.

Reality was that she wasn't sure.

The scene she witnessed… it wasn't something she wanted to remember.

Even though Angelica knew it had to be done and she deserved it… It still left her empty.

That was… her very own mother. Someone she looked up to despite hating her at the same time.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

A soft voice reached her ears, and when she turned, she saw a face she hadn't seen for quite a while.

"I'm fine."

She smiled at Smallsnake.

"Well… I'll believe you for now."

It was clear that he could see right through her, but it was good that he let the topic go and shifted his attention toward Ava.

"What are we sup—"

—Ava? Hein? I can feel your communication; are you guys there?"

Smallsnake was stopped by a familiar voice that echoed from Ava's watch.

He froze the moment he heard the voice.

"Ryan?"

Ava raised her watch and brought it to her lips.

"Ryan, is that you?"

—Who else would it be? I'm the only one th… ah, no never mind. That's not important. I was just about to say th-

"Ryan?

Smallsnake spoke, moving closer to Ava. It was there that the communication abruptly turned silent.

"…"

"Ryan?"

Smallsnake called out once more, hoping that he could hear him.

"…"

But yet again, he was met with no response. Just as he was about to try again, the communication turned on again.

—Is this some sort of sick joke? What are you guys trying to pull? No, never mind; I don't have time to deal with this shit.

There was clear anger in his voice as he spoke, and when Smallsnake heard his words, he smiled.

'So he still remembers my voice…'

The thought made him smile even more, and his head moved closer to the watch.

He tapped on the screen, and a projection appeared in front of him. Turning the camera on, Smallsnake waved, a soft smile on his lips.

After seeing him again, he had a lot of things he wanted to say to him... He had changed a lot in appearance since the last time he saw him; he had become an adult, and looking at how disheveled his appearance was, he knew that he must've had a hard time during the few years he wasn't there.

"…You've grown up a lot."

Such were the words that came out of his mouth when he saw him.

He could've started with something else, but his appearance was what reminded him of how times had changed and that he was no longer the young teen he once used to know.

"…"

On the other side, Ryan's expression froze, and when his gaze met Smallsnake's, his eyes blinked several times until, eventually, droplets of water streaked past his cheek.

Blinking more, he brought his arms over his face and continued to wipe at whatever was falling, his expression never changing.

"Huuu."

Covering his face with his hands, he hoarsely spoke.

"W... well, as of the time that you left, I am approximately the same age as you were…"

"Ah… I see…"

Smallsnake smiled, his lips trembling a bit.

"Same age, huh… I, sure missed a lot…"

"Yeah… yeah you did."

***

[In an unknown area, Earth]

The world outside the pillars was a mess. Buildings crumbled, ecosystems were torn apart, and the ground was shredded into nothingness.

Jin wielded his daggers like they were an extension of his body, slicing at the enemies with such utter precision that they didn't even have the time to react. The accuracy of his attacks completely shattered their cores in one go, killing them immediately.

Thump—!

What's more. Stepping onto the ground, black threads would spike out from the point between his foot and the ground, shooting directly at the demons near him and impaling them directly at their cores.

His skills had improved drastically over the years, and he was now at a level where only Prince ranked demons could pose a threat to him.

"Not bad."

Priscilla turned to look at Jin with a look of pleasant surprise. Being the closest one to Jin, she could see just how much finesse his movements had.

As someone who was nearing Prince rank herself, she could see through his every move. His power was quite rare and extremely good when dealing with multiple opponents.

"Impressed?"

Her train of thought was interrupted by Jin's voice as he appeared behind her without any warning.

Reaching out with his hand, he grabbed a demon by its throat and clenched his hand tightly, tearing the head off.

Then, moving one of his fingers up, thin threads burst from the ground and enveloped the entire body of the demon, sinking it to the ground.

"Don't flatter yourself."

Priscilla snorted and waved her hand.

WOOOOM—! Immediately, the surrounding space shook, and a tidal wave of demonic energy burst forth from her hand, enveloping several monsters and demons approaching in their direction.

"You're still too early to compete with me."

"You want to bet?"

"On what?"

"On who gets the most kills."

With another snort, Priscilla smirked, and her pink hair started to flutter.

Her crimson eyes shone with a strange power, and every demon and monster near them suddenly slowed down.

Though Jin seemed serious, Priscilla found his actions laughable. After she had shown him her powers, how did he still think that he had a chance against her? Did he have something else up his sleeves? If he did, what was it?

She suddenly grew curious.

"Alright, I'll play with you. What does the winner get?"

"Why are you asking if you already know the answer?"

"I just need to make sure. I've already learned my lesson the last time…"

Feeling her subtle glare, Jin turned his head and pretended to not have heard her words.

'She sure knows how to hold her grudge.'

She… she reminded him of a certain someone.

'Hmm, maybe just not as petty… he's… it's hard to find someone as bad as him.'

Truthfully, he didn't know if such a person existed. Nor did he want to imagine. If such person truly existed, he wouldn't want to meet them.

"When do we start?"

Priscilla's demonic energy started to spread throughout every inch of the area they were in. At the same time, Jin grabbed his two daggers and got into position.

"We can start whenever you're ready."

"I'm ready."

"Okay then…"

The two of them were just about to get ready when, all of a sudden, a voice transmitted into Jin's mind.

—Whatever you're doing, get cover.

"Huh? Who is this?"

Jin looked around in surprise. His actions caught Priscilla's attention, and she teased.

"What's with you? Backing out already?"

"Quiet for a moment."

But Jin's serious expression made her instantly understand that the situation was not as it seemed.

—Jin, if you're hearing this, immediately find cover… Bzzz…

A static sound filled Jin's ears halfway through.

"Hello? What's going on?"

—Bzz.. hide… he is com–bzzz..

"What? He is coming? Who is co–"

Cr… Crack—!

With a sudden distortion of the space above, a subtle cracking sound echoed from above, and the entire planet came to a sudden standstill.

Almost at the same time that happened, Jin turned his head, and his heart stopped. The same went for many of the humans and alliance members fighting, as despair suddenly clouded their minds.

A gentle voice transmitted into the ears of everyone present as a figure stood in the skies.

"You tried your best to delay the inevitable, but…"

With long white hair that fluttered in the wind and two crimson red eyes that looked down upon everything beneath, a figure unlike any other stood above the skies, and as if ink had dropped on paper, the skies began to gradually turn red.

"…I am here."

Chapter 852: So similar, yet so different [2]

As the sun shone high in the sky, illuminating all that was beneath, a foreboding crack split the sky.

Cr— Crack!

It began as a hairline fracture but quickly widened, tearing apart the fabric of reality with an eerie, otherworldly glow.

Gasps of awe and fear echoed through the land as the crack expanded and a terrifying energy swept throughout the earth.

"What's going on?"

"S,something is coming!?"

The fights that were happening beneath stalled, and everyone looked up in utter nervousness and fear.

From the depths of the fissure, an imposing figure emerged, stepping out onto Earth with an air of absolute authority.

Appearing in the sky, Jezebeth exuded an aura of pure darkness, his eyes burning with a malevolent crimson glow that pierced through the world like fiery embers.

His skin was ashen, marred with sinister runes that seemed to pulse with demonic energy. His sharp, angular features were twisted into a small smile that exuded boundless confidence.

He wore a tattered cloak that billowed around him, seemingly made of shadows themselves, swirling and undulating as if alive. His armor was a macabre fusion of metal and cores that glinted with a malevolent light.

Each step he took sent tremors through the ground, causing the very earth to shudder as a result.

As Jezebeth emerged fully from the crack in the sky, he surveyed the land with a sense of authority.

This was the second time he had returned to earth, and just when he thought he'd put an end to everything, things took an unexpected turn, and he was transported out.

Perhaps to buy time, or perhaps something else… It no longer mattered to Jezebeth.

But still, why did he choose to bring him out when he knew full well that their powers could destroy the entire planet?

"Hmm. I hope I'm not too late."

Jezebeth's presence was palpable, radiating a sense of overwhelming power and darkness that seemed to suffocate the very air.

The surrounding flora withered and died in his wake, and the temperature dropped, leaving a frigid chill in the air.

Jezebeth's arrival sent shockwaves through the earth, igniting fear and panic among the alliance members.

"Ha... ha... he, he is here..."

"Ah.. ho,ow are w,we supposed to beat that?"

Some fell to their knees, unable to withstand the sheer weight of his presence, while others rallied to resist, albeit with trembling resolve.

The skies were dyed red, and the earth seemed to tremble.

As everyone's eyes fell on the Demon King, a pair of grayish eyes similarly looked up.

They belonged to Ren, who was currently lying on a patch of green grass, unable to move. Blood leaked from the corner of his mouth, and his body trembled from time to time.

"Time's up..."

He muttered, albeit weakly.

He had done everything he could to delay the inevitable.

Staring at Jezebeth's figure, he saw him turn his head, and their gazes met.

Jezebeth smiled, and though Ren couldn't see clearly, he thought he saw him mouth the words, 'I see you.'

Taking a deep breath, Ren's chest heaved upward, and his eyes gradually came to a close.

When he opened them up again, the entire world had changed.

He was no longer lying down on the patch of grass. He was now standing in an empty world with a cloudless blue sky and a white floor, in which he could see his own reflection in.

When he raised his head, he found a certain figure standing.

"You planned this all out, didn't you?"

There stood someone with whom he was all too familiar with. He looked strikingly similar to him, apart from his eyes and hair which were of different colors.

"Again… and again you play these kinds of tricks as if this is some sort of game that you're playing."

There was a certain something in his voice as he spoke. Closing his eyes, Ren simply let him speak. Whatever he was saying, he wasn't wrong.

"If you want to vent, just vent, but I'll have you know that we don't have much time at our hands."

"You just…"

Opening his eyes again, he found his other self shaking his head. He looked like he wanted to say something. A lot of things. But he forced himself not to.

"I'll satiate your curiosity."

Ren spoke, his eyes focusing on his other self.

"Yes… I indeed knew about everything that was going to happen. Yes, I purposely sent you to the Pillar of Envy first. Yes, I knew that Smallsnake was still alive and purposely sent him to the Pillar of Lust, and yes… I knew that our father was going to die."

Pausing, he added.

"I made sure that last part happened."

Everything went silent after his words.

There was a certain order to his actions. It wasn't hard to predict which of the Pillars Ren would go after: the Pillar of Envy. They followed a certain sequence, which Ren knew his other self would follow.

Death… as sad as it was… was a great motivator for changing someone and making them seek a goal wholeheartedly.

Worrying about how much his actions would impede those within the Pillars and wasting time figuring out how to kill someone was not something that Ren desired.

Time was of the essence, and in order for that to happen, someone had to go.

Deliberating over the matter, he thought that the most appropriate choice was none other than their father.

Someone whose death would have the greatest of impact.

Sending Smallsnake to the last Pillar was also no coincidence. He was his assurance.

An assurance that would stop him from ever turning out like him.

Everything had been planned out from the beginning, and the fact that he stood before him was a testament that his plan had worked.

"I trust you already know why I did what I did, right?"

His words lingered in the air for a brief moment as silence continued to reign over the space where the two of them were.

"You—"

"You're too emotional and soft, right?"

Getting cut all of a sudden left a bitter taste in Ren's mouth, but he nodded his head.

"At least you're self aware."

"I get it."

Surprisingly, he seemed to have accepted the circumstances. When Ren looked at him, he could see an unsettling tranquility in him. It was odd but, at the same time, pleasing to see.

"Are you mad?"

"About what?"

"About the things that I did."

While Ren didn't feel sorry about what he did, he did find his tranquility odd. His next words brought about even more confusion.

"Why would I be?"

"Didn't I—"

"I've already figured you out."

Ren was once again cut off. The bitter taste in his mouth grew, but he once again let it slide. What he said attracted his attention more.

"You've figured me out?"

"Mhm."

Nodding his head, Ren watched as his other self took several steps in his direction.

Tap. Tap.

Within the empty space, the only sound that echoed was the rhythmical sound of his steps moving closer to him, until he eventually stopped a couple of meters away from him.

"My father's not really dead, is he? That feeling I felt before I sent them to Immorra… Where I felt my heart suddenly beat with unease? It was your doing, wasn't it?"

"Ah?"

The sudden question brought about confusion in Ren's mind, but before he could speak, the other version of him spoke once more.

"Deep down… You're not as heartless as you make yourself out to be. When I think about it, at the end of the day, you're still me, and I know myself better than anyone else."

"Especially since I know for a fact that you never had to do this from the very beginning, and if you wanted to, you could've defeated Jezebeth without my help, or me needing to do all the things that I did. Clearly, you were trying to prepare me for something."

Feeling something touch his chest, Ren looked to see a finger pointed at him.

"You never lost your emotions… they've always been there, and you just sealed them to numb yourself from the pain that you felt.

"If you were really as heartless as you make yourself out to be, why did you even bother doing what you did? You had the chance to kill yourself, yet you didn't…"

"Something triggered what you sealed, and hence why you've helped. Everything you did was for something… Perhaps I wasn't ready for whatever you were planning, and you had me absorb all of the laws hidden within the seven heads in order to get ready for whatever you were planning, but Kknowing myself very well, I know you'd never let my… no, our father, die."

For the very first time in quite a long time, Ren found himself unable to speak, and he eventually lowered his head. Slowly, his lips curled, and he shook his head.

"You really…"

"Really what? Huh? It doesn't feel good, does it?"

"It doesn't."

Ren shook his head and almost laughed.

'Is this how he felt whenever I saw through him? It sucks…'

He finally understood how it felt to be seen through, and he had to admit that he really disliked the feeling.

"It's good that you finally realize it."

Feeling his finger move away from his chest, Ren raised his head, and his eyes met with his other self. Looking directly at them, he could see his own reflection in them.

They were so similar yet so strikingly different. Perhaps it was a reflection of who they really were. Two people that looked the same but traveled completely different paths.

He… was the result of everything that could've gone wrong, and 'he' was… the result of everything that could've gone right.

So similar, yet so different.

Chapter 853: So similar, yet so different [3]

Click—

"Uh… I'm fucking exhausted."

The first thing Ren did upon returning from work was lay down on the soft couch in his house.

Feeling his body sink into the sofa, he felt his body slowly relax.

"Yeah… this is how it should be."

The lights were closed, and the only light that filtered through was from the narrow gap of the curtains on his left.

It was quiet around him.

"Hey, brother."

But that quietness was broken by the softly spoken words of a little girl.

A soft smile appeared on Ren's face when he looked at the little girl.

"What is it, Nola?"

In her hand was a small ball, which she handed to him.

"Want to play?"

"Play? At this time?"

Checking his watch, it was 21:00. It was rather late, but seeing the pitiful look on his sister's face, he relented.

"Well… fine."

Picking up his jacket, he left the house alongside Nola.

Click—

"Here!"

The two played catch and throw. When one would throw, the other would catch. A rather simple game.

A gentle breeze blew past the empty park the two were in as the soft giggles of his sister filled the air.

"Hahah…too strong!"

The two played for a long time. Ren had lost track of the time as he immersed himself in the soft giggles of her sister.

"Catc—oh, damn!"

He ended up throwing a little too hard, and the ball flew behind the bushes.

"I'm sorry, Nola!"

He quickly apologized.

"It's fine, brother!"

But the little angel that she was, Nola sweetly smiled and trotted to where the ball fell. Her figure disappeared behind the bushes in the distance.

Ren waited where he was with a soft smile on his face.

He waited for who knows how long. He just stood there, staring at the bushes with a smile.

He didn't know when, but the ball appeared right beneath his feet, but Nola was no longer in sight.

But he just remained where he was and… waited.

Waited there while blankly staring at the ball at his feet.

"Ren! Ren!"

That was when he heard a couple of shouts from the distance.

When he turned his head, he found two familiar figures.

"Mom, dad, you're also here to play?"

"Play?"

Samantha's eyes started to water, and Ronald placed his hand over her shoulder.

"For god's sake, Ren! It's been ten years already! You need to start moving on! You can't just continue coming outside every day after work to stare emptily at a ball!"

With tears dropping from her eyes, Samantha's entire body trembled. Her eyes were swollen red, and she looked to be in pain.

"I, it's time to move on… please. For you and for everyone… you need to m-ove on. You can't be like this!"

"No, but…"

Tuk—

Ren weakly kicked the ball ahead of him.

"Would you believe me if I told you she's the one asking me to come and play with her? Well…"

He shrugged his shoulders.

"What would you know? You died alongside her."

When he turned his head, everything turned quiet as their figures disappeared. Before he knew it, he was standing in the empty park by himself.

"…"

Tuk—

He kicked the ball once more before turning around and heading back home.

"I'll see you again tomorrow."

***

I still remember the first time that I realized that I could travel back in time.

I was excited at first. Recalling the faces of my parents as they died in front of my very eyes and being helpless to help them, I felt something tight pierce my chest.

I was never born talented, and even after regressing, I was no different.

Still, what you couldn't achieve with talent, you could achieve with money. That… was what I thought back then.

It was a naive thought of mine.

Even when I became the richest man in the world, the only thing that I chanced upon was the sight of my parent's deaths.

But that was okay.

Dying once more, I realized that I had once again retained my memories from my previous life. How great?

What I couldn't achieve in the previous two lives, I could do in the third, right?

…Maybe not the third, but what about the fourth?

That didn't work? Really? …What about a fifth time?

Didn't even last as long as the previous times…

Was talent really the key to achieving the perfect ending? The ending in which we survived the calamity and everyone that I cared about survived?

Okay…

I wasn't sure when, but I did develop talent at some point.

The [Seed of Limit] as he called it. I chanced upon it after hearing Kevin speak about it, and my limit was removed.

Great!

I tried again… and again… and again… and again… and again… and again… and again… and again… and again… and again… and again… and again… and again… and again… and again… and again…

[Haha… maybe next time?]

[So close!]

[Ah, I know where I went wrong!]

[Aish! So close!]

[Fuuuuck! I was just about to stab him in the core!]

[Eh?]

[…What did I do wrong this time?]

[Mh? Kevin?]

[What? Why… what?]

[Ah… is it my fault this time?]

[Can he be killed?]

[What? That's bullshit.]

[Where… how did I die?]

[How did I go wrong this time? I killed everyone that stood in my way and took all the cheats for myself…]

[Am I really the problem?]

[I'm not the problem.]

[…He is the problem ]

[Eh…? Why am I back? I killed him!? Why am I suddenly back!??? What???]

[Only Kevin can kill Jezebeth? What?!]

[Why couldn't he kill him?]

[…Why is he so weak?]

[Did I take too many cheats?]

[Why did he fail again? I… I took nothing this time.]

[Fail?]

[This can't be…]

[Again?]

[…]

[…]

[…]

[I did everything... Why won't he kill him?]

[…kill me.]

[I want to die.]

[Why do I even exist?]

[Help?]

[…]

[…]

[…]

[Who am I?]

At a certain point, I lost track of who I was.

Ren Dover? Samantha Dover? Nola Dover? Ronald Dover? Amanda Stern? Jin Horton? Emma Roshfield? Melissa Hall…

Names I was familiar with yet started to fade from my mind.

I was losing track of myself, and I didn't want that. I wanted to cling to whatever was left of them so that I wouldn't lose sight of myself, but…

The more I died and the more I witnessed what I saw… the more my mind numbed.

I felt my emotions slip… myself slip, and I started to change.

I was horrified by what I had become, but at the same time, I embraced who I was.

If it helped me get out of this hell… then so be it.

And so I sealed everything away. My emotions and what made me… me.

I… I just wanted it to end.

I lost count of the times I killed those with whom I was once close with.

I became something… an existence that even the demon king feared, but that was never what I wanted. By now, I just wanted to die… see the end of it.

The tunnel looked endless, and I saw no light in it.

I tasted death so many times that I became familiar with it. The brief moment when I died and regressed became one of the most peaceful and enjoyable moments of my life.

Sometimes I'd just kill myself to relieve such moments. Too bad they were far too short for me to properly enjoy.

It seemed like I was fated to suffer for eternity… and I almost lost hope.

I tried, and tried, and tried, and tried, with no one time ever getting close to the end…

That all changed, however, when I came to learn of everything.

Suddenly, the tunnel, which seemed to be completely dark, shone brilliantly. I didn't hesitate, and I walked toward that tunnel.

It was the light that would finally free me from this hell.

The closer I got, the more liberated I felt, and the moment I crossed it, I found myself standing in an empty world where the floor was white and I could see my reflection in.

In front of me was none other than the existence that came to be due to my actions.

He too… had it rough, but he was everything that I wanted to be.

The perfect version of myself that still had everyone that he cared about and the version of me that would get to live like I always dreamed to live.

"I… am not sorry for what I did, nor will I ever be sorry for what I did."

My efforts were what made this possible.

"I may have been consumed by my goal, and the things that I did to you may have been inexcusable, but… I did what I did in order to free myself from the curse that had been binding me for the many years that I've lived."

Words started to pour out of my mouth as I stared at my other self.

"I've always hated what I've become, but I never regretted becoming what I am today. Circumstances made me who I am today, and I embraced what I've become. I wouldn't know what I'd do if I hated myself when I already hated everything, and everyone around me."

I would've perhaps completely lost it by then and crumbled completely. On many occasions, I was close, but somehow I always retained myself.

If just barely.

"Once again…"

My feet moved on their own, and I soon found myself standing close to my other self. Raising my hand, I placed my finger over his chest like he had done to me moments before.

"…I don't regret any of the actions that I took. I'm not sorry, I will never be sorry, and I will never… ever regret my actions."

I made sure to emphasize this part.

Regret only came to those who felt sad or disappointed with their actions. I didn't feel sad or disappointed with anything that I did.

I was content with what I did.

He was the perfect evidence of it all.

"I did what I did because circumstances made me this way, but all the things I've come to regret in the past… I no longer do."

"Call me crazy, but perhaps… this was all meant to be. Perhaps this endless torture that I went through… perhaps it was all for this moment, and for that…"

A sudden glow spread from my finger and enveloped the other version of me. Closing my eyes, my body started to become lighter, and when I opened them again, I came to realize that my hand had become translucent, almost transparent.

Taking several steps back, I felt light.

Lighter than I ever felt before.

I didn't dislike this feeling. I felt somewhat refreshed… something I hadn't felt in a very long time—and for some reason, I felt somewhat relieved.

'Yeah… this is how it's meant to be. What a life I had… huh?'

Unknowingly, the edges of my lips curled. Turning my attention back toward my other self, who seemed to be deeply absorbed in what I gave him, I felt my lips curl up once more.

"Yeah… This is how it's meant to be…"

The last thing I saw were tiny speckles of light that rose into the air.

Finally… for the first time in a long time… I felt at peace.

My hell… it was finally over.

***

When I opened my eyes again, I was met with countless tiny speckles of light that floated in the air and moved up.

Staring at the floating speckles, I felt a myriad of different emotions course through my mind at that moment. In the end, all I could do was lower my head.

"As much as I hated you… I guess I understand where you're coming from."

Staring at my very own reflection, I noticed that there was no difference in how I looked. My hair was the same color as it had always been, and my eyes were the same deep blue.

That… of course, was the only thing that remained the same.

Clenching and unclenching my fist, I felt power radiating through every part of my body. Knowledge that I had never known before flooded my mind, and the powers within my body started to calm down.

I felt… in complete harmony with myself, and never before did I feel so in tune with the world around me.

Although it was faint, I could also feel something extra in the air.

It was within arms' length, yet at the same time, far from my reach.

'Is this the power that Jezebeth is so obsessed with?'

The Records… for the very first time, I could feel them, and they were far closer than they had ever been. I could feel immense power radiating from them, and I finally understood why Jezebeth sought such power so desperately.

'So long as I beat Jezebeth…'

Cra— Crack! Raising my hand, the space around me started to collapse, revealing a crimson-colored world. Taking a step forward, the space around me changed, and a familiar figure appeared in front of me.

Our eyes met at that moment, and the world stopped moving.

Chapter 854: The Last Battle – What is an end is also a beginning [1]

Why do I exist?

It was the question that Jezebeth had wondered about ever since he was a young boy.

He wasn't sure why, but for some reason, he became obsessed with understanding the reason for his existence.

Jezebeth had grown up hearing the same phrases over and over again: "mistakes," "spawns that shouldn't have existed," and so forth, as a member of a race that was constantly under attack and hunted by the other races and Protectors.

It was enough to make anyone wonder if they were really just a mistake, a product of a creator who had made a fatal error.

Perhaps...

Perhaps they really were right, and they were indeed a mistake.

But how could the creator make a mistake?

That was the question that plagued Jezebeth the most.

If there was a creator, then surely everything that existed was part of their plan, right? And yet, if that were the case, why were they constantly hunted and oppressed?

Jezebeth refused to accept that they were just mistakes to be hunted and destroyed like vermin.

He wanted to find a purpose; no, he desired to find a purpose. A reason for their existence that went beyond simply being a target for those who saw them as inferior.

His thoughts were further reinforced the moment he managed to survive the attacks of the Protectors and got his hands on the first fragment.

Ever since that moment, everything changed for him, and instead of being the hunted, he became the hunter.

He conquered planet after planet, eradicating those who had once hunted his kind and creating contracts with those who were willing to submit.

Like a tyrant, he became the most powerful being in the known universe. There was no one strong enough to oppose him.

He had become the laws itself.

And then, just as he was about to achieve his goal, everything reset. He found himself going back in time with nothing to show for all his efforts.

'That's fine; I can do it again.'

At first, he was undeterred. He would simply gather the fragments again, he told himself, and this time he would succeed. But as the years passed and he found himself caught in a never-ending cycle of regression and recollection, he began to lose hope.

Kevin. He was the anchor the Records had created in order to rewind time. Kevin's birth was the moment they discovered his power and wanted to rid him of it.

Unfortunately, they had discovered him too late and couldn't reverse time to the point where he had just started to rise to power.

They could only make do with the anchor they created.

That suited well with Jezebeth. After all, by then, he was strong enough to deal with the constant regressions.

But...

'No... why? What is it this time?'

Every time Jezebeth believed he had discovered his reason for being and came closer to his goal, it would all slip through his fingers like sand.

Jezebeth was a patient person, but even his patience had its limits.

He grew frustrated with the never-ending game of cat and mouse, with the universe seeming to conspire against him at every turn.

And yet, he refused to give up.

He knew that the answers he sought were out there, somewhere, waiting for him to uncover them. He would keep searching and fighting until he found them. For Jezebeth, there was no other option.

There was no turning back for him.

He was already too far gone into his obsession.

Cr— Crack! Coming out of the crack, Jezebeth found himself in front of a familiar world. The last world, as he called it.

Looking down, he could see the looks of fear and dread coming from the humans and those from the other races. Such looks were something he had grown accustomed to, and he paid little attention to them.

His eyes darted around the world, looking for a certain someone.

"There he is…"

And he soon found him. He lay down on a patch of grass with his eyes closed. He looked to be sleeping soundly, and his face seemed at utter peace.

It was a strange sight to see, especially for Jezebeth, who had known him for quite a long time.

Gradually, his eyelids opened up, revealing a pair of pristine blue eyes. His ashen white hair turned black, and his chest moved up once.

Turning his head, their eyes met, and everything around them came to a sudden standstill. In the blink of an eye, he appeared right before his very eyes, and the two of them just stared at each other.

Seeing that there was something different about the Ren in front of him, Jezebeth decided to break the silence and ask, "Which one of the two are you?"

"Does it matter?"

"…I guess not."

Indeed, be it this Ren or the other Ren, it really didn't matter to Jezebeth. What he cared for was something else, and he planned on eliminating whatever stood in his way.

In fact, Jezebeth believed that things were easier now. Although he didn't outright say it, he could tell that he was up against the inferior version of Ren.

'Did something go wrong with his plans, or were my deductions wrong?'

He was still feeling a little unsettled in the corner of his heart, but there was nothing he could do about it at the moment.

Rumble! Rumble!

The sky began to quake as it slowly started to fold together. The space around them started to crumble, and something dark started to come out of Jezebeth's body, slowly enveloping the sky above.

Staring at Ren, Jezebeth's crimson eyes rippled, his soft voice echoing throughout like soft whispers.

"We should end this, shouldn't we?"

"Yeah…"

BOOOM—!

Neither one of the two moved, but everything in front of them started to collapse, and the world started to quake.

***

"If you care for your life, run and take cover!"

A sudden shout snapped those beneath them out of their reverie as a look of horror replaced their expressions.

"Liam, Monica, and everyone that can… try to set up barriers to withstand the aftermath of the attack between the two!"

It was Amanda who was barking the orders as her gaze continued to move toward where Ren was. There was visible worry on her face, but she tried her best not to show it.

There was something more important that she had to do at the moment.

…Something that was even more important than her very own life.

"Ryan, if you can, try to communicate with as many people as possible and tell them to move where the safe spots are. Tell them that if they can't defend themselves, they must go there!"

"What about the demons? Do you think they'll let that happen?"

Ryan rebutted while silently throwing a handful of small drones from his hand, which soon scattered in the air and transmitted his message.

"…Don't you think that the demons will try to use this chance to attack us? Sticking together… I don't think it's a very good idea."

"Do you think they even have time to worry about others when they'll be annihilated by the aftermath of their fight?"

It seemed like Ryan was still unaware of the scale of the battle that was about to take place. She didn't blame him for it, but at the same time, she was frustrated by it.

Still, she didn't show it and just rebutted him calmly.

"You'll see once the two start… once they start, the thing they'll be worried about the most is their life, not ours…"

Amanda could only feel dread at the thought of their fight, but she was quick to dispel such thoughts. Reminding Ryan once again to do as she said, she looked around and looked for the highest point she could find.

Her eyes soon paused on a tall skyscraper that was still somehow intact.

Without wasting a single second, she rushed toward it, and within seconds she was already upon it.

"Hap."

Arriving at the building, her feet pressed against the side of the building, and she walked up the building, her legs jumping from window to window. She was extremely agile, and in a matter of seconds, she was already right at the top of the building.

'This is good enough.'

It was a great vintage point, and when she looked up, she could see Ren's features more clearly. Unlike before, he looked normal… how he always looked, and he stood facing the Demon King face to face.

They seemed to be exchanging a few words amongst each other, but she was too far away to even hear what they were saying.

Not that she cared.

"Huu."

Amanda took a few deep breaths, retrieved her bow, and then closed her eyes.

While she pulled against the string of her bow, there was no arrow to be seen, and the bow remained empty throughout the entire process. However, a certain power began to radiate out of her body and begin to take on an almost otherworldly appearance.

Her right eye shone with a red light, and faint blue circles appeared behind her. Taking another breath, her presence completely disappeared, and her gaze locked onto Jezebeth's figure.

Right as she locked her gaze on him, the world around them started to collapse, and…

BOOOM—!

The world started to quake.

Chapter 855: The Last Battle – What is an end is also a beginning [2]

BOOOM—!

I don't quite remember what happened after the world around me collapsed and an explosion sounded.

I just felt something press against my body, and at the same time, my body was thrown a great distance away from where I had been.

Everything happened so fast that I barely had time to process it.

That being said, I was in no pain. It didn't hurt, and sensing something on my right, I turned my head and swiped my finger in the air.

Crack!

A fissure formed in the space next to me, revealing a white hand behind it.

But just as it was about to open, the space twisted, and the tear moved forward several meters away.

The hand did come out, but it clenched at nothing but the air.

Touching my sword, the space right next to the hand distorted, and a sword projection appeared. It tore through the air and aimed at the exposed hand.

Unfortunately, I was just a tad bit too late, as the hand had already vanished before my sword could get to it.

Swoosh—! A subtle breeze blew past in the air, and I turned my head to look to my right. I felt something over there, but I couldn't quite tell what it was.

'Ah, I see.'

Channeling the laws within my body and waving my hand once, the space in front of me folded like a piece of paper, and a beam passed through to the two ends of the fold.

It was quite the bizarre sight, but the more familiar I became with the laws, the more I realized how endless the possibilities were…

It felt as though I could control everything.

"You're quite good at handling the laws. I've never seen him use them before, so how did you manage to pick up on them so fast?"

A gentle voice tickled my ear, and my head snapped backward.

Jezebeth's head peaked from the crack, his crimson eyes glistening with brilliant light. Almost immediately after that, I felt my body freeze, and Jezebeth stepped out into the open.

Emerging from the crack, my vision suddenly filled with more than a thousand different holographic representations of him.

'The chip is useless…'

I tried to anticipate what he would do next by analyzing his muscle movements and determining where his eyes were looking with the help of the chip in my head; however, it quickly became apparent to me that the chip was incapable of dealing with the entity in front of me.

The same was true for practically all my other skills.

[Monarch Indifference], [The One], [Memory Manipulation], [Dark Servant], [Eyes of Chronos]… Nothing worked anymore.

All I could rely on at the moment were my abilities and comprehension of the laws.

"Don't struggle… Let this be the end of my tourment."

A finger moved through the air and drew near the space between my eyebrows. It looked slow, but I knew better that it was moving at speeds that one couldn't fathom.

"I'm sorry, but I'll have to disappoint."

Breaking the restrictions on my body wasn't hard.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

As scales began to form all over my body and cover half of my face, I felt something grow behind my back, and all of a sudden, demonic energy erupted from within my body.

In light of the fact that the energy that was wreaking havoc on my body and containing me in place was demonic energy, directly exposing the demonic energy within my body, I was able to free myself from the restraints and move back, narrowly escaping his finger in the process.

"Hm?"

The rush of demonic energy was so sudden and powerful that it stunned Jezebeth, leaving him at a loss for words.

"Did you…"

He looked at me from top to bottom, his lips curling faintly as he tried to comprehend what he was seeing.

"To go this far… I don't know whether to call you stupid, or be impressed with your actions."

Jezebeth's crimson eyes shone with a brilliant hue, and the blood in my body started to boil. I felt an immense pressure bearing down on every inch of my body, causing the edges of my vision to turn black.

"Uakh."

The pain was unbearable, and I let out a groan as I tried to endure it.

Swoosh—!

He appeared right in front of me.

"I couldn't sense it before since 'he' managed to hide it well, but now that I see you in front of me, I'm starting to wonder what exactly went through your head when you decided to ingest demonic blood into your body… are you not aware of the fact that I can suppress just about any bloodline that exists?"

I struggled to say the words, but I managed to answer him.

"I, I know…," I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

I knew what he was trying to say, but I had done it out of necessity, out of a hunger for pure power. It was a risky decision, but it was one that I didn't regret.

Jezebeth lifted an eyebrow in surprise as he stared at me.

"You see…," I said, as I lifted my head up and looked him straight in the eye.

"The fragments weren't the only things that I took from the Seven heads when I killed them."

I had taken their blood as well. I knew something like this would've happened had I not done so.

I pressed both of my hands together, and the space above and beneath Jezebeth started to fold and tremble. Suddenly, two projections depicting two large palms appeared out of thin air, threatening to squeeze Jezebeth on the spot.

WAAAAANG—! The sudden attack took Jezebeth aback, and he squeezed his fist, forming a barrier around him.

My palms were opened, and the projections immediately followed suit, imitating my every action.

While focusing on the barrier that surrounded him, I gently twisted my hands apart and made a squeezing motion. In response to the movements I made, the projections pressed against his barrier from the top to the bottom.

Cr— Crack!

As a result of the projections' intense pressure, cracks started to appear on the barrier that was surrounding Jezebeth.

"Akhhh…"

I clenched my teeth and suppressed my groan as best I could.

The pain was excruciating, and I poured everything I had into those projections that were squeezing at the barrier revolving around him.

Mana, Demonic energy… I poured everything into them, and for a moment I thought that it was working, but soon, I noticed that the cracks that had formed around the barrier were starting to heal themselves, and I clenched my teeth even harder.

"…Still not enough?"

Fine…

Suddenly, complex runes of golden color appeared on the fingers of the projections, and I felt my entire body tremble with pain that was unlike any other. But I bore it and poured everything I had into the projections. Crack after crack started to form around the barrier, expanding with each passing moment.

"Uaaaakh!!!"

Crack. Crack. Crack.

Finally, the cracks revolving around the barrier expanded, and I could see Jezebeth's expression within the barrier change.

But it was already too late.

Cra— Crash—! The barrier shattered into thousands of shards that spread across the sky, and the two projections came crashing down on Jezebeth's figure. Almost immediately after that, a nebula of residual energy floated across the sky, expanding rapidly toward my surroundings.

"Haaa… haaa…"

I was having trouble breathing, and I could feel a lot of my energy leaving my body at that very moment, but as I stared at the location where Jezebeth had been, I felt hope... hope that perhaps, I had been able to accomplish something.

That hope, however, did not last for long.

The moment the residual energy dissipated and the sky cleared up, my heart sank.

There, standing in the sky, was none other than Jezebeth, who looked no different than he did before.

His eyes were calm, his complexion was the same, and his clothes and armor were completely untouched. The way he looked almost made it seem as though nothing had happened, and something clamped at my throat as my heart sank.

'W… what? How?'

I was in denial. I had poured almost everything that I had into that moment, and yet, despite everything that I had done, he was still completely unharmed?

H… how was I supposed to accept that?

"Uh?"

But just as I was about to despair over the situation, I suddenly noticed a subtle trickle down the side of his mouth.

It was black and looked like blood.

...and the moment it started to trickle down, Jezebeth's complexion paled dramatically, and he brought his hand toward his mouth.

"Pftt."

He tried to hide it, but he failed, and right at that moment, I witnessed as black blood leaked from the gap between his fingers.

My heart skipped a beat at that moment, and the previous misgivings I had disappeared. It seemed like my attack did, in fact, have an effect on him.

"Good."

I clenched my hand, channeling all the powers within my body.

Since it worked, I needed to continue. Even if the price was my body.

Chapter 856: The Last Battle – What is an end is also a beginning [3]

'I'm hurt?'

Staring at his hands, which were soaked in his own blood, Jezebeth was left in wonder. He hadn't expected his attack to be as devastating as it had been.

If not for his armor, he probably would've sustained heavier injuries.

It came from out of nowhere, and he was barely able to resist it. Raising his head to stare at Ren, who was huffing and puffing, Jezebeth felt something boiling inside of him.

'Right… It's not good if I don't reciprocate his intentions.'

Seeing that the attack had taken a toll on him, Jezebeth suppressed his injuries and forced himself forward. With a subtle blur of his vision, he saw Ren's back in front of him, and he reached out with his palm forward.

Golden runes enveloped his palm, and the space around his hand shattered.

A blade immediately blocked the hand just as it was about to reach Ren's back. He didn't know when, but Ren had suddenly turned around and slashed with his sword.

The two stared at each other silently as the space around them started to crumble.

There were no words exchanged with each other like before. Neither left any time to spare any words as they distanced themselves from each other and attacked one another.

BOOOM—! The attacks were devastating, shattering the space around them and creating large waves in the air that spread throughout the entire sky.

Everything beneath them tore apart, and the land disintegrated at their every exchange.

Neither of the two held any advantage. While Jezebeth was indeed injured from the previous strike, Ren had exhausted himself in the process, evening things out.

SHIIIIIIING—!

A bright glow of terrifying pressure suddenly headed Jezebeth's way. It was fast—extremely so. In a matter of seconds, it was upon him, and just as it was about to graze his nose, Jezebeth placed his palm against the side of the glow, and the glow shattered into a fine dust.

Swoosh!

Sensing something behind him, Jezebeth's body twisted as he kicked, and his foot hit something soft.

"Umpf!"

Overhearing something, Jezebeth knew that his hit had landed, and when he came to, he saw Ren's figure hurl away from him in the sky.

He didn't waste a single second of that moment.

Locking his eyes on Ren's figure, Jezebeth pressed his finger forward, and a gigantic crack formed a couple of meters ahead of Ren.

A large projection of his finger appeared from within the crack, and as if it had been timed just right, it moved down and directly pressed against Ren's moving figure.

BOOOM—!

The attack landed squarely on Ren's body, and he spat a mouthful of blood as his body continued to hurl away from Jezebeth.

Ren's body took the full force of the attack, and as his body continued to fly away from him, he spat out a mouthful of blood and coughed up more.

Jezebeth did not pass up such an opportunity and followed him from behind, eventually appearing right in front of him and pressing his hand against his face as he did so.

Swoosh—!

Attempting to contort his body and evade Jezebeth's hand, Ren acted swiftly but fell slightly short. His efforts proved futile as Jezebeth's hand firmly made contact with his face and grasped onto it tightly.

BANG—!

Exerting an immense force, Jezebeth's hand unleashed a surge of power, propelling Ren's body through the air with great momentum. Seizing the opportunity without hesitation, Jezebeth swiftly positioned himself directly beneath Ren, extending his knee in a forceful thrust.

"Aukh!"

Spit flew from Ren's mouth as he landed directly on Jezebeth's knee.

Though faint, Jezebeth could make out a faint cracking sound, and he knew that Ren had sustained some injuries.

Still… He didn't let go.

Jezebeth wasn't the type of person to show mercy to those against him.

Grabbing Ren by the hair, he raised his head toward him and punched at his face.

BANG—!

His fist landed squarely in his face.

BANG—!

He didn't stop at just one punch.

BANG—!

Jezebeth's fist was encased in a white and black glow as he continued to punch Ren's face with all of his strength while simultaneously driving his fist further forward.

BANG—!

It wasn't long before his fist was coated in Ren's blood as it dripped down from his fist.

The warm, viscous fluid trickled down, forming streams that traced intricate patterns along his fingers, carrying with it the evidence of the fierce impact.

A metallic scent filled the air, mingling with the intensity of the moment, as Jezebeth's resolute gaze remained fixed upon the sight.

The sight of Ren's blood became a stark reminder of all the struggle he had to go through just to get to this point, etching a lasting impression upon Jezebeth's conscience even as the battle raged on.

Extending his hand forward and staring at Ren's limping figure in front of him, Jezebeth tried to reach out with his hand to absorb the laws in his body, but just as he tried, as Jezebeth's hand inched closer, a sudden rift materialized in the surrounding space, originating from the vicinity of his arm.

Within the crevice, a spectral manifestation of a sword took shape, its gleaming presence amplifying the already charged atmosphere.

WIIIIIIIIING—!

Jezebeth was left with no other option, so he let go of Ren's body as it descended from the sky.

Not satisfied with what he did, Jezebeth pressed his hands together, and that was when two large projections manifested around the area Ren was in.

They moved closer together and pressed directly onto Ren's body which was falling down from the sky.

BOOOOM—!

With one gigantic explosion, Ren's figure came crashing down from the sky, landing against the ground beneath and creating a massive crater in the land.

'That should have done something.'

Standing where he was, Jezebeth could hear the sudden gasp of anxiety coming from those beneath. He didn't pay much attention to them and took a single step forward.

Feeling his feet touch the ground, he looked down, and that was where he caught sight of Ren lying down in the middle of the crater. His clothes were a mess, and so was his hair.

Blood leaked down from the side of his mouth, and his eyes seemed hazy.

Despite that, his eyes were wide open, and they were locked directly at him.

WIIIING—!

As expected.

The moment Jezebeth arrived, the ground beneath him trembled, and something flashed right behind him. Twisting his body, Jexezbeth was just barely able to avoid the incoming attack, but just as he did, a hand came grasping at his head, and he felt it smash against the hard ground beneath.

BAANG—!

Feeling the taste of dirt in his mouth, Jezebeth felt something tug at the back of his head, and his head was brought up once more before he saw the ground coming closer to him once more.

BAANG—!

A familiar taste. One that he didn't particularly like, but as he tried to move his body, his head was pulled at again, and once again, his head came smacking against the hard ground beneath.

BAANG—!

It hurt quite a bit as his vision blurred. Reaching out with his hand, he grasped at the forearm that was grasping at his hand, and he squeezed with everything that he could.

Cra— Crack! The sound was similar to the sound of bones breaking, and whatever was grasping at his head let go, and Jezebeth was able to move away.

Recovering his bearing, Jezebeth caught sight of Ren's arm, which was bent at a weird angle and limping.

He smiled at the sight and decided to go on the offensive again. As if he was going to let such an opportunity go to waste.

Seeing that his right arm was injured, Jezebeth aimed for Ren's right side.

Swoosh!

Appearing with a sudden breeze, he aimed a punch directly at the side of Ren's exposed abdomen. Complex golden runes manifested all over his hand, and wherever his hand passed, the space around it shattered.

BANG—!

Coming into contact with something, the space crumbled, and a large explosion reverberated. Dust flew into the air, blocking his vision, but with one swipe of his hand, the dust settled, and when he looked to see the aftermath of his attack, he was surprised to see his fist hitting against the side of Ren's knee, which was raised up in front of him.

Just like his fist, complex golden runes revolved around Ren's thigh.

Swoosh!

A fist came hurling at him from above, and Jezebeth retrieved his fist back and counterattacked with a kick, which Ren avoided by bending his body back.

BANG—!

The aftereffects of their attack destroyed everything that was around them, and before they knew it, the crater that they were in had become even deeper.

They had traveled to such a great depth that the light that was coming from the sky above them began to dim, and all that they were able to see was a tiny gap above them.

Still, neither cared as they continued to fight against each other.

BANG—!

Ren's fist managed to land directly on Jezebeth's face, sending him crashing against the ground. Ren took the moment to distance himself from him and retrieve his sword.

Rumble! Rumble!

The air that was close to him began to twist, and all of a sudden, a powerful force erupted from out of his body and engulfed everything that was in its path.

Cr— Crack!

A crack formed in the area above him, and the tip of a sword appeared from behind the gap.

Almost immediately after the tip appeared, the ground began to crack, and the air started to shatter.

Despite the fact that Ren's complexion began to gradually pale at the sight of the sword, and the mana that was contained within his body began to drain at a rapid rate, he did not give up and continued to call forth the sword.

"Ukh!"

He gritted his teeth, and his expression started to distort. Even so, his efforts began to pay off, and the sword quickly began to appear from behind the chasm, revealing its body in all of its glory.

The moment the sword appeared, the area surrounding them came to a sudden standstill, and the world around them started to lose color.

Creack! Creak!

Ren could hear his bones creaking under the immense pressure that the sword was producing, but he didn't care and fixed his eyes on Jezebeth, who was staring at the sword in front of him with deep apprehension.

"Go."

Opening his palm, he pointed his finger at Jezebeth, and the sword moved toward him.

Rumble! Rumble!

The surroundings shook massively, and the earth around them collapsed. Wherever the sword passed, it would leave nothing but destruction behind.

Yet, amidst the cacophony and devastation, Jezebeth maintained an unwavering composure, fixating his gaze upon the approaching sword with an eerie calmness.

In a gesture that defied the imminent danger, he gradually closed his eyes, succumbing to a serene stillness that permeated both his external surroundings and the recesses of his own mind.

At first glance, he looked to have given up, but Ren knew... he knew that this was not the case.

A pregnant silence descended upon the world, intertwining with the tranquility of Jezebeth's demeanor.

When his eyes finally unveiled their vision once more, Jezebeth found himself inexplicably positioned directly behind the sword, his hand instinctively reaching out to make contact with its hilt.

"..."

*Grip*

The ensuing sequence of events left Ren utterly dumbfounded as the unstoppable momentum of the sword abruptly halted under Jezebeth's unwavering grip.

Time seemed suspended, allowing for the gravity of the situation to sink in, as the sixth movement, the most powerful movement in his arsenal, found itself tamed by the sheer force of Jezebeth's will.

However, the astonishment didn't end there.

"Argkhhhhh!"

With an abrupt cry that pierced the air, the armor encasing Jezebeth's body shattered, revealing the raw, sinewy contours of his musculature beneath.

His bulging muscles pulsated with an imposing presence, exuding an aura of formidable power.

Fixing his penetrating gaze silently upon Ren, Jezebeth's hand began to move with a deliberate purpose, manipulating the sword's trajectory until it aligned menacingly with Ren, its tip pointing directly at him like a harbinger of impending doom.

"I.. h… how?!"

Staring at the tip of his own sword, Ren was left utterly shocked, and his face turned white.

Unfortunately for Ren, he did not have the luxury of continuing to dwell on the matter for too long, and as he clenched his teeth, power began to erupt from his body as veins began to protrude along the sides of his neck.

The sword shattered into hundreds of pieces, and he puked up blood. He had no choice but to cancel his own move.

"Pfttt."

He stumbled a couple of steps back as a result, and it was right then that he felt something head his way.

Out of pure instinct, he moved his hand away from his mouth and punched forward.

BANG—!

His fist landed squarely against another, and he was pushed several steps back. He felt his blood boil at the collision, but he bore through the pain and pushed himself forward.

He thrust a kick forward.

BANG—!

His kick once again connected with something, and the surroundings crumbled apart.

BANG—!

This went on for quite a while until, eventually, Jezebeth opened his mouth, and muttered.

"Seal."

Chains burst from beneath the ground and coiled around Ren's body like snakes. The chains came from everywhere. Above him, the side of the crater, and beneath the ground, coiling around every part of his body and trapping him like a cocoon.

A faint white glow manifested around his body as complex golden runes covered his entire body. The chains that were surrounding him showed signs of cracking, but they didn't break immediately, and that was what Jezebeth was looking for.

Taking advantage of that moment, he appeared right in front of Ren and punched directly toward his abdomen.

BANG—!

A clean hit. Landing his fist against his abdomen, Jezebeth watched as Ren's expression distorted with pain, and his body floated up. The chains that were binding his body shattered, and his figure hurled up into the sky, coming out from the hole they were in.

Stepping forward, Jezebeth's vision shifted, and when he looked down, he saw Ren's body coming at him from below.

Extending his hand forward, he opened up his palm. Golden runes appeared all over his hand, and just as Ren's body was about to come crashing against his palm, his figure suddenly disappeared.

Swoosh!

It all happened so fast that Jezebeth was barely able to react.

Struck by an overwhelming force that jolted against the side of his cheek, Jezebeth's vision distorted, spinning wildly as he found himself hurtling uncontrollably toward the ground below.

The speed of his descent was nothing short of astonishing; a faint vapor cloud appeared behind him as he fell.

"!!"

As he cast his gaze downward, his eyes widened in disbelief at the sight that awaited him—a vast multitude of sword projections adorned with intricate golden runes erupted from the very ground, their razor-sharp tips ominously aimed at him.

The sheer magnitude of the spectacle sent shockwaves through Jezebeth's core, forcing him to employ every available resource in his arsenal to halt his descent before meeting the deadly convergence of the sword projections.

"Ukh!"

In a desperate display of acrobatics, he managed to halt himself mere inches away from the lethal array, a narrow escape that left his core pounding with anxiety.

However, before he could fully savor his fleeting victory, an unforeseen assault struck him from behind, ravaging his body with searing pain that reverberated through every fiber of his being.

BANG—!

A resounding impact echoed through the air, accompanied by an involuntary cry of pain that escaped Jezebeth's lips.

"Akhhh!"

Every inch of his body felt the intrusion as sharp objects pierced his flesh, puncturing his arms and legs and staining the ground with his own blood.

Overwhelmed by the excruciating agony that consumed him, he gritted his teeth, suppressing his pained groans by a thread.

The intensity of the pain threatened to overwhelm him entirely, yet through sheer resilience, he managed to maintain a semblance of control, and he shut his mouth.

Screaming was a waste of energy.

"Ukh."

With his forearm forward, Jezebeth moved his body up and felt the sharp ends of the projections through his arms, legs, and chest. He was pierced almost everywhere, but thankfully, none of the spikes had managed to hit him in his core, which was still intact.

Clenching his fist, the sword projections around him shattered completely, and Jezebeth immediately felt better. Despite that, he didn't let his guard down, and noticing a certain shadow right above his head; he hastily moved his head to the side.

BANG—!

He was glad he did, as immediately after he moved his head, a foot came crashing against where he previously was, stomping at the ground beneath.

"Arkh."

Right as the foot landed, Jezebeth pulled his hand forward and grabbed at the foot, clenching with all his might.

Crack!

Immediately, bones cracked, and Ren started to fall down next to him. Suppressing his pain and bringing his leg up, Jezebeth helped himself up and elbowed Ren cleanly in the face.

BANG—! The hit was clean, and immediately after his elbow came crashing against the side of his face, Ren became disoriented. Jezebeth didn't waste the opportunity, and despite the pain that was tormenting his body, he raised his hand and punched his face.

BANG—! His fist missed, but at the same time that he punched with his fist, he brought his head down, and their heads smacked against one another.

BANG—!

His head throbbed massively at his action, and Jezebeth felt disoriented, but the same could be said for Ren, who seemed to have lost consciousness for a split second.

BANG—!

Clenching his fist, Jezebeth landed a hit directly in his face, smacking his head to the side. The fist sent Ren's head moving to the other side, and Ren's eyes turned white at that moment.

The sight made Jezebeth's body tremble as excitement started to course down every fiber of his being, and he swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

'I'm close… I'm almost there…'

He could feel Ren's breath weakening with his fist and smacking his head once again; Jezebeth felt Ren's breath almost drop to a pitiful low.

Bang—!

Bang—!

Bang—!

Bang—!

Bang—!

'Yes… I can feel it…'

Ren's lips were busted, and blood leaked from his head and lips. Extending his hand forward, Jezebeth brought his hand to Ren's face, and chains burst from beneath the ground, binding Ren at his arms and legs.

Clank! Clank! Clank!

Sealing his every movement, Jezebeth clenched Ren's face with his hand. Taking a small breath, he tried to feel for the laws within his body, and when he did feel them, his body trembled once more.

'Come to me.'

A white glow burst from Ren's body all of a sudden, and the surroundings started to quake.

Rumble—! Rumble—!

Power started to enter Jezebeth's body, and his surroundings flashed between earth and what seemed to be an enormous library. The entire library was covered in an ethereal glow, and right toward the very distance, he could see a small patio made out of wood and surrounded by glass.

There… he saw a book lying down on top of a small altar, and Jezebeths' breath stopped.

'The Records…'

Never before had he been able to see them so clearly, and for a moment, he didn't know what to do as his mind blanked.

When he came to, he found that his surroundings were back to normal and that his hand was still grasping at Ren, whose entire body was extremely husky. Almost as if everything had been sucked out of him.

All the power that Ren previously had was gone, and silence predominated their surroundings.

Weakly, Ren opened his eyes to expose his two blue eyes, and their eyes locked. For the first time in a while, Jezebeth opened his mouth and spoke to him.

"…if it had been the other you, perhaps things might've ended differentl—"

WIIIIIIIIIIING—! But just as Jezebeth was about to suck the very last bit of the laws that were contained within Ren's body, he felt something powerful coming from behind him, and when he turned his head, he was shocked to see a white streak covered in golden runes head his way.

"What?!"

Shocked, Jezebeth tried to move, but two hands grasped at his forearms. When he looked down, his gaze met Rens.

"You… let go!"

Jezebeth tried to free himself from the grasp, but he was baffled to see that his grip was extremely tight, preventing him from moving.

"Let go! H… how is this possible? How do you still have power left?!"

Panic started to spread across Jezebeth's face as he tried to free himself from his grip, but Ren just refused to let go, and soon his mouth parted open.

"Indeed… i..f it had been the other me, the result would've been completely different."

His voice was weak and frail. As if it was about to break at any moment, but his eyes seemed clearer than ever.

"Let… let go!"

"…Unlike him, I don't work alone."

WAAAAAAAAAANG—! The world turned white.

Chapter 857: The Last Battle – What is an end is also a beginning [4]

'I won't bother creating a signal for you. I'm sure you'll know best when using the arrow, but… don't use it unless you're certain it's going to hit… I trust you'll know the exact moment when to release the arrow, and you only have one shot, so… make sure it counts…'

Standing at the top of the building with her empty bow drawn, Amanda kept reminding herself of the words that Ren had thrown at her just moments before leaving for one of the Pillars.

Right before her very eyes, a battle of a scale that she couldn't fathom was happening, and all she could do was stare at it with her breath held tightly.

'How am I supposed to interfere in that?'

Amanda kept wondering to herself the same thing over and over again as sweat trickled down the side of her face and her grip on the bow tightened.

BANG—! BANG—! The aftermath of their battle reached all the way where she was, and a strong wind pressure blew past her, scattering her hair away. She had to channel her mana on her feet in order to remain in the same spot, and when everything cleared up, she noticed a sudden change in the battle ahead.

"Oh, no…"

Amanda's heart clenched at the sight of Ren getting pummeled by the Demon King, who punched him directly in the face and tore the earth beneath the two.

Immediately, the circular projections behind her started to line up—from largest to smallest—and her entire body started to tremble.

She was just about to call forth her arrow when she was once again reminded of Ren's words, and she stopped herself.

'Not yet…'

The time wasn't ripe yet, and she knew it.

BANG—! Seeing Jezebeth punch him again, Amanda flinched but didn't look away and kept her gaze fixed on him. More than ever, she wanted to interfere, but she stopped herself again and silently clenched her teeth.

With another hit, Amanda watched as the Demon King placed his hand over Ren's face, exposing his back to her. Shortly after, a familiar set of golden runes manifested on his hand.

The same happened to Ren, whose face became colored in golden runes that slowly moved away from his face and moved to the Demon King's hand. The world around them started to twist.

Rather quickly, Ren's body started to shrivel up like a mummy, and Amanda could no longer sit still.

Placing her foot forward, she drew a silent breath, and an arrow manifested on her bow. Immediately after the arrow appeared, soft whispers echoed in the air, and golden runes floated around the area she was in.

Her bow became increasingly heavy, and Amanda felt her entire body burn at that moment as she watched her hands age. Even so, despite the pain she was experiencing, her gaze was fixed on Jezebeth's exposed back.

At the same time this was happening, Ren's body started to shrivel up more and more, and right when he seemed to be on the verge of dying, Amanda finally let go of the string.

TWAAAA—!

She was unable to recall exactly what occurred after that, but the moment she let go of the string, her bow disintegrated into a fine powder that dispersed in front of her, and the world around her became entirely white.

What followed after was a strange silence that seemed to envelop the entire world. The world soon regained its color, but…

It was unfortunate that right as that happened, her world turned white and she felt her body limp forward.

Thump—!

***

TWAAANG—!

Suddenly, the world went white, and Jezebeth felt a sharp pain in his back. His entire body shook violently, and pain, unlike anything he had ever experienced, coursed through every part of his body.

"Y,you…"

When he lowered his head, he saw Ren staring at him while smiling weakly. With both hands on his forearms, a glow emanated from them, and Jezebeth could feel the laws erupting from Ren's body.

"Akh."

It seemed as though something was sapping all of the energy from within his body, and he could literally feel himself becoming weaker with each passing second.

On the other hand, Ren's body started to become fuller and fuller, and gradually he returned to his normal looks.

'I can't…'

Feeling everything that he had worked hard for slip before his very eyes, Jezebeth raised his head and smacked his head against his.

BANG—! It hurt a lot, and his head throbbed, but the pain was negligible compared to what he was feeling at his back.

Thankfully, his actions weren't for nothing, and he felt the grasp on his hands loosen.

"Ah… ah!"

Thump! Thump!

He stumbled back and separated himself from Ren, falling butt-first against the ground.

"Haaa… haaa…"

Taking heavy gulps of air, he tried his best to channel whatever energy he had left inside of his body, but much to his horror, he realized that his tank was completely empty.

Rustle—! Rustle—! Feeling movement from the direction opposite him, Jezebeth looked up to see Ren wobbling toward him.

Despite having taken his energy, he too looked rather weak, and with both hands hung low, he moved to where he was.

Staring at his figure, Jezebeth clenched his teeth and forced himself up.

Like him, he stumbled forward, and despite everything that he was feeling, he continued to move toward him until they were just about a few meters away from each other.

BANG—! Neither of the two wasted any seconds, and they both threw a fist at each other. Both hits landed squarely on each other's cheeks, and their heads tilted back.

That… apparently wasn't enough, as they both retrieved their fists and punched at each other once again.

BANG—!

Gone were their powerful attacks that tore the air and destroyed the earth. At the moment, the fight had taken a complete turn as the two of them fought one another with nothing but their bodies.

From afar, be it demons or those from the four races, everyone looked in their direction as the two of them exchanged moves with one another.

Despite them being visibly weaker than they were before, none dared to make a single move as they continued to stare at the two of them with their breaths held.

They knew that the victor of the fight would decide the fate of the war…

BANG—! BANG—! The two of them were rather evenly matched as they exchanged blow after blow. When Jezebeth landed a hit, so would Ren, and the cycle would repeat.

Both of them continued to force themselves on the other in spite of the fact that their punches were getting sloppier and slower with the passage of time. However, neither of them seemed to care.

"Uakh!"

BANG—! Exchanging blows, the two of them stumbled backward, and just as Jezebeth was about to move again, he suddenly felt his back burst with pain, and his movements halted for a split second.

That was all Ren needed to rush forward and headbutt him squarely in the face, sending him reeling backward.

Thump—!

Falling back on his butt, Jezebeth tried to stand up but found that he no longer had the energy to do so, and as he moved his head up, he saw a foot land squarely on his face, sending his face crashing against the ground.

"Urkh."

He… he didn't lift his head up from that moment on as he blankly stared at the sky.

He wanted to move but couldn't. Almost every part of his body was broken, and the energy in his body had long faded from him.

He was just an empty shell of his former self, and realizing his own weakness, he couldn't help but clench his teeth in indignation.

"I… I was so close…"

He managed to mutter a few words at that moment as he stared at the sky, which had turned blue once more.

There had always been something about the cloudless blue skies that made him feel at peace. They always reminded him of his home… the place he used to once call home, and where his parents lived.

He had planned on secluding himself from the world the moment he got his hands on the records and learned of the truth.

His plan consisted of staying in a world such as this one. A quiet and peaceful one.

One that reminded him of his home planet, but…

Thump—!

A shadow cast over his vision as two deep blue eyes appeared in his vision.

Staring directly at them, Jezebeth felt everything crumble down, and though he was indignant… he accepted the situation.

Deep down in his heart, he had always known that failure was a very real possibility, and he had long prepared for it.

It wasn't in vain as his eyes slowly closed, and the world around him turned quiet.

There was no regret in his mind, only pity…

If only…

He never got to finish that thought. Everything ceased from that very moment, and the existence known as Jezebeth disappeared from the world.

***

"I… I… haaa…"

I found it hard to breathe or speak at this very moment. Almost every part of me was broken, and I could barely keep my eyes focused.

All that was within my vision was the hazy outline of Jezebeth's body, and with my best efforts, I tried to keep my hand on top of him.

I could see a multitude of golden scribbles and runes fly in the air, but I was having a hard time keeping conscious.

Despite that, I continued to keep my hand on Jezebeth's body, and the world around me started to shift. I felt a sinking feeling wash all over me, and my vision suddenly started to shatter.

In that brief moment, before I completely lost consciousness, I found the scenery around me changing.

It looked like I was standing in the middle of a patch of green, but I wasn't sure.

All of a sudden, Jezebeth's body started to disappear, and golden runes floated on top of me. My hand soon touched the ground, and I felt something linger over my fingertips.

In my best efforts, I was able to catch a glimpse of several metallic shards as well as a faint black mist that lingered over them.

Reaching out with my hand, I clenched at the shards, and my vision finally turned completely dark.

Chapter 858: The Last Battle – What is an end is also a beginning [5]

There was something faint in front of my darkened vision.

In the beginning, there was only a sliver of light in the amber color, but as time went on, it grew larger and larger. The darkness that had been surrounding the world around me was quickly overcome by that faint light that grew so bright that it dispelled all the darkness around me.

Within the faint light, I felt something embrace my entire body and bask it in a gentle warmth.

It felt good. Really good. So much so that I wanted to bask in it forever, but with a sudden twitch, the white world shattered, and my eyelids opened.

The sight of the extremely tall wooden shelves, which reached the ceiling and appeared to go on forever, obscured my field of vision. My immediate environment was characterized by a predominance of silence, and there was an eerie sense of calm that pervaded the atmosphere.

Blinking my eyes, I gradually sat up and looked around me.

The world… it was covered with books and shelves that seemed to stretch endlessly.

I bent my head forward and focused on my hands, clenching and unclenching them as I did so. My previous wounds had healed completely, and I was beginning to experience a sense of wholeness once more.

Pressing my hands on the wooden floor, the floor creaked at my movements, and I carefully stood up and looked around me. Eventually, my gaze settled on a small patio in the distance.

It sat on top of a lush green floor, and a book covered in golden runes sat atop the altar.

It took me only a moment to figure out what the book was, and it seemed as if my feet were acting on their own when they began to head in the direction of the patio.

It took just a single step to reach it, and when I did, I suddenly stopped. My mouth parted open, but no sound came out.

"It took you a while."

A familiar voice reached my ears. One that I thought I'd never hear again, and when I looked in front of me, I saw someone whom I thought I'd never see again.

From the moment I laid eyes on him, I knew that it was him. Not some projection or hallucination created by the records.

I could just feel it with the powers that lingered in my body, and my chest stung a little. I still forced myself to smile.

"Was I late?"

"Very."

I smiled genuinely this time and moved to the patio, where he saw me. I sat myself down on the seat opposite him and enjoyed the scenery around me.

"How are you…"

"How am I alive?"

He finished the question for me, and without looking at him, I nodded my head.

"Yeah…"

"It's not that I'm alive," he answered, similarly staring at the world around the patio. "I'm just in the place where I was born. I'm neither dead nor alive, just a projection of the remaining power that lingers over the records."

"I see."

Understanding a bit of what he said, I found myself nodding my head. When I turned my head and met his crimson colored eyes, I shifted my attention toward the book that sat atop the altar.

"Are those the records?"

With a complicated look on his face, he nodded his head.

"Yes."

The book was encircled by golden runes and words that moved and swirled around it as if they were in a vortex. The glow that encircled it was not particularly strong, but as I continued to stare at it, I suddenly felt a calling coming from it.

"Go on."

When I heard his voice, I turned to look at him once more, and he smiled faintly at me.

"The moment your hands are on the book, you will be elevated to the position of Overseer, and you will have access to every aspect of the universe. You will be responsible for maintaining order throughout the universe and preventing future occurrences of events similar to Jezebeth from taking place..."

Overhearing his words, I felt my brows knit.

"That sounds rather troublesome."

"It is."

He didn't even bother denying it as he nodded his head. I wanted to shake my head at his antics, but I recalled something.

"What happened to everyone back on earth?"

From the moment I defeated Jezebeth, I found myself in this world. I still had no idea what had happened to the others back on Earth. Were they fine? Did everything get resolved? Did something happen to them?

"Don't worry about them."

Kevin reassured, pointing at the Records.

"If you're curious, then take the records. All the questions you have will be answered the moment you become the new Overseer"

Following what he was pointing at, my gaze fell on the book in the middle of the altar. With each passing second, it glowed brighter, and the whispers that surrounded my ears became progressively louder. Calling for me to reach out to them.

Staring back at Kevin one more time, I saw him nod at me, and I pursed my lips.

Turning my attention away from him, I stopped right before the records. Immediately, the gentle whispers that reached my ears stopped, and I stretched my hand.

Coming into contact with the book, a bright light flooded my entire vision, and golden runes and scribbles floated all around me. The world around me started to shake, and the tall libraries in the distance stretched in every direction.

Paying no mind to what was happening around me, I slowly opened the book, and everything turned white after that.

That was when I saw it...

The truth.

***

.

.

.

.

.

Pak!

Silence predominated over the surroundings as Ren closed the book in his hands. In that brief moment when he opened the book and closed the book, Kevin watched Ren's face undergo a series of changes as he displayed all sorts of emotions.

Anger, sorrow, happiness… he displayed every possible emotion until, eventually, his gaze became extremely calm.

That lasted until he closed the book. A matter of seconds, Kevin sat there with his gaze fixed on him.

"What have you seen?" he asked, curious to understand what made Ren react the way that he did.

Closing his eyes, Ren turned his head, and their gazes met. He smiled softly at him.

"I saw… what I needed to see."

Ren didn't change much after taking in the records, but there was definitely something different about him. It was as if he were there, yet not.

"What did you see?"

"Mhm."

Ren's answer confused Kevin as he tried to pry further, but all he was met with was the same soft smile from before.

Extending his hand forward, Ren opened up his palm to reveal several shards in his hand.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

The shards floated on top of his palm and gradually gathered together as a bright white glow encircled each one of them.

"Life truly is funny. I had a sneaking suspicion, but I never thought it was like this… I finally understand the real meaning behind the world you showed me… and why I never existed, to begin with."

Kevin tried his best to understand what Ren was saying, but what he heard completely confused him. It was clear to him that whatever Ren was talking about was something that was well outside of the scope of his knowledge.

"I used to think that there used to be a beginning to something, but never did I imagine that my own precognition of time was wrong. Time… it's a measurement we created in order to measure a beginning and an end, but what if there was never a beginning to begin with? What if it was just… there."

The more he spoke, the more Kevin became confused, but he continued to listen. There was something about his words that entranced him, and the more he listened, the more he felt like he grasped onto something.

WIIIING—!

It was a sudden white glow that jolted him out of his thoughts, and when he came to, he saw a small metallic box levitating on top of Ren's palm. A thick black mist encircled the cube and pulsed in a feeble manner as it floated there.

"What's that?"

"This…"

Staring at the box, Ren smiled.

"You can say this is the continuation of everything."

He paused.

"...The beginning of a very long book. One I personally created and am a part of..."

While he was looking at the box perched on the top of his palm, the box began to shake suddenly. After a short while, a crack appeared in the area that was adjacent to the box, and Ren carefully tossed the box so that it fell into the crack.

His actions perplexed Kevin, who looked back at Ren in bewilderment, but all he received in response was a perplexed look followed by a sigh.

"If it's like this…"

Shaking his head, Ren pursed his lips and turned to face him. Staring at each other for a moment, Ren waved his hand, and their surroundings started to shift. The patio collapsed, and so did the shelves that disappeared from their surroundings.

What replaced them was a long and narrow corridor with a bright light at the end.

"Should we go back?"

"Back? …to where?"

"Where else?"

Taking a step forward, Ren ushered him forward with his hand.

"Home."

***

[In a distant world, unknown.]

The sun rose over the rolling hills of their small farm, and two demons walked hand in hand through the lush green fields, taking in the serene beauty of their world.

The tall grass swayed in the gentle breeze, and wildflowers dotted the landscape with bright bursts of color.

Tak! Tak! Tak!

Together, the couple tended to their crops with care, planting new seeds and harvesting ripe vegetables from the earth.

They worked in perfect harmony, each complementing the other's strengths and weaknesses. One had a gentle touch with the plants, coaxing them to grow and thrive, while the other was solid and sturdy, able to till the soil and lift heavy loads with ease.

As they worked, the couple chatted and laughed, enjoying each other's company in the peaceful surroundings. The warmth of the sun on their skin and the fresh scent of the earth invigorated their spirits, reminding them of life's simple pleasures.

Such was life for them...

In the distance, a small group of demon children played games and chased each other through the fields.

The sound of their laughter and the rustling of the grass added to the idyllic scene, making it feel like a moment frozen in time where nothing else mattered but the beauty of the world and the joy of family.

It was so peaceful...

That peace... however, did not last for very long.

"What's that?"

Noticing something, the woman dropped whatever she was doing and looked up at the sky. There she could see a small black object that was streaking down from the sky and heading in their direction.

As soon as she realized what was happening, she started to freak out and turned to look at her partner, who was also staring up at the sky. She was on the verge of calling out for him when, all of a sudden, a silver streak tore through the air and slammed into the land next to where they were standing.

WIIIIIIIIIING—!

There wasn't much of an explosion. Falling onto the ground with a low thump, the couple looked at each other in wonder.

"S,should we go check it?"

The husband proposed, staring into the distance with deep apprehension. Only when the female nodded her head did the two of them move, and when they approached the location where the object fell, they were shocked to see a metallic box on the ground.

Though faint, a black hue seeped into the ground from the body of the box. It went unnoticed by the two demons, who were unable to detect it.

"What is this?"

"Don't touch it!"

Seeing the box, the male tried to approach it but was promptly stopped by his wife, who stared at the box with deep apprehension.

"We don't know what the box is… it's best if we handle this carefully, especially when…"

Turning her head, she looked at the children that were playing in the distance and looked back toward her husband, who seemed to have understood her intentions as he nodded his head.

Unbeknownst to them, in the distance, a child sat on top of a rock and stared at the two of them with two eyes that were tinged in utter darkness.

"So that's how it is…"

As he looked at the couple off in the distance, and more specifically at the box that was standing beneath them, the child's eyes rippled as he watched.

At that moment, he finally understood something. The reason for his existence. The reason for what he went through and everything… The reason for his obsession with the truth.

A mixture of emotions clouded the child's face. Anger, sorrow, happiness, pity… they altered in sequences before, eventually, a smile appeared on the child's face.

He had only ever had one goal since coming into power, and that was finding the reason behind his existence. He had grown obsessed with it, and finally, he understood.

He understood why he existed.

It wasn't a mistake.

…and that was all he needed to know.

"T, thank you…"

The gloom that had crept into the child's eye vanished, and in its place was an innocent look as the child turned to look to his left and right in bewilderment.

"Ah? Where am I?"

"Hahahahah "

It was the subtle giggles from behind that gathered his attention and turning his head, the child saw several children waving at him.

"Come!"

They called out for him. Their smiles were innocent and filled with playfulness.

"Come and play with us… Jezebeth!"

Placing his little hands on the rock and hopping off of it, the child, Jezebeth, waved back at them and shouted.

"I'm coming!"

[The Author's POV] – End.

Main Story End.

Epilogue yet to come.

Table of Contents

1: Prologue
2: I've reincarnated inside of my novel [1]
3: I've reincarnated inside of my novel [2]
4: I've reincarnated inside of my novel [3]
5: Sword art [1]
6: Sword art [2]
7: Lock [1]
8: Lock [2]
9: Lock [3]
10: Book [1]
11: Book [2]
12: Book [3]
13: Virtual reality [1]
14: Virtual reality [2]
15: Virtual reality [3]
16: Virtual reality [4]
17: Virtual reality [5]
18: Virtual reality [6]
19: Making money [1]
20: Making money [2]
21: Black market [1]
22: Black market [2]
23: Black market [3]
24: Black market [4]
25: Dungeon [1]
26: Dungeon [2]
27: Dungeon [3]
28: Dungeon [4]
29: Dungeon [5]
30: Dungeon [6]
31: Dungeon [7]
32: Skills [1]
33: Skills [2]
34: Skills [3]
35: Elective [1]
36: Elective [2]
37: Elective [3]
38: Elective [4]
39: Elective [5]
40: Changes happening in the academy [1]
41: Changes happening in the academy [2]
42: Changes happening in the academy [3]
43: Conflicts within the academy [1]
44: Conflicts within the academy [2]
45: A not so joyous after-party [1]
46: A not so joyous after-party [2]
47: A not so joyous after-party [3]
48: A not so joyous after-party [4]
49: Aftermath [1]
50: Aftermath [2]
51: Eve before the trip [1]
52: Eve before the trip [2]
53: Eve before the trip [3]
54: Eve before the trip [4]
55: Hollberg [1]
56: Hollberg [2]
57: Hollberg [3]
58: Hollberg [4]
59: I am Kevin Voss [1]
60: I am Kevin Voss [2]
61: I am Kevin Voss [3]
62: Resolve [1]
63: Resolve [2]
64: What will happen will happen [1]
65: What will happen will happen [2]
66: The massacre of Hollberg [1]
67: The massacre of Hollberg [2]
68: The massacre of Hollberg [3]
69: The massacre of Hollberg [4]
70: The weak [1]
71: The weak [2]
72: The weak [3]
73: The weak [4]
74: Homecoming [1]
75: Homecoming [2]
76: Homecoming [3]
77: Homecoming [4]
78: Galxicus [1]
79: Galxicus [2]
80: Galxicus [3]
81: Galxicus [4]
82: Caïssa [1]
83: Caïssa [2]
84: Caïssa [3]
85: Past, Present, and Future [1]
86: Past, Present, and Future [2]
87: Past, Present, and Future [3]
88: When everything falls into place [1]
89: When everything falls into place [2]
90: When everything falls into place [3]
91: When everything falls into place [4]
92: When everything falls into place [5]
93: When everything falls into place [6]
94: When everything falls into place [7]
95: Return [1]
96: Return [2]
97: Midterms [1]
98: Midterms [2]
99: Midterms [3]
100: Midterms [4]
101: Midterms [5]
102: Midterms [6]
103: Midterms [7]
104: Midterms [8]
105: Midterms [9]
106: Midterms [10]
107: Deals and feels [1]
108: Deals and feels [2]
109: Deals and feels [3]
110: Deals and feels [4]
111: Exchange application [1]
112: Exchange application [2]
113: Undercurrents [1]
114: Undercurrents [2]
115: Humiliation [1]
116: Humiliation [2]
117: Humiliation [3]
118: Humiliation [4]
119: Rank up [1]
120: Rank up [2]
121: Hidden dungeon [1]
122: Hidden dungeon [2]
123: Hidden dungeon [3]
124: Hidden dungeon [4]
125: Hidden dungeon [5]
126: Hidden dungeon [6]
127: New piece [1]
128: New piece [2]
129: New piece [3]
130: New piece [4]
131: New piece [5]
132: New members [1]
133: New members [2]
134: New members [3]
135: Moving out [1]
136: Moving out [2]
137: Moving out [3]
138: Moving out [4]
139: Tryouts [1]
140: Tryouts [2]
141: Tryouts [3]
142: Code breaker [1]
143: Code breaker [2]
144: Code breaker [3]
145: Code breaker [4]
146: Code breaker [5]
147: After the tryouts [1]
148: After the tryouts [2]
149: Results and private lesson [1]
150: Results and private lesson [2]
151: Results and private lesson [3]
152: A troubling situation [1]
153: A troubling situation [2]
154: Peculiar store [1]
155: Peculiar store [2]
156: Peculiar store [3]
157: Setting up the framework [1]
158: Setting up the framework [2]
159: Changes [1]
160: Changes [2]
161: Exchange students [1]
162: Exchange students [2]
163: Exchange students [3]
164: Immorra [1]
165: Immorra [2]
166: Immorra [3]
167: Immorra [4]
168: Gud Khodror [1]
169: Gud Khodror [2]
170: Gud Khodror [3]
171: Igniting the flames [1]
172: Igniting the flames [2]
173: Igniting the flames [3]
174: Igniting the flames [4]
175: The vigil of the war of Immorra [1]
176: The vigil of the war of Immorra [2]
177: Setin [1]
178: Setin [2]
179: The castle of Azeroth [1]
180: The castle of Azeroth [2]
181: The castle of Azeroth [3]
182: The castle of Azeroth [4]
183: The one [1]
184: The one [2]
185: Return [1]
186: Return [2]
187: When everything comes crashing down [1]
188: When everything comes crashing down [2]
189: When everything comes crashing down [3]
190: When everything comes crashing down [4]
191: Exposed [1]
192: Exposed [2]
193: All eyes on me [1]
194: All eyes on me [2]
195: Relaxing times [1]
196: Relaxing times [2]
197: Relaxing times[3]
198: Dominating through fear [1]
199: Dominating through fear [2]
200: Dominating through fear [3]
201: The future [1]
202: The future [2]
203: Banquet [1]
204: Banquet [2]
205: Banquet [3]
206: Banquet [4]
207: Banquet [5]
208: Follow-up [1]
209: Follow-up [2]
210: Proposal & Negotiations [1]
211: Proposal & Negotiations [2]
212: Dungeon trials [1]
213: Dungeon trials [2]
214: Dungeon trials [3]
215: Dungeon trials [4]
216: Cleaning up [1]
217: Cleaning up [2]
218: Cleaning up [3]
219: Cleaning up [4]
220: Cleaning up [5]
221: New professor [1]
222: New professor [2]
223: New Professor [3]
224: New professor [4]
225: Auction [1]
226: Auction [2]
227: Auction [3]
228: Auction [4]
229: Auction [5]
230: Auction [6]
231: Recruitment [1]
232: Recruitment [2]
233: Eve of the tournament [1]
234: Eve of the tournament [2]
235: Inter-Academy Tournament [1]
236: Inter-Academy Tournament [2]
237: Statement [1]
238: Statement [2]
239: Her Resolve [1]
240: Her Resolve [2]
241: Her Resolve [3]
242: The Last Piece [1]
243: The Last Piece [2]
244: Dummy Massacre Finals [1]
245: Dummy Massacre Finals [2]
246: Preparations [1]
247: Preparations [2]
248: Battle Royale [1]
249: Battle Royale [2]
250: Battle Royale [3]
251: Battle Royale [4]
252: Battle Royale [5]
253: Ren Dover (1)
254: Ren Dover (2)
255: 876 (1)
256: 876 (2)
257: 876 (3)
258: 876 (4)
259: 876 (5)
260: 876 (6)
261: Escape (1)
262: Escape (2)
263: Escape (3)
264: Escape (4)
265: Escape [5]
266: Escape [6]
267: Escape [7]
268: Them [1]
269: Them [2]
270: The Last Hurdle [1]
271: The Last Hurdle [2]
272: The Last Hurdle [3]
273: The Last Hurdle [4]
274: Ill Fated Relationship [1]
275: Ill Fated Relationship [2]
276: Total Chaos [1]
277: Total Chaos [2]
278: Total Chaos [3]
279: Total Chaos [4]
280: Return [1]
281: Return [2]
282: Return [3]
283: Forsaken [1]
284: Forsaken [2]
285: Before The Journey [1]
286: Before The Journey [2]
287: Before The Journey [3]
288: Before The Journey [4]
289: Brief Stop, And Departure [1]
290: Brief Stop, And Departure [2]
291: Journey [1]
292: Journey [2]
293: Journey [3]
294: Pledge [1]
295: Pledge [2]
296: Pledge [3]
297: Henolur [1]
298: Henolur [2]
299: Henolur [3]
300: Encounter [1]
301: Encounter [2]
302: Malvil Ironhawk [1]
303: Malvil Ironhawk [2]
304: Tower Defense [1]
305: Tower Defense [2]
306: Tower Defense [3]
307: Interlude [1]
308: Interlude [2]
309: Activating The Defensive System [1]
310: Activating The Defensive System [2]
311: Synchronisation [1]
312: Synchronisation [2]
313: The Second Wave [1]
314: The Second Wave [2]
315: The Second Wave [3]
316: The Second Wave [4]
317: Meeting [1]
318: Meeting [2]
319: Meeting [3]
320: Revelation [1]
321: Revelation [2]
322: Protection [1]
323: Protection [2]
324: Protection [3]
325: The Attack [1]
326: The Attack [2]
327: The Attack [3]
328: The Attack [4]
329: The Attack [5]
330: Inferno [1]
331: Inferno [2]
332: Inferno [3]
333: Infiltration [1]
334: Infiltration [2]
335: Infiltration [3]
336: Infiltration [4]
337: Setting The Pieces In Motion [1]
338: Setting The Pieces In Motion [2]
339: Setting The Pieces In Motion [3]
340: Setting The Pieces In Motion [4]
341: Taking The Initiative [1]
342: Taking The Initiative [2]
343: Beginning Of The Assault [1]
344: Beginning Of The Assault [2]
345: Beginning Of The Assault [3]
346: Beginning Of The Assault [4]
347: Planting The Seed Of Chaos [1]
348: Planting The Seeds Of Chaos [2]
349: Crippling The Insides [1]
350: An Intense Fight [1]
351: An Intense Fight [2]
352: An Intense Fight [3]
353: Shutting Down The System [1]
354: Shutting Down The System [2]
355: Shutting Down The System [3]
356: Reversing the known [1]
357: Reversing the known [2]
358: Final push [1]
359: Final push [2]
360: Final push [3]
361: Final push [4]
362: Everything coming together [1]
363: Everything coming together [2]
364: The end of the war [1]
365: The end of the war [2]
366: Rewards [1]
367: Rewards [2]
368: Rewards [3]
369: Rewards [4]
370: Synchronisation [3]
371: The Conference [1]
372: The Conference [2]
373: The Conference [3]
374: The Conference [4]
375: The Conference [5]
376: Heading to the Conference [1]
377: Heading to the Conference [2]
378: Heading to the Conference [3]
379: Issanor [1]
380: Issanor [2]
381: Meeting from afar [1]
382: Meeting from afar [2]
383: You remember me? [1]
384: You remember me? [2]
385: You remember me? [3]
386: You remember me? [4]
387: Broken [1]
388: Broken [2]
389: Broken [3]
390: Broken [4]
391: Broken [5]
392: Reunion [1]
393: Reunion [2]
394: He knows [1]
395: He knows [2]
396: Testing [1]
397: Dream or reality? [2]
398: Dream or reality? [3]
399: Pure Evil [1]
400: Pure evil [2]
401: Pure Evil [3]
402: Doubt [1]
403: Doubt [2]
404: Doubt [3]
405: Doubt [4]
406: Talk [1]
407: Talk [2]
408: Talk [3]
409: Incident [1]
410: lncident [2]
411: lncident [3]
412: Incident [4]
413: Incident [5]
414: lncident [6]
415: Battles [1]
416: Battles [2]
417: A carpet of red [1]
418: A carpet of red [2]
419: Dominance [1]
420: Dominance [2]
421: Dominance [3]
422: Coming clean [1]
423: Coming clean [2]
424: Confrontation [1]
425: Confrontation [2]
426: Round of thirty two [1]
427: Round of thirty two [2]
428: Round of thirty two [3]
429: Round of thirty two [4]
430: Your choice [1]
431: Your choice [2]
432: Your choice [3]
433: Your choice [4]
434: Your choice [5]
435: About my mother...[1]
436: About my mother....[2]
437: About my mother...[3]
438: About my mother...[4]
439: About my mother...[5]
440: One last match [1]
441: One last match [2]
442: One last match [3]
443: One last match [4]
444: Fame [1]
445: Fame [2]
446: Natasha Stern [1]
447: Natasha Stern [2]
448: Natasha Stern [3]
449: Slumber [1]
450: slumber [2]
451: slumber [3]
452: Slumber [4]
453: lsn't it fun?[1]
454: lsn't it fun [2]
455: lsn't it fun? [3]
456: Returning to the human domain [1]
457: Synchronisation [4]
458: Returning to the human domain [2]
459: Returning to the human domain [3]
460: Returning to the human domain [4]
461: Returning to the human domain[5]
462: Crack in the sky [1]
463: Crack in the sky [2]
464: Crack in the sky [3]
465: Changes [1]
466: Changes [2]
467: Concert [1]
468: Concert [2]
469: Concert [3]
470: Concert [4]
471: Concert [5]
472: Concert [6]
473: Going back [1]
474: Going back [2]
475: Going back [3]
476: First day [1]
477: First day [2]
478: Practical lesson [1]
479: Practical lesson [2]
480: Practical lesson [3]
481: l'm sorry [1]
482: l'm sorry [2]
483: lnteresting [1]
484: lnteresting [2]
485: Interesting [3]
486: Press Conference [1]
487: Press conference [2]
488: Press Conference [3]
489: Grasping the fifth movement [1]
490: Grasping the fifth movement [2]
491: Going back to the black market [1]
492: Going back to the black market [2]
493: Dungeon[1]
494: Dungeon [2]
495: Dungeon [3]
496: Dungeon[4]
497: Awakening [1]
498: Awakening [2]
499: Awakening [3]
500: Awakening [4]
501: Thoughts [1]
502: Thoughts[2]
503: White Death [1]
504: White Death [2]
505: Chaos [1]
506: Chaos [2]
507: Chaos [3]
508: Arena [1]
509: Arena [2]
510: Arena [3]
511: Emperor rank [1]
512: Emperor rank [2]
513: Emperor rank [3]
514: Emperor rank [4]
515: Emperor rank [5]
516: Edward Stern [1]
517: Edward Stern[2]
518: Edward Stern [3]
519: Lightning Dragon [1]
520: Lightning Dragon [2]
521: Liahtning Dragon [3]
522: Lightning Dragon [4]
523: Lightning Dragon [5]
524: Lightning Dragon [6]
525: Deal [1]
526: Deal[2]
527: Overlord [1]
528: Overlord[2]
529: Overlord [3]
530: Taking Control [1]
531: Taking Control [2]
532: Taking Control [3]
533: Ransacking [1]
534: Ransacking [2]
535: Ransacking [3]
536: A good laugh [1]
537: A good laugh [2]
538: Warmth [1]
539: Warmth [2]
540: Warmth [3]
541: Warmth [4]
542: Like [1]
543: Like [2]
544: Soul [1]
545: Soul [2]
546: One problem at a time [1]
547: One problem at a time [2]
548: One problem at a time [3]
549: Martial Body [1]
550: Martial Body [2]
551: Date [1]
552: Date [2]
553: Date [3]
554: Date [4]
555: Date [5]
556: Date [6]
557: Error [1]
558: Error [2]
559: Error [3]
560: Error [4]
561: Error [5]
562: Error [6]
563: Error [7]
564: Dark room [1]
565: Dark room [2]
566: Dark room[3]
567: Light [1]
568: Light [2]
569: Meeting up [1]
570: Meeting up [2]
571: Meeting up [3]
572: Meeting up [4]
573: Situation [1]
574: Situation[2]
575: Reuniting [1]
576: Reuniting [2]
577: Reuniting [3]
578: Start of the slaughter [1]
579: Mana recovery [2]
580: Mana recovery [3]
581: Mana recovery [4]
582: Fighting a Duke ranked demon [1]
583: Fighting a Duke ranked demon [2]
584: Fighting a Duke ranked demon[3]
585: Destroying the compressor [1]
586: Destroying the compressor [2]
587: Destroying the compressor [3]
588: Broken pride [1]
589: Broken pride [2]
590: Broken Pride [3]
591: Taking a glimpse of 'his' hell [1]
592: Taking a glimpse of 'his' hell [2]
593: Taking a glimpse of 'his' hell [3]
594: Taking a glimpse of 'his' hell [4]
595: Taking a glimpse of 'his' hell [5]
596: Taking a glimpse of 'his' hell [6]
597: He is coming [1]
598: He is coming [2]
599: He is coming [3]
600: He is coming [4]
601: He is coming [5]
602: An option [1]
603: An option[2]
604: An option [3]
605: Ah, l finally understand [1]
606: Ah, l finally understand [2]
607: Ah, l finally understand [3]
608: Two years [1]
609: Two years [2]
610: Two years [3]
611: l'm just visiting a friend [1]
612: l'm just visiting a friend [2]
613: l'm just visiting a friend [3]
614: Returning to lmmorra [1]
615: Returning to lmmorra [2]
616: Returning to lmmorra [3]
617: Kevin's Dilemma [1]
618: Kevin's dilemma [2] Synchronisation [5]
619: Submission [1]
620: Submission [2]
621: Submission [3]
622: Waiting [1]
623: Waiting [2]
624: Waiting [3]
625: Start of the war [1]
626: Start of the war [2]
627: Start of the war [3]
628: A glimpse of the records [1]
629: End of first battle [1]
630: End of first battle [2]
631: Reinforcements [1]
632: Reinforcements [2]
633: Reinforcements [3]
634: City plan [1]
635: City plan [2]
636: Change of focus [1]
637: Change of focus [2]
638: Change of focus [3]
639: War [1]
640: War [2]
641: War [3]
642: War [4]
643: War [5]
644: War [6]
645: War [7]
646: War [8]
647: Ren's return [1]
648: Ren's return [2]
649: Ren's return[3]
650: Ren's return [4]
651: Unrivaled [1]
652: Unrivaled [2]
653: Moving forward [1]
654: Moving forward [2]
655: Moving forward [3]
656: Treasury [1]
657: Treasury [2]
658: Demon Transformation [1]
659: Demon Transformation [2]
660: Demon Transformation [3]
661: Return [1]
662: Return [2]
663: Return[3]
664: The Assembly [1]
665: The Assembly [2]
666: The Assembly [3]
667: Scary [1]
668: Scary [2]
669: scary [3]
670: The warmth of the night [1]
671: The warmth of the night[2]
672: The warmth do the night[3]
673: The beginning of the end [1]
674: The beginning of the end [2]
675: The beginning of the end [3]
676: The beginning of the end [4]
677: The beginning of the end [5]
678: The beginning of the end [6]
679: The beginning of the end [7]
680: Thank you[1]
681: Thank you [2]
682: Thank you [3]
683: A month [1]
684: A month [2]
685: The chosen one [1]
686: The chosen one [2]
687: The chosen one [3]
688: The chosen one [4]
689: The chosen one [5]
690: The chosen one [6]
691: The chosen one [7]
692: Melandoir [1]
693: Melandoir [2]
694: Melandoir [3]
695: Melandoir [4]
696: Ka Mankut [1]
697: Ka Mankut [2]
698: Quest [1]
699: Quest [2]
700: Quest [3]
701: Abyssal Mammoth [1]
702: Abyssal Mammoth [2]
703: Duke Ukhan [1]
704: Duke Ukhan [2]
705: Nectar [1]
706: Nectar [2]
707: Silent night [1]
708: Silent night [2]
709: Silent night [3]
710: Unfolding of events [1]
711: Unfolding of events [2]
712: Unfolding of events [3]
713: Unfolding of events [4]
714: Culprit [1]
715: Culprit [2]
716: Culprit [3]
717: Settling Down [1]
718: Settling Down [2]
719: Settling Down [3]
720: Settling down [4]
721: Shock [1]
722: Shock [2]
723: Goodbye [1]
724: Goodbye [2]
725: Goodbye [3]
726: Goodbye [4]
727: Goodbye [5]
728: A world where 'we' don't exist [1]
729: A world where 'we' don't exist [2]
730: A world where 'we' don't exist [3]
731: A world where 'we' don't exist [4]
732: Death Sentence [1]
733: Death Sentence [2]
734: The Pen [1]
735: The Pen [2]
736: The Pen [3]
737: The dangers that lurk in the shadows [1]
738: The dangers that lurk in the shadows [2]
739: The dangers that lurk in the shadows [3]
740: Conflict [1]
741: Conflict [2]
742: Octavious Hall [1]
743: Octavious Hall [2]
744: Octavious Hall [3]
745: Emotionally Immature [1]
746: Emotionally Immature [2]
747: Figuring things out [1]
748: Figuring things out [2]
749: Figuring things out [3]
750: Figuring things out [4]
751: Figuring things out [5]
752: A world where 'he' doesn't exist [1]
753: A world where 'he' doesn't exist [2]
754: Protector of the Seat of Diligence [1]
755: Protector of the Seat of Diligence [2]
756: Protector of the Seat of Diligence [3]
757: Protector of the seat of Diligence [4]
758: Protector of the seat of Diligence [5]
759: Protector of the seat of Diligence [6]
760: Fighting a Protector [1]
761: Fighting a Protector [2]
762: Fighting a Protector [3]
763: Fighting a Protector [4]
764: Fighting a Protector [5]
765: Fighting a Protector [6]
766: War in Idoania [1]
767: War in Idoania [2]
768: Changes on earth [1]
769: Changes on earth [2]
770: Changes on earth [3]
771: Changes on earth [4]
772: Invading the demon domain [1]
773: Invading the demon domain [2]
774: Invading the demon domain [3]
775: Trap [1]
776: Trap [2]
777: Trap [3]
778: Taking Over [1]
779: Taking Over [2]
780: Taking Over [3]
781: Taking Over [4]
782: Situation in Kuzma [1]
783: Situation in Kuzma [2]
784: Situation in Kuzma [3]
785: Situation in Kuzma [4]
786: Situation in Kuzma [5]
787: Immorra's might [1]
788: Immorra's might [2]
789: Immorra's might [3]
790: Immorra's might [4]
791: The new Immorra [1]
792: The new Immorra [2]
793: The new Immorra [3]
794: The new Immorra [4]
795: The final hurdle [1]
796: The final hurdle [2]
797: The final hurdle [3]
798: The great migration [1]
799: The great migration [2]
800: The great migration [3]
801: Alone on earth [1]
802: Alone on earth [2]
803: The Third Cataclysm [1]
804: The Third Cataclysm [2]
805: The Third Cataclysm [3]
806: Choice [1]
807: Choice [2]
808: The Seven Pillars [1]
809: The Seven Pillars [2]
810: Numb [1]
811: Numb [2]
812: Prince Murdock [1]
813: Prince Murdock [2]
814: Prince Murdock [3]
815: Prince Murdock [4]
816: One at a time [1]
817: One at a time [2]
818: One at a time [3]
819: One at a time [4]
820: One at a time [5]
821: Wrath [1]
822: Wrath [2]
823: Wrath [3]
824: Wrath [4]
825: Wrath [5]
826: Is this enough? [1]
827: Is this enough? [2]
828: Is this enough? [3]
829: Pillar of Greed [1]
830: Pillar of Greed [2]
831: Beg me [1]
832: Beg me [2]
833: Beg me [3]
834: Beg me [4]
835: Ryan's mind [1]
836: Ryan's mind [2]
837: Ryan's mind [3]
838: Ryan's mind [4]
839: Chaos [1]
840: Chaos [2]
841: Chaos [3]
842: Chaos [4]
843: Until my body breaks [1]
844: Until my body breaks [2]
845: Until my body breaks [3]
846: Until my body breaks [4]
847: Until my body breaks [5]
848: Meeting him again [1]
849: Meeting him again [2]
850: Meeting him again [3]
851: So similar, yet so different [1]
852: So similar, yet so different [2]
853: So similar, yet so different [3]

854: The Last Battle – What is an end is also a beginning [1]

855: The Last Battle – What is an end is also a beginning [2]

856: The Last Battle – What is an end is also a beginning [3]

857: The Last Battle – What is an end is also a beginning [4]

858: The Last Battle – What is an end is also a beginning [5]